Then again, our world was never as united as their world was. The Serti race is an inquisitive race, indeed just like us humans, but the difference lays within the finer details. Everything they do is for the betterment of their race just as we claim to, however they only seek to better themselves in order to protect and improve their world. Just what kind of people are they, if even the animals move according to their wills and willingly give themselves as food to them, is obvious for all to see.

That’s too different from us humans. If there would be a main trait to our race, then it would certainly be greed. With the changes that are happening to our world right now, everything dark I’ve read before in novels will be certain to occur, making me not exactly look forward to it.

“I suddenly don’t feel like leaving this beautiful paradise…”

Maybe noticing my distraught mood, I caught with the corner of my eye one of the beauties nodding to someone behind me. I shook away the useless thoughts and curiously focused on what they were planning next. These girls didn’t seem as strong as Anna, but I didn’t dare to lower my guard.

[Ahem! I have another question… Oh no! Marie!](?)

[Oh, my!](Marie)

It was too obvious that it was a distraction, but I decided to play along. And it was totally worth it! The girl named Marie was a goddess with such a plentiful chest that the buttons on her shirt weren’t able to hold them back and just burst forward in full splendor.

The image of those holly mountains that were shaking as if they were made from pudding made me blank out and completely drop my guard.

“Goddamit! How can that be!? Fuck! I can’t help but think of the textile feel they would have in my hand. Would they even be covered by my hands? Hmm!?”

A sudden pain came from the top of my head and it felt as if a bucket of cold water has been thrown on me. I fucking fell for it! Turning around to see what I’ve been hit with and reaching from my head to feel if there was any blood, I was frozen at what I saw.

Another godly-level beauty with long and slender legs and amazingly awesome curves was blushing in embarrassment as if a child caught steeling a lollipop, while holding a strand of short white hair in between her fingers. Even if she was embarrassed, she was making sure each five seconds or so that it was still there and the breeze didn’t move it away.

“Just… what the…”

The following scene softened my knees to the point where I almost keeled over. She pushed her jade-like fingers holding the strand of hair between her rosy lips, while her blue eyes had a stoic expression akin to ‘I am not giving it back’. I tried piecing what just happened together in order to make sense of the situation, but whatever I could think of… didn’t !!!

“First they distract me with those holly mountains over there and then this girl sneaks behind me in order to grab a single strand of hair of mine? If she would’ve bagged it, I might’ve been able to say that they want to investigate my DNA to see the difference between our races… but she ATE it! What the fuck!? Cannibals? But then, why go for a strand of hair? Also, why pick the white one?”

I couldn’t help but sighing at the fact that I had white strands of hair at my not-even-30 age. I blame it all on the graveyard night shift at the call center. At least they paid me well and got white hair as a bonus, even if there were only strands.

But then, the most amazing thing happened. Not only this girl, but the others around us had shocked looked on their faces for a second, but then turned and looked at me with disappointment, as if it wasn’t even close to enough to satisfy them.

“I mean… do I taste that bad or that good!? I made sure to wash four times today, so that shouldn’t be the case. In addition, they took a goddam white strand, that’s probably close to dead. What were they expecting?”

Seeing their greedy looks, I gulped audibly and thought that I might go bald soon if I don’t do something about this situation. Therefore, I ran my fingers through my hair and a couple of them were caught in the palm of my hand. I offered them to the ‘taster’ of this group and smiled to her like a benevolent God, almost bringing tears in the eyes of the beauty.

Then, she bolted out of there just like a rabbit, as if she caught hold of the most precious treasure in the world.

“Uhm…”

Then, as if things weren’t strange enough, the others looked at each other and seemed to have reached a conclusion. The next thing I knew, they all started waving me goodbye and ran towards the center of the city, where the ‘taster’ ran towards as well.

I couldn’t help but turn in confusion towards Anna which had a bitter smile on her face as she was abandoned by her people with this ‘alien’ that was myself. I could tell that she was rather embarrassed by what just happened.

[I’m sorry, I tried to stop them, but…](Anna)

“It’s fine. It’s not like you knew that I was going to arrive today and is not like you knew what they were thinking. There might be… ahem… slight cultural difference between us, but I still look forward to learning more about your world.”

These words only served to embarrass the girl even more, as her face reddened like a tomato. I really wanted grasp that beautiful face of hers in my hands and not ever let go…

[And us yours! I am glad you are not angry about it.](Anna)

“It’s just some strands of hair. I can part easily with something like that. I’ve been meaning to ask you for a while now but I didn’t get the chance. According to you, I am barely beginning to learn how to use the life energy inside my body. Also, you said that it is a different energy than mana, correct?”

[Indeed! When compared to mana, life energy is a more… natural type, while the first can be considered artificial. Every living being has this type of life energy and it would be impossible for them to live without it. Mana on the other hand… it feels… it’s hard to put into words, but it feels as if it’s something artificially created.](Anna)

“I see… Then, it might be a rude request but, can you teach me how to better my control over the life energy inside my own body?”

[Of course! That is something that we start teaching our children as soon as they possess the intelligence to learn, so it is not a major secret. Lately, we haven’t been able to much of that…](Anna)

Seeing how I approached a rather sensitive subject, I shut my mouth and let her sort out her thoughts. They did mention that the ‘World Tree’ is also their means of ‘continuing their race’. I honestly had no clue how a tree could make children, but it’s another fucking world I’ve been teleported to by a system created by Gods that were bored and wanted to play, so what the fuck do I know?

All that mattered for me was for them to help me grasp the energy I felt in my body after grasping mana. I was agreeable with what Anna said previously about them feeling different. If I were to compare them, the life energy felt as if it was the skin on my hands and the mana was a pair of gloves.

“That might mean that if I can learn to better control my life energy, it will certainly boost my control over mana and maybe my holding capacity as well. Maybe I could use this as my cheat!”

[It’s getting late! Come! You will stay at my house tonight. I am curious about what you think of our world’s cuisine.](Anna)

“Gladly!”

This grim reminder of the lesser time I have left before nightfall, woke me up from my reverie. Trying to piece things together about my quest on the way to Anna’s house, I finally got the chance to ask some more questions. Since there was a chance that the ‘enemies’ mentioned in my quest might be the men of the Resti race, I asked about them. Apparently the girls are referring to them as Fallen and that they have been oddly quiet lately.

“That’s a fucking flag isn’t it!?”

I also found out that all their main electricity sources were gathered from the plants around the fortress or from the World Tree, that used a machinery they created and life energy was converted into electricity. Not only that, but apparently, this World Tree was a gift sent from their Goddess when seeing that their race is about to go extinct because of mana that invaded this world. It was this Goddess as well that sent her prophecy down through one of the girls and imparted some wisdom not belonging to this world to them. The way they used to distract me as well, was something their Goddess taught them.

“Their Goddess taught them how to use a honey-trap!? What a terrifying Goddess!”

But it made sense for a godly being with knowledge above what this world possess to be able to spot that. I mean, it doesn’t take a genius once seeing the beauty of these girls. However, that Goddess underestimated the greed and evil hearts of men of my race.

Thinking back to my quest, there was nothing pointing to the fact that these girls were the targets. Also, they were under 100 in this fortress according to Anna, therefore it was impossible to complete the quest that way.

The system clearly stated that even if miniscule, there will be a chance to complete the quest.

“There are too many variables to make sure I can make the right choice and still not enough information. In game terms, the Resti people should be NPC’s and I should be able to see my relationship status with them. If they are kind towards me it should be Friendly. If they are hostile, it should show as Enemy. So why the hell isn’t that shown?”

I was brought out of my pensive state after almost stuffing my face in Anna’s chest since she stopped and turned to me abruptly. If only I had a bit more speed…

[We’re here. Oh, right! Since you’ll sleep here tonight, I unfortunately have only one bed. I hope you don’t mind sharing it.](Anna)

“…”

The DREAM is still alive! Way to go Goddess!