Chapter 2: Survival of the Shameless
[Countdown: 15... 14... 13...]
Leon’s mind dissolved to raw and utter panic as the neon-pink numbers flashed ominously in his field of vision, completely unobstructed by Elara’s furious face.
Explosive detonation?! he screamed internally. Who programs a system to do that?! What happened to a simple slap on the wrist or minus ten EXP?!
"I asked you a question, you deaf little rat!" Elara roared, shaking him again.
Her grip on his collar was like a vice, cutting off his circulation. The violent motion caused her incredibly generous chest to press and slide against him, a sensation that would have been a dream come true if he wasn’t currently staring down the barrel of dual castration.
[Countdown: 9... 8... 7...]
Leon had to make a choice, and he had to make it right now.
Option A: Apologize, beg for mercy, and die in the most agonizing, humiliating way scientifically possible, leaving behind a very confusing mess for the other servants to clean up.
Option B: Commit assault on a woman who could likely fold him into a pretzel, and face the wrath of House Sterling.
It wasn’t really a choice at all.
He could deal with a beating, what he could not deal with his family jewels turning into a fireworks display.
[Countdown: 4... 3...]
Lord forgive me for what I am about to do, Leon prayed.
Suddenly, Leon’s trembling stopped as the sheer, primal instinct to protect his manhood flooded his veins, overriding his fear of the terrifying head cook. He stopped struggling against her grip and stood up straight, forcing Elara to look at him properly.
For a fraction of a second, Elara paused.
The pathetic, shivering boy she was holding had suddenly gone completely rigid, his eyes locking onto hers with an intensity that genuinely caught her off guard.
"What are you—" she began, her amber eyes narrowing in confusion.
Leon didn’t give her time to finish.
Raising his right hand with the speed of a desperate man, he reached up and firmly grabbed Elara’s left breast.
Time in the kitchen seemed to grind to an absolute, horrifying halt.
The clatter of pots stopped and the chopping of vegetables ceased. The collective gasp of a dozen kitchen maids sucked the air right out of the room.
To Leon’s hyper-focused brain, the sensation was overwhelming.
Through the thick fabric of her maid uniform, Elara’s breast was incredibly soft, yet wonderfully heavy, completely filling his palm. It was warm, yielding, and entirely scandalous.
Elara froze. Her eyes went as wide as dinner plates, her pupils shrinking to pinpricks. Her brain utterly failed to process the sheer, astronomical audacity of what was happening.
A lowly servant. A boy who swept the floors. He was... holding her.
Leon swallowed the massive lump in his throat. His heart was hammering against his ribs, but he remembered the last condition of the quest.
He stared directly into her shocked amber eyes, channeled every ounce of false bravado he possessed, and spoke in a surprisingly steady, deep voice.
"Bad girl."
[DING!]
[Quest Completed Successfully!]
[The threat to Host’s testicles has been neutralized. You may now breathe easily.]
A wave of profound relief washed over Leon. He had done it, his manhood was safe.
But the system wasn’t finished.
[Distributing Rewards: First-Tier Mana Core Awakening...]
Before Leon could even pull his hand away from Elara’s chest, a searing heat erupted in his solar plexus.
It felt as though a dormant volcano had just ignited inside his chest. The agonizing fatigue of five days of backbreaking labor vanished in an instant. A cool, refreshing current of energy surged through his veins, washing away his weakness.
He could physically feel a core forming within him--a dense, spinning sphere of pure, unadulterated magical power.
I have mana, Leon realized, his eyes widening. I actually have mana!
[Distributing Rewards: +10 Strength.]
His muscles twitched violently.
The skinny, undernourished arms beneath his tunic suddenly felt denser, tighter. He felt a sudden, grounding heaviness in his stance. If a crate of flour weighed him down five minutes ago, he felt like he could lift three of them right now with one hand.
[Distributing Rewards: Skill ’Basic Caress’ Acquired.]
[Passive Effect Activated.]
Wait, what passive effect—
Before Leon could finish the thought, his right hand—which was still firmly planted on Elara’s ample chest—moved entirely on its own.
Guided by the newly acquired ’Basic Caress’ skill, Leon’s fingers shifted with supernatural dexterity.
His thumb brushed over the sensitive peak hidden beneath her bodice, while his palm perfectly kneaded the soft flesh, applying exactly the right amount of pressure to maximize pleasure and completely bypass her defenses. It was a masterful, devastatingly skilled touch that belonged to a seasoned casanova, not an eighteen-year-old virgin.
Elara’s breath hitched violently.
"A-Ah...!"
A soft, high-pitched, incredibly lewd sound escaped the terrifying head cook’s lips.
Her grip on Leon’s collar completely loosened. For a brief, earth-shattering second, her knees actually buckled, a deep, crimson flush spreading from her neck all the way up to the tips of her ears.
The silence in the kitchen shattered.
Someone dropped a ceramic plate. It shattered against the stone floor, the sharp CRASH breaking the spell that held the room captive.
Elara snapped out of her daze. She stumbled backward, violently swatting Leon’s hand away as if she had been burned. She wrapped her arms around her chest, her chest heaving as she stared at him.
The transition on her face was a terrifying thing to witness. The deep red flush of embarrassment quickly gave way to a darkening, murderous aura. The air in the kitchen grew heavy as utensils began to rattle on the tables.
She wasn’t an Aura Knight like the noble daughters, but she was a high-level physical enhancer. And right now, she looked ready to rip Leon’s head off with her bare hands.
"You..." Elara’s voice was barely a whisper, trembling with a rage so deep it vibrated in the floorboards. "You... miserable... little... worm..."
Leon took a step back, raising his hands defensively.
The +10 Strength coursing through his body made him feel incredibly powerful, but his survival instincts told him he was still vastly outmatched by an angry, seasoned fighter.
"Now, Elara, let’s just calm down—" Leon started, taking another step back, his boots crunching on the spilled flour.
"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!" she shrieked, the sultry, mature cook completely losing her mind. She lunged forward, her hand curling into a fist that aimed straight for his jaw.
[DING!]
The pink screen materialized right in front of the incoming fist.
[Emergency Quest Issued!]
[Context: The Host has provoked a violent reaction. Fleeing is for cowards, but dying is for idiots. Use your new strength to assert your dominance.]
[Objective: Catch Elara’s fist, pull her in by the waist, and smack her rear end. Hard.]
[Reward: Skill: ’Aura Resistance (Minor)’, +5 Agility.]
[Failure Penalty: Your penis will permanently shrink by 3 inches.]
Leon stared at the pink text as Elara’s fist hurtled toward his face.
Permanent shrinkage?! I only have so much to work with!
"This goddamn system!" Leon roared, his newly awakened mana flaring to life.
With no other choice, he braced his legs, his enhanced muscles coiling like springs, and reached out to catch the incoming strike.
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