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“Alright, I’ll tell you my wish. I want an increase in ‘held points.’ As much as your, Ludicer’s, abilities allow.”
“…What?”
“Five million held points. It’s not enough, so I want more. And decide whether you’re going to speak casually or formally.”
“…What?!”
With Ludicer’s scream echoing, an uncomfortable silence settled in the contract room.
Ludicer glared at me with an angry face, seemingly upset about something, and I did not avoid her gaze.
Ludicer was a novice god and a lower one at that, who hadn’t even received divinity for a hundred years. Being a novice god, she lacked experience, so from her perspective, ‘unfamiliar sights’ were common.
However, she could confidently say she had never seen a being like the human in front of her. Constantly baffling her with unpredictable words and actions, now even his wish was like that.
Is he a selfish human who doesn’t think of his sibling? No, that’s not it. Then is his desire false? That’s not it either.
‘Why? Not saving his sibling? Strange…’
The most incomprehensible and bewildering aspect for Ludicer was,
‘I can’t read his thoughts…? Why?’
It was the fact that she couldn’t read the human man’s thoughts.
“Ah, what are you doing?! Aren’t you going to make the contract? Let’s hurry up. Even the God of Time always says there’s never enough time.”
“…Please wait. This isn’t something I can handle. Of all things, you included the phrase ‘as my abilities allow’… Tsk!”
Ludicer clicked her tongue irritably and disappeared from the contract room. After she disappeared, about 1-2 minutes passed.
Reappearing, she bit her lip and looked at me.
A small girl around the age of fifteen glaring at me couldn’t possibly be frightening. I’d even fought against evil dragons.
“Your wish, Mr. Kim Han, has been duly recorded. The maximum capability that I, the God of Amusement, Ludicer, can grant is calculated to be 3.5 times according to the system managing the Battlefield of the Gods. Therefore, your current points are 17,500,000.”
“…?”
I almost screamed.
I knew that, typically, the power granted to agents entering the battlefield was around one-tenth of a god’s strength.
But 3.5 times that? What is this foolish novice god thinking? What if I die because of this?
“Is this… okay?”
“I did not understand the question.”
“So, those points are like a game system I made, to understand it easily, and essentially, you’re giving me a portion of your power, right? But 3.5 times…? Isn’t that quite burdensome for you?”
“Oh…? Is that how you understand it? That can’t be right. Even if I’m a lower-tier god, I’m still a god. A being endowed with divinity, there’s no way a god’s power could be endured by humans or other creations.”
She tilted her chin up, looking down at me as if realizing her own existence.
But she was shorter than me, so there was no way she could look down at me.
“Then what about the points here?”
“The power agents receive is, strictly speaking, power without divinity, so it’s merely a replica.”
“That doesn’t make sense. That power?”
“…I’m not sure what you’re referring to, but yes. The term ‘god’ or ‘divinity’ doesn’t refer to spirits or powerful beings. It refers to those who exist outside the laws. What I was pondering earlier is the implicit rule that all proxies start with the same power. Whether an agent of a high god or a low god, they all start equally. Of course, over time, differences emerge due to the quality of power received from the god, the agent’s potential, and their efforts, but that’s only natural.”
“Oh…”
Did I just hear something incredibly important?
I’ll think about it later. Was I able to become one of the Seven Stars as a novice god’s agent thanks to the involuntary efforts made under Hyo-ju’s pressure?
“Huh? Wait a minute. Doesn’t that violate the creator’s rules from the start? If I have 17.5 million points, that is.”
“That’s why I said you couldn’t handle it. And permission has been granted.”
‘Does that mean she met the creator in that brief moment?’
“Alright. Then choose the power.”
“I’ve chosen everything. Just looking at it makes me feel full. Are you sure it’s okay for me to take all this?”
“Of course. Shall we proceed as is?”
“Yes… Oh! But before that, I have one question.”
“You have a question? I thought you knew everything?”
Ludicer’s sarcastic tone had a hint of resentment, which oddly made it feel pleasant.
“Don’t be sarcastic. I’m talking about the mental attack defense in the gaming system. Does it block all mental attacks?”
“…As I mentioned before, the power granted to an agent is a replica. At the agent level, yes. But if it’s a power of a different caliber…”
There was no need to hear what Ludicer left unsaid, as it was easy to guess. Still, it was sufficient. No, it was good.
Although I was more ambitious than expected, the skill points were not many, considering my highest skill level during the last battle was level 109, having broken through the second limit. Most skills were below the second limit level of 100.
Nevertheless, I belonged to one of the Seven Stars.
There were skills that could be improved through training, but authority relied on skill points rather than training. Perhaps that was why the skill points of 750 and 250, along with free skill points, seemed woefully insufficient.
Yet, the satisfaction kept a smile on my face.
“Then let’s begin. During the process of accepting the power, there might be some pain as your body is modified. Ah, since Mr. Kim Han has increased his points, the pain might be slightly greater than initially expected. I hope to see you again safely.”
“W-wait…! Ugh!! Aaaaargh!!”
A wave of pain twisted my bones and muscles.
Naturally, becoming an agent meant receiving the power of a god. So, some(?) adjustment was necessary to withstand that power seeping into the human body.
In fact, before the regression, during my first contract, I was embarrassed to admit that I couldn’t endure that slight(?) pain and ended up losing control and fainting.
But now, I can’t let that happen. I’ve got the experience from rolling around in the ‘Battlefield of the Gods’. I gritted my teeth and endured.
After what felt like an eternity, the pain subsided, and I immediately got up without checking the various messages that appeared in my vision.
“Huff… huff… Hey!! You crazy woman!! You should have warned me… Why are you like that?”
“Th-this is…”
I was about to vent my frustration at the clearly biased proceedings, but my anger faded and was replaced with curiosity as I saw Ludicer looking at me with a shocked, pale face, stuttering.
“What? What’s wrong with you?”
“Wh-who are you?”
“Huh? What kind of nonsens– huh?”
I was about to scold Ludicer for her absurd question when I noticed a line in the messages floating before my eyes that I hadn’t seen before the regression.
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