You Could Become a God. Or...

"Wait, a god?" Reader repeated.

"That doesn't mean at all what you're imagining, but yes. I could throw around terms like 'phi to the nth dimensional fractal lattice' but the short version is that your soul is both bigger and more complicated than it might have seemed. You were interacting with a very small part of a very big universe, and most souls do that to learn. But you're at a level now where you could... start interacting in a bigger way. You'd get your own empty universe to experiment with to start. The first one would be just planet-sized, but as you learned the knack of it you could do a whole lot more, eventually".

"And you don't want me to do that?"

"No. Better you become a very strong human than a very weak god. See, we're in a... very serious competition. We were winning for a long time - "

"Were? With whom?" Reader asked, feeling strangely disturbed by this revelation.

"You would call them demons," The goddess answered. "They're similar to us in terms of power, but they don't make new worlds - as far as we can tell they do nothing but show up and wreck stuff, pervert our creations... and not the way you're hoping" she added, anticipating his next question.

"How can a human help in that?" Reader asked, still unnerved.

For the first time, the goddess paused before answering, seeming to centre herself before she spoke again. "Like I said, humans are more powerful than they tend to give themselves credit for... not to mention there are rules of engagement. Limits we placed on each other to ensure none of the outcomes neither of us can accept. Humans fighting demons - or alongside demons if they manage to corrupt you - is a key part of that dynamic. Remember in your youth when you watched all those Isekai rom-coms?"

Reader nodded, suddenly recognising the format - the allegedly heroic, if meaningless, ****; the blank room; the flirtatious goddess...

"That's an accurate picture of where you're best off going" she said. "I'd give you some goodies and a one-way trip to a world that's in danger of being overrun. You'll need to rally people to your cause and kill the demon kings or queens. Experienced humans are rare right now, especially given the influx of first-timers."

"First timers?"

"Souls on their first time as a human, something brave that made the leap to humanity the way you could make the leap to god. Your own world was a great example. All those species going extinct while the human population increased a thousandfold in a few centuries. So easy to corrupt, I think the demon queen of this world seduced no more than a thousand people. That may sound like a lot, but to send a world spiralling like she did it's... deft."

"Is that why my love life was so-"

"Yes. Your world's creator knew it was **** to that kind of attack, something about the magic system. The heroes he sent he warned against it, and it lasted so much longer than most of us expected. But it was a delaying action, your world is spiralling in truth now. You saw it in your time, a breakdown in the dynamic between men and women, parents and children. It must have been excruciating, most worlds there's at least something to try and do."

The goddess's smile turns sad. "Anyway, that's the long and short of it. We need heroic humans, which you are. Or you could become a god and spend a long time making the most beautiful world you can, only to see it made ugly. How do you choose?"

As Reader began to answer she interjected, "Before you answer, I can guarantee that if you go the hero route, your sex life will be whatever you want it to be. The world a soul achieves heroism in leaves a mark, making up for what was lacking in your world will be a long project regardless".