By the power of lumber, I! HAVE! THE! POWER!!
Teen Makoto Maruta is enjoying his Sunday afternoon with his sister, watching a bit of television, Makoto being jobless, but not for lack of trying. Shortly after his sister leaves the room, a summoning circle appears beneath his feet. In mere moments, he finds himself face to face with the Goddess of Space and Time, Astate, who, despite being impressed with his stats, insults him for his lack of the traditional "cheat" skill she was expecting. Rather than heeding his plea to send him back home, she calls it a waste of effort and dumps him in a forest, alone. He chances upon the Goddess of Prophecy, Liana, in disguise, who grants him power once he passes her Secret Test of Character, and directs him to the nearest town. Once he arrives, he tests his new powers to find the town has a population of five. Suspicious, but having no other viable option, he investigates to find a Zombie Apocalypse, grabs the nearest implement, a large log, and proceeds to eliminate the zombie threat, rescuing the Raislin sisters, and the infants later named Raa and Rea in the process. Thus begins his life in this new world of Manasthesia.This series contains examples of:
- Acceptable Break from Reality: The light novel has Makoto actually lampshade that the logs he uses as weapons are indeed heavier than himself, and how impossible it would be to actually use them, were he still on Earth. He posits several theories on why he can in the world of Manasthesia, but no actual answer is given. For other violations of physics, biology and so on, it's explained as being the work of magic, influence of actual gods, or some combination of factors that wouldn't exist on Earth.
- Accidental Murder: On at least two occasions.
- Makoto kills a guy in a bar fight by hitting him in exactly the "right" spot without any desire to kill him.
- The Goddess of the Lake takes Makoto to deal with Avel only to accidentally pulverize Avel's head. It Makes Sense in Context. Amazingly, Avel survives that and gets up after the goddess of the lake has left and attacks Makoto.
- Achievements in Ignorance: Makoto's growth and special abilities all come about as a result of him flailing around aimlessly, no idea what he's doing.
- Alien Sky: The night sky has at least two moons.
- Barbie Doll Anatomy: Whenever nudity is unavoidable, this takes place, especially at times where creative Scenery Censor can't be employed, such as in Chapter 19 of the manga where Est is too busy fighting a giant crab that attacked her while she was perusing a nude beach.
- Cerebus Rollercoaster: The story can go from wacky comedy and slice-of-life hilarity to deadly serious and back again, sometimes even within the same panel!
- Corrupt Church: A church of Liana, of all gods, was found to be this. The top priest abused his Magic Eye to peek through the clothes of all the attractive female patrons. He was kicked out, but not before the church's reputation soured, and fell into decline. Makoto had to find a way to restore the church's reputation, and long-term support, for the sake of a great many orphans.
- Cosmic Chess Game: The local gods vie for supremacy among each other by having their followers fight by proxy.
- Crapsaccharine World: The world looks okay at first glance, but just beneath the surface, things are pretty bad. Law and Order is basically non-existent, and quests have to be placed with adventurers for just about everything, including dealing with local crime...
- Crippling Overspecialization: Avel's completely reliant on whatever skill or perk he gains from being a goddess's follower. Anyone can get around that? He's a complete and total pushover.
- Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: Makoto almost gets himself killed insulting Astate, who has to be reminded by Makoto's goddess that killing another god's follower is against the rules.
- Drunk with Power: Liana claims that a god being corrupted by their own power is quite common, making them Jerkass Gods at best. Liana also admits that even she is tempted to use her powers selfishly.
- Fantasy Kitchen Sink: Just about every fantasy style is showcased. Reincarnation? Check. Transport to another world? Check. Cosmic Chess Game? Check. Lovecraftian mythos? CHECK PLEASE!
- Flash Forward: Makoto can do this due to an enchanted eye. It works just as well in reverse.
- God's Hands Are Tied: While gods have enough raw power to crush mortals like bugs, it is against the rules for them to directly kill another god's follower and they must relay on proxies for that instead.
- Gods Need Prayer Badly: The reason Makoto was summoned by Astena is that the gods' strength and power is relative to the number of followers and the strength of followers they have. When Astena discards him, her rival scouts him out, tests his character, and recruits him honestly. They are both well rewarded by the arrangement.
- Good Is Not Soft: Combined with Beware the Nice Ones. The goddess of the lake is the sweetest and kindest woman one's likely to meet in fiction or reality. But if you've got evil designs and fall into her pond, especially if you antagonize her friend Makoto, she will drag you under to your watery grave without hesitation, mercy, or remorse.
- Happiness in Slavery: The Raslian sisters who were rescued by Makoto are very, very happy to serve him in any capacity they can. The fact that he treats them as companions, not slaves that he "inherited" certainly helps.
- Honest Axe: Makoto thinks that the goddess of the magic lake will offer a gold log and a silver log. Turns out that she does, which also seems to work on people.
- Improbable Weapon User: There is a class devoted to using logs like polearms. The MC realizes he specializes in it completely by accident.
- Jerkass: Makoto meets two of these; he kills one and reforms the other.
- Karmic Jackpot: Do good things around Makoto and company, things mostly, but not always, go your way. Be a dick to him and things will usually go very badly for you. This even applies to Makoto himself.
- Kid from the Future: Makoto eventually encounters a girl who claims to be his future daughter. Makoto is rather surprised when he notes that said girl's face resembles Astena's.
- Morality Kitchen Sink: Every flavor of morality, good, bad, or indifferent is present in the story.
- Prime Directive: The gods can not attack each other's followers directly. It's a major taboo enforced by an even bigger god.
- Quality over Quantity: Liana and Astena are constantly competing against each other. Astena recruits powerful people, without regard for their character, and discards them when they fail her. Liana tests their character first, then recruits them, giving them plenty of opportunity to learn, grow, and impress her on their own merits... Guess who Makoto winds up with.
- Rape as Drama: There have been several occasions where Makoto has foreseen an antagonist engage in rape as a direct result of feeling slighted. Avel openly threatens to rape Makoto's female companions on a repeated basis and has the gall to be offended when Makoto retaliates to this genuine threat, that Avel fully intends to carry out, by literally beating the crap out of him.
- Rescue Romance: All the female characters who like Makoto do so not just because he's handsome and of decent character, but because he's come to their aid, putting their well-being above his own.
- Revenge Myopia: All the antagonists, without exception, want graphically violent revenge on Makoto and his followers for slights against themselves, real or imagined. The fact that these "slights" occurred as a direct result of the antagonists' own actions is irrelevant.
- Secret Test of Character: Makoto comes cross an old woman in the forest, who asks for some of his food. He grants this request. Then she asks to be carried to town. While reluctant, Makoto also agrees, after she says she might die if left alone... Say hello to goddess Liana, who hates Astena, the Jerkass God that forcefully summoned Makoto and then abandoned him.
- Sex for Services: Astema promises (and usually delivers) sex as one of the perks of being her follower. Being a follower of hers though is a very risky and stressful job as she does not take failure lightly.
- They Just Dont Get It: In several ways.
- Avel keeps constantly threatening to rape Makoto's female followers, intending to actually carry it out, and has the gall to be surprised that Makoto retaliates with Unstoppable Rage, literally beating the crap out of him, over and over again.
- Makoto just can't seem to comprehend that using his enchanted eye to peek at the abilities of people is usually considered a hostile act if the target becomes aware of it. In Makoto's case, the enchanted eye does occasionally act on its own, regardless of his intent.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Consistently. Despite the story taking place in a fictional fantasy world where the gods walk among people, the fantasy elements seem to be kept at a minimum. The following examples are listed chronologically:
- Even if the maids serving in a noble's mansion are the sole survivors of some tragedy, this does not automatically mean they are the legal executors of the estate and have the right to grant permission for anyone to take loot from said estate. Doing so anyway on their advice will make you a thief in the eyes of the law, which the MC learns firsthand. Fortunately, he escapes legal retribution because he acted in good faith, and there was no legal executor to complain.
- Combined with Reality Is Unrealistic. The womb does indeed have powerful defenses that protect the fetus from diseases that affect the mother. Children delivered by C-section have been found free of disease, even when the mother has dangerous co-genital S.T.D.s like herpes and Aids.
- Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex can be Truth in Television after a horrific tragedy where escape and survival were all just a matter of luck, especially in medieval societies, like the world setting.
- Even though there's some kind of special ability to wield logs like pole-arms, even having a specially dedicated class to doing so, "logs" made out of either solid silver, or gold, are going to be much, much heavier, and thus impossible to lift by just one person, unless that person is a god, like the god of the lake who produced them, holding one in each hand.
- If you get involved in a bar fight, like the MC did, especially when someone dies, prepare to spend the night in jail while things get investigated and sorted out. Fortunately, witnesses were able to prove the other guy attacked him first, and the other guy actually had a bounty on his head, which the MC got to collect.
- Threat Backfire: Consider this exchange after Avel becomes a Vampire lord, as the follower of the God of Darkness.Avel:"As long as I have this skill, anything you do to me is meaningless!"Makoto:"Then it means that I can enjoy killing you over and over!!! over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and..."
- Time Master: Avel is able to do this due to being affiliated with the same goddess who brought, and abandoned, Makoto to the other world.
- Trapped in Another World: Makoto is trapped in the world of Manasthesia by Astate, the Jerkass Goddess who summoned him.
- Villains Want Mercy: To date, all the straight up villains who have landed in the lake belonging to the goddess start screaming for mercy and rescue the moment divine retribution falls upon them. Makoto never obliges, nor does anyone else.
- You Didn't See That: Makoto's reaction, to himself and Katua, after seeing the bad Avel being dragged back into the magic lake by it's resident goddess.
- You Have Failed Me: Astena has a very poor opinion of those followers who fail an assigned task or suffer defeat, as Avel finds out.
