Ethan nodded in understanding. It was likely only a goddess who was hiding in the shadows and had too much time on her hands who would research such specialized magic. Of course, Liara's own superb magical talent was also key.
"Can the difficulty of mastering this magic be reduced? It doesn't matter if the effect is a bit weaker." Ethan planned to work with Liara to transform the contact magic into something more widely applicable. If they succeeded, they might go down in history—though neither Ethan nor Liara cared for such fame.
"Hmm..." After a moment of thought, Liara said, "It should be possible. The main difficulty is the use of space magic. If we reduce the security and encryption, the difficulty will drop significantly."
Security was important, but most of the time, communication was just for trivial information. Using mobile phones as a reference, almost everyone used them despite the possibility of eavesdropping. Truly secret matters required dedicated satellite phones. Contact magic was the same; if someone needed secrecy, they could learn the original version or something even more complex.
Ethan didn't just plan to simplify it and spread it across the Three Realms; he also planned to develop a more advanced version for internal use only. Going from 0 to 1 is hard, but 1 to 2 is easy. Once the magic spread, people would surely study the principles and build upon them. Liara wasn't the only magical genius. Without thorough preparation, Ethan's attempt to profit from this or influence the Three Realms' situation would likely fail.
Whether it was fame, profit, or changing the communication methods of the underworld, none were Ethan's primary goal. He mainly wanted his ever-growing number of girls to be able to contact each other at any time. Only with a widely usable magical communication method could the two organizations led by Kasumi Takamine and Fuyuko Sakuradai formally advance into the supernatural world.
Through continuous Dual Cultivation with Ethan, the girls' strength had reached a level where they could be called the two strongest organizations in Tokyo. And because one was in the light and the other in the shadows, other factions' attempts to shift blame or win over one side against the other were useless. Except for the lack of top-tier powerhouses—specifically, only Ethan—they were almost a match for pure-blooded devil families after the Great War.
After Ethan broke through to the God-class, he had a whim and looked into things, discovering that his casual arrangements had grown to such a degree. He was both surprised and delighted. As the boss behind the scenes, he intended to solve the key problem hindering the girls' progress. Thus, seeing the potential of the contact magic, he became very serious.
Ethan and Liara discussed it excitedly. Shella and the other girls listened for a while but found it boring. After dinner, they left one by one. Sephiroth, at the invitation of her good friend Shella, went to a room to catch up, and also settled on her temporary room—the one right next to Shella's.
...
More than a week had passed since Sephiroth and Liara came to the human world. Rias finally finished processing all the matters in the Underworld and returned with the girls of the Occult Research Club. Ethan didn't ask what specifically they had gained, but judging by Rias's passion and initiative that night, the Gremory family had definitely profited a lot.
Notably, Ravel Phenex, after following Rias through this ordeal, had actually broken through her bottleneck.
In the morning, Ethan was about to go continue discussing the improvements to the contact magic with Liara when a beautiful girl in a pink princess dress stopped him.
"Ravel, is something wrong?"
"Lord Ethan, tonight..." The tsundere young lady with golden twin-tails shyly grabbed her skirt, hesitating for a moment before saying, "I have become a High-Class Devil. Tonight, I can help heal Xuelan and Isabella."
Ethan hadn't forgotten the two girls who still needed "treatment." He had wanted to "eat" the Chinese cheongsam girl and the masked girl for a long time. But those two were too loyal; because Ravel had spoken, they would rather endure their injuries than Dual Cultivate with Ethan. Ethan couldn't say much in that situation. The more loyal they were to Ravel, the more loyal they were to him. He knew he'd get to them eventually, so it had been on hold.
"No need to wait for tonight. Let's start now."
Ethan was an "old driver" after all. Even though he had just climbed out of a pile of beauties, he was still enthusiastic as he took Ravel's hand and headed for the bedroom. "With the three of you together, one night might not be enough. Starting now is perfect."
Looking at Ethan's back, Ravel was shy but also incredibly happy. As Ethan's Queen, being so desired by her King was something that made her overjoyed. This was true for all the women; seeing the man they liked desire them so much made them happy. The saying "a woman dolls herself up for the one who admires her" was exactly this. Conversely, if a girl doesn't like you, everything you do just disgusts her. If she's a "green tea" type, she'll just start treating you like a dog. A simp.
Ethan's own room was very large, but right now it was occupied by the three succubus mother and daughters, as well as Yuuki Kiba and Akeno Himejima. It was the first time for Ravel and the other two, so he couldn't choose that environment.
Thus, the golden twin-tailed devil lady snapped out of her shyness to find herself standing in a familiar room.
"Ah? Lord Ethan..."
"Don't call me 'Lord.' It feels weird." Ethan interrupted. "If you're not comfortable calling me by my name, do like Mio and call me Ethan-ge."
Mio Naruse and Ravel were the same age; both had twin-tails and were slightly tsundere with a bit of a sharp tongue. If Ravel's bust were a bit bigger, they would practically be different-colored versions of the same "human Pokemon."
"Um, Ethan-ge, are we doing Dual Cultivation in my room?"
"Don't you want to? If we go to my room, we'll probably be watched."
"No..." Ravel imagined the scene and said firmly, "We'll do it in my room. I'll go get Xuelan and Isabella right now."
"Don't bother, I'll do it." Ethan put an arm around the girl's slender, beautiful shoulders and smiled. "I'll also test the results of the past few days."
Ethan and Liara had researched for a week. The contact magic had improved a lot, but there were still many problems. Right now, instead of "making a call," it was more like using space magic to forcibly transmit words to another location. If you're lucky, it reaches the person you're dialing. If you're unlucky... either no one answers, or someone else hears it.
This time, Ethan's luck was good; Xuelan and Isabella received the message. But because it was voice transmission, the other girls around them heard it too. In his own home, Ethan didn't care at all. But the two beautiful girls were stared at by their friends until their faces turned red, and they couldn't even lift their heads the whole way.
After notifying Xuelan and Isabella, Ethan didn't just wait. He sent a full-version targeted contact to Liara, informing her that today's research was on hold. Liara asked why out of curiosity, and Ethan told her the truth without reservation.
He received a huff of annoyance. Even through the magic, Ethan could feel the goddess's disdain. During this week, their research often ended up with them rolling around together. At first, Liara wasn't used to it and the research would be delayed, but later, except for the peak moments, they could Dual Cultivate and discuss business at the same time. This was the powerful self-control and multitasking ability of a God-class powerhouse. With a strengthened soul, multitasking was effortless.
"If you don't mind, you could join in. We can Dual Cultivate and research at the same time anyway."
"Pah! Go ahead and fuck yourself to death, you pervert!" Liara, being a "pleasure-seeker," didn't mind an orgy, but since this was someone else's first time, she thought it would be tactless to join. A week ago, during her own first time, others hadn't interfered, and she had Ethan all to herself for almost a whole day. She hadn't realized how rare that was at the time, but after this week, she understood.
Ethan chuckled and said intentionally, "Researching magic while rapidly increasing strength—people would beg for such a good deal."
"Heh..." Liara hung up. She lay back lazily in bed, her fair hand absent-mindedly gripping Sephiroth's plump breast beside her.
Over these days, Sephiroth's intention to find a house had faded. It was comfortable here, she had her best friend and niece, and soon her son would return. Rias, the rightful owner, hadn't said anything and was very welcoming, so Sephiroth naturally stopped mentioning moving out.
Sephiroth's beautiful eyes glared slightly as she swatted Liara's hand away. "What? No research today? Someone beat you to it?" The sarcasm in her voice was obvious. Sephiroth was inexperienced, but that didn't mean she didn't have desires. Every day Liara came back looking full of lust and carrying that strange masculine scent. Yet after monopolizing Ethan during the day, Liara would come back to sleep with her at night and wouldn't stay still, always touching her. They had slept together for so many years that it was hard to kick her out. Doing so would make it seem like Sephiroth cared too much. After all, Liara always showered before coming back, and they had shared playful touches before. But as Liara became more experienced, her actions became more lewd. After a week, Sephiroth was starting to feel a bit strange. And while Liara had an outlet the next day, she had to endure. Now that she had a chance, she had to tease her.
"My dear sister, you have a child and yet you've never enjoyed that kind of pleasure—it's too tragic." Liara wasn't one to back down, saying in a "tea-girl" tone, "Why don't you just give in to Ethan? If nothing else, he's definitely big and knows how to use it."