The wave ended.

Silence stretched, and time ticked by like molasses.

Liam slowly pulled up the system interface, its pale glow casting a soft sheen across his face.

His gaze slid to the time column.

00:00

The dead of the night.

“Tonight’s a restless one…” he murmured, his arms resting lazily along the throne’s arms, spine leaning into the cushioned back with a tired ease.

His eyes drifted toward the towering figure hovering in the distance.

“That goddess form…” he muttered, voice low, almost a whisper lost to the wind.

There was something suffocating about it, the way how her expression turned... Indifferent.

And yet, according to her, she was still herself despite the lack of emotions.

Strange...

He’d felt it before.

Every time Mize entered that state, he noticed the different in her nature. The usual cheerful, jolly, and naive Mize became a different version of her while still retaining her true self in control.

In a word, It was… fully divine.

No other term came close. He tried to grasp for another description, something more grounded, but nothing ever quite fit.

“Or… something else.”

His brows drew slightly. “I’ve begun to suspect her profession isn't exactly the divine path"

"Her capabilities were far beyond the realm of what was historically recorded. Ridiculous levels of creation, the ability to mold reality like it was wet clay, and rules, she didn’t bend them, she rewrote them"

"According to the historical records that I read, those who walked the same path as her weren't as perverted as she currently is"

"At the current stage of the trial ground development, their strength should be equal to mine. I, the person who possessed a system"

Liam fell into a quiet hum of thought. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ Nov3lFɪre.ɴet

“She’s far too way ahead which goes beyond everything that had been recorded about that path"

Add to that the constant evolution in her appearance, each transformation more ethereal than the last.

Others might attribute that up to her creation ability.

But Liam?

He doubted that.

His fingers traced his jawline as he stared, lost in thought.

'Could it be a proffesion that has never appeared before?'

'And she's hiding it from me'

...

Whatever the truth was… she was his.

That was enough, for now.

The wind shifted, brushing past with a coppery tang. Blood lingered in the air, sharp and acrid.

But Liam’s expression remained flat, unfazed by the taste lingering in the air.

In the distance, Mize floated in silence.

Her colossal figure hovered gently as the battlefield cooled into an uneasy quiet.

The enemy forces had pulled back. Smoke still curled through the night, blanketing the shattered terrain.

The stars above peeked through a gloom that shouldn’t have been there.

The battle of the True Lords was over at the same time.

The war, however…

“How troublesome,” Mize muttered, her voice carrying softly as her gaze swept across the devastation.

The weapon she once held had vanished into nothingness like mist.

The Broken Blade Legion had long since retreated. Mize had ordered them out of the main combat zone, choosing instead to rely on long-range artillery support.

She wasn’t about to throw their lives away.

The tree guards she’d summoned, though? Disposable.

Still, the advancing shadow army forced her hand. They had pulled the frontlines deeper into the safer zones. Jagged lands, torn earth… even Liam frowned slightly at the destruction.

His gaze returned to Mize. "She better have a plan."

She did.

In a blink, her massive form disappeared, teleporting right beside his throne, now in her normal size.

“The final wave is coming,” she said, her voice trailing into the air. “Are we doing this?”

Liam rose from his seat, calm as ever.

He reached out, pulling her gently by the waist until she stood closer beside him.

Together, they floated upward, pacing casually above the field.

“If it becomes too much, I’ll forfeit it,” he said lightly. “Don’t worry.”

The throne vanished behind them.

Below, the troops realigned.

Tree guards formed the frontline, meat shields. Mize had called forth more which now totalling about 7 million.

Then, her eyes flickered faintly.

In the next second, she canceled the goddess form.

Liam noticed right away. His eyes slid toward her. He didn’t comment, just looked forward again.

Mize, on the other hand, was trying not to grin too openly.

Her clones inside the mirage realm had just finished finalizing a skill she’d been trying to create.

Her hands moved as her status panel rose before her eyes.

----------------------------------------

[Personal Status Panel]

[Title]: Goddess Awakening

[Awakening Status]: Awakened

[Profession]: Path of the Degraded and Elemental Goddess – Beauty, Lust, and Detachment Divinity

[Realm]: Tier 6

----------------------------------------

[Beauty System]

* Beauty: 71

* Cute: 70

* Charm: 64

----------------------------------------

[Inventory]

Storage Ring (Mid-Stage Blue Grade): Holds high-end fashion items, accessories.

----------------------------------------

[Skills]

* Imagination Realism [Tier 6]

* Telepathic Control [Tier 6]

* Gravity Control [Tier 6]

* Ethereal Charm [Tier 6]

* Soul Flowers Domain [Tier 6]

* Wooden Guards, Wooden Soul [Tier 6]

* Set the Heart Ablaze, Set My Conviction on Fire [Tier 6]

* Purity of Soul, Neutrality of Mind [Tier 6]

* Cataclysmic Orbs [Tier 6]

* Teleportation [Tier 6]

* Heavenly Golden Palm [Tier 6]

* All Mighty Push [Tier 6]

* Mirage Realm [Tier 6]

* Mental Tank [Tier 6] ×100

* Blessing of Reduction [Tier 6]

* Mental Strength Digitalization [-]

* Rapid Breeding [Tier 6]

* Flesh and Blood Engineering [Tier 6]

* Terrain Manipulation [Tier 6]

* Absolute Clone [Tier 6]

* Five Elemental Overlord [Tier 6]

* Divination, Search [Tier 6]

* All-Seeing Eyes [Tier 6]

* Nature Summoner [Tier 6]

* Star Gathering Technique [Tier 6]

----------------------------------------

[Points]: 89,770

----------------------------------------

She let the panel close with a subtle flick of her wrist, the corner of her lips twitching into something soft.

First things first, she took a proper look at the newest skill she’d just created.

Star Gathering Technique.

She whispered the name under her breath, tilting her head slightly as she frowned in thought.

“…Who even names these things?”

The name was poetic enough.

She didn’t remember naming it herself. Maybe the system had a taste for the dramatic.

Shrugging, Mize decided to give it a try.

No need for practice.

Like a memory she’d always had, the method was already burned into her mind since the skill was automatically bounded to the territory's tier.

She closed her eyes.

In her mind’s eye, a vast stretch of night sky unfurled.

Stars scattered across the darkness, each one pulsing softly, some brilliant and blinding, others dim and veiled in fog.

She called it the Star Diagram.

One star in particular caught her attention. A faint blue one, flickering quietly, nestled far in the distance.

Her focus drifted towards it.

In an instant, her perception zoomed forward, closing the astronomical gap in a breath.

Before her now hovered a massive celestial body, dimly glowing in pale blue light, its spiraling tendrils of heat curling outward like ghostly ribbons.

Solar flares arched across its surface, painting the void in threads of blue fire.

Then, she focused harder.

Almost immediately, a steady flow of mental energy surged through her, channeling directly from that distant star into her mind.

Minutes passed.

Bit by bit, a mental energy tank began to fill. The regeneration speed, noticeably faster than the natural regeneration..

Mize opened her eyes slowly, a pleased grin tugging at her lips.

“It’s working… but, nah, it’s still not enough.”

She could feel it.

There was more potential here, a loophole waiting to be bent.

And Mize, of course, wasn’t above exploiting one.

A new idea clicked into place. A little trick pulled straight from the cheat book.

She immediately issued a command to her clones inside the Mirage Realm, create a simple skill that could transfer mental energy between people.

Nothing flashy. Just something efficient.

A few moments passed.

And then.

[Connected Starry Link] [Tier 6]

A much faster creation time compared to the skill before. But it was natural, since the star gathering manual wasn't... 'fake'

Those stars, they were real. Mize was actually consuming them.

The name popped into her view.

Perfect.

Without wasting another second, Mize executed her plan.

Hundreds of her clones, each a mirror of herself, were summoned directly into the Mirage Realm from the dungeon.

She took a portion of them and transported into the mirage realm.

One after another, they dropped into cross-legged positions across the terrain, surrounding the vast plain like a meditation army.

And in perfect sync, they all activated the Star Gathering Technique.

In the star diagram, the blue giant began to pulse strangely as countless tendrils began to move up in a certain direction.

From a perspective here, there was a huge 'Mize' in a half translucent state, floating still in the space near the star.

Then...

The mental energy began pouring in like a slow stream… and then came the second part.

They activated Connected Starry Link.

The destination?

Her true body.

The link worked by imagining the person clearly, their appearance. If Mize wanted to give mental energy to Liam, she just had to picture his face.

But there were conditions.

Consent.

And both sides needed to possess the same skill.

Without those, the transfer wouldn’t work.

Luckily, Mize wasn’t sharing right now. She was on the receiving end.

A moment later, a warm pulse traveled across her consciousness as the first wave of mental energy flooded into her from hundreds of connected links, all tethered directly to her mind like a network of stars funneling starlight into a single point.

She exhaled deeply, a satisfied hum vibrating in her chest.

This?

This was much more like it.

"Maybe I should assign more clones to perform the skill?"

"Then, my mental energy would be limitless with these workers behind the scenes"

Liam was right, her true profession isn't the divine path, but something else.

Too broken...