Terrence exhaled slowly as the waterfall thundered behind him, the mist cooling the leftover heat Eiselle had nearly ignited in his bloodstream.
He hopped down from the cliff, landing smoothly in front of the group like gravity itself respected him.
The rescued survivors were still eating like they hadn't seen real food since the dinosaurs.
Treasure stood a little ways off, nibbling a taco with tiny, delicate bites like she was scared wasting even a crumb would be illegal.
When she noticed Terrence returning alone, she perked up and then-
Eiselle stepped out behind him.
She was fixing the straps of her new Epic-Grade armored white dress and the brown combat boots he'd just given her, her eyes locked onto Treasure.
The two paused.
Straight-faced.
Staring each other up and down like they were scanning each other's power levels.
[Cat fight! Cat fight! Cat fig-]
'Shut up System. I doubt they're about to fight each other.'
Turns out Terrence was right.
Both girls burst into bright smiles and practically ran toward each other.
"Oh my gosh, I love your hair!" Treasure said, touching a strand of Eiselle's white-with-black-tint hair. "And are you an elf?! I've never met one before! My name is Treasure, what's yours?" She introduced herself with a friendly, adorable smile.
"Eiselle. And I love yours too." Eiselle matched the smile easily. "I've seen goblins before..but not a female one. This is honestly surprising. I hope T here hasn't been causing you all any trouble."
Terrence snorted and chuckled lightly at that.
"Who, Terrence? No way, he's been the greatest help. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be here. He saved them-" Treasure gestured to the former prisoners.
Then she turned to Terrence, her pink eyes softening, a blush warming her cheeks.
"And he saved me as well."
"It was the right thing to do. Would do it ten thousand times again." Terrence smiled back, making her giggle and blush harder.
Eiselle watched the two, then smiled knowingly.
She could already see Treasure's liking toward her T..and honestly? She didn't mind at all.
As that old saying went, more was merrier.
Just don't hurt him.
"Is that so? Tell me more, Treasure. I want all the details." She stepped beside her like they'd known each other for years.
"Of course! It all started when-"
[And that was the start of the greatest friendship.]
Terrence chuckled and turned, walking toward the village with the whole group following behind.
'I'm just glad they're getting along. Usually it don't start like this. You know how women be.'
[For real. Anyways before you said you wanted a class and a new race, right? Since your Stats are still distributing, we can slip those in now.]
'Bet. I want my class to be Necromancer and a regular Summoner. If that makes sense.'
[What would you like to summon?]
Terrence smirked.
'Monster girls, definitely.'
[Wo-ho! Haha, great minds think alike. Good news, your request matches perfectly with Eternal Extraction. I can merge them into an Origin Class. Extremely rare. Only for you. The cost is 200 Infinite Reward Points.You currently have 421 Infinite Reward Points and 177 Harem Reward Points.]
'Take it.'
[-200 Infinite Reward Points]
[Now about your race..honestly, it'd be a waste. Eternal Extraction lets you extract bloodlines. So it's best to save your Infinite Reward Points for something else.]
'Damn. Good point.'
[What you should be worried about is your clothes. You've been walking around looking like a bootleg ass Grug from The Croods.]
Terrence nearly laughed out loud.
'C'mon System Grug? I actually like this outfit. But yeah, you got a point. Can I fuse weapons and equipment to make higher rarity versions?'
[Yes. Now you're thinking. It only costs Gold. You can also spend Gold to increase the level, rank, and rarity.]
A new interface appeared.
[Here's an Epic-Grade clothing set I know you'll like.]
The outfit looked like an upgraded, divine version of Spawn's outfit. It was sleek, intimidating, and powerful.
[Now the highest rarity is Prime-Grade. Your options are:
Pay 500,000,000 Gold.
Or fuse 500,000 Epic Clothes + 150,000,000 Gold.]
'Goddamn I just got this money! But yeah, I'm picking the fusion.'
[Request Locked. You'll get the outfit and the class once your Stats finish distributing. I'll get back straight to it, so it'll be done in a timely manner.]
Terrence nodded. 'Preciate it, System.'
When Terrence came out of his mental conversation with the System, he immediately felt two hands interlock with his.
His left was Eiselle and his right was Treasure.
"Someone's in deep thought. You okay, T?" Eiselle asked, rubbing his hand gently.
"Yeah. We're almost there."
He squeezed their hands back.
"You two seem to be getting along real well."
"Feels good having another woman to talk to," Treasure said brightly. "After being around them for so long..it got lonely. It feels nice to be..free."
"I bet it does. I give you props for surviving the smell of musty balls and gorilla toenails for that long." Terrence chuckled.
Both girls giggled.
"In all seriousness," Eiselle said softly, "what you did was incredibly kind, T. They're grateful..and I'm very proud of you."
"Eis..I appreciate-"
THUMP.
Something hit him.
Not enough to hurt, just enough to be noticed.
Terrence looked down and found the worried, wide orange eyes of Kasper and Kya staring right up at him.