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

The scene widened.

The sky stretched wide open, layer after layer of clouds folding like silent waves across the heavens.

High above them, beyond the reach of wind, beyond where storms could breathe, a figure hovered alone, suspended in brilliance.

A colossal halo spun slowly above him, a flawless ring of gold etched with intricate, shadowed engravings.

Whatever language it bore, its meaning was long forgotten, if it had ever been known.

Fine threads of golden light spilt from it, diffusing into the surrounding mist, softening the sky with a pale radiance.

The clouds glowed gently, dyed in strokes of amber and pearl.

And in the centre of it all, untouched by cold or gravity, floated Mize.

If not for the faint shifting of his twelve wings, one might think time had stopped around him.

His gaze was distant, fixed downward, but unreadable.

Detached.

Cold.

Maybe even bored.

....

.......

…And a sneeze teased the tip of his nose.

!!!

“Hh-chu.” He blinked once.

“Tch. Wind’s getting cheeky.”

"I guess sneezing isn't included amongst the abnormal states that my skills are against" His mouth twitched.

Below him, the world lay spread out like a slowly decaying painting.

Hills roll into low valleys. Dotted resource points.

Patches of bandits, scavengers, monsters, barbarians, all crawling along the edges of chaos.

In between them, faint glowing domes shimmered like fragile glass sanctuaries.

Blue.

Green.

Yellow.

Violet.

The colours followed the lights emitted within.

The warp's domes pulsed in mesmerizing rhythm under the moonlight, glimmering like embedded stars scattered across the continent.

Even now, there was something beautiful in how ugly the world had become.

Mize’s deep crimson eyes flickered, narrowing slightly beneath the translucent veil that obscured his lower face.

Twelve wings hung behind him, vast and otherworldly.

Each feather gleamed.

Every subtle flap sent gusts rolling out into the sky, parting the clouds like curtains before a stage.

Each pair beat with a distinct tempo, yet all carried the same breath as if harmonizing a quiet hymn only the wind could hear.

His long white hair spilt down his back.

It drifted weightlessly behind him like a silk river untethered to gravity.

His robe hung loose, elegant, glowing white with subtle gold trimming.

The curves of his devilish body perked, actuated further with a face that resembled a saint.

A contradictory point against the former, an angel and a devil in one body.

The fabric curled and flowed with the breeze, neither fluttering wildly nor clinging too tight, perfectly balanced.

And his eyes, those unnerving red eyes, burned under the moonlight.

Eyes that didn’t sparkle.

And most obviously a bit moist since he had been staring too much today.

“I wonder if Liam’s asleep already…” Mize murmured.

But the grin beneath the veil betrayed the inner turmoil.

“…After all, I did sign us up for a little extra intimacy with that Yama Lord this morning.”

He let the words hang, tapping his cheek thoughtfully. “A proper physical exchange... That I will definitely skip, muehehe"

He raised a hand, palm to the stars, fingers splayed like he was catching starlight in his grasp.

The wind stirred obediently around him, soft as breath.

Still… tonight wasn’t the night for that.

'I will go back a bit late and sneak into my room, he probably wouldn't notice and go to sleep already by then, mueheheh'

His eyes drifted lower, toward the sprawling land below, letting his thoughts drifting towards the events that had taken place today.

“Harapan…”

"Huh"

He exhaled the name like a thread of thought, eyes sharpening as his hand came to rest against his chin.

“My first attempt at human modification,” he mused.

One strand of hair.

Just one.

And through his innate ability, imagination realism.

He infused the strand of hair with the essence of hope.

Imagined into being.

Moulded into a gene seed.

It was just a cheap copy of a certain universe, Mize never planned it to be perfect, but the results were more than enough for him to be proud of his works.

Mize chuckled softly, pressing a finger to his lips, a hint of amusement showing in his half-lidded eyes.

The clouds around him curled away as his divine glow shimmered stronger.

“Not a product of the warp. Not of the system. No panel. No parameters. Just… real.”

"A byproduct of my imagination, my innate ability is just extremely absurd when I thought about it again" Mize chuckled, a crisp laugh escaping his lips.

“Like dropping a blank slate into the stream of the world. From now on, I’ll have to watch him manually,” he said.

“No support. No UI. Just manual interactions"

"Based on his current strength, he is too weak to help me with anything. But... " He paused, his thoughts dripping, "In terms of potential, he might be able to grow beyond my imaginations"

After the creation, Harapan had leapt from mortal to tier one instantly, but the direction of his growth remained uncertain.

He required more time for observation and future planning, Mize wouldn't let his very first creation fail too easily, and he had a grander plan shortly.

Still, Mize suspected the boy’s path would mirror his own in some fashion.

A diluted version of it, but powerful nonetheless.

But of course, the lack of panel and any system information gave Harapan's whole existence a new taste of freshness to how Mize would have to control him in the future.

With a flick of his wrist, he summoned several golden runes into the air, intricate, spiralling patterns that only he could read.

“Some of my abilities have transferred,” he murmured, voice casual, almost lazy. “Not the real thing. Just the cheaper knock-offs.”

He remembered the test he conducted with Harapan at the dungeon.

After Harapan called out to the people and told them to settle down in the territory, Mize brought him to the dungeon for a little bit of testing.

Mize wished to see Harapan's capabilities and, most importantly, how similar he was to him.

Surprisingly enough, within the dungeon, Harapan held his own ground against peak-tier 2 monsters.

Most of the time, he used some of the degraded version of Mize's abilities but in battle, these abilities burst out with unimaginable power.

Crude, inefficient, but undeniably effective.

His physical strength was on par with tier 1 realm monster, meaning that he followed the physical path and with the occasional familiar spells and skills he used without much consumption of any energy, he used the same principle of mental energy the same as Mize's.

To be fair, Mize possessed no basic knowledge of how the profession works in this world, Liam never bothered to explain after all, there was seemingly just too much information that even the Yama Lord himself appeared to be disinterested in the general knowledge.

Mize believed it to be so, perhaps self-exploration was the best way to understand a person's path and profession.

He remembered it still, Liam pressed the importance of an academy that they would join after the newbie's lord trial, perhaps he would be able to find a systematic answer there in the future.

Ah yes, Mize had forgotten about something important.

In regards to Harapan similarities to him, they were the skills that he used during the battle against several tier-two monsters in the dungeon, they were... A bit too familiar. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Harapan possessed his Soul Bloom Domain and telepathic links. Both inherited, in bastardized form.

It wasn't the original or else it would be too overkill.

At most, he could control nature at his will and he could control creatures minds, affecting them and even more to be explored.

The upper limit of these cheap knockoffs was unknown for now, but anything that had any resemblance or connection to him would never settle for mediocrity.

Still, for a copy, the kid was doing suspiciously well.

“And then, of course, he asked about power and order…” Mize muttered, his voice dropping lower.

Before Harapan was released into the town, they'd shared a short talk. A philosophy of the two was exchanged in a brief talk during the journey back to the town.

Mize admitted it, Harapan's train of thought was different and yet unique, specially tailored for himself and him alone.

The boy’s words echoed in Mize’s mind.

“Power brings disruption, and I will guide the world to overcome this under Your great name, Oo mother of life!"

Simple.

The halo pulsed above him. A slow rotation quickened slightly as if reacting to the weight of his thoughts.

“Even when it’s born from good intentions,” Mize said, eyes narrowing. “It cuts through everything, like a blade through fog.”

His gaze drifted lower, to the land far beneath the clouds.

“Peace isn’t the solution. It’s just what happens when something heavier is pressing down on the chaos.”

He lowered his hand, slowly, the threads of wind unwrapping from his fingers.

“Not violence for destruction’s sake. But the power to suppress, to hold. Not crush, contain.”

His tone was quiet now.

“Power should anchor the world. Not fracture it.”

He sliced the air again. A golden ripple shot outward. The clouds vibrated, then stilled.

“Fear doesn’t build lasting order,” he murmured. “Reverence might.”

He paused. A slow grin tugged under the veil.

“That’s why I’ll start a movement. A faith, not quite a religion. Just enough for people to believe.”

“Believe in me, and I’ll give them stability. Safety, and peace!"

"In return, I will gain their eternal reverence, a self-propelling and continuously expanding points factory, Muehehe!"

His wings shifted slightly, tilting him forward.

“Let them kneel because they want to. Not because they have no choice.”

Then came a chuckle.

“Funny… even gods have to balance between fear and worship.”

"And I am afraid, I am now looking at myself more than a human that I normally do"

....

"A god, huh?" He curled his lips beneath, his eyes tracing the arc of the moon up in the heaven.

He tilted his head, amused.

“Maybe I’ll master both.”

With a single flap of his wings, he descended.

The halo dimmed. The sky grew wider.

He floated slowly downward, the wind curling around him, brushing against his legs and hair.

“And with all that being said…”

His voice trailed off, eyes scanning the layers below, cutting past the clouds like glass.

A faint smirk touched his lips.

“Harapan… the first test subject.”

His hand twirled lazily, shaping air and clouds into abstract lines. Idle gestures. Absentminded control.

“He was the first to receive my blessing,” he whispered.

But it wasn’t a blessing.

Not really.

A single strand of hair, manipulated and infused with his imaginations under his perverted innate ability.

Created not from flesh, but from intention.

A living prototype that Mize had copied.

Mize’s smile lingered, faintly amused.

“It almost killed me to make you,” he muttered. “Drained 90% of my mental energy. Could’ve passed out mid-air.”

"But still, relatively speaking it might have been overlooked a little, just how cheap creation become at my fingertips"

"Perhaps I can even create a world in the future"

Worth it.

He exhaled.

“I need to craft a mental cultivation technique soon. Creativity’s expensive.”

The halo shifted overhead, rotating slower now.

His wings flared lightly to keep his balance. The robe caught air again, dancing with his hair under the celestial breeze.

The wind tugged at his robe again, and his veil fluttered slightly.

"In terms of appearances, Harapan stood at the pinnacle of human race, but a bit lower"

“If I had to rate him… maybe a sixty-eight. Sixty-nine, if he stood up straight,” Mize deadpanned.

A pause.

Then a soft snort of laughter.

He drifted lower still. The clouds fully opened beneath him now, revealing the land below.

Colorless from this height, but alive.

He stared down.

“What is Harapan exactly?” he asked aloud. “The closest thing to me this world has.”

A flare of light echoed off the halo.

“Not the same,” he added. “But close.”

Then, after a long pause, his voice fell quieter.

“I don’t bleed like them.”

“I don’t hunger.”

“I don’t exist the same way.”

And then, softly.

“If I carve enough versions of myself… will the world mistake them for me?”

He smiled faintly.

Then let the wind take him again.

–

The scene pulled back.

Clouds parted gently beneath him, slipping aside in wisps of silver mist.

And there, nestled in the clearing night sky, surrounded by moonlight that spilled like a silent blessing, the silhouette of the castle slowly revealed itself far below.

Mize tilted his head, his gaze sweeping toward the familiar structure beneath his feet.

“Let me check the time first,” he muttered.

With a flick of his fingers, a soft blue shimmer blinked into view, his Lord’s panel unfurling in a thin arc in front of his vision.

The numbers ticked quietly in the upper corner.

“1:00 a.m.,” he murmured, eyes narrowing slightly as he stared back toward the castle’s towering structure.

He sighed through his nose. “He’s probably asleep by now.”

A faint smile curled beneath the veil, but there was a twitch at the corner of his lips that suggested unease.

He chewed his lower lip lightly, crimson eyes half-lidded in thought.

“I should’ve said no this morning…”

The words fell from his mouth like the regret of someone who’d just remembered agreeing to something in a moment of weakness.

“I wasn’t ready,” he muttered again, quieter this time.

An ‘intimate session,’ as Liam had so teasingly put it.

If not tonight, then it’d be tomorrow, or the day after that.

Relentless. Liam without a doubt would definitely pestered him with his demands.

“If only I could teleport straight into the castle from here…”

But even as he thought it, he could feel his own limits reaching up through the edges of his consciousness.

The innate ability he carried was strange like that, sentient in its own way.

When he reached too far, pushed too close to the edge, his mind always responded with a warning.

The process of creations weren't that simple, each time he first reasoned with his consciousness first to see whether the envisioned imagination would be doable or not.

If not, his mind and even his consciousness would warn him of the terrible cost that would consume his mental strength.

That warning had saved him more times than he cared to admit.

If not for that sense, he probably would’ve collapsed from mental exhaustion more than once by now.

“Alright... Add these to the list,” he sighed, raising a finger and listing off one by one.

“Mental strength gauge. Mental cultivation technique. A teleportation skill. Invisibility. Gotta start putting those in place…”

"Ah yes, mental capacity skill! That would be neat"

No more crude hacks. No more trial-by-fire improvisation.

He beat his wings once, just enough, and his body plummeted downward.

The halo followed, trailing behind him like a golden comet tail.

But as he neared the edge of the territory’s dome, he canceled it all out, wings vanishing into nothing, halo flickering out like a dying star.

He passed through the illusory dome with a faint ripple. A cold film brushed against his skin.

The moment he emerged inside, he focused.

“Blend me into the dark,” he whispered, thoughts turning as his consciousness gave the green light of this imagination, his innate ability then began to work.

“Muehehe... Assassin Mimi!”

His body dimmed. Not quite vanished, but faded.

His mental strength was slightly reduced but it was still manageable not to drain him directly.

'it's like Spidey senses, tailored made for my innate ability to see whether the cost of each imaginations were too hefty or not'

Dark paint across moonlight, his form thinned, then blurred, merging with the air like a shadow slipping between cracks.

It wasn’t true invisibility.

Not yet. But close enough.

Still, it burned more mental energy than he liked.

His brows twitched.

“Yeah… I really need to stop doing this manually. Way too inefficient.”

If he could solidify this into a true skill, the territory’s tier would enhance it.

Manage it.

Stabilize it.

Having his skills bounded to the territory's tier were much better in terms of control, mental strength cost, and more.

Using it raw through direct imagination? That was still wild.

Dangerous. Like slapping together a spell out of daydreams.

For now, he was no more than a shadow slipping through the sky, rapidly closing in on the castle’s silhouette.

His breath stilled. His posture hunched slightly, wings hidden, form dulled. No glow. No shine.

Just nerves.

His heart was hammering in his chest. His skin prickled.

Sweat, inexplicably, had started to collect at the back of his neck.

He wasn’t scared.

…Just cautious.

“First obstacle,” he whispered to himself, squinting down. “Castle walls.”

He remembered the butler’s words from earlier, about how the castle wasn’t guarded by shadow soldiers.

But that… that didn’t sit right.

“Yeah, right,” Mize muttered.

Who in their right mind wouldn’t guard the castle?

The most important structure in a lord’s territory. Where the core lived. Where the leader slept.

Leaving it unguarded would be idiocy.

No… there had to be something.

He scanned the perimeter from above.

The towers. The walls. The patrols.

Watchtower spotlights swept the open field in careful, methodical arc, blue beams that sliced across the ground in silence.

The guards were good.

Disciplined.

Not slack.

“…Looks more like a prison from up here,” Mize grumbled, maneuvering between the beams with quick, angled dives.

He made it past the first sweep. Then a second. Then another.

Once in, he hovered near the wall. Considered.

Should he deconstruct the wall and rebuild it behind him?

Too much noise.

Sound cancellation?

He didn’t know the structure. Could be traps embedded. Could be layered formations.

Worse, every time he tried probing with divine sense, it vanished, like tossing a rock into a bottomless pond.

“Teleportation…?”

He barely even asked before his mind screamed in protest.

Nope.

Too much cost. Not worth the risk.

'But If I wait much longer, Liam would definitely be mad'

He clicked his tongue.

Definitely formations hidden here.

Some sort of high-tier formations that guarded against spatial movement. His gut told him this place was locked down tight.

And now, he was stuck.

“Damn it…” he whispered, darting to the side, eyes sweeping the structure.

Coming back late was one thing.

But getting caught sneaking in?

That would be bad.

Liam might be warm and affectionate on the surface… but Mize knew better than to believe that pampering meant safety.

Especially when it came to something like trust.

He shivered.

“…He’d absolutely punish me.”

Probably invent something ridiculous to make fun of him.

Duck walking?

Sky jumping?

Leash around the neck!

Snap!

Mize shut the thoughts away as it was gradually becoming weird.

His gaze darted again, and then, finally, he saw it.

A small structure near the lower side of the wall.

Stone-lined. Narrow. Partially hidden by moss and shadow. Water flowed through it, trickling down the slope toward the town.

A water canal.

Steel bars guarded the mouth. Beyond that, only darkness.

But that… was enough.

His eyes gleamed.

“It’s time,” he said, spreading his arms just a little.

“To be a fish.”