“But I like her,” I defended and he shook his head in response.

“Liking is different from loving, you should know that as a man.”

“I can’t relate to that.”

“You will,” he paused before breaking out in laughter again, “soon enough you’ll have enough experience to fill my shrine to the brim in that matter.”

“It’s your words.”

“It’s what I know,” he said amidst his laughs, really enjoying my current dilemma, “you can’t get away from fate. Since day one here, you were fated to be with this fiery chick. Just show more appreciation that you ended up with such a chick and not with some ugly and cold lady.”

“Humph,” I didn’t agree with his words, and weirdly enough my rude response made him laugh again.

“ِAnyway, my advice to you is to have fun and enjoy. Don’t have a meal served and be such a coward to deny it.”

I didn’t know why but at this point, I imagined this god dude sitting with ladies covering the entire floor of his palace.

“Do you have any more questions?” he asked and I shook my head.

One hour has passed

Do you want to extend one more?

You’ll pay one thousand blessing points for this hour

“Pay the price and stay,” just as I was this close to selecting to leave, he suddenly said, “I have something important you’ll need to hear.”

“Alright,” despite feeling a little annoyed by his timing, I had no other choice but to accept the loss. It didn’t seem coincidental at all. He timed it perfectly to match my one hour limit here.

“What do you want to talk about?” I was still feeling bitter about the one thousand blessing points I paid.

“You do have a deal with that winged nymph girl, right?” What he said was unexpected for me.

“Which deal exactly are we talking about?” I already had more than one ongoing deal with her.

“The one that will deliver lots of other races to you.”

“They are hostile races,” I thought he’d ask for me to retreat from such a deal, “they are hurting our people, so it’s fair to hurt theirs.”

“I’m not against such actions,” he shrugged, “what you did was really remarkable.”

“So?” I still didn’t get his point.

“First I’ll have to remind you that the winged nymph race is a friendly race to us. So don’t be rude to this chick.”

That lustful god! Was he setting his eyes over her or what?

“I’m giving her a special treatment already,” I ignored his sexual desire and added, “she is kind and honest with me. So I’m not acting rude at all with her.”

“Good lad,” he nodded in praise, “now let’s talk about the real deal. From the races she is working to bring for you, three are exceptionally important.”

“I’m going to kill them all,” I instantly said, “do you want me to torture them first or what?”

I didn’t find any fate worse than death to be honest. If he had another opinion, then I was open to listen to his suggestions.

“I don’t want you to kill them,” unlike what I expected, he said, “don’t give me that look. First listen to what I have to say.”

“Go on,” I said in doubt. Why would he, a mighty god of humans, ask me to spare some races who worked in such brutality against humans?

“You have a punishment that will hinder lots of your progress in the upcoming two quests, right?”

“That’s a pain in the as*,” I didn’t hide my true feelings about this punishment.

“Then did you know that such a punishment is a single apocalypse limited one?”

“Sorry, what does this even mean?” I didn’t get his point, so I had to ask.

“These races brought to you by this winged nymph will come from other ongoing apocalypses. For the record, these apocalypses are all in the same twenty apocalypse group yours in.”

“They are with me?” I raised an eyebrow while recalling the previous words Hilary told me about.

“They are indeed,” he slowly nodded, “after all that winged nymph would pay more price if she tried to bring them from apocalypses outside this group of yours.”

“I see,” what I really thought about right now was a chance. It was indeed a golden chance for me to get a glimpse over the situations at other apocalypses that I might face one day.

“So from the races she planned to bring for you, there are three who stood exceptionally above the rest. They are strong, vicious, and deadly in any battle. Besides, an foremost important reason to spare these three, they won’t be limited by your punishment.”

My eyes went all wide open from the shocking realisation I got. “Do you mean… I can give them stat points, let them fight and get materials and other stuff from the monsters and other races there?”

“And you can also let them conquer castles, emblems, and acquire cities and towns under your name.”

This was the most pleasant news I’d ever heard since coming here! Damn! This was like a game changer to me!

I was already burdened by this punishment. I knew even with all my preparations, things wouldn’t look that easy or promising for me and my forces in the upcoming two quests.

I never cared about quests. I knew quests were just stepping stones on the long ladder of strength prepared by the system. What I cared and deeply regretted was the long time I’d lose during this.

Only the waiting period for the third quest lasted for a week! That meant the third quest might even reach two weeks’ time! Only one quest and its waiting period was almost one month.

That meant the time I might lose in these two quests would range between two and three months. That wasn’t something I could compensate for.

Even if I held a great advantage for now, this advantage was doomed to be threatened. I also was in such a tough position that I needed to take part in the upcoming war, reaping part of the big cake in the central zone of this continent.