I couldn’t help but smirk as I looked at the collapsed figures of Titania and Marianne, their exhaustion at the peak after a night filled with debauchery, though, considering the great benefits it had granted to them, I doubted they would mind the exhaustion.
I couldn’t say I was unhappy about the results as well.
[Grandmaster Tantric (112/120)]
[Experience: 591170 / 595000]
Not only I had received another level after the completion of the Companion process, but also made decent progress toward another amazing level up.
Too bad the System chose to give me that annoying notification about lacking Divine Spark once again, one that came faster than I expected, invalidating my earlier calculations about Divine Spark and the experience gained.
Like I didn’t have enough reasons to be suspicious of the System and its behavior already.
“Let’s make sure you girls are secure,” I murmured as I looked at the beautiful sight of their naked bodies, wrapped around each other, exhausted and defenseless.
I didn’t have the luxury of staying there and protecting them until they woke up, and while a healing spell would wake them up, ruining their beautiful haze after everything we had done would have been equally rude.
I might need to go back to visit the headmistress at the promised meeting time, but I had no intention of sacrificing the security of my girls to do so.
Luckily, there were other alternatives, ones that came in the form of layers and layers of wards.
They weren’t as complicated as my usual ones, but considering I wouldn’t be there to control the wards, I needed to be careful of an accident. Of course, that limited complication meant the wards wouldn’t be as strong, so I compensated by spending a scary amount of mana.
[-6720 Mana]
Then, I left after scribbling a note, leaving them to continue their mission. I didn’t like them staying away from Silver Spires with some of the royal forces trying to keep tabs on them, but summoning them back might be the riskier choice.
Especially since I was yet to truly understand the source of the conflict between the Princess and the rest of her family — and more importantly, the identity and the objective of the mysterious support of the other royals.
It wouldn’t be too much of a problem for Titania, who not only had sufficient power, but also lacked easily manipulated levers. That didn’t apply to Marianne, who belonged to a minor noble house, one that would only hurt her in such a conflict.
For her, it was safer for her to build a reputation first.
But that was something to be focused on for the future. After one last glance, I summoned another air elemental to go back, once again using the travel time to practice my abilities, to increase my casting abilities without the assistance of the System.
When I arrived, the sun was already halfway up on the horizon, suggesting I was late. Very slightly late, but still late.
Luckily, I was too familiar with the paths around the school to have any problem traveling around, and managed to arrive at the entrance of the tower without extending that delay too much.
Not many people would care about such a slight delay, but I found the door already open, giving me the impression that the headmistress was not one of those.
I climbed the stairs without wasting any time. At the top of the stairs, I found the headmistress waiting for me already, a disapproving expression on her face.
Technically, with her stern expression, supported by her impressive armor and her even more impressive wings, she was supposed to be intimidating. Yet, maybe it was my changing perception of her, driven by a combination of her attitude toward Janelor and the realization of how much she needed me, but I didn’t find her threatening.
She almost looked adorable.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” I said, still apologizing, even if my mannerism was a touch of perfection. After all, just because I didn’t find her intimidating didn’t mean that I could treat her without respect outwardly.
She was yet to learn just how much she needed me.
“Make sure it doesn’t happen again,” she said even as she gestured for me to take my usual place for another transfer of Divine Spark. Her tone implied that she would much prefer to send me away for my ‘disrespect’ but the pressure she was under prevented her from being heavy-handed in her punishments.
After all, I was still responsible for keeping Janelor happy.
Her torrent of mana hit me soon after, once again carrying a limited amount of Divine Spark. At this point, the method of pilfering Divine Spark was rather familiar, allowing me to take even more. Of course, it was also about my confidence in the advantages I managed to find, allowing me to be more greedy as I captured the Divine Spark.
Even if she noticed my trick, I could easily use my connection with Janelor to prevent her from punishing me, which would still leave my other cards hidden.
Yet, those thoughts turned out to be unnecessary.
She seemed to be in a hurry to complete my Light Node, as today’s transfer lasted even longer. When it finished, she was panting hard, giving me very visible signs of exhaustion.
I was tempted to show the illusion of a completed node, but not for long. With the System asking for Divine Spark once more before letting me get more experience — a cycle that seemed to shorten significantly with each repeat — I needed an excuse to get more Divine Spark.
And if it exhausted her, tough world. She still owed me for saving Silver Spires.
“Thank you, my lady,” I stood up as I made a very visible show of struggling to stand up, while I was busy locking the Divine Spark behind the storage the System couldn’t reach. I gave an impression of struggle and pain, because it wouldn’t be reasonable to believe I had managed to handle the wild infusion of Spark while it impacted her too much.
She waited silently as I put on a show of struggle. It was not due to kindness, of course, but she was using it as an excuse to hide her own exhaustion, acting like it was a rare display of mercy. She understood the value of posturing — though that shouldn’t be a surprise as she maintained her grip on Silver Spires for two centuries mostly through posturing. The nature of her mana might contrast with that direction, but it was impossible for her not to get at least reasonably competent on a subject after such a time.
Even without the assistance of the System in the form of convenient skills to significantly shorten the learning process, two centuries was sufficient to do so.
Only after finishing my little show and standing up, she spoke, but rather than acknowledging the impact of the transfer, however, she chose to move to the next topic. “Is there anything you need to share about your mission?”
“Nothing in particular,” I answered as I put my hands on my knee, selling the idea of exhaustion even more. “She’s quite lazy. As long as I prepare her food and make sure nothing interrupts her nap, she’s happy.”
“Good,” she said, though while her answer was simple, her expression was more nuanced, the kind that would make someone with less control over their emotions curse. The fact that she needed to beg Janelor for her help must have been difficult.
Janelor’s offhanded comments implied that the headmistress wasn’t a particularly important part of her faction, probably equivalent to a middling student, but no matter how long one’s life, two centuries were more than enough for a substance to be addictive.
Especially since the substance in question was power, the most addictive substance ever known to mankind. It was clearly not too different from other life forms, like angels and dragons…
“What should I do if she asks something excessive?” I asked, probing her a bit more on the subject.
“Like what?” she asked, though her frown tightened, clearly not enjoying talking about her blackmailer.
“Well, she looks happy for the moment, but what if she gets bored cooped up and wants to go out for a trip?” I asked. “Do I help her, or keep her inside?”
This time, her face actually showed a hint of emotion, an explosive one. “You need to keep her in, no matter what! We can’t afford her getting caught by the Eternals, it would ruin everything. Do whatever you need to entertain her.”
“As you order, milady,” I answered, doing my best to keep my smile more hidden than her growing panic at the suggestion. Her word choice was enough to reveal that she didn’t care much about Janelor’s fate, but about losing access to the benefits Janelor represented. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have mentioned anything about her not being afford such a condition. “I’ll do my best to keep her entertained, no matter what.”
“Good,” she said as she looked at me. “Then, we can focus on what’s important. Create a container.”
“As you order, milady,” I repeated as I gathered my mana, ready to create the storage she needed.
[Level: 34 Experience: 591170 / 595000
Strength: 46 Charisma: 63
Precision: 40 Perception: 42
Agility: 40 Manipulation: 45
Speed: 39 Intelligence: 49
Endurance: 39 Wisdom: 51
HP: 6936 / 6936 Mana: 8414 / 8500 ]
SKILLS
Grandmaster Tantric [112/120]
Master Melee [100/100]
Master Biomancy [100/100]
Master Elemental [100/100]
Master Arcana [100/100]
Master Subterfuge [100/100]
Master Craft [85/100]
Expert Speech [75/75]
PERKS
Mana Regeneration
Skill Share
Empowerment (0/1)
Teleportation
COMPANIONS
[Titania - Level 35/38]
[Cornelia - Level 22/26]
[Helga - Level 22/26]
[Marianne - Level 21/29]