Chapter 11: Just a little
After the payment was completed, all of the equipment along with the life-saving items were carefully placed into Erik’s space bracelet by the female manager.
One hundred Elite-grade Detonation Beads.
One hundred Diamond-grade Defensive Talismans.
One hundred Emergency Teleportation Talismans.
Ten high-grade recovery potions that Elowen had insisted on buying as well.
Adding in the set of equipment worth over two hundred million credit points that he was wearing, Erik no longer looked like someone preparing to enter his first Trial Space.
He looked more like a walking military arsenal.
The female manager checked the item list one last time, then respectfully handed the bracelet to Erik with both hands.
"Sir, all of the items have been placed inside. The dangerous items are all stored in separate compartments, so there won’t be any collisions or accidental activation."
Erik took the bracelet and put it on his wrist.
"Thank you."
The female manager immediately bowed even lower.
"Serving you is our honor, sir."
Hearing that, all Erik could do was nod. He still wasn’t used to being treated so respectfully by so many people, especially since the female Awakened standing before him all had strength far greater than his own.
Elowen stepped over beside him and gently took hold of Erik’s arm.
"Let’s head home."
Erik nodded and left the store together with her.
Behind them, the female manager along with all the staff bowed in unison.
"Thank you for visiting, Miss Elowen."
"We wish you a smooth clearing of the Trial Space, sir."
It wasn’t until the large door had closed behind him that Erik let out a breath. He looked at the space bracelet on his wrist, then turned to look at the woman holding onto his arm, and an inexplicable feeling rose in his heart again.
Elowen was only a rank D Succubus.
At least, that was what the information recorded on the Connection Center’s file said.
But her own personal value was high to a degree that far exceeded his imagination.
Elowen’s mother was a high-level Elf Healer who owned four commercial centers dedicated to serving Awakened along with a high-class private hospital. Her family’s assets alone already belonged to a class that Erik had previously only been able to see on the news.
Elowen had also given him a space bracelet that was five meters on each side, and the bank card held five hundred million credit points, with another hundred million transferred in every month.
If he used it all up, he only had to say a word to her.
With a background like that, even if her current rank was only D, there would still be countless men willing to fight over the chance to connect with her.
And yet yesterday, the moment Elowen laid eyes on him she lost control and directly skipped the Trial Contract to sign a formal contract.
After signing the contract, she showed no arrogance at all, and instead helped Erik clean up the apartment Saraya had wrecked.
A great young miss who had never squeezed onto a public bus had picked up a broom and bent down to sweep every shard of glass in his living room. She had even helped him sort through the broken items and asked him what he needed to buy again, without the slightest bit of displeasure.
The more Erik thought about it, the more unreal it felt.
What kind of standing did she have?
A woman who could casually spend hundreds of millions of credit points, and yet she cared for him no differently from a devoted wife, and even seemed afraid he wouldn’t be satisfied.
"Elowen."
Hearing Erik call her name, Elowen immediately lifted her head to look at him.
"Yes?"
Erik had originally meant to ask why she was uneasy to the point of fearing he would break the contract, but looking into those gentle jade-green eyes, in the end he still didn’t say it.
The two of them had known each other for less than a day.
Even though they had signed a formal contract, they still needed time to get to know one another. He didn’t have to immediately dig into every one of her secrets.
As long as Elowen bore no ill will, everything else could be discussed slowly later on.
"It’s nothing." Erik shook his head and said in a soft voice: "Let’s head home."
"Alright."
Elowen smiled, her two hands still holding onto his arm.
The two of them walked to the magic elevator at the end of the corridor. When she saw them, the female staff member standing beside it immediately bowed and opened the door for them.
"Miss, sir, please."
Elowen nodded and pulled Erik inside.
The dedicated elevator in the VIP area was very spacious, all four sides covered with clear mirrors. After the door closed, Elowen lightly touched the button for the first floor.
The elevator began to descend.
Erik used his consciousness to check the space inside the bracelet, confirming that all of the items were arranged neatly. As long as he focused his thoughts, any item could instantly appear in his hand.
He was in the middle of checking when he felt Elowen gradually pressing up against him.
At first she only held his arm, but before long, nearly her entire soft body was plastered to his side.
A gentle fragrance like young grass after the rain quickly flooded into his breath.
Erik turned to look at her.
"Elowen?"
A faint layer of red had already appeared on Elowen’s face.
She looked at the number on the control panel slowly counting down, then looked around, and only after confirming that there were just the two of them inside the elevator did she rise up on her toes.
Her soft lips drew close to Erik’s ear.
"Mr. Erik..."
Her voice was very small, carrying a bit of trembling along with hesitation.
Erik tilted his head slightly.
"What is it?"
Elowen was silent for a few seconds. The two arms holding him gradually gripped tighter, and her face grew even redder than before.
"I’m... a little hungry."
Erik’s movements immediately stopped.
Of course he knew what kind of hunger Elowen was talking about.
A Succubus needed vital essence along with life force from her partner in order to cultivate and maintain her body’s condition. Before signing a contract, they could use Energy Crystals or other methods to temporarily suppress the hunger.
But after a formal contract was established, the Chains of Desire would be completely unlocked. External items could only ease the symptoms and couldn’t truly satisfy a Succubus’s needs.
Elowen had only signed the contract with him yesterday.
From that moment until now, she still hadn’t actually received any vital essence from him.
Erik looked at her flushed face along with her breathing that was starting to grow ragged, and softly asked:
"You can’t hold out any longer?"
Elowen hurriedly shook her head.
"I can still endure it."
She answered very quickly, but her two hands gripped Erik’s arm even tighter, with no persuasive power at all.
Elowen bit her lip lightly, then leaned in close to his ear again. The calm, elegant aura of a great young miss that she’d had inside the store had almost entirely vanished, replaced by an embarrassment and pleading she couldn’t conceal.
"Just a little bit... would that be alright?"
A woman who had just calmly ordered over two hundred million credit points’ worth of equipment for him was now using an almost begging tone to ask him for something.
The contrast was so great that Erik’s heartbeat quickened without him realizing.
He wasn’t some young man who had never had contact with a woman.
In his past life, he had lived to thirty-five years old, and of course he knew what Elowen needed. It was just that the two of them were currently still inside the shopping center’s elevator, and even though there was no one else here, it still wasn’t a suitable spot.
Erik lowered his head slightly, using a voice just loud enough for her to hear.
"Wait until we get out of here."
Elowen blinked.
"You agree?"
"I can’t exactly let you keep going hungry either."
Elowen’s jade-green eyes immediately lit up. A smile appeared on her face, and the worry from a moment ago quickly vanished as well.
She happily hugged Erik’s arm tight.
Her full, soft chest pressed against his arm, almost completely burying it between those two scorching curves.
Erik’s whole body stiffened slightly.
"Elowen."
"Yes?"
"You’re holding on a little tight."
"I’m sorry."
Elowen apologized in a small voice, but only loosened her grip a little, with no intention whatsoever of letting go.
Erik looked at the happy expression on her face and didn’t bring it up again.
Ding!
A clear tone rang out, and the elevator doors slowly opened.
The two of them stepped into the first-floor great hall.
Compared to the quiet VIP area above, this place was far more crowded. Awakened wearing all kinds of equipment moved between the stores, and now and then there were teams that had just returned from a Trial Space, still carrying bloodstains along with traces of combat on their bodies.
The moment Erik and Elowen appeared, they immediately drew quite a few gazes.
Part of it was because of Elowen’s far too striking appearance.
The rest was because of the expensive equipment on Erik’s body.
Although the people around them didn’t know the specific prices, one look at the material along with the magic runes on it was enough to tell that this wasn’t equipment an ordinary Awakened could afford to buy.
Erik paid no attention to their gazes. He only wanted to leave this place quickly, then find a private spot to take care of Elowen’s hunger.
But the two of them had only walked a short distance when a sour voice came from up ahead.
"And here I was wondering who it was."
Erik’s footsteps came to a stop.
He turned his head to look toward where the sound had come from.
A blonde young man was standing near the entrance, wearing a blue magic robe. His arm was around the waist of a black-haired Succubus, but his gaze was fixed straight at Erik.
That was Nathan.
The blonde young man looked at the equipment on Erik’s body, then looked at Elowen intimately holding onto his arm. The astonishment in Nathan’s eyes quickly turned into jealousy along with irritation.
The corner of his mouth slowly curled up.
"So it’s the guy Saraya just threw away."
Nathan walked toward Erik while holding the black-haired Succubus, the smile on his face carrying an undisguised mockery.
He was a Bronze-grade Awakened, his talent belonging to the support type, mainly using magic to enhance his Succubus’s power during battle.
Nathan was also the one who had made trouble with Erik at the Connection Center the day before.
He had always regarded Erik as a rival, even though from beginning to end Erik had never once intended to compete with him.
"I heard Saraya has already been taken back in by the Center." Nathan stopped in front of the two of them, deliberately looking Erik over from head to toe before sneering: "I didn’t expect you to recover so quickly. Rejected by a rank S Succubus just yesterday, and today you’ve already found someone else."
Erik didn’t answer.
He had no interest in arguing with Nathan, especially with Elowen hungry. He only wanted to get her out of here quickly.
But Nathan took his silence to mean he didn’t dare argue back.
Nathan’s gaze shifted over to Elowen.
The moment he clearly saw her face along with her figure, the envy in his heart grew even more intense.
Long silver hair.
The pointed ears of an Elf.
A gentle face along with a mature figure that was almost perfect.
Elowen was clearly more beautiful than the black-haired Succubus standing beside him. Not only that, she was also hugging Erik’s arm tight, her attitude so intimate that anyone could tell what the relationship between the two of them was.
Nathan absolutely couldn’t understand it.
What exactly did someone like Erik, with no background and no clan to back him, have going for him that he kept getting paired with Succubi this beautiful?
Before it was Saraya, rank S.
And now an Elf Succubus who was even more beautiful had appeared.
The smile on Nathan’s face gradually turned colder.
He looked at Elowen and deliberately used a friendly tone to say:
"Miss, perhaps you still don’t know what kind of person the man beside you is."
Elowen knitted her brows slightly.
"What are you trying to say?"
Nathan pointed at Erik.
"He was just returned by his previous Succubus. Saraya lived with him for three months and still wouldn’t sign a Trial Contract, which is enough to tell you just how big a problem he has."
Elowen’s expression immediately went cold.
"The one who was rebated was Saraya."
Nathan was slightly stunned.
Elowen looked straight at him, her voice still gentle but no longer holding the slightest friendliness.
"Erik was the one who actively ended the pairing."
The smile on Nathan’s face stiffened slightly.
He hadn’t expected Elowen to directly defend Erik like that. However, he very quickly decided that she had simply been deceived by Erik, and so he continued to sneer.
"That’s just the story he told you."
Nathan took another step forward, his gaze looking over Elowen’s body from head to toe without any restraint.
"You’re far more beautiful than Saraya. Following a guy like him really is too much of a waste."
Hearing that, the expression of the black-haired Succubus being held by Nathan immediately turned ugly.
Just yesterday, Nathan had openly said he wanted to connect with Saraya.
Today, right in front of her, he had started flirting with another Succubus.
Her fingers clenched slightly, and disappointment appeared in her gaze as she looked at Nathan, but in the end she still said nothing.