As soon as Lan Ze thought of this, several options popped up right in front of his eyes.
[task 1: You can make your move! Express your most sincere affection to Tiamat, untie her buttons, and do whatever you want to do.]
[Task 2: You can make your move 2.0! Untie her buttons, and do whatever you want to do.]
"System, are you an absolute idiot? What's the meaning of always giving me tasks like this?!" Lan Ze flew into a rage.
"Hah." The system's emotionless, cold sneer sounded, as if saying: Whose fault is it really? You haven't got a single clue in that head of yours?
Lan Ze fell silent for a long while, then turned his head to look at the woman sleeping soundly and carelessly at the head of the bed, who seemed completely unworried about being attacked in her sleep.
This wasn't a display of confidence in her own strength, but simply the feeling that with her child by her side, no one would ever hurt her.
She truly wouldn't be hurt... it was just that she needed a little mana replenishment.
If Mother of All suddenly woke up and found out what I was doing, would she slaughter me?
Lan Ze silently complained to himself.
Yet he didn't dare to abandon the task; the more important a task was, the greater the price he would have to pay after abandoning it.
As expected, he still had to suppress his desires a bit... This system was a man of action. If his desires grew intense to a certain degree, the system would automatically generate a task.
Yet at the same time, he didn't dare to abandon the task.
"What is the penalty for abandoning this task?" Just to be safe, Lan Ze asked anyway.
"A 10% reduction in spiritron base, and the forfeiture of all materialized items," the system replied.
Look at that... He knew it.
There was no getting out of this without doing it...
Lan Ze took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
"Select task 1."
Lan Ze gazed at Tiamat, reached out a trembling hand, and placed his fingers on the buttons at her chest.
It's not that I'm lecherous, I'm sorry, this is all the system's task...
Don't worry, I just purely want to replenish mana... Lan Ze muttered silently to himself as he unbuttoned her top.
Almost the exact moment Lan Ze undid the first button, the remaining buttons on Tiamat's chest could no longer hold, bursting open as they were strained by her massive breasts.
This scene delivered a tremendous visual impact to Lan Ze; in all his life, he had never seen anyone able to burst the buttons on their chest wide open simply due to sheer size.
As expected, the Creation Mother Goddess was truly the Creation Mother Goddess, formidable in every aspect.
"I really should have woken her up first... lest people think I'm a creep," Lan Ze muttered. Even though he was a total pervert, he still had some principles.
Being intimate with her openly and aboveboard was called mutual affection, but doing it sneakily was called being creepy—a rat scurrying in the sewers.
Lan Ze gently patted Tiamat's shoulder and called out softly, "Mother..."
"Aaaa~Aaa..."
Tiamat was still babbling, finally saying something indistinct and unclear.
Lan Ze genuinely didn't catch it, so he leaned in close to Tiamat's ear. "What did you just say?"
"Don't want to..."
"Huh?" Lan Ze didn't understand.
This woman was clearly still sleep-talking. In truth, Tiamat hadn't drunk all that much wine tonight; she had probably just purely wanted to avoid using her own magic power to sober up and simply desired to experience the feeling of being drunk.
"Don't want to leave everyone."
Her voice was so soft it was almost inaudible, but the moment those words fell, Lan Ze felt his heart suddenly skip a beat.
That's right, no one feared Tiamat, and everyone deeply respected the Creation Mother Goddess.
Yet what good did that do?
Not only was she the Creation Mother Goddess, but she was also the "Beast of Regression," the beast obstructing humanity's order.
Right now, Tiamat was like someone in the middle of a dream—a beautiful dream.
Surrounded by numerous children who didn't fear her, with the humans around her not being aliens at all, everyone treated her very well.
She even had her favorite child by her side.
You "Aaa," he keeps you company with an "Aaa," and he can understand what you're saying... to the point where you wouldn't feel so lonely.
There was a loneliest whale in this world, and its name was Alice.
The singing frequency of normal whales was only 15 to 25 hertz, while Alice's frequency reached a full 52 hertz.
Even if it looked identical to other whales, and even if it swam through every corner of the ocean, it would never encounter a single whale capable of understanding its language.
Because those whales couldn't understand what Alice was trying to say.
Tiamat was just like Alice. Ever since her banishment, she had lingered in silence within the lifeless Imaginary Number World, resembling a gemstone packed inside a box, dormant in the darkness. After enduring wind and sun, one day someone discovered the box and opened it. Waking from her slumber, she was pleasantly surprised to find there was actually someone who could understand her language, and so, filled with joy, she regarded him as her most cherished child.
And that child liked her very much, too.
Yet all of this would eventually come to an end.
The system could only restrict her spiritron base for a short period of time; after that, she would still have to be sent back to the Imaginary Number World, plunging her into an endless slumber within that realm once again.
Perhaps one day in the future, when she once more awakened from her slumber and looked around in a daze, she would discover that all the people who had accompanied her today had completely vanished.
Even this pervert who called her "Mother" at every turn couldn't stay by her side forever.
Because this was a game, and the story of a game... always had a day when it came to an end.
Lan Ze felt his previously fluttering emotions gradually settle down. Even now, his attention would still occasionally be drawn by Tiamat's sexy figure, but after hearing what she said, he no longer had any desire to make any further moves.
There was a feeling of his heart being hollowed out, leaving behind an empty ache in his chest.
He gently stroked Tiamat's hair, gazing at her delicate features as she slept soundly.
Then, he suddenly called out in his heart, "System."
"System?"
[Speak.]
The system's prompt box popped up.
"Tell me... is there any way to let Mother of All quit the game too?" Lan Ze asked abruptly.
Lan Ze was thinking: if it could be handled like Ereshkigal's case—if Tiamat could be brought out of the game so that she too could log off—wouldn't all the problems be readily solved?
He asked the system with that exact thought in mind.
However—
"It is impossible, Host." The cold, emotionless mechanical voice rang out.
"Do you know what I'm about to say?" Lan Ze asked.
"She is a beast," the system's cold mechanical voice stated. "Once a beast manifests in the world, it is a disaster for the entire world. Unless she can completely restrict her own spiritron base, it is impossible for her to quit the game."
Lan Ze fell silent, feeling a bit crestfallen.
That's right, Ereshkigal was a goddess indeed, but she posed no harm to the world. Tiamat, however, was different... She was a beast.
Beasts were entities that hindered humanity's order. The moment she manifested with the power of a beast, even she herself would find it difficult to control her own might.
"You can seal her spiritron base for a week, so why can't you seal it permanently?" Lan Ze refused to give up.
"In theory, it can be done, but this requires a price to be paid, and the Host currently does not possess the corresponding price to pay."
"Can we negotiate? I've spent so much time with you, we're like brothers from the same mother. I mean... you're basically like another mother to me..." Lan Ze tried playing the emotional card.
"The Host may make an advance overdraft," the system replied.
"An overdraft...?"
"It means you don't possess these items right now, but you can make an advance consumption, provided it requires a little bit of interest."
Lan Ze was stunned, thinking to himself that this routine seemed awfully familiar—he felt like he'd seen it somewhere before...
"What do I need to overdraft?"
"Unconditionally executing the next task issued by the system. That is the price."
"Of course, if the Host feels the task is extremely unreasonable by then, you may also choose to abandon it, but you will suffer a double penalty as a result."
"As long as it's not a task that endangers my personal safety, I won't casually abandon tasks," Lan Ze said.
Up until now, he had never once abandoned a task because he knew the price for doing so was immense, and the double penalty mentioned by the system sounded rather terrifying.
"Sealing the spiritron base requires three days. Before that, please make the corresponding preparations, and Tiamat herself must have no willingness to resist whatsoever." After the system's emotionless voice finished speaking, it completely vanished.
Three days... So even the system had things it found difficult to accomplish?
That made sense, after all, she was Tiamat.
Although Lan Ze didn't quite understand just how massive Tiamat's spiritron base truly was, he could roughly guess.
After all, a normal Beast required seven Grand Servants to resolve. With such a terrifying spiritron base, even the system couldn't handle it easily.
"Aaa?"
A soft call came from beside his ear, and Lan Ze looked down. Tiamat had opened her eyes at some point, a pair of bright pupils gazing at him in bewilderment.
"Are you sobered up?" Lan Ze smiled.
Tiamat let out a tiny "Mn." She observed Lan Ze's expression for a long while before glancing down at her slightly exposed chest, a dazed look in her eyes as if she had no idea how her clothes had ended up like that.
"I saw that you looked uncomfortably constrained while sleeping, so I helped you untie them a bit. Sleeping like this is much more comfortable," Lan Ze explained.
Tiamat wore a thoughtful expression. She gave an "Aaa" and nodded, not getting angry at all over someone having undone her buttons.
Seeing this, Lan Ze smiled helplessly and muttered to himself, "Mother... you probably wouldn't even know if someone sold you off one day."
She believed whatever he said. Even a housecat probably wouldn't be this obedient and clingy, right?
Tiamat didn't mind at all and gently tugged on Lan Ze's sleeve. "Aaaa (Sleep together)."
"This... isn't very appropriate, this is the Divine Tower, you know." Lan Ze remained very reserved.
However, Tiamat's strength was clearly greater than Lan Ze had imagined. With just a gentle tug, she pulled Lan Ze down onto the bed, and with a pull of the blanket, Lan Ze found himself plunged into a soft embrace.
His cheek brushed against the warm, soft sensation of the woman's chest, and he looked up to steal a glance at Tiamat. "Was today's date satisfactory?"
Tiamat nodded gently. "Going out to play with you... was very happy."
"That's why I told you before, humans aren't aliens," Lan Ze said. "And not all gods are bad people. Even though Ishtar has a pretty terrible personality, she still respects you a lot."
Tiamat nodded softly. "Everyone is a good person."
She paused for a moment, then stared intently at Lan Ze. "You're a good person, too."
"No... I'm not, don't hand me that card," Lan Ze mentally complained. "I'm just a total pervert."
Tiamat tilted her head in utter confusion.
Lan Ze had no intention of explaining. He inadvertently glanced at the woman's buttons, which had been burst open, and looked up to ask, "I'd like to replenish a little bit of mana, is that okay—mmph..."
Right after Lan Ze finished speaking, his lips were blocked. His eyes widened a fraction, and he instinctively glanced at Tiamat before pulling his gaze back, one hand reaching up to silently replenish the mana he had expended today.
When they woke up from their sleep, Lan Ze and Tiamat left the Divine Tower.
Outside the Absolute Demonic Front, there weren't many demonic beasts left to be seen. Lan Ze didn't know whether Gorgon had been persuaded by Ritsuka last night, or if she was still plotting something; in any case, she had verbally agreed to cooperate with them and cut the thread connecting her to Tiamat.
"Gorgon is quite the old tsundere, too," Lan Ze couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Out of the three members of the Goddess Alliance, two had turned traitor... and now even Gorgon could be considered a traitor... This singularity didn't seem to have any villains left.
According to Merlin, severing that thread still required a bit of preparatory work and some materials, which would probably take another two days. Therefore, Lan Ze decided to continue taking Tiamat out on a date today.
They left the city and went to explore a nearby forest. In this era, there weren't really any tourist attractions to speak of, and Lan Ze had no idea where was fun to go, but along the way, Tiamat showed extremely curious eyes toward the surrounding environment. So much so that upon spotting a humanoid leopard in the forest, she simply stood in place and refused to move, staring with intense curiosity at the Leopard Person, completely unresponsive no matter how hard Lan Ze tried to pull her away.
This was also the first time Lan Ze sorrowfully realized the fact that his own strength seemed to be less than this woman's.
With no other choice left in the end, Lan Ze could only use the Gate of Babylon to scare the Leopard Person away.
Since there was no way to make Tiamat walk away, they could only make the Leopard Person walk away instead.
Before you continue