With the entire tournament out of our way, we could spend the rest of our time in the city doing anything we wanted, unbound by Eve's schedule. While the advancement of our cultivation brought a fair bit of attention to us, this was one of the positive sides to it, finally alleviating some of the time pressure on us. Thinking about how many matters were still pilling up in front of us, I couldn't even imagine taking care of them all while being interrupted by those unnecessary fights.

"Would you like to accompany me for a bit? I want to get some matters out of my shoulders first so that we could laze around later on."

After we picked up Pengu from the Venna's lodge and confirmed that we were both eligible to join her Heavenly sword Sect, we leisurely left the premises. At first, I was going to get her back to our room as to indulge in our usual fun once again, but when Venna passed great news to me, I couldn't help but want to visit the construction site again.

"Why do I have this feeling that no matter where we will go, we will end up doing exactly the same thing? It's not that I mind it though…"

Holding Pengu in her arms, it was clear that Eve's mind was completely focused on the ball of fluff in her embrace, making her rather unwilling to give up on cuddling with our friend for the sake of playing around with me. I guess we finally reached the point where our initial lust managed to calm down, allowing other matters to have a higher priority than getting down to the business…

"Don't worry, I didn't mean it in that way."

Guiding Eve to the commercial district where the new auction house building should still be in the process of renovating, I couldn't help but stare at her joyful smile as she played with Pengu. While there wasn't any hint of sexiness in it, just the pure happiness visible in her pupils was enough for a strange warmth to form in my hear, slowly spreading through my entire body.

With nothing hurrying us up, I decided to slow down the speed of our walk to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere of the town for the very first time since we came here. With the constant need to grow stronger, new rivals and enemies showing up as soon as I dealt with the previous ones and new upon new problems and matters arising that I had to deal with, I didn't have any spare time to enjoy the sheer joy of living in a brand new world!

I wonder what happened for me to realise it only after reaching the middle stage of second cultivation realm… With my earthly soul, I should feel some kind of hidden happiness from being able to explore a brand new place, with its new cultures, way of thinking, art or past events. As a history geek, I should be instantly hooked on the legends and myths of this world, yet for some reason, I felt this constant drive to improve myself!

Even if I pushed the responsibility for this state of mind that I obtained to the matters related to Eve's family and all the pressure that weighed down on me because of all the other problems, I still should be able to enjoy my past hobbies even a bit! No matter how fun exploring my new possibilities was, I had to find some sort of hobby for myself, otherwise, Eve would quickly get bored with me! How long would a purely physical pleasure and attachment from the times we fought together last if I couldn't hook her with my personality?

Being an introverted person back in my earth self, I was under constant pressure to open myself up to the people, by the world that valued extraverts too much. No matter how hard I was trying to find positive sides of my personality, the world wouldn't simply accept it, constantly pushing for the traits opposite to those that I have been born with. Just like many other introverts like me, I tried to learn something that would help me out on this dreadful road of opening myself up. Being an adolescent boy just before the moment of my death, I had the dreams of getting myself a girlfriend as well, resulting in all sorts of coachings and folk's truths getting pumped up into my brain. While I never got the chance to make any use of them back in my previous life, they could prove to be valuable tips for my current self!

Breathing the full lungs of the air from the city, I couldn't help but notice how tasty it was. Unwilling to lower myself to notice such small differences, it was the first time when I noticed how a clean air actually tasted! I wasn't able to notice it previously probably because my body was already accustomed to this kind of environment, allowing me to finally taste it when my thoughts wandered to the differences between my previous life and the current one.

"Did something happened?"

Probably noticing my strangely relaxed and happy expression, Eve asked me, while holding Pengu on her side, as if unwilling to let it block her sight on me. Looking back at her face, I saw small wrinkles forming around her eyes when she looked back in my pupils.

"Don't worry about it."

Unable to hold my face from melting down when I looked at the face of my beloved, I simply smiled lightly at her and grabbed her free hand, pulling her closer to me. Intervening my fingers with hers, I raised her hand to my face and felt the delicate and smooth texture of her palm as I planted a small kiss on top of it.

"I'm just learning how to appreciate every moment of my life here, with you. While embracing you is insane and drives me crazy every time we go at it, I just felt like we didn't spend nearly enough time just getting to know each other better, talking about nothing, or simply cuddling together! When I think about the part of my life before I met you, just the fact that I can hold your hand like this makes me insanely happy!"

As we were still slowly walking forward, the moment I said those words, I felt a slight resistance from Eve's hand, as she simply stood in place, breaking my tempo. Only now noticing the strange state of mind that I have fallen into, I stole a quick peek at her face, only to see her cheeks turning red and her eyes turning moisty, while her lips vibrated slightly as if she was trying to say something, but was unable to utter a word.

"You big, dumb, dummy!"