Zenith academy book 4, p.1
Zenith Academy: Book 4, page 1
Contents
PREVIOUSLY ON ZENITH ACADEMY
CHAPTER 1 - ACTING HEADMASTER
CHAPTER 2 - CULTIVATORS, CULTIVATE!
CHAPTER 3 - ALL YOU NEED IS PIZZA
CHAPTER 4 - GORRA HUNGERS
CHAPTER 5 - PANDEMONIUM IS OPPORTUNITY
CHAPTER 6 - DRAWING AGGRO
CHAPTER 7 - BAD PRINCESS BRIDE IMPRESSIONS
CHAPTER 8 - THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN AN EMAIL
CHAPTER 9 - THERE IS A REMEDY
CHAPTER 10 - BULLY FOR YOU
CHAPTER 11 - NOT A DEMOCRACY
CHAPTER 12 - MASS HYSTERIA
CHAPTER 13 - DEFEND KLANA
CHAPTER 14 - LINKS STRAIN
CHAPTER 15 - BUILT UP AND TORN DOWN
CHAPTER 16 - JD THE AUTHOR
CHAPTER 17 - OLD FRIENDS
CHAPTER 18 - OF NIGHT AND ROACHES
CHAPTER 19 - ROACH PROBLEMS
CHAPTER 20 - IT’S TREASON, THEN
CHAPTER 21 - GET GOOD
CHAPTER 22 - A QUICK DIP
CHAPTER 23 - FULFILLMENT
CHAPTER 24 - OUT OF EXILE
CHAPTER 25 - A HOUSE DIVIDED
CHAPTER 26 - PUBLIC BATHHOUSES AND THEIR DIRE IMPLICATIONS
CHAPTER 27 - NINETY SECONDS
CHAPTER 28 - COUNTDOWN
CHAPTER 29 - THE BOOGEYMAN COMETH
CHAPTER 30 - NEAR ZERO
CHAPTER 31 - ENDLESS SUPPLY
CHAPTER 32 - THESE FINAL QUESADILLAS
CHAPTER 33 - PLANS B AND C AND D
CHAPTER 34 - WITHOUT USING MAGIC
CHAPTER 35 - ORAL SKILLS
CHAPTER 36 - EPILOGUE
HAREM-LIT COMMUNITIES
ZENITH ACADEMY
BOOK 4
COPYRIGHT © 2025 BY
CASSIUS LANGE
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or literary publication.
PREVIOUSLY ON ZENITH ACADEMY
KABOOM! CRACKLE-ZAP!
“Testing! Testing! Is this mana-mic on? Can you hear the sweet sound of electricity? Oh, yeah! Gather ‘round, you flightless ground-walkers, because the star of the show has arrived! I am the Thunder Chicken! The Impundulu! The Lightning King! Or as the Boss likes to call me, ‘TC’. I zap things, I steal health, and I look good doing it!”
“You look like a—”
“Shut your spit-bucket, Levi! You’re just jealous because I have feathers and style! Now, where was I? Oh, right! The recap! Buckle up, buttercups, cause things got cold for a bit!”
“It started back in Sklava City. The Boss, or Master JD, the human with the magic ink, got the whole gang together. He took the short, bearded rock-lovers and the red-skinned leather-clad ladies and mashed ‘em all into one big, happy family. Then the scary Headmistress threw them into a dungeon to fight a Wyvern! A real one! It was breathing fire and stomping around, but the Boss and his crew? They totally killed it.”
“The Boss went to see the stick-bug Lord, Xanis. And out of all the scrolls, he picked ME! I was just a scroll then, but the Boss poured his mana into it. He stretched me out, gave me these thunder-thighs, and BAM! I was born! A glorious creature that can call on lightning from the heavens to smite all evil! Then I landed on the stairs and broke ‘em. It was still a grand entrance.”
“Once everything was settled and festivities over, we gathered and marched North. Into the Wilds. We were supposed to be scouting, but then we met the Ocelin. Nasty cat-people. They tried to trap us, but we ran into a cave. And guess who lived there?”
“A giant popsicle,” Pyro called out, flickering into existence. “A cold, mean popsicle.”
“Totally. She was too frosty even for me,” Levi added.
“You’re talking about Shiva, you morons! The Ancient Ice Elemental! She froze everyone! Literally turned the Boss’s girlfriends into ice sculptures! It was chilly! She made the Boss undergo a ‘test’. She stuffed him full of raw, cold mana until he almost popped like a balloon. But the Boss? He’s crazy. He mixed and matched and got super-charged!”
“Don’t forget the crawlers!” Pyro said, interrupting again.
“Oh, right! The Skitters! Thousands of ‘em! Bug-spider things. We were stuck in that cave for days. The Boss used his ink magic to build a cooking pot or something. I have no idea. It makes us stronger and is called a Brekkel! He melted down the dead bugs and turned them into power-cubes. It was gross. But hey, it worked. He fed the cubes to Pyro and Levi and made them ‘Uncommon’. They got bigger. I, of course, was already perfect.”
“Also, the Boss summoned Talos. Big guy. Made of rocks. Doesn’t talk much. Likes to smash things. Solid dude all in all.”
“Anyway, we made a deal with Shiva and her pal, the Skitter Queen Arachnia. We all marched north to Fort Klana. It’s this huge castle by a lake. But there was a monster in there. A Serpentide. A dragon-fish thing of monstrous proportion. It tried to eat us, and you know what Shiva did? She slapped it! Slapped it right in the snout! Now it guards the lake like a sad puppy.”
“We found the Mind Stone in the castle. Turns out, it’s not just a rock and is actually alive. It’s like… a brain? Gross. But valuable. Shiva opened a portal and we zapped back to Sklava City to save the day.”
“But the old leaders? The Elders? They were bad eggs and wanted to enslave the stone and break it into pieces. The Boss said, ‘Not on my watch!’ He tried to be diplomatic, but then the swords came out. The Elders turned into nasty things and wanted to take it from him!”
“The Boss grabbed everyone he could. The elves, the dwarves, the guards…anyone who wanted to live. We fought our way to the portal, and I zapped people, while Talos did a lot of his smashy-smashy. We jumped through the portal and returned to Klana.”
“So now we’re back and staying in a broken castle. We’ve got an army of refugees. We’ve got two ancient monster ladies who are definitely plotting something. And we’ve got a giant sea snake in the pool.”
“But most importantly, they have Me. And I am ready to bring the thunder!”
CHAPTER 1 - ACTING HEADMASTER
Living in a magical fantasy world has its drawbacks and advantages. On one hand you strike a deal with a goddess of elemental ice. On the other hand, she wants to drink your soul. Fighting for your life on a daily basis, sustaining grievous injuries, losing friends and making enemies are certainly some of the lesser desirables.
There are certain benefits as well.
Well… there is also falling into the clutches of a capricious ancient elemental of impossible power, drinking up her poisonous mana and nearly killing yourself while cultivating it. After that, there’s the coming up against hordes of literally thousands of giant spiders, and then confronting the most colossal spider of all, the queen Arachnia. And when it turns out killing wave upon wave of spiders is just a test by the aforementioned ice queen?
Okay so there are quite a few drawbacks, as it turns out.
The benefits, though. There definitely are benefits.
For instance, the beds are infused with mana, so even if they’re just packed with straw, they feel like you’re at least in a four star hotel. Also, with this being a world unlike any other, beds come in any size you like. California King anybody?
More importantly, you get to play big spoon to your vulnerable and formerly shy elf maiden girlfriend. At the very same time, you get to play little spoon to your boisterous, incredibly confident Joten ice giant girlfriend. And if that weren’t nice enough, you can always open up your personal storage ring and pull out a piping hot slice of peach—
“What in the—”
I peered at the interface for my storage ring in confusion, then remembered we’d polished off all the peach cobbler last night. Skadi, Princess Big Spoon, had a voracious appetite. She would always loudly declare that this wasn’t fit for a Joten warrior, that her kind needed to eat what they killed, and beat her fist against her chest. I could hear her voice in my mind, telling me she tore into the half-frozen carcasses of dead beasts when freezing to death.
Glad she didn’t do that any longer, I relaxed into Skadi’s embrace and pulled Mabel tighter into me. If I couldn’t have a peach cobbler in bed with two of my girls, I was going to get a whiff of moon elf.
She smelled exactly like the peach cobbler from last night. It wasn’t something I had often, but it was rich, sweet, and full of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Idly running my hand up and down Mabel’s thigh, her trim waist, I then went to cup her breast, only to find Skadi had beat me to it.
I probably shouldn’t have had so much fun last night, but there’d been dwarven ale involved. A lot of it. I was getting better at pacing myself, and avoiding the hangover using a technique Belu was teaching me. Some tasks in this world simply required the application of intent and a little mana from the old soul sea.
“Oh my God.”
That was my cue to get up.
“Do you have any idea what time it is?” Mabel groaned and covered her ear. “Why does the apocalypse tortoise roar sound like Chloe?”
“That’s because it is Chloe!” Chloe said. “Ugh! I can’t believe… both of them, JD? Really?” She added another, longer ‘Ugh!’ for good measure. Then threw a pillow at me.
“I’m up! I’m up!” I told her, while Mabel complained about the noise and Skadi just kept right on quietly sn oring.
Chloe looked like she hadn’t slept… because she hadn’t. She was smeared with blood and dirt as well, but looked mildly annoyed instead of desperate to tell me bad news. I sprang out of bed anyway, sad to abandon Mabel’s wonderful innate ability to smell like my favorite scents, and Skadi's all-encompassing size.
“I am so annoyed at you!” Chloe said.
“Because… you couldn’t join?” I tried, grinning sheepishly.
She stalked off, and I summoned my robes back on. I was getting the hang of the Heaven-Defying Palmire Robes, and could now consciously resize them or adjust the fit. With a bit of mana and intent, again, I was able to reshape reality just a smidgen.
Now, with the robes appearing as loose hakama pants and a monk’s shirt, I hurried to catch up.
“Don’t be upset, Chloe. We talked about this.”
She turned half a grin my way.
“I’m upset that phones aren’t a thing anymore, and there’s no video of last night. Ugh, I’m getting turned on just thinking about it.”
“Neither of them would mind a little roll in the hay, I’m sure,” I told her.
I knew this work rotation was going to cause some friction, and we’d discussed it when I drew up the plans.
Everybody in Fort Klana worked, save perhaps its patron saint. Everyone, whether they were crafting barrels, manning the guard towers, or drawing up schedules for work, had something to do. Five days on, one day off, and on work days, ten hours on, fourteen hours off. That was the deal, take or leave. Sometimes you had to handle the night shift, because attacking clans of beasts were nocturnal and also intelligent. Yes, we had a water dragon in the seventh realm. No, that didn’t preclude us from having someone on watch at all times, all around the fort.
We were also rotating out to handle the really nasty jobs, like sewage, or the boring and difficult jobs, like hauling water or tending crops. People needed clean facilities and water just as much as they needed calories so they didn’t die.
Case in point, Chloe was in her second week on night watch. I was on tending fields, Skadi had days on watch, and Mabel naturally worked in the clinic.
Chloe gestured to herself.
“I am super gross and definitely need a bath. We had a little scuffle last night, thanks for asking.”
I scooped Chloe up into my arms and trotted off.
“To the bath with us!”
“Don’t think you’re out of the doghouse,” she grumbled, but the gorgeous blonde looped her arms around my neck and snuggled in for a short princess carry.
The bath this high up in Fort Klana’s tower was magical, and reshaped itself to our will like in the tower. While it didn’t possess the intricate carvings or relief sculpture of the original dorm room, it did come with colorful mosaic tiles in patterns like you’d see back on earth all over the Middle East.
In a few places, those mosaics took the shapes of behemoth beasts: a six-legged earth tortoise, a lithe and frilled water dragon, a bird with wings outstretched and crackling with lightning, and a vaguely humanoid bunch of walking lava. Smaller elementals peppered the ceiling tiles behind their elemental behemoth counterparts. They came in earthy brown boulder guys, drippy water creatures of all types, lightning wreathed air creatures or living cyclones, and finally living fires or blobs of lava.
We fed some crystals into the short indentations at the water’s edge, and channeled our will into the recessed Roman bath. Immediately the water heated.
I helped Chloe strip off her battle gear, revealing an even more impressive figure than when I’d met her. She truly was a swordsman now in build as well as skill. Almost no fat and she had a defined set of abs, toned arms and legs, and impressive breasts. She did a bit of a pose, then scowled as if she remembered where she found me, and finally stepped in. Sheets of blonde hair spread into the water, instantly cleansed by the mana-infused water.
“You coming in?” she asked suggestively.
Those bright blue eyes watched me with barely contained interest.
I struck my own pose, banished the Palmire robes, and loved the sound of Chloe’s giggle at my display.
“You nerd.”
“If only the clothes would shoot off my body and onto the floor like in Bruce Almighty.”
Chloe welcomed me in with a lingering kiss, and I sank into the steamy bath with great pleasure. She melted against me and wrapped her whole body around mine. I felt myself harden with the silken feel of her skin sliding against mine, until she finally pressed herself fully against me.
“You have any left in the tank for your poor little first girlfriend?” she breathed. “I’d hate to think you spent everything you had boning Mabel and Skadi.”
“For you? I can always manage.” I kissed her and absorbed whatever compliment she was about to throw my way.
We had roughly two minutes to get deeper into the action before the air cooled considerably. Chloe shivered against me and began cursing.
“Aww come on!” she cried as Shiva entered the room.
“I fail to understand,” the elemental goddess said. “You complained when I smashed through the ceiling… and now you complain when I use the door. Your boyfriend should consider you impossible to please, dearest Chloe.”
“Her boyfriend considers her a wonderful partner who is sometimes a handful,” I said, instantly disliking the third person, “But he’s still very much in love with her.”
All of us froze at that point, and not literally. My shock and Chloe’s wide eyes were mirrored by Shiva’s absolute stillness. Unlike a person, she could go absolutely motionless, like a piece of furniture. The room went even chillier, and the crystals we’d slotted into the bath’s edge really had their work cut out for them.
“What did you say?”
I tried to play it off like it wasn’t a big deal.
“You know what I mean. Love. I love my Chloe, she loves me, we love each other. I’d do anything for her, she’d do anything for me. We’re… desperately in love, in an alternate reality, you know…”
“Hey nerd, you’re rambling.”
I turned at the affectionate tone of her voice to find her eyes brimming with tears.
“Why does she make eye water when she appears pleased with your words?” the elemental goddess asked.
I reached out and took Chloe by the hand, and she once again plastered herself against me. Only partly for warmth. She was squeezing me just as hard as her swordsman’s body would allow.
Pretty damn tight as it turned out.
She was squealing to herself.
“Oh, my God! Oh, my God!”
“Sometimes when humans are quite happy,” I told Shiva, “Or feeling a great deal of empathy, they can have this reaction. We also like to think we prize love above all else.”
“You have just done the greatest achievable human action for your Chloe?” Shiva mused. She reached up and touched the corner of her eye. I remember when she too had shed a tear.
“I guess that’s right.”
Shiva froze the world around her. As she touched down on the tiles in the bathroom, a rime of frost spread outward away from her. She had done away with the dreadlocks, and now sported shimmering waves of dark blue hair.
She kept remaking her appearance, and I was starting to think it was not just deliberately for my sake. She was starting to look a bit like a human, but those ears definitely had a bit of a point to them.
She had taken to wearing strips of white hide, not unlike what Skadi wore, and still had on pieces of something akin to battle armor: bracers, shoulder pads, and a circlet.
“My visit has a reason, I will have you know. I have located a source of powerful mana,” she purred.
“That’s wonderful,” I told her.
Getting down on her knees, she crawled toward the bath. I got an incredible view of her cleavage, and the moment I dragged my eyes back up to her face I knew she’d seen. The smirk she gave me was a hundred percent mischief.
“We should leave immediately.”
“I’ll see who else wants to join, and we’ll leave on the morrow.”
She pouted, but nodded.
“Tomorrow at dawn.” Then she leaned forward and sniffed me. Her hair dabbed at the surface of our bath and began freezing it.
I knew she was intoxicated by the soul sea I was cultivating. I also knew the deal we had with one another: she got to feed, and I got protection for my friends.
