Chapter 19: Meeting the Gods

The next day, I woke up a little before dawn. I opened the system panel, which read [5:36]. All my time in combat had accustomed me to waking up early, no matter the situation. I was still a bit sleepy, my mind a little hazy, but I felt something warm beside me, something delicious, soft, and fluffy in my hand. Manaia’s naked body was snuggled against me, her leg intertwined with mine, and my arm held her firmly against me, one hand cupping her breast. Her hair tickled me a bit, but it was a divine sensation. Tenderly, I started kissing her, tracing every curve of her body, lingering especially on her backside. I began licking and kissing my way up her stomach until I reached her breasts. I firmly held one and started sucking her nipple with intense passion. Manaia moaned, a mix of pleasure and pain, as she whispered: "It still hurts a lot from yesterday. Can I just chill out today?" "Sure, but only if you give me a kiss," I replied. Our lips met in a sweet kiss. The warmth of her entire body filled me with an indescribable sense of comfort. I wanted, desired, yearned to stay in her arms, but I knew it wasn’t the time. I put on some clothes and left the hut, letting Manaia rest. As I walked towards the center of the village, I spotted Zyra and Vira. Seeing me, they came running, shouting that they’d wake everyone up. I told them I’d wait for them at the forest entrance to start training. Upon reaching the entrance, I greeted two women on guard duty. "Good morning, lovely ladies, how are you both doing today?" I asked them. "Hehehe, we’re doing great, Lord Jax, and how did you wake up? Did you have fun last night?" they both responded, laughing heartily. They were Anya and Kareli, a couple of cousins I’d met yesterday. They were around 23 years old and both had a child. I’d met them when they were in charge of cooking for everyone; everything had been absolutely delicious. "Oh, no doubt, this village’s hospitality is top-notch. Couldn’t ask for anything more," I told them. "Ooh, I thought there might still be things you could ask for," Anya began to speak seductively, leaning slightly to let me glimpse her breasts through her neckline. "Well, life’s always full of surprises, and everything’s always welcome," I replied. They both moved closer, but only gave me a kiss on the cheek each before shyly running off. "Hahaha, don’t be shy...!" I playfully yelled after them as they ran. Watching their big behinds bounce as they fled made the day even brighter. Guild Preparations While waiting for the volunteers, I began checking the guild options: * [Members] * [Guild Shop] * [Guild Skills] * [Guild Configuration] I tried to open the Shop and Skills tabs, but both appeared locked. Confused, I opened Guild Configuration and started reading: [Family Guild] [Guild Level 1] [Members 28/100] [Guild Rank 325/325] [Leader Level 91] [Location: Savage Island] The description detailed my guild’s name, level, and even its location. I tried to scroll, but all other options were locked. When I tried to select [Guild Privileges], an alert popped up: [To unlock permissions, an altar must be placed.] [Do you wish to place the altar?] I pressed "yes" since I had no other choice. A giant, translucent structure appeared before me, accompanied by a message: [Select the location to place the Guild altar. It can only be placed once. Its destruction represents the dissolution of the guild and cannot be transferred once placed.] The threat was direct; this obelisk was more important than it seemed. I walked towards the center of the village, thinking there was no better place to put it. The Altar’s Birth As soon as I selected the location, the ground began to tremble. [The Guild altar is being born. You have 10 seconds to cancel.] The tremor continued for ten seconds as a three-meter-tall, opaque gray obelisk slowly emerged from the earth. [Congratulations, "Hero’s Guild," for completing your first task!] [Complete your guild’s foundation. Choose the deity to protect your guild.] A gigantic list of names unfurled before me: [Goddess of Light] [God of Fire] [God of Darkness] [Goddess of Night] [Goddess of the Moon] ... [God of Time] The list was ordered by the gods’ power, with a brief description of their abilities. Each god had a different pact. For example, the Goddess of Light demanded building a temple and worshipping her as the sole deity, besides attacking any other god and committing "no impure actions." "What a load of rubbish!" I thought. "The Soaring Dragon kingdom worships her, and their main temple is built for her next to the castle, and yet those sons of bitches betrayed me. They’d be the last ones I’d choose." The Encounter with the Gods I read through all the options, but I couldn’t help having a bias towards two specific gods: the Goddess of the Moon and the God of Time. During my six years in this place, they had been my backbone; my strongest abilities came from them, so I wanted to choose both. I checked both boxes, and when I pressed "accept," I was teleported to a completely white room. In the white room, I saw two beings looking at me with warm smiles. To the right stood a god with purple eyes, black hair tied in a ponytail, wearing a tunic that only covered him from the waist down. His body looked imposing but, at the same time, strange; it was like watching a TV with interference, every movement of his left residual images, as if thousands of him were moving simultaneously, one after another. To the left was a woman of breathtaking beauty. She wore a white dress that glowed, with colossal breasts and an incredibly impressive waist, truly worthy of her title as the Goddess of Fertility. Her face was covered with a golden veil that only allowed me to see her eyes, which were electric blue; it even seemed as if an electrical storm raged within them. Before the presence of the gods, I felt utterly minuscule, as if my existence was worth absolutely nothing.