“There’s no good luck here, Katiana. Only my own blood, sweat, and tears,” Sava replied curtly. “Besides, I sense your spellheart is still at the same layer of power it was eight years ago. If you don’t make some progress, you’ll be calling me elder sister soon.”
Katiana snorted. “It’s not as easy as you think. Breaking through from the fifth layer of zeal accumulation to the sixth is hard. Harder than all the previous layers combined.”
Shortly thereafter, Katiana left the tree house, climbing down the long rope ladder that I had noted looked to be the only entrance or exit to this tree house.
I couldn’t really see much of the outside world from my small, isolated room in Sava’s home. Just the glimpses I could catch out the tiny window and through the floor hatch just barely visible by the door.
A week passed, maybe two. Sava’s customers came in ever-increasing numbers. Mostly because she was able to brew an ever-increasing number of potions, thanks to my contributions.
Sava would ask lots of questions about me and where I came from, but Earth was so different from this world that she had difficulty understanding much of it. On the other hand, I was finding her a fount of good information. Especially on alchemy. I could tell it was her passion, and she’d even inadvertently started teaching me some fundamentals, just so I could help her around the shop.
After what felt to have been about two weeks, I was greeted with a surprising but entirely welcome message.
You have learned basic herbalism! You have been rewarded with 400 points for your progress.
Perfect! Now I had over 500 points! That was more than enough to purchase the upgrade for the scanner.
Scanner level 1 (Upgrades Available)
Upgrade scanner for 350 points?
Scanner successfully upgraded to level 2
I bought the upgrade immediately.
“Mac?” I tried to project to my AI friend. No response from his end. Level 2 must not cover enough ground either. I sighed in disappointment, but as I did, I noticed that the level 3 scanner upgrade was not the only upgrade to become available.
Personalized Scanner Upgrade [200 points]
This upgrade allows the scanner to connect directly to you, allowing you to use its power to identify anything within arm’s reach.
That sounded interesting as well, so I bought it too, bringing my point total down to 84. Unlike the general upgrade, this would give the scanner a specific new ability. Unfortunately, it left me nearly completely out of points. So much for feeling rich.
The first thing I tested the new ability on was one of Sava’s potions.
Heavenheart Cultivation Elixir (two star)
This potion, if ingested while using a good zeal accumulation technique, will allow the consumer to gain 300 units of vitality.
Well holy hell, this ability was a goldmine! It actually allowed me to examine things and figure out their names and uses! Ha, if only I could brag to Mac about this.
I looked around for Sava, trying to figure out if it would work on people too. Or in this case, an elf.
Sava Greenstem (Level 5)
Outer disciple of the Riverweed tribe in the discipline of herbalism.
Level five felt… surprisingly low. More than that though, the levels appeared to correspond directly to the local magic system. I knew from eavesdropping that Sava was at something called the fourth layer of zeal accumulation, which was a few steps along the path to learning magic. From what I’d gathered, there were ten layers of zeal accumulation, which laid the foundations for something greater. I tried to scan my own body. If Sava was level five, that would mean I’d be…
Theodore Waltz (Level 0)
Human male. Prisoner of Sava Greenstem
Ouch. If this was a game, I’d be tossing it in the waste bin by now. I’d been here for weeks and I was still level zero?
I pulled out the little black stone I’d acquired back in the caves when I’d first arrived in this world. Sava had pulled it off me and had been planning on selling it, though she returned it to me when I asked about it. She’d told me it was a death aspect spellheart, and that if I could bind it to myself it would allow me to become a cultivator. She warned me against trying to become a death cultivator. She must not have thought my chances of doing so were very high, since she didn’t say anything else on the matter. I think that she thought it was something that could occupy me.
Low quality spellheart of the death aspect.
Sure enough, it was a spellheart. Just like Sava said. This little stone was the essential ingredient that would let an elf become a cultivator and reach past level zero. Sava was at the fifth layer of zeal accumulation, and my scanner listed her at level 5. My current guess was that each level likely correlated with a level of advancement in the local magic system. I was at level zero because I hadn’t bonded to a spellheart and so couldn’t even use any of the magical powers this world bestowed on its creatures.
The scanner was a bit of a disappointment in terms of information gathering. It never told me anything new, just the same one or two lines of information. Perhaps there would be opportunities to upgrade this feature if I kept leveling up the scanner itself, which I planned to do anyway so that I would eventually be able to contact Mac again.
This was the point in a game where I’d usually break down and read the wiki to get more information. But, there were no wiki’s here, so I had to keep quizzing Sava.
I asked Sava about it, hoping she’d know why I kept failing to bind the spellheart, but she simply told me that it was a matter of affinity with any particular stone, and to just hang onto it and keep trying. Maybe it would work, maybe it wouldn’t. She even let me inspect her nature aspect spellheart, which was woven into an amulet around her neck.
Living as Sava’s prisoner was actually significantly more comfortable than it had been on my own. If I hadn’t run into her I probably would have been, as she often said, dead ten times over by now. I was learning more every day about the larger world, and when I finally left her care, or escaped her clutches, I would be a lot more prepared.
CHAPTER NINE
AFTER SEVERAL NIGHTS of getting to know each other, Sava was finally convinced that she could let me wander the entire building, so long as nobody else was present. She’d worked on a portion of the warding formation preventing me from leaving so that the bit by the door would be removable. Unfortunately, that just meant the warding formation stretched to cover the entire house instead of just one room. Sava told me this weakened the formation, but considering my level I still wouldn’t be able to force my way through it.
Her blowjobs had become a regular occurrence, though afterwards she would always cap a bottle of my fluids for use in her potions.
“Oh, yes. That’s good Sava,” I said as I patted her head. She’d been getting better and better at pleasing me with her mouth. I felt bad she wasn’t letting me reciprocate, but she did everything with such an enthusiastic demeanor that it didn’t seem like pleasure had a place for her. She had a look in her eyes that was more greed than lust. Like I was her golden-egg laying duck and servicing me was a task she needed to do to get that golden egg.
I shoved my cock a bit deeper in Sava’s mouth as I blew my load. She glanced at me, a bit upset as she spat the cum out of her mouth into a vial.
“This stuff is valuable, Theo. I know you want me to swallow it but taking your vitality in such an unprocessed form would be a waste of good ingredients.”
The fact that Sava hadn’t managed to get a tube onto my cock before my orgasm meant that my whole shaft had been coated with cum, some of it even dripping onto the floor.
“It would be a shame to waste all this…” Sava said as she dug through her belongings for a tiny glass pipette, which she used to delicately suck up every spilled drop and placed them in a smaller container. After a moment of thought, she pulled the stopper back out of the vial.
I raised my eyebrows, and she smiled back at me.
“Ma
ybe just a taste,” She said, putting a drip on her tongue. The instant it touched her flesh it vanished in a puff of white light. As the cloud danced around it, the air shimmered and like a prism, split the light into a rainbow of colors that swirled towards her abdomen. She’d extracted the vitality from it in an instant and used it to push her a bit closer to the sixth layer of zeal accumulation. Then she capped the rest of the vial and quickly tucked it away, a guilty look on her face.
At first, I thought she cared more for the money the potions were bringing in. But after we started talking, the ice between us was melting and her change in attitude implied she was beginning to forget that I was a prisoner and not a guest. Maybe it was Stockholm syndrome talking, but I felt like we were starting to become friends. This, combined with the frequent personal attention I was getting, ensured I was feeling more and more at home.
My sessions with her had become more and more informal. The clinical milking I experienced when I first arrived became more like a quick, fun and playful blowjob from a close friend.
She let me wander around on my own for the most part, though not outside. The tree house was a lot bigger than I would have assumed. There was a whole second floor above the one where I’d been staying, and that floor even had a small training room. In it, I’d found one of those gray-wood swords I’d seen the blue-haired elves wield.
Much to my surprise, I’d found it to be as sharp and hard as metal. According to Sava, it was ironwood. Not ironwood like back home, but magical ironwood. Through a series of processes known only to the Ironwood tribe, a neighbor and trading partner of the Riverweed tribe, normal wood was grown in such a way that it took on some of the zeal and characteristics of iron. This substance was what the elves used for most of their tools, since they couldn’t use metallic iron without burning themselves with its touch.
Sava, for her part, was becoming comfortable leaving me alone. She’d often leave me to my own devices after closing the shop and sometimes disappeared for a couple hours at a time, usually returning with a bundle of wild herbs or other supplies.
This time she’d been gone for an unusually long time. I’d been spending the time with the black spellheart, trying to bind it like Sava said I’d need to do to use its power. No luck there though. No amount of concentration would be enough to give myself magic. Just as I was growing frustrated enough to toss the spellheart aside a pair of warm arms wrapped around me without warning.
“I’ve come to realize that while making money is nice, there’s room in life for a little pleasure too,” Sava whispered in my ear.
I was about to ask her ‘what,’ but I bit my tongue. I wasn’t that clueless. I pulled my shirt off, though there was little left of it at this point. Sava tugged at the laces to her dress and the outer half of her garment dropped to the ground.
Instead of answering with words I spun around and planted my lips on hers. Her lips were warm, and her tongue intertwined with mine. She was clumsy, but so was I. It would have been strange back home for a woman as beautiful as her to be so sexually inexperienced, but apparently not in this world where real men were few and far between. Few male elves survived to adulthood, and those that did were usually the treasure of their entire tribe.
Though, what Sava lacked in experience, she made up for with eagerness and enthusiasm. She nearly had me pushed against the wall. She was strong, despite her much smaller size. That must have been what the fifth layer of zeal accumulation did for an elf. She worked my pants loose while I fumbled with her clothes, failing at untying the remaining knots.
Our bodies pressed together and I felt her heat. Her warm, wet tongue warred with my own as I inhaled her scent. She smelled like the magic she wielded, fresh forest air. My hand met hers and our fingers intertwined, like blades of grass pressing against their neighbors under a cool spring breeze.
Sava wrapped a leg around my mine, pressing herself even closer to me until I was wearing her like a set of clothes. Our forms fit together cozily, and I placed my free arm snugly around her back like warming myself over a fire. Sava ground herself against me and I felt something hot as a furnace and dripping wet press against my thigh. There wasn’t anything under that tiny dress of hers. Sava shivered on my thigh and I met her emerald-green eyes with my own.
“I… I don’t understand.” Sava whispered breathily. “I’ve never felt this way before. I like to keep my distance around my family and tribe… but with you…”
“Hush.” I kissed her cheek. “I don’t have any answers. And I don’t need them. If you want something, then come help me take it.”
Sava gave me the most beautiful smile I’d ever seen. It lasted a moment before one corner of her mouth quirked up and turned it into a mischievous grin.
She reached behind me with one roving hand, I spared just enough of attention off our moment of passion to realize she’d done something to the warding formation. Instantly, an invisible barrier sprung up around me. I could move just the tiniest bit before the springy resistance of the warding formation shoved me back into place. Suddenly I was trapped and at Sava’s mercy.
“Alright then Theo. If that’s what you think I should do, I’ll take what I want!” Sava directed her gaze down at my member, as hard as the tree Sava’s house was built on.
Was it bigger than before, or was Sava just that hot?
She flicked her fingers across the head of my cock, light as a feather. The sensation vibrated through me like a quivering branch under the weight of a bird. On this front, Sava had amassed plenty of experience.
“Haven’t we done this already? I think I should be in charge for once.” I said from my restrained position.
Sava quirked an eyebrow. “That doesn’t seem right. You are still my prisoner, after all. Besides, you don’t have a warding formation,” she reached behind me, giving my ass a squeeze as she taunted me, “and I do!”
I pushed against my invisible bindings, struggling in vain. Physical strength wouldn’t get me anywhere. Sava was probably as strong as me, despite being half my size. Suddenly, a trick came to mind. Sava’s playful smile turned suspicious as she recognized my growing smirk.
“You’d better do as I say,” I said, grinning from ear to ear, “otherwise I’m going to make myself go soft.”
Sava raised an eyebrow. “You can’t do that.”
I met her gaze unflinchingly. “I’ve always believed I can do anything I set my mind to.”
“But… you can’t, right?” she sounded less certain now.
I matched her previous confidence, raising my eyebrow in response. “Try me. Poor Sava, denied at the last moment.” I let that thought sink in for a bit, before I gave her my orders. “Or you can provide me with a little entertainment. You’re still wearing your undergarments. Why don’t you take them off now? Slowly though. Sensually.”
Sava only hesitated for a moment. Expression still doubtful, she reached behind her thigh and unbuckled the pouch I’d always seen fixed there. She tugged at the knots that had foiled me, unraveling them with a single pull. She was left with only her emerald necklace pressing against her bare skin.
Her completely bare breasts spilled out first, soon joined by her bare torso and pale thighs. The shadows cast by dim candlelight couldn’t hide the shine of the wetness between her legs.
“Turn around, Sava. I want to see all of you.”
Sava spun, loose hair spilling over her shoulders and trailing behind her as she turned. She was smiling but uncertain, lovestruck but hesitant. Flowers should have bloomed at the sight of her.
“This is silly,” Sava said, “I’m not even… I don’t know how to…”
Would she have been able to take this step without me taking control?
“Dance for me Sava.” I commanded, and she twirled again. She held her arms up as she twirled and waved to soundless music. She was awkward in the most graceful sort of way, eyes darting to meet mine ever time she turned back around.
“Satisfied?” Sava mumbled, cheeks red. I
wondered how much further I could push her.
“Tell me, Sava, what do you want?” I asked her. Her blush faded as her mind found a more familiar place.
“I want to be someone. Not someone who claws for scraps like Katiana, trembling at the thought of a few petty bandits. Not like any of the small provincial elves in this forest.” Her gaze sharpened as she spoke her goals aloud. “I want to be an alchemist, wielding power over nature to strengthen myself and my allies. To win fame and fortune in the wider world and do better than anyone ever thought I could.” The uncertainty slid off her face. I still sensed the passion within her, but now it was tempered by her own ambitions, as it had been when we first met. “And you are my ticket to realizing that dream.”
“I am.” I glanced down at my own groin. “Come closer, and turn around.”
Sava turned, looking over her shoulder as she took a few steps backwards in my direction.
“Closer. I want to feel you, Sava. I want to be inside you.”
Sava got my meaning and reached behind herself for my member, still standing tall as an oak. She guided me towards her wet womanhood and pushed me into her.
Zeal of the Mind and Flesh: A Cultivating Gamelit Harem Adventure (Spellheart Book 1) Page 12