'So how does it work?' Alex wondered as he concentrated.
Right now, he was back from visiting the auction market and was waiting for Freya.
Perhaps it was because the sun was about to fall and many auctioneers were preparing to leave, Alex only managed to get his hands on a few interesting items after acquiring the piano.
One of the items he had gotten his hands on was a silver ball that was made of an interesting material. This material in question was as solid as steel, but the interesting part was that once imbued with mana, its characteristics changed, becoming a viscous liquid. What was even more extraordinary was that Alex could control it as he wished just by channeling his mana inside—it was as if his own mana had become the silver liquid!
The more he stretched the material, however, the more mana he needed to expend to keep it in a liquid form; otherwise, it would lose its liquid properties and revert back to a solid.
From what the auctioneer of this item explained, this silver metal was one of the rare rewards found after clearing a grade 4 dungeon.
Curious about the strange characteristics of this silver metal, Alex decided to buy it.
Beside that, he had also bought a painting set with enchanted pigments and brushes. The pigments, infused with mana, could shift color or brightness depending on the user's intent, while the brushes, made from the fur of a magical beast he had never heard of, adapted to different surfaces, allowing one to create textures and subtle movements in their paintings. With a light touch of mana, one could make elements of their work seem almost alive, adding a mesmerizing, magical quality to the creations.
Many people were vying for this treasure, forcing Alex to buy it at a steep price—at least a quarter of what he had paid for his piano. He hadn't bought this painting set for himself, though; it was a gift for his eldest daughter, Viviane.
During his stroll through the auction market, he had bumped into Talia a few times and soon realized that she wasn't alone. Celine and Marina, two of his other cousins, accompanied her. When he made that discovery, he couldn't help but chuckle, thinking that the only one missing was his sister or their "gang" would have been complete.
Since he couldn't find anything else of interest, he walked back to the Drazen auction house and settled near its entrance. Not wishing to waste time sitting idly, he decided to resume his tests on lust energy, experiments he had wanted to carry out before Freya had interrupted him that morning.
As his concentration peaked, Alex called forth the lust energy. It was his first time doing so, but he quickly realized that it was as easy as drawing ambient mana to himself; theoretically, there was no need for him to focus so intently. Nevertheless, he maintained his concentration, and as the seconds ticked by, particles of lust energy swirled toward him, like moths drawn to a flame. As their concentration increased, Alex's hand became surrounded by a pinkish glow—though he was the only one able to see this light, as others had no particular affinity for lust energy.
From what the goddess of lust had explained to him, only creatures naturally born with an affinity for lust energy, such as succubi, could feel and manipulate it.
'So if I shake hands with someone right now, they will become aroused?' Alex mused to himself.
Of course, Alex knew that this wouldn't happen unless he willed the lust energy to work its wonders. With the tiny amount of lust energy he had gathered, he was far from making any woman horny; however, that didn't mean it would have no effect.
If a person were subjected to this amount of lust energy day after day, their libido would gradually increase until they eventually relented and succumbed to the need to pleasure themselves or sought someone else to do so for them. The time it took to reach that point would vary from one person to another; a woman with a strong mind and firm values would typically resist longer than someone who was already more depraved.
This was one reason why corrupting nuns from the Church of Light was deemed particularly challenging. Their strong beliefs against succumbing to earthly desires made it much more difficult to lead them into the pleasures of the flesh.
Moreover, there were apparently some forms of defense against lust energy. The goddess hadn't gone into great detail about this aspect, but she had warned him to be cautious of them.
Even if Alex managed to make a woman succumb to her desires, it wasn't guaranteed that he would be the one she turned to for pleasure. To address this issue, the goddess took her time explaining what he needed to do.
The solution was both simple and complex. For a woman to seek him out when she wanted to be pleasured, he had to ensure that she subconsciously associated the notion of pleasure with him. This meant that each time he used lust energy on someone, he needed to perform an action that would evoke a pleasurable response in that person. As a result, whenever they sought pleasure, they would instinctively turn to him.
Fortunately, he had an advantage in this endeavor: the lust energy itself.
Beyond simply increasing a person's desire, the lust energy had the unique ability to enhance the intensity of orgasms, making the experience far more pleasurable than it would otherwise be.
Still, the whole process felt like a form of conditioning to Alex, akin to Pavlov's experiments with dogs on Earth. In those experiments, Pavlov rang a bell before presenting food, and over time, the dogs learned to associate the sound of the bell with the arrival of food, leading them to salivate even in the absence of food. After the goddess's explanation, Alex realized that by using his lust energy while providing pleasure, he could create a similar association in women, causing them to subconsciously seek him out whenever they desired satisfaction.
One such thought actually made Alex frown, as he judged it to be dangerously close to mind control. However, the goddess assured him otherwise. Her actual words at that time were:
"While it's true that you can theoretically turn someone into a sex slave if you desire to take that route, it's ultimately that person's choice to become a slave. It's not because you increase someone's libido and make her or him, if that's something you would be interested in, that you control their minds. Those same people could decide to satisfy themselves or visit another person. It's ultimately because you are the one that makes them feel good that they come towards you. You can then take advantage of this and make them truly loyal to you."
Alex still felt that it might be morally wrong, but he wasn't as against it as he was when he first heard of it.
Another thing the goddess had also explained to him was that lust wasn't an inexhaustible energy. It was an energy that only existed as long as sentient and living creatures were in a zone; the fewer people there were around, the less lust energy there would be. While it's true that this statement wasn't absolute, it was, for the most part, accurate.
Of course, this was not a problem here in Drisidd, where tens of thousands of people lived, which was why Alex could attract lust energy even where he currently was.
'Unfortunately, it seems that I can't control more than this much energy,' Alex thought as he watched his two glowing hands. If he tried to increase the lust energy under his control, he would actually lose control of another portion he already had control over.
'Let's go at it gradually; there's no need to waste time trying to control more energy. I should rather try to intimately understand how this energy functions,' Alex decided.
Of course, the instant he received the lust energy blessing, Alex already had knowledge of how it worked and what it could do, but he still wished to see for himself what would happen if he used the energy on someone.
'It also has a charming effect on people that I want to test out,' Alex considered.
The charming effect was none other than the very reason his handsomeness had been elevated several folds when he received the lust energy, and its role was to make him appear desirable to the opposite sex.
Just as Alex was wondering who he should use as a guinea pig, the doors of the auction house opened, and a woman sporting orange hair walked out.
However, to Alex's disappointment, this woman wasn't Freya, but Frieda.
Frieda's eyes scanned her surroundings, and when her gaze settled on Alex, her eyes seemed to sparkle.
'I should apologize for my earlier actions and try to make amends,' Frieda thought as she walked in Alex's direction. 'Perhaps I can even convince him to ditch that bitch Freya and win his favor, as well as that of his organization.'
If she had been able to sense just how deeply Alex desired Freya at that moment, she would never have entertained such thoughts. Alas, she would remain blissfully unaware until much later.
For now, however, she would merely serve as a guinea pig for Alex to test his new powers.