Since Sai managed to stimulate my nerd side, I'll help her as much as I can. "I'll create a golem for you, but it has all of my memories, so you're forbidden to probe them or bring it outside of the castle. This golem's purpose will be strictly for researching your [Possess] spell."

"I understand, your Highness, and I'm very thankful for your support," she politely replies and lowers her head respectfully.

I just smile back as I increase the intensity of the pounding my tentacles are giving to the Companions.

Sai calls for a maid, and she procures a suit of wooden armor for us while I get ready. If I remember it right, Jarn cost me around two thousand MP to give life to her, so I'll put some points in [Blackout Resistance] just so that I won't pass out if my MP goes into the negatives.

I also call for Jarn through Lina so that I can copy her soul as best as I can into this new golem.

The maid soon comes back with a Space mage, who leaves a brown suit of wooden armor just outside the door since we don't want to traumatize the poor man.

Jarn takes the armor and deposits it on the tea table, then I activate [Infuse] and start molding the soul.

It feels like it's becoming easier to alter a golem's soul. The reason for that could be either simply my experience with the process, or my increased "Magic Power," or even my [Mana Body], but it's probably all of them combined. I also think that I should just start creating a bunch of disposable golems for simple, trial and error testing, and then destroy them once I'm done.

But then I remember how lethal the golems can be and decide otherwise. If I accidentally made a murderous golem, I could cause quite a bit of damage. Maybe we could create a "cage" for them, but it would still be iffy.

I finish working on the golem and press the "finish" button, then the drain on my MP increases tenfold as the suit of armor is infused with the new golem's soul, but it stops after 1.5 thousand mana points. That's almost all of my MP, but I barely feel the side effects of overuse.

The armor suddenly starts twitching, and Sai jumps in her seat out of surprise. I chuckle softly, making her blush, then she assumes a stiff posture to avoid embarrassing herself again.

We wait for a long moment until the golem stops twitching, and it begins to slowly stand up. Its movements are very stiff and awkward, contrasting quite strongly when compared to Jarn's poise and agility.

Once the suit of armor is standing firmly on its feet, it turns its helmet towards me and speaks with an androgynous voice, "Master Wolf. I await your orders."

It seems that this one has been born with a higher level of intelligence than I remember the other golems having at the start.

I set up the security measures for it and assign Sai as its master, still leaving me as the primary master, then I name it Jarvis.

"Master Sainalai, I'm at your disposal," Jarvis politely reports.

And the little halfling woman giggles girlishly, a bit embarrassed. "V-very well. Let's go find the Celestial Horns and begin testing."

Jarvis nods. "Yes, Master."

Then they leave, and after I finish "renewing the loyalty" of the last Companion, I decide to polish my combat skills with Hana.

 

Silvano is so fast that it's hard for my tentacles to keep up, but he lacks the raw damage to cut through all of them before I can raise my defenses. Growing new tentacles is simple, and though it requires me to recast my custom [Materialize], the spell is cheap enough that the most he can do is to chip away my MP at a nearly insignificant pace. If I had put most of my points in [Mana Recovery], I could potentially continue this indefinitely.

I'm clearly on the back foot, but we're locked in a battle of attrition, and Silvano's build definitely isn't geared for it.

Whenever our swords meet, I always end up with the upper hand due to my greater number of combat skills, but my problem is actually getting them to land. He's so fast that all I can do is parry his blows before he's out of my range again.

Of course, I could just use [Discharge], but that isn't the point of this exercise.

Silvano starts chanting [Dead End], and I recall that his "Magic Power" is four times higher than mine. It won't be easy to interrupt his spell once it's been cast, and with it, he'll only need a split second to end this duel.

I cast [Haste] on myself and wait for his next move. He stops running laps around me a good distance away, his gorgeous face warped in a suspicious frown, then he quickly finishes his chant and unleashes [Dead End] on me.

As predicted, it takes me a herculean effort to interrupt his spell, and all the while, I'm completely immobile and a great number of my spells are rendered useless. Though this is a precarious situation, I know that I have the tools I need to escape it, but Silvano doesn't waste a single second before he resumes his assault.

I cast [Earth Wall] in front of him and hide an [Air Hammer] behind it, then I hit myself inside for not putting enough points in [Earth Magic] for [Dust Storm].

Silvano jumps to the side, and my [Air Hammer] hits him square in the chest, pushing him back quite far, though his metal [Earth Armor] should've absorbed most of the impact. He's customized that defensive spell of his so much that it's almost like a kinetic shield.

Silvano immediately recovers and sprints towards me again, so I cast [Warp Space] at his feet, and he tumbles before he can interrupt it. It doesn't matter if his "Magic Power" is much higher than mine if I can still cast area spells on him instantly.

With a grunt of effort, I finally interrupt [Dead End] and cast [Rush] to reach him as I spread my tentacles around him to attack from all sides.

His whole body blurs as he dodges all of my attacks, then a sword comes my way, triggering [Battlefield Perception], but I use [Muscle Explosion] to dodge as I counter-attack, and my sword's blade slides across his flank.

The moment I feel the resistance of his metal armor against my blade, I cast [Earth Wall] and erect a barrier between us before he can focus both of his swords on me. I'm not confident that [Haste] is enough for me to match his super-speed if he's past my tentacles.

He spins and slices two tentacles as he retreats, then he glances at the faint scratch on his armor. "If you had used [Searing Blade], this would've been quite the wound," he admits with mild amusement in his tone, definitely not even slightly tense.

"I'm not sure it would've been that deep," I grunt in reply, still in "battle mode."

He turns his pretty eyes to me and narrows them. "Yet you're not even winded."

My MP is still pretty full, so I could go on like this for quite a while.

After a couple of seconds of consideration, he un[Equip]s his swords and dispels his [Earth Armor]. "I don't have the power to crack your defense, so I've already lost this duel."

I finally relax and calm down my confused boner. Fighting against women normally gives me a boost of motivation, but against Silvano, I just feel a bit disgusted.

The observers clap respectfully, and we leave the arena.

"Now, fight me!" Hana suddenly challenges Silvano.

He freezes in place and simply stares at her for a brief moment. "Am I allowed to respectfully decline?" He stiffly replies.

"We certainly can't force you to duel her," I answer with a wry smile in Hana's stead, and she gives me an annoyed frown.

Silvano simply nods and quickly walks out of the arena.

"I fear your duel would force both of you to employ dangerous tactics to get an upper hand," Sandoro wisely cautions Hana, and she begrudgingly stands down.

Fighting against me is one thing since I can apply a variety of less-than-lethal tactics, but Hana versus Silvano would be a desperate fight for both of them, and dragonkin aren't exactly known for playing it safe.

I walk towards the officer seats, and Alcander starts the debriefing, "It seems that [Dead End] is your biggest weakness."

But Sandoro immediately retorts, "Anyone is vulnerable to [Dead End], so I think it's safe to say that he's vulnerable to mages with high 'Magic Power.' If Silvano had cast [Firestorm] instead of [Dead End], His Highness Wolf would've died in real combat."

"Perhaps Lord Wolf should learn [Blink]?" Almaria suggests, then glances at Sandoro since he's the only one in our army who can cast that spell.

But the Commander doesn't seem very eager. He swallows heavily and evades, "I'm a terrible Space mage. It was Lord Yulania's father who taught me the spell, so I fear I'd be a terrible teacher since [Blink] is already terribly inefficient mana-wise for me."

My Gift currently only allows me to instant-cast spells up to level 50, but if I could find a way to "level it up," then I'd have access to [Space Magic]'s level 60 spell, [Blink].

"And it seems that Lord Mavel's talent with [Space Magic] wasn't inherited by his children," Almaria wistfully adds.

A fleeting thought enters my mind as I realize that Yunia is very talented in [Spirit Magic] and not [Space Magic], which matches Confiel's talents and shortcomings, but paternity tests are conducted for every noble child, so I just file it away as an odd coincidence.

"I find it hard to imagine that our Royal Lords would encounter such a powerful Electric Mage anytime soon," Hihiriwa suddenly chimes in. The dragon-headed Chimera seems quite impassive, unlike the rest of the officers, who appear to be impressed by our duel, so I think he just doesn't care that much for physical combat.

"It's not about what they're likely to come up against, but rather, being prepared for anything," Sandoro points out.

Hihiriwa snorts and gives Sandoro a side-eye as he lets out a bit of snark, "To 'be prepared for anything' would require such a wide breadth of skills that only a Divine could manage it, so it's beyond me how our young Royal Lord could possibly reach the level required to match one."

"It's also beyond any of us that he can just cast so many spells without chanting," Silvano points out, sounding slightly bitter.

I just smile and remain silent. If I told them my level, and they started calculating my skills, they'd quickly realize that something doesn't add up. I should probably reveal the full extent of my Gift to Sandoro, but I won't do it now, and definitely won't in front of Hihiriwa.

"I still had a few tricks up my sleeve to escape [Dead End], so perhaps we should focus on something else," I cryptically suggest.

Sandoro nods and opines, "From what I understand, you're already training to improve your low 'Magic Power,' so I don't see anything else you could improve on immediately."

"His sword skill isn't at the level of a Lord yet," Azador quietly interjects. He spends quite a lot of time in our arena watching the sweaty, bloody, and dirty men and women fight each other, so I think his opinion is quite valuable.

"Nobody would fault him for that considering how much talent he has as a magic swordsman," Almaria retorts.

"Our Lord is ridiculously powerful, and his fighting style is very solid, but we shouldn't become overconfident and ever leave him unsupported because of that," Sandoro continues.

"Also, the other Royal Lords make up for his shortcomings, forming a well-balanced team," and Alcander finishes the discussion.

 

Hana fights a few of our Lordsguard, then Azador volunteers. The old man is a standard and solid "man of arms." His specialty is using a variety of weapons with ease, so he's a good match for Hana, who has a similar talent with arms, though she also has a small talent for magic.

Though we're dueling without armor (except for the standard heart, brain, and spine protectors for duels), he'll use his gauntlets because they've been enchanted with [Fireball], [Earth Bullet], and [Lightning Bolt]. He mainly uses either a spear or a sword, and a shield, so he has a solid base with a bit of variety to back him up and create openings in his opponents.

The two of them stand a good distance away from each other, shields and spears at the ready, then the bell rings, and the duel starts.

Hana immediately summons her wings and launches herself forward while Azador casts [Lighting Bolt], but it hits her shield, so she doesn't feel a thing, then they collide.

Hana tries to stab Azador, but he easily blocks it with his shield, and the tip of her spear harmlessly slides away. She also tries to block his counter stab in the same way, but his spear slides downwards around her shield and strikes at her thigh, only to be stopped by steaming emerald scales that weren't there a split second ago.

They crash against each other, but Azador maintains his posture as he's pushed back, his feet sliding on the sand.

Hana doesn't wait for even a single breath to pass before she launches herself forward again relentlessly.

Azador casts [Fireball] with one gauntlet and [Earth Bullet] with the other, but Hana barely feels them when they hit her shield.

She casts [Blinding Lights], delaying his riposte to her attack and allowing her to get under his guard without trouble, but she still fails to stab him as his [Block] is too high.

Their shields crash against each other, but this time, he manages to stand his ground since Hana had less distance to accelerate.

Their spears glow as they use [Switch] at the same time, and their weapons become bastard swords.

Hana doesn't let him put any distance between them, using her wings to push him back and keep their shields pressed together.

Azador slides his sword around her shield and hits unexpectedly solid where her ribs should've been.

Hana grins manically while Azador frowns, then he shifts his body and shield to the side to block her sword as it tries to stab at his waist.

The two desperately try to stab each other, ignoring everything they know about the tactics of swordsmanship because Hana forced them into an awkward, unexpected situation.

Azador's next attack is a [Lighting Bolt] to her face while his sword stabs at her throat.

Her body tenses up due to the spell, but she manages to partially resist it, and the sword sinks into her shoulder, but before he can pull his weapon back, her wound glows, and steaming emerald scales appear around the blade.

Azador's face pales when he realizes that his sword is stuck, but before he can release it, Hana grabs his arm with her shield hand, keeping him in place as she sinks her sword into his throat.

A harsh whistle resounds throughout the arena, and they immediately disengage, then the arena glows softly, and both of their wounds are instantly healed.

Hana grins triumphantly and undoes the scattered patches of scales she created with [Draconic Body].

"Dragonkin were always the worst opponents for me," Silvano quietly comments and gives Azador a smug smile, a silent "I told you so."

Hana struts towards our area of the stands, and Sandoro starts the debriefing, "There's no issue with your style that sticks out, except for the fact that [Tatesomu Style] presents quite a risk to your life since you don't hesitate to receive attacks with your body."

"I'll be unbreakable once I get [Draconic Body] high enough," Hana confidently remarks, then she makes her fist shine with emerald scales.

"Nothing is unbreakable, not even Okross, which is supposedly what your husband's scales are made of," Almaria gently points out.

But Hana just shrugs. "I just have to be stronger than whatever wants to kill us."

And so, we decide that it's better to not argue with her.

After some more good exercise, Yunia finally calls for Ereia, and I eagerly join them.

 

"The town is very peaceful right now since the people still feel the 'fervor' from the Intervention," Ereia casually reports, her fingers trailing around Yunia's covered breasts. "The influx of adventurers is also causing an increase in the number of complaints about vagrants, especially at the bottom level, so the slums must be increasing in population."

Lina's Reminder: Escanso has three levels, the surface, the middle, and the bottom level. That last one is dark and cold, so it's mostly populated by the lowest class due to the low housing prices.

"The commoners are asking for more guards to be patrolling the streets and for harsher punishments," Ereia softly adds as her finger slowly pushes down Yunia's top, revealing her delicious, pink nipples.

The ravenous, small woman gives each of the two perfect, alluring pointy bits a gentle kiss, then starts sucking on one while rubbing the other, drawing out a gentle sigh from the dignified Queen.

Since Yunia is currently indisposed, I answer in her stead, "People don't resort to crime just because they feel like it. We'll increase the number of priests on the lower level and subsidize goblin meat and the cheaper vegetables."

Osaria silently nods, her lustful stare locked solely on the delicious piece of elven meat in front of her.

Ereia sends me a curious glance. "What a kind Lord you are," she amusedly remarks as her other hand tickles Yunia's abs.

I unleash my draconic hunger on her, and she presses her cute thighs together, then she turns her lewd eyes to the Queen. "It's not just kindness, we do want to keep the Tribunal firmly on our side," I explain huskily.

Ereia gently touches Yunia's veiled pubes and is delighted with the gentle shiver that evokes. "They're wary of you due to your claim of being the new royalty, especially since you still haven't tried to take possession of anything from the old royal family yet, but they have no reason to be hostile to you."

Osaria's nipples poke through her dousnadeia as she becomes aroused, and my incest fetish triggers once I remember that she's Yunia's aunt.

To assuage my growing hunger, I begin to finger my milfy snack as I wait for the main course to be ready. "We'll be introducing new laws and changing some things, so we don't want to start the dance with the wrong foot."

Ereia slowly pulls on the string of Yunia's bottoms, then the tie comes undone, and the small piece of thin cloth falls away, revealing her slightly moistened pussy. "Hm…" She hums absentmindedly both due to the beautiful sight in front of her and due to her reflecting on my words. "They'll certainly complain about a Lord getting involved in legislation, but the Guilds have the most power in the Tribunal, so keep them happy, and you can do whatever you want."

Then she goes down on her knees and slowly licks along Yunia's labia, making her royal thighs quiver in anticipation.

"I believe… they'll be quite happy… with what we have in mind," Osaria replies, moaning softly as she stares at Ereia with envy.

"What about the town's nobles?" I push the conversation forward, wanting to get to what comes after as soon as possible.

Ereia's tongue retreats back into her mouth, and she swallows, savoring Yunia's taste. "They're obviously resentful after being blocked from joining your Institute," she quickly answers, then looks up at the bound and gagged Queen, who glares back at her with thinly-veiled disgust, but the lewd imp simply grins and continues molesting my wife.

"I sincerely doubt that any of them have the qualifications to lead the projects we've started, but we'll open up the Institute to them later," I reply dismissively.

Ereia's finger slides into Yunia's moist pussy, drawing a soft, muffled moan from her. "You'll have to do some work to get them back on your side." Then she kisses Yunia's clit.

I stand up, too aroused to hold myself back any longer, then I walk up to Ereia, my cock hard and oiled, ready for penetration. "Their support isn't necessary, but we won't just throw them away without good reason."

Ereia turns her head to face me, then gasps and freezes as I pull her small dousnadeia to the side and plunge my cock deep into her tight little pussy.

While I keep the young nympho occupied, Osaria eagerly takes this opportunity to molest her defenseless niece to her heart's content.