CH38: The Birth of a Rational Partnership

***

CH38: The Birth of a Rational Partnership

'Open Status'

{Status.}

[Leo Xander.]

Race: Prime Human

Title: World Challenger

Alias: Cub of Lionheart, Agent Zero, Student Leo, Herbology Genius.

Age: 18

Life Path (Primary): Assassin.

Tier: Tier II (Hired Killer)

Promotion Exp: 210/15000

---

[Attributes-]

(Physical)

Physique: 50

Dexterity: 45

Mind: 45

[Notice: Average Limit for Homo sapiens is 10 in all parameters.]

Attribute Points: 8

-

(Blessing)

Love Partners: 0

Charm: 40/50

Mischief Points: 55,000 MP (changed at CH37)

---

[Blessings]

(Active)

-Mask of Loki (Unequipped.)

-Joker's Trump Card (Unassigned).

-Vault of Knowledge (Unavailable).

(Passive)

-Bind of Love

-The Queen's Favour.

-Poison Master (Unavailable)

(Incarnation)

-Destroyer (Unavailable)

-World Serpent (Unavailable)

-Trusty Steed (Unavailable)

-

I closed my Status page with a sigh.

It felt like many things had happened in the last few days, but at the same time, it didn't seem like much had changed on my status page.

My attention turned to the beauty in my arms.

Navia had lost all her strength from the ordeal and fallen unconscious. It was her rhythmic breathing which assured me she was ok and was merely asleep from fatigue.

As I gazed at her, I felt as if I knew her.

I didn't have her memories, nor did I know what she had experienced or anything like that, but yet I had this feeling at the back of my mind that I knew the kind of person she was.

The traits I felt from her were strong-mindedness, independence, decisiveness, fairness, honesty, open-mindedness, calculating and thoughtful.

We were similar in some sense but differed in many others. I had the impression that we'd get along fine without having to compromise too much.

My accumulated physical and mental fatigue hit me like a tidal wave as I came to this conclusion. Eventually, I decided to give into it and fell into the warm embrace of sleep.

This was how us partners who would take the world by storm spent the first night of our partnership... In each other's arms.

**

I woke up hours later.

When I looked out the window, I noticed that the sky was still dark, indicating that it was still some time in the middle of the night or the early hours of morning.

I felt something soft on my body.

Apparently, I had fallen on my back when I fell asleep and Navia had climbed my body to use my chest as her pillow.

The softness I felt was her body on mine.

As I was thinking about this, her body stirred.

I saw her slowly open her eyes. She looked around without getting up. I notice the flash of pleasant surprise in her eyes.

She met my eyes.

"You're still alive." She smiled.

The words were simple and the smile was soft, however, I could feel a cocktail of strong emotions from them, chief amongst them was... relief.

Relief that she no longer had the life of another person on her hands... relief that she was finally freed from the curse of her Pangea.

The smile of relief was so genuine that I couldn't take its beauty and looked away.

"Why are you looking away?" She asked.

"Take a look at yourself before asking that."

She turned on my chest to look at the state of her body.

Her long dress was ripped in many places, which left her skin exposed.

Contrary to the embarrassed reaction I expected, she calmly stood from my chest and pulled my face toward hers.

"I'm not embarrassed to show you my body, so why are you looking away?" She pouted. "Your reaction is making me doubt my charms as a woman you know. I can't believe you actually didn't touch me when I was free for the picking."

"I won't sleep with a woman who isn't conscious of her actions. This is my bottom-line. You wouldn't want your first time to be when you don't have control of yourself, would you?"

"Why do you think it's my first time?"

"Logic. Anyone who tries to sleep with you would lose themselves to your charm. They'll die before they get the chance to get it."

Her finger stroke my bare chest.

(My shirt had been torn open during her crazy assault)

Then, she rested her head on it.

"You're right. I would've hated you if you had done it then. But I'm still angry you didn't though." She raised her head to look at me. "Women are unreasonable, right?"

I chuckled wryly.

I kept my mouth shut. There was no way I'd respond to this lose-lose question.

"Am I that unattractive to you?" She suddenly asked when I didn't say anything.

I didn't know how to answer this question.

'Does this woman take pleasure in trying to get me to answer a lose-lose question?'

The problem was, the look in her eyes said I couldn't not answer.

I sighed and readied for my execution as I said,

"The hard thing poking your stomach isn't my belt."

Her eyes widened.

She looked down and saw my erect tent. She looked back at my face with a strangely pleased smile.

'This woman is weird.' I thought.

"You said you didn't take me because I wasn't conscious of my action, right? Well, I'm conscious now. How about we finish what we started?"

It was my turn to be stunned.

The amorous look in her eyes told me she was dead serious.

My spear threatened to pierce through my trouser.

I wouldn't lie that I was badly tempted but I didn't take her offer.

I gently got her off me and placed her to the side, then got to a sitting position.

"You are not thinking straight. You are letting your emotions get the better of you. You need to cool down and think things through. We will be partners from now on. If we do this now and you later regret it, it will affect our working relationship."

"You can feel my personality, can't you? Do you really think I haven't thought this through?" She retorted.

My answer was no.

Her defining personality traits were her thoughtfulness as well as her calculating and decisive nature.

She must have thought things through before speaking. The speed at which she went through with it was in line with her decisiveness.

"You know the truth in your head." She said. "I am not a naive little girl. I am not saying this due to the heat of the moment nor am I swept by feelings of gratitude.

"I can feel your personality just as you can feel mine. I can feel your cynicism. I know this mental connection we share is too shallow to make you truly trust me. I don't know what happened to you to make your unwilling to let people too far in, but true trust is exactly what we need to achieve both our goals."

"But that doesn't mean you need to go this far. There are other means you could've used."

"This is the most effective. A romantic relationship is exactly what we need to bind ourselves to one another and allow us to build the trust we need."

"Romantic relationship is built on the foundation of emotions."

"For other people, perhaps. But both of us know that isn't the case for both of us. A cold rational thought process is the foundation of any relationship we build, romantic or not."

I looked at her. She smiled back at me.

I couldn't deny it.

If emotions were truly the foundation of a romantic relationship for me, I would've accepted Zora by now.

"Then what is the rational basis for us to enter a romantic relationship."

"From what I can feel about you, you are someone who hesitates to commit to a romantic relationship. You come up with whatever reason you can to avoid to make that commitment."

I nodded at Navia's assessment of me.

There was no point denying it. We can feel each other's personalities. Her words weren't a guess but a direct deduction of what she felt from the connection.

My mouth and brain can deny the truth all I want, but my heart and consciousness knew the truth.

These were exactly the things Navia felt through the connection.

So, I didn't deny it and just nodded.

She continued,

"I, on the other hand as you so rightly pointed out, can't enter into a romantic relationship without fearing the person's safety if we try to consummate the relationship. Let's even step back and not go that far, I can't even be sure that a person can 'love' me. For all I know, they were merely 'charmed' by me. Those are two different things. Because of that I won't be able to fall in love with anyone who approaches me.

"It's different with you. I know you can resist my charm. I also know with your personality that if you say you love me, then you love me."

She got to a sitting position.

She rubbed my cheek with her soft palm.

"You avoid commitments, but you go all in when you do commit to something. This is your nature and my assurance. I don't believe I can fall in love with anyone else other than you. So, I'll put my all to our relationship. That is my constraint and your assurance.

"A romantic relationship between us makes rational sense. Our natures makes it almost certain that we'll make it work somehow. We're both rational people, we can make the compromises to make it work.

"Our romantic relationship will clear any trust barriers between us and our partnership will be the best it can be."

I thought about it, then nodded.

"You make a valid point. But how can you be so sure we'll succeed?"

"You can just say it you know. What you mean to ask is... how do I know you're powerful or are going to be powerful enough to make our ambitions a reality?"

She smiled.

"Can I tell you it's a woman's intuition. No...? Fine. You could withstand the Charm of my Pangea, plus I can feel your determination. I believe we can achieve great things if we work together. So what do you say?"

I looked at the woman.

She gave a convincing argument that covered all the basis. I had no way to refute. Plus, I couldn't deny that I also wanted what she was offering.

"You make a valid argument." I said.

I reached in and kissed her.

The passionate air was reignited.

The two of us weren't driven by emotions like love. We were driven by things more primal. Cold reasoning and lust.

So, we gave into them.

The semblance of clothes we had on were removed.

We had only our underwear left.

I gazed at the beautiful brown skinned woman. The contrast with her white underwear was exciting.

This was the first time I had seen a woman in the clothes that counted as undergarments in this world.

Her breasts were tightly held in place by a band-like cloth. The pants below were as big as bloomers.

They were not as naughty as the panties and bras I was familiar with. But on her, they had a certain allure.

I stripped her of both clothing items. The band removed over her head and the bloomers down her legs.

I wondered if it was due to the charm/lust spirit which possessed her, but I found her nipples were hard and pointed while her cave below spewed out a steady stream of copious liquid.

Clearly, she needed no foreplay and was ready to receive my spear.

I quickly got rid of my underwear and position my spear at the entrance to her cave.

Suddenly, a window opened before me which caused me to pause for a moment.

[Warning: Should Host continue his action, the Human Female, Navia, will be registered as a lover in the Blessing, {Bind of Love}. All rights and restrictions will be applied.]

"Why did you stop? Are you having second thoughts at this point?" An incredibly aroused Navia managed to ask.

I looked at her face.

I considered what I was doing.

It seemed Navia was spot on when she said what we were about to do would cement our relationship as partners and lovers.

This relationship of ours not born out of the conventional emotion of love proffered by other people.

But can we say we didn't love each other?

What was this emotion called love I wondered.

I was attracted to Navia. This was a fact.

She would be of great use to me in my path to the Apex. This was another fact.

Doing this and having her as a lover meant I would be able to fully trust her. Besides, she was the perfect first lover for me. Our natures matched well that I could experience a romantic relationship as I was now, and also gradually shift to what a romantic partner should be.

Once again, I saw no demerits.

And so, I got rid of the warning in my vision.

I looked my target in the eyes.

"No, I don't have second thoughts. But I just thought since we're trusting each other, you should know the real person you're partners with."

'{Mask of Loki} deactivate.'

The figure of 'Alex Fury' morphed back into that of 'Leo Xander'.

My height increase to 187cm. My skin returned to its Tan-like copper shade. My muscles became buffer. My facial hair changed back to red-blonde and the full-chin beard returned to my jaw.

"It's you..." Navia's rosy lips parted by my transformation.

"A small world, is it not, madam? So, what now?" I asked.

She raised her hand and rubbed my face.

"I'm not sure which face I like better."

"Rest assured. Both faces are mine."

I'm sure she didn't understand me, but she knew I was telling the truth.

"Nothing has changed either way. I can't take it anymore. Do it already!"

"Yes, ma'am."

My spear drove right through the exposed cave.

Navia released an ecstatic moan of pleasure which lasted well into the night as I assert my dominance in the relation.

Round after round, I continued to vent the accumulated and suppressed teenaged hormones in my system.

Fortunately, for both of us, mana users above the fifth ring can control their chances of childbirth or else, Navia would surely have gotten pregnant with how much my big magnum fired into her cave

Eventually, Navia could no longer take it and lost consciousness barely an hour in. I guess the stamina from my Physique stats was no joke.

I also later drifted into sleep with a contented smile.

(To be continued...)