"Oh, really?"
William could discern that the voice was utterly devoid of emotion, and he sensed that if he nodded in agreement, he might lose another invaluable ally, just as he had lost Anne. Nevertheless, despite this intuition, he nodded— because, at that moment, it seemed the only option available to him.
William braced himself, awaiting the impending verdict. To his astonishment, however, the Goddess— who had moments before been so emotionally detached— suddenly smiled warmly and said, "Alright, I forgive you."
William's head snapped up in disbelief. He saw the radiance of her smile, and although he found it difficult to accept that she could forgive him so easily, something about her presence compelled him to believe it.
"Just like that... with no repercussions?" William blurted out, immediately regretting his words.
The Goddess nodded, then paused as if reconsidering her stance. "Yes, you're right. I should set some conditions for you to adhere to."
William nodded eagerly. "Of course, I'm willing to accept whatever you want."
The Goddess nodded thoughtfully before continuing. "Alright, I have three conditions."
"First, you will visit me at least once a year— no, make that twice a year."
"Second, you will bring me foods from your world. Don't worry about the logistics; I'll guide you."
"Third, you will share with me interesting stories from your world— and from your own life."
"Those are my conditions. Do you accept?"
William regarded her with a contemplative expression, thinking to himself, 'She really is that lonely here, isn't she?'
The Goddess's smile darkened instantly, and William realized with a start that she could hear his thoughts. A bit unnerved, but trying to salvage the situation, he smiled sheepishly and said, "O-O-Oh! Such delightful conditions! I accept them without hesitation, of course, if that's what you want, hehe."
The Goddess still wore that dark expression as she responded, "You're sure you don't want to back out of these 'boring' conditions?"
"Alright, I'll try to be less... greedy," William said, though he wasn't entirely convinced by his own words.
The Goddess didn't press the issue. Instead, she snapped her fingers, and a spinning wheel materialized beside her. The wheel was inscribed with numerous names— some familiar to William, most unknown.
Names like Power Lord, Guns Ablaze, Speedy Fingers, Lightning Oil, Vigor Nights, and Kannon Punch adorned the wheel. They seemed bizarre, yet potent, though some were hard to imagine using in an actual battle.
But what William truly understood at that moment was, 'Wow! She really is that lonely, huh!' He regretted the thought as soon as it crossed his mind, seeing the Goddess looking back at him with those dark eyes.
"Wo-Wow, such creativity! Whoever crafted this spinning wheel must have had a lot of time—SKILLS, skills, to create something so impressive." he stammered, trying to avoid her gaze.
The Goddess relented and let it pass, saying, "As you can see, this is a spinning wheel that rotates rapidly until it decides the right moment to stop, pinpointing a skill that I will bestow upon you."
William nodded thoughtfully, then scrutinized the 20 or 30 names on the wheel. "So the wheel will assign me a skill from these twenty or thirty names?"
The Goddess shook her head, deepening William's confusion. "No, it won't. The names you see here are just a small selection. There are many, many more. When the wheel spins, not only does it rotate, but the skills on it also change until it stops."
"Oh! So the skill I receive will be entirely unknown to me," William realized. The Goddess nodded, and then asked, "Are you ready?" William nodded eagerly, excited to acquire another potent ability.
The Goddess stood up and approached the wheel, giving it a gentle push. It began spinning rapidly. The force of its rotation could have generated a small hurricane, but nothing of the sort occurred. The wheel simply continued to spin.
As it spun, William had a thought and asked, "Goddess, does luck influence this?"
The Goddess nodded. "Yes, this selection is influenced by luck, so there's a slight bias." Hearing this, William checked his luck stat.
[Luck: 50]
Seeing the double digits brought William some relief. He knew that no matter what skill he gained from this unusually fast-spinning wheel, it would be something suited to him.
The wheel spun for a while before it suddenly came to a halt. Both William and the Goddess examined the result and frowned.