Bad Things Are Learned Quickly.

The black glossy blade, tinged faintly with a blood-like red, gives off a fiery yet mesmerizing impression.

Above all, the deadly options and inherent power. The moment one is recognized as its owner, they will become far more than half stronger than now.

Still, no one stepped forward easily.

It didn’t seem they were holding back simply because the equipment was Kim Han’s personal loot from the Elder Death Knight. It was likely due to the terrifying penalty one would suffer if they failed owner registration on the ‘Burning Demon Sword.’

“I’ll give it a try.”

The first member to step up was one of the members of Fist Star’s group who had joined most recently.

A hoarse, cracked-voiced middle-aged representative. Among the legion members he was the oldest, yet he was Juno, who always used the most respectful honorifics toward Kim Han.

He carried a sword on his back roughly the same size as the demon sword laid out on the table.

“Alright.”

With Kim Han’s permission, he cautiously grabbed the hilt of the ‘Burning Demon Sword.’ Just as veins seemed to stand out on his clenched hand, a black flame flickered up from the sword and then subsided.

“Ugh!”

Juno let out a short cry and hurriedly set the sword down on the table as if he had grabbed something scalding.

For a brief moment, beads of sweat formed on his face and dripped to the floor.

“Failed?”

“Yes. I’m sorry.”

“No. What do you have to apologize to me for? It’s a pity more than anything. Still, it was a brave challenge. It must have been hard since it was your first time.”

Kim Han, as if he truly felt that way, patted Juno on the shoulder with a genuinely sympathetic expression.

Moved by Kim Han’s consideration, Juno returned to his seat wearing a satisfied smile.

After Juno stepped back, more members gradually stepped up to try.

In truth, the first time is hard, but it gets easier after that.

Eight warriors who had joined after fighting the Monster Wave together and three representatives from Fist Star Johan’s legion also attempted, but all failed owner registration.

There were nine warriors remaining in total.

Among them, Naruan declined because she was a side fighter, Kitas used a dagger, Hipoliri a halberd, Mio and Mishel used twin swords, and Ostum also sat out.

The remaining representatives were Inex, Hugo, and Joel.

Joel backed off, saying that no matter how much the demon sword transformed, its appearance was completely different from a rapier and thus burdensome.

“It seems specialized for offense; Inex hyung would be better than me…”

“Tch. Why do the men always chicken out like this! Inex, come grab it.”

“…Yes.”

Even before Kim Han ordered him to take the sword, Inex thought he wouldn’t be able to.

He expected that the genius knight Wigo would claim the blade and, in a fanciful thought that the hero should appear last, reached for the sword.

The moment Inex gripped the hilt, the demon sword’s form changed—into the two-handed greatsword Inex usually used—and black flames roared fiercely.

Everyone was surprised, but the most astonished was Inex himself. He, who had grabbed the sword nonchalantly, widened his eyes in bewilderment at what was happening.

“Huh? Uh? A title?”

While Inex, bewildered, held ‘Rebaten,’ the ‘Burning Demon Sword’ that had become his, and made a dumbfounded exclamation, the members’ congratulatory shouts continued.

But Inex, still not fully composed, suddenly seemed to think of something and approached Juno.

“Brother.”

“Why? Shouldn’t you be happy to have become the owner of such a great sword?”

“Well…”

“Good grief, people. Do you really think I’d sulk about that? Truth is, I tried knowing I probably wouldn’t succeed. I figured it would prefer a vigorous young person to an old man like me. I only stepped forward because no one else did. Well, the demon sword’s taste is peculiar; it chose you as the second-oldest.”

Juno’s words were half sincere, half joking.

It was true he stepped up to break the ice since others wouldn’t, but he was still a representative and a person—he couldn’t have had no expectations.

“Thank you, brother.”

“Enough. Don’t refuse a sparring match later.”

“Of course!”

Inex’s face finally brightened. Kim Han watched Inex’s status window as he was surrounded by people.

When the first incredible piece of equipment found its owner, everyone wore faces full of anticipation.

The equipment that had just been taken came from the Elder Death Knight, which members had so vehemently rejected.

The members’ petulant expressions vanished, replaced by gratitude toward Kim Han and a desire to grow stronger.

The item Kim Han produced was a staff that glowed with a mysterious light green, equipment taken from an Archlich.

A staff any priest would desire. Above all, it grants priests tremendous boosts to divine stats and Regeneration rate.

But unexpectedly, the priests’ gazes converged on one person. The person in question stood quietly, oblivious, and only after a long while noticed everyone’s attention on them.

“Why?”

“Because Mae Young-ryeong would suit it best.”

Apher spoke on behalf of the other priests and gave her the reason.

But despite the other priests’ urging, Mae Young-ryeong did not step forward. After staring at the item’s description for a long time, she pointed to someone else.

“Me, me?”

“Yes. That suits you.”

The member Mae Young-ryeong pointed to was not Apher, Chloe, or Patrick, who had been with them since the second year.

She was from Fist Star’s group but was currently a representative of Rebound. Along with Shumix, the representative Kim Han told him to pay the most attention to. It was Sharon.

“Ah, no! I, I think Mae Young-ryeong would be more…”

“Divine stats increase, divine recovery increases, healing effect increases. You specialize in mass healing spells. It fits you better.”

Mae Young-ryeong was right. She also had mass healing techniques, of course, but not to the extent of this representative.

This was the representative who had so surprised Kim Han and the driving force that had allowed Johan to cultivate his legion as an elite small unit in a past life.

“Come out. There’s no time.”

“Yes? I, I…”

The priests seemed to understand Mae Young-ryeong’s brief words and, urged by Kim Han, pushed Sharon forward to step out.

Mae Young-ryeong, as before, stood with arms crossed, cool and unmoved.

“Th-thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

She bowed repeatedly in every direction, wobbling and nearly falling, yet still smiling sheepishly as she clutched the ‘Staff of Revival’ to her chest and refused to let it go.

“Tch. We’ll be here all night at this rate. I’ll distribute things myself, so when I do, if anyone wants something, don’t hesitate to step forward.”

“Yes!”

Kim Han took items out of the pocket of interspace magic one by one and laid them out.

He decided to set aside items requiring owner registration and began by distributing things anyone could use without registering.

“Mae Young-ryeong.”

“…Yes? Do you mean me?”

“Come on out.”

“Ah… this for me… Thank you, le… Kim Han.”

Mae Young-ryeong’s eyes welled up as she gripped the ring with both hands and returned to her seat.

‘Enhanced Wish’ was certainly an incredible magic, but each monthly use cost a whopping 30 luck permanently.

Among the members, the ones who could increase luck were Mae Young-ryeong and Kim Han. Thus, by default, Mae Young-ryeong became the ring’s owner.

When Mae Young-ryeong took the ring, Hazel and Lee Hyo-ju’s faces hardened slightly, but Kim Han didn’t notice.

Kim Han, oblivious and likely to suffer in old age, next held a whip of black leather coiled like a serpent.

“This is for Lee Hyo-ju.”

“…Me?”

“Right. You’re both strategist Lee Hyo-ju and close-range dealer Lee Hyo-ju. Considering dart’s range, you’d need defensive gear besides armor.”

“Ah… I didn’t expect this. Thank you, Kim Han.”

Lee Hyo-ju seemed genuinely surprised as she took the whip Kim Han handed her and slowly wrapped it around her waist.

The whip slid and wrapped around her waist on its own, fitting as seamlessly as a black leather belt.

“Gah!”

Arun, who had sneak-attacked from behind Lee Hyo-ju, was instead bounced back by the whip’s recoil and tumbled, causing a brief commotion, but everyone ignored it—even Lee Hyo-ju herself.

While Arun lay sprawled, Kim Han picked up a blue gem—one of the treasures the Archlich had held, a sort of spirit item.

“This is a tough one. Arun, Soria, you two decide. Play rock-paper-scissors or discuss it.”

Arun, who had fallen, dusted off his clothes, examined the item, and shook his head.

“It’s not for me.”

“Um, well… Arun would suit it better than I would…”

“Soria, didn’t you hear what the captain said earlier? You need to think about getting stronger. Read the item’s description. It increases Spirit. I’m a mage, not a spirit-handler. Besides, it’s a treasure that lets you summon a top-tier spirit.”

The legion’s only pure-blood spirit-handler. There are others who deal with spirits, myself included, but they all treat spirits as secondary. Only Soria invested everything in spirits.

“That is… sob…”

At Arun’s unusually stern, reproachful words, Soria burst into tears. The members were momentarily flustered. Even Kim Han wondered what was happening and signaled Hazel with his eyes and chin.

“Why are you crying? Is this something to cry over? Honestly!!”

Arun’s exasperated words finally broke Soria’s dam of tears. It was a reaction unthinkable for the usually composed, soft-spoken Soria.

“Captain, it seems Soria doesn’t need that. Give it to someone else. Ah, Hazel, you summon spirits too, right?”

What had angered placid Arun? He spoke coldly, an uncommon sight, and turned his head. The atmosphere grew awkward.

As Hazel, who had been pointed to, began comforting Soria, Merus approached Arun and clicked his tongue loud enough for Arun and the others to hear.

“Tsk tsk tsk. Why are you so oblivious?”

“What? What did I do?”

“Anyway, you’ll regret this for a long time. Tsk tsk. Sir, congratulations on obtaining the ‘Lifetime Scammed Ticket.’”

“What the hell?”

Meanwhile, Soria, as if steadied—or perhaps imagining some ‘revenge’ from Merus’s words—bravely wiped her tears and approached Kim Han.

“I’ll use it gratefully, Captain. Thank you so much. And I’m sorry for showing such an ugly side.”

“Uh? Uh… th-that’s fine?”

“Yes. I’m re.ally. okay.”

“Is that so…”

Soria emphasized ‘really’ when she spoke. Apparently, Merus’s remark had sparked thoughts of revenge.

All the male members looked pityingly at Arun and shook their heads in a bizarre scene.

The moment Amor unintentionally emitted her aura, she felt the cold touch of a side with black intent flow along the left side of her neck.

Moreover, the pointed edge of a blood-red dagger hovered almost against Amor’s right pupil. The back of her neck was held in Aetas’s right hand.

For the other gods watching Amor and the gods surrounding her, seeing multiple shapes meant that space had been divided innumerable times.

“Amor, have you lost your senses? Do you want to be annihilated?”

“I, I mean, i-it was an acci… ugh!”

“Oh dear, did that hurt? Sorry. I accidentally tightened my grip too.”

Mors casually smiled and warned Amor, who began to make excuses, but before she could finish, Aetas—the one holding the back of her neck—smiled sweetly and tightened his grip.

“S-sorry, Father.”

“Yes, don’t do that.”

“Yes.”

“Now, get to what you were doing. Present it.”

“I-in this state?!”

The thugs of the divine realm were radiating hostility around them. When Amor looked to them and asked again with a glance, the Creator gave a benevolent smile.

Believing from that smile that they would be dismissed, Amor smiled back.

“Yes, in that state. You apologized, didn’t you? Why did you do something to apologize for?”

“…Yes?”

Only then did Amor realize the Creator had changed from before. This was not the Creator who would endure and let things slide even when she made nonsensical demands.

He had become completely different, as if he were a different being from the last time she saw him.

She felt the gravity of the situation. A deep anxiety gripped her: if she messed up, she could be annihilated here before the ‘Divine Protection’ for participants in the ‘Battlefield of the Gods’ even kicked in.

“So, um… we’ll give up twenty percent of the dimension our faction oversees.”

“Amor!!”

“Amor!”

“Hmm? And?”

Amor’s faction of gods bristled, thinking the demand excessive, but the Creator said ‘and.’ It sounded as if he wanted something more.

“A-and?”

“Yes. Is that all?”

As if he had decided to use everything he had once endured from Kim Han in this moment, the Creator acted and spoke as if he were Kim Han’s mirror image.

Cold and unfeeling, he was infuriating enough to make someone want to slap him.

“A-and… I’ll give fifty percent of this year’s produced Divine Stones and various tributes!! Ah, Father.”

For the first time in a long while since becoming a god, memories of when she was a novice deity resurfaced for Amor.

Recalling that fragile, melancholic self terrified her, and she felt as though those memories would swallow her whole.

The Creator knew full well of Amor’s state, yet he didn’t even blink.

“And?”

“Gah! Anything, anything! I’ll give anything!!”

Seeing Amor scream that she’d give anything might lead the goddesses surrounding her to mistakenly think they were inflicting pain.

But her crime was blatant. To emit an aggressive aura toward the Creator before the Creator was an act deserving summary punishment.

“Really? Anything… If so, should the price be annihilation?”

“What? How could you—!”

“Well, that would be too much, I suppose. Fine, I won’t go that far. But tell me this: if, as the Creator, I lawfully and properly changed a Setting with no legal issues, what would you offer in return?”

“…What I should offer…! Ah!”

The Creator told Amor to present it. He wanted her to state the price required to do that—if she wanted to change the ego of a Setting, she must state what she’d give.

If Amor had been in her normal rational state, she would never have fallen into such a trap.

She failed to notice the Creator’s wordplay and provocative tone and got entangled. As is always the case with those who fall into such traps, there was no turning back.

“That is…”

“You’re unusually prudent today, which is odd. Amor, what will you pay as the price? You accused me as if I had violated a law I hold most sacred. But if I had lawfully taken a fair price and handled it justly, what would you give?”

She wanted to say she’d rather not see, but she couldn’t. Saying that now might earn her immediate execution for slandering the Creator.

“What do you desire? I will offer whatever Father desires.”

Amor’s words, as if she would submit entirely to the Creator’s will, sounded like a loyal subject’s. But the Creator’s reaction was cold.

“I said counter-offers were a pleasure… Tsk. It seems I’m at a loss, but fine, present it. If I’m right, inject two tenths of your divine power into the dimension where the ‘Battlefield of the Gods’ will take place.”

“Ah, Father!!”

He was a Heavenly God. Aside from thug goddesses, he was the most powerful god—one who could rival a demon god.

Two tenths of such a god’s power was an amount that would make the representatives of Exorsus clearly feel their divine power rise.

“Then let us view the footage.”

Amor’s protests were not accepted. First, her faction had to relinquish twenty percent of the dimension they governed to view the footage, along with various tributes. There were 1,182 dimensions; the amount of tribute gathered there was tremendous.

“Ah, but before that, other gods must also pay a price to watch the footage for the protection of their representatives. Don’t worry, it’s not as much as Amor’s. The representative in the video will of course have their face obscured. Yet the hints are so easy that everyone will know who the representative is. Swear by Divine Oath that you will not mention that representative to your own representative or any other god, and that you will not influence them. Ah, make an exception for the god who is that representative’s patron or the god who is responsible for a legion member.”

“By Divine Oath?”

Murmur murmur—murmur murmur—!

“If you don’t want to, just leave.”

At the Creator’s words, no god actually left the place.

A god’s life is inherently very dull and uneventful. If such an interesting event occurred, any god who didn’t see it with their own eyes wasn’t much of a god. Even the god of Sloth was bright-eyed.

Around ninety thousand gods finished the Divine Oath and the video played. And more than anyone, Ludicer and the other four goddesses were stunned into near fainting.

Though the face was obscured, that appearance, the equipment, the high luck, and that tone mocking and pressuring the Creator—

‘Kim Han!’

‘Kim Han?’

‘Kim Han, of all people.’

‘Is that Kim Han?’

‘Kim Han…!’