How did it feel to be kissed by that person who occupied our thoughts during most of the day? How did it feel to close the physical and spiritual distance between that person who unbeknownst to us managed to slip through the cracks of our day to day life?
Those who have experienced it would probably be the only ones able to answer such questions, but even then, the odds of always receiving the same answers did not stand out much.
Bai Zemin, too, had his time when he pondered such questions. He too was an innocent young man who longed to love and be loved. However, life and fate had different plans for him.... From a very early age, he was forced to see the reality of the world before his eyes; he was forced to understand the hard way that the real world was not the beautiful fantasy worlds where the main character always had his happy ending with the beautiful heroine of his story.
Heartbroken, feeling betrayed by people he thought would never hurt him but who in the end stabbed him in the back and crushed his heart almost bringing him to collapse. After living through such an experience, Bai Zemin had given up on love.
Those childish goals such as buying a beautiful house, marrying a pretty girl, and having a happy family, were discarded to focus more on something that while it might not be the best, at least, it would not destroy him.
Loneliness, after all, did not stab those who walked with it in the same way that darkness did not scare away those who did not fear it.
Therefore, he had decided to walk alone..... That was until a little over two months ago when he met a woman who was not even human but who managed to turn his life upside down just as the Soul Record had turned the world on its head.
Bai Zemin didn't know what love was.... There probably wasn't even a correct or 100% accurate definition of it since besides the ever-present scientific definition there were countless definitions that depended on the feelings of countless others.
However, he knew he was falling in love. There was no need to ask himself why; he simply knew it by the way his stoneheart beat with the might of an earthquake every time she came too close to him; he simply knew it by how those rocks around his heart cracked violently for every time his heart shuddered when she looked at him with sweet eyes.
But, there was something that Bai Zemin had never stopped to think about and that was.... If his heart was beating so hard that it threatened to stop spontaneously at the sound of her voice alone, what would happen if their lips touched?
The result was colossal; even more so for a young man who after refusing love for most of his life for fear of being hurt.
When he felt those two full lips as soft as silk joining his own, Bai Zemin felt his entire soul shudder with bliss. Although Lilith simply pressed her lips on his to show her affection for him and it was by no means a lustful kiss, the sweet taste of her mouth was so delicious that Bai Zemin was willing to live only with her kisses and feed by her lips for the rest of his life; he was even willing to give up the air of the outside world for the sake of breathing her breath as addictive as drugs.
This time, he, who was fully aware of the sensations of his body not to miss the slightest feeling of those two precious lips that probably countless men of countless races longed for at least once in their lives but that at least for now only belonged to him, managed to notice something that had so far slipped out of his detection due to different circumstances.
When Lilith's lips touched his, just as his soul trembled as if it had received a spiritual shock and at the same time as his heart beat fiercely as if he had been injected with large doses of dopamine all at once, the rune of the skill Stone Heart recorded in his soul also began to tremble.
If the trembling of his soul was like the friction between two tectonic plates then the Stone Heart skill rune was the earth in the middle with no hope but to suffer the consequences. The cracks that were already there widened at astonishing speeds, widening and lengthening more and more until there came a point where Bai Zemin could not understand how something that was so broken could even continue to stand.
The kiss, far from being like the kiss between an adult man and woman and more like the embarrassed but full of pure and real feelings kiss between a kid and a girl hiding from their parents, lasted about half a minute.
That half a minute seemed to last an eternity but for Bai Zemin it felt like an eternity that didn't last long enough.
Slowly, Lilith began to pull her head back not before puckering her lips one last time for a final kiss which this time was loud enough to be heard amidst the silence.
Eyes as black as midnight met eyes almost as red as blood while a silky smooth dark curtain fell over the sides of the face of the beautiful demoness who looked as shy as an innocent maiden despite her race being Succubus.
With Lilith's hair acting as a curtain that caressed Bai Zemin's face with every little movement of hers, he felt its softness and could sense a scent as sweet as natural honey emanating from each strand. He noticed a slight blush on her face as proof of her shyness but that naughty little pink tongue that peeked out from inside her mouth to lick the lips that a moment ago were his exposed that despite feeling a little shy Lilith was not willing to let go of the taste of his lips that still lingered on hers.
The two remained silent as they gazed into each other's eyes until Lilith slowly sat up in bed. She secretly watched him as she fiddled with her fingers nervously because, regardless of her age or lived experiences, she too was completely new in the matter of emotions. It was not easy for Lilith, who was slowly discovering her own heart, to take such a bold step.
As a man, Bai Zemin felt it was his responsibility to be the first to break the silence that oscillated between discomfort and comfort. After all, the woman had already taken the first big step very bravely. It would be quite miserable of him to let the lady do everything.
Therefore, instead of overthinking it and saying words he didn't really feel, he decided to be honest with his own heart and said the first thing he felt and thought:
"Thank you."
"Thank you?"
She looked at him in confusion, to which he responded with a small smile brimming with gratitude:
"Thank you. Thank you for helping me regain my composure. Thank you for being by my side in the darkest moments of my life. Thank you for being my guide. Thank you for teaching me everything I know..... Thank you for existing. Thank you for coming in my path. If not for you, Lilith, then the human known as Bai Zemin might have long ago been devoured by the mouth of some mutant creature."
Lilith felt as sweet as if she had eaten honey when she saw the eyes with which Bai Zemin looked at her. Hearing the tenderness in his voice as he spoke to her as well as the deep meaning behind every thank you he uttered caused silent ripples in her heart just like delicate raindrops falling on a lake that had been quiet for a long time.
For many, it might be hard to believe that this Bai Zemin in front of her was the same Bai Zemin who did not hesitate twice to cut off the heads of his enemies with cold eyes. Many might not believe that this soft voice belonged to the same person whose indifferent and cold voice was capable of sending chills to the soul.
However, to Lilith, this was the same old Bai Zemin.
"Don't fight against what you are.... You will lose." Advised Lilith with a smile that oscillated between happiness and sadness as she knew very well how horrible it was to be unfamiliar with oneself.
Seeing that Bai Zemin kept silent, Lilith mistakenly thought that it was still not enough. Therefore, not knowing that he had actually already found the answer he was looking for when she kissed him, she continued:
"In the end, regardless of whether you are a hero, monster, human.... You are you." Lilith blushed slightly and whispered, "When you are in doubt of your existence, try to feel the warmth of my lips.... It might help you to find your way back home."
This girl... How could she be so cute? Bai Zemin sighed in his heart. Every gesture, every word, whether subconsciously or not, everything about her was fatal to men.
"Don't worry." He said, lifting his back from the bed and sitting beside her. "What I must do has not changed. Be it monster or human, none of it matters."
Which would you prefer... Live as a monster or die as a good man?
"I will be nightmare and destruction if necessary not to mention abandoning all humanity to survive and ensure the well being of those I love." Bai Zemin said this time with that light of confidence in his gaze that had been missing for a few minutes before.
Now, Bai Zemin had another doubt.... And that doubt was....
'Why isn't Stone Heart evolving?' He frowned in his heart as he looked at the completely cracked skill rune; so much so that Bai Zemin could see a glimmer of bright light escaping through the cracks as if something was about to emerge but for some reason could not.
All the requirements had been met.... Except one. Falling in love.
Bai Zemin was pretty sure that he already loved Lilith to the point of being willing to sacrifice himself for her. Even if he had to give every drop of his blood for her safety he would not hesitate. So, that wasn't love? Wasn't it love to long to see that person every second? Wasn't it love to want to spend the rest of his life with her? Wasn't it love that his head was full of her?
So what was love really?
"Maybe, I've been in the darkness too long, so much so that I love the security it gives me..... Maybe, I've fallen deeply in love with the loneliness that never betrays."
Bai Zemin didn't realize it but he said his thoughts out loud and as a result Lilith naturally heard him. It was not difficult for her to draw conclusions and understand what he was thinking.
Although Lilith was surprised, even so, her lips moved on their own just as the words that came from her heart automatically came out of her mouth:
"Don't worry. I will hold you to feel my warmth every day, and someday, I will steal you from the loneliness that doesn't want to let you go."
Lilith's eyes widened in shock as she didn't know why she suddenly said what she said. On the other hand, Bai Zemin looked at her with his mouth slightly open in a show of surprise; however, he soon smiled slightly and said in a soft voice:
"Mm. I will wait for that day to come."
He could feel that, perhaps, there was something holding him back. He didn't know what that something was, but it was definitely there.
Perhaps, the love that the Soul Record spoke of or rather demanded as a requirement for the evolution of Stone Heart and the possible appearance of a new skill was actually a colossal love so great that every barrier would be broken by its presence.
If that was the case, then perhaps it was normal that the skill had not yet evolved despite all the cracks, barely holding on to the brink of collapse.
Irrespectively, Bai Zemin believed that Lilith was the only woman who could help him complete that requirement.
As to whether he was right or wrong, only fate will tell. * * * * * * *
Really thank you very much to all those who send gifts to the novel and support with valuable Golden Tickets. I hope we can all keep it up <3

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