'Master, are you alright?' Elyra asked through telepathy while presenting a calm exterior.
Seraphina and the others might not have noticed because Bastion's face was covered by the blue mana shining from his eyes, but Elyra had a direct connection to his mind and was able to tell he was beyond frustrated.
'I was trying to remember the whispers with as much detail as possible, but Seraphina's voice broke my concentration, causing me to lose focus and forget almost everything. I was about to lose my temper when I realized I probably wasn't strong enough to remember anyway. Please don't mention it,' Bastion replied.
'Yes, Master.'
Bastion had been quite hesitant at first, allowing Elyra full access to his mind while also having full access to hers. He had expected their relationship to quickly sour with his true thoughts constantly exposed and hers equally in full display, but nothing could have been further from the truth.
Over the past two decades of their connection, he had come to realize that Elyra only cared about two things: him and her duties. As long as those two were secure, she didn't care about anything else. Not other men with more attractive bodies. Not any of the guards who were thoughtful toward her or tried to flirt with her. Not anything "more" in life. It was just him and her duties.
In a way, she wasn't human, having never changed at all after 20 years. Then again, she wasn't actually human; she was a Shadow Wolfkin who had marked him, and she didn't think like any woman he had ever known.
This allowed Bastion to be permanently dominant in their relationship. He could act in ways others might consider unacceptable, even cheat in plain sight, while she never complained except when he actually put effort into cleaning up after himself, taking over her duties.
'Goddess, I love this woman,' Bastion thought to himself.
'I love you too, Master.'
Bastion smiled as he continued to explain the Arcane Warden Class in detail to Seraphina and the girls, all while putting some clothes on and controlling the intense blue mana shining from his eyes.
In comparison to Elyra, Seraphina was a gamer through and through, able to focus single-mindedly on her arts and skills for two decades straight. Sometimes Bastion would go an entire month without seeing her because she was "locked in," which apparently meant she was so absorbed in her work that nothing could disturb her. Because of this, their relationship had remained largely unchanged. She still regarded the other girls as part of her harem in her light novel life or as party members in her gaming life. She still considered Bastion the love of her life, never seriously entertaining thoughts of other men since she rarely left her room in the first place.
Bastion, for his part, had also remained largely the same, too busy to always be present for her except when she specifically asked, at which point he would do everything to fulfill her heart's desire, though she rarely had any desires in the first place. In the end, their relationship had remained much as it had been before, stable and unchanged despite the passage of time.
Once he finished explaining his new Class, Lilia was understandably upset.
"What do you mean you can't enchant anymore? Are you expecting me to do all the enchanting from now on?" she exclaimed. "I already handle all the enchantments for your guns, bullets, and the armor we trade with Cyrus. Do you also expect me to enchant the carriage that we haven't even figured out yet? What about the golems? The magic cores?"
Bastion's relationship with Lilia had become noticeably more abrasive as she grew more comfortable around him. She was no longer the shy, blushing girl who got flustered whenever his shirt came off. She was now fully confident in herself as a woman and much more assertive as a partner, able to make her needs and expectations known without worrying about the downsides or complications they might cause, exactly as any partner would once the walls between them had come down.
Bastion preferred this version of Lilia, as she no longer put up barriers between them, allowing them to work seamlessly together on magic circles, spells, enchanting, or any other magical project. In fact, he found her blunt, demanding nature far more attractive, as it removed all the guesswork from their communication. For the rare times when she was being difficult, he had Elyra, his woman-to-Bastion translator, to smooth things out and prevent any misunderstandings.
'She's worried you won't be able to spend as much time with her,' Elyra said through telepathy.
"Don't worry," Bastion replied. "We can still work together exactly the same as before. It's not like I won't be able to enchant anything with my new mana or stop learning enchanting with you. It just means that nothing I make can be distributed to you girls or sold anymore. You'll have to take charge in that department."
"I… guess. Yeah, that makes sense," Lilia said, quickly losing interest in the drawbacks of the Class and turning her attention to the more interesting parts, like testing it out and exploring its limits. "Do you think you'll be able to passively absorb neutral mana faster? That would definitely improve your mana regeneration rate, maybe even give you infinite mana. What about your Diamond Shatter? Would the shrapnel absorb the victim's mana and sustain itself permanently? We need to start doing tests!"
"I'm more interested in Arcane Sentry," Ariel commented. "How long do they last? Is it a constant drain like most summoning skills? How accurate are they at detecting intruders, hostile intent, and false alarms?"
Ariel, unlike the other girls, remained the most distant from him. Ever since their first sexual encounter a decade ago, she would continue to seek him out without hesitation, yet they never developed much of a relationship beyond their standard party roles and Bastion's position as the head of the harem.
Her connections were far stronger with Elyra, who trained her and spent the most time with her whenever they left to focus on Elyra's new Class. The same could be said of Lilia, who often accompanied her into dungeons and built a sisterly bond with her, or Seraphina, who acted as a mother figure despite the age gap. With Bastion, however, their relationship was defined by pure, unquestioning subservience, a form of deference that may have originated from his title as duke, and was almost as consistent as Elyra's love for him.
This meant that Ariel neither grew closer in the way Lilia did nor grew distant as Seraphina did. Their relationship remained steady, much like the one Bastion shared with Elyra, except the distance between them felt more like friends with benefits than husband and wife. Her late addition to the group seemed to be a factor, as if Ariel had bonded with the group first before forming a true attachment to Bastion himself.
In the end, Bastion didn't worry about it and simply chalked it up to not having spent enough time together. Surely, they would have opportunities to grow closer as time passed and they shared more adventures.
"Before we do any testing, let's see your status." Seraphina suggested.
"Status."
[Name]: Bastion Diamondhart
[Age]: 46
[Class]: Arcane Warden (Rank 2), Armory Knight (Rank 2), Diamond Knight (Rank 3)
[Ability]: Arcane Corruption, Space Node, Diamond Body
[Rank]: Rank 2
[Level]: 200
[Health]: 1105/1105
[Mana]: 825/825
[Strength]: 8.2
[Dexterity]: 8.25
[Vitality]: 11.05
[Intelligence]: 8.25
[Wisdom]: 11.05
[Charm]: 5.6
[Fortune]: 9
[Status Points]: 0
[Arts]: Smithing 5, Enchanting 5, Earth Magic 5, Light Magic 5, Shield 5, Sword 5, Whip 5, Heavy Armor 5, Summoning 5, Unarmed 5, Fire Magic 5, Water Magic 5, Dark Magic 5, Wind Magic 5, Riding 5, Cannon 5, Taming 1, Cooking 1, Traps 1
[Skills]: Shield Bash 5, Block 5, Charge 5, Reinforce 5, Amplify 5, Slash 5, Parry 5, Stab 5, Smash 5, Dodge 5, Dash 5, Jump 5, Summon Familiar(Zephy, Pebbles) 5, Diamond Armor 5, Diamond Edge 5, Diamond Shatter 5, Diamond Rain 5, Diamond Steed(Steve) 5, Taunt 5, Inventory 5, Armor Slot 5, Weapon Slot 5, Quick Slot 5, Facility Slot 5, Tame 1, Arcane Shackles 1, Arcane Lockdown 1, Arcane Pulse 1, Arcane Sigil 1, Arcane Sentry 1
[Skill Points]: 125
First of all, Bastion noticed his Intuition had changed again, from Luck to Fortune. It felt odd, given that his initial added ability to detect James's fortune seemed to align more closely with that name than Luck ever had.
Then again, what did he really know about this mysterious ability? At best, he understood only that it allowed him to glimpse fragments of others' futures and perceive visions of random, fortuitous opportunities. In reality, he didn't know anything else about it.
He could only take note as more uses revealed themselves. For now, he focused on his poor arts and skills.
The mere fact that he hadn't managed to get any arts or skills to level 6 meant that leveling them from this point on would be significantly more difficult. He would have to intentionally train them rather than rely on constant use to improve them. This was especially true given the sheer number of arts and skills he had to work on, unless he chose to focus on specific ones.
Then again, given enough time, millennia, he would inevitably be able to get them all to level 7, even if he didn't pay close attention to their usage, assuming, of course, that he actually used them in his day-to-day life. Fortunately, he had the lifespan, 5,000 years at Rank 2, to eventually pull it off.
"Am I the only one impressed that Bastion has that status at 46 years old?" Ariel asked.
"I have roughly the same status," Seraphina replied. "Although I'll probably end up being the last to reach Rank 2 among us, since Scribing is taking so damn long to level up."
"I have all level 5 as well," Lilia said. "Except I'm focusing on water magic and I don't have as many skills. I should probably fix that once I rank up. There are likely a lot of impressive skills at Rank 2."
"That reminds me," Bastion said. "I'll be heading to the Mages Guild to buy some skill books. I need some mana-specific skills that will let me make better use of my Arcane Corruption Ability."
"You should probably test it first," Lilia suggested. "It'll give you a better idea of the skills you'll eventually want and those that will just waste your time."
"Good point," Bastion said, looking around at each of his girls. "Who wants to be the guinea pig?"
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