Since Ophelia was in the mood for some more lounging, not eager to give up the warmth of the tent to confront the morning chill, Kara took it upon herself to prepare breakfast, promising Ophelia the best barbecue she had ever had in her entire life.
However, leaving the tent in which Ophelia was completely undressed was not an easy mission, as Kara needed no less than three attempts before she could accomplish it, her first two tries to head toward the tent's door ending with her covering Ophelia's entire body with kisses.
Although she came very close to failing the third time as well, as her eyes remained fixed for a long time when she turned to close the tent's door on Ophelia's very seductive body, the traces left by her kisses, which were shining in the light produced by the three magic orange cores on the tent's walls, contributing to the formation of a very erotic picture, the thought that Ophelia would start to believe that she was someone unreliable ultimately restrained her desires, managing eventually to close the door and step away from the tent, the only thing preventing her from yielding being the taste of Ophelia still on her lips.
After walking about 40 meters, Kara took out from her storage space a diamond-clawed bear she had collected while exiting The Great Moonshadow Forest and began skinning it up using the Predator Claws skill, no longer bothering to dress herself as she was aware it was impossible not to get bloodied.
But if in the past Kara didn't think about anything else while butchering a beast, all her attention being focused on the lifeless body in front of her, at that moment her mind was filled with thoughts related to the passionate night spent with Ophelia, her face easily revealing how delighted she was with how the situation had evolved.
'It was truly a dreamy night. Her sweet lips... her enticing voice... her seductive body... Ah, I can't believe I have such a gorgeous girlfriend...'
That's how Kara's thoughts looked, who couldn't remember being so excited in her entire life as she was on that morning, everything around her seeming cheerful and lively, well, everything except for the bear she was skinning.
Although Kara suspected that Ophelia wasn't the type of person to make decisions solely based on emotions and that the fact she had so quickly accepted to become her girlfriend was somewhat influenced by Ophelia realizing how strong she was, Kara was sure that Ophelia was truly attracted to her, the obsessiveness with which she looked at her and the way Ophelia's body craved her touch being clear evidence of this fact.
Proof of this for Kara was also the fact that Ophelia had refused all those who had offered to help her if she agreed to marry them, showing that she wasn't willing to enter a relationship with someone just to solve her problems. Therefore, if Ophelia was willing to be her lover, it meant that she truly liked her.
'The things we did last night made me feel an indescribable pleasure, which I'm eager to experience again, but I don't think that's the reason why I'm so happy... No, probably the fact that the person I like so much also likes me back contributes the most to the happiness I feel at that moment...', Kara said to herself, who hadn't imagined until then that being in a relationship with someone who reciprocates her feelings could make her feel so fulfilled.
Recalling the moments of passion between her and Ophelia, Kara remembered that she still hadn't carefully inspected the new skill she had involuntarily used to enhance her ability to induce pleasure, and whose existence she only found out about after waking up, the name of this new skill being Bless.
'Hmm, this skill has a name that initially misled me, thinking it had something to do with some kind of sacred ritual like those held by priests in churches... Well, I couldn't have been more wrong, because, from what I found out after briefly analyzing it, this skill seems to be closely related to sexual acts...'
Kara couldn't deny her excitement when she found out that the skill she received was a sexual one, as she was certain it would be very useful to her in the future. However, recalling that such skills, most commonly associated with demons like succubi and vampires, usually have adverse effects on the people they're used on, she thought it wise to be cautious and not use it until she thoroughly analyzed it. As a result, she limited her interaction with Ophelia after waking up to just a few dozen kisses to ensure that Ophelia wouldn't suffer any harm.
To Kara's relief, after meticulously analyzing the new skill for about 5 minutes to ensure she hadn't overlooked any details, she found no adverse effects such as addiction or brainwashing. Instead, all the effects of the skill on the person it's used on were remarkably beneficial.
'It's truly an amazing skill... Not only will it help me give Ophelia more pleasure, but it will also help her become much stronger, the main effect this skill has on the people I'll use it on being that they'll enjoy the same benefits I have when using the Devour skill, namely increasing attribute values without the need to level up. Well, maybe its effect is somewhat weaker than that of the Devour skill and there won't be major improvements seen after each use, but over time, I'm sure it will make a big difference...', Kara said to herself, very pleased with the things she found out.
Improving attributes wasn't the only benefit the people on whom the Bless skill will be constantly used will have, the other three being guaranteeing a lifespan similar to Kara's, or rather, eternal youth, Kara being practically completely immune to the passage of time due to the combined effect of the Devour skill and the Predator's Constitution skill, bringing the body to the best possible state from a health and appearance standpoint, and frightening any being weaker than Kara who wanted to harm them directly, an ability similar to that of the pages containing the ritual for obtaining the Predator class.
As for how this skill could be put into practice, Kara had a clear picture both from the information that appeared in her mind about it and from recalling the moments when she had involuntarily used it, it being capable of giving her and her partner a lot of pleasure. Being able to use the green energy she emitted while being sexually aroused as an extension of her own body, which she could give material properties to at her discretion as long as it was in contact with her body, Kara had to bring both herself and her partner to the heights of ecstasy, which resulted in facilitating the absorption of that green energy by her partner, who would immediately benefit from its effects.
Kara didn't intend to make all these beneficial effects for her partner the purpose of using the Bless skill. Instead, she focused more on its secondary effect: amplifying the pleasure she and her lover felt during intimate relations, treating all these beneficial effects as a bonus, because she didn't want her moments of passion to turn into something similar to a ritual.
'Should I tell Ophelia about the effects of my new skill? I don't know, I think it would sound weird. It's like I'm trying to find a reason for her to make love to me more often... Hmmm... It's best to let things flow naturally and tell her about this skill only when she notices its effects and asks me about it...', Kara said to herself, knowing it was a bit selfish of her to keep all this information just for herself, the main reason being that she wanted the intimate relationships between her and Ophelia to be based only on the attraction they felt for each other, and not the benefits that would result from them, but she could partially escape feeling guilty by telling herself that all the effects of the skill are harmless.
Seeing that the sun was almost rising and she had just finished skinning the bear, Kara decided to set aside all these thoughts and focus on what she had to do, as she wanted to finish grilling the meat from the bear's back before Ophelia would come out of the tent.
..............
"Mmm, it's very tasty... How come such a beast has such tender meat?", asked Ophelia after taking a few bites of the meat grilled by Kara, looking towards the nearly 10-meter-wide bear hide hanging from a tree near the place where the fire was made.
"Even though the bear was very large, it was still quite young, so its muscles didn't have enough time to mature. Moreover, the place where it grew up was very rich in mana, so it was expected that its meat would be of the highest quality...", replied Kara, who had cleaned off all the blood that had splattered on her using the Devour skill and had dressed in a new set of clothes before Ophelia came out to eat.
"And what about the fur? Are you going to give it to the Adventurer's Guild? You said you would blame a bear for Mason's and the other two's deaths..."
Initially, Kara had thought of the same thing, as she didn't have much use for bear fur, but the fact that while skinning the bear she was in such a good mood, made her get a bit attached to it, so she didn't really want to give it to strangers.
"No, I'll give them a whole bear. I think I'll give it to my father when I meet him in two months...", Kara told Ophelia, thinking that her father would like to make a carpet out of it.
"Oh, so you weren't joking when you said you had more bears at your disposal. Where did you hunt them? In the upper levels of a Dungeon?", Ophelia continued asking, wanting to see if Kara was willing to talk about her recent adventures, about which she had avoided giving too many details the day before.
"No, I haven't visited any Dungeon yet..."
Considering how powerful Kara was, Ophelia couldn't believe such a thing.
"Huh, I don't think I understand. Considering how strong you are, I think your level must be very high. Where could you gather so much experience if you've never entered a Dungeon?"
Since Ophelia was now her girlfriend, Kara didn't intend to keep details about her class a secret from her, so she decided to briefly tell her how she had become so powerful.
"Well, Ophelia, I think you remember me telling you that my class is very special. The truth is that I obtained it as a reward for becoming the strongest in The Great Moonshadow Forest, a place full of very dangerous beasts for which the bear whose fur you saw was as harmless as a kitten. Tell me, have you ever heard of the Predator class?"
Although Ophelia didn't know much about The Great Moonshadow Forest other than it being on the border with the Demon Territory, she could tell that Kara's days there had been extremely challenging. As for Kara's class, she had never heard of it before, but she suspected it must be a very powerful one if someone had to go through such a trial to obtain it.
"Hmm, I don't think I've ever heard of this class. What does it mean that you're a Predator?"
"Well, it means that everyone is my prey...", replied Kara to Ophelia and then bit strongly into the piece of meat she had taken in her hand, her gaze full of certainty making Ophelia unable to think even for a moment that she could be exaggerating.