Chapter 288: Re-entering the God Domain, The Leveling Plan!
"Ah!!!"
Seeing Seito suddenly vanish into thin air, Eriri let out a sharp shriek and immediately dashed toward her bedroom.
After all, her room was practically a treasure trove of her daily artwork!
If certain illustrations were discovered by him, she would suffer absolute, irreversible social death!
Meanwhile, inside Eriri's room...
The moment Seito materialized, his expression gradually turned bizarre.
His gaze had locked onto Eriri's bed. Spread across the sheets were several freshly drawn manuscript pages. If his eyes weren't deceiving him, the two characters depicted in the rather intimate drawings looked suspiciously like himself and Hideyoshi.
Taking a couple of steps forward, Seito picked up the pages to get a closer look.
A few moments later...
Seito: "..."
Placing the drawings back onto the bed, Seito began to profoundly question his life choices. Eriri's creative imagination was truly something else—and incredibly cursed.
"Good grief."
With a flick of his wrist, Seito activated his skill, swirling the manuscripts into the void of his Kamui dimension.
Whoosh!
Igniting a burst of flame within the isolated pocket dimension, he completely incinerated the questionable artwork, ensuring not a single trace remained.
Bang!
Right on cue, the door burst open, and Eriri lundged into the room, her face completely flushed.
"You, you, you! Did you see those drawings?!"
Taking in the state of the room, Eriri would have to be an absolute fool not to realize what had just happened.
"Yeah. Me and Hideyoshi... Seriously, you..." Seito's mouth twitched slightly.
He had a massive urge to relentlessly roast her, but considering the evidence had already been thoroughly vaporized, he decided to let it slide.
Hearing his muted response, Eriri let out a massive sigh of relief.
Thank goodness.
At the very least, the most incriminating drawings hadn't been seen by Seito. She had secretly exercised a bit of caution, keeping her truly top-secret stash locked away elsewhere, which was why Seito hadn't stumbled upon them.
"Hmph! It's none of your business anyway!"
With a classic, defensive huff, Eriri marched over and plopped herself down on the edge of the bed.
"Sigh." Seito let out a helpless chuckle. "I'm going to dive into the God Domain for a bit to handle some business. I'll be back shortly."
There were still loose ends to tie up within the game world, so Seito planned to make a quick trip.
"Fine by me," Eriri grumbled, offering no objections.
Nodding, Seito initiated a Full Dive, shifting his consciousness back into the God Domain.
The God Domain — Realm of the Gods.
Seito materialized back onto the barren surface of the Dead Star within the Realm of the Gods. Crossing his legs, he sat down and pulled up the Fatui Harbingers' chat channel.
Noticing that all the Harbingers happened to be online, he quickly dropped a message.
[Seito]: Everyone, assemble in the Realm of the Gods. [Coordinates.jpg]
After sending the location pin, he switched over to a private message with Nishimiya Shouko.
[Seito]: Shouko, tag along with the Harbingers and come over to the Realm of the Gods. [Coordinates.jpg]
With the messages delivered, he closed the interface and waited quietly.
A short while later...
Whoosh—
Whoosh, whoosh—
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...!
One by one, the eleven Harbingers alongside Nishimiya Shouko descended upon the desolate planet.
Catching sight of Seito waiting ahead, they touched down around his position. Among them, those who hadn't yet ascended to Godhood lacked the raw speed to traverse the cosmic terrain, so they had been carried along by the ascended members like Kirukiru Amou.
Sweeping his gaze over the assembled group, Seito looked toward Sora. "Sora, how are the preparations with the Empire coming along?"
"Smoothly," Sora replied after a brief thought.
The mobilization orders for the upcoming campaign had already been distributed. Currently, the entire Snezhnaya Empire was locked and loaded in a state of absolute wartime readiness.
"Good," Seito nodded in approval.
When the time came, he could easily relocate the entire imperial army using his Divine Kingdom's spatial transport capabilities.
Turning his attention back to those who had yet to break through to Godhood, Seito asked directly, "Are you all willing to become my Subordinate Gods?"
This was a matter he needed to clear up firsthand. After all, he couldn't just assume everyone's personal ambitions.
"I do! I do!" Maple was the first to raise her hand enthusiastically.
Right beside her, Tachibana Kanade raised her hand as well. Though she remained silent, her stance was completely clear.
"I don't have any objections either. Since Maple agreed, I'm down," Sally added with a soft smile. She honestly didn't mind either way; even without a formal contract, she would always stand by Seito, so formalizing it as a Subordinate God was an easy choice.
The others chimed in one after another.
Hiratsuka Shizuka: "No objections here."
Yukinoshita Haruno: "Hehe, since Seito-chan is the one asking, of course I'm in!"
Nishimiya Shouko: "I... I feel the same..."
Ultimately, only Liz and Chairwoman Minami remained silent.
Scanning the room, Chairwoman Minami finally voiced her concern. "I don't mind the arrangement, but given my specific innate talents, finding a matching Divinity Core might prove to be quite difficult."
Her primary concern was her specialized path. The absolute best fit for her would be a Kotodama (Word Soul) Divinity Core, which was notoriously rare and difficult to come by.
"Don't worry, I've already taken care of the Divinity Core issue," Seito replied with a reassuring smile, signaling that she could rest easy.
Hearing this, Kotori smiled and let go of her reservations.
Finally, all eyes turned to Liz.
"Hey, don't look at me like that, what could I possibly object to?" Liz chuckled, giving a playful shrug.
With a unanimous agreement from the entire group, a bright smile spread across Seito's face.
"Excellent. Our top priority right now is to power-level everyone. We're going to hunt down a minor deity. The sheer amount of experience points from slaying a God will instantly blast all of you straight to Level 100."
Seito smiled as he outlined the strategy.
There was one detail that had actually surprised him recently. After clearing the 60th floor and unlocking the Realm of the Gods, the level cap of the God Domain hadn't increased. From this, it was evident that Level 100 was the absolute hard cap for both players and NPCs alike.
Whether there lay anything beyond that remained to be seen.
But on second thought, it made perfect sense. Once a being achieved Godhood, their core attributes were entirely integrated into their Divinity Core. If people could still endlessly level up after that, it would be fundamentally unfair to the deities who had ascended early.
Hearing Seito's plan, the group harbored no doubts.
"Which deity are you planning to target?" Sora inquired, looking at him.
"A certain Blade God," Seito answered smoothly.
He had selected this particular target quite a while ago. Once they secured the Blade God's Divinity Core, it would serve as the perfect match for Chabashira Sae.
"A Blade God, huh?"
Kirukiru Amou's lips curled into a fierce, eager grin. "How's their strength?"
"Judging by the residual aura, they should be around the early stage of the Minor Deity rank. Why? Are you interested?"
Seeing her expression, Seito easily deduced that the battle-hungry girl was itching for a fight.
"You bet," Kirukiru Amou nodded sharply, her eyes flashing with anticipation. "I think I'll go test his mettle myself!"
...
Thank you for reading.