Lazy Salvation

Seravelle Continent, Narkal Infested Lands, December 25, 2030

“Ahh~”

Alice let out a melodious sigh as she wrapped her arms around her lover's neck and snuggled closer to him.

It had been an hour since they had started making love, and they had decided to take a short break to cuddle.

She and Ashen would have gladly continued much longer, evident from his still-hard member that remained connected to her even now, but in these infested lands, even that single hour was already a luxury.

Beneath their mattress, a brightly lit circle glowed with intricate geometric patterns, resembling a sacrificial ritual offering their debauchery to some obscene deity.

It was a ritual, in fact, though thankfully not one directed toward any higher being, but simply one designed to harvest Lust Essence.

After ascending to a Living Vessel of Desire, Alice had relentlessly employed her new Path skills with the enthusiastic cooperation of a more-than-willing Ashen to generate this new form of energy.

And what she had learned about it was simple.

It was ridiculously overpowered.

The clearest evidence was the nine flushed pink tails spreading gracefully behind her, shielding their naked bodies from view.

The amount of Lust Essence they produced was objectively small, yet when she converted it into mana through the Lust Mana Creation Ritual, that tiny quantity multiplied exponentially.

But that was merely the beginning.

The Power Distribution Ritual had allowed her mana capacity to increase dramatically. More importantly, it wasn't ordinary mana. It was mana infused with potent amounts of life force, giving both her mana and her tails their distinctive pink hue.

“Are you sure you don't want some of it? Increasing your mana capacity is never a bad thing, Ash...” Alice asked for what felt like the hundredth time as she playfully poked his chest with her nails.

Just as its name suggested, the ritual benefited both of them. But Ash, as always, answered the same way.

“Just focus on yourself. My mana reserves are still higher than yours, even now. And let's not even talk about my control.” He lovingly caressed her bare back as he replied in a relaxed tone.

She answered with nothing more than a small huff.

“Fine. Mr. Overpowered. Have it your way.”

“That’s my girl...”

While he refused the increase in mana capacity, preferring to funnel it all toward her, he accepted something else instead: Magic Circuit Tempering.

This one came from her second Path skill and consumed raw Lust Essence instead of mana.

Ashen felt the mysterious energy transform his already thick magic circuits into something else over time.

Bit by bit, they elongated until they encompassed every inch of his body. Then they became more flexible, allowing greater amounts of mana to circulate through them. And now, he could even feel the mana flowing within them gaining speed, as the circuits themselves became smoother.

Ashen wondered how an ethereal organ like magic circuits could be tempered in such a manner, but when he focused closely enough, he could sense lingering Lust Concepts woven throughout them.

Ordinarily, that would have caused a backlash with his Sloth Concepts.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Fortunately, the skill employed a rather clever loophole.

Since he was considered to belong to Alice through the Carnal Directive Protocol skill, any Concepts she left inside his body also belonged to her. Because those Concepts were not his and because he couldn't even interact with them, he was spared the fate of turning his body into a battlefield between Sloth and Lust.

But Carnal Circuit Tempering did more than temper magic circuits. Through the Mutual Body Tempering trait, it also gradually forged the body into one optimized for prolonged physical union and pleasure.

Meaning...

With time, one's stamina, flexibility, resilience, and endurance would all steadily improve.

Ashen had initially assumed the increase in physical ability would be negligible, since the trait primarily existed to enhance pleasure.

He had been wrong.

Given enough time, it had even begun rivaling the tempering provided by his own Somatic Autonomy.

And that brought him to the skill's final trait.

The one he had first dismissed as the most useless, and now dreaded the most.

Allure Forging.

He looked at Alice, sprawled comfortably atop him with half-lidded eyes.

'Calling her alluring is putting it mildly. Her charm is becoming downright lethal.'

Even he had been finding it increasingly difficult to keep his eyes off her lately, let alone anyone with less control over their impulses.

Whenever the opportunity arose, he found himself wrapping his arms around her before he consciously realized it, breathing in her enticing scent and absentmindedly caressing her irresistibly soft skin.

His behavior didn't bother her. If anything, she seemed to enjoy it.

Unfortunately, it had thoroughly cemented his reputation as the enraptured Marshal who had completely fallen under her spell.

'Well... they're not wrong...'

“How far until the next step, love?” he asked absentmindedly.

“Soon... any moment now,” she answered in the same tone as they continued surrendering to each other's warmth.

“This is really fast...” He grinned proudly. “Before long, I’ll have two Transcendents as my lovers while I’m still only a mere fourth step. Heh, the men will die of jealousy.”

Alice raised her head from his shoulder and looked at him with a teasing smile.

“Only then will they get jealous? From what I hear, the women are already halfway dead from jealousy because I managed to seduce the ‘king of the battlefield.’ Hum...”

“I guess I have you beat in that department, then...?”

“Hmm... true. But I have a feeling it’s not only your martial accomplishments that are attracting them lately.” She tilted her head slightly. “Maybe I should stop the Allure Trait from affecting you?”

“Wait... you can do that?” He looked at her accusingly. “Why didn’t you say so from the beginning? I don’t need to be any more handsome than I already am. How will the rest of the male population survive then? You have to stop it from now on, okay?”

“Nope.”

She refused with a kiss.

“Why...?”

He looked at her with despair.

In truth, he really didn’t want this excessive amount of attention from the opposite gender. It only served to stress him out as he constantly thought of ways to deflect it.

“Of course, because I want my man to be the most handsome.” Alice answered as if it were obvious. “Why would I care what other men or women think anyway?”

“Tsk.”

Ashen couldn't argue against that, because he felt the exact same way.

As the two remained in comfortable silence, it was Ashen who broke it again.

“But third step, huh... I have to say, you Lust Pathwalkers sure have it easy when it comes to advancing.”

“Hmm... I don’t think it’s supposed to be this fast either.” Alice replied. “I think it’s more because of our feelings for each other.”

“Ah, yes...”

Ashen remembered that her newest Path Skills operated based on the intensity of their emotional and physical satisfaction.

And saying that the pleasure was always mind-blowing because of his own skills would not even begin to do it justice.

As for emotions...

Both of them knew that was the least of their concerns.

The two aspects also amplified each other, which in turn generated even more Lust Essence, allowing her to finally forge herself into the perfect Vessel of Desire and fulfill her Epithet.

“And...” Alice continued. “It has already been more than a year since my ascension. I believe it’s about time.”

“Yeah...”

Ashen was sent down memory lane by her words.

It had now been a year and a half since the beginning of their campaign, and four months since they had conquered their third Metropolis.

The first two had taken four months each, while the third had required six.

And now, after another four months of marching, the fourth Metropolis was still nowhere in sight.

Some soldiers had even begun spreading rumors that they were lost in this cursed land.

But aside from this, something else had been bothering Ashen.

“Say... do you think the Narkals’ movements have been becoming strange lately?”

That was the very thing troubling him.

Alice appeared to have noticed it as well.

“So you think so too?”

A somber expression appeared on his face.

“Hmm. Their numbers suddenly spiked over the last month. And the increase was far more violent than the usual ones.”

“Yes... and what’s more, the frontal attacks have strangely weakened, while the ones on our sides and rear have intensified...” Ashen continued.

“It was almost as if...”

His voice turned thoughtful, but Alice felt his arms tighten around her, betraying the emotions hidden beneath his calm analysis.

Nevertheless, she continued the thought he left unsaid.

“...they are baiting us deeper in.”