Intimancer

She took in their frozen expressions and gave a casual wave. “Dun worry!  I’m not actually mad ya jumped his bones.”

Sade was the first to speak. “I-I thought we were quiet.”  She squeaked out.

Tyr casually flicked one of her long ears poking out from her shaggy mane.  “Oh ya were, ya were indeed.  But me hearing is just a tad better than most.”  She wrapped her arms over their shoulders and gave a gentle hug to show she was being friendly.

“Sorry for that.” Rick said earnestly.

Tyr stood back up and walked back to her things.  “Relax! Ya would be surprised at how much public rutting happens back home.  I’m more surprised that Sade was the one ta crack first.  It’s usually the male who can’t keep it in his pants for more than a day.”  She finished stowing her things and then stood once more.  “In fact, maybe tonight we could-”

Something large crashed into her so fast that it was little more than a blur.  Both Tyr and the thing toppled over the side of the cart and thudded to the ground.

“Tyr!” Sade shouted and jumped off after her.

Rick pulled on the reins to get the panicked horse to stop from bolting and stay still, then scrambled back to find his weapon.  There was a roar from below and what looked like a humanoid bug was thrown to the trees from where his newfound friend fell.

Tyr rose from the ground a moment later and faced the tree line.

Rick finally got a look at the thing when it emerged from the greenery with a confidant gait.  ‘Bug like’ was indeed a good way to describe the creature.  From head to toe the thing was covered in an olive green shell that was streaked in tan scratches.  It stood on two thick legs while four long arms jutted out from holes in its chitin armor, each of its fingers and toes were capped with wicked looking claws.  Its plated head seemed only there to hold a giant mouth filled with needle sharp teeth.

The thing opened up its giant maw and roared in challenge.

From its eyes a red glow bloomed and the light traveled down across several cracks along its face, torso, and limbs.  Tyr threw her head back and let out her own bestial cry, her fangs on full display.  The two of them charged toward each other and met with a crash that would make a defensive lineman cringe.

The monster swung its lower arms at Tyr’s midsection and she caught them before those wicked claws could rip through her stomach.  Undeterred, the thing swept its upper claws towards her head from either side while both her arms were each busy with half of its available weapons.  Tyr managed to duck her head and the deadly limbs grazed past her auburn locks harmlessly.

Tyr let out another roar and her mighty arms tensed.  She pivoted her legs to the side.  Twisting her back and hips, she used her prodigious strength and momentum to throw the thing once more.  It crashed against a nearby tree with a thud that rattled every branch before hitting the dirt.

A long spear of ice shot towards the thing from Sade’s direction.  As the tip of the missile connected with the creature's carapace, it deflected off the rounded surface before shattering against the tree behind it.

“Balls!” Rick cursed as he scrambled out of the cart.

Sade managed to launch one more ice spike before the giant bug thing got back up and charged at Tyr once more.  This second projectile was just as effective as the first, bouncing off its armored thigh and impacting the ground with little more than a new scratch on the green surface.

Tyr leaped towards the charging creature and extended out both her legs forward.  Her drop kick connected right into the thing’s chest, halting both of their forward momentum, and they both tumbled once more into the ground.

Unfortunately for Tyr, her opponent recovered first.

It scuttled forward on all six limbs and grabbed her by both the thighs and ankles, claws sinking deep into her flesh.  The creature stood up, spun the elf around, and in an instance of payback, hurled her toward the nearest tree.  Her head impacted the hard wood first and she fell to the earth in a heap.

Rick was charging the creature now, his spear tip leading the way.  He was aiming at the dark purple flesh that could be seen from between each armored section where the joints would be.  He hoped it wasn’t nearly as tough as its armored shell.

At the last second his adversary turned to face him.  Rick’s spear rammed into its chest then skidded to the side, leaving only a thin scratch in its carapace for his effort.  A shout came from directly behind him.

“Duck!”

Rick obeyed the command almost on instinct.  He practically dropped to his elbows in front of his monstrous opponent before his rational side noticed just how crazy a move that was.

A watermelon sized ball of ice rocketed over his head and struck the thing square in its ugly face.  Its head snapped back from the impact, a few teeth mixing with the flying chunks of ice that shattered against its maw.

Dazed, the giant bug tipped back until it fell over on its back.  Rick seized the opportunity and rammed his spear into the soft flesh of its lower arm pits from his position near the ground.  The creature howled in pain as dark blood began to pool around the metal spear tip.  Before he could react, the thing kicked him in the chest with its clawed feet, ejecting the wood and metal shaft piercing its side, and sending him flying back a short distance.

Another ball of ice impacted against another armored limb.  With a loud crack the arm went limp at its side.  There was no time to celebrate though.  The creature leaped on top of Rick, furiously clawing with its two remaining uninjured arms towards his face.

Anger must have made it reckless, because many of the wild swipes not blocked by his spear shaft went wide enough for him to dodge out of the way.  Time was not on Rick’s side though.  One good hit and he was finished.

His frantic mind searched for something, anything, that he could use to kill the thing before it killed him.

His magic surged.  Without thinking the mana rushed down his left arm and erupted out from each of his fingers.  On pure instinct Rick brought his hand up and raked it across the monster’s neck.  His clawed fingers met as much resistance as paper and he sank over two knuckles deep into the tender flesh with his desperate swipe.  His claws easily ripped open the purple flesh like it was an overripe fruit.

Dark, boiling hot blood poured from the wound onto Rick’s face.  The monster spasmed as its lifeblood drained away in a dark waterfall, and the red glow throughout its body dimmed then went out as it died.

“Rick!” Sade cried out as she ran to him.

With both of their efforts they were able to shift the corpse of the creature off him.  He coughed and spat out the things blood from his mouth.  It tasted rotten, like meat that was left at the bottom of a trashcan in summer with just a hint of a copper taste.  He could feel the need to vomit rising and just barely held onto the rations they ate for lunch.

“I’m fine,” he finally gaged out “check on Tyr.  I’ll be there in a moment.”

She gave him one last worried look before she bolted off to check on their friend.  Rick lost the battle with his stomach and hurled up what little contents it held onto the grass.  He noticed a few dark splotches of color amongst the half digested food and figured that he must have swallowed some of the foul fluid while being doused in the stuff.

He involuntarily began to dry heave at the thought.

He eventually recovered enough to look around to find Sade cradling Tyr’s head in her lap.  Rick fought off the nausea, slowly got up, and stumbled toward the pair.

“How is she?”  He asked when he got close.

The elf looked roughed up.  Her leather pants were torn, with the edges of the new holes stained crimson from where the monster’s claws pierced her skin.  Rick prayed that her injuries looked worse than they really were.

Tyr’s eyes began to flutter and she groaned loudly.  “Ow… fuck.”  Her eyelids eventually opened fully and her emerald gaze met theirs.

“How are you feeling?” Sade asked with concern.

Tyr groaned again then sat up.  “I’ll live.  Got one hell of a bump on me head though.”  She reached behind her head and winced.  She looked back at Rick “Don’t suppose your magic is healing, is it?”  she asked with a small spark of hope.

Rick couldn’t help but let a chuckle slip though.  “No, no healing.  Just sex magic.”

The words hardly left his mouth before he realized what he just said.  His eyes grew wide and he saw Sade mirroring his expression, equally worried about what his slipup may cause.

“Oh, that's a might shame.” She chuckled weakly.  It was then that she noticed the expressions they wore. “Wait, ya were serious?!  How in the blazes does that work!?”

“We… aren't really sure actually.” Rick admitted.  He held out his hand to help Tyr to her feet which she accepted.  She stood shakily for a moment or two but was soon walking on her own power.  It seemed the cuts on her legs were not nearly as bad as he thought.  Either that or the elf could shrug off a hell of a lot of pain.

If he had to bet, it was probably both.  

She approached the dead monster.  With one arm she grabbed it by its shell and with a mighty heave, threw it quite a distance away into their cart with pinpoint accuracy.  Rick remembered being nearly crushed by the thing's weight when he killed it.  Tyr was most definitely stronger than she looked.

“We’re keeping that as proof.”  She said as an explanation then turned to face her two companions. “Alright, what happened while I was out?”

“Um, well… I tried to stab it right after it threw you.  I wasn’t able to get around its armor so Sade hit it in the face with a giant ice ball.”  He turned to Sade.  “How the hell did you do that anyways?”

Sade’s skin flushed just a bit darker in embarrassment.  “Well, the ‘ice spike’ kept deflecting so… I altered the spell a bit to change the shape.”

Tyr whistled and Rick’s jaw dropped.  “You can do that!?”  He turned to the elf. “She can do that?!”

“It is not completely unheard of.  But I do remember you also altered a spell successfully during the fight, Rick.”  Sade countered.

And she was right.  The normal formula for ‘elven claw’ required him to channel mana through both his arms to turn his fingers into magical claws.  But in his panicked state of mind, he only used his magic on his left hand.  Spells were more malleable than he thought.

They then explained how Rick was able to successfully stab the thing and then Sade broke one of its arms before Rick got pinned and then used an altered ‘elven claw’ to finish the fight.

“Remember what I said about ya when we first met?  How I didn’t think either of ya could fight?”  Tyr said while looking at the two of them. “Well forget it.  For once, I’m really glad ta have been so very, very wrong.”  She leaned down and wrapped the two of them in a tight hug.  “That thing would have torn me ta pieces.  Thank you.”

“Come on.  Let’s get back ta it.”  She said after she was done squishing the humans to her large breasts.  Both of them gasped for air while watching their friend hop back into the wagon.  They checked themselves once more before hopping on as well.

Once more they were trundling along the forest road.

“Alright, ya two got some explaining ta do.”  Tyr said about an hour after the fight had ended.

“About what?”  Rick demanded.

“Yer magic, duh!”  She stuck out her tongue.  “I’ve never heard of sex magic.  I wanna know what it does!”

“We do not actually know very much, Tyr.”  Sade said quietly.

“Well, what do ya know then?” She demanded.

“I, um… So far all we know is that if we make each other climax then my magic allows us to change ourselves slightly.

She looked at Rick with confusion at his explanation.  “What, like getting a bigger cock?”  Rick could only blush and look away from her.  Tyr saw his reaction and a wicked grin split her mouth.

“Oh my! That’s exactly what ya did!”  She cackled with glee then turned on Sade. “So is this how ya grew a pair of tits?  Ya boned him and started ta sprout some milkers?”

All they could do was nod and blush at their elven friend’s teasing.

“Alright, one question then.”  She asked, with a more reserved expression on her face. Rick nodded for her to continue, inwardly dreading what she was about to ask.

“So, if ya fuck me… would yer magic let me grow a cock?”

Sade had unfortunate timing by drinking from her waterskin when the elf spoke.  She sputtered and coughed before uttering out “W-what!?”

Tyr had a slight crimson tint to her ears and cheeks.  “Well… ya know.  Have it so I could… be with a woman in that way.  And well… keep me lady bits at the same time?”

Rick was slightly confused. “Wait, I thought you liked Captain Foltig.  Is he into that sort of thing?”

Tyr’s blush deepened “I thought I said that he doesn’t see me in that way!”  She hugged herself like she was genuinely scared to talk about this.  This was an entirely new side to her that Rick had no idea even existed.

“Look… I like both, alright?  Men and women.  To be able to lay with a woman the way a man would with me, it was always a thing I secretly wanted.  When ya told me what yer magic does, the ability ta make people grow… I just wanted to see if I could live out me fantasies.”

Sade finally recovered enough to speak. “I think that may be a possibility.”

Tyr’s mood brightened considerably. “Really!?”

Sade nodded in response, a wry smile tugging at her lips. “While I have not gone through all the possibilities, that was indeed one that I, uh, discovered while deciding what to change about myself next.”  Sade’s dusky cheeks hid any trace of color that would have shown but Rick had the distinct impression that his friend was blushing furiously as well.

She held out her hand to stop Tyr’s coming outburst at the news.  “It would cost five points of coital energy to grant you a small one.  This means you would need to bring Rick to release that many times before you could get what you want.”

She gave a cough and looked at him “We uh, we each only last once a night.  So…”

The elf’s shoulders drooped. “So I can’t just fuck him silly one night and be done with it.”

It was Rick’s turn to have his face go beet red at the turn in conversation then.  He had only slept with Sade.  As gorgeous and wonderful as their new friend was, he had no idea how to handle this situation.

His tongue felt twisted in his mouth.  What could he possibly say?  What did he actually want to happen?

Tyr looked down at the floor of their wagon.  Her eyes seemed to fix on the dead creature in the back and she shot back up to her feet with excitement.

“Hey!  Did either of ya gain a level?”

Rick seemed shocked by the sudden change in subject, but he was willing to go along with it for now.  He summoned up his character sheet and noticed that his level was now two.  “Yeah, I gained a level.  How would that-”

“Vocational skills!”  Tyr shouted back, interrupting his query.

Rick looked to Sade for an explanation.  He was still new to how this world worked and didn’t see how leveling up and his vocation were related.

“Ah yes.  So when a person first gains a level they can improve one of their stats and select a vocation based on what a person has learned up to that point.”

Tyr was looking at her as if to say that this was all basic knowledge.  It was, but Rick decided to ignore her for the moment.  He was the one who needed Sade’s knowledge, not the elf.  “But I already have a vocation.”

She nodded at his comment and continued her explanation. “Yes, for those who have a vocation each level after gaining one also grants a skill unique to that vocation.”

That was interesting.

“But why does Tyr seem so excited for-”

“Ya have sex magic!  There’s probably a skill that would have ya last more than a single round.”  Tyr shouted as if the answer was obvious.  He had to admit that it kinda was, now that he thought about it.

He mentally searched through his vocation on his stat sheet and a mental list sprung into his mind.  After a moment he found an option that fit what she described to him.  “I think you’re right.  There’s a skill that allows me to cum multiple times with a minimal refractory period.”

“Yeah! Do it!

Tyr was practically jumping out of her seat with excitement.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!  Hold up.”  Rick pleaded with both his hands up.  He looked at Sade for her opinion.  The last thing he wanted to do was screw up his build.  Well, his life really, considering he may be stuck in this world forever.  If he was going to advance, he wanted the smartest person he knew to help him.

She gave a slight nod and smiled in her assent.  He finalized his choice for vocational skill and then thought about what stat he could improve.  He could feel the small chunk of magic within him, waiting to be used.  It was peculiar, since Rick had only really delved into magic within the last few days.  It was like discovering a way to flex a new muscle, once learned it was hard to ignore or even imagine his life without it.

Focusing on his status, nearly all his stats were average to low, and each one had its own pro’s and con’s.  Should he make himself slightly stronger so that he could overcome future challenges with physical might?  How about intelligence to improve his mind and spellcasting ability?  He was a type of mage after all.  Then there was charisma or the other support type stats, each and every one could be considered essential for his continued prosperity in this new world.

He considered his options for another minute or two before finally putting the point into luck.

In his pondering he came up with a few reasons why Luck was something to focus on for now.  First was that it was the only stat he knew of that would be the hardest to train up outside of leveling.  Yes, wisdom and intelligence required him to literally get smarter to be improved, but it was still possible with study and a good teacher to guide him.  Which he had.

The second reason was that in both the fights he had been in so far since coming to this world, his luck was instrumental in preventing fatal injuries and allowing him to win when he really should not have survived at all.

He also considered meeting Captain Foltig, Tyr, and especially Sade to be guided by fortune.  He could just imagine what would happen if he raised his luck even higher.  With that complete he browsed his status one last time.

Alright, I’m done with skills and stats.  How about you two?” Rick asked his companions.  Tyr was practically jumping up and down in her seat from excitement.

“Ya got the skill?  How many times can ya go?  What else can ya do?”

Rick held up his hands to ward off the rapid fire questions the elf fired off at him.  “Whoa, whoa!  Slow down there.  Yes I got the skill, and I don’t know much else.”

He looked to Sade who had taken over driving the cart while he was distracted. “Most of what we know about my powers and how they work is through experimentation.  I probably won’t know my new limits until I test them.”

Tyr seemed mildly disappointed in his answer but took it in good stride.  She then announced that she also gained a level and new skill from the fight and shared her status with the group.

When Tyr said that she was basically better than they were in nearly anything physical, she was not joking.  If the math for how stats worked the way Rick suspected it did, she was nearly as strong as the two humans combined.  Little wonder she could toss a literal monster around like a sack of potatoes.

Rick was surprised that Tyr's level was so low.  Then again, Sade was around the same age as him and was only level one when they first met.  If one big fight was enough to gain a level, why were they not leveling up so much?  He asked the two about it and they began to explain.

“Most people want to train themselves up as much as possible before their first level gain so that they can get their chosen vocation at the second level.  The more you master beforehand, the better and more numerous the options will be.”  Sade said

“Yeah! And in case it wasn’t obvious, monsters are right deadly.  Best leave it to those who want to take up a hunting vocation instead.”  Tyr added.

Rick nodded in understanding.  Just because this world had a video game like system didn’t mean that the people would act like players in his world would.  There was no respawn timer or resurrection spell after all.  People here only had the one life they were given, same as back home.

Their explanation reminded him of something.  “Hey Sade, you leveled up too, right?  Were you able to select a mage vocation?  You were slinging magic around quite a bit back there.”

Her eyes fell and she was silent for a few moments.  “Well, I have a lot to think about right now.  Normally a student at the university would spend a semester honing their skills before being escorted to the wilds to gain their vocation.  Many of the options available to me are magically inclined, but I want to do some research before finally making my selection.”  She turned her gaze back to the road.

“This journey has opened my eyes to whole possibilities I never dreamed of until now.”  She faced her friends once more with a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.  “But I am happy that events transpired the way they did.  If I need help picking a path, I know I have good friends to guide me.”

She shared her status with the rest of the party.

Rick observed that she gained a point in wisdom.  Perhaps she wasn’t going down a specialist or min-max approach.  There is no way for her to respec after all.  Perhaps he should spend some time and really plan his advancement.

Ah well, nothing to do about it now.  I’ll just make sure to consult the girls on what to focus on when we make it to Shatak.

Before long the sun began to set below the tree line.  They had their horse pull over once again and the party made camp for the night.