'Life is going well... life is going well!' I chanted to myself. The mantra repeated forcefully in my mind. I had to keep thinking something to distract myself from the steady, heavy pressure that descended on me like the jackboot of a heavy-handed thug. A steady stream of encouragement to keep myself from thinking about the eternal stomping on my head.
Admittedly, that was an improvement over how I had felt under Taurus' aura until now. Regardless, my body was slowly giving in. Beads of sweat rolled into my eyes, adding the sting of salt to my various pains. My knees felt like they were about to shatter. My shoulders burned. My feet felt like they should have cracked through the marble floor. Simultaneously, my soles felt like they were grinded to dust between my bones and the ground. Yet, they were still there.
I tried to focus on that reality. My weight hadn't changed. All the heaviness I was feeling, all the pain, it was just an illusion of my senses. There was no need to collapse. There was no actual weight. There was nothing, but the presence of this bull of a man, testing me.
I stood and stood and stood, trying to fight my way back into an upright position. The clenching of my jaw was so intense, I constantly heard the grinding of my teeth. Only when I loosened my jaw a little did I realize I had been holding my breath. I tried to inhale, tried to force my lungs to expand. They refused. Little dots danced in my periphery, multiplying until they narrowed my vision to a tunnel surrounded by white noise.
'BAMPF!' the sound registered in my ears before the pain spread. Vaguely, I realized there was something wet against my face. The pressure vanished, I inhaled deeply. An iron taste spread through the back of my throat, as I pulled blood into my lungs. Immediately I coughed and rolled onto my side.
Panting, I rapidly got my body the oxygen it desperately needed. I reached up to my face and touched the wet spot under and around my nose. My fingers were stained with blood. I must have passed out and landed particularly badly, breaking my nose on impact. The Astral Body had fixed the injury, but the spilled blood was not returned to the body. It was replaced, which was its own tax on the resources.
I was about to ask Taurus for a handkerchief, when I realized he was already in the process of getting me something similar. It was a nice, steamed towel, more than I would have asked for. He didn't just hand it to me either. Instead, he put me into one of his chairs, carried along in his other hand, and began to carefully wipe away the blood for me. "I could do that myself," I assured him.
"You could." The headmaster continued. The warm, wet and soft towel cleaned me up swiftly and, I assumed, effectively. Not like I had a mirror to check. "44 seconds."
'Shit,' I thought, keeping my composure. I had three more attempts after this and still had to improve by 16 seconds. 'We are now entering dicey territory. Should I make the case that I clearly have the potential? No, no, that's the wrong way to go about this. Plus, he already knows. I can do this.'
"You're clean," Taurus stated and pulled the now bloodied towel away.
"Thank you, sir," I responded and got up. I shook out my limbs, to get my muscles to stop protesting. After a couple of seconds, I had mostly recovered. Taurus raised his flagon of whiskey in my general direction. I refused with a shake of my head. Usually I took the offer afterwards, but I had to be somewhere else in a moment. "If I may ask, do you have any recommendations for alchemy ingredient shops?" I figured, since I already had the owner of this pocket world before me, I might as well ask.
"Can you not get what you want from your teacher?" Taurus answered with a question of his own. "That is what alchemy classes are for."
"For what I wish to concoct, the materials are in high demand and I would prefer to start my own laboratory at home."
"I see." Taurus poured himself a glass of whiskey and nipped. Then he grabbed a pen and a piece of paper. It found its way into my hands swiftly, spelling out an address and the words 'powder monkey'. "This code authorizes you to buy alchemical utensils up to danger grade two."
As far as I knew, I would not need that. Better to have it than not, however. I put the folded piece of paper away and then stretched. "Thank you," I hummed, in a good mood. "Guess I will be seeing you again next week."
"I hope so," Taurus nodded with a serious expression.
"I did not think we were so close already." The jesting words hung in the air for several seconds, while Taurus just stared at me, not a single muscle in his face moving. "...Sorry, sir," I added and bowed my head. Respect for the man was natural. He had earned it through hundreds of years of heroism and by creating one of the most renowned institutions for dimensional travellers.
"Truth be told, I do like you, young man," the headmaster stated, before I could start my retreat. "You have a simple problem. You are talented and you know that you are talented. Many people stop working hard when they realize that. I see some of that in you. You're not giving it your all. You are making an effort... only when you are forced to." He took another sip. "Your written test results were average."
"I've always believed in giving everything 80%," I responded, my tone gradually transforming from joking to serious. 'Not a bantering crowd,' I reminded myself. "I just don't believe in exhausting myself over everything. When it's necessary, I can give 120%."
"We will see about that." Taurus circled around his table and sat down in his chair. "I hope you will be here again next week -- to continue proving yourself."
"I will be, sir," I assured him. Turning halfway away from me, he brooded over his mostly empty glass. With a wave of his hand, he dismissed me. 'What a person of integrity and character, unrelenting and intense, truly a magnificent and mimicable role model -- bit emotionally stunted though,' I thought, while making my way down the usual way.
My next target was the train station over at Welldark City. This was the first weekend of the fourth month, which meant that I had a date with destiny. Well, destiny would have been a rather boring date compared to what was actually in store for me. In an exceedingly good mood, I entered the train, waited for the ride to be over, and was excited for my destination.
I could spot Esther and Aclysia from a distance. Both of them were rather tall women, which made them stand out in their own right. More importantly, Esther's feather-capped tricorne was a unique marker in every crowd and Aclysia... to put it bluntly, the pale half-elf glowed like a signal flare when she stood under the sun. It made me consider buying shades during this trip. White hair, white skin, white eyebrows, she was gorgeous and she was specifically the kind of gorgeous that was most beautiful indoors.
It was like even the drawbacks of her physique wanted her to be a housemaid.
Aclysia was wearing a long, flowing summer dress of a black colour, with white, diamond-shaped decorations. Her shoulders were bare, her arms exposed. A pair of long gloves would have really pulled together her looks, and diminished the plight of my eyes. Alternatively...
Before I could get to acquiring that or another solution, my attention shifted to Esther. The lady of my love had changed to a short-sleeved t-shirt, which was rare enough on its own. However, this specific t-shirt stood out by being specifically tailored to her measurements. What this meant was that, unlike many articles of clothing bought from the rack, her boobs were perfectly accounted for.
Like a pocket, the chest segment of the top enveloped them and let the true size of her endowment stand out. Rather than a boob tent, the shirt almost looked painted onto her gently sloped breasts. That she wore short yoga pants in addition to that, a surrender to the hot weather, only made her doubly mouth-watering. Her thighs were on display, her ass nicely accentuated, and I was the one who could walk straight-up to that woman, grab her by the butt, and pull her into a greeting kiss.
Last time we had seen each other was less than an hour ago. A terribly long time apart and I longed to fill it with the sweet taste of her red lips. She obliged me, putting her arms around my neck and then pushing her chest against me. All of the softness of her tits flattened against me. I had obviously spied it from a distance, but now it was confirmed: my Queen had decided to give me a treat and had left the house without a bra. My most accursed enemy did not accompany us on this day. I had to hold back from copping a feel instantly. Two handfuls of her round bubble butt would have to suffice -- for now.
"Ever hungry, my Karitas," Esther eventually pulled back. "Let us not dwell. We have purchases to make and the sun scorches."
My raven-haired lady was right, of course, and I turned to Aclysia to give her the next best thing to a kiss -- a deep hug. Just a deep hug could have been an indication that we were just good friends, so I went for a more aggressive approach and gave her massive ass its own bit of attention, starting with coming down on it with spanking intensity. When she only reacted to that with a jump, without any sort of moan or other vocalization of enjoyment accompanying it, I immediately discarded my plan and checked her expression.
Aclysia's light pink lips were pressed together, draining most of the colour from them. I was worried for a moment that the issue lay in my approach. That would have been confusing. Hugging and feeling her up were two things that were baseline to displaying my physical affection for the women I was interested in and I certainly hadn't held back for her. Swiftly, it became clear that her point of annoyance was something else though. Her green eyes were directly focused on something around my collar.
"Why is there blood on you, Karitas?"
The question alerted Esther immediately. The lady of my love stepped up to me and both of them gave me a very detailed look up and down. I was wearing pretty simple clothes, a light grey, buttoned-up shirt and blue jeans. I wanted to look casual and presentable while being out and about with my ladies.
I tried to see what they were talking about, but the issue was somewhere directly underneath my chin and neither of them gave me the space to open a button and tug at my shirt. While I adored how worried and close they were to me, I did not like to actually worry them. "I just broke my nose earlier, nothing bad," I told them.
That explanation, I realized near instantly, did more harm than good. Aclysia's expression shifted from annoyed to pissed and Esther's eyes turned into the sulfuric yellow that I wisely associated with incoming troubles. Her stern expression otherwise maintained its tranquillity. Both the reserved women took a simultaneous, sharp inhale.
