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The Gamer Chapter 1405 – Fluffy Monday Awakens Finale – A school girl
🕑 Added 2023-03-11 18:41:24 +0000 UTCThe Magus University was located on the tip of the south-western landmass inside the Hudson Barrier. It occupied the space of an entire city district, although most of that land was either entirely untouched or had only been cleared of the houses the copying of the mundane space had left there. What buildings did exist on the campus were of a distinct style, between gothic and art deco. They were massive by mundane standards. By Abyssal standards, they met what one would expect the primary place of learning of an ascending Guild to be.
Various kinds of stone were woven together into tall walls. Trimmed glass gave healthy green breaks between the walkways. Benches were placed in small gardens, many of them as educational as they were idyllic. The nametags of the planted vegetation were left in easily found places. What plants were beautiful, easily kept, and safe were displayed like this. The rest were inside the massive greenhouse that was attached to the biomancy wing of the academy.
Every month the campus grew, as experts around the world were attracted by Fusion’s scholarship programs. To teach was something researchers eagerly accepted or reluctantly obliged, in return for luxurious housing and access to the many materials of the Guild Hall. Each new field represented had a need for its own facilities.
The space provided vastly outstripped the needs of the researchers. To erect walls with a thought did lead one to overshoot on practicality and enter the realm of absurd splendour. One of the aspects of inefficiency that John did not mind whatsoever. So what if 90% of the rooms were sealed off? Everything around looked awe-inspiring. They’d just have to fill the shoes they cobbled together.
At the heart of the campus lay the Fateweaver’s academy. The Magus’ Magi, as Magoi had dubbed them initially, had begun their learning before the Hudson Barrier even existed. The first IBMA that had powered the Hudson Barrier had even been made with their support. The second, currently in use, was a better version, produced in this very facility.
There was activity in these facilities, more than anywhere else on campus. Fateweaving was a craft with a great many applications, personal, economical, and even for warfare. It was no wonder it attracted many people to learn. To be an expert at creating and managing barriers was a safe job prospect and generally more viable to learn as someone untalented than enchantment, alchemy, or other such crafts. It took dedication and research. Some would always be better than others, but everyone could get to a certain level as long as they tried hard enough.
The students wore school outfits. It was a relatively new addition to the program and one that had grown in support for the simple reason of easy identification. On a sprawling campus with many different schools sharing a general space, it was useful to know who belonged to what segment at a glance. It also let people work out who was visiting.
The Fateweavers had gotten first pickings when it came to colours. Since Magnus was in charge of most affairs these days, the stern man had simply picked black and was done with it. He had then left the rest of the design to his ex-strip-club-bartender girlfriend. Nina knew what the people wanted and thus the women were running around in stylish, monochrome school girl uniforms with skirts that were just long enough to be decent. The men wore an equivalent, but John barely paid any attention to that.
He entered the building through a double-sided door. The internal designer had captured the feeling of a university perfectly. The expansive surroundings, the slight echo from the walls, the paintings, and the smell of book dust, all of that lent the building the air of a centre of knowledge that was old and respectable. That it was only about a year old didn’t really matter.
John brushed his shoes off. Hands in his pockets, he strolled along. He acknowledged the glances of the people he passed, although there was none of the typical interest in him. Because he was checking on Magnus’ research and because he had a lover attending this very university, he was around this place frequently enough that his face was known from more than media appearances. With many of the students he had even worked directly before. Necessity meant that those that had initially picked up the craft under Magoi filled out the role of Fateweaver where one was needed. A great supply of prospective Fateweavers did not immediately relieve a current lack of them.
John eventually stopped in front of a closed door and listened for voices on the inside. What he caught was the buzzing chatter of students and the sound of writing utensils getting put away. The typical mixture of noises that accompanied the end of a lecture. He opened the door and stepped inside.
There was an immediate upswell in the chatter. Him being a known quantity did not serve to make him any less popular, particularly with the women in the class. There even was a muted fangirl screech.
‘Too bad for them that I only have eyes for one girl here,’ John thought and found Lee in her usual spot. In the back, right against the wall, she sat with her chin on her knees and her phone in her hand. She tapped away at something, her face a plain mask not betraying everything, much of it hidden by the frame of her dark hair.
Beautiful, that was the word for her in that very moment. The black school girl outfit fit her perfectly, accentuating both the fair colour of her skin and her practically black hair. In addition to the uniform, she had put on black tights, grabbing tightly what was visible of her legs beyond the skirt.
Like the typical introvert she was, she ignored everything around her. Rarely did John see her chat with people when he came into the classroom. That was, chat in person.
John could see Discord on the display. She was probably chatting away with one of her gaming buddies. Another one of the cliques that his haremettes were part of beyond his circle of lovers. One that he also contacted irregularly. When he was feeling like playing an online game, there were some people there that made for good teammates.
“Hey there, beautiful, come here often?” The Gamer leaned onto the table, crossing his feet, and giving her his corniest smile.
Lee snorted, barely acknowledging him with a side glance. “I wouldn’t, but my dad and dumbass boyfriend insist I do the ‘proper learning’ stuff.”
“Wow, I would never treat you like that.” A touch that brushed some of her hair back was enough to make Lee blush. Her introverted exterior melted away as he leaned down to kiss her. There was a bit of discomfort there, swiftly overtaken by her leaning forwards and meeting him. Like liberation, she tasted, although that was more because he was liberating her from her boredom than anything else.
While their lips wrestled, John inched a little bit closer, into an ever-better angle. He took the bag from her and put it into his inventory. Then, he broke the kiss and swiftly picked her up. “No!” Lee protested, blushing furiously, when she was thrown over his shoulder. He had his hand on her butt, keeping the skirt from fluttering, and anyone from sneaking a peak at what was rightfully his.
Ignoring everyone else, including the futile drumming of the gamer girl’s fists on his back, John half-jogged towards the exit. He made off with his spoils, the most adorable and valuable treasure a man could ask for. Kicking and protesting, Lee put on her resistance while he carried her all the way out of the building. He only stopped outside to shift her from on his shoulder to on his back, giving her the traditional and more comfortable kind of carrying service.
“Dick!” Lee smacked against the side of his head with hers. A decision she came to regret. John giggled when she groaned. “You could have given me a concussion!”
“Oh, it’s my fault when you forget that my bones are harder than titanium?”
“Everything is always your fault.” Lee wrapped her arms around his neck a little tighter, then proceeded to hide her blushing face behind his neck. John gave the passing faculty member an acknowledging nod. A miserable whisper brushed over his skin. “You’re killing me, dude.”
“With love and appreciation,” he said and adjusted his grip. They walked in silence for a bit. Lee clung onto him like he was her lifeline. The blush stayed, but she calmed enough to place a kiss on his shoulder. “Hope I wasn’t interrupting anything important?”
“Oh, now you care?” Lee bonked him with the corner of her phone. “No, we were just chatting about what I would play today.”
“Don’t you have a dissertation to write?”
Lee groaned with her entire body. “It’s so useless! Why can’t I just do things?” Her body bobbed up and down when he shrugged. That was a question for her father, not him. Lee was talented and able enough that he would have placed her outside these school walls already. If Magoi insisted she kept learning the theories, then that was what she would have to do. “I’ll pester dad on it on Saturday.”
“Or Sunday. It’s been a while since the last grinding session, so we’re doing a 20 day program.”
Humming, Lee took some of his short hair and rubbed it between her fingers. It felt nice to be caressed like that and Lee kept on playing with his hair until they stepped onto the teleporter. Light enveloped them, then they found themselves back in the Guild Hall.
“One day I’ll be powerful enough to let you grind away like that.” Lee’s voice was immediately firmer, now that they were out of the public eye.
“Best do that before I hit max level,” John told her and directed his steps towards the staircase that led up into the Statue of Liberty. “We’ve got a few more hours to ourselves,” he responded to her questioning gaze.
Standing on the torch, he put her down. Lee walked up to the railing and looked down. “Not the best view you ever enjoyed, I reckon,” he hummed.
“I dunno.” Lee’s long hair waved in a soft breeze. “When I was in the Mountain of Time, I only went to the highest spot once. Everyone was gushing about how far you could look on a clear day. I looked downwards at the Himalayas and distant India and thought, ‘Yeah, that’s pretty far.’” She scratched the back of her head. “This is more important to me.”
John’s smile was radiant with joy. By the narrow waist, he held her, pulled her against his chest. The smaller woman obliged the strength of his arm without resistance. For all her complaints, Lee did love him being a big, tough guy. She just wanted that to come in the same package as someone who could joke and play games.
Together, they sat down, feet dangling out underneath the large gap between railing and floor. “Maybe I should put a proper bench up here.”
“We aren’t really up here often enough to justify that,” Lee responded. “What you could get is a VR headset in our crawlspace.”
“Don’t make me lock you out of there,” the Gamer warned. The ‘anti-insomnia’ space underneath the bed was getting abused as the ‘stay up until 3 AM space’ by Lee and Scarlett. There was an easy prevention for such abuse, to pound them until they had no energy left to stay awake at all, but John did not want to tuck them in like that every single day. Variety was the spice of life, and all of that.
“I have let’s plays to binge!”
“No one even calls them that anymore,” John pointed out. “It’s just Stream VOD number 1, number 2, number 3…”
“I’m 19, how do you make me feel old?!”
“Don’t remind me of how young you are, it makes me feel creepy.”
“Oy, you’re 19 too!”
“Am I? Am I really?” John rubbed his jaw and considered the several months’ worth of days he had spent in time dilation. “Are we really? Illusion Barriers sure screw with perception.”
“Yet classes still feel more drawn out. Today’s attack on my will to live has left me scarred.”
“…Was that an attempt to make a prequel meme reference?”
Lee averted her eyes. “Mhhhmaybe.”
“…I do love you. I love you a lot.”
In a tiny voice, she responded, “…Same…”
“You love yourself a lot?” John’s reward for that question was a soft punch to the shoulder. He giggled and gazed outwards. A meteor fell in the middle of the Fire Island. “Seems like Salamander is having a tantrum.”
“Just her evil overlady stuff,” Lee groaned.
“You disapprove?”
“Nah, I would do something similar if I was a red, demonic looking babe with giant tits. Yes, the giant tits are important.” Lee poked her petite chest. “Everyone knows flat girls are angels.”
“If Beatrice were here, I’d ask her to give me the big X button.”
“Ya saying Momo isn’t an angel?”
“You saying Scarlett is?”
“Nightingale?”
“Metra?”
“Claire?” Lee hesitated for a moment. “Actually, no idea if I even want to try and place Claire in the angel territory… she’d stab someone for looking at you wrong.”
“Biblically accurate angel, maybe, if she grew four wings of light and blood, and eyes on all, and four crowns for her two heads, and God saw that she was bloody, and…-“
“You stop talking like the Bible right now.”
“But I like rambling with you,” John complained, only to laugh and then ask a different question, “Since we have some time, give me the full breakdown. How’s life been recently?”
“…Dunno if there’s much to tell,” Lee started, uncertainly.
Comments
Funatic
John having a max level was stated by Gaia in one of the patch notes
gordianTangle
I feel like John probably doesn't actually have a max level, but also that we have seen far from all of the important diminishing returns. For one, I'm amazed that Gaia hasn't nerfed Experience of Love to no longer be percental. Getting XP from that is fair, but getting levels as a consistent rate without difficulty spikes feels like something that can't continue for much longer.
Banric
Lee is adorable
