Chapter 252

I watched as her exotic face turned confused, then reluctant, before admitting. “What kind of massage?”

“I was thinking of a simple palm massage,” I said. “It sounds simple, but works well on humans. Elves shouldn’t be too different.”

She looked thoughtful, her blush invading her face slightly as she considered it. “Maybe it wouldn’t be too bad,” she muttered.

“Good, come here, then,” I said as I cast a simple spell to reshape Earth into a large slab — once again using Arcana to do so rather than direct elemental, still reluctant to test them. I was yet to see anyone else using them, and I didn’t want to take the risk.

[-138 Mana]

My homemade System sent a notification, showing the relative inefficiency of such a move, but I ignored it, instead channeling nature mana to grow a thick slab of grass on the surface, comfortable to sit down — or lie down if she preferred.

I didn’t care about the mana expenditure, because that much mana was nothing compared to all I had spent trying to get a sense of the location of the girls, easily measured in millions. The best I was able to get was a vague sensation about their safety — and I was almost sure that was not due to the System, as that was all I was able to feel about Aviada as well.

She was at a distance and safe, but that was the extent of the information I was able to acquire as I found myself stranded.

Still, I didn’t consider that as a waste, as it allowed me to maintain my current position without taking absurd risks like going back to Primordial Aether. Instead, I stayed here safely as more and more elves gathered, bringing more and more Divine Spark with them.

With that, more power to make my ultimate journey safer.

As I thought that, Seldanna sat on the platform I created and raised her hand. I grabbed, wasting a bit more to coat my fingers with proto-HP, hiding that behind a thin layer of nature mana.

[-29 Mana]

The combination worked spectacularly. Her eyes widened the moment I dragged my finger over her palm, shocked by the sensation. I ignored the following shocked gaze as I focused on her palm, acting like I hadn’t noticed it.

I stayed focused on her hand for the next minute, letting my mana penetrate through her body to loosen her. Tantric might have been revealed as a true miracle that was able to purify all kinds of mana and Divine Spark, but it didn’t mean that its initial function as a massage aid was lost.

I had no problems using it to the limit.

I could feel that she was relaxing enough to pull back, which was not something I wanted. I decided to remind her about one of the stressful points. “Any news from the central tribes,” I asked, probing her about one of the more important topics.

My week wasn’t just filled with magical experiments, I also spent some time learning about the political state of the plane. It wasn’t as useful as I had hoped. Elves turned out to be even more insular than I had expected, their communication rarely extending further than their neighboring tribes — and that was not always positive.

Their information about the tribes farther into the plane was sporadic and contradictory, though there were some points that were more aligned. One of those points was what I had already concluded, that they were considerably stronger than the border tribes.

Seldanna informed me that the border tribes had sent several messengers to communicate with them when the undead proved themselves too strong to handle, but received no response.

“Not really,” she answered, her stress back at the mention. “They should have returned already even if there was no help was in the horizon.”

However, I wasn’t stupid enough to do so, not when she was just trying to find an outlet for her frustration, her new role preventing her from talking with anyone else.

“I could have, of course, but who else could have handled everything as amazing as you, and keep all those tribes under control. Would you trust anyone else to handle it as well as you without it turning into a mess,” I murmured softly, stroking her ego.

Not the most clever of words, but worked amazingly well when combined with the masterclass massage she was receiving. She leaned against my chest...

... and I felt some kind of connection between us. A subtle connection, almost nonexistent, and easily written off as an illusion.

If I wasn’t familiar with the sensation of the Companion Process. It wasn’t exactly the same, but the similarities, however faint, were unmistakable.

However, before I could push forward, I felt a strong sense of warning from the outer wards.

Another undead attack. Just in time.

{Strength: 8 Charisma: 10

Precision: 8 Perception: 9

Agility: 8 Manipulation: 10

Speed: 8 Intelligence: 10

Endurance: 8 Wisdom: 9}

{Purified Divine Spark: 520}

{Pseudo-HP: 2869 Mana: 10123}

{ADDITIONAL SPARKS

Light - Chosen 7.4

Nature - Chosen 10}

{MINIONS

Guardian God Forest - 2105}

Elven Priestess - 15}

[Level: 36 Experience: 631374 / 666000]