The Clue to Transcendence
‘This... damn it, just how much have I lost out on...’
I was so overwhelmed by the endless stream of achievement notifications that I suddenly wondered if this was even right. Surely, even Evil Gods or Good Gods shouldn't be able to inflict direct harm on players from other factions... For them to impose such a direct penalty on me meant they had crossed a serious line. To be honest, it meant there were over ten achievements I hadn't been able to acquire until now... If there were rewards among them that I needed to obtain quickly to use properly, then this was equivalent to losing as much as the time I hadn't possessed them.
Frankly, I hate that mysterious god who blocked my achievement progress even more than Paimon right now.
‘Because of that bastard, I... I don’t even know how much I’ve lost...’
He had just climbed to the number one spot on my list of people to kill. For the record, Paimon was second, and the resurrected Nick was third. Of course, if I could kill the Three Main Gods of the Pantheon, I’d want to tear them apart right now, but... their status is too high, so that’s on hold for now.
“But... Sataniel... isn’t this cheating?”
I was so frustrated and angry that I asked Sataniel if that bastard god really hadn’t suffered any penalties after pulling off such a massive act of system interference. Sataniel replied to my question as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“Then...”
“Imposed... a penalty... on himself?”
“Huh?”
This... to think I could absorb a god just by finding and capturing him. It might seem like an excessive penalty for trying to suppress me by interfering with the system, but—
‘If I hadn’t met Sataniel... I probably would have kept losing out until the end of the world...’
Moreover, if I had been defeated by Michael and Nick in the Abyss and chased out... or if I hadn’t been able to enter the Abyss in the first place, I would have continued to fall behind Nick and the others, becoming weaker and weaker. So, in a way, this was a fair condition.
“But what exactly is the benefit of acquiring a god’s body? If it just means more duties... that’s a bit...”
"It is highly likely that a few duties and rules will be added... but for a human to fully acquire a god’s body without any loss of causality is a miracle in itself. Of course, it would be impossible for a human soul to fully accept a divine vessel... but Botamilli has already prepared a way..."
“Uh... a way?”
"Yes, I see the fruit rooted in your soul. Since you have anchored the proof of the sanctuary within a human soul... you shall surely be able to ascend to the ranks of the gods."
“Whoa...”
The fruit rooted in me. That must be the red fruit I received as a gift when I directly faced the sealed Botamilli.
‘The one that made my body feel a bit warm after I ate it...’
When I first went to the Black Market, after buying Mer and heading home, the Black Market’s underground guards went into a collective frenzy, and I was forced into the surface floor, which I shouldn’t have entered. At that time, I passed through the back-world where the errors (regressors, returners, reincarnators, etc.) were gathered and arrived at Botamilli’s seal. Botamilli had overlaid a part of her authority onto my skill (Distorted Scales) and given me that mysterious red fruit. At the time, it wasn’t an item or anything, so I was going to leave it alone, but the gods kept telling me to eat it, so I did. To think it would snowball like this.
"That is one of the roots she possesses. By making you eat it... hmm... how should I put it... Yes, it is a nutritional supplement. It made your soul sturdy. Thanks to that, you can endure acquiring a god’s body without your soul being ground into pieces like in a blender. In short, once you find Loki, you can attain divinity. I’m envious... so envious... damn it..."
For some reason, Sataniel looked at me with displeasure. She had struggled through hell and back to become a god, but since I could become one just by catching the god who screwed me over, she was dying of jealousy.
“But when you say Loki, do you mean that Loki? The Loki from Asgard? The one from Norse mythology...”
"Yes... he is one of the many gods belonging to the Hall of Ten Thousand Ghosts who left his name in human history. Since he also possesses the attribute of a serpent, absorbing him will be highly compatible with you."
“Uh... what’s this about a serpent attribute again?”
"Haven’t most of the medicinal herbs you’ve eaten so far been related to serpents?"
“That’s true.”
"Yes, that’s it. From what I see, even that seems to be a kind of arrangement... but anyway, one of the symbols of the Manma-jeon is the serpent. Loki also spent some time in the Manma-jeon. As the creator of the Ouroboros, he also possesses some of the serpent god’s attributes. Therefore, if you take his body... and accept Sesha’s serum, you will be able to move as both a god of the Manma-jeon and a participant in the game..."
In the end, it meant I just had to find him. Now the problem was how to find him, and what was so good about becoming a god by obtaining a god’s body...
"You ask what’s good about becoming a god? You don’t get sick, you don’t die unless you’re killed, you don’t have to eat, sleep, or rest, and you don’t get tired... Well, such explanations don’t really mean much. Simply put, you don’t die unless it’s by a god-killing weapon or something with a god-killing attribute. You can resurrect by burning your faith. And from what I see, among the humans remaining in this game, there are few who will reach the level of god-killing."
“Then that effectively means I’m immortal, right?”
"Yes. You’d be fine even if a zombie bit you, right? And immortality isn’t the important part. If you become a god, you can increase your believers and collect faith... Since this faith is effectively causality itself, you will be able to create authority or get closer to omnipotence..."
Causality. A word that always came up, and a resource essential for gods to perform miracles. It meant I could get my hands on that by collecting faith.
"Simply put, you will be able to create the skills you want. Limited to the attributes you possess. We, who are not direct participants in the game, don’t get efficient results from the faith of mortals... but you are different. If you find Loki, absorb him, become a god... and collect a lot of faith, you will definitely win this game. You cannot lose."
Loki had become a sort of joker card for me. Once I found him... I had gained a card that guaranteed victory. Now, I didn’t need to fight the bastards of the Pantheon; I just had to focus on searching for Loki. Then I would definitely win. Why? Because I had plenty of places to collect faith. I already had countless potential believers who could supply me with faith.
‘If I instill faith in me into the parasitic humans... wouldn’t it be fucking easy to collect faith?’
If I sent Moon Geun-oh, the agitator class, down to the Abyss and created a new cult... no, it wouldn’t be a cult since it’s a religion believing in a real god. Anyway, if I created a new religion like the Jojun-ism, it would be extremely easy to collect faith. Since time flows differently in the Abyss and reality...
‘I can collect faith... at an incredible speed...’
That’s it. With this, I’m invincible. Also, since I’ve become a god, I’ll be able to kill other gods, right? I could deal with Paimon, that demon trash, and maybe even storm into the Pantheon and wreak havoc?
“Then where is that Loki guy? If I just find him, the game is over...”
I asked with high expectations. My hands were already itching at the thought of catching and eating Loki.
"There is no way to find him. Even I cannot track him... how would you find him?"
“What...? You mean there’s no way to find him...?”
"Yes. The moment you detached the line of causality that was tangled in your soul... he hid himself. He completely vanished, and all the gods of the Hall of Ten Thousand Ghosts erased his traces. Even I cannot track him. In reality, if you burn the World Tree, pull out the Dragon God’s heart, and behead the Giant King... maybe you could find him? But in my opinion, by the time you achieve such feats, absorbing Loki will already be meaningless. Just give up."
“N-no... to get my hopes up like this...”
As I stared at Sataniel with a devastated expression, she laughed heartily and teased me.
"Still, it is not as if there is no gain. You have forced someone famous for being troublesome in the Hall of Ten Thousand Ghosts to hide without lifting a finger. That alone is a huge benefit. Don’t you think so?"
True. That’s correct. But I was still disappointed, so I asked Sataniel for advice, holding onto a small hope that maybe if I caught the Trickster, I could get information on Loki.
“Ah... th-then if I catch his apostle, the Trickster, maybe there’s a clue...”
"I don’t think it would be meaningful even if you caught and tortured him. He is not the type to care whether one of his apostles is tortured or not. Give up on catching Loki. Unless he comes out to die with the intention of being caught, you will never encounter him."
My mood had soared to the heavens and then plummeted to hell thanks to this damn Satan’s sweet talk. If I catch Loki, I can win the game, but to catch Loki, I have to win the game. What a contradiction...
‘For a Satan, she sure gives a lot of false hope...’
The only "orthodox" method she offered was to smash the Hall of Ten Thousand Ghosts to pieces... but if I could kill all the ancient gods of the Hall and drag Loki out, then finding Loki would effectively be meaningless, so it was all for nothing. In the end, I had to be satisfied with having half-chased a particularly troublesome god out of the game board.
“Um... last time, you said you would return Merhere’s power...”
I said in a voice dripping with disappointment, telling Sataniel to give me what she was supposed to give. Then Sataniel started talking about something else again.
"Of course I remember... but that is a secondary matter. First, take out the Apocalypse. You obviously still have the Apocalypse I gave you, right?"
“Huh? Oh... I had it on me. I didn’t have anywhere to put it...”
I always carried the Apocalypse. It was practically a holy relic of the Manma-jeon, so I couldn’t just leave it lying around. Besides, I didn’t feel right leaving it with anyone else, so I just carried it myself.
“Here it is.”
"Good... back then I didn’t even have the strength to sit up... but now I can manifest my authority to some extent... let’s see..."
I took the Apocalypse out of my pocket. Sataniel took it from me, pulled out a monocle, put it on, and began writing something in the book.
"You have already met Indikron, Kashnakas, and Botamilli... and you have received me, Sataniel... so a total of four names have been recorded in the Apocalypse."
“Uh... what does that mean?”
"It means a great deal. From now on, the names of all kinds of gods belonging to the Manma-jeon that you encounter will be recorded in this book. This is a kind of register. It contains the names of the gods who have agreed to bring an end to the universe. Having this is proof that you are our representative and apostle. It is also a holy relic that rivals the Savior’s Holy Sword."
I don’t know what it is, but it seems like just owning the Apocalypse means I get to wear a sort of badge of honor.
“Wow... that’s a big deal, right?”
"Of course. This is the reason why I went to the trouble of explaining the advantages of becoming a god in such detail. It is obviously a big deal."
“Yes...?”
What does this mean? As I waited for her to explain the correlation between the advantages of becoming a god and the Apocalypse, Sataniel explained the power the Apocalypse held.
"The Apocalypse. A dedicated armament for a cultist that rivals the Savior’s Holy Sword... by opening this, you will be able to transcend the system."
“Transcending the system... does that mean breaking free from the framework of levels and stats?”
"Yes... the skills the system hands out... that was a human-friendly approach, to put it nicely, and a weakening and regulation of authority, to put it bluntly. Therefore, for true transcendence, you must break free from the framework of skills... Well, this is also a hidden rule like an Easter egg... but you must master even such hidden rules. Because you are the savior of our faction."
Using abilities that transcend the system. It was something Son Haeun had already shown when she acquired the Parasitic Tree. This... I was trying to free Mer from the system’s regulations, but it looks like I’m the one who’s going to be freed first.