Asdel contemplated the sky through the bars of the prison window, and almost shed a tear thinking about Loreley. He was surprised to discover how much he yearned for her. Perhaps, the cold prison cell exacerbated his loneliness.

[Pray tell, do you find yourself wallowing in melancholy? I know how to cheer you up.] Mahala spoke from the inventory space and conveyed her thoughts through telepathy. The goddess could even communicate with her faction through vague oracles over long distances.

She explained Asdel's class cheats.

[My saints can connect their souls with others. If you take Amaranth, her huge inventory space will merge with yours and you could manipulate her weight reduction skill to your advantage in combat. Or you could use Viola and use her spells and mana without exposing her to the battlefield. The possibilities are endless.]

Asdel laughed on the prison bed. "So I get stronger by kidnapping people and chucking them in the inventory to steal their stats and skills? Good one, evil goddess."

Mahala pouted. She rose from her seat, revealing Asdel's dick sticking out of the inventory portal, and flicked it.

Asdel yelped and pushed Amaranth from his crotch to take out his penis from the inventory. "Hey, I lent you my dick because you begged me!"

He checked that no one was around and dove into the inventory to mess with Mahala.

“I’m the Goddess of Life and Fertility. No one is praying or dedicating sex to my name, so how am I supposed to gather faith?” She crossed her arms with a ‘hmpf’.

“So… You aren’t clinging to my dick just because you’re a degenerate?” Asdel blinked in surprise.

“That’s naturally not the case. My healing miracles can restore your hand but they’re expensive. And I need a lot of faith to send you back to your Earth. I’m working so hard, shouldn’t you be more grateful?” Mahala wiped a tear of sadness.

Tomoyo perked up upon hearing that information. “How can I give you more faith?”

Mahala handed her an imaginary booklet filled with prayers and rituals. “Alternatively you can have sex, but there’s only one Asdel for the three of us, so…”

Viola proposed an idea. "How about I cast 'clone' on Asdel? We can send a clone outside and keep the original and several copies with us."

Mahala shook Viola. “You’re a genius! But isn’t there an issue of mana to maintain the spells?”

Viola snorted with pride. “It’s fine, I’m used to it. Besides, I learnt ‘mana drain’ at the Grave of Flesh. The problem is Asdel. Clones are always used on allies, because they’re still in charge of their control. His senses might get overwhelmed.”

… Few minutes later, Asdel spazzed out on the ground from sensory overload.

Mahala jumped up and down over his hips.

His clone clutched her glistening hair as he received a blowjob.

While this happened, the empty scenery of the inventory slowly transformed into an idyllic beach made of imaginary sand and water.

“Urgh!” His true body writhed as his clones shot another load into the goddess.

“Hang in there, grand elder.” Tomoyo cheered for him while she prayed.

Viola sighed while shaking her head. “That goddess… In the end, she still monopolizes Asdel.”

Mahala denied it, but she really was just a pervert. “Sorry girls, it’s my optimal method of refilling soul essence. I need to redecorate our living space.”

Indeed, it consumed a lot of her essence to change the look of the inventory. Viola and Tomoyo couldn’t really complain about the drastic improvement of the landscape.

Although Mahala was in tears and almost choking on his dick, she persevered, forcing her sore body on Asdel. She greedily ensnared him with a lust of unfathomable depth.

Asdel was infected by her feverish desire through the telepathic connection. And although they didn’t know each other very well, he realized that she harbored an irrational and maddening love that idolized him. Perhaps, it was the natural consequence of becoming her savior.

…

Mahala was sprawled on the beach, covered in semen.

“Did you get enough faith to heal his hand?” Viola asked.

Mahala hugged his severed arm with a sad expression. “This much isn’t enough. We need to keep it up for a month.”

Asdel cuddled the goddess. “There’s no hurry. We can take our time.”

Their leisure time was cut short before the break of dawn. Luciella sneaked into Asdel’s cell. She came to take him away.

She let him retrieve his confiscated items from the prison and led him to the outskirts of Eplit.

…

“Are you okay? Take your time.” Luciella held his hand, leading him through the alleys.

“Huff… I’m fine…” Asdel’s clone panted as he carried Amaranth’s inventory without the physical boost from ki.

The horse shit on the ground had never been more annoying to dodge for the laden kid.

At their destination, a caravan of a popular rising star clan waited for them.

“The Steelmight clan is part of the Rigard Liberation?” Asdel muttered in disbelief.

“The devils have infiltrated deep into every part of the Congregation.” Luciella sighed.

The captain of the caravan approached Luciella, breathing down her face. “If it isn’t our favorite nun! Luciella, won’t you spare me a bit of your time and accompany me until morning?”

He held her chin and contemplated her beautiful face.

She tried to avert her face, but the captain’s grip was stubborn. Luciella was flustered and didn’t know to act. She usually didn’t oppose the Liberation group and ignored their harassment as much as possible.

“Huh?” Veins popped on Asdel’s head. He jumped between them and slapped the captain’s hand. “Take your hands off her!”

“What’s wrong with this midget?” The man was about to grab Asdel’s head, but Luciella moved like lightning and almost crushed his fingers in her ruthless grip. “Let me go, bitch!”

“This child is the last prince of Rigard. Don’t you dare touch him. I would have crushed all your bones if you weren’t in charge of his safety.” Luciella stood up for herself to take away the attention from Asdel.

Her cold gaze penetrated the caravan captain. “I cooperate with the Liberation group, but don’t think that you’re the only one fit to be the captain.”

The man was taken aback and laughed it off. She was still a rank C church member and had plenty of ways to make him suffer in their public life. “Alright, there are plenty of aberrations roaming out there. I won’t let your precious kid get any scratch.”

He changed the conversation. "But how did you guys find the prince? Do we even have proof?"

"A trusted merchant of the Skylanders sold us the information," Luciella said.

Asdel rolled his eyes at the sky. 'Charles, you fucker.'

The captain obediently prepared the caravan without making any fuss under her watch.

Asdel was chucked inside a wooden cage on wheels. There were other kidnapped passengers bound in ropes, but he didn’t dare strike up any conversation.

Luciella tightly held his hand through the bar of the cage and bid him farewell.

Asdel got a good look at her face, and she had never looked as old and tired. Perhaps she still endured the toll of using her Heroslayer demonic sword previously.

Thus, the caravan started its journey across the Rigard territory and time went by without incident.

That kingdom was never fully terraformed, and there were still many unused patches of wastelands deprived from the grace of the Allfather.

These dry cracked grounds, hardened by the heat of sunlight, hinted at the uninhabitable past of the planet. Yet, some creatures thrived in these desolate environments.

“Enemy ahead!” The pathfinder announced.

Aberrations that escaped from rifts were unconstrained by the rules of nature. They needed no food to sustain their physical form, and corrupted their immediate surroundings into hostile landscapes. Hence, they often came up on the caravan’s path.

Like that big brute. No one knew its name or its godforsaken origins. Despite their daunting appearance and impressive size, aberrations acted alone and posed no threat to the company of adventurers when everyone ganged it up. If anything, they served as good entertainment for Asdel to watch the adventurers getting battered.

With his new class, Asdel now had plenty of soul essence to generate ki. So he spent his time meditating to build ki paths in his body for his martial skills.

But their smooth journey was bound to end. The unfamiliar sound of military horns and howling drowned the caravan, and shadowy figures emerged from tall surrounding cliffs.

The pathfinder was ahead of the group, and before he could return, a deluge of rocks rained on his head. He crumpled on the spot under the shocked gaze of his allies.

Asdel was jerked awake. Aberrations were one thing, but an army? Ambushers didn’t need to go out of their way to intimidate the caravan if they were uncertain of victory.

‘Ayo, we’re in trouble!’