Monster Harem In The Tower-Chapter 173: The Cost of Awareness — When They Stopped Touching Out of Curiosity

Chapter 173: The Cost of Awareness — When They Stopped Touching Out of Curiosity

"The same..." Lilith whispered as she embraced Nathan.

The back of Nathan’s head pressed gently against Milky Mommy’s warm skin—her milk-white cushions softly shifting from the tender contact.

"Same? Huh?" Nathan frowned.

This time, his dick didn’t twitch, even with the visual stimulation from the Monster Girls and the warm hug of Milky Mommy.

A flashback surfaced in his mind.

He still remembered when Milky Mommy once told him that in every cycle—whether he became a Hunter or not—Nathan always ended up a loser.

But that wasn’t what caught his attention.

It was the part about: "becoming a Hunter or not."

"You mean... I’m the same as ordinary Hunters? Just another human?"

Nathan turned slightly as he asked—his shaft now stiffening, the cloth covering his dusty member rising.

It was the same cloth given by Caramel Mommy, now lifting to reveal a clearly horny silhouette.

"Hmm... But also different," Lilith added.

Nathan was even more confused now.

He felt like a new student in a classroom full of cryptic crossword puzzles.

But his confusion didn’t last long.

Milky Mommy couldn’t bear to leave her unofficial son confused—like a lost princess abandoned in a jungle full of short magical creatures.

Lilith loosened her hug and knelt in front of Nathan.

Compared to the voluptuous, towering women around him, Nathan looked physically smaller than ever.

She cupped his cheeks.

"You carry the same genetic code as the other Hunters... but it’s so weak," she explained gently.

"That your chance of being summoned into the Tower was basically fifty-fifty."

Nathan stared at Milky Mommy’s mature face—so calm, so unhorny.

He swallowed hard, lowered his head, and silently accepted his fate:

That his identity as a Hunter in this looping Earth cycle...

was essentially a coin toss.

Still better, he figured, than playing online slot machines— which always result in losses, but players keep coming back anyway, lured in by either:

expressive streamers or seductive women, whose cleavage and buttocks seem practically sculpted to make viewers fantasize about pressing their private parts into those warm, sensitive crevices.

Nathan sat motionless, head lowered, while Lilith’s embrace gradually loosened.

"Weird, huh..." he murmured softly.

"So I’m... not special, and I know that. But it’s because of an error... that I got summoned?"

Lilith nodded gently, now sitting cross-legged in front of him.

"Your genetic code is weak. Nearly undetectable. But precisely because of that weakness... you slipped past the system’s filters. Past all the screening—too perfect to catch you."

Nathan furrowed his brow.

"Like a cockroach inside a sterile pouch?"

"Close," Lilith replied casually.

"But more absurd. Because the Tower detected something in you... something even I can’t fully read. A tiny bug, an anomaly that instantly connected to—"

"—the hundredth floor?" Nathan interrupted.

Lilith nodded again.

"Yes. This floor."

She slowly stood and looked upward, toward the artificial sky now shifting its hue.

"This floor... isn’t part of the natural Tower. I created it. As a home, a refuge... a sanctuary for the Monster Girls I managed to rescue."

Nathan blinked.

"But... it feels more alive than the floors below."

Lilith gave a faint smile.

"That’s what confuses me too. This floor was shaped by my energy... with the system’s permission, of course. But its foundation... came from something far wilder."

She lifted one hand—and the air around her flickered.

"There was a strange shell. Some kind of residual entity from Validia’s world. That shell... held fragments of their dimension. I used it to stabilize this floor. And strangely... it started evolving beyond my original control."

Nathan’s mouth hung open. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com

"A shell?"

"Yes. From the pink ocean of her world. The ocean where the Sanctifiant-Giantess used to live."

"Validia is..." Nathan squinted, glancing toward Validia.

She was still smiling sweetly—like a fairy tale princess frozen between dream and memory, never missing a chance to beam that smile at Nathan.

"Giantess?" he asked, awkwardly looking away—recalling how he once tried to act like a manly prince in front of her.

Lilith sighed.

"That’s the issue. I was never able to identify her race. So I just registered them as Sanctifiant-Giantess. But really... they were humans."

"Humans can grow that big?!"

"In their world, yes. They could alter their size. Some became winged giants. Some resembled apes. Some were clad in natural armor. Others... evaporated like steam-powered bodies."

Nathan scratched his head.

"So... why did their world collapse?"

Lilith stared at him deeply. Her tone went flat.

"They lost the war... against Ant Hybrids."

Nathan paused.

"...Sorry. What?"

"Ants. Hybrids. Six-legged. Colonized. Had a queen. And... they possessed ter-mana-ic weaponry."

Nathan had no words.

Lilith simply looked at him with a soft smile,

as if to say: Welcome to what’s left of a world that stopped making sense a long time ago.

Lilith slowly stood up, patting away invisible dust from her skirt, then turned her gaze toward the Monster Girls who were still frozen in place.

"That’s enough for today," she said gently, though her tone held firm.

"You girls... go get familiar with each other. I’ve got work to do."

Nathan raised an eyebrow.

"Work?"

Lilith gave a wry smile—this time laced with pure sarcasm.

"Of course, darling. Your dear mommy is the Tower Manager!"

she declared, slicing open a dimensional rift and stepping into it, arms spread as she widened the gap like an ethereal queen.

She left with elegance—unlike a struggling single mother abandoned by a man whose only talents were whispering love and releasing sperm, then vanishing because "responsibility" was too heavy for his fragile soul.

No one responded.

Not even Nathan. He could only nod quietly—

like a boy who just heard his mother vent about the father he never met.

Then Lilith disappeared—just like that.

Like holy smoke bored of mixing with the air of lust.

Silence descended.

Validia ran a hand through her own hair.

Domina and Livia stood up and stared at the ground.

Velmora still looked up at the artificial sky, lips sealed.

Morvessa sighed.

Nathan sat there, awkwardly. Then gave a soft clap.

"Hey... uh... our Farm Project... kinda fell apart, huh?"

He smiled, trying to joke.

"But hey, at least we had... a shared spiritual experience, right?"

No one laughed. No one looked at him.

One by one, the Monster Girls turned away—each heading in a different direction.

They left Nathan without a single goodbye.

Only the sound of footsteps remained—

and a stiffness that grew more real by the second.

Even Validia, full of affection,

seemed unwilling to linger there any longer.

He wanted to chase after them.

But his knees refused.

As if his body already knew:

This isn’t the time to chase... or hug... or be touched out of curiosity.

He was alone now.

Surrounded by the vast expanse of the 100th floor—

a space that suddenly felt wider than usual.

Quieter than before.

More... distant.

I said I loved them, thought Nathan.

And now they’re fully aware... so I should be happy, right?

He sat on the synthetic grass, staring up at the still-bright sky.

They won’t touch my dick anymore just because they’re "curious"...

and that’s... good news, right?

His eyes didn’t blink.

His face stayed blank.

No smile.

No tears.

Only one feeling remained—

"Damn. Why does it feel so... lonely?"

Nathan remained still.

A warm breeze brushed his hair to the side, but not strongly enough to give him a reason to move.

He lowered his head, staring at the grass beneath him—soft, slightly warm, too perfect.

He touched it.

Stroked it gently.

Pressed it down.

No desire for EXP.

No urge to trigger a notification.

And yet, once upon a time, he had dreamt of becoming a Hunter—craved level-ups like a true protagonist.

But now, even with the chance to grow stronger just by consuming anything,

he felt... nothing.

"Am I useless now?" he muttered.

"The Monster Girls have awakened. They’re smart now. That means... my WN shop isn’t needed anymore, right? They can easily replace me, do better than me.."

He rolled over and lay face-down,

cheek pressed against the ground.

"Am I just... furniture on this floor now?"

He let out a small laugh—dry, raspy.

Like stale chips forced down the throat.

"It’s funny... they say love is wanting to see someone happy, even if it’s not with you. But if they are happy...

and you feel empty...

is that still love? Or just stupidity with a fancy name?"

He pinched a lone leaf nearby.

"I remember... I once ate a leaf and gained [Energetic Photosynthesis]."

He sat up again, staring at the leaf like it held the entire story of how his life began—

a life full of temptation,

flesh,

and skin-on-skin friction.

Now, all that remained was the echo of his own thoughts.

Then—

[DING]

A single system notification appeared.

No sound.

No flashy panel.

Just one pale blue line of text, hovering silently in the air:

[Try speaking the truth again, this time with no one watching.]

Nathan froze.

For a long moment.

He stared at the message.

Took a deep breath.

Then, in a voice barely louder than a whisper:

"I’m lonely. I wish... they would touch it again."

The notification vanished.

And the sky remained silent.

Visit freewe𝑏nove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺 for the 𝑏est n𝘰vel reading experience