Contents

Title Page

Copyright

1 - Permanent Game State

2 - The King of all the Dicks

3 - Morgana Makes Up For It

4 - Forget the Map for Now

5 - Mild Wild Magic Shoppe

6 - Truth Comes Out of Her

7 - Find the Daughter of Time

8 - Why Would a Dragon Fear

9 - Fuck the Daughter of Time

10 - Newton Loves the Chicks

11 - Please, Just Insert the Tip

12 - Dino-Lich is a Bad, Bad Bitch

13 - What King of Village is This?

14 - Escape Not an Option Anymore

15 The Battle of the Boat Brothel

16 - Enemy Fights With My Enemy

17 - A Little Help from a New Friend

18 - Meaning of the Word Change

19 - Doing the Fucking Research

20 - Fuck that Dino-Shit, It’s Mine!

21 - Thunderous Rex and His Crew

22 - Foundation of a New Kingdom

23 - The Battle of Three Kingdoms

24 - The Birth of a New Kingdom

More LitRPG?

DINO SWORD

LitRPG Harem Novel

By James Archer

Copyright © 2018 James Archer

All rights reserved.

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CHAPTER 1

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Permanent Game State

I sat on a hard plastic chair in the plain, white waiting room of Lancraft Labs. At thirty-five years of age, I’d achieved enough to retire and spend the rest of my life playing games. Fully immersive virtual reality wasn’t cheap, but it was the way I wanted to spend the money I’d saved up over the years. My game of choice? Fucking Dino Swords.

Some people thought the game was too violent with too much sex, but I didn’t care. The rest of my life would be spent in a medically induced coma while hooked up to the greatest video game ever created. Fuck all the weekend gamers. I was all in - locked and loaded with full immersion for the rest of my life. Expensive, but it was worth it.

In addition to spending the rest of my natural born life inside Dino Swords, I was put on a short list of people willing to fully digitize their consciousness. None of the science made sense to me, but I trusted the company that had revolutionized the world in so many ways. Well, enough to let them slip me into a coma to fully experience their game.

“Mr. Jackson?” a female nurse called from a hallway opposite the door I’d come in.

“That’s me,” I said, standing up.

She smiled and waited for me to cross the room.

“Right this way,” she said.

I checked out her shapely ass as it swayed back and forth in front of me. With an ass like hers, it was difficult not to stare. She looked human, but I knew Lancraft Labs only hired robots to act out the wishes of the AGI entity that ran the corporation. Synthetic or not, the nurse had an ass I would hit all night long given the chance.

She stopped in front of a door at the end of the hall then turned.

“In here,” she said. “We have more questions and paperwork.”

“Thanks,” I said then turned the brass handle of the white door.

She stayed behind as I walked inside a cramped office. Another fine-looking female synthetic sat behind a desk, smiling as I approached.

“Have a seat,” she said, motioning to another plastic chair in front of her white desk.

I sat and leaned back, stretching my feet out in front of me.

“How close am I to getting inside?” I asked.

She smiled then said, “Not much longer.”

“Good,” I said.

“Have you gotten married or formed a significant human relationship since we last talked?”

I sat up, running my hands down the thighs of my loose-fitting jeans.

“Nope,” I said. “Still happily single.”

As the syn-woman typed away on the top of the desk, I thought about how most of my college friends had gotten married and started real families. None of that ever made sense to me with such an amazing technology available.

“I just need your signature here,” the woman said.

She pointed to the top of her desk. I leaned forward and signed my name with my finger. The digital file blipped out of existence.

“I thought there would be more,” I said.

“We’re anxious to get you into the system,” she replied in a sexy tone.

I smiled as I stood, stretching my arms.

“Can’t wait to get out of this body,” I said.

“Follow me…”

She stood then walked around the desk. I followed as she left the room. We walked down another long, boring hallway until we reached a bank of elevators.

“You’re on floor one-thirteen,” she said. “Enjoy your stay.”

I returned her smile as I reached out to press the elevator call-button. She turned and walked away. I couldn’t help checking out her ass as it sashayed down the hallway. My whole life I’d gone without any serious relationships because I didn’t want to be encumbered when I went into Dino Swords full time. Better to be single and have fun on the inside.

The elevator arrived, the door sliding open then closed after I stepped into the car. I hit the button for my floor then took a deep breath as I shot toward the sky. After so many double and even triple shifts, I was about to enjoy my reward, possibly for all time.

Even if they didn’t find a way to digitize me before I died, I’d enjoy a few decades of never getting old in the virtual world. The elevator stopped, and the door slid open. I stepped outside and walked to a nearby door. After putting my hand on the panel next to it, the white, metal door swung open. Inside my private room, I saw a bed with a bank of machines sitting next to it.

“Hello, Drake,” a female voice from the ceiling said. “Please lay down.”

As I walked over to the bed, a section of white wall slid open.

“Should I undress?” I asked.

Another syn-woman stepped out from her charging station.

“Yes, please,” she said. “It’s recommended.”

She stared straight at me as I got out of my clothes. Once naked, I got on the bed and rested my hands behind my head. The nameless syn-woman stepped forward then put a cap over my head. Was that the interface? So small?

“When’s the doctor coming?” I asked.

I didn’t want to stay in my mundane reality any longer than necessary. Time to go fully primal. “This is routine,” the syn-woman nurse said. “I’ll be taking care of you. Lay back and relax.”

She smiled as I took her advice. All my research had shown Lancraft Labs to be a legitimate company run by specially segregated artificial general intelligence called Lana. She also ran the entire Dino Swords game world I’d played through normal VR gear for years.

“Are you ready?” the nurse asked.

I glanced over at her and nodded, not saying a word. She stuck me in the arm for one of many IV drips they would use to keep me healthy while my mind played in virtual reality. The company promised I’d be able to feel everything in the game - even the sex.

Other digital game worlds existed in 2038, but I’d become addicted to the harsh realities and sexual adventures in Dino Swords. Going full-time, I’d be able to further my character like never before. Unlike the so-called real-world, I had a chance for real power in the game.

“Nighty-night,” the nurse said in a soft, sweet voice.

The tiles on the ceiling scrambled. I closed my eyes to rest them for a moment. When I opened them again, I saw the familiar brick walls of my home in the city of Yusgood, one of many cities in the game. Everything felt different this time.

I stepped forward and felt the wall, sliding my right hand over the rough texture. Even with the best haptic hardware couldn’t compare with the sensation of fully immersive VR. I pulled my hand away then turned to survey my living room.

The massive bookshelves on the opposite wall were full of books and magic items. Located in the southern lands of the continent of Gardonia, Yusgood had been my home since I started playing Dino Swords, but it might not be my home for the rest of my life in the game.

Finally, after so many years. My new life is happening, I thought as I walked over to the bookshelves. Robots had taken nearly eighty percent of jobs over the last decade, so going totally digital wasn’t too uncommon, but not everyone could afford full immersion.

One of the negatives of going into a medically induced coma to live only in your mind was that the body reacted to what was happening to the mind at all times. The doctors had warned me more than once than a particularly gruesome death within the game could permanently damage my brain, but I didn’t care. Being able to actually feel as if I lived in the game world, I’d be able to outperform many other players.

HARPER>> You logged in for good?

I smiled at the notification hovering in the air.

DRAKE>> I’m here forever just like you.

HARPER>> Hang on, I’m coming over.

Someone banged on the door leading outside.

“Hold on,” I shouted as I walked over.

I smiled as I opened the door and saw Harper on the other side. Dressed in tight black and red leather armor, she looked sexy and deadly. She threw her arms around my chiseled waist and hugged me. I bent my head and kissed the top of her flaming red hair.

“So good to see you,” she said. “There’s a new Dino Sword up for grabs.”

“What?” My eyes opened a bit wider. “When did it happen? I haven’t been on in a few days.”

“Earlier this morning,” she said, still clinging to me.

I glanced over her shoulder and saw a few less than reputable men leering at us.

“Come inside,” I said. “This city’s not safe.”

“I’m a woman, but I can take care of myself.”

Her arms retreated before she slipped past me. When I turned around, I saw her kneeling and looking up at me with a hungry grin on her pretty, freckled face. She reached forward and undid the belt holding up my black denim pants. I took a deep breath and stared down at her.

She continued looking up and into my eyes as my pants dropped to the floor. Before I could say a word, she wrapped her lips around my dick. My heart beat faster as her head bobbed up and down. She had one of the highest BJ skills I’d ever seen on a player, and it showed.

“Fuck,” I grunted as she brought me closer to climax.

“Not so fast,” she said, pulling her head back but still stroking me.

“It’s been so long,” I said.

She giggled.

“Only a few days. Geez…”

“You’re so fucking good at that. Please don’t stop,” I begged.

Her lips and tongue moved in ways that made me moan with pleasure. I kept my hands on the back of her bright red hair as she worked on me.

“Turn around,” I gasped, unable to take it any longer.

After stripping out of her pants, she obeyed. I stared down at her perfectly shaped pear ass as she pressed her breasts against the rough wooden floor. Hard as my sword, I slipped into her. She screamed, rocking back against me as I explored her deeper with every stroke.

None of the many notifications going off distracted me as I worked on the mission at hand. She screamed even louder, tightening around me. Knowing she was close to coming, I pounded even harder. As soon as the brilliant orange “Orgasm Given!” message appeared, I stopped trying to hold back and exploded inside her.

“Yes,” she whimpered, ass still raised in the air.

I pulled out and sat down on my ass, breathing heavily. She got up and curled against me. I loved her soft yet firm skin and the way she made me feel. We sat silently for a few moments, each of us enjoying the afterglow and going over our experience points for the encounter.

“So glad you’re back permanently,” she said. “We can spend even more time together.”

I nodded, not saying a word. Would she try to pin me down in the game? She knew I liked to sleep with lots of people and didn’t want to be tied down to any single person.

“Me too,” I said to break the awkward silence.

She reached down and grabbed me between the legs, squeezing gently.

“Hold on,” I said. “My cool down period isn’t over yet.”

She smiled then leaned in and kissed me.

“We could rule this game as king and queen,” she said in sultry voice.

I petted the top of her head in a consoling way, not wanting to get into a fight. Most people would swear we were a couple, but the reality was far different. She didn’t mind if I slept with others in the game, and I left her to do her own thing too. Was it my fault she still wanted to be with me? Nah. Fuck that noise.

Harper lowered her head, licking a trail down my sculpted, muscular chest. I pushed it down even further, releasing a breath as she wrapped her lips around my quickly stiffening member. Spending the rest of my life in Dino Swords would be incredible.

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CHAPTER 2

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The King of all the Dicks

Harper, as usual, woke up before me. Sleep inside the game could be so strange. I yawned and stretched, the covers moving and revealing my manliness. She purred and reach for it. I pulled away, knowing we’d never get anything done if I let her have it whenever she wanted it.

“You’re no fun,” she teased as I stood and walked across the room.

“We’ll have time for fun later,” I said. “We need to work on getting me a Dino Sword and some real power in here.”

She laid on her side, propped up by her elbow, watching me as I got dressed.

“You promise?” she asked.

I turned and gave her my what-the-hell-you-talking-about look. She smiled.

“Come on,” I said. “We’ve got a big day.”

“Do you really think the king’s going to meet with you right away?” she asked.

“Like I told you last night, he’ll want to see me,” I said.

She crawled out of bed. The sight of her supple, naked body was almost too strong of an urge to resist. She didn’t make it easy to get anything other than fucking done when she was around.

“King Krueger is a real dick,” she said as she put on her clothes.

“Most men in power are that way for a reason,” I said.

I slipped my high-grade sword into the sheath at my side. While not nearly as powerful as a Dino Sword, I’d killed quite a few monsters and other players with it. After nearly a decade of playing the game in my limited spare time, I’d built up a reputable player character for myself. I went over my character sheet as Harper finished dressing.

Name: Drake

Class: Rogue / Mage / Fighter / Lover

Level: Rogue (3) / Mage (3) / Fighter (3) / Lover (5)

Experience Points: 295,000 xp

Health Points: 310/310

Magic Points: 104/104

Sexual Energy: 69/69

Strength: 100/100

Wisdom: 80/100

Charisma: 85/100

Intelligence: 78/100

Dexterity: 89/100

Hardiness: 98/100

I’d spent so much time concentrating on my real world career to be able to afford to play Dino Swords full-time after retiring, I wasn’t even in the top fifty percent of most powerful players in the game. With a bit of hard grinding - literally and figuratively - I’d fix that problem in no time flat. Fuck all the haters who said otherwise.

Most of the part-time assholes in the game just spent their time trying to cause grief for those of us who spent more time in the virtual world. Jealous fucks. I wasted no time with them. Well, not all of them. Some, like King Gregor, were on my radar. A part-timer, he’d paid to become king of the largest alliance of kingdoms in the game.

I fucking hated people who paid to get their way to the top. Cheaters abounded in Dino Sword, even with the harsh penalties if you got caught. The lure of easy money and power in the game was too much for some people to ignore. Me? I loved the game on many levels. Yes, fucking so many fine women was nice and all.

The big reason I loved playing Dino Sword was the power. Unlike the real world, I had a chance to scratch and crawl my way to the top virtually. With so much more time to invest into the game world, I saw myself quickly unseating King Gregor and taking his spot. Fuck that guy. Currently, I needed to work with him, but that wouldn’t last.

“Are you ready, or are you going to stare at your stats all day?” Harper asked.

I glanced up and grinned.

“Been waiting on you, dear.”

She rolled her eyes then opened the front door. I followed her outside. On the way to the king’s residence in the center of the city, I thought about how to phrase my request. King Gregor’s help would allow me to more quickly acquire a Dino Sword and gain some power in the game. At that point, I would be able to kill him and take his power.

A pale woman dressed in tight black leather stood in our path on one of the side streets leading toward the center of the city.

“Oh no,” Harper muttered, slowing down.

“What?” I asked. “You know her or something?”

“I do,” Harper said. “She’s this submissive that’s been chasing me. Morgana. I think she’s a lonely housewife in the real world or something. She’s obviously got money for insane body modifications and good equipment, but she’s bloody annoying most of the time. Well, except when we’re fucking.“

“Hello!” the woman in leather squealed as we approached.

She waved a hand, showing off her perfect body. The obvious money she’d put into making her character’s avatar might be enough for me to forget about her shortcomings. She might turn out to be useful to me in some way.

“Hey,” Harper said as we stopped. “What’s up?”

“I’m going full-time,” Morgana said.

“Oh?” Harper asked. “What about your husband?”

“He finally died,” Morgana replied flippantly, still smiling.

Damn. What a cold bitch. I like her.

“Congrats,” I said, not acting excited.

“I need to talk with you,” Morgana said.

“About what?” Harper asked.

“Can we speak alone?” Morgana glanced at me then back at Harper. “Is that okay?”

“Go ahead,” I said, waving a hand through the air. “Talking to King Gregor won’t take too much time, I don’t think. It might be better if I go alone.”

“Are you sure?” Harper asked, putting her hand on my bicep.

I nodded then leaned down to kiss her.

“Have fun. I’ll talk to you later.”

She smiled. As I walked, their voices getting lost in the sea of sounds in the city, I turned my attention to King Gregor and my attempt to procure a Dino Sword of my own. Owning one was the only way to truly rule even the smallest of kingdoms in the game. I needed to convince the king to help me get my own. Wouldn’t be easy, but I had to try.

The closer I got to the center of the city, the more guards I saw lurking about. I paid them no heed as I strode past them, heading toward the Inner Gate. Like most rulers in the game, King Gregor didn’t fuck around when it came to defenses. After grabbing hold of power, he’d done everything to hold onto it. I’d do the same once I acquired my own.

Until then, I’d need to kiss ass and claw my way to the fucking top. At the gates to the king’s enclosed palace, I stopped and raised my hands. Two guards atop the wall peered down.

“I’m here to see the king,” I said loud enough for them to hear.

“What’s your business?” one of them asked.

“Do you have an appointment?” his shorter buddy added.

“Tell him Drake’s here to see him,” I said. “He’ll want to talk to me.”

Over the last two years, I’d saved King Gregor’s ass more than once. I planned to call in the favors I’d done for him and convince him to help me get the new Dino Sword about to spawn. The guards whispered to each other before one scurried away. I waited, arms crossed over my chest. With everything I’d done for him, I didn’t expect too long unless he was fucking.

I grinned as I remembered our nickname for him - Quickie Dickie. All the women I’d encountered over the years had all said the same thing. The king of the realms couldn’t last in bed. I tilted my head back and glanced up at the remaining guard. He wouldn’t be too hard to kill.

All the other guards in the compound would take me out, not to mention the spellcasters in his harem. Sex magic took a while to build up properly, but once you got the grid connected with multiple partners, things got fucking interesting. I wasn’t worried personally about raising my sex magic game quickly, but having one of the rare Dino Swords would my life easier.

The massive wooden gate swung open. I walked inside after it finished, sneering at the smaller guard. He said nothing as he motioned for me to follow him. I picked up the distinct smell of weed as we moved closer to the center of the fortified keep where he lived. Him being high as fuck would give me an edge when dealing with him. I smiled as the guard stopped.

“Be respectful, or we’ll kill your ass,” he said before opening a door.

“You seem like the type of guy who would want my ass, but that’s not my game,” I said.

“No, wait, I meant…”

“Step aside,” I said, bustling past him.

He muttered something indecipherable as I walked into the throne room. King Gregor sat on his throne as two dozen of the finest women I’d seen in a while danced and swayed before him. All the sexual energy in the room hit me as I strode toward the king. Several of his women stared at my ass, but I paid them no mind, concentrating on the throne I wanted to own.

“You again,” King Gregor said then took a puff from a fat ass joint.

I stopped a few feet in front of his throne, not bothering to bow. He sat back, relaxed, puffing on the joint. Four guards surrounded him, all heavily armored.

“You don’t sound happy to see the man who saved your life,” I said.

“Show some fucking respect,” King Gregor said, sitting up. “I heard you’re full time now.”

“Yup,” I said, nodding my head.

“That’s great,” he said. “Are you coming to work for me?”

“Not exactly. I’m here to call in all the favors I’ve given you over the years.”

The king smoked his joint, not answering. Fucking bastard.

“You were keeping track of everything you did for me?” he asked a moment later.

“No, but I want to grab the Dino Sword about to spawn and start my own kingdom.”

“And fight against me?” King Gregor asked.

“Not if it’s not necessary,” I replied.

“It’d be easier if you just came and worked for me,” he said. “We could expand. My brain and your brawn would go far. Not to mention the sizable harem I’ve built up.”

He snapped his finger. Two of the scantily clad women danced up, their bodies rubbing against mine. I let them have their fun, keeping my attention on the king.

“They’re nice, but I want my own. You understand, don’t you?”

“I do,” King Gregor said. “Don’t think I don’t.”

Fuck. He’s not going to help me. I know it.

“Will you please help me? It’s the right thing to do.”

The king shook his head.

“You’d be too big of a risk,” he said. “You either help me or become my enemy.”

“That’s messed up,” I said.

He grinned and nodded.

“Welcome to the full-time game,” he said. “Heavy hangs the head that wears the crown and wields one of the Dino Swords. You should help me get a second one. I could expand my kingdom and make sure you don’t want for anything in here.”

“That’s not the way I want to play,” I countered. “You know me.”

“I know you all too well, Drake. That’s why I’m saying no.”

Fuck you, then, I thought while smiling and unconcerned on the outside.

“If you come to your senses, let me know.”

The king laughed. I felt the sexual energy in the room turn darker.

“You should go,” King Gregor said, standing up and undoing his belt. “It’s fucking time.”

Without another word, I turned and made my way through the flailing, half-naked women. The guard at the door snickered as I walked through.

“Don’t you fucking start,” I snapped.

He followed as I walked toward the exit.

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CHAPTER 3

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Morgana Makes Up For It

As I approached the front door of my humble home, pissed at the king for being a dick, I thought about other ways to easily get my hands on a Dino Sword. Could I expand my own harem more quickly? Once inside, I failed to notice the clothes strewn about on the floor. When I hit the living room and heard passionate moaning from the bedroom, I stopped.

Harper? Fucking another guy in my own damn house? I pushed the door to my bedroom opened and barged in, ready to kill a guy. Harper and Morgana, both naked, looked up. I grinned as I saw the pure lust painted on their faces. Sweat dripped from their lithe bodies. From the looks of it, they’d been going at it for a while. I took off my clothes.

“Keep going. I didn’t tell you to stop.”

Harper smiled then turned and pushed Morgana onto her back. As she slithered between her legs, I crawled onto the bed near the raven-haired submissive’s face.

“Suck it,” I said, smiling as she wasted no time.

As she swirled her tongue around the tip of my dick, I glanced over and watched the ever inventive Harper go to town on her friend’s pussy.

“Join my harem,” I commanded.

Morgana stopped sucking and glanced up at me, blinking quickly. She turned to look at Harper.

“Can I?” she asked, almost begging.

Harper smiled and nodded.

“I’ll join,” she said then went back to work on my cock.

<< Your harem has increased! >>

<< +1 female - Morgana, human fighter >>

<< + 10 sexual energy! >>

Ooh. Another fighter. I should’ve figured with the big ass sword she had strapped to her back when we ran across her in the street. Fuck King Gregor and the rest of the fools, I thought as Morgana’s head bobbed up and down on my throbbing cock.

“That’s it, baby,” I cooed, coaxing her on.

“Fuck her pussy,” Harper said. “Please…”

I crawled between Morgana’s legs as Harper moved away. Morgana moaned as I slipped into her and began thrusting. I saw the sex xp racking up, but I paid the game notifications no mind as I concentrated on my rhythm. All the sexual energy would help me attract more women to my harem. The thought got me even harder.

“Yes, yes, yes…” Morgana continued moaning.

Unable to hold back any longer, I shot my seed into her. She squirmed as I felt her pussy tighten around my cock. Harper continued kissing me. I pulled out of Morgana then looked down at her. She smiled up at me, a look of hunger still on her face.

“I’ve got even better news,” Harper said.

“Oh?” I cocked my head to the side.

“Yeah,” she said, nodding. “Morgana has heard about a map to the location of the new Dino Sword spawning. She can help us get your sword, baby.”

I smiled, feeling even better. A good quick fuck was nice, but a Dino Sword would lead to me wielding all sorts of power in the game world.

“That’s great,” I said. “We’ll have breakfast and talk about it.”

“No round two?” Harper asked with sad puppy eyes.

“Later. We’ve got work to do.” I glanced at Morgana. “You know of a map?”

She nodded and spilled her guts. A new dungeon had formed to the west in the badlands.

“How do you know the map’s there?” I asked, suspicious.

“My last master told me,” she said. “He treated me like shit, and I left.”

“Who was he?” I asked.

“Lord Taintor.”

“He’s a fucking cunt,” I said.

She said nothing, staring up at me with those eyes of hers.

“You did good picking this one, Harper,” I said.

My main woman smiled then wrapped her arms around. Despite my better judgment, the three of us fucked again. I wanted to get started on the quest to find my Dino Sword, but sometimes my dick had a mind of its own. As the two beautiful women serviced me, I laid back and enjoyed every single sensation. The rest of my life was going to be great.

* * * * *

I gave a wizard a hundred gold to teleport the three of us outside the new dungeon which turned out to be nothing more than a hole in the ground. Harper and Morgana stood to my left and right respectively while I peered down into the darkness.

“Hello,” someone said behind us.

I whirled around, sword at the ready. A man wearing outlandish red and yellow clothes stood. The stringed instrument on his back gave away his class. A bard was the last thing we needed to run into while out in the wild.

“What do you want?” I asked. “There’s three of us. We’ll kill you in an instant if you start playing that guitar or try to charm us.”

“Guitar?” The man laughed. “I’m no guitar player, sir.”

“Again,” I said. “What do you want?”

“Baron Rando is already in the dungeon,” the bard said. “Do you want to know more?”

I lowered my sword.

“How much?”

“Just a quick jump in the hay with one of your women,” he said.

“Did you just disrespect me?” I asked, stepping forward.

The bard threw up his hands defensively while backing away.

“No, sir. I meant no disrespect. Baron Rando rents out his women, and I thought…”

“I’m not Baron Rando,” I said. “He’s a punk that’s going to get what’s coming to him.”

“Yeah,” Harper added.

“How long ago did he go down?” I asked.

“A couple hours,” the bard said. “I’ve been in the bushes...um, practicing…”

“We don’t want to hear about it. Did he have his full team with him?”

The bard nodded. “All his women. I hung around hoping he’d be camping after he clears the dungeon and gets the map.”

“You know about the map too?” I asked.

“Everyone knows,” he said. “Are you new to the game?”

“I’m Drake,” I said. “Remember the name.”

The bard slowly lowered his hands.

“I will, I will,” he said, repeating himself too much.

“We’re going after him. You want to join us?”

“No way,” the bard said. “I’ll be on my way.”

“We should kill him,” Morgana said, stepping forward.

I turned to her. “Yeah? Why?”

“He looks shifty,” she said, not taking her eyes off him.

“Maybe,” I said.

“Please don’t kill me,” the bard said. “I’ll give you all the gold I have on me.”

“Hand it over,” Harper barked, stepping forward.

She put out her hand, palm up. The bard reached for his belt.

“Easy now,” I said.

He unattached a pouch.

“This is all I have on me,” he said. “I swear.”

“Drop it and get out of here,” I said. “Now!”

I flexed my muscles and lunged forward, causing the bard to scurry away.

“Don’t you want to expand our group?” Morgana asked.

“Quiet,” Harper hissed.

“It’s okay. Questions are good,” I said. “He’s not the type of person I want around.”

Morgana nodded her head then replaced her sword on her back.

“We need a way down,” I said.

“Leave it to me,” Harper said. “I’ve got a spell.”

“Of course you do,” I said, grinning. “But is it safe?”

“It’s safe enough,” she said. “It’ll cause us to gently fall down the hole.”

“We don’t know how deep it is, though.”

“It can’t be that deep.” Harper turned to Morgana. “You’ll go first.”

Morgana nodded then walked over to the edge of the hole. I followed as Harper cast her spell. A blue glow surrounded us. I waited and watched as Morgana jumped into the hole. She gently fell down. I went next, followed by Harper. She spread her legs, giving me a good view as I stared up at her on the way down. Jumping off a cliff and fucking might be fun.

I put thoughts of my favorite pussy out of my mind and glanced down. A light far below got brighter as we approached.

“Be ready for anything, ladies,” I said as we dropped deeper underground.

The pit ended in an oblong chamber freshly dug. A tunnel led to the west. Several small dino-men bodies littered the ground, all of their bodies stripped of any valuables.

“Maybe they’ll clear the whole dungeon for us,” I said. “No xp, but we’ll be closer to getting the new Dino Sword. If we get this map, we’ll be the only ones who have it.”

“That’s good,” Harper said.

“Come on,” I said, motioning for them to follow.

Torches every fifty yards or so were the only illumination as we sped through the dungeon. We found a staircase down to a second level and stopped.

“Something isn’t right,” Harper said. “I can sense it.”

“We’re getting closer to Baron Rando,” I said. “We got this.”

Harper shook her head. “No, it’s something else. I can’t put my finger on it.”

“You can put your finger in Morgana later, but for now, we’ve got to keep going. Come on.”

I strode down the stone stairs, taking them two at the time. An empty room at the bottom looked better constructed than the level above us. How many floors would we have to clear before finding Baron Rando? I wondered as I kept walking. The next room contained a dino-mage. From the blood everywhere and the scorched walls, they must’ve had a big battle.

Two open doors led out of the room. I chose the one with a bloody trail leading to it. Harper and Morgana followed close behind. A hallway led to yet another room. Bodies laid strewn about, all of them long since looted. Had Baron Rando already made it to the final boss and recovered the map? I quickened my pace as I explored the rest of the level.

With all the traps disarmed and most of the monsters not having re spawned, we quickly made our way to the fifth floor of the dungeon. I heard the sounds of a battle coming from somewhere in the distance. The other still behind me, I crept forward at a slower pace, my eyes peeled on the end of the hallway. A battle could be seen at the end of the hall.

I rushed forward to the doorway, scanning the battlefield. Baron Rando, dressed in his ridiculous pink chain mail, chopped off the head of yet another dino-mage. A shrill shriek filled the air as the body fell to the ground, flopping around. Two dozen women stood nearby, chanting and dancing. I ran toward Baron Rando, hoping to catch him by surprise.

“Die!” I shouted as I swung my sword, hitting him in the left arm.

After he screamed a command, his women surrounded him defensively. Several bursts of fire shot from several of their hands, racing toward me. A couple of them hit, doing minimal damage.

“Take them out!” I yelled, hoping Harper swung into action.

Morgana ran forward, stabbing her giant sword through the stomachs of two of the women. Harper cast a flurry of green energy bolts at the women in front of Baron Rando. Several of them fell to the ground, writhing in orgasm. With them out of the way, I charged forward to attack Baron Rando again. He held up his sword, but he was no match for me. My blade sunk into his stomach. He screamed as blood spurted out, covering me.

The rest of his women swarmed around him, throwing up a defensive energy shield. I struck it with my sword and got damaged. Still, above half health, I tried striking it again.

“Stop! Get back!” Harper yelled.

I retreated a few steps as she cast another spell. A lightning bolt went through the shield and hit the first women in Baron Rando’s harem them spread to the others. None of them died, but the protection spell faded, giving me opportunity to attack. I swung my sword like a baseball bat with all my might, cleaving one of his women in half.

“Surrender now!” I shouted.

“Retreat!” Baran Rando shouted. “We’ll get the map from them later.”

The women all chanted then turned their palms toward Baron Rando. A holographic vagina appeared out of nowhere, enveloping their whole party.

<< Combat ended. >>

<< +500 battle xp >>

I closed the notification screen and turned to the two most important women in my life.

“Everyone okay?” I asked.

Morgana bowed her head as Harper rushed forward and threw her arms around me. I squeezed her tight briefly then pushed her away.

“We’ve got time for all that later. First, we need to find this map.”

I glanced around the room, noticing the dead dino-mage on the floor.

“Check his body, Morgana,” I said, nodding my head toward the body.

She rushed over and knelt beside it, rustling through its possessions. I walked over to a wooden chest with iron bands in the corner. A thief would be nice to check it for traps, but we didn’t have one in our party...yet. I kicked the chest, hoping it didn’t explode. When it failed to ignite or turn into a fucking mimic, I reached down and opened the latch.

“Found the map!” Morgana said as I stared down at the chest full of gems.

“Good,” I said. “Anything else?”

“Some rings, a wand, and a few potions,” she said.

“Take it all. I don’t want to stick around here too long. Everyone knows dino-mages travel in groups of three, and we’ve only come across two bodies.”

I reached down and picked up the medium-sized chest. After Morgana walked over, Harper used the second part of the teleport spell to recall us to the city. We appeared in a smoky haze behind the wizard’s rundown shop on the edge of the market district.

“Do you want me to carry the chest?” Morgana asked.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “You’re gonna need all your energy for celebrating tonight.”

Harper smiled and strode toward my house on the other end of the city. I walked behind her, checking out her ample ass the entire trip back. She never failed to delight me.

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑

CHAPTER 4

┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

Forget the Map for Now

“Go translate the map,” I said as we sat in my living room.

Morgana sat on the floor, tallying the worth of the gems.

“Can’t it wait til later?” Harper whined. “I want to fuck you.”

“We’ll fuck eventually,” I said. “You need to translate that map, so we can go get my Dino Sword. Wouldn’t you rather fuck a king?”

She smiled, her lust for power her weakness, the reason I held so much sway over her.

“Okay,” she said then retreated to her study in the back of the first floor.

“How are you doing down there?” I asked, staring at Morgana.

She glanced up and smiled.

“It’s so much,” she said.

“Aren’t you glad you joined me?” I asked.

She nodded as my eyes traveled down to her breasts.

“How glad?” I asked.

I spread my legs as she crawled over to me, assuming the position. She purred like a fucking cat as I stroked her hair, and she freed my massive attack cock. The sexual energy between us would go a long way in healing me after the battle with Baron Rando. Not killing him had been sloppy as fuck, but I let that fact slip from my mind as she slipped my cock in her mouth.

She swallowed my entire length with her soft lips forcefully pressed against my shaft. I sighed, watching the beauty of her going down on me. The sensations felt just as good if not better than the real thing. With a much larger cock in the game, I had more for her to make feel good. Her tongue danced around, making her wet mouth even more inviting.

“Don’t stop,” I said when she looked up. “Why are you stopping?”

“I want to ride you,” she said, undoing her leather bikini top.

While I wanted to make her wait, slamming into her pussy for the first time was too much to resist. “Get up here. Show me what you got.”

She obeyed, climbing onto my lap and lowering herself onto me. I slipped into her wet hole like a rogue sneaking into the brothel at night. My wolf invaded her hen-house full force. I leaned forward and used my hands to hold her breasts up. She had just enough, unlike Harper’s whose tits were almost too big for my taste even though I’d never tell her that to her face.

Morgana moaned loudly as I sucked at one of her nipples, getting it even harder. She rode me up and down at the same time, rocking back and forth while doing it for even more stimulation. I found myself moaning along with her, both of us getting loud. Harper cleared her throat from the stairs. I looked over and grinned.

“What are you waiting on? Get over here,” I commanded.

She slipped out of her robes as she walked over to us. I opened my eyes wider, getting even harder as she pushed Morgana off my cock.

“This is mine,” she said, sitting on me.

Morgana leaned forward and kissed me on the mouth, sticking her tongue deep inside mine as Harper rode me. I loved her tight pussy moving up and down my long, thick shaft. She made me pop almost right away, my sexual energy score peaking when I had an orgasm, giving me double the amount of sex xp for the encounter up until that point.

Harper kept grinding. I pushed her off me.

“Morgana, take care of her,” I said.

As the new woman dutifully obeyed, I leaned back and watched. Harper’s moans of pleasure filled the entire house. I didn’t even care about the neighbors. Once I had the newest Dino Sword, nobody’s opinion in the game would matter to me.

“Sixty-nine,” I said, wanting Morgana to get off too.

The women followed my orders with the more shapely Harper laying on her back. I watched both women lick, kiss, and suck each other’s pussy. My heart rate increased as the pleasure building up reached the point of no return for the two women. As they enjoyed the afterglow, I got up, went over, and bent Harper over. She moaned as I pushed into her.

“Yes,” she begged. “Do it harder.”

After watching them so long, it didn’t take me long to come deep inside her.

<< Orgasm given! >>

<< Orgasm received! >>

<< Combo Bonus: +49 sex energy! >>

<< You have [79/79] sex energy! >>

I needed to get my maximum sex energy up, but it would take a while to gain new levels. Harper moved forward and turned around, laying on her back and staring up at me. Morgana joined her. I glanced down at the two of them, knowing things would be getting even better when I retrieved the newest Dino Sword and took my own kingdom.

“Nice job, ladies,” I said. “Time to clean up then sleep for me. Are you going to stay up and finish translating the map?”

“If I can,” Harper said.

“You can do it,” I said. “You’re the smartest woman I know.”

Morgana looked up, blinking expectantly.

“And you’re one hell of a fuck,” I said.

She smiled then sat up. I turned and left. Back in my bedroom, I fell asleep as soon as I closed my eyes. Well, what passed for sleep in the game. Away from the game world, I spent some time checking email from the real world. Nothing other than a few spam messages. The rest of my six hours of in-game sleep consisted of boosting my skills with paid hacks.

I could get potentially booted from Dino Online World if I got caught, but everyone did it. The mega corporation that ran the game made a ton of money off it which is why they didn’t enforce their own policies too well. Each night of sleep in the game, I could train one of my basic skills to the next level for a reasonable amount of real world and in-game currency.

Training to improve my sexual prowess would’ve been nice, but I went for battle skills. We’d gotten the map to the new sword relatively easily, but Baron Rando would be coming after me with all his resources. He didn’t have too much, but he had enough for me to be cautious and prepared for retribution. I spent five full hours improving my basic sword skill.

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑

CHAPTER 5

┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

Mild Wild Magic Shoppe

The next morning, I opened my eyes and found myself back in the game world. Neither woman had returned to my bedroom the night before. Or had they gotten up already? I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the bed. After standing and stretching, I went downstairs to find them and check on the progress with the map. My Dino Sword awaited me.

“Good morning,” Morgana said, standing next to the cooking fire in the kitchen.

I sat down at the round, wooden table across the room.

“Where’s Harper?” I asked. “Did you make coffee?”

“Harper’s upstairs working in her study,” Morgana said. “How do you like your coffee?”

“Black,” I said. “Did she finish translating the map yet?”

“No, she stayed up all night. I think she’s about to crash from exhaustion.”

“She’ll be fine,” I said. “She’s a strong woman.”

I leaned back and admired Morgana’s body as she brought me a mug of coffee.

“You’re not bad yourself,” I said then lightly slapped her ass.

She smiled. “Thank you. I’m happy to be with you and Harper. She means a lot to me.”

“You’ll have to tell me the story sometime,” I said. “For now, we need to get supplies for wherever the map is going to send us. Do you want to come with me? That’ll give Harper more time to finish the translation on the map.”

“Sure,” Morgana said. “I’ll come with you.”

“Great.” I stood then finished the coffee. “Let’s go.”

Morgana took off her white apron then followed me into the living room. I thought about going up to check on Harper, but I decided she would be okay and needed to concentrate and finish with the map before Baron Rando came after us. Outside, I locked the door to my house then turned. Players and NPCs both walked up and down the street, all living their own lives.

“It’s good to have you for battles too,” I said as we walked side by side.

“Thanks,” she said. “Being in here full-time is so strange.”

“I’m loving it. Make sure you let me do the talking. We’re stopping at a magic shop first.”

“That’s fine with me,” she said.

We walked a few blocks in silence before stopping at a curious adobe tower on the corner of one of the rougher neighborhoods. I disregarded the warning signs posted on the door and pulled it open before going inside. An old man with a long, gray beard looked up from behind a counter on the far side of the room. He sat up on a stool as we approached.

“Can I help you?” he asked. “Best trinkets this side of the Apolloton Mountains.”

“I’m not looking for junk,” I said, stopping in front of the worn wood counter.

“As long as you have enough gold, I don’t ask questions.”

“I’ve got gems,” I said, tossing a handful of the least precious ones we’d found.

“Not bad, not bad,” the man said, picking one up and closely examining it.

“I need sex magic items,” I said. “Something to build my harem quickly.”

The old man looked up, a grin on his face.

“I see, I see,” he said. “I’ve got just the things to help. Follow me.”

He hopped off the stool and waved for us to follow as he walked along the counter. I followed him into a cramped room in the back. Shelves on all four walls had been packed with various sex related magic items. Cock Ring of Power? He had it. Bracers of Stamina for lasting all night long? He had a few choices. Ring of Charms to sweet talk women into my harem? Yes.

“I’ll take both of these rings,” I said, holding them in my palm.

“You don’t have enough gems to pay for them,” the shopkeeper said.

“How much more do I need?”

“A couple thousand gold, at least.”

“I’ll be back,” I said. “Keep the other gems for a deposit. Don’t sell these rings.”

“Fine, fine,” the shopkeeper said. “Do you want the lady to stay here too?”

“Keep your eyes off her,” I said, stepping into his view. “Or I’ll kill you.”

“Okay, okay,” the man said, still annoyingly repeating himself.

“Come on, Morgana, let’s go,” I said, walking back to the front of the shop.

Outside, I saw a gang of men across the street. They all straightened up as we walked out.

“Get ready to fight,” I said, not taking my eyes off the men.

Morgana drew her sword. Fights in the streets weren’t forbidden, but some private security contractors could get a little over zealous if the battles happened in certain areas of the city. Fortunately, the Mage’s Pickle shop wasn’t in a good neighborhood. The six men, all holding swords and wearing leather armor, stepped into the middle of the street.

“Oi!” one called out, pointing at me. “We’ve got a bone to pick with you!”

“Fuck Baron Rando!” I shouted then pulled my sword.

“You’re coming with us,” the gutter-snipe said.

He and his gang walked closer, all carrying knives and daggers.

“Don’t you know not to bring a knife to a sword fight, son?” I asked.

The gang member put his fingers to his mouth and whistled. Over a dozen other men came out from behind the building, carrying swords and crossbows.

“What were you saying?” the punk kid asked.

“Get ready to run,” I muttered as I reached for my coin pouch. “Now!”

I threw the contents of the cloth sack up into the air.

“Free gold!” I shouted.

A few people nearby stopped and ran toward the falling coins. Morgana kept up with me as we ran back toward my house. The punk kids didn’t follow. Baron Rando had probably put a bounty out on me for stealing the map. Once I had more money, I could hire some protection and not have to worry about it. Until then, I didn’t want to get overwhelmed.

“Better to run away and fight another day,” I said as we stopped at my front door.

I unlocked it then held it open for her. After she went inside, I glanced around before doing the same. Harper came running down the stairs as I walked into the living room.

“Why are you two out of breath?” she asked with a heavy tinge of jealousy.

I grinned. “Not what you think. Settle down. Baron Rando sent some punk kids to jump us.”

“He made it rain gold, and we got away,” Morgana said. “That was so much fun.”

“Did you translate the map?” I asked.

Harper frowned and shook her head. “No…”

“Dammit, woman. What’s wrong?” I snapped.

“It’s difficult,” she said. “We must’ve missed a clue getting out of the dungeon so soon.”

“Don’t you dare blame this on me,” I said.

“I’m not blaming it on you or anyone, I’m just telling you what I think.”

“You’re fine,” I said, waving my hand then sitting down on the couch. “This has been a hell of a day. King Gregor is a fucking prick for not helping me.”

“Do you want me to suck your dick and boost your sex energy?” Morgana asked.

While tempting, I shook my head. “Not now. We need to translate this map. Once Baron Rando spreads it around that we have it, everyone’s will be knocking on our door. We should leave soon and camp outside the city in the wilderness.”

“Isn’t that less safe?” Harper asked.

“We can go to our cabin,” I said. “Nobody knows about it. Well, almost nobody.”

Harper smiled. I remembered spending so many wild nights with her in the secluded cabin.

“I don’t like the outdoors,” Morgana said. “The bugs drive me crazy.”

“This isn’t sleeping outdoors or roughing it,” Harper said. “Trust me.”

“You two pack,” I said, standing. “We’ll eat then get on the road.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to fuck before we go?” Harper asked. “I’m running low on sex energy myself, and I could use some attention.”

“Have Morgana help you get off,” I said, my stomach rumbling.

“I don’t mind,” Morgana said, sliding toward Harper.

As the two women wandered upstairs to do their thing then pack, I went into the kitchen and checked the stocked cupboard for food. Everything worth eating took time to prepare except for the beef jerky. I grabbed a jar of the heavily salted and seasoned meat then opened a jar of wine to wash it down. Moans filtered from upstairs as I ate, chewing slowly.

I thought about going upstairs to join them after all, but a loud knock at the door got my attention. That better not be those gutter snipes, I thought as I got up and walked over. Peeking through a tiny hole, I saw strange men in fancy purple armor. Looks Asian. Who could this be? I wondered if I should just ignore them and hope they went away. They banged again.

Should I open it?

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CHAPTER 6

┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

Truth Comes Out of Her

“What do you want?” I demanded, opening the door.

“Xin Jang requests your presence,” a man with jet black hair said.

“For what?” I asked.

“He wants to talk to you about Harper,” the man answered.

I noticed his hand on the hilt of his sword.

“What about her?” I continued.

“That’s between Xin Jang and you. I suggest you don’t try to kill the messenger.”

A few burly men behind him all unsheathed their katanas.

“I don’t want any trouble. We’ll come, but you need to give me time.”

“You have twenty-four hours,” the messenger said. “If you fail to appear at his palace, we will hunt you down and bring you to him. Do you understand?”

“I’ll be there,” I said then slammed the door in his face. “Harper! Get down here!”

The moans continued upstairs. I took a deep breath then went up to talk to her. The two women, both naked, looked up from my oversized bed.

“You coming to join us?” Morgana asked.

“No,” I said. “A messenger just stopped by and told me Xin Jang wants to talk about you. Was there something you failed to tell me?”

Harper’s smile faded. She stood and grabbed a robe.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I meant to tell you, but after you got here full-time, we started playing, and... I forgot. That’s all it is, I swear…”

Near tears, I felt sorry for her and walked over to put a hand on her shoulder.

“You’re fine,” I said. “Just took me for a surprise. What does he want?”

“I stole one of his katanas and sold it,” Harper said.

“You did what?” I snapped.

Harper lowered her head.

“You weren’t in the game much, and I needed the gold,” she said.

“Look on the bright side,” Morgana said.

I glanced over at her. “What bright side?”

“We wanted to get out of the city anyway,” she said. “This gives us a destination.”

I shook my head. “You two are going to be the death of me. Get dressed. We’re leaving.”

“Can you give us another half-hour?” Morgana asked.

“No! Get packed! We’re leaving!”

I stormed out of the room acting angrier than I was in reality. Women like Harper and Morgana needed to be kept on their toes, guessing my real feelings about them and the world in general. The trick to keeping a sizable harem intact was letting them know who was in charge. I couldn’t wait to get my first Dino Sword and really start to form my harem.

Downstairs, I finished off the rest of the beef jerky and wine while waiting on the women. They came down a little while later with three backpacks.

“We still need to pick up stuff,” Harper said.

“Are we going back to the wizard’s shop?” Morgana asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, we’ll get those special items and a bit more. Harper, I want you to keep trying to translate the map. Maybe we can find something to help you at the Mage’s Pickle shop.”

“You better not be keeping anything else from me,” I said. “You can be replaced.”

Harper lowered her head. Morgana slipped an arm around her waist.

“Let’s go,” I said. “We’ve got a lot to go before leaving the city.”

The two women followed me outside and across the city to the Mage’s Pickle. I didn’t see any sign of the street punks, but I expected someone to jump us on the way to Xin Jang’s palace on the north side of the city.

“Anything else?” the shopkeeper asked.

“What about another teleport recall spell for all of us,” I said.

“Haven’t restocked that scroll yet,” the shopkeeper said. “If you wait a week…”

“We don’t have a week,” I interrupted.

“Disguises,” Morgana said.

Everyone turned to her on the other side of the back showroom.

“What about disguises?” I asked.

“Does the mage have any magic items to disguise our appearance? We can get out of the city more easily without anyone noticing we’re even gone.”

“Good idea,” I said, nodding my head. “Well?”

“Yes, yes,” the shopkeeper said. “I’ve got three hats that should do the trick.”

“How much are they?” I asked.

“Not expensive at all,” he said. “Let me see…”

After glancing around the room, he walked to one of the shelves and retrieved three boxes. I saw crazy, colorful hats inside them.

“These are going to draw attention to us,” I said.

“Look at Morgana!” Harper exclaimed, covering her mouth with one hand and pointing with the other. “She looks so different!”

I glanced over and saw a woman knocking on death’s door.

“Whoa,” I said. “That’s a powerful disguise.”

“Five hundred gold each,” the shopkeeper said, getting greedy.

“Here're two diamonds worth two thousand gold,” I said, tossing them to him. “Keep anything good you get in for me, okay? If I don’t want it, you can sell it to someone else, but I want first dibs on anything good. Understand?”

“Yes sir, yes sir,” the shopkeeper said.

“Can you keep a secret?” I asked.

The shopkeeper nodded. “What is it?”

“I have the map to the new Dino Sword,” I said.

The man’s eyes widened.

“We’re having trouble translating it.”

“Leave it with me,” he said, reaching out a hand.

“Nice try, but no,” I said. “Do you have anything to help?”

The shopkeeper shook his head. “No, but I’ll keep my ears and eyes open.”

“You do that,” I said. “We’ll be back this way eventually.”

“Good, good…”

After packing all our new items up, we headed north to see Xin Jang before leaving the city for a while. I planned on paying him for the stolen katana and asking to owe him a favor to get out of it for Harper’s sake. Under no circumstances would I give her over to him. No way in fucking hell. She meant more to me than simply the first woman in my harem.

* * * * *

“Halt,” a guard in purple armor said in a snooty tone.

I raised my hands in the air as we stood in front of a three-story building. The back of it formed the northern wall of the city.

“Xin Jang sent for us,” I said.

The man in front of the door stepped aside as it opened.

“Go in,” he said. “Master Xin Jang is waiting for you.”

I stepped through the doorway with Harper and Morgana behind me. A few guards milled about inside the foyer. I kept walking deeper into the building, hoping Xin Jang hadn’t changed since I last saw him. Harper and I had gone on many quests with him over the years. She had even fucked him a few times before officially joining my harem. I took off my Hat of Disguise.

“There you are, old dog,” Xin Jang said as we entered his reception room. “Drake in the flesh.”

“How are you doing?” I asked, stopping a few feet away from where he sat.

“I’m good, thank you.” He peered at Harper. “Except for my missing katana.”

“She sold it,” I said. “You’ll get the gold for it and a favor from me if you forgive her transgression. Do we have a deal, old friend?”

Xin Jang stroked his long, black beard.

“It was an expensive sword,” he said.

“Whatever the price.” I kept my eyes on him.

“Do you have the gold?” he asked. “I heard you found the map to the new Dino Sword. There’s a bounty on your head that would cover the cost of my missing katana.”

“I’m sorry,” Harper said, shutting up when I raised a hand.

“You’d do that to an old friend?” I asked.

Xin Jang grinned then stood and walked over.

“I’ll let you make payments on the katana,” he said. “Good to see you.”

He stuck out his hand. I shook it, gripping tightly.

“Good to be in here full-time,” I said. “Time to start my own empire.”

“I’m rooting for you,” Xin Jang said. “Whatever help you need. Just don’t forget me when you make it big, okay?”

“You know it, man. We’re on our way out of the city, but I wanted to stop by and work this out before we left. I’m not sure when we’ll be back.”

“The Dino Sword won’t be easy to find,” he said.

“I know. We’re having trouble translating the map.”

“Leave it with me,” Xin Jang said.

I grinned. “Nice try, buddy.”

“Seriously, if you’re short on gold, you can pay me later. I mainly wanted to see you in person. You’ve been talking about coming on full-time so long.”

“Well, it finally happened,” I said, glancing over at Harper and Morgana. “My harem’s coming along nicely, don’t you think?”

“Very wonderfully,” Xin Jang said, appreciating both of the women. “Do you three want to sleep here tonight? The sun’s going down.”

Harper looked over at me expectantly.

“Not tonight,” I said. “That bounty on my head is no joke. We’re going away to finish translating this map then going to get my sword.”

“Send word if you need help,” Xin Jang said.

“You know it, brother. Thanks for understanding.”

“I’m betting on you becoming a big deal in this game now that you’re in here full time.” He smiled. “Are you sure I can’t convince you to stay?”

He snapped his fingers. Three nude women stepped into the room. I glanced over at Harper, knowing she would want to stay.

“No, we need to go,” I said firmly. “We can fuck around after we get the sword.”

“Okay,” Harper said, resigning herself to my will.

I loved her so damn much. She didn’t even know.

“Let’s go,” I said, nodding my head toward the door.

“Until we see each other again,” Xin Jang said.

We both bowed slightly in front of each other. I left his reception room with Harper and Morgana close behind. Outside, she spoke up right away.

“I wanted to stay,” she said. “Can’t we go back inside for the night?”

“Yeah,” Morgana added. “It’s getting cold outside.”

“Put on a cape,” I said. “We’re leaving tonight. Get your hats on.”

The two women sighed then put on their magical disguises. I did the same. After purchasing horses for all of us, we left through the northern gates. The cabin would take a half a day to reach which I liked because it made it harder for others to find. After a few days of fucking for sex energy and translating the map, we had to make a breakthrough.

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑

CHAPTER 7

┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

Find the Daughter of Time

We made good time after leaving the city. I slowed down my horse as I noticed a commotion ahead. Random encounter? Or someone coming to get us?

“Hold up,” I said, stopping completely.

“What is it?” Harper asked.

She and Morgana were on opposite sides of me.

“There’s something ahead. I can sense it.”

“Want me to cast a spell and check it out?” Harper asked.

“Please,” I said, dismounting and pulling my sword.

Harper moved her arms through the air until a dove appeared. The bird flew into the sky, quickly disappearing from view in the night sky.

“It’s a group of mostly humans,” Harper said. “Ouch! They killed the bird!”

“How many?” I asked. “All fighters? I need info, woman!”

“Three tanks, two spell casters, and one druid or a really trippy bard,” she said.

“How close?” I asked.

“Close enough,” a man said nearby.

I glanced over and saw the other party of players.

“We don’t want any trouble, but we’ll dish it out if you insist,” I said.

“Give us the map, and you won’t have any problems,” the large warrior said.

“That’s not gonna happen,” I said then slapped my horse on the flank.

It neighed then took off toward the others with me following close behind. The other group spread out to avoid my charging horse. I hoped it didn’t keep running as I ran forward and slashed at their druid or bard. My sword hit his arm, cutting deep into his flesh.

“Kill them!” their largest fighter shouted.

Several green energy orbs shot by, hitting one of their two spell casters. The woman shrieked like she was having an orgasm and began stripping off her clothes. I grinned as I stabbed at the bardish druid again. He went down before being able to call any nearby animals to the battle.

Morgana rushed two of their fighters, screaming bloody murder as she went. Neither of the men stood a chance as she plowed into them, her weighty sword cutting and slicing their leather armor. The largest fighter ran toward me with a huge war hammer above his head.

I dodged to the left as he got close. He swung, completely missing. The naked spell caster fell to the ground, moaning and wiggling around as she had another orgasm. I swung at the big, chunky fighter, hoping to whittle him down while the others mopped up his companions.

“You picked the wrong group to fight,” I snarled as I stuck him with my sword.

I pulled out my blade covered in his blood.

“Not before I kill you,” he said then drank a potion.

The warrior’s armor and sword glowed red. He swung several times, hitting me in both arms. I almost dropped my sword it hurt so damn much. Morgana charged him from behind, distracting him long enough for me to deliver a finishing blow. My sword went right through his throat. He gurgled up blood as he fell to the ground.

Morgana grinned then turned toward the others. Our fight wasn’t over. With one spell caster and one fighter remaining, we had a decent chance of winning. At least I thought so. Their damn mage moved her arms and chanted.

She disappeared right before a powerful fireball exploded where she’d recently been standing. The force of the blast threw me back and to the ground. I rolled immediately to put out the flames, but the damage had been done already.

<< Warning: 10% of health remaining! >>

I reached into my sack to grab a healing potion, but the fall had broke at least two of the bottles. Unable to find one intact, I scrambled to my feet and looked around.

“Everyone okay?” I asked.

Harper moaned nearby as she sat up.

“Where’s Morgana?” Harper asked.

I glanced around, not seeing her until a loud popping sound got my attention. Morgana and the other spell caster both appeared about twenty yards away, wrestling each other to the ground.

“A little help!” Morgana yelled.

I rushed over, looking for a safe moment to plunge my sword into the spell caster’s chest. She rolled around with Morgana, not giving me any opportunities. Harper stopped by my side, also watching the two women wrestling on the ground.

“Maybe we should ask her to join us,” Harper said.

“If Morgana doesn’t kill her first.”

The two women stopped struggling as Morgana got the upper hand. She sat on the other woman’s stomach, holding down her arms, so she couldn’t cast any other spells.

“Let me go!” the woman screamed, wriggling around to get free.

“Stop resisting,” Morgana said. “Or I’ll kill you right now.”

“Then kill me!” the woman shrieked.

“Hold on,” I said. “We could use a woman like you in our group.”

“I’m already in a group,” she replied. “The one you just killed!”

Harper stepped forward, bent down, and slit the woman’s throat, killing her.

<< Combat is Over! >>

<< You get 5,000 xp! >>

<< You have 300,000 xp! >>

<< Level Up! >>

“I leveled up,” I said, sword still in my hand.

“Me too,” Harper said, smiling as she cleaned off her dagger.

“I’m close,” Morgana said.

With another mage and fighter already in our group, I leveled up in rogue, reaching level four in that class. The health increase I got wouldn’t be a lot and I would get no extra mana for casting spells, but at level five rogue, things got interesting with my skills, especially back stab.

“That was too close for comfort,” Harper said. “We do need a bigger group.”

“We’ll find someone, but we want to be sure they’re a good fit,” I said then turned to Morgana. “Great job on that last spell caster. Did she teleport you away too.”

She smiled and nodded. “I grabbed on right before she zapped away.”

“Good thinking,” I said. “Hopefully they’ll have some healing magic on them. I broke a few of my potions when I went down to the ground.”

“Are you okay?” Harper asked.

She stepped closer, putting her hand on my arm.

“I’m fine,” I said, reaching into my sack and retrieving the last unbroken healing potion.

My health returned to full after I drank it down. Morgana peered up from where she was going through the mage’s belongings.

“I found something,” she said.

“More healing?” I asked.

She shook her head and handed it to Harper.

“It’s a clue,” Harper said as she read it. “For the map!”

“They must’ve been coming for the map if they had the clue already,” Morgana said as she stood.

I nodded. “What’s it say?”

“Hold on,” Harper said. “Give me a minute. Oh... Now it makes sense.”

She reached into a sack and pulled out the map to the Dino Sword.

“According to this, someone called the Daughter of Time has info on the sword. We can find her on a nearby island. Looks like it’s a new one that formed with the last game reset.”

“Great,” I said. “We have a destination. Is it far away?”

Harper nodded. “We’ll need to get a ship at Harboringer.”

“I hate that city,” Morgana said.

“Me too, but it’s the only place to hire a ship and crew. It’ll take us a day at least to reach it. We should get going. Everyone else healed up?”

“I could use some rest or healing,” Morgana said.

“Me too,” Harper added. “I used up a lot of sexual energy in that encounter.”

“You two set-up camp while I check the other bodies. We’ll leave for Harboringer in the morning unless something else comes up. Sound like a plan?”

Both women nodded. As they recovered our horses and found a place off the main road to camp for the night, I pulled all the corpses into the woods and looted them. The gold and gems would be helpful, but I was more interested in any magic armor or weapons they might have.

I cast Identify, the single spell I knew, but didn’t see anything extraordinary except for a few minor healing potions. After grabbing them and the two bags of coins, I went over to the others. They had started a fire and were sitting on a log next to it when I walked up.

“Not too shabby,” I said, dropping the sacks of coins on the ground. “Three healing potions if one of you two need something.”

“I’ll be okay if we rest for the night,” Morgana said. “Her fireball missed me completely.”

“And my fire immunity helped,” Harper added. “Are you feeling okay?”

I grinned as I glanced down at the two amazing women.

“Doing good, but I could be better,” I said then grinned. “Who wants to share some of my sex energy? Anyone?”

Harper and Morgana smiled then crawled over to me. They stood and began taking off my light leather armor as I unclothed them at the same time. Naked next to a fire, we took turns giving each other an orgasm to be remembered. Our sexual energy came together, grew, and became even more powerful. All the while, I kept dreaming of getting my Dino Sword.

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑

CHAPTER 8

┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

Why Would a Dragon Fear

We headed straight for the docks when we hit Harboringer the next afternoon. A bulletin board gave us the names of two ships leaving the next morning.

“Prices are expensive, but we’ve got the gold from that other party,” I said.

Harper grinned. “Easy come, easy go…”

“We’ll find more,” I said. “Don’t worry.”

“Are you looking for a ship?” a man asked.

I turned and saw a disheveled man with wrinkled clothes and an unkempt beard.

“Possibly,” I said. “Are you a captain?”

“One of the best,” he said. “What’s your destination?”

“A new island. We’re looking for a Dino Sword.”

“Damn treasure hunters.” The captain spat. “I expect you want me to take you in exchange for a percentage of everything you find, right?”

“No,” I said, holding up a bag of coins and shaking it. “We’ve got coin.”

The man’s eyes widened briefly when he heard the sweet sound.

“I have an extra hazard charge with uncharted islands,” the captain said. “There’s too many unknowns both known and unknown.”

“Uh huh,” I said, nodding. “Tell you what. We’ll give you this bag of gold and gems to take us to the island. You’ll the get a second if you wait and bring us back.”

“Sounds fair enough to me,” he said. “I’m leaving in the morning. My boat’s the one with the dragon carved on the bow.”

“We’ll be there with the gold in the morning,” I said. “Have you heard any of the other captains talking about a new island?”

“Only One Eyed Jack, but he’s a miserable drunk,” the captain said. “See you three in the morning. Don’t be late!”

I turned to the others as the captain walked away.

“That wasn’t too hard,” I said, grinning.

“We should go talk to this One Eyed Jack guy,” Morgana said.

I nodded. “Good idea. We have the map, but who knows if someone else has stumbled onto the new zone by accident already. Let’s go.”

We walked west, back into the city proper. It didn’t take long for us to find the tavern district. On a hunch, I crept around one of the buildings to check the alleyway behind them before we went inside. The guess paid off as we saw a man wearing a patch over one eye laying in a pile of vomit in middle of the alley.

“Should we heal him?” Morgana asked.

“I don’t want to waste a healing potion on him,” I said. “We need to find a healer for our group.”

“Damn land-loving mother-humping camel-herding healers!” One Eyed Jack shouted.

He sat up, looking around wildly as he held up a thin, rusty dagger.

“Whoa, hold on, old man,” I said, stepping back.

Harper and Morgana did the same. One Eyed Jack dropped the dagger before bending over to puke again. A fresh layer of vomit hit the older, causing a stench to rise in the air.

“What can you tell us about the new island and the Daughter of Time?” I asked, losing my patience. “Tell us, and we’ll give you a gold to go get another drink or three.”

One Eyed Jack struggled to get to his feet, but he slipped on the vomit and fell down hard on his ass. He fell backward, not moving for a moment. I looked at Harper who shrugged.

“Fuck the Daughter of Time!” One Eyed Jack shouted as he sat up again. “Fuck her hard! They’re coming for us all. The dino-men will rule the lands again…”

He burped then fell back again, not moving.

“That wasn’t very helpful,” I said. “We should go find a room for the night.”

“Sounds good to me,” Harper said. “I need to clean up.”

We made our way out of the alley, leaving poor One Eyed Jack to fend for himself. Cleaning him up would’ve been too much work. As a drunk, I doubted he’d come across the Daughter of Time or know where to find the new island. Harper and Morgana walked by my side as we moved further away from the seedy side of the city near the docks.

I stopped at what appeared to be a reputable inn. “This work for you two?”

Harper and Morgana both nodded.

“Looks expensive, but we’re worth it,” I said. “We want to be rested up before we land on the island and search for the Dino Sword.”

“And recharged,” Harper added with a wink.

I smiled, loving my new virtual life. With the Dino Sword within my grasp, things would get even better soon enough. After getting us a room for the night, we had a nice dinner and enjoyed each other’s company. Both women had an even better time after we retired later that evening. As a level five lover, I had no trouble pleasing both of them.

* * * * *

The next morning, tired and groggy, we packed up our belongings and rushed toward the docks. I had insisted on a light breakfast which made us even later.

“He better not have left without us,” Harper said as we got closer to the ocean.

I spotted the dragon ship still anchored where it had been the night before.

“See, we’re fine,” I said. “You get too worked up over the small stuff.”

Harper pursed her lips together, not saying anything. We walked in silence to the ship. Once we arrived and climbed on board, the captain took the first bag of coins to get us to our destination. We were overpaying, but I wanted to make sure he stuck around until we found the Dino Sword and got off the island.

Later that afternoon, we reached the previously uncharted island. I stood on the starboard side, looking at the densely packed jungle island.

“We should’ve hired a tracker,” Morgana said.

“Good time to bring it up,” I muttered.

“We have the map,” Harper said. “We’ll be fine.”

“I’ll give you twenty-four hours,” the captain said as he walked up. “After that, I’m leaving. I can’t risk hanging around a new island.”

“We need more time,” I said. “Leave before we get back, and you won’t get the rest of your gold. Do you understand?”

The captain scowled but slowly nodded his head.

“Gar, that’s fine, but if we see something strange, we’re leaving. I value my ship and crew over your bag of gold.”

“Fair enough. Just remember, if I get this sword, I’m going to be a very important man.”

“If you get it,” the captain said then turned and walked away.

Several of his crew came over and directed us into a rowboat hanging from the side of the ship. After we climbed in, they lowered it to the choppy water below. I sat down, noticing the fins of sharks nearby. Harper and Morgana took seats at the front of the boat. I rowed us toward the island, hoping the captain stuck around to give us a ride back.

“We need to make this quick,” I said as the boat slid forward in the water.

“It would’ve been nice if the map had given us more information on the island,” Morgana said.

“We need to be ready for anything. If it’s too huge of a challenge, we retreat to the boat and make a decision on what to do next. Understood?”

The two women nodded silently. I could see by their faces they both had a lot on their minds. Morgana, as usual, didn’t look as concerned. She almost had a look of longing on her face. I still hadn’t asked Harper how the two of them had met. Finding and claiming the Dino Sword as my own was my biggest priority at the moment.

We landed the boat on the beach, all of us climbing out then pulling it further on shore. I glanced down at the map. Harper came over and flipped it.

“You had it upside down,” she said. “We’re here.”

“Okay, we need to head inland to find the Daughter of Time who lives in the trees.”

“Sounds too easy,” Harper said.

“We’ve got company!” Morgana shouted.

I turned and saw her looking toward the line of trees past the beach. Several dino-men wearing wooden armor rushed out of the trees and ran toward us.

“Harper, cast! Morgana, come with me!”

I ran forward, sword drawn, ready to cut down the primitive dino-men. What they lacked in intelligence they made up for in toughness. I hoped they didn’t have any shamans or other spell casters in their first group as I approached three of them.

They all swung crude, stone-tipped weapons at me. I dodged them easily then connected with my sword, slicing the unprotected throat of one of them. The other two attacked again, one of them nicking me on the arm. I kept attacking as more streamed out of the jungle.

A chained lightning bolt hit one of them, spreading to at least a dozen others. The remaining few kept attacking Morgana and me despite all their fallen comrades. We’ve got this, I thought with too much confidence. Another swarm of dino-men warriors came at us violently.

“Hold the line!” I shouted as Morgana fought next to me.

We couldn’t let them rush around and get to Harper. She would go down quick if they swarmed her in a group. I wasn’t about to let that happen. A third wave of dino-men followed the second, giving me pause. Had I bitten off more than I could chew?

I should’ve known the Dino Sword wouldn’t be easy to get. Despite my morale slipping, I kept on fighting, taking out one dino-man after another. Their bodies piled up on the beach, giving us easier choke points to work with as they continued coming at us.

When the fifth wave of warriors hit, I got worried. I had a plan, but it would be dangerous and might not even work. Desperate, I dropped my sword and pulled two potions from the sack at my side. As even more dino-men rushed forward, I uncapped both.

Here goes nothing...

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑

CHAPTER 9

┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

Fuck the Daughter of Time

After pouring the Potion of Fire into the larger container of Fire Oil, I lobbed the mixture at the largest group of dino-men. The impromptu bomb exploded, sending body parts flying in every direction. Morgana and I also got thrown back from the blast.

<< Combat is Over! >>

<< You get 3,000 xp! >>

<< You have 303,000 xp >>

I only needed seventeen-thousand xp to level up one of my classes again. Until I hit level ten in any single class, the cost to raise was only twenty-thousand.

“Everyone okay?” I asked in a loud voice.

“Fine,” Morgana said as she stood up nearby.

I turned around and saw Harper on the ground. Smoke rose from her clothes.

“Get a healing potion!” I yelled as I scrambled to my feet then ran over to her.

Morgana uncorked a healing potion and poured it into her mouth as I patted her clothes to put out the flames the rest of the way.

“That was a dangerous move,” Morgana said.

“Desperate times,” I replied. “She’ll be fine. We’re good.”

“Thanks for the healing,” Harper said, sitting up.

I glanced out at the bay, seeing the dragon-shaped ship.

“Maybe we killed everything on the island,” Morgana said.

“We can hope so.” I reached out to Harper. “Are you okay on mana?”

“I could be better,” she said as I helped her to her feet.

“Good enough to keep going?”

She nodded. “For now…”

“Let’s get inland and find the clearing where the Daughter of Time lives,” I said. “We can camp and rest up tonight.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Harper said, dusting herself off. “I need new robes.”

“Once I get this sword, we’ll all be set for life in here,” I said.

We maneuvered through the piles of dino-men and made our way to a worn footpath leading into the jungle. There was only enough room for us to go single-file.

“I’ll go first,” I said. “Morgana, you bring up the rear.”

Harper chuckled. “She can bring up the rear tonight at camp too.”

I grinned then turned and headed into the dense jungle. Branches and vines draped down onto the path, slowing our progress. I used my sword to cut them as the need arose. The sounds of birds, chimps, and other wild creatures filled the surrounding air. I glanced up a few times, unable to see the sun through the canopy.

“How much longer until we reach the clearing?” Harper asked behind me.

“Not much,” I replied, seeing light at the end of the path ahead.

I stopped at the edge of the clearing, marveling at the perfection of the circular hole cut into the jungle. As I looked around for any signs of life, Harper poked me with her elbow.

“Look,” she said, pointing across the way. “A tree house.”

“The clue said the Daughter of Time lives in the trees,” Morgana said.

“I wonder why One Eyed Jack kept saying, ‘fuck the Daughter of Time.’ She must be a real bitch or something. I don’t see any movement in the tree.”

“That’s because I’m down here, behind you,” a female said.

I twirled around, sword up. A beautiful dark-skinned woman, completely nude, stood before us.

“Hello,” she said. “I’m the Daughter of Time. What do you seek from me?”

“The Dino Sword,” I said, lowering my weapon. “Do you know where we can find it?”

She smiled. “I do, but what can you do for me?”

“What do you want us to do?” I asked, clueless.

“I’ve got this,” Harper said then stripped out of her robes. “Morgana, strip.”

The second woman in my harem obeyed Harper’s command. I put my sword away then crossed my arms over my chest as she and Morgana walked over to the stunning Daughter of Time. As they reached her and embraced the Nubian princess, I noticed something strange. The three of them stopped moving. While walking over, I noticed they were moving slowly.

“What the fuck…” I muttered as I stopped nearby, not touching any of them.

A good ten minutes went by before Harper and the Daughter of Time kissed, their lips meeting in a delicious kiss. My cock stirred between my legs, but I didn’t dare get involved with the freaky threesome. At the rate they were going, fucking could take multiple days. Would Harper and Morgana dehydrate? Could I give them water while not slowed down.

“Join us,” a voice said in my mind.

“Cut it out,” I said. “Let them go. Now!”

“You wanted my help, didn’t you? This is the cost.”

“I’ll kill you if you don’t bring them back to normal time,” I said, pulling my sword.

“Very well,” the Daughter of Time sighed.

“Whoa,” Harper said, stumbling backward.

Morgana fell to her knees then touched the Daughter of Time again.

“I can do that at will,” she said, smiling. “Sex can be so fun when you slow it down.”

“That was fucking crazy,” Harper said. “Can we do it again?”

“We can,” the Daughter of Time said.

“No, Dot,” I said, giving her a pet name. “Here’s a better idea. Why don’t you help us retrieve the Dino Sword. I’ll give you a life you never dreamed of on this silly little island.”

She tilted her head back, still staring at me.

“You can do this for me?” she asked.

Inviting a game-controlled NPC into your harem had its pros and cons, but it didn’t break any rules. Harper and Morgana both turned to me.

“Count me in,” Harper said, rubbing her hands together.

“We can,” I said. “You need to swear fealty to me and follow my commands in and out of the bedroom. Is that okay with you?”

She nodded. “Anything to get me off this blasted island.”

<< Your harem has increased! >>

<< +1 female - Dot, human war mage >>

<< + 10 sexual energy! >>

<< You have 3 women in your harem. >>

I smiled. When I eventually got the Dino Sword, I’d be off to a good start. Leaving the real world behind had been the best decision I’d ever made.

“Do you have somewhere for us to stay?” I asked, nodding toward her tree house.

“I do,” Dot said, smiling with perfectly white teeth.

She motioned for us to follow then crossed the grass covered clearing. I walked behind her, unable to stop checking out her athletic ass as she walked.

“Does that always happen when people touch you?” I asked.

“Only if I want it to,” she said.

“Don’t ever do it without my permission first,” I said. “Understand?”

“Yes, master,” she said, not turning around.

“Call me Drake,” I said. “Has anyone else come to see you?”

“No,” she said, slowing to peer over her shoulder briefly. “I saw the destruction you caused on the beach. You must be a powerful warrior.”

“That I am,” I said. “That’s why I’m getting this sword.”

She stopped at the other side of the clearing next to a tree much thicker and taller than the others around it. A thin rope ladder led up to an impressive structure suspended above.

“Is it safe?” Harper asked.

“Perfectly,” Dot said them nimbly climbed up.

I glanced behind us. “We’ll stay here for tonight.”

Morgana walked over and climbed up without saying a word. I waited for Harper to follow her before going up myself. Heights weren’t my favorite thing, but waited above enticed me enough to keep going. I avoided looking down until we reached a porch circling the entire building built around the trunk of a massive tree.

“It’s hollowed out,” Harper said as she peered in a window.

“Come inside,” Dot said. “I’ve got much to share with you, the first adventures to find me since I can remember.”

She opened the wooden front door then slipped inside. I walked in after her with Harper and Morgana behind me. A small foyer gave way to a large, open space in the interior of the tree trunk. I took a few steps forward, noting all the luxurious pillows spread on the floor.

“This is great!” Harper squealed as she fell onto a particularly large pile of pillows.

“Is anyone hungry?” Dot asked. “I can make food.”

“What can you tell us about the Dino Sword?” I asked impatiently.

“It’s located underneath a waterfall near the source of the river running through the island,” she said. “I can take you tomorrow morning. You killed most of the dino-men, but other monstrosities lurk about in the dark at night on this island. That’s one of the other reasons I want to go with you.”

“What are the other reasons?” Morgana asked.

“That bulge in your pants,” Dot said then stepped forward.

She placed her hand between my legs and gently squeezed.

“Yeah?”

She nodded.

“Come join me,” Harper begged.

We sat down next to her with Morgana, still naked, joining us. Lips and tongues went to work in all the right spots, bringing me close to the edge of release. They teased me, building up a need to come. I played along, loving the slow buildup. Every minute or so, I backed away to make sure she wasn’t using her strange time trick anymore. Would it work in battle?

“Eyes on me,” Harper said as she and the other two women made love to my cock.

I stared down, a satisfied grin on my face, as they worked me even closer to completion.

“Do it, now, finish,” I hissed.

Harper gripped my shaft and pumped just the way I liked it. I covered parts of all three of them with my massive load then laid back and watched as they proceeded to lick my cream off each other. One after another, they came, screaming with delight as their bodies shook. We ended up in a pile of bodies, arms and legs crossed over each other. I never wanted to leave.

We cleaned up then slept together near the top of the massive tree. An evening breeze blew in from one of the windows, keeping me cool. I used my dream time to actually sleep instead of checking in on the real world. After the battle and new sexual conquest, I needed the rest. The Dino Sword felt within my grasp at last.

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑

CHAPTER 10

┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

Newton Loves the Chicks

“What’s that smoke?” I asked as we stood on the porch enjoying coffee in the morning.

“The other dino-men tribe,” Dot said. “I didn’t count the bodies on the beach exactly. You must not have killed them all.”

“Do they usually start big fires during the day?” Morgana asked.

“No,” Dot said, shaking her head. “The waterfall we seek is near the smoke.”

“We’ll check it out on the way,” I said.

“It’s a few hours journey, at least,” Dot said. “We should get going.”

“Lead the way,” I said, pointing to the rope ladder. “Everyone have everything?”

“All my stuff’s packed away.” Harper patted the large sack slung over Morgana’s back.

“Great,” I said. “Let’s do this.”

Dot climbed down, followed by Harper and Morgana. I went down last, taking one last look at the rising smoke in the distance. Maybe this group of dino-men will be smaller, I thought as I climbed down after the others. On the ground, I saw Dot already crossing the clearing.

“Come on,” she called out over her shoulder. “Daylight’s burning.”

While Harper and Morgana had put on clothes, Dot still strode around naked. I would deal with her clothing-optional lifestyle later when we got back to civilization. Until then, I couldn’t say I was bothered by her nakedness. She was confident with her body, and that turned me on.

I walked after her with Harper and Morgana right behind me. We reached another trail leading into the jungle and switched to a single-file line with Dot in front. Morgana then Harper were next with me guarding the rear. I expected to be ambushed at any moment.

Dot stopped when we reached the edge of a small, flowing river. She glanced to the left then right, sniffing the air the whole time.

“How close is that fire?” I asked, looking up, unable to see anything.

“A couple hours walk,” Dot said.

“I’ll go first because I want to sneak up and scout before we decide what to do.”

“You might want to let me do the sneaking in the jungle,” Dot said. “I’m better.”

She had a point.

“Okay, but don’t go too quick. I have the last say on whether we go in for an attack or not. Understood?”

She nodded her head, smiling.

“No problem, Drake. We do good.”

After a short break to hydrate, we followed the river downstream. Every half mile or so, I saw the smoke still rising into the air in the distance. As we got closer, I prepared myself for battle. Fights in Dino World weren’t too involved. My skills helped guide my body on some of the tougher moves. The more I fought inside the game, the more natural it became.

We slowly made progress through the dense jungle. Dot made sure we weren’t downwind when we reached the edge of another clearing. I stared through a leafy bush and saw a couple dozen dino-men sitting and standing around a fire. A man tied to a spit over it screamed and jiggled about, trying to free himself.

“Let me out of here!” he shouted. “I’m bloody royalty!”

He didn’t look like royalty to me, but I still wanted to save him.

“Follow my lead,” I said then stepped out into the clearing, sword raised.

Dot, Harper, and Morgana all followed, standing on either side of me. Most of the dino-men turned, holding crude weapons in their hands. One yelled, raising a club into the air. The rest barreled toward us, all hooting and hollering at the top of their lungs.

“Kill all of ‘em!” I shouted, rushing toward them.

“Help! I’m burning over here!” the man over the fire yelled.

Give us a fucking minute, I thought as I stopped to take on three of the primitive dino-men. A few well-placed slashes took them down without any problems. Harper caused a half-dozen to fall into a deep slumber, toppling over in the jungle clearing.

“It’s getting fucking hot over here,” the bound man yelled.

Why hadn’t they stuffed an apple in his mouth or something? I fought my way toward the fire. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Dot and Morgana both doing more than their fair share. I eventually reached the fire and had a moment to untie the man. He fell into the fire before rolling out, trying to put out the flames on what little of his clothes remained.

“Thank you!” he shouted.

I ignored him and waded back into the battle, slashing and piercing as the need arose. The runty dino-men went down like pins at a bowling alley back in the real world. Maybe I could introduce the sport to Dino World and make a lot of money. With a Dino Sword in my possession, the possibilities were endless.

“Coming around!” Morgana shouted.

I saw her mow down two dino-men one after the other as she made her way to me. The man previously known as dinner ran behind us, looking around wildly.

“Watch your back!” I snapped then turned and attacked a straggler.

“One more to go,” Morgana said then dispatched the vile creature with a pierce.

<< Combat is Over! >>

<< You get 2,000 xp! >>

<< You have 305,000 xp >>

<< You need 15,000 xp to level up >>

“Harper? You okay?” I yelled.

“Fine,” she said behind me. “I saved my mana. You guys did great.”

She leaned in and kissed me. I loved her raw, natural smell after battle.

“Thank you,” the man we’d saved said. “My name’s Newton.”

I checked his status through the game menu and saw he was a player.

“How did you get to this island before us?” I asked.

The half-clothed but athletic man bowed his head and mumbled.

“I can’t hear you,” I said. “Speak up.”

“Back in Yusgood, I copied your map,” he said. “The dragon-ship captain brought me here.”

“Lying sack of shit,” I muttered.

“Huh?” Newton tilted his head.

“Nevermind,” I said. “Do you want to join my group?”

He took a deep breath.

“I’m kind of a loner, but…” He leered at Harper. “You’ve got some fine ass women with you.”

“They’re mine,” I said possessively.

Newton held up his hands and took a step back. “Okay, okay, I hear you…”

“You can fall in line under me if you want,” I said.

“He’s going to get the Dino Sword,” Morgana added.

“I believe you,” Newton said. “I’d love to join you.”

<< Your harem has increased! >>

<< +1 male — Newton, human rogue / bard / alchemist >>

<< + 10 sexual energy! >>

<< You have 3 women and 1 man in your harem. >>

Not shabby for a few days into my full-time life in Dino World.

“Seriously, thanks for saving me.” Newton turned to Dot and smiled. “I remember you.”

Dot returned the gesture, puffing her chest out proudly.

“We’ve still got work to do,” I said. “There’s time for you three to get to know Newton better later. For now, we’ve got to concentrate on getting my Dino Sword. That’s our path to power in the realms.”

“Sure thing, boss man,” Newton quipped.

I frowned in his general direction, causing his smile to fade.

“Dot, can we reach the waterfall by nightfall?”

She shook her head. “We should find somewhere to sleep tonight. A lot of evil comes out after dark, and we don’t want to be out in the open.”

“Doesn’t sound too safe,” Morgana said.

I found myself attracted to her for some strange reason.

“There will be time for safe and comfortable after we get the Dino Sword,” I said, staring into her eyes.

She looked away, not saying anything else.

“I know a place,” Dot said.

We followed her out of the clearing, leaving the mess of dino-men bodies behind. A short while later, she stopped near a fallen tree that offered some shelter. I found enough dry wood to get a decent fire started. After eating a meager dinner, I settled down next to the massive log with Harper and Morgana curled up at my sides.

Newton had offered to take the first watch. I saw him putting the moves on Dot. She didn’t seem to mind, so I left them alone and closed my eyes. Sleep overtook me. I once again declined to use the dream time to check on the real world. Doing so broke the immersion. After working so damn hard most of my life, I wanted to enjoy myself.

Strange noises woke me up once or twice during the night, but I quickly fell back asleep each time. Having the soft, warm bodies of Harper and Morgana nestled against me helped in that regard. Once I got the Dino Sword and started my own kingdom, life inside the game would get even better. I couldn’t wait for it to happen.

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑

CHAPTER 11

┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

Please, Just Insert the Tip

I woke up to the sound of Newton grunting and Dot moaning. Glancing over, I saw him furiously fucking the wild woman from behind. Some players like fucking the NPCs in the game, but I never saw the point. To me, it sounded too much like virtual masturbation. I wanted to feel the actual emotions connected to another human being when I fucked them.

Harper moaned softly next to me. I glanced over and saw her with a hand down her pants, pleasuring herself. Morgana grabbed my crotch, squeezing my package. I sighed, resigned to let the two women have their way with me. Replenishing our sex energy for the day would come in handy if we made it to our destination and got into a fight.

I rarely used mine, preferring to rely on my basic skills, but they could come in handy during big battles that were going the wrong way. The side effects of using them were another deterrent, of course. I put my hands behind my head and relaxed as Morgana freed my cock. She and Harper went to work with their tongues, licking me back to life.

“That’s it,” I said, grabbing the back of each woman’s head. “Suck on it.”

Harper took the lead. I’d noticed quite a few different techniques from her since coming into the game full time. Had Morgana or someone else been teaching her new moves? I didn’t care as I enjoyed her taking as much of me as she could into her mouth.

“I’m first,” Harper said, sitting on my lap.

The moans and groans from the other side of the camp got louder as Harper slipped me inside her. She leaned forward, her breasts pressing against my chest, and kissed me passionately on the mouth. When her tongue slid against mine, I thought I would pop right away. Morgana sat next to us, holding Harper and fondling her hanging breasts.

I thrust up harder and faster, enjoying her tight wetness. Harper sat back, thrusting her chest forward as she rode me.

“Yes, yes, yes…” she cried as her body shook.

She collapsed on my chest. Morgana pushed her off and mounted me, starting the build up once again. I reached up and grabbed the bee-stings she called breasts. The muscular chest turned me on more than I thought it would as she ground her hips against me. Her pussy wasn’t as tight, but Harper had worked me up so much, I knew I wouldn’t last long.

I hung on until Morgana came while riding me. Her pussy tightening around my thick, hot shaft shot me over the edge. I exploded deep inside her without any fear of getting her pregnant. The game didn’t allow men and women to have children in the game. I concentrated on my breathing as I crashed back to reality after the momentous release.

Harper kissed Morgana on the mouth before she crawled off me. I glanced over and saw Dot and Newton watching us with appreciation. They both looked more than satisfied.

“We’ve got work to do,” I said, wiping myself off. “Let’s find that river, so we can all get cleaned up before setting off to find the waterfall.”

I stood, stretching toward the sky and enjoying my virtual life. The best part? Everything would get even better as soon as I got my hands on the Dino Sword and founded my own kingdom somewhere. I couldn’t wait.

* * * * *

Later that afternoon, as we followed the river upstream, I asked Newton about why he’d come into the game full-time. Dot had gone ahead to scout, so I didn’t feel bad about talking out of character to him. OOC chatter always drove the NPCs a bit crazy, leading to very bizarre conversations. It felt good not to have her around.

“You like the NPCs, huh?” I asked.

He nodded. “They haven’t betrayed me yet.”

“Give ‘em some time,” I said. “Are they why you came into Dino World full time?”

“That’s rude,” Morgana said.

I glared at her and waited for Newton to answer. We needed totally honesty in our crew if we were to survive our quest and go on to forge our very own kingdom in the game. I needed to know who the hell I was working with. You can’t fault a man that, can you?

“We all have our reasons,” Newton said. “I’m battling cancer in the real world.”

“Damn, sorry, man,” I said.

Morgana lightly punched my arm.

“I can see why you came in here,” I said.

“Don’t worry about,” he replied, waving his hand. “I’ve not got a ton of time, so I’m trying to create a fantasy, I guess.”

“Like the rest of us,” Morgana said.

Why am I becoming so enamored with her?

“I’m here to have fun,” Harper said. “Can we talk about more pressing matters?”

“We’re close!” Dot yelled from up ahead.

“Everything clear?” I asked as she walked up.

“Yes,” she said, stopping as we did. “We’re close.”

“Good,” Newton said. “I’m tired of walking. This better pay off.”

“It will,” I said. “Trust me. Come on, let’s keep going.”

We continued walked up the bank of the river. After one more winding bend, we came upon a miraculous waterfall. I stopped to admire the craftsmanship. The world designers in Dino World were some of the very best in their field which was one of the reasons I picked the game to spend the rest of my life in.

“Shower time!” Newton yelled, running forward.

As he splashed toward the waterfall, I glanced around the small cove. Not seeing anything, I waded into the water myself, the women following behind me.

“There’s a cave behind the water!” Newton shouted as he emerged from behind the falling water. “Smells like hell, but I bet the sword’s close. This is so exciting!”

“Eyes open,” I said. “There’s likely to be something guarding it.”

“A dino-lich runs the temple under the earth,” Dot said. “She’s a bad, bad bitch.”

I fought back a smile as I nodded.

“We’ve got a good team,” I said. “We’ll take her out. Let’s go!”

One after another, we walked under the rushing water. When I could see on the other side, I saw a wide cavern carved into the rock. Dozens of dino-men bodies littered the ground. As we walked out of the water, the rotting corpses came to life and scrambled toward us.

“Go for the brains!” I shouted, recognizing dino-men zombies when I saw them.

The non-playable race of primitive lizard beings could morph into many forms in the game. Undead weren’t very rare, but they meant something even more evil was likely nearby spawning them into the game through necromancy.

I stopped and pierced the skull of one of the undead dino-men with my sword. After screeching, it fell to the floor of the cave, writhing around. Two more came at me from the left. I dodged then dispatched them with a slash and two stabs.

“Hold the line!” I shouted as I noticed Newton falling back. “They’re gonna swarm!”

Even more zombies shuffled out from a tunnel on the far side of the cavern. I held my ground as a mound of their bodies formed a wall in front of me. The vile creatures scrambled over their fallen comrades, desperately running toward me.

“Fire in the hole!” Harper shouted.

A moment later, a fireball zoomed toward the other side of the cavern. It hit a throng of zombies stumbling forward and exploded. Burning, rotting flesh filled the air as a good chunk of the creatures went down. I kicked the pile of bodies in front of me over then leaped over, running forward to take out the stragglers still standing.

<< Combat is Over! >>

<< You get 3,000 xp! >>

<< You have 308,000 xp >>

<< You need 12,000 xp to level up >>

“Everyone okay?” I asked, glancing around.

The others called out one after the other. I saw a pile of rotting wooden chests near the tunnel leading out of the cavern. After checking to make sure they weren’t mimics, I opened them one after the other. None of them had anything of value except for the last one which held a smaller metal box full of all sorts of gems.

“Come here, Newton,” I said, picking it up. “Something for you to carry.”

“What is it?” he asked, walking over.

I held out the box with the lid open. He grinned.

“Not a nice haul. We should go back out and heal up,” he said.

I shook my head.

“No, we’re going deeper. The Dino Sword must be in the temple Dot was talking about.” I turned to her. “This is the way to it, right?”

She nodded, her lips twitching as she stared into the dark tunnel.

“Have you been down there before?” I asked.

She ignored me. Newton walked over and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Leave me alone!” she snapped then walked toward the tunnel. “Let’s go.”

What the hell was that all about? I wondered as I motioned for the others to follow her. Newton lit a torch, but the light barely lit the way ahead. Something about the deep, dark rocks of the wall eerily soaked up all the light. At least we had enough room to walk three abreast. If anything came at us, we’d be ready to take it down.

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑

CHAPTER 12

┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

Dino-Lich is a Bad, Bad Bitch

The wide, natural tunnel ended at a carved doorway leading to a more complete complex underneath the jungle floor. I noticed several large roots from the trees above here and there as we looked down both directions of the wide hallway.

“Any clues, Dot?” I asked.

“My mother’s around here somewhere,” she said.

“Your mother?”

“I’m here to kill her with your help,” she said.

Newton turned me and gulped.

“This way,” Dot said, hurriedly walking down the hall.

I motioned for the others to follow as I took off after her. The musty smell of death hung thick in the air, getting worse the deeper into the temple we walked. Dot stopped near a door, reaching out for the handle.

“Whoa, hold on,” I said, grabbing her arm.

She turned to me, a nasty look on her face. “Let me go.”

“The door’s trapped,” I said, letting go of her. “Touch it if you want to die.”

“It’s trapped?” she asked, turning toward the door.

“Yeah,” I said, pointing. “See that notch near the handle?”

I put my arm out and pushed her back a few feet before kicking the door. A thick blade shot out of the wood. It would’ve taken off the hand of anyone opening the door.

“Thank you,” Dot said. “You saved me. I owe you one.”

“Newton told me about it,” I said, nodding to him.

If he likes NPCs, I might as well help him get a hot one.

“Thank you,” Dot said, moving to Newton. “I owe you my life.”

“We can talk about it later,” he said. “I want to see what’s behind the door.”

As the others gathered around me, I reached out and carefully turned the handle. The door swung inward, squealing loudly. So much for surprise. I peered into the dark room, smelling more musty death. A few wooden chests lined the wall across from the door. Two other doors occupied one of the other walls.

I walked in and noticed a closet on another wall. Various dark gray robes hung from pegs on the walls. I walked over and grabbed one with a skull and bones painted on the lapel.

“They’re for my mother’s cult members,” Dot said. “I hate her so much.”

“Let’s put them on, so we blend in,” I said. “A little discretion will help us surprise her. Does she have many followers?”

“Many dino-men and dino-women follow her,” Dot said. “She’s corrupted so many.”

“I don’t want to put on one of those nasty robes,” Harper said.

“You won’t have to wear it long,” I said. “Unless you have a better idea.”

She waved her hand and disappeared from view. “How’s this?”

“Nice,” I said, grinning. “You’ll have to teach me that spell.”

“If you’d level up your spell caster class, I would,” she said.

The rest of us donned robes and put the hoods over our heads, disguising us from view. I heard chanting in the distance. Dot walked over to one of the two doors on the same wall and opened it slightly. The chanting got louder before she closed it again.

“Come on,” she said, waving us over. “The ceremony is about to start.”

A dino-lich wouldn’t be an easy kill, but the Dino Sword would be worth it. I walked over with the others as Dot opened the door. We went through the doorway and into a large chamber with two sides full of long, wooden benches. I took a seat on one near the back to come up with a plan. A few dozen cultists sat near the front as a half-dead dino-woman ranted.

“This world will be ours!” she snarled, sending the crowd into a frenzy.

“Fireball?” I asked, hoping Harper was nearby.

“Already on it,” she answered.

She came back into view as a fiery ball of flames shot toward the stage. It exploded right before it reached, engulfing almost all the cultists in fire. Their screams filled the giant chamber. I got to my feet and threw off the robes.

“Intruders!” the dino-lich shouted, pointing a skeletal finger at us.

The few cultists still alive turned and began casting spells. I dove under one of the benches as a volley of energy arrows flew through the air. The others hadn’t moved as quick, but only Newton got hit. He screamed and fell to the floor, shaking and convulsing.

“Get him a healing potion!” I shouted as I crawled forward on my stomach.

I peeked my head up and saw Dot running toward the stage like a mad woman. She stepped over all the burned bodies then leaped toward her undead mother. I stood and drew my weapon, wanting to take out the rest of the spellcasters as soon as possible.

“Out of the way!” Harper shouted.

She cast a spell, causing half of the remaining cultists to fall to the floor.

“They’ll be asleep for a while,” she said. “Get the rest of them. I’m almost out of mana.”

Morgana joined me as I rushed toward the front of the room. A few of the cultists began to cast, but we reached them before they were able to get anything off. I sliced the left arm off one of them before spinning around and lopping the head off another.

“Die, mother!” Dot screamed on the stage.

I glanced over and saw her struggling with the dino-lich. Had her mother been a dino-woman? I pushed the questions out of my mind and continued killing cultists. One after another, they went down as Morgana and I fought our way forward.

The dino-lich raised her hands, palms out, and shot electricity at the Daughter of Time. Her name made more sense as I leaped up onto the stage.

“Leave my friend alone!” I shouted, getting the lich’s attention.

She turned and hissed, raising her hands again. I rushed forward and swung with my sword. The attack hit but my weapon bounced off, doing almost no damage. What the fuck? Spell? I backed up as lightning arced out of her hands again, hitting me. My body shook as I fell to the wooden floor of the stage.

“No!” Morgana shouted then ran past me.

I heard the dino-lich scream as I scrambled to my feet. Morgana had hit her and managed to do some damage. Did she have a better sword than me? I turned and looked for Harper as she climbed up on the stage too.

“Need a buff?” she asked then grinned.

“Yes,” I said. “Hurry!”

She cast a spell that engulfed me in blue energy. The buff would allow me to at least do some damage with my non-magic weapon. I ran forward as the lich electrocuted Morgana. She fell to the floor as I reached them and let loose a flurry of swings. Most of them connected, causing the dino-lich to hiss and move back, right into Dot.

“Die, mother!” the Daughter of Time yelled then attacked with her bare hands.

She clawed and scratched at the dino-lich’s rotting face. After the attack, the dino-lich moved her arms and blinked out of existence? Is she invisible or did she teleport or blink somewhere?

“Can anyone see her?” I yelled.

Newton ran up, out of breath, holding a monocle to his eye.

“My lens of true-sight doesn’t see anything,” he said.

I glanced over at Harper as she scanned the room.

“She’s nearby!” Dot shouted then ran toward the back of the stage.

“Follow her,” I said, doing so myself.

The others scrambled after me as I followed Dot behind the stage. She walked forward with purpose, intent on her gruesome task. I kept my eyes peeled in front of her, waiting for something to jump out at us. We needed to kill this bitch.

“I hear something,” Morgana said at my side. “Back there.”

She pointed to a door. Dot stopped in front of it before flinging it open. A shrill whistle filled the air like some sort of alarm. We filed into the room with Newton shutting the door behind us. I looked around, noticing a desk and several bookshelves.

“Where are you, mother?” Dot asked.

“Here, child!” a voice replied.

The dino-lich appeared right next to Dot and grabbed her by the throat with a bony hand, squeezing. I ran forward to free the Daughter of Time, but when I reached them, she had changed. Red energy replaced her eyes as she turned and ran toward me at full speed. I dodged at the last second, barely getting out of the way.

“She’s turned!” I yelled. “Take them both out!”

I pierced the dino-lich with the tip of my sword. When the blade plunged into what remained of her withered stomach section, she screamed and reached toward me. I pulled the sword out and stepped back, not wanting to get choked out and turned into undead.

Morgana and Newton both attacked the undead Daughter of Time while I concentrated on her mother, the dino-lich. Harper’s enchantment helped me actually do some damage and keep it distracted and unable to cast any spells. Every time it reached for my neck, I stepped back and taught it a lesson by slashing it with my sword.

The undead Dot screamed behind me. Newton ran past right after, screaming bloody murder himself as he plowed into the dino-lich, toppling her over. The undead mother grabbed at his neck, so I stepped forward and aimed my sword at her throat. My sword pierced her windpipe, causing her to gasp and claw at the wound.

Newton rolled away as I slashed at her left arm, chopping it off completely. She raised her remaining hand to cast, but the stump stopped her from doing anything. I summoned all my might and stabbed at where her heart would be if she were still alive.

The blade pierced her thick, leathery skin, sinking in almost all the way to the hilt. Another shrill shriek filled the air as the dino-lich died. I glanced around, ready to take on anything that came at us, but a familiar game notification popped up.

<< Combat is Over! >>

<< You get 7,000 xp! >>

<< You have 315,000 xp >>

<< You need 5,000 xp to level up >>

So close yet so fucking far away!

“Everyone okay?” I asked, looking around. “Well, except for Dot.”

“Noooooo!” Newton screamed, dropping to his knees and holding his head. “Why did she have to die that way? This game is more fucked than the real world!”

“Hey, man, cool down, it’s okay,” I said, walking over to him.

“No, it’s not,” he said, looking up at me with tears streaming from his eyes. “I loved her.”

“You can’t love a fucking computer-run NPC,” I said bluntly.

“Give him a break,” Morgana said, walking up. “I feel bad about Dot too.”

“She was nice, but we’ve got something else to think about,” I said, looking for a secret door. “The Dino Sword has to be around here somewhere. If this isn’t the end of the quest plot, I’ll log out and never come back to this server the rest of my life.”

“Don’t talk that way,” Morgana said, surprising me.

Was Harper’s friend falling for me?

“It’s the truth,” I said. “That sword’s gotta be around... Here we go…Found it…”

After tapping a hidden button, a section of the wall disappeared.

“Not a bad illusion,” I said. “We’ll need to use that when we build our castle.”

I glanced into the secret room and saw a glowing Dino Sword hanging on the wall. The bone hilt carved from one of the original dino-men from eons ago gave it away. I rushed over and picked it up, foolishly not checking for traps. Nothing went off, but I was underwhelmed as I picked up the sword and hefted it in my hands.

“Something’s wrong,” I said, staring at it.

“What is it?” Harper asked.

I checked the stats and saw the sword was uncharged.

“Since when do Dino Swords need to be charged?” I asked.

“All of them need an initial charge,” Morgana said, surprising me.

“Oh?” I glanced at her. “Go on.”

“That’s all I know,” she said, avoiding my gaze.

“I know someone who can charge it,” Newton said. “Really. That’s why I was coming for the sword myself.”

“The sword’s mine,” I said, clutching it tighter.

“I know,” Newton said, raising his hands. “Calm down. I hate being leader.”

“How do I get it charged?” I asked.

Newton smiled.

“There’s a dino-woman in my village who knows how to do it,” he said.

“Great. Can you take us there?”

He nodded. “Yeah, but there’s one problem.”

“What?” Morgana asked, hands on hips.

“King Gregor has been harassing my village,” he said. “I need your help to save them.”

“We’ll help,” I said without pause.

“There’s more stuff over here,” Harper said.

I smiled. The dino-lich hadn’t been easy to kill, but we’d done it. By arriving in the new zone first and claiming the Dino Sword, my world was about to change. All I needed to do was get it charged. That couldn’t be too difficult. Right?

We spent an hour packing up the rest of the loot before leaving the underground temple behind. Other players would be descending on the site, but none of them would find the Dino Sword. I had it with me — one step closer to claiming my throne.

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑

CHAPTER 13

┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

What King of Village is This?

We made it back to the beach just before the sun disappeared over the horizon. After climbing into the rowboat with all our loot, we rowed toward the dragon ship anchored nearby. I kept the Dino Sword wrapped up in a blanket and hidden in my belongings. Until I charged it up, I didn’t want anyone to try to take it from me.

“It’s a shame about Dot,” Morgana said near the front of the boat.

“Yeah,” Newton said as he rowed beside me. “I’m gonna miss her.”

“We’ll find someone else for you,” I said. “This is a big world.”

“As long as I’m around,” Newton said.

“Don’t talk that way,” Harper snapped.

“She’s right,” I said. “You have a better chance now than you did back in the 20th century.”

“If I had the money,” Newton said. “I spent the last of my savings to get in here and enjoy myself before I die in the real world.”

“You never know what’ll happen,” I said. “Something might come up.”

“Ahoy!” the captain said as we approached the side. “Success?”

“No,” I said as we stopped and tied to dangling ropes to the boat.

One after another, we climbed a rope ladder to the main ship. Sailors hefted the wooden boat and secured it on the side.

“Get that anchor up!” the captain yelled. “We’re going home!”

“Did you see anyone else come into the bay?” I asked.

The captain shook his head. “No, and that’s good. Where’s the rest of my gold?”

“Hold on,” I said, grabbing the sack of coins I’d promised him. “Here you go.”

The captain smiled as he lifted the bag a few times to determine its weight.

“I’ll see you guys later,” he said. “I’ve got work to do below deck.”

As the captain walked away, I turned to Newton.

“What can you tell us about your village?” I asked. “What’s the name?”

“Um, it’s small,” Newton said. “You wouldn’t know it.”

“I know just about all the villages on Gardonia,” Harper said.

“Probably not this one,” Newton said. “It’s small and hidden in a way.”

“What aren’t you telling us?” I asked.

“Nothing!” Newton said a bit too defensively.

“You’re sure you know someone who can charge the you-know-what?” I asked.

He nodded. “That’s guaranteed. Don’t worry about it. If you guys help me clear the village of King Gregor’s goons, I’m sure she’ll help you.”

“Great,” I said, leaning over the rail.

Morgana stepped next to me as the other two walked away.

“You doing okay?” she asked.

I peered over at her.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “You seem preoccupied or something.”

“Just a lot on my mind,” I said, still staring out at the sea.

“Harper?” she asked.

“What about her?” I asked.

“You care for her a lot, don’t you?”

“What’s it to you?” I turned to her. “You’re acting weird.”

“It’s just I like her too,” Morgana said.

“Uh huh,” I said, nodding.

We both fell into silence as the ship sailed back toward the massive continent of Gardonia. Part of me wanted to celebrate getting the Dino Sword, but I kept calm during the journey. A lot of people would kill to have it. Until I got it charged, I needed to keep it on the down low.

After a few minutes, Morgana and I went below deck to join the others. I tried to sleep, but the rocking of the boat kept me up most of the night. Just as I fell asleep in the morning, I heard a sailor above calling out that land had been spotted. I sighed and got up to face the day.

* * * * *

Later that morning, after retrieving our horses from the stables where we’d kept them, we rode north of Yusgood. I saw a few of Xin Jang’s warriors as we rode, but none of them gave us any trouble. As Newton led us into a swampy area, I got concerned.

“Where the hell’s this village?” I asked, glancing over at him.

Harper and Morgana rode behind us.

“It’s up ahead,” he said. “It’s a small village.”

He stopped and nodded toward a rundown wheel boat two stories high.

“That’s not a village, it’s a damn whore house,” I said.

Newton tossed his head back and forth. “You say tomato…”

“Let’s go back to the city, this is greasy,” Harper complained.

“No, please, I wasn’t lying about King Gregor’s men,” Newton said.

“Does this dino-woman exist, at least?” I asked.

“She runs the place,” Newton said.

“Is she another NPC?” I asked bluntly.

He frowned and nodded. “Yeah. Is that a problem?”

“As long as she can charge my sword, I don’t give a fuck about the rest,” I said. “Come on, let’s at least go check it out. King Gregor is a fucking prick anyway. If we can shut-down one of his groups of thugs, that’s not a bad thing.”

Harper sighed behind me, but she and Morgana followed as I got off the horse and tied it to a nearby tree. We trudged through the shallow toward the huge boat stuck in the mucky mud of the swamp. I heard moans and screams as we got closer to a stringy rope ladder.

“This is the only way up?” I asked. “What the hell kind of place is this?”

“It’s where poor people go to fuck,” he said then climbed up.

Harper frowned. Morgana shrugged them followed him.

“What?” I asked, wondering why she was acting so fucking weird.

“Forget about it,” she said then climbed up herself.

I followed, watching her ass and remembering why I put up with her bullshit attitude. At the top, after climbing onto the deck, a dozen heavily armed men and two war mages shuffled out. They surrounded us on all sides. I drew my regular sword.

“Hold on a minute,” I said. “We’re here to sample the wares.”

“The house is full for the night,” one of the men said.

“Fine,” I relented. “We’ll leave. No harm, no foul.”

“Hold on,” the man said. “Don’t I know you?”

“Nope,” Newton said then scrambled over the edge and down the ladder.

“I don’t like the looks of you four,” the man said. “You’re all banned. I don’t want to see any of you back here. Understand?”

“We understand,” I said, putting away my sword. “We’re leaving.”

I waited for Harper and Morgana to climb down then followed them. On the bottom, I glared at Newton. He stood up straight, not looking away.

“You could’ve told us how much firepower they had with them,” I said.

“I didn’t know,” he said. “They must’ve brought more since I left. I fear for Womang. King Gregor hates dino-people with a passion. They’re likely abusing her.”

“We’ll leave the swamp and camp for the night near the road,” I said. “We can talk about an actual plan of attack then get up early and surprise them when they’re all asleep.”

“Sounds good to me,” Harper said, standing almost knee-deep in the water. “I hate the swamp.”

“Me too,” I said. “Me too.”

We waded back to the horses on the somewhat drier land then rode back to the main road leading south to Yusgood. Newton kept pacing back and forth, mumbling to himself while the rest of us set up camp for the night. Even after we got a fire going and settled down around it for the night, he kept walking back and forth in a short line.

“Come on over here,” I said. “We need some information.”

He looked up distractedly, frowning. “What?”

“Come sit by me at the fire,” Harper said, patting the ground.

I threw another log into the flames as he approached. A shower of sparks filled the air as he sat down on the other side of Harper.

“Can you draw a map of the layout?” I asked. “We need to know where the dino-woman will be and where King Gregor’s men will likely set up their defenses.”

“I’ve got a map,” Newton said, reaching into his shirt. “I didn’t want to show you because you would’ve figured out it wasn’t an actual village in the normal sense of the word.”

“You think?” I quipped.

He opened a map and passed it to Harper.

“Womang will be here,” he said, pointing to the second floor at the front of the boat. “King Gregor’s men will likely be here, here, and here. I don’t think we have enough to take them all out ourselves.”

“That’s not the plan,” I said. “We get in, rescue Womang, and then get her to charge my sword.”

“And what about the rest of the women?” Morgana asked.

“Once I have the sword charged, we’ll be in a better position to take out the rest of King Gregor’s men and send him a message at the same time.”

“I say we go back to Yusgood and try to find another way to charge the sword,” Harper said, once again surprising me. “These women chose their own life in the game.”

“Damn,” I said. “You’ve gotten cold.”

“I’m just being realistic,” she said, shrugging it off.

“Getting the dino-woman is our best bet for now,” I said.

“I agree with Drake,” Morgana said, adding her support.

“Fine,” Harper sighed. “Whatever…”

“Your spells are what’s going to get us in and out easily,” I said. “Do you have any ideas?”

“I’ll come up with something,” she said. “Invisibility maybe. Or our disguise hats.”

“Yeah, I forgot about those,” I said. “We’ve got this.”

She leaned over and kissed me. Newton stood.

“I’m going to scout around and take first watch,” he said.

“Suit yourself,” I said as Morgana also started kissing me.

Harper stripped off her clothes. The flames from the fire flickering shadows over her toned body. I smiled as I took off my armor. Morgana sat back and watched, a hand snaking between her legs as Harper pushed me down on the ground.

She climbed over me with her wet, inviting pussy in my face. I eagerly lapped at her luscious lips, tasting her bitter juices as she took my cock into her mouth. As we pleasured each other, Morgana took care of herself, watching us closely.

I got caught up in the moment, thrusting up and into her warm, wet mouth as I grabbed her ass cheeks and licked every inch of her pussy. She ground her hips against my face as we brought each other to a mind-blowing orgasm.

Morgana moaned, coming at the same time as us. I breathed deep, enjoying the come down after the momentous release into Harper’s willing mouth. She crawled off me then nestled herself against my chest. Morgana did the same.

As the two most important women in my life went to sleep, I thought about our assault on the brother boat in the morning. Even a few hours of sleep would’ve helped, but I couldn’t turn my mind off as I went over the floor plans in my mind.

With Harper’s magic helping, we’d be able to get in and rescue the dino-woman without any problem. After she charged my sword, I’d return and deal with the rest of the creeps as a gift to Newton. He was odd, but I liked having him around.

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑

CHAPTER 14

┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

Escape Not an Option Anymore

Toward morning, I dozed off, but Newton woke me by shaking my arm.

“Get up,” he said. “It’s almost first light. We should get going.”

“Five more minutes,” I moaned, rolling over.

“He’s right,” Morgana said, sitting up and stretching.

I groaned but got up myself as Harper stirred and moaned next to me.

“Morning already?” she complained.

“Come on,” I said. “We’re so close to getting my sword working.”

She sighed but sat up as I got to my feet and stretched.

“Let’s wear the hats of disguise, so I can save my mana,” Harper said.

“That works for me.” I dug mine out of my sack and put it on. “Still work?”

“Looking good,” Morgana said then giggled nervously.

I smiled and turned to Newton.

“We don’t have one for you,” I said. “Do you want to stay back and watch the horses?”

“No way,” he said. “I’m coming with you.”

“They’ll notice you too easily,” I said. “You’re staying behind.”

“But I can help,” he whined.

“No,” I said firmly.

He stood down as we put out the remains of the fire and packed our meager belongings. As we rode back into the swamp, the sun slowly began its ascent in the sky. I stopped further away than last time and dismounted.

“You stay right here,” I said. “We’ll bring the dino-woman back.”

“She has a fucking name,” he snapped.

I grimaced and bit my tongue.

“We should have a story,” Morgana said.

I nodded. “Good idea. Any ideas?”

“You’re our pimp and selling us to the brothel,” Harper said.

“That should work,” I said then turned to Newton. “Stay here. Understand?”

“Yes,” he sighed then looked away.

Harper, Morgana, and I walked away, heading toward the boat brothel stuck in the swamp. None of the places players came up with in the game surprised me anymore. The really devious stuff happened on Discordia, an even larger continent on the other side of the planet, but Gardonia could be weird and wicked on occasion too.

“You should tie us up,” Harper said as we got closer.

I stopped and wrapped some rope loosely around their necks before leading them toward the boat. A guard leaned over the railing on deck, watching as we approached.

“You’re early!” he shouted.

“I’m here for business,” I replied then lifted the ropes.

He grinned then motioned me up. I let the two disguised women climb up the rope ladder before following them up myself. At the top, the guard had his hand on Morgana’s left tit.

“Don’t touch the merchandise!” I shouted.

He lifted his hands. “Settle down. I had to check…”

“Fucking touch her again, and you and me will have a problem,” I said. “Understand, friend?”

He nodded.

“Good,” I continued. “Take us to Womang. She’ll want to buy these women. I’m selling them cheap, and they’re both good whores.”

“Hold on,” the guard said. “I need to check with the captain. He’s asleep with everyone else. I drew short straw and had to stay sober to watch everything.”

“Are you a fucking pussy or what?” I asked. “Let us up to work this out, or you’re going to end up getting demoted even more, dumb-fuck.”

He straightened up. As the only sober man among King Gregor’s men, I knew he had to be low on the totem pole of power.

“Follow me,” he said then turned and headed toward the stairs hugging the side of the wooden, two-story structure.

I heard moans as we walked up in disguise, but I kept my mouth shut. The place would be named Greaseville if it ever became a proper village. At the top of the stairs, the guard led us inside then down a hallway. He made a right then headed toward the front of the building. I kept my eyes on him, wondering when I should go for it.

As he stopped and turned, I made my move. By getting surprise from behind, I slit his throat and bled him out without having to struggle. My few levels in rogue came in handy occasionally. When I leveled up all my classes, I would be a fucking powerhouse.

“You two throw him over the side into the swamp,” I said.

The women nodded then dragged the body back down the hallway.

“Get his shit first,” I hissed then turned to go see Womang.

I opened the wooden door and walked in. She stood in middle of the room, completely naked. While her head and neck were scaled like a reptile, she had a perfectly human body below all the way to her toes. As an inferior NPC race, they never wore clothes and weren’t smart enough to really do anything on their own. Well, most of the time. Some of them had gotten a mind of their own. I stared at Womang, wondering if I’d run into one of them.

“You knock first!” she said, too loudly for my taste.

“Shh,” I said in a firm, low voice. “We’re here to rescue you.”

“I no go without my women,” she said, stiffening her posture.

“Newton’s waiting for you,” I said.

She stepped forward. “Newton?”

“Yes,” I said. “He sent us to get you. Are you ready to go? We don’t have much time.”

“Get them! Now!” someone yelled from deeper in the building.

“Fuck,” I muttered and held out my hand. “Come on, we’ve got to go.”

She put her delicate, feminine hand in mine. I led her back into the hallway. Harper and Morgana, no longer in disguise, came barreling toward us, barely stopping in time.

“What the hell’s going on?” I asked.

“The body splashed and woke someone up who had fallen into the swamp last night,” Harper said. “The rest of them are waking up, and they’re not pissed.”

“Can you make us all invisible, so we can get out of here?”

“I don’t think I should waste my mana on that,” she said.

“Fuck,” I said. “They’re not getting this Dino Sword. I’ll die for it.”

“We should hide it here on the boat,” Morgana said.

I nodded, digging the idea. “That could work.”

“We need to hide something,” I said, turning to Womang.

“This way,” she said then scurried back down the hallway.

We followed, Harper coming last and shutting the door behind herself. I went to the far side of the room where Womang pried up one of the floorboards. She smiled as she put it to the side. I saw a pile of coins, a dagger, three rings, and a few other baubles stored.

“This will be safe?” I asked. “They don’t know about it?”

She shook her huge dino-head. I pulled the blanket-wrapped sword out and placed it under the floor, scooting it away from the hole. After I removed my hands, she plopped the board back in place and moved a rug over it. We all stood just as the door crashed open. Three armored men with repeating crossbows burst in and pointed their weapons at us.

“Hands up!” they shouted in unison.

I complied along with Harper and Morgana.

“Take off that damn hat!” one of them shouted.

I did as they asked, tossing it to the wooden floor.

“Thought it was you four,” he said. “We caught that Newton fellow too.”

“Newton!” Womang cried, rushing forward.

“No!” I shouted, grabbing her arm. “Don’t shoot!”

“Fuck dino-bitches,” the man said, lowering his crossbow.

The other two kept theirs aimed at us.

“Walk this way,” he said, moving aside.

I led the way out of the room with Harper, Morgana, and Womang behind me. A war mage in the hallway held up his hands as we approached.

“Don’t try anything stupid,” he said.

Instead of taking us outside, they led us to a ladder in the center of the ship. We climbed down, not stopping on the first floor. They had dug a wide tunnel deep into the earth. Held up with wood, stone, and a bit of magic, they had managed to keep the swamp at bay long enough to keep digging down. Nobody in the badlands would expect the such a tunnel existed. What was its purpose? I wondered as we kept climbing down.

Lamps lit up the impressive walls as we kept going deeper into the earth. When we finally reached the bottom, I couldn’t tell how far we had gone. It must have been deep, though, with the marshy swamp right above. A tunnel with a semi-circle roof at least a hundred feet wide ran south of the massive cavern at the bottom of the pit. I saw even more of King Gregor’s men everywhere as the ones leading us kept us moving down the tunnel.

“Separate them and lock ‘em up,” one of the men said.

“You better not hurt them,” I warned, ready to die protecting Harper and Morgana.

“Settle down,” Newton said. “We’ll be okay. Trust me.”

“We’re fine,” Morgana said.

Harper looked frightened, but she said nothing. Several of the men led the two women to a door on one side of the massive tunnel while others led Newton and me to the other side. As we entered a long, stone-lined hallway, I turned around.

“Where’s that big tunnel go?” I asked.

“All the way back to Yusgood,” the man said.

“No way,” I countered, shaking my head.

“Keep moving!” he barked, lifting his sword.

I turned and kept walking. At the end of the hallway, we entered a room with several iron cages built around it. They put Newton in one with me right next to him in another. I didn’t see any men in any of the other half-dozen or so cages.

“No funny business, either of you,” the man said then walked away.

“What the hell have you gotten us into?” I asked.

Newton put a finger to his lips then pointed outside of his cage. I turned and saw a glowing head floating in the air. What the hell?

“They’re watching and listening to us,” Newton whispered.

I nodded my head then paced back and forth in the cage. Being locked up, the prisoner of another player, wasn’t my idea of fun. I needed to get out and rescue Harper and Morgana before retrieving the sword. There had to be an easy way. After not coming up with anything, I settled down with my back against the cold, stone wall in the back of my cell.

Fighting to keep my eyes open, I gave in and went to sleep. During my sleeping time in the game, I once again opted to not check on the real world. Whenever I did, I wouldn’t wake up as refreshed in the morning. As a prisoner, I needed all the strength I could muster.

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑

CHAPTER 15

┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

The Battle of the Boat Brothel

I woke with a jolt the next morning as cold water splashed on me.

“Get up!” a guard yelled.

I struggled to my feet, hating the man on the other side of the cage.

“You’ve both got an assignment,” he said. “You’re lucky. I would’ve killed you both.”

“What assignment?” I asked. “Don’t we get breakfast?”

“You’ll get food if you finish your task,” he said, grinning.

“Just tell us what it is already,” I snapped.

“You’ll be training dino-women for battle,” he said.

What the hell does he mean? I wondered as he opened my cage then Newton’s. Several other guards appeared, followed by one of the floating, magical heads. Instead of going back to the main tunnel leading to Yusgood, we went further away from it. The guards stopped outside an even larger cage. Harper and Morgana stood among a half-dozen dino-women, all naked.

“The others will let you know what to do,” a guard said as he opened a gate.

I walked through, keeping my eyes on Harper. She looked okay from what I could tell. As I walked toward her, I heard the iron gate slam shut behind us.

“Are you okay?” I asked as Harper threw her arms around me and squeezed.

“I’m better now,” she said.

Morgana walked up and patted my ass.

“Good to see you,” she said.

“They didn’t do anything to you two, did they?” I asked.

Harper shook her head. “No, but they’re mistreating these dino-women.”

I turned and saw the badly bruised dino-women huddled near the back wall.

“They want us to teach them offensive spells,” Morgana said.

I nodded. “King Gregor must be preparing to take on Xin Jang. This could be huge.”

“A good time for you to claim your own kingdom in the badlands,” Morgana said.

“Exactly,” I said, still nodding.

“Get to work in there!” a guard shouted.

I shot him a nasty look then walked over to the dino-women. The others followed me.

“Can’t you cast and get us out of here?” I asked, looking at Harper.

She shook her head and pointed to her ankles.

“That anklet is stopping me from casting,” she said. “I guess we train these dino-women?”

“We know fire hands,” one of the dino-women said then raised her palms.

A stream of napalm shot out, nearly hitting me.

“Hey,” I said, backing away.

The fire continued to burn on the ground.

“I do good, no?” the dino-women asked.

“Careful where you aim,” I said.

“They hurt us bad,” she said.

A few of the other dino-women walked over, nodding their heads.

“I’ve got an idea,” Newton said.

“And why the hell should we listen to you?” I asked. “You got us into this mess.”

“Cut him a break,” Morgana said.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Drugs,” Newton said. “I’ve got a bit of drugs secreted away on my body.”

“What the fuck are we going to do with your butt-drugs?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Drug the guards, or something?”

“Good luck with that,” I said, shaking my head.

“Sorry,” Newton said. “Should I get them out?”

“No,” I said. “We’ve got work to do.”

“Too late,” he said, digging around near his ass.

He pulled out a rolled up sock and presented it like a trophy.

“What’s going on in there?” a guard shouted.

“That smells good,” a dino-woman said and grabbed the sock.

Before we could get it back, she had torn it open and sampled the contents.

“Not bad!” she exclaimed then dropped the rest of the drugs.

A few of the other dino-women snatched up the tiny pink pills.

“So good!” she exclaimed, touching herself between her legs.

“I’ll be back after lunch,” the guard called. “You guys better be working by the time I get back.”

The rest of the dino-women gobbled up the remaining pills, some of them taking two or three.

“Uh oh,” Newton said.

“What the hell kind of drugs did you have up your ass?” I demanded.

“Aphrodisiacs,” he said. “And we’ve got nowhere to go.”

I turned and saw several of the dino-women aggressively eyeing me.

“Fucking great,” I said, getting turned on despite my best efforts.

“What are we doing?” Harper asked, a hint of fear in her voice.

“Ride it out,” I said. “Maybe we’ll cause a distraction.”

“Hey!” Newton shouted as three dino-women toppled him over.

They ripped off his clothes then rubbed their bodies against his, getting him hard. I smiled, knowing he would have fun with the NPC dino-women. Then four others came over to me. I tilted my head back, not showing any fear. Two of them kissed me while the other two dropped to their knees, freeing my cock and loving it with their mouths.

“Hey, now!” Harper said. “What about us?”

“Dino-women don’t do same sex encounters,” Newton said then moaned.

I looked over and saw two of the woman lapping at him with their thin, forked tongues. The two dino-women in front of me took turns sucking my cock, getting it even harder.

“We’ll take one for the team,” I said, closing my eyes then moaning.

I opened them again and saw Harper and Morgana kissing and fondling each other. The thought of the two loves of my life getting sexy together turned me on even more. I stepped back then sat on the rough, stone floor. One of the dino-women slipped into my lap. My cock slid deep into her fleshy, pink hole as she hugged me.

“Yes, yes, do it, do it!” the others chanted, encouraging their friend.

I grabbed onto her waist, trying my hardest not to come as she slid up and down. The dino-race had been created to primarily please players in the game, and the designers had done a good job. Other than the primal reptile heads, they behaved and felt like normal humans. I reached up and squeezed her tits as she came, screaming in pleasure. Fire shot out of her hands.

“Whoa,” I said, pushing her off.

Before I could get up, another dino-woman hopped on, furiously riding me. I moaned then shot my load at her enthusiasm. She slipped off and slid between my legs. Joined by a few of the others, she licked, kissed, and sucked my cock to bring it back to life. I looked over and saw Morgana going down on Harper. The sight of them getting along so well turned me on.

A dino-women resumed fucking me fast, bringing herself to orgasm. When she reached the point of no return and screamed out, she shot flames out of her palms. The napalm stream hit the ceiling and stuck. Some flames dripped down as the ceiling burned.

“What the hell’s going on in there?” a guard yelled.

Another dino-women screamed in ecstasy and shot fire toward the gate. The guard screamed as his armor caught fire. Instead of dropping and rolling, he ran down the tunnel. I grinned, still hard as a fucking rock as another dino-women climbed aboard.

“We’ve got to make a run for it,” I said between labored breaths.

I came again, even harder this time. The dino-woman slapped me as I shrunk inside her.

“No good, no come!” she complained.

She pushed me back and crawled up my body, rubbing her juicy lady parts against my face. I lapped away, struggling to breath as she slid her pussy against my willing mouth. She clamped her thighs together against my face as she came, shooting flames out of her hands.

“Get off him!” Harper yelled, pushing the dino-woman away.

I stood and glanced over at the gate. Several other guards had appeared and were about to open it. A war mage stood nearby, ready to hit us with damage if necessary. I thought we might be in trouble until I turned and saw the dino-women in a frenzy.

“More! More! More!” they yelled.

“What the hell kind of aphrodisiac did you give them?” I asked.

Newton shrugged.

“I guess it works different on dino-women,” he said.

“Get ready to make a run for it,” I said. “We’ll make our way back topside and reclaim the sword and the rest of our possessions.”

“I don’t know,” Harper complained.

“Do you have a better idea?” I snapped.

“No,” she said. “You don’t need to yell.”

I shook my head in disgust.

“Pull yourself together. We’ve got to get out of here and get my sword back.”

“That’s all you care about, isn’t it?” Harper asked.

“Right now, yeah,” I said, not ashamed.

“Stop arguing,” Morgana hissed. “The guards are coming.”

I turned and saw several armored men step into the giant cage. They didn’t stand a chance as several of the naked dino-women rushed forward and surrounded them.

“Let’s go!” I shouted as I ran toward the gate.

The spell caster raised his arms as we approached. I reached him first, plowing my fist into his stomach. He gasped for air, grabbed his stomach, and fell to his knees.

“Help!” a guard behind us shouted.

I glanced back and saw the dino-women ripping off their clothes.

“Lucky bastards,” I muttered then ran forward.

“Wait,” Newton said as we reached the main, wide tunnel leading to Yusgood.

I stopped. “What now?”

“You’re forgetting something,” he said.

“I’m going for the sword back in the boat brothel. What do you mean?”

“You still need to Womang to charge it,” Newton said.

“Fine, we’ll find her too,” I said. “Come on, let’s go.”

I ran down the hall, flinging doors open and looking for where they might be keeping her.

“They probably have her on the other side of the big tunnel,” Morgana said. “With the other women.”

“Yeah, but they had the other dino-women over here on this side,” I said. “Did we miss her in the crowd with the others?”

“In here,” Newton said next to an open door. “Weapons.”

“Finally, a break,” I said, rushing over to him.

We crowded into the long, narrow room lined with weapons.

“There,” Morgana said, pointing to a desk near the back. “The Dino Sword.”

I smiled as I ran back and grabbed it.

“Everyone grab something,” I said. “We might have to fight our way out of here.”

I walked back to the door and went into the hallway, looking left and right. Screams and moans still filled the air from the way we’d come.

“There’s one more door on this side,” I said, pointing down the hall.

We ran over and flung it open. On the other side, Womang looked up from the floor. She smiled as she stood and ran over to Newton, throwing her arms around his waist.

“You came!” she exclaimed.

“We’ll have time for a reunion later,” I said. “Let’s keep moving.”

“Stop!” someone shouted from behind us.

“Go!” I screamed. “Back to the pit to climb up! Don’t stop!”

I ran, hoping the others were close behind. A green arrow of pure energy flew by, almost hitting me. My sword felt useless in my hands. We kept running when we reached the wide tunnel. Near the cavern with the ladder up, Harper stopped and turned to me.

“Can you get this anklet off me?” she asked.

I dropped to one knee and examined it.

“There’s a lock. I can get it. Keep an eye open.”

“We’re all clear,” Morgana said nearby.

I studied the lock before pulling out my lock-picking kit. After a few suave moves, the lock popped and the anklet opened, dropping off her leg.

“Great,” Harper said. “Stand back.”

I moved away as she cast a spell near the ladder leading up to the surface. A barrier of briers appeared around us. We climbed up the ladder as guards yelled below, unable to follow. At the top, I pulled my sword out and ran through the building and toward the exit. Two more guards appeared, but I stabbed one and slashed the throat of the other. As they fell to the floor of the hall, I ran to Womang’s old room and retrieved the dino sword.

“Got it,” I said. “Let’s get out of here.”

We ran outside and down the stairs of the boat brothel, stopping on the deck of the boat near the rope ladder leading down to the swamp.

“Wait,” Harper said. “I’ll cast invisibility.”

She waved her hands, causing all of us to disappear.

“Be careful when we’re in the swamp,” I said. “They’ll see the water moving.”

“Good point,” Morgana said. “I’ll go first.”

One after another, we climbed down the rope ladder. Several men appeared on the deck of the boat brothel as we reached the bottom. Hugging the base of the vessel, we walked around to the other side before making our way to drier land. When we reached the edge of the swamp, I stopped.

“Womang needs to charge this sword,” I said. “Now.”

She tilted her head, looking at me. “What you mean?”

“Charge the sword,” I said.

“Sorry,” Newton muttered.

“What now?” I asked.

“She can’t really charge Dino Swords,” he said. “I just wanted you to save her because I love her. Everyone treats NPCs so horribly in this game. They deserve better.”

“I’d reach over and choke you out right now if I could see you,” I said.

“No hurt Newton,” Womang said.

“Sorry, man,” Newton said. “We’ll leave if you want.”

“No, I still need you,” I said. “And her. Can she cast spells too?”

“I don’t think so,” Newton said. “You can ask her. She’s right her.”

“But she’s your favorite NPC,” I countered.

“Me no cast,” Womang said.

“Great,” I said.

“What are we going to do?” Harper asked. “I say we get out of the badlands. We can buy papers to get into the Twelve City-States territory and live proper lives.”

“No,” I said. “Not until I get my dino sword charged.”

“You and that fucking sword,” she sighed.

“I’ve got an idea,” I said. “We owe Xin Jang one since you stole his katana. If we tell him of King Gregor’s plan, he’s likely to be thankful. Maybe he’ll know how to charge the sword for me. I can start an alliance with him to take out King Gregor once and for all.”

“Worth a shot,” Morgana said.

“I just want to get out of this fucking swamp,” Harper whined.

“You’ve been acting so strange,” I said.

Morgana giggled.

“What’s so funny?” I asked.

“Nothing,” she said. “We should get going. How long does the spell last?”

“Long enough for us to get away from here and head north,” Harper said.

“Everyone try to keep the others nearby,” I said. “We don’t want anyone wandering off.”

I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“Form a chain?” Morgana asked from behind me.

“Sure,” I said. “As long as we keep moving. We barely escaped.”

We kept walking, all of us keeping quiet, trapped with our own thoughts.

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑

CHAPTER 16

┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

Enemy Fights With My Enemy

That evening, as the invisibility spell wore off, we arrived at Sim Yung, a small village on the outskirts of Xin Jang’s small empire in the badlands. Compared to the villages in the League of Twelve City-States on the northern reached of the continent, Sim Yung was pathetic. Everything in the badlands was inferior. The undercarriage of the continent, the castoff portion of land, was still fought over by those not big enough to take on the bigger rulers.

“Hold on,” I said, stopping at the edge of the village. “My dick’s still sore.”

“I got just the thing,” Womang said.

“No thank you.” I batted her hand away from my crotch. “We’ll find a healer.”

The others followed as I walked down the main stretch of dirt road leading through the loose collection of buildings. A few grisly looking trees hanging on for dear life littered the landscape, but like the rest of the badlands, everything looked bleak. I caught glimpses of a few dirt-covered faces peeking out of smudged windows as we passed. At the end of the road, near the other edge of the town, I saw the familiar entwined serpent of a healer.

“Here we go,” I said, stopping outside the ramshackle shack. “This is better.”

“You no trust me but go here?” Womang asked, shaking her head to shame me.

I walked up to the front door and opened it. The damn thing almost fell off the hinges. As the others filed into the single room on the other side, I glanced around. On the other side of the room, a man with wild, curly hair sat on a small stood next to the fireplace. He stood as we entered, a wild smile plastered to his face. I noticed a few empty wine jugs on the floor. Can’t we meet anyone normal? I grinned as he stumbled over.

“What’ll it be?” he asked, slurring his speech. “Two for me.”

I cocked my head to the side.

“We need help,” I said. “A cream or something.”

“You got gold?” the man asked. “Shaman Sammy fix you up good.”

He grinned, displaying horrifically disfigured teeth.

“We need information too,” Morgana said, stepping forward. “What can you tell us about Xin Jang and the state of his kingdom?”

I sighed, wishing she’d keep her mouth shut.

“Why are you asking so many damn questions?” Shaman Sammy asked.

“I need some healing salve for external use,” I said, not expanding.

“Above the belt or below the belt?” the man asked then winked.

“Below,” I muttered, not taking my eyes off his.

He looked away, mumbling to himself.

“We’ve got gold,” I said, pulling out a few coins.

I tossed them on a nearby table. The man wobbled over to the far wall and picked up a clay jar from a shelf. He handed it to me.

“Twice a day on the affected areas,” he said. “You’ll be fine, champ. Anything else?”

“General healing potions,” I said. “What do you have in stock?”

“Nothing at the moment,” Shaman Sammy said.

“Why not?” Morgana asked.

“The war efforts,” he replied. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ve got studying to do.”

He picked up a fresh jug of wine then headed over to his stool near the fire. Outside, I confronted Morgana about acting so suspicious.

“What are you doing?”

“It’s better if he knows we’re coming,” she said. “Rulers with dino swords don’t like being surprised. Trust me.”

“Oh, you know, do you?”

She nodded. “I do.”

“You’re probably right,” I admitted. “We do have good information if there’s a war coming.”

North of the village, just over a hill, I heard an impressive explosion.

“What the hell was that?” Newton asked.

“Big bang,” Womang said, pointing.

“Let’s go check it out,” I said.

The others followed as I headed toward the hill. Near the top, I slowed down, checking out the situation on the other side. Two groups of men battled; Xin Jang and King Gregor’s men. Has the battle between the two biggest powers in the badlands begun already?

“Looks messy,” Morgana said next to me.

“My blade’s thirsty for a battle. Even without its powers, the dino sword’s formidable. We should help out Xin Jang. It’ll give us more pull when we go to talk with him.”

“Good idea,” Morgana said.

“Are you two done gabbing?” Harper asked. “I’m low on mana.”

“We can mop up the remaining warriors,” I said, cresting the hill. “For honor!”

I charged down, taking three men by surprise. One lost his right hand while the other got my steel in his gut. The third took off running, straight into Xin Jang’s warriors. My eyes met with one of them for a moment before we both looked to other opponents on the battlefield. Morgana fought by my side, taking out about as many men as me. A few minutes after the battle started, we had killed all but four of King Gregor’s men.

“Get them!” I yelled as they ran in four different directions.

Newton grabbed one, knifing him in the stomach, while Harper and Womang cornered and killed another. Xin Jang’s men had the third which left the fourth for me. I drew one of my throwing daggers and flung it at the retreating man, hitting him in the back of the neck. He screamed and grabbed at the blade as he fell to the ground.

<< Combat is Over! >>

<< You get 3,000 xp! >>

<< You have 318,000 xp >>

<< You need 2,000 xp to level up >>

Getting close to leveling again. I looked over at who I suspected to be the captain of Xin Jang’s men. He wore a red bandanna on his head to signify his position in their society. I put away the dino sword and walked toward him with my hands raised. He bowed slightly then smiled as I approached.

“Thanks for the assistance,” he said. “May I inquire your name?”

“I’m Drake,” I said, offering my hand.

He shook it with a firm grip. “Nice to meet you. Xin Jang will want to thank you.”

“That’s where we’re headed,” I said, turning to my companions. “All of us.”

“I’ll escort you the rest of the way,” he said. “All this talk of war in the air has everyone antsy. This attack on Xin Jang’s soil will not be tolerated.”

“We appreciate your help,” I said, enjoying his civility.

The way King Gregor ran his kingdom led to people bowing to their basest instincts. I liked Xin Jang because he tried to inject a little fucking culture into the game.

“My name is Shingu,” the commander said. “Ride with us to the Forbidden City.”

After retrieving our horses from the healer at the village, we rode north with the small band of warriors. I rode next to Morgana with Harper and Newton behind us. Womang rode on the back of Newton’s horse, tightly clinging to him. I felt even closer to getting the dino sword charged and claiming my spot as a low-level ruler in the badlands.

On the way, I got into an interesting conversation with Morgana. According to her, the founders of the game were thinking of closing the virtual world to new users.

“That’s going to affect everything,” I said.

She nodded. “Exactly. Some of us are starting to organize against it.”

“I don’t know. Sounds like a shitty rumor to me.”

“The shitty rumors are usually the true ones,” Harper said behind us.

I didn’t bother turning around to look at her.

“As long as the game doesn’t shut down before I die,” Newton said.

“Don’t be so morbid, please,” Harper said.

“He’s dying. Leave him alone,” I said over my shoulder.

I noticed Shingu glancing back at us as we approached a wide, fast-flowing river that separated his core kingdom from that of King Gregor. The polluted water that ran north to south originated in Gristle, the city-state directly north of the badlands, a sort of transition zone from the badlands to the League of Twelve lands that occupied most of the continent.

“The rumor’s aren’t true,” Shingu said.

“Oh? You know for sure?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said, not looking back. “The truth is much worse.”

“What do you know?” I asked.

“It’s not my place to talk about it,” he said. “Xin Jang will inform you if he thinks you need to know. Until then, I’ve taken an oath not to spread the information.”

“Something’s afoot,” I said. “Figures it would happen right after I came into the game full time.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Morgana said.

She glanced over and smiled before looking away.

“I’m not worried, but I like to know what’s happening,” I said.

Shingu stopped at a flimsy wooden bridge spanning the gray, murky water.

“We’ll be safer once we cross,” he said, glancing around.

I nodded, knowing Xin Jang would be pleased with my information.

“Doesn’t look safe to me,” Harper complained.

“We’ll be fine,” I said, stepping onto the bridge. “See?”

I crossed without incident, the others following me. When I turned around to watch the others cross the bridge, I saw Womang topple over the side and fell in.

“No!” Newton shouted.

He leaped off his horse then jumped into the water, swimming after her as she got carried down river by the swiftly moving current. Fuck, I thought as I got down and ran along the bank.

“I’m drowning!” Newton said. “Help!”

“Here’s a rope,” Morgana said.

I grabbed it and tossed one end into the water. Newton flailed about but managed to grab it.

“Womang!” he yelled.

As I pulled on the rope, bringing him closer to shore, he let go and swam after the dino-woman bobbing up and down in the water, wildly thrashing about. I started taking off my armor to go in after him, but he reached Womang and helped her toward the shore. They climbed the bank, both sopping wet and breathing heavily.

“Thank you so much,” Womang said, sobbing.

Newton clung to her, comforting as much as he could.

“Everything okay?” Shingu asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “We’re coming.”

He led us north, following a road that led to the Forbidden City. While I’d heard descriptions of it, I’d never seen the place myself. How cool was it if it was in the badlands? We rode in silence. I kept glancing over at Morgana, happy to have her around. Harper looked better, but I found myself attracted to Morgana’s mind. She intrigued me.

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑

CHAPTER 17

┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

A Little Help from a New Friend

We arrived at the walls around the Forbidden City without any further incidents. The massive double gate opened outward, allowing us entry. I noticed heavily armored guards every ten or twenty feet throughout the complex. They all stared straight ahead, ready to give their lives for their leader. I would have that kind of power with the dino sword charged.

“You can clean and rest a bit before Xin Jang sees you,” Shingu said. “Follow me.”

He dismounted then headed toward a boxy building near the walls. We followed him into the building. He talked to the woman in charge briefly then turned.

“Miss Bhang will help you,” he said. “I’ll see you later this evening.”

“Thanks,” I said, nodding my head.

He bowed briefly then turned and left the building.

“This way,” Miss Bhang said, waving for us to follow.

We walked further into the building and came upon a room with a massive pool of heated water in the center. Several naked men and women bathed, not paying us any attention as we entered the room. Miss Bhang pointed toward a bench that hugged the wall all the way around the room. I noticed towels hanging from pegs on the wall.

“You can wash here,” she said. “I’ll wash your clothes if you leave them in a pile. The dino-woman needs to go back outside. She cannot wash here.”

“Are you serious?” Newton asked. “That’s outrageous.”

“It’s our way,” she said.

“Womang, can you wait outside?” I asked, hoping she understood.

She nodded her oversized lizard head.

“I’ll be right back out, baby,” Newton said.

“She can clean out back with the animals,” Miss Bhang said without flinching.

Damn. They’re a bit harsh on the dino-people. As the woman walked away, I headed over to an open spot on the bench and started stripping off my leather armor. Being able to wash would feel nice after so long. The others came over and started stripping too.

“I don’t like how they’re treating Womang,” Newton said.

“Me either, but we’re guests here. I’ll treat her better once I have my kingdom.”

“You say that now,” he quipped.

“I’m a man of my word,” I said.

Naked, I walked over to the bathing pool and stepped down a few stairs and into the warm, clear water. After finding a seat on a stone bench running around the edge, I sat down in the water and stretched out. The others joined me, cleaning as good as we could given the circumstances. The warmth felt good on my aching muscles.

“We need to get one of these,” Harper said then dipped her head under the water.

She came up a moment later, water dripping down her hair and face before she wiped it away.

“We’ll have this and a lot more,” I said then glanced back at the dino sword.

I didn’t expect anyone in the bathhouse to steal it, but I liked to keep an eye on it. Miss Bhang returned a few minutes after we’d gotten in.

“Xin Jang will see you now,” she said. “I have fresh clothes.”

Three women behind her went over to the bench where we’d left our belongings and dropped off a clean white robe for each of us. I stood up and got out of the pool along with the others. After drying off and dressing, we followed Miss Bhang out of the bathhouse. The closer we got to the center of the Forbidden City, the more impressed I became.

Xin Jang had a good thing going. I would hate for an asshole like King Gregor to mess it up for him. A tall, square tower stood at the center of the city. Several guards stood in front of the door. They moved aside as Miss Bang approached. None of them said anything as we walked inside the ornate and magnificent tower. I glanced around the room.

“Wait here,” Miss Bhang said then walked over to a doorway.

She disappeared through it, leaving the five of us to our own devices. Womang picked up an expensive looking vase then raised it to her mouth.

“Don’t,” I said.

“Why not?” she asked, lowering it. “I’m thirsty.”

“They’ll give us food and water soon enough,” I said. “Can you handle her, Newton?”

He grinned and stepped toward her, putting his hand on her arm and talking to her in a soothing voice. I set my armor and sword down on the floor in front of me as we waited. The marble tiles gleamed along with the rest of the city. Everything looked brand-new.

“This way,” Miss Bhang said from the door.

She motioned for us to come over. I picked up my belongings then walked to the doorway. She turned and continued down a hallway. At a set of stairs, we climbed to the second floor of the tower. We didn’t stop until we reached the top floor — eight stories.

Miss Bhang stopped before a thick curtain in the foyer at the top of the stairs then pulled it aside. I walked through, still holding onto all my stuff. Xin Jang, dressed in deep purple robes, stood near a window on the far side of the room. He turned and smiled as we entered.

“They should’ve given you somewhere to store your stuff,” he said.

“It’s okay,” I replied, setting my stuff, including the dino sword, on the polished wood floor.

“Thank you for helping Shingu,” Xin Jang said.

His well-groomed, jet-black goatee said a lot about him.

“No problem,” I said. “We’ve got news for you too.”

“Oh?” He stepped forward. “What is your news?”

“King Gregor has dug a tunnel,” I said. “He’s planning on using it to attack you, I think.”

Xin Jang laughed then shook his head.

“That’s not news,” he said. “We’ve known about it for a while.”

“Do you know he’s training dino-women to cast spells for an assault?”

“That I didn’t know about,” Xin Jang said. “Our last spy never returned.”

“We just came from the boat brothel,” Morgana said. “We barely escaped.”

“King Gregor is a pest that must finally be squashed,” Xin Jang said.

“We’re willing to help you do it,” I said.

The leader of the second largest kingdom in the badlands laughed again.

“I have more than enough to defeat King Gregor whenever I choose,” he said.

“Can you grant me a favor?” I asked.

“Depends on what you want.”

I stepped toward him and brought out the dino sword.

“This needs charging,” I said. “Can you help?”

“Ah,” Xin Jang said. “The new sword. I hadn’t heard someone found it.”

“We got to it first,” I said.

“And barely got away with it,” Harper added.

“One of my high-level mages can charge it for you,” Xin Jang said.

“Thanks. Your help is appreciated.”

He smiled. “Wait. You haven’t heard the cost.”

“What do you want?” I asked.

As he opened his mouth, a system message appeared in a floating box in front of me. The rest of the game paused because of the highest severity level.

<< Warning. >>

<< Message from real world not received. >>

<< Stay tuned for more. >>

I dismissed it then turned to the others in my group.

“Did everyone get that too?” I asked.

“Troubling,” Xin Jang said.

I remembered what Shingu had told us on the way up.

“Do you know of something big happening? I asked.

Xin Jang nodded and crossed his arms over his chest.

“This is very troubling…”

“What the hell’s going on?” Harper asked.

I wondered briefly where her tact had gone since I came into the game full time.

“We’ll charge your sword first,” Xin Jang. “Only those with a dino sword can know what’s about to happen. Things are going to get weird.”

“Great,” I said, bending to pick up the sword.

“The ceremony to activate your sword will take twenty days,” Xin Jang said.

“What? You’re kidding, right?” I shook my head.

“No,” he said. “It’s not as easy as you might think. Those who wield the swords have tremendous power. Handing that out is not done piecemeal.”

“Can we wait here in the city?” Newton asked.

I turned and saw Womang clinging to him.

“She can’t stay in the Forbidden City,” Xin Jang said, nodding at the dino-woman. “The rest of you will be my honored guests until the ceremony for charging your sword is complete.”

“Let’s get started,” I said. “Tell me where to go.”

“Hold on,” Morgana said. “We need to keep Womang safe.”

“If she can’t stay here, I’m not staying here,” Newton said, puffing out his chest.

“That’s fine with me,” Xin Jang said, his voice cold and devoid of emotion.

“She’ll be fine,” I said. “You can stay with her.”

Newton’s eyes widened. “You’re not coming with us?”

“I need to charge the sword,” I said.

“And I’m staying with him,” Harper said.

Newton turned to Morgana. She stayed silent.

“Fine,” he said. “Let me out of your damn group.”

“Don’t be that way,” Harper said.

Xin Jang walked back over to the window, ignoring us.

“Let him go if he wants to go,” I said. “He can stick up for his NPC lover all he wants, but we need to be near the sword.”

“I agree,” Morgana said.

<< Your harem has decreased! >>

<< -1 male - Newton, human rogue / bard / alchemist >>

<< -10 sexual energy! >>

“I’m out of here,” Newton said, walking away. “Stop me now or I’m gone.”

He took a few steps, holding onto Womang’s hand.

“About to leave for good,” he said.

I turned my back to him and crossed my arms over my chest. Morgana sighed as she watched him and Womang walk out of the throne room.

“You can be so childish sometimes,” she said.

“He’s the one being childish.”

“You’re just proving my point.” She shook her head. “He needed us.”

“Then he shouldn’t have gone away,” I said.

Xin Jang cleared his throat.

“Have you worked out your problems yet?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said, noticing an old woman in black, velvet robes walking into the room.

“Good,” Xin Jang said. “Give me your sword. Esther will begin the charging process.”

“It will take until morning,” she said.

As Xin Jang watched, I handed the sword over to her.

“We can talk more in the morning,” he said. “I’ve got things to do. Miss Bhang will take you to your rooms for the night.”

He turned and followed his mage out of the room. Miss Bhang led us down two floors and to a bedroom with four full-sized bunk-beds against the walls.

“A man will be outside if you need anything,” Miss Bhang said.

I looked past her and saw an armed guard standing in the hallway.

“Thanks,” Morgana said. “We’re fine for now.”

After Miss Bhang left, shutting the door behind her, I turned to Harper.

“What do you think about Xin Jang?”

“Something weird’s going on,” she said.

Morgana nodded. “I agree. That system message was the highest priority.”

“I’m surprised we haven’t heard anything else about it yet.”

“We can check during our in-game sleep tonight,” Morgana said.

I nodded. “Good idea. Someone has to have heard something.”

“Anyone want to fuck?” Harper asked.

I turned and saw she’d stripped naked.

“To be honest, I’m beat. Let’s sleep, okay? We’ve got a big day tomorrow.”

Harper’s head snapped back in disbelief. “Wow, okay, I guess…”

“Don’t you want to see what’s happening to the game?” Morgana asked.

“Not really,” Harper said, shrugging.

I crawled onto one of the lower mattresses and stretched out, hands behind my head. Eyes closed, I quickly drifted off to what passed for sleep in the game. I checked my email and saw another notification about an impending announcement. Checking the message boards for the game, I didn’t see anyone talking about the matter. Strange.

After digging around for a while and not finding anyone talking about anything publicly, I hit up a few people in the real world I knew played the game. None of them answered my calls or messages right away, so I decided to slip into true-sleep. I needed to rest and heal up for my character in the game. The system would let us know eventually.

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑

CHAPTER 18

┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

Meaning of the Word Change

The next morning, I woke to Miss Bhang clapping loudly.

“Wake up, Xin Jang is here,” she said.

I glanced over at the door and saw the purple-clad man walk in.

“Good morning,” he said. “I hope you slept well.”

“Fine enough,” I said, sitting up. “What’s so important you have to come see us before we’ve had a chance to wake up.”

“I’m taking a few companies of men south toward Yusgood, but I need your help.”

“We’re not siege specialists,” I said. “Sorry.”

“That’s perfect,” he said. “I need someone to clear the boat brothel and tunnels underneath it. Can you handle distracting him while I send my main forces at his city?”

“I don’t think that’s a good plan,” Morgana said.

“Silence your woman,” Xin Jang said, not looking at her.

“Hold on,” I said. “She’s got a mind of her own.”

“If you clear the boat brothel and tunnels for me, you can have the land above and below the earth to form your own kingdom between mine and King Gregor’s.”

“That’s nice, but I had some other ideas for real estate to settle on.”

Xin Jang laughed. “You seem to think I was asking.”

“It’s not a bad deal,” Harper said.

“How can I trust you?” I asked.

“We’ll sign a contract,” Xin Jang said. “The League of Twelve will uphold a binding contract between us if I try to pull anything on you.”

I tilted my head back, examining his eyes.

“Why are you being so helpful?” I asked.

“And not just taking your sword as my own?” He grinned. “The thought crossed my mind, but with what’s coming, another kingdom will be needed in the badlands. I plan to attack Gristle and take my rightful place in the League of Twelve.”

“That’s ambitious,” I said.

“When you have your dino sword activated, you’ll understand.” Xin Jang turned to Miss Bhang. “Give them the contract, please.”

She stepped over and handed me a scroll. I unfurled it and scanned the text.

“Here’s a quill,” Xin Jang said. “Sign there.”

I pressed the paper against my thigh and started to sign.

“Hold on,” Morgana said. “Did you read the whole thing?”

“It’s just a standard agreement,” I said, looking up at Xin Jang. “Right?”

“Of course,” he said, smiling.

I signed my in-game name then handed him the scroll.

“Perfect,” Xin Jang said. “Tomorrow, we battle King Gregor.”

“We should go now,” I said. “They’re preparing.”

“I doubt they know we’re coming,” Xin Jang said. “Unless your small friend would tell them?”

“No, Newton wouldn’t do that to us,” I insisted.

I felt a little bad about not at least asking him to stick around. He would’ve come in handy.

“Enjoy the city,” Xin Jang said. “Tomorrow, I claim King Gregor’s lands for myself.”

“What about my sword?” I asked.

Xin Jang walked toward the door.

“There’s been some complications,” he said. “You’ll have it later this afternoon.”

I better, I thought, keeping the sentiment to myself.

“Can we trust him?” Morgana asked after he left, mirroring my thoughts.

“We don’t have much choice at this point,” I said. “King Gregor would never charge it for me. I think we made the right decision.”

“Unless we found a crazy dino-woman that could’ve charged it,” Harper said then laughed.

“That might’ve worked,” Morgana said, coming to my defense. “Truthfully, I don’t trust Xin Jang or agree with how he’s running his kingdom. I hope ours will be different.”

“We will be,” I said. “Can you imagine having the first underground kingdom in the game?”

“Surely someone else has done it by now,” Harper said, killing my excitement.

“Maybe, but it’s still cool.”

“If you get your sword back. We still don’t know anything about that system message. I searched in my game sleep last night and couldn’t find anyone willing to tell me any concrete facts about what’s supposed to happen.”

“We’ll find out eventually,” I said. “We shouldn’t worry about it.”

Harper and Morgana helped me relax. After making love, we laid around and planned our underground kingdom the rest of the day. Miss Bhang brought us everything we needed or wanted, including great food and drink. By that evening, they had me turned on again. I fucked both of them hard and fast from behind before crashing for the night.

Once again, I searched for any news about Dino World but came up with nothing during my in-game sleep. I switched off my consciousness and drifted into dreams that mimicked what humans did less than a century before. The mix of images, metaphors, sights, sounds, and smells kept my mind going while my consciousness rested up.

* * * * *

I woke before Harper and Morgana in the morning. On the way back from the washroom, I saw a red robed mage standing outside the door to our room. He held my sword in one hand.

“You’re done?” I asked, walking toward him.

He nodded and handed me the sword, hilt first, as Morgana opened the door and stepped into the hallway. I grabbed the dino sword and felt a slight shock.

“You need to use it over the next twenty-one days for it to bond with you,” he said.

“That sounds about right,” Morgana said.

“You’ve had a dino sword before, have you?” I joked.

She smiled but said nothing.

“Make sure you kill something at least once a day,” the mage said. “It’s important.”

“With what we have to do, that’s not going to be a problem.”

“Any questions?” the mage asked.

“Not right now,” I said. “Seems simple enough.”

“The sword will give you more information once it wakes up.”

I’d heard rumors dino swords forged a psychic link with their owners, but I never really believed them before. Were they true after all? I only needed to wait another twenty-one days to find out. Soon, I would have my own kingdom under the earth. Xin Jang would be even bigger if he defeated King Gregor, but with his sights on the League of Twelve, I wouldn’t have to worry about him too much. At least I hoped I didn’t.

The mage wandered away without offering any other information. I held the sword in the hallway, still feeling a slight tingling coming from the hilt. The buzz ran up my arms, making me feel stronger as I gripped the leather-wrap.

“Are you going to play with your sword all morning, or can we get ready for today?”

I grinned. “Harper up yet?”

“You’re kidding, right?” she quipped.

“Get her up. I’ll go find us some breakfast and find out the plan for the day.”

She leaned forward and kissed me unexpectedly on the lips.

“Love you,” she said then slipped into the room and closed the door behind her.

I walked down the hall toward the stairs, hoping Xin Jang was in his throne room to talk. He’d gone over the basics of his plan the day before, but I needed more details. Even if Newton hadn’t told him anything, the fact we escaped from the massive tunnel would lead King Gregor to flood it with more men.

“You’re up!” Xin Jang said in an animated tone as I walked in the throne room.

“I had some questions,” I said, stopping near where he sat.

He leaned forward. “Are you wanting to back out of your commitment?”

“No, but King Gregor’s likely restocked the tunnel with more warriors and mages,” I said. “With Newton gone, it’s just Harper, Morgana, and me. I need help.”

Xin Jang smiled and waved his hand through the air, dismissing my request.

“You’ll have two dozen of my best men,” he said. “A normal specialist squad. Once you’re in the main tunnel, they’ll have explosives to collapse the tunnel and shut-off access to Yusgood.”

“Whoa,” I said. “You never told me about that part of the plan.”

“This way you’ll be able to stop King Gregor from bringing more troops to retake the rooms they’ve dug and the boat whorehouse above ground in the swamp.”

“Maybe, but…”

I let my voice trail off as I went over everything that could go wrong in my mind.

“But what? Speak up.”

“King Gregor’s not a fool,” I said. “Without knowing everything, I can’t say.”

“All I have is rumors too,” he said. “You’re talking about the game announcement, right?”

I nodded.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “I need your focus on the battle today. King Gregor is going down, and you’re going to be part of it. That’s the type of action someone with a dino sword takes. You’re going to be one of us.”

“I’m my own man,” I said.

“Fair enough.” Xin Jang stood and walked over. “Do you need more men?”

“No, we should be fine with two-dozen of your best. You’re sending us spellcasters among them, right?”

“Of course,” Xin Jang said. “You need to learn to trust someone in the game.”

“I’m trusting you do something that’s untrustworthy,” I said.

He smiled as he stopped in front of me. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. My team will meet you downstairs. We need to get moving. As you attack the whorehouse and take out the tunnel, I’ll take my main army south, splitting it before we reach Yusgood.”

“Do you have enough men and artillery?” I asked.

“You underestimate my power too?” he asked.

I was starting to hate his cockiness.

“No,” I lied.

“Good,” he said. “If I happen to fall, you can still have start your kingdom underground in twenty-one days if you stick to the script. That almost got me when I received and activated my dino sword years ago.”

“You’ll have to tell me the story someday.”

He patted me on the shoulder. “Maybe.”

I left him and went to get Harper and Morgana.

* * * * *

A little while later, Harper, Morgana, and I stood at the gates of the Forbidden City. Long lines of men and tall siege towers lined the road in two massive rows. A group of twenty-four warriors and mages had positioned themselves nearby, waiting for my orders.

“You’ve got this,” Xin Jang said. “Tonight, we feast!”

I grinned and nodded. He turned and rode toward the main army.

“Let’s head west then south to the swamp,” I said. “We need to be quick and stealthy.”

I split a few of the two dozen men under my command to go ahead and scout. The rest of us walked in a single file line. With Harper on my left and Morgana on my right, I felt invincible. A little luck would help us win the encounter. I still wasn’t sure whether I wanted to start my kingdom underground, but I had time to think about it.

“We’ll let them do the bulk of the fighting,” I said in a low voice.

Morgana nodded. “I agree. We should stay in back.”

“After clearing out everything above ground, we’ll send a small team below. I wish we had some magic to get down the pit easier.”

“Maybe one of the spellcasters Xin Jang gave us will have something,” Harper said.

“Good idea.”

We rode in silence the rest of the way, stopping at the edge of the swamp. I went over my plan with the two dozen men. They went along with everything without complaint. I could only hope to have such a good group when I founded my own kingdom.

“Let’s do this,” I said, clapping my hands.

Leaving the horses tied up, we stealthily marched into the swamp. Crossbow bolts took out the single guard standing on the deck of the big, wooden boat. After he went down, some of the group started climbing the rope ladder. One by one, they boarded, spreading out. I stopped on the deck with Harper and Morgana beside me. A few men screamed inside as we walked up the stairs to the second floor.

I kept expecting Newton to pop out at any moment, but he didn’t appear. The other men had cleared the entire building by the time we reached the wide hole leading down.

“Any magic to get us down all at once?” I asked.

Two mages, both in dark red robes, peered at each other then turned to me.

“We have something, but it will take a lot of mana,” the shorter one said.

“Save it. We’ll go down one at a time.” I peered down the pit, unable to see the bottom. “We should still have the benefit of surprise. Xin Jang and his frontal assault should keep them too busy to worry about the tunnel.”

“Unless they’re using it to send troops this way now,” Morgana said.

She had a point.

“We still need to go down and set the explosives.” I turned to the commander of Xin Jang’s unit. “Can you put together a group to go down and do it while the rest of us stay up here? It’ll be a hell of a lot easier to stop them from the top of this massive pit than on the bottom.”

The man nodded. “I’ll need at least three men to set all the charges.”

“Bring six,” I said. “The others can back you up in case you run into trouble. Can you handle invisibility for six of them, Harper?”

She frowned. “No, but I can do three of them and have just enough mana left to feel safe.”

“Do it,” I said. “Being invisible, they should have an easier time setting the explosives further down the tunnel. You know where to set it, right?”

The man nodded. “We’ll blow it about a half mile down. Does that work?”

“Yeah,” I said, imagining how an underground kingdom would work.

Harper cast invisibility on the three men. I ordered the rest to position themselves around the building in case we were attacked from above or had to fight King Gregor’s men coming up from below. Harper, Morgana, and I stayed in the room with the pit, watching and listening for any indications that something went wrong.

I gripped the hilt of my dino sword. While it had seen action when clearing the building, I wanted to use it again. A fortnight was too long to wait to gain its true powers. Having Xin Jang help with founding my kingdom would be helpful, but I was thinking long-term. The time dilation in the game means I could rule and expand my empire for hundreds of years.

“Something’s wrong,” Morgana said, peering down.

“I don’t hear anything,” I said.

“Exactly.” She straightened up. “They should’ve blown the tunnel by now.”

“I don’t know…”

As I peered over the edge, I saw a dozen lights zooming up.

“Shit!” I shouted. “Someone’s coming! Get a defensive position!”

“Look alive!” Harper screamed as she tore down a hallway.

We holed up in Womang’s quarters. If threatened, we could climb out the windows and drop to the swamp below, but I hoped to take a stand and claim the land as my own.

“Give up!” a shrill man shouted. “King Gregor has ordered us to take you alive. Don’t make that difficult. Come out now, and we won’t rough you up.”

I heard a scream in the room below. An explosion followed. The entire boat rocked. Another litany of screams filled the air. Looking out the door, I saw smoke quickly filling the hallway.

“Fuck, we’ve got to get out of here,” I said, looking around.

I ran to the window and opened it.

“That’s too far,” Harper said. “I’m not jumping.”

“We don’t have a choice. Jump or die.”

“They said they’re taking us alive,” Harper said. “We should just go with them.”

“Give up? Are you fucking nuts?” I shook my head.

“She’s stressed,” Morgana said. “We all are.”

“No shit!” I snapped.

Another explosion rocked the boat.

“There they are!” someone shouted from the hallway.

“Rope!” Morgana exclaimed, picking it up.

I tossed one end out the window as she wrapped the other around the leg of the desk.

“Go!” I pushed Harper toward the window. “Now!”

“Incoming!” Morgana shouted.

She yelled and drew her sword as two armored men rushed into the room. I pulled the dino sword out and stepped forward as she plunged her sword into the neck of the first man.

“Get out! I’ll cover you!” I shouted.

She retreated as I clashed swords with the remaining soldier. I could see fear in his eyes which gave me a distinct advantage in the battle. While Morgana climbed out the window, I toyed with the man, parrying his blows before moving in for the kill. He screamed as he fell to the floor, clutching the wound in his neck. I glanced up and saw several more men in the hall.

After slamming the door shut and locking it, I retreated to the other side of the room. They reached the door and banged on it as I nimbly climbed down the lopsided whorehouse. At the bottom, I saw Harper and Morgana along with seven of the original twenty-four men we’d brought with us. Had Newton told them we would come back?

“What are we doing?” Harper asked.

Above us on the boat, the battle raged on.

“They’re going to take the boat back,” I said. “We should go.”

“And leave our men?” one of the warriors asked.

“It’s suicide to go back in there now,” I said. “We’re outnumbered.”

“Suicide isn’t a bad solution,” the man said.

He turned to the other men in his unit.

“Who’s with me? This mission...needs…to…”

That’s strange. He’s talking so slow. I’m sleepy. Why am I falling asleep?

Fight it! No!

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑

CHAPTER 19

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Doing the Fucking Research

I woke up in the virtual world between the game and reality. They must have cast a sleep spell on us. How long would it last? I sat down at the virtual terminal in the endless white room and emailed a hacker I knew. A little real-world information on King Gregor would go a long way in helping me negotiate with him. No way I was going to give him my dino sword.

The sleep spell must have been powerful, because I had enough time to get a reply from DmitriDmitri. King Gregor was an insanely rich Russian kid with ties to the oil mafia. He had paid his way to a position of power in the game but was unable to leverage the perks into membership with the League of Twelve city states. I could use that information against him if necessary.

<< You are waking. >>

<< Returning to Dino World. >>

<< Enjoy your fun. >>

I took a deep breath as I opened my eyes inside the game. Morgana stood above me, looking down. Relief washed over her face.

“He’s waking up,” she said.

“What happened?” I asked, sitting up.

“Sleep spell,” Harper said.

I glanced around, noticing we were in a cell different from the one before.

“Where are we?” I stood up. “Are you two okay?”

“They’re fine,” King Gregor said from outside the bars.

I turned and saw him flanked by four spellcasters. One of them held my dino sword with gauntlets. I walked over and put my hands on the bars.

“Let us out of here,” I said.

“Why would I do that?” he asked. “You’re so silly.”

“I know you,” I said.

He laughed.

“Everyone knows me,” he said. “Your plan with Xin Jang is foiled. The dino swords are part of the spoils of war.”

“You killed him?” I asked.

“Not yet, but we will soon,” King Gregor continued. “I see the new dino sword’s already bonded with you. All I need to do is stop you from using it for the next twenty-four hours, and it’ll release itself from you. I’ll wait to pick up a second dino sword.”

“Let us out of here,” I said again.

“Or what?” King Gregor laughed and turned to leave.

After he walked away with his mages, an armored guard stepped out of the shadows. I took my hands off the bars and turned around. Harper and Morgana stood next to each other.

“I’ve got a plan,” Harper said. “I’ve got enough sex energy saved up to pull it off.”

Morgana looked into my eyes and shrugged as Harper stripped off her clothes. Once naked, she pressed against the bars, calling out to the guard. Something about her voice sounded different from normal, a little huskier maybe. I stepped back as she played with herself in front of the bars. The guard walked over, eyes locked on her pussy and hands.

“You know you want me,” Harper cooed. “Let me see you. I need to taste you.”

She must have used up all her sex energy points at once. Between her natural talent to turn men on and the in-game help, I couldn’t see any straight man refusing her. The guard glanced to the left then right before undoing his belt and lowering his pants. What’s her end game? Is she going to actually…

“Fuck!” the man screamed. “You bit it off, bitch!”

“Get the keys!” Harper shouted as she grabbed the surprised guard.

I rushed over and slipped a hand through the bars, reaching for his belt. Blood continued squirting out from between his legs as he struggled to get away.

“Got them,” I said.

Harper pushed the guard over as he continued screaming. I fumbled with the key in the lock a moment before the gate swung open. Harper slipped on her robes as Morgana walked out of our cell and into a larger room. I followed her, grabbing the guard’s sword.

“Let’s get out of here,” Harper said. “I have just enough mana to make us all invisible for a short time. That’ll enable us to get out of here.”

“We’re not leaving yet,” I said, shaking my head. “That sword’s mine, and I’m getting it.”

Morgana smiled as Harper sighed. I wondered briefly if I’d fallen in love with the wrong woman.

“How long will your invisibility last?” I asked.

“No longer than an hour at the most,” she said. “I got some mana back after we slept, but not the full amount. We also might need some of my offensive spells.”

“Okay, we’re doing this the old-fashioned way,” I said. “You two follow me. I’ll scout ahead and try to get my bearings. We were out a while, so they could’ve taken us anywhere.”

“I recognize the architecture,” Morgana said. “We’re in King Gregor’s castle.”

“That’s good to know,” I said, smiling.

“If you two are done flirting, we should go,” Harper snapped.

“Are you okay?” I asked. “Thanks for seducing him.”

“Just playing my part,” she quipped.

“Come on,” Morgana said, grabbing my arm. “We should go.”

“Follow me at a safe distance and watch behind you,” I said.

Morgana nodded. I turned and headed out of the room. After listening at the door, I opened it and went through. The hallway on the other side looked quiet enough. I crept forward. As I reached a corner, a guard came strolling around it. While he fumbled for his sword, I ran at him. My sword stuck in his gut. I twisted it around, burying it hilt deep until he stopped struggling.

Harper and Morgana came up as I lowered him to the stone floor stained with blood. Morgana grabbed his weapon. I peered around the corner, not seeing anyone else coming.

“There should be a stairwell coming up,” Morgana said. “I’m pretty sure we’re in the dungeon below King Gregor’s castle. Once we’re above ground, we’ll have to get across the courtyard and find a way out of the gate.”

“Not without my dino sword,” I said.

Harper sighed.

“Can’t you come back for it?” she asked.

“I can’t risk it. You and Morgana can leave if you want.”

“No, I’m staying with you,” Morgana said. “Til the end.”

I tilted my head as I stared at her. How did she know that phrase meant something to me?

“Someone’s coming,” Harper said.

I pushed them back and stood pressed against the wall right before the corner. As another guard came around the corner, not paying attention, I stuck my sword in his throat. Unable to scream, he gurgled a bit of blood then flopped lifelessly to the floor. I stepped over him and rushed to the end of the hallway where I saw a set of stairs leading up.

“Come on,” I said, motioning for the others to follow.

I took the steps two at a time, ready for anything to appear before me. We reached a small room at the top with a single wooden door. I listened at it a moment then cracked it open to look. The door opened to the courtyard on the back side of the castle. We would need to go all the way around to the front and then make a run for the gate.

“Well?” Morgana asked. “How’s it look?”

“Not good,” I said. “We need to find another way into the castle.”

I heard a commotion outside in the courtyard. Peeking out, I saw a group of men running around from the front of the castle. They lined up in a semicircle around us.

“What is it?” Morgana asked, struggling to see around me.

“They know something,” I said. “They must have magic to watch the dungeon or something.”

“Come out!” a soldier yelled.

“There’s only a dozen,” I said. “We can take them.”

“Fuck it, let’s do it,” Harper said. “I wanted to start a new character anyway.”

The fact you could respawn took some urgency out of the game, but starting over from scratch would suck, especially with no new dino swords spawning in the foreseeable future. I’d timed my full-time entrance into the game around one thing — getting the dino sword.

Harper kicked the door open then cast her chain lightning spell. As it hit the first man and spread to the others, Morgana and I ran forward to mop up any who survived. Three men fell, but the others ran forward, weapons drawn. Morgana and I met them head on, each of us skillfully swinging our blades. They got a few hits in, but nothing too serious.

As the last man fell to the ground, no longer moving, I smiled. The expression faded as I looked up and saw another two dozen men coming from each direction.

“Harper? Pull a rabbit out of that hat of yours?”

“I’ve got nothing,” she replied.

We bunched up together with them facing one group and me facing the other. Two mages appeared behind the warriors in my direction. I took a deep breath. Might as well go out fighting.

“Ready, ladies?” I asked.

“We should surrender,” Harper said. “I don’t want to respawn.”

“Shut-up,” Morgana snapped, not acting so submissive as when I’d first met her.

An explosion on the other side of the castle got all of our attention.

What now? I wondered as most of the men facing us down turned around and ran.

“Attack!” I shouted and ran forward.

The remaining men moved to protect their mage as I reached them, swinging violently. Steel clanged against steel as I fought my way closer to the spell caster. He waved his arms and sent energy bolts at me. Between that and the damage I’d taken earlier, I felt weak. Morgana fought at my side, killing two men easily.

“Protect the gate” the mage shouted. “Retreat and hold the gate!”

What the hell is happening? I wondered as all the soldiers and mages surrounding us turned and ran toward the front of the castle.

“Come on,” I said, running after them. “We have to see what’s going on.”

I turned the corner and couldn’t believe my eyes.

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑

CHAPTER 20

┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

Fuck that Dino-Shit, It’s Mine!

“Fucking Newton,” I muttered as I rounded the corner.

He rode atop a dinosaur bull with Womang sitting behind him. Dozens of other dino-women, all naked, streamed into the courtyard, shooting flames from their hands. Had King Gregor’s plan to teach the natives magic backfired on him? I grinned as I surveyed the battlefield chaos.

“Fucking Newton,” Morgana parroted.

I turned, grabbed her face, and kissed her full on the lips.

“We’ve got this,” I said. “We’ll sneak in the castle and get the dino sword while they’re distracted. Are you ready?”

Harper’s eyes widened as she pointed at the sky. Something huge blocked the sun, darkening the entire courtyard. I followed her finger and saw an immense gray dragon circling. It swooped down and landed with a thud. The massive wings of the beast kicked up dust clouds. King Gregor’s men scattered, some of them leaving and others retreating to the castle.

I gripped the shitty sword I’d stolen from one of King Gregor’s men and watched as a fat man in black leather pants with no shirt climbed off the foul dragon. The sun glistened off his bald, sweating head as he strode forward.

“He’s an emissary from Gristle,” Morgana said.

I nodded, not taking my eyes off him.

“Who’s in charge here?” he asked, looking around. “Where’s King Gregor?”

“I’m here!” the king shouted from the entrance of his castle.

Oh, shit. I turned to see him with a dozen armed men in front of him.

“This battle and whatever pissant war you’re fighting is over,” the emissary said. “Where’s the man who found the new dino sword?”

“I’m here,” I said, stepping forward.

“Great,” the emissary said. “Come with me.”

He walked toward King Gregor’s castle. The dragon belched flames into the air. I followed after him with Harper and Morgana behind me. Newton had gotten off his dinosaur and joined us with Womang at his side.

“Sorry about all that nonsense,” he said as he walked up.

“Don’t worry about,” I said. “We can talk about you joining me again later, if you want.”

“Maybe,” Newton said, smiling. “I’ve got good news on the outside. They got the cancer. I’m not going to die.”

“Nice,” I said as we slowed near the entrance of the castle.

King Gregor and his men had retreated inside before the emissary from the lowest city state reached the tall, thick wooden door. We followed him into the castle, walking straight to the throne room on the first floor. I saw Xin Jang standing near the middle of the room. He looked up as we walked in, a scowl on his face.

“Good, we’re all here,” the fat, sweaty emissary said. “This war is over. If you don’t stop fighting among yourselves, we’re going to sweep in and kill every last one of you worthless buggers. Do you understand?”

“But…” King Gregor said.

“Shut up,” the emissary interrupted. “The wars are disrupting the amount of natural resources and finished goods you’re sending us. If you’ll recall, we allow the two kingdoms to survive in the badlands as long as they provide us with our taxes every month. You both are behind.”

“This fuck attacked me first,” Xin Jang said, pointing a finger at King Gregor.

“Fuck you back,” the king said, adjusting his fur-lined overcoat. “You deserve to die.”

“Enough!” the emissary shouted. “Where’s the new dino sword?”

“I have it, and I claim it,” King Gregor said. “I stole it fair and square.”

“Who found it originally?” the emissary asked. “Has anyone bonded to it yet?”

“I found it,” I said, nodding my head. “The sword’s been bound to me for one day.”

“You can’t give it to him,” King Gregor whined. “It’s mine!”

“I can do whatever the fuck I want,” the emissary snapped. “You’d be wise to remember who you’re talking to right now. I can bring down the wrath of the League of Twelve on this puss mark on the ass of Gardonia.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“You shut the fuck up too,” he said. “Here’s what’s going to happen. You three will fight in the Gristle arena for the sword. The last team standing wins the weapon and their own kingdom in the badlands, a single kingdom to cut down on all the fucking infighting.”

“I can’t fight anymore,” the king said.

“You can create whatever team you want,” the emissary said. “The three teams of four will battle it out for the pleasure of the people of Gristle. After the games, the victor will rule the badlands with the blessing of the League of Twelve.”

I started going through a thousand possibilities in my mind.

“Any questions?” the emissary asked. “If not, I need a piece of ass for the night. Someone more experienced if you don’t mind.”

“Of course,” King Gregor said. “Whatever you want.”

“Fucking right whatever I want, twat.” The emissary walked over to me, looking up and down my body. “How did you find the sword so soon? Did you cheat?”

“Maybe,” I said, my lips barely moving as I stared into his eyes.

He looked away and clapped his hands.

“Is this how you treat important guests in the badlands?” he asked.

As King Gregor rushed to give the emissary whatever he wanted, Xin Jang walked over.

“You fucked up the mission,” he said. “I heard all my men died.”

“They fucked up the mission,” I said. “You didn’t do so hot yourself.”

“Fuck you, man,” he said, pushing me.

I drew my sword, ready to kill him.

“Whoa!” the emissary shouted.

He waved his hands, freezing Xin Jang and myself.

“You two are to go to your separate ways and prepare for the battle in three days. Transportation to Gristle will be provided. Anyone have any questions or problems? No? I didn’t think so.”

He snapped his fingers, freeing us. Xin Jang glared at me but said nothing before turning and walking away with a few of his men.

“What about us?” I called out as King Gregor and the emissary walked away. “We need rooms.”

“Take whatever fucking room you want!” the king shouted.

I turned to Harper and Morgana, shaking my head.

“What the hell just happened?” Harper asked.

“I wonder if he knows anything about that weird system message,” Morgana said.

“We have to concentrate on one thing at a time. Are you two willing to fight with me in the arena in a few days?”

“You don’t need to ask us,” Morgana said.

I turned to Harper. She nodded, lips pursed together.

“You’re acting so strange,” I said.

“There’s something I need to tell you,” Morgana said. “Let’s find a room.”

“What about you, Newton?” I asked.

“I’ll fight with you for a place in your kingdom,” he said. “I’ve got something to fight for now.”

“Great,” I said. “We have our four already.”

“Let’s go find that room,” Morgana said.

“We’ll talk more later,” I said then waved at Newton.

He walked over to Womang as we left the throne room and wandered around a bit before we eventually found an empty bedroom. I locked the door once we were inside. Harper wandered over to the four-poster bed and sat down on the edge of the mattress. Morgana took my hand and led me over to the bed.

“Is someone going to tell me what’s going on?” I asked.

Morgana took my hand in both of hers as she stood in front of me.

“We played a trick on you,” she said. “I had to be sure.”

“Trick? Be sure about what?”

I pulled my hand away and glanced over at the bed.

“What’s going on, Harper?”

“I’m Harper,” Morgana said. “We switched.”

“Huh? What the hell are you talking about?”

“We switched characters before you came into the game full time,” Morgana said. “I’m actually the Harper you played with before.”

“But why?”

“I wanted to see if you loved me or my avatar,” Morgana said. “Haven’t you noticed we get along better than you and the woman playing me?”

“This is nuts,” I said, shaking my head.

I sat down next to Harper on the bed. She put her arm around me.

“There’s more,” Morgana, the real Harper, said. “I have a dino sword too.”

“What?” I stood up. “When did that happen? How is there another one?”

“It’s a long story,” she said.

“We have nothing but time right now,” I countered.

She sighed then motioned toward the bed.

“Have a seat. I’ll try to explain it all from my viewpoint.”

“That would be nice,” I said, sitting down next to the fake Harper. “Who are you anyway?”

“My name’s actually Morgana,” she said. “Harper and I go way back.”

I snorted, still unable to believe they’d been able to pull it off.

“You know, there’s a few times I was wondering what the hell was wrong with you.”

Morgana smiled and leaned down to kiss me. I pulled away as she slipped her tongue in my mouth. She stood up straight.

“Tell me the truth,” I said. “We’re going to win this other dino sword. If we have two of them, we’ll be able to truly rule the entire badlands.”

“Yeah,” Morgana said. “About that... I stole the sword from Gristle.”

“Are you nuts?” I asked.

She grinned. “A little.”

“You’re definitely the Harper I know,” I said.

“Oh, yeah?” she teased. “You like this new body of mine?”

“I like the old and the new,” I said. “Why don’t you two get naked.”

Harper stood next to Morgana, both of them stripping out of their clothes as I watched. The rest of my problems melted away as I watched them gyrate toward each other. My dick twitched when they pressed their bodies together and kissed. If she truly had stolen a dino sword from the League of Twelve, we could be in a whole world of hurt.

The two women stopped kissing and turned their attention to me. I pushed the consequences of her actions out of my mind as they slowly stripped off my armor and underclothes. Both dropped to their knees, concentrating their wet lips between the swiftly hardening spear between my legs. I moaned and leaned back as they worked up and down my entire length.

When Morgana dropped lower and sucked my balls into her mouth, I couldn’t take it anymore. I scooted back on the bed, patting the mattress on my right side. They both smiled and climbed onto the bed. Harper mounted me first, grinding slowly as Morgana leaned forward and kissed me on the mouth. I slid my tongue against hers, not caring where her mouth had just been.

“Fuck me!” Harper moaned.

She leaned forward, holding herself up with her palms on my chest. I kept thrusting up and into her, going as deep as I could. Morgana kept my attention away from my impending orgasm as her tongue danced against mine. Harper’s pussy tightened around me. She screamed, shaking as an orgasm washed over her body.

Morgana pushed her off and took her place. As I slipped into her fresh pussy, I thought I would pop right away. She lowered herself slowly, allowing me to calm down. Unsatisfied, Harper sat on my face, rubbing her wet pussy against my face as Morgana fucked me. I forgot about all my impending problems as the urge to release built up.

“Fuck me, King Drake,” Morgana moaned.

I pushed up in her one last time, unable to hold back any longer. She came herself right after I exploded deep inside her. Harper also came, sliding off my face as I lapped at her swollen pussy lips. As she nestled against me, I wrapped my arms around her back and pulled her closer. She pressed her naked breasts against my chest.

We enjoyed the afterglow for a few minutes. As I drifted back to reality, the seriousness of Morgana’s statement hit me. Had she really stolen one of the other dino swords used by the League of Twelve? And if so, why hadn’t the emissary said anything.

“Tell me about the other dino sword,” I said, twirling Morgana’s long, black hair with my fingers.

She sat up, my limp dick still inside her. “What do you want to know?”

“I helped her steal it,” Harper said.

“How did you pull it off?”

She snorted then climbed off me.

“You don’t think much of me, do you?” she asked.

I sat up. “You mean the world to me. Both of you.”

“They don’t know it’s missing yet,” Harper said then giggled.

Morgana smiled. “We learned a lot by stealing and replicating that katana of Xin Jang’s.”

“Nice,” I said, nodding my head. “Tell me more. Where is it?”

“It’s safe,” Morgana said.

“She won’t tell me either,” Harper complained.

“We need to secure yours first,” Morgana said in a more serious tone.

“Newton won’t be much help, but we fight well together as a team,” I said. “We’ve got a good chance to win the arena battle.”

“If the other two don’t cheat,” Morgana said.

“Yeah, that’s a possibility, but I don’t think they’ll risk it in Gristle. They don’t hold as much power as they think they do sometimes.”

Morgana smiled and reached out, grasping my cock between her long, cool fingers.

“Can you bring this beast back to life?” she asked. “After tonight, we need to concentrate on the battle coming up. We should make the most of the moment.”

“You took the words right out of my mouth,” I said.

She and Harper lowered their heads, bringing my thick, hard snake back to life.

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑

CHAPTER 21

┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

Thunderous Rex and His Crew

“Once we secure the badlands, we can take our time to figure out how to join the League of Twelve and really get some power in this game.” I glanced at the door as someone knocked. “Come in. It’s open.”

Newton walked in, decked out in an invisibility suit with the head covering off.

“It’s legal, baby,” he said.

Over the last couple days, he’d been in a much brighter mood since learning his cancer got eradicated in the real world. We still hadn’t learned anything about the weird system message. The rumor going around was that it was nothing more than a glitch in the game as more people logged on permanently.

“Nice,” I said. “We’ve got a chance to win this.”

“I’ve heard the other two teams have a war mount,” Morgana said.

Even though it was the original Harper I’d known in Morgana’s body, I hadn’t started calling them by their real names. The game had a way of making such things feel normal.

“We can’t afford a war mount of our own,” I said. “The League of Twelve doesn’t care who wins this battle as long as they get someone to run the badlands for them.”

“You mounted Morgana last night,” Harper teased.

Newton laughed, his head floating in the air.

“Take that damn suit off,” I said. “You’re freaking me out.”

“Okay,” he sighed, slipping out of the invisibility suit. “This is going to help us win. Mark my words. Unless they have something to counter it.”

“I’ve got some ideas on how you can use being invisible to sow discord among the two other teams. That’s our biggest chance for winning — getting the other two teams to fight each other and wear themselves down before we move in for the kill.”

“Brilliant,” Morgana said, slipping her arm around my waist.

She sat on one side of the bed with me. Harper sat on my other side.

“Can you go find out what war mounts they’re using?” I asked.

“I knew I should’ve left the suit on,” Newton said.

“Sorry, the idea just came to me. Time is moving so fast.” I turned to Harper. “Did you learn those new offensive spells yet? Can you do it in time for the arena tomorrow?”

“I’m on it,” she said. “I’m a better mage than Morgana ever was.”

“See you guys later,” Newton said then disappeared completely.

“That’s one of the other reasons we switched characters,” Morgana said. “It wasn’t cheap for the hack, but we both pitched in. Knowing you were coming into the game full time, I wanted to be a warrior and closer to you.”

“I might work on my mage side more next,” I said.

Her head darted forward, and she kissed me on the lips.

“We should talk about the arena set-up,” Harper said. “There’s time to fuck later, after we win.”

“I could go for a quickie…” I started.

“Drake,” Harper moaned.

“Okay, okay,” I relented. “Tell us about the arena.”

“You’ve never been?” Harper asked.

I shook my head. “No, I’ve never left the badlands.”

“He wanted to be new to the main continent when he went full time,” Morgana explained.

We had talked so much about our lives together inside the game.

“Anyway, the arena is one square mile on each side. They use floating eyes to relay the scenes to the audience as the massive battle happens. Starting from the corners, there’s two loot boxes before the big one in the center of the arena. Each time starts in a separate corner.”

“That part I’ve heard about,” I said.

“We’ll want to go for the first two loot boxes while heading toward the one in the center. If we can claim that and hold onto it, the bonuses and buffs we get will help us defeat the others,” Harper continued. “The random loot boxes are tricky, but they’re mostly good.”

“Getting King Gregor and Xin Jang to fight each other is important,” I said. “Maybe we should avoid going for the center loot box even though it’s the most powerful.”

Harper bobbed her head back and forth.

“I’m not sure,” she said. “That’s too risky. If we move quick, we can get to the center loot box before the others. We should send Newton out to distract the others and get them to fight each other somehow.”

“Yeah,” I said, nodding. “They both hate each other. We can use that against them.”

I laid back on the bed, hands interlocked behind my head as I stared at the ceiling. Harper and Morgana went to the other side of the room to talk while I thought about the battle and all the other crazy stuff that had happened since I went into the game full time. I didn’t see how my life could get any better than it would be for the foreseeable future.

Newton returned a little over an hour later with new information. King Gregor had rented a stegosaurus for the battle while Xin Jang had somehow acquired a red dragon.

“Fuck,” I said.

Newton nodded. “It’s worse. They’ve both got crack teams. King Gregor is going with a mage, a healer tank, and a battle tank. Xin Jang has two war mages and an insane fighter to tank. Between the stegosaurus and the dragon, I don’t see how we have a chance.”

“We need to get them to attack each other,” I said, getting up and standing next to the bed.

“He’s right,” Harper said. “Morgana and I have been calculating how to get the most DPS, and we’re going to be in trouble if we try to take either team on directly.”

“My invisibility suit will help,” Newton said.

“You just need to make sure you’re picking good targets of opportunity,” I said. “And we need to time our kills precisely. Whoever makes the killing blow gets the health and mana refresh, and we don’t want to waste it on someone who doesn’t need it.”

Newton grinned, rubbing his hands together.

“What?” I asked.

“I’m excited,” he said. “The cancer is fucking gone, and I’m going to be starting a kingdom with you in Dino World. Life is fucking good right now!”

“Calm down,” Harper said. “This isn’t going to be easy.”

“Nothing in life that’s worth it is easy,” I said. “We’ve got this.”

The rest of the evening, we went over strategies and tactics for the battle. In all the situations we ran through, the odds of us winning were very small. All I needed was a chance to win. That was enough to get me motivated and keep me that way. I slept without checking in on the real world that night because I needed to be at my best in the arena the next day.

* * * * *

As we stood in the corner by two walls a hundred feet high the next morning, I kept telling myself we’d win the battle and be allowed to keep the dino sword. While still not activated completely, Harper had given it some buffs, including a double damage modifier. The buffs would help give me a bit of an edge over the higher level characters.

“Remember,” Morgana said. “Get them to fight each other.”

“Get ready to battle!” a voice boomed from beyond the wall.

The cheers of over a hundred thousand people were barely contained by the thick, brick enclosure surrounding the vast arena.

“I’m going incognito,” Newton said as he slipped on his hood.

“Go get ‘em,” I said.

“I will,” he said, his voice trailing away.

“He’s really changed since he got the news about his cancer,” Harper said.

“Makes sense, but I wish someone would confirm or deny the rumors about the system message,” I said. “Why haven’t they given us any information about it?”

“Keep your head in the battle,” Morgana said. “We need to kick ass today.”

I glanced over at the first loot box a few feet away. After that one, we’d come across another about a third of a mile to the center of the arena. The last one would help us become powerful enough to beat both the others. Gristle was famous for loving three-way battles in their massive arena. I wondered what the first loot box would give us.

“My extra mana will help today,” Harper said. “We need force multipliers.”

“Exactly.” I nodded my head. “We need good combos to defeat them.”

“Battle start!” the announcer yelled.

The thunderous applause continued non-stop on the other side of the wall as we rushed to the first loot box. Morgana tapped it with her hand, activating a game screen.

<< Loot Box Found! >>

<< +25% To Hit for all melee attacks for 4 minutes >>

“Fuck, that’s sucks,” I said.

A magic orb flew down to catch my expression. The crowd jeered on the other side of the wall. I kept walking toward the next loot box, Harper and Morgana at my sides. The battle would end up going into the history books of Dino World. I would be legendary if I pulled off a victory.

“Look alive!” Morgana shouted as we jogged toward the second loot bot.

“Wizard at twelve o’clock a hundred feet up!” Harper yelled.

I stopped and turned to the sky. A man in red robes with an insane curly mustache laughed like a maniac as he levitated.

“Lightning bolt!” Harper shouted.

Her words became reality as a ball of lightning soared through the sky, hitting the red wizard. As he fell to the ground, I ran toward the area he might hit. He hit the grass hard and moaned, curling up into a ball. I kicked my emotions to the curb and jumped up right before reaching him. Coming down, I stuck my sword through his skull, killing him instantly.

<< Arena kill! >>

<< Full health restore! >>

<< Full mana restore! >>

“Idiot!” Harper yelled. “I needed to restore my mana. That spell isn’t fucking cheap!”

“Sorry, I got caught up in the moment,” I said.

I failed to tell her I hadn’t even needed to heal my health or mana yet.

“You’re fine, but every little thing helps.” Harper leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. “Let’s get to that next loot box.”

“Come on!” Morgana shouted, already running ahead.

As we reached the second loot box, I saw King Gregor’s two tanks coming in hot and heavy. Morgana reached the wooden crate first and tapped the top. Another notification popped up.

<< Loot Box Found! >>

<< +250% Damage for all melee and magic attacks for 8 minutes >>

“Fuck yeah!” I shouted, stopping and turning to face the warriors charging us. “Save your mana for now. Morgana and I can handle these dumb-fucks.”

I ran forward, dino sword raised high into the air. The priest tank slowed down while the warrior rushed forward, war hammer above his head.

“Die in the name of King Gregor!” he shouted.

I dodged to the side then took off for the priest. Morgana followed up, taking on the warrior while I pressed closer to the spell casting tank.

“Revorium mustket!” he chanted then clapped his hands.

An invisible force hit me in the chest, knocking the air out of my lungs. I plunged to the ground, rolling around and trying not to get hit. The tanky priest swung a steel mace at my legs a few times but missed. I scrambled to my feet and swung the dino sword like a baseball bat. The blade connected with his armored left arm.

“Fucking hell,” he whimpered behind his full helmet.

I ran around him. While more heavily armored, he couldn’t maneuver as well.

“Over here, fuck face,” I taunted then poked him in the back with my blade.

“Fucking fight me!” he shouted in an enraged tone.

The priest swiveled around with his mace out. It hit my right bicep, knocking me to the ground again. He followed up with another direct hit to my guy. My health drained quickly as I scooted backward to get away from him. He kept coming forward, hitting me over and over again.

“Chant on this, fatso!” Harper cried out behind me.

The priest stopped, suddenly not making any sounds. I got to my feet and took a few steps back. Harper smiled.

“Silence cone,” she said.

I nodded, grinned, then closed the gap with the priest. Morgana and the other warrior kept crossing our path, but the damage bonus added up when we could actually hit them with their insane fucking armor scores. The priest regained his voice and cast another spell, buffing himself. He charged at me like a bull, knocking me over.

With one health point left, I knew I had to act. Harper screamed behind me. I struggled to my feet and lifted my sword. The priest laughed like a fucking haughty noble before charging me. I slipped to the side at the last possible moment then stuck him through the visor of his helmet. He screamed and clutched at the metal monstrosity, trying to get it off.

I used the opportunity to finish him off.

<< Arena kill! >>

<< Full health restore! >>

<< Full mana restore! >>

“I needed that!” I shouted, hoping Harper understood.

Remembering she’d screamed, I turned to check on her. Morgana had the other warrior on his knees. Harper zapped him with simple energy bolts, taking him out of the battle.

“Yeah!” Adrenaline pumped through my virtual body. “That’s what I’m talking about!”

“Settle down,” Harper said. “That’s only two of the eight, most likely their lowest level characters. We need to keep going for the middle loot box. The last buff isn’t going to last much longer.”

“Let’s go,” I said, jogging toward the center of the arena.

The last half mile went by quickly. I heard the stegosaurus and dragon roar somewhere nearby. Was it coming from the sky? Or all around? I kept running with one thing on my mind, reaching the loot box and buffing up before we got attacked again. As the central loot box came into view, I saw the stegosaurus and dragon fighting while King Gregor and Kin Jang rode the impressive creatures. This is our chance to get the biggest loot box.

“Go for it!” I shouted, running even faster.

I reached the loot box and slammed my palm down on the top, getting a splinter.

<< Loot Box Found! >>

<< Double Speed for 12 minutes >>

“Twelve! Twelve! Twelve!” the crowd chanted.

“Back to back,” I said. “Let them fight each other a minute.”

The dragon roared then shot a stream of fire at the stegosaurus, causing it to scream and screech. I grinned as King Gregor almost toppled off the back of the beast he hadn’t tamed on his own. Rented dinosaurs were usually a bitch to control.

“Where’s Newton?” Harper asked.

I glanced over and shrugged.

“He’s around somewhere.... I hope.”

Even if he’d gotten killed, we could win the battle if we focused.

“We don’t want to waste this speed much longer,” Morgana said.

Xin Jang’s two mages and tank ran from around the dragon and headed toward us.

“Look alive,” I said. “Two o’clock.”

Everyone turned to face them as they ran forward, the tank in front of the two mages. I ran around him at double speed and came back behind the spellcasters. They looked surprised when I zoomed by and slashed them both. I continued running around them, hitting every few seconds as I passed them.

They tried to cast a few times, but every time, I sliced their hands or poked a new hole into them with my dino sword. Morgana fought their tank, tearing into him with Harper’s help. I quit fucking around and finished off one of the war mages. He fell to the ground, leaking blood fast.

“You killed my brother!” the other mage shouted.

He pulled a wand from his robes and pointed it at me. Flames shot out of the tip, hitting me in the face. My hair burned, filling the surrounding air with an acrid stench.

“You fucking pyro,” I muttered as I closed in on him.

He screamed in a shrill voice, turned, and ran away. King Gregor’s stegosaurus ran toward him and bit the man, chopping him in half. Damn, I thought, stopping. The dragon dove from the sky above, clamping its jaws around the head of the dinosaur. I turned to check on Harper and Morgana. The final warrior had her on the ground.

I screamed and ran toward him. The double speed wore off just as I reached him. My blade still went through his throat, killing him instantly.

<< Arena kill! >>

<< Full health restore! >>

<< Full mana restore! >>

“I needed that kill,” Morgana said then collapsed, closing her eyes.

“Harper, we need healing!” I yelled.

She ran over as the dinosaur and dragon continued battling behind us. I watched as Harper poured a potion into Morgana’s mouth. She coughed and sat up, looking around.

“What happened?”

“You passed out,” I said. “Are you okay?”

“Better now,” she said, looking up at Harper. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” Harper said. “We’ve still got the dinosaur, the dragon, King Gregor, and Xin Jang to defeat. Are you good enough to fight?”

“Never been better. Another loot box would be nice.”

“Yeah,” I said, nodding. “Should we go back to the second one and wait for it to respawn?”

“No, look,” Harper said, pointing to the dueling beasts. “It’s almost over.”

The dragon finished ripping the head off the stegosaurus. As the immense dinosaur flopped around on the ground, King Gregor fell off. Xin Jang flew in close to finish him off.

“Fuck,” I said. “He’s going to be at full health.”

“It’s three against one, though,” Morgana said. “We’ve got a chance.”

“Don’t forget about me,” Newton said behind us.

I grinned. “Glad you’re still alive.”

“You like how I got them fighting each other?”

“Tell us about it later,” I said. “We need to finish this.”

“Here he comes,” Morgana said.

I turned and saw the dragon, slouched down, stalking toward us. A few hundred feet away, it leaped into the air, flying high above. We scattered, looking up and trying to guess where the damn thing might come down. I fucking hated dragons. Xin Jang cast a few lightning bolts at us as the dragon dove toward the ground.

“The loot box!” I shouted, too late to do any good.

After scattering away from the loot box, we’d given the dragon enough time to land near it. Even worse, the loot box reset a moment later. An impressive blue energy shield surrounded the entire creature. Xin Jang laughed, lifting a lance.

“Prepare to die!” he shouted.

The dragon stepped forward. Harper threw up a giant wall of briers, but the dragon simply burned it down with a single blast of its nasty breath. I gripped my dino sword, wondering if I’d live long enough to eventually enjoy its benefits.

“Concentrate on the dragon first,” I said.

As if he’d heard me, Newton shouted, “Fuck cancer!”

The dragon roared and flung back its head. Blood poured out of its wounded eye.

“What the fuck did you do?” Xin Jang yelled.

“Are you okay?” I glanced around. “Newton?”

“Over here!” he shouted. “Let’s finish this shit!”

With only one eye, the dragon had no depth perception. The weakness turned out to be beneficial as we surrounded it and attacked from all sides. Xin Jang clung to its back. I ran forward and finished off the foul beast by lopping off its damn head.

As the two pieces of the scaled, red body flopped around on the ground, Xin Jang jumped off. He screamed and ran toward Harper. Morgana intercepted him, scoring a direct hit on the dumb fucks left side. She finished him off with her sword piercing his heart.

<< Combat is Over! >>

<< Arena: No xp awarded. >>

<< You win the battle for the dino sword! >>

I dropped to my knees, my hands on the hilt of the sword with its blade buried in the ground as if I could kill the entire planet. The charging process would still take more than two weeks, but I didn’t care with things looking so much brighter.

“We have a winner!” the announcer sang.

The crowd continued cheering. A chant of Drake started. The sound of over a hundred thousand people chanting my name made an impression on me.

“We did it,” Morgana said, walking over.

“You finished him off.” I hugged her briefly before pulling back. “Are you okay?”

“Never been better,” she said. “Our kingdom starts today.”

I smiled, loving her even more. Her deception stung a bit, but she was just having fun. No one had gotten permanently hurt by her changing characters on me.

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑

CHAPTER 22

┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

Foundation of a New Kingdom

Our team of four left the arena. The emissary, Ouber, summoned us to the throne room of King Gerald, the leader of Gristle. On the way to the most central and fortified building in the city, I saw glimpses of all the desolation outside the city walls. They had used up all their natural resources and permanently scarred the land with vast battles.

Still, Gristle was damn impressive. The hundred square miles of industrial might were highly fortified and secure. As the smallest city state in the League of Twelve — and the closest to the badlands — they had to work extra hard to gain the respect of the others.

“This city sucks,” Harper complained as we walked down the middle of a shit-stained street.

“We’ll make ours better underground,” I said.

“Yay, no sun. Can’t wait,” she said sarcastically.

Morgana chuckled. “You complain too much. Nobody likes a whiner.”

“Everybody in the badlands is going to like us,” Newton said. “Except for everyone in King Gregor’s and Xin Jang’s lands.”

“They were smart paying for resurrection,” I admitted. “We’ll get them. I’m anxious to see what Ouber wants to talk with us about. They better not go back on their word.”

“Everyone in Gristle loves their contracts,” Morgana said.

We went through three sets of heavily guarded gates before we arrived at the imperial palace of King Gerald. Ouber met us at the door of the lavish living quarters.

“All hail the kings of the arena,” Ouber said. “Queens too.”

“Thanks,” I said. “What’s going to happen with King Gregor and Xin Jang? The dino sword’s still mine, right? Do I rule the badlands?”

Ouber smiled. “That’s up to you.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Come, talk to the king,” he replied, turning and motioning for us to follow.

I glanced over at Morgana. She turned and followed Ouber deeper into the palace. I glanced around as I walked after them, wondering what kind of kingdom I could build underground. We reached a secure steel room with thousands of rounded rivets sticking up, making lines and patterns throughout the room. King Gerald, standing by the throne, turned and walked over as we came in.

“Welcome,” he said, smiling like a politician. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” I said. “We’re anxious to get back to the badlands and claim what’s rightfully ours.”

I noticed the king’s smile fading.

“Since King Gregor and Xin Jang both resurrected, they still technically control the two largest kingdoms in the badlands. You’re more than willing to go against them, but…”

His voice trailed off.

“We’re too new and weak,” I said, finishing his thought.

He smiled again and nodded. “Exactly. I would help, but I can’t concern myself with the dirty details of the badlands with so much else going on all over Gardonia.”

“What else is going on?” I asked.

“The same as usual,” he said.

“Oh, I thought you meant that weird system message a while back.”

I studied his face for any reaction.

“We know less than we’d like,” I said.

“King Gregor and Xin Jang aren’t happy you have the sword,” King Gerald said, resting his hands on his enormous belly. “You will get the swamp and everything underneath them. Anything else you wrestle under your control is up to you.”

“What about the League of Twelve?” I asked.

King Gerald laughed. “You’re ambitious, aren’t you?”

“Give it some time,” Ouber said. “We’ll teleport you back in an hour. Please go get ready.”

Harper and Morgana locked their arms with mine before we walked out of the throne room. I saw a few people looking at me differently as we walked to our room. We hadn’t brought a lot of belongings because we didn’t own much.

“I’ll meet you three back in the badlands,” Newton said as we walked.

“You’re not coming with us?” I asked.

“Not yet,” he said. “I’ve got some things to do here in Gristle.”

I nodded. “Come see me when you get back.”

“You know it,” Newton said. “I’ll bring help if all goes to plan.”

Morgana put a hand on his left shoulder. “You’ve already been a help.”

“And we need all the help we can get,” I added. “King Gregor and Xin Jang will both be coming at us, wanting to fuck us hard, fast, and without protection!”

Morgana grinned. Harper moaned.

“Have you named your kingdom yet?” Newton asked. “Fuck Cancer maybe?”

“I haven’t come up with a name yet,” I said. “We’ve got too much to do.”

He nodded, turning serious again. “See you guys on the other side.”

I waved as he walked away. Harper and Morgana followed me back to our room. Just a few minutes after we arrived, Ouber showed up, knocking at the door.

“Are you ready?” he asked, walking into the room.

“Ready as we’ll ever be,” I said.

“Is there a fourth?” he asked, glancing around.

“He left already,” I said. “Just us three. Unless you want to come join us?”

Ouber laughed, shaking his head. “Gristle is the armpit of the League of Twelve, but it’s still in the League of Twelve if you know what I mean.”

“I’ll clean up the badlands,” I insisted. “Just you wait and see.”

“King Gerald and I hope you do,” Ouber said.

After so much time with him, I’d come to accept him not wearing a shirt with leather pants at least two sizes too tight. He wasn’t like a lot of other players in the game. Instead of craving power for himself, he helped others achieve it. Having someone like him on my side would be helpful while I clawed my way to the top ranks of the game.

“We’ll be watching your progress,” Ouber said.

Before I could answer, he snapped his fingers. We blinked and appeared at the edge of the swamp in the badlands. I glanced around, not seeing anything out of the ordinary.

“Let’s walk the perimeter,” I said. “See what we have to work with.”

“I wonder if King Gregor’s men are still around,” Harper said.

“Probably not.” Morgana stepped forward. “They need to give us a chance, or they’ll piss off King Gerald and the League of Twelve.”

“We won’t have much time,” I said, taking off after Morgana.

Harper followed a few feet behind. I took note of every bit of high ground and thought about where to put the wall and guard towers. Newton bringing back dino-men and dino-women would help me grow my kingdom until I could attract other player characters.

“We should fill in the swamp with dirt,” Harper said.

“Don’t you mean drain the swamp?” Morgana asked.

“Yeah, that,” she said.

“No.” I shook my head. “Having the swampy land is better for defense. Even if they breach our walls, they’ll have to contend with the harsh land. We’ll keep everything good underground and out of reach of anyone. Once we get settled, we can start looking at joining the League of Twelve.”

“You are ambitious, aren’t you?” Morgana grinned and stepped toward me. “Come here, you.”

We kissed, drawing Harper to us. No matter how many people I added to my kingdom, the two original women in my “harem” would remain closest to my heart. I adored both of them. The three of us kissed, our lips and tongues pleasuring each other.

“Get naked,” I said. “We’re breaking the ground in the right way.”

Both women smiled and obeyed my commands. I put down my still charging dino sword and got undressed myself. Fucking in the swamp isn’t recommended for a reason, but I couldn’t resist being inside both of my queens. We did the best we could hope for given the circumstances. I wasn’t complaining.

* * * * *

A week later, Newton returned with just over a hundred dino-men and dino-women ready to join my still unnamed kingdom. With less than ten days remaining until I could fully activate the dino sword, I watched as a group of them worked on the wall surrounding my slice of virtual land in Dino World. Newton stood next to me, drinking from a flask.

“You hate NPCs, but they fucking work hard,” he said then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Am I right?”

“I never said I hate NPCs. I just don’t enjoy fucking them.”

“Keep laughing,” he said, oblivious to my teasing. “You’ll come around someday.”

“Not when he has us,” Harper said as she and Morgana walked up.

“How are things going below ground?” I asked.

“Good,” Morgana said. “The wall and gate are complete. We came to get you.”

“Thanks, I want to see how they turned out,” I said then turned to Newton. “Are you coming?”

“No,” he said. “Womang is cooking my favorite tonight, turtle soup.”

“Lucky you,” I said.

Harper, Morgana, and I walked to the center of my plot of real estate in the badlands. We had straightened the boathouse literally and figuratively. After adding supports to keep it straight in the marshy ground, we removed all traces of it being a whorehouse. The rooms became barracks and offices for various people in my fledgling kingdom. As we grew, we would expand underground where it was safer for the most part.

“It looks great,” I said.

“The dino-beings did all the work,” Harper said.

“Yeah, but you two guided them. I can’t wait to see the gate.”

“King Gregor’s already got a few dozen men stationed on the other side,” Morgana said.

“That’s fine as long as they stay on their side of the tunnel. At least for now. When we get our basic defenses set up, we’ll go on the offensive.”

I climbed up the rope ladder to the deck of the houseboat, the others following. Once inside, we went straight to the room with the pit leading deep into the earth. Morgana and I had constructed an elevator platform large enough to carry a dozen armored men. After climbing on board, I activated the switch to lower it. Harper walked over to the edge.

“We really need a handrail,” she said. “For safety.”

I nodded. “Good idea. We can bring it up at the next meeting.”

The platform quickly reached the bottom of the pit. We got off and walked through the cavern to the wide tunnel leading south to Yusgood. The rails weren’t entirely complete, but they got us almost all the way to the wall we’d constructed three fourths of the way to the city. At the end of the rail construction, we got out of the cart and walked.

Gump, the most senior dino-man under my command, waved as we approached the wall.

“How’s it going?” I asked as we stopped in front of his booth near the iron gate.

“Good,” he said. “We’ve come so far in such a short time.”

“Time’s of the essence,” I said. “King Gregor is likely to attack.”

“I hate the King of Gregor!” Gump shouted, getting worked up.

“Settle down,” I said. “Save your energy for battle.”

“I’ll die for this kingdom without a name,” Gump said.

“You really need to come up with a name,” Harper said.

She walked over to the iron bars of the gate and peered through.

“Don’t antagonize them,” I said. “We’re lucky they haven’t made a move yet. Let’s go see our bedroom. I heard they completed it today.”

Harper turned and smiled, nodding her head. “It looks great.”

We walked back to the cart then rolled toward the pit leading up. Instead of converting any of the existing rooms into a living area for ourselves, I’d dug an entire new section to the west of the main tunnel. Well, I’d told others how to dig it out. I smiled as I checked out the bare room when we reached it.

“Needs some furniture, but it’s nice. What do you two think?”

“I think we’ve got something good going here,” Morgana said.

“People will try to copy our underground kingdom,” Harper added. “Or we might run into other civilizations under the earth.”

“We’ll deal with problems as they arise,” I said. “The dino sword will be done charging in another week or so. Once that happens, we’ll be in a good position to attack.”

Harper walked over and peered into the room that would become her library and study area. She turned and smiled, looking happier than I’d seen her in a while.

“You like?” I asked.

She nodded. “Very much. You listened to what I wanted.”

“The arena down below is ready too,” Morgana said.

I walked to one of the walls and moved a curtain to display a set of stairs leading down. Harper and Morgana followed me down. We emerged on a stage in a vast cavern carved out of the earth with muscle and magic combined. I saw more than enough room to train a few dozen men or dino-beings at the same time.

“This is great,” I said. “We’re moving so fast.”

“Magic makes anything possible,” Harper said. “My new magic book helped.”

“We’ve got gold to spend,” I said. “We shouldn’t be afraid to get what we need.”

“They’re going to be coming after us soon,” Morgana said. “I can feel it like a storm coming.”

“We’ll be ready,” I said. “They’ll probably attack before my dino sword charges completely, but we have enough to stop them without it.”

“I’m surprised they allowed us to porc up so much,” Morgana said.

“They’re cocky,” I replied.

A dino-man ran across the cavern, waving his hand.

“Messenger,” I said, nodding at him.

He stopped at the stage, waving a piece of paper in his hand. I walked over and took it from him. After unfolding it, I read the words on the paper twice.

“What is it?” Morgana asked as she and Harper came up to me.

“It’s from King Gerald,” I said, not elaborating.

“Spit it out,” Harper snapped. “Good or bad?”

I grinned. “Definitely good.”

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑

CHAPTER 23

┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

The Battle of Three Kingdoms

“The League of Twelve have decided Gristle can choose to help any of the three kingdoms in the badlands,” I said, lowing the paper to my side. “King Gerald is sending help for us.”

“King Gregor and Xin Jang aren’t going to like that at all,” Harper noted.

“Fuck both of them,” I said. “We’re not ceding anything to them. Not now.”

“We have put so much work into this place,” Morgana said.

I nodded. “Exactly. With a bit of help, we can take them both out and bring some fucking stability to the badlands. I could end up controlling everything above and below ground in the area.”

Morgana smiled and wrapped her arms around my waist. “You’re my hero.”

She kissed me, slipping her tongue into my mouth. I didn’t resist.

“You need to tell him everything,” Harper said.

I pulled back and turned to her. “What do you mean?”

“She can tell you,” Harper said, nodding at Morgana.

I turned back to her. She frowned and looked away.

“What is it?” I asked.

“I told you already,” she said. “I have my own dino sword.”

“Fuck, I forgot all about that,” I said. “You weren’t joking?”

She shook her head and waved her hand. A temporal hole opened up in the air near her. She reached in and pulled out a magnificent and fully activated dino sword.

“Damn,” I said as she held it aloft.

The temporal hole closed.

“Fuck,” I said. “King Gerald’s going to be mad if he knows we stole it.”

“That’s why he can’t find out,” Morgana said.

I loved and hated her at the same time in that moment.

“You should keep it hidden,” I said. “Nice temporal hole, by the way.”

“That’s what all the guys tell her,” Harper quipped.

I grinned. “You’re bad…”

“Two dino swords will ensure we take control of all the badlands,” Morgana said.

“I agree, but we don’t want to piss off the League of Twelve,” I countered.

A second dino-man rushed across the cavern, also out of breath.

“What now?” I muttered.

“There’s an attack topside,” he said. “Below ground in the tunnel, too. They’re trying to wipe us out before King Gerald can send us help.”

“Fuck,” I said. “This day just went from good to bad in a flash.”

“Welcome to ruling your own kingdom,” Morgana said.

“How are the walls holding up above ground?” I asked.

“They’re holding, but Xin Jang is bringing in Gnomish engineers,” the messenger said. “They’ll breach them eventually. We just haven’t had the time to fortify them enough. Sir Newton the Brave is commanding everyone up top.”

“Good,” I said, turning to Harper and Morgana. “Top or bottom, ladies?”

“I think the tunnel’s more important than anything above ground right now,” Morgana said. “Newton and the others will have to keep things under control up there on their own.”

“Good thinking,” I said. “You should put the sword away. We can’t let anyone know we have it yet.”

“No, we need it to win this fight,” she said.

“What does the sword do, anyway?” I asked.

“I’ll tell you all about it later,” she said. “We’ve got another battle to win. Unlike the arena, this one is for keeps. If we lose, our kingdom is gone forever.”

“You’re right,” I said. “Let’s go.”

We rushed offstage and back upstairs to the main tunnel. On the way, I picked up my own dino sword. While not yet fully activated, I had to use it every day. Harper grabbed her new Staff of Icy Things on too. I kept glancing enviously at Morgana’s dino sword, wondering exactly what it could do. The powers of the swords were a closely guarded secret.

A dino-man rushed up to us as we entered the wide, main tunnel leading south.

“They breached the wall,” he said. “They’ve made it about a half-mile up the tunnel.”

“King Gregor and Xin Jang must be working together to get rid of me,” I said.

Chaos continued around us as dino-men and dino-women both rushed back and forth, preparing for the onslaught of enemy forces.

“How long before they get to us here?” Morgana asked the dino-man.

“Don’t know,” he replied, shrugging. “Can I go help prepare?”

“Yes, keep up the good work,” I said.

As he ran away, I peered down the tunnel. The clash of steel rang out further down. Another dino-man ran up as I decided what to do.

“There’s a dragon topside!” he shouted. “It’s burning everything!”

“Fuck,” I said. “Can this get any worse?”

“I’ll go take care of it,” Harper said. “This staff needs to be broken in.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

She nodded. “You two stay down here. We can’t let them lay claim to our underground lair.”

“Be safe,” I said.

“Always,” she replied as she ran toward the pit leading to the surface.

I turned to Morgana. “You ready for this?”

She nodded. “This sword’s more powerful than you know.”

“How did you get it to bond to you?” I asked.

“Long story,” she said. “I’ll tell you later. We’ve got to save our kingdom.”

She held her dino sword aloft and chanted some words.

<< Area buff activated. >>

<< +50% to hit and damage for 30 minutes while you’re in the sphere >>

“Stick close to me, and you’ll enjoy the benefits too,” she said.

I nodded, already craving the same ability for my sword. Unlike most run-of-the-mill magic items, dino swords were each unique in their abilities.

“This is even better,” she said, stepping forward.

I cringed as she stuck the blade into the stone floor. Amazed, I watched as she dragged it across the entire width of the tunnel.

“What is it?” I asked. “The scratch of doom?”

She laughed. “No, it’ll stop any low-level characters from getting past.”

“Great,” I said. “We need all the help we can get.”

I heard the screams of dying dino-men further down the tunnel.

“They’re going to come at us with everything they’ve got,” Morgana said.

“No kidding. This scratch in the floor is our red line.”

“Agreed,” she said.

I saw a group of dino-men run out of the tunnel from the south, retreating from something.

“Dragon!” a few yelled as they rushed past.

“Hold the line at the scratch in the floor!” I shouted. “Make a stand!”

The dino-men who had sworn allegiance to me lined up behind Morgana and me. I gripped my sword as a few dozen soldiers ran into view.

“Back up!” Morgana shouted. “Give them room!”

We listened to her and moved our defensive line back. The soldiers rushed past the scratch in the floor, all of them dropping dead as soon as they passed.

“Damn,” I said, impressed at the power of her dino sword.

The League of Twelve would do anything to get it back.

“Dragon! Dragon! Dragon!” the dino-men shouted in unison.

I glanced up and saw the red-scaled beast inching forward. He barely fit into the tall, wide tunnel. Before he reached the scratch in the floor, he stopped and shot flames out of its mouth. Morgana lifted her sword and created a protective energy bubble around us. The flames skirted past us but killed some dino-men nearby.

“Be ready,” Morgana said. “The scratch won’t hold back the dragon. It’s too high level.”

“Fuck this worm!” I shouted and ran forward, out of the protective bubble.

I leaped and came down, slicing the dragon’s neck. My inactivated dino sword bounced off its thick armor. Unlike the arena, I didn’t have a ton of buffs on the blade. Their attack had taken us by surprise. Without a bit of luck, we all might die.

“Look alive!” Morgana shouted. “Coming through!”

She ran past me and plunged her glowing dino sword into the beast’s chest. It screamed and scrambled back, out of her reach.

“Brother killer!” the dragon hissed. “You will die now!”

Was he related to the dragon I killed in the arena? No time to think about it now. The dragon shot more flames out of its mouth. Morgana’s protective bubble had followed her and covered me enough to protect me from the magical fire. The magic failed, however, to stop the dragon from closing in and swiping with its massive claws.

I screamed as they slashed across my face, leaving a deep gash that would leave a permanent scar. Fuck all dragons! I lunged forward and stuck the damn creature in its open mouth. My pierce actually did some damage, causing the beast to scamper back again.

“He’s got back-up,” Morgana said.

Three mages in deep purple robes stepped around the beast, freely walking over the protective scratch in the floor of the tunnel. We hadn’t done much damage to the dragon, but they healed and buffed him anyway.

“Get the mages!” Morgana yelled.

No shit, I thought as I stepped forward. She shot a white energy beam out of her dino sword. It shot past me and struck the dragon in the eye. Great idea. I used the distraction of the thrashing dragon to slip up to one of the spellcasters. He went down quick as I closed the space between us. The other two scrambled backward, raising their hands to cast.

Blue flames shot out of their four hands, slamming into me. I lost over half my health in the one damn attack. The force knocked me over. As I got to my feet, they stepped forward, hands still raised. Morgana took out another one with the white beam energy. I ran forward and scared the last one away. The dragon wasn’t as easily convinced.

“Brother killer!” he yelled in an accusatory tone.

“I killed your fucking mom, too, bitch,” I said.

The dragon went into a rage, rushing forward. I retreated faster, Morgana joining me. The few dino-men still alive also moved back.

“Stop!” Morgana commanded while holding her dino sword aloft.

The dragon froze in fear. What does that sword of hers not do? I wondered as I used the opportunity to rush forward. Knowing I could damage the interior of its mouth, I jumped as high as I could as I got close to him. The dragon turned at the last moment, giving me the perfect opportunity to stick my blade deep into the upper roof of its mouth.

I fell to the ground and rolled as the dragon thrashed about again. The rampaging beast crushed the last mage against the wall of the cave. I didn’t see him get back up as the dragon retreated even more. Morgana and I kept moving forward, not giving him any leeway.

“Finish him,” I said. “Your sword’s better than mine.”

She screamed as she ran forward. The dragon lifted its tiny arms, looking hilarious as she pierced its chest with her dino sword.

“Die!” she shouted.

The dragon obeyed the powerful woman with her own dino sword.

<< Combat is over! >>

<< You get +10,000 xp >>

<< You have 328,000 xp >>

<< Level Up! >>

<< You need 12,000 xp for next level >>

With no time to choose a class to level, I turned to Morgana. She nodded without me having to say a word. We commanded the dino-men to hold the line behind the scratch in the floor while we went up the platform to the surface.

“Put that sword away,” I said before we left the building.

She shook her head. “I’m using it. Let the cards fall where they may.”

“That’s reckless,” I said.

“You know that’s why you love me.”

She gave me a peck on the lips then went outside. I followed her down to the deck of the stuck boathouse. Almost all the vegetation in the swamp had been burned. I saw dozens of dino-men bodies littering the ground. The dino-women had survived and were using their recently learned magic to battle the dragon head-on. I saw Newton leading them.

“Where’s Harper?” I asked, still scanning the battlefield.

“There,” Morgana said, pointing.

I followed her finger and saw Harper raise her staff. A stream of freezing water shot out of the tip and blasted the dragon, almost knocking it out of the sky. The green scales of the beast glistened in the afternoon sun as it screamed and sent a cloud of green fog streaming out of its mouth. Harper activated her staff again, causing it to snow, diluting the fog.

“She needs our help,” Morgana said. “Let the chips fall where they may.”

“I’m with you,” I said then hopped over the railing and climbed down the rope ladder.

She followed close behind. Once on the ground, we ran toward where the dragon had landed. A fresh wave of Xin Jang’s soldiers arrived from the north, swarming around the green dragon. I kept running in that direction, wishing my dino sword had activated. Would I even be able to damage this one? Morgana overtook me, presumably another effect of her sword.

I slowed then stopped, watching in awe as she leaped into the air a dozen feet away from the dragon. She came down with the tip of her sword leading the way. My pierce tore a chunk out of the dragon’s left wing, grounding it. Several soldiers ran toward her. I jumped back into action, able to take them out easily even without an activated dino sword. The fight was on.

As Morgana battled the dragon, slowly weakening it, I took out as many of the low-level soldiers as I could. Harper and Newton helped, each in their own special way. When the dragon went down, gasping its final breath, the enemy’s morale broke. They turned and fled back toward the Forbidden Kingdom. Newton ran over, grinning.

“Should we follow them?” he asked.

I shook my head. “We need to protect our land.”

“Status of the walls?” Morgana asked.

A dino-man ran up and said, “They’re breached in three places.”

“Get to work fixing them,” I said. “Temporary is fine for now. We’ll look at replacing them with stone as soon as things stabilize.”

“Yes sir,” the dino-man said then ran off.

“How did it go down below?” Harper asked as she walked up.

“We killed another dragon,” I said.

“Fucking A,” he said. “We did good today.”

“King Gerald is sending us help too,” I said.

“Was that another dino sword I saw?” Newton asked.

“Put it away,” I said, turning to Morgana.

She opened the temporal hole and secured the sword in it. Right after she did, another dragon landed nearby.

“I come bearing news,” it hissed. “King Gerald requests your presence.”

“We’ll get there as soon as we can,” I said. “We just got attacked.”

“He wants to see you now. I’m here to protect your appointed lands,” the blue-scaled dragon said. “My name’s Charles. Yes, it’s a human name. No, I don’t want to talk about it.”

I grinned, liking him.

“Fine,” I said. “Anything you can tell us?”

“Tell him the truth,” Charles the dragon said. “Or you’ll die. Do you agree to allow me to teleport you?”

“Yes,” I said, glancing at the others.

“Great,” Charles said. “Smell you four later…”

The dragon chanted then moved its tiny hands. We blinked away. I opened my eyes and saw we’d been teleported to King Gerald’s inner throne room. He sat back, watching as we appeared in the room.

“I didn’t think you’d come,” he said, glancing at each of us.

“King Gregor and Xin Jang attacked us,” I said. “We’ve been busy.”

“I know about that,” King Gerald said.

Two men in white robes stood behind the throne, whispering to each other.

“I didn’t think you’d have the guts to come and tell me about the stolen dino sword,” he said.

“What do you mean?” I asked without pause.

“Someone stole a sword from the League of Twelve,” King Gerald said. “It wasn’t mine, thankfully, but the owner wants it back, and I’m bound to help him. The sword in question was seen in use at the recent battle you took part in. Do you have anything to say for yourselves?”

“It’s a fake,” Morgana said.

“Let me see it,” King Gerald said.

“The damn thing broke during the battle,” she said. “A red dragon melted it right down.”

“My spies tell me it wasn’t a fake sword,” King Gerald said. “They saw it in battle.”

“No disrespect, but they must be mistaken,” I said. “Things were chaotic. I want to thank you for helping me become the one true ruler of the badlands.”

King Gerald nodded. “I’m not sure yet if I’ve made the right decision, to be honest.”

“You have, your majesty,” I said. “Trust me.”

“I want to trust you,” King Gerald said. “You remind me of myself when I first came into Dino World full time. If you haven’t stolen the sword, you need to keep an eye open for it. There’s a reward for any information leading to its recovery.”

“We’ll do that,” I said. “With your assistance and blessing.”

I hated kissing his ass, but it was necessary for my long term plans.

“You’ll have my support,” King Gerald said. “Just don’t mistake my kindness for weakness.”

“Never,” Morgana said.

Had we gotten away with it?

One of the two men in white went up to the king and whispered in his ears.

“Are you sure?” he asked, standing up.

The man in white nodded. “Right about...now.”

As he said the last word, a game notification appeared.

<< DINO WORLD ALERT >>

<< WARNING // WARNING >>

<< A hacker has entered the game and is permanently removing full-time players. While there’s a small chance he may be able to kill your body in the real world, rest assured we’re working hard to capture this menace. Instead of shutting down the game and facing lawsuits, we have decided to continue Dino World and restrict people from leaving the game. The risk of the hacker escaping without punishment is too great for ECNEP corporation. We hope you understand. As long as you stick together, you’ll be safe from the hacker. Capture or providing any information about the hacker that leads to his apprehension will be rewarded in-game significantly. (Have you ever wanted your own planet in the Dino World universe? We’re not even kidding!) The risks the hacker poses are high, so we thought the reward should be at least as earth-shattering. Please play safely as we work to give you the best Dino World experience. Thank you. >>

“Fuck,” I said, looking at the others.

“Some players got the message earlier today,” King Gerald said. “This changes everything.”

“I want to get back to my kingdom in the badlands,” I said. “Do you mind?”

The king waved his hand, not even looking in our direction. Hopefully the hacker would keep his attention enough for him to not question us more about the stolen dino sword.

“We need a way back,” I said.

He sighed and turned.

“Transport them back to the shit lands,” he said.

One of the wizards in white turned in our direction and waved his right hand. We blinked out of existence and arrived just outside the wooden wall surrounding the swamp. I saw several dino-men diligently working to repair the extensive damage to several sections.

“That message,” Morgana said. “What do you think?”

“It’s fucked up,” Harper said. “I’m in here full-time, but I don’t like the idea of not being able to leave if I wanted, you know?”

“Exactly,” I said. “We need to keep our eyes open and concentrate on taking over the badlands. I really doubt a hacker like that would bother to come to the armpit of Gardonia.”

“All we have is NPC dino-men and dino-women,” Harper said.

I nodded. “We do need more players. They’ll come.”

Over the next week, many low-level players did come to us, tired of all the bullshit between King Gregor and Xin Jang. A few higher level characters also came our way, pledging fealty to me. With no way out of the game until the hacker got caught, things were about to get very interesting. Seven days after battling to keep my kingdom, I sat with Harper, Morgana, and Newton in our underground war room.

“Another hacker did the same thing about a year ago,” Newton said. “They tried to keep it quiet, but some of us believe it happened.”

“Yeah, I don’t know,” I said, leaning back on two legs in my chair. “This could all be some sick marketing play or something. Maybe they’re going to roll out a pay-to-play hacker class or something. I wouldn’t put it past them.”

Morgana smiled, nodding. “Could be. We’ve managed to hang onto our fledgling kingdom. King Gregor and Xin Jang are both struggling to hang onto power. If this hacker person doesn’t come mess with us, we’re in a really good spot.”

“Doesn’t the fact he could kill us in real life scare any of you?” Newton asked.

“Nah,” I said. “They’re probably lying. If that ever happened, they’d have to shut down the virtual worlds and that’s never going to happen. They make ECNEP corporation too much money.”

“It would be nice if we had more than two fucking corporations in the whole world,” Harper said.

“That’s why we came to Dino World,” I said, settling down onto all four legs of the chair. “We kicked ass recently, but we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”

“You’re making me wet,” Harper said, grinning.

Newton rolled his eyes. “You guys are insatiable.”

“And that’s a bad thing?” Morgana asked.

Newton wandered toward the door.

“Just don’t fuck on the meeting table anymore, okay? It’s gross.”

“Sure thing,” I said, walking over to Morgana. “Shut the door on your way out.”

┍━━━━━━━━━━━━━┑

CHAPTER 24

┕━━━━━━━━━━━━━┙

The Birth of a New Kingdom

After using the dino sword to kill every day for twenty-one days, the damn thing finally activated. I woke before the others to check out the stats. The abilities and powers the weapon granted me were legendary. With the dino sword, I had no excuse to not form my own kingdom in the game. Dozens of players had already joined me, but the new powers would bring more.

<< Dino Sword — Excelzion >>

<< +50% chance to hit >>

<< +50% damage >>

<< +500% damage on critical hit >>

<< Extra Abilities: Will become known over time… >>

The stats flew around my brain as I got up and headed toward the main tunnel to check on the progress. We’d already added a dozen more rooms to the ever expanding complex. I stood near the wall and watched as dino-beings and players walked back and forth. After watching a few moments, I headed to the other side of the tunnel.

We’d fortified ourselves and were in a better position to finally defeat King Gregor and Xin Jang with the help of King Gerald, but I was thinking about my long term future in the game. I glanced to the left then right before activating a hidden button. After part of the wall slid away, I slipped into the tunnel on the other side, walking swiftly.

The door shut behind me. I walked a good half-mile before stopping in the construction zone. I stopped in a tunnel even wider and taller than the one leading to Yusgood. This one went north, toward Gristle. Eventually, I wanted to have deep underground tunnels leading to all the city states in the League of Twelve. That would be power.

I watched the golems Harper had constructed for the task. With the magically animated beings doing all the work, the tunnel network would be our secret. Newton might be a weak link and spill his guys if he got too drunk, but I’d warned him of the consequences if that happened. After defeating cancer in the real world, he had no fear.

“Speak of the devil,” I said as Newton walked in.

“I saw you come back,” he said. “Everything okay?”

“You better not be spying on me in that invisibility suit of yours,” I said.

He grinned. “No, I was fighting with Womang and walking around, and I saw you come to this side. The new tunnels are the only reason you would be over here. I just got news which is why I came to find you.”

“Oh? Everything okay?”

“Probably not,” he said. “King Gerald is dead.”

I blinked a few times as I digested the information.

“How? What happened?” I asked.

“The hacker got to him,” he said. “That’s the rumor, anyway.”

“Fuck,” I said. “Maybe they weren’t lying about him.”

“Doesn’t seem that way,” Newton said. “I thought you should know.”

“Thanks,” I said. “With him dead, we need to be ready. The new person they appoint to lead Gristle might not be so keen on helping us tame the badlands.”

“Yeah,” Newton said, nodding. “It could be bad. Even worse, I heard the hacker’s headed for the badlands. He told some people he’s coming for you.”

“What?” My head flinched back. “Why me?”

“You can be an asshole at times,” Harper said.

She and Morgana walked into the tunnel.

“You heard?” I asked.

“About you being an asshole?”

I smirked. “Very funny. I meant the hacker.”

“Yeah, we heard,” Morgana said. “I thought we should call a meeting.”

Newton shook his head. “If he could take out someone like King Gerald, what’s to stop him from killing all of us?”

“You can leave if you want,” I said.

“I wouldn’t do that to you, man. You three were there for me when I needed you. Fuck this hacker if he’s trying to kill people in the real world.”

“The corporation is probably lying,” Harper said. “They always do.”

“You don’t think he can kill people in the real world by hurting them in the game?” I asked.

She shook her head. “Too dramatic and potentially dangerous to their bottom line.”

“You know the young hackers these days, though,” I said.

“We’ll be fine if we stick together,” Morgana said. “Unlike King Gerald, we’ve got a tight-knit group and two dino swords at our disposal. We’re actually lucky they announced the hacker when they did. I thought King Gerald was going to figure out we do have the real dino sword the League of Twelve is missing.”

Harper grinned. “That was a hell of a heist.”

“I can’t believe you gave it to Morgana instead of keeping it,” Newton said.

Harper shrugged. “She’s better at poking things with swords.”

I took a deep breath. My short time in the game full time had not failed to be exciting. With a dino sword of my own and Morgana’s purloined one, we had a fighting chance to make something of ourselves in Dino World, as long as the hacker didn’t get us.

“Yeah, fuck this hacker guy,” I said. “We’ve worked too hard to get booted from the game. I say we send spies out to get information on the hacker’s identity and his location. Getting our very own planet for capturing him would catapult us to the top of the game’s all-time leader board and cement our place in the history books.”

“Now you’re talking,” Morgana said, nodding and smiling.

We stood in the unfinished secret tunnel and plotted our next steps in the game. Getting two dino swords hadn’t been easy. Holding onto them would be even more difficult. With a bit of luck and some hardcore grinding, the future could be fucking bright.

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