Loyd just stared at Nick in awe.
Nick had acted so vulgarly and uncouth and yet, Claire had taken the initiative to stop him. Usually, men tried to be on their best behaviors in front of women, especially if those women were beautiful. And Claire was a beauty that could riot the masses! So it stood to reason that Nick would act differently in front of her.
But, against all reason Nick kept on displaying sides of him, that should chase any sane woman away. And yet, Claire not only peeked at his naked body, but she even stopped him from leaving apparently not having had enough?! Now either Claire was a little closet pervert that enjoyed acting shy and reserved or this fellow Nick had some serious charisma!
If Claire knew what this stupid man was thinking she would have taken out all her hidden trump cards to kill them! Why did no one believe her when she said she didn't peek? At least, not in the way these people were assuming, she only looked at Nick's shoulders to marvel at how well and fast the arms had regrown. But apparently, her curiosity had led her to be misunderstood.
"Okay, enough flirting around Claire! I am your Master, remember?! And I have kids in the other room cultivating and god knows when they might pop out, and if they catch us play around... But, as your unofficial Master, if you are still in heat at night, then come find me, helping my pupils is my number one priority...." Nick then threw Claire a wink before taking his hand back from her clutches and flying hurriedly to the bathroom.
"Wait, I..." Claire could only stomp her feet in frustration. Why is it that every time she spoke to Nick, she was left speechless? She couldn't even scrounge up a few words in her defense and could only watch slack-jawed as Nick rushed into one of the toilets.
"I swear that if I ask you to be my Master again, let the heavens strike me down!" Claire swore a Heavenly oath in a fit of rage. She no longer wanted a Master like Nick, the man was too unscrupulous and she even began fearing that just breathing the same air as him might put her chastity at risk. This oath was different from the Soul devouring oath Nick had sworn last time and was even more deadly.
Thirty minutes ago, in Master Crow's secret layer.
"Master, what do we do now?! Nick and the others have escaped!" Shadow Five anxiously turned to his Master for support and guidance.
"Humph! What is there to be worried about?! Don't we still have the most precious object in our hands? Hehe..." Master Crow smiled as he stroked his chin.
"Huh?" Shadow Five looked around, confused. There was nothing else left in this cellar! Well, except for that weird hog...wait?! The Hog?! Could Master Crow have been referring to the hog when he said they still had something precious?!
"Master, is it the...hog?" Shadow Five feared that his Master might have suffered a mental breakdown after experiencing failure for the first time in his life.
"Hahaha! Haven't you noticed yet?" Master Crow looked at the confused Piggy with fever as unlocked the cage and cradled her in his arms. And without waiting for Shadow Five to answer his questing, he began explaining.
"The last time Nick exhibited his space manipulation powers, this Hog was there. And he was even able to appear and disappear at will in front of you guys. But ever since I caught him, he hadn't been able to escape using the same method."
"And yet, after that weird hand attacked me earlier, and they ran to escape, why didn't they head to the mountain exit?! Why did they instead head into the underground cellar?! I'm pretty sure Shadow Two would have warned them against it. Unless, of course, they knew that this Space-Hog was down here and wanted to use its marvelous space bending abilities to escape!" Master Crow spoke his hypothesis in one breath.
But too bad he was sorely mistaken at every turn. The reason they didn't head to the mountain exit was due to Nick's Dragon eyes, he had seen Master Crow blocking it off. And the reason that they went down the cellar was because Claire had jumped in before Shadow Two could warn her, and he didn't want to turn back to do it.
As for Piggy being here when they teleported, that was just pure coincidence.
Thankfully Nick's Dragon eye's skill was linked to his bloodline, and it wasn't something the system could restrict, otherwise they would have had to head to the mountain exits to find out it had been closed.
Nick sat in the toilet with his hand supporting his chin. But the toilet lid was closed and Nick had his clothes still on. And if one looked at him, they would find him staring dazed at the bathroom wall.
And although Nick looked kind of stupid right now, and his actions seemed meaningless, he was actually scrolling through the system store right now trying to find anything that could get them away from Master Crow.
Because although it seemed like they were now scot-free, the truth was quite the opposite. If Nick went out right now, he would still be in Master Crow's layer and he would suffer death or torture instantly. So Nick needed to think of ways to escape, and if he could, bring Piggy with him. Nick didn't know why, but he was quite fond of that little intelligent Oinker.
"Hey, geezer, how could you possibly have so many things in here but no living beings?!" Nick grew annoyed.
"Ding! Motherfucker! What the hell do you mean, asshole?! Stealing is one thing but I can't add animal trafficking to it!!" The Old geezer sounded a little annoyed.
"Huh? What are you talking about?! What stealing?! What trafficking?! Doesn't the system just miraculous produce the things I ask for?!" Nick felt like his innocence was in danger here. He felt like a little kid that was about to find out Santa clause wasn't real.
"Uh, ahem, exactly! The system waves its wand and the things you ask for appear. But the system can't create living beings yet, you should wait until the system authority upgrades." Old geezer knew that he had said something wrong, so he began to coax Nick.
Nick felt a lot better once he heard this. Finding out that his Mighty Emperor System was involved in robbery would have hurt his poor little heart. His system was impressive indeed, it even had a wand!
"Then what do I need to upgrade the authority of the system?"
"Simple, just level up your cultivation to the peak of this world and head to an upper world!" The Old geezer responded quickly.
Nick then walked out of the bathroom and to the front yard where everyone was enjoying a light chat by a campfire they started. Everyone seemed to be at peace. No, we couldn't have that now, could we?
"Attention everyone! Attention everyone! This space is extremely unstable and temperament so laughing too loud or even smiling could cause it to collapse on itself. So please, make sure not to have fun." Nick didn't like how everyone was happy while he was wracking his head on ways to escape from this crisis.
And immediately after Nick's announcement, everyone grew anxious. What Nick said might sound far-fetched, but this place was weird and foreign to them and they had never even heard of spaces like this in the history books. So who could be certain about whether Nick was lying or not? Besides looking at Nick's frowning face, he didn't seem to be kidding around.
Nick then paced around for a while and then sat with the others around the campfire in a defeated manner. He couldn't think of anything at the moment so he would rest and chill for now and come up with a solution later.
"Hey, what's up with that fellow?" Nick asked Claire as he pointed at Elder Frost.
"Oh, that is the Elder Frost, an Immortal realm cultivator. He is suffering from heavy internal injuries and energy exhaustion." Claire introduced offhandedly as she used a stick to play with the fire.
"Oh…" Nick looked at Elder Frost for a while before asking Claire, "Is he a friend or an enemy?" This question didn't matter much once one entered this Palace space though because any person that came in would have to sign a contract and become a 'friend' of Nick's before leaving.
"A friend," Claire replied curtly. She didn't want to speak with Nick more than necessary, for fear of being angered further.
Splash!
Nick lifted the unconscious Elder Frost by the collar and flung him meters away and into the healing pool.
"You!" Claire began heaving in and out as her eyes grew bloodshot. Why throw away the poor old man after discovering he was a friend of her's. Did Nick perhaps carry a grudge against her for something?!
"Your welcome." Nick smiled brightly at Claire.
"Hey, look!" Suddenly Loyd noticed that the pool was bubbling and exclaimed.
And soon everyone had left the campfire and gathered by the pool. And what greeted them was the same cocoon with flame patterns that Nick was in previously.
"What is this?!" Claire was shocked. Shouldn't the medical efficiency have run out by now?!
"Oh, this is one of the many abilities of my little bathtub. Right now, for the next few hours, any three people with any injuries can take a bath in it and experience the same medical abilities of that one pill of yours." Nick began bragging proudly.
Claire looked at Nick in disbelief.
"Master, this humble student wants to learn from you!" Claire broke the oath she had sworn immediately. She didn't care anymore. Nick was just too awesome! And he had so many nice things that she hadn't even heard of before!
But, Claire's broken oath had consequences.
Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!
Claire had broken an oath to the heavens so as promised heavenly lightning began gathering…but...the lightning had gathered outside the palace space, right on top of Master Crow's secret layer!