ALL NOVEL Ch. 02 Leveling Up
The regret was immediate. She was acutely aware of the air against her still-wet pussy, and wanted to grab something from the dryer. The tunnel was more cramped than it looked though, and she couldn’t turn around without getting out on the other side. She probably could have just backed up, but she clung more to the reasons to go on than the reasons to retreat.
The shag carpeting was the softest she’d ever felt. It was probably softer than anything she’d ever felt, and she couldn’t identify the fiber it was made from. She rubbed it, savoring the touch as she crawled forward. There was a soft lighting through the tunnel, but she couldn’t spot the source. If was at though the air itself glowed.
When she approached the end, she found herself looking at another washer. She was perplexed. She wondered if this tunnel led to a mirror of her world, and she was looking at a mirror of the laundry room. When at the end, she saw that this was not the case. The room she’d crawled to was like a warped dream of a laundry room. Uncanny impressions of washers and dryers were stacked five-high. The top row were lodged into the too-high ceiling in the top half. The machines were just boxes with doors on them —some round, some square, and even a rhombus. There were no buttons or coin slots or anything practical.
She got out and looked around. This room was longer than the one she’d come from, but she still saw a door at the end of it. The wall behind her had papers and cork-boards like her apartment’s laundry room, but they had no writing. Some of them had meaningless abstract images. The ones with anything identifiable were strange. One was just teeth. Another looked like a blurry photo of a large and violent mosh-pit. A few, she noticed, were explicitly sexual. There was a closeup of a large dick, a woman’s spread ass, and one that was just a group of faceless people fucking. “What he fuck is this place?” she thought.
Then she heard the squeak again. It was much louder, and clearly in the room with her. She followed it, to the only machine with an cracked-open door. “What is it with me and doors today” She inched closer, until the door sprung open and something within pounced on her.
She jumped back, but it was on her too fast. It was like straps of living fabric, able to flex to strangle her. She struggled with the tightening black straps, wedging her fingers between it and her neck. It wasn’t quite strong enough to properly garrote her, and she was able to get a hold of it. With a yank, she managed to rip, and with a final whine it withered and fell limp.
She threw it to the floor, seeing that it was some kind of living lingerie. The second thing she saw was that something colorful fell out of it. Against her better judgement, she bent and grabbed it. It was like a pink heart-shaped gummy vitamin. Instead of feeling like one, though, it felt hollow, and full of fluid. The outer membrane was so thin that without trying, she popped it, and pink gel spilled all over her hand.
Before she could even react, the gel seeped into her skin and disappeared into her. Then, her vision was invaded by a strange image, almost like a video game interface.
First, she saw a small empty circle, which was promptly filled up with pink, then pop into pink confetti. Then, text appeared in the air.
>[Lust] has reached lvl 1!
>No class. (1/6) Aspects unlocked. Unlock (6/6) to gain a class.
>In the absence of a class, your points have been allocated automatically.
>New Perk: Amorous. Libido increased. Baseline arousal increased. Maximum arousal increased. Threshold to trigger heightened arousal decreased. Improved resonance with affinities.
>New cultivation path: masturbation. Complete challenges to gain rewards.
>New affinity: lingerie.
Sabrina blinked, in a daze. What the fuck was this? She distracted from puzzling through her situation by the persistent hum of arousal between her legs. Searching her mind, she found that what was a healthy appreciation for lingerie was now a fetish. She also found that when she looked inward, the information that had just been given to her through floating text could be easily called up to her mind.
In addition, in her mind there was a health bar of some kind. It didn’t give numbers, just a gauge that was currently full. Did she have HP now? What would this mean?
She decided that regardless of the reality behind her situation, she could only engage with it. Maybe this was all a dream or a psychotic break, but it was all real to her for the time being. She would need to embrace that her life was turning into an RPG.
With that in mind, she shuffled over to another another dryer, and muttered “roll to investigate.” The anticipation in her chest was electric as she pulled open the door and braced for attack. The cotton thong that was held within the dryer flew out of it like a bat, getting use out of its wing-like shape. It fluttered awkwardly around Sabrina’s head, flapping around in jerky bursts. The crotch of the tongue hung below as a tail, which flexed forward to stab at Sabrina’s face with a stinger.
After a few swipes that only connected with the air, Sabrina finally managed to get a hold of the pesky monster. She swung it forward back into the doorway of the dryer, then slammed the door into it. Hanging limply halfway out, it withered and dropped another heart-shaped jelly.
With each sting from the thong, Sabrina noticed that the HP bar in her mind had depleted by a small tick. By now, it was emptied by around a fifth of its total. She instinctively felt its status in the back of her head without even needing to visualize it. When she did visualize it, however, she knew for certain that it was an accurate representation, rather than a figment of her imagination.
Due to this intuitive awareness of her HP, she was giddy when she popped the second jelly and absorbed the pink goo. The little gauge filled with pink and erupted again, and she immediately noticed her max HP increase by 50%. A text prompt appeared, like before.
>Lust has reached lvl 2!
>In the absence of a class, your points have been allocated automatically.
>New perk: Double-Cheeked. Butt size significantly increased. Stealth bonus to intelligent targets who are distracted by your hypnotic behind. All seating comfort it significantly increased.
>New affinity: Anilingus.
Sabrina blushed, despite being alone. She’d had the odd tongue tickle her ass before, and likewise tongued the odd ass, but now the thought thrilled her to no end. Then her thoughts jumped to the more immediate concern. She reached back and grabbed her own ass. “Fuck,” she hissed to herself. Her ass was prominent before, but now she was packing a weapons-grade head-turner. It wouldn’t go unnoticed.
She also picked up on an effect that wasn’t announced explicitly. When she touched her butt, it gave an instant dopamine and oxytocin rush. Her butt seemed to really appreciate physical contact. Just a grab was as satisfying as a deep-tissue massage while smoking a cigarette.
She jumped as something moved in her peripheral vision. She followed the sight that she’d barely registered to the end of the row of machines to her left. As soon as her vision encompassed enough of the corner behind the last machine to see a sock, it scurried toward her like a mouse.
The ankle sock used its opening as a mouth to bite down on Sabrina’s slipper. She felt a sting of teeth as her HP ticked down. Her reprisal was swift, as she stomped down with her other foot, killing the sock. It let out a wheezing squeak as it curled up and dropped a jelly.
This was a new kind of jelly. It was orange, and shaped like a flexing arm. Sabrina snatched it up and gave it an unceremonious pop.
>Vigor has reached lvl 1!
> No class. (2/6) Aspects unlocked. Unlock (6/6) to gain a class.
>In the absence of a class, points have been allocated automatically.
>New perk: Squishy. Increases in strength will not affect apparent physique. Apparent physique will not correlate with ease of movement.
>New cultivation path: weighted exercise. Complete challenged to gain rewards.
This new trait was even more irritating than the last. As much as Jade insisted that Sabrina was ‘slim-thick’, some insecurities about her weight persisted. It was infuriating that her fit and petite roommate claimed to be jealous of Sabrina’s body. She’d trade it in a heartbeat for Jades… or even just to get her hands on Jade’s.
She shook her head. She was getting distracted too easily. She got a feel for what the level in ‘Vigor’ did for her. Moving her limbs felt easier, almost weightless. There was definitely an unspoken strength increase in the same way that Lust gave her HP without declaring so. She did a couple jumping jacks, and found that unbelievable benefit of her perk. No matter how much her tits bounced up and down, or her ass and thighs jiggled, there was zero discomfort. If anything, it was just a mildly arousing contact. Even the chafing between her thighs that she’d always taken for granted was gone.
She had to admit that the level in Vigor was a boon. Fortunately, she spotted two more socks hiding deeper in the corner. She managed to slam both down under the same foot before telegraphing her attack. Two more orange jellies were hers for the taking. The first filled an orange gauge and leveled her up.
>[Vigor] has reached lvl 2!
> In the absence of a class, your points have been allocated automatically.
>New perk: Heart-Strong. Gain the benefits of years of rigorous cardiovascular exercise.
>New skill: Wrestling lvl 1. 2,000 hours of training gained.
That was… invigorating. Sabrina felt amazing. She popped the next one, thrilled to be taking on such intense upgrades. The orange gauge, however, only filled up about two-thirds of the way. “Fuck.” She shouldn’t have been surprised; it made sense there would be a plateau. If every single jelly leveled her up fully, they’d be absurdly powerful. She reckoned they must work as bursts of experience.
While a part of her was eager to bring Vigor up to level three, she decided to quit while she was ahead. She reasoned that it would still be there tomorrow. That was enough justification to pretend not to be motivated by the throbbing in her clit.