Chapter 146

--- 24rd Day, Morning ---

It felt like I had just finished talking with Gemma when I stirred from sleep, but it was already morning. This time I was in my own bed, surrounded by three naked demonesses. A touch lingered on my lips, and I could swear that I felt it just as I was leaving the dream world.

But it was so soft and fleeting that I wasn’t sure if it wasn’t just my imagination, especially since I hadn’t sensed Gemma summoning mana to do it.

Turning onto my side, I wrapped Azura in my embrace, pulling her closer. She hummed softly but seemed to stay asleep as she pressed further into me, her frame so small compared to mine.

I thought about Gemma’s words - that there was no point in denying the inevitable. I had hoped that we would get close one day. Sooner rather than later, ideally. But I had no idea she was thinking the same.

Which felt oddly suspicious.

There was mutual attraction, sure, but to the point of inevitability? And she was clearly hiding something. There had to be more going on.

Could it be my class affecting her? It was supposed to charm women and make it easier to seduce them.

Could Gemma be avoiding meeting me because she was worried about how my abilities might affect her? But women strong in mana weren’t supposed to be easy targets for my class.

Zelda and Sage were just as strong as her, or even weaker, and they weren’t exactly throwing their clothes off and jumping me just by looking at me.

Still… I was getting stronger all the time. My mana was increasing, my levels granting me more skills and stat points. At some point, I might become strong enough to seduce and charm even the most powerful mages.

Like The Greatest Mage had done to Xenia Drazathis, Zoe’s ancestor.

During just one encounter, he had managed to brainwash her and make her fall completely in love with him. To the point that when other succubi killed him, she committed suicide.

Maybe his magic worked more strongly on her because she was a succubus. Maybe tasting his mana affected her that deeply. But that was back when men still had mana, so should it really have worked that strongly on her?

Perhaps he had used some kind of spell I didn’t get yet, something capable of doing that to women. And if Gemma knew about it, then maybe it really was inevitable.

But… why would she even risk me using something like that on her? If that were true, then I could potentially be a threat to her. Maybe she believed she could control me. Or that she was strong enough to resist it.

But then why would she be so wary of meeting me? Especially when she knew I didn’t have skills like that and wasn’t strong enough yet to affect her with my magic.

I sighed, confused, ending up with more questions and no answers.

Still, if she truly believed it was inevitable, then maybe I just needed to be patient and let it happen. Flirt with her, tease her in the dream world, and sooner or later, she would come to me in the real one.

She had advised me to start playing those games with Sage, or I would lose. Maybe I should do the same with her.

I held back a chuckle so I wouldn’t wake the women around me, realizing I had really gotten too many women in my life and dealing with all of them was becoming complicated.

At least with Zoe, Azura, and Amber, it wasn’t that hard. Even if the naughty elf liked to brat and needed some straightening out from time to time, it was all fun.

Selira wasn’t problematic either. Just like Mia or Julia, though I hadn’t devoted much time to them lately. Especially when compared to Zoe, who was with me all the time.

Gemma and Sage were complicated, playing their games, but on the other hand, both of them were incredibly attractive and powerful, and the satisfaction of winning those games was really tempting.

And then there was the worst of them - Mari.

I wasn’t even interested in her, despite the fact that she was actually quite attractive. But without a doubt, she was the worst woman in my life.

She was getting on my nerves all the time - an ungrateful bitch. I would love to send her away and get her out of my head. Unfortunately I had already invested too much into her… But there was an even more important reason to keep her around.

She was strong. And ruthless. If I got rid of her, and something happened to Azura or Zoe, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself. Especially since I was the one putting them in danger, with them following me into dungeons and getting into risky situations.

So even if I would love to kick Mari out and never see her again, it wasn’t hard to imagine a situation where I’d wish she was still with us, piercing our enemies with her ice spikes.

Amber, who was behind me, shifted closer, pressing her soft tits into my back and her lips to the nape of my neck, kissing me there gently.

“That was sweet,” I murmured quietly.

“Agh…” she gasped. “Shut up!” she hissed.

Slowly letting go of Azura, I turned around to face the elf, who avoided looking into my eyes.

“I have a question,” I whispered.

“If it’s something perverted, the answer is no,” she replied.

“I wouldn’t ask then, but just take whatever I want,” I said, smirking. “But it’s not about that. What changed about Selira?”

“You’re impossible,” Amber grumbled. “Three naked women in bed, and you’re thinking about a fourth.”

“I’m thinking about you, and why you went to meet her. Back at the lake, you were trying to discourage me from getting close to her, and now suddenly you’re going shopping for swimsuits together?”

“She’s cute,” Amber shrugged.

“That’s all?” I asked, a bit confused, but smiling.

“We had a talk,” she added.

“About?”

“Books. Swimsuits,” the elf replied.

“Me?”

“Not everything is always about you,” she said with a smirk.

“For me, it is, Master,” Zoe said, joining the conversation as she threw herself on top of me and Amber, giggling. She pressed her lips to mine in a long, slow kiss.

“Hey!” Amber grunted.

“I didn’t forget about you,” the succubus replied, turning her head to kiss the elf just as deeply.

Amber’s eyes widened as she glanced at me, then she relaxed into the kiss.

“Needy elf,” Zoe murmured when she pulled away.

“You’re one to talk,” Amber gasped.

“You’re all my needy sluts,” I joked, chuckling as I wrapped my arms around Amber and Zoe, pulling them close.

Amber snorted into my face before replying, “Out of all four of us here, you’re the last one who should be saying that.”

“Me?” I asked with feigned surprise.

“Yes, you,” the elf said. “You need three women just to be satisfied.”

“Who said I’m satisfied?” I smirked.

Despite being held against me, Amber managed to free one hand and slap my shoulder. “Asshole!”

I caught her lips in a kiss, which she immediately returned. But I broke it off when Peri moved from my lower back, sliding along my body until she stopped at my bicep, making small circles.

“Another needy girl,” I chuckled, summoning mana to feed the slime. Her body trembled as she absorbed it, taking a large portion before she was full.

She bobbed up and down, making circles in her own way of saying thank you, before stopping in place. Then her body began to change shape.

She stretched taller and thinner, shifting from a blob into something like a pillar, only for a moment, before trying to form a human shape, creating hands, legs, and a head.

She looked uneven and distorted, like a melted doll, but still human enough for me to recognize what she was trying to do.

But it only worked while she stayed still. The moment she tried to move her hand, her whole body collapsed, and she returned to a blob.

I hadn’t really thought about what she might look like as she grew bigger, but having a large green glob following me around would definitely draw attention. Though even if she managed to take a human form, being made entirely out of green slime wouldn’t exactly help in that regard.

“So cute!” Zoe gasped, tapping Peri gently with her fingertip.

The slime slid away a bit and tried again to form a human shape, but it was even more deformed than the first one, and she wasn’t able to hold it for long.

“You might still need to get stronger before it even makes sense to practice this,” I said, watching as she tried again. This time she wasn’t even able to form legs and arms, ending up as a tall blob before collapsing back into her normal slime shape.

She moved left and right a few times, as if jumping between yes and no, and I assumed that meant maybe in that case.

Then Peri moved closer to my face and made a small circle, stopping as if expecting something, or rather, expecting me to give her a pencil so she could write after giving the agreed signal.

Sliding out from between Zoe and Amber, I placed Peri on the table and handed her a pencil. While waiting, I put on some pants, not wanting to stand there naked under the ogling gaze of the succubus and the elf. Azura still seemed to be out, her eyes closed, mouth slightly open, snoring softly.

I stopped admiring how cute she looked when Peri dropped the pencil, drawing my attention again.

She had written just a single word.

‘Slave.’

And then an arrow pointing at herself.

“Peri…” I sighed, not expecting that first thing in the morning.

“What did she write?” Zoe asked, jumping out of bed completely naked. “Oh…” she gasped softly, then giggled.

“What?” Amber asked, joining us at the table.

Their naked bodies really weren’t helping me think clearly about how to respond to the slime asking to be enslaved.

“Another one,” Amber grunted. “What’s even the point of that?”

I looked at her, confused.

“I already told you, you tricked me,” the elf grumbled, pouting as she crossed her arms under her chest, pushing her tits forward. I wasn’t sure if she was doing it on purpose, but it was definitely sending mixed signals. Still, that shouldn’t be my focus at the moment.

“Peri, do you understand what you’re asking for?” I asked.

‘Yes.’

“And are you sure?”

‘Yes.’

“Why do you even want it?” I asked, frowning.

This time she needed to write her answer instead of just moving.

‘Dependent and devoted.’

“Maybe you won’t have to depend on me all the time,” I replied, to which she only wrote one word.

‘Mana.’

“I know, but I’m not the only one who has it. Just because I fed you now doesn’t mean you have to become my slave. Maybe you can feed on someone else’s mana too, we haven’t really tested it.”

‘I don’t think so.’

“At least let’s try it,” I said.

‘Okay.’

“Amber?” I asked, looking at the elf.

She frowned, glancing between me and the slime a few times.

“Please?” I added.

She sighed before reaching out her hand toward Peri, summoning a small amount of mana. The slime immediately darted away from it, and only after the elf dispersed it did she return to the paper to write something.

‘Disgusting.’

“You’re disgusting!” Amber hissed, reading Peri’s answer, slamming her hands on the table.

“Amber,” I said, placing a hand on her arm, trying to calm her. “It’s her nature, it’s nothing about you.”

Amber pouted again with a grunt but didn’t say anything more.

I looked back at Peri. I didn’t think too much about it, she had already confirmed she was sure, and in the end, if something changed, I could just free her.

“Okay,” I said. “If you change your mind later, I won’t have a problem removing the bond.”

‘Okay.’

“And I’ll feed you mana no matter whether you’re my slave or not,” I added, feeling the need to clarify.

‘Okay.’

With a sigh, I focused on the mana inside me, splitting off a large portion, enough to cast the skill, with Peri in my mind as the target, imagining a small triangle tattoo on her body. The prepared mana gathered, and…

Nothing.

“It doesn’t work,” I said, confused. I had done everything the same as before, and the only difference was that I was trying to cast it on Peri. “I can only use it on demons, and maybe you’re not one.”

Gemma and Zelda hadn’t been sure what Peri was either, but apparently, by the laws of magic, she wasn’t classified as a demon. At least I assumed it was the reason why the skill didn’t work.

Peri moved, writing something.

‘Again.’

This time I tried using even more mana, but nothing changed. The skill didn’t even attempt to activate, the mana just remaining inside me.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “It doesn’t work for some reason.”

Peri wrote just one word again, short and simple.

‘Sad.’

“Don’t worry, it doesn’t change anything,” I said, reaching out to brush over her body, though it wasn’t exactly possible with her being made of goo, sticking slightly to my fingers. “I’ll still give you my mana.”

“And cum!” Zoe added with a grin.

“That too,” I said, rolling my eyes.

Peri moved to one of the words she had written earlier and added another.

‘Again later?’

“You think that when you develop more, it might become possible?” I asked.

‘Maybe.’

“Okay,” I shrugged. “We can try again later. There’s no rush.”

It didn’t really change much whether she was my slave or not, unless it allowed me to access her status screen, assuming she even had one. That would actually be useful, but I wasn’t sure if she did, especially since she couldn’t access it herself. Though the last time she checked had been a few days ago.

“Can you access your status screen?” I asked.

After a moment of stillness, she replied.

‘No.’

“Maybe that’s connected somehow,” I said. “Maybe once you get your status screen, you’ll be able to become my slave.”

‘Maybe.’

“For now, we’ll just wait, and I’ll keep feeding you my mana.”

“And cum!” Zoe added again, giggling.

“Unfortunately, that will have to wait, we need to head to the dungeon,” I replied.