Chapter 114

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Translator: uly

Chapter: 114

Chapter Title: God's Atlantis

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The Lord of the Heavens sponsors 10,000 AP.

"...What's a Lightning Orb?"

I genuinely didn't know.

The term "Lightning Orb" never appeared in the original story.

The moment I saw the Lightning Orb, I dropped to my knees. If I could, I'd kowtow to Zeus right then and there.

"God of the sky and lightning, Zeus! Please, form a contract with me!"

Unlike his shitty personality, Zeus doesn't lie and always keeps his word.

If Zeus says he'll give it, he will. He's not the type to back out midway.

'The Heavenly Demon Divine Art is tempting too... but the Lightning Orb can be taken back to reality.'

The Lightning Orb's rank is higher too. SS is just one step below the top.

As far as I know, the highest rank is SSS. There's an Ex rank, but that's beyond ranking altogether, so it's separate. Ex rank is basically god-tier.

"I will contract!"

All stats except Luck rise by 5.

Normal patrons don't give this much of a boost. This is only possible because Zeus's divinity is at the pinnacle of Atlantis.

My hands itched. I wanted to test this skill right away and see what it did.

Crackle. Crackle-crackle.

A lightning sphere appeared in the empty space in front of me, like tens of thousands of bolts compressed into one. It was smaller than half the size of my palm.

I knew from the sponsorship alert. This was the Lightning Orb. It floated in midair without falling to the ground.

Seeing it, I realized something was off.

'Can... can I really take this back to reality?'

It looked like it'd electrocute me to death if I touched it.

At Zeus's urging, I reached out toward the Lightning Orb.

Gathering my courage, I grabbed it, but surprisingly, it didn't sting. It felt like holding a smooth, round bead.

I hesitated to put the Lightning Orb into my inventory.

'If I don't eat it right here, my relationship with Zeus will sour for sure.'

Zeus sponsored it specifically for me to eat.

'Just ignore it and run back to reality?'

I thought it over for a moment. What would benefit me more?

After agonizing, I decided to eat the Lightning Orb in this world. I chose to look toward the future, not the present. Zeus had invested something enormous in me right now—the Lightning Orb. He must have taken a loss, no doubt.

'He's invested so heavily, he'll want to recoup it.'

In other words, I might be able to get more out of Zeus.

'...I'm investing in myself too. Eat this, get stronger, and snag all the valuables in this world.'

I opened my mouth. The crackling Lightning Orb was a bit scary, but it didn't hurt at all when it touched my tongue.

Gulp.

I swallowed the Lightning Orb.

"Eup?!"

Something hot stirred in my stomach. It spread throughout my body, getting absorbed. My whole body tingled.

But the tingling faded soon after.

"Whoa."

An exclamation escaped me naturally.

Now, my mind was filled with knowledge of how to wield Lightning and what its power entailed. It came instinctively.

'Is it okay to just hand this over like that?'

This was almost too much—verging on frightening.

This was from the Playful Life app.

'Of course, hold.'

I wanted to unlock it immediately, but I lacked points. Naturally, Lightning would be my top priority.

"Thank you! Lord Zeus! I'll do my best! I'll choose the Lightning Swordmaster class too!"

How could I not choose it here? Especially after everything I've received.

'Status window!'

It looked so full and satisfying.

My body shivered with excitement.

"Thank you! Thank you! Lord Zeus! From now on, I'll devote myself fully and fuck every beauty out there!"

Until now, I'd been an atheist. I thought gods didn't exist.

But from here on, things would change. I was a faithful devotee of Zeus. Long live Zeusism!

"I won't disappoint you!"

I grinned broadly. Now, I planned to test out these skills here. I needed to know exactly what they could do to use them properly.

I squinted at the alert in front of me.

Private chat.

The fact that this alert popped up right in front of me meant they were discussing something related to me. No, they deliberately showed it to me. Telling me to wait quietly until their chat ended.

'What the hell? Hasn't the King of the Demon Heavens given up?'

As far as I knew, once an exile contracted with a patron, they couldn't dual-contract with another. To contract with a different patron, they'd have to break the original contract first.

'Breaking a contract has harsh conditions. Can't do it on a whim.'

I racked my brains. But even guessing what the King of the Demon Heavens was saying to Zeus was tough.

'Fuck. It's not getting canceled, is it? Then I'd lose access to Astrafe.'

Contract cancellation was unprecedented. Zeus had already invested way too much in me. He wasn't an idiot; no way he'd cancel now.

It was about 10 minutes later when an alert appeared before me.

"...I've already contracted with Lord Zeus."

My speech reverted to casual.

King of the Demon Heavens? I had Zeus backing me now. No need to grovel. And he didn't seem to care about my tone or attitude.

"...Lord Zeus. Did you really permit it?"

Zeus, you bastard. Look at him sponsoring a measly 1,000 AP just because he thinks he has me hooked.

Hmm. He already gave the Lightning Orb, so I'll settle for 1,000 AP for now.

"Well... if Lord Zeus permits it... dual-contracting sounds good if it's possible."

My heart started racing again.

Heavenly Demon Divine Art! Heavenly Demon Divine Art!

"Gasp."

These were worth over 100 million AP each. And not something you could just buy even with that. The King of the Demon Heavens sponsored me two of them.

Even if less valuable than the Lightning Orb, it proved he wasn't ordinary.

"......"

My face stiffened. The elation from the sponsorship crashed to rock bottom.

"...How did you know?"

I'd never used my unique trait Deception even once in the tutorial. Never even mentioned it.

No matter how powerful patrons were, they couldn't view exiles' status windows. The Atlantis system wouldn't allow it.

"...That alone wouldn't confirm it, would it?"

Then what would they think when items suddenly appeared?

Patrons would probably assume it was one of my hunter abilities. That's the angle I'd been pushing.

"......"

I'd underestimated the King of the Demon Heavens.

This guy was dangerous.

I had a bad feeling I'd get betrayed by him someday. The King of the Demon Heavens was not to be trusted.

"...Fine."

Feeling uneasy, I used the Upgrade Ticket anyway.

That was that, but first, the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

"That's possible?"

In short, it wasn't a loophole but legitimate use of my unique trait to deceive, so Atlantis acknowledged it.

I used Deception as the King of the Demon Heavens instructed.

"...I didn't think this was actually possible."

I could even choose a different class.

But as the price? I couldn't use Lightning trait or my original skills.

'I get it. This is like an alt character.'

Unique traits and stats seemed shared, though.

"I contract."

"Wait, hold on! You're giving Heavenly Demon Divine Art as a patron skill?!"

...I felt a bit tricked, but I got the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. I'd settle for that. In truth, my mind was flooded with info on it, making it hard to think of anything else.