Rupegia 35 Titans

The demand of s.e.m.e.n has been nearing the production capacity of Ryder's Baby Factory. To resolve this we have requisitioned an upgrade, [Enhanced s.e.m.e.n Recharge] has been upgraded by 1 point (now 0+6).

We have one last breakfast of fruit salad with Chantilly.

I sit near Hana and whisper in her ear.

"Hey, Roxanne," Hana strains her face trying not to smile, "what do you think Chantilly is made of?"

"Uh..." She looks at her large bowl blankly. "Milk?"

"Yeah and what else?"

"Sugar?"

"And...?"

"I dunno," she shrugs.

Hana lets her evil smile surface.

"Fat... loads and loads of fat."

Roxanne and Ciel freeze, one with a spoon entering her mouth, the other mid chewing.

"N-no, no, nooooo..."

Both of them look at their bowls with pain and sorrow.

Lina purses her lips and pushes the bowl away. I look at Alissa, she rolls her eyes and continues eating.

"It's highly unlikely we will eat anything like this again so soon," I say while I grab more of the salad. "Eat all you want just one last time."

Roxanne and Ciel look at each other then nod.

Nothing was left of the breakfast.

­

"Let's make a picture," I say.

I fill the gnomic magic tool with mana and with a little awkwardness we position the smoky quartz on the table, we prop it over gla.s.ses and pots. Behind it we leave a wide canvas and we stand in front of the bed, prepared for the picture.

I sit down on chair with Lina on my lap. Alissa and Ciel sit down on my sides, each holding one of my arms. Roxanne and Hana hug each other with one hand over my chest. Aoi on Hana's shoulders, and Gify on mine.

The mana starts to seep out of the tool and it flashes. Smoke leaves the canvas, a rather faint and somewhat blurry image is burned into it. Looks like an old school picture without the sepia filter.

"Amazing..." Alissa mutters.

"Gih."

"Beautiful indeed," Ciel says.

"Hohoh, I always knew my gla.s.ses make me look s.e.xier," Roxanne says.

"You might be s.e.xy, but d.a.m.n, I'm hot," Hana says.

"That's the smile that conquered my heart," I say.

"Awn..."

"My eyes are so..." Lina looks incredulously at herself.

"Cute," I say.

"Cute," Ciel repeats.

"Hmm..." Lina purses her lips.

­

We take one last walk on the market. Now with the Christmas wreaths the girls can more actively partic.i.p.ate. Lina and Hana spend a long time together bartering with the animals. It was mostly Hana talking, with Lina coaching and helping out.

It's wonderful that the animals and magic beings here have a different view on s.e.xuality, the girls can all use pretty dresses without attracting attention. They could all walk naked without anyone batting an eye.

Roxanne is sporting a rather risque black dress with her back exposed and only a loose and thin piece of cloth covering her nipples. It would certainly turn heads if we were among humanoids. Hana is using something similar. Her vibrant hair and the large b.r.e.a.s.t.s straining the dress would attract even more eyes.

I walk with Roxanne on one arm and Alissa on another. Roxanne seems distracted with the corners of her mouth on a smile.

"Something on your mind?" I ask her.

She snaps back to reality and readjusts her gla.s.ses.

"Well I'm just feeling sad we are leaving this place," she says.

"I know, right. I would love to live here," Alissa says, she turns her head around and looks at the market with a warm smile.

"It's just so different, so lively. The Holy Academy was so quiet and strict, it was suffocating. And then when I decided to travel I was always tense. I think that when I met that man who tried to... do things, I got a little paranoid but still. Traveling with you feels so relaxing."

"I have to agree," Ciel says from behind us, "though we shouldn't grow complacent, there's still much danger out there."

"Don't have to remember me, I will never forget invisible a.s.sa.s.sins," Roxanne says while nodding repeatedly. "But... even though we get into so much danger I just. I just don't want to leave, ever."

I see the corner of her eyes water.

"Getting sentimental on me now, eh?" I tease.

"Shus.h.!.+ Don't ruin this!" She glares at me.

I chuckle and kiss her soft hand, this appeases her a little.

"We already said our vows so I'm not saying something new but I'm glad you are here. I trust all of you deeply," I say.

Ciel gives me a kiss on the neck and Alissa a kiss on the cheek. I tap my cheek repeatedly until Roxanne takes the hint and gives me a kiss too.

"This place actually reminds me of home," Roxanne continues, "the first home, before the Academy."

"What's the name?" I ask. "We can certainly visit it sometime."

"Mashoor. My parents don't live there so..."

"You are going to have to meet your parents one day."

She frowns and looks away. I pull on her hand and she looks at me.

"Look. I can't go back to my parents, I won't let you run away from yours."

"I'm, I'm sorry, Wolfy," she lowers her eyes, the sadness on her face breaks my heart."

I release her arm and grab her pale cheek.

"We will do it together. You won't be alone with them we will be all there."

She purses her lips and strains a smile. "Thank you..."

"Love you."

Now she smiles.

"Love you too."

She recovers and we continue our stroll.

­

One last lunch in the dryad all-you-can-eat restaurant and we are ready to leave.

Arlo takes us to a residential floor. Deep within we enter a room.

"Oh, hum... humanoids!" Exclaims a woman.

An average brown-haired woman. She's wearing grey robes with an embroidery of the Anara heraldry on the shoulder.

"Oh h.e.l.lo. Didn't expect other humanoids here," Alissa says.

"Me too," she nods with a smile, "it's very rare. Actually not so much, there's one or two of those weird druids around who appear once in a while."

"They are only weird to your human standards," Arlo says in tired tone.

"Which is why they are weird. They are different from normal humans."

Arlo does a noisy shrug and turns to us.

"We will be sending a word to the Lord of Rabanara that you are an acquaintance of our Lord. Is that alright with you?" He asks.

"I have a close relations.h.i.+p to Vanea," I say, "she even know of my Gifts."

"Much better this way, then," he noisily nods.

He turns to the woman and hands her a sealed letter.

"To the Lord, please."

The woman grabs the letter and puts it on the ground in front of her. The black circle of [Gate] appears and disappears, taking with it the letter.

"So where to?" The woman asks.

"Can you take us just outside Rabanara?" I ask.

"Sure. Simply walk north and you will reach there in a minute or two."

"Thanks."

I summon Holly to the surprise of the woman and send her first to check the area. Once I deem it clear we all go through the [Gate].

Now we are back at the humid and oppressive Sea of Trees. The moss and mud is still humid from the rain of the last few days.

Hana sighs with sadness.

"That place was so nice. Reminds me of the streets of Betzenstein, the wereapes there were noisy but I miss it. The Tree made me feel nostalgic," she smiles faintly.

"Is that in Sommerland?" Ciel asks.

"Yep," her mouth smiles but I see a hint of pain on her eyes.

Sommerland must be where her family is locked up. When I become a n.o.ble I will see what I can do to free them. I could convince them to become my Blood Slaves like how Hana is.

­

We easily reach town and enter through the east gate.

There's a considerable number of UFO's flying around the sky of the town. Not the same number compared to the university but it's noticeable. I wonder if some air control legislation is going to be implemented to prevent accidents.

Me and Alissa go to the hunter's guild while the other girls go back home. I gave them my 2 small clay golems to help clean the house.

Another fight is breaking out as we enter the guild. The booze from lunch must be still running on their blood. Not that there's really a specific time that these people start to drink.

Taking a look at the request boards I see a few asking to escort children into the Sea of Trees for leveling up. Getting a few levels and some skills could be wonderful for their job prospects, parents must be saving money so they could pay for a request like this.

"I want to talk with Carmen, can you go to Gordon without me?" Alissa asks.

"Sure, no problem. Report to her the Hooknose nest we found."

I enter the waiting area of the disa.s.sembling room and after half an hour Gordon calls me.

"Oh, storm elementals, how rare," he says.

He closes his eye as he feels the mana in the broken stones.

"We went a little deep in the Sea," I say, "we were just exploring when we found them, couldn't resist and fought."

"They should be tough nuts to crack."

"And they were. But we were tougher."

Gordon chuckles and pa.s.ses a large hand over his s.h.i.+ning bald head, then he calls Sonny. No job for him since there's no guts to butcher. The albino Incubus weighs the stones and runs some calculations.

"You should go to the Gambler's Den, Mr. Ryder," Sonny says, "put your luck into some money before it runs out."

"Got other plans for that," I say with a smirk, "I'm gonna need all the luck I can get."

"Remember to not die," Gordon says.

"That's my first rule."

"Heh, and the second?"

"'Let's never get into a situation where someone needs to die.'"

"Hah, good man."

I take my 4 gold coins and leave. I won't show the Gatuns since there's no reasonable explanations why they would be at the Sea.

Outside Alissa is talking with Carmen. For a split second the brunette madam gives me a gaze that makes me feel like prey. Even with the [Mental Resistance] necklace and after living with Hana for so long Carmen's gaze still makes me feel like piece of meat.

Alissa hands me a bundle of coins.

"Reward for the information we gave," she tells me.

"Soon you will have a little more, I'm sure," Carmen says with warm smile.

"You want to stay a little longer?" I ask.

"No, it's okay, let's go home."

"Goodbye Alissa, Mr. Ryder."

"Goodbye Madame Carmen."

­

Back at home Roxanne calls me to practice [Heart of Fire] on the bath. She's developing her own chant for it.

I spend my time trying to move but even with my body retaining shape moving it requires mental effort, it's very tiring.

We sprawl on the floor naked. Her body is warm so I scootch over to her and rest her head on my chest, her hand trails down and strokes me very lightly. I trace my hand through her black hair and smell the calming lavender.

Alissa is lightly practicing her [Illusion Magic] besides us, every once in a while we see her body flicker and turn into two for a second, [Double Image]. We both stare at her, she looks like a snack all concentrated and stuff.

Aoi is casually staring at us, amused at our efforts of trying to turn into fire. Lina is right outside maintaining our weapons. Hana and Ciel are outside sparring, Gify is with them, teasing the one who's losing.

"Wolfy, what's the level 40 spell of [Summoning Magic]?" Roxanne asks.

"Uh... It's a spell called [Bind]."

Alissa's eyes shoot open.

"What does it do?" She asks with antic.i.p.ation dripping from her voice.

"No idea, which is why I'm not touching it yet."

"Hmm..." Alissa pouts to me.

A sigh escapes my lips.

"Look, there's way too much that could go wrong with a spell like that," I say with a stern tone. "What if you are pregnant and then I summon you and the baby stays in place?"

Both girls look at me with surprise.

"That sounds horrifying," Roxanne says, her pale face slightly paler.

"And that's not the only thing that could go wrong," I continue, I let my tone turn even more stern. "What if she becomes like an elemental and loses her personality? What if it requires lots of mana to keep her summoned? What if something on her changes permanently due to the binding? I love you too much Alissa to risk you for something like this."

She frowns and lowers her eyes.

"I'm sorry Wolfy, I was being stupid," she says.

"It's okay, I just... Won't risk you."

"What if you tried with something else? Like a monster or an animal?" Roxanne asks.

"Kweh!" Aoi lifts her head in excitement.

"Come over here," I tell Aoi.

She scampers over to my side and I flicker her forhead.

OW!

"Ow," she closes her eyes in pain.

I think I hurt myself more than I hurt her.

"Don't look down on yourself just because you were born as a monster. I won't risk you either," I scowl at her.

"Kweh..." She lowers her head in apology.

I sigh again. These women are too reckless.

Roxanne smirks and chuckles.

"Be a little happy that they wish to be bound to you so much," she says.

I scoff and smile faintly.

"Aside from Alissa's fetish with domination I don't need unconditional loyalty. I want companions that trust me."

"It's easier to just run from responsibility and simply give eternal loyalty," Roxanne says, she looks down and smiles with a hint of sadness. "I know because that's what I do."

"You have so much 'Intelligence' and 'Wisdom' and you act so air-headed most of the time," I flicker her forehead.

"Ow... Heheh," she shows her tongue to me. "What can I say, I'm lazy and you are reliable. Point me to things and I make them go 'BOOM!' That's what I do."

"And potions," Alissa adds.

"And potions."

"Wolfy," Lina says from the door way, "what if you find a stray animal that's dying?"

"What if the animal dying causes feedback?" I say.

"Feedback?"

"Uh... Something like our souls become connected and when it dies it hurts my soul."

"Oh. That's true. Then just a small normal animal should do."

"A bird," Alissa says, "it won't get in the way and can move more freely than something like a cat or dog."

I wanted a dog, though.

After a little handsy we go back to our training. I admit that training naked is slightly distracting but the benefits in morale outweighs the problems in concentration.

Hana barges in on the bath, she seems rather annoyed while Ciel comes behind her with a very smug smile.

"Wolfy, f.u.c.k me, now."

I turn back into human and lay down on the floor, erection rising at her command. She sits on me and grunts in relief.

"What's up... With you?" I ask.

"Eheheh," Ciel smiles innocently, "she lost to me and now she became quite the Symbol of Envy."

"Stupid [Glaive Use]... It's not a spear...! You shouldn't be able... To use a spear so... Effectively!"

"Not my fault [Imperial Hasterrum Style] also cover a lot of spearmans.h.i.+p."

Hana mutters a blasphemy towards the skill system only I and Alissa could hear.

"Be thankful I don't like betting," Ciel says.

Hana grunts.

"What did she try to bet?" Roxanne asks.

"Wolfy's c.u.m," Hana answers flatly.

Ciel frowns and turns red.

"No. We bet his time," she says.

"Same thing," Hana shrugs.

"For you, you s.e.x-crazed s.l.u.t," Ciel shows Hana her tongue.

"That's a compliment," and she smiles ferociously to me, I nearly freeze as her man-eating gaze turns up to eleven.

"You are... My s.l.u.t..." I let it out between shockwaves.

She smiles and hugs me, allowing me to smell the alluring scent of her sweat. I grab her cheeks and feel her emerald scales, then I pull her close for a kiss. I run my hand through her red hair and feel how silky and puffy it is, the high elven products completely removed the mating of her hair.

­

Ciel's good mood seems to vanish when I give my attention to Alissa during the bath. She fidgets and pulls Lina tight on a hug.

For dinner we have pasta with bean sauce, I made this sauce trying to imitate tomato sauce but it only faintly resembles it. I'm craving for some spaghetti al pomodoro, though.

I miss tomatos, I miss pizza, I miss margheritta, I miss the red sweet and savory goodness, the heavenly brother of pasta, the secret ingredient of sauces, the sweet paradise of ketchup, the o.r.g.a.s.mic barbecue. Alas, it is not to be.

At night Alissa cuddles with me while she reads Toroo's book on [Illusion Magic], it's an introductory tome. This magic school is incomplete so the spells on it aren't really the safest or the most efficient yet. Spells like [Ghost Lights] and [Double Image] are simplified enough that they activate every time someone looks into your eyes. In a battlefield this could result in your mana dropping like a rock and you being hit with overuse.

I spend my time leisurely looking at the souls of the little two golems. I want to focus on them now, they could be excellent servants if I improve them.

I sleep safe and sound. The Tree of Mana is a great place but home is home and my home is this house.

I don't think I have enough mana for a [Gate] between High Forest and here, we will have to leave. It will be heartbreaking to leave this place.

­

Today is the first day of the cycle, Genn, the day of Light; also 1st day of the 9th month, the month of Combat.

I play with Hana's mane as she lays her head on my belly. I breathe in deeply and stretch.

"Darean is f.u.c.ked and now we can relax," I say.

"Just one month of relaxation though," Hana says.

"You looking forward to leaving this place?"

"Not really, there's enough ways to gain a living here and nothing is really lacking for me," she turns her head to me and smiles wryly, her emerald scales on her cheek tickle my belly. "Though I'm worried about growing too soft, you pamper me too much."

"He pampers us too much," Alissa says.

"You all pamper me too much," I say.

"What was that thing you said once, tushy?" Hana asks.

"Uh... 'touché'?" I question.

"Yes, that, touché," she licks my abs and gets up.

­

My [Fire Magic] increased by 1 (now 0+3).

­

Alissa increased her "Charisma" by 1 (now 11) and her [Illusion Magic] by 1 (now 4). Her practice of [Double Image] is already giving results. That spell makes the target see a double of her that she can control at will.

This month the Coliseum is holding multiple spectacles. A few places on the town are reserved for public duels where hunters and guards partic.i.p.ate en ma.s.se because there's a few talent scouts out there looking for the better warriors.

A considerable number of knighthood candidates start by showing themselves on these duels and then at the 1st of next month a martial arts tournament will happen. It's there that the n.o.bility will compete for the best candidates.

­

I spend my morning researching improvements for the golems.

The soul "expands" and covers the entire of the body, knowing this I try to find on the soul where the heart is because that's where we normally gather mana for spells. What I did notice is that I can't really correlate pieces of soul to anywhere on the body, it's like I'm seeing a "window" into some different s.p.a.ce. With this my search for the "mana organ" becomes a matter of scouring through every inch of the soul.

I recruit Alissa and Hana for this effort, I look into their soul inch by inch while they cast spells and then meditate. Finally I noticed a specific place where it seems like the complexity of the area reduces as they cast spells and then increases slowly again as they meditate. I a.s.sume this is the "mana organ".

Now on the golems, on the exact same place of where the mana organ should be there's a similar "construct". It slowly reduces in complexity until we fill it with mana, then it goes back to maximum complexity. With this I'm certain I found the "mana battery" and that my a.s.sumption of the mana organ was correct.

I spend my time observing the surroundings of the battery and organ. Hopefully the organ is what's responsible for collecting mana from the environment like we do. Then I use [Mold] on their souls and modify it to be similar to a mana organ.

Curiously I can't fill a mana organ with mana like I can a mana battery. At least there's a level 35 spell for [Nature Magic] called [Mana Transfusion] that allows me to do it. I'm rather interested in the mana battery, maybe I could teach something to Lina that could help her enchantments.

The "feeling" of feeding a mana battery is nearly the same as an enchantment or magic tool. When you grab a magic tool it is like you are standing in a slope, you "feel" like moving downwards and when you "let go" the mana is sucked. A mana battery feels a lot stronger the more "empty" it is, when nearing empty it's the difference between standing near a hole and standing near a valley.

"Ohohoh! Now you are self-suficient," I pat both little golems.

Both of them kneel and lower their head towards me.

"Oh, look, they are learning. Ciel taught them that," Hana says.

I must admit it's adorable to see a teddy bear and a cloth doll trying to look dignified.

"Raise, both of you," I say.

They stand tall (heh) and straight, waiting for the next order.

"Can you teach them spells now?" Alissa asks.

"I have to look where in the soul are skills stored."

"Everywhere?" Hana questions with a shrug, "I always thought it was like a box that increased in size with every Level we gain."

"Yes but the soul itself doesn't increase," I say. "How do you fit more things using a box that has the same s.p.a.ce?"

"Tighter!"

"Or just better organized," Alissa says.

"Not sure how the second one would work and why would we need soul fragments for it," I say. "I believe it's something more like how warped-distances s.p.a.ces work."

"You can use [Warp s.p.a.ce] now right?"

"Yeah, hopefully it will give me some insight. Well this will have to be left for later, let's go make our lunch."

­

This time we make some good milk roux for our lasagne, I have buckets of cow milk so they will last us a good while. We roast some Dragolite on garglic and oh G.o.ds, it almost feels like home, almost.

"Logan has started his initiation at the temple," Ciel says. "He can quickly rise as a battle priest, maybe one day he can be a Templar."

"He certainly had the body for one," Hana says.

"Don't they learn magic too? Would he have the talent for that?" I ask.

"There's different types of Templars, because they have to learn martial arts they don't have time to learn all spells," Ciel says. "Not even the healers learn all spells from [Light Magic]."

"Considering my cheats you might become the first one to learn all spells then," I say with a cheeky grin.

"That wouldn't count because of cheating," Ciel rolls her eyes.
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"Yet you wanted to learn [Holy Spirit] from me," I say.

"Different, uh... that's a different case," she crosses her arms looks away.

­

After lunch it's return cla.s.ses for [s.p.a.ce Magic]. The professor is skipping [Gate] and focusing on teaching us the level 40 spell [Warp s.p.a.ce]. Lucky me.

The skill has some uses for combat but mostly it is used for creating Bags of Holding, House Carriages, House Tents, or the Hyper Loop found on the Capital. What makes these items special is that they are much bigger on the inside, allowing for easier ma.s.s transport. They are so expensive you don't even find them for sale in Rabanara, they are almost exclusive to n.o.bility or rich merchants.

Bag of Holding doesn't look very useful when you have [Item Box] but they can be used to transport items for quick reach. Like say storing a longsword on a bag tied to your arm for emergencies, or storing battle-potions where they won't be so easily destroyed in case you are hit. You can also apply some [Telekinesis] enchantment to it so they weigh less than normal.

We learned that [Gate] does not create a "wormhole", it merely switches the position of an object. It's quite literally someone editing the "coordinate" property of an object like in a game editor.

[Eternal Gate], the level 50 spell after [Warp s.p.a.ce] is the one that creates a permanent wormhole. A wormhole being bending s.p.a.ce so much we can poke a hole and transport things from one place to another instantly. This is the spell that created those portals with a white veil inside the dragonoid maze of the Wisps of the Proud.

­

"So father is quite interesting in meeting you, Wolf," Lyle says.

Noo...

"Why is that?" I ask, containing the frown that yearns for release.

"Well you did save us from a large group of kidnappers, he only wants to show his grat.i.tude," then he cringes and looks away. "I was kind of... vague with how the fight went so he got even more curious about you."

Oh I see, at least he didn't tell him of my Gifts.

"How did you describe it for him?"

­

"Yeah I can see how he would be interested," I ma.s.sage my temple. "It's no problem, I will talk to him when the time comes."

Note to self, Lyle is terrible at telling stories, either that or he's very scared of his father.

"He wants to meet at the next cla.s.s break. Are you going out for hunting?" Lyle says.

"I think n.o.body wants to leave next break so we should be free."

"The 11th then?"

"Sure."

"Thank you," he smiles apologetically.

"So, what did you guys do this break?" I ask.

"I spent most of my time practicing my magic, father says I can partic.i.p.ate at the next battle," Lyle says, his savage gaze turns warm for a moment.

Garanae sighs and Hatara smiles wryly. "I have been trying to focus on [Fire Magic] but I don't have enough "Magic Power", I'll have to stand guard near the backup," he says.

"At least he will be right outside my position," Hatara says.

"Yeah but..."

"We get it," Lyle says.

"Oh, so your [Heal] is already powerful enough for you to act as support," Alissa says.

"Nooot really," She curls her ponytail on her hand in discomfort, "Just enough that I'll accompany a temple healer."

"Experience in battle is very important, do your best in there," Lina says.

Hatara blushes but nods in agreement to her words.

"You would know," Alissa says.

Lina smiles adorably.

"What about you? What did you all do this break?" Lyle asks.

"Deep exploration on the Sea of Trees," Alissa says, the trio perk up their ears to her words. "Met a nest of Hooknoses, avoided a bunch of monsters, ran away from poisonous spores, and finally met a Storm elemental."

"Oooh... how was it?"

"Like cracking a nut," I say.

Alissa recites our battle, omitting the instant-casting.

­

Ciel's turn for attention. She immediately initiates things during bath and makes sure my tongue is occupied, either with hers or some other part of her body.

The grabbing doesn't stop as she makes full use of the time reserved for her. Her tentacles keep me glued to her while we practice Andraste after dinner. Lina pouts and plops herself on my lap.

I casually [Ma.s.sage] both of them until Lina decides to strip and mount me. Ciel gets irritated but waits until I'm done with her to have her turn.

­

Today is the 2nd. Yn, the day of Earth.

Ciel looks adorable as she sits down, naked, and yawns while while hugging Ted. Lina slept while hugging Suzy but she's currently away so she wouldn't be dirtied by a stray droplet.

­

My [Sense Soul] increased by 1 (now 4). I can now see the MP and "Magic Power" of other people.

­

"I will sell half the emellanat and most of the gnomic magic tools," Lina says.

"You can do it? Bartering, I mean," I say.

"Hana can do it for me."

"Keep her safe, then," I tell Hana.

She grins and pats Lina's head.

"Take, me!" Aoi says. She reduces in size and then glides from the second floor, landing on Lina's head.

The gloomy girl giggles as Aoi's little claws tickle her head.

­

I meet with Kyros and this time I put 2 points into [G.o.dly Language].

"You improved a little," He says.

I want to put all points on it but the least Vanea knows about my Gift the better.

"Yeah...," I mutter. The extra point reduced the nausea but not completely.

Breathe in, breathe out. Breakfast, you stay down.

Hey it rhymed.

I will focus on not puking first, this way I can at least use the skill to buff us. Then I need to be able to dual cast so I can create the s.h.i.+eld vortex to be able to use the skill offensively. I tried once but the skill doesn't give me enough muscle memory so I can dual cast, I will have to learn this the proper way.

"You mentioned that there's a way to train my "Mana Points" using these vortexes."

"I guess you have enough talent to try it out" Kyros caresses his goatee. "Well then, if I remember correctly you created [Sense Soul], correct?"

"Yes."

"Then you should know how a soul looks like."

"Chaos, complex chaos."

"Exactly," he smiles, "it's not a s.p.a.ce we can compare to our reality but the inside of a soul still has s.p.a.ce, it still has 'locations'."

"Yes. I can see 'structures' inside the soul, with some effort I could eventually understand what all these structures are for."

"Hm, 'structure' is a better way to describe it, yes. Continuing, one of these structures is where mana is stored. You remember what happens when too much mana occupies the same spot?"

"A mana storm happens."

"Exactly. Some people call MP 'Mana Particles' instead of 'Mana Points', it makes a little more sense since you can't divide a mana particle in two. Mana also has no ma.s.s and no size but we can still 'feel' where it is. Mana has basically one attribute, 'location', or 'coordinates' if you are one of those s.p.a.ce mages," he smiles wryly.

Not even in fantasy can scholars avoid schisms due to meaningless semantics.

"So even inside the soul mana still has its property active, which means that our mana organ can't put all mana on the same spot, each particle has to be separated. The interesting thing about the mana organ is that it's not like a box for mana, it doesn't increase in size but rather, it increases in complexity."

"Ooh yes, I saw that with my skill."

His smile grows wider and I see the fire of excitement in his eyes.

"Perfect! I knew it was true!" He leans back and looks embarra.s.sed for a moment before going back to his usual stoicism. "Anyway, mana has no size so why should the mana organ increase in size when it can keep subdividing infinitely? Oh, do you know what subdividing means?"

"Yes, increasing the number of rooms by breaking the rooms down in equal parts."

"Good. So you see, the mana organ has to subdivide itself to increase its capacity but it can't do that while it's filled with mana. I believe the subdivision could negatively affect mana, n.o.body can prove it but it's the most accepted theory."

With [Golemancy] maybe I could. It would be an extremely precise test but I could.

"And now finally, to increase your mana you have to maintain the mana vortex outside of your body without losing a single mana particle. The mana is bound to your soul until it is spent on the gathering phase, this means that the mana particle 'slots' aren't filled again due to recovery, allowing the mana organ to subdivide.

"Though the organ does not subdivide infinitely, it needs some 'stimulation'. So the cycle you need to perform is to keep all your mana outside on the vortex for about a minute, flood the mana back to your body, and then create the vortex again. This is the best way to improve your MP."

I see, so this is why training by using all my mana eventually stops being effective to increase MP. The high amount of mana I have to use always causes some overuse side-effects, making it difficult to "dry up" my mana organ.

"What about 'Magic Power'?"

"You keep all your mana out with the vortex except for a single particle, then you try to cast a spell with it. You have to force your spells to do more with less."

"So it's dual casting?"

"Yes, unfortunately. This is the most controlled and safe way to do it so learning dual casting is a small price to pay."

"What about blackout? Wouldn't my mana go to the negatives to create the spell?"

"Not while you maintain the vortex, if you try to spend all your mana and cast a spell then it uses your vitality and your mana goes to the negatives. The vortex being out of your soul but still bound to your mana organ prevents the spell from using your vitality."

This sounds so much like... a glitch in the system. What an odd interaction, it reminds me so much of abusing game logic. Then again, this cycle is called "Playground" and the realm "RPG" so it's not unexpected. I'm just getting so used to this reality that I forget its game-like elements.

I will leave the mana training for later, I will focus on [G.o.dly Language] for now.

­

Lina comes back with a pale face. With a poof she pulls out a sack of coins and opens up for us. Dozens of rose coins spill out the sack.

We are rich, so G.o.dd.a.m.n filthy rich.

Aoi nabs one and scurries away.

"Ask before you take it!" I yell to her.

"Kay!" Her response is m.u.f.fled by the distance.

"You did it. Good job, both of you," Ciel smiles at them.

Lina twiddles her thumbs and her ears redden. She nearly topples as Hana gives her a strong tap on the back.

"We actually make a good duo," Hana says. "A few signals to put pressure at the right moments and they all fold to my 'Charisma'."

"Her 'Perception' doing work," Roxanne says.

I give a kiss on the forehead of each.

"Good job," I say.

Upstairs Aoi plays with her coins like a baby plays with toys.

­

Nature cla.s.s is about [Life Transfusion] and [Mana Transfusion]. Coupled with [Regeneration] these were the common healing spells before [Light Magic] was created. They also were the precursors to [Martyrism].

And of course, the transfusion spells can have some "interesting" side-effects between lovers. I'm not surprised anymore when [Nature Magic] turns everything s.e.xual.

Well I guess it makes sense, the jungle is basically a bunch of animals screaming "HAVE s.e.x WITH ME!"

­

I wince waiting for Lina to strike but it never comes. I open my eyes and see her wooden axe blade touching my neck.

"Oh..." I let a sound escape.

She learned very well how to smile with her eyes.

"You are acting much more, uh, calmer today," I say.

"I guess..." She answers in a whisper.

"Anything happen?"

"Well no, but..."

"Giiiih...?" From the top of Roxanne's head Gify prods her.

"After I talked to Gecynd I have been thinking. Thinking about what I want, what I wanted."

"And what did you want?"

"Power and revenge," she smiles faintly, her black bangs covering her eyes. "Now that I have both I have been thinking about the future."

"You may be a slave but that's basically just on paper, I want you to be happy," I grab her cheeks and pull her head up. I stare into her deep black eyes.

She smiles adorably.

"I know. This is why I have been thinking, there's also your destiny as a hero to take into consideration."

I chuckle and kiss her lips.

"Fighting for you is not so bad but I want to do more," she continues.

"You are also enchanting our equipment little by little."

"Yes but I want to do more."

One Alissa opens her eyes and smiles.

"We all do," one Alissa talks while the other keeps meditating.

"And me too, I want to do more for all of you," I say.

The meditating Alissa flickers and disappears, the real Alissa clicks her tongue in frustration.

Hana bashes Ciel to push her away and lowers her wooden sword.

"I know my limits but I'm always thinking in how to exceed them," Hana says.

"Were you even paying attention to our spar?" Ciel asks.

"Hah! [Battlefield Perception], you have the same level as mine and you don't use it like this?"

"Oh..." Ciel purses her lips and starts thinking deeply.

I hug Lina closer and push my tongue inside her mouth. After a little teasing I push her away and grab my weapons.

"Pull up your guard!"

She smiles and her vigor comes back. She gives me a few bruises but I make her scream during the bath.

­

Tonight I summon a [Holy Spirit] for Ciel. A light blue [Spirit Light] surrounded by fire materializes in front of me. Then forms from light two long transparent crystals that act as feet and a small oval metal mask with two holes that acts as a face.

"Oh G.o.ds, it looks so cute, I want to hug it so much!" Ciel gushes at the spirit.

"You want to hug fire?" Roxanne lifts an eyebrow.

"It uh, it's not real fire. It just look as cute as the drawings so I just want to hug cute things. They have no real form and I heard they feel good to hug," she awkwardly makes excuses.

"Kweh! Bad, fi-re!" Aoi huffs smoke at the spirit which answers by tilting it's mask.

"Awn," Ciel gushes harder. "Wait, are you controlling him Wolfy?"

"No, I can feel it wants to look cute though."

This spirit feels weird. I share my senses with the spirit the same way as normal summons do but I can control it directly if I want.

Spirits are more commonly used as simpler spell casters, they use the lower-level spells mostly for defense and occasionally for offense. This way the mage can focus on casting the higher level spells without being completely vulnerable.

"Wait, it feels like I'm doing two things at once, could this be the secret to dual-casting?" I ask.

"I dunno," Roxanne shrugs, "I learned it by my own so I skipped the dual-casting cla.s.ses."

The problem with talent, Roxanne is a terrible teacher for dual-casting.

She goes back to meditating alongside Hana, Alissa, and Lina, they are all trying the MP enhancement technique that Kyros taught me.

Practicing magic naked with Ciel is harder than the others, I almost fell asleep on her softness. Seeing my vulnerability she decided to attack me by filling me with kisses, the battle against sleepiness was long and hard-fought.

­

Today is the 3rd. Ne, day of Water.

After Alissa's meal Roxanne uses her to get off. A ma.s.s of red and light brown covers my eyes and I immediately feel it rising again. Hana sits down on me and we slowly have our fun paying sole attention to the two girls to our side.

After Roxanne is done with Alissa, she is used to clean Hana and I have to use Roxanne as I watch.

"Guuys, I'm hungry!" Ciel appears on the doorway.

"Kweh!"

"Gih!"

Lina stands still looking disappointed but soon after her stomach growls and she joins the famished faction.

­

This morning is spent again naked with Ciel while we practice [Holy Spirit]. Roxanne only needs an occasional demonstration of [Heart of Fire] so I can split my focus between the two.

We hang our painting/picture at the wall on top of the fireplace. It gives a refres.h.i.+ng vibe to the room, it makes it really feel like "home". I was never one to care about pictures, but the lack of a mirror or a camera made me value the little things, you only notice how you miss something when you can't have it anymore.

­

"Behold! Lightning!" Lyle strikes his sword on the dummy and electricity runs through its straw body. Smoke rises and it catches fire, the professor [Rush]'es to the dummy and [Conjures Water] on top of it.

"I told you to use very little mana," he growls at Lyle, his red leather mask only makes him look more threatening.

All I need is a chair and some tea and I will be quite comfy watching this comedy routine unfold.

This actually shows how talented Lyle really is, he learned the level 30 spell [Charge] while having only 15 points in [Electric Magic].

­

Cla.s.s ends and right outside of the university a beautiful carriage is waiting for us. On the outside it's a small carriage, on the inside it's a large room capable of transporting 20 people. Roxanne, Hana, and Ciel are already inside eating some snacks.

The windows are thick and do not open. The carriage needs a strong base to endure such strong enchantment.

The dresses are back, everyone switched to formal clothing and a magic-tool powered [Clean] is enough to make the faces look fresh.

Nononya looks adorable with her simple puffy and frilly white dress. Silvane is enchanting as her loose sleeveless silver silk dress shows the contour of her small b.r.e.a.s.t.s, if I look closely I can even see the form of the nipple. Hatara is more modest with a sleeveless black dress and a green shawl, her loose hair gives her a more mature look.

Alissa is using a puffy and thin yellow top with a long summer skirt, her toned midriff is showing. Roxanne is on her gothic-lolitlooking black dress with a huge cleavage and also knee high socks. Hana is on a sleeveless tube red dress that shows the contour of her entire body; her nipples are already hard, I will choose her for tonight. Ciel has her flowery dress, thought it's much shorter this time, showing a few centimeters of her thick thighs. Lina has a simple black dress that reaches her knees and a small white tie, she also uses a red bow tie headband.

The male side is rather boring. We are all using velvet pants, a thick doublet and a cloak. Even in fantasy we cannot escape the lack of fas.h.i.+on for men. I'm actually envious, all I want is to look fabulous.

Garanae has trouble finding where to look, he does not even want to stare at his own woman due to respect. Hana deliberately stretches, making her nipples poke through the dress fabric. Lyle turns red and keeps his head down while Garanae's eyes gloss over and lose focus.

Ciel pinches Hana's arm and she stops her teasing but gives both young boys a hungry smile that give them s.h.i.+vers.

­

"So I heard every race has its specialty, how are the spectacles on other Coliseums?" I ask.

"Spirit battle royal or team spirit battles," Roxanne says.

"Jousting with all sorts of mounts," Silvane says.

Hana snorts.

"We do horseless jousting with only our wings."

"Ei, Ronti jousting is really fun to watch," Lyle pouts.

"Yeah but it's always the same thing, wing jousting has much more breadth of movement."

"I know, right," Nononya leans forward and grins. "We do [Fly] battles and they are so awesome, I miss them so much."

"Now that's something interesting," Roxanne says, "[Wind Spirit] battles are quite hard to see."

"Hmph! It's not about the spectacle, Ronti jousting is about precision," Lyle says with pride.

"And elven jousting is about animal training and control," Silvane says.

"I am sorry, Grand ones but I believe it is boring," Hana says, straining herself not to swear.

Lyle sighs and chuckles, "Just call me by my first name, no 'Mr.'"

"Same, no 'Miss'," Silvane says.

"Anyway, we also do greatsword duels," Hana continues, "without armor they are quite entertaining."

"And b.l.o.o.d.y," Roxanne adds.

Hana shrugs.

"When you have healers at your side it's very rare for someone to die, no need to go easy."

"Weren't you born at Sommerland? What do they do there?" I ask.

"Eh, the ape wereanimals like [Alchemicism] too much, it makes the battles quite confusing."

Roxanne snorts, "What's the use of alchemy if you can't reproduce the same result twice," she wrinkles her nose.

"Uh, what? You have to explain that one to me," I say.

"A part of [Alchemicism] is trying to extract the abstract concepts of things. The problem is it rarely works the same way twice, you are basically asking the G.o.d of Luck to give you the spell you want!" Roxanne throws her hands in the air. "It's fine if you want to use it to extract the more complex things out of materials but the wereapes go a step too far."

Another rift between scholars, how amusing.

"Aanyway... what about the Misty Fox clan?" I ask.

"We don't duel much, just some archery contests. The more popular contest is hunting the most dangerous monster you can, alone," Alissa says.

"What about the dwarves?" Lyle asks to Lina.

"I never saw but I heard they like to duel with full plate and clubs until one pa.s.ses out, then there's the men-of-the-line team combat. I'm not sure how true it is but there's drunk duels where you are not allowed to use [Spirit of Gaia]."

"Now that's something interesting," Hana smirks.

­

We reach our destination and get out of the wagon.

The Colosseum is a large circular building made of blue-gray bricks. It has a tall ceiling between each of the 3 floors with huge windows where statues of overly muscular men, women, and large monsters peek out from. Floating on top of it is a mini-sun called [Spirit Light].

We are on the "n.o.ble" side so other carriages and the usual carnival of fas.h.i.+on flock in direction of the entrance.

Our group simply strolls through the line and we pa.s.s by the guard with merely a nod from Silvane. We pa.s.s through wide halls full of murals of glorious battles that elicit a nod of approval from Lina. Stalls of a.s.sorted goodies can be seen, sweets, snacks, meats on sticks, keepsakes, plus.h.i.+es, and even fake gladiator armor for children.

After a stair we reach our room, it's a covered balcony protruding forward towards the middle of the ring. A feast of fruits, sweets, meats, and other savory snacks are in front of us on a table. Beyond that Haaran awaits on a very comfy looking sofa, his feet up on an ottoman footstool.

"Hey Silf," he waves towards us, his piercing gaze nowhere to be found.

She smiles at him and plops on the sofa at his side, Nononya then plops besides her. After some quick introductions my group picks a wide sofa while Lyle's picks a smaller one at the middle.

"Vanea is not coming?" Silvane asks.

"No, she's with mother and Lai," Haaran answers.

Conversation is thrown away as they discuss the best gladiator and who's going to win this time. There's also some mentions about the summoning battle but not much information about it was revealed to keep the mystery.

The golems are pulled out by Ciel, now that they are self-sufficient they are kept outside most of the time.

"How adorable!" Nononya grabs Ted and hugs him tight, the little golem already learned that resistance is futile and his destiny is to be smothered by women.

Once she gets her share of hugging she puts the golem down and Roxanne tells them to dance, causing Nono and Hatara to cough blood.

"Amazing, Mr. Ryder," Silvane says. "They look so incredibly smart... and cute..."

"So, so cute!" Hatara gushes, her green eyes suddenly turn into one of a hunter. "So envious! Sell one to me one day."

Haaran raises an eyebrow and Garanae rolls his eyes.

The mini-sun glows green and the entire Colosseum goes quiet.

"Gentlemen and Gentlewomen!" Announces a magically-enhanced voice. "Welcome to the 110th spectacle of the year!"

The crowd cheers.

"Our schedule for tonight is first a Battle Royal, then a duel between Baal and Taal, the twins of anger and scorn!" The crowd gives a "hurray!". "And finally, the SUMMONER BATTLE!"

The crowd cheers again.

"Start returning to your seats, folks! The bets are going to close down in a minute and the battle will start in five!"

I look to Ciel and grab her hand.

"What do the G.o.ds say about betting?" I ask.

"The G.o.d of Luck says it's a waste of time," she answers.

"So why do people do it?"

"The G.o.d of War tells people not to foolishly charge to your deaths but people still do it all the time. It's simply because people are fools," she smiles bitterly.

"More like they want some excitement," Hana says.

"They are still fools if they don't know when it's appropriate to make a bet," Ciel smiles smugly.

Hana shows her tongue at her and Ciel snorts.

A minute later a large amount of mostly men and some women come out of the first floor into the dirt arena. They wear typical gladiator armor that exposes a lot of the body but protects the more important organs like the heart and brains.

A beautiful dragonkin woman appears and the crowd goes wild. She's taller than all the men, she must be at least 2,1 meters tall. Her pure white skin in contrast with her abyss black hair and scales, her armor is minimal, it could barely be considered a bikini since she even exposes a ma.s.sive breast with a ghost nipple.

The male side of our group becomes a little uncomfortable as the female side tries to catch back our attention. Lyle's posture shrinks as he looks incredibly solitaire in his awkwardness.

Lina casually drills her a.s.s on my crotch as she pets Aoi. Alissa latches my hand in the middle of her crotch, which I feel get warm by the second. Hana latches my other hand on her crotch, which is already warmer than Alissa's. Roxanne and Ciel reach over and painfully squeeze my thigh for a second.

The shameless dragonkin pulls out a greatsword with a light blue sheen. Lina's grinding stops as she admires the sword.

"Ka.n.a.l..." She mutters.

"What's that?" I ask.

"Metal perfect for enchanting," Hana answers, "not the best at cutting but you can make some interesting weapons with it."

After the carnival of gladiators is done coming out, a large amount of robed priests fill the ring wall of the arena and lower themselves behind barricades.

"It is time!" The announcer suddenly speaks, "Without further ado, LET THE BATTLE BEGIN!"

*PUOINNN~!* A gong is. .h.i.t and the warriors start to fight.

The shameless dragonkin flies towards the nearest man and bashes him, he loses his posture and she slashes with all her strength. Her sword buries itself halfway through the exposed leg of a man, then a ghost of her appears and strikes again, this time the leg is cut through.

Interesting indeed.

"[Double Strike]..." Lina mutters again, completely entranced on the woman.

The crowd "ooh's" in sympathy. The now legless man and his legs are quickly recovered by the priests and immediately his leg gets reattached, though he doesn't return to battle.

"She swings that sword like a club," Hana says. "It works but..."

"It's completely inefficient, ridiculous even," Haaran says.

"They are performers after all," Silvane says with a shrug.

The shameless dragonkin skewers another man through his stomach and with a monstrous grunt, throws him into another opponent. Both men break bones from the impact, an arm is twisted on the wrong way.

"Wow..." Haaran mutters, his eyes gleam with admiriation.

The men decide to gang up on her. One tries to thrust but has his sword blocked by the black scales at the back of her hand; another cuts one of wings off; a third slashes at her thigh, drawing blood; a fourth comes for a killing blow at her exposed shoulder but stops when her sword flashes light and blinds everyone nearby. The light even hurt our eyes a little.

She crouches low and cuts off the feet of her attackers with a sweep. She immediately awkwardly flies to the side when the biggest man of the arena slashes down at her with his own greatsword.

The man is a muscular, bronze skinned man with the biggest mustache I have ever seen, and he's only wearing a tight red thong. He's just as bloodied as her.

"SABLE, SABLE, SABLE!" Half the crowd cries.

"MONS, MONS, MONS!" The other half cries in response.

They trade blows, nicking each other little by little. Each cut causes a short gush of blood to come out, dyeing the sand of the arena red.

The rest of the battles ended, bringing calm to the arena besides the two. In a split second they part ways and cleave the few remaining men, finally leaving them as the last two standing.

They rush back to each other and the clash restarts, but there's a clear winner approaching.

Mons kicks Sable away, she weakly stands up and walks forward. Mons leans forward and is stopped by Sable's hand. She holds him still, gives him a peck on the lips and pushes him back. He falls on the ground, unconscious.

"RAAAAAahh..." Her victory scream fades as she falls backwards, also unconscious.

"SABLE WINS!" The announcer screams.

The woman is healed by the priests and immediately runs a victory lap. The crowd throws flowers, coins, and marriage proposals from men and women.

The priests quickly clean the arena out of body parts, partic.i.p.ants, and blood. In a few minutes everything is back to normal.

"Gentlemen and Gentlewomen!" The announcer talks again. "The bets for the next spectacle have closed! Sit down and watch as the twins settle who's the best swordsman of Rabanara!"

From opposite sides two handsome men with chiseled faces and statuesque bodies come out, I feel an instinctual need to cover the eyes of all women. Both of them have a half neck guard that only protects the spine, a shoulder guard that covers the heart, and short leather pants, their muscular chests are exposed and oiled. One has a ball of fire engraved on his metal kite s.h.i.+eld and the other has a crystal of ice. One is a red skinned devil-type and the other is a blue skinned oni-type.

Their faces look the same even though they have different races, the devil-type has two small protusions on his forehead while the other has two short yellow horns coming out. They put their identical helmets on and draw their identical steel swords.

"Brother!" The blue oni yells, "Let your chaotic ways end here! Your swordsmans.h.i.+p brings nothing but blood and death, you will waste your life by dying by your sword due to your recklessness!"

"Brother!" The red devil yells, "Let your decaying ways end here! Your swordsmans.h.i.+p brings nothing but meekness and stagnation, you will waste your life by withering away without accomplis.h.i.+ng anything!"

"Let the G.o.ds decide who is right! You will be defeated here, Baal!"

"Let the G.o.ds decide who is stronger! You will be defeated here, Taal!"

They point their swords at each other and charge.

Baal strikes first and keeps his momentum. His sword does not stop as he strikes again and again. Taal defends with his s.h.i.+eld, using minimal movements to deflect each blow.

"Now this looks like proper swordsmans.h.i.+p," Hana says.

Haaran nods in approval.

Baal flourishes with a spin attack, it strikes so hard Taal's s.h.i.+eld that even I wince at the damage to the blade. The sound of metal hitting metal reverberates through the arena, bringing the crowd to higher levels of excitement.

Haaran sighs and smiles bitterly. "Can't forget we are still at the Colosseum," he says.

The battle picks up pace not in speed but in showmans.h.i.+p, each fighter flourishes with increasing frequency. It's a beauty to watch but it's not one a show of expert swordsmans.h.i.+p.

Baal nicks Taal with more frequency than the inverse. The blue skin of the oni gets slowly died in his blood as the wounds increase yet his posture never crumbles or his speed decreases. Baal on the contrary looks increasingly haggard and with more difficulty to breathe with each attack.

"JUST... DIE... ALREADY!" Baal yells between each strike.

"YOU... ARE... FOOLIs.h.!.+"

Taal bashes and counters, his strength pushes Baal away and his sword jabs the stomach of his brother. He continues with his momentum, a rhythm of bas.h.i.+ng and countering pushes Baal away and soon he's going to touch the wall.

Baal sinks his foot on the ground and takes a bash on his body. He hugs Taal's s.h.i.+eld and jabs at his collarbone from above.

Taal sinks low and sweeps his brother's feet off the ground. He leans forward as Baal's body hits the ground and forces him down with his s.h.i.+eld.

Taal's sword flashes and Baal drops his weapons, his hand goes to cover the new wound at his throat, a futile attempt to stop the flood of blood.

Taal kicks the ground and lands a meter away from his brother, in a moment a priest is already healing Baal. Taal lifts his bloodied sword to the sky and closes his eyes in meditation.

"TAAL WINS!"

The crowd explodes in cheers again and Taal makes a victory lap. The crowd throws flowers, coins, letters of love, and used panties.

"You said dragonkin duels are more b.l.o.o.d.y?" Alissa asks Hana.

"Oh yes, a slashed throat or a missing arm are not enough to stop a fight," she answers.

The cleanup is quicker this time so in a minute the announcer is speaking again.

"Gentlemen and Gentlewomen! The bets for the next spectacle have closed! Sit down and watch our final spectacle! The SUMMONER BATTLEEEE~!"

"t.i.tAN, t.i.tAN, t.i.tAN, t.i.tAN!" The crowd chants.

"Ohoh..." Roxanne murmurs.

Nononya's whiskers twitch repeatedly.

Everyone leans forward waiting for the next duelists.

Out of opposite sides, two lithe robed figures come out. One is in white robes, the other in black . A krampus-type demon with brown hair and a wereowl woman with white hair with streaks of grey.

"KROSSUS VERSUS OROONA!"

Both of them start to chant and after 2 minutes a 10-meter tall earth elemental forms on each side. Their bodies are made of floating blocks of stone while the joints are round b.a.l.l.s. Stone grinds on stone loudly with every movement.

The elementals step forward in slow motion, each step sending a tremor through the arena.

"Oh, wow," I let the wonder escape my lips.

"Impressive but I believe it's borderline unpractical, right?" Silvane asks.

Nononya has her mouth hanging in wonder but still manages to nod repeatedly.

"The mana efficiency is going to be horrible," I say.

Krossus' elemental is made of yellow stone while Oroona's is made of black stone.

"LET THE BEST SUMMONER BEGIN! FIGHT!"

The elementals crush the ground as they charge forward. The yellow t.i.tan aims a right hook while the black t.i.tan leans low and opens his arms wide.

"Yellow opens with a punch while Black bets it all on a bear hug!" The announcer yells.

Yellow fires his slow-motion punch and grazes the arm of Black, who deflects the blow with his own arm. Black slams his front foot on the ground to stop and aims an uppercut with his left arm.

*DROOM~* A low rumble as stone hits stone and piece of yellow rock flies. Yellow's head block spins wildly, his balance is broken and he falls backwards.

"OH! A perfect parry followed by a hit!"

Yellow uses his arms to hook on Black's arms and pull him down. Yellow's body twists and suddenly, as "sudden" as a 10 seconds fall can be, Black hits the ground first, followed by Yellow's knee.

*DOOOOMSHH~...* Dust lifts from the ground as both t.i.tans fall like rocks, literally.

"Yellow reverses it up and drags Black down with it!"

A 3-meters tall dominatrix made of fire burst alive besides Oroona. A 3-meters tall angel of light in a frilly dress blooms out of a flower besides Krossus.

The dominatrix flies forward and her whip of fire curls around Yellow's neck. She grunts as she pulls him away from Black.

Long blades appear out of the back of the hand of the angel and she flies forward towards the dominatrix.

"Dame of Pain and the Saintess make their appeareances! Will their rivalry finally end here!?"

Yellow staggers up, his hands claw at his face trying to remove the whip in vain. Black hits the ground with his arm and his other flies upwards, the outer layer explodes revealing a much thinner, and faster, arm below.

Saintess is nicked by Black's new arm and is diverted away from the fight. Her hands rub her eyes as dust must have entered them.

"The Saintess is taken in surprise by a layer discard from Black!"

Dame of Pain raises her other hand and a large ball of fire starts to form.

Yellow turns around and tries to move towards the Dame but his legs are swiped by Black and he falls face first on the ground.

*DOOOOMSHH~...* More dust is lifted. The Dame cackles an evil laugh and prepares to throw her spell.

A flying blade pierces the ball of fire and glows. The fire grows wild and the ball starts to lose shape.

"The Saintess interrupts the spell with the mana from her sword!"

The Dame scowls and throws the unstable spell at Yellow.

The Saintess flies into the spell and buries her other blade at it. She screams as the flame licks her "skin". Yellow pulls her away and the spell explodes, chunks of yellow rock fly around the arena.

Bursts of wind prevent the rock from reaching the stands. A particularly large piece of rock floats in front of us, wind flowing all around it, keeping it still. Another gust of wind takes the rock away back into the arena.

"Now that was scary as h.e.l.l," I say.

Haaran chuckles. "That's the point of using [Wind s.h.i.+eld]," he says.

"It really makes it more exciting," Lyle says.

"Yellow sacrificed his hand to save Saintess, but oh no...!" The announcer yells.

Black jumps into Yellow and crashes down on him. Yellow sinks into the dirt as it compresses under the ridiculous weight. Black lifts his fist up.

A new sun appears on the arena. Saintess opens her mouth and a beam of light hits the flank of Black, sending him a meter away from Yellow. Her spell ends and she looks depleted with her shoulder slumped.

The Dame retreats her whip and coils it on Saintess, making her scream. She pulls the whip back and sinks a fire claw on the belly of Saintess.

"THE SAINTESS IS CAUGHT ON THE EVIL CLAWS OF THE DAME!"

The crowd groans in pain, clear favoritism towards the light elemental.

The Saintess struggles and wrenches free, she flies away and collapses on the ground. White s.h.i.+ning "blood" stains the claws of the Dame, which slowly return to being a "normal" hand.

A tornado quickly forms besides Oroona. In a few seconds it dissipates and a 5-meters tall, transparent, green woman is left behind. You can see sharp features and an air (heh) of self-importance on her.

Besides Krossus it suddenly starts to rain. Quickly the drops of rain freeze in the form of a throne, after that a blob of floating water takes the shape of a 5-meters tall man. He has similar facial features and the same air about him.

"THE LAST SUMMONS APPEARS! SISTER TEMPEST AND BROTHER MAELSTROM ARE CALLED TO BATTLE!"

The ants that are Krossus and Oroona hunch over and breathe quickly, their mana is exhausted.

Suddenly Yellow explodes and the arena is filled with dust again.

A woman screams and a gust of air sweeps the dust. A skeleton of Yellow is moving at incredible speed back towards Maelstrom. Dame is on his clutches, being squeezed alive by him.

"Yellow shows his final form and captures the Dame!"

Maelstrom calls forth a jet of water that he fires towards Dame, steam fills the air and obscures our vision again.

A large tremor runs through the arena and Tempest clears the air again. A skeleton of Black is on top of Yellow, his foot is crus.h.i.+ng the rib cage of the fallen t.i.tan. Dame is being encased in ice, she desperately tries to melt her prison down while shrieking.

Black cracks the spine of Yellow along his rib cage, breaking his body into two. Suddenly dame starts to glow. The ice prison shatters and a gush of water throws Dame back towards Black.

*BOOOOM!* Rock flies towards every direction again and [Wind s.h.i.+eld] keeps us all safe. The air clears and we see Black is standing still, the skeleton above his hip is missing, black rock fills grounds of the arena.

"THE SUICIDE BACKFIRED! MAELSTROM USED DAME TO FINISH OF BLACK!"

The crowd goes crazy, children have meltdowns, Aoi flaps her wings in excitement.

Maelstrom forms a spear of ice while Tempest forms one of air.

They charge at each other and a "b.l.o.o.d.y" battle begins. Water drips down multiple holes on Maelstrom and green smoke comes out of Tempest's body.

They pierce each other in a display of savagery more than spearmans.h.i.+p as they forgo defense.

Tempest is faster and is filling Maelstrom with more holes than he can dish out in counter. He's pushed back and Tempest smiles s.a.d.i.s.tically. The man of water has a stern expression but pain slowly seeps into his face.

"Maelstrom is being pushed back! The brother cannot compete with his sister's speed!"

Suddenly Yellow gains a burst of speed and grabs the legs of Tempest. She sneers at him and crushes his head, finis.h.i.+ng him. A moment later light escapes from his ribcage, then the ground turns white and Tempest screams.

"THE TRAP HAS BEEN TRIGGERED! TEMPEST HAS FORGOTTEN THE SAINTESS!"

Her movements slow as [Sanctuary] attacks her every being.

Maelstrom booms a laugh and strikes back at his sister. She cowers and tries to leave the sacred ground but every move takes away her power. She barely manages to defend herself.

With a final laugh Maelstrom pierces his ice spear on the head of Tempest. She shrieks and becomes invisible, suddenly a tornado blasts through the arena and the elemental is no more.

Oroona kneels.

"KROSSUS WINS!"

The elementals dissipate in a rainbow smoke and Krossus makes his victory lap. The crowd throws flowers, coins, lewd drawings of his summons, and proposals for summoning brothels.

"Now that was a spectacle," I say.

"Can you do things like this, Wolf?" Garanae asks.

"I think I can get to 5 meters tall, but the efficiency of it is ridiculous, it's impractical for combat," I answer.

"What a shame, sieges would be so much more interesting if we had 10-meters tall t.i.tans taking front row."

"Maybe if we had someone dedicate their lives to it the efficiency could be improved," Nononya says.

"Oh?" Lyle turns his head to her, his eyes gleam with hope.

"You still have to deal with catapults and earth mages using huge [Earth Bullets], simply not feasible," Haaran says.

"Oh..." Lyle and Garanae drop their heads.

­

We spend a little longer and fill our bellies with more snacks. Since it's well into the night we are taken home after that. A new carriage was waiting for my group.

I enter the bath and push Hana on the wall, she bends over and lifts her dress for me, one toned leg up on a stool. I immediately penetrate her from behind. She's a mild exhibitionist, she would get warmer every time someone glanced at her nipples.

The prolonged teasing took its toll on us. Soon I pull it out and finish all over her dress, ruining it.

We take a quick bath to clean the sweat and then go to sleep.