There was a small cliff standing just above the trees, overlooking the camp. Erin sat on the edge with her legs dangling off the ledge. She was gazing at the crescent moon, enjoying its beauty and the humble grace it bestowed to the otherwise darkness that shrouded the forest. The scenery brought about a melancholic feeling to her heart. It was currently midnight and everyone was fast asleep but not Erin. She couldn’t sleep. She tossed and turned in her bedroll but never could find the beacon of dream. And so, she decided to take a stroll and wander around the forest until she felt sleepy enough. She found herself ambling to the peak of the small cliff. She considered meditating on the cliff but her heart was already calm enough and she wanted to enjoy the scenery. She ended up just sitting plainly on the cliff.

No one was looking out for the camp. They didn’t need to. Lilian had cast a spell that used the Spirits to fend off the lesser monsters. The big ones were naturally deterred by Aedan and Erin’s presence. As for human threats, the Spirits would warn them if anyone approached them with ill intentions. Erin smiled at the peaceful scene below her. Sleeping out in the wild without a lookout was the sheerest folly of greenhorns but in this world where magic thrived immensely, it was a privilege. Life might not be perfect here but it was so much better than the life she led as Argon Raze. She no longer had any thoughts about returning to that old life of hers. There was nothing to go back to. The way of the sword was her livelihood then but she had brought it with her into this life. The more she lived as Erynthea, the more it felt like her time as Argon Raze was nothing but a dream.

Erin chuckled at the thought. “Perhaps it was a dream. A vivid one,” Erin mused in her heart.

With nothing else to do, she opened up her stats window. She had wanted to check her status and the numbers when she was in the hot spring but Aedan and the others’ sudden appearance toppled all of her plans. Now that she had her peace and quiet again, she could now take a thorough look at her status window. No matter how many times she glanced at it, it was still a marvel every time. It was like a codex and record of all her achievements, feats, and hardships. She wondered what it would look like if she had one when she was still Argon Raze, probably not as impressive as it was now, she gathered.

She was currently level forty and ten percent of experience away from becoming level forty-one. She had four skill points and ability points each to spend. For his ability stats, she didn’t think too deeply about it and allocated three points into Arcane and one point into Finesse. Her main strength came from her Magic Arts even more so now with Bespoke. No doubt if her Arcane had a higher value, Bespoke would also be stronger. As for Finesse, the absence of nimbleness and flexibility was the death of many spell casters as they relied on their party members to defend them while they cast spells. Moreover, she had encountered far too many moments where she was unable to cast significant spells due to the pressure put out by her opponents. Finesse not only increases her speed but also her nimbleness and agility. Increasing Finesse alongside Arcane would surely help her in casting major spells without putting herself into a much too defenceless state. Also, the mastery of her tails’ movements appeared to be affected by her Finesse stat the most. She wondered how high her Finesse needed to be for her to use her tails like they were her arms.

For her skill points, she allocated two points into Mystic Tail Arts and raised it to level five. Immediately, she could already feel the effects. To test it out, she scooped out a stone with her tail and flung the stone into her palm. The stone hit the side of her palm instead of landing in the middle. “I still have ways to go but it’s a good start,” she told herself. Satisfied with the results, she brought her tails to her lap and stroked them like how a mother would stroke her children. Her skin crawled but not in an unpleasant manner. Her tails were her sensitive spots but not quite as sensitive as her womanhood but enough to make herself peak just from continuous stroking, especially in such a mood.

“You have a knack for onanism or something?” a voice came out of nowhere.

“It’s not my fault that my tails are so sensitive,” Erin retorted without a tinge of surprise. “As a Fox-kin, I have the responsibility to groom myself, especially my tails.”

Aedan sniggered. “You knew I was coming? I was sure I hid my presence well.”

“I didn’t know but I believed you would come. And you did.”

“And why would you think that?”

Erin smiled warmly at him. “Because I would,” she said, gesturing for him to come join her by her side.

Aedan shrugged and went along with Erin’s invitation. Unlike Erin, he sat cross-legged on the edge of the cliff.

“You can’t sleep?” Erin asked.

“I don’t exactly need sleep,” Aedan replied. “And I have much to tell you.”

“I have much to ask too but I doubt I will get all the answers I want.”

“What I want to tell you is prevalent.”

“Sephrodia Valley?”

“I’m sure you have already heard from Iris about the viceroy’s character.”

Erin simpered. “Are you feeling jealous perhaps?”

“I’m worried. Maybe a little jealous but I doubt I need to.”

“You don’t think I would fall in love with other men now that I have fallen in love with you?”

“Is it men that you have come to accept or just me?” Aedan retorted with a grin.

“What if my answer is the former?”

Aedan grabbed Erin by the wrist and pulled her into an embrace. “Then I’ll be extremely jealous.”

Erin laughed into his chest. “Oh, my, Aedan. You can accept me having girls as my lovers but not other men?”

“As hypocritical as that is, yes. But I can’t and won’t do anything about that if you do have other men as your lover.”

Erin was racing faster than she had ever been. She couldn’t believe how hard Aedan had fallen for her. She felt like she had him in the palms of her hands. She could see the bitter aftertaste on his face. Her hand moved to caress his cheek. “How far the mighty have fallen. Never think you could be so sentimental.”

“I am not without desires and emotions, Erin. I’m just sceptical of letting them run free.”

“You can’t live like that forever, Aedan. You can’t even call that living. You’re no different than a vegetable.”

“I don’t even remember how old I truly am. My body ages and dies but my mind keeps on living. A life without an end and the sweet release of death, can you call that life at all?”

Erin’s hand found Aedan’s and she fit her fingers right between his. “Things are beautiful because they have an end. Gratitude and cherishment are derived from the fact that all things have an end. Otherwise, people will just take everything for granted or they go insane from neverending repetition.”

“You died once today?”

“Sadly, I did. It felt terrible. There was so much pain but no relief at the end. And to think there are people out there seeking immortality. Do you think these people would come to regret their choice?”

“Eventually, they will. Maybe after hundreds, thousands or even millions of years later. Eventually, they all will realise that immortality is not a gift but a cross. Even gods have gone mad from the erosion of time. So what does that say about us mortals?”

“You consider yourself a mortal?” Erin teased.

“I don’t believe I’ll live forever but I do believe it’ll be a long time before my time truly comes.”

Erin sighed. “You’re one depressing and sad little man.”

Aedan smiled softly. “I thought you wanted to hear my memoirs.”

“Don’t you have any happy stories?”

“I do.”

“Well, tell me.”

“It’s about the time I met a curious, elegant, heavenly, ravishing, and yet fierce Fox-kin who had unconsciously stolen the hearts of many who laid eyes on her and she herself was none the wiser.”

Erin lightly punched Aedan in the belly. “I was not none the wiser. I just don’t care.”

“Dear me, Erin.” He tittered. “Why do you assume I’m talking about you?”

Erin squeezed his chin between her fingers. “Because you’re getting hard down there.”

“Ah… I was hoping you wouldn’t notice.”

“How can I not when you're so perky and excited. Most of all, you’re quite big.”

“Really? Coming from a man, I don’t feel good about that and… does that mean your pecker was small?” Aedan grinned.

Erin’s brows twitched in response. She poured her weight into Aedan and flipped around in his lap. In a turn, he was lying on his back and she was on top of him. His manhood was bulging through his trousers in an obvious manner with his current posture. She hovered her face over Aedan’s by planting her hands beside his face, staring at him with an annoyed frown.

Aedan was still grinning. “Did I hit the mark?”

“You just can’t stop being an arse.”

“It’s the result of living for more than thousands of years. Or do you prefer that I whisper the typical sweet nothings to you like the average loving couple?”

“I’ll hit you if you do that,” she said and moved down to his trousers. She swallowed a lump in her throat when she saw how high the tent was pitched. He was definitely larger than hers was, she had to admit. Not that she had a tiny one. But Aedan’s size was only within her expectation. He was a Dragon. She reckoned his true size would be many times larger than the one she was looking at. Hesitantly, she pulled down his trousers and his stiff lively rod sprang out from its confines. She gasped unconsciously. It was truly different from the one she used to have. The skin was peeled back and it was throbbing like a living thing as if it was shivering in the cold.

“Even I will get shy if you keep staring at my rod like that.”

“Oh, shut it, you,” she huffed. She climbed onto his crotch and pulled her garbs aside but not taking them off. She wasn’t wearing any loincloth and her snatch was drenched with her juices of anticipation but Aedan made no remark about that despite her juices dripping onto his crotch like a loose faucet. Erin felt like closing her eyes and just be done with all these but if she did that, it wouldn’t feel genuine. She needed this to be true. She bit her lips and slowly lowered herself onto his rod. She felt it touching her entrance and her whole body shivered.

“Erin, you don’t need to rush this. We have plenty of time.”

“No, we don’t. We’ll be apart from one another after we reach Sephrodia Valley and who knows when we’ll see each other again? And I’m not rushing anything. I need to do this. Otherwise, I can’t be at ease.”

“Be at ease of what?”

“Of severing the ties to my previous life. This is the last step. With this—” in one fell swoop, she plunged herself down onto Aedan’s rod. She stifled a shriek while her whole body shuddered. It was like lightning surging through her whole body without Lightning Resistance.

Aedan let out an ecstatic groan with a loud gasp.

“—I have completely accepted who I am now,” she said with ragged breaths. She had done it. She had finally done it. She lay with a man. A man’s tool was inside her and it was filling her to the brim. It was bigger than she anticipated, though it didn’t hurt as much as she thought it would. It was her first time having something inside of her even after so many sessions with Lyra and Siv. Lyra did propose that kind of play by using some kind of small wooden rod but she shunned that idea. But now, she had done it herself.

“By the divines, Erin,” Aedan gasped. “You’re so wet yet tight. Amazing...”

“You’re… amazing… too, Aedan…” she said in between breaths. She felt herself tightening up when Aedan praised her. It was slightly painful but more than that, pleasure dominated her senses. Gradually, the pain disappeared and at that moment, a violet aura much like the shade of Mystic Blade donned her whole body and her tails flourished behind her as if to melt into the moon in the background. The pleasure she was feeling was rising. Soon, even the brush of the wind against her skin was sending her to the edge of ecstasy. Judging by how Aedan was groaning and gasping, the same was happening to him.

[User has entered Lust Deviant state. User’s ability values are increased by half.]