"Look at the bright side," the Empress coaxed, ignoring his panic. "Just think about it, my sweet vessel. By regularly harvesting the empathetic energy of these low-born creatures, you can easily convert their lust into pure mana. Your cultivation speed will skyrocket with absolutely zero side effects."
She let out a low, throaty giggle. "Don't you want that? You can finally upgrade that pathetic strength you always cry about."
Alex stared at the sleek, dark-mode screen floating in his vision, his breath coming in short, uneven gasps.
The cool morning air in the room brushed against his bare torso, making his swollen, bright pink nipples harden instantly.
"As long as I'm careful and not affected in reverse, it should be feasible." He hugged his arms tightly across his chest, trying to block out the sensation.
Part of his brain, the desperate, weak cultivator side, admitted she had a point.
Just by draining the few nearby neighbors overnight had pushed his Source Power up to 111 points.
If he played his cards right and remained careful, this system method could be the ultimate cheat code to collect power and rewrite his trash tier capabilities.
However, the drawbacks were heavy, and they terrified him.
First, the risks of being noticed were too high. If he triggered a street-wide wave of uncontrolled lust every night, the city guards or powerful cultivators would eventually trace the high mana fluctuations back to himself.
Second, while his pheromones could drift far with the wind, his own absorption radius for empathetic energy was capped at between fifty to a hundred meters.
It severely reduced his efficiency, forcing him to stay dangerously close to his targets.
But the third drawback was the absolute dealbreaker.
Alex looked back at the glowing light screen, his eyes locking onto the progress bar.
[ Feminization Progress: Phase 1/9 (Ecdysis) - 86% Complete! ]
A cold sweat broke out across his forehead.
Just one night of passive energy draining had forced his mutation forward by a massive thirteen percent.
He could already guess exactly where his future would lead if he continued using this method.
If he kept going, he wouldn't even survive the month as a man.
"Unless it is a literal life-or-death emergency, I am never using this method again," he resolved, clenching his jaw.
With his decision firmly made, Alex was just about to furiously reprimand the Empress inside his head when a soft, shuffling sound came from the hallway right outside his door.
Then, the distinct creak of a floorboard from the room next to him.
Alex froze, his heart slamming against his ribs like a trapped bird.
Panic exploded in his chest, instantly short-circuiting his thoughts. He needed to clean up, and he had to do it right now.
The dark grey bedsheets were a complete disaster, worse, the mattress was sticky with clear, slick fluids, and the air inside the small bedroom was suffocatingly thick with the sweet, highly erotic scent of his leaks.
If Elena or Marcus walked in right now and saw the state of his room, there would be absolutely no explaining his way out of it.
Moving with frantic, fluid grace, his joints sliding effortlessly due to his new serpentine musculature.
Alex scrambled out of bed. His bare feet made soft, sticky sounds on the floorboards as he frantically gathered the ruined sheets, rolling them up to hide the piles of dead skin.
He shoved the dirty laundry deep into the bottom of his closet, out of sight.
Shivering from the cold draft against his bare, hypersensitive skin, he grabbed a pair of fresh sweatpants, pulled them over his hips, and rushed straight into the bathroom to wash the lingering residue off his body before anyone could knock on his door.
"Hey, Alex, open the door... I'm in a hurry," a rough, breathless voice called out, followed by a weak, rapid knocking on the bathroom door.
Alex froze, the soap slipping from his trembling fingers and hitting the sink with a wet thud. He knew that voice.
It was Elena. Her breathing sounded heavy, ragged, and completely irregular through the thin wooden door.
Panic gripped him. He stood frozen in a dilemma. If he opened the door, she would see his body.
But if he didn't, she might force her way in, or worse, make enough noise to wake up Uncle John.
Click.
The sharp sound of the metal deadbolt sliding back echoed in the small bathroom.
Alex's eyes widened in horror. He hadn't touched the lock.
He watched as the doorknob slowly turned on its own, the door creaking open to reveal a narrow gap in the hallway.
"Oops. My hand slipped," the Empress giggled in his mind, her voice dripping with malicious, lazy delight.
Before Alex could even curse the mischievous ghost, the door was forcefully shoved open. Elena stumbled into the humid bathroom.
Alex braced himself, terrified that the lingering pheromones had driven her into another aggressive, sex-crazed frenzy.
He pressed his back flat against the cold tiles of the wall, quickly crossing his arms over his sensitive chest to hide his softening torso.
But the attack he feared never came.
Elena only managed to take two wobbly steps inside before her knees completely buckled. With a heavy sigh, she slumped down onto the wet, tiled floor, completely helpless.
"Elena!" Alex gasped, dropping to his knees beside her, momentarily forgetting about his exposed chest.
She didn't look aggressive or aroused. She looked completely listless.
Her usually strict, sharp face was pale and exhausted.
Dark bags hung under her eyes, and her brown hair was a messy, sweaty tangle plastered to her forehead.
Her eyes were half-closed, bloodshot, and glassy, staring blankly at the floor. She looked like she was on the verge of passing out entirely.
"So hot..." Elena mumbled weakly, her voice barely a whisper. She didn't even seem to register that Alex was half-naked.
Alex reached out hesitantly, placing his hand on her shoulder.
"Ah!" He winced, pulling his hand back for a split second. Through her thin tank top, her skin was burning up.
It felt like she had a massive fever. But the contrast was even more shocking to his own body.
His new, cold-blooded skin was incredibly cool, and touching her intense, radiating heat sent a jolt of electric sensitivity straight up his arm.
"What happened to her? Don't tell me it's the pheromones from last night acting up?" Alex thought frantically.
He grabbed a dry towel from the rack and quickly draped it over his own shoulders, letting the ends hang down to cover his chest, hiding his upper body.
"What do you think happened?" the Empress purred, sounding incredibly smug. "She spent the entire night rolling around in her bed, drowning in your scent. She drained herself dry feeding us her raw lust and empathetic energy. Her mind is exhausted, and her body is suffering a massive mana hangover."
Alex felt a sharp pang of guilt mixed with pure terror. Only now did he know how severe damage the effect of pheromones he released could do.
"Alex...?" Elena groaned, her heavy eyelids fluttering. Her red eyes slowly focused on him kneeling beside her.
Her gaze was sluggish, her blurry eyes tracked down to his bare arms. Without warning, she reached out with a trembling hand and grabbed his forearm.
"Nnngh..." Alex bit his lip to stop a breathy whimper. Her hot, rough palm scraping against his ultra-sensitive, newly shed skin was almost too much to handle.
"You're... so cool," Elena mumbled, her voice thick with exhaustion. Instinctively seeking relief from her own burning fever, she leaned forward and pressed her flushed cheek directly against his bare, pale arm.
She let out a long, satisfied sigh, nuzzling into his soft skin like a tired cat.
Alex sat there, frozen on the bathroom floor.
"See?" the Empress whispered, her spectral fingers gently stroking the back of his mind. "Even when she is half-conscious, she craves your touch. Your bodies are perfectly matched. What are you waiting for? Do it..."
"Do what?" Alex questioned, with some confusion, still unable to process what's happening before him.
"Stupid, what else.... Devour her," the Empress whispered back, with an enchanting voice.