Chapter 8: 1.08 – Spend

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Carnal Energy: 6

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Six. Six points of carnal energy, whatever that meant. Unsurprisingly, the skill had worked as it had said it would.

Natalie’s thoughts were foggy after the events of the last five minutes, but she forced herself to focus. It was easier than she thought it would be, because for all that her and Jordan’s brief intimacy was intensely distracting, so was discovering how her class worked. It was something she’d been looking forward to her entire life.

“Yeah,” Natalie said. “It worked. I have … six points?”

She couldn’t help the inflection. Secondary resources weren’t common for a class. Maybe not unheard of. Berserkers, to her knowledge, had a ‘rage’ resource. And a few others had similar. But it was far from standard, so it wasn’t something she could talk about fluidly … especially when the resource was ‘carnal energy’.

“Six points,” Jordan repeated. “And how much can you get done with that?”

“How many skills I can progress?”

“Yeah.”

“I guess I’d have to test it.” Her intuition wasn’t giving her any hints. The skills, either, hadn’t said how much energy was required to move a skill from ‘progression 1’ to ‘progression 2’.

“Or you could use it to empower something,” Jordan added. “Though, that seems a waste, in most situations.”

“Better to focus on the long term,” Natalie agreed.

She found it, to be honest, somewhat amusing how pointedly the two of them were ignoring what had happened. She didn’t protest. How caught up in that experiment the two of them had been … it was best they left it behind. She and Jordan were friends, not more.

“Why waste it on strengthening a skill temporarily, when you could do so permanently?” Natalie added.

Jordan nodded, then hesitated. “Well. I could see some uses. Important fights. Might be worth ‘wasting’ some, to scrape out a critical win.”

That was a given. “But in most situations, save for progression,” Natalie clarified.

They were on the same page. They nodded in agreement.

“I wonder how long the cooldown is,” Natalie said. “On the harvest.”

A pause. Jordan quirked her eyebrow. “Are you asking to go again?”

Natalie smirked. “Only if you want to.”

Jordan read the taunt in her voice. She rolled her eyes. Things seemed to be mostly back to normal … even if Jordan still seemed a bit flustered. Natalie was, too.

“First, figure out how far six points go,” Jordan said. “I’ll help you out, but only if I need to. Because you’re my friend.”

The reminder washed through Natalie. She was, oddly, and for a reason she couldn’t explain, grateful for the confirmation. That their … experiment … had, indeed, been because Jordan wanted to help Natalie figure out her class. Not more.

Sure, she wasn’t blind. They’d gotten worked up. Jordan might’ve been too enthusiastic in the kiss to be wholly ‘practical’. But it was a physical reaction. The same reason Natalie had felt like she was on fire.

She pulled her thoughts back. Testing. Could six points advance a skill? Based on how easy they’d been to earn, Natalie doubted it. But how would it work? Advancing? Would she need the full quantity, all at once? Or could she pour it in, chipping away at the amount needed?

Could she tell how far she’d gotten? Was there a cap to how much energy she could store? Did it decay, over time, incentivizing her to spend it, rather than hoard?

Natalie had been told by friends and family these sorts of questions would crop up. There was simply too many specifics in how a skill might work to reasonably fit into a skill description. Experimentation was the only way to discover the answers. Hence why Jordan had been so quick to help Natalie. Experimentation was normal.

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“What should I go for, first?” Natalie asked.

She didn’t think six points would be enough to advance a skill, but either way, it was best to be funneling the energy into what she would want progressed first.

“Hm,” Jordan said. “You said [Advance] is maxed, already?”

“That’s what it says.”

She nodded. “Makes sense there’s a cap. And that some skills start at one, and can’t be advanced. What’s best?” She thought about it. “[Carnal Harvest]?”

“What, not [Heavy Weaponry]?” Natalie asked jokingly.

Jordan paused, and her eyes flicked down to Natalie’s crotch. She looked away, then coughed. “Uh. Yeah. It’s pretty … interesting … that you can make it bigger.”

“You can say weird. It’s weird.”

“It’s weird,” Jordan agreed. “How big, anyway? And why would you want it bigger?”

Why wouldn’t she? If Natalie had to have a cock between her legs, she’d prefer if it was a monster. Was that weird? She hadn’t really had time to digest everything.

“Guess I’ll find out. Eventually.” She appreciated how in-stride Jordan was taking all this. Natalie had always been able to lean on Jordan, a pillar in her life, and that trend was continuing. “But, uh. Yeah. Harvest is probably best. Means more energy, more progression.”

“Though … it won’t just be kissing.”

The two of them paused.

“Not just kissing,” Natalie repeated. “Yeah. I don’t expect you to—obviously I don’t—“

“We’ll figure it out later,” Jordan said, looking away. “And you’re good with girls. So it won’t be. You know. An issue, to find candidates.”

Natalie had never felt awkward talking about her love life before, but now, suddenly, she was. She’d definitely had more success in that front than Jordan had, though Natalie wouldn’t call herself a womanizer. Though, Jordan didn’t seem to care about the idea? Of Natalie hooking up with others. But of course she didn’t. Why would she?

Natalie said, “We’ll figure it out.”

“Go ahead,” Jordan said, brushing past the topic. “Try. Find out.”

Advancing her skill. Right.

She closed her eyes. It might not be necessary, but it felt like the right thing to do. She focused inward, in much the same way as she’d used her [Inspect] skill. Having recently unlocked her class, she didn’t know, fully, what she was doing. She’d heard talk throughout her life about how these things worked, but hearing was different from doing.

Fortunately, it worked like she expected. Focusing her intent, her desire to use her [Advance] skill and funnel the energy she’d gathered toward [Carnal Harvest], some enigmatic force sagged from her: the energy funneled into the skill in the manner she wanted.

There was no direct indicator. Nothing concrete, as an [Inspect] might provide. But, she felt something. A benchmark of sorts. Her [Carnal Harvest] skill filled up, an abstract sense of an orb being filled with pink energy. The liquid sloshed up to the one-third point, and Natalie’s harvested energy ran out.

“Huh,” Natalie said. “Looks like a third?” She couldn’t tell exactly how much, but between fifteen and twenty ‘points’ seemed like the number she’d need to reach. “So it’d take two more … kisses.” The sentence had barreled out of her, before she realized what it might sound like. That Natalie was asking for more.

“Hm,” Jordan said.

A long pause.

“Well,” Jordan said. “Then I guess we should find out if there’s a cooldown.”

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