Alex was the son of a rich restaurant owner—a pretty big one at that. His parents were downstairs doing their thing while he slouched in his gaming chair, surrounded by empty energy drink cans and the glow of his monitor. He'd heard about this game from all his so-called social media friends who in real life didn't even know he existed.
The game was called Trysodynia - Peak Aah Harem. Yep, that was literally the name. The word "harem" alone was enough to get him to download it immediately.
He started the game. It was pretty clear from the description that the first 1 or 2 plots would be the same for everyone, then the rest branched randomly. They'd apparently made around 600 different storylines for the big harem experience.
"Lets start this," he muttered, clicking through the character select screen.
The males were decent. Nothing special, just so-so really. But the females? Big boobs, thick thighs, real MILF energy all around. His eye immediately went to one handsome male character among all of them—Krai Holyfield Velkryss. He was handsome beyond belief, the kind of face that could get male gooners interested too.
Perfect black hair. Member of the supreme family. Grandson of an archduke, son of a duke. He had everything going for him.
Except one problem—he didn't have a core. No aether cultivation at all. In a world where aether worked like mana in games, where you cultivated and leveled up to gain power, not having a core was basically a death sentence. The character notes explained that Krai was an adopted child. The duke had been hit where it counts and couldn't give kids anymore, so they'd picked Krai up from the lower realms as a placeholder in the family roster.
In this world, strength was everything. You could become a duke if you had enough cultivation power. But Krai—this nobody they'd made to fill numbers—was stuck without a core.
Alex selected him anyway and started playing. He fucked up the first 4 arcs continuously. The protagonist was supposed to be a lower realm member of the family, a woman who fell for him and begged to marry him while Krai and others watched. Krai was brought in as a mediator since he was from the noble realms. It didn't work out so well.
But that was the game he'd already played. Now things were different.
Krai woke up staring at a cliche ceiling—the kind you saw in every webnovel and anime. His entire body felt real. The silk sheets against his skin felt real. The morning light filtering through the windows felt real.
He couldn't understand shit around him.
He stumbled to the mirror and stared at his reflection. Black hair, sharp features, handsome face. He looked fine as hell, that much was certain. But more importantly—wait, wasn't this that game? Was he actually in the game he'd been playing?
A blue screen materialized in front of him, glowing with ethereal light.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZATION SEQUENCE STARTING]
[Detecting host: Krai Holyfield Velkryss]
[Wife Cultivation Rebate System activating...]
[System connection established]
He stared at the screen, his breath catching. A real system notification? This was actually happening?
"Oh, gods are finally helping," he whispered, his voice shaky as he felt a ray of hope break through the darkness. His face twisted into a crying expression, finally finding something to hold onto in this mess.
But then the reality of his situation hit him again. He didn't have a core. How was he supposed to survive in a world where everyone else could cultivate and he couldn't?
"Hey, so don't I get a core? Like the aether core or mana core or anything you got of your own?" he asked the glowing screen, already knowing the answer would be bad.
[NEGATIVE. Core generation unavailable for host.]
His face went pale. No core. Nothing. Just a system that couldn't even give him the basic advantage everyone else had.
"Wow, look at this civilized man arguing to a screen," he muttered to himself, running a hand through his hair. He took a deep breath and steadied himself. "Show me atleast something useful."
The system screen expanded, flooding his vision with information.
[WIFE CULTIVATION REBATE SYSTEM]
[PRIMARY MECHANIC: Each wife who achieves a cultivation breakthrough grants the host 10% of that breakthrough's benefits as a rebate. One rebate per wife per month maximum.]
[SECONDARY MECHANIC: Dual cultivation with wives provides exponential returns compared to standard cultivation methods.]
[REQUIREMENT: A woman is considered a "wife" only if she harbors genuine romantic feelings for the host. Forced relationships will be blocked by system.]
[CURRENT WIVES: 0]
[CURRENT CULTIVATION: Mortal (No Core)]
[STATUS: System Active - Ready to begin harem acquisition]
Krai read through it once, twice, three times. His mind processed what he was seeing and a grin spread across his face, wider and wider until it probably looked insane.
"So wait, wives? Like for real—wives?" His heart was pounding in his chest now.
[AFFIRMATIVE. Each wife breakthrough grants 10% rebate.]
He got a grin on his face that wouldn't stop. "He… hehe… hehehehe… hehehe…"
He laughed, genuine and unhinged, as the realization sank in completely. He finally got a cheat in this already messed up setting. At least now he didn't have to live the future that was written in Krai's character diary—his step sister, a year younger, another adopted girl, would apparently kill him in a few years. But with this system, he could at least run. Or better yet, avoid her completely.
"Isn't it time for the story to start? The first face slapping, the protagonist Vex sure is a stud rejecting a saintess like that," he said to himself, already thinking about what was coming next.
A few butlers came and took him to the auditorium. Apparently, small talks about deciding marriage partners didn't normally take place for their huge family, but it was necessary right now for two reasons—one to make a connection to the protagonist, and two, Krai wanted to see how the protagonist acted. He was quite a sadist himself, so his nature was calling.
"These clothes," he muttered as they walked through the halls, "I guess even my filthy rich parents would be willingly working here as bathroom cleaners huh." His parents in his previous life were money-obsessed, always trying to squeeze cash out of anything.
Finally he sat on the seat in the auditorium. The male protagonist's father sat to his side, a few more people of their clan scattered around, and hundreds of audience members filling the rows. But wait—
"Why is there a girl here?" Krai asked, confusion crossing his face.
He leaned toward the protagonist's father. "Sir, did you have a daughter too? Isn't this about your son being asked by one of the saintesses?"
The father looked shocked by the question. "Young master, didn't you see our notice clearly? It's a man asking for my one and only daughter."
Krai's face went blank. The so-called protagonist had now become a petite girl, fiddling with her fingers and staring at him with those girly stares you only get when you're handsome.
His internal monologue spiraled. "Fuck fuck fuck, and here I thought that I could atleast pass the tutorial and first arc. Isn't that all that I've played?"
Then an idea came to him. If he asked for this protagonist as his wife, wouldn't it be sorted? That could be the easy way out. But his supposed fiancée in the upper levels could kill him with a smack if she found out he was marrying someone else.
But he had to stop this now-turned female protagonist from marrying this guy. He knew from the game ads that the worst ending would be the protagonist marrying the first heroine in the tutorial itself. If that happened, the entire plot would collapse.
Krai straightened himself. Although he had no core, he'd somehow scored with a princess who wanted to dominate her husband rather than be dominated. Right now the story was his to control, and Krai was way too lazy to go and fight villains ahead when he could solve it by just marrying the author's favorite character himself.
He went to the father of Vex—their now-turned female protagonist.
"Umm... how about you engage her to me?" he said casually.
The father was shocked. The worst kid of the Velkryss house, the pathetic no-core guy who only had his looks and luck to thank, was now offering to marry his daughter?
He held Krai's hand firmly. "Oh, young master... you're doing us a great favor in marrying my daughter."
"No wait, I'm only enga—"
"Hahaha, don't worry we will handle the necessary preparations. Tomorrow you can get together"
"??".