Chapter 1375 (Patreon)

“What are your plans for the future?” I asked, sitting down across from my three test subjects, Lisa, Alice and Xander. I was curious how Alice and Xander would respond, as I was fairly confident that Lisa’s response would be entirely submissive and self-serving. Something along the lines of ‘only wanting to serve me’ or ‘whatever it is that you desire’. It would push the question back to me, forcing me to decide for her and shifting all the responsibility to me. Sure, I could just drop Lisa off somewhere in the wilderness and have her sink or swim, maybe even literally if I tossed her into the ocean, but I doubted she considered that possibility. No, in her mind, serving me meant shelter, food and safety, all for the low, low price of complete and utter submission. Given that I had noticed she was incredibly submissive anyway, submitting to me wasn’t really a sacrifice to her. 

Moments later, my expectation was proven correct when Lisa announced that she only planned to serve me in whatever capacity I wanted her to, the reply almost making me sigh, especially when she dramatically dropped to her knees before me. A part of me wanted to push her, to test how far her submission went, but the only tests I could spontaneously come up with that wouldn’t leave her crippled were immediately rejected by my mind. Or maybe my desire for Sigmir rejected those ideas, as nobody but my beloved would ever touch me in an intimate manner. 

Alice and Xander, on the other hand, only shared a hesitant, obviously uncertain look. It didn’t take a tremendously observant and socially intelligent person to see that they had no idea how to respond. Not that I was either, so it was entirely possible that I had missed something, and I wouldn’t know unless I decided to snoop through their thoughts. But that wasn’t what I had in mind right now. If I wanted them to decide in a certain way, I would already have pushed their minds in that direction. Right now, I just wanted to know what they had in mind for their future, if they had even thought that far ahead. 

“We don’t know,” Alice admitted after both she and Xander were stuck considering for a few seconds. “We lack the knowledge to make an informed decision. We barely have an idea about the length of time we spent down here, around two months unless we are completely mistaken, nor do we really know where ‘here’ really is. Or where you’d us off, we simply don’t have the information to plan ahead.” 

Her explanation made me nod in understanding, as I could easily see the issue now that she had reminded me. It also drove home that these three didn’t have what I considered the bare minimum of skills to survive. For them, getting dropped off somewhere was essentially a death sentence, which might be why Lisa was so utterly submissive towards me. She knew I was literally their lifeline, and she was willing to do anything to cling to it. No matter what it took, which felt a little weird. In a way, I had been aware of that, but to have it driven home in such obvious clarity was something else. 

“Assume that I can drop you anywhere, at least anywhere reasonable,” I prompted, only to get a shrug in response. 

“We don’t even know where we could go. We took shelter in the Blessed City,” Xander didn’t manage to get that name out without scoffing, “but we weren’t quite ready to go with that other group. It was just such a mess, so we stuck to people we knew and tried to survive. Until you happened,” he shrugged, his dislike for the situation completely obvious. 

“If I offered to take you to Maggie’s community, would you renounce any faith in Sunna? Simply forget about the deity, forget about divine worship, just move on with your life?” I asked, “It would likely be rather hard work, but then, everything is hard work now; The only change is what you are using for your work. Your body, your mind or your soul,” I kept my voice deliberately bland, trying to avoid pushing them in one direction or another.

“I mean, yeah,” Alice shrugged, looking unbothered by the idea. “Not like we’ve got better options, if you want us out of this place.”

“Please, no!” Lisa begged, and when I looked at her, I noticed a suspicious sheen in her eyes. She either was completely against this idea, to the point that she was ready to cry, or she could cry on command.

“You could serve me there,” I suggested, curious how she’d react to the idea. She might even be useful, if I managed to create an appropriate symbiote. Or maybe calling the things Warlock Seeds would be more fitting, though I wasn’t sure if I could create one that allowed for mental or physical healing. Either would be a massive boon to the people of Maggie’s community, though I doubted it would work. Both disciplines were based on finesse, a certain amount of empathy and control, none of which translated well into the powerset I had observed from Waylon. His symbiote granted him a fair amount of power, but it was essentially nothing but magical blunt force.

Maybe creating a Water Seed would work, allowing her to serve as an irrigation system and portable water source. Not a glamorous job, but it was safe, and I doubted that the ability to conjure water out of essentially thin air would become useless any time soon. Not unless I managed to create self-sustaining enchantments without the need to integrate them into massive structures. So far, such enchantments needed to be worked into a system the size of my towers. The prison might actually be the smallest I managed to make them so far, though I wasn’t sure if that complex was actually smaller than the towers; the dimensions didn’t compare well. 

“What would you want me to do?” she asked immediately, interrupting my train of thought.

“I would offer you a small piece of my power, allowing you to work some magic. Not a lot and, sadly, only in somewhat limited forms, but it would allow you to make a living in the community. As for your tasks, that’s something to discuss in private,” I suggested, after a glance at Alice and Xander. Not that I was planning to let either of the two remember too much about their stay here. Kidnapping people for human experimentation, even the relatively humane version I conducted here, would likely ruffle some feathers back in Maggie’s community and raise a few questions I didn’t want to answer. It would make for a good final experiment before releasing the two back into the wilds. Lisa, on the other hand, would be bound through the symbiote, unable to act against my interests.

Making her a Warlock would also allow me to gather some more data. Having additional test subjects would almost certainly be worth the effort required to create another symbiote, and with her being part of Maggie’s community, keeping an eye on her progress would be easy. 

“I’ll do it,” she agreed, a faint, almost completely concealed hint of greed in her voice. She wanted the power, and she wanted it badly.

“Let me take a look at you,” I ordered, opening my Soul Sight to see if she had any interesting affinities. Nothing stood out, but then, I had already looked in the past without finding anything. She was essentially a blank slate, her affinities all relatively the same and none of them impressive.

Water, or maybe Earth, would be good for her. Both had excellent utility, allowing her to provide civil support within Maggie’s community without needing to go out and fight. It might even be good for her, and it would give me another pair of eyes in the community, in addition to the sheer demonstrative value another Warlock had. Everyone would see the power I could bestow on people, though I would have to come up with a good, relatively PR-friendly explanation for the binding. 

Well, if I wanted people to come to me for power, I would have to find a way. If I wanted people to generally stay away, it would be better to let people know the reality of the Warlock Pact, that they’d never be able to deny me.

“I believe I have a plan for you,” I told Lisa, “But it will take a bit of time to make it a reality. Take that time to consider who you wish to become and how you want to act in the future. It might be important for you to consider that. And consider it soon.”

With those words, I stepped back into the shadows, disappearing from their area. Now, I had to consider what sort of symbiote I wanted to make for her. It was a good thing that I had an entire night of relatively boring flying ahead of me; it gave me ample time to think.