The washroom door clicked shut, leaving me alone in the room.
Vala didn't even look back before practically fleeing into the adjoining washroom. And the sound of running water echoed through the thin walls a few seconds later.
I let out a long breath, dropping my quiver onto the floorboards before stretching my arms, feeling the dull ache in my shoulders from drawing the bow all day as I up my interface.
-Ding!
{
[Protocol: Asmodeus]
Name: Luca
Race: Royal Incubus
Lifespan: 3 Months, 23 Days, 00:09:23
Affinities: Lust, Demon Fire
Level: 15 | EXP: 945 / 43,785
Stat Points: 3
Stats
STR: 4
AGI: 1
END: 2
DEX: 1
MP: 40 / 40
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: 2,572
Shop | Inventory
}
Sniping monsters from the backline had actually turned out to be pretty lucrative for a single afternoon.
But my eyes naturally drifted to the requirements needed to hit the next level.
Forty-three thousand. I sat down on the edge of the mattress and ran the math in my head. Killing monsters netted me about half as much EXP as creampie-ing women. Each stage added fifty EXP, making a Tier 1, Perfected Stage monster worth two hundred EXP.
Meanwhile, creampie-ing a Tier 1, Perfected Stage woman would net me four hundred.
[But even so…] I thought, dismissing the prompt with a swipe of my hand. [I can kill a monster in less than two seconds with a headshot. I can't exactly do that with a woman.]
The grind was real. But creampie-ing also netted me actual Lifespan. The timer at the top of my screen was a constant, ticking reminder that I was living on borrowed time.
There really was no replacing sex in my build. It was the core mechanic, and I just had to work around it.
I also opened my inventory to check a little experiment I ran earlier. I had managed to smoothly sneak a monster core into my pocket when neither Vala nor Elise were looking.
I pulled up the shop menu and sold it, watching the number pop up on the screen.
And that Tier 1, Perfected Stage monster core sold for exactly one Lusty Nibble.
Yeah. Just one.
I needed thousands to buy anything decent.
[So sex was still undeniably the best way to farm currency too…]
"Right…" I muttered to the empty room. "Time to prepare for the boss fight."
I looked at my three unspent stat points before dumping all three of them straight into Endurance without any hesitation.
I knew exactly what I was walking into tonight.
When Vala actually got going, those extra three points were going to be the only thing keeping my pelvis from turning to dust.
I stood up and stripped out of my torn shirt, pants, and boots and everything in between, tossing them into a messy pile near the door, and sat down completely naked on the bed.
I leaned back against my palms, crossing one leg casually over my other knee to cover my little guy just enough to keep him out of immediate view.
If this plan was going to work, I had to control every single second of the encounter. I couldn't just wing it like I did in the dungeon.
My mind drifted back to that exact moment when Vala had pinned me against the stone wall.
I only managed to escape by using Lustful Touch and basically clenching her boob with all my might.
But the skill scaled directly with the lustful intentionality of the touch and my own arousal.
Forget arousal. I was completely terrified at that moment. As for the lustful intention... looking back on it, there really wasn't much of that, either. My wrist was actively in pain in her grip, and I just wanted her off me.
So the actual, baseline effect of the skill should not have been enough to make her lose her strength so completely that even I could push her off.
She was a Tier 4. I was a Tier 1 noob. The math just didn't add up.
That massive overreaction could only mean one of three things.
One. She is extremely sensitive on her boobs.
Two. She likes a bit of pain, but not in a submissive, masochistic way. It made perfect sense, given she was a werewolf who clearly got animalistic and bitey when aroused. She probably associated pain with dominance and mating.
And third...
I let a slow grin cross my face as the pieces clicked together.
[Both options are correct...]
The pitter-patter of the shower in the adjoining room suddenly stopped.
And as it did, I took a deep, steadying breath to brace myself.
I was only half here for the EXP.
My main reason for setting this up was the sheer challenge of it.
I wanted to see if I could actually tame the wildest beast I had ever come across, entirely on my own terms.
After all, I was supposed to be at the address Hana had given me.
If I were just after easy EXP, I would have gone straight there, given how that fox was a Tier 5, Perfected Stage powerhouse.
She was also the only woman who truly set my heart on fire. Just thinking about her body and her arrogant, demanding gaze made my little guy twitch against my thigh in immediate excitement.
I instantly shook my head and forcefully cleared the thought.
[Focus, Luca!] I scolded myself, adjusting my posture on the chair. [That's bad manners to the woman in the other room.]
Besides, I couldn't afford to be distracted.
I needed to be entirely present. If I fumbled this, I'm dead, and Elise wasn't here to bail me out with a freezing hurricane.
Just as the thought settled, the brass handle on the washroom door clicked, and the door slowly swung open, letting out a thick cloud of warm steam into the bedroom.
Vala stepped out into the dim light of the room, her face heavily flushed, with her wet red hair clinging to her neck.
She had a single white towel wrapped tightly around her athletic frame, shifting her weight nervously as her crimson eyes locked onto me.
And I couldn't stop that smile spreading across my face.