By Zephyria 
Hot? No, it was scorching.
Some kind of energy blooming from Mikael’s hand—that ticklish sensation—started from my tailbone and slowly seeped toward my Dantian. The heat blooming below my navel acted as a direct hit to my already aroused body. My genitals, swollen to the point that my pants felt suffocating, were already damp.
Mikael’s internal energy dug into my mana hole and, fuck, as if trying to increase its size or widen its place, it pulled at my mana hole until it was tight.
I grit my teeth. Rough breaths leaked out. I no longer had the luxury to act spoiled or whine. If my body had been free, I would have shaken my hips like a dog in heat. I was glad I couldn’t move. No, could I really call this a relief?
While my confused mind was being crushed into a pulp, Mikael’s internal energy, which had thoroughly ravaged my mana hole, began to spread slowly throughout my entire body.
Goosebumps broke out.
The fine hairs all over my body stood on end. I had never been particularly dull to begin with. However, I hadn’t been sensitive enough to feel every single one of Mikael’s downy breaths on my skin from about a meter away.
But now, I was. My senses had become that acute. It felt as if the blood vessels beneath my fingernails were swelling and expanding.
My heart pounded rapidly. My internals—fuck, my internals that had learned to take it from behind—tightened urgently as if demanding that their hunger be filled. Every time Mikael’s sweet voice continued, I felt like I was going to fucking die.
“Whew… What you’re feeling now is the world of one level above. Since Ruben has a well-trained body, it was a bit easier. Once your Qi sense becomes this sharp, you’ll be able to notice others’ gazes more keenly, so any threat of assassination…”
The long explanation went in one ear and out the other.
Every time Mikael rubbed my shoulders and shoulder blades as if dismantling and reassembling them one by one, my erect nipples were pressed against the bedsheets. It hurt. When he massaged from my waist to my buttocks, my damp underwear made a squelching sound. It hurt—fuck, no. It was stimulating.
By the time Mikael’s hand, which had been covering and pressing above my tailbone for a long while, slowly pulled away, I was already crying. I could feel the sensation of my hyper-sensitive ears twitching as if convulsing.
Unaware of my state, Mikael acted tenderly.
“Now then, shall we roll over?”
“Hng, no, don’t, don’t…”
“Yes. Since Ruben cannot move his body on his own right now, I will help you.”
I wasn’t saying I couldn’t roll over by myself; I was saying that I absolutely did not want to show him… my current state.
However, my loosened tongue could not assemble proper words. Every time the hem of Mikael’s clothes brushed against my skin, my body flinched from the ticklishness.
As Mikael tenderly hugged me and laid me on my back, a fragrant scent of silver lace wafted from his embrace.
Mikael’s gaze flickered toward my lower body before moving up to my chest. Rather than my lower half, which was swollen to a state where I didn’t know if I’d come or not, it was more embarrassing that my stiff nipples were pushing up my shirt. Fuck, unbelievably, I could feel it all even without looking…
“I, I don’t want to… Mika, Mika, I…”
“It’s alright. It’ll be over soon.”
“Hik! Ah, ah… don’t, hng, I won’t—”
Why can’t you just fuck me instead? That thought surged up to the tip of my throat.
Mikael’s hand gently touched my lower abdomen. Then, he pressed down with a pressure that was quite painful.
I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to feel it. I didn’t want to cry. I…
While I felt like I was going to die from sheer, utter shame, Mikael slowly rubbed, scratched, and pressed again, following the cardinal directions centered around my Dantian.
The more he did, the more sensitive my body became. At a certain moment, it felt as if I were being squeezed to the very marrow of my bones.
“…Huk, keuk… ugh, fuck, ah.”
I lost my reason.
It would have been better to just take an aphrodisiac. Mikael’s gaze flickered toward my parted mouth. Kiss me. As I stuck out my tongue, the tips of Mikael’s ears turned slightly red. But in the end, he didn’t kiss me and looked away.
Tears streamed down my face out of frustration. Mikael’s—no, Mikael’s energy—was still stirring inside my body…
Just as he had when I was lying face down, Mikael pulled his hand away after infusing energy into me for a long time. Beads of sweat had formed on Mika’s forehead and the bridge of his nose.
When Mikael pressed and rubbed from my lower abdomen to my solar plexus with his hot hand, I finally couldn’t hold it back and let out a loud cry.
“Ah!”
“…”
“Tickle, huk, it tickles, save, save me… crazy, I can’t, can’t do—”
“…Just a little more. You’re doing great, Ruben. Good boy.”
Mikael hesitated for a moment, then gripped my chest.
I grit my teeth. I couldn’t believe that the most explicit skinship I’d ever experienced with a lover was something like this. Mikael, with his eyes slightly cast down and focused, occasionally checking on me, feeling sorry for me and finding me lovely, while…
He played with me. That’s the only way it felt.
Now, Mikael pressed, rubbed, and infused energy into my neck, head, and extremities. It was manageable when he touched my temples, cheeks, and jaw joint, but when he rubbed along the line below my chest or massaged between my fingers, moans mixed with curses leaked out.
Not just inside my underwear, but my entire body was damp and slippery with sweat and bodily fluids. Now, I felt like I would come even if Mikael just pressed his palm against me. My vision sank into blackness, then flashed white, then distorted into rainbow colors.
After that, I endured for a long time—a time that truly, truly felt like an eternity.
I wailed. I said things like it hurts, it tickles, save me, I can’t do this, dozens or hundreds of times.
However, Mikael firmly declared that he would not compromise when it came to my health…
Now, my tongue was so loosened that I couldn’t even speak a proper word. In a state of arousal where I would shiver even if just the hem of his clothes brushed me, looking up at Mikael’s slightly awkward face evoked emotions beyond mere shame.
My consciousness flickered in and out. I couldn’t even remember how many times I had lost my train of thought.
Then, at some point, Mikael’s voice sounded very close, as if he were speaking inside my head.
“It’s done. It’s over now. You did well, Ruben. You endured it well. Truly.”
Mikael’s fingertips brushed my nape, just as they had at the beginning. Now, I could feel even the most minute energy pinpointing a single grain of muscle fiber in my body. Finally, my body moved as I thought. However, I was so drained of strength that I couldn’t give any reaction.
Just as I was about to lose consciousness again, Mikael pressed his lips to my cheek and whispered.
“Now, when you wake up from your sleep, you’ll feel very refreshed.”
It was exactly as he said.
When I woke up, I was lying alone on the bed, and my body felt surprisingly light.
Fuck, crazy, what the, no, really. What on earth…
Acupressure and Blood Manipulation? I could never do that a second time. For a long time, my body trembled with shame.
* * *
November 9th, 4:00 AM, the day before the scheduled departure.
Spiritus and Gano Paquin entered by tearing through space instead of using the door. Since I was already awake, I was able to greet the two gods without being surprised.
Spiritus had strayed hairs sticking up from the crown of her head, as if she had been pulling them out repeatedly. As soon as she locked eyes with me, she hurriedly spoke.
“Human. Can’t wait any longer. We have to go as fast as possible.”
“Yes. I thought as much, so I was preparing.”
Gano Paquin’s gaze fixed straight on my upper body. I obediently undid two buttons to show that I was wearing the Divine object correctly. Spiritus, who had been approaching me as if to grab me by the collar, came to a dead stop.
“…What? How…?”
“Sierren is always monitoring the Mana Concentration of the Empire. Since the Mana Concentration in the eight directions of the Sierran capital has been soaring for the last 20 minutes, I figured there would be a problem across the entire continent. I’ve already ordered the Divine object to be brought here, so it should arrive within forty minutes.”
Spiritus blinked.
After checking my safety, Gano Paquin took it upon himself to go to my office desk and reach for the files. I didn’t mind, as I had intentionally made several copies.
I handed him a bundle of documents to use as he pleased and immediately pulled out a blank sheet of paper.
“…Really? Fine. Then when can you leave?”
“If we prepare starting now, we should be able to depart within six hours. I’ll try to shorten the time as much as possible. Before that, there’s something I want to ask. Is it correct that this mana rampage is occurring across the entire continent?”
“Yeah. From the eastern end to the western end, including the seas and deserts, mana is flowing backward across the whole continent. Why?”
“The center of the mana reflux would be Floyd’s Galea Reservoir.”
“…Right?”
“Then, could I use the Empire’s Divine object to dump the excess mana beyond the Magic territory or far into the South Sea?”
Spiritus pondered for a moment but soon shook her head.
“No. The Sierran Divine object only works within the Empire. If it could exert that much influence even on other countries, it wouldn’t be called the Divine object of the Sierran Empire alone. You’d have to lower the Mana Concentration enough to empty the capital entirely for that to work, and that would bring its own set of problems.”
“Then how about I take the Divine object and go to Floyd myself?”
“…Huh?”
“In our Empire, we’ve always entered how much mana to accommodate at coordinates 15.33.1.7, skipped the intermediate storage stage, and sent the remaining mana to coordinates 58.34.8.7. The fact that it only works when the setting values for coordinates 15.33.1.7, where the Divine object is located, are entered means that the mana concentration around the Divine object can be adjusted, doesn’t it?”
“…Oh?”
“Will it work?”
“That… might work? But you know that, right? Since the mana coordinate system uses the current location as the central axis, it varies the moment you move. Right now, the Oasis Origin is stuck there, so I can’t help you on-site. You’re not even a Wizard. Can you reverse-calculate coordinates that shift every 5cm in real-time?”
“Yes, I know. And I can do it. Before that, please check if the spell formula I intend to use will work correctly. Also, in which direction I should send it to dispose of the rampaging mana most safely.”
“Fine. Let’s see…”
An ordinary person dies instantly upon sudden exposure to high-concentration mana. Even if they luckily survive, parts of their body are deformed, and they suffer extreme pain.
What’s the point of wiping the floor when the pipes have burst? You have to plug the hole. To safely protect all living beings across the continent, including the citizens of the Empire, the mana had to be scooped out from the gap of the reflux and sent far away.
Fortunately, I had mastered the rules of coordinate reverse-calculation. I had learned it after becoming Emperor to increase agricultural production across the continent, and I was very happy to receive confirmation that it could be used in such an urgent moment.
Soon, the people who had received the messages I sent before the two gods arrived began to arrive one after another. Hestia Yeldidus, Justin Barret, and Kelly Hawkins. These three would block the remnants of the First Prince’s faction from daring to dream of treason while I was away.