They stayed behind the crystals for a little longer, only to cuddle and exchange information on how their day was going. Despite their mental connection, they only knew the rough of it. Keeping tabs on each other on every waking moment was impractical and would have limited their interactions quite a bit. Talks were somewhat boring if topics discussed had already been experienced through the other.

Therefore, it was better to keep the other’s thoughts close enough to only feel strong emotional development. They knew when there was danger or something else noteworthy, and could shift their mental gaze to inspect on such an occasion. Otherwise, they stayed away or only did random check-ups.

“Could happen,” was all Undine had to say regarding the Lee situation. She shared John’s perspective that it was useless to speculate after only the first meeting. She also shared Aclysia’s perspective that, if Lee was the initiator, Magoi and Mabirl would have to live with it.

“Could happen, indeed,” John just agreed and kept cuddling her. Because of the environment, he had put his clothes back on. Otherwise, they were as close as possible. Her back rested against his chest, and even if the semi-wet ground and the hard surface of the crystal didn’t make for a particularly comfortable seat, he took it happily if it meant he got to hold her.

Most of her body was squishy and that made holding her a peculiar and interesting experience. If he tried to squeeze her as tight as he would have Eliza, Undine would have been deformed. That was entertaining, but not the goal of the exercise. John had to moderate his strength to enjoy her gooey consistency to the maximum. Alternatively, the slime girl could have increased her density until that issue ceased, but he’d rather do it his way. It just felt more satisfying, plus her boobs and butt felt absolutely fantastic at this level. They had the heat and the softness of flesh and retained the feeling that he was handling a slime girl.

Much as John enjoyed the bodies of human women, the reason to have monster girls in his harem was to enjoy all of their unique traits.

Running a hand through her hair, John indulged in the feeling. It was as if he was parting a soft stream of liquid silk with his fingers. “Every part of you is so beautiful,” John mumbled, his fingers trailing around the smooth membrane of her neck and down the path of her scars. “I love all of this.” Undine turned her head 180 degrees and raised an eyebrow. John laughed. He had long since grown insensitive to such displays. He didn’t want them in the bedroom, but in casual conversation they didn’t creep him out. “Don’t make things weird when I compliment you.”

“No,” Undine kept her answer short, her head rotating back to normal. She repositioned herself slightly to rub more of her body against him. It was less of a sexual gesture than it was an attempt to optimize their cuddling. Then she began to sing a little song for him. It had no words. Undine was usually more comfortable just singing notes and she insisted that she wasn’t great at improvising texts anyway.

John didn’t share that conviction. Neither did Siena, Eliza, or anyone else that had ever spent any time making music with her. ‘Maybe I should go to a studio with her sometime,’ the Gamer thought. ‘Not for anything useful, just as a date. It’d probably be fun to make her frustrated at how awful I am at singing.’ He didn’t bother suggesting that to her. Enjoying her song for a little while was a much preferable way to keep their moment. When there was a break in her song, he softly suggested, “Shall we head back?”

The moans had ebbed away a little while ago, so Maximillian was probably done over there. A particularly heckling part of John’s mind insisted that it was a problem that the gravity mage had lasted longer than himself. Reasonably, Maximillian not only had a larger crowd to satisfy, naturally adding to the time, but John also could have continued for as long as he wanted if he and Undine had so desired.

‘We’ll just continue later,’ he told that horny, prideful part of himself and spied around the crystal. Maximillian was where he had left him, together with only the twin pair of white-blue slime girls. “Your favourite won,” the Gamer told Undine while waving at Maximillian.

“There is no victory in teaching alone,” the songstress responded.

The Gamer took that for what it was worth. When he had reached his friend, he switched to a more sarcastic tone. “So, you chose the one that could sit on your face and your dick at the same time, huh?”

“That was a motivating factor,” Maximillian freely admitted, “but it’s not as if I just fucked them and immediately made my decision, buddy.”

“Sure, sure.” John waved off, as if he didn’t believe that at all.

“”It is true,”” the duet of Laralia chimed in.

“He knows,” Undine informed her fellow slime girl. “He is being flippant.”

“I’ll teach you all about that,” Maximillian promised with a smile. “Provided you teach me, of course.”

“I will do my best,” only one of the gemini elemental’s bodies responded this time, the other flowing around her potential contractor. “It should not be too difficult, since you already know about shadow magic.”

“We’ll see. My last attempt was fruitless,” Maximillian admitted and glanced over to John, who sat down on a conveniently shaped crystal. “I appreciate your help so far, John, but you don’t have to stick around for this bit.”

“And rob myself of watching you fail?” John giggled while Undine sat down next to him. The slime girl obviously hadn’t had enough cuddles yet as she made not one but two copies of herself to sit on either side of and behind him. A one girl, full harem cuddle. He barely had time to continue his answer, between the attention he had to meet her kisses with. “Seriously though, I’ve never watched someone learn elemental magic. I can’t do it myself, at least not in the traditional way, so I thought this would be interesting.”

“What? You can’t practice and learn these things?” Maximillian wondered.

“Well, maybe I could.” John reached around the side-Undines’ waists. “I think control of the elements is something I would have to get through Class levels at this point in my development. The system doesn’t like giving me Skills for simply trying things anymore. It was more generous when I had nothing to my name. To the point, though, if I tried this, I would just fail until I succeeded and, at that point, I’ll be able to reliably replicate it as often as I want. My Innate Ability makes things pretty binary.” He readjusted the way he was sitting a little bit. The back Undine was rubbing his neck and it was really pleasant. “It’s just interesting to see people learn things.”

“Mhmmm, do as you please then, friend,” the gravity mage nodded, “I just don’t want to keep you from things.”

“I should be doing some stuff,” John admitted. The Class Challenges or just a simple grinding session were definitely something more productive for his personal development than this. However, he just felt like witnessing this right now. “I won’t stick around for the entire process, but I got a minute or three.” He made a gesture. “Please, just act as if I wasn’t here… but stick to the training.”

“As you wish, Earl Newman,” the speaking Laralia told John and bowed towards him. Then she proceeded to completely ignore him. Her other body moved around Maximillian, inspecting his posture. “What I speak of to you now is the instinctual knowledge of teaching that us water elementals are born with, an echo of when our great Mother Water decided to help those with the first gifts to master the craft and contract her children. A selfless act by our beloved mother, a sacrifice to endanger her children for our freedom.”

John and Undine kept quiet at that. Even if this was their little realm for water elementals, the truth was that the vast majority of their kind venerated the Mother of Water. Among the six elemental realms, she was easily the most worshipped leader. The Gamer liked to think this was because of indoctrination, but he realized that he had motivation to give his reasoning a certain slant. The Mother of Water was certainly more involved with her children than the others. The Father of Light seemed to be the distant parental figure. Plasia was the fiery and dangerous biker mom. The Mother of Earth was withdrawn and governed from a distance. Fade struck John as the type to only intervene at choice moments. When it came to Tempesta, the Mother of Wind, John could easily surmise that she was as predictable as the arc of lightning in a bottle.

“I’m honoured to be taught,” Maximillian responded diplomatically. He didn’t have John’s reason to despise the Mother of Water. He did know about it though. There was no reason why the Gamer wouldn’t have shared that story with a friend.

“Let us begin, then,” Laralia said, her second body guiding Maximillian towards a nearby puddle. “Sit,” she said while walking alongside him.

“Inside it?” the gravity mage asked, with a joking but nevertheless curious undertone. The gemini elemental laughed with both bodies. “I’ve had other uncommon methods applied to me. I had my rebellious streak.”

“In front of the puddle will do, Maximillian,” Laralia said.

“Max will do nicely as well,” the gravity mage suavely responded as he sat down and crossed his legs.

“As you wish, Max.” The gemini elemental manoeuvred both bodies around her potential contractor, kneeling down on either side of him. She spoke in turns, her voice a hypnotic lull. “Reach out to the water.” “Reach inside it.” “Close your eyes.” “Feel where the membrane separates liquid from air.” “Feel the way it saps the heat from your hand.” “The difference between your skin and the water.” “You are not the water.” “But you may become closer to it than you are now.” “Just concentrate on it for now.” “Get accustomed.” “Get cold.” “Get comfortable.”

She continued with this back and forth of her voices for a solid ten minutes. The intertwining of positive and negative messaging was a trend that went throughout all of it. Already, this seemed more professional than the hurried attempts at getting random elementals to teach Maximillian which Rave had described.

“Now, reach for your magic.” “Let it flow up your arm.” “You are strong.” “You are talented.” “This is new, but this step is old.” “Let it exude from your palm.” “Mana seeps from your body into the water.” “Keep it useless.” “Do not use what you already know.”

The last two sentences came in response to bubbles rising from the water. Not the hollow soap bubble variety, but spherical drops of water. They started to rise as if the surface of the puddle was in contact with outer space. When Maximillian discontinued that magic, they all fell back down.

“It is something new you seek to learn.” “Water and shadow are closely related.” “Gravity affects earth and water more than air and fire.” “Your mana must be less weighty, Max.” “Keep it simple, for now, keep it close to your skin.” “Your skin is a membrane.” “A membrane you can extend.” “Extend it from your palm.” “Just a little bit.” “Shape the mana from your palm, concentrate it as a barrier.” “The membrane between the water and your water.” “”Raise your hand.””

The unified voices demanded to be obeyed and Maximillian obliged. His hand slowly rose from the puddle. Water dripped from it, as could be expected, but a notable amount stuck to the bottom of his palm. It stayed like a thick layer of translucent skin.

“You kept your eyes closed, good.” “You know to listen only to what is said.” “Slowly turn your hand around.” “Keep the mana steady.” “Do not let the water move.” “Do not let it-“ Laralia stopped when the surface of the water suddenly returned to regular and the liquid ran down Maximillian’s palm.

The gravity mage clicked his tongue. “I slipped up there,” he admitted, but still kept his eyes closed. “Do I repeat the same process?”

““Yes.”” Laralia’s duet guided him through the first steps. They had to try two more times, until Maximillian successfully managed to turn his hand without the water returning to its natural state in the process. “Good, you’re doing well.” “Your prior knowledge aids you.” “You keep your emotions under control.” “Your frustration is well masked, ready to be unleashed at what deserves it.” “Keep it for now, those thoughts have their uses.” “Keep control.” “Expand the membrane you have created.” “Put it between your skin and the water.” “It is still your membrane.” “It is still your water.” “Make it rise.” “Move the membrane of the water and the water will follow.”

What started to rise from Maximillian’s hand could best be described as the soggy pancake of magic. It certainly was magic and the water did certainly rise a few centimetres. It had an unsteady, flat shape, sloshed around like a water balloon suffering from vertigo, and finally collapsed again. Regardless, it had happened.

“”Open your eyes,”” Laralia said.

Maximillian obeyed there again and was quickly met with both bodies leaning in and placing a kiss on each of his cheeks. “I take it that I am doing well?” he asked with a charming smile.

“”Very well, Max. You apply your prior knowledge with great understanding,”” the gemini elemental responded in duet. “”These are the basics. From here, it is repetition, learning and acquisition of skill. To learn to form water. To learn to move without first touching it. To make these processes subconscious.””

“A good thing that I plan to spend my day here, then,” Maximillian remarked and glanced over to John, when the Gamer started moving.

“That was interesting, but I think this is where I best take my leave,” he explained the obvious. “Undine will check up on you every now and again. When you want to use the teleporter to go home, just tell her.”

“Will do… thanks for the opportunity, buddy.”