Chapter 217

For the next ten minutes, I continued massaging her neck steadily.

Soon, her squirming stopped being only about her excitement about the potential implications of the process, saving her from the plight she had been struggling for a long, long time, and started being about the subtle yet effective betrayal of her own body.

I was not half-bad at giving massages, and the fact that she asked me to massage her neck made things even easier. There was no mystery about her decision. I needed touch to a naked part of her body to make the massage effective due to the special blocking nature of her robe, and the neck seemed innocent enough.

The key aspect, ‘seeming’ innocent.

Unfortunately for her, that choice betrayed her inexperience more than anything else, as the neck could be a surprisingly interesting location to focus on during foreplay.

Kissing and licking would have been much more effective, especially when interrupted by a few nibbles that left a lingering mark on her flawless skin, but my expert touch was still enough to awaken some of the instincts buried deep in her body.

Very slowly, of course, as the centuries that passed without a touch while combined with the emotional oppression of the Light node left those instincts buried deep, requiring a careful excavation.

Though, the emotional oppression of the light was certainly not as intense as Titania had been suffering due to her node. I didn’t know whether it was partly due to the headmistress’ natural light nature balancing the effect of the Light Spark, the constant exposure to the Darkness spark limiting its emotional suppression effect.

Or simply the fact that the construction method of the Light node was crude enough to trigger such an effect.

I could imagine a few experiments to test that aspect, but ultimately, I decided against it, instead focusing on the slow transformation of her Divine Spark, trying to understand the nature of the mysterious merger while I slowly awakened her latent desires.

She just accepted my massage, unaware of the danger it represented.

Another ten minutes passed before I pulled my next trick. I used my biomancy subtly to pull another trick, allowing it to build up a slow resistance at the area that I was touching, one that would dissipate in a few hours, so, all she needed was to ask for a break before letting me continue.

Or, ask me to touch somewhere else.

“We should pause,” I said, wanting to bring her attention to that fact. “The constant exposure of mana would awaken a natural resistance and reduce the effectiveness of the massage,” I said.

“Right now?” she said.

“I can always continue tomorrow,” I said, exaggerating the duration of the effect a bit, and she paused, her tenseness revealing what she had been thinking was rather important.

Of course, that resistance effect was barely more than a gimmick, one that she could display with a targeted flare, but that was under the assumption that she had noticed it. And, lost in the monumental nature of the situation, she didn’t even think about a deliberate trick, still operating under the assumption that I had no idea about the true effect of the massage.

The fight between her sense of propriety and her desire to finally get rid of her dangerous plight was obvious, especially with the nature of the simplest solution I left available to her.

“Maybe you should focus on my shoulders a bit,” she murmured.

Greed was taking hold of her beautiful heart.

“As you wish, boss,” I said, not bothering to hide the fascinated tone in my voice as she slid her robe a bit, enough to reveal her naked shoulders, beautiful enough to represent perfection.

I had seen her naked before, of course, but watching her slowly slip her robe enough to reveal her shoulders was even more beautiful.

Though, the fact that she had missed the easiest solution while she was busy dealing with the shock of the moment made the situation even more incredible. Her robe was creating an impediment, because it was designed to actually absorb her natural aura, therefore impeding my massage as well.

All she needed was to change into an ordinary robe, and it would allow the effect to occur without a problem. Yet, while I never doubted her intelligence — as the solution she developed to suppress her Light Spark with Darkness Spark was simply genius — but nothing that I saw about her showed quickness to solve ordinary problems.

How amusing.

Strength: 46 Charisma: 63

Precision: 40 Perception: 42

Agility: 40 Manipulation: 45

Speed: 39 Intelligence: 49

Endurance: 39 Wisdom: 51

HP: 7334 / 7334 Mana: 9000 / 9000 ]

SKILLS

Grandmaster Tantric [114/140]

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]