Aimless Ascension

"I agree for you to have more than one partner."

"Are you being serious?" Gale said incredulously. "You know you don\'t have to answer this now. You can take your time. This is, after all, the decision of your life."

Xiaolin shook her head. "I sure don\'t like it," she intoned, "but thinking about how distinguished men like Lord Heartflame married his second wife, it kind of made sense. I would\'ve been heartbroken if he left Sage of the Azure moon."

"You\'re comparing me to some great figure. I don\'t know if I can follow in their footsteps."

"But I\'ll be angry if you brought in every little stray you found to home," Xiaolin continued.

"Let\'s hope I don\'t become a lustful beast in my later years," Gale chuckled. "Also, remember we\'re speaking in hypothetical situations."

He took in a deep breath and sighed. "I can\'t believe you agreed. I had this talk with Selene, and she poked me with a knife."

Well, poke was an understatement. The knife had reached his bone. That was one demerit of loving a yandere. They take everything to extremes even when the stuff mentioned was hypothetical.

"If that stopped you, I don\'t mind doing that too," Xiaoiln said in an inaudible voice, "but that would be unbecoming of me as your disciple."

"Found yourself at a disadvantage huh?" Gale shot her a knowing look. "I know. I was at that place too."

"What?" Xiaolin blinked.

"The first woman I fell in love with was my master," Gale said ruefully. "No, not that drunkard geezer, but the angel of my dream."

Xiaolin frowned, but didn\'t question more on the topic, even though she wanted to. This was one of the sore points of her Master\'s life, and he was still uncomfortable talking about it. He still hadn\'t told her about how he escaped from the pit. It was where probably the strategy happened.

"Do you have any other requirements?" Xiaolin asked, her heartbeat rising again as she finally comprehended. This was happening. She had dreamed about it since last month. Well, it was just over a month before she met Gale.

"Nah, that was just about it," Gale said, lifting her palm to kiss it gently. "Do you have any requirements of me?"

Xiaolin blinked, unsure if she had a say in this. "I can have them?"

"As long as you don\'t decide to sleep with another man," Gale said playfully, though she understood he was serious about it.

"No," Xiaolin said with a jab in her tone. "Thankfully, for most women, one man is enough."

"Hey, I thought we were speaking hypothetically," Gale complained. "Also, mind you, I\'m not simply one man. You\'ll figure that out later."

Xiaolin blushed, figuring out the implication of his words as the hot emotions rose to her core. Seriously, she had to learn to control this. Why did her desires become so heightened after her advancement? She hoped it was a temporary thing.

Anyway, to not dived back into those raw desires, she carried on with her requirements, getting her chance.

"You cannot flirt with another woman in front of me," Xiaolin said. "Especially not with that Qing\'e."

"Even better," Gale agreed easily, not thinking much. "I\'ll ask for your consent if I ever decide to court another woman." He then added, "Hypothetically. For your information, I have always been a committed one-woman guy. Never been much of a womaniser."

Xiaolin snorted. "Secondly, you can\'t treat me like I\'m a child?"

Gale stopped laughing and seriously looked at her. This changed stuff.

"Can I still pat you, though?" He asked, evident uneasiness in his voice.

Xiaolin was about to say no, but the next phrase out of Gale\'s mouth changed her mind.

"If you say no, I might have to rethink all this."

Xiaolin gritted her teeth. "Fine," she said, "you can pat me, but not in front of others."

"What if I can\'t resist?"

Xiaolin decided to not go on tangents with her master, as he was a master at changing topics and vibes of conversation like this. She still didn\'t know if he did it intentionally or simply as a habit of nature.

Also, as if to spite her, he brought his palm onto her head and pat her.

Xiaolin shot him a glare and continued on. "You\'ll cook the meal for most days."

"You don\'t need to put that in the requirements," Gale said, still patting her. "I\'m happy to do that for you all my life."

Xiaolin pouted. It was so hard to stay angry at her master, even when she was pretending.

She thought about the following requirements. In her stupor, she seemed to forget about what she achieved, but that\'s most women\'s nature.

However, no matter how much she thought, she couldn\'t come up with any more requirements. Well, she could think of many other things like not patting her on the head in public, but she could achieve that through other means.

So that\'s why Xiaolin played the cards that only the women play well.

"I\'ll keep the other requirements to myself for now."

"I can clearly see you doing that," Gale said, "but don\'t hope for any leeway in spirit arts. I\'m your master in one place and a lover in another."

Gale got off the bed, finishing the little discussion. He was about to leave, but Xiaolin called her again.

"Wait."

Gale turned with a raised eyebrow, asking for what.

Xiaolin stopped to consider what she was about to say and found nothing left to say. She actually managed to get what she wanted.

"Master, this isn\'t a dream, right?"

"Unless you have a dreamwalking power," Gale chuckled. "Change now and rest. Your body requires it."

Gale hadn\'t managed to leave completely, as Xiaolin rolled on her bed, ignoring her pain, screaming in inaudible delight.

***

Xiaolin woke up late in the next morning, thinking all that happened yesterday was merely a dream.

Her fast recovery provided another reason for her to think all of it was a dream.

She was losing herself in all these thoughts when the door of her room opened, and she found her master walking in with a plate of food in his hand.

"Morning sunshine, I prepared the breakfast for you."