He didn't bother testing his newfound invulnerability any further.
Instead, Elric reached into the system space and withdrew several Physical Strength Fruits—the peculiar supernatural produce that enhanced physical capabilities.
That's right—he still hadn't consumed the batch of Physical Strength Fruits he'd obtained days ago. Those dozen or so fruits had been seized, stored in the Mirror World, and left untouched until now.
He no longer needed them to increase his raw strength. The Fish Fish Fruit had pushed him so far beyond human limitations that additional physical enhancement was almost meaningless.
But Physical Strength Fruits had another valuable effect that couldn't be ignored.
Unlike the Slippery Fruit—which was far more effective on women—Physical Strength Fruits specifically enhanced male appearance and physique in addition to their strength benefits.
Even though Elric was already extremely handsome by any objective standard, who wouldn't want to become even better? Perfection was worth pursuing for its own sake.
He ate one fruit quickly, grimacing at the terrible taste.
Then a second.
Then a third.
After finishing the third Physical Strength Fruit, Elric walked to the full-length mirror mounted on the chamber wall and examined his reflection carefully.
The changes were subtle but undeniable.
His eyebrows were sharper now, more defined and aristocratic. His nose had become more refined, perfectly proportioned. His eyes carried a deep, star-like clarity—the kind that seemed to pierce through whatever they focused on.
His height had increased noticeably as well—from just over 1.8 meters to more than 1.9 meters, giving him an even more commanding presence.
His muscles hadn't swollen unnaturally or grotesquely, but his entire physique had clearly improved. Every line was sharper, every proportion more ideal.
Now, even without consciously releasing any pressure or activating his powers, just standing there naturally was enough to give people an instinctive sense of intimidation and awe.
If before he had been considered a top-tier athlete or model—one in a thousand—then now he was something else entirely.
After consuming the third fruit, however, the improvements became increasingly minimal. Diminishing returns had clearly set in.
It was obvious that Physical Strength Fruits were reaching their limit in terms of enhancing his already extraordinary appearance.
Elric stored the remaining fruits carefully back in the system space.
He planned to distribute them to Grace, Lily, and the others later. nearly all of the women who had gained Devil Fruit powers suffered from insufficient physical endurance, making it difficult to fully unleash their abilities without exhausting themselves quickly.
For them, Physical Strength Fruits were absolute necessities, not luxuries.
Two Days Later
Time passed quickly in the relative comfort of the floating air base.
Over the past forty-eight hours, Elric had spent most of his time enjoying life with his growing collection of women—rotating between them, solidifying relationships, and simply indulging in the luxury of safety and abundance.
As more women were integrated into his harem, the system rewards continued to accumulate at an absurd rate.
Inside the system space, bottled water, roasted lamb shanks, self-heating hot pots, Desert Eagle handguns with ammunition, fresh fruits, canned goods, medical supplies, and countless other resources were literally piled up like mountains—endless rows of supplies stretching as far as the dimensional storage allowed.
The quantities were genuinely absurd. Tens of millions of units at minimum for most categories.
The Star God Shelter was expanding rapidly as well, its population swelling as survivors heard rumors and sought refuge.
The shelter's population had nearly tripled in just two days, which naturally required enormous material support to maintain—food, water, medicine, weapons, everything.
Whenever supplies were needed, Elric simply pulled what he considered a "small portion" from the system space and transferred it to the air base warehouses for distribution.
Even his definition of a "small portion" was enough to support the entire shelter for weeks or months.
And his system resources were still increasing by hundreds of thousands of units every single time he integrated a new woman or completed an exchange cycle.
Elric didn't feel even the slightest hesitation or pain over distributing these resources. They were essentially infinite from his perspective.
As supplies increased exponentially, the frequency of taking in brand new women naturally began to slow down somewhat.
Natasha and Jenna had already exhausted their monthly exchange reward quotas, and several others—Grace, Lily, Custard—were approaching their limits as well.
Only Elsa and Elizabeth still had more than ten reward exchanges remaining for the current cycle.
But that situation didn't worry Elric at all.
There were only three days left until the calendar rolled over to a new month.
Once that happened, everyone's reward counts would automatically reset to their maximums, and the cycle would begin again.
There was one more major change affecting the outside world.
Over the past three days, all communication networks had finally collapsed completely and irreversibly.
Power grids failed across entire regions. Internet infrastructure shut down permanently. Cell towers went dark. The digital age had ended.
The world had officially entered the era of total blackouts and purely offline survival.
Honestly, it was something of a miracle that the internet had lasted as long as it did after the apocalypse began. Most infrastructure had been designed to fail within days without active maintenance.
For Elric, the impact of losing global connectivity was absolutely minimal.
Even without online access, the massive e-sports entertainment room on the air base alone contained tens of thousands of offline games, movies, books, and other media—enough entertainment to last multiple lifetimes without repetition.
That afternoon, Elric was comfortably seated in the e-sports room, deeply immersed in playing Black Myth: Wukong on one of the high-end gaming setups, when there was a polite knock at the door.
"Come in," he called without pausing the game.
A young woman in a crisp maid outfit entered respectfully, bowing her head.
She didn't quite meet the system's strict adoption standards. As a result, she had been assigned as the fifth maid working on the air base, handling various service duties.
"Master," she said softly, her voice carefully modulated to avoid disturbing him, "everyone is already gathered and waiting on the first floor residential hall as you requested."
Elric nodded acknowledgment.
After saving his game progress at a checkpoint, he stood up, stretched briefly, and headed toward the residential building's main hall.
On the first floor, all of his women were present without exception.
This included Elizabeth, who was usually completely buried in laboratory work and rarely emerged. It included Natasha and Grace, who had been intensely busy managing the shelter's expansion and political structure.
Everyone had been called back from their various duties.
They were all waiting, curiosity and anticipation evident on their faces.
Because today, Elric had gathered them all together for a specific and important reason.
He planned to distribute supernatural fruits to his women—whether Devil Fruits, Physical Strength Fruits, or Ability Fruits. The time had come to assign new powers strategically, and also to further solidify the internal hierarchy and positions within his organization.
The moment Elric stepped into the massive hall, the first thing that caught his attention was simply how impressive the space had become.
The first floor of the residential building was now a vast, extraordinarily luxurious hall that would have fit perfectly in a billionaire's mansion.
Over the past two days, the air base island had undergone another systematic upgrade courtesy of system rewards, and the residential area had been completely renovated along with the expansion.
The main lobby alone now covered more than seven hundred square meters of open space—larger than most people's entire homes before the apocalypse.
Above stretched an enormous European-style dome ceiling decorated with elaborate frescoes and gold leaf detailing. Below were polished mahogany floors so perfectly finished they reflected like mirrors, and exquisitely crafted furniture that radiated understated extravagance—the kind of pieces that would have cost fortunes in the old world.
The hall was naturally divided into several distinct social areas based on the women's relationships and preferences.
On the far left, in the mahjong gaming area, four women sat around an ornate table playing leisurely.
Natasha, Jenna, Grace, and Rachel occupied the seats, tiles clicking as they played. Their faces showed various degrees of concentration and competitive spirit.
Nearby, standing and watching the game with interest, were Lily, Elsa, Emily, and Nana.
These eight women collectively represented the core power structure of the shelter—the ones who had invested the most personal effort, wielded the most direct authority, and held the most influence over daily operations.
Over the past few days, their relationships had grown noticeably closer and more cooperative.
Jenna had initially competed fiercely with Natasha for the position of primary wife, but after realizing she simply couldn't overpower the ice-cold woman in terms of capability or Elric's favor, she had chosen a different strategic path—alliance and cooperation rather than continued rivalry.
Natasha, for her part, didn't mind sharing power when it served practical purposes. As a result, their relationship had actually improved substantially, evolving into something like a partnership.
Emily, who had joined the harem later than most, had also successfully integrated into this elite inner circle. After her traumatic experience, she had become far more pragmatic, ruthless, and openly ambitious.
She threw herself completely into shelter administrative affairs with single-minded determination, clearly intent on gaining substantial authority and standing above the ordinary residents.
Not far from the mahjong area was a large, comfortable sofa section arranged around a low coffee table.
Seated there in a more relaxed configuration were Yanan, the elegant doctor whose medical skills made her invaluable; Oli, whose face was still partially covered in medicated ointment but was clearly healing well from her punishment burns; and the less politically ambitious girls—Custard, Nana's friends, and the quiet Shasha.
Standing attentively near the coffee table, the two senior maids Wang Rong and Li Ping were quietly brewing premium tea with practiced, ceremonial movements.
Further inside the hall, positioned near the windows, were several high-end massage chairs arranged in a loose cluster.
Reclining there in various states of relaxation were Elsa, Bao Enen (Custard Bun), Elizabeth, the former campus goddess Elsa, and the timid Erning.
This group was noticeably different in character from the political power players.
Some, like Elizabeth, genuinely preferred solitude and intellectual pursuits over social maneuvering. They avoided forming or joining cliques entirely.
And then there was Elsa—the manipulative former campus goddess.
Arrogant, naturally scheming, and deeply accustomed to manipulating others through carefully crafted personas and emotional manipulation.
But among Elric's women—each one a rare beauty in her own right, each one intelligent and observant—absolutely no one was willing to indulge her transparent tricks or play along with her games.
After Nana had openly and publicly exposed how Elsa had deliberately tried to trip her and use her as a sacrifice to the white ape monster, everyone understood exactly what kind of person she truly was beneath the innocent facade.
Elsa still occasionally attempted to deploy her old manipulation tactics, testing boundaries and probing for weaknesses in others.
But no one responded positively. No one fell for it. She was essentially socially isolated.
"Cough."
Elric stepped fully into the hall and cleared his throat lightly—a subtle sound, but one that commanded immediate attention.
In an instant, the entire hall went completely silent.
All conversation ceased. All games paused. All eyes turned toward him simultaneously.
"Husband—!" several voices called out in happy unison.
Several women immediately rose and moved toward him eagerly.
The only ones who didn't rush forward impulsively were Grace, Elizabeth, who maintained their composure and dignity.
Even so, their gazes visibly brightened with interest and affection, and they rose gracefully from their seats, approaching at a more measured pace that maintained their pride.
"Husband, I haven't seen you in so long~" one voice cooed with exaggerated sweetness.
"I missed you so much!"
The fastest one to reach him was Elsa.
The once-proud campus goddess who had believed herself above everyone had been thoroughly taught a brutal lesson about her place.
Since that terrifying demonstration of Elric's power and willingness to use it, her arrogance had completely vanished, replaced with exaggerated, almost theatrical sweetness and obedience.
Every single time she saw Elric now, she immediately put on an elaborate display of being the perfect, devoted, affectionate woman—clinging to him, praising him, seeking his approval desperately.
Before she could attach herself to him properly, however, Jenna roughly shoved her aside without ceremony.
"Husband, you finally came back to visit us~" Jenna wrapped her arms possessively around Elric's arm, pressing close.
She spoke as if they hadn't seen each other in ages—even though their last intimate encounter had been that very morning, just hours ago.
"Shameless green-tea bitch—" Jenna pointed straight at Elsa's face, ready to launch into a detailed scolding about her manipulative tactics.
Elric simply raised one hand in a stopping gesture.
That single motion alone silenced everyone instantly.
Too many women talking and competing for attention simultaneously was genuinely giving him a headache.
He motioned for everyone to remain where they were and return to their previous positions, then calmly announced his reason for gathering them all together.
"Today, I'm distributing supernatural fruits to those who haven't received powers yet."
The room absolutely exploded with excitement.
"What?! More fruits?"
"The same kind that gave Natasha and Grace their abilities?!"
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