Reborn as a Fire Mage!, page 9
“Fuck sake, don’t fall for that Lola for the love of the gods,” Piper said with evil eyes.
I shook my head, and leaned my back against the wall. “I’m not trying to hit on your sister. I am just offering body warmth. That’s it. You’re welcome to use my heat as well.”
“Ugh, I would rather snuggle with a berserker.”
“Well, suit yourself. You may feel differently in an hour or two,” I shrugged playfully.
“I will certainly take you up on your offer. I’m freezing!” Lola chirped as she dashed beside me. I put my left arm around her and pulled her close.”
The brunette cat girl moaned and squeezed me as hard as she could to soak in every bit of warmth she could get.
Piper scoffed and stomped over to the wall and sat down ten feet away. “Lola, you are such a slut.”
“You know it, sis,” Lola giggled.
“Piper, I’m not trying to make a move or traffic you in any way, shape, or form, but I would like you to move over in this area. You are awfully close to that window. If we all sit here, we can’t be snuck up on or grabbed at any moment. Understand?”
Piper looked at me, then the window, and back at me. Finally, she exhaled loudly and slid over to where we sat.
“Thank you,” I replied with a grin.
“If you touch me, I will cut your dick off. Are we clear?”
I gulped and nodded. “Crystal clear.”
Lola yawned as she spoke. “Piper, be nice. When I decide to see Mason’s dick, I want it to be attached and in perfect working order.”
I coughed in surprise at the directness of that statement. I said nothing.
“My gods Lola, could you be more of a whore?” Piper asked in disbelief.
“Alright, alright. Let’s get some rest and, most importantly, be quiet. No dicks are getting cut off or shown to anyone. Got it? I’m going to take watch while you two get some sleep.”
Lola had already fallen asleep with an adorable little snore. Piper grimaced and crossed her arms. She glared at nothing in front of her.
“You see, Piper, when you are asleep, I plan to call my trafficking assistant to come and pick you up.”
Piper looked at me with angry eyes. “Shut up.”
Chapter Eight
It turned out to be an excellent decision to stay in the cabin until the following morning. I kept watch while the girls slept. However, I felt the effects of no sleep after such a big battle against the fiends charging the cabin. We weren’t attacked again, which was awesome. I heard a few fiends pass by during the night, but we were quiet, and we weren’t noticed. Fortunately, the girls weren’t big snorers or suffered from sleep apnea which might have caused a big problem. We were halfway down the mountain on the gravel road, and the coast had been clear thus far. I saw a couple of fiends in the distance, but they weren't threatening our immediate well-being, so we snuck on by without issue.
“I see one. Let me get him!” Lola whispered as she pointed to her left. I didn’t notice until she pointed him out. That bothered me that I had missed a danger so close to our position.
“Are you sure?”
“Is this because she’s just a pretty catgirl? You don’t think she can kill this mindless trash?” Piper said sarcastically.
“No, I’m not saying that at all. I’m just… nevermind. Lola, take him out!”
Piper scoffed. “So you just think you can boss her around like that, I see.”
“Shut up, Piper, gods!” Lola replied, clearly frustrated at her pissy sister.
I nodded, and Lola nodded back with a nervous smile. She crouch walked slowly toward the oblivious fiend. I prepared myself to intervene if I needed to. I couldn’t help but worry. I was the man, and I felt I should take care of the women. I was old-fashioned, I suppose. Lola stepped on a twig that alerted the fiend. The slender monster turned and opened its mouth, and screeched. This was a louder sound than I was used to hearing from one of the lower fiends. It reminded me of the ear-piercing scream of the berserker. However, this was definitely not a berserker. It was almost as if he was calling for help.
I began to move toward the two combatants before Piper grabbed my arm. “Let her do it. Gods! How is she going to learn if she doesn’t do it?”
“Alright, I’ll give her a couple of seconds. If it looks like she’s going to get hurt, I’m going in. Got it?”
“Yeah, I got it.”
“Fuck, this is your sister. You’d think you’d want her as safe as possible.”
“I know it’s my sister. I don’t need you to tell me that, meathead.”
Our quarrel was interrupted by the sound of thwacks. Lola used both of her table legs to land attacks. First, she struck the fiend in the knee and whacked it on the side of the head, knocking it to the forest floor. She immediately bashed the fiend in the skull five times until we heard the bone give and crack open.
“Got him!” Lola exclaimed victoriously.
“Awesome!” I replied.
“See, Mason, my sister is a badass,” Piper added with a raised brow, and then she pointed behind Lola. “Behind you!”
The darkness opened up and revealed a bloodthirsty fiend grabbing the blonde cat girl’s shoulder. I took off like an Olympic runner in the 100-yard dash. My boots were not in running shape by any means, but adrenaline is a hell of a drug. I have witnessed firsthand things that people do when adrenaline is involved. “I’m coming!”
“Mason! Help me!” Lola hollered as she fell face-first to the ground with the fiend on her back. I watched in horror as the monster sunk its teeth into her upper arm. Lola screamed in pain as the fiend feasted on her muscle.
“Lola!” Piper shouted as she ran behind me.
The fiend ripped a hunk of meat from her arm. I swung my halligan bar like it was a golf club, and the fiend’s head launched into the night.
“Lola, oh my gods!” Piper performed a baseball slide on her leg and put Lola’s head in her arms.
There was a substantial baseball-sized hole under her shoulder. I was able to see the white of the bone. “Piper, be on the lookout for any more of those things.”
Piper nodded without a snarky comeback and began to scan the area frantically.
I pulled off my white t-shirt in one motion and wrapped it tightly around her arm to slow down the bleeding. “Let’s get to the refuge. There’s got to be some kind of medical assistance we can get from the terminal shop.” I lifted her over my head in the fireman’s carry and charged down to the gravel road to the bottom. I didn’t waste a second. This wound was large and would bleed a lot. I didn’t look behind me to see if Piper followed. I needed to get the blonde cat girl help.
We reached the back gate of the refuge a few minutes later. We ran right past a couple of fiends as fast as we possibly could. I opened the latch and pushed in. “Piper, close that behind me. Make sure it locks!”
“Yeah, I got it.”
I heard the gate slam shut, and the lock clicked into place. Lola’s cries lessened a bit after we reached safety. I glanced at the rudimentary shoulder dressing to see the blood already beginning to soak through the cotton fabric. Suddenly, my mind was bombarded by hundreds of zombie movie scenes showing a bitten person changed into a zombie. My stomach dropped at that realization. I prayed that wasn’t the case with a fiend. I wasn’t ready to lose my new friend, and I sure as heck wasn’t prepared to take her out when she changed.
“Welcome back Mason,” Echo announced. “Oh my, what happened?”
“Fiend bite, what do I need to do? Can I buy anything from the terminal?”
“Yes, search for med-pack and purchase with your RP. I scanned your RP reserves, and you have increased them quite a bit. Congratulations.”
“Yeah, thanks, I guess,” I replied as I laid her down on a sofa.
“Thank you, Mason,” Lola muttered weakly.
I kissed her softly on the forehead. “Just rest. I’m going to get you fixed up. So don’t you worry.”
“I know you’ll fix me. That’s the kind of man you are,” Lola smiled as she breathed in deeply.
I winked at the gorgeous cat girl. “Damn straight.”
The terminal lit up in a brilliant blue when I approached, and quickly began looking at the store's homepage. I typed in medical supplies in the search bar. The search was almost instantaneous. All types of medical supplies bombarded my vision. “Fuck, this is a lot of shit.”
“Choose the item labeled ‘Wound Be Gone!’,” Echo added over my shoulder. “It is a simple foam that you can spray into a flesh wound. The trauma will heal in a few minutes.”
“Do we have to worry about her turning into a fiend?” I asked.
“Why on Lelara, would we have to worry about such a thing?” Echo replied in confusion.
“On Earth, people bitten by zombies turn into zombies. Zombies are very similar to fiends,” I stammered.
“That would be a horrible problem to have on Lelara. Thank goodness we don’t have to deal with such nonsense.”
I nodded and scrolled through the items until I found “Wound Be Gone!”. “It looks like a bottle is only good for one use. But I’m going to buy five of them just in case someone else gets injured.” Each of the sprays cost 75 RP. I quickly purchased the items, and they appeared out of thin air. It was amazing to have this quick access to anything I needed. I put four of the sprays in my inventory and took one over to my friend. The “Wound Be Gone!” looked just like a can of shaving cream, and the consistency was almost identical. The white foam filled her wound cavity quickly. I emptied all of it and waited. Lola winced.
“This hurting you?”
“Yeah, but it’s fine. I trust you, Mason.”
“Are you sure you know what the hell you are doing?” Piper asked with angry eyes.
“Yes and no.”
“Yes and no, what the shit does that mean, meathead?”
“I was a firefighter and paramedic on Earth, so that means I know medical shit in emergencies. You know, like what’s happening here. However, I don’t know how this shit works. I just know it appeared from thin air, and I’m supposed to spray it in her wound. So if you aren’t going to say nice things and be positive, please go sit your ass in the other room. It isn’t helping.”
“Piper, shut the fuck up! I love you but damn.”
“Alright, that’s the whole canister. Let's hope it works like it’s supposed to,” I replied as I threw the empty can over my shoulder. The clangs from the metal bouncing on the stone floor echoed throughout the first floor.
“It’s definitely doing something. I can feel...I don’t know how to explain it. There is movement, and I feel like the flesh is sewing itself back together if that makes any sense.”
“Yes, that makes perfect sense. That is the way it works...basically,” Echo added. I hadn’t noticed him floating over the top of Lola.
“Shit, you just scared the bejeezus out of me,” I jerked.
“Bejeezus? Sounds like some sort of demon. You should be thanking me.”
“It’s an expression. I don’t have a demon, at least I hope not. Why are we talking about this? Lola is the priority right now. Not fucking bejeezus!”
“Take one of those chill pills you spoke of,” Piper added sarcastically.
“Touche,” I nodded. The term was rewarded with more confused looks. “Don’t ask, another expression.”
We sat by Lola’s side for a few minutes. To our shock, well, everyone except Echo, the foam faded away, revealing a perfectly healed arm. Piper embraced her sister, and then Lola hugged me firmly, followed by a small kiss on my lips. I was not expecting the kiss, but I wasn’t upset one bit. This girl was beautiful, sexy, thoughtful, and hilarious, unlike her sister. Not exactly her sister was hot as hell, but she was kind of a bitch. I hoped she would loosen up a bit. I tend to get along with almost everyone, so I expected this relationship to be no different.
We heard a yell thunder across the first floor. “Hello! Did you just forget about my fucking ass tied to the damn pipe over here? I need you to untie me! I have got to take a piss! It’s also the nice thing to do,” Jester barked.
“Ah yes, piss, that reminds me. We need a couple of bathrooms,” I marched over to the terminal and began searching.
“Can I help you with anything?” Echo asked as he floated by my side.
“Is there any way to install bathroom facilities so we can take showers and relieve ourselves?”
“Yes, you need to search in the blueprints section and locate what you want. These modifications are not inexpensive, but you have a nice stockpile of reward points.”
“Yeah, and we need to shit and piss.”
“A shower would do you a lot of good as well, meathead,” Piper said with a mischievous smirk on her face.
“You know you kind of smell ripe yourself. I didn’t want to say anything,” I returned the same smirk.
She grimaced and walked away. I caught sight of her sniffing her armpit, and I chuckled under my breath that I had gotten to her. Piper could be a bitch, but our banter back and forth was fun at times.
After flipping through the blueprints, I found one that would suffice. The bathroom had a large tub and a separate shower. There were dual sinks and a bidet. I thought it would be nice not to have to worry about toilet paper. I decided to conserve reward points and just install this bathroom. I’m sure something we needed badly would reveal itself soon. I wanted to have the reserves to pay for whatever it turned out to be. This price tag on the bathroom was a steep 10,000 reward points. Finally, a smaller screen popped up. The price would reduce to 7,000 reward points if I wanted to use the wood I had salvaged.
“That shows the importance of salvaging when you can. Everything can be purchased with reward points, but you can save some points when you use your salvaged materials,” Echo interjected.
“Good to know. I hate using all my wood stores, but I would like to save 3,000 reward points.”
“Yes, I would save reward points when possible. As you can see from our surroundings, there are thousands of trees to salvage, and mountains will provide stone. You will also be able to salvage metal from certain things. It’s also possible to mine precious gems and sell them for a large number of reward points. Salvaging is very important for transients on Lelara,” Echo replied with a pulsating glow reflected off the glass windows.
I hesitantly selected the purchase button. A second later, the image of the blueprint appeared in front of me.
Would you like to construct this room now or store the blueprint in your inventory?
Install or Storage?
I promptly selected Install.
Choose the location.
“Move the diagram to the location in the structure that you would like the bathroom to be. The outline will be green when it is an area that will work. If the outline is red, you cannot place the bathroom in that location,” Echo instructed.
I moved the diagram to several places on the first floor. Surprisingly, there weren’t a lot of areas that would work. The bathroom was large, and I didn’t take that into account when I made the purchase. After discussing the options with the girls, we decided on a location on the eastern wing of the first floor.
You have gained the title of Construction Novice!
As you build more, you can ascend to a higher level of construction knowledge.
This will allow you to build more complicated structures and reduce the number of materials needed to make things.
“Oh my gods, Mason, the bathroom is amazing!” Lola said excitedly as she jumped up and down. My eyes were pulled to her enormous bouncing breasts in that tight Crimson Tide tank top. It was so nice seeing her happy and not in pain.
“Awesome, I can’t wait to use it. What do you think, Piper?”
“It will do, I suppose...thank you,” Piper had a lot of trouble getting that last part out.
I nodded and gave her a corny thumbs up before I was called by Jester once again. “I need to take a piss. I’m going to piss all over the damn floor if you don’t hurry up!”
This guy was fucking up our universe. I had no clue what I was going to do with the man. I walked over and stopped in front of the angry man. “Listen, I’m going to untie you. Don’t do anything stupid. I will beat you to a pulp and feed you to the fiends. Do you understand?”
“Yeah, I understand just fine. Let me go to the bathroom.”
I untied him from the pipe slowly. I wasn’t so sure if this was going to be a wrong decision. He was a small guy, so I knew he posed a minor threat physically, but I didn’t want him causing problems. I grabbed his arm and walked him down the hallway to the bathroom.
“Are you going to watch me piss too? This isn’t necessary. I can take myself to the bathroom, for fuck sake.”
“This is one hundred percent necessary. Although, I have no plans of watching you relieve yourself. I’m just going to stand outside the door.”
Five minutes later, I heard the toilet flush, and the sink turned on. I could tell that he was drinking water furiously. I was thirsty myself. Footsteps sounded on the stone, and the doorknob turned, revealing a man with an empty bladder.
“Alright, now you going to tie me up again?”
“No, I’m going to give you the machete back that you had when you arrived. Then I’m going to send you on your way. You can’t stay here. You’ll have to find somewhere else.”
“You can’t just kick me out there. Where am I supposed to go? Those things are going to kill me!”
“Hence the reason I’m giving you the machete back. We cannot trust you. You treated Lola like she was a slave, and you tied her up outside even though fiends were coming. If I hadn’t have been here, she’d be dead. You’re an asshole, and you are going to have to be an asshole somewhere else. Go crawl under a rock somewhere.”
The girls were close by and heard what I told Jester. They stayed silent, but I could see a sense of relief on their faces. They didn’t want this jerk under the same roof as them. Piper walked over and offered the machete to the man. He looked at me angrily, and then looked at her. She extended the sharp blade toward Jester. I grabbed it before he could.
