"Want a massage if your arms or legs feel stiff or sore?" Nerissa asked the boy when she returned.
"I’m pretty good at it."
"No, I’m really fine," the boy replied, fiddling with his cowlicks as he answered her.
"Really? Alright then."
Nerissa sat on the bed and handed glass bottles to both Melissa and the boy. She had brought three, keeping one for herself.
"Thanks."
The boy took the bottle — it was the perfect size to hold in one hand — and thanked her. The chilled glass bottle contained a carbonated herbal tea-like drink with a greenish tint and a familiar label.
He twisted off the cap and took a sip. A refreshing sweetness and fragrant herbal flavor spread through his mouth.
Melissa and Nerissa also opened their bottles and began drinking. The three of them soothed their throats, dried from sweaty sex, with the cool, stimulating liquid.
(Oh, right! I should do a status check.)
The boy had already finished his drink in one go. He switched the empty bottle from his right hand to his left, then touched the transparent orb embedded in the back of his left hand with his right hand.
Seeing this, Nerissa asked, "Status check?"
"Ah, yes."
The boy answered immediately.
"I didn’t do one after work today, so I figured I should at least check my stamina."
A status check displayed various pieces of information about one’s own condition — the so-called status screen. Anyone with an orb (an "Orb") embedded in the back of their left hand could perform one.
Since both Nerissa and Melissa also had Orbs, they regularly checked their status and immediately recognized what the boy was doing.
This time, Melissa asked, "How’s your stamina?"
The boy quickly checked the relevant section. Status information appeared as glowing text floating in his field of vision.
"Still plenty left," he replied.
However, checking his stamina wasn’t the real reason for the status check.
He had actually opened it to view his Skill List — the list of abilities he possessed.
(Yes! The skill replication... succeeded perfectly!)
The boy cheered inwardly with delight.
(I copied two skills I don’t know, so I’ll have to look them up later.)
"Sorry... for making you go along with our weird stuff like tying you up and making you drink our saliva," Nerissa said with a slightly awkward expression. Melissa, wearing a similar look, followed up:
"You didn’t hate being with older women with weird tastes like us, right? You don’t feel like you got the short end of the stick, do you?"
Their attitude toward the boy had been quite strict and domineering earlier, but that was no longer the case. They had simply been enjoying the fantasy of tying up and "violating" a younger boy.
In short, their harsh demeanor had been an act to enhance the play.
"I don’t feel like I lost anything at all! If anything, I feel like I gained a lot!" the boy answered with genuine conviction.
(After all, I got to copy skills... I’m the one who benefited massively.)
In truth, the boy possessed the skill "Replication," which allowed him to copy skills from people he had sex with. However, this skill would not activate unless specific conditions were met.
For his Replication, the condition was to bring his partner to orgasm and make them climax. Once fulfilled, he could copy one skill from his partner.
He had successfully copied a skill not only from Melissa, but from Nerissa earlier as well. That was why two new skills had just been added to his Skill List.
The boy did not tell Melissa and Nerissa that he could copy skills through sex. He had been advised by someone he trusted to keep that ability secret.
"You really feel like you gained something?" Melissa asked, her tone probing. Nerissa wore a similar skeptical expression.
"It’s true. I... really love big breasts," the boy said. Since this was also a genuine fact, his words carried real weight.
"I was a bit disappointed that I couldn’t touch them with my hands while I was tied up, though."
Hearing his words, both Melissa and Nerissa’s expressions softened into happy smiles. Being praised for their chests had clearly boosted their self-esteem.
(Showing it through actions might be more convincing than words alone.)
Thinking that, the boy ended his status check, set the glass bottle on the bed, and reached out with both hands toward the women’s breasts. He placed his right hand on Melissa’s left breast and his left hand on Nerissa’s right breast, gently squeezing them to enjoy their soft, rich texture.
Melissa let out a comfortable moan as her sensitive left breast was caressed. Nerissa also breathed out sweetly as her right breast was fondled.
(Melissa’s left breast and Nerissa’s right breast are their sensitive spots. Since they match the sides with the tattoos, it’s easy to remember.)
The boy had used Sexual Appraisal on Nerissa as well, so he already knew her right breast was particularly sensitive.
(Sexual Appraisal really is so convenient...)
Watching the two attractive adult women melt with entranced expressions as he caressed their breasts, the boy thought from the bottom of his heart:
(If I didn’t have Sexual Appraisal, my Replication skill would’ve just been a complete dud.)
Until he had coincidentally obtained Sexual Appraisal, Replication had been nothing but a useless failure skill for him — not only worthless, but one that came with a major drawback.
(I’m really glad I got Sexual Appraisal back then... even though I almost got killed.)
The boy recalled the moment he acquired the Sexual Appraisal skill — the events from about half a year after he had been transported from his home world of Japan to this new world and started working as an adventurer...