"That's not a penis," Bastion said as he observed the dangling organ between the hyena woman's legs. "It's a pseudo-penis, an enlarged clitoris that incorporates her urogenital canal. In spotted hyenas, the females evolved this structure as a symbol and tool of their dominance. They urinate, mate, and even give birth through it. Because of it, they have almost total control over reproduction. She has to willingly retract the pseudo-penis, almost like pulling a sleeve back, to create an opening for the male. Without her full cooperation, insemination is basically impossible."
"She can still use it as a penis though, right?" Seraphina asked as she started poking at it with a stick. "I bet she would be popular with the ladies."
"I don't actually know, but I can assume any arousal on her part would cause it to retract in preparation for mating. What I do know is that spotted hyenas mount other females to establish dominance, but whether they can actively control it is another matter entirely."
From the poking and prodding, the woman slowly regained consciousness. Before Bastion and Seraphina could react, she jolted and tried to run away, only to realize she was fully restrained. She opened her mouth to use a skill, but even that failed as she merely shouted loudly.
"Gyaaaa~"
"Are you done testing my restraints?" Bastion asked sharply. "If you are, we can begin negotiating your life."
The restraints Bastion used were a chain-linked metal straightjacket forged from Rank 2 alloy, reinforced with toughness enchantments and a Curse of Weakness that suppressed physical output. Since it was enchanted using Bastion's own mana, Corruption continuously drained her mana and dispersed it into the surroundings, ensuring her reserves remained empty.
The woman attempted physical skills next, such as Smash or Jump, but found herself unable to budge. She may have been Rank 3, but based on the battle, she appeared to specialize in Charm as a tamer, so her other stats were understandably weaker. Weak enough, in fact, for Bastion's stacked, reinforced layers of chained restraints to hold her down.
After all, to restrain someone 10 times stronger than the material, all that was required was to increase the restraint by the same factor, which was exactly what Bastion had done. Although, he had to admit he would struggle to contain a proper high-level Rank 3 warrior, as their physical skills would easily allow them to push past those limits.
"What do you want?" the woman finally asked after she realized she couldn't simply escape.
"I'm trying to determine what to do with you," Bastion answered. "Right now, I'm leaning towards handing you over to the Kingdom of Paws who likely have a bone to pick with you given your activities in the area. Although, I don't know how much I would be able to get."
"Aww… don't be like that, handsome~" she said sweetly, her voice a husky, velvet purr.
With a sultry, half-lidded look, she arched her back, deliberately pushing her full, soft breasts forward until they strained against her chains, nipples visibly hardening. At the same time, she wiggled her hips in slow, teasing circles, making her chest jiggle enticingly and letting her thighs rub together with a soft, needy sigh.
"Why don't you just let me go… and I'll pay you 10 magic crystals? It's about how much you'll get from the bounty… unless you'd rather collect something much warmer and wetter instead~" she said as her pseudo-penis slowly retracted into itself, presenting a very enticing puffed-up vagina.
Bastion subconsciously reached out with a hand, his eyes slowly losing focus before a jolt from Elyra through telepathy woke him up.
"You sly little minx," Bastion said with a knowing smile as his hand continued to approach, then suddenly closed around her throat.
She choked, her seductive words cutting off as her airway shut, snapping Seraphina out of the trance.
"What happened?" Seraphina asked, stepping back in fear.
"She has extremely high Charm, and we both fell for it," Bastion said, his tone cold. "If it weren't for Elyra jolting my mind, I would've let her go."
"What do we do with her now?"
"We submit her to the Kingdom of Paws for the bounty and be done with her. We can't even communicate properly without risking our lives, so we might as well forgo negotiation."
Suddenly, Bastion felt his vision darken as a scene played out in his mind. The woman was taken to prison, where she used her seductive body, honeyed words, and high Charm to manipulate her way out of punishment. She then sold their information to a group of high ranked bandits who planned an ambush against them.
The vision cut off before showing the outcome, but given that they were a group of a dozen Rank 3 bandits with guns, Bastion already understood the likely result. He and the girls would almost certainly have lost the fight, with any survivors captured and toyed with however the thugs pleased. It was an extremely deadly scenario if it played out.
"Bastion? You look pale. Did you receive another vision?" Seraphina asked.
"Yeah," Bastion said as he swiftly knocked the woman out with a punch to the jaw. "I finally figured out what my new stat, Fortune, does. It shows me the fatal consequences of my actions."
"So… you were 'Fortunate' to have received the vision? You basically have a failsafe that guarantees our lives. That's pretty awesome."
"Or it could be used to manipulate my decision-making. Either way, I don't think this woman can be left alive."
"Why?"
"She manages to escape punishment and convinces a group of Rank 3 bandits with guns to hunt us down. Given their lineup and the army of similarly armed underlings they likely have, I don't think we would've survived."
"They have guns?" Seraphina exclaimed.
"Yeah. It seems we'll have to be careful with what we present in the surrounding kingdoms. Banditry is a very popular Rank 3 occupation here, given that it's a border region."
"Should we just skip to the next kingdoms then?"
"No, there may still be an opportunity waiting for me, but we'll be careful with what we sell. No skill scrolls or top-quality Rank 2 goods, only basic trash we already have in our inventory. It should deter any bandits from hunting us down. Also, we kill these bandits and never speak of it, since it may attract the wrong kind of attention. As a matter of fact, we'll report that we paid a magic crystal as our toll."
After waiting for nearly an hour, Elyra and Ariel returned with happy smiles and full magic bags. Apparently, they had managed to collect about multiple bag's worth of stolen goods from the bandits' hideouts, including a separate hidden stash that the leader had kept from her men. That stash alone held 15 magic crystals' worth of liquid funds.
It was a significant amount of income for simple banditry. As for why it hadn't been sold yet, Bastion could only assume it was because moving such goods would draw suspicion from either the authorities or rival bandits. That problem didn't apply to Bastion and the girls, though, as they could repurpose the raw materials into their own creations, effectively removing any traceable origin.
As for returning the stolen goods, it wasn't even worth considering. They needed to keep a low profile to avoid attracting Rank 3 bandits from the surrounding kingdoms. For now, they would only clear out their cluttered low-ranked inventory to make room for any resources they might encounter later.
"Elyra, execute the bandits and clean the surroundings once Lilia and Seraphina finish the purification ritual. Ariel, take us to the Kingdom of Paws through another route if possible," Bastion instructed coldly.
Elyra cut off each of the bandits' heads, including their leader, the hyena woman, while Bastion checked his status.
[Name]: Bastion Diamondhart
[Age]: 121
[Class]: Arcane Warden (Rank 2), Armory Knight (Rank 2), Diamond Knight (Rank 3)
[Ability]: Arcane Corruption, Space Node, Diamond Body
[Rank]: Rank 2
[Level]: 210
[Health]: 6105/6105
[Mana]: 4700/4700
[Strength]: 50.7
[Dexterity]: 47
[Vitality]: 61.05
[Intelligence]: 47
[Wisdom]: 58.55
[Charm]: 40.6
[Fortune]: 9
[Status Points]: 0
[Arts]: Smithing 7, Enchanting 6, Earth Magic 6, Light Magic 6, Shield 6, Sword 6, Whip 6, Heavy Armor 6, Summoning 6, Unarmed 6, Riding 6, Cannon 6, Fire Magic 5, Water Magic 5, Dark Magic 5, Wind Magic 5, Taming 1, Cooking 1, Traps 1
[Skills]: Shield Bash 6, Block 6, Charge 6, Reinforce 6, Amplify 6, Slash 6, Parry 6, Stab 6, Smash 6, Dodge 6, Dash 6, Jump 6, Summon Familiar(Zephy, Pebbles) 6, Diamond Armor 6, Diamond Edge 6, Diamond Shatter 6, Diamond Rain 6, Diamond Steed(Steve) 6, Taunt 6, Inventory 6, Armor Slot 6, Weapon Slot 6, Quick Slot 6, Facility Slot 6, Arcane Shackles 5, Arcane Lockdown 5, Arcane Pulse 5, Arcane Sigil 5, Arcane Sentry 5, Earth Quake 5, Light Lance 5, Light Burn 5, Light Missiles 5, Light Barrier 5, Earth Rampart 5, Tame 1
[Skill Points]: 135
Ten levels were all Bastion had managed to gain since he and the girls left the Kingdom of Brilliance over a year ago, and it had taken a handful of Rank 3s, hundreds of Rank 2s, thousands of Rank 1s, and hundreds of thousands of Apprentice Rank enemies to achieve it. It was a significant amount of killing, made possible by his autocannons.
Now they were traveling toward kingdoms with even greater technology, possibly with weapons equivalent to his own creations or even better. It was an increase in difficulty that demanded careful consideration, especially since they also needed to gain levels without drawing attention.
His recent vision of Fortune had shown him exactly what carelessness could lead to, so he needed to keep their presence and threat level as low as possible. Otherwise, they wouldn't even know what hit them.
It put into perspective what it meant to move up the ranks, both in personal power and in the kingdoms ahead. Perhaps he had taken the journey too lightly at first. That realization alone was enough to force a reassessment of how they would operate going forward.
With the cleanup finished, Bastion and the girls returned to the carriage, their mood shifting into serious discussion about their next steps. If the battle at the fort hadn't been enough of a wake-up call, the recent vision made it impossible to ignore.
Now, they were on their way to the Kingdom of Paws to see what his visions would reveal next.
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