Subscriber of the Gods

After that, Ethan continued to make donations while visiting various churches of the Holylight Order.

‘As expected of Bishop Vincent.’

Just as Bishop Vincent had initially been wary of Ethan, bishops of the Holylight Order at that level don’t readily accept donations. This is because there are so many people who try to manipulate the church using donations as a weapon.

‘Being a renowned bishop, it’s much easier elsewhere.’

Thanks to winning over Vincent, persuading other bishops wasn’t too difficult. While doing so, he didn’t forget to acquire holy magic.

Ethan achieved the feat of donating 100 million gold by visiting various churches in this manner.

The total number of likes collected was 15.

Including the likes he already had, he now possessed 25 likes.

‘Indeed, having earned a lot of money makes achieving feats easier.’

“I heard you’re a teacher at Ivecar Academy. For a teacher who educates students to make such a large donation… I will certainly send a letter of appreciation to the academy. And since I happen to know the Principal, I’ll make sure to put in a good word separately.”

“No, that’s not necessary.”

“Haha. You truly are a rare nobleman in this day and age.”

A humble nobleman who sincerely helps others.

Ethan’s demeanor couldn’t help but appeal to the devout bishops of the church.

‘After all, sincere humility works with anyone.’

After making a few more donations, Ethan was able to achieve the donation feat and acquire the holy magic of the Holylight Order.

The unique holy magic of the Holylight Order had quite impressive effects, so even on MePan, there were quite a few people who used it for show, like Bishop Vincent’s blessing.

“If refined, this could be worth a lot of money.”

Ethan planned to cycle through using that money for donations and gaining more profits.

‘That way, I’ll build reputation and maintain good relations with the Holylight Order.’

Step by step, steadily approaching the Saintess.

‘Next is the position of honorary bishop.’

Ethan smiled as he finished his greetings with the last bishop.

***

After completing the planned donations, Ethan stayed in rather luxurious accommodation provided by the Holylight Church.

The owner of this lodging was a devout believer, so he offered quite a large room at a cheap price.

Ethan immediately unpacked and went out to the terrace.

While the spacious room was nice, what he liked most was the quite large terrace.

Ethan plopped down on the terrace and closed his eyes, reviewing the recent fight with the Twelve Apostles.

‘I was too lacking.’

The gap with the Apostle was larger than he had thought.

‘I thought I could handle it, so I engaged. But in the end, it turned out to be reckless.’

Since then, Ethan keenly felt the need for greater power.

‘I need to train.’

Since gaining abilities by subscribing to gods in the New World, Ethan had been running non-stop until now.

However, with Extinction holding him back and the powerful enemies he faced, it wasn’t easy to overcome them in his current state.

‘Especially the enemies.’

The one Ethan fought was Luna Spirit of the Twelve Apostles.

Considering the entire continent, Luna Spirit’s strength didn’t even rank in the top ten.

‘Yet I almost died.’

The fact that Ethan won wasn’t important right now.

‘I’m too lacking. In this state, it won’t be easy to progress through the various quests I have in mind.’

There are numerous strong individuals on this continent.

To clear hidden quests and achieve feats, he needed to keep clashing with these strong ones.

‘There are so many hidden powerful beings. And among them, many have eccentric personalities.’

Right now, he’s mostly been around the Holy Empire so he hasn’t met anyone truly bizarre, but things would be different if he turned his attention to the Demon Empire side.

‘There are many who wield strong power far too casually.’

While the Twelve Apostles were powerful, there were many who surpassed even them.

‘This won’t do.’

Ethan pondered for a moment.

‘I’ve been giving up on mana because of Extinction, but that doesn’t mean I should abandon mana entirely.’

He needed to devise a way to accumulate and use mana separately, like with Anisida’s Bracelet.

Of course, there was a method.

‘I still have the “Surviving as Ethan Whiskers” quest.’

Surviving as Ethan Whiskers -3.

The contract with a being that could help with survival still remained.

Ethan took out an item from his spatial pocket.

It was the Spirit Stone received from Moonforce.

‘I’ll make a contract with a spirit.’

An ordinary spirit wouldn’t be helpful. What Ethan needed now was a spirit he had never obtained even on MePan.

He had to solve the mana problem by contracting with that spirit.

‘Whether it will work or not, I’ll have to check.’

If it doesn’t work, he’d have to keep trying until it does.

“First, the New World.”

Without hesitation, Ethan immediately entered the New World.

‘I used up all my likes to subscribe to Cheok Jun-gyeong, but it was a choice I don’t regret.’

Cheok Jun-gyeong had been a top-ranked god since Ethan first encountered the New World.

‘Come to think of it, Cheok Jun-gyeong is an Oriental warrior and not that famous.’

Yet being in the upper ranks means there must be something remarkable about him.

‘The skill Reversal of Disadvantage was certainly a great help.’

Hercules, Hang Woo, and now Cheok Jun-gyeong.

‘Since I need to prepare for Extinction, the more abilities that strengthen physical capabilities, the better.’

Gods that seem to have the same abilities at a glance. But their actual abilities are all different, helping in various situations.

When facing the Twelve Apostles, the strength of Hercules and Hang Woo alone wasn’t enough, but Cheok Jun-gyeong’s ability solved the situation.

Ethan immediately entered Cheok Jun-gyeong’s channel.

“Wow.”

He looked at Cheok Jun-gyeong’s channel with a surprised expression.

Cheok Jun-gyeong was a far more major god than Ethan had thought.

“How many subscribers? The number of likes is no joke either.”

500,000 subscribers.

The number of likes was approaching 2.5 million.

There were a total of five uploaded videos.

Four of them were regular videos, and one was a short video, like the one he had seen recently.

“Each video has a ton of likes too. It seems the subscribers who subscribed to Cheok Jun-gyeong generally watched all the videos.”

Cheok Jun-gyeong’s main content was focused on strength.

“I can see why he has so many subscribers.”

Like the power of Reversal of Disadvantage that Ethan learned from the shorts, the techniques Cheok Jun-gyeong teaches are incredibly simple.

“You can infer what you’ll learn just from the title.”

Indeed, there’s a reason for a successful god’s success.

Ethan immediately clicked on a video titled ‘How to Fight to the Death’.

-Consume 5 likes to unlock the video.

A wide plain spread out before his eyes.

-Greetings. This warrior’s name is Cheok Jun-gyeong. I imagine most of you are seeing or encountering me for the first time.

It was the appearance of Cheok Jun-gyeong he had seen in the shorts.

-I have won on countless battlefields, but not once have I fought on favorable ground. More enemies than allies. The battlefields I’ve won have always been such disadvantageous places.

Cheok Jun-gyeong spoke briefly.

‘The video is short.’

It didn’t seem to have any special editing, but the video was short.

‘Excellent.’

-The way to always win in disadvantageous places. I intend to teach you that.

Cheok Jun-gyeong, who only spoke about the exact points his subscribers wanted. There was certainly a reason he had hundreds of thousands of subscribers.

‘The important thing is ability.’

How is he in the upper ranks, surpassing formidable gods centered on physical enhancement abilities like Hercules or Hang Woo?

Ethan continued watching the video.

-I know of a god who is said to have the power to face ten thousand alone, but that’s literally a defensive technique.

Cheok Jun-gyeong said with a grin.

‘Oh ho.’

Ethan smiled along with those words.

The various gods of the New World have their pride reaching the sky in many ways.

Confidence in their own power.

So they neither observe nor benchmark other gods.

Even just looking at the New World community, you can see that such tendencies are strong.

But Cheok Jun-gyeong was different.

‘It seems he’s talking about Hang Woo. Is he watching all the other gods?’

If so, it’s understandable why this god is a major one.

‘Then he can draw out much more competitiveness.’

Originally, this is extremely natural.

To win in competition, it’s natural to analyze and utilize competitors.

However, that’s limited to humans.

Gods don’t try to behave that way.

‘It’s groundbreaking.’

Ethan was very impressed with Cheok Jun-gyeong.

-Fight to the Death. This is the name of my technique. The ability is very simple. This technique spreads a kind of barrier that considers everyone except me as an enemy. And the more enemies there are.

Cheok Jun-gyeong has achieved countless victories on unfavorable battlefields.

On a battlefield where there’s not a single person to trust, allies mean only oneself.

-It’s a technique that makes you stronger.

It was a technique specialized for facing many alone, literally.

‘What does it mean to become stronger?’

-How you become stronger is the key. All the things you have that can grow – strength, stamina, etc. – become temporarily stronger.

‘Goodness.’

Ethan was surprised but soon calmed his excitement.

‘But the problem will be the difficulty.’

Extremely high difficulty.

Hercules’ breathing wasn’t that level of difficulty. As a result, the process of raising proficiency to a usable level was relatively easy.

‘Of course, Hang Woo’s Counter-Radiance is also extremely high difficulty, but.’

Thanks to Ethan’s Extinction, raising proficiency in Counter-Radiance was easier in many ways.

Then how about this Fight to the Death of Cheok Jun-gyeong?

-You have learned Fight to the Death.

-Skill added: Fight to the Death (S)

Fight to the Death following Reversal of Disadvantage. Both were S-rank techniques given their difficulty.

-The focus of this Fight to the Death is ultimately the barrier spread by aura. How many enemies you can contain within this barrier is important. Always keep that in mind.

That was the end of Cheok Jun-gyeong’s video.

“It’s as short as the videos I edit.”

Cheok Jun-gyeong probably doesn’t need Ethan’s edited videos.

‘Just in case, should I check all the other videos?’

Ethan looked at the remaining videos.

‘It takes a lot of likes.’

The next video was teaching a breathing technique like Hercules’ Hero’s Breathing.

It required as many as 25 likes.

‘And the rest are advanced?’

They seemed to be videos progressing to advanced courses of learned techniques. Similarly, the likes were set quite high.

And there was one most important thing left.

‘Shorts.’

The very video that saved Ethan’s life.

It was the shorts video that allowed him to quickly learn Cheok Jun-gyeong’s power. Thanks to this shorts video, Ethan was able to create his own weapon that became even more powerful.

‘I didn’t expect there to be shorts videos in the New World. Seeing that other gods don’t use it, it must be difficult to utilize shorts?’

“Huh?”

Ethan made a surprised expression as he clicked to watch the shorts once more.

-A gift has arrived for the subscriber who first used the shorts.

-You have been granted the right to collaborate with the god Cheok Jun-gyeong.

Author's Thoughts

Want to read ahead of the scheduled release? You can check the Novel page on the website (or press the next chapter button) and buy an advanced chapter with only 20 Honeys! (100 Honeys is only 5$! So you can basically read 5 advanced chapters ahead of schedule!)