Farmboy becomes King with the Lust System

She could make the body feel pain. Not just injury, pain. The kind that went beyond bruises and cuts. The kind that made your spine arch without your permission, made your jaw clench until your teeth ached, made your brain forget everything else except the sheer, relentless scream of nerves on fire.

She could force the body to misfire

Make a man's arm swing when he meant to block. Make legs buckle at the wrong second. Make his own reflexes work against him. Like tripping over your own feet while running from danger, except your feet wanted to trip.

And if she pushed just a little further, just a little deeper, she could make everything inside go still. Muscles would lock, breath would freeze, and for one terrible second, the whole body would forget how to function.

The technique wasn't about brute force. It needed precision. Finesse. Agility. It demanded that you know the human body, not just what it looked like in a textbook, but how it moved, how it bent under pressure, where it resisted, and where it gave in.

You had to feel the rhythm of its motion. Study the subtle shifts in weight when someone prepared to strike. Understand how the body thought it worked.

Elise was beginning to see that the body didn't always know best.

A healer-turned-fighter needed to know more than wounds and recovery. She had to learn nerve clusters, where they bunched up near joints and spine.

She had to memorize fragile points, like the inner elbow or the base of the neck, where even a small push could knock someone off balance. And she had to feel, through mana, the secret channels beneath the skin.

The motor points that controlled coordination. The pressure nodes that governed control. The places where pain could be turned up like a dial, from mild discomfort to paralyzing agony.

Even a whisper of mana in the right place could send someone crumpling.

But none of it mattered if she couldn't control the force. Too little, and nothing would happen. The body would shrug it off. Too much, and it was lights out. A full nervous collapse. Maybe even death.

It wasn't enough to be powerful, she had to be intentional because themargin for error was thin.

It was beautiful, dangerous, complicated and Elise couldn't stop thinking about it.

Even when she closed the book, even when she finally let her body fall back against her bed sometime past midnight, her mind kept going. Her fingers twitched, remembering diagrams. Her pulse still carried that sense of discovery, like she'd found a part of herself in between the pages.

xxx

The next day, Byun was still missing from class.

Jae glanced at the empty desk, still untouched, a small unease settled in his chest, the kind that didn't feel urgent enough to say out loud, but also didn't go away.

Then Elise turned toward him, her face glowing in a way he hadn't seen in days. Her eyes were wide, bright, alive with something more than just curiosity.

"I found it," she said, nearly bouncing where she sat.

Jae blinked, caught off guard by the sudden shift in her mood. "Found what?"

"That style I told you about," she whispered, scooting closer so only he could hear. "The one from the old books. I stayed up all night reading. It's a fighting style for healers. Not just support stuff, actual combat. It's perfect.

Jae smiled, but there was a tightness in it. "I'm happy for you. Really."

And he was. But under the surface, something pinched at his ribs. A small twist of guilt, of regret. He hadn't seen this spark in her yesterday. Hadn't even realized it had gone out.

"I didn't know you were that upset," he said, his voice quieter now. "You seemed… off, yeah, but I didn't know it was because of the tournament. I should've paid more attention."

Elise's shoulders softened, like air slowly leaving a balloon. She looked down at her hands, fingers curling and uncurling in her lap.

"It's not your fault," she murmured. "When I get overwhelmed, I kind of… disappear. I don't mean to. I just go quiet. Shut everything out. And I don't even notice I'm doing it until it's over."

Jae reached out, threading his fingers around hers. Her skin was warm, a little dry from the cold morning air, and she didn't pull away.

"Still," he said, firm now. "I should've seen it. You don't always have to explain things. I'm here. I'll do better."

Then, before she could say anything else, he leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. Just enough to linger. Just enough to mean it.

"I'm here for you," he said. "Whatever style you want to learn, we'll practice it together. Okay?"

The words melted something in her.

Her chest fluttered. A warm ache bloomed from where his lips had touched her skin and spread through her ribs like sunlight melting frost off a window. She let out a slow breath, and when she looked up again, her voice was steadier.

"Okay," she whispered.

Then footsteps echoed down the hallway.

Before anyone could react, the classroom door swung open, and Principal Kine strode in with long, purposeful steps. His coat flared behind him like a shadow catching wind.

Conversations died instantly. Chairs squeaked as students snapped upright, half-sentences freezing in their throats.

Behind him came Ms. Alina and Mr. Han, their faces unreadable, their gazes sweeping the room without pause.

Kine's eyes narrowed slightly as he scanned the class. Then he folded his hands behind his back.

"I apologize for the interruption," he said, his voice sharp enough to cut through stone. "But there's been a new development."

A ripple moved through the room. Heads turned.

"A dungeon has been discovered near the academy," he continued. "My team, along with several staff members, has already explored it briefly. It contains monsters, but no signs of high-risk anomalies. At the moment, it's considered safe."

A few students straightened, brows lifting. Others stiffened in their seats, as if trying to shrink from the news.