After hours of waiting for Zarba's summoned units to exterminate all of the remaining drakes in their nest deep inside the Kroll Forest and for them to drag the monsters' bodies back and dump them all together in the clearing near the carriage, Xin was already quite bored as she sauntered towards the big pile of the drake bodies on the side of the road as she raised the short ornate golden staff with two big glowing purple crystals at the top and in the middle of the rod, which also had many small decorative purple gems embedded around the crystal at the top of the staff in her hand, while she pointed the golden staff at the piled-up carcasses with closed eyes.
Xin continued to close her amber eyes and concentrated in silence for a minute before the staff in her hand started glowing bright with magic energy in a beautiful halo of kaleidoscopic light, and then multiple small magic circles in various colors materialized around the staff like blooming flowers, along with another red magic circle that materialized under her feet as she was casting a grand spell to invoke the Corpse Tribute ritual.
Usually for the magician in the world of the Greatest Empire: Rise Again, the magic ritual will not be possible to cast like a normal spell by a single magician, no matter how talented they are, as there are too many things for the caster to possibly handle at once, so for a single magician to pull this off while also maintaining the spell matrix and ritual integrity without the ritual falling apart and exploding in a volatile mana eruption, one must be able to do at least a high-level multi-casting and have perfect mana control with a supercomputer-like mind at a minimum.
So what Xin is about to do is very dangerous and stupid, but she doesn't intend to do something that dumb without the cheat magic artifact in her hand, the Magnificent Staff of Mystica Magica, a mythical-class magic artifact dating back to the time of Altra Zigma himself, as Xin almost had a heart attack when she realized what this staff can do after she found it lying around like trash in the treasure vault.
And now with this golden magic staff, it has become possible for Xin to easily cast a magic ritual by herself, as the magic staff can help a lot with calculating and maintaining multiple spells on an unimaginable scale for the user, so with this magic staff, the user can basically become a god of magic that can cast grand ritual spells with the casualness of normal spells, if the user actually has the mana for it, of course!
Then, another red magic circle materialized above and under the pile of drake corpses while Xin's voice cut through the silent forest, low and resonant, chanting words that seemed to be gibberish to Zarba's ears but carried a palpable weight of power as the air seemed to be thickened with invisible energy.
Zarba observed everything quietly as all of the magic circles flared brighter when wisps of white light began to seep from the drakes' wounds, coalescing into shimmering streams that flowed toward Xin's golden staff. The two purple crystals pulsed like twin hearts, drinking in the essence—raw mana converted from the drakes' physical bodies—while the staff also slowly siphoned the raw mana into Xin's petite body as she glowed faintly from the energy transfer.
Zarba continued to watch, with a mild reaction after seeing it too many times in the past, as the drake corpses visibly withered, scales dulling to ash-gray, and muscles deflating like punctured balloons under his gaze. The stench of blood also vanished, replaced by the slight, sweet, burning scent of pure mana.
Xin stood unmoving as all of the mana flowed into her, her expression serene, almost detached, as if she were a conduit for some cosmic event, which was not that far off considering that she just manipulated solid matter into pure energy.
After some time, there's nothing remaining but a pile of gray ashes where the drakes once lay. Xin lowered her staff, the bright light fading from its crystals. She exhaled slowly—a visible plume of condensed mana misting in the air before dissipating. Her amber eyes, when they opened, held a luminous, unnatural glow that slowly dimmed to their usual hue. She flexed her fingers experimentally as the air around her hummed faintly with concentrated magic energy.
"How is it?" Zarba asked, leaning against the carriage's driver seat with his arms crossed. The forest around them felt solemnly silent after the ritual, the earlier spectacle now replaced by the dull scenery of the ancient trees and bushes. Even the insects had resumed their buzzing once more.
Xin tilted her head slightly as she turned to Zarba with a sultry smile before she walked towards him with a sway in her wide hips, reminding him again that she might be a petite girl, but she definitely doesn't lack the curves of a woman!
"Quite bloated, as always." She said with a wave of her staff towards the drake's ash pile as a magic circle materialized under the ashes before scattering them deep into the forest with a magical gust of wind.
"Twelve drakes, all freshly slain. Equivalent to... hmm... perhaps 30% of extra mana and a 3% increase of my total mana pool?" She licked her lips so deliberately as she gave Zarba a sexy look. "A good harvest this time, I suppose."
"That's great." Zarba nodded with a knowing smile, not missing her obvious signals as Xin approached him until she stopped in front of him with the faint scent of pure mana still clinging to her skin. Zarba could see that Xin is very eager for the next "extra special ritual" of theirs that they always did with each other after each of the corpse tribute rituals.
Then, under Zarba's knowing gaze, she reached out her arms before wrapping them around his waist in an embrace as she pushed her body against his while she looked up at him with a sultry smile.
"But… my improvement," she whispers with her soft, melodic voice, "isn't the only thing I look forward to, you know that, don't you, my husband?"
Her amber eyes held his brown ones, unblinking, while Zarba smirked and pinched the pointy tip of her long ear softly. "I know too well what you meant, my beautiful slave… I am also looking forward to it..."
"Hehe, such sweet words... you made me feel so warm inside." Xin giggles as she enjoys his teasing touch on her ear.
"Would you like to celebrate this joyous occasion with your slave-wife, my husband?" Xin asked in a sultry tone while her hands started caressing his back in a deliberate slowness.
Zarba felt a familiar heat stir, his hand stroking her long raven hair flowing down her back. "Very, very tempting..."
Xin giggles softly, her fingers curling possessively into the fabric of his white shirt as she presses herself against him, with one of her hands drifting lower, tracing the hard line of his belt buckle with deliberate slowness.
"Well," Xin said, her voice dropping to a sultry murmur, "What are we waiting for?"
"Let go in the carriage then," Zarba murmured as he pushed her away from his body for a moment so he could bend down and give her a kiss, as Xin accepted him with equal enthusiasm.
"Mmmnhh… Husband…" She nipped lightly at his lower lip as they walked toward the carriage door while they kept making out with each other. Xin's soft lips trailed hot kisses along Zarba's jawline, her fingers already working on removing his belts.
Zarba fumbled blindly for the carriage door handle, his other hand gripping firmly on Xin's waist. The door eventually swung open with a soft groan, and the two of them stumbled inside in a hurry before they eventually landed on plush velvet seats that smelled faintly of their shared scents...
÷×÷×÷
Later that night, as the carriage is moving through the dark forest with the platoon of black knights escorting it silently while they carry magic lanterns to light the way, the naked Xin under a comfy blanket inside the carriage is lying comfortably beside Zarba's lean, muscular form, caressing his perfect muscles and smooth brown skin with her fingertips absentmindedly, while Zarba is resting his head on the soft pillow, looking at the carriage's ceiling with a thoughtful expression as if he is currently watching something that only he could see.
The air inside the carriage is thick with the lingering scent of their misdeeds, wine, and food mixed with the faint floral perfume that Xin always uses.
'I almost forgot to take a look at it.' Zarba thought as he mentally opened the SSS' notification icon that had been highlighted for a while.
÷×÷×÷
[ System Alert! ]
—Congratulations!
—You have cleared a quest!
—Quest: Kroll Forest's Drakes Extermination!
—Objective: Completed!
—Reward: [Obsidian Skeleton Horse Template] received!
—2 summon unit templates available!
[ Unit Template ]
—ID: Obsidian Skeleton Horse
—Type: Mount
—Class: Golem Warhorse
—STR: A
—VIT: A
—DEX: E
—AGI: D
—INT: E
—Evaluation: Uncommon-tier
÷×÷×÷
'As expected…' Zarba thought with a wry smile, as the skeleton horse template is not that good with the evaluation of just an uncommon tier. This unit template also doesn't have the skill list like his first template, which is understandable since it's a mount that should only be used in riding...
'At least it's not an undead, I guess?' Zarba sighed in relief, as the undead are a serious taboo in this world, and it's impossible to walk around with the undead and not have anyone pointing at and labeling you as a necromancer outright.
'I hope it has a horse saddle too; otherwise, riding on a skeleton spine will be very painful…' Zarba closes his eyes and quickly falls asleep while he decides to summon the horse tomorrow...
÷×÷×÷
"My husband, is that not really an undead...?" Xin asked with a skeptical expression as she looked at the black horse skeleton standing on the road the next morning.
"Yeah, it really is a golem..." Zarba feels helpless as the horse golem is looking too much like a normal reanimated undead, and the black color didn't really help either…
"It's going to cause me trouble, isn't it?" Zarba muttered with a sigh, as he could imagine the misunderstanding that most people will have after seeing it at first glance.