2 My Magical Harem System
A few hours passed by.
"Argh."
The waiter's head immediately slipped from his hand that was resting on his knee and he woke up with a start. He looked at Ardor, who was now awake.
"Would you like some water, young master?" He needed to inform his boss.
"Uh… yes, please."
After the waiter left, Ardor slowly looked around the private room decorated in shades of noble brown and gold.
"Who am I? William? Ardor?"
The teen felt an existential crisis, not knowing who he was, not knowing where he ended up being. All he remembered was saving an old cat crossing the road, then the bright headlights of a truck, then boom!
But a trait of William helped him this time. He calmed down, almost reaching the point of being emotionless, and went through his memories in chronological order.
He soon murmured, "Did I… transmigrate? And fuse with Ardor? But why?"
He held his chest, the place he remembered the pricking sensation from. Though it was now all healed up, as good as new, he knew that feeling back then was suspicious.
"But what's up with this messed up situation? I'm no where better now! I was the sole teen of abusing psychopathic killers whose idea of preparing for Halloween was searching and killing lost children and decorating the house with their remains while letting the guests know it was all art.
"And I'm now Ardor Flame; a young master trash with no talent, who wasted the most precious years of his life for training by chasing Isabella and is always bullied at home. It also looks like this is the medieval west with a warrior power system…"
He took moments digesting all that in. The two souls who were similarly bullied, mistreated by their families miraculously fused perfectly, memories and all else. The new teen, carrying the grudges of the past and the present, finally adopted his new identity.
His eyes held a trace of suppressed anger. "I must confirm, but I'm already sure she killed me," he said.
"At least William died to truck-kun, saving something while watching my parents kill all my life. It was a relief. And this body died at the hands of the one he loved! This hatred cannot be resolved!"
Just as he was about to leave, he froze. Not just him, the entire city froze. A tiny gray portal opened in front of Ardor's head. He tried to scream, but couldn't, and remained frozen, stiff, staring at the pale hand extending from it.
"Accept my blessing!"
The voice was absolute, divine, filled with an immense dignity no mortal could dare to defy. The index finger touched his forehead and retreated into the portal. Time unfroze.
Ardor hurriedly breathed in. All this while, unbeknownst to him, only he could think and see. Before he could express his panic, an alert sounded in his mind.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations! You have received a blessing from one of the most noble beings in existence. Unpacking…]
[1… 2… 3…]
Ardor became absent minded at the voice in his head. He remained silent, wondering if this was all nothing but a dream. The voice counted upwards till it reached a century.
[97… 98… 99… 100]
[Congratulations! You are the first host of the Magical Harem System!]
[Please think of "Status" to understand more.]
'Status,' he thought. A blue colored virtual window opened in front of his eyes. He tried to touch it, but his hands simply passed through.
[Magical Harem System]
[Name: Ardor Flame
Warrior/Mage Talent: Trash/Trash (postnatally destroyed)
Strength: 0.7 (1)
Agility: 1.2 (1)
Spirit: 1.5 (1)
Rank: None
Skills: None
Harem: Empty
Lust Points: None
Remarks: Young man, you're… you're nothing. Even I can't find a point praiseworthy about you except that spirit.]
He ignored the remarks and looked at the trash talent. He noted the postnatally destroyed part. 'Did someone just destroy my talent? Could it be her?' he thought with suspicion.
He also noticed his stats and wondered if the fusion of two souls was the reason his spirit was higher than average, as he assumed the data in the brackets were average for a mortal.
Ardor looked at Harem and thought, 'A system to get beauties?'
He thought of his other life, one where he received harsh discipline and this one, where almost none treated him with proper care and realized what he was missing–love.
'Beauties? Love? That might heal me…' he thought with faint expectation as he looked back at his status.
"System, hey system. This is too complicated. Can you make it simpler? Use the image in my mind," he asked, wondering if it would work.
The status hovering in front of his eyes vanished, and just as he panicked, a new interface appeared.
[Magical Harem System]
[Status] [Power] [Harem] [Lust Points] [Mission] [Shop]
He willed for status to open.
[Name: Ardor Flame
Magic/Warrior Talent: None (postnatally destroyed)
Strength: 0.7 (1)
Agility: 1.2 (1)
Spirit: 1.5 (1)
Remarks: Young man, you're… you're nothing. Even I can't find a point praiseworthy about you except that spirit.]
"Nice. That's better," Ardor nodded. He then intended to see power.
[Rank: None
Skills: None
Remarks: A weakling.]
"Right, there's nothing to see," he remembered. Then he tested harem and lust points, which he assumed were a form of currency, and noticed they were empty as well, with some quirky remarks. Since the shop was grayed out, he opened missions.
[Mission 1: Get Yourself a Lover
Introduction: On a holy mission by the supreme being who embodies carnal desire, you need a few beauties by your side. Find yourself someone worthy of following you for life and know that the first choice is always the most important.
Duration: 1 Week
Reward: 100 Lust Points (First Time Bonus), Unlock Shop, Daily Missions
Penalty: You lose the MHS forever. Your memory of these events will disappear.
Remarks: Prove me you're worthy of this blessing.]
"So, if I don't want this system, all I have to do is not do this mission?" Ardor grinned, thankful to have his own choice in the matter. "But why should I let go of this chance? When can I ever get another one?"
He soon smiled, recalling the only one in his life who treated him well. He just had the perfect way to complete this mission!
He mentally swiped up, but nothing happened. "No mission 2, huh? As expected. Guess I'll have to complete this one first."
His desire was answered as the interface moved right to reveal something that shook him to his very core!
[Ultimate Mission: Have A Godly Harem
Introduction: Your sponsor embodies Lust. Build a strong harem, and gain his approval. You will then have repaid your debt to him and will attain freedom. You will also win his eternal friendship.
Condition 1: Get a minimum of 5 women of any race as Permanent Harem members with a Deity status or above
Condition 2: The women must never cheat on the host.
Condition 3: The women must not know their man has other lovers.
Duration: Lifetime
Reward: True Freedom (you will own the MHS), Eternal friendship of Lust.
Special penalty for failing condition 3: You will have to sacrifice a part of your body (like your limbs, torso or head) to get another chance. Having more than 5 permanent harem members will negate condition 3.
Overall Penalty: If you die before completing this mission, your soul shall burn in Eternal Godly Flame till the end of time.
Note: You can designate 'Temporary Harem' members with their permission to see their qualifications. Raise their loyalty. When it reaches 100%, you can move them to 'Permanent Harem' members and their loyalty will be fixed and they will think of you before themselves.
Remarks: This is the ultimate challenge for any man with a harem. Prove to me you can do the impossible.]
"What the heck? You want me to cheat? On my women? And lie to them?"
Ardor stared at the screen in front of him, stupefied for an entire minute. Even after that, the shock didn't completely go away.
"I'll never do that!"
He was fuming in anger.
"Which harem didn't have tens, hundreds, or thousands of beauties with the main character? And you want me to get at least 5? How useless am I in your eyes? And you want them to be deities? They… do they even exist? Not cheat on me? I agree with that one. And what the heck is that???"
Staring at Condition 3 for enough time to dry out his eyes, Ardor remained speechless.
"And here I thought I could finally experience love, fill that void in my heart… and you want me to get women to love me dishonestly? And to lie to them, act as if I'm their only lover? How can I do that?" He shook his head.
Ardor thought of all the ways he could solve this without becoming a cheating bastard, and soon his eyes lit up.
"To think the countless hours of anime I had watched that brought color in my gray world would come to benefit me now. And to think it would be from that silly yet tragic ninja…' Ardor sighed, wondering about the mysteries of fate.
With a determined gaze, Ardor left The Silent Goat while ignoring the waiter, who stared at him as if he was crazy since he might have heard him mumbling and walked the way home amidst the glances, stares, and gossip of the people around.
As the city had very few Viscount families and only two Marquees noble families. Any news of them was big enough to spread throughout the city in a matter of hours.
Ardor quickly walked north, towards the noble residential area of Westray City. He went past the Marquees and a few Viscount households before entering the Flame household. Once there, he didn't see anyone waiting for him, their Fourth Young Master.
'Right, these guys think I'm trash. Since I've now got a game changing blessing, I don't need to let myself get bullied all the time. Of course, I don't need to take care of them as well. But there's one who's decent.'
He crossed the individual residences of his family who didn't give him a pleasant childhood, and there, in the northern corner of the estate, was a small residence he lived in. "It sucks." He commented.
In fact, it had two bedrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, a bathroom that only nobles in this age could enjoy, and a training room; sufficient for a teen's needs. It even had a small courtyard attached behind it.
"But it's trash in front of their houses," Ardor grumpily said.
A little head popped out of the smaller bedroom. "Trash? Young master, did I not clean properly? Tell me where it is and I'll quickly take care of it for you!"
Seeing the only one who genuinely cared for him, his slave, rush to get the broom, he hurriedly stopped her. "Jeanne, stop! There's no trash here. I was just comparing it with other houses of this estate."
The little Asian beauty, a head shorter than him, sadly smiled. She wore a typical maid outfit; a black dress with white trim, with a full skirt at knee length. She had a white half-apron on, with lace stockings, and black high heels. Ardor sneakily took a glance at her bountiful chest.
"What can we do, master? The others don't care about you as much as I do. If they did, you wouldn't be here!"
