The godly soft bed and an even softer pillow under him smelled lavender. It felt like he was back in the 24th century while his eyes were still closed. A tiny part of him hoped he was back as the inconveniences in this world were driving him nuts. Another bigger part of him wanted to stay rather than go back to the mundane life of a retiree.

Adrin sighed softly as he opened his eyes to lavish otherworldly decorations. The uncanny [Lightstone] in the room had, of course, swatted that previous idea away.

“I’m still alive, apparently,” he mumbled.

The last thing he remembered was tumbling through the air from the recoil, and then nothing. He wasn’t sure it was because of the shockwave or the inertia, maybe even both. He could have done better, but he had never thought the spell was somehow connected to him. His impromptu magic was exactly what it was, an impromptu. Incomplete.

He had seen others shooting a [Fireball] without any recoil and so he assumed the same applied to his self-made, on-the-spot spell circuit. The devil probably was in the detail of the [Fireball] circuit itself as even plasma could generate recoil if it wasn't handled properly.

A tinge of pain assaulted his head when he tried to dig deeper into it.

Did he hit his head? He could have sworn that he had and hopefully the single-shot hit its intended target. Being harmed by the dumb recoil wouldn’t be worth it if it missed. The pain wracking his head also told him that he must have suffered a horrible concussion from the fall.

His current condition also seemed to agree with the idea. Adrin was barely able to move around before his head began to ache like hell. He tried to push the blanket off by using his right hand up but only his stump moved.

That’s right, he had cut off his own cursed hand.

Adrin sighed. Even with all his plans and preparation, he still got owned. Hard.

The only reason he was still alive was that he was surrounded by powerful people. At the very least, those powerful people had bought him enough time and space to use his skills.

The [Lightbringer] probably would have ended up as a mindless undead servant if he was horny enough to let the woman get him alone. It would be the absolute worst if he was on her bed like she had hinted after the unpleasant reveal of his [Crystal] affinity. It also would drive him crazy if he had been caught with his pants literally down.

And the news that the [Necromancer] was a corrupted [Lightbringer] had cleared a few things up. It put the head on the snake. No wonder the people in power distrust him. Anyone would’ve as the douchebag undead had even planted a spy among the teachers of the academy.

It also painted a clear picture of what the general people thought of him. Only a few fools would put another found [Lightbringer] on the pedestal, not even those who were in the church.

The title was or had become a double-edged sword.

“Hopefully he or she isn’t from Earth,” he muttered.

Adrin wondered what if the [Necromancer] was from Earth? And what about other [Lightbringers? The princess said there were others like him, probably more streetsmart, [Lightbringers] but did that mean they were still around or not?

But the real question was, where the heck was he right now?

His thoughts were clear but everything else around him felt unreal, almost dreamy somehow. The things around him blurred until he focussed on them. It felt like he was drugged or something.

His question was somewhat answered when the door opened. Rosabella, the famed Matriarch entered the room in sexy see-through lingerie. What he had only imagined was no longer something only inside his head. The perfect hourglass shape stole all his attention away and not to mention the mighty swing of those hips. It made him imagine things a sick person shouldn't be even thinking about.

Adrin closed his eyes and pretended to sleep. It was easy because of how comfortable the bed was, and he was about to fall asleep again before the familiar warmth of a woman wrapped around him.

“Don’t you dare to fall asleep again,” warned the Matriarch before wet lips pushed onto his own. “Not after I’ve decided to fall in love with you,” she added before continuing wetting his lips.

Red flags popped up inside his head as heard those words. He remembered the not-so-old saying back on Earth. Never put your D into crazies, and Adrin backed away from the kiss as gently as he could while pretending to wake up.

The Matriarch had both magical power, and well, political power. Dealing with such a woman was like literally playing with an open fire. Harshly rejecting her would spell a short life, or worse, a miserable long life.

A disappointed moan accompanied her as she reluctantly separated herself. Adrin knew that he could do nothing if she were to force herself, but luckily, the lady still had some control over herself.

“I’m just tired,” Adrin half-lied, and his eyes opened to a pouting woman.

“No man in this kingdom had ever rejected me so blatantly,” she sat on the side of the bed with uncharacteristic childlike tantrums.

“You should already know why they won’t,” he countered. Adrin knew that it was she who usually did the rejection as resisting the temptation was easier said than done.

The lady scoffed, “said the young man who already has two lovers waiting.”

“Right,” Adrin admitted his defeat. He was never good with words, in both worlds. “Where are we anyway, and why does this place feel unreal?” Adrin tried to change the subject.

The woman suddenly purred, “you can tell it isn’t real… it looks like you hide more than I thought, but have you ever wondered how heirs learn about, you know, sex?” she said while dangling her two plump, massive jugs in front of his face.

“Um, no?” Adrin pushed himself to sit up while tearing his eyes away from the enticing scene.

“Well, we use this construct,” she waved her hand around. “It keeps our body pure and untouched by any man.”

“What do you mean?” Adrin asked even though he already had a gist of it.

“Remember, the Mirage dungeon at the academy?” the lady chuckled hauntingly. “This is a small imitation of the vast dungeon.”

Virtual reality bedroom fun? Even he hadn’t thought of that.

“But of course, there is no such recording in this construct,” she continued.

Of course, a recording. That would explain everything.

That was how the folks learned about his capability as the words of young girls shouldn’t have convinced them so easily. As the old saying goes, seeing is believing. They wouldn’t risk wasting a royal blood’s time on him if they hadn’t seen him in action with their own two eyes.

He should have known, but then again, how could he? It wasn’t anything like recording crystals sold everywhere in the city. He doubted there was even a prototype. It was one thing to create such a realistic virtual world but a whole other thing to have a recording of it.

The capability of creating such things should be a lost knowledge, or he would have heard rumors about other Mirage dungeons. Adrin was also glad that he hadn’t done anything stupid or embarrassing while in the dungeon.

“But some people do consider lovemaking here more intimate than the opposite,” the lady purred. “What do you think?”

“I can understand why they think so,” Adrin said as he offered the woman a truce. He could feel her body shiver as he placed his hand on her hip.

“But I think we shouldn’t rush such things, a meal at the end of the day tasted much better after a day of hard work, right?”

“Yes, you are right,” the woman agreed with a scary smile. “I think I’ll enjoy working you up. Besides, we are already running out of time,” the Matriarch said as she sat straighter.

Her flirty demeanor suddenly hardened into her usual business-only appearance. It was crazy how fast the woman could change from one to another. It raised a lot of questions.

Something appeared before Adrin could formulate his question. It appeared like a laser-powered 3D printer printing something out. In this case, it began with a few pairs of feet and up until the heads were complete in a span of a few seconds.

The bed felt small as the two girls dashed into his arms in sobs and tears.

“Hey, what’s the big deal?” Adrin said while patting Emilia’s back. Nerina, on the other hand, had to be satisfied with his stump for now.

“You didn’t tell him anything,” said the much younger redhead to the Matriarch.

“Tell me what?”

Ana softly cleared her throat, “you have been in a coma for a few years after almost every bone on your body broke, and…,” the redhead paused.

“And what?” Adrin didn't like the look she had on her face.

“Healers had done their best,” exclaimed Ana, “It is a huge relief to us when you can move your limbs freely here as it means your soul has recovered from the curse. The only reason your hand is still a stump is that you believe it is. But... it is a different story for your body as you are currently paralyzed from the neck down. No healers know what is wrong. I’m sorry, but at least you could live on-”

“Alright, you can stop there,” Adrin cut her off.

Ana’s words had shaken him to the core.

He couldn't even believe what she was saying. He had been sleeping for a few years because of the curse? That was just insane. She seemed to be content for him to live as a vegetable, but the girl didn't have the faintest idea of what he knew or was capable of.

“Paralyzed from the neck down. The nerves in my spine probably pinched or hurt somehow,” he muttered his thoughts out loud.

“Nerves in your spine?” said Ana and the Matriarch almost at the same time.

“Are you saying you can fix it? Fix yourself?” Emilia pushed herself up from the bed, looking straight into his eyes. The girl was always quick to catch on.

The eyes of the other people in the room went wide open.

“I can try,” Adrin replied. “You see, the medical knowledge in my old world-”

“Can you explain what you mean by the nerves in your spine?” Ana interrupted his train of thoughts while walking closer to the bed.

Adrin noticed a slight bump on her belly. Even if it was already a few years, there was no way a girl like her would get fat and that only left the other explanation, but she was so young. Too young if anyone asked him.

“It is the way the human body works,” Adrin began, shelving the awkward thought to the back of his head. “Like blood vessels that carry blood from the heart throughout our body, there is also a nervous system which carries instructions from the brain to the muscles.”

“You mean our blood flows inside our body as mana does?”

Adrin turned towards the lady, “yes, Matriarch, you can put it that way.”

He almost forgot that the medical knowledge here was almost as backward as in the Earth's medieval ages. Who in the world would even study how the human body worked if a simple spell or potion could heal almost every injury or illness? Magic might have given this world many wondrous things but also had held it back from more important things.

“No, just call me Bella,” said the lady to his surprise. “I’m not the Matriarch anymore. Ana had taken her rightful place.”

“I see, it seemed a lot had happened while I’m... away,” Adrin chuckled. “Congrats, by the way.”

“Thank you, and we will let you in on the details later,” Ana said, without a hint of emotion in her voice. “Anyway, the news of your condition had stopped many from asking for your hand in marriage, but if you say you can heal yourself-”

“I’m sorry, but I rather it stayed that way,” he interrupted before she dug the hole deeper. “Let’s keep this under tight wrap for now, can we do that?”

Ana spent a few long moments staring down at him before she let out a silent sigh. “You must know that the more concrete ties you have with other families, the safer you will be, right?”

Adrin groaned, “political marriage, really?”

“Yes,” Bella said almost sadly, “even Ana can’t escape it. She will be bearing children for the family’s sake, arranged by the Elders.”

“I’ll love them all the same,“ Ana offered a small smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

No sane mother wouldn’t love her child, there was no doubt about the fact, but from her cold demeanor, the girl probably hated the father. Adrin couldn’t even imagine how it even translated into the obvious push and shove. He didn’t know how he would feel to be obligated to sleep with someone he didn’t find attractive, let alone someone he disliked.

Adrin had no word to offer the girl as he knew this was the case for people like her. Humans back in his old world were also the same when they were in the same period of civilization.

Backward scientific knowledge would only lead to backward ways of thinking.

“I’m sure you’ll be a fine mother,” he said, after finishing his course of thoughts. “Anyway, how do we get out of this construct, I have to check my body.”

“That’s the easy part,” smiled Ana as the light returned to her eyes.

The news of him being able to fix himself seemed to be the only thing she was looking forward to. He just hope the future mama wouldn't ask him to do something unreasonable as a payback to this debt.

‘Yeah, I should never ask her about the bump,’ Adrin thought to himself.