Zeal of the Mind and Flesh: A Cultivating Gamelit Harem Adventure (Spellheart Book 1)

by Marvin Whiteknight

  ”All right. Let’s not talk about my life in your dream. Surely your subconscious dragged me up to talk about your problems rather than mine," I decided to pretend to be a part of the elf’s dream, though I was quite certain I was real and had jumped inside her head through misuse of mind magic.

  The elf snorted. “I guess you’re right, Theo.”

  I was surprised she knew my name. Maybe the elves gossiped about me when I wasn’t around. “You have me at a disadvantage. I’ve never had the opportunity to ask your name?”

  The elf snorted again, except this time she was blushing. “That’s because I never worked up the courage to tell you! When Yulli told me she needed some volunteers from the squadron to keep an eye on you, I begged for the position. Alas, little did I know I’d be keeping watch over a closed door. Ha! Poor Melise, you silly little girl.”

  “Sorry to disappoint, Melise. I take it you were hoping for something more interesting?”

  “More like something more arousing! The little girl in me was drooling over you the moment I first saw you. What few men there were back at the clan headquarters were weak, diseased things. They barely had the strength to get out of bed, and even then, they lacked the will or ambition for anything more. You’re different though. I can see it in your eyes, you have a plan, and know how to go about getting it.”

  This wasn’t the first time an elf had lusted over me. It was still strange to feel so desired though. Back at home I’d only ever been averagely attractive. Sure, my muscle tone had improved a great deal ever since coming here, but it wasn’t anything spectacular. As of yet I hadn’t taken a good measure of the elf men in this world, but from the few cases I had seen, I wasn’t impressed. Apparently, those had been above-average specimens. That was my only guess as to why an average guy like me could suddenly become so desirable here.

  “Thanks, I guess,” I accepted the compliment with a shrug.

  “Oh, it’s more than that.” Melise continued. The red flush in her cheeks was unmistakable. “I wanted a man who could... oh no never mind...”

  That piqued my curiosity. “What?”

  “O-oh no... it’s not something I could possibly say. Especially not to you...” Melise stuttered.

  “It’s only a dream,” I said softly. Inside my head the little devil within me was cheering at how easily the lie came out. “You can tell me anything.”

  “A-alright. I g-guess it’s okay. It’s a fantasy I’ve shared with the captain after all.” The elf nervously tittered.

  Her captain was Yulli. Any info I could get on her would be immensely valuable. I leaned in closer, placing my hand on Melise’s thigh. She didn’t pull away. In fact, she shifted her body closer to me, as if she wanted me to be more possessive of her.

  “It’s something I know will never happen... but I’ve always wanted to be at the mercy of a strong, handsome man. I want to be overpowered and held tightly in his embrace.” Melise bit her lip as her eyes darted to my face, judging my expression.

  Whatever she saw must have been positive, because she continued.

  “When I was younger, I desperately wanted the clan to send me off to serve as a guard in the temple of the fertility god, but alas, the clan didn’t want to make any offerings. I probably wouldn’t have been able to live out my fantasy there either anyway. I want to be completely at a handsome man’s beck and call. I want to serve him in bed, but also in life, tending to his needs and defending him as need be. That’s why I begged Yulli for this position.”

  I concealed my surprised expression and nodded thoughtfully. “Do you perhaps feel like I’m the kind of man who could make such a fantasy come true?”

  “You’re more like those powerful men in stories and legends than any male I’ve ever had a chance to meet. Certainly more likely to bring us glory and connections than Danori, who we brought with us. Sure, there are other males at higher cultivation ranks than you, but they’re not as driven. Most of the time they were simply told to drink elixirs daily until they reached their cultivation rank. Those that are able to cultivate well are fed sacred fruits and eat only the flesh of mystic beasts. They quickly reach the limits of their talent. But you seem like a man whose abilities are just beginning to express themselves.”

  “Well, Melise. I don’t know if I am the kind of man you’re looking for, but I can certainly use all the help I can get. If you want to serve me then I welcome your service.” I pulled my arm from her thigh and placed it on her waist, pushing her back slightly so I was looming over her. I was bigger than her already, but now our relative sizes were obvious. I ran my free hand up her body, tracing a line up her side and letting it rest against the side of her face, with my thumb wrapped around the front of her throat.

  “There will be punishments if you fail me...” I used a bit of force here to make myself a bit more intimidating. As a mage acolyte, Melise could easily overpower me in real life. Probably in this dream as well. And yet she didn’t. She sat there obediently, meeting my gaze as I pushed her backwards, closer and closer to the floor.

  “But there will also be rewards,” I continued as I pushed her further towards the ground. My knee slipped between her legs, pushing them apart “when you serve me well.”

  “Y-yes,” Melise stuttered, her face fully flushed red by this point.

  “Yes what?” I asked.

  “Yes... master?”

  I started nodding, but then changed my mind. “That’s a title I’d like to hold eventually, but for the time being I don’t think people will really understand our relationship.”

  “Yes, Theo?”

  I gave her a kiss on her plump, red lips. “That works, my little Melise. From now on you’re mine.”

  “Y-yes Theo. I’m yours.”

  “Then you swear yourself to my service? To work to my benefit above all others?”

  “I… I so swear.”

  I nodded. “Good. Now you said Yulli shares this fantasy of yours?”

  “She does, though not in the same way as I have it. We’ve talked about it at length deep into the night. We’ve been friends since our youth, Yulli and I. We’re half-sisters in fact. One of the males of the Sakaku Clan visited with his entourage and sired us. Though Yulli was born to the clan’s matriarch, and I was born to one of her mother’s warriors. As such, she’s always been bound for greater heights than me. We stayed up late many nights, talking about swords and training and tutors that we had in common, but sometimes we’d talk about boys.”

  “Not that we had many to talk about. There were only three male elves of our generation, and one of them was our half-brother. One died before he came of age, and the remaining one was assassinated by the clan’s rivals. Our half-brother is the only one who lived until now. He’s here with us, though he’s quite bitter about you stealing his limelight. Still, we’d read stories about the great heroes of the land. Our favorite was Sam’uel Letkins.”

  “Wait. Sam Letkins? Are you sure that was the name?”

  Melise blinked. “Yes, I must have memorized the story by heart. Sam’uel Letkins is the name of a famous man who dominated the world in his time, crushing his opponents and spreading his seed to the far corners of the land. In fact, several neighboring kingdoms can trace their royal lineages back to him. Not ours, but many others.”

  I processed this information. Melise couldn’t have been talking about my Sam Letkins. The one who was getting dragged around by a purple haired elf last I saw him.

  “This, Sam’uel Letkins. Did he have a friend named Dean?”

  Melise blinked. “Well, some stories say he was friends with Dean the Destroyer, but most histories seem to indicate that the origin of that particular legend ascended to the higher realms long before Sam’uel came along. As far as I know Sam’uel has retired to the western continent.”

  “Wait, retired? But it’s been hundreds of years?”

  Melise shook her head. “Once you bind a spellheart to yourself your lifespan is extended. Anyone who can reach the t
rue mage realms like Yulli has at least three hundred years of longevity. Cultivators who reach higher ranks can live even longer.”

  “I see,” I filed that information away in my head. It might be possible to see my friends again after all. It felt almost too good to be true. “But back to Yulli. She wants a strong man, you said.”

  “More than that though, she’s got a fantasy of being controlled. Mind magic sometimes comes up. She has this strange fetish where a powerful man uses mind magic to control her.”

  I couldn’t help myself. I burst out laughing.

  “Theo?” Melise asked cautiously.

  “Could it really be that easy? This whole time I was looking for a way to control her, and it turns out she wants to be controlled? How funny is that?” I shook my head.

  Melise looked nervous. “You... you’re not going to hurt the captain, are you?”

  “No, my dear. I won’t hurt her. At least not in any way she doesn’t want.” I gave the elf a wink. The hardest part would be convincing the true mage that I really had her under my power. After all, from Yorik’s lessons I’d learned that true mind control wasn’t possible at the early ranks. Only deep suggestions. A heart wielder wouldn’t be able to make anyone go directly against their wishes. Only fool the senses and cause confusion. No overwriting of memories and no changing personalities. Luckily, Yulli’s desires were on my side already.

  Suddenly the fabric of the world around me started shaking. A nervous feeling instinctually rose up within me, telling me I should pull out of this dreamscape before it collapsed.

  “Melise! Melise! Shouldn’t you be cultivating?” A voice seeming to emanate from nowhere echoed through the room.

  “That’s Yulli’s voice,” Melise said. “I guess I’m in trouble.”

  “Remember, Melise! You’re mine!” I said in parting before heading for the door that led outside the room.

  I was just following my instincts now, but they didn’t often steer me wrong these days. When the door opened, all I saw was a yawning void before me. There was simply miles and miles of nothing in the air ahead. Normally I would feel existential dread at stepping into a field of nothing, but not this time. The instinctual fear of needing to escape the dreamscape gave me the bravery I needed to take that step into the void.

  I stepped forward, fully expecting to plunge downwards at terminal velocity. And that’s what happened.

  As soon as I stepped over the ledge I was sent tumbling downwards, hurtling towards the bottomless nothing. Until suddenly I passed through a membrane, and suddenly I was back in the real world.

  I was meditating in my room. Illiel was awake and standing over me. I still had my mind zeal tendrils extended out of the room towards Melise, who was stretching as Yulli loomed over her, berating her for sleeping on the job and telling her that she needed to be more motivated and work harder, especially now that they’d lost the support of the rest of the clan.

  I blinked my eyes back into focus.

  “Are you with me here, Theo?” Illiel asked slowly, inspecting my eyes and expression with clinical meticulousness.

  “I’m here. Don’t worry. Illiel, is it possible to look into someone’s dreams using mind magic?”

  “So, it’s as I thought then,” Illiel said with a sigh. “Barely a mind heart wielder for an hour and you manage to weave your way into somebody’s dream. I shudder to think of what you’ll be capable of after a few years of practice.”

  “So that really was a dream?”

  “Probably. Some mind cultivators project false dreams around themselves while they’re sleeping so they can catch anyone who tries to use mind magic against them. Those at higher cultivation levels have other ways of protecting their sleeping minds. You’re lucky you only dived into the minds of one of the zeal accumulation servants around here, and not one of the mage acolytes — “

  “It was one of the mage acolytes. The one sitting outside. She just woke up.”

  Illiel hissed. “You have no idea how dangerous that was, Theo. You’re lucky your mind wasn’t cleaved in two. But that leaves the question, how were you able to do that in the first place? It should be impossible for a zeal accumulation cultivator to invade the dreams of a mage.”

  I shrugged. “Maybe I was wanted. At any rate, I’m thinking I’m going to need the next step.”

  I held up my mind spellheart. It was much bigger than it had been before, and many times more powerful.

  Illiel examined my spellheart, and held up her own, which was even bigger. “I agree. You’re very close. I say you should keep cultivating for a little while longer though. As for me, my spellheart is as good as it’s going to get. I’m going to attempt to fuse it to my body as soon as I’m somewhere safe and try to make it to the mage acolyte ranks with mind magic.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  IT WASN’T LONG before I heard the sound of the big iron bar over my door being lifted. It was Yulli coming inside, presumably to check on my progress after a week of secluded training.

  Illiel glanced at me. There weren’t any places for her to really hide. Especially not against a true mage. I shook my head, silently telling her not to bother even attempting.

  Yulli’s footsteps were loud and rhythmic, more marching than walking. It resonated with the whole militant soldier theme she had going.

  She stopped and glanced around the room, her eyes coming to rest on Illiel, who was trying desperately not to meet her gaze.

  “You were supposed to be in secluded meditation. That means practicing on your own,” Yulli said sternly.

  “With respect, true mage Yulli.” I said, using her formal title. “What is holding me back isn’t time spent practicing. It’s raw knowledge. I grew up without learning the basics of cultivation, as I’m sure you’ve now been told.”

  “Yes, I’ve heard that... rather fantastic story you’ve told that herbalist. What was her name again? Sasha?”

  “Sava.” I provided. “Yes, what she told you is true. And because of the unique circumstances of my arrival here I know nothing of the art of cultivation. As such, having a tutor is the fastest way for me to improve.”

  Yulli looked at both of us in silence for a long moment. “I sensed fluctuations in the ambient zeal focused around this room. I knew instantly that a spellheart had reached its maximum size and that someone was on the verge of advancing. I’m assuming it was the prisoner?”

  Illiel yelped. “I-I’m just a friend of —”

  “Save it,” Yulli snapped. “I’ve only been recently informed of your identity, and I’m still quite upset that you tried to keep such a secret from me, Theo.”

  I bowed my head slightly but maintained eye contact. “Apologies, matriarch. I was afraid you would simply dispose of her had you known her… previous employer.”

  “I very well might have, but now I know better,” Yulli strode across the room, where my pile of glass containers and vials were set up on a low table as part of my makeshift laboratory. “She’s only half related to us, through her father. That alone wouldn’t be enough to pay for the sins of being a member of the Unblinking Eye, but an alchemist will be useful to us in rebuilding this clan. We are not flush with talented clanswomen, so I will permit her to live. If she becomes a mage acolyte and serves the clan well, I may even decide to forget her background entirely.”

  I stopped myself from correcting Yulli’s assumptions about who made the spellheart enhancement potion. Illiel needed the increase in value more than me. Appearing more useful in Yulli’s eyes might have been one of the few things keeping Illiel alive, or at least out of chains.

  Before Illiel could clarify Yulli’s mistake I decided to further tout her value. “She’s also been teaching me zeal accumulation techniques.”

  Yulli cocked an eyebrow. “Has she? She can hardly have access to anything too powerful.”

  “Her mother is a countess,” I countered. “She is well educated.”

  The true mage tapped her chin in thought. “Then she i
s a connection to the outside world. Fine. I am not so filled with fire zeal that I’d kill someone so useful for petty vengeance. Make your advancement tonight. I will make provisions to ensure you are not disturbed.”

  Illiel bowed. “You have my thanks, matriarch.”

  Yulli flinched at the honorific. “I have not decided to allow you into my clan yet.”

  Illiel bowed again. “Apologies, honored true mage Yulli. I misspoke.”

  Yulli waved her hand, dismissing the topic. “After you make your advancement and become a mage acolyte, you will begin using your alchemical skills to the benefit of my clan.”

  After that, the young matriarch decided that there was nothing left to discuss, leaving Illiel and I alone again.

  “Well?” I asked after we heard the heavy iron crossbar fall again. This time Yulli lingered at the exit, probably chastising the sleepy-eyed Melise more and putting a few heart wielders on guard.

  “I guess I make my advancement now,” Illiel said with a shrug.

  “Okay. How can I help?” I was eager to see an advancement in person. I’d be attempting my own soon. My recent meditations had proved fruitful, taking me through one breakthrough after another. I was now past the bottleneck that had stopped Sava’s sister, Katiana. The sixth layer of zeal accumulation, and 1000 points richer for the journey. I held off on spending them though, soon I would be able to sneak off and see Mac in person.

  “By sitting across the room and remaining quiet. An advancement like this isn’t something you can help with. Success or failure is entirely dependent on the cultivator’s own talent and determination.”