Chapter 10

Feeling a bit annoyed at her behavior, I decided I had waited long enough. My dick had been rock hard this entire time. It was even starting to hurt a little. I had planned to fuck her from the beginning. Everything else was just me having a little fun first. I had already played with her body enough, though, and if she was going to act like a dead fish, I might as well finish. I got onto my knees and scooted up between her legs. I could see the fertility ward drawn just above her vagina, partially covered by her pubic hair. I just had to trust in the ring. Even Andromeda said that it was a powerful artifact that would keep my dick safe.

As I drove home, I was still shaking with excitement and exhilaration. I had done it. I had left the friend zone with a girl. I not only lost my virginity, but I had banged a cute mage, and a close friend of Tara. If I wanted to get close to Tara in the future, wasn’t this the perfect situation for me? I could use Amelia to stay in contact with Tara. For the longest time, I had written off our relationship as over, but with things as they were now, I believed that I’d be able to make her mine eventually.

The sun was nearly rising by the time I pulled up in my dorm’s parking lot. It had been an exceptionally long night. I could still barely believe that it was only yesterday that I was a loser virgin being blackmailed by an obnoxious bully. Yet, everything had seemingly changed overnight, and I owed it all to the pact I had made with Andromeda. She hadn’t contacted me since the bedroom. I had a feeling that until I was close to enslaving a target, she probably wouldn’t make another attempt in a while.

That meant that I couldn’t disappoint her. Yet, I was extremely tired, and all I wanted to do was sleep. I used my card to enter my dorm room, and they headed up to my room. As I reached for the doorknob, the door suddenly flew up. I found myself staring face-to-face with a woman. She looked like she had been dressed to party earlier, but her hair was not a mess, and her makeup was smeared.

“M-max… hey…” She suddenly put on a smile with only a little bit of guilt mixed in. “There you are…”

“Hello, Anita,” I responded.

This happened to be a girl I knew, and that was because I had been tutoring her for the last two months. She had contacted me based on the recommendation of friends, and I had agreed because I had heard rumors that she was slutty. Of course, it helped that she was a fellow knight and was allowed to have sex whenever she wanted. I had hopes that I’d get in her good graces enough that she would sleep with me.

It wasn’t like with Denise, who had a deep crush on. Rather, it was more like she was a rebound girl I was hoping to break the ice with. She was the slut I hoped to share my first time with so that I could bring a more experienced game next time. I suspected she knew my desires. I had given her free lessons all this time with the intent of getting closer to her. She had flirted with me in kind, batting her eyelashes and showing her cleavage while I did entire homework assignments for her in the name of tutoring.

Yet, her she was, and I couldn’t help but glance behind her to see my roommate, Greg, lying in bed with his giant dick hanging out. He was well known on the floor, not for his knightly abilities, but his abnormally large dick. He slept with every woman he met, and still mages fought over which one would eventually bond him. It couldn’t have been more obvious what happened. She came to the room looking for me to help her with something, and with me gone, she had ended up fucking my roommate.

Now, I was just curious how she would play this off. I did not doubt that I was in Anita’s friend zone, but at least she knew my interest in her was anything but friendly. I couldn’t have been more obvious about my desire for her body. When I found a girl in my friend zone fucking around, they always acted one of three ways. They either got upset, acting like they didn’t enjoy it, or it was borderline assault induced by alcohol and bad decisions. They tried to avoid me, using any excuse to stay away for a certain degree of time, hoping I’d just forget the sight of them being run through by other men, or they’d pretend nothing happened, trying to gaslight me into thinking I imagined what I saw.

After seeing her face change expression a few times, she finally settled on nonchalant. “Hey, Maaaaaax.”

She did elongate my name in that way only girls could do when they wanted something.

“What?” I humored her.

“Well, you see, I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night, and I forgot my class is one of those stupid classes that meets on Saturday. That’s only in four hours! I need to get this assignment done before class, but there is no way I could get it done. Can you please do my assignment for me, please, please, please, please…” She begged, leaning toward me with her tits hanging out.

It seemed like she was going to go with option three, pretending that nothing even happened. I could still see the hickey on her boob for crip’s sake. She was waiting eagerly with all the assumption that I’d agree to her ridiculous command. Had it been yesterday, I might have done it too. I had still been desperate for any validation from a girl, and even though I’d have been crushed upon finding out that she had slept with that massive tool of a roommate Greg, a small part of me might have held the belief that if she was willing to bang him, that meant she was a slut, and I might still have a chance too.

Yet, that was then, and this was now. I had already lost my virginity and also enjoyed a woman untouched by anyone else. There was even a spell confirming that her pussy was for me and me alone. In comparison, Anita didn’t hold the same appeal to me that she might once have. Her high-mileage, stretched-out cooter that had been run through by who knew how many guys just left me feeling a bit gross. Her overt attempts at flirtation that once kept me captivated only gave me the feeling that she was a trash person.

“Ask for an extension,” I stated.

“Eh?” She looked confused that I hadn’t already pulled the paper in her hand out of it.

“Talk to your teacher, ask for an extension, then do the work yourself.”

“I’m sorry?”

“That’s a good start. Say something like that to your teacher, and he may believe you.”

I could see the violent battle going on in her face. It was rare that I turned a woman down, and rarely done deliberately, but from a genuine inability to fulfil their desires, but I had seen it before. When a woman expected you to do things for her, and then you didn’t, it was like a switch went off in their head. They’d become one of the most vile, hateful people you’d ever meet, and they’ll feel completely justified all because you didn’t do what you might have done before.

Her expression turned into one of disgust. “You’re just a pathetic loser anyway. Who needs you!”

With that, she pushed past me and walked down the hallway. I sighed and walked into the room, shutting the door behind me.

“You’ll never get in bitches, treating a girl like that,” Greg said, scratching his balls shamelessly.

“Yeah… I get it.” I walked by him and climbed up into my loft bed and lay down.

There was a time I had been envious of Greg. If I could have acted like he acted and gotten women, I would have done it in a heartbeat. However, I never managed to replicate his uncaring demeanor. At the least, there was one part of his anatomy I’d never be able to replicate. I shook my head and then turned away.

The one nice thing about Greg is that he didn’t make a lot of noise, and he didn’t pry into my business. We only exchanged a few words, and I didn’t even have to be nice to him. The only real thing that was honored was that if there was a hat on the door, he was getting laid, and I should go elsewhere. Thankfully, the basement had a few couches, which were comfortable enough. I soon fell asleep. The next morning, I woke up to the buzzing of my phone. Yawning again, I checked out who was calling. I was surprised to see it was Denise. I quickly answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Max… I finally got a hold of you.” Denise seemed out of breath.

Denise had been trying to get a hold of me. I couldn’t help but feel a bit of excitement deep down.

“Sorry, I had a late night last night,” I admitted.

“Yeah, well, you better get here quickly. Knight Shambles is furious.”

“Huh?”

“Did you seriously forget? It’s the quarterly physical. You can’t take the Rite of Knighthood if you’re not up to date.”

“Shit! Ow!” I sat up, hitting my head on the roof.

“Max?”

“I-I’ll be right there.” I groaned, hanging up.

She had been completely right. I had forgotten about the quarterly physical. One Saturday a quarter, they had a physical test day. All the knights had to go outside and perform a variety of feats. Naturally, the expectation was that out were improving after each test. However, there was also a lot of competition within the knights themselves. Although it wasn’t officially acknowledged by the school, the knights had developed a ranking system similar to mages, where their knightly ability ranked them from F to SSS. It was theoretically possible for a grade D-rank knight to pass the Knight Valour Exam and become a Chevalier, but they would be known as a D-ranked knight, and few mages would be interested in bonding them.

In some ways, the ranking was more important than their title, as this was a measurement of their fighting prowess and ultimately how they would be able to help the mage in battle. One had to be C rank to even be considered worth a mage’s time, and the mages naturally chased the higher-ranked knights. However, I had always hated the rankings because they put far too much emphasis on physical prowess. I was much more skilled at using my qi, but most of the challenges they used banned the use of qi. As a result, I had been known as a grade F knight, the lowest in the bunch.

I leaped out of bed. My roommate was already gone, possibly already having gone to the physical. I hadn’t bathed since the previous night, but all I could do was spray myself with deodorant, throw on fresh clothing, and hope. Max finished dressing and raced out the door. As soon as he left the dorm room, he started sprinting at full speed, the wind whipping past his face. Max was a knight, so he wasn’t unaccustomed to running. However, he was a bit surprised at his speed. When he finally arrived at the training field, he wasn’t even tired or out of breath.

Seeing his classmates lining up to complete each of the tests, he quickly heads for a line, hoping to slip in unnoticed. This was too much to hope for, as a knight immediately looked his way and then began to stomp toward him. Max wanted to hide, but he knew that was impossible.

The knight approaching him was a fat, balding old man by the name of Knight Shambles. He had a large beard and a potbelly, and he also wore a perpetual frown on his face.

“Max!” Shambles bellowed loudly enough that countless knights and knight-initiates glanced our way. “You’re late!”

Max winced. He knew that there was no way to avoid this tongue-lashing. Knight Shambles was a bitter, unlikeable man. From what Max had heard, he had graduated and no mage would take him, so he had no choice but to stay at the school as a teacher. As a result, he resented male knights completely. Among them, Max was the one he disliked the most.

Why Max? Max had his theories. Since Max lacked physical prowess and was considered an F-ranked knight, most of the other knights considered him a failure. Yet, he had seemingly built relationships with countless women who talked to him openly. Max knew that these women had merely friend-zoned him and that they only cared about using him for their desires. Shambles, on the other hand, saw him as undeserving of female attention. The result was that Shambles took every opportunity to make Max’s life miserable.

“I apologize,” Max spoke and bowed as politely as I could as soon as Shambles stood in front of me. “I was delayed.

Knight Shambles snorted. “Apologies won’t cut it, boy. You need to start taking your duties seriously. Look at you, always chasing after skirts and forgetting your responsibilities. It’s embarrassing.

He didn’t attempt to restrain his voice at all, and several of the students around him giggled and snickered as Shambles dressed him down publicly. Max wanted to argue back, but he knew that he had no proper explanation. It wasn’t like he could say he overslept because he was out last night banging a mage, or that he had completely forgotten about this exam because he had been focused on his personal life. Even if he said those things, they’d likely only get him punched in the face.

“You know, Max, I’ve been teaching knights for a long time. I’ve seen all types—the dedicated, the lazy, and the downright useless. You, Max, fall into the last category. You’re a disgrace to the knightly order. But you know what’s worse? You think you’re something special. Let me tell you something, boy, being nice doesn’t make you a good knight. Strength, discipline, and dedication do.”

“Sir… please don’t be so hard on him.”

A gentle voice spoke out from nearby. Max looked over to see that it was Denise, who was the only one who spoke up for him instead of laughing. She was standing nearby and had a concerned look on her face. Max couldn’t help but feel his heart flutter. There was a reason he loved Denise. She was always kind and brave.

“Stay out of this,” Shambles said, but his voice eased slightly when he spoke to her.

When he turned back to me, looking at her, his expression darkened again. “Alright, how about we do it this way then.”

He reached out and grabbed my arm and then pulled me out of line. He took me over to one of the other machines, one that didn’t have much of a line, and shoved me in front. The machine in front of me was called the strength dummy. Its purpose was to gauge the strength of an individual. There was a cushioned dummy standing there, and you had to hit it as hard as you could. As soon as you hit it, a number would appear above it.

Shambled crossed his arms with a grin on his face. “If you can’t get at least a 1000 psi, then get out of my training field.”

His words and actions were naturally drawing attention. Many of those who were previously completing their tests had stopped to watch this exchange. There was a great deal of chatter that entered my ears.

“1000 psi? That’s the strength expected of a Knight Errant?”

“I only know of three knight initiates who can hit that hard.”

“How well can this kid do?”

“He’s an F-rank, what do you think?”

“He’s screwed.”

I had to agree with them. My highest hit had been 532 psi. Although that might seem like a lot, it was about a hundred less than the class average at the moment, and nearly half of what he wanted. It was an unattainable increase since my last quarter, and Shambles knew it. He was grinning ear to ear, expecting me to fail. I glanced over at Denise, but she could only shake her head in pity.

I could already see the future flash before my eyes. If I failed this strike, I couldn’t take my physical. If I couldn’t take my physical, I couldn’t redo the rite of knighthood exam. If I failed the exam, then I’d be dismissed from school. One single punch would ruin my whole career.

No! I couldn’t just give up. I had to give it a shot. I’d put my all into this punch. I had no other choice. Getting into the stance I had practiced a hundred times. I gathered all of my strength just as I was taught. I felt a burning sensation through my body that I had never felt before, and when I threw out my fist, I felt energy surging through me.

Bang!

The sound against the dummy was devastating, resounding throughout the entire field, which had gone quiet as everyone looked toward me. I was shocked at how hard I punched. Even the dummy looked to be dented, although that could be my imagination. There was a few seconds of silence, but then a number appeared above it.

1,112 PSI.

I stared at it in disbelief. I had punched over a thousand? How was that possible? That’s when I realized it was the devil mark. This was another benefit of the devil mark. It amplified strength. This left me flabbergasted. I had heard that those cultists who accepted a devil mark were stronger, but only by like 20%. Since most of them indulged in their sinfulness, a knight could overcome this weakness with hard work. Yet, this mark had more than doubled my strength! Just who the hell was Andromeda?