'Shit, again?'

I couldn't move my body. I could hardly even feel it to begin with.

It was a weird feeling as if I failed to wake up and was now stuck with my consciousness woken but my body paralyzed by the sleep demon, a hallucination that the human body created to rationalize sleep paralysis.

But…

But weren't things a little bit different now?

'Since when can I think when I'm stuck in that meditation limbo?'

This was… a new thing.

Just like when I remembered parts of the process from my last crafting-meditating session, things have changed, even if only by a tiny little bit.

'Does that mean… I'm getting used to it?'

Yet, right as the joy of this potential progress was about to settle in my soul, the memories of how I got into the current process also returned.

'Wait, isn't she… still straddling me?'

A cold chill ran down my spine as I realized the likely scenario happening right in the real world while I was stuck in the prison of my own mind.

And as great as it was not to suffer the consequences of a cute and well-endowed lady sitting down on my lap and hugging me tightly while acting like some sort of a vampire and sucking on the side of my neck, the consequences that were bound to make it both awkward and embarrassing once I woke up…

Heck, I wasn't made out of stone! In all honesty, while it was great I didn't have to suffer the consequences of such a stimulating situation… I couldn't say I didn't wish for it to change!

As if following my heart's true desire, the fog of my mind that kept me locked out of reality…

It started to lift!

'Wait, what?!' I quickly went into panic mode, far more fearful of suddenly pushing my hard-on directly against Claire's crotch than excited about the prospect of experiencing such a tight if not outright intimate hug!

Regardless of my feelings, though, once the fog started to lift, there was no stopping it. And in what felt both like a mere moment but also an eternity, the reality started to once again appear before my eyes.

The situation… didn't change much.

Obviously, because of our position, all I could see was Claire's perfectly shaped back covered in the simple shirt she wore. A shirt… That stuck closely to her skin due to all the sweat she was producing for some reason. And with the material turning wet, I couldn't do anything but just stare at how it put an emphasis on her shoulder blades, the slight indentation of her spine running along her entire back, all the way to where her back widened at her hips before turning into her ass…

At first, my perception simply follows my instincts, focusing my attention on those tiny details I've never experienced from so close before. But as my attention rode down the girl's back and onto her ass… It then kept going, all the way to where my hands were busy turning parts and pieces into some sort of greater whole.

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'Ah…'

I nearly twitched when more and more of my senses started to return, making Claire's body warmth distract me from the acts of my own hands…

And even worse, from a second, completely separate line of thought that operated out of my mind.

[The resistance ratio of this alloy is…]

My vision changed as my eyes turned over to my phone, one of my hands letting go of the project and, at a lightning-fast rate, typing the question out in the search engine.

[XXYZYYXZYYXZY]

A strange, incomprehensible thought ran through my mind as my eyes scanned the answer, only for my hand to return to the job and grab the other end of a long, narrow piece of silver before… bending it with ease that made me question whether the material in my hands was an actual metal.

As I did so, complex calculations continued to flash through my subconsciousness as my eyes picked out every last, tiniest detail on how the metal in my hands behaved under pressure.

In the end, what used to be just a strip of silver-like material now, under the sculpting of my hands, turned into a simple ring. Only now, the marks that looked no different than just some scratches made by an unskilled hand turned into a set of markings that have finally revealed their true purpose.

'Oh god…'

I gulped my saliva down, feeling a fresh dose of excitement run up my spine when the realization struck me, right as my eyes moved to the other side and scanned the text of two separate recipe leaflets, one from the blacksmithing set and the other one from the runesmithing one.

But… But as what turned out to be a fancy ring engraved with runes I couldn't make first sense about finally started to take proper shape, the fog over my mind continued to lift up… And with it, the numbness to the physical touch that prevented my body from reacting to Claire rubbing herself all over me in the way any normal male my age would!

'Shit…'

Still unable to move but now perfectly aware of just how warm and soft she was… I could do nothing while feeling how those sensations started a rise out of me.

Then, I felt Claire's lips on my neck… And the strange sense as if she was sucking my blood out the very place she bit with her teeth through?!

"Aaah!"

My head suddenly fell to the back when all of those sensations… Suddenly exploded in intensity, as the numbing fully wore off. And with it, I've realized that I wasn't just getting hard - I had a raging erection, with nothing but the poor girl's crotch standing in its way and stopping it from revealing its full might!

Or, to put it in less poetic terms, while still locked out of control over my own flesh, I could feel myself pressing down at Claire right in the worst place possible if there even was a place where rubbing my hard-on against could be allowed to begin with!

"Hmmph?"

Still latched onto my neck, Claire appeared to wake up from her own daze too… Only to be slammed with all the sensations I was experiencing myself.

In an instant, she pulled her face out of my neck, putting her hands on my chest to push herself off… Only to freeze, still straddling me down, when her eyes fell down on my crimson-covered cheeks.

"A-are y-you… a-a-awake?" Claire stuttered as blush covered her own cheeks, giving her already cute face just one more push to make it outright lethally adorable.

'Fuck, move man, move!'

With my body still locked out by this meditation paralysis, I could struggle all I wanted but would end up doing nothing but staring right back into Claire's blush-covered face and skittish eyes… as she now got right in my line of sight of whatever my hands were crafting!

Still, while Claire panicked… I continued to push with all of my will…

Only for something to… pop.

And no, at the very least, I didn't shame myself by exploding right into my own pants. Thankfully, it was something different. It was as if… something became whole, finally lifting the restraints that removed my control of my body.

"AH!"

I moaned as my body finally moved, only for my hands to pull back… And grab at Claire's waist!

"Kyah!" the girl squealed while her entire body jumped up, only to then fall right back down on my lap when it appeared as if all the strength left her legs, seating her right back down… right on top of my fucking crotch!

"Ah!" Another moan escaped from my lips when Claire, hopefully unknowingly, brought me all the closer to actually shaming myself.

But in this tense moment, with neither of the two of us knowing how to react… My eyes moved over to what I actually held in my right hand.

A silver ring with an intricate set of runes engraved both on its inside and outside. And, in a fit of desperation…

"I have no idea how we ended up in a situation like this, so…" I slowly pulled my right hand off Claire's waist before opening it up and revealing the silvery piece to her eyes. "Can I offer you this ring in lieu of an apology?"