Magical progress.

I blinked and found myself in another place altogether. I was no longer in my bedroom, sleeping with all the girls. I was suddenly outside, in the backyard of the house during day time. I was only confused until my eyes landed on the shadowy figure sunbathing on a white towel on the grass, hands behind her head and all.

“I know this is a dream-world, but it bothers me that you’re using a white towel. It’ll get dirty,” I said as I got close.

“It’s for demonstration purposes,” Frey said, sitting up and looking around. “I was going to make a replica of your new bedroom, but I don’t have a good feel for the new place, either, so it turned out all weird. All the rooms are like that, actually, but we’ve seen the backyard a lot, so we’ll use it for now.”

“Speaking of, what do you think?” I asked her, sitting next to her on the grass. It felt fresh yet dry, perfect to sit on, unlike the real grass in the backyard that was fresh and humid

“I think that having free reign for sex around the house is a wonderful idea,” Frey said. “I can’t wait to see what you all get up to. Remember, the kinkier the better.”

I sighed. “I should’ve known that’s where your mind would go first, but I was talking about the house itself.”

“Ah. Well, I don’t really have much of an opinion, since, you know, your mind is my house. That said, I told you that your state of mind and your own feeling about your surroundings affect how I feel here. Since you’re feeling uncomfortable living in a new place it’s getting to me too. So hurry up and make this place a home already.”

“It’s been literally a day.”

“Correct. Hurry up. It’s like I’m living in liminal spaces right now and it creeps me out.”

“You’re the supernatural thing most people are scared of in liminal spaces. What would you be afraid of?”

“I’m a spirit, Oliver. That just means I’m a living being that has lost its physical body. Ghosts are another thing, and they’re real. The spirits of actually dead people.”

I shivered. I didn’t want to know what ghosts were real. “And… What’s the difference?”

Frey frowned at me and crossed her shadowy arms. “What’s the difference between you and a corpse?”

“Um… That I’m alive?”

“Exactly. A ghost might seem similar to a spirit, but it has no conscience or will. The only thing that makes it move are memories and regrets. They can also hurt people if said memories and regrets are painful enough. It’s not out of malice perse… but more like a strong wind that happens to knock down stuff inside your house, or a big wave that pushes you around, or an uncontrolled fire that burns you alive.”

“I didn’t expect to get a lesson on ghosts today…”

“You asked.”

I suppose I did.

“Anyway, did you have something you want to talk about?” I asked her.

“Oh? You were just complaining that I haven’t popped up in a while and now I need a reason to show up?”

“No, but you have something to tell me, don’t you.”

“Yes. Now listen.” Frey sat up straight, shoulders wiggling in excitement. “I want you to move to another stage of your magic training.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Another stage? You mean this stuff with mixing magic into drinks is stage one?”

“Kind of. Let’s think about that as practice to have you bring out magical energy at will. You’ve become aware of it and can now use it when you want. Problem is that you have no control, and training on drinks is not very effective because you’re practically going in blind. You don’t see the effects, or lack of effect, that your output is having until the end result, so you have no way to adjust on the spot. We need something that you can see, something that lets you know if you’re doing it right or wrong at a glance.”

“And… do you have an idea or am I here to brainstorm?”

“Please, Oliver, who do you think I am? Of course I have an idea already.”

Yeah, let’s just forget the many times she’s brought me to talk because she hit a dead end.

“So what’s the idea?”

“As always, it’s sex related, but it’s something you and the girls will love. In fact, you were just talking about it earlier.”

I blinked. “You mean… cleanup?”

“Correct!” Frey snapped her fingers. “I’m a broken record at this point, but I’ll keep saying it. My magical energy, our magical energy, is attuned to sexual stuff. While we can do other, unrelated things, everything that relates to sex will just come easier. We’re built for this, Oliver. Meaning…”

Oh, boy. Now I’m a little disappointed. I was getting my hopes up.

“What?” she asked me flatly.

“You’re gonna say that this’ll work mainly to clean up sex stains like cum and vaginal fluids, right?”

“Well… Yeah. Is that a problem?”

“No, of course not. Just… I was hoping it’d work to clean up other stuff. We were just talking about how much of a drag it’s gonna be to keep this house clean.” Frey grunted and flicked me in the forehead. “Ouch.” It actually hurt a bit.

“Don’t be dumb, Oliver. Practice on sex stains first, which should be easier, then move up to cleaning other stuff. Learn control, adapt your spells, and more importantly… let’s do it without runes.”

That caught my attention a lot more. “Oh?”

Frey sighed. “Yeah… Look, I’m proud of our little rune spells. I worked hard, built them from scratch and they do their job. I’m sure we’ll keep using them. But… I still feel like they’re a crutch. They worked to get us quick, immediate results, but as we keep growing… I think they’re holding us back. True, skilled mages can cast spells with a wave of their hand and pure focus. Oliver, we can be so much more than we are now. Can I count on you to help me?”

“...”

A part of me didn’t want to. That part of me who feared walking into the unknown, that part of me who screamed that it was better to stay in our comfort zone. After all, I already had everything I wanted. But that was me. I, Oliver Brooks, had everything I wanted. Frey, the Spirit of Lust, however, still wasn’t where she wanted to be. She pursued magic like I pursued music, but unlike me, she couldn’t do it alone. She needed me to serve as her link to the real world. That was enough of a push to agree. And besides, it was foolish to think things would always stay the same. If I stopped growing in moving forwards in all aspects of my life, it was entirely possible I’d go back to the way things were before.

And that was the one thing I wanted to avoid at all cost.

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