Chapter 1802 - 1802: Hot Spring (2)

Living Parlors could be fed, indeed. However, for the calibrations already installed within them – extra rooms with designated functions – feeding was not exactly necessary. The Parlor was already connected to its inhabitants. They needed only to command the room, as it was sensitive to intention. Only outsiders needed to feed the room to access these extra luxuries, and they could do so only if the Parlor's inhabitants had no reservations about their actions.

…And thus, the indoor spring blossomed before Skullius and his company.

The Living Parlor even manifested a welcome banner in front of the spring, reading, Welcome to Luxury, Ticklers in the Common Tongue of Aigas. When Yuyui laughed her lungs out after reading it, Skullius sighed. It wasn't hard to guess how and why the banner read that.

From beneath this banner, rich dirt and tufted, fragrant grass rolled forth, as though some chunk of a whole mountain had been transposed into the Parlor, half of it masked by steam. There were two pathways leading from the banner to two distant, fenced spaces somewhere in the distance.

With Skullius' consent, Fortus divided the group by gender. Some of his attendants with more obscure features took the females in Skullius' company to the spring on the right, while he and the remaining attendants led Skullius and the rest to the left.

Inside both springs, the hot water ran down high falls, white as snow and cloaked by steam, splattered on hunks of granite rocks and then slid into a huge pool. Around the pool were comfortable stools topped with some spongy material that felt divine on the buttocks. Glass containers, each with a gel that smelled sweet and refreshing in its own way, surrounded each of the stools, along with towels that remained ever dry, even when the hot water splashing against the rocks above fell on them by the liter. There was an assortment of other tools around them as well.

…

The ladies were having a magnificent time. They had initially chosen to stay wary, even when Skullius told them to relax (as he'd sent Weaver and Araeyn with them), but they soon let their guard down.

The attendants took good care of them. Stripping down and shrinking to better attend to the women, they put their toned and defined bodies on full display. After assuring them all that they were only here to serve their every whim, they had all the women, except for Elita and Uyuniya (who stalked into the pool after refusing their aid), strip down, and sit on the stools before scrubbing them with brushes that felt both hard and soft on the skin. Each scrub felt like scratching an annoying itch too hard to reach with the hands. It felt divine.

Magisa, one of the Troops, shuddered as a powerful hand twice the size of her head massaged her shoulders while another scrubbed along her spine. An oily gel applied on her for both the massage and the scrub forced her muscles loose. Magisa bit down her tongue so as to not squeal.

'The gel is foaming,' she thought, and it indeed it was. She was buried in its weightless embrace. 'It smells… rosy. Is that a coincidence?'

Gerriey was lost in the intricate motions relaxing her thighs. The minty smell of the gel frothing over her torso had completely stolen her. It was her favorite.

Yuyui refused, with a stern, "Don't touch me anywhere else," to allow her attendant anything more than a back scrub. The gel over her gave her strength. It smelled quite like sweaty fur… her favorite.

"Yes, yes. If you could… yes, right there, yes. You're very kind."

The meek, mousy voice stole everyone else from their pleasure. They turned to its source.

Kintar was hunched on her stool, blushing, thighs knit together, hands gripping her knees. A modest, abashed smile could be seen on what portion of her face wasn't hidden by the foam.

"If you wouldn't mind my legs too, if that's alright. Yes, thank you," she said to her attendant, who did as she pleased.

"…"

*

The men were also having the time of their lives.

"Yep, work those feathers nice and thorough," Timmit was saying as an attendant scrubbed his wings and the sinew on them.

Baddan looked like a wet dog, but he was rather graceful in the way he had sat on the stool, enjoying having his furs brushed clean to their optimal state. It had been a while. Typically, he used mana to clean himself and stay fresh. He remembered laughing at Savast when he'd had to explain how humans had to wash themselves for hygiene.

As it happened, this was Savast's first time experiencing that. The Fleshimon wasn't particularly pleased with it at first, but he quickly grew to like it, and only because the feminine attendant washing him took extra care. She even minded his three eyes, making sure they weren't irritated.

Meanwhile, Grim was floating in the pool like a corpse next to Skullius, who chose to remain giant. (The pool was large enough to sustain him and everyone else without any issues.) He'd stripped himself of the [Avant Atelier] and the [Numinous Ichor], remaining bare as half of him was steeped in the hot, steaming waters of the pool, coin-grey and blameless.

Three attendants worked his muscles, chest, and head as he relaxed… or seemed to. His senses were being torn in many directions still, and he heard many voices amidst the chaos and violence. Some he understood, others were very obscure.

There…conquest… prime.

Do…that visitor…

Will you shut up?

…perimeter clear.

Check Sector SEPT F Positive.

Know…riot? Damn…mortals!

Grand…lliard.

'Hm.' Skullius sighed and opened his eyes. 'Thirteen thousand left. I have to move deeper, but that also means being more careful. If they catch on…'

His attention stealthily crept to Fortus, who was standing quite a distance behind him. A fine coat of Amras shielded him from the hot spray – a magnificent show of Amras manipulation.

'The way he views me has changed, however subtly,' thought the Hybrid, amused. He closed his eyes again and listened, allowing himself to drown in the fullness of Crude World Injection.

Earlier, he marked millions of Vacuum Fiends with precise uses of [Crude World Injection] and [Evil Darkness]. When he chose to, he could split his attention across the Vacuum Fiends' minds, sharing their senses. This was only possible because they didn't have complicated thoughts and desires, but that didn't mean it was easy. These were powerful creatures with voracious greed, after all.

'Come on…'

It felt to Skullius like he was steeped in different perspectives for an hour, but when someone spoke to him, he stormed back to his body instantly.

The Troops and Stars were all in the pool now, almost glistening with hygiene and pristine moods.

All except for Savast.

"Yes?" Skullius said. It was the former Cluster General's voice he'd heard just now, calling him.

"May I ask you something?" said the Star, the rain of hot water casting a gloomy steam cloud over him.

Skullius frowned. "If you stop adopting that formal tone with me, you can. It's really starting to tick me off."

"…Alright," said Savast. "Then I'll be blunt."

"Please."

Savast took a steady breath.

"Why haven't you done anything to help Kintar?"