Natalie explored Jordan’s mouth, the kiss—as it always did—having grown to a fevered iy. her pretehey weren’t enjoying each other’s wet, struggling mouths. Jordan’s hands roamed Natalie’s back, dipping to less discreet pces before quickly resetting, as if catg herself. Natalie’s hands stayed on Jordan’s hips, likewise itg to go farther. It was hard to indulge like this and keep restrained.

  But this was just a kiss. A strictly practical one, however much fun. Even if they got caught up in desire—their biological reas—it couldn’t go further.

  Jordan moaned into her mouth, and the sound washed through Natalie, setting her skin on fire. It was incredible what Jordan’s presence did to Natalie. It had to be because of why they were kissing—the straure of everything that had the thrill rushing through her. Because obviously Natalie wasn’t intoxicated by Jordan for that reason. Not romance, of any sort.

  Gasping, Jordan finally pulled back. It was always Jordan that broke the kiss. Holy, Natalie might rather pass out than separate from Jordan’s mouth.

  Not that it meant anything. Jordan was just a good kisser. Natalie liked basking in the sensation.

  “So,” Jordan finally said, panting. “You’ll o start pig girls up, soon. Just me isn’t enough. Any pns, there?”

  Like always, it took effort to steady her spinning head and respond normally … to reply in a way that didn’t btantly give away that Jordan’s tongue had turned her brain to mush. It wasn’t fair how amazing Jordan’s mouth was—the way she moved her tongue and lips against Natalie’s own.

  Though, Natalie fought back well enough. The flush on Natalie’s face was matched by Jordan’s.

  Choosing the skirt for her uniform had been a good idea. Natalie was rock-hard, but her tight underwear, bih the looseness and thick pleats of the skirt, meant nothing showed. Not that Jordan hadn’t felt it, pressed in as close as she was. But at least she couldn’t see it.

  Once she advahe skill, and it got bigger, though, even the skirt wouldn’t hide it. That was still weird to think about. And … exg? For some reason? The idea tantalized her. He would it get, down the line? After several advas? If it started at six inches, she felt like there was good odds it would bee a monster pretty fast. And, while titilting, that would be inve. Six inches wasn’t horribly difficult to hide, but eight? Ten? ger, if it grew faster thahought?

  Problems for ter.

  “Dunno,” Natalie said, finally replying to Jordan’s question—on how she’d o start pig up girls. “It’s gonna be hard, for sure.”

  “Hard? Yreat at flirting.”

  “Eh.” Natalie wasn’t sold on that. She’d done well bae, but then again, she’d been iing. Muscles, ambition, on track for being an adventurer—maybe even a delver. Flings hadn’t been hard to find when petition had been so weak. Here, Natalie was nothing special. “It’s different here.”

  “From the sounds of orientation,” Jordan said dryly, “it should be easier than bae.”

  Natalie paused, remembering Harper’s insistehat students use s. A group of ambitious, stressed students would be going at it like rabbits; maybe that made up for Natalie’s previous reasoning. Maybe it wouldn’t be that hard to find girls who could ‘help’ with Natalie’s css.

  “I guess,” Natalie said. “Still, I’m going to be busy. That throws a wren things.”

  “This is how your css advances,” she pointed out. “An alternate way, at least. It’s part of your duties. You’ll have to make time for it.”

  Natalie shook her head, bewildered. Not that Jordan wasn’t right—she was—but at how her daily training routine was going to include pig up girls. Weird.

  Not that she was pining. It might not be as straightforward as training with ons and practig her skills, but … maybe a more pleasant way to advan strength. Maybe Natalie should be grateful, even.

  Grateful? Well, she wouldn’t go that far. The strangeness of everything stopped her from being ht pleased. Her bizarre css had made her future pns so uain—and had been no small source of stress.

  “Yeah,” Natalie said. “I know. But anyway, this ought to do it, right?”

  “The st bit of energy you needed,” Jordan said. “You said you were just a sliver away, st time.”

  Natalie nodded.

  “Well, go ahead,” Jordan said. “Tell me what it ges to.”

  Natalie closed her eyes and focused inward.

  ***

  al Energy: 5

  ***

  The quantity she harvested varied. What exact factors determihe number, Natalie couldn’t know for sure. Passion, to name ohey’d wasted the skill, once, by trying to keep things too chaste, hence why Natalie hadn’t already earned enough to level [al Harvest] up, which they’d been slowly w toward.

  She focused the energy into the skill, funneling it using her [Advance] skill.

  ***

  [al Harvest]: Progression advanced from 1 to 2.

  ***

  ***

  [al Harvest] - PASSIVE. PROGRESSION 2. Extract al energy through {fondling} an aroused target. Harvested energy be expehrough [Empower] and [Advance].

  ***

  Natalie opened her eyes. As she’d predicted, advang the progression had modified the description in the emphasized portion of text from {kissing} to {fondling}.

  “Well?” Jordan asked.

  “It’s, uh. What we guessed.”

  Natalie didn’t o specify. The two of them had theorized on the skill, and Natalie’s css in general. Less than they ought to have, though. It was an awkward subject.

  “So, fondling?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Huh,” Jordan said. She was quiet a sed, studying Natalie. Then, her lips quirked. “Do you think it matters where?”

  “Where?”

  “Where you fondle,” Jordan pointed out. “There’s a lot of options, you know.”

  “Uh,” Natalie said. Her eyes flicked down to Jordan’s chest …then lower. A lot of options. Yeah. There definitely were. “I guess it’s best to be thh. So, everywhere?”

  It’d been intended as a joke … kind of. Unfortunately—amazingly?—Jordan nodded in agreement. “Think the cooldow with the level-up? Should we ght away?”

  Natalie’s heart had been pounding from their kissing, already, but now its frantic excitement doubled. “I guess that’s possible,” she said, impressed at her voice’s stability.

  As for the truth of what she thought: Natalie had no clue. Maybe the cooldown had reset, maybe it hadn’t. But if saying yes meant she got to …

  She shook her thoughts clear. They were doing this for funal reasons. Natalie couldn’t let herself want this. She’d take pleasure in it for what it was, because she couldn’t help herself, and it was a biological rea—Jordan got excited too—but she couldn’t fet what was happening.

  But still. She got to … touch Jordan?

  “Well,” Jordan said, hands going to Natalie’s wrists, grabbing and guiding them up. “Get to it, won’t you?”