Actually, when Toki first threatened her, Furina had already considered that possibility.
After all, Toki held her greatest secret in his hands.
It was entirely possible that he would use it to blackmail her into doing something.
Although she had verbally agreed that she was willing to do anything, now that it seemed the moment had truly arrived, she still couldn’t help resisting.
Even though Toki’s looks and physique were among the very best of all the humans she had ever seen, she still wasn’t willing to go that far with someone who was practically still a stranger.
Most importantly, she was the Hydro Archon.
If anyone discovered that she had become intimately involved with an ordinary human…
it might even throw the prophecy into chaos and destroy all of Fontaine!
While Furina’s thoughts ran wild and her entire body trembled, Toki had already slowly walked up to her.
Furina was so frightened that she shut her eyes, her voice trembling slightly.
“Th-That kind of thing…” “Could you give me a little more time to prepare myself?” “That kind of thing?
Prepare for what?” Toki looked utterly confused, having no idea what she meant.
He frowned before opening his right hand.
Concentrating his thoughts, he condensed a pale-blue Bolstering Bubblebalm.
With a light flick of his finger, the bubble landed on Furina.
“Looks like you’ve been training pretty hard lately.” Toki spoke calmly.
“No wonder your physical condition has been improving so quickly.” “Huh?” Furina slowly opened her eyes.
She felt a warm, gentle energy flowing through her body.
The aches and pains left behind by her training were rapidly fading away.
Her face instantly went blank with confusion.
It took her quite a while before she finally reacted.
“Y-You were only checking whether my body had been injured from training?” Toki glanced at her and replied helplessly, “What else would I be doing?
What did you think I was going to do?” In truth, from the moment he entered the small room and saw Furina, Toki had already noticed the traces left behind by her training.
There were obvious bruises around her wrists, marks left behind by doing push-ups.
Her training clothes were slightly taut around her waist and abdomen, revealing faint muscle definition—the obvious result of countless sit-ups.
Her legs were noticeably more toned than before, and around the ankles exposed beneath her rolled-up pant legs were faint chafing marks left by prolonged running and squats.
Even her palms had developed a thin layer of calluses, no longer as delicate and soft as they had once been.
Toki estimated that Furina had probably done much more than merely complete the amount of training he had assigned her.
She must have added quite a lot of extra training on her own.
Otherwise, there was no way she could have progressed this much in only a month.
The once exquisite, elegant, high-and-mighty Hydro Archon, who had been unwilling to endure even the slightest hardship, had now practically trained herself into a tough athlete.
“Huh?!
My body…
has completely recovered!” After realizing how incredibly light her body felt and that all her accumulated fatigue had disappeared, Furina broke into a delighted smile.
She bowed deeply toward Toki and sincerely said, “Thank you, Toki!!!” “Hm?” Toki froze slightly upon hearing that, momentarily caught off guard.
“I don’t remember ever introducing myself to you…” He had clearly never told Furina his name.
How did she know it?
Furina smiled and blinked at him before explaining, “When you entered the Fortress of Meropide, you had to complete the registration procedures.” “With my status, getting access to your registration information is pretty easy, isn’t it?” As she spoke, an expectant look appeared on her face.
“I just didn’t expect you to possess this kind of Healing Ability too.” “You clearly don’t have a Vision, so why can you manipulate Hydro power?” “Never mind.
That’s probably another one of your secrets, so I won’t ask…” “Um…
Toki, if my body gets injured from training again in the future, can I come to you every time?” Toki thought for a moment before nodding, a smile appearing at the corner of his lips.
“Of course.
You’re welcome anytime.” With him supporting Furina from behind the scenes and treating the injuries caused by her training, Furina would be able to train even harder and improve even faster.
And in turn, he would gain even greater combat strength.
It benefited both of them.
There was no reason not to do it.
Just as Toki and Furina continued talking, a crisp notification suddenly rang out inside Toki’s mind.
[Ding!
Your partner, “Furina,” has reached 10 Intimacy Points with you!] [You have obtained one Black Iron Prize Draw!] [Note: The higher your Intimacy, the higher the rank of prizes obtainable through Prize Draws.] [Prize ranks are divided into: Black Iron, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Epic, Legendary, and Mythic.] [Your next Prize Draw will be obtained at 20 Intimacy Points.
Prize rank: “Black Iron.”] [You currently possess one Prize Draw.
Would you like to draw a Black Iron-rank prize now?] …
Toki stared at the system information that had suddenly appeared inside his mind.
His heart gave a violent thump, and his face instantly filled with surprise and delight.
“Huh?!
This Partner System actually has a Prize Draw function too?!” He marveled inwardly, growing more excited the longer he looked.
The higher his Intimacy became, the higher the rank of prizes he could draw.
Starting from Black Iron, there was Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, and even Epic, Legendary, and Mythic…
“So that means I don’t just have to force my partners to increase their combat strength.
I also need to get along with them and deepen our relationship!” Once he figured that out, Toki no longer hesitated and immediately made his choice within his mind.
“Use the Prize Draw!” The next second, a pale golden screen unfolded across his mental world.
An exquisite prize wheel, colored like heavy dark iron, slowly emerged.
The wheel’s surface was smooth and gleaming, while matte-black prize balls rolled around inside it.
As the wheel began spinning, it produced a deep yet crisp rattling sound that made anticipation surge within him.
After rapidly spinning several times, the wheel suddenly stopped.
Click— A prize ball representing the Black Iron reward rank dropped out.
Toki mentally chose to open it.
Inside was a pill surrounded by a faint dark-red glow, floating before his eyes.
The pill was only about the size of a fingernail, shaped like a neat oval, with a faint medicinal aura surrounding its surface.
Even though all of this was taking place within his consciousness, Toki could still smell a faint herbal fragrance, slightly bitter but not unpleasant.
At the same time, a clear line of text appeared directly inside Toki’s mind.
…
[Body-Strengthening Pill] Effect: After consumption, greatly increases physical fitness.
…
Not long after the pill appeared, it automatically transformed into a streak of light and entered the system’s Storage Space.
Toki froze briefly before immediately realizing what had happened.
The system actually came with its own storage space!
And judging by how it worked, its capacity seemed practically unlimited!
However, after experimenting with it briefly, he confirmed that living creatures could not be stored inside.
“If I want somewhere that can hold living creatures, I guess I’ll still have to get a Serenitea Pot from Madame Ping…” At the same time, Toki couldn’t resist complaining inwardly to the system.
“Damn it…
What was even the point of me asking what you could do?” “All you told me was that I could bind partners and increase my combat strength…” “So you’re telling me I have to discover all these other functions myself?” The system’s emotionless voice calmly replied, [Binding partners is this system’s primary function.
The host must independently discover all supplementary functions.] The corner of Toki’s mouth twitched.
“Fine…” He stopped thinking about it and willed the Body-Strengthening Pill into existence.
The pill instantly appeared out of thin air in his palm.
Toki casually held it out in front of Furina and spoke bluntly.
“Eat it.” “Huh?” Furina stared at the dark-red pill resting in his palm.
Her entire body instantly froze, and her small face went deathly pale.
All the scenarios she had imagined earlier came flooding back into her mind at once.
Furina’s gaze darted around nervously as she leaned slightly backward, looking both pitiful and as though she had been cornered with nowhere left to escape.
“So you really…
are going to make your move on me after all?” Her voice trembled.
Yet as though resigning herself to her fate, she bit her lip, struggled with herself for a moment, then quietly suggested, “At-At least let’s go somewhere else…
like my room…” “My room has a really big, soft bed, and it smells much nicer than it does here.” “This tiny dark room is cramped and stuffy…
It really isn’t very convenient…” (End of Chapter)