He was speaking to this Maiden in his mind, communicating with her through his thoughts. He knew that she could “hear” him.

“It’s invisible, so it’s fine!”

The Maiden scratched her face with a cat paw and giggled, “Before, it was a holographic projection outside, so others could see it too. This time, it’s interfering with Master’s optic nerve signals, directly forming an image in Master's brain. It’s different from before, nya.”

David Bolton still didn’t quite understand things like “brainwaves” or “nerve signals,” but by guessing and piecing things together, he more or less knew what she was talking about.

Breathing a sigh of relief, David Bolton complained, “Can’t you talk properly? How many times have I told you, stop adding ‘nya’ at the end of your sentences! And can’t you wear a bit more clothing? This is indecent.”

“But this is the skin Master bought for Grace! In summer, it can only be a cool outfit. As for the ‘nya’ at the end, it’s a programmed feature of this skin. Grace can’t help it, nya.”

The Maiden continued to scratch her head with a cat paw in confusion, “The database says this look is the most popular. At its peak, 23.5% of terminal AIs used this skin. They say it’s super cute and adorable, nya! Hmm, if Master doesn’t like it, then Grace will change into another one.”

Just as David Bolton was about to say “Don’t change,” he saw the Maiden suddenly turn into a puff of white smoke, and sure enough, she changed her appearance. She still had furry ears and her tail was still swaying, but now the color had turned white.

—She was a cat before, now she was a dog. The key point was, the clothes were still quite revealing. The top, which looked like a dudou, was even smaller than a dudou, only covering the chest, leaving her flat stomach and belly button completely exposed. And below the waist—were those supposed to be shorts? They only reached just below her hips, the rest was cut away, exposing her long legs. This was simply shameless!

“Woof, does Master like Grace like this? Woof woof…”

Hearing this soft, delicate “bark,” David Bolton couldn’t help but shiver all over, then said irritably, “Isn’t this the same as before?”

He knew that the so-called “skin” probably meant appearance. And in the past three years, he’d seen Grace like this more than once, but he still couldn’t get used to it.

“Master still doesn’t like it?”

That “Grace” looked a bit troubled: “Then I’ll change again! This is the last skin, you know. It’s all because Master is too stingy, you only bought Grace three skins in total.”

Another puff of white smoke rose, and when this “Grace” appeared before David Bolton again, his face fell and his mouth went dry.

This was even more outrageous than before! Grace had changed into a fox, which was fine, but could that even be called clothing? It was just two strings, top and bottom! Damn it, her chest seemed even bigger than before.

He felt his eyes spinning from the sight of those deadly weapons. Not only did he feel a hot rush in his nose and mouth, but his chest was also starting to feel restless.

“I told you not to change! The previous catgirl look was better, change back for me…”

While feasting his eyes, David Bolton couldn’t help but think helplessly that this was actually pretty good. Since his body was reacting, it meant his strength had basically recovered.

Chapter 0002: The Sinner Xuan Hao

After a full quarter of an hour, David Bolton, having recovered his strength, was still lying on the ground. The difference was that before, he was recovering his strength, but now he was trying hard to calm the abnormal reaction below his waist.

At this moment, that “Grace” had already changed back to the catgirl look and was speaking with a hint of curiosity: “Master, what did that person use on you just now? Grace thinks it was amazing, it could even repair brainwaves! Too bad I couldn’t scan the components. If Master gets a chance, you should collect a drop or two. Bring it back to Earth in the future, and the Federation Academy of Sciences will definitely reward you.”

“That’s ‘Lingxian Dew,’ a very expensive spiritual item. Only true disciples in the Sun and Moon Profound Sect are supplied with it—”

David Bolton answered casually, but just as he was explaining to Grace, he felt someone poke his shoulder.

David Bolton turned his head in surprise and saw a chubby youth in a blue robe, with a round face, standing nearby with a hand resting on his sword, grinning.

“Brother Bolton! I am Robert Carter, under orders from the proctor to escort Brother Bolton to the martial stage.”

Upon hearing this, David Bolton hurriedly got up. Actually, he knew the way—the martial arena was just past the mountain gate, not far away, built specifically for martial trials at the Tianzhu Mountain annex.

But the problem was, with his current identity, he had never been to Tianzhu Mountain before, so there was no need to show anything unusual.

Following closely behind Robert Carter, David Bolton entered the mountain gate, one after the other, and passed through a gorge that looked as if it had been split by an axe.

When David Bolton emerged from the gorge, he couldn’t help but squint, a glimmer flashing in his eyes.

This was a flat area carved out at the mountaintop, spanning more than twenty li. Looking around, he could see magnificent, towering buildings and high platforms everywhere.

What was even more astonishing was that above, there were more than forty small floating islands. Looking up, he could see hundreds of light figures coming and going from those islands.