"It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both." — Niccolò Machiavelli
A glowing, bright green holographic screen suddenly materialized directly in front of his face, hovering inches above the mud.
Adrian groaned, coughing up a mouthful of blood, ’What the fuck is that?’
[Host vitals are currently at 12%. Aren’t you in a pathetic state?!]
A mechanical voice with a hint of sarcasm echoed in his mind.
[Look at you. Bleeding in the fucking dirt like a beaten dog. And over what? A basic, used-up human slut who dumped you for a guy who barely knows how to spark a battery? You look like a disgrace.]
’Who are you?’ Adrian thought, too weak to speak out loud.
[I am the NTR Investment System. I was drawn to your massive, suppressed hatred and your utter lack of magical talent.]
[I am here to fix you. But I don’t give handouts. You want power? You are going to have to steal it by being the most ruthless, degenerate bastard in this world.]
’Degenerate?’ Adrian forced his eyes to stay open, staring at the green screen. ’Steal it? How?’
[By taking their women.]
The System replied bluntly.
[This world runs on magic. You have none. But I do. Every time you conquer, break, and claim a woman who belongs to an awakened man; Whether it’s his girlfriend, his sister, his wife, or his mother, I will rip away the Elemental Affinity of your conquest to you.]
Adrian’s heart pounded heavily against the dirt. ’I can gain affinity by fucking women?’
[Exactly. You fuck their women, you take their power. It’s that simple.]
[And the higher the status of the woman, and the more deeply you humiliate the man, the greater the rewards.]
[I will give you stats, skills, and elements. I will make you a god. But you have to stop acting like a victim and start acting like a predator.]
Cough! Cough! Adrian coughed up blood as he read through the instructions in front of him. Those walking past him felt the poor guy was flickering for the last time before his death.
But there was a smile on Adrian’s face. This wasn’t some righteous path. This was pure, unadulterated villainy. And it was exactly what he wanted.
[Generating First Quest...]
The green screen flickered and updated.
[QUEST: Cuck Lord Montfort.]
[TARGET: Lady Eleanor Montfort (Julian’s Mother).]
[OBJECTIVE: Successfully claim and breed Lady Eleanor Montfort. Break her aristocratic pride.]
[REWARD: +2000 NTR Points. Instant breakthrough to Early Iron Core Stage.]
Adrian stared at the target. Julian’s mother?!
Lady Eleanor was a famously dignified, high-ranking noblewoman. She herself was a very strong adventurer in her golden days. Then she was married to Lord Montfort, one of the King’s most trusted advisors.
[Here is your intel, host]
The System added with a dark chuckle.
[Lord Montfort left the capital yesterday on a two-week border patrol, which means the estate, the family affairs, and the reputation of the house are entirely in Lady Eleanor’s hands tonight.]
[Julian just left you battered and burned in the street without provocation. If your mother finds out, it means a blood-feud between the families.]
[Further Intel: Lord Montfort has spent the last several years treating his marriage as an arrangement to be maintained from a distance. He keeps his wife covered in jewellery and expensive silks. Lady Eleanor has been a dignified ornament of the house of Montfort.]
[Further Intel: Julian Montfort owes a substantial and poorly hidden debt to the Black Lantern Syndicate, which operates the gambling floors and the attached brothel under the old tannery district.]
As the voice rang in his head, Adrian understood a few things. His target, a neglected wife was left alone to hold he fort, and a son who was busy creating headaches for his family left, right and centre.
[DING!]
[Emergency Protocol Activated.]
[Restoring Host’s vitality and stamina.]
[WARNING: External injuries, severe burns, and bruising will remain unhealed.]
Adrian felt a sudden rush of warm energy flood his veins, erasing the debilitating weakness but leaving the sting of his scorched flesh.
He slowly pushed himself up from the mud. His muscles did not hurt as much as he expected, and fresh blood poured down his back, but his legs were steady.
[Supplemental Materialization: Julian Montfort Debt and Collateral Ledger.]
The air in front of him wrapped, and a book dropped in front of him. It was bound in black hide of leather that had gone soft at the corners from handling by multipple hands.
When Adrian opened the ledger, the ink was already dry.
The first columns were gambling markers under Julian Montfort’s name: Forty-Six Thousand Eight Hundred and Thirty Nine gold coins still outstanding to the Black Lantern Syndicate with interest compounding every week.
Dates showed when Julian had visted the gambling house only to lose money in every visit.
Behind those pages came the brothel tabs, Eleven Thousand Two Hundred and Sixty gold coins.
There was also a note that a ring had been pawned to cover a single night’s losses.
Further in, the ledger also contianed details about two attendants being paid for silence in the last six months.
Adrian closed the ledger and slid it inside his ruined academy coat. He suddenly had a plan. The puzzle pieces snapped together perfectly. He didn’t need to heal these wounds right now. These burns and broken bones were the ultimate leverage.
If he showed up at the Montfort estate right now, bleeding and half-dead, with the ledger as bonus, Lady Eleanor would panic.
She would do absolutely anything to keep this quiet and protect her arrogant son from his mother’s wrath.
The pain was just fuel now. He looked toward the high-class district where the Montfort estate was located.
Julian wanted to take his woman and leave him in the dirt?
"So it’s time to return the favour!"