Greed God chapter 114

February 14th 2016 Gemworld 6:00 PM EDT

Zee had been all sweet and happy when we fucked, so touched that I  remembered Valentines she even skipped her usual fight to fuck me  struggling. I'd honestly been a bit bummed, Zee's games were a good  time, but I could get that later, so I supposed a desperate clingy fuck  was a novelty from my sorceress. Strega had just bent over to take my  dick, though she had smiled a bit, and Cherry had just requested a night  to herself later, saying she didn't care about Valentines, making her  the most rational of my girls.

Regardless, I'd killed the  rest of my day in style, enjoying myself enough for the time to pass  quickly, and Barbie had been as good as her word, setting up the  ceremony and even getting the witnesses over to the city in decent time.  Which is how I found myself now, in a big ass central square midway  through the town, waiting for everyone to file in and surrounded by my  bandits, who were looming over the civilians to keep the peace.

The  bandits had been allowed to enjoy their night when we arrived, but the  next day had found them snapped up by Sally, who was gleefully training  them into a proper force to guard my city, complete with formations and,  eventually, uniforms. She'd approached me about making them  personalized armor, and I wasn't opposed to it once I got a bit of the  city filled up and had stocked up on points. With enough of the  civilians boosted and living here I'd be seeing a serious increase in GP  and I could afford a bit of splurging on some G ranked armor for the  guards.

I had actually slipped into armor for this. We'd  been wearing out formal clothes for the last few days since arriving,  since I'd upgraded them and they were basically stain proof anyway it  wasn't really an issue to keep them on. The next best thing to self  cleaning or not though, people didn't like wearing the same shit ad  infinitum, and it wasn't exactly inspiring to see your leader in a  wrinkled suit. I'd snagged a suit from the treasury and merged it with  another one to make it fit a bit better and then headed out here to  check on details.

Aside from what I was wearing the only  important factor was the chalice, which had been prepped for hours. I'd  even topped it up a bit to make sure it was maxed out in terms of  energy. I wanted an F ranked smith bad, for the points and the  usefulness both. I set the chalice up on a table I had one of the  bandits carry out here, making them move it around a few times to get  the best placement before deciding it worked best in the original spot. I  admit I made them move it a few extra times just to fuck with them, but  it was funny watching them scowl but refuse to bitch about it.

Between  the fear and the loyalty mark the bandits were shockingly well behaved,  and  I was almost sad I didn't have a reason to put the fear of Waylon  into them. If one of them fucked up I could get my muscle to smack them  around in front of the others. Still, obedient was obedient, and I  wasn't petty or short sighted enough to manufacture a problem. Willing  lackeys were infinitely simpler to deal with, and if I trained them to  only respond to fear I'd have to constantly micromanage. It wasn't worth  a few minutes of satisfaction.

Finally though, everyone  arrived. I saw Hildie trailing behind Barbie, looking flushed and a  little dazed and had to fight a grin. Levka had shown up with his wife,  but they didn't have a chance to interact with their daughter other than  a quick conversation and congratulations on the new job because as the  guest of honor Levka had shit to do before he drank from the cup,  walking around and schmoozing a bit. The change would make a bigger  impression if we let everyone see the before and after more thoroughly.

Once  that was done I stepped out in front of the crowd, clearing my throat. I  held up my hands as everyone fell silent. "People of Lord Town!" My  voice boomed through the square, carried by acoustic resonance that made  me really impressed with the native attributes of this city. "As you  know, today is a grand occasion. We see a member of our own swear his  oaths to the village, and you will bear witness to the ascension that  comes with giving me your loyalty. Service to the city will be  generously rewarded, as you will soon see."

It was a bit  dramatic and kind of ham fisted, but these were medieval peasants, and  subtlety wasn't exactly their native tongue. A bit of showmanship here  was to be expected, and would only highlight this next part all the  more. "Levka! Smith of Lord Village. You have brought many to my door  and contributed greatly to the success of the village." I neglected  mentioning how his daughter had contributed to the emptying of my balls,  though I REALLY wanted to bring it up right now.

Luckily I  had self control, so I simply held up the chalice dramatically, passing  it to the smith to drink from. He took it with a solemn nod, and drank  deep. I was honestly a bit surprised. I'd expected him to be a bit  reticent given he'd met me so recently, but Gemworld was a land where  magic decided social strata, and seeing me make the village had clearly  erased any doubt anyone here had about hitching their wagon to me. He  drained the whole cup in a few swallows and the green vital power surged  through his veins, visible under the skin as it flooded him with my  strength, supplementing his current power with my bloodline.

I'd  seen more than a few of these transformations, including one for  Malcolm, but this was the first time I'd seen an elevation to F rank.  Despite there being just a single rank of difference, G and F were  markedly different in terms of scope. F rank artifacts and people were  wide scale powers that could affect entire areas. Most G rankers were  just middle tier bruisers or small scale magic talents. There was a  reason Baron was the first rank on the ladder here. Nothing else was  even worth noting.

The elevation of a Gemworlder from  Baron to Viscount was a big deal, in other words. The difference between  a thousand and ten thousand GP was not a small one. When Levka began  his change, I had to actually step back, because the green power of  vitality blazing under his skin actually caught him on fire, and I  stepped back in surprise as he went up like a gas soaked rag. I expected  screaming from him, or from anyone else, but no one reacted, all  watching in rapt silence as the flames covered him.

It  took me a minute to figure out exactly what was happening. The old and  damaged skin and hair was burning away, the vitality in his new  bloodline flooding him with life and regrowing it all shiny and new as  he slowly reverted in age. I wasn't sure if this was an F rank thing or  just a side effect of the lifestorm blood because Levka was the first  older person I'd imbued with my blood (bandits didn't tend to have much  of a lifespan). Regardless of the reasoning the change to a younger form  was compounded by the elevation in life order, and Levka let out a roar  as he ascended to a higher level.

When the flames died  down, he was naked, a tanned and dark haired man in his early twenties  with startling green eyes. His thick beard was pitch black now, and he  grinned triumphantly at me, dropping to a knee. "My lord. I had thought  myself at the limit of what I could become, doomed to age and die at the  precipice of a higher form of life, but you've given me a gift I never  expected. My service is yours, for eternity if need be." I mean, it was  anyway because of the Brand, but that was nice. I wondered if he would  feel the same when he found out I was banging his daughter.

I  nodded regally. "Rise Levka, smith of Lord Town, and take your place  among the nobility as a true Viscount." I gestured for the others to  bring his clothes, and Lenka let his head drop back in near exultation  as he put them on, enjoying his new body. I shot a look at his GILF of a  wife, and figured she was probably pretty worried about this, and sure  enough her eyes were clouded as she looked at her now younger husband. I  could de-age her obviously, even if my blood wouldn't do it I could  find some other way, but if the marking left her still older I might  wait to see if they broke up. She was kind of sexy.

Sadly I  suspected the youth was just a side effect of the vitality. I didn't  think it would be quite as dramatic for those not crossing such a big  barrier, but I was betting any older people I marked would slowly start  to return to their youth. Oh well, Hildie was plenty of fun, even if I  kind of wanted to try the whole mother daughter sandwich thing. I  vaguely remembered that Zee's mom was dead, and I was already planning  to bring back Sally's kids. With her dad stuck under the control of the  gold pot dictator maybe I could rez the mother and complete the set.

The  biggest effect of this whole show however, wasn't Levka at all. It was  the way everyone else looked like a lightning bolt had struck them. The  other civilians were almost vibrating with excitement, and I was pretty  sure this story was going to get repeated back and forth between every  villager with about ten days of here. We were about to get a huge  immigration boom, which had been kind of the point. Aside from that a  new loyal F ranker was a plus, and speaking of that I used appraisal  again on Levka to see how he'd changed.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Levka-  F rank Lifestorm Gemsmith. Former smith of the village of Bridhall,  Levka has sworn himself in service to Nicholas Lord, current liege of  Lord Town, and grown in power through that oath. Having Ascended to the  rank of Viscount he has joined the ranks of true nobility in Gemworld, a  rare feat for a smith outside one of the major dynasties.]

I  blinked. That was...interesting. I could have sworn he'd had a bit of  emerald bloodline, but I was probably remembering Manka. No wonder he  got stuck at the peak of G rank. I wasn't entirely sure it was possible  for Gemworlders to even reach F rank without a bloodline or some kind of  magical trick. I supposed it was like how humans on earth seemed to be  basically capped at H without superpowers. Gemworlders had a higher  ceiling, but her in Gemworld, bloodlines were how people climbed to a  higher level.

It would be fine  though. The cup just gave them a bit of my bloodline, which while not  one of the Gemworld OGs WAS a bloodline, so it wasn't like I'd  discovered some revolutionary new thing. I was just sharing something  the other nobles wouldn't have been willing to part with. Levka was back  on his feet, chattering excitedly to his wife, and the two of them left  with a quick bow to me as the ceremony broke up. I didn't see the  civilians off, nobles didn't do that kind of thing, I just turned and  headed back into my manor. I was going to get some rest before the  coming wave of villagers. I'd be getting lots of points soon, but I was  going to be draining myself dry of blood to do it. I wondered if those  moon berries made good juice?