My Two Status Windows-Chapter 223
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Chapter 223: Great Migration (3)
Cthulhu?
Why is that guy suddenly appearing in the Spirit Realm?
Cthulhu had taken control of Poseidon's spirit form and left, saying he would retrieve R’lyeh.
Wasn’t he supposed to be in Okeanos?
I should leave the Earth’s main body to dominate humanity’s souls, and focus my consciousness here.
Beyond the dark space, a massive octopus floated with countless tentacles spread out.
Beneath the tentacles lay a dark blue land and black buildings.
Like roots of a tree, the colossal octopus enveloped the land and buildings entirely.
The tentacles shimmered with a bluish-green hue, but because of their sheer size, it didn’t feel overly grotesque.
This energy… it’s definitely Cthulhu.
As I stared at the octopus, light gently emanated from it, forming a spirit.
A spirit in the form of Poseidon.
He approached me with a puzzled expression.
“The Soul God...? How did you find this place?”
“That’s what I want to know. Cthulhu, what are you doing here?”
Both of us were confused.
“This place is the edge of Okeanos. A space beyond even Zeus's gaze.”
“This is the Spirit Realm of the planet Kevrian, though?”
“The Spirit Realm of… planet Kevrian…?”
Cthulhu mulled over my words.
I was also uneasy about his mention of the "edge of Okeanos."
Okeanos is where Earth’s divine realm is located.
But how is that connected to Kevrian’s Spirit Realm?
“So, the planetary systems are connected… even their hidden worlds link up… an interesting discovery.”
“If this Spirit Realm is like Okeanos… then there should be a divine realm as well. Maybe the Elprian Spirit Realm functions as one?”
“The planet Kevrian is of a lower rank than Earth. Gods reside directly on the planet, so a divine realm wouldn't form separately in its hidden world…”
“Kevrian is lower-ranked? Compared to Earth?”
“Yes. It produces far less SP than Earth…”
Maybe that’s due to a smaller population.
“Also, it was a world originally destroyed by Chaos…”
“Ah, right. I remember now.”
“Anyway, to think I’d reach even the hidden realms of another planetary system… it’s fascinating… and Kevrian, of all places… it’s quite distant from Earth… but I guess physical distance doesn’t matter here…”
Cthulhu continued muttering to himself endlessly.
I had to stop him before it dragged on forever.
“Anyway, what were you doing here?”
“Hmm… I was evacuating…”
Cthulhu answered my question honestly.
“Zeus’s power… I’ve studied it a bit, and it’s overwhelming. All members of Dreamland decided to flee off-world…”
“How did you study Zeus’s power?”
“Heh… While staying in Okeanos, you can feel it occasionally. A massive wave. A force unimaginable unless one has reached the realm of absolutes…”
In Okeanos?
“I never felt anything like that.”
“Soul God… You probably used Okeanos as a pathway via Traiana. I was actually living there… The intermittent waves of energy were so powerful, I couldn’t stay any longer…”
Is that so?
Well, I just zipped through using Traiana, so I wouldn't have noticed.
“What about your SP income? Don’t you need to stay near Earth to earn it?”
“Heh… Soul God. Aren’t you there now? I heard rumors you’ve been throwing around SP like candy lately…”
How does this guy hear such rumors from Okeanos?
Even though I have SP overflowing, it’s not free.
“You think I’m a charity? I don’t give things away for free.”
“Of course… I’m not that shameless… A trade is in order…”
“What, you got some useful info or something?”
“Heh… First, I can tell you the location of Olympus…”
“Already looted it.”
“Really…?”
“I’m more curious about where Zeus is. He’s not in Olympus.”
“…I don’t know that either… Zeus’s energy is so vast, I couldn’t pinpoint the direction it came from…”
Jeez.
This guy’s useless.
Cthulhu, in Poseidon's form, shared a few pieces of information, but they were things I already knew—or knew better—so they weren’t worth any SP.
“Hmm… You already know everything…”
“Tsk tsk. Is this all you’ve got? I can’t give you any SP for this.”
“Ugh… That’s troublesome…”
[Soul God. Why not ask for his authority instead?]
A voice came from the seal stone in my robes.
It was Athena.
“His authority?”
[Yes. He is a peculiar false god, different from typical deities. He might possess authority useful for your path as the Soul God.]
“Hmm… You think he has something worthwhile?”
“Looking at you now… My authority is insignificant compared to yours… Truly a staggering amount of SP…”
Cthulhu, looking at my true form.
If it’s a combat-oriented authority, I probably won’t gain much.
But maybe he has something different…
Being a false god, he might have something worth salvaging.
“Cthulhu. I need you to keep this confidential.”
“You want a vow? Fine… I need SP too.”
After he vowed secrecy, I explained the current situation in the lower world.
Lastly, I told him I planned to carry all of humanity’s souls in soul stones.
After listening quietly, Cthulhu responded.
“If you take human souls away, Zeus will notice… Maybe not if it’s a few people, but not with 7 billion disappearing…”
“That’s true.”
“Do you have a countermeasure for that?”
“Not yet. I’m still looking.”
“Heh… Then my authority might be just what you need… It allows the creation of false souls…”
Create false souls?
“You had such an ability?”
“Yes… I am a made god… I consume real souls and replace them with fake ones… The effect is temporary… but enough to flee with the real ones…”
[Wait, you… Have you been surviving by devouring human souls?]
“Indeed… There were a few madmen who worshipped Cthulhu… but not enough. Heh heh heh…”
[Then the total number of souls must have been gradually decreasing. How have you not been caught until now?]
“Heh heh heh… I was careful… devouring slowly and cautiously…”
Devouring real souls?
This guy is seriously evil.
If he were stronger, Earth’s souls might all be fake by now.
Just a massive tumor of lies.
Still, I need that authority now.
I don’t need to consume real souls, but creating fake ones might be very useful.
If I do some research, maybe I could also create false souls…
“Alright. I’ll buy that authority. Sell it to me. It’s in skill form, right?”
No point wasting time researching.
Better to buy the skill, analyze it, and tailor it to myself.
SP cost doesn’t matter much now.
“It’s expensive though…”
Seeing that I was serious about buying, Cthulhu started gauging my reaction.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
His smoothly rotating eyes seemed to be calculating how to get the highest price.
“This skill… it's a skill only I possess… Heh… False gods are not uncommon…”
“Hey. Even K'aai counts as a false god. I get that you want to drive up the price, but don’t get too greedy. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll just buy it from him instead, got it?”
“Aren’t you short on time…?”
“Do you even know how many avatars I’m running right now? I’ll pay a decent price, so stop trying to pull a fast one.”
“Heh heh…”
Cthulhu’s eyes briefly froze at the mention of K'aai.
It was a fleeting pause, but it didn’t escape my notice.
That reaction confirms it—he’s got it too.
“In that case… I was originally going to ask for 300 billion…”
“300 billion? Done. Let’s go with that.”
“...I was going to ask for that much, but… Huh?”
“I was wondering how high you’d go. If it’s 300 billion SP, I’ll buy it right now. Teach me the skill.”
“Uh…”
Not even that expensive, and he was overthinking it.
What a waste of time.
Cthulhu looked flustered by my quick response.
When I urged him to give me the skill already, he hesitated and finally opened his mouth.
“The god of souls… has agreed to 300 billion. I accept.”
“Yeah. Three hundred billion.”
“Can you really pay…? Can you swear on it…?”
“Man, you're seriously fussing over 300 billion? What oath? I’ll pay right now.”
“Oh… okay…”
I opened the trade window and transferred the SP immediately.
Cthulhu blinked as the full 300 billion came in at once.
He kept blinking silently, which was annoying to watch.
“Hey. I paid in advance, so hurry up and hand over the skill.”
“Ah… yes.”
“You’re not thinking of running away, are you?”
“Never… How could I flee before someone like you? Just wait a moment.”
Cthulhu came to his senses.
Three of his tentacles moved at once, rising above our heads.
Splat.
Two tentacles cut off the third in the center.
The massive tentacle fell from above and quickly shrank in size.
By the time it reached me, it was no bigger than a squid leg.
“Eat it.”
“Seriously? You’re giving me a skill like this?”
“This is a fundamental skill of a false god… You must devour a piece of my soul body to obtain it…”
The squishy tentacle actually looked kind of tasty.
I brought it to my mouth and bit down—immediately, a message popped up.
[You have obtained the SSS-rank skill, ‘Soul Theft.’]
[A higher skill, ‘Soul Pillage,’ exists. ‘Soul Theft’ will be removed.]
Soul Theft...
So it was a lower-level version of Soul Pillage.
I don’t really need to steal the souls of honest humans anyway.
I can afford to let it go.
What I really wanted is…
[You have obtained the SS-rank skill, ‘False Soul.’]
[A higher skill, ‘Soul Fusion,’ exists. However, due to differing traits, ‘False Soul’ can still be retained.]
[You are the Soul God. ‘False Soul’ is enhanced.]
[Duration of ‘False Soul’ has increased.]
[SP consumption has been drastically reduced.]
[The soul trait of ‘False Soul’ can be freely adjusted by the user.]
False Soul.
This is the skill I wanted.
The one that will let me hide the disappearance of 7 billion souls from Zeus.
Looks like I got quite a few bonuses for being the Soul God.
The reduced SP cost and extended duration are nice little perks…
But the ability to control soul traits?
That’s worth watching closely.
I’ll test it out later.
“Heh… Did you get the skill you were after?”
“Yeah. ‘Soul Theft’ got overwritten since it’s a lower version of my skill, but ‘False Soul’ remains. Seems useful.”
“That’s good…”
“Hey, does anyone already have this ‘False Soul’ skill applied?”
“You mean… a human? No. Not a single one. By now, any False Souls would’ve vanished…”
I asked casually, but Cthulhu made a point of emphasizing human.
That felt suspicious, so I dug deeper.
“Why are you so focused on humans? So not a human—what about a god? Could a god have it?”
“That… I cannot answer.”
“What?”
“Heh… Even if I want to talk after receiving 300 billion… I can’t say. Circumstances prevent me…”
This guy.
Is it that he swore an oath and can’t confirm it?
That basically means it exists.
[Cthulhu. Where should the Soul God look next?]
“Even if you ask me… I don’t know. But maybe you shouldn’t limit yourself to Earth… Perhaps it’s time to look into the far corners of the universe…”
[The universe, huh?]
“Kh…”
Suddenly, his spirit body faded in color.
Cthulhu grimaced, shaking his head.
“I won’t speak any further on this… I may be close to violating an oath…”
Looks like he took some kind of penalty.
A shame, but I’ll leave it at that.
The far corners of the universe, huh…
I’ll need to send avatars for recon.
“You took a hit to your soul body, huh. Here, take a gift—another 100 billion.”
“Ooh…”
Cthulhu’s face instantly lit up.
Then he blinked his spirit body a few more times.
This guy…
“Hey. Stop blinking like that. What are you, a fluorescent light?”
When I said that while giving him the extra 100 billion, he finally stopped blinking.
“Tch… Too bad… Then I’ll start setting up base here…”
“In the Kevrian system?”
“Yes. Earth and the whole solar system are likely to be caught in the aftermath of your fight with Zeus… Better to avoid the clash of titans…”
Well, I doubt it’ll reach Okeanos…
“Fine. Do as you like. Just don’t stir up trouble around here.”
“I don’t even have the strength for that… Not yet… I’ll start by restoring the Dreamlands properly… with 400 billion… 400 billion…”
Cthulhu kept mumbling “400 billion” like he was savoring it.
I’ve gotten everything I could from him—time to go.
But still…
A false god created with False Soul…
Is there really one of those out there in the universe?
Who would even request Cthulhu to make such a thing?
“…Zeus is the only one.”
Looks like I’ve got some investigating to do, and preparation for a grand migration as well.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
