Ragnar, a 22-year-old young man, was struck by lightning on a bright, cloudless day while he was outside—and died.
In his final seconds, he thought:
"Why is it always me? What did I do to anger the gods so much?"
That was how his entire life had been. He had always been unlucky. Whether it was a microwave almost falling on him from above on his way to school or his airplane being hijacked by terrorists—he had nothing but bad luck in every second of his life.
Everything turned black, and then…
"W-Where am I? I thought I died from lightning."
He pushed himself up and looked around. It was a vast place with a galaxy-colored floor. Gold coins were scattered everywhere. In the center of the room stood an imposing black-and-gold throne. A person was sitting on it.
A woman with long silver hair, about 1.70 meters tall, and golden eyes.
She began to speak.
"Hello, Ragnar. I am Ochides, the Goddess of Luck and Fortune. First of all, I would like to apologize to you. Because of a mistake I made at the time of your birth, you were given an enormous amount of bad luck. You were actually meant to become the Son of Fortune. Everything in life was supposed to be open to you. But due to that mistake, you received overwhelming misfortune instead."
Ragnar took a deep breath.
"Are you serious? Because you made a mistake, my whole life was ruined—and I'm just supposed to accept that with an apology?"
He was furious.
"Of course not," Ochides replied.
"You are granted three wishes. I will fulfill anything you desire. However, before that, there is something you must know. I will send you to a world inhabited by monsters, dragons, and various other races. In that world, every human awakens a talent at the age of 22 and can level up. Although it is far more dangerous than your previous world, humanity there has the possibility of ascending to the rank of gods."
Ragnar needed a moment to calm himself. He couldn't believe that his entire miserable life had been caused by a goddess's mistake.
"Was my whole life just an administrative error?" he thought.
He was speechless.
Taking another deep breath, he said:
"This is unbelievable. Even in my wildest dreams, I never imagined it would be possible for a human to reach the rank of a god."
He thought carefully. He didn't want to suffer the same kind of misfortune again. If that happened, he didn't know what he would do.
Finally, he spoke his wishes.
"Alright. First, I wish to be reborn in a body that is not cursed by bad luck."
"That is only natural," Ochides said.
"Second, I want two large black abyssal dragons."
"That is acceptable."
"And third… I want every power that you possess."
Ragnar grinned like the devil himself.
Ochides froze.
"Excuse me?" She couldn't believe what she had just heard. Had this young man truly asked for her power?
"You heard me correctly," Ragnar replied calmly.
Ochides burned with anger.
"Impossible. I cannot give you all of my power. I can grant you some luck, but not my full strength."
Ragnar smiled confidently.
"There must be a High God above you. And I'm fairly certain that this High God knows nothing about this conversation. Otherwise, you wouldn't have offered me such a deal."
Ochides fell silent. He was right.
"If you refuse, I will seek out the High God myself. And I'm quite sure he wouldn't be pleased to hear about this."
She clenched her fists.
"…Very well. I accept. But you must never tell anyone about this. And when you reach god-level, you must marry me. Because once you do, you will be the only one besides me who controls luck."
"I have no objections," Ragnar answered.
"Good. Since we are now engaged, I will explain a few more things about that world."
"Your potential is ranked as follows:F < E < D < C < B < A < S < SS < SSS.
The same applies to strength. However, after SSS come Demi-God, False God, True God, and finally Absolute. I am an Absolute. We will meet again once you reach that level as well. Since you will receive my power, I know you will survive. Good luck, my love. We will see each other again."
She waved her hand, and Ragnar vanished before he could respond.
…
"Kai—"
"—Dragonheart!"
Ragnar jolted awake.
He was sitting in a university classroom. Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced his head.
He was now Kai Dragonheart, a 22-year-old university student with white hair and deep blue eyes that resembled the ocean itself. Kai had lost his parents during an attack by an S-Rank monster. His parents had been A-Rank hunters, but he himself was considered useless.
That was also why he was heavily bullied. With no parents left, he had become the perfect target.
"Hahaha!"
"The useless one again."
"No wonder he gets bullied."
"And he thinks he has a chance at awakening? Pathetic!"
"Kai, listen carefully," the teacher said strictly. "What I am explaining now are the rules of awakening. If you want to awaken, then pay attention."
Kai sat down and stared out the window while the teacher continued speaking.
"So I'm really in that world… a world ruled by monsters and dragons."
"Wait… shouldn't I have received two abyssal dragons?"
At that moment, something blinked inside his mind.
[System Load… 99%]
[Ding. Welcome, Host. This system is the power of the God of Luck and Fortune.]
[I wish the Host good luck on the journey to becoming the next God of Luck and Fortune. Say "Status" to activate the system and open your status window.]
"Status," Kai whispered.
…
"Wait… what? Impossible!"