The Abilities of Love

After the little show, we move the half-destroyed nightstand to the side and get back on the bed. Everyone whispers between themselves while stealing curious glances at me. Sirgia, who is again sitting on my lap, stares at her small hand while clenching it into a fist repeatedly. I bring her out of her daze by brushing her cheek, and after she looks up at me, I leave a soft kiss there, turning it slightly rosy in response.

With a smile on my face, I pat her head and turn my attention to others. "Let's quickly fill Teffith in on my situation." I glance at the dragonewt and she nods. "In simplest words, I'm not from this world and I've been summoned as a Hero by the Goddess to help prevent The Calamity from ending this realm."

Her eyes widen a little. "The Abyssals...?"

"Yes, pretty much. Anyway, I came here with a few other people, but due to my Class being what it is, I left the team and they went their way while I decided to settle down in this mansion to create a warm place for non-humans. It was the best choice as I was really weak when compared to them. What happened after I arrived in this building, you should already know from your talks with other girls. And that's the gist of this. Do you have any questions so far? Or, do you even believe me?" I ask.

Teffith glances down and most likely goes over everything in her head before she sighs and looks back up at me. "I have no reason not to. It's quite shocking, but I don't think you'd lie about something like that, boss. A Hero, huh…"

"Yeah." I smile wryly. "The thing is, I was actually summoned here by accident and that's why I was so weak."

"Accident? How is that possible?" Cornelia raises her brows.

"Well, she told me I basically wasn't supposed to get into the summoning circle but I somehow made it through the barrier and then poof, sucked in." I shrug my shoulders.

"She?" Sirgia asks.

"Ah, right. That's actually the next part I want to talk about." I glance back at Elea behind me. "I didn't expect to fulfil my promise so soon, but yeah, I've spoken with the Goddess just before I started rolling on the ground while screaming from pain."

Her hands involuntarily move to cover her mouth which opens from shock and surprise. I immediately notice a spark of curiosity in Elea's eyes, chuckling at her expression.

"Unfortunately, if you want to ask me how she actually looks, I can't answer that question. It seems that she was the person that appeared in front of me during my awakening ritual and then during tier-ups, so I actually met her three times now, but she was always in the form of a shadowy figure, and she told me that my soul is still too weak to host more of her than just that. But, I was able to hear her voice for the first time and we held a short conversation."

"Amazing…"

"To think that Master met the Goddess… And even more than once…"

"I knew Master was something else…"

"I'm so envious…"

"Ufufu~ As expected of Master."

The elves start giggling between themselves and praising me while Elea keeps her smitten expression up as she stares at me. Finally breaking out of her daze, she moves closer and hugs my arm tightly.

"Did you at least get her true name, Master?" she asks with hopeful eyes.

I nod. "Although it is supposedly impossible to capture it properly with mortal languages, the closest translation would be Lumina."

A beautiful smile appears on Elea's face and she gives me an affectionate kiss in front of everyone.

"Thank you! I feel like I got even closer to Goddess Lumina now! The name passed in our language was similar to it, but this one is definitely more truthful!"

"Yeah, it seems that Humans weren't that far off too as we call her Lumine. That's almost the same," Cornelia comments.

"It's Liumirn in Draconic," Teffith adds.

"And we Dwarves always used Lominarie in our prayers," Sirgia also shares her people's version with us.

I don't think Slimes even worship any gods, so it's kind of pointless to ask Safi or Emi about it. I'm pretty sure they would mention the same name as Cornelia anyway, as most of the stuff they know about the world is based on the memories of the two girls they consumed.

"Ah, how I would love to tell Goddess Lumina how grateful I am for bringing Master to this world and letting him save me…" Elea joins her hands in a prayer style and closes her eyes.

I chuckle again. "Actually, you can. Well, not directly, I guess."

She looks at me, slightly surprised. "Master?"

"Our great Goddess has a hobby of stalking this unimportant me, you see. I could bet that she is listening to us even at this moment."

"That's… scary…" Cornelia shivers a little and looks around. "Did she also see…"

Meanwhile, Elea extends her hands to the ceiling with a blissful smile on her face. "OH GREAT GODDESS LUMINA! THANK YOU FOR BLESSING THIS UNWORTHY SERVANT OF YOURS WITH SO MUCH HAPPINESS! I SWEAR I WILL DEVOTE EVERYTHING I AM TO YOU AND MY SAVIOUR YOU SENT TO ME IN THOSE DIFFICULT TIMES!"

I lowkey expect some divine effect to take place after she finishes her quite lively prayer, but nothing actually happens besides the appearance of complete silence in the whole room. Well, Lumina did say she doesn't want to interfere with the world except when it is unavoidable and answering Elea definitely isn't a matter of life and death of the universe.

We wait for a few minutes more for the elves to stop sitting in praying positions and resume our talk. The dark-skinned group looks at me with even more awe and reverence than before. I should have expected that…

"Okay… So… Let's get back onto the main topic, which is my sudden outburst of pain and increase in strength." I glance at everyone and they nod, eager to hear more of the story. "Basically, because of how weak I was, the Goddess pitied me and gave me her blessing shortly after I arrived here, to compensate for this weird Class. But, she judged my future performance having the usual Human's from Naharren mindset, and… she kinda overdid it… a little…"

I chuckle again when I think about the whole situation. "You know that my Class bases on strengthening myself by getting closer with others and also on strengthening them at the same time. Mostly by having sex. She didn't expect me to find more than one or two partners and certainly didn't think they would be any strong. And looking at my current situation," I glance around at all the beauties gathered in the room, "she couldn't be more wrong."

Sirgia giggles and snuggles her back more into my chest. "Master is so kind and caring and handsome that he could get any girl he wanted."

"You little…" I fiercely pat her head, evoking even more giggles from my cute dwarf. "Nevertheless, the Goddess's blessing made my stats growth static, giving me a doubled value of Tier 1 amount on each tier-up, and also…"

I summon my status window and show the section with main information, enlarging it so that everyone can clearly see the text. There's only silence for a few moments before Cornelia is the first to raise her voice.

"What is this?!" She points her finger at the obvious line.

"Master is… not Human?" Sirgia glances up at me in confusion.

"Primordial… I've never heard of such race…" Elea ponders.

"Actually… I did." Surprisingly, Teffith raises her hand.

"Oho. As expected from someone whose race hails down from the fabled Dragons. Tell us more," Cornelia quickly turns towards her.

The dragonewt girl nods nervously and glances at me. "What I remember from the legends passed down by our people… Primordials were supposedly the first sentient race to live in this world. Even Dragons appeared after them… and… they weren't their match…"

"What?" Our magician's eyes open as wide as possible. "Even stronger than Dragons? But… He looks almost no different than before…"

I decide to join the discussion. "Both of you are correct. She told me that they looked pretty much like today's Humans when it came to the outer appearance. The difference was in their prowess. All of you are aware that each race is physically and magically different, yes? And that's why even though we can see our stats thanks to the system, we can't really directly compare them?"

Everyone nods. It's common knowledge in this world.

"Well, if I were to put it into simple words, each race can utilize a certain percent of their strength. If we took 30 Agility as a base, Humans can make use of around 55% of that, while Dwarves can handle 68%. That's where the difference comes in real-life activities. I was told that Dragons have an efficiency of 87%."

Cornelia rubs her chin and nods. "That's pretty much how most theories covered the topic of racial differences. We never figured out the exact values, but I guess those are true if they came from the Goddess herself. But… If Dragons are at 87%... then…"

"100%"

Her jaw drops instantly after hearing my reply. And it's not just her. Everyone in the room looks flabbergasted by the revelation. It's no surprise to me. Complete efficiency is something that only god-like entities should possess.

"So yeah… She turned me into a Primordial during my 3rd tier-up… That's why I literally moulted after waking up. And, when you are aware of all of this, my stats should explain the rest."

I wave my hand and the window expands to show the numerical values too.

"Holy shit! Over a hundred at Tier 3?!" Cornelia can't hide her astonishment.

"So I have like 60… and can use 68% of it… and Master has over 100… and he can use 100% of it… then…" Sirgia starts counting on her fingers as she talks to herself and then looks up at me. "So strong…"

I'm starting to feel slightly weird with all that reverence coming from all of them. I've been pretty much turned into a demigod overnight. Or a god in their eyes. Even if Lumina said that compared to monsters lurking around the world, and I bet Abyssals too, it wasn't overwhelmingly OP, for normal people like them it surely is.

~Ummmm…~ A slightly sensual whisper arrives by my ear, and judging by everyone's reaction, by theirs too. The sender is Safi and we all glance at her. ~I don't really… understand all those… numbers… How strong… is Master now… then…?~

Looks like the adventurer girls weren't that familiar with these theories. "The Goddess said I'm somewhere around Tier 7 of your usual Human's strength."

"You are fucking kidding me…" Cornelia whimpers quietly. I can clearly see the sweat forming on her pale face.

I chuckle. "If this was an actual offensive Class, then I agree, that would be freaking amazing. But don't forget it focuses on supporting and enhancing others. And also… some of you may already know it… on helping them advance."

"Advance? What do you mean?" Teffith asks.

"Well… You not only get the temporary buff, which I guess you are aware of, but there's also a permanent one. I wasn't sure what it was about in the past as I didn't see anything change in the people I slept with, but the Goddess confirmed my suspicions. In simple words, I can raise someone's Tier by having sex with them. Getting intimate with me basically works like training and gaining real experience," I explain.

Teffith's brows raise in disbelief. "Such a thing… I'm sorry, but it just sounds quite unbelievable to me…"

"I can guarantee his words." Cornelia wipes her forehead with a tissue and turns to Teffith after taking a deep breath. "I was at Tier 3 for years and couldn't break through, but after we did it, the next morning I was Tier 4. I mean, I'm sure I was close, but it was definitely him who gave me the last push."

"Or a few," I add with a smirk, making her look away bashfully.

~Master helped us… advance too…~ Emi sends a Whisper to everyone and Safi nods in agreement.

I reach to pat the emerald girl, which gives me a beaming smile in response. Certainly, they were the first ones to experience that strengthening effect. Both them and Cornelia had been really close to the breaking point and that was what allowed them to progress.

"Ah. That reminds me. The Goddess said that this body will be able to utilize all of those effects properly, so while the boost was minuscule in the past, it should now be more considerable," I recall one of the most important changes.

"Wait…" Cornelia looks at me. "If we looked at it from the numerical perspective, even if it is wrong, wouldn't it theoretically mean that this strengthening was only at like 50% of its power?"

"Well… Technically speaking… I guess?"

I answer, not really sure since we have no complete confirmation of how exactly the fine details in this world work. It could very well be much more if there were other things connected to my physique and other stuff that limited the Class.

"Then… I wonder how many times we would have to… do it… to advance again," Cornelia ponders.

"There's only one way to check that," I say to her with a smile. "Just don't forget that it mentions the rule of diminishing returns for acts in quick succession."

She keeps sending glances my way while fidgeting a little on her chair. I'm sure not only her scholarly part of the mind is eager for her to play the role of the test subject. And we haven't done it since her advancement so it could work as a Tier 4 to 5 situational example.

"We'll see how it works with time. I'll make sure to pay attention to others' growth from now on. Let's not prolong it more than necessary. I've dragged you all out of the bed quite early with my screaming. And we have a working night to prepare."

Teffith looks like she wants to say something, but in the end, she stays silent, carefully observing me while having that distant and contemplative look. Everyone nods in agreement with my words. Before we start getting up, Cinra softly clears her throat to gather our attention.

"About the last part. We'll gladly start working from tonight, Master."

I shake my head. "There's no need to rush things. Rest for today. You've just spent a night with me, and while I appreciate your eagerness to help, I feel it would be disrespectful to you. Also, we need to wait for Cornelia to finish the anticonception magic anyway."

"Oh, I'm pretty much done. I think," the person in question butts in. "We just need to… test it… somehow." She looks at me, or rather, at a certain part of me. "My research taught me how to discern if the seed or egg is fertile too, so we just need to conduct a more… practical examination."

I nod at her. "Alright. We'll talk about that later. I have an idea which overlaps with something that I'm almost certain will happen very soon." An image of three, colourful tieflings appears in my mind. "Also, before I forget. Thank you, girls, for all the effort you put into learning Common. I'm truly amazed by your progress."

The elves look between themselves and even Elea furrows her brows a little. Cinra returns her gaze to me.

"Pardon?"

"Hm? I haven't seen Elea translate a single word for any of you during this emergency meeting. I'm sure I used a lot of difficult ones along the way," I say, slightly disoriented by their reaction.

"But… Aren't you speaking Elvish since the beginning, Master?" she asks and other elves nod in unison.

Now, it's my turn to furrow my brows and look at them in confusion.

"What are you saying?" Cornelia leans back and looks weirdly at them. "He is obviously talking in Common."

"I thought it was Dwarvish," Sirgia tilts her head at me.

"I was surprised a bit, but… isn't it Draconic?" Even Teffith joins this guessing game.

Meanwhile, I stare at each one of them as they begin arguing which language I was using this whole time. They are all so confident in their version that even I begin doubting myself and start wondering which one it actually was.

「It couldn't have been all at once, right? I'm sure I wasn't able to do something like that. Wait… I wasn't able… Past tense… It can't be...」

Ignoring the turmoil happening all around me, I bring out the skills list and scan through it with my eyes, looking for any changes.

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[SKILLS]

Common Abilities

Actives

| »Livelihood Magic Lv. 7« | »Formless Blade Arts Lv. 6« |

Passives

Class-Specific Abilities

Actives

Passives

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While I'm attentively reading every line, one specific skill catches my attention and pretty much explains everything with just its name. I can make at least a few vague guesses about its effect. Without any further ado, I quickly open it.

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[Language of Love]

The feelings and affection you and your Partners share for each other are strong and passionate enough to transcend boundaries of communication.

No matter what language is spoken or written, as long as you or at least one of your Partners know it, everyone will be able to understand it as if it was their own, native tongue.

Notice: This doesn't mean that everyone learns all the languages present in the group of Partners, nor it allows everyone to speak or write them. The effect only applies to receival and also only between Partners.

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The commotion quiets down after the girls notice me staring into space with raised eyebrows.

"Master?" Sirgia pulls on my shirt.

"Ah. Sorry. Here."

Everyone reads the information after I make it visible.

"For real, Al. There isn't a day without something unthinkable, unheard of, or utterly outrageous happening around you," Cornelia sighs heavily and rubs her eyes, following it with a chuckle.

"Hey. It's that Class. I have no say in anything," I chuckle too and reply with a wry smile.

"How many languages do you know?"

"Relevant to this world? Something like… above ten?" I try to remember without checking the skill.

She snorts. "Freak."

"So… We can now understand each other perfectly, without Master having to translate anything as long as it's between people accepted by him, right?" Neira asks in what sounds to me like perfect Common.

"Looks like it," Teffith answers. "I just tried speaking Draconic. Did you all understand it?"

Everyone looks at her and nods.

"Unbelievable…"

I clap my hands to capture their attention. "Alright. This is definitely a great help to all of us. Does anyone have something else they would want to discuss with everyone present?"

They look at each other and most of the girls shake their heads.

"Then you are free to leave if you want. I'll be now figuring out what else has changed in me after advancing a Tier. Next, I'll explain the commotion to other residents, visit Cornelia to talk about the magic and start preparing for the night. And whatever else comes up."

Teffith is the first to stand up. She bows her head a little and goes out. Cornelia soon follows her and the elf girls start jumping off the bed too. Sirgia gets on her knees, turns around, and plants a kiss on my cheek.

"Come to see me too, Master. I have something to show you," she says with a gentle smile and hops off me to skip towards the door too.

Only Elea and my jelly beauties stay behind. The latter don't do much around the mansion besides helping others with their tasks and lazing around, so it's understandable for them to waste some more time cuddling to me because that's what they start doing the moment Sirgia disappears from our sight.

As for the Priestess, it's obvious that she wants to be present during my self-examination, and perhaps to ask more questions about her beloved Goddess. Anticipating that, I talk to her first.

"Elea, I'm certain that I'll speak with Goddess Lumina again during my next Tier advancement, so if you want to ask her about something specific, you can think about it and prepare a list of questions I'll familiarize myself with. We should have enough time before that happens."

Her eyes almost literally start sparking with excitement. "Can I really? Won't that be too ignorant? It's you who the Goddess wishes to speak with, not this insignificant me."

I place a hand on her shoulder. "You are significant to me and that means you should also be significant to her. I can't promise you answers, but I can ask."

Safi makes some space on my right side and lets Elea hug me affectionately. I brush through her hair with my fingers.

"Thank you again. I'll think about them. Now, please, don't waste your precious time anymore, Master."

She moves away and sits on her knees with a gentle smile on her face. I nod and pull up my list of skills again. Besides the Language of Love passive, I've noticed a few other, new ones, the previous time I checked.

First, we have Charm Magic. So, it looks like Tier 3 was the prerequisite for me or something. I've had Charm Affinity since Tier 1. Or, after the advancement and evolution, my body got strong enough to handle it now.

Opening the skill gives a list of spells I might be able to use. At least that's what I assume. It's my first time getting a branch of magic as an active skill. Actually, why wonder when I have an expert by my side.

"Elea, you know a bit of magic, right?"

She bows her head. "Water, Wind, Earth, Nature and Healing Magic, Master."

Damn, that's a lot. I completely forgot she had this many mastered besides Healing and Nature Magic.

"Do the skills for them show only what you can cast? I've gotten myself Charm Magic."

"Oh. I've heard Charm Magic is quite special. And yes, if something is on the list of spells then it means the person is able to cast it. But, the list doesn't always show everything. It usually mentions spells the person is aware of and they might have the ability to cast other ones, but they don't know that."

"I see…"

Going through the list of spells certainly makes me realize that the ones I see there are the same ones I've read about in grimoires and books back in the castle when I was trying out magic. It includes spells like Influence Thoughts, Make Friends, Arouse, Charm Person, Issue Command, Befriend Animal, Suggestion and such.

"What do you mean by Charm Magic being special though?" I ask curiously.

"Contrary to the first impression invoked by the name, that branch of magic doesn't focus solely on charming a person or entity. As far as I know, it involves pretty much everything revolving around influencing someone's mind. And effects that can be born from altering a person's psyche are plentiful," she explains.

Certainly, the mind is pretty much the brain, so if you were able to influence it, you would have a plethora of methods to do so, ranging as wide as all the senses allow. And that also explains why I see here spells like Sleep, Calm Emotions, Motivational Speech or Confusion.

To think that all of this is categorized as Charm Magic… Doesn't it mean that if you figure it out, you could even imitate the effects of Illusion Magic and other schools that dabble in deceiving senses or enhancing them? I'll have to study the list of my available spells thoroughly. They may come as a lifesaver one day.

"Thank you."

Let's move further. Not like there's much more. I got my new race, one new passive and two new active skills. Now onto the second one. Its name is What's Mine Is Yours. I don't think I can figure out what it does from just that. It's too bizarre. Time to open it.

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[What's Mine Is Yours Lv. 1]

Your Partners love for you is boundless so much they not only have no secrets from you but also consider everything they own and are to be fully yours, without exceptions.

Once per 48h, you can borrow one skill of a Partner and add it as your own. The ability has no duration, but the skill is replaced each time you choose a new one. Only compatible skills can be shared. Works only with Partners who offered you their bodies.

The cooldown of this ability decreases the more its level increases.

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"..."

I stare at the window with a blank expression.

「Isn't this… too much? 48 hours doesn't seem that long when you consider the nonexistent duration limit. I mean, yeah, if there was a skill that you knew could save your life at the moment of crisis but you were on cooldown, that would be bad, but… And to lower it, you have to keep using it as much as possible, which means that situation has actually high chances to happen. But you could just cycle two of the most useful ones… Argh, too much thinking. Let's see how it works.」

I try to activate the ability and a multicoloured table appears in front of my eyes. I quickly recognize the names at their tops, belonging to all the Partners I've gotten intimate with. Each column lists their passives and actives, split into two sections.

Some of the lines are greyed out. I guess those are the incompatible ones. I'm actually relieved to see a few of the unavailable ones, like Safi's Formless Body or Nebu's Weightless Body. I'd rather not imagine what could happen if I borrowed one of these.

For now, I decide to pick something from Elea. Without much thinking, I tap on Nature Magic and feel a comfortable warmth spreading through my body. The tables disappear and I see the skill list of my own abilities again. What's Mine Is Yours is greyed out and has 48h in the bracket behind its name.

In my Actives column, the one under the Common Abilities section, I can see Nature Magic Lv. 5. It's underlined and a little heart decorates it before and after the words. It's clear that it's the borrowed one.

But, Elea has it at level 10. Why is it halved? Nothing was mentioned in the skill's description about the copied one being weaker than the original. Maybe it's something else. Perhaps it's because I don't have the proper affinity? That would be my guess.

"Master? Is everything okay? You look deep in thought for a few minutes already," Elea asks worriedly.

"Ah, I'm fine. It's just a lot to take in with this one. Look."

Using one of the spells from the Nature Magic repertoire, I make vines sprout from the wooden floor and form a burly arm with a hand closed into a fist. Elea's eyes widen instantly. She obviously realizes what I just used as this spell was originally something she must have cast plenty of times in the past. It seems that the ability copies the spells she has in her list too. Or at least those that I can cast.

"You learned Nature Magic too? That's amazing, Master."

"No, you are mistaken. This is yours," I say with a smile.

Elea furrows her brows and moves her gaze between the appendage and me. "What do you mean by that?"

"Can you first tell me if you can still use it?"

She stares at me for a moment longer, gathers her mana and creates an identical vine arm next to mine. Good. I don't take their skills and abilities away but copy them as I thought. It isn't that obvious with the skill using the word 'borrow'.

I nod to myself and summon the skill description again, showing it to her. "Check this out."

She reads it hastily and her mouth opens from shock. "Something like this… So, it really is my own magic… Truly amazing…"

"Yeah. It gives me a little more versatility. Previously, I only had my hilt and Void Chains as something well-suited for combat. Now I can count Charm Magic and this borrowing skill in. Paired up with my ancient race and quite high stats, I'm not so defenceless now. I might want to start thinking about heading out into the world. After we set up all the things here properly, of course."

"I'd love to accompany you on one of these journeys then, Master," Elea says gleefully.

I smile and nod to her words. I could take one or two girls with me when I leave. Our combat slave plan would finally come useful. But, there are still things to be done before all of that happens. We are in the middle of a new demi-human resources acquisition and that's the most important.

Finishing up this learning session, we move out of the room perfectly in time to join others for a late breakfast. Since everyone is present, I shortly explain to them the unusual event from the early morning, telling them that it was connected to me advancing a Tier and pretty much evolving.

Most of them are surprised to hear that a Human evolved as it usually happens to monsters, not even demi-human races, but after Elea throws in that I'm exceptional, everyone just starts nodding and saying that it's true. First I felt like a revered entity, now I feel like a rare species. How times change.

After breakfast, I follow Cornelia to her room and we go through what she figured out. It seems that the spell itself is on the level of Livelihood Magic when it comes to compatibility and affinity, so pretty much anyone with some practice and knowledge of magic can learn it.

All this struggle and effort to piece together bits of ancient information gave the impression that the spell would be something extraordinary, but it turned out like this. It's actually great. But it would have been better if it wasn't suddenly all forgotten just because meds started making an appearance.

Anyway, I get it to appear in my Actives section without an issue. Anticonception Magic is its name. Cornelia explains to me how it works. It's simple. I place my hand on either my or another person's belly and invoke it. Then the magic happens.

We test it immediately and I cast it on her skin. A pinkish symbol in the shape of a heart on a shield appears on it when the person is under the spell's effect. Both I and she can get rid of it. Cornelia tries it out on me too and it shows up properly.

Then, she teaches me another spell from that branch of magic, which is called Fertility Scan. Its effect and purpose are obvious. We use it on each other with and without the no-kid symbol and learn that it takes around five to ten minutes for the body to switch back into fertile after the sigil is removed. Surprisingly, you go infertile instantly.

I flirt a little with Cornelia, asking if she shouldn't be the first one to conduct a proper, on-field test of the spell as its re-creator. She teases me back with a few loving kisses and informs me that I don't have to worry about her feeling neglected this much and that I should focus on the others right now. Such an amazing woman. I'll have to spoil her plenty after we deal with the new arrivals.

Promising her exactly that, I leave Cornelia to her own machinations. She still wants to keep researching that Anticonception Magic, but without as much pressure as before. More like a hobby now. She is sure there are even more interesting, forgotten spells she can figure out from the material we gathered together. Scientists.

Next, I head back to my own room and sit down to write a letter to Ross. I ask how is the Queen doing, and of course he too. I shortly fill him in on what we've achieved. I kind of feel the responsibility to at least report a thing or two to him as literally everything was possible only thanks to him and his generosity. And, I also mention that we finally have Dark Elves in the main department.

I'm not sure how long we'll be keeping that nobles I know pretend play, but I use that code phrase anyway and ask him to let those nobles know about the elves. We also have a Catkin, but Astrea didn't agree on anything yet.

Speaking of which, if not for the meals we eat together, I would have easily forgotten about her. I don't think I've ever run into her anywhere in the mansion. She is either still avoiding me for some reason, or… she domesticated herself. Should I start looking into places where cats usually sit? I won't start finding her curled up in cupboards or on top of the furniture, will I? Is that why I didn't come across her? I need to check the kitchen later.

Done with the letter, I move down to the underground to pay Sirgia a visit next. I'm curious about what she has to show me. For once in my lifetime, I arrive when she is taking an actual break, sitting by her desk, flipping through some book and nomming on cookies. My plan to surprise her fails instantly. She notices my presence the moment I step inside her workshop.

Even though I tell her not to, she insists on filling me up on whatever she prepared instead of resting more. She brings me to another desk, lets me pick her up and place her on my lap after I sit down in front of it, and pulls out a sizable, wooden box. Opening it reveals one of the pendants, with greyish crystal. It's meant for Astrea if she decides to help in any way.

Then, Sirgia proceeds to report her progress on the Spatial Enchantments to me step by step. Unable to achieve what she complained to me the last time we spoke about them, she decided to completely switch her strategy and focused on figuring out alternate, less efficient ways to imitate the true ones.

Hearing that, I didn't expect much, but she joyfully explains to me how she utilized a Fairy's Heart as a core of her project to simulate having created a spatial anchor inside the crystal. Because Humans aren't aware of many other uses of that ingredient, which by the way, doesn't require killing a Fairy or even harming them, she was able to get lots of those for cheap through Cornelia.

Then, by trial and error, she created a stable foundation into which she could engrave self-designed runic circuits with the same role as the ones from true Spatial Enchantments. Sirgia managed to make them work together and succeeded in emulating small spatial storage. Totally awesome.

The main downside to that method is the internal size. It bases on weight instead of volume. And the limit is low. If she were to put her maul inside, nothing else could fit besides perhaps a sack of coins or a set or two of clothes. But that's plenty for us.

Another thing Sirgia is unhappy with is the need to fuse the physical vessel, which is the Fairy's Heart, into the crystal. Even with her skilful work, she can't completely conceal the core and a small orb can be spotted inside the gem when you examine it from up close.

I tell her to ignore that as no one will even get a chance to gaze into them from such a distance, and that unless you know what to look for it's easy to miss, but she still sulks, saying that she should have been able to do better than that for me.

A few minutes of affectionate cuddles and appreciative pats fix her mood and I give Sirgia a green light to incorporate her invention into all pendants. Now, with that done, I can ask her to work on a few of my less decent ideas. Surprisingly, she accepts eagerly. I think Alastair Junior might have opened a new door for her creative mind. But first, I'll let her finally make a proper weapon for Teffith.

She tells me to send the dragonewt woman to her whenever so they can discuss the order and I leave the workshop. Time flies. It's just two hours before we open. It's time I start checking on everyone. I'll first pass the letter to our contact on the other side of the road. Let's hope for the best.

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