Chapter 315
Chapter 315
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 315
Chapter Title: God of What #2
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“Um, sorry, but I’d like to check inside your mouth one last time. Could you open it a bit…?”
At the middle-aged healer’s question, sweat pouring down his face, I casually opened my mouth.
“Ah—.”
The healer stuck a metal rod inside and shone the lightstone around.
“…N-no cavities at all. You can close your mouth now.”
I stood up and put my shirt back on. Shirt was a generous term—it was just some white fur draped over me.
I asked.
“So, what’s the result?”
“Well, um…. Just as we expected, it seems to be Divine Awakening Syndrome….”
“Ah—.”
“Symptoms like sounds becoming clearer than usual, sensitivity to certain smells, or suddenly being able to read small text are all common.”
“So, how long will these symptoms last? Forever?”
“It’s just a temporary phenomenon from awakening to divinity. Sh-shortest is a week, longest could be a year….”
“A year? That’s too long.”
I furrowed my brow slightly. Spending a whole year in a state like maxed-out volume and brightness on my options menu? I might actually go insane.
“Any way to shorten it? A treatment or something?”
“Th-that is, not much is known about Divine Awakening Syndrome yet, and, uh….”
Thump, thump—.
The healer’s heartbeat grew louder in my ears. Sweat streamed endlessly from his half-bald forehead, his breathing ragged.
He wasn’t sick. The man was just terrified.
And who he was terrified of was obvious. Just the two of us in this exam room, so naturally, he was scared of me.
A hulking Samaritan who looked like a barbarian.
Who knew when he’d swing a club and smash his face in? Yeah, I could see why he’d be frightened.
So, I figured I’d better leave before the poor guy went completely bald from stress. One last question before heading out the door.
“Just to be sure, anything else you want to say?”
“Eek—! Sp-spare me!”
“Huh?”
“I-I have a daughter still in university and an elderly mother! I can’t go to Tartarus first…!”
“What are you talking about?”
“You asked if I had any last words, right? A will? If I was rude without realizing, please forgive me with your vast mercy….”
“Ah—.”
I could understand what the man was saying now. I still wasn’t used to it, but I wasn’t just a barbarian anymore.
Two days since I received that bizarre oracle on Delphi’s mountaintop.
Rumors of the strange Samaritan had already spread through Delphi. And what kind of rumors?
“Inheritor of the Underworld, merciful and gracious Lord Hassan, I beg you. Pl-please forgive me….”
Exactly like this.
The man flat on his stomach before me, trembling in fear. His round back shaking with sobs. Pleading voice. Eyes wide with terror—.
Hadn’t the God of Light once told me this was the gods’ true spectacle? Yeah, I was starting to get it.
“Lift your head. I forgive your sins.”
“R-really?”
“Of course. Just don’t commit any sins from now on.”
“Thank you, thank you…!”
I left the man bowing repeatedly until I was gone. My neck and back itched unbearably—almost unbearable.
Two days since receiving the oracle on Delphi’s peak.
Adapting to this new status was still a problem.
*
*
*
“Hassan, what’d the clinic say?”
Luna greeted me when I returned to the inn.
“Just Divine Awakening Syndrome, like expected. Sounds clearer, small print sharper, that sort of thing.”
“So that means you’re really becoming a god, Hassan! Amazing!”
“You think?”
“Why so blasé? This is huge! No changes? Like flying? Turning into animals? Or since Pluto’s the god of wealth, maybe you can multiply gold coins?”
“Dunno…. Probably not….”
“Wow! If it were me, I’d be too excited testing powers to sleep!”
I gave vague replies, but truth was, I’d secretly gone to the roof alone and tried stuff.
Me, with blood surpassing gold spoons.
Spider in Mirror!
Prajñāpāramitā!
Hasegi!
Nothing worked.
Awakening divinity was great, but my life hadn’t changed much. Fuck, disappointment was all I felt.
So I slumped my shoulders a bit.
“Hassan, here’s a gold coin! Try doubling it!”
Then Luna pulled a small round object from between her breasts. A kingdom gold coin stamped with the King of the Skies, Jupiter.
Gold.
Pure temptation.
Elementally—
Anyway, what a thrill.
Especially coming from those soft-looking breasts. Could there be a more perfect scene?
I took the gold coin, still warm from Luna’s body heat.
My slightly down mood lifted instantly. Was this gold’s magic?
“Hassan, you might become the God of Gold! Hurry, double it!”
Luna shouted excitedly at me, full of faith in my potential.
Maybe I could?
Double the gold coin.
Hassan, God of Gold. I could do it.
I clasped my hands, slipped the coin between, and shouted with effort.
Double! Double! Double—!
Chanting weird spells in my head too.
When I opened my hands, the gold coin sparkled just as before.
“Didn’t work.”
“Weird. Usually, people awakening divinity gain some power right away. What kind of god are you, Hassan?”
Luna’s clear emerald eyes looked at me. Her pure gaze, flawless as always—I couldn’t meet it, so I looked away slyly.
“Dunno.”
What god was I?
God of Disease? Nah, that was just a cover.
Honestly, becoming a god—or in the process—still didn’t feel real.
Like I said earlier, aside from how people treated me, my life hadn’t changed.
“Ah—!” Luna exclaimed like she’d realized something.
“What if killing people is your power? Stab a knife in the heart and boom, dead!”
“No—.”
Wait, didn’t everyone do that without powers?
But Luna said it so brightly, I just nodded.
I’d learned in romance: sometimes infinite positivity was key.
Romance.
Speaking of, didn’t becoming Gold Tier mean I could marry Luna now, no need for more?
That thought cheered me up.
Everyone seemed too chaotic now to think of it, but in a few days or weeks, once settled, we could talk marriage?
I imagined Luna in a dress.
She’d look stunning. White, flowing bride’s gown.
On a hill, in a pure white church or temple blessed by all, white doves flying in a romantic scene—we’d wed.
And me legally stripping that dress off.
Just imagining made my dick swell.
Fuck.
Adventuring with girls left no time for pussy, so my desires were at their rational limit.
Body healthier, cute girls everywhere, but too paranoid to touch. Torture.
Fuck, pure agony.
But maybe that life was ending? Not all optimistic, though. I still remembered the God of Light’s words vividly.
One prophecy: I’d kill my first family, my loved one, with my own hands.
First family. Loved one.
Obviously Luna, my first bride. Why that prophecy?
Fucking horrifying.
“Ahh—! Paranoy! I told you not to sneak candy!”
Luna’s shout snapped me out. I turned—Paranoy caught red-handed taking honey candy from a small jar.
“Ughhh—.”
“Bashkir honey’s so sweet, more than two a day rots your teeth!”
Luna grabbed Paranoy’s mouth—snout, really—and squeezed his cheeks.
Then mwahhh— an eye-sized candy rolled out, tumbling to the floor.
Roll.
Roll—.
Two of them.
“Paranoy! Two at once!?”
Luna yelled angrily. Paranoy trembled, babbling nonsense.
“N-no, it’s not…! Th-they duplicated in my mouth…! This is the blessing Hassan gave me, 《Squirrel Hoard》…!”
“…Really?”
Luna glanced at me, eyes asking if it was true. Though she didn’t speak.
Had I given Paranoy a blessing?
Blessings.
If I became a real god, would I bless others like the gods did me? Take offerings, tithes?
Cool.
As I thought that, Luna clapped.
“Duplicated in your mouth? Then try a gold coin! Might duplicate that too!”
“Th-that—!”
Paranoy looked at me pleadingly. Pitiful, but his fault for raiding her candy jar.
I took it.
“Paranoy, don’t swallow.”
Luna shoved a gold coin into Paranoy’s mouth.
“B-bitter…! Blech—.”
“If it duplicates, you eat gold coins daily from now on, Paranoy! Then I’ll buy candy!”
“Eek—!”
“Come on, duplicate! Done? Gotta be now?”
Luna stuck her fingers in and pulled out a coin. Then freaked out.
I freaked too.
Impossible shit happened.
“What!? This—it’s silver! Where’s my gold!?”
“Fuck, what just happened?”
We inspected Paranoy’s gaping mouth thoroughly. I’d seen Luna put the gold in.
But out came silver. Fucking miracle-level nonsense.
“Try again—turn it back to gold?”
Luna shoved the silver back in.
“Ugh, b-bitter…!”
Paranoy spat it out with a bleh—. We were shocked again.
“Wh-what!? Hassan, you saw me put in 1 silver, right? This….”
Now the silver was a pathetic 1 copper.
1 gold was worth at least 10,000 copper.
Devolving to 1 copper in his mouth! Fuck, devolution, not evolution.
Possible? Like candy melting smaller in saliva, value dissolved?
No other explanation.
Luna, losing a gold coin, was losing it.
“Paranoy! Spit out my gold! Quick! Hiding it somewhere! You obeyed till now just to steal it!?”
“I-I don’t know…!!!”
Paranoy’s exaggerated screams filled the place. Time to intervene? Then the door opened.
“Nymph screams echoing through the inn. Some foundation’s cracking down on nymph abuse lately—don’t know what, but cool it.”
Hippolyte.
“And Hassan, sent the messenger bird to the palace like you asked. Once Thunderer stamps your papers, you can build a new temple and be its lord.”
“Really?”
Unfamiliar with kingdom bureaucracy or this world’s religion, I’d asked Hippolyte—Mars priestess with experience—for help.
Demigods or young gods awakening divinity all reported to the capital for approval, she said.
Formal, but showed the capital’s authority as Jupiter’s earthly proxy.
“But approval might not come easy. Palace doesn’t want more gods worshipped, especially Pluto’s son—a cult god….”
Hippolyte trailed off.
I had to ask.
“Why is Pluto’s cult, one of the Three High Gods, branded heretical and persecuted?”