Chapter 52 Part4 (1/2)

<chapter 52.=”” war's=”” scenario=”” -=”” 4=””>

G.o.d carefully took a sip of the tea with her thin, pale pink lips and sighed in satisfaction, as if enjoying the tea's scent. She then said...

[I'll get straight to the point. This is all your fault.]

”That sounds like a load of bulls.h.i.+t, but let's hear what you have to say.”

Lee s.h.i.+n Woo gently opened his eyes and glared at her. She pushed her red hair to one side and shrugged her shoulders.

[It's true. At first, I could only influence the world [1], or as you understand it, the surface and the underground together, so much. And I've been dividing that limited influence to summon the heroes, give them power, and develop them. Do you understand me thus far?]

”So why is your influence on the world limited in the first place? G.o.ds are absolute beings, aren't they?”

He'd asked something similar before, and he was ignored back then. But he believed that now G.o.d would acknowledge him.

G.o.d seemingly thought to herself regarding that, and then nodded her head and spoke.

[Yeah, I guess it's time for you to know... If someone possessing a high 'level', presence, or magic moves, then that's enough to shake the world. One person's karma changing affects other people's karma as well.]

”Of course. That's how this world works after all.”

This was especially true for this world, such that he could see it with his own two eyes. Moreover, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo had experienced it with his own body, hadn't he? By switching between his form with limited immortality and his human form, he'd learned that when obtaining a terribly great karma, there was an equally heavy cost a.s.sociated with it.

At the time, he'd thought that G.o.d was just toying with him, but that wasn't the case. While it was a great risk, her bestowing immortality upon him was meant to reduce the side effects of bearing this kind of karma to its minimum. ...Of course, her not telling him in advance was just to mess with him.

However, he understood her true intentions and nodded his head. G.o.d looked a bit moved.

[You're beginning to transcend humanity too. You see, most humans would be confused around now.]

”But that's the essence of karma, isn't it?”

[Understanding it shows the difference between a transcendent and a mortal. By forming connections with others, your karma became distorted and developed in a completely different direction, so that may be why you were able to pick up on the essence of karma so quickly.]

G.o.d then lowered her empty cup. She tapped on the cup and it refilled with tea. She had restored Lee s.h.i.+n Woo's special mixture of tea and brandy.

She gulped it down in one go and sighed. She then asked Lee s.h.i.+n Woo.

[Do you understand what I just did?]

”Time?”

[Right. It's time. To be exact, it's creation using Time Magic. Recreating something that is gone. It's quite simple for me, but if used in the world, then it would be too much for it to bear and a city may vanish right then and there. That's what karma is. And that's the main reason why I haven't been able to intervene so much.]

”Mmm.”

Lee s.h.i.+n Woo tilted his head. While Lee s.h.i.+n Woo had understood the result, he couldn't understand the process. But the result did tell him something.

For example, if Lee s.h.i.+n Woo were to use the very same Time Magic for creation, then he was confident that he wouldn't cause the same adverse effects. Why, you ask...?

”Can't you just trick it? It seems pretty simple to me.”

[Ah, the world. You've already been doing that. I've seen you twist order around, such that it's unclear who the true owner of your karma is. I was really shocked. But that's impossible for me to do. Since I can't use that innate element.]

If G.o.d were both omnipotent and omniscient, then she'd be able to do everything Lee s.h.i.+n Woo could do. However, she thought innate elements were special and claimed that even she could not fool the world. But if that's the case, then why...

”...Are innate elements powers of the G.o.ds?”

Yeah, he naturally came to that conclusion. Had he become a G.o.d at some point? But he soon rejected that notion, as he felt he was still lacking in several areas to be called a G.o.d.

”Moreover, there are way too many people in the world who wield innate elements. Aside from me, there's the Dark Flame Ghosts, the Garuda, Seagald, the Magic Emperor... the Undead Emperor, Jissehanu, should be able to too. And based on the energy tampering with the chatting channel, the Archmage must be able to too.”

[Mm. They don't become G.o.ds per se, but you could say that they've met the conditions to transcend karma itself. That's actually why I'm concerned. Like you said, there have been way too many individuals with innate elements. You're an exceptional irregular, but the events hundreds of years ago had too much of an effect... I should've stopped it myself, but why didn't I? There was definitely a way to minimize the chaos and stop it. But by allowing the humans to take matters into their own hands, I ended up having to intervene more than before. I was so foolish...]

”...Let's get back on topic now, shall we?”

As one ages, they gain a specialty. It was talking about one thing, and then suddenly going on a tangent. Before it was too late, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo slapped his cheek and spoke. Then, G.o.d went 'oh my' and nodded her head.

[Anyway, that's why my influence is limited. If you were in my place, then you wouldn't even have to worry about this and could just kill Jissehanu or Jirold yourself. Dark Shadow. That thing's really overpowered. Remember. You may think that Annihilation Flame or what not is overpowered, but it's not. It's Dark Shadow. Got it?]

G.o.d was being jealous! While sweating buckets, Lee s.h.i.+n Woo tried to steer the conversation back on track.

”So the surface's Emperor is called Jirold, huh? It really suits him.”

[I don't know what his public name is, but his name is definitely Jirold. But what were we talking about again? ...Ah, that's right. First, give me another cup of tea.]

”You could just restore it like last time.”

[But it feels different. That's karma for you.]

Perhaps there was something he still didn't know about karma. He poured her another cup of tea while pouting. She took it satisfyingly and returned to their original conversation.

[I should tell you how I bestow power upon the heroes. First, the summon. I summon those fated to die in another world and send out someone dying from this world. This is the basics of summoning. It's done to reduce the summoning's adverse effects on the world as much as possible. And the power I bestow. I told you this at the beginning, so I don't need to go over it again, do I? This is my 'influence'. It was all going according to plan up to here, but... the problem started afterwards.]

”The secret shop?”

[The secret shop maintains balance by accepting Perium for its goods. Of course, there were some issues with it as well, but there are some issues that can be dealt with because most of you heroes are otherworlders and not from this world. It seems like bestowing power upon otherworlders, rather than the original inhabitants of this world, has a much less adverse effect on the world. Well, what do you think? It's quite a delicate balance, isn't it? You get how much I love this world, right?]

”Then what's the problem?”