Dark Fate: Book 1 – A New Fate

“Hiii-YAH!”

A goblin’s head exploded as my dancer’s leg swept out in a graceful arc, catching the ugly creature with her foot. The yell may have been unnecessary, but I didn’t see any reason to discipline Talia for that. After all, most people, while they were getting used to the system, reacted like that, in one way or another. Once they got used to actually fighting for their lives, they stopped screaming with every blow.

That made twenty goblins that Talia and I had killed, allowing us to advance to Level 2. For only one and a half hours’ work, that was not bad at all. Of course, it helped that I was massively overpowered for any goblins we faced, and I could heal Talia if she got injured. Between those two things, it was little wonder that we managed to clear the goblins between us and the roof so quickly.

Indeed, the only reason it took so long was that I was teaching my slave the proper way to hunt monsters, such as moving stealthily, listening for enemies, watching for hazards, and the like. I wanted her to be a valuable asset, after all, so moving recklessly at the start was not allowed. She needed to learn the proper methods now, while there was less danger, than when more powerful creatures began roaming about.

So far, we hadn’t found any other survivors. I wasn’t expecting any, to be honest. The last time around, this building had been a prime site for Goblin spawns. The people who had been home at the time of the Apocalypse were mostly students or night workers, and most had either been killed by spawns in their sleep, or had tried to flee, going directly into the clutches of the Goblin Chieftain that I knew spawned on the first floor. The lucky ones of those were simply killed.

Last time, I had managed to make my way to the rooftop, and glided down to the ground, and it was all I could do, just to get that much, as I was alone, fighting through the goblins as I went. There were a couple times where I’d almost died.

Level 1 Goblins typically had between 8-12 CON. That SHOULD have meant they had 800-1200 HP. However, one of their racial abilities was that they only got one-fourth of the normal HP from each point of CON, but they regained HP at a rate four times faster than normal. Meaning a Goblin with 10 CON would start with 250 HP, and recovered 10 HP every 15 minutes.

That sounded slow, but compared to a Level 1 Knight with 12 CON, who had 1200 HP, but only recovered 12 HP every hour, and was using a baseball bat as a weapon, averaging a measly 10-15 damage a hit, that was a big difference. Taking on Goblins 1 on 1 wasn’t a problem. Taking on consecutive solo battles, however, could easily wear a warrior down. In fact, if I hadn’t been healing Talia when she took damage, then things would have been much different.

Last time, it was all I could do to survive and escape long enough to get to the rooftop, and down to the street. Around the time Rachel had showed up, some others who had managed to escape out a window or were from nearby buildings had started gathering. Together, we made our way to the basement, killed the goblins, and rescued the unfortunate ones who had been captured to use as breeding and food stock. That was the best that I could do, last time. This time, however…

I slid my hand under Talia’s skirt to caress her taut backside, squeezing it gently as I whispered in her ear, “Good job, slave. You’ve been doing very good so far. Now, look at your notifications, and pick your new skills. You should have some interesting ones to choose from. I think this is a good time to test you. I will let you choose the two skills you take.”

Talia’s breath caught in her throat as I stroked her, and I could hear her moan softly as I whispered to her. Really, I was going to have to be careful about using Seduction on anyone who wasn’t my pet. Between my Race, Class, and Profession, I already had a CHA of 97, and, even if I didn’t invest in CHA at all, it would still go up by a healthy 7 points every time I leveled. Most former humans at the moment would have a Charisma of 20 at the highest. The people who remained human might not even be past 10 or 12!

Using Seduction on people under those conditions was basically like shooting fish in a barrel with a minigun, but the gun barrels were howitzer-sized. The words ‘overkill’ did not even begin to describe it. But if I used it too much, or too obviously, then that would change how people reacted to me, and could draw unwanted attention from those who might actually have the strength to take me down.

While Talia went about picking her skills and levelling up, I decided to go ahead and do the same. First, I spent my four attribute points, splitting them between Luck and Wisdom. All my other attributes were really high, so helping those two along would keep me from getting any glaring deficiencies. Well, at least until I could get a pet with the class to balance my weaknesses.

Next, I set about spending the two skill points I’d gained. Every level, you gained two skill points. Races, Classes, Skills, and Professions added a new skill for each level, up until level 10. After that, they only added new skills every five levels. However, once you got into Tier 2, all the skills cost two skill points to acquire, while you still only got two skill points per level. And, at Tier 3, they cost three points to acquire. So, unless you had something you needed, most people stocked up some of their skill points after level 30 or so in a tier, so they could get as many of the high-powered skills the Tier 2 options gave you.

Of course, there was a loophole in that system. The Slave Master profession, and others like it, could reduce the cost of skills, if they were training one of their slaves. So, if they guided an enslaved Knight in learning the Shield Bash and Parry skills, then it might cost the Knight only half a skill point for each skill. Clearly, this was very useful in raising new slaves, and it was one of the reasons Slave Masters were profitable, even though their professions did not offer tangible rewards, like, say, an Armorer.

But that wasn’t the best part. A Slave Master could teach a slave he owned one of his own skills, without needing skill points. Sure, it cost a whopping 2000 MP per skill point, but that was nothing compared to being able to get around some of the restrictions the System had.

Of course, the Slave Master could only teach a skill he, himself, had, which limited its usefulness in some people’s view. Slave Masters, therefore, tended to invest heavily in their ‘general’ skills, and work at getting a wide range of potential skills. This often left some of their core abilities lacking, but the tradeoff of being able to augment a purchased pleasure slave with the Bookkeeping skill, for instance, turned that pleasure slave into a secretary (or a sexratary, if you wanted). Or, you could take someone with a combat class, like a Barbarian or Wind Sorceress, and teach them the Carnal Arts skill, and make them the perfect bodyguard and bedwarmer. Both were very popular options, as you might expect.

Now, normally even Slave Masters didn’t pick up skills like that when they were only Level 2. After all, being able to raise a slave meant nothing if you got killed, and without some combat skills, you were going to be easy prey out in the world the System created. However, with the cheating bonuses I got from this being my second time through the Apocalypse, I had a lot of the basics covered already, which allowed me to branch out early.

Once I was done choosing my new skills, I looked down at Talia, and whispered in her ear, “So, what did you pick, my pet?”

“Ah! Master, I picked two skills, like you said. I thought about them, and decided to pick skills that would help me fight better. I already had Energized Blows and Dancer’s Might, so this time I chose Dancer’s Grace and Dancer’s Vitality.”

I knew enough about the Battledancer to know that they started with the Battle Dance ability, which toughened their bodies and made their unarmed attacks go from something that might knock out a foe to something that could easily kill, and the Beautiful Defense ability, which basically translated to them being too pretty to hit. Ok, there was more to it than that, but it basically added their Charisma to their defense.

Still, I had never been a Battledancer, and had never had reason to seriously investigate the class before, other than the basics one needed to know to fight them. This would be good for my own education, as well. Still caressing Talia’s rear, I whispered once again, “Show me.”

With a shudder of pleasure, Talia arched her back slightly, pressing her toned backside against my hand. When she spoke, it was in a breathy tone, quite distracted. “Yes, Master!”

I leaned down and kissed Talia on her neck. Well, those skills certainly proved why she had managed to clear through the goblins so quickly. She was the prettiest wrecking ball around! “Oh, my lovely little pet. You’ve made some simply wonderful choices there. But, when you level again, I want you to pick skills from your race or profession, as well. You don’t want me to see you as just a combat doll, unneeded when I’m not fighting, do you?”

I could feel her stiffen, and she shook her head. “No, Master! I want to be of use to you! I don’t want to be thrown away!”

“Good girl. And because you’re a good girl, I’m going to give you something. You’re going to learn so much more about how to please me, my pet. [Training: Carnal Arts].”

As I activated the spell, I felt the two thousand MP slip away. It was a sizeable chunk of my reserves, of course, but I would recover it in less than forty minutes, and I still had plenty of power to spare. I watched as Talia froze in shock at what was happening.

The process of gaining skills under the system was simple. You didn’t have to have the Woodworking skill to, say, make a chair. You didn’t even need it to be a true artisan of your craft. However, someone who did take the Woodworking skill would learn techniques, how to use tools, the knowledge of how to join wood and be sure it would stay, and so on. It was the difference between nailing two boards together, and just knowing where to put the nail, the proper speed and angle to swing the hammer, and so on, to get the best effect.

And she was learning all this for Carnal Arts, just as I had moments before. Picture having a VR version of the Kama Sutra, complete with sight, sound, and sensation, downloaded into your head. It was little wonder that, when the skill finished, she was breathing heavily, her eyes hungry.

“Master! I did not know you could give people skills!”

I smiled at her. “As a Slave Master, it is something I can do. And I wanted my pet to know all the best ways to please me. Remember, slave. You are mine, and mine alone.”

Hungrily, Talia bit her lip. “Master, may I show you what I’ve learned?”

I shook my head. “Not now, my pretty little pet. There will be plenty of time to test your skills later. We still haven’t finished what we set out to do, remember? The goblins downstairs are waiting for us to kill them.”