The next morning, Lynn visited my house. She held a big plastic bag as she entered the living room. Putting down that bag, she proceeded to sit on the table where I and my mom were eating. The girl with no shame helped herself to some toast like it"s her own house. Mom lightly chuckled at her actions, clearly amused.
As I finished eating, I can"t help but notice her motives.
"It must be no good if you directly come to my house early in the morning."
"How rude. I already brought your new Xbox, you know."
"Really?"
I stood up and opened the plastic bag. It"s true; it"s the new Xbox 360 S game console that was newly developed by Microsoft. Although, it was only supposed to be released on June 18. There"s still more than 2 weeks remaining before its public release...
But suddenly, I recalled that this girl might be insanely rich, so it"s not a strange thing for her if she gets something before it is released to the public.
However, this means... I squinted my eyes at her.
"In exchange..."
I knew it the moment Lynn"s eyes sparkled.
"... I found these on the web and thought that maybe we should take a look? I already booked the flights, so don"t worry... Please don"t glare at me like that!"
I sighed, taking the phone from her hands.
"Hammer challenge: Lift the hammer in the crater and win old Harry"s old collection of toys. 100% Impossible Challenge."
After reading it, I looked weirdly at Lynn. She was grinning from ear to ear, showing me two rows of white teeth.
"If you want the toys that badly..."
"Ththat"s not it! Read it carefully! See? See? It said "impossible to lift". You know what this means, right?!"
"Someone glued it there?"
"N-noooo... please, just agree, okay? I already called the driver..."
In the end, it was up to me again to decide. I sighed, knowing full well that she won"t stop giving me those looks until I agreed. I was forced to join her antics again.
"Good grief."
7 hours later, we arrived in a town called Puente Antiguo in New Mexico. It has a semi-arid climate, a small town in the middle of nowhere with only a rough road connecting it to the big cities.
We are in an off-road vehicle, a white Lamborghini LM002. The driver"s still the same butler. Then from the town of Puente Antiguo, we continued heading west, traveling nearly 50 miles until we finally saw the crater. It was a really huge crater with a depth of approximately 2-3 meters. Surrounding it were the cars of merry locals partic.i.p.ating in the said challenge.
Our vehicle stopped just outside the crater, Lynn and I got off respectively. Not wasting any more time, Lynn immediately jumped to the crater. I had to secretly cast [Feather Fall] because of it. I followed after her.
In the center of the crater was a single hammer stuck on a protruding stone.
We watched as the locals wrapped it in a chain connected in an old pickup truck. After that, the truck suddenly accelerated, pulling the chains into a full stretch. However, the hammer didn"t budge in the least. Instead, it was the truck that crumbled; its rear end gave up as it was ripped apart.
"That is one strong hammer." Lynn exclaimed.
"Or a lot of superglue."
"Shh. Now, do your thing."
"What thing? What are you talking about?" As I gave a half-hearted answer, Lynn glared at me.
"Your magic! Come on, work your magic!"
"Alright, alright. Don"t shout. Good grief."
I carefully observed the hammer. On first glance, it looks like a typical war-hammer used by the barbarians in the magical world. But the thing is, the hammer contained a lot of magical power visible even without me using mana observation magic.
"Interesting."
Despite stealthily casting a tier 5 [Mana Seer] magic, the most I can observe is the ma.s.sive amount of magical power imbued on each writing on the hammer. I deactivated the magic, and then I switched to unique tier [All-seer eyes], mainly used by the dragons. It was this magic that I used when I previously inspected the whole world along with [Clairvoyance]. (see on prologue)
"s.h.i.t. This really is interesting."
What I saw through the magic was the tiny amount of G.o.d-powers imbued on the hammer itself. What is G.o.d-power, you ask? In simplest terms, it was a restriction. A divine order, so to speak. It was an unbreakable type of magic that can only be broken by the same G.o.d-powers or stronger. The reason why G.o.ds doesn"t directly meddle in human affairs is that usage of G.o.d-powers can potentially harm that world in the process.
I smiled bitterly. No matter how powerful I can be, even if I can destroy this Earth single-handedly, I am still no match against G.o.d-powers. It is my limitation as an ordinary being.
I might"ve had a chance if I would perform a G.o.dhood ascension ceremony right now, but I choose to refuse. I don"t really want to have a huge responsibility (burden) just because of some "G.o.d" t.i.tle. I don"t plan on ascending right now.
Nevertheless, I would lie to myself if I said I am not curious about this thing at all. I mean ffs a G.o.d just dropped a hammer from the sky and left no one to watch it (although he sealed it). For what reason? What is he possibly trying to achieve? Is this some kind of a sign for world invasion? I would like to meet this s.p.u.n.ky G.o.d if possible and tell him to go f*ck off another world instead. I"ve already got my hands full with just one Lynn, good grief.
"Hey, it"s time to go. I can"t do anything with this thing."
"Eh? There"s something you can"t do?"
"Oi, oi. Don"t just a.s.sume that I"m omnipotent like a G.o.d. I just said that I"m still not a G.o.d, didn"t I?" I shrugged in annoyance as I pulled Lynn away from the crater. But before we completely leave, I stopped on the edge of the crater.
"?!"
Just as I tried to cast marking magic to monitor the situation day and night, I instantly canceled it. I frantically looked around, trying to find that penetrating gaze that I felt a while back. Seeing no one suspicious, I casted my gaze downwards.
"You can see me, can"t you?" I spoke in my mind.
I waited for a reply while disregarding Lynn"s calls.
After a few moments, a short reply was transmitted in my mind.