Recharge: A Second Chance at Life in a World Where Boobs Hold Mana
II
“Kyaaaaaaa!”
Karina had been walking for less than an hour. There was no sign of Fernvale; no buildings or signs of any kind. So unless someone was having a very good time under a nearby shrub, that was a cry for help. In either case, her first impulse was not to run toward it. She wouldn’t run away, but simply stroll past, as if it was none of her business, which it wasn’t.
But then, if this world followed some kind of game logic, it might be a quest. Damn it. She jogged toward the screaming.
A small, thin figure with long blonde hair cowered against a tree. She clutched a basket of fruit to her chest while a creature loomed over her. A creature with green skin and long, jagged ears. A creature wielding a club—with spikes. Was “goblin” a slur in this world?
“Somebody help!” The girl yelled. “Just leave me alone!”
Yup, definitely a quest.
Karina tamped her staff on the dirt and attempted her best hero pose: back straight, head high, feet shoulder-width apart, and her free hand balled into a fist on her hip. “Hold it right there!”
Her body tingled with a draft of cool air as something happened to her dress. Karina thought she heard someone say, Finally.
Glancing down, she gasped at the amount of skin on display. Bare skin. Her bare skin. Somehow, her dress had transformed into some kind of pervy armor. Glittering plate and chain mail hugged her boobs like a metal bikini top. Her bottoms matched, with a belt around her waist and a few scraps of chain mail barely covering her hips. She wore strappy, Roman-style sandals with matching leather bracers on her arms.
“What the fu—” She’d have to figure out her magic wardrobe later. She had the goblin’s attention.
“Ignis!”
One fire bolt stopped it. At the second, it roared with rage. The third, close enough for the blast of heat to blow hair from her face, dropped the creature to a smoldering heap.
Karina held her nose as she approached the corpse; was she supposed to loot it or something? She extended a foot to nudge the body before remembering her toes were bare. In seconds, her outfit changed back into a dress, her sandals returning to leather shoes. She decided against touching the goblin. It had no pockets anyway.
“Um… thank you so much…”
The woman she’d saved had lilac skin, high cheekbones, and pointed ears.
Karina said, “If there are elves, then this thing is definitely a goblin. Or, was…”
“Hmm?” The elf wore a puzzled expression, but her eyes were studying Karina a bit too thoroughly.
“Never mind. You’re welcome.”
The elf walked in a circle around Karina, speaking to herself. “The accent, the masterwork frock. You’re an advena, a hero from another world? Such magic… Even old Enra can barely light a candle with her fire. Though I shouldn’t wonder, with mana sacks like that…”
Her cheeks reddened, and she took a step back. “Sorry, sorry! I’m a bit of a flibbertigibbet.” She made a slight bow. “Venri Greencloud, at your service.”
“Karina Novak. Call me Karina.”
Venri beamed. She was about Karina’s height, but with a slim, almost boyish figure. From a distance, she’d seemed quite young, but up close, Karina saw the faintest lines of age on her face, and her eyes held a gravitas only decades of life could produce.
She seems nice.
It was the same voice from before. It seemed to come from inside Karina’s chest, speaking in a crisp RP like a haughty Kate Beckinsale.
“Who said that?” Karina spun, looking all around. Her breasts wobbled despite the snug bodice, and she thought she heard the voice grunt softly.
“Mistress?”
The voice didn’t speak again, and now Karina looked like an idiot in front of this nice elf woman she’d just saved. “Nothing, probably just a gnat.”
Venri’s pale brows twitched in confusion, but she said, “If you’re going to Fernvale, I know the inkeeper there. Can I offer you a room and a hot meal as thanks? Only if you were going that way—I would never deter you from your Quest!”
While her dress had pockets, they were empty, which meant the dress and a magic staff were her only possessions. She hadn’t been looking forward to sleeping on the ground or rolling the dice on wild berries and mushrooms. She couldn’t tell the safe ones from the poisonous ones back on Earth, let alone in an entirely new world. “That’s, um, very kind of you. Lead the way.”
***
“More ale, hero?”
There were still several good swigs of ale in Karina’s tankard. She’d lost count of how many times Lialeth had refilled it. She held a hand over the cup to keep the innkeeper from pouring more into it.
“I’ve definitely had enough, thank you.”
“Are you certain? It’s on the house.”
Venri’s sister ran the sole tavern in Ferdale, and everything had been on the house. Lialeth claimed the title of older sister, but Karina could see no difference in their ages. The innkeeper was somewhat fuller-figured than her sister, which wasn’t saying much. Among humans, she’d barely have been considered thick. She’d proven very grateful to Karina for “rescuing” her little sister, piling food in front of her for hours. Stew with big chunks of meat and unfamiliar vegetables that was so delicious she ate it without asking. Bread crusty and warm, rich and chewy enough to be a meal on its own. And a tankard of ale that Lialeth had never allowed her to empty. The voice had returned a few times throughout Karina’s meal to tease her about the elf’s attention, but she tried to ignore it.
Karina took shallow breaths, which were all that the bodice of her weird dress would allow. “One more ale and I’m liable to split a seam.”
You’d better not.
Lialeth’s eyes darted to her cleavage. Karina’s old wardrobe was chosen to avoid such looks, but she found the attention not entirely unwelcome.
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Lialeth grinned. “Your room is ready for you—if you’d like to retire. There’s no urgency, of course.”
The common room had been raucous and welcoming when Karina arrived, but dusk had fallen some hours ago. A handful of patrons remained, tiredly nursing their ales, and the bard’s playlist had shifted from rowdy jigs to softly strummed laments.
“That sounds like an excellent idea.”
With her sister covering the bar, Lialeth showed Karina to her room. The tavern had several smaller rooms with bunks, but they’d offered Karina the suite. A spacious double bed covered in handmade quilts dominated the room, and a small fireplace kept away the night’s chill.
“Wow, this is really nice—” Karina turned to find Lialeth had followed her into the suite.
In the bustle of the common room, Lialeth had been a pretty, attentive server. Standing close enough to touch, candle and firelight making warm shadows dance across her face, she was gorgeous. Skin that had seemed flawless was dusted with freckles across her nose and cheekbones. Lips that had held a ready smile and pushed refill offers plumped in a generous, kissable bow. Blue eyes that had sparkled with mirth downstairs were now bottomless indigo pools. Firelight flickered across their surface as they stared at Karina, dropping to her lips then meeting her eyes, a silent communication transcending worlds and species.
“Is there any other service I could provide, Hero?”
Ah, finally we come to it. She truly wants to unlace me.
“Stop that!” Karina muttered.
Lialeth shrank toward the door. “Apologies, Hero—er, Mistress. I’ve been too bold by half—“
“No! Wait… Sorry, I wasn’t talking to you.”
As quickly as she’d retreated, Lialeth was back. Centimeters away. Hands hovered so near to Karina’s hips that their heat tingled her skin. Breath like a sun-dappled forest tickled her neck. Lialeth’s eyes locked onto hers, pleading. “Then… you’ll allow me to… thank you properly?”
For a wonder, the voice remained silent.
Random hook-ups weren’t her thing, but fuck it, neither was murdering goblins with fire. “A-alright…”
The elf’s nimble fingers disappeared below Karina’s boobs as she loosened the laces on her bodice. A grateful sigh escaped her lips, a moment before Lialeth’s found them.
***
“I’m afraid I don’t understand, Hero,” Enra said.
“Please, call me Karina.”
The only healer in Fernvale was a human woman who looked to be in her early fifties.
“Very well, Karina. I’m confused. You want to make your mana sacks… smaller?”
“Why do you keep calling them that? Do you not have the word ’breasts’ in this world?”
“We do,” Enra said. “But it’s rarely used unless… Are you with child, Hero?”
“What? No!”
“Apologies, apologies. You must truly come from another world if you don’t understand mana.”
Karina sighed. “Yes. Explain it to me like I’m five.”
“Eh? Ah, yes. A very clever joke, Hero.”
The healer dug through the clutter of her shop as she spoke. “Even I have heard the tale of how you boldly rescued Venri Greencloud, so you must know some magic from your old world. It’s much the same here, but the fuel for our magic, mana, is stored in mana sac—er, breasts. This is why most mages are females. Males are generally used for close-up combat and mana contracts. The larger—”
“Wait, mana contracts?”
Enra’s placid, lecturing expression melded into a smirk. Creepy in the way the innkeeper’s looks were not. “Mana is recharged by giving and receiving pleasure. In rare cases, it can even increase your capacity.”
“Increase my… You mean they might get even bigger!?”
Something nagged at Karina about the previous night’s rendezvous. It’d been her first time with another woman, though Lialeth’s patience and generosity had more than made up for Karina’s lack of experience. The elf had given her three of the best orgasms of her life; if Lialeth hadn’t slipped out of the suite afterward, making the nature of the encounter clear, Karina would’ve been tempted to stay in Fernvale for the rest of her new life. But the healer’s words reminded her of something she’d dismissed in the throes of pleasure. Beneath the usual feelings, the heat, the urgency, the crescendo, she’d felt something strange in her boobs. A tight, tingling sensation, somewhere between pleasure and pain. Had that been her mana recharging? Had her stupid boobs grown? Hauling around 34J boobs was bad enough. Knowing they’d slowly keep growing due to her condition was worse. Having them grow even faster because of some ridiculous magic system? This fantasy was turning into a nightmare.
Enra tutted. “As I said, it’s very rare. And you’re quite blessed already, so there’s scarcely need— Ah, here it is!”
She moved a stack of bundled herbs aside, lifting a tattered, well-loved booklet in both hands. She blew a small cloud of dust off the volume and handed it to Karina. “This was my spell book. It’s now yours.”
“I can’t take this!”
Enra waved a hand with more tutting. “I memorized every page years ago, and lack the mana to cast more than a handful of the spells. You’ll get far more use out of it than I ever did.”
Karina flipped through the worn and dog-eared pages. “Thank you, thank you very much.”
“As to your other concern, I prescribe a change in perspective. Whatever your old world was like, man—er, breasts are prized and venerated here.”
“I’ll, uh, keep that in mind, thanks.”
Karina got directions to the capital and left Fernvale, determined to find a more open-minded healer.