Reivan wasn't sure what time it was, but it was probably before midnight since it hadn't been that long after he'd eaten dinner.

"Phew."

Sitting cross-legged on the cold stone floor and soaked with his own sweat, Reivan struggled to stop himself from humping the space between the bars.

'Fuck! I'm so goddamn horny! I wanna have sex! Sex! Ahhhhhh!'

He now realized that the "heat" he felt earlier was not the trial that would help him unlock his qi. What he previously felt could not even compare to the intense desires filling his body right now.

The only thing that stopped him from going berserk with lust was the discipline cultivated by years of training in the martial arts, and his education as a member of the royal family.

Sadly, sheer willpower could not possibly let him hold on for long.

"Goddamnit." Reivan cursed out loud despite himself. While keeping his back turned from the entrance, he did his best to cover his raging erection. But every attempt to do so failed immediately since his shackles would stop him whenever he tried; almost as if the shackles and his crotch were magnets with alike poles, a repelling force would push them away.

No matter how much he tried to conceal — or even adjust — the embarrassing physiological phenomenon, his hands felt nothing but air.

"You seem to be having a hard time, Your Highness," Criston called out from behind him with a gentle voice filled with pity and sympathy. "Perhaps conversation will help?"

"Thank you for your sentiments, Sir Criston." Reivan glanced back with a strained smile, inwardly glad he felt nothing for the man. "But I would like to focus on keeping my sanity for now."

"Understood."

Reivan returned to his original position, allowing him to fill his sight with nothing but a wall.

'Emptiness. I am emptiness...'

The wall was made of pure stone. It was hard and cold. Surprisingly clean too.

There was absolutely nothing erotic about it.

But over time, it was like a blank canvas that gradually got filled with images of pretty women with skimpy outfits while dancing and doing lewd TikTok trends.

It was bearable for a time since he was somewhat used to scrolling past them with minimal attention back then, but soon enough, the women started looking very similar to Aila, the woman he met at the Serpent's Haven. Sometimes, the girls even resembled a certain red-haired bombshell that he knew...

'Fuck!'

He never expected his past life to haunt him in this way. It may have been easier to get through this trial if he was an ignorant pre-pubescent boy who knew nothing about those types of things.

But him?

Obviously, he had looked up some lewd photos on the internet like every other teenager with access to the internet. So unlike most boys in this world — who, at most, only had their fantasies of the nearest pretty woman they knew — Reivan had tons of reference materials.

Personally knowing a ridiculously gorgeous woman like Elsamina didn't help either.

'I'll get through this. I'm not some horny bastard! I am Prince Reivan of the Aizenwald royal family...!'

Reivan bit down on his lip, hoping that the pain would help him settle down.

'It feels good!?'

Unfortunately, the pain he had expected became pleasure instead.

Fearing that he might awaken to something undesirable if he continued, Reivan stopped self-inflicting pain. He took a deep breath, then began cycling the air through his lungs.

Suddenly, he was struck with inspiration; he closed his eyes so he wouldn't have to look at the wall anymore. It worked for a time, but then images of Elsamina wearing hot pants, a bunny girl outfit, and all sorts of other erotic outfits appeared directly in his mind instead.

With no other choice, Reivan grimaced as he thought very hard about what Donovan looked like when he was naked. He'd never seen the old man with even his top off, but knew that there were well-defined muscles underneath. The old man never got sweaty during their training sessions, but perhaps adding a sheen to the baldy's skin would help...

"Phew." Reivan immediately calmed down, his mind returning to serenity. Of course, his body was still screaming for him to relieve his lust in some way, but his desires had cooled down considerably.

"You're handling all this surprisingly well." Viktor — who'd arrived without Reivan's notice — sat down next to the young man and patted him on the back. "I remember back in my time... I was already humping the floor before an hour passed!"

'Shit. That's genius... Oh wait, no it's not!'

Reivan glared at his uncle for giving him such an idea. "Go away, uncle."

Wasn't he here to help out? Why was he making things worse!?

"Relax, relax. You're too prickly." Viktor shook his head with a smile. "Though I suppose this works in your favor since any negative emotion will help."

"Really?" Reivan rolled his eyes, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Am I supposed to thank you, then?"

"Save that for after I give you some really good advice."

'Hoh?'

"Uncle, you're the best." Reivan cheered in a monotone droll. "Really handsome and strong and all that. Please tell me this advice of yours."

Viktor wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Brat."

"Please. This is unbearable..."

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He was sopping wet so his clothes were sticking to him uncomfortably, his body felt like it was burning up from the inside, and to top it all off, he had a boner that he couldn't get rid of.

'I'm pretty sure penises aren't supposed to stay erect for hours on end! I'm not some hentai character!'

With that in mind, he really wanted some sort of solution to his current predicament — a solution that wouldn't stop him from unlocking his qi after this blasted trial.

"Alright, alright. I can see you're having a hard time, so I won't delay any longer." Viktor cleared his throat and rubbed his nephew's back in consolation. "Just so you know, the reason why I didn't tell you all this from the very start is because I wanted you to have sufficient experience of this event. It's for when you have kids of your own. So don't resent me for standing back for a while."

Reivan had wondered about the same thing, so he easily accepted the logic behind Viktor's actions. "Fine. Just, please hurry. I really don't like being in heat."

"Nobody does. Everybody likes fucking but hates the heat."

"What crude language. I'll tell Mom."

"Shut up and listen." Viktor decisively switched the subject back to what was really important. "Since we're from a high-class ice-attribute bloodline, this heat actually affects us little."

"This is little...!?" Reivan bellowed in disbelief.

"Let me finish. I mean that although we experience the same heat as others, it does little to unlock our qi. It's still very helpful, of course. But we have to resort to extra measures so we can stoke the fire into an inferno that'll penetrate the ice in our bloodline."

"Don't you mean melt...?"

"No. Why would you want to melt it?" Viktor looked at him incredulously. "We just want the fire's heat to reach the qi hidden deep within ourselves. Don't melt the ice, that's what defines us, idiot."

"Uh-huh..." Reivan nodded, taking in his uncle's words while fidgeting in discomfort. "So what do we do? You mentioned aphrodisiacs earlier, but then you said we don't need those..."

"Right. Because ice-attributed bloodlines aren't prone to lust from the start, so attacking from that angle does little."

"Aren't prone to lust, huh..." Reivan thought back to his mother, who was the definition of insatiable. "You sure about that?"

Viktor's face stiffened, but he still maintained a serious look. "There are always exceptions to everything. But that's just how most in our bloodline are. Anyway, because of that, we must stoke different kinds of fires, other than the fires of lust."

"Like...?"

"Like anger. Frustration. Determination. Anything intense. If one fire can never burn bright enough within us, then we'll light multiple."

Reivan nodded in understanding. "Alright. So how do we do that?"

Viktor stood up and smiled warmly as he looked down at his nephew.

'Uh...'

But Reivan's intuition was telling him that whatever thoughts hid behind his uncle's smile weren't good news to him.

----------------------------------------

"Ah, fuck!"

Reivan cursed as his hands failed to catch a piece of steak that flew past him. He hastily tried to dive for a different one, but missed by a few inches again.

'Goddammnit!'

"You almost got it there." Viktor snickered as one of the steaks flew into his hands. He then stared into Reivan's eyes while ferally biting into it, the juices dripping everywhere. "You better hurry or else you'll won't be getting any dinner again!"

Reivan swallowed hard as he watched just how juicy that steak was, and how great it smelled. It had been two days since his uncle seriously began to help him out, and in that time he hadn't eaten a thing.

This was because to stoke the fires of determination, Viktor made Reivan work for every meal.

Sometimes, Reivan was made to run laps around the cell for an absurd amount of time without collapsing. Sometimes he would have to guess which air-locked box contained food instead of Viktor's dirty laundry. And sometimes he would have to catch the steaks flying crazily around the cell before Viktor got hungry and ate them instead — just like he was doing right now.

Obviously, Reivan had never actually succeeded.

'I swear to god. Payback's coming...'

Sure, he knew his uncle was doing all this mostly to help him out. But the guy seemed to like this a little too much, which gave Reivan the impression that his uncle found troubling him enjoyable.

This pissed him off.

"Raaaaaah!" Reivan released a warcry. Angry, horny, and hungry, he was determined to secure a meal tonight.

----------------------------------------

Viktor nodded in satisfaction while watching Reivan struggle. As expected of his nephew, there were numerous close shaves.

Unfortunately for the young lad, Viktor had no plans for Reivan to get a single ounce of food until his qi was unleashed.

Of course, he wasn't doing this out of some twisted sadistic urges. Rather, feeding Reivan now would cause "relief" and "satisfaction", which were detrimental to what they were trying to accomplish at the moment.

Viktor had to push his nephew's buttons as much as possible, just to make the process smoother.

'This is bad...'

Despite how impressed he was Viktor's mood fell with every second.

'At this rate, he might not unlock it this year.'

Viktor wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but a dimwit would have never become Aizen's knight commander. And he'd used all of his wits to think about making his nephew's awakening a success.

Despite his lack of a tail and a second pair of bestial ears, Reivan was, without a doubt, part-warbeast. Viktor had doubted this when the pup was born, but not anymore. His eldest nephew was a bit different than them, but he was family, so Viktor naturally took matters concerning him seriously.

Different.

His nephew was very different from them.

So Vikor knew that what applied to him and Vianna didn't necessarily apply to Reivan.

Reivan's uniqueness meant that what had worked for Viktor and Vianna might not apply to him. His mating season could be longer or shorter than that of normal warbeasts, leaving them with even less time. Perhaps Reivan's half-warbeast blood meant that the ice in his veins ran less cold, and the approach of lighting multiple "fires" instead of focusing on one might not be ideal for him.

Considering all of this, he was vigilant and ready to change his plans for Reivan on the fly.

'He's too clever for his own good.'

Viktor immediately identified a possible problem. He and Vianna had mostly stayed conscious and rational for their first mating seasons — albeit, consumed by overwhelming lust. But things were slightly different for those who didn't have the same bloodline as theirs.

'Assuming the ice in his veins is half of ours, there's a possibility that other clans' methods will work better for him...'

Decisively, Viktor stood up and announced, "Alright, we're trying something else." He cast one final glance at his beloved nephew before shattering space, leaving the cell behind.

----------------------------------------

As Reivan watched his uncle vanish in the blink of an eye, he couldn't help but curse.

'At least leave me some food...!'

Reivan gnashed his teeth. He felt horrible about missing out on food again, especially since it seemed like he was so close to catching one of the flying surloins.

'Shit. It smelled so good too...'

Somewhat like a dog, Reivan started furiously sniffing at the air with his eyes closed so he could focus his brain power on his nose. With nothing to eat, he only had the steaks' leftover scent to tide him over.

'So good...'

Reivan salivated at the thought. He decided that after this whole trial thing, he would treat himself to an all-you-can-eat buffet at the royal dining room — where every dish cost zero lumens for him.

Alone in a deep but surprisingly bright dungeon, Reivan sniffed repeatedly until his sensitive nose could no longer detect the scent of meat.

'It was good while it lasted.'

He was just about to go huddle in a corner while trying to keep from going insane, but suddenly, an incredibly alluring fragrance wafted into his nose, sweeping through his senses with an intoxicating allure — all while ringing alarm bells in his head.

Reivan wrenched his eyes open and gulped as he was faced with an incredibly beautiful woman with dark brown hair, cat ears atop her head, and a tail swaying lazily behind her. She wore a light brown ceremonial attire that was very similar to a kimono and also did a good job hiding the woman's curves. But strangely enough, that only made Reivan's imagination run wild.

"This humble subject greets His Highness, Prince Reivan." Chief Mikachi of the Terracatta clan dipped her head deeply as a sign of respect. After a few seconds, she straightened up and smiled at him. "I am here to help."

"H-help...?" Reivan struggled to speak, his eyes unconsciously exploring every inch of the warbeast lady's tightly wrapped body. His heart was gradually beating faster the more her womanly scent wafted into her nose.

Chief Mikachi didn't seem to mind his rudeness, however. Her seductive body passed right through the bars as if she was a mirage. But the crisp sound of her sandals against the stone and the fragrance surging to fill the room proved otherwise.

Soon enough, she was right in front of Reivan. "Yes, Your Highness. I will help you deal with this heat."

To Reivan's surprise, Chief Mikachi's kimono suddenly fell to the floor.