Tingyun rolled over, pressing herself atop Nolan, her snowy-white chest flattening and becoming round. The corners of her lips curled up in a subtle smile as she leaned close to Nolan and whispered:
"Benefactor, the only token of gratitude I dare offer is myself. Please, be gentle."
As soon as she finished speaking, she pressed her soft lips to Nolan's, letting out a faint, muffled "mm—" sound.
Feeling the sudden sweetness and softness, Nolan was slightly taken aback, not expecting Tingyun to be so forward and eager.
Clumsily, she tried to pry open Nolan's mouth but couldn't quite find the trick, her tongue brushing past his lips and cheeks.
This brought a subtle blush to her face.
Nolan found it slightly amusing and, playing along, parted his lips. His hands naturally found her back, pulling her gently closer.
His left hand slid down the curve of her back, finding the smooth, furred fox tail, while his right hand reached for Tingyun's head, gently pinching her fox ears.
"Nn... mm!"
The moment he touched her sensitive tail and ears, a jolt shot through Tingyun. She couldn't help but let out a low moan, her body trembling as she clamped down a little too hard on Nolan's tongue.
Feeling the sting, Nolan could only sigh inwardly.
'Oof, my apologies, Benefactor, I didn't mean to'—Tingyun realized she'd accidentally bitten him, but the lingering, tingling sensation running through her made it impossible to control her body.
'Oh well, if you like biting so much, just keep at it—it doesn't really hurt that much anyway.'
Seeing that Tingyun didn't plan to let go anytime soon, Nolan shrugged and kept stroking her tail and squeezing her ears.
The more he did this, the more tightly wound Tingyun's body became.
Clearly, her tail and ears were extremely sensitive spots—just like Sucrose and Yae Miko, their ears were always incredibly sensitive too.
Based on Nolan's experience, after keeping this up for a few minutes, girls like her would soon get the urge to relieve themselves, and if they couldn't hold back, it'd mean changing bedsheets and clothes.
The sheets were new anyway; it was about time they got washed before another use. Nolan's caresses grew bolder.
His right hand pinched both her ears at once, and while his left smoothed down her tail, he used it to pull up her short skirt, palming her round bottom and creamy thighs.
He noticed Tingyun's body tensing up even more. She pressed down on him, hugging him aggressively tight.
Nolan's hand drifted over her panties—a black lacy triangle cut—his fingers skimming the edge, noticing the waistband had delicate cutout patterns.
He slipped his hand around her hip, sliding inside her panties. The bare skin of her butt was hot and impossibly soft, a delightful handful.
"Mm... uhn~"
After about ten minutes of this, Tingyun, who'd been clutching him so tightly, suddenly let all her strength drain, collapsing on top of him.
She let go of his mouth too, left panting softly, lips parted.
Nolan, his hand still inside those lacy black panties, noticed the dry fabric suddenly grow wet as a wave of warmth soaked against the back of his hand.
"Ahh, Benefactor, don't look—how shameful." Tingyun's cheeks burned hot, humiliation welling up in her heart.
"How could it be shameful? This is completely normal, really. My technique is well-honed from many, many practical encounters, you know."
Nolan rolled Tingyun beneath him with an easy motion, swapping their positions so he was on top.
He got up on his knees, slowly untying the silky, crimson sash from Tingyun's waist, tracing her curves for a moment before slipping her little dress off.
Her bra, a black lacy bustier, and her now-soaked panties formed a matching set. He gently pulled the bra up, baring her soft, snow-white chest.
Nolan gently parted Tingyun's legs, settled his weight down on her, and as his lips met the springy softness of her skin, he tugged her panties to the side.
"Mmm... uhn~"
A sweet, sleepy-sounding moan drifted out, and in that instant, a pop-up appeared before Nolan's eyes:
[Tingyun Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You. Obtained 460 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.10 (MAX)]
With Tingyun's full affection achieved, her affection level finally reached the limit.
As Nolan gingerly caressed Tingyun and checked her character panel, another notification pinged across his vision:
[With heartfelt sincerity and persistent effort, you've forged a bond deeper than fate itself with someone whose destiny would otherwise never cross yours. From this moment forward, the maiden's star of destiny will shine alongside yours. Ability acquired: Suisui Fox Charm.]
It was the time-honored "affection skill unlocked!" prompt.
With that, there were now thirty girls for whom he'd maxed affection, and the final effect of "True Love Puzzle" unlocked at last!
Nolan clicked on the skill details, itching to see what Tingyun's affection skill actually did before savoring the "True Love Puzzle" bonus:
[Suisui Fox Charm:
Passive – Amity: Increases personal charm, making it easier to gain affection and lowering your 'taunt value,' making targets less likely to become hostile.
Active – Overflow: Can be activated at no cost; instantly restores all internal energy to full. For the next "sum of the two parties' levels" minutes, any abilities used consume no energy.]
Reading over the skill, Nolan blinked in faint surprise—Tingyun's skill had both an active and passive component.
The passive effect increased his charm and let him accrue affection even faster with each girl.
That was very much to his liking: higher charm meant more chances to max out girls' affection, thus earning more affection skills.
And every single affection skill had been pretty wild so far, which meant his strength could only skyrocket faster.
There was an added perk, too: lowering his own "taunt value," which meant he'd have less of a tendency to upset others without meaning to.
If the "taunt value" got low enough, even monsters might ignore him as he wandered past.
That, in itself, was wonderful. Nolan had no interest in unnecessary drama—he preferred peaceful days and snug training sessions nestled up with girls.
Of course, in social situations, there was always a chance of saying or doing the wrong thing and accidentally making enemies. Reducing "taunt value" would drastically lower that risk.
Beyond the passive, the active skill was excellent too. With infinite 'imaginary energy,' he would never lack for fuel to use abilities.
Still, if his own harmonized energy ran dry and was completely exhausted, this skill would let him refuel instantly and for a while, use abilities limitlessly, with no consumption at all.
Moreover, for a certain period afterward, any skill can be used without consuming energy. Honestly, that's pretty outrageous—truly worthy of being called a affection skill!
After understanding this new skill, Nolan once again carefully observed his "True Love Puzzle," the trait derived from the "Beloved by Maidens" specialization.
A single True Love Puzzle piece from any girl allows Nolan to receive a buff corresponding to that girl's strongest ability.
If he stringed together multiple pieces, he could borrow the entire power set of any one chosen girl. Once he collected over thirty puzzle pieces, they could form a complete "True Love Puzzle" and condense the "Spirit of True Love."
The "Spirit of True Love" is a special spiritual body that fuses together all the physical traits of every girl whose affection for Nolan is maxed out. At first glance, it may resemble Fischl, then Ganyu, then Keqing—essentially taking on the likeness of whomever he wishes.
It does seem quite remarkable.
Despite blending so many features, there's no sense of disharmony whatsoever. It's just like in cultivation stories: "one is all, all is one"—it stands as an embodiment of the world itself.
Just looking at it, he could see all living things—mountains and rivers, myriad manifestations, people, and the creations of civilization.
It's highly abstract and mysterious—and the "Spirit of True Love" is much the same.
Except, the "Spirit of True Love" is the incarnation of all the girls whose affection has reached the highest level for him. She sits kneeling with closed eyes atop the "True Love Puzzle" in his spiritual sea, looking rather cute.
Nolan senses that he and the "Spirit of True Love" are one and the same—much like a "Nascent Soul" in cultivation novels.
He could use her to perform things like "nascent soul projection" with ease.
Moreover, the "Spirit of True Love" also wields a special "True Love Power." This power is the fusion of all the girls' strengths, and is truly unique.
For example, if the only girls with maxed-out affection were Fischl and Amber, then "True Love Power" would be the perfect fusion of Electro and Pyro elements.
It would possess properties of both Electro, Pyro, and even the Overloaded elemental reaction.
But right now there are thirty girls for whom Nolan's affection is maxed out. Naturally, this means "True Love Power" contains not just Electro and Pyro but many other elements.
There are Wind, Fire, Lightning, Water, Grass, Ice, and Earth, as well as Adeptus power, Demonic power, Divine power, Psychic power, Abyssal force, Dream, Salt, Thunder, Dust, and other authorities—even the "Resonance Fate Power" of Tingyun is included.
Compared to a few days ago, when Lumine and Paimon specifically had him visit Natlan and Snezhnaya and come into contact with the seven Statues of The Seven—allowing him, through elemental resonance, to master the Fire and Ice elements and unexpectedly fuse the seven elements for "Lumine's Realm Power"—this "True Love Power" is far stronger.
After all, Lumine's affection is also maxed out, so this special "Lumine's Realm Power" is likewise part of "True Love Power."
But there's a slight regret: the upper limit of "True Love Power" is determined by the girls themselves—the total energy the girls possess becomes the limit for "True Love Power."
This is because "True Love Power" is condensed from borrowing the girls' own energy. If Nolan fully depletes their energy, he can't condense it anymore.
And even when all their energy is added up, it's still less than the harmonized energy within Nolan himself. Luckily, he can top them up through energy transmission.
He just doesn't know if there's some kind of conversion rate involved, since "True Love Power" seems like a really high-level energy, and each of its constituent energies is relatively lower in quality.
Lower-level energy usually doesn't convert to higher-level energy at a one-to-one ratio.
But he hasn't explained this to everyone yet; otherwise, if the girls suddenly felt their energy was mysteriously being drained, they might worry something was wrong with them.
Right now, while he's "sticking together to train" with Tingyun, it's not the time to discuss it—he'll explain it gradually later on.
Around five o'clock Teyvat time, Nolan and Tingyun had been training for several hours. Of course, Tingyun herself couldn't last that long on her own, so later, Guizhong and Havria joined in as well.
After the session, every girl's strength improved—Tingyun's was the greatest: her body, spirit, and everything else took a big leap forward.
Her rank rose several levels in a row, though interestingly, her Resonance Fate power (abbreviated as "Resonance Power") didn't increase.
Nolan guessed this is probably because Destiny powers must be advanced through fulfilling one's "destiny" rather than training.
He found that Tingyun's Resonance Power was extremely stable and wouldn't mix with other energies; it didn't reject them either, but Harmonized energy could only nourish body and spirit in her, not her Resonance Power.
This is quite different from elemental force, adeptus, or abyssal energies, which harmonized energy can usually improve.
But this isn't a bad thing—since her Resonance Power can't be raised by harmonized energy, the extra just enhances Tingyun's body and mind.
So, with the same amount of harmonized energy, her improvements in these areas surpass those of the other girls.
Once training finished and everyone had bathed in the hot springs, Tingyun went to rest.
Because it was already deep night on the Xianzhou Luofu, her biological clock was still aligned with that schedule and hadn't been shifted, so she got sleepy late at night.
Since she would still be working on the Luofu in the future, there was no need to change it.
Though with her constitution, she could easily go for two weeks without sleep, there's no special reason for her to force it.
It's like Nolan—he never has any trouble not sleeping, and his powerful physique means he never suffers from a lack of rest.
But to be honest, sleeping is still beneficial, so he doesn't skip it just because he can.
But lately, since Nolan's been shuttling between Teyvat, the space station, and the Xianzhou Luofu—where time is different in each place—sometimes there's truly no time for rest.
That's just how the universe is: every planet, every civilization has its own sense of time. Even the Interstellar Peace Corporation, which made Credit Points the galactic currency, hasn't managed to implement a unified time standard.
Every civilization's environment determines their rhythm.
Some planets' stars are setting for the night just as others' reach midday, and some special life-planets have no star at all.
They don't follow the regular orbit of a star as a time reference—some civilizations don't even have the concept of "time."
You can't exactly reshape every planet to synchronize time in the physical sense, so there's no helping it.
(End of Chapter)
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