03 Hardy Party

She looked hesitant. "Well. After all we just met. Shouldn't we get to know each other first. How could we?" She stammered.

I gave her my best puppy eyes which are quite difficult with compounding irises.

She looked at me for a moment and made up her mind. "Okay. Let's get married." Luna said.

Something was off here.

I was sure I asked Luna to form a partnership as in a party with me but how did it translate to marriage?

Luna grabbed my hand. Her soft fingers wrapped around my thumb as she dragged me over to the counter.

I had just been at the counter so Miss Attendant was still there. Currently she was taking in the dropped items the JadeVipers gathered from Dungeon #2. JadeVipers were humans wearing red headbands. Miss Attendant counted out their fourteen gold pieces before sliding it over to the group.

"Hey, what gives!? You gave us twice the amount of gold last time." a JadeViper said.

"Last time the drops were not damaged" Miss Attendant replied. With that her business was concluded and she turned to us. "How May I be of assistance?" Miss Attendant said.

In annoyance the JadeVipers roughly bumped me as they left the counter. I took the opportunity to magnetize the armors surface causing a few of the loose gold to stick. I let them pay for my annoyance.

"We want to get married." Luna enthusiastically said.

"She means form a party" I said.

Miss Attendant looked at us "If you mean partnership that indeed is considered a marriage but if you mean party or gang or guild you'll need at least three more members."

I thought about that. Experience for each encounter would be divided by at least five which would mean very slow advancement. However, a single partner I could rapidly advance. Better to start small and grow larger at later stages.

"Could we start with a single partnership and extend that to a guild at a later date?" I asked.

"That would be acceptable if both partners agree. However, the partnership would count as one among the five needed to form a party."

That meant no matter what I would still need to divide experience.

"That's fine then we'll enter a partnership." I agreed.

Miss Attendant filled out the necessary paperwork and asked us each for a drop of blood for the seal.

Luna bit her thumb and pressed it to the seal. Her blood was green. I then imitated her actions and some of my clear excrement flowed over her thumb print. As I lifted my thumb I saw Luna getting excited. "It's green." Luna whispered happily.

"Congratulations on your marriage. As stated you may each retain your own name, assume the other person's family name or create a new name for your family." Miss Attendant said. "Shall I arrange a room upstairs for you to consummate your marriage? Oh, that will be one silver piece for the marriage and one for the room."

I paid with a newly acquired gold piece.

Miss Attendant struck the small gong behind the counter a few times. The room quieted down. "I have an announcement. Luna Regolith has just married! Everyone please welcome, Lord Fatty, as Luna's husband. Drinks are on the house for the next one hour in celebration for Clan Regolith's achievement."

"Hurray! Hurray! The old spinster got married!" shouted the crowd.

The crowd eagerly came to the counter as a barrel of mead was opened. Tankards, thimbles, leather jacks and drinking horns were filled repeatedly. Well wishers can to visit. Word quickly spread to the neighborhood and ever more revelers appeared.

A stocky middle aged elf approached me.

"Lord Fatty eh? Just where is your dominion?"

"And you are?" I inquired. It was rude of him to address me without even a proper introduction.

"Patriarch Luto Regolith and Luna's uncle. We were not informed of her engagement last year. Please explain how you suddenly became her husband now."

Behind him were a dozen tough looking elfs and like Luto all wore brown headbands with a small green hex embroidered in the middle. Which according to the rankings meant they were high level.

"I met Luna fifteen minutes ago." I stated.

Luto's face went red with fury. "Scoundrel your not married. I reject this marriage. You need a lesson!" Luto turned to his men. "Teach him a lesson!" He ordered.

Clubs and knives appeared quickly as they surrounded me. "Time for your initial beating and welcome to Clan Regolith" Luto said

The group raised clubs or daggers and cam at me one after the other. Though I was confident none of the weapons could damage the exosuit I also didn't want more trouble.

I stood still raised my hands in a non threatening manner. They responded with a frontal assault. Luto led with a overhead swing of a bat. I sidestepped away while bringing my fingers towards his face. Puffs of sand shot from my fingers into his eyes. Left cross, right cross, uppercut, whirlwind kick were coming at me from all directions. So I blocked and cast sand into their eyes at hyper velocity. Just enough to cause temporary blindness. The fight was over in thirty seconds. Regolith clansmen were moaning on the floor.

"I'm yours lord husband you decide." Luna said.

I took the key and we went upstairs to the room. I had been watching the tantalizing gasses exude from her head orafices since we met. Richer in nitrogen and nitrous oxide than any other Elf. They would make great fertilizer for the xoxo forests.

Luna locked the door behind her. Luna disrobed and laid on the bed saying "Husband be gentle. It's my first time."

Of course I knew that she wanted to mate. Her lower orafice exuded sweet fragrance. My gloved hand caressed her cheek and I activated the pulse anesthetic. Luna went limp almost immediately. Her eyes open to witness the next event.

She had thoughtfully disrobed making this task easier. I lowered my body over hers before my chest plates opened. The exosuit's internal arms gently turned her on her belly before lifting her body into the exosuit. Then the plates closed and sealed shut. I oozed out from the leg xoxo forest where I was hiding while the operation commenced. Now that Luna was safely stored inside I flowed out.

Over the course of the three days I paid for I explored every orafice, nook and cranny before I began integration. I entered her gastrointestinal tract through all orafices and at the molecular level passed through the epithelial tissue to enter Luna's interstitial fluids and cells.

I systematically began removing all the impurities I found while making some improvements. It would be troublesome if she developed random illness or neoplasms so I switched off those markers. Along her lymphatic system I unblocked her acupoints while strengthening the pathways. When I came to her dantian it was malformed do I obliterated it.

During this time the anesthesia wore off.

Instead on one dantian the way most mortals develop I created one in each of Luna's acupoints. In consideration of my own pattern I tripled the number of her acupoints by nesting two inside another one I had millions but I only made her slightly stronger than the average elf. Though with time Luna would match a solar giant. They would strengthen naturally as her lymph cycled fluids through her body.

There was so much gooey impurities that came out of Luna's body which I fed to the xoxo forests caused a proliferation and spread throughout the interior of the exosuit. Super fecundity threatened to overwhelm the already cramped interior. I had to miniaturize the already miniature xoxo forests. I may need to add miniature fauna to the forest to keep it in check.

Did this world have fey creatures? I'll have to check for ground owls and bear eagles. I'll miniaturize those as well. They would make a nice addition to the xoxo forests.

I had gathered outside her body to finally meet her in person as she had been screaming in pain for the last hour.

"Luna please refrain from screaming as the vibrations are disturbing".

"What, what are you? Where are we? What did you do to my body?" she whimpered.

"I am your husband, Lord Fatty, we are inside my home the exosuit. We have consummated our marriage through cellular integration. I am a part of you as you are a part of me. We are immortal." I gave her the simplest explanation.

Luna tried to move her limbs but found they were immobilized my the exosuit's internal arms.

"Immortal? How can you be my husband? You're a...What are you?"

I tried explaining in a way primitive mortals might understand so I began using biology.

"Luna did you know that you are a collection of tiny living entities called cells? You are. Millions and millions of these tiny cells form your body. I am similar but with trillions of trillions of living beings which are in turn made up of trillions of cells. Like the cells of your body the entities in my body have their own thought processes that are separate and yet part of your own self ego."

" Let me go! I'm not married to you. I don't want to be married to you. I just wanted to marry and have children. Be a good wife and a great mother like my own mother. " Luna cried. Her delicate pointed ears turning pink.

It had been three days and we did need to eat as well as enter the dungeon so I opened the chest plates and released Luna back onto the bed. She jumped off like a scared cat before dressing quickly. "You Monster!" she screamed, grabbed her clothes and fled the room.

I was confident she wouldn't spread the news of what I was. After all I had left a bit of myself inside her.

After sealing the chest plates I left the room. The sheets were as neat as ever. Having only been ever so briefly touched three days ago.

The extra humidity inside the exosuit had dissipated after Luna exited. Ah well. Now that we have integrated I will have to train her well next time she enters the exosuit. Since we count as one for experience I won't lose any and maybe gain extra experience.

I opened my GodNet account to check my status. My initial scuffle with Luna's relatives gave only one experience point for each person I defeated. Another five hundred experience points for my partnership with Luna. For the three days I had been integrating with Luna yielded about two hundred experience points on average. As expected I saw some of my new experience points today came from Luna. I'll make sure to farm as much experience as I can from her.

Checking the game leader boards I realized I was far behind. Having spent time outside my body I was late to the game initial opening.

As usual Lord Ruby was in the lead with one hundred thousand experience points. It was time to gain more experience. I went to find my new partner.

Coming down the stairs I checked the leaderboard. Those BoldB*stards were still on top.

Someone faintly screamed outside. Using the exosuit pulse monitors I scanned the area. I found Luna in the common room nervously waiting on line to speak with Miss Attendant. The group in front of her were loudly complaining about something.

One of the group turned spotting Luna.

"Well, well, well. Look who we have here." a short human said.

Several shouts could be heard outside. "Demons! Demons coming!"