Chapter 196: Nexus of Lust

Chapter 196: Chapter 196: Nexus of Lust

I stared at the glowing screen floating in the dark.

Golden Roulette.

Part of me wanted to leave it unopened.

Every time the system handed me something shiny, it came with a price I only understood later.

Another part of me, the part that was tired of being moved around like a useful object, wanted whatever power would let me stop being the one who got used.

My gaze drifted to Giselle.

She had already slipped into a light sleep, breathing even; white hair spilled across my arm and the pillow.

In this moment she didn’t look like the woman who had ridden me until her voice broke, or the one who had bitten my lip bloody and demanded I drain her.

She looked younger.

Defenceless.

The same woman whose energy I had forced out of her on an exam rooftop while cameras watched.

The irony sat heavy in my chest.

’Oi, system.’

[Host?]

’That innate skill you mentioned when the transformation hit five percent. What was it?’

[Innate skills are abilities granted directly by the class core rather than issued through the system interface.]

’So you don’t control them?’

[Correct. The system can observe and catalogue, but cannot revoke or alter innate class expressions.]

’How is that even possible? Don’t you manage everything?’

[You are different.]

’Not sure that makes me trust you more.’

[Acknowledged.]

A soft pause.

[Would you like to open the Golden Roulette?]

I let out a long breath.

The suite was quiet except for Giselle’s breathing and the low city hum beyond the sealed windows.

My body still ached in the best and worst ways.

Her scent was on my skin.

The fragment of her core sat warm under my ribs like a second pulse.

I have yet to review how much of her power was established as an anchor inside me.

Please be something useful.

I selected [YES].

A scroll materialised in the centre of the screen, ornate and heavy with light.

It unrolled once.

Something smaller dropped out of it.

Another scroll, tinier.

Then another.

’You’re trolling me, aren’t you?’

Five successive layers peeled away like the system was laughing at me, until only a single slip of paper remained, covered in glowing characters I couldn’t read.

[Congratulations!]

[You have received: Sybaritic Nexus]

The description unfolded in clean text.

[Sybaritic Nexus — Active/Passive (Bound)]

[The path of the succubus is inherently parasitic, but a true apex turns intimacy into a structural empire.]

[By achieving profound physical or spiritual synchronisation with a target, you implant a permanent, invisible Anchor within their soul core. You don’t drain them to ruin. Instead, you invest in their growth.]

I frowned at the ceiling.

’Isn’t that what I already do? Why the fuck is this a Golden reward?’

But then something hit me.

Only their energy was stored within me.

Not inside them.

[The Tithe: Every time an anchored target triggers a breakthrough, levels up, or advances to a higher sub-realm, the Nexus activates.]

[You permanently siphon fifty percent of the raw stat attributes, mana pool expansion, and conceptual insights generated by their breakthrough.]

[The Paradox: The target suffers no penalty or loss to their own progression. The Nexus acts as a cosmic mirror, replicating and transferring the power directly into your own soul template.]

"What the fuck?" I whispered.

[Current Anchors: 4]

[Anchors established with Sybaritic Nexus: 1]

Giselle stirred at the sound of my voice.

Her fingers twitched against my stomach, but she didn’t wake.

I stayed perfectly still until her breathing evened out again.

One.

Only one of the four anchors I carried had been converted into this new structure.

Giselle.

The woman currently asleep on my arm after demanding I hurt her the same way I had hurt her on the rooftop.

The same woman whose levels had just risen because of what we did.

I ran the numbers in my head while the system window hovered silently.

Every time she broke through from now on: every level, every qualitative leap, half of the raw gain would copy itself into me.

And I can level her up by having sex.

She would still receive one hundred percent.

I would receive an extra fifty.

No loss on her side.

Pure multiplication on mine.

And the more she grew, the more I grew with her, automatically, permanently.

The Hunger purred at the implication.

I hated how much sense it made.

This was no longer just feeding.

This was empire-building through other people’s progress.

Invest in a strong woman, push her higher, and harvest a mirror of her advancement forever.

The more powerful my anchors became, the more powerful I became, without ever having to stand on the front line myself.

Giselle shifted again, a sound leaving her throat.

Her head pressed heavier into my arm.

In sleep, the sharp lines of her face had softened. I could still see the faint bruise my teeth had left on her lower lip and the darker marks along her throat that the morning light would make obvious.

She had told me she would keep the level-up secret.

She had also told me she would decide later whether to keep me or discard me.

I wondered how that calculation would change if she ever learned what the Nexus actually did.

’System. The other three anchors — Gianna, Rei, Jenna. Can the Nexus be extended to them?’

[Possible.]

[Requires renewed profound synchronisation — physical or spiritual — while the Host consciously channels the Nexus structure. Success rate scales with existing bond depth and target compatibility.]

’And if I do nothing?’

[The existing single Nexus bond will continue to function. Additional anchors remain standard until converted.]

I closed my eyes.

Outside, Sector 5’s night continued without us.

And in Sector 7, Gianna and Rei were living through whatever version of the week they had been left with after I vanished into an Empress’s daughter’s private suite.

I had told Shen to pass a message that I was fine and would return.

I no longer knew how true the second half of that sentence was.

Giselle’s hand moved across my stomach in a small, unconscious caress.

The fragment of her core pulsed once, warm and content.

I opened the system window again and stared at the single converted anchor.

One.

The first brick of whatever empire the class intended me to build.