In the days that followed his initial revelation, Nobu spent a fair amount of time organizing his schedule and learning about the limitations of his stone tablet.
One of the first discoveries he made was that it was impossible to increase a person's Aura beyond their current Realm until they had broken through. After that, there was a thirty-day period where he could invest Aura into them but not into their base.
While this might sound like an inconvenience, it was actually a good thing as it gave Midori thirty days to stabilize her aura and familiarize herself with her current strength. It also incentivized Nobu to invest his Aura into others, so, while he had been looking forward to gaming the system a bit, he wasn't particularly bothered by the development.
By the time a week had passed, Midori, Sachiko, and Nariko all had more than enough cultivation base to break through into the next Realm. In other words, so long as he properly organized his schedule, Nobu could earn upwards of 30,000 Aura per day without needing to click.
Unfortunately, there seemed to be a hard limit to the amount of Aura he could receive from others based on their Realm. By the time he had received 10,000 Aura from each of the three girls, they no longer had the option to click at his behest.
Based on this discovery, Nobu came to the conclusion that the maximum amount of Aura he could receive from a person correlated to the threshold for breaking through to the next Realm. In other words, he would receive 10,000 from people in the First Realm, 100,000 from people in the Second Realm, and 1,000,000 from people in the Third Realm.
Simply put, if he wanted to rely on others to elevate him to the Third Realm, Nobu would need the support of at least ten people at the Realm beneath him. The efforts of Midori, Sachiko, and Nariko had brought his total aura to 31,567. Thus, unless he recruited a few additional "friends", he would need to earn the remaining 68,433 on his own.
While this discovery had taken a bit of the wind out of his sails, Nobu didn't let it deter him. Rather, he saw it as an opportunity to strengthen his foundation and improve his physique. Increasing his Aura was great and all, but, even compared to the three brats, his control was complete shit. Thus, while Onihime dutifully clicked for him off to the side, Nobu had been training every morning under the watchful eye of Inami.
At first, Nobu was annoyed by how Inami would persistently offer him advice, but, after realizing how effective some of her suggestions were, he decided to just go with the flow. She hadn't lived for more than six thousand years without picking up a few tricks along the way, and, as a kitsune, she was exceptionally talented at manipulating flames.
Though most wouldn't make a direct correlation between fire and air, Nobu knew the two were intrinsically related to each other. He also found it rather novel that Inami's specific form of martial arts was effectively fire and waterbending on steroids. She could use her flames to directly turn her opponents to ash or drastically increase the malleability of her mithril-infused aura to the point it resembled a glowing, greenish-blue liquid.
Truth be told, Nobu couldn't imagine how anyone could pierce Inami's defenses. The thought of being hit with a veritable deluge of superheated metal was also scary as fuck, so, while he couldn't help teasing her, he made sure never to genuinely offend her. He wasn't afraid that she would try to harm him, but, knowing she could surround him in a cacoon of superheated Mithril with a flick of her wrist, it was better to play it safe.
Fortunately, even if he did piss her off, Nobu was pretty sure that Inami wouldn't actually try to hurt him. Her status as the Guardian of the Yoshitsune Clan was one reason for this, but, more than that, it was the way the vulpine woman looked at him that gave him the confidence to tease her.
She might be unwilling to admit it but even the trio of Midori, Sachiko, and Nariko had taken notice of the fact that Inami's expression would light up the moment she entered the same room as Nobu. The movement of her ears and tails would change noticeably as well, so, even if he outright bullied her, Nobu couldn't see Inami baring her fangs and claws at him. He was even beginning to suspect she was a bit of a masochist, or, at the very least, a closet sub.
Simply put, Inami enjoyed being treated roughly. She had even allowed him to hold onto her ears and throat fuck her a few times. She complained about it, sure, but, considering she woke him with a deepthraot the following morning, it was pretty obvious she didn't actually mind. Rather, he was pretty fucking sure she wanted him to treat her roughly. Not that this was particularly uncommon among members of the Yoshitsune Clan...
...
..
.
Watching as his cock magically appeared and disappeared within the ass of the scantily clad woman bouncing on his hips, Nobu couldn't help wondering what the fuck had been wrong with him when he first arrived at the Yoshitsune Clan. Sure, it was super fucking cringe to be coddled and regarded as a Lord and shit, but, at the same time, he was surrounded by dozens of stupidly beautiful women who wouldn't even hesitate to spread their legs if he asked them to.
After his little encounter with Yuriko, Nobu ended up having similar discussions with each member of his entourage. He had basically decided to just man up and accept ownership of each and every single one of them. They already regarded themselves as his possessions, so, rather than continue forcing them to behave the way he wanted, Nobu decided to just go with the flow and treat them the way they expected to be treated.
It was a little awkward at first, but, seeing the impassioned looked on Chikako's face as she eagerly impaled herself on his cock, Nobu felt as though he had made the right decision. Hell, he was even seriously considering taking each of their virginities. Sure, this might complicate things quite a bit if the warnings of Hitomi and Yui were to be believed, but, rather than sending them off to be fucked by some random piece of shit Noble, Nobu would rather claim the girls for himself. After all, he had the ability to power them up to the point that espionage and subterfuge were pointless.
As that thought crossed his mind, Nobu surprised Chikako by rising to a seated position. He didn't mind letting her ride his cock until she was satisfied, but, feeling his pelvis beginning to ache due to her weight slamming down into him like a machine press, he decided to take matters into his own hands.
Fortunately, like pretty much every member of Nobu's entourage, Chikako was more than happy to oblige the change in position. It had even started to circulate among the girls that Nobu's preferred positions were what their manuals referred to as animal style and mating press. Simply put, he liked to put them into positions where he could pound them as hard and as liberally as he liked...
...
..
.
After blowing his load into Chikako's ass, Nobu gave the raven-haired beauty's remarkably rounded bottom a light smack as Onihime approached him with a towel, a large sponge, and a bucket of hot water. He had been having a lot of sex as of late so Onihime had proposed the idea of saving him a trip to the bath by carrying around everything she would need to personally see to his hygiene.
Nobu had been against it at first, but, after showing him how she could heat the water by simply placing her hands inside, he eventually agreed on the grounds that Onihime would only carry the bucket when they were in the manor. After all, if the others were to see her following him around with all the materials she needed to give him a sponge bath, they might immediately assume he wanted to fuck.
While he had been going to town after setting aside his inhibitions, Nobu didn't consider himself a horndog. Sure, he liked to fuck, and, due to the presence of so many ridiculously beautiful women, it was easy to develop the urge to whip his dick out. The problem was, without the aid of medicinal herbs, he could only realistically blow his load two or three times before his balls began to protest. Thus, while he didn't mind giving the girls a casual dicking, he didn't want them to develop the idea that he only sought them when he wanted to bone.
It might sound stupid and hypocritical, but Nobu was still determined to get the girls to mellow out and behave casually around him. At the very least, he wanted to reach a point where they were able to behave like Hitomi, Suzune, and, to a lesser extent, Inami. He may have accepted ownership and responsibility for them, but, no matter how they viewed themselves, he still saw them as people. If it took promoting them to the pinnacle of Mithril, Orichalcum, or even Adamantine to convince them this was the case, he would do so...
"Master...may I...?"
Breaking free from the sage-like state that followed a good fucking, Nobu looked towards Onihime to find her eyeing his half-erect penis. She didn't seem even remotely bothered by the fact he had just been plowing another woman in the ass. Instead, there was a hungry look in her eyes, and, so long as he gave her permission, Nobu knew she would greedily swallow his cock until her nose was tickling his pubes.
Noticing a similar look directed at him by the always taciturn Chikako, Nobu just chuckled before nodding towards his junk and saying, "Go for it. My balls are pretty much running on empty but I can probably fire a blank or two if you work hard. Just wipe it down first. I don't want you getting a stomach ache or an infection."
Though she was tempted to remind Nobu that her heritage made it all but impossible for her to get sick, Onihime just smiled happily in response to his words. She was both a slave and a Half-Oni so it wouldn't have been strange for her to scorn and abuse her. Instead, he often showed her more care than she showed herself. He seemed to think he was a terrible person, but, from each of their points of view, Nobu was one of the kindest and most benevolent Nobles in all of Nian.
With this in mind, Onihime dutifully cleaned her Master's privates while Chikako helped to tie up her hair even without her asking. Then, once he was completely cleaned, she couldn't help licking her lips for a brief moment as she lowered her head to gently kiss the tip of his now erect penis...
...
..
.
Though it had only been a few weeks since the first time she and Nobu had sex, Inami was currently hunched over a bucket of her own, cold sweat covering her body as she emptied the contents of her already depleted stomach into the foul-smelling pail. This wasn't her first time being pregnant, but, as the last time was well over five thousand years ago, she wasn't exactly used to it.
Borrowing a bit of Nobu's vernacular, Inami hissed an aggrieved, "Dammit...!" as she tried and failed to alleviate the symptoms of her nausea by circulating her Aura. Unfortunately, now that she had an additional life gestating in her womb, her control was exponentially worse than usual. This was one of the major downsides to being pregnant as a cultivator. By the time the delivery was approaching, you were basically as weak as someone without any cultivation base whatsoever.
"I swear...if this one isn't born a male, I'm going to wring that brats neck for making me have to go through this hellish exp-"
Unable to finish her words, Inami gagged painfully as a bit of stomach acid forced its way up and out of her mouth...
...
..
.
(A/N: O_O...)