He paused for a moment before his two jade red like eyes shone brightly as he added, “just like the gods of other races you are fighting. They are also selected from various worlds, yet are ready to serve their races in any apocalypse regardless of their origins.”

“That’s interesting,” I commented, “but why are you, special beings, trying to help us? Are you having such fun doing that? Or are you looking for worship?”

“Worship is an overstated term, earthling Hye,” he calmly said before adding, “it’s as simple as this… like any army, we are acting like generals and you are acting like soldiers.”

“You mean… That multiverse war?!”

“It’s a war for existence, don’t take it lightly like that,” his eyes shone up again before dimming and returning to their calm state, “it’s still too early for you to learn about this stuff. Yet from the records I received, you already accepted that chain quest to fight in this war.”

“I need some help in establishing a communication system for humans on earth,” I didn’t hide my intentions or felt any regret about doing this, “without this, we stood no chance at all in this apocalypse.”

“True,” unlike what I thought, and instead of reprimanding me or giving me a long lecture, he simply nodded in agreement, “intelligence is the deadliest weapon in any war.”

“Thanks for understanding.”

“But you need to know that such a quest is really harsh. Even if you joined my shrine coalition forces, death still awaits you at any moment.”

I never expected such a quest to be a walk in the park. “Thanks for your consideration, but I won’t renege on this path no matter what.”

“Bravery is good thing, but you shouldn’t be foolish as well,” he slowly said, but I didn’t get his point before he elaborated further:

“You know nothing, absolutely nothing about the nature of this war, the strength of your enemies… I even doubt you know anything at all about your enemies waiting for you there.”

He was right. “Can you help me with this?”

“As a part of my forces, indeed I can help. But you have to realise that I nurture lots and lots of great talents just like yourself.”

His calm tone and carefully selected words held a deeper meaning behind. I got what he wanted to say. “I’ll do my best to shine among all of them,” I simply said, “but may I know on what basis you’ll judge our worth?”

“Other special beings may be interested in your personal strength, your achievements at the apocalypse, or even establishing something grand like a kingdom…”

He paused and I had to ask:

“What about you?”

“I only care about one thing… Are you this useful to our human race or not?”

It was a good and also such a vague answer at the same time.

“Like what?” I asked, demanding more explanation of this important point.

I needed to know how he would assess and evaluate all of us. Or else I might be wasting my time and effort on something that wouldn’t make any difference at all.

“I care about how you help other humans in your apocalypse,” he finally started to reveal more about his own ideals, “for example, some might focus on training more humans, others might focus on helping humans be stronger by opening cultivation paths for them… You for example are helping humans with that nice dealings with other races, rescuing those who are sold as slaves and even giving them a chance through training camps.”

Hearing his own ideals made me heave a silent sigh of relief. At least I was walking in the same direction with his ideals.

“But…” just before I could lower my guard, he added, “you have to know humans are blessed with intelligence and unheard of ideas. This is the true power of our race, true genuinity. So even if what you were doing looked amazing, you are still lacking compared to many other humans.”

“But I’m planning to help them in other aspects as well,” I defended myself and he responded with a gentle nod.

“I know all about your plans, earthling Hye. Your upcoming move to revolutionise the human arsenal into something apocalyptic friendly is good. But the best plan you got is that communication system. I have to admit, it’s way higher than most of the humans I have.”

“Most?!” His assessment came as a surprise for me. I thought with my plan to arm humans with weapons they were familiar with, I’d secure my spot in top elites of his forces. As for my grander plan of communication system, it was enough to secure the top spot for me.

“This plan is enough to put you in the top one hundred list of my people,” he threw such a bomb in front of my face.

“May I ask why?” I couldn’t accept this. I couldn’t imagine there were other humans able to pull feats even more remarkable than mine.

“Let me give you one hint… The scale!”

“Scale?” his hint was vague like hell! Come on dude nether, give me something I could properly understand.

“To simplify it, your actions are really remarkable but they are limited by the few numbers of humans serving you. In other words, your actions will only help a smaller number of people compared with other competitors you have.”

“But my grand plan will serve the entire human race on Earth!” I didn’t give up just like that! His words might be logical considering my other plans but this one.

“Let me tell you, can you do it soon?” Despite my sharp tone, he answered with a much calmer tone.

“I need a lot of time to do it,” I admitted.

“Tell me then, do you think how many humans will still be breathing when you finish this risky plan of yours?”

When he said it in such a way, my eyes popped out of shock and realisation. Damn! I totally overlooked the time factor in my calculations.

“If you can do it now, or even in the next five quests, I guarantee you the first spot in my forces. Delaying it for twenty quests will guarantee a spot in the top ten. Delaying it for fifty quests will secure you a place in the top hundred… Do you get it now?”

“I got it,” I firmly nodded, “I’ll think about a way then to help more people during this time.”

“Good lad.”

“Now may I ask about something that kept bothering me all this time?” As I finished speaking about this point, it was time to speak about something as important as this.

“You mean the current state of the entire death shrine, right?” and as if he could read through my thoughts, he perfectly hit the mark.