Beyond Worlds: Mis-taken Hero - 07

Titus opened one eye and looked down his body at the two lapping at his prick. The lack of light coming through the window told him it was still very early, but the glow of moonlight off the snow was enough to illuminate the girl's faces.

"Starting early?" he asked.

"You said you were leaving tomorrow," said Adaya.

"And she wants to do something special," added Beri.

"Aren't you still in heat?" Titus asked.

"I am, but after last night, we figure you will still have enough for me once she's done," said the dog-girl.

Titus couldn't argue with that. Yesterday had been rife with debauchery, yet he still had enough stamina to go multiple rounds with Beri, with copious amounts of help from Adaya, before finally nodding off in a tangle of arms and legs last night.

Adaya climbed up and sat on his lower belly, then leaned down and made out with him as Beri moved around between his legs. The human girl's breathing became heavier and punctuated by throaty moans of pleasure from whatever her dog-hybrid lover was up to.

Beri shuffled around some more before grabbing his cock with an oil-slickened hand and thoroughly coating him.

"Alright, love, sit back," the dog-girl instructed.

Adaya sat up, bracing her arms on his chest, and scooted back. It was a poor angle for sliding into her sex, but Titus quickly realized that wasn't the women's goal. Beri held his cock in place as Adaya pressed her rosebud against it. The head slipped down and sank nearly two inches into her sex, making the woman shiver, but both women quickly repositioned and tried a second time to get his prick into her oiled sphincter.

"Are you sh--" Titus began, but his words were cut off as Adaya's pucker finally relented to her insistent pressure.

Beri's hand dropped down to massage his balls as Adaya slowly rocked back and forth, taking him just a tiny bit further each time.

After a minute, Titus grabbed her hips and said, "Stop."

"Am I hurting you?" Adaya asked.

"Not at all, but your ass feels amazing, and I'm going to finish in about two seconds if you keep going." The twitching of his cock as he tried to hold off the looming orgasm nearly sent him over the edge anyway.

When he seemed to be out of the danger zone, Adaya rested her weight on his hips. His cock took notice of the movement and twitched a few more times before calming down again.

"Unlike most men, you don't need to wait between climaxes," she said. "Are you sure you don't want me to move?"

"I do," he replied while continuing to hold her hips in place. But I don't want to rely on my ability to get it up multiple times in a row. I'd rather be a proper cocksman than depend on getting it up over and over. Besides, I'm supposed to be trying to get Beri pregnant, and those are lost opportunities."

"I can respect that," said Adaya. "but you don't have any trouble taking your time when doing it other ways."

"You... just feel too good right now," said Titus, "and this is only the second time I've been in a woman's rear."

"That makes more sense," said Beri, peeking around her lover to smile at Titus. "I told you, you are tight back there."

"He is a lot bigger than your fingers," Adaya admitted, "and your tongue," the woman admitted before pulling Beri up into a passionate kiss. As the women made out, Titus rocked his hips slightly, letting Adaya know he was ready for her to move again. The human wrapped her arms around the dog girl and moaned into Beri's mouth as she began sliding her bottom back and forth on his prick again, continuing to take him deeper each time. When she sat fully on his cock, Titus held her in place a second time as the tightness and warmth of her rear brought him to the edge of cumming again.

"Sorry," he muttered.

"Don't be," said Beri, breaking their kiss. "She's enjoying this."

"Soo full and soo stretched," moaned the human before meeting his gaze and smiling. "This is the longest a man has ever lasted in my rear."

"I definitely understand why. Beri said you wanted something special. I hope stopping like this isn't ruining it."

"This is just the first part," said Beri. "Are you ready for the next step?" she asked her lover. Adaya just nodded. The dog girl looked down at Titus and smiled. "I appreciate you saving your seed for me, but if you need to finish, don't hold back on my account." Beri's hand came up and roughly grabbed Adaya's breast and rolled the nipple between her fingers before dragging her fingers down to the human's sex. They quickly found her clit, and Adaya began making little rocking motions with her hips as Beri played with her button.

Titus raised his knees and put his feet flat on the bed. "Lean back, I want to see," he said. Adaya didn't respond, but Beri leaned her lover back before resuming her ministrations. The dog girl noticed him staring intently at where he and Adaya were joined and stopped playing with her long enough to spread the human's pussy with her fingers. Titus grunted, and his hips jerked at the sight. Adaya's clit stood out proudly, begging for attention. The woman's entrance opened and closed over and over as she flexed her inner muscles around his prick. Just below her entrance, Titus's cock, covered in a thin sheen of oil, moved ever so slightly in and out of her bottom. Her pucker seemed reluctant to let him go each time she lifted up, pulling outward slightly before he began to slip free. Adaya wasn't moving much, which was a blessing for Titus, or he would have certainly cum already, but her squeezing and grinding on his prick was starting to take its toll.

"More oil," panted Adaya. Beri slid around behind her lover again, and a few seconds later, Titus felt the warmth of her oil-slickened hand on the base of his shaft. That was Adaya's cue to lift herself off his cock. When he slipped free of her rear, the woman let out a long moan before leaning forward and looking down at Titus with a smile.

"Enjoying yourself?"

"Absolutely."

"Good, because I think this is the most fun I've had with my backside," she said before moaning from something Beri did.

"I'm happy to help. But I doubt I'll be able to last much longer."

"Like Berri said, don't hold back. I want to feel you empty yourself in my bottom. Many times if you can."

Titus grunted as the dog-girl stroked his cock, applying a fresh layer of oil.

"She's been watching you spend yourself inside me over and over since you arrived," said Beri. "Do this for her, please."

Before Titus could answer, the dog girl held his cock in place again as Adaya lowered herself. Though still tight, there was significantly less resistance this time, and Adaya quickly sank down to the base of his shaft again. Beri's head popped up over her lover's shoulder. One hand went to Adaya's breast while the other found her clit again.

With more lube, Adaya's grinding intensified, and Titus absolutely loved the sight and feel of his cock slipping in and out of her rear as her breath came in labored gasps and her face twisted with pleasure.

Titus grabbed her hips, but not to stop her from moving. Instead, he began raising and lowering her on his cock. The sights, sounds, scents, and feel of fucking Adaya's ass finally became too much for him. Titus shoved his hips upward as he brought her down, then held her there as he painted the inside of her bottom white.

The women cooed words of encouragement as he filled Adaya's rectum with his seed. When the last spurt burst from the head of his cock, he smiled up at them weakly. "Sorry, I was trying to hold out until you came."

Beri rolled her eyes. "Quit worrying about it. Everything is going just like we hoped."

"But this last part is the special thing I wanted to do."

"And that is...?"

"You'll have to wait and find out. Let us know when you're ready to continue," said Beri.

As Titus lay there recuperating, Beri again reached for Adaya's clit. Her fingers lacked the urgency from a minute ago as she explored and caressed her lover's folds in between tracing lazy circles around Adaya's pearl.

Titus had heard that cumming too much in a short period of time could become painful as a man's body tried to pump out fluids that just weren't there. The hero's body that Theus and Saili designed didn't appear to have that problem, as his balls seemed to refill completely, even after back-to-back orgasms. But Titus's favorite feature of his body so far was the near lack of refractory period. Though he softened slightly after cumming in Adaya's ass, he never went completely soft and, in only a few minutes, began hardening again from the woman's rhythmic squeezing.

As he hardened, Adaya's squeezing turned into grinding. Beri noticed the change and asked, "Are you ready for the last part?" the woman just nodded in response. "This is something she has been wanting to do for years now," the dog girl explained to Titus while coating her fingers with more oil from a cone-shaped decanter at the foot of the bed. Adaya rose up without releasing his prick from her bottom, and Beri slathered his shaft with it once again. "All the other men we've tried this with climaxed and went soft within seconds. We don't need to worry about that with you."

"And if you are in my rear, then you can't get me pregnant before Beri," Adaya added while sinking down onto his prick again. She then straightened out one leg and passed it over Titus's chest before slowly turning until she faced away from him. The entire time, she gripped his cock with her ass, and Titus thoroughly enjoyed the twisting sensation as she turned on his prick.

Once settled, Adaya spread her legs as wide as she could and leaned back, bracing herself on his chest. Titus reached up and put his hands in the middle of her back, offering what he hoped was more comfortable support than bending her arms back like that.

Titus changed his grip and moved his hands further out when Adaya began rising and falling on his cock. The woman's moans seemed to get a tiny bit louder each time her asscheeks touched his groin.

Hidden from his view by Adaya's back, Beri shuffled around near the foot of the bed for a few seconds before he felt her breath on his cock and balls. Her tongue tickled his scrotum for a moment, then licked up the underside of his shaft before the dog girl found her true target. The moment Beri's tongue found her lover's clit was unmistakable as the human sat down hard and her ass clamped down around Titus's prick.

One of Adaya's hands shot forward as she begged, "Not yet. Not yet. I've waited too long for this. I don't want to climax so soon."

Titus leaned to the side to see her holding Beri's head away from her sex. "I'm glad it's not just me," he chuckled.

After a couple of minutes, Adaya started moving again, and Beri's tongue immediately went to work on the woman's sex. Titus imagined that the girls must have cleaned Adaya's bottom out before starting all this because Beri had no qualms about licking his shaft occasionally as it slid in and out of her lover's ass.

Adaya looked over her shoulder at him. "There's another reason I wanted you to finish earlier." Before he could ask what she meant, the woman lifted herself off his cock. "There's your treat, Beri."

Titus watched his cum drip from the woman's bottom onto his cock for just a second before Beri's long tongue dragged over her pucker. The dog girl had been quite clear his first night that she loved the taste of a man's seed, and she moaned deep in her throat as she cleaned Adaya's rear.

Between panting breaths, Adaya explained, "When we first became lovers, I didn't see my bottom as a place of pleasure. Beri changed that. She loved licking and putting her fingers in my rear as we made love, and I slowly began to love the feeling as well. It also showed me the importance of being clean back there, in case you were worried."

Titus grunted as Beri's mouth engulfed his cock. "I wondered, but assumed you two knew what you were doing," he groaned as the dog girl's tongue swirled around his prick. Once she had cleaned him, Beri bobbed on his cock for a few seconds before stroking his shaft with an oil-coated hand and pointing it at Adaya's sphincter again.

Adaya wasted no time building up to a steady rhythm as she rode his prick, and Beri's tongue resumed licking her lover's sex. But something wasn't working. The faster Adaya's hips moved, the harder it was for Beri to keep licking her pussy.

Frustrating as it was to do this for the third time that morning. Titus grabbed Adaya's hips and stopped her. She growled with annoyance at the interruption, then squeaked with dismay as he rolled them both onto their left sides, then scooted back to the middle of the bed. Titus slipped out of Adaya's rear during the maneuver but quickly placed his cock against her pucker and slipped back inside. Finally, he grasped her right leg by the knee, lifted it into the air, and held it there, exposing her sex for her lover's lips and tongue.

Beri quickly crawled between Adaya's legs and began lapping at her pussy as Titus started sliding in and out of her bottom.

"Oh..." she said after a few seconds. "I think I like this more."

"Relax and enjoy," said Titus as he reached around and began massaging one of her breasts. Let Beri and I take care of you."

Adaya took him a little more seriously than he intended and did exactly as he said, relaxing her entire body completely and surrendering herself to their ministrations. The next few minutes were filled with Adaya's contented sighs and moans as Titus toyed with her breasts while sliding in and out of her bottom, and Beri alternated between teasing her clit, lapping at her pussy like a dog, and occasionally sliding her long-thick tongue into her lover's sex and fucking her with it in time with Titus's thrusts.

Annoyance flickered across Titus's expression before he raised his head and said, "Beri, you need to speed up." Despite relaxing her body and also the grip of her bottom on his cock, sliding in and out of her ass felt exquisite, and he was rapidly approaching his limit.

Bedsheets twisted in Adaya's hands as the dog girl's tongue attacked her clit. What had been a casual Sunday drive now became a race to the finish as Titus thrust faster into her clenching backdoor. As her climax approached, Adaya began throwing her ass back into him, trying to take his cock even deeper.

One hand grabbed Beri by the hair and held the dog girl against her pussy while the other one wrapped in sheets came to her mouth and muffled Adaya's scream as she came. Titus was only seconds behind her as the woman's ass turned into a velvet vise around his cock, pushing him over the edge. He short-stroked into her ass while filling her rectum with seed for the second time that morning.

After taking a minute to catch their breath, Titus slipped free of Adaya's ass and rolled onto his back. Adaya did the same and lay next to him, panting. Beri crawled between his legs and quickly but thoroughly cleaned his cock and balls with her tongue, then lifted Adaya's legs into the air and went to work cleaning her lover, working from the top of her sex downward. Titus sat up and scooted around behind Beri before sliding off the bed.

"You two enjoy a cuddle," he said, throwing on a robe. "I'll go put some water on for tea."

Titus grinned. That had been a helluva way to start his day, and he still had another attempt at putting a baby in Beri to look forward to. This was going to be a fantastic morning.

---

Adaya was floating about the house as she prepared to go to work that morning. At first, Titus attributed it to the morning they had until he realized that gravity didn't seem to be acting quite right on the woman.

"I cast my lightfoot spell when I was making breakfast for you two. It seemed appropriate with how I felt," she said when he asked her about it after they finished eating and Beri had left to go take care of washing this morning's bedclothes.

"But does it make you float like you are?"

Adaya looked at her feet in confusion before answering, "No, it just lets me walk on top of the snow and not sink as deep in the mud."

Titus got up from his seat and picked the woman up. She wasn't heavy, to begin with, but now it felt like she barely weighed anything. When he let her go, it was unmistakable that she fell to the ground slower than she should have.

"What...?"

"It's Saili's blessing that I was talking about yesterday. It made your magic stronger. I want to copy your spell before I go home. It will make the trip back a lot faster."

"It'll cost you," she said with a sly grin.

"What's the price?"

"A repeat of this morning the next time you come to town."

Titus scoffed, "I'll give you that for free. Name a different price."

"Then promise me in two years you'll come back and give Beri's son or daughter a sibling."

"I will agree to that. However, I don't know if I'll be back in two years, so we need to change that to 'two years, or whenever I return after two years.' Also, we don't know if Beri will get pregnant on this trip, and it can take between a few hours and three days for it to happen."

Titus felt the faint mental twinge of Saili trying to tell him something and closed his eyes. His expression became one of concern, then worry before relaxing slightly as he opened them again.

"Beri is unlikely to get pregnant this time around. If I understand this correctly, she has a condition called fibroids back in my old world. Fibroids make it very difficult for a woman to conceive but not impossible."

"How could you possibly know that?"

"I wish I could explain that to you, but you would need to have the knowledge of someone from my world even to understand the concepts. Even I don't understand exactly how it all works, so it's best to say that Saili told me. The important part is that, unlike back in my world, fibroids here are curable. It will just take time."

"How are they curable?"

"Saili's blessing. It appears that I have a small amount of control over the blessing when I give it to someone, and I have unintentionally instructed the blessing to cure her fibroids. However, the blessing works slowly, so it is unlikely she will get pregnant during this visit.

"Unintentionally?"

"It seems as though the blessing picked up on my desire to heal Beri and began working on it without my specifically saying so."

Adaya hefted her breasts. "Does that mean that I could ask you to make these bigger?"

"The impression I'm getting is, no. If one was cut off in an accident, then the blessing might be able to grow it back over a few years with lots of visits from me." Titus pulled Adaya close to him, a hand dropped down to her bottom, and his fingers pressed against the fabric directly over her pucker. "What it could do is increase how much pleasure you feel in certain places."

"Yes, please," she moaned before coming to her senses and stepping back from his embrace. "You're evil offering me that after the morning we had."

"Did I miss something?" asked Beri poking her head into the dining room on her way to the kitchen. She held a wad of freshly washed sheets that had been on the bed this morning. Rope lines were strung across the kitchen to hang laundry near the warmth of the fireplace during the cold months.

"No, Titus was just being mean. You should stay away from him. He's evil," said Adaya in a flat tone as she prepared to leave for work. "You probably should tell her what you just told me."

Titus spent the next few minutes as Adaya donned her winter clothes explaining the revelation Saili had given him.

"So, because of these fibroids, I can't get pregnant?"

"You can, but the chances are very low with your specific condition."

"And the Goddess is going to cure me?"

"She's doing it right now, but it takes time. Most likely, we will have to try again on my next visit."

"But there's a chance I could get pregnant."

"A small one, yes."

"Good enough for me, she said. After tossing the bedclothes into a chair, Beri flipped the skirt of her dress up and leaned over the dining table. "A small chance is still a chance, and more tries make those chances even better," said the dog girl as she flipped her tail straight up and showed off her dripping sex.

Adaya chuckled as she walked over to her lover, "I forgot you were still under the effect of Haim's medicine." She gave Beri a long goodbye kiss before bouncing out the door with a giggle.

Titus had been worried that Beri would be horribly upset by the news he had just given her, but she seemed mostly unfazed. 'Unfazed' probably wasn't a strong enough word considering she was bent over trying to seduce him this very moment. However, she did have a point. More tries meant more chances of success. Titus reached for his belt buckle as he stepped up behind the dog girl.

---

After an extended visit with Haim, who complained that Titus would happily fuck a girl's ass but not his after hearing about his morning, Titus stopped by the shopping district to spend some of the money he had earned yesterday. He bought a silver pendant with a dark amber stone that reminded him of Alise's eyes and a few other more frivolous supplies like some small, sealed jars of candies that should stay fresh until the winter passed and they could come to town again. After dropping those off at Beri and Adaya's, and getting accosted by the dog girl for yet another baby-making attempt, Titus made his way to the adventurer's guild.

As he approached the front door, a group of adventurers stepped out into the cold and started in his direction. There appeared to be a mage, a fighter, a tank judging by the large shield, and two fighters, one a lithe male and the other a black-haired woman in half-plate with piercing blue eyes.

Their gaze locked for a fraction of a second before he tore his eyes away for fear of being rude. The lady fighter was beautiful, and she walked with the confidence of someone with genuine skill.

As he reached for the entrance's handle, a metal-clad hand beat him to it. The swordswoman pulled the heavy door open while grabbing Titus's upper arm before yanking him inside.

"What the hell?" he said as she all but dragged him toward the guild's counter.

"Reis? What are you doing?" Li asked, looking between her and Titus with growing anger.

"Valta beat me in the arena this morning," she said while fishing out two gold coins and slapping them onto the counter. "One for his fee and one for the room. I'll pick up the change when we're done."

"Valta has been practicing," said Li as she pulled out a room key.

"Bullshit. That drunkard never practices. She depends solely on her strength to keep her alive. When we fought, it was the same boost magic and the same half-assed sword style she always uses, just a lot stronger and a lot faster." Reis turned her glare toward Titus, "And after hearing about Raithe, it's not hard to figure out how Valta got so strong overnight."

"Damn you, Reis, I was going to steal him first when he got here today. Titus," she said, holding up the room key, "you get the final say in who you take as a customer."

Titus yanked his arm out of Reis's grip and took the key. "I'll take her, but it'll cost her extra for dragging me around like that."

"How much?" Li asked.

"Not in coin. I have something else in mind. Follow me."

"Don't give me orders. I paid for you," Reis snarled.

"Then take your coins back. Li is taking care of the business end of things, but you heard her, I get the final say on who I sleep with and how. But you've seen firsthand the effects of receiving Saili's blessing. Are you okay with being only second best to Valta? Or are you going to do things my way?"

By this time, the commotion at the counter had drawn a small crowd, and her face reddened with embarrassment.

"Is Raithe here?" Titus called out.

"No, she left with a party of amethysts earlier today. She isn't expected to be back for a few weeks," said Li.

"An ivory went with a group of amethysts?!" shouted an adventurer. "That's a ten-level difference! She'll be slaughtered!"

"Silence! The guildmaster tested her and approved her recruitment," Li shouted above the growing din.

As the exchange between Li and the adventurers continued, Titus stared at Reis's face. "Ready to play by my rules?" he asked, holding out a hand.

"Fine," she said with a snarl, then looked away as she placed her gauntleted hand in his.

---

"Not exactly how I was hoping this visit would go," said Titus as he closed and locked the door to his room. "Go ahead and strip," he told Reis.

"Is that really necessary?" she said while starting to remove her armor.

"Not Really, but I'm sure you have an amazing body under that armor, and I want to see it."

"We can't just get this done and over with?"

"I'm a man, and I like to have fun in bed. It's just as important to me that those I'm with enjoy themselves as well."

"You're saying I need to climax to get Saili's blessing?"

"Not necessarily, but I would like you to look forward to your next visit for more reasons than just gaining power. However," Titus peeled off his coat and shirt gingerly, then held up his arm for inspection. Her handprint on his upper arm was already turning purple. "Damn, you're strong. However, you did this, and I'm not happy with you because of it. So, you're going to do everything I say before you get what you paid for."

Reis rolled her eyes. "Like what?"

"Once you are done taking off your armor, do a sexy dance for me as you take off the rest."

"What?"

"Sway your hips back and forth like you would if I was someone you really wanted to sleep with and smile at me like you would a lover. Then do that as you slowly take the rest of your clothes off."

"Is this some ritual you need to get hard? Because if not, it sounds like a waste of time."

"You know what, you're right. It is a waste of time, but it's supposed to be a fun waste of time. However, from watching you move, I doubt you could do a striptease that would even be passable, much less enjoyable for me. You're too rigid, too militaristic. So, we're going to do something else, something more your style. Strip naked and stand with your arms straight out to either side and your legs spread with feet slightly wider than shoulder-length apart."

"Why?"

"I'm going to inspect you," said Titus. He hadn't missed the flicker of dismay when he doubted her ability to do a striptease.

"What are you inspecting me for?" she said while setting her gauntlets on the room's table and starting on her underclothes.

"Nothing in particular."

"So, it's still a waste of time."

"But it's a waste of time that's more your speed."

"My speed?"

"A phrase from my old world. It means that it suits you better," said Titus as Reis began undoing the buttons of her last layer of clothing and revealing the skin beneath.

"You said 'your old world.' Will you be trying to go back?"

"Even if I find a way, I'm not interested. Calar is my home now."

"I heard that the Heroes' worlds were filled with wonders like flying winged carriages and buildings that touch the sky."

"They are. My job was in one of those buildings."

Reis paused. "Really?"

Titus nodded. "And from the front door of my building, you could throw a rock in every direction and hit another building just like it. They are amazing sights at first, but lose their wonder when they are all you see day after day. After a while, you start to resent them because you can't see the sky without looking straight up. But I'm originally from a small town out in the country where there are trees and hills on the horizon. I'm sure that the people who were born and lived in my old world's cities all their lives don't feel like I do.

"The flying carriages are much the same. Airplanes are impressive in their engineering and what they do, but they are also everywhere. It's hard to not look up without seeing the trails they leave in the sky. Hunting some magical monster with you sounds much more interesting than flying in a plane again."

"You flew one of these airplanes?!"

"No, I flew in one. I was a passenger. Only much more talented people than I am are allowed to touch the controls. Airplanes are dangerous in amateur hands, much like a sword. They don't let just anyone fly one."

"But... they are merely carriages."

"Carriages that weigh as more than this building and have enormous wings filled with the oil they use to fly. When they crash, it creates a fireball that dwarfs the largest any mage in Calar has ever cast."

Reis undid the final clasps on her clothing and removed them, revealing a shift-like final undergarment, which she pulled over her head without a hint of hesitation.

"Like this?" she said, adopting the pose he requested.

"Perfect," he replied, commenting on more than her pose. Reis's body was very close to perfect, as near as he could tell. Her breasts were on the small side, but that was to be expected of a woman who would have looked at home in any women's sport outside of shot-put or weightlifting. He remembered seeing some videos of women rock climbers and thought that was probably the closest fit to the swordswoman. Titus approached her and gently squeezed her forearm. There was hardly any give.

Walking around in front of her, he said. "I expected you to be beautiful under that armor, but your body is truly amazing."

A blush tinted her cheeks. It was the first time she had shown any embarrassment since they entered the room. "H-How do you mean?"

"Valta has larger muscles than you," said Titus, "but yours are like iron, whereas hers are copper in comparison. It's clear to me that you train much harder than she does, and based on your bodies alone, I would pick you as the likely winner in a fight."

"Which is why I can't stand that she beat me earlier," Reis grumbled.

"Downstairs, you said something about her boosts being too strong."

"She uses a strength and a speed-boosting spell, same as always. But this time, I couldn't keep up, and when her blade hit mine, it felt like she was wielding a greatsword, not a longsword."

"What boosts do you use?"

"None."

"What?"

"I don't use boosts. They are for weaklings and cheaters."

"Is there some reason you can't use them? Is your magic weak, like Raithe's was?"

"No."

"Then you are an idiot."

Reis's arms dropped to her sides, and she spun to face him, her face red. "How dare you!"

"Dare I what?" Titus snapped back, leaning in until they were nose to nose. "You are going out on quests, risking your life while essentially tying a hand behind your back."

"Boost magic is for weaklings!"

"If that were a real fight to the death between you and Valta earlier, you would be a corpse right now. How much good will that asinine pride do you with a sword through your chest? Get dressed and leave," said Titus, sitting on the bed.

"Leave?! I paid for this!" she screeched.

"Then get your money back from Li. Valta beat you because I enhanced her boost magic. I don't know what kind of effect, if any, Saili's blessing will have on your physique, and any changes will be slow to come. As you are, I'd be a waste of your gold, and in a few days, you would start calling me a liar and a thief. I don't need that kind of mark on my image. It's best if you leave." Titus looked Reis up and down, "Although, I truly hate that you are going to cover up that body of yours. You are a stunning woman, Reis."

The swordswoman dressed and donned her armor in silence before storming out the door and slamming it behind her.

Titus closed his eyes and flopped back on the bed. He lay there wondering if that was actually the best way he could have handled that. Probably not, but he couldn't come up with any better ways it might have gone, either.

A few minutes later, his door opened and closed. There was no telltale rattle of armor, so Reis hadn't returned to kill him, he hoped. A body joined him on the bed but Titus kept his eyes closed until he felt something cool and tingling touch the bruise on his arm.

"Reis was furious when she left," said Li when he looked up at her. "What happened?"

"She doesn't use magic when fighting even though her opponents do. I told her she was an idiot."

"That would do it. Still, something you said must have gotten through to her. She left the price of this healing salve out of what I returned to her and asked me to bring it to you. We've been trying to get her to add magic to her sword skills for years. What exactly did you say?"

"That if her fight with Valta had been to the death, she'd be a corpse."

"Again, that would do it. Valta is obsidian rank to Reis's peridot. The thought of dying to someone that far below her skill level must have been sobering."

"Glass, Amber, Ivory, Jet, Pearl..." Titus listed, raising a finger for each rank. "Ummm..."

"Malachite, Obsidian, Lapis, Opal, Peridot, Jasper, Quartz, Amethyst," Li finished for him. "At least for our guild."

"Three ranks. Wow."

"The difference in power gets wider as you go further up the ranks, but defeating someone three levels higher is still no small feat."

"How high do they go? As an amber, I haven't paid much attention to the higher ranks."

"Diamond is the highest at rank twenty-five. Very few adventurers in history have reached Diamond rank without being a Hero."

"Are you saying I have a chance of becoming Diamond rank?"

"I'm saying that I only have a limited amount of time to be up here, and I didn't just come to put healing salve on you and talk about guild ranks." Li threw a leg over Titus and settled her pussy right on top of his cock as it tried to make a tent in his trousers. He was reasonably certain she wasn't wearing panties or any other undergarments. "Raithe and Valta both said that you are insistent on your partner enjoying herself. I hope you can make an exception for the sake of time. I do need to get back to work."

Titus sat up and wrapped his arms around the woman before rolling Li onto her back. Then he stood up beside the bed and stripped off his trousers. "I'm afraid I'm going to deny your request," he said, looking down as the receptionist let her knees fall apart and exposed her damp sex to his hungry eyes.

"I was hoping that would be your answer," she replied as he crawled between her legs. Titus grabbed a pillow and pushed her legs back until her butt lifted off the bed, then slid it beneath her lower back before letting her down again. "This is diff... erent," she said, her breath catching as Titus placed his cock at her entrance and slid inside. "But very, very nice," she moaned as he started sliding in and out of her. "The other girls are going to love you."

Titus answered by leaning over Li until he had to put his arms down to support himself and hammering his cock into the receptionist.

------

The only tears shed as Titus left Beri and Adaya's the next morning were because Beri was still feeling the effects of Haim's medicine, and the dog girl wanted to keep trying. Did he care about them? Yes. Did he enjoy their company? Yes. But he didn't love Beri and Adaya like he loved Alise, and so they said their goodbyes as friends. Intimate friends, but still friends.

Lylean was still dark and would be for another hour before the sun began to lighten the sky. With no recent snow, the road was easily visible by moon or starlight. He only needed to follow the two dark streaks from carriages and wagons traveling the road. But tonight, it had been overcast, which made the world around him much darker than usual. Still, when the sun began shining on the tops of the clouds, Titus was still on track and making good time.

The true test would come when he stepped off the road and if Adaya's lightfoot spell would be enough to keep him on top of the snow and not plowing through it. He still had his snowshoes, but simply walking would be so much quicker and easier.

This idea of every human having one or two personal spells intrigued him. After taking care of Li and one other guild receptionist, Titus made his way down to the dining hall to see what he could discover.

Most fighters had the same two spells Valta used. A few of the shield-bearing tanks used a spell combination called fortification, which consisted of impact and knockback reduction. These both sounded like the same thing to him, but the spells were significantly different, so they must have different effects. Rogues and thieves typically showed him spells that helped avoid detection or aided in persuasion. Rangers offered no surprises with enhancements to bow accuracy and tracking.

Titus jotted down any of the spells from those who would let him, but many refused. Though many of the spells did the same thing, there may have been minor modifications that made them unique to that adventurer which they did not want to share.

The sun had risen, but the skies were still gray when Titus reached the bulge in the forest line that would lead him back home. He even found his tracks from where he joined the road on his trip to Lylean.

He pulled a scrap of paper out of his pocket and stared at it as he formed the circle and muttered the words to fill it. The spell glowed light blue before disappearing, and Titus took a hesitant step onto the snow bank. His foot sank as he hopped up onto the surface of the snowfield, but not as much as expected, and his other foot stayed almost entirely on the surface. After a few steps, he concluded that this was akin to walking in about an inch of snow instead of nearly three feet. Smiling that he would have good news to tell Adaya, he set off into the forest, anxious to get back to Alise.

To the west, dark clouds filled the sky as an ominous wind whipped across the land.