Chapter 4: One Grape and an EX-Class
Chapter 4: One Grape and an EX-Class
Velisara watched me eat with an expression I couldn’t decipher. The cracks had spread; her body was mostly light now, the curves and softness dissolving into an outline of violet and gold.
"Survive," she said.
"How?"
"Become stronger."
"Very helpful. Thank you."
Her smile flickered. "Learn to cross the worlds."
The light was climbing toward her shoulders, her chest. She was running out of time and my brain was still stuck three sentences back.
"Why would I want to do that?"
"To find me."
"Why would I want to find you?"
She leaned forward. The motion was barely more than a suggestion of movement, but her face was suddenly very close to mine, her breath still warm, her scent still lingering.
"Because when you reach my world," she whispered, "I’ll treat you very well."
"That’s... vague."
"You may live in my bedroom."
That sounds significantly more like a threat than a reward.
"What does that mean?"
Her smile was the last thing to fade.
"Survive. Grow strong. Cross the void." A pause. "And try not to let anyone else claim you before I do."
"Velisara," she said, her voice already echoing from somewhere distant. "Goddess of Indulgence. Lady of Desire. Mistress of Divine Excess."
"Which title explains the groping?"
"All of them."
She disappeared, and time crashed back into existence. The rain resumed. The monster noises returned. The room was dark and cold and empty except for me and the faint purple stain on my tongue.
Right. That happened.
I stood alone in my ruined apartment—sore, starving, kissed against my will, groped by a goddess, and the proud new owner of one magical grape’s nutritional value.
The universe’s apology isn’t just late. It’s defective.
❖ ❖ ❖
The System window appeared without sound. Blue light, clean text, total silence. I stared at it for a long moment.
[Foreign dimensional interference detected.]
[Unregistered divine entity detected.]
[Entity origin exists beyond the Eternal Ascension dimensional network.]
[No summoning ritual detected.]
[No divine artifact detected.]
[No worship contract detected.]
[Foreign divine entity crossed dimensional boundaries voluntarily.]
Then:
[Impossible Achievement Unlocked]
[A Goddess Crossed Worlds to Find You]
[Grade: EX]
Conditions:
✓ Remain Level 1
✓ Remain Classless
✓ Receive direct acknowledgment from a foreign divine existence
✓ Cause voluntary dimensional interference without worship, ritual, sacrifice, or summoning
Reward:
— One EX Hidden-Class selection
I read it. Read it again. Read it a third time.
The groping goddess accidentally triggered the rarest achievement in existence. By showing up uninvited. For my ass.
I laughed. It hurt—my ribs screamed and the newly healed skin of my lip tingled—but I laughed anyway, a ragged half-hysterical sound that bounced off the empty walls.
Finally. Finally, something useful.
The second window appeared before the first had faded.
[EX Hidden Class Available]
Dimensional Summoner
Ordinary summoners call creatures existing within their own world.
A Dimensional Summoner establishes temporary connections with living beings beyond the boundaries of registered reality.
Dimensional beings possess independent wills.
Loyalty cannot be commanded.
Contracts require mutual compatibility.
Foreign abilities may be inherited through Resonance.
Warning: High-grade manifestations may exceed the host’s physical tolerance.
I didn’t hesitate. Remaining classless had nearly got me killed twice in twenty-four hours, and the class could have been Professional Tax Accountant and I would have accepted.
I selected Dimensional Summoner.
The interface flashed once—and then golden-violet light bled across the text. Velisara’s divine energy was still lingering in my body from the kiss, the healing, and the grape.
[Foreign Divine Authority Traces Detected]
[Adaptive class mutation initiated]
Trace Signatures Identified:
— Desire
— Indulgence
— Possession
— Excess
[Compatible authority imprint integrated into class framework]
[Warning: Unregistered divine resonance detected]
Then:
[Hidden Class Path Unlocked]
Desire Resonance
Relationship Parameters:
— Desire: physical and romantic attraction. Does not indicate consent.
— Trust: willingness to rely on the summoner. Does not indicate obedience or romance.
— Resonance: cross-dimensional synchronization.
Blind Call searches will prioritize emotionally, spiritually, and physically compatible summons.
Compatible. The search function was going to look for summons who were compatible with me. Me. The Charisma 100 shut-in who had just been groped by the Goddess of Having Terrible Boundaries.
What could possibly go wrong?
More windows arrived. Class abilities.
[Blind Dimensional Call—Level 1]
[Dimensional Registry—Level 1]
[Dimensional Summon Slots: 1/1]
[Active Echo Slots: 1]
[Passive Echo Slots: 1]
[Blind Call Charges: 1/1]
And then:
[Irregular Origin Connection Detected]
A profile window. Velisara’s. The numbers hit me like a punch.
Name: Velisara
Race: Foreign High Goddess
Summon Grade: EX
Native Rank: EX
Projected Manifested Level: 1 — Host-Limited
Desire: 98/100
Trust: 2/100
Resonance: 1%
Estimated Class-Mediated Manifestation: 1.7 seconds
Direct Summoning: Locked
Desire: 98. I stared at it. Ninety-eight out of one hundred. She wanted my body with almost religious intensity.
Trust: two. Two. She trusted me about as much as she trusted a decorative pillow. And Resonance, the stat that apparently governed everything important about this class, sat at one percent.
"So," I muttered, "she wants to sleep with me almost completely. The rest of my personality remains under review."
The System said nothing. It never said anything.
I looked at the numbers and worked out what they actually meant. Velisara was an EX-grade goddess with near-maximum Desire and almost no Trust. She had crossed universes on impulse. She had groped me without asking. She had offered me a bedroom as though it were the highest honour she could imagine.
That 1.7 seconds didn’t describe how long she had stayed after forcing herself through the dimensional crack. It described how long my new class could pull even a restricted fragment of her back under ordinary conditions.
And she was locked. I couldn’t summon her, couldn’t call her back, couldn’t even try. The Origin Connection was a placeholder—a promise of something later, if I survived, if I grew strong, if I ever worked out how to cross the divide she’d mentioned.
Later. Everything useful is always later.
❖ ❖ ❖
Something heavy hit the apartment door and the wood splintered.
I scrambled backward as a second impact shook the frame. A low growl vibrated through the walls, deep and wet, the sound of something that didn’t breathe correctly. The monster outside—the one that had been dragging itself along the road. It had followed the blood. My blood, from the fight earlier.
Wonderful.
The door cracked. Not fully, but enough that I could see the hallway beyond and the shape pressing against the other side. Scales. Pale flesh. Too many joints.
I looked at my status. Strength 3. Vitality 2. Agility 4. Bruised ribs, starving, no weapon except a dented can of possibly-dog-food.
Then I looked at the Class window.
[Blind Call Charges: 1/1]
[Warning: Summon identity, world, race, profession, and grade cannot be selected.]
The door cracked wider. Something pale and segmented pushed through the gap.
I put my hand against the System window. One random person from somewhere beyond the universe. One chance to survive.
Knowing my luck—
"I swear," I muttered, "if you send me another pervert—"
The door burst inward.
I slammed my palm against the panel.
[Blind Call activated.]