Just then, a blue System Window cut through the air in front of Elian’s eyes.
Ding!
[Main Quest: Develop the Frozen Land! ― Mid-Progress Report]
[Stage 1 Detailed Objectives]
- Valeria Domain pilot project: success (Completion Rate: 100%) [CLEAR!]
- Obtain ‘complete submission’ from the Northern retainer faction (Completion Rate: 40%) (▲35%)
- Raise the ‘average temperature’ across the entire North (Completion Rate: 5.5%) (▲5.5%)
[Stage 1 Objective Completion Rewards]
- Large quantity of BP distributed (+50,000 BP)
- Held item [Domain Resource Map (S)] — ‘Valeria Region’ data sync complete.
“Sync complete?”
Elian quickly pulled the Domain Resource Map out of his Inventory and spread it open. Until now, it had been largely obscured under a blanket of grey fog, with only portions unlocked due to insufficient data. But with the System notification, the fog blanketing the entire Valeria Domain began to clear.
Whoosh—.
The terrain emerged in sharp detail across the holographic map. And deep beneath the ground below the dam they had just completed, an intensely brilliant golden point of light was blinking.
[Detection Result: High-Purity Mana Gold Vein confirmed!]
[Deposit Location: 500m into bedrock beneath dam foundation]
[Deposit Scale: Large / Purity: Highest Grade (S)]
[Assessment: A ‘core resource’ with the potential to shift the paradigm of the empire’s economy.]
“Huh…”
Elian’s jaw dropped. The unknown land that had been hidden beneath the fog was, as it turned out, a goldmine. The thought that every last one of those glittering golden veins was his money made his heart pound.
There’s a fortune buried under that river!
Elian was barely suppressing the twitch at the corner of his mouth when another window appeared.
[Hidden Piece Achieved! (Stage 2/100)]
― Condition: Rapid rise in ‘Physical Synchronization’ value with partner (Calix).
― Details: In the midst of the dam collapse crisis, you achieved ‘Deep Close Contact’ — going beyond simple touch to share each other’s vibrations and pressure.
[Reward: Skinship Level Up!]
▶ Current Stage: Lv.1 Hand-holding & Hugging → Lv.2 Vibration and Friction
▶ Unlocked Bonus: [Sensory Awakening ― Beginner]
└ Description: The player’s previously unresponsive body begins to react sensitively to the partner’s touch. (Erogenous zone development speed +100%)
“…?!”
Elian’s face flushed hot. Level 2 — vibration and friction? And the reward was Sensory Awakening?
So when we were driving in the pile earlier… what I felt wasn’t just my imagination?
The inexplicable pleasure he had written off as just the shaking — it had apparently been the first signs of the System’s skinship reward all along.
Then what happens as the level goes up from here? As it climbs to Level 3, Level 4…
“Elian? Your face is red. Do you have a fever?”
Calix stepped toward him with a look of concern and pressed a hand to Elian’s forehead.
Zzzt—.
“Eek!”
Elian startled like he’d been electrocuted and stumbled backward. Calix had only touched his forehead with a cold hand — and yet a strange current had rippled down his spine. A sensation he would have simply registered as cold before was now seeping into his skin with startling, almost overwhelming vividness.
“What’s wrong?”
“N-no, it’s, nothing… it’s nothing!”
Elian shook his head, face burning red. Without him even realizing it, the System’s Sensory Awakening had already begun.
This is bad. Now I’m genuinely… even a graze might be dangerous.
The joy of finding a gold vein and the creeping alarm that his body was changing. Elian looked back and forth between himself and Calix with an expression caught between too many feelings at once.
Beneath the night sky, the shadows of two men stretched long and overlapped. Unaware of Elian’s tangled emotions, the domain residents were carrying food around as though at a festival, celebrating the opening ceremony of the mana storage tank late into the night.
* * *
The grand opening ceremony had ended, and everyone was still riding the festive high deep into the night.
Elian had returned to the bedroom in Valeria’s lord’s castle and was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring blankly into space with a troubled expression.
[Hidden Piece Reward: Sensory Awakening ― Beginner]
[Description: The player’s previously unresponsive body begins to react sensitively to the partner’s touch. (Erogenous zone development speed +100%)]
“This is… actually real?”
Elian looked down at his own palm with suspicious eyes. That jolt he’d felt when Calix touched his forehead earlier. Had that really been the System’s doing? Or had he just been shivering from the cold and gotten a static shock?
“I need to check.”
Back when he was Kim Jaehyeon in the modern world, he had been — to put it plainly — anorgasmic. He’d dated a few men, but he had always been indifferent in bed. Everyone else seemed to lose their minds over sex, while he had just felt — oh, so this is just friction — and nothing more.
It was the same when he was alone. Rather than relieving desire, it was more like a mechanical reflex — if he got hard on his own, he’d deal with it mechanically, just to get it over with.
“Hmm.”
Elian carefully undid the buttons of his shirt. The body reflected in the mirror was quite something. He’d been in decent shape before possessing this one, but this body was taller, with cleaner lines and firmer build. His gaze, which had been idly surveying himself, landed on the pink nipples on his chest.
Maybe they’re this color because my skin is unusually pale.
He reached out with a trembling finger and lightly touched his own nipple. Just a brush.
“…I don’t feel anything.”
It felt like rubbing a patch of skin. He tried pinching, tried scratching with a fingernail — but rather than any tingle, it only hurt.
“What. Is this a System glitch?”
Elian let out a sigh of relief.
“So it really was just my imagination? But it couldn’t have been…”
While he was at it, he moved his hand lower. He undid the drawstring of his trousers and slipped his hand inside. It was too unsettling to leave unconfirmed.
“Hmm…”
But again, nothing. He gripped and stroked himself, and the response was lukewarm at best. No matter how long he kept at it, he was only half-hard and couldn’t get any further. Needless to say, there was nothing close to a mind-blanking rush of pleasure. After a long, fruitless effort, Elian finally stopped.
“This isn’t even fun, it’s just sensory monotony. I got worked up over nothing. Maybe I was just tense because we were up on the dam.”
Elian laughed in defeat and took his hand away. He felt pathetic, standing in front of a mirror doing this. But then, at that very moment—
Creak—.
The bedroom door swung open without a knock.
“Elian, if you have a fever, I brought medicine…”
It was Calix. He had stepped inside carrying a tray with medicine on it — and stopped short when he caught Elian’s reflection in the mirror.
Shirt hanging completely open with both nipples fully exposed, face flushed red, and trousers pulled halfway down his hips with his cock out in plain view.
“…”
“…”
Silence stretched between them. Elian had turned to stone. There was no explaining his way out of this. He had been caught red-handed.
“Ha.”
Calix let out a short exhale and closed the door. Then — click — he locked it.
“Y-Your Grace? It’s a misunderstanding. This isn’t what it looks like—!”
“A misunderstanding?”
Calix set the tray down on the table and walked toward him with deliberate strides.
“It looked to anyone like you were enjoying yourself alone. And in front of a mirror, no less — watching yourself.”
Calix’s eyes gleamed with something dangerous. He had clearly misunderstood — he thought Elian was the kind of deviant who got off watching himself.
“No, that’s not it! I had something to verify! My body has been acting strange, so I was running a test, but there was no reaction and—!”
Elian stumbled over his words and backed away — and walked straight into Calix’s chest, who had come to stand behind him. Calix snatched both of Elian’s retreating wrists into one hand.
“No reaction?”
“Yes! Really, none! I’m just kind of numb by nature. When I do it alone, I don’t feel anything, so—”
“Eek!”
Mid-sentence, Calix shoved his hand straight down into Elian’s trousers. The Grand Duke’s palm — cold, rough, and calloused — closed around Elian’s most sensitive part.
Zzzzzt—!
“Wh— AHHH?!”
Elian’s hips lurched upward without warning. A cry tore out of him on its own. The thing that had felt like limp rubber in his own hands reacted the instant Calix touched it — like exposed wiring stripped of its insulation, crackling and live. His cock was swelling rapidly to full hardness.
“Hng— ngh, ah…!”
“No reaction, you said?”
Calix gave a low laugh and rubbed his thumb lightly against the already taut, flushed tip.
“Hnng! Ah, Your Grace, w-wait—!”
He was going to lose his mind. It felt like his brain was melting. A single finger barely grazing him — and electricity had shot through him from the tips of his toes to the crown of his head. His vision flashed white and flickered.
What is this? Why is this happening?
It felt like absolutely nothing when I touched it myself! Why is it reacting like this just because he’s the one doing it?!
[System Notification]
[Condition Met: Partner (Calix)’s touch detected]
[Sensory Awakening effect activated: Sensitivity +100%!]
Only when he saw the System Window floating before him did Elian understand. This insane skill wasn’t a passive that was always active — it was a partner-exclusive passive. In other words, his body had become one that felt nothing without Calix, and felt everything when Calix touched him.
“Liar… well, no — I’ll take you at your word.”
“…W-what?”
Calix was certain now, watching Elian’s reaction. The way he was writhing and gasping the moment Calix laid a hand on him. And the heat that swelled and filled his palm almost instantly. This body was far, far too responsive. It would surely come undone this easily under anyone’s touch.
“If you can’t do it alone, I’ll help.”
“No, but the System — hngh!”
Calix moved his hand and stroked upward along his length, and Elian lost the thread of his words entirely, grabbing at the front of Calix’s clothing.
“Y-Your Grace… your hand… your hand is… so… g-good…!”
“Is it? Then I’ll keep going.”
Calix pushed his leg between Elian’s thighs, giving him something to lean back against. Elian’s legs naturally spread wider, and his lower half was angled upward.
“Elian. Look in the mirror. See how much your body is enjoying this.”
Calix pressed his palms against either side of Elian’s thighs and spread them apart so his cock was more fully on display. In the mirror — Elian, fully hard, legs spread wide, trembling in an indecent state. Elian squeezed his eyes shut. If he looked at this any longer, his head might actually explode.
“I don’t want to — hah — ngh, Your Grace… please…”
To think his body had become this sensitive. Was this a curse or a blessing. Elian looked up at Calix with eyes that had gone glassy with tears.
“More… harder, please… stop t-torturing — hngh… stop teasing me…”
