"I think that sounds like an excellent idea, if everyone's all right with it!"

Nods all around.

Laurent can check out of the inn they were staying at previously with only a token effort by the innkeeper to convince them to stay.

Eelesia's room at the Highest Lair is indeed spacious. The bathroom is twice as big, with a separate room for the toilet. The bed is three times as big and clad in silk sheets. There is a separate kitchen with the magical equivalent of a refrigerator. There is an entire sitting room with sofas and complementary tea.

Once that's all resolved, they can find the training ring. It's not unlike the various designated sparring areas Laurent has seen while scouting for skills, but unlike those this one is in-doors and has rental equipment. It's a far cry from a modern gym but it seems to exist in a similar spirit.

"All right, time to repeatedly drive myself to complete physical exhaustion!" he says brightly. "Efficiency!"

God help him, he's developing a catchphrase.

It's totally his catchphrase at this point.

Coventina offers him a tit.

All three girls have tagged along for this, if only because Eelesia needed to show them the way, Coventina is necessary to the plan, and it would've been cruel to ditch Sky if everyone else was going. So here they all are. Watching.

He takes his drink and takes a moment to be grateful that the second set of clothes he bought is more exercise-appropriate than the first and then goes forth to do the exhausting activities.

"Hey can I try some too?" Eelesia asks Coventina. "It's just I've really never heard of Nectar of Sin before and I'm really curious about it, and also your body is very beautiful so doing science that involves putting my mouth on you would be extra nice unless you have boundaries about that?"

"I have less than no boundaries about that," Coventina assures their new mage. "Science away, and if you get off on it all the better."

"I see, so the way you think about it is like that. Okay!"

Eelesia peers at Coventina for a moment and then, rather than going for a breast, drops to her knees and dives into the silky folds between her legs, carefully licking up a measured amount of arousal. She pulls back, pulls a stop-watch out of her pocket, and watches it while she pinches the back of her hand.

"Hm!"

She stands up and reaches out to gently squeeze Coventina's nipple, then licks the resulting drop of milk. Stares at stopwatch again.

"Hm!"

She takes a single strand of hair, breaks it, then watches it carefully. It doesn't grow back.

"Hmm!"

Eelesia continues to sample Coventina's nectar in various ways, clearly enjoying herself on both intellectual and base fronts.

Sky just watches this happen admiringly.

Laurent is mostly not actively watching them but he does see enough to realize what's going on and be incredibly endeared by it. (Also he hopes she's taking notes, because he wants to hear the results later.)

Eventually the first drink wears off and he has to come back for seconds. "Having fun?" he asks Eelesia. "Learned anything interesting?"

"Did you know there's an inverse relation between diffusion and regeneration rate? Her sweat lasts the longest and heals the slowest, followed by her milk, then her saliva, and then her vaginal secretions. I even tried a drop of her blood but that didn't work I think the skill isn't meant to be used on vital fluids just the external protective fluids and also milk but I think she's only lactating in the first place because she has the skill!"

"Oh, that is fascinating! It suggests we should be doubling up, under at least some circumstances—although milk still has the best throughput which I think still makes it optimal for casual use—speaking of which," slurp.

He reviews the past fifteen seconds of interaction in his head, and pops off the breast long enough to say, "Hi, Coventina," with a slightly sheepish smile, but then resumes drinking. Because Efficiency.

Giggle grin. "Hi."

"Actually, we figured out that my fluids mix. They don't stack like separate effects. You'll just get the average of whatever you're exposed to."

"Oh, yes, we also noticed that method of exposure matters. Her fluids are about half as efficacious just in contact with unbroken skin as when consumed. But also they're anywhere from four to eight times as efficacious when in direct contact with an open wound, depending on the nature of the wound."

Sluuuurp "nature like how?" slurp.

"Clean cuts heal almost instantly. Abrasions heal almost instantly. Bruises and the like are much slower, relatively speaking. Still, it's very good healing. Observed behavior is highly similar to the very highest quality of healing potions only it doesn't hurt while it's working like potions do."

There, that should be enough that he can have another go at exhausting himself. "Enjoy your testing! I'd say you could come talk magical theory with me if you run out of things to test but I expect not to have much breath to spare for conversation. I'd listen, though."

Over the next two hours, Laurent can make what by mortal standards would be considered absolutely insane gains as he pushes his body and it just keeps healing up in response. When he checks his adventurer card, he'll see that he has gained a single point in Fitness.

That's pretty great, all things considered!

Now he wants to track now much time that took versus how much it takes to get the next point... although he's already been doing some strenuous activity between being the card and now, so it might not be perfect... hmm.

He approaches his teammates. "I hope I'm not boring anyone. And I thought of a legitimately celebratory activity! I want to cook food. I don't think I'll be much good at it yet so I shouldn't be offering to make everyone dinner but I still want to try it."

The girls exchange looks.

"We were a little bored."

"I wasn't going to complain..."

"Cooking sounds like fun, though! Will the kitchenette in my, I mean our, suite be enough do you think?"

"We should figure out a better way for me to do this so you don't all have to stand around waiting for me the whole time. And yes, I don't plan on anything too ambitious so the kitchenette should be fine. Maybe I could get one of those pull-up bars... grocery shopping, that's a necessary prerequisite of cooking..."

"We should check to see if any of us leveled up first, now that the rush is over," Eelesia notes. "Oh and I know where Market Street is, it's not far from Fletcher Row which is right next to Arcanist Avenue where all the good Mage shops are."

"Good point. Yes, all right, let's go do that."