The rest of their Friday was spent in tranquillity. John felt like he had done an adequate amount of stuff, and Magoi answered positively to a text request for getting into a barrier with him the next day. As such, John took a little nap to be rested at midnight, when he would go to the I.D. Gate. To get the full ten days out of that single day, he’d best do it like that.

Not that Magoi was so stingy that they couldn’t just start at six in the morning and stop twenty-four hours later. It was just that the Gamer wanted to have a complete Sunday to get used to reality again before packing his things and leaving for Washington, D.C.

‘I gotta visit Lincoln memorial when I am there,’ John drowsily thought while brushing his teeth following that nap. His body had that unpleasant, slightly sore feeling of a nap that could have lasted a couple more minutes, but it was already shortly before midnight. The taste of peppermint from the toothpaste washed out the cardboard like feeling in his mouth as he turned around. ‘Maybe I should drink a glass of water between cumming an absurd amount of times,’ that was his definition of tranquillity after all, ‘and taking a nap.’

He spat out and then rinsed the remaining suds out of his mouth. He took a couple of gulps right out of the running water before straightening his back and sealing the stream with a simple push of the handle. Mindlessly, he extended his hand afterwards and felt something soft getting pushed into it. Bringing the small towel back up to his face, he cleaned himself off and then handed it back to Aclysia, who threw it into her inventory. Then he put on his suit and was on his way.

“Your hat is off by a bit,” Beatrice commented, the two maids following their master’s every movement with diligent attendance. “I would fix it. Would, but can’t.”

“Right,” John yawned. Untouchable, his fedora had an attribute that made it impossible to move it while it rested on his head after all. The thing was quite stylish, made from black wool and with a white strip of silk wrapped around the base. Only the golden feather that was decorating the right side John found a bit overkill. Didn’t help that it was constantly glinting with magical lustre, making it impossible to wear it in the normal world. He had a second hat he wore when interacting with the mundane; the lack of headwear felt weird otherwise. Going outside without a hat felt like going to school without a bag.

He adjusted it a little bit until Beatrice was appeased, and they made their way out of the yacht. To John’s surprise, he found his entire harem, save two members, gathered in front of the I.D. Gate, along with Magoi and his wife. “You don’t all need to send me off, I will be back tomorrow,” John told them and was immediately knocked on the forehead by Rave.

“Ya dunce, we are coming with,” she told him with a giggle, “why wouldn’t we?”

John actually had to think about that for a second. Yeah, why wouldn’t they? None of them had any job to do right now, except for Scarlett who was missing and Metra, who was something like a special police operative. That had been on the berserker babe’s own wishes as she said that she needed some sort of job that involved punching people regularly or she would be bored brainless.

“This is an excellent use of my vacation period,” Lydia nodded to herself.

“Not that I am not happy with all of you coming along, but you may have too much free time,” John realized.

“The fuck do you want me to do, work at a grocery store?” Eliza spouted out while jumping at him. Weaving out of the way with great reflexes, Rave watched the blood mage land on her boyfriend’s shoulders. Not about to complain, John felt the nicely squishy thighs of the sickly skinned bundle of insanity on either side of his face. With the excuse of keeping their balance, he put his hands on them.

“Maybe some contact with people that aren’t us would be good for you,” John told her, looking up. Eliza bent down towards him and grinned madly.

“Fuck – That!” she declared, then contently sat there, periodically giggling like a happy psychopath about to nuke a city.

“I was thinking about doing some vigilante stuff while you were off,” Rave told John. “Hunt some baddies, punch some slave traders, maybe try find a natural barrier and make a quick buck, ya know, what I usually do when you aren’t around.” That last thing he was pretty sure she basically never did, but there was an item on that list that was missing. “But I want to train some more, so I might as well come with, right? Gotta get more value out of the time dilation.”

“You know you will eventually become the First Lady, right?” John poked fun at her. “Maybe you should pick up a book on diplomacy to get into the role.”

“Or I’ll go kick ass and be eye candy at the side,” his girlfriend stuck out her tongue. “Ya can do all the boring paperwork and in return I get to do all the awesome stuff, that’s the deal!”

“I seem to be getting the short-end of the stick there,” poutingly the Gamer retorted.

“It’s early adopter privileges, ‘cause I sucked your stick when it was still short,” Rave winked.

“EHEM!” a very disruptive clearing of her throat echoed out from Mabirl. “I would much prefer no longer listening to this discussion, so I will put an end to it by saying,” she pointed at Rave, “one day partying it up will be very boring, so you should think about picking up something of worth, young lady!”

“Urgh, ya sound like my mother,” the pink-haired girl groaned.

“She must be a smart woman,” Mabirl stemmed her hands into her hips.

“That’s one good thing you could say about her,” Rave mumbled and rolled her eyes. “Any-noodle, not like I don’t know... I am figuring it out… I think.”

The matriarch of the Magus household seemed ready to scold the youngling some more, but her husband stepped in between with persuading gestures. “Alright, alright, let’s not get heated over nothing,” he said, mostly to his wife who had kicked this thing off. “I am sure they all have their plans for the future.”

“I want to own a bigger petting zoo,” Nia agreed, standing right in front of the I.D. Gate and opening the door. “Stronger John, more pets, bigger building,” she listed in her unpassionate voice, then stepped aside and extended her arm straight towards the dark space that lay behind, the other hand held a card that said ‘Invitingly’.

They all stepped in, and without much announcement, Magoi birthed a simple grass plain out of the dark. John looked around for a pair of houses or the doors made from light that he was to use for his intermediary purposes.

“Alright,” Magoi rubbed his hands as if to warm up, his walking stick standing on its own as if held by an invisible hand. “Let’s see if I can do this…” he clapped once and a crooked image of the tower that was his current house appeared. It looked like somebody had snapped a photo and then distorted the image in photoshop. “New things are not that easy…” Magoi mumbled in a slightly ashamed tone.

John was in awe of the man’s skill. With the amount of levels the Gamer had in the Fateweaver class, he had some abilities to free form Instant Dungeon terrain and details. Only in the monsterless variety, however, and only upon creation. His personal record was making his room from back in Springfield, without most of the furniture.

Now having experienced the sheer amount of concentration materialization of that little scale took, the Gamer could properly appreciate the skill it must have required to do such things in an existing barrier.

“Second attempt,” Magoi said, the crooked tower disappearing into nothing and then being replaced by an almost perfect recreation. “I am really getting old,” he clicked his tongue, finally nailing it on his third attempt. “Is your old house satisfactory to you, John?”

“Absolutely,” he agreed, and his old home appeared without a hitch right next to the tower. The white plaster façade of the two-story house had something nostalgic. Somewhat awkwardly, John cleared his throat, “Could you maybe place it a few dozen metres away? I don’t want to be the cause for noise complaints.”

“Ah, yes, that would be wise,” Magoi agreed and, not unlike John creating or moving a building in the Guild Hall, the two constructs simply drifted apart from each other. “Well, if you want to come over for dinner at some point, give us a call,” the High Fateweaver informed his employer before beginning his walk towards his tower, stick and the hand of his wife in his hands.

“If Mabirl isn’t going to get on my case again,” Rave mumbled, crossing her arms.

“I find it really interesting that you just can’t seem to be able to get along with older women,” John pointed out.

“I get along with Mat!” Rave defended herself quite passionately.

“Well, I guess that counts,” he backed off, surprised at the volatile nature of her tone. It seemed a nerve had been struck quite strongly. It therefore seemed best not to poke the already awakened bear and point out that Metra was rarely if ever acting her age.

“They are just all so stuck-up about it,” the techno lover grumbled as she trotted along with the rest of them. “I know I can’t be partying it up forever and all that yank, no reason to keep reminding me to worry about my future. I got some of it figured out already.”

“Do you?” Nia asked, tilting her head. Thankfully, people knew the blank well enough to not mistake her toneless question as sarcasm. The ‘Intrigued’ card certainly helped though. Without a doubt, the deck of cards, the metal case around them and the white bag Nia carried them in around her waist where the best gifts John could have given her. “Can you tell?”

“I am gonna marry this guy,” Rave pointed at John, who smiled at being the foundation of her future. After all, that feeling was mutual. If it were just him, he was sure he wouldn’t find the motivation to build a nation. He would be grinding away just for himself, a pretty sorry state. “That’s step 1. After that I…” she sighed, “yeah, that’s the hard part. I don’t want to sit around in a bureau, I want to have adventures and do silly stuff.”

“So, what you are already doing, but with a ring?” Lydia asked. “You may want to look into an army career, at least give your adventures some guidance. At your strength level you can certainly fix some issues John himself can’t be around for.”

“Guess so?” Rave shrugged with helplessness. “That could certainly be something I could do, just doesn’t feel like my long term engagement. Neither does being a trophy wife; I don’t like sitting around all day. Maybe I’ll just muddle through and juggle all different kinds of stuff.”

“Usually works for us,” John agreed.

“Your spontaneity is a double-edged sword,” the queen stated, playing with the end of her braid while they walked. “It appears to me, though, that that is part of your charm. Although the solitary unit you two have formed is still unpleasantly tightly knit.”

“Yarpartofdatfabric,” Rave slurred and then laughed when Lydia nodded because she understood it. “Get into the harem-mind, ya adorable little German you.”

John pushed down the handle of the front door with a smile. Sure, Rave’s plan sucked, but who cared? He certainly didn’t; they had all the time in the world to figure the answers out, young as they were. Not to mention that they had the power and the money to do basically whatever if they so desired. ‘BAD!’ a singular word was barked into his brain, along with a sudden shifting movement in the breast pocket of his vest.

John looked down to find Stirwin. Looking upwards scoldingly, the infinity elemental looked at him with a slightly agape mouth, revealing the silver teeth that rested inside like tiny needles. “I am looking out for my ego, don’t you worry, Chompy,” the Gamer gently tickled the crocodile hatchling’s snout. He was his warning to not be lost in pride, one he needed quite regularly.

He should really try to help his girls find something of more value than hanging around him down the line. Maybe Rave could take up some army position, like Lydia had lightly indicated? Whatever ideas he had, it wasn’t on him to decide what they were going to do with their lives outside of him. He just wanted them to have one, if they desired. Despite his sexual fetish to the opposite, he didn’t want them to feel like their whole lives had to circle around him. Except for Eliza and his familiars, it seemed like they shared that conviction.

“Maybe I’ll learn something about properly teaching and open a dojo or stuff,” Rave mumbled, clearly still bothered by the question of her future. Now he really had no need to worry; as long as she was thinking about it, there was something that would come up by the end of it. She looked around to distract herself. “Man, haven’t been here in an eternity, even if it’s just a copy.”

“Yeah,” John agreed, directly walking towards the kitchen. His hand wandered over the recreation of a simple wooden table. A completely smooth surface, missing all the details, little dents and cuts from years of usage, the original had, but it was still close enough. “Although we are closer to getting back there than ever before.” Opening the refrigerator, he began shovelling food out of his inventory and into there. Aclysia put canned food elsewhere, they had stocked up. ‘With more people we will need to buy some stuff to stock up sooner rather than later,’ John made a mental note.

‘I will place the order now,’ Beatrice chimed into his thoughts. Good thinking as well, if they ordered food only when they needed it, it would take 10 times as long as the actual order description said. Not a good situation to be in.

“Yeah, but not that close yet,” Rave rolled her neck and shoulders to try and get them to relax. She was quickly getting out of her winter clothes, simply throwing them on the grey, cloth-covered couches in the living room. Then she stripped down to nothing, her naked body distracting just about every pervert in the room. She winked at them, perfectly aware that her athletic body was a spectacular show, before grabbing her neon pink sneakers. To the sadness of everyone, they liquified into her bodysuit, soon hiding all of her skin but none of her curves under a flexible layer. “Eliza, ya wanna join me? Gonna do the usual and try to nail some more techniques.”

“Fuck it, not like I have anything better to do,” the blood mage answered, finally climbing off John’s shoulders.