Above Your Head

Vol 2. 93: The Salvation of God (30)

Vol 2. Chapter 93: The Salvation of God (30)

"Teacher! I made a crown!!"

Oh my. Thank you, Ji-eun.

"Teacher! Why are you wearing such revealing clothes?"

Ah, erm, yeah. It was my father's request. He liked my current appearance so much that he told me to never change the way I look. He was so determined about it that he nearly quarreled with the Secretary of Defence. The female dancer who had a curvaceous body was leading the children that just arrived. She was dressed in an attire that would cause the students’ parents to cough up foam if they saw it.

However, Genie was undeniably popular. Perhaps it was natural that Genie, close to being an incomparable beauty, was popular with children, who responded most honestly to outer appearances. This was still the case even if a Character Image covered Genie's body, that was made of steel.

"...Where is this?" A woman, lying on the lawn, opened her eyes. It was Seon-ae, who was once my partner, and her mature appearance made it impossible to think of her as a high school student. Even the woman who used to look like a young girl couldn't resist the stage’s flow of time, and had grown old.

Instead of saying that we were at Center, or the Central Plaza which was referred to as the 'middle area of Center' to be exact, I simply said, "It's a sort of subspace, so to speak."

"This is the rumored..." Seon-ae jumped up as if she had heard a backstory and looked around.

The Central Plaza had a generous width and breadth of one kilometer, so there was no one who observed her carefully. Also, the Central Plaza was now noisy with the voices of 100,000 new recruits.

"Dad!!"

"M-Michael... You've grown up a lot." A white man and child hugged each other. Unlike the man, who couldn't make eye contact, the child was cheerful and bright.

"I slept a hundred nights!! Hehe. But dad, you have a lot of tattoos too."

Upon hearing the child's words, the adult's face turned pale. "Ah, t-that's because..."

"It's okay. Everyone has a lot of tattoos. Teacher said that as long as you don't increase it, it'll be fine!"

"Michael... You kind little brat...!" The man cried while hugging the child in his arms.

I looked at that sight for a moment and said, "You transformed into something like an angel, huh."

"What do you mean an angel? More like a mutant monster." Seon-ae sat on the lawn and watched the family reunion, happening after 150 days of separation, for a while. During that silence, I spent my time working on all sorts of tasks with my body in the real world. After quite some time, Seon-ae said, "They called me the Container of Ten Thousand Things."

"What?"

"That's what the Black Wizards called me. They said something like ‘the world's greatest treasure’. It doesn't have much power by itself, but... They said it’s named after the fact that it’s a spiritual container that contains the power equivalent to 10,000 people."

Seon-ae was said to have been born into an ordinary family. Her father and her mother were ordinary people who knew nothing about the existence of the parallel world. However, Seon-ae was born with a special gift, and that became the misfortune of their family.

The world-renowned Black Wizard organization, Romance, which discovered her existence before anyone else in the world did, killed her parents and kidnapped her without a moment of hesitation. They carried out all kinds of terrible experiments. During her fifth year of living in a hell where she wished for death every day, Romance collapsed without any sort of actual indication. It was the result of a revolt by a powerful superhuman raised in Romance just like her. Given a little longer, she might have ended up in their group, but... Not knowing that fact, she just took advantage of the exposed gap and ran away without any plans.

"As I tore up the Black Wizard who was in charge of me and ran away, that bastard said it. He said that I have the qualities to be both a God or a Devil. He asked if I didn't think that my gift was going to waste." Seon-ae, pausing slightly, looked at me.

"So, was it a waste?”

"Do you think it’s possible for me to be both a God or a Devil? What a load of bullshit. He was literally spouting nonsense that showed he was a frog in a well." Seon-ae, lamenting, calmly explained her talent, "Container of Ten Thousand Things literally means what it says, a container." It basically referred to the ability to absorb any sort of Enhancement and Injection in whichever way. "It's the ability to continuously consume spiritual medicines and elixirs, so to speak."

"...Isn't that a crazy cheat-like talent?"

Seon-ae could continue to purchase spiritual pills from the gacha machine, but not everyone could increase their neigong to 60 years[1] and increase their Mana capacity to 5th-Class, so such a thing did not happen. After all, the Mana capacity inside the body was eventually affected by the practitioner's control ability, so if the Mana capacity could not be controlled or managed by the user, it would turn into poison for the body instead. However, if someone had that sort of ability, they would literally have a Mana capacity that was beyond common sense…

However, Seon-ae shook her head. "Even so, I was had. Haih, I ate whatever spiritual pills I bought from the gacha machine to complete the mutation. Instead of being able to control my ability, however, I went wild. At the very least, that was my only hope..."

I looked into her hollow eyes, which did not waver. 'She's exhausted.' It was like I was looking at my past self. From her appearance, I recalled the sight of myself refusing to take the Emperor’s throne and only hoping for a peaceful life.

"You know of the conditions I announce to those who immigrate here, right?"

"That's right. You said they were people who couldn't clear the stage, right?"

I shouldn't have accepted Seon-ae by my original standards. Currently, Seon-ae was only Level 9, but she would be strengthened to Level 17 upon transforming into the woman with wings. It meant that she could also be a talented person who cleared the stage 10,000 times. But I nodded my head and said, "You don't look well. Go to Genie. She'll show you where to stay."

"…Thank you."

I stood up and watched Seon-ae slowly moving away for a moment. Some people suffered from not having the talents they wanted like Jae-seok, but there were others who suffered from the talents they were helplessly born with like Seon-ae. However, was it possible to permanently get rid of the talent that one was already born with?

"There's a chance of her going berserk, so keep an eye on her."

You can rest assured as the current Unique World is almost equipped with facilities on par with the Albatross ship.

"Yes, yes. Ah, and is the Enchanting task going well?"

Yes. There are wizards among the new recruits. Moreover, it's progressing a few times faster as the Enchanters are used in full force. Their proficiency is also increasing, so the speed is expected to increase to a maximum of 30 times.

"…That fast?"

As I was bewildered by the large increase that went beyond common sense, Genie replied, Because there's an unbelievable high number of wizards we recruited from this little star. Moreover, even the average IQ is unbelievably high.

"Aren't wizards supposed to be intelligent?"

That's not necessarily the case.

The ability to control magical energy and intelligence were two completely separate talents. The reality was that there were many instances in which their inherent inclination did not match up to their ability.

But things were different on Earth, because of the Universal Talent given by the gacha machines. When someone awakened their spiritual powers using the gacha machine, a truly miraculous event would take place if they did not have the talent for the ability that they chose. It was the creation of the talent that 'used to not' exist! Needless to say, it did not endow the talents of a genius. What was given was the most universal talent that those with the corresponding talent had. Jae-seok, who had no spiritual talent at all, was able to learn Life Energy thanks to the power of the gacha machine. The advantage of this artificially given ability was that 'choice' became possible.

"Ahh, you're right. Those who chose magical energy would obviously be those that liked Mana, right?"

Furthermore, those who considered themselves intelligent and whose talents were proven here also chose magical energy.

Judges, prosecutors, lawyers, scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and others...were confident in their intelligence. They chose Magic instead of neigong or Life Energy. Coupled with the Universal Talent, their growth was eye-opening. I then commented, "Then again, if it weren't for this situation, there was no way we would be able to bring these high-level human resources over from Earth."

Of course, it wasn't all a good thing. A screen popped up in front of my eyes. I saw a white man on the podium of a spacious auditorium waving his right arm and shouting passionately, "Even if we have come to a place like this, we're still Americans. Even if he was our benefactor, it would not be right to suppress our freedom to such an extent!!"

As the screen changed views, Asians who gathered in what appeared to be a restaurant raised their glasses and shouted, "We are now the China Federation!"

This time, white people who were enjoying a party in a spacious hall shared their opinions with each other.

"There are too many Asians among the new recruits, perhaps because Iron Mask is Asian! Why do we have to bear with this?"

"That's right! Moreover, look at what the Yankees have set up! Europe is clearly being discriminated against!"

There were also Asians who gathered in some sort of room and whispered amongst themselves. Their expressions and postures were very determined.

"We must do our best to revive the Empire of Japan from now on."

I ran away from the scenes that popped up and disappeared continuously. "Would you look at that, huh."

As I was baffled, Genie explained to me, Factions are forming. And these organizations are making their own rules. Moreover... There are even those who imposed taxes and created codes of laws among themselves. The public opinion is indicating that even though the Administration part is left to me, the Judiciary and Legislative part should be taken over by humans.

"Is that so?" I raised an eyebrow. Those who were branded as wicked beings by Juan were not necessarily evil. If the given environment was rotten, the reality was that unless that particular person was a great man or a righteous man filled with a sense of justice, they would have no choice but to follow along with the direction of the group. However, those who were branded as wicked beings... Obviously, they were most likely really wicked beings.

"They're really doing all sorts of things, huh," I muttered. There were probably people who wanted to seize authority even in the Unique World. "I'm sure you've already announced the rules, right?"

Perhaps, because of that, they're taking the form of a club. However, the people involved are those who have a considerably great right to speak among the members.

"That means they're drawing a rough sketch while they first gather some forces, huh." I let out a scoff as there were already people who had ulterior motives. As a matter of fact, it was awkward to even say the word… It had already been 150 days for those who came over before the Level 14 Low-difficulty stage.

'Maybe it's a natural flow of things.' Moreover, I wouldn't have been able to stop this flow if I only had the Unique World. No, I might have even lost control of the people and instead my body in the Unique World would have gotten detained. However, I had Genie with me.

"There's no need to worry, right?"

Captain-nim, I am a Terra-class control persona of the Leonhardt Empire. How many crew members do you think I've dealt with? Why would you say that kind of thing to me? And this place doesn’t even have a Commission of Human Rights.

I laughed at Genie's smug voice. Then, I asked, "How's the situation with the food provisions?"

We still have some luxury remaining in our reserves, but I expect that we will be at risk if we receive new recruits at this scale again.

"Then let's have the remaining mass be used to bring in livestock again. Be ready by 6 p.m.."

Yes, Captain-nim. After answering, Genie turned silent.

I lifted the Dragon Heart that was on my thighs. It was time to work in the real world for the first time in a long time, but I did not have the intention to purposely go out, because there were more and more people coming into the Unique World. "We still have quite some time left, so it'll be better to work on some tasks..." I took a breather. Then, I slowly awakened my spirituality.

Whooooongg--- I felt some sort of power hovering around me like the wind. I held up a carving knife and the power hovering around me permeated into it. Kriekkkkk! I started carving. The speed was unbelievably slow. It was to an extent where I had to hold the Dragon Heart all day to raise it by only 0.02 percent.

In theory, it would mean that I would have to continuously do this for over 4,000 days for this task to be completed. 'It's not a problem that can be solved by hard labor. I need to regain the sensation I felt back then.'

However, no matter how hard I tried to recall it, I couldn't. Just like how a vivid and realistic dream when sleeping would disperse like a mirage when one were to wake up, the moment of enlightenment was also repeatedly disappearing no matter how hard I tried to grasp it.

"Ah! Really now!" I jumped out of my seat. "No, how could someone interrupt me there? How??" The more I thought about it, the angrier I became. Wasn't that an act of a vicious bastard?! Was there no such thing as a moral code of society or the manners between each other? I couldn't believe that the Administrator in-name would act up and go against the announcements he made! Really, really now. Really, really, truly. Reallyyyyyy! I was angry!

***

"It seems you're angry." Il-han stood still and laughed.

"Uwacckkkkk!!!" A loud scream was heard. The shoulders of the black child, whom Il-han was looking at in the mirror, shook. Needless to say, he had no access to the Cradle of Justice. Juan was an Unnamed just like him, and they were existences which carried a unique Setting and Divine Spirit.

However, if the beings on the stage browsed through the Cradle of Justice... He could see the black child and also the posts through his 'eyes'. Then, at that very moment… A new post was posted.

"Uwahhhh!!! Uwaaaaackk!!!! This! Idiot! Stupid fool!!! Trash! Insect-!!! Insect-like!!!!!"

Bang! Baaang baaang! Baaaaang!!! As the black child smacked the desk as he couldn't overcome his anger, a tremendous roar that seemed as if the world was about to collapse resonated. The title of the post was as follows:

-Planning to upload the strategy guide where even a Level 7 player can clear the Level 14 Intermediate-difficulty stage after an hour. (Iron Mask)

1. This is a reference to Wuxia novels, where you train your neigong for a number of years and the capacity increases with training and talent.