Chapter 30: Empty Sea Of Knowledge

Chapter 30: Chapter 30: Empty Sea Of Knowledge

The warm air in the room was thick with the scent of musk and sweat.

Raven was still trembling as Michael lay over her, her breath coming in short, uneven pulls.

Thick white cum leaked slowly from her stretched, fluttering pussy, trailing down the soft inner curve of one thigh and soaking into the sheets already dark with her earlier squirt.

Her golden eyes remained half-lidded and unfocused, her cat ears twitching weakly with every lingering aftershock.

The oversized shirt she had worn earlier lay crumpled somewhere near the foot of the bed. Her red-and-black hair fanned across the pillow in messy strands, sticking to the light sheen of sweat along her neck and collarbones.

Michael remained braced above her for another few heartbeats, his lungs working hard. Then he rolled to the side and collapsed onto his back.

Almost immediately, Raven’s trembling form turned toward him and pressed against his side, her cheek settling against his bare chest, one arm draping loosely across his stomach.

Michael looked down at her, expecting her to say something.

But she remained quiet.

There was something almost vulnerable about the way she clung to him now, looking nothing like the sharp-tempered fighter who had nearly put him through a wall two days earlier.

Michael let out a long, contented breath.

Just as he raised his gaze toward the ceiling, the System appeared in his vision, chiming softly inside his skull.

Ding!

[Demonic Qi reward available. Sync now?]

’Don’t I have to go to the Astral World for this?’

[That is correct.]

Michael glanced from one side of the room to the other, as if searching for something, before looking down at Raven.

With a bit of hesitation, he lightly tapped her waist where his hand was resting. "Hey, Raven, I want to go to the bathroom real quick. I’ll be right back."

Raven’s eyes fluttered open as she glanced up at his face. A moment passed before she finally nodded lightly, then pushed herself up with some strain.

"Okay, but please be fast... I still have to deliver the message Her Highness left for you before she went to Lady Harkness’s territory."

"Got it."

Once he was on his feet, his eyes ran down the tanned body of the beautiful beastwoman before he leaned down and brushed a brief kiss across one still-sensitive nipple, causing her to whimper softly.

A smirk touched his lips as he picked up his shorts, which sat in a damp heap near the edge. The fabric was thoroughly soaked with Raven’s earlier release. He sighed, equal parts resigned and satisfied, then simply picked up his shirt, which she had been wearing, and tied it around his waist before stepping into the small adjoining bathroom and closing the door.

Once the latch clicked, he stretched lightly, catching sight of his handsome, sweat-beaded face in the mirror before calling out to the System.

"I’m ready."

The moment the words left his lips, he felt a cold current flood his veins, like he had suddenly fallen into a pool of water. The bathroom, the morning light, the residual heat of Raven’s body—all of it vanished, replaced by darkness.

When his consciousness resurfaced, he was sitting on the familiar circular platform of the Astral Space.

Michael sighed loudly, leaning back and bracing himself on his hands as a sudden wave of post-nut clarity crashed into him with merciless timing.

’What the hell did I just do?’

Even though he had technically been sober throughout everything, he still couldn’t quite believe he had slept with an actual beast-kin.

More than that, it was the same one who had nearly killed him less than forty-eight hours ago.

Michael stared blankly at nothing for a moment before his lips curved into a smirk.

Honestly, even he, a certified scumbag, had never done it with a beast-kin. Hell, he hadn’t even known beast-kin existed in this world.

For most people, post-nut clarity would probably bring a wave of dread, regret, or guilt.

But Michael just sat there.

His mind replayed the events almost against his will, and each time it did, that strange bubbling sensation returned in his chest.

It wasn’t guilt.

It wasn’t regret.

If anything, the more he thought about it, the more the corners of his lips threatened to curl upward.

A warm, almost embarrassing feeling spread through his chest, making him stare blankly into the darkness for several seconds.

’I actually did it.’

The realization hit him again.

He had actually slept with a beast-kin.

A fucking cat-girl.

And somehow, instead of feeling ashamed, he felt...

Proud?

Michael’s lips twitched.

He immediately suppressed the smile.

Then they twitched again.

’What the hell is wrong with me?’

He covered his face with one hand, but the faint grin refused to disappear.

It was ridiculous.

He knew it was ridiculous.

And yet, beneath all the disbelief, embarrassment, and lingering shock, there was a stubborn little spark of happiness he couldn’t seem to stamp out.

’Haah... it seems I’ve started developing some weird kinks.’

He shook his head as a long breath escaped him.

"I guess I should enjoy this happiness for a little while before Seraphine returns."

Seraphine already knew he was polygamous by nature, that much was true. After all, everyone at the academy knew about his relationship with Ivy, as well as his various other relationships with his teachers. Even so, she had chosen to stay with him. She had never confronted him about it or shown any open displeasure.

Still, he knew she would be furious if she found out about this.

He had refused to go any further with her just a few nights ago, only to turn around and sleep with one of her subordinates.

And given her personality, she would most likely end up comparing herself to the others, wondering whether she simply wasn’t charming enough.

Michael dragged a frustrated hand through his hair. "This is going to be messy to settle."

However, the damage had already been done.

Judging by Raven’s earlier attitude toward him, it was clear that she had no regrets. She had shown neither open nor hidden hostility, so Michael saw no reason to push her away as long as her intentions remained pure.

After an extra moment of thought, he lifted his head toward the floating System interface, which seemed to be watching him with quiet judgment.

"What?"

The screen tilted left, then right, almost like a shrug.

[Nothing. Merely observing that managing multiple women as a human must be... stressful.]

Michael nodded once, as if he had unexpectedly found a confidant. "It is. Most people just get jealous, not realizing that this itself is a different kind of battlefield."

He raised one finger, a crooked smirk returning to his face. "Still worth it, though."

He settled back onto the platform. "Enough of that. How do I sync with the reward?"

[Just close your eyes, host. The Demonic Qi is already within you, just sense it.]

Michael obeyed and closed his eyes.

Just as before, he allowed his consciousness to sink deeper into his soul, where his Yuan Qi sea of knowledge resided.

The moment Michael entered his inner realm, he immediately noticed several changes from earlier.

The first, and perhaps the most prominent, was that his original core had returned.

Somehow, it had been restored without his knowledge and placed back in its proper position—larger now and glowing with a denser light.

Deeper still lay the second change.

Right next to where his Dragonic Sea of Knowledge resided was yet another Sea of Knowledge.

This one, however, looked nothing like his Dragonic Sea.

It was nothing but an unfinished expanse—a vast, empty void with no water, no tree, and no light.

Michael frowned deeply and drifted into the blank space as it expanded around him, gradually forming a world of its own.

The moment he entered this unfinished world, Michael immediately noticed the difference compared to the luminous Dragonic Sea.

This place felt weaker.

Unfinished.

Almost hungry.

Yet as he hovered there, he sensed something the other Sea of Knowledge lacked.

Malleability.

It was still only a feeling, one he hadn’t tested, but somehow, Michael felt as though he could shape this Sea of Knowledge however he wanted.

’Should I try it...?’

He pondered for a long moment.

Seeing no obvious danger in trying, he crossed his legs and hovered in the void, settling into a meditative position.

A long moment passed.

Nothing happened.

Not so much as a ripple disturbed the empty void.

Michael’s eyes twitched slightly. ’Fuck. Why is nothing happening?’

What felt like almost an hour passed as he desperately tried to draw out some Demonic Qi and use it to shape this world. But no matter how hard he tried, nothing answered him.

It was as if this place truly was nothing more than... a void.

Michael was about to give up searching for any Demonic Qi when a sudden thought struck him.

’Hold on...’ His eyes widened slightly. ’Isn’t this Demonic Qi?’

Michael nearly laughed at himself.

From the very beginning, he had been making a fundamental mistake—treating this new energy like nothing more than ordinary spirit energy.

He had tried to sense it, then circulate it, then draw it toward himself using the same methods he had learned at the academy.

And yet, after nearly an hour of getting absolutely nothing, he still hadn’t questioned the most basic assumption.

Why the hell am I treating it like normal spirit energy?

Just like Yuan Qi, Demonic Qi wasn’t an energy source native to this world. More importantly, this wasn’t some ordinary Sea of Knowledge.

It belonged to his Incubus Bloodline.

And if that was true...

Michael’s expression slowly changed.

’Then maybe I shouldn’t be trying to sense anything at all.’

His gaze drifted across the endless, empty void, and the realization hit him all at once.

This place wasn’t waiting for him to fill it with energy.

It was waiting for him to give it a foundation.

A Sea of Knowledge wasn’t simply a container for energy. It needed a principle—a fundamental law that determined how the energy within it behaved and what kind of power it could produce.

And this Sea had none.

That was why it felt so empty.

It wasn’t hungry for more energy.

It was hungry for an identity.

Michael’s breathing slowly steadied as the pieces finally fell into place.

If this Sea of Knowledge was connected to his Incubus Bloodline, then he couldn’t build it using ordinary cultivation methods. Breathing techniques and brute force could gather and circulate energy, but they couldn’t give this place the fundamental law it was missing.

Only someone who had felt the underlying power and foundation of an Incubus could provide it.

Lust.

Emotion.

Freedom.

Desire.

Michael’s lips slowly curled upward.

"So that’s how it works..."

He closed his eyes again.

This time, he stopped trying to sense Demonic Qi. Instead, he reached inward and deliberately summoned his memories.

The raw heat of Raven’s body.

The hitch in Seraphine’s breath whenever he teased her.

The nights with Rachel that had ended with her crying his name.

He didn’t suppress the memories.

He didn’t analyze them.

He simply let himself remember.

Pleasure.

Desire.

The instinctive hunger that came with both.

Michael poured all of it into the empty world.

And for the first time since he had entered the unfinished Sea of Knowledge—

Something moved.