Ikrei P.O.V.
Krigsain arrived late into the night in the magnificent private villa, reaching my private quarters.
“Well this is the least they could do. How you liking the place Ikrei?” He said.
“It’s the best accommodations I have ever seen, for whatever that is worth.”
“Let’s spar a little, just hit me with a flurry until you are tired.” He told me.
The rooms were incredibly spacious, enough to fit a couple dozen people with largesse. I didn’t want to damage anything here, everything exuded extreme richness. Nevertheless, we had done our little dance countless times. I attacked without worry, giving it my all.
One, two, three, four, five, six breaths! I tired after six breaths! I couldn’t believe it.
“The benefits of dual cultivation with a blessed one, my man!” Krigsain said approvingly.
“Your power is considerably off, since you are barely starting out but her blessing and yours will counter the interference a little. You know what you need to do now?” He asked.
“There is a world of difference between forcefully and willingly doing dual cultivation.” I answered fixing my clothes.
“Yes. That will bring its own problems but first she must willingly accept. Use one pill each day to be able to withstand the energy difference, use your binding ring as well.” He gave pointers.
“I traded your pills for an elixir and a couple of Raging Bulls. You said that I needed to tame her.”
“And did you?” He was curious.
“Don’t know, she did scream once, loudly.” I giggled a little.
“Good, good, Malgrunian women only truly understand strength and pleasure. All other factors are important but the firsts are the starting line. Man strong and lips wet, as they say. The strength of our order can only take you so far, you need to pleasure her until you are strong enough.” Krigsain explained.
“I’ll need more of your pills then, she’s a feisty one.”
“Sorry, can’t do. Those pills take time. Make do with what you got for now. I’ll be back in ten days. Remember everything we talked about in the carriage.”
“Yeah, plant the seed in her mind properly. Fail and the consequences will be problematic.” I said worryingly.
“That’s your 99% for you. 99/100 chance of awakening or 99/100 chance of a colossal fuck up.”
The Will powered protection disappeared. Krigsain’s eyes returned to normal.
‘Under these conditions, the prospect of subduing a true vixen is taunting.’
I took out my ketar from my temporal ring. It was time to put some serious practice into this soul music thingy.
“She must definitively not be in the mood for visitors. Take care, my man.” Krigsain swiftly departed.
I carefully played and practiced as I was taught by sister Kuyun. She said I had a pleasant voice, a benevolence of the Will for my current incarnation. I strung my ketar with care as I hummed and belted a few chord progressions.
‘I hope Krigsain’s secret weapon actually works. There’s plenty to do before that.’
‘The Star in the Sky’ spread through several corridors of the villa.
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Hazu served us a large meal, almost excessive. Neither of us woke up early in the morning, it was past the sixth hour.
“Please have a bite.” Yun Hee began eating delicately at my order.
“This is good Hazu, thank you.” The belgar juice and the deer meat was delicious.
We ate silently until the pastries came.
“I didn’t know you had a knack for music.” Yun Hee said.
“Nothing much, just something I picked up along the way. I tend to practice consistently, bear with it, will you?” I proffered.
“Not a problem, quite a surprise.” She nodded at me.
“After rest, come to my quarters paramour.” I told her calmly.
“I am fertile these days, keep it in mind my ravenous lord.”
“I won’t prohibit the use of your arts for now, I am not a beast.” I retorted.
‘As long as she uses her internal energy and her arts, she cannot get pregnant. Not unless her partner is stronger by an entire realm.’
She gave me an incredulous gaze.
“Ahem, entirely.”
“Very well, I’ll be there within the hour. I hope you can handle things with more civility this time.”
“My strength might be lacking but not my impetus. This won’t be the case forever; I will surpass you.” I worded it as a matter of fact.
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“I promise my arts will make for a memorable experience, my lord.” Her eyes were itching for retaliation.
We ate the pastries on the crystal dishes silently.
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“I think you need rest.” Yun Hee whispered near my earlobe.
Her raven hair retracting itself to its normal length.
“Leave!” I ordered.
“See you at midnight, my lord.”
Her rotund cheeks, jiggling away as she walked to the door, unclothed.
‘I am pretty sure there’s a smile on the other side of those evil strands.’
The carnal round was fierce. She definitively gave a new meaning to the grinding of the axe. No moans, no ecstasy just a perfectly drilled sex machine. When you are dealing with a shapeshifting semen sucking black hole, there is little one can do. It was painful not to fully succumb. She had put me through the gears. I saved a bit of dignity, no puffing, no huffing, no screaming.
‘Civility, my ass!!! The sheets are a mess. Can a man ejaculate this much? Suck-u-bus!’
“The benefits of dual cultivation are too good. Can’t wait for the real thing!”
I got up and readied myself, it was time to enjoy the amazing facilities.
‘Magicraft shower, here I come!’
An hour later I was training with one of my bodyguards. The energy inside my latent core felt like a strong breeze of extremely hot air. I was able to train the Reika to my leisure with the energy constraints reduced. The training lasted unto the twelfth hour.
“Hazu, please ask the paramour if she would like to join me in the atrium for a time before dinner.”
‘Hazu must surely be an assassin, she always is nearby listening to everything. Is she a voyeur?’
“I will do as you ask, patron.” I couldn’t sense her at all.
“I must treat her as a person and not an object if I am going to get what I need. Even then, that will not be enough. The dammed heavenly restrictions make everything bothersome.”
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The atrium hall with the water fountain as a centerpiece was magnanimous. The crystal dome, the windows, everything was overwhelming for me. The order, my master and Krigsain had made it all possible.
‘They may be heartless pragmatists…but they mean well as muscle mass says.’
I played my ketar with deep concentration, I was trying to get the arpeggios I was taught, down. Minutes flew by before I noticed that the raven hair beauty had arrived.
“I thought you decided to decline.” I gave her a welcoming gesture.
“There is no reason for that. Perhaps we could tour the pavilion later, it is extensive.”
“Maybe we should, this is the secret region of the ‘Great Immortal’ after all.” I agreed.
From her ring, a canvas appeared with a case filled with brushes of all kinds.
“You will never be this young again, Andurin. Ikrei has only one life. Let’s immortalize it.” She suggested warmly.
“Just adjust the clothes to that of a street performer, don’t want to appear wearing this.” I emphasized the loose dragon robe I was wearing.
“Certainly my lord.” She began painting with a serene smile.
‘Everything seems so natural, she’s an absolute professional.’
I continued to play my ketar and sang a few songs while she worked.
A cycle of training, sex, meditating, playing, touring, eating and sleeping followed.
And like this, the many days passed merrily.
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The portrait style painting Yun Hee had finished hung in one of the walls of the atrium.
‘Tomorrow night is the time I return to the order. This cannot be delayed any longer.’
“It seems you have something on your mind, my lord” She worded politely.
I had just lost my 27th match of Wéiqí. The truth, I wasn’t thinking too much about it.
“Is this enough for you Yun Hee?” I opened my gambit.
“I don’t quite follow your intent.”
“Why do you want marriage?”
She paused for a long time, glancing at my ring and hers several times. I wasn’t going to force it, not today.
“No powerhouse will ever touch me after this, not for serious commitment of name and resources. I need both.” She seemed sincere.
“The funds were good enough to overlook the reservation. Tell me, can you give me what I need?” I proposed firmly.
“Pardon?” Surprised was the least that could be said of her expression.
“You have your circumstances; I have my own. I am uncertain that you can give me what I need.” At my words she turned sober.
“If you have the intent of breaking the deal in its infancy, it would not bode well for me. What are you saying?”
“I thought things would work out as intended as they are. We all did. I need more from you.”
“I have done everything according to the agreement…I may have been a little forceful in bed the other day but still…” She gave a loud cough.
“You seem nice Yun Hee, so let me speak frankly. I have two options; first I need a mate that’s willing to love me unwaveringly. I have a problem and that is the requirement to break off my shackles. We thought your direct blessing would help but it is not enough.” I wasn’t lying.
“That is a high bar. A Zurian partner might be the correct choice for you.”
“The other option is True dual cultivation, basically.” I answered.
“Dual cultivation as it is should suffice for anyone. I see…300000 Ucra becomes clearer. You understand that what you are implying means sealing my soul to yours? The only way to do this is with a soul contract. But even then it is dicey. True dual cultivation comes from the heart.”
“You are a great laid but my life comes first, I need all the power the art can offer. That is as far as I’ll explain.”
“You are saying you are dying if you don’t get what you are asking?”
I nodded.
“If you reject me now, many of the resources will be taken from me as a penalty. I need to keep everything…”
“True love or at least the Malgrunian interpretation of it, desire and obsession. That’s a bit much for a contractual relationship, I think.” I laid the truth.
‘Here’s the bait.’
“My lord, excuse me but you are weak, even if your order supports you it would take you hundreds of years to get to the point that a consort of my kind would create an obsessive desire. ARLUN DESIR AUMERISH SPHORIUM means burning soul desire ignite ecstasy. For me to feel that without the use of a chant, that’s beyond you right now.”
“I heard it said, if a man is strong—” I was hoping she would finish the line.
“Lips are wet, my lord. The Malgrunian proverb. You implying something here?”
Her interest was slightly piqued.
‘This just might work. Muscle mass has been right so far.’
“I will be exceptional; I just need an exceptional partner right now. Future investment, women do this all the time.”
“Present investment in my case, I need the resources allocated. But you are asking for something that goes beyond the preservation and benefits of a name, like I did with marriage. You want the heart of a woman without conquering it.” She waved her hands in dismissal.
“What about the Heart of Malgrun?”
‘Here it is. Let’s see if this works, Knickertwister Krigs.’
“That’s a death seal for you, nobody knows what Malgrun would want and you don’t have the strength and I am unwilling to wait for centuries.”
“I told you, I’ll be exceptional. How about ten years? That too much?” Poker face time as Krigsain says.
Her hair stood up and floated like it was alive. She collected herself before asking.
“How powerful?” Her gaze was penetrating, bright red, she was looking for lies, perturbances within me. I could tell, binding ring and all that.
“300000 Ucra is chump change for a direct Kotari. Think big.” I kept firm.
“From whom? Who are you training under? How powerful?” Her hair floated strangely.
‘I am not sure what answer would be appropriate but I need to be careful, restrictions and all that crap. I have to go with my gut feeling and the Will. No lying, that is all that the moment requires.’
“Enough to battle a Soul Merge Spider Queen in her own den with the entire colony by myself. I’ll kill her eventually too. I think you call it Nascent Soul.”
The brightness in her eyes receded, her hair returned to normal. After many, many, many sand grains…
“Explain this need for “love” in detail my lord.”