My Taboo Harem!

Maya’s fingers continued their slow journey through Phei’s hair while his head rested comfortably upon her thighs, and embarrassingly enough, the warmth of her lap was doing more for his mood than every sensible thought he had tried forcing into his head since returning from Sienna’s room. Her silver strands slipped over Maya’s shoulders whenever she leaned forward and occasionally brushed his cheek, carrying that faint serene and almost otherworldly fragrance that always seemed to belong to her alone.

Even stranger was the peaceful presence wrapped around her, soft enough that he never felt it pressing against him, yet persistent enough to take the sharpest edges from the frustration that had followed him back.

He still wanted answers from Dravenna.

He still hated being told to leave while Sienna remained unconscious, and some particularly unreasonable corner of his mind had spent the last several minutes suggesting that opening a portal straight back into her room would be perfectly sensible so long as he only checked whether she was breathing and absolutely did not threaten anyone afterward.

Maya had somehow convinced that corner of his mind to behave without ever knowing it existed.

The the familiar blue radiance of the system appeared floated before Phei’s eyes, blooming through his vision while Maya continued idly combing through his hair.

[Ding! Hidden Mission Completed!]

[Mission: First Goddess.]

[Description: Deflower an awakened Goddess and claim her Virgin sacred essence.]

[Status: Completed.]

[Goddess: The Nether Goddess.]

[Mission Tier: Forbidden Divine.]

[Rewards...]

Phei stared at the notification for several breaths, his mouth slowly curving as he remembered exactly what kind of mission the System had chosen to call First Goddess. Whatever ancient intelligence had built the thing inside him clearly possessed no interest in subtlety, and considering the circumstances responsible for completing the mission, he doubted the rewards were about to become respectable.

The first arrived almost immediately:

[Ding! Major Reward Acquired: Cosmic Dragon Dual Forbidden Path.]

[Type: Personal Forbidden Cultivation Path.]

[Rank: Unranked.]

[Growth Potential: Unknown.]

His eyebrows rose.

The name alone sounded like something that should have been sealed beneath an ancient mountain, guarded by several dead civilizations and accompanied by a warning carved into a wall in blood.

The the full description unfolded:

[Cosmic Dragon Dual Forbidden Path: A forbidden dual-cultivation path born from Host’s Cosmic Dragon bloodline. Through willing union and the exchange of essence, Host can refine the essence of his women into your own cultivation, while your Dragon essence nourishes and tempers their cultivation, bloodlines, souls, physiques and vitality.]

[Note: A woman’s first time with Host may awaken additional rewards in accordance to her bloodline, divinity, constitution, fate.]

Phei read the description twice, his earlier amusement gradually giving way to genuine interest. The Path was far more valuable than its shameless origin suggested, and what had happened with Sienna had already given him the clearest possible example of how it worked.

His Soul Energy had poured into her in quantities that should have terrified him, sinking into her cultivation, strengthening the body struggling to contain what she truly was and bringing stability to her Soul Realm that had been threatening to tear its owner apart.

Yet something had returned to him as well.

He could almost make out the trace of it (hidden in him by the system) but it was less compared with what Sienna had taken, but enough that Eira had noticed the difference afterward and enough that Phei himself could now feel faint changes buried inside his soul and bloodline.

More importantly, Sienna would not be the only woman who could benefit from it.

Melissa, Maddie, Sierra, Roxanne, Valentina, Patricia, Delilah, Maya and the others drifted naturally through his mind as he continued studying the Path. His cultivation path was already becoming increasingly unreasonable.

He possessed Soul Energy while still inside the Mortal Realm, his Soul Realm had awakened absurdly early, Void-Ice kept revealing powers hidden beneath powers, and his Cosmic Dragon bloodline as the system was constantly calling him, treated accepted cultivation limits with the same respect a storm gave an unlocked window.

Sooner or later, the distance between him and ordinary cultivators would become enormous.

Phei had every intention of protecting the women beside him, but he had never liked the idea of protection becoming another word for helplessness.

If his enemies continued growing more dangerous and powerful, he did not want every battle beginning with him hiding the people he loved somewhere safe before standing alone in front of whatever nightmare had arrived.

The Cosmic Dragon Dual Forbidden Path offered something much better.

His Dragon essence could temper them while the essence they willingly shared could nourish him in return, allowing their cultivation, bloodlines, souls and bodies to rise alongside his rather than leaving him several realms ahead and pretending that was enough.

His gaze returned briefly to the final note.

A woman’s first time with him could awaken additional rewards depending upon what she truly carried within herself.

Sienna had been a true awakened Goddess, and apparently that had been enough for the System to begin emptying an entire divine treasury into his hands.

The thought put a suspicious smile on his face.

Maya’s thumb brushed across his temple almost immediately.

She looked down at him through a curtain of silver hair, her expression soft but increasingly doubtful. "Why are you smiling like that?"

Phei tilted his face slightly toward her. "What?"

"Why are you smiling like you discovered something that will eventually become everyone else’s problem."

"Nothing has happened."

Maya considered that answer for a moment before resuming the slow movement of her fingers through his hair. "Yet. That word is important around you."

Phei huffed a quiet laugh, deciding that Maya had become far too familiar with him for his own good.

The blue panel changed again.

[Ding! Existing Ability Evolution.]

[Mark has evolved.]

Phei’s smile disappeared as the next description opened.

[Tame Mark (Evolved): Host’s Marked women are now connected directly to Host’s soul, allowing you to sense imminent danger before it befalls them. Marked women may also draw upon Host’s Soul Energy and Soul Realm to nourish, strengthen and protect their own souls.]

He remained still beneath Maya’s hand while the implications settled.

This was not another Mark and not another ability being stacked beside the one he already possessed; the existing Tame Mark had changed, and with it, every woman who already carried his Mark would soon become tied more deeply to his soul.

The first change mattered immediately. Phei would no longer have to discover danger after one of them had already been attacked. If the evolved Mark truly warned him before danger befell them, then there was finally a chance to move before blood was spilled rather than arriving after the world had already done something it would regret.

It was the somehow similar like the Spiritual Bond Ring but also different too.

The second change reached even deeper:

His Marked women could draw upon his Soul Energy and Soul Realm.

Both were powers he should never have possessed at his current cultivation. Soul Energy belonged far beyond the Mortal Realm, while the existence of his Soul Realm this early was already an absurdity that made normal cultivation progression look almost ceremonial.

Now those same impossible foundations could nourish and protect the souls of the women connected to him.

Well, unlike Sienna, his women would haver to wait until he unsealed it when he reaches the World Transcendent realm.

Phei’s fingers curled slightly against the fabric beneath his hand.

Maya noticed. Her touch slowed until her palm simply rested against his hair, warm and quiet, but she did not ask what had changed. Phei appreciated that. Maya could ramble long enough to make language itself require recovery time, yet somehow she also understood when questions would only make something heavier.

The System moved on: