Chapter 45 Return Blade.

Chapter 45: 45 Return Blade.

Yesterday had been bliss. After the massage and the shower, we passed out on my bed until it was almost dinner time.

None of us felt like cooking, nor would I have trusted Elsa or Ayra to even if they did, so I ordered pizza from the only place that delivered this far out of town—Pizza Dude.

When the doorbell rang, I opened it to find an unwelcomely familiar face.

It was the delivery girl I’d hooked up with a month or so back.

She was really pretty, a half-Korean, I think, who modeled her makeup on K-Pop stars and pulled it off really well, if a bit cheaply.

Her long black hair was pulled into a greasy ponytail, though, and her Pizza Dude uniform was rumpled and ill-fitting for her frame.

I couldn’t remember her name. Tangerine? No, that definitely didn’t sound right.

I cleared my throat and tried to remain calm. "Damn, I’m surprised your boss let you deliver out here again," I said, reaching for my wallet. "Wasn’t there a harassment incident that had him freaked out for you?"

She shrugged, blowing a bubble with her gum. "Hey fuckface. Yeah, well, the other guy, like, called in sick or whatever, so it’s like, you know. Someone has to do it."

Her dark eyes flicked past me, narrowing as she noticed Elsa lurking in the doorway behind me. "Oh. You’ve got... someone else already, I see."

Elsa stepped forward imperiously, wearing my ballcap with her ears thankfully tucked underneath.

Her eyes took in the pizza girl with the most flagrantly hostile look imaginable, making me blanch in fear of what she was about to say. "Is this the whore who spoiled Grey’s purity before my arrival?" she asked plainly.

The pizza girl barked out a frankly brutal laugh. "Bitch, please. This asshole hasn’t been pure for a fucking while."

She handed me the pizza box, but kept her eyes locked on Elsa. "You can do better than this prick, chica. Just saying. He might be a great lay, and he might be willing to flash some cash to impress you, but he’s the type that doesn’t call back when he’s done with you. Be warned."

"I assure you, your warning runs counter to my experience," Elsa replied smugly, crossing her arms. "He spoils me with attention. Why, if I tried to leave him, he would chase me to the farthest reaches of the Earth."

I blinked. "I might not go that far. I dunno."

"Whatever," the pizza girl muttered, rolling her eyes as she loudly chewed her gum and pocketed the cash I’d handed her.

As she turned to leave, she smirked at me over her shoulder. "At least you’re still a great tipper, fuckface." Then she winked at Elsa. "Enjoy him while he lets you, bitch. He’ll toss you out like yesterday’s trash soon enough."

I closed the door quickly before Elsa could respond and make things worse, and only then did Ayra pop her head from around the corner.

That encounter made things awkward with the girls for an hour or two, but after demolishing the pizza and watching TV until midnight, we suited up for the nightly monster hunt—a land drake that put up more of a fight than I’d expected.

Then, of course, we dragged ourselves to a bath and to bed.

This morning, however, I woke up with a start as my brain desperately tried to remember what oxygen felt like. Not because of some mystical paralysis or monster venom, but because I had approximately 230 pounds of interdimensional female distributed across my body.

Elsa had claimed my chest as her personal pillow, golden hair splayed across me again, one pointed ear poking out from beneath the strands. Her soft breath tickled my collarbone with each exhalation.

Ayra had wrapped herself around my right side. Her tail occasionally twitched against my leg as she dreamed doggy dreams that had her arms and legs twitching like she was trying to run.

The clock on my nightstand read 5:47 AM. Ungodly early by any reasonable standard, but my body had apparently decided sleep was for losers.

I tried to shift just enough to restore blood flow to my arm. Both women responded by tightening their grips simultaneously.

Elsa made a small noise of protest in her sleep as she burrowed deeper into my chest.

No escape, then. At least not without waking them, which wouldn’t end well.

So if I couldn’t move without triggering a chain reaction of morning activities that would leave me a dried up shell of a man, maybe I could at least use this time productively.

Meditation.

Elsa had shown me how to connect to what she called the System’s passive field—that place where XP flowed like a cosmic river of leveling goodness.

I closed my eyes, trying to remember her instructions. Breathe deep. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Focus on the energy flowing through your body.

At first, nothing happened except I got slightly light-headed from the deliberate breathing.

Then, gradually, warmth began to spread through my limbs. A tingling at the base of my skull felt almost drug-induced.

The sensation was stronger than last time, more immediate maybe, a bit like diving into a pool.

Time stretched out. I lost track of minutes, maybe hours, as the energy built inside me.

It was like charging a battery, but the battery was me. My awareness expanded outward to encompass the weight of the women draped across me, the sound of their breathing, and the early morning birds beginning their chorus outside.

Then something shifted. It was a subtle click in my mind, I guess, for lack of a better way to describe it.

The warmth intensified and rushed through me in a wave that likely would have made me gasp if I wasn’t so deep in meditation.

A notification appeared in my mind’s eye:

[ XP Gained! LEVEL UP! ]

[ Level 17 achieved. ]

[ You have one new skill point and one new attribute point. Would you like to allocate them now? YES / NO ]

"Yes," I thought, careful not to actually say it out loud.

The display changed, splitting into two sections:

[ ALLOCATE YOUR SKILL POINT:

• Return Blade (Thrown weapons return to your hand automatically)

• Flame Edge (Temporarily imbue your weapon with fire damage)

ALLOCATE YOUR ATTRIBUTE POINT:

• Strength: 18

• Dexterity: 15

• Constitution: 15

• Intelligence: 10

• Wisdom: 10

• Charisma: 9

Granted both abilities seemed badass, but Return Blade was a no-brainer.

I’d been thinking about ranged options for a while now, and it only got more serious when that behemoth almost made me into a human pancake.

Being able to throw my sword and have it boomerang back would give me attack options beyond my ol’ faithful "charge in and try not to die terribly."

"Return Blade," I decided mentally.

[ Skill acquired: Return Blade ↓

You can now throw your weapon and recall it to your hand automatically. Range based on Strength and Dexterity. Damage based on Strength. Accuracy based on Dexterity. ]

For my attribute point, I hesitated. Strength had been my go-to lately, though I did just cheat on it with Constitution, but maybe it was time to branch out.

With this new throwing ability, Dexterity made the most sense.

"Dexterity," I chose.

[ Attribute increased: Dexterity (Now 16)

Congratulations on reaching Level 17! New skill and attribute points have been allocated. ]