Chapter 331 – The Hundred Gods Temple (1)
“Hey, why didn’t you return Lee Jun-seok’s item?”
“Huh……? Huh?”
Hochi suddenly asked about Lee Jun-seok’s item.
What item?
“Before, when Lee Jun-seok cleared the Tutorial, he said he gave you an item.”
Oh, I remember.
When I persuaded Lee Jun-seok to go outside, Lee Jun-seok sent me all the items he had collected.
From miscellaneous items, such as a growth journal, to equipment that were used as core items.
It was an inevitable choice because he couldn’t take anything outside the Tutorial.
Of course, in my case, I am free to use my inventory even outside of the Tutorial.
“The items, they should still be in your inventory.”
… Not really.
“Give it quickly. Hey, he says he really needs those items.”
I’m in trouble.
Hochi asked this as soon as we met, so Lee Jun-Seok must have asked him to do this in advance.
Lee Jun-seok must have been really desperate, so I can understand.
He only developed his skills up to the point where he felt powerful.
The problem is that he lacks the ability to reliably maintain that power.
Naturally, he had to accept a certain amount of risk every time he used his power, and because he couldn’t control it, any technique that allowed him to focus his force on a single point or limit its range was a dream come true.
He was both a glass cannon that couldn’t even handle his own strength, and a human bomb that deals hard hits and then explodes.
Lee Jun Seok was mumbling next to Hochi.
By looking at his brightly red face, it was easy to see how much he was looking forward to it.
But the problem was…
[I already distributed them to the communities.]
The items Lee Junseok needs were probably the core items he used as main weapons.
He probably wouldn’t bother about the other items such as the journals, the accessories, or the potions.
But those core items… were already given out to the communities..
On a first come first serve basis.
Of course the whereabouts of those items… I had no idea.
[… Are you crazy? Why would you give out stuff that other people have entrusted to you!?]
Hochi admonished me.
I had nothing to say.
“Junseok.”
“Yes, hyung.”
“The way I see it……”
I had no choice but to sell my medicine.
I felt really sorry for Lee Junseok.
“You don’t need an item. Even if you solve your problem with an item now, you’ll just rely on that item again. The priority is to grow yourself and overcome your problems.”
I was just spouting a bunch of nonsense.
If you can overcome weaknesses with items, then you can overcome them.
It was a phrase that I would say in the past, when I was paranoid about trying to get rid of my weaknesses.
Of course, for Lee Jun-seok, who knew me in the past, he would have nodded with an ‘ah, I knew it’.
“But, hyung… I can’t even train properly on Earth. I have no one to test my strength against. If I do something wrong, then there would be a risk of damage…..”
Good point.
Damn it.
I thought of a quick way out.
“Then, you can train somewhere else, not on Earth.”
“Somewhere else?”
I nodded.
If training on Earth was difficult, then it would be ideal to send him to another place.
[Quest window]
[God of Death – Thanatos’ Purification]
Description: The God of Death wants to purify Thanatos, which has been contaminated with a continuous regression.
Thanatos was completely contaminated, since it was a place where experiments were conducted to artificially create numerous perfectors.
There, the deceased eats the deceased, and the eaten is reborn and eats the deceased who ate him.
It was an endless loop of predation, and at the same time, it was a cycle of immortality.
Thanatos is a common area of the Hundred Gods Temple, but it is a place where the influence of the God of Death was strong in the past.
The God of Death wants to purify Thanatos and restore its past.
Destroy all the dead that exist in Thanatos.
Thanatos’s dead aren’t very dangerous by normal standards.
However, the conditions for intervention are difficult due to the fact that it is an abandoned planet that remains a common area of the Hundred Gods Temple.
The God of Death presented a challenger with countless powers, but the challenger of course, did not choose the God of Death (ahahaha), so he eventually asked for the purification of Thanatos through a quest.
Let’s just ignore the ‘Ahahaha’ but focus on the God of Death in the middle.
It is said that this quest window was created by Kirikiri herself, not by the Hundred Gods’ Temple system.
In any case, Thanatos seems to be a suitable place to send Lee Jun-seok.
What the God of Death wanted in the first place was not a request for me, a God.
It was just a request to ask of an ordinary apostle.
The problem is that the God of Death could not secure an apostle through the Tutorial.
I thought Lee Jun-seok could do this kind of quest.
Since it is an abandoned planet, there is no need to worry about damage to the surrounding area while killing the dead.
I suggested it while informing Lee Jun-seok of the quest.
“If it’s such a place, then you can practice as much as you want. Secondly, quests are an opportunity to try to use your strength as much as you want.”
At the same time, I was too lazy to do the quest myself.
Of course, the quest should be done by me, but to be honest, connecting the 60th floor to the portal was more urgent than that.
“If you do this well and show significant growth, then I will create a new item as a reward. Something fancy.”
I bet it would be a much better item than what Lee Jun-seok entrusted to me.
“How about that, can you do it?”
“Yes.”
Lee Jun-seok, who was worried for a while, answered.
It was a relief.
“I’ve seen Thanatos’ dead on the 93rd floor. It might not be easy to kill all the dead on the planet,but I can’t afford to miss the opportunity to work hard and grow.”
Fortunately, Lee Jun-seok seems to have experienced Thanatos in the Tutorial.
Lee Jun-seok smiled as if he was glad that he had the opportunity to train rather than the difficulty of the mission.
As expected, the effort to reach level 201 was enough.
“Yes, it might be dangerous, so I’ll send Yong-yong with you at first.”
Lee Jun-seok did not start immediately.
Since he just got back from Japan, he said that he would stop by his house and visit his family first.
I didn’t know how long it would take, so I told him to take a break.
After Lee Jun-seok was sent away, Hochi’s eyes were sparkling.
Did it seem fun to get a quest from me?
I asked Hochi to visit the cult in Gangwon-do and meet them.
I plan to use it as a rehearsal before I entrust the believers of the God of Hope to him..
“They think I’m a phantom, but I’m a real god. It would be enough to correct that misconception and inspire the believers. Can you do it?”
“Of course.”
Hochi’s answer was confident.
* * *
It was a place where the soft touch of grass was laid on the floor.
The warm light and the dirt that was neither loose nor damp.
It was an environment that anyone could refer to as a beautiful field.
Anyone would have called it so, if not for the huge wall that was visible in the horizon and the ceiling blocking the clouds above.
The walls and ceilings of unrealistic dimensions indicated that this place was indoors rather than outdoors.
Kirikiri liked this place.
Her favorite place was usually a field or a mountain where the energy of life was widespread and open.
So she had to control her expression in the presence of her visitor.
Kirikiri liked this room the most inside the Hundred Gods’ Temple.
It was her room, and it was designed to best suit her taste.
“What do you think?”
Asked the God of Balance who came to Kirikiri’s room.
Kirikiri didn’t answer right away and scratched her nose.
She had no choice but to.
Kirikiri had not yet chosen.
“I’m not asking you to judge.”
“Then?”
“I just…….”
“I’m curious what you’re thinking.”
There was a voice that cut off the God of Balance.
It was a voice of a woman who was gentle and soft but at the same time cold and sharp.
The ears of the fox, not the rabbit’s ears, were visible, and several tails fluttered behind the back.
“God of Sacrifice.”
“I know it’s difficult to make a judgment right away. I just want to hear what you are thinking, and we just want to understand the situation a little more.”
Kirikiri found it difficult to keep silent at the words of the God of Sacrifice.
“He will eventually collide with the gods, for whatever reason.”
It was a natural story.
She made a quest window for him herself, but it was only a drag in the end.
The Gods of the Hundred Gods Temple agreed to the conditions given by Kirikiri.
By a majority vote.
Each one will present a quest, and when Lee Ho-jae clears all of them, the Tutorial will be handed over to him.
The gods knew.
Some gods will not give up their rights to the Tutorial, no matter what conditions Lee Ho-jae has cleared.
So she found out that it was virtually impossible to transfer the Tutorial through the quest.
For them, the quest given to Lee Ho-jae was not a transaction in exchange for the Tutorial, but only to deceive him and make him finish quests for free.
“He knows. Actually, the quests don’t mean much.”
“Is that so? He tolerated the survival of the God of Hope because of the quest. Unwillingly endured with the God of Duel. Then, he even made a deal with the God of Balance.”
The God of Sacrifice disagrees with Kirikiri’s predictions.
“No, I’m sure.”
“Can you tell me why?”
Prior to answering, Kirikiri drew pictures like scribbles on the ground.
It was a really, really old habit.
As old as the very long time that she has existed for.
The God of Balance and the God of Sacrifice knew her habits, so they waited silently for Kirikiri to finish her scribbling.
“If the quests were really important, he would have already cleared most of them. Moving quickly. He can’t afford to go wrong with the goal in front of him.”
Lee Ho-jae had done little since he came to Earth.
He organizes his surroundings a little and gives the group of people who came to Earth experience to adapt to Earth.
And he is dedicated to connecting the 60th floor of the Tutorial.
Although he clashed with the God of Hope previously, he did not take the offensive until the God of Hope blatantly attacked him first.
The meaning of the connection with the 60th and 61st floors was clear.
To facilitate the supply of divine power and to retrieve the hidden powers from the 60th and 61st floors.
His current strength was enough to clear the quests specified in the quest window immediately.
Clearly, Lee Ho-jae was preparing more than the strength required to clear the quest.
“It may be because he just likes to be connected with his holy place,” said the God of Sacrifice.
Kirikiri disagreed.
If she knew Lee Ho-jae, then she wouldn’t be so relaxed.
No matter how much time has passed, he has changed a lot.
“In the end, rather than doing all of the gods’ favors, I know that some gods must succumb by force like the God of Hope.”
“Huh, that’s where you get into trouble, isn’t it? Which one will win. No, it seems like it’s a question of which side will win the Hundred Gods’ Temple.”
Lee Ho-jae’s power has not yet been revealed.
When he fought with the God of Hope, most of the Hundred Gods simply watched the fight happily.
It was the collision they wanted.
The God of Hope, who had been eating away the Hundred Gods by twisting the rules, was treated as a work by many gods.
However, as the result of the conflict was revealed to be Lee Ho-jae’s one-sided victory, the attitudes of the gods changed rapidly.
It was because of Lee Ho-jae’s special existence.
He did not twist the rules like the God of Hope, but existed outside the rules altogether.
It wasn’t strange that the gods became wary.
Right now, there were discussions and voting that Lee Hojae should be included in the Hundred Gods Temple, at least in the Pantheon.
The claim that he must be forced to belong to the temple may soon become a reality.
If so, depending on the timing, regardless of the Tutorial, he and the gods of the Hundred Gods will face each other eventually.
“I haven’t yet decided which side to help or in which direction to lead the situation.”
Kirikiri answered.
The God of Sacrifice smiled and said,
“Thank you for the explanation. Whichever you choose, know that I will agree with you.”
“Do you believe in my choice?”
At Kirikiri’s question, the God of Sacrifice shrugged.
“Then I have to believe. Sacrifice is inevitable for everything, but I hate being on the side of being sacrificed. It’s natural to always stick to your side on the other side”
“I will follow your choice. You have always chosen the direction to end chaos.”
Following the God of Sacrifice, the God of Balance also expressed his will.
After the talk, the two left Kirikiri’s room.
Kirikiri, who was alone again, ran across the field, jumping.
After running around like that for a long time, Kirikiri’s mood was a little refreshed.
“What’s really going to happen?”
Kirikiri was more concerned about the future than the clash between several Gods and Lee Ho-jae.
When he defeats all the opposition of the gods and obtains the Tutorial. When he finally achieves his long-cherished goal.
She was worried about the future after that.
“Hoooojaaaeeee.”
Kirikiri, muttering his name to herself, giggled for a moment and laughed.
Never in her dream that a human with this strange name would grow up to this point.
And she didn’t dare to guess what was to come.
She looked up at the sky, trying to ignore the ceiling beyond it.
What was the God of Slowness thinking?
How far was the god who proves the existence of time in the universe itself looking?
She didn’t know.
She cannot foresee the future nor engage in causality.
It was just a wish.
She couldn’t get a glimpse of the consequences before the adventure began.
