Academy of Legends [A LitRPG Harem Adventure]

The remaining days until classes started were surprisingly uneventful. I met up with Daphne a few times to explore the more recreational parts of campus. Though her nudity had been a shock at first, I got used to it with each progressive visit. She was very forward about her intentions and had offered me a no-strings-attached night once, but I’d declined.

A few months ago, I would have called myself an idiot for turning down a chance with a very attractive woman who wouldn’t want my head after, Despite her energy and friendliness, I just hadn’t connected with her as much as I had with Alice. I didn’t want to fuck her just for her own sake, especially when that wasn’t even going to guarantee that the Bond spell would work.

Most of my time was spent with Alice instead. We reserved one of the many practice ranges to try our spells until we were out of mana every day. I only had Finger of Death for the time being, but I sure as hells practiced the shit out of it until using it came as second nature.

Despite only being freshly marked, I was able to use more spells per session than Alice did. That was mostly because her magic was more complex, though.

Alice’s magic was entrancing. Her spatial affinity manifested itself in her spells as a purple-pink explosion of color. The spells she cast separated the magically-created dummies at the chest, violently ripping them in half.

Magic wasn’t the only alluring part of her display. Alice cast her spells in a sort of shimmying dance that accentuated the curves of her body. I could have sat there mesmerized watching her all day, and that was before taking into account her different outfits.

As it turned out, Alice didn’t just have the one risqué uniform. She had all kinds of uniform variants, some with cooling charms in and others without. There were plainer ones like a traditional full-body uniform overshirt and pants that she still managed to make look stunning, but the majority of them were a fair bit more enticing than that.

One of my favorites had been the skin-tight bodysuit made out of a magical latex-like material. It had clung so close to her skin that I’d been able to see it when her nipples had stiffened while casting her spells, not to mention the very visible cameltoe it was giving her the entire time. Another was the one that was straight up a bikini, smooth triangular fabric covering her breasts but giving me a generous view of her underboob.

Alice had told me she wanted to try being the target of the Bond spell, but though she was bold in some ways, she was less so in others. She’d wanted to warm her way up to me actually using the spell on her, building our mutual friendly relationship during the meantime.

I found it a little hard to believe that we both considered this just a friendship when I kept on waking up with her clinging to me, her breasts pressed against my side in various states of undress. Night was when she was the most likely to want to hold me, but she was still working up the confidence to do so other times.

She did figure out how to be more circumspect while pleasuring herself, though not by much. Since she remembered to go into our bathroom to touch herself, she didn’t seem to care if I happened to be in our shared dorm or not at the time.

One thing I learned quickly: the bathroom doors were not soundproof. Not in the slightest. Her delirious, lustful moans were insanely hot music to my ears, and the way she flushed pink from head to toe afterward was particularly cute.

While she helped ease me into the basics of spell control and targeting, I returned the favor in kind by being her sparring partner. We didn’t use magic, because neither of us had good enough control over it to ensure that we wouldn’t seriously harm each other.

Alice, like many Climber hopefuls, had been trained from a fairly young age. I had as well—the difference was that I also had practical experience.

Today, the last day before classes began, was much the same. Alice was wearing her sparring outfit, which was a skintight pink sports bra and dark blue boyshorts. I had feinted for her ankles and grabbed her shoulder-length hair when she’d made to dodge back, and now she was on the floor right under me, my elbow gently resting against her throat and my free hand pinning her arms down. My knee rested on her naked stomach, keeping her from rising.

“You really need to be more careful about your hair,” I said, conscious of how close the two of us were to each other. Soft brown eyes looked back into mine, so close I could see the glint of artificial light reflecting off her iris. “Well, I guess you’re not going to be doing hand to hand much, so it’s a moot point.”

I stopped putting pressure on the upper half of Alice’s body, straddling her instead, one of my legs on either side of hers.

“No, you’re right,” she agreed, still on the ground. “I need my hands to cast, and if someone gets me like this, they could do anything they want to me.”

“Is that so?” I asked quietly, very aware of the rise and fall of her chest, the way her breathing had suddenly sped up even more than the exertion had sped it.

“That’s what my sister used to tell me, at least,” she said.

“You have a sister?” I asked, surprised. I let go of her, allowing her to get up. The heat of the moment had passed, but it was clear there would be more opportunities for it later.

“Had,” she corrected me. “She wasn’t Marked, but she was one hell of a Climber.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. That explains why Alice never brought her up.

“It’s fine,” Alice said in a tone that said it was anything but. “She saved my life, you know? It was a freak accident. Demons got past our defenses. Killed almost a thousand people in one night. I woke up in the middle of the night because one of them was in my room. It should have been me, but Lysette fought them off while I ran. We never even found a body.”

“That’s awful,” I said, cursing myself for never learning how to comfort someone who was struggling.

“I shouldn’t be dumping this on you, sorry,” Alice said. “You have your own troubles too, don’t you?”

I shrugged. “I lost my family to the demons, yes. They sacrificed their lives, but I’m still here. All I can hope to do is make their last action mean something.”

Once, I’d thought that the only way to accomplish that was by doing the same thing they’d done, doing my part to push back the demon tide before inevitably falling. Now, though, it was a different story entirely. Now, I had the chance to make real change.

“That’s a good way to view it,” Alice said. “I like that.”

“It’s the only way I know,” I said.

We did a couple more rounds of sparring before deciding to call it a day, both of slowly gathering our breath.

“Hey,” Alice said, heart-shaped face flushed with exertion. “Do you want to try it now? Your spell, I mean.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You’re sure?”

“I’m sure,” she said decisively. “At least to see what it’s like. You’re a good man, I think. Good enough for me to take the chance.”

“I appreciate that,” I said genuinely. “Well. Here goes nothing.”

I activated the spell, pushing the magic towards her. Alice closed her eyes and breathed in deep, steeling herself—then flinched as it touched her skin. A familiar spike of uncertainty ran through me, too, and the spell faltered.

“Not quite there yet, it looks like,” I said. “Looks like Laurent figured out a way to cheat the Bond. She was able to do it with less of a connection.”

Alice studied me. “Are you sure it’s not because she let you grab her tits?”

I snorted at how sudden and crude her response was, having expected something more scholarly. “I should have never told you about that.”

“Lips sealed, I promise,” she said. “Maybe if I let you touch me…”

“Don’t do anything you’re not comfortable with,” I told her. “There’s plenty of time. Don’t rush it. I don’t want to pressure you into anything just because you want to see what my magic does.”

“Oh, trust me, I’m not only interested in your magic,” Alice said. “You’re right, though. Let’s head back and shower. We can try again later. I need to shower, eat, and recover my mana. You’re running short too, right?”

That was the one problem with intensive training sessions. There was only so much we could do before we exhausted ourselves for hours, and we’d reached that limit pretty handily. Bond was cheap and cost almost nothing, but I wasn’t going to be able to use Finger of Death any longer.

When we were done with everything, the clock in our room read that it was just after ten at night. Classes began tomorrow, so we decided that going to bed early was probably a good idea.

I extended my hand to Alice before she could even ask tonight, having gotten used to her request. I couldn’t deny that I was at least somewhat looking forward to waking up with the blonde glued to me again.

“G’night, En,” she said sleepily.

“Night,” I replied.

Slowly, I drifted off.

Hours of uneasy dreams later, I woke up abruptly to someone shaking my shoulder.

I snapped to attention just in time for Alice’s hand to cover my mouth, preventing me from making a sound.

She was on my bed again, I noticed, but she had clearly woken up first this time. Alice was on her hands and knees atop my blanket, her pajama shirt hanging loose enough that she was basically flashing me just by being on top of me.

“Shhh,” she whispered, taking her hand off my mouth. “Look at the time.”

The clock still read that it was just after ten at night. How long had it been?

A shadow passed outside the window.

“Demon,” Alice hissed. “It’s right outside our door. The clock hasn’t moved in two hours. Nothing else in the room has changed, either. One of them must have infiltrated the school somehow. I think it’s waiting for us to come out”

“Shit,” I whispered back. “What do we do?”

Alice bit her lip. “I don’t know. I’ve been awake for half an hour now, and my mana hasn’t recovered at all. You?”

I reached for my spells, then shook my head.

“Only Bond,” I replied softly. “None of my mana came back either.”

I could practically see the gears turning in Alice’s head as she thought.

Delicately, she worked her way under my covers, getting in next to me and tossing the covers over us both.

“What are you doing?” I asked as quietly as I could.

“Improvising,” she replied, just as soft. “You’re the only one of us that has a real spell, but Bond doesn’t work on me yet.”

I felt a hand slide down my front, searching for something. Alice cursed quietly. Cloth rustled, and her other hand found mine.

“Just follow my lead,” she said, one hand snaking mine under a thin sweater and—right onto her breasts. The other finally found its mark, creeping beneath my waistband and locating my erection. “You said physical intimacy does the trick, right?”

I nodded, then realized she couldn’t see me. “Yes.”

I could scarcely believe this was happening, but that had been the case for a while now.

“Then let’s give this a shot,” she said.

Her fingers began to stroke.