Chapter 73: The Goddess’s Question As Azel sat back, the delicate porcelain cup warm in his hands as he drank from the liquid for the sake of power. Sitting right next to him, the Goddess of Light maintained a perfect composure that was expected of her position as a higher entity — or at least she tried to. She was trying really hard to. Her serene smile and dignified posture might have fooled most men, but inside, she was blushing furiously. MHe’s actually drinking it,m she thought, the corners of her lips twitching ever so slightly. She wasnt even supposed to be thinking this way about a regular human, she was a goddess after all, not just any goddess too, the goddess of light. A goddess revered by the world, there were statues of her, and people respected her fit wss truly special and compared to that he was just a youngster known as the prodigy by the Empire. But that aside... She hadn’t expected him to down the first cup so quickly. In truth, she’d been debating for hours whether to invite him at all. Swordsmen like Azel — capable of wielding both aura and mana were almost unheard of in this age. The pathways in the body weren’t meant to handle both energies at once; they twisted and clashed, often destroying the user from within. Especially with the magic circle method, The Goddess was been watching when it had been created and made official, it wasn’t bad per se but with that they managed to completely make sure people using aura would stick with it and the others using magic would stick with it. The only way to bypass that risk was by consuming the Eternal Herb — an artifact so rare it existed more in legend than in reality. But since finding one was close to impossible... she had resorted to the next best thing. Her saliva. She resisted the urge to bury her face in her hands. ’Get your head out of the gutter. You’re a goddess, not some lovestruck mortal.’ She took a slow sip from her own cup — tea without any "special" additions and willed herself to stay calm. But just as her composure returned, Azel finished his tea with a satisfied sigh. "Do you have any more?" he asked casually. Her mind short-circuited. "M... more tea?" "Yes," he said with an appreciative smile. "It’s incredible. I can feel my magic stirring thanks to it. But if you don’t have more, that’s fine too—" "No, no, no!" she blurted, snatching the cup from his hands before he could finish. "I’ll get you another round right away!" And in a flash of golden light, she vanished. Azel leaned back, letting out a quiet sigh. "The things we do for power..." ’System, he thought, what exactly is a mana core?’ He knew the basis of it, after all from the name alone; one would know that a mana core was a core for mana but the thing is, there was no mention of a mana core through the whole of the power system so he was confused. [There are two ways to use magic in this world: The first is by forming mana circles around the heart. These circles store pure mana in a concentrated form and serve as a measure of magical rank. They allow for faster mana draw, but the mana is slightly less stable. The second is through a mana core. This was how the magic swordsmen of old combined swordsmanship and magic. To form a magic core, an immense amount of mana must be in your body without obstruction and solidify enough to create a shell that will serve as your core, you can fill it with mana and it’s harder to destroy than a magic circle. A mana core’s draw speed is slower than that of circles, but the mana is denser, purer, and less prone to breaking under stress. To rank up, a core sheds its impurities and grows smaller, increasing mana purity. Your current mana core is Rank 1, equivalent to a mage with a single circle.] Azel rubbed his chin. In the game, Reinhardt had forced his body to handle both aura and mana circles — a dangerous gamble that could’ve killed him. He survived it because he was The Protagonist, regular plot armor activities Yet here he was, bypassing the entire risk without breaking a sweat. ’Weird... but I’m not complaining.’ The Goddess returned, carrying a pot of tea glowing faintly with light. She conjured a low table beside him and set it down with delicate grace. "I didn’t think you’d enjoy it so much," she said, pouring the shimmering liquid into his cup. [Note: Higher concentration of Goddess fluid detected.] ’Good,’ Azel thought as he drank deeply. He just forced himself to think away from what kind of fluid she was using... He needed it for power! Power!!! His mana core pulsed with renewed energy, each swallow saturating it further. The tea wasn’t just delicious — it was addictive in the way only raw, tangible power could be. The Goddess tilted her head slightly, watching him drain another cup. ’Does he really want magic that badly?’ she wondered. He wasn’t swooning over her divine beauty or fumbling through conversation — he was laser-focused on the tea. She drew in a slow breath. ’Alright. Time to ask him.’ "I know you’ve been wondering why I summoned you," she began, her voice a melody that carried a hint of nervousness. "So I’ll keep it short." Azel set down his cup, the faint steam curling between them. "Go on." The Goddess met his gaze with eyes like molten gold, the kind that could swallow a man whole. "What would you think," she asked softly, "about being my lover?" The words hung in the air like a spell. For a heartbeat, the Plane of Light seemed utterly silent, as though the very world leaned in to hear his answer. Azel blinked. "What?" "I didn’t stutter," she said, her usual serene mask cracking into an expression of genuine concern. "What would you feel about being the lover of a beautiful goddess like me?" He stared at her. She stared back. And in the quiet that followed, one thought ran through Azel’s mind... ’What is it with these women and their stressful questions?’