Morning sunlight spilled through the narrow gaps in the wooden shutters to cast bright, dusty beams across the inn room.
I lay wide awake on the mattress, staring blankly at the wall while holding Hana's sleeping, naked frame against my chest. The blankets were pulled up to our shoulders, and all nine of her massive, fluffy tails were wrapped possessively around my legs and waist to form a surprisingly warm, golden cocoon.
But my mind was an absolute mess.
Back on Earth, sex had always been a very fun, very practical means to an end. It came easily to me, so I turned it into a lucrative way of living. I treated the whole thing like a transaction, and even when I genuinely tried to catch feelings for the women paying my bills, my chest always stayed completely hollow looking at their addicted faces.
Heh, I'd even begin absolutely dominating the women I slept with just for the sport of it.
But this time felt different.
I had been awake for two straight hours without even thinking about opening my interface.
Hadn't looked at the EXP, hadn't checked my Lusty Nibbles, and I hadn't even checked to see how much lifespan I actually siphoned off this cursed Tier 9 boss.
I just lay there basking in her warmth, staring down at her relaxed, sleeping face without having any idea what kind of expression was currently sitting on my own.
It had been years since I felt this kind of genuine thrill. That real, unadulterated lust mixed with a deeply uncomfortable amount of tenderness.
For as long as I could remember, my entire operational strategy in bed was strictly about domination.
I pushed and prodded until I completely owned the woman beneath me.
It started exactly that way with Hana, too. But somewhere between the sweat, the magic, and the absurd power struggle, it stopped being a battle for dominance and just turned into genuine intimacy.
We spent just as much time laughing as we did moaning.
I let out a slow, quiet breath to settle my racing heart and slowly tried to slide out of the bed, doing my absolute best not to disturb her.
Carefully pulling my completely numb arm out from under her head, I gently unwrapped the massive cocoon of golden tails that had kept me pinned to her waist all night.
But even my most careful movements were enough to stir her awake.
She let out an incredibly adorable, sleepy yawn that completely betrayed her terrifying Tier 9 status, rubbing her eyes like a normal girl waking up from a nap as she squinted up at the sunlight.
"Where are you going?" she mumbled, her voice thick and raspy with sleep.
I didn't even bother trying to sound mysterious or cool.
"I gotta go poop," I said flatly.
She just stared at me for a split second before bursting into a breathless fit of morning laughter, burying her flushed face right back into the pillow.
"Then hurry back up," she giggled, her bare shoulders shaking against the sheets. "Because I need to pee, too."
I couldn't help but laugh out loud right back at her, completely abandoning whatever serious existential crisis I was having two minutes ago as I hopped off the edge of the mattress, feeling the cold wooden floor against my bare feet, and made my way straight for the attached bathroom.
Stepping into the attached bathroom, I walked straight over to the washbasin, turned the brass tap, and cupped the cold water in my hands, splashing it directly onto my face to scrub away the last lingering fog of sleep.
I wiped the dripping water from my chin as I stood up straight and mentally pulled up the interface.
-Ding!
{
[Protocol: Asmodeus]
Name: Luca
Race: Royal Incubus
Life Force Remaining: 3 Months, 11 Days, 00:11:47
Affinities: Lust, Demon Fire
Level: 12 | EXP: 5,628 / 12,973
Stat Points: 6
Stats
STR: 4
AGI: 1
END: 2
DEX: 1
MP: 10 / 10
MP Regen: 1 MP/s
LCK: 10
Magic
Demon Fire Manifestation
Skills
Incubus's Scent (Passive): Scent arouses women. Potency scales dynamically with Host's own Arousal. Will create a feedback loop.
Lustful Touch (Active): Intentionally lustful touch with the Skill's activation in mind triggers intense pleasure and arousal in women. Potency scales with the Host's lust and the intentionality of the touch.
Life Siphon (Passive): Converts internal completion into Life Span and EXP. Scales with the Tier and Race of the target.
Lusty Nibbles: 7,894
Shop | Inventory
}
I didn't even flinch at the massive bump in my LifeSpam, EXP, and currency. After all, Hana wasn't just some random tavern girl; she was a Tier 9 monster currently suppressed to a Perfected Stage Tier 5.
Add that to the fact that I had come inside her 19 times last night, and that increase was nothing to drop my jaw at.
[Her Charm and stuff aside... the gains are massive… If I can farm this…] I gripped the edges of the porcelain basin tightly.
I stared directly at my own reflection in the mirror above the sink. The soft, relaxed expression I had in bed just a minute ago completely vanished as my blue eyes hardened, and that familiar, calculating glint flashed right back to life in the glass.
[I gotta own her…] my mind raced, laying out the sheer scope of the opportunity sitting in the next room.
[I got an honest-to-god system, and it probably has something in that massive shop that'd lift her curse, or whatever it is she's dealing with. Once I own her, I can lift the curse, and I'd have a literal Tier 9 monster on a leash that I can also farm Lifespan, EXP and these Lusty Nibbles with.]
I leaned a little closer to the mirror while the gears kept turning.
[Not to mention, she is half-demon too. She said so herself, she can teach me much about the demonic side of things and this world in general, along with how to actually use my Demon Fire.]
A wide, feral grin slowly began spreading across my face as my mind neatly laid out absolutely everything I stood to gain from her.
[Yeah… I gotta own her… whatever it takes.]