After getting the girls to bed, Hiro moved on to his level-ups.
[You have leveled up to level 7]
Choose an upgrade:
Iron Gut
Water Magic (disabled)
Liquid Analysis (Disabled)
[Liquid Analysis]:
Allows the user to analyze any absorbed liquid and recreate it.
Prerequisite Skill missing: Water Storage.
[Iron Gut]:
Separates ingested inorganic material and stores it for later use. Storage capacity: 0/100.
Hiro briefly examined the descriptions. It seemed like Liquid Analysis was the liquid version of Material Analysis. If this was the case, Hiro wondered if the next skill would be related to gas. He suddenly remembered that Water Storage had been an option before.
Nevertheless, Hiro could only choose one skill each time he leveled up. He chose Iron Gut. His plan was to choose Material Analysis next, but fate had other plans as Material Analysis wasn't offered in his next level-up.
[Level up achieved!]
STR: 24 -> 26
Dex: 25 -> 26
Mag: 0
[You have leveled up to level 8]
Choose an upgrade:
Poison Injection
Autophagy
Oxygen Storage
[Autophagy]:
Consumes cell storage as nutrients. The efficiency of conversion from cell storage to nutrients is 70 percent. This can be enhanced with Nutrients Efficiency.
Hiro considered Oxygen Storage but decided against it. It might be useful if the girls were attacked by poisonous gases or became trapped, but nutrients were a higher priority. The girls were famished, and now that they were no longer in a forest, securing nutrients was crucial. Hiro couldn't rely on trees or wildlife anymore, so he chose Autophagy.
He needed almost 100 nutrients each day, and the girls were dirt poor, with only the clothes on their backs as their only assets. Hiro wanted the girls to eat more, but with their nightly activities, he doubted they would be able to earn enough money for decent food.
[Level up achieved!]
STR: 26 -> 28
Dex: 26 -> 27
Mag: 0
And that marked the end of Hiro's level-ups. Sex definitely earned him some experience points and level-up bonuses, but he still wasn't sure how to maximize his level-ups and experience gains.
"Morning! Wake up, you two." Rebecca knocked and entered Cecile's bedroom, nudging the sleeping Cecile and Nana.
"Unn..." Cecile groaned as she reluctantly woke up.
"Let's eat. It's almost afternoon," Rebecca said.
"Uh... my body is still warm..." Cecile walked unsteadily, like a newborn fawn.
"Nana, you need to stop using your symbiote as a masturbation tool. You too, Cecile. They are our important partners," Rebecca said as she sat down at the table. "We need to respect them."
"It's the tentacles that raped me..." Cecile tried to defend herself, but all of them knew she enjoyed it too.
"I only live to satisfy Master Alex. I am Master Alex's slave!!"
"Ugh. So you named your tentacle Alex..." Rebecca was grossed out. Up until now, Hiro had ignored Nana's tendency to confuse him with her former master, but he wondered if he should take action regarding her mental health. He wanted to train her to be his slave, not someone else's. The fact Nana brought up Alex's name disgusted even a pervert like him.
"I wonder what we should name our symbiote..." Rebecca pondered.
"Hero!" Cecile suggested. "Because it has saved us many times. Like a hero."
Cecile was immensely grateful to Hiro. She knew how much Hiro had helped her—saving them from bandits, nobles, and especially in the woods. Traveling through a monster-infested forest with only clothes on their backs, without any weapons or supplies, was suicidal, but they all survived because of Hiro.
"Hm... Hiro, huh? Not bad. Are you okay if we call you that?" Rebecca asked Hiro, and he nodded. It was a coincidence the name matched his previous one; certainly not because the author is lazy about memorizing names. It was beneficial to readers too, if all they had to remember was hiro as all of their tentacles.
"Greetings. Did you all rest well?" Marissa entered with three of her servants. Two looked like soldiers, while one appeared to be a maid. All of them were female.
A baronet usually doesn't have any servants, as they are on par with a village chief. Their income isn't much, so they couldn't employ many servants. However, Marissa was a unique case. She was a duke's daughter who had been cast out due to her inability to walk. She was blameless, but because she was paralyzed, people began to wonder if she could even have children.
That notion proved fatal for her family. If nobles found out she couldn't have any children, they might distance themselves from the Siegfried family, fearing her bloodline carried harmful genetics. So, her family had to send Marissa to a remote village and keep her hidden.
Marissa accepted her situation, but the village she was sent to was the worst. The people were poor, monsters frequently attacked, and there were no public facilities such as an adventurer guild or barracks. Marissa wondered how such a village could survive. Thanks to her loyal knights and maids, they could repel the monsters.
However, as a devout follower of Amdal, the god of justice, she felt unworthy. She couldn't do anything on her own and relied on money from her ducal house to pay her knights. The only thing she excelled at was paperwork, but her territory was so poor that even paper was scarce. She had to hire servants to carry her litter chair everywhere. She felt ashamed of herself and her inability to contribute to the kingdom.
Luck finally came her way when three adventurers sought asylum. Marissa thought the girls were either very lucky or very skilled to survive in the forest with only simple dresses and spears. The Kingdom of Litmus didn't accept criminals, but the church had a doctrine to help those who were treated unjustly in their home country. While she suspected they might have criminal records, they were actually clean.
This was because the House of Balto and the House of Evesys couldn't pin any blame on them. Alex's death was declared to be the fault of bandits by Horaine's knights, the Royal knights, and the adventurers guild, so these houses could only issue a warrant for questioning. Marissa applied for asylum, which was accepted and endorsed by the church.
After providing them with a house, she planned to ask them to guard the southern field while her knights guarded the western one. Her knights were capable, but she only had two, and they couldn't work alone. This had led to significant crop damage from monsters in previous years.
"So, you want us to guard the southern field?" Cecile asked.
"Yes, if you would."
"Did you contact the adventurers guild?" Cecile continued.
"Could we do it without involving the guild? It's not like you have an exclusive contract with them, right? Moreover, I could offer 1 gold coin per day for this request."
"Well, we've been on the run for almost three weeks now. If we don't take any requests from the guild for a month without any word, our license could be revoked, or we could even be declared dead."
"I see."
"We'll accept the request for three days. We desperately need the money," Rebecca said, looking at the other girls, who nodded in agreement.
"Good! I'm sorry for imposing on you so soon."
"We're grateful. We really do need the money."
"Then I'll take my leave. When you're done, please come to my house, okay?" Marissa then motioned for her servants to carry her away.
"1 gold each day? Wow!" Cecile jumped excitedly. "We usually only get around 60 or 80 silver..."
"She probably wants to skip the guild commission. Do we trust her?" Nana asked.
"We've got a house, a field, and some food from her. Plus, the forest is nearby. If she's lying, we can hunt for food today and head to the adventurers guild tomorrow morning," Rebecca replied.
They soon prepared their spears and headed to the southern farmlands where Marissa had directed them. Rebecca greeted the farmers who owned the fields, but it quickly became clear that there was little to defend—giant rats and steel pangolins had already infested the area. Flourishing their spears, Nana and Cecile engaged the cow-sized rats while Rebecca took her position at the rear.
"Charge!" Giant rats were considered about as dangerous as goblins, so Hiro thought they could handle them without buffs. But it proved more problematic than expected. His flimsy spear simply bounced off the rats' tough hides, leaving nothing more than a scratch. The pangolins were even worse; Hiro's wooden spear broke upon impact.
Seeing this, Hiro had no choice but to slither out of Nana and Cecile's bodies. Cecile, who had been subjected to torment the previous night, quickly lost strength in her legs.
"Unh..." she groaned, her body betraying her.
"Cecile! Stop lazing around! Focus!"
Thankfully, the pangolins were slow. Upon seeing the attacks, they rolled up, their iron scales covering the outer part of their bodies. Such defense was futile against Hiro. He simply slipped through the gaps in their armor and activated his [Advanced Parasitism]. In a matter of minutes, the pangolins lay dead.
Hiro used the same technique on the giant rat. He latched onto its neck and activated his parasitism. The rat fought back, biting off his tentacle. Hiro then latched himself on its back after separating himself from her using mitosis, and the giant rat was sucked dry in a few minutes.
As Hiro examined the pangolin's carapace, he remembered his new skill and decided to use it on the carcass. Activating the skill opened a mouth on his tentacle, and he ripped off the pangolin's armor, scale by scale, and swallowed it. After stripping it bare, a window popped up before him:
[Stored material: iron 1/100]
Hiro had no idea what the number represented. He was sure he had eaten more than 1 kg but was also certain it was less than a ton. Maybe 1 equaled 10 kg? Perhaps that was the amount of actual iron contained in the pangolin? He wasn't sure.
After he finished eating, he left the carcasses behind. It was strange, but Hiro couldn't consume carcasses or corpses. His [Advanced Parasitism] only worked on living things, so using it on corpses didn't provide any nutrients. He learned this the hard way when Rebecca occasionally offered him her food.
"You like eating that?" Rebecca asked, tilting her head.
"Don't eat that, it's not edible," Cecile said, panicking. Hiro inwardly sighed at her antics. Cecile was too innocent, treating Hiro like a newborn baby animal. Hiro didn't mind, though. Her behavior made her even cuter.
When Hiro spit out his iron storage, several pebbles flew out of his mouth. He then gave one to Rebecca and swallowed the rest back. As he suspected, it was just iron ore. He couldn't form a steel spear or sword yet; he needed that material analysis skill. Rebecca only tilted her head, puzzled by the gesture.
"What's this? It's just a rock, isn't it?" Rebecca threw the rock away. Hiro almost screamed in anger; he had thought better of her. Rebecca was supposed to be the smartest of the group.
"Don't throw it away! It's from Hiro!" Cecile picked up the iron ore again.
"You're better than I thought!" Two female knights approached. Hiro guessed they were knights based on how they handled their swords, even though they wore no armor, just sturdy travel clothes.
"How did you kill these creatures with only spears?" one of the knights asked.
"Um... we used our special skills!" Rebecca tried to bluff, but it was futile. A farmer had spied on their fight, and Hiro's pink flesh was very conspicuous. After the knights paid Cecile's group their money, they reported what they had seen to Marissa, who came to their house immediately.
"Greetings."
"Gre—hello, Miss Marissa."
"I see now why House Balto and House Evesys are looking for you so desperately," Marissa said with a smile. "You have a [symbiote], don't you?"
"W-what are you talking about?" Hiro sighed at Rebecca's stutter. It only made her sound more suspicious.
"Don't worry. I have no intention of harming you. However, I can't say the same for other nobles. But there is a way to protect you."
"And?"
"How about I register you as my knights?"
Rebecca hesitated. She didn't fully trust Marissa, who was clearly desperate. Marissa had been defending her territory, but her knights' income was in the red. Her knights used most of their paychecks to maintain their weapons. The iron swords they wielded were poorly matched against the monsters' hard carapace. The maintenance for them was expensive in these rural villages. If there was another way to deal with these pests, she would gladly consider it.
"Will you really protect us? Do you swear on your god?"
"Yes! I swear on Amdal, the god of justice." Marissa nodded.
"Very well. But we also want some freedom, okay?"
"Sure! It is regrettable, but I can't pay you properly either. While I am the daughter of a ducal household, I am just an exile. I want to help this poor village. Each day, the villagers work hard on their farms, but monsters keep destroying their crops. It's unbearable." Marissa hung her head. "Moreover, I can't do anything about it."
"You're an invalid, after all. I don't think anyone expects much from you..." Rebecca nodded. "Well, if you promise to help us, then we accept."
"Thank you! I will do everything I can to prevent other nobles from kidnapping you."
As the group excitedly talked, Hiro looked at Marissa lecherously. Whenever Marissa moved, her rack bounced. He wanted to wrap himself in those bountiful mountains. Nevertheless, before he started to expand his harem, Hiro needed to train the ones he had first, mainly Nana. Moreover, he had promised to hold himself back so they could earn some money here.
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