Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 221

“Summon Training Space of the God of War.”

After eating, Ji-Cheok walked into his room, sat down on his bed, and called upon the time-stop alternative dimension belonging to the God of War.

Flash!

He had entered the Training Space of the God of War!

Ji-Cheok was impressed that even though he had become a God, he could still summon this place.

‘If I couldn’t, I would have sued the God of War for fraud. The amount of Likes I’ve sacrificed to the God of War for this place… Anyway, Cheok-Liang, you’re with me, right?’

?Yes, Master.?

‘Good. Then, let’s get started.’

“Search for clone skills”

[[Patriarch Subodhi’s Hair Clone]: Creates a clone using hair from the user’s head.]

[[Illusion Clone]: Creates an illusionary clone.]

[[Elkemedia Clone]: Creates a clone with the same abilities as the user for a short time.]

[[Mirror Clone]: Creates a clone with 10% of the user’s abilities.]

[[Split Clone]: Splits the user’s body into several clones. The clones’ power is reduced according to the number of clones.]

[[Mana Clone]: Creates a clone with mana.]

The System listed a bunch of different clone skills. From there, Ji-Cheok picked the highest-rated and the most expensive one.

[Many-Faced Clone — 50,000,000 Likes]

[Class: Legendary (Upgradable Rank F)

A unique power of the Many-Faced God.

Allows the user to create a different aspect of themselves as a clone. The clone has the same power as the user but only exists for a limited time.

The number of clones increases with rank.]

‘This is it!’

It was a Legendary skill worth a whopping fifty million Likes!

“Purchase it! Then… Let’s search for avatar-related skills.”

[[Fire Avatar]: Summons an avatar of a fire-related God.]

[[Avatar Descent]: Summons an avatar of the contracted God.]

[[Avatar Elevation]: Transforms user into an avatar of the contracted God.]

[[Avatar Ritual]: Summons an avatar of a contracted God by using a ritual.]

[[Avatar Power…]]

There were many skills in this category, and most of them involved summoning an avatar of a God. Among them, Ji-Cheok chose [Avatar Ritual].

[Avatar Ritual — 50,000,000 Likes]

[Class: Legendary (Non-Upgradable)

A ritual to summon an avatar of a God. The skill will fail if the user has no knowledge of the being that the user wishes to summon. It will also fail if the user has no tribute to offer to the being that they wish to summon.

.

The Gods do not help mortals without payment.]

“Purchase this too.”

Ji-Cheok had obtained both skills and was now infused in his mind.

Most skills were labeled with a mark of the God that made them. It was like a ‘Made in Korea’ stamp on a product. However, the [Avatar Ritual] didn’t have any markings to indicate that the skill was an inherent power of a specific God. Ji-Cheok wondered if this skill was created by the System itself.

Anyway, once he infused the knowledge of both skills, he realized that it was possible to merge the two skills into one. If he was a mortal, this wouldn’t have been possible, but for the [GodTube_superstar], it was possible.

‘Here we go. Fusion!’

[You have fused the [Many-Faced Clone] and [Avatar Ritual].]

[You have used 10,000,000 Likes.]

‘Wow, the System is responding to me. Was there a fusion feature in the first place?’

While Ji-Cheok thought that, the two skills merged into one.

[You have acquired [Many-Faced Avatar].]

[Many-Faced Avatar]

[Class: Infinity (Upgradable Rank F)

A skill that creates an avatar by observing the user from multiple angles. Each avatar has about 20% of the user’s power and can be maintained indefinitely.

The number of avatars increases with the rank.

Number of avatars: 1]

‘Wow! This is even better than I thought!’

All he was hoping was to create a clone and use the avatar skill to increase the summoning time to at least ten days. Even if it only had twenty to thirty percent of his power, he would be able to wipe out a low-level special dungeon with his clones alone, and since they were just clones, if they died, he could simply summon them again.

Now thanks to his skill fusion, he obtained a permanent clone! And since it was a clone, it didn’t need to eat or sleep. As long as Ji-Cheok had enough mana, he could use it all day, everyday!

‘Well, since I’ve become a God, I don’t need to sleep anyway.’

Another good thing was that this clone was a replica of his consciousness and operated on its own. It could maneuver autonomously! With this, he was planning to destroy all the special dungeons in Korea. If he did that, there would be fewer dungeons, which would eventually decrease the amount of mana in this world. In the future, when he got this skill up to S-rank, he would be able to create up to six clones, which meant that he could clear dungeons worldwide.

‘Six clones that resemble me… That’s going to speed things up.’

?Congratulations on your success, Master!?

“Thanks. Let’s try it, shall we? Use [Multifaceted Avatar!]”

Flash!

As his body flashed with light, a cluster of light separated from his body, floating to the side and morphing into a human shape. It was Ji-Cheok!

“What do you think?”

“What do you think?”

The ‘real’ Ji-Cheok and his avatar spoke at the same time because their consciousnesses were still connected. The skill also allowed him to separate himself from the avatar, allowing it to think independently.

?This is… amazing. I would have never thought of doing that, Master.?

“Hmm…”

“Hmm…”

“Great.”

“Great.”

He could hear two voices in his head.

‘This feels kinda weird. Let’s try to separate the consciousnesses’

Flash!

It felt like one of the wires in his head had been cut.

“Wow, this is weird.”

“Isn’t it?”

“This… is not just a simple clone. It feels like I created a new being with a different conscience by duplicating myself.”

“It certainly does. We have different consciences, but I can still feel the connection.”

“It’s interesting… So, if you cultivate separately, will that be absorbed into my body when we merge?”

“Hm… I don’t know about that, but it might be worth a try?”

Ji-Cheok was talking to himself. It was something he had never experienced before.

“Then, let’s merge together for now.”

“Okay.”

Flash!

The avatar returned to him, and he found that the vision and memories of the avatar merged with his naturally.

?Master… You are truly a God now.?

“Judging by how completely normal this seems to me, you are right, I am a God.”

?So… What do you plan to spend your last Legendary Skill Voucher on??

“First, let’s see how many Likes I have left.”

Ji-Cheok checked his number of Likes. He had over two hundred million.

“Wow…”

‘Am I seeing that right? Two hundred million Likes?’

?The new video that you posted is making a lot of waves, Master. That video has over sixty million Likes by itself, and all your other videos are getting more views and more Likes.?

‘Wow!’

?In addition, the number of Likes you can earn has doubled since you became a God. And you also obtained a new title called the [One Who is Watched Over by Ten Thousand Gods], which gives you thirty percent extra Likes.?

‘Hmm? Thirty percent?’

As [GodTube_superstar], he had two direct powers. The first power was called [Superstar]. Under the effect of this power, everyone who saw him was easily impressed and in awe of him. For example, there were a lot of people who watched his videos and didn’t Like them. Even if he had ten million views on a video, it was great if he even got fifty thousand Likes on it. A simple calculation showed that, on average, 0.5% of people gave that video a Like. Sometimes it was 0.3% for a less-liked video, and sometimes it was 0.7% when it was a little better.

But now that he had the power of a God, everyone who saw him would want to give him Likes.

Ji-Cheok calculated that around ten percent of the views would translate into Likes. That meant at least a twenty percent increase in the overall number of likes!

That was not all. Turning one Like on GodTube into two Likes was his second power. It was called [Communication with Fans.] This was why Ji-Cheok obtained Likes with high efficiency.

‘This power seems to fit an entertainer rather than a God, but what can I do? This is the fate of a person that feeds on Likes.’

?First, you get a thirty percent increase from the effect of the title, then you receive the doubling effect, which is why you now have over two hundred million Likes.?

“That’s crazy, though. Two hundred million Likes… Wow… If I buy all the skills of all the Gods with this…”

?Then you will have immeasurable power, Master.?

“I don’t think so. My power would still be nothing compared to the other Gods. I can feel it after I become a God.”

?You mean the other Gods, Master.?

“That’s right. Those Gods are insane. And Cheok-Liang, do you still remember what we are going to do with the newly obtained powers?”

?We need to burn mana, build a dimensional barrier, and destroy dungeons, Master.?

“Good. We only have a year or so left, so if we don’t move diligently, the world will be destroyed. I’m sure I can make some progress on the dungeon destruction part by using the Avatar Ritual, but I’m not sure how to go about the mana burning and the dimensional barrier.”

?Why don’t you consult an expert, Master??

“An expert?”

?Yes, Master. You can now speak directly to the Gods, and I think it would be a good idea to seek advice from one of them who is an expert in these things.?

‘Hm…’

Cheok-Liang was right. The mana-burning plan was a problem, and so was the dimensional barrier.

He had a general idea of how to do mana burning. He literally had to burn mana that was evenly distributed throughout the world. It would be like burning oxygen to make carbon dioxide. All he had to do was to have each country build mana-burning machines and then burn it.

The problem was… Ji-Cheok knew the countries wouldn’t listen to him. Mana was energy, and energy was resources. He could tell them that the world was going to end, but he knew very well that they wouldn’t even lift a finger to help him.

‘So… Consulting an expert… Hm…’

“Do you have any recommendations, Cheok-Liang?”

?How about the [Limping_master_of_fire_and_hammer]??

“That sounds hell of a lot like Hephaestus.”

?You are right, Master.?

Hephaestus was the Greek God of fire and blacksmithing. Although he was mostly known as a blacksmith, he was also a builder and was considered a jack of all trades when it came to crafting. Legend had it that he was crippled and ugly, but his fire was hot enough to burn water.

“But do you think he is going to help us? He’s from Earth, and he is still just watching our planet go to shit!”

?Hephaestus is definitely an Earth-born God, but… indeed, he may not be emotionally attached to Earth in the first place.?

‘Hm… Come to think of that, I haven’t heard of any Earth-born Gods giving humans an oracle to actively save our world. I mean, the first thing I saw as soon as I became a God was that shattered dimensional barrier. And you think the Earth-born Gods didn’t know about that? They just left it alone.’

“Tsk. It’s a long shot, but I still think it’s a good idea.”

‘Should I talk to him? With the God Subscription Service on my new channel, I can actually message the Gods’

However, right now, Ji-Cheok was inside the Training Space of the God of War. When he entered this place, the time in his world had stopped.

‘Can I still talk to other Gods in here? Hm… I guess there is only one way to find out.’

1. Patriarch Subodhi is Sun Wukong’s first master in the Journey to the West.