Secluded Training
"It's been a while here too."
Kim Jihun gazed at the massive castle ahead and smiled. It was a grand, beautiful fortress. The emerald walls sparkled under the warm sunlight pouring from the sky. A subtle sheen flowed over the white exterior, and behind the castle, gentle light rippled calmly. This was the enormous castle he had painstakingly crafted while practicing material creation in the past—his personal hideout. It stood in none other than Kim Jihun's Subspace.
Right now, Kim Jihun was inside his subspace. He needed a place to train, and for honing his divine power and Creation Force, a vast and secluded space was essential. Of course, finding such a spot on Earth in reality was no easy task—especially since he lived in a city. But he had a ring imbued with a subspace.
Spare Space: 1010 km³
Usage: Infuse Creation Force
This was the very ring Asrie had given him as a quest reward. Thanks to it, Kim Jihun hadn't struggled to find a training space.
Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind.
'Come to think of it, everything Asrie gave me as rewards was exactly what I needed.'
All the artifacts from Asrie were things he truly needed and used effectively. Without them, his growth would have taken far longer. For that reason, Kim Jihun felt grateful toward her.
'Thanks, Asrie.'
He knew she was genuinely looking out for him. Sure, she occasionally swiped his cola, which was annoying, but hadn't she guided him all this way? Deep down, he was thankful. If he hadn't met her with the Creator God Manual that day, he wouldn't have grown this fast.
"...Alright. Let's get started."
Shaking off the stray thoughts, he began gathering his divine power.
...
"Where the hell is Kim Jihun?"
Leila glanced at the empty seat beside her. No one was there. The guy who usually competed with her, pouring out his divine power to the max, was gone.
She muttered in a grumpy tone.
"Hmph, skipping school now? What an idiot!"
She was annoyed with him. Even she, a direct descendant of a high creation god, showed up every day without fail. How dare a mortal-born like him skip out!
But deep down, she was a little worried.
'He's not the type to just ditch school...'
Leila knew Kim Jihun's personality well. A bit pathetic on the surface, but behind the scenes, he worked harder than anyone—an effort-driven guy. He'd piled up countless efforts to reach this point. In the entire history of the universe, no mortal had ever become a god. Yet Kim Jihun had ascended to low-level god on his own and was now boldly rivaling her. It must have taken insane effort and passion.
For such a guy to miss school, there had to be a reason. That's why Leila was concerned.
'Did something happen?'
She stared worriedly at the empty seat beside her.
'The promotion match is next week, and he doesn't show... Huh?'
While eyeing his empty spot, she spotted his belongings. His notebook, worn to shreds from a month's worth of frantic note-taking, had fallen under his desk.
She picked it up.
"Dropped it on his way out? So careless."
She lifted the notebook and placed it on his desk so he'd find it when he returned. But her eyes kept drifting back to it involuntarily.
'I wonder what's inside.'
Kim Jihun had shown her his notes a few times before. But it was rare, and mostly she'd just watched him scribble away beside her. Now, curiosity about his notebook bubbled up.
'Should I take a peek?'
It was a strange feeling, like sneaking a look at someone else's diary—especially his constant companion.
Leila felt an inexplicable thrill as she opened Kim Jihun's notebook and read.
And then she saw it.
"What the...?"
The pages were filled with Kim Jihun's various memos. Her eyes widened.
...
"Hoo..."
Kim Jihun took a deep breath. Then he gathered his divine power. A bluish divine energy slowly rose from his body. He was boiling up the dormant power within him.
After building it up for a while, he unleashed it.
"Hup!"
The space trembled.
-Kuuuung...!
It shook a portion of the subspace. Having released all his divine power at once, the impact was tremendous.
He was training to increase his total divine power reserves.
"Hah, this is pathetic with such weak divine power."
As mentioned before, Kim Jihun's divine power was laughably low compared to other low-level gods. Simply put, if an average low-level god had 10 units, he had about 1. Sure, his control over it was far superior, but in battle, raw quantity mattered immensely—it dictated firepower and endurance.
That's why he was training to build it up.
But he was disappointed.
"The accumulation speed is too damn slow."
His divine power gathered agonizingly slowly. There were two main ways to increase it: consuming divine power essence or training.
Divine power essence was ultra-pure divine power condensed into a solid form. Incredibly dense and pure, it explosively boosted a god's divinity upon ingestion. Gods contributed bits of their power to create it, making it rare and hard to obtain.
For Kim Jihun now, winning the promotion match was likely his only shot at it.
So, his only option was training. The method to expand total reserves was straightforward: release everything until empty, then recover naturally. The recovery process slightly increased capacity. That was training-based growth.
Kim Jihun was diligently putting in the work.
"Hoo... Hoo..."
He caught his ragged breath and sat for meditation. Soon, his divine power began recovering slowly.
As it did, he pondered.
'Should I tap into Creation Force?'
Godly combat was deceptively simple: the one who hit harder won. Their most effective weapon wasn't artifacts or bodies, but divine power itself—the power to affect all things at will. Landing it on an enemy shredded their body. If hit yourself, divine power could heal it.
Thus, in god battles, divine power was absolute.
'My control is decent, at least...'
Quantity alone didn't guarantee victory; you had to land it. Control was just as crucial. But in a deathmatch, raw power reigned supreme.
'Of all things, a deathmatch.'
Deathmatch: the last three standing claimed all victory spoils.
If it were a 1v1 tournament or a creation contest using Creation Force, Kim Jihun wouldn't be this troubled. But alas, this was low-level school stage. Even with creation talent, low-level gods didn't do full creations yet—it demanded massive computational power beyond their grasp.
Thus, low-level promotion was a simple deathmatch, leaving Kim Jihun dissatisfied.
'I'm a creation god candidate—why fight with divine power instead of Creation Force?'
From other low-level gods' view, Kim Jihun flaunting Creation Force already made him the weirdo. Anyway, he was brainstorming solutions.
Ultimately, he decided to leverage his strengths.
"My divine power sucks compared to other low-level gods, but not my Creation Force."
Divine power: 1:10 ratio. Creation Force: overwhelmingly superior, about 1:100. He could match mid-level gods in basic material creation.
So, he resolved.
"I need to use Creation Force in battle."
He began stirring his Creation Force.
...
"He didn't show again?!"
Leila stared at her side with disbelief. Predictably, just an empty seat.
She was pissed.
"Why keeps skipping?!"
Four days straight now. Kim Jihun hadn't appeared. It frustrated her.
Why? Because without him, things got inconvenient.
"Leila? Excuse me, could you explain this part?"
"Leila, care to study together?"
"I'm a direct descendant of mid-level creation god Kart. Visit my realm? You won't regret it."
A horde of male low-level gods swarmed her.
'It was peaceful with Kim Jihun around.'
She missed his presence. They'd stuck together so long, and with his mortal background making him subtly ostracized, others kept their distance. But four days absent, and these pests buzzed in.
Leila shot them all down coldly.
"Annoying. No."
"I'll study alone. Scram."
"Figure it out yourself."
She rebuffed them harshly. Still, they persisted, hoping. It was exhausting.
'These nobodies!'
The suitors were all mediocre. Even the mid-level descendant had low skill but inflated ego. She didn't even want to talk to them.
'Just you wait, Kim Jihun.'
Her irritation turned on him. This hassle was his fault for skipping.
"I'll see you at the promotion match."
She muttered angrily. On the day, she planned to thrash him thoroughly.
The promotion match is coming soon. Next chapter this afternoon!