Breya was a world with a particularly large number of people worshipping recorded gods, influencing their civilization such that there were lots of technology and culture related to those gods. At the same time, a world where holy power belonging to priests and priestesses rivalled political power and influence.
With the same members that had journeyed to Lanpas, Yu IlHan arrived at the holy empire of Elforce, where the faction worshipping the goddess of beauty, Leytna, had the most say. Perhaps, as a sign of devotion to the goddess of beauty, there were a lot of pink-colored buildings.
"Lady maiden, hello!"
"Hi!"
"Holy empire, huh….."
"Well, how is it!"
Yu IlHan was looking around when Na YuNa asked as she moved her face close to him. Yu IlHan pushed her forehead away and replied nonchalantly.
"It's similar to Earth."
"Ah, it's the holy maiden!"
"Hello! ... well~ look at this~."
Yu IlHan listened to Na YuNa's words and looked at the surroundings with widened eyes. However, he couldn't comprehend what she meant.
"Lady maiden!"
"Hi!"
The people walking around didn't have any special type of clothing either…. no, wait.
"Lady maiden!"
"It really is the holy maiden!"
"...You're quite popular here."
"Heheh, that's it!"
With a proud face, Na YuNa pushed out her chest in a proud manner. It looks like she had wanted him to notice that from the beginning. Really, she was no different from an elementary schooler.
"I am treated like this here~! So please give me some love too in the future, Mr. IlHan~!"
"You don't have to worry about me, so play tic tac toe with the guys here all you want."
"Hiin~ that's not it..."
Leaving aside the dejected Na YuNa, Yu IlHan walked the streets with Yumir. Even the food from the banquet in Lanpas was splendid. Eating the local specialties was one of the true joys of travelling! He was planning to enjoy everything that he wouldn't be able to back home.
[Looks like Na YuNa is quite dejected, but… well, you must be thinking about food.] (Erta)
[Even if IlHan falls into hell, he'll look for tasty food and special metals first.] (Liera)
[I'd find it fortunate if he did not plan to enhance the flames in hell with the Eternal Flame.] (Spiera)
"You guys are too much!"
Leaving aside Liera, who had lived with him for the longest time, even Erta and Spiera knew him too well! While being shocked, Yu IlHan silently added hell tourism to his bucket list.
"Give me two of these Kavur ice creams."
"Two Kavurs, right up."
Then, he ordered two ice creams from the store in front of him, in a pronunciation more fluent than the locals and shared the ice cream with Yumir.
"Dad, this is delicious!"
"That's true."
It looked like some kind of fruit or spices unique to this world were added to it. Yu IlHan thought that he had achieved his objective just by experiencing a new taste. Then, he bought two more ice creams before returning to Kang MiRae and Na YuNa.
"Cheer up with this. There are plenty of people in the world, other than me, who would be delighted to play with you."
"I want to play with you though….. Ah, so nice."
Even while grumbling, Na YuNa deliciously ate the ice cream Yu IlHan gave her. Kang MiRae looked at the scene with dumbfounded eyes, but she too fell silent as the ice cream was very good. Yu IlHan decided to take the ingredients of this Kavur ice cream, or whatever it was called, back to Earth.
"So, what do I need to do here? What, do I need to fight a golem made of holy stones now or something?"
"And if I say yes?"
"Of course, I'd welcome it. Afterwards, the holy stones will all be mine."
Now, Yu IlHan had the confidence to defeat golems with his eyes closed. The drill... the Death Driver and the Pile Bunker were plenty strong – he had confirmed that! Moreover, he had some grenades that made use of the magic gunpowder and the Giant's Rubber Band, so he had nothing to be afraid of.
"I don't want to. It was the worst battle, with me unable to do anything."
"Me too."
Unintentionally, it looked like the battle with the Keshna Golem ended up as a sort of trauma for Kang MiRae and Yumir. Yu IlHan sought to change topics and urged Na YuNa.
"So, what is it?"
"You'll know if you come with me!"
Na YuNa pulled on Yu IlHan's sleeve. Yu IlHan couldn't hide his worry; for now, he decided to follow her obediently. It should at least be better than his time in Lanpas, right?
There was a time when he thought that was true.
"Tada!"
The place Na YuNa led him to was a ruin.
"It's here!"
"What's here?"
Yu IlHan asked back as he looked around.
He estimated that there was something important, as they had entered deep into the forest guarded by numerous priests and priestesses along with paladins. And when they arrived, it was a ruin; one that looked like it used to have a slightly very tall building!
The building itself looked like it was built a considerable amount of time ago, but from the context of the request, he guessed that it wasn't too long ago that it collapsed. While his questions grew bigger and bigger, Na YuNa opened her mouth.
"This place is a super high-tier sacred place that is said to be where the goddess of beauty, Leyta, had once descended upon. It is also the location where the original Leyta Temple was built, as well as where the baptism ceremonies were carried out.... In any case, you can consider it the most important place in our church."
"I have two questions."
"If you kiss me, then I'll ans... ouchouchouchouchouch."
Yu IlHan pinched Na YuNa's soft cheeks so it would leave a faint mark, and asked with a nonchalant face. It wasn't like he didn't want to ask how a recorded god descended on the land, but for now, he focused on the necessary information first.
"Why is such a place in a mess?"
"Not long ago, there was a grand battle with a super-sized 4th-class monster over level 250. There were so many casualties that we decided to lure it to this place to fight it. This is because the goddess's holy power is amplified in this place~."
A shocking reason was returned to him. He regretted pinching Na YuNa's cheeks and spoke in a slightly difficult voice.
"....It's fortunate that you're safe, Miss Na YuNa."
"I'm alright. I'm a VVVIP, so I won't die unless everyone else does. However..."
Unlike the usual her, she was making some frightening remarks with a dark expression. Yu IlHan could guess what came after that. He quickly spoke and prevented her from speaking.
"So, what do you want me to do here?"
"Building the Great Temple again."
He didn't know she would actually request that, even though he had guessed that it might be that from mid-way through the story!
"There are a lot of elements needed to build the Great Temple, and the only craftsman who satisfies all the conditions while enhancing the temple even further is you, Mr. IlHan."
"Well, that's definitely an important request in the viewpoint of the Leytna Church….."
Then they should call a professional construction worker, why did they call for him!
"If you made such a large mansion, then you can do it! I believe in you~!"
"Such a baseless belief always ruins everything!"
Yu IlHan sighed and looked around the place. Just from the size of the ruins, he could estimate the size of the structure. It looked like this wouldn't end in just one or two days. Well, it would be within his personality to refuse, but...
'I want the holy stones.'
Of course, this would be after he had deepened his knowledge of magic engineering, but he had the thought that he might be able to make an amazing item if he used the holy stones. Perhaps at the level of Bittersweet persona.... or perhaps, even better ones.
There was one other thing that was tugging on his mind, but Yu IlHan didn't acknowledge that, so that was nulled. He opened his mouth and spoke.
"Okay. I'll do it. I have a few conditions, though."
"Yeah~!"
Yu IlHan first wanted to meet the overseer of the project. Only after he talked with that person and received some payment up front was he willing to talk about working environments.
Or so he thought, but.
"I'm the overseer!"
"How!"
"Because I'm the holy maiden!"
Yu IlHan felt unpleasant with Na YuNa's uselessly blinding smile. Although he did think that this world had quite a lot of loose screws, where Na YuNa was acknowledged and relied on, he....
"Okay, then. Let's negotiate now."
He thought that if it was her, he would be able to rip her off more, so it wasn't a bad thing!
"Hiik! Mr. IlHan, you have a scary expression! MiRae, help me!"
"Mr. IlHan, if it's a negotiation, then leave it to me. Ripping more off others is my specialty."
"Traitor~~!"
The negotiation went smoothly. Yu IlHan faced the ruins again after negotiating with tens of sheets of blueprints of the temple, the human resources support, work times, and the quality of the holy stones for rewards.
Not to mention the debris around the place, there was also the flipped land. He felt stifled just by watching.
"You're not going to use this debris somewhere, right?"
"We aren't, but what…."
Yu IlHan took a deep breath and lifted his hand. And with that, a portion of the debris on the site straight up disappeared. He had collected them into his inventory.
"Wow!"
"Dad is amazing!"
In fact, there was no need for Yu IlHan to raise his hand either. All the ruined parts within Yu IlHan's range of remote collection all entered Yu IlHan's inventory without a single speck of sand remaining. The history, the weight, the sadness, the resentment – disappeared as well.
The group dumbfoundedly watched as Yu IlHan proceeded forward while collecting everything into his inventory like a vacuum cleaner. They knew of Yu IlHan's ability, but they were still surprised.
It didn't end there, and at the same time, Yu IlHan flattened the cracked lands and stitched them. Some things popped out from time to time, while other things stomped on the ground and flattened them. Even though they were watching, they couldn't believe it!
"I thought it would take several days to clean up the debris…"
"I'll take the usable ones back out later."
On one side, he picked out the relatively usable ones, and those that may become usable after some work. Although they looked like a mess when they entered, when they came back out, they were all cleaned of dust and piled up neatly. Every piece looked so nice that they could be mistaken for new materials.
[Although I don't want to admit it, remote collection may just be the most optimized ability for construction and manual labour.] (Liera)
[You didn't have to say that out loud!] (Erta)
Yu IlHan worked on the materials there. The work ended not very long after.
"We still manage to make out 20% of them."
"I thought we wouldn't be able to use them again….. Thank you."
Perhaps Na YuNa had a lot of emotional attachment to the compound. She made a bright smile while stroking on an intact pillar. A smile that left a deep impression on Yu IlHan's mind.
Thinking that this location was indeed very strange, making Na YuNa look like a normal person, Yu IlHan spoke to her.
"And so? The rest of the materials?"
"Ah."
She looked like she had thought up something at Yu IlHan's question, and made a proposal.
"We're making them... but if you help out, they might finish faster!"
Like that, Yu IlHan and co swapped locations again. Yu IlHan found Na YuNa's smile a little unpleasant, but decided to follow her for now. It would be better if the work were finished up quickly!
All of the materials used to build the Great Temple of the Leyta Church were the stones from the stone mountain that the church had managed for a long time.
They were extremely sturdy, with the goddess's holy power contained in them, and when they were completed in the form of a temple, even 4th-class warriors wouldn't be able to break it easily.
"Errrrrrgh!"
"Carve a little more! If we carve a little more, the temple's pillars…"
"Lady Leytna, please give me a little more power! Power to excavate this stone...!'
And so, they were trying ridiculously hard to excavate and process. Ordinary people weren't even allowed to enter here, so it was the paladins and priests that were doing the work, and the scene of them calling out to the god they worship, while struggling, was quite a sight to see.
"I'll do this. In the name of Lady Leytna...!"
"Eergh, is it halfway out now!"
"..."
Yu IlHan became speechless with the scene of lunacy in front of him. He tried to retreat backwards, but Na YuNa grabbed onto him, her eyes full of stars.
"Mr. IlHan's drill should work~!"
"…..Dammit."
With that, Yu IlHan's excavation resumed.
====
"This part simply won't budge... huh!?"
"Just where is that amazing sound coming from, what!?!!"
The gazes of the priests and paladins labouring away in the quarry had all headed towards one place for some time. There was someone who, despite being in the same place, looked very different from the others present.
"Just, what… is that....?"
"The stones are being carved out like mad! These stones are hard to break even with skills...!"
"Shut up!"
This was an era where a hundred people working together to dig out the stones, and ten people working together to carve out the stones, had become common sense. A single person was doing everything by himself as if to laugh at them!
"Uooooh!"
Yu IlHan's Death Driver and the attached bone screw spun violently. This was a drill that dug through a level 270 golem's body. On the other hand, the stones in this quarry were, in the end, just stones. Even if they contained holy power, there was no way he'd lose!
"Whoa, such a large stone was so easily…!"
"Wait, isn't that the arch in the Great Temple!? How can this be? He's processing it at the same time he's digging it out?"
In front of Yu IlHan's bold but precise control, the giant stone slabs were excavated and subsequently processed with pinpoint accuracy. They may as well be just used directly without any additional processing. Naturally, this was only possible for Yu IlHan since he had memorized the entire blueprint Na YuNa had given him!
[The skill, Excavation, has become level 51.]
Leaving aside the fact that the skill he acquired yesterday was going past level 50, it was amazing that that skill was rising so quickly again. Of course, the reason was none other than the stones containing the power of a goddess. So, Yu IlHan was unintentionally becoming an expert in the Excavation skill.
"Amazing!"
"In just ten minutes, he did more work than all of us could do in one week!"
"Don't just exclaim and work! Roarrrrr!"
As expected of Yu IlHan, who got used to labouring the more he did it, the speed at which he excavated and processed the stones became faster as well. Seeing him switch out his bone screw and break the weak parts of the stones with calculated strikes, some people even felt lightheaded.
"MiRae, here!"
"Why me too.... Thunder Strike!"
"Wind Cutter!"
Kang MiRae and Yumir were also working hard. Her lightning would break the giant stones apart, and Yumir would polish them with delicately controlled wind magic. As the two had extraordinary abilities, they could be considered the two MVPs if not for Yu IlHan.
"MiRae, next is this!"
"You're shamelessly ordering me now…..!"
"But didn't you say that you wanted to be of help to him?"
"I wasn't talking about stuff like this! When I said I wanted to help him, what I wanted was a more….. Eeeeeei!"
"Uoooooooh!"
"It broke through! The mountain has a hole now!"
"Whoa, the statue! Why is the statue that depicts the scene of Lady Leytna's descent, here?"
Of course, they couldn't surpass Yu IlHan, who made a statue with a single drill.
3 days after Yu IlHan was put to work in the quarry, the procurement of the construction materials had ended. Although there was some in-between process to delicately polish and sand them, those could be done during the course of the construction process.
"An amazing man."
"Even if he monopolized the maiden's buffs…. And there was that strange equipment too..."
"I heard that that man was the greatest architect on Earth."
"Are all architects on Earth such monsters!?"
Ignoring the priests and paladins who tried to spread rumours about him, he put all the construction materials into his inventory. Then, he shouted towards the priests and paladins who were whispering until now.
"Now, we're going over to the ruins to build the temple! You guys are coming with me!"
"Yes!"
"We shall follow you!"
For some time, Yu IlHan had become the ruler of the quarry, and everyone followed him without talking back. A mere digger, not a priest or anything belonging to the Leytna Church, had acquired the faith of everyone.
Yu IlHan's grandeur stood out even more once the construction started – A wave of his hand flattened the ground, and another flick of his wrist laid out the stones containing holy power from the goddess. The priests were even slightly excited.
"Is he also one who is blessed by the goddess? We can't explain all of this otherwise!"
"He's the person who will marry me~!"
"I'm not."
The construction of the Temple was actually easier than when he had made the Bittersweet Persona, the reason being that there was no need for him to mana craft the place.
The stones containing the goddess's holy power would influence each other and become stronger in the process of becoming a part of the temple, and would generate special properties. This wasn't something that happened with Yu IlHan's influence, but something that was just planned out to be like that. It was truly mysterious and strange.
"Recorded gods, eh…"
[I said they don't exist. I'm speaking as a person who received a blessing, so it's definitely true.] (Liera)
"I also have one, duh. The blessing from the god of smithing."
[Religion is free. Since those foolish humans would have gained strength while believing in a false god.] (Spiera)
Throughout the entire construction process, the priests stayed nearby and imbued holy power into the location and the temple itself. The temple absorbed it and emitted an even thicker pink glow, causing Yu IlHan to feel somewhat strange while touching and constructing the temple that grew stronger and stronger as if growing, just like a real life form.
This strange power, known as the holy power of a false god – a strange feeling that something faint, that he could not grasp, but was already in his hands, tugged away at his mind.
"Mr. IlHan. If you're tired, then do you want to rest with me for a bit~?"
"I'm not tired. And even if I do rest, I'll rest alone."
"Hm, it looks like you're still alright!"
"You diagnosed my exhaustion levels with just those words!?"
The reconstruction of the Great Temple, which was predicted to take at least one year, had progressed at least 30 times as fast as that.
Even the people at the Church of Leytna couldn't help but acknowledge Yu IlHan's abilities when they were initially half doubtful of Na YuNa's selection of personnel. Of course, Yu IlHan couldn't care less about what others thought of him!
"Good, now it's almost finished."
[Perhaps because you received the blessing from the god of smithing, the temple you made feels slightly special. Look at that. It's been a long time since I saw such cleanly refined holy power.] (Liera)
[Do you not get it, Liera? It's not because of the god of smithing. Yu IlHan had become used to the holy power of the goddess of beauty. Like how a physical body wields mana, he's wielding the holy power of the goddess with the stones containing the holy power.] (Spiera)
"I'm not sure about that... but if possible, I feel like I don't even want to finish and just keep continuing until I get used to this power. I feel like I can extract the power from the holy stones to the very limit if I do that."
At first, Yu IlHan had only accepted Na YuNa's request in order to get some holy stones, but working while receiving a near infinite amount of holy power within the construction site deepened his comprehension of God's power itself, and he felt like he had received plenty of rewards already.
Although he did feel this slightly while processing the boulders in the quarry into parts that would be used to construct the temple, he felt it more clearly now, during construction. These gods weren't simply just egos created from countless human wills, by the Akashic Record. He felt like there was an independent existence that was graspable, beyond that.
[Don't think about it too hard, Yu IlHan. You only need to accept what is before your eyes.] (Erta)
"It's a problem since I can't see them, duh."
If he grasped it… he felt like he could advance a little more... but for now, this was something unreachable since he didn't know how and what to 'grasp'.
While Yu IlHan's thoughts became deeper in an unexpected place in an unexpected method, the construction of the Great Temple proceeded like a ship with a smooth sail, and met its end on the 9th day of the construction.
"Mr. IlHan, you need to bring it here~!"
"Fuuup."
The statue of the goddess that Yu IlHan had carved out with all of his soul and body, with the Death Driver – The moment he placed the statue, which looked similar to Na YuNa for some reason, in the center of the temple, the entire venue was covered in a mellow pink fog.
It was a signal that everything had finally reached completion, becoming a temple containing the goddess's power! The priests and paladins that eagerly waited for this moment all started chanting prayers and heightened their holy powers, with the highest being present, Na Yuna, of course.
"Lady goddess. Please put your power to work to never let it fall any more in the future~!"
At that moment, there was a grand explosion of light! While everyone looked towards the holy maiden, Na YuNa was making a nonchalant smile. Immediately after that, pink text was etched onto the retinas of everyone present.
[The Great Temple of the goddess of beauty, Leytna, was constructed. You will receive the records of the goddess of beauty according to your contribution.]
"Wow, looks like I'll get even prettier now."
That was as expected from Na YuNa, who was engrossed in decorating herself and acknowledging her beauty. Yu IlHan snorted with a hmph, but still stealthily asked Liera.
"Did my face become a little better?"
[Your face was already perfect, though!] (Liera)
[You asked the wrong person, Yu IlHan. And there wouldn't be such immediate changes!] (Erta)
While Yu IlHan was feeling a little down, the others also started to react to the text on their retinas. As they were all those who dedicated their lives and lived for the name Leytna, their happiness and joy were incomparable to that of Yu IlHan's.
"Oh, my god. We actually succeeded in rebuilding the temple!"
"The goddess has answered our prayers. This is all thanks to..."
"The architect Yu IlHan!"
"Yu IlHan!"
But somehow, their cheers started to derail in a different direction. They should just call out to the goddess, but it looked like the charisma Yu IlHan had shown them had influenced them so much that he was praised as well! The goddess would probably feel really disappointed.
"Let's make a bronze statue of him!"
"We need to appoint him an honorary priest. Let's record today as the celebratory day for rebuilding the temple...!"
"Since the temple was rebuilt so fast, let's pray to the goddess for….. huh?"
And they realized.
The figure of the man who was with them until just now had disappeared.
***
After returning to Earth, Yu IlHan first acquired the holy stones, the rewards, from the construction request. Like how Na YuNa boasted of it as the highest-tier holy stones, it was very large and glowy, but when Na YuNa blessed it with a prayer, it started to emit a faint pink light constantly.
"The pope wanted to see you though~."
"No, I honestly don't want to get involved with that church. They all have too much emotion."
Of course, with the worst being Na YuNa in front of him. She had somehow come to him without MiRae and was smiling brightly while making Yumir sit on her lap.
"Although I'm a little bold, I'm truly being honest. I think living while letting your hearts out without hiding it is a truly great thing!"
Then, she would say a line that struck the heart as if it were nothing. Yu IlHan sighed and shrugged.
"You can live that way if you want."
"Heheh, I'm already living like that! Although, I pick the people I want to be honest in front of!"
She declared.
"I'm showing everything to you right now, too, Mr. IlHan, without hiding anything!"
"Ah, is that so?"
Yu IlHan laughed. He thought that he might be able to believe in her words now, although he was unsure about whether he would be able to do so when they first met, and laughed at himself for thinking like that.
It was just that her words nagged him somewhat, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was. Since he couldn't point it out, he decided not to think about it so deeply. Instead,
"The ones confronting you will get tired, so please refrain from yourself."
"Wao, so direct!"
"And have some lunch before you go. I'm bored since all my subordinates went to Dareu."
"Yay!"
"Yay!"
Na YuNa rejoiced while hugging Yumir. Yu IlHan was shocked at himself for offering her lunch, but also thought that it would be alright if he kept his distance. This was all thanks to the matters in Breya.
Like that, after a few days had passed with Yu IlHan and Na YuNa's relationship improving ever so slightly, a single notice was put up in Gangnam on Earth.
[Recruiting mercenaries to solve the crisis in the world, Phituroa. Please help us.]
The winds of the Earth Mercenary era had started to blow for real.