Chapter 107: Chapter 107: Ava's First Kiss
He then retrieved the Arashin Aegis bow, a dowry from Yuna\'s father, and regarded it as if seeing a bow for the first time.
"You are a great sage weapon of high quality, but with the techniques I inherited, I can enhance your quality even more," he said softly. If the bow had a soul inside, it would have buzzed in response, much like his astral ascendant sword does.
He closed his eyes and reviewed all the bow-related manuals inherited from the Sacred Mortal Artisan. He was searching for a particular technique—a technique that could transform the bow into a spiritual weapon.
A spiritual weapon, possessing a soul, would grow alongside its master, making it even more valuable. Sam aimed to turn this bow into a spiritual weapon capable of growing stronger with him through the inhabitation of a soul.
"Hmm, the Soul Simul Textrinum Manual? This is the one." After finding a suitable technique, he went through it once more.
"The first step of the technique is drawing an inscription in the form of a circle using blood. The higher the quality of the blood, the higher the chances of success."
For the blood, he decided to use his own.
Among the dragons, Sam could be considered to have the highest-ranked bloodline, possessing two major bloodlines. Being the supreme path cultivator naturally made his blood of the highest quality.
Sam used a small dagger to cut his hand. He controlled his divine power, the immortal body, to prevent it from healing before drawing enough blood.
The Immortal Body, a reward for achieving Supreme Foundation Realm cultivation, had six stages. The first stage provided rapid healing and immunity against all poisons and bodily curses.
When he reached the Core Formation Realm, he unlocked the second stage, allowing the regeneration of broken limbs.
Currently, he was at the third stage, granting the ability to survive and regenerate from decapitation.
Drawing about one liter of blood, he didn\'t worry about its effects as he could instantly recover from it with the Immortal Body.
He controlled his spiritual energy to draw two circles. The first circle was about 80cm in radius, and the second one, about 30cm in radius, was inside the first circle.
"Hmm? I managed to draw the perfect circles without error. Is this also a side effect of the blessing?" Sam thought to himself.
He then directed his spiritual energy, using his blood like a paintbrush to draw a series of crystal-like figures. Afterward, he inscribed multiple inscriptions inside the crystal-like figures, each one different from another.
"The next step is to use my spiritual energy as the power source and make the bow resonate with the inscription circle."
He placed the bow at the center of the inscription circle before summoning his Daoist Core from his inner world.
Ten Daoist Cores of different colors, each representing one of the ten elements of nature, appeared above his head, shimmering and periodically glowing.
With a wave of his hand, the Daoist Cores began to pump spiritual energy directed at the inscription circle, resembling a river.
The inscription circle continued to be nourished by ten natural elemental spiritual energies for a few minutes before it began to glow in white, as if it had come to life.
A moment later, the bow showed signs of resonance with the inscription circle, covered in the same white aura that the inscription circle produced.
Once the aura of the inscription circle harmonized with the Arashin Aegis Bow, the blood from the inscription circle transformed into a spiderweb-like thread, covering the bow in a dome-like structure.
"Now comes the hard part, Soul Integration. To complete this step, I need a soul essence that would become the whisp of soul consciousness inside the bow. Usually, I might have to use my own soul essence."
He raised his palm, and a small, soft, ball-sized blue energy began to take shape. "But I don\'t necessarily have to use my soul essence. Thanks to my shadow extraction ability, I have tens of full-fledged souls stored in my Soul Sanctum Imbibition Physique."
"I will use the soul of a bird-type beast this time."
As he let go of the soul, it floated toward the dome made of inscriptions, passed through the dome, and touched the bow. As it did, an intense, blinding light filled the insides of the cave.
It would have blinded Sam if he were a normal being; he would have lost his eyesight. Even through the intense rays of light, Sam could clearly see that the soul was currently undergoing fusion.
As the light died down, Sam witnessed an Arashin Aegis Bow hovering in the air. While its form remained mostly unchanged, the patterns on it had transformed.
The once lightning patterns now bore intricate root-like designs in a deep blood-red color.
As Sam reached out to grab it, the bow, sensing his emotions, rushed toward him like a child running to its father.
"Wait, you already recognize me as your master?" Sam felt a connection similar to the one he had with the Astral Ascendant Sword emanating from the bow.
Another light flashed, and the Astral Ascendant Sword emerged from a spatial ring, floating before darting toward the bow, seemingly jealous of the attention the new arrival was receiving.
Sam chuckled as he patted the sword with one hand and the bow with the other. Then, remembering something, he said, "Ah, yes, that technique used to create a Vitalis Medallion."
"I have long wanted to present my wives with something meaningful. This inheritance came at the right time."
As he closed his eyes and simulated the technique in his mind, a frown appeared on his face. "What material should I use for the base of the medallion? I want something that can\'t be easily broken and won\'t deteriorate over time."
Pondering the options, he thought, "What to do... mm?"
"What if I use that for the medallion? It will grow along with me, and as long as I\'m alive, it will not deteriorate either."
Suddenly excited, he began refining the Vitalis Medallion with the most precious materials available to him....
As Sam became deeply engrossed in refining, he didn\'t realize that it was already dinner time, and his shy and cute aunt Ava had prepared food for him.
When Ava appeared inside the cave, she saw Sam looking intently at something.
"Um... nephew?" Ava called out meekly.
"Aunt Ava?"
"I brought you d-dinner," she said in an embarrassed tone, refusing to look him in the eye.
"Fufu... you are so cute when you get embarrassed." Sam closed the distance and wrapped his hand around her waist.
"You..." Ava could feel his manly scent and strong hands on her back, holding her in place. She felt like a kitten trapped in the hands of a wolf.
"Say, Aunt Ava, can you feed me yourself? You see, I have been refining medallions for my wives, and it almost exhausted me." He was telling the truth; refining at such a high level with his own essence blood nearly drained him of his sea-like spiritual energy reserves.
"Will you?" Sam intentionally let his face seem weakened, looking like a pitiful beggar.
"S-Sure..." Ava, seeing his pitiful expression, couldn\'t bring herself to say no. She wanted to refuse him because it was too embarrassing for her, not because she didn\'t like it.
As she fed him like an older sister feeding her little brother, she couldn\'t help but smile a little at this.
"You feeding me makes the food even more delicious, Aunt Ava," Sam smiled cheekily.
"I-Is that so?" Ava\'s eyes were drawn to the piece of cloth, which had six medallions on it. Pointing at it, she asked, "You made those?"
"Yes."
"You know how to refine?"
"Well, it\'s just inscribing and carving."
Ava blinked in confusion. \'Just what can he not do? He even knows inscribing. I wonder where he learned them? Did he learn it from the codex?\'
Her eyes were fixed on the medallion. "They are beautiful."
Seeing her eyes fixed on the medallion, Sam grabbed one of them and showed it to her. "Here, take a look."
Ava grabbed it, and as soon as she touched it, her eyes widened in surprise. "This... Is this your dragon scale?"
"Yes, I made it using the roots of my dragon scale." Sam nodded as he remembered the painful moments when he crazily plucked his dragon scales right from the roots.
"Are you insane? How can you pluck out your dragon scales from the roots? Do you know the agony one has to endure? Even if you have impressive vitality, scales damaged from the roots won\'t take a long time to heal?" Ava worriedly touched his chest, trying to find the place where he hurt himself.
Sam grabbed her hand, stopping Ava in her tracks. "This level of pain is nothing."
"It\'s for my wives. I wanted to give them something really meaningful, but there\'s nothing I could give that they already don\'t have, so what\'s wrong with making them using my own dragon scales and a drop of my essence blood."
"You must really love them, huh, to make something so precious for them?" Ava looked at the medallion in Sam\'s hand with longing.
Sam smiled softly, clearly understanding what she was thinking. He quickly grabbed the medallion by the thin chain and placed it around her neck.
"W-What? Why did you?"
"Didn\'t I say it before? I made it for my wives."
"But I\'m not your wife... yet." Her eyes became moist, and her face turned bright red as she averted her gaze.
"Your cuteness increases when you\'re embarrassed," Sam gently lifted her face, bringing it closer to his.
"Didn\'t you say you made them for your wives? Why are you giving it to me now?" Ava asked.
"Are you saying that you don\'t want to be my wife? Is that what you\'re insinuating by saying it like that?" Sam asked, looking somewhat sad.
"N-no, that\'s not it... I..."
"I was going to make one for you after I refined some for my wives, you know? Well, not just for you—mom, grandma, and other aunts."
"I got exhausted just by refining six of them. Since you\'re here, I might as well give it to you now," Sam continued.
"I... I..."
"Why? Don\'t you like it?" Sam said, making his face look pitiful.
"No, I like it very much. I love it. I\'ll keep it with me even when I bathe," Ava quickly said, afraid that Sam would take away the medallion.
"Hehe, you are the cutest," Sam gently patted her head.
"Say, I want something from you in exchange for the medallion."
"What?" Ava asked, confused.
Sam gently leaned his face in and caressed her soft lips. "I want a kiss."
Ava\'s face burned with fire; she wished she could dig a hole and bury herself. She didn\'t expect Sam would ask for a kiss suddenly out of the blue like that.
"I haven\'t kissed anyone before," Ava meekly said.
"It\'s fine," Sam said before bringing his lips closer to hers.
Ava felt a soft and hot sensation envelop her lips; her heart beat like crazy. This was her first kiss, and she had given it to someone she really liked. It was gentle, like a summer night breeze, comfortable and soothing.
The kiss lasted for a few seconds before their lips separated.
"Did you like it?" Sam asked softly.
Ava nodded before suddenly feeling Sam hugging her. "Can I hug you like this for a while?"
"Anything for you," Ava softly agreed as she wrapped her arms around his back while laying her head on his chest.
...
[A/N: If you enjoyed this chapter, please consider supporting it with a few Power Stones. And if you absolutely loved it, you can even contribute a Golden Ticket. Your support means a lot to me! Thank you very much! - Arigato! ]