"FUCK!!!" In a dark room, in a ruined castle, in a fallen kingdom, a man was pacing angrily. "How did she get around us!? We did almost all of this without their help, so how did she find the leeway to slip by!?" It had been over eight hours since the [Avatar of Connection] had awakened, and they still couldn't figure out how it had happened, or who it had happened with.
Another man was sitting in the corner, sighing heavily. "Calm down. Even if she's unlocked her class, she'll still have a hell of a time gaining power. The Will suppression may have been cut off, but she's gonna have a hard time making [Bonds] when everyone she gets close with is repulsed by my skill. Unless she somehow-" He suddenly cut off, his eyes going wide. "What...?"
The first man spun on him. "What!? What now!?"
The calmer man stood, his voice icy and slightly fearful. "We need to move. Now!" He started towards the door. "I just lost all connection to her. She just vanished. As if she doesn't exist." He looked back at the angry man. "We need to find her, now. Otherwise, we could have another Upheaval on our hands."
*****
When Verena woke up, this time, she was momentarily confused. Any time she went to bed, she always woke up on her back, splayed out like a starfish. This morning, however, she found herself on her side, with something warm pressed against her back.
After a moment, she recalled the events of last night, and a warm smile spread across her face. She turned her head back, looking at Marianne, who was awake and looking at her lovingly. "Good morning, my lady."
Verena leaned in, kissing Marianne, softly. "Good morning, my love." Marianne blushed as Verena slipped out of bed. "Come on, we have a lot to talk about." Verena glanced back to see Marianne looking at her naked body with a smirk. Verena shook her head, chuckling. "You can stare at my ass later, Marianne. We need to figure out what we're gonna do."
Marianne giggled, getting out of bed. "Spoil sport. I'm not sure I like this new Verena." When the vampire looked back at her, she stuck her tongue out, playfully. "You have too much self-control. The old Verena would already be balls-deep inside me."
Verena laughed in response. "Again, later. I'll fuck your brains out all you want, tonight." Marianne pouted, but she still moved to get dressed. As Marianne pulled her dress on, Verena slipped in for a quick kiss. "I never expected my innocent little maid to be so insatiable."
Marianne smiled, returning the kiss. "I wasn't. Not until, a certain somebody went feral and melted my brain with her giant futa cock." She wrapped her arms around Verena, from behind. "I think you awakened at least a dozen new fetishes in me, last night."
Verena growled softly. "Marianne, please..."
Marianne finally relented, backing off. "Okay, sorry, sorry..."
After they both finished fixing their dresses, they sat down by Verena's desk. Verena spoke first. "Alright, we need to decide what we're doing about all this. Someone seems to be after me. My, apparently insane, Will stat was being suppressed by them to hold me back. My class is seemingly impossible for my race. And to top it all off, a voice in my head claims that they're going to be coming for me within a few weeks. Now, we need to make a few major decisions.
"Number one, who, if anyone, do we tell about this?"
Marianne was thoughtful for a moment. Then, she nodded to herself. "I think we tell your parents, but I don't think there's anyone else we can trust."
Verena nods. "Alright, I was thinking the same. Now, question two, how much do we tell them? The important things are: our relationship, my class, the force that's been acting against me, and this voice I heard. Which of those do we want to tell them about?"
Marianne replied swiftly, "I think we absolutely tell them about your class and the threat. I'm not sure about the voice, but I fail to see why we would hide our relationship. Is there some taboo, or tradition, we're breaking?"
Verena responded with a shake of the head. "Nothing concrete, but we are absolutely not telling my father, unless my mother is also there. If I have to hear his lecture about keeping short-lived races at arms-length, one more time, even my Will won't be enough to keep me from going insane."
Marianne was confused, as those conversations had only ever happened when Verena and Dominik were alone. "Does your father not approve of such relationships?"
Verena sighed. "No, that's not it. He doesn't approve of the impact such a relationship could have on me. 'Don't get so close to people who you'll outlive by thousands of years. It will only hurt when you lose them.' and all that. Mom says he's just projecting. She says it happens with every Vampire, Elf, etcetera. He just took it badly. She told me his best friend, when he was young, was a Wolfkin. When he died, father was devastated. She said it took him more than fifty years to recover." She reaches out to take Marianne's hand. "But I know that if I did what he wanted, I'd have so much more regret over what could have been than I would for losing what I had. I would rather spend as much time with you as I can, and have the memories forever, than just push you away and never have that happiness, in the first place."
Marianne smiled warmly, tears welling up in her eyes. "That's incredibly romantic, Verena, and I'm so happy you feel that way, but I feel we've gotten off track." Marianne returns to the previous discussion. "So, we don't tell your father about us unless we have your mother around. On that note, you're welcome. Because we most certainly wouldn't have a choice about that if I hadn't put up my [Undetectable Aura] before we got going, last night. We definitely talk about your class and whatever force is targeting you. What about the voice? Do you think we should tell them about it?"
After a long pause, Verena shook her head. "I don't think so. At least, not with what we currently know. If we learn more about whatever a [Primal Avatar] is, that might change, but right now, I say we keep that part to ourselves. And, thank you for the aura."
Marianne just nodded. "It's your class and your concerns. I'll follow your lead."
Verena leaned back. "Alright. If we're going to be talking with, at the very least, father, then I think we should save most of the other questions for then, and get his input. The only other thing we need to decide is how much we want to trust this voice. I'm more than a little hesitant to just take it completely at face-value. I'm inclined to heed it's advice about whoever's after me, but I doubt it's motivations are wholly altruistic."
Marianne lets out a long sigh of relief. "Of all of these topics, I'm very glad we agree on this one. It's right that you're in danger, but I don't trust it for one moment. It's too benevolent."
Verena leans back, relaxing. "Alright, now, next order of business is dealing with my level ups. I've got two skill points, and six stat points to spend. Let's take a look."
Verena opened her system, going to her skill-selection page. "Alright, let's see what we've got." After a little while of looking through, they narrowed down their options to a few possible skills.
[Calling of the Heart](Passive Skill): You and your [Bonded Partner]s can locate each other, at will. So long as you are both on the same plane of existence and your presence is not concealed, you will instinctively know the direction, and distance, to the other.
[Connected Copying](Active Skill): Copy a Passive skill of a [Bonded Partner]. Cannot copy more than one skill, at a time, from the same partner. Cannot be used on the same partner unless at least one week has passed since the last use on that partner.
[Mystic Link](Passive Skill): You can access and cast any spell known to any of your [Bonded Partner]s.
[Statistic Binding](Passive Skill): Replaces the value of a single stat score with the corresponding score of a [Bonded Partner]. (Does not apply any other bonuses to the affected score.)(Chosen score & [Bonded Partner] can be reselected, with a cooldown of 1 week.)
[Calling of the Heart] was a useful on a practical level. Being able to immediately locate each other could prove vital, but it did little to strengthen Verena, directly. [Connected Copying] was a very powerful choice, with Marianne having multiple incredibly valuable passive skills that Verena could use. [Mystic Link] had very high potential, but wasn't very useful at the moment. Marianne only had a single spell, [Undetectable Aura], which while useful, wasn't really worth it, compared to the other options. [Statistic Binding], on the other hand, had an incredibly high value, with Verena being able to copy one of Marianne's stat scores, the highest of which were comparable to those of people close to, or higher than, level one-hundred.
As they were talking about the choices, Verena had an idea. "Wait, that's it! Marianne, [Connected Copying] is the answer to our problem! If I copy [Untraceable], it will be nearly impossible for whoever's after me to find us!"
Without a moment's hesitation, Verena did exactly that. In the next moment, she received a very welcome notification.
Alert! Presence fully masked. All identified external influence has ceased, due to inability to identify it's target.
Immediately, a wave of relief washed over her. Whatever had been affecting her surroundings was over. Her life was now fully her own. After that, they eventually decided that [Calling of the Heart] was the better option. Increasing a single one of Verena's stats was only so useful compared to ensuring that the person who could truly utilize those high stats was always able to find her.
With that finished, Verena spent her stat points, putting two into her Dexterity, and four into her Intelligence. After that, she opened her status screen to look over her updated information.
Name: Verena Tavanor
Race: Vampire
Gender: Female(Hermaphrodite)
Age: 70
Titles(9): [Unbreakable Will], [Champion of the People], [Battle Maid Liege], …
Companions: Marianne Whispwind([Battle Maid], [Bonded Companion])
Class: Avatar of Connection
Level: 5
Strength: 12 (10+2)
Dexterity: 28 (18+10)
Agility: 20 (12+8)
Vitality: 31 (28+3)
Intelligence: 22 (18+4)
Will: 66 (62+4)
Charisma: 48 (43+5)
Arcane: 12 (8+4)
Passive Skills(3): [Bond of Power], [Calling of the Heart], [Untraceable](CC)
Active Skills(2): [Lover’s Boon], [Connected Copying]
"Alright, now we have to deal with my father."