Chapter 221

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 221: The Great Migration (1)

[Why go through all that trouble…?]

[It’ll probably cost an unimaginable amount of SP.]

[No, is that even possible to begin with?]

The gods of Olympus voiced their doubts about my decision.

From their perspective, it must seem like a pointless waste.

[O Soul God, we need humans and human souls in order to gain SP. But you’ve already transcended that, haven’t you? If the SP exchange functions properly, you wouldn’t need to be bound to just one planet.]

“Humans are necessary for me. Don’t worry about the SP.”

[But how do you plan to bring all those humans with you?]

“We have soul stones, don’t we?”

The soul stone containing my father and many other humans.

I can use it to store their souls.

[O Soul God, may we ask why exactly you need humans?]

“To prepare a place I can return to.”

Athena asks again, after hearing my response.

[When you say ‘a place to return to’... do you mean the current human society is what you need?]

“Hmm... you could say that.”

[Then you’ll need to preserve all human memories. And their physical bodies must remain unchanged as well.]

“That would be necessary.”

[Is that even possible?]

“It will be. But... we’ll need to run a test first.”

I took out the soul stone from my inventory that held my father’s soul.

The same soul stone that sealed many who had once believed in Yahweh.

I was planning to begin restoration once peace returned to the world…

But with Zeus siding with chaos, I have no choice but to attempt it now.

Among the many souls, I chose my father's.

To determine whether the restoration process works, I had to pick someone I knew best.

“Restore.”

As I grasped my father's soul, information about the body he once used engraved itself in my mind.

[Do you wish to restore the body according to the information embedded in the soul?]

[This is the body used as ‘Michael’s Avatar.’ It will cost 5 million SP.]

[Since not much time has passed since sealing, there’s no additional SP cost.]

Hmm... 5 million…

So it's 5 million SP because it was Michael's Avatar?

Checking others, the SP cost ranged anywhere from as little as 100 to over 10,000.

The key factor was whether they were Awakened or not.

Since the body used by Michael’s Avatar was a high-level Awakened, the SP cost was high.

“At this rate, I can afford it…”

Even if it costs 10,000 SP per person, for 7 billion people, that’s 70 trillion.

With my current assets, that’s not too big a drain.

As I used the 5 million SP, the pure white soul I held began to shine.

The light spread outward and began to take human form.

[Are you… really restoring him now?]

“Yeah.”

[I didn’t expect you to do it so casually…]

Must be a difficult process for ordinary gods.

The light, taking the shape of a human, began to fade from the head downward.

And as the light disappeared, a human body emerged beneath.

My father's form.

Restoring a body from a soul—this is easier than I thought.

As expected, in this world, anything is possible with enough SP.

But his body looked a little different from how I remembered.

Maybe because it was the version used as Michael’s Avatar—his skin was firmer, and his build more muscular.

Barely any belly fat…

If it weren’t for his face, I might’ve questioned whether it was really him.

“Hmm…”

His eyelids twitched.

“I’d better generate clothes.”

My father was soon clad in boxers and a sleeveless undershirt.

Just like he used to be around the house every day.

I added a tracksuit over that for good measure.

“Where… am I?”

“Father. Are you awake?”

Perfect restoration.

I knew, rationally, that this would work, but I still had my doubts.

Even if the body and soul matched, the memories might not remain.

“Jiho…?”

“Oh! You remember me, Father.”

It worked!

How much of his memory has returned?

“What do you remember? Do you recall Michael as well?”

“Yes… it’s all coming back, though my mind feels tangled. I remember being chosen as Michael’s Avatar, and from there… whew. So, what happened to Michael…?”

“Michael and I made an agreement and left Earth. We decided not to interfere with each other anymore.”

“…I see. So that’s how it turned out. You handled it well.”

My father slowly stood up.

“Is it hard to stand? You can stay seated if it’s uncomfortable.”

“Mm… My senses feel fuzzy. I just want to move, somehow.”

He wobbled at first, but soon stood firm and looked at his body.

“…Why is my body in such good shape?”

“Since it was used as Michael’s Avatar, it’s near demigod level.”

I spent 5 million SP on that body. Of course it’s top-tier.

Watching him curiously flex and move, I asked a question.

“What did it feel like when you were sealed?”

“Feel like? I don’t know. It feels like I just woke up now. But…”

His expression darkened.

“There were moments when I briefly regained consciousness. Each time, I felt like I was about to vanish in an endless darkness, a fear of the unknown. Eventually, I didn’t even want to wake up anymore.”

“Hm…”

“What exactly are you curious about?”

“I’m planning to seal all humans on Earth.”

I gave a brief explanation of the conflict with Zeus and my response.

“Sealing all 7 billion people… is that even possible?”

“It’s totally doable. The only issue is how long it’ll take before I can release them again.”

“It could take years… or even decades, centuries…”

“Yes. In the worst case, we have to prepare for that.”

My father thought quietly after hearing that.

He shook his head.

“A few years, maybe. But decades or centuries… I couldn’t handle that.”

“I figured as much.”

[Unless you stop time in that region…]

“So time does pass inside the inventory, huh.”

[Because it's linked to the user.]

Hmph.

Unlike the sealing stones used for gods, soul stones can be stored in an inventory.

I was planning to store all of humanity there…

But if that means the information engraved in their souls fades away, then that’s a problem.

“If the information in their souls disappears… they’ll just become SP.”

[The structure of soul stones is fundamentally similar to the sealing stones we use for gods, right?]

"That's right."

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

[In that case, only someone close to S-rank would be able to endure an environment like that of the Sealing Stone. The only reason your father could withstand it was because he had awakened to nearly A-rank. Most human souls wouldn’t survive such conditions.]

Well, that’s a problem.

I thought I could just seal them, but it's not that simple.

I gently touched the soul and fell into thought.

There has to be a way…

I’m the God of Souls.

If I can’t figure this much out, that’s just pathetic.

Yeah.

Let’s give it a try.

“If information disappears, we just need to back it up.”

Even the smallest soul contains an immense amount of information...

But the God of Souls can compress that information.

“Extract information. Compress.”

When I gave the command to the soul in the Soul Stone, the information in the soul was extracted and compressed into a single point.

If I attach this compressed information back to the original soul, it should be able to last a long time...

“But even this isn’t enough.”

Even the compressed information will eventually fade over time.

This method only slows down that process by a factor of 100, maybe even 1,000.

If this fight with Zeus becomes a long war, eventually, all human souls would be wiped clean.

If only time could stop in this state, maybe it would be possible...

“Jiho-nim. Is everything going well? Oh my, and this gentleman is…?”

“This is my father.”

“Your father? The father of the God of Souls...”

Elprian had returned to the spirit realm where I was.

When she saw my father, her eyes sparkled.

My father glanced away, clearly flustered.

I could even feel his heart pounding from here.

Well, Elprian is the goddess of elves—she's quite beautiful.

“Sir, you’ve raised a truly wonderful son.”

“Th… thank you.”

“Um, if it’s not too rude, may I ask you a question?”

“No, not at all… I’d be happy to answer.”

A smile appeared on his lips without him realizing it, his expression goofy.

Dad wasn’t the kind of guy to get flustered by a pretty face...

Maybe reaching high-rank makes you soft.

“Does the God of Souls perhaps have a mysterious origin?”

“Mysterious origin?”

“Like maybe you’re descended from a great hero or something...?”

“I’ve never heard anything like that. Our family is part of the Andong Kim clan… but honestly, back in the day, it wasn’t rare for servants to buy their way into family registries.”

Whoa.

I might be descended from servants?

“I see… well, I guess lineage doesn’t matter. You must’ve made your mark after you were born.”

She glanced at me, then my dad shook his head.

“Not really. He was an ordinary kid. Average grades. Average at sports. Average at everything. Not especially good, but not bad either.”

“Oh…”

“He was just a completely normal child... I honestly don’t know how he ended up as this grand God of Souls.”

“Nothing special on Mom’s side either?”

“Nope. She was ordinary too. Except for the part where she ran off after having an affair.”

Right…

That was our family.

Aside from Mom taking off, it was a completely unremarkable household.

So all of this happened by chance?

My stats were all the same… 3/3/3.

Minimum, but equal across the board?

Too rare to be just coincidence, but Dad really didn’t seem to know anything more.

“I see… thank you so much for sharing.”

Elprian bowed politely to my father.

He returned the bow with a smile he couldn’t hide.

He just can’t stop smiling when he looks at Elprian.

He smiles more at her than he ever did at me.

But that smile didn’t last long.

Turning to me, Dad’s face grew serious.

“Jiho.”

“Yes?”

“What will you do now? I suppose I’ll need to be sealed again, right?”

“No, come on, you’ve barely just come back to life. You should enjoy your time on Earth.”

“But Zeus, your enemy, could attack at any moment. If I were to be taken hostage, I’d only get in your way. I can’t let that happen.”

“Dad, please. I’ll support you in every way. You should enjoy your life on Earth. Your son practically runs the place now. I can give you anything—money, power, whatever you want.”

Since the leaders of Earth have agreed to follow me…

It would be easy to ensure my father’s comfort.

Sealing him up again immediately just feels too cruel.

“Or… do you want to push for S-rank? I’ve got plenty of SP to spare.”

“What if something goes wrong? Just seal me again. That would give me peace of mind.”

No matter how much I tried to persuade him, he wouldn’t budge.

Ah…

Now that I see it, I remember.

Dad’s always been stubborn.

And his years as a public official made him extremely safety-conscious.

Being sealed again is simply the safest option in his eyes.

This is tough…

Revived him only to seal him again?

That feels wrong.

“Jiho-nim, I’d also like to better understand the situation…”

Elprian, who had been listening from the side, spoke up with interest.

When I told her I was planning to put all the humans into Soul Stones for evacuation, she listened with a fascinated look.

“I’ve got a method more or less worked out. But I’d prefer to store them in a place where time is frozen. That part’s tricky.”

“A space where time is frozen? Not entirely stopped, but… there is a place that might be perfect.”

“There is? Where?”

She smiled and pointed at the ground.

“Right here. The Spirit Realm. Time flows very slowly here.”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]