New Start Plus

by omaster43

given a second chance doesn't mean 'go bananas'. Take your time, the universe ain't going nowhere, have fun with it. oc-insert. gamer-x/over. slow start. random updates.

20. Chapter 20 Hope and swords

Ch. 19

Hopes and Swords

-/-

Nick POV

"Parshaara!" Sten called out. Thank God!

Training complete!

Due to your hard work and determination, you have leveled up two skills!

Fisticuffs – expert! + 90% to any unarmed damage

Jeet Kune Do – advanced! + 40% to unarmed damage when using this martial art

These skills stacked together are ridiculous, add my strength and I'm a deadly murder machine. The Gamer is a terrifying power, absolute power, I need to keep an eye on that. Healing my injuries, I gave Sten a nod.

"Need some help?"

"No." he chugged a health potion. He may have gotten used to a flying rock, but he still didn't like magic. "The soldiers are weak." We looked out to the open field watching the farmers and volunteers running around in their new armor, practicing with spears and swords, and helping others move ballistae to the walls.

At the moment, I was down in the military camp, doing my afternoon training with Sten giving the trainees a show. The blight storm has been getting closer and closer, 4, maybe five, days, but no more after that, Denerim will enter DEFCON 1.

"They're farmers, carpenters, blacksmiths, some even beggars. I doubt any of them were ready for a blight." I pointed out, pouring water over my head and wiping off the sweat.

"They are Bas, not Bas-kas."

"Maybe not but put anyone in a corner and they tend to use it to turn the tables." ah metaphors~, ya got to love them.

"Mmm." He took a swig of water. "The Darkspawn approach. They are not ready."

"Is anyone?" Our numbers slowly grew over time as the darkspawn got closer and closer, with the last chance of running long since over, they decided that they would take their chances on the wall. The free armor, training, and education were nice bonuses. "Most Blights last years, we're trying to stop it cold within what? 6 months? Beggars can't be choosers."

"Nick! Sten!" Ayla called out walking over. She was wearing... clothes. Yeah~, clothes. She looked like a harem dancer. Lily nearly had a heart attack.

"Ayla." I greeted.

"Imekari," Sten muttered.

"What up girl~?"

"Sereda's ready to make the western trenches." The trenches weren't for hiding, this wasn't World War 1, they were meant to slow down an enemy.

"Got ya. Sten, ya returning to Mother Base?"

"No, I'm working with Duncan, the Arishok ordered me to learn about the blight and Duncan knows a great deal."

"Panahedan, then," I waved him goodbye; he just gave me a nod. I gave a whistle and Dogmeat was at my side, boy was just happy to get out of the house and away from the pups, it's not like he didn't care for them, but the pups have gotten to their wandering phase of their puppyhood and have been getting in every nook and cranny they could find, driving him and their mothers into a panic, he just needed a break.

"So, you think we're ready?" Ayla asked as we walked to the western entrance.

"We're as ready as we are going to be. The biggest problem we had was experience, the last blight was like 400 years ago, everyone thought the threat was dealt with, and putting on the back foot and scrambling to get everything ready for the upcoming battle. Not only that Cailan is going to need to deal with the aftermath, from what Duncan told us, the taint tends to corrupt the land it touches, so any farmland the Darkspawn passed by may no longer be usable, Lothering was a large farming village and according to Hawke it was attacked by a deadly vanguard. Food will be tough to grow for a while, meaning Cailan is going to need to trade with other countries."

"That doesn't sound too bad."

"Not until the country you're dealing with suddenly ramps up the cost of wheat or grain."

"Would they do that?"

I gave her a shrug, "Maybe, it depends on how much Ferelden needs the food and how ruthless the other countries are."

"Can't you or I do anything about the taint?"

"Maybe, we've only helped living people who had contracted the taint, curing nature falls more in the realm of a druid."

"How does one become a druid?"

I rose an eyebrow at her, "Didn't I already teach you about mage subtypes?" I could have sworn I gave a lecture about that.

"heh~, I was only half listening." she shrugged.

I pinched her cheeks, "Focus when I'm teaching you important information."

"Owowowowow!" she slapped my hand away. "Sorry, geez, I just became a cleric, and I was learning to read and write, there was also a thirsty dragon pawing at me, give a lady a break." she healed her cheek.

"I'll reteach you the subclasses with Dagna, we have yet to go into depth about mage subclasses. You will be taking notes."

"Boooo!" she groaned. It wasn't that she disliked learning, she just disliked the pop quizzes I would give her.

We continued walking out the camp, occasionally healing someone, gaining a crowd of 'true believers', Dogmeat forcing them back with growls and barks, they'd run away, lather, rinse, repeat. It took us an hour and a half to get to the western gate where we found an annoyed Dwarven princess, a grumpy Tiefling, and over a dozen beaten-up dwarves.

"Uh~? Who are these guys?" Ayla asked walking over to the nearest dwarf.

"Leave them," ordered Julee. "Fools don't know when someone's off the market." The sneer she gave was Snape levels of annoyance. You would think a month of beatings and rejections would get the Dwarves to back off. "I'll leave the trenches up to you and Nick." she gave Sereda a kiss on the cheek, causing her to blush and roll her eyes. Julee skipped over to me, gave me a kiss, and led Ayla and Dogmeat off to a lunch date. "Have fun! Love you!"

"Hate to see you go, love watching you leave~." I sighed, she turned enough for me to see her sticking her tongue out at me. I shook my head and gave Sereda my full attention. "You look like you were having fun~."

She blushed harder and scoffed, leading me out to the field. "Those fools won't take a hint. I thought my little trick with Julee would have worked by now, but it seems like my fool brother Belen wants to make me a paragon-"

"And every fool who wants his favor is trying to marry you." I finished.

She let out a long groan, creating an earth bench and slumping into it. "Ya know, I knew that I would have suitors but with my brothers around I believed I wouldn't have to worry as much. Men can have multiple mistresses and concubines, so the bloodline was in no danger of dying out, especially at the rate Trian and Belen were going at it."

I created a chair next to her, the trenches could wait. "I'm guessing, you don't like all the attention."

She blew me a raspberry. "I didn't even like being in Orzammar~, everything revolved around traditions and killing darkspawn. The sky is beautiful, the sun's warmth, the green of trees, the saltiness of the ocean, the coolness of clouds~. If I marry, I'll be forced to return to Orzammar."

"Forced? You? I'm pretty sure no one has the strength to make you do anything." That got me a laugh. "what's brought this up?"

"The blight is around the corner."

"Mmm."

"And after the blight? What do I do then? Where do I go? Do I have to follow the darkspawn into the deep roads, at the command of my God? I don't wish to return there."

"Then tell that to the Stone. Being a Paladin isn't a lifelong duty, most of the time it starts with a God needing something done, a sword to fight the wicked, a wrong that needs righting, but some battles last a long time and the paladin that starts the journey isn't always the one who finishes it."

"But I like earthbending."

"I'll teach you how without the gloves," I'll just buy something from the Gamer store that allows me to do that, hopefully, it's nothing like when I unlocked my Chi, that shit sucked. There's a reason you're either born with it or you take years of training to unlock it. "And you know Mother Base is your home as long as you want." She looked over at me.

"Yeah~, with you and your wandering hands~." she teased.

"Oh yeah~, what about all those times you 'helped' with my stretches~? You were very... helpful~."

She gave me an embarrassed cough, "Shut up! I was just making sure you weren't doing it wrong!"

"uh-huh~, and Ayla, Neria, Jak, Julee, Sky-"

"Shut up! Can we just do the trenches!?" she huffed, red-faced.

"Is my butt at least firm?" I dodged a rock the size of my head.

The trenches didn't take too long, unlike Denerim's new wall the trenches were mostly located around the entrances so no ogre or makeshift battering ram could get any speed. With the trenches finished we took the rest of the day off, there really wasn't anything else we could do, most of the soldiers were being trained by the wardens and dwarves, so we ended up eating some Linner.

-/-

Welcome to the Gamer's Store!

According to Cailan's scouts, the horde is about a week away, so why not have some last-minute shopping fun, so I preheated my oven and started baking, I tend to get a serious face when I'm baking so most people don't disturb me. Doing the usual, I looked through things I could never afford.

phoenix – 3,000,000,000 gold

Zoid – 6,000,000,000 gold

Deathstar – 192,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 gold

As well as things I would never buy.

Frostbite spider(pet) – 50 silver

Monkey's Paw – 10 silver

Skinny jeans cursed with Otto's Irresistible Dance – 50 copper

That last one would make a funny prank. Now let's see some deals~.

Piccolo's Clothes Beam - 15 gold

Purchased!

Holy! Piccolo's clothes beam! That shit's one of his most underrated powers. God, I'm imagining all the fun I could have with that.

Clothes beam! - Put some clothes on! You can now fire a beam that can create clothes. MP cost fluctuates from outfit to outfit.

You are unskilled! You start at initiate rank

Warning this skill requires concentration! Clothes can come out wrong if unfocused!

Clothes are magical and can't be copied!

Dip, but that's fine, I don't mind, this skill is still pretty cool. I've been thinking of buying more wizard learning books.

Wizarding book – 150 gold

Holy shit! It only cost 10 gold at Rezum per book, the markup was crazy! I think I'll just restock when I go back. Let's see what else is out there.

I ended up buying a bunch of How-to-for-dummies books, Lyna, Julee, and Dagna have been recreating things at an insane rate, cameras, TVs, simple radios, flashlights, things I once took for granted they made, probably changing this planet forever. At the moment, they were trying to build a water wheel engine at the Drakon River in the alienage, to harness the power of electricity. I feel that water runes and gravity can be made into a waterfall that could turn the wheel, but they wanted to make it without magic, I think they just wanted to show off their big brains.

Along with the books I bought some miscellaneous things like oil paints, canvases, pens, pencils, paper, that sort of stuff, Dagna's art lessons are coming up and I have no doubt others would like to join in.

And lastly

Felix Felicis – 75 Gold

Purchased!

Thank you for coming! No refunds!

Alright, with 6 gold loot boxes, 2 gacha tokens, 1 silver box, and 2 random book scrolls, it's time I roll the dice one more time.

You have consumed Felix Felicis, your luck has increased 10-fold for the next hour!

Before, I drank the potion after I opened my boxes, let's see if this does anything different.

Do you wish to open your silver box?

Yes

You have gained

10 gold

1 gacha token

1 random skill scroll

1 feather infused with feather fall

10,000 EXP

Mmm, before I got common skill scrolls, so I guess that's better.

Do you wish to open your gold boxes (6)?

Yes

You have gained

300 gold

3 gacha tokens

3 rare skill scrolls

1 ring of storing

1 ring of telekinesis

1 staff of the Magi

150,000 EXP

Level up!

58 – 60!

HOT DAMN! A staff of Magi! That shit is as overpowered as the Flaming Poisoning Raging Sword of Doom, in the right hands. Part of me wants to give it to Morrigan and see what would happen, but a larger smarter part is telling me that would be a bad idea. Maybe just rub it in her face.

You have 6 gacha tokens, do you wish to use them?

Yes

Gacha Spin!

1 cloak of invisibility

1 robe of the Magi

1 potion of growth

1 ancient elven runic armor

1 sling ring

1 silver horn of Valhalla

What the hell is a silver horn of Valhalla?

Silver horn of Valhalla - when the horn is blown berserker warrior spirits from Valhalla appear within 60 feet of you. They return to Valhalla after 1 hour or when they drop to 0 HP. Once you use the horn, it can't be used again until 7 days have passed.

It was super cool, it had beautiful low relief depictions of Odin, his warriors and a picture of Thor holding Mjölnir over his head unleashing a bolt of lightning, I'm not touching this thing, not that it wouldn't be awesome, but Valhalla falls into the domain of Odin and the last thing I want is to go around messing with his warriors, maybe if I give it to Ayla, she might be able to summon someone from the chantry religion. Thoughts for later.

You have 3 random skill scrolls; do you wish to use them?

Yes

Arcane bolt – Death by a thousand cuts! You can now fire spheres of magical energy at an enemy, dealing moderate damage and weakening their resistance to the energy used. 10 MP per bolt, 8 – 10 HP per bolt.

You are unskilled – Rank Initiate

Key manipulation - you can create, shape and manipulate keys, shaping and combining them as needed, or moving them with telekinesis. MP varies from key creation. 10 MP per second for every key manipulated

You are unskilled – Rank initiate

Juggling - you, either innately or through training, are a master of juggling and are capable of juggling different kinds of objects. CP cost varies from the object being juggled.

You are unskilled, but due to your Dex and Str stat you start at Journeyman

Key manipulation? What the hell is that? Does it mean I can never lose my keys? I already have a ring of telekinesis, but I guess I can now create one of those giant fake city keys and lay waste to any fool who gets any ideas. Does that mean I don't need to break locked chests and just make a key? Juggling, okay, I guess. I mean, what I'm I supposed to do with that? Can I juggle anything as along as I have the CP, cause that's overpowered?

You have 3 rare skill scrolls, do you wish to use them?

Yes

Fire bending – 'the power of fire bending comes from the breath, not the muscles' - Iroh. 15 CP for every cubic foot of fire.

You are unskilled – Rank initiate

Clairvoyance - I see dead people. The ability to perceive a person, object, location, and physical events through extrasensory perception. 20 MP per second.

Tracking has merged with this skill! Rank Intermediate.

Power bestowal - 'Now relax as I reach deep inside you and grab hold of your essence' - Super Kami Guru. Ability to bestow powers or jump-start latent powers. CP and MP costs will vary from person to person. This skill can only be used once per person.

You cannot use this skill on yourself

You are unskilled – Rank Initiate

So other than my inevitable march toward Avatar status, my new powers a pretty good, I guess, they wouldn't get in the way of my current build at least. If I unlock someone's power, do they gain Chi, magic, or just power up their stats, maybe all three?

"Nick!"

"Huh? Wha? Yeah?" Coming back to reality, I found an annoyed Morrigan, along with Ayla, Dagna, and Lyna, who were moving around the baked goods so they could sit. Jak and Julee were also helping... kinda.

"I'm not eating sweets for dinner." Looking around I found the kitchen filled with baked goods and all kinds of sweets. Oof that's a lot of sweets, my cooking skill was getting a workout.

"Don't listen to her!" Julee cried out shoving cinnamon buns down her throat like there was no tomorrow.

"Why is that one glowing?" one of the buns was placed under a glass top. "Looks magical."

Cinnamon Bun of Love – this Cinnamon bun was created with a dash of magic and a lot of love! Any one who eats this will gain a permanent 30 HP and have all their stress melt away for the next hour!

This sweet was created by Nick Walters.

The hell? Looking through my notifications I found one popping off with a firework gif.

Congratulations! You have created your first legendary object! Your Cooking skill has leveled up to Master Rank!

You can now add temporary magical effects to your food.

You're one lucky man! You have created something only someone at a Grandmaster Rank could accomplish! Luck +1!

This bun has been placed in a magical service tray that only you can open.

"Whoa~," I muttered, I looked around finding more glowing sweets but none of them were Grandmaster Rank and they all had a lesser glow to them.

Cinnamon Bun of Joy - this Cinnamon bun was created with a dash of magic and a lot of care! Anyone who eats this will be healed for 30 HP and have all their stress melt away for the next 15 minutes!

This Sweet was created by Nick Walters

Holy Waffles Batman! "Julee you're going to ruin your dinner," I called out.

"This is my Dinner!" she countered shoving another bun in her mouth.

"She's a lost cause." Jak sighed.

"You have no ground to stand on," Morrigan muttered, and true to her statement Jak was also eating sweets just as quickly as her sister, she was just putting up a front by using utensils.

"Okay, that's enough!" I called out, "Morrigan get those sweets away from them."

She gave me an incredulous look, "You're a special type of crazy aren't you, we both know they bite."

"Mmm, SKY! Jak and Julee feel lonely!" rushing stomps came from the living room, holding a wide-eyed blushing Neria covered in gold lipstick, Sky's favorite color. With the speed of a cheetah, she put down Neria and had Jak and Julee in a bear hug giving them kisses. Jak and Julee, still in the throes of their sugar madness, bit her, any other person would have let go, but Sky... liked it rough. Her eyes grew large, and her pupils fully dilated, she gave me a single look and rushed out of the room, two munching Tieflings in her arms.

We all just stood in the quiet.

"Gold looks good on you~," I teased Neria, breaking the silence.

"Shut up! I-I was just minding my own business, and next thing I knew there was an eight-foot heavily muscled woman, with very strong arms~…-" she lets off a cough, "- she didn't give me much of a choice."

I just gave her a deadpan look, "Sure, I believe you," I didn't believe her, "Can you help get these out of the way?" I pointed to all the sweets. "Just shove them into your bag of holding, we'll think of something later."

Dinner came and went with most of the warriors and Wynne just coming over for take-out having to get back to the troops, much to Julee's and Jak's protest, I gave them the left-over sweets to give away. At the moment Julee, Jak, Dagna, Sky, Nat, and I were cleaning up... well Dagna, Nat, and I were cleaning up, Sky was eating any leftovers, and the sisters were arguing over the Grandmaster ranked cinnamon bun that was still in the table, they were in the bribing section of their fall to madness.

Julee just looked at me, put a finger in her mouth, and made a popping noise, "mmmm?" she bounced her eyebrows at me.

"I'll take it!" Sky answered slamming her hand on the table. She reached over to the glass that covered the bun, only to struggle to move it, "Hold on, nnnngh! Almost got it, nnnngh! Come on. One moment! Nicky~!"

"Sky, Julee does that anyway. It's not a fair deal," If all the gold kisses covering Julee's face meant anything. "I want a coupon book."

"A coupon book?" Dagna asked.

"Yeah, you know~, massages, romantic dinners for two, roleplaying~," I teased bouncing my eyebrows at her. "Nat? Ya wanna get in on this?"

"I didn't make it?" she huffed.

I walked over and began massaging her shoulders, trying to relieve her stress, she's been having bad dreams with the horde getting closer, making it difficult to get a restful sleep, followed by training with the troops and wanting to be active in her relationships, she's been burning the candle at both ends. Julee and I have been trying to create a magic dream catcher to help her sleep, but whatever connection she had to the Archdemon was strong enough to tear it to pieces.

"How about we take tomorrow off, wake up late, have breakfast in bed, just watch TV, and get fat on ice cream," I whispered.

She let out a soft groan, "That sounds great, but I can't-" she gave a soft moan, "-The horde is too close, I can't take any breaks." Part of me just wants to cure her of the taint and take her far from here, somewhere the archdemon couldn't touch her, but that wouldn't be fair to her, she told me it was a tempting offer, but she owed Duncan for saving her life.

I kissed the top of her head, "I love you~." She gave a smile that could outshine the sun, she reached up and pulled me into a deep kiss.

"And I, you~," We lingered on our next kiss for a moment, tasting one another, finally breaking apart for air.

"Alright, ladies!" I called out to Jak and Julee, who were writing up a storm of coupons and trying to look over each other's shoulders to see if the other had something they didn't. "I'm giving the bun to Nat, so if she doesn't want it, you can bribe her~."

This time Nat pinched my cheek, "You little bastard, you're just trying to get out of choosing."

I gave her a spank, causing her to jump forward into Julee's arms, who was quick to unleash her trait and feel her up right on the table.

"You're the worst," Dagna teased.

"Gasp! You're jealous," I reached over and gave her a kiss, "Astral~!" Astral's head popped into the room, stinker was waiting for us to finish cleaning, so she didn't have to help. Not saying a word, I began nipping at Dagna's neck, causing her to yelp, while Astral was ok with Dagna dating others, she was still a dragon, and watching me take something she considered hers tends to raise her heckles.

"Hey! That's mine!" She ran at me, but I twisted out of the way keeping Dagna just far enough away.

"Nah-uh!" I licked up Dagna's neck activating my Foreplay skill getting a moan, "See I licked her! That means she's mine!"

She wrapped her tail around Dagna pulling her away, "Don't dirty my Dagny!" she licked Dagna's other side.

Dagna's face put cherries to shame, "Ya Walters are all pervs~!"

"You say that but you're smiling~," I teased.

"Shut Ahhh~!" she moaned as Astral shoved her tongue down her throat.

"Mine!" Astral hissed carrying an embarrassed Dagna away, only to bump into Sky.

Reaching down she pulled Dagna from Astral's hand shoving her tongue down her throat, followed by doing the same to Astral. "Mine," being bigger and stronger than Astral, Sky, by dragon culture, had full right to anything Astral had. Returning Dagna to Astral she spanked her out of the kitchen. "Punk." she huffed.

"Alright, alright~, the dishes are in the cleaner, and the table is clean, and the leftovers are put away-" Sky gave me a thumbs up, "- let's help Nat with her stress~."

-/-

"Ahhh~." I took a good look at my reflection in my bathroom window. "I need a haircut and a shave." I rubbed my scratchy face. Turning to my very naked morning shower buddy, "Nat can I borrow your magic razor?"

"NO!" Julee called out from the bath. "You just got it the way I like it! It's bad enough Natty doesn't want to grow one!"

"It's too itchy," Nat answered shaving her face with her razor and lathering her face with some anti-hair growth cream Bodahn sold in the alienage, it was good to see him and Sandal got to Denerim safely. He told us his epic merchant adventure, I would have called shenanigans, but the man had leveled up two points, and while it wasn't a lot, he was just a merchant. Julee and Dagna bought all of Sandal's runes and Sky bought all his jewelry but sold some of hers in return. Bodahn was more than happy to buy dragon-made jewelry. I of course had to fulfill the wardens end of the bargain and made his cart self-moving.

"Fine but I'm getting my hair cut." It was getting long enough that Lily tried braiding it.

"I can live with that. It was fun having a grip, but my hand got tangled last night." Julee sighed.

"Yeah, I know." I hissed rubbing the back of my head. She got into it and yanked too hard.

"I said I was sorry~. You were too good, and I felt like I was falling," she muttered not looking at me. That's how I knew she really felt bad, she loved watching my naked bum. I walked over and gave her a kiss.

"I love you." her grin returned and pulled me into another kiss.

"You want me to cut your hair?" she whispered rubbing my fuzzy face.

I shook my head. "Nah~, I have to teach Dagna how to cut hair." There was a small ripple in the still water, the only warning I got before Sky emerged from the bath like a crocodile. It would have been more effective if I didn't know she was in there already, so when she jumped out at me, I was prepared. wrapping my hands around her waist I used my strength and pulled her out of the tub.

"I almost got you~." Sky smiled wrapping her legs around my waist. I'm happy I put points to my STR otherwise this would have been very difficult.

"Ya know~, I sometimes forget how tough ya are," Nat muttered through her toothbrush. I don't blame her, I had muscle, but I wasn't built like Sten with huge biceps and an eight-pack, or a weightlifter like Oghren with a muscle gut. I was big but lean, built more for endurance, I had a six-pack, but it wasn't in your face, as if it was made with a grid, I just looked... healthy, I guess, I don't know, I never really thought about it. I would be shirtless at the beach if that meant anything.

"I workout~," I teased lifting Sky up and down getting a yelp and laugh. She shoved her head into the crook of my neck and purred.

You have been bitten by Sky Skipper for 1 point of piercing damage! Lover's Mark! You have taken 0 damage, the bite mark can't be healed, and the mark will fade in one hour!

"Sky~, Nick has business with Telsa, so no lovemaking!" Jak called out brushing her hair next to a smirking Nat.

"No worries! I only wanted to fuck." I don't know why, but it sounded weird when Sky talked crassly.

"That's even worse. You start, Julee gets hot and bothered, so she plays with Nat, and I'll feel left out so I'll join, and we won't leave the bathroom until noon, missing Ava's, Lyna's, Neria's, and Dagna's breakfast, and Lyna has been really looking forward to it." We just looked at her.

"Well, she's not wrong," Julee confirmed tapping her lips. "Alright, alright!" she got out of the bath. "Breakfast first! Then sexy time!" she declared, pointing to the ceiling while striking a pose.

"Don't you have a morning date with Neria?" I asked.

"Oof!" she bent over as if struck.

"And aren't you and Ava 'sneaking' more of their stuff into Mother Base later today?"

"Ah! You know about that?" she gave me a sheepish look.

"Sweety. They've been living here for nearly two months. They've moved out of the guest room and have their own rooms. Lyna even has her own workshop station."

"Hehe, you got me. I guess after that?"

"We have dinner, and you have to 'sneak' more of your clothes into my room, Jak pretty much moved in and Nat's on her second drawer and toothbrush-" I teased; Nat just gave a thumbs up. "-and Sky has a gold brick under the bed."

"I need it to sleep," Sky drawled like she was explaining it to a child. I gave her a spank.

"I've even been moving Dagna into my room," Jak answered not surprised at my deduction. Oof, that was even less subtle, Dagna would carry so many things at once that it would obstruct her view. You only have to see a ball of clothes and books bump into a wall once to get a clue about what's happening.

"Has she been liking her new room?" The house on top of Mother Base had room for six people to have their own room but I ended up merging two rooms for Astral and Sky's vault room and made the last room an emergency escape pod if anything goes down, leaving rooms for Jak, Julee, and I.

"Ecstatic. Can't take three steps without running into one of her rune projects. Girls messy." Yeah, Dagna's one of those sloppy geniuses that have a strange place for everything, usually the floor. Had to lay down the law in the Rune lab, I didn't want to step on something dangerous.

"I've been trying to get her to fix that habit." I sighed.

"I've fallen that far behind!?" Julee groaned, "I got to start moving in, 'the secret collection'," you mean your skimpy outfits, I still don't know how she got Ayla and Dagna to become her models, but she's trying to get Neria, Nat, and Ava to model for her.

"You do that, I need a haircut." I gave her a kiss and walked out the door.

-/-

"Dagna~," I called out walking into the kitchen. "Oh! That smells good!" I walk over to the counter. "What ya cooking, good looking~?" I reached out for some bacon only to get Dagna's stick of doom. "Ouch!?"

"Food's not ready." She said without looking at me. "Go sit over with your sisters." she pointed her spoon at Astral who was reading a Wonder Woman comic and Morrigan who was drinking some coffee and reading the Daily Thedas, a newspaper Telsa and I created after learning that most information people got was through word of mouth. At the moment, it was just detailing the blight and the preparations Cailan and Anora are making to fight it, there were also details on where people were supposed to go as the blight nears. Cailan and the rest of his generals and advisors had me build another wall around the docks; Duncan explained that if we sent people up north the Darkspawn would just follow the undefended civilians.

Telsa was ruthless during the dock wall contract, before all I just sort of agreed to a certain amount of gold not really caring about the money, I was in it for the EXP to begin with, but Telsa wasn't having any of my financial opinions. While it was smaller than the wall around Denerim she got massive tax cuts and the right to buy land in Ferelden! That's huge! Owning any land is usually reserved for nobles and their knights, Telsa scoffed, 'we could buy the land, but it didn't come with a Noble title, so Anora will try and gouge me for any land, trying to get her money back'. In layman's terms, we were just going to move money around in a circle, the cost will keep the nobles from getting their panties in a twist and I get land, win-win, I guess.

With the civilian populous given safety and a way to escape, and a place for reinforcements to come in, things were looking up.

"Morning~." Nat called out, rushing over to Dagna giving her a kiss on the cheek, and taking her breakfast and lunch to go.

"Stay safe~, I called out to her retreating back, she gave me one last wave and jogged out the house, her griffon already outside. "Morning," I sat down across from my sisters.

"Morning!" Astral cheered.

"How are your minions?" I asked. She's gotten a following of kids, orphans I think, to do things for her allowance. They were mostly kids, with some teenagers here and there, she's been having them sweep the streets with some of my Magic Brooms, they banished muck and dirt to a vanishing box I made and placed on top of Mount Drakon.

"Good! They're cleaning the ugly from the city!" she huffed, her nose reaching for the ceiling, proud of her little workers.

"And making a profit," Telsa added walking into the room. She was dressed to impress there, but she always dressed like that. The funny part was that it was her PJs, a buttoned-up silk shirt with silk pants and probably silk panties. "Muppet." She huffed at Dagna.

"Hag." Dagna passed her a cup of coffee and walked over to us.

"I've been promoting their cleaning skills and have been selling their skills to city blocks for a monthly subscription." Telsa continued bringing out her own paper, I had noticed how clean the streets had been. "The general store is going to need a restock on toilets and toilet paper soon." Of all the things I made, bathroom supplies were the most loved. In case you're ever isekai'ed and do not have access to the Gamer's store, toilet paper is made from virgin wood fibers or from a combination of recycled paper pulp mixed in water with chemical sulfates to help it break down, starches that create wet strength and chemicals to make it white. Virgin fiber toilet paper is made using softwood and hardwood trees. Trust me no one wants to wipe their ass with a leaf.

"I'll restock it later today," I promised. "And you, Mory, have anything planned today?"

"No. Everyone's preparing for the blight, and I don't want to gain the templars' attention. They're already jumpy with all the Dalish mages walking around." she drawled reading the newspaper. "'The king has a map of the whole world!' Nick, are you allowing people to show this?" she asked, showing me a picture on the third page. It showed Cailan arms crossed standing around the Globe map with Duncan and some of his advisers.

I shrugged, "That's up to Cailan, it's not my business if he wants to show off his toys." I flipped the page and found a comic strip of a mabari with a large wizard's cap, with a staff in its mouth. Next to him was a Templar reading a note, 'I'm a stick mage.' "Heh, cute. How's the Newpaper doing?"

"Good, with the cost of your ink and paper being so cheap, they're making a profit, and with the need to read rising, more people are signing up for your reading lessons you're offering." lately I've been teaching in the market square to level up my Teach skill, I'm trying to reach master, it gave me the ability to make magic tombs that taught you spells like Skyrim, I wanted to see if they worked like the skills I gained from the gamer's store. I seriously doubt I could just teach someone Fireball, but I think Firebolt will work, it's just a weaker form of Fireball. I'm just happy Teaching leveled up by a combination of the teaching material and the number of people learning, and reading and writing wasn't a simple thing to learn.

"Cool-cool. Tomorrow is our last lesson before we go to Defcon 2." While it was good for people to become literate, I wanted them secure before the blight got here. "So, Telsa what do you want to show me?" She was rather excited last night about something she discussed with Anora in her financial meeting.

"Oh yes! I'll show you after breakfast, I think you're going to love it." me or you? She was now jumping in her chair.

"We made it!" Julee cheered skipping into the room, followed by Jak, Nat, and Sky. She tried to take some bacon but got the stick of doom for her trouble. "She gets that from you," she whined sitting across from me.

"She does rock that apron pretty good." I teased.

Julee huffed. "I guess you're right. Her chest puppies are asking to be petted." she giggled like an old man looking over to Dagna." and that's one short skirt~?"

"Ugh~. Can't you keep your... Urges, in check?" Mory groaned.

"This coming from Ms. My-shirt's-to-tight?" Jak teased. Morrigan's gotten lazy with her seduction, she's lucky Aeden's wrapped around her little finger.

"I had a rough day! Some Templars wouldn't leave me alone! I needed to relax!" she huffed as we laughed at her lame excuse.

"You weren't even wearing a shirt~." Jak teased, her face was growing red.

"Shut up!"

Alistair took that moment to tactically roll into the room, sword in hand, fully armored, and gave the room a once-over. "Clear!"

"Alistair! Please. You don't have to do this every time I walk into a new room!" Elissa groaned, walked into the room.

"I was just-"

"I'm fine~. Have I ever been hurt in Mother base?" She whispered softly holding Alistair's face with both her hands.

"No, I guess not," he muttered leaning into her touch and putting his sword away.

"So~, how's Ms. Cousland this morning?" I teased.

"Fine. Just this dork busting every door in here looking for threats." she huffed, taking the seat Alistair pulled out for her.

I finally figured out what was wrong with my rune array. Ms. Elissa Cousland... was pregnant. Apparently, Alistair got it in his head that the magical ring that stopped pregnancies hampered his... mojo, I blame Zevran and Oghren. You know what, I shouldn't leave Elissa out of this, she's wily~.

You can imagine the shocked look on Morrigan's face, I don't blame her, Wardens have less than a single percent chance to impregnate or to become pregnant, but it happens, just look at Alistair. Aeden couldn't be happier, kissing and celebrating, while choking Alistair with their off-hand, Fergus took it better than Aeden but did threaten Alistair in the calmest way possible.

Their wedding was set after the blight. Technically Wardens weren't allowed to get married, well, to political figures at least, but I could cure Alistair of the blight, I was just shocked he wanted to. Alistair loved being a Grey Warden, it was pretty straightforward, fight darkspawn, save people, travel, lather, rinse, repeat, until dead. Wardens were respected throughout most of the world and were given a lot of leeway, and he was happy for the freedom it provided from his royal obligations, but for Elissa, he was willing to give all that up.

Morrigan was not happy. Sure, she had a soft spot for Elissa, but she wished Elissa had her baby after the blight. The only relief she got was that Elissa was sitting out the battle on Mother Base, so she still had a chance for her God baby.

"Have you thought of a name?" I asked.

"Steven," Alistair threw out.

"No," Elissa rejected the name.

"Rick."

"Mmm, no."

"... Bryce."

"N-," she froze at her father's name and looked at him. She reached out and caressed his face. "You don't have to use that name."

"It's a strong name. He raised three of you." she playfully patted his face.

"And if it's a girl?"

"Betty."

"No," she giggled pushing him away.

"They're going to be at it for hours." Morrigan groaned.

"Breakfast is ready!" Dagna called out walking over to the table with a large plate of food followed by her cooking team. If I have to say anything about Fereldan food It would be 'hearty', it was meant to fill you up with the least amount of food, it's good, a bit heavy on the fish and turnips but it was still good.

"That was some fine breakfast," I complimented.

"It's the turnips," Ava answered cleaning her lips. She had her normal kuudere face, but you could feel the pride she had in her cooking skills.

"And the fresh fish!" Lyna huffed; she caught them last night, which explained the new fish tank in the living room. Fearing parasites and unknown diseases I healed the fish to max HP, which was a bit sad cause one of the fish had a broken back, it was delicious though.

"Are you saying my ingredients aren't fresh?" I teased.

"I'm saying they could be fresher~," she countered with a smirk.

"Oh, I'll give you fresh! Ya punk!" I thump my chest.

"Ehhh~, I've heard somethings about your food, and fresh wasn't one of them~." she flexed. The nerve! I flex back.

"Are you big strong men finished?" Morrigan drawled, not amused by our might.

"Oh hush, you're just annoyed that Aeden's down at the soldier's camp." Julee huffed annoyed at her for trying to stop us. Most of the group was down by the military camp, Duncan, Aeden, and Nat were teaching small group tactics, Wynne was teaching healing spells, Oghren spent his time with Felsi, Theron was teaching his students, Zevran was helping the city elves set up defenses, Sten and Shayle were helping the troops.

The Blight storm is now tainting the sky overhead, it hasn't blocked out the sun, yet.

-/-

I rubbed my fresh hair cut thanks to Dagna as we walked down the newly cobbled streets. Denerim was tense. Before, the citizens had the belief that the battle would be fought elsewhere. That the army would march out and fight the Darkspawn far from the city, but the older generation knew better, they'd lived through war and knew that no place was safe. Any who could leave did so when Loghain arrived without the king, this left the buildings and land up for sale.

"It's a bit expensive but you'll own the entire block," Telsa said showing me what used to be a large neighborhood now empty, anyone who used to live here ran some time ago. She was wearing her business suit, a black two-piece waist-hugging suit, with a moderate black skirt that reached her knees, her hair was pulled back into a bun with a few strategically placed strands of hair out of place to make her seem approachable, and cute half-moon glasses. Oh, she didn't need the glasses, she wanted the rune work Julee and I added to them.

"Telsa? Why are you telling me this?" I get that this is a good spot for renovations, close to the docks, Market, and a guard post, but the blight was six days away if the quest I got this morning was correct.

Quest: Origins. We are canceling the apocalypse! The 5th blight marches towards Denerim, if not stopped it will grow out of control!

Time of arrival: 6 days

Rewards: 100,000 exp, 2 gold loot boxes, 3 gacha tokens, 100 gold, Title: Ferelden's artificer

Bonus: limit the destruction of Denerim

500,000/500,000 Durability of Denerim's wall

Rewards: Title: hero of the people, 50 gold, 2 gacha tokens

"Real estate, Nick! There's money to be made!" She had that look in her eyes.

"Keep it in your pants, gold licker." Dagna huffed. She was still working with Julee, modeling her rather... mighty outfits. She was in a power girl cosplay, boob window and all. I don't know what Julee had on her but three weeks of cosplay has dulled her embarrassment about every new one she got.

"Ew, Nick keep your talking nug on a leash." I see Dagna and Telsa are still at each other's throats.

"Ladies~, please. Telsa, I'm not saying that there's no money to be made but the blight is nipping at our heels."

"And that's why I wish to buy it now! Denerim's not making any money on this empty land, so Anora's willing to sell it to us for a lump sum with reduced taxation. We buy it cheap today, remodel it after the blight, and rent it to the returning citizens," she explained.

"No-no, I got that part. I trust in your haggling skills to get it cheap, and the fact that we won't need to spend on costly construction workers to make the houses is a forgone conclusion, seems straightforward, just make sure we have a paper trail. What I wanna know, is why you're asking for my approval? You have full control of my wealth." The amount of money I had in the vault along with the constant amount of money from my golems, I didn't have to worry about money.

"I know that, I just want to confirm that you would want to fix the neighborhood. It wouldn't be worth the investment if you didn't want to remodel." She's really taking the CFO position seriously.

"What's the cost?"

"About 500 gold, but I'm sure I can knock it down to 450."

"That doesn't seem like a lot." I knew I said something stupid by the look she and Dagna gave me. "What?"

"Nick. A normal family of five could live off that money for decades, maybe even a century if they're frugal." Dagna pointed out. Oh my god, have I become one of those spoiled rich kids who crash a car and just buy a new one cause I can?

"Right~, sorry, just forgot," I muttered lamely.

"That's fine, this is the reason you hired me." Telsa huffed, looking at the city block we were about to buy. "Can you make it, so the center has space for a small indoor park? making the buildings seem like the gate?"

"mmm~, we'd need to buy more of the surrounding neighborhood if you want that, and we would have to change the streets. No doubt that would take some time to be approved." she waved away the idea.

"I'll handle that, worry not. I'll have some artists commission my ideas and get them to you. Thank you for coming out here, I know the blight draws closer." she gave me a soft bow.

"Don't bow, you look silly. Your Telsa of Denerim, CFO for Nick Walters, and Dagna's rival, you bow to no one!" I said bringing her close and casting an illusion in the air of her name in shiny gold, "And I didn't have much to do." With the army teambuilding, the only thing I've been doing was helping in the mess hall, feeding the soldiers, and avoiding the wardens, every single one of them wanted a damn griffon. If I remember correctly there are supposed to be secret griffon eggs somewhere, right? I remember if Blackwall joined the wardens, you get a letter with a griffon feather in the end credits. Where the hell would I even start looking for them? Maybe if I just told the wardens that they exist they might leave me alone.

"Either way, it's good to see you care about your finances. Make sure to make some rounds around your property and businesses, it shows your employees that you care and that you're around."

"Mmm~, I guess." It's not like I had anything better to do. Dagna and I waved Telsa goodbye, well I waved Telsa goodbye, Dagna told her to get bent. Telsa then told Dagna to stop oinking like a pig, she didn't want people to believe I was a farmer. Good lord, I'm going to have to put these two in a room and make them work it out.

"Must you antagonize her?" I asked as we walked to the nearest apartment I own.

"She's too shifty, and it's not because she's an elf! It's cause she's a gold digger."

"Oh, just bone already~," I scoffed.

"Bone? Bone!? BOOOOOONE!?" cheese and crackers. "I WOULDN'T TOUCH HER IF SHE WAS THE ONLY THING KEEPING ME ALIVE FROM FREEZING TO DEATH!" She grabbed my face so I could see the seriousness of her words. Oh yeah~, they need to bone.

"Alright, alright, calm down. So, you won't be making love anytime soon~. Geez." Say it, don't spray it, I want the news, not the weather.

"Damn straight we won't," she released me.

"How about hate fecking?" She gave me a look you reserve only for the filth of the planet. "I'm just saying, that way you prove you're on top. Ya know, without killing each other. I need my CFO and my cute apprentice." she huffed. "Sorry, sexy apprentice." she rolled her eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but loud screaming caught our attention.

"Time for rent!" Yelled a man that could only be described as a thug. Seriously, this guy seemed to appear straight out of Gotham, stupid black and white shirt, thick coat, ripped pants, boots, and floppy worn-out hat.

"Why is the mook population to normal people in Denerim a rate of 30:1?" seriously! Ava, Neria, Dagna, and I have been hunting the remains of the Gang Lords Howe elevated to nobility. With Howe dead and Cailan back in power he put a bounty on Howe's gang army, but for every thug we beat up and sent to Drakon tower, 3 more took their place. I was about to start sending these idiots to the wardens, at least that way they'd be useful. Of course, there are already a warden stations at the tower recruiting the desperate, I just wanted to skip the middleman and just march them straight to the warden camp.

Before we did anything Ava in her full Raven outfit came out of the sky and laid the man out in a single kick.

"It's the Raven!" someone screamed, and just like that a flood of thugs came running out of every nook and cranny the neighborhood had.

I slapped Dagna's ass, "Alright Powergirl, go get them," I ordered. I've been having Dagna go out with Ava to fight crime so she could get some fighting experience, I was never too far though.

"Hey! It's that freak and the... pervert?" Dagna fade stepped unleashing an uppercut that knocked the man's teeth loose, op never mind a few teeth came flying out.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A PERVERT!?" Julee took her cosplay seriously, Dagna's Powergirl outfit had strength and durability runes, the ability to jump tall buildings in a single bound, and even the power to not get a wedgie.

I left them to their fun and checked on some of the people hiding from the massive brawl, occasionally one of the thugs would think that attacking me would be the safer option, I would then launch them 10 feet in the air. Turns out these guys have been collecting 'protection' money from people in the neighborhood, with most of the gang lords in prison or escaped from Denerim, I'm guessing the power vacuum must have made these idiots think that they had a shot at being someone.

I summoned two robo-golems to help escort the fools with strict instructions that if they try anything to turn their heads to paste, that made the thugs pale in fear. With the horde breathing down our necks most of the guards are being trained to handle if darkspawn entered the city. Making it a bit bare-bone out here, so some prisoners thought they could escape if they overpowered the patrols and ended up killing a few guards, so Cailan paid me to have golems help the patrols escort prisoners to Fort Drakon.

Getting some privacy, we jumped up to the rooftops.

"Raven." I nodded to Ava.

"Walters."

"Raven." Dagna nodded.

"... pervert." Ava deadpanned.

"Hey! Ya want some of this!" she growls lifting her gloved fists.

"no... yes... maybe? Is that a real option?" Her deadpanned delivery had me cracking up.

"I want some of that!" I choked through my laughter.

"Quiet you! So, Raven how can we help?" Dagna asked, hands on hips in a hero pose. All of this is going on the apprentice wall. So cute.

"I'm good. Ayla and I have been rounding the last of these fools. With most of the gang lords running or in hiding these idiots are trying to fill in the power vacuum."

Ayla took that moment to jump up from the ground dressed up like a... sexy cave woman, with a cheetah print bikini, fuzzy bear shoes and claws, with a huge crudely shaped Maker symbol painted on her tummy, "Got the runners."

"Ayla... what are you wearing?" I know Julee has this thing over her but to fight without her armor was another thing.

"Julee highjacked my armor's clothes function and has it looking like this," she whined covering her tone tummy. My armor worked through game physics, if it says it has an armor rating of something it has the armor rating, it was kinda cool, it created some kind of barrier protecting you from deadly objects.

"As long as you're safe, if it helps, you're getting more converts~." I teased looking at a group of people blushing at her clothes.

"Maker, this is so embarrassing," she groaned.

"Baa~, you look fine. I mean Sky knocked out a few people and ruined a few relationships when she wore hers," she raised her eyebrow at me, "But you give her healthy competition!" saved it!

She rolled her eyes, "Anyway, Raven I've got the remaining thugs, we only have the market and the outer edges."

"Good work. Nick-" she gave me a light bow," -… pervert." she teased before jumping out of Dagna's reach.

"I'll get you! Just you wait!" Dagna yelled at the retreating backs of the two Holy warriors.

We rounded up the remaining thugs and had my golems help the guards lead them to jail. Walking to Revasan/Alienage, I passed through the general store to restock and give Ron and the other employees the day off and to get ready for the battle, giving them a bag of holding filled with things they might need to last a long siege, doing the same with my 'Pizza Time' employees making sure they were safe. For those who want to start a business, you need to know that your employees don't really care about what you want, they work to feed themselves and their loved ones, all you have to do is make sure you pay them well and treat them like living people, and they tend to work at an amazing 75% efficiency, and that's the best you're going to get from most workers.

Giving Valendrian a wave, I head to the Dalish camp to test my new powers.

-/-

"What exactly do you want to do?" Theron's confused and worried face looked back at me.

"I wish to reach deep inside you and pump power into your body," I answered, "why are you so hesitant? This can boost you to ancient elf levels of power."

"Not even going to buy me lunch?"

"Yeah, Nick! You can't just pump and dump!" Dagna laughed.

"I don't know why you're acting like I'm not going to do the same with you." If my test with Theron goes well, I'll do the same with the rest of the team.

"Will you be gentle." she teased.

"Of course. So, Theron ya ready?"

"Uh, maybe we should test it on Dogmeat."

"And get us lynched? We're in Fereldan man, I'm pretty sure they believe the Maker has a dog partner." I joked; in truth I already did but he couldn't tell me anything about the process, he didn't get any Chi or Magic, but his HP shot through the roof, which suck, I wanted to see if he could become a Blink Dog. "Besides you owe me for the... Surprise conversation with our mutual acquaintance."

"That was months ago! You need to learn to let things go. What about Oghren? Just give him some booze and he'll go along with it."

"I called him, but his lady friend answered... I saw terrible things." I shivered; she didn't need to pick up during sex, I could still hear his laughter.

"Zev? He would be happy to have you inside him," he pointed out.

"Great minds, you and I, unfortunately, he was on a date... well I say date."

"Brothel?" he asked.

I nodded, "If I'm being honest, I came to sell some of my preservation boxes to the dalish, and you just happened to be here."

"So, I'm just a target of convenience."

"NO, no... yeah," I nodded, "but out of all our friends you have not only magic but are also skilled in martial combat."

"Fine but this makes us even," he huffed.

"What~, what if I give you superpowers?" that doesn't feel like a fair deal.

"Well, you're just going to have to live with that," he deadpanned.

"Fine~, hold still," placing my hand on his chest I activated my new skill.

Do you wish to bestow Theron Mahariel with great power?

Be warned you can only do this once!

Cost: 4000 MP and 1000CP

Holy shit! Dogmeat was only about 100 CP and MP in total, if I didn't have my armor this would be impossible. "Alright, here, we, go!" I activated the skill.

Cheese and crackers! That was an experience! It felt like my soul was leaving my body, the world exploded into light, a beam shot into the sky beating back the blighted clouds for a bit, allowing sunshine to warm us. Looking over to Theron, he seemed to grow an extra 6 inches and looked jacked, small bolts of lightning jumped across his body, man looked ready to throw down with Frieza, his eyes had a similar glow to myself.

"Whoa~." He made a fist gathering some power until his arm glued white, unleashing a bolt of lightning far into the sky the thunder that followed nearly knocked me over.

"Damn," Dagna muttered.

Elf Battlemage

Theron Mahariel

Age: 22

Lvl: 47→57

HP 1000/1000

MP 1955/2000

CP 300/300

He thinks you're crazy but still thinks of you as one of his closest friends

Due to your hard work and effort

Power bestowal has leveled up!

Rank Novice – -10% to cost, you can now slightly skew the outcome of the power bestowed.

"Theron? You, okay?" I asked waiting for my MP and CP to climb back up.

"I feel a bit strange," he muttered looking at his glowing hands.

"Talk to me." I walked over, my observation didn't give me much, but it was best to hear it straight from him.

"It feels like my body is trying to... be bigger?"

"Mmm, yeah~, Jak, Julee, and I had the same problem when we first got here, the Veil that covers Thedas pushes magic out, making a Magic-free zone, I believe that was why only sorcerers could use magic. The power I gave you helped grow your magic core to the point that you generate enough power where you no longer need to use the fade to empower yourself." Slowly his magic calmed, and the glow slowly faded.

"My magic has never come so easily." He started playing with a bolt of lightning before launching it into the sky, followed by a thunderclap. "You feel like this all the time?" He fired another bolt.

"I'm next!" Dagna called out.

"Whoa there, Muchacha~! we still need to see how Theron takes to the changes." looking around we found dozens of elves staring wide-eyed at Theron, not that I could blame them, man looks like an elven demigod. "But maybe not here. Theron!" I called out getting his attention, I whirled my hand emphasizing the elves around us.

"Oh. Right." he powered down. "Continue with your training!" he called out.

We gave the elves a quick goodbye, not wanting to mess up the camp. We walked out to 'The Gap', the place between the new wall and the old one, there were pitfalls and pikes just in case the Darkspawn breached the first wall.

"Alright! Let's test some powers!" I summoned some earth dummies at 30, 50, 75, and 100 feet. "Whenever you're ready!" Dagna stood to my left as we gave him plenty of space to unleash his power. The first two dummies exploded into smithereens, the one at 75 feet head exploded, and the last one was badly burnt. Pulling that one closer we found a huge hole in its chest, but it didn't punch through.

We had dozens of tests. Distance, power, movement, different spells, ice, fire, fade step, we tested his strength, by punching boulders, jumping, reflexes, everything about Theron was improved to the max.

"How ya feeling?" I asked, taking notes on everything going on, Dagna doing the same. It's important to have different viewpoints.

"Good... no, great! I don't even feel the strain of overusing my Arcane skills. This power is terrifying, is this what the ancient elves were like?" he asked, flexing his muscles.

"Who knows~, please turn around, I need to test your senses," I ordered pulling out a BBQ grill. "We're going to start with smell." more testing commenced, his basic five senses, as well as a simple puzzle that I made more and more difficult every time he solved it, "mmm, you seem fine, alright time for the pain test."

"The what now?" He gave me a startled look.

"Oh, don't be such a baby. I need to see if your pain receptors have changed in any way, the last thing we want is for you to get hurt and send you into shock." I huffed, "Dagna, the needles and feathers please." The test was simple, feathers ran up and down his body to see if he felt them and poke him at random times, good news he didn't feel any different, better yet, any pain quickly dulled and healed. "Alright! One last test."

"Ugh! Nick, we've been here all day," Theron groaned, "Can't this wait for tomorrow?" It was getting close to dinner time, and Sky and Astral were no doubt ready to go looking for me.

"Don't worry, this test is a do-it-yourself." passing him a stack of papers. "I need you... to get laid."

"What!?" Dagna and Theron balked.

"We need to make sure everything works; does it feel different, can you last longer, are you bigger, does it feel different for your partner compared to their other lovers?"

"This is a bit... much, no?" Theron looked a bit uncomfortable.

"It's science Theron, sometimes we do things that are considered strange for the betterment of society, but I understand the hesitant, you don't have to do it anytime soon," I gave him a necklace of Greater healing, "For your partner." a light blush crossed his cheeks.

With that testing finished, walking back to Mother Base for dinner, I got ready for a very annoyed sister.

-/-

"How long have you been able to do this!?" Morrigan screamed, she's been like this since we got back home. I passed her a plate to take to the table, if she wanted to scream, she could at least help pass out Dinner.

"I got it working a few days ago," I pointed to a slightly buffed-up Dogmeat ripping apart a steak, next to an equally ravenous Theron, I wasn't sure if it was the Taint in his body or if his leveling up was the reason for his increase in appetite, it's possible that it would ease over time as his body gets used to its new power.

"And when were you planning to do the same with the rest of us?"

I gave her a shrug, "Not sure, Theron was my first real test on a sentient being with magic. I need to see how it affected him over a larger period of time before I just start handing out power-ups." I would also need to make a more powerful armor that raises my MP and CP output, the one I used before barely did the job.

"You do not have the luxury of time, I'm not sure if you've noticed but the blight is less than a week away."

"I do know that little sister, but I also know that giving people power doesn't make them better at combat, Theron and I will be training every day until the blight arrives to gain full control of his new power."

"I still don't understand why you are so worried; I've never had better control of my magic," Theron grunted through his steak.

"You've only used your power in a controlled environment, what about in the heat of combat? What about when you're nervous? Scared? Horny? What if, when you're making hanky panky your baby milk shoots out so fast and hard that it knocks out your partner!?"

"Maker damnit Nick! I'm eating!" Ayla yelled.

"That won't happen... will it?" Theron asked, taking my earlier tests into consideration.

I shrugged, "No clue, this is why we're going to test. Zev, Sky, I'm going to need your help tomorrow," They gave me a thumbs up.

"No good test is done with only one test subject," Morrigan pointed out.

"Mmm, I suppose, Telsa do you wanna power up?" I asked my CFO who was eating and looking over her business notes.

"I'm not looking to be a mage," She didn't even look up at me.

"You might not even gain magic powers, just greater strength, maybe greater mental intelligence?" I still didn't know what my power could do, but leveling it up will give me better control.

"No thank you," she waved me away.

"Lyna?" I gave her some finger guns. "Infinite power~?"

"Mmm~, maybe. What do I get out of it." she teased taking a bite of her chicken.

"Infinite power, were you not paying attention?"

"Infinite power is a side effect, what are you going to give me apart from that?"

"mmm, what do you want?"

"My own Prime Suit."

"Oh! You crazy." my prime suit was one of my trump cards, and after it failed in the battle against Flemeth, Julee, Dagna and I returned to the drawing board, Lyna later joined in helping in the rune making. After rigorous testing, we green-lit the use of the armor. "I'm rather positive that if I give you a prime suit, you'll go mad with power."

"I wouldn't go mad with power-" she smiled, "-immediately."

That got a chuckle out of me, "I'm willing to give you-" I pulled out a how-to book, "-this!" electricity and how to use it for dummies.

She got a closer look, "HEY! I haven't seen that one!" She reached for it, but I pulled it away.

An evil smirk crossed my face, "My o' my~, looks like we both have something the other wants~."

"Gasp! Lyna wants Nick's mind and Nick wants Lyna's body!" A rather scary lewd grin crossed Julee's face, "I had dreams about this~."

"I'm going to go to bed with an empty stomach, ain't I?" Ayla groaned, cheeks rosy red. Aeden reached for her plate, but she slapped it away.

"My body's worth more than a book."

"Are you sure~? The ability to harness electricity tends to make magic outdated." I waved the book at her, "I mean look around you, Mother Base works off the ability to turn electricity into magic~." I teased waving the book at her, "But I like you so how about I sweeten the deal~," I summoned another book.

"Commercial real estate Investing?" Wha? Looking over to the book, I noticed she was right, this is what I get for buying them in bulk and putting them so close together in my inventory. I quickly moved that one up into the air away from Telsa's grabbers.

"Nick, you will give me that book right now mister!" she ordered, slapping at my hands trying to get the book. Fortunately, She had the strength of an office worker who's never seen the light of day, I should know~, I used to be one.

"I was going to but seeing how much you want it~," I dragged out the last word.

"I will buy a brothel and name it 'Nick's Clappers'." she threatened, I'm not against brothels, in fact, I mostly approve of them, I can't stop people from earning a living, but at least I could provide a safe location, what I couldn't stand was the name, Nick's Clappers, my god that was terrible, to be fair I've never owned a brothel but I feel like there could be a better name than that.

"You play dirty-" I pass over the book, "-please don't name any of my future businesses anything weird." she raised an eyebrow at me, tapping the book. "What?"

"Do you have any more of these?" Her ruby eyes searched my soul of any lies.

I gave her a shrug, "A few, I'll put them in the library later." she nodded, "Dinner~," I called out making her stop her exit and walk back to the table. I turned to Lyna, "So~?"

"Fine, but I get to look at all the books you have hidden away." she huffed.

"Fine, fine, but within reason," I'm keeping the restricted area... restricted.

"Nick... where do you get all these books?" Alistair asked.

I... just blinked, "What?"

"The books? I mean, they must be worth a fortune. The pages are perfect, colored, the little pictures, even the words are amazingly printed, are all books this way outside of Thedas?"

Why is it that when you're so busy trying to read in-between the lines, hearing the sentence straight catches you off guard? Alistair isn't an idiot, a fool, at times, a mastermind, no, but the thing Alistar does that most people don't, whether it is because of pride or the fear of sounding stupid, is ask the simple questions.

Why is the sky blue? If I shoot fire from my legs, can I fly? Why are the caves in the deep roads so big? Now that I know I'm part elf do I get the right to sing and dance naked in the woods? Now that I know I'm part elf can I give my child an elven name? Can we eat Halla? If a cursed human bit a wolf will the wolf turn into a werehuman? And if so, does the werehuman have to work and pay taxes?

Nonsensible questions that most people wouldn't ask but want to.

"I... used my power," I answered.

"That's cool, like if you have an idea of a book, you can create it?" he asked munching on a chicken leg.

"... no."

"Nick?" Jak asked.

"The end draws near, there is no need for so many secrets," I answered her unasked question. Taking a long sigh, I finished the last plate of magical cake, placing it in the center of the table and took my seat. No one was eating, the table that is usually filled with laughter, shouting, and dumb food debates was dead quiet, everyone looking at me, I wish Cailan and Duncan were here, having this conversation twice is going to suck. "... go ahead and ask Mory." she looked ready to explode.

"WHO ARE YOU!?" she jumped to her feet.

I just looked at her. "Morrigan... of all the questions you could have asked, you asked the one you already know the answer to. I'm Nick Walters, your older brother, artificer, master lover."

"Gross, and that's not what I meant!" she growled.

"Take a breath, what did you mean?" I asked calmly.

"What are you?" she asked.

"Human... I think," I sometimes forget.

"You think? You don't know? Are you a spirit? A monster? A fish?!"

"I'm human... plus, maybe?"

"A plane walker?" Aeden asked, "Flemeth called you that."

"So did Jak and Julee's... Uncle?" Ayla asked, not knowing the relationship between the sisters and Yuzara.

"Eh," Julee shrugged, "Apples and oranges, we both come from a tree."

"What is a plane walker?" Theron asked.

"Someone who walks through planes," I joked, he gave me a deadpanned look, "A plane walker is someone who has traveled from one world to another."

"Like... the magisters that entered the Fade?" Neria asked.

"No, you would call them realm walkers, it's rare here and incredibly difficult but people outside of Thedas do it all the time. Plane walkers travel dimensions, worlds, universes, it's a bit difficult to explain but just know that I'm not from here."

"Why did you come here?" Sten asked, eyes narrowed and back straight.

"I... didn't have much of a choice. Did you know souls are real?" my quiet question rippled through the room. "About a year ago, I died. It was fast-" I snapped my fingers, using my Illusion skill to show my time in the white room with Morgan, "-one minute I was heading home the next I was standing in front of a being that could only be described as a god. He judged me, gave me power, and wished me luck-" I gave a small chuckle, "then he dropped me from a portal 50 feet in the air. That drop showed me that my new power had changed me, but the pain reinforced my humanity. Pain sucks." the illusion of myself lying flat on the ground faded.

"Was he the god you spoke of back when you talked about the Maker?" Ayla asked.

"Yep."

"What is this power you picked that changed you?" Shayle asked.

"It would be better if I show you." I sent a party invite to everyone in the room. The look of surprise and grunts of shock were amusing. "Just click yes."

21 more people joined your party!

EXP has now split 24 ways!

The ever-steady stream of EXP from my golems slowed to a trickle.

"Whoa~," Oghren groaned looking around the room, "this is weird. Hey!? Why are you 10 levels above me!?"

Dwarf berserker

Oghren Kondrat

Age 38

Lvl: 50

HP:1000/1000

MP: 5/5

He thinks you're a punk kid, but he likes you.

"You're lucky~, 21!? Come on, I worked hard!" Dagna groaned. That's still impressive for a woman that got most of her levels through lessons.

Dwarf wizard

Dagna

Age: 19

Lvl: 21

HP 420/420

MP 570/570

She looks up to you as a friend, master, and sexy punk.

"Try not to take the Stats too seriously, I never did," I pointed out.

"Why, is it because it's ridiculous?" Mory grunted, "Seriously what the fade does 'He will break you' mean?"

"It means that if you come at me with your fists, that I could end you very messily. I did that purposely, it used to be numbered, but since I'm not an abacus and the idea that a pitchfork to the face by a child will do the same damage as from a trained soldier, I decided to change it to something a bit more... realistic."

"It's idiotic." she pointed out.

"People are more than numbers Mory," I countered.

"This doesn't look different from my usual vision," Shayle pointed out.

"Yeah~, I didn't know that was going to happen. When I made your new body, I wasn't planning of giving it a visual hub, but your soul along with the Void Anvil and my magic must have given you some of my powers, I wish I could tell you more but honestly, magic is weird," I shrugged.

"Why do we even have levels? It's not like we've been using this thing?" Alistair asked, fingers moving around in the air, probably playing with his screens.

"I had some time to think about that, and the most logical thing I can come up with was that my power is using you as a base, it would then calculate how you would fair against others."

"This is super cool, but this doesn't explain your book collection," Alistair pointed out.

"My power... can best be considered cheating."

"Cheating?" he asked.

"Yeah~, for starters my power is connected to the Gamer's store, but it would make more sense to call it a multiverse shop, anything and everything can be bought there-" I point to Dogmeat, "-That's where I got this guy." Dogmeat just chuffed eating his food. "Cost me 7 gold, good deal if you ask me."

"Hold on... you... just buy things?" Alistair's incredulous face with hilarious.

"Yeah."

"Where do you get the money?!"

"Oh, whenever I kill something, I gain some currency, and if I'm lucky an object I can use-" summoning an ancient dwarf helmet I got from a Darkspawn and tossed it to a shocked Sereda, "-but if it doesn't fit or I just don't like it I just sell it at the shop. Where do you think I get most of the food that feeds you bottomless pits?"

"I just thought you bought it from farms we passed by! Are you telling me I've been eating magic space meat!?" Alistar yelled looking at the meat on his table.

"No... it's beef, some Druffalo, I did feed you some Sea King once to see if that did anything, but ya guys didn't even notice, that shit was expensive."

"Nick we aren't toys for you to test stuff with!" Alistair yelled, "What if I turned into a fish! Also, what is a Sea King?"

"Calm down! I tested everything you ate first, I'm not gonna accidentally poison you~." I waved away his concern. "There are clear warnings about any dangerous food ingredients, just look at your food, and really focus on it," I ordered.

Honey chicken wings of might! - Cock-a-doodle-doo bitches! While the beast may have not been mighty its flesh is!

+10 to STR for 2 hours and sore muscles heal 50% faster.

This dish was created by a master chef! Duration lasts for twice as long!

This dish was created by Nick Walters

"This is insane!" Zev called out, "Are you telling me that all you have to do is look at something and you can tell if it's dangerous?"

"Within reason, you need to have an understanding of poisons-" I summoned a deathroot extract bottle Zev and I used to make his poisons, "-Zev what does this tell you?"

Deathroot extract – tier 1 poison, even a quick sniff of this sludge is enough to cause hallucinations.

This root is commonly found near fallen trees and corpses, whether it's drawn to death or the cause of it is not well known.

"Seems straightforward. Deathroot extract, I've seen it a thousand times," he shrugged.

"Telsa?" I turned to my CFO.

"It's worth 1 silver and 50 coppers," she answered.

Zev gave a closer look at the bottle, "Where are you getting that information?" Telsa just shrugged.

"Telsa is a merchant, she knows what the extract would be worth, you,know the best way to use it," I answered, "Watch closely~," the bottle began to glow before vanishing, being replaced by a small bag, which I tossed to Telsa, who without missing a beat counted the money.

"What did you do?" Zev asked.

"I sold it."

"Sold it? To whom?" he asked.

"The shop."

"Who runs the shop?" he reiterated.

I shrugged at his question, "It could just be others like me with powers to access the shop, maybe a merchant god and a bunch of his godly interns."

"Godly... interns~," Elissa drawled.

"We all gotta start somewhere," I shrugged.

"I can't access this... shop," Telsa huffed.

"That's because we only have guests," Jak spoke up, "Nick's the real deal."

"I wish to eat god flesh!" Astral called out.

"Sure." I opened the store for everyone to see, quickly searching the food section for Divine flesh, and much to everyone's surprise, there was a lot, "Do you have 40 billion gold coins because that's the lowest there is."

"umm~, how much is that?" she asked counting her fingers.

"4 followed by 10 zeros," I answered casting an illusion of the number.

"That's too much!" She whined, good to see my economic lessons working.

"It's not a little, but we're talking about Divine flesh." I teased.

"So, this is where you get all your books?" Neria asked.

"Mostly, but I also copy just about every book I come across, you've seen the library, many of them came from the mage tower, others from the magic shop in town, a few from the shaperate in Orzammar, shoot I even have some from the ancient temple out in the woods."

"I didn't know you liked books that much," Neria looked shocked.

"I don't, they just make my library aesthetically pleasing." I answered honestly, she gave me a deadpanned look, "I'm not saying they aren't important, just that I don't really care about how ancient Elven hair soap was made."

"Are you telling me, that you have the recipe, for the mystical soap that not only makes your hair grow back stronger and more lushes but also allows you to change hair color at will! In this flying rock! Right now!?" whoa~, didn't know Theron cared that much.

"I guess."

He just huffed annoyed at my nonchalant attitude, "Is there anything else we should know, do you have ancient elven boots that allow you to fly? Maybe ancient elven underwear that shoots lasers?"

"... no."

"You hesitated."

"Yeah~," I summoned the ancient elven armor I won at the gacha slot. Theron just looked at the armor.

"It has runes." his voice sounded like it had enough for today.

"they came with the armor."

"ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT YOU HAVE GENUINE ANCIENT ELVEN ARMOR!?" oof, his voice got all squeaky.

Geez~, "Calm down! I got it randomly yesterday."

He took a deep breath, "... and? Were you ever going to tell me?"

"I wanted to study the runes first, some of them were weird, and I didn't completely understand them, the last thing I wanted was for someone to put this thing on only for it to launch you into the sun."

He stared deeply into my eyes before sighing, "Fine, but I want it as payment for the power experiment."

"Fair enough."

"How did you even get it?" Wynne asked.

"It's another one of my powers. I sometimes get quests, you should have access to my quest logs-" I paused to allow them to look over my logs, "-some quests give Gacha tokens, the tokens randomly copy objects from the multiverse, from rubber band balls-" I summoned my rubber band ball, tossing it to Theron, "-to ancient elven armor."

"Your power is insane," Aeden said.

I huffed, "That's just the tip of the iceberg. Did you know that 'healing hands' was my first skill, I had no idea how to use magic, I just squeezed my butt cheeks and forced my power to work, and now I can heal just about everything, I have a mini-map at the corner of my vision that can point out interesting objects. Morrigan, you're going to love this-" I summoned one of my new cookbooks, Italian desserts, making sure they were all looking.

Do you wish to learn Italian desserts?

Yes

The book in my hand gained a glow before turning to dust and entering my mind.

Italian desserts have been added to your cooking skill

"What was that?!" Alistair yelped.

"That was me learning a skill. Look through your character sheet you no doubt have a few."

It took a moment, but Morrigan's eyes snapped to me, her bulging eyes and wild expression made me laugh, "YOU CHEATER!" that got me wheezing.

"Morrigan-" Aeden sat her back down, "what's wrong?"

"That bastard doesn't have to do anything! If he wants to learn a spell all he must do is touch a damn book!"

Dagna jumped at her words, "You got to be kidding!? That's not fair!" suddenly Telsa's book began to glow before it entered her mind.

Quick on my feet I jump to Telsa's side, "Move," I ordered to a confused Ayla, allowing me to sit next to Telsa. I quickly moved Telsa's chair so she could lean against me, "Not gonna lie, I thought Morrigan was the one who was going to do this first."

"Do wh-aaaaaahh~," she groaned slumping her head into my shoulder, where I quickly began to apply some healing, "Head hurt~."

"Remember how I told you how we were just guests?" Jak asked, getting the attention of the room, "We aren't built like Nick, while he can learn any skill because of his ability, to any of us it would be like getting a 6-inch nail hammered into our head every 15 seconds-" she tapped her head, "-trust me. How do you think I got my kick-ass laser vision."

"How long does this process last?" Sten asked.

Jak just shrugged, "I only did it once, trust me you only need to do it once to never do it again, but it lasted well into the next morning, so, get ready for a long night," she gave a groaning Telsa a sympathetic smile.

"It sucked major butt!" Julee added, "Although I did get the ability to understand all ancient languages. Yes~, ancient elven too," she smirked at Theron.

"This is so unfair," Theron groaned.

"Hold on, can anyone learn, anything, with this ability?" Morrigan asked.

"meh~, I mean I guess but you would need the power to use it, I mean Lily can learn the power to double jump, but without the magic or chi it wouldn't work."

"Chi?" Lily asked.

"uhh~, that's a bit difficult to explain, it's like magic but instead of using the fade to power your spells it uses your own inner energy and will," I explained, lifting my hand up and coating it in Haki, "there's more to it but that's the gist," I allowed my Haki to fade.

"Wait, I have Chi," Theron pointed out.

"You're welcome," I joked, "While I don't know the long-term effects of the chi in your body, I've concluded that your magic is using your chi to speed your body. Imagine your body was ancient Thedas and the only roads you had were old trail lines from carts and compact earth for your magic to travel, your chi is acting like an imperial highway allowing your magic to get to its destination faster and without any detours."

"mmm," he played with a spark of electricity. "Will this be okay, for my body to be like this?"

"You should be, you're not the first to have both abilities at the same time, there are plenty of people in the northern continent who have unlocked their chi and do magic, I just did it for you. It was actually rather intense and costly."

"What do you use Chi for?"

I shrugged, "Mostly earth bending, Haki, general body enhancement that sort of stuff."

"That explains why you never seem tired after heavy magic use," Neria points out.

"Mmm? Nah, my body naturally heals quickly, and I gained the skill, Magic Resilience, way back, in which I don't suffer mana crashes," that pissed off every magic user in the room.

"I call shenanigans!" Elissa screamed getting ready to flip the table, only for Alistair to calm her down.

"That is most unfair," Wynne sighed, taking a sip of her wine.

"Alright! Alright. Nick, dinners getting cold, is there anything thing else you need to say that can't be held off until we talk with Cailan and Duncan?" Aeden restored order.

"... well... nah it can wait." I was a bit reluctant to talk about the fact that they were fictional characters in another dimension.

"Are you sure, you hesitated there for a second?"

"Nah it's fine."

"I hope you understand that I will never forgive you." Morrigan huffed.

"See, I knew you were going to be upset, so I have one of two things that will buy your forgiveness."

"There is nothing-" I summoned the Staff of the Magi, "whoa~." Every mage looked at the staff in shock, on my other hand I summoned, Polymorphing! And you.

"You only get to pick one, the other one is going to Dagna," Her eyes moved to the staff then to the book, I can understand the difficulty of this decision, the staff is ridiculously powerful, but it was a tool, it could be knocked away, but a skill book is just that, a skill, once you know it, it can't be removed.

"Why can't I have both?"

"Because I don't want my apprentice to 'Sith' me. Now pick, or else I give the choice to Dagna."

"Do you really want a staff Morrigan, it's so clunky, and big, what if it gets knocked away during battle!" good to see what Dagna wanted.

"Calm down you half-pint, I already know how to change into animals, why would I want that?" Morrigan questioned pointing to the book.

"Yes, that's nice, but that's beast shifting, Polymorphing is a whole different... beast-" I gestured to Sky, "-Polymorphing is something only the most powerful beings can do, and it doesn't only change you into mundane creatures, ya wanna be a dragon? Maybe a Wyvern? How bout a manticore? Polymorphing is the way to go."

Sky flashed changing into a slightly shorter humanoid form, this time with long elven ears. "Look, I'm like Neria!" she laughed wiggling her ears, Morrigan looked shocked at the new development.

"You look busy, Dagna wha-" I didn't even get to finish as she jumps at the staff only for Morrigan to beat her to it.

"Hey!?" Dagna yelled. Morrigan wasn't listening anymore, she was just looking at the staff in wonderment.

"Power~, infinite POW-" I cut her off by slapping the staff out of her hands. Ayla reached for her book on reflex, the rest of us just watched the staff sit on the floor.

"Well clearly you're not ready for great cosmic power," I reached down and put it back in my inventory.

"Can I at least ha-" she was cut off by a light coming from Dagna, as the book faded into dust and entered her mind.

"You snooze you- aaggghh~," she didn't get to finish as she slumped onto my lap.

"Do I get anything?" Morrigan's broken voice hurt my soul.

"Sure, here," I handed her the ring of storing, "Nice right~?"

She just lets out a long sigh, "What's it do?"

"It can store up to five premade spells, here-" I touched the ring and added enough energy and the will to make a fireball, "-Now you have a free Fireball spell."

"Whatever," she dragged herself back to Aeden mopingly eating her food.

"Do I get anything?" Leliana asked, I looked at her. She just smiled.

Looking down at my two whiners groaning in my hands, I rolled my eyes, "Like what? You have super armor, a place to live, food, and money, what do you want that I could give you?"

She covers her face before trying to give me a cute peek-a-boo, "A flying carpet~."

"You have a flying raven," I countered

"It's not the same!" She then began singing a whole new world. I knew I shouldn't have introduced her to Disney, I was fulling expecting an dimension hopping Disney lawyer to hand me some cease and desist papers.

"Hold on! Hold on, before you bust out into a musical, let me just~," I removed them from my party, not Dagna or Telsa, not sure what would happen if I did that in the middle of their mind learning.

"Oh, it's gone," Alistair looked around, "how do you see with all that stuff?" Suddenly a small bag dropped in front of him. "what's this? Coin?"

"It's the money you earned from fighting Darkspawn," I answered.

"But... we aren't fighting darkspawn." he said counting the money, "there's at least 5 gold in here!"

"But my golems are," I corrected.

Sereda blinked at me, "Are you telling me that every time one of your golems kills a darkspawn, you get money?"

"Yep~, it's about 15 silver per genlock,30 silver per shriek, 1 gold per Hurlock, and about 5-10 gold per ogre, sometimes more if they're an alpha, and of course random junk." I pointed to the helmet in her hands.

"This is not junk Nick! this is a helmet from the Stonehammer clan!" she points to a symbol on the helmet, she glared at my confused face, "The Shaperate would kill for this helmet... It's worth a fortune!"

"Ya wants it?"

She just groaned, "Thanks, please give me any other ancient dwarven artifacts."

"ya got it." I gave her a thumbs up. Oof, she's going to get real annoyed by the amount of old dwarven junk I've got.

"Hold on! Are you telling me you're drowning in money, but can't spare me 20 gold?" Oghren huffed, counting his coins.

"You have a problem with money~, that's why no one gives you any," I pointed out.

"Baaa~!" He waved away the fact he tended to throw money around like he was allergic to it.

The rest of dinner was filled with complaints about my broken power, questions about my past life, and more questions about the rest of the world outside of Thedas.

-/-

Dagna POV

You have slept on a couch!

50% of HP and MP have been restored

Uuuugh~, why~? A cooling sensation spread from my head to my toes. Stone~, did that feel great. Cracking an eyelid, I found Nick sitting back on the couch, I heard the TV, but I wasn't going to turn my head anytime soon. Is my head on his lap? It's nice and soft.

"Good morning sleepy head~, how ya feeling?"

Loud~, "My brain hurts~." He sent another pulse of healing. Ah~, that's nice.

"Looked through your character sheet, there should be a downloading screen," he whispered, downloading~, Downloading~, oh here we are!

Polymorphing – Bitch I'm a dragon! The ability to transform into another creature be it man or beast, but is there really a difference? MP cost varies per species.

Warning this spell needs concentration! If you fail to keep your focus, your transformation will fail, and no MP will be refunded.

Skill loading

30 minutes 29 seconds remaining

"I have a little over 30 minutes left. What time is it?" I can see sunlight, so it must be morning.

"2 in the afternoon."

"Oh no~, Theron's tests," it is already so late~.

"It's fine, I had Zev take him out on the town," he bounced his eyebrows. I reached up and grabbed his dumb eyebrows.

"I'm sorry I kept you here,"

He gave me a light chuckle, calming my sadness, "It's fine~," he gave me another healing pulse, "I knew something like this was going to happen, the moment you guys knew the truth about me. I did think it was going to be Morrigan, that punk."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he brushed my hair giving me another healing pulse, "Out of everyone here, you wished to be a mage most of all, the temptation to gain a skill that moved you closer to the goal would be difficult for anyone, even me."

"But you didn't, you had the chance to keep the staff for yourself and to keep the ability to polymorph, no one could have stop you."

He gave another chuckle, "You and Morrigan have more in common than you think, I'll tell you what I told her last night. Power corrupts, absolute power, corrupts absolutely, I could have kept that power, I could have never shown you my anything and hoarded it and become powerful, shoot, if I didn't share my power with Jak and Julee, I might even be able to fight the Archdemon by myself, but I'll be just that, alone. Scared that someone might take my power, so I would had hid, I would have never left this house until I was strong enough to protect myself, to defeat all my enemies, the only problem with that is that I would never think I'm strong enough. Jak would never love a man who hid away, Julee would never love a man who hoarded his secrets, Nat wouldn't love a madman, Sky would never love a coward, and you sure as hell wouldn't follow a fool. No, I'm happy to give away my power, to make others strong, to give others strength, so they can spread hope. That makes me happy, why be something I'm not. I'll be weak forever if it means the world has hope."

I reached back up and squished his face, "You're so cheesy~," he broke out into the loudest boldest laughter I had ever heard, I'm surprised Mother Base didn't shatter into a million pieces. I pulled him down into a kiss, where Astral's kisses make me feel like I'm floating and Jak's lit my soul aflame, Nick's kisses always make my toes curl, my body and brain demanding more.

"That means I go good with everything~," His smirk was a little too cocky, but I could live with it. He passed me a straw, "Here drink some water, roasting a man is thirsty business.

"Speaking of business where's the gold digger? I thought she downloaded a book too?" I couldn't see her from this angle.

"Nice to see you care for your secret lover-" I swatted at him, but he dodged, "-unlike you, she downloaded a minor book, she was back on her feet before breakfast, she's down in the library reading all my dummy books on business." he looked around making sure no one was looking and leaned down to me, "I think she was worried about you~."

I rolled my eyes, "she probably wanted to know if I was breathing so she could eat me."

"Oh my~."

I swung at him again, "Not like that!" this punk's asking for it! "Like a cat!"

It was like that for the next 30 minutes, joking, laughing, punching, I didn't want it to end.

Skill Downloaded!

You can now use Polymorph!

But we had a blight to stop.

-/-

The battle before me was insane, at the moment Nick, Astral, Morrigan, and I were on the ramparts on the old wall watching Theron and Sky go all out. At one point Sky transformed into her full dragon form dwarfing Theron, trying to crush him.

Sky was able to force the battle into the air, using my binoculars, I was able to get a better look at the spar, Theron was putting up one heck of a fight bouncing around in the air using his Fade Step, I didn't even know you could do that, but the sky was a dragon's domain, but to be fair so was the ground, Dragons be big.

It all ended as Sky slammed her tail into Theron's... everything, launching him into the ground.

Spar completed!

Theron Vs Sky

Victor: Sky Skipper!

Sky unleashed a roar standing over Theron, who got up and dusted himself off, there were some cheers and boos from the rather large crowd their battle generated. Nick's power is crazy.

"Alright! Let's get some data!" Nick called out jumping off the rampart and Dashing over to the fighters, I quickly followed Fade Stepping after him. By the time I reached them, Sky was back in her human form, flexing at an annoyed shirtless Theron.

"Why didn't I get to use my armor, again?" Theron asked.

"We needed to see you at base," Nick answered, "how are you feeling?"

"Fine, your ridiculous power kept me alive and healed me to max."

"Mmm, and the fight? Did you feel fatigued, how was your mana regen, did your chi fluctuate?" I asked taking notes.

"I was fine, every hit was painful, but my body dulled the pain, allowing me to keep fighting, but my chi did lower after every hit," he explained, popping his joints.

"Mmm, you're using your chi subconsciously to heal yourself. Did it get harder to use your magic as your chi depleted?" Nick asked.

"Mmm, a bit, when my chi was at max my spells had zero wait time, all I had to do was think of the spell and my magic jumped to my command, but as my chi depleted my spells became harder to control, forcing me to lower my power output."

"Mmm, so your chi not only helps guide your magic but allows you to overclock your spells, mmm," Nick muttered writing down everything he said. "Alright this concludes your battle testing, for now anyway, we have one last test before we end for today."

"Mana crash~," Theron groaned, I did not envy the man.

Getting to a safe distance, we, and the rest of the guards, soldiers, and city folk, got to see an immense display of magical might as Theron unleashed a beam of power straight into the sky, ripping apart any cloud coverage, I have no doubt it could have been seen from everywhere in Denerim. This... this was magic, will I ever become this powerful? The beam continued for another 10 seconds before it finally pattered out, leaving an exhausted Theron behind on one knee. Nick was already halfway to him; I was quick on his heels.

"... you feeling?" I was only able to catch the tail end of his question. Theron looked remarkably well for a man in a mana crash.

"I... feel hollow-," he gasped, "-and a bit lightheaded."

"Can you stand?" Nick asked, Theron then did the one thing I thought impossible, he actually stood up, he wobbled, sure, but he was standing on his own two feet. "Ok, can you walk?" being with this group I learned that the gods were in fact real, but seeing him walk... was the first miracle I've ever seen. His walk which started off wobbly slowly began to even out until finally, he looked like he didn't just jettison his entire magical core. "Mmm, stop!" Nick ordered.

Theron froze, "What?"

"You're using up your chi."

Elf Battlemage

Theron Mahariel

Age: 22

Lvl: 57

HP 1000/1000

MP 0/2000

CP 82/100

Theron finds your drive to be awe-inspiring

Nick circled him, "It seems like your Chi is substituting itself for your lack of Mana allowing you to withstand your mana crash. Here," he passed Theron a mana potion, chugging it down his MP shot up 250 points. Theron seemed to gain an extra jolt to his system, "Alright, can you walk some more?" Theron nodded, continued his stride this time without a single wobble, and his chi didn't lower, in fact, it slowly began to rise. "Mmm, interesting~."

"Nicky, can I get Chi?" Sky asked. For a moment everyone looked at her.

"Mmm, maybe~," he reached out and touched her tone tummy, his face scrunched up, and frowned, he changed his armor to his new doctor suit, unlike his armor, which was made to increase his HP, MP, and CP, as well as provide protection. His new doctor suit only increased his MP and CP, every button, cuff, shoelace, and every stitch that kept it together had a rune to empower him. He also looked damn good in glasses. "Mmmmm, I can but I want to have more practice under my belt, at the moment I can only buff you like I did Theron."

High Dragon

Sky Skipper

Age: 140

Lvl: 62

HP 3300/3300

MP 5000/5000

You're part of her Thunder, her family, you belong to her

Dragons are way too strong, I can see why some humans used to worship them, if Sky gains Chi, she might become a god.

She huffed, "Then I shall wait, I am already mighty with magic." Ain't that the truth, She and Astral take to magic as a fish takes to water, Nick called me a prodigy, an overachiever, Magic's love child, but I've seen Astral master Fade Shroud in less than an afternoon. How they were pushed into near extinction in thedas, I will never know.

"This should be enough testing to move on to a larger sampling, yes?" Morrigan asked, for the 8th time today.

"Ugh!" I groaned out, "YES! YES! Gods' girl~, Damm! We wanted Theron to test his abilities and with the paperwork, he gave us about his sex drive, YES!" They all just looked at me in shock, "I'm just tired of her constantly complaining about not getting more power." one can only take so much bitching.

"When did you get the balls?" Morrigan hissed. I polymorphed into a bear and roared in her face, Stone I love my new power! I transformed back, it sucked I could only transform into something that big for about 30 seconds before I crashed, the first time was intense, Nick needed to hold me down until my MP ran out, the mana crash sucked but Nick's power bypassed most of the time I would have needed to cry about all the mistakes I made to a quick 30 seconds. Stone, his power is so unfair~. Morrigan reached up and wiped off some spit from her face, "I'm going to let that go, once. I understand the power of transforming into a beast, next time I'll show you the difference between us... you pervert." Stone damn it. Julee had me wear a nurse's outfit... a 'sexy' nurse's outfit. No nurse would wear a skirt this tiny and a shirt with a neckline so low, at least I got a white coat, I have no idea what the glasses were for.

"Sorry~," that came out way more condescending than I wanted it to, her glare intensified, "... sorry."

"hehehehe..." Nick's giggling caught our attention, "I'm not sorry-" he dodged Morrigan's fist, "-alright let's go, we got dinner at the castle tonight." he let out a long breath.

It's going to be a long night, isn't it?

-/-

Nick POV

Dinner was... tense, for lack of a better word. I cooked all of Cailan's favorites, honey-glazed lamb chops, deep-fried salmon with a side of potato melts, and some apple pie. The private dining room in Cailan's castle was abnormally quiet, everyone was eating but they would occasionally toss me a look, waiting for me to start tonight's long conversation.

"Alright! By Andraste's flaming nickers is going on?" Cailan finally snapped, "The last time we were this quiet was when we walked the deep roads, would someone explain to me what's going on?!"

"You are rather quiet," Duncan muttered looking at his wardens.

"Nick told us a lot able himself, and his powers last night," Theron stated.

"AND I MISSED IT!?" Cailan barked, "Were any of our theories correct?! Is he from the far future? Is he part fish? Does he come from space!?"

"Part fish? What nonsense are you guys thinking of?" I called out, huffing at their theories.

Theron shrugged, "You were a very mysterious man Nick, and nothing was off the table."

I snapped to Nat, "Is that why you wanted to see how long I could hold my breath underwater?!"

"Tests were... Inconclusive," Nat blushed looking away.

"Yeah, because I thought you meant something else!" I cried out trying to cover my rosy cheeks.

Nat sat back with a smug smirk on her face, "Under a minute, you do good work Nick~." Jak, Julee, and Sky nodded. Good lord woman! That's private talk!

"Focus! I want details on Nick's backstory!" Cailan ordered.

"Hold on! Before we start! I would like to give you and Anora my congratulations," I raised my glass and dipped my head.

"Congratulations? What for?" Anora asked, freezing me in place, maybe this conversation could last until the blight ended.

"Uhm, oh, uh, really?" I rubbed the back of my head, "the baby," I pointed to Anora.

The room dipped back into silence.

"Anora?" Cailan soft voice pierced the silence, Anora for her part only touched her stomach. "Nick this isn't funny." oh boy, that's a lot of hope.

"Am I laughing?" I pointed to my eyes; Cailan jumped to his feet kissing his shocked wife.

Anora laughed at his cuddling, "Cailan, calm down~," she pushed me onto his seat. "Nickolas, how certain are you sure about this?"

"Ve-"

"Very little can escape his sight~," the rest of the group answer for me.

"hehehehheheh, yeah~. Allow me to explain..."

And so, I did. I talked about my power, where it came from, who gave it to me, about myself and where I came from, and a bit about my life and earth. It took a good bit of the night, and like I guessed it all came down to the one question that needed to be asked.

It wasn't a surprise that Duncan asked the question, "How did you know about the Blight?"

I just looked at him, followed by looking around the room and seeing everyone's intense looks, Jak and Julee didn't care, Sky and Astral were barely paying attention, more focused on dinner, but everyone else was purely focused on me. How to start this~.

"Before I died, there was a-" Man this was a lot harder to put into words, "-Choose your own adventure story, about the fifth blight."

"Like a goosebumps book?" Ayla asked, we all looked over at her, "What? I like a good fright."

"Exactly Ayla, a book I've read of the fifth blight begins and ends... kind of."

"Kind of? Be more specific, you just told me my entire life is a lie, at the whims of an unknown author." Morrigan growled.

"You shouldn't hold that too close to your chest, the... story is more of a guideline than anything else, for starters, Alistair-" I use prestidigitation to make small light orbs over the Warden and would-be warden's heads, from Elissa to Lyna, "I need you to pick one, only one."

"I don't-"

"Just, one," I cut him off.

"Elissa, I guess," Elissa rolled her eyes and smirked.

I change the lights into skulls, "In the story, Duncan only recruits one warden," that made everyone freeze, "through unlucky means, Elissa gets recruited by Duncan to join the Grey Wardens."

"And the rest?" Alistair's voice was small, afraid of my answer.

"Without Duncan, Nat doesn't make it out of Orzammar, Sereda dies in the deep roads, Theron dies of the taint, Aeden dies protecting his home, Ava dies going after her sister, Lyna never makes it out of Kendall's dungeon, and Neria stays tranquil, whatever it takes for there to be only one warden, one hero of Fereldan. That is why you shouldn't worry about it, real life isn't a story, nothing is set in stone, the fact I came in a flying rock to save you and the others should have told you that."

"If you know how to stop the blight why didn't you just tell us?!" He screamed, his irritation and fear coming across clearly in his voice.

"What good would that of done?"

"I! We! We could have done something!"

"Like what? Get an army? Get the mages? The dwarves? The elves? Have the Fereldan army at the ready?" I asked rhetorically, "What do you think we have been doing?"

"Then what's different?" he muttered.

I slowly turned to Cailan, we all turned to Cailan, "I... didn't make it out of Ostagar, did I?" He tried to laugh it off, but it only came out broken, Anora reached out and held her husband's arm as if he would float away.

"And with no king," I turned back to Alistair, realization growing on his face, "Let's not forget the civil war."

"Civil war?" Anora asked.

"With Cailan dead, who becomes king? Who rules Ferelden? Did you forget the Landsmeet? People didn't agree with your father. War would have broken out, and with your father not taking the blight seriously, Ferelden was not in a good place to ask Orlais for help, the collected army would have had to fight a much stronger Darkspawn horde with no golems to cut off their reinforcements, I'm not saying you couldn't have won, but the outcome would have crippled Ferelden for years."

We sat there allowing the silence to try and calm the room.

"I don't care about no story! I wanna know how we win!" Oghren grunted.

"Like big goddamn heroes," I answered, "Before the archdemon had a rather large army and was extra cocky so she attacked personally, now, I'm unsure if she can miss out on the fight, if her army can't take the city~."

"She'll be forced to retreat, where we can prepare a proper vanguard," Duncan answered, "The question is, how do we get her to stay?"

"We got to ground her," Cailan answered, "or at the very least get to her level. I'm guessing that's what the griffons are for?" I nodded.

"Oh!" I pulled out my feather-fall-infused feather and passed it to Duncan, "Make sure Riordan gets this would ya?" he shrugged and pocketed the feather.

"Hold on!" Morrigan yelled, cutting off our discussion. "That's it? He tells us he knows the future and we don't ask any more questions!?"

"Do we need to?" Ayla asked, "I mean the future Nick knows doesn't have half of us in it, anything he knows might never happen."

"Maybe not details but he could know the larger picture," Morrigan countered, looking right at me.

I let out a sigh, "Morrigan, I could tell you the future but then you would look at me like I'm an idiot." she gave me a confused look, "Fine, Neria, Wynne, Elissa, how are the mages doing, not the ones here in Denerim, in general, how are they treated? Are they treated kindly? Like everyone else?" they were silent, "the mage 'solution' the chantry has implemented, of shoving them in a tower and killing those who don't agree, is like a pot you put to boil, put a lid on it, and then promptly ignored, is going to explode. You can only beat people so long before they snap, and we both know what happens when two people disagree on a fundamental level."

"War," she answered.

"War. It's going to be ugly, and I place the blame squarely at the Chantry's feet."

"The chantry?" Lily asked, horrified at such an accusation.

"They make slaves of the faithful by shoving fear and drugs down their throats, lyrium's no joke Lily, it fucks you up, and if you stop taking it you go into nasty withdraws that can kill you, any templar that disagrees with the order is suddenly found in streets ranging like a madman begging for help. They threaten any mage who steps out of line with tranquility, and that line tends to jump randomly. Tell me, how many rapes and beatings happen in the tower?" I asked the circle mages. Their silence was telling.

Cailan rose to his feet the look of rage etched on his face, "How many of my people?" the mages remained quiet, Cailan slammed his fist into the table shattering it to pieces, "ANSWER ME! HOW MANY OF MY PEOPLE ARE BEATEN AND RAPED!?"

"Cailan be at ease," I whispered using my Calmming Voice.

"Nick? Connor's a mage." he hissed wanting to remain angry.

"We have bigger fish to fry, you can fight for mage rights after the blight." He huffed sitting back down, Anora reached out giving him comfort. "The revolution, rebellion, slap fight, call it whatever you like officially starts when the cure to tranquility is found."

"Uh?" Ayla points to herself.

"No~," I waved away her worry, "about 8 years? 9? A mage will ask a tranquil to find a way to reverse tranquility, they will find a way, and then be promptly murdered by the Lord Seeker." Wynne was looking at me like I was crazy, "He doesn't get away with it of course, the Ghost of the Spire will get him, but by then it would have been too late, the mages learn of the cure, and all hell breaks loose, Mages vote to dissolve the circles, the templars leave the chantry to kill all the mages, and just to sweeten the pot an ancient Tevinter magister pops back up and pokes a hole in the veil causing just that extra ' screw you' levels of chaos, and, you're going to love this Theron~, the dread wolf is walking around our perimeter."

Theron let out a long sigh of annoyance, "Niiiiick~!?" he groaned rubbing his face.

"Hold on? Didn't you say that gods couldn't come into the mortal realm? That's why they needed clerics and paladins?" Ayla called out.

"No~, I said if they do, we are screwed. Gods keep gods in check, if they see the Dread Wolf in mortal form, why can't they be in mortal form? And then things start to escalate," I sighed.

"What if we stop him?" Theron asked.

I shrugged, "Sure ~, Do you know where he is? Has he even returned yet? Will he? Does he have an army?" I sighed, "We can't do much for now but try and prepare for the hell that is marching towards our front door."

"Our?" Telsa asked.

"You think I'm going to leave ya idiots high and dry? Hell nah, you're my idiots!" I joked, getting some leftovers thrown at my face, "Just know that I'll be around to help." We sat back allowing ourselves to catch our breath.

"The Dragon Age really lives up to its name, huh?" Neria joked. Maybe it was the tension or madness that might be the future, but we just laughed.

"Alright, the future can wait, the blight today," Duncan called out.

The rest of the night was filled with war strategies, baby names, and jokes. The future would just have to wait.

-/-

"Line up ladies!" I ordered the volunteers for power infusions, it took a bit but Cailan gave me the green light on the new team, "You ladies are the first to gain great power! I don't care what you were before! You are now the Vanguard of the Ferelden army! You have been given special leeway! If you gain magical powers, the Chantry will just have to suck it up! Isn't that right Mother Giselle!" I point to Mother Giselle, who I had come out here on this cool spring morning, to back up my words, a tired Ayla next to her.

"Indeed, the king has given you full immunity in Ferelden."

"You heard that right! You backwater babies don't have to worry about the long arm of the church trying to fondle your berries!" I called out like a drill sergeant. "But that doesn't give you the freedom to do whatever you like! This power is for the good of Ferelden! For the good of every man, woman, and child! Your job is to keep them safe! Keep them alive! You will be the shield against the evil that threatens them! You will be the sword that keeps evil at bay! You will be the soldiers that bring hope to the hopeless! IS THAT UNDERSTOOD!?"

"SIR YES SIR!" they screamed back.

"mmm-huh, damn straight it is." I huffed.

Due to your hard work and effort, you have leveled up two skills!

Inspiration – Rank Journeyman

Cost lowered by 40%, inspiration now lasts longer

Power bestowal – Rank Intermediate

Cost lowered by 20%, you now have better control of what you enhance

Out of the 40 volunteers, 12 unlocked their chi, and 28 got both magic and Chi, but they all got a major boost to their HP. At the moment I had them run laps around the camp, they were no Captain America, but they outpaced any soldier on the track. I gave Giselle a wave goodbye as she had to get ready for morning prayer.

"Did you really have to get me to be out here?" Ayla muttered, trying to rub the sleepiness from her eyes. I passed her the silver horn of Valhalla, as she held it her book opened bathing us in light. As the light faded the silver horn that once depicted Odin and his warriors, now had the outline of the Maker with different races standing together in a shield wall with Andraste holding a flaming sword. "Whoa~."

"Oh, good, that worked," thought that would take longer, I guess Odin doesn't have much power in this world.

"What is it?" she asked, getting a closer look at the artwork.

"It's a horn that summons a warrior of the Chantry faith."

She gave me a deadpan look, "What? How?"

"Divine Magic? I don't know, you're the one with the book." I shrugged.

"I thought you were the one with the superpowers," she muttered, flipping through her book. "Okay~, so the Maker says that I can summon one warrior once a week, they will only last for an hour or until defeated. Should I test it?" she asked.

"Best not, we should wait for the battle in 4 days," I passed her a sling for the horn.

"I can just put it in my bag."

"But it looks cooler around your hip, you know they're probably going to paint portraits of you, right?" I teased.

"Oh, shut up... Really?" She looked at me with her huge violet eyes.

I shrugged, "Dagna and I definitely are, we have art lessons after the blight."

"Models get paid~," she smirked.

"Has Dagna gotten to you!?" that shrimpy had been getting better at haggling.

"Telsa. She told me that if I have to be a religious symbol, I should get paid for it," she smirked.

"Can you imagine if those two got along?" I joked.

"I don't think Thedas is ready for that."

We got a good laugh at the madness that would befall Thedas. "Anyways, I wanted to see if the Maker could bless these guys." I pointed at Ferelden's new vanguard team.

"mmm~," she flipped through her book, "Like a paladin?"

"Doesn't need to go that far, maybe a weapon imbued with holy power."

"Mmm, he would be able, but you would have to make the weapon and make the runes, not only that, but the weapons would also require an oath."

"What kind of oath?" This sounded like a hexblade. A holy hexblade? Is that possible?

"Protect the innocent, stand against injustice, don't be a jerk, that sort of stuff," she muttered.

"Don't be a jerk?" Really?

"You know what I'm saying! Ya... face is a jerk," she joked.

"HA! What runes am I supposed to do?" I'm a bit iffy on working for a god again but when you're fighting Evil Incarnate you gotta do what you gotta do.

She pointed her book at me, "Touch." Taking a deep breath, I touched the book.

A rune scheme for containing holy energy has been added to your Rune crafting skill!

New Quest: Smite thy enemies! The Maker has given you the Rune scheme to fight the Blight!

Create and reward the Vanguard with 40 holy hexblades! 0/40

Reward: 5 gold, 1000 EXP, you got a holy rune, what more do you want?

I guess~. Whatever, I quickly created 40 Ferelden steel bastard swords and right steel gauntlets at Expert Rank that upgraded to Master Rank thanks to my 1-UP crafting perk. Followed by adding the runic sentences for durability, strength, and recall, just in case the blade is ever knocked out of its wielder's grip. The last runic sentence, meant for the holy energy, ran up the swords fuller.

"A sword wields no strength, unless the hand that holds it, has courage," Ayla whispered to every individual blade.

Holy Blade of the Maker

Durability 300/300

This blade has been imbued with the holy energy of the Maker – + 35% holy damage

This is a master crafted blade - +50% to durability and damage

Holy restriction! This blade has been blessed by a god with a caveat! If this blade is used for malicious acts it will shatter beyond repair!

Thy who holds this blade must help the innocent

Thy who holds this blade must fight for peace

Thy who holds this blade must stand against tyranny

The night is long, but you are the dawn

This blade was created by Nick Walters

The light show caught everyone's attention.

Mmm, I began stabbing the swords into the ground deep enough where they stood up straight, "Vanguard! Front and center!" I ordered loud enough for my voice to echo. In no time they bumped and scooted their way in front of me. "You bugs must be the luckiest rugrats I have ever known! The Maker had finally decided to get off his lazy ass and bless you maggots with some fancy-schmancy toys!" I yelled, "Recruit Dasatra! Step forward!" the young elven woman took a step forward, a bead of sweat rolled down her face. "Tell me Recruit Dasatra! Do you believe in the Maker!?"

"Uh, I, uh?"

"'UH, I, UH' WHAT!? I asked you a question, recruit! Answer me!"

"NO!"

"'NO' WHAT!?

"NO SIR I DON'T CARE FOR THE MAKER SIR!"

"Well, good news recruit! The Maker doesn't care! He doesn't care if you polish his shaft and plays with his balls! But he does care about your worthless hide and the innocent people you're protecting!" I shoved a steel gauntlet into her hands, and to her credit, she didn't hesitate to put it on, Duncan taught them well. "Reach out Recruit! Reach out for that blade like it was your lover that you're beckoning to bed!" Dasatra reached out trying to call the first blade only for it to barely wiggle. "THE HELL WAS THAT?! ARE YOU A SHY LOVER DASATRA!? REACH OUT AND GRAB IT!" Oh look, she had the same angry vein as Morrigan.

Suddenly the blade flew from the ground landing with a hard slap to her palm, the sword gave a soft glow, "Whoa~," any lower and her jaw would have touched the floor.

"Do you feel it Dasatra? It's power, it's... girth? You have some real power in your corner now, misuse it and you'll regret it. NEXT!" It took a bit, but everyone had their new blade.

At the moment I had them cutting down training dummies. "I don't think I've ever heard you yell so much," Ayla said, standing next to me.

"I've never had a reason to. You, Sereda, and Dagna didn't need a drill sergeant, you needed a friend that could help you get a handle on your new power, Sereda needed a partner with skills greater than her, and Dagna needed guidance, not a leader, someone who gave her a goal. None of that needed some hard ass to get all up on your face," I explained.

"But they do?"

"They're about to enter a battlefield, they need to have someone who can give orders and keep them focused," I shrugged.

"By Andraste's freckled Butt cheeks! You're having fun~!" she teased, causing me to smirk, I've played Halo, we all dream of being Sergeant Johnson once in our lives.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I lied, summoning a mini kitchen, something I invented after the Deep Road, I'm never eating roasted dirt nug ever again, "want some breakfast?"

she shook her head, "Neria, Leliana, and I are eating breakfast at Pizza Time."

"Have fun."

Quick as a whip she gave me a kiss on the cheek and took off in a sprint, "BYE!" she screamed, face as red as a tomato.

"I don't get goodbye kisses from my girlfriend~," whined an elven recruit.

"WHAT WAS THAT RECRUIT THENEIROS?! YOU WANNA SKIP BREAKFAST AND RUN LAPS INSTEAD!?"

"SIR NO SIR!"

"That's what I thought! I hope you ladies enjoyed basic because today you start your real training!"

-/-

The next two days were what I affectionately called 'montage camp', they called it hell camp. I used my inspiration skill, I would heal any fatigue and promote muscle growth, shove them with heavy calorie meals, followed by run them through optical training, gave them specialized heavy armor, taught them to create their own sword seethe, Theron when not teaching his students, would join in along with Aeden and Alistair after Elissa kicked him out of Mother Base, and had them practice killing any Darkspawn scouts that got to close to the wall.

"It's been two days, personally I would have loved an extra 2 weeks to truly put you through your paces, but we don't have that sort of time, the battle is estimated to start in two more days, and the Darkspawn horde is at our doorstep, keep your cool and be ready. You have tomorrow off to complete any last-minute preparations, you report to King Cailan, dismissed!" I gave a quick Ferelden salute, which they copied, and ran off.

Two warm arms wrapped around my chest, "I see you're finally free~," Jak whispered, her breath rose every hair on the back of my neck. I haven't been able to sleep at home in the last two days, trying to get the Vanguard ready for the battle. God~, did I miss her touch.

"Free as a bird~," I whispered. Her soft laugh eased my worries about the upcoming battle.

She crawled up my back like a baby sloth, "Nick, take me home~," she yawned,

"Why did you get up so early if all you wanted was for me to take you home, I was heading back anyway?"

"Yeah, but I missed your warmth," she muttered into my back.

"You could have come down here with me," I teased.

"Couldn't, I was too busy keeping Julee from coming down here and taking you right in front of your troops."

"Was it the yelling?" I knew Julee liked it rough.

She shook her head, "Nah, it was why you were yelling, the command, the ordering, the power, you know she gets off on that."

True, "How's everyone else?"

"Fine. Dagna and Ayla have taken over the kitchen keeping us from kidnapping you, it was close though~," she half-joked.

"Not enough sweets~," I teased.

"Ayla needs to learn to taste some of her spices~, she made a cinnamon bun so salty it nearly killed me!"

"And I missed it!" I laughed.

"Shut up! I almost died!" she pounded my back, but it felt more like a light massage. She huffed and laid her head on my back.

"Is everyone ready for their power-up?"

"ugh~, don't even. Morrigan has been whining about you wasting your time, and how you should have powered us up already."

"Why didn't you send her to me?"

"Cause she knew better~, if she came to you would have had her training with the rest of your troops. She was just hoping one of us would have gotten tired of her nonsense and come get you."

"But you didn't~."

"No, Dagna stopped feeding her, so she stopped." that got a good chuckle at of me, if you wanna hurt someone hit their food supply.

We continued talking about miscellaneous things I missed as I walked back home. Dagna's training, Lyna and Julee learning to build a runic battery similar to a mini-arc reactor, but instead of science, with magic, Lyna and Neria were going out and helping people get to the docks before they are sealed closed tomorrow, Telsa was talking with Anora about the economical hit Ferelden was going to take and how they could curve the worst of it. Morrigan and Elissa were... lazing around, with Aeden and Alistair at the camp, and with Elissa pregnant they just sat around watching TV, to be fair what else could they have done? Everyone was just hurrying and waiting for the Blight to reach us.

As Mother Base's lift reached the landing zone, I found our entire group ready for my arrival sitting out in the yard, talking and laughing.

"Finally! Took you long enough! What, did you take the long way around?" Morrigan huffed, I just smirked, "Of course~," she rolled her eyes.

"You know what, Mory~, since you've been hounding me, I've come to the conclusion that you only want the power to be powerful, not to help your friends~" I sang.

"Nick," she growled.

"It's time for another game of 'FRIEND OR ACQUAINTANCE!' Gather round yall!"

"Friend or acquaintance? What's that?" Lyna asked walking over with her sister.

"It's some game that Nick played with Morrigan, once, I think," Dagna answered.

"Correct!" I announced like the carnival barker, "Morrigan tends to have problems making friends and as her older brother I need a way for her to try and be social. In return, she wins amazing prizes~!"

"Nick can we not?" Morrigan groaned.

"Are you sure~?" I snapped my fingers creating an illusion of a screen above me with the picture of a cartoon Ayla reading a book with a ring over her head with the number 1500 next to the picture, below that was a gif of a stick figure going super Saiyan for 2500, and below that was a picture of the Staff of the Magi of a whopping 3500.

Her eyes snapped to the staff before moving to the ring, "What is that?"

"Why~, your wedding of course~," I teased, face gaining a blush before snapping to an equally blushing Aeden, "OH~, don't look at him like that~, he has nothing to do with this."

"Well, I don't want it," she huffed.

"Are you sure~, this isn't some Chantry mother talking some nonsense, this is a genuine cleric! Ayla, my lovely assistant, can you tell me what a ceremony done by you can give her!?"

Ayla gave me a deadpanned looked before sighing and opening her book, "your face is a lovely assistant-" she muttered, "Okay! It will cost you but if you allow me to do the ceremony you and Aeden will gain a holy barrier that enhances any armor you have equipped-"

"That doesn't sound-"

"And!" Ayla cut Morrigan off, "no complications on your first birth," that got her attention, "and if you're willing to go the extra mile of 3 gold you get holy sweatpants that ease all pregnancy-related side effects ~." I spotted Elissa elbow Alistair, and nodding to Ayla, he gave her a nod.

"It's not like I want it-" she looks over to Aeden, "-but let's say I do get it, how long does it take?"

"About an hour~, if you want the whole treatment."

"Do we need anything?"

"Not really, you can have any other tradition you want, I just need to be there to do the ceremony."

Morrigan gave Aeden a long look, "I'll... think about it. Can we just get started!"

"Oh my, isn't someone excited!" snapping my fingers, the board changed again making it look like Jeopardy, "The game is simple, choose a category-" everyone's name, "and a number."

Morrigan took a moment to count the number of questions, "that's not enough for the Staff."

"Correct!" snapping my fingers another, separate category appeared with her name on top, "This isn't for you~, this is for everyone else! That's right! It's not enough that you know things about the people around you, they need to know things about you! And that's if they choose to answer, you haven't been the kindest person these last 7 months." the look of annoyed confidence she had flushed down the toilet. "let's begin~!"

"I'm going to kill you~," she growled.

"If you don't pick, I will~," I teased.

"Neria for 200!" she hissed,

"Neria is a Ferelden native, where was she born~?"

"... Redcliffe!"

"Correct!" 200 points flash on the screen as fake cheering and clapping came from nowhere, "we are off to a good start! Please pick your next question or you can roll the dice and choose your own category."

"Do I get to pick who answers?"

"Nope!"

"Elissa for 200."

"Playing it safe~, Elissa comes from the Cousland Clan of Ferelden, rulers of Highever for centuries, why was Elissa considered special?"

"she's the first girl born to the Cousland line in a hundred years."

"Correct!"

"Alistair for 400!" Morrigan yelled, accidentally getting into the game.

"Here we go! As you well now know Alistair is expecting a child, what are they going to name them?"

"Bryce for a boy... Morrigan if it's a girl," she sighed.

"I still can't believe Alistair agreed to that! But correct!"

"It's a two-way street!" Elissa called out.

Holy shit, "You agreed to name your son Alistair?" I whispered

"Middle name," she corrected.

"Still~, whatever~, next question!"

The game continued like that until we finally got to the point where only her questions remained.

"I'll admit, I didn't think you'd remember Lily's Nug's name," I called out over the fake cheering.

"You only need to hear, Schmoops, once before trying to feed it to Dogmeat," she grunted, over Lily's gasp.

"True!" I joked, dodging a rock Lily threw, "Now, we have reached, the Morrigan side of the board, now we see if the people around you consider you a friend. Julee!?"

"Ah! Wha?"

"What... is Morrigan's favorite dessert?"

"The red velvet cake you cooked for your duel against Sky," she answered.

"Correct!"

"How could you possibly know that?" Morrigan asked.

"I found your stash at the back of the fridge in a preservation chest, with the words, 'property of Morrigan, if you eat this, I will turn you into a frog'."

"Don't look through my things!"

"I wasn't I was looking through my fridge, which had your things. Leliana! What... is Morrigan's favorite color!?"

"Mmm," she was enjoying watching Morrigan sweat, "Royal violet."

"Correct!"

"I don't remember saying that?" Morrigan muttered.

"You didn't have to, no matter what you wore you have a little purple on you, friends tend to notice these things~," I eased, "Oghren!"

Morrigan groaned, "You win some you lose some."

"What... is Morrigan's favorite drink?"

"Chasid sack mead," he answered not missing a beat.

"Correct!"

"how~!?" Morrigan's shocked eyes looked ready to pop out of her head.

"You drank it like it was your last drink alive when we went drinking two weeks ago, then you stopped drinking it like it might be the last cup in the world and you needed to savor it, only to chug it down anyway. Trust me, I know what drink you love, personally it is a bit too bitter for me, Aeden, Theron, and Elissa love their West Hill brandy, Alistair with his baby liver could barely handle ale, Sten drinks Maraas-Lok not to enjoy it, but just to get drunk, Jak and Julia have taken a liking to Antivan Port, Neria and Wynne enjoy their dangerous Aqua Magus, Telsa doesn't drink because it affects her work, Zevran can't go four days without his Antivan sip-sip, the dragons don't have a favorite, Sereda own a bottle of Mackay's Epic Single Malt, Natia and Dagna enjoy dwarven ale, the twins enjoy Fereldan lager, Leliana enjoys sipping her Celestine Black, Ayla doesn't like alcohol but drinks it to look cool, Shale's a golem, Duncan likes his apple brandy, Cailan has his Fereldan whiskey, and Nick drinks the humble beer.

Everyone just looked at him, Mother Base was silent.

"Well, hot damn," I didn't know what to say to that, "it's always the ones you don't suspect, anyway~, Alistar! What... was the object Morrigan stole and then later destroyed by Flemeth when she was a kid?"

"If you don't want me to have the staff you can say so!" Morrigan hissed.

"A mirror," Alistair answered.

The look of disbelief would forever hang on my wall of awesome apprentices, "how?"

Alistair shrugged, "You're a talkative drunk and you drank a lot of mead two weeks ago."

I reached out and patted her head, "Trust your friends Mory~"

Do you wish to bestow power to Morrigan Walters?

Be warned you can only do this once!

Cost: 4000 MP and 800 CP

Accepting, Morrigan began to glow before shining like a beacon, this time I was smart enough to look away.

"MY EYES!" not everyone though, "NICK YOU CAN'T JUST BLIND PEOPLE LIKE THAT!" Alistair screamed.

"Sorry!" I called out, "Never forget your friends are here for you," I whispered to Morrigan, before grabbing her head with both hands and ruffling her hair, making her swat at me.

"Gah! You butt-face!" She ran off trying to get her now wild and puffed-up hair back in order. Her eyes, which always had a slight glow, could now be easily seen in the dark. "Hey! My staff!" she huffed sticking her hand at me.

Smirking I summon the staff and tossed it, at Aeden, "Consider that part of the dowry~, I'll make your flying vacation home after the blight." The reminder of the island made Morrigan freeze but was pulled out of her shock by Aeden.

"Looks like I have your family's approval~," he teased.

"Shut up and give me my staff," she blushed and grabbed the staff. For a moment she froze as the power of the staff overwhelmed her, but took a deep breath and recomposed herself, and shot me a victorious smirk.

I just laughed, "That's my little sister! Alright! Who's next!?"

Dagna fast on her feet rushed over, "Let's do this!" got to love her enthusiasm.

As I when from person-to-person Theron would be there to move them to the side and give them pointers, it wasn't until I reached Sky that I took a moment.

Do you wish to bestow power to Sky Skipper?

Be warned you can only do this once!

Cost: 3200 MP and 8000CP

Well, love me tenderly, summoning my doctor-suit my CP and MP shot through the roof at a whopping 10000 each, it made me feel like I was going to explode, it was terrible, it felt like I was coming apart at the seams, my body was not at the place where I could handle so much power, I guess Gamer's body could only do so much.

Warning! Your body can't handle the power this outfit provides! If not removed within 15 minutes your Magical core will be permanently disfigured!

15:00 – 14:59 -

Where everyone else lit up like a flare, Sky... didn't. She evolved like a Pokémon, the glow that would blind everyone stuck close to her skin, her horns grew and twisted, as the light faded Sky looked... different.

Due to your hard work and effort, you have leveled up your skill!

Power Bestowal – Advanced Rank

-25% to cost, you can now favor stats, magic gain, or chi gain

Great Dragon

Sky Skipper

Age: 140

Lvl: 71

HP: 5,500/5,500

MP: 6,200/6,200

CP: 3,000/3,000

Str: she is the apex of dragon culture, run

Vit: faster than a locomotive and can jump tall buildings in a single leap

Dex: Snakes wish they were as flexible as her

Int: where others find magic a difficult subject, she finds it to be as simple as breathing

Wis: she knows to fish and not to have someone fish for her

Cha: Her eyes are as deep as the ocean, her skin dark like chocolate, and her scales as white as snow

Luk: she found fools crazy enough to love a dragon

Sky Skipper is the 7th youngest daughter of Thunder Reign. She was born in the Anderfels or The Dry Sea as she calls it and moved to the frostbacks when she was old enough. She loves the color of her scales, being the color of freshly fallen snow. She takes great pride in her scales and will crush you if you call them ugly. Through your intervention, she has reached a new level of power.

You are part of her thunder, and her mate, she loves your wisdom and your body

Sky, who before had scales that pretty much covered most of her human body, now showed prominently on her shoulders, tail, feet, and neck leaving more skin exposed. Her four horns grew larger and more curved, whereas before they swooshed back creating a would-be helmet, only one pair circled around and up, the second pair curved down and cupped her ears, they also had a light blue glow.

"Whoa~," I took a step back and removed my doctor-suit, allowing the pressure that threatened to rip me apart to fade, leaving me feeling like a deflated balloon.

Mana Crash!

Recovery in 15 minutes!

Mana resilience activated!

Recovery reduced to 0 seconds!

Chi Crash!

Recovery in 15 minutes!

Due to pushing yourself a new perk has been created!

Second Wind - I'm just getting started! This perk allows you to recover 50% of your chi if you crash!

It can only be used once an hour!

"Sky? Ya okay?" I asked.

She blinked at me and gave me a huge smile, "Yep! Why?" I pointed to her horns. Reaching up she patted her head, and her eyes grew to the sizes of dinner plates, "My horns?! Nicky! Mirror!" creating an illusion of a full body mirror, "Their bigger! And curvy! And my scales are missing! One moment." she took off running towards the edge of Mother Base and transforming back into her dragon form.

"Whoa~." She was huge! I mean she was huge before, but she was an easy 60 feet in height, over 100 feet in length from nose to tail, and her wingspan darkened any light that passed the blighted clouds, she... was a fantasy dragon. We watched her make impossible turns, dips, dives and rises. We saw her fly higher and higher before turning and diving towards us at a speed that made me worry Mother Base would shatter on impact, but about 100 feet in the air she polymorphed back into her human form and landed with the grace of a ballerina. "Astral you wanna-" Looking over I found Astral lying on the floor trying to look like a log, "Astral?"

"NICKY!? DID YOU SEE THAT!? I was so fast and strong!" she lifted me like I was a helium balloon, "My magic is dancing! We must mate! It would be amazing~." I'll do anything you want, you beautiful brown goddess.

"Whoa there, big girl! Take a moment, relax!" Julee came over trying to get Sky to put me down, "Breathe! Put him down, he isn't finished." Sky pulled me away from her chest and gave me a once-over, before putting me back to paradise.

"But," she blinked again, "wait~, I'm bigger now-" she narrowed her eyes," and stronger," her growl did all kinds of things to me. Is danger my kink? Before I could think about it a hand reached out and grabbed Sky by her new horns.

"And sensitive," Jak growled twisting Sky's horn causing her to squeak and drop me.

"Owowowow! Jakky! Jakky!?" Sky begged.

"She's going to tear them off!?" cried Julee.

"Did you know that it only takes 8 pounds of pressure to rip off an ear~, for an arm, about 82, but an arm has more tendons and muscles to keep it in place, a horn on the other hand, well~" she gives another twist getting Sky to drop to her knees.

"Owowowoowow! I'm sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" Sky continued to beg.

Jak lowered to her level, "I love you so much, but you keep forgetting who's in charge~. Promise me you won't let power go to your head."

"I-I-I-" Jak gives another twist, "I PROMISE!" Jak immediately let go and started kissing Sky's face and horns.

"I'm sorry I had to do that sweety," she apologized pulling Sky into her breast, where Sky nuzzled trying to push the pain away.

"Was that, ok?" Alistair asked, grabbing his ear.

"Sky's a dragon, you shouldn't treat her like she's human, no matter how human she might look," Julee answered, "If a Dragon thinks it could take the leadership role they will. They have a might makes right mentality." she stood over me, "Nicky, you okay?" she asked, helping me to my feet.

"Yeah~, that suit took a lot out of me, sent me right into a mana crash, I just need a moment," I groaned, "I can see why people worship dragons~," I teased.

"What were they like?" she whispered.

"Soft but firm, they made me feel welcomed."

"Ugh! So jealous~," she moaned biting her lips, "Sky~," she called out skipping over to her, "Hug-hug~!" she called out arms outstretched, getting scooped up into Sky's chest. Julee's hands were touching everything.

"By the great good evil, she forgives too easily~," Jak sighed.

"Yeah~, but we love her."

"I have to, I'm her sister," she chuffed, "Astral would you get up."

"She'll see me!" she hissed.

"Yeah, and?" I understood that Sky was higher in the pecking order due to destroying Astral in every possible duel they had, but she's never hidden like this.

"She's a Great Dragon!" she hissed.

"uh-huh, and~?"

"Nick! She's a GREAT DRAGON! The biggest of the biggest! Only the great elder ones fly above them." Ya know... I don't know much about dragon culture; I know power and age are important, Horns show beauty, Males are treated as things, and duels could take different forms, but they were mostly used to show off who was better without killing the other, when one Dragon defeats another the victor gains everything the loser owned, their treasure, their servants, their very life, and if you couldn't tell, dragons don't like being told what to do.

"Does that mean you'll become a Great Dragon when Nick powers you up?" Alistair asked.

Astral lay there for a moment, before rolling over to me at great speed, "I, THE GREAT ASTRAL STRIDER, WILL RULE ALL!" she announced jumping on my chest and capturing me in a bear hug.

I patted her with my head, "That's nice but I still need to use my hands." I didn't, her hug was threatening to snap my spine.

"My, my, what do we have here~," Sky teased, Julee was leaning on her chest her head resting in between her breasts, and pulled Astral off me, "How cute~." Astral was ram rod straight, "A mini-dragon~, so tiny-" the vein on Astral's head began to pulse, "-Like a land walker~."

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!?" Astral roared trying to attack her but couldn't move from Sky's grip.

I left them to their fun, I still needed my armor to replenish my MP and CP, "Okay~, how many of you guys are left?" I counted Sten, Alistair, Cailan, Jak, Julee, Telsa, Astral, Lyna, and Ava, "I still have to make breakfast, don't I?" I sighed.

Sten was extremely reluctant to gain any power-up, chi or otherwise, but with my Ranking up I was able to target only his stats, he still didn't like it but after checking his character sheet to make sure his body didn't gain any CP or MP, he huffed and nodded, which was probably the best I was going to get. He didn't change much but when you look like a Greek demi-god there wasn't much you can change, his HP was at a staggering 2000 though.

Lyna asked for both Magic and Chi, no longer wanting to use lyrium to jump-start her runes, and seeing Dagna go through a Mana crash and learned that Theron could withstand one, she jumped at the chance.

Ava got the same but mostly for the offensive capability, being the older sister, she wanted to have all possible abilities to keep her family from harm. I'll keep the fact that she liked to shoot lasers to myself.

Telsa did not want to be a sorcerer; she was operating in a land that feared magic and if people knew she had magic, the chantry was going to make it difficult for her to rule the financial world. It was annoying that people already labeled her for being an elf, but she liked a challenge, the Chi was for when they tried anything stupid. 'Snapping a spine could be just as proper an introduction as shaking someone's hand,' she told me once as we were going over employee benefits and pay. She scares me sometimes, but I'll be damned if we weren't making money hand over fist.

Jak and Julee jumped another 10 levels and gained chi of their own. They didn't evolve or anything, but they did say that they gained over 60 stat points, their tails seemed to grow an extra foot, and their horns also changed, unlike before, where they were the same color as their skin, they were now pitch black like princess Thorn's. They gave a sigh and... popped off their horns. Well~, I say 'popped' but it was more like a savage crunching noise that would haunt me forever.

"By the Stone's cracked bottom?!" Dagna cried, "Why did you do that!?" Sky looked faint and Astral started dry heaving.

"What?" Jak and Julee just gave everyone confused looks.

"Your horns!?" Dagna pointed out.

"Yeah, they molt," Julee answered, giving me their horns.

Tiefling Horns – tier 4 magical ingredient

Tieflings, being children of devils, have a great deal of magical power, throughout their life their horns use mana to strengthen themselves becoming a self-made helmet protecting their heads, when a Tiefling grows in power their horns molt, growing new stronger horns over a month. Fallen horns are rare magical ingredients due to all the power they've absorbed over the years.

Tier may vary depending on how long the tiefling had the horn.

"The itch is going to kill me~," Jak groaned, rubbing her nubs, "I have no idea why Rosy complained about not having any."

"Want me to help? I helped Rose grow her horns out," I asked.

She shook her head, "Nah, Rose was impatient and lucky that her horns grew out evenly, trust me you don't want to rush something like this."

Sky appeared like lightning and shoved Jak into her chest, "Don't worry Jakky, I still love you, even without your horns!" she cried kissing her all over her face and nubs, "My poor hornless baby! WHY GODS, WHYYYY!?" I'm... gonna leave her to that.

"Man, you learn something new every day," Alistair hummed.

"Astral front and center!" I called out.

"Uhm~, don't you want Alistair and me first?" Cailan asked.

I just looked at him, "... not yet." I was close to leveling up again, usually, it would take a rather long time to level up anything, but I've been swinging well above my weight class, Sky herself leveled me up and then some, while Telsa barely gave me any Exp. "You and Alistair have slightly larger Mana core, Alistair I understand his mother was a mage and an elf, I don't know about you, but I don't want to accidentally make you a mage, the Chantry will probably try something stupid."

Astral was nearly as difficult as Sky even with my skill subtracting 25% of the final cost, I still needed my doctor suit that launched me into another Chi, and Mana crash, laying me out for 15 minutes, I probably should have waited the hour for my Second Wind perk to work again.

Due to your hard work and effort, you have leveled up your skill!

Power Bestowal – Expert Rank

-30% to cost, you can now select if people gain magic or chi

"I AM MIGHTY!" Astral yelled at the top of her lungs. Astral changed just like Sky, the scales that covered most of her body were missing, and where before her original horns twisted up over her head her new horns had a graceful curve that looked like a wave with two new horns growing on top her new horns, they also had a light red glow.

Great Dragon

Astral Strider Walters

Age: 78

Lvl: 62

HP: 4,520/4,520

MP: 3,240/3,240

CP: 4,080/4,080

Str: she is the apex of dragon culture

Vit: she could give jets a healthy challenge

Dex: Snakes wish they were as flexible as her

Int: where others find magic a difficult subject, she finds it to be as simple as breathing

Wis: why cook when you have a brother for that

Cha: She is ASTRAL STRIDER! Scales as dark as the night, eyes of burning vengeance, and skin as pale as the moon

Luk: she has become the youngest great dragon in history

The once mighty dragon of the brecilian forest, she left home two years ago, her mom kept nagging her about what she was going to do for a living. Are you going to get a cave of your own? When are you going to get a harem of Drakes? Have you begun building your hoard? Are you going to destroy a village or two? Are you going to take land walker servants? Having enough of her mother's nagging she left home to make a name for herself, where she ran into Nick.

She sees you as an annoying sister but can't live without your food

"I'm unstoppable! All shall bow before me! My cave will be spotless! Shiny rocks everywhere! Meat and spider juice as far as I can see!" op~, she's gone mad with power, "I'll make Dagny wear only sexy outfits forever!" She received a smack to the head for that one, "WHO DARES-" she froze at Dagna's unimpressed look.

"Are you finished?" Dagna asked, holding a rolled-up newspaper.

"Yes," Astral muttered rubbing her head, only to touch her new horns, "I HAVE MORE HORNS!?" she cheered, grabbing Dagna and twirling her in joy. "Nicky LOOK!" She started doing poses.

"Yes, yes, they're very pretty can you put me down?" asked Dagna.

The huge smile plastered on Astral's face sent a shiver up my spine, "No," she processed to transform into a dragon with Dagna still on her back and launching into the air, Dagna's had some serious lungs on her.

… I'm going to let her handle that.

"Nick?" I rolled my eyes over to Neria standing over me.

"Gasp! Are you... going to give me a lap pillow?" I teased; I got a blank look, "Please~."

She huffed and put my head on her lap, it's everything I've ever dreamed of, "What does a Chi crash feel like?"

"Mmm, a mana crash is a way for your body and mind to stop using magic through pain, but you can push past it at great detriment to your body, a Chi Crash is the same, but unlike a mana crash that gives you the most painful headache you've ever had but worse, a chi crash, stops you in your tracks and drops you, it's like being trapped in your own body, I can't feel or move."

She brushed some hair out of my face, "Can you move if you push past it?"

"Maybe but nothing good would come of it, unlike magic, Chi comes straight from the body, if I push it my very soul might be damaged."

"Just... don't go killing yourself... you're my ride." she joked, getting a laugh out of me. Ayla came over, holy book in hand.

"How's sleeping beauty," she asked.

I puckered up, "I need a healing kiss~," I groaned.

"Sure~," she puckered her lips, but she was still standing looking down at me, "I'm waiting," she gave me an unimpressed look.

"I can't move," I whined.

"mmm, I guess you don't want that kiss, let's do it the old fashion way. Heal and grow strong~," she chanted.

You have been healed by Ayla Qina's healing word

You are healed to max

Chi recovery reduced to 3 minutes!

"Still got 3 minutes," I said.

"Want me to heal you again?"

"Nah, let everyone take a moment, we just saw two dragons reach the apex of their culture."

"You just wanna rest on my lap," Neria pointed out.

"I can do two things at once, it's called multitasking," I teased, rolling my eyes.

She covered my eyes with her hands, "Don't you roll your eyes at me, mister, I'm the one with all the power here."

"For the next 3 minutes," I stated.

"I can do a lot in 3 minutes~," she smirked.

"Gasp! Ayla are you going to let her woman handle me?!" I cried out.

"I just might~, what do you keep calling me? A voyeur~, it's my thing, apparently~," she huffed.

"Oh M- augh!" Neria cut off my 'Sulu'ing by putting her thumb in my mouth.

"You know~," she whispered, "Julee and Jak love to go on and on about your mouth," the smirk crossing her face was downright devilish, "well I'm waiting~."

Oh, so she wanted to tease the big dog, huh?

"Ummm, Neria aren't you taking this a bit too-" Neria shushed Ayla, like a criminal would their accomplice when they talk too loudly.

"Don't you want revenge Ayla~, this bastard's been teasing, caressing, laughing at us, but now, he's helpless-" she rubbed her finger on my lips, "And at our, tender mercy~," Ayla's glassy look didn't bode well for me... or did it bode well?

I would never know, "I know that feeling," as Nat appeared next to Neria, causing her to freak out and launch me off her lap and face first into the ground. So... this is how I die, face down on the ground with my ass in the air... what a way to go. I was lifted into the air courtesy of Sky, she as giving me the biggest smile that warmed my heart.

"Hi sweety," I greeted Sky.

"What are you doing on the ground? You're gonna get filthy," she huffed dusting off the dirt from my face. Suddenly, my entire body tingled with pins and needles, indicating that my Chi was back in working order.

"Thank you for saving me, but I can stand on my own now," I said dangling over the floor.

"Mmm."

"Sky~, I don't like that look in her eye. Put me down or I'm not doing that thing you like," I warned.

"You love me," she called my bluff!?

"Of course, but I can love you without buffing and polishing your scales," I stated.

She narrowed her eyes at me, before slowly lowering me to the ground, "I'm watching you, tonight after bath time."

I grab her hand and give it a kiss, "I'll make sure you can see yourself," I would too, I'm a man of my word.

"Alright, time for the blonde duo~." nearly half the group turned to me, good lord there are a lot more blondes in Fereldan than I thought, "those two," I pointed to Cailan and Alistair.

I gave Cailan Chi and a stat boost; he gained an extra 6 inches and enough muscle to give Aeden a run for his money. Alistair, on the other hand, had a difficult problem, this could be the only chance to gain magic, he knew how people of Thedas reacted to mages, but he also knew that with his mother being a mage and Elissa being a mage that his child would more than likely be a mage, if he gained magic he could relate and help his child through the difficult road they would be placed in, but there was a chance his child might not have magic, and he couldn't imagine what it would be like for a child without magic to be born into a mage family, in the end, it was Elissa that chose Chi for him, that way they could handle if their baby was born without magic.

They left them to play with their new powers, well, I made some breakfast.

-/-

One day, one more day. The tip of the darkspawn horde has been spotted by the guards on the ramparts, the orlesians were moved behind the walls, their camp was broken down, and everyone was tense. Any other day I would look out over Mother Base and pretend to be mysterious, unfortunately, I was busy.

"Sera don't touch that!" Lyna yelled, slapping Sera's hand away, "Harwin keep an eye on her, Dain clean up after yourself, Thalen help Felos to the bathroom!" My house was infested with... children. Most of them were Astral's little minions, sorry, her, employees~, some were just babies that the minions brought with them, I think they were from the same orphanage they were from, I had no idea.

"Morrigan 'rock' the baby," I called out getting a bottle ready, breakfast was going chaotic.

"I am," she hissed.

"You're bouncing her," I corrected, "Aeden, please teach her how."

"I got her sweety~," Aeden called out taking the baby from Morrigan, and rocking her to sleep, "see an easy back and forward, not up and down."

"I was getting to that," she hissed, "how do you know so much about babies anyways?"

"I helped take care of my nephew."

"Aren't you a noble? don't you have wet nurses for that?"

"Not in the Cousland clan we don't, we might have maids and servants, but when it came to children, we were an all-hands-on deck kind of family, I'm just happy Nick created these self-cleaning diapers. I'm going to go and put her in one of the cribs," he gave Morrigan a kiss and took one of the warm bottles on his way out, "Powdered milk~, what will they think of next?" he muttered as he walked out of the kitchen.

"Nick, remind me again why there's a flood of children in my personal space," she hissed.

I passed her a plate of eggs, "your sister wanted to make sure her little workers weren't in danger."

"And you let them on Mother Base because~?"

"They're children, and my moral compass wouldn't allow me to leave children outside as a blight bear downs on us. Think of this as practice, you have talked about your plans with your husband~, right?"

"Don't bring that up," her cheeks glowed a bright red, Morrigan eventually agreed to marry Aeden, we were just lucky Fergus wasn't too far away otherwise he would have missed his brother's shotgun marriage, seriously by the time I got back with him Ayla was halfway through the ceremony. I had to give Fergus a power-up to apologize for my sister's rash actions. It was nice, the rings they always had were imbued with silver and gold, a beam of golden light engulfed the couple, and anything they wore had a bit of a shiny golden gloss.

"Is that a yes?" I asked, passing her a plate full of bacon and toast for the impossibly hungry children at the table.

"Oh... you're married," Little Radyn deflated, the poor kid was barely 10 and his first crush was already taken. Better luck next time little man.

"He had... Conditions."

"Was one of them, knowing how to change a diaper?"

"I almost had it!"

"It was on the baby's head, Morrigan."

"It moved! Shut up! He said that he had to be there when it was born and help raise it with me until the child reaches the age of 17."

"Uh-huh, and? That sounds a lot like parenthood."

"And the Wardens?"

I shrugged, "What about them? I'm sure there's going to be a mess after the Blight, but we both know that Aeden would return after Ferelden beat back the darkspawn, I give it 6 months tops. I'll then cure Aeden of the blight, if the wardens have a problem with that, they can kiss my ass."

"I don't wish to be tied down, I may not have spoken it, but I am grateful you allowed me to join, to leave the swamp was nothing I ever thought of but now I couldn't imagine ever returning."

"Yeah, I know, that's why I'm making you a flying island, but just because you want to see the world doesn't mean you have to do it alone," I said passing her some chicken. "Do you even know what you're going to go through while pregnant?"

"I thought the magic pants were supposed to alleviate all the symptoms that come with pregnancy?"

"Yeah, and you're lucky, the Maker is helping you give birth, not many women have that backup, death is a serious possibility. And let's not forget about the sleep deprivation that happens as the baby wakes at random times in the middle of the night. Trust me Morrigan it takes a village to raise a child." I passed her some meatloaf.

"Do they ever stop eating?" she groaned.

"Nope," I answered as I stuck my head out the window, "ASTRAL, SKY! HAVE THOSE PUNKS EATEN YET!?" Sky and Astral were outside in their full dragon form playing with some of the kids. Man, kids are fearless nowadays, I saw a little girl standing on Sky's head holding a toy sword and acting like she just slain her, roaring into the Sky like a champion of legend. Sky shook lightly getting the kids off her back and pushed them toward the house. "Fair warning, some kids don't know the meaning of danger, so make sure you keep an eye on them." I told Morrigan, who was giving me a look that said, 'No shit ya dipstick', "Just making sure."

"NICK!?" Telsa came running into the room holding a book with Dagna close on her heels. "NICK! NICK! NICK!"

"What, what, what!?" should I be worried about the fact that they're working together?

"This!" Telsa shoved a book in my face with a picture of a train.

"A... Train?"

"Yes~," she hissed, I didn't like that look in her eye.

"Did you sleep last night?"

"That's not important!" I beg to differ, "This is the solution to our transportation problem!"

"Transportation problem?"

"FOR THE GENERAL STORE!" She needs to sleep!

"You do know that trains need tracks, right?"

"Not if they fly!" Dagna answered, she also had that look in her eye.

"Mmm~, I guess that could work around the rail problem, but we would need people to fly it."

"We can make it like Mother base's navigation system! With automatic landing and flying, we would only need someone to fly it in case of emergencies!" Dagna pointed out, nearly jumping on her toes.

"I suppose, but why are you so excited? Didn't know you were getting into the transportation business?"

"I don't care about that whatsoever!" she smiled, "I care about the runes needed to make it fly! I thought it would take years before I get into the levitation and flying runes, but with this, I can get to the practical study!"

"Mmm, I can't deny you that~, do you have permission from Anora? Trains aren't exactly small ya know?"

"How large are we talking about?" Anora asked walking into the kitchen, with the blight at our front door, Cailan has moved most of the civilian population behind the large walls of the docks and the Alienage, he also moved his pregnant wife to Mother Base, I didn't really mind, Anora was a little wary of all the magic so she didn't touch anything with a rune, and was very respectful.

I passed her the book and made an illusion of a toy train flying over the dinner table as the kids oh'd and Awe'd, "as you can see trains are made of different sections," I gave a bare-boned explanation on how a train worked, mostly because I didn't know much about them, there was an engine in the front that pushes the train, a place for people and luggage, and another for objects that are being moved from one place to another, usually some form of merchandise, or just mail.

Anora was really liking the train idea, most things traveled through caravans that were liable to be attacked by bandits or wildlife, and some just went missing. "Did you have these where you came from?" she asked, talking about Earth.

"Oh yeah~, millions, there one of the best ways to move things around, the only difference is that ours were attached to rails on the ground, by making them fly, the cost of maintaining them would be significantly cheaper and safer as long as I make the trains a durable as Mother Base, the railings were a real problem back in the day, one wrong move and it would take quite a bit of time to fix."

"And the cost?" she asked.

"Mmm, that's a bit iffy~, I do have the materials to make my own, but it would be best to buy the materials from Ferelden giving a boost to the no doubt difficult economic problems we're about to run into." War for survival isn't easy or cheap.

"A number, Ser Nicholas~."

"It's not so simple your Highness, I could make the leading engine car right now, it could take 30 minutes tops, with Julee's help, probably less, the passenger and cargo carts would take longer having to make them individually, and be able to connect to other carts, that would take time, a normal train could carry over 300 carts, on the ground, I would have to make a larger arc reactor to power the train," and with the money I had I was able to finally buy Tony's superior blueprints for the arc reactor Mk 4, but the cost for 'Badassium' or what nerds would call vibranium, was ridiculous, but since I didn't have an arc reactor strapped to my chest, I stuck to Palladium, which was still expensive but less than the nearly 5,000 gold per oz of vibranium, my runes would just have to make up the difference. I did plan on just buying the Vibranium and just using my Copy skill but I needed it to be at Master rank if I wanted pure Vibranium.

"That's not a number~," the queen sighed.

"One mini-arc reactor can power the city of Denerim for years, easily. It's practically priceless."

"Sounds expensive," Noted Theron, I wasn't even shocked that he appeared out of nowhere, at this point I expected him to be anytime when I was talking about flying objects.

I passed him some dessert for the children who were finished eating, "indubitably, but I'm not selling the reactor I'm selling the product that's using the reactor. trains make a lot of money; I'm talking about millions~." Telsa's eyes looked ready to pop, "imagine, being able to transport your goods from one side of thedas to another without the worry of danger, of it being lost, where your goods would make it in less time than it would take to hire a caravan."

"Merchants would kill for that," he pointed out.

"And caravans would murder for it to never appear," I countered, "one man's fortune is another man's destitute."

"Did trains do that to your people?" Anora asked.

"Mmm, not really, trains ran on rails which took years to make, so by the time they were fully operational, people transitioned rather easily. The difference now is that I could get a functioning train in the sky in less than a year and could fly over mountains and oceans."

"Other than the money what good did trains do?" Theron asked.

I scoffed, "What did eluvians do for the elves? Transportation, unity, country growth, industries, and even farms benefited, having their food travel farther and safer, allowing them to make more money. I seriously doubt my old home would be the same without them."

"And you, don't want that for Ferelden?" Anora asked.

I shook my head, you had to get up pretty early in the morning if you want to corner me with a sister like mine, "I have no problems with Ferelden having trains, but you must be ready for the outcome, other nations aren't going to happy with Ferelden suddenly having a technological advantage. If you think you can handle the fallout, I'll go into the train business with Ferelden."

"You're not worried about the fallout?" Morrigan asked.

"I have Zevran on retainer, 20 gold a month, and all the weapons he wants, along with a flying island and crazy ridiculous powers, if anyone tries to come after me, I'll make them regret ever thinking of that idea."

"Ruthless-" Morrigan nodded, "-I respect that."

"Mmm, can you make a prototype, one big enough to get the civilians away from the upcoming battle?" Anora asked.

"I might be able to make one, but who would drive it? Where would it go? Would people even get on it? If all else fails and this becomes a prolonged battle, I'm willing to make a train and get the people out of here, but we just don't have the time for that," I took a deep breath, "now look alive, our second breakfast rush is running through that door," I called out as a bunch of kids ran into the kitchen taking the empty seats the other kids left behind.

-/-

This was not how I wanted to spend my last day before the battle. "Bigger! And more to the left!" Sereda called out. Shifting the makeshift movie screen, a bit to the left and enlarging it, Sereda finally gave me a thumbs up. Thank God, turning on the projector the music for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air rocked through the speakers, I know that people say TV rots the brain, but TV was my third parent and taught me many of life's lessons, thank you James Avery for teaching Will to be a man, and how to hustle some fools.

"Alright, ya rugrats! Come out here and watch some TV!" I ordered, a flood of children ran out of the house, there had to be over 40 of the little cretins, Lady Emmald, Mother Giselle, and a couple of Nanny golems came up behind them holding one of the babies, I did wonder where the caretakers for the orphans were, but I learned that they died some time ago and that Mother Giselle and Denerim's Chantry were providing care for the children. I may not like The Chantry, but Giselle had my respect. I might have to remake the chantry in Denerim, but to not play favorites I'll have to make one to the Andruil and the Stone, don't want them bitching.

Walking back into the house I found an exhausted Lyna and Ava laying on the couch waiting for death, taking a seat between them, they immediately plopped their feet on my lap.

"Massage," ordered Ava in her monotone voice. I gave a soft chuckle and began molding and soothing their legs, adding some healing hands to the mix, "Thank Andruil~."

"Tough day?" I teased.

"Having to take care of one Sera was a full-time job, but forty. The gods are cruel," Lyna groaned, "Ooooh~, right there~." she moaned.

"I'm next~," Ayla moaned walking into the room and plopping onto my chair, "there were so many of them, so many questions~," she groaned.

"Are we all getting massages?" teased Alistair walking into the room in his workout clothes.

"And have Elissa plot my doom for touching her lady, no thanks," I joked.

"Nick, Nick, Nick," Elissa tutted walking up the stairs behind Alistair, "so dramatic~, I have no doubt when you fall into that pit of knives and blades it would be considered a complete accident~," We both laughed like crazy swamp hags.

"You guys have a dark sense of humor," Alistair deadpanned.

"Thanks!" both of us said at the same time.

"So how was 'training'?" I asked.

"More exhausting than I thought it would be, was I that energetic when I was a kid? I might need to go back and apologize to those Chantry Mothers," Alistair groaned taking a seat.

"I'm about 80% convinced that children have the ability to siphon off the energy of adults to run forever," I joked, "Best get used to it, you have one on the way. Or should I say, TRIPLETS!" I could almost see Alistair's soul leave his body and his face turned ashen, Elissa looked happy though, "Just playing with ya, it's way too soon to tell any of that."

"That's not funny Nick!" Alistair huffed, "I can barely look after one!"

Elissa patted him on the shoulder, "It's okay, by the third one we'll be old hat to it."

"Yeah, I guess... wait what?" he asked looking at a smiling Elissa, getting a laugh from the rest of us.

"What's happening here? Are we making fun of Alistair? Have you made fun of his boxy hair yet?" Morrigan asked walking into the room with Aeden.

"We were talking about how you couldn't feed a baby a bottle," Alistair bit back.

"It moved! Shut up!" she huffed.

The jokes continued like that for a bit more before what was going to happen tomorrow finally breached the conversation.

"Aeden, you think the Vanguard are ready for battle?" I asked, personally I had my doubts, they did good out on the field, but I was there to pull them out of trouble. I wish I gained my power bestowal earlier so I could have properly trained them.

"They're not bad, everyone in that group was pulled out by Duncan and Cailan themselves, those who could work well together, passed basic, and were unafraid of the chantry's persecution. They still need a bit of work in progress, but that will come with battle experience. You gave them a pretty good head start," Aeden answered.

"Aren't you a little too invested in your little group, you just met them two days ago," Morrigan asked.

"Always like you to see the immediate future Mory~," I teased, "The Vanguard could be the group needed to breach the gap between mages and average folks. For people to see magic being wielded by men and women that wish to defend them.

"You're trying to make your own Emerald Knights," stated Ava.

I tapped my nose, "Exactly, Antiva have their Crows, Orlais have their Chevaliers, the Free Marches have their champions, Tevinter its magisters, Nevarra its Dragon Fighters, Rivain its Sea Spears, Anderfels it's Green Men, shit even the Chantry has its seekers and bootlegged arcane warriors, what does Ferelden have? Dog lords? Farmers? Barbarians? No, but if the Vanguard can make a big enough splash, Ferelden will have their elite protectors, something every Fereldan could hold up with pride, something they can aspire to become."

"That is one void of a lofty goal, but you are forgetting something, you were needed to unlock their Chi, without you they're just a name," Morrigan pointed out.

I just smirked at her and summoned a book from my inventory and tossed it at the center table, "Don't think so foolish of me Mory~."

"How to unlock your Chi for dummies? Really? This only makes me think you're more foolish than ever before~," Morrigan huffed at my idea.

"Why not? I like Ferelden, sure she has her assholes and has more bears than people, but this nation's been pretty nice, beautiful landscapes, crazy heroes... turnips! All anyone needs to live a good life~," I teased.

"And all your businesses are here~," Elissa pointed out.

"Gasp! You're right, completely slipped my mind, but since they're here, I might as well make sure this place is well protected."

"Boo!" Alistair yelled, throwing a pillow at me.

"You know you're getting a percentage of all cheese grater sales right?" Alistair came up with the idea of a safe cheese grater that protects the user. It was a weird cheese blender, but people loved it.

"How much am I getting for that?"

"About 5 gold a week."

"Let industry thrive! To the Vanguard!" he cheered.

"To the Vanguard!" We cheered. Morrigan rolled her eyes

-/-

Uuuugh~, finally got those kids to sleep. Mom, Dad, I'm so sorry if I was anything like that. Walking into my room I found... no one? That's strange? This was also Jak's room, probably with Neria, after seeing Neria woman handle me she had to show... dominance. Julee's with Dagna and Lyna in the rune lab, Nat's at the camp with the other Wardens preparing, and Sky's rearranging her gold, she's probably going to be at it all night, with new larger glowing horns she needed melting all her old jewelry and making them bigger.

"I... have the bed to myself~," I love the girls, I do really, but after you sleep with someone for so long having your own bed occasionally, it's amazing~. It was a bit of a mess, Sky had a... system, a bunch of blankets, and crawling inside them, not gonna lie... it worked. Taking a running leap, I landed in the center of my Alaskan king-sized bed.

"Ha!" only for a squeak to have nearly give me a heart attack! Jumping out of bed with the agility of a frightened cat, I crouched for action.

"Who's there!? Come on out!" Was it one of the kids? Did they think this was an open room? My answer was solved as Ava's head popped out from the blankets. "Ava? What are you doing here? Give me a heart attack why don't you?"

"Sorry."

"It's fine. You do know it's polite to knock before you enter someone's room," I huffed getting control of myself. "So... what can I help you with?"

"I wish to make love until the early morning," she monotone, causing me to choke on my saliva.

"W-what?"

"Well, it will be lovemaking at first, it will probably turn into rough animalistic mating," she nodded like she planned it all out.

"Just like that? No romance? No build-up? No sweet words that captured the heart and soul of what can happen between us? Just crazy monkey sex?" a bit straightforward.

"I like you, I like Sky, I like Julee, Jak, and Nat, I like everyone in Mother base, but I want to love you, I want to love Sky, and Julee, and Jak, and Nat, to love everyone in Mother Base-" she pulled away her blanket revealing her naked body, she had battle scars and a light tan, "-can you love me?" she asked, reaching out her metal arm.

I crawled onto the bed and allowed her to caress my face. "You are a woman worth loving~," I began kissing her magic arm, getting her to shiver.

"That still feels weird~," she gasped, "I never thought I would feel from this arm ever again." I trailed my fingers up her legs trying to read the braille her goosebumps were creating. "Sky was right, you really are a cruel teasing mon-" I cut her off by pulling her into a deep kiss, she tasted of cinnamon from dessert. "Damn you~," she huffed and puffed.

"Ahh~, light cursing~, I must be doing something right," I teased, beginning my favorite trail down her body, from light kisses from her neck, down her breasts, through her abs, and reaching the promised land, but Ava was right~, I am a cruel teasing monster, so I took a detour, up her thighs. She didn't like that, grabbing my hair and giving me an impatient look.

"By the great beyond, WHERE, ARE, YOU, GOING?" she growled, I think this is the first time I've ever seen her angry... yep, I have a danger kink.

Her eyes seem to glare straight into my soul. Remaining silent, I stuck out my tongue and slowly trailed down between her legs. "Pineapple?" I asked her for the safe word before I reached her honey pot, she gave me a shy nod.

"NNNN~," her once fierce grip immediately slackened giving me full freedom to ravage her as I took a lick. She tasted of... mangos? Berries? "Ni-I-CK! Rough~, Deep~! S-slow dow-ahhh~!" What was it? I know I've tasted it before; I pulled her closer, what is it!? "I'M GONNA!" Nectarines!? Ava's legs pinned me to her crotch and came down my throat. She held me tight for about 30 seconds allowing me to get a good taste, definitely nectarines... Apricots? She pulled my head back before I got another taste, "You-" she panted, "-stop. Me, breathe."

My god, she looked wild, "No~," I growled crawling up, putting her legs on my shoulders, and putting her in a mating press. Leaning down I gave her a kiss as I entered her, "Tight ~."

Her fingers dug into my back, "Nick! Ho-hold on!" she moaned.

"No~," I grunted as I slammed into her.

"AHHHH~."

"Your voice is heavenly~," I whispered biting her ear and slamming into her. She was so tight, I'm not sure if it was because of her new magic and Chi or my skills, but I couldn't stop. "Sing for me~."

"Nnah~, you~, bassssstardddd~," she moaned.

I started picking up the pace wanting to hear more of her moans, "Ava~, I'm-" she kissed me.

"I-It's ok-aaaaay~! She moved her hair showing off an earpiece with runes, "Julee ma-made me this!" I of course had my ring but it's still good manners to ask. Getting the green light, I ran wild, slamming into her, rocking the bed against the wall.

"AVA~!" I buried myself as deep as I could, and I shot my load.

"Warm~," she moaned, I gently pulled out getting a moan, and plopped next to her.

"Am I still an 8 out of 10?" I joked.

"8.5~,"

Lifting her on top of me, I looked her straight in the eyes, "What would it take for me to reach a 9?"

She gave me a soft kiss, "Natia said she had some cuffs~?"

I let out a sigh, it's always the cuffs, "Closet~." she rolled off me and rushed to the closet only to flop to the ground.

"I'm okay!" she jumped to her feet, "couldn't feel my feet for a second."

"You're welcome~," I teased.

"Shut up~," she wattled over to the walk-in closet, "what am I looking for?"

"There's an armoire labeled 'Sexy Times'~" I called out.

"Sexy times~? Sexy times~? Ah!?" I heard her yelp.

"Ava!? Are you okay!?"

"YES!" she called out.

"Did you try and open the drawer labeled, 'embarrassing secrets that can be used for blackmail'?" I asked walking over to the closet and leaning against the doorway.

"uh~, no. Why do you even have this!?" She looked so cute huffing at the drawer.

"It's not mine, Julee made it and placed it right in front of me, I've tried opening it but whatever rune lock she has it is above my pay grade... for now." I pointed to another cabinet labeled 'Sexy Times'. I didn't even get to take a single step to it before Ava was in front of the armoire.

"I got it!" She called out, opening the cabinet and sticking her whole head behind the open door.

"Uh, okay~." weird, but I guess she doesn't want me to see what she was looking at, "do, uh," I pointed to the room, "you want me to?"

-/-

Ayla POV

How did I get into this mess!?

"I got it!" Ava called out, opening the doors I was hiding behind coming face to face again.

"Uh, okay, do, uh you want me to~?" Nick called out.

"Yes please, I want it to be a surprise~," she teased, waving Nick away, closing the door behind him. How is she so calm about this!? "So, wanna explain?"

"Me!?" I hissed. Quick as a whip she pinched my cheeks.

"Shush!"

I slapped her hand away, "You jumped the line!" I grunted.

"Line?"

"Yes! Me, Neria, Dagna, Lyna, then you!"

"That's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard," she huffed, "Julee said to just go for it."

"Julee~!? Have you even talked to Jak!?" She gave me a confused look.

"Should I have?" By the Maker!

"Jak is the big cheese! The head honcho! The Queen behind the King! She gives permission for Nick!"

"... it should ok, Jak's reasonable." I pulled out my phone, only for her to slap it away, "What do you want?"

"My turn," I hissed, "I had everything planned out!"

"Was being in his closet, next to a bunch of toys for sex part of your plan?"

"I got nervous!" Hopping out of the cabinet I showed off my rather revealing outfit, some tiny sleeping booty shorts and a loose white T-shirt that was one size too big.

"Nice, super cute," she gave me a thumbs up, "If I wasn't in the middle of getting laid, I would make some passes at you."

I reached out and pinched her cheeks, "I was the one supposed to be getting laid!"

"Ow ow ow ow, sorry~," she apologized, before slapping my hands away, "why don't you just go out there and get some?"

"Ava?!" have some shame!

"What? I'm going back out there and getting some, you once said that we might die tomorrow, are you going to hide in here all night, or are you going to follow me out of this room and get some."

"I... well~," I covered my face, "I can't! It's too embarrassing! I've been in the closet for too long!" I'll never be able to remove my voyeur status!

"Mmmmm, maybe we can work around that~," she reached into the cabinet and pulled out a sleeping mask.

-/-

He was, larger, than I remember, to be fair I was looking through a sliver in the door... twice. Maybe I am a voyeur? I was currently standing in front of a very naked blindfolded tied-up Nick with Ava giving me a massage and pep talk. I can do this~, I can do this~, I can do this~.

"Nick~?" Ava called out.

"MmmmmMMM?" He was also gagged. Can I do this? I'm pretty sure I need consent. I could only imagine the disappointed look the Maker would give me if I did it without consent.

"I called a friend~," she whispered slithering up next to him, peppering his chest with kisses.

"MMM!?"

"NICKY!? MATING TIME!" Sky's bombastic entrance launched me into the ceiling. Taking a single step into the room and spotted my frozen body, a naked Lyna, and tied up Nick. Her tail slowly closed the door behind her.

"Smm?"

"I can explain," I said.

"AMMM!?"

"No," Sky answered, grabbing my head and shoving her tongue down my throat leaving me breathless, "No more waiting." She lifted me up and dropped me on Nick's chest, forcing me to straddle him.

"mmm?!"

I slowly reached up and pulled off his mask, his wide blue glowing eyes stared up at me. "I can explain."

"No talk!" Sky ordered yanking off my top, leaving my breasts out to the warm air.

"SKY!?" I covered my chest.

Sky removed my hands from my chest, "Look," she ordered pointing to a wide-eyed Nick, "He doesn't care about kings or gods, but he will worship you, he would beg for your touch, of your approval, for your... love~."

He suddenly jolted his tone stomach, rubbing up against my crotch in a way that got a moan out of me. Even tied up he has the balls to tease me!? I leaned forward grabbing his chest, well, not anymore. I'm in charge, I make the rules, I choose what happens next. Control~. I have full control. He continued to moan.

… moan? Looking around I found Ava with his cock in her mouth. Oh. My power trip kinda wilted a bit, but I still had some control.

I grabbed his face making sure he looked right at me, "Stop," I ordered. He stopped squirming but he was still huffing and moaning. I ungagged him.

"Ayla~," he begged.

"No," I covered his mouth, "No words, words give you strength," I stood over him and removed my shorts, "And I have all the power here." I trapped his head between my legs, as a bolt of lightning shot through me, "NNNN~! Faa~, nnn!" my legs snapped shut around his head threatening to crush him like a grape, but it didn't stop him, it didn't even slow him down. Shit! Everything was tightening, fuck! Nat wasn't joking! I tried getting up not wanting it to end too quickly, but Sky grabbed me by my hips and slammed me down against his face, bastard didn't even flinch, his tongue shot out sending me over a very deep edge.

I was falling, everything around me was exploding, but I didn't care, light flashed, and tingles shocked my body, but I didn't care. I just enjoyed the wind and warmth.

.

.

.

"MORE~!"

My eyes snapped open, and I gasped for breath, I found a wild-looking Ava jumping on a still tied up Nick's hips, never had I ever believed that I would see Ava with such a wild look. She looked fierce, filled with a madness that looked like it would never fade. She had looked like a stereotypical Dalish the Chantry warned about. She began picking up her pace slamming down with more strength and wild abandon, before slamming down one last time throwing her head up to the ceiling and giving a silent roar, twitching, and convulsing, holding on to Nick for dear life. She stayed like that for a moment before slumping against Nick, taking deep breaths, and gasping. She was still twitching as Sky moved her to the side, getting a passive groan before she flopped to her side. She didn't get much rest as Sky proceeded to shove her mouth into her crotch, Ava grabbed onto her horns trying to put up a fight, but she was too weak, and Sky got her treat. Nick was panting but he was still hard as a rock, that was definitely some kind of sex magic.

"Ayla~?" Nick whispered sweet as honey, but his eyes were wild with frenzy, "Free me, Ayla~, they skipped your turn~, your turn! Let's work together, let's teach them a lesson, as a team."

"Your words mean nothing, trickster," Jak and Julee told me about his pension of going wild after a certain number of times he finished.

"Ayla~," his voice was filled with pure lust, and his muscles seemed ready to shatter the flimsy cuffs but didn't because Nat would be very upset at their loss, "I will get free, and when I do~," he allowed his threat to linger.

Gaining some of my strength back I straddled him, his third leg slapped between my cheeks, it was... very hot and... hard. Gulp. "I, am in command here," it sounded a lot more like I was trying to reassure myself than stating a fact, and Nick picked up on that.

"But for how long?" his smirk died as I slowly backed up rubbing into him, causing him to gasp and squirm.

I gave a soft gasp, it was different from Jak and Julee's tail, "For as long as I want." backing up until his pole shot out patting my golden valley. This thing fits in women?! My legs felt like jelly.

Warm hands grabbed my thighs, "I have you~," Sky whispered lifting me up so Nick could enter me, using her tail Sky positioned Nick right at my entrance. My heart was thumping out of control. Sky turned my head and gave me a kiss as she slowly impaled me with Nick's spear, she had a taste I've never had before, it was sweet. It felt so weird, I've played with myself, every young woman has I think, but this felt different, Nick didn't feel as big as I feared. He fit, just right, he was hot, and pulsed in a way that sent tingles throughout my core, Sky finally released me as Nick fully entered me, I just sat there for a moment my body getting used to the new sensations.

"Aylaaaaa~," I looked down at Nick, this was the man I cared for, loved even. Begging. I've seen Nick fight demons, cultists, darkspawn, mad men, I have seen him tell gods to shove it, I have even seen him fuck a dragon, but to see him beg, because of me~. Powerful, was the only thing I could describe this feeling as. I slowly began rocking back and forth, OH~, yeah~, that's the stuff. "Ayla~, please~!"

"Yes~, beg, you dog!" I clawed at his chest, "Beg!" Rocking isn't enough! I needed more! Thank the Maker for Sky she was there to help me bounce. "YES! You like that, don't you?! I am your master!" I started slapping his thigh like he was a horse.

"Ayla~," I gave him another slap.

"MISTRESS Ayla!" I corrected, leaning over and pulling his hair, "Say it!" I hissed in his ear.

"Mi- mis," I yanked again.

"Say it louder!"

"MISTRESS AYLA!"

YES, YES, Yes, yes! I was slamming into him at this point, I had the power, I was his lover, his master, his goddess! And he was mine. Everything was tightening up again, I needed to slow down, but I couldn't stop, it felt too good, all the pieces fit into place, my body needed more!

"Mistress Ayla! I'm gonna!"

"YES! INSIDE! All of it inside!" for the first time during my whole power trip, Nick bucked as I was slamming down, and my whole body exploded into light and colors, I could feel the coolness of my sweat and the thumping of my heart, and my core~, I was so warm~, the cold could never touch me. I felt the wind as I fell forward hitting the warm thumping floor, it rose and fell, but I didn't get to enjoy it as warm arms grabbed me and moved me to softer ground. The sensation of a strong wet rope crisscrossed my skin, looking down I found Sky licking down my tummy sending little tingles all over my body, before reaching my happy-happy place, "NNNNN~, Sky~," she began licking out my warmth! "Skahhhh~, nooo~, that's mine~," I tried pushing her away, but she was determined, Mmmmm~! I'm going to give her such a talking too.

"Ayla~," I turned to see a smiling Nick, Aah ~, he looked so handsome.

"Nick~.

"Ayla, can you release me from these cuffs~, they're chafing me," he asked, nodding at his tight-up hands.

"Oh no~! Who did that!?" I reached up and pressed the off button. Have you ever gotten a bad feeling? Like you know you've done something wrong but can't remember what. He rubbed his wrists and shot me a smile, meh, I'm sure after my nap it'll all be fine~.

.

.

.

"AHH~!"

My eyes shot open, everything snapping into place. Taking a few blinks, I looked around, I found Sky head down on the pillow next to me, with a face best described as... euphoric. The hard pounding of flesh was coming from lower down the bed. Following the noise, I found Nick slamming into Ava like his life was dependent on it, poor Ava, ass in the air and Nick showing no mercy, she was just going along for the ride, moaning and groaning, she would tense up and grit her teeth, but Nick didn't care, it wasn't until he slammed deep into her and held her from behind for about 10 seconds before he let her go. Ava just went limp; Nick gave her kisses and moved her over to my left.

"AH~, if it isn't my mistress~," every inch of me was shivering, who released him!?... It was me! "Oh~, my beautiful mistress~," he teased leaning over me and slowly kissing up my stomach, as his fingers danced across my legs, "What will I do to you~?" I looked him straight in the eye.

"I am Ayla Qina, Daughter of Kela and Irian Qina, Cleric of the Maker, Fighter for the innocent, smasher of the evil, and I fear no man," I growled, "Do your worst!"

He smirked and gently split my legs, "Oh~ my mighty cleric, I'm going to do so much more than my worst~," he hummed kissing up my neck, "I'm going to do my best~."

This is going to be a long night.

-/-

Jak POV

Walking into the kitchen I found Nick humming to himself flipping pancakes, he was wearing those sexy shorts I like~, and only an apron? Ayla must have done something naughty~.

"Morning sweety~," he called out passing me some glowing pancakes.

Mighty-mighty pancakes - tremble at my baked goodness! These pancakes were made with a dash of magic and a lot of care!

+5 to STR and 30% to HP regen for the next 2 hours!

This dish was made by Nick Walters

"Thank you~," I chimed, the dish had more than pancakes, but the magic only worked when all the ingredients were put together.

"I should be thanking you~," He came around the counter giving me a quick kiss, with a mountain of food floating behind him, putting it all on the table, I didn't see the kids, but they were bound to be waking up from the smell alone.

"Had fun last night?" I teased, he didn't need to answer, his swinging shoulders said enough.

"Yes, Ava, Ayla, and Sky relieved all my stress, I'm ready to kill the Archdemon and an army of darkspawn." Ava?

I pointed to some of the plates, "May I?" He shrugged and passed me his ring of telekinesis, I lifted three other plates and marched toward my room. I didn't even knock; the smell was the first thing that hit me. Hard lovemaking happened here. Putting the food on the table, I opened the window to the room, allowing the smell to dissipate, the sky was grey with storm clouds.

"RISE AND SHINE! LADIES!" Ayla and Ava shot out of bed and immediately collapsed.

"My legs!?" Ayla moaned, "So sore~. Someone help," she pleaded.

"Ouch." Ava moaned. Sky just floated over to the food; I hooked a finger on one of her horns getting her to notice my puckered lips. Which she immediately capitalized on, shoving her tongue down my throat. Yep, that's some classic Nick flavor. She gave me a few more kisses but I could feel her dragging me over to the food.

I gave her a pat, "bath first!" she gave a moan, but I gave her a spank, "Bath. There are still little ones in the house," she responded by giving me huge puppy dog eyes, "One piece of bacon, then straight to the bath!" she rushed to the table taking a piece of bacon, and a pancake, and rushing to the bath, "I saw that!" she only giggled. I turned to the two elves who were making a good imitation of baby deer. "You two look like you had fun last night~," I teased.

"I, whoa! It was ok~," Ayla almost toppled over trying to act cool.

"Nick is very-" I didn't let Ava finish as I stepped up to her, yanked her hair back, and shoved my tongue down her throat. She was completely caught off guard, only able to make a token effort to stop me. I let go of her hair, grabbed her ass with both hands and pressed her to the wall.

"Did you really think I was going to let you get away with skipping the line?" I hotly whispered into her ear, as I molded her ass.

"Ja-jak?" she gasped.

"After the blight, you belong to me Ava Tabris, every night and day, you will belong to me. I'll have you in this bed as Nick makes love to your sister, every time I get in the mood, I'll have you," I bit her bottom lip, "Nod if you understand," I ordered. She was beet red and gave me a nod. I brushed her beautiful face playing with her ruby lips, "So beautiful," I ran a finger through her legs getting a moan and taking a lick of my finger. Nick really when all out on her. "Let's take a bath~," I smiled carrying her over to the bath, I kissed every bite and hickey Nick left behind, I swung my tail out and caught a startled Ayla, "You too, miss floppy legs, boy Nick really went all out on you, didn't he?"

"I... forgot the safe word," Ayla muttered.

"Oof! That happened to me once, it's always some fruit."

"Pineapple," Ava answered.

"You knew!? You said you forgot!?" Ayla huffed.

"I lied; you were making a bunch of cute moans as he was trying to impregnate you."

"Ahhh~, don't say it like that!" Ayla blushed holding her cheeks, so cute~.

-/-

Nick POV

"Julee, Mother base is yours, follow the plan and I'll see you after the battle," I gave her one last kiss before she had to fly off.

"I love you," she whispered, her voice was wavery, but she put up a strong front.

"You know I'll be back."

"Let me worry," she muttered into my chest.

Releasing her I turned to Dagna, "All systems go?"

She huffed, "Do you even need to ask?"

"No, but you know how much I love your pompous pride~," I teased. She tried to punch me, but I grabbed her fist and pulled her close into a hug, "I'm so proud of you, don't do anything crazy, you have a bunch of brats, your lover, and your secret lover in here," I gave her a soft kiss, she just huffed again but her light blush gave away her embarrassment.

"You better come back too; you still have 499 years of lectures to give me."

I turned to Lyna in her engineer outfit trying to act all nonchalant, "Not even a kiss goodbye~," I teased.

"After you shattered my sister's legs~," I walked up to her and pressed our chests together.

"Whatcha gonna do about it~?"

She reached out and pulled me to her eye level, "Don't get cocky Walters, there are two of us, you won't be so lucky next time," she growled pulling me into a kiss before shoving me off to the side. Feisty~.

Turning to Telsa, we both stood at complete attention, her back straight, chin up, ruby eyes staring into my soul, "I'll give you one handshake," she bargained.

"A hug and admission that you look at Dagna's ass when no one is looking," I countered.

She huffed, "I'd sooner deep-throat a cactus."

"That's one lucky cactus~. One hug and promise to stay safe."

"Mmm, one hug, and I'll try my best," she countered.

"I'll take it!" I brought her into a bear hug, "Stay safe you little she-devil, you still need to buy and sell Orlais."

She gave me the tightest hug she could, "And I need you alive for that to happen, you barbarian-oaf."

I let her go and turned to the kids, "... I don't know any of you!"

They all booed and hollered, "We want love too!" "You suck!" "I'm going to eat in the couch and leave crumbs everywhere!"

I turned to Mother Giselle and Lady Emmald, "May the Maker watch over you, Ser Nicholas," Lady Emmald only curtsied.

"Likewise," I gave a respectful bow. "Alistair you ready!?" I called out, Aeden and Morrigan already took off and those who weren't taking their own flying golems were already in the car.

"Coming!" he called out letting go of Elissa whose eyes were red with tears.

"Nick," Elissa whispered but I heard her loud and clear, "Bring him back to me." I just nodded. Flying off Mother Base we watched as it flew into the clouds and out of sight.

This really is happening, ain't it?

-/-

A/N FINALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY! Holy diver! This chapter took forever, twice I wrote this chapter! I wrote it once, but didn't like it, 10,000 words down the toilet! 15,000 the second time, I'm just going to stop here and write the battle and epilogue next chapter and move Nick and his merry band of misfits to the next story.

Thanks for being patient and sorry for any typos.

And yes, I know Polymorph doesn't work like that, but I didn't care Morrigan turned into a dragon in Inquisition, why can't I have a skill that can do the same.

Again, leave a review if you like and I have a DeviantArt link in my Bio, I tend to draw some of my characters.