It was almost six hours later that a knock was heard on the door, distracting us from the sweaty three-person knot we had become as we rested after another particularly exhausting bout. The break was a necessity after the marathon we had shared, which brought great dividends to both for me and for the girls, not just in terms of the amazing pleasure we had all drew from our rest, but also in terms of their development, much to their fascination.
[Helga - Level 17/21 - 12%]
[Cornelia - Level 19/25 - 96%]
After all, around their power level, improving by even a single level was an incredible achievement.
“Cornelia, the professor is saying we are going to meet in the lobby in ten minutes,” she had called.
“Got it,” Cornelia answered as she tried to raise her head from my chest, disturbing Helga’s rest in the process, earning a stink-eye in the process.
Their relationship evolved in a way I hadn’t completely foreseen during our boundless marathon. They mellowed against each other slightly, not to a point that they were any close to be called friend, but their stings got a bit blunter, and their attacks on each other received a more sexual undertone, releasing their repressed feelings in an unexpected way. Though, the competition aspect that they had, in the beginning, had never disappeared, turning it into a weird competition where they ambushed each other with various tricks, sometimes physical, sometimes magical.
A much better alternative to a boring variant of battle.
“We need to move,” Helga murmured dispirited, her exhaustion sapping her desire for the mission. I slapped her ass, which I used to cast a healing spell to remove exhaustion, jerking her awake better than any external stimulant. Then, I turned to Cornelia, who was looking equally exhausted, but this time, I chose a different way to awaken her.
I slipped inside her, her tunnel already slippery due to a mixture of her wetness and my many releases, to a point of feeling bloated. If it wasn’t for the generous amount of healing spells I had used, all of us would have been scrubbed raw, and even walking would have been exhausting.
“We need to get ready for the mission,” she gasped, but that didn’t prevent her from pushing her ass backward to achieve deeper penetration.
“I know, but wouldn’t you like to have another level before you moved,” I said, reminding her that she needed less than a thousand experience points to level up.
“I would like that,” Cornelia gasped, her arousal peeking up immediately at the reminder. After all, while a level up wouldn’t bring up immediate benefits since she was yet to complete the skill development from her earlier spells, but it didn’t matter when she was about to step into level twenty, which was widely accepted as the mark of a true elite. It was especially important for Cornelia, who had been being plagued by the fears of being unable to level up until very recently.
Not to mention, any boost to hit points or mana was welcome.
“Then, shut up and shake your ass,” I ordered, followed by a playful spank. Meanwhile, Helga giggled before stealing a kiss, elated with the payback she had been able to extract from Cornelia. Cornelia didn’t just surrender, and gave as good as it got, however, it was a very positive development from Helga’s perspective, as their earlier interactions had been just Cornelia lashing out while Helga suffered helplessly for scraps discarded for Cornelia.
“Would you mind helping me with the shower?” Helga asked.
“Sure,” I said and cast a simple water elemental spell, which pulled a thick line of water from the bathroom, cleaning Helga up in less than ten seconds, even leaving her dry. I would have liked to clean her slowly, using nothing but my hands —or maybe some other parts of my body as well if we had enough time to get dirty, and clean again— but unfortunately, the mission was about to start. Considering the potential underlying risks, including a potential spy in the midst of the group or disguised as another customer of the inn, it was for the best if they weren’t late to the meeting, avoiding attention.
While Helga watched, I was pumping inside Cornelia furiously, not bothering to hold myself back during a quickie, blasting Cornelia with my hot seed and my mana at the same time, finally allowing her to step into the vaunted level twenty.
[-1484 Mana]
[Achievement: Superior Support: Help two companions to level up three times each in one day, to protect yourself from the things to come. +2 to All Stats +3861 Experience]
“You can take a shower as well,” I said to Cornelia even as I slapped her ass, pushing her out of the bed even as I summoned another blob of water to help her shower quickly. “You girls can dress and leave, I’ll follow you from a distance,” I said.
While they burst into a flurry of activities, I turned my attention to the latest notification. Receiving another boost was always nice, but for two reasons, that achievement felt different. The first part was the amount of experience it had granted. It was the first achievement that had granted such a broken level of experience, instead of the nice, rounded numbers I had been receiving repeatedly.
That was suspicious enough, but even the text itself was different, flickering weakly like a torch that was about the be extinguished. I barely paid attention as the girls finished dressing. But just as they were about to leave, I remembered the bracelets I had created for them. “Wait a moment,” I called as I pulled the bracelets, and quickly slid them to their wrists, followed by two kisses while they blushed.
Their blush was understandable, despite everything we had done together, and the amazing bonuses they had received as a result, it was the first proper gift I was giving them. “Thanks,” they murmured simultaneously, with matching shy expressions.
“Nothing is too much for my girls,” I said, distracting myself from the irregularity of the latest achievement. “I have crafted them myself, and they are also woven with several protection charms that are effective against necromancers, both to keep you hidden and defend you against death bolts,” I added, their eyes widening as a result. Understandable, as it was a rather innovative product that reflected my amazing skills in smithing, Biomancy, and general magical aptitude. Since Oeyne couldn’t replicate it, I doubted there were many blacksmiths in the Empire that could actually do so.
The girls looked like they were ready to reward me properly for my gift, but unfortunately, they needed to go for their mission. After one last searing kiss, they left the room with a cute blush on their faces.
I stayed back, and turned my attention to the notification of the latest achievement, examining the shape of the text. Surprisingly, it flickered off, and then appeared again.
Another irregularity that had never happened before.
[Achievement: Superior Support: Help two companions to level up three times each in one day, to protect yourself from the things to come. +2 to All Stats +4193 Experience]
However, I didn’t receive a double bonus, my experience just increasing by about three hundred points. Then, I felt a sudden emptiness, similar, but not quite the same with the sensation of spending the full amount of my mana. Then, another writing appeared on my sight.
[Warning! Divine Spark is depleted. Connect with more Divine Sparks to continue supporting the System of ———]
“Fuck,” I murmured as I turned my full attention inward, examining my soul space desperately. The notification was scary, especially since it wasn’t exactly clear on what the System lacking in energy meant. For a moment, I was scared that I would start losing my power. I used my Tantric skill to carefully examine my own soul space, to see whether my power was fading, but failed to find any evidence for that.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t sufficient evidence. I could only hope that my abilities wouldn’t suddenly start to fail. Still, I sighed, losing some of the tension. Lack of an immediate depletion was definitely better than nothing. Maybe nothing would happen to my acquired abilities, and even if something had happened, at least I would have time to resolve the issue. If the worst happened, I could always go and have a talk with the headmistress, who might have a better idea about what was happening, owing to her great age and mysterious connections.
I doubted that I could handle losing everything I had gained, not after already experiencing the clarity of the power. Compared to that, temporarily —or even permanently— joining her camp was a much better option.
Luckily, it didn’t seem like a necessary thing to happen, because my perks continued to maintain their activity without any apparent loss of power. I raised my hand and cast a simple water spell, before flaring it in a complicated pattern that stretched my control abilities to the limit, clearing that at least my elemental abilities were intact. Then, I repeated the same with a fire spell, checking the performance of the temporary skill granted through my connection with Cornelia, and it also worked like it was supposed to.
Then, I moved onto my other skill, rapidly testing them, from other magical skills to melee, even testing crafting just in case. Luckily, they seemed to work without a problem as well. Now, the only problem was whether it was a comprehensive issue that prevented me from gaining strength from all sources, or whether I could continue to gain experience directly and through ordinary achievements.
Still, there was a silver lining in my challenge. Since other people in the inn wasn’t going crazy with the sudden loss of their power, it was clearly something unique to me, but the broken text of the notification was clear that my System was depleted of its unique energy source, strongly suggesting that my System was actually independent of the one that other people accessed. Its mysterious blocked name only confirmed it further.
In a way, it wasn’t surprising. The other people received experience through killing monsters, and absorbing a sliver of their potential in the process. However, I didn’t have any such source, and while sex-related activities triggered the development, I didn’t actually drain any power from the girls I was together with, or, at least, I didn’t do that in a noticeable way.
On the contrary, I could easily strengthen them with my mana. Or at least, I hoped so, because if using mana to enhance them was tapping into the same source with the experience, it would be a nasty surprise. The timing of the power depletion was suspicious, and whether it was the case needed to be confirmed through the experimentation. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be the case, not just because it would turn out to be a dangerous unforced mistake I had committed, but also it would significantly affect my future plans, forcing me to keep my supporting cast of ladies much smaller.
I certainly hoped that wasn’t the case.
“Such a nasty timing,” I murmured as I thought about the incoming undead attack. I had been planning to gain a couple of more spells by visiting Titania once more before the ultimate siege, but it doesn’t seem to be possible anymore. I sighed, and left the room through the window after a quick shower.
“At least I already have a clue on how to fix it,” I murmured, glad to have that notification. I didn’t know what a Divine Spark was, let alone where I could find them, or actually use them to enhance my power. Still, it was a clue in the right direction, and gave me an angle to research.
More importantly, it proved that there was a potential solution in the first place. I just needed to add another thing to my growing list of mysteries.
[Level: 30 Experience: 447193 / 465000
Strength: 41 Charisma: 53
Precision: 35 Perception: 37
Agility: 35 Manipulation: 40
Speed: 34 Intelligence: 44
Endurance: 34 Wisdom: 46
HP: 5370 / 5370 Mana: 5121 / 6600 ]
SKILLS
Master Melee [100/100]
Master Tantric [100/100]
Master Biomancy [100/100]
Master Elemental [100/100]
Master Subterfuge [97/100]
Master Arcana [91/100]
Expert Speech [70/75]
Advanced Craft [50/50]
PERKS
Mana Regeneration
Skill Share
Empowerment (1/1)
Teleportation
COMPANIONS
[Cornelia - Level 20/25]
[Helga - Level 17/21]
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