Chapter 388: The Gentle Sword Intent! (Rio X Lia)


    (Warning: Prepare for Diabetes...)


    ...


    Lia opened the door and went inside Rio''s room without hesitation.


    Rio seemed to be in some kind of daze at the moment and was lying on the bed without moving an inch. Aria was still using her healing magic to do a checkup.


    Lia walked over to bed and sat on the edge before asking Aria in a concerned voice,


    "Uh, what''s going on with him? Is he okay?"


    Aria smiled at that question and replied in a gentle tone,


    "He''s okay; it''s likely that he suffered some kind of sudden mental shock and is taking his time to recover… Maybe he received some kind of hidden skill or knowledge when he was there in that mysterious ce you guys went to…"


    Hearing those words, Lia breathed a sigh of relief.


    Aria is a peak SS-rank healer; currently, there''s no healer in the world who has more experience in healing magic than her in the whole world.


    Even Riya will need a long time to reach her level and be equal to her.


    Thus, Lia has no doubts about her capabilities; if she has dered that Rio is fine, then he''s definitely okay.


    "By the way, I ran a quick checkup on him just now, I have to admit… If I was not an SS ranker, it would have been really difficult for me to heal him when he''s unconscious…"


    "I have never seen a person who''s so resistant to my magic this much… Not even the great world tree has as high resistances as him…"


    Rio''s ''Sword Intent'' mastery is off the charts from other''s perspectives, and now that he has the ''Imperfect Sword Heart'', his body is always in a constant ''Defensive'' state.


    When he''s unconscious, his sword heart automatically activates his ''Sword Intent'' to protect him from external threats.


    This may be good for bat''-rted situations, but this will also hinder various things too.


    Unless the healer who''s buffing and healing him has the ''Heart of Eternal Nirvana'', they will need at least an SS-rank healer to heal him when he''s unconscious.


    Or you will need to feed him several high-grade healing potions so that his body doesn''t reject the healing.


    "Hmm… how do I describe it… His body is kind of like a living ''weapon''; it rejects everything from outside and remains true to its own self only…"


    "I have never seen a situation like this in my whole life…"


    Even Aria was speechless in this situation. Her intuition is telling her that if she tried to use any malicious healing method on him, his sword intent would react very violently towards her and block her on the spot!


    "His ''Sword Intent''… It''s very strong; when I was healing him, it was as if it were observing my healing magic closely; the moment I tried to do anything bad, it would have used my healing magic as a medium to attack me instantly!"


    Although Aria was surprised, she was also quite excited. She has lived for a long time, and seeing new things is what brings the most joy to her nowadays.


    Aria got up from her seat and started to leave, but she stopped for a brief moment and spoke,


    "One advice, Lia: you must always keep other healers away from him if he needs healing in the future; only Riya or an SS-rank healer can heal him now…"


    "If others tried it… the healer''s life will be in danger as his sword intent will destroy the healer from inside out using the healing magic as a medium…"


    "But of course it will be fine if they heal him when he''s conscious; after all, in his conscious state, he can keep his sword intent in check…"


    Lia nodded her head at Aria''s words and thanked her for the hard work; Aria just gave a gentle smile and left the room.


    Lia nced at Rio and spoke in a quiet voice,


    "Are you awake yet?"


    Rio, still in a daze, didn''t respond to her question and remained as listless as before.


    "Er… I was going to tease you, but seeing the situation, I guess I shouldn''t…"


    Lia grabbed Rio''s hand and noticed that his palm was very rough and much bigger in size than hers.


    When Lia touched his hand, she sensed his sword intent reacting to her mana. However, unlike Aria''s description, Lia felt that his sword intent was not hostile towards her.


    Rio''s sword intent only warmed his hand so that Lia''s hand could feel his warmth; it wasforting and very gentle in nature.


    Seeing that situation, Lia smirked to herself.


    ''Am I the only exception for you then? Hehe…''


    Lia was pleased that Rio''s sword intent didn''t consider her an enemy at all; in fact, it was protecting her as if it had a mind of its own and could recognize Lia''s mana fluctuations.


    ''Well, it''s a good thing, I guess… In the future, I won''t suddenly get hit by sword intent when I am sleeping beside him; that''s a relief…''


    Lia has only been hit by Rio''s sword intent once, which was during the supreme tournament, and she can never forget that horrible feeling.


    Getting hit by ''Sword Intent'' is no joke; it literally feels like you have lost a part of your ''soul'' or something, and it hurts like hell.


    In fact, Lia is more surprised by the fact that Link can tank Rio''s sword intent with his bare arms! Which is simply insane! No sane person will attempt to do that, even if they have a legendary skill protecting them.


    Thus, Lia felt pleased after finding out that Rio''s sword intent wasn''t rejecting him at all.


    This means even if Rio is injured someday and is unconscious, she can make him drink a healing potion herself, and the sword intent will not reject it.


    ''But still, you are quite the selfish guy, aren''t you? You are making me more and more obsessed with you every day, yet you yourself seem so detached from everything…''


    ''I guess you must have been a yboy in your previous life, hehe…''


    Lia doesn''t know about Rio''s transmigration and other things, but the way he''s so good at flirting and stuff, she sometimes feels that he has years of experience in dating someone.


    It kind of feels weird that this is his first time dating someone, and he''s still so nonchnt about it and can even mess with her easily without getting embarrassed at anything.


    ''Maybe he''s naturally talented in this matter?''


    Lia has her doubts about it, but there''s no way to confirm them. She nced at the clock hanging on the wall nearby and noticed it was gettingte, and it was time for her to go back to her room to sleep.


    "I guess I should go now; rest well-"


    At that moment, in his daze, Rio''s hand moved on its own, and he grabbed Lia''s arm and made hery down beside him. Lia was taken aback by that sudden move and didn''t even have the time to react.


    "W-what!?... sigh, now I am stuck…"


    Lia tried to get up, but his hand was firmly wrapped around her waist, making it impossible to escape his grasp.


    Because of his sword heart, Rio literally has the strength of an early SS ranker, so it''s wishful thinking if you want to escape his grasp without using violent means.


    And Lia obviously couldn''t use violent means against him at all; her mind went nk the moment her face was pressed against his muscr chest, and she just lost all thoughts in her mind.


    ''T-this… Being hugged like this is kinda… embarrassing, but it feelsfortable…''


    And just like that, Lia fell asleep in his arms, as she was not able to escape in the end and had to ept her fate.


    …


    A few hourster, past mid-night.


    "hmm?"


    Rio finally snapped out of his daze and felt a bit stuffy.


    The moment he nced around, he found Lia''s head resting on his arm and her arm ced over him.


    ''What the actual f*ck!?!?!?!''


    Rio''s brain nearly short-circuited at that moment when he saw that beautiful face so close to him; he remembered finding another ''unknown fragment,'' but he doesn''t remember what happened after that.


    So, when he suddenly saw Lia clinging to him like that, he was so shocked that he nearly screamed out loud in surprise.


    Rio slowly sat up so as not to startle Lia and wake her from sleep; he also got to hear her murmuring to herself in sleep.


    "Rio… you big meanie…."


    Rio felt quite awkward hearing those words.


    ''D*mn… This was a good tactic, Lia! I never knew you were so capable!''


    Rio misunderstood that Lia slept beside him on purpose to imitate what he did to her during that trip to Roult Inds via the ship stormwalker.


    She was likely nning on teasing him when they wake up!


    ''I nearly fell for the trap... But I have to admit, this one really made my heart beat like crazy…''


    Rio shook his head and got up from the bed. He walked over to the window and opened it to let the moonlight fall over him.


    Staring at two bright moons shining in the sky, Rio calmed himself down. What he saw when he got the fragment was really something unique, and it was hard to digest.


    ''And now I have this new strange ability… I see… everything seems to make sense now…''


    After Rio got the second fragment, a lot of unknown information appeared in his head; although it took a while to digest it, it was worth the effort.


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