Medi...cal Practice
Medi...cal Practice
Like most sleepwear, it was designed to be easy to put on and take off.
Since the whole point was comfort before sleep, a fussy design would have defeated the purpose.
- Pop pop
Thanks to that, a few quick gestures were all it took for the little buttons to come undone one after another.
Even as her pajamas gradually fell open, Baek A-rin let out only faint, lifeless breaths, like a dead woman.
- Pop pop...
From the top all the way to the bottom.
As I worked my way down, methodically unfastening each button, the loose sleepwear parted bit by bit.
Baek A-rin was wearing sky-blue pajamas that suited her well.
The typical baggy, wide-sleeved kind meant not to intrude on sleep.
- Pop...
I undid the last button.
When I took hold of the lapels and parted them to either side, the hidden, pure-white skin underneath came into view.
Observation fed me all sorts of information.
A slender nape and collarbone.
The chest wrapped in pitch-black underwear, its opulence on full display even above the blanket.
The smooth stomach falling away in a gentle curve.
Every part of it was a body that defied every bit of common sense I'd ever known.
On the surface, the exposed body was soft and slender.
The nape looked as though it might snap under the slightest force.
I honestly doubted the waist could truly support those heavy mounds of flesh.
But that body was unmistakably a superhuman's.
Just clenching a fist could easily crush an ordinary person's skull.
Beneath the visible surface, the muscle and bone inside constituted a physique that far exceeded normal bounds.
Proving the point, even when I squeezed those large breasts with real force, they handled it without trouble.
I moved my hand lower.
I laid my palm gently on Baek A-rin's stomach.
It was my natural right hand, not the prosthetic.
I felt the vivid, cold energy soaking into my palm, and the soft, smooth skin.
I briefly checked Baek A-rin's condition, but she only continued to let out quiet, shallow breaths.
I pressed my palm as though covering her navel and opened my senses.
The Authority of Observation was certainly an exceptional ability, but my innate Mana Affinity was absolutely no less powerful.
If anything, Mana Affinity was superior in the domain of energy sensitivity.
'...It really isn't a trial.'
The unique abilities of the Three Great Families occasionally undergo a phenomenon called a trial.
It's a tribulation imposed by their already-vexing abilities, one that usually happens about once in a lifetime.
If a manifester collapses during this trial, they suffer injuries such as a damaged core or wrecked circuits.
In the past, when information on trials was scarce and there were few sages to assist with Harmonization, fatalities weren't uncommon.
Taking that into account, I examined her Innate Talent side mainly, but the Azure Sea remained quiescent.
Despite that, Baek A-rin's body was brimming with cold energy.
The mana inside her core had been converted into frigid cold, and cold energy was circulating through the circuit network spread evenly through her whole body.
Because of that, Baek A-rin's body was quite literally a block of ice.
If her skin had been hard instead of smooth, I might have mistakenly thought I was touching a chunk of ice, not a stomach.
I didn't like it very much.
I had always hated the cold and all things chilly.
I'd always hated the cold, but I'd hated it even more ever since I nearly died buried in a heap of snow.
[Cold]
[Baek A-rin]
[Coolness]
Now, I didn't hate it outright.
Of course, if someone asked whether I liked it better than warmth, I'd shake my head.
But it wasn't so bad that I grimaced and recoiled like I used to.
Just as I'd come to like many colors, I'd also come to reinterpret chilliness as coolness.
I could accept Baek A-rin's cold energy that way.
All other cold energy, I still hated.
- Whoom...
Flames flickered to life in my hand.
I toyed with the Calamity Flame, which had grown closer to orange than to bright red.
The Calamity Flame can melt the Azure Sea.
The reverse also holds true. Which way it goes usually depends on output.
Since Baek A-rin's Azure Sea wasn't ordinary, I had to raise a fairly strong Calamity Flame to melt it.
The problem was that producing that much output naturally made it difficult to maintain precise control.
Especially because the Calamity Flame was so damn hard to adjust, one wrong move could cause harm instead of help.
Even Hong Yeon-hwa would likely struggle to properly melt such violent cold energy.
She could melt it with sheer output, but there'd be a high chance of inflicting damage in the process.
- Whoom...
I'm different.
More precisely, my control, and the docile Calamity Flame that meekly follows my manipulation, are different.
'Homogenization, Azure Sea.'
At the same time, I manifested the Azure Sea. I raised my perceptual sensitivity to the Azure Sea's cold energy.
I structurally understood the cold energy of the Azure Sea, observed it, and properly channeled the Calamity Flame into Baek A-rin's body.
I rubbed the flame's heat, the Calamity Flame, against the cold energy that filled her flesh.
You have to be very careful with the manipulation here.
If I just rammed it in, a repulsion phenomenon would erupt, causing a disaster in the form of injuries to Baek A-rin's body.
- Hiiiiss...
"Nngh..."
As I gently rubbed with the Calamity Flame so it wouldn't get bounced back, the surface of the cold energy slowly melted.
Faint steam rose from her stomach where my palm rested.
At the same time, Baek A-rin's shoulders trembled slightly.
I nodded to myself at this first meaningful reaction.
But the cold energy was so strong and plentiful that it would freeze right back over.
Before that, I quickly pushed the Calamity Flame in deeper.
Raising the flame further, I pressed firmly into her stomach.
- Ssssquish
"Ah, nn..."
A faint moan leaked from Baek A-rin's tightly shut lips.
I suppressed her slight stirring by pressing repeatedly into her stomach.
I raised the Calamity Flame and injected it into Baek A-rin's body.
Even inside Baek A-rin's body, the Calamity Flame still remained under my control, and it slowly melted the cold energy.
Hiss... The Calamity Flame gradually expanded its radius of activity, and the steam rising from her body increased.
- Phew...
A little later.
I wiped the beads of sweat on my forehead with the Sky Wing Feather.
Focusing on maintaining the Calamity Flame for a while had built up heat in my body and stirred up my emotions too.
"Hahh, hahh..."
At some point, Baek A-rin's breathing had already become fairly human-like.
When I lightly rubbed my palm around her navel, I felt the smooth texture as well as a body temperature that had become comparatively warm.
That, of course, was only one part of her stomach.
The rest of her was still like ice.
Left like this, her stomach would quickly cool and stiffen again in no time.
To prevent that, I had to act swiftly.
Slither... I removed her top, which I'd only opened at the front anyway... Mm... I removed her bottoms, too.
I used my hands and the Sky Wing Feather appropriately.
So as not to make Baek A-rin uncomfortable, I undressed her in one efficient motion and placed the clothes neatly folded on the side table.
And so Baek A-rin lay on the bed in just her underwear.
I briefly rolled my neck this way and that to shake off fatigue, then once again raised the Calamity Flame in my right hand.
Then, pressing firmly all over Baek A-rin's body, I methodically melted the cold energy from the outer layers inward.
- Squish... press...
"Uh, hahh... ah..."
- Press...
"Nngh, hahh..."
- Ssqueeze...
"Nn, haaah..."
'......'
From the tips of her toes to the tips of her fingers.
For now, I pressed and kneaded nearly everywhere my hands could reach, into every corner.
As her flesh gradually thawed and grew more alive, she kept twisting her body around while letting out odd moans.
So, as I injected the Calamity Flame to melt the cold energy, I loosened her muscles at the same time.
Isn't massage, by definition, the art of loosening muscles?
With the Authority of Observation, I directly peered through her body and measured every individual muscle fiber.
Then, using All-Rounder, I simply had to enact the actions exactly as measured. A simple matter.
As I put in effort to massage her in my own way, her already-soft flesh seemed to loosen and grow even softer, so I grew more enthusiastic.
[Mm...]
It was while I was spending a long while thawing Baek A-rin out.
I thought about it and belatedly realized that the scene might appear rather suggestive.
"Hahh, haaah..."
Baek A-rin's quickened breathing—whether from the Calamity Flame or simply from the pleasant release of her body, I wasn't sure.
Her pale skin had taken on a faint rosy flush.
The moisture and sweat from melting clung to her skin, emphasizing its smoothness.
Add to that my own posture, which by this point had me straddling Baek A-rin's stomach, reaching out to knead her body here and there.
In many ways, it was a position perfectly tailored to invite misunderstanding.
'...Not really.'
But I soon realized it didn't much matter.
I wasn't doing this with that sort of meaning, and first and foremost, wasn't it for medical purposes?
And besides, well... would it even matter if I did have some intentions like that?
The moment I thought that far, a certain sensation suddenly tingled in my hand.
Right now, they were wrapped in underwear, but when she'd arrived wearing that white dress, that hadn't been the case.
Underwear made for a larger barrier than one might think, and it turned out there was a huge difference compared to kneading the bare flesh directly.
- Whoom...
Inside me, I felt a flame that subtly urged me toward a choice.
It wasn't unpleasant.
It felt, rather, as if the flame were gently nudging my back, telling me to be brave.
And so, toward the last part that remained, I reached out my hand, suffused with the Calamity Flame.
- Ssqueeze...!
"Aahng..."
And I squeezed the large breasts that rose and fell with her breathing.
- Squeeze, ssqueeze...
"Ahng... nngh, nnngh..."
An opulence so great it wouldn't fit in my hand.
Kneading the breasts that felt soft even through the underwear, I melted the remaining cold energy within the mounds of flesh.
[Soft]
[Discontent]
Was it because I'd grown quite skilled in that short time?
Even just kneading briefly had melted away nearly all the remaining cold energy in her breasts.
Discontentedly, I put strength into my hand.
- Sssqueeze...!
"Hnnngh... ahng."
For the final measure, I squeezed with enough force that the flesh bulged out between my fingers, then let go.
With that final touch, most of the cold energy had melted away.
As the unceasing touches stopped, Baek A-rin went limp, ceasing the writhing of her body.
"Huuu, hahh... huu, hahh..."
From her slightly parted lips, through which a pale tongue could be glimpsed, labored breaths escaped.
Perhaps because her cold-energy-filled body had thawed out,
moisture and sweat were visible on Baek A-rin's skin.
- Slip...
After briefly checking Baek A-rin's state, I also undressed.
The Sky Wing Feather lightly lifted off my top and, likewise, set it neatly folded on the table.
[Umm...]
Delicately, I lowered my body on top of Baek A-rin's.
Sssquish... I had deliberately lain on a person instead of the bed, but the fact that she was softer and more cushioned than the mattress felt strangely awkward.
Whoom! Adjusting my body and aligning our navels, I raised the Calamity Flame again.
With our bodies stacked together, I pressed and pushed the Calamity Flame into her.
Since I'd melted the outer cold energy, now it was the process of melting the inner cold energy.
If the former stage had been about speed, the latter's key was to melt the cold energy slowly, as though steaming it gradually.
Thus, I kept our skin in contact like this and slowly pushed the Calamity Flame in.
'Hooo...'
As I wriggled slightly to adjust the Calamity Flame, I felt a tickling sensation against my face.
When I checked with Observation, wondering what it was, there were her breasts, steam rising from them like freshly pounded rice cakes, right in front of my nose.
Every time the steam touched my nose, a desire rose up insistently.
- Sniff sniff...
After a moment's hesitation, I lowered my head.
I buried my nose between her breasts and sniffed.
[Scentless]
[Disappointed]
There was no scent.
Since the curse hadn't even been conditionally lifted yet, it was a natural result.
Even though I'd expected as much, I was honestly so disappointed that the corners of my eyes drooped.
Desire surged up.
I want to smell a scent. I want to see a face with my own eyes, not just data. I want to open my mouth and talk.
"Heh... oh my, were you disappointed because there's no smell?"
[?]
As I was secretly pouting my lips, a touch settled onto my head.
A voice rang out from above my head, limp and low on energy but tinged with laughter, as a bonus.
I abruptly lifted my face from her chest.
[Miss Baek A-rin?]
[Since when have you been awake?]
"Yes, since the moment Mister Pervert buried his face in my chest and spent quite a while sniffing away?"
[...I wasn't doing it for quite a while.]
"Oh, please. After you were doing exactly that for some time, totally engrossed."
Baek A-rin, who had regained consciousness at some point, let out a faint laugh.
The smile was similar to her usual one, but it looked very drained, perhaps from remaining aftereffects.
[I haven't melted it all yet.]
[Please keep lying down.]
"Yes, yes. This virgin here shall meekly offer up her breasts."
[...You were the one who said I could touch however I wanted, Miss Baek A-rin.]
"That doesn't mean I knew you'd sneak into a sleeping maiden's room, strip her clothes off, and molest her. Very sneaky and impish."
[No Communication]
[Silence]
As for that, I honestly have nothing to say.
My purpose is a medical act, and even now I'm melting the cold energy with the Calamity Flame.
But if asked whether the touches I placed on certain areas were entirely without personal motive... I couldn't deny it.
Pouting my lips, I buried my face back into Baek A-rin's chest.
"Whoa, so warm... It's like having a portable heater."
Giggling to herself, Baek A-rin also hugged me tight and went limp on the bed.
She'd seemed drained, and indeed she must still be struggling.
'Hooo...'
How did this happen, is it a trial, why is this happening...
I didn't bother to ask.
Likewise, Baek A-rin didn't bother to explain the circumstances.
Instead, she'd only sidestepped the explanation and asked a favor of me.
- Thump...
A human heartbeat is a good thing.
Especially the heartbeat of someone I like, and who likes me. I'd never tire of listening to it all day.
Baek A-rin's heartbeat is... good, but also unpleasant.
The pulse was slow and static, disrupted by something unnatural, and it made me uneasy.
I hate the cold energy bound to that heart.
I can't melt it right now.
Even while melting all the cold energy in her body,
the cold energy that has pooled endlessly inside her heart is on a different level.
To be precise, I might actually be able to melt it.
With my Calamity Flame, the Azure Sea via Homogenization, and my mana dominance and manipulation that exceed the norm thanks to Mana Affinity.
If I mobilize all of it, there's a possibility.
But I have no certainty that I can melt it without doing any damage to Baek A-rin.
I lack the confidence to handle perfectly whatever might burst out if I jabbed at that thing.
'......'
This feels terrible.
It's unpleasant, and hostility wells up thickly.
I want to grab that thing lodged inside Baek A-rin by the hair and throw it out.
[Greed]
[Desire?]
- Slither...
"Hmm?"
Just then, the Sky Wing Feather twitched and moved.
The Sky Wing Feather is an artifact connected to me.
Now linked all the way to my circuits, it can even convey a sense of touch if I wish to feel it.
So sometimes, much like a hand or foot moving on its own, it acts independently if my control slips.
It was a movement similar to earlier.
It split into many strands, then wound around the blinking Baek A-rin's body without my permission.
And then it tightened, pulling her further toward me.
It was a fairly coercive movement, seemingly with no regard for the other person's will.
"...Ha-yul?"
A pair of questioning blue eyes looked straight down at the top of my head.
At the gesture that seemed to ask what this action was about, I buried my face deeper into Baek A-rin's chest as if to hide it.
"Heh."
At that, Baek A-rin didn't ask any further, just as I hadn't.
She let out a soft laugh and only stroked my head.
Aside from her heart, her body had already melted a while ago.
But for a while, I kept our bodies pressed together, feeling Baek A-rin's pulse, steeling my resolve.
* * *
[Unique Ability ｢Calamity Flame｣ is growing.]
[Unique Ability ｢Mana Affinity｣ is growing.]
[Unique Ability ｢Azu?｣ is growing.]
...
[Player Correction System: Affection]
Lee Ha-yul → Baek A-rin
●●●●●●●○○○(77▷79/100)
｢Cold Energy｣ ｢Coolness｣ ｢Fondness｣ ｢Question｣ ｢Dairy Cow?｣ ｢Teasing｣ ｢Water｣