Lewd Ascent: a Futa Litrpg C276-285

7.25 - Dreams at the Academy I

There was another task Zoey had put off--if not for as long as solidifying her bonds with her two girlfriends and confessing the truth of her feelings.

Fe.

The sheepgirl artificer was someone Zoey was quite fond of and probably the only person for whom she had significant affection that had been left behind in Mantle. It wasn't unreasonable that she hadn't been immediately willing to uproot her life. Sabina had done so, but she was intertwined with Zoey, being her alchemy teacher and also benefiting from a livelihood sense.

Unfortunately, for all its magic, long-distance communication was limited in this world. Zoey didn't know if the highest echelons of society had means of instant message transportation--and it seemed likely there were

some

artifacts like that--but there was certainly no 'magic post office'. Keeping in contact was limited to regular mail, which could take days or weeks depending on who they hired to carry the message.

But Zoey?

Zoey had other ways of getting in contact.

[Potion of Expanded Consciousness] - Open the consumer's mind to the dream world, allowing external influences to delve deep into one's psyche.

Zoey had yet to explore everything the potion was capable of. Like many of her underutilized items and potions, that was simply because of how hectic her life was. She had too much going on to utilize everything to the highest degree, or to the degree it deserved. Nevertheless, she'd come up with a practical use for her dreaming potion: contacting Fe.

The potion was limited, though. At a minimum, it required her target to be sleeping. So, Zoey waited until late at night to drink the potion--after some, ah, celebrations with Rosalie and Delta--and thus she expected the sheepgirl to be asleep. Then again, it seemed possible the dedicated artificer was the kind of person who would often be burning the midnight oil if a project had caught her fancy. There was also the risk of the dream realm limiting links by distance; she had no idea. It was a gamble twice over.

But hardly an expensive or risky one. So, Zoey tipped the vial back and cuddled in with her two girlfriends.

Delta's amused voice was the last thing she heard before she drifted off, consciousness sapping away all at once.

"Say hi to her for me, by the way. And by that, I mean fuck her brains--"

Zoey could intuit Delta's request, even if she wasn't conscious enough to finish hearing it.

Just like that, she was floating in a black void. Splayed out beneath her was a sea of multicolored orbs, each representing a dream of a different type. Her attention was drawn to the pink ones, which represented dreams where the dominant emotion was lust. A myriad of other colors pervaded the dense spiritual space making up the spiderweb of Mantle's sleeping citizens. But intriguing as exploring that landscape might be, Zoey had other goals.

She looked down at herself--though she had no

self

, being a floating spirit of nothingness, no shape or form to represent her body--and found a collection of lines emanating from her. Each was a relationship. These lines were how Zoey had forced contact with Ephy, once. Though that prismatic string was gone now, Ephy denying such easy access a second time. She preferred 'rituals'.

The links to her girlfriends were strongest, but they were faded and grayed out since they were awake. Though likely not for much longer; they had all settled down for the night.

Focusing on the lines gave her a sixth sense for who they represented. Finding Sabina's, Zoey discovered the alchemist was asleep. Her dream was, curiously, golden-colored. Curiosity tickled at her to go find what

gold

meant--glory? Excitement?--but she had more pressing aims.

Because, identifying Fe's line, Zoey found she was asleep as well. And accessible, despite being a great distance away. Her dream link was thin and strained, either because of the distance or because they were only friendly acquaintances. For all that she liked Fe, they didn't know each other that well. But it was still available.

Gripping onto the dream-link, she let herself be tugged toward her destination. The line had a pull of its own. She accelerated with every passing second, the collection of thousands of dream orbs blurring beneath her.

A surreal trip later, she arrived to Treyhull. It felt like it had taken both minutes and hours--it was hard to tell how much had truly passed. Like sleeping, she thought amusedly.

She found herself face-to-face with Fe's dream orb.

It was a strange color--half pink and half burnt orange. Orange was a common color among dreams; her best guess was anxiousness or 'restless energy'. That was an instinctive assumption, at least, and in a world built from her consciousness, why wouldn't instinct be correct?

Pressing into the bubble, into the murky depths that she could almost but not quite make out, she met resistance. But all at once, it yielded, and--

--she was falling.

***

She woke up. That wasn't the right word; she transitioned

.

Once more, she had a body. Everything felt real again, her physical senses reconnecting. Except, at the edges of her vision, things were--slightly fuzzy, for lack of a better term. She was in a dream still, and she knew it in an instant; though at the same time, everything felt genuine. A strange mixture of sensory inputs.

She took in the environment.

She was in a university hall. Or that was the comparison her brain made, since, as had happened a number of times since arriving in this world, it wasn't

fully

familiar or identifiable. Tall, arched windows allowed sunlight to stream into a hall shaped like a great amphitheater, with tiered rows of wooden benches that ensured everyone had a clear view of the--presumed--professor below. The lectern he stood in front of was a simple, sturdy podium made of dark stone, carved with magical runes that amplified the professor's voice and carried it out toward his students. Behind him, a chalkboard displayed a variety of diagrams and formulas. Students filled the benches, a mix of races and species. Most were human or various animal-kin, wolfgirls or foxgirls or similar, though some were less human: golems and such. All were listening attentively.

"I won't belabor the point," the short, bearded man was saying. "I trust that each of you has adequately prepared for today's demonstrations. Remember, these evaluations are critical, comprising sixty percent of your final grade. A failure to present will, regrettably, result in an automatic fail, nullifying four years of dedicated study and effort--no matter what excuse you may have." He chuckled. "I'm sure none of my students are so recklessly irresponsible, though."

Zoey blinked. It was rather blunt and heavy-handed for a professor to say, and an unforgiving policy.

"No, no," a voice muttered to her side. "Where is it? This can't be happening."

Zoey stirred in surprise. The voice was familiar. Turning in her seat, she laid eyes on her neighbor. It was, as shouldn't have surprised her yet somehow did, Fe.

The sheepgirl artificer was rummaging through a backpack set to her side. Frantically. With mounting panic. Seeing how this was her dream--and the droning professor was emphasizing how disastrous missing this assignment was--Zoey put two and two together.

"I know I packed it. I know I did. Where is it?"

A stress dream. Academically flavored. Zoey sympathized; she hadn't cared much about her grades growing up, and even she had sometimes been a victim of similar nightmares. They were rare, admittedly, but still easy to sympathize with.

Especially since Fe was more academically minded than her. She was a working professional in an important and lucrative wayfaring career: the identification and modification of magical items. That had to be the equivalent of, say, some engineering field back home. A rigorous and respected education.

In this world, academic institutions were surely more exclusive and competitive than the ones Zoey knew, since back home, attending college had been nothing special. Here, higher education was a privilege--or hard-earned reward--rather than an expectation. So failing or being held back a semester would be devastating.

"What happened?" Zoey asked, leaning over. "What'd you forget?"

The sheepgirl stiffened, then looked up. For a moment, her jaw hung open.

"Zoey? When did--when did

you

join the Academy? I didn't know you wanted to be an artificer."

There wasn't an ounce of suspicion in her voice, only confusion. She had accepted the impossibility of Zoey sitting there next to her with complete and total acceptance. Zoey raised an eyebrow. Dream logic clearly held sway. She could probably give any explanation, and Fe would accept it.

Briefly, she wondered whether to play along or break Fe out of the stressful dream. If it had been only for the sake of alleviating Fe's anxiety, imaginary or not, she would have done so, of course. But something else tempted her not to.

Because the dream had been tinted

pink

along with orange when she'd first gone in. What did that mean? This dream was clearly going somewhere. Fe was in a particular mood. How lust would work into a stress dream about forgetting a crucial project at home, she didn't know.

But Zoey thought she might be able to play a part. Or maybe take it over. To Fe's pleasure. She didn't have explicit permission to invade Fe's dream and give her a good time, but she knew Fe well enough that she would be appreciative afterward. She had implied permission.

Resting her cheek on her fist, Zoey grinned at the sheepgirl she'd been missing the company of for the past week. "Oh, you know. Just took an interest." She nodded at the backpack Fe still had a hand inside. "What happened? Did you forget your project at home?"

7.26 - Dreams at the Academy II

Fe blinked at Zoey a few more times, still baffled that she was sitting there in the Academy lecture hall with her--then she digested the question, and her expression of panic doubled.

"No. No, I couldn't have forgotten it. There's no way. My final project? I brought it, I know I did."

Yet her anxious search through her backpack yielded nothing. She looked up, seeming so distraught that Zoey almost second-guessed her decision to play along.

Instead, she tried an alternative approach: setting Fe at ease while also delving down what was sure to be a fun dream.

"It's no big deal," Zoey said, shrugging. "Professor said we could share projects, didn't he? You can help present mine. You helped with it, anyway."

"He said that?" Fe seemed confused. "Semester projects are individual, though."

Zoey cocked her head, feigning earnestness. "Oh, you didn't get his last--" She almost said

e-mail

, but wait, this wasn't a modern university. "--ah, message? He said group presentations are fine too. Hundred percent certain. So, you can join me in presenting mine."

Fe seemed befuddled as her subconscious adjusted to Zoey's hijacking of the dream. Then the expression cleared away into such relief that Zoey almost felt guilty for a different reason.

"Oh, heavens. Thank you. Thank you so much. I don't know what I would've done." Her face paled. "But... wait. Help present

your

project? Isn't that--?" She trailed off.

Zoey had told Fe that she had helped create it. So what did the sheepgirl's subconscious assume was Zoey's semester project?

Probably something fun.

"Yep," Zoey said brightly. "Why, that's not a problem, is it?"

"A problem?" Fe squeaked. "No, of course not, I'm super grateful. You're a lifesaver. Just--" She squirmed in place, then glanced at the front of the room where the professor was droning on. Impressively, he wasn't even forming real words, just a vague "blah, blah, blah," background noise that Fe didn't seem to realize was odd. Since Fe's focus was now on Zoey, not the professor. "But is it

appropriate

?"

Zoey pursed her lips. Fe's subconscious had definitely assumed something lewd. Hardly took a genius to deduce that. But what?

Leaning over, she grabbed her backpack and lifted it. Curious, she rummaged inside, seeking whatever Fe's imagination had conjured. Her fingers wrapped around leather straps. Eyebrows raising, she tugged the item out.

It was... some sort of harness?

A full-body one that would fit around a person's torso and lower half? In a rather appealing way, for that matter. It looked like fetish gear.

Fe's face turned crimson. "Wow. You finished it. I mean, of course you did, but--wow."

Pretending that she knew what was going on had worked thus far, so Zoey kept the act up. "Course I did. Had your help, didn't I? But, ah, just to make sure we're on the same page. What does it do?"

"It hasn't changed, has it?"

"No. But if we're presenting together, I just wanna make sure we're on the same page."

"Oh. Fair enough?" Her cheeks colored. "It's still--the Lust Harnesser, right? Like we talked about?"

Zoey felt her eyebrows go up. "Of course. But, ah, be more specific? Since we're about to demonstrate."

Fe pursed her lips. "Well. Assuming you got it to work like we wanted--and the runework is impressive, by the way, I'm surprised you managed such intricate detailing on leather--then it's supposed to harness lustful energies and store them for future use. Allowing us to empower items, maybe even moving them through advancements. Your skills inspired it, of course."

The girl was visibly excited explaining the item, and Zoey wondered whether it was a real-life project of hers or whether it was a spontaneously created idea to fit the dream's theme. She could see it going either way. It seemed ambitious enough for Fe, and aligned with her interests, but also fantastic enough that it didn't seem plausible. Maybe for Zoey's class, it was reasonable, but her class broke normal conventions; she was sponsored by a deity. A typical artificer, no matter how competent, shouldn't be able to 'collect lewd energies and harness them to move artifacts between advancements'.

In any case, Zoey replied, "Yeah, that's the gist." Then, ad-libbing more dream logic, she said, "I've done some preliminary testing, and I know it works. But it's going to take a significant starting charge to make it function in a flashy enough way for a good demonstration."

"And how are you planning on doing that?"

Zoey hummed and tapped her lips with a pointer finger. "I guess I'll have to make you cum really, really hard. Should be easy enough."

Fe paled at the bluntness of her words. "But. I know that's how the item works. But do you really think that's appropriate?" Her eyes flicked around the lecture hall, and her breathing visibly sped up.

"It's in the pursuit of science. And a good grade. So, sure, it's appropriate. Besides the whole, I'll be fucking you in front of all your classmates part. They'll understand, though." Zoey grinned at the sheepgirl. "Why? Does that make you nervous? The idea of cumming in front of your peers and professor?"

"Of course it does!"

"Perfect. Remember, we need a

big

starting charge." Leaning forward, she murmured, "So make sure you really, really focus on how many eyes are gonna be on you. How it makes you

feel

that all your friends are watching you get split open by another girl's cock. In public. Should I make you beg? I bet I can get you to say all sorts of embarrassing things once I'm inside you."

The words did the job--Fe simply floundered, mouth opening and closing as her face turned a brilliant crimson.

Her response was preempted by the professor speaking.

"Alright, with that out of the way, let's begin." He shuffled a stack of papers on his lectern and squinted as he read the top page. "Ah. Miss Fe. The floor is yours. I'm looking forward to what you've prepared. Your work has always been promising."

To her side, Fe's head pivoted, and she stared with a look of dawning horror.

"First? We're

first?

Oh, no, you have to be kidding me." She buried her face in her hands. "I can't do this."

At her words, Zoey hesitated. "You... can't?" Some doubt crept in. "If you don't want to, you don't have to. I can fix this. The professor--uh, owes me," she lied. Hopefully, dream logic would continue to help her. "I can get you an extension."

Fe looked at her oddly. "You could? He owes you--?" She shook her head, then took a deep breath in. "No, no, it's fine. I didn't mean--" She gulped, and her face went another shade redder. She squirmed in her seat, clenching her knees together, and that did enough to alleviate Zoey's worries; the sheepgirl was clearly getting off on the idea. Had been since the start, hence why Zoey had been teasing her. But she'd sounded panicked when her name had been called, so Zoey had hesitated. "I'll be fine," she squeaked. "It's in pursuit of better understanding the nature of artifacts and arcane energies, like you said. Isn't it?"

Zoey studied her face for a second more and, satisfied, let her grin return. "Right. You're just being a good student." She stood, scooping up her backpack with the harness in it. To the professor, whose name she still didn't know, she called out, "We'll be presenting together, actually, sir. Like you said we could. It's last minute, sorry for the lack of notice."

"Ah? Hm, yes, I did say that, didn't I? That's acceptable," the older man said. "I know you two have been working closely with one another throughout the semester. However, please be advised that a two-person project will be graded as such."

"I don't think anyone'll be disappointed with what we have planned," Zoey joked, sharing a look with Fe, who, unsurprisingly, blushed even harder. "It'll be a real show we put on."

"Zoey," Fe hissed, slipping from her desk to join Zoey as they walked down the slanted layers of tiered seating. "Be professional."

When they arrived at the front of the room and turned to face the class, even Zoey felt a surge of apprehension. There were a

lot

of people here--and all of them had their attentions politely and inquisitively locked on her and Fe. For all that she knew this was a dream, her hindbrain recognized it as reality. The only aspect that distinguished this false scenario as a real one was a sixth sense in the back of her mind, a vague 'fuzziness'. The visuals, the sounds, even the feeling of her clothes against her skin were no different than when she was awake, though.

She reminded herself that the audience was conjured from Fe's imagination. That she wasn't

actually

about to fuck another woman in front of a hundred other people under the guise of presenting a 'breakthrough in artificing technology'.

Which was easy to tell herself, but harder to internalize with a sea of people staring down at her, Fe fidgeting to her side.

Ah, well. At least the perfect simulation made it that much more interesting.

7.27 - ❤ Dreams at the Academy III

Up at the podium, Fe fidgeted, her gaze sweeping across the collected student body--her peers. Hands clenching at her side, she took a deep breath, then, impressively, spoke with a voice that didn't quaver despite her obvious nervousness.

"Good morning, everyone. Today, my partner and I will be presenting an exciting breakthrough, one that I believe has wide-reaching implications for our field. As artificers, we strive to identify, modify, and enhance magical artifacts for the betterment of society--but I believe there's a power source that we haven't properly delved into, even in cutting-edge research facilities like this very academy. Together, my partner and I have created a prototype that harvests this energy to great effect."

Zoey's eyebrows raised as Fe gave their introduction to the class. With the anxious energy she had been giving off, Zoey had expected the sheepgirl to be a stuttering mess--or at least for her to stumble. But she delivered it as adeptly as a professional speaker. Certainly better than Zoey could have.