Chapter 14：Touch of Temptation (1/2)

It has been a week since the Head Librarian arrived. A week since I discarded my ranger identity, cutting away the most satisfying interaction that was available for me. A week since her indomitable presence destroyed any opportunity for a carnal encounter in the library for horny students, destroying my voyeur activities as well. While in the library, I stayed in my Mule personality all day, afraid of awakening the suspicion of her steely eyes.

I still didn't know if Cornelia had managed to find another location for the encounter. I tried to find out, using subtle inquires while dressed as a maid, but until to date, I wasn't able to find any solid evidence. Even Marianne didn't call me, or more accurately, her faithful but dim maid Selena, for another bath, cutting that path as well. Meanwhile, Helga was always in the library, throwing herself on her studies with an enhanced fervor, trying to fight sadness through overworking. Luckily, with the Head Librarian in place, nobody dared to mess with Helga, afraid of getting the attention of Iron Lady.

The only benefit was I was able to maximize every skill I had, other than melee, which I picked accidentally during the middle of tasting Helga for the first time. I even made great strides in using my biomancy abilities, giving me the ability to heal myself, albeit slowly and with a significant mana cost, and making changes on my body and my face, enhancing my subterfuge capabilities even further.

I wasn't able to increase my stats in any way though, which didn't surprise me. There was no way that such an obvious thing hadn't been tried before, and it would have created a big event if it actually worked like that.

But these weren't the only thing I had done. For the first time since I had gained my powers, I strayed outside, scouting the surrounding areas of the Silver Halls, fighter and ranger part of the school. There was a large forest in that area, specifically for training purposes, consistently under high-level patrols to ensure that no dangerous monster lived there. It was even separated into several sections, each for a different level of capability.

For a week, I watched as the usage patterns, which hours were the busiest, how people gained admission, which parts people were allowed solo, and many other small details. Luckily, I had a lot of disguises for that. Thanks to all the improvements in my magical capabilities, I no longer needed a secluded area and several minutes to create a workable disguise. A second in a concealed area gave was enough for me to layer the illusions into an unbreakable structure that would pass the muster for any reasonable assessment.

Though scouting wasn't the only thing I had done. I also managed to sneak into the storage room disguised as a servant, an unimportant one that held the broken equipment, too damaged to be worth the effort of repair. But I had an excess of mana, and after a few tries, I was in possession of a cheap set of well-maintained equipment. A chain mail complete with its helmet, a longsword, and to complete the set, a buckler.

I even managed to steal a used permission form before it was burned by the guards, allowing me to forge a fake one, giving me admission to the safest part of the forest, with the added exception that I was to be allowed there during both day and night. Very rarely there was anyone in the forest during the night, as with the limited vision greatly increased the risk of an ambush from one of the monsters. And during the night, there was no guarantee that a stronger monster hadn't infested the forest.

Under the right circumstances, even a class one monster could kill someone that it was supposedly harmless against. I hoped that my high perception, supported by a proximity ward, would be enough to offset the disadvantages. After all, going there during the day, a time where it was crawling with students hoping to farm a few more experience points to get another level, was not an option. I couldn't afford the risk of getting caught.

I walked into my room, and a servant, carrying a large sack left the room. Another stop in a dark corner, and a young warrior continued his way, a sword on his belt, a buckler on his arm, his shining sword and his proud look all shouting a green warrior with little experience. A common view, as many minor houses had spent minor fortunes to get them in the Silver Halls, who then walked around like they were at the king of the world until they angered someone strong, teaching the difference between the pretenders and the real deal.

For my current purposes, unlikeable and easily forgettable worked just fine. Just to enhance the impression, I even used by biomancy to temporarily reduce my height a couple of inches, loose clothes hiding my muscles, weakening the personality I reflected even more.

At the entrance of the forest, I passed the permission to the guard wordlessly, distinctly turning my nose up to them, following the finest noble tradition, and then walked into the forest. I walked into the shadowy part of the forest, without a light source with me, hoping that two moons shining in the sky, one full, the other half, making it bright enough for me to see around, though not as much as without the crimson light of the third one.

I maintained my pompous walk until there were several trees between me and them, cutting off the path, then dropped my pompous walk, replaced by a soft prowl, the sword in hand, but also ready to send a blast of pure magic if things get dicey. Just to keep things extra safe, I established a proximity ward around, preventing sneak attacks.

My luck seemed to be working, because the first monster that I met was a dire rabbit, a class zero creature that was two feet tall and four feet long, relying on its agility and stealth to do the job, as it lacked any other quality. One of the best targets for leveling for the weaker people, as especially during the day, on an open field, it was one of the easiest threats to handle. Its teeth, longer than three inches, was a big threat, but it was just a bad matchup against me. It jumped at me from behind, but I was much faster, and pushed my sword to its threat halfway.

[+1 Melee]

Realistically, I wasn't expecting any experience, but I wouldn't be sad if something had changed and I received some. Not that I really needed it, as even if everything had been normal, even a class one creature would have given me a couple of points of experience at best at my current level, and a for class zero one like a dire rabbit, even one experience was unlikely. That was how classification worked. If a creature killed gives a hundred experience to a level five slayer, it was categorized as class five, and if a level seven received a hundred experience, it was classified as class seven.

But it was extremely hard to push through higher levels, because not only more experience was needed to advance higher levels, but also the monsters got stronger faster than their class might indicate at first glance. A level three warrior could kill a class three creature without a low chance of dangerous injury under equal circumstances, but it was reverse for a class ten. The monster would win nine out of ten fair battles, most without a considerable damage.

That was one of the reasons nobles were almost only ones that were able to push through level ten, and only the major noble families had the resources to push their members over twenty without excessive risks, supporting their hunt with a small army, though only if they were lucky enough to have members with a level cap over twenty. It wasn't unheard that a noble family to collapse in a generation, because lady luck decided to give them a generation limited to single digits. No matter the support structure, it was hard to maintain a strong estate by a bunch of level sevens.

I was distracted by another dire rabbit assault, which was a bit surprising, because they weren't really smart, they usually avoided people with bloodied swords. Still, it took just a slash to destroy it. I might be just a beginner in sword fighting, but I had ten points in both agility and precision, meaning a class one creature was nothing more than an excuse to practice my technique.

Encouraged by the effectiveness, I started moving deeper and deeper into the forest, killing dozens of dire rabbits, but didn't bother picking anything off them, because they were effectively worthless, even their meat was horrible, only consumed by peasants in times of hardship. There were a lot of those rabbits and they bred quickly, which was the only reason of their continuing survival. Their females gave birth each week, with their litter reaching full size in a few weeks. With that numbers, it wasn't hard to imagine them actually invading the world without other monsters hunting them for sustenance.

As I moved deeper into the forest, I had to fight a few dire foxes, class two monsters quite a bit more dangerous than dire rabbits. For once, they had teeth long and sharp enough to kill a low level warrior if caught unprepared, but also they had a rudimentary understanding of tactics, using foliage and other physical objects to sneak before covering the last dash. Unfortunately, the proximity ward turned their effort into a waste, and they fell to a swing or two. That rhythm, I maintained for almost an hour, with a rather decent return in terms of skill.

[+7 Melee]

Just as it happened with my magical skills, it was impressive just how a few skill points changed everything about the way I fought. My swings flew sharpers, my stances more balanced, my timing more precise.

I was planning to extend my expedition, but then a rather impressive figure passed nearby, quite a bit over six feet, and carrying a sword even taller, its enchantment thick enough to be felt . But not even for a moment, I had though it was a man. She wore a shirt instead of armor, and even though it was a loose, shapeless shirt, it failed to hide her rather impressive bosom.

But she swung her great sword with an amazing expertise, suggesting that she was either had a very high level, or was lucky enough to get a specialized combat skill. Melee allowed its user to master a lot of weapons, but sword mastery was obviously superior in terms of effect at the same skill point. There was no exact calculation on it, but approximately, expert melee provided the same benefits as advanced sword mastery, meaning that it wasn't very preferable. Luckily, while I picked melee accidentally, it fit to my situation much better.

I needed to sit on my place, but I couldn't help but feel intrigued as she cut through the small and medium sized creatures, not even stopping for a breath. But then she disappeared between the trees, and I decided to return. While following a sexy warrior strong enough to kick ass was a tempting idea, she was noisy enough to get the attention of the others, and the last thing I needed was someone trying to talk to me in this disguise.

I left the forest, and after another break, I was once again a servant carrying a huge sack. When I arrived back to my room, I was planning to dress back to my unloved library assistant identity, but a note slipped under the door, from Marianne's maid, asking Selene's help to prepare another bath.

”It was about time,” I murmured with excitement as I quickly dressed into my female disguise. I was starting to worry that I had pushed Marianne too much during our last session. I found the old maid in the storage room, boiling the herbal water, and after a quick talk, once again I sent her for an early night, promising to tend Marianne for the rest of the night.

I had some very interesting ideas on how to tend her.

After two repeats, preparing the bath required no thought, especially since the completely mastered arcana and subterfuge increased my capabilities much more. I even had a reasonably convinced that my illusionary disguise would hold naked unless she started to get handy. As while I could hide my manhood from her eyes, but illusions didn't work on touch. But I wasn't worried about that, as I doubted Marianne would have any concerns on somehow making a servant to feel good. It was all about her pleasure, well to her knowledge, at least.

I walked to her bedroom after finishing the preparations in the bath, only to find her sitting on the bed, wearing just a dressing gown, loose enough to reveal that it was the only piece of clothing on her. A book was in her hand, but I was familiar with her expression enough to recognize she wasn't paying attention to it. Combined with the restless tapping of her feet, it suggested some interesting things. ”The bath is ready, mistress.”

[+60 Experience]

The notification I just received was very good news. Not because it gave me a lot of bonus, but it told me that Marianne was higher level than Helga, meaning I would still receive complete reward for my efforts.

”About time,” she said, quite a bit louder than necessary, but surprisingly, it wasn't an angry exclamation, which would be the emotion I would have expected to see in a spoiled noble girl bored while waiting. But then she started to walk quite bit faster than the usual, uncaring of the way the front of her dressing gown sliding open even further, it gave me a better idea about the reason for her touchiness.

It seemed that Cornelia failed to find an alternative location for their private encounters.

Excellent, I thought as she opened her arms, and I freed her body from her robe, leaving her in her birthday suit, and she walked towards the bath with the same hurry she displayed earlier. I followed her in the same pace, so when she sank into the bubbly water, I was in my usual place behind her, with the bath glove in my hand.

Her arousal was palpable, begging for me to mess with her like the previous time, making her suffer under a slow tease. But that would be too easy. After our last encounter I had gained a new skill, and I couldn't wait to test it on her.