My cock parted her sensitive flesh and I grabbed onto her breasts and leaned in real close so I could kiss her on the lips.
Illiel pulled me in even closer and our tongues waged war inside our mouths while my cock penetrated deep inside her body.
I thrust in, only to get pulled into her waiting arms. She held me in her abnormally strong embrace and I took the opportunity to kiss her neck and chest. I took one of her breasts in hand and kneaded it like a lump of dough. Illiel wasn’t nearly as well endowed as Sava or any of the many other elf girls I’d seen, but she was still definitely a woman.
“Ah! That feels… so strange!” Illiel gasped as I took her nipple in my mouth and suckled it, playing with the other with my hand. Out of curiosity, I gave her free nipple a gentle flick.
“OooOOoohhh!” Illiel moaned desperately. Interesting.
I got a little more aggressive with my breast play, squeezing firmer and sucking harder. All the while, Illiel made sounds of pleasure. I teased her chest with my mouth and hands until her legs loosened enough for me to move my hips freely. Keeping up with my kisses and massages, I thrust with my hips deep into her loins.
Illiel bit her lip, the teasing having prepared her body for even greater pleasure. Her hands gripped the sheets at her side in a white-knuckle grip. She opened her lush cherry-red lips, as if beckoning me to come in for a kiss, so I did.
I felt magic in the air then. The life zeal that the elves said only I could wield like this. I embraced the feeling, drawing it out and spinning it around the two of us in a great spiral, just like the technique Sava had me perform for earth zeal.
The power in the air redoubled in strength, and I know Illiel felt it too. An indescribable liveliness flowed into her body, making her lighter and more graceful. What few blemishes existed on her skin started fading before my eyes until her flesh was as flawless as a painting of the perfect woman.
“That feels…” Illiel said breathlessly. “Incredible…”
“Don’t tire yourself out on me yet. I’m just getting started,” I grinned.
I moved my hips, gyrating as Illiel writhed beneath me, pulling in and out over and over again. When we finally came for the first time, it was like an explosion of life zeal filling the air. I was pretty sure the area outside was going to be filled with thriving plant life by the time we were done.
And I didn’t stop at just one round either. The moment we finished, we cultivated for a few minutes before going at it again. Illiel claimed the additional vitality would do wonders at stabilizing her new position as a mage acolyte in the world of magic.
For me, it was mostly a whole lot of fun.
By the time we were finished we were both exhausted. Even with her new reserves of strength, Illiel was lying still with a dumb smile on her face, basking in the afterglow with me. I might have nodded off for a little while. Can’t really be sure. At any rate, it was a while before either of us spoke.
“So, you know how I invaded Melise’s dream?” I asked Illiel, who was in the middle of a yawn.
“I remember. And you still haven’t told me how you managed to do that. I should only just now be able to do that now that I’ve broken through to the mage acolyte ranks.”
“Yes, well, I found that I was able to see inside her dreams and talk to her. I haven’t been able to confirm the information I got from her yet, but I’ve got a strong feeling it’s accurate.”
“Dealing with what?” Illiel asked curiously.
“Yulli.”
Illiel gave me a troubled look.
“Don’t look at me like that. You know she needs to be dealt with as well as I do. If we don’t, she’s going to keep restricting both of our freedoms. You’re a prisoner here and I’m one in all but name! I was practically running this place before she showed up.”
Illiel let out a slow sigh. “Alright, I’ll admit she needs to be dealt with. The usual way you deal with someone two stages of advancement above you is by feverishly cultivating for years in quiet meditation until you eventually reach their level or surpass them. At that point you can fight them directly.”
“Yeah, we’re not going to do that,” I said with a shake of my head, “instead, we’re going to control her mind.”
Illiel’s gaze froze for a moment. “You know, Theo, someday the Cult of the Unblinking Eye is going to be real upset they missed out on a gem like you.”
“So, will you teach me?” My whole plan rested on the idea that Illiel would have a mind-control technique in her possession that would work for our intended purpose, and that she would be willing to teach it to me and if need be, use it with me.
“There are techniques for what you might call mind control. Though the complete, thorough domination of another’s mind is something that takes years to do properly. Hollowing out the mind so the body becomes an empty shell is easier, but then you have to create an entirely new personality. Both options are unavailable to us, however. Yulli is a true mage and as such she’ll be extraordinarily difficult to effect with my techniques.”
“But it can be done?” I asked hopefully.
“I know a hidden suggestion technique that might work. It isn’t really full control, but it makes whoever is affected much more susceptible to whatever you say after you use a specific trigger word. It won’t make her obey your every command, but it will be enough to convince her to give you a bit more freedom if you phrase your requests the right way. My mother used a similar trick to become a countess.” Illiel blushed as she revealed the secret to her mother’s less-than-noble rise to the peerage.
“But it will work on Yulli? A true mage?”
“If the conditions are perfect, and I mean perfect, then the two of us, working in harmony should be able to implant the spell on Yulli’s mind. Better odds if I can give the orc enough instruction to help us. She’ll need to rebuild her spellheart a bit to handle the zeal, but I can help her with that. She doesn’t even need a good zeal accumulation technique, considering you can just use alchemy to purify her mind zeal after she’s gathered it. So we should be able to cast the spell. Whether it sticks or not and for how long is a matter of luck.”
I nodded slowly. “Alright, so we need the perfect set-up. I’ll see what I can do.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
THE NEXT SEVERAL days were spent alternating between sleeping with Illiel, practicing cultivation, and making preparations. The gathering Sava told me about was coming closer, and soon all the tribes would be gathering at Queenshold, where everyone would make their offerings to the queen to stay in her good graces. As a new power in the area, our Songstone Clan would be making an appearance as well.
I’d since facilitated the absorption of any remaining Riverweed tribe elves into the Songstone Clan. Sava was seeing to their needs, with me offering a word of advice here and there. It also served as an excuse to elevate Sava to a higher position. The former Riverweed tribe members would want one of their own to look up to.
“How is Katiana taking it?” I asked Sava over a plate of food Illiel had prepared for us.
“Better with each day. She’s still shaken up about how so many of our kin were killed or captured. By the ancestor’s, I’m still shaken up by it, and I wasn’t even there.”
I told Sava about my new technique that allowed me to enhance a spellheart, and she immediately demanded I perform the procedure on her. That occupied most of the rest of the day. The recrystallization didn’t actually take that long, but Sava insisted on having some alone time with me. We didn’t get any sleep.
Sava was very pleased with the additional power granted to her by the recrystallization and said that she would be attempting to make her breakthrough to the mage acolyte level soon. She’d been flying through the zeal accumulation ranks ever since meeting me, reaching the tenth layer in less than a year, much to Katiana’s chagrin.
But before she could take that final step like Illiel did, she needed to gather life zeal.
“Mhmm, I feel richer already.�
�� Sava mumbled as she filled a vial with life zeal, taken straight from the tap, like the old days.
“You know, I’ve always found it weird how you seem to enjoy giving blowjobs more than I enjoy receiving them,” I joked. This was the third time today, and I was starting to think Illiel was getting jealous. Yorik too for that matter. I’d suspected that the orc was interested in being more than my hired muscle, but didn’t know how to express it.
Sava and I enjoyed each others company for hours as I told her a bit about my recent accomplishments. She deserved it for all the hard work she’d been doing for me lately. Before long we both came and were able to cultivate the life zeal we’d generated from my vitality.
Our private moment was soon interrupted by Melise opening the door and bursting inside. Her eyes went wide when she noticed our undressed state and she immediately started blushing. I really had to invest in a lock.
For my part, I rolled out of bed and stood up, still stark naked, but my newly improved body and all the female attention I was getting had done a lot for my self-confidence, and I only felt the barest twinge of embarrassment as I bent over to pick up my clothes from the floor.
“What is it, Melise?”
“U-uhm... Matriarch Yulli has returned and wishes you to be in attendance,” Melise stuttered.
“Yulli went somewhere?” I asked curiously. “News to me.”
”She has just returned from subjugating three of the local tribes of the Hearthwood forest. Their leadership has been captured and have been brought back to this encampment to swear fealty or face death," the mage acolyte had recovered some of her composure now that I had my pants on, though her eyes were still locked on my bare chest. I didn’t blame her. I’d gotten really nice abs recently.
“She did what!?” I swore. The exclamation was only able to lift Melise’s gaze for a moment. “Damn it. This is not what I had planned!”
Open conquest had its place, but it isn’t always ideal in terms of expanding your power base. I’d planned to have the Hearthwood Clan take over all the local clans in the area, but I’d planned to do it slowly. I wanted to foster trade networks to get them to specialize. After that I could use our superior military forces provided by the remaining assets of the Songstone Clan to convince the other clans to let us do all the protecting for the entire area.
Based on my research, none of the neighboring clans had a formalized military structure. I had planned on forming a league of sorts, reminiscent of the Latin League that led to the rise of the Roman Republic. In time, all the nearby clans could have become willing subordinates. Instead, Yulli had gone and made enemies of them.
“Sava, I hate to leave you like this, but I’ve got to go. Get dressed and keep your deadliest concoctions close at hand. You too Illiel, but stay out of Yulli’s sight,” I ordered as I stormed out of the building. “Melise, follow me.”
Before the mage acolyte could question whether I actually had the power to order her around like that, I left the room. I stomped off in the direction of the building that Yulli had seized as her personal manor.
Melise coughed slightly to get my attention. “Theo... you know my name, but I don’t remember introducing myself to you.”
That’s right. I learned her name in her dream. This at least confirmed the notion that I had really been in her dream. The odds of my brain simply making up the correct name in some sort of magically induced acid trip were very slim.
“You did promise yourself to my service,” I said, causing Melise to freeze slightly. “We can talk later, if you’d like,” luckily, she didn’t pester me further and kept walking behind me.
The small, hastily erected manor Yulli had taken over had been expanded dramatically since last I’d seen it. What once had been plain walls of wood now had floor-to-ceiling tapestries, with plush rugs of both fabric and animal skins lying around to make the place more comfortable. It still wasn’t a palace by any stretch. No vaulted ceilings, marble carvings, or exquisite statues. Just a big building with housing for the mage acolytes and storage for their weapons and armor, with one room for Yulli to greet guests. It was that room that I found myself. The Songstone Clan had wasted no effort in sprucing it up. What had been bare wooden walls had been hastily cleaned and furnished with what rugs and ornaments could be found to project the image of wealth without gaudy overindulgence. Despite having only recently been erected, the Songstone Clan had managed to make the manor look as though it had overlooked the surrounding territory for generations.
In front of Yulli there were three elves, each of whom bore a proud expression on their faces. Their straight backs and defiant eyes spoke of a lifetime of pride and accomplishment. Every one of them was at the mage acolyte level. The silver-haired woman on the left was the strongest mage acolyte I’d ever seen, and felt to be near the edge of breaking through to becoming a true mage standing on the same level as Yulli. But that small distinction in rank was the difference between partial and complete mastery of one’s own magical power, and complete mastery of zeal was a hefty weapon to wield. As Yulli was demonstrating at this very moment, a true mage could face mage acolytes without a trace of fear.
This elf was clearly a powerful mage acolyte, somebody who had been in that realm for years. But she wasn’t a true mage, as her current position testified. Yulli, having reached that level, must have bested each one of them. Probably in front of their own tribes and clans, humiliating them in the process.
“Ah, here he is,” Yulli said. She was sitting sideways across a wooden chair that looked like it was trying to be a throne. Her legs stuck out over one arm rest and her head stuck out over the other. She reclined with one hand behind her head and gesticulated at me with what appeared to be a turkey leg, which she had been gnawing on just a moment before.
“Here I am,” I said in a very unhappy tone. Yulli frowned in displeasure but made no move to rebuke me.
“As you can see here, Chief’s of the Hearthwood forest, the future of the new Songstone Clan is looking up! The best time to bend the knee is now. It might lose you some pride for the moment, but at its peak many tribes more powerful than yours would fight for the opportunity to become servants to the Songstone Clan. You are truly fortunate to have found us in such distress. You’ll be vassals, but with work and dedication you may someday become servants.”
“The Ironwood tribe will die before we become a weak tribe of slaves. We know that road and will not walk it again. I refuse.”
The two others appeared to gain strength from the Ironwood chief’s bravery. Though they had looked on the edge of wavering, now they stood taller and prouder.
“Nor shall the Myriad Hues of Flame tribe yield to an up-jumped tribe of fishermen who have allied with forest bandits,” the proud white-haired chief Conadur said, straightening her back. She was referring to the Riverweed tribe being absorbed into the Songstone Clan. The story must have been twisted along the way, because the Riverweed tribe members were less allies and more refugees under the Songstone’s protection.
“If two merchant tribes will not yield, how can the Waterbeetle tribe do so? My mother named me wisdom,” the chief of the Waterbeetle tribe said, “In the hopes that I would grow to be wise. I have not always been so, but if she were here today she would tell me a wise chief would die with honor.”
Yulli took one last bite of bird leg with a look of consternation on her face.
“So be it,” She said, tossing the animal bone aside. “In this land of ours, the strong take what they will, while the weak endure what they must. I offered the olive branch to you, and you have spat upon it.”
Yulli turned towards Melise, who was standing behind me. “See that they are fed and armed. We will take them with us to the gathering tomorrow. They shall face me in the field at dawn. As custom dictates, summon their kin to watch over their final moments, and to collect their souls when they die. I will show the whole damnable forest the strength of the Songstone Clan!”
The matriarch of the Songsto
ne Clan inclined her head at the three tribal chiefs, but they did not return the courtesy by bowing as they should have. Instead, they merely met her gaze and inclined their heads, as they would when greeting an equal.
They would die tomorrow at dawn. Yulli knew it, and each of them knew it. But the pride of a cultivator dictated that they meet their killers gaze as they planned to die well.
When the three tribal chiefs had been escorted off to wherever was to serve as their cells until tomorrow at dawn, I spoke.
“They could have been allies, you know.”
“And now they’ll be subjects. As I see it, that is preferable to allies,” Yulli retorted.
“Perhaps preferable to you, but it is far from ideal. They’ll serve half-heartedly at best.”
“If the next group of chiefs they elect do not bend the knee to me, then I will defeat them in combat, as I shall with this current batch.”
I shook my head. “Perhaps they will swear fealty to you and your cause, as the remains of the Riverweed tribe did. But the difference between the Riverweed tribe and these three tribes is that you are right here. And they were desperate. Slaughtered and without leadership, the Riverweed cultivators that weren’t enslaved could only come to you for protection. But I’ve already heard more than a few chafe at your rules and at realizing they’ll never be a proper member of your clan.
“But this is not the case with the conquered tribes. They are out of sight, with their own leaders, accustomed to their freedom. Without your constant presence it will be impossible to keep them loyal. There will be rebellions every time you turn your back.”
“Then I’ll appoint someone I trust to lead them.” Yulli snapped grumpily. Before I could respond, she waved her hand again. “Enough of this. I didn’t call you here to advise me. You lied to me last time we met.”
When you don’t want to reveal any information at all, it’s best not to say anything. I had more than one secret to keep and didn’t want to accidentally reveal the wrong one to Yulli without reason. So, I kept silent.
Zeal of the Mind and Flesh: A Cultivating Gamelit Harem Adventure (Spellheart Book 1) Page 31