Tsunami was now inside the royal library after realising how important it was for him to learn more about this world. His lunch conversation revealed the hidden dangers of being ignorant.
Today, he was lucky that he was the crown prince; tomorrow, roles can be reversed, and he could find himself like that helpless maid.
Diving through several books, he had chosen. He found some interesting things that piqued his interest.
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 skyborne.
The youngest human one could find was 18 years old, and human women could not give birth here, not just in the kingdom, but across all planets.
Instead, every person came from a sky fruit, growing on the tree of life. The tree of life was believed to fall under the domain of the Goddess of life and creation, with the sky fruit taking 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 shades of colour.
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 had an affinity for life energy, which was obtained from the dual cultivation process.
...
Then the sky fruits would either be sold in auction houses, where people would bid for them, or someone could submit an official request to the government.
For the second option, that person would undergo a vetting process, and after approval, a sky fruit would be granted.
But there was a difference, a lack of 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 rare occasions, the government could also distribute the sky fruits to different people if the demand was less than the supply.
...
Regardless of the method one acquired 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 implementing effective monitoring policies, the system can be protected against violators who might seek to exploit it.
And although such laws helped promote human rights, the gap in lawlessness increased as one moved further away from government establishments.
The one(s) who gets custody over a sky fruit becomes known as an original, while the person who comes from the sky fruit will be known skyborne.
All originals were once skyborne; it's like a passage from childhood to becoming an adult. The only caveat is getting custody of a sky fruit.
There was no age requirement.
From there, we get the three household classes:
Mortal household
Commoner household and
Noble household
Mortals usually had a bloodline purity of 50% or less. In contrast, the commoners had a 70%+ purity bloodline, and the nobles had an 80%+ purity bloodline, with a 9-point range of variability.
This bloodline purity was of great importance for someone who wished to become a favourite. Since the higher one's bloodline purity was, the higher their affinity to life energy.
Adding 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, starting from 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9.
A favourite's potential grade determined how many pathways one could merge and focus on cultivating.
The higher the grade, the more difficult it was to ascend towards the divine.
This was because the higher the potential grade, the more pathways a favourite required to master.
This was rather hard based on one's evaluation score, time, and resources needed for ascension.
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 of the evil gods.
The orthodox arts were further divided into 27 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
Orgy pathway and
Hardcore pathway
***
"..."
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.
...
Three hours have passed since Tsunami entered the library. 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 embracing the ways of a degenerate.
Regardless, spending all those hours reading, he was becoming tired and 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 appeared to be in his late 60s or early 70s, bald and with a messy beard.
There was a number written on his forehead (7.9) that exuded a mysterious force.
Whenever Tsunami focused on it, he always got dizzy and remembered that he too had a similar mark on his forehead (8.3), but lacked such properties.
He also recalled that only the male personnel he 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... or something dreadful happens again.
Unfortunately for him, today's reading session had no mention of such information.
...
The old man struggled to get his old bones across 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," Tsunami said with a guilty conscience, stopping the old man's bowing gesture midway.
"It's my job, your highness; there's no need to worry."
"I have been doing this job for the last century, even though my health has plummeted, I am still strong and love doing this job."
'Last century?' Tsunami was shocked, even though his face masked his expression well.
Working for over a century means the old man might be an ancestor.
Something to be noted, from the 1st step favourite to the 6th step favourite, there was an increase of 100 years in lifespan.
Above that, there was no record in the library. After all, the powerhouses in this little kingdom were just 3rd step favourites. But on this part of the continent, a 3rd step favourite was a force to be reckoned with.
With the majority of favourites being 1st step favourites, while some geniuses were in the 2nd step.
The majority is only a relative metric if you compare 1st step to the other two steps. In reality, even becoming a 1st step favourite isn't easy.
One didn't only need mastery in the pathways and achieve milestones, but there were also trials between each step, which created chasms impossible for many to cross.
Looking back at the old man, Tsunami could see he had more to say, but was hesitant. Double-checking his surroundings, he motioned for the old man to be at ease and air out his concerns.
"You may speak your mind, senior."
The old man held Tsunami's gaze for a couple of seconds while straightening his back, and respectfully obliged.
"Then, forgive my bluntness... You have changed."