—Here. It’s the stone tablet.
“Thank you.”
With the last of the Cheongan tribe, I was finally able to collect all seven stone tablets.
Contrary to Ubuta’s words that the giants would hand over the tablets willingly if I showed my technique, they came at me with fighting spirit and attacked.
Kuwung!
—Strong. Overwhelming. Indeed.
—…Challenger. Is it a monster?
—If we fight more, our bodies will break.
Of course, after I smashed them half to pieces, they gave me the tablets on their own.
[Hahaha]
[Is this the last one?]
[The end?]
[Wow, we’ve been at it for a long time today.]
[Do we have everything?]
“Yes. I’ve got it all. Now I’ll say the Prayer of Rest once, and if there’s nothing special, I’ll end the broadcast.”
It’s already been over 30 hours since I started the broadcast.
Just today? I’ve already tested the Kraken’s Spear with Yena and went for the fourth job change.
Also, after obtaining the Holy Seal through the Job Change Master, I returned to Elbrite to do some internal organization, and while looking for the floating island Aether, I defeated a Demon Beast wave.
In Aether, after spending some time with Jeokhye and Nokju while exploring the Main Temple, I traveled across various tribes and gathered all seven stone tablets.
It was an incredibly eventful session for a single broadcast.
Of course, Deoen is conducted in a surface state of sleep, so even with the long hours, physical fatigue isn’t too great.
However, after doing it for a long time, mental fatigue sets in, and things are piling up in reality.
[Oh no]
[No way!!]
[Already??]
[But we have been at it for a long time.]
[This broadcast was really substantial.]
[Wow, broadcast time 30 hours 25 minutes, what the heck? Haha]
[You’ve worked hard, Lily.]
[T_T]
[The comeback broadcast is quite rich.]
[Wow, I’ve done my job twice but I’m still going.]
[Great job, Lily.]
“Are we going to pray now?”
“Probably? After I pray, I think I’ll return briefly to my original world.”
“Got it.”
Jeokhye nodded obediently.
Come to think of it, Deoen’s residents call the users Outsiders, but to them, even those residents are Outsiders.
“When will you come back?”
“Who knows? It might take a day or two at least.”
“Not that long then. Just in time, I have things to do at the Main Temple. Go and come back.”
“Why suddenly act all serious?”
“…”
[Hahaha]
[Too funny]
[I was intimidated by the giants… ]
Tuuuk.
Jeokhye and I land on the mountain’s peak, near the Celestial Being’s head.
The peak featured a massive circle drawn on gray rock, dense with countless writings within.
Just as the Cheongan tribe had said.
“That looks like the place to insert them.”
There were already seven huge grooves in the circle that seemed to have been used many times.
It’s said that giants commonly gather to offer the Prayer of Rest, so I guess we can do the same this time.
Originally, the leaders of each tribe bring the stone tablets, but since there are so many tribes, the individuals inserting the tablets change each time.
It is said that it will change.
“Let’s just try fitting it in.”
Clank.
I placed the stone tablet that I held with the holy power directly into the slot.
Despite the stones being all different sizes, they fit in so naturally.
Thud!
Thud!
“I haven’t seen the Heuk-an tribe.”
“That’s a relief. It would be troublesome if they refused to hand over the stone for no good reason.”
Thud!
“I didn’t intentionally avoid them. How could I not have seen them even once?”
Each tribe has one stone tablet, and as you go around the body of the celestial being, there are many tribes with overlapping colors.
It took a lot of time to find the tribes because of that.
However, no matter how I looked around, I couldn’t find the Heuk-an tribe.
Thud!
“That’s only natural, right?”
“Huh?”
“The Heuk-an tribe is a noble tribe. The nobles of the land of the celestial being.”
Thud!
Hoo…
“The Da-cheon-gye is a place where parts of various worlds have broken off and merged. Just like the Green Dragon Valley was separated from the main temple, this place must have been separated from the Heuk-an tribe’s territory.”
“Hmm. But didn’t they say nobles can travel back and forth?”
“Nobles are few. Even giants like me who can move around aren’t many within the Heuk-an tribe.”
The giants would naturally be fewer in number due to their racial characteristics.
Thud!
Clack, clack!
“They’re just living in a separate world. Just like they used to.”
“But why is it so hard if these hands are doing all the moving?”
“…”
[Lololol]
[That’s true]
[Nobles are special indeed]
[With just the sound, I thought it was a frog moving]
[Huh? Lmao]
Jeokhye puffs as she taps the stone tablet lightly.
“I moved two myself.”
“Touching a stone that was already in the moving state counts as moving it, right?”
“…”
“Anyway, let’s get started.”
Screech.
I placed all seven stone tablets into the slots.
As the different stories inscribed on the tablets interlocked, a loud noise erupted, and a large stone tablet rose in the center.
Unlike the seven tablets, this one looked bigger and more special.
Inside the tablet, letters so small they looked like dots to an ordinary person were inscribed.
As the seven stone tablets surrounding it emitted light, new letters began to be recorded.
The content was…
“…”
“Can you read it? The giant’s script is really strange, making it hard to read…”
“Today, upon waking under the compassion of the God of Giants, I could not help but feel joy. The giants gathered together. And they bowed their heads toward the land.”
‘Always. Thank. You. Oh, God.’
“…?”
“When night fell, the celestial being smiled happily at the giants. And said.”
‘My. Children. Thank you. Today as well.’
“…Is that what’s written?”
“The dream of the celestial being.”
Swoosh.
The holy power residing in my eyes fades away.
It calms down.
“I’m guiding the celestial being to have a happy dream. It’s the ‘Prayer of Rest’ they mentioned.”
The content is simple.
The celestial being lovingly smiles while looking after the giants, and the giants express their gratitude in return for the deity’s grace.
A beautiful sight of helping each other.
Perhaps it is about changing the dreams for a celestial being who is caught in pain by endlessly repeating memories from long ago.
It’s a natural thing as a believer and child of the deity, but…
[?]
[Huh?]
[Something seems off.]
“However, the giants actually requested the ‘liberation’ of rest.”
Rest.
Creating a peaceful and stable dream is already something the giants were doing.
But what they wanted was ‘liberation.’
The liberation of the ‘rest’ they had repeatedly experienced.
Did I miss something?
“…Hmm.”
Checking the collapse rate.
[Collapse Rate – 79%]
The dream’s collapse rate has dropped by 8%.
The pulse of the celestial being that we are currently stepping on is also clearer, indicating that the Prayer of Rest has had an effect.
“Let’s summarize.”
Breathing magical power into the air, I write letters as if on a chalkboard.
1. The Prayer of Rest lowers the collapse rate of the dream and stabilizes the celestial being.
2. When the collapse rate reaches 100%, the dream ends, the celestial being awakens, and the world’s changes begin.
3. The giants wish for the liberation of ‘rest’…
“First, looking at point 1, from the user’s perspective who needs to clear the world quest, the Prayer of Rest isn’t necessary. It would actually be a hindrance.”
The user’s goal is to accumulate achievements before the dream collapses.
Unless praying grants time to accumulate achievements, a continued prayer must be stopped to clear the quest.
“And next, point 2. Change. Somehow, the probability of the direction of the change varying according to the inscriptions on the stone is high.”
The dreams of the celestial being can be influenced by the giants’ stones.
If the content of the stone can be modified, the dreams of the celestial being could be changed at will.
[Oh]
[Let’s change it, let’s change it.]
[Reading the stone is more fascinating, haha!]
[Can Lily not change it?]
“However, if I change it recklessly, what kind of change will happen is uncertain.”
If she, with the strength of a Kraken, goes berserk, it could just birth another disaster.
Moreover, the celestial being is a ‘noble’ recognized by Aether, so there’s a possibility of invading Aether or other worlds.
It can’t be recklessly altered without certain information.
“And for point 3… liberation. It’s vague.”
Liberating rest?
From the perspective of users trying to clear the quest, it’s a natural thing, but that’s not something the giants would utter.
It’s not like that.
If there is a betrayer among the giants and the purpose is to anger the celestial being, I don’t know, but it could be possible.
Right now, from what I see, all the giants are faithfully following the celestial being.
Swish.
A short, red hand rises.
“Speak.”
“That ‘liberation’ thing, which one are you talking about, the celestial being or the giants? From what I see, it seems like the giants.”
“That’s…”
[Oh?]
[Isn’t it the giants?]
[Jeokhye is sharp.]
[Didn’t they say they’re liberating the celestial being?]
[Isn’t it the giants? They don’t want to do it anymore.]
[Celesial being?]
Whether it is the giants or the celestial being that will be liberated.
The celestial being has awoken and fallen asleep in a cycle of almost 1,000 years.
No matter how much the giants pray, it has always awakened at the end of the cycle.
I recalled the groove I saw earlier.
The traces of having been used at least tens of thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of times.
If those attempts ultimately came back to mean nothing…
“…Sufficiently. They must want to be liberated.”
I don’t know how many prayers of rest they have performed, but they must have prayed since that day the celestial being first fell into a nightmare.
‘Countlessly.’
By then, the elders who have lived for a long time might think like this.
Until when.
“When must we pray?”
‘We have prayed countless times already.’
‘The chieftains from distant tribes gather frequently to chant prayers, refining the words on the monument each time.’
‘Yet, despite that, the celestial being has always awoken in anger.’
“‘Rest’ cannot be achieved.”
It’s futile.
“So, what do you think?”
“…Sounds plausible.”
“Right?! This celestial being is subtly a tyrant. Although I have only lived for 700 years and haven’t seen it, I’ve heard that when the celestial being awakens, the entire heavenly realm shakes.”
“But the hearts of the giants are sincere.”
They truly believe in and respect the celestial being.
So for them, the liberation of rest is more likely closer to the ‘celestial being’ than to the giants.
[What should we do?]
[Can’t we just smash it?]
[It’s complicated.]
[Hmm.]
“First, let’s start with something simple.”
I turn my head.
The seven monuments reflecting the colors of each tribe.
I add additional words to the monument I particularly noticed.
├“Always. Thank. You. God. O Divine One. Actually. For a long time. I have been in love with you…
Kugugung!
[Collapse – 85%]
“Huh.”
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