A date with the goddess

Luke opened his eyes and exhaled a breath.

He had been meditating for almost 20 hours and now he was hungry. When one reaches a certain level of spiritual cultivation it is possible to fast for long periods of time, but on the contrary, in the first levels, the amount of food that a practitioner must consume is much greater than that of a normal person.

Luke stood up and went straight to the bathroom, where a large barrel of hot water had been prepared for him.

He smiled, it was not bad to have people to help him with these kinds of small tasks.

The one who was serving Luke in his daily life was a member of the Dragon Goddess Cult, a novice who had just begun his path within the church.

To understand why Luke was being assisted by the Dragon Goddess Church, one must go back in time to what happened a few days ago.

After the great commotion caused by the identity test incident, Queen Zara ordered that no one was to speak about the subject again until otherwise instructed. Those found spreading rumors would be punished directly with capital punishment.

The queen then left Luke in the care of the church and indicated that she would have an audience with him later, to discuss certain matters that were not suitable to be discussed in public.

Since then, three days have passed without any summons from the queen.

Meanwhile, the church did not pay much attention to him either. The beautiful purple-eyed priestess who accompanied Zara that day turned out to be the holy lady of the cult, the closest person to the goddess in the world. Like Luke, she is also a Lunari hybrid. Her name is Namira, and the people in the church call her Nami.

Namira and the high priest, who was one of the five Lunaris on the dais, chatted briefly and then left without even speaking to Luke.

The young novice named Elian Calan, only eighteen years old, was the one appointed to assist Luke. Apparently, despite not paying much attention to him at the time, both the church and the queen had certain expectations placed on him, or at least some reason to keep him within their spheres of influence.

Elian first took him to trace his Lunaris roots. Each Lunari born in this forest was established through the use of an ancestral relic, the "Stemma" tree, which was literally a living family tree.

The Stemma tree had been planted by the ancestor of the Lunaris, and has accompanied its people since the dawn of their existence. By simply depositing a drop of blood on the roots of the tree, it can locate the closest relatives and place the person in the corresponding place within the Lunari genealogy. Each person is represented by a fruit composed of a special resin, where the name of the individual can be inscribed.

In addition to functioning as a family tree, Stemma also allows one to know if a registered person is alive or not. Since when one dies, the fruit that represents that person falls from the tree.

The church and royalty keep a complete written record of Lunari genealogy, going back to the founding ancestors.

Luke, not knowing where he came from, or even if he had true Lunari ancestry or was just another one of the system's faulty workings, was quite worried when the young novice took him to the tree to register him and track down his relatives. But luckily, there was no problem. The tree placed him at the end of a small Lunari family, and although they had no direct relationship, they were fairly close relatives.

"It seems that this body does have Lunari ancestors, now the story I made up is practically confirmed as true" Luke thought after finishing his registration in the tree.

Elian also took him to visit his relatives. However, that meeting did not go so well.

Apparently, Luke Lyriksen's grandmother was really Lunari as he had said, and she had a younger brother. This younger brother would become Luke's great-uncle, a grumpy old man named Otis Spangler.

Otis's children and grandchildren welcomed Luke with enthusiasm, but Otis was not so hospitable, he looked him up and down and began to utter a string of unintelligible insults, which frightened the rest of the family.

Seeing that a civilized conversation would not be possible, his second uncle asked him to come back another time, when old Otis was calmer.

Not having a place to live, the church provided him with accommodation in the clergy dormitories. It was a simple, austere room, which would normally be where a novice just beginning his monastic career would have stayed, but Luke was content with such a room; he was a man who knew how to settle for little and appreciate the things he had, no matter how trivial they might seem to other people.

Luke submerged himself in the hot water as he recalled the events of the previous days.

Feeling the gentle embrace of the water, a feeling of pleasure spread through his aching muscles. These days, in addition to having advanced with his spiritual cultivation, he had also begun to train his body with a technique he learned in his previous life. This dual training was torturous, and a normal person could not carry it out. But Luke, with his system and experience, did not fall into the category of a "normal person."

"Status" he exclaimed in his mind, and the familiar transparent screen appeared in front of him again.

-Name: Luke Liryksen

-Race: Human (hybrid) / Lunari.

-Bloodline: Lunar Dragon

- Occupation: Unemployed.(Universal Slave)

- Age: 18 years old (134)

- Health: 34

- Build: 41

- Strength: 39

- Agility: 46

- Spirit: ??

- Luck: ??

- Skills: ??, Eye of Xylara (level 1)

- Talents: ??

-??

- Weapons:

*Mysterious Stick:

- Cultivation: Level 2: 22 spiritual points

"After three days my attributes have improved quite a bit, I can finally defend myself in case of unforeseen events. Although I am still weak, I am no longer at the bottom of the food chain. "Also, my cultivation has reached the second level, and I still marvel at the speed with which I can advance thanks to the talent of this body."

"Now what I have to do is continue to increase my combat power, and increase the level of the system. It's a shame that there haven't been any new missions, with the two I currently have, it will be difficult."

Luke closed his eyes and relaxed. For a moment he put aside all his worries and enjoyed a moment of relaxation.

After finishing his bath, he dressed in some clothes that he had asked Elian to get for him. It was a classic warrior's outfit, which had been provided to him by the church. Leather armor, boots, a short sword, two daggers, and a bow, which unfortunately was not a magic bow. But it didn't matter, in his past life he had learned the art of enchantment and could imbue mana or spiritual power into any weapon if he so desired.

He approached the window and looked at the sky. The sun was rising on the horizon.

"I'm going to need some materials for my cultivation, and I don't like my occupation to remain as "unemployed". Today I'm going to take the opportunity to explore the forest and go hunting."

In his previous life he had never entered the sacred forest he was in now, so both the topology and biology and the characteristics of the forest were unknown to him. He would have to do a reconnaissance round, and in the process he would observe possible escape routes. There was always a need to have an escape route.

"First of all I will have to ask permission to go out into the forest. Even though I am not under surveillance and apparently I am free to move as I please, I still do not have a defined status within society. Just like old Otis, who is my own family but rejects me, many other Lunaris may not be happy with my arrival. No society is monolithic, and it is always best to act with caution" Luke thought as he took a cloak and left the room.

He left the dormitories where his room was and walked towards the town hall. If he needed to ask for permission, he could probably do it there.

As he walked, he looked at his missions again. Mission 02 was about creating offspring with a Lunari. Luke dismissed it bluntly. In his current situation, it was a mission that had no future in the short term.

"It doesn't have a time limit anyway," he thought.

Mission 03 was totally confusing. He had to save a young Lunari who would die in 3 days. But it didn't give him any information about the young man, his location, or the circumstances of his death. It was simply a bugged mission. But he had no choice but to start paying attention to the "young" Lunaris he encountered. Perhaps the system would give him some clue if certain conditions were met.

Luke crossed the main square and approached the town hall that was just a few meters away. However, before he could get there, he was intercepted by the young novice Elian, who stood in front of him agitated, as if he had come running urgently.

Elian put his hands on his knees and leaned forward to take a breath. Once he had caught his breath he jumped like a panther and hugged Luke by the neck.

"Luke! I almost had a heart attack, I went to look for you in your room and saw that you had disappeared!"

"Ah, I was going to go to the city hall to ask-"

"Never mind, never mind. I have an urgent message to tell you. The holy lady has summoned you, she wants to have an audience with you!"

"Eh? Now?"

"Yes, yes! I have been sent to look for you so that I can escort you to see her. For a moment I thought that you had left the city and I wouldn't be able to find you, what a scare!"

Luke thought of the sensual figure of the priestess and a fire began to burn inside him. Although it was not as strong as when he almost lost his temper in front of the queen, it was still an abnormal situation.

"Okay, let's go. Point the way" he said in a hoarse voice, and as they headed in the direction of Nami's chambers, he began to consult the system.

"Syzy, what's wrong? Why are my desires so uncontrollable? It is an abnormal situation that has been repeating itself"

"Host, it is a combination of factors. To begin with, the blood of the dragon goddess that you have consumed stimulates desire and fertility. In addition, the new version of the system that has been downloaded taking into account the deepest desires of the host, produces a great increase in libido and carnal desires, and also increases fertility exponentially to ensure the production of legitimate offspring"

"What?!!" Luke shouted, scaring the young novice who was leading the way in front of him and turning his back.

Luke's mind began to implode. This damn system! It has started with its damn irregularities again! How could he lead a normal life if every time he met a beautiful woman he lost his mind and entered a state of overflowing excitement!

Elian stopped and looked at him with an inquisitive look. But Luke ignored him and continued walking. So the young man had no choice but to put down his doubts and continue leading the way.

"Syzy, this is important. Is there a way to disable the effects of the new version?"

"No, the effects are inherent to the new version of the system. The only way to remove them would be to delete or rewrite the system."

"Rewrite the system? How can I do that?"

"The Host will be able to rewrite the system if he obtains a power greater than that of a god."

Luke's forehead filled with black lines from frowning so much. Damn system!

However, he remained calm and continued to explore other possibilities.

"In that case, is there a way to mitigate the effects of the new version?"

"Yes, if the Host finds a partner to practice dual cultivation, the primary objective of the modification introduced with the new version will be satisfied. So the effects will be greatly reduced. However, the more power the Host accumulates, the greater the need for cultivation partners to mitigate the effects. With the Host's current cultivation level, two cultivation partners would be necessary to eliminate the aforementioned effects. There may also be some exceptions, such as women who are highly compatible with the Host or who have a high status (VIP), in which case the effects could still be present, with varying intensity."

Luke took a deep breath and counted to ten in his mind. He had to stay calm above all else. The stupid system would not change its way of acting no matter his attitude.

"So that's why the system issued that mission about generating offspring."

He sighed.

"I guess I'll have to put it on the agenda, I can't go around losing control all the time. That's a good way to end up dead."

Luke felt it was a shame to have to use a woman as a simple tool to satisfy his desires. He was a romantic to the core. But he had no choice. He would have to find a woman willing to have a no-strings-attached relationship, or have the divine luck to find someone he truly appreciated in a short period of time. "Love at first sight? What are the chances?" He thought.

"On top of that, from the little I know of Lunari culture, they are not very liberal in that regard…"

Elian, who had been watching Luke gesticulate to himself and sigh along the way, finally stopped in front of a large, majestic building.

"We have arrived, Luke, this is the residence of the sacred lady."

Luke returned to reality, coming out of his state of introspection.

He looked up and observed the palace in front of him.

At that moment, the familiar sound resonated in his mind again.

*Ding*

*New mission available*

*Mission 04: Date with the goddess*