Basically, everything is the same except for his level and the # of status points. I'll also modify the previous chapter to fit this.)
Rising from the broken bed, I yawned, stretching my arms wide before standing up, hissing a bit in pain as I grabbed my hips. "Oh, that stings." Leaning against the nightstand, I took a deep breath, firmly gripped my hips, and rotated them in a single movement, causing them to snap back into place.
"Ahh, that's much better." Having fixed my dislocated hip, I thoroughly stretched, causing my body to audibly crack numerous times, hitting me with waves of satisfaction. Once done, I brushed my hair back, glancing at the broken bed, where a pile of tangled bodies slept, their bodies slick with dried sweat, splotches of thick, white liquid, and other bodily juices.
After dinner last week, the six of them dragged me to my room, engaging in a week-long marathon of non-stop love-making, not that I was one to refuse; I'd also been missing the touch and love of my wives. Those months away from home had really starved me.
"Hey, Lazuli, joining me for a quick bath before the others wake up?" Setting my gaze upon the resting Lazuli, I pointed to the bathroom behind me, causing her eyes to snap open with clarity as she nodded, prompting her to slowly and carefully free herself from the tangled bodies.
Entering the bathroom first, I filled the tub with hot water, just for Lazuli to join me. "You girls really drained me; I feel exhausted." Flashing a smile at Lazuli, I leaned back while she entered the tub, sitting beside me, leaning into my embrace. "I detect lies. Your body can continue for an eternity." As if to prove her point, Lazuli grabs ahold of my erection underneath the water, causing me to wryly smile.
"Mentally, exhausted, how about that?" Wrapping an arm around her waist, she raises an eyebrow, freeing my cock while nodding. "Accepted." Chuckling, I tenderly rubbed her stomach, the two of us quietly enjoying the hot bath as the steam slowly filled the room.
"Oh, how's the TV project gone so far? Probably not much progress, right?" Curious, I looked at Lazuli, subtly hoping to be a bit surprised, yet I wasn't prepared for what she was about to say.
"The TV? You used it last week, Alex." "Huh?" Tilted my head, I looked at her in confusion, only to freeze while my eyes widened, realizing I had indeed used the TV last week.
Now that I think about it, I didn't even question the presence of a TV; I just sat down and grabbed the controller, a habit from my past life in a modern world. If I hadn't asked her, I'm afraid I'd sit down and watch TV without even realizing.
"W-Wait, wait, b-but everything was in color! I-It even had a remote!? H-How'd you achieve that in less than a year!?" Shocked wasn't enough to describe the emotion I was currently feeling; before I left, I clearly remember us being so far away, from the current level of the TV, years even.
But somehow, in less than a year, we went from struggling to imprint more than 10 minutes of black-and-white video to this; I was utterly flabbergasted. "H-How?" I just stared at her, not knowing what to think.
Flashing a faint smile, Lazuli outstretched her arm, the surface of her skin rippling like waves as a small mana crystal emerged from her forearm, though it was noticeably different from the ones I'd seen. "You should be able to figure out the reason why." As she handed the mana crystal to me, I held it, using [Heroes Gaze] to analyze it.
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Name: Circuit Crystal
Rank: Uncommon
Description: Holds mana data incredibly efficiently.
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Furrowing my brows at the short description, I gazed deeply at the tiny lines carved onto the mana crystal, watching as an impressive amount of mana followed along the lines, moving fast with no bottlenecks or interruptions.
"How does this work?" Staring at it in awe, I briefly looked at Lazuli. "Mana behaves similarly to water; it takes the easiest path, every single time. So, I created the easiest path for it." I'm sure it was more complicated than that; it had to be, but it was enough for me to get a vague understanding of it for now.
"How'd you come up with this?" "It's rather simple. You're trying to store information, data, inside something not meant to store information, so I took inspiration from things designed to specifically do that." As she spoke, a small, greenish rectangle emerged from her hand, causing me to raise an eyebrow. "That's storage, right? An SSD?"
I wasn't familiar with tech components from my past life, but I knew a few things. "Yes, specifically a solid-state drive." "Huh. How'd you know that?" "My father has spoken about his past life to me." Her eyes briefly flashed sadness at the mention of her father, Soom, but she quickly moved on.
"This device is meant to hold information, a lot of it, so I studied it and noticed it had lines engraved onto it, so I did the same. I engraved lines onto the mana crystal… After that, everything else came naturally, adding color, increasing the frame-rate, and length, it became easy."
Slowly nodding, still stunned, I handed the circuit crystal back to Lazuli, who suddenly injected her mana into it, causing it to glow brightly before it exploded. "However, it's not perfect. Disrupting the flow causes it to spontaneously combust." "Huh, I see. Still, a very minor problem… That's, uh, freaking amazing job, Lazuli, I-I don't really know what else to say. You basically created the TV yourself."
While, on the one hand, I was a bit disappointed that I wasn't present to personally complete the project, it was a minor problem, a feeling easily snuffed out by the sheer pride in Lazuli's accomplishment. "You helped as well, Alex; same with Jasmine." "Haha, when did you get a sense of humor, Lazuli? Please, don't patronize me; that's entirely your achievement, even calling me an assistant would be pushing it."
Chuckling softly, I shook my head, leaning into her while she gave me a look before nodding. "Once this goes public, you'll be the one wearing the pants in the house." "Pants? We all wear pants." "Ah, no, it's just a saying used to describe the leader of a household." "Then that would be you." "I-I mean, yeah, but you'd be making the most money, so you'd naturally become the leader." "I am confused. How can making more money earn me the spot as the leader?" "Haa, I love you, Lazuli."
Softly sighing, I rubbed her cheek while she looked at me with a tilted head. "Anyway, let's get to washing ourselves. I can hear the others are starting to awaken." "Mhm."
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"... Yeah, and after washing ashore on Mezcla, I came straight home… Last eight-nine months have been utter shit." Leaning back into the seat at the head of the dining table, I sported a wry smile, having finished my multi-hour-long explanation of the last nine months.
The breakfast I'd made was long gone, and only the plates remained as everyone looked at me with various emotions, though mostly pity and anger.
"Tch, fucking demons!" Cursing, Yuki clenched her fists, causing Jasmine to tap her arm awkwardly. "Yuki. You're an Oni. A Demon." "O-Oh yeah… D-Don't give me that look, I-I just forgot, okay!" While Yuki snapped back at us, blushing in embarrassment, the most upset wasn't Yuki, but actually Talis, who looked ready to slaughter a whole kingdom.
"That vampire! How dare she! To steal what is mine!? Alexander is my knight! To steal another's knight is the same as declaring war! Alex! Where does that thieving bitch live!? I'll teach her the wrath the Queen of the Skies is capable of!" Shouting furiously, Talis stood up, spreading her wings while heaving, her eyes practically spewing flames as she stared me, ignoring Vanimo, who was trying, and failing, to calm her.
"First off, no, I'd be sending you to your death. Secondly, why do you keep calling me your knight? I never agreed to this." And, like the stubborn bird she was, she ignored most of my words. "Doesn't matter if I die! This is a matter of principle, Alex! I don't care if I must bring the world to ruin! No one steals what is mine and gets away free!" "Vanimo, control her." "I-I'm trying! Talis, dear, please calm down, okay? She'll kill you."
Rubbing my head, exhausted at my family, mainly Talis, Michelle reached out, affectionately holding my hand. "Well, all that matters is that you returned home fine, dear." Looking up at her, I nodded, firmly holding her hand.
"Thank you… That's a little selfish, though, Michelle." Shooting her a cheeky smile, she returned the smile, speaking without an ounce of shame. "It is, and I don't care. I hate everything you went through, but if it means you get to return home to me, to us, I'd push you through something ten times worse."
I just upped and laughed, weirdly enjoying Michelle's selfish response. "Hahaha… Don't worry, you wouldn't need to push me, I'd go on my own accord." Smirking, I leaned in, kissing her passionately.