[Thanks to your relentless training, your strength has increased by 1 point!]
[Your aura usage has been pushed to the limit! +10 points to maximum aura reserve!]
[You have received +10% XP]
"997... 998... 999... 1000!"
Ethan's voice came out more like the growl of a beast than the words of a man.
His aura had given out on the nine hundred and ninety-fifth push-up. From that point on, all that remained was his body's raw, natural strength.
As an awakened user, he was far stronger than any ordinary human, but even so, stripped of the energy that amplified his muscles, that advantage counted for little.
"Ugh... damn it!"
He gasped, arms trembling violently beneath him, so drained he could barely feel his own hands. Not even the harshest trainers his father had ever hired had pushed him this close to his limit.
Summoning the last scrap of strength left in his body, he twisted sharply beneath Evelyn.
Her ass came down hard against his lap with a wet, obscene slap, the thick, heavy flesh of her cheeks rippling from the impact with a slow, lewd sway.
Her torso pitched forward from the motion, and her huge tits swung heavily downward, hanging full and round just inches from his face, swaying gently with the momentum of the drop.
"A thousand push-ups is ten seconds, right?"
A wide grin spread across Ethan's face as he watched the regret wash over Evelyn's expression in real time.
"You... pervert... I should punch you in the balls, you know?" she growled, jaw tight, eyes cutting away from him.
"I'm the pervert?" Ethan tilted his head slightly. "You're the one who proposed it. It's not my fault you're a degenerate woman."
"I was trying to help you," she snorted, puffing out her chest. "And look, it worked really well."
Before she could say anything else, his hands were already on her.
He gripped her huge, tanned mountains firmly, without hesitation.
They were soft and warm and impossibly heavy, the creamy skin yielding between his fingers as he squeezed, his palms sinking into their full, pillowy weight.
His hands moved higher, fingers tracing the edge where the leather top bit into her skin, following the deep line it pressed into her generous flesh.
"H-hey, you should only touch, not... nghnn~~"
Evelyn's complaint dissolved into a breathless sound as he pushed past the neckline.
His hands closed around as much of her as they could hold, not even nearly enough to engulf fully them. Each breast overflowed his grip entirely, spilling warm and soft beyond his fingers.
He pressed them together, felt their weight pull against his palms, squeezed until the skin dimpled and flushed lightly beneath the pressure.
"Nghnn~~ F-five seconds..."
Why was time moving so slowly?
With a firm tug, he pulled her breasts free of the tight top.
They spilled out, bouncing against each other before settling, their pointed nipples stiffening almost instantly in the cool air.
The pale, sun-sheltered skin was fully exposed now, divided by a sharp, perfect line separating untouched white from warm golden tan.
He squeezed harder, dragging them together and pressing the soft flesh. He felt their weight, their fullness, the way they jiggled every subtle movement of his hands.
His palms felt like they'd found paradise.
"G-gentler, you..."
She gasped sharply as his fingers found her nipples, rolling them lightly between his fingertips.
Sadly, all good things must end.
"Aghnn~~ 0!"
She finished the count at last.
Her torso snapped upright, and her breasts pulled free of his grip with a heavy bounce, swinging wide against her chest before the momentum brought them swaying back, their weight settling slowly into stillness.
Evelyn clutched her own chest with both arms, pressing them together and turning her flushed face sharply away from him.
"You want to get off me now?" Ethan couldn't quite hide the honest laugh in his voice.
His cock throbbed hard against her, pressed flush against the plump cameltoe her thick pussy formed through the fabric of her shorts.
Evelyn's eyes widened for just a fraction of a second, and her teeth found her lower lip.
Then, with one powerful thrust of her leg muscles, she launched herself upward and landed a few feet away.
She grabbed the straps of her top and pulled it back into place, tugging the leather over her breasts with a small adjustment.
"Come, help your sovereign up!" Ethan smiled, stretching a hand toward her.
"My sovereign my ass..." Evelyn muttered, already turning her back and walking toward the mansion. "Is there at least some good food in this damn place? I'm hungry!"
He didn't bother getting up yet.
He just lay there, watching the sway of her hips as she moved away, the soft, rhythmic tremble that spread through the full curves of her ass with every step.
What a woman.
He closed his eyes and let out a slow breath.
If he had the strength, he might have considered taking the second step right then and there. But his body had nothing left. He could barely lift his arms.
He stayed still, focusing on the air around him.
Mana and aura drifted through the atmosphere, and one of the first things he'd learned in this world was how to sense them, to draw them in, especially through meditation.
He relaxed his body completely, opened his palms against the ground, and felt a thin current of energy thread through his fingertips and seep slowly into his body.
Since he had yet to reach the second stage and form an aura heart, the absorption was inefficient at best.
After roughly five minutes, he finally opened his eyes and checked his reserves.
[10/175.]
A miserable amount. But enough to move.
With a low grunt, he pushed himself upright and made his way into the mansion to find Evelyn and Alice.
Night had fallen. Dinner wouldn't sort itself out.
He found them in the kitchen, along with a third woman he hadn't expected.
Alice sat rigidly in one corner of a large, old wooden table, her posture stiff and uncomfortable. Evelyn occupied the opposite corner, legs crossed elegantly, a faint blush still resting on her cheeks.
The third woman stood near the stove.
A middle-aged peasant woman with a gentle gaze and an unremarkable face, her hands moving carefully as she arranged pots across the table.
The wife of one of the farmers who worked the fields, by the look of her.
The spread she'd laid out was simple and generous: boiled and roasted corn, chicken, white rice, and a strange red sauce that bubbled quietly in its pot, filling the kitchen with a rich, salty aroma that made his empty stomach clench with interest.
Everything smelled fresh, recently harvested, still carrying the faint warmth of the earth.
"O-oh, my lord!" The woman startled when she noticed Ethan in the doorway, her hands stilling over the table.
"I... I heard that Miss Alice was working very hard today, so I decided to prepare dinner for everyone while my husband was still out in the fields."