Rupegia

Chapter 38: Last Days – Part 2

Training my soul manipulation is very tiring, it's very similar to trying to cast two spells at once. Another thing I need a sub-process for. If only there was something similar to [Mana Control] to aid me.

I focus my soul out of my body, open my eyes, try to maintain soul there, repeat. I feel like I'm getting a cramp inside my brain.

We leave early for the university so I can send my thesis to Mathias.

"This is amazing, Mr. Ryder!" Mathias gushes while flipping through the pages of my thesis.

"In exchange for my thesis I want a 'Scholar' title," I say.

Mathias stops and looks at me, his gaze is now serious.

"We don't give the title to just about anyone. You understand that this title grants you the privilege to access any restricted library of the empire, correct?"

"Correct, I'm not looking for anything specific from the restricted area," I lie, "I'm mostly looking for accessing a wide breadth of knowledge in general. I have my slave, Lina, collect any sort of historical account, I'm planning on compiling it all in more comprehensive encyclopedias."

"Hm, a rather noble effort," he taps his desk repeatedly.

"It's one of the reasons I want to travel the world," I say and smile.

"Very well, I believe you will manage it. For the title you will have to defend your thesis in front of the university's council, understood?" He asks.

"Yes, can you schedule one soon? By next day of Fo I have to leave Rabanara so I want to defend it before that. I'm sorry for the hurry but it took me a while to finish this thesis."

"I think it can be arranged, a number of professors are interested in your work with [Golemancy] so I will deliver it to them posthaste!" Mathias shakes my papers with enthusiasm.

"Thank you for that," I say and bow lightly.

"It's the least I could do to someone blessed by the Goddess of Knowledge."

Last Mana Cost class, we have one last discussion about the skill. Professor Vareto starts to say a speech but his voice is so soporific that I have to focus on examining my spells to stay awake.

I discover that the speed in which the weapon forms in [Vine Weapon] can be greatly increased if I modify the way it is formed. The spell folds vines on top of one another and "ages" them, if I put my hand on a bucket of mineral [Conjured Water] and cast [Vine Weapon], the aging basically petrifies the vines, making them brittle, but strong enough that they can be used as projectiles.

If I can cast both spells at the same time I can create javelins in 2-5 seconds depending on concentration. I could teach this to Lina and it would be much more practical than pulling out javelins from her [Item Box].

During break Toroo waves her hand to us to catch our attention, "Everyone, I have some news," she says, barely containing her excitement, "I'm pregnant!"

"That's amazing!" Alissa says and grabs Toroo's hand, who nods repeatedly. Toroo's large eyes are squished by her raised cheeks due to her wide smile.

"Congratulations, joy and honor for the couple," Gimbo says.

Lina's Trivia: couples wait 3 to 5 years before their first child so they can properly "get used" to each other, since people marry easily this is a necessary tradition to prevent bad marriages. Once the couple lasts that long and they have their first child the couple is said to be "honorable" due to having fulfilled their duty of continuing the wishes of the God of Creation.

We repeat Gimbo's congratulations and Toroo takes them with pride, her feathery "ears" on top of her head seem to increase in size. Hatara looks at Garanae mischievously, his posture straightens and he shifts uncomfortably.

She's merely playing with him, nobility live longer so they wait even longer than commoners to have children. I wonder how menopause is affected by the increased longevity of Levels.

"Say, Mr. Ryder," Gimbo turns to me as the girls fawn over Toroo, even Lina is joining them. "Since Lina's training is coming to an end I wish to speak with you."

"Oh, sure, please do tell me how she behaved," I say and send a quick glance towards Lina, her face seems cramped.

I get up and put my chair beside Gimbo, the lack of Lina and Alissa's hands makes mine feel oddly cold.

"I don't really have any complaints, I just wanted to thank you for the opportunity of teaching her," Gimbo says.

I lift my eyebrows in surprise and say, "I should be the one thank you for agreeing to teach her, a slave."

"Nonsense,-" he closes his eyes and shakes his head lightly- "useless dwarven pride getting in the way of letting the Spark turn into Fire."

Lina's Trivia: the Spark turns into Fire when Creation "spreads like wildfire".

"Still, I must thank you, her enchanting knowledge has been a great help and will continue to do so," I lower my head to him.

"And I must thank you for bringing her to me, it has been a long time since I have someone as dedicated as her," he lowers his head to me. "She managed to even charm my wife, or maybe it was the opposite. No matter, when you can, bring her to visit us, we would love to see her again," he says and smiles warmly at Lina.

"I will, I have a few friends in this town so I will come back one day."

"Make sure you don't take too long, I'm already 100 years old, I might last one decade but two would be pushing it," he says and chuckles faintly.

Well damn, that's some genetics.

"That would be too long indeed. We plan on sightseeing, shouldn't spend too long in any single place."

"I know your kind," he sends me a glance, "wanderlust has a way of making us drift from our path. It took me 5 years to cross Avgi while it should have taken only a few months."

"So you used to like adventuring?"

"More like I used to enjoy fattening up eating delicacies from every town we visited. It's a wonder me and my wife aren't fat."

I chuckle lightly, but this is a true concern, if we go to Faium I might get fat from all the chocolate.

"Of all places you should go to Conchononoi," he continues, "they have a very sweet tea with a soft taste, it's rather energizing. They call it 'filía', it has a novel way of drinking it too."

"How is it prepared?"

"You mash dry leaves of their herb and add hot water, you drink from the mush that forms with a special straw with small holes that keeps the larger chunks away. My recommendation is to drink the cold version with Tonsel."

That sounds too similar to something I know. Could it be? Chocolate is not the only thing that was copied from Earth?

"Sounds like a good place to visit."

"Make sure you visit the The Fissure or Auri Yorei, seeing the flood and feeling the town rise above the water is quite an interesting feeling. Oh, and spend at least one night sleeping in the open at the grasslands of Elaria, the air over there is more refreshing than anywhere else," his eyes seem less tired as he speaks with excitement.

"In the open? I thought dwarves preferred to sleep in small and cozy places with a rock roof above their heads."

He chuckles once and rolls his eyes, "If one thing we dwarves know about is that ventilation and freshness of air is essential for soft and supple skin."

I guess that dwarves aren't oily cave-dwellers.

Tomorrow is [Space Magic] final test so I use Hana to test my [Gravity Crush] to keep her in place. It works rather well since I can fake a short chant and attack at the same time.

After appeasing Hana I have Alissa give me some scratch marks. She's syncing the sinking of her nails on my flesh with the moment I orgasm, bringing me to new heights thought not possible.

"How are your parents, Alissa? You think they will like me?" I ask, basking in post-coitus clarity with Alissa in my arms.

"They will," she says and kisses my naked chest, "Dad will play it tough a little just to see how you react, he doesn't like cowards. Mom will act cold and slowly warm up, she's not the most trusting or friendly, dealing with the other clans too much made her like that."

"I guess we will be fine, then."

"We will, if Dad goes too far I will scratch his face," she pouts cutely.

I chuckle lightly, "How does your dad look like?"

"Dad is big and muscular and he loves his long red beard. He barely looks like other werefoxes, we aren't really a tall people."

"Well you can say I'm getting used to dealing with people bigger than me."

"That's a given since there's no other humans shorter than you," Roxanne says and I reach over to pinch her naked butt. She evades my attack by jumping out of bed, she stands and readjusts her glasses, "Not this time, aha-AH!"

Aoi bites her butt and giggles.

"Traitor!"

Aoi gives her a lick on the bite mark and Roxanne shivers. "Her tongue is so slippery," she says.

Alissa turns to me and raises her eyebrows at me repeatedly, I start to sweat cold.

"Say Aoi, you wanted to learn what a kiss is like?" Alissa asks.

"Kweh? Yess, please."

"Come over here and I will show you," she extends her arms and Aoi scurries to the bed. "Bigger, please," she asks and Aoi turns into medium dog size.

"See, do it like this," Alissa pulls Hana closes and shoves her tongue inside Hana's mouth. Their tongues seek each other, twisting and rubbing, their lips don't touch so Aoi can see the movements.

Their tongues separate and a bridge of saliva connects them briefly. "Got that?" Alissa asks and Aoi nods, "Now, who do you want to practice with?"

I look away and feel Aoi's gaze on my mouth.

"Don't you want another woman?" Alissa asks, innocently.

"Bleh."

"Then Wolfy it is."

Suddenly Aoi is deposited on my naked lap, she looks up at me, expectantly. I look at Alissa and she's grinning evilly.

"Come now, Wolfy, you received me quite well. Why don't you show the same enthusiasm with Aoi?" Alissa asks.

"Y-you have a human-looking body to help," I hurriedly say.

"If she acquires one will that be fine, then?" She asks innocently. She knows what my research on [Soul Hardening] implies.

"I-I don't, I don't know."

Aoi's claws softly touch my shoulder and she comes face-to-face. Her long tongue extends and snakes over towards my mouth.

A new and odd sensation touches my tongue. Aoi's tongue is really slippery, it easily stimulates my own with just a little speed. Her tongue wraps on mine and squeezes, sending a shiver through my body. She quickly pulls out and then in again, giving me a jolt of pleasure. Her tongue explores my mouth, rubbing on my teeth and then palate.

Slowly her tongue exits my mouth and stays out. I recover from my daze and see the three girls masturbating wildly.

"Kissss!" Aoi says and giggles happily. She reduces in size and snuggles on my lap, ignoring my rising erection.

"Dragon fucker," Roxanne mutters and orgasms.

"Excuse me, Aoi," Hana says and grabs the small bundle of blue scales, she softly deposits Aoi on a pillow.

Hana's strong hands pull me down, her yellow eyes look at me with anger and ferocity.

"I'm gonna fuck you now, Wolfy," Hana says and slams her pussy on my cock.

Today is the 26^th.

Alissa delicately handles my waking up. After giving another round to all the three I collapsed, my skin is so soft and bruised I think I deserve a medal of bravery.

I look to the side and freeze as Aoi's snout touching my nose sends me a shiver.

My head swims in disorder. A new problem has arisen, Aoi is a breeder-type. Monsters normally feel no attraction towards humanoids, except breeder-types, who exclusively feel attraction towards the other sex.

Aoi is sapient, which muddles things, but it's still the most viable explanation why she wants me and feels disgust at the women.

As a monster, her growth is much different from a humanoid, monsters are born already conscious and with knowledge. As an example, goblins are babies for barely a day-cycle. So I'm not sure how much of a "child" Aoi really is, but for me she's one, she's my baby.

Now I'm not sure I can continue thinking of her like this.

"Now you are the one corrupting me, Alissa," I say.

She smirks and swallows, after a [Clean] she plunges her tongue inside my mouth for a long time.

"Now I want to see you subdue a real dragon," she lets our girly giggles and moves out of bed.

"I'm a real dragon, partially," Hana mutters and goes after Alissa.

My [Mana Efficiency] and [Reduced Mana Cost] increased by 1 (now 5+7 and 8+7).

I tell the girls the good news.

"Well…" Ciel starts but doesn't continue.

"You are going to be a dragon rider in all senses of the word," Hana says and slaps my back painfully, "though now you need to have sex with a dragonoid too."

"We could eventually get another, male, dragon for Aoi. Or have another… man, uh… satisfy her," Ciel suggests, ignoring Hana.

Aoi huffs smoke towards the air and Alissa glares at her but then pats her head.

"I don't know what to think," Ciel says.

"Me too," I say.

"Dragon fucker," Roxanne says and Lina bites her lips, trying to hold back a smile.

"There's not much to think, I'm sure Wolfy won't enjoy seeing another beastly dragon, with its huge cock, taking our little Aoi's virginity," Hana says with a fearsome grin.

"Kweh!" Aoi nods.

"We don't need to make a decision now, do we?"I ask, the girls shrug and Ciel remains unmoving. "Then let's leave this for another time."

"Are we the only two normal ones here?" Ciel asks me, I shrug and massage my eyes.

"Gih," Gify nods.

I try to slowly alter reality by provoking a small breeze on the handkerchief using [Godly Language]. At one point I feel like I'm tripping on shrooms as the fabric of reality weakens due to successive attempts to alter it.

Altering reality has a weird effect on the world, basically once you break one rule it gets "added" to how reality works and as such, they start a chain sequence of alterations, "updating" the world to the new rule. The effect is different from say, radiation, which is similar to how mana rips the world apart, because it seems that a "conscience" has a special effect on the world and breaking reality messes with our consciences.

On Earth a brain is only a series of neurons firing randomly, a series of chemical processes and electric currents, in Rupegia, a brain/soul has the capability to alter the world based on will. This is how magic works, this is how mana works, and this is how [Sense Presence] works, by looking at the outline of how we alter reality around us just by existing, this outline being our soul.

Apparently I can't alter how mana works with [Godly Language], the power of mana is well-defined, even if it doesn't seem so for us, which means it's unalterable. Which is why mana helps the world "stabilize", it is the primordial source of everything so it "overrides" my alterations.

I go through a lot of MP potions but manage to create a breeze, the only side-effect being that I saw a rainbow for a few seconds.

Lina comes back with an adorable smile. She pulls out Hana's emerald fang sword with a *poof* and puts it on the table.

"Oohh…!" Hana exclaims and quickly snatches her bastard sword, I see there's a small grey gem on the hilt, looks like quartz.

Hana swings her sword in the air and I feel mana leave her body. A ghost of Hana appears and swings the same way.

"Amazing!" Hana exclaims and drops the sword on the table, she rushes over towards Lina and invades her mouth with her tongue. With a smack their lips unglue and Lina nearly melts on Hana's arms. "I love you! In more ways than one." She chuckles.

Lina twiddles her thumbs and nods while Hana pushes her straight. Ciel looks concerned but also happy.

"Now do for your own switch-axe too," I say.

"Yes. This time it will take a few days only," Lina answers and nods again.

Alissa brings Aoi to the university since nobody is currently at home. She receives all the stares with Gify on her shoulder and Aoi in her arms.

In Space class every student goes, one by one, and show their specialty. A few town guards are chosen as guinea pigs and two school teachers who know [Heal] are at the ready in case of accidents.

Most people are either showing [Telekinesis] by raising large rocks or throwing smaller ones at the guards, or showing [Item Box] by fitting large items inside. A few students use [Gravity Crush] to destroy things like boxes or pieces of armor.

I'm the only one who developed a short chant just so I can use it to disrupt someone's attack. I pick the biggest guard of them all and start the spar.

After delaying things enough I cast the spell and strike at his neck. He barely has the force to lift his sword, let alone block me. I touch his neck with my wooden sword and end the spell. The guard collapses and coughs blood.

Oops, I think Hana was a little too resistant for me.

Professor Ludwick smiles widely at me and then nods, he and 2 other observers write a few things on a board as I finish my test.

"This is the easiest to pass so I'm not worried," Lyle says.

"Beginners [Space Magic] class is only for [Item Box] so as long as you can put a suit of armor in it they pass you," Hatara says.

Eventually the conversation dies down because Aoi charms everyone with her adorableness. She's playing with her floating gold ball toy, she swipes at the ball and it flies away but returns to float on top of the wooden block, once it stops the ball starts heating up. The point of the game is to keep the ball away as long as you can until it starts to glow with heat, the balls starts to increase in nimbleness with every hit.

Aoi stands on her forelegs on top of the wooden block and batters away the ball repeatedly. She adorably growls with anger and lets smoke leave her nostrils.

"She's adorable," Garanae mutters absentmindedly.

"Kweh!"

And she knows it.

Since we already finished our tests we go home. Lina is with Hana at the hunter's guild sparring; Roxanne comes back from selling some of her potions; Ciel is at the temple showing off her [Holy-, I mean, training her [Judgment].

I recruit Alissa and keep messing with her skill points, trying to find where in the soul is the skill stored.

"What do you feel?" I ask as Alissa casts [Telekinesis] on a cup of tea.

"We, do, not, feel," Ted says.

"Right, what do you sense, can you sense the mana inside Alissa?"

"We, feel, a, dis-tur-bance, a, for-ce," Suzy says.

"Can you copy it?"

They tilt their heads in sync.

"Not, sure," Ted says.

I see the differences in the soul when I add or remove skills, but I can't feel the entire extent. It seems skills are something that stretches for a good part of the soul.

Ted lifts one of his fluffy arms in the direction of an empty tea cup. I feel a wild burst of mana come out of his arm, the tea cup shakes and explodes in hundreds of little pieces. Ted falls over face-down, his body limp.

The clay golem summons immediately start to move again and sweep the dust.

"Oh shit, Ted, you okay?" I ask.

Alissa quickly grabs Ted and checks all over his body for damage.

I put on [Spirit Magic] and cast [Soul Touch]. I feel his soul is "gooey", it's constantly shivering and moving, something wrong happened inside him.

The spell acts like a [Regeneration] for the soul and slowly puts his soul back in piece, returning it to it's "structured" form.

Roxanne comes down and peeks over the room. "Did something happen?" She asks.

"Kweh! Ex-plode!"

"Gih."

"Ted tried to cast a spell and it seems to have failed spectacularly," I say.

"Oh no!" Roxanne yells and rushes over to the little teddy bear.

Ted recovers lucidity and starts to move again. He escapes from Alissa's arms and looks over his handiwork.

"I, fai-led, my, task," he says and bows, "for-give-ness, ne-ces-sa-ry."

"It's fine," I say and Ted straightens, Alissa snatches him and she and Roxanne ask him if he's really okay. "I think I gave them too much mana. I copied Hana and Alissa's mana organ but they are an adult's organ, the golems are like newborns with their mana control."

"They should have the soul of an elemental so maybe they can cast [Earth Magic] spells correctly?" Alissa asks.

"Elementals manipulate the elementas, they don't really cast spells the same way we do," Roxanne says.

"[Earth Wall] should be close enough," I say.

We move outside and I show the spell to the golems. This time we let Suzy cast.

She only manages to raise a flimsy wall, but at least she didn't turn her soul to mush.

"Maybe the bodies of the elemental also influence on their spellcasting," Roxanne says.

"Makes sense, we know the storm elementals' bodies are valuable due to the mana they hold, kind of like a mana crystal for staffs," I say.

"So elementals are essentially just huge, sentient, mana crystals?" Alissa asks.

"Cor-rect, as-sump-tion," Suzy says.

"So, does Gecynd shit crystals?" Roxanne asks with a chuckle.

"Gihih," Gify chirps a muffled laugh, his claws cover his mouth.

"If it creates an elemental then she more like births them," I say.

"That sounds horrible," Alissa says.

"And painful," Roxanne says.

Gify stares at where our tree in the front yard should be and I get a shiver, hopefully Gecynd didn't hear that.

We teach the golems [Earth Bullet], [Earth Wall], and [Dust Storm]. They learn how to cast easily but have extreme difficulty in controlling the spell.

Roxanne starts training them in [Mana Control] alongside Aoi while I focus on [Soul Manipulation].

During bath I require massage on my bruised member. I grab Lina by the waist and lower her on me, slowly we grind on each other. She deserves some rewards for succeeding with [Double Strike] so Ciel massages her from behind. Her mouth is occupied by either of us so by the end of it she's out of breath and melting on my arms with a silly smile on her face.

At night Hana shows us her progress with [Illusion Magic], she can create 3 arms and attack at the same time, with this even Toga has difficulty winning against her. To survive you either full dodge or take the risk and try to parry, trying to parry all attacks at the same time is basically impossible.

"Wolfy, can you start to show me [Water Spirit]?" Roxanne asks.

I look at Ciel and she nods.

"Sure."

I sit down and hug her tight, she nuzzles her face on my neck and my nose is filled with her lavender perfume plus some faint sweet perfume from a high elven skin cream.

I put my points into [Water Magic] and call the spirit. A ball of water forms on my palm, it changes into the face of a little mermaid. Ink appears from the ball of water and takes the color of unnaturally white skin, a black fish body, and black algae hair. Her face might be cute but certainly resembles Roxanne, even her shell-covered breasts are the same size, if Roxanne was half a meter tall. A trident made out of coral grows from her hand.

Once completely summoned, the mermaid "swims" in the air, giggling.

Ciel's [Holy Spirit] stops walking and face plants as she loses concentration and I see the "hugging eyes" show themselves.

"Why does yours continues moving when you don't pay attention while mine stops?" Ciel says and pouts.

"I heard something that [Summoning Magic] alters the soul, a part of it turns similar to the summon's soul," I say, "could be the same principle."

"Then give me a point in [Summoning Magic]," Ciel says and I obey. She casts [Summon Small Bird] and sways while sitting, nearly falling over Lina on her lap.

"How did… how did you get used to this?" Ciel asks, trying to hold her dinner in.

"You just do, you have to force yourself."

"His 'Willpower' is slightly higher than yours," Alissa says.

Ciel nods and gathers her resolve.

A while later I have to wake up Roxanne. I almost suspect she used the excuse of training to fall asleep in my arms, since tonight is Lina and Ciel's day she must be trying to score some out of her time.