Inside a large lecture hall, dozens of students were all seated. At the back, Leila and Zain were seated right next to each other, leaving little to no space between. The students faced the front, where a young woman stood before a wooden podium.

The young woman seemed to be in her early thirties, dressed in a white and gold mage’s robe. 

"I’m sure most of you have heard of me. I participated in the last war with the demons." The young woman flashed a gentle smile. "I’m Professor Rina. As you should already know, I’ll be teaching how to efficiently absorb mana into your mana palace and use mana, as well as the basic theory of control, for the next four years."

"As you all know, the control of mana is absolutely necessary to attack your enemy but also to defend yourself. I’m sure you already know what would happen if you didn’t possess a strong control over mana." Professor Rina added. "As you use mana, your control will naturally rise the more you use it. However, first you will need to gather it."

"Remember, there are two things that will come into play when gathering mana: your natural affinity with mana and your talent. Unfortunately, those with little talent and affinity for mana will suffer, as you will need more time to absorb it into your mana palace."

As Professor Rina explained, some of the students flashed sad faces. They were the unfortunate few with little to no affinity or talent for mana. Most of them felt worse since even their professor spoke the hard truth to them. Their struggle to become strong would be hard, and most, if not all, would give up, losing themselves in the depths of despair.

Even Professor Rina didn’t feel right about this. She felt that it was wrong to break their hearts, but that was the harsh truth. No one in this world was born equally; some were born with amazing talent while most weren’t. 

Letting them know that they would never break free from the shackles they were born with would at least allow them to understand and either strengthen their will to never give up or break their will. She felt it was a need, though it left her feeling sad.

She acted professionally and kept her calm composure as she gave her instructions.

"Now that the introduction is over, I would like to ask you to follow me. The actual training in the use of magic will start tomorrow. But today, you will be shown how to efficiently absorb and gather mana inside your mana palace." 

"Today, you will be taken to the Ancestral Tree of Mana!" Professor Rina declared.

Her declaration came as somewhat of a surprise to a lot of the students, who didn’t know that they would be taken to the Ancestral Tree of Mana this soon.

As for those who already knew how the academy worked, they didn’t find it surprising. Every year, the first class of the first-year students was held at the Ancestral Tree of Mana to give them a little taste of the privileges a top student would have at the academy. This would not only motivate them but also help them strive forward and become powerful mages and warriors.

It wasn’t strange for them to be taken there. Leila also didn’t find it that surprising since the principal herself had already told her about it before she woke up as a demon. She's finally going to have mana! She was finally going to become stronger and step closer to escaping.

Professor Rina took the students to the Ancestral Tree. As Leila and Zain followed from the back, Leila’s face kept turning red, and it didn’t seem it would stop anytime soon. She felt embarrassed, as she was at the complete mercy of Zain.

"Ahn~!" Leila loudly moaned. Zain had pressed his fingers firmly against her clit for the tenth time, rubbing it without stopping at all. "Stop it… We are going to get caught. Why are you doing this to me? And why me? I haven’t done anything to you... so why?"

"Why you ask? Simply because you’re cute." Zain responded as he moved in for a kiss.

"Mn~!"

‘H-he thinks I’m cute? That’s why I’m a Succubus, his slave, and his woman. He took everything from me just because I’m cute. That can’t be. He must have another reason for all of this that he won't tell me.’

The more she was around him and the more he kissed and played with her, the more hatred she felt for him. She didn’t know why, but deep inside her heart, she also felt somewhat happy that Zain loved and played with her, calling her cute.

Zain’s lips separated from Leila's, and he stared into her beautiful, violet eyes covered in tears. "You don’t need to worry about us getting caught. There’s an illusion field around us, so we can be as dirty as we want! No one in the academy can see through it. You don’t need to cry."

He placed his hand on her cheek and wiped her tears. However, Leila didn’t let him finish. She turned away and wiped them herself. 

She didn’t want him to care for her and feel the warmth he gave her. She knew that controlling her emotions wasn’t easy since she became a woman. All she wanted was to be a man again, and she knew he wouldn’t fulfill her wish.

"You turned away, why? Do you have a grudge against me? Or is it that you’re afraid that you will fall for me if I take care of you?" Zain smiled. "I see… You truly deserve to be the hero; your will isn’t easy to break or submit to. If you weren't, unfortunately, you…"

Zain stopped mid-sentence, unable to finish as Leila had left. She didn’t want to hear him or even be close to him. She used the opportunity while he was distracted to leave him. Though she didn’t escape him entirely, she did at least take one step toward it.

Leila took her first step inside the rich land of Mana. The entrance wasn’t too big, nor was it too small. Students could walk in four lines without hitting the shoulders of the person beside them.

Both Leila and Zain were last in their respective lines.

‘This feeling.’

As soon as Leila entered the periphery of the ancestral tree’s periphery, she felt a strange feeling course through her body.

Her body felt refreshed, as if she had just stepped out of a long shower. She also felt her body was more aroused in her crotch, and whatever this feeling was, it pleasured her. She didn’t understand why that was the case. She knew she didn’t cause this. It was something else—something that was inside this periphery.

"That feeling you felt coursing through your body is mana. I’m surprised. The heroes were told to possess talent and an affinity for mana that exceeded the boundaries of humanity, but seeing someone with similar talent to mine amazes me. "Zain whispered into her ear, sending shivers down her spine. "You feel aroused, don’t you? That’s because you're a succubus; the mana inside you possesses a lustful attribute that can arouse anyone, let alone a low-tier succubus such as yourself."

"As you possess a lustful attribute, you will need to learn how to change the aura of your mana unless you want to be caught and killed. For that, you will need powerful control over mana and more than one attribute affinity. I’m sure you have affinity for all the attributes, so that will make things easier." He embraced Leila as she grew stunned. "Now, let me assist you in unlocking your mana; I’ll make sure you feel good.”

Leila didn’t know how Zain caught up to her so fast. She had run at speeds above the average human, but he was able to match her pace. Not only that, he embraced her without her realizing it until she was actually in his embrace. She felt embarrassed but didn’t show it.

"No, I’ll learn on my own. Can’t you at least do that for me?" Leila asked as she turned around in his embrace. "I may be yours, but can’t you at least let me have some freedom? I need time to sort my thoughts and think for myself; can’t a nasty brute like yourself do that for me?"

"Nasty brute? You shouldn’t be calling me that when asking for something." Zain tightened the embrace, bringing Leila closer to him. Her chest pressed firmly against his. "But… I’ll accept on one condition. We have sex tonight. Of course, it won’t be direct. Do you accept?"

"Fine… As long as it’s not direct." Leila agreed. She had two options: to agree or not. If she chose the latter, she wouldn’t get the opportunity to have some time alone without him making moves on her. She also might not get the same offer if she were to refuse now and accept later.

She didn’t want to have sex with Zain, but if it was indirect and would stop him from making moves on her while she was training her mana, she would accept it! She understood one of his weaknesses, which was that he didn’t want her to hate or dislike him.

She would use this weakness as much as she could for her own benefit! This was an opportunity that could give her the chance to escape after all.

As soon as she broke free from his embrace, she walked to the ancestral tree and took her seat. Leila closed her eyes and sensed the rich mana in her surroundings. She started pulling the mana towards her, absorbing it as she had been taught by the dean of the academy before.

Quipit

I apologize for not uploading last week. I was sick and took the week off. I’ll be continuing as I was before. If you’re wondering why my upload speed is slow, it’s because I write 5 novels simultaneously, four of which on another platform, Webnovel.

Here’s a link to my discord for this novel and novels I may create in the future. On there, you can see the character visuals of all my novels:  https://discord.gg/MJXqaWkV9d