Chapter 123 - Departure (1/2)
[
Affiliation Quest
Status: Complete
Description: Partner-up with 10 women.
Reward: Harem
Hidden Reward: Promotion from [Intern] to [Member].
]
[
Harem (Transparent)
Model: Statis
Description: A spatial treasure that is capable of storing living beings of all nature and kinds in a state of time paralysis.
To keep the Harem absolutely safe, the treasure stores itself within the energy pocket of the Host.
]
Within the room of the inn, Nik's vision suddenly registered a tiny tear in the space itself as a soft, golden glow entered his body while a mass of information was once again updated within his mind.
This was something that Nik did not find peculiar. The moment he joined the system as the host, he had allowed the system to be in control of his soul to some extent, akin to administrator rights or the application permissions of the smartphones.
This process took place, in Nik's hypothesis, for two reasons.
First, to always have a certain control over the soul of the hosts as they gain power through completing the system's quest.
Second, Nik felt that no conscious being would ever grant anything without any strings attached. By gaining the abilities of a host that could travel through the world and gain various exotic powers, it was certainly within the bounds of nature to take something in return. A devil's transaction, if a host must term the process of gaining the approval of the system. But this partial control over the soul also allows the system to update certain information that is extremely beneficial to the hosts.
Like rules, laws and various exceptions of the system so that the Host does not go down the wrong path that may harm the system's motive instead of helping it.
In fact, every host knew about this, and yet, they were still willing to join the system.
After understanding the functioning of the harem, Nik closed his eyes and focused within himself. Due to the existence of the [Harem], he could finally look into his own Energy Pocket that stored the [System Energy] visually.
The moment he thought of [Harem], Nik found his vision turning dark before he floated within a dark space. His body, or maybe, the visual projection of his consciousness, was glowing slightly while the area below was filled with a pure white sea of energy.
The System Energy.
In front of him, Nik observed a golden cube with four apparent sections on each of its face as it rotated on a straight axis passing through one of its edges. The size of the [Harem] was almost similar to a Rubik's cube while Nik already knew the function of this Transparent Graded item.
White, Green.
These were the two grades of items that Nik had already come across and by the actions of the System, it seemed like Nik had to discover the various grades himself as he did not have any knowledge of the item's grades within his mind.
But the most unfortunate thing was that Nik couldn't explore his own Energy Pocket. All he could 'see' was the white sea of neutral energy and the golden cube [Harem]. But the existence of [Harem] definitely opened a lot of possibilities for his future actions.
The moment any woman becomes his partner, they also enter into a partial contract with the System. This contract would censor any information the girls might leak unintentionally but the partial contract also restricts their movement within the worlds.
So, in essence, while Nik finally gained the means to take his women away, they cannot leave the [Harem] until they join the system.
And due to the [Harem] being the statis model, Nik would need to get an even better model so that he could have his girls remain conscious within the [Harem] so that they can enter into a true contract and finally experience other worlds as he had promised.
Taking a deep breath, Nik found himself returned to his room. The bed of the inn proved to be smaller than needed, so Ty-Lee had already requested the bed to be removed while the floor itself was covered in mattresses as Ty-Lee and nine other girls slept peacefully.
Seeing them, Nik felt an urge to break through the restrictions of the System so that they could experience new worlds without any strings attached and their lives on the line, but still kept his emotions in check.
He didn't know what was System's true purpose, but it was definitely not related to harming its hosts that are dutifully completing the tasks.
And deep down, Nik also knew that he joined the system on his own volition. The System merely offered power for his own services.
He once again exhaled loudly before slumping down on the mattress with a tired face.
***
The Day of Victorious Return.
Within the inn, aside from Azula, everyone stood opposite to Nik as their worried glances often grazed past Nik's body before they looked down. Even Ty-Lee was included in this.
”I...”
A lump was stuck in his mouth as Nik couldn't form words. He felt that whatever he might say would end up meaningless if he couldn't actually fulfill his promise and the responsibility of bringing along ten lives suddenly seemed heavier than he could have imagined.
”Tsk! Nik, get on with it already!” Toph finally grumbled as she tapped her foot impatiently.
”You said that it would an instant for us, remember? If we are standing here, then it means that we trust you enough... disregarding how little we know.
So man the fuck up, already!”
She looked towards Nik's direction with a furious glare while Nik fell silent for a moment before looking up and gazing at them individually before smiling brightly.
Toph was right. To the girls, it would feel like an instant, so as long as he remembered this fact, he didn't have any reason to feel bad or guilty. There was no need for a grieving departure. After all, they were tagging along, too.
”Thank you. Everyone! When I bring you back, let's have loads of fun once again.”
With that, Nik simply willed the [Harem] to only bring the nine women—
Pavāka
Virya
Karna
Yue
Toph
Katara
June
Mai and,
Ty-Lee into its space.
In fact, the [Harem] was connected to his partner contract. This meant that wherever he was, he could always take his partners into the storage. Like, if he wanted to, he can easily 'store' Mitsuko and others even if he wasn't present in the said world.
Nine streams of soft golden glow detached from Nik's body before they covered his partners as they vanished in that very instant, making Azula raise her eyebrows.