PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

Making a great effort to shift the weight of his eyes, Desmond managed to wake up with the help of the woman who was now looking at him with those green eyes of hers filled with a loving sparkle.

Pushing back slightly from the pillow, Desmond witnessed the vast expanses of smooth, fair skin Claire displayed without even a hint of shyness.

No matter how many times Desmond saw Claire naked, it was a beautiful sight he would never tire of, his hands reached out to cup Claire’s waist before pulling her up onto his chest.

Stealing a passionate kiss from her, Desmond felt revitalized as he tasted the sweet nectar that was Claire’s lips for him, not satisfied Desmond’s tongue began teasing Claire’s tongue.

Claire made only a small token resistance as she enjoyed Desmond’s touch, a small strangled moan escaping her fragrant lips as she gasped for air as Desmond placed one of his hands on one of her buttocks before squeezing a few times.

In the same way that Desmond never got tired of seeing Claire naked, Claire would never get tired of having Desmond enjoying and playing with her body, every time he touched her it was the best experience in the world and if possible she wanted to do love with Desmond for a full week nonstop letting him flood her with his seed allowing her to have a child from the man she loved.

Of course, Claire still had some sense of propriety and responsibility so the topic of having children could only remain a fantasy for her at the moment, of course, the main problem with her earlier fantasy is that she didn’t think her body would last a week being devastated by Desmond.

Feeling one of Desmond’s hands begin to tease her breasts, Claire had to quickly pull away from Desmond to tell him the reason she came: “Desmond, don’t be naughty, we don’t have time, you have training with Sasha. ”

.....

Feeling a bit reluctant from the lust that had already built up inside him, Desmond replied, “Sasha can wait a bit, just one round and that’s it.”

Pouting her lips as her gaze turned reproachful, Claire replied, “It’s never just one round with you, plus you always take a long time; If we start now, Sasha won’t forgive you for being several hours late.”

Slightly embarrassed by Claire’s blunt comment but proud of his prowess in bed, Desmond had to admit that Claire was right and after a few more kisses and caresses they both parted ways and prepared to start their day.

Arriving in the backyard, Desmond was greeted by a bolt of fire which he quickly dodged as his heart leaped in surprise at not expecting to be attacked in his own home.

“You’re late” Sasha exclaimed with another ball of fire in her right hand while Estela prepared and finished placing a tea set on a small garden table.

What else could Desmond do besides nod and apologize? From the slightly jealous expression on Sasha’s face, it was obvious that the alchemist was upset that Desmond was wasting his time fooling around with Claire when he was supposed to come here to train and spend time with her.

Another thing that hadn’t gone unnoticed by Desmond was that lately, Sasha seemed a bit annoyed when Claire was spending the night in Desmond’s room and it seemed like she wanted to take the next step in their relationship even though she hadn’t found the opportunity or the courage to do so.

The problem was that Desmond just hadn’t had time for Sasha recently, with his responsibilities and activities piling up on a mountain; Desmond hadn’t spent much time with the alchemist recently which led to the latter locking herself in her lab.

Because of that Desmond took the opportunity that arose from him being on medical leave from the military to spend some quality time with Sasha and because he planned to train his mana control skills; he asked for help from Sasha who had some pretty absurd control skills.

“Kiss”

“What?”

“Give me a kiss and I forgive you”

Seeing Sasha’s shy expression and flushed face accompanied by her adorable and pampered request, a note of warmth was accompanied by a note of guilt that came together to touch Desmond’s heart who took a step forward before kissing Sasha’s raspberry lips.

Satisfied and embarrassed, Sasha let Desmond’s delay go by, and soon they both began the training Sasha had arranged.

Surprisingly the content of Sasha’s first phase of training to increase Desmond’s control over metallic mana was very simple but turned out to be more difficult than Desmond expected.

Estela, the little golem maiden, used her innate abilities to increase the hardness and quality of the stone pillars in the small kiosk in the center of the courtyard where Desmond usually performs kata.

Desmond’s job was to concentrate the precise amount of mana on his ring finger and adjust the density and sharpness of the mana to carve patterns into the stone surface in a regular and even measure following the patterns dimly etched by Sasha’s fire on the surface of the pillar.

At first, Desmond made several mistakes failing to penetrate the stone surface, then the problem was a lack of mana focus which caused Desmond to break the stone instead of cutting it.

Several hours passed during which Estela was constantly repairing the stone pillar that was damaged over and over again by Desmond’s lack of control, who had not even advanced a dozen centimeters in his exercise.

Sweating with a mixture of exhaustion and annoyance, Desmond felt rather foolish for having made so little progress but didn’t question Sasha’s methods, partly out of his respect and affection for her but also because Desmond had witnessed Sasha’s an ability that required an unimaginable degree of control.

In the end, Desmond spent another four hours of trial and error, advancing only another dozen centimeters on the first carving of the stone pillar, given the dimensions of the pillar and the complexity and size of the patterns to be carved; Desmond reckoned it would take him months to carve the stone pillar if his control didn’t improve.

By the time Desmond stopped, the moon was already decorating the top of the starry sky and Sasha had just returned with dinner prepared by Estela in a spare moment.

Over dinner, Desmond asked Sasha what he needed to progress to which Sasha replied, “You need focus and concentration as steadfast and sharp as steel, remember that mana control is more than just your physical affinity with the mana but also your mental affinity with it; you were too impatient to progress which prevents you from achieving the optimal state of mind to control mana.”

Immediately Desmond realized his mistake, it turned out that Sasha was a better teacher than he expected, she not only knew exactly where his mistake was but also explained it to him properly only after he failed and asked for advice allowing Desmond to reflect first instead of directly giving him the answer as soon as he started.

“From now on you will spend at least three hours a day carving on the stone pillars until you have managed to carve all four of them, I warn you the difficulty will only increase for each pillar you finish”

Desmond barely had a chance to finish digesting Sasha’s response before she poured a bucket of cold water on him telling him about his training routine and how it would only get harder.

“At least I won’t spend all day carving stone pillars,” Desmond commented bitterly as he thought of how his short vacation seemed to have no rest in it.

“Of course not, you still use three other elements, and tomorrow I will teach you exercises to increase your control over the water element, once you spend the day mastering the basics of the exercise you will add three hours a day of training in that element and we will move on to the following elements in the next few days.” Not seeming pleased with Desmond’s lazy attitude, Sasha began ticking off Desmond’s training list without a hint of mercy in her voice.

At that moment Desmond felt that he needed tears to express his pain because, after a simple calculation, it seemed that he had to say goodbye to twelve hours of his day-to-day to complete Sasha’s training.

“Of course, we can’t forget about practical training, I remember there were some skills that you wanted to hone, so we will add three hours to the training at the end of the control practices for you to try to hone those skills” Like the sword of Damocles that falls with brutality, Sasha’s words decapitated Desmond’s dreams of laziness and relaxation who never expected Sasha to have such a strict side to her when it came to training.

Poor Desmond never thought that Sasha’s teacher had educated the young alchemist with almost Spartan techniques, which led Sasha to fully explore and perfect her natural abilities.