Chapter 230

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 230: Administrator Privileges (1)

A system window without any message.

Except for the green border, it was an empty transparent frame.

Should I wait a bit for a message to appear?

With that thought, I stared at the system window for a while, but no text appeared.

“Should I touch it?”

I brought my finger close to the blank space.

Then my hand was sucked in.

“…?”

I waved my hand inside—it was completely hollow.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Suddenly, a sound came from the empty system window.

A flashing white light accompanied by warning sounds.

Buzz. Buzz.

A tingling sensation spread through my hand.

It felt like static electricity.

- Administrator privileges confirmed.

Administrator privileges?

After the emotionless voice, the light ceased.

The system window became transparent again.

Whoosh. Whoosh.

I could now move my hand in and out freely.

Previously, the static-like interference had blocked it, but now it was unrestricted.

“What’s inside this thing?”

I scattered some SP to explore the interior.

Then a space filled with red light became visible.

A completely empty space, aside from the light.

“Hmm…”

“Jiho… what just happened?”

My father asked, looking shocked.

He couldn’t see my system window, so it probably looked like I was punching the air.

“Hoo. Father. Thanks to you, I survived.”

That so-called EX-rank divine tool… rather than aiding its wielder, it tried to completely erase the human Kim Jiho.

If it had succeeded in altering Father’s soul form as it intended, there would’ve been no going back.

“What on earth happened?”

“The divine tool tried to erase my will.”

The neutral EX-rank divine tool, ‘Soul Sword’.

It’s a pity the growth authority is gone, but what’s more important is that I still exist.

Even though I shattered the system window…

Could it still be around?

I checked my inventory.

The black stick I used as the Soul Sword.

Now evolved into an EX-rank divine tool and absorbed by me, it lay in one slot of my inventory.

When I took it out, a new message window appeared:

[Destroyed Terminal: ‘Soul Sword’]

[Restoration is impossible.]

A terminal, and it's beyond recovery...

Why is it labeled as a "terminal"?

I examined what used to be the Soul Sword more closely, and saw some writing engraved on one side.

[What has changed cannot be reversed. Abandon your humanity.]

A phrase seemingly written just for me.

Even in its broken state, it tries to lecture me.

Still, "what has changed cannot be reversed"…

I turned my awareness back to Earth.

The chaos sparked by the Greek incident was escalating.

[The Greece region is no longer visible via satellite. All communications have been cut off.]

[A South Korean passenger flight passing near Greece also…]

[Multiple reports claim to have heard Zeus’s voice in the area around Greece.]

The chaos that began in Greece.

In that short time, Zeus had used his authority again, killing another ten million.

The global population is 7 billion…

If he uses his power 700 more times, everyone will be dead.

At this rate, humanity could be wiped out in under a week.

I created a clone and stepped into the streets.

The streets were abuzz with speculation about the news from Greece.

The incident was still fresh, so full-blown panic hadn’t set in yet, but that was only a matter of time.

“What’s going on?”

“I saw on the internet that Zeus declared he would wipe out humanity.”

“Come on. You believe the internet? That’s just fake news.”

“What are the other gods doing? Just letting this happen?”

People gathered in groups, discussing the incident.

Their faces were filled with concern and worry.

And my feelings as I watched them…

“Haven’t changed at all.”

People filled with fake souls.

Just like before, they didn’t seem like real humans to me without genuine souls.

I didn’t feel like exploiting them to grow stronger, but…

My view of humanity had completely changed.

“Are you fully back now? But why is your hand missing?”

My father's voice echoed from the spirit realm.

I returned my consciousness and saw him looking at me worriedly.

He still looked like my father, though…

“Well, I’m fine now. I just needed to check something with my hand…”

I demonstrated by putting my arm in and out, showing that everything was normal, and he looked relieved.

No need to tell him that my altered perspective hadn’t returned to normal.

No reason to worry him needlessly.

“That’s good, then.”

“Yes. I’ll just take a look inside here for a bit.”

After reassuring him, I returned to inspecting the system window.

The space inside was larger than I imagined.

The SP emitted from my hand wasn’t enough to grasp its full extent.

This won’t be enough.

“Clone creation.”

I tried to create a clone inside the system space.

SP was consumed—only to return again.

The clone had been canceled?

- Only the original with administrator privileges may enter.

Only the original, huh?

That made me hesitate, but my curiosity about the empty system interior outweighed my concern.

“Well, I still have two other originals…”

I was already operating multiple bodies to aid in my personal development.

Me entering here wouldn’t be a big deal.

I didn’t use the main body to fight Zeus out of fear he might absorb it…

But this system didn’t seem as threatening as Zeus.

The whole "administrator privileges" thing made it seem more cooperative than hostile.

“I’ll be back soon. Carry on without me.”

“Huh… where are you going?”

I said that to my father and the apostolic gods, then shrunk my body and entered the empty system window.

- Administrator privileges confirmed.

This time, I entered without much interference.

I stepped inside and returned to my original size.

Then I look around...

Only an endless, crimson-lit space revealed itself.

Whirrrrrr.

As soon as my body fully entered, the empty system window quietly shut.

“What? It closed?”

Now that I’ve come into this space, I understand.

This place is on a completely different level, where skills like my return ability don’t work at all.

It looks like the only way out is through that door.

-Use administrator privileges to open the door.

How do you even use administrator privileges?

Is this a computer?

At times like this, maybe a divine command…

“Open the door.”

-Invalid command.

“Open system window.”

-Invalid command.

“Summon Soul Sword.”

-Invalid command.

“Display EX-class neutral divine relic, status window.”

-Invalid command.

Damn.

Nothing works.

At least it’s not trying to devour me or anything.

“Let’s check things out first.”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

I thoroughly examined the crimson space.

I didn’t feel it when I reached out with my energy, but a tremendous amount of SP was circulating inside.

To the naked eye, it’s just light, but following the SP flow, it’s intricately and densely intertwined.

Where exactly is all this SP going?

“It’s gathering over there the most.”

Looking around, I head toward where the SP concentration is highest.

I go at full speed, but the target is farther than expected.

Just when I think I’m almost there, the distance stretches again.

[Insufficient SP.]

Had it been tens of minutes?

Suddenly, a system window pops up.

I hadn’t even moved around that much, but my SP had rapidly drained.

No way—I packed it to the limit, so I should have over 50 trillion...

Checking my SP balance, I see that trillions of SP have vanished in the blink of an eye.

What the hell?

Why is so much draining?

Just from moving my soul?

If I run out of SP, this could get bad.

“Withdraw SP from account.”

I opened my account to recharge SP.

[Would you like to withdraw SP?]

Thankfully, the account opened.

I withdrew 30 trillion SP for now and continued forward.

While closely observing the SP flow…

I realized this crimson space has been quietly draining my SP.

The SP flow was so massive, I hadn’t noticed mine getting siphoned off—like trying to see a lightbulb flicker next to the sun.

But if I can’t even notice my SP disappearing when it’s in the trillions...

How vast is this SP flow?

To stop the drain, I come up with a countermeasure.

“Soul Barrier.”

Then a voice echoes in my ear.

-Using Soul Barrier will halt your understanding of the ‘Administrator Space.’

-Without sufficient understanding, ‘modification’ is not possible.

Modification?

I don’t quite get what it’s trying to say…

But seeing this massive SP flow, it feels like understanding this space is crucial.

“Disable barrier.”

As soon as I deactivate the barrier, my SP started being drained again.

The 30 trillion is gone in less than ten minutes.

Withdraw again, and again...

After maybe over a hundred withdrawals?

As my SP kept vanishing, eventually a voice sounded.

-You have partially understood the ‘Administrator Space.’

-‘Modification’ is now possible.

-You currently have 1 available ‘modification right.’

With that voice, the world changes.

Above the crimson light, windows begin to appear.

“These... are system windows?”

The same system windows I always saw after my awakening.

Status, skills, rankings—all displayed in windows densely scattered around me.

Wow...

[Awakened: James. Rank C.]

[Awakened: Shaolin. Rank D.]

[Awakened: Hwang Inseok. Rank E.]

Names and ranks listed.

Clicking them reveals detailed abilities.

These names… they all sound like Earthlings?

Following the massive SP flow, I keep examining the status windows.

A massive cluster of status windows belonging to Earthlings.

But once I pass that area, all the status windows disappear.

Only occasionally, I see scattered ones like…

[Awakened: Lehigel. Rank D. Incomplete.]

[Awakened: Aliasson. Rank D. Incomplete.]

All tagged as “incomplete.”

I wasn’t planning on modifying anything, so I passed by...

[Awakened: Kang Shia. Rank C. Incomplete.]

Even the name of Kang Shia from Earth showed up.

This status window... definitely from an Earthling.

That earlier cluster—was it because I isolated them with soul stones?

These must be the status windows of those still on Earth.

The low number likely means only those who developed their own soul from false souls are counted.

[Insufficient SP.]

Another SP depletion warning appeared.

Over 5,000 trillion SP already drained.

The remaining balance is in the early 900 quadrillion range.

An absurd amount spent, but...

In this space, it’s worth using SP.

As I keep recharging SP and progressing, now even the gods begin to appear.

Starting with lesser gods with all sorts of names...

[High God: Indra.]

[High God: Asura.]

[High God: Thor.]

[High God: Artemis.]

Even the High Gods I’ve met start appearing in system windows.

When I tapped on Artemis’s status window, it displayed everything from her stats to her current state: “High God – Kim Jiho.”

It’s definitely the Artemis.

—Would you like to edit the status window of High God Artemis? As an SSS-rank High God, this will require one edit authorization.

While I was browsing through Artemis’s status window, a voice suddenly rang out.

I spent an absurd amount of SP—trillions of units—to obtain this edit authorization.

Using it here feels like a waste.

“No. Forget it.”

I gave up using the edit right and decided to follow the flow of SP.

“We’re almost there.”

How much SP have I used to get this far?

That aside, as the SP density thickens, I can now only see the status windows of Earth’s High Gods…

The closer I get to the target location, the more only high-tier status windows are revealed.

[High God Odin.]

There was Odin, the top figure of Asgard.

[High God Michael.]

Michael, who must have gone to Yahweh’s realm, still had a status window lingering here.

I can’t help but wonder whose it’ll be at the final destination.

If the trend continues with stronger and stronger beings showing up…

Don’t tell me—Zeus?

“If the Creator himself can be edited, that would be insane.”

I haven’t used the edit even once yet…

If I could empty my entire SP balance and, say, change the High God designation to myself—wouldn’t Zeus be done for?

With such hopeful thoughts, I finally reached the target point.

[Creator Zeus]

A massive concentration of SP was gathering at the target location.

And nearby, the status window of Creator Zeus lay there.

But even as I saw it, I couldn’t move a muscle.

“What… is that?”

There was a massive statue.

Two arms, two legs, and a torso.

A body shaped like that of a human.

But its size was overwhelming.

My current body wasn’t even as big as one of its claws…

I had to drastically expand my vision just to barely take in a portion of this immense form.

But no matter how wide I tried to see, I couldn’t glimpse anything above the torso.

“How is it this huge?”

A massive amount of SP was being sucked into the left arm of the giant figure.

And then it cycled out from the left arm again, circulating SP.

Now that I noticed… this massive figure.

While the rest of the body was a dull gray, the left arm shimmered with a red glow.

Wait.

There were other spots that glowed faintly too.

Oh…

Right.

The enormous claw in front of me.

From that claw, a blue light was shining.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]