In a way, Su Cheng was quite moved. After all, everyone was willing to help.
Considering the circumstances of this curse, they would all have to take risks.
—Even though they were all experts and probably wouldn't get hurt for real, the danger involved couldn't be ignored.
But thinking about it carefully, a certain vampire was definitely harboring ill intentions.
In the original story, she was always eager to get intimate with Lin Yun.
And Lin Yun, having basically zero guard against such a beautiful member of the opposite sex, ended up almost being sucked dry of blood. If it weren't for the protagonist's plot armor, he would have died.
It wasn't that she deliberately wanted to kill Lin Yun, she just lost control for a moment.
Moreover, it was said that people whose blood was sucked by vampires would feel amazing, so Lin Yun couldn't resist in time.
Su Cheng: "..."
She felt that the gender-flipped version wouldn't be much better in this regard, and might even want to take the opportunity to take a few sips.
Although she could use a contract to bind him, since the other party already knew she was the favored of the Contract God, he might get crooked ideas about that too.
As for a certain blood mage?
He would most likely treat her as experimental material.
So only Mr. Commander was a good person.
But—
Forget it.
Magic power was still more reliable.
"There are also physical issues with battle aura, some physiques cannot accommodate certain attributes of battle aura..."
Su Cheng said somewhat uncertainly, looking up at the blood mage opposite her. "Besides, I'm a mage. Even though my magic power is different from yours, it's still better than battle aura, which I've never been exposed to, right?"
She paused. "So theoretically, magic power should take effect faster? I'm actually quite curious about what a blood mage's magic power feels like, but, you don't mind, do you?"
Camus was just about to speak.
Su Cheng added, "It's going to waste your magic power."
Camus: "......"
So that was what she meant.
Sasha rolled his eyes, picking up his wine glass with a lack of interest. "Looks like we're out, Commander."
Kai ignored him. "We'll be downstairs."
"For you, magic power is indeed more efficient than battle aura," Camus stood up. "If you've made up your mind, let's go."
For some reason, Su Cheng felt that his footsteps were somewhat lighter.
They went upstairs along the spiral wooden staircase, the damp musty smell, ale, and the aroma of smoked meat hitting their faces.
The doors to the guest rooms on the second floor were all closed, and a young person was sweeping the corridor.
Su Cheng took out two silver coins and handed them to her.
The person took them, pulled out a bunch of keys from her pocket, and took off one of them. "Room seven, walk that way, third door on the right."
The hallway was covered with a faded animal fur carpet, the edges worn to reveal the coarse linen bottom. The candlelight from the two wall lamps was dim, and flying insects could be seen faintly passing around the glass lampshades.
The furnishings in the room were very simple.
A slightly small wooden bed, the mattress filled with dried hay, the surface covered with a light-colored linen cover, which looked reasonably clean.
In front of the window was a round wooden table and two chairs. On the table were a knife and fork, as well as smoked meat, cheese, and a small barrel of ale, with two chipped wooden cups next to it.
Camus scanned the room, his face showing no sign of satisfaction or otherwise. "...Do you know how to use someone else's magic power?"
As soon as Su Cheng closed the door, she couldn't help panting. "Maybe, I once, with someone else, jointly released magic, accurately speaking, I borrowed his magic power?"
The blonde man was about to speak when his gaze suddenly paused.
The girl's skin was flushed with an unnatural redness, fine beads of sweat sliding down the sides of her face, and the fabric at her collar and chest was quickly soaked.
Her breathing became increasingly rapid, as if something was burning inside her, destroying her reason.
Su Cheng grabbed her collar.
That heat was burning from the inside out, making her want to strip off her clothes, even tear off her skin.
"...Speaking of which," she said in a low voice, "Do you know how? I don't mean magic power, I mean the other thing."
The blood mage lowered his eyes to look at her, not answering immediately.
"I'm just asking, if you don't know how, I can teach—"
She irritably tore at her collar.
The next second, a scalding hot palm grasped her hand.
Two buttons fell from between their overlapping fingers, dropping to the ground.
"So you're very good at this?"
She heard a deep male voice ring in her ear.
"...Not exactly very good? But I have some experience."
Su Cheng said helplessly.
Actually, the Archbishop did quite well. Although he might not have much experience, he was indeed very gentle and considerate.
As for the others?
She didn't want to think carefully about the boyfriends she had dated before crossing over.
What did they break up over again?
Actually, when they were together, they weren't particularly in love, just having fun for a while, and just got together like that.
Later, when various problems were discovered, they just broke up.
"I asked you this," the person next to her said with anger in his voice, "not to let you immerse yourself in memories, no matter who you thought of—"
"I almost forgot," Su Cheng said dizzily. "They're all unimportant people, what about you? Do you have any weird exes, failed first loves—"
"No," the blood mage took a deep breath. "I'm not as lucky as you, to be able to meet those unimportant people."
Su Cheng: "..."
Was that human language.
She wasn't very clear-headed to begin with, and after thinking for a moment, her brain turned even more to mush. "To be honest, I actually think you're more like a weird ex, but if I met you somewhere else, I guess I'd be very happy. You should be the kind of person who would agree to exchange medical checkup reports with me instead of getting into a huge fight over it. But right now, you really are heroically sacrificing yourself for the study of magic—"
Of course, the people in this world had no concept of chastity, otherwise a story like the original wouldn't have appeared.
Su Cheng didn't care about these things either, so she didn't think much more about it. "Speaking of which, some people don't know how to do it, toss and turn for a long time and still can't get it right, and then it's a vicious cycle, let's not have performance anxiety—"
"No," he almost ground his teeth, saying word by word: "I won't be like that."
Su Cheng looked at him somewhat suspiciously. "You look a bit like the kind of person who would pursue perfection."
The midday sunlight entered through the window, shining on those beautiful dark golden curls, like honey dripping in a nest.
The man's eyelashes were like melted gold foil, his deep blue eyes lit up by the light, as if reflecting the sea at dawn. "You don't need to believe me—"
Su Cheng felt her body lighten.
The blonde man lifted her with one hand, grabbed the small of her back with the other, spun around and sat on the edge of the bed, simultaneously pressing her onto his lap.
Their bodies were tightly pressed together, her thin back against his solid chest.
His body temperature was originally higher than hers, but right now her condition was abnormal, and in close contact, she instead felt that other people were cool.
Su Cheng couldn't help but rub backwards, even wanting to turn around and hug him directly.
Camus: "..."
She sat on his lap, swaying back and forth.
Su Cheng only felt the muscle lines below become increasingly taut, the thighs she was sitting on as hard as iron, her tailbone feeling like it had been hit by a rock.
The person behind her took a sharp breath.
"...Listen."
Camus gripped her waist with one hand, the veins on the back of his hand faintly bulging, while his other hand reached straight across her chest to pin down her shoulder.
Su Cheng finally stopped tossing and turning, murmuring vaguely, "What?"
"I said, cooperate with me," Camus said in a low voice. "You just need to trust your own power. We have a contract, don't we?"
Su Cheng gasped for breath. "Of course. Why else would I drink those shit-soup potions?"
The man behind her scoffed. "Not bad. If you can still say things like that, your soul's resistance to these powers isn't low at all..."
His voice was deep, carrying a warning rasp. "Then let's begin."
The moment his words fell—
Su Cheng felt a strange, unfamiliar magic.
The last time she had "touched" someone else's magic like this was in the temple with that priest.
Ian's magic was pure and majestic, exactly what she thought magic should be like.
So at that time, apart from feeling a sense of novelty and nervousness, she hadn't felt much else.
She was mostly just thinking about the subsequent spell.
Now, it was different.
The magic surging in through her shoulders, arms, waist, and abdomen felt like two red-hot iron blades wedging deeply into her body, piercing through all her blood vessels and nerves.
A burning sensation spread through her flesh. The heat brought by the magic was still exceptionally obvious even within her already feverish body.
But as the magic intertwined, a bizarre pleasure burst forth, blooming like sparks.
Was that the magic of a Blood Mage?
Just as this thought surfaced, the magic surging into her veins suddenly quickened its pace, transforming from a stream of fire into a sea of flames that filled every inch of her body.
Su Cheng jolted violently, feeling as if her spine was going to be shattered.
She sucked in a breath. "Can you slow down? You're going to knock my brains out!"
"Really?" The Blood Mage behind her actually sounded a bit shocked. "...Sorry."
He hesitated before asking, "I thought you were... hmm, does it hurt a lot right now?"
"It's not a matter of pain, but," Su Cheng's head was full of question marks, "are you seriously not messing with me? Do you have no idea what your own magic is like?"
"No," he said subconsciously. "I've never channeled my magic into someone else like this before."
Fuck.
Su Cheng thought with a headache.
She really was a damn guinea pig.
In every sense of the word.
Then another wave of magic hit her, washing away the curses that were about to spill from her mouth.
She shuddered as if electrocuted, her whole body beginning to tremble.
That fire-knife-like magic pierced into her flesh, churning and rolling through her meridians, as heat and pleasure rose and erupted together.
Then it gradually suppressed the heat of the curse.
She could almost feel the unfamiliar magic darting around inside her, scorching hot like a branding iron, yet carrying an eerie, bizarre aura.
It wasn't exactly unpleasant.
But it made one feel an instinctive wariness, even fear—
It was a familiar nervous alarm, much like the feeling she got when looking into Qin Jing's eyes, just without such a vivid visual impact.
Su Cheng soon found herself unable to think again.
The next wave of magical impact came too fiercely. Her whole body tensed up, and a broken whimper escaped her throat.
The scorching, violent aura was like molten metal injected into her flesh, surging through the blood vessels of her limbs and bones, stretching and filling every inch of her meridians.
Her fingertips spasmed uncontrollably, her toes curled, and her spine arched backward as if pulled by invisible chains.
That strange magic, which seemed to have a life of its own, rolled through her veins and entwined around her internal organs.
Then it twisted into a scorching vortex deep within her abdomen.
And she was like a capsized boat drifting in stormy waves, rising and falling with the tide of the magic.
Rising and falling, over and over, followed by more collisions. The small boat was almost shattered by the massive waves, even tossed up high into the air.
Then it surged toward the end of the sea.
There, the canopy of dawn was pulling open, and the rising morning light radiated an incandescent glow before her eyes.
"My god."
Su Cheng's breathing gradually leveled out, feeling somewhat drained for a moment. "You're actually not done yet. What kind of ghost story is this."
The Blood Mage held her waist with one hand and cupped the girl's jaw with the other. "...How do you feel now?"
Saying this, he lowered his head to meet her gaze.
Strictly speaking, he wasn't looking at her, but rather observing her pupils, like a dutiful doctor.
His blond hair fell forward, damp with a bit of moisture, tangling with her sweat-soaked temples. His breath brushed across the tip of her nose and her cheekbones, still a little cool.
"Hmm, once your body temperature comes down completely," the blond man said, seemingly calm, "it should be almost done."
"Alright," Su Cheng pursed her lips. "So it's about the same as last time. Wait, how long has it been so far?"
"Two hours?"
"???"
Su Cheng felt the condition inside her body and turned her head back in disbelief. "Then why aren't you finished yet? Didn't you say you were fast?"
Camus: "..."
The fingers gripping her chin suddenly tightened, then relaxed their hold.
The two of them suddenly separated.
Su Cheng gasped rapidly. "You—"
Before she could say another word, he flipped her over and pinned her against the mattress behind her.
