My CEO Harem Cultivation System

Chapter 141 - Of The World And Sleeping Goddess

"Yang! Come over here!"

The CEO approached the woman standing underneath the trees; the huntress was holding a map in her hands. "What can I do for you, Miss Setsuko?"

"Setsuko is fine, you don't have to be so formal." She eyed him.

"It still feels appropriate to call you as such, after all, you are the one who has been instructing me all this time."

A week had already passed by in the blink of an eye, and now he had already gotten past the shaky start of not knowing the language in this world. It took some time for him to acquire a language proficiency similar to that of the adult, but the Kin Hunters had welcomed him into the group with hardly any opposition.

Setsuko twisted her lips at him before she pointed to the map. "Let's just move on then. We're looking into hunting around the Green Jade Lake to see if we could deal with the water-spitting spotted frog. Giant size.. Once again, it's around a bronze to silver threat, possibly a gold threat if there's more than one. Do you know how to swim?"

"I can." Li Yang paused and then said. "I can also hold my breath long enough if we need to get something underneath the lake."

She chuckled at him, her blue eyes twinkling at him. "You read my mind, but also that's convenient. What are you, part-fish? You don't happen to have any scales hiding in your new robes, are you?"

"No."

"Anyway. We're out to harvest their eggs and tadpoles, we can get a good price for it once we get back to Nakazato." she explained and brushed a strand of hair behind an ear. "The others will act as a distraction for the mother frog and lure them away in time to gain these items."

"Understood. I won't be the only one harvesting these eggs, right?"

"No, once again you're with me." she smirked at him. "We can't let our recruit get swallowed by a Koi Dragonfish. I'm not a fan of water, but I can swim as well, unlike those other louts."

"I'll rely on you, then, to watch my back," he said. Li Yang rested against a tree and once again looked around. They were in a different forest this time after they had taken a ride through a giant caterpillar beast rider. The others were now going around the forest to scavenge for anything useful for the upcoming attack.

However, his thoughts were not focused on the absurdity of giant caterpillars or his other companions' whereabouts.

'Charm Shop.'

[ Unable To Be Accessed At This Time ]

He sighed inwardly. The features available in this world were a little harder. It was as if his own System was adjusting to the sudden change of circumstances. This was something he might have already worried about if it weren't for the people he stumbled upon who were capable enough to deal with a number of threats.

He took out a small pamphlet from his pocket and flipped open the pages.

Setsuko was kind enough to get him a manual about the work and creatures they were dealing with. So far, this world was set at a certain technology rate behind that of Earth's. There were no computers, electricity or anything, and both gigantic creatures and regular-sized ones proliferated it. There were beast cores to be collected and sold to the cities.

But the strangest thing about this place was the role of men and women.

Most of the men here were working as hunters and other menial jobs. It was the women that seemed to be at the precipice of their society; the ones buying their materials they endangered their life for. But nobody paid any mind to it and seemed to accept it as it was.

Li Yang had already tried asking before about the women he saw, but he was shushed down by the entire group to never mention them again. He was told he was lucky for stumbling into them and not the Mashiro Temple.

"Setsuko… since it's just the two of us here—would you finally mind telling me what exactly is the problem if I had stepped into the Mashiro Temple?"

She frowned at him. "Do you really not know? What kind of nation were you born into that you can be so unaware of the happenings here?"

He shook his head. "I don't. I would appreciate it if you treated me like someone completely new to this situation." he shrugged. "A child if you will it." The CEO would have to admit that in spite of the lack of functions of the System, he was a bit relaxed about the lack of Observers.

Li Yang had never noticed it before, but it was as if a heavy sensation was lifted from his shoulders. Now he could understand to some extent why people who travelled to other worlds were sometimes idiotic. There was a liberating and uplifting sensation of being elsewhere.

He didn't even have to conform to his previous identity if he wished.

"Mashiro Temple is filled with the most powerful bloodlines—if you had stepped in there, they would have decimated you on the spot as nothing but scorched dirt."

Li Yang blinked. Bloodlines once again? "What exactly can they do with their powerful bloodlines? And how come I never came across a man of higher status than that of a hunter?"

She rubbed her temples. "Telriah is a world blessed by the slumbering goddess Aurora after she had defeated and banished her brother Aseroth and thus all women are blessed by her to have more natural ability. A vast majority are blessed to be able to absorb the gifts of the world. Especially the living energy of Ao existing all around us. Thus women are at the peak of society while men are expected to do the grunt work for them."

"... are you not a woman?"

Setsuko's face flushed. She rolled up the map and hit him in the shoulder. "Of course I am! I can easily prove it if you wish to—idiot."

"You know that's not what I meant." he swatted the map away. "However, I am curious about your position in life if you are capable—"

"I can't harness the energy of the world." She admitted. "There are some women like me, and we're considered the Forgotten Ones. The goddess has not been able to bless us due to her eternal rest. Albeit, some have said that if we are able to get some help from powerful women, they can unlock the dormant energy inside of us. Not that any powerful woman would do that—it's competition."

Li Yang wondered if that was the reason why he was free here—a goddess asleep. "I see… thank you for the explanation. What if there is any chance that a man can harness the energy in this world?"

She stared at him agog. "What?"

"Do I really need to repeat it, Miss Setsuko?"

"No—but that's just impossible. In the records of our history, no man has ever become capable of using the energy of the world. We're only left to train ourselves to be faster, stronger and maybe acquire powerful weapons, but never to use the energy for ourselves."

This was a cheat then. Li Yang hadn't been suspected, and neither did anyone in the Kin Group could notice that he had the capacity to use the energy here. In his assessment, it was just qi… perhaps just a variation of the name. He offered a hand out to her. "Can I hold your hand for a moment, Miss Setsuko. I wish to try something."

She narrowed her hand at him, but accepted it. "If you try anything weird, I'll break your wrist."

"Noted." It was a natural sensation to gather the energy around him like it was qi flowing around and inside of him. Now similar to how he infused his qi to a sword, he would use it to reach out to her—

Setsuko flung her hand away from him with a sudden jolt. It was as if she had been shocked. "You—"

"Did you feel it?"

She looked at him with an uneasy expression. "Yes… was that Ao?" Her gaze darted across the entire forest.

He nodded. "I think if you allow me to touch your hand, I'll try my best to probe and tap into the dormant energy inside of you—that is, if you wish it. I believe the sensation may be intrusive and even invasive." Similar to letting his qi run through his meridians and into his sea of qi, he needed to find her core and infuse it with energy in order to make it run.

Her face heated up. "Are you serious? Why does the process sound so ..."

"I'm unfamiliar with it myself, but I feel like it's the most sure way to make it work if you have spoken correctly," Li Yang said. "You spoke of how you have dormant energy, thus opening it requires activating if my assessment is correct."

If it didn't work, he still had his Yin-Yang Qi Pill to share… albeit, it wasn't that profitable of a choice. Unless he started working as someone who unlocked energy—and it did sound like something he could profit from.

This was what he could do until he managed to find a way home. And he did think about it, albeit the lack of a conducive method made him place the thought aside to a future, important task. Right now, he would deal with things on hand.

It was a chance for him to get stronger here.

Make allies.

Hopefully, the Patch Update would actually start being helpful soon enough.

—-—-

Author's Note: Welcome to the World of Telriah! I hope the sudden change is not too jarring, a tiny bit uncomfortable possibly as the CEO is thrown into a new situation. But it's a little difficult for a person to change if you don't get him out of their comfort zone, right? So here we are. And here I am, a harem author o.o Still trying to think of ways to insert smut regularly. Thank you for reading!