Chapter 121 - Won’t I get pregnant?
"But…won"t I get pregnant?" Annabelle"s face was uncertain as she gazed at Ben.
The two of them had cleaned up, now dressed and sitting on her sofa. Ben had already thought about how to respond so he smiled with confidence. "Don"t worry, you won"t. I preserved my s.p.e.r.m"s spiritual energy using an ancient shamanic technique…"
Who"s to say the Perverted Divine Alchemist isn"t an ancient shaman?
At this unexpected answer, Annabelle"s eyebrows curved upwards. "Oh…how long have you been a practicing shaman?"
Ben contemplated a few seconds over the best reply… "Sell it with confidence…"
He put on the self-a.s.sured face of an expert. "Practicing? Oh, I"m not a practicing S.e.m.e.n Shaman..."
A smirk spread on his face. "I"ve perfected it..."
…
Annabelle"s eyes lit up. "Wow…you need to teach me sometime." Anything spiritual was interesting to her.
"Oh, don"t worry…I will." Ben had many lessons planned…
In truth, he found Annabelle more than satisfactory. "Not only is she s.e.xy, but she fills in the harem spot I"ve been saving for a specific complex personality type—big t.i.ts blonde…"
As the two chatted more, Annabelle suggested painting Ben. She said she wanted to capture his essence, of which her perception had changed after they shared such an intimate experience. Since no one had ever painted him before, he agreed. Ben was also curious about what his essence was.
…
30 minutes later, he was gazing at a canvas of his essential nature. There, in the bottom left corner was a rendition of Ben, accurate in its depiction of his features to the most precise details. Annabelle was a talented artist. She possessed not only a firm grasp of color and shading but also the use of s.p.a.ce. This last strength was on full display in this painting, with the remaining three-quarters of the canvas ill.u.s.trating Ben"s gigantic cartoon p.e.n.i.s…
…
Annabelle nodded, satisfied with the painting. "I call it Dragon"s Descent…"
It was her best work yet…
Ben wasn"t sure whether to laugh or cry. The only thing he knew for certain was that it wasn"t worth considering expressing the complex array of emotions in between those two extremes...
Although he wasn"t sure what to think about the painting, he at least felt the name was appropriate. "Dragon, huh? Yea, its breath can turn anything into molten s.m.e.g.m.a…"
While the depiction was flattering in a certain dimension, namely girth...it gave too much credit to his little brother. Although Ben used to be an Otaku, he didn"t desire having a little brother who outs.h.i.+ned him in every aspect, at least not until he intended to get isekai"d...
Ben didn"t appreciate Annabelle pigeonholing his essence into such a narrow box. "If you"re going to place my d*ck in a box, at least cut a hole in it…"
He glanced at her. "You know, I"m more than a p.e.n.i.s…"
At first, her eyes widened in surprise, but soon, she knew what he meant and smiled. "I know. Of course you are. You also have those two happy-sacks..."
…
Ben didn"t know how to respond, so he changed the subject. As the two continued conversing, he noticed that after taking her v.i.r.g.i.nity, Annabelle"s att.i.tude toward him became even more open. Although she"d never been anywhere close to reserved, she now spoke her mind with even less of a filter. It was like she was thinking out loud about all kinds of disconnected things.
Staring at the wall, Annabelle"s expression became ponderous. "If we can achieve our dreams in reality, do you think we can achieve our reality in dreams?"
…
With no idea what she was getting at, Ben chose the route of positive affirmation. "Sure…"
Annabelle twiddled her fingers. "Although they haven"t affected my mood in a long time, my dreams tend to be...dreary… It would be nice if they could be more pleasant, like how today was…with you…"
Ben put his arm around her. "I"m sure they"re not that bad. Tell me about them…" He put his hand over hers. "She probably has nightmares about giant spiders or something."
Annabelle began describing her dreams. "I see a future where humanity encounters a fossil fuel shortage, causing prices to rise to astronomical highs. In the absence of advanced alternative energy tech, a world war ignites due to compet.i.tion for the remaining scarce resources.
At the same time, global warming causes sea levels to rise, flooding coastal cities across the globe and decimating the populace. A series of environmental disasters then follow, devastating the Earth. To survive, the human race compacts itself in futuristic cities, forming a distinct social system of cla.s.ses where the poor work as livestock...
Eventually, humanity consumes Earth"s remaining resources and has to set its sights on other planets. The human race then spreads to nearby solar systems, eating one after another like locusts. This greed-induced consumption and destruction perpetuate until another intergalactic war breaks out. This time, it decimates all sides until only humanity"s seeds remain, living underground on the original Earth. They remain there for many centuries while the planet heals itself, until one day they emerge...
They find that there are many humans above but their technological and cultural levels have reverted to times of antiquity... So, the wise humans begin to educate them...and turn them into their livestock...
This cycle of civilizational growth and decay continues for many eras, beating down Mother Earth further with each cycle, until the day the sun explodes and returns everything to nothingness..."
…
Ben gawked at Annabelle. "What did I just hear?"
…
He didn"t have any comforting words in this scenario...but he tried blurting something out anyway. "Don"t worry, I won"t let that happen to Mother Earth...I"m...a milf hunter?"
...
He was lucky that Annabelle was still too entranced in her vision to realize that what he said was even more absurd than her story... "This future is inevitable... Humanity can"t change... " She turned to him, gazing into his eyes. "That"s why I"m surprised to have found you…"
"Why?"
She looked out the window, up at the night sky. "I always thought of people as petty, simple creatures, the vast majority living as mindless fools, inconsiderate of their effects on the environment and each other. Every year on my birthday, I wished for humanity"s destruction…"
...
Ben gulped. "She brought up humanity"s destruction again... I thought she was kidding the first time at the art gallery, but now..." Then, he made a dangerous connection. "Wasn"t Hitler also an art student?!?"
...
He realized an uncomfortable possibility. "Am I holding Hitler"s hand right now? Did I just f*ck The Fourth Reich?!?"
…
Ben narrowed his eyes. "Was this karma for using that earlier failed Hitler opener?"
...
Annabelle squeezed his hand. "Before meeting you, I thought people were only good at stepping on each other"s heads."
"…I know what you mean." Ben nodded. "I can"t let her see my Black Leg Technique…"
Looking into his eyes again, she smiled. "When you came along…I realized that people can connect to one another… It makes me curious about what other things in this world I"m unaware of… That"s why...I"m happy I met you...."
Seeing this beauty"s genuine smile, Ben felt a tinge of an unknown sensation in his chest...but wasn"t sure how to put it into words. So, he spoke from the heart. "I ate some spicy food and have heartburn..."
...
As he went to check her medicine cabinet for an antacid, Ben couldn"t help feeling he had a new sense of responsibility for Annabelle—the girl whose v.i.r.g.i.nity he took. "I can"t let her go astray or she"ll become a world-ending psychopath…"