Chapter 61
Chapter 61
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: Chapter 21 - Saint Elena Island #2
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Ever since becoming the Universal Doll Final Weapon Luther Lightseeker, Luther had grown far removed from things like tossing and turning in his sleep or waking up groggy. It had been ages—no, it was the first time since opening his eyes in the world of Dragon Hunter Origin—that he truly doubted whether he was still dreaming.
“What?”
[No, I mean! You can touch me now! You can touch me!]
Integra slapped her knee emphatically to drive the point home, then suddenly threw her arms wide open and thrust her chest forward.
[Come on! Touch me quick!]
[Quickly! Right?]
[Come on! Come on!]
What the hell was she saying?
Luther panicked again, but he tried to calm himself down.
No, he tried to make sense of what Integra was saying.
He could touch her.
Luther himself could touch Integra.
And Integra was yelling at him to go ahead and do it.
“Uh, alright then.”
He would touch Integra.
With these hands, starting now, he would touch Integra.
‘This is fucking weird!’
A maid spreading her arms wide, urging him to touch her quickly, while the master blushed and fidgeted, not knowing what to do.
‘It’s the word. The word that’s making it weird.’
Thinking of it as “touching” made it sound off.
Just a touch.
Feel the texture.
Skin meeting skin—
‘Goddamn it!’
The more he rephrased it in his mind, the deeper he sank into the quagmire.
So Luther took a deep breath and faced Integra squarely.
“Integra.”
[Yes, Master. Touch me already. I said touch me! Come on!]
“Alright, alright! I’m really gonna do it!”
[OK! Let’s go go go!]
Integra gestured wildly with both hands, as if egging him on to charge.
‘Okay, fine.’
This was absolutely not an erotic situation.
No, if it were erotic, this kind of conversation wouldn’t be happening in the first place.
So it was just a simple experiment.
Nothing more, nothing less—something he could just dive into without any issues.
Luther swallowed dryly and looked at Integra again. She nodded firmly at him, her face shouting, “You can do it!”
“Alright, here goes—touching!”
With a resolute shout, Luther reached out toward Integra, and his hands plunged straight into her upper body.
“Huh?”
[Huh?]
Luther’s hands passed right through Integra’s torso.
In other words, no touch.
Luther and Integra let out dazed voices in unison, then looked at each other, reacting differently.
“It’s not working?”
Luther was only mildly flustered, but Integra was not.
She blinked at Luther’s hand passing through her torso, then placed her own hand on his arm.
But of course, she couldn’t touch it.
Her hand went straight through Luther’s arm, and Integra’s face shifted from disappointment to near despair.
“Integra, you okay?”
[J-Just a sec. I’m a bit flustered too... Let me run a quick check.]
Answering in a voice mixed with bewilderment and anxiety, Integra closed her eyes.
She was double-checking not just herself but the virtual reality perception control program as well.
And after one second, two seconds.
When Luther had silently counted to five, Integra opened her eyes, let out a sigh of relief, and slumped her shoulders.
“What? Is something wrong?”
Had something gone haywire in Integra’s circuits?
Thankfully not, as she shook her head with a weary expression.
[No, it’s not that...]
[The program seems unstable.]
“The program’s unstable?”
[Yes, there’s a time limit.]
With that, Integra shifted to Luther’s side and conjured a new display in front of them.
[The program I used is called the ‘Virtual Reality Perception Control Program.’ As the name suggests, it controls various perception elements in virtual reality.]
“Not just sight, but touch, smell, and all that too?”
[Yes, exactly.]
[It stimulates the Master’s skin and nerves via the program to make it feel like touching a real object.]
He got the gist.
It was a common setup in webtoons or comics with “full-dive MMORPGs.”
Sending signals to the brain to fool all five senses and create perfect virtual reality.
“So even if the program works perfectly, only I can touch you?”
[Yes, and I can only touch the Master.]
Only each other could touch one another.
‘The wording’s dirty.’
Stepping back, it was nothing, but it somehow sounded indecent.
Integra seemed to feel the same, coughing lightly with a slight blush.
“Anyway, the time limit means it’s only usable for a short while?”
[Yes. Looks like only 7 seconds. Then a cooldown of at least 15 minutes.]
7 seconds every 15 minutes.
At that awkward number, Luther furrowed his brow.
“Can you extend it?”
[Since the program’s glitched... If I gather more data and upgrade the system, I should eventually get perfect implementation.]
“Then that’s good.”
[Yeah.]
Integra nodded, her face a bit disappointed.
‘But.’
Come to think of it, why was this function needed?
Luther could touch Integra.
Integra could touch Luther.
So what? What now?
‘No, wait. It must be huge for Integra.’
Luther could touch anything from the start, so it didn’t matter to him. But not Integra.
In human terms, she was like a ghost right now. Being able to touch anything at all was a massive leap.
Sure, she could exert physical force via drones even now, but there was a clear difference between moving her own “body” and manipulating machines.
[So, Master.]
“Hm?”
[It’s been 15 minutes. Wanna try again?]
At Integra’s question, Luther unwittingly swallowed dryly and nodded.
“Alright, let’s do it.”
[Yes, here goes.]
Perhaps because of what happened earlier, or maybe the excitement had died down, Integra didn’t throw her arms open this time. Instead, she held out her right palm to Luther.
Like she wanted him to match it.
[Only 7 seconds, so I’ll activate right before they touch.]
“Got it.”
Swallowing dryly again, Luther slowly extended his hand to match her palm.
Their height difference was nearly 30 cm, so their hand sizes differed a lot too.
Integra’s small hand would fit perfectly in Luther’s.
And they actually touched.
He felt Integra’s hand through his palm.
[Wow.]
Integra marveled anew with a grin, and Luther smiled back.
Watching her hand yield slightly to his without phasing through made him keep smiling.
[I can feel it too.]
[Master’s hand is warm.]
[Mine’s cold, right?]
“You’re wearing gloves.”
[Oh, right.]
Integra stuck out her tongue playfully and took off her gloves, but the 7 seconds had already passed.
[Aww, too bad.]
Integra pretended to touch Luther’s phasing hand with her bare one, then turned to him.
[Master’s disappointed too, right?]
“Huh?”
[You’re not bummed?]
When Integra asked with teary eyes, Luther reflexively replied.
“No, I’m bummed. I am too.”
[Why?]
“Huh?”
[Why are you bummed?]
[Because you could only touch me for 7 seconds?]
Integra tilted her head slightly, her damp eyes pleading, and Luther blushed again in an instant.
As always.
[lololololololololololololol]
[So embarrassed, so embarrassed.]
[Our Master is tooㅋ cuteㅋㅋㅋ]
“Fuck.”
It felt like he was getting totally played.
As Luther cursed, Integra wheedled again.
[Don’t get so mad~]
[Right?]
“Whatever, let’s just sleep.”
Stupid AI.
Luther lay on the bed with a grumpy face, and Integra lay beside him.
[You’re not mad, right?]
[Yeah yeah, our Master’s a big shot, so no way he’s mad.]
[His magnanimity is as vast as the sea.]
“Sleep. Lights out.”
[Yes, yes.]
Giggling, Integra controlled a drone to turn off the lights, then lay back beside Luther.
[But Master.]
“What, Integra.”
[7 seconds... Isn’t that enough?]
[Or not? Too short?]
[It is, right?]
Her voice was sly as could be, but instead of biting, Luther closed his eyes firmly.
“I know exactly what you’re scheming. Cut the crap and sleep.”
[Tch, you’ve gotten strong.]
“Who’s fault is it for pranking me every damn day?”
Integra chuckled sheepishly, then spoke in a tender voice.
[Good night, Master.]
“Yeah.”
Reactivating sleep mode, Luther quickly fell into deep slumber. Integra gazed at his sleeping face with a warm smile.
* * *
The next morning.
After room service breakfast, Luther changed into the suit he’d ordered ahead.
To meet the auction house’s dress code.
‘Good thing I made a killing.’
Jogres and two lowest-grade dragons.
He hadn’t sold the most valuable parts—the magic cores and dragon hearts—but the byproducts alone had netted him a fortune.
He couldn’t sweep up all the auction items, but he could bid on one or two he liked.
[Don’t forget to infiltrate the High Priest’s room with a drone.]
“Of course.”
[Great. Now stand still. I’ll tie your tie.]
“Huh? Oh, okay.”
Luther stood straight, and Integra took a deep breath, then reached for the loosely wrapped tie around his neck like it was a time attack.
Since it was infused with Luther’s nanomachines, she could manipulate it.
‘Essentially... just controlling the nanomachines.’
Still, the feeling was different, somehow.
Anyway, Integra tied the tie perfectly in 7 seconds and beamed with satisfaction.
[Mm, perfect.]
[Super handsome.]
[Whoever tied it did an amazing job.]
[Of course, Master looks great too.]
“Why do I feel like an afterthought?”
[Aww, no way.]
Integra giggled, and Luther smiled faintly before taking a deep breath.
“Alright, let’s go.”
[Yes, Master.]
Recalling the Varus Auction House from the game and High Priest Matriel he’d seen yesterday, Luther stepped out slowly.
Two hours later, entering the auction house, Luther’s eyes widened unwittingly.