"Yeah… it really is soft." Arton slumped back in his chair and sighed with feeling.
"Y-You're… satisfied now, Captain?" Kaya asked in a tiny, timid voice.
"Of course. How could I not be satisfied with Kaya taking care of me?" Arton lowered his head and smiled at her.
Arton tried to keep his eyes on Kaya's face, but honestly, that was a tall order right now. There was just no helping it—Kaya's breasts were way too overpowering.
Hearing him say that, Kaya finally let out a quiet breath of relief.
"Then, as promised, you need to rest properly and recover now, Captain," Kaya said.
"Don't worry. Since I made a promise with you, I'll behave and follow it." Arton spoke as he pointed at Kaya's chest. "The medicinal bath that helps with recovery should already be ready, right? I'll go over now."
Kaya nodded in understanding, stood up, and let Arton go.
"You should wash up too," Arton told her with a smile, then turned and headed into the partitioned room.
Once Arton's back disappeared, Kaya quietly exhaled again.
But she knew this wasn't the time to relax. There was no way she could let Arton stay alone in a room. If Arton accidentally leaked information through the Diary System that could disadvantage the Flame Blades Pirates, then her assignment would be a total disaster.
So she didn't plan on going to the bathroom to clean the mess on her chest. She was just going to wipe it with some paper and then immediately follow Arton.
But right as she was about to do it, she paused.
"If I just wipe it off like this… Captain will probably think I'm wasting it, won't he?"
Thinking of what she'd seen in her own works, Kaya ultimately set the tissue aside.
Instead, she used chakra to gather the mess together—and swallowed it in one go.
"It's a weird taste… but it's not bad," Kaya muttered, cheeks burning, before hurrying after Arton into the room.
Seeing Kaya come in, Arton looked a little surprised, but he didn't comment.
Now that he was temporarily satisfied, his attention had already shifted to the Diary Copy.
Not because he wanted to keep writing—rather, he'd decided what to do with his remaining points.
Yeah… I should still give it a shot.After all, Ain still doesn't have a template yet.If I can pull one that fits her, she'll be over the moon.
With that thought, Arton narrowed his eyes and silently connected to the system.
Do one normal draw, System.Come on—be nice to me. Give me a decent template that suits Ain.
Arton wasn't expecting the system to hand him something on the level of the Raiden Shogun—some absurdly powerful, high-potential template.
But at the very least… something that fit Ain.
In the end, the system had no intent of its own. It simply executed Arton's command.
[Ding! Congratulations, Host—Template "Serval" acquired. This template possesses "Lightning," "Female," "Mechanics," "Rock," "Mature," "Beautiful," "Music"...]
'Serval? That name rings a bell…?' Arton rubbed his chin. He didn't even look through all the details of using the Serval template—he was busy trying to remember where he'd heard that name.
"Wait… don't tell me this is the one from the Honkai: Star Rail universe—on Jarilo-VI?"
A thrill shot through Arton's chest, and he sprang straight up from the medicinal bath tub.
Chapter 505: The Path Has No Upper Limit (Old Version)
"Captain, y-you… what's wrong?" Kaya jumped, startled by Arton suddenly standing up.
"It's nothing—I just thought of something that makes me happy." Arton smiled at her. "Besides, you literally just hold it a minute ago. You shouldn't be that easy to scare, right?"
Kaya pressed her lips together and ducked her head.
Arton's logic made sense… but there was no way she could stay calm. Seeing what she'd just held in her arms—now swaying right in front of her, up close—was more than Kaya could handle.
She was a normal person, with all the desires a normal person had. When she'd hugged Little Arton earlier, she'd already been close to losing it. If she hadn't been worried that getting too carried away would slow down Arton's recovery… she honestly felt like she might've ended up giving herself to him completely.
And now, after being startled by what she'd seen, the desire she'd finally pushed down seemed to be poking its head back up again.
Thankfully, Arton quickly sat back down, and Kaya finally let out a quiet breath of relief.
"Captain… what happened? Why did you suddenly get so excited?" Kaya took a deep breath, then asked curiously.
It wasn't like she'd never seen him this worked up before. When she'd been leaning over him earlier and pressed that heavy softness against his lap, Arton had gotten like this too.
And aside from moments like that… Arton usually only looked this excited when he'd pulled a really good reward.
Don't tell me… he ended up drawing again? Kaya thought. And he got something good?
Very quickly, Arton's answer confirmed her suspicion.
"Hehe. My strength just took another step forward," Arton said. "Just now, I got a template. And… this one might be a good fit for Ain."
"Is that so…? Congratulations, Captain." Kaya felt genuinely happy for him.
And at the same time, she really hoped Ain would be compatible with the template Arton had drawn. If that happened, the Flameblade Pirates would finally be in a situation where everyone had a template.
And if that happened, the crew's overall strength would definitely jump again.
"You can thank you for this," Arton said with a grin.
"Me?" Kaya tilted her head, puzzled.
"Yeah." Arton's smile deepened. "Thanks to you letting me properly enjoy your embrace earlier, I could finally let the pressure out. That's why I was able to make up my mind and take a gamble." His gaze slid from Kaya's face… down to her chest. "Otherwise, there's no way I would've gotten the Serval template."
"T-that… I see…" Kaya supported her chest with her right hand, her left hand gripping her right wrist, and spoke shyly. "If I was able to help you, Captain… that's my honor."
Arton chuckled. He spread his arms along the edge of the tub and leaned his head back against it.
He still needed to study the template he'd just gotten—figure out whether Ain really suited it.
Kaya, who'd read all of Arton's diaries, knew exactly what he was about to do. She quietly moved off to the side, not wanting to interrupt him. She used the water to wipe at her chest—still flushed—while secretly watching Arton's face as he closed his eyes.
Please let Ain be compatible with this new template… Kaya thought. Serval… what kind of power does she have?
If Captain is this happy, then she must be strong… or at least extremely special—someone with a very unusual ability.
How could Arton not be excited? That was Serval—from the Honkai: Star Rail world.
Sure, the game version and the real version of that world wouldn't necessarily match one-to-one—just like how Jing Yuan was labeled a follower of the Path of Erudition in the game, but in the story he walked the Path of the Hunt, and was even an Emanator.
But there was one thing Arton felt he could be confident about:
Serval was definitely a Pathstrider. Whether she walked Erudition or Preservation was another question—but either way, that template had serious value.
Even if Serval herself wasn't absurdly overpowered—maybe nowhere near the Raiden Shogun in raw combat—her potential as a Pathstrider was limitless.
In fact, even the Raiden Shogun's growth ceiling likely couldn't compare.
Because Teyvat set an upper bound for Raiden.
But Serval's upper bound… was frighteningly high.
After all, a Path was a universe-level force.
In other words—if someone obtained Serval's template, their ceiling would become a universe-level ceiling too.
Of course, judging by how Serval performed in the game, reaching the level of a cosmic powerhouse might still be incredibly difficult… but the possibility was there.