The afternoon sun shone through the window above, rousing me from sleep. The scent of our previous activities mixed with the hay permeated the air. I heard the sounds of the two girls breathing next to me, perfectly in sync.
I opened my eyes and looked at the two naked figures next to me, and grinned happily at the messy piece of art.
Lila's head was resting on Elaria's breasts, her cheek squished up in a cute way and her mouth open with and drooling, her dark purple hair ran down Elaria's stomach to her thighs. Lila's arm hugged her hair against Elaria's stomach, and her other hand held Elaria's their fingers intertwined. Their legs wrapped together and Lil's tail wrapped underneath between Elaria's lower back and the hay.
Elaria's golden-blond hair was splayed in all directions. Lila's fur and both of their hair had many spots stuck together in mats, with hay glued to their bodies in many places.
I didn't have to worry about forgetting a memory anymore with my forged brain, but I still made sure every detail was etched in perfectly. I was going to have to use some magic to make a mural from the memory.
I quietly got up and cleaned myself before dressing.
I didn't know when they would wake up but figured they could sleep a little longer. It was already afternoon of the day after the party, and it wouldn't matter if they slept a little longer today. Besides being later in the day already, they were probably still too tired to get anything done.
I sat down and began thinking about where to go next.
The high-grade mana stones give such a big boost in cultivation and mana circle creation speed that I think I need to plan some future moves around them.
I also need to get to the magic tower sometime to get higher-level spells; I don't have any for the 6th circle now.
I shouldn't have too much difficulty killing monsters that contain high-grade mana crystals if I can get level 6 spells.
If I run into a monster that has an epic grade crystal, well, let's not think about that.
I think we should return to the city we've been staying in and turn in the dragon quest, then head to Ironguard, the capital of Ironspire, where the magic tower is located in this kingdom.
Before leaving for the capital, we could also check with Ann to see if there are any other quests that might have a high-level mana crystal.
After deciding what to do, I told Kitty to notify me after half an hour had passed so I didn't lose track of time and wake the girls too late, then began cultivating.
When Kitty told me it had been half an hour, I opened my eyes, got up, and walked over to the girls. They were still sound asleep, and I wondered the best way to wake them.
After setting a large bucket of warm water next to them with some rags in it, I gently shook them awake.
Elaria was the first to groggily open her eyes. After blinking a few times and remembering the state she was in, she blushed furiously.
I smirked while pointing at the water, "Make sure you guys get cleaned up, then dressed."
She nodded, and Lila slowly sat up; her hair could be heard peeling off Elaria's stomach as if it were attached with weak glue. Clumps were sticking out in all directions like someone overdid the hair gel.
As Elaria reached inside the bucket and fished out a rag, Lila sprang across to the opposite side of Elaria from me, "We can clean each other!"
She started slowly licking Elaria's stomach clean while looking at me with hearts in her eyes, clearly saying what she wanted.
I pulled one of the rags out of the bucket and tossed it in her face.
"We did it for 18 hours and only slept 4 hours; you have to be able to walk the 3 hours home today."
Elaria lifted the bucket over herself and placed it next to Lila's hair. She grabbed Lila's hair and started putting it in the bucket, washing it out. Lila never stopped her slow, seductive licking, and I had to stop watching.
At least one of the two is responsible or we'd really never leave.
I tossed new clothing identical to what they had yesterday next to them and climbed down the ladder.
I heard quiet rustling across the barn and looked over to see a woman peaking out from behind a pile of hay; on the other side, I could see the head belonging to a male sticking out, along with two legs belonging to a different one and an arm that looked to belong to yet another.
When she saw where I was looking, her face turned mortified, and she seemed to be searching for something to say. The corner of my lips twitched while waiting to see what amusing thing she would come up with.
"I-I-It's, I could, You were," she covered her face, "I could hear you guys above for so long, and they kept sleeping!"
I lips curled up in and amused smirk, wondering how many were actually back there. Scanning with mana, I felt eight besides the woman, that's like 20% of the men in the village! I hope the girls hurry up; I don't want to be here when their wives and girlfriends come looking.
I turned around and activated the communication function of my ring, telling the 2 girls we needed to leave as soon as possible, then waited for them to come down.
Just a few minutes later, they climbed down the ladder, and we left in a hurry, sneaking out of the village.
Three hours later when we returned to the city, we stopped by the adventurer's guild and collected the gold for killing the dragon.
I also asked if Ann had any more good quests with high-grade mana stones, but she said no. Apparently, it's rare that high-grade monsters wander this far outside the Dreadwood Forest.
The Dreadwood Forest is a huge forest where the further you go in, the higher grade the monsters are, with the least powerful needing 6th circle mages to fight and be mostly assured of you safety.
Sounds like a place we need to check out. It's also only a day from the capital on the other side from where we are, so if we stay in the capital, we can go back and forth between the two in less than a day since we're faster.
We stopped by the apartment, picking up our stuff, then I cast some enchantments that would prevent anyone except us and the apartment manager from opening the door, and no one could break in elsewhere.
The manager said we could put the enchantments on as long as he had the authority to enter if there was a problem and dispel them in case we didn't come back.
It would take us a week to arrive at the capital at our pace, so we set off immediately.
---
It was dusk when we arrived at the capital gates.
Since we didn't know our way around the capital, we decided to stay at Adventure Inn, the inn next to the adventurer's guild. I wouldn't be surprised if the inn was actually owned by the guild since it would be good for business.
There were apartments on the other side of the guild, but it was too late to rent one tonight so we'll do that tomorrow.
When entering the guild, we went to the counter and talked to the receptionist named Gina.
I decided to have her update my membership to reflect my current circle in case she would give us better quests.
I held out my guild card, "Hello, I need to update my guild card."
She gave a professional smile and took the card, "I can certainly do that. Please place your hand on the ball for identification."
I placed my hand on the ball, which displayed a 6 along with a C, which must be my current rank, and some other numbers that I think are my other stats. I memorized what they said and wanted to check them against what Kitty displays later to see how accurate the guild's are.
Lila and Elaria also updated their cards.
"Are there any quests currently that have monsters with high-grade mana crystals?"
She shook her head, "Not at B rank, A rank there is but you aren't currently allowed to take those."
I nodded, looks like we should try to rank up soon.
"What can you tell us about the Dreadwood Forest?"
"Don't go; it's too dangerous."
"What if I want to try it?"
"Stay close to the edge if you're dead set on going; it's a huge circle, and the closer you get to the middle, the more dangerous it is. No one even knows what monsters are at the middle it's so deadly to try and even look. The lowest level monsters at the edge need a 6th circle mage to fight somewhat safely."
I nodded, "Alright, thank you."
We turned around and started to leave when a woman stopped us; she was looking to be about 30 with average height, a beautiful face, long legs, large breasts, and wearing skimpy clothing. Her tongue darted out and licked her lips before she lightly nibbled the bottom one.
"You want to go to the Dreadwood Forest? We do also; want to go together for more safety?"
She motioned to her other party members, three tough looking guys.
"I'm Karen, a 5th circle mage, and Ron over there is a 6th."
She pointed to a burly man looking about 45.
The offer sounded enticing, but something gave me a little bit of a bad feeling.
I shook my head, "We aren't going there. I just heard about it and was wondering about it."
She nodded, and her eyes flashed disappointment, "Alright, if you ever decide to come, find us."
"Alright."
We left and decided to compare my stats.
Stats (Average Human stat is 1):
Combat power: 18
Energy: 62
Strength: 11.7
Agility: 12
Intelligence: 8
Wisdom: 11
Luck: 2
Charisma: 8.25
They were different than the numbers displayed at the guild. A lot higher.
'Kitty, what makes this higher than the numbers at the guild?'
[The guilds display on a scale of 1-10 and can't detect stat improvement due to cultivation. I display stats based on 1 being the average for a mortal with no cultivation and 10 is the mortal limit, I also know cultivation exists and what it does to the body.]
'Since I'm a cultivator, shouldn't all my stats be past the limit?'
[No, your intelligence doesn't get improved in that way yet, and for charisma, you didn't take good enough care of your body before starting to cultivate to have corrected it yet, also you aren't always good with people even if you look good.]
'What about Lila? She must be similar or worse even.'
[Yes, it wouldn't hurt either one of you to take 15 Body Tempering pills made for this world level. Elaria also. It should fix all the damage done.]
'Will Lila get taller?' I was hoping not, as I quite liked her how she was.
[No, while that is partly a result of the environment, her body adapted to it and it isn't considered damage anymore.]
I bought 45 pills so we could all take 15 each.
When we entered the hotel room, I handed them each 15.
"Get the bath ready first then go one at a time, lay down next to it and take 1 at a time. When the effects wear off, take the next one."
They nodded, left to get started, and I hoped the effects wouldn't be too painful with only taking 1 at a time.
Elaria filled the bath, and Lila went first; I had Elaria stay so she would also know what was going to happen.
An hour later, Lila was lying on the floor exhausted and covered in expelled impurities. I picked her up and put her in the bath where she cleaned up. When she finished, she crawled into bed and fell asleep immediately.
Elaria repeated the process, almost falling asleep in the bath several times before getting out and putting on a long shirt, then falling asleep next to Lila.
I snickered when I saw her shirt on backward but I didn't bother to tell her.
Lila, even asleep seemed to sense someone next to her and tightly snuggled up.
After I finished with my turn, I was happy it wasn't too bad. I think I was mostly cleaned out from the last two times.
After laying down next to Lila on her other side, I began cultivating.