The bed let out a soft, muffled thud as her back sank into the soft fabric. She had barely rolled over and crawled twice, not even having the time to cast a spell, before she was caught.
"...You really know how to listen to people."
The man behind her said in a deep voice.
Su Cheng turned her head, "That's—"
She suddenly fell silent.
Those steel-blue eyes gleamed with a cold light, staring straight at her.
"What?"
The Blood Mage tore open the collar of his outer robe with one hand. The expensive fabric with embroidered patterns fell loosely, revealing his lean, muscular shoulders and arms tightly wrapped in his shirt.
Black and silver threads intertwined on the deep red robe, flowing with a faint glimmer under the bright sun outside the window, like some sort of rune sealing a wild beast.
And now, they were all shattered.
Camus tossed the clothes aside and suddenly reached out, grabbing the girl's ankle just as she tried to pull it back.
The mage's palm was broad, with distinct bones and muscles, and beautifully defined knuckles. Although he constantly held pens and handled potion ingredients all year round, there were hardly any marks on his fingers.
His five fingers curled, easily grasping her entire ankle, his thumb forcefully rubbing against the pale blue veins on her heel.
Then, he lifted it up.
Su Cheng had barely moved her other leg before he pinned it down with his knee.
The blonde man looked down at her from above, propping one hand beside her face. He gazed into those clear amber eyes, which seemed to carry a hint of tears at the corners.
Her black curls spread out on the bed, like a heavy, drooping dark cloud.
Those thick, ink-black eyelashes were layered and curled, wet with moisture, like the vibrating scaled wings of a swallowtail butterfly in the rain.
A beautiful, detestable face.
Although there was no connection between the two, and it wasn't the first time he had seen a pretty face.
But ever since their first meeting—
He suppressed the churning emotions in his chest, trying to make himself look like he didn't care about all this.
"You like making these kinds of jokes?"
The Blood Mage said lightly, suddenly leaning in close.
Su Cheng: "!"
Where their skin touched, a violent, scorching magic, like burning blood, poured into her flesh without warning.
The circuits that had already been opened up by magic were now filled once again by a fiery tide.
She arched her back, her forehead hitting the man's chest. She tightly gripped his hard forearm, tearing the silk sleeve into rips.
The magic he poured in was hotter and more brutal than the last time, carrying a vindictive anger, like red-hot chains tightening around her internal organs.
It was also like countless fine needles piercing her pelvic cavity.
"Weren't you curious about a Blood Mage's magic—"
The blonde man said in a low voice, forcefully squeezing her hip bones and pressing down, firmly pinning her in place as he controlled the input of magic.
"You can feel it to your heart's content."
That fire-like magic surged within her body, rushing through her spine and limbs like a tide.
Su Cheng took a few deep breaths, only feeling her whole body burning soft. That pain quickly turned into a refreshing comfort.
It was probably a sensation of overflowing power that only mages could experience.
The surging magic washed over her continuously, wandering through her bloodlines, as if growing countless tiny tentacles that intertwined and grew within her body.
They suckled every sensitive nerve ending, nesting deep in her abdomen. Her consciousness began to blur, and patches of colorful sparks exploded before her eyes.
"Fuck—"
Su Cheng opened her eyes wide in disbelief. She couldn't even speak; there were only broken, intermittent gasps.
Even though theoretically, that magic didn't belong to her, once it flowed into her body, if she could grasp the essentials, she could actually use it.
So this would give someone a feeling of omnipotence.
Even if only temporary.
For a moment, that special magic belonging to the Blood Mage even granted her a peculiar vision and perception—
She looked down at her hands.
Beneath the thin, fair skin, the veins were like an crisscrossing underground river, the blood like a surging undercurrent.
She could perceive the power of every heartbeat, the blood pumping from the heart, rushing along the main arteries, and then seeping into every corner of the body through the tributaries of the capillaries.
This process was perceived with unparalleled clarity at this moment.
In the corners of the room, in the crevices behind the low cabinet, on the dusty beams—
There was also flowing blood, like tiny tides rising and falling within the bodies of insects, being delivered to various organs as they moved.
And the people walking or drinking downstairs and on the streets outside.
The blood in their bodies pounded against their hearts, or rushed toward their brains along their arteries.
It was like an image that branded itself into her mind, the entire world stitched together by millions of scarlet threads.
Su Cheng sat on the bed in shock, tilting her head back and staring blankly at the ceiling.
Hot, strong fingers held her chin, wiping away the moisture at the corner of her lips. "...How is it?"
Su Cheng snapped back to reality and couldn't help but turn to look at him.
The blonde man was leaning against the pillows. The front of his shirt had been torn into a mess by her, the expensive silver buttons popping off into the tangled bedsheets.
It revealed a patch of snow-white, smooth pectoral muscles bearing red scratch marks.
Those marks varied in depth, and a few even oozed tiny beads of blood.
Su Cheng blinked, "...Huh?"
Camus raised an eyebrow slightly. "I asked how you feel?"
Su Cheng touched her forehead, only feeling that her consciousness was still a bit floaty, as if she were still in the clouds, because the magic was no longer turbulent but still lingered in her body.
She reached out and pressed her hand against the blonde man's chest.
Su Cheng nodded, "Oh, you're hot now. My curse is completely healed now, thank you."
Camus: "..."
He grabbed the slender hand she was about to withdraw, pulling her over with a slight force.
He immediately regretted it.
The girl stumbled and fell against his chest, her high nose bumping against his heart, her warm breath sweeping across his skin.
Certain feelings that had just barely subsided seemed to be returning.
He quickly held her down, making her sit up, and said through gritted teeth, "I know, that's not what I was talking about."
"Ah?" Su Cheng rubbed her nose, "You're asking how I feel? I feel like you're very petty and can't take a joke."
Camus: "...I was talking about the magic."
Su Cheng: "..."
She tried to deeply experience that magic. The bloated feeling of being completely filled still vibrated within her body, like every inch of her nerves was soaked in boiling lava.
Countless tiny sparks still wandered through her veins, burning out a secret delight.
Su Cheng: "What else could I do? Can I use it? Or just wait for it to dissipate on its own?"
He glanced at her, "You can try using it."
She wasn't a Blood Mage, so she couldn't generate that kind of magic herself. Once she used it up, it would be gone.
Hearing this, Su Cheng also became interested and couldn't help but ask curiously, "Elemental mages get their magic by meditating to absorb elemental spirits, refining the absorbed spirits... anyway, something like that. That's how they get it. So how do you mages get your magic?"
She said this while changing her clothes.
Camus turned his head to look out the window. "Elemental spirits aren't the only things that can be 'refined'."
Su Cheng suddenly understood. "Oh, I get it. So you're a blood mage, and your magic can be extracted from the blood of other creatures?"
"You could say that."
The corners of his mouth twitched as if he wanted to offer a deeper explanation, but then he realized that would only complicate things.
The blond man started to turn his head, but caught a glimpse of white in his peripheral vision and stopped.
"Raw magic exists within all living creatures, but most people cannot use it. The introductory skill of a blood mage is called Blood Marrow Channeling. Through the resonance of specific magic circles, we strip raw magic from the blood of living beings and reconstruct it into a heterogeneous energy circuit that we can draw upon. The magic carrier within the blood is called Crimson Essence, which appears in a volatile, free state within living organisms..."
Su Cheng swore she was trying her hardest to listen to what he was saying.
But while she understood the first half, the second half just became a jumbled mess; many of the terms were completely foreign to her.
Su Cheng let out a long sigh. "I understand a little bit. Let me give it a try."
She tried to feel the magic, no longer treating it like a plunging knife.
Assuming they were a part of herself—burning veins, rushing blood, a power that she could control.
Su Cheng casually buttoned up a few buttons. "...Teach me a random blood magic spell?"
The man beside her casually wiped the sweat from his forehead, thought for a moment, and uttered a few bizarre, obscure syllables.
Su Cheng softly repeated them.
Camus shook his head slightly and corrected one of the pronunciations.
These syllables were very hard to pronounce, with strange rising and falling intonations. She tried a few times but couldn't quite get it right.
But judging from the blood mage's expression, this was clearly not unexpected.
There was no hint of impatience on his face. He repeated it several times, then reached out and pressed her lower lip, his thumb resting against the soft tip of her tongue.
"...Keep it like this," the blond man said in a low voice, "and try rolling your tongue again."
Su Cheng did as she was told.
He gave a slight nod.
Taking the opportunity, Su Cheng pricked her own finger.
A magical resonance erupted.
A dark red halo emerged from the wound on her fingertip. A string of tiny blood droplets splattered into the air, freezing in place as if drawn by some unseen force.
Then they began to pulse rhythmically, intertwining and circling until they finally wove together into a blood-red short blade.
It was a knife condensed from blood.
Even though it was made of liquid, it possessed a sharp curve and a chilling dark gleam, exuding an imposing, razor-sharp aura.
"...Did it work?"
Su Cheng asked uncertainly.
This was truly bizarre.
She had actually cast a spell without even knowing what its effect would be.
"Yes."
Camus leaned closer, propping one hand beside her. He rested his chin against the back of her head, his heavy breathing falling among her hair.
With his other hand, he grasped hers, guiding the volatile, churning magic within her body through their touching skin.
The blood blade in the air grew larger and larger, emitting dozens of wispy blood threads around it like an intricate spider web.
Su Cheng suddenly felt as though her strength was being drained—even though the magic wasn't originally hers to begin with, and it wouldn't hurt her now.
But she still wasn't quite used to this change.
The man beside her reached out to wrap his arm around her waist, securing her in his embrace. "Keep feeling it, use your spiritual energy—"
Su Cheng nodded slowly.
This was completely different from controlling elemental spirits.
She couldn't say which was more fun or easier; they were both quite interesting, but this feeling was fresher.
Waves of magic surged between their overlapping arms, every wash feeling like the most lingering caress.
Amidst trembling skin, erratic heartbeats, and their mingled breaths, they wove into countless intertwined red threads.
Before she knew it, the magic in her body began to deplete.
The red threads in the air scattered and shattered, turning into countless specks of crimson light.
Exhausted, Su Cheng leaned backward, wanting to collapse onto the bed.
She thought Camus would move aside, but the blood mage didn't budge, letting her bump against his arm.
Then she found herself lying in the man's arms.
"...Are you tired?"
He asked with a hint of uncertainty, reaching out to prop open her eyelids and observe her pupils.
"No!"
Su Cheng pushed his hand away and rubbed her temples.
"It's just temporary fatigue. Kind of like sprinting eight hundred meters without any magical buffs, feeling like you're about to die for a moment, but then you just need to sit down for a bit to recover. You know what I mean?"
Camus: "..."
Camus: "Why would running eight hundred meters make you tired? And feel like dying? Do you have some other illness? Why didn't you mention this earlier?"
Su Cheng: "?"
Su Cheng: "Aren't you a mage? You don't get tired running eight hundred meters without magic?"
She suddenly thought about her own experiences and realized that this guy actually never seemed to get tired.
If it weren't for magic consumption, he probably wouldn't even sweat.
"Forget it," Su Cheng poked his chest muscles with her finger. "You don't count. You're a fake mage—"
The blond man looked at her hand, then stared at her.
Su Cheng: "..."
Su Cheng blinked. "Sorry, do you want to poke back?"
