Hestia looked at him for a few seconds before smiling.

All that was contained in her smile was pity.

"Using the word ’just’ doesn’t make the actual matter of going about this any easier." She replied.

Rohan let out a breath through his nose. "Well, I can at least try, right? What other options do I have at this point...?"

Unfortunately, the warmth in his chest didn’t last. Hestia’s expression turned thoughtful again, and the way her gaze drifted away from him and toward the temple floor made it clear the simple version of the plan had already fallen apart in her head.

And it didn’t take long for it to crumble in his own mind too.

Hestia folded her hands in front of her and spoke slowly, carefully, while laying out the flaws in his plan without directly crushing any morale Rohan had earned for himself.

"While the overlap point may still be open," she said, "that does not mean it remains stable, nor that it can be reached from either side with equal ease. You arrived here through a dungeon — that already tells me the crossing did not occur in normal space."

Rohan’s expression dulled. At this point he half wondered if his mood could tank any further.

It could.

’There’s always a catch...’

Rohan started pacing now, though his pacing looked a lot rougher than hers ever had. His boots scraped softly against the temple floor as he walked in a short line between one pillar and the next, head lowered in thought.

His body felt mostly recovered, but not fully. At the very least, he no longer felt like he was one breath away from collapsing. The conversation itself had done him some good too. Having something to focus on beyond blind fear tended to sharpen him up.

Still, none of that mattered in front of the real problem — being stranded in another universe.

He had no access to his proper status, no access to his gene or genetic armament, and the only reason he wasn’t spiralling completely was because the Goddess in front of him had just admitted there might actually be a way back.

’Might..’

All of Rohan’s hopes lay in that word right now.

"So," he said after contemplating, "what does all this mean for me?"

"Your best bet right now would be finding the original anchor point of the overlap." Hestia replied.

Rohan stopped pacing.

"Anchor?"

"Yes. A point of overlap between universes isn’t as simple as it may sound."

She gestured lightly between them.

"In your case, the dungeon acted as the visible structure of the overlap. But it is unlikely to have been the first point of contact. It is merely the direct creation as a result of the overlap."

Rohan frowned. "Then what was the first point."

"We don’t know that, for now." Hestia added.

’Tsk.’ Rohan hated being so powerless and clueless.

Because it meant they were not, in fact, one step away from simply walking him back up a cave and shoving him through some nice glowing rift home. No. They still had to figure out why that specific place had become a crossing point to begin with.

And if he knew the Origin Realm — or the Great System, or whatever cosmic nonsense was actually at work here — then that answer was not going to be simple.

But before Rohan could start becoming depressed again, she continued.

"However, that does not mean we are completely clueless in this endeavour."

Rohan’s eyes perked up.

"Think less about the dungeon itself, but the location inside your universe that you happened to chance upon it."

Rohan rubbed his jaw and thought back.

He quickly recalled the ruined, ancient town. Where the dungeon had been found under a trapdoor of the only intact house left in the place, and guarded even by a hoplite.

Nothing before that had felt particularly normal, but then again, normal had stopped applying to his life a while ago.

"It has to be the town." He eventually replied.

Hestia nodded. But she still wanted to hear his reasoning.

"Why?"

"Because everything important was clustered there." Rohan answered. "The hoplite. The hidden entrance. The dungeon below it. Even the caravan tracks leading in and out of the area. Whatever was going on, that place mattered before I ever got involved."

Hestia nodded once. "I agree."

"The problem," he continued, "is that I still don’t know what part of the town mattered most. The building? The ground beneath it? The hoplite? Something buried there? Hell, maybe even the dungeon itself really was the anchor."

Hestia remained silent for a moment.

Then, to Rohan’s surprise, she said, "No."

"You’re sure?"

"Yes." She said. "Not because the dungeon is irrelevant, but because it came after. You described it too clearly. Hidden access. Structured progression. Rewarding behaviour. It was functioning as a formed system-space. That means the overlap had already progressed far enough to sustain it."

Rohan blinked. ’That... actually makes sense. Well, as much sense as it can for a mere mortal like me.’

But then he grimaced.

"Great. So we’ve figured out the anchor point of the overlap in my universe. How does that help us."

"No." Hestia said.

"What?"

She stepped closer to the statue, resting one hand slightly against the pedestal as she spoke.

"We are back to you."

Rohan could only stare back at her.

He looked behind himself, then back to her.

"Sorry, did you just say me?"

"Yes."

He pointed at his chest. "How?"

Hestia’s mouth twitched. ’At least give me a chance to explain further...’

"You are not the cause of the overlap," she said, mercifully clarifying. "But you are the only known being to have successfully passed through it. That makes you, whether you wish to be or not, the best surviving trace of its function."

Rohan slowly lowered his hand..

While the answer wasn’t totally what he was expecting, it wasn’t as bad as being told he’d somehow created this whole mess just by wandering around.

And he could guess why after thinking it over.

"You mean because I have both systems tangled up in me now."

"Yes."

Rohan couldn’t help but exhale a sigh of indignation.

"...I liked it better when things were just confusing."

Hestia turned to fully face him again.

"Confusion is one of the few emotions you should be blessed to experience."

’...’

"That is a sentence only a Goddess could say with a straight face."

Hestia remained silent at that, no matter how much she wanted to retort.

Meanwhile, Rohan fell into thought.

His regular status had become mangled and unreadable here. The Great System had partially attached itself to him. He’d gained a title from one side and retained the ghost of another. If the overlap had left some mark or route inside anything, then yes — unfortunately — he was probably the closest thing to a living map they had.

Apart from himself, the traces of his Origin Realm’s status was the best connection that remained with him to be used in tracing the overlap anchor point in Hestia’s universe too.

Rohan didn’t enjoy this one bit.

He especially didn’t enjoy the thought of whatever Hestia might have I mind to make use of it before the opportunity loses itself.

She seemed to take notice of where his thoughts were going, because her expression softened slightly.

"I am not about to cut you open and study you, if that is what you are worrying about."

Rohan sent her a glare. The fact she’d said this so calmly did not help one bit.

"...That was not my first thought." He said, trying to redeem himself.

"It was your fourth."

Rohan narrowed his eyes.

"So you can read my mind!"

"No," Hestia finally admitted. "You are simply a very expressive person."

’That... is unfortunately believable.’

Rohan sighed and gave up on pretending otherwise.

"Fine. So what exactly are we doing to me, then?"

Hestia gestured for him to step closer to her.

Reluctantly, he obliged.

He stopped a few paces short of her, still not fully comfortable getting too close to either the Goddess or her disturbingly beautiful stone likeness.

"The Great System has recognised you enough to place the beginning of a structure upon you," she said. "Your own system, whatever form it takes, has not vanished either. They are interfering with each other, but neither has been fully erased."

Rohan looked down instinctively, as though he might somehow be able to see the two systems fighting over him if he just squinted hard enough.

"...So that’s why I can’t access my other status while in this place."

"Half correct." Hestia replied.

"While the interference may have cancelled out your ability to access your Origin Realm status, it does not have the power to completely overwrite it. That comes from the place we currently reside in."

Rohan took a look at his surroundings.

"You mean this realm?" He asked, cautiously.

"Yes. As I’m sure you’ve already guessed, this is no normal realm. It is my home, after all. You don’t think I’d have safeguards in place to prevent others from disturbing my peace? Even the other gods have their powers reduced drastically upon entering this realm. Stripping away your powers entirely is light work."