Optimization is important.

I was summoned into my own dreams that night, which was unexpected because I thought Frey would call me sooner. After all, I think we gave her some good data to work with during our weekend trip. If she had taken her time and only called me after like four nights, it meant she was onto something.

Case in point, the ghostly figure of my good friend Frey grabbed my face and kissed me hard on the forehead before she rose into the air, flying in circles very much like a ghost would. Or how I picture a ghost would.

“Oliver, your girls are fucking amazing,” she said, beaming.

“I know, but I won’t object to you giving me more reasons,” I told her.

“Shit, where do I start? Okay, you and Mila in the hot springs? Fucking EYE OPENING I tell you. Talking dirty to other people while getting busy? Genius! GENIUS! It made everything so much clearer!”

I crossed my arms and tilted my head. “Um… How so?”

“To put it simply, it showed me that the original formula for the runes isn’t flawed, it’s just very inefficient! When you gave me permission to use your power to give them more juice, it made me realize that I don’t need to change them and make a new formula, I just need to optimize it!”

Frey snapped her fingers and a whiteboard popped out of thin air. Frey was also holding a marker.

“You’re getting better at doing stuff in my dreams,” I told her.

“Aren’t I?” she said proudly. “I can do anything here. In fact, here you go!”

With another snap of her fingers, there was suddenly a dream-version of Mila on my lap, naked and leaning against me while smiling back at me.

I frowned at Frey. “Seriously?”

“Oh, don’t be a wet blanket! She’s your girlfriend. You don’t have to answer, but think about it. Do you think Mila will be happy or angry when you tell her you had a dream where you fondled her naked body?”

“...”

Knowing the answer to that, I moved my hands to fondle one of Dream-Mila's tits while also rubbing my fingers over her wet labia. The sensation in my fingertips, the sound of her moans… Not only was it very vivid, but it was exactly like touching the real Mila.

“Mmm… Fuck, I love these fingers…!” Even her voice was identical.

“See?” Frey said proudly. “I’ve mastered the art of the dream! Nothing like those uncanny projections from when we first met.”

I leaned in and kissed the back of Dream-Mila. Hell, even her smell was just like hers, or at least a scent she wore sometimes. It was coconut shampoo.

“So… You were saying?” I asked Frey, prompting her to continue her explanation.

“Oh, right. You see, I’ve been working and I have something for you to try.” She wrote the runes on the whiteboard, and it was easy to notice how similar the combination was to the Normality runes we were already using. There was one entire character changed and another was written upside-down. Maybe that already made it a new character, I don’t know.

“It’s like this in computer software too, right?” she asked. “Even if you have a program that already does what it needs to, you can still optimize it to do it faster and more efficiently. That’s exactly what we’re doing. With this, my hope is that the Normality spell will use less resources and have a stronger effect. I do expect them to work better than before, but it’s possible that they instead will use the same amount of power as before for a stronger effect. Still a net gain, but I need to see how they perform to be sure.”

“All this means they’re safer to use?” I asked for clarification.

“Correct. I’m confident here. The riskier things people used to notice should now be perceived as normal, though I still don’t believe we’re quite at open air sex yet. Openly fingering a girl, however…”

My fingers went deeper inside Dream-Mila’s pussy as if on instinct, and suddenly we were no longer in my bedroom, but in a classroom. Our old classroom, with all our classmates facing towards the front of the room while Dream-Mila was still on my lap. No one paid any attention. I felt my heart beat faster.

“Neat, isn’t it?” Frey asked.

“Y-Yeah. Neat.” I swallowed. “And… there was something else?”

“Oh, yeah. Actually, you get credit for this one, too. It’s about what Diana said about using our powers in the bar.”

“About reading minds and intentions?”

“Yes. I admit it was pretty clever, and I think you’re at the point where simply reading intentions, especially when they’re sexual in nature, won’t split your head in half. But it also gave me a really good idea to train you.”

I blinked. “Train me?”

“When it comes to magic, I’m the one actually casting spells and using our sexual energy. Even after awakening to your own, you have no real way to use it, so right now it’s basically a backup for us, a second tank. However, you working as a bartender at a love hotel gives us an absolutely IDEAL opportunity.”

“...I’m listening.”

“You’ll learn to mix aphrodisiac drinks.”

I blinked and started at her, trying to picture what that was like. “You mean… Alchemy? Like the elixir I’m helping with?”

“Kind of, but not quite. If alchemy is enhancing the natural properties of ingredients using aether, what you’ll be doing is adding the erotic properties of sexual energy to a drink. No extra ingredients needed. The drink just needs to be made by your own hands while consciously channeling sexual energy into it. It’ll be perfect training to help you learn control, too. I’ll help at first until you start getting the hang of bringing out sexual energy on your own. Then you just need to regulate your output. And since you’ll be serving drinks to people who are already there to have sex…”

“It won’t matter if I go a little overboard with the sexual energy,” I said, understanding.

“Even if you do go overboard, the effect won’t be anywhere near as potent as the elixir you’re helping to make. You could bring it up to Luke as a cheaper, more accessible aphrodisiac for regular customers. And best of all, it would be a skill unique to you. No need to rely on alchemists and ingredient gathering and finding a market… Once you learn to do this, you can take it wherever you want. A skill no one can take from you.”

“...”

Maybe it was because I still had Dream-Mila on my lap, but that made me remember something I told the real Mila once. I told her that I believed there was value in honing any skill, no matter how trivial or useless it seemed. What Frey was talking about didn’t sound trivial or useless to me, but it WAS unexpected.

I… I wanted to make a living out of music. I wanted to play and create music and earn my living that way. But there is a chance, a big chance, that dream would not come true. And with the new house and me moving in with all the girls, putting all my eggs in one basket was something I simply could not afford.

I never imagined I’d be relying on magic, and I admit it did feel a little weird, but I’d take it. I’d hone this still and make it mine.

…

But before that I wanted to bring it up to Diana. After all, I’d be working directly under her.

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