Chapter 91: Epiphany

After listening to Yui lay out her concerns, Nobu earned a genuine pout from her when he couldn't help chuckling.

"What's so funny...?"

Though it earned him a glare this time, Nobu extended his hand to playfully pinch Yui's nose as he said, "No need to get upset. It's just, you seem to have forgotten what kind of system, I mean, how my Heavenly Treasure performs."

Tilting her head, Yui's expression reflected the confusion she was feeling as she asked, "What do you mean...?"

Resisting the urge to pat her on the head this time, Nobu just naked his hands around Yui's waist as he explained, "My Heavenly Treasure helps me get stronger, sure, but..."

As his words trailed, Nobu's expression gradually morphed into a deadpan as the realization of his own incompetence dawned on him. He had been so distracted by everything that was happening as of late that he hadn't actually stopped to consider how incomprehensibly broken the bonus aura award by Inami was...

"Holy fuck..."

Now appearing even more confused, Yui held Nobu with the intent to help him calm down as she asked, "What's the matter? Did something happen...?"

Before answering, Nobu's mind performed a few mental gymnastics to make sure he wasn't just jumping to conclusions. Fortunately, while he had never been particularly fond of math, he wasn't a complete idiot. He knew enough to qualify for college and pass his classes, so, after several seconds of awkward silence, a rather eerie laugh emanated from his throat before quickly morphing into a three-stage guffaw.

Though this wasn't the first time she had seen Nobu have a breakdown, it wasn't long before Yui's concern morphed into frustration as she splashed him in the face and exclaimed, "Will you just tell me already!?"

Not expecting such a reaction from the raven-haired woman, Nobu just stared at Yui in disbelief until she gradually averted her eyes in an ostensibly bashful manner and said, "Sorry..." in a meek, remarkably adorable tone of voice.

Unable to suppress his jubilation, a smile quickly developed across Nobu's face as he gave Yui's butt a gentle squeeze and explained, "My Heavenly Treasure requires me to empower others if I want to receive the greatest benefits. In other words, you never have to worry about falling behind or becoming redundant because I intend to continue powering you up. No matter how powerful I become, you will always be my equal..."

Though each word made him feel progressively more awkward, Nobu wanted Yui to believe in him. It might sound stupid, but, the moment he heard her say how much she trusted him, his heart had already been seized in the proud warrior woman's grasp. Now, even if she wanted to get away from him, he wasn't going to let her go easily...

Noticing the intense glow in Nobu's eyes as the steam from the bath began to coalesce and swirl around them, a slight fear began to develop in Yui's heart. She wasn't afraid of Nobu. Far from it. Instead, it was a genuine fear that she would never be able to display the same amount of passion currently visible within his fiery and possessive gaze...

Fortunately, Nobu didn't seem to notice her fear. Instead, he held her firmly in his embrace as he leaned forward and ultimately claimed her lips as his prize...

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Though things became a little awkward when Kazue, Nariko, Kumiko, and Sachiko walked in on him pounding Yui in the bath, Nobu was in too great a mood to let such a small matter affect him. Thus, after a mere three hours of lamentation, he managed to recover enough to explain his intentions to Yui.

Simply put, Nobu realized that he could, theoretically, double the amount of Aura he was earning each day by investing the excess into the people on his Friends List.

At the present moment, Midori afforded Nobu around 213 Aura per day. With the bonus provided by Inami, this increased to a startling 2,130.

After his conversation with Yui, Nobu realized that he could basically give all his Aura to one of the girls, and, thanks to Inami, they would transfer all of it back to him after a single session of clicking.

An example of what Nobu had in mind was investing 10,000 Aura into Midori. This would increase her total Aura to 12,130. So long as the conversion remained fixed, this meant she would go from providing 213 Aura per day to 1,213 Aura per day. With the bonus provided by Inami, this shot up to a startling 12,130 Aura, her literal cultivation base.

By taking that 12,130 Aura and feeding it back into Midori, Nobu would not only increase her base to 24,260; but, so long as he timed Inami's bonus properly, he would be earning that same amount each day. He expected there to be some kind of restriction, but, even if that was the case, it meant he could effectively double his Aura with each repetition of the process.

After explaining this in detail to Yui, Kumiko, and Midori herself, Nobu had the latter seated in front of him with a very nervous expression on her face. He didn't want to force a shit ton of aura into her body without her consent. After all, even breaking through to the First Realm had been an...arduous experience. No one knew what would happen if her Aura suddenly increased from around 2,000 to more than 10,000 in an instant...

"If you're scared or uncertain, no one here will force you. You have my word..."

Though he had been oblivious to the actual pressure Midori was experiencing, Nobu had the girls promise not to pressure Midori, Nariko, Sachiko, or any of the children that would come to study under them. He wanted to get stronger but he wasn't willing to exploit or endanger literal children to achieve his goals. Thus, unless the girls were willing to go through with the procedure, he wasn't going to force them.

Fortunately, though Nobu wasn't entirely in agreement with it, the desire to become stronger had been firmly cemented into the hearts and minds of virtually every child born in Nian. Midori was a bit of a pacifist but she was still a descendant of a famous kunoichi clan. She had also experienced the terrors of being weak, so, even before Nobu had asked for her consent, she had already made up her mind.

"Nn! Midori will do her best for Master~!"

Wincing at the perennially cringe form of address, a wry smile developed across Nobu's face as he extended his hand to caress Midori's head, saying, "Thanks...I appreciate it..." in an audibly awkward tone.

Smiling even more radiantly, Midori waited until Nobu had retracted his hand before hopping to her feet and attempting to remove her top. This left the latter with a stupefied look on his face, but, recalling how Midori had writhed around during her initial breakthrough, an image that refused to expunge itself from his mind, Nobu ultimately just exhaled a sigh as he focused his attention on the stone tablet.

Once Midori was thoroughly naked and seated in an expectant seiza, Nobu navigated to her page in his Units and Upgrades tab before pressing his thumb on the circular crystal that represented her cultivation base. He had already familiarized himself with the process of transferring Aura when he first unlocked the option, so, under the watchful eyes of more than just the three people present, he held down his thumb and observed as his reserves began to deplete at an ever-increasing rate...

At first, Midori seemed relatively unaffected by the sudden increase in her Aura. If anything, she felt a sudden urge to jump up and move around. Her stomach felt a little ticklish, but, other than that, it wasn't too bad.

Unfortunately, this had only been the case for the first few hundred. Once her reserves exceeded three-thousand and continued to climb, the ticklish sensation in her stomach quickly turned into a deep and pulsating heat. This caused the smile on her face to rapidly fade away, as, moments later, several beads of sweat began to appear across her body.

Though she did her best to remain as still as possible, it wasn't long before Midori began to fidget about atop the cushion she was seated upon. Her expression became progressively more strained, and, by the time her Aura had exceeded 4,000, it took every ounce of willpower she possessed not to writhe about and seek relief.

Noticing Midori's reaction even though he was doing his best to keep all of his attention focused on the stone tablet, Nobu's expression became progressively more awkward as she did her best to stifle the increasingly sonorous moans escaping her lips. He felt absolutely no attraction towards an eight-year-old brat, but, hearing her impassioned whimpers as her unique aroma quickly filled the room, it was impossible to remain completely unaffected.

Fortunately, Nobu quickly learned one of the limitations of the procedure as his Aura value hit ten thousand. This implied that, while it was possible to decrease his Rank, the stone tablet would not allow him to decrease his Realm. In other words, from the moment he broke through to the Second Realm, his minimum Aura had become fixed at 10,000.

While this was a bit of a pain in the butt, Nobu wasn't particularly disappointed. Every bit of Aura he invested into the girls would return to him the following day. Thus, while Midori's Aura had stopped increasing at 7,394, he could easily increase it to more than 14,000 once she finishes her daily clicks.

As that thought crossed his mind, Nobu's expression turned more conflicted than ever before as he briefly cast his gaze towards Midori. She had collapsed by the time her Aura had surpassed the five thousand mark, and, shortly after that, her subdued whimpers had turned into spine-chilling moans. He refused to look directly at her, but, seeing the reddish-black stain and the piss-soaked cushion she had been seated upon, it wasn't difficult to imagine what had transpired less than a meter away from him...

Exhaling a sigh, Nobu resisted the almost overwhelming urge to just leave the room and let Kumiko deal with the aftermath. Midori's present state was a direct result of his desire to grow stronger, so, after taking a deep breath and nearly choking due to the smell of ammonia, he surprised everyone by picking up the limp, heavily breathing girl and commanding, "Kumiko. Send for Kazue and have her meet us in the bath. Yui, you'll come with me. I can carry her there but I'll need you to wash her for me..."

Adopting one of the most charming smiles Nobu had ever seen on her face, Kumiko quickly rose to her feet before replying, "Leave it to me~!" in an uncharacteristically spirited tone. She was usually a very calm and collected woman, but, seeing Nobu tenderly cradling Midori in his arms, she couldn't help feeling more motivated than usual. She was also excited by the prospect that her Lord's power would increase exponentially from this point forward, so, while humming a happy tune, she quickly alighted from the room to retrieve Kazue.

Though Kumiko's behavior had left him feeling a little dumbfounded, Nobu quickly recovered when Midori opened her hazy and unfocused eyes. She seemed very confused at first, but, upon realizing who was carrying her, a tired smile blossomed across her face as she weakly inquired, "Master...did Midori do well...?"

Returning an awkward smile, Nobu did his best to sound as sincere as possible as he softly replied, "You did great, kiddo...now go to sleep. When you wake up, you'll be stronger than ever before..."

Smiling so widely that it forced her to squint, Midori sounded far more sincere as she said, "That's a relief...now I can be useful to Master..." before tucking in her arms and legs. Then, as her eyes slowly closed, she nestled as close to his chest as possible before promptly falling asleep...

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(A/N: This chapter was super awkward but Midori is hella kawaii...)