Chapter 26: (an unknown era) 1,999,999 Years Before Zero : the god who shares his power [1]

The sound of paper rubbing against a pen echoed inside a dim wooden room.

A window was the only source of light, invading the wooden room that contained a bed and a table where Van was now sitting.

His hand kept dancing across every word he wrote, while the sky visible through the window was covered by thick gray clouds.

The rumble of thunder echoed repeatedly together with the sound of Van’s sighs.

He rubbed his heavy eyes. A few tears came out, wetting his hands and the bags beneath his eyes.

A sleepy yawn escaped naturally as he closed the book he had been writing. On the wooden floor beside his chair stood more than a dozen stacks of books with various titles.

Van scratched his itchy head. His long golden hair was now slightly oily as he opened his dry mouth.

"I played around too much... good grief, how could I copy all of that within one week?"

Van sighed and glanced at the book he had just finished writing. On its cover, a title was engraved.

Project Happy Ending.

Van tapped the book several times before sending it into Sunset Space, unlike the dozens of book pillars beside him.

Van leaned back against the creaking wooden chair and simply stared at the wooden wall in front of him.

He closed his eyes and kissed his thumbnail for quite a while.

"It’s already been one year, old man..."

Van opened his eyes and raised his hand, pointing toward the sky hidden beyond the wooden roof with his index finger.

"...I hope you’re at peace up there. Pray for me... because there are still one million nine hundred ninety-nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine damn years I have to go through."

Van sighed and looked around the lavender-scented room. He stood up while scratching his muscular stomach beneath his gray T-shirt and walked toward a mirror reflecting his entire body.

Van held his chin, where facial hair had begun to grow. He cleaned food stuck between his own teeth while continuing to look at himself in the mirror.

The already cold room became even colder as Van created four ice clones. He assigned them to pack the dozens of pillars of books into white plastic bags.

He ignored the noise his ice clones kept making. He simply continued staring at his reflection, trying different expressions—smiling, sad, angry, laughing, hurt, and every strange expression he could think of to pass the time while waiting for his ice clones to finish.

His ice clones finally stood upright, each holding two plastic bags filled with books.

Van did not bother checking them. He simply walked toward the wooden door while yawning.

The wooden door creaked as Van opened it. A cold gust of wind immediately greeted him—a wind that should have made someone shiver.

But Van simply stepped outside wearing only flip-flops and shorts without feeling cold.

He looked to his left, where the road was lined with identical wooden houses. There was nothing except silence, while at the end of the road stood a gigantic wooden wall made from massive tree trunks joined together.

Van turned to the right. There stood a wooden building, larger and sturdier than the wooden houses lining the road.

He walked toward the larger wooden building, followed by his ice clones carrying books inside plastic bags.

Not a single person appeared in the reflection of Van’s gray eyes. The only things accompanying him were the rumbling sky hidden behind clouds and the wind that continued stroking his skin and swaying his golden hair.

His ears twitched as he arrived at the stairs leading to the terrace of the largest wooden building. The voices of many people mixed together behind the giant double wooden doors separating Van from the room beyond.

Van created a gigantic invisible hand that slowly pushed open both wooden doors for him.

The noise gradually faded as Van opened the wooden doors.

Inside the building was a large hall with dozens of long tables occupied by humans, elves, beastmen, and dwarves. On the other side of the room stood Kalula, the only dragon present.

Gradually, the crowd of different races that had now blended together erupted into cheers as Van stepped into the room lit by flames hanging above the tables and from the ceiling.

"Woah... the hermit finally came out!!"

"It was only one week! Hahaha... watch out! He definitely hasn’t taken a bath!!"

"Hey!! He’s not a hermit, he’s a god!!"

Van chuckled and nodded several times. He brushed back his slightly oily golden hair while their cheers were now all in one language—the human language.

The children also shouted, with Arsy shouting the loudest.

"Uncle Van!! Do you have anything interesting again???"

Van scratched his neck and sighed.

"Good grief... Arsy, you and the others have asked that every day for a whole year." Van crossed his arms. "I don’t think I have anything interesting left."

Arsy wanted to say something, but Andis led the children away as the Prince approached.

"My lord... what were you doing for a whole week before leaving?? We were supposed to celebrate." The Prince covered his face, his shoulders trembling. "Can’t you stay forever? I... I’m not married yet. I mean... I wanted you to be my witness, my lord."

Van sighed. He patted the Prince’s shoulder and whispered into his ear through gritted teeth.

"I already told you, just choose anyone... everyone here is good..."

The Prince stopped crying and whispered back to Van.

"There is someone I like... but she’s the elf woman I told you about before..."

Van clicked his tongue as several figures approached them.

"Then nothing has changed... your choices are either go there or suffer heartbreak. There’s no way a relationship between two worlds could work, right?"

The Prince’s shoulders slumped.

"Can’t you bless me? You said you would pass your power on to mortal beings..."

Van opened his mouth several times. No sound came out for a few moments before he finally spoke.

"I already told you... I don’t hand out powers, I awaken potential—"

Van’s words were cut off by the sound of Elena clicking her tongue as she approached.

"Still the same problem? I already told you... just go with her if it’s love."

Dorn chuckled after hearing Elena’s words, while the entire hall suddenly became noisy as someone peeked into the plastic bags carried by Van’s ice clones.

"What are all these books, my lord? There are so many?"

A curious crowd slowly gathered around Van’s ice clones.

Van clapped his hands several times to regain control of the situation.

"Well... perfect timing. Then I’ll just explain everything now!!"

Van’s ice clones began taking out all kinds of books and handing them to the humans. The other races also gathered to look out of curiosity, trying to read the letters written on the book covers.

"Those are books of basic knowledge!! There are books about the Ice Age cycle, more modern farming methods without tractors... there’s the recipe book containing my ice clones’ secret dishes... and all kinds of basic knowledge books for daily life."

Van smiled faintly and rested his hands on his waist.

"Those are my gifts... and remember, this is not the knowledge of a god—"

His words were immediately drowned out by loud cheers as they opened the books and read a few lines.

"Woah... so this is how a god plants potatoes."

"Look... this is the recipe for the food we ate before... there’s even how to make cheese!! Woah..."

"The Ice Age is coming soon? What does that mean?"

"Read properly, idiot. Don’t just read the title."

Van sighed while shaking his head. Meanwhile, Kalula approached him while covering her nose.

"So... those dozens of books are what turned you into a hermit who hasn’t bathed for several days?"

Van frowned. He pinched the air, creating a glass bottle of perfume, then immediately sprayed it over himself. A fresh-after-bath scent filled the air, making Kalula’s nose twitch.

"See... I already took a bath." Van shook the glass perfume bottle.

Even Cheetah walked over to ask for the perfume Van was wearing.

The large and magnificent hall remained lively with conversations for quite some time before Van clapped his hands once again to draw everyone’s attention.

Everyone looked at him while Van smiled broadly.

"Well then... before we begin the farewell party, I’ll awaken each of your potentials one by one... of course, not everyone will be able to awaken theirs!! Remember that!! And this is not a god handing out powers—"