Chapter 23: Made by degenrate for degenerates

"I can do about sixty now... maybe more," Max said as Zerena pulled her shirt back on.

The moment the fabric covered her chest again, he felt an unreasonable amount of disappointment.

’...And just like that, peak scenery has ended.’

His eyes lingered for half a second too long before he forced himself to look away, already missing the weight that had been sitting in his hands moments ago.

"...That’s if I don’t waste mana on other runes and only focus on engraving the pipes," he added.

Zerena frowned slightly at the number, clearly not fully satisfied.

But at the same time, considering she could only manage around five a day herself?

Yeah, sixty was still absurdly better.

Her expression shifted into reluctant acceptance.

And Max had already earned them more than 2500 in pure profit after material costs were removed. Once Zerena’s own pipes were added, the total became around 2540.

From all that?

She only gave him five hundred.

One unit per engraved pipe.

Her reasoning was simple—she was the one buying the pipes, finding buyers, negotiating prices, and handling the selling.

At least, that’s what she told him.

But the real reason?

The pipes Max engraved sold for noticeably higher prices than hers.

Meaning whether she liked it or not—

Max had already become the main source of income in the house.

And Zerena clearly didn’t want him realizing that too soon.

Fortunately for Max—or unfortunately, depending on how terrifying one considered emotionally intelligent older women—Zerena was a lot sharper than he thought.

She could read him ridiculously easily.

Honestly, Max might as well have had subtitles floating above his head.

She noticed the looks.

The wandering eyes.

The way his hands occasionally became a little too enthusiastic while "completing the quest."

She noticed all of it.

She just... didn’t say anything.

Partly because she didn’t really mind.

And partly because, at her age, a lot of the embarrassment surrounding things like nudity had long since faded away. To her, breasts were just breasts. Not some mythical forbidden treasure capable of shutting down a young man’s entire brain for fifteen minutes straight.

Unfortunately for Max—

That was exactly what they were.

And Zerena knew it.

Still, in her mind, it wasn’t like she was sleeping with him or anything extreme. He was just touching her a bit for those strange system tasks while she earned money from it.

Money she had already pocketed quite a lot of, too.

And considering there was clearly more profit coming in the future?

Yeah... letting him fondle her breasts a little wasn’t exactly a terrible trade from her perspective.

But even then, he could only engrave around sixty more pipes—and that still wasn’t enough.

Not even close.

Zerena frowned slightly, clearly doing the math in her head.

"Is there some other way to increase the number?" she asked.

Max nodded, though his eyes kept betraying him every few seconds by drifting back toward her chest.

"I get system points based on how long I touch your breasts," he explained. "The longer I fondle them, the more points I earn. There are... other options too..."

He coughed lightly, putting on a fake embarrassed look that would’ve been far more convincing if his hands hadn’t spent the last fifteen minutes completely exposing him as a degenerate.

Then, in a lower voice, he added,

"Apparently... sucking on them doubles the points..."

Zerena slowly turned her head toward him.

Max immediately looked away like he deeply regretted existing.

’Act ashamed. Stay alive.’

And technically?

He wasn’t lying.

The previous quest had already completed.

And almost instantly, a brand-new one had popped up.

[Forbidden Act: Fondle Breasts has been comeplted]

[Host touched target breasts for 31 minutes.]

[Rewards being calculated.....]

[Calculation complete.]

[Condition Met: Target shares a close relation with Host.]

[Reward Multiplier Applied (×2).]

[Reward : 124 forbidden points granted.]

[Time limit : 10 days]

"I mean... you already said that before," Zerena muttered, sounding more disappointed in the system’s design choices than anything else.

Then she frowned slightly.

"Honestly, what’s even the difference between fondling and sucking anyway? Your system sounds stupid."

Max should’ve answered.

Probably.

Instead, his brain had already completely abandoned the conversation.

[Forbidden Act: Corrupt the Dignified]

[Target: Zerena Falkner]

[Description : Make the target masterbate and orgasm infront of you.]

[Reward : 200FP each time she orgasms]

Another quest window floated in front of him.

And somehow—

Somehow—

The system had managed to become even more unhinged.

Max stared at it silently for a few seconds.

Then, internally—

’...This thing is definitely made by a degenerate.’ A wide grin slowly spread across Max’s face. ’...For degenerates.’

But as the excitement settled slightly, reality finally caught up to him.

And with it—

A problem.

A massive one.

Because touching breasts or even grabbing someone’s ass was one thing.

Awkward? ’Sure.’

Difficult? ’Maybe.’

But this?

Max stared at the quest again.

’Yeah... no, this is a different level entirely.’

Getting Zerena to actually do that in front of him?

That was absurd.

Honestly, it sounded even harder than somehow convincing her to give him a blowjob.

But luck, apparently, was still firmly on Max’s side.

Because the system dropped another one.

[Forbidden Act: The New Normal]

[Target: Zerena Falkner]

[Description: Turn one forbidden act into routine behavior. Repeat it continuously across 5 days until the target no longer reacts to it as something unusual.]**

[Kissing – 15 minutes: 400 Forbidden Points]

[Breast sucking – 30 minutes: 300 Forbidden Points]

[Armpit licking – 10 minutes: 100 Forbidden Points]

[Note: The host may choose all options and complete the three simultaneously. However, failing to maintain even one day of continuity will result in the whole act being considered failed.]

"I think Analisa’s going back to work a day after tomorrow," Zerena said casually, pulling Max out of his spiraling thoughts. "So if we’re doing these perverted system tasks, we’ll have to do them behind her back."

Max blinked once.

’...That sentence should not sound this normal.’

Meanwhile, Zerena continued thinking out loud like she was discussing grocery planning instead of anything remotely questionable.

"Are there any quests with better rewards than fondling or sucking tits?" she asked.

Now that was actually a difficult question.

Because technically?

Max could just tell her the truth.

There were higher-reward quests.

The problem was that the system had apparently skipped past "questionable" and sprinted directly into "completely insane."

And if he casually revealed the newest one?

Yeah, there was a decent chance Zerena would finally remember she was the adult here and beat him with the nearest object.

But one of them was still relatively reasonable.

Relatively.

Which, considering the system’s standards, was saying a lot.

The problem?

There was absolutely no way Max could explain that directly without sounding like he’d lost the remaining fragments of his sanity.

So he paused, already trying to figure out how to repackage the quest into something that sounded less insane than it actually was.

So Max answered carefully.

"There are..." he admitted slowly. "But they usually don’t appear until I complete more of the lower-level ones first."

Which was only partially true.

The system clearly had absolutely no sense of progression balance.

He coughed lightly before continuing.

"Sometimes... doing a more extreme quest can unlock better options earlier too."