6.58 – Lightning I

6.58 – Lightning I

The d'Celestins unsurprisingly had access to whatever rooms within the Mantle Training Facility they wished, and that privilege extended to their guests. As such, they had little difficulty finding two sparring rooms to practice their abilities in private. Rosalie escorted Zoey and Maddy to theirs first.

"We'll be taking the one next door," Rosalie said. "So we don't interrupt each other."

"Right." Zoey looked around. The room was immaculate and furnished with a number of target dummies and fighting implements, among many objects Zoey didn't immediately recognize—a constant for life in a new world. She faced back to Rosalie. "So. When you say private, how private? That fight with Cordelia took a lot out of me, so ... you know."

Rosalie rolled her eyes. "It's private," she said. "Up to my family's specifications. There is no possibility of other wayfarers or faculty coming in unannounced. However," she said as Zoey started to relax. "There are a small number of people who could, should they decide to. My father, to name the obvious, but my sisters as well. Maybe a few others."

"You think that's likely?"

"Not at all," Rosalie said. "But Charlotte is due to return soon, if she hasn't already, and Elodie—well, Elodie can't be predicted. So while it's not likely, it's possible. Do what you must, but be covert. You have a portal on hand, surely it can't be that difficult. I would suggest the restrooms, but those aren't guarded like the practice rooms are, even if someone is less likely to barge in." She shrugged. "So again, just ... be covert."

Which was how, five minutes later, Zoey was sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with Maddy on the bench at the back wall. The illusionist had a thin book on her lap. She was in her usual tight-fitting gray mage's robes. A cylindrical bulge crawled up her stomach to between her breasts—fourteen inches long, and as thick as Maddy's forearm. It stretched the already tight material to a straining point.

The linking plate was set down between her legs, inside her robes, allowing Zoey's cock to be both cradled by warm thighs and squeezed in against her stomach by her robes. It was a snug, enjoyable fit—and by the blush on Maddy's cheeks, not just for Zoey.

All at once, the bulge disappeared. Maddy's robes flattened as the linking plate was sucked into her inventory. With another mental command, it appeared back where it was, exiting the spatial storage and stretching Maddy's robes tight. The linking plate, and Zoey's cock, had remembered where it had been.

"Huh," Maddy said. She laid a hand on the bulge, gently pushing Zoey's cock into her stomach. "It works. Wasn't sure it would."

The test was, of course, to tell if they could quickly conceal what they were doing as soon as an unexpected guest arrived. If someone barged in, all they would see, if they were paying attention in the first place, was a bulge in Maddy's robes, and even that would last only a second before Maddy sucked the linking plate into her inventory and removed all evidence.

The plan for Zoey's 'covert recharging' could have been handled in a number of ways, but Maddy had seemed particularly enticed by this idea: keeping Zoey's cock cradled between her thighs, hidden in her robes, as they sat on a bench and discussed her newest lightning affinity.

"As in, the spell doesn't include some manner of auto targeting," Maddy said. "Those can be gimmicky. Manual aiming is better."

"There's ways to make spells automatically pick the nearest enemy?"

"The nearest warm body, maybe," Maddy said. "For example. But there's not an easy way to define 'enemy' in a comprehensive manner. That's what I mean by them being gimmicky. Though, combined with a lightning spell's instant transmission, it would guarantee a hit, basically every time. Still not worth it though."

Zoey didn't want to sidetrack Maddy, and conversations on the peculiarities of magic could easily become long-winded, so she didn't press further.

"But there's also downsides to lightning," Maddy continued. "There's little physicality to it. Something like ice, you create projectiles with weight. That weight can cause its own damage, or break through barriers. But lightning is pure energy. That's what makes it so effective sometimes, but ineffective in others. Some monsters might have near-immunity to it ... others might fry inside-out even at low charges. It's a more polar element than ice." She paused, then laughed. "Excuse the pun."

"Good thing I have something to fall back on, then."

Maddy nodded. "Lightning is a phenomenal weapon to have in the arsenal, but it's a little specialized—so you want back ups. Speaking of your affinity for ice, it's worth considering integrating the two."

"What do you mean?"

"There's not explicit benefits to mixing elements—it doesn't make the spell stronger innately, somehow—but it does let you effectively cast two at once, if you need the specialties of both anyway. Finding pre-built spells for a combination of elements is much less likely, so this is more theoretical advice. But I've been thinking about it." Maddy hummed. "Maybe an ice-and-lightning storm, an area-of-effect that persists on an aimed location. Ice's specialty is movement inhibition, so that particular half of the spell could be focused on that while the lightning bolts raining down do the real damage. Seems like an intuitive implementation, and could be contained with a two-circle definition. Probably."

"That does sound good," Zoey agreed.

She tried to focus on the mage's words and not how Maddy's thighs were squeezing into her cock, and how the girl was rocking her whole body in small motions. One hand went up to rub briefly at Zoey's cocktip, before darting back down to the book to start flipping pages again. Yeah, Maddy was definitely in a mood to tease.

"But let's start with simple ones first," Maddy said. "A two-element spell would have to be custom designed, and would be harder to consistently cast anyway. Let's get you started with something in the book, for now." She pursed her lips and glanced at Zoey. "What would you want, if you could pick anything? What do you feel like you're missing in your kit?"