"Let me go first, to make sure wards are working properly," I said, even though I was able to feel the wards working perfectly. I wanted to prepare the room for someone in her 'noble' stature.

Her identity as a dragon clearly didn't prevent her from enjoying luxury, and greeting her with something better than dirt floors might be the better idea. Luckily, the wards around my hideout allowed me to cast much stronger spells in the process, allowing me to make some radical home improvement at the cost of some mana.

[-1821 Mana]

Earth Elemental magic, combined with my craft skill, allowed me to work with surprising elegance, though my precision Stat certainly helped quite a bit as well. All that needed to decide was to pick the material.

After some consideration, I decided to go with a combination of marble and crystal. A part of that decision was the ease I could create those materials through elemental spells, but the other part was the way the headmistress' room was designed.

Since she was also coming from a long way away, I hoped that the fashion was at least somewhat similar. It was a long stretch, of course, but at least it was decent a choice.

For the floor and walls, I picked simple white marble, though I made sure to put several scenes of battle and other pictures etched, copied from some of the older books I had found in the library, hoping that they would be familiar to her. Several candle-holders stretched out of the wall, but instead of having actual candles, they had simple flames, connected to nothing, floating freely.

For the ceiling, I used more crystal than marble, with lights hidden behind half-transparent crystal layers to create a subtle yet intricate light show while also keeping the room warm.

For the furniture, I relied exclusively on the crystal, keeping its general structure and the texture to the crystal platform the headmistress had in her room. And as a final trick, I created a nice pool at one corner, filling it with warm, bubbling water.

And as a final touch, I added the trick I had used after the battle against Zokras, and enchanted the water with healing energies and mana, some of it slowly vaporizing to fill the room, creating a gentle, comforting atmosphere.

I paid the room one last glance, making sure it didn't resemble a battlefield safe house in any form, and satisfied with the result. It was a miracle, especially with less than a minute spent. Only then, I opened the door again, and inviting my guest in.

"This way, your dragoness,' I said, giving a perfect butler bow. It was supposed to be a sarcastic bow, but the nod I received in response as she walked in, letting her gaze wander on the decorations seemed more genuine than I expected.

She was even more entitled than I thought.

"Hmm, not as horrible as I expected," she murmured even as she murmured, but I noticed her eyes widen as she walked closer to the pool, bigger than I expected. "Why can I sense that much mana here? Don't tell me that you have a Source here!"

I never heard what a source was, but from her reaction, it wasn't hard to guess it was some kind of natural or artificial location that radiated mana. Unfortunately, I had never actually heard something like that. The closest thing to it was the Mana Gems, radiating constant mana.

Clearly, it was important to her, enough to make her sound enthusiastic rather than her usual uncaring tone.

"Unfortunately, we don't, but I decided to make the room more comfortable by pushing some mana, to make it more welcoming. I hope it's not the case."

"Yeah," she murmured. "I forgot that you abominations receive your mana from that disgusting travesty against nature," she murmured, before continuing with a sharp tone. "Turn your back again," she added.

I did, but like before, it didn't prevent me from devouring the sight of her beautiful body as she kicked off her shoes and dress, this time water slowly devouring her body. Pity that the white bubbles hid her body.

However, once again, her offhand comment sent me thinking. The apparent lack of mana on the environment, and receiving it from the System — or at least, that was what I assumed by travesty and abomination — was another interesting thing. Maybe the system didn't only continuously devour the Divine Spark in its borders, but mana as well, before giving it back through the connection.

The system being responsible for mana distribution was not a surprise, as there had never been enough environmental mana around the environment to support my power. If there was that much free mana, there wouldn't be a need to use the magical reagents from the monsters to power the wards.

Of course, I hadn't thought about how the others received mana without the system, but from what she indicated, it was a resource that was available freely.

I wondered if that flaw affected the headmistress as well. Though, with the wards of the school under her control, it wasn't very likely. She could easily siphon some of the excess mana to have an advanced version of the bath my dragon guest was clearly enjoying.

"May I turn my back," I asked respectfully, like I hadn't been watching her, only to receive a hum.

She was already buried deep into her neck, humming in comfort, while the mana in the pool drained noticeably. Though, considering I had barely injected two hundred points of mana, it wasn't exactly an indicator.

"I can push some more mana into the pool," I said, surprised by her reaction, much more enchanted by mana than the effort I put on the decorations of the room.

"Really?" she asked, clearly enthusiastic, her eyes shining even more.

"As long as you don't mind me in the pool, of course," I added, never one to miss the opportunity to share a bath with a sexy woman.

"Is this necessary?" she asked, her enthusiasm clearly reduced.

"Well, the more contact I have with water, the more efficient it'll be. Of course, if you don't want an efficient service…"

She sighed, but her lack of an answer was good enough for me to take as an answer. Unlike her, I didn't warn her about my upcoming nakedness. And maybe, flexing my Charisma to look more impressive as well.

"What are you doing! Warn me first!" she gasped. Her face blushed as she exclaimed, which put an even bigger smile on my face.

It was good to know she was attracted to human males, at least enough to blush.

"You can always close your eyes, your dragoness," I said, but that didn't prevent her from keeping her open. She averted her gaze, but not enough to completely miss the sight.

A surprisingly cute reaction, even with her glowing emerald eyes.

However, when I slipped in the water, she was able to turn her gaze back to my face, suggesting while direct nudity was enough to fizzle her nerves, that didn't extend to sharing a nude bath as long as bubbles were there to hide our bodies.

Luckily, I had the perfect way to distract her. I enchanted the water with some more mana, earning another soft moan.

[-182 Mana]

It wasn't a great amount, but that didn't prevent her from enjoying the sensation, suggesting that it wasn't just power. Her reaction reminded me of someone that stepped into a warm room after working in the snow for a long time. Even if there was no risk of freezing, the warmth would give immense pleasure.

I was happy about it, as the more comfortable she got, the easier it would be for me to interrogate her about the life outside the System's area of influence without making her suspicious.

"It must be a good difference after a long time of struggle without any decent source. How long it had, a couple months?" I asked as she enjoyed the treatment.

"Thankfully, not that long. Barely more than a week," she said with a shudder.

I might have blamed her reaction for being spoiled, but considering the situations I had saved her from, it wouldn't be a fair assessment.

Moreover, it was interesting the absolute lack of fear or paranoia after that dangerous events, implying that danger was a familiar companion. She was clearly not unfamiliar with battle, but her tactics could definitely use some benefit.

"I can imagine," I said. "So, how did you get enough mana to still cast spells without the help of the System?"

"I had to hunt those crazed beasts, of course," she answered, though the shudder she gave off suggested it was hardly a pleasant feeling. "That's the only way of getting any mana in this detestable place."

"You weren't lucky enough to find a Mana Gem?" I asked.

"Mana gem?" she asked, surprised. "Is this some kind of mana storage? Are they just laying around?"

It was an interesting reaction. Mana Gems were rare, but hardly something that would be a mystery to someone in her level if I was reading about her social status even half-accurately. Unless it was known by a different name.

Or there was no Mana Gem outside.

"Something like that," I said, dismissing her question casually even as I injected some more mana to the pool, distracting her with pleasure. I didn't want to explain more in detail, because it was a surprisingly dangerous proposition, risking revealing my lack of information, which would make her realize she had much bigger leverage.

I wanted to interrogate as much as I could manage before she realized that.

—

[Level: 31 Experience: 493210 / 496000

Strength: 46 Charisma: 63

Precision: 40 Perception: 42

Agility: 40 Manipulation: 45

Speed: 39 Intelligence: 49

Endurance: 39 Wisdom: 51

HP: 6226 / 6324 Mana: 5389 / 7750 ]

SKILLS

Master Melee [100/100]

Master Tantric [100/100]

Master Biomancy [100/100]

Master Elemental [100/100]

Master Arcana [100/100]

Master Subterfuge [100/100]

Expert Speech [75/75]

Expert Craft [75/75]

PERKS

Mana Regeneration

Skill Share

Empowerment (1/1)

Teleportation

COMPANIONS

[Cornelia - Level 22/26]

[Helga - Level 22/26]