Ethan could feel his heartbeat rise, and he felt pain between his shoulder blades and in his chest. He sat on a bench, and the girls looked at the people staring at them. They needed hair pins and gear.
Wendy and Lucy stood closer to each other, looking like deer about to be hunted. There were two yelps as they were pulled down, their soft rears falling on hardwood. Strong arms pulled them closer. The crowd of students dispersed, walking by, not daring to look at the eyes that followed their every move.
"Alas, hold still for me, girls. I need to check something. This will feel awkward in public, but I must touch your knees. Please lift your skirts for me."
"Hail, Ethan, in public, they will think we are lovers."
"Alas, that is what we want them to think. That would eliminate half the young men thinking they have a chance with either of you."
"Squee, should you not touch our legs above the knee? It is more intimate?"
Lucy blushed, and Wendy's ears twitched, her face red as she lifted her skirt. People stared for a second and walked past. Ethan placed his hands on their knees, and they threw their skirts over his hands. It looked like he was taking advantage of them. Maybe he was.
Ethan spoke to Sophia in his mind. Ethan's essence flowed into Wendy and Lucy slowly. Ethan had only used the minimum amount. Ethan had created a connection with their cores.
Wendy and Lucy sat back, moaning softly, holding his arms.
Sophia appeared in his mind's eye.
"Alas, Ethan, the connection is weak. It would be best to touch them higher up on their legs. Closer to how did you put it, to their flowers? The cores lie in their wombs. The closer you come to their cores, the more effective you become. That is the basic principle of dual cultivation, pouring your yang deep into their yin."
Ethan could feel his face warm up. He had to focus and not think about that. Ethan moved his hand up their legs until Sophia could pull up two screens. Ethan was painfully aware of how close his hands were to their flowers.
Ethan appeared on the mountain with the five women.
Ethan looked at Wendy and Lucy's status screens. As his hands moved up their legs, the screens became solid, and more information was displayed. There was an indicator of signal strength at the top right corner. Ethan could see the screens getting clearer and brighter.
Sophia warned Ethan.
"Alas, Wendy and Lucy had taken your hands in theirs; they have placed them, you know."
Ethan blushed as the women starred at him. Ethan realised he should place his hands as close as possible when he shared essence, but he did not feel confident enough to try that. Ethan knew it would be more effective to put a finger inside them.
"Alas, Wendy and Lucy need resources. They are running low, and the food has not replenished them. The food is lacking in resources. You can share your essence with them, but you must eat more. Your core is optimised to extract resources while they are in the infant stage, which is inefficient. It would be best to penetrate them as deeply as possible to prevent the loss of essence.
Ethan coughed loudly. Sophia continued speaking.
Alas, find monster meat or dungeon vegetables and herbs packed with resources. When you kill a monster in this realm, it has a manna core. You can sell these cores for coins to the guild. They make potions with the cores and sell them back to the adventurers. You can fill them with your essence, levelling them up and making new skills available. You will dually cultivate, in a sense, circulating your essence with them. The resources are lacking in this realm. You will be their lifeline."
Ethan asked her if there was a place where he could find monsters outside of the dungeon where he could hunt for them. Sophia explained that the woods between villages had monsters.
"Alas, Ethan will find many high-level monsters there if he travels to the mountains."
Ethan thought of the portal and had an idea. Ethan came back to reality feeling two soft wet flowers with his fingers.
Ethan stared at the portal. It was but fifty feet down the walkway, standing in an open field. Nobody was going through for now, but it would become busy when the day ended. Ethan hated the train ride to Ghost Flower Village.
"Alas, Sophia, can we travel to Ghost Flower Village via the portal?
"Alas, give me a moment to upgrade the portal."
The portal came to life, flashed a blue light, and the golden script ran down the middle in the light. Four minutes passed, the portal shut down, and the blue light faded.
"Alas, portal ready for travel, Ethan. Just feed it essence and think of your destination that is closer than four hours of travel by vehicle."
Ethan was impressed that four hours per vehicle would take them almost anywhere on this continent. Sophia gave him a rundown on the portals through the kingdom of Zahalarha. There were more portals than he could have guessed.
Ethan opened his eyes. Wendy and Lucy lay against him. They were panting a bit, and their bodies spasmed. Ethan stopped the flow of essence. Ethan wanted to get up, but they held him back.
"Hail, Ethan. We cannot stand for now. Give us a minute or two; my body has gone numb."
"Squee. I have been feeling tired for a while now. Maybe I am getting sick, and my body feels drained."
Ethan looked at the two girls. Their legs trembled, and they looked drained for some reason. They had calm, happy expressions, like they had just relaxed.
Ethan thought tension had built in them and was released in one shot. The female students looked envious as they walked past. The male students did not look at them as they passed. Red in the face, they bent forward like they were hiding something.
Ethan felt guilty about what he had done. He had bound them to him. Now, their wombs were cores. It was all his fault. Ethan reflected on his actions, wondering if he should have waited before he acted rashly. How will he explain this to them? They were his first friends in this realm. They were beautiful, and they trusted him. How could he face them now that he knew this?
"Squee, my legs have found their strength again. Let us go home."
Ethan reluctantly removed his hands from their flowers, and their skirts blocked most of what happened.
They walked into the portal, and Ethan touched the sides and used his essence. The portal glowed golden.
They walked out of the portal and were in the woods, where flowers floated by them. They were in Ghost Flower Forest to the south of the town. Sophia told him to walk forward toward the village. Soon, they reached a farm that grew wheat that floated above the terrain with a light blue radiance.
"Squee, the manna-rich area makes plants float and move about in the wind. The strange thing is that they will never float off the farm. The same goes for the flowers and trees that float around. They never leave the area."