CHAPTER 585: DATA COLLECTION

Mason woke feeling more satisfied and rested than he had in months. He heard Becky singing in the shower, meat sizzling on a grill. He sat up to find Lodie in one of the cowgirl’s t-shirts (which for her was almost a dress), cooking on half a dozen pans over the lava-based furnace.

She was dancing as if to Becky’s singing, wiggling her hips and shoulders with abandon. After the night he’d had with both of them, the sight had him going again. He sat up and watched her move until she looked back as if with some special intuition.

“Morning sleepy lord Mason.” She beamed, then frowned and held a pair of tongs at an angle as she considered. “Should I fill your stomach? Or empty your manhood first? I wonder if I can do both simultaneously. Goblins have no gizmo for that.”

It was the kind of morning dilemma Mason looked forward to for the rest of his days. If he survived the next apocalypse, anyway.

But starting that sort of thing would lead to many lost hours, and he’d enjoyed himself enough. He cleared his throat and rose with a stretch.

“I’ll take a shower,” he said. “But please keep cooking. That smells great.”

Lodie nodded happily and went back to her pans, as if she’d gained some new piece of data. Mason walked to the shower, slipping in beside Becky as quietly as possible.

His cowgirl was using the showerhead like a mic, twisting her hips and dropping down with knees locked, one arm in the air. When she saw him she spasmed and went back to normal, running a hand through her hair.

“You look happy,” he said with a smile, not getting any closer.

She shrugged like it was no big deal. Then grinned and smashed into his chest for a hug.

“I loved havin’ you sleep with me,” she said with a sigh. “I mean actually sleep. I miss the nights under the stars. Sharin’ a sleepin’ bag.”

“Me too,” he said, wrapping his arms around her.

“And the craziest orgasm ever was nice too.”

He chuckled, fighting the urges of his wandering hands.

“So, let me get this straight. A few months ago, you were a country virgin. And now you cum hardest with a goblin’s mouth between your legs, and my dick in your…”

“Shh. Don’t be crude,” Becky whispered, like someone might overhear. He laughed and gripped her cheeks, still fighting to be a good boy.

“You did it, I just said it.”

“Classic Mason. Get everythin’ you want and act like you had nothin’ to do with it,” she said, running her fingers up his chest. “Yer a bad influence, city boy. That’s what my momma would say.”

“Except I’m still here in the morning,” he said, kissing her closed eyes. “And you’ll only ever be a slut for me.”

Becky moaned and hugged him again, looking ready to ruin any attempt at fighting temptation. Someone knocked at the door.

“Good morning!” Haley called.

The door opened with a creak, and Mason heard what was maybe all of his girls come strolling through Becky’s door. It felt a bit like getting caught with his pants down. Except not really. But also literally.

If anything, Becky looked even more ready to do something. He gave her what he hoped passed for a stern look.

Then female voices were everywhere. Lodie was babbling excitedly about her cooking, saying something about ‘stomach first’. He heard plates and trays being set down or moved, chairs being dragged.

“We’re almost finished ya’ll,” Becky called, busy hands groping downward as Mason fought her off.

“No rush, sweetheart,” Haley called back. “We have to cook. So we’ll just…wait…girls, there isn’t…”

Lots of giggling. Clothes hitting the floor. Then a naked Lexi and Rosa were squeezing their way into the definitely-too-small-for four-people shower.

“We thought you might need help,” Lexi said, getting a laugh and an eye roll from Becky.

“So much help,” Rosa said, soaping up her hands and fighting for space under the warm water. Mason did his best to adjust and let the girls in, slippery skin and soft flesh pressing up against him from every angle.

Then he was getting ‘cleaned’. The girls were all laughing and taking different body parts, lathering him up and pushing against him.

“No, don’t worry,” Haley called with fake annoyance. “We’ve got it all under control, girls. Don’t bother yourselves.”

Rosa gave him her naughty schoolgirl grin as she ‘cleaned’ him the most vigorously, and in pretty much a single location. At some point he stopped fighting and just let the girls have their fun. He closed his eyes and smelled the meat and growing series of spices. He bathed not just in the warm water, but in the sound of happy, feminine voices and laughter.

By the time he was getting called to come eat, he was extremely clean, and even more relaxed. The girls were sighing and failing miserably to stop him as he stepped out, slapping every exposed ass he could reach on his way.

“Ya’ll are selfish bitches. I only had ‘em one night,” Becky was teasing behind.

“Oh please, I can’t even remember the last time I woke up with him. You had him all morning!”

“’cept I was tired because he came so late. Mostly we just slept!”

They had definitely not ‘mostly slept’. But Mason ignored it all with a satisfied smile. Demi was cutting and peeling at the main table. Haley and Lodie were cooking and moving around pots and pans. When they noticed him come out naked, their eyes swept him with a now familiar but still ego-swelling look of greed. He summoned his vestments and took another breath.

“So what’s for breakfast?”

He made the rounds, pulling in Haley and Lodie for a hug and a kiss before interrupting Demi with the same. All three sighed and lingered, clearly wanting more. But he really was starving.

Haley started telling him the names of dishes, which he promptly ejected from his mind. Lodie chimed in about exact temperature control and goblin thermometers. Demi just kept chopping and peeling, giving him a knowing smile.

By the time the other girls were out of the shower and dressed and ready, Mason sat down and started getting served. It was hard not to watch his growing ‘harem’ of women without thinking about the night before—without seeing the same beautiful girls with their faces warped in pleasure, their bodies wrapped around him.

“I thought you might like a ‘family meal’,” Haley whispered later as she leaned against him in his chair. “Before…everything.”

“It’s perfect,” he said, only feeling it wasn’t quite complete without Naya and Ayet, and maybe even Calypsa. Haley smiled and kissed his forehead, then started ushering the girls around to sit and start dishing themselves.

They all talked excitedly about the goblin mountain, about new levels or powers and how they were feeling. And some naughty talk about the night before. They left Mason alone to eat, which was wise. His meals were kind of professional events at this point.

He didn’t keep track, but he was pretty sure he ate as much as all the girls combined. He supposed it was fair, given that his sexual appetite was about the same. When he finally leaned back with a satisfied sigh, the girls took his plate(s) and started asking him about what was happening next.

“Everyone who isn’t a player goes back to Nassau,” he said in a tone that left no room for debate. But he doubted the girls would have tried anyway. Not after the demon attack and the funerals. They just nodded and looked a little demoralized, and he took a breath.

“We’ll deal with Jeong. Then we’ll be back home. I don’t expect it to take more than a few days.”

“I gave Phuong a giant pack of potions and elixirs—yes there’s a difference,” Rosa said.

“We also have several new items from the crafters,” Haley added. “They made some things with the magma crystals. I doubt anything you’d want, but I put the list in your messages.”

That turned out to be pretty much that for ‘business’, and the girls got to talking and smiling again. As he listened he imagined this as his life—except with children and his players and everyone else nearby.

A simple, if busy life, filled with family and friends and the beauty of the new world. It was enough, he decided. A life beyond the violence and madness and challenge. It would be enough.

He blinked as he realized the noise had stopped. He looked up at his girls and felt little hairs rise all over his body—like some great predator had turned its attention upon him. The real ‘Watcher’. The eye of the synthetic god beyond them all.

His head pulsed as Apex Predator flared, as if it were trying to stop the effect. For a moment the whole world became symbols. Or numbers. He remembered it from the tutorial—a string of numbers and something like a computer language. He’d seen it a few times now, but the first was when Apex Predator was created.

It was gone just as fast. The girls were moving and talking again, discussing what to take and gossiping about Lila and other women whose names Mason didn’t know or recognize. Demi met his eyes and frowned.

“Something wrong?”

“I don’t know,” he said, trying not to clench his teeth.

Why the hell was he getting system attention now? He wasn’t doing anything. He was sitting there in a safe mountain he’d just cleared of danger. There was no way it would attack him twice in a row in the same situation. The ‘drama’ just wouldn’t be the same. So what the fuck would it be interested in? His breakfast?

Whatever it wanted, it ruined the moment. He soon stood and excused himself, giving a few final hugs and goodbyes and promises to see them all soon. Maybe he shouldn’t have, knowing where he was going. But sometimes a person just needed to hear the words.

With a last look at Haley, and gratitude for her brave smile, he gestured for Becky and Demi to come soon. Then he walked out towards his other players.

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