John’s eyes were assaulted by a myriad of bizarre, floating screens. Urging him to swat at the air in confusion, but instead of the screens disappearing, it only led to more manifesting out of nowhere.

“It’s a hell of a thing, isn’t it? The first level-up always feels amazing, but don’t get used to the healing, that’s a one-time deal, kind of a built-in fail-safe.” The stranger spoke with a wide grin painted on his face. “I’ll show you how to use those levels later, but first we need to get you to the chamber of sanctification.”

The stranger extended a hand to John, helping him to his feet even though there was nary a need for his assistance anymore.

John was bursting with energy. His body felt lighter than a feather and his heart stronger than a horse's. But the euphoria of the level-up was fleeting, for he could feel it dissipating by the second and it showed on his face.

“Ah, I remember that too. You’re itching for a hit, right? That’s also one of the goddess’s traps you see. The novels and games never seem to get this part right, do they? We were meant to be living weapons, soldiers to fight in humanity’s never-ending war, and the goddess treated us as such. You can think of this as her guarantee that we won’t try to settle down on a farm somewhere instead of fighting.” The stranger’s tone remained as tantalizing as ever, but his eyes had a hint of sadness about them as if an old memory he tried to bury suddenly resurfaced. “I’ll give you a little something to deal with the cravings. It gets much more manageable after the first few Level-ups so I don’t need it anymore myself.”

After shuffling through his pockets for a bit, the stranger pulled out an old silver ring and handed it to John.

Knowing what he was supposed to do, but too curious about his new abilities to actually do it. John placed the ring on his palm and whispered the name of one of the skills he only just unlocked.

“[Analysis]” As he mouthed the activation phrase, another screen came into view, displaying information about the ring.

Noticing his little impromptu experiment, the stranger let out an amused chuckle. “Funny. I did the same thing when I was handed the ring for the first time too.”

The stranger was about to reminisce about his past some more when the bound skeleton finally broke free of its shackles, bellowing in rage as it tore the veins away. John knew that the sight of such a monster breaking free should’ve scared him, but to his surprise, all he could feel was a deep, all-consuming hunger.

John tossed the silver ring to the stranger and dashed toward the skeleton with the poorly-made dagger clutched tightly in his hand. He could not believe just how fast he was now moving, for he seemed to close the distance between himself and the abomination in the blink of an eye, and unlike their previous spout, John could easily follow its movements with his eyes now.

In a desperate bid to mount a defense against John, the skeleton raised its sword, confident that the ancient blade could withstand a strike from its opponent’s feeble dagger; however, the strike it anticipated never came, instead, John used his newfound speed to duck down beneath the skeleton in a mocking imitation of the same technique that nearly killed him mere moments ago.

Putting all of his power behind it, John aimed the dagger at the skeleton’s chest, going right for where the heart should be on a living man.

To his surprise, the dagger not only pierced through the skeleton’s feeble ribcage, but it had enough momentum behind it to drive John’s entire arm through its body as well.

He could hear the stranger calling him a fool in the distance, but John could not care less at that moment. He could almost feel the euphoria of Level-up wash over him as the hateful bastardization of life quickly faded from the skeleton’s empty sockets, but even when it was rendered into nothing but a clump of lifeless bones, no magical screen appeared, and no euphoria washed over him.

“Leveling up isn’t as easy as you think, that skeleton was nothing compared to the one I handed to ya on a silver platter. You’ll need to kill a few more like this one to level up again which is why I gave you the ring. So here, wear it this time.” The stranger made it clear to John that he was not asking anymore.

Once the ring was on his finger, John could no longer feel the uncontrollable craving for the euphoria of a level-up, leaving him to look down at the remains of the skeleton in contemplation. He cursed at himself for acting so rashly, but couldn’t help but feel just a little proud of his accomplishment.

“We aren’t out of the woods yet, let’s get moving. The chamber of sanctification is just over there, we need to get you classed before something else attacks us.”

“Classed? What’s that?”

The stranger was already moving by the time John’s question reached his ears, but in classic fashion, he refused to provide any real answers. He simply motioned for John to follow, never even stopping to look back at him.

After a short but eerily silent walk, the two arrived at their destination, the chamber of sanctification.

It was by far the grandest and least damaged part of the ruins, its craftmanship, while being heavily corroded by the passage of time, was still superior to even the chamber he was summoned in, the one where the remains of what was once a king sat for eternity.

The moss-covered walls held beautiful murals carved deep onto their very foundation. Images of death, life, war, and peace all melded together perfectly in a true testament to their maker’s skills; however, they wouldn’t even be comparable to what stood silently in the center of the chamber, surrounded by all that art.

“That’s her… the goddess” John spoke absent-mindedly as he looked upon the five effigies bearing the goddess’s resemblance, each holding a different item of stone in their hands, some in better condition than others.

“Hold up, don’t touch anything yet. Let me explain first.” Before he could approach any further, the stranger took John by the shoulder, pulling him back as he reached to feel one of the statues.

“You are right, these five statues are of that so-called goddess, but that’s about the least interesting thing about them. In the olden days before this world went to shit, the heroes would kneel before these things to choose a class and obtain their blessing, meeting with the goddess personally while doing so. Unfortunately getting a blessing is impossible, but you can still choose a class, although you do have a limited selection.”

Even as the stranger saw the surprise on John’s face and how it slowly turned into happiness at the prospect of meeting the goddess, he still gave him no time to digest the information or ask any questions before moving on.

“The staff, bow, and spear are broken, leaving you with the sword or the gauntlets. I personally—" The stranger’s words were cut off by John, who had a very confused and almost mocking look on his face.

“wait wait wait. We can meet the goddess? As in right now?” John could hardly hide the excitement in his voice, causing him to almost scream out his words into the bowels of the ruins.

John’s enthusiastic ranting came to a halt when he noticed the stranger’s face contort to that of disgust and rage, and while he didn't feel that his antipathy was directed solely at him, he still shivered when his eye met the stranger’s directly, but even amidst the tension he peculiarly noticed that the golden light they shimmered with came from a very thin golden circle drawn within his pupils.

“You want to see your precious fucking goddess… Fine.” With a clenched fist and rage in his eyes, the stranger punched one of the statues, dealing no damage to it but somehow causing the whole room to shake violently.

After but a moment, the statue lit up with golden light, illuminating the chamber but a little compared to the spheres conjured by the stranger, however, John could feel the divinity of the goddess from within that light.

When enough light was accumulated, the goddess Yuurena herself manifested, walking out of the cold stone of the statue into the world.

In her overwhelming presence, John couldn’t help but kneel before her majesty. So taken he was by the goddess’s appearance that he failed to notice the disgust on the stranger’s face growing ever stronger.

“G-Goddess, I’m sorry to ask you for this after you just brought me here, but… goddess?” when John raised his head to speak, he saw the visage of the goddess blink in and out of existence as the golden light emitted by the effigy dimmed.

He opened his mouth to speak again when he finally noticed that what stood before him was no god, nor was it even alive. The goddess’s face didn’t even twitch, her golden hair didn’t sway like before, and her eyes stared lifelessly into the darkness, she was nothing more than a reflection shaped in the image of the divine.

Seeing the look of realization on his face, the stranger finally spoke up, the disgust and anger in his voice now replaced with some modicum of empathy. “Do you understand the truth now? I suppose I never told you the whole story so I can’t truly blame you for having that hope, I did too after all.”

The stranger walked up to the illusion of the goddess, swiping his hand right through its body. “The truth is, humanity lost… even with the help of the heroes and the constructs of the dwarves, they couldn’t hold back the demon tides and the elven spiritualists. They lost the war, and the goddess left this world behind to rot.”

“No…it can't be true, I’VE SEEN HER, I SPOKE TO HER” As the pieces of the puzzle fell into place, John’s mind rushed to find an explanation that wouldn’t lead to the death of what little hope he had left.

“What you spoke to was an illusion created by the goddess’s grace, her divine power. She is more powerful than you or I could even comprehend, and this fucked up form you see here isn’t even her real one, it's just the suit she wears to put mortals like us at ease.” The stranger clenched his fist and tried to strike the goddess, only for his fist to pass right through her.

“Her grace is so powerful, even the smallest speck of it can perform miracles. When she left, some of that grace remained in this world and ours, that’s what you spoke to, the divinity she left behind when visiting Earth to recruit the heroes, which was concentrated enough to still have the imprint of her will on it, that is why it still sends people here with promises of adventure and heroism.” The stranger looked into John’s eyes, who was left speechless by the truth, and decided to speak the words he knew would send him over the edge regardless, for it was a mercy to know now rather than later.

“This world… it's been abandoned for over 300 years now, and without the goddess, it is doomed to die a slow painful death, along with everyone stuck in it.”