Chapter 43: Cracking the Challenge

I was caught flat-footed by the sudden notification, so much so that I was barely able to respond to Titania's lingering kiss before she collapsed unconscious against my chest, her breathing soft and content. I could have slid underneath her, or started walking around the cave to gather my thoughts, to theorize about the source, but I chose to continue lying underneath her lithe body instead, my half-erect shaft still inside her. If I was going to spend some time theorizing about the sudden new challenge, I was going to do that through a delicious distraction.

Not to mention maintaining contact might give me some clues.

Even with the euphoria I was feeling after that spectacular explosion, I couldn't help but be stressed. The notification of my special ability being countered was never a good sign, but the fact that it happened with Titania was even worse. She was the strongest and most influential person I got in contact with by far, and she represented real risk for me. I was feeling comfortable due to her cute shyness and other reactions, but that was before realizing she had a skill that interfered with mine.

I decided to experiment once more. I leaned in for a soft kiss, slipping a sliver of mana inside her, but this time. Even in her sleep, she moaned softly as she sucked my tongue, eagerly allowing my mana into her body.

[+50 Experience]

[-13 Mana]

[+1 Tantric]

However, this time, I did things differently. Instead of letting go of the control of the mana, allowing her to absorb it easily, I maintained the control, letting it slip inside her.

I was rewarded with an incredible finding. I could suddenly feel a familiar yet foreign presence of power throbbing inside her. I hadn't had to turn inward to check the source of the familiarity. It was the source of her power, the core of the system. It was hard to describe, of course, like a blind person trying to describe a dragon after a brief touch. Still, like a blind person feeling the majesty and danger of the dragon by just a touch, I could feel the majesty of her power, dwarfing my current status by a huge margin.

Then, my mana disappeared, so I decided to lean in and give her another kiss for another dose of mana, to understand her power. Luckily, my mana regeneration was still active, even though I was counting the remaining time in minutes rather than hours. From the earlier experience, it was almost enough to fill my mana pool twice before expiry.

[+50 Experience]

[-16 Mana]

[+1 Tantric]

The second impression I got about her power was marginally clearer. Some parts, I was able to recognize, such as Charisma and Wisdom. I even managed to identify her arcana skill, though the rest was hard to understand. The real clincher, however, was a thick web of white energy spreading over her power core, like it dominated all others. I let my mana touch it, only for my mana to disappear in an instant, absorbed into the web.

It was the same light magic she had been using in the battle.

Suddenly, a sudden inspiration clicked in my mind, proving the usefulness of my extraordinary wisdom and intelligence. I doubted that I would've made the connection that quickly otherwise. Some of the older books I have been reading to discover the root of my powers had snippets and footnotes referring to some metaphysical concepts like actual presences, describing them a bit more holistically than necessary, even giving them personalities and traits like they were real beings, like skills and stats had personalities once upon a time. It was not something I took note of at the time.

The stories and footnotes were by no means comprehensive, but I remembered it talking about the Light like it was pure, but also emotionless and unyielding, driven by logic and perception of justice more than anything, not to mention aloof and hard to connect to. It didn't describe the Titania that blushed with just a fleeting kiss. But it described the peerless head librarian that scared everyone, who worked and lived for her duty.

The difference, her mana depletion.

Once I realized that, it was so clear, especially with the learnings I gathered from my diagnosis. For whatever reason, Light Magic wasn't working like just another skill but affecting her mind, state and thoughts, as well as blocking out her emotions. I didn't know whether it was something unique to her or it would happen to anyone that would take that skill, but regardless, it forced me to change my plans significantly.

Suddenly, I was very glad about not taking that particular skill.

Of course, while considering all those points, I was still inside her, smoothly going back and forth, enjoying her tightness just in case I never had the opportunity to in the future. And even while she was comatose because of exhaustion, her grip was spectacular, and her moans were beautiful. And since I needed one last diagnostic before making a plan, I decided to use the opportunity to my benefit. I continued pumping until I was ready to climax, and then filled her insides once more, using the moment to deliver a burst of mana as well.

[Companion Acquisition: Progress 12%] Progress Blocked!

[+1000 Experience]

[-120 Mana]

[+1 Tantric]

Once again, I maintained the contact with my mana, the abundance of it allowing me to observe the changes in her power much clearer. But in the core of it, I could see something familiar trying to change, only to be suppressed by the cage of light. Something that carried a piece of me.

I was willing to bet everything that it represented the Companion process. I decided to experiment and flooded all the mana I could still control towards it, smashing the cage of light around it with all my might. It cost all of my mana, but it managed to make a crack in it, a crack that the Companion energy expanded just a bit more.

[Ability Countered!]

[Companion Acquisition: Progress 13%]

[Achievement: Rattling the Rival. Use your superior abilities and trickery to get one over on your eons-old rival. +2 to all stats. +10000 Experience]

Level UP!

[Select one of the following skills: Master Biomancy, Basic Light, Advanced Tantric]

I gasped in shock at the achievement I had received. The rewards were incredible, of that there was no doubt. Two points across all stats was an incredible benefit, and even at my current status, ten thousand points of experience was nothing to scoff at.

But it was nothing compared to the description. Until now, achievements were always amusing, sometimes mildly informative, such as the second-biggest library. However, the last one I received came completely unexpected. The rival thing was confusing enough, as even if I squinted badly, I wouldn't exactly put my budding relationship with Titania rivalry. However, the real kicker was the eons-old rival part. I was fairly certain that two decades didn't count as an eon.

It was a very intriguing —and potentially dangerous— mystery considering the spottiness of historical records, which tends to happen when cities and civilizations fall under monster hordes in a surprising frequency. Still I decided to shelve that for the moment, as no matter how intriguing, I had more immediate concerns to address.

Such as the beautiful girl currently on my lap sleeping, or the skill selection from the level up. Though, the latter part was relatively obvious. I just chose Tantric, as it was not only immediately useful, but also it had implications I wanted to explore. Not to mention avoiding Light Magic for the moment was the prudent choice.

The next half an hour passed in a relative calmness, though it required my utmost concentration. I was still inside her, sliding in and out repeatedly while also kissing her, injecting small charges of mana, trying to understand how best to slow down or destroy the encroachment of the Light into her mind and soul. I spent quite a bit of mana, but luckily, with my regeneration still active —with less than five minutes remaining on the clock— I still managed to recover my mana to near-full levels.

During that, however, I used my new Tantric skill to great effect, earning experience as well as improving my control on transferred mana.

[+4000 Experience]

[-420 Mana]

[+25 Tantric]

I decided to wake her up, and wake her up with style, even though it was risky with the Light magic spreading in her despite my best efforts —while not waking her up, making it much more challenging. "Good morning, sleeping beauty," I cheered even as I used my biomancy skills to gently wake her up, not wanting her to feel groggy. It worked better than the best coffee, her gray eyes shining bright, but her expression was cold, showing that the suppression effect was working greatly.

The confusion on her face was annoying, but also beautiful. It was clear that she was trying to process what had happened, but through her logical, emotionless perspective. Her first activity was trying to pull herself away from me. I decided to make it even harder for her, and captured her lips in a searing kiss, also dropping a lot of mana with my kiss, something made easier thanks to Advanced Tantric, giving me a much better control over externalized mana.

[-80 Mana]

The shock on her face was beautiful, and her attempts to pull back choppy and reluctant, the rush of pleasure enhanced by the mana flow enough to affect even her emotionless state. Only after a minute of kissing, did I pull back, leaving her panting and confused, but my arms were still around her, preventing her escape.

"What are you doing!" she gasped, her hand raised threateningly like she was about to cast a spell. On the surface, her anger was apparent, but I knew that it was driven by her confusion. Thanks to my interference, she was still feeling something, but unlike before, Light Magic prevented her from processing it properly. Or at least, that was my best guess.

"I'm helping you recover your mana," I said calmly, my subterfuge skill once again showing its worth. Before she could say anything, I continued. "We need to move, and my enhanced mana regeneration is about to expire. It's for the best if I use the last moments of it in order to increase your mana, in case we come across hostiles. It's simply logical."

"Yeah," she murmured, her tone cold, but her eyes shrouded with emotion. "That's a very reasonable course of action. Give me your finger," she said.

"Don't you remember, we discovered that the finger is a subpar way of delivering mana, and found out a much better way," I said, doing my best to look calm and collected, but keeping back that smirk was a difficult challenge. "The other way is physically more challenging, but considering the circumstances, it's a worthy trade-off."

"But-" she started, a small blush spreading on her face, proving that the interference I had been running while she slept was not wasted. She wasn't too far gone into the emotionless space.

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Her words would remain unfinished, because I slammed my lips against hers, silencing her the best way I could. And when I pushed my shaft deeper into her once again, I managed to extract a beautiful moan from her despite her reluctance.

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[Companion Acquisition: Progress 13%] Progress Blocked!

The notification annoyed me, especially since I was afraid that she would realize my fight against her Light Magic. I needed to distract her further.

Luckily, my experiences since my initial discovery gave me an impressive library of actions I could use to distract her. I decided to start with something simple, I flipped our positions so she was laying underneath me, my impressive frame hovering above her as I slammed in as deep as possible, earning another moan.

She looked at me with her confused gaze, desire battling with cold logic. Regardless of that, she looked far too aware of herself. So, I decided to carry things to the next level. Previously, she experienced calm and comfortable sex. Now, it was time to introduce her to pure fucking.

I grabbed her legs, and before she could react, put them on my shoulders and leaned forward, forcing her to bend in a very uncomfortable angle. An angle that gave me a perfect angle to impale her tunnel. I took the chance, and slammed inside her mercilessly.

What followed was pure drilling. I slammed inside her again and again. I kissed her repeatedly to inject mana, but even those carried no hint of tenderness, but pure domination. I used the opportunity to dump mana into her, but just maintained contact. It wasn't time to take action yet.

[-300 Mana]

[+1500 Experience]

[Companion Acquisition: Progress 13%] Progress Blocked!

I was annoyed with the repeated reminders of the progress stalling. Luckily, she was rapidly approaching towards a climax under the unfamiliar sensations, giving me the excuse I needed. We orgasmed at the same time, her juices mixing with mine, as well as a flood of my mana, enough to massacre a small army if applied differently.

[-850 Mana]

[+1000 Experience]

[Ability Countered!]

[Companion Acquisition: Progress 15%]

I could feel her Light Magic desperately trying to reestablish its control, but with her lack of mana, it didn't have a fighting chance. The defense around her companion core was shattered completely, giving us a chance to establish a proper connection.

Since her emotions were back in the game, I decided to shift back to being gentle as well. I pulled out for a moment, letting her legs fall back to the floor. Then, without wasting a second more than necessary, I then continued loving her in the missionary position, our lips linked together, except for the occasions I pulled back to whisper heated compliments into her ear, something that triggered her as much as the calm and long beats of my shaft invading her again and again.

[+1000 Experience]

[Companion Acquisition: Progress 18%]

"It feels so good," she moaned, as she went through yet another orgasm. "How come I never tried this before!" she added wistfully, her sentiment also proving that she wasn't exactly aware of the emotional restriction her magic was forcing on her. Luckily for her, I was more than willing to shatter those imaginary cuffs, freeing her from her torture. And if I was going to replace those cold cuffs with velvet ones, well, that was a fair exchange for her.

Our tender lovemaking lasted another half an hour as she slowly absorbed my mana. I would have liked to stay in the cave all night long, exploring the details of our new relationship, but unfortunately, there were two things that made it a bad idea. The first one, were we needed to return to the school before her enemies decided to take action in her absence. Luckily, it wasn't yet nightfall, and even necromancers wouldn't be stupid enough to act while everyone was around. The second, my mana regeneration perk had finally expired, making it harder for me to refill her mana while being able to use mine.

[-400 Mana]

[+2000 Experience]

[Companion Acquisition: Progress 23%]

I could have pushed forward a bit more, at least to the point that I reached the first milestone of the Companion process, but I refrained, not wanting to add yet another explanation to an already-confusing situation. "We need to return to the school," I whispered as I pulled out of her, not bothering to hide my regret.

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"Yes, we do," she agreed, looking no less enthusiastic about it. "My mana is recovered enough to be able to avoid an ambush, and I need to be in my library before they try anything else."

"Makes sense," I said, then added another thing, no matter how much I didn't want to. "I think we need to return separately, just to make sure they don't identify me," I added, no matter how much I wanted to hang around her, maybe even catching a quickie on the road before the Light Magic turned her cold once more.

"I agree," she said with a nod even as she sat up, making no effort to hide her naked body, covered with my markings. "For now, they don't know who you are and where you came from, and your skill set is diverse enough to make it impossible for them to pin your origin," she added. "So impossible that I still don't have an idea," she added with a bitter tone.

I leaned in to steal a soft, lingering kiss. "Don't worry, we're going to speak more about it," I answered. "Make sure you rest for tonight. Tomorrow night, I"m going to visit you in your room and we're going to have a real talk without immediate danger."

After a lingering kiss, I quickly dressed, and after one last kiss, I left Titania behind, naked. I didn't worry about her, because with her mana back and without an extensive ambush prepared, it was impossible for them to hurt her, at least. And if they did, my presence wouldn't be enough to change anything.

With a sigh, I dashed away, though only after ten minutes of frantic running did I remember the book in my bag. The book that was stolen from her, the one that started everything. I shrugged. I could always give her that back tomorrow, and maybe even use the opportunity to delve deeper in its secrets. Even if it was in a different language, there was a chance I could get some snippets about its source.

The last achievement spooked me a bit. I was in a mystery deeper than I first assumed. Every nugget of information counted.

—

[Level: 19 Experience: 180550 / 190000

Strength: 20 Charisma: 32

Precision: 15 Perception: 19

Agility: 19 Manipulation: 24

Speed: 17 Intelligence: 22

Endurance: 16 Wisdom: 26

HP: 1653 / 1653 Mana: 946 / 2337 ]

SKILLS

[Master Melee [100/100]

Expert Arcana [75/75]

Expert Elemental [75/75]

Expert Biomancy [75/75]

Advanced Subterfuge [50/50]

Advanced Tantric [50/50]

Basic Speech [25/25]

PERKS

Mana Regeneration

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