Ember found herself surrounded by the intoxicating scent radiating from Davi, and her desire swelled as she admired the vigorous sight before her. Momentarily overwhelmed by her emotions, she thought about moving closer.
However, a voice shattered the moment, forcing both of them to freeze. It was the principal, who had suddenly appeared without warning.
Ember's face turned as red as a pepper when she realized someone had witnessed what she had done. She couldn't even muster a coherent response, but sparing her further embarrassment, Amelia snapped her fingers.
They felt clothes appear over both of them, then the redhead vanished, transported to the room where the pairs were to wait for the next phase the following day. The director then turned her attention to Davi, clearly intent on having a private conversation.
She approached him with a smile, her tone unusually gentle that day:
"Yes, I'm impressed by your boldness." But her light smile quickly turned menacing. "However, there's something I can't overlook. What were you thinking, using prototypes developed with this institution's funds? They're research prototypes, not weapons for students."
Davi began sweating bullets as the woman continued, pointing out the rules against misuse of research materials. She then threatened to punish both him and Luna for breaking those rules.
Desperate, the boy begged for forgiveness, which made the principal smile as the conversation steered in the direction she had intended. With a slightly sadistic grin, she said:
"Since you've impressed me, I'll give you one chance. I'll overlook everything I saw, provided you deliver another impressive performance at the next phase."
With that, she snapped her fingers once more.
Meanwhile, Ember found herself in the room, facing a relatively wide single bed. Assuming this was where she would wait for the next phase, she laid down, knowing she needed rest.
However, with her skin still burning from embarrassment and her body heating up for other reasons, relaxing proved to be far more difficult than she had anticipated.
For some reason, she couldn't get that man's well-defined muscles out of her head. His chiseled abs, his cheerful smile, and his… She didn't want to remember, but somehow her mind kept drifting back to his penis.
"Well, I'm sure that pervert imagined plenty of things about me," she muttered to herself, blushing furiously.
Following that logic, she justified to herself that she also had the right to imagine a few things. With that, she laid back on the bed, her fingers slowly tracing over her body as she let herself get carried away by her vivid imagination.
However, just as the first moan slipped from her delicate lips, a man appeared before her.
"Uh…" He froze, startled by the scene in front of him, and quickly opened his mouth to say something, but Ember's scream cut him off.
"If you say a single word, I'll kill you."
He fell silent immediately. She turned off the lights and, begrudgingly, allowed him to share the bed with her, as it was the only one in the room. After all, the wide bed, one fit for a couple, was the only option. And so, the two went to sleep, with Davi desperately pretending he hadn't seen anything.
As for the redhead, she was dying of embarrassment, wishing she could simply disappear. If only she weren't so rich and knew that single people didn't typically sleep in such large beds, she might have guessed what was coming. But she had genuinely believed that the spacious room and luxurious bed were meant for her alone.
Of course, the reason they had been sent to the only room with a single bed was just another one of life's little coincidences. And somewhere, a certain woman was likely chuckling quietly to herself at that very moment.
𓊖𓊖𓊖
"Luna, this…" Davi murmured as he dreamed of something wonderful.
At the same time, his hand was graced by a softness that he knew well. The difference was that in this case the size seemed different, they were firm breasts that fit perfectly in the palm of his hand.
Of course, the owner of those breasts was Ember, who during the night ended up approaching the boy unconsciously, and so that scene ended up happening.
Still asleep, Davi began to cling more and more to the beauty before him, sliding his knee between her legs and firmly groping her breasts while his other hand caressed her perfect butt.
This naturally woke Ember, who let out a soft moan at the intense touch.
For a moment, she considered pretending to be sleeping, but she quickly discarded the thought. With her face burning red from embarrassment, she unleashed her flames in an attempt to shove the boy away.
And that was how the two of them woke up that morning.
However, they didn't have time to argue, as a knock on the door interrupted them.
Davi promptly went to see who it was, and upon opening the door, he was greeted by a stunning red-haired woman wearing, for some inexplicable reason, a maid outfit. Her expression was stern, and her sharp eyes scrutinized him. She had a strikingly beautiful face, delicate lips, and a small beauty mark that added to her charm.
It was impossible not to notice the prominent horns growing from her head, as well as the black feathers adorning her demonic wings. Despite Davi's surprise, she didn't react at all, maintaining an elegant posture with her back perfectly straight.
Her golden eyes, glowing uniquely, swept across the room as she evaluated the two of them. Then she politely greeted them, introducing herself with elegance. However, it was impossible not to find all of that strange, with the girl wearing an anime-style maid outfit.
"I am Morrigan, currently serving as Miss Amelia's secretary. I've come to inform you that the second part of the test will begin shortly, so please be ready. One more thing, I believe you haven't yet collected your reward for defeating the golem, correct?"
"Reward?" Davi asked.
"Yes," Morrigan replied, pulling five colorful orbs from her pocket and making them float in the air. "These are the golem's five elemental cores. They have the ability to absorb any type of elemental skill and concentrate it into a single shot."
It was precisely because the golem had such a core that it could unleash those hellish blasts. In this sense, these cores were incredibly valuable.
"You may choose one core to keep. Which element do you prefer: water, fire, earth, wind, or lightning?"
"Aren't there other elemental abilities besides these five?"
"No one has been able to synthesize cores for other elements," the maid quickly explained. "I apologize for rushing you, but I need to speak with all the students who passed the test and didn't pick their reward. Could you make your choice quickly?"
Davi pondered for a moment. Water was the element that would cause them the most trouble since it represented Ember's weakness. On the other hand, lightning was the rarest element, making it the hardest to deal with. Meanwhile, the fire core offered the greatest offensive potential for their team. This combination of factors made him think carefully about which core to choose.
Finally, Davi decided on the Fire Core. Since he didn't have any offensive abilities of his own, the item would be invaluable. In an emergency, he could keep it and absorb some of Ember's magic to catch opponents off guard.
"I'll choose the Fire Core," he declared.
Morrigan didn't linger, quickly disappearing and leaving the two behind.
Ember asked to take a bath first, while Davi used the time to analyze the remaining magical equipment he had. Yes, he had gotten into trouble because of them, but at this point, there wasn't much else to do.
The armor Luna had given him was practically destroyed, and his weapon showed signs of heavy wear, looking like it might only handle one last shot. In other words, he was left with only the small reconnaissance robots.
The boy sighed deeply, feeling a knot in his stomach as he thought about the challenges ahead. He was still far too weak and had very little to rely on.
After Ember finished her bath, Davi also got ready. With both prepared, they decided to discuss their abilities and strategies while waiting for the next phase to begin.
Ember explained that, in short, she could control fire. Her main abilities included <Firestorm> and <Incineration>. Both attacks were medium to short-range, focusing on devastating power rather than reach.
In addition, her trump card was an ability called
Besides that, Ember was a skilled swordswoman capable of channeling her flames through her sword. In other words, she possessed immense offensive abilities, but she wasn't very versatile: lacking any support powers, long-range attacks, and, most importantly, defensive skills.
As most mage class, and even more for fire mages, they were extremely powerful, but also very unbalanced, shining in groups, not at individual combat.
Because of that, it was clear that, as a team, they were unbalanced. And the main reason for that was the boy himself. Because he was a [Digger] and didn't have any useful combat abilities. While he could use a simple shield, his level was so low that it would hardly be effective.
"You're lying to me, aren't you?" After hearing about all of Davi's abilities, the girl asked with an irritated tone.
"No, my class really is [Digger]. Sorry for being such a burden."
"Then why did the principal call you to her office? And why are you taking such a dangerous test when you're so weak? None of this makes sense, and the only explanation is that you're hiding something from me!" she said with conviction, pressing the boy even further.
Davi preferred not to talk about his second class, as it could lead to misunderstandings and other problems. Besides, he doubted it would be very useful. More importantly, he saw no chance whatsoever that the girl would agree to join his harem, so telling her about it seemed pointless.
"The truth is, I have a second class, but it's a bit special."
That said, the redhead was so insistent that he had no other choice. So, Davi revealed everything about the powers he'd recently unlocked. And, of course, Ember's reaction was:
"What kind of perverted nonsense is this? Stop telling me such ridiculous lies!" It was impossible for anyone to simply believe in such an absurd class.
Still, seeing how serious Davi seemed about it, she couldn't help but hesitate a little. Could he actually be telling the truth? But it was simply too outrageous.
"Then prove that you have this class!" she demanded.
"Well, I could prove it, but…" he stared at the girl's lips for a long moment. "I don't have any abilities I can use without adding you to the harem."
Once again, Ember was overcome with embarrassment, realizing the mistake she had made. At the same time, her heart pounded at the thought that Davi might kiss her. But she quickly shoved those feelings out of her mind.
[The second phase will now begin. The test will be a two-person duel.]
[The fight will continue until your opponent is unconscious or surrenders.]
[In this phase, you may choose to work together or not. The last one standing will choose two people to accompany them and one person to be eliminated.]
The only rules are: don't kill. Don't attack who has already given up. And don't attack after you have given up.]
Hearing this, Davi's heart immediately sank. He knew very well that he was dead weight, so the natural decision would be to leave him behind.
For the redhead, however, the announcements were the perfect excuse to change the subject. She simply stood up and said:
"Get ready, and don't worry, I'll take you with me." Her words calmed her partner.
They were all teleported to the same arena where they had faced the golem earlier.
Ember froze when she saw who made up their opposing duo: a terrified-looking woman and someone she knew all too well.
It was a tall man with an imposing posture and fiery red hair. The blazing intensity in his eyes met hers for a moment, and she felt every muscle in her body tense.
She took a step back, instinctively trying to put some distance between herself and that overwhelming presence. Unable to look away, she murmured in a trembling voice:
"Brother…"