Chapter 132 – A silent regard for burning things.

John Newman, the Gamer, a level 51 mage of some description was looking up at the silent dragoness sitting on top of him. His tattered clothes were all over the place, many of the shreds turned to ash due to the universal heat.

Nathalia had cleanly removed everything from his body, from the shirt and pants to gloves and rings. Only thing that was left with him was the Necklace of the World Ender. That and that alone had caught her attention, an attention that returned now that her needs were sated.

“Where did you get that?” Nathalia demanded to know and tapped twice on the orange stone laying on his naked chest. It was too similar to the one embedded in her own for her not to ask the question.

“Uhm, uh, Gaia gave it to me,” John hastily stammered the truth. ‘Come on!’ he cursed at himself. Why did that stammer still come back at times?

Nathalia sceptically raised one of her elongated eyebrows. “Gaia gave it to you?” The constant tapping of her claw on the necklace was a reminder of the stone-slicing sharpness being centimetres away from his throat.

“Yes,” he reaffirmed after gulping audibly. The truth would serve him best here, even if it did sound weird.

The claw stopped tapping and Nathalia’s eyes locked with his. “Bullshit,” the dragoness voiced her disbelief. “Gaia doesn’t just give items away without excuse. Since your Innate Ability is one of empowering yourself through repetition…”

“No, well, yes, that is part of them,” John corrected himself.

In the distance, a volcano erupted. “Explain, mortal,” the dragoness commanded. “From start to finish, you will tell me exactly what your powers are and why you were capable of keeping me out for so long.”

John took a deep breath and started relaying his story to the dragoness. He had to start at the beginning with this, with how he woke up one day not so long ago, how he learnt about the Abyss, about his powers encompassing not only grinding but also loot (he had to go on a tangent about what videogames were to get that point across) and what had happened with the Bloodfallen. He then ended on the last couple of days and the train ride of emotions he had gone through.

To tell someone unaffiliated with all of this about the hardships was surprisingly liberating. That was only one reason why he didn’t skip out on anything. For as little as he knew about Nathalia, he expected to see more of her in the future. Lying to her was most unwise. Getting in her good graces, however, could wipe away a great many of his issues.

In the end, Nathalia rose from him and stretched. Cum dripped out between her legs. To his surprise, she did not bother to cover herself in scales again. Still naked, she rolled her various joints.

“I see,” she finally said, deeply in thought, her eyes set on something in the distance. “That is why I smelt lingering hatred on you… that fire elemental of yours is a fragment of Krieg, right?”

“Yes… oh,” he let out a surprised sound when he checked his mental connections. Most of them were dulled by distance, to the point that he could only sense that the contracts were still active. The sole exception to this was the fire spirit, who was burning with a mixture of annoyance and panic. ‘There you are, you useless shithead!’ she cursed right into his brain, ‘Swing your ass over and help me, I am in a bit of a doozy.’

She shared with him what she saw. Her gaze was currently focused on an animated armour made of greyish black stone. It moved with ease and honestly was more playing with Salamander than fighting her. John would have loved to confirm what it was by using Observe on it, but he already had a good idea.

“Nathalia, do you have familiars patrolling this… barrier?” he asked, not quite sure what to classify the place he was in. It was more expansive than any Illusion Barrier he had been in previously, save for the Intermediary Barrier Magoi had put up.

Nathalia, as if insulted, blew air out of her nose, accompanied by a slight flickering. “Familiar? I have no use for such things. I am a goddess, I simply create what I require to guard my Sanctum,” she made an off-handed motion and three more similar golems rose from a nearby pool of lava.

 “You are a goddess?” John carefully asked.

“Of course, I am,” Nathalia yawned, as if bored by that fact. “My nature is no topic of conversation. Tell Krieg’s child to stop struggling, she will get here faster if the golem carries her.”

He did just that and then followed Nathalia as she walked off. He only stopped for a moment to mourn the loss of all the items he had gained and crafted recently, all of them reduced to cinders.

“I see your feet can handle the ground,” Nathalia said with slight self-satisfaction, “I had no idea how cold I needed to make this place so someone as weak as you doesn’t burn.” She guided him to a basin filled with water, surprisingly.

More of the golems were around, shaping and expanding the pool. “My old bath evaporated in my absence and I haven’t been able to gather enough water yet for more,” Nathalia explained, as if that was a point of shame, and sunk into the water.

‘So, she didn’t scale herself because she planned to take a bath,’ John realized and, following a gesture from the dragoness, got into the water as well. The necklace, he put into his inventory.

Nathalia let out a long sigh of relaxation. John felt reminded of the many baths he had taken with Rave. Mostly because the water temperature was just as scalding. The mixture of Nathalia’s naked form and John’s memories made him erect once again.

“Your vigour is truly remarkable,” she purred, “but the next round will have to wait for a moment, your little familiar is here.” Indeed, one of the golems came into view, carrying Salamander in its crossed palms.

Despite being carried like a princess, Salamander was extremely pissed, like somebody had just peed on her favourite campfire or something. The moment she saw John she tried to fly over but the Golem was a lot faster than her. It kept her caged between its fingers, until its order was fulfilled.

The golem made a gesture that was a mixture of bowing and reaching out, in order to present his mistress with the captured fire elemental. Nathalia picked up the tiny spirit between index finger and thumb and looked at her. “You are a small one for one Krieg’s children,” she commented in a degrading tone.

“And you are as arrogant as I expected!” Salamander, not being a particularly diplomatic personality either, shot right back. A terrible idea, given the power discrepancy.

‘Tsssh,’ the water hissed, when a living flame was dunked under the surface. The sound was disturbingly similar to a drop of water hitting a frying pan.

John remained put, not wanting to make any sudden movements before he had worked out what he even could do. Nathalia noticed his distress anyway. “Cease worrying. This is not killing her, it just feels very uncomfortable, I assure you.” Thereby slightly calmed John kept still, staring at the flame under the water.

About a minute later Nathalia raised her hand again. Salamander coughed. The flickering flames that covered her like bra and panties were extinguished, alongside the little pillar that always rose from her red hair. The tiny, red-skinned woman was entirely naked.

“Where was I, child of Krieg?” the dragoness tested.

“Dunno, wasn’t listening.” Salamander’s flippant response was underlined by a mocking cackle.

Nathalia was about to dunk Salamander back under, when John raised his voice. “Her name is Salamander, would you please stop?” he pleaded. “I’ll make it up to you.”

Nathalia shot him a contemplating glance. Thankfully, she relented. “Fine, Salamander, you seem to come after the less boring parts of my friend. That in mind and because your master is of interest to me, I will leave you with a warning.” She nonchalantly threw Salamander over to John, who caught her.

It spoke a lot about Salamander’s state that he had to catch her at all. He sent her some mana to fix that dilemma and a moment later she took flight again, the fires all over her body flaring up again. “Thanks,” she said in a dry tone and hovered next to his head as Nathalia continued speaking.

“It seems she is still a mere spark,” she rubbed her chin, “unlike that earth elemental you told me about, this one is not yet evolved, I take it?”

“That is correct, I hope to do so next week…” John hesitated, then he raised a question, “Nathalia, can you help me?”

 “No.” That was a very immediate refusal. “I do not get mixed up in the affairs of people, unless I take a personal interest. Since we agreed not to make you my personal property, your problems are your own. I would only get involved for a mate and a mate worthy of me would not require my help.” She checked her claws. “However, it would be a shame to see your growth end when it has just begun. I’m willing to lend some aid, in return for a favour.”

“How and what favour?” John asked, he had already gone into the debt of a German princess, no reason to stop at a dragoness. Depending on what the debt was, anyway.

“I will give you an item that works with the one Gaia has gifted you and I will help your elemental further your development,” Nathalia laid down.

That sounded good, even if he did need a clarification, “Don’t you mean ‘Help you develop your elemental further’?”

“”No,”” answered both Nathalia and Salamander at the same time.

“I am surprised you would know the lesson I have to teach him,” Salamander continued.

“I know your father, little as that means for elementals, and the Mother of Fire herself. Of course I know what John has to learn yet,” the high dragon stated and closed the small distance between herself and John. “First, I will need to find something out.”

John’s eyes were glued to Nathalia’s large breasts swimming on the surface of the shallow basin. The light brown skin was glistening from the moisture in the air. To focus on the conversation was quite difficult. “What do you need to know?”

“Your powers, you say Gaia gives them to you.” Nathalia put a finger on his neck, the claws on that hand rescinded. The touch of her warm and soft fingertip made him tingle.

“That is what I always assumed, yes, do you think it’s different?” Curiosity overwhelmed lust, his gaze snapping back up to her eyes. To this day, he still had no idea what exactly his powers were. An Innate Ability, sure, but what exactly were they?

“We will see in a moment.” Nathalia’s finger travelled to his shoulder, down his arm, and then took hold of his wrist. Pulling it upwards, she moved the palm towards her lips – and then bit the side of his hand. John, who had been healed fully thanks to getting the dragoness’ blessing during intercourse again, saw his HP drop by 15 and then slowly by 5 more points. Sharp teeth penetrated skin, her tongue tasted his blood. The pain was surprisingly bearable. He had felt so much worse by now.

The surge of power that followed made it that much easier.

John stared at the windows with an open mouth.

“I take from your expression that it worked,” Nathalia said after letting go of his hand.

“What? I mean how? I mean…” John cleared his throat. “Explain, please?”

”The answer is easy, John Newman, your powers are your own.” John blinked a couple of times and Nathalia elaborated. “These powers are granted to you not by Gaia but are merely overseen and supported by her. You absorb ambient magic like a sponge and turn it into your personal might and manifestations. Although your Innate Ability has manifested in a way enigmatic to me, it is unique and vast, even among Latebloomers.” Nathalia slowly smirked. “Perhaps you will be the one to challenge Romulus, finally.”

“So, you just, gave me of your power instead Gaia of hers or what?” John still needed to understand just a bit more.

“Essentially. Unlike Gaia’s power, mine is no bottomless well. I need to wait for Faith to pool inside me. Don’t expect such generosity without good reason from me or any other gods.”

John needed a moment to digest that new information and think about the wider implications. From the instant digestion of books, over Skills, and to the spontaneous manifestation of Loot, all of that was his own power. What Gaia did was provide him with the energy to make sure all of these things could work.

“But why would she do that?” John mumbled, mostly to himself.

Nathalia shrugged and let go of his healed hand. “I do not pretend to understand what Gaia is thinking. Romulus believes he understands her, a special kind of arrogance in my opinion. Whatever Gaia is, whatever her goals are, she has been before me and will be after me. Such is the nature of the world.”

“I see…” John sighed. He had gotten some answers and a bunch of new questions. “You never specified what you would want in return for your aid?”

“I do not know yet. Something befitting of granting you my time,” Nathalia waved off in a thoughtless manner that was simultaneously calming and unnerving. She did not strike him as one to bluff, so that favour could bite him in the ass later or be utterly inconsequential.

While he was still wondering which one it was, Nathalia straddled him again. Even in the warm water, the presence of her cunt was a heat unignorable. The orange glow of her eyes was the only true outlet of the inferno under the caramel skin.

“Do we have a deal?” she asked, so teasingly close to letting him inside her again.