“…Your words are correct, Master.”

Pythia slowly nodded her head at Martial God’s conviction.

‘Although he doesn’t seem to view all of humanity as valuable beings right now…’

It’s not like Seong Jihan was a saint either.

If the situation changes, he may very well burn humanity with sacred flame.

Moreover.

‘Since the Red Hand has been grafted onto him, the Administrator will keep persuading him to take on that role.’

Seong Jihan’s right arm added weight to Martial God’s conviction.

Although the hand didn’t seem to be eroding his mind right now, it would gradually influence him.

As Martial God said, it seemed right to expect and deal with Seong Jihan eventually becoming the Red Administrator.

“Then, what would be the best way to handle this?”

[We need to prevent humanity from advancing to the intermediate stage, and cremate them ourselves first.]

Martial God answered Pythia’s question with his planned response.

“Cremate them first… you say?”

[Yes. That way, the fuel Seong Jihan can obtain through sacred flwill also decrease. However, the problem is that our room to maneuver has narrowed due to the failure of this incident.]

Thinking they just needed to capture Seong Jihan, they touched a candidate for the Sovereign constellation that shouldn’t have been meddled with originally.

With the Black and White Administrators investigating Tuseong, this could be a big problem.

Martial God was worried about what penalties might cdown from BattleNet, but.

Ziiing…

As a message window appeared in the air, his red eyes flashed.

[The entire Tuseong group is only… suspended for 1 month?]

“1 month is regrettable, but the level of punishment seems milder than we feared.”

[That’s right. This is a much more lenient disposition than expected.]

“Could it be because I was pathetically pushed back by Seong Jihan earlier?”

For a Level 8 Sovereign Constellation.

She didn’t land a single proper hit on Seong Jihan.

Instead, she barely escaped Total Annihilation, and even the summoned arm of Martial God was cut off by the Taiji Sword.

She only showed herself being pushed back.

Considering how powerful of a candidate for the sovereign constellation he is to receive the system’s protection.

Perhaps this point was taken into account, resulting in a lighter penalty.

Pythia made that prediction, but.

[If the Black and White Administrators truly intended to punish us decisively, they wouldn’t have considered such circumstances. Since they found justification to issue a penalty, they would have fully exercised that authority.]

“Then why did they…”

[It seems the Black and White Administrators have another ulterior motive.]

Martial God’s eyes sank deeply.

* * *

The Red Laboratory.

As the Administrator’s Hand took over this place, it asked Seong Jihan.

[Main body. Do you also plan to sow seeds like Gilgamesh did?]

“…Why so suddenly?”

[By consuming a bit of stats, the facilities from back then can be restored.]

The facilities from back then likely referred to the human livestock factory.

Seong Jihan frowned and waved his hand.

“I don’t need anything like that. I wouldn’t accept it even if it was free, let alone spend stats to restore it.”

[Then should I just melt down and absorb the entire laboratory?]

“Let’s do that.”

Hwaruhruk…!

The laboratory instantly began burning from the outskirts.

The flames turned everything, including the red eyes, into ashes, before being absorbed back into the right hand.

Then, a message appeared before Seong Jihan.

[Your Red stats have increased by 50.]

Indicating a substantial boost in his abilities.

“50 is… not bad.”

[It’s a shhalf of it was blown away by Total Annihilation.]

“It would’ve been 100 if not blown away.”

[And that tree swept up by Total Annihilation… was related to the World Tree.]

Seong Jihan recalled the red tree Pythia was tending to at those words.

During its prime, the tree exuded quite a powerful life force.

Although not at the level of a World Tree, it seemed to be a lower-grade version.

[If we restored that and performed sacred flon the tree, we might’ve been able to burn the large southern island here.]

“The large southern island… you don’t mean the Australian continent, do you?”

[That’s right, that name. Wouldn’t that be a suitable first step for you to reclaim power from humanity?]

Seong Jihan was dumbfounded.

It was absurd enough that a lower-grade World Tree could burn away the vast land of Australia with sacred flame.

And this is the first step?

“I have no such intentions.”

[? You’re not going to reclaim this power? Ah… perhaps you plan to do it after humanity evolves? As expected of the main body. You think deeply.]

No, the one with many thoughts seems to be you.

[That’s right. Your goal is to becthe Permanent Administrator. Even if you devour all of current humanity, it’s still uncertain if you can reach that point. To make it more certain, the correct order is to devour them after they evolve… As expected, you see through everything!]

Does this mean current humanity needs to develop further than now, so that burning them with sacred fire can make him the Permanent Administrator?

Seong Jihan listened to the Hand’s words that seemed to convince itself, and obtained information from them.

[I was worried you might not have ambitions for this.]

“And if I didn’t?”

[Then I’ll have to do the job in your stead.]

Here, ‘job’ likely meant burning humanity to ashes with sacred flame.

Then it would burn his sister and Seah and everyone to becthe Red Administrator.

‘I went through all that hardship to save my family, I can’t burn them to becan Administrator.’

No matter how mighty the authority of an Administrator, Seong Jihan’s priority wasn’t power.

Without any hesitation, he discarded the thought of becoming the Red Administrator.

However.

‘Until I fully control this hand, I need to pretend I have ambitions.’

If the Administrator’s Hand found out his true mindset, there’s no telling what reckless actions it might take.

Seong Jihan spoke in a low tone.

“…Right. It’s not the right timing yet. As you said, forto becthe Permanent Administrator, humanity needs to evolve one step further.”

[That’s right. That way, there will be something to consume.]

“So don’t even think about sporadically burning sacred flbefore then.”

[Understood.]

The Administrator’s Hand readily agreed, perhaps because Seong Jihan persuaded it according to the logic it stated itself.

This way, it likely won’t cause trouble for the tbeing.

Just as Seong Jihan felt relieved.

[Your Star Buff is upgrading.]

[As your channel’s viewer count has surpassed the threshold, the effect of New Star is activated.]

A message suddenly appeared, indicating his Star Buff had been upgraded.

* * *

‘Huh? The broadcast is definitely off right now.’

The buff effect remained the sduring the intense battle earlier, so what’s with this late response?

While thinking that, Seong Jihan checked the efficiency of the upgraded Star Buff for now.

[The level of New Star is currently 1.]

[All stats are amplified by 120%.]

[You can further increase the amplification efficiency of one designated stat by 30%.]

The Star Buff that originally increased stats by 100% during broadcasts.

Perhaps because New Star was activated, it had been upgraded quite a bit.

‘120% is the base. And one stat becomes 150%.’

The effect is good.

Moreover, seeing that the New Star level is 1, there seemed to be more factors for the buff to grow.

‘But why did the buff effect increase after the broadcast ended?’

After finishing the ability check, Seong Jihan entered his channel once.

Then.

-Wow… is that really Total Annihilation? The one used by the Red Administrator.

-Just obtaining the hand allows you to use that? It’s an unbelievable treasure that fell into the hands of a lesser race.

-A candidate for a sovereign constellation swept away a Level 8 sovereign constellation in an instant… this is insane, right?

-### Humans, please report the location of your pl### If you provide the location, we’ll give you 10 billion GP. The email address is…

-These guys just entered Bronze this year so they can’t use Battlemail.

-Are there any constellations sponsoring humanity? There must be someone who knows the location information.

The fact that he used Total Annihilation a moment ago had already risen to becthe most viewed real-tvideo on Battle Tube.

From the human viewers’ perspective, many were curious about why Seong Jihan called Pythia ‘Eve’ today.

But for the aliens, the stories of Adam and Eve from another world didn’t interest them.

The aliens focused solely on Total Annihilation.

That level of interest made this video rise to real-t#1 and even upgraded Seong Jihan’s Star Buff.

“…Was Total Annihilation this popular? It’s crazy.”

[It’s been proven that obtainingallows one to wield the authority of an Administrator. This reaction is only natural.]

The Administrator’s Hand enjoying the public’s response.

However, the channel owner Seong Jihan was frowning.

It was nice that the buff effect increased thanks to Total Annihilation, but the constant questions about Earth’s location really irked him.

Moreover.

-How much do you think we could get by selling the information to the great constellations?

-The Sun King would probably let you use as much GP as you want for starters.

-The Dragon Lord also seems very interested. There are rumors that the Dragon Clan has begun to move.

-No way, it’s only been 10 minutes since the Total Annihilation broadcast aired, how are they already moving… at least say something plausible.

-You’re the one who doesn’t know. From the moment Seong Jihan obtained the Red Hand, investigations had already begun under the surface.

Somehow the great constellations kept getting involved.

‘Fighting the great constellations is what I want too… but if those guys invade Earth, there’s no answer.’

Battles with the great constellations were something he had to do eventually for the ‘Amazing Achievements’ as well.

But those battles had to be fought outside, no matter what.

If the Sun King or Dragon Lord cto Earth, it was obvious that a calamity would sweep in.

‘I need a stage outside to fight on, so that those guys don’t investigate Earth’s location.’

If it’s about preparing a stage to fight on, he should ask the owner of the arena.

Thinking that, Seong Jihan returned to Seoul for now.

And as soon as he arrived, he entered the Void Training Room.

“Hey, I’m here.”

He tried summoning the arena’s owner.

However, despite his call, the air remained silent.

The arena’s owner showed no signs of appearing.

“Hmm. Not here?”

[…It’s the 4th in the Void Hierarchy. Not such a leisurely being.]

“But recently, whenever I came, he was here.”

[Isn’t that because you caused trouble?]

“Aha. That’s right.”

Cto think of it.

The arena’s owner csaying it would repair and upgrade the training room.

Seong Jihan nodded.

“Then I just need to cause trouble this ttoo.”

[How did you arrive at that conclusion?]

“If I break the training room, he’ll cto fix it, right?”

[…]

He looked around.

The Void Training Room, upgraded after surpassing Level 500.

Boasting a powerful durability to withstand the Taiji Sword.

To damage this, he’d have to go all-out.

He turned on the broadcast.

-Oh, broadcasting right after the earlier battle ended.

-Did someone invade again…?

-Please, anywhere but Earth.

At Seong Jihan turning on BattleTube, people cin worrying first.

But.

“Once a few more people gather, I’ll proceed with the content of breaking the training room.”

As he spoke, everyone felt relieved.

-Oh, doesn’t seem like it? It’s dark, lol.

-Isn’t this that place? Where he talks at 100x speed.

-Yeah, seems to be the training room.

-But what did he say?

-Couldn’t hear because of the 100x speed, lol. Have to wait until the video ends to listen at lower speed.

Although they didn’t know what Seong Jihan was saying.

The important thing was that it wasn’t Earth.

As people cin feeling reassured.

Ssss…

“Sigh… seriously. Why are you trying to break something intact again?”

Before the content could even begin, the target showed itself.