The Creator’s Gift, Spying Power (1)

As soon as I left the Garden of Gods after meeting Aetas, I canceled the planned purchase of goods and headed straight to the inn.

Upon entering the room, I immediately called Arun and Lee Hyo-ju.

Moments later, Arun dragged Unos, and Lee Hyo-ju brought Katarina into the room.

Seeing Unos struggling in a fit of rage, the suppressed anger that had been building from the Garden of Gods to the inn surged back in me again.

“Arun, silence magic.”

“What? Oh, yes!”

I felt the mana wrap around the surroundings and then disappear. At the same time, I grabbed Unos’s grotesquely twisted arm.

As soon as my touch was felt on his body, Unos’s eyes filled with despair, and he struggled even more violently.

*Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! *

His arms and legs were flattened. But they weren’t healed. Instead, they became an even worse state.

Have you ever had such an experience? When a chopstick seemed bent, and you pressed it in the opposite direction, only for it to bend in a strange shape in the opposite way?

That’s the state of Unos’s arms and legs.

I had twisted them in whichever direction I pleased, so now even a unique potion couldn’t fix them.

Moreover, he had become a body(?) that could roll easily, but unfortunately, due to the silence magic, not even a scream could be heard around us.

In a typical case, I, as a representative, couldn’t inflict such harm on Unos, another representative.

However, like all laws and rules, there were loopholes in the ‘settings.’

It was considered a ‘healing act’ to restore Unos’s arms and legs, twisted in strange directions, to their original state.

Hearing that such a thing was possible because of the screams I heard from Lee Hyo-ju, who had tortured Arun before the regression, but this was my first time using it. In any case, it felt very satisfying.

Seeing the creature’s appearance made me feel somewhat relieved, and with a long sigh, I gestured to the two people who had retreated almost to the wall.

First, I handed Arun 100 gold coins and ten Mithril coins and let him buy some magical items and whatever he personally needed.

I also gave Lee Hyo-ju 100 gold coins and five Mithril coins, advising her to buy whatever she needed.

Then I sent both of them to visit the Garden of Gods.

Lee Hyo-ju, unaware of the value of money, was surprised when I told her that the money I gave her was equivalent to 60 million won in Korean currency, causing her to drop the coins in shock and hurriedly pick them up.

“Go and make sure to reveal that you’re a representative when purchasing items to avoid being ripped off. Got it? Make sure to mention you stopped by on your way to the Garden of Gods before buying anything from the shop.”

“Yes! Don’t worry!”

“Yes… um… thank you.”

“Thank me? I’m lending it with the thought of getting paid back in interest. Off you go.”

The two of them said their goodbyes and left.

I roughly tossed the unconscious Unos into a corner with a thud and pointed to the opposite corner for the Katarina woman with my finger.

Then the Katarina woman, who had watched Unos being treated from start to finish, trembled all over and sobbed, crawling away in shock.

“Sob… sob sob…”

“If you keep crying, I’ll make you just like that guy over there.”

“Gulp!! Gulp gulp!”

Leaving behind the Katarina woman, who couldn’t hold back her tears and covered her mouth with her hands, I used the ‘gift’ obtained through negotiation with the Creator.

‘They said to imagine the Heavenly God and the Demon God as if feeling divine power, right? Then it’s supposed to appear like the patron god sees their representative?’

I tried to sense the noble and holy aura, but all I felt was the divine power of divinity floating around.

The position of the Heavenly God’s representative was nowhere to be seen.

I imagined destructive magic, but again, all I sensed were divine powers like mana or force.

‘Ah, what is this? Why isn’t the representative (different type of representative, not human proxies) of that ragged Heavenly God appearing…?!’

The moment I thought of the Heavenly God as a rag, the representative of the Heavenly God appeared in my mind.

The face of a half-elf walking toward a place that looked like a jungle.

I was so shocked and bewildered that my concentration scattered and it disappeared, but it was definitely that dual-personality perverted half-elf.

‘So… do I have to think of their true form, not their public image? How can the Creator be so petty…?!’

Boom! Crack!

Just as I was about to mock the Creator for being petty, a sudden and absurd lightning bolt generated from the inn’s ceiling struck the inn’s floor.

“Wow… seriously, what kind of thug…?!”

I brushed off the brief commotion and focused my mind again.

The representative of the Heavenly God. As mentioned briefly before, the strongest seven were called the ‘The Seven Stars,’ a cringeworthy nickname meaning the seven stars before regression.

And at that time, the representatives of the Demon God and the Heavenly God each held a position in these Seven Stars.

First, the representative of the Heavenly God was the fifth star, the Compassionate Star Benialis.

Benialis was uniquely a half-elf. And despite having half-elf blood, he was an unusual one, more two-faced than humans.

The half-blood with an elf’s face was known as a ‘Saint’ to the continentals and the Heavenly God’s faction’s representatives due to his well-crafted public image.

However, adversaries like me called him a ‘Foul Saint’—a filthy and dirty one.

Benialis was a pervert among perverts who loved to scheme, trap opponents in plots, and watch them flounder and fall into corruption.

And the Demon God’s representative was the second star, the Strange Star Violentia.

Violentia was a quirky and violent Dragonian.

Before my regression, in the ‘Battlefield of the Gods,’ I first discovered the fraudulent talent of ‘Genius’ in this so-called dragon-human hybrid, the Dragonian.

With the talent of a genius and as the Demon God’s representative in the field, she was endowed with immense mana. Pure, tyrannical mana and a brilliant mind. On top of that, the Dragonian’s unique, wide mana circuit pathways and naturally robust body.

Therefore, she sometimes fought like a martial artist who preferred hand-to-hand combat rather than a mage.

In gaming terms, she would be a character with a large mana pool, high damage, and a sturdy build.

As a magic attack character, her magic attack was high, but her physical attack was also reasonably decent—a fraudulent character, this female Dragonian.

Between the two, Violentia was slightly closer in rankings.

Even without Aetas’s advice, if the distance wasn’t significantly different, I would have gone to Violentia, but since she was closer in rank, it worked out well.

It felt like a day’s journey if I used the swift travel skill.

Though it was a spontaneous plan, my heart raced wildly at the thought of the joy that would come with success.

A smile naturally crept onto my lips.

Just imagining Violentia and the Demon God jumping in rage after receiving a huge blow filled me with excitement.

“Heheheheh!”

“Eek! P-Please, spare me. I beg you…”

Katarina, terrified by the sinister laughter, buried her head and began to plead for her life.

“You’re making a fuss. Be quiet.”

“Eek!!”

I averted my gaze from the foolish woman and opened my inventory to take out a brightly shining box.

In my previous life, the first-year reward was points, but I had never received such a box in 31 years.

‘Verify.’

“What?!”

In ‘The Battlefield of the Gods,’ meeting with the supervising god is limited to once a year.

During this time, the supervising god is supposed to grant the representative with minimal power hike, and depending on the god’s discretion, they may grant even greater power. Though a price must be paid for everything we get.

In other words, the representative’s skills may dramatically increase, as if shedding skin to grow, depending on how much the supervising god favors them.

Therefore, just ‘surviving’ for a long time strengthens the representative.

However, as mentioned earlier, there is a set upper limit to the power that can be granted without any compensation.

If a god wishes to grant more than that to their representative, they must deposit part of their inherent power into the ‘Battlefield of the Gods’ field.

This means if a god wants to give their representative a good weapon or strong authority, they must pay with their own power.

The original reward for the first year was 5 points each in stats, skills, and divine power.
Judging by Ludicer’s previous tendencies, this is precisely what the ‘settings’ would call the standard.

However, it also includes an additional 5 free skill points, a skill evolution scroll, and portable workshop equipment. It’s excessive for what it is. It was to the point where unnecessary worries arose within me—considering that worrying about the God one serves is as pointless as it gets.

As the description suggested, the fact that it was rated two ranks lower as a production tool implied that its inherent value alone was ‘Legendary, that is, Legend++’ grade.

With anticipation, I put my hand into the palm-sized lucky pouch, and my arm sank in. Then, like smartphone icons, various equipment categories popped up in my mind.

By focusing my mind on a particular category, the equipment within it would appear.

“Great. It’s not just good, it’s amazing. Now, let’s see where…”

I entered the sewing equipment and took out a small automatic loom, along with thread and needles.

I laid out Arachne’s spider silk and Minotaur’s tendons from the inventory, then took out a Mithril Ingot, carved it, and began to melt it by infusing mana.

I placed the now liquid Mithril into a pouch attached to one side of the loom, connecting it with various tendons, including Arachne’s spider silk and Minotaur’s tendons.

Then, it twisted on its own, forming a thick cord.

Liquid Mithril flowed out from the pouch on the right side of the loom, soaking the twisted cord.

After about 30 minutes of this process, a 10-meter long cord emitting a mysterious silver light coiled like a snake on the floor.

‘Verify.’

A very simple effect. It wasn’t a waste of expensive materials just to create a cord that absorbs divine power well.

Because of its property of absorbing divine power, if leather armor is made with this cord, it can produce armor with excellent magic defense, and it is also useful when making weapons or accessories.

It can also be used for completely unexpected purposes, like now.

I approached Katarina, who was crouching in a corner with her arms wrapped around her shoulders.

Was she scared of me approaching with the long cord, or did I look like a pervert?

Katarina retreated as if she would break through the wall.

“Ugh! P-please spare me. I-I’ll do anything!”

Using a crafting scissor infused with Force and Mana, I cut it to about 1 meter in length and tied Katarina’s hands and feet behind her back.

An uncomfortable position. She squirmed as if a turtle flipped over.

I knelt down to meet Katarina’s eye level and speak.

“Listen, trash. I’ll give you one chance. If you can use divine power to cut or tear these ropes, I’ll let you go.”

“R-really?”

Katarina, awkwardly squirming with her face against the floor, asked with wide eyes in surprise.

I nodded and gestured with my chin for her to go ahead, and the trash woman began to struggle with a confident look.

“E-eeeek!!”

I had already checked the item settings, but it seemed that trash woman couldn’t surpass the divine power capacity of these ropes.

After struggling for a while, the trash woman quickly gave up, panting in despair.

Foolish. Pathetic. Shouldn’t she try until her divine power is completely drained, and then at least make an effort with strength?

I’m bewildered by how easily she gives up when her life is on the line.

As I emitted a dense killing intent, she pretended to inject divine power or use strength, which only irritated me further.

“Pathetic woman!”

Katarina, already having given up, lay curled up like a cocoon in the corner, and Unos, though appearing normal on the outside, seemed more broken than before.

Though conscious, he lay there unable to move, with only his eyes rolling.

While glancing at the rope binding Katarina, it seemed as if he thought he could have untied it if he were in his right mind.

“Bullshit.”

Startled by the harsh words, as if his true feelings were exposed, he looked around nervously, trying to put on the most pitiable expression.

“There’s certainly no shortage of bullshit.”