Chapter 30: Drained Dry

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The golden threads of dawn lazily crept through the arched window, casting mottled patterns of light across the luxurious velvet carpet in President Nova’s bedroom before landing squarely on Li Rui’s tightly closed eyelids.

A vague groan rose from Li Rui’s throat as he struggled to open his eyes.

At that moment, he felt as though every bone in his body had been dismantled and then carelessly put back together. Every joint was stiff and aching.

A dull, persistent soreness throbbed deep in his lower back, reminding him with each faint but stubborn pulse that the soul-deep “inspection” of the previous night had exacted a price far more unforgettable—and far more exhausting—than hacking down a hundred goblins in the mud.

He was like a lump of wax melted beyond recognition, sunk deep into the excessively soft bed beneath him, a bed that seemed capable of gently swallowing every contour of the body. Even the slightest movement, such as curling his fingertips, felt as though it required the strength of his entire body.

Outside the window, the sky was clear, carrying the clean freshness unique to early morning.

Once the frenzied passion of the previous night had ebbed like the tide, all that remained in his mind was a near-vacuum of tranquility.

Within that strange tranquility, several absurd thoughts surfaced of their own accord.

For instance, was the sunlight before him produced by a burning star, or was it divine radiance scattered across the heavens by the Sun God as he drove his chariot?

Or perhaps—how exactly had he crossed over into this world, and how had the “Territorial Anomaly” come to be? What principle lay behind it?

And then there was the difference between sorcerers and pact mages…

The memories of the previous night were still vivid.

President Nova’s long golden hair had spilled loose, dampened by sweat and clinging in strands to the side of her slender, snow-white neck. Beneath the dim light, her ice-blue eyes had gleamed with astonishing brilliance, like stars burning in a winter night—dangerous and filled with oppressive force.

Her body had been soft as water, yet whenever she moved, each motion had carried an overwhelming momentum capable of crushing reason itself.

Her voice, mingling the scorching breath of lingering passion with unquestionable authority, had made every word seem charged with electricity.

“You little fledgling who just crossed over… what could you possibly understand?”

“Pact mages…” She paused briefly, her voice taking on a peculiar rhythm, as though she were suppressing something. “When all is said and done, they are merely… a unique branch extending from the great tree of sorcery…”

“And the power of sorcerers…” Her tone suddenly dropped, each word striking Li Rui’s nerves like a hammer, sonorous and forceful. “Is rooted in the abyss of blood and soul… To unearth that power… you needn’t bury yourself in study like a mage… nor temper yourself on the brink of life and death like a warrior…”

“Every true sorcerer…” Her voice suddenly rose, carrying a heart-stirring fervor. “Needs a furnace! A furnace of extreme emotion… capable of setting the soul itself completely ablaze!”

“Ecstasy! Despair! Rage! And… that most primitive, most surging hunger for life!”

“Only within such a furnace… amid the fiercest and most instinctive… fusion and collision of life…”

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Her gaze was like fire sealed beneath ice, locking firmly onto him.

“Only then will the dormant bloodline truly… awaken! Spells… will flow as naturally as surging blood! And power… will… pour forth without end!”

Then President Nova had used her seemingly inexhaustible reserves of energy, along with a set of techniques so consummate and refined that they bordered on cruelty, to give him an entire night of “practical instruction”—an immersive lesson centered on awakening the bloodline through the stimulation of extreme emotions.

She had transformed into a greedy alchemical grandmaster of godlike skill, treating herself as the perfect furnace and crucible, repeatedly casting him—the raw ore awaiting refinement—into the scalding lava known as desire.

Roasting, hammering, tempering… extracting the energy of life’s source in the most fervent manner possible.

She had continued until every last shred of his strength and every final thread of his awareness had been wrung dry, leaving behind only a hollowed-out shell, limp and aching.

Only then had President Nova, utterly satisfied, hummed a little tune from her homeland, slipped a towel around herself over those long, luminous white legs, and left the room. After washing up, she had gone to rest in another chamber.

All that remained was Li Rui, exhausted from the tempering, lying alone in the empty room, where the cloying traces of sweetness and sweat—and other indescribable remnants—still lingered, enduring the long night.

Only after coming back to his senses did Li Rui realize something.

“President Nova… surely she doesn’t actually understand the difference between pact mages and sorcerers.”

At the recollection, Li Rui instinctively reached out to rub his still-aching lower back, then sucked in a sharp breath.

The sensation…

It was indescribably painful and satisfying.

Outside the window, the morning light was beautiful, birdsong rang clear, and the new day brimmed with vitality.

Inside, Li Rui—like a salted fish just dredged from a “primitive furnace”—lay utterly motionless amid the expensive, supple fabrics beneath him.

Half his mind turned over useless questions such as how the universe worked, while the other half pondered something far more practical:

Could his body, whose bones felt ready to fall apart, actually crawl out today from this wretched nest of indulgence that had witnessed the entire process of his “inspection”?

………………

In the end, Li Rui did manage to get out of bed.

With the help of a maid and the butler.

The process also revealed to him one small corner of the decadence enjoyed by the wealthy in this world.

When the butler knocked and entered, informing him that breakfast was ready and asking whether he required assistance, Li Rui—too weak to move—had answered, “Yes. Sorry to trouble you. Give me a hand.”

The butler had actually turned around and left, then summoned a maid with proper features and an exquisite, perfectly fitted uniform—yet who, for some inexplicable reason, somehow looked unattractive no matter how one viewed her.

Li Rui: “?”

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The nightmare began the very next second.

Without changing expression, the maid walked to the bedside. At a glance from the butler, she briskly seized the thin blanket covering Li Rui and flung it aside.

The cool air of early morning instantly enveloped his naked body.

A violent sense of shame descended without warning, leaving him rigid.

Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing here…? What is she trying to do?!

He froze, but the maid did not stop.

A cloth soaked in warm water yet still cold to the touch moved over him like a cleaner tending to a sculpture scheduled for maintenance—swiftly, precisely, and without the slightest emotion. It wiped every corner of his body, from the side of his neck to his chest, from beneath his ribs to his waist and abdomen, even reaching certain exceedingly private areas.

The pressure was moderate yet chilling to the bone. There was no embarrassment or hesitation whatsoever, only the rigid focus of someone completing a task.

After being wiped from head to toe by another person as though he were nothing more than an object, Li Rui’s mind automatically entered a state in which it stopped recording memories.

It was not until breakfast was over, when the butler urged him to pay attention, that he finally returned to his senses.

“Mr. Li Rui.”

The butler placed a rectangular tray on the dining table and then respectfully said, “Madam Nova asked me to give these to you.”

Li Rui lowered his head, still dazed.

Two letters rested on the tray.

“These are letters for the town guard and the finest master blacksmith in town,” the butler explained, indicating them one by one. “Madam Nova had urgent business this morning and departed before dawn. Before leaving, she instructed me to accompany you in completing the preparations for obtaining equipment and registering as an adventurer today.

“She also said that once you are ready, you should go to the second floor of the Adventurers’ Guild to find her. At that time, she will discuss making a further investment in you.”

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