One day after eating the berries, all the girls woke up with better skin! In reality, their skin was still the same. The grand delusions of everyone had enshrined each other that their skins had improved immensely.

( Violet) >

Lily pounced onto Stardust, “ since my skin is so beautiful now, please make love to me.”

“ Lily…… please remember what I keep telling you.”

Lily answered, “ yes, you want me to have a capable body first and live in a proper place right? But what if that will never happen? You don’t want to live with regrets right?”

“ Don’t worry Lily, I will make sure we will succeed no matter what,” said Stardust with firm resolution in his eyes. It only made Lily desire him more and she didn’t pester him any further.

The party discussed a plan to take down the giant centipedes and desert apes.

Stardust suggested, “ we can create full-body bone armor for Marla so she can crush the centipedes without any worry of getting bitten.”

“ Let’s do it!” agreed Marla. “ I want those berries!”

“ I will begin making it immediately!” said Luna as she rushed off to gather the bones to craft the bone armor.

Stardust added, “ Range poison weapons won’t work against the desert apes as they will attack the cactus monster to kill off everyone. We have to kill the desert ape in melee range before they can do such a vile thing… Also, I finally had the time to create the giant bone shield, it’s kinda heavy but it should protect 1 person hiding behind it if the cactus monsters shoot out their needles. I will test it out as I can revive myself with my ultimate cheat.”

Everyone agreed with Stardust but they also didn’t want him to hurt himself in testing the bone shield.

“ Stardust!” shouted Lily. “ Allow me to test out the bone shield, as I have no valuable skills so me dying won’t be a waste!

“ Thanks Lily, but I will not sacrifice you for that.”

Stardust went off to the cactus monster with his bone shield. Everyone stood afar to watch the test. No matter how much Lily wanted to test out the bone shield with him, she knew not to become an annoying woman towards Stardust. She initially pestered him about many things but quickly accepted his stance on things. She knew that Stardust will definitely give her the love that she desires in the future.

He planted his three layers bone shield firmly into the ground facing the cactus monster. There were three layers of bone to close up any gaps between the bones to make it needle-proof.

“ Please cactus monster! Try shooting some poisonous needles at me, I want to test out the bone shield,” said Stardust.

There was no response.

“ I instructed my entire party to leave all rotting food and to take shits close to the cactus monsters only. Please cactus monster, we have given you and your kind so much. I only asked for a pittance.”

Absolute silence.

Stardust shot a needle at the cactus monster but it didn’t react. Then a second needle shot… no reaction… a third, fourth, fifth, and several more needle shots later, there was still no reaction. So he took out his bow and shot an arrow at the cactus monster. An arrow was seen sticking out of the cactus monster and it still hasn’t exploded its needles all over the place yet.

> ( Stardust)

He got out of his bone shield and walked towards the cactus monster.

The cactus monster was extremely confused about what was happening. This strange animal was giving it nutrients with its poop and rotting dead animals. All the cactus monsters were extremely happy that finally found a pacifist comrade in the desert. They only evolved to shoot out poisonous needles like that because the monsters kept on killing them for their precious water inside and were used as food. All the cactus monster wanted was to photosynthesize the sunlight for energy while using its roots to gather nutrients from the earth in peace.

Stardust and the party doesn’t know it yet but in Desert Area 3, that is when the monsters are roaming around instead of animals like in Desert Area 2. The monsters are much more powerful than the animals and can use magical abilities, some of them loved to eat cactuses like these. But since they are in Desert Area 1, a weak area, no monsters would waste their time here as there were very few resources here. The magical density was pretty much non-existent here.

So when Stardust brought a bone shield to it and was making random noise, it couldn’t understand what he was doing. Then Stardust attacked the cactus monster even though he didn’t do anything wrong. He held onto his poisonous needles to not attack a potential pacifist ally.

As Stardust came within arm's distance with the cactus monster. It realized it had been treating their relationship wrong the entire time! The strange animals were giving it a lot of nutrients yet the cactus monsters provided them with nothing! A red flower suddenly sprouted and bloomed on one of its arms, offering it to Stardust. It was going to give him the perk [ Friends of the Cactus Monsters].

The perk was going to allow Stardust and by extension, all of his NPCs to never fear another cactus monster attacking them ever again. Even when it needs to explode the needles in self-defense, the needles will never hit their new pacifist comrades! It was a legendary tier perk of the desert that barely anyone in the world had. The conditions to get this perk was to not kill cactus monsters while giving them nutrients. It was also extremely rare for the cactus monsters to give out this perk as well. It would normally take humans 10 years of providing it nutrients before it gives out an incredible perk like this.

As Stardust was about to reach forward to take the mysterious red flower that became a red gem, it vanishes. The cactus monster grew extremely angry as it realized that Stardust had a berry in his pocket! It contained the seeds of the berry bushes! He was going to betray the cactus monsters and help the berry bushes grow instead! This was absolutely unforgivable! The perk was taken away and the cactus monster shot its needles in all directions. Another reason why it was hard to obtain this perk was that you’re not supposed to carry any other plant seeds other than the cactus monster’s seeds. It can also detect the scent of another plant on you and never offer you the perk again.

Stardust now had thousands of needles embedded into his body, dying almost immediately from the carnage if he didn’t use his ultimate revival technique. His little body was underneath his former adult corpse, he carefully got out and looted his shoes before running out of this needle mess. He ran back to the girls who were all so worried about him but soon they were cherishing their little widdle Stardust.

They also went and looted back the bone shield and noticed that no stray needles were able to penetrate past it. The bone shield was a success with a few stray needles sticking out of it. But the bone shield may not be able to withstand the cactus monsters in Desert Area 2 unless it was made with better materials. All the poisonous needles were left there as they already have an abundance of them. It was used to create poisonous weapons or for Remi to throw them with.

Lily wanted to hold the little widdle Stardust in her arms but Marla was currently jousting him into the air. Stardust didn’t mind at all.

“ Give him to me,” demanded Lily.

“ Yooooo let’s see how high I can toss you,” smiled Marla as she tosses Stardust 18 meters into the air and catches him. She tossed him up in the air higher than before at 20 meters. “ Master Stardust, can you turn into a baby so I can toss you up even higher?”

“ Nah I don’t want to waste more resources and time to do that.”

When Marla said that he can turn into a baby, the entire party was stunned at this new information. Stardust may have told only Marla when she was the only NPC alive and was essential to his survival. The others knew of him having a 13-year-old form but not his baby form. All the girls wanted to see him in his baby form, the true little widdle Stardust.

“ Why are all you girls looking at me like that?” worried Stardust.

“ Hey Stardust, don’t you know how cute babies can be?” asked Luna. “ I want to see you at your cutest!”

Stardust refuted, “ aren’t we going to conquer Desert Area 2?”

“ That can wait,” said Remi as she readied her poisonous needles. “ Do we have to force you to do it?”

(Remi) >

> ( Stardust)

“ Violet please put some rational sense into these girls!” begged Stardust.

Violet looked away. >

“ Rainbow please help me.”

“ Please forgive me master Stardust… I will take good care of baby Stardust,” apologized Rainbow.

Marla was holding onto Stardust as he struggled to break free from her grips.

“ You girls! Stardust doesn’t want to become a baby. Let him go,” demanded Lily.

“ Lily!” shouted Stardust.

“ Only I deserve to see Stardust in his baby form,” added Lily.

“ Lily?” muttered Stardust.

It was over for Stardust. None of the girls are going to help him and he will be forced into his baby form.

Since there was no use in fighting against them, Stardust used his [ Ultimate Revival LVL 10] skill to create his baby form and transfer his consciousness while discarding his 13-year-old corpse. Baby Stardust was alive and well! But he wasn’t able to speak or move well as a baby.

All the girls were going to have their fun, the little widdle Stardust as he had to accept all of their ambitions.

Marla happily grabbed onto him first and tossed him up 35 meters into the air!

“ BABY STARDUST BELONGS ONLY TO ME!” screamed Lily as she tried taking Stardust away from Marla but she was too fast.

Marla ran away with Stardust as she knew Lily can’t run or walk very far. Remi and Violet ran after her.

Rainbow was holding the hostile Lily from chasing after them as she was growing frustratingly more annoying at everyone. Lily wanted to cough out blood to force them to bring Stardust back to heal her but it wasn’t coming out. She was about to intentionally injure herself but Rainbow stopped her.

“ Don’t worry Lily,” comforted Rainbow. “ We will let you have your fun with baby Stardust when it’s your turn.”

“ … fine, let me rest in the tent, let me know when it’s my turn,” said Lily. >

Rainbow guided Lily to the tent as she took care of her.

Luna was busy making cute baby clothes for Stardust.

( Queen) >

Marla was having her fun tossing baby Stardust as high as she could into the air, making sure to not accidentally drop him. Her record is 54 meters into the air. “ Don’t worry baby Stardust, I will become stronger to toss you even higher than before!”

Baby Stardust tried to protest with his spitting but no words were coming out. >

She wiped away his spit on his face with her shirt and misunderstood his intentions, “ awww you like being tossed into the air don’t you!” Marla handed him over to Remi.

Remi deeply admired baby Stardust in her arms. She carefully examined his entire physique before committing it to memory. Then she placed Stardust on the sandy ground. She walked a good distance away.

Baby Stardust was trying to crawl back to the girls >

“ What are you doing Remi?” asked Marla.

Remi readied her poisonous needles to shoot at baby Stardust,” there may be a time when he gets kidnapped by the enemy as a baby. I’m practicing to kill the enemy without hurting Stardust.” She shoots out her poisonous needles at him. All of the poisonous needles hit the outline of baby Stardust, he was shitting and pissing in fear, staining the ground and himself. If any of those poisonous needles hit him, he would be instantly dead. Baby stardust was too afraid to move as the needle would hit him if he did.

> ( Stardust)

“ Remi… please use non-poisonous needles, we don’t want to risk him dying,” warned Violet.

“ Sorry, I forgot,” admitted Remi as she collected her non-poisonous needles.

> ( Stardust)

Violet body blocked Remi from shooting at her target, “ Remi… I know you are still using your poisonous needles to practice with but I cannot allow you to risk killing our master.”

“ Ahh so you saw through me,” said Remi. “ Good intuition but practicing with my poisonous needles will make me focus even more and learn better if I know I may accidentally kill him.”

“ I’m with Violet,” said Marla as she moved to protect Stardust. “ We can’t risk accidentally killing baby Stardust even though it’s your turn right now Remi.”

Remi sighed, “ fine I will use the non-poisonous needles.” She hid her poisonous needles away and grabbed onto her regular needles. “ But Marla you were also endangering him with your tosses.”

“ It’s different! I was still catching him!” said Marla.

As she was practicing her needle shots at stardusts, he was further staining himself and the ground. “ Baby Stardust try moving around, a stationary target is too easy,” said Remi. But Stardust didn’t want to move. “ I know! Marla please toss Stardust into the air, I will try shooting my needles as close as possible to him.”

“ Sure!” delighted Marla as she ran over to pick up baby stardust. She took off her shirt to wipe him clean before coming back to the group. Then she tossed him high into the air as Remi practiced shooting needles as close as possible to Stardust. The needles were barely scrapping his skin as they flew by. Remi amazingly never hit Stardust once with her needle, her accuracy was too scary. Stardust was still shitting in fear while in the air so Marla had started throwing Stardust diagonally as to not let shit fall on her as she ran around catching the thrown baby Stardust. Remi enjoyed the increase in difficulty.

> ( Stardust)

When they were done, Violet ran over to baby Stardust. She took off her shirt to wipe baby Stardust clean. All the shit and piss stain on him were wiped away. “ That’s enough Remi and Marla, we shouldn’t mistreat this cute baby too much. Don’t worry Stardust, I will take good care of you.” Stardust clung to Violet as hard as he could with his baby strength as he knew that Violet wouldn’t abuse him like the other two.

“ Wow your baby skin is so soft and smooth!” said Violet as she rubbed her face against his.

The two fighting junkies Marla and Remi grew curious about his soft baby skin. They too rub their faces against his face.

“ Alright that’s enough you two, it’s my turn with baby Stardust, “ said Violet. She walked back to the camp with Marla and Remi following her.

> ( Stardust)

Even though Stardust knew that Violet wouldn’t abuse him like the other two girls earlier, he was panicking.

When they got back to the camp, everyone gathered around to properly admire the cute baby Stardust. Marla and Violet got new shirts to wear as well. Lily so badly wanted to hold him into her arms, but Violet wasn’t going to pass him to anyone else yet.

“ Baby Stardust doesn’t have any teeth yet. Perhaps Lily will have to pre-chew meat or berry for him to swallow,” said Violet.

> ( Stardust)

“ Hand him over he’s hungry,” demanded Lily.

“ Sure when it’s your turn. Right now I want to see how capable his baby form is. Let’s see how fast he can crawl,” said Violet. She placed baby Stardust on the ground and directed him to crawl to the cactus monster in the distance. But baby Stardust was being defiant and refused to do so. “ Please baby Stardust, we must determine your capabilities as a baby so we can properly ensure your safety.”

Instead of crawling towards the cactus monster, baby stardust was crawling towards Rainbow for safety!

“ Should I shoot my needles at him?” asked Remi.

“ No need,” replied Violet as she picked up the fleeing baby stardust and walked a fair distance away from Rainbow. “ Okay try crawling to big sister Rainbow then.”

Baby Stardust was making a mad dash crawl towards Rainbow as he knew she wouldn’t mistreat him like the others. Rainbow watched him with great admiration.

> ( Stardust)

“ Pretty fast for a baby but slower than us,” remarked Violet. Then she went and grabbed him and brought him to his new testing grounds.

She was going to test out all of his physical abilities as a baby. Stardust was being defiant so she had Remi intimidate him into doing her tasks. His throwing ability was tested by throwing a rock. Climbing ability tested by forcing him to climb a large rock. And several more tests were done. After the tests were done. Violet let baby Stardust do one last sprint test as he crawled towards Rainbow.

> ( Stardust)

Rainbow picked him up and held him close to her chest, “ awww master Stardust loves me the most out of everyone.” She gently soothed baby Stardust in her arms, putting him to sleep. She wanted to play with him but decided to let him rest.

Lily was very annoyed as the other girls were able to have their fun with baby Stardust before her.

Rainbow spent 10 minutes taking care of baby Stardust with the most gentle care before handing him over to Luna.

Luna had finished making the baby clothes and was putting them on him. “ Awww baby Stardust is even cuter with my clothes on him!” as she held him in her arms and poke his cheeks with her fingers, waking him up. “ Okay baby Stardust, let me teach you the ways of being cuter.”

Baby Stardust played along as it wasn’t as bad as being abused by Marla, Remi, and even Violet. They made funny faces and played peek-a-boo.

Everyone gathered around to admire non-naked baby Stardust. Luna then handed him over to Queen much to the dismay of Lily who was going to be the last girl to hold him. Queen swayed him in her arms while poking fun at his cuteness for 10 minutes. Stardust was worried that Queen would abuse him like the others but she was quite relaxing to be with.

Finally, Queen handed over baby Stardust to Lily. She was dying to hold him for the entire day! She ate some meat and berries, chewing carefully before feeding Stardust with mouth to mouth.

> ( Stardust)

Midway through the feeding session, Lily suffered a violent coughing outbreak, blood was coming out. The party members brought biomass for baby Stardust and he was able to heal her!

“ So baby Stardust can still heal us,” remarked Violet.

“ Thanks Stardust! I shall feed you more of my love!” declared Lily.

Lily only fed baby Stardust enough to regain his lost body mass from shitting all day. It wasn’t enough food to even regrow 1 cm in height! He tried pointing his finger at the food but everyone misunderstood him.

“ Hmm Lily, he’s pointing at me,” said Luna, “ that means he wants me to hold him.”

“ No way!” said Lily. “ Baby stardust please point to the girl you love the most.”

> ( Stardust)

He tried talking but only spit was coming out of his mouth. Lily had to wipe his adorable face clean and held him closer to herself as to never let him go. Baby Stardust then tried to break free and point at the cooking meat but Remi for some reason walked in front of it.

“ Now he wants Remi to hold him,” said Luna. “ Lily give baby Stardust to Remi now.”

Remi upon hearing that, “ don’t worry I will free you master Stardust. So we can practice our killing game.”

> ( Stardust)

Remi snatched baby Stardust from Lily as she was too weak to fend her off. Baby Stardust was still struggling to break free from her grip and crawl over to the cooking meat.

Everyone misunderstood Stardust’s intentions and thought he wanted them to hold him. They were now all fighting each other on who gets to hold baby Stardust. He was once again being abused by the girls as they pulled on him from multiple directions, all of them saying that Stardust had chosen them to hold him. He was snatched away from girl to girl and the crawl distance to the food kept on getting further away. In reality, he was trying to crawl towards the food but they all thought he was crawling towards them! In the end, baby Stardust gave up his pointless struggles while they continued to fight amongst each other over him.

At the end of the day, the girls were passing baby Stardust around like he was some exquisite weed joint. They were all admiring how cute he was as a baby while shifting the blame on each other from the crying baby Stardust.

Night had fallen, it was time to sleep. Stardust wanted to make one last struggle towards the food. Even if he couldn’t chew, he can still swallow small bits of it to grow some teeth to accelerate his food consumption. But Lily and Rainbow both forced him to sleep in the tent with them, he wasn’t able to escape their grip so he had no choice but to sleep.

***** NPCs Loyalty Change (least to most) *****

Lily: 100% ---> 100%

Rainbow: 99% ---> 99%

Marla: 90% ---> 95%

Luna: 79% ---> 89%

Violet: 70% ---> 80%

Remi: 50% ---> 62%

Queen: 1% ---> 20%

***** End *****