The Goddess's Overwhelming Generosity

The desk was already crammed full, yet items still spilled over the edges. A beat later, a message window popped up. Among the long string of text, the eleven goddess statue notifications at the very top stood out the most.

“???”

No, that… that wasn’t what I meant when I asked her to watch over me. Was she really that upset I gave Karen a statue on impulse? Goddess, seriously. It’s already ridiculous that she’s handing out this many 3-stars, but they’re all completely useless goddess statues? My body still feels fine, so I guess I didn’t pull any skills or authorities… Did she dump every last bit of luck into these things?

“Probability manipulation… stop!”

I glared at the ceiling in resentment, but all I saw was the dull, ordinary surface. Part of me wanted to send a truck her way, but I’d rather use that money for another gacha roll, so I let it go. Still, getting this many 3-stars has to be a huge win no matter how you look at it. I tried to focus on the bright side and scrolled through the flashing list in front of me.

“D-D-D-Drop?”

Two 4-stars? There was one weird item mixed in, but overall the results were excellent. Especially the items I needed most right now and could use immediately. It almost felt like the goddess was handing me exactly what I’d need for tomorrow.

“Ah! I see! She might not be human, but she’s still a goddess!”

I dropped to my knees and gave a deep, respectful bow toward wherever the goddess might be. Then I did it again, just to be sure. Bowing twice is usually for the dead, but since this isn’t a Confucian culture, it should be fine. If anything, the goddess who got to witness my dogeza (not really) twice was probably satisfied.

“Heh. Now then, let’s take a look.”

Humming to myself, I rummaged through the pile of mana herbs. I deliberately avoided the goddess statues that kept finding their way into my hands, and finally my fingers brushed against a glass bottle. It was small—about as thick as my thumb and as long as my index ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠finger—with clear liquid sloshing inside. So these were the tears or whatever. I had no idea what they were for, but since it was only 1-star, it had to be junk.

“Whatever.”

I tossed it into a corner of the bed and dug through the mana herbs again. This time I felt soft fabric. Pulling it out revealed a thin, smooth cloak that reminded me of silk. Pitch-black with no patterns at all. So this was the 4-star Cloak of Invisibility. The name alone sounded promising. Combined with Sound-Eating Steps, the synergy would be excellent. Rydia had said that even with her aura, she’d have trouble detecting someone unless she was actively looking or using her eyes. Now that the cloak itself turned invisible, it would be even harder to spot. Whether I was running or ambushing, this was going to be incredibly useful.

“Hup.”

When I draped it over my shoulders, the oversized cloak shrank until ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it fit me perfectly. Now how do I activate it? Most magical tools worked if you poured mana into them. I tried channeling a tiny amount of mana.

Hum—

The cloak greedily sucked up my mana and gradually faded until it blended perfectly with the surroundings. …My body itself stayed visible, though.

“What the hell?”

So it didn’t make the wearer invisible—it made the cloak itself invisible? And it’s still rated 4-star?? I felt a curse rising in my throat, but then I caught sight of a mirror half-buried in the mana herbs and the frustration vanished. My reflection was gone. So my body was only invisible to everyone else’s eyes. Just to check, I pulled out a weapon and swung it around. Anything touching my body turned invisible too, but the moment it left my hand it became visible again. The desk stayed solid even when I touched it, so apparently anything too big couldn’t be rendered invisible. There was one problem, though.

“Ghhk….”

It ate way too much mana. Magical tools were supposed to be efficient because they used complex magic circles and rare materials, but this cloak couldn’t even last ten seconds on the reduced consumption. And that was after I’d been steadily eating mana herbs. Even Weak Flame could last nearly five minutes now. I’d have to save it for critical moments only.

Next were the Haste Boots. The name made the effect obvious, but unfortunately I couldn’t test them right now.

“Ugh….”

I was on the verge of mana exhaustion. How was I supposed to use magical tools? I stuffed my face with the mana herbs scattered around me and decided to examine the other items first. Especially the suspicious transparent glass case that radiated an overwhelming presence.

“This has to be that, right?”

If you bought a figure, you obviously needed a display case too. Not that I’d bought it willingly, but still! The case itself was really well made. It looked custom-ordered—exactly the right size for one goddess statue. The body was crystal clear, letting you see inside ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠perfectly. It was lighter than expected. The texture and feel confirmed it was glass, but definitely not ordinary glass. Just in case, I scratched the top lightly with the Unicorn Dagger. Normal glass would have been cut or shattered, but…

Scrrk.

The case’s surface remained pristine. There were faint scratches if you ran your fingers over it, but nothing visible to the naked eye.

“Sturdy…”

It had to be some special material that resembled glass, or regular glass layered with reinforcement magic. I was still chuckling in disbelief at how serious this was when I noticed a small button on the side of the case. I pressed it.

Pop!

Light shone down from the top of the case. So the display case came with built-in lighting.

“If I put the statue in here, it’ll definitely look impressive.”

Grinning at the “premium” description, I pressed the button again.

Flash!

Instead of turning off, the light changed color and started glowing red.

“…There’s no instruction manual?”

I kept pressing the button. Each time the light shifted through blue, purple, yellow, pink, and every other color imaginable. After fiddling with it for a while, I held it down and the light finally went out.

“They really went overboard making this thing.”

Shaking my head, I used ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the recovered mana to try on the Haste Boots. The effect was exactly what I’d expected. They consumed a set amount of mana to speed up all actions for about thirty seconds. It didn’t speed up your thought process, though, and the mana cost wasn’t cheap, so spamming it would be impossible. I’d have to save it for important moments—using it constantly would be too much.

That covered all the items. Now the only things left were the twenty-two eyes staring at me with an unbearably benevolent expression…!

I swallowed hard and picked up a goddess statue. As if it had been waiting, a notification appeared.

I stared at the notification and hesitated. If I just sold all eleven at the temple, I could rake in a fortune in gold. How many more gacha rolls would that buy me…? It was an enormous temptation. But I resisted. This incident had made one thing clear: the Goddess of Love could interfere with gacha results to some extent. I gave one to Karen and she immediately shoved eleven more at me like a threat. If I messed up, every future gacha might spit out nothing but goddess statues. Or nothing but mana herbs. No need to deliberately provoke her. It was only a little awkward between us, not outright hostile. Besides, I was curious what would happen if I could synthesize them to this level. I made up my mind and nodded.

“Synthesize.”

Flash!

The moment I gave permission, one of the goddess statues on the floor glowed white and overlaid itself onto the one in my hand.

Ding!

A notification announced the synthesis was complete, but instead of reading it I immediately continued.

“Synthesize. Synthesize. Synthesize!”

Exactly ten times. Once all the statues had been combined into one, the notification sound changed. Instead of a dry chime, it played something like a fanfare.

Ba-bam-ba-bam—!

“Kya!”

So ten enhancements was the maximum. …Wait, the gacha pool is ridiculously huge and it still takes ten enhancements to max it out? I felt a hint of madness bubbling up in my chest, but at least achieving a full enhancement on something this rare was a good thing. I examined the statue closely to see what had changed. The fact that its pure white body had become full color, that it now radiated a faint holy power, that it felt warm to the touch—none of that mattered. The real problem was that a statue clearly made of stone now felt as soft as silicone!

Squish.

“Huuuuh…! Oh my god. A soft-chewy-non-resistant-warm-mini-love-goddess!! My faith is starting to rise.”