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Chapter 204: Overwhelming with SP (2)
The leaders of the world—those who possessed immense wealth and power.
They had stood at the peak of capitalism, exceptional even among the 7 billion people.
They said you could buy anything with money, but even those people had things they couldn’t obtain or avoid.
Youth.
And death.
No matter how advanced modern medicine became, there were limits that couldn’t be reversed—fate-like realities such as… aging.
A businessman in Korea who had built a global enterprise once said he would give up his entire fortune to buy youth.
That man eventually became a vegetable and died.
But things were different for those who awakened.
Even an F-rank Awakener became healthier, and as their rank increased, aging not only stopped but reversed—they grew younger.
Once someone reached A-rank, they became a demigod who could live for centuries.
And if they reached S-rank, they ascended to a low-tier deity and attained immortality.
There was no greater temptation for the powerful.
They had readily accepted my proposal.
Many had even approached me first.
Of course, there were a few devout ones and skeptics...
But those kinds of people—well, I could just reprogram them from the ground up.
I was just taking the time to persuade them because we were in a hurry—it wasn’t that their minds couldn’t be changed.
As for my enemies—the angels’ believers—I had already begun converting their faith…
For those in allied religions, I had negotiated with their higher-ups.
“Asura.”
[Oh? What’s going on, Kim Jiho. I heard Earth was in chaos…]
“Read me the list of Buddhist deities. I’ll give each of them 10 billion SP. In return, have them convince their believers to trust me.”
[…What? Are you joking? 10 billion?]
“Ask my Apostle Gods if I’m joking. Since we’re familiar, I’ll give you 100 billion.”
[P-Please wait a moment.]
Suddenly, Asura started speaking in formal speech.
That was rare for him.
I heard some crashing noises, and then a new face appeared in the comm window.
A beautiful, divine-looking woman—it seemed to be Avalokiteshvara.
[Oh Great Soul God… Were your words just now true?]
“Yes. I had just concluded a massive deal with the Creators. I intend to support you all to sever Olympus at the root.”
[But… 10 billion…]
“I fully understand how much compensation is required to ask devoted Buddhists to abandon their faith. I will provide 10 billion to each deity. Once Olympus is destroyed, I will restore even more to you.”
It was an offer that gave everything.
Asura, nodding all three heads enthusiastically, whispered something to Avalokiteshvara.
It was obvious he was saying something like “Just accept it already.”
Still, as someone managing the Buddhist realm, she continued calmly.
Though her hands were slightly trembling with excitement—I chose to ignore that.
[…What do you plan to do with the believers?]
“I plan to forcibly awaken all of them to C-rank or higher, thereby neutralizing Olympus’ intoxication magic.”
[That would waste an enormous amount of SP…]
“Giving out 10 billion SP isn’t wasteful anymore. My SP has already reached an infinite state. I simply wished to utterly destroy Zeus.”
[It seems you've made an incredible deal…]
After a brief pause, she accepted my proposal.
She suggested finalizing the terms through a System Oath contract.
“Fine. I’ll add a clause—if any of the SP I gave ends up with Zeus, it will immediately evaporate.”
[Let’s do that.]
Once the contract was signed, I started pouring out SP right then and there.
100 billion each to Avalokiteshvara and Asura.
The rest received 10 billion as I got their names.
The Buddhist gods were left overwhelmed by the flood of SP.
[It… was all true…]
[Kim Jiho… thank you very much.]
“Asura, speak casually as usual. Avalokiteshvara, please tell your believers to trust me for now—I’ll raise their ranks.”
[Understood.]
With that, I contacted Indra of Hinduism.
I made the exact same offer I had to the Buddhist realm.
Indra tilted his head.
[Hmm? Kim Jiho, you don’t seem crazy… Should I send over the god of medicine to check on you?]
“Take the deal while I’m offering it. You’re a king of the divine realm—so I’ll give you 100 billion.”
[You said billion, right? I didn’t mishear million?]
“Ask the Buddhist realm. They’re having a party over it.”
After checking with them, Indra’s face instantly brightened.
[Great Soul God. Please forgive my earlier rudeness.]
“Just talk like usual.”
[Haha… It was just such an unbelievable offer. Ah, but about the terms… Could I modify them slightly?]
“How?”
[Give the others 1 billion each and just give me… say, 300 billion? That should be enough for us.]
With no one else around, Indra made that kind of deal.
His eyes sparkled with greed.
Even deities were no different from humans when it came to desire.
“Don’t get too greedy. If the mission succeeds, I’ll give you a success bonus.”
[Tch. Fine.]
Perhaps realizing he went too far, Indra didn’t ask for more.
He handed me a list of deities and curiously asked:
[But will this contract really work? What if there’s a traitor who diverts the SP? Wouldn’t it be safer to just let me handle it?]
“I’m the Soul God. I’ve already accounted for everything.”
[If you’re that confident… alright.]
As I sent him the SP, I answered casually.
Worried they’d run off with the SP?
That wasn’t going to happen.
It was clear—once a god gave an order, their followers changed sides quickly.
After persuading two divine realms, convincing the human elite became even easier.
When the gods they believed in were begging them to trust me, the leaders converted without hesitation.
The devout in Christianity and Islam remained firm...
But the rest had already turned.
Few could resist the temptation of youth and immortality.
In less than a few hours, I had seized control of most of humanity’s leadership.
At this point, hadn’t I essentially conquered the world?
“Hmm. The Taoist side didn’t have a strong believer base…”
In China’s Communist regime, where they once said religion was the opiate of the masses, faith hadn’t been strong.
After the appearance of Awakeners, they began to believe a little, but most remained practical and not particularly devout.
The leadership even more so—when I offered to make them A-rank Awakeners if they believed in me instead of the Jade Emperor, they scrambled to convert.
Some even tried to block their fellow party leaders from awakening, asking me to promote only themselves.
I rejected those selfish requests immediately.
“Still, to keep Olympus in check, I should help them.”
The Taoist deities.
They hadn’t held much respect for my avatars…
Still, I figured I should support them with SP.
“Jade Emperor. Are you available for communication?”
[Yes, of course.]
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The Jade Emperor immediately responded to my call.
As soon as I mentioned SP support, he lit up with joy.
[Hundreds of billions… was that really the only condition?]
“Yes. Just ask the believers to trust me until this crisis is over.”
The leader was already nearly under my control, so I aimed for the regular believers as well.
If I persuaded them with enough enthusiasm, their awakening would become even easier.
[If that’s the only condition… of course I’ll do it!]
“Yes. But in the contract, let’s include a clause stating that if the SP was transferred to Zeus, it would vanish.”
[Ah, yes. Of course… there could be traitors. That clause is absolutely necessary.]
The Jade Emperor had accepted without hesitation.
I made the contract with him and transmitted SP to the listed deities.
Helping the three divine realms like that, the 10 trillion I had withdrawn was quickly running dry again.
Well… I could always withdraw more.
“Another 10 trillion.”
I continued my operations.
Rapidly awakened world leaders up to D and C rank, scattered SP everywhere...
And after that, I flooded those of lower ranks with SP as well, accelerating their awakening.
Days and nights blurred together.
Several days passed.
Even during that time, I never stopped—handling multiple tasks simultaneously.
Then, something abnormal occurred.
[Contract violation detected.]
[Contract violation detected.]
[Contract violation detected.]
Messages started flooding the system.
A violation of contract meant...
Someone was siphoning off SP?
So, there were traitors among the three divine realms.
“They’re making their move already? After just a few days?”
In Asgard, Baldr had been the infiltrator.
If Asgard had one, the others surely would as well—hence the clause in the contract.
Even knowing the SP would vanish, the traitorous deities had begun transferring it.
Did they truly believe in Zeus that much?
A Creator who had bypassed many of the system’s restrictions.
They were probably hoping to send him SP, thinking they could pocket even a portion of the 10 billion.
But...
Did they think I wouldn’t see that coming?
“Freeze all transactions.”
The SP I had given them still belonged to me.
It had come from the Soul God—an SSS-ranked being.
Just because I handed it over didn’t mean they could use it freely, like money.
If they hadn’t used it with ill intent, I wouldn’t have intervened—but…
“Huh? Why… isn’t it working?”
“The transfer’s not going through!”
“My soul isn’t responding…!”
Those deities who had lost all their SP to Zeus.
Even after working hard to collect more once unsealed, they couldn’t reach even a fraction of 10 billion.
Their tens or hundreds of millions of SP were nowhere near enough.
“You violated the contract. Time to pay the price.”
Those deities who had eagerly accepted my SP.
Among them, those who had colluded with Zeus—I took control of them.
I dominated them—shared their senses.
Especially sight and hearing.
The Buddhist divine realm.
Through the senses of a deity opening the divine gates to Olympus, I saw.
Both arms raised to the sky.
A patch of clear blue sky suddenly darkened, and within it, a massive black portal formed.
They could open it—but not close it.
A diversion tactic, using their planted traitors to open invasion portals into the divine realms while spreading chaos on Earth.
If it couldn’t be closed...
“Jump in. Self-destruct.”
“N-No! My soul…!”
I forced the traitor deity to charge into the portal.
Ten billion SP turned into a bomb.
That deity originally possessed only a few hundred million SP.
Unable to resist my control, he helplessly plunged into the portal.
“You… what are you doing…?”
“Aaaaaaah!”
His soul glowed pure white.
Ten billion SP swirled and exploded with massive force.
A suicide bombing using the traitor’s own body.
BOOM!
“That should’ve drawn the line. Hindu realm… Same goes for you.”
In the Hindu divine realm as well, I hurled a traitor into a portal and detonated them.
It wouldn’t kill all my enemies, but it would serve as a warning to each divine realm.
And then...
“So this place was a den of devils.”
Two traitors in the Buddhist realm.
Four in the Hindu realm.
That was how many deities had betrayed their own divine realms.
But the Taoist realm…
Almost all of them.
Starting with the Jade Emperor himself, who had tried to send SP to Zeus.
“No… This can’t be. You’re just a fledgling who recently became SSS rank… With the power granted by the Creator, one should easily be able to override a contract!”
The Jade Emperor was flustered.
But his soul had already fallen completely under my control—it wouldn’t move.
I spoke through his mouth.
“Jade Emperor. Did you forget I’m the Soul God?”
“W-What are you doing…? How am I speaking…?”
“Did you really think I’d hand out that much SP without a safeguard?”
“Urgh… But if it’s power from the Creator…!”
Like a man with split personality, the Jade Emperor spoke contradicting words.
The deities around him, already glowing white, stood frozen in panic.
Step. Step.
“Jade Emperor, thank you for your cooperation… I won’t forget it—wait, what!?”
Ares entered the palace.
Behind him, his subordinates formed ranks and began gathering.
Oh?
So this was their stronghold.
“A-Ares! Help me!”
The Jade Emperor called out urgently.
Even as the realm’s leader—and even after receiving hundreds of billions—he briefly slipped from my control and managed to speak.
Hmm.
No time to waste.
I gave the command.
“Explode.”
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