The next morning, I groggily sat on the office chair in the town lord’s office. I felt like I only slept for an hour or two. My eyes were red and tired, but more so, my mind felt like it was swimming in a muddy bathtub, groggy and feeling half-asleep.

Eura, Aerith, and Ruvia were gone when I woke up, and the shocking contents of the notifications...

Leaning on the wood desk, I was bored and just watched my hand float down the tabletop. My pupils were re-focusing again on the light in the room, but their ability to re-focus wasn’t quite at the level it usually was.

“My head hurts,” I mumbled, “and the light is hurting my eyes.”

A voice muttered beside me. “I can make something for you.”

It was Ena.

“Ena... you were here? I didn’t notice you.” I yawned.

“I’m sorry, I just felt that… it’s not my place to wake you.”

“What’s wrong with you anyway? You were all jumpy last night. What were you up to?” I asked.

“No... I—” she stammered and dug through her pack, “H-here... it’s a tealeaf from my hometown. It will wake you up in no time.”

“Thanks...” I muttered. She stared at me and became fidgety.

“Uhmm... I-I’ll go and brew it... U-um... I’ll be back, sir.” Ena said and ran out of the room.

As I sat, I began to notice a small puddle of liquid near the corner of the table that I hadn’t seen earlier.

I dipped my finger into the puddle and licked it, tasting what kind of liquid it was.

It tasted a little sweet and a little bitter at the same time. It was a taste that was rather familiar to me. “Fuck. Is this a squirt?” I whispered to myself.

“I see. So that’s why she was acting weird... Ruvia did mention his mother had masturbated while thinking of me before. Is she feeling guilty about it?” I thought to myself.

“Haah. There was no need to feel guilty about it. Wanting to have sex wasn’t that different from the need to eat and drink.” I said to the empty room, sighing.

It has been a minute, and I can hear footsteps outside. The door opened to Ena, bringing a cup and a teapot.

As she poured the tea from the teapot into the teacup, I dipped my hands into the puddle and licked it.

I rolled my tongue around the finger and then sucked it. I made slurping noises to make it more obvious that I was trying to seduce her.

“H-here, l-lord. It’s t-tea from m-my hometown.” Ena said, stammering.

I ignored her and dipped my palms into the puddle. As I retracted my arm, the fluid began to drip down my arm and toward my wrist. “This ‘tea’ is also great,” I said as I looked towards her.

“P-please don’t d-drink that, sir... T-that’s d-dirty.” She looked beet red as she realized I was drinking her squirt.

“Did you drop this ‘tea’ here? You need to be more careful, Ena.”

“I-I’m so sorry, sir. I was just about to clean it up.” She muttered before exiting the room quickly.

She returned with a rag and knelt on the floor, rubbing the puddles of juices from the floor.

I leered at her massive ass as I watched her work.

She suddenly looked at me with surprise and delight. Her cheeks grew red as she quickly turned away from me as if she hadn’t caught me leering at her.

“S-sorry. I couldn’t help it... it looks larger than Eura and Aerith...” I muttered as I stared at her butt.

She was startled when she looked back at me.

“Y-you... w-well... I-it’s just a little bit bigger than the others.’ She stuttered as she squirmed in place.

I drank the tea in one gulp.

“Thank you for the tea. I feel much better now. But, I prefer the taste of the ‘tea’ from before. Can you brew one for me tomorrow?” I gently asked, trying my best to smile even though I disliked smiling.

Her face reddened, and she was visibly uncomfortable.

Well, that’s to be expected. After all, I basically asked her that I wanted to drink her cum...

Despite her attempts to avoid my gaze, I continued to look at her, my gaze never leaving her plump rear.

“Y-yes. I’ll h-hurry and do so t-tomorrow. But, please refrain from g-g-getting near me... until then, I-I mean.” She said as she bowed and ran back to the kitchen.

That aside, I have more pressing matters to solve. I don’t have to hurry to corrupt Ena right now.

The first was the new household management menu. There was a new circle button with an icon on my periphery. Upon clicking it using my mind, it opened a disjointed menu, the left containing a table of the names of the household members and the right containing the household member’s stats in a bar graph and close-up pictures of their faces.

There was an icon button flashing in the bottom-right corner of the left menu. 

“What’s this supposed to be?” I pressed it, and it brought up a third disjointed menu. It positioned itself on the right side of the member stat menu.

Eh...?

[Nameless Household]

Overview: Unidentified. Early analysis suggests a collective of mentally-altered slaves. 

Points: 0H

“What does that mean?”

[Transmission]

Nox Eternus Legacy Piece (Unlocked) - A legacy from an extinct civilization. Unlocks the skill, “Lesser Corruption.”

Kiss I (Unlocked) - Activates the Legacy Piece through kissing.

Kiss II (Locked) - Increases the rate of activation by a small percentage.

[Upgrade Requirement: Kiss III, 100 points]

Kiss III (Locked) - Decrease the rate of resistance by a small percentage.

[Upgrade Requirement: Kiss III, 5,000 points]

Kiss IV (Locked) - Increases the rate of activation by a large percentage.

[Upgrade Requirement: Kiss III, 10,000 points]

Zoonotic Shift - Further activation of the Legacy Piece allows household membership to animals and beast-type monsters.

[Upgrade Requirement: 1000 points]

“Eh...? So I can corrupt anyone now?” I muttered as I took a look at the information. I moved my eyes toward the next section of abilities.

[Social Traits]

Submissive Conditioning (Locked) - Corruption of the neural pathways associated with reward and punishment allows household members to be more receptive to conditioning techniques, facilitating the formation of strong associations between obedience and positive reinforcement.

[Upgrade Requirement: 10 points]

Positive Reinforcement Sensitivity (Locked) - Further corruption of the reward-processing systems enhances the sensitivity to positive reinforcement, making individuals more receptive to praise, recognition, and rewards, thus encouraging behavior that aligns with the household’s expectations.

[Upgrade Requirement: Submissive Conditioning, 50 points]

Empathic Authority Bond (Locked) - Corruption of the mirror neuron system and emotional processing centers enhances the ability to form deep emotional connections and bonds with household leaders, fostering a strong sense of loyalty and obedience.

[Upgrade Requirement: Submissive Conditioning, 300 points]

Enhanced Social Conformity (Locked) - Corruption of the social cognition networks in the brain promotes a heightened desire to conform to societal norms and group dynamics, fostering a sense of unity and cooperation within the household.

[Upgrade Requirement: Submissive Conditioning, 450 points]

Cognitive Compliance (Locked) - Corruption of the prefrontal cortex and executive functioning networks enhances the capacity for self-regulation and adherence to rules, enabling household members to have a heightened sense of duty and a strong inclination to follow instructions.

[Upgrade Requirement: Submissive Conditioning, 600 points]

Obedience Conditioning (Locked) - Corruption of the reward system and the regulatory circuits in the brain enables the household leader to directly reward and punish behaviors, reinforcing loyalty and obedience in the subject.

[Upgrade Requirement: Submissive Conditioning, 900 points]

Shame Induction (Locked) - Corruption of the hypothalamus, frontal cortex, and associated circuitry instills a deep sense of fear and dread of the household leader, with the side effect of promoting deep-seated feelings of humiliation and embarrassment.

[Upgrade Requirement: Submissive Conditioning, Obedience Conditioning, 1,100 points]

Unconditional Love (Locked) - Destruction of fear mechanisms enables the subject to unconditionally love the household leader, no matter how cruel or abusive the leader’s behavior might be.

[Upgrade Requirement: Submissive Conditioning, Obedience Conditioning, 1,500 points]

Dark Apotheosis (Locked) - Corruption of the hypothalamus and posterior pituitary gland causes constant surges of oxytocin and vasopressin, resulting in the sense of religious devotion, purity, and absolute loyalty in household members.

[Upgrade Requirement: Unlock all previous traits, 100,000,000 points]

“Shit... I can even give them skills...”

“Holy fuck... these are mostly skills to manipulate and control the members, but if I could corrupt this city and somehow unlock all social traits, I won’t have to worry about getting backstabbed. “

“Hell... I can probably make spies spill all their secrets just by fucking with their heads.”

“This is a great set of abilities.”

“What else are there?”

[Physical Traits]

Kinetic Energy Absorption - Corruption of the body’s tissues and cellular structures allows household members to absorb and store kinetic energy from impacts, enhancing their resilience and reducing the physical damage inflicted upon them during combat.

[Upgrade Requirement: 50 points]

Enhanced Muscular Control - Corruption of the neuromuscular junctions and motor control centers enhances household members’ fine motor skills and precision, enabling them to execute complex combat techniques with exceptional accuracy

[Upgrade Requirement: 200 points]

Adrenal Overdrive - Corruption of the hormone pathways and adrenal glands increases the household members’ adrenaline production, resulting in a significant increase in their physical capabilities in combat.

[Upgrade Requirement: 700 points]

Skeletal Reinforcement - Corruption of calcium-rich tissues and the skeletal systems of the household members’ skeletons allows them to withstand significantly more physical punishment than the average human before suffering any damage.

[Upgrade Requirement: 1000 points]

Durable Ligaments - Corruption of the ligaments allows household members to withstand significantly more physical punishment than the average human before suffering any damage.

[Upgrade Requirement: 1000 points]

Muscular Hypertrophy - Corruption of the myofibrils and muscle fibers of the household members’ muscles leads to an extreme increase in size and strength. They become nearly impervious to physical damage and can easily overpower opponents.

[Upgrade Requirement: 1000 points]

Crushing Blow - Corruption of the household members’ skeletal, muscular, and ligament systems makes them capable of using their brute strength to stun, stagger or knock down a target.

[Upgrade Requirement: 3000 points]

Fracture Point - Corruption of the household members’ skeletal systems decreases the amount of damage they take when they are attacked.

[Upgrade Requirement: 10000 points]

Insatiable Appetite - Corruption of the digestive systems of the household members’ stomachs allows them to devour the flesh of their foes with little to no side effects.

[Upgrade Requirement: 10000 points]

Grafted Muscle Tissue - Corruption of the household members’ skeletal and muscular systems allows them to develop the muscles of a physically fit individual, improving their melee combat skills and making them capable of standing their ground in combat.

[Upgrade Requirement: 12000 points]

Ballistic Resilience - Corruption of the household members’ bodies makes it difficult for projectile weaponry to inflict enough damage to kill them.

[Upgrade Requirement: 12000 points]

Enhanced Extremities - Corruption of the household members’ extremities makes it difficult for them to cause damage to themselves during combat.

[Upgrade Requirement: 15000 points]

Durable Organs - Corruption of the household members’ internal organs makes it difficult for projectile weaponry to inflict enough damage to kill them.

[Upgrade Requirement: 20000 points]

Survivalist (Locked) - Corruption of the hypothalamus eliminates the subject’s need for sleep. Their bodies are able to function over extended periods of time without food, water, or oxygen.

[Upgrade Requirement: Unlock the rest of the upgrades, 25000 points]

That’s a long line of upgrades... an assortment of physical enhancements, huh. But they’re too expensive. I can just arm the members with firearms. 

If 9mm rounds bounce off of monsters’ skin or armor, I can just arm them with 5.56mm rounds instead. AR-15 is only 3,500 gold, whilst other assault rifles were priced at 13,500 or higher. 

The only caveat is that the AR-15 doesn’t support full-auto. Well, I guess I can count that as a bonus... full auto wastes too many bullets, plus 5.56mm and 7.62mm are too expensive. I’d be bleeding gold if I decided to supply them with full-auto rifles instead.

Then the other problems are the lack of resources and access to specialized workers like blacksmiths, masons, and chemists or whatever their other world equivalent is.

To be honest, this village is fucked...

The army lacks training and experience. No access to iron and blacksmiths who would handle the creation and maintenance of weapons. All the weapons I gave to the army were my loot from the bandits and the baroness, but without access to producers, the weapons will eventually deteriorate and fall apart.

Man... what a headache.

Then the next problem is construction. Since this world hasn’t discovered cement yet, their construction relies on shaped stones and lime mortar. Lime mortar is used like cement, but it undergoes a different kind of process to bind stones. Its curing time is also longer, with less durability and load-bearing capacity.

I needed to expand this village as soon as possible, so I needed more workers who knew how to work with the construction along with the raw materials to make cement.

Then there’s the problem with the army’s chain of command, group-fighting tactics, and communication.

Well... I suppose I should mark these as low-priority problems considering the first two would be fixed by themselves after they have done training and acquired experience. For the last one, I could buy a walkie-talkie from the shop, but since it doesn’t sell batteries, it’s practically useless.

If I spend enough time, I could probably reverse-engineer a walkie-talkie and build one that runs constantly for the use of a command post. But for that to be possible, I’ll have to build a generator and a power line in the village.

If I use the Aether Core Engine, I could probably use it to run the turbine’s rotor since options like water turbines are pretty much useless in the northern section of the continent, air turbines generate less energy, and while I have an idea of nuclear fission works, its development is extremely complex and would take time, resources, and a shit ton of trial and error.

Then there are the other issues like safe water supply and education... Haah... What a headache.

For now, I should highlight some of the problems...

I’ll have to focus on finding resources such as Limestone, Clay, Iron Ores, humans, a shit ton of humans, and let’s see... what else, what else? Oh... I’ll also have to hire workers who would work on finding dungeons. It’s a great source of gold and materials to build an Aether Core Engine, particularly its main components, Lunar Alloy and Star Ore.

I looked at the map in search of towns to invade, one with access to the resources I needed.

As I scanned the map, a fairly large town caught my eye. It was situated at the base of a mountain range on the western border of the kingdom, surrounded by dense forest and a winding frozen river.

The town is much larger than the one I attacked last time. I’ll have to prepare well this time. I won’t let them have a chance to use their artifacts. I’ll have to kill them before they even have a chance to use them.

“It’s time to use the Pandora weapon ticket...”