Chapter 200

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 200: Instead, Promotion (2)

Hera?

Is that referring to Hera, the wife of Zeus?

An X mark that hadn’t been visible before.

Even after close inspection, I couldn’t analyze it at first.

That kind of thing only happened when I looked at Black Thunder.

Did the Creator get involved?

I thought about the shield’s restoration process.

[You have used Hephaestus’s All-Purpose Kit.]

[Aegis Shield is reactivated.]

Hephaestus’s All-Purpose Kit…

It was something sold in the SP Store.

I opened the store window and bought one more.

“Hmm…”

I pulled out a small hammer from the item window.

Comparing the two and analyzing them revealed a faint thread.

A red thread.

It was connected to both my and Athena’s shield and extended somewhere.

“I should try to trace that line…”

As I said that, a ray of light shot out from my body and followed the line.

The light flew off in an instant.

I left the tracking to the light and looked back at the shield.

The thread connected to Athena’s shield pointed to the front.

When I looked closely at the front of the shield, there was a subtle opening.

I charged my fingernail with soul energy and gently scratched it.

Zzzzt.

For a moment, a current flowed through that spot, then spread throughout the shield.

This current…

Feels like Zeus’s power.

Scratch. Scratch.

Carefully scratching more caused the electricity to flicker a few more times and then disappear.

Soon, the X mark also vanished.

As the X mark disappeared, a message appeared.

As if it had been hidden beneath it.

[……As I mentioned in the previous communication, Ares is preparing for an all-out offensive. Most of the Olympian gods have confirmed their participation, and it seems they will concentrate their power on the Hindu and Taoist realms.]

What?

Seriously…

Was Hera the one who blocked the messages until now?

By infusing her power into Hephaestus’s All-Purpose Kit?

How is that even possible?

She should be a great god.

If it were at the level of a great god, I should have been able to detect it back when I was a mid-tier god.

No—fine.

Let’s say her concealment was too good for me to notice.

Still, it’s odd that I couldn’t grasp the structure at all.

Like Zeus’s Black Thunder.

Was it made by the Creator…?

Anyway, I continue reading the message.

[But Ares’s true objective isn’t that. He wants to completely wipe out humanity. The place you must be most cautious of is Earth.]

Earth?

Wipe out humanity?

The gods are rooted in human faith.

If all humans disappear, the foundation of their existence also vanishes…

Zeus said as long as the SP Exchange exists, he’s fine.

Does he really believe that?

[Zeus will not lend his power for humanity’s annihilation. In fact, he’s practically staying out of it. But the missing gods—Hera, Aphrodite, Dionysus… They are troubling. Please always be on your guard.]

And with that, the message ends.

Ha.

Unbelievable.

His true goal is to exterminate humanity?

Because I receive overwhelming SP support from humans, he wants to wipe them all out?

He’s really going off the rails.

“Send an avatar to Earth and warn Zeus’s followers.”

But it's something Ares could very well do.

He might go all in with nothing to lose.

For now, I dispatched my avatar to Earth and warned the gods as well.

[You mean they’re targeting Earth too?]

[Understood. We’ll monitor things closely.]

At least I’ve raised awareness among those doing missionary work, so if anything happens, they’ll respond immediately.

Alright, that’s done… I looked back at Hephaestus’s All-Purpose Kit.

The weak energy from the shield had extended somewhere.

Was the tracking completed?

Pop.

I checked the light I had sent out earlier—it had already dissipated.

The last place the light stopped was…

A divine realm in Okeanos, the closest to Earth.

I have a feeling something’s there.

“Go check it out.”

I summoned an avatar, handed him Poseidon’s spear, and sent him off.

He summoned Triaina and rode off.

He’s traveling smoothly along the path I cleared.

[Artemis. That Hephaestus All-Purpose Kit you recommended—was that something you always sold?]

[Huh? Oh, wait. I’m in the middle of wiping out Black Thunder… You’ve become a great god now, and your skills are insane. Everyone’s totally hyped right now. The All-Purpose Kit? That’s always been one of Hephaestus’s main products.]

Artemis answered innocently.

Did she recommend it without knowing anything?

Well.

What would she know anyway.

[Because of that, I haven’t gotten a message from Athena.]

[A message from Athena? You even got something like that?]

It wasn’t something I needed to hide anymore, so I told her.

Artemis came rushing to where I was almost instantly.

Maybe it’s because she’s a great god too, but she’s fast.

“What? You were working with Athena too? You should’ve told me earlier!”

“Well, the fewer people who know about something like this, the better.”

“Tch. Still… why are you telling me now?”

Artemis pouted, but quickly softened her expression and asked back.

“To ask about Hera.”

“Hera? Well… she’s just as she’s known in the world. One of the most beautiful goddesses on Olympus, but got stuck with the wrong husband. A goddess of family constantly nagging the unfaithful Zeus.”

Well, Zeus cheating and Hera nagging is a central theme in Greek mythology.

Even Hercules had to suffer a lot because of Hera.

“But… after Zeus lost to the Christian side, their relationship got a bit better. Even when he had kids from affairs, she didn’t interfere much. She probably accepted it as a necessary evil for strengthening their power.”

A certain memory suddenly came to mind, so I asked,

“Really? So where are those kids now?”

“Hmm… They were taken away to form a special unit. Haven’t seen them since. I didn’t care much about them anyway.”

“I see…”

Elprian once said that after giving birth, they ate the child.

Could that have been happening all along?

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

“Do you suspect something?”

“Yeah. I heard it from Kevrian’s great god, Elprian.”

When I told her the story of Zeus eating his own child, Artemis made a disgusted face.

“Ugh. I imagined it…”

“Yeah, it’s gross.”

“But… while Zeus might do that, Hera would never. She’s the goddess of family. If she knew he was eating the kids, she would never let it slide. It would’ve been a huge scandal.”

“Hmm. Is that so?”

“Doing that to a newborn is a direct violation of everything she stands for. Cheating is one thing, but this is completely different. A family can’t exist without children, right?”

Makes sense.

Zeus definitely seems like the type to eat his own children...

“Well, setting that aside. What does Hera mean in X, then?”

“Hmm… I’m not sure.”

“What’s her connection to this universal kit?”

“Hmm… Oh! Hephaestus is Hera’s son. Maybe it’s related to that?”

Even after all this talking, I didn’t really get any concrete information.

But perhaps becoming a great god has improved my precognition a bit.

I had a feeling.

A strong sense that I needed to know about Hera.

“Do some digging.”

“Digging? Don’t you know I’ve lost all my connections on Olympus?”

“Try working it out with Odysseus. He should have some info.”

“Odysseus? Tch. Fine. Apollo would be perfect for this kind of thing though…”

Apollo?

Come to think of it, his soul stone’s seal had been 50% released before.

I wonder what it’s at now.

[Apollo’s Soul Fragment – Seal 80% Released]

[As the bearer has become a great god, the fragment is regaining power on its own.]

[Would you like to use SP to speed up the unsealing?]

Just as I checked it, a new message popped up.

Already at 80%?

That went up fast.

Let’s see how much SP it takes…

[5 billion SP per 1%]

5 billion?

That means I’d need 100 billion to fully unseal it.

Jeez.

That’s a ridiculous amount of SP.

“Oh, Soul God. Now that you’re a great god, your soul fragments will recover quickly…”

Artemis awkwardly folded her hands and spoke to me with a tone of fake reverence.

I crushed her expectations instantly.

“It takes a hundred billion.”

“What…? A hundred billion? That much?”

“Yeah. It was at 50%, but after becoming a soul god it went up to 80%. It’s recovering on its own, so I’ll wait a bit. Once I secure more SP, I’ll try to unseal it.”

“…Alright. Then I’ll go gather some info with Odysseus.”

Artemis turned and left, her head slightly lowered in disappointment.

Man…

Even after becoming a great god, I’m still strapped for SP.

Right.

I heard the SP exchange restrictions have been lifted.

Let’s check on that.

“Summon Exchange Manager.”

At my words, a golden pig popped out immediately.

The golden pig, floating in mid-air, dropped to the ground and bowed deeply when it saw me.

“Master! Congratulations on your divine awakening! Oink oink!”

“Oh? So you can tell I’m a great god now?”

“Yes. The system displayed a message recognizing you as the true master of the SP exchange.”

Great.

That means I should start seeing some profits now, right?

“And now, there are no restrictions. Oink oink.”

“So the reserve requirement and all that stuff is gone too?”

“Yes. The deposit and loan limits are also completely removed. You can deposit and lend as much as you want. Oink.”

Not just the reserve ratio, but all the limits are gone?

Wasn’t it 500 trillion before?

And now that’s gone.

I can’t even begin to guess how much profit this will bring in…

“That’s not all. The SP exchange’s reach has expanded massively.”

“Well, that makes sense now that I’m a great god. How much has it expanded?”

"If it used to be 1, it's now 100... no, even more! Oink! The constant flood of deposit and loan requests is overwhelming...!"

The golden pig, overwhelmed with joy, oinks and spins in the air several times.

Wait, it had such acrobatic skills?

“Ah... What a disgraceful display... oink...”

"This is getting too big. Can you handle it alone?"

"Ah. I have something to say about that."

The golden pig suddenly puts on a serious face.

"I plan to reduce my stake to 0.1%. Would that be acceptable?"

"Why? You had 1% before, didn't you?"

"It’s too much of a privilege for someone like me, oink. I know my place. This much SP is more than enough for me... oink."

Giving up his own shares?

Well, if he's offering, I won’t say no.

It’s just unexpected, that’s all.

Still, I won’t refuse what’s given.

"Sure. Alright. If you’re giving it back, I’ll gladly accept."

“Phew. Thank you so much. Oink. Also, may I hire some of my kin for work? The scale has become too big for me to handle alone. Oink.”

"Of course. You're the manager."

“Yes, understood. Oink.”

He lowers his stake to 0.1% and even offers to pay the salaries of the ones he hires.

This guy...

Admirable.

"Then I’ll start by hiring 100 golden pigs and 1,000 silver pigs. My goal is to expand the scale by a factor of 100. It shouldn’t even take a year. Oink."

“Ooh. Good. I’m looking forward to it.”

“Yes. And with the SP Exchange’s trade range expanding, we’ve been flooded with investment proposals. Shall I block them all?”

The golden pig asked as if it were only natural.

Now that the trading limits are gone, the SP Exchange is essentially a goose that lays golden eggs.

No wonder he thinks I’d never sell my stake.

"No. Wait. The 0.9% you returned—let’s sell it."

But I think differently.

Even though I’ve reached SSS-rank, I don’t have that much SP on hand.

I need to raise war funds for the final battle.

“0.9%...? That’ll draw the attention of every god in the universe. Oink.”

“Right. Now that the SP Exchange has no limits, its value must be enormous. Let’s announce it and sell it at a high price.”

“Oink… but it’s such a waste… It’s a shame you can’t borrow from the SP Exchange yourself.”

“There’s still a restriction like that?”

“Yes. It relates to the fundamental credit of the SP Exchange. Oink.”

It would've been nice if I could borrow from it myself.

“Anyway, I need SP right now. If 0.9% isn't enough, I might sell a bit more.”

“No need. Oink. I’ll make sure it sells at a high price. The gods across the universe will be drooling. Oh, how about we hold an auction?”

“An auction?”

“Yes. Oink. We can restrict the minimum bidder level to ‘Creator.’ I’ll send out the business proposal to them.”

Since the SP Exchange’s reach has grown, the number of Creators who can invest must have increased too.

I like the sound of an auction.

I can’t even estimate the current value, but an auction could get us a proper price.

“Alright. Let’s go with that.”

“Yes. Let’s start at 1,000 trillion.”

The golden pig says calmly.

But me, hearing that number—I couldn't stay calm.

"One thousand... trillion?"

“Yes. It’s too cheap, honestly, but at least it’ll attract serious bidders.”

“…Ah. Okay. Get started as soon as possible.”

“Oink! Understood!”

Then the golden pig vanishes.

“A thousand... trillion…”

How much is that?

A trillion is ten billion times one hundred... so...

Ten quadrillion?

I hesitated to use a hundred billion to unseal Apollo’s soul stone...

Heh.

Guess I didn’t need to be that frugal after all.

Two days later.

Just as the golden pig finished distributing the business plan and was about to start taking bids—

I received a message.

The sender… was Zeus.

It was a single, grandiose line.

[Soul God. Give me the 0.9% stake, and I will spare your life.]

This bastard… has he gone mad?

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]