Chapter 96: Proving One’s Qualification
Chapter 96: Proving One’s Qualification
The Herald of Cataclysmic Genesis.
The god of unwavering lies and purposeless transformation.
The current chief deity of the Evil God faction and the most powerful Evil God with a staggering one thousand followers.
Okail.
《The Wise One sighs bitterly. I suppose the time for this has finally come…》
Chiririri.
Lidni and Sue’je accepted faith toward the new deity without raising any particular objections.
Since he was the chief deity of the Evil God faction, it seemed they had already expected that someday they would serve Okail.
Wriggle—!
Meanwhile, the snake tattoo, the terminal of the Silent One, was spinning violently along the Hand That Grips the Spark while staging an intense protest.
In a way, the reaction was natural.
The former chief deity of the Evil God faction, Leria, had fallen during the era of the Great Temple due to relentless heretic purges. Taking advantage of that opportunity, the Evil God who surged upward with terrifying momentum was none other than Okail.
—Saaak!
It even opened its mouth wide and threatened me, but since the tattoo was still so small, it only looked adorable.
“Please calm down and listen to me first.”
I placed Okail’s idol in the middle of the ritual basement in our house and continued.
“I understand Lady Leria’s feelings very well. After all, I’m something of an empathy specialist, am I not?”
《Did you perhaps mean destroyer of empathy…?》
Swoosh.
“Still, please think about it a little more carefully. In the first place, I can’t become Lord Okail’s trusted subordinate anyway. He won’t grant me great Mysteries either. After all, he already has dozens of active cultists, doesn’t he?”
Lidni, Sue’je, and Leria.
Those three great deities each had fewer than a hundred followers, and cultists among them were nearly extinct.
In Pletika, I had been their only cultist.
But the chief deity of the Evil God faction had many other cultists to care about, so unlike the others, he probably wouldn’t keep watching me.
“In the first place, he probably wouldn’t like me very much. He’s extremely solemn and serious in all things. Because of my faith in Lidni, I constantly play pranks on people around me. Someone like me wouldn’t appeal to him.”
《Using rhetoric for pranks! Is not! The form of faith life! That the Wise One desires!!》
Scratch scratch.
“Leria, to be honest, the things I just mentioned aren’t that important. In my opinion, the key point is this.”
The snake tattoo’s eyes brightened.
—Saaak?
“Quite simply, Lord Okail will become the successor to the Kar-Love Evil God Association!”
After all, I knew Kar far earlier than he did!
Surely there wasn’t an Evil God who hadn’t seen Kar’s great performance at the Sanctuary of Restful Purification?
That meant I could show off that sort of prestige to the irritating Evil God who had snatched the position of chief deity.
When I explained it in detail with concrete examples, the snake tattoo’s eyes became even clearer.
“What do you think?”
The terminal of the Silent One nodded rapidly.
It seemed moved by my brilliant persuasion and had finally decided to accept it.
《As expected of one with “three followers,” so foolish. To be deceived by such a shallow trick simply because it allows you to boast!》
If someone feels happy, it isn’t deception.
That was a lesson a certain employer once taught directly through actions rather than words when he hired an orphan who had just left the orphanage and entered society.
Although that person later became half-paralyzed for unknown reasons, the lesson I learned at that time still remained vivid in my mind.
“Since Leria has understood as well, I will now begin the prayer to become a cultist of Cataclysmic Genesis.”
Simply becoming a believer required only sincere faith.
But to become a cultist, one had to satisfy the qualifications demanded by the Evil God.
Even if the class “Cultist” was engraved on one’s soul, if the Evil God rejected it, the person would live as nothing more than an ordinary powerless individual.
“O one who plunges the surface world into confusion with unwavering lies and ensures that the world never stagnates but continues to flow through purposeless transformation.”
I knelt and clasped my hands.
The prayer was recited with the utmost solemnity.
Okail despised frivolous and flippant intelligences to an extreme degree.
“I wish for the wit to lead destiny toward an unpredictable future. Please answer my call.”
Okail had no fixed form.
Thus his idols were all different shapes, and the prayers and doctrines varied completely across continents.
The key principle to remember was chaos.
Disorder where nothing could be determined.
“I respect you greatly. And… what do you think of my prosthetic arm? Isn’t it magnificent? Lord Okail is magnificent as well.”
After about five minutes like that.
As I prayed earnestly without stopping, my body and mind gradually began to soften.
My body, which always maintained a fixed shape, flowed like water.
My mind, which always stayed in the same place, scattered like wind.
【Half-Elf.】
Then—
A voice filled with a dignity incomparable to other Evil Gods echoed.
At that moment, the countless thoughts floating in my mind began mixing together chaotically.
Pierre, a Western Continent dwarf alchemist.
Guild wars are sweet.
The sigh of the Goblin Great Chieftain.
■■, I miss you.
【Purpose.】
The great deity’s voice rang again, and the storm of thoughts instantly calmed.
Focusing my mind as much as possible so my unstable body and spirit would not collapse, I spoke.
“…Greetings, Okail. I wish to become your cultist.”
Flattery didn’t work on Okail.
When offering prayers, omit meaningless praise and state the purpose directly.
When conducting rituals, eliminate all unnecessary formalities.
When granting Mysteries, match them strictly to the offering and the cultist’s level, regardless of affection or faith.
In short, he was a solemn Evil God who abandoned romance and pursued only practicality.
【Qualification. Confirming.】
He was so restrained that his divine messages rarely exceeded seven characters.
【If unsatisfactory. Depart.】
It almost sounded like a slightly foolish person speaking.
If I ever saw someone harbor such blasphemous thoughts, I would teach them a proper lesson.
Before the Herald of Cataclysmic Genesis could leave, I quickly spoke.
“As for qualifications, I have already proven them. Continuously.”
The cultist kneeling before the idol slowly raised his head.
“Greetings, Okail.”
At the same moment, a second Kar appeared from the staircase leading to the first floor and knelt on one knee.
“I am the real Half-Elf Kar. I hid here and prayed for five minutes. After Okail began looking this way, that fake spoke in my place.”
“That is incorrect. I am the real one. That one merely appeared after hiding.”
“You imposter! Withdraw immediately!”
“How dare a pretender shout at me!”
【……】
After a brief silence, the Herald of Cataclysmic Genesis delivered a careful oracle.
【Before the idol. Is it you.】
“Oh my. You thought I twisted the logic once more. The correct answer is that the second Kar, who prayed while hiding after twisting things eight more times, was actually me.”
The “Kar” before the idol who had impersonated the real one smiled brightly.
“And I am the terminal of the Wise One and a fragment of the Divine Beast—Eye That Whispers Falsehoods! Ta-da!”
The effect of Eye That Whispers Falsehoods.
It summons illusions that move according to my will within the range of my sight.
“Well, my job’s done. I’ll go back now.”
The Kar who had been praying melted away and was absorbed into my left eye.
Still bowing faithfully, I spoke again.
“I believe this satisfies the qualifications.”
Evaluation criteria for an aspiring cultist of Cataclysmic Genesis.
A deceptive trick capable of fooling someone.
I had deceived the Evil God interviewer himself, exploiting the fact that he had many cultists and believers to manage and thus wouldn’t pay full attention to me.
【…Acknowledged.】
Okail revealed both admiration and interest through his restrained oracle.
【Granting Mystery.】
A prickling pain appeared in my right thigh.
After turning the lower garment of Sky Invader into shorts to check, I saw a chain-pattern tattoo wrapping once around my white thigh.
《First-Tier Mystery – Transformation (Growth Type)》
《Allows alteration of one’s outward appearance. Only the form changes; the substance remains the same. Clothing is affected, but prosthetic limbs are not.》
The basic Mystery of a cultist of Cataclysmic Genesis.
True to someone who disliked useless embellishment, the Mystery’s name was extremely practical.
【Continuous faith. Desired.】
Leaving behind only a dry word of encouragement, Okail withdrew.
He didn’t even say anything about how to practice faith.
For now, I was merely one cultist among many.
“Okail truly is magnificent!”
Yes—this was how an Evil God should be.
A true Evil God should ignore cultists carelessly like this, then later demand both body and soul when help was needed.
《The faith Okail desires is transformation of the future and destiny without purpose. :)》
“Thank you.”
Now everything was ready.
As an experiment, I used Transformation to change my body and clothing before heading upstairs.
At the table in the living room, the siblings, the housemaid Rachel, and Bartimir—who had followed me here—were playing a board game.
“Kar, is your work done—”
Marlin, who had been smiling brightly as if she was winning, widened her eyes.
The others reacted similarly.
“Marlin, what do you think of me?”
“…Kar? Why do you look like Young Master Odilon?”
“I just obtained a Mystery called Transformation.”
“I wasn’t asking how.”
“Tell me how my current appearance feels.”
As Marlin examined me with a suspicious expression, Rachel suddenly jumped to her feet and shouted.
“This is an astonishing transformation technique! You intend to take the place of Odilon, that sickly brat! I will follow you to the end—!”
“No.”
“Understood.”
The maid who had been shouting immediately sat down quietly as if nothing had happened.
Abel chuckled and gave a sensible answer.
“There’s absolutely no sense of incongruity. Honestly, I thought Young Master Odilon had been hiding underground all this time and finally came upstairs.”
“Is that so?”
I made a V-sign with my fingers and transformed into the other members.
Rosalia. Pendrick. Bartimir.
Finally, when I became Lucius, Bartimir applauded enthusiastically.
“Wow! For a Mystery granted by an Evil God, the performance is amazing.”
“Actually, not really.”
Despite Bartimir’s praise, the First-Tier Transformation wasn’t particularly useful.
Its disadvantages were too severe compared to its benefits.
“Even while transformed, continuous Mysteries remain active. But activation-type Mysteries cannot be used at all.”
“Hmm… that’s a bit disappointing.”
Most of the Mysteries I had painstakingly gathered so far would become unusable.
That alone was already fatal, but there was an even more serious problem.
“Furthermore, every time I use this, my personality assimilates with the transformation target. If overused, it causes identity confusion until one forgets who they are.”
Okail had neither a fixed form nor a fixed identity.
Thus cultists who served him gradually became beings who could become anything—or nothing at all—until they ultimately degenerated into pseudo-monsters.
“For safety, ordinary cultists of Cataclysmic Genesis use Transformation only once a month.”
“…You used such a Mystery that many times!?”
“Yes. But strangely, my sense of self didn’t waver at all.”
As an experiment, I transformed into Marlin, but I didn’t suddenly feel the urge to hug money pouches every night because I loved money so much.
Since the side effects could eventually be removed with later Mysteries, I had been freely using Transformation—but the complete lack of effect felt strange.
“It’s practically lost its drawbacks entirely.”
“…You’re already copying my speech pattern.”
“I’ve always spoken like this.”
“You’re clearly being hit directly by the side effects!”
“What are you talking about!”
“No! Kar!”
After playing around as Marlin for a while, I returned to my original form.
“It was acting.”
“…….”
Patting Marlin’s sulking shoulder, I frowned.
But seriously, why am I completely fine?
I had hoped to become a one-man army with a hundred personalities thrown into identity chaos, but disappointingly the only result was slight mental dullness.
Was it because of the marks bestowed by the two Arteines?
Saaaaa—
The Arteine of the past once said:
—In situations like this, being insane becomes an advantage.
What did that mean?
“Sponsor, how do you plan to use that Mystery?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
Abel was clever but still young, so he probably didn’t think in this direction.
As a sponsor, I kindly taught him the application of Transformation.
“Obviously, to sow discord and spread slander.”
District 3 — Southern Dreaming Path.
Third floor of a luxurious mansion.
A telescope placed near the window glowed and projected the shapes of five objects into the air.
“…The time has come.”
When the house’s owner, an explorer, murmured quietly, a voice came from a longsword.
—Are the preparations complete?
“Of course.”
—To be honest, I’m uneasy.
“…Why?”
This time the answer came from a shield rather than the sword.
—Because your infiltration was discovered. You were so confident.
“…….”
The explorer clenched his teeth.
Because it was true.
He wanted to make some excuse, but nothing came to mind, so he remained silent.
—It’s not time for blame yet.
This time the voice came from a staff with bells.
—If you somehow obtain administrative authority over District 3, we can easily overlook one failure. What do you think?
“Why ask something so obvious?”
The explorer curled his lips upward and stood, grabbing the clothes nearby.
A bizarre garment resembling human skin.
“Soon District 3 will fall into my hands, so just wait in your respective places.”
After touching the telescope and dismissing the floating images, the explorer looked at the small table beside the bed.
A fish statue filled with unfathomable authority stared hollowly with five pairs of eyes.
“…I will succeed. For a true order where everyone stands at the same height.”