Chapter 154: A Place of Enlightenment – Part 1

Chapter 154: A Place of Enlightenment – Part 1

"Let us first go to a more open area," Petra suggests.

"Let's go directly to the castle grounds. It's private and safe," I immediately suggest.

And she nods. "Very well."

I open a [Gate] directly to our bedroom, but the emellanat is too close, and the spell gets disrupted, so I grab Nono's hand and walk to the other room, then try it again.

We immediately cross through, followed by the Companions, and then Petra a second later. Everyone's eyes immediately turn to my stupidly big bed, where Klein peacefully sleeps. But then I summon six wind-Alissas and pick up Nono in a princess carry, calling their attention back to us.

"It's faster if we jump, but don't scream so that we don't wake up Klein," I state with a grin, and Nono's face immediately warps in horror, but I don't give her time to complain and jump off the balcony.

Petra blinks blankly as the Companions chuckle, then the wind-Alissas lift everyone up through magic, and the teen noblewoman also becomes horrified as she realizes what's about to happen.

Nono buries her face on my chest and whines while Petra squeaks like a small animal, seemingly trying to hold back her voice but unable to remain completely silent as she free-falls a few hundred meters down. The Companions are already used to flying and trust me completely, so they just giggle happily as the wind hits their faces.

I use [Telekinesis] to slow myself and gracefully touch down. Then I look up and see cute light-blue panties as the wind makes Petra's dress flare out.

These elemental-wives know me so well.

Mara's panties are a sexy red and so small that you could barely call them panties, and though I can't see the panties of the rest of the armored Companions, I know that "sexy panties" is basically a uniform for them.

Petra lands right before me, her dark face now with a scarlet tint, but I'm not sure if she knows that I saw her panties as she seems too dazed by the sudden fall to have noticed. Then the Companions safely land around us, and Mara definitely knows that I saw hers.

The wind-Alissas blow me kisses, already saying their goodbyes, and I answer with my most handsome smile, then dismiss them all, but I feel like I should've rewarded them with a quick dicking...

Anyway, we're now in one of the many little courtyards for rest and relaxation spread out all over the castle grounds. There are mossy benches, a few mossy lounging chairs, a spring fountain, flower patches for smelling, and tall hedgerows to give us privacy.

A good place to fuck, and a perfect place to test the mysterious silvery liquid.

I gently lower my shivering rabbit down in the wooden courtyard, the moss carpet muffling any sound of her feet, and she immediately slaps my shoulder in a flash of anger, but it doesn't even hurt. Then she makes a pouty face, so I appease her through her weakness, her long white ears.

"We didn't bring the basin with us," Petra suddenly points out, recovering from her sudden fright.

I open a [Gate] back to the lab and turn to one of the Companions as I [Massage] Nono. "Please, bring us the crystal basin. Be careful to not spill the liquid or touch the glowing moss."

"As you wish, Your Highness," the female soldier obediently replies.

And I flash a smug smile at Petra, who appears to want to pout too, but that'd make her look cute, and she doesn't want to give me any reason to seduce her.

The Companion comes back with the basin at the same time that three naked women walk in. Roxanne, Kaatohe, and Hukarere enter the courtyard with seductive smiles, dripping pussies, and mildly inebriated gaits. The cat and the succubus have been fucking, but the straight wolf has been conditioned to get aroused whether she smells pussy or cock, so she's the thirstiest of the trio.

And she promptly asks cheerfully, her words starting to slur, "Wolfy, can I s~suck your cock while you... do w~whatever you need to do?"

"You slut," Kaatohe quietly hisses back.

"You're just jealous," my white wolf teases with a smirk.

And the cat assumes a smug but solemn expression. "I never said I didn't want to suck his cock."

Petra quietly clears her throat with a crisp and high-pitched "Hem-hem," and I make the uncharacteristic decision to decline a dick sucking while I work because while I like teasing Petra, pulling out my cock in front of her might be too much. I know I've already fucked in front of Lyle and many of my other friends, but Petra is the only one who might actually hate me if I did that.

"My dear sluts, perhaps another time, but you're welcome to wait," I reassuringly suggest and motion to the lounging chairs.

"I haven't had your semen in a while, so I will," Kaatohe replies matter-of-factly.

And my naked cat drags her two companions to the chairs so that they may suffer from sexual denial with her.

Petra doesn't seem bothered by the female nakedness or that they're subtly lezzing out, so I think it's finally time for testing. I stop [Massage]ing Nono and summon a goblin, then scoop up about 10ml from the basin with a shot-glass that we use for Eia.

"This liquid is most likely toxic, so pay attention to any symptoms," Petra warns.

"Why is it toxic?" I question confusedly.

And she sagely explains, "I've tried to filter out any stray powers, but I don't know if I succeeded. Also, we have no idea what otherworldly-infused-power does to one's body."

She's a really dependable researcher, huh?

"Well, we'll know the answer soon enough," I hum back and hand the shot glass to the goblin. Then I summon a light-Ciel and put some points into [Diagnosis] and [Sense Presence].

The goblin drinks the liquid as I activate all-senses sharing, and I frown at the spicy taste of the silvery liquid. It burns the tongue and then the throat as it goes down, but the burning quickly stops, leaving only a vinegar-like taste mixed with something metallic, possibly blood.

The summon obediently returns the glass, but I notice that it's starting to sway on its feet as if it's becoming drunk. I take the offered glass and activate [Diagnosis] on the goblin, but all I get is that it has "Impaired Mental Faculties" and "Unknown Poisoning."

"Well, this is certainly toxic," I wryly remark and share what I just found out with the girls.

Nono looks confused for a second, but then she immediately accepts it with a sigh, "You have [Diagnosis]...? Of course, you have [Diagnosis]..."

But before I can joke back, the goblin's vision starts to darken, and a "third eye" begins to open in its mind, eerily similar to how my vision expands when I summon something.

The little goblin visibly sways, and a Companion grabs it before it can fall on its face.

"Thank you. Now, lay it down for me," I kindly request, and the young elven soldier beams with a smile hidden by her helmet.

The goblin's vision darkens completely to the point that it passes out, and all it sees is a faint light in its "third eye," but nothing more happens. Then I notice that there's something weird going on with its spirit.

I use [Sense Soul] to look inside it and notice that its "soul structures" are becoming transparent, as if they were disappearing, but its presence (the reaction I get from [Sense Presence]) remains the same, so it isn't as if it's dying.

"It's releasing an odd mana," Nono quietly remarks, so I switch to focusing on my [Sense Mana], and I agree, though I can't really explain what kind of mana I'm sensing.

It's similar to the mana released by the basin but different, and it's so exquisite that I have trouble drawing a comparison to anything I know. It's odd because even the most fantastical power I've ever felt, the divine mana coming from a dungeon core, was easily explained, but this mana is completely different from anything I've ever felt before.

Then I start to feel like its incomprehensible flavor is actually part of it, like how a soul is so hard to "see" because it's something that was never supposed to actually be seen with our eyes or understood with our minds. It's like the description of the flavor is on the tip of my tongue, but I can't quite grasp it.

And a couple of minutes pass as the unconscious goblin releases this odd mana, but nothing significant happens apart from that. Then the effects start to wear off, and it wakes up. Its tongue and throat seem very irritated, and it feels nauseous, still poisoned by the impurities in the silvery liquid.

Thankfully, the light-Ciel is able to heal it and purify its body, so it isn't like this is a deadly poison, and there also doesn't seem to be any lasting damage or changes to its soul. But now we're stumped as we don't know how to proceed from here.

Then Nono shares her thoughts, "The goblin released mana, but it isn't a mage, so its compatibility with magic is low."

"We should test with a mage goblin, then," I eagerly reply.

I only have pestilence-themed goblin mages, so I decide to summon a hobgoblin mage instead.

"Is this a hobgoblin? It reminds me of elves, somehow," Nono curiously remarks as she inspects the kind of ugly green summon, and the Companions tense up at her words.

"Never say that in front of an elf," I caution her with a chuckle, and even Petra nods in agreement.

"Oh..." the silly rabbit hums embarrassedly as she realizes that three of the five present Companions are elves. "Sorry..."

Then we have the summon drink 10ml of the silvery liquid.

This time, the reaction is instantaneous, and instead of just seeing a faint light, the hobgoblin instantly passes out as its mind is taken to a confusing and psychedelic world of colorful lights and muffled murmurs.

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit..." Nono mumbles excitedly as I describe to her what the summon is seeing.

It's like someone is painting with wild, watery strokes of color that gradually fade into the black of the canvas. The murmuring sounds like speech, as if hundreds of random youtube videos were playing at the same time, but I'm unable to discern any individual words being spoken due to the chaos.

With [Sense Soul], I can see that the inner part of the hobgoblin's soul has completely disappeared, but [Sense Presence] shows no change, still insisting that its spirit is in its body. So, it's like someone's organs have been transported somewhere else while the skin remains in place. Souls and spirits don't obey the regular laws of physics, so this is a flawed analogy, but it serves to illustrate what I'm seeing.

And that makes Roxanne feel like her innocence is guaranteed, so she curiously inquires, "Don't you look too young to be a mage serving a Lord?"

"My spirit form has taken my favorite shape from when I was alive," Caio answers matter-of-factly.

"How do you know that?" I immediately ask with a frown.

He shrugs with a grin. "For some reason, some information was imparted into me the moment I died."

"Did you spend time in Paradise?" I inquire further.

"Yes, I already did, and I was on my way to reincarnating when I was pulled back," he cheerfully answers.

"What's Paradise like?"

And he awkwardly averts his eyes. "I shouldn't answer that."

"Fascinating," I hum in excitement.

And the elf boy nods. "Indeed. It was considered impossible to call back spirits even just a year after their deaths, let alone millennia!" Then his eyes sharpen in scholarly curiosity. "But what are you, Wolf Ryder? You look like a special dragonkin, you seem to be protected by... a lot of women, and even though you aren't an elf, it seems that we're in the High Forest..."

I calmly nod and begin explaining, "Well, that's a complicated matter. You see, I-..."

He suddenly interrupts me as his gaze loses focus, "Oh, I'm being called back."

"By who?" I ask curiously.

But he simply shrugs again. "I don't know. I can stay for a while longer, but you said that summoning me was an accident, right?"

"Correct."

And his gaze becomes wistful. "Then I'd rather go, if you don't mind. I'm eager to reincarnate."

"Please, don't let me hold you here," I politely reply.

And he beams with a wide smile. "Farewell, Wolf Ryder. Better luck in your experiments!"

I calmly wave as I reply, "Farewell, Caio. I wish you a happy new life."

He cheerfully lifts his coral staff and exclaims, "So do I...!"

Then he suddenly disappears in a puff of ethereal smoke, and a lot of exotic otherworldly-power-infused mana is released from him.

"Now that was something..." I hum and smile wryly at the frozen pair of Ladies behind me.

Announcement

Hall of Fame of Patrons

The patrons who support Rupegia shall have their names sung by the bards for they deserve the glory and honor. Their names are:

Prince PreownedFIN.

Prince Owldente.

Prince Definitely not Dio.

Lord Andrew Meyers.

Lord Novgarod.

Lord Michale Erwin.

Lord Bakerdea.

Lord Maurice.

Lord Mattirro Draca.

Lord Mike Bartter.

Lord Tenebris Lupus.

Lord Paul Daval.

Lord Paul Daval.

Lord Tmac.

Lord CopeyDunt.

Lord BlindTactic.

Lord litalmexy.

Lord Philip.

Lord d3235.

Lord William Clark.

Lord Ddraig Wynn.

Lord SubJef.

Lord GalacticTNT.

Lord Placid.

Lord Caden Dinkel.

Lord McMax.

Lord LiuAnshan.

Noble Salty Panda.

Noble Mild Fracas.

Noble Aclys.

Noble Carl Baxter.

Noble Tony Starrk.

Noble DND.

Noble Asaadullah Lassiter.

Noble Aclys.

Noble Brandon.

Noble Tony Starrk.