God Of Crafting

"There's just one more thing I need a clarification on," taking a step forward, I reached out and grabbed Claire's hand… only to then refuse to buckle from where I stood.

"I think I do understand your intentions. I can also see all this stuff around, only to feel my creativity surge, but…"

My voice grew flat, almost deflated, all the way to the point where it just… ceased.

"What's the catch?"

Raising my eyes, I stared right into Claire's deep, light-brown eyes, seeking the true cost of all the greatness she surprised me with.

"That's…"

Rather than anxious, worried, or outright unwilling to talk about it, Claire… blushed?

"Most of the stuff here was bought by Chihiro and brought over with Leila's help. The entire thing took place while we went out to… train with her for a bit," Claire smiled a little as she slightly manipulated what we both knew happened, just in case someone was listening.

"Apparently, it was her apology for the whole mess with the cultivation garden or something. As for the requirements of this stone…"

The blush on Claire's face grew hotter while I could now sense her growing somewhat restless.

"Seeing how we are cultivation partners, the best way to keep it going for as long as possible is to…" Claire gulped her saliva down, only to then cover her face with her hands and turn it away. "It is to keep escalating our contact…"

'Oh?'

It was already a precious, rare moment for me to see Claire so bashful, seeing how we did so much, there was hardly any level of shame left in either of us. This was yet another negative effect of our bond, making us far more accustomed to everything about the other person than we might potentially want to, cutting at the precious innocence of slowly discovering each other at our own pace.

"Well then, I'm entirely down to it, but…" I smiled lightly, struggling to bear with just how adorable Claire was at the moment. "But only if you are ready for it too."

Claire's fingers moved up a little, allowing her to steal a glance at me from behind the cover of her hands.

'Ugh…'

Putting on a tough face, I tried my utmost to resist just how charming this succubi of a girl could become with just those small things she did.

It was as if…

As if she was now emanating the aura of purity, easily capable of driving all the men in the world to madness in a bid to sully it.

I felt the desire to just wrap her in my arms and keep her safe and cuddled away from the rest of the world, only for it to mix with the intense lust to just pin her down, pry her shyness away, and then shower her down in my feelings and bodily liquids, marking myself all over her… once again, to claim her away from the world.

"Oh…"

Moving my hand up to my chest and pressing down on my heart, I made a small moan as the true cost of this operation finally dawned on me.@@novelbin@@

While it wasn't something I would ever regret doing… what this green crystal required was for me… No, for us, to hold back.

Hold back after doing more than we did before.

"Keeping this sub-dimension spell up and running might prove to be quite the bigger challenge than I thought, then," I stated as I finally caved in and stepped closer, all the while not letting Claire's hand go.

Right now, she was still fully robed, with only her left shoulder free from the confines of her clothes. And so, regardless of how much I just wanted to tear her robes down and take her as she stood…

I muted those desires and leaned in over her naked shoulder, only to then plaster it with gentle, deliberate kisses.

"Ah!"

Moving her hands behind my back and then holding me in place, Claire all tensed and twisted. As far as I could tell from our bond, she didn't expect something as simple as my current caress to have such an effect on her either.

Still, encouraged by her moans and sighs, I continued to kiss her shoulder even harder, sneaking in a lick or two of her delicate skin in the process.

'That's not enough?' I thought, opening my eyes for just long enough to confirm the green crystal behind Claire's back had yet to start. 'Well then, let's ramp it up!'

Holding nothing back, I now directed my kisses up Claire's shoulder all the way to the corner between her arm and her neck, hiding my face in said corner as I've now moved my lips onto the side of the girl's delicate neck.

"Hah!"

As a spasm shook her body, Claire pressed herself against me, now using both her arms and her legs to hold me close while I continued to shower her neck with kisses, slowly inching up her throat and then moving my kissing spree to her jaw, her cheek… and then finally landing on the promised land of her sweet, soft lips.

"Aooaaaeeemphh…"

Covering Claire's mouth with my lips, I muffled her next moan, making it reverberate through my entire body and only enticing me to make our kiss even more intense.

And yet, as soon as I was about to start wrestling tongues with Claire, the green crystal behind her finally lit up… Only for its shine to then explode outwards, covering the entirety of the workshop in a faint, green hue…

"Stop!"

Claire exclaimed, moving her hands to my chest only to then push me away. Find exclusive stories on My Virtual Library Empire

"As much as I would love to keep going, we need to be careful! Once we go through one escalation, we won't be able to use it again!"

Hearing this, I couldn't help but squint my eyes a bit.

"You know, I'm not really sure how to feel about using our intimacy in such a cold, calculated way…"

"Oh, you dummy," Claire smiled as she moved her hands up and then rested them down on my cheeks. "Neither do I, given how hard I will have to resist my own urges, but where else or at what other point will you be able to craft with such expensive materials and in such dense Qi?"

Claire gritted her teeth before steeling herself and looking into my face with a reaffirmed look of determination in her eyes.

"Things are changing far too quickly for my liking. And we can't know what sort of escalation will happen after we smash whoever they put against us in that duel you agreed to," she stated, only to take a deep breath and then move her right hand even higher… all to just gently pat my head.

"You are not a fighter, but a crafter. So make the most out of this opportunity that we made happen, and craft us something that will give us an edge in case everything turns ugly in a hurry."