High above the mortal plane, far beyond the reach of physical constraints or the petty squabbles of the continent below, lay the Pantheon of Higher Gods.

Specifically, within the boundless, radiant territory of Lunerei was the Goddess of Light.

Her domain was a sprawling expanse of crystalline architecture and floating islands suspended in seas of pure condensed mana.

At the very center of this divine sanctuary sat Lunerei herself on a massive throne carved from woven starlight.

She was a beautiful, ethereal woman with cascading blonde hair that seemed to catch and refract light even when there was no direct source.

Yet, for a divine being of her magnitude, her current expression was remarkably mortal.

’Why does he keep teasing me like that?’ Lunerei thought with her face completely lighting up in a deep undeniably cute blush.

She leaned forward, her elbows resting on her knees as she stared intently at the glowing, blinking screen hovering directly in front of her face.

It was a projection of divine authority, the exact same interface she used to converse with the few mortals she had established direct connections with.

Gods could not physically step into the world of the living... the dimensional barriers would rupture under their presence so they relied on these localized telepathic chat windows.

Currently, she only had two active communications open on her interface.

[Ren Crowhurst] and [Lumi].

Lumi was her officially ordained Saintess though the Goddess didn’t like her that much but the other tab... that was the anomaly.

Jace was supposed to be the Hero. He was the one destined to wield her divine favor but she had forcefully severed his connection days ago in a fit of rage.

He simply wouldn’t listen. He was arrogant, reckless, and utterly deaf to her divine counsel.

Following that severance, in a moment of sheer frustration, she had reached out to communicate with his sworn enemy instead... Ren.

It wasn’t like she had intentionally planned to sabotage the Hero’s journey, but she had been intrigued by the anomaly of a villain whose fate seemed suddenly unwritten.

And well... objectively speaking, one could accurately say the Goddess had cheated on the Hero. That was exactly what she was doing.

She was conversing daily with Ren, guiding him, pleading to grant him boons, and she had to admit to herself... she had grown incredibly attached to the silver-tongued mortal.

He was polite, He was devastatingly handsome and he actually listened to her advice. Most importantly, he praised her constantly.

Suddenly, her gaze was forced away from the blinking tab.

A sharp rustle of feathers echoed through the throne room as one of her servant angels, possessing four brilliant white wings, descended rapidly from the vaulted ceiling.

The angel slammed into a deep kneel at the base of the starlight throne, her head bowed in absolute panic.

"My Goddess!" the angel reported with her voice trembling. "An emergency! The Chosen Hero is on the brink of death! He has been violently bisected! The mortal realm requires immediate intervention or the prophecy will shatter!"

Lunerei’s expression instantly flattened.

The blush vanished, replaced by a look of sheer unamused apathy. She merely swung her head to the right, resting her cheek against her knuckles.

"Told you so," Lunerei muttered dismissively.

She had explicitly warned Jace not to engage with threats beyond his level. But how could she warn a Hero who refused to listen?

Where did all that self-righteous, grandstanding Hero Monologue get him? Right onto a dining table, spilling his internal organs everywhere while facing the absolute verge of life and death.

"My Goddess," the angel continued, sweating under the lack of divine urgency. "There are several high-priority prayers coming in regarding his condition!"

With a lazy flick of Lunerei’s wrist, a massive glowing gold screen expanded in the air beside the angel. Rows of incoming prayers materialized as scrolling text.

"Read them..." Lunerei commanded, utterly bored.

The angel swallowed hard and began reading the highest-tier prayers.

"We have four major prayers begging for the Hero’s immediate safety and restoration. They are fueled by massive amounts of faith and energy and even the Emperor of the Empire is among them, offering a sacrifice of wealth for his survival."

The angel scrolled down, preparing to dismiss the rest, but paused.

"There is... a fifth high-priority prayer, my Goddess."

"Continue," Lunerei instructed.

"It is... from the mortal Ren Crowhurst," the angel said, her brow furrowing in deep confusion as she read the contents. "He is technically praying for the Hero’s health, but... the specific request is highly unusual."

"Read it exactly as he said it," Lunerei ordered, her interest suddenly peaking.

The angel cleared her throat, reading the transcribed prayer verbatim.

"Oh beautiful Goddess, I pray for the Hero’s speedy recovery from being split in half. Actually, it would be great if he was permanently crippled from this but then again, if he’s physically crippled, he won’t be able to save the World as the Hero and do his job. So, leaving him physically intact but inflicting him with permanent Erectile Dysfunction would be punishment enough. Please consider this, my Dear Goddess."

Silence reigned in the massive throne room and the angel stared at the golden screen in utter horror.

Lunerei, however, reacted completely differently. The heavy blush immediately returned, creeping rapidly up her cheeks, turning the tips of her ears red.

’...Is that what he wants?’ Lunerei thought, her heart skipping a beat. He was so thoughtful, considering the fate of the world while still finding a way to ruin his enemy.

It was brilliantly ruthless.

The angel desperately tried to move past the bizarre request. "Moving on, there is another prayer from the Grand Magus—"

"Stop," Lunerei interrupted, her voice suddenly echoing with absolute unquestionable divine authority. She sat up straight on her throne. "Grant Ren’s wish."

The angel froze, her feathered wings twitching. "B-But my Goddess! Erectile Dysfunction?! How will the Hero reproduce and pass on the divine bloodline?"

Lunerei’s eyes flared with intense, blinding golden light, the ambient mana in the room crushing down with suffocating pressure.

"You’re saying it like he uses it in the first place?" Lunerei retorted coldly. "He’s completely useless with women. We’ll let it rise after he vanquishes the Demon Lord. Until then, the curse remains active... Go..."

Divine Beings could use curses too though in their cases, it was Divine Curses.

The crushing pressure vanished and the angel scrambled backward, terrified by the sudden shift in the Goddess’s temperament. "Y-Yes, my Goddess! I will go to the Blessing Facility and have the Divine curse implemented immediately!"

The angel launched into the air, flying away as fast as her wings could carry her.

Now completely alone in her vast throne room, Lunerei exhaled a shaky breath. She turned her attention back to the glowing interface hovering near her face and she reached out with a trembling finger, tapping on the [Ren Crowhurst] tab as the mental connection flared to life.

’I-I’ve done as you asked,’ Lunerei stuttered through the telepathic link with her face burning hot. ’Praise me.’

Down in the mortal realm, standing in the backyard of the Astelvern inn, Ren was pleasantly surprised. He had just finished mocking up a half-hearted, kneeling prayer to the Goddess to test the limits of their connection.

The news from Alina had been jarring. He hadn’t thought that Jace, despite his endless supply of protagonist plot armor, would actually be stupid enough to engage with the First Demon King this early in the timeline.

’Getting split in half is crazy...’ Ren thought as he dusted off his knees and stood up from his prayer position. ’He skipped entire arcs just to get one-shot.’

Almost immediately, The blue, semi-transparent interface of the System snapped into existence directly over his retinas.

『 System Alert: You have received 30,000 SP for inflicting the Hero with Erectile Dysfunction! 』

Ren blinked, his composed expression breaking for a fraction of a second as he stared at the blue text hovering in the air.

’Already?’ Ren thought in genuine disbelief. ’I just finished praying thirty seconds ago.’

Before he could even process the sheer volume of System Points he had just been awarded for magically castrating the protagonist, another notification chimed.

This one wasn’t blue... It was framed in the distinctive, warm golden brackets that marked Lunerei’s direct divine communication.

『 Connection has been re-established. 』

『 The Goddess says she has done as you asked and she would like you to praise her now. 』

Ah. He could see it now.

The Goddess hadn’t just considered his prayer; she had bypassed the natural laws of the mortal realm, overridden the Hero’s innate magical resistances, and instantly cursed him just because Ren had asked her to.

The sheer absurdity of the situation only made the wide devilish grin return to his face.

’My, my, Goddess...’ Ren thought, projecting his mental voice through the link with the perfect blend of warmth and seductive praise. ’You’re really cute. Thank you for answering my prayer so quickly. You truly are the perfect wo—’

『 Connection has been temporarily disconnected. 』

『 The Goddess is blushing too hard to maintain the telepathic frequency. 』

Ren rubbed the back of his head and let out a long sigh with the grin still tugging at his lips. The Goddess was incredibly shy, and he really liked her like that.

She was a weapon of mass destruction holding the keys to the world’s fate, yet she operated entirely on praise and attention.

Dismissing the glowing screens with a thought, Ren turned his attention back to the present. He looked across the dark yard at Mandy, who was still sweating profusely and clutching the wooden practice sword.

Ren cocked his head to the side with his demeanor instantly shifting from warm to that of a predator.

"Alright, Mandy," Ren said smoothly. "It’s your tu—"

Caw!

A harsh, grating sound ripped through the quiet night air.

A massive shadow detached itself from the canopy of the gnarled oak tree. It plummeted toward the ground, moving too fast to be a normal bird.

As it neared the grass, the shadow coalesced into the solid, physical form of a massive black raven. Its feathers seemed to absorb the evening light, and its eyes glowed with a violet hue.

Clutched tightly in one of its sharp, curved talons was a small ornate silver ring.

Ren didn’t flinch as he immediately recognized the creature.

"Mandy... The bird food."

"Y-Yes, my Lord!" Mandy scrambled forward. He dug frantically into his heavy leather pockets and pulled out a small pouch of specialized, mana-infused seeds. He dumped a handful onto the grass.

The bird landed gracefully next to the pile, releasing the silver ring from its talon onto the dirt before beginning to aggressively peck at the seeds.

This was the premiere courier service of this world.

The Shadow Birds belonged to the Ravenire Clan.

These weren’t just messengers; they were heavily enchanted familiars capable of turning completely into intangible shadows to avoid interception.

If attacked, they were fully capable of defending themselves, possessing enough raw magical output to easily blind or maim a mid-tier adventurer but their main function was securely delivering high-value items across vast distances overnight.

Ren leaned down and picked up the silver ring, brushing the dirt off the enchanted metal. A spatial ring... His parents had successfully sent the high-tier spell scrolls he requested...

"Thank you," Ren said to the bird.

The massive crow let out another sharp Caw!

It finished the last of the seeds, spread its wings, and shot straight up into the air. Halfway to the tree line, its physical body dissolved completely into black mist, vanishing into the night without a trace.

With the delivery secured, Ren turned his back on the yard and began walking toward the heavy wooden door leading into the inn.

Behind him, Mandy let out a massive shuddering breath. The tension completely drained from his shoulders as he lowered the wooden practice sword with his knees shaking.

’Thank the Goddess,’ Mandy thought, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. ’My Lord has forgot—’

Ren stopped. His hand rested on the iron handle of the door.

He didn’t turn around, but his voice cut through the silence like a knife.

"Continue."

Mandy froze as the blood drained from his face.

"Y-Yes, my Lord!" he squeaked out, though he clearly lacked even an ounce of confidence in his ability to execute the technique.

Mandy scrambled back into the center of the clearing. He gripped the wooden hilt with sweaty palms and desperately tried to mirror the starting stance Eternia had used earlier.

He widened his legs awkwardly, his center of gravity entirely off balance and with a ragged breath, he lunged forward, executing the first strike.

It was sluggish.

He forced the second strike, pivoting on his back foot, but his grip slipped as the wooden sword flew out of his hands, spinning uselessly through the air before clattering loudly against the stone wall of the inn.

Ren didn’t even look over his shoulder. He just stood by the door and let out a heavy, disappointed sigh.

"You haven’t practiced at all," Ren stated flatly.

"My Lord, please! Have merc—"

Ren casually swung his free hand backward in a sharp, dismissive arc.

He didn’t chant... He didn’t use a wand... He simply dragged the ambient mana in the air to his will. A violently compressed burst of wind materialized out of nothing and slammed directly into Mandy’s chest with the force of a battering ram.

The impact lifted Mandy entirely off his feet. He flew backward through the air, completely airborne for a full two seconds before crashing heavily into the trunk of the oak tree.

"Ow!" Mandy groaned, crumpling into a heap among the exposed roots, clutching his bruised ribs.

"Learn it completely," Ren said with a sigh as he threw Mandy a healing potion. "We’re going into the World Dungeon Dungeon tomorrow officially and you know I won’t protect you, right? If you can’t swing a sword properly, the monsters will just eat you so you have to figure it out."

Ren twisted the iron handle and pushed the door open, intending to head straight to his room to inspect the newly acquired Lightning and Starfire spell scrolls stored inside the spatial ring.

However, before he could cross the threshold, a shadow moved into his peripheral vision.

Eternia stepped directly into his path... The Snakekin dropped into a deep formal bow.

"Master," Eternia said. "I do not mean to disturb your rest or your study. But... may you accompany me into the city tonight?"

Ren paused, looking down at the top of her head. "For what?"

Eternia kept her head bowed, but her golden eyes flicked up to meet his.

"To acquire proper equipment. Not only do I need better clothes that fit my transmutations, but we require actual armor and proper weapons. The practice blades will shatter against the hide of a beast and I don’t want you to waste your normal blades on me. As it would be our first time entering a high-level Dungeon together, I wish to be adequately prepared to serve as your Vanguard."

It was a perfectly logical request.

She couldn’t fight a boss monster in regular clothes and she was right about the weapon too.

Ren stared at her for a long moment, mentally calculating the time it would take versus the time he wanted to spend memorizing the new spell scrolls.

Finally, he let out a short resigned sigh.

"...Sure."