Chapter 137 - New Disciple (1)
Accompanying a massive light, a change occurred to Lee Gun’s body.
“Gun!”
It was an incredible power.
The light emanating from Lee Gun’s body felt different from usual. When he used his Death Instinct, the light he emitted instilled a sense of awe; this happened when his divine status was 70%.
However, his divine status was 150% right now, so this was beyond a sense of awe. One even felt fear.
The explosive energy was the power of the unknown thirteenth Zodiac. It was like watching the big bang in space. The force was powerful, so powerful that it could swallow and recreate everything.
The power of the Absolute Order, which had been trying to consume Lee Gun’s body, had to stop in its tracks.
Lee Gun’s power became stronger with it.
[You now possess a power stronger than the power you swallowed.]
[You can now recreate the Absolute Order.]
A light washed over the Archer Saint’s holy ground.
Kwah-gwa-gwahng!
“Koo-oohk!”
Along with the energy came a strong gale.
Everyone screamed. Would it feel like this if a meteor crashed into the earth? The shock was so great that it felt as if an enormous giant had ripped away and thrown a city.
Thankfully, this had occurred within the Archer Saint’s holy ground, which was surrounded by a barrier. If a power like this had exploded in any other place, that place would have been wiped out.
Even though the energy didn’t directly hit them, the cars moved up and down as an earthquake occurred. The situation was abnormal. Everyone within a hundred-meter radius of the Archer Saint’s holy ground felt unbearable.
Koo-goo-goohng!
At this point, the cars weren’t just moving up and down. Hugo’s car, which had been parked outside the building, got sent flying like a piece of paper.
“Ahhhhk! Saint-nim! Save me!”
“Just grab anything you can! If you don’t, you’ll be sent flying!”
Everyone had to grab an object to stop themselves in their places.
It wasn’t just the humans. Although Constructs and Zodiacs were in the same divine rank, there was a difference between the aura of a Zodiac and the power of a Construct. And right now, more than a hundred Virgo Constructs grabbed at objects as they screamed.
[Help us!]
[Kyahhhhk!]
Normally, these divine-rank beings wouldn’t show such unkempt appearances in front of the humans. However, this power was on a different level. The Constructs couldn’t even stand on their feet.
[Huh-uhk! What kind of power is this?]
[I know the divine status is 100%, but…]
Of course, it wasn’t as if they hadn’t expected this to happen. Other Zodiacs had also reached a divine status of 100% at times. That happened when the temple was in danger or a special ability had to be used; The 100% divine status was used when a Zodiac entered a large battle.
Moreover, the Zodiacs were the ones that had reached the zenith amongst countless gods. They were the owners of temples, which were congregations of gods and stars.
As the owner of a temple, each of them could display an enormous amount of power. This was normal.
All the gods and stars affiliated with the temple could be used to generate power. That was why the Constructs dared not raise their heads when the divine status reached 100%.
[What kind of power is this?]
[This power isn’t 100%! It’s something beyond that!]
[What?!]
The Constructs became more shocked. Even other gods would have a tough time withstanding the power generated from a divine status beyond 100%.
‘That makes no sense!’
The Serpent Bearer possessed the smallest temple. It had no foundation or roots. Nothing official had been established about it. Its temple was supposed to be puny!
[It’s tiny, so where is this power coming from?]
[I do not think it’s a power generated through the size of the temple!]
[What?]
[I’m saying this since the Serpent Bearer’s temple is too small. It means this is purely the power of the Zodiac…]
[!!]
The basis of a temple’s power was the trinity of ”Zodiac, disciples, and holy spirits(Constructs).” Normally, it was supposed to be a balanced structure….
[A single Zodiac can generate that much power!]
[My word! What kind of balance is this?]
However, they didn’t have the time to analyze it.
[Bring up the protection!]
[Anyone not with the temple of the Serpent Bearer will be attacked!]
As soon as they spoke, a frightening power detonated.
Any items not owned by the Serpent Bearer cracked and got destroyed.
The one who had caused this problem was pressing down on his body as if it were about to explode. The situation wasn’t like before when his body was eroding.
[The Libra’s power has been broken down. You have successfully recreated it.]
[The power of the Absolute Order has been recreated into the Serpent Bearer's divine skill.]
[Choose either A or B (SSS)]
The Gluttony skill ate and recreated something. It was a skill that destroyed and restored at the same time.
This skill had recreated the Archer Saint’s holy ground into a sixty-three-story building. And now, it had recreated the Libra Saint’s power into a skill.
After he had passed through the trials called the first awakening, Lee Gun could see a skill window sorted into new categories.
《Available Divine Skills》
※Serpent Bearer’s common skills/Possible to rent
[Super Regeneration]
[Hundred Poison Resistance]
[Get hit instead of me]
《Available Deity Skills(SSS)》
※Zodiac only/Possible to use if the divine status is filled
Owner(Zodiac)Only
[Death Instinct]
[Holy Ground Management]
[Missionary]
[Subordination]
[Wealth Conversion]
[Entrance to the Market of Goblins]
[Holy Ground Defense]
Lee Gun Only
[Creation Workshop]
[13th Sense]
[Act forbidden by the gods]
[Gluttony]
[Choose either A or B]
Divine Skills seemed to be available to everyone who belonged to the Serpent Bearer. These were common skills.
In reality, Lee Gun’s Constructs and Sungjae had awakened the Regeneration skill as a foundation.
‘It seems each individual awakens slightly differently.’
In the case of his disciples, the Super Regeneration skill was called “Conditional Super Regeneration.” The power and efficacy of the skill seemed to differ per the individual. Chun Sungjae had been able to activate his regeneration skill when he had praised Lee Gun.
When it came to the Deity skills, however, they were something only he could use. And he could use them only after acquiring divine status. Of course, the divine status rarely fell below 30% if one possessed disciples.
If the divine status decreased any further, one became sick. If it went to 0%, the temple would power and presumably face its demise.
‘Divine status falling below 20% is pretty difficult.’
Even when Lee Gun didn’t have a disciple, the lowest his divine status had reached was 20%. It didn’t rise as much as compared to the activities of the disciples, but it had risen in tiny increments when Lee Gun had killed monsters.
Of course, most of the deity skills could be used above 5% divine status since anything below that would threaten his life. However, special skills like “Death Instinct” and “Gluttony” required high divine status.
Anyway, the fact that he had developed a precious deity skill wasn’t important right now.
“Koohk!”
Lee Gun clutched at his eyes.
[The divine power left after the recreation has been absorbed into your body.]
[Your body has been upgraded.]
[One of your body parts has been upgraded: Eyes]
[You have acquired a clue about the condition needed for your second molt.]
Lee Gun’s vision suddenly changed.
* * *
Hugo looked at Lee Gun in shock. He had just prayed to him. ‘What the hell is that?’
The power emanating from Lee Gun wasn’t normal. It was divine power. The power of the Serpent Bearer Zodiac was running through his friend’s body.
His friend had eaten something strange, and to digest it, the Zodiac had descended directly into his friend. However, that wasn’t the important part.
‘I’ve never felt such divine power even from my Zodiac.’
There was no way Hugo could know that this power was something generated at 150% divine status.
He felt nervous. The Virgo Saint’s Constructs also being stunned meant this wasn’t a normal situation. Moreover, Hugo thought he could feel an odd sense of anger from his Zodiac. However, he dismissed it as something he had imagined.
At the same time, an incredible flash of light surged into the sky.
Boom!
As the light dissipated, Lee Gun faltered.
“Koohk.”
“Gun!”
Clutching at his eyes, Lee Gun expressed the pain he felt.
The goddesses of the Virgo Saint and the youngest members of the Archer temple, who had been within the building, all ran toward Lee Gun.
“Lee Gun-nim! Are you ok?”
[How can he be fine! It was a power above 100% divine status.]
[None of the masters can withstand over 100% divine status! His body won’t last! Hurry up and give him some potion!]
Lee Gun being able to withstand such power using only his mental fortitude was impressive.
The goddesses’ fine hands grabbed Lee Gun.
However, Lee Gun swiped their hands away as if he found them annoying. He was unexpectedly laughing. Some places in his body were indeed being incinerated by the divine status of 150%, but that didn’t matter since he had the regeneration skill.
Pain was nothing to him.
His magical energy seemed to have become stronger in a peculiar way, but this was secondary to something else.
“That bitch.”
In the process of absorbing the divine power, Lee Gun had seen something. He looked up with angry eyes. This was to be expected.
[You read memories from the absorbed power of the Absolute Order.]
Lee Gun had read Giselle’s memories. To be precise, he was not able to read them all. However, he did see things related to his imprisonment in the Devil’s Tower and some of the recent events.
‘It’s stuff related to the unknown civilization.’
Well, this didn’t matter in the end.
Boom!
The energy of the Zodiacs surrounding Hugo and Kevin completely changed.
“!”
[The Sagittarius is wary of the Serpent Bearer’s power.]
[It is surprised how the Serpent Bearer has the mental fortitude to maintain such power. It is also expressing an odd sense of anger.]
[The goddess of the full moon is showing strong interest in the Serpent Bearer.]
[The Constructs of the Virgo Saint wonder how divine status can go over 100%.]
Lee Gun grinned at those words. How did he go over 100%? Instead of answering, he took out Hugo’s royal holy item.
Hugo screamed. “Ahhhk! What are you doing?”
He snatched back his royal holy item. Lee Gun had just fixed it, yet he was trying to break it again.
Hugo raged at his friend’s misconduct. “Why the hell are you trying to break something that you put a lot of effort into fixing?”
Lee Gun shamelessly laughed. “What do you mean, why? If you don’t want your Zodiac’s treasure to be ruined, you guys should come under the Serpent Bearer.”
Hugo grabbed the back of his neck. “Are you trying to carry fire in one hand and water in the other? Why are you being like this again?”
Why was he doing this? Lee Gun snorted. His divine status had risen 65% just from Hugo’s prayer.
‘If he becomes my disciple, it’ll be awesome.’
If faith was high, he would receive a buff no matter what. Faith was something hard to raise, so it was usually compensated through the number of normal disciples. A high Faith was an absolute advantage.
A single prayer had brought about this result.
‘It went up by 65%’
However, Kevin scoffed at Lee Gun’s missionary attempt.
“That's pathetic, Lee Gun.”
“!”
“The idea of converting a Zodiac Saint is nonsense. It further makes no sense since you’re trying to convert the last-place Zodiac Saint.”
Hugo became angry for a moment, but he overlooked it. In the end, Kevin’s words weren’t false.
“Yes. It makes no sense trying to convert a Zodiac Saint in the first place…”
“Instead of converting a guy like that, you should convert me!”
“Hey!!”
The Constructs of the Virgo Saint screamed.
[Apostle of the goddess! What are you saying right now?]
[The goddess will not forgive you!]
These words made Kevin furious. “I’m sick and tired of trying to please the goddess. In the first place, why did she choose a man as the Virgo Saint? She picked me purely to use me for labor!”
[Kevin!]
“Whatever! If I can’t give up being a Zodiac Saint, I would rather switch to a different Zodiac.”
Kevin respected Lee Gun, and if he became the man’s disciple, Lee Gun might spar him.
Hugo sighed. The Serpent Bearer already had a Zodiac Saint. “Why the hell would you be the Zodiac Saint when there’s Gun? You’ll just be a general for the Serpent Bearer.”
Kevin looked at Hugo as if the latter were pathetic. He then said to Lee Gun, “If you don’t want me to become your disciple, I can move under your banner. There is a high chance my goddess will allow that.”
However, Lee Gun acted as if he hadn’t heard him. This meant he didn’t need someone who could raise his divine status by a mere 15%.
“Hey, Taeksoo. I’ll give you a ten percent discount if you become my disciple.”
The surprised Hugo replied, “I can’t believe you’re thinking about charging your disciple.”
Lee Gun pretended to not have heard that. “Alright. I’m being generous. I’ll give you a huge salary of 100,000 won.”
“That isn’t even minimum wage, you asshole!!!”
Lee Gun clicked his tongue at Hugo’s reaction. This meant he’d try it again at a different time.
“If you don’t like that, I’m satisfied if you come under my umbrella.”
At the end of the day, there were advantages to Hugo still being with the Sagittarius. There was his skill with the bow and his power of the sun. Moreover, he had received various abilities from the Sagittarius.
“You should think hard about it. I bet you can’t help but join me in the end.”
“My ass! Listen to me. I’ll never become your henchman.”
“Don’t worry about that! I’m happy with you being an affiliate. I have someone else who joined my temple who will become the Zodiac Saint.”
“You aren’t listening to me— What? You have someone who’ll become a Zodiac Saint?”
“Yes. My temple’s level rose a lot just from this person joining. I believe this person is better than you.”
The conversation baffled Hugo. ‘What the hell is he talking about?’
The temple’s level rose from one person joining?
“Are you kidding me? That makes no sense. Who is it…”
An odd grin appeared on Lee Gun’s lips as he looked at Hugo. At the same time, Hugo screamed as he looked at the phone Lee Gun pushed forward.
