Roxanne and Hana are received at Mac Gantus' Knight Academy like the Queens they are. Alcander, Silvano, Almaria, and Aisco are accompanying them along with a detachment of Lordsguard for protection, so their group is both intimidating and mesmerizing to the young warrior-students who hope to one day serve someone with even half as much dignity as my wives and subordinates.
The Academy itself isn't too dissimilar to that of Goloria. It's a collection of huge buildings of yellow marble with stupidly high ceilings, separated by perfectly flat sections of criminally short grass that we aren't allowed to step on, as we're reminded every ten meters by a sign saying "DON'T STEP ON THE GRASS."
There's a bit of a Greek flair to this place as the tall marble columns hold fairly ornate Baroque-like red clay roofs, and the theme for the statues that decorate every wall and flank every path is all about bare and muscular bodies in Jojo-like poses. Roxanne and Hana note that the average penis size depicted here is considerably larger than the average.
"How can you be sure of that? Wolfy's is the only sword that you've ever tasted," Roxanne questions Hana confusedly.
The dragonkin proudly crosses her arms, pressing her round pair against her thin dress as she answers earnestly, "I've sucked only his, but I've seen and touched quite a nice selection. I've even dreamed about which would be the best one to take my first time, though Wolfy proved that it's more about the stamina to keep up with me than the size of the sword." And the group accompanying them pretends to not hear a thing.
"Wolfy's is fairly thick, so it's not exactly an average one," Roxanne retorts with a suggestive grin.
"True…" Hana hums thoughtfully as she reminisces about our first time.
Then they meet with the representative of the Academy that will be guiding them, and the scrawny pen-pusher metaphorically taste their swords with the praise he gives to our group. Hana even internally cringes at the mention of her Title of "One Thousand Strikes," as it's been a while since she last heard it. But Alcander is the only one who's actually studied here before, so the representative focuses on sucking his pompous sword.
"What an honor it is to have such an esteemed student of ours return along with royalty," the short imperial man cheerfully praises him with a bow.
"How surprising that they remember your name," Silvano quietly attempts to banter.
But the representative is quite quick to disarm him, "There are few families of mages as prestigious as Signeur Alcander's, so it'd be shameful if we forgot about them after they graduated. Their success reflects well on our Academy, so we make sure to remain informed."
"We have prestigious centers of magical learning in Escanso, but none of them can compare in size to this," Almaria remarks with a dreamy tone. Our Institute is still far from being comparable to the Academy.
And the short man shows a good amount of "Charisma" as he replies, "The Academy merely has a wide variety of areas it covers, but we admit that there are institutes in Maoka that can rival us in the areas of theoretical and non-system magic."
"And the Academy doesn't have even a single teacher of [Weaverism], so even in this matter, it could improve," Alcander politely adds.
I didn't miss this circlejerk-y behavior that academics had back on Earth, so I tune out their conversation. Aisco doesn't even glance at them as they talk, and I find it… worrying that I have something in common with the creepy elf.
Anyway, the Knight Academy also has a section for mages, and they cater to all kinds of nobles, so it's the largest institution of learning in the entire world. But if we manage to succeed in all of our plans, our own Ryder Institute will overtake them due to the wider variety of subjects that we'll study, and we'll also likely have a larger number of students once we begin offering free schooling for all commoners (which will actually be paid for by their taxes). The Temple already offers free classes to the commoners about certain topics, but I want formalization and standardization.
The visiting group is momentarily delayed as they stop to watch a duel in one of the many dueling pits that dot the Academy. The two muscular students tense up when they see the number of beauties and stern warriors watching them.
"This makes me nostalgic…" Yunia wistfully remarks through [Bind]. She went to Goloria's Academy, and the atmosphere is exactly the same here.
The duelists are mere teens, and one of them is a red-haired dragonkin, who seems to almost drool at the sight of Hana, and then he actually gets a full mast.
"Yep, he's a love beast like me," Hana wryly remarks, then flashes him a seductive smile that makes his blue cheek scales twitch.
The priest/referee calls his attention, and his posture immediately shifts into a battle stance, but now he looks so stern that his imperial teen opponent seems a bit intimidated. At first, it didn't look like a serious duel, just two friends having a quick fight, but now the dragonkin has a woman he wants to impress.
And the moment the referee gives the signal, the dragonkin attacks with his full might.
The imperial teen is immediately pushed back and forced onto the defensive, but then he gets angry at his friend's aggressiveness, so he mans up and matches the dragonkin in ferocity. The two share savage blows and lightning strikes, even forgoing a bit of skill in exchange for enthusiasm.
But, with the right encouragement, a love beast dragonkin thrives above all.
I'm like a love beast dragonkin, too, right? I need to give myself a boner before battle so that I can go full power.
"Yeah, you kind of are, but the level of your 'enthusiasm' isn't the same as that of normal dragonkin," Hana answers through our connection.
Basically, dragonkin can get into a "barbarian rage" when their "vice" is stimulated, whereas, for me, it's merely a way to quickly focus my mind and get it to 100% power.
The duel doesn't last long, and after many cuts that spill long streaks of blood all over the sand arena, the imperial is crippled enough that he concedes.
The dragonkin teen roars victoriously, then turns his childishly expectant face towards Hana, who nods in approval as she grins, and the young dragonkin visibly shivers, possibly even soiling his pants. This is a moment that he'll likely remember for the rest of his life.
But then the group simply moves on, allowing the youth to realize that everyone can see the wet spot on his pants.
Hana's purpose here is different from the others, so she and Silvano split off from the rest of the group. They meet with the Academy's skill trainers while Roxanne, Almaria, Alcander, and Aisco go to the library.
Curiously, while the knight section of the Academy is overwhelmingly male, the magical section is overwhelmingly female. I know my true talent lies in magic, so I'm quite eager to study once again at a magical academy while drowning in flowers. I have a STEM degree, so studying somewhere that isn't a sausage fest is a dream of mine.
Moving on, I want to learn more about [Space Magic], so Roxanne requests the most advanced books they have on the skill. Alcander will help her with the research while Almaria and Aisco do their own thing.
The first book Roxanne reads begins by explaining gravity in a Rupegian way, and Alcander's help immediately becomes necessary because the books are quite dense with obscure jargon, so he helps translate its contents into more understandable language.
The Rupegian theory of gravity is rather basic. There are stars and nebulas to observe since they were created after the Star Burst event, a massive battle between the Symbols of Light and Darkness that happens every few years and always ends in the destruction of both Symbols. But there aren't any galaxies to explore, nor even any actual matter in "space" since anything physical that tries to go past the Broken Skies is simply ripped apart by some unknown force, so they don't have much to observe that could help explain gravity.
One interesting bit is that they call the center of the world the Great Attractor as all matter is attracted towards it, and it's this same force of attraction that mages mimicked to create my favorite spell, [Telekinesis]. Since this spell manipulates the gravity of an object, there have been some experiments that suggest that extreme gravity warps space and time, which led to the creation of the [Warp Space] spell.
With extreme warping, you can "connect" two different locations, like folding a piece of paper and punching a hole through it. This is the concept of a wormhole, and that's exactly what [Eternal Gate] is.
There are some interesting bits in between these large discoveries, like how [Gate] is just switching the "coordinates" of someone or something. Or how [Blink] is merely a continuous "addition" to the "coordinates," allowing you to teleport in a straight line. There's also some math involved about coordinate systems and matrices, which is a bit nostalgic to me and also eerily similar to 3D game programming.
To keep myself from having an existential crisis, I don't let Roxanne linger on that last part for too long.
Then we get to [Annihilation], which is [Space Magic]'s level 70 spell. This is a very dangerous spell as it creates a spray of mana that turns the matter it touches into pure energy, kind of like a matter-antimatter reaction, which is also called annihilation. Considering that the result of such a spell is always explosive, Roxanne becomes quite interested in learning it, so she focuses most of her study time on it.
The Academy allows her to take some books home, so she returns to the embassy to study in the comfort of our bedroom.
Hana's talk with the skill trainers is actually directly relevant to my humanoidization training, so I pay attention to what they say.
"What can this skill do?" the trainer politely asks.
And Hana explains, "I can cover my body with scales, which are just as good as armor, so I can use the skill to patch up holes in my defenses at the cost of some mental stamina and a bit of mana. This skill also absorbed my [Enhanced Reflexes], Stamina, Strength, and Endurance skills, so I've been focusing on physical enhancements to level [Draconic Body]. I've even managed to punch a [Meteor] while using it."
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"What…?" the rugged man quacks confusedly.
"I punched a [Meteor] two days ago. It was a bit weakened by other spells, but it still had most of its power when I punched it," she eagerly explains with a proud grin.
He blinks blankly. "You… punched it?"
And she nods. "Yes."
The trainer remains silent for a couple of seconds before he hesitantly breathes, "Why…?"
"To destroy it before it could fall on my sister-wives and husband," she answers matter-of-factly.
His thick eyebrows slowly rise up his forehead. "And you survived…?"
"Yes, duh. I just broke an arm." And she taps her right forearm.
"Her Highness doesn't lie," Silvano states, a hint of wry delight in his tone from observing someone's mind halt at the absurdity of our family.
The trainer immediately recollects himself and politely apologizes, "No, Gods, no! That's not what I wanted to imply. A thousand apologies, I just… don't understand how such a situation could ever come to be." Then he has to put so much effort into a forced smile that I can almost hear the rusted muscles of his face grating against one another.
Hana doesn't care, though, as she loves to brag. "Well, we were in the enemy's backlines by ourselves as we attempted to decapitate their main power, but our biggest vulnerability is high-level spells since we don't have someone with the 'MPower' to interrupt High Mages, so we needed an alternative if we wanted to survive spells like [Meteor]. And that's why I came up with this skill."
"To punch [Meteor]s…" the trainer hums softly, still stunned while forcefully smiling.
She nods again. "Exactly."
He slowly breathes in, then closes his eyes and slowly breathes out, managing to calm himself down a bit. "Okay… uh, lemme… let's recapitulate. The skill you created is called [Draconic Body], correct?"
Recapitulate means "let's go back to the beginning," or something.
"Hm… yes," she hums, answering us both.
"And you can cover your body with hard scales while also improving your physical 'Stats'?" he asks soberly, now fully focused again.
"Yes."
"Anything else? Anything that makes you more… 'draconic'?"
Hana rubs her chin thoughtfully, then she touches her forehead as she answers, "Huh… I think I started to grow horns and a tail, but they were still only stubs."
He frowns. "Your skill is at level nine, yet it barely has anything that's truly 'draconic,' just physical enhancements. What about your racial Breath skill and [Summon Wings]?"
"They're level seven and ten."
The rugged imperial nods thoughtfully and launches into an explanation, "Your actual 'draconic' skills aren't included in [Draconic Body] while a number of physical enhancement skills are. Skill-point-wise, this is quite an inefficient way of creating an aggregator skill. You need to stick to the theme of 'draconic.'"
Hana scratches her head confusedly. "Well, the skill did absorb my physical enhancement skills, saving me quite a lot of points."
And his eyes start to gleam as he gets to the crux of the matter. "But it can save more. Much more. Skills need to be 'harmonious' within themselves so that they can more easily branch out and affect other areas. A good and wide foundation for a home allows you to more easily increase its height."
She knits her eyebrows as she uses her whole twelve points in "Intelligence" to come to the genius conclusion of… "So I should focus on… becoming more 'draconic'?" Then she adds through [Bind], "Screw you, Wolfy."
The trainer excitedly nods and sagely advises, "Indeed. Ask yourself what it means to have a 'draconic body.' At level nine, your skill should be advanced enough that it won't be that difficult to have it absorb your racial Breath and [Summon Wing] skills."
Hana hums in realization, "Right… it makes sense that related skills should merge to 'save space' in my soul."
And the trainer grins excitedly, now a much more natural-looking expression. "Precisely."
Hm… then, what does it mean to "humanoidize" myself…?
I already have a dragon inside of me, which I sometimes let out with [Dragon Transformation], but my "human" side is already in control whenever I'm not a dragon. Though my thoughts are always tainted by the dragon, so I guess my "normal" form isn't exactly completely "pure" human, either. It's a humanoid form, not a human form.
It's with these thoughts in mind that I play with my soul as I continue to horrify the Oracle.
Intermission - Lolo
I watch from the balcony as Nikolas trains with the Lordsguard. He integrates into their line without any problems, and his skill with the spear is almost comparable to the others, but he doesn't drag them down as the most important thing in a shield wall is to fight in sync with each other rather than individual skill.
Knowing how well he's mingling with them makes me conflicted. We've been fighting together for so long that seeing him fighting alongside another feels like a betrayal.
Didn't he hate Lord Wolf?
Why is he training so hard with them?
Is he going to abandon our fellowship?
We had a very cushy and exclusive niche being guides for Antreos Crea.
The Lordsguard has no use for the dungeon knowledge we worked so hard to acquire.
He never looked at me like that, he never fought that hard with me, and he never seemed to have as much fun with me as he now seems to be having with them.
But none of these excuses overshadow the fact that I ruined our relationship by getting addicted to Lord Wolf's sword.
I'm such a huge shameless sl-t…!
I barely knew him, and now I can't stop thinking about his thick sword pounding me until I pass out. His powerful smirk, his fearsome stare, his youthful face, his stunning scales, his healthy body, and his… Sword. I can't get him off my mind. I just want to have him inside me every waking second until he gives me so much bliss that I pass out again.
Wolfy's ruined me!
And I'm not even the first one he's ruined.
"A juicy piece of meat like you shouldn't look so lonely," a seductive voice whispers in my ear, giving me a chill that becomes even more intense as her pale hands sneak under my clothes and fondle my body.
I had no idea how gay I was until I met the Ryders. There's just something about them that makes me So. Gods. Damn. HORNY!
A soft whisper escapes my lips as she quickly gets me excited, and I just close my eyes as I enjoy the feeling of Lords Roxanne's hands as they work on my sensitive bits with unbelievable skill. In less than a minute, I'm already ready.
"Tell me why you look so gloomy. We like to see our juicy bunny being happy," she kindly whispers, her voice so intoxicating that I don't even need to think about it before my mouth moves on its own.
"You make me feel things… you make me confused about myself."
"Then follow your heart," she kindly replies.
But before I can say anything, she squeezes my nub, making me voice loudly, and I start to lose the capability to speak as the pleasure quickly builds up within me.
I simply give in to the pleasure, and before I know it, she brings me to the summit. My legs quiver as I struggle to remain standing, but she supports my body, which must be a bit difficult for her considering how delicately thin she is. My mind is quickly drowned in pleasure, and I lose my train of thought, but then I suddenly feel like I've just woken up as the bliss eventually passes.
She finally takes her fingers out and licks them clean, then grabs my face and forces me to turn it to the side so that she can kiss me, allowing me to savor myself. But then she quickly pulls back and leaves me on the balcony as she walks away.
"Your heart knows what it wants," she advises me again, then leaves me alone.
My pants are soaked with my own fluids, so I leave the bedroom to look for a maid to help me. Since the Ryders are addicted to love, there's always one on standby right outside, and she helps me clean myself and gives me a new set of pants and underwear.
"Did you get attacked?" a concerned voice asks from behind me.
I turn around and see Dame Klein staring at me while frowning. Then I glance at the stoic elven maid and see her face twitch, but I don't know if it's amusement or disdain. I never know what to think about these elves except for Lord Yulania, which is rather odd considering she's a noble.
"Well, yes, I guess…" I answer with a shrug.
Klein takes a step forward and gently feels my bits and flower, assessing whether or not they've been abused to the point that I can't move properly. "You look a bit down. Did they tire you out?"
I feel mild discomfort, but I don't push her back. If anything, it mildly excites me again. "I'm just feeling a bit raw, but I'm not tired, just pensive."
Then her hands linger for a bit too long, and a glimpse of arousal appears in her eyes, but she immediately recovers and pulls her hands back as she becomes stoic again. "It's time for the Companions to have a training session since most of the Lords are too busy to 'make use' of us. If you aren't too tired, you should join us."
"I will," I promptly reply and suddenly feel awkward as I almost salute her reflexively, but she doesn't seem to notice and simply leaves.
I'm such a damn mess…
I meet up with the other Companions, and even the three archer girls join in for fun, which I find a bit crazy.
Our training is a bit different from the rest of the Lordsguard. We don't have the highest skills, levels, or "Stats," but what we do have is endless stamina, as getting plowed by Wolfy day after day has given us an unusually high "Endurance." And since our duty is to defend the Ryders until death, this "Stat" is the most important one for us.
Wait, I just referred to the Companions as "we." I've… I've already started to consider myself one of them…
"You okay, Lolo? You look a bit distracted," Hukarere remarks as we get a brief moment of rest.
"Gods, can everyone read me like an open book?" I flippantly reply and sigh.
Aneta hugs me from behind while also fondling my ass, and the training has made me so tense that I almost instinctively spread my legs for her. "Maybe a bit of 'stimulation' would help you out?" the elven succubus asks suggestively.
The others then stare at us with hungry eyes, and Atawha even touches herself without shame, while Hukarere is the only one who looks at us amusedly. But what surprises me is how much I want not only Aneta but also every other Companion to do me until I'm raw.
What is happening to me? Why do I feel these things about these girls? It feels like love, yet I know that it isn't love. So what am I feeling?
Then I remember what Lord Ciel said earlier today. The Companions love the Ryders, but in a different way.
"I think I love everyone, but I don't want to marry any of you, not even Lord Wolf. I just don't understand what this 'love' is," I suddenly blurt out.
"The Goddess of Love says that there are many types of love," Dame Klein states, her gentle tone awfully similar to Lord Ciel's.
"Oh? You're a worshiper of Love, now?" Hukarere starts the usual banter between the two.
But Dame Klein is having none of it, "Well, Ciel is, and she's taught me a lot."
Aneta senses that the conversation is becoming serious and releases me, then we all start sitting down on the hard floor to talk.
"Of all Gods, I think Love is the most important one for us," Melanie states. As an imperial, she's naturally the one with the highest "Piety" among all of us.
Klein nods and continues, "I feel the need to serve Wolfy. I want to give him my everything, even my body, all to make him happy, and yet, I also don't want to marry him."
"You sure you aren't just addicted to his sword?" Hukarere teases, but Klein frowns in distaste.
"I'm serious, Hu. You're the same. You know he wants you as a concubine, but you just want to remain a soldier," she earnestly replies, and that makes the wolf Chimera pull back.
"Yeah, uh… you're right, sorry," she softly apologizes as her ears fold in submission.
Then Aneta declares, and we all turn to her to listen, "It's the same for all of us. We want to serve the Ryders with our mind, body, and spirit… but it does help that making love with them is so addictive."
"So you're actually serious when you say that it's your duty to satisfy Lord Wolf with your bodies?" Edjo questions skeptically.
"It is my duty to suck his dick, yes," Hukarere states as she nods, then she smirks.
But something like that makes me uncomfortable. "It feels… demeaning," I confess with a frown.
"You have a good vocabulary for an adventurer," Aneta casually remarks. She's hot as hell, but elves can be a bit… irritating sometimes.
"I studied Antreos Crea a lot, so I have a good amount of 'Wisdom,'" I reply a bit dismissively.
Then Dame Klein moves the conversation on, and I'm grateful as I don't want to have an argument with Aneta right now, "The High Chamberlain is a former prostitute, and everyone knows that Wolfy is very fond of her, to the point that people think she'll become a concubine."
"Half of the Chimeras and the Lordsguard have done me, but Wolfy still wants me to be a concubine," Hukarere adds.
"Gods, you serious?" Khepri questions with a gasp.
"And I'm straight-edge. Atawha and other double-edge girls have done basically everyone we know," the wolf girl answers indifferently. I've quickly come to realize that these spirit Chimeras have no shame whatsoever.
And the raccoon girl in question shrugs as we turn to her, but then she frowns as she irritably states, "Some of you land-dwellers think it's shameful, which is kind of offensive. Especially since you all have a Goddess of Love to worship."
"I think we marry more easily than the Chimeras, and there aren't that many couples who 'dip outside' like the Ryders," Edolie politely explains, and we hum in understanding as her words make too much sense to us.
Then Hukarere slaps me on the back as she states with a grin, "The important thing is that you don't look down on yourself for having a Wolfy's Sword Addiction."
"You already have everything you need to be a Companion," Dame Klein wryly adds, and the other Companions chuckle in agreement.
Then Edjo piles on with supporting statements, "You can't re-virgin yourself, and it seems that the big black wolf is going his own way, too."
"So spread your legs, and let the dragon in," Khepri suggestively finishes.
And even Laguly looks supportive.
I guess being a slut for a dragon isn't so bad…
Intermission end.