What We Do to Survive

I finally returned to my room several hours later, thoroughly exhausted. The four of us had eventually moved together to the small library connected to the ritual complex to continue our discussion. I was sure the three of them were still down there, but I’d eventually begged off citing the piles of homework I still had left.

I did have piles of work to do, but more than that, I was just so done with dealing with other people. Sure we were in a ‘safe’ space, but I still had to stay vigilant and keep my wits about. Dealing with people was tiring. Dealing with my fellow students was even worse, the constant fear of betrayal and attack wearing away at the back of my mind.

As the door closed behind me and the wards I’d set up engaged, I sank into my desk chair with a long sigh. Tuesdays were definitely my longest day each week, with an entire seven hours of classes, but with all the day’s added excitement, it had felt much longer.

Even now, it wasn’t really over. I still had to do the rest of my work, practice my spellcasting, and plan out what I was going to be doing with Janna. That entire mess had me thoroughly stressed out.

It had come out of nowhere, and though I had tried to make the best of the opportunity, I still felt like I was being tricked somehow. She hadn’t messed with the oath, I was sure of it. The Geas of Clasped Hands was very robust and any attempt to alter it would have registered as a hostile action and been prevented within the cafeteria.

With the oath in place, my secrets and safety were ensured. She would get me my plants, I would help her out with her spellcasting, and then we would hopefully part ways. Dealing with that girl had put my teeth on edge and I intended to avoid her whenever possible after this.

I knew the value of making connections, and as a future Lawbinder Janna would be a powerful ally, but I didn’t think I would be coming out on top in any such future relationship.

For now however, I put that all aside. It was getting late, I’d grabbed a quick dinner on my way back to my room, and I still had a lot to do tonight. Scanning over the list I’d made of what I still needed to accomplish, I put together a brief schedule for the rest of the night.

I would start with some spellcasting practice, followed by some circulation exercises. It was always best to do those early, since it was important that my mana had time to regenerate fully by the time classes started the next day. It always sucked to cut my practice short, but I insisted on always keeping my mana pool above 25% in case of emergencies.

There were a few exercises that improved the rate of mana regeneration, but I had long ago mastered those in my very first semester. If there were any I’d missed, I was unaware. Beyond that, there were a few potions that improved mana regeneration, but those weren’t feasible. Not yet at least. Another reason to get my not-so-little pet’s tits working as soon as possible.

Once I was low on mana, I would spend some time putting together the training regime I had promised Janna. I would still need to see the state of her current skills, but I felt I had a pretty good estimate already. Just in case, I would make a few versions of the plan.

Finally, I would end the night with some more written assignments. Those weren’t due until Thursday at the earliest, but I had a lot of things planned for the next day so it was best to get a head start.

After changing into something a bit more comfortable, I retook the wonderfully comfortable seat that I had created the night before. The way she’d startled when I gave her rear a firm smack had done wonderful things to her anatomy, and I endeavored to wake her up that way more often in the future.

The only issue came when I noticed just how wet she was. There was a puddle forming steadily under her restraints and her thighs were thoroughly soaked. At first I’d thought that she’d pissed herself, no matter that elves were not supposed to do that, but after further examination I realized that wasn’t the case.

Instead she was simply incredibly aroused, and must have been for quite some time. I remembered noticing it the day before, but had assumed it was from what I’d been doing to her body then. It seemed that instead it must be the way I had restrained her, the nasty slut.

I would have to consider the consequences of this at another time, but for now I simply increased the amount of water the feeding tube was giving her. It wouldn’t do for my future milk factory to get dehydrated.

After using a rough towel to wipe down her and the floor, treatment that if anything had gotten the elf even more hot and bothered, I sat down to meditate. My skill with pure mana manipulation gave me a massive head start when it came to circulation, but that was no substitute for actual practice.

For the first time since I’d woken up, I let the mana currents trailing through my body grind to a halt, spinning my mana core to rewind the strands back into a tight ball. I immediately felt the effect, my body feeling so much slower and heavier than it had for much of the day. The chill air of my room bit at my exposed skin, no longer held at bay by the same temperature control techniques I planned to help Janna with.

It was unpleasant. I hated feeling so very weak, so very mortal. I longed for the day I could maintain the full circulation in my sleep, but for now it still took some amount of my limited will to keep the mana flowing.

I began the exercise by letting my mana unspool fully, the tight core in my chest expanding to fill my entire body. This was the natural state for an untrained mage, mana expanding in a loose cloud throughout their soul. In a nonmage, instead of stopping at the soul’s boundary, the mana would instead flow out into the world, equalizing with the ambient mana around them. That was what separated us, a soul strong enough to contain its own generated mana.

Once I felt it had properly dispersed, I began the laborious task of recompressing it. This sort of practice helped attune your body and mind to your mana. There was something of a trick to it, one I’d only come across recently in the Academy’s archives. The same way I had spun my core to drag in the strands of my circulation, I could twist my diffuse mana to accomplish much the same.

It was brutally difficult, but much less exhausting than the manual method of gathering a core I’d been taught initially. It also was a much better way of feeling your mana, the rotation causing it to trail across much more of the body and soul. Still, I easily understood why this wasn’t a beginners technique. I doubted I would have even understood what they were asking of me had they tried to teach it to me initially.

Despite the improved method I used, it still took much of an hour to draw my mana back into a compact core, and I was left mentally drained by the end of the experience. Still, I had plenty of time and mana left, so I continued.

Now, I separated thin threads of mana from the core, leaving them just barely connected to the glowing hub of mana. These threads I wove gently through my body, wrapping my bones and muscles, lacing through and around my organs, and trailing gently along the contours of my skin.

Each thread eventually wound back to the core, letting the mana flow smoothly out, around, and back into my primary pool. My teacher had likened it to a spiritual heart, pumping mana like blood throughout the body, and I agreed. There were even higher level circulations, ones I dared not attempt with my current level of skill, that followed the veins and blood vessels to further improve the user’s body.

Only once the full system was rebuilt, each of the different circulations I’d learned carefully woven together into a construct greater than the sum of its parts, did I finally open my eyes. I was drenched, much as my pet had been, though in sweat rather than arousal. I had to peel off my shirt and pants, though thankfully the cold of my room no longer bothered me with my circulation restored.

I hopped in place a few times, doing several crunches and jumping jacks to confirm everything was in order. I knew it was important to go through the entire process every few weeks, especially before you had fully mastered the skill, but I hated how weak I felt every time I had to strip away my progress. I was by no means a slightly built man, my early life had ensured I was tall and moderately muscular, but without the magic to reinforce me, I was just so very fragile.

I still did it anyway. It helped that I was improving each time, rebuilding the entire system better each time I reassembled it. I didn’t have a concrete way to check, one of the few things Avalon lacked was a proper gym, but I felt stronger and wasted less mana to do so. It was always a relief to be done however.

Turning back to my seat, I was shocked to discover just how much the little slut had dripped in the two hours I was indisposed. At this rate, the puddle I’d found today would be back by the end of the evening!

I bit my lip, checked the clock, checked my to do list, then looked back at her. I had time for a little fun, right? Something to get my mind off things for a bit.

I couldn’t fuck her, not yet. I hadn’t really been thinking about it, but after reading Igor’s notes I had remembered that it was possible to produce half elf offspring, and that would just not do at all. None of the contraceptive spells I knew worked on elves after all, I had never felt the need to learn something that niche. That was certainly an oversight I would have to correct.

That didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy myself though, far from it. After all, there were more ways than one to fuck an elf. Her mouth was out, no way I was removing her gag anytime soon. Her pussy was similarly off limits. That left…

I dug my hands into her firm bottom, spreading her cheeks wider than her restraints did naturally. I was already mostly naked and sweaty after my meditation and my dick strained painfully against its remaining prison.

This section has been removed due to Royal Road's policies on disturbing mature content.

There really was nothing like a good fuck to get the blood flowing, and it had been far too long. It was much too dangerous to sleep around with my classmates, and I hadn’t had a chance to leave the Academy dimension in many months. It would be good to have this waste of a mage around to relieve myself when needed.