Chapter 120

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Chapter 120: SP Exchange

Hercules demanded that the SP exchange be opened within three months.

Two months would be enough to establish it, but the looming presence of Asgard made me hesitant.

"Wouldn't it be better to delay the opening and come up with countermeasures first? Odin's side is watching for an opportunity."

"The countermeasure is already in place with the Avatar exchange. Besides, the SP exchange has tremendous expansion potential. If you give this up, even as a Soul God, you'd only be slightly better than a mere lower-ranked deity."

"Hmm..."

"Even if you open the exchange, they won't be able to attack you right away. This time, you don’t have to give them any shares."

Hercules also wanted to see the results of his 5% investment.

SP exchange...

The fact that they were so eager to get their hands on it meant it had enormous growth potential.

If I kept hesitating out of caution, it would be like refusing to make soybean paste because I was afraid of maggots.

"Alright. I'll open it."

"Good. Then I'll give you 100 million SP."

Through the system contract, I completed the SP trade with Hercules.

After handing over a huge amount of SP, he gazed down the mountain.

"I'm spending too much SP. Honestly, I’d love to sweep through that land right now and recover it all..."

Clicking his tongue, he muttered that if not for the contract, he would have already done so.

At times like this, he really did seem like a Lord of Chaos.

"I'm leaving now. Buy a good Avatar."

With that, he lifted the Soul Barrier and vanished.

Since I had received SP, it was time to make purchases.

But before opening the SP shop, I decided to visit Elprian first.

I needed to prepare a place for my Avatar in Kevrian.

"Heimdall’s Return."

Using Heimdall’s Return, I teleported to planet Kevrian.

After parting ways with Elprian in the past, I had marked a coordinate here.

But...

"This doesn't look like the place I marked before."

I had arrived in a forest.

Why a forest?

The spot I had marked before was a wasteland.

This area was supposed to be jointly managed by Hades and her, so Olympus shouldn't have been able to track my location.

[Are you perhaps... Kim Jiho?]

A clear voice echoed in my mind.

It was Elprian's voice—the one I knew well.

Did she create this forest?

"Yes, it's me."

[I thought so... But your power has grown so much since I last saw you that I wasn’t sure. Have you become a god?]

"Yes, I’ve risen to S-rank."

I glanced around, but there was no sign of her.

Where was she speaking from?

[Come this way.]

A light green leaf suddenly floated in the air before me, shimmering as it moved through the air to guide me somewhere.

I followed it for about ten minutes.

Eventually, I came across a large rock formation with a cave.

[Come inside.]

Following her voice, I entered the cave.

Inside, the space was wider and more open than expected, filled with plants growing like a garden.

Flowers of various colors glowed like lanterns, illuminating the cave.

I wasn’t knowledgeable about flowers, but it was a fascinating sight.

Step, step.

Elprian slowly walked towards me through the flower field.

She was wearing a light green dress and still had that beautiful smile as she greeted me.

"Kim Jiho, congratulations on becoming a god."

As soon as she saw me, she bowed deeply at a 90-degree angle.

I returned the greeting, and she stretched out her hand to create a table and chairs.

"Please, have a seat."

"Thank you."

As soon as I sat down, a teacup and tea appeared before me.

It wasn’t a spirit helping her—it was all created with just a wave of her hand.

Impressive.

Could I do this with Dragon Word Authority?

"This tea is made from Alcrin flower petals infused with my power. It has a special effect that even refreshes the soul."

Refreshing the soul?

Intrigued, I took a sip.

Indeed, it wasn’t just my body that felt relaxed—my very soul loosened up as well.

"This is nice. You could sell this to gods."

"Hehe, I already do in the SP shop. It’s quite popular."

As we shared tea, our conversation flowed in a warm atmosphere.

"You need a hideout for your Avatar?"

"Yes, I believe Asgard will start targeting me in earnest now."

I didn’t mention the prophecy, just kept it at that.

Elprian nodded and suddenly smiled.

"Aren’t you glad you listened to me?"

"About what?"

"The Avatar exchange."

"Oh... Yeah, I suppose so."

"I can provide a hideout for you anytime. I was able to recover this much thanks to you, after all. However..."

Here comes a condition.

I figured I should agree to reasonable requests, so I waited for her next words.

"If you’ve really fallen out with Asgard, could you stop intermediating their souls and instead handle more of mine?"

"Cancel Asgard’s soul mediation?"

"Yes, unless you’re still trying to avoid full conflict with them..."

Hmm.

Now that I thought about it, Odin had already used his Mimir’s Eye on me, yet I was still mediating their soul transactions.

There was no reason to keep providing SP to my enemies.

Odin made the most SP on Earth, but I could always smuggle souls instead.

Soul smuggling gave me 100% of the proceeds, while mediation only gave me 50%.

So, in the end, my earnings remained the same, but there was no reason to help my enemies.

Might as well cut Olympus off as well.

They had been leeching off me for too long.

"I’ll cancel all soul mediation deals. I’ll add you to the list."

"Oh…! Thank you. I will protect your Avatar with my life."

Elprian looked overjoyed.

She hadn’t seemed hopeful at all at first.

But now that I had agreed, her face was full of disbelief—like she had just hit the jackpot.

Opening the soul mediation menu, I canceled all the other gods.

I wondered if I needed a reason to cancel the contracts, but now that I was S-rank, I could do it freely.

As I sorted through the list, I noticed Elprian’s name was already listed twice.

Oh, right.

She was already double-registered.

Wouldn't that mean I couldn’t add her again?

Curious, I tried to register her name, but a message appeared.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

[If your soul mediation level reaches 15, you can add one more duplicate listing.]

So it was impossible for now.

"My mediation level is too low to allow additional duplicates. Instead, I’ll lower your commission fees by 5% on both entries."

"Oh… I see. Yes, that alone is more than enough. Thank you."

She seemed a bit disappointed but quickly recovered and expressed her gratitude.

Then, she personally initiated the contract process.

A system window popped up, displaying an incredibly long contract.

To summarize, the contract stated that my avatar would not be touched in any way and would be kept in a safe location.

I had simply thought about leaving my avatar in someone else’s care, but she was considering my avatar’s safety even more deeply than I was.

“Wow… Did you prepare this contract in such a short time? It even specifies that my avatar won’t be touched…”

“Of course. Kim Jiho’s avatar is the Avatar of the God of Souls. Many high-ranking beings would pay a fortune in SP to buy it or use it for experiments. This clause is essential.”

I hadn’t even thought of that.

Thanks to her careful consideration, I was reassured that my avatar would be kept in a safe place.

After finalizing the contract with her, I purchased an avatar from the SP shop.

The 100 million SP I received from Hercules vanished instantly, and a system message appeared.

[The item from the SP shop has arrived.]

[Generating avatar. Please designate the land for creation.]

I selected the empty cave floor in the middle of a flower field.

A bright white magic circle was drawn on the ground.

Light rose momentarily before disappearing along with the magic circle.

In its place lay a body identical to mine, completely naked.

As soon as the avatar appeared, my dormant Avatar Exchange skill suddenly activated on its own.

[Detecting user’s avatar. Would you like to designate it as the target for Avatar Exchange?]

I pressed “Yes,” and my body momentarily glowed red.

[Designation complete.]

With that message, the body remained lying in the same position as before.

So that’s my 100-million-SP avatar…

“That’s Kim Jiho’s avatar, huh? Should I move it to a secure location right away?”

“Yes, please do.”

Elprian and I looked at my avatar together.

With a small gesture from her hand, the ground beneath my avatar suddenly opened.

Then, my body disappeared underground.

“I’ve hidden it deep below the ground. Even if Olympus captures me, they won’t be able to find Kim Jiho’s avatar.”

Elprian spoke with confidence.

Hmm… I should be able to trust her.

“Has anything happened while I was gone?”

At my question, Elprian let out a deep sigh, as if she had been waiting for the opportunity.

“The search for the Fragment of the God of Time is going well. But Hades’ debt is weighing heavily on me.”

“You borrowed from Hades’ Executors?”

“Yes. At the time, they said the interest rate was 10%, but after adding various fees and claiming the transaction was technically illegal in the SP shop, the actual annual interest rate is close to 20%… Sigh.”

“What? 20%?”

“They keep finding excuses—handling fees, risk surcharges, and so on. Altogether, it’s nearly 20%. And they’re always looking for an opportunity to raise the interest rate further…”

Elprian’s expression darkened.

“At this rate, even if we achieve Kevrian’s independence, I worry that we’ll just end up as a semi-colony of Hades.”

“…How much did you borrow?”

“Well… just a little…”

The way she trailed off made it clear—she had borrowed a massive amount.

Seeing her like this reminded me of Asgard burning down due to debt collection.

What happens if she didn’t pay Hades back?

“What happens if you default on the loan?”

“Then I’ll become his slave… The contract includes a clause forfeiting my soul. If that happens, I’ll be reduced to a breeding vessel for monsters.”

Elprian frowned deeply.

Damn… They’ve already locked her in with the contract.

Seeing her situation made me think of the SP Exchange I planned to establish.

If my SP Exchange operates the way I anticipate—offering SP loans—then I could lend SP to her myself.

“How do you think this would work? Do you think people would use it a lot?”

When I brought up the idea of an official SP lending exchange, Elprian’s face lit up.

“That’s going to exist?”

“Not yet, but I think my SP Exchange will have that feature when I set it up.”

“Wow, that would be amazing. Instead of being exploited by a loan shark like Hades, people could borrow from an official entity… You’re the one setting it up, right?”

“Yes.”

“That’s going to be a game-changer. Kim Jiho, can you set it up quickly?”

She then told me that while she was discussing her SP loan with Hades’ Executors, countless inquiries were coming in.

“When I was invited to Hades’ Executors’ office, the scale was overwhelming. There were 100 avatars of Hades managing the business at the same time, and they were generating a ridiculous amount of SP.”

“Oh…”

“When I spoke with them over video, they were so arrogant. The gods were practically begging, and they just sneered, acting all high and mighty… I even saw some gods being dragged away as slaves…”

Hmm, that sounds exactly like something Hades would do.

Elprian described how she had seen gods being dragged away, screaming, to an unknown fate.

The sight had been horrifying.

So even if you become an immortal god, it’s meaningless if you end up as a slave.

If anything, immortality would turn it into an eternal hell.

“If you establish an official lending service, everyone will flock to it. Right now, the only reason people aren’t borrowing from Hades is that his Executors are completely untrustworthy. But if there were a legitimate alternative, the demand would be overwhelming.”

“I see.”

“Ah, I wish I had some spare SP to invest in it. It sounds like it would be huge…”

Elprian looked at me with genuine regret.

Her usually clear and innocent gaze suddenly took on a mysterious allure.

For an elf deity, her expression now carried a strangely seductive energy…

I had a bad feeling about this.

If I stayed any longer, I might get caught up in something and end up giving away shares of my business.

“I appreciate your insights. I should get to work. Please take good care of my avatar.”

“Oh… You’re leaving already?”

“Yes, I need to start preparing for the SP Exchange.”

“That’s a shame… Alright. I’ll make sure your avatar stays safe. Please visit when you have time.”

Elprian seemed disappointed but saw me off without resistance.

So she wasn’t actively trying to seduce me after all.

Leaving my avatar in her care, I returned to my house on Earth.

As soon as I got home, I reorganized the SP mediation interface.

I replaced the lost Olympus and Asgard markets with smuggling-based trades instead.

After restructuring everything and going to sleep, my SP income had risen to 5 million.

With increased soul power and a more efficient god portfolio, my profits surged.

My SP Trading level was now at 9.

With just 100 million SP, I could reach level 10.

At this rate, I could reach my goal in 20 days…

For the next 20 days, I kept showing up at Eshtar’s domain.

“You sure come here a lot.”

“I need to make full use of the mentoring effect.”

“What about dungeons?”

“No point in clearing them right now. But I need to pass the time, so just summon it.”

“Alright.”

I farmed A-rank dungeons, using all the SP I earned to level up my Soul Reaper skills.

Each dungeon run raised my skills by one level.

After 20 days, all my Soul Reaper skills had reached level 40.

I was nearly at 100 million SP.

I could open the exchange now, but I decided to milk the mentoring benefits a little longer.

Once my Soul Reaper skills hit level 50, a message appeared.

[You have reached 50% of your mentor’s skill level. The mentoring effect no longer applies.]

Damn, I wanted to hit level 100… But that’s not possible, huh?

This grind is over.

Now… It’s time to establish the SP Exchange.

[Translator - Night]

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