Essence Stalker sat on a chair in a strangely blank room. The room had been furnished before he entered, but some strange, floating guy made of energy waved his hand and changed the layout.
Across Essence Stalker sat the three awesome beauties of Hikari, Zaine, and Roma. If any of these three appeared in the real world, they would set off horrible storms, as women this attractive were not possible in real life, only fiction.
However, Essence was not that moved since he had been thrown into endless trouble by beauties almost all his life. As such, he had developed a resistance to them, as he mostly considered their circ.u.mstances and personality first.
Still, this lineup was truly soul-stirring. When one considered that these three all loved just one man, a well of hatred and jealously would bubble up from deep inside, almost turning one into a vengeful beast.
Fitter, who stood behind Essence Stalker like a prison guard though, was unmoved. Not because he wasn't interested in beauties, but because in his eyes, none shone brighter than Slim Fatty.
After curing her eating disorder, she had quickly filled out… and her proportions… It was unreal. Among the female players of Umbra, she was arguably the most beautiful after Eva and she was far s.e.xier than Eva to boot.
Unsurprisingly, many fellows wanted to jump on her train to enjoy the goods, but Slim Fatty only had eyes for Fitter. After all, he chose her when she was at her lowest, when her self-esteem was at rock bottom and no one would look at her twice.
Now that she had 'glowed up' as they say, wanting to join the party was but wishful thinking. Fitter Cleric though, wasn't really bothered by her change. Whether she was anorexic or slim with heavy assets, she was still as s.e.xy as ever to him.
As for this Luckmancer's taste, only the Gods could understand…
Zaine and Roma both held their babies and gently played with them, while Hikari stared at Essence silently, as if verifying something for the last time before she spoke.
"You have the Source Origin of a Void Dragon."
It was less of a question and more of a statement, making Essence Stalker's eyebrows rise, but he still decided to confirm it.
Hikari frowned slightly. "How did you get it?"
Essence quickly glanced at Fitter, who simply nodded to him. "Well… it's a long story…"
Zaine smiled and replied: "We have nothing but time. Tell us."
After seeing their determination to listen to his story, Essence simply scratched his head and began speaking in an almost monotonic voice.
"Well… In the Realm of the Gods, I am an orphan. I lived in the city with my parents from a young age until I was old enough to enter grade 7. After that, something happened and they both perished on a business trip."
"So, I had to take care of myself after that. It was hard. The money my parents left me did not last long and I was too young to go out and earn more. I even had to scavenge food from dumpsters for a time just to get by. Fortunately, I met Brother Fitter not long after. Due to his family's help, I was able to make it. As I grew up, strange things started happening to me and around me."
"I began to attract women around me in the most unlikely of situations. For example, when we went out, I happened to catch the eye of the woman of a local gang leader and he was furious enough to nearly flay us alive."
"Or my female teachers wanted me to stay behind for some odd reasons making me public enemy number one in my class and forced me to change schools. It only started after I lost my parents and spiked after I became 16."
"Aside from that, I also gained the ability to speak with snakes and lizards. At first, I just noticed that I started to encounter lizards more and more often, before I eventually discovered that I could also order them around for the most part, which creeped me out."
"Apart from that, I also gained a slew of other abilities, but that is just a side note. All of this bleeds into how I got this class or Source Origin as you put it."
"Brother Fitter told me about this world, that it would be fun to go on adventures with him as well as be a great way to release my frustrations, so I chose to join in. I reached level 20 with a normal Lance Knight class, and Fitter here took me to a strange valley."
"He told me about some ruins he found, which were guarded by a Rank 3 Basilisk. He wanted my help since my ability might work on that large creature as well. I was skeptical but it worked. After some intense communication and negotiating, it decided to let us pass. There, we found the bones of a giant creature, presumably a Dragon."
"Within those bones were a bunch of cracked and damaged scales that turned to ash when I touched them. However, one of them still shone brightly and with power."
"When I picked it up, I found that it was a reverse scale of a Void Dragon. An option appeared for me to merge with it to gain a new class. I knew that I could have sold it off for unlimited wealth, but my choice... well it should be obvious."
From talking about his troublesome past to how he became a special individual among players, one of the few that had an Epic class that didn't come from a scroll or a class up, his expression remained neutral and his voice calm.
It was almost as if he was recounting a story he heard somewhere else, but no. The fact that Fitter Cleric remained strangely silent with a heavy expression told that this was all true.
Zaine saw all this and sighed internally. She had a better grasp on emotions and psychology than the others here, and was fully aware that everyone had their own way of coping with trauma.
Some would breakdown, probably becoming distraught and incapacitated, like Roma had. Fortunately, Roma was saved by the presence of Draco by her side, so her pain was washed away and re-purposed.
Others might become like Hikari, who would repress the memories and even rewrite them slightly to make them less heavy, living their lives semi-normally. Unfortunately, Draco tore her defenses down and let everything flow out, changing Hikari at a fundamental level while rebuilding her.
And then there were those who might become like Eva, who lost their sanity and became deranged. Luckily, Draco was there, and became an object to tie the last of her rationality to, like a man about to drown relying on a rope to keep afloat. If that rope ever disappeared, all that sanity would be gone, freeing something too horrible to even consider.
As for Zaine herself… her lips twitched when she realized that she had no epic trauma to speak of or define herself by. It was undeniable that she was basically a spoiled brat who had been lazy all her life because everything was handed to her, wasting her talents away until she met Draco.
And then there was Essence Stalker's type, those who had hardened their hearts to the trauma and treated it as if it was air, or something light like paper in order to reduce the emotional weight.
There was no truly good way to cope with something tragic. What would work for one person might not work for another, so everyone had to find their own way to deal with it so that they could continue their lives.
Hikari and Roma sympathized with him greatly, as their expressions softened. They had both started out as gentle girls who couldn't even hurt a fly, but had been corrupted by their trauma as well as Draco's evil manipulation, turning them into prideful and callous beauties overlooking the world.
Even Hikari was no longer bothered by slaughters and killing, which was rare for a White Dragon. As for Roma, she had even reached the point where ripping out souls to torture them was on the table.
Zaine decided to take charge since Hikari and Roma had lost their momentum. "So, let's talk a bit more about your abilities that appeared in the Realm of the Gods. You told us that you gained an affinity with serpents, by any chance did it manifest some strange abilities to that end? Something like molting your skin, being able to transform parts of your body to scales or claws perhaps?"
Essence Stalker was startled by this. "How did you know? Yes, sometimes if I get agitated or violent, my body would shift in strange ways. It had caused me trouble many times in order to suppress and hide it."
Zaine nodded and continued. "And you said something about attracting women? Would you say you feel a strange pulsation in your mind when around the opposite s.e.x? Like a feeling that if you pulled at them with your mind, they could easily become yours for the taking?"
Essence Stalker was shuddering with shock. "Y-Yes… how did you…?"
Zaine simply smiled and nodded to Hikari and Roma. "That about confirms it. We can bring Auntie in to check."
Fitter Cleric coughed. "I was ahead of you on this one and already called her over. I have been with this lout for a long time, so I knew the details of his condition a lot more. After learning about the details from Draco and Eva, I became suspicious, so I brought him in here to test my theory."
Zaine tickled her son and laughed. "That is some great foresight. Alright, let Auntie in then."
The door burst open and the s.e.xy Loving Aunt came in. Her former robes were very modest and proper, as Fyre wasn't really the type to show off her body. After all, she was of the Serpent God Inheritance, not the Dark Angel.
However, her new form in her Enchantress class was too much. It displayed a huge amount of skin as well as almost all of her supreme bust that was only challenged by Sublime Notion.
Shockingly, the rest of Fyre's body was curvy and well-endowed as well. Of course, it didn't reach the level of her chest, but it wasn't as straight as Warm Spring or Sublime's backside.
Even Fitter Cleric took in a deep breath. Zaine was certainly e.r.o.t.i.c, but she was the woman of Draco, and that alone was the biggest turn off for anyone who knew Draco and Eva.
Fyre though, was unclaimed and a free spirit. Anyone could try and mosey in, but most of those daring enough ran away after being subjected to her torture. The man who could basically survive and find her troublesome nature affectionate was destined to be her soulmate.
Unfortunately, such a fellow was hard to find, forcing a lovely and attractive woman like Fyre to remain single almost her whole life. Still, it didn't bother this evil woman in the least, as she still had feelings for her old flame, Draco's dad.
A tragedy on all sides… sigh.
But in this case, she just observed Essence Stalker and had him display his abilities as best he could. She also asked him to recount his life story, extracting far more detail from him than he had shared at first, even the things he didn't want to talk about.
Essence Stalker felt a strange sensation when Fyre did all of this, as if there was a slight resonance between them. Truthfully, he had also felt this with the babies over there, and he started to realize something from the various connections.
Fyre tapped her lip and drew blood from Essence Stalker. She decided to perform a bloodline test to be sure, and the results stunned her. She had suspected this, but still couldn't believe it when she saw it.
Zaine saw Fyre's expression and became solemn. "Auntie… how high is it?"
Hikari and Roma also became serious. After all, this would decide how this fellow would be treated by them and the entire world henceforth depending on the number Fyre gave.
Fyre paused for a bit before revealing the truth. "Well, I can say that he truly is a part of my Lineage. His bloodline was pure 4 generations ago, meaning that his great-grandfather split away from us to form his own sub-branch by breeding with normal humans."
"Either that, or his great-grandfather was expelled, but I doubt that since the one thing we rarely do is expel our own…" As she said this, Fyre became sad when she realized that the only time they had done so was to Draco, their Primogenitor reborn.
Fitter Cleric nodded. "When I learned about the Lineages, I guessed that he might have a relation to you and Draco given his specific abilities."
Loving Aunt smiled appreciatively towards Fitter. "Well done. By taking care of one of our own, you can request any one thing from my lineage in the Realm of the Gods. Even if you want a wife from our blood, everything is possible~"
Fitter Cleric began to sweat. "N-No thanks, I'm happy with Sheila."