Alex quickly changed out of his sweatpants.
Once he was dressed, he quietly walked out of his room and went down the wooden stairs.
The house was eerily quiet.
Usually, by this time of the morning, the heavy, rhythmic clanging of Uncle John's hammer would be echoing from the forge, not to forget about Marcus.
But as Alex reached the ground floor and peeked into the main hall, there was no sign of life.
The fire in the forge was completely dead. Alex immediately guessed what was going on.
Similar to Elena, both his uncle and Marcus must have been completely drained of all their energy.
"Hoh…Poor Uncle John and Marcus," The pheromones he had released last night had likely kept them tossing, turning, and burning through their stamina until their minds simply shut down from exhaustion.
He certainly didn't bother disturbing them. Let them sleep it off; it was the safest option for everyone.
Instead, he walked silently into the front shop.
Remembering that one of the requirements for his new profession unlocking was to have a good sword, he approached Uncle John's weapon display rack.
His dark eyes scanned the rows of freshly forged steel swords that could conduct mana one by one, until he found what he needed: a standard, double-edged Blackiron longsword.
He pulled it from the rack, testing its weight.
Thanks to his slightly improved strength, it felt incredibly light and perfectly balanced in his grip.
He strapped the leather scabbard to his waist and slipped out the front door, making his way toward the Gene Association.
When he stepped out onto the cobblestone street, the bright morning sun hit his face, but something felt completely wrong.
The air was heavy. The usual morning hustle and bustle of merchants shouting, carts rolling, and people rushing to work was entirely gone.
As he walked past the house right next door, Alex paused.
He could hear the faint, breathy moans of a young married couple drifting down from their open second-floor window.
The sounds were weak and sloppy, accompanied by the slow, lazy creaking of bedsprings.
It sounded like they were barely awake, still weakly going at it in a state of half-delirious, exhausted lust.
A flush of heat crept up Alex's neck. He quickly looked away and kept walking.
But aside from that one young couple, the rest of the street was dead silent.
Many of the people who lived in this district were middle-aged workers or the elderly.
They simply didn't have the raw, youthful stamina to keep going until morning.
The overwhelming wave of arousal must have drained them completely dry, knocking the entire neighborhood out cold.
"I guess the pheromones must have affected at least three blocks," Alex muttered softly to himself, his voice tight with disbelief.
As he walked further down the street, his sneakers scuffing against the quiet pavement, the reality of the situation truly sank in.
He looked at the closed wooden shutters of the bakeries, the empty fruit stalls, and the locked doors of the general stores.
He knew the people who ran these places. They would never miss a day of work. Today, not a single one of them had opened their shop.
He quickly calculated the affected area in his mind, drawing a mental map of the 300 to 400 meters radius around the blacksmith shop.
He hadn't even actively tried to seduce anyone. He had just slept in his bed while his body shed its skin, and the resulting scent had turned a busy, hardworking residential district into a total ghost town of lust-drained sleepers.
"The Empress wasn't lying," Alex thought, a chill running down his spine despite the warm morning sun.
If he ever fully lost control of this power, he wouldn't just turn into a woman, but he would become a walking natural disaster.
Shaking the terrifying thought from his head, he tightened his grip on his sword hilt, lowered his head, and picked up his pace toward the Gene Association.
As Alex walked past the fourth block, the heavy silence finally broke.
Like stepping through an invisible wall, the normal sounds of Iron Creek City rushed into his ears.
Soon, the huge building of the Gene Association came into view.
He pulled the hoodie tighter around himself to cover his sensitive skin and walked across the polished marble floor toward the reception desk.
There were only a few people in line. When it was his turn, he stepped up to the counter.
Behind the desk sat a young woman in a crisp, dark blue association uniform.
She looked bored, tapping away at a glowing holographic keyboard.
"Welcome to the Gene Association. How can I help you today?" she asked without looking up.
"Hi," Alex said, his voice coming out a little softer than he intended. He cleared his throat. "I made a purchase online this morning. I'm here to verify my identity, sign the NDA."
"Alright. Please place your ID card on the scanner and lower your hood for the camera," the receptionist replied in a practiced, monotone voice.
Alex reached into his pocket, pulled out his civilian ID, and tapped it against the blue pad on the desk.
Then, with a hesitant sigh, he reached up and pulled back his gray hood, exposing his face.
The receptionist finally looked up to check his face against the screen.
The moment her eyes landed on him, she froze.
Her fingers stopped typing. Her breath caught slightly in her throat.
Alex wasn't actively leaking his pheromones anymore, but the lingering scent still clung to his hair and skin.
Combined with his impossibly smooth, flawless pale face, his thick eyelashes, and his dark, liquid eyes, he looked breathtakingly beautiful.
A deep, rosy blush rapidly spread across the receptionist's cheeks. Her professional attitude completely melted away.
"O-Oh," she stuttered, suddenly sitting up straighter and nervously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "I... um... sorry. Let me just pull up your file, Mister... Alex."
She swallowed hard, her eyes darting down to his lips for a second before she forced herself to look at the screen.
She typed much faster now, her hands trembling slightly.
"I see it here," she said, her voice noticeably softer and much more eager to please.
"You purchased 'The Fundamentals of the Blade: Entering the Apprentice Realm' for fifteen thousand credits."
"To proceed, I need you to sign a strict confidentiality contract. It binds your mana signature, meaning if you share the breathing techniques or the manual with anyone else, once the Association finds out it you will be tracked down through your mana signature and will be arrested."
"Do you understand?"
"I understand," Alex nodded, trying to ignore how intensely she was staring at him.
She slid a digital tablet across the counter. It displayed a long legal document.
Alex quickly read through the terms, picking up the attached stylus.
As he leaned over the counter to sign his name, his hoodie shifted, releasing a fresh, concentrated waft of his sweet scent straight into the receptionist's face.
The woman's pupils dilated instantly. She let out a soft, shaky breath, leaning closer to him without even realizing it.
"You... you smell really nice," she murmured dreamily, completely caught in the natural charm of his Ecdysis phase.
"Thanks," Alex said quickly, feeling a drop of nervous sweat roll down his back.