Welldark B1 Ch. 01

"You need to have finished the three half-year courses on interdimensional conduct," the screen showed a picture of a battlefield atop some god-forsaken moon. "Never forget, the world you will enter after this university is one that no government or god could hold sway over. The cosmos is simply too vast. Clashes between you and other Anomalias are inevitable, but you all should have respect for one another's life and the rules of the place you are visiting. The three base courses are the absolute minimum we require of you to pass."

The picture flipped and revealed four aces, each of the different categories. "You are also obligated to visit the class on forming an Anomalia bond before you finish your first semester. Most of you will learn the technique before the semester is over. You will have some free time to look forward to for the rest of the semester, once you manage."

"You better learn that quickly and make me your Queen," Alrethia stated and poked her boyfriend in the side.

Willt let out an amused grunt, "You know it doesn't matter if I can do it if you can't. An Anomalia goes both ways." He could have left it at that, but I knew Willt too well to expect him to pass up on teasing his succubus, "If you don't manage in time, maybe I will find another Queen?"

"I will strangle you!" her voice turned a couple of heads and her expression went from angry to forcefully calm once she noticed. "I will make you apologize for that later!" she grumbled in a more appropriate level of voice.

Willt let out a small sigh when the people turned away from us, then he winked in my direction. The gesture basically said 'I will enjoy it' and I gave a thumbs-up in return.

With the logic of an annoyed, lovestruck woman, Arlethia decided that only my foot deserved a stomp because of that exchange. I didn't have enough room to dodge properly. The attempt made me half stumble and fall into the cleavage of some girl. It was a very soft landing, bountiful in its warmth and depth. A single heartbeat I could feel, then I was shoved back. I hastily apologized.

"My lady, I meant not to be so crude," I stated with a little bow that I hoped would be either elegant or funny. Either could serve as a conversation starter. "Although, if you would let me repeat the feeling, that'd be a kindness. I would be happy to discuss this over some coffee."

"No," the woman in question shot me down and I was subsequently ignored. That wasn't too surprising and I backed off. If she wanted to search for someone less upfront about their desires, then that was her prerogative. Personally, I did think that people that were present on Welldark and not at least somewhat openly perverted were not being honest with themselves.. All of these people would become part of a lifestyle that employed harems as the baseline. Behaving like they were not interested in the erotic in the slightest irked me. They could have just stayed at home and not bothered with learning about the Dimensional Truth, if that was the case.

Admittedly, she did react better than many true prudes. I had not gotten myself slapped.

"This is why you are still single," Alrethia giggled at my conduct like the schadenfreude filled demoness she was. "Feel up a lady and then go straight to cheesy pick-up lines. How about you behave like a normal person sometimes?"

"This is the normal me," I grumbled, feeling the sting of truth at her words. It wasn't like I never had any luck with the ladies. Quite the opposite. To be fair, flirting with succubi was a lot easier than the average woman. Regardless, it was hard to find the right mixture of sexy, openly depraved, loyal, and mindful to stomach my philosophising yet perverted personality. I was willing to bend to get better along with someone, I was young and I was open to bettering myself, but I couldn't fundamentally change who I was.

If there was any place to find such a woman, or multiple women, it was a place like Welldark.

I concentrated back on the presentation just in time to catch the tail-end of the third mandatory class. "...The battlefield training has a required minimum of two semesters in total. As you can see, you can be done with the mandatory classes and graduate in just one and a half years. The recommended duration of your stay is three years, but we won't keep you longer than necessary if you are eager to leave."

Most courses, ranging from alchemy to zoology, were set to relay their knowledge over a six-semester duration, with classes of increasing difficulty, thus the three-year mark. Personally, I aimed to get the forced classes done early and then pick up some things I had fun with and could pick up ladies at, with a dash of professionalism through combat training at the side.

"There are also a few mandatory activities. Every year we will hold a ranking tournament that places your Anomalia in one of the five tiers, dictating your quality of life on this campus. The tournament consists of both practical and theoretical segments. Being the strongest or smartest on its own will assure you a good quality of life, but not the highest. You need to excel at both."

The picture on the screen switched to a breakdown of the five tiers. Derilea quickly explained all of them.

The lowest tier was called the Wood Division, as their apartments were literally wooden shacks a fair bit off the campus, only the 10% worst of the students had to live there. Although she didn't outright say it, the implication was that those that ended up in this tier should think about dropping out and going to a less prestigious Cosmic University. They were going to be sent there anyway, if they failed to graduate.

Up from there was the Bronze Area. Most of the students, an entire 40% would end up there. The living standards were acceptable, nothing more and nothing less.

Middle of the road were the Iron Ranks, where people would be treated like one would actually expect at a prestigious school like this. Large apartments with ample space for the Anomalia members and a small number of publicly available luxuries. They took a share of 25%, which was another fairly sizable chunk.

Then came the Silver Knights at 15%, the people there enjoyed a truly luxurious lifestyle. They had large rooms for themselves and their Anomalia at large, easy access to supplies and a large amount of other small benefits.

At the top of it all were the Golden Eagles. They took the last 10%, the best of the best of Welldark, and placed them in a palace so large that they would rarely see more than their own Anomalia. Among the Golden Eagles were also the Elite Ten, those who were handed privileges such as the hovering lofts under the ceiling.

"As first years, you will stay in a separate dormitory until your placements next year," the headmaster's Queen continued as the table flicked over and showed a picture of a modern skyscraper. Tall walls of dark tinted glass overlooked a forest and looked generally pleasant to live in. "This is the same design of building as the Iron Ranks will get to inhabit. If you want to maintain your lifestyle, you are encouraged to study hard," Derilea let us all know in no uncertain terms.

The fact that half of all students were going to be hit by a downgrade by virtue of the system was quite harsh. Only 10% of the total body would come to live in 'destitute' conditions, still, harsh was the word I would use. I wouldn't call it bad, however, struggle was the ultimate motivator. Aside from that, I wasn't too worried about myself.

"Unlike the Iron Ranks, however, you don't get to share an apartment with your Anomalia, since you don't have one yet. Instead, you will be assigned up to nine roommates randomly. Each bedroom will be assigned to two of you, although nothing is stopping you from switching with one another within your apartment." It wasn't a new system, but it still caused some commotion as people whispered their displeasure about having to separate from their current friends. Derilea allowed the crowd to get it out of its system by waiting for a moment.

One of those affected was Willt, who made a sour expression, as if he had just mistaken a glass of lemon juice for proper lemonade and thrown it down in one gulp, "Well, guess that apology will have to wait for a while until we get some privacy."

"I don't want to be separated from you for a whole year," Alrethia whined, letting her honest feelings show and nestling against the second-generation warlock's side.

"It's just going to be the living situation," Willt tried to make the whole thing sound less annoying than it was. Personally, I didn't see the problem, but it was also a thing tailored to me and my single status. With the gender distribution the way it was, the randomized situation would tend one or two guys sharing an apartment with eight or nine girls. It would help many to start talking to potential partners.

"Or," I, thusly, interjected, "You could assert your dominance and just have sex with everyone else knowing. By the end of the year, everyone is going to be fucking on every surface anyway."

"Not everyone is as brazen as you are, Karitas." Willt firmly shook his head, clearly uncomfortable with the idea, "I like remaining clothed in public."

"Your decision," I shrugged. Personally, I was open to just having sex wherever, even in public. Not that I was some sort of exhibitionist. I just didn't see what the big deal was. Sex was perfectly natural and I would do my damndest to satisfy whoever I was with, so I had nothing to hide. I snickered, "Can you imagine the poor guy that has to share his room with another guy?"

"Don't jinx it," Willt warned me as the commotion died down.

"I hear many of you are dissatisfied with that situation," the camera switched back to displaying the white-haired maid's face. Only for a moment, however, as she stepped back and gestured at a woman behind her.

She looked remarkably alike Derilea. The same straight, backwards combed, white hair, long enough to reach her lower back, pale skin, green eyes, pink lips and overall facial features. Even her bottom heavy figure was similar. The biggest differences were age and that this new woman wore the school's uniform, rather than a maid one. She still carried a silver salver with her and bowed diligently, however, giving her the same vibe as Derilea.

"This is my daughter Aclysia, she came first in this year's entrance exams," there was a hint of pride in the otherwise diligent voice. "As such, she will have the privilege to pick her own roommates for the next year and she will live in a facility more akin to that of the Silver Knights. If she so desires, she can share it with her friends or begin the assembly of her Anomalia," Although it was the norm, nothing stated that men HAD to be the ones leading a harem. I wasn't quite sure if this was insinuating that Aclysia was a lesbian, wanted to share whatever lover she picked, or wanted to build herself a reverse harem. The third choice was incredibly unlikely to find a lot of participants; I wouldn't partake in it, but more power to her if she wanted to try.

"We are willing to extend that privilege -- if you come down here and give her a challenge or outright beat her in a battle." A few arms rose, one of them Arlethia's, a brazen few not caring about the potential of public humiliation if it meant having a shot at a better lifestyle, but Derilea wasn't done yet, "Those of you that decide to take the challenge and lose will be automatically placed in the Wood Division for the next year."

There was a massive deterrent. Anyone who lived out in the shacks would have an incredibly hard time to convince the hot ladies to come home with them. Vice versa, women would have it easier to get back into the graces of some successful man, that was just the nature of gender differences, but it would still be a rather large roadblock in meeting higher profile individuals. It was also just a general inconvenience to live out in the sticks.

"Nobody then?" Derilea asked, looking around carefully. She didn't seem to expect any more raised hands. Instead, she found someone standing up.

Not me. Well, okay, technically I was, but I was still amongst other people in the seatless space between aisles. The person that solely stood up to the challenge presented by Derilea was a woman. As chance would have it, she was very close to where I was, just a couple of seats into the row to my left.

She was unusual in some ways and too attractive to take my eyes away from her. Everything about her was gorgeous. The red shirt of the uniform stretched around her chest. Just a tad more of the juicy goodness and the buttons would have started giving away some indecent gaps between them, but as they were they fit perfectly underneath.

I could just imagine that they fit more than well into my hands as well. They were large enough that they would spill between my fingers as I squeezed and they would likely be a fantastic jiggle to look at while we were engaged in 'recreational activities', to put it in nice words.

Her shirt was orderly tucked into the belt of her pants, making it span over her stomach in a semi-taut fashion. Although that took away some of the details of her waistline, it still stuck close enough to give away that she had a flat and definitely fit stomach and thin waist. That was pretty usual for this environment, basically every person in the room was going to be a fighter of some description. A degree of athleticism went along with that.

Instead of the skirt most women choose to wear, she had opted for the black cotton pants more commonly associated with the male part of the student body. This barely robbed me of any details, as the pants sat perfectly tight around her legs, showing a nice balance between thickness and length.

What really drew my gaze was her ass. A fantastic, juicy piece of art that filled out her pants in their entirety. Two orbs of even size, the seam of the cotton softly sinking into the space between them. The mere outline of it was erotic and I did truly want to know how it would look like naked and jiggling.

She had the complete set of an hourglass figure. Everything about her luscious curves was in proportion. The entirety of her body could have served as inspiration for some mason to create a statue in honour of a goddess. An impression that was strengthened further when I had a look at her face.

A healthy tan tinted her naturally pale skin towards a very light brown and her facial structure had something aristocratic about it. Not in the same way as one of those nobles that kept their nose firmly raised in arrogance, just a sense of distance between her and everyone else that reflected in the high placement of her cheekbones and soft swing of her chin. Even her nose seemed to be carefully crafted to fit perfectly, the bridge running smoothly with an inwards curve until it rose to finalize in the cute tip. Underneath sat a pair of sinfully red lips, the lower slightly bigger than the upper one. Her mouth had a natural glossiness to it.

On her head sat a black tricorne. A piece of headwear with three tips, one pointing forwards and the other two going off to the sides at the back. The whole thing had the shape of an elongated triangle. I had only ever seen those kinds of hats in documentaries or museums.

As rare and odd as it was, she wore it well. Stylish and clean, it sat on her head, black with a grey trim and a large feather fixed on the right side. Black hair flowed out from underneath. Clear effort had been put into taming the silky cascade, showing in its well-combed appearance and the white ribbon that kept it bundled together at her neck, from where it continued down to the middle of her back. Despite those visible efforts, some of the strands decided to live up to their natural inclinations and chaotically ran wherever they wanted.

Her expression was one of discipline, eyes focused and face calm. That the attention of the entire arena slowly shifted to her didn't seem to bother her in the slightest. Her amber eyes stayed aimed at Derilea. All she did was fold her hands behind her back and waited to be addressed.

"Oh my, we seem to have a challenger, we don't get that every year," Derilea spoke with a happy smile on her face and gestured for the woman to approach. I could easily guess that Derilea was hoping to show off her daughter's capabilities.

The woman with the tricorne moved wordlessly. Turning on her heels, she stepped forwards with the sharp grace of a honey bee. A display equally threatening as she seemed necessary for the completeness of nature. That beauty, sharp and elegant, outstanding even between all other women around her, charmed me. I felt like I was looking at a singular dark blue rose in a field of bright flowers.

Her path brought her up to me and we exchanged a glance. Slit pupils met my blue eyes. In order to meet my gaze straight-on, she had to raise her neck just a little bit. I was about half a head taller than her. I was immediately struck by something. A tuck at the heartstrings, the singing of chords in my soul and the less romantic release of chemicals in my brain. There was more to that than just desiring her body. Although it certainly was a factor, it was more than just a pretty face that had me interested in her.

"I feel like you won't need me wishing you good luck," were the words I smilingly presented to her, as I made room to let her pass. I wanted to say more, but this wasn't the time. She stood there looking at me for one more second, with what felt like curiosity. It was hard to discern, as her stoic expression didn't change and her red lips remained sealed. Then she passed through the gap I made for her.

"Satan," Arlethia whispered, "Willt, can you try talking to her after she ends up in the shacks? Would love to have her in your Anomalia. She is sizzling hot."

"You can most certainly try, but I advise against it," I told the two of them. "If you want to, you can compete with me. Don't think that'd end in anything but disappointment for you." I used my most charming smile to take the edge out of those words, this was still bantering among friends. With a kernel of truth to it.

"Yeah, like you will suddenly land with someone like her," Arlethia rolled her eyes as she made fun of me. I didn't honour that with a response. She already knew that I had 'landed' with more than one attractive woman in the past, while her boyfriend had struggled to even notice the signals coming from his childhood friend. Instead, I focused on the screen that showed this woman as she entered the ring.

A blue energy field, made up of hundreds of hexagons, flared up as she passed through it. Some kind of barrier to prevent stray attacks from hitting the observers. With long strides, she advanced over the tiled floor, tall boots cladding her feet. They were not a bit sexual, but marching boots made for military purposes and long marches through difficult terrain.

"This is your last chance to back down," Derilea warned, more out of tradition than necessity.

"I will not retreat," the raven-haired woman spoke and her voice was like evenly spread honey on freshly baked and buttered bread. Sweet, smooth, and determined with some sort of unidentifiable accent to it that made each sentence an individual line in a slow song. It reached the entire lecture hall through the enchantments on the ring. "I made my decision. There's no value in delaying things."

Derilea and her King, Taurus, glanced at each other, nodded and then vacated the platform, leaving it to the unnamed woman and Aclysia.

It was fortunate for everyone that the headmaster's daughter had not taken after her father in any aspects of her looks. She was purely in keeping with her mother, from the white hair to the green eyes and the maid-like behaviour. Indeed, the only way those two seemed to really deviate from each other was age.