Thumbs Up, Level Up

«Korea is currently in the midst of the biggest boom since its founding, but even so, there can be a lot of economic trouble if we do not do anything.»

“This is giving me a headache…”

«If you would like, I will take care of it. Though I am afraid I am going to need to make a public appearance soon.»

“Hm… Come to think of it, we have gotten a lot out of this war. Let’s do it.”

«What?»

“You heard me. Let’s do it. Let’s do a sacrificial ritual on the System and give you an upgrade. Might as well use the Likes that I have.”

«Ah… Master!»

“And I am going to need to upgrade my divination skill, or I am going to have to meet that Prophetess that people kept talking about.”

After the battle, Mu-Cheok told him that Reable showed up at the celebration. He also told him that Reable said something significant.

He said that there was one more final battle left and that it would not be easy. Reable knew something, and so did Ji-Han, but they could not tell Ji-Cheok exactly what it was.

‘In that case, I just need to do what I do best.’

“Alright, then. Let’s do this, Cheok-Liang!”

«Yes, Master!»

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

“Hm… This is a first,” Ji-Han said as he was standing on the beach of an island.

The sea sparkled emerald, and the beach was littered with jewels. In the sky, an aurora was rising, casting a brilliant glow, and in the center of the island, countless apple trees grew.

Ji-Han was on the mythical island of fantasy, Avalon. This island was ruled by the fairy queen Morgan Le Fay. He had come here countless times, and each time he had brought destruction and disaster to the island.

He had always come here with the sole purpose of dealing with the remnants of Lake of Dawn, who served [Queen_of_Avalon], and to kill the queen. If left unchecked, [Queen_of_Avalon] would seek to resurrect King Arthur, the legendary hero and king, and reestablish the kingdom of Britannia.

People might wonder why the Knights of the Round Table were resisting and opposing them, but there was a simple reason. The Knights of the Round Table had sworn to defend the status quo, to protect Britain as it was rather than create their own kingdom.

The kingdom of Britannia that [Queen_of_Avalon] was trying to create was a completely different kind of country, with much crueler laws. Their actions were clearly evil!

[What do you mean by ‘first,’ mortal?]

“This is the first time I have ever stood here with such minor injuries.”

[Are you telling me you have the power to travel through time? Is that why you could injure me like this?]

Ji-Han was standing on the beautiful beach of this dreamy island.

In front of him lay a woman bleeding silver blood.

Her wings were like that of a butterfly, and her eyes shone like sapphires. As her large, brilliant irises wavered, her image inspired awe in all who saw her.

She was [Queen_of_Avalon], Morgan Le Fay.

Now, she lay wounded before Ji-Han’s eyes.

“You are correct, Queen. I am here because so many are dying because of your vain dreams.”

[Heh… Hilarious. How dare a mere mortal like you judge my dreams!]

“What can I say, you are just an insignificant God…”

[Ha! Do you think that killing me now will be the end of it all?]

“At the very least, I can buy the world a few hundred years of time, so isn’t that worth it?”

Ji-Han slowly approached.

[I shall not give you the joy of victory!]

To read the uncut version, go to pawread dot com.

She roared in rage, and the entire world began to collapse. Her entire body started to glow and was draining a dangerous amount of mana from the surroundings. She was about to self-destruct!

[Die! Mortal!]

Her mana swelled. Everything was about to be destroyed by the release of her power.

Tick, tock. Tick, tock.

An illusion of cogs appeared behind Ji-Han’s back, and everything around him started to be absorbed into the back of his hand.

[What… What is this?!]

“You, too, shall become a sacrifice to the Law of Causality.”

[No… No!!!!]

The Queen’s body shattered. Glistening like minuscule shards of glass, she and everything around her was absorbed into Ji-Han.

Then, he was back in the present world, standing on a secret island made of ice somewhere in the sea.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Someone walked over from behind him, clapping.

“That was great! She was a fairly powerful God, and you defeated her!”

“Yes, but she is nothing compared to some of the other Gods out there. By the way, Reable…”

“Yes, Mr. Ji-Han. Go ahead~”

“Why are you here? You should have been fighting together with Ji-Cheok at Kunlun Mountain.”

“Well, you know, I have been busy with my own things. Actually, my work is quite similar to what you were doing just now. As you may already know, the situation at the mountain is already finished. The cleanup between the countries is over and things are in order~ That person you brought in… Jung Gyeong-Yeong, was it? She is really good at her job!”

“That is because she has abilities related to that field.”

“Hm… I guess regressors are definitely different from other Hunters.”

Ji-Han could only stare at Reable in silence.

“What are you up to?” Ji-Han asked.

“What do you mean~ I am just here to offer you a deal.”

“A deal?”

“There is going to be one final battle. You know that, don’t you? There is no way you don’t know this. You are a regressor!”

“And you know this because you are a God?”

“Maybe~” Reable smirked.

“So, what kind of deal do you want to make?”

“The causality of the [Queen_of_Avalon[ that you have just obtained. I believe you have also obtained the Queen’s Essence together with it, and I would like you to give that to me?”

“What are you planning on doing with that?”

“Hm~ You can say that It’s a present for our dear Mr. Umji~”

Ji-Han’s eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“I do not trust you.”

“You shouldn’t. You should never trust me.”

“If you want this, give me something of the same value.”

“Okay~ Then, I will give you this.”

Thud!

Reable actually stabbed himself in the chest, and with a bizarre sound, he pulled something out of it.

It was a heart, a completely black heart. No blood flowed through it, but it was beating and pounding like any other heart.

“This is my heart, connected to my real body. Is this a good enough price?”

“This is like handing over the leash…”

“I know. I also know that giving you something this important to me is the only way for you to hand over the Queen’s Essence.”

“Then tell me, what do you intend to do with it?”

“Hm~ I cannot tell you that, but one thing is for certain. If you don’t give it to me…”

“Then what?”

“You will not be able to win the final battle, just like you have failed countless times before.”

At those words, Ji-Han finally summoned something from the back of his hand. It was a small, glowing jewel.

Ji-Cheok tossed the Queen’s Essence to Reable, and Reable reciprocated by giving him his black heart.

“Hahaha! A wise choice, Mr. Ji-Han. I shall temporarily piss off, then. See you in the final battle~”

With that, Reable faded into darkness and disappeared.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Mu-Cheok was his little brother, but he had really grown up. From the last battle, Ji-Cheok realized how strong his younger brother had become.

‘I mean… he pulled out cannons from his back…’

It was not just Mu-Cheok, the other team members also became more powerful.

Ji-Byeok was like a walking mountain, and she had learned to immobilize her opponents with the power of the Earth. She could change the terrain around her and deliver powerful attacks herself.

The same went for Seong Kwang, who was able to harness the power of the God that had chosen him as their apostle.

‘His solar explosion skill was incredibly powerful.’

And he knew he could not rule out Ha-Na. He was surprised that she could blow a hole in a God’s abdomen like that. He wondered if she was stronger than him in terms of sheer attack damage.

So, it was time to strengthen Cheok-Liang.

Ji-Cheok was drawing a sacrificial circle for the ritual with the power of Soul Telekinesis.

If the circle is used for magic, it was called a magic circle, and if it was used for a sacrificial ritual, it was called a sacrificial circle.

On the sacrificial circle he had drawn, he placed various things he had obtained from the last battle.

[Apostles_that_became_immortal] owned and used many different S-Class items. Ji-Cheok was thinking of sacrificing some of the God’s items that he had no use for.

[Shang Dynasty Altar for Human Sacrifice]

[Class: S

Type: Structure.

An altar for human sacrifice that was widely used in the Shang Dynasty, the first ancient Chinese state.

It was used for human sacrifice for many years and contains the wishes of the victims of human sacrifice.

Function: increases the efficiency of sacrificial rituals by 300%.

Function: The owner is cursed.

Function: The owner is cursed.

Function: The owner is cursed.

Function: The. Owner. Is. Cursed.]

This was one of the items. The fact that the owner of this item would be cursed was written four times in the description, and the final sentence really drove in the point that the owner of the item was going to be c-u-r-s-e-d.

‘This is such a scary item, but that God was using it for some reason. So brave…’

Judging by his Divine Intuition, even the Gods could not escape this curse. It was best to destroy such an unfortunate and cursed item or give it away as an offering.

While some Gods might find this curse to be a good thing and some others a bad thing, the System had a different, more objective take—it allowed Ji-Cheok to transform any object into a ‘resource’.

It did not matter if the item was good or evil. It did not matter if it was cursed or blessed. Everything became divine power and was returned to him, just like his Likes.

Now that he had become a God, he also knew how and why. He realized how vast and powerful the System was. The System was greater and more powerful than dozens of Gods put together because it had been created by countless Gods pooling in their powers.

After that revelation, he had also been thinking that it might have actually been the System’s intention to give him the ability to collect Likes.

‘I don’t know why it chose me though…’

“Alright, Cheok-Liang. I need you to stand in the center of the sacrificial circle.”

«Yes, Master.»

“Let the ritual begin! System, accept this tribute and let my summoned beast evolve!”

Woong.

The sacrificial circle began to glow as it emitted five-colored clouds. One by one, the lined-up offerings disappeared into particles of light, which in turn made the sacrificial circle glow even brighter.

Each one of those items was worth hundreds of billions of won! However, Ji-Cheok did not think it was a waste.

Just like that, twelve S-Class items disappeared, and all of the light from the circle was absorbed into Cheok-Liang’s body.

Flash!

His body emitted a brilliant light and began to grow larger.

Then, something amazing happened.

[The value of the tribute was high enough to trigger the next transformation.]

Cheok-Liang was in his second transformation, so he was naturally supposed to evolve to the third transformation, but the value of the tribune was so high that he could actually skip a transformation!

Cheok-Liang grew twice as big and evolved into a fox with nine tails!