Chapter 104: Element Of Flesh
"Let go of my legs. I need to take care of these monsters!" Raymond gingerly tried to shake her off of his legs but failed to do so.
Vivian was holding his legs for dear life.
"Why? Please touch my ears! I am a good elf and I won't cause any trouble for you!" Vivian was shell-shocked from getting rejected so straightforwardly.
"Tell that to your grandfather! He will raise hell if I touch your ears!" Raymond quickly realised where this was going.
According to Lyla, this girl was related to that annoying old scammer.
If he got involved with her further, he would be getting involved with that old man too.
No, no. That won't do.
Raymond shook his head and looked down at Vivian. Her ears were drooping in sadness which made his hands itch to caress them.
'Control!'
Raymond scolded himself and clenched his fist tighter. It was really easy to give in to temptation. Raymond was better than that. He wouldn't fall to such tempt—
"I swear on the heavens. I won't tell anyone and you can touch them all you want!"
"Really?!"
Raymond sat down so quickly that a crater formed below his feet. This is what he was hoping for.
"Hmm. There is a way to allow someone other than my husband to touch my ears." Vivian averted his eyes that were piercing her own eyes in anticipation.
"Take me as your slave! You can do anything to me after that!"
"..."
"Are you mad? Did that Treefolk hit your head while you were running?" Raymond had to take a couple of seconds to register what she was saying.
"Hmph, I am not mad." Vivian was really desperate now. There was something special about this human. She could rub it in all of their faces who were mocking her for getting exiled if she managed to woo someone strong and handsome like him.
It was not every day she would come across someone who didn't hate her and actually trusted her enough to follow her back into the forest when she had mentioned a Puppet Maker attacking her.
Other villagers and the people she had once considered as her own would've laughed at her by stating she was trying to grab their attention and called her a liar.
"Then why would you suggest something like that?" Raymond asked curiously.
Why would anyone want to be a slave just to get their ears touched?
"Just leave it. If you are not okay with that then take me in as your disciple." Vivian huffed. She couldn't exactly say out loud that she was desperate for a good partner now, could she?
"I guess you need to get your head looked at by some kind of healer. There is something wrong with that!" Raymond placed his palm against her forehead. "You're definitely not talking out of any fever."
"Waaa~ don't talk nonsense. There is nothing wrong with my head!" Vivian sobbed and grasped his collar in anger.
"Take me as your disciple. Then you can touch my ears all you want on the pretext of punishment."
Vivian's face darkened as she saw him frown after hearing her words.
Who wouldn't like to have a cute and talented elf like her as a student?
Only a moron.
"How's that any different than taking you as a slave? I would still be stuck with you!"
Raymond was the last guy someone could ask for if they wanted to learn about cultivation. He couldn't even perform the basic circulation exercise subconsciously which was the starting hurdle for anyone's cultivation journey.
What was he going to teach Vivian?
"There is a difference! You don't have to teach me anything and can touch my ears all you want!"
Vivian released her grasp from his collar and looked at him earnestly.
"I won't tell a soul about our deal! How about it?"
Raymond was in a dilemma. What was he supposed to do? It was very unlikely he would meet an elf that was willing to let him touch their ears.
"Do you promise you won't tell anyone? Will it be our little secret?" Raymond asked.
"Yes, yes. It will be our little secret!" Vivian nodded excitedly. Finally, he agreed to her request.
It would only be a matter of time before he fell for her charms.
Only the High Priestess could match her beauty and the High Priestess was a weirdo.
So that made her the number one elven beauty automatically. There was no way he wouldn't be willing to bed her after spending some days with her.
"Fine. I accept you as my student."
It seemed like the mana gathered between his eyebrows was waiting for him to say those words as it started to shine brightly as soon as he accepted her as his student.
"Argh!" Vivian closed her eyes due to the blinding light pricking her eyes.
"What the hell?" Raymond tried to take control of his mana. Unfortunately, his control was pretty bad. "I refined you painstakingly from a lump of raw mana, listen to me, dammit!"
However, no matter how hard he tried, the mana drop kept shining brighter and shot towards Vivian's forehead.
"Urgh!" Vivian groaned as something hit her forehead. She still had her eyes closed and had no idea it was Raymond's mana acting weirdly.
Her eyes shot open in surprise and the blinding light disappeared instantly.
But Vivian was not at all concentrating on that. Her magical core was buzzing crazily as if it would break at any moment.
"Hey, what the hell just happened? Did you feel something? Tsk." Raymond tsked in annoyance as she closed her eyes instead of answering him.
One of the perks of reaching the realm of Martial Sage was gaining the ability to look into the world inside the magical core.
Cultivators could only explore their inner world during their first time going through Heaven's Door to start their long journey of cultivation.
After that, it was only possible for those who have become a Martial Sage.
Vivian, who was a Martial King, could easily access her inner world of the magical core.
Usually, her inner world was filled with cyan coloured light of her Wind element, but Vivian was gobsmacked to find her core being filled with radiant white light.
She looked on with amazement and a hint of worry as she had no control over what was happening. Soon, her remaining worries too turned into wonder as the white light filled half of her core.
Although the cyan colour was now only occupying half of her core world, it was more vibrant and thicker than ever before. It was as if the colour was tightly packed which made it more dense.
"Aarrghh!"
Vivian screamed as both lights started to intertwine and rotate around each other at lightning speed. A surge of power rushed through her veins and Vivian opened her eyes and jumped to her feet.
Without wasting a second, she shot towards a restrained Treefolk and punched out with all her might.
"KRAA…!"
The monster roared in agony as its thick trunk was blown apart by the sheer power of that punch.
"Huff… huff…" Vivian's breath was laboured as she turned her gaze towards Raymond and locked her eyes with him.
Her legs buckled unknowingly which made her kneel towards Raymond.
"Human, no, Master Ray, what have you done to my core?"
"I have absolutely no idea whatsoever!" Raymond shrugged.
'Damn! I should really be careful about what I say in the future!'
It seemed like the time had come for him to look for someone who could give him answers.
A lot of strange things have been going on with his mana nowadays.
Raymond was really worried that he would get someone killed unnecessarily because of it.
"Can you take care of those remaining ones too?" Raymond asked. He still had to touch her ears.
"Of course!" Vivian nodded and made short work of the Treefolks that were being restrained.
"Come here," Raymond called for her and grabbed her ears as soon as she came near him.
"Hyaaan~ that tickles!" Vivian giggled as his hands caressed her pointy ears. She was squirming in her place as she tried to hold back her moans. Her face turned beet red due to her efforts.
"Hehe, so soft." Raymond chuckled like a kid and kept playing with her ears. "Do you feel anything different about your core? What exactly happened to you?"
"Haa…I- I think my strength has increased by a huge margin. By strength, I mean my physical strength." Vivian stuttered. It was really hard for her to talk now without moaning.
"Did your cultivation increase too?" Raymond asked.
"N-no, I am still a Martial King but my core has changed! I think I have another element besides my Wind." Vivian still had a hard time believing what had transpired.
"Is that so? What is the new element?" Raymond had given up trying to figure out the things on his by now.
He didn't know anything about cultivation except for very basic knowledge.
"As far as I know, there is only one element that can increase your physical strength rapidly."
"Oh, what's that?"
"It's the element of flesh!"
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone