Chapter 90: Elf Noona 2
Chapter 90: Elf Noona 2
Violet mana tangled like thread, weaving together into a pure white form.
The most beautiful wolf, crafted from the combined memories of myself, the Unfading Giant Tree, and Loyal Fang.
It had a voluptuous figure and a coat of pristine white fur, but naturally, it didn't turn me on.
I had no taste for furries in my past life or this one.
The primary objective was to seduce the Unfading Giant Tree, but since the pet Loyal Fang offered as a reward turned out to have surprisingly good specs, I'd been experimenting with creating a clone.
On top of that, since I was providing custom pets for each Incarnation, I'd been carving away at this clone bit by bit in my spare time.
Summoning someone else's delusions instead of my own clone gave me a headache for the first time in a while, but what could I do?
Using Loyal Fang's memories, I modeled the humanoid proportions of a bipedal wolf, then copied the appearance of the most beautiful and sacred wolf from the Unfading Giant Tree's memories.
A wolf with a coat so white you'd only see it in a movie materialized before my eyes.
Since I'm no judge of a wolf's beauty, I assessed it through the eyes of the Unfading Giant Tree, who was familiar with beastkin.
Using this as an excuse to visit her space almost daily was a net gain.
The clone's duration had gradually edged past half a day, but weaving a wolf-man out of mana cut that time down considerably, so I couldn't stay too long.
"Wow, the fur really is fluffy. But shouldn't you ask if she prefers glossy fur or soft, plush fur? They seemed to care a lot about that."
"You're right, I should ask next time I visit."
Yesterday's drink had been gold, but today a pure white one sat on the low table.
Unlike yesterday, we sat facing each other today, chatting softly as we watched the white wolf model I was making take shape.
"Anyway, are you getting the hang of it? A clone that moves independently and permanently... from the sound of it, it's not much different from a homunculus that requires a Philosopher's Stone."
"It does seem a little tricky. I'll have to buy something useful with next month's points."
Or maybe I could provide the Academy with some of the burnt offerings I'd received as gifts and request something related to Dream Demons in return.
This clone-making practice wasn't just about resolving Ttaengchili's libido.
Unlike my own Nightmare summons, which were bound by a time limit, if I could summon something permanent that moved on its own, it meant I could gradually build my own personal army.
Continuously adding more Incarnations seemed like a management headache, so I planned to keep them a small, elite force. If I could fill out the numbers with clones, I could use them anywhere.
"How's your mana handling?"
"Better than I expected, I think. It gives me a bit of a headache, but I can feel it increasing little by little."
"Your head hurts from handling mana? Then you should probably cut back a bit on how often you do it. Pain is always a warning to us."
Her cool fingers swept my bangs aside before her soft palm pressed firmly against my forehead.
Her gentle eyes gazed down at me, brimming with worry.
Wait a second—we were sitting side by side at the low table, so how was she looking down at me?
'Just how small do I have to get?'
My mind had gotten a little hazy while manipulating mana, and without my noticing, my body had shrunk.
The better I got at handling mana, the more my body would fluctuate in size according to what others desired—it was a bit hard to adapt to.
Before, my features or impression would just shift to suit my Incarnations' preferences, but now my height was oscillating by about 30 centimeters.
My limbs grew slender and my frame narrowed to match, to the point where reaching out to grab a cup felt completely alien.
It felt like being back in my student days, but my taste buds hadn't regressed with me; the drink still tasted too sweet, so I bit into a bitter cookie.
"Come to think of it, doesn't this appearance seem weird?"
"Which part?"
"I keep changing."
"Isn't it natural to change?"
Now that I thought about it, her world was home to various races, including beastkin.
She even knew about Dream Demons, the inhabitants of the dream realm, so she didn't seem to find it strange.
I'd arrive as a hulking figure over 180cm tall, then shrink to a boy around 150cm as soon as I sat down, and she'd still treat me with perfect courtesy.
I infused mana into my hand and laid it lightly over hers as she stroked my forehead.
I could still feel the shape of the lip-shaped mark I'd left there yesterday.
As if just now remembering that fact, which our chatter had driven from her mind, I saw her pale face flush red.
"I'm just not used to changing so often."
"That's right, you said you were originally human, didn't you? To have your very race change upon becoming a Constellation... isn't that fascinating?"
My race hadn't changed because I became a Constellation; I'd changed it myself out of ignorance on how to use mana, but I didn't bother explaining that.
Instead, as if to illustrate the awkwardness of my changed body, I simply kept fiddling with her hand where it rested on my forehead.
Her slightly cool hand was soft and plush.
Was it because she handled all the watering and tending of plants through Authorities and spirits?
Those long fingers didn't belong to a farmer, but to an artist—a pianist, perhaps.
Kim Ha-eun, who had become a half-Dream Demon, was sultry.
There was no need for flowery phrases about her fair skin, her supple body, or her hourglass figure.
She simply possessed a body naturally born to bewitch men.
The Unfading Giant Tree, on the other hand, was beautiful.
I don't mean Kim Ha-eun isn't beautiful, but the elf's appearance felt like a sculpted piece of art.
Just as a pure white plaster statue evokes admiration before lust, the elf's looks were artistically beautiful.
Kim Ha-eun and Lee Ha-rin, who had absorbed Dream Demon mana and whose looks were blossoming little by little, were undeniably beauties, but comparing them to the Unfading Giant Tree, a Constellation and an elf, felt almost unfair.
If I had to split hairs, my Incarnations were the kind of beauties who'd make you do a double-take on the street or campus, while the Unfading Giant Tree was more like the kind of beauty you'd see as an actress on TV.
I felt a bit ridiculous making such comparisons, but a man's instincts were unavoidable.
An appearance that called forth admiration before desire.
Paradoxically, that was exactly why I wanted to seduce her.
Because I wanted to see that unknowing, pure white body flush red with heat as it craved me.
I didn't care if this was a desire ignited by consuming the fragments of Nightmare.
Isn't a healthy man exactly one who sees a beautiful woman and is tormented by lust?
We were—or at least, I was—engaged in a little wager.
A small game where I seduced and she endured.
If she sent me back without laying a finger on me, it was her victory; if I made her touch me, it was mine.
We'd never agreed on it, a game I'd started on a whim, but she appeared to be playing along in her own quiet way.
The way she'd seen me off last time by pulling me into a tight hug because our time was up was proof enough that she didn't dislike it.
Setting my Incarnations aside, she was the only peer I could talk to as an equal, Constellation to Constellation, so fondness was bound to build.
Thinking this, I idly took hold of her white hand as it rested on the low table.
Her fingers were slender, her wrists delicate.
Her pale skin was flawless, and her delicate features were arranged on her small face in a perfect golden ratio.
Her cheeks, not gaunt but without a trace of excess flesh, flushed a soft pink in response to my mana. That pure image only stoked my lust.
Now that I recalled, she had mentioned tasting the flavor of mana when we talked about food.
The way I perceived mana was closer to a sense of touch.
Where Kim Ha-eun wove a veil of mana, I spun threads of it, using them to stitch and sculpt and summon beings from within dreams.
Naturally, I couldn't taste or smell mana.
But the Unfading Giant Tree had complained that even basic food 'had a taste of mana' to it.
Did that mean she could taste my mana as well?
Unable to contain my curiosity, I posed the question directly.
"Now that I think about it, you said you can taste the flavor of mana."
"Uh, huh? Ah... right?"
Distracted by how I was kneading her fingers like dough in my grasp, her reply came a beat late.
Seeing that, I let go of her hand to continue my questioning and gathered a ball of mana at my fingertip.
"Ah..."
"Hm? What's wrong?"
"No, it's nothing."
What I pictured was the dragon's beard candy I'd eaten on an outing.
I lightly gathered the threads of mana and formed them into a bite-sized piece of the wispy candy.
I set the pale purple tangle of mana threads on the low table, and her round eyes fixed on me, her silent gaze a question.
Meeting her eyes felt a little awkward now that I was so much smaller...
In my life, I'd looked down on plenty of people, but I'd rarely ever had to look up at anyone.
Besides, back then my face hadn't been this pretty-boy soft, so I'd never shared a deeply meaningful gaze with someone like this.
Glaring with all the force I could muster between my brows and intimidating people—that I'd done plenty.
"What... is this? Why?"
Unable to hold back her curiosity, she asked.
"Want to try it? I suddenly got curious what my mana tastes like."
"Hm? Ah... I see."
The tangled threads of mana glittered a pale violet, looking less like food and more like a well-polished gemstone, but there was an old saying that pretty rice cakes taste good too, so I figured it'd be fine.
With that thought, I slid the mana threads over to her side.
"You want me to taste... this..."
Amidst all this, perhaps because my skill with mana was still clumsy, the threads began to slowly unravel. She pinched them up with her fingertips and shyly poked out her pink tongue.
Her cheeks were flushed a rosy red as she stuck the tip of her tongue out, and the sight was so utterly cute I was watching with a satisfied smile when—
"Yowch!"
A shout I hadn't heard in a long time—more street punk than young girl—rang out unmistakably.
She had stuck her tongue all the way out of her mouth as if she'd burned it, panting and even blinking back tears. I felt like I'd played a mean prank, so I immediately apologized.
"Sorry, are you okay?"
"No, I'b fide."
She mumbled without even pulling her tongue back in, making her hard to understand.
Realizing this, she hurriedly gulped down the pure white drink and worked her mouth a few times.
I was staring blankly at the way her small lips squirmed, and she must have taken that as a cue to continue.
"Well, the scent is really nice... but it's definitely not something to eat."
She offered an explanation right away.
"This is my first time tasting Dream Demon mana... but for most, the flavor is similar to their scent. Humans differ depending on where they live, but dwarves taste like fertile soil or metal, and elves carry the scent and flavor of the plants they tend and are responsible for."
"So what about me?"
"You're, well, a Dream Demon who handles Nightmares, right?"
I'd thought it might be grape-flavored or something since it was purple, but my guess was way off.
As if sorry to have to describe the taste, she hesitantly continued her thought.
"Probably because of that, the scent is intensely sweet, but the taste is incredibly bitter. So... like perfume? Yeah, it felt like licking perfume."
"Oh, I see."
It made sense that it would be like perfume—my mana did have a property of enthralling others.
But why was she so embarrassed just telling me that?
Her cheeks, which had gone past a light pink to a full, burning red, drew my eye in particular.