Inside the room, Herta sat on the sofa with an expressionless face, scrolling through her phone.
If it weren't for the lingering fragrance still on her face, one might have thought that what just happened was merely a hallucination.
"Your personality... it's really malicious."
Although Herta appeared to be scrolling through her phone, her full attention was fixed on Lumina, who sat upright on the sofa opposite her.
At this moment, Lumina had completely shed her previous "salted fish" like, slacker state. The crystalline tips of her hair swayed gently in an invisible breeze, her legs pressed together, her hands folded over her thighs. Her quiet, gentle expression was that of a noble lady, radiating an elegant and intellectual aura.
"Malicious? What malicious? How was I malicious?" Lumina's small mouth parted slightly, revealing a surprised little expression.
Then, realizing her own lapse in composure, she hurriedly reached out to cover her small mouth. Her gaze shifted, her little face flushed red; her movements were as fluid as flowing water, as if this were her true personality.
Witnessing Lumina's fluidly executed expression, Herta's eyelashes drooped slightly, her entire face written with the word "speechless."
This Little Lumina... it was truly a waste for her not to become an actress.
Even Herta couldn't spot a single flaw in her performance.
It was as if she were born this way.
If Herta had met her for the first time, she would have inevitably been deceived by this appearance, thinking she was a soft and gentle little white rabbit.
By the time she finally discovered that this little white rabbit was actually a fierce tiger, all resistance would already be too late.
Of course, there was another possibility: that she would never discover Lumina's identity as a fierce tiger from beginning to end, and would be completely manipulated in the palm of Lumina's hand the whole time.
Moreover, the latter possibility was quite a bit greater than the former.
March 7th, Asta, Hyacine, Castorice, these were all people Herta knew who had walked down the latter path.
And the actual situation would only be even more so than this.
"Hehe..." Being stared at by Herta like this, Lumina wasn't embarrassed at all, still immersed in her own acting career.
"Sigh..."
Lumina sighed deeply, her hands crossing diagonally in front of her chest, as she used the knuckles of one hand to wipe away the completely non-existent tears from her own eyes a few times.
"If it weren't for Madam Herta's rude behavior, how could Lumina have behaved this way toward Madam Herta..."
The young girl lowered her eyes, her expression depressed. No one could resist such a temptation, no one could fail to produce a sense of pity for the young girl in front of them, and no one could fail to give birth to the thought of taking her into their arms and comforting her with soft and gentle words.
It would have been even more effective if Lumina had shed a few tears right now.
Lumina naturally understood this.
But there was nothing she could do. No matter how hard she tried to force them, she couldn't squeeze out a single tear.
After all, the cause of this entire incident was Lumina herself.
Lumina was already doing well enough not to laugh out loud, so how could she shed tears?
How could that even be possible?
"Hmph, stepping on my face. Do you take yourself too seriously?"
The moment the scene flashed through her mind, a cold glint instantly crossed Herta's purple eyes.
There was no doubt that just now, when Herta was about to do something to Lumina, Lumina had directly and ruthlessly stepped on Herta's face.
"Sigh... What is Madam Herta saying?" Hearing this, Lumina sighed, her expression appearing completely helpless. "Madam Herta was in a very abnormal state just now. I thought you were possessed by some evil spirit, so I used a secret Family technique to cleanse the evil spirit from Madam Herta's body."
"Look, when you recall just now, was Madam Herta still Madam Herta?"
"In Lumina's eyes, the Madam Herta from just now was completely a monster controlled by desire!"
Lumina's voice grew firmer with each word, and in her righteous and solemn speech, no one could find any flaw.
"..."
Even Herta herself couldn't find any flaws in Lumina's words.
After all... Herta couldn't possibly admit that the way her body had been broken by desire just now was her truest, innermost desire, could she?
Although Herta knew Lumina definitely understood this, her understanding was one thing, but if Herta were to say it out loud, the meaning would be completely different.
And then...
Thump, thump, thump...
Sensing the lingering scent on her face and recalling the feeling from earlier, Herta's already turbulent heart began to pound incessantly.
That lingering scent was nothing but fragrance, and even recalling the sensation from then, it was still a fragrance.
A fragrance that was completely indescribable in words.
As for any foul smell... there was none, absolutely none. Herta was certain that she was covered in a sweet fragrance, without a single hint of any foul odor...
O-Of course, it was also possible that Herta hadn't smelled it carefully enough at the time.
If she were to do it again now, Herta might actually be able to smell a faint hint of foulness.
Th-Therefore, H-Herta wanted to do it again.
Although this act was somewhat humiliating for her, but... but only by paying a price could one reap a reward.
Herta understood this all too well.
As her thoughts raced faster and faster, Herta's mind momentarily short-circuited, and she felt as if her consciousness had detached from her body, ascending into paradise.
If being stepped on felt this good, what would it be like to hold it in her hands, gently and carefully perceiving it...
Herta craved this intensely, but no matter what, she would never admit it aloud.
Although Lumina's little feet were indeed captivating, M-Madam Herta still had her own dignity to uphold.
Even if she desperately wanted to do it, she would never actually do it!
Well... of course, if Lumina were to beg her, that would be a different story.
If Lumina lowered herself and begged, Herta would grant her a reward.
For example, by lowering herself to help Lumina fulfill her plea.
After all, Herta wasn't a heartless person. If Lumina had gone that far, Herta would agree to anything.
As for why she would agree, and what her true motive was, only Herta herself knew.
Yet anyone could see she was clearly up to no good.
Lumina could see it too, of course, but she chose not to say it directly.
Instead, she decided to grant Herta one last shred of courtesy.
How could Lumina not have noticed Herta's state just now?
It even made her feel a pang of regret.
Regret over why she had rewarded Herta.
When her little foot stepped on Herta's face, Lumina hadn't thought much of it at first, considering it a highly insulting act.
Unexpectedly, after the act was done, Lumina watched as Herta's body gradually began to tremble.
It wasn't the kind of trembling born from the anger of humiliation, but the kind of trembling born from the excitement of being rewarded.
From a third-person perspective, Lumina saw much more than Herta perceived.
Not only was she trembling with excitement, but the skin around her eyes had also gradually turned bright red. If Lumina hadn't been certain it had nothing to do with tears, she would have thought Herta was about to burst into tears the next second.
In short, Herta's aggressiveness at that moment was completely off the charts.
She was like a fierce tiger that had been starving for ten thousand days, dying to pounce on her and devour her whole.
Although Lumina wasn't afraid of Herta, nor did she believe Herta's strength could do anything to her.
But to be honest, if this kind of thing could be avoided, it should be avoided.
There was no need to face it head-on.
Of course, this wasn't the most important point.
The most important point was that when she felt Herta's lips and nose, a powerful sensation like an electric shock shot straight from the sole of her foot into Lumina's heart, making her feel very shy.
This feeling was very subtle. Lumina couldn't say she liked it, but she couldn't say she hated it either.
It was just that this feeling was, to some extent, a bit passive.
And what Lumina disliked most of all was being passive.
Especially being passive in front of a beautiful girl.
In front of a beautiful girl, Lumina would resolutely defend her right to be the active one.
Lumina would never do anything that would produce such passive emotions.
Although the sense of "conquest" brought by this act made Lumina very much enjoy it, the negative emotions generated from it also made Lumina feel extremely displeased.
So, let this act be buried in her heart, and never do it again.
Lumina thought this in her heart and silently made this vow.
There were countless ways to "conquer" a beautiful girl, and this wasn't the only one, so there was no need to dwell on it too much.
"Hmm... Speaking of which, skin-to-skin contact causes these emotions. What if I wore shoes?"
Suddenly, Lumina discovered a blind spot.
The reason she felt that electric shock and passivity was simply because of the intimate skin-to-skin contact.
If there was no such intimate contact, would she still feel this way?
In other words, if Lumina wore a pair of shoes, would she no longer experience these emotions?
Not only would she avoid these emotions, but it would also simply satisfy a little bit of her kinky desires.
"Hmm..."
After realizing this, Lumina's small eyes instantly lit up, and she fell into a deep train of thought.
Herta: "..."
At the same time, Herta, who was facing her, suddenly shuddered all over, as if she were being stared at by some peerless terror.
Although Herta didn't know what this peerless terror was, looking at Lumina's thoughtful expression right now, she could more or less guess a little.
This was definitely related to what Lumina was currently pondering.
After realizing this, Herta would naturally not be foolish enough to let Lumina continue thinking.
"Hmm?"
However, just as she was about to stand up to interrupt Lumina's train of thought, that feeling of being stared at instantly vanished. She couldn't tell if Lumina had reached a conclusion or if she simply gave up in the middle of her pondering...
Herta didn't know, but having missed the best opportunity, she could only helplessly abandon the action.
"Sigh... I'm not used to wearing shoes."
While thinking, Lumina suddenly thought of this point, so she could only helplessly give up on this choice.
Lumina wasn't used to wearing shoes, and this was something she was completely powerless to change.
Asking Lumina, who hadn't worn shoes for several Amber Eras, to suddenly wear a pair was a bit of an unfair request.
The barefoot do not fear the shod, but the barefoot fear the shod.
With Lumina's current proficiency with shoes, without using any external power, wouldn't she fall with every step she took?
Practicing alone on a regular basis would be fine, but if someone else were by her side, a beautiful girl, Lumina would absolutely never allow such a constantly faltering appearance to show.
As for practicing alone... When Lumina had alone time, she was either lying on her bed or lying on her sofa. Practice? Practice what?
Why would I, Lumina, need to practice?
Therefore, fueled by her own laziness, Lumina abandoned the idea.
It was just a small issue, hardly worth mentioning.
After this minor disturbance settled, Lumina fell silent again and continued scrolling through her phone, reading the reactions in the player community.
Not the future player community, but the one in the timeline she currently inhabited.
The game seemed to be in the middle of its anniversary celebration?
The featured character was Castorice, and there seemed to be a lot of controversy over her strength?
As she scrolled through the community, Lumina grasped the current trend.
After the game entered Version 2.0, character power had inflated rapidly. The phrase "reruns are for the grave" perfectly described the current power creep.
There were only a few characters worth pulling for during reruns, and they were all sustainability and support units.
Sustainability units had the slowest power creep, while supports had to be chosen carefully depending on the situation.
"Hmm... Could it be that I've already fallen out of the meta?" Realizing this, Lumina's eyebrows shot up, and a "not-so-happy" expression instantly appeared on her face.
Her skills had been designed to be ridiculously overpowered back then, specifically to prevent her from falling out of the meta.
And yet, now... Hmm, does it really look like she's about to fall out of the meta?
Filled with shock and suspicion, Lumina searched for her own character, Lumina, in the power-scaling community.
After a quick glance, Lumina also silently breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, Lumina was still a T0 character on the power-scaling rankings.
She was one of the few characters whose reruns were still worth pulling for. The only downside was that Lumina only rerun once a year, and she would only appear at the end of a Version, which was a bit frustrating for new players.
"Good, good, good." Lumina was extremely satisfied with this.
If character Lumina had fallen off, Lumina would have slapped the game company across the face.
Did I design such ridiculously overpowered skills just for you to fall off in just over a year?
But...
As she continued reading these comments, the smile on Lumina's face gradually vanished.
The reason character Lumina had no power creep anxiety was simply that her average Eidolons were too high.
E0 Lumina was already being roasted as trash...
[What do you mean an Abundance Emanator can't cleanse CC?]
[What do you mean an Abundance Emanator only protects herself, not others?]
These were the kinder comments. In any case, E0 Lumina still sat at the same table with the two Main DPS characters from launch.
Lumina was somewhat regretful about this.
If she had known the game would power creep so quickly, what was she worried about back then?
She should have just made her E2 capabilities available at E0!