Chương 126: Chapter 131: Mine

I woke up slowly. I felt warm, warm and cozy like never before. Rhea was still naked, sleeping with her head on my chest. Her makeup was a disaster, black eyeliner running down her face, her hair in disarray… she looked sexy even now. Flashes of what happened last night came to mind. It had been wild. Our high stats and the need we felt for each other made the sex last for hours. Not that I couldn't do something like that before the System, but the intensity was on another level. Now I felt calm.

Looking around at the little cottage, I was glad that we didn't do anything around the others. They would have talked for sure, but at least we avoided letting them hear. Now, what to do? Should I just wake her up? Go for another round? I could totally do that, but it wasn't the sex that occupied my mind right now. No, it was just her. After what we went through together, the feelings, the intimacy, I felt like a teenager once again. Those feelings don't come easily, especially for someone cynical like me.

I didn't even know what to do with them. Here especially… in retrospect, I should have just gone for Chloe maybe. Just sex and that's all. But I felt something for Rhea, even if I wouldn't call it love yet. The problem was, I felt something for Alya too. That's why I avoided her after Rhea discovered my curse. I didn't want to get entangled in a stupid triangle. I had no idea where the feelings I had for Alya came from. Since the beginning, they made no sense. But I made my choice already.

There was no point in second guessing myself. I didn't regret a thing. After so much time, I managed to get a moment of happiness with someone else. I wouldn't ruin it, but I had to deal with the consequences of my actions. I turned my eyes back to the girl sleeping on me. She looked peaceful. I didn't even want to wake her up. If we were on Earth, I would prepare breakfast, then spend the day on a date with just the two of us. But here, I had to keep moving. I couldn't afford to waste days. We couldn't afford it.

"Hey," I said softly while caressing her.

"Wake up, sleepyhead. It's already morning."

"Mmm…" I chuckled. She started moving like a cat, gripping me tighter and burying her face in the crook of my neck. I was starting to get excited again as she pressed her body more against me.

"Stay with me for just a minute, please…" she whispered in my ear.

"Of course." I kissed her cheek while constantly caressing her back. I had to hold myself back from reaching for her butt. This was a romantic moment, no need to ruin it.

"What are we, Eli?" she asked suddenly. I could hear fear in her voice, uncertainty.

"Lovers." Then, after a second of thinking, I continued.

"Companions, partners… honestly, I don't know, Rhea." She relaxed in my arms after I said that.

"I suppose we'll have to move forward to really know what we are, but there is one thing I want to make clear," I said. She raised herself a little, meeting my grey eyes with her bright green ones.

"You're mine, and if you want me, I'm yours too." Her eyes widened slightly, then she kissed me deeply. After a minute, we couldn't resist anymore, and we went for another round. Apparently, I wasn't the only horny one here. ──────────── We got up and got dressed. Rhea fixed her hair as best as she could, complaining about the lack of a mirror.

"I really should get one of these tents. They're too good to pass on," I said absentmindedly as I exited, taking in the fresh air. Rhea, beside me, started gesticulating. Some small objects and materials flew out of a pouch at her waist, and she placed them around the little clearing, swapping them with others.

"It's damn expensive, but I was tired of sleeping on the floor. And after tonight, I'd say it was worth every point," she said while smirking at me.

"But you don't need to buy one. You can use mine, you know?" The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. That was something I hadn't considered. I should have, right? But I was so used to thinking only for myself that it would take time to adjust.

"Then I think I'd enjoy it even more." I gave her a peck on the cheek as I passed by, looking at what she was doing.

"What are you doing? Swapping reagents?" I asked.

"Yeah, I got a minor telekinetic skill. It's super useful for a lot of things, but I use it mainly to place anything I need and to draw with mana-reactive paint. I have so many things to try now that I have access to the shop and points!" That was actually a really nice skill. Who didn't dream of having telekinesis? Not having to move from the couch to grab something was every teenager's dream.

"I'm sure. I still have to get a new skill, but I'm going to fix that today. Anyway, did you manage to cast a spell at least?" I was really curious about that. She was a magic nerd and devoured the books I gave her these past days, even going without sleep a couple of times.

"Yeah! Well, not completely. I had to skim a lot. There are some foundational books that we lack, but I managed to cast a small flame. But Eli… I don't want to sound arrogant, but Melissa and I tried hard to cast something, and we barely succeeded. And we're much better at manipulating mana than you. I think the guy in the letter was right. You really don't use skills or cast like a mage. It would take time to become good with spells, even for us.

Honestly, I don't see how any true mage could come out of the tutorial. It's too hard, and skills are way more powerful than spells right now. We don't have years to study and improve like we should. If someone is a genius, maybe it could be done, but they'll never reach the power of someone like you, focused on improving as fast as possible. Not even with a build specialized in casting spells." She looked at me with a bit of pity.

"Don't worry. I just wanted to make sure. I don't intend to follow that path anyway. When we tried the other day, I noticed it wasn't for me. My talents lie elsewhere," I said, ending with a grin. She swatted me on the arm, chuckling slightly. But it was true. While they could make the complex rune for the spell take form, that kind of mana control, the gesturing and chanting required, were a chore for me. More than that, I hated it. It was a way of casting that went against my very being for some reason.

I was sure that with time and practice I could get it down, but it was nothing compared to how I did things. I didn't need pity for this. Adrian was right once more. My spellcasting talent was nil, something that could have been disastrous if I planned to follow the pure mage route. But I was very far from that already. I was less about finely controlling mana and more about using my will to make it do what I wanted.

Not to mention that I was capable of making my skills do things they shouldn't, giving me higher versatility than I should have. Add my aura to that, and I felt I wasn't really losing out.

"Didn't you get enough? How horny can you be?" she asked while putting her arms around my neck.

"Enough of you? Never…" I said while kissing her lightly, careful not to ruin her black lipstick. I let her go and then turned around.

"Don't you need to pack this thing?" I said, gesturing at the tent.

"Nah, I'll leave it here for now. As I said, it's well protected. No monster should approach, and if some do anyway, they'll get fried."

"Then let's go back. They're probably wondering where we disappeared to, and I need to use the store." We calmly walked out of the forest and approached the town. I could see people moving around, not many. The guards were giving us scathing looks now, but nobody cared. They could go die in a ditch for all I cared. As we approached, we got some weird looks and a few raised eyebrows, especially from Mary, who was passing by. Then we crossed paths with Marcus, who was heading into the forest on his own.

He grunted something, then just said he'd be back by dusk and went away. Okay… this was more awkward than expected.

"I'll go to the shop. Then before departing, I'll have to deal with some of the new Guild stuff with the others. Can you tell Chloe to wait for me in the common room if you see her?"

"Yeah, don't worry. They'll find me. I won't have to look around much. You have no idea how girls are in these cases…" she said with resignation.

"Well, good luck with that. I'll leave it to you. Talking about personal stuff is not my forte." I gave her a quick kiss, then went my way. I turned around briefly to see her standing in front of the common room, steeling herself before entering. Yeah, no. I could leave the gossip to her. It wasn't really my thing. I had things to buy, and an appointment with a big snake. I entered the shop and went straight to the counter.

"How the fuck did you manage to become a Guild Master? And how did you break those contracts?" the little dwarf mole man asked as I was about to use the store.

"How much are you willing to pay for the information?" I asked back.

"You won't get anything from me beyond what you already got, you thief!" he started screaming at me.

"Then close your trap. I'm busy." I tuned out his response as I went about checking the store again. Now that I solved the contract crisis, my curse was pleasantly satisfied, and so was I after last night. With a clear mind, I went on to buy what I needed, starting with a skill that would cost me an arm and a leg, but I was intent on getting it anyway. ──────────── [Accelerated Processing Lv1] – 87, 000 TP Use mana to multiply cognitive speed, slowing perceived time. ──────────── Mine.