Chapter 45: The Neutral Zone Part 5

** Taciana Cinzia POV **

The door closed and I finally could breathe a sigh of relief. I could go to a battlefield any day of the week and not feel a hint of fear or nerves, but sitting here for just a few minutes while receiving the angry and disappointed gaze of that entity almost made my heart stop from how nervous I was.

"Don Cinzia, what happened? From the conversation, I understood that he was the one who cleared the missions yesterday, but what was all that? You referred to him as a deity of Earth and he also talked about another called the Martial God, can you explain what is going on?" asked Agnes, frustrated by not understanding what had just happened.

"Heh, you definitely missed out this time Agnes. He is someone you know well from Earth, but it seems that without his usual attire and mask, you could not recognize him even though he is your beloved God of Death," I said and laughed at how Agnes's expression changed from bewilderment to disbelief, then she blushed with embarrassment when she realized who the entity that had just left was and that she had not recognized him.

"Was it really him? It's not possible, he's supposed to be a god, how can it be, I investigated and Seol Jihu is a real person, how can they be the same, and he called me a beautiful lady and even flirted with me," Agnes began to reflect aloud while trying to deny the truth in front of her with all her might and she got more and more lost in her thoughts like a lovestruck maiden.

I took a cigar out of my jacket pocket and lit it, inhaling several times to calm my nerves a bit. Inhaling the cigar and seeing Agnes act so cutely helped a lot to relax me.

"It seems that just as he brought a great storm of change to the underworld on Earth, now he will bring a storm to Paradise and it seems that we Earthlings here will have no say," I said and Agnes who listened to me, finally came out of her thoughts.

"What are we going to do?" asked Agnes.

"The only thing we can do, wait for his instructions and obey. We could also try to unite as many high-ranking forces of the Earthlings against him... Unlike on Earth where I know it's impossible, here in Lost Paradise we might have the chance to defeat him, but I have no idea at what power level he is to calculate our chances of success.

To clear those missions solo and so quickly he needs to be at least level 5 and well-armed, but that's a minimum estimate based on the results of the missions. On Earth, he already showed capabilities of a level 6 and I doubt that was his limit.

I have no idea the true extent of his power and what terrifying abilities he may have as a deity, you saw him while he was meditating, right? His self-inflicted wounds were healing at a visible rate, no human can do that.

And he said it himself, a deity cannot be killed by destroying their physical body, you have to destroy their soul or divinity and we have no way of doing that. Not to mention that what he said is quite convincing, once the Parasites finish here, nothing will prevent them from taking their conquest to Earth," I explained everything that occurred to me.

"But he can't be that bad, right? The changes he made in the underworld were not bad and besides imposing his rules, he didn't force us to do anything else, nor to give him any tribute or to change our ways, he simply eliminated those who were real trash even by our criminal standards," said Agnes, quite convincingly.

"That's true, anyway, even though he himself said that he is not as strong as the Parasite Queen, he seems to have the confidence to quickly strengthen himself and deal with her. As long as he doesn't ask us to stupidly sacrifice ourselves for his cause, I suppose we can go along with it, plus I don't want my daughter to fight against her lover, right?" I said, and Agnes blushed deeply when she heard the last part and ran out of the room. Heh, she's definitely cute when she acts like a lovestruck maiden.

But I don't blame her, even I have come to think that it wouldn't be bad to have such an impressive man. I inhaled another puff of smoke and let it out, but I can't compete for my daughter's first love, I guess I'll have to settle for having him just as a son-in-law.

Although if I remember correctly, Agnes said something yesterday about him having several public girlfriends, hmm the opportunity is still there. I guess only time will tell what can happen. I thought as I released another puff of smoke.

~~~~~

** Seol Jihu POV **

I left the restaurant. I saw that the atmosphere was too heavy for the girls and Claire was lost not understanding the conversation, better give them time to relax and talk among themselves. Now I'll go somewhere else to look for food, there are still a couple of hours left until the meeting time.

Maybe the food stalls on the first floor are more suitable, plus I want to stop by the mission board and see what reaction the newcomers will have, hopefully no idiot will come up with the brilliant idea of trying one of the hard missions and lose their life unnecessarily.

I went down several floors and saw it, a commotion in front of the bulletin board. Almost all the newcomers are gathered talking and discussing how all the very difficult missions disappeared and looking for an explanation.

I laughed and approached, when they saw me they paid attention immediately and stepped out of the way.

"Don't look for much sense in it, it's quite simple what happened. Surely the people in charge removed those missions to prevent some idiot from trying to do them and committing suicide, I don't know if you have even tried the normal difficulty missions, but they are already quite risky and you have to face armed enemies, so any mission with a difficulty rating higher than normal is suicide for those who don't know how to fight and don't have proper armor and weapons," I said giving them a reasonable explanation and a little advice so they don't go and die miserably, it's the least and maybe the only thing I'll do for these people who outside of my group don't interest me.

"If that's true then why didn't they remove the slightly difficult, difficult and impossible difficulty missions?" Odelette, who was hidden behind a big guy, came out and asked a valid question if my argument is used.

"I suppose the impossible mission doesn't need to be removed, just the category itself already gives an indication of what will happen if someone dares to take it hehe, as for the others, I have a conjecture but I won't say it here, if you dare to accompany me today at 9:00 am in this place for talks, then I will gladly share the rest of my ideas with you Miss Odelette Delphine, of course my invitation also extends to the first places of their respective zones, like you Mr. Tong Chai, you Mr. Hao Win and you Mr. Salvatore Leorda," I said and immediately heard positive responses from the four people mentioned.

After setting up the meeting I decided to go for breakfast, so I headed to the small cafeteria that was on this floor and a waitress immediately came running in my direction, to my surprise it was not an employee of the cafeteria, but María Yeriel.

"God Onii-san, I was looking for you last night to invite me to dinner and I couldn't find you anywhere, luckily I found you now for breakfast, I hope you haven't forgotten your promise or I will definitely hit you in the balls," said María, clearly annoyed at missing out on a free dinner.

I laughed a bit at what she said and gave her a gentle tap on the forehead, she was about to insult me but I spoke first.

"Onii-san is used by the Japanese, I am Korean and the appropriate way would be for you to refer to me as 'Oppa' if you want to use the correct expressions, but you can simply call me Jihu, Miss María," I said.

"Ah, damn it! I knew I was getting something wrong, but I didn't know what it was. It's all your fault you damned Asians who invent a bunch of weird ways to call yourselves just to satisfy your twisted fetishes," said María, not caring about the clear racism as she insulted all Asians in various ways.

"That's why I told you, you can just call me Jihu," I said to make life easier for her.

"No, it will be Oppa then. If you invite me to eat like that, I won't have any complaints, let's go Oppa. And by the way, you can stop treating me so formally, it's definitely not appropriate considering how close we are," she said, trying to get on my good side to see if she could take more advantage of me, but despite being greedy she is definitely not the most astute person on Earth, her intentions are as clear as her words, which makes her more fun and cute in her own way.

"Sure, then I'll be less formal, María," I said, and she nodded in satisfaction.

We sat at a table at the back of the café, and I ordered for us. María, as always, asked me to order based on the highest prices rather than worrying about the type of food. And she ate with great satisfaction; she said nothing during the meal, but as soon as she finished, she began to talk.

"This is definitely the life. it's a pity they don't have alcohol here, otherwise it would be heaven itself. Thanks Oppa, you have no idea how well this meal calmed me. This morning was crazy, something happened in the Neutral Zone and that Sicilian bitch woke us all up very early and gathered us to discuss pointless crap and in the end, she just scolded us and left," said María while venting her frustrations, which I assume was due to the commotion from the missions I did yesterday. But from her words, I can confirm what Taciana said, that they didn't know who had done the missions because they went to bed early.

"Hahaha, I guess you had a bad morning, I understand, so I'm glad to help ease your day. You said couldn't find me for dinner last night right? So I will tell you my usual eating schedule so that doesn't happen again... Well, I usually have breakfast and dinner between 6:50 and 7:20, whether A.M. or P.M... and you can wait for me in the square near the mission board," I said to ensure her company. I also don't like to eat alone. Ever since I was reborn, I have always eaten with family, friends, or acquaintances, and I have rarely had to eat alone, and I don't like it.

"It's great to know Oppa, I definitely won't miss it. Have you already decided what you will do now in the Neutral Zone? You are a strong person, I recommend you do all the missions you can and secure as many points as possible, hopefully, you will be able to buy some of the cheaper items from the VIP store, I recommend the elixirs, their effects are definitely invaluable," advised María.

While it's good advice and realistic for a promising rookie, for me it's a bit funny, especially considering that I already have all the points to buy most things from the store, but better not tell her or she'll get angry knowing that I'm the reason for her bad morning.

"I understand, I appreciate the advice, but don't worry. I'll take it easy and take advantage of the benefits of the Neutral Zone to train, I feel that the main purpose of this place is to provide a good training environment and that's why I'll take advantage of it," I said part of my plan calmly and she nodded in agreement.

"Well, I have to go fulfill my duties, thanks for breakfast Oppa, I'll look for you for dinner, but if you invite me to lunch I won't be angry either," she said sweetly trying to get even more benefits out of me.

"Well, today I won't be so busy. So I can promise you lunch if you meet me in front of the mission board at noon, but other days I can't promise because if I'm very busy, I usually skip lunch or eat at irregular times," I replied.

"Great, then see you at noon," she said and ran off happy to get what she wanted.

I checked the time and there was still more than an hour left until 9:00, so I'll go to the VIP store to make some purchases while passing the time.

I walked towards the eighth floor where the VIP store is located, I didn't take long to arrive and the same maid from yesterday is at the counter. When she saw me, she got excited since I proved to be a good customer yesterday.

"Welcome sir, how can I help you today?" asked the maid professionally.

"I want to access the store to buy some items," I said.

"I believe I told you yesterday, that to be able to enter the shopping section you need to have at least 30,000 survival points in your possession," she said a little nervously.

"I know and I have them," I said and she smiled widely while indicating me to follow her through the door behind her to the right.

I entered and saw that it was a small room with a counter that has all the items from the pamphlet María gave me.

"The lowest-priced items available are the elixirs and ambrosia at a price of 30,000SP each," she said kindly while showing me both products.

In the novel, it is explained that [Ambrosia] is a drop of "morning dew" that forcibly evolves an awakened ability to its next rank.

And the [Divine Elixirs] are an alchemical mixture of substances of the highest degree and purity that increases the corresponding Physical Stat by 1 level.

"I have some doubts... [Ambrosia] can raise any awakened ability by 1 rank, right? But what happens if that ability is already at the maximum rank?"

"According to the knowledge provided to me to manage these goods, I was informed that [Ambrosia] can increase any ability that can be improved by one rank, but if you use it on one that is at the maximum and there is no further way to improve, then the ambrosia will be wasted," the maid replied immediately.

So it won't work with my passive abilities that are already at maximum rank, what a shame. I would have liked to improve them, but better not take risks and stick to the plan of improving [Self-Healing] as a priority.

Years have passed and I have not been able to improve it further with training alone, which means that the damage I have to receive and heal to improve it has to be greater than what I normally do to myself with just [Physical Reinforcement], which is limited to muscle tears and bone fractures. So, to improve [Self-Healing], I would have to use the ability to heal myself from mutilation-type damage and organ damage, something I could not do on Earth just to improve a skill.

"My last question is about the elixirs, can you tell me exactly how they work?" I asked because the novel was very vague with its explanation and it seemed to vary throughout the story, so it's better to clarify it immediately and not make mistakes.

"To understand how the elixirs work, I first have to explain the Physical Stats. These are classified in a ranking system that ascends from; very low, Low, Intermediate, High, and Pinnacle, and each rank has modifiers that ascend from; Very low, Low, Intermediate, High, and Very high.

In the status window, they will always be seen in this format: Rank (Modifier).

For example; Low (Very Low) precedes Low (Low) which precedes Low (Intermediate) which precedes Low (High) which precedes Low (Very High) which precedes Medium (Very Low) which precedes Medium (Low) and so on.

One's Physical Stats are extremely difficult to increase and repetitive training alone is insufficient unless one exceeds their limit. The higher the rank of the Stat, the greater the difficulty of training to improve it.

Now that this has been explained, I can proceed with the elixirs. The elixirs will increase any rank modifier from Very Low to Very High regardless of the rank, for example; if you use the divine elixir of Strength while you have Strength: Low (Very Low), then the result will be Strength: Low (Very High). So the jump is 4 modifiers and the rank doesn't matter, for example, if your strength is Pinnacle (Very Low) and you use the elixir, it will go to Pinnacle (Very High).

However, the effect of 4 modifier jumps only applies if it starts from Very Low, if your modifier is in Medium you will only receive 2 jump effects, and if it is in High you will only receive 1 jump effect. For example: from Intermediate it will go to Very High and from High it will go to Very High, if by chance you take it when your modifier is in Very High, then it will jump to the next rank in Very Low modifier which is equivalent to 1 jump effect. Therefore, to have the best possible effect it is advised to use it when it is in Very Low modifier to benefit from 4 modifier jumps instead of fewer jumps," the maid replied with a tremendously long explanation, even running out of breath at the end.

I understand in my case that my Stats are in High (High) range, so if I take an elixir, a corresponding Stat will be in High (Very High) range getting 1 jump and practically wasting the elixir. But if for example, I train and exceed 2 modifiers through my training and reach Pinnacle (Very Low) and use the elixir, I will go to pinnacle (Very High) benefiting from 4 jumps instead of one.

If that's the case, then it's worth waiting before using them. Anyway, I wasn't planning to use them now, it's not the right time yet, but it is enlightening to know well how they work. This will be very, very useful later when I start phase 2 of my plan.

"Thank you very much, your explanation was very useful, so I won't waste any more of your time. I want you to give me all the [Divine Elixirs], the 2 [Ambrosia], the pair of [Pneuma's Sky Boots], the [Moirai's Keepsake], the [Miyal's Iron Brand], [The Divine Stigmas] the [Holy Measures of Sidus] And the [Tears of Psychi]," I said and saw her face go from absolute pleasure to disbelief and finally absolute disappointment.

At first maybe, just maybe she could believe that I was going to buy the elixirs, let's say that was still believable for her, but when she heard how I kept listing things, she became incredulous and began to look at me with annoyance.

"That would be 1,740,000 survival points. It's not even funny as a joke anymore sir. Please choose whether you want a [Divine Elixir] or an [Ambrosia]," she said in a very serious and annoyed tone.

"There is no mistake, I have enough points in my possession, please pack and charge the items," I said while showing her my absurd amount of Survival Points which is a whooping 2,103,500 points.

She stared at the window where only my Survival Points were shown, but it seems that no matter how long she looked, her brain could not register the information. She was stunned for several minutes, then began to rub her eyes, then slapped herself in the face and finally pinched her hand hard and even screamed in pain.

When she realized that she really was not sleeping or dreaming, she just moved mechanically and handed me the products, charged me and then took me out of the store and ran off like she was crazy, while flailing her arms exaggeratedly and screaming "Mrs. Cinzia" every few steps.

I checked the time and there's still just over 40 minutes left before the meeting, so I headed to a special supply store to buy the other things I will need.

I entered the store and was greeted by a man dressed in a formal business suit. I asked him about the [Normal Competition] and, as the maid from the VIP store had told me before, this one costs 250 SP instead of the 400 SP that the special one from the VIP store costs, so I ordered 600 since I will need 60 per person to have a full daily effect for 30 days since the effect of the normal one only lasts 12 hours, so two are needed daily for a full 24 hours.

The guy was just as incredulous as the maid from the VIP store, but I did not give him much time to recover, I finished the transaction and spent 105,000 Points. Since I saved 45,000 due to the 30% discount for being a Gold Mark, it seems that the 70% discount for first place does not apply to this store. With all those expenses, I was left with only 258,500 Points.

I checked the time and there are only about 20 minutes left before the meeting, so I headed to the plaza on the first floor to get there a little earlier.

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[T/N: I seriously recommend everyone to check out the fanfiction "Rapturous Rhapsody"!!! It's awesome! you can find it here on Webnovel. You won't regret it Dattebayo!! Also to you impatient readers, the MC is male.. WARNING; no Yuri and Harem haters]