Moon World Girlfriend Comes Knocking

Since birth, Lan Ze had never truly exercised in any meaningful sense. He attended school diligently through middle and high school, and after entering university, he spent his days holed up at home playing games. In short, he had essentially been a shut-in his entire life.

"This won't do. Even if you don't improve your strength, you at least need a healthy body," Scathach said, her tone carrying a hint of admonition as befitted her role as a "teacher."

"Otherwise, if you encounter any trouble in the future and lack the ability to protect yourself, you will regret it."

As she spoke, Scathach instinctively reached out to pat Lan Ze on the head, but just as her hand extended and before it could touch him, she retracted it as if she had been electrocuted.

"..."

Scathach looked down at her palm, then immediately sized Lan Ze up with a gaze filled with surprise.

How could this boy have defensive magic on him?

He clearly wasn't a mage...

And... such complex magic, only mages from the Divine Era would likely know it, right?

Had someone cast Divine Era Magic on him?

What exactly was this boy's identity?

"Master?" Lan Ze called out tentatively.

Scathach snapped out of her momentary daze and smiled. "I had originally thought about finding an opportunity to instruct you, but it seems you already have a very formidable teacher."

Lan Ze: "???"

Where would he have gotten a teacher?

Could it be... that he had triggered a hidden quest?

Thinking of this, Lan Ze said without hesitation, "Please, be my teacher!"

Scathach raised an eyebrow. "You want to be my disciple?"

Lan Ze nodded without hesitation.

Scathach pondered for a moment, looked Lan Ze over once more, and then gave a slight nod.

She stood up, a smile on her face. "I will come to find you tonight."

Lan Ze was slightly stunned.

He didn't play games at night... how would she find him?

But before he could ask, Scathach's figure had already vanished from his field of vision.

Watching the direction where Scathach had disappeared, for some reason, Lan Ze felt a vague, ominous premonition.

"Why didn't apprenticing under Master trigger any achievements?"

Lan Ze was somewhat puzzled. He opened the Achievement Manual; among the items, the only one activated was the Holy Grail, but that had been obtained when he first met Ereshkigal.

The Achievement Manual would have to be explored slowly.

Lan Ze shook his head and then asked, "System, how do I leave this space now?"

The system did not respond.

"System?!"

"System mom?"

"Child, you have already grown up; it is time to learn how to grow on your own." A cold, emotionless voice suddenly rang in his ears.

"The problem is that I wanted to see Ereshkigal just now, not Master! How can I get in touch with her?" Lan Ze asked hurriedly.

"..."

Why was this system playing dead again? It was so unreliable.

Lan Ze felt helpless. He looked up again to confirm; the hall was empty, with only ten chairs sitting there, and nothing else besides.

"Then at least tell me how to leave this space?"

Still, there was no reply.

Lan Ze stared blankly at the hall, thinking that even if it wouldn't tell him, it should at least let him leave this space. Or was he supposed to just sit here and space out?

If there were a few sexy, mature big sisters in bikinis sitting on the tables for him to admire, he could space out for a while...

Lan Ze opened the menu bar and searched to see if there was any environment for exiting the instance.

There was no help for it; since the system was playing dead, he had to find a way himself.

However, after searching through the menu bar, Lan Ze did not find an option to exit the space.

After closing the menu bar in frustration, Lan Ze fell into a brief moment of confusion.

He could now be almost certain that this was a very open game world; otherwise, he wouldn't have appeared in this mysterious space without having completed a single quest.

But how on earth was he supposed to exit this space?

Just as Lan Ze was thinking, the next moment, he suddenly felt his vision shrouded in a layer of white mist, and immediately after, the scene in his field of vision began to slowly fade away.

The next instant, what appeared before his eyes was no longer that mysterious space, but the wilderness of Uruk.

Lan Ze couldn't help but be stunned.

"Could it be... that I can control that space using the intent within my mind?"

Come to think of it, when Scathach left, she seemed to disappear without doing anything at all.

...Forget it, I'll try again next time.

The current priority should be to find a way to continue activating the cards in the Heroic Spirit Record to improve my own strength...

This is Mesopotamia during the Ancient Sumer period, an era where gods and humans coexist.

Without a doubt, in a world like this, it wouldn't be strange to die from some random AOE attack if I don't have any strength.

Thinking of this, Lan Ze opened the Heroic Spirit Record, pondering if there were any achievements suitable for him to activate.

Suddenly, a hurried and urgent voice came from afar:

"Goddess, please stop!"

"Goddess, those are extremely precious gems from the King's treasury, please return them!"

"If the King finds out, he will be furious, please—"

Noisy sounds drifted from the distance. The scantily clad Goddess Ishtar was currently speeding through the low altitude on her weapon-turned-flying-vessel, Ma'anna. Hearing the Uruk soldiers shouting behind her, she couldn't help but turn her head and make a face at them:

"You want me to return the gems? Don't even think about it, hahahahahaha—"

While letting out a devilish laugh with her pleasant voice, Ishtar steered Ma'anna and sped toward the distance. Looking down at the large bag of gems in her hand, her brows instantly relaxed, and she happily muttered to herself: "I've made a fortune, I've made a fortune! There are so many things in that Golden Flash's treasury~"

Just looking at so many gems made her feel delighted.

I'll find time to come back tomorrow and try to empty out the treasury just to piss off that Golden Flash!

Ishtar thought happily, humming a tune as she increased the speed of Ma'anna.

Just then, she suddenly saw a human in her field of vision. Ishtar's eyes widened slowly, her nerves tensed instantly, but it was too late to adjust Ma'anna's steering.

Completely unexpected that a human would be "window shopping" in the wilderness, Ishtar crashed her flying vessel into Lan Ze.

A deafening explosion rang in his ears. Before Lan Ze could even react, he could only vaguely see a girl with a perfect figure hurriedly jumping off Ma'anna and trotting over to him, crouching down as if she were saying something.

...What is going on?

Lan Ze only felt his consciousness blurring; he couldn't even see Ishtar's face clearly.

Without giving him any chance to think, his vision went completely dark.

"Hey... why have you appeared in the Underworld again? Hey~ are you okay?"

Lan Ze only felt his consciousness blurring. He vaguely heard a pleasant voice in his ears. He slowly opened his eyes, and Eresh-a-mon's exquisite face came into view, her beautiful eyes filled with concern.

Lan Ze raised his hand to greet her: "Hi."

The way he greeted her made it seem as if he had already returned home.

"Why have you appeared here again? What happened?" Eresh-a-mon reached out and gently brushed his bangs aside, seemingly unaware that this action was overly intimate.

Lan Ze explained: "After I entered the game, I looked for you everywhere, but I couldn't find you, and then..."

"And then you committed suicide to come down to the Underworld?" Eresh-a-mon's face was filled with disbelief as she held her head in her hands and shook it vigorously.

"What on earth were you thinking? Why don't you cherish your own life?!"

Lan Ze was slightly stunned: "No, it's just that I was hit and killed by an unidentified flying object on the way."

Eresh-a-mon blinked, her charming eyes filled with confusion.

"Hit and killed by an unidentified flying object...?"

"Yes, it just suddenly rushed over from behind me, and then 'bang,' it sent me flying." Lan Ze described it vividly.

Eresh-a-mon was left completely bewildered.

What kind of unidentified flying object in Uruk could hit someone to death?

After thinking for a moment, Eresh-a-mon seemed to remember something. She suddenly clapped her hands, her eyes widening slightly: "I know!"

"You know who did it?" Lan Ze asked curiously.

"In this Uruk, the only ones who can fly in the sky using flying objects seem to be that King and another reckless goddess."

Having said that, Eresh-a-mon looked at the black-haired boy in front of her with sympathy. "It looks like you must have encountered that goddess with the terrible personality."

In this land of Mesopotamia, the only one who could fly so recklessly was that goddess favored by all the gods, Ishtar.

Lan Ze rubbed his forehead, thought for a moment, and said: "Come to think of it, before I lost consciousness, I think I heard a female voice."

"Hmm... then it really must be Ishtar."

Speaking of this, Eresh-a-mon sighed helplessly.

This boy is truly unlucky. He had only just stepped into Mesopotamia and already encountered that goddess with the extremely terrible personality.

Eresh-a-mon was sympathizing with Lan Ze's plight when she suddenly felt Lan Ze looking at her expectantly, and she immediately became vigilant: "What are you doing?"

"I'm begging you, Eresh-a-mon." Lan Ze requested.

"Are you trying to get me to let you out?" Eresh-a-mon subconsciously took half a step back, her expression firm: "Don't even think about it. I am a Goddess of the Underworld with principles. The rules of the Underworld cannot be easily changed; the dead cannot return to life!"

"But I'm not a resident of Mesopotamia, just make an exception."

"Absolutely not!" Ereshkigal was firm in her stance.

"Are you saying you want to keep me here to chat with you?"

Noticing the burning intensity in Lan Ze's gaze, Ereshkigal shyly lowered her head.

After a moment of silence, she lifted her head again, seemingly trying to pull herself together, and crossed her arms over her chest: "How could that be! I'm not the type of girl who gets lonely easily, so why would I ever do something like that for my own selfish desires!"

As she spoke, she snuck another glance at Lan Ze, then fell silent for a moment: "I can let you leave, but there is one condition."

Ereshkigal's condition?

Given Ereshkigal's temperament, she shouldn't ask for anything too demanding... Lan Ze nodded obediently: "Tell me."

"It's very simple. If you want to leave, you must become the Divine Messenger of the Goddess of the Underworld!" Ereshkigal pointed a finger at Lan Ze, her other hand on her hip. Although she looked full of spirit, those beautiful eyes clearly betrayed a hint of hesitation and anxiety, as if she were worried that Lan Ze would flatly reject her.

"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that." Lan Ze scratched the back of his head: "What is this Divine Messenger you're talking about?"

"It's just a messenger of a god, obviously!"

Ereshkigal tapped the floor lightly with her Cage Gun, and the cages surrounding them lit up with a mesmerizing glow in response to her movement.

"I will send you away from this place, but as the price, you must become my Divine Messenger." By the end of her sentence, her bright eyes were locked firmly onto Lan Ze's.

Become Ereshkigal's Divine Messenger?

Lan Ze's eyes flickered as he fell into a brief moment of contemplation.