Chapter 159
Chapter 159
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 159
Chapter Title: The Gift Icon Shines
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* * *
"Aaaah……!!!"
The Observer jolted in surprise, letting out a strangely pitiful moan.
It couldn't be helped.
A massive sum of 500,000 won in sponsorship—overwhelming Divine Power—had suddenly poured in!
"Aah…… It's coming in……!"
Coming in……
Lord Igugwoden's…… Divine Power……!
What a beautiful moment this was.
What a heart-stirring moment……!
Light was once again seeping into the new continent that the Observer was projecting.
That light leaked out from the 'Subscription Sponsorship Pillar' existing in this space, flowing into the world.
And the light that didn't flow in took the form of a sphere…… and seeped into the Observer.
Seeping in…… seeping in!
God's love, God's warmth, the overwhelming power that allowed them to exist as themselves……!
The Observer carefully picked up one of the spheres floating in the air.
—Nom!
'I ate…… God's love.'
In the past, it had been Divine Power consumed solely for survival—
But ever since gaining a physical body and realizing that God loved her, the feeling was somehow different.
Eating what God had given.
Eating God's Divine Power, God's essence.
Eating meant living. Becoming one with it, continuing on.
So right now…… I'm eating…… God……!
"Ehehehe…… Lord Igugwoden……!"
Nom, nom nom!
The Observer devoured every bit of the Divine Power granted to her.
She could feel her insides filling up completely with God's love.
Good.
This brought her one step closer to Lord Igugwoden.
Connected more strongly than anyone could ever rival, until finally— The moment she thought that far.
"Kin."
"Yeah? What's up, Big Sis?"
At some point, the term "Big Sis" had stuck to her lips.
The kin seemed to have already accepted the title—or perhaps just didn't care either way—as she replied with her usual expressionless face.
"I have something to tell you."
"What is it? Oh, more than that, Big Sis—Lord Igugwoden just shared an enormous amount of power!"
"I know full well that everything is Lord Igugwoden's love and grace."
"But why aren't you eating it, Big Sis? It's Divine Power…… shouldn't you eat it?"
"It's difficult for this body to consume anything. Besides, I've already received plenty of power—there's no issue with my existence even if I take it in later."
Not craving God's love and holding back for later because it was already sufficient.
To the current Observer, it was an utterly incomprehensible mindset—something she couldn't have fathomed before, sure, but now?
Hadn't she changed somehow after gaining a body and life, just as Big Sis always said?
"What does God desire?"
"God wishes for the New Continent's issues to be resolved all at once."
"And the world's response?"
"I don't know. If it were our world, I could at least check which direction the response would take……."
The Observer turned her head, gazing down at the New Continent still overflowing with Divine Power from the pillar of light, and said.
"It's being applied there."
That was the root cause of the Observer's panic not long ago.
She had clumsily implemented a new world's observation system using God's Divine Power—at best, she could do nothing about that world itself.
She could barely sense where God was looking and peek there, or glance at the timelines allowed by the observation system.
For the Observer, who could wield omnipotent power in connecting the world and God, it was shockingly limiting.
"So all we can do is watch how the world changes. We can't even seek new answers from the response."
"If Lord Igugwoden hadn't 'sponsored,' we might not have even been able to watch without that pillar of light."
"In the end, everything goes according to Lord Igugwoden's will. Lord Igugwoden holds us especially dear."
"Yeah! Big Sis is right. Just as you said, God…… Lord Igugwoden will never abandon us!"
The Observer moved the muscles in her face, smiling easily.
Smiling was one of the privileges of living beings. At least her kin—Big Sis—could never wear such a wonderful smile, no matter what.
The kin watched the Observer giggling with a faint curve of her lips—
"Anyway, the reason I called you isn't to chat like this."
"Then?"
She abruptly turned her head, pointing to the side.
"It seems we should check that out."
The place her kin indicated in a cold tone—
"Yeah? Huh……?"
—was shining.
What was shining was the picture Lord Igugwoden had shared with them as something bestowed upon them.
A cake topped with strawberries, a strange image, and an object with numbers written on it—
"Isn't that…… a Gift Icon?"
"Indeed."
After sky and earth had formed in what was once pure darkness.
The Observer had placed the Gift Icon—God's gift—in something like a frame and made an altar to decorate it on top.
Even with God's detailed explanation, they couldn't fully grasp the divine realm, so they didn't know exactly what it was—
But regardless, it was God's love shared for them, just like the chicken food that had breathed life into her.
However.
Now, it was sparkling, shining brightly.
Trembling, shaking as if glowing on its own.
"Why…… why is this happening? Because of the Divine Power?"
"I thought so at first, but there are a few things that don't add up if that's the case."
"Yeah?……Like what, Big Sis?"
"It didn't shine like that when we triggered Armageddon through God's Messenger and merged the two worlds."
"……Ah."
The Observer immediately caught on to what her kin meant.
Namely, the Divine Power itself from Armageddon was far more immense and tremendous.
Of course, there was no greater or lesser in the power God shared. All sponsorships were precious, grateful, the grace that made them exist.
Even so, in terms of sheer volume causing unimaginable events—
"It was fine with 2,000,000 won worth of sponsorship, so it's weird for a change with 500,000 won, right?"
"Do you have any guesses, kin?"
"Hmm……."
The Observer pondered for a moment, stroking her cheek with her hand—
"For some reason…… rather than the Divine Power itself, maybe Armageddon itself acted as some kind of trigger……?"
"You're saying the phenomenon occurred because Armageddon happened?"
"Yeah, that way it all lines up……."
Armageddon had connected two entirely different worlds.
……No.
That was just from their perspective. Perhaps—
The kin shifted her gaze back to the Gift Icon.
Flash, flash—it kept shining.
That thing originally existed in 'God's domain.'
For it to shine under this world's influence meant resonance between here and God's domain.
"……."
The kin pondered briefly—then spoke in a cold tone, her expression unchanged.
"For now, all we can do is watch the new world."
"Yeah. If the result turns out weird, we'll have to somehow explain our side's situation well to Lord Igugwoden……."
Can't disappoint Lord Igugwoden.
After all, I'm a being Lord Igugwoden loves……
Muttering that, the Observer and her kin quietly turned their gaze to the New Continent devouring the light.
Something was about to happen.
* * *
The reason Gold Dragon Siskai quit her wanderings was something incredibly trivial.
'Long-lived species or whatever, at most a few hundred years. In the end, they all die.'
Her final wandering activity disguised as a Lysias—becoming the head of a great evil group ruling the underworld.
It was because all her Lysias comrades who had joined her had died.
Normally, she would have faked the death of her current body, reappeared as a descendant, and continued the family line.
But this time, for some reason, she didn't feel like it.
'Good guy.'
For the number two in a great evil group, he had a pure and kind nature.
She had watched him even marry his childhood friend from the same orphanage and comrade—yet shortly after his wife died, he passed too.
It was always like this.
No matter what they did together, they always died before her.
In the end, only she remained, left to live on alone.
From the very first.
From the moment she realized what she was, Siskai's dragon life had felt that way.
She recognized she was a dragon, with immense power, able to transform and blend into other races' lives.
At the same time, she became aware she had no father or mother, no kin at all.
The first few decades, she agonized over it greatly. Siskai considered it a kind of puberty.
Eventually, she accepted it and, having come this far, transformed to mingle with other races and see how they lived—quite some time had passed since descending to the earth and trying various things.
At first, leaving traces with her overwhelming power felt enjoyable in every act—
But now, she just wanted it all to end and sleep a long, long sleep.
No matter how grand the achievements, what was the point if everyone died and left her behind?
Yet, for some reason, a short-statured species she didn't know when had started inhabiting near her cave prevented her from sleeping even if she wanted to.
Their energy kept bothering her, whether she liked it or not.
She wanted to politely persuade them to go elsewhere, but even that was becoming tedious.
'Makes me look bad if I move instead.'
Rather.
If there had been at least one fellow dragon comrade born with the same meaningless long lifespan—
Couldn't they have put their heads together in this situation and reached a better conclusion?
Having learned during her wanderings that cooperation yielded tremendous power, she felt that even more.
All living beings inevitably have parents.
So who are mine—the ones who dropped me into this world?
The spirits the Elves believe in, or the creator of all things that the Heimnar Tribe endlessly preached—God?
Of course.
Siskai, a being several dimensions higher than them, knew.
There was no creator. No spirits. All just superstition. At least on this point, the religion-less Lysias Tribe was the smartest.
'Well, if one really existed and I could meet it, I could vent about why it left just me tossed here alone…….'
She didn't think it would solve anything—but she could at least take it out on them.
Lost in such idle thoughts, right then.
――Rumble rumble rumbleeeee!!!!!
"……!!!"
Siskai jolted, looking around.
An earthquake?
……No. Earthquakes don't hit this intensely.
In fact, no earthquake during her wanderings had ever made her feel this threatened.
Siskai cautiously exited the cave, surveying the surroundings.
The ground was unmistakably shaking like an earthquake, but one key difference—
'The sky…… is falling……?'
No.
This isn't the sky falling.
We're approaching the sky. In other words—flying.
But I'm not flying right now……?
'……No way……!!!!!!'
Siskai immediately spread her wings and soared into the sky.
Only then, from high above looking down, did she realize.
The land around her cave—
'Was floating…… up……?'
Defying all physics, it had begun to levitate from the earth.
And as if not even giving time to wonder what was happening—it was, to Siskai.
To the dragon who had reigned as an absolute being until now—
5 5 5
0 0 0
Thousand Thousand Thousand
Won Won Won
Sponsorship Sponsorship Sponsorship
Won Won Won
Ten Ten Ten
Thousand Hooray Hooray
"!!!!!!"
Something.
An overwhelming something poured down from the sky like rain.
As a higher species, a dragon—
Superior to any intelligent life on this continent, she could tell just from the whispering voice.
Someone—or something—
existed above her head.