"Oh, really?"
William could discern that the voice was utterly devoid of emotion, and he sensed that if he nodded in agreent, he might lose another invaluable ally, just as he had lost Anne. Nevertheless, despite this intuition, he nodded— because, at that mont, it seed the only option available to him.
William braced himself, awaiting the impending verdict. To his astonishnt, however, the Goddess— who had monts before been so emotionally detached— suddenly smiled warmly and said, "Alright, I forgive you."
William's head snapped up in disbelief. He saw the radiance of her smile, and although he found it difficult to accept that she could forgive him so easily, sothing about her presence compelled him to believe it.
"Just like that... with no repercussions?" William blurted out, imdiately regretting his words.
The Goddess nodded, then paused as if reconsidering her stance. "Yes, you're right. I should set so conditions for you to adhere to."
William nodded eagerly. "Of course, I'm willing to accept whatever you want."
The Goddess nodded thoughtfully before continuing. "Alright, I have three conditions."
"First, you will visit at least once a year— no, make that twice a year."
"Second, you will bring foods from your world. Don't worry about the logistics; I'll guide you."
"Third, you will share with interesting stories from your world— and from your own life."
"Those are my conditions. Do you accept?"
William regarded her with a contemplative expression, thinking to himself, 'She really is that lonely here, isn't she?'
The Goddess's smile darkened instantly, and William realized with a start that she could hear his thoughts. A bit unnerved, but trying to salvage the situation, he smiled sheepishly and said, "O-O-Oh! Such delightful conditions! I accept them without hesitation, of course, if that's what you want, hehe."
The Goddess still wore that dark expression as she responded, "You're sure you don't want to back out of these 'boring' conditions?"
"H-How could I- why would I, when these three conditions allow to visit such a beautiful Goddess and engage in conversation with her? These are truly great conditions for ."
The Goddess understood that while his thoughts might have been less flattering, his words were sincere. The darkness lifted from her face, replaced by the most exquisite smile William had ever seen. "Oh! That is so kind of you to say."
For a mont, William forgot everything else, completely entranced by her smile. It took him a full minute to pull himself together and stamr, "Y-Yeah..." Then he rembered the matter of how to get here and asked, "Not to sound ungrateful, but I don't know how to return here on my own."
"For you to co here by your own volition, you must cultivate as you usually do, delving into the deepest recesses of your mind. But there's a twist— you must not open your eyes when you feel you've arrived at your inner mind.
Instead, you should clear your mind once more and focus on nature— trees, water, air, anything connected to the natural world. Then I can teleport your soul here. But rember, never think about your old world— NEVER do that. The Gods don't appreciate it when a soul, once belonging to them, escapes their grasp to aid other gods from different dinsions."
William didn't fully grasp the significance of the last part, but he nodded and said, "Alright, I won't think about my old world."
"Even though it may be challenging, you must focus on the joy this world has brought you and what it has granted, rather than dwelling on what the other world has neglected." The Goddess's words seed to carry a double aning, but William couldn't quite comprehend it.
"So, Miss Goddess, not to sound rude or anything, but could you explain why you brought back here?"
"There are two reasons," the Goddess replied, and William focused his attention.
"Baphot was attempting to connect with you again." William felt a headache forming at the ntion of this. "And just as she was about to succeed, I intervened and erected a barrier between her and you. To truly protect you, I had to bring you to my domain."
William nodded, then asked, "And the second reason?"
The Goddess smiled. "It's ti for you to receive another ability."
William froze for a mont before asking, "Another ability? Like the Penetration one?"
"Yes, but it won't be the sa or even similar. This ti, the choice will be random, and you won't have a say in it."
William grinned widely. "As long as it's sothing powerful, I'm happy to receive such abilities for free."
"I can see your greed is growing," the Goddess remarked. William's smile faded as he focused on her next words. "It's not yet a concern, but you'll need to curb it. Otherwise, Baphot or another dark entity could easily target you."
"Alright, I'll try to be less... greedy," William said, though he wasn't entirely convinced by his own words.
The Goddess didn't press the issue. Instead, she snapped her fingers, and a spinning wheel materialized beside her. The wheel was inscribed with nurous nas— so familiar to William, most unknown.
Nas like Power Lord, Guns Ablaze, Speedy Fingers, Lightning Oil, Vigor Nights, and Kannon Punch adorned the wheel. They seed bizarre, yet potent, though so were hard to imagine using in an actual battle.
But what William truly understood at that mont was, 'Wow! She really is that lonely, huh!' He regretted the thought as soon as it crossed his mind, seeing the Goddess looking back at him with those dark eyes.
"Wo-Wow, such creativity! Whoever crafted this spinning wheel must have had a lot of ti—SKILLS, skills, to create sothing so impressive." he stamred, trying to avoid her gaze.
The Goddess relented and let it pass, saying, "As you can see, this is a spinning wheel that rotates rapidly until it decides the right mont to stop, pinpointing a skill that I will bestow upon you."
William nodded thoughtfully, then scrutinized the 20 or 30 nas on the wheel. "So the wheel will assign a skill from these twenty or thirty nas?"
The Goddess shook her head, deepening William's confusion. "No, it won't. The nas you see here are just a small selection. There are many, many more. When the wheel spins, not only does it rotate, but the skills on it also change until it stops."
"Oh! So the skill I receive will be entirely unknown to ," William realized. The Goddess nodded, and then asked, "Are you ready?" William nodded eagerly, excited to acquire another potent ability.
The Goddess stood up and approached the wheel, giving it a gentle push. It began spinning rapidly. The force of its rotation could have generated a small hurricane, but nothing of the sort occurred. The wheel simply continued to spin.
As it spun, William had a thought and asked, "Goddess, does luck influence this?"
The Goddess nodded. "Yes, this selection is influenced by luck, so there's a slight bias." Hearing this, William checked his luck stat.
[Luck: 50]
Seeing the double digits brought William so relief. He knew that no matter what skill he gained from this unusually fast-spinning wheel, it would be sothing suited to him.
The wheel spun for a while before it suddenly ca to a halt. Both William and the Goddess examined the result and frowned.
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