Since their simple plan was almost a guaranteed success, Leo went to the Alchemy department to update his friend and then back to his own place to cultivate. He knew very well that he had slacked off for too long, or rather – was sidetracked for far too long and it was finally time to focus on the primary objective – getting stronger. Even though he had stepped into the Core formation stage, ignoring the fact that it happened basically by an accident, Leo clearly knew that in the Golden city he would still be just an ant. He had made a couple of acquaintances by chance he could turn for help to, but that didn’t mean his future there was set in stone.
When Leo decided to stop earning spirit stones, Jack tried to pull him to the ‘Heart and soul’ again. This time the youngest friend plainly refused and suggested Jack would follow his example. It was a lot of fun to fool around with ladies, but while they were doing who knows what, the young geniuses Leo met in the Golden city were practicing hard. It had long stopped being a question whether he would be left behind – it was all about how far behind he would be upon return.
Surprisingly Jack listened, albeit unwillingly. It was hard to acknowledge himself being a nobody while everyone he knew was considering him to be a local genius. Of course, Jack knew he was not one, but to drink himself to the fullest while hugging a beauty felt rewarding enough only at the current, the mortal realm level. He was not stupid to think it could go on like this forever, thus the younger friend’s dedication forced Jack to reevaluate his life.
‘Knock, knock …’ A sudden knock on the door brought Leo to reality.
He was currently sitting on the bed in a cross-legged position and focusing on absorbing Qi from surroundings. It was not as effective compared to cultivating in the Spirit tower, but lady Evelyn resided there and he felt uncomfortable around the place.
Of course, Leo knew that the best spot for him to cultivate would’ve been in Greenland, in the middle of the three Divine lightning trees, but he was torn about the idea of returning there. Unfortunately with how much he had lately slacked off, his little purple core was still in the size of a pea and only Heavens knew when it might recover. Of course, Etessa’s remarks about the size of cores were confusing, but Leo decided to postpone educating himself and fully focus on cultivation until the time he and Jack left.
“What is it?” Leo plainly said.
Despite him being rather famous, people rarely came to his place. Obviously most were still busy with the influx of the female disciples from the former Angelic Dawn.
“Leo?” A soft voice asked and Leo almost jumped in surprise.
Despite the fact that the room was covered in darkness, Leo recognized the owner of the voice who silently came in right after. It was Elsa, Laura Cloud’s daughter and they saw each other earlier that day in the spirit tower, although it was only for a brief moment.
Truth to be said, he was rather found of her, after all her teachings allowed him to create his own movement technique – the Lightning dash. It was basically the same old Angelic wind, except consumed much larger amounts of Qi, but at the same time gave Leo much more potent bursts of speed, at least he thought so. Obviously they haven’t compared notes after his return from Greenland, but the fact that he was capable of traversing short distances on water gave him confidence he could outrun her.
After Elsa came in, there was an awkward moment of silence. Leo could discern her shallow breathing that indicated the young lady was slightly agitated. He was confused about her reasons for coming, although guessed she was most likely taking a break from cultivation and came over to ask how successful was he with practicing the Angelic wind.
“Remember when I was teaching you few years ago … ?” Elsa broke the silence first.
Her voice was soft and pleasant to the ear although it sounded almost like she had some difficulties to talk. At least the content was what Leo expected and he already intended to thank her and share his own experiences when the next part she said threw him off the rails.
“I promised I’ll give myself to you as the reward if you saved my mother’s life …” Elsa whispered in a barely audible voice and the next moment Leo heard her clothes dropping on the floor.
He was certain back then she promised to fulfill his any wish and he even asked for spirit stones, but got only weird looks in return. And now she came over to pay him, but if it was like Jack said and the former Angelic Dawn sect was completely broke, there was only one way for her to do it. In fact, Leo knew it better than everyone – after all he had been a professional until recently.
He was confused though. Usually for his services he was the one who was supposed to be payed, not the other way around. On the other hand the pitiful young lady clearly had nothing left to pay with and after realizing that Leo suddenly felt sad.
“You don’t have to do this.” He said with a sigh, “We’re fine. Your mother gave me a decent reward thus neither of you two owe me anything.”
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“No, you don’t understand.” She said and Leo sensed her taking a couple steps towards the bed he was sitting on, “After lady Evelyn rushed to the Angelic Dawn a month ago with the poison pearl in hand, my life completely changed. You saved my mother and I will never be able to repay you no matter what I do. But … the promise I made … my cultivation keeps stagnating for the past month and I can’t achieve inner peace or concentrate … I need to fulfill my promise to get rid of my inner demons to advance, please!”
‘Poor girl!’ Leo inwardly sighed and got up from the bed.
He couldn’t understand a half of what she was saying, but he had hard time saying ‘no’ to her. Even though Elsa was incredibly beautiful, somehow she managed to make herself proportionally miserable. Be as it may, it was not that difficult to help her out, or rather – it shouldn’t take too much time.
Leo stepped towards the spot she was standing and stretched out his hand. When his fingers touched her cheek, he felt Elsa tremble and come even closer. Her fragrance assaulted Leo’s senses and, if he hadn’t been a professional, he surely would’ve lost himself.
Fortunately his experience didn’t let him down. He gently turned the confused lady around, put her on the bed in a kneeling position and a split moment later was done. Everything went smoothly and actually Leo was rather proud of himself – he just successfully satisfied his first Core formation stage cultivator! This was his greatest achievement to the date in the field of intimate encounters. He could even swear he could see in the dark how amazed Elsa’s expression currently was!
“This …” Elsa whispered in disbelief, “… is this … it?”
“Mhm. You did well!” Leo said, realizing he forgot to pat her butt and give a praise, “But don’t get greedy! Everyone gets only one time.”
“Everyone?” Elsa couldn’t believe her ears.
“Ye.” Leo sighed, “You see, I was a professional up until few days ago and satisfied quite a few ladies in the city.”
Strangely enough it felt good to talk to her – despite her being several years older they were both peers and cultivators of similar stage. In addition, apart from Bianca, she was the prettiest girl he had ever been with thus this time did feel special. Of course, Izel was a whole different story, but he was unwilling to think about his marriage that turned out to be a complete fiasco.
“Hahaha … hahaha!” Suddenly Elsa began to hysterically laugh and Leo heaved a sigh of relief.
While he was still working, there were several clients who celebrated the moment of closeness with a joyful laughter and understandably Leo preferred them to the ones who liked to cry. While his life had not been a smooth sailing, he always tried to remain positive and optimistic, and to be with a person of similar mindset always felt comfortable and pleasant.
Leo soon went back to cultivation and Elsa left. She did have a long, bitter laugh about the moron she just gave herself to as well as her own stupidity. No one forced her to come and clearly it was her own fault, but the problem was that she earlier mentioned her intentions to Etessa. Her friend tried to persuade her to not do that or at least to not make a rash decision, but for some reason Elsa felt obliged to fulfill the stupid promise.
While she was certain Etessa would never reveal this secret to anyone, she was not so certain about the clueless bastard. Of course, she would never go so far as to ask her mother to take care of him, especially because she was the one to blame for everything. In addition, it was not like Leo was the first man she has been close with, although it was hard to call the moment that didn’t last longer than a blink of an eye ‘being close’.
Suddenly a cheeky idea sprouted in her mind. What if she was not alone in this? She could try and trick Etessa in experiencing the same and the more Elsa thought about it, the funnier the thought became. While her best friend might get upset at first, they would have something to remember and laugh about for decades, maybe even centuries after reaching the Nascent soul stage or maybe even after becoming immortals.
Her mood was lifted in an instant and instead of going to Etessa’s place Elsa returned to her own quarters. The night was still young and she needed to think of a plan on how to trick her best friend.
The next morning Etessa didn’t know how to behave or what to say. While they were both of similar age, contrary to Elsa she had spent most of her life in the Spirit tower while cultivating and had no intimate experiences.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Elsa asked with a full mouth.
The two were currently having breakfast in the newly built Angelic division’s kitchen hall and, while they did have a table for themselves, there were tens of people sneaking glances at the pair of beauties.
“I … how was … do you regret it?” Etessa was not sure how to ask.
“No, not really. Although I think the guy is in love with someone else.” Elsa carelessly shrugged.
“Impossible! There is no one prettier than you!” Etessa argued, “He surely had to be head over heels about you!”
While cursing the clueless moron to herself again, Elsa pretended to look sad for a split moment, but then smiled and said while pointing the spoon at her friend, “As it turns out, there is. You’ll find her looking back at you in a mirror.”
“I? Me? … Why?” Etessa blushed beet red, but the male disciples at other tables felt their hearts accelerate at the sight.
“How would I know?” Elsa shrugged again, “Why don’t you ask him?”
Seeing her friend ignoring her, Elsa continued, “No, really? Why don’t you spend some time with him, get to know the guy? He’s completely different, you know? And he’s the strongest guy in the realm – who else if not he is worthy of you?”
“But … but you two have already …” Etessa blushed again instead of finishing the sentence, but Elsa was already prepared for this part.
“That’s even better!” She said with a smile, “It’ll be like the two of us will become even closer! After being with the same man we’ll be so much more than sisters!”
In this manner she continued to brainwash Etessa the whole day and in the end managed to persuade her to set something like a harmless date with the legendary hero of Avila. There was no guarantee it would lead anywhere, but this was the best Elsa could do. Fortunately Etessa lacked any dating experience and it was hard for the clueless bastard to mess anything up. Even if they only kissed, it would be enough material for her to tease her friend in the future, thus the plan was almost a success.