Chapter 198

[Translator - Night]

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Chapter 198: Awakened Ones, Cultivate Them (3)

Since I was on Earth, I went home and turned on the internet.

“There aren’t any articles about Michael yet.”

Even though Michael had declared war, it seemed like he hadn’t acted on it immediately.

Well, since he had just declared war on me, I guess he needs time.

Instead...

[Progenitor of the Korean people, Hwanung, recognizes Kim Jiho as his main deity and appeals for faith.]

[Amaterasu throws the Japanese archipelago into confusion by serving Kim Jiho.]

[Buddhist community acknowledges Kim Jiho as a god.]

[Recognition continues in Hinduism. God-King Indra comments, ‘He is my loyal collaborator. If you believe in him as a god, you can become an Awakened One.’]

[Kim Jiho’s name spreads even in Taoism.]

My name was spreading like wildfire.

The comment sections were ablaze with debate.

-Why are the gods acting like this all of a sudden?

-Is he like a subordinate god now? Serving both Hwanung and Amaterasu? Is this a Korea-Japan merger?

-Did you see how the Japanese nationalists freaked out? LOL. They're in denial, saying that's not the real Amaterasu. Just a while ago they were worshipping her as a goddess. LOL.

-But Hwanung and Amaterasu are Asia-based, right? Globally, they’re not that prominent. Why are all these major religions suddenly recognizing Kim Jiho as a god?

-Nah, not all of them. God hasn’t acknowledged him.

-Oh, that’s true. Christianity is silent.

-Yeah, Catholicism and Islam haven’t made any statements either.

Reading the comments, it was clear — at least I haven’t been branded as Satan yet.

While I was clicking through the articles plastered with my name, one news video caught my eye.

[Believe in Kim Jiho and Awaken?]

-There's a common phrase in the messages from the gods promoting faith in Kim Jiho:

“Believe in Kim Jiho and you’ll become an Awakened One.”

-It's hard to believe that you can become Awakened just by believing in a god. So, our team decided to run an experiment. This is the photo of Kim Jiho we obtained.

As I watched the video, my face suddenly appeared on screen.

I think I look decent, but compared to the divine faces floating online, I’m basically a squid.

The screen shifted to a room with a lone desk.

The news crew placed my picture on the desk like a memorial photo.

-I’ll try it myself. Since I share the same name, I haven’t believed in him as a god.

A subtitle popped up: Lee Jiho – Reporter.

Ah, he didn’t believe in me because we share the same name.

A scrawny, bespectacled man hesitantly walked to the desk and suddenly bowed deeply to my photo.

-I believe in God Kim Jiho!

Ugh.

That made it look like I was dead.

It started to irritate me, but I kept watching to see what happened next.

Thud. Thud.

-I believe… I believe…?

Lee Jiho was bowing so fervently, he was banging his forehead on the ground.

Suddenly, he stopped and looked at the camera in shock.

-It worked…

-What?

-Awakening! I just awakened!

The camera shook.

There was a loud noise, and then the video abruptly ended.

-Viewers, this was not manipulated. Reporter Lee Jiho is currently undergoing the verification process at the Hunter Bureau to be certified as an Awakened One. We’ll bring you a follow-up once it’s confirmed.

Well...

That was a pretty simple Awakening.

There were tons of comments under the video.

-If there's no proof, what is it?

-Fake, obviously. Does that even make sense?

-No no no, it's real. I awakened too.

-Screw off, Kim Jiho cultist.

-Idiot. Go to the Hunter Bureau. The line for certification is crazy long right now.

The internet was a battlefield of arguments.

Still, since belief wasn’t that difficult, there would probably be many more trying it out.

Hmm... Is there a way to help people Awaken even faster?

“Right. Since the Garden of Apostles is gone and it’s now the Divine Realm…”

I opened my system window.

A new tab called “Divine Realm” caught my eye.

I clicked it immediately.

[Opening ‘Divine Realm’ tab.]

[The Divine Realm is currently fused with Earth. Retrieving fused information...]

And then... only loading symbols appeared.

I figured it’d load soon, but the screen kept showing only “…”

This reminded me of the days when I had a crappy old computer.

Even after reading a few more articles with the status window open, the loading still didn’t finish.

“When will this end?”

I couldn’t help but complain.

Even the Creator can’t escape the curse of lagging systems?

[You have not reached SSS-rank. Many restricted data points are only accessible to gods. Filtering in progress.]

[Would you like to search for only relevant information?]

Relevant information, huh.

The most urgent matter right now is people Awakening.

Would it respond to a spoken request?

“Find a way to make humans Awaken more easily.”

[Currently assisting with Awakening through ‘Divine Authority.’ Would you like to upgrade ‘Divine Authority’?]

Divine Authority.

So it’s the power that lets people Awaken if they believe in me?

The upgrade cost was 1 billion SP.

It was a bit expensive, but SSS-rank was my priority, so I decided to invest.

1 billion, then 2 billion, then 3 billion...

[Translator - Night]

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After spending 6 billion SP in total, an additional message appeared.

[You cannot upgrade further due to insufficient dominion over Earth. Increase your dominion.]

“How do I increase my dominion?”

The system responded to my question.

[Clearly engrave the name of the god into the minds of humans and help them Awaken.]

So basically, keep doing what I’m doing now, but more.

Now that I’ve upgraded Divine Authority to level 3, the speed should be better than before.

“Time will solve things eventually, but...”

My body felt itchy with restlessness.

Sitting around waiting didn’t feel right.

I racked my brain to process things faster.

Then I remembered the apostle gods currently fighting the Black Thunder in Asgard.

Some of them weren’t well-known, but others, like Guan Yu, were widely recognized.

Wouldn’t it be faster if they directly evangelized?

“Let’s rotate shifts.”

My plan was to rotate half of the apostle gods each day.

Half would return to Earth to evangelize, while I returned to Asgard to cover their absence.

[You want to use half the apostle gods for evangelism? We’re barely holding things together because of them…]

“I’ll cover for them.”

At first, Loki didn’t seem thrilled with my proposal.

But he couldn’t outright refuse me, so he opened a portal reluctantly.

-So, we just need to promote the greatness of the main deity?

-For now, just make sure people know I exist as a god. Focus on areas without good communication infrastructure.

-Understood. We’ll return to our respective regions and begin proselytizing.

Even though I was receiving daily SP through soul mediation, perhaps the strain had been too much.

Everyone returned to Earth with brightened faces.

“There are three main routes the Black Thunder uses to invade. Your apostles were defending near the Bifrost.”

“Bifrost?”

“It’s the rainbow bridge of Asgard. The Black Thunder is descending from the sky there.”

Guided by Loki, we headed toward the Bifrost.

The rainbow bridge appeared before us, stretching downward like a cliff.

The end of the bridge fell into a space as dark as the universe itself.

“There’s nothing down there. Look up instead.”

As I looked downward, Loki pointed to the sky with his finger.

Crashhh—

A black lightning bolt crashed down from above.

It gathered on the ground and took human form.

“Subdue it!”

My apostle gods charged forward to handle it.

They had already formed ranks and expertly surrounded it, attacking in unison.

“It’s easy now because we’re in sync... but won’t it be hard if half of us are missing?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll cover everything.”

The Black Thunder obscured the sunlight in the sky.

In the past, it would have been hard to use my powers without light, but now things were different.

“Divine Power of the Sun God.”

If darkness blocks the way, then I’ll simply burn it all away.

Spreading light, I wiped out the Black Thunder.

It couldn’t even resist the Sun God’s stronger power and was scattered easily.

Even now, as it disappears, a small amount of SP is absorbed. Using that, I launch an even more intense attack.

The sky, once filled with Black Thunder, quickly cleared up.

Loki, watching it all, shrugged casually.

“Whoa... You’re strong.”

“I’m at least doing the work of half, right?”

“Haha. More than half, actually... Seems like you could handle this place alone. Could we take the other half elsewhere?”

“No way. I might get tired. Leave the rest here.”

“Tch... Fine. Then help us out if things get rough.”

“Sure.”

Leaving half the apostles as reserves, we continued to eliminate the incoming Black Thunder.

On the fifth day of rotating apostles, one group would guard while another rested.

The daily SP income gradually increased.

It started at 900 million, then 905 million, 908 million, 910 million...

It had only increased by 10 million over three days, and the growth was slowing.

At this rate, I wasn’t even sure if I’d hit 1 billion SP within a month.

“I’ll count on you.”

On the fourth day, the apostle gods returned after a one-day shift.

“Was there anything unusual?”

“No. Your divine reputation is now spreading across the world...”

“Let’s switch every five days from now on.”

“Yes. Understood.”

Changing every day felt inefficient, so we decided on five-day rotations.

The apostles liked the change.

Rather than traveling back and forth daily, it was better to stay longer and spread the faith.

I kept an eye out for any invasions by Ares or announcements from Michael, but nothing significant happened.

Even the Black Thunder army on Oceanus’s map had noticeably decreased.

At this rate, it seemed we had successfully held off the invasion.

“Divine Power of the Sun God.”

As usual, I spread the light and erased the Black Thunder.

It had become almost habitual, and my mind wandered to other matters.

Earth’s movements, divine realms’ changes, enemy behavior...

I tried to sense anything unusual, but no significant intel came in.

Were they really just going to give me this much time?

With 900 million SP coming in daily, dragging this out only favored me.

Then suddenly, I received simultaneous transmissions from all apostles.

[My Lord, Christianity has made an urgent announcement.]

[The Vatican has declared the 10th Crusade. Archangel Michael has labeled you as Satan.]

[My Lord, Islam has declared a holy war against you. Both Shia and Sunni factions have named you the enemy of God.]

Messages arriving all at once, as if on cue.

It meant that half the world’s religions had finally turned against me.

“Satan, huh.”

I erased more Black Thunder with sunlight and turned on the news.

Religious leaders declaring me as Satan.

Not just Islamic hardliners, but even the Pope—who had been renowned for his integrity—was condemning me fiercely.

They strongly emphasized that I was Satan, the being blocking the path to Heaven, and insisted I must be eliminated for God's sake.

“So the whole world knows now?”

The news was all about me, all day long.

Some religions accepted me as a god, while others painted me as the epitome of evil.

Overnight, I was being cursed at endlessly.

It felt oddly refreshing.

Until now, I’d been acknowledged well as a god, but now people said, “Humans can’t do that. He must’ve made a pact with the devil,” flooding the net with hateful comments.

Even religions that supported me were now being attacked just as harshly.

Religious conflicts were escalating.

But I didn’t care about any of that.

My only interest was in daily SP income.

That’s all.

I could take all the hate in the world.

And then, after Michael’s declaration, the SP I received was...

Beyond my expectations.

[You have received 947 million SP.]

A single day saw over 30 million increase in SP income.

Even when I had worked hard to spread my apostles, it had been slow to rise—now it surged rapidly.

And then, over the next four days...

[You have received 959.6 million SP.]

[You have received 974.6 million SP.]

[You have received 991.1 million SP.]

[You have received 1 billion and 12 million SP.]

My target amount was achieved in no time.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]