Naturally, Li Ke had no idea Queen Skardi had been watching them. After finally pacifying Roche, he quickly moved on to the next phase of his plan: buying equipment to assist with their training.
After all, whether it was the world of Demon Slayer, One Piece, or Food Wars, none of them offered highly effective training gear suited for his current level.
While Demon Slayer had its options, his current strength had long outgrown them; even mastering Yoriichi Tsugikuni's Sun Breathing technique had been an absolute breeze for him.
It couldn't be helped. Although that world's ultimate ceiling was technically high—with 'Nezuko' being one of the most formidable beings he had encountered—the baseline strength of ordinary humans in Demon Slayer was simply limited.
The Arad Continent, however, was entirely different. He could now be considered a loosely 'Awakened' individual, and countless legendary powerhouses were waiting for him. Arad boasted an incredibly robust martial culture with an endless array of evolutionary paths, accompanied by a staggering variety of specialized training equipment.
Case in point, the Weighted Armbands currently strapped to his arms would be treated as exceedingly rare treasures in other worlds. Yet here, even a woman like Ruohua—who was so stubbornly broke she refused to buy new clothes—could easily afford them.
They quickly arrived at a local martial training shop. There wasn't much inside suited for Roche, which made her let out a quiet sigh of relief. However, while Li Ke was staring intently at a piece of equipment designed to train core and waist strength, Ruohua took the opportunity to approach the shopkeeper.
"Do you happen to have any secondhand Weighted Armbands?"
Ruohua checked her personal savings. She had absolutely no intention of using the money Li Ke gave her to buy her own gear. In her mind, since she was already eating his food and living under his roof, she technically shouldn't even be keeping the commission they had previously agreed upon. She had only accepted it because Li Ke had taken her original Weighted Armbands.
As for the gold bar he had pressed into her hand, she refused to spend it on herself.
If it were a piece of equipment everyone could share, she would gladly use Li Ke's money to foot the bill. But spending his wealth on purely personal gear was where she drew the line.
"Well, I do have a few, but the maximum gravity weight they can output is only..."
Hearing this, Li Ke's head snapped around. He watched Ruohua intently inspect armbands that were visibly stained and scuffed, and then glanced at her training outfit, which had been washed so many times the cuffs were fraying. He couldn't help but shake his head.
This girl was perfect in every way, except for the fact that she was entirely too proud and unyielding.
But then again...
If she weren't so fiercely independent, she wouldn't possess the exact kind of captivating charm that made him want to dote on her so badly in the first place.
Li Ke chose not to intervene or stop her from purchasing the secondhand armbands. Instead, he mentally noted to make it up to her in other ways.
Right at that moment, he noticed Roche staring wide-eyed and longingly at a specific display.
Curious, Li Ke walked over and found that she was looking at an Energy Disruption Device.
This particular device could artificially simulate a chaotic, turbulent environment, actively disrupting the user's internal energy flow. It was equipped with an automatic safety cutoff that would instantly terminate the simulation if the user's energy reached a critical state of total riot. It was explicitly designed to train Mages and other energy-wielders in high-interference resistance. Furthermore, it featured built-in gravity regulations, allowing Mages who wished to learn physical martial arts to rapidly adapt to chaotic battlefields.
This was precisely why Li Ke insisted on sourcing his gear from the Arad Continent. Although the Battle Mage subclass wasn't overwhelmingly popular across Arad, practical Mages certainly never minded picking up a solid foundation in hand-to-hand combat.
After all, once reinforced by raw mana, a Mage's physical body was anything but fragile.
Without a second thought, Li Ke strolled right over. The moment Roche sensed his presence, he clamped a hand firmly onto her head, forcing her to watch helplessly as he pulled three full sets of the equipment off the shelf.
Yes, three sets. Even though Ruohua didn't plan on walking the path of a Nen Master, her current style still heavily required the use of Nen to reinforce her physical form. Pure, unrefined muscle alone wasn't enough to shatter solid steel.
Roche stared at Li Ke in utter shock. Catching the wicked smirk on his face, she instantly realized he had been watching her for a long time. A sudden flush of panic washed over her features, and she opened her mouth, desperately wanting to tell him not to buy it for her.
"Li Ke, don't buy me—"
But Li Ke shut her up instantly by pinning a hand right on top of her head, forcing Roche to swallow the rest of her sentence.
"You better study your magic diligently. Otherwise, I'm docking your wages to pay off this debt."
With that, Li Ke slapped the three sets of disruption gear right onto the counter in front of the shopkeeper, promptly flashing a pouch stuffed full of gold pieces.
"Ring it up!"
As he spoke, without even waiting for the owner to finish counting, Li Ke used one hand to keep Roche pinned down and used the other to pinch her lips together. Forced into a tight pout, any further protests she wanted to voice were instantly silenced.
Only after Loton had successfully swept up the gold pieces did Li Ke finally release Roche, casually tossing the heavy gear straight into her arms.
"Li Ke! Don't—"
Roche tried to argue again, but Li Ke had already hoisted her up by the back of her collar. With a casual swing, he tossed her straight out onto the street, leaving her literally face-planting onto the pavement.
"LI KE!!!"
Seething with rage, Roche scrambled up to storm back inside and settle the score, but Seria quickly rushed over and wrapped both arms around her waist to hold her back. The girl could only flail her arms and legs wildly in mid-air, unleashing a wave of absolute, impotent fury at him.
"Kids are such a handful..."
Li Ke scratched his ear, turning his attention toward a thoroughly dumbfounded Ruohua.
"Aren't you going to buy a new training uniform?"
Ruohua blinked, startled, before shaking her head. "The set I'm wearing isn't even ruined."
She didn't want to spend Li Ke's money—at least not right now. Honestly, if Li Ke hadn't moved at lightning speed, coupled with the fact that Loton processed the transaction at a borderline superhuman pace, she wouldn't have let him buy her the disruption device either.
But since Li Ke had already paid for it, there was nothing she could do about it now.
"Not ruined, huh..."
Stroking his chin, Li Ke stared at Ruohua with a slow grin spreading across his face.
Ruohua wasn't like Roche. You could handle Roche by treating her like a stubborn child, but Ruohua possessed the rigid, prideful mindset of a mature adult. Therefore...
The only way to deal with her was to create a done-deal scenario. Once a fact was firmly established, this girl wouldn't push back; she would just accept it.
"Alright, let's leave it at that for now. We still need to pick up some daily necessities. If we have time later, we can head over to the training hall and test out this new gear."
Li Ke picked up a few more random supplies before settling the bill with Ruohua and stepping out. They gathered a few more household essentials before finally heading back to the property they had just bought.
Since the house came fully furnished with the original owner's furniture, they only needed to purchase a few new beds, saving them the hassle of shopping for heavy decor.
The building stood three stories tall. Each floor featured a massive suite spanning no less than eighty square meters, containing ten individual rooms per floor. The sheer scale left Li Ke marveling at the wonders of a magical world—not to mention how dirt-cheap real estate was here.
On top of that, there were two or three massive halls perfectly suited for holding meetings.
The natural lighting across the rooms was excellent. Barring the complete lack of a private courtyard, it was practically the perfect house in Li Ke's eyes.
From that point on, the management fell entirely into Seria's hands. Self-identifying as a humble country girl, she seemed exceptionally joyful as she scrubbed down everyone's rooms. By the time she was tidying up the kitchen and heading out to buy groceries, she couldn't even stop herself from humming a cheerful tune.
For Seria, she didn't care how remarkably talented or powerful Li Ke was; the only thing that truly mattered was that they could live a happy, peaceful life together.
Of course, if they could extend a helping hand to those in need along the way, that would be even better!
She happily set off to the market. Meanwhile, Ruohua—who had already unpacked her belongings in her designated suite—walked out to find Li Ke, still dressed in her standard Fighter training attire.
"Want to take a trip down to the training hall? If we go now, we can still squeeze in a solid session. By the time we finish working up a sweat, Seria should be just about done with dinner. Besides, we can test out these new training devices. If there's any defect, we can take them right back to Loton for a refund or exchange."
Although the fact that Li Ke had bought her such an expensive item left her feeling a bit anxious and hesitant, since it was already paid for, she naturally wanted to test its parameters to ensure there weren't any structural flaws.
"Yeah..."
Li Ke watched Ruohua carefully wrapping bandages around her wrist. After glancing at Roche, who was still busy inside her own room, he quickly moved closer to Ruohua.
"What… what are you doing?"
Seeing Li Ke approach, Ruohua instinctively took a step back. In the next moment Li Ke was already right beside her, pressing close against her body.
"Of course… you."
Li Ke gripped her shoulders so she could not escape, then looked straight into her eyes until she shyly turned her head away.
"You… we still can't go that far yet!"
Ruohua pushed against Li Ke's chest. She was still hesitating about whether she should continue walking this path with him. After all, Li Ke already had Seria.
"Can't be helped. Who told me to get jealous? I don't want anyone else seeing you like this."
His hands became very dishonest, sliding down to Ruohua's thighs. He stroked the sensitive inner skin while pressing against the tight triangular cloth that clung so closely to her body.
"Everyone wears this kind of clothing for training! And… and it's not like you can see everything, right?"
Ruohua grabbed his hand. The feeling of his palm on her thigh was both itchy and hot, leaving her with a strange sensation.
"But I mind."
Li Ke caught her arms, twisted them behind her back, and pinned her against the wall so she could not move. He pressed her full, firm buttocks against his body, letting her feel the long spear that had already begun to swell.
"You know, every time I watch you walk around like this, I get excited!"
While speaking, his long spear was already freed. It slapped lightly against Ruohua's smooth thigh. She immediately felt a hot, slightly wet length resting against her skin, and her eyes widened.
"Li Ke, we still…"
She tried to persuade him not to continue, but Li Ke cut her off.
"I know. I'll only rub against it. I won't go inside. After all, you dressing like this is really hard on me!"
As he spoke, he lightly pulled the triangular cloth covering her to the side and squeezed his scorching long spear into the narrow space.
Ruohua's body tensed at once. Her garden opened and closed from the sudden nervousness. She did not know whether Li Ke was telling the truth. Even she understood that at times like this, a man's words could never be trusted!
Li Ke, meanwhile, was enjoying the comfort of the clothing.
The fabric lining the inside was of excellent quality—smooth and soft. He did not know what material it was, only that it felt extremely silky. The sensation of rubbing against it was almost the same as rubbing against slightly rougher skin.
Because of that, he could fully feel the shape of Ruohua's soft petals, the way her entrance kept trembling and contracting from tension, and the little strawberry that had already grown hard.
Li Ke continued to slide back and forth. Ruohua's triangular panties still faithfully performed their duty, clinging tightly to her body. Only whenever his length rubbed against the delicate flower would the fabric bulge slightly outward.
Ruohua bit down hard on her lip. Although the feeling of Li Ke's long spear rubbing against her petals could not compare to his tongue—that hot, strangely stimulating rod was not nearly as flexible—every time he scraped across her, every time the underside of the head made her folds shift and change shape, a numbing weakness radiated from the very center of her lower body. It made her secretly hope he would go a little further.
Soon she noticed her breathing had become rapid. Li Ke's movements grew faster and faster as well; the speed with which he rubbed against her flower core increased without pause.
Several times the tip of his long spear even pressed deeper into her soft folds and bumped against the thin symbol of her purity!
In the end, however, Li Ke never entered. Instead it was she who, after one particularly hard impact against her swollen pink bud, let out a soft cry of surrender. Her legs gave way and she sank to her knees on the floor.
Not only that—while she knelt there panting she discovered that the sweat-absorbing fabric was already dripping steadily. A sizable puddle had even formed on the ground beneath her.
Yet Li Ke was still completely hard.
Sitting in the wet traces she herself had left, Ruohua looked at the thick length that Li Ke held out in front of her face. It was coated in the clear fluids from her lower body and still looked fierce and demanding. She hesitated for a moment, then finally closed her eyes, opened her mouth, and took the tip of his long spear between her lips.
Li Ke naturally rested a hand on her head.
After a lengthy oral exchange, Li Ke finally let out a soft breath, pulled his long spear free, and sprayed the thick white fluid across Ruohua's neck and the front of her clothes.
Looking at the white sticky fluid that had soaked her outfit, then glancing at Li Ke's eyes that were already staring hungrily at her chest again, Ruohua could only let out a helpless sigh.