The letters on Shin's computer screen began to shimmer. They lifted, peeling away from the monitor as if gravity no longer applied to them.
The characters twisted and stretched in midair, slowly forming the silhouette of a woman with sensual curves.
It was a real beauty, with impossible curves, her hips so perfect for breeding, it would wake the reproductive instincts of any man.
"Hi... so you are the human that solved that game, congratulations," the stunning woman clapped her hands.
Shin blinked. Everything was so surreal, it felt like a dream, yet he instinctively knew it was real.
"Are you perhaps the creator of that world?" he asked, taking a wild guess.
"Yes! You are quite smart for a human," she spoke, her tone extremely arrogant.
In a few seconds, Shin could already feel like he didn't like this woman.
"I was bored, so I created that dimension…" she commented lightly. "But after watching it for a while, I grew bored again. So I turned it into a game, just to see what new possibilities the humans of your world would discover."
As she spoke, glowing lines appeared in the air, showing thousands of routes and alternate futures that players had managed to uncover.
But among all these endless possibilities, there was a result that even the goddess thought would be impossible to obtain.
"But I never expected you to find a happy ending for Hephaestus… haha!" she laughed.
"Hephaestus?" the man asked. He could guess she meant the fat character he played with, but the name still felt strange.
"Yes. He is one of the demigods I trapped in that dimension, and he was too incompetent to leave on his own. He was begging me to let him stop living through those endless loops; it was truly hilarious… haha."
The goddess wouldn't stop laughing, as if recalling the fate suffered by the five demigods foolish enough to fall in love with her.
"Actually, it's because of him that I came here. He wanted to thank you… hahaha! And since you're such an interesting human, I decided to come as well."
She snapped her fingers, and a very familiar figure materialized in front of Shin.
A short, fat man with weak yet gentle eyes.
"Thank you very much," Hephaestus said in a frail voice. "Thanks to you, I can now also be part of the goddess of conquest's harem."
Shin frowned. He knew nothing about the gods or their cosmic intrigues, but he deeply disliked Hephaestus's tone.
He looked like a weak man who would lower himself to anything. And Shin also despised the arrogance of the goddess standing before him.
"Wasn't she the one who trapped you in an endless loop?" Shin asked, trying to understand the situation from the few fragments of information he got. "Why would you still love her?"
"But I still love her," Hephaestus replied with a weak groan.
Shin felt his entire body bristle with disgust.
"Anyway, that doesn't matter," Hephaestus continued. "I am an inventor, so I wanted to ask whether you would accept one of my inventions as a reward for helping me."
Hephaestus was a kind and honest man, and he would always do everything he could to repay someone who had helped him.
Then Shin remembered something, and an idea crossed his mind.
"One question," Shin said, ignoring Hephaestus and looking at the goddess instead. "What's going to happen to the game now?"
"It will disappear. It no longer serves any purpose. And it doesn't entertain me anymore," the goddess replied simply.
"But there's still one objective no one has been able to complete," Shin said. "No one managed to tame the Imperial Queen."
In the game, all female characters could be tamed. When that happened, they abandoned all pride, arrogance, and ambition, choosing to devote themselves entirely to the one who tamed them.
Different routes resulted in different women being tamed; however, the Imperial Queen was really unique.
Her real name wasn't discovered. She was nearly omnipotent, absurdly beautiful, and on most gameplays, she would not even show up.
And in a few rare instances, she would kiss the protagonists, or even reward them with a night with her.
But that was the limit; no one even managed a route where she became a romantic partner, let alone tame her.
And Shin surmised that the reason for this was that the Imperial Queen represented the goddess before him.
"Oh! That is impossible. Don't even waste your time," the goddess commented. "She is a clone of mine that I added to that dimension to keep it stable."
"Oh, dear goddess, have you never heard of the most powerful words to describe humanity?" Shin murmured with a wry smile.
"Which one?"
"Seeing that it was impossible, he went there and did it," Shin recited dramatically.
"No, in fact, it is impossible. As much as the game reflects what happens in another dimension, it is still a game, and I programmed limitations into it," Hephaestus explained.
Then the inventor fell into thought, considering if there was any way. A single idea crossed his mind:
"Maybe there would be a chance if you went to that dimension," he commented as if it were a completely absurd idea, but the goddess seemed interested upon hearing this.
"Very well, I will send you to that world, so you can attempt the impossible," she declared.
It was clear in her gaze that she just wanted to use Shin for amusement, without caring about his opinion.
"Wait, my goddess, I cannot let you do this to my savior like this!" Hephaestus implored.
"Shut up." The goddess didn't even consider his opinion for a second.
Shin, on the other hand, was calm. He had no living family, the right side of his body was destroyed, and he was confident he could achieve the impossible.
"Are you sure you're going to let me try?" Shin asked with a provocative tone. "When I tame your clone, won't that affect you?"
"That is impossible," she laughed. "But yes, if it were possible, it would be the same as controlling my soul."
The goddess smiled in a somewhat maniacal way.
"Honestly, I just hope it's entertaining; I don't care about the result." She crossed her legs, her eyes looking tired.
She snapped her fingers, and a light enveloped Shin, altering the very fabric of his soul. A mortal would die instantly upon physical contact with a god. To account for the impossible chance of him actually reaching his objective, she decided to grant him this small mercy.
"Aren't you feeling any pain?" She raised an eyebrow, surprised that Shin stood there as if nothing had happened.
In truth, the transformation was painful, extremely so. However, he had learned long ago never to show weakness before an enemy.
"It hurts a bit," he lied, maintaining a stoic expression and a calm smile.
The goddess found his resilience amusing. Maybe he could entertain her after all. So, she finally gave him something special.
There. Now the game will be a little fairer. Not that it matters… It's still impossible, especially for a puny human," she murmured with a self-amused smile
"Wait, my goddess, isn't it dangerous to give this to a human?" Hephaestus asked.
The goddess silenced him with a kick, then made him get on all fours so he could be used as a chair.
The pathetic man, instead of feeling outraged, seemed to enjoy the feeling of finally being able to touch those perfect buttocks, even if with his back.
"In the beginning, I defended my position tooth and nail, but it's been millennia since anyone even dared to oppose me," she complained. "At this point, I can no longer stand the boredom, so why not create my own opponents?"
The goddess pointed at Shin, toying with his soul a little more. She just wanted to see if he would buckle and scream in pain, but he didn't even show the smallest reaction."
"Now go there and entertain me, human."
"I really despise the way you treat others as tools," Shin said, the left half of his face contorting in a grimace.
"I don't care about the opinion of a mere human, just do a good job and entertain me."
A light enveloped Shin, and he felt that he would soon disappear from that world. In that instant, he looked at the many pictures of her.
Then he remembered the philosophy his beloved commander taught him.
'Be kind, but never weak.'
Shin's eyes fell upon Hephaestus; he was kind, but so pathetically weak... The omission, the cowardice...
It was frustrating, after all the effort he had made, to see that he remained so weak. But Shin was a kind man.
"I would like to make a request," Shin said.
His body was already slowly disappearing as he was being sent to that world.
"Speak," the goddess declared.
"Let me use the character of Hephaestus in the game," he murmured.
The goddess arched her eyebrows, curious about why the man was choosing the hardest path.
But that would only make things more interesting.
"Despite being just a human, you are truly interesting... Very well, I shall grant your wish, mortal."
"Ah! And Hephaestus, you'd better watch me," Shin demanded. "I'm going to show you what you could be, if you weren't so weak!"
And Shin disappeared from that world forever, his soul reappearing in another dimension.
Soon after the goddess left that place, but Hephaestus remained, saying he would get a rare gemstone from Earth to make a beautiful necklace for his queen.
The goddess didn't care and just let him stay behind.
"I can't believe I lied to her…" he murmured to himself, his whole body trembling.
Still, he remembered the display of courage that humans had shown; Hephaestus wished he could be like that.
At least I can help a bit… He thought to himself and then carefully analyzed everything in that room to understand who Shin was.
"She must be very important to him," Hephaestus smiled, looking at the multiple photos of Shin with a woman wearing military clothes.
There were photos of them on dates, adventures, hiking, and much more.
"I think I have an idea of what would help him the most," Hephaestus murmured to himself.
First, he quickly gathered the materials he would need and then began working on a magical item for the man.
Shin didn't know it yet, but deep within his soul, Hephaestus placed a gift, one that would certainly come in handy when the time came.
Hi, author here!
Thanks for reading! And I hope you enjoyed this second chapter, and now our journey can really begin.
If you're liking the book this far and want to give you support, please, please, make sure to add this to your Library, it helps a lot.
And never forget your Power Stones are the fuel that keeps this story moving forward. And I promise that if you give me powerstones I will give you a lot of chapters back, lol.