Chapter 199

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Chapter 199: Instead, Promotion (1)

[Would you like to be promoted to Great God?]

A simple message appeared as soon as the target amount was reached.

I pressed “Yes” right away.

[You are ascending to the position of Great God as the Soul God.]

[You have reached the position of Great God as the Soul God. You are now free from many of the system’s restrictions.]

As usual, I glanced at the message while erasing the Black Thunder with sunlight.

But unlike usual, the message window gradually started to blur.

[The restrictions placed on the SP Exchange have been lifted.]

[The system constraints that had been tied under the ‘Skill’ category have been removed, perfecting the soul skills.]

[Your ego begins to expand endlessly……]

[You comprehend all SP of humanity.]

[You preside over the souls of Earth’s humans.]

The world is consuming me.

No — I am consuming the world.

Every human with soul power flows in and out all at once — in countless numbers.

And I can control it all.

A complete sense of being an absolute being.

Regarding SP, I can manipulate it perfectly.

“So there are still people who believe in Zeus.”

Among the consciousness of the 7 billion humans, I can now perceive matters of faith with particular clarity.

Surprisingly, quite a few people still secretly worship Zeus like some underground cult.

Roughly 30 million of them, just based on the numbers I’m detecting right now.

Let’s adjust that.

Should I try changing their god to me?

To do that, I would need to completely overwrite their consciousness.

From the information remembered by their physical brains to the deeply engraved faith within their souls.

“Hm.”

It’s possible, but it would consume a ridiculous amount of SP.

Anywhere from 100 to 10,000 SP per person.

It’s the cost of interfering with their physical bodies as well.

If this were the only way, I wouldn't mind spending that much SP, but...

There’s another method.

“I’ll change the path of the SP.”

Let them keep believing in Zeus — just reroute the SP they offer to me instead.

Altering the route is easier.

My consciousness expanded endlessly, and I began the alteration process on ten thousand people at a time.

To alter a hundred thousand took just a minute.

Still too slow.

It should be possible to go faster.

I expanded my awareness further and adjusted their minds more efficiently.

Erase all distractions.

Operate like a machine...

Transformation.

I kept pushing the transformations further.

“Hahaha!”

Zeus’s believers still believe in him.

But all the SP they offer now flows to me.

Skimming SP off the top — this is amusing in its own way.

Although the amount of SP isn’t that much.

Still, I keep transforming and transforming.

Altering the endpoint of their faith — a tiresome grind.

...Doing it for a while, I started to get bored.

Only 1 or 2 minutes have passed.

I’ve altered 600,000.

Maybe because I changed too many at once?

After ascending to Great God, my awareness has expanded too vastly.

If I wished, I could interfere with the souls of all 7 billion humans.

That sudden scale made my identity as “Kim Jiho” feel like a speck of dust within me.

Not good.

I need to hold on to “me.”

I’ve been expanding my consciousness for efficiency, but it feels like I’m disappearing.

“Wait... why am I even doing all this myself?”

At the 3-minute mark, that question struck me.

Come to think of it, these people are essentially traitors to humanity.

Offering SP to Zeus is a massive crime against mankind.

The SP I’m getting from them — while a loss for Zeus — isn’t much benefit to me.

“...Should I just kill them instead?”

Yeah.

The easiest method would be to harvest their souls.

I no longer need to meet the 1 billion requirement now that I’ve become a Great God.

It doesn’t matter how much of humanity survives.

Soul harvesting is the most efficient option.

The way for “Kim Jiho” to avoid being consumed by this vast consciousness.

Thirty million humans… what’s the big deal…

“Kim Jiho…?”

Then I heard Artemis’s voice.

The moon goddess waved a pale hand back and forth in front of my eyes.

Seeing her snapped me back to my senses.

“Whew. What was I even thinking…”

A chill ran down my spine recalling that previous train of thought.

I… right.

I was just annoyed.

Annoyed by the hassle of rerouting the SP paths for 30 million people, and decided to kill them instead.

Sure, the fear of losing myself in the vast consciousness played a part — but annoyance was a big factor, too...

Even if they believe in Zeus,

They might have been brainwashed into it…

I shouldn’t…

I almost pressed the button of death far too easily.

If I go on like this, I’m no different from all the other trash gods…

“What’s up? You’re giving off a crazy aura right now…”

At Artemis’s words, I set aside what just happened and answered.

“I’ve ascended again. I’m a true god now.”

“…You mean you weren’t until now? How’s a mid-tier god stronger than a high god?”

“I’m the Soul God.”

“Hah… right. With that fancy class, I guess you can go up against the Creator now? Zeus?”

Artemis pointed at the sky.

“The Black Thunder…”

A god corrupted into Zeus’s servant, transformed into black thunder.

A creation born from the Creator himself.

Seeing it sparked my curiosity.

Can I undo this now with my power?

Destroying it is easy, but restoring the Creator’s work to its original form… that would truly prove I’m worthy of facing the Creator.

With that thought, I began analyzing the Black Thunder.

Even without soul dissassembly, the structure was immediately visible.

Its structure was simple.

A divine soul torn to shreds and stuffed into lightning imbued with the Creator’s power.

Within the lightning, the god’s soul burns itself as fuel and eventually vanishes.

To reverse it, I’d simply need to extract and restore all the fragments of the divine soul within the Black Thunder.

The protocol is straightforward, so I executed it immediately.

“Come forth.”

With my will, the divine speech activated.

The Black Thunder ripped open, and fragments of the god’s soul began to burst out.

But then…

Crackle…

The soul fragments began to vanish after only a few emerged.

Even though I have absolute dominion over souls, they couldn’t escape the Black Thunder.

Did I destroy it too quickly?

I experimented with different methods on the black thunder spread across the sky.

Breaking it gently, obliterating it in one blow, poking holes in it…

But no matter what I tried, the extracted soul fragments self-destructed.

If I could just collect even the fragments, I could revive them…

This is troublesome.

“Is what the Creator made really that different?”

I was able to unlock the Soul Destruction Sphere Yahweh made even when I was just a mid-tier god…

Was that simply not crafted with the same care?

Analyzing the Black Thunder wasn’t easy.

RUMBLE!

As I continued my unusual experiments, the Black Thunder raged.

It wasn’t the same as erasing it outright with the Sun God’s authority.

“Should we attack it?”

“Ah. Wait. Sun God’s Authority.”

Let’s see just how strong that power has become.

I radiated light and imbued it with soul energy.

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Crackle…

It looked like it might hold, but then vanished in an instant.

The light extended beyond the skies of Asgard, reaching all the way to Okeanos’s domain.

There, too, it incinerated all the Black Thunder lying in wait.

The power of the sun… felt at least five times, no—over ten times stronger than before.

“Status window.”

Now that I was SSS-rank, I opened my status window to check my stats.

But instead of the familiar window, a message appeared.

[A significant portion of the system’s restraints has been lifted.]

[You are no longer bound by the status window system and can use the full power of the Soul God.]

[Current available SP: 14.3 billion.]

What the…?

It’s gone?

No more energy stats, just SP?

Originally, I had two status windows—then it became one, and now it’s completely gone.

Now that it’s gone, I kinda miss it.

“Wow. That Black Thunder just… disappeared.”

Artemis shook her head beside me.

“I think we don’t need to defend this area anymore. Take the apostle gods and help the other regions.”

“Uh… but they’ll keep coming, won’t they?”

“I’m going to wipe them all out, even beyond Okeanos.”

“Is that… even possible?”

I pulled up the map of Okeanos.

On one of the attack routes, enemies were already beginning to disappear.

As Artemis watched them vanish in real time, she swallowed nervously.

“Looks like we’ve secured Asgard, huh?”

“If we’re talking just the Black Thunder, yeah.”

As the light continued to spread, one of the three enemy routes was completely cleared.

The Black Thunder army, which had relentlessly pushed back and forth for days, was now swiftly eliminated on one front.

“…Only Zeus could fight you now.”

It’s true.

Back when I was just a mid-tier god, I worried about what tricks Ares might pull…

Now, I’m simply thinking about how to prepare.

He’s no threat.

In fact, if I gather a bit more SP, I could go on the offensive myself.

“But I can’t get complacent. Zeus is the real enemy.”

“Good mindset. But then… why don’t you just sweep the other paths yourself?”

“It’s not like it doesn’t consume SP. And I still want to run more experiments with the Black Thunder…”

When I checked, I’d already used over a billion SP.

It would’ve been more, but I managed to siphon SP from the Black Thunder, so it only cost that much.

Even if I wipe out the remaining two paths, I should have plenty of SP left……

For now, I’ll keep my SP in reserve.

“I’m going to experiment with Black Thunder, so you go help the Asgard folks.”

“Got it. I’ll be back.”

Artemis disappeared, leading the Apostle Gods.

While she’s gone, I tried handling three tasks at once.

Researching Black Thunder.

Distorting the SP offering route of the followers of Zeus.

I took care of these two within the limits of what my consciousness could handle, and at the same time, I tried moving the avatars I’d left in the various divine realms.

First off……

“On top of the elephant, huh.”

My body in the Hindu divine realm.

My avatar, who was riding an elephant, suddenly stood up.

The sensations are the same.

The SP is intact too…….

I haven’t tested it yet, but it seems like I’ll be able to use power similar to my main body.

“Whoa! What the—? Kim Jiho?”

Indra, who was lying next to me, jolted upright in surprise.

What the heck.

Why is this guy next to my avatar?

Lying down, at that.

“Hey. Why are you lying here?”

“What do you mean? What’s wrong with lying wherever I want on my own elephant?”

“Then why are you lying right next to my body?”

Did this guy do some kind of human experimentation on my avatar?

“If an enemy suddenly attacks, I need to wake you up immediately. I’m keeping the protector of our divine realm close by, obviously.”

“Hmm. Is that so?”

Checking over the avatar, I don’t see any signs of experimentation.

The body looks normal……

No evidence of tampering, looks like he actually treated it with care.

On the other hand, over in the Taoist realm……

“…Where am I?”

When I opened my eyes, I found my body sealed inside a box.

Given how snug it was, it felt like a coffin.

And there was this unpleasant sensation on my forehead.

I casually grabbed it—it sizzled and resisted slightly.

A yellow talisman.

“Cut that out.”

I peeled it off easily and slipped out of the coffin in soul form.

The surroundings—an eerie underground room filled with coffins.

In the Hindu realm, I was treated as the guardian beside the divine king, but here, I’ve been treated like garbage.

“I’ll have to inspect things……”

I moved my avatar, reaffirming my alliance with the divine king of the Hindu realm.

I moved another avatar and begin surveying the Taoist world.

Recognizing all these bodies as mine, I simultaneously observed multiple realms, conducted experiments, and reworked SP routes.

Managing things in parallel, and waiting to get used to it……

“Not bad.”

Maybe because I’ve become a High God.

A flood of information is pouring in, but I can manage.

Back when I first altered the SP route of Zeus’s followers, I focused only on efficiency and felt like my personality was being shredded away.

Now that I’m maintaining more of myself while I work, the pace may be a bit slower, but there’s a sense of stability.

“No issues in the two realms……”

Hindu and Taoist realms—after a quick scan, nothing seems out of the ordinary.

I thought the Taoists were treating me poorly and there might be some problem, but—

Not really anything serious.

After a bit more observation, I decided there's no need to keep micromanaging those two avatars and deactivated their movements.

With the patrol done, maybe I should check in on the SP Exchange.

There were all sorts of restrictions before, but if they’ve been lifted now, I might be able to draw out more SP.

[My Lord. A message has arrived from an ally of Olympus.]

A message from Odysseus arrived at that moment.

He’d been busy proselytizing on Earth for Kim Jiho, so I hadn’t heard from him about that Olympus ally he mentioned.

Finally, something.

[They’re asking if you still haven’t restored the shield, and want you to check on it personally.]

The shield?

There wasn’t really anything in the shield……

I’ve been checking it once a day, though.

“Aegis.”

I summon the Aegis Shield.

The round shield floated around me.

There used to be a message from Athena on the back, but ever since I repaired it, nothing had appeared.

Wait……?

Something I couldn’t see before is now visible.

But it’s not Athena’s inscription.

Instead, a blood-red X is slashed across it ominously.

Beneath the X, written small in English……

It says: Hera.

[Translator - Night]

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