Chapter 811: Head Toward the Heavens

The power of the System is strong.

Even though its divine name was devoured by another existence.

The flesh that remained, excluding the name, melted into this land, and that changed and formed a structure, which became the System.

However.

‘The number of existences it has to support has increased too much.’

As a result of the large-scale patch I applied to that System.

Even those who were not originally born in this land became beneficiaries of that System.

Thanks to that, the power of this world, the power contained within the System itself, had increased overwhelmingly compared to before.

‘The support that had been concentrated on me could not help but be dispersed.’

Considering the growth rate of all the other awakened.

No matter how immense the power of the System was.

It probably would not have been easy to grant me a suitable level of power matching my achievement.

If I had instead hunted a monster and leveled up, it would not have mattered, since that would mean absorbing the power of that existence.

But the existence I hunted, Avaritia, was not going to disappear and was instead expected to return alive.

Unable to absorb that power, the System had to grant me power from within the strength it had stockpiled.

And.

‘My level has also risen too much.......’

The rewards I had received until now had been remarkable, but I had already reached a level where ordinary rewards could no longer satisfy me.

My level was 70.

From now on, raising my level by 1 would require more experience than the amount I had gained from level 1 all the way to level 60.

This was not a simple game, but a System made to create transcendents.

The closer one came to the final stage, the greater the required amount became.

The System had to support countless awakened.

Whether such a System could grant a satisfactory level of reward to me, after I had already grown far too much.

Honestly, I was not certain.

But now.

[The achievement reward has been upgraded to a new type of reward!]

I no longer worried that I might not receive a sufficient reward.

And understandably so.

The reward resulting from the achievement I had accomplished.

=For the sake of your challenge, it would be best for the power of that vessel to be filled as quickly as possible.=

That reward.

Not only the amount the System had originally intended to deliver to me.

=We shall fill it.=

[As a reward, a large amount of experience is granted!]

Due to the support of that enormous dimension.

It was going to become one level...... no, incomparably more immense.

[Your level has increased.]

[Your level has increased.]

[Your level has.......]

An enormous power surged into my body.

My level rose at a tremendous speed.

The current me possessed a level comparable to a god.

Considering that leveling up became more difficult with every level gained, each one of these level increases was truly an enormous leap.

One step...... no.

Each time enormous walls were shattered one after another at tremendous speed, I drew a little closer to godhood.

‘Even for transcendents...... granting this much power cannot be easy.’

They were not even giving it to me directly, but granting it from that distant world by passing it through the System.

There was probably a great deal of power being lost, and much of it would remain inside the System rather than reaching me.

Even so.

Awakened : Shin Youngjun

Level 79

The existences supporting me now.

Had granted me such an absurdly enormous amount of power.

=Transcendence is the path by which an incomplete being becomes complete.=

However, they did not guide me toward ‘transcendence.’

It was not because doing so was impossible.

=......That achievement will become the greatest source of power to those who become gods through transcendence.=

The challenge I had to undertake was something no divinity had ever succeeded in accomplishing.

And the power possessed by a divinity originated from the mythology that divinity had built, from that achievement.

The greater that mythology was, the greater that achievement was...... the more powerful the divinity one would be reborn as.

Those who had been transcendents from birth.

Among their achievements, the one containing the greatest power was the achievement of their birth.

Being born while creating a new concept within the universe, and at the same time creating a new world.

That creation myth was the most powerful among the achievements they possessed.

And...... those who had not been transcendents from birth.

Those who were born as mere small and weak lives.

But reached divinity afterward through transcendence.

If there was one achievement among those they possessed that would contain the greatest power, naturally.

‘The achievement of ascension.’

For an incomplete life to overcome its own fate and ascend to divinity.

The process of achieving that transcendence itself.

Would become the greatest achievement they could possess.

‘That achievement...... cannot be filled merely through someone else’s help.’

Depending on how transcendence was achieved, the history of that god’s birth would be engraved.

‘There is no way a history such as succeeding in ascension because someone else granted me power could contain great strength.’

If I was going to accomplish this challenge, such low-grade transcendence would not be enough.

Ordinary transcendence would probably be impossible as well.

Even a fairly great transcendence would likely be insufficient.

Therefore.

‘A transcendence that would astonish the entire universe.’

Unless I went through a process of at least that degree and transcended my own limits.

I would not even earn the right to challenge that destruction.

That was why.

=We shall assist that path.=

Instead of directly making me transcend.

They decided to assist the process required to achieve that transcendence.

[As a reward, the effect of the item - ‘Ascending Heaven Road’ has been changed!]

Then.

The item residing within my shadow.

An enormous light entered the Ascending Heaven Road.

***

Ascending Heaven Road.

This was an object created by a mortal who had reached the point immediately before transcendence.

That mortal also knew that a birth myth of high rank was required to reach transcendence.

That was why the mortal sought to accomplish something no existence in the universe had ever achieved.

‘Just as that mortal, who had been an ordinary life, reached the point immediately before transcendence...... to create a road by which another ordinary life could reach transcendence.’

The Ascending Heaven Road was an object intended to achieve transcendence.

A road meant to gradually strengthen a weak life until it finally reached transcendence.

Many members of the Legion grew stronger while walking that Ascending Heaven Road.

However.

‘I have never walked that road until now.’

If a transcendent were born by reaching the end of the Ascending Heaven Road.

Countless weak lives throughout the entire universe would have been reborn as divinities.

A tremendous miracle capable of shaking the very laws of the world.

The mortal who created it might have been reborn as the most powerful divinity in the universe.

The one who had reached the point immediately before transcendence through genius-level talent and fate had sought to become a great divinity through that method.

......It was an arrogant act.

‘Because in the end, the bastard who created that road failed.’

The Ascending Heaven Road was a failure.

Those who walked that road could draw slightly closer to transcendence.

But it ultimately failed to bring them to transcendence.

The Ascending Heaven Road had been created to complete the divine name necessary to achieve transcendence.

As a result of that Ascending Heaven Road ending as a failure.

Its creator failed to complete the creator’s divine name and was frustrated at the very threshold of transcendence.

‘Transcendence cannot be reached through the Ascending Heaven Road.’

Because I knew that, I had not used the Ascending Heaven Road.

My intuition had warned me that I must not use it.

Those demons also knew that fact.

[The effect of the Ascending Heaven Road has been changed!]

That was why.

They decided to change the Ascending Heaven Road.

[Existing]

[Ascending Heaven Road]

[As its name implies, it is a road that ascends to the heavens.]

Originally, it had been an object meaning a ‘road.’

An intense light entered that object, which had taken the form of a single beautiful map...... and it began to change.

And before long.

“......Huh.”

As I watched the shape changing, I could not help but let out a hollow laugh.

And understandably so.

‘My occupation is a cook.’

For me, a cook, to achieve a transcendence capable of astonishing the entire universe...... countless conditions would probably be required.

A cook’s cooking skill and condition.

The quality and quantity of the ingredients used in the cooking.

And.

[Ascending Heaven Road]

[As its name implies, it is a vessel that ascends to the heavens.]

......Even the vessel that would hold that dish.

The object that had taken the form of a map.

The Ascending Heaven Road became a beautiful white vessel.

A vessel of sacred form, with a faint flame burning on its own inside it.

‘Are they telling me to cook transcendence with this?’

My transcendence, which I would create.

The vessel that would hold that dish.

It was the finest tableware forged from an immense obsession with bringing a mortal to transcendence.

=If you truly wish to achieve victory.=

And, naturally.

=It would be impossible through our methods.=

Their support did not end there.

***

=However...... the thing we failed to accomplish. It would not be easy to find the answer in a dimension smaller and weaker than ours.=

It was something they had failed to find an answer to even within a world as vast as the Demon Realm, and had ultimately given up on.

Of course, there were countless stars in the universe, and the sum of all those stars would be incomparably greater than the Demon Realm.

But visiting each of those countless stars one by one in search of an answer would not be easy.

It was something that would take an eternity.

=Then there is only one method.=

As long as my challenge continued, they could not invade other worlds.

From the perspective of those supporting me, they could not invest an eternity into something whose success was uncertain.

That was why...... they decided to place their hopes on the side with the highest possibility.

=One equal to our Great Divine Alliance.......=

That empty universe boasted a size infinitely close to endless.

However, according to the System’s mention.

Even within it, the [Demon Realm] was said to be a dimension vast enough to rank among the greatest.

The important point was...... that it merely ranked among the greatest.

=A star containing even greater power.=

It was not the greatest dimension.

=Within it, perhaps the answer may be found.=

The Demon Realm had been formed by many worlds resolving to join together.

Within it were many great divinities who ranked among the most powerful in the universe.

However.

=A world whose lifespan ended long ago. Yet for some reason, those within it continue to endure. A star that was already the oldest in the entire universe when the oldest divinity of the Alliance was born.=

Somewhere in the universe, there existed a star greater even than such a Demon Realm.

A world whose origins even the oldest demon of the Demon Realm had never witnessed.

=Once, the Alliance invited them to join us, but that arrogant and selfish star rejected the offer.=

FWAAAAASH!!! and.

A faint light appeared before me, and that light took on a single form.

It was.......

=When our request to join together was refused, the Alliance asked for their help and sought their teachings.=

=We knelt and begged them to save us.=

=However, we received no answer whatsoever.=

=That is why we had no choice but to fail, despair, and resolve to create the black thrones.=

A letter.

A single letter of introduction written directly by them.

And a map recording the road leading somewhere.

=However.......=

And.

After examining that object closely, I frowned.

=Perhaps it may be different for you.=

And understandably so.

[You have obtained an item as a reward!]

[Reward - ‘Road Leading to Heaven’]

Right now.

The demons of the Demon Realm were trying to deliver a reward to me by interfering with the System.

Because their intention was to support me, the System also did not obstruct their interference.

And.......

‘They are not the first existences to interfere with my reward in this manner.’

In the past.

When I fought the ‘Grand Duke’ in the land of China and defeated him.

A vampire originating from that desolate land, the Demon Realm.

When I prevented another great evil from being born by stopping him from achieving transcendence.

-[A special reward is granted to you, who has earned the favor of the Heavens!]

The existences of the dimension called the Heavens interfered with the System.

They placed their own power into the reward that was originally meant to be given to me.

And granted me the special privilege called the ‘Ascending Heaven Road.’

And now.

[A dimension vast enough to rank among the greatest in the entire universe.]

[It is a road leading to the ‘Lofty Heavens.’]

For the first time in a very long while.

I once again saw that name before my eyes.

[The road leading to Heaven is narrow and treacherous.]

[Only one person may use it, and it is unknown whether that person will be able to return.]

[As a road created not by an existence of Heaven but by an existence of Hell, it is also unknown whether the owner will welcome the guest who arrives through this road.]

The demons admitted that my challenge was bound to fail through their methods.

That was why...... they directed me toward those different from themselves.

Those who were hostile to them.

But who, like them, were overcoming destruction through some unknown method.

=If you truly intend to resist the fate of destruction.=

Despite being only a single world.

A land greater even than the Demon Realm, a dimension formed by countless worlds joining together.

=Head toward the Heavens.=

They were telling me.

To go to them.