Chapter 37 – Authority

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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How wonderful would it be if everything ended with just one fight.

However, no matter what it was, cleaning up the aftermath was always the hardest part.

When I first played Last Comet, I frequently ruined things because I didn’t know what to do after an attack passed and hesitated.

But there was something even such a beginner quickly came to do, which was precisely usurping authorities.

I couldn’t pay attention to it because there was an urgent fire to put out, but it was different then. Since I had some leeway, I should have taken them right away.

The Elysiums I obtained by fighting the demons this time were two.

One was ‘Growing Life’ that the Great Demon, the Holy Mother of Stillborns, had devoured, and the other one… I had to check from then on.

The riverbed where the water was completely blown away by the chain explosion caused by the Atonement Star.

I looked down at the mud created by all sorts of organic matter sinking and rotting, and the Elysium entangled there.

The Elysium the Swimming Faces spat out as it died was shining brightly even amidst the deep reddish-brown mud.

And I saw a long streak of light inside the bead, splitting into two branches and twisting around.

Thanks to that, I quickly figured out whose Elysium it was.

Turning Crossroads.

One of the gods belonging to the Church of the Cycle. He wasn’t strong. Nor did he possess an outstanding authority by himself.

However, because the synergy effect it caused with other authorities was overwhelming, he was never looked down upon.

The problem was that he was attacked while the world was ruined and everyone was scattered. If he had partnered with another god, he might have held out much longer.

Of course, for me who killed Growing Life and usurped that authority, an authority as good as this was rare.

I caught the Elysium of Turning Crossroads with my hand and lifted it up.

“I will take it. Rest in peace.”

Turning Crossroads didn’t show any particular reaction.

Without being able to say a single word, it just twinkled faintly a few times as if drained of energy, and quieted down.

I grasped the Elysium as it was, using the grip strength that made stars.

Crack.

Unlike a bead, fine cracks were engraved across the rough surface.

Turning Crossroads was a god said to present the moment of choice and show countless possibilities. In a way, it was close to foresight.

Even such a god, at the end of long suffering, turned a blind eye to all the cases given to him and chose a helpless death.

Crrrack-.

The Elysium completely shattered and crumbled into golden dust. I thought Turning Crossroads would disappear just like this.

However, no matter how weakened he was, he was still a god in name.

Turning Crossroads, right before escaping from suffering and meeting a complete death, threw bizarre words.

[It is dark, and dark again. The heaviest and most shaded place in the world trapped under the Dark Light.]

“Can you speak?”

[The demon you seek is there….]

These words were the last.

Perhaps he couldn’t show other reactions because he was saving his strength to say these words.

The moment I felt even the last remaining lingering thought crumble away without leaving a single speck, my bitterness also doubled.

With what thought did he leave these words?

Although it was similarly vague, still, it was quite different from a prophecy or foresight.

There was less of the characteristic ambiguity.

Seeing that I didn’t feel a mysterious sensation like being in a fog, there was just some sort of restriction. Perhaps Turning Crossroads saw where the Great Demon was.

Of course, even if he didn’t know the exact location, he was openly telling me the most important part from the start.

“Are you saying he moved his main body in advance.”

Last Comet was a game boasting considerable randomness.

It could be an insurance the Black Sun prepared just in case an adversary appeared.

On the exact opposite, it could be that a Great Demon pulled a trick to avoid the Black Sun’s gaze and crossed over.

Although the solving process seemed complicated, the actual solution was only one.

Beat them all up.

And what was most needed right now wasn’t flying around to kill enemies… but securing food resources.

A few methods to use the authorities I gained after a long time were coming to mind.

Growing Life was practically the main god of the Church of the Cycle, and thus boasted the most overwhelming authority.

The power of life wasn’t particularly a peaceful and moderate power either.

If you wished, you could use it aggressively as much as you wanted. As long as the opponent was a living, breathing life, that is.

‘Life eats life.’

It’s one of the slogans put forward by the Church of the Cycle.

Even from the name Cycle, it meant the cycle of death and birth, and the relationship of life eating and being eaten by life.

Death was determined depending on what Growing Life caused to grow.

Lengthy explanations or complex powers weren’t needed, and there was no reason to beat them down either.

You just had to make life grow to the point where the body’s immune system couldn’t keep up.

Then the punished one’s entire body would be covered in tumors, have all their nutrients sucked dry, and starve to death.

The memories Growing Life left for his successors were mostly like this.

Even in death, he was teaching so that one wouldn’t be dazzled by the bright image the word ‘life’ gives and forget how to attack.

But the knowledge and memories I wanted weren’t things like this.

I put the fierce knowledge aside in a corner of my mind and gathered the comets inside my flesh to my fingertips.

Besides, there were numerous people who suffered while giving birth in an already exhausting situation.

For them, I wanted to prepare a small but certain present.

<>

Crops that would prosper for a long time even in a sunless world were the top priority.

Naturally, grains that died without sunlight were out of the question. Something that would grow vigorously even in a damp and dark world was desperately needed.

An organism that proliferated on its own if the location is right, even without particularly planting seeds.

While wondering what there was, mushroom suddenly came to mind. It was a moment that needed mushrooms sprouting near the base of a rotten tree.

However, the authority of Growing Life wasn’t as perfect as I thought.

It’s fine to knead already existing life, but new life truly had to start from the very beginning.

“Is it starting from here?”

Something like water seeped out between my shining white hands.

It was almost identical to the origin of life I saw on Earth. It was a semi-solid liquid like clay, imbued with countless possibilities.

It flowed sluggishly, but its shape changed when kneaded.

It was squishy but not sticky, and had a subtle sensation of being smooth but not slippery.

If left like this, it would literally take billions of years to become an organism.

Whether it could become a mushroom was another problem. Even if I ignored the question of whether it could become an organism.

It was practically luck that I usurped the authority of Turning Crossroads.

-Exercise of rights, Crossroads

-Negotiating authority…

Noticing a preemptive guest, the authority of Turning Crossroads began to intertwine.

Although he was a weak god, he was a god who was never looked down upon. Growing Life and Turning Crossroads.

It was a combination of two authorities that one could never obtain together unless they were exceptionally lucky.

When playing the game, I only saw it through screenshots posted by others, but seeing the moment they actually cause a synergy effect felt refreshing.

<>

The moment the authority manifested, my entire vision was embraced in a pure white light.

I saw so many ‘what ifs’ within this bright space.

I was simultaneously seeing the microorganisms in the mud choosing to attain spirituality and become intelligent beings wandering around in the future, and choosing to remain as they are.

However, the one harboring the most ‘what ifs’ out of anything in the world was the liquid in my hand.

Infinite possibilities were seen from the liquid that seeped out from my hand.

The true identity of the light that brightly dyed my vision was none other than this liquid, the illusion of ‘what if’ contained within that liquid.

Because too many illusions were overlapped, it became dyed like white light.

I could decide that future.

“Look at your seniors. Can’t you do hyphae? Like a mushroom.”

The white light faded a little.

The infinite possibilities were closing up at a few words.

“Wait, isn’t that a slime? A mushroom. Oh right, you’re not intelligent enough to think yet.”

Nevertheless, it obeyed and followed the god’s will.

Following the image I recalled and the words I spat out, it was denying its own possibilities one by one.

“Good. No, don’t put poison in. People will naturally carry your spores around.”

Negotiating with a non-intelligent existence was a pretty fresh experience.

But I only realized it when the white light completely faded and only the illusion of a mushroom remained.

Just how heavy the power of a god, the words of a god were.

“Make it look appetizing. Let’s cover the body with slime tasting similar to pork fat to ward off bugs.”

Presently, only one illusion remained in front of me.

It just showed me how I should proceed from now on. I didn’t need the future that would unfold after that.

For now, this much was enough.

Before I knew it, a new life resembling a pine mushroom had taken seat in my hand.

“I will help you for a while. I will soon make stars to help you too, so don’t worry.”

I decided to set the name simply.

Lard Mushroom.

It was a literal name. It tasted like grilling a mushroom sizzling with pork fat, so it was Lard Mushroom.

Food wasn’t the only thing needed.

New lives that would make people endure even in places where I wasn’t present were necessary.

One of them was none other than medicinal herbs.

It wasn’t a world where medicine production was active like on Earth, but a world where infrastructure was smashed rather than developed.

Especially, the problem was that medicine often became poison if abused too much.

In a poor period like now, a panacea that was easy to use and showed improvement for any symptom was desperately needed.

It’s the best if it also looked good while at it. It was the motive for me to create the Starflower.

It was a silver flower induced to harbor starlight while looking at the risen stars like a sunflower, and to bloom fully when it harbored enough divine power.

If you boiled and drank it, it also purified contaminated water, and if you crushed and rubbed it, wounds also healed.

Above all, it was popular because it looked good.

The sight of new life prospering in a world where everything was dying made people smile.

The one that caused the biggest repercussion was, as expected, the Lard Mushroom.

“It, it tastes like pork. I’m chewing a mushroom but it tastes like meat!”

“Heoeup. Heoheoheo. Heou.”

“Spit it out if it’s hot, you punk.”

“Heou-heou-heou.”

Most people skewered them on sticks and roasted them over a bonfire.

Still, some firmly rubbed their lips in anticipation while placing them on a piece of iron they picked up from somewhere.

There was also a man who laughed saying it was delicious even while the roof of his mouth was peeling off because it was hot.

“Heou-heoup.”

“How long has it been since we ate something similar to meat? I think it’s been well over three or four months since we ate proper bread too.”

“It’s really delicious. Ha… fuck…”

A person pushed to the extreme could not even cry because they were exhausted.

They only realized the accumulated emotions when they exploded as they were, or when they could rest comfortably, warming themselves by a warm bonfire and eating delicious food.

This was why people burst into tears while they were eating well.

Even while sobbing kkeuk-kkeuk and drooling, their hands were heading towards the roasted mushrooms.

“Why is this so, delicious….”

“If you’re going to cry, finish crying and eat, please. It’s dirty.”

“If we just cry, you guys would eat it all, so what. Sniff!”

“Ugh! Your snot is splattering!”

They argued back and forth, but it didn’t escalate to a fight.

Partly because they brought enough mushrooms, and above all, they were all too exhausted to fight.

Even the people who had left saying they couldn’t trust me were seen mixed in between, which was quite nice to see.

But what comforted the exhausted people more than anything were the children playing energetically.

“They said the flowers have already bloomed fully!”

“They just planted them?”

“They must have grown fast because Lord Star Creation is here! Let’s go see!”

I had planted them to use them as potion substitutes for now.

Still, because I also paid attention to the aesthetic problem, the people who filled their bellies were coming out one by one to watch.

Of course, eating is good, but it’s an age where playing is important. The majority were children who somehow survived even in this situation.

“You can’t go far! Don’t go around alone!”

“Yeees!”

Children forming groups and running dododo, leaving their worrying parents behind.

When I gently turned my attention there, I could tell they didn’t just go to watch the children.

The sight of the flower buds turned towards the direction I was in, sparkling in silver.

People gathered unknowingly at this flower garden.

“I didn’t think I would see something like this again while alive.”

“It’s just as the old man said. You see all sorts of things if you live long enough.”

They were people who wanted to be comforted together with their family, friends, or lovers.

Hwen and Bartol were also inserted among them, enjoying the long-awaited rest.

I understood how Santa feels.

Sometimes it was better to watch from afar rather than forcefully inserting myself among the people who wanted to enjoy it together.

It wasn’t really my thing to appear saying ta-da and receive applause in this kind of situation.

I intended to continue sorting out the newly gained authorities in a corner of a crumbled house.

…Until unexpected guests came visiting, that is.

Just when I thought it was getting increasingly boisterous.

Familiar faces, the children including Debra, approached laughing kkarreurreureu.

“Ah! It’s Lord Star Creation!”

“How did you know to come here?”

“The flowers told us you were here!”

Debra proudly held out a Starflower.

It’s a flower made to harbor the divine power conveyed by starlight. It was natural for it to point at me, the source of the divine power.

“We scooped it up whole because we were afraid it would hurt if we snapped it.”

“We also brought food for Lord Star Creation to eat!”

Bread crumbs and mushrooms were contained over the dirt-stained hands.

“I eat something else. Since you’re here, ask me if you have anything you’re curious about. If there’s anything you couldn’t say, try saying it.”

“Really? Is it really okay… to do so?”

“Originally, you make a wish to a star.”

Wait, was it different here?

However, the children gathered frighteningly fast the moment the words dropped, regardless of authenticity, and chattered noisily.

Flowers chasing starlight.

Looking at the Starflowers, I decided to silently listen to them.

…Not knowing that it would take a long time, that is.