Chapter 293: Creator God Almighty! (4)

Translator: Dreamscribe

Lee Jinwoo, the Creator God of Arsilan Saga, walked up onto the stage in the most ordinary way imaginable.

He came up without a shred of staging, to the point that it looked like a rehearsal was underway. The Heroes hesitated for a moment, unsure whether they were supposed to cheer or applaud.

"W-wow, whoaaaa!"

"Huh? Ah! Kyaaaah!"

After a slight delay, somewhat awkward cheers and applause broke out. Even Haebyul, who had sworn to react with everything she had, could only shout awkwardly.

-No staging? No staging? NO STAGING?

-Honestly this is way creepier

-what's going on?

-Is something about to go down? I'm getting chills.

The Creator God had put on an insane production during his communication broadcast not long ago, and on Halloween Day it had been an absolute masterpiece. The FS Games Halloween Incident was famous beyond words, and in cities where Soul Gates were installed, the overwhelming holographic staging had created scenes that were terrifying and dopamine-soaked all at once.

The Creator God's most powerful authority was staging itself!

That was what every Hero believed.

So whenever Jinwoo announced he was going to do something, the Heroes never let their guard down, always trying to predict where and what kind of production would appear.

"Don't relax. Even this could be part of the staging."

At UruBear's words, Haebyul steeled herself and looked at Jinwoo. After greeting them, Jinwoo paused for a moment and looked out over the Heroes.

This vast stadium was packed full of Heroes.

Every single Hero Jinwoo had invited had pushed their own schedules aside and come here, without exception.

Even though the lights were dim, thanks to the soul light the Heroes gave off, Jinwoo could see every one of them clearly.

Those gathered here all belonged to the Vanguard Party. Perhaps that was why their souls had grown so brilliantly, as though each of them held a star inside, and stood on the verge of blooming.

Level 300.

They were drawing close to the threshold of a Transcendent Being.

No matter how much support Jinwoo had provided through Arsilan Saga, it was an astonishing rate of growth.

"Thank you all for coming such a long way. Are you enjoying the Grand Festival?"

"Yes!"

"It's so much fun!"

"It's great getting time off work!"

Hearty voices rang back at him.

Jinwoo smiled and nodded. For working people, Arsilan Advent Day was the greatest holiday of the year. And the Heroes who earned their living in Arsilan were delighted too, since they could cash in on the peak season.

"The Grand Festival was prepared over a long stretch of hard work by the staff at FS Games. I'm truly glad you're enjoying the new Grand Festival content we unveiled this time."

Various content, from the Arsilan Olympics to the Grand Festival Raid, had been running, and now it was all in its final stage. Through the Grand Festival, the bonds between the Heroes, Arsilan, and the Dimensional People were growing deeper.

"Once the Grand Festival ends, Episode 6 will enter its final stretch as well."

When Jinwoo snapped his fingers, an enormous holographic Information Window rose up in the center of the stadium. So long as the surrounding environment was suitable, a holographic Information Window could be freely enlarged to a size that would be flatly impossible for an ordinary screen.

Thanks to that, it grew large enough to fill the stadium, so that every Hero could comfortably read even the smallest text.

A vast map of the Dimensional Realm appeared on the Information Window.

It couldn't compare to the scale of the universe as seen from Earth, but the Dimensional Realm was immensely vast.

Arsilan looked like a tiny speck of dust, with the Wall of the Abyss wrapped around it. The southern region of the Dimensional Realm came into view, and upon it sat the colossal Kalsus Dimensional Empire and the domain of Erosion.

When Jinwoo waved his hand, the Dimensional Realm zoomed in, showing the southern region.

It was not the present, but the past.

The dimensions of the southern region, as countless as the stars in the night sky, spread out in harmony. Each one held its own light like a sun burning brilliantly, shimmering together and coloring the Dimensional Realm beautifully.

It was like gazing at the Milky Way in the night sky.

"As you all know, the Kalsus Dimensional Empire sought to fully occupy the southern region of the Dimensional Realm, and they were on the verge of achieving that goal."

The lights of that galaxy made of dimensions began to go out.

The dimensions where life had vanished became Bubble Dimensions and were pushed out beyond the southern region of the Dimensional Realm as if falling. That was how the impossibly thick Wall of the Abyss had formed.

Countless dimensions became Bubble Dimensions and disappeared, until only a little over five thousand were left.

And even those were in peril.

The remaining dimensions were all stained red. The Kalsus Dimensional Empire had invaded them all at once.

"You Heroes have liberated 4,253 dimensions so far."

The reddened dimensions recovered their original light one by one, until now nearly all of them shone, lighting up the southern region of the Dimensional Realm.

Haebyul, UruBear, and many of the Heroes in the stadium watched that scene for a while without a word.

In helping the Dimensional Realm, they had felt something that went beyond simple fun.

Accomplishment, emotion, joy, and along with them anger and sorrow, all blending together and hammering through their entire bodies. It was the sensation of something waking up inside their hearts, something being tempered and forged.

"To give you a small spoiler, Episode 6 will conclude once the entire southern region of the Dimensional Realm has been liberated. So, what will the next Episode be about?"

Had the Creator God arranged a gathering like this in order to reveal the contents of Episode 7?

Haebyul held her breath and focused.

-Episode 7 already?!

-Is the big one coming? Is the big one coming? IS THE BIG ONE COMING?

-Knew it. "Light little event" my ass ㅋㅋㅋ

-Long live the Creator God!

It really wasn't a light event after all!

Every Hero watching through the broadcast was brimming with anticipation. Jinwoo deliberately let the pause hang before he continued.

"Episode 7 will be…."

Episode 7 will be?

The stadium went so quiet that even breathing was hard to hear, and the broadcast chat stopped scrolling.

"I'll announce it after Episode 6 has been successfully wrapped up. It's far too early to reveal it now. After all, there's no telling how Episode 6 will end."

Jinwoo had said something utterly obvious.

Huh? What?

He wasn't announcing it now?

The Heroes blinked and stared at Jinwoo.

"As I told you during the last communication broadcast, I invited all of you here today for a light event. So today, I have no plans to reveal Episode 7, nor any content connected to it."

Haebyul felt utterly deflated.

-Seriously?

-Is that why there was no entrance production either?

-It was weirdly plain for the Creator God, tbh....

-kinda disappointing.

The stadium filled with murmurs.

Jinwoo looked over that mood and was thoroughly satisfied.

Be disappointed.

Be even more disappointed!

That was how the thrill would double when the reveal finally came.

"We've prepared a number of events for today, so I hope you'll enjoy them with us. Before the events begin, we'll first hold a raffle and present gifts to the Heroes here in attendance."

At the word "gifts", the deflated mood recovered somewhat. When Jinwoo snapped his fingers, the screen showing the Dimensional Realm vanished and an enormous lottery machine appeared.

It was a lottery machine rendered in hologram.

The names of everyone present went into the machine.

"All right! First, let's draw the 10,000 people who'll receive the first gift! Spin it, please!"

Inside the big drum attached to the lottery machine, the balls holding name tags began tumbling wildly.

The Heroes stared at the machine with sparkling eyes.

They had been fairly disappointed, but now that the lottery machine was actually in front of them, they could already feel the dopamine.

Ding-a-ling-a-ling! Diiing!

Along with the cheerful music, the lottery machine started up. Fireworks burst, balls came spraying out, and the name tags inside them lined up neatly on the Information Window.

"Ooh!"

"I won!"

"That's me!"

The Heroes whose names appeared on the Information Window shot to their feet and cheered.

"Congratulations to all the winning Heroes! Now, we'll spin the roulette to decide the celebration gifts."

A roulette wheel appeared.

All sorts of prizes were written on the wheel. Limited-edition cosmetic items, rare titles, souvenirs commemorating this Grand Festival, and more.

The gifts were delivered to the Heroes' mailboxes immediately.

As the draws continued, most of the Heroes in the stadium ended up receiving at least one gift.

"Ugh…! Why am I the only one who never wins!"

-her luck is nonexistent

-rip lmao

-Pretty sure everyone in the stadium got at least one?

-Feels like holiday gift-giving, kinda wholesome.

UruBear, right beside her, had won three gifts, while Haebyul hadn't gotten a single one. UruBear grinned and looked over at her.

"Guess you used up all your luck for the year. Heh heh heh!"

UruBear teased her insufferably.

"We'll now draw the final five. This gift is a little special. It's an autograph from Lady Ella and Lady Helby."

Autographs from Ella and Helby!

Of all the prizes so far, it was the most meaningful one. Putting it on display in her Territory would feel wonderful.

"Please! Please! I'll do nothing but good deeds for the rest of my life!"

-yeah right

-don't get your hopes up

-ㅋㅋ it'd be hilarious if she ended up with nothing ㅋ

Haebyul stared at the lottery machine with desperate longing.

"I-I got it! Kyaaaaah!"

She'd won!

The moment her name came out of the lottery machine, Haebyul was pickled in dopamine. She bounced up and down on the spot, screaming her head off. UruBear watched her with envy in his eyes.

"No way, she actually pulled it off."

"That's why you have to live a good life every day."

Haebyul and UruBear's positions had completely reversed.

Jinwoo smiled and dismissed the holographic Information Window.

"Now then, we'll invite our five winners up onto the stage."

Security guards approached the five winners, bowed politely, and guided them up onto the stage.

Once she was up on the stage, Haebyul looked at Jinwoo nervously. This was the first time she had ever seen the Creator God from so close.

-But isn't it going to the mailbox anyway?

-Do they even need to come up? Is he gonna print it out for them?

-A printout would be kinda lame ngl

It seemed the prizes would be sent to their Arsilan mailboxes just like all the gifts before.

Once all five of them were on the stage, the staff who had been standing by carried desks and chairs up as well.

The desks and chairs were quickly set up on the stage.

"Lady Ella and Lady Helby will be coming here in person to sign them!"

At Jinwoo's words, the entire stadium buzzed.

-Ah, so that's the gimmick?

-They're gonna show up as holograms then

-Okay, so this part does have some staging in it

-Won't be that impressive though.

They assumed it would be staged with holograms, the same way it had been in cities with Soul Gates. Now that something resembling staging had finally shown up, the Heroes felt at ease.

The fusion of offline and online!

It had to be that sort of production.

They'd appear in a burst of light, just like before!

Haebyul nodded to herself, confident in her prediction.

"Lady Ella, Lady Helby, please come up on stage!"

Ella and Helby walked up onto the stage just as ordinarily as Jinwoo had. Once again, Haebyul's prediction missed the mark.

'Ah! So that's the concept?'

The harmony of Arsilan and Earth!

Wasn't this a production designed so that an ordinary entrance would make Arsilan feel that much closer?

Ella smiled and waved, while Helby gave a small nod.

The Heroes' cheers swallowed the stadium whole.

He had called it a light event, but the Heroes felt that Ella and Helby descending like this alone made coming to the stadium worth it.

Ella and Helby sat down in the chairs.

Even at that point, Haebyul and the other Heroes still thought hologram technology had simply advanced tremendously.

Haebyul was the first to step up in front of Ella.

On the desk sat paper and a pen for the autographs.

"You're Haebyul, aren't you? Hello."

"Ha-ha! Hello!"

Haebyul sat down in the chair in front of the desk.

Ella signed the paper with a radiant smile. She wrote out Haebyul's name and drew her own emblem alongside the signature.

"Wow! It really looks like she's actually here."

Haebyul marveled.

The fusion of hologram and reality!

Holograms rendered through Soul Gates were nearly impossible to tell apart from reality at a distance, but up close they carried a faintly translucent quality that gave them away. Yet the Ella in front of her eyes looked completely real.

-The tech leveled up again

-At this point you literally can't tell a hologram from real life

-It's hard enough to see Lady Ella in Arsilan, and here she is on Earth ㅋㅋ

The Heroes marveled at how far hologram technology had come.

Ella held the signed paper out toward Haebyul.

Wouldn't it turn into light and fly off to her mailbox?

Haebyul made that prediction once again.

No matter how real it looked, a hologram was still just a hologram. Even if a certain degree of interaction was possible through a Soul Gate, it couldn't exert physical force.

"Here you go!"

"Huh? Weren't you going to send it to my mailbox?"

"Hoho, that would be so impersonal, wouldn't it?"

The corners of Ella's eyes curved prettily.

Haebyul tilted her head, reached out, and tried to take the paper. There was no way she could actually grip it.

It would simply pass straight through, or the weightless hologram would cling to her hand and move along with it.

"Huh?"

The instant she grasped the paper, Haebyul's eyes went wide.

"Th-th-this is real paper?!"

"Yes, it's real."

Haebyul fiddled with the paper as if she couldn't believe it.

It was genuine paper, not a fake.

The Heroes gathered in the stadium, and many more in Arsilan, were watching that scene through the Information Window.

Ella had clearly signed the paper. Which meant it had to be a hologram made with a Soul Gate rather than the real thing. And yet Haebyul had actually taken the paper into her hands and was reeling in shock.

Ella smiled brightly and reached a hand out toward Haebyul.

It was fan service.

As if spellbound, Haebyul stretched out her own hand and took Ella's.

"Uh, uh, uhhh?"

She felt the warmth of Ella's body heat.

-what?

-huh? why can she even touch her?

-huh?

The Heroes gathered in the stadium were stunned, and the chat window fell into chaos.

Haebyul looked like her soul had left her body. Ella gazed at her warmly, then reached over and stroked her cheek.

"Your skin has taken quite a beating. Have you been eating properly?"

"L-Lady Ella? H-how?"

"Ah! Shall we take a picture?"

"What? What??"

Ella pulled Haebyul to her feet and moved to her side. She wrapped an arm around the dazed Haebyul's waist and looked toward Jinwoo. Jinwoo smiled and took the photo for them.

The Heroes murmured among themselves.

"What am I even looking at right now?"

"It wasn't a hologram?"

"How?"

It wasn't as though they had crossed over a dimension, so how could something like this be possible? The stadium was gradually flooding with shock.

"Hmm. Do you intend to keep me waiting?"

When Helby frowned and looked over at Haebyul, Ella gave her a tight squeeze and sent her off toward Helby. Having barely gathered her wits, Haebyul stepped up in front of Helby.

"That face of yours still looks as dim-witted as ever."

"L-Lady Helby, are you real too…?"

"I have always been real. Were you dreaming?"

As though the whole thing bored her, Helby pushed the paper aside and crooked a finger at Haebyul.

"Consider it an honor. I shall sign something of yours."

"Uh…."

Haebyul hurriedly thrust out her smartphone. Helby took it and signed the back. She even drew a small dragon emblem beside the signature.

Helby nodded, apparently satisfied with her own autograph.

"See that you eat properly."

When Haebyul gave no answer, Helby poked her forehead with the smartphone in her hand.

Haebyul's head rocked back slightly.

"Answer."

"Huh? Yes, understood…?"

Haebyul couldn't make sense of the situation at all, so a dumb answer came out.

When the smartphone Helby had signed was placed back in her hands, Haebyul's mouth fell open so wide her jaw looked ready to come unhinged.

What on earth was going on here!

Creator God almighty!

They really had crossed over the dimensions!

*****

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