I AM A MAGE BUT WITH MILF SYSTEM

She was close.

The threshold to the middle stage of the Sovereign realm hovered just ahead of her. She could sense the barrier clearly now. It was thin and trembling under the pressure of the charged energy.

One more strong surge would be enough to break it.

The knowledge sent a wild, almost desperate hunger through her. After years of slow, careful progress, the chance to leap forward in a single afternoon was intoxicating. Her fingers dug into the chair. Her head tipped back slightly. The last of her resistance was fraying under the sheer force of what her body was experiencing.

Julian felt the change in her.

He had been monitoring the flow with precise control, watching how her vessels accepted the deeper current and how rapidly her core responded. The speed of her advancement was even greater than he had anticipated.

He could push her across the threshold right now if he wished. The barrier was already cracking.

But...

he stopped.

The river of mana slowed, then thinned, then almost faded. The heat that had filled her pathways began to recede. The circuit closed. His hands remained on her shoulders a moment longer, before he finally lifted them away.

Clara gasped as if cold water had been poured over heated skin. The fire inside her body did not vanish all at once, but the driving force that had been pushing her toward breakthrough was gone.

She sat rigid in the chair, her chest rising and falling in rapid, shallow breaths. The nearness of the middle stage still pulsed inside her core, yet the final step had been denied.

For several long seconds she could not speak. Her mind reeled between the lingering physical intensity, the shock of her own moan, the impossible cultivation progress, and the abrupt emptiness left by the withdrawn mana. When she finally found her voice, it came out hoarse and unsteady.

”Why… did you stop?”

Julian stepped back into her line of sight.

”We cannot continue anymore.”

The words were simple and final. Clara’s face showed a brief flicker of frustration before she forced it away. She could not allow herself to appear greedy or unseemly now. This had been a demonstration and nothing more. To display anger or disappointment after receiving such a clear display of power would make her look foolish and weak.

”Why?” she managed to ask.

Julian’s expression remained calm and composed.

”You felt it yourself,” he said. ”You saw how powerful and potent the process was.”

Clara gave a short nod. There was no point denying it. Her body still carried the proof. The widened pathways, the denser core, the four or five years of progress compressed into a single session - all of it remained vivid and undeniable.

Julian continued.

”That is exactly why we must stop. The technique is an intimate process. It must only be carried out with a partner. You need to understand its true nature.”

He paused, giving her the time to take in his words.

”It is dual cultivation.”

However, Clara was not surprised.

She had already known this midway through the exchange. The moment their manas had begun to intertwine, the moment the circuit had formed so naturally and the reverse flow of her own energy.

This were enough to hint that the techniques Kraven was using was dual cultivation.

Moreover, she also felt how it stripped away layers of her morality and ethics. In its place, it gave birth to a pure, physical and spiritual desire that rose from the core of her being and refused to be ignored.

Mana of two individuals, intertwining with each other, refining and elevating both participants, pushing them toward heights neither could easily reach alone.

What could be more intimate than that?

She sat in the chair, still flushed and slightly damp, and forced herself to meet his eyes. The residual hunger in her body had not faded. What she gained was still real. But the young man in front of her had stopped at the exact moment she needed it most, and now he stood there explaining everything like she was a student in a lesson.

”I am aware of what dual cultivation is,” she said, her voice carefully controlled. ”I recognized the pattern when the circuit formed. That does not change the fact that you stopped me at the threshold.”

Julian bowed his head slightly.

”If I had continued,” he said, ”I would have needed to be more intimate with you. Breaking the wall requires greater closeness than simply holding the shoulders.”

Clara’s breath stilled for a moment.

She knew exactly what he meant, yet hearing him state it so casually still sent a wave of heat across her face. This young man was her potential son-in-law. The betrothal between him and Elara had already been arranged.

For him to speak of intimacy with her, the mother, in such a direct manner should have been unthinkable. The fact that she was the one who had asked the question did not make the reality any less embarrassing.

Still, she needed to know.

If the next step required only a little more contact, perhaps it was something she could endure for the sake of the progress she had already tasted. The nearness of the middle stage of the Sovereign realm still pulsed inside her core like a promise just out of reach. Four or five years of advancement in a single session. The temptation was real.

What am I thinking?

The thought cut through the haze of residual heat and hunger.

Am I being corrupted already? I came here to protect my daughter, and now I am calculating how much further I might allow this man to touch me for the sake of power.

The internal conflict made her fingers tighten against the fabric of her gown. She forced herself to meet his eyes anyway. Curiosity and calculation had brought her this far. She would not leave without a clear answer.

”How much further?” she asked. ”If the shoulders are not enough, what does the technique actually require?”

Julian regarded her for a long moment but did not allow triumph to show on his face.

”In the dual cultivation method I inherited,” he said, ”there are three points of vital intimate contact. Each one deepens the circuit and allows the mana to reach places that ordinary exchange cannot.”

He paused, letting the first silence settle.

”The first is the lips.”