Chapter 209
I didn't leave them alone for long, of course. The moment I was out of the guards of the royal residence, I cast a spell to erase my presence and returned.
The only reason I went through that in the first place was the number of maids walking in the corridors, and I didn't want them panicking about my sudden disappearance.
And, as I walked around the building and reached one of the less-defended spots — which was made easy thanks to several days of recon— I wondered whether it was appropriate to call them they. After all, there were not three people, but just the princess, and two of her puppets.
Two very realistic puppets.
It was a trivial problem, but not an easy one.
In comparison sneaking back into the residence of the princess was both trivial and easy.
The fake orgy — it was entertaining, certainly, but that didn't change its weird fake nature — I had just gone through had been beneficial in many different aspects.
It breached another layer of the mystery around the princess, one that significantly reduced the intimidation that came from the shadow of unknown abilities.
It also helped me to level up, which was always a welcome side benefit.
Yet, the benefits of the extended orgy weren't that limited. During the encounter, I had used a lot of mana, and while most of it was focused on indirectly observing the princess — who was on the edge of total collapse due to exhaustion and indirect arousal — quite a bit of it was directed to the wards around the room, leveraging her distraction.
Using the benefit of that interference, I managed to pass through the wards with trivial ease after I moved through the corridors and arrived at the destination, a combination of my agility and an illusion spell enough to keep me protected, now that I was confident that I wouldn't come across a random bystander over level thirty.
I still made sure to check the maids and soldiers I came across as I walked, just to confirm that. They were just ordinary people, none of them a threat.
I couldn't help but chuckle at the thought as the realization hit. Even the weakest maid was higher than level five, and the average guard was well above ten, creating an intimidating group that could be extremely threatening.
There was a time, not too long ago, even one level ten warrior created an unsurmountable barrier for me.
I was entertained by the sudden realization and the changes in my own perspective, but not enough to stop my quick steps, until I arrived at my destination.
Just in time, as I managed to catch the princess in the middle of the room, in front of the half-dissolved conjurations of Delia and the warrior puppets, slowly unraveling them and storing the mana into a large metal vase studded with an incredible number of gems.
I only glanced at the metal vase, as it was not only a storage item, but also inferior to anything I could create in less than an hour. It could store mana, but not very well, and not for long.
I needed to focus on the mana flow, but my attention was stolen by the way she dressed. She was just wearing a half-loosened corset and panties, both drenched with sweat and arousal, showing that resisting my indirect touches — especially after I had elevated the reaction through her connection.
After working with her magical puppets that were created in her own image, her half-naked body was mostly familiar, but that didn't make examining her body any less fun. After all, no matter how beautiful, there was a difference between a magical puppet and reality.
Not to mention, seeing her hot and bothered after the show was much better — especially since she was still clearly at the edge, busy handling the puppets to address the challenge she faced.
As much as I would have preferred to watch the rise and fall of her beautiful bosom, I had magical issues I needed to focus on. First, I fed a minuscule amount of Divine Spark to the system, and received a little helpful notification back.
[Level Difference of five or more! No Experience]
At the moment, she was weak enough not to provide me with any experience, showing that her level was low. Of course, under my circumstances, low could mean anything less than thirty, but still, it allowed me to take the next step without much concern.
[-58 Mana]
I carefully extended my mana to the distance. Normally, it would have been a risky behavior, but luckily, regardless of her level, the princess was busy trying to reabsorb the mana that she used to construct her puppets back into the container. The task not only occupied her attention significantly, but also filled the background with mana, giving enough concealment to keep my string hidden.
As I got closer to the flickers of magic, I couldn't help but feel familiar with the nature of the mana that she was letting out. It was familiar to another type of mana, but since it was heavily modified, it was different enough to prevent me from pinning it.
It slipped into her body without an issue, then reached her Soul Space...
Only to make me freeze in shock as I took a note of her level.
She was below level ten.
What an interesting little detail, I thought, though I couldn't help but admire her, as achieving what she was able to achieve without significant assistance from the system was impressive, even if she had the resources of the royal family to assist her.
Yet, the enormity of her achievement soon lost its significance as I noticed something else, something more important.
Divine Spark was flowing freely in her Soul Space.
I couldn't help but focus on the way she was storing and using Divine spark. First, I focused on the storage aspect. I had dealt with Divine Spark in several forms, but every time, the only way to achieve that was to lock it behind strong storage. Both the Companion Node my system created and the Light node the headmistress created worked on that principle.
Even the way the headmistress kept the excessive amount of Divine Spark she was barely able to contain in her own body, using the nature of her body to keep it contained despite the costs.
I never even thought letting the Divine Spark flow freely in Soul Space was possible without the system devouring it.
I had to apply a considerable number of tricks to prevent the system from devouring it, even after locking it. And the headmistress managed that while using it because she not only didn't have a system, but also lived under oppressive wards that were fueled with oppressive Darkness wards.
Then, it clicked, as I managed to remember why I found the Divine Spark in her core familiar. It was the Darkness Spark. It just took a while for me to match that, because I didn't directly interact with the ward.
And just like that, a few things worked wonders. Considering the way both the headmistress and the princess were using, it was clear that Darkness Spark had the ability to trick the system — as evidenced by the puppets that could trick the system or wards that could block its detection capabilities without actually restricting the abilities coming from it.
It also explained why the princess had risked so much to breach the headmistress' office despite desperately relying on her goodwill for protection. It was about the Darkness Spark, although whether she just wanted to confirm its presence or wanted to steal it was still not certain.
There was even a possibility that she actually wanted to take down the ward to kill the headmistress, which would have worked perfectly considering the trouble she was having to contain her Light Spark, but that was not a likely case.
Viability aside, it required a very intimate knowledge of the headmistress' exact circumstances, and even for me, it took quite a bit to collect that information.
So, I was willing to write that part off as a coincidence, especially since she had made no follow-up in that direction.
I focused on the next part of my indirect examination.
The way the princess' soul space was interacting with the Divine Spark was interesting enough to get my full attention despite the amazing view in front of me as the princess continued to unravel her puppets — proving just how much of complicated it was.
The first great difference was easy to identify. The Darkness Spark was floating in her Soul Space freely rather than gathered into a tight clump. It was not something I could replicate that, at least not without the system absorbing it aggressively.
She was able to do that, because, for some reason, the System was unable to detect the Darkness Spark properly. Probably about the conceptual nature of the Divine Spark. Just like the Light Spark working wonders as a destructive weapon, the Darkness Spark worked amazingly to hide.
And to create puppets, I mentally added as I continued to examine her Soul Space while she was busy unraveling her puppets, her mana interacting with the freely flowing Divine Spark in a very unique way, imbued with a unique nature.
While the process of doing so was more complicated than the Light Node helping the transformation of mana, it was also much more flexible. Compared to the flexibility she was showing, the nodes were much simpler.
Even with the potential advantages the Darkness Spark provided, I doubted that one could simply create fake soul spaces and magical puppets realistic enough to trick the System.
Of course, that flexibility was not without a cost, as the way she was using the Spark was significantly more complicated, which came with the cost of exhaustion.
So, as she finished unraveling the last string of mana from the puppets, her efficiency of storing the mana fell lower and lower, blanketing the room with mana — mana that felt the touch of her Darkness Spark twice, blanketing the room with enough energy to provide me with the perfect cover.
All I needed to do was to decide what I would do next...
[Level: 36 Experience: 631374 / 630000
Strength: 46 Charisma: 63
Precision: 40 Perception: 42
Agility: 40 Manipulation: 45
Speed: 39 Intelligence: 49
Endurance: 39 Wisdom: 51
HP: 7334 / 7334 Mana: 9000 / 9000 ]
SKILLS
Grandmaster Tantric [114/140]
Master Melee [100/100]
Master Biomancy [100/100]
Master Elemental [100/100]
Master Arcana [100/100]
Master Subterfuge [100/100]
Master Craft [85/100]
Expert Speech [75/75]
PERKS
Mana Regeneration
Skill Share
Empowerment (0/1)
Teleportation
COMPANIONS
[Titania - Level 35/38]
[Cornelia - Level 22/26]
[Helga - Level 22/26]
[Marianne - Level 21/29]