Chapter 174 – Peeking at the gates of heaven under disapproving gazes

Three person sat in total silence. Not even the faintest sound was produced as they sat still.

No sound of breathing, or even a creak of wood from the couch under their butts. Not a single fly or gust of wind. There was no motion. Just total and all-encompassing silence hung over the room they sat in, spreading out into the entire world outside as well.

"I saw the gates of heaven." Whispered Noah, suddenly breaking the silence as the streak of blood flowed from his nose from the intensity with which he stared at the screen, that went black a minute ago.

"Agree." Whispered Ugy with a dreamy voice.

"Perverts." Said Yuko rolling her eyes and standing up from the couch, her spider legs clacking on the wooden floor as she walked out of the main room of the house inside Noah's mind realm.

"Agree." Said Ugy with the same dreamy voice, still repeating the sight they just witnessed in his mind.

"Hey. You watched it too!" Objected Noah.

"Yeah, but me and Ugy are part of you. What does it tell you about yourself then?" Came, Spiderwoman's voice from another room.

"I did not ask him to pull me here." Said Noah.

"Wipe your nose." Said Yuko. Noah wiped it on reflex seeing two bloody smears on his hand.

"This doesn't even make sense. We are in the mind realm. How can I have a nosebleed?"

"Exactly. Perv." Came Yuko's voice from the basement.

This time it was Noah rolling his eyes as he stood up from the couch and started to walk away shaking his head with an annoyed face.

"Hold it, hold it, user!" Stopped him, the voice coming from the plush bear that finally came out of his reverie.

"What?" Asked Noah turning his head to look at him in annoyance.

"I pulled you out of your boring training to see a wink of heaven. That amounts to a bit of your gratitude, right?"

Noah turned back crossing his arms on his chest and raised his eyebrow gazing at Ugy in his plush bear body.

"Gratitude? Not only have I lived the last two weeks seen as a pervert in the outside world but now even my nightmare sees me as one. Thanks a lot." Said Noah in a mocking tone.

"Tell me you did not enjoy it." Said Ugy.

"No mercy." Said Noah turning around to walk not wanting to show in his expression that the bastard was right.

"Wait, wait. I know. I deserved a lesson, for being an asshole as you said before. I agree.  But honestly, I deserve at least a bit of mercy for not forgetting about you here, right? You just witness the gates of heaven, the shine of heaven's light from between that peach valley, the holy grasslands of paradise. I could witness it alone, you know? But I did not forget my good, merciful, User and shared the happy sight with you." Said Ugy.

"Make it short." Said Noah leaning on the door frame with his arms still crossed.

"Return me to my usual shape." Said Plush bear standing on his usual spot on the armchair seat staring at Noah.

Smile rose in the corners of Noah's mouth as he looked back at the plush bear dressed in patched, multicolor overalls of a clown, with funny wig-like looking multicolor hair and a big red round nose.

"Na-aah." Said Noah shaking his head.

"I told you many times, it was an accident. I was going to tell you about the guide, I just had no time. It all happened so quickly. But it all resolved quite well, right? You even saved a bunch of cows thanks to that." Said Plush Bear clown stomping his soft leg adorned with long shoes that made a funny sound when they hit the seat's cushion. "At least the nose. Remove the nose, I beg you. That stupid spider keeps honking it every fucking minute."

"You calling bullmen as cows just shows that you are an asshole. And this is asshole punishment. Everything fits." Said Noah spreading his hands. "Nose stays." He added and walked away, ending the conversation.

"I won't agree to return to this body the next time you need to use The Stalker skill!" Shouted Ugy angrily after Noah.

"You'd better stop being an asshole by then." Threw back at him Noah, before disappearing from the mind realm.

At the same time, the screen in the main room lit up again showing kaleidoscope-like pictures of different colors transmitted from Noah's sight when he appeared in the real world.

He plunged back inside the illusory wall of the Great Tree Labyrinth that twisted and disrupted all his feelings and senses to the degree of nausea in seconds.

This was where he spent most of the last few weeks, training his mind and control over his senses until Ugy stopped his cultivation manhua story reading session and pulled him into the mind realm, on an "important matter", that turned out to be the sight of the most magnificent naked ass and pussy lips that someone could ever lay their eyes on.

Noah wasn't dumb to believe his perverted system's words of calling him to share the pleasure of seeing it. He was getting the hang of understanding that sneaky bastard by now.

The real reason he was called was no doubt, because his mind, overloaded by the illusory world inside the Labyrinth wall, would fill that magnificent view, that Ugy most likely wanted to burn into his memory in the best clarity, with background mush-like noise and interferences, severely lowering the picture inside his memory from the 16K quality to something barely at 480p degree. Whatever that meant.

Noah still could not clearly understand all the funny words of people conversing in the Comment Section of his system, but he did understand the picture quality references to a degree. Why those people often referenced good quality pictures with "Pork", however, still stood as an unanswered question in his mind. Did they all love bacon so much? Well, whatever. That wasn't very important at the moment. He would find out in time.

Every second Noah spent not training was a second that endangered his life at the moment. But after trying to concentrate for a few seconds before restarting the cultivation manhua, Noah shook his head. He did not feel like continuing his torture of a training, today. Concentrating his mind, Noah willed himself to exit from the illusory world.

As soon as he stepped out of the transparent film-like pillar into the normal world's ground, his legs buckled and he started to fall.

Dahlia's quick reflexes, however, stopped his fall in time as she grabbed him at the forearm with one hand and held his palm with the other, giving him enough leverage to hold himself prone.

"Thank you." Said Noah with a weak smile turning to look at the beautiful woman dressed in a frilly and quite sexy maid uniform, that exposed a hefty amount of her skin that had a green tint, giving her unmistakably non-human appearance.

"You're welcome… Master" Said the woman, voicing the last word a lot quieter as the slightest trace of a smile on her always strict face turned her lips upward in a content expression.

"God, please, stop it with the Master." Whispered Noah pleasingly, while looking around uncomfortably. "You'll give me a heart attack."

"Sorry, can't do. Mother gave me and my sister's orders to serve you to the best of our ability. As. A. Master." Said Dahlia and this time she said that last word louder than any.

Noah looked around smiling at the many Dryads turning to look at him from the distance with cold expressionless gazes.

"Why are you doing this? Your sisters hate me more and more every time they hear you call me that. I thought we were on friendly terms after all that happened." Said Noah quietly. "I already told you. I'll gladly speak up for you, Zinnia, and Aster when I have the next audience with your mother and plead with her to forgive you three. You three were a great help to me and the girls in these months, I'll hold no bad feelings toward Dryads and you three anymore. I am sure she'll let you three stay and end your punishment."

As he said this, a faint smile went away from Dahlia's lips again, reverting to her usual strict expression.

"No need. That is not my intention at all." Said Dahlia, this time not adding the word that made all the Dryads in The core forest of the Great Tree Labyrinth gaze at him with squinted eyes filled with disapproval.

From the moment when Dahlia uttered this word aloud at his audience with The Dryad Queen, calling him Master right in the middle of the Throne room filled to the brim with Dryads that came to look at a human that their Queen took an interest in, it instantly rose to a commotion and strong disapproval of him in the eyes of an entire Dryad society.

This disapproval slowly changed in the span of two weeks that he lived here first into him being ostracized, then to dislike a few days later and almost bordered on hate by now. Which made him quite fearful as the dislike among Dryads kept rising every time this word kept being pronounced by Dahlia almost at the end of every sentence for these two weeks, no matter how much he pleaded with her to stop or explained to others that he never asked her to call him that.

"Why are you here?" Asked Noah sighing.

"Mother wishes to talk with you." Said Dahlia remembering what she came here for.

"Ummm. Why?" Asked Noah warily while straightening his posture. He could finally feel the strength returning to his knees allowing him to let go of Dahlia's hand.

Dryad did not answer, only shrugging her shoulders in reply and handing him a towel.

Noah looked at it blinking for a few seconds, before realizing how sweaty he was. An illusory barrier that he was training in lately could put good pressure not only on the mind but the whole body, making him sweat buckets with every training.

"Thanks." He murmured nodding, taking the towel and whipping his face and neck. Before he could store it away after the use, Dryad grabbed the wet towel and took it away so quickly he barely noticed it being snatched from his hands when she already stored it in her dimension pocket, which made him look at her questioningly with a raised eyebrow.

"Until Mother says otherwise, I am your maid and will perform my duties to the best of my abilities. Washing clothes is one of them."

"I understand, but…" Said Noah looking around once again before leaning closer to her. "You don't have to do it in front of everyone. I know you lost a lot of face in your sister's view from being forced to stay under the same roof with me while I am here." Whispered Noah. "I really don't want you to ruin your image even more here. If I knew it would be this way I'd never agree to stay."

"It's alright… Master." Said Dahlia, whispering the last word into his leaning ear. "I don't mind. And no, you did not ruin my image, so you don't have to worry about it."

Noah looked into her eyes as if trying to read through her thoughts, before sighing and turning away.

"As you wish. We can end it at any moment. I don't get, why you have to allow yourself to be embarrassed in front of everyone serving me as maid any longer." Said Noah turning away and starting to walk. With his back to the Dryad maid, he did not notice her press her lips tightly together and bite at the lower lip.

"Where are you going?" Asked Dahlia when he took a few steps.

"To take a bath or at least clean myself. You don't expect me to turn up at the Queen's audience all sweety?"

"No need. She is already waiting for quite some time. It is ruder to let the Queen wait than show up sweaty. And it's not an audience. She is waiting in the gardens." Said Dahlia starting to walk in another direction.

Noah froze for a moment after hearing those words, his face going grim. He silently nodded his head and followed after her.

Gardens. It was no doubt the most beautiful place that Noah had ever seen, but in these circumstances, it gave him the most unpleasant feeling. Just remembering it made him clench his fists in anger until they paled.