Tsunami was now in the royal library after realizing how important it was for him to learn more about this world.
His lunch meal conversation made him realise this world was somewhat stranger than he had anticipated.
For instance, the concept of family was bizarre in this world.
Not only were there no mothers, but there were also no fathers, brothers, sisters... just house originals and the latecomers.
The youngest human you could find was 18 years old, and women could not give birth here.
Instead, every person came from a sky fruit, growing on the tree of life.
This tree of life was believed to fall under the domain of the Goddess of life and creation.
The sky fruits grew from its branch and took at least 18 years to ripen.
Some could take longer, but most of them fell after spending 21years on the magical tree.
The sky fruits were either picked from the tree of life directly or from the sacred ground after falling.
Special emissaries of the goddess, who were also the caretakers of the tree of life, would distribute them to the ruling governments to oversee.
The fruits were massive and came in different sizes and colors.
The blue ones would give rise to mortals, while the green ones would give rise to commoners, with the most precious red ones giving rise to nobles.
Only commoners and nobles were capable of cultivating life energy, which was obtained from the dual cultivation process.
...
Then the sky fruits would either be sold in auction houses, as people bid for them, or someone could submit an official request to the government.
The person would then undergo a vetting process, and after approval, a sky fruit would be granted.
The difference was choice.
Those who don't buy the sky fruits have no freedom to choose which type they want and can only hope to get a good deal.
But on some occasions, the government could also distribute the sky fruits to different people, if the demand is less than the supply.
However, this rarely happens.
...
Regardless of the method one acquires the sky fruits, once obtained, it becomes their obligation to give shelter, guidance, and a position within their residence or household.
By enacting strict laws and monitoring policies in place, the system can be protected against violators who might seek to exploit it.
Although such laws helped in promoting human rights, when one moved further away from government establishments, the gap of lawlessness increased.
The one(s) who gets custody over a sky fruit becomes known as a house original, while the person who comes from the sky fruit will be known as the household latecomer after joining the residence.
From there, we get the three household classes:
Mortal household
Commoner household and
Noble household
The mortals usually had a bloodline purity equal to 50% or less, while the commoners had a 70%+ purity bloodline, and the nobles had an 80%+ purity bloodline.
This bloodline purity was of great importance for someone who wished to become a favourite.
Adding their potential grade into the mix, one's path of success or failure on their favourite journey mainly depended on these two factors.
...
The potential grade had 10 ranks ranging from 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 to 9.
A favourite's potential grade determined how many pathways one can merge and focus on cultivating.
The higher the grade, the more difficult it was to ascend towards the divine.
This was because a favourite required top mastery in more pathways, which was rather hard based on one's evaluation score.
Every favourite had one major pathway to focus on, which also determined the type of magical powers they would exhibit.
But they could also have several minor pathways.
Not as important as their major one, but they couldn't be ignored, or one might fail to ascend.
...
The only exception to this rule was those favourites with zero potential.
They lacked both major and minor pathways in their cultivation requirements.
To them, all pathways were essential, and the evaluation grade was constant across the board.
This increased the difficulty for a favourite's ascent more than 20 times.
Hence, they usually don't have much prospect on the favourite journey.
...
The cultivation arts were divided into two categories...
The orthodox arts and the unorthodox arts.
Little was recorded about the unorthodox arts, and it was taboo for one to practise such devious arts.
They were the ways of the evil gods.
But the orthodox arts were further divided into 26 pathways.
***
Breast pathway
Ass pathway
Flower pathway
Oral pathway
Outdoors pathway
Domination pathway
Marriage pathway
Divorce pathway
Yuri pathway
MM pathway
Fingering pathway
Gooner pathway
Threesome pathway
Gangbang pathway
Bdsm pathway
Fetish pathway
One-night stand pathway
Cosplay pathway
Milf pathway
Guests' pathway
Teen pathway
Noble pathway
Commoner pathway
Mortal pathway
Widow pathway and
Orgy pathway
Hardcore pathway
***
"..."
"..."
'Truly degenerates'
Tsunami was at a loss.
'Is this the normal way of life in this world?'
But then he remembered that this place was called the pleasure world.
Now he had some ideas why this place had such a peculiar name.
...
Three hours have passed since Tsunami entered the library and dove into different books.
This was the longest he had ever stayed reading since dropping out of high school in his previous life.
Surprisingly, he found reading this stuff somewhat immersive compared to his school days memories.
Perhaps it was because he lacked the need to cram stuff for exams...
Maybe he was just a degenerate.
Anyway, he was becoming tired and felt that he couldn't process any new information.
He slowly closed his books and prepared to return them to their respective shelf slots, but then an old librarian stopped him.
"Wait"
"There's no need to trouble your highness with such trivialities."
He dragged his old bones to Tsunami's desk and began carrying the books.
He looked to be in his late 60s or early 70s, had long white hair and a messy beard.
There was a number written on his forehead (7.9) that exuded something mysterious.
Whenever Tsunami focused on it, he always felt dizzy and remembered that he too had a similar mark on his forehead (8.3), but lacked the same properties.
He also recalled that only the male personnel he had encountered had this trait.
Initially, he wanted to ask them, but then opted to figure things out for himself, lest they make more fun of him...
Unfortunately for him, today's reading session had no mention of such information.
...
The old man struggled to get his old bones across all the bookshelf slots, while Tsunami waited just in case the old hag's bones failed him midway.
Surprisingly, he never had to make a move.
Tsunami didn't wish to do something that might make him stand out or cause harm to the old man, as he had wronged the maid.
...
As the old man placed the last book, he came before his presence and bowed before speaking.
"It's all done, your highness."
"Sorry for troubling you."
"It is my job, your highness; there's no need to worry."
"I have been doing this job for the last 40 years, even though my health has plummeted, I am still strong and love doing this job."
Tsunami nodded, wondering if he could stay doing one job for 40 years.
He was slightly unsure, as sometimes life can be unpredictable.
Looking back at the old man, he had nothing but respect.
Tsunami kept feeling that the old man had more to say, but hesitated, unsure whether he should speak further.
Double-checking his surroundings one more time and seeing no one in sight, Tsunami motioned for the old man to stop bowing and air out what bothered him.
"You may speak your mind, senior."
After straightening his back, the old man respectfully obliged.
"Then, forgive my bluntness... You have changed."