Chapter 195: #Owner of the World in a Box (2)

I unleashed lightning upon the desert due to this quest.

[Quest: Help with the Restoration of Waternia]

At first, I was watering the desert the normal way, but as expected, my sister slapped my back for the water bills. Even after such pain, Waternia had yet to regain its former glory.

Swaaaaa!

That day, I was still trying to figure out how to water the desert, when Sung Mi-Ri came to me.

“Mr. Yu, please help me become stronger for the Hunter War!”

Seeing the sparkle in her eyes reminded me of the first time she asked to be my student. It felt like a few years had passed since then, when in reality, it’d only been a few months. I couldn’t believe I went from switching my porch light on and off to becoming a full-fledged Mid-tier God through God-Maker. Although, it also came with an alter ego that shot laser beams from his eyes and an ant emperor with a personal vendetta against me...

“

Uhm,

isn’t it better to train at the cutting-edge, fully-equipped Hunter Association’s training ground?”

I’d trained her for a period before, but it was only to slowly break the seal Sung Mi-Na had placed on her.

“No! I want to train under you!”

I scratched my head awkwardly, but suddenly, an idea popped into my head.

Right, lightning!

There was an old saying that

“good harvests come in the year of thunder and lightning.”

But it was actually backed with science. Air, primarily composed of nitrogen, ionized when struck by lightning, creating natural fertilizers.

I learned this from watching

Human Era

on television, where a retired D-rank Lightning-type Hunter returned to his hometown and made a fortune by starting an organic farm. And the person standing before me was an S-rank—or maybe a potential SS-rank Hunter!

I pondered over her request for a few moments, then replied, “Alright! Let’s try it out!”

“

Yay!

Mr. Yu is the best!”

And that was how we ended up in this situation, unleashing lightning all across the desert. This served as training for Sung Mi-Ri as well.

“Here, have some of this.”

“

Wow

, it’s been a while since I had this!” Sung Mi-Ri grinned widely and downed a bottle of Bacchus-F—no, Blessing of the Growth God.

Just as how muscles grow over time, this training would increase Sung Mi-Ri’s maximum lightning capacity. How did I know that? Because I could see it.

[The innate power Blind Eyes of God has been activated.]

Pzzz!

-

Krrr!

I looked at the lightning beast within Sung Mi-Ri—the source of her power. It was now 1.5 times larger than it had been when Sung Mi-Na sealed it.

-

Gaaah!

Mm, it’s cute.

When our eyes met, it looked like a tiger-pikachoo mix puppy wagging its tail at me. I smirked at it, then looked at Xu Zhu, who worked hard plowing the ground.

“Xu Zhu, are you all done?”

“Yes! Over here!” Xu Zhu rushed over to where I was, pulling a wheelbarrow a couple of times larger than herself. It was filled with thousands of saplings, each smaller than her pinky finger. Of course, they weren’t ordinary saplings.

Ding!

-----

[Saplings of Fairia]

Five thousand saplings given by the Fairies as a tribute to God Yu Il-Shin for stopping the rampaging Fairy Queen.

Special note: Contains some blessing from Infinite Abundance.

-----

As per the description, I received them from saving the fairy world some time back. The Fairy Queen’s rampage sounded like a big deal, but it was just a babysitting task.

“Oh, it’s looking good.”

The saplings looked full of life and exuded a refreshing phytoncide scent. Was it because Xu Zhu had been blessed by Abundance noonim?

“Alright, let’s do this then.” I held out my phone toward the cart of saplings.

Ding!

[You have blessed Waternia.]

The saplings were transported to Waternia.

-

Waaaah!

Wake up everyone!

The cactus girl, Water Shaman, clapped her hands, and more cacti resembling her sprouted from the ground one by one.

Sss—

What seemed like three hundred of them scrambled to pick up the saplings.

-

Waaah!

Let’s work hard on planting trees for our world today!

Ruuuumble!

The cacti moving with life and planting saplings seemed surreal, but the results were clearly effective.

-----

[Quest: Help with the restoration of Waternia]

Current progress: 28.2%

-----

Waternia, once a desert, soon grew increasingly green. At this rate, the restoration quest would be completed in a month.

“But, Mr. Yu...” Sung Mi-Ri glared at me with displeasure.

“

Hmm?

What’s wrong?”

“You speak informally to Xu Zhu and my friends, but why are you so polite with me?”

Oh, did I? Perhaps it was because she was a rather valued student of mine and also my benefactor. I couldn’t count how many times she’d saved my life, so I felt indebted to her. But I wondered if that had upset her?

“Then should I speak casually?”

“Yes!”

Seeing Sung Mi-Ri skip with glee, I thought I should’ve done this sooner.

Swoosh!

Just then, the space before me was distorted, and a group appeared before me: Sword Demon and Choi Bong-Shik.

“Mr. Sword God, we have safely returned from our escort mission.”

“Uncle!”

In his arms was my beloved niece Seong-Yeon, who had just returned from the daycare center.

“Seong-Yeon, did anything happen at school?”

“Yes!

Swoosh

, it was so fun!”

Seong-Yeon was hooked on teleporting these days. As her uncle, I worried I had introduced her to it too early.

After reporting the situation to me, Sword Demon turned to Sung Mi-Ri.

Shriiing!

He drew his sword, full of determination.

“I’m looking forward to another lesson today, Disciple!”

“

Haa...

again?” Sung Mi-Ri let out a small sigh.

“Yes!”

Then, they headed to the sparring room. Oh, right, we were currently in the Hunter Association’s training room. I’d asked Kang Woo hyungnim for permission, and he chuckled, saying I could use it whenever I wanted. I truly felt indebted to him.

Pzzz!

Holding a thunderbolt in each hand, Sung Mi-Ri spoke to Sword Demon, who glared at her with burning intensity.

“I’ll begin.”

“Go on, don’t hold back!” Sword Demon pointed his sword at her, readying himself like a protagonist in a martial arts movie.

“Skill, Thunder Body!”

There was a flash.

Ruuuumble! Bam!

“

Aaaaah!”

The results were disastrous.

“

Huh?!

Hyungnim! Are you alright?!” Choi Bong-Shik ran over to them in a panic.

He’d been addressing Sword Demon as hyungnim and following him ever since that particular incident, and it sounded quite natural.

“Mr. Yu...” Sung Mi-Ri dragged a half-cooked Sword Demon over to me.

Sword Demon trained to be able to cut lightning. His recent defeat by Asimov left a deep scar.

Uh-huh, it’s great to strive to become stronger and all, but I hope he’d also consider the feelings of those who’d have to heal him...

If I healed him right now, he’d just get to his feet and try again, so I decided to postpone it slightly.

“Uncle, Uncle! Show me the ants!” Seong-Yeon rushed me while in my arms.

“

Hmm

, shall we take a look then?” I sat Seong-Yeon down on my lap.

I was curious how my followers were doing, anyway. I launched God-Maker and selected Antrinia channel.

“

Wow!

They’re so cute!” Seong-Yeon giggled, watching the cute citizens of the Gayami Nation.

Yes, they’re kind of cute.

-

Heave! Ho!

Let’s make a statue for God Yu Il-Shin!

They were still working on my statues.

-----

[Covetous Golden Statue Quest]

Crafted golden statue count: 9

-----

Seeing my golden statues towering over the city square, dedicated solely for me, filled me with pride. Knowing that more than a thousand of them would be made in the future, I felt like I had the entire world in my hands.

Unable to hide my delight, I took a sugar pack piled high beside me, sprinkling it for my followers.

-

Waaah!

God Yu Il-Shin is showing us grace again!

I watched in fascination as they danced around and ate the sugar. Seong-Yeon immediately copied my actions.

“Uncle! Show me the fairies now!”

“Yeah, okay.” I did as she asked, and switched the channel to Fairia.

-

Aboo, aboo.

Unlike when she was running wild like

King Kong

, Aran was now calmly drinking honey in her governess’s arms. Seeing Seong-Yeon drooling, I asked the fairies to share some. The fairies agreed, struggling to bring a bunch of honey jars about the size of my thumb.

Ding!

[The fairies offer tribute to God Yu Il-Shin.]

Slurp slurp slurp—

“

Wah!

It’s delicious!” Seong-Yeon’s eyes widened at the taste of the honey.

“

Mm

, enjoy it.” I stroked her head.

Meanwhile, I pondered over the problems related to the mysterious Despair Cult, the Gods' Sacrificial War, and the upcoming Hunter War. None of these should be taken lightly, but my mind was currently occupied by a particular follower.

I still can’t see anything...

[46th Floor, Tower of Warriors: Warrior and Temporary Apostle, Il-Ho]

In fact, I had been trying to check on Il-Ho a few times, but he was nowhere to be seen.

[Warrior Il-Ho is currently challenging the Trial of Void on the Forty-Sixth Floor of the Tower of Warriors.]

All I received was a blank phone screen with this message.

Void—which also referred to emptiness, devoid of anything. What on earth was Il-Ho going through right now?

You should be okay, right, Il-Ho?

***

[The Forty-Sixth Floor of the Tower of Warriors: Trial of Void]

Il-Ho found himself swimming in darkness. The seemingly endless expanse of jet-blackness resembled the previous trial’s universe, but it was on another level. It was perfect darkness, devoid of even a single starlight—an empty world.

I’m at a loss.

Across all of Il-Ho’s trials, there were enemies he had fought to his death, as well as others who were desperate for his salvation. But over here, there was no such thing.

Lord Yu Il-Shin!

Il-Ho tried praying to God Yu Il-Shin, but there was no response. Within the endless expanse of void was only he and himself.

He wondered what task he would have to complete to clear the Trial of Void this time.