But even more exciting to Greg than the fact that they were aroused by him, was the fact that they could still maintain control. This was the other thing that Greg had been testing. He wanted to see if the cumulative effect of all the titles was too much. If the effect was strong to the point that it became immediately noticeable, then he'd have to get rid of some items. He didn't want people's wives figuratively dropping their panties at the sight of him. Greg wasn't anywhere near powerful enough to face the consequences that would follow if that happened. From what he'd seen of the group of women, someone who was looking for it would notice the changes. Someone who wasn't, however, would have no way of knowing that anything had changed with the person. Despite all of them being victims to the items none of them seemed to be suspecting those around them of being under the same effects as they were.
With these two facts established, Greg was confident enough to start receiving his guests. And as a nice bonus, when Greg opened the COMPLETED MISSIONS tab on his system, he found that he had completed all the BASIC missions and one INTERMEDIATE mission for all the women present. The BASIC missions were easy to achieve, as the name itself suggested. The one INTERMEDIATE mission that he had completed was turning on the woman. Every one of the women before him apart from his mother was currently turned on. The familiar had estimated that it wouldn't take more than seven days of being around him before the AROUSING title began to work on his mother. This was the seventh day since Greg had come home and still, there wasn't any sign that his mother was being affected by his title in any way. Greg wasn't sure whether it was because he was usually out of the house most of the day or because she had higher-than-average willpower. Either way, Greg didn't really care. She would come around when she would come around. Until then, there was a whole bevy of women before him that were probably soaked below and craving his touch.
Greg was really tempted to find an excuse to get some alone time with one of the women. It took quite a bit of willpower to not follow through on this desire. To some, his reason for resisting this impulse may have sounded dumb. To him, however, it didn't, and that's all that mattered to him. The reason Greg didn't pick a random woman among those present to get down and dirty with was because he was a virgin. Or, at least, Roka had been.
Greg knew that the system would require him to sleep with as many women as possible if he was going to earn lust points. Eventually, the very act would no longer hold the novelty it currently had. The faces would blur and he wouldn't be able to tell who had been in his bed before. He didn't want his first time to also be a random fling that he'd engaged in on a whim. His first time would be unique. Something he could look back on even after all the other faces had become a blur. It was more of a sentimental reason as opposed to a logical one and not many in his position would make the same decision. Still, Greg was resolute on this and planned to see it through.
"I won't hold you up any longer," Greg spoke up turning to his mother. "Please tell Tayani to prepare the dining room," he said to his mother. "We might have some special guests today," he added enigmatically.
From the slight frown on her face, Greg knew his mother couldn't make heads or tails of the instruction. Still, she didn't question him. With a nod, she turned around and walked off, leading the other women towards the smokehouse where most of the meat had been preserved.
And so began the most wildly exciting and fun day that Greg had had since he came into this world. He began receiving guests to the compound as they trickled in. Men sometimes came in alone. Women, however, didn't. In the prudish society that was this town, women almost never attended social events alone. They were either together with their husbands, or a male member of their family. And if that wasn't an option, then they'd be in the company of an older woman who acted as chaperone. Regardless of who attended, however, Greg was all too happy to meet them.
The men that came alone provided cover. The fact that he greeted them just as enthusiastically made it impossible to tell that he was targeting the women. The women that came with their husbands, brothers, or fathers weren't in any way protected from his charm. It took a bit of practice, but Greg slowly figured out that the longer he engaged in greeting the man, the longer he could get away with greeting the woman as they would just think that it was how he greeted everyone. With the SENSUAL TOUCH title, however, the longer he could remain in contact with the women, the more a bright pink flush would spread over their features. At first, Greg was afraid that the guys would pick up on this. He, however, was kept safe by two unexpected factors.
The first was simply just how clueless the guys were. Greg already knew that guys were less sensitive to social cues compared to girls. And given how good most women were at hiding their true feelings when they didn't want them known, a majority of the guys didn't notice anything odd. On the few occasions that the guys did notice something, however, he was saved by something else that he hadn't even accounted for. His disfigured face. The wooden mask on his face wasn't fooling anyone. Even though it covered the worst of it, the sides of Greg's face were still uncovered. Anyone who bothered to look could see the extensive damage that his visage had suffered. And seeing as the title items didn't work on the men, they just simply couldn't see how any of their women could be attracted to such an ogre. Perhaps they even attributed the blush on their faces to being embarrassed at being greeted so warmly by someone so ugly. Whatever the case, Greg didn't care.
If anything, Greg got a perverse thrill from wordlessly seducing the women right from under their husband's, dad's, or brother's noses. It quickly became a game for him to see just how quickly he could turn on the women that came with a man to the party. When Greg only employed the AROUSING title alone, it would usually take anywhere between five and ten minutes to get the women aroused, as had been the case back at his welcome home party. With the other titles coming into play, however, Greg noted that the time it took to get the women aroused was shrunk down to a quarter of what it previously was. Now, within two minutes or less, the women would usually have fallen victim to his charms. Greg could easily tell whether the women were turned on or not. Not because he was super-perceptive or anything, but simply because it was the only INTERMEDIATE mission that he repeatedly pursued that day with the women. Greg didn't have to repeatedly check the system to check whether the mission was completed or not. With Olivia able to interact with the system on his behalf, she would tell him the moment the mission was complete. Once that happened, Greg would usually let the woman stew in it for about a minute before he found an excuse to extricate himself from the situation. He wasn't looking to start any feuds at this party.
Surprisingly, it was the groups that came with a woman chaperone that were hardest to talk to, and not for a reason Greg had accounted for. The reason wasn't because the chaperones were overly-strict or any such thing. Instead, the reason it was so difficult was because of how jealous and catty women could be. The title items worked just as well on the chaperones as they did on the ones they were supposed to take care of. However, if Greg paid too much attention to the younger lady, the older lady would usually become insecure and increasingly hostile. On the other hand, if he paid too much attention to the older woman, then the younger women would also dislike this and tried to intervene. Greg had tried to strike a balance between the two groups whenever he came across a lady with a female chaperone. The more he did this, however, the more competitive the women became. Greg had been forced to slowly back away from one of the conversations when a woman who by appearances was in her early twenties told a woman in her mid-thirties that they should probably find a seat for her to rest her old bones. Greg could only imagine that this was probably how one felt when standing next to a live bomb.
Of course, Greg didn't spend the whole day by the door like some doorman at his own house. Occasionally, he would walk around the compound, interacting with the guests, thanking them for coming, making jokes and light-hearted comments, and most importantly, keeping the flames of lust burning in the women. The ADDICTIVE title worked on frequency, unlike the others. The more times the women experienced anything of a sexual nature with the holder of the title, the more they would crave it. Greg knew that a few interactions at a party wouldn't be enough to get anyone hooked on him. It, however, would plant the seed and leave a little craving for him in them. Not every single woman would act on this craving, but Greg was certain that some of them would, and, for now, that was enough.
