Dragon's Awakening: The Duke's Son Is Changing The Plot-Chapter 381 - 380 - “Boss, you’re a legend!”

Silence hung between them for a while—an awkward, tension-soaked quiet.

On one end of the Celestial Network, Raven leaned lazily back in his chair, still grinning.

On the other end, Bumble was trembling so violently that pink droplets of mist were raining down from his fluffy form like emotional drizzle.

[Bumble_Fluff_69]: "S-Sir... we’re doomed. We’re actually doomed! You can’t cheat in the Divine Auction! If we get reported, that’s it—we’ll be blacklisted! Banned from all trades! Even Grandpa_Hot_Pot can’t help with that!"

[Raven]: "You done panicking?"

[Bumble_Fluff_69]: "No! I’m mid-panic!"

Raven sighed and rubbed his temples, the faintest smirk tugging at his lips.

Bumble’s worries were not unfounded, as he was familiar with the auction rules.

If those rules were broken, then you had to pay back everything you earned from the auction, and you would be banned from the auction.

But Raven wasn’t concerned.

After all, unlike gods, who didn’t think much about scamming others, Raven was someone who made use of every loophole he could find.

So, to him, Bumble’s panic looked cute.

"Bumble," he started typing, a smile still present on his face, "why are you panicking? I’m the one who sold it. You just hosted it."

Omni’s voice chimed from his tattoo form, snickering. "Yeah, puffball’s gotta chill out before he steams himself into cotton candy."

Bumble hesitated, his misty fingers trembling over the divine keyboard

[Bumble_Fluff_69]: "But... but that’s still—fraud!"

[Raven]: "No, that’s artistic marketing."

Omni wheezed. "That’s what the cops call ’creative interpretation,’ boss."

Raven chuckled, eyes glinting red as he typed.

[Raven]: "I didn’t break any rules. I said I was selling an image of Goddess Luria. And I did. Just... one drawn by me. There was no false claim, no tampering, and no data theft. Everything was legal."

Bumble blinked. Or rather, his mist swirled into a confused question mark

[Bumble_Fluff_69]: "Wait, that’s allowed?"

[Raven]: "If it weren’t, I’d have a warning or ban notice by now."

He snapped his fingers. The divine auction panel refreshed—and remained quiet. No messages. No strikes. No bans.

"See?" Raven said, leaning back. "The system judged it justified. She bought what I sold."

Bumble froze. His pink glow flickered like a faulty lantern as realization hit.

He’d just scammed a goddess—and gotten away with it.

Before he could even ask what Raven planned to do with the real image, a new notification exploded on Raven’s system interface.

It was Goddess Luria, and she seemed angry.

[Goddess_Luria]: "You conniving little bastard! My appeal was DENIED! They said your trade was valid! WHY?! I only wanted my image, which was rightfully mine!"

Raven’s grin faded slowly.

He stared at the message for a long moment, eyes dimming from amusement to cold red stillness.

Omni’s voice lowered. "Boss?"

Finally, Raven typed.

[Raven]: "Rightfully yours? Tell me then, Luria... Were the lives you took also ’rightfully yours’? The ones who couldn’t pay your divine dues? The gods who were giving their all to pay you—were they ’yours,’ too?"

Across the Celestial Network, in a temple colored in crimson, lined with molten gold, the mighty Goddess Luria sat frozen.

Her red skin shimmered under divine firelight, long black hair falling in perfect waves, and her beautiful lips trembled slightly as she bit her manicured nail—a habit she had when cornered.

Her chest rose and fell sharply as divine energy flared around her throne.

"...You dare lecture me?" She finally hissed, her words dripping with both fury and shame, as she typed the same to Raven.

But her eyes—glowing amber with divine pride—flickered with something else: fear.

Because she knew that she drew the shorter stick this time.

On the other side, Omni, who could see this message through Raven’s eyes, muttered, "Oof... she’s losing that divine composure, boss."

Raven tilted his head, his voice low. "Of course, she would."

Then, he typed another message, finally getting to the point because he knew that the goddess didn’t have any good counter for his words.

However, before he could send it, Luria started typing.

Soon, her message came.

[Goddess_Luria]: "...What do you want?"

Raven blinked once. Then twice.

The smug grin that had been slowly forming vanished again, and his finger hovered over the ’Enter’ key before he finally sighed, deleting everything he’d written.

His eyes narrowed as the new message pulsed in the air like a flickering ember.

She was calm. Too calm.

He didn’t respond.

He simply stared, head tilting slightly as if calculating the angles of a game only he could see.

From his hand, Omni hummed, "You wanna go straight now, boss?"

Yes, since she had asked what she wanted, that was the best thing to do.

However, on the other side of the network, Luria mistook his silence for hesitation—a sign that she had the upper hand.

A cruel little smile tugged at her perfect lips as she leaned forward, divine fingers gliding over her gilded keyboard.

[Goddess_Luria]: "I know your kind, Raven. You don’t care about divine politics or order. You want money. Or maybe... certain pictures for your private collection?"

[Goddess_Luria]: "That’s why you did all this, isn’t it? You wanted to push my buttons to get leverage. Fine. Let’s make a deal. Tell me what you want, and perhaps I’ll indulge your greed."

Raven stared at the screen blankly for a good ten seconds.

Then another ten.

Then he whispered flatly, "What... the actual hell is this woman talking about?"

He leaned back in his chair, eyes glazed over as though he’d just witnessed two chickens trying to fuck on a moving cart.

"Omni," he muttered, "did she just think I was doing all this for... her nudes?" 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Omni’s laughter burst through the tattoo like static. "Boss, I—pffft—yeah, she thinks you’re down bad!"

Raven groaned, dragging a hand down his face. "Oh, please. I’d rather look at a naked crow than her. At least that’s got feathers for dignity."

Omni wheezed, "You’re cruel!"

"And besides," Raven continued, voice turning sharp but amused, "I’ve already seen real beauty. Arietta could make this Luria look like an ugly duckling fresh out of a mud bath. Hell, I’m doing her a favor by not saying this out loud. She should thank me for my restraint."

Omni chuckled darkly. "Yeah, or else she’d end up dead before the next divine cycle. You know how your goddess gets when someone flirts with you—crazy, stabby, yandere energy."

Fortunately or unfortunately, Raven had turned on the speech-to-message function by mistake, and everything he said was heard by Luria, even the fact that some unknown goddess known as Arietta was being compared to her.

So, in the crimson temple of Goddess Luria, chaos had already descended.

Golden chalices shattered against marble. Divine banners burned from her uncontrolled aura. Her servants knelt trembling as the air thickened with rage.

"HE CALLED ME—AN UGLY DUCKLING?!" She roared, her words echoing like thunder.

She threw another gilded goblet across the hall, then stopped abruptly as she was reminded of who Raven’s backer was.

It was Grandpa_Hot_Pot.

If, by mistake, she ended up angering Raven, then Grandpa might come to her, and she wouldn’t even be able to do anything by herself.

She needed to think calmly, and if things didn’t go as planned, then she would think of alternatives—one of which was gathering all of her followers, gods and mortals alike, and attack Grandpa_Hot_Pot’s sanctuary.

So, for now, she took a slow, shaky breath, her smile returning like a badly glued mask.

[Goddess_Luria]: "...Fine. What do you want?"

Raven, who had finally composed himself, smirked at the calm text.

"Now we’re talking," he muttered and began typing.

[Raven]: "Two million divinity. And a promise."

[Goddess_Luria]: "A promise?"

[Raven]: "You won’t kill any other gods just because they fail to pay their dues."

There was silence for three long seconds.

Then came her furious reply.

[Goddess_Luria]: "What, am I supposed to let them use my services for free?! Am I that cheap?!"

Raven sighed. "Woman, you’ve got a serious ego issue."

Still, he typed again, slower this time, as he was never asking her to do that.

[Raven]: "No one said anything about free. I’m suggesting a prepaid system. Pay first, enjoy later. Anyone who doesn’t pay upfront gets removed from your services. Simple. Efficient. No killing needed."

This was what he wanted to tell her.

"Damn, boss," Omni whistled at that. "You are seriously making her a perfect OF bigshot."

Raven merely shrugged. "Since she’s already there, what’s wrong with helping her a bit?"

The divine chat, on the other hand, fell eerily quiet.

In her temple, Luria froze, eyes narrowing as she processed his words. Against her will, it made sense.

Her fingers tapped slowly on her golden throne. A prepaid system—one where she could maintain control, get her payments early, and still appear merciful.

From her point of view, it was genius—and it came from a guy who probably never even worked in this stream.

She clenched her jaw. "I hate that this actually works," she muttered.

Luria couldn’t digest it, but she knew that she was defeated in her own game, so finally, she sent a new message.

Raven’s screen blinked as he received it.

[Goddess_Luria]: "Fine. Two million divinity. And I’ll use your system."

A notification popped up instantly: [+2,000,000 Divinity Received]

Omni gasped. "She actually paid up! Boss, you’re a legend!"

But before they could celebrate, one last message appeared.

[Goddess_Luria]: "Now... give me the image."

Raven’s fingers hovered over the keys. He smiled—calm, cold, and amused.

[Raven]: "When did I say I was giving it back to you?"

The chat went dead.

Omni whistled again. "...You know, boss, if there’s a Hell for gods, you’re definitely getting invited to the VIP section."