Honkai Impact

"Of course I did!"

Mei didn't deny it. "If Ling Feng wants to tell me, he'll naturally tell me. If he doesn't want to, asking would only make things awkward!"

"Uh... that's true..."

Ling Feng found himself unable to refute her. Mei was right. Even if she asked, what could he tell her? Tell her the whole truth? Whether she believed it was one thing, but exposing his identity probably wouldn't be a good thing...

"Mm... Mei, you... you're a B-rank Valkyrie now, right?"

After thinking it over, Ling Feng felt that he should do something for Mei too—such as making her stronger. That should be the most direct and useful help for a Valkyrie!

"Yes. I've been one for an entire semester now, but I'm still far from becoming an A-rank Valkyrie!"

Mei wasn't proud just because she was a B-rank Valkyrie. She knew her own limits very well. Setting everything else aside, simply comparing the gap between herself and the Class President tonight was enough to make that clear!

"Then what about your stigmata? What stigmata are you currently using?"

There were many ways to rapidly increase a Valkyrie's strength: taking special potions, choosing stronger weapons, equipping stronger armor, and imprinting powerful stigmata!

Ling Feng couldn't do the first three for the time being, since all of them required material resources. But for stigmata, they only needed to be imprinted. When weapons weren't enough, stigmata made up the difference—that was the truth!

"Sharenna, a full set!" Although she didn't quite understand why Ling Feng was asking, Mei still chose to answer...

"Sharenna? Uh... the two-star one?"

Ling Feng had no real impression of Sharenna. He only felt like he had heard the name somewhere before. He knew almost all high-tier stigmata, though, so by process of elimination, Sharenna had to be a two-star stigmata!

"Yes..."

Mei nodded silently. "My stigmata were imprinted a month ago, using the academy's machine. One imprinting can last for a period of time, but every use weakens the stigmata's power. Once it reaches a certain point, they need to be imprinted again. The stronger the stigmata being imprinted, the more energy it consumes, the greater the difficulty, and the higher the requirements for a Valkyrie's physical strength. Team 233 isn't a combat team, so Sharenna is enough. And besides..."

"It hurts a lot when the machine imprints them, and it also damages the body. Choosing low-level stigmata can reduce that damage..." Mei didn't seem to be in a very good mood as she said this...

"Then... you can have them imprinted manually. Don't tell me there isn't even one person at the academy who can imprint stigmata?"

Listening to Mei's miserable situation, Ling Feng could only sympathize silently. At the same time, he was glad that his era had perfect machine imprinting methods, so he didn't have to go through something as difficult as Mei did!

"Manual imprinting is an option, but there are too few people who know how to imprint stigmata!"

Mei continued explaining patiently. "The complex procedures and patterns make the failure rate of manual imprinting extremely high. And when someone uses a laser pen to imprint them onto your back, it hurts just as much. If the imprinting fails, you can only start over and suffer through it again. Besides, those who receive manual imprinting are always Valkyries from the main combat forces first. A perfect stigmata is more important to them!"

"Uh... all right..."

Ling Feng could understand that last part. It was a matter of resource allocation priorities—this principle existed everywhere!

"Um... Mei, do you... do you want me to help imprint your stigmata?"

After hesitating for quite a while, Ling Feng finally voiced his thoughts in fits and starts. It wasn't that he was embarrassed. Come on, it wasn't like he was the one taking his clothes off—what was there to be embarrassed about...

He was just worried that Mei would misunderstand. After all... he had only known this girl for two days. Would she believe that he could imprint stigmata? She would probably think he was just trying to take advantage of her...

That was why Ling Feng felt conflicted when bringing it up. He still needed to preserve his image...

"Hm?"

Mei froze for a moment, clearly finding it hard to believe...

"Imprint stigmata? You can do that?"

Mei was suspicious but didn't say so outright. Kiana, on the other hand, didn't care about such things and asked directly, "You aren't saying you can imprint stigmata just to satisfy your own desires, are you...?"

"Bronya thinks Ling Feng isn't lying!"

Bronya spoke up quietly as well. "Ling Feng's performance tonight surprised Bronya. It seems Ling Feng knows many things that we don't, so Bronya thinks we can try..."

Ling Feng was rather surprised that Bronya actually believed him...

"This..."

Mei still looked somewhat hesitant. After all, imprinting stigmata required taking off her top and exposing her back. It didn't matter in front of a machine, but doing that in front of a man...

It just felt a little awkward...

"If you don't want to, forget it. There's no need to force yourself..."

Seeing Mei hesitate so much, Ling Feng said there was no need to force it. Imprinting stigmata wasn't something that had to be done right away anyway...

"No, it's not that. It's just..."

Mei seemed to have found an excuse and smiled somewhat helplessly. "Our team doesn't have a Plasma laser pen. Even if we wanted to imprint stigmata, we'd have to borrow a laser pen first. And laser pens are expensive—we can't afford one..."

"A laser pen?"

Ling Feng froze for a moment and asked, "Hey, don't tell me manual imprinting is done with lasers too?"

"Isn't it?"

Kiana snorted. "Whether it's machine or manual imprinting, you need a Plasma laser pen to inject energy into a Valkyrie's back and form stigmata. You don't even know that? You're obviously lying about imprinting stigmata because you really want to look at Mei's back! Mei, don't fall for this guy's trick!"

After hearing Kiana's words, both Mei and Bronya looked at Ling Feng suspiciously. Kiana was telling the truth: imprinting stigmata required a Plasma laser pen. Yet Ling Feng didn't even know that, making his ulterior motives far too obvious...

Ling Feng: "..."

Ling Feng couldn't help complaining, "Uh... I was wondering why you said manual imprinting hurt so much. Using a laser to imprint something onto skin—how the hell could that not hurt?"

Kiana refused to back down and shot back, "Obviously! What else would you use if not a laser pen? A brush? These are stigmata, not calligraphy! Besides, without a laser pen, it's impossible to imprint stigmata at all, okay?"

"Sorry, but when I imprint Stigmata, I don't need a laser pen!"

Ling Feng's gaze suddenly turned serious. "Mei, lie down, take it off. Today, I'm going to let you see what real imprinting is!"

"No way, this guy is obviously lying!"

Kiana refused to back down. Never mind whether she had seen it before—she had never even heard of a way to imprint Stigmata without using a laser pen!

"Hmph, how do you know I'm lying just because you haven't seen it?"

Ling Feng was absolutely not backing down either. Imprinting Stigmata concerned his dignity. It was fine if someone said he was not handsome, but saying he was lying was unacceptable. He immediately said, "Also, if you keep causing trouble, I won't help you imprint Stigmata anymore!"

"Tch, you think I'd let you imprint mine? What kind of joke is that?"

Kiana laughed. "I, Kiana, would rather use machines for the rest of my life, pay someone else to do it, or never imprint Stigmata for the rest of my life than let you do it!"

"Um... could you two stop arguing first...?"

Mei immediately felt awkward. Like... who exactly was she supposed to listen to?

As a result, the moment Mei spoke, both of them turned to look at her. Their meaning could not have been more obvious...

Mei: "..." I want to cry...

In the end, Mei chose to agree. For one, she felt embarrassed about rejecting Ling Feng's kindness. For another, Ling Feng's performance tonight had truly surprised her, and he did not seem to be lying. So, if Ling Feng really could imprint Stigmata, she would never have to suffer again. And it would be even better if it were powerful Stigmata...

At Kiana's strong insistence, the four of them went to Mei's room. Since her lower body was inconvenient to move, Mei changed into a swimsuit top, then lay facedown on the bed, revealing her smooth back!

But unlike an ordinary girl's back, Mei's was not a flawless expanse of white. Instead, it bore a set of red Stigmata patterns imprinted by laser. For some reason, Ling Feng suddenly thought of the red "Quarantine Passed" stamp on pork when he bought meat...

Of course, thinking it was fine. Saying it out loud would definitely get him beaten up...

"Here, the Eraser pen. Be careful—if you hurt Mei, I won't let you off!"

Kiana handed Ling Feng a blue laser pen...

"Thanks!"

Though it differed from those of his era, Ling Feng still knew what an Eraser pen was for!

After activating the Eraser pen, Ling Feng skillfully erased the Sharenna Stigmata patterns from Mei's back. Her back once again became snowy white and smooth. The feel of it... was probably pretty good...

Then, Ling Feng tried activating his energy. As long as he did it gently and carefully, activating only the energy in his hand, he could minimize the effect on his body!

A cluster of blue energy light appeared at the tip of his right finger. Then he asked, "Mei, what star rating of Stigmata can you endure at most?"

"A full set of three-star ones, or one four-star piece!" Mei was quite clear about that!

"Three-star is a little weak..."

Ling Feng frowned. He had originally wanted to give Mei Elizabeth top and middle pieces paired with Attila bottom, which would increase Mei's combat strength by at least seventy percent. But Mei seemed unable to withstand the power brought by three four-star Stigmata!

"Sorry, I'm too weak..."

Hearing Ling Feng's words, Mei could only apologize. She knew very well that she was not strong, so the Stigmata she could bear naturally would not be very powerful either. That was the tragedy of weakness—even with powerful Stigmata, she still could not use them!

"Uh... Mei, don't misunderstand. I'm not saying you're weak. I just think three-star Stigmata are too weak..." Ling Feng hurriedly explained. Though he really did think Mei was weak, he was simply too embarrassed to say it outright. After all, Mei had treated him quite well...

"Oh..."

Mei merely replied with an "oh," but she was clearly somewhat disappointed.

Ling Feng: "..." Did I say something wrong again...?

After thinking for a moment, Ling Feng said, "Mei, how about this? I'll imprint one four-star Stigmata for you. Even though it's only one piece, it'll definitely be several times stronger than your set of two-star ones!"

"I'll listen to you, then. It's just... could you hurry up? This position... I... I..." Mei blushed slightly. She had been lying here for several minutes already, yet Ling Feng still had not shown any intention of imprinting Stigmata. It was so embarrassing...

"Ah... okay, then I'll begin!"

Ling Feng felt a little awkward, but he was over fifty thousand years old, after all. What kind of situation had he not seen? He could handle this!

Ling Feng raised his finger and gently touched Mei's back, then injected energy into her back in the form of an imprint...

"Ah, ah, ah... mmph..."

But the moment the energy entered her body, Mei let out a cry that made people's thoughts wander...

"What's wrong?"

Ling Feng quickly withdrew his hand. He... had not done anything, had he? What was with that strange cry?

"N-No, it's nothing, it's just..."

Mei's face was so red it seemed about to bleed. She buried her head in the pillow, unwilling to let anyone see her face, and stammered, "It's... it's too comfortable. It feels like being electrocuted, but... but it's completely different. It just feels really good..."

Ling Feng: "..." Manual Stigmata imprinting was not supposed to hurt in the first place. It only hurt because they used lasers to imprint them. How could that not hurt...

Ling Feng helplessly shook his head, touched Mei's back again with his finger, and injected energy once more...

"Ah..."

Mei cried out again, then quickly covered her mouth...

Ling Feng: "..."

This time, Ling Feng did not stop. He continued imprinting...

And although Mei covered her mouth, she still felt as though she could barely hold it in, because... it felt too good...

Like getting a massage, every pore Ling Feng touched was blissfully released. Muscles that had been tense from training and Imprint Stigmata relaxed beneath Ling Feng's gentle energy, as though she had soaked in a hot spring and been reborn from the flames!

Even a five-star massage therapist probably could not have felt this good. Thanks to the energy involved, this was not merely a massage for the body, but a massage for the soul as well—a feeling of pleasure taken to the absolute extreme...

"Ah... ah... mm... how could this be? It's obviously just drawing a stigmata, so why does it feel this good... mm... haaahhh..."

In the end, Mei could not hold herself back and cried out. Every part of her body felt euphoric beyond measure. Compared to the violent laser energy from before, the incomparably gentle imprinting energy made Mei realize for the first time that Imprint Stigmata could actually be enjoyable...

Kiana: "..."

Bronya: "???"

Ling Feng: "..."

Kiana already felt the urge to punch someone. This guy had actually turned Mei into this state, but... Ling Feng had not made any inappropriate movements. He was merely using his fingers to imprint a stigmata on Mei...

As for Bronya, she wore a curious expression. She had not thought of anything in that direction; she was simply wondering whether imprinting a stigmata really felt that good.

Finally, thanks to Ling Feng's superb technique, a stigmata that should have taken less than five minutes to complete ended up taking him a full half hour. It could not be helped—it was his first time, so he was unfamiliar with it. Besides, Mei's voice was seriously affecting Ling Feng, and this girl was being so loud that the neighboring apartments had definitely heard her...

Come to think of it, if the police suddenly burst in, would they even believe his explanation?

"Alright, Mei. The imprinting is complete!"

At last, Ling Feng sealed the stigmata's energy and fully completed this imprinting. He could not help wiping the sweat from his forehead. Damn, he had thought this would be a perk, but it had turned out to be so exhausting...

"Mm... is it... finally over?"

Mei, on the other hand, was drenched in sweat as well. Her body felt completely soaked, and she was even a little weak from exhaustion. This left Ling Feng baffled. Who exactly had been doing the imprinting here, her or him? It was like giving a massage—what kind of customer ended up more tired than the massage therapist?