Academy of Legends [A LitRPG Harem Adventure]

Alice took a minute or two to come down, her body still quivering with the aftershocks of her self-service session. She breathed hard, hands still exploring her body.

Though the sight was deeply entrancing, I did my best not to stare.

“I’ll leave,” I told her once I was sure that she could actually hear me. “Take your time.”

“No, don’t,” she said. “It’s not like leaving now will make you un-see my tits.”

I turned back as Alice got out of the bed, her staff disappearing into thin air. She flattened out her skirt with one hand, the other over her breasts.

“Sorry,” I said. “I didn’t think you would, uh…”

“That’s a fair assumption,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “I’m sure you don’t regret barging in, though.”

Ah, there she was. After being surprisingly vulnerable last night, she had recovered some of the confidence she’d had early. It was a shaky, bright-red-in-the-cheeks kind of confidence, but it was a sure as sign as any that whatever troubles had been plaguing her last night no longer were.

“You know, when my mother told me not to lie to women, I don’t think she accounted for this situation,” I said drily.

“I’ll take that to mean that you enjoyed what you saw, then,” Alice said. Her eyes flicked down. “Mm. Can’t hide everything.”

Given our respective states, I couldn’t fault her for looking, but it was a bit embarrassing anyway.

“As you say,” I said. “Are you sure you don’t want me to leave?”

“It’s fine,” she said, making her way over to her wardrobe. “I’d offer you a longer look, but I don’t think we’re necessarily at that stage yet.”

I looked at her still-rumpled skirt, then the wet spot she’d left on the bed. “You sure about that?”

“You can chalk that up to a fortunate accident,” she said, opening the wardrobe doors and blocking my line of sight. “You’ll have to do more than get lucky with your timing to get me to show you more.”

“I’m noticing you’re not telling me outright that you won’t.”

Alice scoffed, cloth rustling as she pulled on a top. “En, you’ve been feeling that heat, right? Surely you’ve noticed how different it’s making you feel.”

“Hard not to,” I said.

“Well, take a bunch of hormonal young adults just maturing into the prime of their lives—a prime that lasts a long time, given what we are—and give them Marks that enhance everything about them. What do you think ends up happening?”

“I can guess.”

“Exactly. I’d rather not have the reputation of the easiest girl in the history of this academy, but there’s only so much pressure I can let build up.”

“It does seem a little overwhelming if you’re into women,” I said. “Sounds like you are?”

“What kind of moron wouldn’t?” she asked. “Most Marked here don’t care much for gender. Man, woman, as long as we like them in the ways that count.”

“And your response to liking them is, what, fucking yourself with a staff?”

“Alright, unless you want to learn what that feels like, that’s enough questions.” Alice tossed her stained skirt and underclothes aside, pulling on another pair. “Actually, I’ll answer one more, because I’m sure you’re thinking it—no, I have not been here the entire morning. I went to get breakfast and warm up.”

“I was going to ask if you wanted to show me around the academy, actually, but if you want to tell me your pre-masturbation routine, that’s fine too,” I said.

Two swift steps was all the warning I got before she slapped me. It was light enough to tell me she wasn’t trying to hurt me, but the indignated huff that accompanied it made her feelings on that pretty clear.

“I hope that was with your clean hand,” I said.

She giggled. “You would have known if it wasn’t.”

Alice went into the bathroom for a few minutes, so I took the time to meditate.

This academy was not what I’d been expecting. Marked were practically legendary back in the capital. They very rarely came anywhere near it, preferring to stay out of politics and involve themselves mostly with the Tower and the Demon War. I had expected our legendary warriors to be a bit eccentric, of course, but not this kind.

I mean, I couldn’t say I minded, but it was definitely going to be an adjustment.

Idly, I wondered if I could bring up the possibility of Bonding to Alice now. I doubted that walking in on her was the right kind of intimacy to trigger the bond, but we were becoming fast friends.

Maybe in the future. I resolved to at least tell her about my magic proficiency.

The door to the bathroom clicked open.

“How do I look?” Alice asked.

She’d brushed her hair straight, and her top was actually a somewhat more modest one this time, more of a light pink sports bra that didn’t expose any cleavage but still clung tightly to her skin. Her skirt was simple, short, and white, and she had thin silk gloves on now as well.

“Like you just cleaned up after touching yourself,” I said, ducking even before she threw whatever was in her hands at me. “No, you look pretty. The outfit’s cute, too, of course.”

After everything I’d said and seen, somehow that was the sentence that got her looking away. I thought I caught the edge of a smile there, but I wasn’t sure.

“Let’s go,” she said. “There’s a few facilities I think you might need.”

Daphne had already showed me around some of the campus, but she’d been a student here for a while. Alice knew what someone new like me might actually want to find—training rooms, the library, that kind of thing. We walked around for a while, with her occasionally qualifying that she didn’t know enough about a given location because she hadn’t used it enough.

“You know, I’m a little curious,” I said while we were going through a target range that featured magically formed creature-constructs that we could practice our spells on. “Do people not like talking about magic proficiencies here?”

“Not particularly, no,” Alice said. “You’re thinking of the selection process, right? With how the normals’ proficiencies are listed out?”

“Mhm. Said I had no proficiency then.”

“That’s because Marked don’t awaken the same way. Most of us get proficiencies that don’t exist for regular Climbers, or they manifest in very different ways. Hiding your proficiency is a good way to keep your bag of tricks full.”

“Can’t prepare for what you haven’t thought about,” I agreed. “Do proficiencies leak that easily, or are Marked fans of fighting one another?”

“Both,” Alice said. “Though it’s more accurate to say that Climbers are pretty prone to conflict. I personally don’t think it’s that big a deal, but all the people who onboarded me said to be careful about how much I revealed.”

“That… makes sense, I guess,” I said. “Doesn’t that get hard, not sharing?”

“Sort of,” she said. “Maybe. I don’t know. In the grand scheme of things, I haven’t been Marked for all that long. I’m still figuring things out myself.”

I could tell from her expression that she wasn’t telling the entire truth. Alice, unlike Daphne, had been very focused on the more magical elements of the Academy, and there was a spark in her eyes when she talked about it.

“Wanna exchange, then?” I asked. “I tell you yours, you tell me mine?”

Alice brightened at that. “I’d love to hear about another Marked’s magic, actually. I haven’t started classes yet, so there’s a lot I still don’t know.”

“Blind leading the blind here,” I said. “Do I need to remind you that I’ve had these for a day?”

“Yes, but everyone who’s had them for longer is terribly tight-lipped. I can guess from seeing them, but that’s not the same as actually talking about it.”

“That’s true,” I acknowledged, thinking back to Violet’s explosive introduction of her magic.

I explained my proficiency as best as I understood it, following Headmistress Laurent’s explanation as closely as I could. Alice’s brow furrowed as I continued on with the explanation.

“Yeah, it’s a weird proficiency,” I finished, “but it’s not like I chose it or anything.”

“No, not at all!” she exclaimed. “This is really neat stuff. You said it was… physical intimacy that made it work?”

“Yeah, apparently,” I said. “From what she said and how the spell feels, I’m sure that emotional bonds work too, maybe even better, but a physical link is a good shortcut.”

“Fascinating,” she said. “Oh, I should tell you mine before I ask more questions. Mine is Void, which is kind of weird but means that I get a lot of stuff with spatial manipulation and destruction.”

“That sounds powerful, to put it lightly,” I said.

She nodded. “It is.”

Alice went on to explain more of her power set. Apparently, since she was still mostly a beginner, she still only had access to the lower level spells, but those included a very destructive close-range spell as well as the spatial manipulation one that she’d used to keep us from falling off her staff.

Which reminded me—“Hey, Alice?”

“Yes?”

“You do clean your staff, right?”

“Of course I do,” she said, offended. “Do you think any self-respecting—oh. Yes! Yes, of course!”

I chuckled, and she punched me in the shoulder.

“So,” she said. “Now we know each other a bit more.”

“We do,” I said. “Though I’m still pretty weak. The Bond I have with the Headmistress isn’t super strong, and I don’t think I have another way to acquire non-basic magic.”

“Um, then…” Alice trailed off, fingers drumming against her thigh.

“Yeah?”

“Maybe not today, but closer to class? When we’re both more sure of what we’re doing.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“When I say this is fascinating stuff, I mean it,” Alice said. “Which is to say, well… maybe you could try it with me?”