Tabula Rasa: Adventures In A New World

Leanna had an absolutely terrible day at work. Like always.

Though to be honest... it wasn’t quite as bad as usual. But only because a fire somehow started in the office near the end of the day. That isn’t normally a good thing, but for someone who hates her job and just wanted to leave... Well, it really was one of the best things that could have possibility happened. Especially since the whole building is now shut down while they try to figure out what exactly caused the fire.

Which means that Leanna doesn’t have to go to work tomorrow!

It is in times like these that she is thankful for how paranoid her boss is, as he doesn’t let any of them work from home. She will have way more to do when the office is open again, but that is a problem for later.

Right now, she is just happy to have some time off.

And she is even more thankful for having the foresight to prepare dinner the night before. Not having to waste her time with that means she should be able to play through four or five days before she’ll need to exit back out to sleep. Maybe even six... She doesn’t have to wake up early in the morning, after all.

She might even sleep in a bit tomorrow! Or maybe not. That would cut into her gaming time. Though maybe not by that much...? An extra hour or two shouldn’t hurt... She’ll still have enough time for a few in-game weeks at least.

After eating her reheated dinner, Leanna eagerly gets into her IVR device. She really has to thank whatever, or whoever, caused that fire for giving her what is essentially a vacation from work.

Krvavy is still in awe with how this body doesn’t feel even slightly sore despite sleeping atop some very sparse bedding on a cold stone floor.

But it does feel pretty nice, so she can’t complain. Even if she is a bit jealous that she can’t feel this way every time she wakes up in real life... The uncomfortable stiffness of her morning wood does take away some of that nice feeling, but it isn’t too hard to deal with, especially now that she has two girls to use.

And using her girls is exactly what she did this morning. Or, more accurately, she used her Orc. Thea was still asleep at the time, and Krvavy didn’t feel like waking the girl for an amateur blowjob or an inexperienced handy. Even if that brat could really use the practice.

Plus, she can’t deny that it was kind of fun to wake the bratty noble up just by loudly fucking another girl right beside her. Thea was so adorably upset~. These NPCs are really what is making this game worth playing.

“Ugh...!” The rather cross brat loudly and obviously groans in annoyance. “Are you going to leave or what?!”

Krvavy doesn’t pay much attention to the near-naked girl – only Thea’s underwear survived their encounter last night, which is something that brat is extremely pissed about – and instead focuses on the rock in front of her. Krvavy does want to head out on a hike, or a hunt if she is lucky, but she has a full bar of mana right now, so... Might as well test out her new spell first.

Her fingertips tingle as Sculpt Stone does as its name suggests.

Kind of.

That spell doesn’t exactly sculpt the stone so much as... reshape it. The mass of the original rock doesn’t seem to matter at all, getting deleted as she shrinks or carves parts of it away and appearing from nothing as she grows or adds new parts onto it.

A bit weird but she isn’t going to complain. Being able to grow a small pebble into whatever shape that she wants is really quite interesting, to put it lightly. If a bit mana intensive. Maybe she could try making some jugs and cups? It’d be nice not having to drink from those leathery tasting waterskins while at home...

“Hmph...! Damned... beast bitch... cur...” Quiet grumbling echoes through the air as nothing more than easily ignored background noise.

“Hahh...” Krvavy slowly exhales as she steps back into the crude part of the cave that she calls home.

Thmp.

She drops a rather large pheasant, already drained of blood thanks to Transmute Blood, down near the campfire. This is the only thing she caught all day. And she isn’t even bothered by that. Not only is it a big bird, but she also had a pretty relaxing time just being out there in the wilderness.

All in all, it has been a pretty good day.

Krvavy’s loincloth is carelessly tossed aside, landing in the middle of the cold cave floor. Her skin glistens slightly, a little damp from the quick rinse she gave herself just a minute ago. She takes a moment to roll her shoulders and stretch before heading over to the very edge of the platform.

She still has quite a bit of mana, and spending it on putting a railing up over here just seems like a good idea. It is a pretty long drop down into the grotto below, after all. And though the bedding isn’t all that close to the edge, she still can’t help but worry about rolling over while sleeping and falling to her death. Not that she really can roll over all that easily with her thick and meaty tail in the way...

But this isn’t a job that can be done in a single day. Not even if she is sparse with the railing, doing her best to get the most out the 100 Mana per m³ cost of Sculpt Stone. There is just a lot of space that she has to cover up. So... maybe this will take a week or so? Hard to say right now. But probably. Especially since she already wants to thicken these spindly little railings up a little...

Man... Sculpt Stone really is a great spell. If an expensive one. It kind of makes Krvavy want to focus on her mental attributes just so that she can actually afford to use it more. The spell really scratches that creative itch that she has been missing in this game. She can just imagine the grand architecture that she can build into this cave of hers...

“What are you?” Thea’s voice calls out, snapping Krvavy from her thoughts.

“Hmm?” The barbarian turns to her bratty noble.

“I said... What are you?” The girl repeats herself, sounding uncharacteristically neutral and not even slightly confrontational. She shifts slightly in place, looking a bit self conscious as she adjusts the blanket that she is bundled up in, keeping herself completely covered from the chin down. Her soft-blue eyes stare down at the bare stone floor.

“I’m a Drakling...?” Krvavy replies with some confusion. “Why are you asking?”

“I do not understand you.” Thea honestly responds, her voice tired and weary. “You are a savage beast. But you are not an idiot, you seem... well-read, and are capable of magic. You are careless and act like nothing is serious. But you are clearly planning and looking towards the future. You threaten me with horrible things. But you do not seem to want to do those horrible things and most of your threats are not acted on. So what are you?”

Krvavy raises an eyebrow at that. “I am a person. People are contradictory.”

“Do not dodge the question, beast!” The noble girl accuses, visibly bristling as her narrowed eyes snap back up to the barbarian. An undeniably bratty tone fills her voice, leaving her sounding much more like she normally does. “You are hiding something! You stated a desire for my necklace, yet here I am wearing it as you have made no effort to take it!” She roughly pulls at the blankets wrapped around her, dropping them down just past her shoulders.

That motion draws the Drakling’s gaze. The noble girl is indeed wearing that piece of jewellery. The blocky chains and chunks of gold embedded with gems looks rather odd against her soft skin... So smooth and unblemished...

“You...!” Thea’s cheeks burn bright as she quickly covers herself back up. “You violate me, time and time again! Yet...! Yet you often seem as unwilling as I! And you have, on multiple occasions, apologized for doing those horrid things to me! In the middle of the act! So what... what are you?!”

Krvavy softly chews on the inside of her cheek. Her throat feels a little dry, and... “I said that everything that enters my cave would be mine, which included you. I only mentioned the necklace as a bit of misdirection, to see if you would notice that you were the prize. You did not.” She avoids answering the question.

Thea narrows her eyes at that. “See? That is what I am talking about! You are conniving! You occasionally talk like a student of law, going into specifics and technicalities! You are possessive to some degree, yet are fine with me wearing my necklace even after you claimed it! Even if you only did so to deceive me!”

“My necklace.” Krvavy calmly and casually corrects. “It is mine. Just like you are. But it isn’t my style, so... I don’t mind you wearing it. Besides, it helps to emphasize your beauty, making you seem more valuable.” Kind of. That thing is a bit gaudy...

“You just further prove my point! You are not normal! Not natural!” Thea exasperatedly huffs out, growing increasingly annoyed with the deflecting Drakling. “What even am I to you?! Just loot?! A trophy?! But then why give me those three horrible choices for how you will treat me?! Am I something more to you?!”

Try as she might, Krvavy simply can’t help but tease this irritated NPC. “You are my precious little bratty noble girl~!” Her hands playfully squish Thea’s cheeks, having approach the girl to do just that.

“Hmmghh!” An incredibly angry noise accompanies Thea’s sudden jerking movement as she pulls her head back out of the barbarian’s hands, glaring furiously at Krvavy. “You never take me seriously!” She furiously shouts, voice trembling. “J-just like everyone else!”

Wrapping her arm and tail around the upset girl, Krvavy gives her a reassuring hug. Though Thea isn’t particularly happy about that. “Sorry, it’s just so hard to take you seriously. You are just too cute! And weak,” she offhandedly adds, “which doesn’t help.” And she is just an NPC. But no point in bringing that up. Depending on how good her programming is, that would either get ignored or just be confusing.

Thea struggles a bit but fails to break free from the hug. “Just... just what am I to you...?” She softly sighs out, sounding so thoroughly defeated.

“I told you already. There really isn’t anything deeper to it. You are mine.” The barbarian honestly answers.

That just gets an angry glare from Thea. “Do you even see me as a noble?! Does that mean nothing to you?!”

“Yes and yes.” Krvavy nonchalantly replies. “I do think of you as a noble. All the time. Even though you don’t act like one in the slightest. There is nothing ‘noble’ about you. At least not in a good way. But that doesn’t mean anything. You being born into wealth and power doesn’t matter at all. Yeah, you are entitled and arrogant, but I have met people born with nothing who are just as terrible as you are.”

“If you hate me so much, why are you being nice to me right now?!” The bratty noble demands to know. “Is this just another trick?!”

Krvavy carefully leans in and rubs her forehead against Thea’s own, annoying the noble girl even more. “I don’t hate you. I don’t even hate what you are. I don’t like how you act, obviously. But I don’t hate you for it. I just find you very fun to tease and bully.”

“You are testing me, are you not?!” Thea accuses, her face flushed red. “You are showing me what it will be like if I chose to be your loveslave! That is all this is! Get off me, fiend! I will never fall for your tricks!”

Sighing out, Krvavy releases the bratty noble from her grip, giving Thea the chance to scramble back as far as the bedding allows. “I’m not tricking you or testing you or anything. I already own you, so I don’t need to do that.”

“Then why let me chose how you will treat me?!”

“Eh, why not?” The barbarian shrugs out, causing Thea’s eye to twitch furiously. “I don’t really care which one you choose. They all give their own little flavour to owning you.”

Thea just glares at Krvavy in silence, but after a few moments she opens her mouth. “Are you a Godless beast? Is there not some being you worship that is disappointed in how you act? In how you treat me?!”

That is actually a good question, and it makes Krvavy think. The whole premise of this game is being the champion of a God, yet she doesn’t really know anything about that. She hasn’t received any sort of communication or direction. No quests, no things she should and shouldn’t do. Nothing. Why?

The only thing that comes to mind is the fact that the game is in beta. The developers must not have finished whatever story they have for her God. If they even started it. The fact that she is playing a pretty niche race probably doesn’t help...

But, thinking about it, Krvavy doesn’t really mind that. She is enjoying the sandbox that she found herself in. No need to complicate that with a story that she might not even like. The devs could be terrible writers, for all she knows. So she doesn’t mind letting the NPC AI’s give her some entertainment instead.

“What, is that really something that you have to think so hard about?!” Thea indignantly calls out, obviously not liking that Krvavy was ignoring her a bit there.

“Kind of, yeah.” Krvavy answers honestly. What God is she supposed to be the champion of again?

Vel’ka Dravost, the World Dragon, is the Drakling God of the World, the Natural Order, and Storms. Vel’ka Dravost favours those who take what they desire and who show great strength of body and character.

That isn’t particularly helpful, but it is enough to answer the annoyed noble brats question. “I’m pretty sure that my God doesn’t care about how I am treating you.”

“Do not lie to me! Who do you worship, beast?!” Thea demands. “They surely must be displeased with you!”

“Vel’ka Dravost, the World Dragon. God of my people, God of the World, the Natural Order, Storms, et cetera.” Krvavy idly lists off. “A God that likes it when people take what they want and are strong.”

“You are just making that up!” Thea confidently declares.

“Oh, are you an expert on foreign Gods then?” Krvavy mockingly questions.

“Y-you bitch! Stop mocking me!” The noble brat sputters in rage. “You savages with your savage Gods! AHHHG!”

“You okay there?” Krvavy asks with concern as Thea suddenly screams in frustration.

“NO! I AM THE SLAVE OF SOME SAVAGE RAPIST! YOU ARE RUINING MY LIFE!” Thea shrieks and wails as she throws her head down into her hands. “I AM WORTHLESS! I CANNOT DO ANYTHING RIGHT!”

Krvavy just looks on as her bratty noble breaks down into tears, screaming out between sobs. This... seems rather real. It doesn’t feel like Thea is putting on an act this time, as she isn’t swearing at Krvavy, hurling slurs, or otherwise cursing her. No, the girl is just... degrading herself.

“USELESS! LITTLE GIRL! WASTE OF EFFORT! THEY WERE ALL RIGHT!”

Moving forwards, Krvavy awkwardly wraps her arms around Thea and brings the girl into another hug. One far tighter than the last. “Shh... There there...”

That hug doesn’t really help, but it doesn’t seem to make things any worse either. All it does is change the target of Thea’s screaming sobs towards Krvavy instead of herself. Which is, in a way, an improvement. One that the barbarian will happily take.

“YOU! IT IS ALL YOUR FAULT! FILTHBORNE BEAST! VILE CUR! DEGENERATE! GO DIE! RAPIST! WANTON HARLOT!” Thea screams and screams and screams, her voice quickly starting to sound hoarse. “GET OFF! ANIMAL! SAVAGE! BEAST! LEAVE ME!”

Krvavy just ignores all of that as she continues to hold the shaking girl tightly. Thea isn’t struggling against her, she isn’t trying to get out of Krvavy’s grip, so Krvavy won’t let go.

Did she push Thea too much? Has she been too mean? She doesn’t want the girl to break like her Orc. She is a brat, yes. Clearly racist. Clearly looks down on those less fortunate than her. But she is also hurt. The only purpose she seems to have ever had was in being married off to someone she doesn’t like. And Krvavy took that from her.

This girl...

Hugging her until she calms down is the least Krvavy can do, even though it isn’t much.