"I'm… I'm feeling a bit hot, like right after running. And also…"
"Also?"
"A bit itchy? It makes me want to squirm. Something like that? I've never felt like this before."
"You're describing the intended effect perfectly. It means the massage is working well. Should we continue?"
"Erm… No, I'm okay for today."
"Are you sure? This is just the beginning. As we go on, it'll make you feel amazing. Like never before in your life."
"Huh… No, let's stop for now."
I nodded docilely when I saw her shake her head. Suuru was someone who had been kind and generous to me. I would never do anything that displeased my benefactor.
"As you want. We can continue tomorrow."
Of course, that didn't mean I would let her escape so easily.
"Ugh… Well… Okay."
She took a few deep breaths and went on when she was more composed.
"Let's have dinner now. You can tell me about your day while we eat."
"Sure."
Suuru prepared the exact same meal we ate the two previous days and we shared a slim but pleasant dinner. I could have used the money I earned today to buy food and water but I planned on leeching off her generosity for now. I needed the capital money to start a business and make it big. At that time, I would repay her kindness ten times, no, a thousand times over. I would make sure she would never be in need until her death. I wasn't someone to forget about my debts.
After yet another exciting cleaning time, we ended up sleeping together, with her sticking closer to me than ever. She even asked me to face her so she could hug me better, an offer I forced myself to refuse. I was confident any remnant of self-control I had would blow to pieces if I let her do that. Who knows what I would do to her after that? I certainly wanted to do those things to her but I wanted her to understand her sexuality a little bit more, as well as get her approval for those activities.
On the next day, we had a light breakfast before Suuru prepared herself for another day of metal shaping. On my side, I had a change of mind. I initially intended to make my way to the top while learning the language here. However, I realized it would take too long for my taste. Plus, I had a crucial advantage compared to the people living here. I was a spatial mage.
Based on my reconnaissance the previous day, it was clear what would make a lot of money in the domes. It was precisely what they lacked: water, food, and raw resources. I could start my life as a trader by opening a moving and transportation business but my specialty offered me a possibility that was out of reach for other folks.
It was very simple. I could teleport outside of the domes while they couldn't. The sel domes guaranteed the safety of everyone who was inside but it also acted as a prison. A prison I could easily escape any time I wanted.
It wasn't without risk. There might be a good reason why the humans here isolated themselves. Maybe the outside world was filled with poisonous gases, killing anybody indiscriminately. Maybe the world out there was radioactive, provoking irrecoverable damage to anyone willing to explore. Or maybe dangerous creatures were surveying the world, wanting nothing more than easy prey in the form of a human.
However, no matter which one it was, I was confident in being able to handle it. Not because I was immune to any of these dangers, but because I could immediately teleport back inside if I felt anything wrong. Unless going outside provoked instant death, I believed I could react fast enough to escape back to safety. The very small risk of death was worth the potential benefit of getting access to a whole planet's worth of resources, in my opinion.
Just like yesterday, I announced to Suuru that I would spend the day outside. She still seemed a bit worried but didn't try to keep me at home this time. I made sure she was back inside her house before heading in the opposite direction of the city, toward the edge of the dome. Suuru's place was already very close to it so it didn't take me much time until I was there.
For a few moments, I admired the orange dome from close by. I had to admit that it was a piece of sel art. The sel was strong and thick enough to resist pretty much anything. I doubted even the strongest fighters in my previous world could have done anything about it in a short amount of time. Yet, this wasn't the most impressive aspect. What made it shine was that it allowed air to pass, but only after filtering it. The same was true for light, even though it somehow looked opaque from this side, not revealing anything of what was on the other side. Only the shape of the "sun" was visible, though not as perfectly as looking at it directly. It was truly magical indeed.
It was now time for the serious part. First, I put a piece of cloth around my mouth and nose, in the event of toxic air on the other side. I couldn't do much about radiation or any dangerous creature but I wouldn't stay outside long enough for these to be a problem if I sensed any form of risk for my life. I also wasn't as defenseless as I seemed against physical attacks.
I took a deep breath, focused my mind and sel, closed my eyes, and teleported around 300 meters in front of me, in case the dome was incredibly thick, and 300 meters in the sky, to avoid crashing into a tree or something. Even though I couldn't see the destination, it wasn't hard to calculate the coordinates based on my current position. Blind teleportation was normally fearfully avoided but I had no plans to live a poor life in a dome for the rest of my time. For a fraction of a second, I kept my eyes closed, to avoid any direct contact with potentially harmful elements in the air.
It felt like an eternity but, not sensing anything wrong even after that moment, I opened my eyes, finally witnessing what the outside world was like.