In the privacy of our suite Arsinoe and I relax after another busy day. I casually light distant candles using magic and Arsinoe lightly sips on a fruit-flavored drink as we lounge in near-darkness. I can feel myself growing excited as Arsinoe turns and eyes me playfully.
We've been intimate plenty of times but there's something excitingly different about this time. I suppose it's because it's one of the first times I've mixed one of my heavy-duty powers with the delightful bedroom activities we engage in.
"So I'm not a genie. I don't know how genie powers work beyond what I've read." I explain, telling Arsinoe stuff she already knows, but she's questioned me from time to time about this and I suspect she thinks I'm lying. I… want to be a genie, but I am not one just yet. As I reaffirm that I'm not a genie I think back to my curious past and to my first jump. To Rosalind and Zumurrud.
Arsinoe accepts my explanation but I have a feeling my words just aren't sinking in the way they ought to be. Arsinoe can tell I'm telling the truth but I suspect she believes that I don't know what I am and thus am just curiously wrong rather than am actively, intently deceiving her.
The quintessential power set of genies is, even in this world, unbelievably powerful. Genies can do most anything from create stuff out of nothing but their own vast ocean of arcane power to granting immortality and ending curses. I do believe wishmagic could probably cure Rachel but I don't relish the thought of someone as scholarly as her knowing that I have it as I trust her less than I trust Arsinoe or Rosalind.
Understandably a lot of genies are hesitant to leave the kingdoms of their birth and those that do leave almost always leave with small armies to protect themselves or incredible cloaking magic to keep their true identities a secret. To the best of my knowledge I never met a genie at MUU and MUU is a universally recognized safe haven for monsters of all sorts which illustrates the paranoia of the genies. My ability to replicate their powers is a secret of life-altering proportions and Arsinoe is the only person in the world who knows.
"Before you ask, I don't know if my magic works similar to that of actual genies. I know I can grant wishes and I know it's easier if it's part of a deal. An exchange." I begin, causing my girlfriend of, at this point several years, to smile curiously at me.
"According to ancient genie folklore there was a time when genies would get trapped in lamps and freeing them was an act that merited a reward. It seems that this might be the beginning of the notion of a sort of… mutually beneficial exchange, but in my case there's actually some sort of magical physiological truth to it." I explain, causing Arsinoe to nod at me. This is a real belief, in the sense that it is something some people in this world actually believe, though I don't know if it is itself true.
"I think the easiest way to do this is to keep it simple. Let's say the thing you do is something small and quick," I begin, smiling as I realize that I'm mostly here having fun with this both potent and dangerous power set. "I can dictate the terms of what counts as an exchange. Let's say you give me a kiss and I'll show you an example of a lesser wish." I tell my girlfriend. She smirks at me.
"A kiss for a wish?" She asks incredulously. I laugh at her unintentional rhyme and nod.
"It's got to be something small. I want you to get used to wishmagic before you see what it can do." I tell her, seriously. I watch her nod when she hears my explanation and she ponders the specifications of what I can do. She moves forward and kisses me, and I smile as I feel my knees wobble before I kiss her back. I can feel her heartbeat quicken before she breaks the kiss.
"Powerful genie… Is my offering satisfactory?" She asks, and I can hear notes of different emotions in her voice as she speaks. I listen to the emotions in her words and opt to ignore her calling me a genie. I can feel her excitement at what is to come, and at the same time the flirtatious teasing in her words. I nod and pull her close causing her to smile at me.
"I wish for a golden ring." She says, and I let out a pleasant laugh as I reach into a part of me that I haven't touched in almost five years. I grant the wish and she gasps when she feels the small object materialize on her finger. She steps back and eyes it and I can feel the wonder she feels towards my powers increasing even as her desire energy flows into me.
I can feel the intensity of her heart and the love she feels for her people as I absorb the energy my wishmagic has generated. The joy and elation she feels at the sight of the ring, not for the ring itself but for what it means about my powers, is shockingly intense. As the energy settles deep inside of me I feel it warm up a part of me that has been dormant for a while. I close my eyes and take a deep breath as the energy begins to flow through the rest of me.
Desire energy is something that is generated by granted wishes and genies can collect it. The energy is strange and has a number of uses, though the genies I knew used it to keep themselves from being controlled by Trinity. Troyverse genies, at least those on Veiled Earth, love it, and it's one of their lore bits that I find the most fascinating.
On Veiled Earth earthly genies were in trouble population wise for a while because non-genies generate more desire energy than genies do and genies, like other kinds of Troyverse spirits such as those in the world of Binder's Regalia can easily become addicted to pleasure and so many female genies would mate with and have children with non-genies but such children were the species of the non-genie parent.
Someday I hope to return to Veiled Earth as a Zaar; a male, in my case at least, sex genie who is the in-universe result of mixing genie powers with someone who can straddle the veil and has high tantric resonance. The fact that the Zaar CYOA has both Zumurrud and Rosalind, as well as the Goldrapture Coven, three of the sets of characters I met during my first stint on Veiled Earth is not a coincidence that evades my notice. It's almost like my initial adventures in the Troyverse were meant to serve as a prologue or a chapter one of a longer adventure. Ideally my return to Veiled Earth would happen AFTER I attain the power of two very important essences…
"I want you to ask for something bigger this time. But let's say something… not gigantic. For example you can wish for a magical potion that heals injuries." I suggest, which seems to get Arsinoe's mental gears turning. She nods and tells me she's ready and I instinctively sense that she's going along with the flow I dictate, though I'm unsure of whether or not that's out of kindness or out of a sort of choice paralysis. I chuckle and decide to continue to have fun with this.
"Okay so for more intense wishes a bigger exchange is required. For something like a potion that can heal any wound so long as the target isn't dead we can say that it requires a bigger exchange. And in my case at least this is sexual." I tell her, causing her eyes to narrow.
"Is it?" She asks, and I can hear equal notes of playfulness and skepticism. I audibly laugh and nod.
"Yes, yes it is. Hence why I've been reluctant to reveal this to people." I state, causing her to continue to look at me skeptically but she does ask me to continue.
"I can grant wishes but the costs are lowered if we go by exchange rules. Magic is idiosyncratic and no two users use it exactly alike but there's a powerful… lewdness to my magic." I tell her, and this is actually true by this universe's rules. This helps quell her skepticism. It helps that she laughs when I suggest she give me a handjob for me to grant this spell.
All of this sounds very silly, sure, but it's funny that I really am abiding by Zaar rules. Everything from wishgranting being an exchange of services to the sexual nature of the transactions are in line with what zaars do and at least as of the time I left my native reality zaars are the sort of genies that are the most understood among the Troyverse genies, along with nornsmiths; a type of genie that dealt in fate and flesh. Both zaars and normsmiths are the subjects of fully fleshed out Troyverse CYOAs.
Arsinoe accepts my remarks and decides to continue to go along with what I've said. In moments we are on the bed and her hand is around the part of me that, if I return to the Troyverse, will become the most magical part of my body. I bite my lip as I feel her warm, gentle hand wrap around me and she eyes me before flashing me a seductive smile.
I relax on our luxurious sheets as my girlfriend skillfully massages me. Her warm hands reveal admirable dexterity as she enjoys the sight of me feeling her attentions. Arsinoe begins to talk as she strokes me off, telling me to close my eyes. I do as she says.
"I've always loved how laid back you are," She says as I keep my eyes shut. "You have a very different relationship with power than I do. For me power is innate, and I wield it with every move I make. You keep your power hidden and don't wield it often. But when you do…" She says, and I can feel her gesture towards everything around us.
I lightly moan, doing so to let her know I appreciate what she's doing. She smiles, I can feel it in the subtle shifts of her body language. As she uses impressive skill to please me I am firmly reminded of the fact that while I have a few "You are good at sex" perks I don't actually have anything inhuman yet, though I hope to soon.
If I have it my way my next jump will be one that gives me… Silly level sexiness and the power to derive power from sex. I don't want the end-game level stuff like Grand Adonis or anything like that, I just want two, maybe three if whoever decides my build is being generous, essences: the hentai orc and the ultimate chad. Those two essences, particularly the Ultimate Chad, give me abilities that are in line with a far-less powerful version of the Grand Adonis; the ultimate, end-all, be-all porn/sex entity in the Troyverse. Stuff like becoming a Zaar and gaining the ability to take Rosalind and Zumurrud on my chain are easily feasible goals that align with the broader goal of becoming a being of desire, which feels like as good a goal as any to have in the long term since my first jump granted me immortality and I already have the stuff to live for a long time so long as I don't act like a dumbass.
As my girlfriend's skilled fingers work me over I momentarily dream of far-off realities and incredible powers, stuff on a scale I can't truly fathom at this current leg of my nascent journey. I also recall details about the next slate of essences I really want to attain; those contained within the adult essences jump.
The Ultimate Chad, especially, is a heavy-duty essence that expands my ability to mimic powers and gives me utility sex abilities such as the ability to train using sex. Hentai Orc is mostly a fun alt-form that enhances the area I'm the weakest in: genuine physical power, durability, and a healing factor. The third essence in the jump that offers the other two is the Essence of the monsterfucker and it has some handy stuff but is far less essential than the other two are, especially given the side-effects of "Casanova" a handy sex and relationships perk that makes those I am in relationships with be open to me being polyamorous which would have been the main draw of the monsterfucker essence. It helps that the jump that those essences are available as origins in has a free harem follower option that allows me to take my family, at least any lovers I have and any children we have, with me on my chain including ones I gain in future jumps.
"Your power is incredible. It's the stuff of legends and of… urban myths. I know what we know about stuff like magic is limited and new discoveries are made every day, but the sheer range of what you can do is hard to believe," Arsinoue tells me, even as she begins to experiment with different speeds and levels of pressure, alternating every few seconds and taking mental notes of what gets bigger, better reactions out of me. "You've said you struggle with scale, like it's difficult for you to enact change on a large number of people or objects at once, but with your abilities that's hardly a limitation." She explains. She's not wrong.
My powers are powerful on an individual scale. I can do a lot and get away with a lot if I'm interacting one-on-one. It's also true that if I start trying to mess with buildings and the stuff on a similar scale of size things get tougher, costing more magical power, and I lose some of my versatility but I'm still versatile enough to get away with a lot even without being patient and doing something like affecting a town one person at a time. As I think about the nature of my powers the constant pleasure Arsinoe's dexterous fingers offer me keeps me on edge and tints my thoughts a pleasant shade.
I begin to get closer to a pleasant edge and I motion for her to stop, satisfied by the act. She does as I ask and then makes her wish. I open my eyes and grant it, and even as I do I feel the magic becoming both easier to use and cheaper, all while Arsinoe eyes the end result of my powerful spellcraft; a floating vial of golden liquid that is worth a true fortune. The potion grants someone immortality, a true and handy kind of immortality.
"The sort of thing that human kings kill for." Arsinoe says as she reaches out and takes the potion. She pulls it to her chest and casts the soul-storage spell on it. She falls silent for a moment before relaxing and turning and getting on top of me. Arsinoe, it turns out, has the makings of a natural sha'ir in the sense that she is a skilled lay; which happens to be one of the early steps to being a true master of this odd and multifaceted art. I suspect that other genies are not quite as sexually liberated as Troyverse genies but I doubt that they mind their masters or mistresses knowing their ways around a bed.
She demonstrates her gratitude for my power and as desire energy enters me I feel ecstasy with even slight movements. When I mount her and feel our bodies intertwine a rush of lust and pleasure hits me hard but not hard enough for me to express my own joy in an instant. Arsinoe's face morphs as pleasure courses into her, and I momentarily wonder if she can feel even an echo of the soul-touching bliss of pleasure kissed by desire energy. I kiss her as I drive myself deep into her, our bodies entangled in a number of different ways.
Arsinoe kisses me back as she pulls me closer to her and thus drives me deeper into her while wrapping her legs around me. The heat of her body washes over me and her moaning, coupled with her subtle quaking is quite pleasurable. Arsinoe and I melt into each other, our plans and schemes melting away in a haze of magical euphoria and the mixed sounds of grunts and moans as she begins to cling to me.
Arsinoe's tight womanhood is a snug fit for my perk-enhanced penis and I feel my grip on the present fading even as I relish the wet, slick heat of the princess I care about. In moments my focus is reduced to the present; to Arsinoe's moans and to the feeling of her body pressed against mine so tightly that the line between her and myself begins to blur. Her moans call to me and her soft pants are the ultimate gentle distraction. In time I lose my grip on the present entirely to focus solely on the pleasure Arsinoe inflicts on me and the pleasure I make her feel in turn. Hours pass before we refocus on the present.
Jumper time begins in full when Arsinoe is equipped with the knowledge of my wish-granting magic. Arsinoe gives me missions, dividing them between things doable with the abilities I possess that are public knowledge: my normal magic, my beams, and even my ability to dream up materials, and things that are more complex.
Some of the simpler tasks I get to do with Professor Cranium, such as creating technology that allows us to recruit more wild animals like the giant stag beetle to our province or even creating uniforms that blend local technology with dwarven sorcery. I also have Professor Cranium come up with ways to advertise the province to other scientists, including listening to policy recommendations that seek to make the place a more popular destination for researchers and academics.
In this regard our efforts bear fruit quite swiftly. We manage to recruit curious monsters, both non-sapient ones and sapient ones alike, promising different forms of payment to different monsters. We use many different kinds of creatures to help with physical labor, while more scientists and their families join us in the town of Besou, which gradually becomes more and more of a city given time.
The more complex work includes coming up with new sources of electricity and greater ways to use said electricity. Arsinoe and I eventually experiment with the usage of wishmagic to create small lakes that are suitable for hydropower, and with the help of scientists figure out how to have me dream up the stuff for golems and hydropower plants. It also involves finding clever uses for the energy we generate and get connected to the rest of a local power-grid.
I get in contact with Dean Grendel partway through my fifth year in this world and ask him if he knows any educators who might want to come and join the province of Tapte. He is quick to recommend a "Professor Philoctetes"; which I immediately remember is the name of the satyr from Heracles. I ask him to make the introduction for me and get in touch with what turns out to be a handsome male centaur instead of a satyr, one who is eager for a fresh start and doesn't ask a huge number of questions when I make an offer to come and head the local branch of the public education system in the province.
The assorted professionals we've gathered begin to reform the local branches of different government offices and, driven by Arsinoe's natural charm, my perks, and the extremely generous pay we offer our employees, they skillfully breathe new life into the province. Over the course of weeks, then months, and finally years Besou and Tapte transform.
The town of Besou begins to quickly attract merchants, business owners, and researchers, as well as their families. I lead the renovation of the town and its modernization, using my magic to pretty openly smooth over the countless small processes I'd otherwise need to do. In time the small town transforms from a rustic frontier town to a small but thriving city filled with people who are quite loyal to the royal family and to Arsinoe specifically. It is even connected to other cities and towns via the creation of a metro system Rachel and I create alongside a team of advanced engineers that I secure the loyalty of by teaching them magic. I also explore the country and very politely "raid" libraries and archives using my grimoire to add to my knowledge.
A number of small developments occur over time. Arsinoe and I open a coliseum that is open to the public in the heart of Besou, and I personally oversee the creation of golems and the recruitment of monsters, as well as the training of warriors to compete in it. We use it to recruit warriors and to attract tourists and it is very successful in both regards. Partway through my sixth year it is attacked by a solitary beholder which I slay and reanimate as one of my minions in rare, for me, one on one combat. Rachel and I eventually discover that she is cursed, which is a formal classification and not just a vague thing in this world, and that her curse is treatable if we go to the forest she was cursed in but she works hard to put it off understandably not loving the thought of going back to the place her particularly unpleasant form of immortality first happened.
I begin to train necromancers at a small school that Arsinoe and I open near the governor's estate. These necromancers graduate from what is essentially an academy and then in every case reveal impressive talent elsewhere in the kingdom. Our success here leads to a nice buff to our reputation and I gain a social mini-perk that buffs my skills as a teacher.
Arsinoe oversees the transformation of the province, often using my wishmagic to speedrun important work. We especially like using my magic to create things that help living people, creating prosperous farms that grow healthy amounts of food by mixing my dryad magic and my wishmagic to create food we safely store and dole out as necessary. In less than two years we become one of the first provinces where no one starves. People notice the incredible speed of our province's transformation, and I am suspected to be why it's happening so fast, but we give credit both to Arsinoe's leadership and the skill of our employees and we do so with the help of a very skilled communications team that consists of the first demons I've seen since my days at MUU.
The days and nights begin to blur and as we bring the province up to a level of interconnectedness and overall quality that far exceeds its most prosperous time my time in this jump begins to move towards the end. Nonetheless the story this world has made me a part of isn't quite over.
About halfway through my ninth year in this world, when I've finally begun to believe that the story this world is telling that involves me is essentially over, I receive an unpleasant surprise. Arsinoe and I are unhappily shocked out of bed one night when we hear the sounds of commotion and combat. I adopt my true form and fly out of the mansion only to hear louder sounds of carnage and see the shrouded silhouettes of floating heads near the edge of the city. I dart towards them firing off an array of deadly beams from far enough away that they can't see me, even as I summon the reanimated beholders I've already slain.
We sail through the air like murderous, high-speed balloons, and reach the monsters in seconds, right after they get nailed by different rays of mine penetrating what I immediately notice are anti-magic cones. Soldiers who endured their immediate attention and survived rally when they see me and the conflict that follows is short-lived. In minutes two beholder hive minds and their clones are dead and then reanimated into my forces.
I immediately interrogate my newest undead while healing those they hurt and resurrecting the slain soldiers. They unveil a conspiracy that is months from culminating with an attack on MUU which is annoying but not as annoying as the reveal that the attack is being spearheaded by the final two beholders left: the Death Tyrant and the remaining Solitary Beholder. As they explain it on my final week in this world Xen; a powerful Death Tyrant, will launch one end-all be-all attack on MUU, aided by none other than Beowulf: Dean Grendel's archenemy and a powerful undead monster, as well as Ranthor; the final solitary beholder. It's essentially promising to be a big MCU-style cgi fight as a way to bookend this jump, which feels fitting enough I guess.
The beholders I've slain were cowed into submission by Xen, who has secured the aid of powerful allies, the service of a horde of undead monsters, and the patronage of mighty monsters, and the beholders were deployed to kill me and to steal away powerful allies of the dean. I share this news with the Dean via a long phone call where he asks to speak to the beholders and when he is convinced of the veracity of these claims he swears to look into it. I am not shocked that this doesn't play out the way he hopes, and when his allies and agents fail to find and eliminate Xen or Beowulf he asks that Professor Cranium, Arsinoe, and myself return to the university, essentially hiring us to act as additional security.
We arrive on school grounds with exactly 168 hours; 7 days, left in my time in this jump and spend the time reconnecting with old friends. I get to meet Ava's father as Ava stayed in Aegisville after graduation and eventually persuaded her father to come and open a business with her, and I reconnect with Andrew who is now the head of the university's junior athletics division. In a fitting end to this jump it turns out that the last day I am to spend here will be the day that an incoming class of freshman is celebrated and honored, which means that I am essentially ending this chapter in my story at the beginning of someone else's.
My final day begins in an intimate hotel room next to Arsinoe. I kiss the back of the exhausted princess and smile as I feel my connection to this world beginning to weaken. Less than 85,000 seconds remain and the sun is high in the sky. It is 10 AM and I have a few minutes less than 24 hours left.
The day starts off normal enough, with Arsinoe and I going shopping and eating lunch with her now fully adult minions from ten years ago. The day passes by so peacefully that a small part of me wonders if maybe the monsters miscalculated and will not show up today but instead intend to attack tomorrow; after my jump ends. The sun dips below the horizon at 6:15 PM and as it drops out of view Arsinoe, Andrew, and I are sitting near the entrance to our school's dining hall casually chatting. It is only out of sight for a minute before a distant alarm somewhere in Aegisville goes off and I watch a faint, distant forcefield go up miles away. I watch as it forms a perfect sphere around the city's outline and even as it finishes forming I pull out a cellphone and call the university's dean who picks up the call immediately.
"It looks like it's happening after all." I tell him and he lets out a dark laugh. He sounds excited as he replies to me.
"Let them come. The city is ready for Beowulf's final act of madness." He tells me, and I hear a powerful, monstrous edge to his words. He tells me to head to wherever I see combat, right as I note the smallest echoes of ripples coming off the barrier towards the eastern edge of the city. It's like watching the ripples that emanate when someone skips a rock across a pond. I hang up and glance at my friends.
"Beowulf and Xen's first minions are attacking over there. Wanna go help out the cops and guards?" I ask, as I gesture in the direction of the first contact between locals and the enemy. They nod and we get up and begin to move, which starts with me shedding my amalgamated form and entering my beholder form before I telekinetically grab my friends and we move towards the distant edge of the city.