With the hatching of Ipoala, our family had reached its limit for the time being; three new babies on top of the addition of Sari, Prixisia, and Heila made for a rather chaotic home as we tried to better understand and get to know our new family members, all whilst maintaining the previous relations.
That wasn't to say that it was a bad thing; seeing how Ehretia grew close to Ipoala instantly while Aka watched from afar was warming, especially considering how lazy the kit was at all times.
The fact that she wasn't already back to sleep was proof enough that she was curious about the chick as well, though she was still sprawled out atop Sari's thigh, lazing about as she normally did.
Actually, the only time that Aka seemed to move faster than a crawl was when she was hungry...
Maybe all Catkin have that craving for milk?
I mean, it was something that Sari often did while using me to get off, her raspy tongue lapping at my breasts as she drank to her hearts content...
Either way, the three babies were utterly adorable, and despite them halting our more open and extreme sessions of mating, it was well worth it as we watched over their antics, every second with them making our love deepen even further.
That isn't to say that there was no lovemaking to be had with them present; currently Rhefia stood behind me holding my hips as she slapped her hips against my ass, the tall Deerkin kissing me intensely as she filled me to the brim.
When our lips separated, I smirked at her as I opened my womb, surprising the Deerkin as she plunged into my womb next, her eyes narrowing further as my cervix clenched down just below her tip, adding another layer of pleasure to our mating.
"Astra..? If you don't close now, there is no stopping me when I put my fourth baby inside you... You know that?"
Chuckling, I nodded at her before moaning softly as she gave me a moment to explain myself, stopping her thrusts and just gyrating her hips as she stirred her cock around my womb.
Reaching up, I stroked her cheek as I said "Rhefia... I found out a way to close the... well, I can close off the parts that would get me pregnant deeper inside the womb, so..."
She looked a little confused at that, and I chuckled again as I continued to caress her cheek, enjoying this feeling of her being so far inside me again; a feeling that was still relatively new to me despite having been around for months in this world.
I didn't elaborate further on that, not wanting to have an anatomy lesson with her in the midst of sex, but I got the important information across quite easily.
"So that means that we can have sex like normal, just with the ability for me to enter your womb? And you won't get pregnant from it?"
Her tone was mixed as she said that, the aroused interest in being able to fuck me deeper making her hornier, but it was mellowed out by the disappointed side of her that wanted to impregnate me whenever she was in my womb.
"Yes... if you want though, I can close off my wo-"
"No, there's no need!"
However, that disappointment vanished as she grinned at me, her grin making me roll my eyes as she massaged my ass before resuming her thrusts.
"The novelty might disappear, but this feels so~ much better than normal, and I thought that was impossible~!"
I agreed with her, but the Deerkin made it hard to respond as she scraped out my womb, doing her best to turn me into a dripping mess by the time she was done.
Three loads of her thick semen later, and I was left draped over the barrel outside the cart, her cum dripping down my thigh as she went off to do something else.
When I finally came around, I blinked away the orgasmic high I was still on and moaned softly, the feeling of my womb being coated in her seed sending shivers down my spine as I moved.
There was enough still inside that I could feel it moving around when I did, so I closed my cervix and left her creampies inside me, enjoying the bliss of my lovers semen sloshing around in my womb.
Cleaning off the rest of myself, I pulled on my dress and set up my various Workbenches and Furnaces, getting to work with finding new ways to process the materials I had gotten from the market.
The ores were easy; I just smelted them into their metal counterparts and stored them away, giving me the ability to shape them into whatever I needed later on.
The bones and the rocks, on the other hand, were a bit more difficult.
I needed to create something to smoothen them out, something to remove blemishes, something to shape them without cracking them...
It would be a lot of work, but it was something that I wanted to do, something that I wanted to get better at and be able to be proud of when I sold them.
Besides, this would translate into me being able to - maybe - crafting my own unique focuses outside of what the System was able to make.
While the options inside the crafting menus were certainly incredible, what exactly could I myself make, and would they be better than what the System could?
My existing theory was that - on the lower end - the answer was no; what I could make would likely be worse then that of the System, for anything whatsoever, be it weapons, utensils, food, or focuses.
That had been semi-proven a long time ago, with the bread I baked using the furnace as a crafting station tasting much better than what I made myself.
However, my theory was that the better I get at doing those things myself, the better they will be; to me, the System feels like a useful tool and guide on how to do things, as well as a perfect stepping stone into whatever profession I could want.
If I wanted to fight, the skills give me the ability to be a proficient fighter, but when placed against Rhefia or Sari, I pale in comparison; even against Aethisia, I am outclassed.
To me, Aethisia is proof that the skill is just a stepping stone, because she took that skill I gave her with spears and got really good at fighting, without the knowledge that she had a skill.
She managed to become a really good fighter because she had experience, not just the skill.
So in theory, if I got a skill to be a jeweler, to start it'd be better to use the System to craft my jewelry, but if I wanted to make something special, something unique, I would need to learn to do it myself...
And that was what I wanted to do; I wanted to learn how to make jewelry and focuses on my own.
Whew~