A stern man wearing a well-maintained suit of armor enters my field of view, stepping out in front of the cell bars, as spiders reach my back and begin to climb up it. The man grunts in annoyance as he realizes that I'm awake now. He walks over to the cell door and begins to open it. While he's looking away I absorb my book, returning it to my soul. I also try to remember why I was in prison, but try as I might to rack my brain, no specific memories of why I'm here come to mind.
Curiously, some memories and information DO come to mind even though what I'm looking for isn't remembered: I remember my birthplace, I remember learning how to repair instruments, and I remember some vague explanations for how I attained perks that reflect attainable skills, including a short lived career on a merchant's ship as a cook which explains how I got the 50 point perk I am the owner of.
"Lalo Alvarez, today's the day you get out. Now follow me out of here and you'll be able to collect your belongings." The guard who has come to my cell tells me, as he finishes unlocking the door and pulling it open for me. He calls me by my name and that makes me wonder if all Hispanic people are orcs in this world or if names and species are independent. The thought of an elf named Timmy or Doug makes me laugh, though I keep my laugh internal.
I get up and begin to walk towards him as he mutters something about dealing with a hungover orc. This confuses me, since I'm in prison and somehow I doubt I'm allowed to get drunk in a prison, but I don't bother questioning him. The truth is that though he's grumpy he's just an annoyed human guy who probably doesn't get paid well enough to justify him having to deal with something like a drunk orc.
As I exit the cell I quietly categorize the new additions to my slowly expanding repertoire of powers I possess. While stepping out into a narrow hallway that leads past several cells I take note of incredible powerhouses of perks like Chameleon and Dabbler, as well as Jumper: Enemy of Their Preferred Gender, and Envy & Shared Joy. It doesn't surprise me that I'm not worlds more powerful in terms of my ability to battle enemies, though my nature as an orc does come with a direct buff to my combat abilities, and that most of my new powers have an altogether non-violent nature.
One immediate thing I take note of is that I have an uncapper: a perk that removes limits and upper ceilings on powers. My uncapper is named "Fine-Tuning", and it allows me to train all of my abilities, even ones that ought to be static and unchanging in power. Another power that immediately stands out is "Dabbler" one of the most valuable types of powers an early jumper can attain: a passive trainer. Passive trainers are perks that allow those who possess them to train even without doing anything.
The fact that I have both an uncapper and a passive trainer is exceedingly nice. It means that I can make Dabbler stronger. Dabbler gives me five slots that I can slide perks, abilities, skills, etc, into and give them the ability to be trained every second of every day. I immediately put Dabbler itself in one of the slots, as well as Chameleon, two of my most versatile new additions to my toolkit, and save the other slots for other perks.
I shut my eyes as I walk and take stock of the litany of new abilities coursing through me. When my eyes close I begin to more clearly hear and smell things around me. My sense of smell is disturbingly strong, allowing me to do stuff like smell women even in the middle of a collection of other scents, and identify their emotions, and even whether or not they are virgins. I get that it has utility due to my new nature this jump but it still feels… weird.
Beyond what I can smell I can hear subtle, though distinctive music in the background. I tilt my head and focus on different sounds, listening to different parts of the music with a relaxed smile. I can focus on different sounds around me and pay more attention to some, which activates other sensory perks and grants me enhanced awareness of the quiet notes of each song. My companion looks at me and talks as we begin to near the exit of the housing part of the prison I'm in.
"Are you… high? Your records said you were drunk, but the way you're acting…" He says, causing me to laugh a little and open my eyes. I look at him and I can hear the song of his soul, a curious song that is low and quietly sad.
"I'm not high. I am just attuning to my surroundings." I tell him, causing him to size me up and then grunt again. He leads me out of the prison's housing area and I am escorted to a plain-looking female guard who sits behind a desk and has a number of forms in front of her.
She hands me some of the forms and a quill and tells me to fill out the papers without bothering to look up at me. I do as she says and when I hand her the paperwork back she actually does turn and looks up at me. I watch her eyes widen and as she sizes me up I can see her take a breath, which around me with these new powers is… not the smartest move.
A pleasant blush appears and slowly spreads across her face as she tries to speak. I smile and encourage her to relax which she does and now when she speaks she does so successfully.
"Lalo," She begins, before reading off a form. Her voice dissolves into static, and I recall that something similar happened when I was subjected to a rumor mill drawback on Veiled Earth. I can tell she's giving me backstory stuff, and watch as her body language shifts and she begins to lecture me.
She continues to talk, and I continue to not understand her, before she moves and reaches into what sounds like a crate out of view and retrieves some stylish though fairly generic-looking medieval fantasy clothes. She hands them to me and my mind fills with memories of myself before the jump began donning and using the clothes for weeks before last putting them on months ago. My last memory of wearing the clothes, which is also the outfit's last memory of me, must have been the day that I arrived here.
I am told to go change in a nearby bathroom. I slip into the bathroom and I strip out of the rags I was just wearing. I use "Mixer" to transform thick dark orcish hair into eyestalks that I use to telekinetically catch the nondescript, ill-fitting rags I was wearing and my normal, humanoid eyes behold my body.
My physique is, even to me, eye-catching, though I am admittedly handsome in a male gaze sort of way. I have a hunky, green build and each of my muscles is the sort of thing you'd see on an action hero or a male underwear model.
I continue to study myself and when my gaze trails down past my chest I see the part of me that is the most enhanced: a supernaturally imposing rod of orcish power, a hentai orc's pride. The long instrument is thick, powerful-looking, and I study it with unusual intensity given what I'm looking at.
My manhood is an odd thing for me to scrutinize so intensely but my current build has skyrocketed the utility of sex and lust and so I might as well memorize what my sexual characteristics look like. When I finish studying my manhood I quickly get the clothes the guard gave me and slip them on, smiling as I take in the luxury of the fine fashions now adorning my form. At the same time memories of past criminals spill into my mind as I grab the rags, my psychometry powerfully giving me knowledge of those who wore the unfashionable fit before me. A second later I exit the bathroom and look at a now less populated room.
The guard who escorted me here is not here anymore though the woman remains seated behind her desk. I hand her the clothes the prison put me in and I watch her demonstrate some impressive resolve by not putting them to her face and sniffing so she can smell more of my otherworldly orcish scent. A part of me wonders if she'll be able to maintain her composure when I exit the building. Another part of me wonders what she'd look like if she were underneath me… I easily resist the urge to do anything but I consciously note that it exists and I have a feeling it'll get stronger in time, due in no small part to a drawback I took.
As I momentarily study her a part of me wonders if I should try one of the curious gimmicks embedded within my greatest, to date, essence: the essence of the ultimate chad. One of its abilities is a twofold power; an ability that initially manifests as the power to passively seduce those of my preferred gender that functions by subtly guiding me with instinctual nudges in the right direction. The second part of this power is that if I decide to actively seduce somebody then my instincts morph into precise knowledge and I know exactly what I need to do to get into their pants. In some ways it is a cheat power, an absolute "Path to Vagina" or PTV type ability… I cringe at my own lame joke even as I decide to put off playing with the power for the moment.
I say farewell to her and thank her for holding my belongings as I head to the door allowing entry into and exit out of the prison. Sunlight streams into the room I'm in through a window next to the double doors that stand between me and freedom, and as I open the doors and exit the building I immediately take in the sight that greets me.
It is very early in the morning and the prison I have just now left is a solitary building in the middle of the woods. A dirt path leading to and from the prison juts out ahead of me. I look up at the sky and once I look up over the trees ahead of me I can see distant black plumes of smoke rising up into the sky. I study the skies and I begin to follow the path in the general direction of the smoke.
As I walk along the dirt path I retrieve my grimoire and open it to one of the sections I didn't use a whole bunch during my last jump: the part of it that functioned as a school handbook. A smile creeps across my face when I realize that the same effect that happens on the page of my grimoire that denotes my build has happened here. Beneath the information about Monster Unity University is a line that almost looks like a line someone can put in a word document and under there is a whole new mini-document that talks about this world; "Bard World". I also grow more excited as I realize that this is a real-deal isekai-type adventure, one similar to my experiences on Veiled Earth though I know far less of this world's backstory than I knew about Veiled Earth, and with more initial freedom than I had in Generic Monster School where I had to deal with the drawback that essentially forced me to stay in school for four years.
I walk far enough that trees obscure my view of the prison behind me as I arm myself with knowledge regarding the world I'm in. The information contained within my grimoire is simple but it's decently thorough and one very handy bit is a map that shows me that the world is split into two North America sized landmasses separated by an ocean a bit smaller than the Atlantic. It tells me I'm in a kingdom named Obon, and the map suggests I'm about three day's travel, by foot, from a city named Warnerburg. I do have memories of Warnerburg, including some that reveal that my chad housing item; Housing Fit For A Chad is located there.
HFFAC is a luxurious housing item that is mine that is located in a major city near my starting location and that I can move at will once a jump. My other ultimate chad item is a replenishing money item that has some fun effects if I invest the funds instead of just spending them on regular purchases. That money item is located inside of me, already tucked away in my soul and I can retrieve any amount of the monthly stipend, an amount equal to roughly 83.4 thousand American dollars but with a fantasy name; "Crowns", I possess at will.
I walk through the forest and equip my more regular items at the same time. In minutes my ring is on my finger and my orcish armor is underneath my clothes. I don't turn on my ability to feel pain as I move through the forest and instead allow myself to acclimate to being truly alive again. In fairness to myself I was so lifelike earlier in my chain that the differences are more cosmetic than anything else but it's still amusing to be well and truly living once again.
In time I reach the edge of the woods and step out past them. Ahead of me stretches vast tracts of farmland, with some farmhouses and barns visible near them, and a quaint village in the distance but not very far away. The village is a walled off place and my senses are sharp enough that I can make out guards at the gate and standing vigilantly atop a platform behind the gate but overlooking the entrance. I make my way towards it and in only minutes guards spot me and hail me. I walk over to them and they ask me for my name and my business.
"I'm Lalo and I'm a traveling cook and healer." I state to a pair of well-armed warriors. I could lie differently than this, but the truth is that there are some drawbacks that could make me actively doing bard stuff immediately a bit annoying so I'm gonna take a different route. They study me and note the clothes that I'm wearing as well as the direction I came from before responding.
"Oh? You're a 'traveler' and you came in the same direction as Lyre's Prison?" One of them asks, reasonably suspicious, and I laugh at the name of the place. Internally, of course. The prison's name is a pun, clearly, I can see the spelling in my mind's eye; "Lyre". I didn't know that was the name of the prison. I do allow my face to communicate surprise, though its all faked. Still, charisma perks win the day and I can see the men registering my feigned shock.
"What an unhappy coincidence on my part huh? I didn't know there was a prison there. I walked from Mt. Symphony, a village located at its feet." I explain, blending knowledge I attained using the information in my grimoire. Mt. Symphony is a real mountain a week's travel from here in the rough direction of the woods. The men glance at each other and then at my clothes and ask me what I want, to which I reply that I could use some food and maybe a place to do something like buy a horse and carriage. This is a bit of a lie, though more one of omission than outright deception. I COULD use a horse, if I wanted, as I do have a fun item that I would like to take advantage of soon: a "Traveling Stage". The guards consider what I've said and after a moment of silent deliberation let me in, parting a gate and opening their village to me to explore.
I pass by the guards and enter the small community. A few things stand out to me as I enter the space including a strangely large tavern relative to the size of the village with curiously elegant outdoor seating, that is, even in the early-ish morning as it's no later than 7:30, already home to some travelers. I note an abundance of women and children seated outside, scanning menus and trying to keep their children behaving. Other shops in the small village, which consists of one long street, also seem already open and travelers wander to and from them. I approach the tavern and smile inwardly as I realize that this right here is the kind of thing I dreamed about with regards to jumpchains when I was… decades younger.
I dreamed of exploring worlds, of taking on surprisingly ordinary jobs, of being a normal, honestly sometimes boring, person in extraordinary worlds. In Generic Monster School I ended up befriending a royal princess and lived a life of leadership and responsibility, and in Veiled Earth I was a wandering mage who pretty regularly stopped wandering. Right now I have the stuff needed to live a down to earth lifestyle, with the option to fallback on fiat-backed wealth which is probably the best way to do stuff.
I enter the lively tavern and listen as a distant waitress tells me to go and pick a seat. Plenty of tables are empty, though more than half of them are occupied. People eye me up and down and a few lingeringly stare at me but I reach inward and use "All Eyes On Me" to tinker with an internal dial and I use it to tamper down how noticeable I am. The perk is a potent thing that allows me to determine how much attention people pay to me, and with it I can be virtually unnoticeable or command all of the attention in the room. I head to an empty table in a corner of the room and begin to scan a menu. I am noticeable enough that people with a vested interest in spotting me can see me, like waitresses since I'm a paying customer at a restaurant, and not so noticeable that passerbys become fixated.
The menu reveals a nice array of both medieval and modern breakfast foods and I study the cheap prices. When a waitress stops by I place a simple order and she tells me it'll be right up. This marks the beginning of what proves to be an ordinary day.
After I have breakfast and I pay the tavern I go and explore the shops in the village. I immediately and correctly identify the grim gimmick behind the curious makeup of the village; the place houses some of the people who work at the prison and visitors to the village are often related to the prison in some way, be it being the family members of prisoners or those seeking employment in the place. The prison is intimately tied to the village's economic wellbeing which is unpleasant for everyone.
As I explore the shops I note the popularity of several, conversing with both shopkeepers and customers, and eventually the sun starts to dip towards the horizon. I approach the last public place I haven't investigated and I note what it is with amusement. The last location in the town I haven't entered is a small chapel tucked away on the far side of town compared to the entrance I stepped into town through. I walk towards it, a small smile on my lips as I take in the fact that I have a perk that enhances my receptiveness to gods, goddesses, and spirits, and their blessings, and this is doubly humorous since in my last jump I was quite vulnerable to holy and sacred things.
I quietly slip into the small chapel and as I step through the entrance to the chapel I feel a warm rush of quiet, gentle energy flow into me. The energy flows through me and settles in a space near my heart. I wonder about it for a moment before I hear a voice, one that belongs to a woman.
"Greetings 'Healer'. Welcome to one of my chapels, a small and simple one that reflects the attitude of the people of this community. I know you deceived the guards earlier, as this town is under my protection and as such all who enter it enter my field of view. Still I can sense the purity of your heart, and something about you…" The voice loses some of its focus after speaking. I suspect she's being affected by a combination of perks and essence effects all at once. Her voice is quite sexy, and I can hear a low, cat-like laugh when I make this observation.
It'd be easy to attribute the goddess's reaction solely to my new essences but there's also a perk that is subtly being activated in the background. "Hymns of the Ancients" is a costly and powerful perk from Generic Bard that increases my affinity with godly beings and other higher powers, and also makes me more receptive to blessings in general. More than anything else I suspect this incredibly convenient turn of events is an instance of a perk as opposed to being an instance of my essences showing off their power, though I don't doubt that my essences help.
"The honesty of your heart and your excitement to be here moves me. I have decided to reward you for visiting my chapel. This pool of energy can be used to bolster life, healing people, fixing things, curing sicknesses, and the like. But if you want more of it you must prove yourself worthy. Visit my church in the city of Orchestralville and pray to my statue there. Or obey my clergy and work for them. If you do both I may give you whole new gifts." The haughty but powerful goddess tells me. I feel her energy swirling in my chest and beginning to slowly course through me. I feel her presence depart from me, but now that I am imbued with the energy I can see a faint pink aura dyeing the chapel's nave a subtle pink hue.
The nearly empty chapel is currently occupied by a lone priestess who is kneeling in front of a statue affixed to the far end of the chapel and praying to the figure it represents. The statue is of a woman holding her hands to the sky with a hopeful but worried look on her face. I smell the air, breathing more as a result of an ancient and forgotten reflex from when I was alive before my chain began than by conscious thought, and note that the priestess is not a virgin. Good for her. Clergy people being virgins was always dumb to me, and I suppose there's a level of realism in the idea that a goddess of life and love would encourage, or at least allow, her followers to have responsible sex.
I look at the statue and recognize that it is a statue of the goddess Amara, a local goddess of life and love. I step further into the sanctuary and watch the face of the statue change ever so subtly, her more neutral look of patience and hope turning, at first, into a small smile.
As I draw closer to the statue the smile becomes more and more noticeable and somehow the statue itself seems to soften just enough for a faint blush to spread across its cheeks when I am close enough that I can reach out and touch the priestess. I can also hear the faintest though just barely audible stifled pants and they don't come from the priestess or myself. In seconds I'm close enough to the priestess that I can hear her heartbeat and after a few moments she opens her eyes and gasps.
"The statue! Is the goddess…" She mutters, revealing a soft voice and a nervous demeanor. I put a hand on her shoulder and I feel her almost leap out of her skin as she realizes she's not alone.
"Ah, a visitor! I'm sorry I didn't see you. I'm Gloria, the head priestess of this small chapel." She tells me, and I smile and nod as I help her up.
"This is Holywater Sanctuary, a chapel consecrated to Amara the Obonan goddess of life, love, and health." The priestess tells me.
"Are you familiar with the stories and legends regarding The First Mother?" The priestess asks me. I shake my head, opting to take this chance to feed some of my perks. She begins to tell me a myth regarding Amara's first creation, an angel of healing, and as she does so I feel a peculiar perk stir to life in the back of my mind.
"Story Collector" is a fun perk that rewards a specific brand of bard: the archivists and oral-historians. It allows jumpers who attain it to learn of myths and legends and draw power from them by creating a "Tale" out of every myth or legend we learn about and equip "Tales" which causes us to be able to utilize some measure of the abilities and talents that form the cores of the myths and legends they are derived from. As Gloria regales me with the story of Genesis; the angel, I feel her words water a metaphorical seed in the back of my mind. As Gloria tells me the story of Genesis I notice a subtle but beautiful blush slowly spreading across her face.
The talented storyteller gets excited as she talks about Genesis's adventures and in so doing talks more rapidly at various points in the story, which causes her to get pleasant mouthfuls of my inhibition-reducing and arousal increasing scent. Gloria is quite pretty and has a nice tan complexion with long golden-brown hair. She's dressed in yellow robes that go well with her hair and the robes are adorned with what I assume must be symbols dedicated to Amara.
When the story is finished the seed that Gloria planted inside of me has been fully watered by her wisdom and storytelling skills. I smile at Gloria, equip the "Tale" of Genesis (which improves my abilities with both creating life and also restorative healing magic broadly) and decide to see what would happen if I indulge my powerful Orc/Chad urges and seduce Gloria. The instincts that I have been following change from being base impulses that guide little things to a simple but effective strategy that reflects the fact that Gloria has been breathing in orcish pheromones for several minutes and begins with me asking her if she wants to go somewhere private.
"That was a wonderful story Gloria. I'd be thrilled to learn more if you'd teach me. Do you happen to know of a private place where we can chat about Amara? I'll help you close the chapel if you want." I ask, and I watch the blush on her face darken significantly as she excitedly nods.