NTR Quest 8 - Academy - Forest (Patreon)

Jeane ended her tutoring session by looking closely at you. “It is just as I thought.”

“What?” You stand up from the position you were seated in. Crossed legs with a straight back. It was the perfect position to circulate mana through the body and expand one's core for the purpose of magic. For someone with no foundation whatsoever, at least. Even if Eastern and Western magic were slightly different in their use and techniques, the same basics applied. When starting with nothing, meditation and mana coalescence was the only way to expand the core. It was like working out a muscle from nothing; less about lifting weights and more about performing any action at all repetitively, over the course of weeks or months. For normal people, anyway.

“Your Heroic trait makes a mockery of any type of training you go through. Anyone that looks at you now would think that you have been practicing from a young age.” Jeane wandered over to just one of many book shelves in her private quarters. The room was set up like an office with a desk and a small library, but you could see clear signs that she lived there, as well. Empty cups, unwashed plates and some blankets piled in the corner. As you were beginning to feel quite confident she turned her head to stare at you sharply.
“Do not get cocky. That simply puts you on par with all the other riffraff that are attending this school for their first year.”

“I know some pretty extraordinary people that are coming here for the first time.”

Jeane turned around with a slim book in her hand. “Those exist. There are people that come here for reasons other than learning. Those that already have very little to learn. If they were left to their own devices they would do just fine.” She smiled sweetly.
“Like me.”

“And me?” You added optimistically.

She exhaled through her nose. “To be frank? No... You were one wrong choice away from being some brainless sex-fiend or a meat-headed knight.”

You shoulders slumped. “Okay, okay.” Thinking about it for more than a second, the thought crossed your mind.
“Why didn't you tell me about the other aspect to this place?”

“What other aspect?”

“The competition. The cutthroat nature of the student body. The wish...”

She rolled her eyes. “Because I did not think you would be stupid enough to get wrapped up in all of that.” With exasperation in her tone she pushed the book she was holding into your hands.
“Do you know what is as good as a wish? What serves as a blank bank note in this world, above all currency and all promises from mortal men?”

“What?”

She spelled it out. “M. A. G. I. C...” Jeane then tapped the cover of the book she gave you harshly. It was titled 'Cantrip Theory.' The elf then began pacing back and forth in front of you while tapping her chin in thought. It was a sure sign that she was about to lecture you.
“The wish is a macguffin. It is at best a honeypot to lure in those who feel they know more than they do, and those that want more than they can achieve. That special kind of person that hears of something extraordinary, knows that only one person will be able to attain it after insurmountable challenge, danger and threat, and still in the face of all sense decides that it is going to be them of all people.”

“So it's fake?”

Jeane stopped. “I did not say that. As far as I know...” She stopped to chose her words but could only arrive at a very frank.

“It is real.”

You furrowed your brow after getting very mixed messages. “What have people wished for in the past. What could people wish for?”

“I could not tell you.” You knew by the way she said that, the frustration on her own face, that it was not that she could not speak the words. She simply did not have them to begin with. You wondered how a wish could exist, how so many could be enticed into chasing it, but somehow the most knowledgeable person you knew had no idea about details surrounding it. She calmed herself down to try and level with you.
“Coda is the most successful Home.”

“But-”

“In terms of students that LEAVE the school and become SUCCESSFUL. That is what this is about. You do not need a wish to accomplish anything you set your mind to. You were given one by fate... Or whatever decides which traits are assigned at birth.”

“I don't actually want the wish. I kind of figured that out on my own. I feel like I can get whatever I want on my own.” Jeane seemed relieved. Her expression twisted as you continued.
“But I met some girls and-”

“Oh god...” She places her face in her hands.

“W-what?”

“Oh god! No!” The normally composed woman threw her head back in despair.
“God... Why did it have to be a man. Why?” You stared at her quizzically, wondering what this new mental breakdown was about. She composed herself, then returned to stare at you sweetly and sympathetically.
“Dear... Why do you think you need to help some girls?”

“Because we're... Friends?” You offered.

“I know you think that.” She rebutted patronizingly.

“Please reconsider, is all that I will say. Study. It will not even take that long for you, I am sure. Just... Learn normally and graduate and raise my status above my peers as a result.”

“Did you mean to say that last part out loud?”

“Yes.” She narrowed her eyes at you.
“I am an honest woman.”

“Do you honestly think that my group can fail if I'm helping them?”

She had to consider that question. “You can not take your time in learning, then. You will have to strengthen your core and learn the essentials. Then you will need to start looking into specializing or generalizing. I am a generalizing mage. Because of my ability to see mana and essence easily I am best suited to dabbling in most schools and techniques. This lent itself to teaching, as well. There are many specializations, however. We will speak more on the topic when it is relevant to your studies.” Jeane let out a light sigh.

“Be safe.”

* *

“The forest is full of threats. Everything in it wants to do something evil to intruders.” Esther advised.

“Including us.” Aiden criticized quietly. His meek face turned red when he saw both girls ears twitch to show that his  voice reached both of them quite easily, even at a whisper.

“I'd advise speaking out loud, because both myself and the jackal have beautiful, functional ears that can easily pick out the sounds of bitching in a small area such as this.” Esther leaned forward confrontationally as she spoke, hands on her hips. The girls had never stopped bullying Aiden, they had simply shifted to more idle ribbing. The boy clammed up very quickly.

“My clan's hearing is so good, but we typically try to tune out the sounds insects make.” Merit mocked, causing Aidan's head to lower even further.

“Let's chill, girls...” You raised your hands in his defense, prompting to the two to back off of him.

“What kind of threats?”

Esther and Merit exchanged a glance. The goblin continued. “Gremlings, Core Flora, Core Fauna and other students...”

* *

The main conceit of the forests in the upside-down world of the Academy was that everything was aggressive and everything was adapted to feed off of magical individuals and creatures. There were real forests and creatures out in the world that did the same, but the confluence of nasty things that lived beyond the safe limits of the academy grounds was far too high to be anything other than intentional. Either that, or there was something else going on entirely. All it meant for you was that you needed to be as careful as the students you were hunting, lest something bad happen. You had been given the general rundown by Esther, but according to her there were far too many specific threats to go over in one sitting.

“Hold.” Merit warned. She held her arm for the party to stop. She knelt down and pointed out several branches from a nearby tree listing down close to the ground.

“What is it?” You whispered.

She gently traced the outline of a pink rum on the ground at the end of one of the branches. It was covered in dirt. As you leaned closer she smirked and slapped the ground, causing the branch to suddenly snap up, flying high into the canopy like a catapult. It took with it an empty, loose pink sack. As the branch bounced up and down it slowly started to descend until it once again touched the forest floor. The sack laid there with the thicker rim looking more like a trap once it was fully visible.

Esther nodded. “Good catch. Not a problem for us, because we're a group. But this Core Fruit Tree would be deadly to someone walking alone.”

“I've read about plants that catch insects and digest them in similar ways.” You mentioned. Your library at home had a fairly complete collection of strange natural creatures. Your one blind spot was where it concerned more strange and specific things.

“Something like that.” Esther said while Merit walked you all around the various traps until you were under the canopy of the tree fully. The beastwoman began staring up.

“This species of tree digests a persons core, though.”

“W-what?” Aiden uttered nervously, obviously creeped out by being surrounded by the branches and traps.

“No worries. They are harmless if you do not step on them.” Merit said with a discomforting smile.

Esther nodded. “True.” She also began looking up searchingly. She spoke idly as she did.
“A persons Core is a muscle that can be expanded by practicing magic. But that's just the outer portion. The inner portion of a persons core is what carries information about who they are, what they look like, their race, gender...” She smiled as she saw something and spun her little finger around, prompting a strange pink fruit to float down and land in her hand. You gulped as Esther turned it over in her hand and you got a closer look at it.

“Is that...” The goblin nodded, squishing it in her hand like a stress ball. It looked like a woman contorted into a very tight position. You could even slightly make out an expression. There was a stem poking out of the head and a puckered, dripping hole at the bottom.

“This one isn't ripe so it's squishy and... Popular for use by Gremlings, Men... You know, any less intelligent creature that thinks with their lower parts.” Esther scratched her chin and threw it to you. You caught it reluctantly, not wanting it to drop on the ground. As you inspected the hole you found it to be rather slick.

“You should have given it to Aiden. He looks more like a boy that could use something like that.” Merit joked, picking up a rock. She tossed the small stone up, cutting free another 'fruit.' It landed safely in her palm. The one she was holding looked more solid.

“Is that one ripe?” You asked.
“It looks more-” As you asked that, before you could finish Merit took a large, aggressive bite out of the vaguely female-shaped fruit. You and Aiden both inhaled deeply and cringed.
“W-w-what are you doing!?”

“Eating.” Merit shrugged, stripping the fruit down to the core like an apple before tossing it away. The inside looked similar to a regular fruit, but the implications of where it came from were terrifying to you.
“These are native to my land. Our jungles have many similar plants and trees.”

Esther nodded. “Don't worry too much. It's not cannibalism. In fact, no part of that fruit is humanoid, anymore.” You stared down at the squishy fruit with the contorted expression as the goblin spoke so calmly and casually about it no longer being human.
“The slick membrane of the trap is extremely tough and impossible to escape from the inside with magic. That's why students are particularly vulnerable. As soon as it captures it's prey it tightens and basically restrains the victim. Once it is as tight as it can be the tree begins the process of stripping away the persons core for nutrients while filling all the space on the inside with digestive sap. It does it unintelligently and methodically, so someone with a powerful core can actually last quite a while inside before it gets to the important bits.”

“What they look like, race, gender...”

Esther smiled. “That's right. Their core is stripped, simplified and once it is as small as it can be new information is added to turn them from what they were into a fruit. The membrane becomes their skin and shrinks and shrinks as the inside becomes...”

Merit states frankly. “People harvest them early and use them as fuck toys. The fruit itself is tasty so waiting for it to ripen also works. The tree absorbs all the mana for nutrients so it is not actually a useful fruit for training.”

“Well, at least the suffering is over, I guess?” You say gravely, stuffing the unripe fruit in your bag.

“Oh, no.” Esther corrected.
“Their mental core is still intact for the most part.”

“Eh?” Aiden tilts his head to one side.

“Yeah, yeah. The person that fruit was is still alive in there to some extent. I'm pretty sure they even feel pleasure when fucked.”

“B-but she ate-”

“So?” Merit interrupted.
“I will eat you... It is the circle of life. You live, you become an odd fruit, you get eaten, you turn into an evil tree. Is it any different in your kingdom?”

“Yes!” Both you and Aiden uttered in unison.

The goblin and beastwoman exchanged  a look, then shrugged and chose to continue on.

“W-wait.” Aiden followed closely after them, avoiding the trap branches. You took a moment to stare up into the canopy at the other fruits with a grim expression, then rushed to catch up while avoiding all of them yourself.

“Why do students come here...” Aiden uttered in disbelief. He was shuddering.

Esther glanced back at him. “The thing about an ecosystem that feeds on cores and mana is that the product of all that is herbs, fruits, creatures and various things that will inevitably be of great help to a persons development as a mage. Ingredients. If you find the right ingredients you can boost your training to near heroic levels or make lots and lots of gold.”

Merit chimed in. “There are also many magical creatures that make good companions. If you can capture and train one then you will also increase your own power by proxy. Some may even prove strong enough to be intelligent and form contracts.”

“That's all well and good but why are we trying to stop them from doing that instead of doing that ourselves?” You asked. The two girls just laughed.

“We're already pretty strong, so we don't necessarily need to poke our heads out and go hunting.”

“But, we should prevent others from doing so whenever possible and in doing so we will also naturally gain the fruits of their labor.”

You sighed. It was a very common tactic. You had heard it before. “We are the villains in stories that tail the heroes, let them do all the work, then ambush them once they have what we want.”

“Exactly!” Esther stated happily without an ounce of irony.

“I like those stories.” Merit agreed.

“Speaking of...” She pointed off into the distance, through the boughs. You stepped forward and squinted, because her vision was far too good to be matched by you just yet. What it looked like was a group of students being attacked by malicious little humanoid creatures.
“Gremling attack.”

It kind of burned you that the group was becoming so... Villainous. To be fair, you gave them license to do so and even went along with a lot of their scheming up until this point. You could tell Aiden was uncomfortable, even if he tolerated it. You were also uncomfortable, most importantly. You could likely justify going in to help the students, instead of simply allowing them to be taken if you could gain something from it. It was simply a matter of acting then explaining yourself after.