Book 3: Chapter 49

As soon as he returned to his temple, Aaron began to meditate. Strangely, though, Yendal was nowhere to be seen. He wasn’t entirely sure if there was any reason to it, and had half expected a scolding for his core shenanigans, but maybe that was still coming, just at a later date.

Either way, he didn’t exactly have the time at that moment to try to figure out why she wasn’t around.

A question for another day.

Settling into his meditation, he began cycling aether through his soul and using it to patch himself up. Once again, he had improved from the last time he had soul damage, and he healed his soul relatively quickly.

But that wasn’t all. As he patched his soul up, it somehow felt sturdier than it had previously. The change wasn’t anything major. It wasn’t some kind of obvious power upgrade, but it did feel a little more robust.

He wondered if he could temper his soul through punishing it and healing the damage, thus strengthening it further. But that was a task for another day. For now, he had ants to deal with.

And the moment he felt his soul had fully recovered, he broke his meditative trance and his eyes sprang open.

“That feels better.”

Taking a deep breath and lingering in the growing truths of his temple for several seconds, he then forced himself up.

“Better get back to it.”

Swift steps took him straight out of the temple, but he was stopped just outside. It was the goblins, almost all of them. And they stood there waiting, greeting him with all kinds of ingredients bundled up in their little green arms.

“What’s all this?”

“Ingredients for you, master. For your cooking and for your gut!” Treg exclaimed.

“Really? This is all for me? I didn’t even ask for anything. Thanks, mate.”

“Don’t mention it,” Treg waved away with a wide smile. “We wish we could go more for you! For the hunt! For everyone’s sake!”

“Well, I appreciate it nonetheless.”

Aaron began stuffing all of it into his scabbard. Now wasn’t the time to go on a cooking binge, but he could still eat raw ingredients, and the more he had, the better his spatial reserves were.

“Thanks again, mate.”

Treg and his tribe seemed to love the praise, but before Aaron could get moving again, he heard hurried steps coming his way.

“Hang on! before you go!”

He turned. It was Zach, followed close behind by Marko, and he was carrying something.

“Check it out. I finally got done with this piece.”

“Wait, is that?”

“Yeah, it is!” he nodded excitedly. “It’s the bear hide. One hell of a piece. I’d have usually made a hide like this into a cloak, but I figured since you’ve got that cape, it wouldn’t work. So, I figured a hoodie and shorts would make more sense. Then you can still wear your cape.”

Aaron’s gaze washed over the peculiar clothing. It was the first real bear fur hoodie and shorts he had ever seen, and it was a rather strange choice of material to use for such an item.

But that wasn’t what had his brow creasing. The piece of fur clothing wasn’t just a hoodie; it was a sleeveless hoodie. And the shorts… they were very short.

“This is…”

“Nice, huh?”

But before he could utter his reply, it got caught in his throat as he inspected the items.

Sleeveless Iron Fur Hoodie [ Epic ]

Made from the incredibly hardy and durable hide of an iron fur bear, this hoodie provides both warmth and fashion. It is known that throughout the multiverse, stylish warriors dress themselves in fine furs to show off to one another, and you are no different. Dress to impress, and you’ll do more than just win battles; perhaps, you’ll even win a few hearts along the way.

Provides: +10% Damage Resistance, +20% Cold Resistance, and +100 attraction from all species. An additional bonus to fear when wearing a bear-head hood.

Iron Fur Short Shorts [ Epic ]

Made from the incredibly hardy and durable hide of an iron fur bear, these short shorts provide both warmth and fashion. It is known that throughout the multiverse, stylish warriors dress themselves in fine furs to show off to one another, and you are no different. Dress to impress, and you’ll do more than just win battles; perhaps, you’ll even win a few hearts along the way.

Provides: +5% Damage Resistance, +10% Cold Resistance, and +50 attraction from all species.

Both pieces had the same description, but slightly different stats. Those stats were quite good from a cursory glance, and Aaron certainly couldn’t turn down damage resistance, but he did raise a brow at the final buff.

This strange fur outfit provided a whopping +150 to attraction, which made him tense up with apprehension.

“All species?" He murmured. “Why? Why was that necessary?”

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

He was trying to survive the multiverse, not attract mates. And the fact that he kept getting items that made him more attractive was rather concerning. Also, he really didn’t want to become irresistible to ogres, especially since he already had his gauntlets, which he glanced down at.

“When added all up, they equal… Wait, what the hell is this?”

Aaron's eyes widened as he inspected his gauntlets again. “Plus 100 attraction to ogres?”

His jaw dropped. Had he read it wrong? Did his gauntlets make him attracted to ogres?

He shook his head in disbelief. That was ridiculous. A pair of gauntlets couldn’t dictate who he was and wasn’t attracted to, no matter how powerful the System was…. Could it?

“No, that’s bloody ridiculous! I’m not attracted to bloody ogres!”

He ran his hands through his bleached blonde hair that now had a pretty bad case of regrowth.

“No, no, no. That’s not happening.”

He wasn’t speaking to anybody in particular, just out to the air. He didn’t have any reason to believe that the System had any real sentience or could listen to him. But still… he felt like he needed to make some kind of declaration to the multiverse.

“System, or whoever fuck is doing this. You had better not be shipping me with some bloody ogre bride!”

There was an obvious problem with his declaration. His gauntlets were without a doubt his most valuable item, and increased his power and damage considerably. Not only that, but they were adaptive, and as such, would level up as he did.

Aaron groaned long and hard. He had a feeling he wouldn’t be replacing his gauntlets anytime soon, and that meant keeping his attraction.

“At least there’s no ogres around here…”

He remembered that there was Roomarg the Stinky, the ogre

he had saved from the dungeon when killing the bear. Luckily, he hadn’t felt any attraction to him, but then again, Roomarg was male.

“This isn’t good,” he sighed. “Really not good.”

“Is something wrong, mate?” Zach said, and Aaron became painfully aware that he had been ranting to himself this entire time with an audience.

“Oh, right,” he glanced around with an awkward toothy grin. “Nope, nothing wrong. Cheers mate. These furs look great.”

“So, you're going to try them on, then?”

“Right, try them on…”

Aaron sighed again and reluctantly nodded. He took furs and retreated back into a spare room in the temple, and reappeared moments later.

“That’s quite the look you’ve got there.”

“When did you arrive?” Aaron slumped, turning to Talia, who was standing among his growing audience, arms crossed.

In the time he was meditating, Talia had cleaned up, rested, and changed into new clothes that somehow went even further into the edgy territory. She had looked emo before, but she seemed to have opted for something less casual this time and was now halfway to goth. And more importantly, it looked completely natural on her.

Was she always like this?

he wondered.

Or is her Race Evolution changing her?

“I came to see if you were ready for another push into the jungle,” she said, smirking as she looked him up and down. “Didn’t expect to stumble into a runway show…”

“It’s not what it looks like,” Aaron huffed through gritted teeth. “Just upgrading some of my gear.”

“Don’t be embarrassed. It looks good. I think the sleeveless fur look suits you. And those shorts, they’re priceless.”

Aaron’s face reddened. “Alright, let’s go!” He said, his voice suddenly quickening. “We got ants to kill!”

“No, no, no. Take your time. Maybe khaki would look good instead of brown?”

“We’re going!” Aaron stormed past.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have anywhere to go, as he had to wait for the group to regather.

And as he waited for the squads to collect themselves, he noticed that there were more people gathering to join the battle this time. And that came with more sideways glances at his peculiar new outfit.

This is bad.

There was something else, though. A ball was forming in his gut at the thought of ballooning out, which he was going to have to do soon before the battle. And the shorts were already short enough.

Also, while he couldn’t turn down additional warriors wanting to join, he really hoped it had nothing to do with enhanced attraction, especially since Roomarg had joined the party to fight the ants.

Aaron swallowed and fought down his growing fears. The stronger the force was, the less he’d have to babysit them, and the more he could focus on getting to the queen.

One step at a time. Get through this, and then figure out how to deal with this outfit.

“Are you ready, Mr. Fashionista?” Talia asked as she strolled over.

“You’re not going to let me live this down, are you?”

Talia shook her head, a smile stretching her face wide.

“Oh, whatever.”

It was also kind of annoying how damn comfortable the furs were. He didn’t want to like them, but the longer he wore them, the more he felt himself warming up to them.

“Alright, everyone! Let’s be on our highest alert. Anything could happen out there!” Ryan shouted, addressing everyone in attendance.

With that announcement, the group packed up the last of their equipment and readied to head out again.

It didn’t take long to reach the scouts, who continued their attacks as the attack force passed them.

And the moment they reached the swarm, they got to work. The force charged the ants, slamming straight into their lines.

Aaron, Zero, and Talia made the vanguard this time, and all crashed into their enemies first.

Aaron wanted to make it quick and move forward onto the queen, but he couldn’t just leave them against the swarm alone. Even if he could skirt around the ants, he had no idea how long it would take to go and assassinate the queen, and they had already underestimated how quickly the swarm would progress.

It had been maybe a little over a day since they had retreated, and the swarm had already poured over half the plains, and their pace was quickening.

If it took him a couple of days to take out the queen, then the ants could be at the gates of Dober before he was done, and who knew how much damage they might cause if they got that far.

That said, with the attack force joining the scouts against the ants, the battle took a decisive turn. With Aaron, Talia, and Zero at the front, and the ever-larger and stronger squadrons behind them, they made quick progress, pushing back the endless horde.

Of course, it wasn’t the horde that was the main problem. And as the hours of slaughter passed, and they pushed them back toward the jungle, Aaron felt two new energy signals that gave him pause.

His spiritual senses went haywire, telling him that whatever was ahead, it wasn’t to be taken lightly.

However, they couldn’t turn back now. They had stirred up the nest, and the only way forward was to deal with the problem.

Aaron’s brow bent in defiance. The last battle had been far too close, and what he sensed from these two felt even more troubling. But it wasn’t enough to dissuade him from his responsibility.

“You feel that, Talia?” He said, bashing through a line of ants with deadly precision.

“I do now, and I don’t like it,” she said, her avatar’s massive sword swinging through the ant ranks. “You got a plan?”

“Plan? Does ‘kill whatever we find’ count?”

Talia glared back, but didn’t slow her pace.

But as much as he put on a brave face, there was something eating him up inside.

All of this fighting was a lot of information about themselves that they were giving up. If the queen were halfway competent, she could be taking advantage of this.

I don’t like this. Then again, how smart do ants get, anyway?