Within the growing circle of the crowd, Feng saw a familiar figure who had also spotted him and ran over, waving excitedly.

“Ja-“

Seeing his girlfriend about to call out his real-life, Feng snapped out of his stupor and closed the distance within an instant before embracing her, stifling her words in his torso as he muttered into her ears.

“It’s Feng here. I rather not risk our real names being leaked.”

Feng released her only after feeling her nod in response and murmured in response.

“Alright, I chose Cythe as my name here.”

She then backed away slightly to check out Feng, looking him up and down before sighing.

“Boring… You didn’t even bother customizing anything about your looks…”

Feng merely shrugged apathetically at that inciting another sigh from Cythe before she struck a seductive pose and asked coyly.

“So… How do I look?”

Feng stared at his girlfriend who looked almost exactly the same yet inexplicably more beautiful, only extremely close inspection revealed the slight adjustments with her skin becoming more radiant and blemish-free, her facial features somehow becoming somewhat more shaped and elegant, while her typically untidy shoulder-long black mane became a smooth wave of iridescent teal locks flowing down to her mid-back.

His eyes were inevitably drawn downwards and lingered for some time on Cythe’s cleavage which seemed so much more eye-catching despite seeming exactly the same size… Bypassing her assets, Feng’s eyes wandered further downwards past her pert bottom and glued on to those long smooth legs with flawless porcelain skin…

“Ehem… You are drooling dear. I’m guessing you like my new appearance then?”

Feng hurriedly shut his mouth and swiped his hand across to rid any of the incriminating evidence and simply nodded in response not daring to test his capability to vocalize properly at the moment.

The corners of Cythe’s lips twitched upwards, amused by Feng’s response and her smile turned mischievous as she followed up with another question.

“Really? So how do I look compared to my normal looks then?”

His attention split between Cythe’s sexy pose and her question, Feng spilled his thoughts on her new appearance without thinking through.

"Ohh… your legs are even more flawless and sculpted, and your skin looks much more radiant, and you look shapelier and your face looks more elegant... You look like a much prettier version of yourself…”

Looking up at Cythe’s face as he answered, Feng noticed her face was darkening as he spoke, and belatedly realized the disguised bomb in her question. He hurriedly cut off his words and switched tracks, desperately hoping to redeem the situation.

"BUT I love you not because of your beauty, even though you are amazing here and in real life. I love you for your personality, that cute smile and really I would say I prefer your normal self. All of you including with the cute little blemish on your face which I love to kiss... Even the rashes scars on your sensitive skin, they are part of you... because I love you for who you are not what you look like."

“Awwww… You are the best boyfriend!”

“Aww, how sweet.”

“Wow…”

“Aww… If only my husband thinks like that too.”

Feng mentally wiped his brow of sweat as Cythe gushed about his mini-speech alongside on-looking females in the town square… and realized Cythe was excitedly coming nearer.

*CRACKK*

‘GURRGGHH… MY RIBS!! … I might have been better off getting her annoyed than happy and overly affectionate…’

*DING*

Status Effect Inflicted: Crushed Lungs

Duration: 1 hour

Effects: -50% Stamina while in effect

Cythe abruptly released Feng at the same time the notification sounded and looked startled, allowing him some breathing room to recover and read the notification.

“How rude! I just got a notification saying I got a new skill called Hug of Doom!”

Cythe looked extremely offended as she turned her attention back to Feng and asked.

“You are perfectly fine aren’t you dear? “

Hiding his wince as he nursed his side, Feng croaked out a somewhat forced reply.

“Uhh.. Yes. That must have been a glitch….”

“Hmpf. Well, at least I got an extra 20 strength bonus from it.”

Feng stiffened upon hearing that, on one hand happy for Cythe’s fast advancement but a much larger portion of his mind was weeping in fear and horrified realization at what her increasing strength and the skill implied for him in the future…

‘Shit. Shit. Shit.’

While his mind was still frozen in shock and horror over the idea of Cythe’s hug getting stronger, Feng was dragged about by an excited Cythe who peered around checking out the town square before abruptly letting loose a squeal of joy and pulling him along.

Before he knew it, Feng was standing inside a blacksmith’s shop with weapons racks containing a huge variety of weapons as well as stands of armor displaying anything from leather vambraces to a set of full plate-mail armor.

Cythe was flitting from rack to rack, staring at all the different types of weapons on display starry-eyed before coming to a quick stop as she spotted something.

“Oooohhh that's so cool... I want that kusarigama! It looks so awesome with it being modeled like a dragon. Look at the sleek body! The scaley details on the handle, even the chain… and the tail oh my…”

Feng sighed and inspected the chain-sickle and thought it looked fairly cool with its dragon shape and exotic weapon design but thought it was extremely impractical though... the quality of the blade itself was excellent and looks extremely sturdy and keen. However, no matter how good the weapon was, it simply was not an optimal choice.

“Uh, don't think you can afford it dear since you don’t have any money now..."

Feng spoke with a well-trained voice of reason, recognizing the sense of an upcoming impulse purchase after many years of trailing after his girlfriend on shopping trips.

"Oh.. But it looks so wonderful, maybe… You could get it for me first and I’ll pay you back later?"

Sadly, his attempt fell on deaf ears and instead backfired by directly implicating his wallet…

Wincing, Feng attempted to dissuade Cythe again.

“But you don’t even know how to use it..."

"Pleaseeee? I’ll work really hard to learn to use it!"

“Why not use a sabre or a blade? You were one of the top state fencers after all…”

“Bleh… That’s so boring, I rather pick up a new weapon… plus it looks so much cooler!”

"But it might not even be a strong weapon?"

“That’s fine! It looks cool!”

Feng face-palmed at Cythe’s answer and took a moment to think before speaking.

'Well, at least the weapon enables medium range combat which should keep her safer... Plus it might mesh well when we party up. Hmm..'

“Alright… Let me go check the price for you.”

"YAY! YOU ARE THE BEST HONEY!"

The brilliant smile which lit up Cythe’s face made his heart skip a beat and reminded him that her happiness was more important than money.

‘I got quite a bit of money from the bandit camp anyhow…’

Feng strode over to the blacksmith with a lighter heart and was fully prepared to purchase the kusarigama and motioned at the weapon in question.

“How much is that?”

The blacksmith looked over in the direction before he raised an eyebrow and silently lifted a hand with his fingers spread.

“Five silvers? That’s not too bad!”

Feng ventured a guess at the price but the blacksmith simply shook his hood in response.

‘Damn it. Is he trying to drive up the price by making me set the price?’

Feng sighed and attempted to name the figure again.

“Five gold? That’s a tad pricey…”

All he got in return was a shake of the blacksmith’s bald head.

“Fifty gold? That’s daylight robbery!”

‘That’s almost a tenth of what I got from the bandit camp!’

Feng lamented the loss of a significant part of his wealth only for the sound of blacksmith’s deep gravelly voice to cut through his thoughts.

“Five hundred gold.”

“Excuse me? I must have heard you wrongly.”

“Five hundred gold.”

Feng looked stunned as the blacksmith calmly confirmed the price of the weapon before he raised his hands and said.

“Alright, that’s it. I’m not interested in buying this anymore. That’s way too expensive, you are asking for almost all I have.”

The brawny blacksmith merely shrugged in response and turned away.

Turning back to Cythe who had walked over to listen in to the negotiation, Feng tried once again to dissuade her more vehemently this time.

“Hey it’s way too expensive and you’ll probably attract the attention of those too powerful for you who will try to steal the weapon!”

Cythe’s beaming face fell at his words and her downcast expression made Feng feel like a heel for getting her hopes up but disappointing her.

“Oh… I guess you are probably right.”

“Well, maybe we can get you someth-“

Feng’s attempt to console Cythe was interrupted by the blacksmith who was quietly standing at the side.

“Soulbound. Can’t be stolen.”

The burly man’s short statement turned the situation around as Cythe perked up at his words and looked at Feng with pleading eyes.

“Pleaseeee?”

Feng quickly looked away, knowing that how easily he’ll waver under those eyes only to be transfixed as Cythe changed her strategy, purred into his ear as she pointed at a set of skimpy chainmail bikini with tiny chainmail leggings.

“How about if I wear that for you… and give you a special reward?”

Feng stared at the set for a moment before returning his gaze to Cythe and imagined it on her…

With a determined expression, Feng marched over to the blacksmith and pulled him away to a corner and started negotiating with the man softly but intensely and only a few words was barely audible.

“… important… Kuron… ”

“-block… Bro code. Come on… toss it in?”

“… Alright, deal.”

After much discussion and application of every negotiation tactic he knew, Feng finally managed to persuade the taciturn man to sell both the weapon and the outfit in question for a total of four hundred and fifty gold pieces which he most reluctantly retrieved from his inventory and passed to the blacksmith.

Feng rubbed his hands eagerly in anticipation as the blacksmith led Cythe to the backroom to customize the fit of the armor outfit to her figure, but seeing as he had little to do till they were done, Feng decided to scrutinize the weapon he had to pay so much for to ensure they were not being ripped off.

Feng’s eyes bulged in shock as he read the information window provided by his Observe Skill.

*Unknown* - Dragon-shaped Chain Sickle

Type: Kusarigama (Unique)

Quality: Master

Damage: 90 – 120(Sickle), 60 – 75 (Weight)

Durability: Unbreakable (Enchanted)

Additional Effects:

Soulbound: Will return to player’s inventory if stolen or lost. Will not be dropped on death.

*Hidden*

Requirements:

*Hidden*

Description: A chain-sickle shaped like a long golden Oriental dragon, this unique weapon is composed of three segments with the bladed sickle on one end molded to resemble a dragon head with tiny sapphire glinting mounted as ‘eyes’ ending in a sharp deadly point molded like the tip of snout. The handle of the sickle was similarly shaped like the dragon’s neck with finely detail scales covering the entire sickle and continuing onto the attached chain which is actually made out three braided fine chains and detailed to resemble the long serpentine body ending in a fan-shaped tail which is actually a weighted end of the chain.

“I’m done Feng, come and take a look!”

Snapping out of his amazement at the unexpectedly powerful weapon, Feng quickly moved over to the backroom, anticipating the marvelous sight awaiting him.

… Only to see Cythe wearing a full set of scale mail covering the entirety of her body only leaving parts of her arms and thighs exposed with sheer mail covering them.

Feng’s eager face fell abruptly and he turned to look accusingly at the blacksmith standing quietly at the side.

“This looks completely different!”

The man shrugged and surprisingly deigned to supply an actual explanation instead of the few short words he had been using on them.

“Those parts were just the under-set; anyone with half a brain will tell you that’s insufficient protection.”

Cythe struggled to keep a straight face at the sad look on Feng’s face and grabbed his hand, clasping it to her bosom… which was so armored Feng could barely feel anything and winked at him.

“Don’t worry, I'll model the set for you privately… now shall we go to the adventurer's guild so I can learn how to use the weapon?”

Feng nodded eagerly at the returned hope of his anticipated eye-candy and happily followed Cythe’s lead, staring at her finely-shaped behind as she sashay’ed out of the shop.

*DING*

New Title Obtained: Well Trained (Whipped)

Congratulations! For being so compliant to your partner, you have gained the jealousy of other women and the pity of other men.

+10% Attention from females

-10% Resistance against feminine charms

-1 Willpower

+1 Luck

Spoiler : Status NameFengGenderMaleLevel24RaceHumanProgress56%Unspent Points20Health1360Stamina1340Mana4045Strength133Intelligence93Constitution113Wisdom84Endurance74Willpower49Dexterity98Charisma41Agility89Luck80Perception66Fame110Faith1500TitlesGreenhorn AdventurerBlasphemerCougar BaitFaithful Child of GodCold-Blooded ExecutionerHe Who Defies The HeavensTyward Library Co-OwnerHoly WarriorKeeper of KnowledgeTraitsAccelerated UnderstandingTough Skin???Physical SkillsRunningBasic2PassiveBalanceNovice6PassiveAcrobaticsNovice7PassiveEvadeBasic2PassiveUnarmed MasteryBasic7PassiveSword MasteryBasic3PassiveDagger MasteryBasic5PassiveDual-wielding MasteryBasic2PassiveThrowing MasteryBasic3PassiveQuick DrawBasic1PassiveCombat InstinctBasic2PassiveToughnessNovice8PassiveStealthBasic2PassivePoison ResistanceNovice6PassiveDecapitating BlowNovice4PassiveAssassinateNovice4PassiveBreathing TechniqueBasic2SustainedChain PunchingBasic3ActiveMental SkillsSense Hostile IntentNovice9PassiveConcentrationBasic1PassiveAnatomyBasic2PassiveObserveBasic4Passive/ActiveMana ControlNovice7PassiveMana AbsorptionIntermediate1PassiveMeditationBasic1SustainedSocial SkillsOratoryNovice5PassiveNegotiateNovice3PassivePreachingNovice1PassiveMagical ContractsNovice2PassiveCrafting SkillsAlchemyIntermediate7PassiveSkinningNovice8PassiveSpellsFlaming HandsNovice1SustainedMana BallNovice1ActiveFire BallNovice1Active

AN: Made a mistake of calling a kusarigama a chain-scythe instead of a chain-sickle, this has been corrected. Also updates are likely slower for the upcoming few weeks due to impending tests and final project submissions, alongside a sudden surge in number of clients...