Ryu was alone again, though whether he was ever by himself was now questionable. The priestess had excused herself citing the goddess as the reason, though he had the feeling she was actually trying to avoid hitting him for his blatant sexual assault.

Without much else to do Ryu returned to going through his stats, and he soon found an anomaly, something that wasn’t there the last time he’d looked.

[Order - Level 1: Activate to issue an order to a target allied NPC unit.]

“Hmm…” Ryu stroked his chin.

He needed a test subject, and, lo and behold, the priestess returned.

“That was quick,” said Ryu, getting up.

“The goddess changed her mind.”

“Uhuh...”

The priestess took a cautious step back as Ryu approached her.

“There’s something I want to try.”

The priestess slowed down and nodded her head lightly.

“Bend over.”

She looked away, and Ryu wondered if he was doing it wrong.

“I order you to bend over.”

“I cannot do that,” said the priestess, her voice sounding unusually monotone, like a robot.

Ryu stroked his chin again.

“I order you to bend over.”

“I cannot do that.”

It was as he suspected. The game was cockblocking him. But Ryu wasn’t the kind of person to give up at the first sign of resistance, especially so when this was on the line.

“I order you to bend over and pick up that rock.”

The priestess’ eyebrows knit together, before she bent down and did as told. Ryu knelt down so that he could observe her actions more closely, which is to say, the priestess’ panties were a pleasant lacy white.

“I wonder if those are blessed as well?” mumbled Ryu.

A wonderful question to accompany a wonderful discovery: the limitation of Order wasn’t the order itself, but the perceived intention of the order.

“Your perversion knows no limits,” said the priestess, quickly straightening her back.

Ryu was still knelt down, so he looked up to find the priestess looking down on him, like the sun on a blistering hot day, with her arms crossed.

“Sorry, I was just testing your loyalty,” said Ryu, standing up.

“There is no need. I am devoted to the goddess.”

Ryu looked up to the sky, briefly wondering whether he was now looking up some goddess’ dress. There was no winning with woman.

“Ah, the goddess… who is the goddess?”

Ryu pictured a woman with an hourglass figure and a white glow-

“You don’t know of the goddess?!”

Ryu looked at the priestess, who’s mouth was left open, ever so slightly.

“No, no I don’t. Should I? What’s her name?”

The priestess nodded side to side. “It would be rude to speak her name for no other cause.”

“Then what’s she look like?”

The priestess’ glared at Ryu.

“Alright alright,” said Ryu, raising his hands into the air. “We shouldn’t be standing here chatting anyway.”

“And you would suggest?” said the priestess.

The issue Ryu was having wasn’t figuring out what to do, but rather how to do it. Food was being scavenged, so he could consider that temporarily resolved. Drinkable water wasn’t especially hard to acquire either. The ocean was nearby, so all that was needed would be a fire to purify it.

“We need to find shelter.”

The current establishment of “rags pegged into the ground and raised up with sticks” as the survivors put it wasn’t unbearable, but it wasn’t sustainable either. People could only live in such conditions for so long.

“I doubt you will find anything within walking distance,” said the priestess.

Ryu scanned his surroundings, searching for options. Most of what he saw was rubble and burnt timber, useless for building as far as he knew. Ryu stopped his search and looked at the priestess, who still had her arms crossed across her chest.

“I meant that we need to build something.”

“Are you skilled in building things?” said the priestess, adjusting her arms.

“Not at all, but I can probably find something on the internet.”

The priestess looked at Ryu like he’d said something weird.

“It’s like a library. Anyway I’ll be back once I find something.”

Ryu logged off, which from the priestess’ perspective appeared as if he’d suddenly teleported away.

“I’ll never get to used to how travellers can do that…” said the priestess.