A laugh escaped my mouth as I swung my sword —shining with the magic I dumped into it, so much man that it was a miracle it didn't melt— once more, this time costing the attacking golden lion a tendon, then, rather than following up with a deadlier attack, I once again rolled in front of Aviada, preventing the second one from taking her down.
Meanwhile, the remaining three were still locked in their earthen cages, smashing into them, again and again, to get free despite impaling themselves on the spikes I had created. If they were any stupider, they would have stopped long ago, afraid of the pain. Unfortunately, they were smart enough to understand the implications, forcing me to expend even more mana to keep them away from the battle.
[-260 Mana]
"Come on, little guy," I called in satisfaction as I suddenly charged forward, meeting its charge halfway, enough to shock the creature. I doubted that it ever experienced a smaller creature trying to wrestle it down. Normally, even with my phenomenal strength, trying to meet a monster in a contest of pure strength was not the smartest move, but the creature's astonishment was enough that it failed to react appropriately until I was on its back, grabbing its head and forcing it backward.
Aviada's combat senses were good enough that I didn't need to order her to charge for her to step forward and cut the monster's throat with a precise swing, making it bleed painfully. Even as I jumped down and turned the other way, readying myself for the assault of the wounded one, I let my mana wrap around Aviada once more, so when she stabbed the head of the lion, I was able to observe the changes that happened in her soul space perfectly.
The sliver of power once again merged into her soul space, strengthening it further.
Taking down the wounded one was trivial. With its rushed ambush failed, it was wide open, allowing me to cut off its front leg, and Aviada easily delivered the killing blow, her soul space expanding even further.
The remaining three monsters revitalized their assault towards the cage, but with a big difference, they were attacking at the other side of the cage, trying to escape rather than attack after their hunting attempt cost the life of half of their pride. Unfortunately for them, I had enough mana to keep them locked in, easily dealing with them one after another, while Aviada delivered the last hit.
[-620 Mana]
I watched her soul space carefully, observing the changes that happened. When she absorbed the experience from the last one, however, a large change happened in her soul space. It suddenly started to expand, widening significantly but also gaining an elastic quality. I was finally able to get a better understanding of the leveling process.
[+2 Tantric]
I didn't try to mess with it, of course, not even when her sword-fighting ability was strengthened even further, signaling that she had once again chosen to overemphasize her already strong abilities. I didn't have a problem with it, not when it made her even more dependent on me. Though considering the small change that happened, it was clear that her skill had reached the point of diminishing returns.
I let the process complete, watching carefully as her soul space solidified once more, covering a wider area, but also, for the lack of a better term, less elastic. Combining that with the findings from Helga and Cornelia, I had a preliminary hypothesis that the softness of the space was about the level cap. At one point, hardening enough to be unable to accept new inputs, whether it was from experience or achievements.
Experimenting on Aviada was definitely not an option, however. The risk of permanent damage was too high.
"Another level up, I'm level twelve now," she exclaimed happily before she dashed forward and caught my lips. I responded immediately, happy that she trusted me enough to reveal her level without me prompting her. I had long deduced it, of course, but the fact that she trusted me enough to reveal it counted for a lot.
I let my hands wander over her mostly naked body, enjoying the way her chainmail bikini smashed against my body. And as much as I was tempted to continue it by pushing her down, we needed to move before even more dangerous creatures were drawn to the smell of the golden lion corpses.
So, I reluctantly pulled back and instead started processing the carcasses of the creatures. As level fifteen creatures, they were very precious in making new magical items such as weapons, armors, and disposable items. Unfortunately, the low success rate of the crafting process, as well as the fragility of most of the resulting items, made such items pretty rare.
Aviada's sword was a very rare item in that sense, especially in the hands of a student. The only reason Aviada had that because she was the only one in her family able to use it, and the only reason she was able to keep possession of it was due to other people's lack of knowledge about its full range of capabilities. I doubted that even her ex-fiancee who was willing to kill her to acquire the sword, was aware of the full range of its capabilities.
The fact that she was able to use that sword to kill a golden lion with a couple of swings —even if they were hurt and immobilized— was a significant improvement. Normal swords wouldn't even cut through their skin, and most magical swords would require several swings even with her impressive strength.
There was no hope that I could use the remains of the golden lions to make an item of a similar caliber —or even at the same class— but still, having a backup option might help. And since I finally made the decision to reinforce my room, storage was not a problem.
We were silent as we processed the lions, as even with magic, it was grueling work, but in the end, I was carrying a large bundle of precious magical ingredients —some I could even use to establish more permanent wards around my room… All around, a very profitable night.
"So, are you finally going to get something better than the garbage you've been using," she said, pointing at my sword, which effectively turned into brittle scrap metal after the mana bath it received while I was fighting.
"Maybe, but I need someone to make a good weapon for me."
She chuckled. "Finally, something you can't do!"
"Hey," I exclaimed as I slapped her ass, which was easy to do as most of her ass was naked thanks to the minimal coverage of her bikini armor. She gasped and tried to retaliate, but I dodged her and stepped forward, locking her in with a bear hug before leaning down and biting her neck near the collarbone, on a point that I knew she enjoyed immensely. She moaned…
And I pulled back, a smirk on my face. "That's what you get for messing with me," I said, enjoying the way she panted in arousal.
"Leaving a lady hanging like this is extremely rude," she answered, but we continued to walk, exhausted and desiring to go back to the protection of the school. A pride of golden lions was far above my expectations. Even in the night, I wasn't expecting the surroundings of the Silver Spires to be that dangerous.
"About your weapon," she repeated after a couple of minutes of comfortable silence.
"I'm guessing you have an idea," I said, which was a good guess considering she mentioned it again.
"Yeah, one of the enchanters is my mentor, and she does good work," she said, missing the way my eyes brightened at the mention of a female enchanter. The discussion had immediately turned more interesting at that point. "She might be interested in crafting a new weapon for you."
"Crafting a weapon from scratch is very exhausting work, would she really be willing?" I asked.
"Well, she is in a bit of debt," Aviada murmured. "She might be willing to try if the payment is good enough, especially since she owes me one for allowing her to examine my sword."
I almost slapped my head, unable to believe Aviada's silliness. Trusting an enchanter with that sword was like trusting a shark with a piece of bloody meat. Though luckily, it also answered the questions about whether we could trust her or not. If she didn't steal Aviada's sword after examining it, she should be trustworthy enough to talk to. Not to a point of revealing any of my secrets, of course… "Sounds interesting, I'll visit her if you can arrange a private meeting with her. I don't want anyone else to see us," I explained, and she nodded.
Our return was not without incident, of course. An impressive number of monsters had attacked us, though none of them worthy enough to take notice of —other than a lazy sword swing from Aviada —or a simple magic missile from me if they were too weak to even register for their experience.
Of course, I was gaining no benefit from the experience reward that they tried to give, I decided to experiment even more. Using the tricks I learned from my Tantric skill, I tried to redirect the nugget of energy that resulted in the experience gain, only to fail spectacularly several times, sometimes failing to affect it, sometimes pushing hard enough to evaporate it completely, wasting enough mana to leave me dry if it wasn't for my enhanced regeneration.
[-673 Mana]
[+3 Tantric]
Then, one of my attempts was actually successful, and I managed to drag the experience nugget toward Aviada, and once connected, her soul space devoured it hungrily. She turned to me, questioningly. "Why did I just gain experience?" she asked.
[-1 Mana]
"I just figured out another trick, I can guide the reward for the last hit," I explained. Unlike my ability to give experience through sex, it wasn't exactly groundbreaking. And paradoxically, since it was related to combat, I expected her to hold that as a secret easier.
"Huh, that's handy," she answered, which was something I agreed with wholeheartedly. Aviada had no area-effect ability, and Helga was not much better at farming experience. This discovery would no doubt come in handy. More importantly, I could use this to help people with no companion bond if I ever expanded my circle more than the people I enjoyed spending naked time together.
I was about to answer, but then I noticed several dire rabbits escaping under the ground. A combination of earth magic and arcana enabled me to detect thousands of rabbits underground. Another earth elemental spell, although costly, turned their hive into a coffin, resulting in a rain of tiny experience droplets, as thick as the resulting cloud of dust.
[-420 Mana]
I tried to form a web to redirect the droplets toward Aviada. I wasn't able to catch all of them, but enough to make her smile widely at what I achieved. "You're the best," she said with a wide smile, happy to receive her reward.
"Well, you better think about the payment," I answered. She said nothing, but the sway of her almost-naked hips was sufficient for me. I took a step back and watched the way her hips swayed for the rest of the way. Only when we were about to sneak back into the school did she put her thick cloak on once more, not wanting to be seen in such a revealing state in the school.
"To the bedroom?" she asked when we finally arrived back at the communal section for female warriors.
"No, we need a shower," I answered.
"I don't have a private shower, we only have the communal ones," she answered.
"And this is a problem, how?" I answered, earning a slap on my shoulder and a playful chuckle in response. She changed direction, and soon, we were in a room covered with rough stone, lacking the grandeur of the baths I had seen in Cornelia's and Marianne's rooms.
She closed the door, but since it was a shared one, locking the door was not an option. I put a detection ward up just in case even as I watched Aviada undress quickly. I would have preferred an extended show, but at times like these, she was definitely quicker.
Still, I watched her undressing with rapt attention. It wasn't the first time I was seeing her naked, but that didn't change the fact that her body deserved my undivided attention, tight and toned through countless hours of training, but deliciously curvy nonetheless.
I watched in silence as she walked toward the shower on the uttermost end, the towel in her hand rather than wrapped around her body. Then, just as she turned on the water, hot enough to raise a steamy cloud, I joined her.
"Do you mind washing my back," she gasped even as she stood close enough for my shaft to disappear between her meaty ass cheeks.
"Sure," I answered and started washing her slowly, tracing her muscles, making her moan softly.
I was tempted to push her against the wall and take her mercilessly, especially when she giggled playfully and started moving her hips up and down in a manner that was against her personality, but I held back, enjoying her elated mood after the great gains we made during the night. Of course, even as I caressed her body, I carefully examined her soul space, examining the way it slowly stabilized after the level up.
I was about to change the pattern when I felt the ward triggering. I didn't want to get caught in the middle of the showers with Aviada, not wanting to deal with the resulting scandal. The simplest solution was to cast an illusion spell to hide as another girl and act unnoticed, but that would mean leaving without tasting Aviada while she was in the perfect mood.
Luckily, my magic was versatile enough to give me another solution. A simple application of fire magic made an even thicker steam cloud, one that made it hard to see anything other than a shadow. Using an illusion spell to erase my own silhouette was trivial at that point.
"Keep your voice down," I whispered into Aviada's ear even as I slid inside her simultaneously. She gave me a scandalized look, trying to look like she did not appreciate my initiative, but her body disagreed as I easily slid into her wetness, forcing out a small moan.
[Companion Acquisition: Progress 56%]
The thick cloud of steam might be preventing our uninvited guest from seeing me, but the same didn't apply for the reverse. Moments after my ward was triggered, a redhead that was even bustier than Aviada walked into the showers, and turned on the nearest one. I couldn't help but examine her breasts, miraculously defying gravity despite their impressive size, though her hips were no different. She didn't have Aviada's perfectly toned body, but she was beautiful enough to make that thicker look work with her perfect hourglass shape.
[Level Difference of at least 50%! No Experience]
Pity there was no reward from seeing her, as I would have loved to make her a priority.
"Hi, Aviada," she said cheerfully, indicating that they were good friends. I panicked momentarily when she easily recognized Aviada despite the cloud of steam, then I realized Aviada's sword —a very distinctive piece of equipment— was just a few feet away. "You're early again, another all-nighter hunting rabbits?"
"Same old, same old," Aviada answered evenly, which annoyed me a bit. I didn't like just how easily she was speaking with my shaft inside her, so I grabbed her breasts, my fingers sinking into her flesh to make it much harder. The gasp she let out was simply beautiful.
[Companion Acquisition: Progress 58%]
"Hey, are you okay," she asked in a concerned tone as she tried to peer through the cloud, her green eyes shining with concern. It was clear that she was a good friend of Aviada.
"Y-yeah," she stammered, her response made even more difficult as I started pumping into her with long, even strokes, enjoying her warm tightness.
"You don't sound okay?" she answered even as she stopped soaping up, and turned to face Aviada. The sight of her spectacular breasts, covered with a rapidly-thinning layer of bubbles made the sight even more delicious. I picked up speed, though still careful not to make any noise.
"I just p-pulled a muscle, not a big deal," Aviada answered, but then she gasped painfully as a result of the surprise intrusion of my finger slipping into her puckered hole. I pushed Aviada even more, because our mystery visitor was clearly a good friend, and I was feeling adventurous enough to take the risk.
[Companion Acquisition: Progress 63%]
And if the sudden jump in the Companion Progress was any indicator, despite her angry glare, Aviada also enjoyed my domineering action.
"It doesn't sound like no big deal," she said as she closed in. "I'm going to take a look!"
I could have easily hidden with a mid-level illusion spell under the circumstances, but since she wanted to take a look, I decided to give her what she wanted, and let the cloud of steam dissipate, just as she was a step away from Aviada.
Their eyes widened simultaneously as they found themselves face to face without anything to cover their bodies. Our mystery guest's gaze fell down for a moment, to the point where my shaft repeatedly disappeared into Aviada's entrance, frozen in shock.
"So, Aviada, won't you introduce your friend," I said even as I increased the pacing, and suddenly the sound of flesh hitting flesh filled the room.
"Carla," was all she was able to say before her climax hit her mercilessly as she collapsed to the floor, shuddering. Normally, I would have held her upright and continued fucking, but the alternative was just too amusing not to take.
[Companion Acquisition: Progress 65%]
I presented my hand to Carla. "Since Aviada is rude enough not to continue, let me introduce myself. Caesar," I said, and even grabbed her hand to place a soft kiss on her knuckles with such a perfect mannerism that it wouldn't be amiss at a high-class party.
Of course, the fact that I was naked, and making my rock hard shaft still coated with her friend's juices very visible might have changed the impact slightly. "Nice to meet you," she managed to stammer, mostly in shock as her gaze bounced around the room, including Aviada's naked figure, and my erect shaft. "I need to go…" she continued, still dazed in shock. "I have a thing…"
"You certainly do," I said even as I looked at her breasts very pointedly, which was finally enough to trigger her to escape, her ass jiggling with each hurried step.
"You're an evil man," Aviada said, but she made the mistake of saying that while she was still naked and on all fours in front of me, so I decided to teach her a lesson. A quick spell was enough to clean her puckered hole, and I slid inside for an even tighter second round.
When we finally finished almost half an hour later, Aviada was barely able to stumble into her bed, yet utterly satisfied…
[Companion Acquisition: Progress 72%]
As I snuck back to my room, a wide smile was on my face, my mind already on how to arrange another meeting with Aviada's interesting friend…
[Level: 20 Experience: 203100 / 210000
Strength: 24 Charisma: 34
Precision: 17 Perception: 21
Agility: 21 Manipulation: 26
Speed: 19 Intelligence: 26
Endurance: 18 Wisdom: 28
HP: 1980 / 1980 Mana: 2700 / 2700 ]
SKILLS
Master Melee [100/100]
Expert Arcana [75/75]
Expert Elemental [75/75]
Expert Biomancy [75/75]
Expert Tantric [75/75]
Advanced Subterfuge [50/50]
Basic Speech [25/25]
PERKS
Mana Regeneration
