Wonderland Space, second floor, beachside pool.
Nolan walked up to Kitsune Saiguu's side. Looking at her fair profile, he smiled and asked,
"What is it—are you missing Inazuma?"
Since arriving in the Wonderland Space, Kitsune Saiguu had been focused on restoring her soul and had yet to return to Inazuma. Staring out at the sea, it was only natural for her to feel a bit nostalgic.
"Hehe. Miko and Ei often tell me about how Inazuma has been changing these days, so it's not as though I miss it terribly.
"I'm just a little bored, so I came here to enjoy the scenery."
As she gently brushed the pure white hair by her cheek, Kitsune Saiguu said with a soft smile.
A gentle sea breeze drifted past, making the hem of her red shrine maiden robe sway lightly, the edge of the skirt softly brushing against her ankles wrapped in white socks.
"I see." Nolan nodded in understanding, then continued, "If you're bored, then how about doing something interesting with me?"
After living in the Wonderland Space for so long, Kitsune Saiguu naturally understood Nolan's fondness for cultivation.
There was no need to make excuses—he could simply say it outright.
Kitsune Saiguu's personality was quite similar to Yae Miko's. Or rather, since Miko had grown up under her care, it was inevitable that they shared some similarities.
Both were intelligent, cunning women.
And when it came to feelings, they were likewise rather proactive and open—so long as affection was high enough, time had been spent together, and both sides understood each other well.
Under such conditions, a direct confession like this did not feel abrupt at all.
"Something interesting…" Kitsune Saiguu had often seen Nolan being intimate with Ei, Miko, or other girls, so she naturally understood what he meant.
She crossed her arms, gently lifting the fullness of her chest beneath the shrine maiden top, and chuckled softly.
"You want to be close with me? If you wish, that's fine. It's just that I don't have as much experience as Ei or Miko, changing positions with you day after day.
"Whether I can make this process interesting—I can't guarantee that."
Kitsune Saiguu did quite like Nolan. She knew that his closeness with women was part of his training, so she didn't refuse.
After all, he had saved her when she was nothing but a remnant soul. Perhaps only offering herself in return could be considered proper repayment.
"It's fine if you don't. I'll guide you."
Seeing her agree, Nolan reached out and wrapped an arm around her waist, leaning in toward her cherry-blossom-colored, soft lips.
"Mm…"
Kitsune Saiguu let out a small, slightly unaccustomed sound, but she still embraced Nolan, trying to cooperate.
As they kissed, Nolan's hands held her through the layers of her kimono, gently caressing her back for a while before slowly sliding downward.
On both sides of the red shrine maiden skirt, there were slit openings hidden within the pleats. Through them, one could glimpse the snowy white skin along her thighs.
It added a hint of allure to the otherwise pure shrine maiden attire.
Like slipping a hand into a pocket, Nolan reached in through those openings and easily touched Kitsune Saiguu's soft, pale hips.
He clearly felt the girl in his arms tense slightly, her hands instinctively tightening around his waist.
But soon, she relaxed again.
Kitsune Saiguu parted her lips from his and blinked her golden eyes, taking a couple of subtle breaths before speaking,
"Y-you… should we go back to the room? There's sand everywhere here—it's a bit inconvenient."
She was actually worried that someone might come up or down the stairs and see them. After all, it was her first time doing something like this, and she still felt a bit shy.
"It's fine. We can just wash up later." Nolan replied as though he hadn't understood.
Before Kitsune Saiguu could respond, he suddenly leaned forward and gently bit down on her white, fluffy fox ear.
At the same time, his hands kneaded and caressed her hips.
"Mm!"
Kitsune Saiguu's body softened, and she could only cling to Nolan's chest, half leaning against him. Her fair cheeks flushed, lips slightly parted as she breathed lightly.
After feeling around for a moment, Nolan discovered that the triangular undergarment she wore was tied at the sides. He gently untied the strings on both sides of her lower abdomen.
Soon, a white piece of intimate clothing slipped down from beneath the red skirt, coming to rest between her feet in wooden geta.
Nolan continued to caress her soft hips, his hands slowly sliding to her snow-white thighs.
Kitsune Saiguu hugged him even tighter, even lightly biting onto his clothes.
After a short while, she seemed a little unsteady on her feet. Nolan had no choice but to reach out from beneath her skirt to support her.
Then he lifted her horizontally, laying her down on the sand facing the sea.
Standing before her, with the ocean at his back, Nolan lifted the hem of her red skirt, revealing her snow-white legs and flat abdomen.
Kitsune Saiguu instinctively covered her pale belly with her hands, turning her face to the side, seeming to feel a bit embarrassed.
Nolan smiled, lifted her legs, and gently spread them as he rested them on his shoulders, then slowly pressed forward.
He was experienced in handling situations like this.
Start from below first—after a while, there would naturally be no strength left to keep blocking above.
More than half an hour passed. Both of their clothes were already covered in sand, making cultivation like this rather uncomfortable.
So the two embraced each other, rolled around a few times in the sand, and then rolled straight into the sea, continuing their close cultivation there.
At that moment, Nolan saw an affection notification pop up on his character panel:
[Kitsune Saiguu Has Developed Good feelings Towards You, Obtained 660 Affection Points. Current Affection Level: Lv.10 (MAX)]
The final bit of Kitsune Saiguu's affection toward him had filled up!
The very next second, another notification popped up in rapid succession:
[Through sincere feelings and unyielding effort, you have deeply intertwined a fate that once had no intersection with your own. From this moment on, the maiden's destiny star shall shine together with yours. Ability acquired: Nine-Tailed White Dawn Celestial Fox.]
As expected—it was Kitsune Saiguu's affection skill.
While continuing his cultivation with Kitsune Saiguu, Nolan carefully felt out the details of this newly acquired skill:
[Nine-Tailed White Dawn Celestial Fox: Increases your charm, making it easier to gain the affection of others. Shares Kitsune Saiguu's racial abilities and additionally gains an effect bonus equal to a percentage of the "combined level of both parties." The spirit of the celestial fox protects the body—each tail can substitute for death once, regardless of the form of death. After substitution, one tail recovers every hundred years, with the recovery speed further increased by a percentage equal to the "combined level of both parties."]
The first effect—increased charm, making it easier to gain others' affection—was quite similar to Tingyun's affection skill. Could it be because they were both foxes?
Nolan felt secretly delighted, extremely satisfied with it.
Now, whenever a girl developed affection for him even once, it was already basically over six hundred affection points. With the boost from this affection skill, it would, without any surprises, start at seven hundred or more.
Making it easier for Nolan to gain girls' affection also meant making it easier for him to obtain new affection skills.
And the effects of each affection skill were, without exception, extremely powerful—so naturally, Nolan was very satisfied.
The second effect was relatively straightforward: sharing Kitsune Saiguu's racial abilities. In other words, he could use her innate racial talents and divine techniques.
Nolan already possessed a vast number of abilities, so comparatively speaking, this effect wasn't particularly outstanding.
The final effect, however, was the true highlight of this affection skill—the protection of the Celestial Fox Spirit, with each tail able to substitute for death once.
Since it was called "Nine-Tailed White Dawn Celestial Fox," it naturally came with nine tails.
That meant anyone who possessed this affection skill could, no matter the manner of death, use the Celestial Fox Spirit's protective tails to substitute death up to nine times before truly dying.
Moreover, each tail only required one hundred years to recover, with the recovery speed further increased.
Under normal circumstances, it would take a full hundred years. But Nolan was currently level 125, while Kitsune Saiguu had just reached level 100 during their cultivation.
Together, that provided a 225% increase in recovery speed—more than doubling it—reducing the recovery time of each tail to just over forty years.
As long as he didn't die nine times consecutively within those forty-plus years, there was effectively no real risk of death.
Given his absurd defensive abilities, as long as Nolan didn't deliberately court disaster, it was basically impossible for him to encounter a situation that could actually kill him.
Let alone dying nine times in a row—even once was highly unlikely.
Even so, life-saving abilities were obviously something you could never have too many of. After all, even if he didn't seek trouble, there was always the possibility of bad luck or unforeseen accidents.
For example, a powerful Aeon suddenly acting on a whim and wreaking havoc, accidentally dragging him into it—or something like the universe suddenly collapsing.
With Keqing's damage-transfer ability and this death-substitution ability as double insurance, as long as he retreated into the Wonderland Space in time and summoned the girls back using "Interstellar Travel,"
There would be nothing to worry about even if the universe itself were destroyed.
In that sense, he had barely achieved transcendence beyond the universe—something even Aeons could not do—despite his actual strength only being around the level of an Emanator.
Nolan was in an excellent mood, and his cultivation with Kitsune Saiguu steadily entered a smoother rhythm.
After a while, Miko, Ayaka, and Sara finished their work for the day and returned. Seeing Nolan and Kitsune Saiguu being close together in the water, they couldn't help but join in as well.
After cultivating with each of them once, it was just in time for dinner.
After dinner, he continued cultivating deep into the night with Beidou, Dehya, Candace, Rosaria, and the other girls.
After taking a short rest, sometime after one in the morning, Nolan teleported once again to the Herta Space Station.
Over there, it was already around eight or nine in the morning. Naturally, Nolan hadn't forgotten that he still needed to continue testing the "Simulated Universe."
Cultivating with the girls was important—but grinding Adventure EXP was just as important.
At this time, Herta had already completed maintenance on the "Simulated Universe" and had long been eager for Nolan to come back and continue testing.
After all, only someone like him—who already had solid foundational strength—could grow rapidly inside the Simulated Universe by relying on sword techniques and the like.
To the point of attracting the attention of an Aeon within half a day, completing a single test run.
Without wasting words, Herta quickly sent Nolan into the "Simulated Universe." This time, he appeared on a planet completely covered in forests.
Nolan originally planned to select the second Path, "Remembrance," in sequence.
But when he saw that the EXP-farming targets in the forest were things like special primal forest wolves, primal giant boars, and super-sized pythons,
His interest was piqued, and he chose the Path of "The Hunt" instead.
After all, they looked like prey—and since he was to be the hunter, the Path of "The Hunt" sounded perfectly suited to that role.
During this maintenance, Herta had placed many valuable materials around the spawn point to make it easier for Nolan to craft weapons.
Since this planet was filled with forests, it was only reasonable that these materials existed in the form of trees.
Following Herta's guidance, Nolan quickly located two plants that were extremely rare even across the galaxy.
Their defining traits were exceptional toughness and sufficient hardness. When made into weapons, they granted a special effect—life absorption.
This was extremely helpful for Nolan's early-stage accumulation.
Once the Path of "The Hunt" provided powerful abilities, the snowball could truly begin rolling.
Very quickly, Nolan used branches from these trees to craft a wooden sword. Then, relying on world-class swordsmanship that surpassed the divine realm, he began rapidly farming EXP on this forest planet.
In just two hours, he raised his Simulated Universe avatar to over level 120.
At that point, the Path of "The Hunt" fed back an ability called "Arrow Rain."
Despite its ordinary name, this ability was comparable to the previous resonance in scale—its range was enormous. At his current level, it could already cover an area the size of an entire continent.
So Nolan began to take to the skies. By noon, he had already farmed his way to level 199 on this planet, feeling as though he was infinitely close to an Aeon.
He could even sense that he should be able to actively draw upon the energy of the Path of "The Hunt." It was just that there existed a lifeform that had gone much farther along this Path.
In fact, this Path itself had been opened by that being. Without its permission, there was no way for him to exert even the slightest control over the Path of "The Hunt."
Forcibly seizing control of the Path would undoubtedly attract the attention of the Aeon of the Hunt—Lan.
And that was exactly what Herta wanted.
Without hesitation, she instructed Nolan to attempt to seize control of the Path of "The Hunt," to see if he could draw Lan out.
Although Nolan had gone deep enough along the Path of the Hunt, without the Hunt Aeon's consent, there was absolutely no way for him to gain even a trace of control over it.
What he was doing was essentially knocking on a door from outside the house. If the person inside didn't open it—if Lan didn't appear—then there was nothing he could do.
But if Lan truly did appear, and Nolan managed to defeat them, then according to Herta's calculations, it was very possible that he could replace them and become the Aeon of that Path.
Of course, no matter how deep or how far one walked along a single Path, no matter how close they came to an Aeon, it was fundamentally impossible to defeat the Aeon of that Path through that Path alone.
External force was required to achieve that.
That external force could be another Aeon, or some other power or weapon on par with an Aeon.
In short, a Pathstrider walking a single Path, under normal circumstances, had virtually no chance of defeating a fully intact Aeon.
After all, any abilities you possessed were abilities the Aeon also had—only countless times stronger. Unless the Aeon deliberately let you win, how could victory be possible?
(End of Chapter)
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