This Ascent to Divinity is Lewder Than Expected

6.42 – Holy Energy II

"The first way is the most obvious," Aria said. "How else would you expect a deity to gain Holy Energy? Through the worship of their followers."

Zoey nodded; that announcement hardly caught her by surprise. "I'd figured it'd be something along those lines," she said. "Even wondered whether it would just happen, without needing a skill for it. " Though it turned out it would be through Aria. Zoey paused. "Speaking of, your skill description is telling you all of this, right?" Or was it just Aria's intuition?

"Its description, yes," Aria confirmed. "It's a longer one than most. Multiple paragraphs."

"What else does it say? Does it define what a follower is? Or what worship means? And how much we'll get?"

"No. It's more organic than that, I think."

That also didn't surprise Zoey, since all skills tended to be sparse on the exact details behind how they worked. They had to be experimented with or observed to be understood. Like with Delta's shadow.

"The daily amount increases based not just on how many followers you have, but also how fervently they worship you," Aria continued. "How strongly they view you as a growing deity. That will probably be the biggest factor behind how much Holy Energy we're gaining."

"Huh," Zoey said. "But what does worship mean, specifically?"

"Oh." Aria seemed surprised by the question. "The usual, I assume?"

"What is the usual?"

"How often they visit your temple, light incense or say prayers—"

"Prayers? For what?"

Aria shrugged. "Blessings in your aspect. So romantic pursuits." Her cheeks colored. "And with how closely related you are to Ephythithys, I assume certain other woes, like fertility issues or, you know … whatever else." Her deepening blush made it clear what 'else' she was referencing. After a second of being flustered, she laughed suddenly. "I really need to become less awkward about this stuff," she said, "since I'm supposed to be your high priestess."

"You're in good company, at least." Zoey had hardly gotten over being flustered herself. She might never, honestly. Her class was just too ridiculous. Much less all of this upcoming 'goddess' nonsense. "It's a lot to take in."

"But yes," Aria said. "So long as they're thinking of you, praying, visiting the temple, or similar activities of worship and acknowledgment, then you'll be earning passive amounts of Holy Energy. Especially when your following is large, I assume it'll make up the bulk, if not nearly all, of your gains."

Worshiping her. That idea was almost too weird for Zoey. Especially because she'd always been rather irreligious—and the idea of starting any temple, much less one to herself, felt far more 'cult-y' because of that fact.

Then again, Zoey's previous beliefs didn't matter. Because gods and goddesses did exist. That wasn't something that could be disputed. She had literally been sent to a new world by one. What she had believed back on Earth was irrelevant; she had physical proof. Worship meant something different, here. Something tangible.

And besides, when it came to letting people worship who they wanted, adding in another goddess of intimacy was hardly going to change their lives much. She never planned to exploit or abuse her growing status, so there weren't many moral quandaries created by her new situation, either.

It was just a bit disorienting. As setting one's self up as a goddess would naturally be.

She briefly wondered why Ephy was okay with attention being siphoned away from her. Because fostering a new goddess—Zoey—in such a similar domain, then encouraging her to gather followers, would definitely draw people's attention away from Ephy and to her instead. Right? Undoubtedly, the sensuality goddess knew that, so she was okay with the eventuality. Perhaps because her influence was far wider than just this one world? Zoey was pretty sure the woman had mentioned that. So a few lost followers here wouldn't matter much?

Or perhaps Zoey would siphon less attention away than she thought. Ephy had explicitly told her to 'wear her colors' more. For Zoey to make it clear that she was a champion of her. A rising tide lifted all boats, and all that. If Zoey, as a nascent goddess, aligned under Ephy, and were to grow in popularity, then so too would Ephy as a result.

Another troublesome idea hit her. How was she supposed to spread her status as an icon of lust, a growing minor deity sponsored by Ephythithys, without alerting Rosalie's father? He already knew who Zoey's patron was, but starting a temple and encouraging worship of herself would surely cause problems. Or draw unwanted attention to just how lewd her skillset was, which Rosalie had vastly underplayed.

She would probably need to meet with Enzo to get permission to even do such things inside his city—likely, there would be bureaucratic loops to jump through for starting a temple of any kind, much less one so … nonstandard.

Her headache continued to grow.

"So followers will be the best way to get energy when my name is out there," Zoey said. "But there are other ways before that? That's what you're making it sound like."

Aria nodded. "Followers are the slowest way, speaking at an immediate and individual level. There's just the possibility of accruing a very large consistent base over time. But as a shorter-term, quicker means of gathering it, your priestesses can also help."

"Priestesses?" Zoey asked. "Plural?"

"Of course, I'm the only one you have now, but that isn't going to last," Aria said. "Starting a temple is a lot of work. And what about future cities? Expansion to Haven, as well? We're going to have to construct a whole hierarchy." She wrinkled her nose. "Nobody's favorite part of anything—bureaucracy and management."

"Right." Zoey shook her head in incredulity. "It's a good thing I have you to help. I can't imagine where I'd start with all of that."

"I can't say I do either," Aria said, glancing away. "So it might be a bit bumpy at first. I'll do my best, though."

"Of course. I'll be super grateful for whatever you can work out."

"Anyway, as for how priestesses can gather energy," Aria paused, then coughed into a fist. "Well, there's the standard stuff. I assume performing our own shows of worship would have a similar effect as normal followers, but amplified. And I bet actions like caring for your temple and spreading the word would also count. Beyond that, I think you can guess a few more direct ways we can harvest." Aria fidgeted in her seat. She looked up at Zoey, meeting her eyes—then seemed to make some decision, putting on an expression of determination. Abruptly standing, she walked over to Zoey with an exaggerated sway to her hips.

Zoey straightened out in her chair, eyes widening as she watched the priestess come. The woman's nightgown hugged her figure, the delicate fabric swishing as she moved. Before she knew it—their chairs weren't far apart—Aria had arrived and climbed onto her lap.

Unsurprisingly, Zoey's body took no time to respond. Feeling the pretty girl's ass against her cock, blood rushed down, swelling and thickening. Aria's eyes widened as, seated on top of Zoey, she clearly felt the huge member filling with blood. Zoey would've sworn Aria was even raised up an inch.

"We could, um, do some harvesting now," Aria mumbled, her temporarily gained confidence having only lasted the trip over—disappearing now that she was on Zoey's lap. "There's likely a cooldown associated, so we might as well take the opportunity, right?"

The girl was obviously not used to playing the seductress. Her blue eyes were wide and nervous as she awkwardly shifted her weight around on Zoey, her hands not seeming to know what to do—eventually clasping together in front of her, not even settling on Zoey's shoulders or hips.

Unfortunately, the timidity very much did something for Zoey. Her heart started slamming inside her chest, provoked by the priestess's proximity. Her cock throbbed at full mast inside her pants—which the blonde priestess was shifting her hips back and forth to rub against.

"And just so you know," Aria murmured. "There's one thing that's mentioned specifically in the skill. That gives a lot of energy." She leaned forward, lips drawing close to Zoey's ear. "Breeding."

A shaky breath escaped Zoey's lips.

"And I know you already took care of that earlier," Aria continued with a short, breathy laugh, "but how about we make sure it took?" She rubbed herself back and forward more noticeably, stroking Zoey's cock through two layers of clothing.

As attention-grabbing as the words were, Zoey's thoughts briefly cleared up. She blinked at Aria. Because she had just remembered something she definitely should have told the girl earlier.

"Oh, shoot," Zoey said. "I didn't actually—you aren't—" She organized her thoughts. "Before me and Delta, um, performed that ritual with you, we took a potion."

They might have been playing into the fantasy, as much for their own fun as for the ritual's sake, but Zoey wouldn't actually go around knocking up random priestesses. However wildly enthusiastic they were about it. Afterward, they'd been interrupted by Aria's father, and Zoey had forgotten to tell her.

"As in, one that makes us infertile. So you're fine."

Aria blinked. Her hips stopped moving atop Zoey's lap.

"Huh?"

"There's no way you can be pregnant," Zoey told her. "The potion makes it impossible. I would've told you earlier, but I forgot. That's my bad."

She stared at Zoey.

"Um," she eventually said. "Zoey, I don't think that matters."

"Excuse me?"

"You performed a ritual to the goddess of fertility. One explicitly blessed by her—one she showed up in person for. What would a potion matter?"

Zoey stared at her.

"What?" she asked dumbly.