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[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Chapter 148: Receiving a Large Investment
“Take a god as an apostle?”
Back when I was B-rank, I did accept Diana, who was of the same rank, as an apostle.
Taking a god as an apostle—it's not impossible.
“I have accepted an apostle of the same rank when I was B-rank, but I need a target.”
“I plan to persuade the gods of the minor pantheons. Some of them struggle to even maintain their soul forms because they haven’t found apostles.”
That makes sense.
On TV, major religions like Christianity and Buddhism run massive ad campaigns, so minor pantheons don’t stand much of a chance.
People are looking for safer options, after all.
This feels exactly like the dynamic between major corporations and small businesses.
If I could take an S-rank god as an apostle, the efficiency of my Soul Mediation skill would skyrocket.
This is an offer I can’t refuse.
“I’m all for it. The gods should be able to earn SP through the Soul Mediation skill as well.”
“Understood. I will persuade them.”
With that, Michael floated up into the sky and disappeared.
With his departure, both archangels were now gone.
As soon as they vanished, the valkyries gathered in one corner of the auditorium began to move.
“Kim Jiho, may we begin the cleanup?”
“Ah, yeah.”
The valkyries started clearing the auditorium, which had been scorched and left full of holes by the black lightning.
Some of them stepped outside, then returned shortly after.
“Most of the reporters have taken shelter, but some are still covering the scene from a distance near the Hunter Association building. If you wish to hold an interview, I can summon them here.”
Holding an interview might be a good PR move, but...
Michael might introduce me to gods who could become my apostles, so I didn’t see much need for additional publicity.
Besides, today’s events had already provided enough exposure.
“No, that won’t be necessary. I’ll be heading back now.”
“Understood.”
“Heimdall’s Return.”
I used Heimdall’s Return to teleport home and checked my status window.
[Name? Kim Jiho
Class? God of Souls
Title? Godslayer
Soul Power: 5,034
SP? 50 million]
A simple status window.
My SP, which had once been abundant, was now down to just 50 million.
But considering how much my Soul Power had increased through soul reaping and ability absorption, it wasn’t exactly a loss.
Still, with this amount, if an enemy attacked my home, I might get sealed.
In battles between gods, SP functions as both an offensive resource and a lifeline.
It’s essentially both HP and skill gauge in game terms.
No matter how efficient my skills are, sheer numbers can overwhelm anyone.
I need to secure a way to earn SP as soon as possible.
For now, I’ll monitor my SP balance tomorrow and determine my daily earnings.
That’ll give me a clearer picture of my income and expenses, allowing me to make better financial plans.
With my increased Soul Power, my SP mediation income should also have risen.
I’ll check my earnings tomorrow, but for now...
“Light.”
Instead of a skill invocation, I used magic.
This was a method of contacting Athena via Magic Encyclopedia.
I needed information on the black lightning and the puppet god incident that had been triggered by it.
Whoosh.
As I used magic again, a green chalkboard materialized before me.
I wrote a message detailing my observations:
Zeus seems to have subjugated other gods.
He is using them as puppets and targeting only Freyja of Asgard.
[TL/N: Changing Freya to Freyja to be more mythologically accurate]
It appears to be a test to see if he can circumvent Asgard’s alliance treaty penalties.
After writing this long message, I soon received a reply.
[Your assumptions are correct. I only learned about the black lightning recently as well.]
Athena then explained the current hierarchy of Olympus.
Athena, Goddess of War, is tasked with managing dungeons created by Zeus’ lightning.
Ares, God of War, is responsible for capturing and sealing gods from minor pantheons.
Hephaestus, God of Smithing, modifies the captured gods into “Black Thunder” entities.
[Beyond this, I don’t know what other tasks Zeus has assigned.]
[What exactly is happening in Olympus?]
[Several major gods have disappeared… Hera, Dionysus, Artemis… They haven’t been seen in Olympus for some time now.]
Hera, Dionysus, Artemis.
These are significant figures—members of the Twelve Olympians.
And they’ve all disappeared?
What the hell is Zeus up to?
[God of Souls, Kim Jiho. Please stand against Zeus. Yahweh has left the solar system, and Buddha has attained enlightenment and disappeared once more. Among the EX-rank gods, Zeus is the only one left with such ambition… Only you can stop him.]
[I’m merely an S-rank god.]
[You are the one he is most concerned about. You are the biggest variable in his plans. As the God of Souls, you have gained power through the SP exchange system. Please use it more efficiently to bring Zeus to justice.]
Athena, Zeus’ own daughter, was making a desperate plea.
Just what kind of atrocities is Zeus committing for his own daughter to take a stand against him?
I need to gather more information from her.
[Understood. Then tell me more about the Black Thunder. The sooner we understand it, the faster we can respond.]
[I don’t know the full details, but I will explain what I do know. Zeus has ordered Ares to only capture gods who are in a critically weakened or sealed state.]
Gods from minor pantheons who can’t even find apostles.
Gods who are on the brink of collapse, barely maintaining their existence.
These are Ares’ primary targets.
Rather than causing large-scale conflicts on Earth, Ares’ army focuses on locating and capturing near-death gods.
[Once captured, these gods are taken to Hephaestus’ forge, where they undergo modifications. Zeus’ power is also involved in this process.]
The god of smithing, Hephaestus, and the absolute EX-rank god, Zeus, working together to turn gods into puppets.
The Black Thunder entities, altered gods, are said to be powerful for a limited time.
[For a short period, they retain their original divine power along with an added Soul Reaper skill. However, they are unsuitable for prolonged battles. The Black Thunder is essentially disposable. At most, they can be used two or three times.]
[Are only lower S-rank gods turned into Black Thunder entities?]
[For now, yes. Zeus doesn’t have enough SP to modify higher-ranked gods. But that could change in the future.]
Athena told me she would send messages occasionally, so I should check them.
She also sent a farewell message, saying that if she kept sending messages for too long, Zeus might notice.
[Kim Jiho, the most important thing in war is logistics. You have the power to dominate the financial system of the SP world. Please act wisely and defeat the great evil that is Zeus.]
With that final message, Athena’s blackboard disappeared.
I understood that she wanted me to stop Zeus… but for now, all I had was 50 million SP.
After cutting off communication with Athena, I checked my situation.
The SP exchange’s monthly profit was 750 million.
It seemed like a huge amount, but once I started dealing with gods, it would disappear in no time.
I hadn’t had enough time to properly assess the profits from SP mediation, but it was definitely lower than the SP exchange’s profits.
What used to seem like a huge income now just felt insufficient.
Even if I expanded the SP mediation to artificially inflate my earnings, it still wouldn’t be enough.
I needed to upgrade the SP exchange quickly…
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[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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There were 50 trillion SP deposited in the exchange, and I needed 10 trillion SP to upgrade it.
Since I could only invest 10% of the total deposits into upgrades, I needed to find a way to secure 5 trillion SP.
If I relied on deposit interest alone, it would take 20 years to accumulate that amount.
By then, Zeus would have already regained all his strength.
Hmm… At this rate, selling off some shares and securing investment might be a better option.
Is there anyone I can get SP from?
The other gods on Earth were already struggling to gather SP, so they were out.
Asgard was drowning in debt to the SP exchange, so they wouldn’t have money to invest…
Hmm.
That only leaves the Chaos faction.
I should contact Hercules.
[Kim Jiho, long time no see. I was about to reach out to you anyway. What’s up?]
Hercules appeared on the communication screen.
He still had a sword stuck in his chest.
"Ah. I wanted to ask if the Chaos faction was interested in investing in the SP exchange."
[Why? It seems to be running fine. Why would you need investment? It’s like a golden goose—you should just hold onto it.]
"I need 5 trillion SP to upgrade the SP exchange. If it weren’t for Zeus, I’d take my time upgrading it. But that guy has been pulling all sorts of tricks lately."
I told him about Zeus’s lightning and dark thunder.
Hercules frowned deeply.
[That bastard Zeus is really doing everything he can.]
"Yeah. And on top of that, he’s got his eyes on the SP exchange. Even if I lose some shares, I need to upgrade it fast."
[I see… Actually, Hades wanted to talk to you about investment. You also mentioned wanting to awaken into Chaos, right? He said he’d explain more about that too.]
Right.
If I awaken into the Chaos faction, I’ll be able to gain the power of Fusion as well.
[I’ll connect you to Hades. You two have a lot to talk about, so just open a direct channel.]
"Alright. Got it."
Hercules’ communication cut off, and almost immediately, Hades appeared.
What?
Was he just waiting for this?
He popped up instantly.
[Hehehe, long time no see, Kim Jiho. Thank you for taking an interest in our investment offer.]
Hades rubbed his hands together like a sycophant and bowed his head to me.
What the hell?
Why is he acting so servile?
If he knew I was the one looking for investment, he’d be acting more high and mighty. Something was off.
Ah… Did Hercules not tell him that I was looking for investors?
In that case, I should act like I have no interest in the investment.
"Well, I’m more curious about whether I can awaken into Chaos despite being a deity."
[Hehe. Normally, awakening a soul god is incredibly difficult. You’ve already ascended to divinity, and on top of that, you’re a god of the soul attribute. However! I’ve made it possible! I convinced the great ‘Left Hand of the Creator’ that investing in the SP exchange was absolutely necessary!]
The Left Hand of the Creator?
I think Loki mentioned something about that before.
It was the Chaos God that the Lords of Chaos served.
"Who is the Left Hand of the Creator?"
[The first god created by the true Creator who made the entire universe. The very foundation of the cosmos, maintaining its order.]
"Hmm… If they’re that powerful, couldn’t they just wipe out Olympus and Asgard in one go?"
[Haha. To them, this isn’t even worth that level of attention. At most, it warrants sending a Lord of Chaos. The true Creator governs an infinite universe; why would they care about a single solar system? Think about it in terms of cleaning your house. You’d deal with big messes and dirty dishes first before worrying about a speck of dust on a bookshelf. In fact, you might not even notice it.]
So the solar system is just a speck of dust?
"Zeus has become an EX-rank Creator now. Doesn’t that mean he can compete?"
[Pfft. Not even close. Zeus is like a newly awakened F-rank in your world. If the Left Hand of the Creator is an SSS-rank god.]
The scale of this is insane… The Chaos faction has some seriously powerful backing.
"Why would someone like that be interested in the SP exchange?"
[The true body of the Left Hand of the Creator has no interest. But one of their avatars’ avatars has taken an interest in the SP exchange. You see, their avatars compete based on performance.]
An avatar of an avatar…?
This is on a completely different level.
"From the way you’re talking, it sounds like I’d have to accept investment to awaken into Chaos."
[Hehehe. We can’t just give it away for free, can we?]
"I don’t know… Giving up shares just for Chaos awakening doesn’t seem worth it."
[Of course, we wouldn’t invest just for that. We’ll invest 100 trillion SP into the SP exchange.]
100… trillion?
Gulp.
I tried to keep my poker face, but that number was too overwhelming.
Upgrading costs 10 trillion, so with 100 trillion, how many times could I upgrade?
[And we don’t need any shares.]
"Huh? No shares?"
[Yes. Just give us a seat in the SP exchange. We’ll become its second financial institution. Hehehe…]
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[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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