Chapter 77

I had departed Marianne’s room after cuddling for a bit, when she fell asleep. Initially, I had planned to bequeath her two levels, I decided to moderate it after she made considerable companion progress and received two achievements at the same time.

I still didn’t know whether leveling several times in a day had any side effects, and Marianne was not a good target to test that.

Also, I had quite a few challenging things to deal with, such as digging the mystery behind the low-key visit of the princess. Unfortunately, there was only one person I could discuss with. Titania.

Unfortunate, but not because I didn’t want to spend time with Titania. I genuinely enjoyed breaking through her artificial coldness to reach her innocent core —both metaphorically and literally. Nor I was really afraid of clashing incentives. While it was completely accidental at first, I positioned myself as the enemy of the necromancers, and whoever was standing behind them. Even if my aim didn’t completely match with Titania’s, the presence of an overwhelming enemy sufficiently ensured that neither Titania nor someone from her faction would target me directly. It wasn’t a certain thing, of course, but that was the best I could get in my political position.

No, I was afraid that she would drag me into a meeting with the Headmistress.

I didn’t feel ready to meet with the Headmistress, because she had a scary reputation, even more, overwhelming than the current Emperor. According to the rumors, she was alive for centuries, and even if that was an exaggeration, she was the Headmistress of Silver Spires for the last century at least, making sure she was definitely over a hundred. However, her past was hard to dig for my meager means.

Even scarier than her possible identity as an ancient crone, there was the fact that I was yet to discover anything about the faction she belonged. She didn’t work directly with any of the city-states, nor she directly worked with the Royal family. Nor she gave any benefits to border armies, Guilds, or the merchant families. For all intents and purposes, she was a neutral party.

And that scared me, because she was able to maintain her independence and the independence of the school despite the shifting web of politics and power dynamics. Of course, there was also the possibility that she was a powerless puppet, put in there by an agreement of all political parties as a compromise, but I could feel in my bones that it wasn’t the truth.

If she was weak, the necromancers wouldn’t be holding on the side despite the army they had already collected, and used it to destroy the school directly. Even Titania wasn’t enough to destroy that army, and it was a known truth that she was one of the strongest members of the faculty. Along with the traitor and the problems in the ward scheme, it should have been an easy victory.

“I hate this,” I murmured. For the first time since I had discovered my ability to level up, I was feeling overwhelmed. I was in a complicated web of intrigue, with too many moving parts, each one enough to bury me if I dared to stand against them directly. The idea of running away was getting sweeter.

Pity that Silver Spires was my best bet to discover any clues about the System.

Ultimately, all it came to an important qualifier. Whether I could survive the upcoming crisis, or escape if the crisis snowballed into something impossible to handle? And while it might be arrogant, ultimately, I had trust in my own abilities enough to make staying worthwhile.

“To the library,” I murmured, not even bothering to dress as the mule. My stats and abilities had reached such a point that even without explicitly changing clothes or using illusions, I could easily fade into the background. All it took was a simple change of posture, and suppressing my aura.

[+2 Subterfuge]

It was also a good opportunity to mess with Titania a bit, I decided, which put a huge smile on my face. Just a week ago, I was trembling in fear of getting her attention, and now, I was willing to tease her due to my own sheer enjoyment.

The sensation power was intoxicating.

Admittedly, it might not be the smartest idea, but after the display we put together with Helga, getting away smoothly, it wasn’t exactly a suicidal attempt either. So, when I stood in front of her private door and flexed my magic subtly to make sure I wasn’t detected as I unlocked her door, it wasn’t because I was afraid of her, but because I wanted to surprise her with my presence.

However, disabling her lock without triggering the rest of the wards turned out to be a more difficult task than I had expected, forcing me to waste almost five minutes, and enough mana to leave a weaker mage in despair. Luckily, it had its own rewards.

[-813 Mana]

[+4 Arcana]

My smile widened as I realized the sound of running water coming from the bathroom, signaling that she was perfectly prepared for my attention. Suppressing my presence sufficiently not to alert her was not difficult as I looked at the bathroom. She was in her huge bathtub, which was covered with bubbles, as she pressed her back against the marble, relaxing.

I undressed quickly as I watched her, before stepping into the bathroom, not bothering to wear a towel. Luckily, the tub was sufficiently big, so she failed to notice my presence as I slipped in at first, only realizing when my legs touched hers when I sat across her.

She flinched in shock, her hand already gathering a blast of light magic, ready to be launched. I was ready to lash out with a shield, but kept it in reserve. When our eyes met, she didn’t release her attack, instead of speaking with a dangerous voice that would have sent me running a week ago. “What are you doing here!” As she spoke, the light she was holding got even stronger.

“We have something important to talk about,” I answered immediately, but my lazy tone contrasted greatly with her sharp one.

“Speak,” she ordered, but keeping her hand raised, no doubt ready to lash out.

Instead of launching into an explanation, I chuckled. “Come on, after everything we had gone through, isn’t it a bit illogical to draw the line here?” I asked, using the steamier memories we shared to dismiss her argument.

That managed to push through her unnatural calmness. “B-but, t-that's-” she stammered, her blush covering her face for a fleeting moment as she felt softer emotions, which once again worked excellently. Unfortunately, her calm reasserted itself back quickly. “Why did you enter without connecting me through communication.”

I stopped for a second, considering whether to reveal the Princess’s visit, but after a brief consideration, I decided to admit it. As much as I liked Oeyne, she wasn’t as critical as Titania due to impending necromancer assault. Moreover, it might not affect Oeyne adversely as well. Ultimately, at this point, it was impossible to progress without risk.

“The oldest daughter of the Emperor is going to secretly arrive at the school in a few days,” I explained.

“What!” she exclaimed immediately, once again breaking her cold calmness, this time with fear. “Are you sure? Why? When?” she asked rapidly.

“Calm down,” I said lazily even as I dipped my hands underwater, and grabbed her foot. My thumb pressed against her sole, and started caressing her skin, displaying the full extent of my massaging abilities, even using my Biomancy subtly to enhance the pleasure. “We still have a few days to react, no need to put your panties in a bunch,” I added, then smirked. “Not that you’re wearing any, of course.”

[+100 Experience]

“Makes sense, right?” I said with a smirk as I pulled back for a breather, but before she could answer, I slammed my lips against hers once more. She just stayed still at first, but toward the middle, her tongue started to respond to my caresses.

[+800 Experience]

[-939 Mana]

[+3 Speech]

After another minute, I decided to push my luck even more, and let my hands-free on her body, caressing her tits, curious whether it would provoke her anger.

As it turned out, it would. “That’s enough,” she cut in. “Do your hands help you transfer mana,” she accused me.

“Not particularly, no,” I said with a smirk as I stood up, once again showing my shaft to her completely. “It was just for my own enjoyment.” That admission cut the winds off her sails, leaving her unable to answer. Still, it was a sign of our progress that she just processed it silently rather than lashing out. I continued. “So, that’s all I could do through the inefficient delivery method for a short while. That’s it for the moment, unless you want to try the full-performance method, of course.”

“Get out!” she exclaimed as she threw a block of soap at me.

I could have dodged it, but the image of the mighty head librarian attacking me with a block of soap while accidentally displaying her bubble-covered tits was amusing enough that I let it hit. “Violent much?” I said mockingly as I walked away, still giving her the full show of my naked body. “See you in a moment,” I said before I gave her a mocking wave, and closed the door, leaving her alone with the realization of what had just happened...

[Level: 28 Experience: 386500 / 406000

Strength: 33 Charisma: 48

Precision: 30 Perception: 32

Agility: 30 Manipulation: 35

Speed: 29 Intelligence: 39

Endurance: 27 Wisdom: 38

HP: 4172 / 4172 Mana: 4106 / 5326 ]

SKILLS

Master Melee [100/100]

Master Tantric [100/100]

Master Biomancy [100/100]

Master Elemental [100/100]

Master Subterfuge [95/100]

Master Arcana [86/100]

Expert Speech [57/75]

PERKS

Mana Regeneration

Skill Share

Empowerment (1/1)

Teleportation

COMPANIONS

[Cornelia - Level 17/25]

[Helga - Level 13/17]