Calmly, Pei Guang picked up the largest fire jar, lit the flame inside, and poured in a generous amount of drowsy coffee.
Once everything was ready, he placed the fire jar containing the coffee firmly onto Sparkle's back. The moment it was set down, Sparkle felt something strange.
Her whole body seemed to slacken.
Fun? Forget it, it felt like too much trouble. Better to just sleep. At the same time, a wave of drowsiness hit her, mixed with a feeling as if her soul was being infused with something.
Sparkle fell asleep. And with her slumber, the spot where the jar had been didn't leave a reddish mark as expected, but instead turned a coffee-colored dark brown.
Curious, Pei Guang touched the circular mark, and immediately understood the jar's coffee effect:
[Mark of Slumber. After using special ingredients, this mark is formed. A person with this mark will experience perfect sleep while resting. Duration: 48 hours. Disappears after expiration.]
Compared to plain cupping, using ingredients gave more information and extra effects.
Looking at the dark brown, slightly raised circle on Sparkle's back, Pei Guang licked his lips, excitement filling him. The jar's notes had been clear: different flames, different positions, and different ingredients would all trigger different effects.
He had thought those effects only varied in terms of healing. But now? There were so many more possibilities.
"That last quest really wasn't for nothing. Didn't think this item would be this powerful!"
Even though it hadn't shone gold when he obtained it, its usefulness already put it on par with the coffee he'd gotten before. In Pei Guang's mind, this had to be a key character item—or even a major progression item for Penacony.
As for golden light? Sure, items that glowed gold were strong, but quest items weren't tied to that at all.
Pei Guang didn't stop his experiments.
On Sparkle's smooth back, he cupped six more times, eventually drawing a Big Dipper pattern of circles. Satisfied, he nodded.
These weren't random placements either. He used the surplus Path materials he had collected, and under their influence, the circular marks on Sparkle's back glowed with different colors.
Preservation shone amber, Abundance green, Harmony violet, Destruction red, Nihility purple, and Hunt… Pei Guang couldn't even tell what color it was.
Pei Guang muttered: "Oh~ so that's it. Using Path materials can even create temporary Path marks. But activating them requires power from that Path?"
Through testing, he found that using Path materials during cupping did indeed grant the power of that Path—but only a Pathstrider could activate it.
Otherwise, the marks would just carry whatever power he'd mixed in, like the coffee.
Compared to drinking the coffee directly, using it as an ingredient weakened its effect somewhat. Still, even if it left unsightly marks on the body, the positive buffs lasted a full 48 hours.
Of course, Pei Guang had considered stamping Sparkle with a mark of Elation, but here was the problem: out of all the Path materials he had gathered, he didn't have any for Elation… which was kind of awkward.
While Pei Guang was happily immersed in research, Firefly, who had been watching the whole time, swallowed hard again.
She swore this was the scariest thing she had ever witnessed in her life.
A man, doing such things to a cute girl… how was Sparkle supposed to go outside after this? How could she even face people anymore?
Just look at her back: seven differently colored circular marks combined into a powerful-looking pattern.
Simply seeing it made Firefly feel as if someone was shouting in her ear, even taunting her: "You're already dead."
With marks like that, would Sparkle ever be able to wear a backless dress again?
"Wait a second… I guess I can't either…"
At first, Firefly was still a little scared.
But when she thought about how she basically had no chance of wearing one herself, her expression sank into gloom.
Pei Guang, who had been immersed in his experiments, sensed Firefly's mood shift.
He turned to look at her. "Oh? Feeling upset because I arranged something for them but not for you? Don't worry, yours is coming too. I've just figured out some interesting properties on her: so for you, I'll bring out the best."
Since Path materials required a Pathstrider to activate, Pei Guang decided to give up on those and instead switch to something even better.
For example, a medicine containing Vidyadhara bodily fluids. He wanted to see what kind of effect his fire jars would have paired with that.
What? Bodily fluids? Gross? If Bailu ever heard someone calling her saliva disgusting, she'd definitely smack them with her tail so hard their own mother wouldn't recognize them.
Her saliva was dragon's musk: healing medicine. And Bailu wasn't exaggerating when she said it. Even against incurable diseases of the cosmos, her saliva could bring enormous relief.
Even Pei Guang didn't have much of it. After all, Bailu could only produce a tiny bit at a time.
Even if she spat some out casually, the amount was never large.
For Firefly, though, Pei Guang naturally wanted to use the good stuff. This girl had genuinely treated him to meals, genuinely been kind to him.
As for anything else? Not important.
Pei Guang prepared to bring out the very best. But when Firefly saw him approaching, she instinctively backed away. "Don't… don't come near me!"
Pei Guang chuckled. "Heh, you think you can leave this room? No way!"
Firefly didn't escape his grasp. But compared to Sparkle, hers was just a single jar placed on her arm after she rolled up her sleeve.
Why not her back or shoulder? Because her outfit was a full piece: taking it off would expose everything that shouldn't be seen.
In fact, even when Pei Guang had cupped the Big Dipper on Sparkle's back, the exposed skin had only been what her clothing normally revealed.
It wasn't that Pei Guang was some virtuous gentleman. As a player, he was curious about many things.
But since he had chosen to pursue March's pure-love route, he had strong resolve and faith.
As a player, he could raise other characters' affection. But he could never do something that would cause his main romance target's affection to drop.
Even if no one was watching, by the traditional logic of dating sims, you never knew: doing something your romance target disliked might cause your affection points to vanish into the void.
And if that happened, Pei Guang would have nowhere to cry.
Of course, he had overlooked one thing: in a normal game, maxing out affection didn't necessarily lead to anything. But this was reality.
Even if he had his chosen romance target, nobody knew what those whose affection he had raised, intentionally or not, might do.
Meanwhile, while Pei Guang was testing his tools, the news that Sparkle's back now bore an unusual pattern spread quickly. Already, countless onlookers were waiting to see her new state.
For someone like Sparkle, who had no bottom line, there were plenty eager for entertainment. From Memokeepers to Fools, anyone with the ability to observe was now waiting for Sparkle to wake up.
Just thinking of her smooth back now stamped with seven marks, even the Memokeepers felt a strange sense of delight.
Such a precious memory… they would surely collect it whole and intact, then dedicate it to the great Fuli!