Tommy observed them, but with each passing second, he felt the atmosphere turning stranger.
“Tommy, he’s Harem God,” Ace introduced, “Harem, this guy here is Tommy. The mishap from earlier was just a misunderstanding, he’s a good friend of ours.”
Harem God silently acknowledged Tommy and the latter relaxed.
“I’m sure you have lots of questions, but let’s eat first, then plan what’s ahead,” Ace finally suggested amidst the embarrassing silence. His proposal was met with unanimous approval. Tommy stole unsuspecting glances of Harem God and Sin the entire time and thought, they looked harmonious!
He had expected that those two rascals had some sort of surprise ready for him, but they just quietly ate their dinner. No quarreling, no bad table manners! As if the bickering rooster and katana swinging fiend from earlier was just an illusion. Four guys and one chicken, the food platters were wolfed down in less than half an hour.
“I underestimated how much I craved for your cooking,” Tommy said to Ace while stroking his bulging stomach. “What plan had you in mind for Harem God? And what did that message earlier mean?”
Hearing his name mentioned, Harem God only now paid proper attention. Ace told Tommy about Harem God’s issues, who was intrigued just as Jiushi.
“As such, we’re at a loss what could be the root of his temporary muteness. It can’t be an abnormal state caused by a curse,” he summarized.
“Have you asked Athanasia yet?” Tommy asked.
Ace shook his head, “I can’t rely on her for the time being. But that aside, if it’s possible, could you help him in his magic studies?”
“Can he even use magic?” Tommy asked.
“He hasn’t yet, but the potential is there. The thing he isn’t lacking is mana.” Tommy squinted his eyes slightly after Jiushi mentioned it, and indeed, the mana sweeping out of him was little. Seeing that Tommy nodded his head in approval, Jiushi turned to Harem God, “Can you circulate your mana to show him?”
Harem God took out a pen and wrote down a question.
—Is it really ok?
Mana circulation was the first thing he learned from them. After he succeeded in the beginning, he regularly stimulated his mana, although the effects weren’t significant due to the sparse spiritual energy on earth. However, because they had given him potions his spiritual energy increased until he reached his core’s capacity limit. Thus, he had to pause his magic training temporarily for his own safety.
Ace understood his apprehension, “It’s okay here. Unlike us, he’s a capable mage that can guide you if something happens.”
Harem God looked at Tommy for a second, then closed his eyes to circulate his inner energies. The latter watched him carefully when the energy in the air around them began to shift towards Harem God. The flow was steady and the energy, regardless of their elemental properties, were sleekly absorbed by Harem God with meager effort, that Tommy wanted to cry. He whispered to the other two, “Ace, Jiushi, what did you give him to eat? His mana was dense like a lush forest already, but he still can take more? And does he not know how to select the elements he has an affinity with? At this rate, he’ll become a ticking nuclear bomb.”
Ace gave a wry smile. “He just advanced recently.”
In response, the other pulled a horrified face and set up a stronger barrier. Hearing that Harem God had just advanced meant that his spiritual core absorbed an enormous amount of elemental energy and through continuous refining, evolved. Once this happens, the spiritual veins in one’s body will burst and expand to adapt to the increased surge of mana consumption. Each advance will need more spiritual energy than the last, and naturally, the energy drainage from the surrounding areas will be more obvious with each level up. People would know instantly that something was happening at their location, thus Tommy set up another barrier to fool the perception of outsiders.
He wasn’t ready to be exposed so soon! And he had no desire to get blasted up if Harem God were to lose control of his mana!
To his reassurance, Harem God safely made one full circulation through his mana system, then stopped. If someone noticed the fluctuation, they could dump the blame on Ace without anyone suspecting them.
When Harem God opened his eyes again, he felt much calmer than before. His muscles relaxed and the damp force of oppression finally disappeared.
“I can’t believe it.”
Harem God gazed at the person who said it and the warm glow of gold spread seeped out from his eyes, seemingly for the naked eye. But for Tommy, who was sensible to spiritual and elemental energy, it wasn’t solely the eyes that dispersed golden mana. Harem God was like a temporary depot for mana. His body would absorb the surrounding energies indiscriminately, and match it to his own essence regardless of his core’s capacity limit. Once he couldn’t keep in the converted mana, his body would pour out the excess over every mana vein of his body.
Any other ability user would absorb only as much as they can handle since refining more than they can hold in was not only pointless, but also takes a toll on the body. That Harem God did it subconsciously with ease was both impressive and impractical at the same time.
“He really doesn’t know anything!” Tommy said.
“I can’t deny that,” Jiushi added.
“He always hated the magic lessons and pulled a face at the word studying,” Ace shrugged.
Under normal circumstances, Harem God wouldn’t take the beating laying down, but the feeling of mana circulating in his body was grabbing his entire attention. It wasn’t comparable to when he did it on Earth. The amount, the purity, the familiarity... everything was a world above.
"Is something wrong, Harem?” Ace asked. He was too quiet.
Harem God didn’t respond, instead, he raised his right hand and glanced at his palm. The other two also looked at him with curiosity. They didn’t pay attention to his eyes that were forming something. In the next second, however, they felt a faint breeze gazing at their faces in the enclosed room and they became alert. All three noticed the sudden concentration of mana in Harem God's palm, but it was already too late to react. The gentle breeze busted into a squall of wind and formed a strong whirlwind with Harem God in the center.
The three called out to him, but their voices were drowned in the erratic gales that were cutting into their skin. Only Harem God was unaffected by the blade-like air slashes. He, and—Just as another squall was about to land on them, the forgotten feathered friend of them stole the spotlight and gave Harem God a good slap on the cheek. The whirlwind was canceled instantly and Harem God fell backward from the gush of air.
“Is it over?” Tommy was the first to recover thanks to his passive mana armor.
Ace and Jiushi also steadied themselves and did a quick survey. The room was a mess and so were their states. Only Harem God was in a good state, or not.
Because Sin, for some reason, seemed on edge. He showed no mercy and hacked on Harem God with his beak.
“Cock-a-doodle-doo!”
—Shame on you! How dare you get drunk on mana!
“Ugh! F*ck—“
“Cock-a-doodle-doo!”
—No cursing!
“F*CK OFF YOU SH*T!”
…
…
…
“Huh?” Tommy was extremely confused. “He just talked, didn’t he?”
“I heard him too,” Jiushi confirmed. He looked rather surprised. “Did you hear it too, Ace?”
“Yes, Harem can cuss again,” he answered.
Jiushi shook his head. “I don’t mean that idiot. Sin was talking.”
Now it was Ace’s turn to be surprised. He massaged the space between his eyebrows and took a minute to think.
“Haaaaah— Timeout. Let’s save Harem God first and then have a long talk.”
“Cluck.”
—No need. I’ll go back to rest. The child is your responsibility now.
“Argh.” Sin pecked Harem God one last time, before jumping onto Jiushi’s arms. The space around him warped into a spiral and sucked him in. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared into the subspace for living beings.
It has been a long time again orz
I was writing on my backlog, but it's still meager .-.
Don't ask me how Tommy turned out semirealistic, it just happened. Also, follow my Twitter for some Harem Denial art? I share regularly in BL_Palace discord, but I know not everyone is a fan of discord...or social media 
The smut is in the discord server or AO3! Hehehe...the authors of Grandmaster's Weird Disciple and Dao of Salted Fish are diligently writing smut. So check it out! Don't tell them I was the one who tattled.
Paypal
