Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 257

“I’m a genius! Why didn’t I think of this before?”

Ji-Cheok bought the skill from the Likes Shop and learned it.

‘Next step would be to bestow the skills. Oh!! It works! It works! It’s like that sensation I got when I became a God. I just… know that it’s working. This is revolutionary!’

?With this, you can quickly strengthen your team!?

‘I know. The other divine assholes see this planet as their playground, so they don’t give humans anything for free, but I have my survival at stake, right? I’m nothing like those Gods! But… I don’t think this is going to be easy. I’ll have to try an experiment—’

“What do you think about the construction?”

A voice asked from behind Ji-Cheok, interrupting his train of thought. It was Jung Bi-Ga.

“It looks like it’s going well. I see that you have put a lot of your skills to good use.”

Ji-Choek was not just saying that to get himself in Bi-Ga’s good graces. She really had put in some serious elbow grease.

There were many Alchemist workers on the construction site. There were even Hunters with rare Craftsman jobs that Ji-Cheok had never seen before, such as the Mad Engineer or the Creator’s Right Hand. They were processing materials according to the blueprints, fabricating parts, and dumping them into the ocean.

From what Ji-Cheok had heard, they had set up workspaces on the ocean floor, and they used magic spells and other skills to relieve the pressure of the water. They had already dug into the ground beneath the ocean floor and built the foundation for the pillar, and now they were about five hundred meters above the ocean floor.

The shield that Bi-Ga built herself to ward off monsters approaching from the seabed was in constant operation, and apparently, she used a tremendous amount of Magic Stones for that purpose.

The whole operation cost more money than Ji-Cheok had expected, but that was completely fine as far as he was concerned. Right now, he lacked everything but money.

“I really did put a lot of my skills to good use. I’m spending almost five hundred billion won a day, and I'm going to keep on spending.”

“That’s not just for operating the shield, right?”

“I’m spending about 120 billion won to run the shield. The rest is for the Hunters’ salaries, logistics, resource processing, and some components that we need. And don’t forget about security.”

“You mean, those?”

Ji-Cheok pointed at the sky. There were countless drones dotting the atmosphere above.

There were also metal towers surrounding the construction site, dozens of meters tall, with deadly weapons attached to them.

“I know that our world is not just rainbows and sunshine. There have to be a lot of people who want to attack our site. In case of emergency, the shields will be activated immediately, and satellites and other airborne weaponry will strike first.”

‘Wow… She’s not messing around.’

Ji-Cheok made more money than her, but he certainly did not have the ability to run such a large-scale operation.

“Do you think there will be attackers? Look at all those Hunters,” Ji-Cheok said.

“Of course! I mean, thanks to you, we are getting tons of supplies and Hunters from all over the world, but… I don’t know… Do you think those ascension-crazed bastards care about that?”

“You knew about that?”

“Sure~ The world wouldn’t just collapse by itself—not this fast, at least. The problem is the ones that want the world to collapse.”

There was an eerie wisdom in her words.

“Anyway, I bet you didn’t come here to have a little talk with me. Or did you come here to just look around?” Bi-Ga said.

“Of course, I’m here to look around. It’s my money. Oh, and I also have one small question.”

“What is it?”

“You might know this if you saw the blueprints, but there are supposed to be two pillars, and if we finish this one, we will get another year of grace. So for this construction, how long is it going to take?”

“Eight months, even if the countries are working aggressively.”

Ji-Cheok frowned at her words.

“That’s a little… close.”

Even here at the North Pole, a number of [Um Ji-Cheok’s Universal Production Machine MK4 +8] had already been installed. They were producing all kinds of parts, speeding up the process. If an attack occurred, however, it would hinder their plan.

“I guess I have no choice…”

“Why? Do you have a plan?”

“Yes.”

The initial calculation had given him 100 billion Likes to complete the dimensional barrier. In other words, 100 billion Likes for the two pillars. To build just one, however, it would cost 50 billion Likes. In addition to that, they had all kinds of resources prepared here. The materials alone had to be worth 30 billion Likes.

‘If the materials are here… That means…’

?Currently, according to my simulation, 15.2 billion Likes would be enough to instantly complete one pillar, and you currently have 7.2 billion Likes. At the current rate, you will need about 20 days to reach 15.2 billion Likes.?

‘Thank you, Cheok-Lian. So should I just use my Likes and build this pillar first? Or should I use the Likes to increase my power?’

?It is hard to tell at this point, Master.?

‘Hm… I see.’

“Well, there are two plans, but I don’t know which is better,” Ji-Cheok said.

“In that case, I would say go with your gut?”

“Huh?”

“Your Hunch, or intuition. You have to have something called ‘inspiration’ when you’re inventing something. Didn’t you know?” Bi-Ga said as she patted herself on the head. “Well, then, Mr. Generous, please keep the money coming, and I will make sure this construction is done right.”

With that, she turned and walked away from the construction site. There was something about the way she walked, so confident and strong.

‘My intuition, huh. That’s right. I do have an intuition skill, and it’s only gotten sharper since I became a God. Then… My intuition, tell me! Which plan is better?’

His Minor Intuition kicked in. And his sixth sense, which he had also gotten as a perk of being a God, was working together with it.

A light bulb went off in his head.

‘Building the pillar is better!’

As he was admiring how good of a skill this was…

Flash!

Something inside him changed!

[The skill [Minor Intuition] is evolving.]

[[Minor Intuition] has evolved into [Divine Intuition].]

[Divine Intuition]

[Class: Infinity

A divination skill possessed by a small number of Gods.

Though it cannot accurately predict the distant future, when a choice must be made, the user instinctively knows which option is best.]

‘Wow! I now have a divination skill! Then the answer is, of course, this! I need to finish the dimensional barrier pillar first! And if I use purely my Likes, I will have to spend 15.2 billion Likes…’

Ji-Cheok realized that he could save more Likes by using some tricks.

‘These Gods have it so easy! What a bunch of shameless bastards!’

“Oh, Director Bi-Ga~!”

Ji-Cheok ran to call for Bi-Ga.

? ? ?

“You want me to tell you about my job and all my skills? Ha… Are you out of your mind?”

“I’ve never been this sane in my life,” Ji-Cheok said as he shrugged. “I’m asking you to tell me because I need it.”

“Need for what? You do realize that this is very sensitive information for Hunters and if you die while prying other Hunters for their skill info, you have no one to blame but yourself!”

That was how important personal information was to Hunters. To Hunters, their skill information was both a lifeline and a weakness.

Bi-Ga was looking at him as if to say ‘dude, you finally lost it.’

“I know. I know. But really, I’m asking you because I need it.”

Even with his Eye of Insight, he still could not figure out what skills his opponents had. He could probably do that if he invested some Likes to improve the skill, but he didn’t feel the need to.

A Like saved was a Like well spent. Since Bi-Ga was on his side, Ji-Cheok thought it would be easier just to ask.

“Unless you’re crazy, I can only assume that you are trying to give me a skill or something… is that right?”

“Wow! No wonder you’re working in the field of science. You’re smart.”

Bi-Ga’s eyes were still implying that Ji-Cheok was crazy.

This strong yet crazy bastard was also the last bastion and savior of humanity.

“It’s only logical reasoning. You have more skills than I can count, and you actually use most of them.”

‘She’s right. It’s been widely speculated that my ability specializes in skill collection, so I suppose she could assume that. More precisely, I gain the awe of people and turn it into divine power. And with that, I buy the powers of the other Gods.’

“But I’ve never seen you give skills to other people. Or maybe you couldn’t…” Bi-Ga speculated.

‘You can say that I couldn’t, but you can also say that I didn’t want to. In fact, it’s only now that I have gotten the idea that I can ‘bestow’ my skills after I became a God. I’m only a young God.’

“It’s something like that. So please, I would like you to give me the names of your skills, because if I know what skills you have, I can pick and choose the ones that will help you the most.”

“Why don’t you just give me a skill that I want?”

“It’s better if I choose it for you.”

As humans, they had limited information. However, Ji-Cheok now had the super-upgraded A.I. Cheok-Liang and an equally upgraded Likes Shop. Cheok-Liang’s search abilities were far more efficient than Bi-Ga’s.

“Hm~ You’re confident. That means you are able to search for all kinds of skills, which is a very powerful ability…”

All the while, she was guessing what his ability was by taking clues from his words. She was muttering something to herself—it was clear that Ji-Cheok’s proposal had awakened her researcher’s senses.

Clap!

He clapped to get her attention.

“What the hell is wro—”

“I see how you usually treat your employees. Alright, time’s up. I’m in a hurry, so let’s make this quick.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I just get a bit angry when I’m thinking of something and I get interrupted…” Bi-Ga said as she blushed slightly.

She looked embarrassed.

“Okay, I will tell you. It’s rude for me to keep asking you questions. After all, you’re the one giving me a free skill.”

“It’s not free.”

“Aren’t you giving it to me so that I can work faster and finish the dimensional barrier?”

“That’s true, but it’s still not free.”

Ji-Cheok held out a piece of paper to her. As she took it, a long text appeared in front of her.

It was a type of contract she was very familiar with.

[Confidentiality Agreement]

[This agreement is made between _____ (hereinafter “party A”) and ____ (hereinafter “party B”), hereby enter into a confidentiality agreement (hereinafter “the Agreement”) regarding the handling of confidential and proprietary information as follows:

Article 1 (Confidential Information)

In this Agreement, “Confidential Information”, refers to any technical, business, financial, organizational, or other information that party A discloses, including but not limited to the following information and the purpose of disclosure and review…]

“Is this really necessary?”

“When I give away a skill, you get to know my information too.”

‘So what happens when I bestow a skill is that the one receiving the skill will see a sentence like “the God [GodTube_superstar] bestows the skill OOO to Jung Bi-Ga!.”’

This meant that Bi-Ga would find out that he was a God. He had looked it up and found a way to hide his divine name, but that cost a fairly large number of Likes, more than he was willing to pay.

This was where the System sucked a fair bit. If a God wanted to bestow a skill that cost ten thousand Likes, they had to spend ten times as much, so one hundred thousand Likes.

Ji-Cheok could see why the Gods did not give skills to humans very often.

‘I guess it’s because there is a high price to pay in terms of causality for their direct intervention in the world. At least I was a human first before becoming a God, which mitigates that causal cost. Where other Gods pay ten times the amount, I only pay five times the amount. In other words, I have to spend fifty thousand Likes to bestow a skill that costs ten thousand. Not great, but still better than nothing.’