Chapter 67
Anna walked up to Kyon. It was unusual for her to see the former slave in the mansion. It violated all the rules.
Kyon bowed slightly, playing his part as a servant:
«Ms. Anna, would you be so kind as to show me to my room?»
«Follow me.» - She went to one of the doors on the ground floor and opened it.
The room was fabulously furnished, even if the decor was simpler than in any other room of the mansion. Kyon was pleased with his spacious room with a big, soft bed, a dining table, an armchair, and a couple of cupboards.
Anna closed the door from the inside. She crossed her arms, put on an icy cold look and coughed loudly to make Kyon turn around. It was time to comply with Dinah's request and interrogate him. Tons of questions had been bugging her all day long. As for Dinah, she was irritable and impatient all day.
«Answer my questions quickly, boy. And don't lie to me. I can tell when someone lies.»
Kyon nodded as if he wasn't even thinking of that.
«How did you survive? Where did you live all this time?»
Kyon answered Anna's harsh questions after a pause, still playing his role as a servant, keeping his voice soft and shy:
«Lady Juno left me alive when she saw my combat potential.»
Anna's beautiful eyes widened in surprise. «Your teeth... They are safe and sound! Every single one of them!»
«Yes, they are. The lady gave me a strange round pill, and they quickly restored... What is more, the formation is gone.» - He tousled his bangs, feigning embarrassment.
Anna could barely hold back her surprise. It was totally unlike Juno to appreciate the boy's skills. It couldn't be true. «What did you eat? Where did you relieve yourself?»
Kyon got red in the face. He lowered his head and replied:
«Lady rewarded me with food and water every time I proved myself in the fight…»
Anna put her snow-white hand on her forehead. {Did Juno train him?} - It was hard to believe that the young lady had been treating the boy as her pet, taking care of him. But Kyon was standing right in front of her, very much alive. There was only one question left without an answer...
«As for relieving myself, I secretly used the bathroom. I didn't want to bother you.»
Anna snorted in disbelief.
«It's pure nonsense... You could not have passed me! It's been more than two weeks! Do you think you could go unnoticed?»
Kyon just shrugged in response and confidently looked into her eyes. «As you see.»
Anna grinned:
«I know you're keeping something back!» – She said in a shrill voice, giving him a fixed chilling stare that forced him to lower his eyes in embarrassment. - {I don't believe him! I can't believe it! Lady Juno had been taking care of him! My servants must have been keeping their mouths shut. But how could he sneak into the bathroom? I should punish him for that but…}
Kyon added something important:
«There's something else I have to tell you… I am Marina's good friend. You can ask her yourself. Here is the handkerchief that she gave to me.» - He said and held out the present he had recently received.
«You? Her friend?» - Anna was a little confused when she took the snow-white handkerchief. She returned it at once. What else should she do with it? Sniff it? The maid was aware that the lady was on good terms with the girl who resembled Diana, her mother.
Kyon nodded. Anna decided that she would speak with Marina later. She didn't doubt that the servant was telling the truth, but she wanted to find out what kind of friends they were.
Before Kyon knew it, she grabbed his wrist and dragged him out of the room. {What? Where is she taking me?} - His fears were totally justified. The maids didn't only know Juno very well, they were also a serious challenge in a fight, with their outstanding strength and assassin skills.
Anna brought Kyon to the training ground and said:
«I am going to check if Lady Juno was right about you. Are you ready to fight?»
Kyon opened his mouth in astonishment. «My lady, but you are way stronger than I am. I mean many times stronger…»
Anna rolled her eyes and said, visibly displeased:
«I will lower my cultivation. Attack, have no fear. I won't kill you.»
All the practitioners, beginning with the 2nd phase, could lower their cultivation level. However, they didn't use this trick too often, rather extremely rarely. Some considered it as an insult, others took it as humiliation, and certain individuals dismissed it as mere posturing. But no matter what others might think, Anna had rapidly reduced her cultivation to the fourth stage of the base phase.
Kyon took up a fighting stance with his fists in front of him. He thought bitterly that he could use a better movement technique to help him move like a cheetah, not like a turtle. But even without the essential technique, Kyon felt hurt because Anna had underestimated his strength. It might be difficult for her to fight in her high-heeled shoes. She wasn't going to use the blades hidden inside the heels, anyway.
Anna interrupted Kyon's thoughts, quickly reducing the distance between them to hit him directly in the chest.
*bang*
With an instant jump back, he avoided the attack and rushed forward. Anna was now weaker than Juno by two stages, and her speed was within Kyon's control. He was in charge.
The maid was surprised: the boy was the real deal. He dodged and then immediately attacked. {With my movement technique, he will lose in a few seconds, anyway...} - That's what she thought. In response to his overt attack, Anna gracefully arched her slender body, did a spectacular flip backward and gave him a flash kick. In her opinion, it was a top-classing performance to attack and defend herself at once. Suddenly, her plans failed. The boy didn't seem to attack at all, but the balance of his body shifted back even if he had to move by inertia towards her...
Then something happened that Anna wasn't expecting. Kyon grabbed her ankles, and with one deft movement interrupted her maneuver. She stood on two hands like an inverted Christmas tree. Her short skirt treacherously succumbed to gravity and fell, revealing everything hidden underneath.
Kyon's pupils dilated as he saw the charms of Anna's body. The low sex frequency in one mental year and his weakness for all the beautiful took their toll on him.
{White and lacy... Oops…}
Before he could come to his senses, Kyon saw an illusory movement and felt a sharp pain in his chest. The blow sent him a few meters away, then he rolled some more and gazed up into the night sky, wondering about the meaning of life.
Anna pulled down her skirt. Her face turned red with anger and humiliation. She was steaming with a desire to deal with the insolent boy once and for all. Her insides were churning: the servant had seen her underwear! What a disgrace! It was like the dirty boy had touched her! Who was he anyway? It was unacceptable, unforgivable for him to see something like that. But Anna's good nature helped her quickly calm down. Her common sense reminded her that she had actually screwed up. She had let the boy corner her. How silly of her... She thought her attack was unexpected and sudden! But...
She looked at the body on the ground and felt guilty. However, her rage had not subsided yet. Anna resolutely approached Kyon, playing it cool. «Have you seen it, boy?»
Kyon put on a painful face and mumbled pitifully:
«Lady, I... Please, don't kill me…» - His eyes were full of tears and regret.
Anna wavered. He had seen everything and didn't deny it. She would have the moral right to punish him if he had lied, but the boy was pure as snowflakes. She looked aside and bit her full lip, reflexively adjusting her skirt. «Let's call it today. I'm sure your bones are intact. But if you… Oh well, forget it.» - She had no more taste for fighting today.
Anna walked off but the blush never left her face. She could not understand the uncomfortable sensation haunting her. Was it helplessness? She caught herself thinking that her sister's character had its advantages. If the boy had seen Dinah in the same position, he would have been dead in a second, saving her from remorse. But Anna wasn't like that.
She entered the mansion and went to the bedroom. The sisters actually shared the same room. When Anna entered the room, she saw Dinah lying on the bed, her legs gracefully crossed. She was wearing an irresistible black lacy lingerie set.
«Did you interrogate him?»
Anna sat on the bed silently. She touched her nose as if she was hiding something and finally said:
«He said that Marina was his close friend. I don't think he was lying, but I'll talk to her later. He also said that Lady Juno appreciated his fighting skills.»
«What skills does the jerk have?»
Anna nervously played with a lock of her blond hair. «I'm not quite sure…»
«And that's it?» - Dinah squinted suspiciously. «No one has any idea how the slave managed to go unnoticed for two weeks, how he survived and became the lady's servant. And that's all you've got?»
«Dinah, stop it! I will talk to Lady Juno and Marina, and…»
«All you had to do was to question him. We were taught to torture. We can get any information. Why didn't you interrogate him properly? Do you feel pity for him? We must never hesitate when it comes to the mansion and especially to Lady Juno.»
Anna stared at his sister, not daring to answer. Dinah was ruthless and relentless, as ever. But even she wouldn't react to a common slave like that... Something was wrong. «You can't let an ordinary servant get to you. Could you possibly have any feelings for…»
«Shut up!» - screamed Dinah. – «I would gladly kill him, but he's no longer in my power because of the... The order…»
There was silence after these words. Then Anna went to the shower, lost in her thoughts. {Sister has been acting out of sorts. She says the boy gets fresh with her, but I don't buy that! What if she has really fallen for him?}
Kyon was still out of breath but gradually coming to his senses. He felt a dull pain in his chest, however, no bones were broken. He couldn't get Anna's sexy, alluring, seductive charms out of his mind. She had left a deep trace in his consciousness. The masters used to say to him that his weakness for beauty would get him in trouble, but there was nothing he could do.
In the simulation Earth, he had almost no interest in women. They didn't attract him. It was below him to mess around with the programs. Outside the simulation, he spent almost all the time on the tasks the masters gave him. His so-called weakness did not bother him. Moreover, he had no interest in average and below average girls. He had to be alert, given that any rich old woman could afford to buy youth and virginity. Everything was different here. Beauty was a valuable gift and a great blessing. Generations following one after another became stronger and more attractive because the beautiful young girls were not burned at stake. The most deserving men took them as wives. In this world, beauty was a valuable resource for the wealthy.
As soon as Kyon recovered, he returned to his room. A little box was waiting for him, and he hadn't had time to check its contents yet. He took the box in his hands and started to examine it.
He found inside a spatial ring of several cube meters to store the most valuable things and a handful of little balls with enzymes. They were of a smoky shade of white, similar to the base phase spheres. These enzymes also belonged to the base phase. His body couldn't metabolize the advanced ones.
Kyon picked up a little pale ball and scanned it with Synergy. It contained the essence of enzymes that could be found in food in small amounts. The local population had long guessed that it didn't make sense to eat meat and plants that contained enzymes of the corresponding phase. It was easier to extract the most valuable part and concentrate it, increasing its purity (the number of beneficial enzymes) at the same time.
For example, where could he find a noble phase chicken? Kyon imagined a hen walking about the farm, scaring people stiff. Gradually, they left food alone and converted enzymes into pills. As a result, their bodies got stronger, as well as their souls. "Strong mind starts with a strong body."
A thought flashed through his mind: {I wonder how it will accelerate my cultivation.}
Kyon was disappointed to find out that Synergy and enzymes mutually destroyed each other as if exposed to alien energy. He couldn't send beams of energy into his cells to have an advantage over other people.
By the time he moved to his new room, he had managed to upgrade his nervous system, which significantly increased the stress resistance of his organs. He had learned from books that the body absorbed useful enzymes while the worthless ones overloaded the organs and took a long time to get excreted from the blood.
According to Juno, the purity of these enzymes was about 80%. It was a fantastic rate for the Iron Throne. Kyon took the pill and continued analyzing his body.
A stream of microscopic energy balls spread through his body like oil. Their effect was similar to alcohol, only the symptoms were absent. Judging by the descriptions in the books, they would appear only if he had overdosed on enzymes.
The jet-black night had long wrapped the world in its embrace, covering it with a thick dark blanket. Kyon didn't want to waste his precious time and went to the training ground. Sleeping was not part of his plan. He could do it later. Anyway, Kyon needed less time for sleep than other people. Using Synergy, he could be in the deep and fast phase of sleep at the same time, which meant he could get enough sleep twice as fast.
Step by step, Kyon began to master the protection against electricity. He knew the theory well. It was a matter of time before he created high resistance from the powerful element of ether. An hour and a half of training flew by. He felt that his body had already absorbed one pill of enzymes. Kyon took a second pill with no hesitation. This knock-out dose could poison an average person, but Kyon's body easily withstood the stress.
Less than a couple of seconds later, his organs seemed to have gained weight. However, everything remained within the normal range. There were no irregularities or disorders. He was doing well for the time being while bundles of enzymes safely penetrated the cells of his body.
Half an hour later, Kyon dared to take a third pill. Intoxication increased to the maximum level. He shouldn't take anymore, or each of his organs would suffer from stress.
{Come on… I can develop my body three times faster than an ordinary person, can't I?} – A satisfied smile lit up Kyon's face. He had come to this world with Synergy, his only treasure. It wasn't the first time it had surprised him with its remarkable advantages and unique properties - an increased level of intoxication, perfect key purity, bonuses from body cultivation, and so on. Any mortal would sell their soul to the devil for the privilege of having these unique features!