Ch 104

Chapter 104: Divinity (2)

The fear of having been summoned into a God’s territory only lasted for a few moments.

-The Tower of Trials has accepted challenger Han Sungyeun to be summoned as long as his safety is guaranteed.

According to the message I just got, the Tower of Trials had accepted me to be summoned as long as I remained safe.

That meant the God of Proof wouldn’t be able to harm me, probably.

‘Let’s calm down.’

I turned my head and began looking around.

The sky seemed very light, as if I were right under the clouds.

The floor, which was made of a mirror that reflected the sky, created a scenery that looked as if two skies were touching each other.

Should I say that it really felt like a God’s territory?

But I wasn’t given time to look around in more detail.

[You look more foreign in person. Are you also a pseudo-divine being created by the Tower?]

The God of Proof, who had been silent, started talking to my head again.

‘Pseudo-divine?’

I wasn’t sure what he was talking about, so I expressed my doubt.

“I’m not sure what a pseudo-divine being is…”

[Pseudo-divine beings are the ones who are called… let me see. Administrators? I’m asking if you’re a being who has obtained Divinity after making a contract with the Tower.]

I wasn’t sure why he was saying the Administrators were pseudo-divine beings, but…

If he was asking whether I was an Administrator or not, the answer was simple.

“I’m not an Administrator. I’m still a challenger who’s climbing up the Tower.”

[You’re definitely… different from a pseudo-divine being. Your Divinity inside is wholly yours.]

“…?”

[It seems like things have become quite interesting while I wasn’t looking at it. Has it finally learned that it couldn’t create a ‘real’ one with a pseudo-divinity…?]

“…”

[Making someone a disciple of a pseudo-divine being to create a ‘real’ one… So that’s what happened. I understand. So you weren’t a normal being, challenger Han Sungyeun.]

“What does that…”

It seemed like the God of Proof had misunderstood a few things.

He was saying something about Divinity or whatever. But, in short, it seemed like the Divinity I had was a problem.

‘The Divinity I’ve obtained after killing Kairan is so impressive…?’

It seemed like the power of the Divinity I’d obtained after killing a reserve disciple was quite significant.

But I didn’t know how to use that Divinity, and I wasn’t sure if it was that important.

After thinking about it for a while, I slowly opened my mouth.

“Can I ask you something…?”

[…?]

“What’s Divinity, and why are you talking as if it’s so important?”

[I thought you’d ask about your future self you’d seen through the Trials, but you ended up asking something strange… You’ve obtained Divinity on your own, yet you don’t know what that is? Didn’t you finish the process of eliminating the traces of a God because you know what that is?]

I didn’t eliminate it because I knew what I was doing. It was a side-effect of a power. So I obviously didn’t know anything.

I silently complained to myself, but I ended up learning that the Divinity I had obtained from Kairan was pretty significant.

I wasn’t sure what not having the traces of a God meant, but it might be useful once I learned how to use Divinity…

‘The disciples that used Divinity were quite strong.’

I was thinking that when the God of Proof said in disbelief.

[It seems like you don’t know what Divinity is…]

“I just ended up acquiring it…”

[You just ended up, huh…? Was it a coincidence that you erased the traces that a fake God created by the Tower had given to its Disciple and absorbed it?]

“…”

[Even if you weren’t aware of it, you taking out Kairan’s Divinity wasn’t a coincidence. I can feel a causality.]

Causality?

‘What’s he talking about…?’

Divinity and causality. Something not being a coincidence…

I was frowning while thinking about those words when I heard the voice again.

[I made a mistake… Seeing the Tower get angry, it seems like this was something I shouldn’t have revealed to you.]

“Huh? What does that…?”

[This is a goodbye. Challenger Han Sungyeun, I’ll be following your doings from the outside.]

“Can’t you give me more details…?”

After seeing the space around me get distorted, I realized the answer to that question.

「The God of Proof has used all of the Divinity selected, so he has temporarily lost his power.」

「You’re going to return from the territory of the Gods to your original space.」

The God of Proof couldn’t keep me here any longer.

I still had things I wanted to ask. But to make me return now…

To be honest, I had barely been able to talk with him.

But if I had to return now, rather than getting answers, I would go back with more questions.

I wanted to ask why my future self had become like that, what Divinity was, and what he meant by causality.

[Yes. It doesn’t matter what God is. The Tower is a being we can’t easily deal with. So there’s nothing I can do about it.]

I was about to open my mouth after my surroundings became blurry…

Even if I moved my mouth, there wasn’t any sound coming out of it.

[If you come to the ‘Temple of Proof’ that’s in Ares, I might be able to answer some of your questions.]

It was as if someone was blocking me from asking any questions.

[Ah, let me give you one last piece of advice…]

And…

[Don’t trust any God that’s in Ares. They’re going to think of you as their enemy now.]

After hearing those words, I returned to the original place where I was.

I returned to the weird space that was made with a black mirror and had a huge mirror in the middle of it.

「Congratulations. You’ve completed the Tower of Trial’s 11th floor.」

I had returned to the Tower of Trials.

***

Reaper Scans

[Translator – Daniel Shin ]

[Proofreader – DVN-L ]

***

After returning to the Tower, I felt a complex mixture of emotions.

It was a sense of heaviness because of the curiosity I was feeling.

It wasn’t a negative or positive feeling…

I sighed at those emotions.

The 11th floor’s trial made me achieve progress that couldn’t be compared to before.

But what was left after the 11th floor’s trial was an endless amount of questions.

「Congratulations, you’ve cleared the 11th floor’s trial.」

「As a reward for clearing it, you’ve obtained the ‘Rusty Mirror of Proof (S-).」

「You’ve obtained ‘70.000 points’ as a reward.」

「You’ve obtained ‘3.000 SP’ as a reward.」

「You’ve obtained ‘1.500 SP’ as a reward.」

「Move to the waiting room.」

Before I could answer those doubts, the trial of the 11th floor reached an end.

「When you return to the waiting room, the Administrator’s limited capacity to observe is going to be restored.」

“…”

I stood thinking while ignoring the system messages.

God.

Someone who seemed beyond everything had appeared beside me and said to me…

That it wasn’t a coincidence that I was able to take out the reserve disciple Kairan’s Divinity; he also said he’d felt a clear causality.

After thinking about what causality meant, I was able to find an answer.

It was the Tower that had let me get a unique attribute. And the power extraction judgment was also something that was a part of the system.

That meant the Tower could manage the system. Me having extracted the Divinity and obtained a power was something that happened because the Tower wished so.

‘That’s probably why he said he could feel a causality.’

Of course, I still wasn’t sure what Divinity was.

I understood that the Tower made me extract Divinity from Kairan…

But I wasn’t sure why it had made me use a power to obtain Divinity.

Not only that, but the God of Proof said that me becoming a disciple of an administrator was something the Tower had intended.

Let’s say that those things happened because the Tower intended so.

‘Then, what’s the goal of the Tower…?’

But I couldn’t think of a reason why the Tower would do such a thing.

After wondering about that for a while, I began thinking of the main keywords of what I had just heard.

Maybe thinking about the keywords could help me find an answer.

“Pseudo-divinity… Divinity… Administrator… Making a ‘real’ one…”

The Tower was an entity not even Gods could tamper with. The administrators had the alias of pseudo-divine beings.

No, maybe they were called pseudo-divine beings, and administrator was an alias created by the Tower.

Then, what did it mean that the Tower was trying to create a ‘real’ one…?

“I’m not sure.”

It wasn’t that I couldn’t think of anything. But I couldn’t be sure yet.

But…

‘At least I know the Tower isn’t trying to harm me.’

Of course, I’d been close to dying while doing the trials.

But it wasn’t that the Tower had deceived me or had done something to exploit me.

It had just induced me to climb up the Tower if I wanted to get answers and become stronger.

When the God of Proof forcibly summoned me, the Tower prioritized my well-being first.

‘The Tower probably wants to use me to achieve something, but…’

Even if that were the case, I didn’t think it would be detrimental to me.

After finishing ordering my thoughts, I walked toward the portal that had appeared in the middle of the room.

There was nothing free in this world anyway.

Just as I wished to climb the Tower to get stronger, there was something the Tower was expecting from me too.

The more I climbed the Tower of Trials, the more higher-level answers I got.

I also thought that these were things I could get an answer to from the administrator by using the right to ask a question.

‘I guess I could get an answer to these kinds of questions by climbing the Tower.’

But there was still one doubt I couldn’t grasp the reason.

‘Not to trust the Gods…’

He said that other Gods were going to consider me an ‘enemy.’

I thought my only enemies were the challengers from other dimensions I’d met while climbing the Tower.

They weren’t.

‘The God of Proof said I should think of the other Gods as my enemies.’

After clearing the 11th floor’s trial, I gained a positive opinion of the God of Proof.

‘It probably won’t be permanent… but until just now, he had a positive opinion of me.’

Through a short conversation, the God of Proof taught me many things.

Most of the things about pseudo-divinity sounded legitimate, so what he said about other Gods feeling animosity toward me was probably true.

Ah, but that didn’t mean I completely trusted his words.

‘It isn’t that I don’t trust him at all. But…’

He hasn’t told me why Gods I’ve never met before felt animosity toward me.

But it was hard to trust what the God of Proof said completely.

Even if I trusted him, and it was true that there were Gods that felt animosity toward me, nothing would change for the moment.

‘Even if they don’t like me, as long as I have the protection of the Tower, they won’t be able to do anything.’

The God of Proof had to get the permission of the Tower to summon me, so I was sure of that.

I knew that I didn’t need to tremble while fearing a God.

So that’s why I decided to stop thinking about complex things for a while.

「You’ve entered the waiting room of the 12th floor.」

I must stop thinking about these things.

It was now time to prepare to face a new trial.

——