Lust Meter System: Conquering Beauties-Chapter 64: New Skill

Liam reached the front door and knocked three times, quick and deliberate, just like he’d told Tasha he would.

Then he stepped back and waited.

The lock clicked from inside, and the door swung open.

Tasha stood there in the doorway, one hand still on the handle, her blue eyes narrowing the moment she saw him.

"You took forever," she said flatly, crossing her arms over her chest.

Liam opened his mouth to respond, but the words died in his throat.

She was wearing his shirt.

The oversized, faded black T-shirt hung loosely, the thin cotton draping directly over her bare skin.

As she moved, the fabric pulled taut across her chest, the faint, unmistakable press of her nipples creating small peaks against the dark material.

That made it obvious she had nothing on underneath. With her messy black hair and blue eyes, she stood there in only the shirt, her bare legs extending from the short hem.

She shifted her weight slightly, standing there all cute and annoyed at the same time, one hand resting on her hip while the other stayed on the door.

Liam felt his face heat up immediately.

’She’s so cute’

"What?" Tasha asked, tilting her head slightly as she caught the look on his face. "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"I’m not," Liam said quickly, clearing his throat as he looked away. "Here." He held out the bag with the pads and ibuprofen toward her.

Tasha grabbed it from him without hesitation and turned back into the apartment. "Finally," she muttered under her breath as she disappeared into the bathroom.

Liam stood there for a second longer, still trying to process what he’d just seen, then shook his head and stepped inside. He kicked the door shut behind him with his heel and carried the other bags over to the couch.

He pulled out the food he’d grabbed, two containers of instant ramen and a couple of sandwiches and started setting everything out on the coffee table.

A few minutes later, Tasha came back out of the bathroom, her face looking a little less pale than before.

She walked over to where he was sitting but stopped a few feet away, her arms crossed over her chest again.

"I’m good," she said quickly. "You didn’t have to get all this."

Liam raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that?"

"Yeah, I’m..."

Her stomach growled loudly, loud enough that it cut her off mid-sentence.

Tasha’s face turned pink immediately.

She looked down at her stomach like it had betrayed her, then back up at Liam with an annoyed expression.

Liam smirked. "I knew you were lying. Come over here and get something to eat."

"I said I’m fine," Tasha insisted, but her voice had lost most of its conviction.

"Uh-huh." Liam pulled out one of the containers and set it down in front of the empty spot on the couch next to him. "I even brought the same one you liked when you first stayed over," he added with a small smile.

Tasha glanced at the container, spicy beef ramen with extra broth and hesitated for half a second before looking back up at him.

"It was just a coincidence," she said defensively. "I’m really not hungry..."

Her stomach growled again, even louder this time... and she stopped talking immediately.

Liam gave her a flat, unimpressed look. "Stop being stubborn and come eat."

Tasha glared at him for a moment longer, then let out a frustrated sigh and sat down on the couch next to him without another word.

They ate in silence for the first few minutes, Tasha practically inhaling the ramen while Liam worked through his sandwich at a slower pace.

He glanced over at her every now and then, watching the way she kept her eyes down on her food like she didn’t want to admit how hungry she actually was.

When she finally finished, she set the empty container down on the table and leaned back against the couch with a quiet sigh.

Liam gathered up the empty containers and wrappers, tossing everything into the trash by the kitchen counter.

As he cleaned up, he snuck glances at Tasha out of the corner of his eye.

She was sitting there with her arms wrapped around herself again, staring down at the table like her mind was somewhere else entirely.

’She’s still scared. Can’t blame her, if my uncle wanted me dead, I’d be losing it too.’

He wiped his hands on a dish towel and turned back to face her. "You wanna watch a movie or something?"

Tasha looked up at him, her blue eyes studying his face for a long moment without saying anything.

Liam shifted slightly under her gaze. "You can pick whatever you want."

She hesitated for half a second, then nodded slowly. "Okay."

Liam grabbed the remote off the coffee table and turned on the TV mounted on the wall across from them.

He handed the remote to Tasha and sat back down on the couch beside her.

She scrolled through Netflix for a minute before settling on some romantic comedy that Liam had never heard of before, but he didn’t say anything.

He just leaned back against the cushions and let her pick whatever she wanted.

They sat close together, not touching, but close enough that he could feel the warmth radiating off her... and watched in silence as the movie started playing.

Liam kept sneaking glances at Tasha while she watched, studying her expression out of the corner of his eye.

At first, she didn’t look all that amused, her face was still tense, her lips pressed into a thin line, but then one of the characters said something ridiculous on screen, and she let out a small giggle.

Then another scene played out, something equally stupid too but she giggled again.

Liam found himself smiling without realizing it.

’Good, she’s finally starting to relax.’

He watched as she slowly started to unwind the tension in her shoulders easing up bit by bit as she got more into the movie. She didn’t smile much... Tasha never really smiled much, but hearing those little laughs was enough to tell him she was getting a little bit of herself back.

But even as he sat there watching her, his mind started drifting somewhere else entirely.

Something warm pressed against his shoulder.

Liam blinked and looked down.

He wasn’t sure he could keep that smile on her face anymore. Not with the way things were falling apart.

The power he’d been counting on wasn’t working.

And by the looks of things, if any real trouble surfaced before he figured this out, they’d both be dead.

He needed to check the system again and fast.

Tasha’s head had dropped onto his shoulder, her black hair spilling across his arm... and her breathing had slowed into soft, even rhythms.

’She’s finally getting some rest.’

Liam smiled faintly and looked down at her for a long moment, watching as her chest rose and fell slowly beneath that oversized black T-shirt.

He waited for what felt like several minutes, maybe five or six, just sitting there completely still while making sure his breathing stayed quiet enough not to disturb hers.

Eventually, after waiting long enough to feel reasonably confident she wouldn’t wake up immediately, Liam slowly reached over with one hand and gently cradled the back of her head before lifting it off his shoulder inch by careful inch.

Then, in one smooth motion, he slipped both arms beneath her body: one arm supporting her shoulders while the other hooked under her knees, and lifted her up off the couch.

He carried her over toward his bed and laid her down gently onto his mattress, the springs creaking softly beneath her weight. He pulled the blanket up over her legs before stepping back.

’She should be able to sleep better now.’

Liam turned away and walked back over toward the couch.

He sat down with both hands resting loosely against his knees and stared ahead for several seconds before finally deciding it was time to figure out what went wrong earlier.

"Skill Tab," Liam said quietly under his breath.

The familiar translucent blue screen materialized in front of him instantly:

[System Notification]

[Skills Tab Unlocked]

[Skills Acquired]

[Skill 1: Sexual Resilience – Ability to maintain stamina, recover faster, and sustain performance even after release: ACTIVE]

[Skill 2: Point Bound Might – Physical strength augmented to a level significantly exceeding that of a normal human: INACTIVE]

[Point Bound Might Requirements:]

Activation Cost: 50 Lust Points

Duration: 20 minutes per activation

Cooldown Period After Activation: 2 hours

[Pulse Tease]

[Description: User can boost sexual experience of target with mild electric pulses when activated]

[Activation Cost: None]

[Status: INACTIVE]

[Note: Can be turned on/off at will during physical contact]

[New Skill Achieved]

[Skill 3: Breathless Step – Body reacts during held breath moments. Muscle response fires before conscious action. Slip, pivot, or shift position inside striking range. Contact attempts lose timing. Reaction priority overrides hesitation: INACTIVE]

Activation Cost: 50 Lust Points

Duration: 15 minutes per activation

Cooldown Period After Activation: 2 hours

[System Upgrade Unlocked]

[Point Bank Added]

Maximum Capacity: 70 Lust Points

Current Stored Points: 56/70

Liam stared at those numbers for several long seconds.

’Oh. That’s why it didn’t work.’

He hadn’t actively wanted to activate Point Bound Might earlier, it had just been instinctive.

But since he hadn’t consciously intended to trigger the activation, the system had defaulted to storing those points inside the newly unlocked Point Bank instead.

’I’m all good now.’

Liam let out a long breath of relief. His shoulders dropped slightly forward as tension eased from his body.

His eyes lingered on Breathless Step’s cooldown. Two hours. His mouth pressed into a thin line, but then his gaze drifted back up to Point Bound Might.

"At least there’s one that doesn’t have—"

’Wait.’

He scrolled up. Read it again.

Cooldown Period After Activation: 2 hours

"You’ve got to be kidding me." His jaw clenched. The skill that had worked fine before, no restrictions, no waiting, now had the exact same cooldown as the new one. His fingers curled into a fist against his thigh.

He exhaled slowly through his nose, forcing his hand to relax. His gaze drifted to the Point Bank numbers instead.

56 out of 70.

The tension in his shoulders eased slightly. At least he had that now, a buffer. No more accidentally burning through points he might actually need.

"Could be worse," he muttered.

Liam leaned back against the couch cushions, letting his head rest against the worn fabric. His eyes slowly drifted closed as exhaustion finally caught up with him.

His breathing slowed gradually, each inhale and exhale becoming deeper and eventually, without even realizing it was happening, Liam drifted off to sleep right there on the couch, his head tilted awkwardly against the armrest.

And everything went dark.