“What, you guys talked for a while and got to know each other, too?” Nolan nearly laughed. “This is the weirdest conversation I’ve ever had.”

Something seemed to click in Delia’s mind as she kept sending momentary glances this way and that. “Where is he?”

“Long gone.”

Seeing the look on her face, May puffed out her chest in a wonderfully bouncy manner and planted her hands on her hips in a boastful stance. “Our master sent him far, far away. He couldn’t even put up a fight. It was marvelous.”

Delia glared at them, looked around at the vacant field, and raised her voice. “I thought we had an agreement! Have you chosen her instead?”

“May’s telling the truth. He’s gone.”

“So you lied to me too?” she yelled, ignoring them. “At the end of the day, you’re no better than the rest of them!”

“You knew him for like an hour. Who cares?”

She became downcast, a vein of frustration twitching over one of her temples.

Unable to help himself, Nolan commanded her to tell them why she was so upset.

“I was always alone. He was always alone. That’s it. Now,” she grated, “leave me be. Just leave me be…”

Nolan ordered her to remain in this field for two hours, and then to seek him and the others out in the cave that they had just occupied. As he and May flew off into the distance, he saw Delia stoop down and pick something up, a splintered plank of wood from the mausoleum that Nolan had just destroyed.

“That was weird as hell,” he sighed, enjoying the wind on his face as he and May flew over the forest side by side. “Can you believe she was gonna hook up with that thing? It’s like, how depraved are you?”

May shrugged, not a single part of her fazed by the wind resistance. “What’s so hard to believe? Who in the world would ever cause trouble for her if she had a husband like that? Not to mention that they could dual cultivate together, which would have been a huge benefit to both of them.”

“Well, I guess.” Internally, he still wasn’t sold on the idea. He didn’t care how much protection was promised to him, he’d never have sex with a female Godzilla-demon-alligator-fish-monster under the same circumstances, even if her human form was attractive. “And you’re wrong about one thing. With a master like mine, who can’t I cause trouble for?”

She grabbed his arm and pulled it into her chest, hugging tightly. “I suppose so.”

The positioning was so awkward that he almost fell off of his sword, but he willed himself to maintain contact with both the blade at his feet and the breasts that enveloped his arm. In order to make both feasible, he drastically reduced his speed and kept moving at a leisure pace.

Now that he had no reason to feel sad or guilty about Delia, he allowed himself to enjoy the contact as they made a slow return to the cave.

“So I’ve been wondering,” he said, heart beating quickly like the unreliable fellow that it was during moments like these. “How does dual cultivating work? Are there like breathing patterns, or do you have to move in a certain way, or something?”

She gave him a coy look, her enticing gaze and long lashes momentarily dulling his judgement. “Shall I teach you?”

A million thoughts ran through his mind, though none of them gained enough distinction to stand out over the others.

Now would be a good time for the ring to start making some moves…

Almost as if in response to his voice, his heartbeat suddenly slowed thanks to a calming rush of energy from the Millennial Ring. Rather than wonder why this second type of energy couldn’t power the ring to instigate its transportation functions, all he could think of was what to say next.

“I’m more of a hands-on learner.”

They gradually slowed to a stop and hovered in place for a few moments, Nolan’s heartbeat picking up again as soon as the ring’s energy stopped flowing.

May produced a sheet of parchment, an inkwell, and a quill. “Hands on it is. Now, the first thing you need to know is…” She let out a light chuckle as he failed to suppress a heavily disappointed look. “I’m only kidding. Hmm, let’s find a quiet place to go train, shall we?”

“Uh, yeah. I love training.”

Was this really about to happen? Not only was May was the definition of a knockout, but she gave off an aura of maturity that was difficult to find in girls Nolan’s age—his body’s age. As far as he was concerned, he had no worldly business interacting with someone like her, let alone getting intimate. It was the same with Nyla, who was an amazing exception to such sentiments. Even though he had nothing to compare it to, some of the best moments of his life were the ones where he and Nyla…

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!

Even though he hadn’t done anything, Nolan was overcome by a sudden wave of guilt and shame. The moment he thought about Nyla and all that they had been through, he felt as if he’d been doused with cold water.

As May went to lead him off in a seemingly random direction, he couldn’t help but pull back a bit, though she refused to let go of his arm. Rather, she grabbed the front of his tunic with her other hand—him having forgotten his robe back in the flattened area of forest—and pulled him in for a very enthusiastic kiss. Her lips were moist from whatever balm she’d used to gloss them, her breath sweet as if she had just been snacking on berries. She slipped her tongue into his mouth within a few moments of kissing, which immediately melted all thoughts away from his mind. Only one thing mattered at the moment, and that was the fact that he was making out with one of the prettiest women he’d ever seen while hovering a few hundred metres above the ground in an epic fantasy world.

May ended the kiss a couple of minutes later, pulling back so that their noses were still touching as they stared intently into the other’s eyes. “You pulled back a bit just now. Getting cold feet?”

“I honestly have no idea what I was thinking about.”

She flashed a set of beautifully straight teeth that were white as the clouds above. “Good. Let’s go then, shall we?”

Momentarily mute from a pleasant sense of shock, he nodded. Almost as soon as he did, May led him along for a few minutes before clicking her tongue and looking over in the direction of the mountain. A green-clad figure had appeared on the horizon that Nolan recognized as Ian. Elsewhere he could sense the auras of his other friends as they combed the island in pairs.

“Why did you guys leave so suddenly?” called Ian when he was only about a hundred metres away. “We thought something bad happened, so everyone’s looking for you two. It was pretty hard to find you since you’ve got that pendant…” Seeing their flushed faces and the way that May was hugging Nolan’s arm, Ian’s eyes lit up with understanding and a bit of underlying respect. “I can’t believe I couldn’t find them,” he said exaggeratedly. “Guess I’ll go help my sister look around.”

Nolan went to say something, but Ian had shot off at his fastest speed and quickly disappeared into the distance. While Nolan looked nonchalant on the outside, inwardly he was clenching a fist while looking up at the sky with teary eyes. My bro!

As May went to lead him off again, he pulled his arm free and created a metre or so of distance between them. “I hate saying this, but this probably isn’t the best time. The last thing we need is someone finding us in the act.”

Someone being Nyla, of course. He already had enough complications going on considering that he had unwittingly accepted Ian’s cousin’s proposal, and that the two had done every sexual thing he could think of aside for the actual act. Since he intended to base his sect in the Three-River Valley, Nyla and Hala were bound to meet, which all but assured that they would learn of their respective relationships with him. Oh, God, please let it all work out.

May frowned and poked a finger at his chest. “You said you would repay me for all my help. Well, it’s time to pay the piper.”

“Wouldn’t I be the pi—wait, that’s what you wanted all this time?” He straightened his shirt a bit, immediately gaining a tremendous amount of confidence. Evidently, he had more charm and was better looking than he’d thought.

“What did you think I wanted, gold?” She twirled some strands of hair in an absentminded gesture, blushing a bit. “I need a dual cultivation partner, and you’re the most suitable.”