"You little rascal..."
Havria pressed her lips together, a hint of hesitation showing on her face as she thought it over, realizing he actually made some sense.
Her gaze lingered on Nolan's lips, inching closer, intending to press her own lips over his. But just as that rush of shyness overtook her, their noses bumped together, their lips separated by the slimmest of gaps.
Nolan could already feel the warmth of her breath. He saw Havria's cheeks turning scarlet as she shyly froze there—caught between anticipation and bashfulness, as if building up her courage.
Nolan watched with gentle amusement, saying nothing, letting her slowly prepare at her own pace.
He watched as Havria pulled her head back, then—with a sudden burst of boldness—darted in again. Their noses brushed, lips hovering, ghosting against each other, neither quite connecting. Clearly, at the very last instant, Havria hesitated again.
"Ugh, you do it! Since when is the girl supposed to be the one taking the initiative—Isn't this supposed to be a guy's job?" Havria wailed, her tone half-pitiful, half-reproachful.
Even in such a shy, intimate moment, she just couldn't summon enough courage to act first.
"Alright, if that's how you want it, then just relax." Nolan didn't seem to mind at all, his hands gently stroking the silky smoothness of her bare back.
Havria's body shivered lightly, lips pursed as she let his hands wander, surrendering to his touch.
He gently pressed her back toward the wall, easing her until she leaned against it. Then, cradling her face in his hands, he looked her in the eyes, slowly lowering his lips onto her soft, trembling mouth.
"...Mmm!"
Havria let out a muffled sound, her heart pounding so hard it felt like it would leap from her chest, her thoughts dissolving into a sticky haze.
In that moment, she had no idea what to do—she could only let Nolan take the lead. Beneath her skirt, her snow-white legs pressed shyly together, shifting restlessly against each other in subconscious unease.
Nolan kept kissing her, tasting her sweetness until she nearly ran out of breath, squirming to tap at his shoulder for release. Only then did he finally relent and pull away.
"Agh, cough—" Havria bent over, coughing a few times, then leveled an indignant look at Nolan. "Hmph, you jerk—you don't even care about a beginner, do you!"
After being kissed for so long, experiencing that new, intimate sensation in full, she finally felt that overwhelming shyness fade a little.
She may have looked like a cultured, mature lady, gentle as a lily, but when it came to this sort of ambiguous, intimate affair, she was unexpectedly less composed than Lisa or Ningguang.
"We've only just begun, you know. I barely even used a tenth of my strength," Nolan joked, hands sliding up to trace along her armpits, caressing the smooth, alabaster skin at the side of her chest.
He slowly tugged her dress upward, revealing more of that ivory skin, and it became apparent that Havria wasn't wearing a bra or anything for support.
"Ah—" Havria instantly covered her chest, flustered and cross. "You... you're just too much! That's enough for today, okay? Don't you still have materials to collect? We'll—do the rest later!"
But with Havria retreating again, Nolan could only sigh inwardly. She'd just made such a bold declaration that if they wanted something, they'd just do it—yet now she was drawing back, timid as a kitten.
At this point, stopping simply wasn't an option.
First, he summoned a semi-translucent psychic tendril, which wrapped snugly around her wrists, gently lifting her arms above her head, leaving only the tips of her toes on the ground.
Now, Havria couldn't resist or pull away any longer.
"My arms ache! Ugh—using bondage now? You're just too much!" Havria shot him a glare, then, her tone softening, pleaded: "Um, can you lower me a little? Let me stand, at least… My feet are starting to hurt."
"Sure thing," Nolan said with a devil-may-care air, summoning two more translucent tendrils at her feet. They wound around her ankles, holding her aloft, and then gently spread her legs apart on either side.
Watching herself exposed like that—her legs open, entirely devoid of pride or modesty, splayed bare for Nolan to see—a tidal wave of shame rushed through her, her voice quivering with a mix of anger and embarrassment:
"Bastard—mmph!"
But her protest had barely left her lips when yet another transparent psychic tendril plugged her mouth, leaving her able to cry out only in incoherent muffled whimpers.
"Only the most exquisite, all-consuming shame can triumph over shyness—here, let me give you a little practice," Nolan chuckled, grasping the hem of her skirt and slowly drifting it upward. The moment her creamy, sculpted legs were exposed, he couldn't help but admire them.
Her plump, peachy hips were wrapped in delicate white lace panties. There was already a shadowy dampness at the crotch, evidence enough that Havria's body was responding more intensely than her mind would ever admit to this pose of utter shame.
"Mmm, mmph!"
Havria glared fiercely at Nolan, her eyes saying clearly: stop looking, you pervert! This is way too embarrassing, just get it over with if you're going to do it—stop teasing me like this!
"Heh, easy now," Nolan soothed as he moved closer, pressing his face against her trembling thigh, rubbing against her satin flesh. His hand slipped inside her panties, kneading her soft, yielding pussy.
Havria's face flushed even hotter, cheeks painted with a delirious blush, knees turning inward, legs trembling as if to close, to hide. But with her ankles locked apart, she had no way to resist, no way to preserve even an ounce of dignity.
In mere minutes, the white lace panties at her crotch had soaked through entirely, darkening visibly. Shimmering streaks of moisture traced their way down the inside of her ivory thighs.
When Nolan judged that she'd reached her limit, he drew aside the crotch of her white lace panties just enough, smoothing his hands beneath her knees to lift her trembling legs.
".Nmm—!"
Havria's pale, silvery eyes widened for a split second, then softened entirely. The overwhelming shame and tension melted as their bodies joined in the most intimate way, all her anxiety dissolving into nothingness.
It always seemed so overwhelming in imagination, but reality brought a simple, breathtaking clarity.
[Havria Has Developed Good Feelings Towards You, Obtained 460 Affection Points. Affection Level: Lv. 10 (MAX)]
As he watched the message window pop up on his character panel, Nolan knew that Havria's last hidden bit of affection for him had finally reached its peak.
Just like the Great Dendro Archon and Guizhong before her, as time passed in the dreamlike sanctuary they shared, Havria's affection for Nolan had nearly reached this final threshold.
Now, with their bodies so close—no barriers left—each offered everything of themselves to the other, honestly, without holding back.
As soon as Nolan felt an emotional fluctuation from receiving the notification, the character panel popped up with a new prompt:
[With sincere intentions and unremitting effort, you have formed a deep connection with a destiny that originally had nothing to do with you; from now on, the destiny star of the young girl will shine alongside you. Gained ability: Sanctified Salt.]
That was indeed Havria's max affection skill.
As the God of Salt, it was unsurprising that the affection skill provided was also related to "salt."
Nolan clicked open the affection skill to check its details:
[Sanctified Salt: You can summon limitless sanctified salt. Consuming it cleanses physical impurities, purifies and refines bodily energy, and has an absolute restraining effect on evil creatures. Evil creatures who come into contact with sanctified salt will enter a weakened state that cannot be dispelled or resisted by any means. The degree of weakness is equal to "the sum of both parties' levels, as a percentage," minus the evil creature's own level.]
Consuming it cleanses impurities and purifies energy… not bad at all. He could use it as a substitute for regular table salt when cooking in the future.
Nolan was already quite satisfied with just this effect.
When he looked at the subsequent effects, he was even more pleased—evil beings in contact with "sanctified salt" would have their power forcibly weakened, and it couldn't be removed!
Currently, Havria's level was 102, and his own was 124, totaling 226.
If an evil entity appeared in front of him, just scattering some salt at them could leave them too feeble to move.
After all, even if the enemy was at level 100, 226 minus 100 leaves 126, which means the opponent would be weakened to over twelve times less than their full strength.
Wouldn't that render them utterly powerless?
Even if the opponent was level 200, they'd still lose 26% of their strength—almost a third—which made this skill simply absurd.
The only regrettable limitation was that it only worked on evil entities.
Here, "evil creatures" referred to those who wielded energies of darkness, corruption, or chaos, or who were laden with negative emotion, spiritually twisted, or irrationally destructive.
For example, Dvalin, corrupted by "Abyssal Poison," counted as an evil creature—but after its wounds were healed, it no longer qualified.
The giant beast Louyue from Baihuang Star, fallen into "Mara (Demonic Yin)," was likely also included, but for the people of Abundance, it depended on the specifics.
If someone simply received the "Abundance" blessing, healing quickly, but did not become crazy or irrational, nor had an evil mind, then they probably weren't counted as evil.
But as a rule, Abundance-folk not being evil was unlikely; after all, being labeled a cosmic "calamity" wasn't for nothing.
After inspecting the new affection skill in detail, Nolan didn't think much more of it. Instead, he lifted Havria's legs onto his shoulders and focused on training with her.
Downstairs, in the meditation room.
Raiden Ei listened to the noises from above and revealed a helpless expression—such an unreliable guy, even fetching something could take so long.
Oh well, until he and Havria finished, it'd take half an hour to an hour anyway; better to go bathe for now and deal with the armor this afternoon.
After all, crafting a suit of armor capable of withstanding the "Messenger" attacks Nolan mentioned wasn't going to be easy.
It'd be the best-quality thing she'd ever forged, likely requiring at least one to two weeks, so she'd just let Nolan be for now—it wasn't urgent.
Ei made her way to the second-floor hot spring bathhouse, changed out of the clothes Nolan had dirtied, and slipped into the hot spring.
If she didn't clean up, and the new girl downstairs caught a whiff of something odd during lunch, it'd harm her image.
As a god, she definitely wouldn't act as carelessly as Nolan did.
No sooner had Ei settled into the bath than she saw Nolan, carrying the thoroughly exhausted Havria, also entering the baths.
He set down the worn-out Havria, then pressed apart Ei's bent knees, pinning her beneath him, and said:
"Havria needs to rest now. Since dinner isn't ready yet, let's do a little more training."
"Suit yourself, you annoying man." Ei leaned against the pool wall, closed her eyes, and rested the back of her head on the edge, letting Nolan do as he pleased.
After all, soaking in a hot spring didn't dirty one's clothes, so a bit of extra training was fine.
Nolan continued training with Ei, and when Havria recovered, he switched to her, and thus time slipped by. While continuing his cultivation, he opened the affection list.
The Adventure EXP for Baihuang Star had been maxed, and the "Minghuo" ship had been smoothly escorted to the "Luofu" Xianzhou.
On the Herta Space Station, he wanted to use the all devouring narwhal in trade to enlist "Genius Society" member Ruan Mei's help.
Maybe that would resolve the Fontainians' constitution issue; since she wasn't at the space station yet, he currently had more free time.
After considering all this, Nolan felt it best to spend time with the girls and improve their affections.
Now that Havria's affection maxed out, he had twenty-nine girls at full affection, just one away from activating the ultimate power of the "True Love Puzzle."
Nolan was very curious about this, so he decided to set aside time to focus on raising the girls' affections.
No matter the nation—Mondstadt, Liyue, Inazuma, Sumeru, or Fontaine—they each had many girls whose affection was nearly maxed.
Nolan realized the longer he thrived in the galaxy, the more girls would like him, and at some point, he might not be able to keep up with all those relationships.
So, he decided to max out some girls' affections and invite them to live in his Wonderland, to make things more manageable.
He looked at the affection list—there were so many girls who liked him it was practically endless, maybe even millions.
After all, Nolan was extremely famous in Teyvat.
As long as they knew about him and weren't in conflict, most would be fond of him; however, 99.99% had never met or interacted with him.
So, their affection mostly hovered around level one; some idolized Nolan as a celebrity, which could bring them to level two.
That was the limit. If you hadn't even met, let alone chatted, there was no way affection would reach level three, the friendship level.
After all, you can't be friends without having spoken; even online friends have chatted at least a little.
Nolan set aside all those girls from the list whom he'd never met or spoken to, and instantly, the affection list became much clearer.
He organized them by nation and first looked to Mondstadt, which was at the top.
Nolan discovered that among the girls he knew in Mondstadt, Rosaria's affection was among the highest, nearly at level eight.
[Rosaria's Current Affection Level: Lv.7 (600/700)]
Now with extra affection-raising titles and specialties, things would progress much quicker.
He decided, when he had time in the next few days, to seek out Rosaria and see if there were good opportunities to improve her affection.
And with affection that high, even if there wasn't a suitable opportunity, just honestly expressing his feelings wouldn't necessarily result in rejection.
(End of Chapter)
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