“I can choose both? Both the God of Adventure and God of Slowness?”
“Yep!”
It seemed I worried for nothing about the potential consequence for refusing a side.
“There is no disadvantage from doing so?”
“There kind of is one. Both gods’ tests probably will become more difficult. Also, in the end, you can become the apostle for only one god. Only thing you can accept from both are the tests.”
“Can you explain a little about the test?”
Kiri Kiri tilted her head around a few times. She then crunched down on the ground and drew scribbles on the ground.
The letters and geometric shapes that Kiri Kiri drew on the ground was completely incomprehensible to me even when I tried to figure it out.
Even the knowledge before the time of Babel was no use for them.
‘Are those letters just not included in the knowledge or is it because my skill level on the knowledge is not high enough?’
I made sure to remember what she scribbled.
“The test to become an apostle is literally what it is. It is a test to prove that you are worthy of becoming an apostle. The test is usually decided based on the corresponding god’s preferences and the challenger’s personality.”
“Can you tell me in detail about the kind of tests? Examples?”
“I don’t know about that. It is not that I am refusing to tell you. It is just that I am not capable of answering that question because I do not know the answer. To begin with, each god has different standards. Also, the test’s standard changes depending on individual challengers. So, I don’t have anything in particular that I could tell you.”
‘So, you can’t tell me anything because you don’t know.
I think this is the first time for Kiri Kiri to tell me she doesn’t know something.’
“What is it then? Is it going to be all hands off after I take the test?”
“Um… I’m not sure. For someone to receive a god’s power and start walking the path to become an apostle means that a god found that person’s principles and behaviors likable. Based on this fact and the gods’ personalities, a prediction could be made at least.”
‘A prediction, huh…’
“Of course, I can’t make the prediction for you. You need to do it yourself.”
I needed more information.
“First, can you tell me about the God of Adventure and God of Slowness? Not to the point of spending all of information allowances. Just enough for me to get a sense on them.”
“All right. I explained about the God of Slowness last time. I’ll start with the God of Adventure first.”
Kiri Kiri crunched down and sat on the ground again. She was like a bunny.
I felt a sense of de ja vu.
“You… If you act like that and run off somewhere while forgetting everything, I won’t give you cake. Got it?”
“Ah, I won’t do that!”
‘In that case, hurry up, focus and stop thinking so hard.’
“God of Adventure likes to see someone fighting against adversity and achieving the dream after the end of a long journey. One thing about the God of Adventure that is very different from the God of Slowness is with regards to who is included in that perspective.”
“Perspective?”
“God of Slowness also likes someone fighting on and not yielding to hardship, but God of Slowness’ perspective is always from the first person’s perspective, the God of Slowness’ own perspective only. The apostle also needs to view the world that way as well.”
“What about the God of Adventure?”
“For the God of Adventure, the perspective includes not just the apostle, but the comrades around the apostle, other individuals involved in incidents, enemies, and even others who are not related at all. You need to think about them all carefully.”
‘Um… I can think of a theory here.’
When I first heard the name, God of Adventure, the first thing that came to my mind was stories of adventures that were archetypical.
I was thinking about that thing.
The Japanese style RPG games.
In those games, there were not just the brave hero the main character, but various comrades in the party who each possessed unique magnetic personalities, foes who each had involved and verbose back stories, beautiful and warm friendship and love that bloomed in midst of all things going on, idealistic justice that always tries to save the oppressed people, valor demonstrated by the characters who do not give up in face of hardships…
The adventure stories of outdated romanticism…
‘If God of Adventure’s principle is something like that… I think that’s fairly consistent with the behavior that this god had been showing usually.’
The God of Adventure was proud of me or was concerned for me whenever I was going through hardships or felt defeated.
In particular, whenever I made up my mind to show determination and continue fighting on when facing a hopeless situation, the God of Adventure showed responses.
Also, there was the time when I killed the Goblin King and when I refused to revive Idaltaru. When I thought about those instances…
‘Well, they are all conjectures, but…’
“In the end, God of Slowness and God of Adventure have similar expectations for their apostles. It is just that they have emotional differences in the process and preferences.”
‘To put it simply, I think I can say that the God of Adventure likes party play, and God of Slowness prefers solo play.
If that is the case, choosing the God of Slowness would fit me the best.’
“Um… In that case, can you make a recommendation for me about who would be the best choice for me?”
I didn’t always follow her advice to the teeth.
However, anyway, Kiri Kiri’s advices were always invaluable.
It was probably because she had plenty of experiences and knowledge as an advisor. Also, she had the ability to know my current condition and desires precisely as well as what I needed.
I knew that asking for her advice on this was going to cut into substantial portion of the question allowance, but I believed it would be worth the price.
Thinking like that, I sought her advice.
“Personally, I recommend the God of Adventure. Since you are in a unique situation where you get to be alone often, I know the God of Slowness would be also a good fit for you, but honestly, being an apostle for God of Slowness is not something an ordinary human should do.”
Her opinion on the God of Slowness was unexpectedly terrible.
Since she recommended the God of Adventure, it also meant the God of Adventure was also not a bad choice.
‘All right, I made the decision.’
[God of Adventure is feeling anxious.]
‘Why are you feeling anxious again, old man?
He had done many silly things so far.’
“Well then, I am choosing both of them.”
‘Since I need to choose one side eventually and become that god’s apostle, I should make the choice after gathering a lot more information later.
I could grow more from going through more difficult trials.’
[God of Slowness is disappointed.]
[God of Adventure is relieved.]
It seemed both the God of Slowness and God of Adventure thought I would choose the God of Slowness.
It was a huge thing I had been agonizing on ever since I cleared the Sixth Floor.
[God of Adventure would like to gift you, the one who is about to start the test, with a god’s power.]
[God of Slowness would like to gift you, the one who is about to start the test, with a god’s power.]
‘All right. This is great.
They are each giving me a power skill. This makes choosing both of them the obvious right answer.
Currently, I have two god power skills, the Blink and Talaria’s Wings.
From balance stand point, they can be called over powered cheat-like skills.
I wonder what kind of power skills I’ll be getting this time?
Let’s check.’
“Status Window.”
[Lee Ho-jae (Human)]
Lv. 24
Strength: 31
Vitality: 37
Mana: 35
Skill: Battle Focus Lv.19 Willpower Lv.10 Awakening Lv.2 Night Vision Lv.5 Bright Vision Lv.5 Charge Lv.8 Sneak Lv.8 Meditation Lv.8 Natural Regeneration Lv.8 Super Regeneration Lv.5 Strengthened Senses Lv.12 Widened Senses Lv.5 Increased Field of Vision Lv.4 Ironwall Lv.2 Toughened Skin Lv.3 Mid-level Swordsmanship Lv.3 Mid-level Shield Skill Lv.1 Mid-level Hand to Hand Combat Skill Lv.1 Basic Throwing Skill Lv.4 Mana Circuit Lv.10 Wind Spirit's Blessing Lv.5 Familiarity with Spirits Lv.2 Knowledge of the Time before Babel Lv.5 Soul Steal Lv.5 Mind Corruption Immunity Lv.2 Great Pain Resistance Lv.2 Bleed Resistance Lv.10 Faint Resistance Lv.6 Pierce Resistance Lv.4 Great Poison Resistance Lv.2 Paralysis Resistance Lv.14 Heat Resistance Lv.6 Burn Resistance Lv.10 Cold Resistance Lv.4 Frostbite Resistance Lv.3 Perseverance Lv.1 Composition Lv.1 Blink Emblem Lv.Max Talaria's Wings Lv.Max, Dead Summoning Lv.???
Misc: God of Slowness is disappointed. God of Adventure is relieved.
God of Slowness’ test [Completion rate: 2/11]
God of Adventure’s test [Completion rate: 30/224]
The details about the tests were added to the status window.
‘It looks like the tests are already completed quite a bit?’
It realized it was a wise decision to postpone on the decision.
It seemed my past actions were taken into account in the test completion.
‘By the way… Why is there so many things in the God of Adventure’s test?
It isn’t just a little different.
It was 20 times more than the test by the God of Slowness.
Before I even realized, I already completed 30 of them, which is a lot, but there are way too many things in the God of Adventure’s test.
Well then, should I check the skills?’
[Perseverance (Lv.1)]
This power will give you strength when you are facing difficult adversities, especially during the most trying times.
[Focused Effort (Lv.1)]
It will lead you to greater result when you pursue something with stronger desire for longer.
The one negative thing about the power skills was that they were all lacking in explanations. I could ask Kiri Kiri to explain more, but the amount of information allowance spent on skill descriptions was significant. It was no joke.
‘Let’s just try to make a guess.
It could be a skill that supports my combat abilities.
It could also be a simple skill that hardens my body.
As for the Focused Effort, it might be for improving the efficiency of skill growth when I focus on one movement or skill for a long time to master it.
Something like that.
Maybe it is a skill that allows me to obtain hidden skills or extra attributes.
After the Round ends, I’d be trapped inside the waiting room for three days without being able to leave.
It might be able to affect skills such as swordsmanship or other combat skills during battle.
Although I am not certain right now, it looks like they are both good skills.
I’ll have to look in to details later, but I don’t think they will be far off from my guesses.
It’s just that the Focused Effort skill’s effect is… Since it is related to growth rate, it would have been better if I had it sooner.
If I knew this, I would have accepted the tests as soon as I cleared the Sixth Floor.
It feels like the disappointment from missing the double experience points event at a PC room.
Actually, it is beyond bitter. It is aching.
After the Sixth Floor, I went through all floors quickly except the 11th Floor.
Actually, it would have made some differences, but I am okay with not having gained them.
… I’m just justifying the situation.
It is a serious loss.
The reality is that I am in the Hell Difficulty.’
I looked at Kiri Kiri who was again focused on the dish that had the mousse cake.
“Aaaang! L… Let me eat it! Don’t take away what I had been eating!”
‘It’s probably going too far to take away something she was eating.’
I gave the dish back to her. Instead, I picked up the only macaroon placed on top of the cake.
“Aaaaang! Aaaaah! I was saving that!”
‘Hey, I’m the one who bought this.’
Kiri Kiri cried out a river because the macaroon was taken away from her. It didn’t take long to calm her down.
Actually, I tried to console her, but I gave up right away due to laziness. Instead, I just bought her a macaroon set.
“Hehe. You are so kind, Hojae.”
‘Of course I’m nice.
I’m also great looking, right?’
“Yep! You are so cool, Hojae.”
‘Of course. Of course.
Kiri Kiri, you shouldn’t go with some stranger who buys you candy.’
“Why?”
“That guy will try to give you something other than candy.”
“If not candy, what is he going to give me?”
“… Well, anyway. Not something you should eat. Well, actually, is it something you can eat?”
“In that case, can I go with him?”
“No.”
“Why?”
‘How am I supposed to explain this?’
[Lee Ho-jae, 11th Floor: Hey. What is the reason why kids should not follow strangers giving them candy?]
[Kim Min-huk, 30th Floor: … What the hell is this about now? I’m busy at the moment. If you are going to ask me weird things out of the blue like this, I’m going to ignore you.]