The moment Lilith stepped closer, the air seemed to shimmer with a divine fragrance. Haruto's jaw practically hit the floor; his breath hitched in his throat, and for a split second, the "Starchild" was completely offline. He had seen beauty before—he lived with three literal Goddesses—but Lilith was on a level that defied the current world's rendering capabilities. She wasn't just beautiful; she was a visual system error.
The three Goddesses, who usually kept their composure, were suddenly in a state of high-alert panic.
"What?! Marriage?!" Lustra's voice hit a pitch that could shatter glass.
"To her? After one meeting? That is a complete breach of logic!"
"Wait," Bellona growled.
"Does the ritual even allow for third-party rewards? Haruto better not be considering saying 'yes' to this just for a shortcut."
Ivory looked the most troubled, her eyes glowing as she mentally scanned the legalities of the Pact.
"A Princess-tier marriage contract is an 'Epic Grade' item. Haruto is obsessed with efficiency... if he thinks marrying her gives him better access to the Academy's core data, he might actually accept it. This is a disaster."
The trio hurried their pace, closing the gap between them and Haruto. They were no longer just worried about Kaelen's guards; they were terrified that Haruto, in his typical bored fashion, would treat a royal wedding like a simple equipment upgrade.
But as she reached him, her eyes sparkling with the expectation of seeing him fall to his knees like every other man in the kingdom, Haruto's "Boredom" protocol kicked back in. He realized he was being stared at by the entire auditorium.
He forcibly snapped his jaw shut, rearranged his face into a mask of pure, unadulterated annoyance, and let out a long, heavy sigh.
"And you are... who, exactly?" Haruto asked, his voice flat and unimpressed.
The auditorium went silent. Even the royal guards stumbled in their formation. Princess Lilith, the reincarnation of the Goddess of Beauty, froze mid-step. Her proud expression flickered. What is wrong with this guy? She thought, her brain short-circuiting. I just offered him my hand in marriage, and he's looking at me like I'm a street dog.
She didn't back down, though. She turned gracefully, trailing a scent of celestial flowers, and leaned even closer to him, her face inches from his. Behind Haruto, the air temperature plummeted. Ivory, Lustra, and Bellona were radiating a murderous, jealous mana that threatened to crack the obsidian stage.
Haruto didn't even give Lilith a second look. He turned his back on the most beautiful girl in the world, raised a hand to his team, and started walking toward the exit.
The Goddesses shared a brief look of relief, but the murderous aura didn't fully fade. They knew that in seventy-two hours, when the "Loading Screen" finally ended, Lilith would be sitting in the front row, waiting to claim her prize—and they weren't about to let her take their Captain without a fight.
"Seriously," Haruto muttered, loud enough for the front rows to hear as he gestured dismissively toward the Princess. "Where do these people even come from? Every time I try to start a quest, another 'rare NPC' shows up to clog my ears with useless dialogue."
Kaelen looked like he was about to have a heart attack from pure rage.
"You... you dare insult the Princess?! You dare treat her like an inconvenience?!"
Haruto didn't stop.
"Seventy-two hours, Kaelen. Try to find some clothes that match your eyes. And someone tells the Princess that I'm not looking for a marriage partner—I'm looking for a way to skip this three-day loading screen."
Haruto walked through the hallways, his hands in his pockets, looking like he was strolling through a park rather than walking away from a death-match contract. Behind him, the three Goddesses moved with a grace that made the air itself feel heavy. They reached the classroom, the one place Haruto hoped for some peace to process the "lag" of the day's events.
As Haruto walked toward the classroom, the tension behind him was thick. The three Goddesses were silent, but their mana was vibrating in a way that suggested a localized apocalypse.
Finally, Lustra broke the silence, her voice sounding like sweetened poison.
"Haruto... you were staring at her for quite a long time, weren't you? What was her name? Lilith? Just remember, she's just a reincarnation. We are literal Goddesses."
Haruto kept his hands in his pockets, staring straight ahead.
"Look, I have to be honest. If a reincarnation is that beautiful, I can't imagine the original. I don't usually care about girls—I've got a game to win—but I have to admit, even my male instincts took a massive hit there. It's not that she has beauty... it's like beauty itself is just a side effect of her existence."
The air went dead cold.
Before Haruto could finish his "analytical" thought, the three Goddesses moved in perfect, terrifying sync. Bellona grabbed his arm from one side, locking it down with her Warrior strength, while Lustra blocked his path from the front, her eyes flashing with a dangerous pink light.
"Oh? Male instincts, was it?" Lustra whispered. Suddenly, she landed a sharp, playful-yet-painful punch directly to his chest, knocking the wind out of him.
"Ow—!"
At the same time, Ivory leaned in from the other side. She didn't punch him; she delivered a precise, agonizing pinch to his side, right where it hurt most.
"Perhaps your 'instincts' need a manual reset, Haruto," she said, her voice dripping with cold logic.
Toya, walking a few paces behind, watched the scene with a look of pure terror. He scratched his cheek nervously, sweating. Note to self, he thought, never, ever talk about another woman's beauty in front of a Goddess. I'd rather face Bellona in her full form alone than deal with that.
They entered the classroom,as soon as they stepped inside, Ivory turned to him, her violet eyes searching for him.
"Haruto, answer me. Do you not feel any anxiety? Not even a little? You've just turned the entire school into a theater for your game."
Haruto sat at his desk, staring at the empty chalkboard.
"Anxiety is for people who don't know the outcome, Ivory. My only concern is that you three might lose your patience and disclose your true power before the third day. We have 72 hours. Tomorrow is the weekend—no school. I need to calculate how to keep Kaelen's 'virus' from crashing his system too early."
Suddenly, the door was kicked open. A group of students from the Elite Class—boys who lived in Kaelen's shadow—pushed their way in.
"Hey!" the leader sneered, slamming a hand on Haruto's desk.
"We heard the rumor. Is it true you've got Toya living at your place now? The top Ace of the first year, acting like a servant for a Level 4 trash-heap? It's pathetic."
Haruto slowly looked up, his red-tinted HUD flickering.
"You heard right. Why? Does Toya being part of my family bother you that much?"
The group laughed.
"Family? You're just a parasite! You're only acting brave because you're hiding behind the first-year Ace's reputation. You think his talent is going to save you from Kaelen? You're using Toya as a shield because you know you're nothing!"
The leader grabbed Haruto's collar, but before he could pull, a hand like a vice clamped onto his wrist.
Toya had arrived.
The room went cold. Toya didn't look like the friendly, polite boy everyone knew. His eyes were sharp, and his mana was radiating with the intensity of a storm.
"Friends," Toya said, his voice low and dangerous.
"Haruto is like a big brother to me. He isn't 'using' me. He's the only one who saw me as a person and not just a 'talent' or a 'tool.' If you have a problem with him, you're challenging me."
The bullies froze. They could handle a Level 4 because they are themselves level 4 but Toya was a prodigy—an Ace whose potential terrified even the upperclassmen.
"Toya, you're throwing your future away for this loser!" the leader hissed, pulling his hand back.
Toya just stood his ground, a wall of pure talent standing in front of Haruto.
"My future started the moment Haruto took me in. Now, leave. Before I decide to make this 'Physical'."
The group scrambled out, muttering curses. Haruto just chuckled, leaning back in his chair.
"See?" Haruto whispered to the Goddesses.
"The pieces are moving on their own now. The Ace is defending the joker. It's almost... poetic."
Ivory looked at Toya, then back at Haruto.
"You knew this would happen, didn't you? You didn't just take him in for 'family.' You're letting the school think he's your protector while you plan Kaelen's deletion from the shadows."
Haruto stood up, heading for the door. "The weekend is here. Let's go."
The rest of the day was absolute chaos. The Academy had never seen anything like it. Toya was practically drowning in a sea of girls asking for, while the Goddesses had to deal with a constant wall of boys trying to get a smile out of them.
In the center of the storm, Haruto remained a silent shadow. He sat at his desk, staring into the empty air, his mind running simulations of the "Living Chessboard" and calculating mana-consumption rates.
Kenjin stood in the corner of the hallway, watching Haruto with narrowed eyes. All anyone could talk about was Haruto's "swag"—how he had looked the most beautiful girl in the world in the eye and called her a "rare NPC."
"There's no way he wins," Kenjin muttered to his group of fangirls.
"He made those rules out of desperation. Linking their HP? Restricting movement? He's just dug his own grave."
"I don't know, Kenjin..." one of his own fangirls whispered, looking toward Haruto with a blush. "He found a contradiction for every single one of Kaelen's rules. And that black HUD... it was so cool. It looked dangerous."
Kenjin's face twisted. He wanted to snap at her, but he just sat down, fuming in silence. He couldn't stand that a "Level 4" was stealing all the spotlight.
For the first time, Haruto wasn't just ignored by the girls—he was surrounded. They crowded his desk, leaning in close, their voices a high-pitched buzz as they begged for the secret to his rapid level-up.
"How did you do it, Haruto?"
"Is it a secret skill?"
Haruto remembered his contract with Professor Elara. He couldn't reveal the Glitch System, so he leaned back and played the part of the "dutiful student."
"It's not a secret," Haruto said, his voice flat. "It's all thanks to Professor Elara's special training. She's a legendary teacher. Her methods are... intense."
Total bull crap, he thought to himself. But it kept the heat off him and gave Elara the reputation boost she wanted.
The three Goddesses didn't leave his side for a second. Even while they were being swarmed by their own fans, their eyes never left Haruto. Every time a girl got too close to him, the air around Haruto's desk would drop by ten degrees.
Ivory was mentally recording every girl who touched his desk. Lustra was giving "death stares" to anyone who lingered too long. Bellona was cracking her knuckles every time a girl giggled at his jokes.
But the girls didn't back off. In fact, Haruto's coldness made them even more curious. After seeing him ignore Princess Lilith, the most beautiful girl in existence, every girl in the room was thinking the same thing: If he can ignore a Princess, what does it take to make him look at me?
Haruto just shut his eyes, ignoring the perfume, the giggles, and the jealous glares from the other boys.
"Lag," he muttered under his breath.
"Social simulation is lagging. I need to get back to my home."
Haruto noticed something strange through the chaos of the day. Amidst the crowd of curious students and the protective aura of the Goddesses, one person was missing : Seraphine
She was the one who had been the most obsessed with his secrets, constantly digging for his truth. Now that his black HUD and [STARCHILD] title were out in the open, she had vanished. It felt like a missing piece of code, but Haruto didn't have time to dwell on it. He pushed through the sea of girls and slipped into the empty male restroom to finally get a moment of peace.
Suddenly, a voice resonated, not in the room, but directly inside his skull.
"Lovely... truly lovely. Those rules you set? You turned an 'Impossible' challenge into something almost easy. I think I'll have to make things harder for you."
Haruto froze. He knew that tone—it was the God of Creation, the entity behind the system.
"God of Creation? Seriously?" Haruto whispered to the empty air, his voice echoing off the tiles. "Why make it harder? You had the 'Hard' option from the start. I'm finally starting to have fun here."
"Just stay sharp," the voice replied, shimmering with a digital resonance. "Make sure your 'fun' doesn't turn into a 'death sentence.' You're playing with fires you don't understand yet."
"And why are you inside my head?" Haruto grumbled. "Get out. I'm trying to use the restroom."
"This is just telepathy, Haruto. I'm nowhere near you. But listen... There is a library in your family home. The time has come for you to learn the Origin Secret of the Wizard Quest. Go there. Find the book whose cover matches your own aura."
"Wait, what book? What secret?" Haruto asked.
But the voice was gone. The connection severed, leaving Haruto standing in the silence of the restroom.