n

n

nHe paused and I didn't interrupt. I didn't know why but something seemed off here.

n

"As you asked for a price, we also asked for one,

" he said slowly.

n

"Your pantheon is asking for a price?

" I raised one eyebrow in surprise,

"shouldn't you seek us, not the opposite?

"

n

"No, you got it wrong,

" he shook his head,

"did you think you are the only outstanding human in that apocalypse? Even in our pantheon, we sat our eyes over a big number of humans already.

"

n

"But I'm special!

" I couldn't take someone speaking in such a way about me.

n

"So the rest are,

" but he didn't show me any face at all,

"and above everything, our pantheon is overall special as well. Even in the world of gods, we are considered a strong human force even against other strong races pantheons.

"

nHe showed me a pride that he never showed before. What? Was he looking down on me?

n

"Our quest is simple though,

" he didn't give me a chance to show my dissatisfaction,

"we only need you to prove you can crush other races and show them the might of our pantheon.

"

n

"I already crushed many races before,

" I said in disdain,

"even got warriors of dragons, krackens, and even made illusionists bound to me by contract.

"

n

"That's… not enough,

" he shook his head before raising one finger in warning,

"also there is something you need to watch out for. The illusionists you got have their god blessings, that means their gods can spy on your actions all the time.

"

n

"What?!!

" I was startled but when I thought about it, it made quite sense.

"What should I do then? If I had the choice, I would change their gods.

"

n

"You can,

" he said with such shocking info,

"with our help you can do that.

"

n

"But… didn't you say that once selected one pantheon no one can change it? Besides, they already consumed one blessing slot, the only slot they have!

"

n

"I know what you are referring to,

" he simply said,

"but didn't I also say that under certain conditions this rule can be broken?

"

nI didn't need much time to get what he hinted at.

"The contract?

"

n

"Indeed,

" he nodded,

"but to change that, you'll need help from our pantheon.

"

n

"What about the slot problem then?

"

n

"It's simple,

" he continued in his carefree tone,

"once you remove the god blessing, wait until you finish another quest with a blessing slot reward. This way they'll have two slots opened, the same path you are walking right now.

"

nI paused for a second before asking,

"what about my friends?

"

n

"As far as I know, most of them followed your orders and didn't accept any blessing, right?

"

n

"But the jumper did.

"

n

"That jumper… is a special case,

" he seemed hesitant when I mentioned the jumper.

n

"Does the god he accepted his blessing belong to a hostile pantheon?

"

n

"Not quite right,

" he didn't give me a clear answer,

"one day you'll get to know everything about that mysterious friend of yours. Anyway, you need to hear our condition and go back to fulfil it if you want to join us.

"

n

"What if I didn't?

"

n

"Then you have no place among us,

" his answer was swift and without any moment of hesitation,

"that will be unfortunate indeed. Many gods already are standing on your side.

"

nI knew I created a slight noise by what I did using my channel, but I also didn't understand why I should pay a price to join them.

nWeren't my actions so far enough to prove my worth? Or was it this hard to get the support of a high grade god?

nOf course I wasn't delusional. If I accepted what he just said about the entire pantheon supporting me then I'd be a fool. It seemed that his master, Anubis god, was on my side. But that didn't mean others were.

nThat price or condition or whatever he called it wasn't a mere test for me. It was an obstacle sat by other gods in the pantheon to stop me from entering it or accepting a higher god blessing.

nDespite not knowing why they resisted me this much, I wasn't planning to let them have their own ways here.

nI worked so hard, so damn hard to get the attention of a higher god. And now when I succeeded, how could I just flinch away because of a mere obstacle?

n

"Then say what is this price all about,

" I said in a firm tone.

n

"It's simple,

" despite his friendly tone, I didn't believe his words,

"you just need to crush all the races inside Jersey city, and take control over the five gates of them.

"

n

"All of them?!!

" I looked up at him in a strange way. Just facing one gate proved to be hard, and he was asking me to control five of them… That was simply ridiculous!

n

"It's not that simple,

" he seemed to mistake my response, or acted as if he did,

"you don't know how to conquer a gate yet. There are two steps for doing so, first you need to kill all the enemies poured from the gate to a certain figure. Then the gate will be considered yours until the enemy kills the same figure or exterminate most of your troops to regain control.

"

nWhen he said this, I couldn't help but recall the last fight against the illusionist.

"So that's why they hurriedly retreated while sending one of their best to kill me…

" I muttered, as a realisation hit me thanks to his explanation.

nI was puzzled about the sudden retreat by the illusionists. But now I understand everything.

n

"The second step is the hardest,

" he acted as if he didn't hear what I said,

"once conquered the gate, the system will issue you a quest to go and secure it from the other side… you must crush at least one fort out there or else you'll lose the control over the gate and it will vanish.

"

n

"Let it vanish then,

" I wasn't in all favour of such a hard quest to begin with.

n

"This won't be right,

" he shook his head,

"for our future plan in the apocalypse, we needed all the ones joining us to control gates from the big five races in your apocalypse.

"

n

"I won't be the only one doing this task then?

" I could read in between his lines.

n

"So your failure or success doesn't carry the weight you might be thinking about,

" at last he showed his true colour to me,

"you need to go now. The second quest will last for long days, enough for you to complete this task.

"

nThat bastard! He finally showed his true intentions in front of me!

nI had my doubts earlier, but now he just confirmed them.

n

"I heard I can buy things with my coins here,

" but how come I'd leave without having something from this trip?

nThe last words of the jumper still rang in my head.

n

"You want to buy something from here?

" his voice told me he didn't see this coming.

n

"Is it against the rules?

"

n

"Not at all,

" he shrugged,

"but as you are in the presence of a high god platform, you'll need to have more than luck to gain something from here.

"

nHe then stood for the first time ever. Damn! He was really giant! His body was almost ten metres tall, not anything related to humans at all.

n

"Go around,

" he waved both hands towards the lining statues,

"if any statue resonated to your presence, then you are fated to have that statue treasure.

"

n

"Simply like that?

" I didn't expect it to be this simple to be honest.

n

"It's not simple at all,

" he laughed,

"each statue has its own conditions and taste. If you have the conditions and the statue doesn't like you, you won't get the treasure. And a word of advice, you only have five minutes left. So try to use these in caution.

"

n

"Are they alive or what?

" despite him trying to urge me to go to the statues by what he said, I didn't. I wanted to know more about the conditions, perhaps I could do something to make my odds higher.

n

"You can consider them that,

" he said,

"why are you still standing here? Go, go now before your time is up.

"

n

"Can I have more than one treasure?

" I didn't follow his words. After all this dude here wasn't friendly at all.

n

"That's like dreaming to ascend to godhood right now,

" he laughed as if he heard something funny,

"but it's not against the rules. If all the statues responded to you, then you are blessed to have them all. But that won't happen. It's not a common thing to have a single statue focus his gaze on you, not to mention moving him thanks to your wealth and abilities.

"

nOh, wealth and abilities you said? I inwardly smiled as I finally got a lead about what I should do.

n

"Thanks,

" I said while opening my market interface.

n

"For what?

" he seemed to not get what I was doing here. And I left him behind while going towards the first statue.

nIf it was wealth, then there must be an outrageous condition regarding the lower limit of what I could have. I'd guess that the first condition to get any statue approval was by having the right number of coins in my inventory.

nAnd so I started to throw all the useless monster materials and cores that I took from all the races I killed so far and sold them at the basic price.

nI also took out all the low grade gears, and simply let them be sold instantly as well.

nIn less than one minute, I raised my wealth to a terrifying figure, above a hundred million coins.

nWould that be enough? I hoped so. After all this number signified all the wealth I could currently hold.

nThe second hint was regarding my abilities. That might be tricky, but regarding this place I bet it was related to anything with death energy.

nSo I had to show off my class abilities. But how could I do that?

nIt was simple… As I got near the first statue, I took out one golden grade bone and raised it in front of him.

nMy bones were special, I could already tell that from the reaction I witnessed at the Bringold auction. And this bone was my highest grade bone so far.

nSo it was a symbol of my class abilities, a symbol of my worth.

n

"Damn!

" however just as I started to run in front of the statues, not a single one moved towards me.

nAll of them opened their eyes and glared at me in terrifying bright golden eyes. But not a single one took the initiative to come towards me, not a single one.

nWhat was I lacking here? I asked myself that but the next moment I instantly froze in my place.

n

"Oh, you are such a lucky one,

" I heard the surprised voice of Nero when I forcibly stopped. I didn't stop by my own will, but as the statue in front of me took a single step forward, the immense pressure he exerted made me trapped like that.

n

"If he patted you on the head then he sent something into your inventory,

" just as the statue did what Nero said, Nero's voice came from far behind.

"It's not the best treasure you can get. But at least you got one. That places you in the top ten percent of all the humans getting such a chance.

"

nTen percent only? That didn't make me happy. I wanted more, I wanted to be in the top one percent or even come on the very top.

n

"Come back now,

" just as the statue returned and I regained my freedom, Nero said from behind,

"you gained your treasure. It's time for you to return.

"

n

"Who said I can't take more?

"

n