For the first time in a while, John Newman couldn’t sleep. After the information that the Hidden Tradition would defend Fusion had reached the Lake Alliance, they had promptly withdrawn their ultimatum. Hadn’t taken long after that for the hostile guild to present a new demand. This time, it was only for a talk. John was already making security plans regarding that meeting. Blindly trusting people that had publicly called for his execution would have been pretty stupid.

That was only one of the many reasons why he couldn’t sleep right now.

He was feeling tired, yet his eyes were open. All he sensed with them was the fluid covering them slowly vaporizing into the air. He blinked. His actual sight was located on a nightstand relatively far away, at the foot of the bed. He had slept while having Possession active before, most nights as a matter of fact, back when he was still levelling it. That the glasses were still providing him with images, relatively easily ignored, shouldn’t have hindered him.

His position was anything but uncomfortable. The enormous bed that stretched from wall to wall and covered more than half of his new bedroom was filled with pillows and the naked bodies of his harem. His head was resting on the soft and firm gelatinous material of Undine’s body. Rave was sprawled out over him, her legs wrapped around his in a way that made it impossible to move, her chest on his, her lips close to his neck. Under his left arm, snuggled tightly against him, lay Aclysia, letting out controlled breaths. Although the Artificial Spirit didn’t sleep, just lying next to her master and doing nothing was a rejuvenating experience.

John knew that she was aware of his current sleeping problem, but so far, she had said nothing. Either she wasn’t sure what to say or she wanted to give him the space to solve it himself. ‘I am just happy you are here,’ the Gamer thought, his thumb gently brushing over the bit of her lower back where his hand was resting.

Of course, he knew his way around their bodies even when he couldn’t see them, but he still didn’t dare move too much, in fear of hitting someone else lying around closely. The room was warm enough that nobody needed a blanket. The crumbled together cloth only added to the chaos John could see from the vantage point of his glasses. It was an all around nice picture.

John knew that he was still blessed. He was rich. He was surrounded by people he loved and that loved him back. They were all sexy as damn hell. Given time, he would probably even reach a state where his new blindness wasn’t a worrying factor. He knew all of that.

His mind was circling around ravaging cruelties he wished to inflict on a number of people. Sigmund most of all, the reasons for which were beyond obvious. That Apothecary that hadn’t been able to help him and been a useless analyser about it. Abraham for kicking this entire catastrophe off with his hasty decision. Even Terkal for dying in such a useless manner.

Emotion driven wishes that he kept pushing down only for another one to rise to the surface. Sigmund aside, those thoughts were just spur of the moment annoyances. Births of a resentful mind that had no useful or even real reason to exist. It was all too fresh for his logical thoughts to banish these aggressive wishes. They didn’t take control of him, they were under control, but they kept appearing and his mind from getting the rest he needed.

“Master…” a whisper reached his ear, Aclysia speaking very quietly, as to not disturb anyone else. Her words were both in his ear and his mind. “Listen to my voice and relax. Concentrate only on me.” John knew what she was trying to do and attempted to obey. “Close your eyes.” He did as he was told. “Take a deep breath in…” Lungs filled with air. “…hold it…” His expanded chest drummed with an agitated heartbeat slowing steadily. “…hold it…” His lungs began to revolt, wanting to relieve the pressure. “Release.”

Long and audibly, he let his body empty all air from its lungs. “Good,” Aclysia continued, “Wait… just lie still… do not breathe… empty your mind… only hear my voice…” For a few moments, his body was fine, then an uncomfortable tug started spreading. Before it escalated to any point, the weaponized maid allowed him to inhale. “Take a deep breath in… deeper… deeper… hold it…”

Although John couldn’t keep his mind from churning out more subconsciously fuelled thoughts, they dissipated like small clouds, growing quieter and less frequent with each repetition of Aclysia’s hypnotizing instructions.

“I love you, John,” the weaponized maid whispered. “Let that be the most important thought in your mind.” She placed a kiss on his forehead before continuing. “You are safe here, surrounded by the people you love.” As if to underline that, his sleeping girlfriend tightened her embrace. “Relax… let the muscles of your arms… of your feet… of your chest… let them all relax…” He hadn’t even noticed that they were the slightest bit tense. A yawn escaped his mouth when he had done as he was told. “I will count down from five now… when I reach zero, you will become even more relaxed… even more tired…”

With each number, his body felt heavier, and when the countdown ended, he felt like he was gently sinking through the mattress and finally into the deep embrace of thoughtless, quiet sleep.

“Good night, my John,” were the last words he heard before being completely lost to unconsciousness.

____________________________________________________________________

For the first time, John was the last person to wake up. That wasn’t to say the bed was empty outside of himself, Undine was still serving as his pillow and Sylph was giggling as she snuggled up to him. John blinked a few times before he remembered that no amount of blinking would get his eyes adjusted. Carefully, he sat up and crawled towards the nightstand, looking at himself. His own nude body was not the most pleasing sight first thing in the morning, but he had to get used to it.

The second the glasses were on his nose, he took a look around his bedroom. The white painted walls were set in twilight, except for the bright lines around the closed blinds to John’s left, where some sunlight still broke through. He opened his inventory to put on his clothes, only to realize he had left none of them in there. Not that it mattered, he could just go to that massive closet they had, spanning the entire wall opposite of his bed, and pick something to wear. It held the clothes of every single member of his harem that wore clothes and then some more.

‘Well, I could do that… or…’ John thought and with a smile stepped out of the bedroom. There was only a straight walkway between the closet and the bed, leading to the door on the right hand side. Stark naked, he stepped into the living room, where his girls were scattered about and looked over to him with smiles and giggles.

The spacious living room was defined mostly by two corners. One was held by the large table meant for eating, itself close to the open kitchen where Aclysia and Beatrice were preparing breakfast. The other corner was held by a giant couch that, in its U-shaped might, made it impossible to even enter that corner except by jumping over it or stepping through one of the few gaps between its segments. There was a low, long table that stretched towards a system of shelves that centred around a 60 inch flat screen television that was mounted to the wall.

“What? Never seen a nude guy wearing sunglasses?” John joked, stepping into the room.

“Not one I immediately wanted to bone,” Rave returned in kind, with a warm smile on her face. “Hope ya don’t mind we didn’t wake ya up or anything. Thought you could need the extra rest.”

“Yeah… I did need that,” John agreed, glancing at the clock. It was almost eight. He normally woke up around six. “Aclysia?”

“Yes, Master?” the weaponized maid turned away from her current work to look at him. She looked as beautiful as always and her green eyes looked at him with the ever-present devotion she had for him. For what she had done last night, for her support in general, she was overdue for a reward.

“I’ll need some help in the shower, care to come with me?” he asked, and she gave him a diligent smile and a cute little bow.

“I will be right behind you, Master,” she promised, only stopping quickly to give Beatrice some more instructions about what she was allowed to prepare, not cook herself, and washing her hands.

Without the need to announce it, Rave was right with them as they walked into the shower room. Yes, an entire shower room, separated from where people had to take care of their bio-waste business and large enough to allow the entire harem to get in. Aside from the massive shower area, equipped with several heads and a system where the entire ceiling could be turned into the source of running water, there was also a massive bathtub.

John went blind the second he stepped out of the changing area, separated by a glass wall. Since he didn’t have to be worried about his carbon footprint, as this was all inside a barrier and fuelled by mana, the Gamer had no qualms about this room being heated twenty-four hours, seven days a week, with hot water running constantly through the bathtub. The side effect was that the roman style room, beige tiles decorating everything, was always filled with steam. Steam that settled on the glasses immediately.

‘Okay, so I can’t see with these if they get covered by something,’ John thought as he grabbed the sunglasses and stored them in his inventory. He hadn’t planned to take a shower with those on anyway. The moment they vanished past the window, the Possession ceased. John wasn’t sure why he couldn’t store possessed items in his inventory, aside from the current Extension. It made some sense; he couldn’t communicate with Aclysia or anyone else while they were inside there. He also couldn’t feel the Mandala Sphere, it just automatically reconnected the moment he pulled it out again. Normal Possessions weren’t afforded that same convenience, it seemed.

Cleaning himself was one of the areas where John had no idea how to do it by himself in the future. Best idea he had was to use Possession on the shower head. However, the arrangement of always having at least one of his girls accompany him inside was anything but unsatisfactory. Yesterday’s immense need to learn to do anything himself had considerably lessened. Some things he would have to share the burden of his condition on, at the very least until he learned how to handle the contact lenses.

All three of them together went through a very cleansing experience. First, under the shower, where John was the recipient of a wonderful double blowjob. Then, into the bathtub, where each one of the girls rode him once. Then, just to rinse off, back into the shower, where he got yet another blowjob. Throughout the entire thing, John had to be either guided, seated, or hold onto something. He didn’t look through Aclysia’s eyes. Even getting used to the complete darkness was important.

That aside, the sensitivity boost that he got from being unable to see at all made it all pretty intense, despite the routine such sex had become. Once they headed out again, Aclysia and Rave technically dirtier than before with the giant loads he had pumped into them, John went into the bathroom proper, put in the contact lenses, and brushed his teeth with one eye closed.

“Alright,” John, still naked, headed back out into the living room, Aclysia quickly getting back to the kitchen with her maid outfit forming out from her skin, Rave joining John on the table, wearing only sexy, comfortable lingerie. It was eight thirty now, time for him to make the plans for his day. “I need to buy a new suit… if only a stand-in for one,” he told everyone. “So that’ll get done after breakfast. Then we have that meeting with the Lake Alliance, then I need to look after Chemilia and Ted,” he had given them an update on the situation with the ultimatum, but they had to do more beyond that, “and that will dictate the rest of today. Anyone have anything to add?”

“Fuck me up the ass!” Eliza demanded. “Put that shit somewhere in your plans, because I seriously need to be distracted from my seething fucking rage!”

John looked over to her and noticed that her hair was now down to her kneecaps. Although no further dots had transformed, Thana must have come to the surface sometime while John had been asleep. Since all of the furniture was still intact, it couldn’t have been too bad. “…I think you need a meeting with a pair of scissors as well,” he carefully suggested. “I know Lydia did your hair the last few times… you wouldn’t accept going to a barber, would you?”

“Is the barber our anal queen?” Eliza asked, “No? Then fuck no, I am not letting some random ass ass fucker touch me with anything sharp!”

Interrupting the little happy tune she was humming, a satisfied Aclysia intervened, “Basic shortening, I can easily take care off as well.”

“You are the best,” John stated and the blood mage also nodded.

The second day of John’s blindness did, all things considered, start like most others.