Lanqi Summoned Himself a Master

If that was the case, wouldn't she hear every single thing he thought about her? "What?" Talia snapped back to her senses and leaned closer to Lanqi. "N-nothing! Nothing at all!" Lanqi shook his head vigorously, frantically trying to suppress his thoughts. In that instant, he felt that death was not so far away after all. Talia eyed him suspiciously. Still, now was not the time to fixate on that. The most pressing issue at hand was: if she had taken the Poet of Great Love's place, what would their lives look like during this upcoming period together? At this moment, the wooden cabin's bedroom was exceptionally quiet. Talia had activated a soundproofing barrier the moment she stepped inside, leaving even Boss Cat shut out in the hall. This matter was tied directly to their survival, and not a single soul could be allowed to know! Talia drew the curtains and switched on the floor lamp standing on the soft carpet by the wall. A gentle glow immediately washed across the walls, making the entire room feel bright and spacious. "I feel like something else about me has changed," Talia murmured with a deep furrow in her brow as she walked over to Lanqi. She found it hard to put into words, yet she was certain something had shifted. "Probably your constitution?" Lanqi analyzed. "If you've become my natal summon, you might actually be immortal right now. As long as I don't die, you won't die either. But if I die, you'll vanish along with me." He continued, "Of course, if you wanted to restore your condition by being resummoned, neither of us can use that method right now. Putting aside the resummon cooldown, my mana wouldn't be anywhere near enough." Even resurrecting Lanfu required a tremendous amount of mana, let alone Talia. Sustaining a Tier 8 summon with his own mana was simply far too much for a Tier 6 like him. It was an unbearable burden. "I'm not heavy," Talia said, staring at Lanqi. Standing at 168 centimeters tall, she weighed only 52 kilograms—not heavy in the slightest. "Where is your focus even at...?" Lanqi muttered in bewilderment. If he remembered correctly, Talia had been 51 kilograms when they first met a year ago. Sure enough, even though she could speed up her digestion and convert energy into mana, eating like she did every day had still caused her to gain a tiny bit of weight. "How do you know my weight?" Talia demanded in astonishment. "Huh?" Lanqi clutched his head. It seemed that whatever he thought was shared with Talia in real time. And he could hear her thoughts just as clearly! Even without speaking aloud, they were carrying on a conversation! "You pervert!" Talia had never felt such an urge to stay as far away from Lanqi as possible. "Wait, let's discuss what to do next first. If this goes on, I'll die of mana exhaustion in less than two hours," Lanqi said, finally growing a little panicked. Once mana was drained dry, any forced expenditure would begin burning away life force at an exponential rate. Eventually, the body's magic circuits would be wrecked, leaving the person a cripple even if their life were saved. "Then what's the plan?" Talia asked. "First off, any movement you make increases mana consumption. Especially if you enter a combat state, the mana drain will surge instantly. So if possible, could you sit down first?" Lanqi coaxed. Talia hesitated a moment, then sat on the edge of the bed and gestured for Lanqi to sit beside her. Lanqi was telling the truth. That was simply how summons worked, and in her current state, she could indeed feel herself draining Lanqi's mana. "For the next few days, you'll probably have to spend most of your time in the form of a magic card with me," Lanqi said seriously. "Are you kidding?" Talia's eyes widened as she stared at him. *Then what do I eat? Where do I stay? How is turning into a magic card any different from being in prison?* "Until we separate you and the Poet of Great Love, you'll definitely have to stay in my dorm. But don't worry, I'll definitely summon you out for all three meals. In card form, you can also just slumber in a spirit-like state," Lanqi analyzed solemnly, then added, "If you want to stay summoned longer and eat as much as possible, you could also just lie completely still while I feed you. That way, power consumption is kept to a minimum." "You really are..." Hearing this, Talia frowned and closed her eyes, her cheeks flushing slightly as she fought the urge to give him a punch. "Most of the time, you'd best just lie on the sofa and rest. Whatever you need, just give the word and I'll fetch it for you. Whatever you do, don't walk around on your own." Lanqi looked at her with utmost solicitude, as if attending to an exalted deity. "..." The veins on the back of Talia's hand twitched again. *Do I look like I need you pampering me like this?* She couldn't tell whether Lanqi was doing this out of necessity or his own free will. Either way, even if he wasn't actively thinking about anything right now, his thought process was downright infuriating. "In any case, I bought a lot of equipment cards for Boss Cat before to increase max mana and mana recovery speed. Now I'll unbind every card that can be unbound. Aside from you and my other Epic cards, I'll use everything else to expand my mana pool. When the time comes, as long as you don't enter combat, maintaining simple activity for a few hours shouldn't be an issue." Lanqi calculated his card capacity. Having reached Tier 6, he possessed a cap of 60 card cost. His Epic cards could not be unbound: aside from six 1-cost soul imprints, the 3-cost Purgatory Chorus, the 3-cost Little Sun, the 4-cost Wolf, and the 5-cost Slate, plus the 8 cost forcibly occupied by Talia, that left 31 cost in free card slots. Dumping all of that into stacking mana capacity, max mana, and mana regeneration rate would provide quite a substantial boost. Of course, in practice, he couldn't actually keep Talia summoned for that long. If his mana bottomed out, both Lanqi and Talia would lose their combat capability. For safety's sake, he had to keep at least more than half in reserve under normal circumstances. "What else can we do? That'll have to do," Talia said with a sigh of compromise after a moment's struggle, shaking her head. *Looking on the bright side, at least the dating and travel in the Kingdom of Posen shouldn't be delayed much.* "Yeah, the dating and travel shouldn't be delayed much," Lanqi echoed. "..." Talia bit her lip, her fists clenching a fraction tighter. The calm, musing way he murmured that didn't sound like he was deliberately provoking her at all. Lanqi was propping his chin on one hand, smiling at her with narrowed eyes. "I've put up with you for long enough!" The more he looked like that, the more infuriating it was! Unable to take it anymore, Talia pinned Lanqi to the ground. "Don't! Sister Tata, don't enter combat mode!" Lanqi instantly realized that this was Tata's room and thoroughly soundproofed—crying out to heaven or earth would be utterly useless! In a couple of moves, he was completely subdued by Tata. "Do you understand who's the boss now?" Talia sat down leisurely on Lanqi's back, elegantly crossing her legs as she asked as if speaking to herself. "..." Lanqi felt that no matter how he struggled, he couldn't budge an inch. Talia had given him a crystal-clear lesson in what Tier 8 strength truly meant. Worse still, not only was he pinned down, but his mana had just dropped another chunk. What kind of summon drains your mana *and* beats you up?! Never mind whether [Demon Lord of Mad Love] was strong or not—this side effect alone was more than he could bear! "...I was wrong," Lanqi said through gritted teeth, filled with humiliation. "My, that really is the sweetest sound I've heard all year." Talia rose from Lanqi's back, crossed her arms, and spoke with deep satisfaction.