Reviews

jlnorris75

I haven't written Jump Chain Gothic 2. I didn't think it was worth writing. Perhaps I'll change my mind in mind in the future.

JanusGodOfPossibilities

Well he has DNA samples from lots of races, but no living samples of any plants and animals.

Shadowpawzzz

I think it's because self inserts aren't considered to be proper writing by most people, they look down on SI authors. To be fair there are lots of SI stories that involve the SI, who is normally way to overpowered, coming into a fictional setting and fixing everything with little effort. I try not to make my SI characters too much like that while still trying to write entertaining stories.

skelly4128

Yes it is possible for him to run into Morgause, as it does make sense for Nimueh to be one of her teachers. However there are suppose to be nine High Priestesses so I figure that she'd been taught by all of them at different times.

Joe Lawyer

I don't really care if anyone reads my stories or not. I write for me and to improve my writing skills. If people don't like my stories then they don't have to read them. It isn't as if I get paid for this, and if I don't feel inspired to write for a story any longer than that's it.

In the Merlin verse spells aren't so much about throwing energy around as they are about altering reality. A better way to protect against that sort of thing is to seek out some form of protective magic not to make fancy armour which will draw attention.

In terms of uber powerful beings there is the The Triple Goddess, but she, or they, doesn't take direct action in the world, rather she empowers the high priestess and they have to try to interpret her will, and she's pretty much all powerful so even a fully ascend being might not be worthy of her attention. I assume that Jump Chain is set up to smooth things over with the Powers That Be, and so she won't be a factor, at least not directly.

I don't think the DNA of a massive fire breathing reptile would in any way be compatible with human DNA. Now Merlin's DNA that could be interesting, he inherited his Dragon Lord powers from his father which suggests that its genetic in some sense.

The lack of companions helps to keep things simple. He doesn't really need them, and they'd have nothing to do. Plus it does allow me to focus on Cameron whose becoming more human in this story. And of course he can pick up some new people.

Scrying is very useful. It's high on the list of magical stuff he needs to learn.

Jump Chain Gothic 5 - Merlin

Part 6

Cosmic Warehouse. Outside of Reality.

By the following day I'd slept on the offer made, and I'd decided that I would take Nimueh up on her offer. I was still going to make use of safeguards, and I was going to keep looking for alternate sources of knowledge, so that I wouldn't be dependant on the sorceress, and I would end our arrangement at the first sign of any corruption or alteration to my behaviour. Cameron would keep an eye on me, and give me a good slap around the ear if I start acting crazy.

I wasn't going to worry about what the High Priestess had planned as while in terms of the locals she was pretty powerful, compared to me she was basically a witch who lived on backwater planet. Her magical feats I could match, and in some cases surpass with my near-ascended powers, and since having that kind of power hadn't corrupted me it seemed that the lure of the dark side did hold much appeal to me. Mostly because I knew going down that road never ended well, and the price for that sort of power wasn't worth paying.

Of course I felt no pull towards the light side either. In my view those who served the light tended to be too passive to actually deal with evil, which needed to be handled in a proactive way. Good guys, they reacted to threats instead of acting by hunting them down before they become a more deadly threat, which allowed evil people to harm others before they were finally stopped.

My trail of thought came to an end when Cameron came out of phase and entered the Cosmic Warehouse. I had no idea what would happen if someone was out of phase while in the warehouse and I had no desire to find out. As she got closer I noted that my Terminator was carrying both a book, the magical text that I'd sent her for, and the goblin creature that was trapped in some sort of special box.

"As you requested, Master" said Cameron "A book about magic and a goblin contained inside the box you mentioned. I can't verify if this is the right goblin without opening the box, but this was the only container in the hidden room that shouted at me when I shook it".

Normally I ran my own errands, seeing no reason why I should get my hands as dirty as anyone else's, but I'd learned while setting up the Confederation that sometimes it was okay to let people go of and perform tasks they were suited to. Cameron was a Terminator, she was designed to infiltrate, to go on potentially dangerous missions, so I was just making use of her talents.

"Good work" I told her as I took the book "stick the box in the stasis chamber".

While the creature was not evil per say, at least not when compared to some magical creatures, it was troublesome and I didn't want it bothering me if it ever escaped, so I'd prepared a special stasis booth for the goblin. I didn't plan to keep the creature locked up forever, I would set it free at some point in the future, and while in stasis it wouldn't feel the passage of time.

I'd discovered that I could keep people stored in the warehouse without their consent. A while back I'd checked the rules and they stated that to take someone sentient from a setting requires purchasing them as a companion or putting them in a stasis pod. Also they said: Stasis pods are for "storing" extra companions or friends that were not purchased or offered in jump.

Of course the downside to forcing someone into becoming a companion was that even with my Perk that allowed to make people strongly loyal to me I'd never be able to trust them. Someone with a strong motivation could betray me even with my Perk, and the desire for freedom was a very strong motivation. This was why I would just set the gobin lose in some remote place sometime in the future.

"Seems to be a book on magic just as I expected" I said to Cameron, who had now secured the goblin.

Some of the spells didn't have any explanation for what they did, which suggested that this had been the grimoire of some magic user in Camelot's past. A grimoire was a book written by a magic user which can contain spells and magical knowledge, some of which might have been discovered by the writer of the book. I would likely start my own soon. Every magic users needed his own spell book.

Maybe I could do better that just some stack of papers. I might be able to create some sort of magic version of a Jedi Holocron. It was possible. I had the technology required, such as data storage crystals, holographic projectors, and I could create a VI (virtual intelligence) to act as an interface. I could even genelock it so that only people the ATA gene could access to the holocron.

But that could wait until I actually had some information on all matters magical to download into anything. There was no rush I had a decade, which was plenty of time for careful study. Also I had a tournament to prepare for and that meant even more training.

(Line Break)

Isle of the Blessed. Albion.

When Nimueh appeared in another of my dreams I knew it was time to return to her so that I could tell her that I was accepting her offer. I'd thought it through, and I'd accepted the risks while also planning for them. I had a safeguard in place and a plan to deal the sorceress should she doing anything to me that Cameron or Cortana could detect. They were the aces up my sleeves.

"So do we need to do anything to seal the deal?" I asked.

Nimueh looked away, seemingly vulnerable for a moment. Which could just be an act. I would never totally trust this woman, not for a second

"I… I want you… to… to lay with me" she said.

She was playing coy. I highly doubted that she was this shy about sexual acts. It was far more likely that she was faking vulnerability in order to emotional disarm me.

"Are you serious?" I demanded to know.

She nodded to show that she indeed was.

"The is the deal sir knight" she said very matter of factly "Come to bed with me, and I will teach you all my secrets".

She adjusted her outfit so that now her shoulders were bare. Her dress looked ready to drop to the ground at even a stiff breeze.

"And that's it?" I asked "No contract signed in blood, no formal vow, nothing at all binding?".

I was fairly certain that my magical sensitivity would let me know if some sort if mystical binding was taking place. I figured she was simply going to use sex as a way of control, or at least influencing me. But if she thought I could be so easily coerced than she had no idea who she was dealing with.

"You're not unhandsome, Gothic" the high priestess said "Is it so strange to you that a woman would want to take you to her bed?".

Well no. I'd shagged more than my fair share of highly attractive women across several dimensions. Yet I hadn't been prepared for her forwardness.

"Do you not think me beautiful?" she asked.

I shook my head.

"Trust me, it's not that. You're one the most beautiful woman I've ever seen" I admitted.

She was rather stunning, a little too attractive really, I'd put it down to makeup, but that hadn't been invented yet. She could be using some sort of glamour to hide her true appearance, like the red woman in Game of Thrones. If that was the case then I'd rather not know what she really looked like.

It was also possible that she'd found some magical way of staying young. I'd found a fountain of youth, which came in the form of a chemical concoction, so why couldn't others. It would explain why she looked so youthful despite having been exiled from Camelot court around twenty years ago.

"Only 'one the most beautiful woman'. I can work with that" she while moving over to me.

She slid her hand up to my neck and tilted my head down towards her smiling lips. Then we kissed, slowly at first; not rushing, but then we acted more passionately. Before long I let her push me back down onto the bed that she kept here in this small room.

Her hands were now moving all over me, as she kissed down my neck, pulling my shirt aside as to to be able to kiss my chest. I hadn't worn armour when coming here as I'd beam straight to the island after getting up, not that armour would help much if Nimueh wanted to harm me. She could alter reality with just a few words.

She moved the shirt up and over my head, before she leaned back, so that she was straddling me. Next she slowly unfastened the buttons on her dress, which I had to wonder if she'd made using magic because the fabric was very high quality. However I stopped thinking about that when her small, but very pert breasts came into view. Her nipples show me that she was aroused before another part of her body could, which I discovered when she undid my trousers and lifted up her dress so that she could mount me.

As she began to move on top of me, with agonising slowness to begin with, she rocked her hips forwards and back, closing her eyes and moaning softly. Of course I didn't think she was doing this purely because she was horny, but she did seem to be into it. Perhaps she'd been by herself on this island for a while now.

Nimueh controlled the pace of our fucking with great skill, she was using her body to make sure that both of us were enjoying ourselves, clearly she had experience in this sort of thing. Since she was clearly in control her, and didn't need to me to anything I closed my eyes and let her do all the work.

I could have used my powers to make her feel the most intense pleasure possible, but there was no sense exposing the fact that I had such talents. Besides if she was going to try to seduce me to the darkside, and totally fail, I might as well enjoy it while she was acting so nice to me.

(Line Break)

Training Yard. Camelot.

Morgana knew that Merlin, Arthur's new manservant, was watching the two of them dueling but her attention was completely on Arthur like his was on her so wasn't able to acknowledge it. Not that Morgana minded Merlin watching as she knew he was harmless, and to be fair it wasn't often that people saw a noble lady in armour who was not only sparring against the prince, but also holding her own. At least for now.

Arthur had a fire in his eyes that was exciting to see, his competitiveness was driving the blunted sword in his hand, and he a lot of youthful energy to throw into this mock duel. His recent loss against one of his knight had driven the prince to train harder than ever, and his hard work was already paying off.

After a few minutes the fight was over, with Morgana sprawled on her back and Arthur's sword at her neck. Arthur was hovering over her, his blunted blade only a few centimeters away from her skin, and she found herself breathing hard, because of the exertion, not because of anything else.

"See Morgana? There's no way you can ever beat me" Arthur, said with his usual cocky smirk "I just proved it to you".

She rolled her eyes, she was used to his arrogance, and she was able to stop it from bothering her. She'd beaten Arthur many times in the past, and now things had changed, he was the superior warrior, but that was only because he got to train a lot more often that she did. If she'd been born a boy then Morgana had no doubt she'd be Camelot's greatest knight.

"Sure, keep telling yourself that" Morgana said as Arthur helped her up "I can remember putting you on back many a time. It was almost as if liked having a woman beating you".

Merlin snorted upon hearing that and Morgana couldn't help smiling at the young man who had so recently saved Arthur's life. The prince, who had noticed the exchange of looks and the fun had at his expense, glared at the both of them.

"Listen Morgana. I have some real training to do, and I'm sure you will need at least a few hours to choose your dress before the tournament starts" Arthur said with a mocking smirk.

Morgana glared at him, a little offended, even if she actually didn't think he was being serious. Of course she would take her time carefully picking out her outfit, and she'd need time to do her hair and such, but it wouldn't takes hours, well not with her maid's help.

"I think she'll look great!" Merlin commented without thinking

The glare that Arthur sent his way was scalding to say the least. Morgana just smirked, she knew that glare. It was his 'Morgana is mine' glare, the one he always used when his knights dared complimenting her or otherwise pay attention to her. She wasn't sure he was even aware of doing it, and she didn't know why he was so protective of her.

Merlin paled a little under Arthur's glare, he'd simply wanted to be nice, and now he'd gotten himself into trouble, which was just so typical for him.

"The Lady Morgana is the King's ward, Merlin. Don't forget that just because she's friendly with you. My father wouldn't take it well to you showing her those kind of attentions" the prince warned.

Merlin swallowed. He knew well that Uthur wouldn't think twice about putting him in the stocks again, or having him flogged, assuming of course the the king simply didn't order Merlin's death.

"Arthur! Enough!" Morgana commanded, not liking Arthur's tone at all. "He was just paying me a compliment. Obviously not everyone thinks of me as you do. Some people actually appreciate me."

Then with a look towards the manservant she spoke further on the matter.

"Thank you Merlin" she said.

Merlin immediately smiled back at her. Meanwhile Arthur looked offended, but he chose not to start an argument.

"Well, I'll go now. I'll leave you to your training. You'll need all the practice you can get" she said to the prince.

With that she turned around and walked away, not stopping even when she heard Arthur's pitiful attempt at a witty comeback, She smirked again, teasing Arthur was always so much fun, and it wasn't as if she was allowed much in the way of fun.

(Line Break)

Chambers. Camelot.

Once again Cameron was helping me put on my armour, and this time it would not be for practice so I was wearing full armour, which was heavier. Thankfully I was able to withstand the extra weight, as I had superior strength and I was in very good health.

In my view everyone should get themselves genetically engineered it really makes a big difference. My life span was at least double of what it had been before Jump Chain, I had a fantastic immune system, I healed really well, and I was much harder to injure these days. Plus with my enhanced reflexes and stamina I could wave a sword around much better than others.

"Are you going to win this tournament?" my companion/perk asked me.

It wasn't really an issue of losing so much as it was about winning the right away. I could easily defeat any human foe, the trick would be doing so without making it clear to everyone watching that I had superhuman abilities. I wouldn't use magic, as aside from the dangers of getting caught there'd be no honour in it, but since the people of this world had no knowledge of genetic engineering and advanced physiology, they would see my somewhat superhuman feats of strength and speed as magic.

As such I would have to win without making it too obvious that I had abilities beyond that of unaltered humans. Which meant holding back enough that my victories appeared natural, without holding back too so much that someone was actually able to beat me.

"I might let Arthur win" I told Cameron "His ego is pretty fragile, and if I show off too much in front of a crowd then someone might suspect that I'm using magic".

Cameron adjusted my armour, making sure that it fit right.

"I don't think that you need to worry about that" she said "From your files there's a knight with a shield that has snakes which come to life during this event if they don't notice that you moving a little too fast, or having too much strength behind your blows, isn't going to raise any eyebrows".

She had a point, and as a knight there would need to be actual proof of some sort of supernatural involvement before the king would do anything, and there was no proof that I was enhanced as they hadn't invented drug testing in this world never mind DNA testing. Plus Camelot's knights were the pride of the kingdom and very important to the king as they helped keep him in power, he wouldn't just lock one of us up because we showed off in a tournament.

"We have our evac ready route in any case" Cameron reminded me.

The risk to my life didn't concern me so much as I was a lot harder to kill than most humans due to my enhancements, and Cameron had extensive medical files for when it came to patching people up as well as taking them apart. That combined with our advanced medical tech meant that anything that didn't outright kill me could be fixed.

"You took your antivenom right?" Cameron asked to know.

I'd indeed taken an antivenom, the Star Trek version which neturiseled a wide range of venoms, some of which weren't even from Earth animals. I didn't know if that would help against Knight Valiant's magical snakes, but it couldn't hurt. I should be able to protect myself with my powers, but that would be a last resort.

"You were there when I took it" I said to the cyborg bodyguard "You handed me the hypospray".

She was becoming more like a real woman all the time. I wasn't sure if I liked it or not.

"If you win you get to escort the Lady Morgana to the feast" Cameron stated, as if I didn't already know this "This would be a good chance to improve her opinion of you".

While I wasn't planning to take a companion with me when I ended this Jump I'd not ruled it out either. A powerful magic user like Morgana would be a good choice as all my current companions were science fiction characters, and while their skills were highly useful some variety in my harem would be nice. Also I might visit more magical settings in the future, and if Morgana found out that she was a magic user the offer to take her somewhere were magic could be use openly would be tempting for the young woman.

Since I did desire her it would be wise to lay the foundations of a future relationship now. So aside from making her feel pleasure when around me I was planning to spend some time with her socially, and make it enjoyable for her, so that she would feel positively inclined towards me. Also I would have to stop her from turning evil, but that was a future concern as this was still very early in season one.

"What about the prize money?" Cameron enquired as my armour was finally in place.

The money meant nothing to me, but it could be present an opportunity.

"One of the traditions of knights is to tithe" I told my terminator "They were suppose to give one tenth of their income to the Church or worthy cause. Since there's no Church here I want you to find out which part of the crowd contains the poorest people and I'll hand out some gold coins".

A worthy act of a knight that would surely enhance my reputation.

"Rights let's get going" I said "Time to go swing some steel around".

With that I made my way down to tournament grounds.

(Line Break)

Tournament Grounds. Camelot.

Morgana watched from the highest stand, in her usual place next to the King, as she waiting for the beginning of the tournament. Gwen, the young woman sitting next to her, watched excitedly as the various competitors entered the tournament grounds to be presented in front of the King. As a mere maid Gwen wouldn't normally be allowed to sit with royalty, but Morgana had insisted, and Uther had long since learned that it wasn't worth to argue with his ward over some matters.

"Knights of the realm" Uther was saying, starting what he would no doubt think of as a fine speech "It is my honour to welcome you to this tournament, here at Camelot. Over the next three days, you will put your bravery to the test, show your skills as warriors, and of course, you must challenge the reigning champion, my son, Prince Arthur".

Morgana searched for Arthur at these words and immediately spotted him in the middle of all the other knights. Soon after her gaze met with his. Arthur inclined his head towards her slightly with a smile and Morgana smiled back. It was nice when they could show some small sign of affection towards each other without an argument breaking out.

Other knights who wore the red cloaks of Camelot knights could be seen as well, and Morgana smiled again when she laid eyes upon Sir Gothic, a man she found herself thinking about sometimes, he was the one knight out there that could challenge Arthur in her opinion. Although she had heard whispers of the skill of a man called Knight Valiant.

"Only one can have the honour of being crowned champion, and he will receive a prize of 1,000 gold pieces" Uther continued, while showing everyone the box containing the gold. "It is in combat that we learn a knight's true nature, whether he is indeed a warrior or a coward. Now let the tournament begin!"

The crowd immediately cheered at those words and then the tournament finally began.

(Line Break)

Tournament Grounds. Camelot.

I staggered into the tent that was waiting for me just a few moments after my match against Sir whatever his name was had ended, and I collapsed onto a chair. I'd won, and I could have beaten the man sooner, but I'd needed to make it look good so I'd let the match drag on longer than it needed to. Which of course the crowd had loved, and the people had not only accepted my victory, they'd cheered me as Sir who cares what his name was, fell to the ground and yielded to me.

Despite how tiring that had been I had to admit, to myself at least, that it had been thrilling, far more so than it should be for someone like me, I'd flown starships to other galaxies and I'd battle all sorts of creatures, yet swinging my sword around and taking blows on my shield had been a major rush. Which was good because I was in this Jump to enjoy myself.

Cameron handed me a jug of water, and most of it ended up on my face rather than in my mouth. My Evercleanse Perk prevented me from having unpleasant body odor, but I still sweated and could overheat, which was a big concern when you had to fight someone while wearing a lot of armour. My suit of modified Vanir armour had many amazing features, but the one that no one paid much attention to was its ability to keep the body's temperature stable.

"That was impressive" stated Cameron.

Her praise was welcome, but since she'd seen me take on much more worthy foes it sounded a bit hollow.

"It's even more intense then it looks" I told the cyborg killing machine "There's no time to think, you have to act and react without thought. Muscle memory takes over, and one slip up means that it's all over".

Although it wasn't actually that dangerous, as we were using blunted swords, and our armour was of high quality, relatively speaking, however when fighting in the duel you don't remember that, it feels very deadly. The crowds certainly cheered as if it was all real.

"You have another bout this afternoon" Cameron needlessly reminded me "I'll prepare you a light lunch, you don't want a heavy meal before a duel, and you there's formal meal tonight so you'll have plenty to eat them. I recommend an early night after that".

It was sweet how much she cared for me.

"Sounds like a plan" I said.

While the main feast was still a few days away, the knights would dine with the king tonight and tomorrow, this would give everyone the chance to get to each other, some of the knights were from quite some distance away, and the royal family would get a chance to be formally introduced to the visiting warriors before sitting down to dine. I didn't care much for the formal meet and great, but I was looking forward to a big dinner.

"You should rest" Cameron urged.

I would do just that. I would need to gather my strength for the next match, which I would have to allow to drag on. At least the crowd would enjoy that, and I was impressing some of the noble ladies, which was of the good.