The woman's ragged breathing filled the room, and Su Bai couldn't decide whether to approach her or keep his distance. Something strange was clearly happening, but he didn't understand what. Just as Su Bai was about to get closer to the bed, the woman's eyes suddenly opened, revealing dilated pupils, as though she'd just woken up from a nightmare.
Her gaze fixed on Su Bai, though her eyes reflected a mixture of confusion and bewilderment, as if she wasn't entirely aware. Her lips trembled, but at first, no sound emerged. Then, with evident effort, she managed to utter one word: "Stay… away." Her voice was barely a whisper, but the desperation behind those words was clear.
Even though her words were merely a whisper, Su Bai could feel the desperation in them. He felt compelled to do something, though he didn't exactly know what. He took a step forward, feeling the weight of the situation intensify as he drew closer to the bed. The woman's gaze, still hazy, remained locked on him. He knew that whatever was happening, it couldn't be ignored.
The woman's body was now visibly trembling, her hands clutching the bed as though it were the only thing anchoring her. Feeling a mix of concern and curiosity, Su Bai knelt beside her. "Are you alright?" he whispered, though the question seemed pointless. His hand instinctively extended toward her shoulder, as the energy in the air thickened with each passing second.
The faint touch of Su Bai's hand on her shoulder drew a gasp from her, one that seemed to come from deep within. Her body reacted instantly, tensing like a spring ready to snap. Her eyes, now filled with a wild glow, locked onto Su Bai's, and before he could pull back, he felt the temperature in the cabin rise. Though he didn't fully understand what was happening, he knew the situation was about to spiral out of control. The air between them felt dense, as if breathing normally had become nearly impossible.
Before Su Bai could react, the woman grabbed him with a speed and strength that left him stunned. His body moved on instinct, but it wasn't enough to escape her firm grip. In the blink of an eye, she had him pinned against the jade bed, immobilizing him.
Despite her delicate appearance, the strength radiating from her was superhuman. The warmth that the bed once emitted now seemed amplified by their closeness, making the air around them even denser.
Su Bai quickly raised his head, his mind reeling in confusion. "What are you doing?"
The woman didn't answer, but her expression seemed full of internal struggle, contradiction, and shame. She couldn't bear it any longer.
The strange venom in her body was too strong to suppress. If she didn't act soon, she risked being completely consumed by it. Normally, the snake bile only provided slight resistance, barely helping. If Su Bai hadn't been there, the venom wouldn't have been triggered so intensely.
In her deep sleep, she could have held out until finding a better solution. But now…
As soon as she sensed Su Bai's presence, the terrifying venom began to boil within her again. She couldn't hold back any longer. She couldn't wait any longer. Her sanity was eroding.
"Shoo!"
In the blink of an eye, their positions shifted. Su Bai was now beneath her, with the woman straddling him between his waist and abdomen.
"Om!"
The woman waved her hand again, and a bright light emanated from her body, forming a stronger barrier around them. At this point, even the village elder wouldn't be able to enter. With the barrier in place...
"Trick, crack..."
Fragments of fabric scattered in the air...
Su Bai's eyes went wide as his gear was removed…
This... This was completely unexpected!
The air around them was growing stifling, and Su Bai could feel any semblance of control slipping away. The woman was holding him with a strength he couldn't comprehend, and his own body was beginning to respond in ways he had never experienced before.
"This definitely isn't part of a mission," he thought, struggling to regain his composure. But the irony of the situation hit him: after 20 years without losing his virginity in real life, he was about to do so in a virtual reality game! His mind was in chaos, but his body, betraying him, seemed to respond to the unknown influence emanating from her.
In the end, Su Bai couldn't resist any longer. The internal struggle he had been fighting vanished as the intensity of the moment overtook him. "This doesn't make sense…" he thought briefly, but that thought was quickly replaced by the instinctive desire growing between them. His hands, once hesitant, now found their way to the woman's body.
It was as if all the rules of the world, or the game, had ceased to exist. It was pure need—something he hadn't planned or wanted, but something he couldn't deny. The emptiness he had felt in trying to resist was now replaced by something he couldn't name.
Su Bai could no longer distinguish between what was real and what he felt in that moment. The intensity of every sensation, from the touch of her skin to the rhythm of their breathing, was so authentic that he momentarily forgot he was in a virtual world. What had begun as a simple mission had now transformed into an experience that defied everything he knew about games. And there, beneath her, he understood that what had once been just an NPC character now felt like something far closer, much more human.
Their pace grew more frantic. Their breaths mingled, and although Su Bai tried to find a rational explanation, his body was completely out of his control. His movements reflected the instinctual desire filling the room. With each passing second, the sense of urgency intensified. And even though he knew this wasn't something either of them wanted, all he could do in that moment was surrender to the intensity of the present.
After surrendering to desire multiple times, Su Bai's body began to undergo an unexpected change. He felt an uncontrollable energy surge through him. At first, it felt like an internal explosion of power, but he soon realized that something was wrong. His energy, both physical and mental, was draining rapidly.
Su Bai felt the air around him grow heavier, as if an unimaginable burden had been activated within him. His energy and vitality bars on his interface began to drop alarmingly.
"What... what is this?!" Su Bai thought, terrified as he watched this new energy overwhelm him, draining him completely. Amid his confusion, an unknown interface appeared before him:
New Power Unlocked! Threshold Equilibrium Warden
[Level: ???]
[Status: Unstable]
[Description: A latent power awakened by the convergence of Yin and Yang. Currently unstable due to incompatibility with the user's physical state. Immediate action required.]
Su Bai, gasping for breath, couldn't fully comprehend what was happening. The energy was draining him so much that he felt he would collapse at any moment. In that instant, the woman—unbeknownst to Su Bai, Erisal, the Guardian of the Veil—reacted upon seeing his distress.
With a trembling hand, Erisal cast a glowing seal that enveloped Su Bai, softening the impact of his new power. "You… can't… handle it yet," she murmured with effort.
The seal took effect immediately, weakening the power that was consuming Su Bai, locking it at its lowest level. The interface in front of him changed:
Threshold Equilibrium Warden
Level 1 – Spectral Veil:
Description: Envelops the user in a veil of dark and light energy, balancing the forces of Yin and Yang to enhance evasion and resistance to energy attacks. Currently weakened and partially sealed.
Condition: Increase affinity with the energy of Equilibrium (Requires gradual adaptation).
Erisal breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that the seal had stabilized Su Bai's body. Still lying on the jade bed, Su Bai noticed that the energy drain had ceased, though he could still feel the weight of this latent new power within him. "What… is this?" he asked in a low voice, observing the interface that now displayed the first stage of his new power.
Su Bai's new power, the Threshold Equilibrium Warden, had awakened due to his union with Erisal, but his body wasn't ready to handle its full extent. Thanks to the seal placed by Erisal, this power was now weakened and sealed, ready to be gradually unlocked as Su Bai met certain requirements and grew stronger.
Without fully understanding what had occurred, Su Bai had no idea that his life in Eryndor had just become even more complicated.
Erisal, who had been on the verge of despair from the venom, now showed a palpable change. Her breathing, though still heavy, began to calm. However, her expression was one of relief mixed with sadness.
Watching Su Bai, she tried to grasp the impact of what had just happened. The bond that now connected them was more than physical, something that transcended any superficial connection. Even she was only beginning to understand the changes they both had undergone.
Su Bai, still overwhelmed by the intensity of what he had just experienced, found himself looking at the face of the unknown woman. Though her breathing had calmed, the sadness in her eyes was unmistakable. Something deeper than the physical act had occurred between them. Now, a bond united them, though Su Bai couldn't fully grasp the magnitude of what it meant.
He tried to speak, but his throat was dry, and the words wouldn't come. The situation felt surreal, almost as though everything that had just happened was impossible. "How…?" he wondered as his mind struggled to make sense of what he'd just lived through. But no matter how hard he tried, there were no words to capture the intensity of what had just happened.
Erisal, unlike Su Bai, seemed far more aware of the implications of what had transpired. Her eyes looked away, and though her breathing began to steady, her mind was filled with confusion and sadness. Something irreversible had taken place, something that couldn't be changed. She knew the time to talk to Su Bai hadn't yet arrived; there were too many things even she couldn't process.
The silence between them grew overwhelming. The tension between them lingered, like an unshakeable shadow. Though neither could express it in words, they felt the weight of what had just occurred. Only time would clarify what the future held for them after this experience.
The tension in the cabin seemed to have lessened, but her eyes remained fixed on Su Bai, this time with a mixture of doubt and regret. Though the connection between them was undeniable, now there was an emotional barrier that seemed to distance them even further.
With an expression full of conflict, Erisal rose from the jade bed. Her body moved with an almost painful slowness, as if each step cost her tremendous effort. She didn't look at Su Bai as she walked toward the door, and he, still caught in his own confusion, didn't know what to say. All he could do was watch her leave, feeling the emotional distance between them grow stronger in that moment.
As she was about to leave, Su Bai felt the urge to stop her, if only for a moment.
"Wait," he said, his voice breaking the silence with a tone of urgency. He didn't know exactly what to ask, but driven by a sudden impulse, he couldn't help but ask, "What's your name?" The question left his mouth before he could stop it, and the silence that followed was crushing. She paused, her back rigid, her gaze fixed on the door. "Erisal," was all she said before disappearing.
Erisal left the cabin in complete silence, removing the magical barrier she had placed earlier to keep what had happened hidden from others. Su Bai remained alone, sensing the protective barrier around the village chief's house dissolve into the air.