Lord of Charm

Gale opened his eyes and saw he was laying on a soft, pleasant carpet. He looked around slowly, finding himself in the familiar throne hall. Although it was his second time, he still felt overwhelmed by the grandeur of the place just like the first time he saw it. Furthermore, now that he wasn't as nervous as before, he could observe it even better.

He didn't look around too much, to avoid seeming rude in front of a god whose temper was unknown. He stood in front of the man sitting on the throne and bowed formally.

"Your Majesty, why have I been summoned?"

"You've noticed some of your powers. Now that you started your journey to the summit, I thought it was time for us to meet again."

"Does it mean that you will teach me how to use my powers better?"

"Not really, I will only give you a brief explanation. The way you use them is only up to you, and whether you master your powers or not depends on you."

"I understand. Thank you in advance for guiding me, Sir."

"You have the power of charm, which some might call seduction. As you've noticed and done before, you can charm others to do your bidding. This power operates the same way as spells; however, this ability is on the God level."

Seeing Gale's confused face, he continued his explanation.

"Although it affects the mana, it will do it in a way of a whole phase above you. Meaning, as you are now it will operate as a spell at the top of the magician phase. Once you get to the True Magician stage yourself, it will work as a spell at the top of the True Mage stage."

"I'm afraid I will never make it that far. As you already know, I can't do magic. I tried practicing also after I received your gift, and I still couldn't."

"Your way of improving your magic is a bit different. You need to steal it from your partners."

"Steal? How do I do it? Will it ruin their talent and make their stages regress?"

"They won't drop a stage as long as you don't go too far, but it will take a high toll on their body, making it impossible for them to improve until they recover. The more you take from them, the more the damage becomes irreversible."

"What do you mean by partners?"

"Sex partners."

"That's a bit weird, isn't it? Anyway, I'm going to get married soon and I will only have one wife."

"Do you think married people sleep only with their spouses? Why do you think I changed your look? Just so you could keep hanging around with one weak wife?"

"But I don't want to hurt her feelings, besides, I don't want to go around ruining others' lives and future potential"

"Then just sleep with them once or twice, you wouldn't reap as many benefits, but they could recover within a few weeks. They probably won't even realize you stole from them if you take just a little."

"Then that's what I'm going to do. I feel sorry for cheating on my wife, but wouldn't I die early and leave her alone if I don't do it? I think it's best for both of us.

I just feel a little bad about becoming a skirt chaser, wouldn't my image be ruined?"

"Sure, if such a sloppy rationalization works for you. Besides, you don't have to chase skirts, there's nothing wrong with chasing pants too if you know what I mean. The world has progressed, you know."

"What kind of progress is that? I prefer chasing skirts. Wait… did you…?"

Gale gave him a weird look but decided he won't judge others' tastes.

"Be it as it may, I have to explain something to you. You could think of your partner's energy as a palace. There's the outer wall, and inside it, there are all kinds of nice things, but none of them are really important or irreplaceable. Moving farther inside, you can enter the palace. You might find better treasures to steal- I mean, to take. And even better, you can find the treasury and find the best treasures that the kingdom has to offer."

He explained his example.

"Your way of improving your magic with women works the same way; if you sleep with them only once, you can enjoy the treasures of the outer wall, or in other words, you could only get to a stage that is a whole phase under hers.

Around your fifth time with them, you will leave damage that would take them years to recover, yet you'd be able to get to a stage lower than theirs by 2 stages. After the tenth time, you would be one stage under them, ruining their future potential to raise their stage."

"What if I continue?"

"After 20 times, you'd be able to get to their stage, crippling them completely and destroying their connection to mana."

"Doesn't it mean my wife is doomed?"

"Of course not, you can control your ability, if you choose to restrain yourself, she'd lose nothing during sex with you. However, I wouldn't recommend remaining weak in the long run, do you truly want to die after only a few years and be at her mercy for your whole life?"

The man's words had a persuasive effect on those who heard him. Gale started considering whether he really should leave crippled women in his pursuit of strength. However, he quickly stopped himself.

"I will seduce stronger women and slowly rank up; I will not go against my principles only for power."

The man nodded "That's right, I chose you because you were supposed to make those decisions. However, a high charm is not only a blessing. It could also become a curse if someone decides to capture you and keep you as a sex slave."

"Can't I just steal their powers then?"

"Not necessarily, if they are more than 3 stages above you, they can feel your attempt to steal from them and stop it. using the same analogy with the palace, you could say they have too many guards for someone weak as you to steal without their knowledge even in the outer yard."

"What about the women who are higher than me by 3 stages or less?"

"They wouldn't feel it at first. The higher their mana perception is, the faster they will notice it. Someone 3 stages above you will notice it at your third intercourse most of the time."

"Then I can just wait a few weeks between each session to let them heal, right?"

"No, it'd be the same as going out of the out walls, and next time you'd have to enter it again. In other words, the count will be reset."

Gale thought for a moment and realized it made sense. If they healed, he would go back to the starting point. He had a few more questions.

"But how does it work? Will I be able to cast all the spells they have?"

"Do you know what makes one magician? What's the real difference between a magician and a mage?"

The God of Charm saw Gale shaking his head and sighed. Gale was glad he asked this question; he was determined to get as many answers as he could now before God sent him away like last time.

"Well, that's your problem, I've already explained everything I wanted to explain. Now shoo, shoo."