A Path of Bone and Poison 124 I.T. 27 Floor V

When I opened my eyes, I found that my wounds had been healed. I felt as if I had slept for a week, but I felt strangely heavy. When I tried to sit up, I found there was a lot of weight on my chest. I looked down to find not one, but two heads laying on my chest. Two arms were wrapped around me as well as two legs. One of each from either side. One had a head full of blond hair and smelled of the forest, and the other red hair and smelled of nightshade.

I could only sigh as I stroked both of their heads. my actions caused them to stir. When they opened their eyes the immediately saw each other and glared, but when they noticed I was awake the anger in their eyes disappeared and was filled with extreme excitement.

They spoke at the same time. "You're awake!" They glared at each other again, but I found the entire thing kind of funny. Soft laughter escaped my lips as I looked at them. This caused them both to glare at me as they once again spoke at the same time. "What's so funny?".

I could not hold it in any longer and burst into laughter. There was silence for a moment before they joined me. Bailey first, and not even a second later Hylia joined in.

I could only shake my head as I looked at the two. It was obvious that they both cared for me, and both of them knew it. I leaned down and kissed both on the forehead. I cared for both of them too. I had a much longer history with Hylia, but over the last 6 years Bailey had always been there for me. She had instinctively stuck close to me, and we had talked sometimes for hours. Our conversations had usually been about mana but had covered a wide variety of things.

Hylia was aware of all this, and at the time she had not cared. We were basically strangers with her memory wiped, but she could not deny that Bailey had earned her place at my side. This is why she grudgingly accepted the girl, even if it was against her better judgement.

Of course, I did not know the thoughts that were going on in her mind and was only aware that for now things seemed to be okay. When the two finally released me from my "imprisonment" I was able to get a look around the room we were in.

The room looked much like our cabin had back in Slagstone, and even came complete with a built-in bath. My eyes shone as I looked at it and did not hesitate to undress as I ran myself a hot bath. It had been ages since I had this luxury and would not miss it for the world.

The girls behind me rolled their eyes, I could hear Hylia whisper "I told you so." This did not stop them from increasing as they too got into the hot tub. I was not given a lot of time to relax, as both girls had other intentions. I will say that the bath was a great stress reliever.

A couple hours later the girls let me free from their embraces, and I was given leave to explore the fifth floor. They of course happily followed. I could feel the tension of the two had lessened by a lot, and they were even happily chatting together.

The outside of our room led to a giant lobby. I noticed that there were 3 more rooms. One of them only had a small pet door, and I could sense that Lucifer was happily resting inside. However as soon as he sensed I was out of my room he came running at me and jumped into my arms. I laughed as his excited display of affection and began to rub his head.

The other two rooms must have belonged to Hunter, and the other two Leisha and Sierra. I found it odd that there were two separate rooms, but before I could ask Hylia explained.

"Hunter demanded his own room. He did not seem too interested in staying with the girls. Once the mushroom had lost its control over him, he seemed to regain his senses. This did not mean he did not occasionally spend the night with them though." Hylia laughed as she said that.

I nodded, as a fellow guy (sort of) I could appreciate the thought of having my own space. But I was happy sharing the space I had with the two girls. Besides, my situation was a lot different than his. I was in all way shapes and form a female after all.

The girls led me to an alter that was at the corner of the room. Bailey quickly explained what it was.

"This will tell you the ability you received. You do not have any choice in the matter, unlike if we had chosen to directly leave. The old man only gave us an ability based on what we did during the fight. I received a gift called [Energy Suppression] it hides the energy fluctuations of my Elemental Bullets."

Hylia nodded "I got a skill called [Telepathic spying] it allows me to read the surface thoughts of any person or creature I encounter. It is pretty overpowered but can't be used on creatures that are much stronger than me.

I nodded as I listened to them. Both of their skills sounded amazing. I could only hope that the skill I got would be able to stand up to their own abilities.

As I approached the alter, I could feel a force entering my body. It was something that I could not resist. The energy seemed friendly, and I could feel it subtly changing something in my body. Soon a notification appeared in front of me. I read it, and then reread it and scowled. Anger filled me as I read it for the third time, and finally I kicked the alter. I could feel the bones in my foot crack, but because of my new skill the pain felt different than it should of. I flipped off the alter as I walked away.

The girls looked at me curiously. "What did you get?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

Unfortunately, the old man seemed to take offense to my actions, and a screen appeared in front of all of us.

[Masochism]

Your sense of pain has been altered, and now releases a sense of euphoria as well as the normal pain. You gain a permanent 20% damage reduction and heal 1% of mana and hp whenever you take damage. Boosts healing received by other sources by 100%.

The girls laughed at the skill. Hylia was the first to respond. "It truly is an overpowered skill. Combine it with the earring and it's a great combo."

Only now did I remember the earring. As I reached up to take it off, she stopped me. "No, it suits you much more than it does me. Besides, you bought me this amazing bow, and I have yet to get you anything. Consider it a gift."

I smiled at her words and gave her a quick kiss. Next to her Bailey was grumbling. I could make out that now she had to get me a gift. I laughed but told her no, giving her a kiss on the cheek as well. The two combined really had made my day.

Lucifer suddenly struggled in my arms as he jumped to the floor. He looked at me for a moment before he began to glow. It seemed he two wanted to show me the skill he had gotten.

As he glowed, I could feel myself glowing at the same time. Information filled me mind, and I could feel it taking form. It was information that I had known a long time ago but was being changed into something that I could use now.

Before I could really analyze it, I heard a voice. A voice I had only heard in my head before this.

"The gift I received was called [Ability Swap]. I can only use it a few times and will not be able to again for a long time. Your innate ability [Gift of Tongues] has been taken from you. This will allow me to communicate with the team more effectively. But you have not been short changed. Because of the immense power of your innate gift I had to trade you two abilities. I have chosen the most useful ones for your current state."

I knew what he said was correct, but they were not the abilities I would have chosen. The first was the heritage skill I had received back in the Lich's lair. [Vampiric Magic] only it had been changed to fit my current body and was now simply called [Arcane Vampirism]. It granted me healing based on the damage I did with my arcane abilities.

The second ability was [Bone Sword] but the ability had been altered as well. It had become the skill [Arcane Short Sword] but the effects remained the same.

I summoned the short sword and was amazed by how natural it felt in my hand. Even more natural than the pistol my mother had given me. However, I refused to give that up, and simply moved the pistol to my left hand. As a legendary weapon I did not need to worry about which hand I wielded it with, it would be great either way.

With this I could feel that I had received a great power up and was looking forward to the floors to come.

Chapter end