Succubus World - Start with Incubus System

Vylana thought in silence for a while, then suddenly asked: ”What are you planning to do?”

Laviana looked out at the city beyond the glass. ”Contact Corvina.”

Vylana’s head turned at once. ”Corvina?”

”Mm. Tell her to come here.” The corner of Laviana’s mouth curved. ”I’ve just found a project she absolutely won’t be able to turn down.”

...

By the time Erik and Elowen returned to the estate, night had fallen completely.

The moment he stepped through the front door, he saw Meira coming down the stairs. The golden-haired woman had clearly come home earlier than usual today. Her office attire had been changed for a simple cream-colored dress, her hair tied loosely behind her back.

The instant she saw Erik, Meira’s eyes lit up.

”You’re back?”

”Mm.”

Elowen glanced at her mother. ”You’re not at the hospital today?”

”Work finished early.”

Meira answered perfectly naturally. Elowen checked the clock; it was just past seven. On a normal schedule, her mother wouldn’t be home for at least another two hours, but she didn’t dwell on it because Erik had already headed straight for the kitchen.

”You really intend to cook yourself?” Meira asked.

”I promised.”

”We have chefs.”

”I know.” Erik rolled up his sleeves. ”But tonight I want to cook.”

Elowen followed almost immediately. ”I’ll help.”

Erik turned to look at her. ”What do you know how to do?”

Elowen’s steps halted. She gave it very serious consideration. ”I can wash vegetables.”

”That’s fine.”

”Cut ingredients?”

”No.”

”Why not?”

”I want to eat dinner, not send you to the emergency room for slicing your own hand.”

Elowen pouted. ”I’m a Healer.”

”All the more reason not to waste energy healing a wound from chopping onions.”

Meira laughed from behind them.

The kitchen quickly grew lively. Erik picked out ingredients available in the cold storage: meat, eggs, vegetables, and a root vegetable with a taste close to potato. Seasonings in this world were still fairly limited, but Meira’s estate stocked the very best of what existed. After some experimenting, Erik had learned which ones could substitute for the flavors he was familiar with from Earth.

Elowen stood beside the sink, taking it very seriously at first. About ten minutes later, she started getting restless. Erik had just sliced a piece of marinated meat when a fair hand reached over at once.

Tap.

He rapped the flat of the knife lightly against her fingertips. Elowen pulled back immediately, cradling her finger in indignation.

”That hurt.”

”I didn’t even use any force.”

”It still hurt.”

Erik looked at that pitiful expression, then speared a cooked piece of meat from the pan beside him and held it to her lips.

”Does it still hurt?”

Elowen immediately opened her mouth. Her cheeks puffed as she chewed, and a few seconds later her eyes curved into crescents.

”All better.”

Meira stood outside the kitchen counter watching the scene, the corners of her lips lifting without her noticing. She used to think a big house, plenty of servants, and enough wealth for a lifetime was the perfect life. But right now, watching Erik at the stove, Elowen puttering around beside him, the room filled with the sizzle of oil and the sound of the two of them teasing each other, Meira felt the estate had never so closely resembled a home.

She walked over. ”Is there anything I can help with?”

Erik turned. ”Sit and wait.”

Meira raised an eyebrow slightly. ”I’m worse than Elowen?”

”Mom!”

Elowen objected instantly.

Erik looked at the two of them and laughed. ”I’m just short on standing room.”

The kitchen was enormously spacious. That was clearly nothing but an excuse. Meira understood, but she still obediently sat down at the small table nearby.

Elowen looked at her mother, then narrowed her eyes slightly. For some reason she felt Meira was being unusually well-behaved today.

Nearly an hour later, the last dishes were brought to the table.

Nothing elaborate, just pan-seared meat with sauce, stir-fried vegetables, steamed egg, a soup with meat and root vegetables, and a braised dish Erik had adjusted many times over. But the moment she sat down, Meira noticed the difference.

The aroma was distinct, not the sort of thing current restaurants did where they used premium ingredients and relied entirely on the flavors already inherent in them. The scents blended into one another without any of them overpowering the rest. She cut off a piece of meat with her fork, put it in her mouth, and immediately stopped.

Elowen watched her mother smugly, as though she were the one who’d cooked it. ”Well?”

Meira chewed slowly. The saltiness was exactly right, with a touch of sweetness, and the herbs Erik had used as seasoning lingered for a long time. She swallowed and let out a breath.

”Dangerous.”

Erik blinked. ”Dangerous?”

”I feel like you’re ruining my life.” Meira looked at the plate. ”I’ve eaten at a great many expensive restaurants, and the private chef in this house is among the best trained anywhere. But if I get to eat like this every day, what am I supposed to do about other people’s cooking once you stop?”

Elowen nodded immediately. ”Exactly!”

Erik looked at mother and daughter. ”Is it really that serious?”

”It is.”

They answered in unison.

He laughed. ”Then it’s simple. I’ll cook for the rest of my life.”

Meira raised an eyebrow slightly, and Elowen’s chopsticks paused.

Erik went on very casually while serving Elowen some food: ”We’re all going to be living together from now on anyway. I’ll cook for you and Elowen for the rest of my life.”

The dining room went quiet.

Elowen was the first to react. Her emerald eyes curved almost instantly, and she leaned right up against Erik.

”I’m remembering that.”

”Remembering what?”

”You just promised.”

”...”

”You’re not allowed to change your mind later.”

Erik looked helpless. ”Fine.”

Meira still said nothing. She looked at the man sitting across from her. That sentence had been so ordinary, no flowers, no ring, and Erik had even said it in the middle of picking up a piece of vegetable.

Yet Meira’s heart suddenly skipped a beat.

The rest of her life.

She had lived a long time without a single man ever saying those words to her like that. The man whose genes had produced Elowen hadn’t even wanted to look at her face. In all the years since, Meira had money, power, and people to serve her, but no one had ever sat across from her and said: I’ll cook for you for the rest of my life.

Heat rose suddenly behind her eyes.

Meira lowered her head at once and put a bite of food in her mouth.

Elowen looked a little puzzled. ”Mom?”

”Hm?”

”Why are you so quiet?”

”I’m eating.” Meira answered perfectly normally, only her voice came out a bit smaller than before.

Erik looked at her for a few seconds. He noticed the corners of her eyes were slightly red, but didn’t call attention to it. The rest of dinner passed unusually quietly, especially where Meira was concerned. The woman who normally loved seizing every chance to tease Erik spent the whole meal with her head down, occasionally glancing up at him before immediately pulling her gaze away.

From beginning to end, a very faint smile stayed at the corners of her lips.

...

Late that night, in the second-floor bedroom, the sound of running water carried steadily from the bathroom.

Elowen was showering.

Erik lay back against the headboard wearing nothing but simple sleepwear. After a day where things kept happening one after another, he finally had a quiet moment to examine something he’d set aside for quite a while.

His hand touched the spatial bracelet.

A mirror appeared.

The Myriad Realms Mirror.

The mirror’s surface still didn’t reflect Erik’s face. The silver mist within moved slowly, but unlike last time, a point of light had appeared amid that mist.

Erik sat up straight.

”Something’s changed?”

The instant the thought formed, an information panel opened.

[Myriad Realms Mirror]

[A new world has been detected as unlocked.]

Erik’s eyes shifted slightly. A large line of text slowly appeared.

[ICE AGE APOCALYPSE]

He stared at it, and the information that followed appeared one line at a time.

[Difficulty: Normal]

[World Type: Apocalypse / Survival / Mutation]

[Description: A world that has entered an Ice Age. Global temperatures have plummeted, and most regions are buried under snow and ice.]

[Food supplies have decreased severely. Production and transportation systems have all but collapsed.]

[Awakened have begun to appear, but their rate of development is limited by the harsh environment and scarce resources.]

[Ice attribute monsters have emerged across many regions.]

[For most living beings in this world, surviving each day has become a trial in itself.]

Erik read each line slowly.

He’d seen countless apocalyptic worlds in films and novels, but this wasn’t an entertainment screen. The Myriad Realms Mirror could actually take him there. That place had people freezing to death, food being stolen, Ice monsters emerging in the middle of ruined cities, and Awakened without enough resources to grow strong.

The final piece of information appeared.

[Entry Requirement: Minimum Tier - Silver.]

[Companions permitted: 2 Succubi.]

Erik went silent.

Silver.

Right now he was only Black Iron Rank 5. Bronze still sat between them. To enter his first world, he would have to climb at least one full Major Tier.

But what interested Erik more was the last line.

”Two Succubi...”

His finger tapped lightly against the mirror’s surface.

Elowen was certainly one candidate. Her newly awakened Epic talent still needed real combat to develop. The second could be Meira, Carmilla, Felyn after her treatment, or another woman better suited to the task.

Erik was in no hurry to decide.

His gaze returned to the description. Ice Age Apocalypse. Food shortages. Awakened struggling to develop. Ice monsters. A world almost entirely unlike the one he currently lived in.

Which also meant different resources, a different power system, and possibly things that had never appeared in Silver Moon at all.

Erik slowly sat up straight. The relaxed look on his face was gone, his eyes gradually turning sharp.

The Council had given him two months to obtain three Platinum Succubi. The Myriad Realms Mirror required him to reach at least Silver.

The two goals looked entirely unrelated at first glance.

But perhaps they could be strung along the same road.

If the Ice Age Apocalypse truly was a world where resources could be harvested and battles fought, it would become an opportunity for Elowen to grow, for the Succubi at his side to rank up, and for Erik to break past his current limits.

The sound of water in the bathroom suddenly stopped.

Erik stored the mirror back in his spatial bracelet, the corner of his mouth slowly curving upward.

”Looks like the next two months are going to be busy.”