'Wait, I'm Supposed to Become a Goddess?! But I'm a Guy!'

Mize watched them both from the corner of her eye.

Everything was unfolding exactly as she expected.

How could it not? After all, how was anyone supposed to react normally upon learning their entire world existed solely as a testing ground for lords?

If she were in their place, she'd probably lose her mind too.

But that was their reality.

Their fate was already written, and only one path offered a sliver of hope.

Join a lord’s territory.

If their chosen lord made it through the trial to the end, then, just maybe, they’d be taken into the vast world beyond.

If not… they'd vanish alongside this place, swallowed by the collapse of a world that never mattered to begin with.

She recalled a conversation with Liam.

This world wasn’t permanent.

To the people here, it might feel like everything, home, life, meaning, but to the ones outside, it was less than a grain of sand.

The moment the trial ended, so did this world.

Her gaze drifted toward Klein.

His face was almost mesmerizing to look at, somewhere between stunned and struggling to stay composed.

She pitied him.

A little.

But she didn’t really care.

There was nothing she could do for them anyway.

So she rose quietly to her feet, the soft fabric of her clothes shifting with her movement, and walked over to the window.

Leaning against the cool stone wall, she peered down at the street.

Life bustled on as usual.

People moved like ants, carrying on with their petty errands, unaware of the cosmic game they were caught in.

Behind her, Klein remained silent. He looked like he had a dozen questions boiling inside, but no idea where to begin.

And even if he asked, would the answers bring him peace?

Probably not. The more he knew, the more it would gnaw at him. That much was obvious.

So he sat there quietly instead, eyes fixed on his tea that had long gone cold.

Even the old man sealed in the ring seemed rattled.

She brushed the thoughts aside. No point wasting time on questions that didn’t matter.

The script was already in motion. Soon, she’d guide Klein exactly where he needed to be.

Her gaze flicked back to him. Just a glance, but one full of meaning.

And just as expected, it didn’t take long.

Klein rose, slowly, then walked to the other side of the room and leaned back against the wall by the window.

His fingers curled behind his back, shoulders stiff. He glanced her way, then spoke, with a strange mix of formality and hesitation.

“T-Then… only by living in these lord territories can people have a chance of avoiding death… once all of this ends?”

“Yes,” she said simply.

That one word was more than enough.

She didn’t need to say more, and he probably couldn’t handle it anyway.

She leaned forward, resting her elbows on the windowsill, chin propped in her hands.

Her eyes wandered lazily over the scene below.

“Stay in this territory,” she said casually.

“The lord here is terrifying, and reliable.”

Klein blinked. “Even compared to you, Senior?”

“Far more powerful,” she said. Her eyes flicked toward the distant silhouette of a looming castle.

Klein caught the look, and as expected, her next words confirmed his hunch.

“There’s something wrong about that castle…”

She paused, then added, “Or more precisely, the lord.”

“The lord?” he echoed.

She gave a slow nod, followed by a shake of her head. “Doesn’t matter. You don’t need to know. What you do need to know is that staying in this territory will benefit you far more than any other place.”

“Yeah… I figured as much,” he murmured, fidgeting with his fingers.

He turned toward the window, standing beside her, gaze trailing across the horizon.

“There’s just… so much of everything here. If that makes sense.”

“The dungeon,” she reminded him, casting a sidelong glance.

He caught it, and a faint blush crept onto his cheeks. He laughed awkwardly, brushing it off. “Yes, yes, the dungeon…”

“Good. Get stronger.”

She straightened up, fabric swishing lightly with her movement. After one last lingering look at the town, she turned to him.

“You have to get stronger.”

“I will,” Klein said, flashing a smile. It was a little shaky, maybe, but it was still a smile.

The news had rattled him, sure, but somehow, he managed to pull himself together.

Ah. The ever-resilient protagonist. How typical.

Mize smiled, faint amusement flickering behind her eyes. Klein, in turn, averted his gaze as fast as he could. Shy little thing.

And then, as if remembering something, her tone turned just a little more serious.

“Be careful. There are… shadows in this town.”

“What?”

But before he could ask more, she vanished, disappearing without sound.

The only trace of her departure was a soft voice that echoed inside his head:

“The church is against them.”

"Perhaps you have something in common with them"

His hand, half-raised in mid-reaction, froze in place.

Then slowly, he let it drop to his side. His eyes turned outward, toward the town.

He whispered, quietly but firmly, “Gotta live on… gonna live on.”

Back in the castle, Mize was still sprawled across her bed, where she’d been lazing about since morning.

At this point, she’d basically transformed into a panda.

A very cute one, to be fair.

And truthfully, she had no intention of getting up anytime soon.

With a flick of her finger, she casually opened the event column, just to glance at it, and blinked.

The territory had already hit the 100th wave.

In the corner of the interface, the timer continued its slow crawl forward, and before anyone had time to really register it, the final wave had been dealt with.

The clock ticked past 9 p.m.

She'd been watching the battles unfold from afar for hours, and with each passing wave, the size of the monster horde had grown absurd.

By wave 100, each swarm was nearly a hundred thousand strong. But now the wave ended.

The tight formation of Liam’s troops had loosened. At first, she thought it was a tactic, but soon enough, the entire army came to a stop.

The stronger troops, tier 4 and up, lingered in the outskirts of the vast territory, while others simply vanished from the field, as if pulled into another dimeny entirely.

“The wave stopped?” she muttered under her breath, brows slightly furrowed.

Could it be…?

She opened the event column again and scanned through it more carefully this time.

And then she saw it, something she hadn’t paid attention to before.

The timer.

“It’s a one-week event?”

Her voice lifted in surprise.

She hadn’t expected that at all.

But now, the sudden halt in troop movement made perfect sense.

Still curious, she pulled up the event ranking board.

[Event Rankings] – Kill the Beasts!

1st – Lord Liam | Wave: 100th

2nd – Lord Azrael | Wave: 89th

3rd – Lord Xaiya | Wave: 87th

4th – Lord Estes | Wave: 69th

5th – Lord Ilyas | Wave: 69th

6th – Lord Rykar | Wave: 54th

7th – Lord Frieny | Wave: 51st

8th – Lord Shiran | Wave: 49th

9th – Lord Halbatorth | Wave: 48th

10th – Lord Vexil | Wave: 38th

“Ohhhh...” Mize exhaled softly.

Liam was so far ahead it was almost laughable, like comparing a star in the sky to a flickering candle on the ground.

Curious to see what the others were saying, she opened the global chat.

[Global Chat]

“Holy shit, these hordes are insane. I couldn’t get past wave 9. There were hundreds of tier 1 to 3 monsters with wild attack patterns. I tapped out early.”

“Same here. I got airborne monsters for my first wave, pure bad luck. No arrows, no crossbows. My walls were useless. Honestly, I should’ve stuck to farming.”

“I pity you, brother upstairs.”

“Haha! I made it to top 1000, wave 24! Who says you need strong troops or heroes? Just lay down smart traps. These things are killable.”

A sudden notification pinged across the screen, followed by a silver-crowned avatar lighting up.

Someone was using a voice-activated chat feature, complete with special effects.

Mize blinked at the extra flair, then rolled her eyes.

Whoever it was, their strength wasn’t anything noteworthy.

She ignored it.

“Wave 31. Step aside, peasants.”

“Woah, big boss has entered the chat!”

“Hello big boss! I’m a beautiful lady with huge assets, feel free to message me",

“Bah, whore.”

“What can you do? I’ve seen female lords drop everything just to join another lord’s territory.”

“Makes sense if you’re in the same region. Then why not join each other?"

“Did you know that if you give up your lord title, you can still summon heroes?”

“Wait, even without the stele? I doubt that.”

“No really, it works. But it costs ten times more, and the system changes.”

“Yeah, classic warp setup, keeping ex-lords valid but nerfed.”

“Hey hey, anyone seen the power rankings? What the hell is that madman doing to get so strong?”

“10 million power. He could solo the whole region. I’ve got a friend spying in his territory. Apparently, he did a full-on military parade during the event.”

“What the actual hell?”

“No joke. I saw it. Nearly a million tier 1 troops. Hundreds of thousands of tier 2. Tens of thousands of tier 3, and on and on. I think he’s secretly tier 7 now. Natives say that’s the ceiling for combat power here.”

“Wait, you’re in his territory?”

“Yeah. I gave up my lord status. Settling down there with my summoned heroes and starting a business here"

“He’s number one in the region now. Tier 6 while everyone else is still scrambling for upgrade mats.”

“Honestly, joining his territory sounds like a good deal. I’ve got no ambition to rule, maybe I’ll even get into his bed?”

“Another whore. Real talk though, unless you’re on par with his current wife, don’t bother trying to get his attention, haha.”

“Urgent! Looking for healing items on the trading hub! I can trade other resources!”

Mize scrolled through the chat with a slightly raised brow.

Most lords were struggling. Not surprising.

These events weren’t built for everyone, they were made for those willing to push their resources and take the risks.

Still, some of the discussion was intriguing.

Especially the bits about lords who had forfeited their status just to live normal lives.

Apparently, at least one of them had settled in her own territory without her even noticing.

She narrowed her eyes, thinking back to the explanation she’d read.

So the system didn’t vanish completely when a lord gave up their title. It simply changed, mainly focused on hero summoning.

Strange, but... interesting.

“Let’s just hope none of them try anything funny,” she muttered to herself, stretching her arms with a lazy sigh.

Her gaze drifted toward the distant points her clones had been dispatched to.

The dungeon expansion was progressing smoothly. The deeper it grew, the more it began to resemble an entirely new world.

For now, her next goal was to extend the ocean further, by several times more, and encircle the entire map with a fog wall.

A special fog, of course.

One that would corrode the bodies of most Awakeners who tried to enter it.

Because no matter what, someone would eventually try to see what lay beyond.

So the fog was only a deterrent. Not a guarantee.

She needed something more secure.

The solution came to her quickly. A new species. Something unique, fish-like monsters that would live inside the fog itself.

A single, isolated species, evolved to feed on the air itself, draining the oxygen from any who dared enter.

Their breath would produce more fog in turn, thickening the barrier.

“The weakest should be around tier 5...” she murmured, eyes glinting with curiosity, “...and for the strongest, I’ll push myself to the limit. Let’s see if I can make a tier 8.”

As soon as she formed the thought, her clones deep in the underground dungeon received her intent, and immediately began working to bring the new monsters to life.