Scarlett and Ethan were still in the dark mountain cave.
In the dark, wet, and slightly damp cavern, Scarlett lay against the obsidian stones, and Ethan was comfortably sleeping on her lap. She was stroking his hair and thinking of her newfound powers while wondering why using his new power might have cost him so much.
He had obviously used up too much stamina by using that particular power. A Heritage-Awakened always needed Stamina to use their Heritage abilities. Ethan also needed a lot of stamina to use his Dimensional Abilities.
He could only teleport three times without fearing he would faint—until his Heritage evolved earlier—and that was because his stamina was limited to that. This new ability he used had required even more stamina.
He had become a phantom, an illusion-like creature for a little second!!
No wonder such an overpowered ability required so much stamina. What were his other two new abilities? What was the name of this ability?
She was curious but also a bit tired after evolving and fighting. In the end, her eyes clouded over, and she dozed out.
The dark cavern that they had blocked using an enormous boulder was indeed a great stay they had chosen. Even as night arrived and passed into a beautiful morning, nothing disturbed their slumber, except for the cold.
The cold, biting chill made the duo end up in a tight embrace when they woke up. They were completely entangled, both tightly holding each other as if they wanted to fuse into one. Scarlett especially was hiding into him.
When Ethan woke up, Scarlett also woke up at the same time, both of their eyes fluttering open and meeting each other. Bewildered blue eyes met lethargic brown eyes.
Scarlett blushed.
She could feel his hard member press right against her sacred place.
"…Right in the morning?" She groaned out, half asleep. "Please no…"
Ethan was a bit startled, and his mind quickly inventoried his situation. He was on the cave ground, not even on the bed, and they were completely entangled in each other. Scarlett was even shivering as she slept.
He felt guilty and took out bedsheets from his Dimensional Pocket. He also took out a bed and got her on it before saying anything. She was like a kitten who had been given a hot fan after a cold bath, she covered herself in the thick woolen covering and pulled Ethan towards herself.
Even though the blanket was easily prone to being torn away by its newfound strength, it still felt much better than sleeping on a rock on cold nights. He should have at least created a little bonfire inside the cavern before they slumped to sleep. It wasn't the sort of cave that lacked oxygen after all.
"Thank you, my dear dumbass," Scarlett hugged him, kissing the top of his head. "I feel much better. I tried using the Fire Ball ability at night but my stamina was only so much. I didn't want to go out into the forest to get some wood to burn either."
Ethan kissed her cold collarbone.
"So you just hugged me for warmth, huh?" Ethan summoned a heater from his Dimensional Pocket and used a battery to power it up. It was all done using his teleportations and he didn't leave her embrace.
Scarlett felt the comfort oozing into her mind and felt herself wanting to just melt.
"I spend the night in a half-sleep state. I didn't sleep, but I also did sleep—I thought of many things, and it just doesn't make sense. I might forget this if I sleep, so listen, please."
Ethan grumbled, "You don't have to plead. I do remember everything you say."
She looked at him sweetly.
"Thanks. And what doesn't make sense is—even if we had these technologies from Earth, it shouldn't have been this comfortable in this world. We never really felt how harsh this cold could be until yesterday. And think, think Ethe, our bodies were like those of insects until we ate that pill."
It was as if a bulb went off in Ethan's head. "Indeed, we should have felt heat, cold, allergies, and such things much more intensely when our bodies were that weak. But it was almost as if only our strength was weakened but nothing else. We had immunity to diseases and such just as well as on Earth."
Scarlett nodded. "I think Gu Yuntian left some magic on us that would help us fend off such natural things until we eat that pill. That dude is indeed someone we are indebted to."
"Yeah."
"And Ethe, you lost in the fight, so you are my slave now. I won't be too much, just for this week."
"…Yeah."
"I expect I will get warm coffee when I wake up. So don't disappoint me—Slave."
It was beginning to slightly irk Ethan but he just couldn't get himself to say a cocky remark when she looked so lethargic and tired because of him. He just hugged her tight.
She pinched his cheeks; her fingers felt a bit cold. "Idiot. I didn't think you would feel guilty by just leaving me in the cold and falling asleep. You were also in the same situation all night after all."
"It's not just... It really must have been a chore…"
Even her ears that pressed against his cheek felt cold. "You could've just woke me up."
"I tried to do that but you were dead asleep. You didn't budge. Seems like using that new power is not nearly healthy—you still look pale and bloodless, also skinnier and uncool. What was that power in the first place?"
Ethan soothed her to sleep while thinking. That ability to become immaterial was indeed overpowered but at the same time, it cost too much just to use it for 3 seconds!
Soothing her to another more comfortable sleep, Ethan murmured, "That Ability is named Massless Self. I become a part of the dimensions itself for a little time but it is too pricey. Not a sustainable ability. But when that happens, no one can harm me."
Scarlett's eyes were heavy and she nodded.
"But it was cool. You were defeated in the battle but you won the war—you have once again won over this young lady's heart. So bye-bye, for now, good night-morning, and don't do anything weird to me when I sleep."
Ethan was annoyed. "I would do whatever I want. And I hate being your slave. We should reduce the time from one week to an hour or something, and I didn't really, really lose because of you. I didn't know how much Massless Self would cost—I was too reckless using it. I could defeat you without using it if we fight again."
She chuckled and fell asleep, hugging him.