Chapter 23

“Tobias,” a soft, pleasant female voice called from somewhere to my right. Reluctantly, I opened my eyes and noticed a white ceiling above me.

Realizing it was Gemma’s dream again, I sat up and rubbed my eyes, glancing to the right. She stood there, staring at me with a smile in her blue, sexy dress.

“Hey,” I said.

Gemma’s grin widened. “Hey, Tobias.”

“Do you always wear the same clothes?” I asked, shifting to sit at the edge of the bed in front of her.

Gemma giggled. “Of course not. I put these on just for you,” she said and twirled in place. Her skirt lifted—I couldn't see anything because we were too close—but my attention was focused on her big tits, which jiggled after her movement.

“How was the first full day in a new world?” Gemma asked.

A wide grin appeared on my face, and I chuckled. “Wonderful,” I replied with a content sigh. “I slept with three women in one day, and two of them at once.”

The corners of Gemma’s mouth dropped slightly, but almost immediately, she stared back at me with her impossibly white teeth in a wide smile. I wondered if I had noticed it thanks to my new skill.

“Amazing,” Gemma said. “You see? I told you that you could have as many women as you want.”

“But not any woman I want,” I said and glanced down at her large cleavage, but quickly focused back on her face, watching her carefully.

Gemma giggled. “Sometimes you need to be patient.”

“I got a new class,” I said suddenly.

Gemma frowned, and her eyes shifted for a second to the side but quickly returned to me.

“New class?” she asked, sounding really surprised.

“Zoe agreed to be my ****, and it unlocked a new class for me, which allows me to create a magical bond with demons,” I explained.

“This is a surprising turn of events,” Gemma replied, sounding thoughtful, but then smiled. “It seems like my present was perfect for you. Any more news from today?” she asked.

“I got to a new level,” I replied, still watching her carefully.

“Good, good, you need to get stronger.”

“Why?”

“To complete missions for me, obviously. Why else?”

“Do you have any for me?”

“Not yet. You need to learn a lot about this world, and first of all, you need to learn how to use your skills. I don't want you to die on the first mission because I sent you too fast. We can start on it today.”

“You’re late. Zoe already taught me.”

“What?” Gemma asked, again wrinkling her cute nose.

I focused on my mana, unsure if I could use it here, but after a moment, I felt it inside me and quickly summoned a small ball that I pushed toward Gemma. It dispersed on her skin above her collarbone, and she looked there, surprised.

“Zoe taught you?”

“Yeah.”

“How?” Gemma asked, staring at me.

“What do you mean?”

“Typically, learning to sense your mana takes over a month. It’s true that we teach small kids, but still, a month is the time needed for the talented ones, and that’s only the first step before using skills.”

“Maybe I’m super talented?” I asked, smiling and raising my eyebrows.

“Are you?” Gemma asked.

“Zoe was draining mana from me slowly, and I was able to sense it. That helped a lot.”

Gemma stared at me for a moment in silence. “Brilliant,” she murmured and focused on something on the wall, where I couldn't see anything.

“What are you looking at?” I asked, wondering if she had a skill like my photographic memory and was looking at something she had saved.

Reminding myself of this skill, I took a photo of Gemma. And then one centered on her large cleavage.

“On my notes. You’re sleeping, but I’m in my office. No man has ever learned how to use my mana with a succubus. It’s not really helpful because there are no men with mana, but it’s still an interesting concept.”

“So, is that true? Men don't have mana?” I asked, wanting to confirm what Zoe had told me before, as it was really important.

“They don't, not in this world.”

“Why?”

Zoe hesitated, staring at me. “No one knows,” she replied, but from her behavior and expression, I was sure that she knew something but decided not to tell me.

When the silence prolonged, Gemma continued. “There are some theories, but nothing is confirmed, and it’s not really important.”

“Are you the leader of Tenebre?” I asked, deciding to drop the previous topic.

Gemma tilted her head with a soft smile. “It seems like Zoe knows a lot.”

I shook my head. “She only knew the name of the province we are in right now. She has no idea who the leader is or even how many provinces there are.”

“Seriously? You get a Sex Mage class and a Sex Demon who is starving for mana to the extent that she would do anything for you to get some, and you are asking her about politics?”

I shrugged. “I’m in a new world, and besides constantly having sex, I have to find my way here somehow.”

Gemma smiled. “I’m the leader of the Tenebre Magic Guild, and this means I represent the province. And there are seven of them.”

“The representatives of those provinces rule Torania?”

“Yeah,” Gemma replied and looked to the side, staring at the wall—or rather, her notes, where her body was. When her gaze returned to me, it first jumped to my cock and only then focused on my face.

I smirked, and when she noticed it, she also smirked.

“Seriously, you prefer to talk about politics rather than learn how to use your skills better?”

“I would prefer to do something other than talk,” I said, glancing down at her tits.

Gemma giggled, making them jiggle wonderfully.

“Most of my skills are passive anyway,” I continued.

“So far. You need to get more levels, and you will get new skills.”

“You could help me with it,” I said.

Gemma giggled and smiled, licking her perfect lips.

“Nice try, but it will need to wait. And besides, now you have Zoe and two other women you are fucking,” Gemma said. A moment of silence followed.

Gemma was the one to break it. “Do you have any questions about your class?”

“How do I upgrade my skills? I have all of them at the first level.”

“When you level up your class, you either get new skills or upgrades to your previous skills. Alternatively, you might not get any of that, but then you will receive more stat points in return.”

“I have some free points to assign. What should I upgrade?”

“Hmm… I would hold off on adding points to Arcane Power or Luck. For the first one, you don't know if your class will need it, and Luck is mostly useful when you dedicate your life to dungeons, and you probably don't know if you want to follow that path yet. Charisma seems logical for you, as it fits your class and will help you seduce more women, but you could also focus on physical aspects to eliminate weaknesses. If I were you, I would split points between Charisma and physical stats—probably Dexterity and Strength the most—but don’t ignore Endurance and Vitality.”

I nodded. Adding one point to Charisma and Dexterity, as it was my lowest physical stat, seemed rational. Looking into my status, the last one on the list reminded me of another question I had.

“Where does mana come from?”

“No one knows for sure,” Gemma replied. “For a long time, people believed that it was in your blood, perhaps because vampires regenerate their mana through drinking it. But this theory is not so popular anymore after some gruesome experiments. Other theories consider your heart, brain, or soul.”

“And where is my soul?”

Gemma stopped to think for a moment. “I have no idea, Tobias. It is hard to find answers to those questions. But I don’t believe that mana is in some physical organ—it’s somehow connected to us, but I don't know where it is or if it is a soul.”

I nodded, wondering about it. When Zoe was pulling the mana out of me, I didn't get the impression that she was doing it in the physical world. But could it be some other world? Dimension? Those questions seemed really philosophical, and that wasn't a good moment for them, as our time with Gemma was limited.

“I tried to use mana as missiles, but I was barely moving leaves, no matter how much I had used. It seemed like I was only hitting more of them.”

“Ha! So your new toy can't teach you everything. You still need me,” Gemma said with a smirk.

I tilted my head, watching her carefully. Was that jealousy I heard in her voice?

“Compression,” Gemma said, and I focused on what she was saying.

“What do you mean?”

“You need to summon more mana, but you need to compress it, squeeze it—not increase its volume—and put more mana in a smaller point so the strength of the hit will be more concentrated. It will be stronger this way,” Gemma explained, gesturing with her hands.

I closed my eyes and focused on mana. When I opened them again, there was a ball of it that I had summoned between us. Gemma was staring straight at it, so I assumed she could sense it too. I focused, imagining that I was squeezing the mana into a smaller ball. It took a moment—mana was dissolving into the air to the sides—but in the end, I succeeded in compressing it, lowering its volume. Then I pushed it toward the pillow that was on the bed. It flew a few inches back. It wasn't a lot, but it was definitely a stronger hit than I had managed previously on the leaves.

“Exactly,” Gemma said. “Describe the process that you go through when you summon mana. In detail,” she commanded.

“I close my eyes and focus on it—on this feeling of it inside me—until I sense it. Then I get closer until I’m next to it. I imagine a small trickle that allows me to create a smaller ball of mana next to the big one, and then, when I want to activate this skill, I imagine it in the physical world and on the skill.”

“When you imagine that you are getting closer, do you see it as physically going closer and traveling the distance?” Gemma asked.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

I frowned. “I need to be close to it to use it.”

“Using the analogy from the physical world, why don't you just teleport to it?”

I opened my mouth but stopped and thought about it. When I focused on mana, I always imagined that I would travel this way, moving along it, like in the physical world, but it wasn't one. Perhaps that step was useless, and I was wasting my time.

I closed my eyes and focused on the feeling of the mana, but when I felt it, instead of imagining that I would shift toward it, I just imagined that I would pop next to it. And it worked—I was immediately close to it.

I opened my eyes with a smile. “It worked.”

“Good. Do you still feel it?” Gemma asked.

“No,” I replied, shaking my head. “I need to remain focused on it.”

“You need to train, trying to stay focused on the mana as much as you can so you can sense it while doing other things. You will need time to learn that, but you will get there and reach the point where you can practically sense it all the time without focusing on it, so you can use your skills immediately,” Gemma said and lifted her hand. I immediately felt a small push on my arm.

“Summon mana during our talk and try to hold it to practice.”

I nodded and did as she told me, holding it between us. When I succeeded, I opened my eyes and looked where it was, trying to hold my focus on it.

Gemma smiled, stuck out her tongue for a moment, and then grabbed the hem of her skirt to lift it up. Unfortunately, she immediately dropped it down, so even when my gaze jumped there, I hadn’t seen anything.

Gemma lifted her hand. “Hit me with mana, and I will show you more.”

Her actions had worked just as she wanted, and I lost my focus and control over mana—and she knew it. Before I had a chance to summon it again, Gemma dropped her hand.

“Too late, you lost focus.”

“That’s unfair.”

“Because a teacher wants to reward his student when he passes the test?” Gemma asked.

I glanced at her, squinting my eyes. “So we are playing like that?”

“I can also get you a little notebook like a kid and give you grades if you prefer that kind of evaluation,” Gemma said with a smile.

“One more time,” I said, summoning my mana. There was a moment of silence as I was staring at her crotch, waiting for another chance.

Gemma giggled, and I lifted my gaze. “This way, you would get a reward without passing the exam.”

“But—”

Gemma lifted her hand. “Hit,” she said, stopping me before I had a chance to say anything. She immediately dropped her hand, well aware that I had again lost control. It was completely unfair, with her ability to sense my mana, as she was only going to lift her hand when I lost control.

Gemma giggled. “Two tests, both failed. You will need to wait for the next meeting for another chance.”

I grunted, displeased.

“Every student needs good motivation to keep studying. Perhaps next time, you will be better prepared.”

I only nodded. I needed to learn how to use my skills anyway, but her body seemed like a good additional motivation.

“We will need to end it now unless you have a quick question?” Gemma asked.

“Why does my status show the wrong age?”

“Status never lies, Tobias,” Gemma said. “See you tomorrow,” she added, and then darkness surrounded me.