After exiting the chat group, Souta turned his attention to the Divine Spark.
His heart pounded with excitement, his eyes filled with anticipation and eagerness.
After all... he was about to become a god! The temptation was simply too overwhelming.
So overwhelming that an ordinary person might even be willing to eat dirt for it.
Of course, compared to the average person, Souta had a much steadier mindset.
After all, he was already immortal, capable of manipulating time, generating fire and ice, creating matter, regenerating his body, punching with a force of four or five tons, and sprinting 100 meters in three seconds—just to name a few!
Having accumulated so much power, his mentality had been tempered time and time again, allowing him to handle temptation with a bit more restraint.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Souta wasted no time and addressed the system.
"System, use the Divine Spark."
The system immediately complied with his request.
A radiant light shot out from his phone, merging into Souta's body.
He felt as if a new organ had formed within him—a strange sensation, but not an uncomfortable one.
Then, as if bathed in warm sunlight, a cozy, soothing warmth spread throughout his entire body.
The warmth slowly seeped into his very soul, forming a space within it—a realm between the real and the illusory.
As the space took shape, Souta suddenly felt as though his perception had become sharper, clearer.
It was an indescribable feeling, but it was as if his mental awareness had surged dramatically.
Or perhaps... his spiritual strength had undergone a massive leap.
Even with his eyes closed, Souta could now sense every detail of his small apartment.
His body had developed a new organ—one that could receive and process information before feeding it to his brain.
Souta heard someone calling his name.
The voice echoed inside that illusory-yet-real space within his soul.
"Could this be what they call... a Divine Realm?"
Souta closed his eyes and focused.
Immediately, he became aware of a new instinct—the ability to immerse his consciousness into his soul space.
Following this instinct, he took control of the space within himself.
And suddenly, the voice calling his name grew louder!
Souta sharpened his focus, listening closely.
A vivid image appeared in his mind—a stylishly dressed woman in her twenties stood outside an apartment door, glancing toward the security lock as she muttered,
"Souta, that guy's turning into more and more of a shut-in... Hasn't stepped out in months. So sad. Four plates of steamed goose heart!"
He immediately recognized her—it was his neighbor.
They were acquaintances, but their relationship was fairly indifferent.
But hold on a second—was she really talking smack about him behind his back!?
How could she just casually roast him like that?!
Souta was so furious that he began to tremble. His entire body broke out in cold sweat in the middle of summer, his limbs turning ice cold...
A moment later, he withdrew from the listening state and reopened his eyes.
It seemed like he could disable this ability whenever he didn't want to hear anything.
"I can hear people calling my name... So this must be linked to faith?"
Souta suddenly felt intrigued.
He immediately grabbed his system phone and tagged Kurumi.
Souta: "@Tokisaki Kurumi. Kurumi, try calling my name."
Tokisaki Kurumi: "???"
Tokisaki Kurumi: "Souta?"
Souta: "Not in the chat. I mean out loud, with your voice."
Tokisaki Kurumi: "Oh my, Souta-kun, what a bold request. You want me to call out to you?"
Tokisaki Kurumi: "This kind of thing... should be said in private, don't you think? Whatever voice you want to hear, I can do it. I'll make sure it tingles you to your very core~"
Rin Tohsaka: "@Souta. You and the group members... have this kind of relationship!?"
Souta: "Don't misunderstand! Kurumi just likes to joke around."
Souta: "Anyway, since you're all here, try calling my name. I just used the Divine Spark, and apparently, I can sense when someone calls me. Give it a shot, and let's see if I can hear it."
Rin Tohsaka: "Divine Spark!? Wait... You guys finished the mission!?"
Come to think of it...
He and Kurumi had only discussed Honjo Nia in the chat. They hadn't actually mentioned whether they had completed the mission.
Souta: "Yeah, we finished it. Shiroyasha has already returned to her world."
Altair: "Congratulations. Kurumi-san, your wish has finally been fulfilled."
Tokisaki Kurumi: "Thank you."
Tokisaki Kurumi: "@Altair. By the way, Altair, I have a request."
Altair: "What is it?"
Tokisaki Kurumi: "I've received a solo rescue mission. To complete it, I need to deal with a guy named Isaac. He's the founder of DEM Industries, which has been hunting Spirits. Killing him alone won't change the bigger picture, so I'd rather just alter his memory and have him clean up DEM from the inside."
Tokisaki Kurumi: "Altair, didn't you recently gain memory alteration abilities? Upload a few one-time-use cards, and I'll buy them to test them out."
Reading this, Souta felt speechless.
He hadn't expected Kurumi to prioritize hunting down Isaac over finding Honjou Nia.
He'd thought she was just joking before.
But this decision was certainly efficient.
DEM's headquarters had a fixed location.
Isaac's position was obvious.
Compared to searching for Honjo Nia, dealing with Isaac was much easier.
It was the classic "I can't solve the problem, so I'll just solve you instead" approach.
Souta silently mourned for Isaac.
Not that he had any sympathy for the guy.
Putting aside the five years of brutal torture Honjo Nia endured, Isaac was also one of the masterminds responsible for over a hundred million deaths.
He could go to hell a thousand times over and it still wouldn't be enough.
Altair: "No problem. You've helped me before, Kurumi-san, so forget buying them—I'll just gift you a few one-time-use cards."
Tokisaki Kurumi: "No. If you personally hand them over, that counts as direct assistance, which violates the solo mission rules. Unless you had given them to me before the mission started, it won't work."
Altair: "Understood."
Soon, Altair uploaded several Memory Alteration Cards to the shop.
Curious, Souta checked their price—50 points per card.
Tokisaki Kurumi: "Thanks. Oh, and Souta, I already called your name. Did you hear it?"
Rin Tohsaka: "I called too."
Altair: "I called three times."
Souta frowned slightly.
Three people had called him, yet he felt nothing.
As expected, there were limitations.
Souta: "Nothing. Looks like there's a range limit. I definitely can't sense calls from another world."
Tokisaki Kurumi: "My guess is that it's tied to your power level. You've only just obtained your Divine Spark and haven't even gathered divine power yet. Your range is probably tiny. But this ability will likely evolve over time."
Tokisaki Kurumi: "Anyway, I'm off to complete my mission."