Chapter 26
Chapter 26
Chapter 26 Earth God
[The Earth God invites you. Will you accept the invitation?] [ Yes / No ]
The Earth God's invitation.
The fact that they gave me this kind of choice meant there was a very high probability that there were constraints preventing them from summoning me arbitrarily.
With the fate of all Earth's people hanging in the balance, if it were me, I would have summoned them without asking any questions first.
I briefly pondered whether accepting this proposal would be beneficial or detrimental, but soon realized it was meaningless.
After all, to resolve the countless questions I harbored, I absolutely had to meet them.
Hoping that the subject of regression would show me a positive reaction, I pressed yes.
Then my body remained here, and only my spirit separated and headed toward an unknown space.
I never knew I'd experience astral projection like this.
I had heard that some shamans were capable of such things, but for martial artists, the only way to achieve astral projection was through death magic.
The place where my spirit arrived after moving at tremendous speed was a space that looked extremely sacred.
It was instinctively understandable that this was a place where gods and angels resided. Suddenly, my spirit gained physical force.
And the first being to reveal themselves to me in that space was... a very familiar face.
"Estelle..!"
Having seen this face for 50 years, there was no way I could forget it.
The wings she had were nowhere to be seen, but the atmosphere I felt and her characteristic expressionless face - it was definitely the Estelle I knew.
I excitedly approached her, but her reaction upon seeing me was unexpected.
"Who are you..? Do you know who I am? Surely this must be our first meeting."
‘Could it be... she has no memory?’
Honestly, I thought that possibility was high. The subjects of regression were the 10 regressors, not the angels.
I had already concluded that there was a possibility she would forget me when we met again, and told myself not to be surprised.
But human emotions don't work that way. It felt like my heart was being torn apart. Like my heart would burst.
‘But something seems strange..?’
I got the feeling that her expression looked like she was holding back laughter.
The Estelle of this time period barely knew how to express emotions at all.
She rarely showed even cynicism, let alone laughter, and she only started showing me emotion-like emotions from the 5th year of the tutorial.
For such a person to be holding back laughter? I realized a bitter truth here.
‘She has her memory. She's teasing me right now.’
Even so, I never expected her to play such a prank, but I had no choice but to respond to such a mischievous joke with an equally mischievous joke.
Since this was a challenge sent to me, Earth's greatest prankster.
"You and I were lovers in a previous life. We kissed every single day and whispered love into each other's ears, and especially you loved saying to me, 'I love you. My darling.'..."
Unable to listen any longer, Estelle cut me off and admitted defeat.
"Stop! I lost, so please stop. Player Han Yeong-min."
Finding her so adorable, I silently smiled and embraced her in my arms.
This face looking up at me, this honey-sweet fragrance, this appearance of pretending not to like it while actually enjoying it - I had been terribly worried I might never see these again, but thankfully.
That she remembered me. That she returned to my side.
I stroked her head plenty while replenishing the Estelle points that had dropped during my time on Earth.
After holding her for a long while and being sufficiently satisfied, I finally let her go.
"It's really good to see you like this. I thought you might not remember me."
Estelle nodded.
"That actually would have been the case. If not for the change that happened to me when the 2nd cycle began."
She had certainly changed from the 1st cycle. Her wings had disappeared, and a gentle radiance flowed from behind her.
There were external changes too, but the biggest change was the energy I felt from her body.
Perhaps because I was in spirit form, I could feel the change in that energy even more vividly while holding her.
It was like... she had become a being of a higher dimension?
"What exactly happened?"
"First, to start with the conclusion... I am the Earth God."
What?
I had wondered why Estelle was in the space where the Earth God had summoned me instead of him, and it was because she was the Earth God.
I immediately lowered my head and prostrated myself, bowing down.
"O God... if I have ever displeased you in any way, please forgive..."
"Haah... It makes me angrier when you do that, so get up."
"Yes."
Since the prank seemed successful, I immediately stood up.
"Whew... To continue the explanation, it's not that I was the Earth God from the beginning. During the 1st cycle, I was an Archangel just as you knew."
So it wasn't that she was actually a god who had spent 50 years playing with me while cosplaying as an angel.
"But Han Yeong-min. When you think about it, does it seem like the transcendent power of regression could be easily accomplished?"
"There's no way. It's not even a day or two, but 10 years? Even all the gods and Demon Kings are affected by it. It wouldn't be an ordinary difficult task, right?"
If regression had been easy, all the gods would have been engaging in regression wars, spamming regressions from the start.
"That's right. As I mentioned before, there are gods from lowest-grade to highest-grade, and the Earth God-nim who ruled a world with a population of 8 billion was naturally a highest-grade god. Even for such a being, regression was not an easy task."
‘So the Earth God was also a highest-grade god.’
Does that mean they were on the same level as Zeus or Odin?
"Of course, if it had been simple regression, it wouldn't have led to the annihilation of existence. But the problem was that what that person intended wasn't ordinary regression. Even if Earth people were sent to the past, if the gods and Demon Kings still retained their memories, it would all be for nothing anyway, wouldn't it?"
"That's true. They could just issue an order to massacre all Earth people as soon as the cycle started."
An even worse situation than the 1st cycle could occur.
"To regress even the memories of all gods and Demon Kings, even that highest-grade god had to create numerous triggers and stake their very existence to make it possible."
This was somewhat shocking. Not just losing power or suffering permanent damage, but having to stake their very existence to make it possible?
"So that means the being who was serving as Earth God in the 1st cycle no longer exists in the 2nd cycle? Complete annihilation?"
She nodded.
"Yes. That person sacrificed their existence to succeed in regression, and though their existence was annihilated, not all of that power disappeared, so they chose a new god to inherit everything and rule Earth in the 2nd cycle."
That was Estelle. Thanks to becoming the Earth God, her memory remained intact.
"But to say that gods and Demon Kings lost their memories, there were many strange things added to the tutorial monsters, weren't there?"
There were many new contents added that I had never seen in the 1st cycle.
"It's true that they have no memories. But some of the highest-grade gods and top-tier Demon Kings are only vaguely sensing the existence of regression."
I understood what she meant. They had no memories but were feeling a sense of unease.
"Do you know what the role of the avatars is now?"
The Estelle of the 1st cycle didn't know why Baal's avatar existed. But now that she had become the Earth God, there was a high probability she knew.
As if my guess was correct, she nodded.
"Yes. The role of the avatars is for observation. While the avatars are summoned, they can only observe that place through the avatar's field of vision. Of course, thanks to the tutorial's constraints, they can't control the avatars."
That meant the Baal of the 1st cycle had watched me countless times.
No, there probably wasn't anyone else he could properly observe besides me. Others would have all died as soon as they summoned Baal's avatar.
‘This... if I hadn't regressed, I would have drawn tons of aggro from Baal as soon as I entered the tower?’
From my perspective, as soon as I reached the 11th floor, I probably would have received an apostle proposal rather than a simple constellation contract.
"But the fact that gods and Demon Kings specifically sent avatars here means... they've already figured out that the one who caused the regression was the Earth God?"
"As you say. Highest-grade gods and Demon Kings aren't fools. Regression occurred, and the Earth God's rank dropped from highest-grade to high-grade god - they're not stupid enough to be unable to make any inferences from that."
Certainly, if they were that stupid, they wouldn't have been able to hold titles like highest-grade god or Demon King.
Being optimistic about the beings I had to face was as foolish as it gets. I was glad to learn about their capabilities this way.
"Then what do we need to do to raise your power back to highest-grade god level?"
If the Earth God remained at high-grade god level in the war 10 years later, there would be many disadvantages.
If at least she could regain enough power to handle one highest-grade god faction, it would be tremendously helpful.
"It's recovering little by little even now, but if the number of those who choose me as their constellation increases and they start being active in the tower, my power will recover at a very fast pace."
Then there was a method.
I told Estelle about the grand plan I had devised on Earth. As I unfolded the plan piece by piece, shock was added to her expression.
"It's truly an insane plan... But since it's you, Han Yeong-min, it seems possible, which makes it even scarier."
I decided to add a little kick to that plan.
"I was originally planning to give full sets of Heroic-grade equipment only to those who choose Demon Kings as their constellations, but if I also give full sets of Heroic-grade equipment to those who choose the Earth God as their constellation, wouldn't the number of people choosing you increase tremendously?"
If someone wanted Heroic-grade equipment but felt resistant to choosing a Demon King, there was a very high probability they'd reach for the Earth God side.
"...It certainly seems like it would. It's a missionary strategy that only Han Yeong-min could do. Mass-producing Heroic-grade equipment sets and distributing them to believers..."
And as Earth people climb to higher floors with those equipment sets, Estelle's power would gradually recover at an increasingly fast pace.
"What do you think about me not choosing a constellation? I'm trying to make numerous gods and Demon Kings want to appoint me as an apostle to raise Earth people's stock price a bit more."
"That's also a good strategy. One excellent apostle is much better than thousands of ordinary believers. They'll really give you a lot to have you."
I got feedback from Estelle, who had actually become a god, to see if there were any strange parts to the plan, and the conclusion was that there were no problems at all.
Besides that, she told me numerous pieces of information I needed to know.
"From floors 1 to 10, all gods can observe, and for floors above that, they can only see places where their believers are watching or where those who have permitted observation exist... Then when doing important things, I can turn off that observation permission?"
I gained a lot of information that could make the plan more concrete, such as how to avoid the gaze of gods and Demon Kings, what their thought processes were like, and what would be good to do.
Then my spirit began to scatter little by little.
"It's almost time... This is the limit the tutorial allowed."
As expected, constraints existed. It seemed I couldn't stay here for thousands and thousands of years.
"Ah. I didn't ask the most important thing. How can I meet you again?"
This was the most important thing.
"From the 11th floor of the tower onward, gods can also invite tower entrants they like to their own space. When that time comes, you'll be able to see me to your heart's content, so please be patient a little longer."
"Got it. Estelle, you shouldn't cry because I'm not there either, and wait well for me, okay?"
Before my spirit completely disappeared, I hugged Estelle one last time. She also hugged me and answered with a smile on her lips.
"Look who's talking. Don't you cry because I'm not there."
I also smiled back at her.
With that, my spirit completely scattered and I returned to the dormitory.
My second farewell with Estelle.
But it was okay. This time it wasn't a farewell without promise, but one with hope that we could meet again soon.
This time I don't plan to invest such a long time in the tutorial, so we'll really be able to meet very soon.
Wait just a little. I'll come quickly.
Bringing the many people who will become your believers.