“Let me repeat your statement to ensure I understand this correctly,” Lydia told John’s double, “you have just acquired a Class that should, by the wording of it, allow you to impregnate every kind of creature its Perks include. Given that you were previously suggested similar benefits, this will likely include humanoids that should not be possibly to be bred, such as elementals and Artificial Spirits. On top of this, you are stating that it will have the capability to guarantee your descendants a minimum amount of natural talent, if not outright Innate Abilities?”

That long-winded summary was delivered while they walked over a bridge that connected the air and water blessed Elemental Islands. Rather than spend all their day inside fucking, as fun as that was, the queen had suggested they go for a walk and just chatted about the happenings and exchanged some ideas. It wasn’t the fanciest date, a debate could be had whether it even counted as one, but it was nice to do the simple things.

Although that stroll took them through a not so simple landscape. The living environment and flying spirits, taking whatever shape appropriate in the confines of their element, gave their mundane activity plenty of fantastic undercurrents. The background didn’t help much either. When John looked to his left, he saw a large amount of clouds, greying out the sky and sending soft showers on the Hudson Barrier. By comparison, his Guild Hall had a wonderfully blue sky and was enjoying a moderately warm day, appropriate for the time between summer and autumn. The Weather Tower did good work.

As interesting as the landscape was, John’s eyes were still mainly focused on Lydia. Because of the warmth, she had left her coat at home, leaving her only in a white shirt that was orderly tucked away into her dark green pants. All of it was tailored to her and she filled her clothes out with all of the grace and beauty of a military queen. Only the nice bit of cleavage didn’t fit the image, deliberately presented through opened buttons, but John was more than fine with that.

“That is what I’m saying, yes,” the Gamer answered, as he extended his hand towards an air elemental flying close to them. It had the appearance of a green hummingbird with radiant wings. After a few moments of hovering around, it landed on his finger and he lowered it towards Lydia.

Careful not to startle it, the metal mage patted it a few times. When it flew away, their conversation continued as before. “To put it in the usual terms, that is utter bullshit,” Lydia stated and sighed with the usual resignation at his continued advancements. “Not only will you be the centre of a harem that will become strong enough to dominate the world, you will also sire a bloodline of significant powers.”

“I guess your decision to choose me becomes more justifiable outside of love by the day.” John made a wide sweeping gesture at himself. “If my seed is such a great addition to the Hohenzollern bloodline, that will shut up some of your noble critics.” After a moment of reconsideration, he corrected, “Critics among the nobility, I should say, I don’t want to make it sound like they’re good people.”

Unlike historical nobles, which mainly used bloodlines to trace inheritance and were focused around some sort of purity, the aristocracy in Romulus’ empire was focused around the cultivation of Innate Abilities. By grabbing everyone with promise from the populace and marrying them into families that were led by those with Innate Abilities for generations, those countries considerably raised their chances at having powerful children.

John’s presence in the bloodline would, if he got the Breeder Class right, raise that probability to 100%. At least for the generation directly descending from him, if not more.

“Those in opposition to our relationship are merely flares of inconvenience at this point,” Lydia responded, brushing her braid over her shoulder. “Your rising political power promises wealth and your rising personal power convinces more and more people that you may really be the one true contender to Romulus’ hegemony.” She gently scratched his back. “I have made the correct choice when following my heart, my beloved John.”

There was a happy flutter in his chest and he hummed in a content fashion. “By the way, when was your birthday again?” he asked, out of nowhere.

“Third of next month,” she said, and John snickered. “What is so amusing?”

“It’s just that I was sure that was it, but your birthday being the German Unity Day is just so fitting I can’t believe it,” he explained.

“The chance is 365 to 1, not that unlikely, all things considered,” Lydia countered, as if she had to defend herself for the day she was born on. “Regardless, why do you ask?”

“Just wondering if I can get the gift ready in time,” he answered.

“You best not invest in anything outrageous,” the queen advised in a stern tone. “And I not only mean that you better avoid gifting me a negligee in public, but that you should keep your expenses within reason.”

“It won’t cost me any money, but it will be something only I could give you,” he cryptically answered.

“Immediately cease whatever overbearing pandering your erudite mind is currently constructing!”

“What if I don’t?”

“Then I’ll be forced to lecture you on the value you are already guaranteed to provide me with.” Lydia’s right wandered down to her lower body and stopped above the womb. “Lover’s Will to guarantee my personal power and now children of high potential. There is no material good you should ever need to supply me that has anything more than sentimental value.”

“Well, you can get into that lecture if you want, but if I want to give you something that’s worth a small country, then I’ll give you something that’s worth a small country,” John decided and felt Lydia’s magic surround him. “Are you trying to bind me with my own clothes right now?” he asked in an amused tone, the pressure parting around him like soft winds.

Clicking her tongue, the magic pressure ceased. “It appears the enchantment that makes this possessed object your double is strong enough to properly ensoul it and give it natural magic resistance. How bothersome.” The Mandala Sphere was, obviously, metal and the Ambassador Double added a whole lot of magic to the mix. “If you were present with your real body, I might fare better.”

“I doubt it would work with my normal clothes,” John said and pulled at his clothes, a regular suit that looked almost exactly like the proper one he wore normally. Because the double would usually copy what he was wearing, John had started putting Jack into his own set of clothes the moment the whole blowjob routine had started. Otherwise, his double would have attended all of the meetings naked. Those clothes weren’t equipped, whatever magical properties they had were disabled or just didn’t affect the double, they were just around. A compromise Gaia allowed him so he could have his fun. “Because of the enchantment that links them up with Gamer’s Body, I would assume my suit is just as much linked to my soul as this Extension is. Otherwise, it would probably work.”

The Suit and Pants of the Chosen were both primarily made from Schattengarn. Despite its appearance and tactile similarity to a silk-wool mixture, it was the highest grade of shadow-infused metal and also, according to Observe, the most malleable metal in the Abyss. It was so high grade, nobody even knew how to create it. There was one like it for every element, and John, through these Elemental Islands, was the only one who could synthesize the slightest bit of it.

‘I’ll need a whole bunch of it for what I planned though,’ John thought and considered his options. ‘Maybe I can negotiate for the Mother of Shadows to tell me her name? If all else fails, I can always upgrade the thing later…’

“What are you going to invest into, now that you finished Lover Boy?” Lydia asked, switching the topic entirely. “I highly doubt you’re going to go directly into Breeder.”

“Given that the Class Challenge is to impregnate someone, yeah, pretty unlikely,” John answered. In theory, that wasn’t too hard to get done. Cum inside someone, wait for the pop-up, then have it taken care of with the morning after pill or something else. That felt pretty cheap, a bit dirty and pretty useless, however. At the point that investing into Breeder made sense, he would want to actually have kids anyway, so he could just keep that Class Challenge for then. “Not quite sure,” he answered.

“Let us solve it then, what is the complete list of your currently available Classes?”

Rather than ramble down all of the names, the Gamer just opened the table and moved it over so she could quickly read it.

“The ones I’m most considering are Arcanist, Gamer and Metracana Master,” John told her. “With potential other choices being Unfound, Tamer, Fateweaver and Martial Artist.”

Lydia nodded. “Lets categorize and eliminate. As I see it, Arcanist, Martial Artist and Unfound all serve to increase your personal combat ability. Metracana Master and Tamer increase the power of the Artificial Spirits or would be the path to making Velka a worthwhile addition to your combat. Gamer would be for utility and a likely increase in your unique mechanics, with Fateweaver being similar, albeit less tailored to your specific powerset. My personal recommendation would be to dismiss the familiar reliant Classes.”

“Yeah.” John found himself in immediate agreement. His familiars didn’t need the buff and neither did he want to introduce Velka into his core skillset. “My personal power is pretty lacking in comparison to what I COULD be doing by myself, so increasing it makes sense.”

Taken in the entirety of his abilities, he was a one-man army that could likely win against anyone of a similar level. When he was isolated, however, anyone that wasn’t a summoner themselves could probably defeat him in one on one combat. It wouldn’t be easy. John wasn’t a sitting duck and had proven sufficient enough in single combat to beat two close quarter specialists of lower but not insignificant power during the Hudson Brawl. Regardless, he didn’t like his chances against someone in his own weight class.

“So maybe I should invest into one of the Classes in the personal power category,” he thought out loud. “Although I will likely never be the favourite in a duel against someone on my level that has specialized in personal power, if I continue my hybridization a bit more, I should be able to put up enough resistance that finishing me off in a sensible time frame becomes basically impossible. If I play it smart enough, I might actually win those duels.”

“If you can further increase your current ability to stall and add to it, however slim, the chance at genuine victory, then that is a good improvement to have,” Lydia added.

“On the other hand,” John continued, “Fateweaver and Gamer are likely to act as some sort of acceleration in how quickly I get new stuff, so taking them early makes sense.”

“Indeed,” Lydia agreed with him just as quickly as he did with her. “Personally, my recommendation goes to the utility category and the Gamer Class. It is completely unique to you and, aside from my own curiosity towards its contents, it might allow you to rapidly increase the potency of your stupendous late bloomer abilities.”

“Maybe I’ll get a Max Class Level every 5 levels, retroactively,” John joked. “Wouldn’t that be something?”

“That’d be insane from a scaling perspective,” Lydia presented. “How many would that immediately reward you with? 25?”

“Yup,” John answered. “I wouldn’t have to think too much about what to go after next, since I would just have that insane buffer and could fill out whatever I wanted with leisure.”

“Don’t make a fool out of yourself, my love. Careful consideration would be required especially in that situation. When you have ample wealth, your spending habits should be no less measured than they are when you are poor.” The reprimand was completely expected and John just smirked.

“Yes, yes, my lemon.” He used the joking nickname he had given her a while back and immediately earned himself a deadly glare of her steel grey eyes.

“You stop that right now!”

“But you’re so sour about things.”

“I’m most decisively not! Logic is not to be taken as being sour.”

“Would you prefer being called shaker?”

“If your next sentence has even the slightest reference to salt in it, I will punish you.”

“Well, alright then…” He let silence grow between them, as they crossed over the next bridge. Then, suddenly, he said, “I’ll just be MINING my own business.”