n

n

nHowever, all my dreams were shattered. I searched the entire class auction market for almost one full hour without finding anything suitable.

nAs I reached this end, I had to either wait and hope that my item would drop like a miracle from the sky, or I could get it from another route.

nI opened my channel interface and changed the sittings again to make me receive all the notifications from gods.

n

"Hey gods, I need your help here,

" I raised my head to the sky. I was sure that my subscribers wouldn't all be that helpful, but I only needed one god to help me here.

nAnd I dared to say I had at least one trustworthy god in my channel.

n

"I want a class specific item, one that can expand and turn the ability of my Karoline to become an area specific not person specific,

" I added in a loud tone while waiting for their answer.

nI can help you a message came, But you need to receive my blessing after the end of the next quest

nThe second quest was big, very big. So it was expected the rewards of such a quest would include an opening slot for receiving god's blessing.

nI didn't think about this point before! Just this message made me realise the size of headache I was going to have at the end of that quest.

nAll the gods following me with pure interest would crave to get me on their sides. Of course that wasn't bad. Having the blessing of a god was something necessary for me.

nBut I didn't put a plan yet for the god I needed. After all I wouldn't settle with a low grade god after all I did.

nI can also help Another god joined the fray and also gave me the same condition. Soon, my eyes got cloudy and blocked by the immense number of messages coming from gods with the same content.

nDamn! I never expected my casual request to stir all this much trouble.

nBut who said I wasn't out of options here?

n

"So you want me to select one of you as my sponsor god, right?

" I calmly said, in a slow way to give my mind time to finalise my response to them.

"Cool, I didn't see anything wrong about doing that. But…

"

nI deliberately paused. I already had a vague idea about what I should do to get the best deal out of this.

nI knew the higher and mightiest gods wouldn't be in my channel, not yet. If I had one of them right now, then I wouldn't hesitate to agree on his or her offer.

nBut let's be realistic here please. Such gods were so aloof and had their own sense of pride. They also wouldn't set their gazes upon such a newbie apocalypse where races were still struggling to survive.

nSo putting aside the mightiest gods like the triple Olympus gods, the four godly gods of the Egyptian Neters, and the mightiest five great Chinese deities.

nThat was only if considering three pantheons of the human world, not to mention other pantheons of other human civilizations, and other races pantheons and great gods as well.

nSo to sort it out in simple words; it was a big mess to deal with!

n

"I only have one request, a reasonable one,

" I paused before adding,

"as you can see, the sheer number of gods asking me to accept their blessing and sponsorship is immense! So I need to sort things out here, and I need your help to do that.

"

nOf course I wasn't bluffing. I needed a way to know which god was worthy to become my pillar.

nAs I waited for a long minute, not a single message came. It seemed the gods were waiting for my next words. I kept an eye over the count of my subscribers, and strangely and unlike my expectations the number didn't decrease, it kept increasing instead.

n

"I need two things from you, one right now and one later on,

" I started stating my own conditions,

"once the second quest is over, I need to have a one and one talk with each one of the interested ones. To make things fair and smooth, I'll spread this video over the universe, hoping for any god to come and join. But I have to say, whoever misses the first condition will have lower chances if he or she isn't capable enough.

"

nOf course I kept the first condition off limits for now. As I said these, I was sure to stop, select that part from the broadcast, and then spread it over the entire universe.

nAs I was done with this, I finally returned to the main topic here.

"Now for the first condition… As you can see, I'm constantly getting threatened by the angels by that star weapon in space. I can't move on without getting killed. My forces can't help me expand without being threatened of wiping out. I need a little help here. So if you are eager, send me one message of your offer, explain the offer to me, and I'll compare the offers and select the best offers I get.

"

nI didn't limit myself to only one god. After all who said I wouldn't get more slots for sponsorship later on?

n

"I can accept more good blessings in the upcoming quests, you all know that. But I can't promise any slots without a sincere show of support from you. As you know, once I accept your sponsorship, I can't renege on that and will need your constant help to move forward. So, if I found no good offers here, then I had to accept none. But if I got any good offer, I wouldn't decline it.

"

nThe gods went into silence for long minutes. And I waited. During this wait, I got useless messages like:

nMany gods' eyes are shining from your impressive way of thinking

nFew gods are showing their discontent, stating that you are supposed to be the one begging for their support, not the gods loathing your satisfaction

nMany gods are rolling up their eyes when they heard such comment

nFew gods are even forming alliances with each other, exchanging items and making deals even with outside gods

nNewly joined god is feeling amazed by how you are running your channel

nMany gods are wrecking their minds to give the best offer for you

nFew gods are leaving the channel while expressing their dissatisfaction all across the network

n

"These gods… Sigh!

" I only shook my head while feeling the gods were like spoiled kids playing with toys, toys like myself.

nThe ones who left weren't anything worthy of my concern. I could already tell they belonged to the side of the angels to begin with.

nOf course they wouldn't be satisfied! After all, I expected many great things to be offered to me from those gods. If they could exert a total ban of that devilish weapon, wouldn't that be a game changing move?

nDamn! I couldn't control my excitement here. But the next message made me calm down forcibly, like pouring water buckets over my head.

nMany gods are asking for a time limit for this offer

nMany other gods are nodding in agreement

nThat request have garnished at least ninety percent approval of your channel supporters

nWhat's your decision?

n

"Hmm… Time limit?

" I frowned for a moment before I grinned.

"Alright, I can set the limit to just before reaching Jersey city. I'll work a little here in New York City, taking more hours to control the entire place here. This will be the time limit I can offer.

"

nOf course if they waited till I got to Jersey city then the offer would be useless. I couldn't set foot there without getting smashed and banged by those three angels lying in wait over there.

nI knew angels weren't on the same page, but I was sure the three angels of New York city must have informed their peers in Jersey city.

nThese three angels here were literally hating me to the bone!

nAll the gods are delighted by this time limit

nMany gods are now contacting their friends

nA big impact is being noticed in the world of gods

n

"World of gods?!!

" This was the first time ever to hear such a concept. But I dropped my thoughts about it as Karoline finally came out from the fort.

nDamn! I totally forgot myself here! How long was it? One hour? Perhaps two hours, right?

nWas speaking with the army generals and those military manufacturers this tiring?

nLet's hope she managed to reach something good with them.

nBut just as she came closer to me, I could see beyond her stunning and mesmerising pure blue eyes a tinge of tiredness and sadness.

nDid they refuse or what?

n

"What happened?

" I asked first,

"You took a long time to do this!

"

n

"Do you think talking to such people can be done in just a minute or two?

" she rolled her eyes and from her tone, I could ascertain her faint anger.

n

"How did it go then?

" I asked, as this was the only thing I truly cared about for now.

nI had to secure a factory and army engineers on my side, I must!

n

"First of all,

" she said in a tiring tone,

"the angels got most of the defensive big names in the US.

"

nWell, not the best start to be honest. Yet it was expected.

n

"Most and not all?

" I asked, trying to shift her to the good news. Yet she seemed to stick to saying bad news only for now!

n

"As for army leaders, most of those who remained alive had also sold their souls to these **ty angels!

"

n

"...

"

n

"I tried to use my name and current status to force them to flip over, yet I only hit a dead end with all of them.

"

nWell, these were very good lists of bad news girls! C'mon, give me the good ones. Your man here was craving for one!

n

"Out of the army arsenal, almost ninety percent fell in the hands of the angels,

" yet she kept showering her bad news non-stop!

"As for these warehouses, they were already destroyed by monsters as I heard.

"

nRuthless! The angel race was really ruthless and decisive in their moves!

n

"As for the defensive firms, the ones with the angels did the same,

" she said in an angry tone,

"those bastards! They dared to tell me that the government is over already and they aren't bound by anything or any obsolete rule! How come they treat my US like that? It's the US! The country that made their names and their wealth and brilliant careers!

"

nAt this point I resigned to silence. If I spoke, I would definitely agree on what those traitors just said. Bitter or not, harsh or not, this was the true ugly face of the apocalypse.

nKaroline was just like many, lots and lots of people who entered the first stages of the apocalypse addicted to the past lifestyle they lived their lives in.

nAnd it seemed it was hard for such people to wake up! I always mocked such people whenever I read about them in the records. But seeing Karoline's actions and reactions right now made me realise I wrongly got the entire thing!

nThis wasn't something as easy as flipping over a switch and becoming someone else. It was easy for someone like me, but it was surely not that easy for people like her.

n

"Those rats! I wish I could meet them later and rob their inventories with my two hands!!

" her body even shook, and on the side the face of the major was dark.

n

"So we haven't got anything at all?

" After giving her a few minutes to vent and curse out her anger, I asked in a cautious way.

nI needed to learn about the good news girl, bring it on!

n

"Part of this is thanks to you,

" just as I waited for her to speak up, the major, unexpectedly, was the one to speak.

n

"What do you mean by that?

" I asked while feeling the slight aggressiveness in his tone.

n

"Some of the rich ones you killed were the sons and daughters of the owners of these companies,

" he said before adding in a blaming tone,

"if you didn't kill them, they wouldn't have become this stubborn!

"

n

"They knew,

" Karoline explained,

"the angels delivered what happened here even in video feed to them.

"

n

"Are you blaming me?

"

n