Limitless Fortune: I Collect SSS-Rank Skills as Payment-Chapter 182: Lilith Is Naked!

"Lucien… damn it. Are you taking revenge on me? You are, right? That's why you don't want to release me, right?"

Somewhere around a vast wasteland, a large, beautiful Koi fish flapped and splashed in a huge flask, cursing loudly.

"Damn you, Lucien! Release me immediately. Why are you wasting time? Don't you know I am suffocating already?"

Lilith shouted aloud as she saw Lucien completely ignoring her, busy with something. As more time passed, little by little, she became more anxious.

After all, after leaving that Mirage Pond, where they appeared, was a huge desert with extreme heat.

She was already feeling uncomfortable, and now her situation was deteriorating little by little.

"Hey, hey. I am not joking here. Oii, Lucien… why are you ignoring me? Are you angry?"

Seeing that Lucien still didn't pay attention to her and suddenly closed his eyes, Lilith, in the form of her Koi fish, panicked immediately.

"Lucien, please don't be angry and release me, okay? Don't we share very intimate connections?"

When cursing didn't work, Lilith began to persuade him with all she had. After such a huge stroke of bad luck, she finally managed to get out of that abominable place alive.

So, how could she now let herself be hopeless again?

"Hey, why are you ignoring me? Are you really willing to let me die? Look, if you feel bad about our first meeting and my behavior, I will say sorry, okay? Please don't joke around like this."

Seeing that Lucien still didn't open his eyes, Lilith's voice became more and more anxious. After all, she realized that due to the extreme heat of the desert, the water inside the flask was already vaporizing extremely rapidly.

She was already getting so suffocated.

"Damn, Lucien! Don't forget your mother considers me her daughter-in-law. You cannot betray me like this. You even took my sister into your harem, and I didn't say anything. Why are you still ignoring me?"

Feeling the situation becoming more and more dire, Lilith finally couldn't take it anymore. Her voice trembled in fear, sounding as if she were on the verge of crying.

Lilith never thought she would see a day when she would die as a fish in a vast desert.

'What did I do wrong to have such bad luck?'

"Haha… finally, my strength is back. It feels good to be alive once again."

Just as Lilith was losing all hope, thinking that Lucien was really abandoning her, she saw him open his eyes and mumble in excitement.

'System, show me my status panel.'

Unlike what Lilith thought, Lucien wasn't actually ignoring her, nor did he want to kill her.

Rather, he was simply excited to regain his power. To be honest, he felt extremely vulnerable when he lost all his strength before.

—

[Name: Lucien Goldveil]

[Race: Human]

[House: Goldveil Viscount Lineage]

[Class: The Empty Throne (Unique)]

[Secondary Classes: Enchanter, Mage, Devourer, Assassine, Beast Master, BroodKing]

[Rank: C-rank (Arcanist-Peak)]

[Title: None]

[Talent: Exceptional]

[Attributes]

Strength: 889

Physique: 312

Agility: 1110

Endurance: 1009

Vitality: 300

Intelligence: 864

Perception: 1019

Charisma/Charm: 72

Dexterity: 118

Willpower: 105

Mana: 550/550

Lifespan: 15 (extra)

[Unique Stat: Origin]

[Current Origin: 0 point]

[Affinity: Darkness (Exceptional), Earth (Rare), Fire (Rare), Shadow (Rare)]

—

Just as Lucien ordered his system, he immediately saw the huge change in his status panel. Well, it wasn't a huge change as it was restored to his true state.

But it still managed to form a big smile on Lucien's face.

'Haha…so it was indeed suppressed and it didn't just disappear.'

He couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief as he was really afraid he would lose everything.

Fortunately, it was just a false alarm.

'Looking at it, even my realm increased to the Peak of Arcanist realm or C-rank. But…why the hell is there still no announcement from the World of Origin?'

Lucien wondered, feeling totally odd.

From how his realm or Class rank increased, it was clear that he completed his class ascension quest, right?

Then…why was there no announcement? There wasn't one when he woke up before, and there was still none even after he left the Mirage Pond.

To be honest, Lucien felt like he was being totally ignored by the World of Origin.

'System, do you know why this happened?'

He even tried asking his system, but got no response all of a sudden. Even though it seemed oblivious to this situation.

"L-Lucien…help!"

Just as he was drifting off due to this weird situation, Lucien suddenly woke up to the loud plea for help.

It was from Lilith, or rather, from the beautiful Koi fish desperately flapping its tail in the shallow water inside the flask.

"Oh…I almost forgot."

Only after seeing such a situation did Lucien finally remember Lilith.

So, without wasting a second, he immediately thought of the connection between them and wished for the Koi fish's release in his mind.

Fortunately, he knew how to do it, as it was the process given by that short old man in the memory crystal.

"Swoosh!"

Just as Lilith felt the darkness begin to cloud her vision and her thoughts turn sluggish from suffocation, everything around her suddenly changed.

It was as if some kind soul had lifted a floundering fish and gently placed it back into the water.

Or rather, in her case, she was finally allowed to breathe in her true form as a human.

"Cough… cough… cough…"

As soon as Lilith left her Koi form and appeared in her human one, she coughed nonstop while taking deep breaths continuously.

Her trembling hands pressed against the ground as she struggled to steady herself, the lingering panic still visible in her wide, teary eyes.

"Are you…alright?"

Seeing her in such a sorry situation, Lucien asked, although a little awkwardly, while gently patting her smooth back.

Because Lilith changed her form from a fish, she was currently completely naked from head to toe. Lucien could clearly see her huge jugs swinging wildly as she coughed and breathed deeply.

Of course, he wasn't paying attention to that as he saw that Lilith was really not feeling good.

"Cough…d-damn it…Lucien…I will kill you."

It was fine if Lucien didn't say anything, but when he asked if she was alright, Lilith's anger exploded immediately.

She thought Lucien was mocking her in a sarcastic tone.

After all, if he really cared about her, wouldn't he have released her immediately? Why let her suffocate for so long?

Did he have a thing for masochism or what?

While thinking about the last one, Lilith couldn't help but shudder as she really hoped that her guess wasn't true.

"Hey, hey… now, you're overreacting. I saved your life, and you want to kill me? Are you so ungrateful?"

Lucien rolled his eyes at Lilith's naked threat.

"Ungrateful? Cough… Lucien, tell me something. You were trying to take revenge on me all this time, right? Otherwise, why didn't you release me immediately at the Mirage Pond? Why let me suffer in this heat for so long?"

Lilith was, of course, grateful to Lucien. After all, like he said, if not for him, she had no chance of staying alive. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

She might really become a Koi fish and spend all her life in that pond with no sanity left.

Fortunately, he appeared at the right time and saved her. However, when she remembered his deeds after saving her, she felt he was playing around with her.

"Flick…"

"Ouch…"

Just as Lilith was voicing her grievances to Lucien, she felt him flick his finger against her glabella, eliciting a sharp moan of pain from her.

"What are you thinking? Are you stupid? Why will I release you when we are still inside the Mirage Pond?"

Lucien asked, speechless. After all, he wasn't a fool.

The rule of the Mirage Pond was that a person had to pay two Bronze Coins to leave, or catch at least one fish from the pond.

If he released Lilith at that time, who could say for sure if it would still count as him catching a fish?

And even if it did count and he could leave the Mirage Pond, what about Lilith?

After leaving her Koi form, she was no longer a fish, or rather, no longer a commodity of the Mirage Pond.

Lucien was absolutely sure she would require two Bronze Coins just like him to leave that place.

After all, he already noticed that the frog didn't appear even after the bell rang for quite some time.

'That bastard is clearly trying to trap me.'

"Okay, don't think too much about this incident. Everything I did has its reason."

Lucien didn't want to apologize, nor did he want to explain.

"I think, rather than getting angry with me, you should first put your dress on. Who knows if someone appears here and sees you like this?"

So, he just lightly gaslighted Lilith before signaling at her with his eyes.

To be honest, with all that heavy breathing and frantic movement, she almost looked like she was pleading desperately for his attention.