Versatile System

Trevor didn’t reply, but the intense concentration etched across his face already made it abundantly clear to the dwarf that he was more than ready to hear whatever he had to say.

"Okay — the only reason it was able to attempt an attack on you was because it could sense life within you," the dwarf said, looking Trevor straight in the eyes, as though Trevor was supposed to immediately understand where he was heading. But seeing Trevor still utterly lost, the dwarf finally spoke again with a quiet sigh.

"Let’s not overcomplicate this. Why do you think the shadow didn’t come after me but attacked you instead?"

The dwarf didn’t continue immediately, pausing to see if Trevor would at least offer some kind of response — but when no answer came forth, he finally continued with what he had been trying to say.

"Well, it is actually quite simple. The living do not wield magic, and you wield magic — so it was obvious that you are still living. But since I am a dwarf, it was equally obvious to the shadow that I am still living as well." The dwarf said this calmly, his tone measured and deliberate.

Trevor thought about it for a moment but still couldn’t quite grasp the concept. It simply didn’t feel entirely feasible to him.

"Well, as you may already know, every known being is capable of awakening an Essence — and even those who don’t awaken can still wield ancient magic if they put their mind to it.

Now, what does that actually mean?

It means that every single person contains magic within them, no matter how small or dormant it may be, regardless of whether they have awakened or not.

But when it comes to dwarves, we are fundamentally different. Ever since the curse handed down by the Lust Goddess, we can no longer manifest any form of magic whatsoever."

After the dwarf’s long and detailed explanation, Trevor finally began to understand at least a portion of what he had been saying.

"Okay — I understand what you mean. But I am now a Tyrant, which means suppressing my magical aura would be nearly impossible," Trevor said, and as he spoke, he noticed the particular way the dwarf kept looking at him.

It was quite clear the dwarf already had a smooth and well-thought-out plan waiting in the wings.

"Alright — what exactly are you thinking?" Trevor said, his tone carrying the weight of quiet exhaustion.

"Well, here you go — this is a pill made for exactly this kind of situation," the dwarf said as he immediately shuffled through his bag and pulled out a small, tiny crystal.

"Just place it in your mouth, and then we can walk calmly through the forest without any real problems whatsoever," the dwarf said with an easy calm.

The moment the dwarf handed Trevor the crystal, Trevor placed it directly into his mouth, and the two finally began moving deeper into the forest. And just as the dwarf had predicted, there was no real threat to speak of.

Trevor could feel the shadows drawing near him and the dwarf every once in a while — but they still did not attack. They simply drifted away after a short while, as though something about the two of them no longer warranted any interest.

Soon after walking a considerable distance, they actually made it past the forest entirely, and the First Primordial Tower was already visible in the distance.

Trevor looked at the tower ahead with an early sense of calm. He knew deep down that each of these towers would contain extraordinarily dangerous trials.

But somehow, he was not nearly as worried as he once had been.

"Alright, let’s move. We really cannot afford to linger out here — the tower is just a short walk away," Trevor said calmly, already beginning to walk eagerly in the direction of the tower.

But after walking for some time, he turned around only to find that the dwarf hadn’t made a single move yet.

Trevor felt a flicker of irritation at what the dwarf was doing, but he still couldn’t bring himself to simply leave the dwarf behind — the dwarf was defenceless now, and that was a fact Trevor could not ignore.

Slightly ticked off, Trevor marched straight back to where the dwarf was standing.

Meanwhile, the dwarf was still staring at the tower in a quiet daze, completely unmoving.

"What on earth are you even doing? We have to move right now. I really don’t have much time left — and let’s not even start on the fact that this is only the very first tower," Trevor said, making absolutely no effort to conceal his irritation.

"Well... we overlooked one rather important detail." The dwarf paused. "All towers are guarded by succubuses, and you would have to offer them something of value in order to secure a clean passage through," the dwarf said calmly, his eyes still fixed and glazed on the tower ahead.

"And the only thing we have left to offer is combat. I am sorry to say this, but the succubus is one of the most powerful entities in this entire world. I am not convinced that combat is a wise approach. Having intimacy with them would have been the ideal route, since they are known to be insatiable lovers by nature — but as we both know, they drain a man’s very life force through that kind of intimacy.

I believe our only real hope at this moment is to outsmart the succubus with a carefully crafted false promise — but I am still turning over how exactly we could do that without it sounding like an obvious scam, and at the same time without it sounding like something they have already encountered a hundred times before." The dwarf kept rubbing its white beard thoughtfully, still turning the problem over in its mind in search of the best possible approach.

Just then, a glowing screen appeared directly in front of Trevor.

*[New Mission: Sleep with all three Succubuses.*

*Reward: One Contracted Succubus.]*

Trevor stared at the screen calmly at first — but his expression gradually shifted into something far more troubled as he began carefully weighing his chances.

He soon arrived at the firm conclusion that the system was either completely out of its mind, or it was simply trying to do away with him once and for all.

Just as Trevor was doing his very best to reason things through, the dwarf finally spoke again.

"Well, I believe at this particular moment, your best course of action is to try and woo her into bed. It is not going to be an easy feat by any stretch of the imagination — but I know for a fact that you were able to satisfy the Queen Mother, which is genuinely an extraordinary achievement in itself.

This will certainly be risky — but when I weigh all the risks against one another, this is still the most favourable path available to us right now."

Trevor simply nodded at the dwarf’s words. After all, there was almost nothing else they could realistically do at this point.

And somehow, the thought still gave him a certain kind of quiet hope. If he succeeded, he knew with confidence that Alex would never be able to match him — not in this. After all, Trevor had Lust-related abilities running through his very core.

But what did Alex have? The succubus would simply seduce him and drain him dry on the spot.

With that thought settling firmly in his mind, Trevor nodded calmly and finally followed the dwarf toward the entrance of the tower.

It didn’t take them very long at all to reach the entrance.

The tower was remarkably tall, looming high above them and casting a long shadow across the ground beneath their feet. It was pure white in colour, though it looked incredibly ancient and was already leaning slightly to one side — as though it genuinely intended to come crashing down at any given moment.

Just as Trevor was still marvelling at the sheer scale of the tower, a voice immediately brought them both to a sharp halt.

"I sense that you are here for the Primordial Tower."

Immediately, a strikingly beautiful woman came into view. She was flawless in every conceivable way.

Her figure was a perfect hourglass, with full, generous curves that filled out the hem of her dress in a way that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Two small horns curved delicately out from her head, framing a face so perfect it almost seemed sculpted rather than natural.

The dwarf beside Trevor had already bowed his head low, deliberately averting his gaze — he had no intention of falling victim to her seduction magic.

Trevor, however, looked on without flinching.

"I am certain you already know that I am the guardian of the First Primordial Tower," the woman said, her voice smooth and unhurried. "And I demand a price in exchange for granting you entrance. As you well know, not all good things in this world come freely."

She let the words hang in the air for a moment before adding, "I also accept human sacrifices," the succubus said seductively, her gaze drifting slowly toward the dwarf, who was already trembling vigorously with his head firmly down.

Trevor could already feel the heat rising through him. His mind felt clouded at the edges — wiped clean of almost everything except the overwhelming desire in front of him. She wasn’t even actively using her seduction magic yet, but the sheer aura radiating naturally from her was already more than doing the job on its own.

After all, she was without question the most beautiful woman Trevor had ever laid eyes on in his entire life. Her skin was smooth, white, and completely spotless — so even completely stripped of any supernatural aura, she would have had the same effect on him regardless.

"No — I will not be sacrificing anyone," Trevor said firmly, a grin spreading across his face. "But I do have another offer. A far better one."

The succubus glanced at the dwarf one final time, as though she had already lost interest in him entirely, before bringing her full attention back to Trevor.

"And what exactly is your offer?" she said, her gaze sharpening into something far more serious.

"I want to satisfy you," Trevor said, his boldness reaching an entirely new level as he held her gaze without a flicker of hesitation.

"You want to satisfy me..." She let the words sit for a moment before a slow, almost amused smile crept across her face. "How wonderfully funny. That is nothing short of a death sentence. In my three hundred and sixty years of existence, not a single soul has ever truly satisfied me — and that is precisely because attempting to do so is, of course, a death sentence."

Trevor took a long, slow breath. He understood full well what succubuses were genuinely capable of.

They drained life force from their partners during intimacy, and with their extraordinarily high libido, they were nearly impossible to satisfy under any normal circumstances. That wasn’t even accounting for the fact that they could quite literally turn around and kill their victims the moment the encounter stopped being entertaining enough for them.

It was, without any exaggeration, a suicide mission.

But Trevor knew with equal certainty that there was no other viable path around this. The dwarf simply could not take his place in this — and there was no point pretending otherwise.

"I understand the risks fully," Trevor said calmly, his voice steady and composed. "But I stand firmly by the terms I have offered."

"In that case," the succubus said, her lips curving into a slow and deliberate smile, "come and have me."

She opened a portal with a single fluid motion, and in an instant, both she and Trevor were pulled into the swirling light together.

The glow from the portal faded quickly, and soon the entrance was still and silent once more — with only the dwarf remaining, standing alone.

The dwarf began pacing back and forth restlessly, his heart quietly hoping that Trevor could somehow pull through. Deep down, he knew the succubuses better than most. They were the chosen messengers of the Goddess of Lust herself, and that was no trivial matter — not for any ordinary mortal, and arguably not even for extraordinary ones.

Even if Trevor had managed to satisfy the Dwarf Goddess, a succubus was an entirely different matter altogether.

Not because she was necessarily more powerful in the conventional sense — but because a succubus was fundamentally built and designed for intimacy in a way that the Goddess simply was not. The Goddess had merely been cursed into her nature. The succubus had been born into hers.

The dwarf found himself genuinely hoping that it had not simply been the succubus’s overwhelming charm that had pushed Trevor into making this particular decision.

He hoped — truly and sincerely hoped — that Trevor actually had a plan.