Something floated up before his eyes.
Igeon's eyes were wide open.
—One who hammers all things of the world and creates whatever they desire
[Effect]: Regardless of type, by hammering skills, objects, buildings—all things—he can disassemble the target and recreate anything.
Igeon tilted his head at the message that appeared.
It was the first time he'd seen or heard anything like it, so he didn't truly understand, but it seemed roughly related to his traits.
He did engage in combat, but strictly speaking, he was a production class.
*'Actually, my combat techniques were just applications of my production techniques after all.'*
Like how turning monsters into beehives was basically a meat-tenderizing skill.
But...
[By handling small fry, you have obtained the opponent's data (including magic power).]
[You can decompose the obtained data to create skills, objects, buildings, etc.]
[A portion of the obtained data accumulates and is turned into new skills.]
Igeon looked at the yellow crystal left in his hand. This was probably that data.
*'Interesting.'*
He'd originally assembled monsters to create items, but to have it appear in the form of data like this...
And his magic power restored every time he hammered something?
*'Then that means I can recharge magic even in the middle of battle?'*
As if intrigued, Igeon tried using his foundational skill.
It was a crafting skill that had come about because, unlike others, he was self-sufficient with weapons and armor.
*'One-Cell Workshop.'*
But there was no reaction around him. The only response came from the voice.
[As your body was newly reconstructed, existing unique skills have evolved and been reset.]
[One-Cell Workshop (lv.99) ▶ Creation Workshop]
[Insufficient magic power.]
[The skill is locked.]
[To unlock the crafting skill, you must possess at least an S-rank crafting tool sacred item.]
Well, it had always been a skill that required a crafting tool, so he'd expected that much.
*'I'll have to test it later.'*
Anyway, that wasn't what was important right now.
"So those 12 guys call these mosquito bastards or monsters 'disasters'?"
"Y-yes."
Igeon recalled the YouTube video he'd seen earlier, as if disgusted. It was a press conference about monsters.
— Everyone, please pay attention. Monsters are born from superstition, fear, and ideologies that people avoid.
— And like that, they ride on negativity and are summoned or invade through places where stress has accumulated!
— All disasters can only be eliminated by the power of the Holy God!
— So just as you believed in Igeon, please believe in us!
Of course, the definition of monsters was quite interesting. It wasn't entirely wrong.
But...
*'The problem is it's mixed with lies.'*
Anyway, they'd lost trust due to their continuous failed strategies. So they couldn't keep up the donation business, and the result of racking their brains was this.
[Divine Throne Skill Rental System]
Igeon, seemingly quite interested, fiddled with the boy's phone.
When he pressed the power button twice, a pre-installed application on the smartphone launched.
— Han Jimin-nim
[Rentable Living Divine Throne Skills] (Individual/Corporate)
[Rented Living Divine Throne Skills] (5 in use)
[Required Contribution] (187p to next grade)
[Change Payment Method]
It seemed they rented out their skills to nations, corporations, and ordinary people in exchange for compensation.
Was that all?
Reading the article, Igeon smirked crookedly.
*'Are these idiots trying to create a theocratic state and become dictators or something?'*
Well, it was excellent.
A good strategy: since they couldn't handle monsters themselves, they increased their forces and secured revenue.
*'This must be why the number of ability users has increased in the past 20 years.'*
In any case, whether they used his dead self, made and sold protective charms, or sold his skills—it was all fine.
The problem was...
*'Those bastards. They were selling everything I made as their own.'*
That is, what they were renting out was the problem.
What they presented as protective items were knockoffs of items he had made.
And the so-called original combat techniques shown in the videos were somehow all his own techniques?
And they were taking royalties for them?
*'These shameless idiots.'*
Of course, they probably weren't doing all this just for the money.
*'It must all be for the benefit of the Holy God they serve.'*
Well, that didn't matter right now.
"Ah, this is really annoying."
*Thwack! Thwack!*
Igeon swatted the monsters that kept crawling out as if catching mosquitoes.
"Damn it, why do these things keep only coming near me?"
"It's because you're wearing good cologne, hyung?"
"Cologne? What are you talking about? I didn't put on anything."
"Huh? ...But."
The boy tilted his head. It was clearly the very pleasant scent he'd smelled when he encountered the Holy God. Of course, meeting the Holy God himself had been incredibly lucky.
But Igeon, for his part, was extremely annoyed, as if dealing with fruit flies.
Sure, he was a craftsman who used monsters to make items.
Materials walking in on their own were like honey.
But...
[Divine Throne experience has accumulated.]
[A small amount of magic power has been restored.]
[Divine Throne experience has accumulated.]
[A small amount of magic power has been restored.]
[Divine Throne experience has accumulated.]
[A small amount of magic power has been restored.]
[Divine Throne experience has accumulated.]
[A small amount of magic power has been restored.]
[Divine Throne experience has accumulated....]
"Experience my ass! Is this a game?! And this doesn't even fill my stomach when it comes to magic power."
Igeon yelled angrily at the voice he kept hearing. He didn't know what it was, but he wanted it to shut up. Because his ears were sharper than others, it was grating, and the voice lost its spirit.
And then...
[Divine Throne experience...]
"Shut up! I don't need it!"
The voice lost its spirit again. And after he'd beaten down quite a few...
[Level up is not far off; it won't be long until the next skill is created.]
The dejected voice seemed somewhat expectant, as if asking if he was now interested.
But Igeon paid it little mind.
Because right now, there was something more important than this damn voice.
"Delivery! Two chickens, right?"
"Yes."
Igeon hugged the chicken box and scurried toward a certain room.
The voice cursed the fried chicken bastards.
"Anyway, I just sleep in there, right? You said the only bed is in there."
But the boy was horrified when he saw the room Igeon was heading to.
"Ah, no! That room!"
"?"
"Ah, no, that's the room of the housemates I live with...! It's best not to go in! There's something really horrible inside...!"
Igeon grinned slyly.
He planned to move as soon as his magic power recovered anyway. It was because of those 12 and his items they had stolen.
*'Ah, but it's still a pain in the ass.'*
He didn't have money, so how nice would it be if they showed up on their own.
*'If they were strong, my magic power would fill up in one shot.'*
In any case, given the situation, it was best to find a plane ticket quickly and get some sleep.
He sneered and entered the room.
"Hyung!"
"It's fine. I've even slept while realistically tearing into monster corpses. No matter how horrible it is..."
The kind of things that come out of a teenage student's room are predictable.
But the moment Igeon turned on the light, he stopped dead in his tracks.
And then...
"......?!!"
Even the great Igeon froze.
He who had insisted on a bed quietly walked out. Then he lay down meekly on the living room floor.
"I don't need a bed or anything. Yeah."
"Huh?!"
But Igeon was sincere.
Why?
*'Hey, no matter how much I said I liked museums, isn't this too much?'*
Igeon had nearly had a heart attack when he entered the room.
It couldn't be helped.
What filled the room were life-like dolls with his own face. It wasn't just one or two figures.
What was especially frightening was the wall side. As many as ten huge lifelike robots of himself were glaring at him.
They were in cool poses, but Igeon was absolutely terrified.
*'I'm not that macho!'*
At the very least, they should've made them with normal human faces. And some reproduced his scars so identically that both the faces and bodies were horrifying.
*'And why are they undressed!'*
Was this some kind of anatomy exhibition?!
At that sight, the boy laughed awkwardly.
"Th-they might look like that, but they're household disaster-processing devices. Usually, they're modeled after the 12 Saints, but the siblings who live here are huge Igeon fans. Anyway, the ordered armor hasn't arrived, so they're in that state, but the scars are too realistic... That's why I said not to go in, because they're scary..."
He had to admit it.
At this level, it was like an exhibition of monstrous wonders.
Of course, that wasn't why Igeon had walked out.
Devices aside, on the desk were figures of himself. The walls were plastered with his photos and carefully arranged articles about his exploits.
It was certain.
The owner of that room was a die-hard fanboy or fangirl.
And no matter how shameless he was, he couldn't sleep in a room like that.
Moreover...
*'The photos are so overly touched up! Why are the eyes like that!'*
Damn bromide shop owners. They needed to go easy on the eye and muscle effects!
But that was when.
"What the! This!"
Someone burst in angrily.
* * *
Meanwhile, around that time.
"What? Our vassal gods disappeared?"
Within one of the twelve zodiac signs, commonly known as Aries, was
Yang Wei of China was taken aback by the unexpected news.
And this news stirred up the entire Aries Palace, the place that served the Holy God and was the headquarters of Aries.
"Did our vassal gods we sent to Korea really disappear?"
"Yes. So the Korean branch also seems flustered. It seems we'll have to send an investigation."
Yang Wei narrowed his brow.
It was strange.
This was already an era where humanity's territories had been taken by unknown civilizations.
Thanks to that, the world map had been redrawn long ago, and national borders had become meaningless. They were moving on a coalition level rather than as individual countries.
And instead of borders, it was an era where protective barriers—domes—that blocked monster invasions safeguarded human civilization...
"Good heavens. Weren't the vassal gods the ones maintaining those domes?"
"And some of those vassal gods fled?"
Amidst the believers' commotion, Yang Wei let out a small groan.
Just this morning, he'd been troubled by the possibility that Igeon had returned, and now it was his own vassal gods' turn.
*'Please, just cut it out, will you?'*
Of course, it was something to be alarmed about.
The
That meant they were transcendent god-level beings, different from humans.
Because of that, even though they were in the same position of serving the Holy God, they'd snicker at him and tell him not to act up as a mere human. And now they fled?
*'Why on earth? Who?'*
"Could it be the doing of another Divine Throne?"
The 12 Zodiac Divine Thrones were enemies who stole each other's experience points before being colleagues.
They were enemies who had to steal believers and use the experience points collected by believers to grow the Holy God.
There was no way their relationship was good.
Thus, fierce fights to attack each other and steal believers were common, but...
*'Until now, there had never been an incident that would make vassal gods flee.'*
So Yang Wei couldn't help but grow increasingly anxious.
*'And on top of that, the Red Zone strategy had already failed.'*
Actually, it was an unofficial raid, so it was kept secret from the media, but not long ago,
a few of them had gotten together and confidently participated in a raid.
But failure, and another failure!
And if this fact were to become known, the media would swarm like a pack of dogs and blabber.
Of course, those words had been a forbidden phrase to the 12 Divine Thrones for 20 years.
Even if the monsters had grown stronger than in the past, people didn't believe it.
*'Damn. I thought it'd be possible since it's a species Igeon caught.'*
"Enough. Before our vassal gods disappeared, what happened there?"
"I'm not sure, but it seems the Gemini believer was beaten up on the street by another Awakened."
At those words, Yang Wei's heart sank for a moment.
Because the demon tower had been destroyed, someone had come to mind.
Sure enough, Yang Wei asked hastily.
"Who beat them up? It's not a middle-aged man, is it?"
"No. It seems like a high school student... or so."
Only then did Yang Wei breathe a deep sigh of relief. It wasn't Igeon.
*'If it were Igeon, it would truly be the end.'*
"Anyway, see? There's no place like our Holy God. Money is the best."
Yang Wei glanced at his phone. Messages were popping up in the chat window in real time.
[Sagittarius is still ignoring messages.]
[Well, of course. There's no way they'd accept it just because you suddenly act friendly after 20 years.]
[Wasn't today's Igeon thing that person's doing too?]
[I'm not sure. Would a guy who recently went to England as a mercenary cause trouble in Korea?]
As Yang Wei furrowed his brow, his subordinate approached.
"Lord of the Palace. How shall we handle this?"
"Prepare a private jet."
The subordinates were startled.
"You're not calling a teleporter?"
"Why would I do something that only benefits another Divine Throne? Do you know how much that witch charges for one teleport?"
"But to think you'd actually go to Korea in person... it's a place you've always avoided."
"Are you joking? Look at the situation. Our vassal gods have disappeared."
"...True. And there's the Igeon story."
"Right. It wouldn't be a bad idea to go to Korea myself."
At that smile, the subordinate groaned inwardly. Seeing him like this, it was clear his investigation was secondary.
"Lord of the Palace. You're not thinking of going to see the Produce 202 World Tour, are you? The next venue is definitely Korea..."
At the subordinate's look, Yang Wei snorted.
"Do I look like I'd do that? I separate work and personal matters."
"...Understood. I apologize."
Of course, normally, he'd hate to even set foot in Korea because of that damn Igeon.
But Yang Wei's heart was light.
*'Now that bastard's not even in Korea, so what's the big deal?'*
Without knowing who was waiting there.
(To be continued...)