Within the dungeon of INAEQUO lies a tower, and within that tower, lies a guest room. A nice, relaxing guest room where a [Hero] can sit upon his new throne. A throne to make even [Emperors] growl with jealousy.

The [Hero] ogles it, his eyes undressing every feature and curve, from the magnificent velvet leather, to the tufting Gems. Rubies and emeralds peek out of wells of the diamond tufted cushions, teasing the eyes like a burlesque dancer flashing her leg.

His gaze moves up to the back of the throne. The [Hero] chokes as he finds a sculpture. To the untrained eye, the stone backrest seems broken and mangled, but that is only to the untrained eye, for the damage is intentional. The design tells a story of struggle, power, of days both here and gone. A perspective that changes from what angle it is seen.

Finally, slowly, the [Hero] touches the throne and drops his butt onto the plump cushion. It takes every ounce of willpower to keep from moaning as his naked, uncovered behind smothers the exceptionally stuffed and perfectly placed cushion. He sighs as he sinks back, allowing his hands to touch the gold rimed armrests whose delicate, fractal artwork which, on its own, won’t fry his mind. Even more incredible is the strength and presence of power he can feel in the durable construction.

The [Hero] shudders as he leans back and closes his eyes. He relaxes and lets the magnificent upholstery of the throne bear him up, buoying him against gravity as his stress falls away.

Finally, after a long and arduous moment, the [Hero] opens his eyes and looks at Loki.

“Eh, I’ve had better.” Quasi crosses his legs and adopts a relaxed position. “I’ll give it a seven out of ten. Really gaudy, way too much gold and rubies. The coloring is ostentatious and this stupid backrest needs some goddamn cushioning. Who the hell makes a splat of stone? The fuck’s wrong with these people?”

The god Loki massages his head, annoyed with the current situation. He had just created a masterpiece of a throne, one with divine power permeating the framework of the entire construction. A gift that [Emperors] and [Archkings] would wage bloody war over.

And his [Hero] finds it.. acceptable.

Loki can’t help but smile and shake his head.

“I have to admit, thwarting my expectations at every turn is admirable and quite humbling. You asked for a chair, and I gave you the greatest throne to ever exist.”

Quasi shugs, “Hey, I’ll accept it. It’s got a nice Aura boosting effect, though I’m still going to need to put some cushioning on the back.. maybe I can grab some of this carpet. Yeah, I think that might work. It should be nice.”

Loki sighs, ”As much as I would love to continue this idle banter, my time here is limited.”

Loki quickly raises his hand, forestalling Quasi’s next remark.

“First and foremost, allow me to explain how the Quest reward system works.”

The [Hero] frowns, but slowly nods.

“Good. Now, I am able to gift you power, items, and information based on the difficulty of the task you have been sent to complete. Think of it as a point system, where I have a limited number of points to spend to give you boons.”

“And, how many of these points have I obtained, exactly?” the [Hero] asks.

“A significant number, one which far exceeds my expectations and plans. Hence why you now have a chair.”

“Alright. The chair is nice and all, but I’m getting the feeling it’s not the main gift.”

“Indeed,” the god exclaims as he raises his hand and points it at Quasi.

Congratulations, the god Loki has gifted you a new skill.

You have gained the [Divine] rank skill [Pandora’s Shadow]

[Pandora’s Shadow] [Divine]

Your shadow contains a space of reality, a place where time does not move and where souls may not enter. At your call, you can spend mana to stretch your shadow, and thus the reality, opening and closing at your will.

Shadow size scales with mana spent and sustained.

Storage size is 1024 square feet multiplied by soul stat.

System Inventory function is now available. [Beta]

The [Hero] reads the message, finding the skill exceptionally useful, but his focus is on something else.

“Who the hell is Pandora?”

Loki smiles, “Pandora is the creator of this world and the creator of this system as well.”

“Right. Her system is a buggy mess.”

“That is no fault of hers.”

The [Hero] perks up, “How so?”

“Pandora finished her system and then got bored and left the world. Unfortunately, the system administration was never locked out and thus her world was found and modified by gods with far less skill than she. They created the part of the system that allows gods to interfere with the world, while in turn binding them to its rules. One of the gods created a world called the Underworld, which greatly unbalanced the world. So the Heaven system was created to keep it in check. Another god added royalty classes with its own rules to the system. That created a great many problems, which were remediated by the highly restricted and specific Hero system.”

Quasi scratches his chin, “That makes sense. I kinda feel bad for Rapeball. The poor guy has to deal with all those bugs all the time.”

Loki raises an eyebrow, “Who?”

“Err. Administrator number eleven. I call him Rapeball. I ended up screwing with the system several times and he has had to intervene.”

The god slowly nods, but a frown can be seen on his face. “The administrators are far more powerful than me. I suggest being careful when meeting them, especially once you begin reading Mimir’s research notes.”

“His notes?”

“Yes. Find them and read them all. It should only take you a week. You will need to study them if you are to succeed,” Loki states as he looks around and finds one of Mimir’s own chairs and takes a seat. He lifts his leg over the other as he relaxes into the soft cushioned back of the chair.

“Now then, you still have a decent number of points left. Do you have any questions before I take my leave?”

The [Hero] grunts and leans back into his throne, ignoring the rather uncomfortable feeling of his bare back touching stone.

“I have a lot of questions, and I doubt you have enough time to answer even a fraction of them. But, let’s start with the markings on my body.”

“Ahhh, I forgot. The [Hero] system was not designed to deal with Laverna’s mark.”

Loki raises his hand, lets his thumb and middle finger touch, and then snaps.

The divine ability [Laverna’s Nihility] has been rendered inactive.

Four out of six blessings are currently active.

“Blessings? What blessing?”

[Laverna’s Nihility] Rank 7 blessing (Laverna)

Hide a part of your soul from prying eyes.

System information is hidden while this skill is active.

[Presence of the Alpha] Rank 5 Blessing. (Coyote)

You are the leader of your pack. All others follow your lead and all females are part of your harem.

[Arachnic Mithridatism] Rank 3 Blessing. (Anansi)

Your body will quickly learn to resist any poisons with which it is afflicted. If you body is repeatedly exposed to the same toxin, you will develop immunity.

[Messenger of the Wind] Rank 1 Blessing (Hermes)

When a message needs to be delivered, you deliver slightly faster.

[Tails of the Patriarch] Rank 8 Blessing (Kumiho)

You have been marked as the Patriarch of the Kitsune and granted their powers. For with this power comes the obligations of your new role. Do not fail.

The [Hero] goes silent, reading each blessing, and then he notices a problem.

“I see five blessings. Where’s yours?”

Loki smiles, having expected the question. He raises his hand.

“The system designates blessings by marks placed on bodies, but it lacks the ability to comprehend a blessing when the blessing itself is the entire body.”

Loki snaps his fingers.

[Inexorable Chaos] Rank Error Blessing [Error]

Chaos is bound by the constraints of reality, for it is the struggle to control chaos which reveals how even reality cannot truly contain it.

Complete Immunity to Mana Strain.

Quasi smiles as he reads the blessing.

Loki snaps. The screen vanishes.

“The system, though powerful, has loopholes, exploitable bugs in its transcendental programming. It takes a certain kind of mind to figure them out and abuse them,” Loki explains.

“A chaotic mind,” Quasi states as his eyes bore into Loki’s, seeing a man who is at the cusp of madness, one short step away from insanity. To take that last step, that expected step, would be anathema to chaos. Thus, the god of Chaos stands at the cusp on that step, never knowing if he ever truly took it or not.

Loki sighs as he leans forward and then forces himself to stand, “Indeed. Chaos begets Order and in Order, is Chaos. Chaos is at the edge of all things, between all things, decides all things and lies at the End of all things. It fuels change, one which I am destined to bring.”

With a flick of his hand, the God straightens his tie and repositions his small tophat. “Now then, my time is coming to a close. The others may choose to show up once I leave. Before that, please take a moment to look at your quest log before Laverna reactivates your blessing.

Quasi raises an eyebrow at the god before mentally calling up quests.

Current Quests.

Loki

Anansi

Hermes

Kumiho

Coyote

‘Why the fuck isn’t there a tutorial for this shit? For fuck’s sake..’

“Oh, damn. That’s a lot of quests. Er, what does it mean‘rewards pending’ under your quest?”

“[Hero’s] can level from completing quests. Once I leave, you will gain a great deal of experience, especially for your [Hero] class. But, that is not why I wanted you to look at your quests.”

Loki raises his hand and snaps once more.

A new quest has been added by God Loki.

Destroy the dungeon of INAEQUO within 750 days. (Ongoing)

“As of this moment, you have a little over two years to make use of this dungeon before the chains suppressing the dungeon crystal breaks.”

“They can’t be fixed?” Quasi asks.

Loki shakes his head, “Not at your level, nor any level you could ever obtain in two years. All I can say is that you need to deal with the dungeon within that timeframe or the entire continent will be in peril.”

“Damn. So I have two years to prepare,” Quasi groans.

“Indeed. I suggest you learn about the dungeon’s function as soon as possible. Now, I will be off.”

Loki snaps his fingers and a portal opens nearby, leading into a room where a very decrepit, wrinkled, old lady sits upon a chair.

The God takes a step towards the portal and then chuckles softly.

“Heh. I always wonder how different life would be if I was never banished for attempting to destroy the Earth.”

The god enters the portal which closes a second later.

“Yup. He’s fucking nuts.”

As soon as Quasi exclaims that, his soul shudders again as another portal opens and a very angry looking woman resembling a kitsune, but with larger and fluffier tails.

Her angry expression turns to confusion as she looks at Quasi.

“Why are you naked?” she asks.

The [Hero] flexes his muscles and strikes a pose on his throne, “Would you like to find out?”

The goddess Kumiho stares at the naked man in confusion. She gazes at him for a good five seconds before her brain registers what he said.

“Hm. Of course, a god of chaos wouldn’t choose someone normal,” she exclaims, unamused.

She shakes her head, “It matters not. You are here and Mimir is dead. That speaks of your capability. For that, you will have my blessing and a quest.

Kumiho flicks her tails towards the [Hero].

The divine blessing [Tails of the Patriarch] has been activated

Five out of Six blessings are currently active.

A new quest has been added by Goddess Kumiho

Impregnate 200 Kitsune. 2/200 completed. (Ongoing)

What the fuck? There are less than fifty kitsune alive. Wait. Two out of two hundred.. shit. When did that happen? Wait.. fuck. How am I able to impregnate them? We’re different species!

“Do not fail me,” Kumiho warns as she opens and walks through a portal at the now distraught and slightly panicky [Hero].

“Shit,” he swears, right before another portal opens, allowing a little girl dressed in complete black to enter.

She makes eye contact with the [Hero], blinks twice, looks down at his dong, and then turns around, walking through the portal again.

As her portal closes, another opens, and this time a tall dark-skinned man covered in crawling spiders walks in. His eyes meet Quasi’s.

“Nice spiderman shirt. It looks good on you, but I think venom would have been cooler.”

Anansi, the god of trickery and spiders raises an eyebrow, “Loki informed me that wearing this shirt would make a favorable impression on you.”

Quasi snorts, “I already have a favorable impression of you for sending Peter to assist me in the dungeon, so the shirt was unneeded.”

Anansi moves to an empty seat facing Quasi. The [Hero’s] nudity doesn’t bother him one bit.

“I am not familiar with this Peter. Did you by chance name my scion?”

“Yup. Named him that on the first day. His status now even has his name shown.”

Anansi nods slowly and then smiles.

“Well, that is good. I don’t suppose Peter is with you.”

“No. He’s on the ninth floor currently. I didn’t want to put him in danger.”

Anansi nods. “Thank you. I have very few followers, even among the weavers. Losing one would be a great blow to my strength, which is also why I would like to apologize to you regarding the weak blessing. Shortly before your summoning, I was forced into a difficult situation and had to lend some of my power to the Arachne. If things had gone differently, I would have been able to give you much more power. Despite the difficulties plaguing me, I’ve managed to save up enough spare power to upgrade your blessing.”

Quasi sighs.

“Wow. All that good will, gone to waste. Did Loki not warn you that tricking me would be difficult?”

The [Hero] shakes his head, “Trying to make me feel sympathy for you so that I’ll forgo the upgrade is pretty cheap. If an entire species wasn’t on the line, I probably would have demanded an upgrade just for the pure disrespect.”

Anansi looks at the [Hero] in a new light. He had mistakenly believed the man was easily manipulated, as is usually the common choice by trickster gods. Regardless, Anansi is still a god, and a god does have pride.

The God stands up and inclines his head towards Quasi, “I sincerely apologize for underestimating your intelligence and acting discourteously. Thank you for your time and sparing me the power to help my followers.”

Anansi rises from his bow and then flicks his hand, causing a portal to open right next to him.

“Oh, and before I leave, allow me to grant you another quest. For apology’s sake.”

The god steps into the portal.

Quasi watches the portal close and then looks at the new quest.

A new quest has been added by God Anansi

Impregnate 1000 Arachne. 0/1000 completed. (Ongoing)

“Oh, come on. What am I, a breeding mare?”

Quasi’s head swivels to the left as he senses another portal open. A scruffy, messy man enters. His head turns to Quasi.

“If you give me a geass to fuck something, I will fucking murder you.”

Coyote looks at the [Hero], then looks at the new, recent quests that he just got.

Coyote chuckles as he steps back into the still-open portal.

A new quest has been added by God Coyote

Impregnate 10000 Lycans. 0/10000 completed. (Ongoing)

“Ahhhhhhhh! What the hell!? What is wrong with these gods? How the fuck am I supposed to even do that? Are there even that many female lycans? What the hell are even Lycans? Are those wolves or something? Do I have to commit bestiality?”

The [Hero] groans, curses, and screams for several minutes. He doesn’t stop until a new portal opens.

A tall man in flowing robes covered in feathers practically runs through the portal. His body twitches like a kid on a sugar rush. The god has never been seen to stop moving, leading many gods and mortals to believe him incapable of stillness. Eventually, the jittery god turns towards the throne.

The [Hero] sighs.

“Alright. I give up. Just tell me what, who, and how many I’m going to be impregnating, and please keep the number logical. I don’t want to fuck an entire city. My stamina only goes so far.”

Hermes stops and stares at the [Hero] as he tries to understand just what was requested of him.