Lee Gun was holding a garment and a golden parchment. Moreover, the paper wasn’t a normal item.

‘Holy Contract!’

The Virgo Saint was called the Contract Saint, and this was the primary item she sold. The contract item was a commonly used item by civilians, governments, and the temples. They had a lot of varieties too: normal contracts, marriage contracts, real estate contracts, labor contracts, etc. There were even event contracts and slave contracts. The contracts ranged from the F rank to the S rank.

However, that wasn’t important right now.

‘This is an S rank contract!’

S rank. Such a ranked contract was called a life contract. It was the highest-ranked contract produced by the Virgo Saint. Even Saints could do nothing once they put their name on the contract.

The Virgo god had made sure that only fifteen of these contracts existed in the world, so they were very rare.

“Why does Lee Gun have that...!”

Heiji didn’t really need to ask why that bastard had that item. She realized she knew the answer. “Yang Wei! Why did you give Lee Gun that item!”

“!”

Amongst the Zodiac Saints, Yang Wei had overwhelmingly more money than the others, so he had monopolized the life contracts.

“You fucking pig! Do you not know what that item is capable of doing!” Heiji threw the monster figurine.

Yang Wei’s soul pouted when he heard her words. ‘I didn’t give it. It was obviously taken from me.’ Yang Wei knew why she was angry, but Heiji didn’t know what she was talking about.

However, that didn’t change the fact that Heiji was in a very tough spot. It was to be expected. That color and engraving...

‘That’s a contract.’

Yang Wei had monopolized all fifteen S-rank contracts, but one of them was special. He had commissioned this contract where he added his own magic into the contract, making it a nasty one.

In terms of effectiveness, this contract was above the already-horrific S rank contracts. This one enforced a post-mortem contract.

‘He planned on taking a Saint as a slave with it.’

Since the soul was involved as cost, the Gemini specifically had to keep score. After all, the Gemini was a god that dealt with soul and magic. For Heiji, this might be a positive development.

Why?

‘The Fairy Monarch is the strongest in magic. There is no way that contract...’

The Fairy Monarch just had to feign signing the contract, then she could stab Lee Gun in the back.

However, when Raeriqueen looked at the contract, she held herself back from crying as she said, “The spell on this is too weak, Lee Gun-nim. You have to do this and this. That will allow you to keep me or even a Divine-rank being in check.”

Heiji almost fainted. “Raeriqueen! What are you doing!”

“Also, most of the S rank contracts are too weak. I’ll upgrade eight pages.”

“Hey! Really!”

“If you want the Soul Register, I’ll do as Lee Gun-nim asks!”

Lee Gun patted Raeriqueen’s head as if he found her actions commendable. At the same time, he heard a sound.

[You have acquired new data]

[Soul Register]

[The acquired data was mixed with the Serpent Bearer’s achievement. This has formed the groundwork for new skills.]

[New available skills]

- Serpent’s Contract (F)

- I can endure it once (F)

- I can’t endure it three times (F)

The voice piqued Lee Gun’s interest. When he gained more useful data, the data went toward skills. The data and his abilities mingled to create new skills.

‘I wonder if I can extract a price for renting out my skills to my familiars.’ With his growth, Lee Gun knew his familiars would grow as well. That was how their relationship was structured. Moreover, there was no need to learn all the newly available skills. But...

‘There are a lot of useful ones.’ One of them was a contract skill. It would prove useful when Lee Gun would go against the Virgo Saint, also known as the Contract Saint.

In the first place, Lee Gun had put aside the eight S rank contracts for the remaining Zodiac Saints. Of course, the Zodiac Saints were high-rank Users, their bodies closer to being divine. He would have to use his contracts to see whether they were stronger or not.

So, he intended to compliment Raeriqueen for providing the data.

“Lee Gun-nim! I was able to upgrade all eight to SS rank!”

“Oh! Good job!”

For some reason, Raeriqueen started shaking like a leaf. “Lee Gun-nim.... Lee Gun-nim said....”

“?”

“You never said hi to me. In fact, you said you will grind up and drink a fairy like me. That tyrannical Lee Gun-nim said I did good!”

“Ah!” It was as if Lee Gun realized something. He let out a bright smile. “Thank you, Raeriqueen! You are the best.”

Raeriqueen was moved. She even sobbed. Lee Gun had said she was the best.

This sight left Heiji in despair. Being a Saint or a god had its own dignity. Heiji had taught Raeriqueen to ostracize Lee Gun, yet the Fairy Monarch was acting this way. At this point, it wouldn’t be surprising if the disciples of the Gemini temple would feel betrayed seeing their Saint act this way.

‘This might cause the Gemini temple to disband.’ Above all else... ‘I can’t stand the fact that my body is prostrating to Lee Gun!’ Heiji had to make sure none of her disciples saw this.

Suddenly...

“Uncle, should I call the reporters?”

“Sungjaeeeeeee!”

“If we capture this scene and upload it to youtube, their faith would plummet.”

The words left Heiji in an unrecoverable state.

[The Gemini’s magician has completely lost the will to fight.]

‘As expected of my nephew!’ Lee Gun patted Chun Sungjae’s head. “Good! Keep it up.”

“...!” Chun Sungjae sobbed alongside the already-sobbing Raeriqueen.

“Lee Gun-nim patted me on the head! I must be dreaming!”

The servant Hugo was dumbfounded. As the young man’s father, he had tried to pat Sungjae’s head, yet his son had told him to not treat him like a child.

Moreover, he left the Gemini temple? It would be an honor for him if Lee Gun accepted him, and if not, he could go to the Leo temple.

‘Basically, he would rather die than become his dad’s disciple.’

Chun Sungjae, who had received a pat on the head, sobbed as he looked for his hat. “I’ll never wash my head!”

In the end, Hugo sighed. His daughter approached him when she saw this and said, “Cheer up, Dad. I brought you some cake. I even stocked up on the Yirgacheffe brand coffee that you like so much.”

His daughter was massaging his shoulders in a kind manner. This moved Hugo. ‘As expected, I have only my daughter.’ He said, “As expected of my daugh—”

An odd expression appeared on Hugo’s face when he looked at the cake. He was sure his daughter had brought a strawberry cake, but the cake contained no strawberries.

Hugo suddenly turned to look at Lee Gun’s dish, and his face crumpled. All the strawberries were on Lee Gun’s plate. Moreover, the size of Lee Gun’s slice was much bigger!

Hugo screamed. “Yooha! Dad doesn’t have any strawberries! Also, dad’s slice is smaller!”

Chun Yooha was puzzled. “Dad, you don’t like to eat strawberries. You always throw them out after taking a bite.”

Hugo howled. “From this day forward, Dad likes strawberry cake! Just give it all to me!”

Chun Yooha was taken aback, but Lee Gun just clicked his tongue. Hugo was being petty. However, Lee Gun would rather die than give up his food.

* * *

“Is this the famous ?”

Manila! In the alleyway that led to the Pacific Ocean, a turbulent energy surrounded the island nation.

Gohhhhhhhh-

The cry of a monster could be heard from the ocean, and the sound was not too far away. This cry came from a monster called . Thousand Legs was a famous monster that Lee Gun had killed in the past. It was the monster that appeared in one of the very few remaining videos of Lee Gun’s fights.

The disciples who had gathered in Manila couldn’t hide their excitement. It was to be expected.

“This monster hasn't shown up in the past 20 years!”

That video was one of the five most-viewed videos on Youtube. Basically, everyone in the world had seen that video. After all, Thousand Legs was a legendary monster.

“It moved along Malaysia and Indonesia. That region has already turned into Red zones!”

The report had made the generals decide on making a stand at Manila. They unsheathed their swords.

“We stop that bastard here!”

“Ohhhhhhhh!”

Although Lee Gun had returned, the generals believed that there was no way Lee Gun could be more powerful than them. So, the news of Lee Gun’s appearance had instead hyped them up.

All the temples representing the Zodiac Saints from the South had gathered here. Even the disciples from the Leo temple in the north had come. All of those disciples had assembled a large-scale attack team.

The number of these disciples was over ten thousand. It was almost close to the number of people needed to raid a Red zone. Moreover, all the branches of the Leo temple had gathered there.

“The Leo Saint is somewhere in this region!”

“Ohhhhhhhh!”

When the Leo general shouted those words, Chun Yooha let out a sigh.

The Leo Saint had fallen from Drachma above the Pacific ocean. It was the Luzon island where Manila was located. ‘The entire island and the ocean surrounding it is dangerous territory!’ she thought!

“Know this! We will kill Thousand Legs before we search for our Saint!”

Someone expressed their worries.

“Thousand Legs has shown up after twenty years. Since we are fighting it for the first time, we should follow Lee Gun’s manual...”

“That’s right. We should—”

“There is no reason we can’t kill a monster that Lee Gun had killed!”

“Ohhhhhh!”

“Who cares about the shitty manual written by a mere B rank!”

The cameramen in charge of recording this scene live cheered along with the crowd.

Suddenly, Thousand Legs appeared from the waters. However, it wasn’t alone.

“Uh, uh?”

Someone was standing atop the monster’s head.

“S...Saint-nim?”

* * *

The Archer’s holy ground, eight in the morning!

“Shit!” Lee Gun was in a really bad spot. He was trying to fix Hugo’s royal holy item. Of course, there hadn’t been any setbacks to the repair. The ingredients he had obtained from Flame Monarch and Drachma were high quality; they could be used to make and repair weapons.

The only problem was the hammer he used in the refinement process. It was too weak, unable to bring out the best in the weapon.

‘Why does it break from just a hit?’ Lee Gun was frustrated. Hugo’s temporary bow had also come out with worse specs than he had expected. ‘Tsk! I thought I wouldn’t have to look for my hammer.’

Yes, Lee Gun had a hammer. It was an S rank item with a special ability. However, he hadn’t thought finding the hammer was that urgent.

The blacksmiths of this era commonly used refining tools. Therefore, Lee Gun had gathered precious tools used by S rank blacksmiths, but all the tools were worse than his slime.

‘This is bad. I can’t make medium and large-sized weapons with my slime.’ Such weapons were a must when fighting a god or a Red zone monster.

At this rate, Lee Gun wouldn’t be able to repair Hugo’s mid-sized royal holy item. He wouldn’t be able to strengthen his temporary weapon either. ‘For the long term, I need my refining tools.’

When he searched online, he found out that his refinement tools had been taken by one of the twelve Zodiac Saints. ‘It's probably that old man.’

Ram Saint, the Maker Saint for the Aries God.

In terms of distance, he was closer to Lee Gun than the Virgo Saint. So Lee Gun wanted to target him next. ‘After the incident with the Gemini, all of them are holed up inside their holy grounds. It’ll be a bit annoying.’

The gods were afraid of Lee Gun doing the same thing he did to the Gemini Saint. They were afraid of their connection to the Saints being severed.

In the end, it didn’t matter.

Lee Gun groaned as if he was in pain. The issue was obvious.

[Your body is in a terrible condition right now.]

[Abnormal Status: Stomach Ache]

'Shit! At this point, I'm going to die before I find the culprit who stabbed me in the back.' Of course, his stomach ache wasn't a normal one.

[The familiars are surprised that the Serpent Bearer’s holy ground doesn’t have a storehouse]

[The familiars are yelling in horror. They think the Serpent Bearer is suffering from malnutrition.]

[The familiars have paid a variety of tributes to the Serpent Bearer.]

[The tributes are helping you recover stamina and magical energy]

[What the hell are you guys doing! We have to gather more tributes for our master! It's unacceptable that our holy ground is smaller than the Archer Saint’s holy ground!]

[Go steal everything from the Archer Saint’s storehouse!]

[Look! Master is too skinny! He’s suffering from malnutrition!]

[His precious hair is frayed!]

[At the very least, he should have a better physique than the Sheep Saint!]

At this point, Lee Gun felt like a pig. Of course, his Constructs' loyalty and abilities were both excellent.

[A storeroom has appeared in the small holy ground.]

[Eeny(Jarl) is using his troops to gather a boatload of tributes.]

[Meeny(Jotunn) doesn’t want to lose. He has mobilized his giants to gather tributes.]

[Miny(Berserk) has found a pig in the holy ground]

[Piggy Bank(Pixiu) is running away in fright.]

[They continue to pay tributes.]

𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

[Again]

[The tributes are endless]

[To recover their master’s magical energy, the familiar are willing to go out to hunt.]

Lee Gun sighed. This was great, but he was receiving excess energy.

[The storeroom is about to explode.]

[The holy ground is too small to contain all the familiars.]

[Current Size of the Serpent Bearer’s Holy Ground]

- 3.3m2(1 pyeong)]

[It will help if you expand your holy ground]

[You need an administrator to manage the familiars]

[As you gather more disciples, your divine power will grow stronger.]

In the end, Lee Gun sighed. ‘I have to expand my holy ground and choose an administrator as well.’ The administrator had to be someone he could trust.

If he wanted to fight the gods, he would have to get stronger than his current self. No, he had to become stronger than the gods. ‘Anyway, it seems I need disciples.’

However, he couldn’t accept just anyone as his disciple. Why?

[Condition to become the Serpent Bearer’s human familiar: Faith 100%]

It seemed this was a secret; each Saint had their specific criterion. Hugo had a small number of disciples because his criterion was very troublesome to fulfill.

[Condition to become the Archer Saint’s human familiar: Has to be handsome or beautiful enough to be accepted by the god(at the very least, look like a celebrity)]

Lee Gun had no idea why his criteria had to be 100% faith, but it didn’t matter.

Could anyone satisfy such a requirement?

‘Even the generals and Saints, who are loved by their gods, max out at 90% faith.’

This was normal. No human had absolute faith and loyalty. Humans were fickle by nature. Someone with 100% faith could never exist.

However, that wasn’t important right now.

Clank!

Lee Gun scrunched up his face as he ruined another hammer. ‘Shit! I have to solve my manufacturing tool problem. This is pissing me off!’

Suddenly...

[It’s me.]

Lee Gun heard a voice he had never expected to hear.