Chapter 17

From the Video Blog of Ariel, the First Immortal Whore

On the way back to the training brothel, I ran across two immortals who tried to rob me. It was late at night. I noticed I was being followed and dropped into stealth. I came up on the second man who was ready to ambush me. A quick Back Stab and he was out of the game. Between Ice Shard and work with my dagger, the one behind me was also dealt with.

Both Small Blades and Back Stab leveled up to Beginner 3. It wasn’t many skill points, so I was apparently close to the boundary already.

Wow, what a day: That on top of everything else!

I had my first interaction with clients in the front room. Then to discover my skills are turning me into a slut.

That’s not really fair: I’m doing a fine job of turning myself into a slut all on my own. But it was a real shock to realize that the skills will make it easier and easier for me to give in to feelings of lust and pleasure as they advance. I didn’t get as much help from my fan chat deciding where my boundaries should be as I was hoping for.

Respect is still important. But as Bruce and Goody Brown explained, respect is complex when there is more than one person involved. When I finish cleaning up and healing from the fracas on the way, I’ll be testing that out. Frigging myself for Fyrefang3 to watch on my channel is easy. He’s been supportive; I think he understands what I’m going through. Several of the other people in the fan chat seem to understand too. Then there are people like _Screwyoulous, whoever he is. I can’t say that getting naked in front of him, much less being vulnerable enough for sex, makes me happy. But an audience is often going to be like that. If he were in the room, I’d have him thrown out, just like I did in the fan chat. I guess I have to accept that people like him will watch from the immortal world.

When I think of an audience ... when I perform for them, it will be people like Fyrefang3 who I perform for. The rest? They will be there, but I’ll let them slide to the back of my mind. I think if I do that, I can be a slut and feel good about myself. Certainly, Bruce suggests I can. It fits me enough that I’m willing to try it.

I finish cleaning up. It is late; soon I will sleep. But before that, I told the fan chat I would play with myself. It is a good idea anyway. Masturbation is an important sexual base, and I have been so busy with my lovers that I haven’t gotten enough of a chance to interact with my own body. Besides, my Masturbation skill is behind my others.

I crawl onto one of the beds in the training room. I supply mana to Smell of Sex. I can smell myself—my own nervousness, the remnants of my clients’ cum, and my own smell. It smells rank, like perhaps I have not washed enough or I am a wild animal. It should turn me off, smelling myself so strongly. It doesn’t though. I feel that tingle I’ve come to associate with humiliation. I know that as I fuck and come with this new stronger smell, it will become normal. No, not quite normal. It will be my whore’s scent. It will remind me that yes, I am a wild animal; I am full of lust. Like everything else, that connection to my body will turn me on.

Even now, thinking of myself as a dirty wild animal—dirty, smelling of her own escapades—has my juices flowing.

I reach between my legs, rubbing until I am wet. I bring my finger to my mouth. I taste myself. Strong certainly. It turns me on.

As I stroke my outer lips and run my other hand against my naked body, Susan walks in. She makes eye contact with me. I grin at her. It looks like you out there in the immortal world aren’t my only audience.

It takes me a while to get a rhythm going. The nervousness is real: being watched, getting used to being so open, and even getting used to this body—they all contribute. But I am getting wetter. And as I start to get excited, my smell builds. It’s one thing to occasionally catch a whiff of your self. Having a sense of smell strong enough to pick that out all the time is something new. I cannot escape my arousal.

My fingers are slick with my juices. I’m not just rubbing against my slit; I am teasing at the entrance to my cunt. Susan is there; she has stopped to watch. I am putting on a performance for her as much as anyone playing the recording.

I plunge two fingers inside. I’m wet and warm; definitely ready for them. I decide to come that way—fingers inside. My excitement builds. My nipples stand up. I frig away.

I’m building slowly. It starts in my toes. They tense. It travels up my foot and leg. My lower body is straining with anticipation.

I pull at my nipple. I am twisting, panting, moaning. Inside, my hand fucks my cunt. It’s covered in my slime.

It turns me on that people are watching. They know exactly what it feels like as the wave builds, tension rising from my legs up into my core. I’m watched as that wave crests and I scream—as my slime is replaced by my warm, wet squirt. They feel the aftershocks run through me. They smell the rank musk of my completion.

It is good to come! It is good to be comfortable enough that slut becomes a good word. It is good to be watched. This time, knowing that there are people out there who respect ... who value me even ... yes, that’s enough to make this something good.

What do you say to the whore who has been watching you play with yourself—to the whore who probably still has her ears ringing from your scream. Yeah, I don’t know either. It seemed awkward to say nothing.

“Thanks for watching.”

“Your day left ya hangin?”

“No, I think it was more just enjoying myself. Realizing that I’m a slut, and that as I level up it’s just going to get more like that. And that’s okay, least if the right people are around.”

“An you think I’m one of them?”

“I hope so. Are you going to judge me?”

“Scream’s an 8. But the way your body all tensed up and ya came all at once? That’s least a nine!”

I laugh. “And so what would I have to do to get a ten?”

“I come watching, an that’s your ten.”

She grins. “Serious like? No, I’m not gonna judge. I’ll be there for ya, just like we agreed.”

“Then yeah, you are the right people. Thanks for watching.”

I was asleep. I had left the door slightly open: technically I was available. I think I had some idea that someone might come in and fuck me in my sleep. In my mind it was naughty and hot.

“Cunt slops for Ariel.”

Fuck! The actuality of being woken in the middle of the night by Nora, dirty and wanting to get eaten out does not live up to my fantasies. No, that’s not Nora’s fragrant pussy descending over my face. The legs aren’t big enough. Who is that.

With Smell of Sex, this is more intense. I’m eating strangers’ cum out of someone. I’m licking at her cunt and ass. At first, I’m grumpy and uncomfortable. I don’t want to be used.

No, that’s not really right. I want to be valued. And as I begin to wake up, I realize that I do trust the other trainees. And if I regret being woken up for this, I have myself to blame. Why is being woken up to be fucked any more desirable than being awakened to eat a cream pie out of someone?

As I remind myself that I did ask for this, I gain comfort. And it is dirty ... dirty and humiliating. That plus trust is enough that I can enjoy it. I can tease apart the taste of her cum from her lovers semen.

As I get more into it, I start to enjoy myself. She notices; she is getting turned on. She is a responsive lover. Soon I have her dripping fresh excitement onto my tongue.

My hands roam her body, trying to figure out who I have in the dark. Her hair gives it away. Florence lies on top of me, surrendering fully to my tongue.

When we are done—and she gives as good as she gets—she turns to face me. I hold her in my arms. “I was worried that crawling in to your bed like that might be too much,” she says.

“It almost was. I think mostly I had forgotten how disorienting it is to be woken up in the middle of the night.”

“You could have closed your door.”

“I know. It felt naughty to just leave myself out like that. And it was. At least once I got comfortable. So, have you been crawling into all our beds tonight?”

She chuckles. “No, I had a shift at the main brothel. Wanted to check in on you after Bruce took you out with clients. And of course, give you your cunt slops.”

“You too! It’s everyone.”

“Only as long as you want it.”

“I know. And truthfully, it’s either hot or silly. It just seems so strange to be laughing and playing with sex ... with something so nasty.”

She runs her finger along my cheek. “Especially when it sometimes stops being just play and becomes something powerful and vulnerable?”

“Yes. That too.”

“We do that you know. We get more comfortable with sex because it is what we sell. Sometimes it is entirely casual. Sometimes it is far more than that.”

I nod. We hold each other.

We must have drifted off. Bruce is leaning over me, waking a naked Florence. He doesn’t seem bothered that she is in my bed. She wakes up. They don’t say anything to each other; he doesn’t even explain why he has woken her. I am confused until I realize he has probably invited her to a party so they can share chat.

She shakes her head and sighs. “Well, I guess it saved you effort finding me in Ariel’s bed.”

“Humph. I guess I had better tell her.”

Florence nods.

“Tell who what?” I ask.

Bruce responds. “After last night, I put you in for initiation. The guild master has some questions.” He sighs. “I suppose that given your situation, this should not be unexpected.”

“It is highly irregular,” Florence says.

“I don’t think the guild master likes me.”

Bruce pulled at his beard. “It’s probably not that simple. You do not make her life easy. You worry her.”

“Well, there’s no help for it,” Florence says. “We’ll all head over to the main guild and see what is what. That is, after Ariel and I bathe.”

On the way to the bathing chamber I noticed some notifications. The biggest was that I had leveled yet again. It felt strange to level twice in such a short time given how long I spent at level 8. What I did in the last day has been much higher experience than the sort of training I had been doing for the last few days.

In terms of experience required, the gap between level 9 and 10 is not that big. In terms of game play, level 10 is huge. My bonuses from battle realism and sexual realism will fully kick in. Learning skills and gaining experience in those areas will be much easier. It supposedly takes as much as five years to reach level 100 if you are playing part time with no experience bonuses. No one does that of course. For things where sexual realism or battle realism applies, I will have as much as 50% bonus on learning skills, and as much as 20% on experience. For a while, those bonuses will make things move much quicker. But as skills and level increase, advancing will eventually slow down again. Even by level 15, it takes a lot more experience to advance.

Of course it sounds like I may get even bigger bonuses:

Notification

You walk the Path of Heart’s Desire. Within each of us there is a kernel of longing; a seed filled with everything we wish to be. In Ariel, you planted that seed. To walk this path, nurture it and fight everything within yourself that stands in your way. You are well along the way to accepting your darkest desires. There is no shame in wanting. You learn to embrace desire while valuing yourself and demanding respect from others.

While you are true both to your desires and yourself, you will find the tools you need. Each act of courage, each fear defeated will bring you greater skill and experience. You will gain the bonuses necessary so that the time you spend focusing on your desires and vulnerability will not slow your magic or martial advancement.

If you stray from this path, you will lose these skills and experience, until the path is closed to you.

I don’t understand exactly how that’s going to work. It sounds like the game is offering a solution to one of the biggest problems I was worried about. If I spend all this time leveling as a whore, how will I keep up with weapons and other skills. The realism bonuses help of course, but to be a dungeon whore or defend myself, I’ll need more than that. Depending on how this works, I may have my answer.

My Masturbation skill reached Beginner 4. Oral Sex reached Beginner 5. Some of the basic sex skills seem to advance very quickly. And then there is one final notification:

Notification

Smell of Sex is now level Beginner 4. There’s sex in the air, and you love the smell of it.

The tang of fear, the smell of arousal, and the pungent scent of release will all become clear to you. They will all excite and tease you in their own ways. You notice your own smell and that of your own lovers. You start to pick apart subtle notes that you never noticed before.

At high levels? Yes, this is the skill all the whores have been embarrassing you with throughout your game play.

Both passive and active; add mana for greater perception.

Bathed and dressed, we made our way to the main Whores Guild. Today’s skirt is plain, but I do wear one of the lace tops. The bra I chose is supportive, but shows at least the top third of my breast. At the last minute, I threw one of the simple dresses on as an extra layer. I wasn’t sure I felt open enough to wear an outfit too skimpy in front of the guild master. It’s about perception ... mostly my own perception and desire not to be too vulnerable in front of someone I don’t trust. I would feel even more comfortable in my leather armor, but I’m acting as a whore in this interview. Armor wouldn’t fit in.

Jonathan is at the members desk. Bruce asks him to let the guild master know we are there.

Soon, the errand girl shows us back to the guild master’s office.

Master Kessler sits behind her desk. She’s in a blouse and vest with a sheer skirt over leggings.

Master Kessler offers Master Craggs and Artisan Eslinger chairs. I am left to stand. Bruce begins. “Guild master, I understand you have some concerns.”

“Yes. Several of your descriptions of Ariel’s behavior concern me greatly.” Master Kessler placed two sheets of parchment on her desk.

“According to your report, Ariel has undermined your authority.”

What the fuck is she talking about? Bruce looks confused too.

“Which instances are you thinking about?”

“After Apprentice Greenway was ejected, according to your report, Ariel threatened to follow Greenway out and help her.”

Florence responds. “Guild master, I included that to show that Ariel cared about the ephemerals. Yes she was upset, but she was going to help out the people in her training group. She displays remarkable interest in them.”

“Ariel, why were you so interested in helping Greenway?”

“She just seemed so sad. I’d hate to be left like that. And I was thinking about what would happen if I could not cut it as a Whore. I wouldn’t want to just get kicked out suddenly.”

The guild master frowns. “So, you are challenging the guild policies?”

“Master Craggs explained why you do this. I don’t like it, but I will ... I did respect your policies.”

“So your sadness is the only reason you helped Greenway?”

“That and a quest.”

Master Kessler glares. “Tell us about this quest.”

“I have a quest to form a group of companions that can work together as we whore. I’m trying to show the others the benefits of working together. I think I’ve succeeded.”

“So you are manipulating the other trainees into being your personal resources.”

Am I? It’s a game. It doesn’t seem that sinister to work together with people. But yes I am trying to build personal connections.

Florence wants to know about the quest. “Ariel, is the quest about more than building a group that works together?”

“Not really. It’s the same quest about becoming a Whore, so it is also about succeeding at training myself.”