As Owen calmly circled the P2 parking level of the "Titan City Regional Mall," which was quite crowded for a late weekday morning, his mind drifted back to the events that transpired after his two-week-long evolution had concluded.
Iris's reaction... was both satisfying and terrifying, to the point where she almost lost control.
The moment the tests on his new body were complete, and she saw all the data on the tablet, her eyes instantly became "obsessed." In the next second, the persona of the brilliant scientist vanished, replaced by that of a hungry and frenzied queen.
She didn't wait a second... She tossed the tablet aside and pressed him down onto the capsule bed, which he had only just gotten out of less than half an hour before. Her two arms pinned his body like a steel vice before she mounted him and "devoured" him madly.
It was the most intense emotional release he had ever seen... like a beast that had been starving for months, even though she had been constantly making love to him throughout the past two weeks. He didn't even have time to make a sound or react before Iris pressed her mouth to his, sucking his tongue, while her hips "ground" against his core relentlessly, all day and all night.
And it was this marathon sex (counting the past two weeks) that made Owen realize just how much of a "masochist" Iris was. Although he had guessed it from their previous sexual experiences, that was just speculation, not confirmation. But now, he could confirm she was definitely the type who liked it rough.
Every time he accidentally slammed into her slit so hard their bodies shook, the walls of her love canal would clench him wildly in return. Every time he used his palm to spank her rounded buttocks until they were bright red, her beautiful, sweet face would contort in ecstasy, nearly breaking her.
And when he used his hand to choke her until she couldn't breathe, her body would shudder and "climax" instantly!
Owen finally understood that one of the reasons she was so obsessed with upgrading his body was so he could be 'rougher' with her! And the moment Iris was "caught" having such tastes... the game flipped instantly. She was changed from the "aggressor" to the "receiver," perfectly.
Owen unleashed his "Sire" instinct to the fullest. He treated her roughly in every way his new body could imagine. He fulfilled Iris's desires to the absolute limit, until her well-modified body couldn't take it anymore and she finally passed out on the capsule bed...
The last image Owen vaguely remembered before he himself dozed off was of Iris in a state of "complete ruin"...
Her face was contorted in ultimate pleasure. Her tears and saliva flowed together, staining his chest. Her eyes were rolled back, vacant. Her pale white neck was covered in bright red bite marks, and her full breasts and rounded buttocks were covered in red handprints.
And most noticeably... her once-flat stomach was now "swollen," filled with his warm semen, so much that it was overflowing and leaking nonstop from her slit...
And when they both woke up again several hours later, amidst the thick, fishy smell of sex that still filled the lab, Owen gently wiped the dried semen from her swollen abdomen and asked the question he had been wondering all along.
"Why aren't you ready to be branded as my broodmother yet?" He looked deep into her still-glistening purple eyes. "Don't you want to get stronger... or become a true Awakened?"
Her answer surprised him. Iris chuckled softly. She pushed herself up weakly, nuzzling her face into his damp neck...
"It's not time yet... my love~" her hoarse voice whispered by his ear. "I want to be branded by a 'perfect' king..."
She pulled her face back, meeting his gaze seductively. "...not a 'newborn king' like you are now."
But whether she was just teasing him or trying to hide her true feelings beneath a superior attitude, the fact that she loved him more couldn't fool the "System." A message from the system had already confirmed it before him.
Ting!
[ 'Iris's' affection has increased by 5 points! ]
...
And then Owen's thoughts returned to the present...
'Now... her affection is at 90 points.' The thought echoed in Owen's head as the real world spun back into focus.
Screech...
The tires grated against the polished concrete floor. Owen turned the steering wheel smoothly and precisely, pulling into a vacant parking spot.
'Only 10 points left...' But he knew well that these last 10 points were the "hardest." The higher the affection, the harder it was to increase, following the principle of "Diminishing Returns."
The old methods wouldn't work on her anymore. Simple actions like giving gifts or having insanely passionate and rough sex probably couldn't raise her affection anymore. It had become "normal" for a queen like her.
And the worst part... when he tried to activate the [Choice System] on her, it was "silent." The system offered no shortcuts or choices, as if implying that there was currently no path to increase her affection. He had to wait for the next "opportunity."
Of course, he still had one more powerful shortcut... his true trump card.
[Reality Warp]
By his calculations, he could use this power to turn a [Stranger] into [Eternal Love] with just two uses. The first use would raise affection to 80 points, and the second would make it exactly 100. Therefore, with Iris's affection at 90, he could max it out with just one use of this power.
And he had two uses.
'But using it like this...' Owen immediately shook his head at the thought. It would be too "wasteful."
This was a trump card that had to be saved for a life-or-death situation or to change the game on a much larger scale. Using it to "cheat" a personal relationship was a seriously "inefficient" act. It wasn't that difficult; he had already succeeded three times with Rosy, Jessica, and Victoria. Why couldn't he succeed again?
This kind of thing couldn't be rushed. It just depended on time... Even though he was determined to raise Iris's affection, he quickly understood and "accepted" the reality that not everything would always go as he expected.
Disappointment and failure are part of life...
He wasn't some hot-headed 14-17 year old kid who couldn't accept this simple truth one who, even knowing the odds weren't in his favor, would keep pushing stubbornly until he ended up doing something foolish.
Owen thus decided to "pause" the mission of raising Iris's affection for the time being. He believed the "opportunity" would come again in the future... perhaps when he was strong enough for her to "accept" him as a perfect king, or perhaps when he discovered the secret she was "hiding"... And when that time came, he would definitely close out those last 10 points.
After parking, Owen pressed the button to kill the engine, picked up his wallet and phone from the center console, and opened the car door with a solid sound. He adjusted his collar before striding confidently toward the mall entrance, heading straight for Jace's shop.
Soon, he walked into the electronics zone and stopped in front of the familiar shop: "Jace's Tech Den." The blue neon sign glowed, even in the daytime. The shop within was crammed with equipment, gadgets, and computer hardware, looking chaotic but organized in its own way.
Ting~
The bell on the shop door rang as Owen pushed it open.
The first thing he saw was Jace, busy explaining the specs of the latest laptop to an elderly male customer with a professional air. He looked serious and credible, every bit the expert.
"...With this Red team CPU that laps the competition, the processing speed of this model is 40% better than your old laptop. Plus, the camera has a system..." Before he could finish, Jace froze as he looked up and met the eyes of the person who had just entered.
His seriousness and professional mask vanished in an instant, replaced by the excited look of a little kid who had just seen a long-lost best friend.
"Owen!!!" Jace shouted his name, echoing through the shop! He no longer cared about the elderly customer holding a drone; Jace dropped everything and hurried (almost ran) around the counter, rushing straight over to hug Owen tightly.
"My man! You're back! I missed you like crazy!"
While Owen just stood stiffly, letting his friend celebrate for a moment, he could feel several pairs of eyes staring at them, especially the elderly customer, who now stood with his mouth agape, looking completely bewildered at the shop owner who had just abandoned him.
Seeing this, Owen patted his friend's back lightly. "Hey, hey, calm down, Jace..." He nodded his head toward the customer. "Uh... I think you should get back to work first. Your customer doesn't look too pleased. We can talk after you're done."
Jace whipped his head around in the direction Owen indicated and only just remembered.
"Ah! Crap... I forgot I was working!" Jace snapped back to reality. He pulled away from Owen, his face flushed with embarrassment, and quickly turned to apologize profusely to the customer.
"Sorry, uncle! It's just... my best friend who I haven't seen in ages just showed up... Anyway... where were we? Oh! The camera, right!"
Owen smiled and shook his head at his friend's flustered state before quietly moving to wait in a corner at the back of the shop.
...
Ten minutes later, Jace managed to clumsily close the sale. He immediately ran to Owen in the back office, two ice-cold cans of soda in his hands.
"Sorry, man! I just got a little excited," he said, handing one can to Owen.
"It's fine," Owen took it and popped it open. "I showed up unannounced. Didn't think you'd overreact that much..."
"Haha! You know a manly man like me is always full of energy! Anyway, what brings you to my shop this time? Need help with something? Or just want to see the 'art collection' I keep in my safe?" Jace laughed and winked slyly.
"Oh? I'm not interested in seeing the secret pictures you've collected, dude. But the fact that you've made a 'collection' means you don't just have Sahara's, right?" Owen gave a dry smile at his friend's taste and narrowed his eyes, pressing him.
"That's... uh... sigh... I shouldn't have run my mouth. You're a damn detective. Just one word I let slip and you guessed it... Yeah, you're right, dude. My collection isn't just Sahara. There are other beautiful girls, too. They've all got bodies just as good as Sahara's. But don't get me wrong, dude. Sahara is still number one in my heart!!"
Jace, having been caught, hesitated at first, unsure if he should admit it. But seeing as Owen was his best friend, he sighed in acceptance and spoke in a low voice, before gradually shouting at the end when he mentioned Sahara, as if afraid Owen would misunderstand something.
This made Owen's eyebrow twitch. Jace's over-the-top display made him want to stand up and punch the guy in the eye sockets until he looked like a panda. But not wanting to drag it out, Owen calmed himself and got straight to the point.
"I'm here today to pay you the sixty thousand dollars I owe you for the 'Specter Scanner'," Owen stated. Jace's excited smile immediately vanished.
"Oh, come on, man! Just for that?" Jace grumbled. "You could've just texted me and transferred the money. You didn't have to drive all the way out here. What a waste of time."
Owen stared at his friend, then slowly shook his head. "If I did that, it would feel like we only contact each other for business... But as friends, seeing each other face-to-face matters."
Those words... were like a straight punch to Jace's heart. He stood frozen for a moment, before his expression slowly turned to one of extreme gratitude.
"Oh... my man!" Jace looked like he was about to cry (in his typical over-acting style). "You... you're a total protagonist, dude! How lucky am I to have a friend like you!"
[ System Message: 'Jace's' affection has increased by 5 points! ]
Owen gave a faint smile. That was an unexpected bonus. Seeing Jace about to hug him again, he quickly raised a hand to stop him. "That's enough. I'm not gay, dude. You're giving me goosebumps... Just get the QR code. I'll scan and pay you now."
"Okay!" Jace wiped his (fake) tears and instantly returned to normal.
After settling the money transfer, the atmosphere relaxed. The two sat down on the old leather sofa before Owen started a new topic. "Alright, since I'm here, any new tech updates? What's interesting, Mr. Tech Genius?"
Hearing the word "technology," Jace switched modes instantly, from "goofball friend" to "all-knowing IT guru."
"Oh! You asked at the perfect time!" Jace took a big gulp of his soda. "Have you heard about the 'Link Dimension' yet?"
"Link Dimension?" Owen raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like something from a sci-fi movie."
"It's even more sci-fi than that, man!" Jace explained excitedly. "It's the latest tech the Awakened Association is secretly testing right now! It's a device that lets 'communication signals' pass through the dimensional walls of a 'Gate'!"
Owen sat still... his mind immediately calculating the implications. "Pass straight through?"
"Yes! Although it still has some limitations," Jace quickly explained. "Right now, it can't be used with 'Gates of Chaos' like the one you encountered. The energy waves there are too chaotic and violent. But for general Gates, like the F to A-Rank ones the Association registers... it's easy!"
"And what can it do right now?" Owen asked immediately. This was crucial information.
"As of this second, while they're testing it," Jace raised one finger, "it can already send text messages and images... which is enough to change the world for Awakened! Just like when humans first got the internet."
Jace leaned back into the sofa. "Think about it, what's the biggest problem that gets Awakened killed in Gates?... 'Murder'!" "Those types who form parties to trick newbies, kill them, and steal their stuff, making it look like they were killed by monsters... From now on, that's going to be a lot harder! Because the victim might be able to send a text or a photo of the bad guy out to the Association immediately."
Owen nodded slowly. 'He's right... This will completely change the ecosystem for dungeon robbers.'
"Gathering data in new Gates... planning... rescue... everything will be easier," Jace continued. "But you know what's even cooler!!"
He leaned in close to Owen, full of enthusiasm. "My inside source says that within 1-2 months... they expect to upgrade it to support 'real-time video'!"
Owen froze... before a single word popped into his head. "...Streaming?"
"That's what I'm talking about!" Jace yelled excitedly. "Get ready, Owen Marlowe! The age of the 'Dungeon Streamer' is coming! And whoever starts first and blows up is going to be filthy rich!"
Owen's mind exploded. This wasn't just a simple business opportunity; it was a path to the "future," one that would let him pay off Damian's debt quickly.
Streaming live from a dungeon... hunting monsters for viewers... teaching techniques... showing off drops... It was "content" with massive value!
Owen's eyes lit up with intense interest. He couldn't help but smile, catching Jace's excitement. "Dungeon streamer, huh... That's more than interesting, man!"
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