The Godess had a thoughtful expression as her eyes drifted upward. “It's quite the long story, believe it or not.” She met his gaze a moment later and studied him briefly before asking, “Tell me, what would you say happens when a mortal dies?”

  Joe placed a hand on his chin as he considered her question. “Based on my experience, I would say you get reborn naked in another world.” He held her gaze, waiting for her response.

  “You're half right,” the Goddess said. “When a mortal dies, their soul is transported to the Soul Realm, where they stand before the Soul King. He judges whether or not a spirit is worthy of rebirth. Those who are deemed worthy are granted a second shot at life, and those who do not meet his expectations are either tortured for eternity or erased, depending on the weight of their sins when they were alive.”

  Joe's eyes widened. As someone who was not religious, despite having parents who loved praying to Gods, he found it hard to believe there was truly a place where souls were sent and judged after death. He doubted the Godess would lie to him after promising to reveal the truth, so he was inclined to take her words at face value. The fact that he had been reborn was another reason he could not dismiss what she said as unrealistic.

  “How does the Soul King determine if someone deserves a second chance?” Joe asked.

  “It's hard to know for certain. You'd need to ask the Soul King himself for a definite answer,” the Godess replied. “What I can tell you is that he searches for a characteristic in every soul he chooses.”

  “What kind of characteristic?”

  “Potential,” the Goddess said plainly. “He selects souls with the highest chance of achieving divinity and grants them a second life.”

  “Is that why I was reborn?” Joe asked. “The Soul King saw potential in me to become a God?” Pride swelled in his chest. Despite his miserable life, someone had believed he could become something special. He almost shed a tear, but his feelings shattered at her next word.

  “No,” she answered calmly.

  “Then why?” Joe asked, confusion written across his face.

  “He had no choice. You forced him to revive you against his will.”

  Joe's eyes widened. He did not remember coercing anyone. From the moment of his death to the second he was reborn, there was nothing but blankness. He struggled to grasp how he could have forced someone so powerful to do anything. “What do you mean?” he asked after a pause.

  “Remember when I told you that a mortal’s soul is transported to the Soul Realm?”

  “Yes.”

  “There are two individuals tasked with moving a deceased spirit to the Soul Realm,” she explained. “The first is the Planetary God, who oversees the souls of a single planet. The second is a Regional God. They are responsible for a section of the Universe that encompasses multiple worlds. A soul is first examined by the Planetary God to determine if it is worthy of being sent to the Soul Realm. If it fails to meet their standards or is deemed too dangerous, it is erased from existence. The Regional God then examines the souls approved by the Planetary God and determines whether the correct decision was made or if the soul must be deleted.”

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  Joe listened quietly, absorbing every word.

  “I don't know how,” she continued, “but your soul bypassed the screening of both Gods and was granted access to the Soul Realm.”

  “What's wrong with my soul meeting their criteria?” Joe asked, frowning.

  “Because it was a terrible mistake,” she replied. “Your soul should have never arrived in the Soul Realm. One of the Gods should have erased it.”

  Joe clenched his jaw. Her words reminded him of all the times his uncle had told him that no one in the world would ever want someone like him. As it turned out, even the Gods had rejected him.

  “Why?” Joe asked quietly. “Why should my soul have been deleted?”

  The Godess met his gaze. “Your arrival in the Land of the Dead brought everything to ruin.”

  A chill ran down Joe’s spine. “What do you mean?”

  “The moment your soul entered the Soul Realm, everything stopped,” she said. “It was as if a God had descended. Even I could sense something abnormal had appeared. Like a black hole, you absorbed an immeasurable number of souls. Buildings collapsed. Spirits of all ages screamed and tried to flee as they were sucked in by your presence. It was chaos. An incident that had never occurred in the history of the Realm. Many believed the Realm would be destroyed.”

  Joe struggled to believe she was talking about him. He had never seen himself as someone capable of causing that much destruction. Yet her words explained how he had come to possess more than a billion souls.

  “Despite being sealed in the deepest layer of the Realm, with numerous enhancements placed by the Soul King to restrict my power and protect me from outsiders, tendrils of your soul still reached me,” she continued. “They bypassed my physical form, shattered my spiritual defenses, and reached my True Soul. With my power sealed, I was defenseless as they attacked and wrenched at my essence. Before your soul was banished from the Realm, it managed to tear away a small fragment of my True Soul.”

  Joe raised his eyebrows. “So the one standing before me is only a fragment of your soul?”

  “Yes,” she confirmed. “It's a tiny piece of my True Soul, but the fact that you were able to take even a minute portion of it as a mortal is remarkable. As the Goddess of Spirits, I possess the strongest soul in existence. An unranked and unawakened human should not have been capable of capturing it, especially not in a matter of seconds. Had you not been removed from the Realm, my entire True Soul could have been at risk.”

  Joe was stunned, but he forced himself to remain composed. “Did the Soul King banish me by sending me to Suveny?”

  “Yes. It was the only way to ensure you left before you destroyed everything. He chose to protect his Domain.”

  “Wait,” Joe said slowly. “What were you doing in the Soul Realm? Did you die?”

  The Godess chuckled and shook her head. “Who do you think you're talking to? Nothing in existence can kill me. I told you, I'm the strongest.”

  “Then how did you get there?”

  “I was banished to the Soul Realm after all the Gods of the Divine Realm and the Soul King banded together to seal me away.”

  Joe was shaken. The fact that all the Gods combined still required the Soul King’s assistance put her power into perspective. It explained why the best he had managed was a glancing blow, even with all the essence at his disposal. The gap between them was immeasurable. It made him wonder why his soul was so powerful that even she could not consume it.

  “Why did they seal you away?” Joe asked. “Did you do something wrong?”

  The Godess smiled confidently. “I killed the King of the Gods.”

  Joe’s eyes widened. “Gods have kings?”

  “It wasn't always like that,” she said. “Our King was the first and the last of his kind. He achieved the impossible. He united all the Gods under his leadership and brought peace and stability to the Divine Realm.” Her expression softened as she spoke, as though she truly admired him.

  “Then why did you do it?” Joe asked. “Why kill such a wonderful King?”

  “It's a secret,” the Goddess replied with a playful smile. There was no regret in her eyes.

  “Come on,” Joe pressed. “You can't tease me like that. Tell me why.”

  Her expression darkened slightly. “I don't regret it, but if I told you, I doubt you could ever love me.”

  “I've killed a billion souls for my own benefit,” Joe said. “I'm not in a position to judge anyone.”

  “True,” she said lightly, “but I'll still keep this to myself. If I told you everything about me, you might lose interest.”

  “Booo,” Joe said, giving her a thumbs down.

  The Godess laughed at his childish reaction.

  “There's something else I wanted to ask you,” Joe said after a moment.

  “What is it?”

  “Tell me everything you know about this world’s system.”