Playboy Cultivator in the Apocalypse

Kiera's heart pulsed, and her vision blurred when Kaze said he'd dual cultivate with her. Like most virgins, she knew it was true in concept but didn't think about it until it was explicitly on the table. "I… hey!"

Her face heated up when she thought about it blankly for a few seconds before noticing him gazing at her patiently. She didn't like that—because she was supposed to be mad!

"Don't go offerin' things like I've forgiven you!" She huffed, crossing her arms, "Your behavior disgusts me."

Kaze gazed at her with a strange smile. "Come now; I'm the same person today as I was when you met me. So why must you feign disdain? Doing that will only poison your desires."

"There you go again, Lothario." Kiera huffed, turning haughtily, "You're acting like I'm obsessed with… hey! What sketchy technique are you using to ogle me, skeppyarts!?"

Following her teacher's example, she used Minor Vision around the clock. As a result, she could see Kaze was doing something, but not what.

"Sketchy?" Kaze scoffed with a ridiculing smile, "I was examining your meridians to see your Yin to Yang Qi ratio."

Kiera's eyes glided to the left and right like a pendulum, trying to remember whether she had learned about that. However, she hadn't because she didn't dual cultivate with him!

"What is this ratio, and why does it matter?" Kiera asked in frustration.

"When I met you, your ratio said you were disgusted with men." Kaze chuckled playfully, "Now, well… I'm the only man you spend time with and your Yin Qi ratio says you're not disgusted by me."

The pink-haired teen was quick on the uptake and turned beet red. "Wait! Are you saying there's a technique to figure out whether someone's gay or bi-sexual?"

"No, there's no way to do that." He smiled in amusement, making her sigh a breath of relief, "However—"

Her heart pulsed, and her mind became hazy after his reversal.

"—there is a technique to see which gender a person is attracted to."

"I've never kissed anyone before, and I don't love men or women, I promise!" Kiera declared in a panic, trying to run after. However, her room was in the basement, and he was on the stairs!

The slang riddler prepared to jump off the third story since it wouldn't damage her but didn't because it'd damage the tile, always reminding her of the most awkward experience imaginable.

"Forgive me, but I don't understand what you're trying to communicate." Kaze smiled sinisterly.

"[Pure], Kazey!" Kiera cried, looking to the left and right for alternate escape paths, "Zero-day, uncut, off the vine, unblemished, untouched, pure! Not once not ever!"

"If you're talking about sex, I can see that too." He said calmly, cutting her anxiety in half. However, that anxiety was out of control. "You're a 100% straight virgin.

Would you like me to help you calm down?"

"PLEASE!" She begged, willing to accept the problem for emotional salvation.

Kaze waved his hand over her head, and her body radiated in green light.

"Oh, sweet, sweet baby Jesus." Kiera gasped, closing her eyes with a smile, "Please let me work for this technique, nights, weekends, life-threatening jobs, whatever. Take a kidney—I beg you.

The one you taught us calms me down by like not-nearly-enough percent for ten seconds."

"I'll teach you as soon as possible." He said somberly, "However, without my memory condition, learning this technique before the Celestial Realm will cause irreparable damage to your brain.

Soul Qi cannot fix non-physical problems, and Spirit Qi cannot fix that which is personal."

Hyperthymesia required Kaze to intake and retain everything they experienced for life. So in-taking vast sums of information did not affect him like it would others.

She blinked twice in disbelief. "What realm is that at?"

"Paragon." Kaze smiled nonchalantly.

"The fuck is [paragon], bro?" The slang riddler scoffed in disbelief, calm and therefore regularly expressive, "Didn't Sketchy Sacred destroy the mountain?"

"Why yes; yes, it did." He chuckled in amusement, watching her mind knot and pop in real time, "And it was at one-fourth power due to Qi scarcity.

A paragon-grade offensive technique could destroy this continent with this level of fortification. So, rejoice knowing there is Qi scarcity."

"Are you kidding me?" Kiera cried in disbelief, "What type of triple-nuclear-winter-grade shit do you have in that mental of yours!?

I knew you were a dangerous jerk, but I didn't think you could bully the world!"

Kaze laughed breathlessly, tonguing his canine while shaking his head. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"Obviously not." She sighed, lacking anxiety, "Well, since we're here, not-really-a-bombshell-now-is-it-but-hey what the hell, SUPRISE! I like you, jerk.

You know, I know, we know, whatevs. Just don't let it go to your head. Immortal Skye is a flooze cruise; I'm sure you can keep'em limp for one of your crushes."

The pink-haired crossed her arms around her chest and turned, pouting. She felt so vulnerable it was painful; it was barely manageable because he grounded her emotions beforehand.

"I return your feelings." Kaze smiled gently, walking past her and continuing down the hall, "And then some. Unless I'm misinterpreting the term, love is a bit deeper than a 'crush.'"

"Yeah, yeah." Kiera scoffed, rolling her eyes, "You'll accept the feelings of any woman who… WAIT! What did you just say!?"

She turned in a panic and ran down the hall after him. "Wait up! You can't just drop a bombshell and then walk to your bedroom like that!"

"Must you chastise me when I'm still here to confirm, clarify, or certify my statement?" Kaze laugh-scoffed, waving his hand and walking through a spatial rift to his room.

Kiera froze when he walked through the rift, extremely anxious about following him without permission.

Click.

The slang riddler turned to the right and found the door to his bedroom open, with Kaze staring at her.

He moved his gaze to the spatial rift, then back to her dryly. "You have two options to enter if you wish to enter this space."

She looked between the options three times before turning bright red and walking to the door in shame.

"I'm glad that you made it here alright." Kaze smiled amusedly.

Kiera huffed at his mocking and stormed to the closet, grabbed her silk pajamas off a hanger, and walked into the master bedroom. Before she entered, she turned to him. "Bombshell; we're talking about this!"

"What's there to talk about?" He asked with charming sarcasm, "I love you. Otherwise, you wouldn't have spare outfits and pajamas in my closet, yes?

As I'm sure you're aware, I'm not a person known for casual sleepovers."

The pink-haired teen's face heated up slowly like a thermometer as she looked at the pajamas and then at the closet. "I…."

SLAM!

"That woman…." Kaze smiled amusedly, mentally replaying her escape as he changed into the athletic sleep-wear he wore exclusively for her, "At least she's not also violent like Isabelle…."

Perfectly accurate memories of her crippling Mitch Mann's cultivation by bending the Qi of his attack and blowing his arms off and the recounts of Kiera's actions during the fifth influx flashed across his mind.

"Not… that violent… yet." He chuckled bitterly, "As long as she doesn't attack my partners… seriously. Why must so much good come at such a price?"

After considering the situation, he shrugged, relaxedly lying on his bed, "I suppose I can't compare to either of them, can I? I uprooted the Tree of Immortality after Isabelle…."

Kaze took a deep breath and compartmentalized the memories and thoughts in his mind, making them disappear instantly.

Suppressing memories on demand wasn't a byproduct of a personality disorder or a quest for denial—it was a requirement.

Hyperthymesia makes [forgive and forget] impossible and over-correcting simple, making it hard to develop relationships. It also makes information overload easy and reliving traumatic memories in perfect detail possible.

Therefore, he needed systems, mental discipline, and compartmentalization training to deal with it. It was a pain but great whenever he needed to push topics out of the way. However—

Click.

"Kazey…." Kiera swallowed nervously, "Who's Isabella?"