《I Am the God of Games》 Chapter 1: Newly Transmigrated God Xi Wei had transmigrated to another world. Contrary to the popular trend of unlucky fellow transmigrators who became creatures such as goblins and gale wolves, he had become a god! But Xi Wei did not think that he was all that lucky; in fact if he had the choice, he would rather switch places with those other transmigrators. Why, youd ask? Because regardless of whether their souls or bodies were reincarnated, at least they had a physical body. He, however, became a ball of light! Not only that, the divinity that he had been imbued with as the God of Games was already borderline unstable, to the point where after a while he might not even be able to maintain his form as a ball of light. Utilizing the little divine energy1 he had left, he quickly checked through his Divine Recordshis findings making him not know whether to laugh or to cry. In this fantasy world he was thrown into, there were lots of different deities, most of which were ancient, having existed for long periods of time, with him, the God of Games being relatively new and inexperienced as a god. In fact, his particular divinity was born in a very unorthodox wayfrom a past kingdom called Tierra in the mortal realm (the Prime Material Plane). The eleventh monarch of this kingdom, Yakaran the Eleventh was said to be an immoral, self-indulgent ruler, spending all his days addicted to gamesbe it card games, chess, or games like polo and soccer, without attending to internal affairs. He had always been an atheist, not believing in or liking any religion. However, in this world filled with different deities, being an atheist in itself was an act of heresy. Even he, as a monarch, would be ill-spoken of and called into question. This trait would be used as an excuse for those who coveted the throne and wanted to condemn him and renounce his claim to the throne. Stuck with the dilemma of wanting to prevent anything of the sort from happening but not wanting to bow his proud head to any religion, he thought of a perfect plan. He announced that he was a believer in the God of Games, and launched a multifaceted plan to make his people join the religion he created, giving promises and benefits to the aristocrats and by enforcing the law, somehow managing to pull together the church of the God of Games. Soon after its creation, the religion rooted itself in Tierra, growing stronger in members as the days went by, to the point where more than half of the population of the kingdom became devout believers of the religion. As the number of believers increased, the combined devotion created a god which had never existed in the pantheon beforethe God of Games! However, games are addictive. And as the religion grew, more and more people became addicted to games (especially gambling) and did not do their roles in society, causing the originally strong Tierra to fall from glory. Yakaran couldnt even pass the throne to his son before the country was split and taken over by several small countries surrounding the borders of the kingdom. Having seen the entirety of the rise and fall of Tierra, the surrounding kingdoms all severely rejected and banned the church of the God of Games, restricting all their citizens from joining the religion. The strong and thriving church fell and disbanded in the blink of an eyemost of its believers deserting the religion. Being a newly created deity, the original God of Games did not even get a chance to stabilize its divinity before the entire thing went south, causing its less than clear consciousness to dissipate, making way for a soul from Earth to take over its place and now I have to deal with this mess? Xi Wei sighed, feeling a headache comingeven though he did not even have a head in this state. My divinity isnt stable yet, and my divine energy is sparse and weak this cant get any worse, can it? That being said, Xi Wei did not rush to do anything, but instead tried his best to make heads or tails of the whole situation. First, he created a way to measure the amount of divine energy left, chalking it up to ten points. As for why he did not set it as just one point, it was because he found that the divine energy he had left actually wasnt all that shabby. If he were to convert it all to raw energy and throw it at the Mortal Plane, it would probably be able to immediately disintegrate an army of ten thousand, more or less the power of an atomic bomb. But if he wanted to stabilize his divinity, he would have to rack up at least a hundred units of divine energy first. Now he only had a few devout gamblers still believing in him, but the rate at which they generated divine energy was so underwhelming that hed even believe it if they all converted to the church of the Goddess of Fortune, Lady Fortuna, at the tip of a hat. I cant let it go on like this Xi Wei carefully checked the abilities he currently had. Deities often had a variety of different abilities, but at the very core, each deity was composed of three basic traits: Divine Grace, Divine Fury, and Divine Order. To put it simply, Divine Grace was when a deity communicates with their believers in the mortal realm, leaving behind prophecies and sacred items, or imbuing their believers with strength and power. Priests and clergy for the church could also call upon the deitys power to perform spells and divine feats. Divine Fury was a deitys power and ragea threshold that mortals could not encroach, or even think of tainting. Divine punishment was an extension of this trait. Divine Order was the basis of a deitys divinitya power so great that it was on the same level as the laws of nature itself. For example, a God of Harvest could ignore the seasons and allow crops to sprout and grow, and to control harvests and even control the weather to a certain extent, as long as it is part of their sphere of influence, deities could single-handedly affect the natural laws of the world! That being said, many deities had overlapping spheres of influence. As an example, three high-ranked deities: God of the Sun Emporio, God of Light Lyante, and Daychaser Yukov, and a whole bunch of lower-tiered deities have influence over the concept of light. As the God of Games, Xi Weis Divine Order was very ambiguous, as he had influence over everything that had to do with games, even the concept of luck and fortune. While that looks and sounds pretty amazing, if he were to compare the influence he had over these concepts, he would probably do even worse than a third-grade deity. To put it in another way, Xi Wei could extend his influence to a certain extent as a God of Beasts to control wild animals and even magical beings as animal hunting and beast fighting are considered games. However, if an actual deity of beasts had 90% influence over beasts, Xi Weis influence might not even be 1% The jack of all trades, but master of none No wonder his believers deserted his religion so easily. If they wanted specific blessings and gifts from him, they could just as easily gotten the same blessings from other gods, and maybe even stronger blessings than the ones he could have given. Youre a gambler and you want a lucky streak? You can worship Lady Fortuna. Youre a gladiator and you want a stronger body? You can worship the God of War. Youre a rider and you want to develop a stronger relationship with your mount? You can worship Bei Feng. So why would you need a bicycle1 Hmm maybe its not as worthless as I thought. If it were a local deity facing the same mess he was, theyd probably only be able to close their eyes and wait for their inevitable dissipation. But Xi Wei was different. As your standard stay-at-home otaku from Earth, the concept of games to him wasnt as simple as cards, mahjong, and colosseum fighting1 that they were used to in this world. Games are a crystallization of the efforts and innovation of generations of people, popularized by the internet and built from ground-up, known as the ninth form of art! And as a pioneer of Earth into this unfamiliar new world, Xi Wei decided to First build a system. Chapter 2: Arrival Having read a lot of isekai web novels1 before he had transmigrated, Xi Wei found that those that had supernatural abilities all had clear stages and ranks, for example: Bronze, Silver, and Gold or Sword Scholar, Sword Emperor, and Sword Sage. But coming to this world, he realized that the same could not be said for this world. Of course, it was a given that there would be a difference in prowess between different people. But in a world filled with deities, martial prowess could not completely correspond to reputation and social standing. In the Brilliant White Church which worshipped one of the Seven Heavenly FathersGod of Light Lyante, there was a seemingly complete ranking system for paladins going from Revered Knight Honorable KnightGlorious KnightDivine Knight. However, a vast majority of people ranked as Honorable Knights were aristocrats who had bought their way up to that position by buying Divine Grace Tickets. The same could be said for Glorious Knights toomany of them had achieved that rank without being qualified for it. Speaking purely in terms of ability, these people could not even hold a candle to a soldier who had earned their title as a Praised Knight through military merit. The only ones which still held some degree of authority were the Divine Knightsas that rank could only be appointed by a deity. So in words, the polarization between the rich and the poor was pretty deeply rooted in the society of this world, as however devout a peasant could be, most of their time would ultimately be consumed by the toil of everyday lifeto the point where a years worth of prayer might not even amount to an aristocrats daily offering of Illuminating Crystals. Even in this world full of deities, there would only be a few lucky ones who could grab the attention of a deity at birth and become Chosen Ones or Saints (or Saintesses) that would be sought after and revered. No matter how hardworking a person was, they would have no chance of climbing up the social ladder without the attention of a deity. This was reality after all, and deities were not powerful and all-knowing. It was understood that this sort of situation would happen in a society completely controlled by humans. However, this granted Xi Wei an opportunity to take advantage of the situation. The commoners who were exploited and looked down upon by the churches would be the ones that would become the basis for his church to grow exponentially! Perhaps it was because he was a transmigrator that Xi Wei realized that aside from the abilities the original God of Games had, he discovered that he could freely transverse the barriers between the different realms. Even though it was somewhat restricting, he had a pretty large advantage when compared to other deities. Normally, a deity would be bound by the natural laws of the world, and could only descend to the mortal realm in three ways: The first way would be through an oracle, where the deity would attach wisps of their consciousness to an item blessed by them or on an idol created in their image, or by directly entering the dreams of a devout believer1. Most prophecies and divine proclamations were passed to the mortal realm through this method. The second way would be through possession, where the deity would possess one of their Chosen Ones as their temporary vessel. The amount of power a deity would be able to utilize in this state would depend directly on the capacity of the vessel, and how much they would be able to withstand. That being said, the capacity of a Chosen One favored by a deity would not be low in the first place. The final way would be through astral projection, where the deity would temporarily project an astral shadow of themselves to the mortal realm, damaging their divinity in the process. This would be the strongest form a deity would be able to take without violating the natural laws, holding around 80% of their original power. Even a random third-grade deitys astral shadow would be able to rival a legendary warrior, let alone deities of even higher power. Putting aside the first way which did not have much battle prowess, possession could last for quite a long time. That being said, one possession would practically render a Chosen One useless. To put it into perspective, even in the churches of the Seven Heavenly Fathers which were some of the strongest churches around, the number of Chosen Ones would not amount to more than thirty! Astral projection was not only short-lasting; but it also damages the divinity of the deity who does it. To deities, their divinity was equivalent to the significance of the soul to human beings. It was of the utmost importance to a deity. Therefore, a deity would not choose to descend using this method except for as a last resort. As for directly descending to the mortal realm, it would probably be impossible to accomplish. The natural laws set by the Trinity of Creation were extremely hard to override, so much so that even the Seven Heavenly Fathers would have to pay a hefty price to get through the barriers between realms. In the best situation, their divinity would be extremely damaged, while in the worst-case scenario, they would immediately cease to exist! And despite all that, Xi Wei could bypass all of these restrictions as a transmigrator, depleting divine energy as compensation to descend his mortal self from his past life into the mortal realm. He could even call upon the power he saved in the divine realm whenever he needed it It was simply illegal! Granted the amount of energy he had in the divine realm now was pitifully low. Hmm I only have seven days worth of divine energy left Alright! Lets do this! Kennington was a small mountain village far away from the city. Remote and poor, the villagers kept to themselves and rarely strayed or moved away from the village, and no one entered the remote village as well, except for when intermarriage happened between them and the surrounding villages. There have been some youngsters who had traveled to big cities with big dreams and stars in their eyes. However in this xenophobic society, these youngsters who had no special skills other than hunting had to return miserably to the village, continuing to live in danger and poverty. That was the case, until a special guest arrived in the village three days ago. Twelve-year-old Eleena trod through large expanses of barren potato fields, her steps light and sprightly as her silver twintails swayed in tandem with her movements. Arriving at a small stone cottage out of the village, she knocked gently on the door. After a while, the faulty wooden door creaked open. Appearing at the door was a thin and lanky young man. He did not seem to be in good health, his cheeks pale and lacking color, making him look weak and sickly. Hello, Mister Xi Wei, the girl greeted, bowing her head politely. Ahh if it isnt Eleena. How is your uncle? The young man was naturally Xi Wei who had just descended to the mortal realm. However since the divine energy he had left was sparse, he couldnt waste too much on creating an avatar for himself. Finally he decided to use one point of divine energy to create a low budget avatar of himself, using what he looked like in his past life as a blueprint. He came to this village as a priest, and temporarily lived in this stone cottage through the village elders arrangements. The day before, Eleenas uncle had been grievously wounded when he went out hunting. Xi Wei was the one who stood out to heal him, bringing him back from the brink of death. Hes almost completely healed! Grandpa Elder said that your Sacred Healing Arts are even stronger than the clerics from the Brilliant White Church! She chirped happily. That goes without saying. Im a deity after all he thought. This is the tiger meat that my uncle hunted for earlier! He especially had me bring it to youits already cooked, she said, handing the basket in her hands to Xi Wei, gulping quietly. My aunts technique is superb, please try it! Xi Wei accepted the unseemingly hefty basket. It seemed that there was quite a lot of roasted meat inside. Looking over at Eleena who could hardly hide her hunger, he could not help but smile, but his smile gave people a feeling that he had kidney deficiency1. I cant finish all this by myself, why dont you help me finish this? Really?! She asked in surpriseeyes sparkling like a hungry cat. However the next moment she lowers her head and fidgets a little, remembering her how her family had warned against doing so. Wouldnt I be bothering you? She asked tentatively. Oh, then I have to finish this by myself then Xi Wei sighed, shaking his head. Eleena let out a downcast whine, lowering her head and pouting cutely. Now now, turn that frown upside down and come in. Lets eat. Yay! Ah, I mean, thank you Mister Xi Wei! Chapter 3: Eleena I only have tea, is that okay? Xi Wei had only been occupying this cottage for three days after all, so he had a lot of household items missing. In spite of that, there was no chance he would waste divine energy to create those things. Objectively speaking, these three days were the poorest and simplest Xi Wei had lived in both his lifetimes. He missed his phone, computer, and takeout dearly Its alright, Im fine with it even if you only have plain water! Eleena chirped, her silver twintails swaying rhythmically as she rocked excitedly in her chair. Pouring her a cup of tea, Xi Wei took out a dinner plate, deftly cutting up the roasted meat into smaller pieces and arranging them neatly on the plate before serving it, placing it carefully on the old wooden table. Eyes sparkling, the young girl immediately reached for a piece of meat, and was about to eat it before she noticed Xi Weis gaze on her, so she held in her excitement and started nibbling on it daintily like a well-mannered little lady. Dont mind me, please eat all you want, he couldnt help saying, smiling wryly. That wont do. My father said that I must always be polite and well-mannered, Eleena said earnestly. Oh? Xi Wei raised his brow curiously. If he remembered correctly, Eleena was an orphan who was currently living with her uncle. Ah! What do you mean by that expression Mister Xi Wei? Dont you believe in me? The little one exclaimed in dissatisfaction, the threat coming out weak due to the sauce stain at the edge of her mouth. No, I was just a little surprised that someone from such a remote village like this cared about manners, he explained. Actually the way he said this held some prejudice against Kennington Village, and if it were anyone else from the village here today Xi Wei would not have said anything of the sort. However through the past few days of interacting with Eleena, he knew that the girl was not someone who would go around running their mouth, nor was she someone who assumed the worst of someone. True to his assumptions, Eleena did not even realize the slightly demeaning context in Xi Weis words, only pouting softly and grumbling, My father had said that my mother was a noblewoman from the city, and that one day I might have a chance to meet my maternal relatives one day. Thats why I have to always be well-mannered, even though I think its very troublesome Hearing her words, Xi Wei could almost visualize the makings of a grand ten-season-120-episode soap opera about love and fantasy in his mind However as a deity, he did not have too much interest in the family matters of a mortal, so he quickly changed the topic. Eleena, what deities do the people from your village worship? he asked carefully. My father worships the God of the Hunt and the Goddess of the Forest, while Grandpa Elder and my aunt believe in the God of Harvest and the Lord of the Mountains, while my father hopes that I can worship the God of Light just like my mother did she recounted, stretching her fingers with each person she talked about. Did worshipping the God of Harvest do any good? Did the harvests in the village become more abundant? Xi Wei continued on asking. Uhm Maybe just a little..? Eleena replied absently, but judging from her expression she didnt believe in what she said either. I dont worship the God of Harvest, nor am I a part of the Natural Sect1. If you have anything to say you can just tell me, hm? Xi Wei said encouragingly, his tone gentle. It actually wasnt of any use, the harvests were even lacking last year. Grandpa Elder was almost extorted to death by the tax officer! Eleena complained indignantly. Xi Wei nodded internallythis was all to be expected. A great majority of commoners would worship two or more deities at once, dividing the little time they had left to pray and worship to different deities and causing many of them to only be shallow believers. After all, one of the prerequisites for wanting to become a true believer 1of a deity was to completely devote oneself to a deity, or two deities who had close relations with one another. This type of scattered worshipping from commoners made it so that the blessings they got from that deity would be extremely ineffective, so much so that there would not be any real difference to traditional farmers back on Earth who were at mercy of weather and natural disasters. Realistically, even if a commoner devoted all their time and devotion to worship a deity, their prayer would still be too insignificant to attract the attention of a deity. Normally no one would worship more than three deities at a time, unless they were of the same sect, or of the same deific origin. If they did, they would have been seen as excessive believers, on the same level as atheists. There were two reasons why commoners still worshipped deities even though their lives were still miserable. Firstly, they wanted to find spiritual support, and secondly it was because commoners were exploited by churcheswith the churches having almost monopolized medical treatment, knowledge, and most of the manufacturing industry. If commoners wanted to receive medical attention, they would have to worship a deity; if they encountered bandits or beasts and wanted the help of the Crusaders, they would need to worship a deity; even when they need to buy certain goods, they would have to worship specific deities Under the influence of how society worked like this, even if worshipping a deity did not help with their lives or even making it harder for them, commoners would still choose some deities to worship. Mister Xi Wei, which deities to you worship? The great Gospel of Life? Or is it the great God of Light? Eleena asked curiously, tilting her head. Your Sacred Healing Arts are so powerful, the deity youre worshipping must be extremely powerful too! Finally asking about the subject he was trying to bring up, Xi Wei gathered his spirits and nodded. I believe in an extremely rare and honorable deity! Which one? According to plan, Eleena asked curiously, her attention attracted by the prospect of an unknown deity. Have you ever heard of the God of Games? The God of Games..? Eleena shook her head in puzzlement. I have never heard of Him He is a great deity with countless spheres of influence! Unfortunately, this also became His downfall. He was so omnipotent that the other deities were jealous of Him and banned Him from expanding His influence, making it so that he had no fame in the mortal realm, Xi Wei said solemnly, I am the priest of the great and devilishly handsome God of Games, looking for someone who can become a Saintess under His name Eleena, are you willing to become the Saintess of the God of Games? Although these words sounded like a strange perverted man trying to kidnap a young girl, Xi Wei swore that he was not a pedophile. He asked her purely out of the merit that she was the one he had come into contact the most in this time he stayed in this village. At the same time, he thought that Eleena was a pure, adorable and gifted young lady who fits the bill of the Saintess he had in mind perfectly. S Saintess? Eleenas mouth hung agape as her eyes widened comically. Yes, a Saintess! If you join our church, you can immediately become our Saintess! Xi Wei continued, trying to persuade the young girl to join. Eleena considered for a while before eventually shaking her head. Im sorry Mister Xi Wei. Thank you for your goodwill but I think Im still going to worship the God of Light like my father wanted me to, she said apologetically. Is that so Xi Wei sighed heavily and hung his head, having failed to convince her. That being said, he did not continue to force the young girl to listen to him, since true belief could not be forced. A failure, huhAs expected, just three days of interaction wasnt enough to get me a Saintess he thought dejectedly. Fortunately it wasnt completely a bust, as the remaining divine energy he had left could probably last him another four days. Now he had to decide whether he should continue staying in Kennington, or to leave for another village to try his luck. Even if he could not get his church a Saintess, developing a couple of believers would be good too Uhm Eleena looked at the roasted meat still on her fork longingly, then looked back at Xi Wei. Can I still eat? she asked carefully. Eat, eat he sighed in exasperation at how the girl was acting. Im not that stingy. Chapter 4: Dragonfang Eleena, did you go visit that priest again? The village elder who had been standing at the entrance of the village asked, seeing Eleena running back to the village. Yes I did, Elder! Eleena answered happily. You better keep your distance from him, young lady, the village elder advised sternly, Hes too suspicious. But Mister Xi Wei just healed Uncle Pierre yesterday..? Eleena asked in confusion. Yes, and he didnt even ask for one copper coin in compensation. If it were a priest from the city, the amount required for them to heal an injury of that degree would be at least 300 Rions! The village elder explained patiently, nodding in response to her question. This is why I dont believe that he is a good person, child. Listen to me and dont go seeing him anymore, alright child? The village chief who was over sixty years old could already be regarded as pretty long-lived in this world. His long years had made him more knowledgeable and experienced than the average villager. If Xi Wei had asked for anything in return such as money or some young ladies from the village, he would not have been so worried, but this sort of person who seemingly wanted nothing in return was the most dangerous in his opinion. In the past there had been such a person that had appeared in one of the nearby villages. He seemed amiable and approachable, helping the villagers to fix their buildings and do their farm workit wasnt a long time before he was accepted by the innocent villagers. In a twist of events, that man turned out to be a fanatic cult member of an evil god. While he was gaining the trust of the villagers, he used nearly a years worth of time to convert the village into a sacrificial platform, killing all the villagers and sacrificing their flesh and blood overnight! When the militia had arrived, the originally lively and thriving village was reduced to a grotesque scene of corpses consumed by the subordinates of the evil god The village elder was one of the members of the militia back in the day, and he could never shake the hellish image from his head in his entire life. Mister Xi Wei isnt as bad as you say he is! Eleena refuted, pouting indignantly. The village elder was going to say something, before a sturdily built young man rushed over in a panic. Village elder, I have bad news! The young man shouted, panting as he tried to catch his breath. Our hunting team found a pile of fresh Dragonfang dung in a forest not far away from our village! Pierre said that the slaugh he cut himself off, noticing the young girl standing nearby. Changing his words quickly, he continued, The incident that happened at Hawkes village might have been done by this Dragonfang, and now it migrated to this area! It might set its sights on us Not knowing what a Dragonfang was, Eleena tilted her head curiously, listening into the conversation. What?! The village elder exclaimed, the wrinkles on his forehead growing deeper with worry. A Dragonfang was an extremely fierce and bloodthirsty creature that was somewhere between a wild animal and a magical beast. Its size was twice that of tigers and lions, with monstrous strength that could kill a boar with one blow. Growing on its tail were large, sharp bony spikes shaped like a dragons teeth. Even a team of hunters wouldnt be able to put a scratch on it. Even more worrying was the fact that these cunning and cruel monsters absolutely adored the taste of humans, especially their brains. That was the reason why they often snuck into villages to prey on the young and the weak, using the bony spikes on their tails to crack open their skulls and feast on their brains while they were still fresh; all while leaving farm animals alive. Have the hunting teams stop going out to hunt for the next few days. Tonight Ill have everyone gather up some moneyYoure a fast runner, first thing tomorrow morning, bring the money with you to Yugen city and have the crusaders from the Holy Corps send help! The village elder commanded, before he continued, Remember, you can only ask help from the Brilliant White Church or the Temple of Glory! The young man nodded in understanding, and was about to reply before alarming chimes resounded from the western lookout tower, causing both the village elder and the young mans faces to pale dramatically. The village which had been rather quiet up to that point suddenly burst into action in response, with many capable villagers coming out to protect their homes with crudely made weapons. They hadnt even done anything before the chiming abruptly stopped, and was replaced by a harrowing wail. Soon after, the wooden lookout tower collapsed, and from the ashes came a monster that looked like a grotesquely large wolf, with bony scales covering its body. It sauntered into the fray slowly with a bloody arm hanging from its maw, terrifying tail sweeping and creating clouds of dust as it shuffled closer to the village. Even though it stood on four legs, its eyes were already on eye level with an average human, showing exactly how large it was. This monster was stronger and more powerful than its kin! Run, Eleena! The village elder pushed the girl behind him and resolutely stood in front of her protectively along with the young man. At this point in time, there were villagers who had already tried to attack the Dragonfang, but the monster had enough power to snap a human into two along with their weapons in one bite, and could crush a humans head like a watermelon with a swing of its tail, not to mention those claws that could easily leave marks on the sturdiest granite. Not only that, the Dragonfang was extremely fast and agile that even the arrows that the hunters were proud of could hit it. Even if a stray arrow hit, it would be deflected by the bone plates on the monsters back, unable to cause any effective damage. The villagers had no chance. Eleena was so terrified that her knees buckled and she could barely stay standing. She knew that her presence wouldnt have been of any help, but she couldnt flee for life as the people she regarded as family were getting massacred in cold blood. After blanking out from fear for a moment, she suddenly remembered someone who could help. Mister Xi Wei! Yes, if its him Even though she didnt know what type of deity the God of Games was, but she knew that if Xi Wei could appoint a Saintess, he would definitely be someone strong! If it were him, maybe he could find a way to defeat this terrible monster! Gathering her strength to control her legs which felt like putty, she stumbled over to the stone cottage as fast as she could. One the way there, she tripped and fell quite a few times in her haste, bruising and wounding herself. This however, did not deter her from her goal as she gritted her teeth and braved on. Finally, she reached the stone cottage and knocked on the wooden door with all her might. Fortunately, the door opened as it always did, revealing Xi Weis not-so-handsome but pleasant-looking face. Before he could greet her, the girl shouted, Mister Xi Wei, please help save everyone! What happened? Xi Wei asked, perplexed by how ragged the girl looked. As a deity, Xi Wei had the ability Divine Eye, and could observe and look places and people that were not under the influence of another deity. But since he was still weak at this point, he could only see some vague images like a faulty surveillance camera. Adding onto that was the fact that using this ability required him to consume his divine energy. Therefore, he only used it once or twice on Eleena with the thoughts of wanting to understand her to convince her to join his church (and no, its not because hes a pervert) before giving up on this ability entirely. Eleena quickly explained what had happened to the village. Please save us! Eleena pleaded as she cried, If you can rescue our village, Ill do anything, even be the Saintess! Faith is not something that can be exchanged so easily, he said calmly. But Eleena was at a loss. Other than herself, she didnt have anything else that she could have used to exchange for his help. Its okay, let me go take a look alright? Honestly, Xi Wei did not have any thoughts of wanting anything in return. He had just transmigrated as a deity after all, and he still had the mentality of a human being and wanted to help the villagers out. But now my time in the mortal realm is going to become even lower, huh he thought resignedly. Chapter 5: Saintess In-Training When Eleena brought Xi Wei back to Kennington, there werent many villagers remaining. Even the ones who had been able to survive had been only able to do that due to the fact that the Dragonfang had been using them to satisfy its beastly nature to hunt and toy with its prey. It would repeatedly let the villagers it captured flee, then chase after them and capture them back to where they started, then let them go again and repeating the process all over again. The moment the villagers got mauled until they couldnt move or until it got bored of them, it would finish them in one bite! Suddenly, the Dragonfang lifted its head and fixed its gaze on the entrance of the village. It smelled the scent of new prey, but also sensed the danger that came along with it. Mister Xi Wei Eleena gripped onto his shirt as she spoke, her voice trembling with fear. Dont worry, itll be fine, Xi Wei reassured, patting her head gently. At first, the sight of the grotesque monster startled Xi Wei as there were no animals that looked as fierce as the one before it did. Immediately after, he realized that the Dragonfang did not have any magical energy. Even though it seemed like it held some degree of intelligence, at its core it could not even be counted as a magical beast. If it were enemies of this level, Xi Wei could defeat dozens of them without batting an eyelid! The Dragonfang probably knew that it was being looked down upon by its prey, so it growled in anger and pounced in their direction. Feeling a sharp gust of wind coming in his direction, Xi Wei huffed coldly and stared at the monster head-on. Without him moving even a finger, the monster was deflected by an unseen force. Most of the bone plates on the monsters body shattered, and even the spikes on its tail broke. Like a mutt that had its legs broken, the Dragonfang stumbled and let out a wail in pain. The scene that unfolded in front of her stunned Eleena to her core. She could not believe her eyes. Even though she somewhat felt that this man was strong and had the ability to defeat the Dragonfang, she did not think that he was powerful enough to defeat it without even lifting a finger! Actually, it wasnt hard to understand why the Dragonfang ended up like this. If you spit toward the sky, it would ultimately land on your own face. Even though Xi Wei was one of the weakest deities in the pantheon, he was still a god! The moment the Dragonfang attacked him, it triggered Xi Weis Divine Fury, immediately causing its attack to be countered onto itself twofold! Deities were not invincible, but if anyone wanted to challenge a deity, they would have to at least be a Legendary Warrior that was not confined by natural laws. If they did not meet that prerequisite, no number of mortals would be a match for a deity. Mister Xi Wei, its going to run away! Eleena shouted worriedly as she saw the Dragonfang limping away from the village, pulling on Xi Weis shirt. Growing up in the mountains, she knew that many wild beasts were very vengeful creatures, and if they failed to slay it, the Dragonfang would definitely come back to seek revenge. Eleena, I can only do this much, he explained, shaking his head before looking at her seriously, Do you want to avenge your family with your own hands? Eleenas eyes brightened, before dimming again and shaking her head. I cant defeat it, Im too weak Even if the Dragonfang were at the end of its rope, a young girl like Eleena still wouldnt be able to defeat it. Xi Wei nodded in agreementhad Eleena been too terrified to avenge the villagers, or had she been blinded by hatred and rushed in without any thought, he might have been truly disappointed in her. Even though she met with such a terrible fate, she could still think and weigh her options calmly without letting it get to her head. It was a valuable trait to have for a young girl who grew up in a remote village such as this. What if the God of Games could give you the power to defeat your enemies? Xi Wei coaxed patiently. Eleena remained silent for a while, before resolutely lifting her head and fixing her gaze on Xi Wei. Then I am willing to become a believer of the God of Games! Belief isnt something to only be spoken by mouth. Close your eyes and envision His name in your mind, and feel His power with your heart, he said solemnly. If he had said the same words to a person on Earth, they would probably think that he was mentally unstable, but in this world it gave off a feeling that he really knew what he was talking about. Eleena followed his instructions and closed her eyes, uttering the name of the God of Games internally. When she was at her most desperate, the deities that she had worshipped had not even offered even a bit of pity and help. It was Xi Wei that had given her salvation and reignited the sparks of hope in her heart. So at that moment, Eleena truly offered her most sincere and earnest prayer. Speak the words O Master of Games, grant us new life in your mind, his voice rang out in the silence. O Master of Games, grant us new life, Eleena muttered faithfully, as if she was sending up a prayer to the heavens. The very next moment, Xi Wei could sense pure and abundant amounts of divine energy rising from Eleena. This is it! Xi Wei thought excitedly. He immediately followed up with the steps he envisioned countless times in his mind, projecting the system which he had consumed divine energy to create into the young girl through the Path of Faith that had been opened between them due to her belief in him. It all comes down to this! Regardless of what was happening over at Xi Weis side, Eleena who had been closing her eyes saw a strange page appear in front of her in the darkness. [Player: Eleena] [Class: Saintess In-Training] [Level: 1] [Exp: 0/100] [HP: 50/50] [MP: 30/30] [Stats: 1 STR, 1 AGI, 2 INT ]1 [Skill Points: 1] Eleena opened her eyes in shock to realize that the page had not disappearedit didnt seem to be an illusion. What is this? Eleena muttered perplexedly under her breath. This is a gift from the God of Games to those who believe in Him. As long as you believe in Him, it will not disappear, he explained, smiling softly Now, quickly add a skill point to one of your skills, and slay that Dragonfang yourself. Eleena stared at Xi Wei for a while, the cogs in her mind turning for a while before she came to, and nodded enthusiastically before asking shyly, stuttering a little, H-How do I add a skill point, and what is a skill? Skills are the Sacred Arts that the God of Games has blessed you with, he explained patiently, not knowing whether he should laugh at how the girl got stuck at this point. Open the skill tree page, and use the skill point you have to activate it. The dimmed out ones mean that youre not of a high enough level or ability to learn it. How amazing Eleena started controlling the unfamiliar system clumsily, muttering in amazement. As a child who had been born and raised in the village, Eleena had learned Shumonian1 from her father before, but only knew a few words. Even so, she could still understand all the words that were written on the system page. This was due to the fact that Xi Wei used Godly Script to create these pages, and the language could be understood by everyone regardless of race or whether they were illiterate. Seeing the Dragonfang almost escape from the village, Eleena quickly chose to learn an attack skill which could be learned by a Holy Maiden at Level 1, Spear of Victory. Gathering holy divine energy into a golden spear, she shot it toward the Dragonfang, pinning the vile beast to the ground. The heavily wounded monster spasmed and struggled for a while, before it breathed its last breath and died. Eleena could finally breathe a sigh of relief. To her surprise, the corpse of the Dragonfang started emitting a soft golden glow before disappearing completely, leaving behind some shattered bone plates, some sharp teeth, and claws. What happened to the monster? Eleena asked in her astonishment. Enemies killed by using the Sacred Arts would be offered to the God of Games as a sacrifice, but sometimes enemies would leave behind some materials, as well as rewards (a.k.a loot) from Him. The rewards youre given would depend on the strength of the enemy you defeated, he explained, After that, the God of Games would give you Experience Points based on the enemies youve sacrificed. When your Experience Points bar is filled up, you would be able to level up and learn new skills, and then become even stronger! In essence, Experience Points were derived from divine energy. Upon receiving sacrifices from his believers, he would be able to split the divine energy obtained into two: 70% would be kept in his Divine Kingdom, while 30% would be given to the believer who did the sacrifice through their Path of Faith in the form of Divine Grace. As the energy continues to accumulate, the divine energy would be converted into a form of energy that could be used by humans, or in other words: leveling up. As soon as he spoke, a golden glow rose from the young girla sign that she had leveled up after she defeated the Dragonfang. Chapter 6: O Master of Games, Grant Us New Life Mister Xi Wei, I saw a skill called Raise Dead, does that mean..? Eleena, who had just leveled up looked at Xi Wei hopefully. Xi Wei knew that she wanted to bring back the villagers who had passed away. Unfortunately, it cannot be done, he said, breaking her fantasy without remorse, Raise Dead can only be used to revive believers of the God of Games, consuming their experience points too As cruel as it may sound, these are rules set between the deitieswe cant interfere. Actually, even this sort of half-baked revival was made possible by taking advantage of some loopholes left by Lord Hades. Originally, the God of Games did not have Divine Order to interfere with death, but for Xi Wei it was common knowledge for in-game characters to be able to revive after death. Thus, he decided to create a revival mechanism for his believers, and he had succeededIf his believers still believed in him at their time of death, they would be able to trigger the revival mechanism and have their souls sent for safekeeping in Xi Weis Divine Kingdom. This state was not truly a state of death, so Lord Hades who had power over the netherworld and death would not be aware that a supposedly dead soul was intercepted. If someone cast a revival spell on a believer in this state (as in their corpse) , they would be able to revive the believer while expending 10% of the experience points of the one who was revived. If no one helped them to revive, they would still directly be revived after seventy-two hours, expending 30% of their experience points. Once their experience points werent enough to revive, they would drop a levelso in a way of speaking a Level 1 believer who did not have more than 10% of experience points would truly be beyond saving, while as long as they had more than 20% of experience points, they would never really die. Excluding Lord Hades, even if the other deities tried this it wouldnt have worked, as even though it was stepping a thin line, they would definitely need a Divine Order associated with death to be able to carry it out. As the deity that had power over death itself, the faith of a living being meant nothing to Lord Hades. He wouldnt go out of his way to revive His followers like this. Had he done so, it would have greatly reduced the fear that all living beings had in death, and in the process bringing down His prestige. He wouldnt do something like that unless he was still well in the head. In turn, the revival mechanism let Xi Wei understand even further that as long as it involved things that he considered to be common sense for games, he would now be able to influence it to a certain extent. Comparing himself with the previous God of Games, he was definitely better-rounded. The girl who had just gotten hopeful started sniffling as her hopes were dashed with a bucket of cold water. Even so, she did not escape the reality of what had happened, and instead added the skill point she had just obtained onto a healing skill Healing Touch, quickly making her way over to the survivors who were hanging on by a breath. As she stretched out her hand, her palm started to emit a holy and pure glow. Had someone else been here to witness this scene, they would have even believed if someone told them she was an experienced nunhad it not been for how green +1 numbers were floating from the heads of the people lying on the floor. These villagers were not even hurt all that badly. They just had their strengths depleted being used as toys by the Dragonfangin the first place, those who were chosen to be its toys were all young villagers with more stamina. Therefore, the +1s didnt appear for much longer before they were completely healed. These villagers had already been on the brink of despair after their multiple failed attempts to escape, but in a sudden turn of events, the Dragontooth had been slain in moments. Even though the one who landed the final hit on the monster was Eleena, the villagers knew that the one who had truly saved them from the disaster was the mysterious outsider. Honorable One! The villagers who survived were all young people around twelve to fifteen years old, consisting of three boys and a girl. One of the youngsters who looked like their leader stepped shakily towards Xi Wei and kneeled down, with gut-wrenching sobs tearing from his chest as he pleaded, Our village has been completely destroyed, and there would be no use staying here! If we dont starve to death we would be devoured by vicious beasts! Please save us! Xi Wei rubbed his chin in thought. It seemed that they had mistaken him for a wandering magician, and wanted him to take them in. But seeing as he didnt have a lot of time left in the mortal realm, he gave up on the idea of getting attendants. Im sorry but I cannot take you in, but if you are willing to believe in the great God of Games, I would be able to direct a path for you, he said solemnly. The youngster was a little disappointed by his refusal, but still bowed down toward him earnestly, We are willing to worship the God of Games! The other survivors followed his example and bowed down, but since they hadnt been educated on this sort of etiquette, they looked like large frogs lying on the ground. Under Eleenas hopeful gaze, Xi Wei waited for a moment before furrowing his brow. He could not even feel a speck of divine energy coming from these boys and girls. Evidently they were just saying it, and not believing in the God of Games from the bottom of their hearts like Eleena did. Xi Wei wanted to tear apart their fa?ade, but held himself back. Back on Earth, he was an atheist, so he could more or less understand how the youngsters were feeling nowno one would open their hearts and believe in a religion that they had never heard of before with just a few words. Even marketing promoters could not do that so easily After all, even Eleena who he was most familiar with refused him back when he first requested her to become his Saintess, not to mention these youngsters which he had never even seen before! And so after thinking for a while, he said, I know that all of you have just lost all of your loved ones and helplessly looked on as they were killed mercilessly at the beasts maw. Escaping death by only a fraction, you all are in extreme pain and anguish. But even now in your bleakest moment, have the deities that you have believed in so earnestly even given you even a morsel of aid and pity? Even if you went to the churches in the city, and confided all your grief towards those priests with bloated bellies, they would only respond with perfunctory words like This was as the gods fated it to be without even the slightest bit of pity. The young boys expressions turned distressed and bitter, while the only girl other than Eleena started sobbing. Eleena came to her side, and gently pat her back comfortingly. But is that the truth? Not at all! Your existence means nothing to those high and mighty deitiesWhy would they care for you? You were deserted by them, like how humans would never care for ants that have been eaten by an anteater, these deities have never batted an eye at your suffering! Having heard all this, why do you still beg for them to feed you morsels like pitiful strays?! Xi Wei continued in a provocative tone, getting louder and louder. Rather than waiting for Divine Grace which those deities would never bless you with, why not use your own two hands to forge a path for yourself? There is no true fairness in this world, but fairness is exactly the gift that He gives to all of his believers! Why not give it a try? Use your own hands and hard-work to defy your so-called fate! As an ending to his invigorating speech, he smiled softly and said, O Master of Games, grant us new life. Chapter 7: The Doctrines True to Xi Weis assumptions, the young brats who had lacked experience were easily swayed by his words. The moment he uttered the words O Master of Games, grant us new life, the youngsters unconsciously repeated those words under their breath. The very next moment, Xi Wei felt a rush of divine energy rising to the heavens! Even though their beliefs were not as strong as a devout believer like Eleena, they already passed the threshold of shallow beliefalready becoming true believers and satisfying the conditions to activate their systems. Am I seeing things? S-Something appeared in front of me! Me too! What is this? The brats collectively gasped in astonishment as the system page appeared in front of them. Dont be afraid, this is a gift from the God of Games! Xi Wei said, his voice calming them down. Different from the Saintess System he specially crafted for Eleena, the systems they activated were just basic Footman systems1. They did not even have classes. If they were transmigrators from Earth, they would have probably guessed what to do after seeing this system pageall the basics of doing quests and killing mobs to level up, and getting to the top of the pyramid and maybe even open a harem But as this was all new to the people of this world, especially to these youngsters who had not even experienced the wide world, they would have to spend lots of time to understand and utilize the system properly. Hence, Xi Wei explained to them in detail how to use the system. Levels are a measure of strength. Everyone starts out as Level 1, and the higher this number gets the more powerful you get! When you level up, you will be rewarded skill points. Oh also, the level cap now is Level 30 before the system is updated. You can only level up by accumulating experience points which you can obtain by defeating monsters Yes, its the thing at the bottom Why are they called experience points? Have you never heard of the saying practice makes perfect? What, you havent? Uhm Your class is the direction you would develop in the future, there are four classes you can choose from: Warrior, Ranger, Mage, and Cleric. The differences between the four are mainly their abilities and their stat growth What? No you dont need to worship the Azure Sorcerer to become a mage. Why isnt there a hunter class? W-Well its almost the same as a ranger Skills are the Sacred Arts that the God of Games has blessed you with and they need to be learned slowly by leveling up. Some abilities even have stat requirements. Casting most of these skills would require you to use your MP Yes, its the blue bar. Stats are a reflection of your specsWhat are specs? Uhm, theyre your physical and mental abilities If your HP gauge empties out you will die, and if your MP gauge becomes empty you wouldnt be able to use skills. Strength determines your physical power, Agility determines your speed and reflexes, Intelligence determines your willpower and mental ability, stuff like that. Why does he have two Strength and you only have one? His arms are almost as thick as your thighs! Your starting stats are all dependent on your personal abilities, dont question it! You have no one to blame but yourself. After all, all of these technicalities were new and interesting for the youngsters that they could think of all sorts of questions from different angles, almost giving Xi Wei a headache. But also because of this, they quickly took hold of the situation. As young people who were still growing up, their ability to learn and absorb information was stronger than adults. I choose to be a mage. Ive always wanted to learn magic, said the boy who looked like their leader. I want to be a warrior! My father was a blacksmith so I know where the best swords in the village are! exclaimed the strong-looking boy who had a beginning Strength stat of two. Can I be a cleric? asked the only other girl than Eleena timidly. Then Ill be a ranger, Im great at using a slingshot! The last boy decided. And so the four youngsters quickly picked their classes. Xi Wei who had been watching the entire exchange had wanted to remind them that they could choose the same classes, but seeing how well it went he decided against it. Right, tell me your names. Seeing the four starting to examine their system pages, Xi Wei suddenly remembered to ask their names. I am Edward Kennington, said the young man who decided to be a mage. My name is Jessica Weiss, muttered the girl who chose to be a cleric. You can call me Joe Paul! declared the one who chose to be a warrior. My name is Gou Dan1, said the one who decided to be a ranger. Xi Weis eye twitched. Why is your name so special? My father was a refugee who didnt have a family name, Gou Dan confessed truthfully. Then from today on your name is Doug Ag, Xi Wei decided. For what it was worth, these people were the first believers he had developed that might become his disciples in the future. If this boy kept the name Gou Dan, his church might not even feel prestigious anymore! Gou Dan or Doug stared at Xi Wei for a moment before enthusiastically nodding his head. Snapping his fingers, he created white words that floated on the top of their heads, with their name written. This sign can only be seen by players who are believers of the God of Games. If you see anyone else who has these words floating on their heads, theyre your fellow believers! Xi Wei advised them, Even though our church does not ask for all of you to love each other, but you cant trip each other up on purpose alright? Hearing so, the five youngsters nodded and memorized that their believers were called players. Eleena was most familiar with Xi Wei, hence the one who was the least timid to speak with him stepped forward and asked, Mister Xi Wei, what are the doctrines of our church? Xi Wei spaced out momentarily as he had not thought of this, but then started speaking without thinking too much. First: Life is just a game. The moment you started believing in the God of Games, you became a player. Second: Time is money, my friend. Money can buy everything except your experience points, so you cant buy happiness with your salary1. Third: Even if you hold the responsibility of saving the world on your shoulders, why not take a breather and play some cards? Fourth: Everything that has a Health Point gauge can become Experience Points, so remember that slaying monsters are just a meansslaughter is not your goal. Fifth: Strength completely depends on the current version. Never blame yourself for the path you have chosenif you want to blame someone, then blame the cursed game designers. Sixth: Never throw away your honor as a player, or you will be punished by the God of Games! Seventh: Before you take an arrow to the knee, enjoy it with all your heart!1 Eight: The God of Games reserves the right to final interpretation of the doctrines hereinabove. Chapter 8: Guidance The five youngsters did not have any particular reaction to the doctrines he had set, given that they couldnt understand the references to games from his past life, neither could they understand the deeper meaning held in his doctrines. Xi Wei didnt rush to the next step in his plan, but instead lead the youngsters to bury the villagers dead bodies. From a certain aspect, Dragonfangs had the same instincts and mannerisms as felinesthey hunted not only because they want to fill their bellies, but also because they enjoyed the feeling of the hunt. Therefore, the villagers who had been eaten by the Dragonfang were just a minority. A majority of them were just killed for no reason. If they left the dead bodies here, the rotting flesh would probably attract the attention of carnivorous beasts nearby to feast on the corpses. In fact, Xi Wei could see a few raven-like birds circling the air above, ready to swoop for food at a moments notice. Putting aside Xi Wei who had been educated as a Chinese to respect the dead and to give them proper burials and even just thinking from the perspective of the surviving youngsters, leaving the corpses out to the brazen wilderness was not a nice feeling. With Xi Wei around, the steps which would have consumed the most timethe digging and burial of the corpsesdid not take much time to do at all. Before the sun set, they finished a simple burial ritual. A wooden cross stood at the center of what was the center of the villageand now their grave. They had not really realized it when they were occupied by the strange systems which were gifted to them, but as their families and loved ones who seemed like they were asleep were covered by dirt and completely buried, the reality finally hit them. They would never be able to see their family ever again. Eleena and Jessica both broke down into tears, while Joe and Gou Dan were sobbing quietly at the side. Even though Edward seemed to be in extreme sorrow too, he somehow held it together and did not shed a single tear. Mister Xi Wei, what should we do now? Eleena asked tentatively, having only just stopped her tears. There would be no meaning in staying here anymore. At daybreak, travel east, through Erasia and towards the county called Jonias at the boundary of the empire. There, outside the Amaranthine Gate known as the Valley of the Tragic Dead is a small town, Xi Wei instructed after seeing all their gazes on him, That will be your destination and the home base from which our church will grow our Starter Village But weve never been so far from Kennington beforeEleena said as she held her hands to her chest, her expression similar to a pigeon that was going on its first flight. There will always be a first time for everything, child. Go forth with pride, for you are blessed by the great God of Games, Xi Wei said comfortingly, petting her head. But She was still unsure. It was at this point that she realized that the gentle hand that had been petting her head disappeared. Mister Xi Wei? Eleena looked around, but she could not find him anymore. The other youngsters shook their heads as though they had just woken up from a dream. Where did the great one go? Joe asked in confusion, furrowing his brow. I have no idea. Didnt you guys see? Gou Dan scratched his head. I blanked out for a second and he was gone Jessica said in frustration. If I remember correctly Edward, who was the eldest spoke suddenly. And so their gazes all fell on him, wanting to hear what he had to say. My father and I heard this when we went to the city, but even the great archbishop did not have the qualification to appoint a Saintess, he explained slowly. Was Uncle Xi Wei a pope?! Gou Dan asked in shock. No, a pope would not wander too far from their church unless its absolutely necessary, Edward refuted, shaking his head. If I had a say in it, there would be a higher probability that he was a Chosen One but I dont feel that he was a Chosen One What are you trying to say, Edward? Joe, who was not a quick thinker, asked impatiently. Jessica seemed to have thought of something, her eyes widening in shock. Do you mean..?! Yes, I believe that Xi Wei might have been the incarnation of deities like legends say! Edward revealed his guess, not wanting to keep up the suspense. Thats not possible! Joe shook his head in disbelief. I-I think so too! Jessica said in agreement. Putting aside Eleena who had the qualifications to become a Saintess, the four of us are just ordinary villagers! Under normal circumstances, we would never be noticed by a deity, let alone be blessed with such a precious gift! If he wasnt a deity, what merits do the four of us have for him to request systems for us? Edward exclaimed passionately, fire burning in his eyes. Just think of it! Leaving behind guidance for us before disappearing the next momentisnt that exactly how deities send down oracles? Having heard Edwards deductions, the others were more or less convinced. So I was named by a deity! Gou Dan gasped, trembling with excitement. You guys cant call me Gou Dan anymore, call me Doug! Alright Gou Dan,Roger that Gou Dan,No problem Gou Dan! the other three immediately answered, while Eleena smiled wryly at the side. Gou Dan was speechless. In conclusion, I believe our path is clear. Edward coughed softly and continued seriously, Everyone, prepare and rest well. Well head east at dawn! The other four had no objections and quickly returned to their own homes, preparing themselves to leave the village they had grown up in Xi Wei who had returned to his Divine Kingdom was looking in using his Divine Eye, and he was pleasantly surprised. He completely didnt expect Edward to be able to deduce his actual identity. Even though the deduction process was a mess, he somehow managed to come to the correct answer Seeing the five youngsters get back on their feet, he smiled in relief (even though he didnt have a face in this form). As expected, choosing young people as his first believers was a good choice. Not only do they accept things better, they also could learn about new things easier. They would be able to get back on their feet more easily than people who were older than them. If thats so, then I cant lag behind. I must complete all preparations before they arrive at the town. His worries of dissipating were now gone with the wind due to his four true believers and one devout believerhe could use more divine energy to prepare for their arrival. Chapter 9: The Valley of the Tragic Dead The town outside of the Valley of the Tragic Dead was not a place that he had chosen on a whim, but a place he had chosen after meticulous planning. Kennington Village was too remote, and the surrounding forests only held regular beasts. It would not be a good place for players to grind and earn levels. Due to the fact that other deities existed, there were a lot of churches or temples built in their honor all over the Prime Material Plane, releasing divine energy like a protective barrier. If Xi Wei did not have any believers around those places, he would not be able to observe those places using his Divine Eye alone. On the other side of the spectrum, places that were not covered by divine energy were impoverished and unsuitable to become a starter village for his believers. But in the end, Xi Wei found a few passable areas after spending some time. The Valley of the Tragic Dead was exactly one of those places. In a world filled with deities, the clich sounding war of gods and demons had naturally happened before. Xi Wei did not know the details as the God of Games had not been created at the time, but from the vague marks left behind by natural laws on his Divine Records, it seemed that a lot of realms had been involved with this terrible war. It was that war that had almost reset the entire world and had caused the Three Saints of Creation to completely separate the divine realm from all the other realms and made them forbid deities from heading to other realms. As the bridge which connected the east and west continents, the Valley of the Tragic Dead which spanned up to a hundred kilometers was one of the warzones of the war. It was here that Lord Hades had slain the Primordial God of Death, and stole his power over the netherworld and death itself. When the Primordial God of Death ceased to be, it let out copious amounts of deadly miasma, killing almost half of the living beings on the Prime Material Plane. A thousand years later, the gray miasma still filled the Valley of the Tragic Dead, turning the valley into a forbidden land for all living beings, and cutting all contact between continents entirely. Xi Wei was not overconfident enough to have the players challenge the remains of the primordial god so quickly, but a rift in space caused by the miasma was formed. From this place came millions of revenants that immediately flooded the valleyeven the parts that were not covered by miasma. The number of revenants increased by the dozens each year, and their natural hate toward everything that lived and breathed made them leave the valley in hordessieging any human settlement they came across. Every year, the empire spent innumerable amounts of money to wipe out these revenants. Not that the empire didnt want to solve the root of the problem: there were no mainstream deities that held influence over death, and so they could do nothing. Even if they expended large amounts of divine energy to create protective talismans for their believers, they could only protect one or two of them from perishing in the miasma. This amount was pitifully low when compared to the revenants that filled every nook and cranny of the valley. Lord Hades was an extremely introverted deity and always kept to himself, not interacting with any other deities and by extension, not helping to deal with this problem. Ultimately the Valley of the Tragic Dead could only stay the way it was on this continent. The priests of the Brilliant White church had predicted that the miasma would dissipate on its own in three to four thousand years And that was if they were lucky. This land which was seen as poisonous and deadly by the other deities became the ideal place for Xi Wei to set up his starter villageunlimited number of monsters, imperishable resources, and he did not have to worry about affecting the ecology of this world by slaying beasts. In addition, the revenants here grew stronger from Skeletons and Zombies to the Dullahans and Zombie Dragons deep within the miasmabasically a complete chain of monsters that continued getting stronger! He did not have to worry about the players not being able to meet their match. Other than that, even though it was a shot in the dark, but since the valley was a key warzone in the war, perhaps there would be some precious loot in there as well! (Like sacred weapons or divinity fragments, for example) Even if that was not the case and there werent any other treasures in there, there would still definitely be the remains of a primordial deity! If the players could get their hands on it and sacrifice it to him, he could definitely increase his divinity by another level! But before I get ahead of myself, I must make some preparations first, he grumbled to himself, If those children traveled all the way here and had to come face to face with violence, then Id lose all my dignity as their deity. Angora Faust was the third son of the Silver Eagle Duke, Horan Faust. As the youngest child in his family, he definitely had no hope of succeeding the dukeship. That being said, the elderly duke had no plans on letting his child with noble blood become a lowly peasant. However, Angora had no talent in martial arts, and so he could not be a knight and seize glory for himself on the battlefield. Even though he worshipped the God of War Kratos along with his father, he was only a shallow believer who could not even use Battle Qi no matter how hard he triedand so he could not become a priest in the Temple of Glory either. As he became, his older brother who had always disliked him awakened the power of Battle Qi without even trying hard and beat him up, stepping all over his pride. That was the last straw for him to completely lose faith in Kratos, becoming a non-believer without anyone knowing. Thankfully, the duke wasnt a heartless man. After concluding that Angora did not have any other talents, he specially used his connections to give Angora a position as a baron, along with his own piece of land. Even if it was a small town outside of Amaranthine Gate that was feared by everyone, he would still be a nobleman. Quoting the dukes words, Being a nobleman in a somewhat dangerous place was leagues better than being a lowly peasant. In the carriage that was bumping and shaking on the road, Angora felt that his future was bleak. According to reports, every year the revenants would attack any human settlements near to the Valley of the Tragic Dead, and under those situations, he wouldnt think that he was any safer than the average commoner. While he was still worrying about his future, the elderly chauffeur suddenly yelled, Bandits! Therere bandits here! Young master, please Argh! The voice of the chauffeur who had always been loyal to a fault disappeared after a harrowing yell. Angora was shaking in fear. Was he going to die before he reached his goal? God If you truly exist, please give me some hope he pleaded in his despair At this moment DING! You have activated the Overlord System! Chapter 10: Hitman Genie What the heck?! As Angora blanked out from surprise, a semi-transparent screen appeared in front of him, with the words O Master of Games, Grant us New Life written on it. Before Angora could question what it was, the words on the screen vanished. Along with a cool startup screen with polygons and light effects, the main user interface of the system appeared. [Player: Angora Faust] [Class: Unknown Lord] [Prosperity: 0/100] [Achievement Points: 100 (Starting value)] [Population: 0/0] [Players: 0] [Buildings: None] [Storage (LV0): Hitman Genie (Grade A) x1, Empty, Empty] [Previous Page Next Page ] Angora looked quickly through the words written on the screen, finally laying his eyes on the item called the Hitman Genie. As he focused on it, a corresponding pop-up screen appeared next to it. [Item: Hitman Genie Lamp (Grade A)] [Description: Consumable Item. Rubbing the lamp will summon a Grade-A genie to fight for you. Time of effect: One minute] [Disclaimer: Do not treat the genie as your slave, and do not wish for anything. ] [It would only beat up your enemies and nothing else.] [Receive? Yes/No] What is this..? Angora felt like he was experiencing the weirdest situation he had even gone through in his whole life. Without giving him more time to think, the entrance to the carriage was destroyed forcefully by the bandits, breaking into splinters of wood. A strong-looking man with a tattoo on his bald head came in and grabbed Angoras leg, smiling viciously as he dragged him out of the carriage. Angora could taste metal as he fell unceremoniously onto the hard ground, every bone and joint in his body aching. He did not have time to waste. Focusing on the Hitman Genie Lamp, he chose to receive it. The next moment, a bronze lamp that looked like a teapot dropped into his hands. What? Hey, did you guys see that? Why is there something in his hand? Is he casting Sacred Arts? The bandits hesitated due to the lamp that suddenly appeared. Dont be afraid! Even if he is a priest, no one would know that we did it if he dies here! The bald bandit shouted as he swung his longsword towards Angoras head! At the same time, Angora started rubbing the lamp fervently like he had gone crazy. As the sword was about to hit him, a blue mist started gushing out from the lamp. The mist expanded like it had a physical body, blocking the sword from hitting Angora. The next moment, the blue mist converged in mid-air and formed a large blue-skinned humanoid form. The Genie of the Lamp is at your service! Now, who do you want me to deal with? asked the large blue face that looked like Will Smith, smiling weirdly as he raised his brow and stretched out his arms. An axe that was even bigger than his body appeared in thin air along with some sparkly effects. My axe is thirsting for blood! Not only was Angora stunned, the bandits were also scared stiff by the genie that suddenly appeared. The one who reacted the fastest was the bald bandit. Dont be scared! Its probably just big and not strong at all! The other bandits were encouraged as they all lifted their weapons and surrounded the genie. Some of them who thought they were smart pointed their weapons at Angorathinking that if Angora was killed, the genie would disappear. Save me Kill them! Angora shouted hurriedly. As you wish~ the genie hummed in glee. The next moment, he quickly swung his axe in a circle, cleaving all the bandits into two along with their weapons except for one who had immediately done a backflip to evade the attack. Even as they died, the bandits could not understand why they were killed in an instant on a run-of-the-mill robbery by someone they thought was a pushover The bald bandit who seemed like their leader regretted their choice to rob them dearly. F*ck, didnt that guy say that the youngest son of the Faust family was a pushover? How could he summon this monstrosity?! He realized that he was totally out of the genies league, and so he turned around and tried to flee for his life. The genie only waved the axe in the air in response, the weapon growing larger and larger. With another swing, he sent the forty-meter axe in the direction of the fleeing bandit! Wait, spare him! Angora suddenly shouted. Hearing the command, the genie slightly angled the axe to a side, gouging a five-meter deep incision on the ground. The bandit was not harmed, but the explosive power that almost hit him shook him to his core, his legs softening into putty as he fell to the ground. How do you want me to deal with him? The genie asked as he pulled the bandit over to Angora. Decapitation? Mutilation? Im very good at torturing people you see~ As he said so, the axe in his hands disappeared, and replacing it was a fishnet and a slicing knife. I know that I did wrong, Master Faust! Please spare me! The bandit who had seemed quite manly was scared to tears why the genie as he kneeled down and hit his forehead to the ground. I have a question for you, and if you answer me honestly I might not kill you! Angora declared as he stared him in the eye. Why would you know that the pushover youngest son of the Faust family would come by here? Who is that guy? I-I dont know the bandit stuttered. Finish him. Roger that~ Wait, I really dont know! My client has always been very mysteriousBut I can tell you that he is from the Society of the Secret Eye! Society of the Secret Eye? Angora asked curiously, having never heard the name before. It is a group that smuggles things through the mountain range around the Amaranthine Gate by using Cloud Falcons. They smuggle precious treasures from the western continent the bandit confessed, wanting to stay alive, It holds overwhelming power in this area and has lots of outer-ring organizationsWe, the Thirteen Caves of the Minotaur are one of them! Chapter 11: New Believer The Society of the Secret Eye Angoras face twitched. Excuse me, but could you let me go now? The bald bandit asked with a smile. Angora turned to the genie. Bury him a hundred meters beneath the ground. Be careful not to kill him too quickly. Wait! Thats not what you promised! The bald bandit jumped in fright. I did say that I wouldnt kill you. I never said anything about letting you go, Angora replied calmly. And its just burying you undergroundits your own business whether you can dig yourself out. You Seeing red, the bald bandit rushed toward Angora with a sword in hand in a desperate struggle. However, he vanished entirely at once when the genie pointed with a finger, the air echoing with the words he could not finish. And thats all of them. Genie gave Angora a wave. I shall be taking my leave~ Hold on. Angora called out. What is it? Ill just put it out there that I wont be obeying further orders, the genie replied. No, I just want to know about the Overlord System. What is it, actually? Angora asked seriously. A charm-class magic? Or some other sacred spell? Even if he was not liked in his own house, he remained the child of a duke. Unlike children like Eleena who were raised in mountain villages, he had seen the world at a young age, encountering much magic and divine providence. Be that as it may, no divine feat was as unique as the Overlord System. Moreover, the youth also faintly sensed that if he did not seize the chance and learn some useful information from the Genie in the Lamp, he would not know what the System actually was for a long time. You are sharper than I thought. The blue-skinned genie sighed in admiration. Naturally, the genie was actually Xi Wei in disguise. Although his divine order has the ability to create life (the ability to create NPCs, to be precise), that takes considerable divine energy. Without it in excess to squander with, he simply put on a disguise and descended, becoming Angoras henchman. He had already noticed Angoras potential as a believer when he planned to place the starters outside of the Valley of the Tragic Dead. Therefore, he provided him with temporary system clearance which led to what happened just now. In the first place, Xi Wei aided Angora rather half-heartedly as well. If Angora was not sharp enough to notice the Hitman Genie or was too cautious to use it as described, he most likely would have fallen victim to the bandits. If that happened, Xi Wei would at most find it a pity for losing a candidatehe would not be disappointed, however, given that there were many entrances into the Valley of the Tragic Dead, and he had few other options beyond Angora. Still, he never imagined that Angora would succeed in securing his help while not being confused by the text in the system interface. Furthermore, when Xi Wei himself tried to return to the divine realm, he tried to ask directly about the most important question that was the System, avoiding asking nonsense. All at once, Xi Wei thought that the kid might be able to achieve considerable success with the Systems aid. It is the System, a generous blessing from the God of Games. Xi Wei then answered Angora as the genie. Why would he grant me a blessing? I have never prayed in his church In fact, I never knew the God of Games existed before this. Angora quickly pressed. He probably finds you gifted. Who knows? Angora shrugged. What is he like as a divine being? Even if Angora was not faithful, the god did extend a helping hand in his desperate moment. Therefore, aside from gratitude, he could not help wanting to learn more about that divine-being-never-of-heard-before. Xi Wei immediately bragged about himself. A pleasant onewise, brave, and magnificent. Although he does not have many worshipping him at the moment, he would certainly rise above the other gods in the future! If you have the chance, you could try devoting yourself to the God of Games~ Then, before Angora could ask another question, Xi Wei instantly burst into a puff of bright dust and vanished from his sight. Angora made a troubled face. He stood blankly where he was, before being started by the sound of flapping wings from the skies. There were many scavengers such as crows circling overhead. After all, many had died around him, and with the air thick with the smell of blood, soon it would not just be crows but also ferocious carnivores. Without hesitation, Angora packed all necessities from his carriage into his bag, quietly saluting the old driver up front. He would have buried him as well if not for the pressing urgency. Im journeying alone now. Angora quietly cheered himself up, before heading for his own domainthe small, unnamed and remote town. Meanwhile, Xi Wei watched the youth go from the Divine Kingdom, sensing faint divine energy from him *** Have at you! The tall and muscular Joe charged toward a black bear, holding the best sword forged in the village. The black bear roared and lunged at him in return. But halfway through its assault, Gou Dan whispered whilst aiming his broken bow, Deft Shot! An arrow stabbed into the bears nose and staggered it from the pain, growling as it held its nose. Frost Bullet! Edward called out from behind Joe, waving a long stick as it unleashed a white ball of snow, freezing the bears paws and almost felling him. Strengthen! Jessica cried, aiming her wooden cross at Joe. Now! Joe then flung the sword in the ground, ran to the black bear and grabbed it by the stomach. His muscle started to bulged as he then roared, Suplex! He then firmly lifted the bear from the ground over his head, throwing the beast headfast in the ground. Blood-red fonts that red Critical, -150 instantly leaped out over the black bears head. Its body twitched once before going prone entirely. As it burst into shards of light, the group cheered happily. All of them were children from families of hunters and would usually be scrambling for their lives whenever they ran into a black bear. How did they defeat one so easily? The EXP on this bear is so high I leveled up! Which should I pick next, Heavy Shot or Split Shot? Wow The mana cost for a mage is too highjust a few spells and my mana is almost used up. Argh. It was so heavy I sprained my leg Meanwhile, Eleena sat in a corner miserably. Why cant I help? One Spear of Victory from me and that bear would be gone. She complained unhappily. Because only you can use healing spells. Gou Dan grinned apologetically. Thats right. Only you can help us when we get hurt. Edward agreed. By the way, help Joehis ankle is swelling like a pigs. Its fine, I can go on Joe patted his chest confidently, but his face soon changed. Wait, sprained leg status actually lowers strength and agility?! Dont move. Something like that will recover in a moment. Eleena quickly healed Joes ankle, while not forgetting Jessica the cleric. Jessica, you should hurry up and learn healing skills as wellI dont want to stay behind and watch all the time. Understood, our dear great Saintess~ Jessica patted Eleenas small head, beaming. As everyone happily prepared for their lunch break, they suddenly heard the sounds of a battle nearby. Tsk. We should complete the oracle as soon we can, Edward said after some thought. Lets not get involved with a fight that has nothing to do with us. Ding! Side quest started: Rescue the merchant convoy. This mission has a time limit, please accomplish it as soon as possible. Edward was speechless. Chapter 12: Rescue the Merchant Team Edward accepted the mission happily even if it was a slap in the face by the System. After all, after poking around the System to familiarize himself with it, he learned that completing quests earned more experience and rewards than hunting for beasts. Still, while they had received quests such as daily quest: hunt ten rodents or weekly quest: collect thirty boar tusks, that was the first time they received such a side quest. After the group had ascertained the contents of the mission, they quickly sneaked toward the direction where the fighting was. Soon, they reached the battle, hiding behind a lush shrub to peek at the situation. The battle was occurring in a spacious clearing in the forest, the center of which were several carriages. Edward at once recognize that those were caravans of traveling merchantsthere were some who had occasionally passed through Kennington Village, where it would become as busy as a festive season every occasion they did so. However, the village was too poor and the villagers did not have much savings, and the traveling merchants eventually stopped visiting them due to the lack of profits. Goblins, standing over a meter tall were surrounding them in a tight pack. Although it did not appear as if they had weapons or armor, they numbered more than a hundred. The humpbeasts pulling the carriages had already been killedtheir corpses were piled in a circle by the mercenaries around the carriages as a makeshift fort. On the other hand, the merchants and mercenaries numbered up to just a dozen. Even if their weapons were sharp and their armor solid, they could not stand against the numbers of the opposing forcealready, two amongst them who were nearby the perimeter created with the humpbeasts could no longer fight. It appeared to be a matter of time before all was lost. What should we do? Should we help? Joe quietly asked Edward, gulping. Edward said nothing. He was chewing his fingernail; he looked rather hesitant. Both Gou Dan and Jessica appeared doubtful as well. That was the first time they encountered such a dangerous situation. More worryingly, those goblins were too manythey just might be killed along if they helped! They were now players, and Xi Wei did mention that they would be revived with sufficient experience. However, they had yet to overcome their old mindset, not to mention that none of them really died after leaving Kennington Village despite the many scrapes and bruises they had sustained. On the other hand, Eleena appeared unconcerned. Being a Saintess, her Faith was absolutely stronger than the other four. If you guys are afraid, let me divert their attention, she said eagerly. I think I could take ten of them! But there are more than a hundred of them, Gou Dan shot back. By the ancestors, youre the one amongst us who can cast revive. According to His Lordship, we have to wait three days before we could resurrect if you die in battle! And minus twenty percent EXP, Jessica added. Eh? But Im really bored with hiding behind everyone every time Eleena grumbled unhappily. Edward turned towards Joe with a look that said please-help-me-convince-her. Joe nodded in understanding, and then proceeded to scream Wryyyyyyy! as he dashed out of the shrub and bounded toward the goblins. Everyone in the fightgoblin or merchantturned at once toward them. That idiot! Quickly dropping his conversation with Eleena, Edward picked up his arcane staff and gave chase, unsure if he should laugh or cry. Meanwhile, Gou Dan had moved swiftly and fired an arrow at one of the goblins which was trying to ambush them, whereas Jessica buffed Joe with Strengthen. Were the Silver Chime, thanks for your help! A middle-aged man who was dressed as a merchant shouted at them, but just a moment later, he added puzzledly, Wheres the rest of the reinforcements? Are there any adults? Were it, Edward replied after launching a Frost Bullet to freeze two goblins. Just the five of us. The man who appeared delighted reverted to his despondent look before. Five brats who had yet to grow pubes. Under such a force of goblins, it was literally trying to douse a burning cart of firewood with a cup of water. Not even a bubble would surface. Nonetheless, his face changed again in no time at allthose five unusual brats were surprisingly formidable. Although the huge brat essentially lumbered around, was slow to react and did not look the part of a warrior at all, each swing of his blade would send a goblin into the air. In fact, whether that particular goblin was charging at him or flailing his own wooden club, it made no difference as all of them would be blown away! Unusually, while other swordsmen would have pursued their target and stabbed the goblin in the vitals to kill, he was differentafter sending each goblin flying, he would instead grab it for a suplex Although his might was devastating, something was amiss. The mage brat who looked like the groups leader was even more superior. After having met the old mages of grand cities, the middle-aged man had seen them use their magic up close. However, all of them had to chant or prepare certain arcane materials before they could unleash their spells, with even the more powerful ones needing to make signs to do the same. Even if he was only essentially switching between two skills: fireballs and snowballs, he did not have to prepare before casting his spells directly. After all, if it had been any other mage, you would hear them chant, Fairies of the Wind. Heed my call: fuse, morph, set. Bless thee with the name of Frost and freeze thine foes in blood and bone thus to bring the deadly cold to the land On the other hand, all that mage brat murmured was Frost Bullet. That was what it felt like. Not to mention that the power of his magic was not decreasing even after casting for an extended time. Utterly mind-blowing! Chapter 13: Level Up Marni Wilf was regretting everything terribly. As a traveling merchant affiliated to the Silver Chimes, he had chosen the more dangerous route by crossing the Dray Forest in order to shorten the period for moving his goods. After all, there never had been dangerous magical beasts around these parts. And even if there were goblins sighted recently, they posed no threat, not to mention that the Dray Forests was quite vast. He did not believe that he would be so unlucky as to run into an entire tribe But he did. In fact, their convoy ran headlong into one that was migrating due to food running out. In their hunger, they fought well above and beyond their usual ability. Aside from the dead humpbeasts, several elite mercenaries were wounded as well. Thank the Goddess of Prosperity for taking pity on them right then: just as they were all about to die, five village kids popped out of nowhere, and with their mysterious abilities that could have been divine providence or magical power, they managed to slow the goblins attack. Be that as it may, as the initial confusion that had been their advantage faded, they were now entire tightly within the quagmire of the goblins swarming tactics. The warrior who Marni had thought to be an adult was now immobile, held beneath the weight of an entire pile of goblins. The archer brat was forced to run as more goblins approached, occasionally turning for a sliding tackle to bring some of them to the ground before continuing running Meanwhile, the girl who looked older was no longer casting buffs for the others but was guarding a younger girl, knocking back any approaching goblin with her massive cross that was larger than herself. The younger girl herself was casting sacred healing spells. Even if Marni could not tell whether her ability belonged to the God of Lifes Temple or the Brilliant White Church, her help was the reason those children could endure until now. Their leader (Edward) was now no longer casting spells like before. Instead, he was scrambling away, only unleashing his magic between long periods while mumbling things like my blue bar is empty, move it, Joe. Why arent you moving? or milk Gou Dan, Eleena, hes almost finished. In the end, he was cornered by four goblins, and stabbed in the stomach with a rusted sword. Even if the boy did beat the one in front of him to the ground, pulled the sword out and stabbed it to death in return, it did not look like he was going to make it. Everything seemed finished right then. Although he felt bad about it, it appears the children would be killed by the goblins as well. Marni started to think about what he should doencourage the mercenaries and have them fight to the death, or look for a chance to run? Nonetheless, that was when he suddenly noticed that the mage brat was smiling unusually. Wow. Goblin XP is so highI leveled up! With those words which made no sense at all, the boy who had been left ragged after being chased began to start unleashing a flurry of spells once more. The goblins, having secured the advantage and hence threw caution to the wind was blasted into the dirt. He looked so lively and energetic, completely different from that disappointment when stabbed. Soon, Marni also saw through the young mages torn clothes that there was no wound beneath! That was not right. He had clearly seen the boy having a rusted sword of iron pushed into his stomach, along with the sight of skin splitting and blood gushingin fact, the bloodstains were still there. So how did the wound disappear? Where had the gaping wound gone? Still, even more curiosities that went beyond Marnis common sense were occurring. The young warrior who had been almost been crushed into a pile of flesh underneath the goblins, but kept alive by the healing spells cast by a younger girl with silver-haired and twin ponytails had also suddenly burst out. Every goblin which had been mysteriously blasted away, just as every bruise on his body vanished. He was no longer heaving for air like he did in that fierce battle a while ago, and instead looked spirited as if he did not actually use up any energy. Really! I leveled up too! He was looking distractedly into the air in front of himself with delight, before simply picking up one of the goblins weapons and crying out, Its mad, even this goblin club has higher attack stats than the best sword from our village! Then, he rushed towards the dazed goblins. Even his sword skills seemed to have improved now compared to his previous limited ability of powerful swings and suplexes. Now, he seemed to have learned a double lunging stab, which not only deals twice the damage on the goblins but also knocks them back by a certain distance. Still, it appeared that he had yet to adjusted to the skill and had to run in order to use it, and he could now be seen leading a pack of goblins that were running backward Aside from those two, the young archer seemed to have strengthened as well. Having been fleeing all over the place, he was now still fleeing all over the place, although he was a lot less ragged than beforenot to mention that he would often turn around and fire several high-speed chain shots that would kill one goblin each time. And what the hell? How many arrows did that guy have? As Marni quietly counted the youths usage of arrows, he could not help but be perplexed by where his arrows were coming from. I actually leveled up too, the older girl said softly in surprise as she stopped flailing her cross. Is killing goblins is such a profit Great! Jessica, you must click Gradual Heal. That way, Ill be free! The younger girl she was protecting cheered happily before bounding toward the goblins while ignoring the others attempts to stop her. It was a reckless move which certainly left Marni frowning as his danger alarm went off. The reason those children could endure until now was thanks to the younger girls continuous casting of healing spellsand it was not only their own party, but his own mercenaries were also being helped. Indeed, half of them would have gone down if not for her healing! But now, she was running with a strut towards the goblins, essentially asking for a beating! Unable to stand and watch, Marni tried to order the mercenaries to protect her, or at least stop her from getting killed. That was also the moment when he witnessed the most shocking scene. Air itself seemed to have become still as endless golden radiance gathered in the girls palm. The entire world seemed to lose color save for the girl and the light in her hand, and even the goblins movement seemed to have slowed countless times. Then, in the very next moment, the surging holy power that left even onlookers staggered condensed in her hand into a bright and massive spear. Even if it was merely a form blessed by streaming radiance, the spear was noble and elegant, a pure beauty that no one could avert their eyes from. In an instant, the spear was unleashed. Rushing forth with a force as if it would pierce heaven and earth, it penetrated every goblin before the girl and pinned them on the ground! Chapter 14: Our Main Character Is Spying At The Moment Oh, theyre doing quite well. In the Divine Kingdom, Xi Wei was using his Divine Eye to spy on what was happening with his own followers in the mortal realm. He could not help feeling glad that they were unleashing their wrath upon the goblin pack despite their average level being less than five. Then, when Eleenas party cleared away the goblins attacking the merchant convoy, Xi Wei judged that their quest was accomplished and generously rewarded them with a lot of XP. He then turned the orb to see the corpses of goblins killed by the five children. Everything killed by his believersor Playerswould all be delivered as sacrifices to Xi Wei, and those goblins With a single thought, those goblins were then disintegrated into the purest of divine energy that replenished Xi Weis divinity. From the formula he determined at the start, his divine energy was now approximately 78 points. Even if that many points were used to strengthen and repair his divinity did not resolve the fact that it was still unstable, the instant effect was distinct. Its quick and convenient by obtaining offerings from believers, but it is also slightly troublesome There were some objects resembling metal scraps beside the piles of goblin corpses, stacking considerably in sizethe residual crumbs left after the pure essence in the goblins were extracted as divine energy. It was precisely why even if the offering could rapidly secure divine energy, and why most divine beings except some minor evil gods were especially demanding toward their own followers for such tributes. Given that objects which could be completely be converted into divine energy did not exist in other planes, everything here would leave piles of useless scraps after deities were done extracting divine energy. That was why other gods would only request that their offerings be limited to objects of condensed energies such as the Illuminating Crystals, leaving someone undiscriminating like Xi Wei who would gather even goblin corpses an exception. After all, those crumbs would be no different from kitchen refuse or fecal matter when they accumulate in the Divine Kingdom, and too much of a hassle to be dealt with. Truth be told, Xi Wei was himself having a headache at how he should handle them. He was unlike other gods because he has the power to move through world barriers. He could simply look for a place to throw them after bringing them with him whenever he entered the Prime Material Plane. Still, it would not be a problem at firstit is a different matter as time goes by, because the offerings are drawn using divine energy. In other words, those crumbs would be dyed with the scent of his own divine amidst the extraction process. Therefore, if he simply threw them anywhere, he might get caught by other divine beings. And that would only mean trouble. His ability to move freely through different worlds despite the plane barrier that the Trinity of Creation was too alluring for other gods. If word of that goes out and when other divine beings with ulterior motives reached his own Divine Kingdom, his divinity would be stolen effortlessly considering that he was essentially a candle in the wind. Furthermore, the crumbs were useless even as a divine object gifted to followers by their gods. Its attribute was metallic, but was neither hard nor as resilient as steel, nor was it comparable to ordinary crude iron as material for forging weapons. It assuredly had no effect save for the fact that the divine scent that latched on to it is hard to fake Hmmm. Hold on, I think I have an idea Xi Wei felt his brain (but there is no actual brain in his divine form) getting an idea albeit obscurely. However, he could not hold on to it. Well, its fine. The place here is still huge, I could just let it pile for a whilecompared to that, its better to think about how I should spend my divine energy! At first, Xi Wei planned to invest any divine energy into stabilizing his divinity once he earned it, since he was uncomfortable with it fluctuating and feeling so hollow. Nonetheless, he gave up on that after he did earn them and following some serious consideration. Although his divinity was definitely unstable at the moment, it was still a stretch to call it being on the edge of destruction. As long as those children did not renounce him, the God of Games, he did not have to worry about vanishing for the time being. There were certain pressing problems in comparison. After becoming a ball of lighta divine being, to be precise, Xi Wei realized that the bandwidth his mind was a notch broader than a humans. that did not mean that a god was considerably smarter than mortals, but that they were proficient in wide-range multitasking with their heads. That was the same for Xi Wei. At first a mortal, he realized he could now stare blankly into space within his Divine Kingdom while missing the takeaway food before he transmigrated, watching over Eleenas party and also his other new believer Angora who was trekking alone to the small town outside of the Valley of the Tragic Dead It left him having an illusion of being omnipotent and omniscient, although he recently found that his bandwidth was lacking after establishing his System settingsthe various data and processing had taken up his mental capacity considerably. That was the moment when he remembered his fear under the rule of the textbook titled [Five Years of College Entrance Examination and Trial Papers for Third Years] as a third-year high-schooler, and his humiliation of being forced to take remedial classes. Realizing that he could not continue like that, Xi Wei decided that the divine energy he earned would be investing it into his mind, freeing himself from the heavy load of uncomplicated brainwork. At first, he thought about creating some artificial intelligence similar to Moss or J.A.R.V.I.S to handle most of his work, but after having been baptized with science fiction for years, he felt that such a reckless move was asking for it. After all, he might really be really kicking a hornets nest if he created an Ultron. As such, after pondering for some time, he decided to make a computer with basic functions that would manage data as the Players earned experience and learned new skills. That was where the mysterious energy that was divine power comes in. It was a secondary strength derived through divine energy and could only be utilized by divinity. At the same time, the different divinities of different gods would decide what the divine power they could energize would accomplish. And yet, after Xi Wei had transmigrated, Xi Weis divinity as the God of Games was developed through his own knowledge back on earth, and presently included most domains of Divine Order. As such, should he gather enough divine energy, his divinity would be the same as the Dragon Balls where it accomplished every wish, although it would be weakened depending on the Divine Order proportions. An example would be like after Xi Wei requested a Sunway Taihulight, but after receiving his command and sufficient divine energy, his divinity was left stagnated for half a day, and eventually giving him a broken computer running on Win98. Chapter 15: The Tragic Dead Eleenas Spear of Victory completely vaporized what courage the goblins themselves had left. Having less than half of their initial numbers remaining, they were no longer as vicious as they had been, and were in fact throwing away their armor as they fled. Marni Wilf breathed a sigh in relief from the salvation of his merchant convoy, while also feeling curious which church the five youth were affiliated with. They were dressed like children from some remote villageand in that case, it was impossible for them to learn divine spells given that the most inferior of such skills requires extended training in sanctified grounds (i.e. various churches, shrines or temples) hosting various deities. Moreover, the level-up thingamajig which they mentioned was a complete mystery as well. Even in the Brilliant White Church, was there not just a handful of bishops who could instantly restore all wounds and energy? He was even more shocked that while those youths appeared na?ve and ignorant of the various aspects of life, they were actually watertight and never exposed a single hint of useful information. They concealed the leveling-up divine spell considerably that, despite his eyes which had been trained as he traveled through and witnessed the various facets of the empire, he could not determine which of them actually cast that spell. Mister Wilf. One of the mercenary escorts he hired approached while he was fussing over the mystery that was Eleenas party. Theres something wrong. What is it? Marni was immediately on his toes. Did those brats do something? Could they actually be kin of some evil god, intending to wipe them out believing that they would compromise them? No. They are still huddled together, discussing some nonsense like rich rewards or skill tree, the escort replied, shaking his head. What I wanted to tell you is that the corpses of goblins they killed had all disappeared when our men started the cleanup on the battlefield. What? Marni turned towards Eleena and the others to find that there were assuredly no goblin corpses around them, although scraps such as those creatures teeth, claws, or loincloths were strewn over the ground messily. Marni frowned. While goblin corpses were not worth a dime and they had no intention of carrying it with them, it was too bizarre to have them all vanish. Couple that with those youths unusual behavior, he decided he had smelled something fishy about it all. Nonetheless, while Marni the merchant was left utterly confused, Eleena and the others had received a new quest. Ding! Side quest started: Preach to the merchants The God of Game has prepared the Starter Villagea utopia for his believers in the mortal realm. However, the start of all things is the most difficult part, as the village would have trouble developing without the help of merchants directing external logistics. Heed gods will: spread his word to the merchant convoy you have rescued and at least convert one merchant as a fellow believer of the God of Games. Quest rewards: Shop blueprint (quest item), EXP (amount dependent on task completion rate), Ring of Gospel (Elite) Note: Quest completion unlocks mission chain The Lords Light Illuminates the Land Excuse me, sir? Marni then found Edward eagerly approaching himself with the look of someone finding gold. Do you have a moment to talk about our lord and savior, the God of Games? Marni was speechless. *** Finally! When Eleenas party were trying their best to evangelize about the God of Games as if they were promoting Amway, Angora had also reached his fiefthe unnamed town outside the Valley of the Tragic Dead. The place appeared sinister and run down. If Angora had never obtained the System, he would have been so scared by its mere sight that he would abandon it at once and flee home even if he had the old driver with him. But he was now completely different. He was even finding an unimaginable affection and sense of belonging to the broken town. So, this is my fief Foreigner, what is your business here? Angora turned towards the voice to find a withered old man standing with a crutch several feet away from him. His face was so misshapenly skinny that he appeared no different from a skeleton. However, his eyes were so sharp that Angora felt a pain as if he was being pierced by blades under his stare. My name is Angora Faust. Im the new lord here! Angora declared, drawing out the decree from his bag. From this day forth, this town and the surrounding lands are my domain! The old man gave Angora a long, hard look, and it was until Angora felt a tingle in his scalp that he shook his head. As you could see for yourself, these lands are incomparably barren. Everyone living here are so poor that they could not afford to eat. In fact, they are biting off tree barks to satiate their hungeryou are not going to earn even a copper here. Angora knew that the old man was trying to warn him, just as he knew that coming alone to take control over the fief was considerably dangerous. His subjects could make him appear as if he had an accident on the way there, which was why most lords would tend to bring along escorts when they did the same. I would not oppress my subjects, he said, persuasively calming the other. Youve misunderstood me, kid, the old man replied, shaking his head again. The Royal Army had ignited the forests just outside the Valley of the Tragic Dead to stop the revenants from advancing. That fire spread and reached these parts, torching half-a-years worth of harvest into ash. If the famine problem could not be solved, you, a lord acknowledged by His Grace would be a target whom everyone here would vent their wrath upon. Did the Royal Army not reimburse the damages? Angora asked in surprise. Certainly not, kid. The old man said slowly. Who did you think the Tragic Dead in the name Valley of the Tragic Dead refers to? The corpses of those creatures that had long since arisen as revenants? Certainly not. The old man then pointed at his own chest and said bitterly, It is us. The common folk who die because of the battle between the military and the revenants are the real Tragic Dead! Angora was left gaping by the old mans words. Although he was prepared for difficult days ahead as he took the reins over his new domain, he did not imagine that the reality was much more brutal than what he could expect. Being a normal human who was not learned in magic, combat, or divine spells, how would he survive in this stricken place? That was when he remembered that wondrous existence which had saved his life. The Overlord System! Chapter 16: Activation Command The old man mistook Angoras silence as his understanding that the fiefdom was not worth a dime, and hence ceased his attempt to make things more difficult for the new lord. Seeing that Angora was actually quite young, he kindly said, Its late now. You could stay at my place if you dont mindyou should leave first thing next morning. Angora, who had been trying to summon the System by straightening his neck was left dumbstruck in return. Where is the former lords residence? The last lord returned to his own home immediately after just a look at this place. He didnt build anything like a manor, the old man replied. Very well. Angora sighed, surprised by how irresponsible his predecessor was. Apologies for the trouble. It was on the way to the old mans house when Angora learned that the old man was the mayor of the unnamed town, and that it was the years of revenant attacks as well as war that reduced the small but relatively thriving into its present state. There were quite a number of houses, but most of them were left rundown following years of zero maintenance and vacancy. The roof tiles were falling off from time to time, with foxes or rats scrambling from the weed growing underneath. It was already commendable to have a single resident in one out of three houses. In fact, there were only twenty-nine citizens including the old-man who essentially had half his feet in his grave. The others were mostly elderly, women, or children. The young and able would either flee within the borders of the empire when they still had their strength, or conscripted by the Royal Armyeither way, they were unlikely to return. In spite of being mayor, the old mans house was actually no different from the other residents save the fact that its roof was mostly intact, and those inside did not have to sleep bathed in starlight. Grandpa, youre back! A girl who looked just a little older than Angora himself dashed outside the house, and her gaze soon fell upon Angora, who was following the old man. Who is he? Vela, he is the new lord of the town. Mind your manners, the old man said seriously. Both the girl and Angora sized up each otherand from Angoras perspective, if his own sister could be rated 8 in terms of looks, the girl called Vela would be around 5 to 6. There were novels about knights where an incomparably beautiful peasant girl character appeared, but there was little probability of that actually happening in reality. After all, both genders were hard at work when it comes to the peasantry, the wear and tear from excessive labor and rough weather turning even the better-looking ladies unrefined. On that note, there were many nobles across the empire returning the authority of prima nocta, but rarely any would flaunt that power just to bed some dirty, ugly peasant girl Instead, save for the random few aberrations born from incestuous unions, the nobles would always take beautiful women for wives for generations to improve their bloodlines. Therefore, most nobility had prim looks even if they did not stand above the crowd. Therefore, even if Vela did not particularly catch Angoras magical eye, a 5 to 6 peasant girl was not too bad either. Im Angora Faust, but you can call me Lord Angora. He introduced himselfhaving been raised amongst nobility, he did not believe that there was anything wrong with having peasants addressing him as lord. For dinner, I still have some black bread Vela, go fetch it, the old man told the young girl once they entered the house. But we dont have much food, Grandpa The young girl appeared hesitant. Its fine. Lord Angora is our liegewe must show our respect and kindness. The old man firmly said. Certain that she could not change her grandfathers mind, she lowered her head and reluctantly took out a wooden bow from a rack. Inside were three fist-sized coarse bundles of flour that looked rather dirty. Thanks for your goodwill, but I have brought some rations myself. Angora courteously refused after a single glance at the black bread that smelled rather sour with some grain shells sticking out of it. Soon, the young girl happily led Angora to the guest room where he would stay. This room is smaller than the toilet back home. Angora studied his crude room and grumbled quietly after he placed his belongings by the wall after the girl had left. It was fortunate that he was the youngest son and had often been given grief since a child, developing a strong ability to adapt. Soon, he had calmed himself and was began to summon the Overlord System once again. It is in the emergency of the bandit ambush that the system was activated last time. But I cant just get a bandit out of nowhere Angora muttered, scratching his head. If Im not mistaken, there should be some way to open it even during normal circumstances. That being said, Angora was still confused about how he should bring out the system interface. Open sesame! Hey, come out! Alohomora! He tried every command he remembered from stories as well as every incantation from his own magical knowledge (which he didnt master), but nothing happened. Indeed, if the system panel did not provide the additional service of the Hitman Genie which saved him from being killed by bandits, Angora would have considered that the Overlord System or whatnot was actually his own imagination. There must be something I missed what could it be He was stroking his chin by instincts as he pondered heavily. That was when a white ball of light suddenly whooshed out to his blind side. It extended a tentacle that stabbed firmly at his name before disappearing with another whoosh. Angora did not feel its presence at all. Instead, he had a sudden idea as if given a sign by some deity, with the text on that system page flashing past his minds eye. O Master of Games, grant us new life He unwittingly muttered the words. Soon, that cool gaming interface appeared before him once more! Success! So thats the command! Angora happily jumped on the bedit was a habit he had whenever he was delighted. The old mayors rather broken wooden bed was unable to withstand the impact, however, and collapsed with a crack as it slammed heavily on the floor, bringing Angora with it. He rolled around in pain, clasping the back of his head. My lord, are you alright? Vela, who had not gone to bed yet, asked in concern when she heard the commotion from outside. Even if he was a little hurt, his self-esteem as a noble could not stand by having his own subject see him in such a pathetic state. Hence, holding back tears and struggling against the pain, he mumbled through his lips, I-Im fine Chapter 17: Farming Is Best Suited For Labor And Capital As Expected When Xi Wei saw what happened with Angora in the divine kingdom, he could not help but think that he was being simple-minded in choosing some dolt as a rather important new village head That being said, even Xi Wei did not expect the little town outside the Valley of the Tragic Dead to be so barren. Looks like I have to think of a way to help. Xi Wei scratched his head with his tentacles as he pondered how he should proceed. The problem at hand was that with the townsfolk suffering from famine, it meant that their respect could be easily earned by thinking of ways to fill their stomachs. He might even secure another wave of followers in the process. If that was so, the Overlord System could slightly relax on strategic combat management, and focus on farming literally. If its farming, I guess it would be games like Harvest Moon and Rune Factory back in my world Xi Wei slightly adjusted the setting as per his idea, only to find that he was underpowered in the aspects of plants or harvest. Although he had the ability to modify seeds so that they could instantly mature, the divine energy required to control plants and harvest was considerable. Moreover, that effect would not last up to the next generation, and their seeds would only bear normal harvest. Its quite difficult to yield both quantity and quality at once. There is no combat class in the town either, so there is no way to obtain bone powder or other materials from the fringe reaches of the Valley of the Tragic Dead to help them grow Xi Wei found the present situation difficult. Moreover, if the balance between intake and output of divine energy cannot be ensured, my divine energy would be used up after a dozen accelerated harvests. And when he thought about it carefully, the farming simulation in both Harvest Moon and Rune Factory did take most of the players time given that it was the main aspect of fun for those games. Still, Xi Wei would not want Angora to become a farmer. The fellow was a bit of a dolt, but since he was the new village head whom he had chosen That was when Xi Wei noticed the useless metal scraps piling in his Divine Kingdom, and the idea he had days ago which did not really present itself finally sprung out. Should he create a currency for his believers, the players of the system? As long as it does not flow out to other markets, the scraps that caught divinity would never catch the attention of the other gods (especially the Goddess of Prosperity). At the same time, the divinity meant that it would not be counterfeited, eliminating the possibility of fraud. Setting: divine seeds need to be bought with game currency, and the dolt I mean, Angora could learn some management through games of the genre, supervising and allocating the villagers as farmers. Since the divine seeds wouldnt need watering or fertilizing, Ill just make it so that the allocated personnel must pray to me devotedly in order for the seeds to grow, and would grow even faster the more believers there are, and each plot of land are only allowed to have at most three farmers. That would probably recover some divine energy, and the other facilities could use this design as well. Im a genius! With Angora acting as an example, the townsfolk who were beside themselves with hunger would probably be flocking under his wing. Moreover, Xi Wei did not need all of them to become true believers, as shallow believers would suffice in providing him divine energy. The harvest can also be sold into the system for game currency. Furthermore, even if the preceding generation had been harvested and the new crops lost the capacity for instant growth, it still reduces the divine energy needed to modify them now. Angora could also buy new seeds after trading for the game currency, and Id give him those seeds. That basically means no problem. In a nutshell, the process in which Xi Wei would sell Angora divine seeds, obtain the second-generation crops from Angora and resell them to the dolt as new divine seeds still would extol a cost on divine energy. However, all it took was a shallow believer to keep praying as the seeds goany loss would hence be reimbursed, and the more believers converted under Angoras wing, the more Xi Wei would earn. Additionally, the presence of the game currency limits the number of divine seeds Angora could obtain. Given that Xi Wei still had limited divine power, he could not provide him too many seeds at once. Done. Now well see how that dolt is going to put on airs. *** Early next morning, Angora got out of bed and left the house to begin surveying his lands. The land was infertile as the old man told him the day before, and what few usable plots were scorched to ashes. It certainly explained the enmity that the townsfolk aimed at all outsiders, and Angora himself would have been driven away if not for his young age. My lord, so youre here. Vela found him around noon; she sounded rather upset. Please dont wander aroundwell be in trouble if something happened to you in this town. Lunch is ready, please leave immediately after your meal! Lunch is that the same black bread as yesterdays? Angora asked curiously. Ive heated it a bit, and Im off to pluck some mushrooms with which I could make soup for you Vela then hesitated, seemingly finding it rude to serve such things to a noble and whispered, Im sorry, but thats the best we can do. Nonetheless, Angora said, If you dont mind, please keep me company for a while. Huh? Dont look so miserable Angora said, slightly miffed. How about this? Youll keep me company until the sun rises to the center of the skies. If youre not interested, Ill leave today and you wouldnt have to chase me off. How about that? Im just a peasant. I certainly cant go against your wish, my lord, the girl muttered, but still obediently followed Angora to where the farms had been. There was a thick blanket of ash covering the plot of land. Although the soil might be more fertile in the coming year thanks to that, there was just no telling how many townsfolk could last until then. Is this your familys plot? Angora asked. Its that one, the girl pointed at one of the plots by the fringes which appeared irregular. There are fewer heads in my family, thats why our land is smaller. Im borrowing it for a bit. What? Then, ensuring that the girl was not watching, Angora inwardly thought the words O Master of Games, give us New Life to open the system page, and flipped through it to get to a new page which appeared yesterday. [Overlord System: Penguin Farm V0.1 Test Version] Chapter 18: Divine Miracle [Overlord System: Penguin Farm V0.1 Test Version] [Farm: 0/1] [Seeds: None] [Livestock: locked (pen required)] [Game currency: 0] [Hint: Welcome to Penguin Farm. A newcomer gift pack has been delivered to your storage; please collect it from the main page.] Although Angora did not quite understand what Penguin meant, he had poked around last night and generally understood the subpage function of Penguin Farm. Roughly speaking, it was an agricultural section within the Overlord System. Moreover, the bottom of the page was a shop option which listed an assortment of seeds. Still, there were only a few which had its picture displayedthe icons on the others were pitch-black, and it appeared that those could only be unlocked at a later time. There was also a sale window which Angora failed to sell anything with (or he would have sold off even the walls Velas house). Considering that the sale window was placed in the farmstead page, only harvested crops or livestock could be sold off. [Please lock on to farmstead with 1-unit area as the first farmstead for Penguin Farm.] Others aside, what Angora had to do first was choose his farmstead. The system had tipped him that building floors cannot be used as farmstead when he tried to use the function in his room, which was why Angora was having a stroll around the town, looking for a place suitable as his first farmstead. However, after running into Vela, he thought that it was easier to borrow her familys farm instead of developing some new unusual land to work with. In any case, he should try to obtain Velas grandfathers favor as mayor if he would establish himself in the town. Hence, following instructions from the system and with his consciousness connected, Angora locked the barren farmland belonging to Velas family as his first farmstead. As the words lock complete soon appeared, Angora found the only a square section out of the not-quite-large farmland was flashing, indicating that the 1-unit area (equals to 1-square meter) was only that large. Unfortunately, just like the system page, only Angora himself could see it. Then, Angora collected the gift-pack from his system storage. There were two items inside: Spirit Oat Seed x1 and the Watering Bucket of the Devout. The spirit oat seed was actually from a common plantit was the Watering Bucket of the Devout which left Angora surprised. It was a Watering Bucket but one which was crafted very sophisticatedly. Its glaze appeared to be of the highest quality and had a unique elegance to it, and he thought that it would not rust even as he looked at its metallic silver paint and its rose. Its body was also embedded with simple aesthetical carvings that one would be reluctant to part with, and its handle, though also metallic was closer to yellow copper. Even if it was carved with arts of vines from an unknown plant, it did not impede the grip but instead felt very comfortable to hold. After all, children of the otherworld have not heard of ergonomics. Eh? Where did you get that bucket? Vale had seen Angoras hand reaching over his own back, and was surprised when he took out that exquisite Watering Bucket out of nowhere. Us nobles would learn magic with the mages before inheriting our own fief but thats not the point. Angora certainly thought that taking the Watering Bucket out of nowhere was a blunder as well. It was lucky that the witness was just Vela, and a village girl like her could be easily swindled. And she was indeed connedher face had the admiring look of so-all-the-noble-lords-in-the-city-could-do-magic-tricks! He prayed that her bubble would not burst too quickly Then, as the girl watched, Angora buried the spirit oat seed into the soil. Are you trying to plant it now? It wont workits too late, and winter is coming in half a month. It would at most sprout before your plant froze to death! Vella frowned as she tried to discourage him. Winter here is also especially cold: the animals would hibernate and all the trees would go bald as their leaves fall off. You wouldnt even get black bread by then you should hurry away from this place. If this thing really wont do, I might really leave. Angora shrugged. But now isnt the time to despair. After he had buried the seed, a countdown timer that read 3:59:59 appeared over the locked farmstead in Angora. So, it takes just four hours Angora was slightly relieved. The only problem now was the matter of yield quantity. By the way, since you are aware of the trouble winter brings, why not move away from this place? Angora asked Vela as they went to fetch water for his can. It is quite far, but wouldnt you be free from situations like this once you leave for the city? Grandpa said that he is mayor. If even he was afraid and fled, this town which he inherited from his own ancestors would be finished. Vela smiled bitterly in return. Even if he does not have long to live, he wished to stay with this town he grew up in until the end What about the nearby churches? Wouldnt they help? Angora asked once the idea struck him, and because various churches were in charge of emergency relief as well. There are no churches across ten miles, the young girl replied, her expression becoming even more bitter. If anything, even the gods had probably left us to fend four ourselves in this wretched place. Angora quietly filled his bucket with water. He knew very well that if he did nothing, this place which was town in name but no more than a small village would never endure past winter. What townsfolk remaining would be stricken with hunger and cold, and could die from either of those things. For some reason, he then felt that bucket in his hand had become heavier as if there was something else apart from water in it. [Watering Bucket of The Devout (Legendary): Offer your sincere prayer to the God of Games when you use this bucket. The strength of your faith would reduce the time needed for your crop to mature. The maximum time reduction rate of this effect is 50%] No, thats not true. Even if the blessings from the other gods are now absent, there is still one who watches over this place! Angora, who had been keeping his non-committal nobility attitude finally became serious. Thats going a little too far even if its for solace The young girl smiled begrudgingly. Im not too good with words but, I do understand that simple conversation wouldnt work with all of you. So please, take a look! Holding the Watering Bucket and a devout heart he never had, Angora slowly poured the water over the seed which he just buried. This is what I wanted to show all of you, a divine miracle from my lord! In the very next moment, a tender sprout poked out of the soil covered in dark ash. Just like a precious jade. Chapter 19: The Untimely Death of an Original Believer Xi Wei, who was thinking about what he could do next in the Divine Kingdom suddenly paused. Eh? Angora actually converted from shallow believer to devout believer? And it also looks like he Amwayed a new devout believer as well He was at once delighted and muttered, Looks like Ive picked the right person. It seemed that he had completely forgotten that he had been addressing Angora as dolt. What next was for the plantation area to be surface, and for the crops to be harvested and gain favor of the townsfolk. Angora certainly would not mess up something so simple. Moreover, with the limits placed upon land and pricing, Xi Wei would not have to worry that Angora would overdevelop immediately and catch the attention of the God of Harvest. He had predicted that the present state would last two or three years, and everything would be too late when the other deity finally realized that something was unusual. Xi Wei was confident about himselfbeing a true transmigrant and having the Midass touch as the God of Games, he would be ashamed if he could not stand up against some average local god after two or three years. And the most important problem now is still the players Given that Xi Weis Divine Order level was limited, the maximum level of the combat-class players was a paltry 30 and was could not be transferred. While the Players led by Eleena were still engrossed in leveling up and could not tell, most of the Players would be upset when they start to feel shackled after they reach that level limit. There were actually simple solutions to those problems, however. One was to strengthen the efforts of recruiting believers and accumulate more divine energy with which he could elevate his divinity grade, which in turn naturally extends the power of his Divine Order and raise the maximum level of the Players. The second was to destroy every other god and directly steal their divinity, the power within of which he would fuse to his own divinity. If the first option was pompous, the second option was undoubtedly evil. After all, Xi Wei would not dare to conspicuously intrude the territory of the other gods for his believer recruitment, and such a cagey form of conversion was simply too slow. Heaven knows when he would finally gather divine energy to ascend his divinity level. Moreover, the stealing of other divinities was not without precedent: Stoff, the present God of Craftsmanship and Fine Wine had been an ordinary divine being of the ironworks aspect. However, he triumphed over the former God of Fine Wine in divine battle, plundering the others power and hence become the intermediate god he was now. That said, its not easy to look for a hostile god whom I could do in Xi Weis spherical body wiggled worriedly. *** The gods themselves have no hierarchy. Save for the Trinity of Creation and the Seven Heavenly Fathers who were currently acknowledged as the strongest there were, the lines separating Greater Gods, Intermediate Gods, and Lesser Gods were actually blurred. They were all merely ambiguously categorized according to the strengths or weaknesses of their Divine Order, as well as their performance in divine battle. Being the newly ascended God of Games who was so recently born, he could not join the war between the gods. What was worse was his divinity being damaged that he probably would not even be considered a Lesser Godif he must put a finger on it, he probably would be ranked as a puny god that was a class beneath Lesser Gods. And it would be difficult to find another puny god with whom he could trade punches as a newbie. My balls hurt although I dont have any at the moment. Xi Wei extended a tentacle to scratch what was supposedly his forehead, and suddenly realized that something was wrong. Unlike the gods whose believers numbered up to millions, given that all of Xi Weis believers added up barely made it past double digits, he was therefore aware of each string of faith directed to him. Just now, a vein of divine energy had vanished! The believer did not appear to belong to Eleenas party or Angoras fief, but a believer of the God of Games before Xi Wei transmigrated. According to the memories he inherited, the last God of Games was probably some unreliable entity with a gambling problem. Xi Wei himself did not expect that their faith lasted until now. That feeling it doesnt feel like they are being converted It was impossible for a true believer and those above to be converted to another faith at the drop of a hat since one would not become a true believer without firm conviction in their first deity. If it had been conversion, their faith would instead slowly decay, and eventually disappear amidst its weakest moments. There was only a single explanation for a sudden severance such as just now: that believer had died. And because those original believers did not possess the System, they could not be resurrected like Eleena and the others. It would have been fine if the believer died a natural death or in their sleep. However, if it was an accident or murder, that persons psyche intensity would rocket unthinkably in the instant they faced impending death, and was likely the peak level of their life. Perhaps that was the precise reason that Xi Wei noticed that there was a path connecting him to the emotions of the follower before he died, leaving their final divine energy in his Divine Kingdom in what appeared to be clump of silver fog at a single glance. Xi Wei hesitated for a moment, but finally reached out with his tentacles to touch it. It was sheer terror, a heartful of grief and regrets, along with a mingled scent of hate that the god they trusted did not aid them in their last moments. The follower did not die an accident. He was murdered, even possibly tortured beforehand. Xi Wei was silent, unsure of what he should be thinking. He once believed that his predecessorthe original God of Games and his believers had nothing do with himself since they were not his subjects. Moreover, with his predecessors horrific reputation, those believers would have jumped ship at any moment. But now he realized he was wrong. Both himself and his predecessor were unquestionably the God of Games, and his predecessors believers were his too: people who held faith and entrusted everything upon him. Although he might not necessarily be indiscriminate with all followers, should he have no reaction and watch as his followers were murdered, how was he different from the other cold-blooded deities of this world? As I thought, I really want to be a nice god. At that moment, another vein of divine energy abruptly vanished. The massacre of his predecessors believers was continuing. Goddamn! Thats really looking down on me, the God of Games! Having made his choice, Xi Wei felt his entire body relax. Dont panic, believers, your god is coming! Chapter 20: Princess of the Fallen Kingdom Nonetheless, Xi Wei was not so reckless that he would ignore all else to directly descend and blow up every foe for his believers. Therefore, he would do what he always did: use his Divine Eye to find the original believers who were in trouble and understand their situation within the shortest period of time. He then found out that the believers were not quite gambling addicts. Although they appeared ragged, were equipped with armor and weapons that were poorly maintained, their every movement along with the emblems on their broken equipment made it clear that they all served a common group. As he cross-referenced the remaining records in his divinity, Xi Wei promptly realized that those believers were more troublesome than he imagined. They were the original founders of the Church of the God of Games, survivors of Tierra, the fallen kingdom. *** It was an overgrown forest full of towering trees and dense shrubs where usually not a single soul could be seen. Tree crowns filled the forest canopy and blocked out the sky, leaving the forest in dimnessif it was not for the occasional ray of sunshine piercing through the canopy to project faint strips radiance within the forest, one would have trouble differentiating between night and day. The young girl who was dressed in combat gear was running through a narrow path between the woods. Her blonde ponytail danced as she moved, shining with a golden hue brighter than the sun itself. There were still a few elites keeping guard around her, who were probably her guards. Suddenly, the young girl tripped over a tree root and almost fell, but was caught by the outstretched hand of the oldest guardsman beside her. Thank you, Uncle Carlo. The girl who was panting heavily and sweating buckets from running conveyed her gratitude. It is my duty, Your Highness. The man appeared much more at ease, but he spoke stiffly and seriously. We are now some distance away from Lancaster City, and they would have trouble tracking us in this forest. Lets rest for a moment. In response, the girl did not keep up her brave act, leaning on a tree and sitting on it without any cushioning, with a face full of grief. I thought by setting base in Lancaster, we would at least be free from the sabotages by the Traitor Kings army I simply did not imagine that someone from an Evil God cult appearing out of nowhere would corner us like this. Because the God of Games has left us, the middle-aged man said flatly. Thats disrespectful, Uncle Carlo. The young girl smiled bitterly, but her words appeared to be more mocking of herself than blaming him. In reality, even if they, refugees of Tierra maintained their traditional belief in the God of Games, almost everyone was aware that the deity had left them. It made sense if they thought about it: the great kingdom of Tierra which had been at the height of its power when they were invaded and driven to its knees, and yet that god had never once displayed even the slightest of providence. With what few were left of them now, it certainly was impossible for them to gain any divine compassion. Nonetheless, the young girl who had long since gotten used to cruel blows shook her head, throwing aside her doubt towards the God of Games. More importantly, why would anyone from an evil god cult know our hidden base in Lancaster? Not even the inquisitors of the Traitor King has found us I can answer that, Lady Leah. A sharp voice with unrepressed hostility suddenly spoke, setting the girls party on alert at once. Soon, however, their alertness turned into profound despair, for many figures dressed in black cloaks and wearing bizarre black and white masks appeared from the dense forest. The girl was only too familiar with themtheir secret base in Lancaster had been overrun by those same cultists! At the moment, she was completely surrounded by the cultists. The one who spoke was probably their leader who had just slowly stepped out from their formation. He lifted his right hand, and his cloak slipped off to expose his scar-laden right hand. An insect resembling an overgrown purple fly was resting on his right index finger, and using its front legs to rub its massive compound eyes. This black corpsefly is not useful in fighting as a magical pet, but as a familiar it can precisely identify the rotting odor lingering on every Rotten Bones follower, the cultist said proudly. Its all too easy to track all of you with it. Before the girl could retort, the guard beside her cried out in agonyshe turned in panic, and found the stoic middle-aged man Carlo had cut down one of the guards. Stop! What are you doing, Uncle Carlo?! The young girl exclaimed in surprise. Dont you get it? The black corpsefly was tracking your Captain Carlos scent! The cultist leader laughed dementedly. That Uncle Carlo you respect so much was on our side in the first placehe has become a follower of Rotten Bones! How could this be The girl was in disbelief. I am sorry, Your Highness. Carlo remained as stoic as ever and showed no apologetic expression whatsoever. You know very well that my wife and daughter died in the defense of Tierra. I could never forget the terrible state of their lifeless bodies, and in every moment of the last few years, my heart burns with vengeance Even so, after fighting in the war, I now know for sure of the gap between an army blessed by a god and another which was abandoned. That feeble God of Games is unable to help me exact vengeance, and as such, I sold my soul to a god who can actually help me claim revenge. So, in the end, Im just a ladder you climb on the path of vengeance? The girls body was quivering. She felt as if she had fallen into an icy cavern after being betrayed by the one person whom she trusted the most. An initiation, to be precise. Meanwhile, were going to properly educate you before presenting you as a gift to some noble in the empire, Princess of Tierra. Im convinced that we could get something really nice from those pigs with that very title. The cultist leader interjected. They especially like such things. I wont let you! The girl bit her lip and unsheathed her saber. The other guards followed suit and brought their weapons to bear at the cultists and the traitorous captain of the guards surrounding them. The other ladies all say that, and all of them ended up as our tributes. Its perfectly finewe have people with special skills designed for that amongst our group. The leader of the cultist was not concerned despite the young girls weapon, but was instead becoming thrilled. It wont take a while before youll be as docile as they were. Im very sorry, Carlo said dryly, before pointing his sword at the girl. You will face divine retribution for turning against God, the young girl said, slightly trembling as she tried to maintain her courage. Maybe. Like you, I once held immeasurable faith in that God of Games, but he never helped His Grace in the fall of Tierra, nor did he help me when my wife and daughter were killed by soldiers serving the traitor king, Carlo said coldly. That is why now, in this very moment, he would not help you either, Your Grace. Because that god is so cold-blooded and heartless. Chapter 21: The Truth Of Tierra Leah Yakaran kept her saber leveled at Carlo, the man whom she once respected the most. Uncle Carlo Your Highness, Im the one who taught you the way of your swordI know your every move. Carlo said coldly. You know very well it counts for nothing against me. Though the young girl did not have any intention to simply give herself up, there was bewilderment within her. Her mother had passed on due to complications with childbirth, while her father had also died early on. During her younger years, many people around her in the palace believed that it was a retribution from Yakaran the Elevenths atheism, and saw her as a heretic as well despite having survived sheerly by luck. Even if those same people disguised it well, she could notice that they held disgust against her and would rather keep a distance. In her childhood, the closest person to her was essentially her grandfather, the last monarch of Tierra. Leahs grandfather whom everyone else cursed as blind and foolish had believed that the gods were simply parasites of this world, that even if they were far more powerful than humankind, they would not offer any aid to develop the world, human or civilization. What was worse, their desire of faith from humankind was an obstacle to the advancement of eras, and as such he had become the only existent atheist, even fabricating the Church of the God of Games and establishing it as the national religion for disguise. Yakaran the Eleventh had chosen games as a made-up faith thanks to his opinion that entertainment elevates the happiness of the citizens, that it was something quintessential for them to unwind after a busy day at work. It actually proved true as well: when Yakaran the Eleventh held the crown, Tierras power as a nation was once several times that of her neighboring nations added together. And yet, it was also the very cause for disaster, because any person who led a basket full of gold and gems but did not have the ability to protect that wealth would only ever draw coveting looks. Although Tierra boasted astonishing riches, the country did not have a deity with the power to sufficiently protect it. Against former armies blessed by their gods, defeat was inevitable even if their own mortal legions had finer weapons or armor, and the country hence ended up split and annexed by its neighbors. In the war, Yakaran the Eleventh, Leahs grandfather made a last stand in the citadel of the royal capital so that she could escape, even after enemy forces had broken through. It was then that the unbreakable stronghold was burnt to the ground as clerics of the Golden Temple which consecrated Emporio the Sun God jointly cast a divine spell, invoking the suns wrath Even so Was defeat and death inevitable, unless they lowered their heads before the parasitic gods? Was grandfather wrong in his policies for only wanting to share joy with his subjects? In this very moment, the girl was left hesitating. Once immeasurably determined to exact vengeance and rebuild Tierra, her thoughts were now shrouded by a mist with no clear path forward. Such a moment of hesitation would certainly leave her distracted in her standoff against Carloand being her sword instructor, and the former captain of Tierras Royal Guard, that moment was not lost upon Carlo. Even before she could gather herself, Carlo had already bounded forward, easily dodging two other guardsmans pincer strike and sent Leahs own saber flying out of her hands. Stumbling two steps backward, the girl almost fell over. Its finished. The leader of the cult who was hidden behind his dark cloak and mask laughed cruelly, totally uninterested in that elegantly decorated blade that dropped right before him. Meanwhile, Carlo was pressing home the advantage: capturing Leah meant complete success for their operation, and it was fine whatever anyone else would do. That was when a blinding radiance suddenly shone out of nowhere, instantly taking away everyones vision! As the light soon faded, all the cultists realized that the survivors of Tierraincluding Leah had all vanished. Only the traitor Carlo remained, and was left utterly baffled by what actually happened. Meanwhile, Leah was the first to react after being covered in that light. She found herself within a space of pure whiteness. Around her, her escorting guardsmen were stiff like statues and not reacting. She could not revive them whatever she did. Dont waste your breath. Their faith is too weak for them gaze upon a god directly. The girl was at once alert when she heard the unfamiliar voice, and instinctively reached for her sword. It was then that she found that she no longer had it, instead quickly drew another from one of her guardsmans scabbard and assumed a stance. God? Leah appeared doubtfulall she could make out was a nearby blurry humanoid form that seemed to be the one speaking. Thats right. Then youre mistaken. Im a non-believer, as real as it gets! Despite her outburst, the girl then considered things for a moment after learning about her present state, and began to bargain with Xi Wei seriously. Although Im not sure why you brought us here, I should thank you for the moment did you come for me? Please spare my men if thats the case for they are innocent. You could do whatever you want with me! Though she was not convinced she was talking to a god, the other being was undoubtedly powerful to have the strength to whisk them away from the cultists encirclement, and would absolutely be more troublesome than the cultists themselves. To resist now would be follyanything else could wait after she gathered a little information from the other being. Well, thats a pity Im not some perverted god. In the white void, the vague silhouette barely resembling a human replied. But you should know my name, for you have prayed for me just a while ago What?! Leah was dumbstruck. Allow me to introduce myself, Xi Wei smiledthe fish had taken the bait. I am the God of Games! The God of Games You actually exist? It seemed that even a devout believer such as Leah had begun to doubt that he was real after so many unanswered prayers. Indeed, if Xi Wei had not shown his face just now, the faith in him on her end would probably have been severed. Well, yes, but we should begin with apologies. I actually just awakened and couldnt help when Tierra was besieged, Xi Wei continued with that his enigmatic tone. That being said, your prayers all this time had no gone to wastefor I have risen from my slumber! Now is the time to rebuild Tierra, the kingdom of my friend! Leah felt a myriad of emotions when she heard those words from the god she believed in. She never expected that the ever-silent god had come to aid her in her most desperate hour. At the same time, the girl had a feeling as if she was a vagabond who finally found home, the place she truly belonged. It was so warm that she could break down in tears. Chapter 22: Warrior Princess O Game of Gods Please offer thy guidance, how should I go on? Leah asked in piety, pressing her sword into the ground and kneeling on one knee. In return, Xi Wei gently brushed over her head. Her name then appeared immediately, written in white words. What is that? She looked at the words, her head tilted in confusion. That is the sign of a Player, and only my believers would see it, Xi Wei explained. Do not feel doubt when you find others having it when you travel, for they are Players and my other believers. On the other hand, any whose head floated with HP Bars are decidedly your enemy. Player Although unsure what a HP Bar was, Leah understood the term Player: this world has the term players, which denoted those who were playing a gamethere was no sign more fitting for believers of the God of Games. The girl nodded at the thought. I have granted you blessing. Murmur the Words of Providence to enliven that blessing. Words of Providence? Leah closed her eyes confusedly. As she hesitated on whether she should start playing, an inspiration flashed through her mind like crackling lightning, after which a short and simple command was engraved deeply into her head. She opened her eyes and exclaimed excitedly at Xi Wei, who was withdrawing his tentacles, My Lord, I get it now! Then, almost by instinct, she started to chant it. O Master of Games, grant us new life A translucent screen appeared before her at her call. Ding! Warrior Princess System activated. Alright. Now, head forth to the town outside the Valley of the Tragic Dead. That is where my believers would gatherthey would welcome you in open arms, Xi Wei then said before Leah could look further into her system page. My men She turned worriedly toward the guardsman who had yet to recover. Their faith in me has yet to take root and hence unable to reach the sacred path and earn my blessing, Xi Wei replied. They would awaken once all of you have left this Divine Kingdom. I see Leah breathed a sigh in relief although she also felt rather dejected. This shall be it. It is my hope that you would grow when I meet again Please wait, o God of Games! Leah then asked solemnly at the blurred figure that was Xi Wei. The world often told me that my grandfather was the king of blind fools but what do you think? Xi Wei stayed silent for some time while the expectant look in Leahs eyes slowly lost color. Finally, Xi Wei solemnly spoke, He is a king worthy of respect even to me. There would not be a God of Games if it was not for the Yakaran the Eleventh, nor would Xi Wei transmigrate to this world. That was why Xi Wei definitely had that unlucky king to thank for from a certain perspective. Thank you, o Lord of Games! With Xi Weis affirmation, there was no more doubt in Leahs eyes. She gave him a stately bow. Xi Wei said nothing. He sent her and her men away with a wave of his tentacle, warping them to the outskirts of another county hundreds of miles away from Lancaster. In reality, he did not pull them into his Divine Kingdom. Instead, he created an illusive realm and simply got it over withafter all, pulling anything from the mortal realm save for offerings would consume too much divine energy, and Xi Wei had no intention to spend so much on just a few heads. Ok. With Leah, the believers main quest is basically established. Xi Wei was in such a good mood that he had the leisure to turn and check on the cultists in the jungle. They had split into a few groups to search the forest, seemingly yet to give up. It made sense, however, since they had taken such a long time to set their trap, only to have their target mysteriously vanish just as they almost got it. Not even Xi Wei would take it with grace. In truth, it was not as if Xi Wei could not get rid of themit would not take much of an effort to wipe them out even if there were dozens more of them. However, Xi Weis teleporting of Leahs party to somewhere else was a regular Divine Grace, while appearing directly to kill the cultists was a descent which would definitely be noticed by the other gods. More importantly, Xi Wei has decided that though the Rotten Bones the cultists worshipped was indeed an evil god, it was basically an unorthodox branch of the Skull Gods faith, who was a second-tier god serving Lord Hades. Still, though it appeared to be an inferior small fry, it was a rarely encountered small fry. Be that as it may, unless the small fry gods cultists rise to the point that they could conquer an entire kingdom, setting their faith as the national religion while expanding without region to increase their follower base, that small fry would have difficulty to become an orthodox lesser deity. In other words, such noobs could be left to their own devices. If Xi Wei scared it off just by showing his face, he would have trouble looking for another small fry god. As for the cultists, there may well be those who would think there are so many greater gods in the worldwhy not follow them instead of some small fry evil god? Are the cultists nuts? There was one idiom that fits that particular scenario: big fish in a small pond. The greater gods had over millions of believers, and it would take monstrous effort for any ordinary person to rise above the crowd in their respective churches. On the other hand, because those small fry evil gods did not have many followers serving them, that was why devout faith in them would gain their notice, securing Divine Grace and blessings under the shortest of periods. The blessings from evil gods would certainly be much weaker than greater gods and would most definitely cause side effects on their own clerics, but they are powerful beings in comparison to mortals or an ordinary clerics. It would take at least a bishop to counter a cultist leader. It could even be said that faith in evil gods was the quickest path to power. That was precisely why the evil god factions continue to flourish despite repeated prohibition across the world. Either way, the appearance of the Rotten Bones had provided Xi Wei a new target with which he could pave the missions for his believers. They might even pull that unknown god into an instance dungeon where the Players could take turns to give it a beatdown. In comparison, it was Leahs attempt at reviving a nation that would prove difficult. After all, it involved several powerful neighboring kingdoms that held faith in patron gods who were intermediate or above. Xi Wei had no disposition to pluck the tigers whiskers at the moment, and so could only take it slow as a main mission Chapter 23: Players Increasing… Marni Wilf was a little troubled. Because the five brats who had helped him send a tribe of goblins fleeing had asked to come along with his merchant convoy. He certainly welcomed them with open arms since the quintet who called themselves believers of the God of Games held undoubtable abilityeven if their behavior was rather bizarre. With their company, they might actually even stand a chance if they ran into magical beasts. Moreover, he did not have to worry about them having ulterior motives toward his merchandise. To put it unkindly, the brats could simply kill his entire group and take anything they want if they wanted to. With his groups escorts dead or injured, they did not hold a candle against the youths at all. With that in mind, Marni Wild did not hesitate to agree with Edwards request to tag along. It only took two days for the merchant to realize that he had been too na?ve The brats were bothering every person in the merchant group in almost every waking hour to preach about their God of Games. Being a traveling merchant who knows things, Marni certainly was aware of the God of Gamesit was less than ten years since the fall of Tierra, and back then, the nation of entertainment had been a paradise even for merchants. In fact, Marnis first bucket of gold was made by selling wooden chess sets in Tierra. He missed the nice and sincere citizens in that country who would even treat inferior traveling merchants such as him as equals. Nonetheless, the rumor he heard was that it was precisely because Tierras faith in the God of Games left their citizens obsessing with playing and gambling. Their minds deteriorated and in turn weakened the nation, allowing neighboring countries to besiege them. Moreover, their faith in the God of Games proved meaningless. In the end, Tierras royal capital was taken, with their king Yakaran the Eleventh falling in that battle. Then, after dividing Tierras lands, those neighboring nations made it so that the fall of Tierra became a cautionary tale in education, banning all their citizens from praying to the God of Games. In fact, the soil on which Marni and the others tread now had been Tierra land, belonging to one of the countries which had helped destroyed it. One way or another, in most peoples minds, the God of Games was a weak god, and holding faith in him was as unrewarding as it was not worth the trouble. There were actually those who would believe the deity was fabricated by Yakaran the Eleventh himself, that the divine being himself never existed. Marni had himself believed that the God of Games did not exist. He thought that the five brats were trying to disguise themselves when they tried to preach about their faith, that they were reluctant to reveal their true god. After all, the Divine Order of many gods were in itself a flaw that left their clerics vulnerable. It was better therefore to stay cautious and not simply offer their own actual faith. It was therefore unexpected that the brats really believed in the God of Games, and kept preaching to the merchant group! At first, there were one or two escorting guards who, unable to stand their incessant, almost pestering coaxing that they agreed to be converts, even learning to pray like they did. Marni had expected them to be putting on a show to spare themselves the trouble. But in two days, those guards were actually preaching about the God of Games as well! Moreover, that evangelism most crude was actually a success: half of the merchant group was now were believers of that whatnot God of Games! Marni also noticed then about the oddity revolving around guardsmen who converted as believers of the God of Games. They had virtually given up on their battle qi meditation or daily training, and yet it would be not quite right that they had become lazythose were the same guards who would leap into action immediately whenever the convoy ran into beasts or obstacles or any sort, and would in fact chase their target for days just to slay them. Still, it did leave their group in peace since no wild beasts dared to cross their paths anymore That being said, the new believers seemed to have learned a new mysterious language entirely as well. They would often gather to discussing or arguing unusually, saying things like shit, how can you steal kill my target!, no beast no EXP, go do main quest or which class is better? cant choose, should default as warrior. In fact, Marni had by chance caught one of those guardsmen converts who sleep-talk saying that he hoped the goblin tribe would attack them again How is that deity a God of Games? He is entirely an evil god who corrupts the heart! More than that, some of the guards were asking Marni to learn his sword skills over the last two days. *** Though Marni was a traveling merchant, but doing business with the many beastseven magical onesprowling the land, one should naturally have a skill or two apart from guts. Even if Marnis ability was not actually comparable to his guards captain, he did inherit a sword style from his family. Still, even if it was an heirloom, it was nothing more than an ordinary style improved from the ways of the sword his ancestors molded from being in battle. It was not really anything secretive, and indeed, his grandfather had hoped that the improvised style could be spread, and as such Marni taught it to the captain when they sparred. Then, it turned out that the guardsmen captain whom he had put his hopes and dreams was also brainwashed, and became another convert of that bunch on the fourth day. Nonetheless, soon after his conversion, he suddenly told the other believers of the God of Games that Marni Wilfs sword style could help with leveling up. And with that, the guards kept approaching him to learn his sword style But annoyingly, once he showed any of them his skill, they would nod and say they understood before quickly launching into a tirade of swings and stabs more proficient and deadly than his style if Marni did not know that they had not learned it beforehand, he would have suspected that they were out to make a fool of him. They also often attempted to preach to Marni, only to be rejected on every occasion. I would die or fall of that tree over there before I renounced Gaglomeia, the Goddess of Prosperity! Marni sighed when he remembered that. Wolfing down his ration in three bites, he rose to his feet, ready to continue the journey. With their current location, it would be around two days before they leave the forests to reach Salt Mine City. Then, one of the guardsmen who converted just yesterday approached him. You want to learn my sword style too? Marni excitedly drew his sword, ready for a demonstration. Ah, its fine. Mister Edward just did an experiment a while ago, and it turns out that even Level 2 of your sword style would not match Divine Earth Split Sword, and it is one of the basic skills A variety of expressions happened over Marnis speechless face. Is it hard to learn that Divine Earth Split Sword? he asked. Not really. The requirement is Level 3, and I learned it yesterday, the guard replied. Marni was silent once again. It was after some time that he said with great difficulty, Well, can I still convert to the God of Games now? Chapter 24: Crisis in Starter Village Congratulations! You have earned the recognition of more than half the villagers to successfully earn your leadership in the unnamed town. You can now choose a name for your fief. (First name change is free, changing name again requires purchasing of name change ticket from the shop) As the last stack of harvested spirit oats was stored amidst the townsfolks worshipful and disbelieving gazes, Angora Faust heard the notifications ding from his Liege System as he had hoped for. Nonetheless, he was not rushing to check the notifications, but instead turned to the townsfolk. My seeds have been empowered by divine arts and its effect would be lost after planting it. It would be meaningless even if you take the oats and plant themI know that there are those of you who have tried and had no success, which is why youre here now. Isnt that so? Some of the townsfolk lowered their gazes in shame and fear. If it had been any other lord in any other land, any subjects who even dared to steal a look upon a blessed crop would most likely end up hanged. But Angora clearly wouldnt. The first reason was that the population in the town was too few, and human resources were vital to revive a town, and every bit of labor force at this time was considerably precious. The second was that the townsfolk were all basically related, and simply punishing them could get him hated by the entire town. Without even an escort, Angora did not need to bear the unnecessary risk of being knifed in the back by his own subjects over some trivial matter. These spirit oat seeds are limited in number, and Im unable to provide everyone with some. However, it is my promise as a lord that not one townsfolk would die of the cold or hunger in winter! Angora declared loudly. Since he did not have the skills for a show of force, he could try swaying the people through virtue. All at once, the townsfolk erupted in cheer. Watching as the town became filled with a delightful atmosphere and that the townsfolk chattering too excitedly to look at his direction, Angora breathed a sigh in relief. He quietly muttered the command in his mind to check the system panel. [Player: Angora Faust] [Fief: Unnamed town] [Class: Unknown Lord] [Credits: 70 game coins] [Fief prosperity: 12/100] [Yield Points: 110] [Population: 29/29 (You must build new residences to increase population limit)] [Resident Players: 0 (Other players are coming soon)] [Buildings: farmstead (Level 3)] [Storehouse (Level 0): spirit oat x5, grown oat x22, Watering Bucket of the Devout] [Previous Page Next Page ] Why does it feel like nothing has really changed? Angora Faust mumbled before turning the system page, stumbling on a new one aside from Penguin Farm. The new page resembled the shop page from Penguin Farm, but instead of selling seeds and farming tools, it sold a random assortment of building blueprints. Angora even found something resembling a mage academy, but flinched once he saw that it required him to exceed 5,000 fief prosperity points and 15,000 yield points. What the heck is that requirement? My fief is just past one hundred now Complaining inwardly, Angora stopped browsing through the lofty buildings and instead turned toward the cheaper buildings. It turned out that Angora could unlock some of those building blueprints. Examples include the most basic wooden house that requires a meager thirty yield points and no prosperity requirements, but also needing just thirty game coins and any between one to four individuals prayer to build. Construction time was one to four hours, and each housing increases the population upper limit by three. Stone house, just slightly above wooden house requires fifty yield points and above ten prosperity points. Building each would cost fifty game coins but increases the population limit by 5, whereas its construction requirements were otherwise identical to wooden house. In fact, it could be directly upgraded from built wooden houses by paying twenty game coins. Aside from that, there were also log workshops, mines, warehouses, and other buildings, along with some blueprints that left Angora rather baffled. Some of those include outdoor healing spa which blueprints require a hundred yield points and reaching above 20 fief prosperity. It also costs a hundred game coins while needing two to eight people for construction, and around four to eight hours to build. It appeared that the effect of the particular building was ease fatigue to a certain extent and provide certain buff status: increased skin moisture, skin refinement, and skin smoothness, but with a certain rate of attracting monkeys and peeking perverts. It was another world with inconvenient transportation as well as beasts or magical creatures everywhere, there was simply no such thing as tourism economy, leaving Angora I guess itll have to be building houses first Angora muttered to himself. Although there were many vacant houses in the town, years without maintenance left them uninhabitable. Moreover, the reminder that other Players are coming soon left Angora feeling a sense of urgency. After he had obtained the System, Angora certainly understood that the so-called players were believers of the God of Games like himself. He wondered if the others had the same interface In reality, Angora did try to preach but did not achieve much success. Most townsfolk had gotten used to having no faith, and would not know how to devoutly offer their faith even with the spirit oat as reward. As such, most of them ended up as shallow believers like Vela. To obtain the God of Games blessing that was the System and join the ranks of the Players, one must at least reach the threshold of True Believers! It was not actually an exclusive demand by the God of Games. In truth, most churches and temples recruit clerics with a strong requirement of faith, and in their case being a devout believer was the basic requirement. In comparison, the God of Games requirements were much relaxed. Of course, dear Lord Faust had also forgotten that he was not even a shallow believer when he just received the Lord System. Feels like theres no end to this. If only Vela could be blessed as a true believer I would have gathered more information Angora grumbled quietly. Lord Faust, were you calling for me? Angora jumped, startled by Vela who suddenly appeared behind her. N-nothing, youre hearing things! Angora quickly denied it. While Vela was confused by Angoras panicked reaction, she did not ask more questions as there were more important things at hand. Lord Faust, its sudden but our hunters had found signs of revenants it seems that the royal army did not completely wipe them out after they escaped from the Valley of the Tragic Dead. This could threaten the town if not handled well! Vela exclaimed seriously. What should we do now? Angoras instincts were to head to the nearest neighboring city to ask for help, but soon realized that it would be futile. What could be done, then? Ding! Side quest started: Defend the town, wait for reinforcements. Please build sufficient houses as soon as possible and wait for other Players to arrive! Chapter 25: The Frost Has Come Winter had not arrived, but the weather was becoming colder with each passing day. As Angora looked up at the bright skies in his stroll around town, he sighed by reflex. That same blue sky would not be seen for three months when the frost arrives. Nonetheless, the people in town were not slowing down despite the coming cold, but started to work harder instead. Work such as harvesting spirit oats from the farms, the building of wooden houses, hunting for meat and fur, as well as fortifying the town against the revenants with wooden structures were all conducted without pause and complete synchrony. It was fortunate that Angora had the Lord System, which was why agriculture and construction which took much time and great labor could now be completed even by idle old folks with simple prayers. That in turn freed much youthful labor who could accomplish more vital tasks. My lord, youre here. The old mayor appeared out of nowhere, his milky eyes showing a hint of delight when he saw Angora overseeing the construction progress of the new houses. The last batch of those blessed oats has been harvested. Well done. Lets seize this moment before the snow comes to plants some vegetables. Angora drew out a cloth bag carrying vegetable seeds he redeemed from the System yesterday. Before, the basic procedure for farming had been an unchanging cycle of: plant spirit oatswait for them to mature and harveststore half and sell half to Systemearn game coinspend ninety percent on new seedsplant spirit oats. The other game coin saved would be allocated to buying new farmsteads and build wooden houses. Nonetheless, the number of oat seeds sold in the Penguin Farm Shop was limited. As it kept snowballing, Angora realized that it was every oat seed available on each day was not sufficient for their farmstead available presently. It seemed that he has to first upgrade Penguin Farm if he wanted more seeds to be sold, which requires raising his level as lord and the fief prosperity on the ascension page. Either way, it was quite far from reach for the moment. Angora himself held some grief at first, believing that the shop feature of the System was being too stingy. Still, he relented eventuallyin the first place, the interface was named Lord System and not Farmer King System. While most would consider farmsteads equals food and that it was not normal to work the fields for the entire day, agriculture was a just part of his fief for a lord like him. When the only grain silo in the town was stacked full of oats, Angora began to think about planting other vegetables or whatnot. For the poverty-stricken townsfolk, it was happiness to have a full stomach every day. Still, for better or worse, Angora was noble-bornhe did keep it together for days solely on rations, but having oats over all winter would definitely drive him mad. *** The old mayor accepted the little cloth bag from Angora somberly. He had been moved to tears days ago when he witnessed the oats mature hours after being planted, to the point that even his deeply-furrowed wrinkles seem to have eased. The old man instantly changed his noncommittal attitude towards Angora to overflowing respect following his miraculous feats. It was a pity that despite Angoras several attempts, he could not turn the old mans perspective to the great one is not Angora but the God of Games. Otherwise, the old mans passion alone would certainly have made devout believer. By the way, has there been more sightings of revenants outside of town? Angora asked concernedly. At the moment, everything in town was developing steadily. It was only those revenants roaming beyond that worried Angora. None yet. The old man shook his head even as he held the bag tightly before his chest as if it was treasure. Apart from the skeletons they saw at first, the young hunters still found nothing after patrolling for days around the area. Is that so Angora sighed slightly in relief. My lord, you dont really have to worry about itVela might have exaggerated things because of her lack of experience: it is perfectly ordinary for the royal army to miss one or two of those bone fiends in their purge, and they would never hold out against our hunters. The old man could see that Angora was quite concerned with the matter and hence helped reassure him. Moreover, the army actually set the forests on fire just to kill them all. Indeed, the fact they withdrew so carefreely also makes it clear that not many of those revenants are still around. Wont new revenants come out from the Valley of the Tragic Dead? Angora asked. They wont. The revenants wouldnt leave the valley in winter, or in the very least that had never happened in the sixty-odd years of my life. Be at ease, my lordit would be fine. Wouldnt that be nice? Angora sighed. Unlike the old man, he had the cheating device that was the System even if he lacked the mayors experience. After all, the quest panel which usually did not really have much of a presence suddenly started to alert him to the quest: defend the town, wait for reinforcements. Out of his trust towards the System or indeed the mysterious god who created it, Angora felt that there would be enough revenants coming to threaten the whole town! It would be nice to know when the other Players would arrive, Angora thought. The quest itself required him to hold out until the other Players could reach them, and if that was the case, there must be fighters amongst those other believers just like the knightly escorts of most liege lords. Why wasnt there be a countdown timer that tells when the other Players would come like the oats? Just as Angora brooded, he suddenly shuddered. The northern wind was howling. The weather seemed colder. Angora looked up, but found that the skies that were perfectly clear for miles was suddenly laden with clouds of gloom. A tiny white snowflake floated down from the darkening sky. The frost has come Chapter 26: Crisis in Starter Village The anomalies began on the second day into winter. At first, it had only been weak skeletons found wandering outside of town, but the revenants soon grew in number. Soon, even skeleton warriors that came bearing weapons were in the mix, and the townsfolk would be hurt with even slight carelessness. As the sudden incidents threw Angoras plans into disarrayhe had to put a hold on other tasks as he fully strengthened the defensive perimeter surrounding town. However, their crude fortifications also slowly fell when the skeleton mages appeared just a few days agoa single fireball thrown at them would immediately destroy the mud ramparts the townsfolk raised after working for a whole day. Despite being a major threat, if it had not been for the skeleton mages low numbers, along with several courageous and capable hunters who braved death to strike preemptively against, the town could already have fallen on that same day. Be that as it may, the situation in town was deteriorating by the day. By now the townsfolk were forced to abandon the outer ramparts and hide within the town itself, defending themselves around the newly built cluster of settlements. After all, compared to the rundown houses that were never repaired for years, the newly built houses were surprisingly tough despite being wooden in structure. It was not actually singed despite being struck by fireballs, much less set on fire. It was because of those seemingly unbreakable houses and Angoras own repetitive mentions of reinforcements that morale amongst the townsfolk had yet to crumble. That being said, were almost at wits end Angora, the only one who could see the durability bar of the houses and stayed at the center of the houses was scratching the back of his head restlessly. Although every house still looked as good as new, their durability bar which had been much longer was actually dwindling and about to cave. Moreover, his Overlord System did not provide any weapons. All the townsfolk had to fight the revenants with are basic hunting equipment and farming equipment. As the battle sunk into a miasma of attritional warfare, they found their weapons almost used up. Reality was different from games after allcrude steel tools would start to blunt after cutting down two or three enemies, not to mention that the arrows and bolts the hunters could recycle was severely lacking. In fact, most of their weapons would be left unusable right after a single battle. And as if things could not be worst, as skeleton archers started to appear yesterday, there were now casualties: three elderly townsfolk who could not escape their projectiles in time were killed. The town population of 29 was lost by one-tenth in an instant! His room was opened violently from the outside then, startling Angora, who had been caught in his thoughts. Vela entered, brushing away the snowflakes atop her beast skin cap and asking impatiently, My lord, when are your reinforcements coming? We cant hold on! I would have told everyone to encourage them if I knew, Angora thought. Nonetheless, it was clear that he must never say that, all morale would probably crumble all at once. Be calm. They are coming, and now all you have to do is defend this place however you can, he replied. Vela responded with a doubtful gaze. Sighing without being noticed, Angora rose from his seat. Does it still mean a thing to fool any of you by now? How about thisIll join the fight myself. Would that put you at ease? Vela still looked doubtful, but nodded stiffly and left the room first. Nevertheless, Angora had an indescribable nervousness once he left the safety of his lodgings. *** Truth be told, the revenant assault was not actually too powerful. Compared to the wars between humans, fighting against revenants was much more leisurely: the townsfolk could sit down behind their simple perimeter of wooden crates, even affording the time to have a steaming bowl of oatmeal. For their part, the revenants looked like they were just roaming everywhere outside, only attacking when they detect the scent of the living. Nevertheless, that was also the reason why anyone who tried to make their way past surrounding revenants would only attract the attention of more revenants. And once they were surrounded by too many, even Krum, the towns best hunter would not be able to escape. Angora was also distinctly aware that while their defenses appeared easy to the point that ordinary townsfolk could make a stand, the revenants had the edgethey neither tire nor needed sleep, and would spend almost every hour of the day to rush their perimeter. Even if they were not too strong, their continuous attack would not stop wearing away the defending sides spirit and will, finally leaving them exhausted and about to fall apart That said, with the lack of a better option, Angora and the others could only keep stopping the assault of the revenants. Were fooled by a noble again! As another day passed, a young hunter finally lost his rational. His eyes were red without rest, and he was pointing his chipped blade at Angora. Theres no reinforcements! Well die here! Its all over! With those words, he swung the machete he once used to cut jungle creepers in despair and madness, cutting down at Angora. Half-collapsing just after defeating a skeleton warrior, Angora could not escape the sudden strike at all. It was over! Never thought that Id die to an ally instead of a revenant, Angora thought, feeling the irony. But in that split second, Vela got on her feet despite being equally exhausted and parried the blow, even kicking the young hunter to the dirt. Save your strength for the revenants. If not, leave this place and die! But, Vela the skeletons are everywhere even reinforcements wont make it past them to save us! The young hunters face was contorted, and he was crying in utter despair. It must be that noble! He must have led the revenants here! Fool. Why would I do that? Do I have a death wish? Angora mumbled just loud enough for them to hear. Vela glared at him, before turning to the hunter. Right now, all we can do is believe in our reinforcements. That was when someone guarding another side of the perimeter shouted, Skeleton knight! Its a skeleton knight! Both Angora and Vela reacted at once and ran towards that direction. They found the skeleton knight nearby. It was armed to the teeth, riding a huge, bony and armored horse, burning with blue flames where its mane and eyes had been. And just like a road roller, it easily mowed through the old buildings of the town, and was dashing swiftly towards the houses at the center of town. Angora instantly broke out in cold sweatwith the present durability of the house, it would fall apart once that thing hits! He could not help cursing inwardly. This time, they were really finished Chapter 27: The Players Arrive! Nonetheless, it was in the moment of imminent peril that an unusual noise echoed from yet another direction. Angora turned toward it by instinct to find an unusual convoy of caravans nearby, having appeared at some point in time within that spot of town. Although they looked like your run-of-the-mill merchant convoy, their carriages were dashing and crashing amongst the skeletons, and reached them soon enough. It was until then that Angora realized that there were white names hovering above the heads of the merchant group, just like himself. There was no mistaking it. They were the Players the System mentioned! Angoras heart which had been at his mouth was finally eased. While he thought the System was honest and did not lie, he cheerfully shouted, Our reinforcements here! Hold on, everyone, keep fighting until the end! But he soon realized that not only did the townsfolk not relax, but that the despair on their faces thickened. My lord, the reinforcements is that it? Vela could not help but ask. Angora himself was taken aback by her question. Indeed, the Players looked to number just around twenty. Was there any chance of victory against the eight hundred skeletons, including the elite skeleton knight? Angora had not thought about that. He had merely been expecting rescue from the Players, but now, when he had seen their erratic formation, he could not help doubt them as a fighting force after all, even though he was a Player, he was barely able to fight. Still, he found it bizarre that the Players reaction towards the turbid ranks of the skeleton army. They were neither fearful nor underestimating them. Instead, it was a confusing feeling as if they had seen moving gold. There are so many monsters here! How delightful! They are coming out from the jungle and circling us! Finally, something I could test my new skill with. Hurry, hurry! XP, so much XP! That big one on the horse must be a Boss. No telling what good stuff it would drop. That horse is so cool maybe I could take it as my ride! Clearing these monsters means we clear the save the village quest, right? Ahaha! So many monsters I, Marni finally could hope to reach level three! Frost Bullet! Hey, no kill stealing! Angoras expectations were entirely subverted by the outcome when the Players collided against the legion of bonesthe skeletons were essentially being harvested one-sidedly by the buffed Players. It was not to say that the Players were so strong that they were completely unafraid of the skeletons, since some of the stronger skeletons would still be able to deal significant damage upon them. A case in point was that Player called Marni who was dressed as a merchant. While he was dancing around with his battlefield sword style to hold off three skeleton warriors, he was stabbed repetitively on the back. He cried Ah, Im dead! and dropped to the ground cold. However, not a single player flinched. Instead, they fought even more violently. They seemed to feel no pain. Blood, flesh, and bone splattered everywhere as the battle grew violent. Hidden behind a wooden crate, Angora himself felt his blood heating up when he saw the sight of violence and gore. He lifted his sword which was already chipped and dented, yelling, Our allies are bathing in blood. If we dont fight now, when would we?! The other townsfolk had been left stunned by the Players as well. The sight of the bloodthirsty but selfless Players who were trying to save them without any regard for themselves, along with the skeletons that were dropping one after another (they did not notice that the skeletons disappeared right after they had fallen due to the confusion of the battle) left them moved. Hence, at Angoras rallying call, all of them raised their weapons and dashed out of their shelter, counterattacking against the skeletons around them. The skeletons, caught defenseless after being engaged with the commotion the Players had made, was being cut down by the townsfolk! Watching as the townsfolk became roused and launched their own assault at the legion of bones in tandem, the Players all exclaimed in the thrill: Goddamn it, stop! Thats supposed to be my XP! Theres no use even if you people fight! Spare them, they might drop me some loot! Damn it all! Weve come to save you, and you steal our kills?! Youre not supposed to do that! Marnis dead again! You bastards! Even if what they were yelling was incomprehensible, they looked thrilled so they must be praising my inspired command, Angora thought. The number of skeletons on both sides defeated increased. Still, it was a pity that both human factions were lacking in numbers, leaving the battle exacerbating. Vela agilely evaded a skeleton warriors slash, before using her blade hilt to strike the revenants exposed spine as a blunt weapon. Its bone was knocked out of place instantly, causing a chain reaction that left its body dropping apart. She fought as smoothly as a flowing stream, moving in one swift stroke to destroy the skeleton warrior. The fight lasted less than three seconds. Her movements were as elegant and masterful as a dance, leaving Angora staring blankly. I see that youre powerful, Vela Did I not tell you, my lord? Vela seized the moment to breathe with a cheeky smile. Im the best hunter in town. Angora could not help but rejoice that he did not attempt anything untoward after meeting her. This wont do, were taking heavy casualties! Vela yelled after deftly taking out a few more skeletons. If we want to defeat them, we have to beat the skeleton knight, their leader, Angora voiced his guess. Look, our reinforcements are trying their best to get to the skeleton knight! Taking a moment to glance at the reinforcements, Vela realized that the ragtag group had definitely given up on all manner of defense. Instead, everyone was depending entirely on two cleric girls guarded at the center and casting divine arts of healing to stay alive and carve a path towards the skeleton knight! Lets help them, Vela! Yes, my lord! Hence, with the other townsfolk covering them, Vela led Angora as they started towards the skeleton knight from another direction. It was with much difficulty that the two groups finally reached the skeleton knight. However, Angora was just a little curious why the Players were glowering as if they were forced to eat dung. Still, having a rush of blood to the head, Angora did not even think as she stayed with Vela and assaulted the skeleton knight alongside them! Im not letting you have the Boss even if Im out of mana! On the other side, a youth whose name read Edward had sheathed his wand on a side of his hip and drew the sword on another. Ill protect my fief! Angora remembered a knight novel he had read before, his adrenaline pumping as he strived to strike down the revenant leader invading his land alongside the other Players. But in the split second when their weapons were about to reach the skeleton knight, Vela suddenly noticed that the silver-haired girl with twin ponytails kept protected at the center of the reinforcements had suddenly raised her simple wand. Spear of Victory. In the next second, a luminous spear which was condensed from light and laden with dazzling golden silk cut through five hundred meters of void, at once pinning the skeleton knight down on the ground just as it was about to fight Edward and Angora to the death Chapter 28: Version Update While there was a little squabbling over the matter of stealing kills, the two batches of Players still combined smoothly and allowed Xi Wei a breath of relief. With that, the first hurdle was overcome, and Xi Wei did not have to worry about his new religious faction destroying itself in its infancy. Leah Yakaran the princess of the fallen kingdom is still quite far from starter village. She probably needs more time to arrive huh. In other words, the main quests the Players could do now is carry bricks and build houses, or explore the outer reaches of the Valley of the Tragic Dead. Xi Wei extended a tentacle to scratch the bald upper part of his spherical form. But the skeleton legion that invaded this time is unusual. I just feel there its not so simple, perhaps I could assign it as a side quest to have the players investigate Given that every Player in the world below were all basically Xi Weis eyes, he would know when they find anything. He would just have to adjust the quest as the situation unravels. Moreover, after coming into contact with the other Players, Angora also understood that his System was different from the others, and certainly not improved module like Eleenas. If he had to put a finger on it, it was like the difference between role-playing games and simulators Still, in Xi Weis perspective, Angora was less a player and more the village head NPC who assign missions to Players and have them help establish starter village together. It was a process that benefited Angora himself as well. When his fief prospers, the rewards he would receive as a lord would naturally grow. And at the moment, a point of caution was to not expose the town as a base for believers of God of Games (who were cultists in other churches perspectives) and bring on their own destruction. The other was to ensure that the Players did not enter the Valley of the Tragic Dead without restraint. It was not that Xi Wei has been reluctant to let the Players purge that wretched placein fact, he hoped more than anyone else that the Players would easily clear the entire valley since it was the former battlegrounds of the gods. They just might be able to retrieve things such as broken divinities, allowing Xi Wei to claim more divinities without the risk of having to attack the other gods. Still, the interior of the Valley of the Tragic Dead was filled with dangers. The former empire of Valla had once dispatched ten thousand strong to explore the valley wafting with purple miasma with the intention of finding the Herb of Revival, a legendary plant said to resurrect others. Nonetheless, the expedition was almost completely decimated by unknown creatures before they could delve deep into valley, with less than ten survivors making it out. Though the Players were now were high on morale, truth be told, Xi Wei could imagine the Players who were still in their early levels being wiped out entirely every ten feet inside the Valley If that was the case, they would decrease in both EXP and level even if they could be revived. If they did things without restraint, the present situation where the Players average level stagnated would be a majority occurrence, affecting Xi Weis plans for the future. It was also simple why Xi Wei was sure that the Players would select adventuring and not help the town construction effortswhen playing a game, compared to spending a dull four to five hours growing crops, wouldnt a thrilling adventure with the potential of gaining rare dropped items so much more appealing? Moreover, seeking death was in itself engraved deeply into the DNA of players, be it back on Earth or any other world. After all, Eleenas party had been cautious when fighting monsters before they had attempted resurrection in fear that they would be the ones killed instead. However, after that one occasion where Marni died and they tried Revive, they had become reckless as seen in their rescue of starter village, reminiscent of their counterparts back on Earth. It was fortunate that the Players mindsets were no different from that of people in Earths own era of myths, and coupled with them being devout believers, their behavior could still be kept in check. Otherwise, Xi Wei would be really worried that they might drag him along with them in their self-destruction spiral. Either way, Ill just set it like this for now Xi Wei reached out with his tentacle, swiftly typing something into the computer he built with divine power *** Almost right after they had finished clearing up the army of skeletons, the Players suddenly received a message from the System. All of them could therefore see it immediately with some who were having some ale pouring it into their noses. In contrast to the other Players who were left baffled, Eleena, who had come in contact with the System first carefully read through the message from her god. Ding! [Game Version 0.02 update] [Currency System unlocked: All Players can now obtain game coins through clearing quests and killing monsters. Game coins can be used to purchase items and equipment from the Shop in the System.] [Reputation System unlocked: only the unnamed town presently allows the gaining of reputation points through the completion of commissioned quests. Commissioned quests can be accepted from the Notice Board (work in progress) and Angora Faust.] [Epic Mission: Explore the Valley of the Tragic Dead has been added to your quest page. Each exploration of the Valley of the Tragic Dead dungeon furthers the explored rate by percentage mode. Exploration to certain rates secures corresponding rewards.] [Have fun!The God of Games] The actual message was not very long, and Leah finished reading through it soon enough. The other players were done as well, and now the town was bursting in lively discussion. That must be an oracle, as told in legends! But the oracle I hear from the stories is not quite the same Dont ask. The God of Games is just awesome! Whos Angora Faust? Whats with that weird last name? This is the unnamed town? Why does it look like a village instead? Isnt thats right? Not even my hometown is that bad! The townsfolk of the unnamed town were all left staring blankly at the Players abnormal behavior. All of them looked simultaneously towards their leader that was Angora. After all, if it was not for his calm command when the legion of bones invaded, they might all have died instead. Now, they now saw him as a real lord. More importantly, the reinforcements who were perfectly capable of fighting but behaved eccentrically had come answering his call Chapter 29: Angoras Personal Opinion That being said, the reality was that they were playing different games and Angora himself was quite confused with the other Players as well. In fact, what he knew was no more than what the other townsfolk knew. They were all believers of the God of Games as far as Angora could tell, but their brains seemed to be wired differently from his own, and appeared to be very concerned with the rewards called XP and items while he himself did not. More importantly, there were many Players who had been injured in the fight against the legion of bones, but not only were they not in a hurry to receive medical attention, they were having a jovial time with their other companions. Still, like the other Players, Angora had received Xi Weis notifications about the version update of the System. Apart from more building blueprints being unlocked, there was now a new page called the contribution shop. Now, Angora would be able to assign commissioned quests such as hunting, housing maintenance or farming to Players. While Players would accomplish the quests and receive XP and game coins, Angora would be able to see their different contribution levels. Then, as their contribution level rises, Angora would be able to receive new quest clearance to distribute commissioned quests of higher levels from the contribution shop. When Players completed their commissioned quests (which is really help to carry bricks in the starter village), Angoras own yield points would also increase in his Overlord System and unlock new buildings, whereas the matter of workers manning the buildings could be handled by assigning it to the Players. The prosperity level of the town would in turn rise, and when his level as lord rises, he would obtain an even larger fief to build more buildings In other words, with enough players, the cycle of mutually benefit would continue for a long time! Moreover, Angora also free a free unlock in his Systems storagethe Lifestone, a building that could be constructed without charge. He built it in the center of town. At first, Angora imagined that the Lifestone would merely be a replica of a mountain, but when it was finished, he found that it was a crystalline rhombus-shaped stone hovering in the air. Beneath it was a curious spell formation that kept flickering just like a fountain. The system manual also indicated that it was a wonder and only one could be built in each town. Once any player died in the wildlands, unable to revived through spells or if their corpses unrecoverable, they would be brought back to life here, in the Lifestone three days later (in reality, they would be revived beside the Lifestone they were tethered tountethered Players would be revived beside the nearest Lifestone). Angora had been surprised by the fact that the Players could be revived, but soon realized that he was simply less experienced as the other Players had seemed to gotten used to that. Perhaps they now neither fear being wounded or dying was because of the infinite counts of resurrection. That was precisely why in the townsfolk and Angoras own perspective, the Players were behaving like psychos. A point in case was the fighter Marni, who died fighting multiple skeleton warriors at once. When he was brought back to life by Eleena the saintess-in-training, however, he did not realize that the blades that killed him were still stabbed into his back, and was instead excitedly flipping through his System (although Angora could not see it, he could guess what he was doing). Marni then cheerfully exclaimed, Finally, level three! Wait, why do I have three bleeding statuses?! My HP is dwindling oh, Im dead. With those words, his blood gushed out and he fell into a pool of it, dying instantly and peacefully. Still, the other players did not feel sad at all, but were instead laughing and saying things like Marnis dead, you bastards!, stirring a pleasant atmosphere amongst themselves. Then, when Marni was revived again, he appeared much more dejected. Silly me, he mumbled. I only know that killing monsters can help with leveling up, but not that dying loses XP. Damn it, back to level two For his part, Angora was of the opinion that he was a Player as well and might have the ability of being revived. But in the end, he did not have the courage to have someone stab him to death to test it, which was why he simply kept the question of whether he could be revived in his own mind for now. Meanwhile, the Players arrival in starter village had been beneficial. The once dilapidated houses were quickly repaired and there was no lack of help on the farm. If anyone had any trouble, they could just give a shout and there would be Players at hand to help. The once gloomy town hence became a little lively, and the great snow that winter seemed to have in store did not quite douse the warm passion of the Players as they roamed about and explored. Nonetheless, not all was well and goodin the very least, Angora himself was almost annoyed to death by the other Players who relentless looked for him, hoping to add to their reputation as well. It would have been acceptable if it was only one or two, but with almost two dozen people coming to him day after day, never leaving him alone even when he was asleep or having a toilet break, Angora felt the immense pressure. In fact, he felt insomnia and constipation slowly taking him ill. In the end, he had to grit his teeth and adjust his plans, unlocking and building the notice board to finally set himself free. Moreover, the Players arrival also exerted pressure on the towns initially sufficient food reserves. It was fortunate that Angora discovered that the bone powder that dropped from killed skeleton revenants would significantly reduce the time needed for crops to mature, and after acquiring them from the Players, Angora finally and successfully resolved the towns food shortage issue for an entire year. Meanwhile, the unnamed town had changed entirely with the construction efforts of the Players. The poor town which was once less than a village began to look the part. In fact, Marni, leader of the merchant group gave out some of his daily necessities which he intended to sell for free to help develop the town. In exchange, he was given priority selection for the daily brick-carrying quests, hence making it to the top group and earning the title Brick-Carrying Boss. That being said, the Players still had a limit to their patience when it came to a dull lifestyle. They certainly were not themselves after experiencing the excitement of leveling up One day, the Players gathered together, crowding around a party of five with the highest levels: Eleena, Edward, Joe, Gou Dan, and Marni. All of them had earned enough game coins and reputation to purchase the Miasma-Clearing Torch from Angora as they began the OutskirtsValley of the Tragic Dead mission. Jessica, who had been on the same team with Eleena was staying in town because other players were heavily insisting that she stay, because it was only herself who was running a cleric support route and Eleena the saintess-in-waiting who could cast Revive. If both of them were to fall in the Valley of the Tragic Dead, none of them are getting brought back to life for the time being All the Players then escorted the frontline team to the entrance before finally stopping. Well, were off! Marni stepped forward, and as everyone looked on enviously, boldly held his torch and stepped into the purple miasma. [Player Marni Wilf has died. Reviving in 71:59:59.] Every other Player was speechless. Chapter 30: Rule of Skill Marnis death was not actually too serious, but did alert the other players who were intending to enter the Valley of the Tragic Dead that even with the Miasma-Clearing Torch, the thick purple fog was not as harmless as it looks. Even at the edge, there were monsters that could kill Players like them in seconds. In fact, it was not just the Players who were taken surpriseXi Wei, watching the show live from his Divine Kingdom was taken aback as well. He immediately spent some divine energy to activate his Divine Eye to see where Marni had just died. As a former battlefield of the gods, the Valley of the Tragic Dead was full of barriers or wild streams of divine power that even abilities like Divine Eye could not see through. That was also the main reason why Xi Wei would send the Players to explore it instead of having himself descend. Luckily, the edge where the Players were now at did not have those things, allowing Xi Weis Divine Eye to easily see through the fog and observe the monster hidden in the deadly miasma. It was a magical beast known as the Skull King Spider. It resembled a massive spider made out of bones, but was actually not too different from another magical beast, the Jungle Spider. However, the Skull King Spider would always look for the bones of other creatures and stick them on itself with its webs, eventually sticking the skulls of giants or other massive magical beasts to protect its abdomen, which was its weakest point. They also had surprisingly immense strength, and could move very rapidly although they were carrying bones several times above their own weight. In comparison, they were also heavy feeders that devoured two-thirds their own mass each day, not to mention that they were highly territorial and ferocious, often attacking invaders larger than themselves. Apart from their sharp claws, even the stingers on their mandibles contained powerful venom. Marni had previously been caught defenseless and pierced by its mandibles, reduced to a blob right after he died! In fact, the field guide that the Continental Adventurers Association published classified the beast as Highly Dangerous, recommending that only veteran adventurers tried to fight them, and in groups of thirty people or above. So, its not just revenants inside the Valley of the Tragic Dead Xi Wei touched his chin with his tentacle, realizing that he had made a mistake in terms of experience. Still, it was not too major a mistake for Xi Weiaside from Marni being killed, his body irrecoverable and dropping in level again. Under such circumstances, if the players would want to continue their initial plan of taking turns in entering the fog, their split strength meant that they would only be killed one by one. It would be an easy task to help them, however, and Xi Wei did not actually need to make a move at all: he just had to add information about the Skull King Spider as reference and send it to the Players. He was confident that they could come up with a strategy. But he had no intention of helping. In the end, it was the Players first mission into a new frontier. On many occasions, experiencing things for the first time was the most important start in developing certain instincts. It was true that Xi Wei could help them once or twice, but there are many things in the mortal realm that even could not interfere with. Furthermore, if the Players became used to his help and turned reliant, they would definitely become helpless if they could not gain information from their god every single time, and might even lose faith in him. Either way, since Players would never really die, it was acceptable to let them train for a bit. Do your best, dont let me down Having decided to not help, Xi Wei continued watching the livestream from his Divine Kingdom. *** Fortunately, Edward and the others were no fools. They realized immediately that there must be a monster hidden inside the miasma. In response, they simply stayed outside the part of the miasma where Marni was insta-killed, calling out to the other Players for a simultaneous barrage of long-range skills. To ordinary magical beasts, the damage that normal Players who reached level seven or eight could deal against them was already impressive. The Skull King Spider, struck by a downpour of sword qi, arrows, and other random skills had its outer shell knocked off, and retreated deeper into the miasma of the Valley of the Tragic Dead. Meanwhile, the remaining four frontline Players entered the miasma, finding the blob which was once Marni. After seconds of silence mourning for their companion, they continued forward. Interestingly, while the deadly miasma appeared to be a purple wall of mist from the outside with nothing inside visible, the miasma thinned considerably after Eleenas group entered with the torches. It was as if they had violet filter lenses that allowed them to see a dozen meters around them. Hence, tracking the signs the Skull King Spider left behind, the party of four gave chase and found it nearby, trying to dig a hole into the ground! In the instant the Players saw the HP bar above it, they moved without hesitation and the battle started. Ever the warrior, Joe rushed ahead without even drawing his sword, grabbing the creature by its legs and throwing it in a suplex. Anyone from a different church would have been laughing and thinking that Joe was an idiot who did not know his limits. Rationally speaking, Joes strength would not have been enough to throw the Skull King Spiderthe creature itself and its bone armor were more than five tons! Not to mention that Joe was not even as tall as any single one of its joints! And yet reality would have left anyone from other churches gaping, because Joe did manage his suplex move on the Skull King Spider! That was where the Players differ from normal humans in terms of combat. Though this fantasy realm came with supernatural powers, divine arts and magic, there was no unified system for those abilities. In other words, the world itself did not have the thing called skill. That was a loophole Xi Wei could use. Using his all-encompassing Divine Order as the God of Games, he directly wrote up a new law: The Rule of Skill. Although the programming of the Rule was not significant and has no effect against gods, Legendary champions or Epic creatures, it would remain as rule no matter how low-tier it could be! In accordance with the Rule of Skill, anyone would be knocked into the air with Sword Skill: Air Launch or burnt by Hellfire. In short, even Godzilla would get hit with one almighty german suplex with the Suplex skill Naturally, that rule still remained in the bounds of other rules such as skill damage and immunity. For example, if it had been a huge muscular man who launched a german suplex on the Skull King Spider, it would probably leave the arachnid in ragged pieces and bent legs. On the other hand, this Skull King Spider was only left confused for a moment after Joe threw it and not really hurt. That was because the skill damage that the suplex caused on its HP was not critical. Furthermore, after getting to its feet after Joes throw, the Skull King Spider was briefly Immunepreventing players from chaining their control moves such as unlimited suplexes, cutting down the enemys HP when facing someone they could not defeat. In reality, Xi Wei did not actually establish the Immunity setting when he created the new rules. It was the world that partially adjusted it when the rules took root, cutting off an assured backdoor to victory for the Players and leaving our protagonist very regretful Chapter 31: A Free Kill! Although the Players were not used to the mysterious bending of physical common sense under the Rule of Skill, fighting monsters became easier when they became familiar with their skills. After all, without any supernatural powers, all they could do against monsters were normal slashes, somersaulting or barrel rolls. Aside from being boring, the lack of offensive and evasive moves was very dangerous. It certainly should be known that fighting against monsters in the real world was not as rigid as the AI in Monster Hunter moreover, that game has the gimmick called mods. Meanwhile, the Skull King Spider has lost its advantage of lurking in the miasma to ambush the Players. Instead, caught off guard by the Players skills, it was killed by their hands despite being a notch above them in level. In the end, with the Players unending barrages of skills, not only was the Skull King Spiders years of experience honed into second nature unhelpful, it had also hindered itself. Additionally, the four Players were companions who had left Kennington Village and had developed a tacit partnership from the very start. At the moment, they were indisputably the most skillful of Players in battle, and by fighting cautiously to avoid the Skull King Spiders jaws, they easily ground it to death. In fact, they would have ended the fight even more quickly if each of them did not have to hold up a torch. Still, it was only when the four Players continued on their journey after the Skull King Spider was killed that they noticed a serious problem. Visibility in the deadly miasma was a dozen metershigher than expected, but it remained foggy as ever. Everything beyond what they could see was the same bizarre purple color, with nothing recognizable as markers for direction. It was virtually impossible to keep track of directions even if they kept in mind their surroundings. Therefore, after journeying along for a period, the four of them realized that they had gotten lost as if naturally. In fact, if not for the trail of green blood splattered over the ground after their battle against the Skull King Spider, they would not even have realized that they were going in circles. This cant continue, Gou Dan scowled and said grimly. If we keep running blind, we might turn around and leave instead! The others were equally serious. To tell the truth, it would have been alright to have the entire group fall here in the Valley of the Tragic Deadthey would have been heroes who offered their lives for exploring this place. But to keep running around in circles and suddenly leaving the dungeon from the same entrance you came from was a little embarrassing We dont really have a solution even if you say that. Joe sighed feebly, leaning on his sword. We cant see the sun or the stars in this damned place. Theres not even a tree aroundeven the most seasoned of hunters wouldnt find his direction around here. Should we mark the ground with arrows? Eleena suggested. It wont work, Edward replied, shaking his head. The ground is soft and many revenants walk over itany mark would quickly vanish. Wasnt there supposed to be a lot of traces of our fight against that big spider? If not for that trail of blood, none of us would have known we just fought here! Then what should we do? Gou Dan asked distractedly. Edward stroked his chin as a twinkle flashed through his eyes. Actually, Ive been puzzled all along why the God of Games would insist on having around three to six players in a group to take on this OutskirtsValley of the Tragic Dead mission. It is only after coming inside that I know that a single torch can already cover the range of six people! In other words, the requirement of everyone having their own torch basically means nothing apart from being a ticket to come inside. He then turned to the other three and told them what he had in mind. The God of Games didnt set the rule of everyone having their own torch to waste our time and energybeing so wise and powerful, he absolutely wouldnt come up with some boring and mean trick. If Im not wrong, that requirement itself has to do with clearing this dungeon! In fact, the reason our journey so far had been easy was because some of the weaker revenants wandering in the deadly miasma seemed to fear the power of these torches and would keep their distance. Edward, what are you trying to say? Joe the limber one was left utterly confused, whereas Eleena and Gou Dan seemed to vaguely catch on to the idea. What I mean to say is, Edward concluded carefully as if he had stumbled upon a secret that would stun the world, If we keep stick the torches into the ground, it could help us find our way! The torch itself dispersed the miasma and illuminated a single direction, allowing them to see that bit of light even when they were a hundred meters away. Most revenants would not simply attack the torch idle, and apart from ensuring that the torch would not easily be lost, it acted as an alarm to a certain extent: once it vanishes, it indicates that a powerful enemy was behind them! Furthermore, the clearing conditions of OutskirtsValley of the Tragic Dead was only one percent in each occasion. It was not demanding when it comes to combat, and it works as long as they could cover the effective range. I see! You really are the brains, Edward! Joe exclaimed in understanding. Thats for sure! We wouldnt have thought of it if it wasnt for you, Edward, Gou Dan added. Edward, youre awesome! Eleena cheered softly for Edward as well. Edward himself scratched the back of his head. Its nothing, really, he said, slightly embarrassed. Our god is the awesome one who so discreetly hid such clues and hints in the gameplay and exploration process. *** Meanwhile, Xi Wei sighed heavily when he saw what happened in the Divine Kingdom. Dear him. He never thought that far. The requirement of everyone bringing their own torch was indeed just to delay the Players from entering the dungeon and without deeper meaning. Indeed, Xi Wei never thought that the Players would be lost in direction within the deadly miasma since there were mini-maps whenever he played. With things having become what it was now, Xi Wei could not just descend before them to tell them they are wrong, and that their god did not think that far. Therefore, he could only watch as the four youths from Kennington drove their torches into the ground as they kept moving forward, even if their path this time was straight. It was a pity that when they used the last torch and the exploration incidentally progressed to 0.95% person that a monster hidden in the miasma ambushed them. Caught defenseless, even Eleenathe best of them did not manage to escape. All four died one after another, and the pioneering expedition to the Valley of the Tragic Dead was hence destroyed. When they were resurrected beside the Lifestone three days later, they saw Marni, who had been revived earlier bragging to the Players who did not dare to enter the valley. Im telling youthat spider has large round eyes, he started drawing images in the air as he reached the climax. I immediately froze in shock. I was ambushed! But why didnt you attack? Someone gloated. I did, but was insta-killed. What can I say?! Marni cried regretfully, slapping his own thigh. What the hell. A free kill! Another Player laughed. Is it a free kill when its the frontline? Marni remained stubborn. The Players laughed, filling the area around the Lifestone with a happy atmosphere. Chapter 32: A New Person Three Days Later! While the first expedition had fallen in the Valley of the Tragic Dead and the other Players remained in the starter village as they waited for them to be revived, Xi Wei turned his eyes to another place. Leah Yakaran was leading what few of her guardsmen left, crossing mountains and ridges to make haste for the starter village, just outside of the Valley of the Tragic Dead. At the moment, they were taking a break in a small city called Wickidor to resupply. The town itself was not too far away from the Valley of the Tragic Dead, and Xi Wei estimated that it would take them one or two days to reach the starter village. Leahs escorting guards were shallow believers of the God of Gamesthe kind of people who would offer a brief prayer when they encounter divine statues. Nonetheless, it was a habit that developed in their younger years when the Tierra Empire still existed, and not the prayer that the devoted offered. After Xi Wei had rescued them (although the truth was that Xi Wei wanted to save Leah and they were simply a bonus) just as they were encircled by the Cult of Rotten Bones, however, the guardsmen became much more devoted in their faith toward the God of Games. As Leah, who had changed class and leveled up in the journey while gradually revealing her power, they even skipped the phase of true believers and immediately became devout believers of the God of Games. After all, Leahs hidden class Warrior Princess was just like Eleenas Saintess-in-training, characters who were considerably bugged in the gaming sense. Under ordinary circumstances, they would completely decimate other Players of equal combat ability, not to mention that other Players were still dwelling in basic classes, and the class-change system was yet to be made. Either way, the players of this world were all his believers, and there was no need to worry that they would break the balance aspect of the game Furthermore, the guardsmen who were able to follow Leah until now were themselves handpicked by the imperial family of Tierra, royal guards who held devout faith in the God of Games. If not for the lack of any providence from the God of Games during Tierras fall that resulted in their loss of faith, they would probably have become Xi Weis first group of zealots after he transmigrated! Nevertheless, they immediately became devout believers after regaining their faith, getting into character far faster than the other believers. Still, on an interesting note, those guardsmen had all picked the warrior class when they rose past the level of shallow believers and activated their own Systems. It directly increased the ratio of warrior classes to other classes, with mages and rangers just behind them. Instead, it was the cleric class that proved few in number. In the first class-change page, Xi Wei had put in some explanation and demonstration of class skills. However, most users preferred playing the herobe it in this world or back on Earth. That was why once his believers had a look of the explanation and footage, their first pick would be the strong and courageous warriors or the cool and powerful mage. The ranger class also had a strong charm to it: being agile, swift and formidable in long-range attacks, and as such was quite popular as well. It was the clerics, who have a hard time in direct confrontation against any enemy. Their earliest skills were also only support and not appealing at all, and naturally none of the Players would want to play that role. In that regard, Xi Wei wanted very much to yell at them, Dont you fools know that the cleric-class is the class closest to god!1 After the class-change system was complete, he would have them know the horrors of after game versions updated Still, as Xi Wei kept his eye on Leahs group, he unwittingly noticed that cultists from the Rotten Bones had actually started to show up in Wickidor as well. *** At first, Xi Wei was shocked, believing that the cultists influence had expanded to Wickidor in days. However, it proved not to be the caseafter he looked carefully, the cultists in the city were few in number. If it was another gods stronghold (with their church established in it), the region would be filled in the gods Divine Fury, and not even another god would be able to see inside it. And Xi Wei did not find any place like that. By observing the behavior of the cultists, Xi Wei realized that they appear to be there in pursuit of Leahs group. Carlo, the middle-aged man who betrayed the God of Games. While the actual reason was unclear, it probably was because the cultists had discovered traces left after Leahs group was teleported away, and then used some special move to track and follow them. With that in mind, Xi Wei was relieved. As long as the Cult of Rotten Bones did not expand and their divinity was not promoted at its essence, he had nothing to fear. He was not at all concerned about the safety of Leahs group. In all fairness, the Rotten Bones outnumbered Leah, and their men were not lacking in ability even when compared to Carlo. Although they were not strictly as powerful as Carlo, Xi Wei could feel Rotten Bones blessing exuding from their bodies, which alone allows them to stand with Carlo stand as equals. One should certainly note that Carlo was the captain of Tierras imperial guard and Princess Leahs own sword instructor. His ability was certainly imaginable! As for the reason that the cult would send so many of their finest to track down Leahs group was probably fear that they would make things worse, that they would surrender themselves to an orthodox church and informing them about the cults hideout in Lancaster. After all, that was the cults main base, and if they got wind of it, the orthodox church would probably purge them entirely right after they established themselves in that city. Even if they were not wiped out, they certainly would be dealt a heavy blow! If it was days ago, it would be certain death for Leahs group against the cultists finest. Things were different now, however. Leahs group obtained new power and leveled up continuously by killing monsters in their journey after obtaining the System. In fact, so what if the impossible worst would happen and Leahs skill proved lacking, and their entire group would die? The Rotten Bones were unaware of Xi Weis horrific lawbreaking creation that was the System. Even if their heads were cut off, it was but a flesh woundand a new person three days later! Chapter 33: Kill Him! Leah was on the streets, carefully looking for any place they could resupply. While the believers of the God of Games were not indiscriminately hated, they still would not be warmly received. Moreover, Leah the former princess was a wanted criminal, and she would definitely catch some attention if she boldly walked into a tavern to buy food. It was more convenient for her to get her supplies from shops run by neutral churches. Your Highness, were being followed, one of her guards suddenly whispered. Leah did not recklessly turn her head to alert their pursuers. It was not the first time she was being followed over the years, even gaining a certain amount of counter-tracking experience in return. She pretended to be interested in some antique displayed on a roadside stall, looking interested and cheerful as she spoke to the guard who alerted her. Could we have been found by clerics? Could you see who it is? Im sorry, your highness. The guard shook his head. They are well hiddenits by luck that we actually found them. Anyone else looking from out of earshot would think that they were siblings: a younger sister wanting something from the stall while the brother protested. Well, theres no helping it. Withdraw. Leah considered it for just a moment and immediately came to a decision. Lets meet up inside the woods in front of the city after shaking them off. Since their pursuers did not make a move immediately after finding them, it meant that they were afraid of exposing themselves in public. That was a clear sign that their pursuers did not serve the banners of light and order, that they were not from the orthodox churches such as the Brilliant White Church who would have simply made a move. Then, after eliminating the possibility that they were slave traders as well, it meant that the cultists have caught up to them again! The other guards made a hand sign that they were ready, and at Leahs own response, all of them abruptly spread out and sneaked inside the alleys on both sides of the streets! They moved very suddenly, and by deliberately covering Leahs form, they blindsided the cultists who did not expect them to split up despite their dire lack of numbers. Which alley was it, damn it? *** After checking twice that they were free from their pursuers, Leah and her escort all arrived at the forest before the others. That was when they realized that someone was already there. Uncle Carlo Tangled emotions arose in Leah as the man stood with his hand clasped behind his back in the woods. Why are you here? I watched you grown up, Your Highness. Carlo slowly turned to gaze upon Leah. Its not just the ways of the swordIve taught you every trick and strategy after Tierra fell, and I know how you think like the back of my hand. After you realized that you were being followed and splitting up to escape, I could guess that you will be meeting up on the east side of the city by tracing your routes. Wouldnt it be too normal to see that you would end up here by judging your habits, and with a little observation? Your Highness, be careful. Hes no longer our captain! The only escorting guardsman beside Leah warned nervously. I know. Leah noddedthe System identified Carlo as an enemy, with a HP bar hovering his head. There was also an icon that indicated the buff status of Corruption. She only had to focus on the icon to tell that the buff effects were 10% increase of strength, speed, and stamina, as well as poisoned attacks. Although Corruption sounded like a debuff, it was actually a blessing that Rotten Bones give to its followers. Still, even if the buff did not appear too significant, it was just days after Carlo was formally initiated into Rotten Bones. And while he did not have much accomplishment save for his betrayal of Leah, he still managed to earn an all-attribute buff of 10% from the evil god. It was clear how much more he could be if he continued on his path Leah, be rest assured Ill earn the Rotten Bones trust with your head, and when Im powerful, I would accomplish your wish and exact vengeance upon those who defiled Tierra! Carlo slowly approached her as he slowly drew his sword. Youre kidding. I dont have such a dull wish! Leah drew her own sword as well, knowing that there was nowhere to run and that exposing her back to the enemy was the most foolish of choices. Im no longer the girl who counted on you for everything, Uncle Carlo or should I say, Traitor Carlo! Thats a good look on your face, Carlo smiled, but that left Leah feeling a chill instead. Looks like wandering has grown you sufficiently, Your Highness. You might even have made a fine queen its a shame that the growth of the heart does not help with ability, and you will die here. Run, Your Highness. Ill hold him! Leahs guard stood between her and Carlo, glaring at the latter as he slowly came to them as if he was a Boss. The God of Games be with you! The guard was aware that the System allows adjustment of pain levels, and he thought that by keeping it at its minimum would allow him to ignore any agony as he put his life on the line, delaying Carlo and giving Leah a chance to escape. Meanwhile, Leah stared nervously at Carlo, furiously thinking whether she should choose fight or flight. She was a little confused because she had never once bested Carlo, and the fact that she could not win had been engraved into her bones, even suffocating her. But in that very moment, a semi-transparent tab suddenly opened in front of her eyes. [Ding! You have started a side questKill Him!] The naming style of the quest was simple, violent and rather crude, clearly different from before. Nevertheless, Leahs noticed that her anxiety eased, her muddled head turning into calmness as she relaxed considerably. Theres no need to run, Leahs heart was filled with determination thanks to the encouragement from the quest. Because I will defeat you right here! Oh? Carlo narrowed his eyes; his face became dangerous. There is only one reason for your defeat, Carlo! The girl raised her sword. You betrayed the God of Games! Chapter 34: How Is that A Sword Skill! Carlo had no intention of defending himself or debate with Leahs side. As her teacher of the sword and of life, he knew that he could no longer sway her whatever he would say now. The only way was to fight. He brandished his longsword, before shooting forward at Leah like a bolt of dark lightning. With the 10% boost on strength, speed, and stamina, his attacks were far faster. In his mind, even if Leah would analyze him through her experiences with him in training, there was no stopping his blow! And yet, he was blocked by the guard beside Leah. Carlo, you are never reaching Her Highness! He roared. Boris And here I was thinking the vice-captain would have better brains. But it looks like youre no different. Carlo sneered belittlingly. He was the one who personally trained every imperial guard, and knew at hard every mans skill. Moreover, although Boris was given the rank of vice-captain amongst the surviving member of the guardsman, that was because he was good at handling various duties and could better aid Princess Leah. In terms of actual ability, he was a bottom-feeder! In fact, Carlo thought he could just use Boris to threaten and dismantle Leahs morale. With that decided, Carlo repelled Boris with an elegant flurry of slashes, before knocking him off balance and cutting off Boriss right wristhis sword hand! Its over! Boris would be no more than a toothless hound with his right hand and weapon lost, and could not be at a threat at all! Carlo knew that his wretched state would definitely break the princesss will. Nonetheless No, its not! Boris was still holding his sword. He continued trading slashes with Carlo in his clumsy sword style. Steel clanged as they fought, and Carlo was confused. No, I did cut his hand off, he thought. At best it would be still attached to a thin piece skin so why does it looked like nothing happened? Air Launch! Boris cried. Are you trying to make me, the best swordsman in the Empire laugh with that funny sword skill? Boris, not only did you not improve, youre becoming worse?! Before Carlo could finish, he was knocked up into the air by Boris despite the latters clearly lacking the wrist power. Carlo was utterly bewildered. That skill made no sense at all! Nonetheless, being Tierras finest, he quickly shifted his weight, turned and swung out at Boris as the latter closed in to land steadily on the ground. It was just two little surprises, but Carlo was not going to keep underestimating Boris. As he started to fight at his best, Carlo immediately left Boris on his back foot, even if he was still perplexed. Boris had clearly been stabbed a few times nowCarlo could feel his blows land on him and there were spurts of blood. Even so, the wound would disappear with the turn of an eye, and his attempts to sever Boriss tendons to disable him was utterly impossible. Moreover, even if his 10% stamina buff, the vicious sword fighting left him a little tired and gasping for air. On the other hand, Boris was just like before and not at all tired! Everything was so weird! What did he actually go through in the last three days?! More worryingly, Leah had yet to make a move. Her talent for the sword was considerable and she was one of the best even amongst the imperial guard. Though she had learned sword skills for appearances before Tierras fall, she trained diligently and never once relaxed when she finally shouldered the duty to avenge her fallen nation. In fact, she was just next to Carlo himself in skill. Nonetheless, Carlo was ninety percent sure that he would easily defeat her just three days ago, and it was also why he kept trying to provoke her just now. But now, Boriss abnormal change lost him that confidence. While he did not know the reason, if Boris was already so powerful, would the princesss ability not reach new heights? Boris, stand down. The girl suddenly spoke. Your Highness Boris pulled away from Carlo albeit reluctantly. Not quite understand her thoughts, Carlo did not try to sneak a strike, and instead stared at the impassive girl. Unlike Carlo who was fighting blind, Leahs could see Boriss stamina bar from their group stats. Once his stamina was exhausted, he would earn a fatigue debuff and his stats would all fall rapidly. With his blood lacking, Carlo would probably kill him with a single swing. Even if he could be revived, she did not want to watch as a loyal retainer died. Understanding Leahs resolve, Boris followed orders even if he did not want to. Now, its my turn. The girl flicked the hilt of a sword. Then, with a forceful swing, the silver blade turned into a bladed whip as if it was a snake. Carlo sighed. I never taught you to use such a vulgar weapon to entertain the masses Youll see if its vulgar soon enough! She swung her weapons hilt, and the whip blade shot at Carlo, hissing as it cut through the air! Carlo quickly parried but was sent flying, only able to hold himself steady after stumbling a few steps backward. He was utterly astonished. He clearly had that 10% buff in strengthwhy couldnt he block a single blow? When did the princess become so strong? Leah pressed her advantage, but Carlo was prepared and evaded her blow. I just have to get used to it and dodge it just like a whip! Its so repetitive compared to your sword skills, Your Highness. Carlo mocked when he saw that she had no other technique other than her whip sword, attempting to throw her off her rhythm with words for a chance to counter attack. Then have a taste of my sword skill, Carlo! Leah calmly retorted. Bloody Cross! A gentle flick of her whip reverted the whip sword to its blade form. As she slashed the air diagonally twice, a blood-colored cross appeared and shot towards Carlo at her soft cry! Unable to avoid, Carlo could only dig in to try parrying again. However, the radiant blade slash dispersed and cut him. How was that a sword skill? It was clearly magic! Damn Wounded and leaving an opening, Carlo reacted at once. But he was just a move too slowLeahs rushed to a foot away from him, and used a skill he taught her to pierce his heart! That power where did you get it He gasped inaudibly. As Leah pulled her sword out from him, Carlo fell to the ground on his back. Its a blessing from the God of Games, the girl replied, the god you betrayed. Really so I was a step behind Carlo said unhappily, his eye fading in color even as he looked at the skies. Im sorry, Leah I just wanted my revenge I hate it so much Leah hesitated for a moment, but finally lowered herself and gently closed Carlos eyes. Ill avenge you, she said gently. May your soul find peace. Chapter 35: 1% Explored Leah watched as Carlos corpse slowly vanished into thin air like a puff of smoke. All enemies killed by Players would be presented to the God of Games as offerings. It was a rule that came with the blessing of the System through faith in him. It was true that Xi Wei, who had been watching everything unfold could choose not to take Carlos corpse and allow Leah to bury her former teacher. However, he had no such intention. If he started to dote over his believers on every little thing and clean up their mess every time, they could get too used to it. Even if they would feel the grace and gratitude towards him at first, they would quickly become upset should there be certain lacking in his concern, and they might even turn their backs on his church. That is basically what it means to be codependent. Therefore, the gods must keep a certain distance from their followers. If they get too close, the followers would instead lose their reverence towards them. Your Highness Boris looked at the single piece of black bone left where Carlos corpse had been, his attitude toward Leah in turn becoming more respectful now. What should we do now? Although Leah would join the fight against beasts and magical creatures, they encountered over the last few days, she remained a noble princess and would mostly be the one delivering the last blow to gain EXP. That was why it was only now that Boris finally realized how powerful she was, and could so easily defeat Carlo, whom himself could never hope to best. As expected of the warrior princess who earned the respect of the God of Games. She was completely different from ordinary footmen like them Leah recovered from her silent dejection then. In reality, not even Leah herself expected that her ability would rise so immensely after gaining the System. Since she never really fought before and the System itself had many vague terms for its explanation of its different skills, she did not find that her new training was any different from the sword skills she learned before. When Carlo intercepted them, she was also ready to die just like Boris, only to found that the power in the different skills available in the System to be powerful beyond imagination when she really fought. It was Carlo who was cut down in just a few strokes! Though Carlo himself was taken by surprise thanks to the different skill effects, Leah imagined that she would lose even in a direct clash of swords! It left the girl feeling the irony. If only Carlo would have kept a little faith in the God of Gameseven if for just a moment longer, he clearly would have earned any power far beyond the blessings of evil gods, helping him greatly on his path to revenge. It was a pity that he could not wait for just a few days more after holding back for so long, joining Rotten Bones and turning his back on the God of Games and finally meeting his fate. It was lamentable. Leahs chest felt hot at the thought. With the Systems power, she just might reclaim her base near Lancaster. Still, she threw away that idea right after it came to her. While her sword skill was formidable, she remained a mortal without any supernatural powers and could easily be killed. In the end, Rotten Bones were a cult, and there must be a few cultists who had mastered such powers, meaning that here inferior skills would not be so effective in a fight. Furthermore, even if all the Rotten Bones cultists would never best her, they outnumbered her group of just six immensely. With limited MP and stamina, they were never going to destroy an entire cult. That was why their best choice now was to continued their journey to the unnamed town where they could recruit other Players to help their cause. With enough people, they could return to Lancaster and destroy the Rotten Bones in one swift stroke! Well wait for the others, Leahs said clearly as she sheathed her sword and pulled the strands of her blonde hair hanging beside her eyes. Well continue towards the Valley of the Tragic Dead. As you command! Boris replied, half-kneeling as he reveled in her might, and how she was slowly resembling their former king. *** The Players of the starter village were not idle even as Leah defeated their pursuers and continued on their journey towards starter village. When Eleena and the others were revived, they trained to level up, earned sufficient reputation to buy Miasma-Clearing Torches and simply formed a new party with the leader of the merchant escort team. After that, they headed out to the Valley of the Tragic Dead once again. Thanks to the experience from their last visit, their journey this time was much smoother. With the lowest level of revenants repelled by the divine power in the torches and the absence of high-level revenants in the outskirts of the valley, they fought enemies stronger than low-level revenants but not too formidablejust within their range of abilities. Be that as it may, it still took them considerable time to finish their exploration quest. It was on their last torch that they finally reached the required 1% exploration, after of which the quest completion message they expected for so long finally popped up. It says we just have to stick the last torch in the ground. Edward, who was acting captain, did as instructed. In a split second, the fist-sized flame over the torch instantly burst out and consumed the entire torch, before rising into the air to form a massive pillar of flame! Their entire group jumped and retreated a step behind, startled. However, the fire did not keep expanding. It descended instead, and turned into a bonfire as Eleena and the others watched, a long spiral sword of unusual design sticking out from it. What is it? Is that sword a quest reward? Delighted at the sight of a prize, Marni went up to pull out the sword, but his entire body was immediately consumed by rising flames and vanished the moment he touched the bonfire. !!! The others were certainly stunned by the abrupt turn of events. I cant revive him could Mister Marni have died without a corpse left again? Eleena tried to cast a revive spell at the direction of the bonfire, but nothing happened. Again, indeed. The corners of Gou Dans lips twitched. With the 30% loss of experience, it feels like his efforts in this dungeon are wasted. It is really sad, but why do I want to laugh? Warrior Joe scratched his face, slightly embarrassed. We dont have to mourn him since hes going to be revived anyway, the escort captain and new addition to the party calmly suggested. No, youve got that wrong. It seems that Mister Marni is not showing up as dead in our team list. Edward the acting captain extended his hand towards the bonfire but did not touch it, and understanding soon showed on his fast. I see the bonfire is our gods creation that could send us directly back to the Lifestone! Next time, we could directly resume our exploration deep into the valley! Chapter 36: The Religion of a Ball Aside from the bonfire and unnoticed by the Players, their surroundings were changing slightly aside as well. Two chestsone red and one blueappeared within the light of the bonfire, as well as a semi-domed tent. Apart from Marni who was teleported away because of his eager touching, the others studied those new things around them in interest. It appeared that the red chest was a supply chest according to the text hovering over it, but there was nothing inside it at the moment. Meanwhile, the blue chest was called the loot boxPlayers could dump any ingredients or unusable equipment they obtained in the dungeon to redeem game coins and EXP. There were simple beds inside the tent as well. Edward lay down to try it, and realized that it rapidly restores his stamina reserves. Look, guys. Whats that? Eleena asked as she climbed into the tent, catching sight of a small statue. It was not as if she had not seen a statuethere were carpenters back home after all. Still, the statue was very unusual: apart from the pedestal, it was nothing more than a weird ball. It might be the holy statue of the God of Games, the escort captain simply said when he saw that statue, not quite bothered to think about it. No way. Thats really disrespectful to our lord! Doug Ag, otherwise known as Gou Dan quickly retorted, having become so loyal to the God of Games that he was almost a zealot. Eleena, Joe, and Edward all nodded in agreement. All of them had seen Xi Weis mortal form firsthandwhy would the great God of Games be a ball? Sorry, Im just joking Im very devout, you know. The escort captain naturally would not stubbornly insist on his own view and apologized cheerfully, before picking up the statue to look at it more carefully. However, just a moment later, his eyes narrowed sharply. Wait. Take a look at these words at the bottom. [The God of Games, yet to come up with a form to takeMade in the Divine Kingdom.] The thought what the hell appeared in everyones mind at once. Could it be that weve simply met a clone of the God of Games, but his true form is really a ball? Joe looked visibly shaken, gingerly voicing his thoughts. How Gou Dan was completely stunned and clearly in disbelief. That was when Edward, who had a moment to arrange his thoughts faked a cough. Do not panic. Even if this statue had really been made in the Divine Kingdom, it does not prove that our god is a ball. He deduced seriously. After all, even if believers would enter the Divine Kingdom after death, they might not really get to meet him! This statue is probably something made by a devout believer who ascended to the Divine Kingdom, but I also remembered that Marni mentioning that the God of Games was a new deity that appeared in the last hundred years. Unlike the ancient gods and without actual divine myths spread across the world, not knowing how to sculpt the God of Games makes perfect sense! Y-Yes! As expected of you, Edward! Eleenas face brightened in understanding. Even Gou Dan, whose life perspective had just been shaken calmed down and nodded as if he was convinced. It was only the escort captain who still held doubts, but he just wasnt stupid enough to say it. If my guess is correct, for this thing to be kept inside this tent, it probably must be linked to some hidden mission! Edward continued. And it might be a major quest to our predecessor who has ascended into the Divine Kingdom! To think that such a thing is actually possible! So how do we start the quest? The horror, the horror! Hurry up, hurry up! *** In his Divine Kingdom, Xi Wei watched as Edward deduced away as boldly as a lion, although he was getting nothing right. He could not help finding it funnyhe had made that statue of himself to strengthen and alter that bonfire save point. By exuding Xi Weis divine presence, it would scare off any revenants trying to luck, and that the lingering divine powers inside the Valley of the Tragic Dead would not destroy the bonfire. Apart from that, the statue was also an anchor point with which players teleported. Naturally, it was only by clearing the area ahead that they could teleport to corresponding anchor points since player IDs were tied to each respective System, so Xi Wei did not have to worry about the Players attempting any tricks. The statue was also crafted through the scraps left after Xi Wei had absorbed the monsters that his players sent to him as offerings. It was basically no different from the game coins, and was also added with special attributes by Xi WeiPlayers could play around with the statute but within the bonfires range, because they would never be able to take it away. Additionally, after the Players had left the bonfire, the sacred statue would be sent back to its original position inside the tent wherever else they would put it. Xi Wei had already made a hundred of such statues, and would put one in each new bonfire established as the Players ventured further inside the Valley of the Tragic Dead until it was fully explored. Okay. With that, the dungeon system in the valley is basically finished. The rest is up to the Players and the revenants in that place. XI Wei nodded, satisfied with his work. Soon, however, he grimaced. After Eleena and the others succeeded in preaching to the merchant convoy and secure a major score of Divine Energy, his income reached a stable period: there would always be a portion coming to him, but beyond that, he would not be obtaining additional profits. It was after he had completed the statues and various items for the dungeon that Xi Wei realized that his Divine Energy reserves were pathetically low once again. Moreover, the new dungeon facilities in the Valley of the Tragic Dead needed everyday maintenance, not to mention that the various buildings in starter village as well as the anti-weather crops in the farms were also exceeding his budget estimates in Divine Energy. With things dragging on, the Divine Energy he has left every day became lesser. If he could not think of a way to save up, Xi Wei might have to stay in the starter village and the Valley of the Tragic Dead for some time. Just as Xi Wei thought furiously about future plans to recruit new believers, he suddenly noticed that Marni, who had been teleported back to the starter village ahead of the others was taking out his merchant caravan, and was preparing to leave. Puzzled for moments, Xi Wei soon realized the reason. Although Marni Wilf had definitely joined the church of the God of Games, he had another identity: A traveling merchant of the Silver Chimes group. He had been staying for some time in the starter village. He now must return to his merchant group to report in before continuing his trip. Xi Wei used his tentacle to rub what was supposed his chin and mumbled thoughtfully, Well, that fellow just might work Chapter 37: Hidden Quest? Marni Wilf was standing before his convoy. His face was contorted in complete anguish as he gazed upon the starter village. Damn it. If I hadnt received that warning from Silver Chimes to report in, no way Im going back so early! Then, when Marni saw the young lord Angora leading Edward and the other Players to see him off, his expression became somber at once. He shook Angoras hand and kept holding on to it, ignoring the latters efforts to free himself while saying seriously, Be rest assured, my lord, I shall submit my resignation on this trip to the guild. Ill be back as soon as I can! Is, Is that so. Angora, who had just recently had his coming-of-age ceremony and would still be a child by Earth standards was aware that he must stay stoic as a superior in any given moment thanks to his noble birth. Still, being clutched by a well-rounded uncle left him very uncomfortable, and he could just flash a smile that did not reach his eyes. Ill be waiting. On the other hand, the other Players were quite willing in parting, even raising a ruckus behind them, shouting out things like Marni, you just want to play the dungeon!, Take your time, let us have a shot too! or Marni, did you get trashed by a skeleton again? and leaving Marnis eyes twitching. Shut up, you lot and your goblin moms! Dont forget that youre escorts I hired! One more word and Ill have you return with me! He spat back fiercely, and the Players who were formerly his escort at once pretended to be looking away and jeered no more. With the presence of the gods in this world, every contract would usually be signed in holy sites such as temples or churches where the divine beings were watching. Therefore, in a certain manner of speaking, this world was better than Earth when it comes to the contractual spirit. In other words, if Marni insisted on having them continue their jobs as his escorts, they would have to go along no matter how reluctant they were. After all, Edwards party had just accomplished the first phase of the OutskirtsValley of the Tragic Dead quest. Having gained a role model, the other Players could not wait to enter the valley as well to have an adventure, earn XP and game coins. Why would they be willing to waste time and escort Marni back to the Silver Chimes guild headquarters? And Marni himself did not hope that the other Players would return with him. If it was just him, he would get to hog all XP and loot dropped from any monster or enemy he encountered in his journey. He would have to share if the others came with him, and in the least cost-effective manner the return trip was already dull in his mind, and it would not do to not have something that he could be entertained with. Either way, he would be revived in the unnamed town even if he died. Having gotten very used to dropping dead, Marni thought that he had nothing more to fear! Now, having seen that the other Players could not retort with a single line from him, Marni freed Angoras hand and prepared to leave town stylishly. Edward and the others had only intended to see him off. Being comrades who have fought alongside each other for some time, they did share some comradeship. Then, they saw Marni suddenly pause, his eyes staring into thin air while he mumbled, Wow! Theres a hidden quest! Whatd you say?! Hidden quest?! Aside from Angora who had a different System, the other Players were at once excited. Wh-wh-what hidden quest? I ahem, I dont know what youre talking about! Marni played dumb as he recovered from his surprise. You dog fart! You were going to keep it all to yourself! Even Edward, who had always been mild-mannered and polite could not hold back from cursing. Its a hidden quest the God of Games gave me as repayment! Dont even think about getting a whiff! Marni shot back boldly when he realized that he was not going to keep it a secret. MotherI never expected someone with your spunk is so useless! You pain in the butt, come fight me one on one! Lets go! I, Marni never submits to anyone my whole life! *** Although he was in the Divine Kingdom, Xi Wei had been spying in the world below with his Divine Eye, and watched in astonishment as a bunch of Players started to duel each other in the unnamed town At first, it was only Marni and Edward fighting, but as the fight continued, the other Players who had been nursing an itch started to duel each other as well. If Xi Wei had not set duel rules when he first designed the System so that Players would be forced to withdraw from a duel when their HP dropped to half, the free-for-all would have ended up with half of the Players losing their XP. What the hell are that bunch of monkeys doing? That hidden quest is just having Marni get in town and preach to some refugees And didnt I give Edward and the others the same quest before? The reality was that Edward and the others who had not seen much of the world would still maintain their advantage in terms of XP compared to the adult escort mercenaries, even after they had obtained their System. It was also partially why they were rewarded with an Epic-class item like the Ring of Gospel when the youths had completed their quest. Meanwhile, as the Players were still dueling away, two knights riding chocobos1 approached town. Why would command have us confirm that the town is wiped out? Its just useless! With that sea of skeletons bearing down upon them, even a small city would fall, much less some little town in the wilderness? A figure in leather armor complained impatiently. I didnt join the Secret Eye for this! What would you know? The towns fate means nothing. We are here really just to check if the youngest Faust boy is dead! Another figure who was wearing a cloak and appeared much larger replied. In the end, the Bone Incense that the alchemists had concocted only lures any nearby skeletonsit cant be used to target someone specific. Thats what Im saying! Wouldnt a horde of those skeletons crush some useless noble Huh? Hold on. Isnt that place looking a little unusual? The man in leather armor narrowed his eyes as he approached the starter village. Tut. It looks unharmed, and there seems to be more people around but why are they fighting each other? The cloaked man added in confusion. That was when two Players incidentally approached the pair. Both of them paused at once, looking at the two men who came out of nowhere. Who are you people? Could you be divine messengers, here to assign us hidden quests? Divine messengers my ass! Cant you see the HP bar on their heads?! Theyre monsters, so kill and ask questions later! The pair from the Secret Eye then watched blankly as the two Players who were at each other throats just a second ago started towards them Chapter 38: The Great System Knows All! Angora could not understand the other Players behavior. Although he had been merely been curious at first how his own System differed from theirs, he realized that there was actually a major difference between them. In fact, it could well be two completely different things. That was probably the reason Angora simply could not understand the reason behind what they do. They were all clearly humans but they fought like berserkers, often competing to death for kill counts. They also did not fear death since they could be revived, and even talk about their experiences of dying during idle chat after a meal or over drinks. Moreover, there were pairs who could be beating each other fatally just a second ago, after of which they would have a jovial moment as they went together to the only tavern in town. Could the System had made them all straightforward and carefree? Indeed, Angora was a little envious that they could so freely expose their true selves. It certainly did not stop Angora himself from taking the Players for fools since their behavior was all over the place and only ever sought leveling up, better items, and a more pleasant life. Still, the young lord was unaware that it was a common opinion he shared with his own god. Still, today was a first. The hidden quest Marni received when he was about to depart had become an explosive fuse leading to the biggest free-for-all melee yet. That being said, although it was gory and bloody, Angora had gotten used to the players leaping into duels that the present sight was just a little more thrilling. In fact, it was not just himthe townsfolk had sneakily slid open their windows to watch the show as well, with some of the braver ones cheering for the Players whom they were usually close with. Angora got an interesting idea then. If the Players increased to a considerable number, he could organize a royal rumble for all of them like the gladiator battles in the cities and he would definitely make a killing if he was the one selling tickets. It was going to be such a success! My lord, say something! The two Players who were sitting seiza-style in the town lords residence (which in fact was Velas home) were urging him impatiently. Hurry up! Angora quickly collected his drifting thoughts. Yes, compared to the path to fortune, there was a troublesome issue at hand. It started with the free-for-all, with the two players encountering two monsters as they dueledmonsters who were sinisterly approaching starter village. Despite having some moves, the pair was unable to escape despite riding their chocobos as the other Players were just nearby. After being given a major beating, they were dragged off and now presented to him. The two Players who stumbled upon them were also proudly bragging to Angora, saying something like my lord, if it wasnt for the quest we received halfway, you would be seeing two corpses instead! For that, Angora could not help but retort inwardly: nonsense, would anyone you people killed have corpses left?! Still, complaints were complaints. Angora himself was thankful that the other Players caught the pair for him. While they seemed to have received strict training, refusing to say a word despite any form of torture and not even smile, they were nothing in comparison to the System. [New quest issuing authority gainedInvestigate the Secret Eye Society] Explanation: You have captured two scouts from the Secret Eye Society who have come to confirm that the skeleton horde had destroyed the unnamed town and kill its lord, after the Society had lured the skeletons to attack it. The Secret Eye Societys very existence threatens the safety of this prospering town, but to uproot them, one must know it from bottom-up. [Quest: You may assign the mission Investigate the Secret Eye Society to any number of players, but each assignment costs 20 yield points and 100 game coins.] [Quest reward: Sentry watchtower blueprint] Theyre scouts from the Secret Eye Society. Angora slid an impassive glance at the pair who were sprawled over the floor like puddles after being handed some major punishment. The cloaked man looked up in surprise, his eyes fixed a little dazedly at Angora as he asked hoarsely in disbelief, How How could I possibly know that, you mean? Nonsense. Did you think your luring of those skeletons was flawless? Angora crossed his fingers beneath his chin, laughing coldly and loftily as he looked down on the cloaked man. Dont make me laugh. If you knew all along Why torture us The cloaked man asked bitterly, understanding at once that Angora was neither putting on airs nor trying to force them to talk as he already knew about the skeleton horde. Torturing saboteurs of my land and enemies of peace needs no reason! Angora declared sharply. In truth, Angoras quest issuing authority actually came with the requirement of giving those two a good beating beforehand. Still, the prisoners did not need to know that. Finished talking? Can we kill them now? One of the Players asked unhappily. Theyre EXP! Although it would be acceptable to throw the two Secret Eye members to the Players and have them gotten rid of, they might still be useful later. Hence, after some thinking, Angora decided to imprison them instead. Were keeping them alive for the moment, Angora told them. Throw them down into the dungeon. Huh? Hold on, theyre our monsters! You dont steal another mans monster! The Player closer to Angora complained. Yeah! Why would you simply take away our EXP and Epic items?! the other Player added. Do these peasants not know respect for their lord?! Angora was irritated inside, but being brothers of the same faith, he naturally could not simply dismiss them. Kill away, then. Its a shame, but I guess I cant assign you the hidden quest from my end if thats the case. Angora shook his head dramatically. The two Players ears pricked up at the words hidden quest. They swiftly snuggled up to Angora as if they were puppies and started bootlicking. After some reflection, I believe I have an obligation to heed your intentions, my lord. Say no more, Ill take them away and lock them up! Yeah! Thats why you could be at ease and just hand us that hidden quest or whatnot! Chapter 39: New Follower Angora pondered again after he had assigned the two Players with the quest to investigate the Secret Eye Society and saw them off. First and foremost, the quest itself was definitely unachievable for those two dimwits. It was only by chance that they ran into the scouts they captured, and Angora would definitely be the first to doubt that they could infiltrate the Secret Eye. If anything, it would be nice if they did not lure the enemy here. Either way, he must assign the new mission to other Players. I have the game coins, but the yield points are going to be an issue. Angora scratched his head in distress. After the players had joined, the towns crop production was a lot more rapid. The additional food could also be exchanged for a considerable sum, which allowed Angora to become rich immediately and actually plan for more higher-level crops. He could afford paying everyone a hundred game coins like it was a drop in the ocean, but yield points were not so easily obtainable. The yield point system was connected to the prosperity the town, and the prosperity of the town required more construction of houses and buildings. Now that their population had stabilized and there were actually vacant houses, the prosperity rate had almost stopped rising. That was why the yield points which should be redeemed to buy new buildings was quite precious and must not be wasted. Angora was touching his chin in thought. There was some beard stubble on it as he was almost reaching adulthood, and it felt rough to touch. Have to get some reliable Players for this quest At the moment, the Players whom Angora thought highly of wasaside from Marni who was about to leavewas Edward and his party. Although Marni himself appeared to be another dimwit occasionally and was frequently killed in the most spectacular manners possible, he was still formerly a leader of a merchant convoy. He checks out whether it was interpersonal relationships, teamwork, and mobility. As for Edwards group, they seemed to be the earliest believers of the God of Games and were the top in both levels and combat ability, not to mention that both healers in town were in their group. Most importantly, even if Edward was a little younger than Angora, he took things seriously as the leader of the partyit was an attribute that most Players seemed to lose after obtaining the system, becoming carefree like how they were now Vela, could you help me to call for Edward and Angora turned to Vela, intending to get her to fetch Edwards group but spaced out when he looked above her. On your head Her name was written in white words that hovered above her. Hmm. It seems that I have made it and become a True Believer of the God of Games. She smiled sweetly at his blank look. Recovering, Angora cheered and gave a silly smile as well. Well, what are we waiting for? Lets celebrate! Eh? My lord, dont you have something else to do? She asked, tilting her head. It can wait. Celebrating with you is more important! Angora said seriously. Is, is that so The girls face was a little red in embarrassment. Yeah! If you can become a Player, it means that theres nothing stopping the other townsfolk from becoming true believers! All of them can be Players! With this, the town is so much safer and powerful! Angora exclaimed, not noticing Velas expression in his excitement. Is that not worth celebrating? Oh. So were celebrating that Hmm? Whats up, Vela? Why do you look unhappy? Its nothing, my lord. Are we celebrating in the tavern today? Of course. Theres nowhere else to celebrate in town. Good, the girl grinned dangerously. Incidentally, I havent tried much of their menu. For some reason, Angora started to worry for his wallet when he saw Velas sweet smile. *** In the end, Marni left the town. So, the guild has recently built a subsidiary in Wickidor He muttered, reading a map and planning his journey as he sat beside the carriage driver. Even with a carriage, its going to be a two-days round trip no, if I hurry, I might make it back in just a day. Marni sighed as he lowered the map. Even after all he had been through, Marni still found the God of Games and his own System unreal. Unlike the believers who were limited in knowledge and unaware of the wonders of the System, Marni who was almost thirty had virtually traveled from north to south and almost all of the empire. At first, he himself did not understand how horrific it was too, even believing that it was not really useful and that it was a trick that believers of the God of Games used for coercing others into their religion. However, Marnis perspective changed entirely after experiencing it firsthand. It was something that instantly instructs anyone in sword skills, magic or divine arts. It was so glorious that he would definitely believe that it was a sacred relic that some god bestowed upon mortals. If he must put a finger on how the System was different from sacred relics it would be that the latter was usually one and only, whereas the System was so numerous that every player in the Starter had one that was virtually identical (Marni is unaware that Eleenas Saintess-In-Training System was not the same)! Even the Seven Heavenly Fathers did not produce so many relics I really cant imagine how powerful the God of Games actually is Marni felt pulsating vigor once he remembered his powerful backer. It seems that I must seriously accomplish the quest that God has given me! [Get refugees to join the church of the God of Games.] That was the hidden quest the God of Games had assigned him. To tell the truth, Marni did not really take the quest seriously. Refugees all flocked to those who have anything to give themwith a piece of bread, they would never bat a lash to bow before an evil god, much less the God of Games. No Despite his delight from imagining how he would show off his quest reward when he returned, Marni soon calmed down. Its not easy to join the church of the God of Games all of the townsfolk are believers, but none of them are acknowledged by the God of Games himself. In other words, shallow believers wouldnt do. So can this quest really be done by having them become true believers? Looks like I wont be back in town in a day and a half. Instead, I should spend some time away. Chapter 40: Rotten Bones A tavern in Wickidor. It was clearly not nighttime but it was pitch-black in one of the rooms. A thick black cloth had been placed over the window, keeping the rare bright winter sun from reaching inside the room. If one looked carefully, there were a few vague figures sitting around silently, wearing thin black cloaks and staying motionless, exuding an indescribable weirdness. Indeed, anyone who entered would probably have the daylights scared out of them by those corpselike figures. And it would have been true tooeach figure there were Rotten Bones cultists who were higher ranked than Carlo and were corrupted heavily by their evil gods power. Although they still retained their human minds, their bodies were shriveled and stiff like hard wood despite having greater strength. They also would not count as being alive in the original sense, but was closer to a semi-zombie existence. The silence lasted for who-knows-how-long before one of the cultists broke the silence and turned towards the one seated in a chair who appeared to be the leader. O Venerable One, why have you graced Wickidor with your presence? Carlos divine blessing had returned to me, the one addressed as the Venerable One answered hoarsely. Hes dead. What?! The cultist beside the bed was left in disbelief. He was already good with the sword before he joined us, and most mortals would never win against him after gaining divine blessing. A more well-rounded figure seated to the Venerable Ones right hand added. Could it have been a bishop of the Brilliant White Church who killed him? But they dont have any churches nearby No, the black corpsefly planted in his body informed me that it was the princess. The Venerable One said. The silent room broke into whispers. The others found that news hard to digest. It was true that as the former captain of the imperial guard, Carlos skill with the sword was above the crowd amongst the masses, and one would require overwhelming numbers or supernatural ability to defeat him. Moreover, after Carlo had received the buff from Rotten Bones power, his weakness as a mortal in terms of defense and limited stamina were solved despite his stiffer movements. That was definitely a huge increase of ability that almost made him a killing machine. In comparison, the princess who believed in the nonexistent God of Games and therefore essentially believed in nothing was at best a fine swordswoman. She would never have held her own against Carlo! Quiet! The Venerable One growled with his hoarse voice. Even if he was not loud, the other cultists stopped whispering immediately, and the room was completely silent once again. The Rotten Bones was not a peaceful religion where every member existed in harmony and equality. Only the strong survive was a fundamental doctrine, and if not for their own evil gods prohibition, everyone would probably be killing each other for the divine power imbued into their bodies. With such an environment, becoming a Venerable Oneone of the three bishops of their cult took someone with enough power that ordinary cultists would never dare to confront him. I know all of you couldnt believe it, but thats precisely why I have come to Wickidor. As he spoke, the Venerable One brought out a silver bowl and a palm-sized colored glass bottle. He opened the bottle rather awkwardly and poured the silver fluid within into the bowl. Then, he hesitated for a moment before using his sharp nails to tear a cut into his rigid flesh and drip black blood into the owl as well. Moments later, the silver fluid in the bowl began to churn, a fearsome but unusual skull appearing from within. Once that skeleton appeared, the other cultists all went on all fours as if crushed beneath a force of ten thousand tons, devotedly and fearfully pressing their heads on the floor. The skull spoke despite having nothing resembling vocal cords. It was a noise that could not be understood, as if something sharp was scratching blackboard. It also resembled the hostile dark miasma of swamps, a blasphemous language containing a vicious influence that exerts itself on the spirit of all mortals, reducing them to a darker species. The voice would resound even in the heads of imbeciles, and the blind would be able to see the call from hell and abyss. Only those with the firmest faith in their gods could withstand the impact from the other side. For it was the voice of an evil god. [I have caught the scent of an unknown god!] [Catch her and sacrifice her as an offering to the great Rotten Bones!] [I shall claim the power of the god she prays to!] As you wish, my lord. It was only the Rotten Bones archbishop who could hang on to his rationality in the face of their own gods presencealbeit barely. He was not sprawled on the floor and shaking, and could answer in complete reverence at the end. The skull formed from silver fluid nodded in satisfaction, before vanishing and reverting to liquid that dropped into the bowl once again. It was only then that the others breathed a sigh of relief and could finally lift their heads. Just as our lord Rotten Bones has said, make haste and find that princess, and sacrifice her to our great god! Lord Rotten Bones can consume other gods to ascend his rank! The day would come that we would no longer have to hide in shadows, to fight against those churches who proclaim themselves justice! The archbishop pocketed the silver bowl, his shriveled face showing a different look now that combines excitement and wild passion. Rotten Bones shall walk the earth! Rotten Bones shall walk the earth! *** Wilf, cant you reconsider? The chief of Silver Chimes Wickidor branch tried to persuade the traveling merchant patiently. You cant find a merchant guild as good as Silver Chime nowadays. If you leave now, all your previous work would go down the drain! Its fine, Ive stilled my heart for it, Marni Wilf replied without hesitation. Alright, if you have already set your mind on it The branch chief sighed, before finally stamping Marnis resignation and sealing it inside an envelope that he would send to headquarters. That said, why do you insist on leaving? Could you have found some new frontier? Hehehe, its nothing. Its just that Im renouncing my faith in Gaglomeia, the Goddess of Prosperity, Marni nonchalantly shifted the conversation. By the way, arent there more refugees around here in Wickidor? Chapter 41: The God of Games Loves His Flock Thats probably because the war between Valla Empire and the Grand Duchy of Rominos left many displaced and seeking refuge. the branch chief answered distractedly. Starting a war in the middle of the winter? Are they for real? Marni was stunned despite having himself started the random conversation. The winter season was the coldest time of the year. There were months of darkness and terrible snow that would decimate any army. Unless it was a nation which patron deity was the God of Flame, who could maintain widespread divine protection that prevents any damage from low temperatures. Otherwise, most armies would lose their ability to fight or even move in the snow, and even if they should force a war, their enemies just had to rely on defending their ramparts to easily wear down an army ten times their own size! In fact, there was an unwritten rule in this world that any warfare that was extending into winter would enter a period of ceasefire by default, which was a chance for many smaller nations to take a breather. According to the pope of the Brilliant White Church, Lyante, God of Light and one of the seven Heavenly Fathers and Kratos the God of War had developed irreconcilable differences in the Heavenly Kingdom. King Kanpas of the Valla Empire, being devoted to Lyante and Duke Silverhorn who was a loyal follower of Kratos hence started a One Year War as their patron gods will, and the outcome of their final battle would decide the victor in the gods gamble. Gamble? Yes, they delegated the honor of deciding the victor to Kanpas and Duke Silverhorn because a war between gods could get many others involved, the branch chief said. The war will be fought on Lovenia, one of the four major cities of the former Tierra Empire and their imperial capital. Word is that it was all but ruins, with any former citizens forced to leave their homes and becoming refugees who wandered nearby. Marni did not say a word as he watched the branch chief excitedly predicted the troops who would be fighting. If it was in the past, what he learned from how big the world was would perhaps leave him finding the war a normal situation, and he would go about his business after a moments mourning for Lovenia. However, after becoming a Player, he had a completely different opinion after mingling with the God of Games. That god had prepared a gift called the System for all who believed in him, and every believer would formally become a Player when they received it. The God of Games did not shackle his flock, demanding prayers every day or holding mass on every Sunday, or that his believers would convey their devout heart to the bishops of their church from time to time. Instead, the XP setting that came with System appeared to be an encouragement from the God of Games so that Players would explore new places and go on adventures, granting great freedom so that his believers would follow their own instincts to journey around the world. Even if there was the occasional quest that was similar to a divine decree, there was no compelling intention behind it. Players could choose to abort the quest even if most would not, but follow its instructions and accomplish it in the manner that pleased themselves the most while enjoying rewards from the divine. If one was to describe that the other gods sat loftily upon the heads of their own believers, slave drivers who swing their whips to drive and oppress believers so that they sacrifice everything, the God of Games would be a senior and friendever quietly watching as his believers matured, and give them a gentle push when needed so that they could cross that difficult gutter. Moreover, the God of Games would not rely on the mouths of clerics and clear religious text like the other gods to half-heartedly declare that the gods take pity upon them and to multiply their numbers. In fact, Marni could clearly feel that the God of Games loved his flock (Xi Wei sneezed in his Divine Kingdom). It was precisely with that comparison that Marni found how the God of Light and the God of War were uncaring towards humansor indeed their own believers, to the point that they would start a war where countless would die and leave endless broken families for a gamble There was little wonder that the King of Tierra would brave the heresy to declare his faith in the God of Games. Just as there was little wonder why Tierra would be destroyed by the mortal puppets of other gods. It was an indescribable dejection that Marni found hard to bear. He accepted the letter of evidence that the branch chief passed to him, took off the ring that proved him a member of the Silver Chimes and returned it to the chief before turning to leave without another word. It was outside the building where he breathed the cool air of winter that Marni found the hardness in his chest easing. Im starting to miss those dimwits back in the village That being said, he was not giving up on preaching to the refugees. In fact, when he understood that the God of Games may be the one divine being who stood on the side of humankind, Marni had resolved himself to do all he can and recruit more believers without drawing attention from the other churches. It was also one of the few things that he, a most normal human could help that great god with. *** When Marni climbed on to his carriage to leave for the refugee camps outside of the city and look for someone he could preach to, a girl dashed out from an alley turning, catching his attention. She looked around sixteen or seventeen and appeared to be avoiding someone. Still, her ragged appearance did not conceal her elegant face: her blonde ponytail seemed to reflect the sun and danced as she ran, bringing some mysterious degree of warmth to the winter day. Being a merchant who had experienced many a badger game or honey traps, Marni was not the type so easily allured. What really caught his attention about the girl was the white name that hovered over her head. Leah Yakaran. The girl also caught sight of Marni atop his carriage then, as well as the same Player name displayed in the same style above his head. Utterly anxious at first, she paused and hesitated for a moment, before hesitantly saying, O Master of Games, grant us new life? Marni quickly nodded in understanding, realizing that she was a believer of the God of Games like himself and echoed, O Master of Games, grant us new life! It was the password that opens the System bestowed by the God of Games after all. Equivalents back on Earth would be the Namo Amitabha that Buddhist monks would chant, TaoistsImmeasurable Heaven or the twin trails of tears of loved ones for fans of the movie Wandering Earth 1. Either way, it was a secret code that only believers of the God of Games would know. Marni opened the door to his carriage and gestured for Leah to hide inside. Chapter 42: Trickery Rotten Bones did not have a base in Wickidor, but had the overwhelming advantage of numbers compared to Leahs party of six, especially after their coadjutor arrived as reinforcement. Having received a sign from the evil god called Rotten Bones, they immediately went up in force and set up ambush points by every gate in Wickidor. Leah, who never expected that her value to Rotten Bones had suddenly become so important, was planning to lead her guards out of Wickidor from an alley in the east when they all ran headlong into cultists who each had a black corpsefly with them. Although the guardsmen managed to unleash their might and repel the cultists thanks to their Systems, they never caught on that the cultists were just buying time. The moment they had caught sight of Leah, they released their black corspefly which led the coadjutor of Rotten Bones to them! And the instant the coadjutor the other cultists addressed as the venerable one appeared, Leah and her group were caught in a disadvantage. Unlike Carlo, the coadjutor possessed a divine power granted directly from Rotten Bones to summon hordes of zombies to fight, even commanding a deadly atmosphere and skeletons to help him fight. He cast his spells swiftly and attacked viciously, Leah and the guards whose level just reached two digits simply could not stand against them. As her guards were killed one after another, Leah, who had been enraged by their deaths (but was not sad because she knew they would be revived) and would avenge them even if she would die, she suddenly received quest instructions from the God of Games. [Ding! Main Quest started: Vengeance Dawn] The quest kept her from squandering the time her guards bought her with their leaves and left the fight immediately, and make haste to the small town outside the Valley of the Tragic Dead. The instructions indicated that the guards who died for her would be revived at once when she accomplished that quest with a more lenient penalty than usual for dying. Then, when she reached the town, she would also begin a chain mission to exact her revenge upon Rotten Bones! Hence, as the cultists watched in astonishment, Leah, raging and teeth-gritted suddenly spaced out and stared at thin air just before she was about to charge towards them. Moments later, she was already calm, and actually abandoned her stubbornly fighting guards to turn and flee. Even the cultists themselves were jeering inwardly, Wow, the girl our boss told us to catch actually abandoned the guards who would protect her with their lives? Is she really so toxic? No wonder even our god would choose her and demand her as a living sacrifice Meanwhile, the abandoned guards were neither angered or disappointed that they were left behind even until the end. All of them simply died right then just so that the girl could have a chance to escape! Even the Rotten Bones coadjutor who barely had any humanity left in him sung a psalm of loyalty in their honor. They were simply unaware that the guardsmen had also received a quest that matched Leahs: the longer they could delay the cultists, the more rewards they gain after they were revived. Although the guardsmen had not been affected by the dimwittedness typical of the other Players, their deaths remained fated. Still, with rewards being at stake, they fought as hard as they could since they could earn more by buying more time. Later, Leah ran into her fellow God of Games believer Marni outside the Silver Chime merchant guilds Wickidor branch. Thats about what happened. Ill reward you handsomely if you could take me there! Leah whispered to Marni from inside the carriage. What a coincidence, Im returning there soon as well Marni slapped his chest heartily upon learning that the girl was heading for the starter village as well. But I have something else to do before that. Something else? I have my own quest as well: Ill be recruiting new believers for our God of Games amongst the refugees. Marni did not keep the quest for himself since Leah did tell him everything about herselfnot that she could steal it since his quest was simply his own. What? Are you a preacher? Leah was doubtful. Other churches would only recruit eye candies for their preachers or someone with the impression of being straight and honest so that they could rake in new followers into their church. On the other hand, this preacher the God of Games has was hmmm, boorish? As expected of my godsuch a personality! Preacher? Im just a normal Player. Marni laughed as he hurried the carriage alonghe quite liked the title of Player, because it sets him apart from the believers of the other gods who were essentially harvested like leek in a farm. Shush, silence. Somethings happening just ahead. The carriage quieted instantly at that. Soon enough, several men in black robes stopped in front of Marnis carriage. Hold. Were having an inspectionwhats inside your carriage? One of them yelled loudly. I am a traveling merchant from the Silver Chimes, in servitude of the Goddess of Prosperity! Marni did not hesitate to shoot back. You lot arent city guards of Wickidor, arent you? What right do you have to inspect my carriage! Cut the crap. Open the door! The same man urged with a stiffened neck, but his voice was not as confident as before. In fact, he looked like he was barely keeping it together. After all, although the Goddess of Prosperity was not a greater god, her believers were manysome believers of other gods were her shallow believers as well, and in terms of divine power, she was the best of the best amongst the second-tier deities. If not for her singular Divine Order and the fact that she could not ascend in divinity, she probably would have reached the same threshold of the Seven Heavenly Fathers. Therefore, the Skull God itself would only be given a violent beatdown against the Goddess of Prosperity, much less some pesudo-deity like Rotten Bones who was in fact, a denomination of the Skull God I can open the door, actually, but its a blasphemy to my faith so you would have to pay up. 500 Rions per person! Marni conceded with great timing. Tch! Blasphemy my foot! So expensive, do you think your carriage is made out of gold? Another black-robed man complained. What, dont you know merchants who pray to the Goddess of Prosperity has a rule that carriages only store merchandise! Your suspicion that Im hiding other things is in itself a heresy against my faith! Marni turned to place his hand on the carriage door handle, ready to open it. Get your coins ready, or Im complaining to my branch chief if you forfeit the debt! Ah, which church are you lot from by the way? The men, upon seeing that Marni was about to con them of their money just by letting them look into a carriage flung curses and foul language at him before running off without turning back. It was not as if they could not pay, but they did not want to spend it so foolishlyif Marni had charged them an impossible price, they would instead find him suspicious. Therefore, a price that was expensive but not out of the question was as realistic as it was disgusting. Additionally, the cultists religion was not one that could be exposed to the public. Any mishap here could bring the existence of Rotten Bones to light, and their fate afterward was quite predictable! Still, they did suspect Marni. However, the Silver Chimes guild was just nearby and he did not appear to belong to some unknown church given how the other merchants were quite acquainted with him. Moreover, even if his guild ring that identifies him as a member of Silver Chimes was gone, the crests of Silver Chimes and the Goddess of Prosperity on his carriage had not faded yet. After all, that goddess was not as idle as Xi Wei and would certainly not act immediately over some trivial thing, and it would be some time before the crest disappears. With that, Marni slipped past the Rotten Bones checkpoint and brought Leah to the refugee camp outside of the city to recruit some of the vagabonds as new Players Chapter 43: Know Too Much In his Divine Kingdom, Xi Wei watched as Marni tricked the Rotten Bones cultist, giving them the slip and heading for the refugee settlement. His ball form nodded. The reason he had assigned Leah her quest was naturally because he had discovered (by spying on the cults meeting) that the cultists were not planning to kill her, but to sacrifice her as a living offering to Rotten Bones. He could guess Rotten Bones intention at once: like himself, the evil god would feed on weaker gods to increase its own power. The System the girl had was not quite important since it was normal for any devout believers to possess divine miracles on their person, and a weakling like Rotten Bones would never be able to find out anything. Even if Xi Wei believed that he now had the ability to fight, he would rather keep vigilant to stay on the safe side and prevent Rotten Bones from tracing Leahs power to reach him. That was why he set a quest so that the girl would think about fleeing instead. With that, some of the bedrock is laid. I would be ready when Leah arrives at the starter village it is soon time for payback after that pushover evil god bullied my believer for so long. Xi Wei stroked what was supposed to be his chin with his tentacles. He now had enough divine energy to change his appearance, but he held that thought with the imminent threat of Rotten Bones, and began to prepare some strategies against them. Well, Wickidor is mostly alright now. Lets turn to the starter village The small town was developing rapidly and prospering with every passing day. The frontline parties had managed to explore the Valley of the Tragic Dead by 5% now, and were taking a break for the day before pushing up to 6%. Moreover, almost every monster they could reach from the entrance to the 2% range were clubbed to death, with other casual Players also starting towards 3%. Still, Xi Weis attention was fixated upon the group called the Secret Eye Society lurking near starter village. Unlike Rotten Bones, the Secret Eye Society was an organization that focused entirely on profits and shared not mutual beliefs. While there was no telling how it was founded, the group has numbers and advanced combat ability that surpassed the Players. By coincidence, the Rotten Bones and the Secret Eye had become two obstacles on two different frontiers against the church of God of Games. On one side, the Rotten Bones cultists lacked ability compared to Players, but the living evil god Rotten Bones was an actual threat to Xi Wei. On the other hand, the Secret Eye Society could not threaten Xi Wei, but if they would go out in force, they were a great threat to the Players of the starter village. *** Edward was not resting despite the frontline party taking a day off. Instead, he had taken on a new quest from Angora to investigate the Secret Eye Society which was assigned to him a little late because the young lord was having a party. Interestingly, the two morons to whom Angora had assigned the same quest but had no faith in actually stumbled upon a Secret Eye Society base nearby the starter village. Although they were killed almost immediately when they were caught, their findings were relayed to Angora accordingly as a completed quest through Xi Weis divinely powered computer (or divine brain). In turn, Angora handed the information as quest details to Edward. Unlike those two dimwitted Players who simply walked right into the enemys base, Edward infiltrated it quietly. While Xi Wei did not set thief as one of the basic classes, Edward was still a mage who has many options at his disposal for different environments, and was the next best class to slip in beneath rangers. Two men in the walkway up front. Ill take them out quietly when they approach! Edward thought to himself while using his child-sized body to hide in a vent, leaning slightly to a side as he tried to listen in on their conversation. Having gone through many battles, Edward was no longer the hunter who just left the village. When he infiltrated the base, he noticed immediately that no one here was clean: they were selling hallucinating potions that would leave broken families and trading slaves. In the case of the latter, any slave that was not purchased would be used as test subjects for black magic and new hallucinogens, whereas dead slaves would have their organs harvested and sold to cultists who used them as ritual tools the things he had seen left Edward feeling an impulse to simply burn down the place. In fact, Edward would not feel any guilt even if he would kill every single person in this place. Meanwhile, the two mens conversation grew louder. I heard the old pig and the others caught two men trying to sneak in. Thats old news. Theyre dead. Dead? Why not sell them as slaves? Its a quick buck. You dont get it. Boss Black Whip did try to get them to talk and spill the beans on who hired them at the time, and probably would sell them as slaves after getting the details. And? They died without talking? Wouldnt that be nice. What? What happened? One of them was cracking jokes and making merry, even after he was restrained in a cangue. Instead, he was trying to trick Black Whip for information, and its like he couldnt feel pain even after the torture started Tough nut. How about the other one? He was laughing. Laughing coldly? Or that silent grin in the face of impending doom? No, laughing crazily. Its as if hes easily entertainedhe kept laughing as the comedian cracked his jokes. Well, in the end, Black Whip saw red and actually cracked. He chopped off the comedians head with a swing! Wow, tough life. Did he get spooked in the end? Nah. His last words were hold up, let me finish his oneyoull definitely laugh out loud! Is he mad? Well, the other guy must be scared out of his wits. Nope. When he saw his friends head drop off, he was laughing madly! What the hell His words were Hahaha, you lame thing, Im dying here!'' ??? Yeah. Then Black Whip cut him down too. Where did they come from? Heaven knows. That said, Black Whip told us that more of those idiots would be coming, and we should be more careful with the patrol. Just as the two who seemed to be playing a sketch passed through a narrow vent, a black figure leaped out of it. Before the men could react, one was burnt to dust, another frozen into ice that shattered. Edward stared at their corpses coldly, breathing out vapors before slowly saying, You know too much. Chapter 44: Investigate the Secret Eye Society Angora was about to study the buildings available from the System when Edward returned in a hurry from his investigation. Im here to submit my findings. Edward opened his System pagebecause Angora was the one who assigned the quest, the quest board would only display [Quest accomplished] when Angora was around even after obtaining all information. When that was done, Edward sighed heavily as if a heavy load was taken off his shoulders, giving him a little nod and left the room to take a break. On Angoras end, his System changed as well: the page of his quest assignment authority to investigate the Secret Eye Society was gone, replaced by a video tab. Angora clicked on it, his interest piquedit was what Edward saw when he infiltrated the Secret Eye Society base. Quickly realizing the value of that information, Angora quickly sat down to find any useful information. He then heard the Secret Eye Society members who were laughing about the two beheaded Players for twenty whole minutes, and was left speechless. As he quietly considered removing those two Players from his register, Angora suddenly learned by himself how to use the playback bar and fast-forwarded the video to the important part: two men who looked like leaders of the society having a conversation. The footage was not clear because Edward was watching it from a dark corner, although Angora could recognize one of them immediatelyit was his second brother, Edmund Faust! Although Angora didnt know who the other man was, he could tell from the bladed whip hanging at his hip that it was Black Whip, who was in charge of the base. Mister Edmund, thats only fifty thousand Rions. Its not what we agreed upon. Black Whip was leaning into a couch and saying lazily. I remember that our deal is a hundred and fifty thousand! Your methods are so crude, and yet that little town outside of the Valley of the Tragic Dead is still standing! The society provides with you so much funding, but you only managed to come up with trash like that bone incense? Dont you feel shame?! Edmund was clearly impatiently and accusing Black Whip indignantly. If the Grey Fjord Port didnt need your kind Before he could finish, Black Whip, who looked like he was falling asleep suddenly leaped to his feet and kicked Edmund into the ground, stamping his head forcefully. The second son of a duke could not free himself from his boot no matter what he tried. You took the hundred thousand for yourself, didnt you? Looks like the old folks never told you why even someone as greedy as them never tried to pay a copper less to this place. What, what are you doing?! My father is the duke And what? Youre useless and abandoned after the duke divided and conferred his land off. Black Whips voice was very cold, and was putting more strength into his boot. Believe me, I could kill you right here and no oneincluding our own little cabal and your father would try anything with me. I I was wrong! Mercy, Ill do anything! His face almost misshapen under Black Whips boot, Edmund Faust was finally losing his noble vanity, replaced by a terrified and pathetic look Angora had never seen from his brother. Do you get it now? Black Whips voice and face showed delight, and his foot was relaxing. Yes, yes! Edmund quickly answered, but in that moment, Black Whips face contorted brutally. Too late! Whether its you or the two idiots yesterday, no one provokes the Black Whip! With those words, he suddenly leaned on his foot and with a crack, Edmunds head split under his boot like a tomato! After that, Black Whip returned to his couch with a neutral look. Brass Spade. He called flatly. A burly man entered the room and asked respectfully, Whats up, boss? Look for that fellows official seal to claim all his fief and property, Black Whip said simply. If he has wife and children, get rid of them as well. Got it. The burly man replied. Hmph. Hes definitely normal, screaming for mercy in the face of death. It feels good to kill them but those two yesterday, laughing even when they die tsk Black Whips face looked as if someone was force-feeding him feces. As he watched, Angora had the lingering feeling that Black Whips temper was triggered by those two Players merry-making. In that case, he could sympathize with Edmund as he had the bad luck to be caught in Black Whips sights. Still, I guess I could fulfill his wish since Ill be getting all his money, Black Whip sneered. Its just a rundown town without a name when I get rid of the frogmen stirring trouble in Grey Fjord and have spare men, Ill destroy that town in passing. Well, this fellows quite the fool, but he is right: the shipping routes in the fjord is the Secret Eyes most important livelihood, and any threat must be destroyed immediately Hmm? Brass Spade, whats with the ruckus outside? Boss! Some of our brothers who went on patrol are missing! The burly man left the room for a while to ask around before reporting back. What!? Black Whip was on his feet again, a dire look on his face. Then, the footage went dark. Edmund must have thought that it was dangerous to keep infiltrating with his presence exposed. With nothing useful left to learn, he simply left. Angora stayed motionless in his chair for a long time. There was not actually much information from the footage, but it mattered very much from a certain perspective. Compared to his unnamed town, the Secret Eye Society was definite a behemoth with a tremendous gap in ability separating them. Things have become troublesome Angora sighed and looked outside the window. A snowstorm was brewing out there. Chapter 45: Refugee Recruitment The peasant burrow outside Wickidor City. It was not the first time Leah came to this place, but she would frown each time she saw the rundown straw huts and the seemingly lifeless refugees staying within. Most of them were refugees from Lovenia, Tierras former capital. Being the nations former princess, an indescribable dejection would arise in her heard when she saw her former subjects fall to such wretchedness. While Wickidors mayor did not allow the refugees into his city, he forked out some resources to help them so that they would not stir trouble. Still, those scraps of food given out every passing day would not fill the refugees stomachs. Most of their faces were a deathly gray and despairing, and they waited in their broken huts for death to come. As hunger and cold tormented them in every waking moment, it was a blessing for them should death claim them in their sleep. So? How are you planning to recruit the refugees to become believers of the God of Games? Leah asked Marni who was sitting in front of the carriage, trying her best to not be concerned with their misery. Are you preaching in the refugee camp and give food to anyone who becomes a true believer? Leah noticed the many rations inside Marnis carriage when she hid inside. There was also a fragrance of grilled wheat. No way. Wickidors city guards would come for me in less than a day if I do that. Marni smiled feebly. Although he found that Leah had a maturity unfitting for someone of her age, he found her still na?ve in thought after spending some time with her. If it was not for the Yakaran name of the former Tierra imperial family above her head, anyone would think that she was a village hick instead of a cold, calculating princess. After all, nows not the time for the church of the God of Games to go public There is that Leah sighed and sank into the carriage again dejectedly. I plan to use the excuse of hiring labor to whisk away some of the healthy youths first, and then talk to them about the God of Games on our journey. It would be fine if they dont want to become believerswe could just have them actually become laborers since we need help with building the town. We just have to make sure they dont spill the beans to other churches. For his own part, Marni did not hold back and explained everything he was planning. Actually, its alright if they flee and spill the beans too. As long as its not an entire crowd reporting us, those churches would not care about some refugees who hardly have any status. Moreover, with the generous rewards from the God of Games, there probably wouldnt be anyone who would betray him for some paltry profit. Just the youths Leah murmured. Ah, thats a misunderstanding, Marni paused for a moment before explaining. After my time serving in the Valla Kingdoms Lacquered Plate Army, I understand that theres going to be problems if theres a major disparity between gender With those words, he lifted his eyes and took a long look at the gloomy skies as if remembering the days in his distant past. Dont ask me how I know if you dont mind. Leah did all she could to swallow her own retort. That was when she realized what she wanted to ask in the first place. No, sir, what I mean to ask is what about the children and the elderly? The youths chosen could bring their families along, and any elderly or children could follow if they want. Then, Marni turned to look at Leah. Still, I must first mention that I wont stop to wait for them if they couldnt walk and fell behind. Your Highness, he added somberly, I trust you would know that it is a dangerous thing to be on the path with the present weather. There are snowstorms that could come anytime and turn humans into popsicles, hungry, fearsome beasts and magical creatures waiting to prey on humans as well as subhuman species who make a living by banditry. That is why I wont risk an entire convoy. Yes. Relax, I understand. I wont be unreasonable if something like that happened. Leah had seen much of the coldness and cruelty of reality herself, and she definitely would not behave like some holier-than-thou saint who never empathized with others. In the end, my weakness caused everything. Tierra would not have fallen and many tragedies could have been avoided if I was strong, nor would we need to do things like this. Im to be blamed for everything. She ignored Marnis surprised look that said kid-are-we-on-the-same-channel-here, crossing her fingers tightly over her chest to pray devotedly and quietly. Ill do my best and become stronger. O God of Games, watch over us. Xi Wei spaced out for a moment, suddenly realizing that he now had a zealot amongst his believers. However, when he referred to the God Brain, he realized that it was Leah, who instantly ascended from devout believer to zealot. After a moment of delight, Xi Wei realized that the kid only wanted strength to stop all tragedy. It seemed that the hidden class [Warrior Princess] was not awarded wrongly, because if he had given her the same saintess-in-training class like he did with Eleena, the church of the God of Games would probably have a saintess whose punches split skies and feet tore the earth *** While they conversed, Marni and Leah had reached the refugee camp. Even as Marni thought about how he should encourage the refugees to join his labor force, an elderly voice called out. Princess Leah? Surely my old eyes arent playing tricks on me! Surprised, both Leah and Marni turned towards the voice. In a crude tent sewn from pieces of filthy cloths, a skinny man was staring blankly at Leah, tears flowing freely over his wrinkled, suntanned face. I never thought Id see you again, Your Highness I have no more regrets Youre Leah studied him carefully and found the person who matched his appearance from her memories. Mister Registrar? Chapter 46: Registrar of Tierra In Leahs memory, the registrar was a plump and pale-skinned elderly man, a far cry from the frail and tanned old man that stood in front of her. Had it not been for the fact that he still looked somewhat like the way he did back then she couldnt even recognize him. So you still remember me, Your Highness? This, this is such an honor The old man trembled with excitement and wanted to step forward to bow down towards her, but his current pathetic state made him pause. Seeing this, Leah warmly stepped forward and held his hands gently. Grandpa Registrar, these years must have been so hard for you Seeing this, Marni interjected, This isnt a good place to speak, lets continue this in the tent? He then cracked a smile and glanced around pointedly at the other refugees who were secretly peering at the carriage, as if they wanted to take advantage of him. To this, Marni calmly unsheathed his sword and swung it promptly at the ground, silently activating the warrior skill Divine Earthspilt Blade. As an effect of the skill, a long and wide trench was immediately gouged out of the ground surrounding the carriage! After that, he then smashed his sword towards the ground and activated the skill Focused Slam, blasting a large round pit around him! After doing all this, he casually sheathed his sword again. The way he used such a terrifying move without breaking a sweat intimidated the refugees immensely, causing them to retreat back into the shadows, no longer having the courage to spy on them again. Seeing his demonstration of power, Marni then followed Leah into the crudely set up tent. Grandpa Registrar, exactly what happened at Lovinia? Leah asked in concern. According to His Majestys final wishes, I continued to spread the sparks of civilization of Tierra after the royal capital was invaded, but now even the royal capital has been destroyed by those degenerates. The Temple of Glory unleashed Judgement Bolts onto the city, destroying every building we built while the Brilliant White Church summoned white flames to burn the city for three days and three nights, everything was over the old man who was almost seventy years old said in anguish, then started bawling. If it werent for the fact that I needed to take care of my students, I would have sacrificed this old and decayed body to defend the capital to the death! Marni was expressionless after hearing the old mans testament, but his contempt towards those other deities grew deeper. In contrast, Leah who had lived a good half of her life in Lovinia grit her teeth in frustration and hatred as she listened. That being said, she wasnt reckless enough to go and seek revenge on those two churches just yet, only keeping this blood debt in her heart. Its not over yet! The young girl inhaled deeply, fixing the old man with a serious stare as she said, As long as Im still breathing, and as long as the God of Games is looking down on me, then its not over! T-The God of Games, you say? Evidently the old man didnt continue to believe in the God of Games as Leah did, or else Xi Wei would have been able to sense the plight they had been through. Leah turned to Marni for confirmation, the latter nodding his head wordlessly. After getting his consent, Leah started talking about how the God of Games had been revived and had started to bless His believers, as well as the fact that they were here at the refugee camp to recruit a certain number of believers. The registrar listened to all of this in disbelief, but he didnt rush to rebut her and instead closed his eyes, as if he was deep in thought. However, the time that he took to think was so long that Marni got impatient, to the point where he thought the old man fell asleep or passed away. As Marni was about to test if the old man was still breathing, a name in white font popped out from the old mans head, meaning that his belief had surpassed that of a shallow believer and was now a true believer! This power Incredible! The old man opened his eyes with a complex expression, his tone full of amazement and regret. If I hadnt given up my belief in the God of Games, and had continued to believe in Him like Your Highness did, then even if I wouldnt have been able to prevent the tragedy that befell our capital, I would still have been able to rescue more people Grandpa Registrar Leah stared in awe at the name floating above the old mans head, not knowing how to react. It took her a lot of time and energy back when she tried to lead her guards to become believers, but the old man succeeded in a few minutes without needing any guidance. How could she not be surprised? Ive only regained my past beliefs, Your Highness. I cant even hold a candle to you, who discovered the revival of the God of Games, you are the most honorable, Your Highness! The old man seemed to become even more reverent of Leah than before. Marni glanced at the level displayed on the princess head, and grumbled inwardly. Had it not been due to the fact that he died a few times and lost some EXP, perhaps this princess wouldnt even be at a higher level than he was He cleared his throat and turned the focus of the topic back. We can debate on who is the most honorable later. About the plan to recruit some refugees as new believers, what ideas do you have sir? It was his quest after all, so he was the most concerned about it. If you asked someone else this question they might not have an answer, but you came to the right person. The registrar who had just gotten the blessings of the system seemed much more energetic and lively, completely different from how sickly he looked a few moments ago. He said confidently, At this point in our journey, we have already met with a lot of problems and difficulties on the road, and the best way to see a persons true nature is true their reactions in the face of disaster. Those refugees that followed me for money have all shown their true colors, at the same time showing me the ones that could truly be trusted. I can pick a hundred people for you, and while I cant promise that they are all the cream of the crop, but I am completely sure that none of them are selfish and greedy! Thats wonderful! Marni couldnt help but smile in response to the old mans statement. Even though according to his plan, there wouldnt be problems with there being sly and selfish ones as he was confident he could easily get rid of them. That being said, it would always feel terrible to have backstabbers so it was a great help that the registrar could help prevent this situation from happening. This unexpected surprise let Marni feel like his time here was not wasted. Then we have no time to waste. Lets get things done before we attract the attention of the city guards, Marni said firmly. Leah nodded in agreement, it evidently wasnt the time to reminisce with the registrar. She was still being chased down by Rotten Bones, so the best course of action for now was to finish their business here and leave Wickidor. Chapter 47: Declarations Work Better with Special Effects~ With the help of the registrar, the recruitment went smoothly. After that, Marni and company did not linger further, immediately leaving the refugee camp in the snow. It had to be said that the registrar had a high degree of reputation among the refugees, to the point where almost no one opposed the seemingly suicidal act of traveling in the snow. The city guards of Wickidor saw this, but did not move to stop them. To the lord of the city, the fact that they lost a hundred refugees at once was probably a big relief Almost half a day later, their group of refugees only managed to advance around three kilometers. The piled-up snow was different than the texture of sand. On stepping into the snow, it would immediately cover up to half the calf, and the snow would melt a little due to their body heat and become sticky, causing the refugees to only be able to move forward at a snails pace. A majority of the refugees had already started panting tiredly, and after expending heat in physical effort, the vast amounts of energy expended made them feel even colder. It was like even their thoughts were frozen. Even though they had Marnis oat cookies to sate their hunger, most of the refugees were cold and tired, and wanted nothing more than to lie down then and there to sleepGranted if they really did something like that they would probably never be able to wake up. Marni and Leah had the blessings of the System so they were fine, but since they were born in this world, they completely did not think of making tools like sleighs to make the journey easier. Looking at the terrible state of the refugees that looked like they would rather be slain on the spot rather than continue walking, they did not know any way to help out. In fact, this was the result even after the registrar who had chosen the cleric class continued to cast healing spells on them. Granted the elderly man had learned swordsmanship back when he was younger, but since he was old and frail now his physical stats wouldnt be able to be comparable with those of younger people, so of course he couldnt choose the physically heavy warrior and ranger classes. The mage class seemed like it was a good choice, but after a lot of thought, the registrar still chose to become a cleric which seemed to be the most devoted class, in order to make up for tossing his faith aside. It was a good thing he had chosen to do so too, as there might have been some refugees that would have met with an untimely fate. If it goes on like this, the journey that would normally take barely more than a day couldnt have been completed in three days. Mister, are the oat cookies enough? Leah asked worriedly. If we stretched it out, it could probably last two days Marni was also stumped. There were quite a number of refugees that brought along their families, and they had to rush in the cold weather so their energy was used up extremely quickly. If the food was not enough, the refugees would soon not be able to move. In that case, we can only carry out our plans in advance. Lets preach to the refugees now. The young princess said solemnly, Only through becoming believers would the path forward be bright! Would that be alright, Your Highness? We are too near Wickidor, maybe the other churches would notice? the registrar asked in concern. If we keep on being afraid of possibilities, then we wont be able to do anything! Leah looked to Marni. Do you do it or should I? You already said that I dont look like a preacher, I think you should do it, Princess Marni said, shaking his head. The young princess didnt bother to refute, jumping up and landing daintily onto the top of the carriage before taking a deep breath. Everyone, listen to me! The young princess stood in the harsh winter, her expression resolute and unflinching as the howling wind lashing at her golden hair and thin clothingher clear and resonant voice attracting the gazes of the exhausted refugees. You might not recognize me, so let me introduce myself! I am Leah Yakaran, the First Princess of Tierra! The young princess words were too surprising, causing the refugees to start mumbling among themselves. The princess? How is that possible!Wasnt the royal family wiped out?Didnt the registrar say that we were on our way to become laborers? Why is the princess here all of a sudden? The confusion and shock plunged the refugees who had gone through scores of plights into uncertainty and panic. Silence! I vow on my name as the registrar of Tierra, Vanke Noreki that this is truly the princess of Tierra! The registrar immediately stood out and stopped their discussion. Her Highness speech isnt done yet, so I beseech you to calm down! Leah spared a grateful nod toward the registrar, while the latter nodded back with an encouraging smile. I know that all of you are the citizens of our fallen country Tierra! Those evil invaders brought the cinders of war and strife into our kingdom, causing our country to fall, stealing our peaceful, tranquil and happy lives. They took everything! We are no different! Stuck in the past, unable to face the harsh reality in front of our eyes, feeling desperate and unsure about the future, giving up in despair and stopping the struggle, thinking that it would be alright as long as we continue living The refugees listened to the young princess words as they lowered their heads in grief, her words striking a chord in their hearts. But then, her tone suddenly shifted, her voice becoming brighter as her eyes started to shine with hope. That was until, the god that we believed in responded to my prayers. All the refugees were confused by her statement. The god that they had believed in? Wasnt it the God of Games that the other churches said didnt exist? How could a god that doesnt exist respond to your prayers? They said that no tomes had records of this gods existence, that His divine order was too vague and coincided with other gods, that He didnt help even when Tierra was on the verge of extinction Many people have doubted the existence of the God of Games, to the point where you have thrown away your faith, havent you? She didnt rush to reply their questions, continuing on, Because He didnt help you while you were in your darkest days, because He didnt respond to your prayers Many of the refugees made an awkward expression at being pointed out. It was true that a great majority of them had thrown away their faith after Tierra had fallen. It was not a sin, but only a helpless choice made so that they could live on. But now, I can tell you with complete certainty Leahs firm and devoted voice rang true in each of the refugees ears through the harsh winds. Xi Wei saw this entire scene unfold, and he seemed to glow even brighter. Interesting! How could I not help add some special effects The God of Games exists! As Leah declared these words like an anthem, a bright ray of light like the break of dawn shone through the flurry, shining onto the young girl like a spotlight on a stage. Neither the howling wind nor the raging snow could penetrate this area that was covered with light. Her golden hair was further accentuated and shone like the sun in the halo of light as the snow around her melted instantly, green shoots sprouting through the bare and desolate ground around the carriage. Somehow, it seemed like spring had come in the harsh winter frost. At this moment, the image of the young princess that looked holy and venerable as she was shrouded in light was deeply carved into the hearts of everyone present. Chapter 48: Sleigh The reason why He did not respond to all of you was because you were not faithful enough! Dont tell me how you pleaded with all your heart for help and offered all your faith. You purely wanted aid for your own life or any other plight, not caring whether the aid came from Him or not! That was just a request and not belief! she exclaimed, Right here and right now, I plead all of you to try and believe in Him once more, and believe in His blessings! Saying that, Leah knew that in these people there were probably people that truly believed in the God of Games back then, but the God of Games had not been revived back then so any prayer would not have worked. But it was okay, because human memory is vague and easily changes according to subjective thoughts and emotions. An example of this was the nostalgia filter that humans have toward past memories. Adding onto that was the fact that the degree of faith and purity of belief was a hard thing to define. Even if they were faithful believers in the God of Games, they would probably start to think that the way they believed in the God of Games was wrong after today. After all, these remnants of Tierra needed hope and faith more than anything, and believing that the God of Games was a primordial deity would probably bring them more confidence than telling them that the God of Games had just been born. Xi Weis special effects werent added in vain. Seeing the supernatural scene that occurred and the strong words of the young princess, the refugees started trying to pray and beg for the God of Games forgiveness, hoping that they could believe in him again. Divine energy immediately flooded in, much more than the bit that was used by Xi Wei to produce the special effects. This gave Xi Wei more confidence to get up in arms with the Rotten Bones Church. Under the pleasantly surprised gazes of Marni and Leah, a bunch of names in white font sprung out from the refugees heads like bamboo shoots after a spring shower. The rapid increase in believers immediately made Xi Wei perk up in excitement, feeling his thoughts becoming more fluid and clear than before. Even his Divine Kingdom grew somewhat larger from the influx of believers. Maybe you, loyal reader, would think that if a mere hundred believers would boost Xi Weis power by so much, then couldnt Leah just go to a random large city and promote his church with special effects, so that the people from this world who have never seen Hollywood movies before would become his believers and boost his divine energy infinitely? The answer to that question is of course no. First off, a majority of citizens from large cities were already true believers of their respective churches, and would not believe in Xi Wei like these atheist refugeesIn fact, these refugees were so recruited so quickly only because they were his believers in the first place Secondly, most large cities were taken over by multiple large churches, so the citizens would have probably seen lots of miracles already. It was only a pipe dream to have them join his church using flimsy special effects. Finally and most importantly, Xi Wei was still too weak at this point in time, and if he did something like that to attract the attention of stronger and more experienced deities, he would probably be blown up on the spot Marni who had leveled up by one level had thought that perhaps they could have sped up after so many of them were converted into Players, but after resuming their journey he realized he was wrong. Even though most of the refugees had been converted successfully into believers and had blessings from Xi Wei, but the blessings that were gained by Level 1 Players were somewhat insignificant. Other than having a higher resistance towards sickness and abnormal statuses like frostbite, their improvement in other areas was quite limited. It was going to be night soon, but their progress was still not satisfactory. If they tried hard enough, perhaps they would be able to arrive at the starter village in three days But there was still the problem of food supply. Make a sleigh! Xi Wei who was peeking in from his Divine Kingdom stomped in frustration (even though he didnt have any legs). You guys can make a sleigh with just a few pieces of wood! If the situation persisted, the refugee Players might probably starve or freeze to death. After all, the refugees who had just been converted into Players were just Level 1, and they didnt have any experience points. If they died they would be dead for good! As Xi Wei was about to give Marni a quest, he realized that the former merchant had already gone to sleep Should I give the quest to Leah? Not, that child is too simple, she probably doesnt even know what a sleigh is Seems like theres only one thing to do. Xi Wei refocused his gaze onto Marni who was snoring in his sleep. It was a peaceful night On the second day. Mister, this tool that you invented is so useful! Even though its just a few pieces of wood it could make things so much easier! Leah tried out the sleigh that Marni had finished making early in the morning. How did you think of this invention? I didnt invent this, its a tool from the Southern Lands that I came across while I went there for business. Marni let out a loud yawn, deep dark circles visible under his eyes. I dreamt of it last night and immediately tried making some Of course he could not tell the young girl that the sleigh was something he thought of after dreaming of a glowing ball with tentacles beating him up and shouting, Make sleighs, make sleighs you dumb*ss! He had originally been scared awake, but then he went back to sleep shortly after thinking it was a normal dream, making a mental note to make some sleighs when he woke up. But as soon as he fell asleep, he dreamt of the ball of light again, and it wrapped him with its tentacles and beat him up again. How dare you come back without making a sleigh?! This immediately shook him awake. After that, Marni didnt go to sleep anymore and burned the midnight oil to make a sleigh. After trying the sleighs he made, even these crudely made sleighs were extremely effective in the snowy plains. With the sleighs, the journey that continued was much easier. Marni took out the remaining food and gave it out to the refugees, before they left behind the carriages with poor mobility in the snow and changed to using sleighs. At the pace they were going at now, they would probably be able to arrive at the unnamed town by evening. Xi Wei who was in his Divine Kingdom nodded in satisfaction. Even though giving prophetic dreams needed more divine energy than issuing a quest, he thought of how he would have to give rewards to Players that finished their quests. In comparison to that, the cost of prophetic dreams was less. More importantly, he could beat up his believers and relieve stress Chapter 49: NPC Recruitment In the unnamed town, Angora felt a headache coming on. From the information brought back by Edward and seeing his own brother killed in front of himeven if he didnt have a good relationship with his second brother, he could not help but feel sad by this turn of events. Thinking back to how the bandits he met on the way here were also the work of the Society of the Secret Eye, he naturally saw them as his greatest enemy at this point. As the saying goes, the enemy of your enemy is your friend. At this point, it seemed like pursuing connections with the Frogmen tribe that were causing trouble for Black Whip would be worth the effort. If needed, they could even offer help and resources for them. Angora didnt expect any material from those amphibians, but it was worth it as long as they could attract the attention of the Society of the Secret Eye to give the town some time to grow stronger. This time however, there werent any quests issued by the system that he could directly ask the Players to accomplish. Should he use game coins as a reward to issue a mission for the Players to go to the Gray Fjord Port and negotiate with the Frogmen there? But now, the Players were not as broke as they were as before. After doing so many missions and carrying bricks they already have had a meager amount of savings. Even though he had the building blueprint for a shop, he hadnt gotten started on it yet so the use of game coins now was pretty limited. Even if he used them as a reward the Players wouldnt probably bat an eye Only now did Angora truly feel that Players werent easy to be utilized. They werent his subordinates, hence they did not have any obligation to listen to his orders. Their relationship was more of a symbiotic relationship. If only I had subordinates instead of Players Angora sighed, a little frustrated. But then again that wouldnt quite be possible. After all, he himself was a devout believer in the God of Games, so the subordinates he would get would have to believe in the God of Games too. Once his subordinates became true believers and obtained Systems, they would probably be infected by those crackhead Players and who knows what kind of people they would become As he was worrying about this, a System alert rang in his mind. [Ding! Hidden conditions fulfilled. Unlocking new feature: NPC Recruitment] [You can recruit NPCs from Players through contracts.] [Once a Player becomes an NPC, they will not participate in Player events and their system will become affiliated with the Overlord System, changing into the Subordinate System(not affecting their class) until they retire or quit.] [Number of NPCs recruitable: 2] The heck? I can do that? Angora read the system message again as he rejoiced from the new feature. Is this not a gift from the God of Games that saw that he was working on everything by himself? So even if He lost some divine energy he would still give him the ability to recruit subordinates! Im yours forever, God of Games! With this thought in mind, he quickly made his way to the Player he was the closest to. Vela, I have something to ask you! My lord? Vela who had chosen to become a ranger after becoming a Player asked curiously, seeing the young man so excited. She was pretty satisfied with the life she currently had. After all, only half a month earlier the residents of this town couldnt even fill their stomachs and couldnt have survived the frost. It was this lord that brought the magical religion of the God of Games, letting them be able to eat their fill and fixing their homes, even fending off the revenant siege together with the Players. Even the biting cold of the frost couldnt stop the burning passion of the Players that injected a well-needed dose of liveliness into this unknown town. It was because of these reasons that she had some budding affections for this young man who was younger than her by a couple of years. Alas, perhaps it was because Angora was an orichalcum straight man 1, or perhaps it was he was still young, but he hadnt guessed that she had feelings for him yet. As the young lady gazed at the young lord gently, she thought that perhaps it wasnt a bad thing that he hadnt noticed either. As long as she could be of help to him, she would sacrifice her all Vela, are you willing to entrust your future to me? the young lord asked earnestly with a steady gaze to match. M-My lord? Vela who had always had the image of a female mob boss was now as shy and flustered like a maiden. Her cheeks immediately flushed pink as she looked at him with her mouth agape, not knowing what to say. I know you must have your doubts, but please give me a chance! I will treat you well (in pay)! I know this is sudden and I cant hope for you to put all your trust in me because Im still young and inexperienced The young lord saw that she was swayed, so he continued to convince her. No! I, I The young lady first cut off his words, then as if that exclamation used up all of her bravery, she mumbled, I-I do After saying those words, her body went weak as if she used up all of her strength. Really? Thank you, thank you! Angora cheered happily before pulling out a scroll and unfurling it, revealing it to be a contract with all the terms and conditions, as well as the duties and rights to becoming an NPC. Then, he pulled out a pen and put it into Velas hand gently, pointing at the blank space at the bottom of the contract. Sign your name here please! ??? The young lady froze in place. She looked at Angora, then looked at the contract and looked at him again. This was what you meant? Angora nodded innocently. Yeah, what else? From nowhere, Angora felt a chill run down his spine as he felt something rising from the young lady like a cloud (probably bloodlust). He asked warily, Is something wrong? Vela shook her head. No, its nothing. Her mood turning sour, she took the pen and wrote her name on the contract. The next moment, Angora received a system notification. [Vela Newman has become your subordinate.] After that, Velas page popped out. For some reason, there was a silver R shining next to her name. Below her name was her loyalty. It was maxed out at a hundred points which greatly pleased him. After that were the stat displays. Different from the STR, SPD, and INT stats of normal Players, the stats displayed were for Military Strategy, Internal Affairs, and Diplomacy. Perhaps it was because she was a normal hunter girl from a small town, her military strategy and internal affair stats were extremely low. She did have forty-two points in Diplomacy, which was pretty good. After that were NPC skill slots, which were currently empty. According to the system notification, Angora would have to buy skills himself for her, which made him feel cheated somehow Before he could continue talking with Vela, the old mayor ran frantically over to him. My lord, that man called Marni has brought around a hundred people here, I think theyre going to overthrow you! Huh??? This is a pun on the modern term ֱ which literally translates into steel straight man and refers to men that have no taste or are not sensitive. The author uses the term ֱ which means orichalcum straight man which means hes even more thick-headed than a normal steel straight man Chapter 50: Dawn of Vengeance To the regular townsfolk who could not see the Players names, they naturally started to feel a sense of panic when they saw the sight of Marni leading a massive army with more than a hundred people. Even when including the Players currently in the town, the total amount of people in town could only amount to almost half of their numbers. But the Players themselves including Angora didnt have much of a reaction. After all, they already knew that Angora had a hidden quest to recruit refugees and convert them into new believers of the God of Games. Adding onto that was the fact that the level displayed next to the hasty Players was only Level 1, so they honestly didnt even feel the slightest bit flustered. Some of them even wanted to laugh at Marni whose face was somewhat swollen. In fact, ever since Marni left the town, the Players already started to renovate and build some new buildings for the new Players to live in. Even though it sounded a little hard to believe, but they were believers in the God of Games before they were Players, after all. Devout pioneers tend to open the path for believers that came after them. To take an example would be like how people tend to show the best side of things when they recommended it to someone else. Other than specific evil cults, this was an instinctive and spontaneous reaction by the majority of believers no matter the church. Therefore as the refugees entered the town restlessly, they were greeted with steaming hot food and comfortable places to sleep in, as well as the passionate welcoming Players. Here, have this piece of bread! Can you help me carry bricks? We can split the reward! Heres a Bone Breastplate for fifty game coins, you can put it on your tab and if its fake Ill pay you back tenfold. Let me know if youre interested! Yes! Now that these newbies are here I wont have to be mob bait anymore! You went with a defensive build, thats literally your job Xi Wei who was in his Divine Kingdom smiled as his body bobbed up and down, feeling satisfied with his believers. Even the funny way they acted reminded him of the crackhead Players he used to play games with back on Earth Even though they were somewhat startled by the veteran Players, but they still opened their hearts to them after feeling their warmth and goodwill. Some refugee Players who were physically fit even accepted the invitation of the veteran Players to go to the Outskirts-Valley of the Tragic Dead dungeon together after they settled down. Meanwhile, Leah met Angora with Marnis help. The young princess found her guards who had revived after sacrificing themselves for her, but since they had just revived they knew about as much as she did. Even though he believed in the faith the Players held in the God of Games and knew that they wouldnt spread secrets, but Angora still decided to take the conversation in closed doors after considering how silly the Players could be. Vela closed the door, blocking out the sounds of haggling and conversations outside the door. Now the two Players with the most special identities finally started their official meeting. Im sorry, I dont really like the formalities of nobles so lets drop those and cut to the chase. I need the help of veteran Players to help me take revenge! Leah didnt want to waste time on formalities, so she immediately told Angora what she had in mind, Im sure the hundred new believers I brought would be enough to fill in the gaps left by the veteran Players temporarily, yes? As long as there were enough monsters for them to kill, the Players would be able to grow stronger in a short amount of time. Angora subconsciously wanted to refuse, but then thought this over for a bit and asked, The revenge that you mentioned wouldnt mean to rebuild Tierra, yes? After all our church isnt strong enough to fight with those large kingdoms Did you get a quest you could issue to the Players? The young princess blinked in surpriseshe didnt think that a noble from such a small place would be so competent and agile minded. After all, without a mission with good rewards to reel the Players in, even Angora could not command the Players to help. But there was nothing to hide on her end, so she opened her quest page and clicked on the Dawn of Vengeance quest she received earlier. The next moment, every Player received a long notification from the system. [Ding! Event activated] [Tierra ReturnsDawn of Vengeance] [Story: The evil cultists have invaded the last bastion of Tierras civilization, and the kingdom that was blessed by the God of Games is at stake. At this last moment, the warrior princess of Tierra has issued an invitation with the help of the great and almighty God of Games, so that you may help her to take revenge on those that dared to invade Tierras last stronghold.] [Event Duration: Seven days} [Event Condition: All Players above LV5 may join} [Event Details: Players shall follow the warrior princess Leah Yakaran to Lancaster and earn Avenger Points(AP) by slaying members of the Rotten Bones Church. These points may be traded for event rewards.] [The corresponding points for every type of cultist: (Press here to check)] [Event Rewards] [Badge of Rebirth (1000 AP): Accessory/Consumable. If the Player who has equipped this item dies, they may be revived immediately to max health. This would be treated as having a revival spell cast on them and consume 10% of their EXP. This item disappears after use. Only one is allowed per Player] [Avengers Buckler (2000 AP): Defensive Equipment/Thrown Item. A round shield made from an unknown alloy, DEF+120, its aerodynamic design allows it to fly back to its original position after being thrown, so please catch it.] [Avengers Full-Body-Armor (5000 AP): Defensive Equipment. A red and golden armor that is extremely popular (multiple colors are available), DEF +300, reduces damage from slashing and blunt weapons. Agro +120%. Equipment code I am Iron Man. Flight ability not included.] [Avengers Hammer (4000 AP): Weapon/ Thrown Item. A hammer imbued with the power of thunder. ATK+80, every attack causes extra 40 Thunder Damage. Disclaimer: It is very heavy.] [Avengers Tube Top (2000 AP): Defensive Equipment. AGI+10%, close combat damage+10%. When equipped on male Player, may unlock the passive skill: Crossdresser.] [Avengers Bow (1000 AP): Weapon. Appears to be high tech but somewhat normal. When equipped reduces users presence by 20%.] 1 [Avengers Boxers (3000 AP): Defensive Equipment. Indestructible boxers. May be equipped with other lower body equipment. Increases wearers skill casting speed by 10%.] Poor Hawkeye. Not even spared here xD Chapter 51: Duties of an Event NPC Through the tightly shut doors, Angora could hear the commotion of the players outside as if a volcano had exploded. Level 4 Tank requesting a party to explore 2% of the Valley of the Tragic Dead! Its fine to use me as bait or feed as long as I dont die! Finally full-bodied armor, Im sick of this Bone Breastplate! What, you want a refund? Id rather you slash me with a knife! Wheres the princess? My knife is thirsting for blood! The way you say that is like youre going to slay the princes Can we exchange these Avenger Points with others? If so Im selling them for one game coin each! Are you Wilf? You must be incredibly rich! The players who were putting on a mask of being nice and gentle seniors immediately showed their true selves upon knowing about the event. The residents of the town gave them gazes that were equal parts gentle and pitying the players who had returned to their silly selves again. The gentle and nice demeanor the players were putting up really made them feel uncomfortable, and how noisy and loud they were now was the norm. Meanwhile, the new players were informed of the event, but they had a while to go before reaching Level 5, and when they did the event would have almost come to an end, so they could only look in envy at their seniors In the room, Angora sighed with a wry smile on his face. After this event notification was posted, he realized that Leah had no need to ask for permission from him. She only did so to give him some dignity as the lord of this town and also one of the closest believers to the God of Games. We will support your actions, and also supply resources in food and material, but I would still need to use some veteran players because we still have unfinished business here, Angora said, picking his words carefully. After all, they couldnt leave the matters of the Frogmen unattended, and he couldnt entrust the mission to Level 1 beginners. If he only had Vela to do it he would worry about her safety, so he naturally needed some veteran players to help. He thought the princess would immediately accept his terms because it was not asking too much of the young princess, however the latter did not reply. It was now that he realized that the princess was distracted. Vela furrowed her brow and wanted to tell the princess not to be so arrogant, but was stopped calmly by Angora. Dont be angry, shes just looking at the message the God of Games issued. Only did Vela notice that the young princess gaze was blank, as if she was staring at something in mid-air. After clicking on the quest, Leah got a system notification too, but as an event NPC this time around, she had a different message from all the other players. [Main QuestDawn of Vengeance] [Quest details: As the final successor of Tierra, your devotion has reached the strong and handsome God of Games, and hence His believers will provide you with help in taking revenge. In the next seven days, they will help you to reclaim Lancaster and your job is to become a flagbearer!] [Quest Requirements: In the event period, build the Lifestone in the middle of the Lancaster Stronghold, and wipe out at least 60% of the cultists there.] [During the event, players that die in the event would be directly revived by your side, and the death penalty would be reduced by 2% and their Avenger Points(AP) would be reduced by half. You can also obtain AP from players to activate event skills. If you die at any point in the event, the entire event would be regarded as a failure!] **[Event Skills:] [Avengers Assemble (100AP): Transports players between the Unnamed Town and Lancaster City, the first use is free.] [Avengers Eat Shawarma (500 AP): Replenish players HP and MP] [Avengers Beat Up Loki (300 AP): Buff players with a random offensive buff for one hour (only applicable for event quest)] [Avengers Get Beat Up by Thanos (300 AP): Buff players with a random defensive buff for one hour (only applicable for event quest)] [Other skills: (Click Here)] [You can use AP collected from players to reinforce the Lancaster Stronghold.] [AP required to build Lifestone: 5000 AP ] [Other buildings: (Click here)] [We may not have been able to protect Tierra, but we can seek revengethe God of Games] The young princess read the system notification carefully (even the parts that were kept aside by the author so that the readers wouldnt say hes filling up word space). She only now realized that she was in the middle of a conversation with the lord of the unnamed town, and what she did was extremely impolite. Im sorry, I got distracted, she apologized earnestly. Even though an apology didnt solve the problem, she still realized her mistake. Its alright, Im sure everyone here understands why you did. Angora smiled socially with the aura of a nobleman. Vela who was behind him puffed her cheeks, seemingly not very happy. Thank you for understanding. Leah nodded gratefully. If you dont mind, may I know what interesting things you received to let you be distracted for so long? Angora asked in a seemingly nonchalant tone. Normally, it would be completely alright for Leah to refuse answering his question as she was a princess, but she was the one who was impolite first and Angora forgave her, so it was not in good taste to refuse him. The registrar who was standing behind Leah wanted to speak up, but he still stopped himself. Her Highness was not the young girl that did not know manners anymore after all. After all the ups and downs of life he trusted her to be able to deal with things in her own way. Of course. Leah smiled, then said seriously, In fact, if this event goes well, we might be able to cooperate more closely and deeply. Leah coughed loudly. Chapter 52: Underground Sewers Lancaster City was originally one of the four most well-developed cities in Tierra, and was the only city under Tierras rule that didnt fall after Tierra did, managing to continue thriving purely on commerce and trade. Thanks to the vast variety of trade markets and commodities, Lancaster had the most well developed and large underground sewage system in the Valla Empire. Along with the large scale migration of merchants and citizens into the city, the lord of the city also received great profits from commercial tax, allowing five expansions to be done on the city in its 200-year history, along with its sewage system. The earliest copies of the sewage blueprints were long gone, and along with the five expansions, the entire underground sewage system of Lancaster became a sprawling maze spanning the entire city. And so, the underground sewers became the shelter of some creatures that couldnt see the light of day. In the pitch-black underground sewer, a pale blue oval-shaped screen of light suddenly appeared, lighting up the darkness and scaring away the Hogwash Rats and the Rotten Cockroaches. So this is the event location This mysterious and eerie atmosphere is great! This looks like the underground cities mentioned in knight novels! Im pumped up! Is something smelly or is it just me? There seems to be a sour smell Thats because the person next to you threw up from dizziness Whatcha looking at? Never seen a mages Acid Arrow?! Blergh! Seeing the noisy players gather up around her, Leah who had been confident about this quest started feeling like reclaiming the lost hideout from the Rotten Bones Church wasnt such an easy task. The reason was simple: The players hadnt even realized that this was only an underground sewer. Everyone, Im sure you have understood the details of this quest Leah cleared her throat and cut the conversation between the players short, wanting to continue on to fill them in on some more things. The players only quieted down for a moment before starting to become noisy again. F*ck, I never read the flavor text when I do quests! Its alright let me fill you in, basically you just have to find enemies and bash their brains out Understood, easy peasy! Blergh! Youre not done puking yet?! Feeling a headache coming on, Leah immediately opened her event skill page and activated a skill called Speaking Egg to trigger story mode and restrict the players from moving and speaking. These are the underground sewers of Lancaster, and our goal is to siege the Rotten Bones Church hidden in the depths of this sewer. Please find their hideout and destroy them without leaving the sewer! Even though the place that the Rotten Bones Church took over was Leahs original hideout, but since the old and new sewers crossed together if a person were to enter from an entrance from they were not familiar with they would quickly get lost in the sewers, losing their sense of direction. This was why the lord of Lancaster did not do anything despite knowing that there were terrible creatures hiding in the sewers. After all, including the abandoned parts from almost a hundred years ago, the underground sewers were even wider spread farther than the buildings from above. No matter which church decided to go in there, there would always be large amounts of casualties, so after some time no church wanted to let their believers go in. After all, if they died because they were defeating evil cultists, they could still have died in honor, and perhaps even enter their gods Divine Kingdom after they died. But if they died from a random reason like miasma or poisonous gas before even getting involved in combat, what would they have died for? For cleaning the sewers? Their god would probably be the first to come and smack them for being an embarrassment As for the lord of the city that conserved his forces so that he would not be overwhelmed by any of the large churches, he would definitely not do something that was synonymous with cutting off his own arms. And so, this strange underground sewage system was preserved until now, becoming a thorn in the side of Lancasters recovery. At the beginning of your exploration, you may receive a Blank Map that will automatically record the places you have walked through, and upload it to the records kept by the God of Games, earning you AP. You can also use AP to buy the newest map from me. Leah shared the crude map system that Xi Wei rushed to make to the players, then switched off story mode. You may start your exploration now! And so the players who had already become impatient cheered, most of them immediately grouping into parties and leaving to explore the underground sewers. Only a small amount of players stayed by to ask Leah about the buff skills they could activate here. Seeing almost 60% of the players start right away, Leah sighed in relief. She hadnt had any contact with any of the players before this, so they could only be counted as strangers with the players. They might nod at each other in greeting purely out of the merit that they believed in the same god, but that was about it. In comparison, she would rather give her trust in the hands of the people she knew and trusted. Even though a lot of the players look like they cant be counted on, but at least Mr. Marni is here Marnis competence while they were at Wickidor in successfully bringing back a hundred refugees to the unnamed town gave her confidence in this shabby-looking man. If it were him, maybe he could be the first to discover the Rotten Bones Church hideout! [Marni Wilf died while swimming in the cesspool. Revival in one minute.] 1 Princess Leah: Wow, Marni died again! How inhumane! Is no one roasting his death method? Why roast him? Its a creative way to die! The players left behind all laughed and joked around. Immediately, the temporary warp point was filled with a cheery atmosphere. Even though the number of players that died in strange and funny ways wasnt low, a lot of players were still exploring the sewer carefully. After all, 2% of EXP was still EXP, and if they were disqualified from the quest by dropping to Level 4 they would probably cry And so, the mysterious underground sewers of Lancaster slowly showed its true form under the map made by Xi Wei. Hahaha he keeps dying Chapter 53: Rotten Bones Archbishop Lancaster underground sewers, Rotten Bones Church hideout. Ugart felt the situation was somewhat off. As the archbishop of the Rotten Bones Church, his body had already been converted into skin and bone, making him look like a skeleton with a layer of rotten black skin on him. He had lost all the senses he had as a human, but now he used the blessings of the evil Rotten Bones God to emulate his former senses. Ever since he stopped being a human, this was the first time he felt disturbed. Around six days ago, the originally silent underground sewers were plunged into chaos. In the east, the Swamp Fishmen which had migrated into the sewers from some time ago and refused to leave started croaking and screeching, a sign that they were about to undergo another migration. From their cries, he could tell that they were panicked and angry, and also a little scared. It sounded like they were about to flee rather than migrate, and he had no idea what made it so that they had to leave in such a hurry. The tyrant of the south was a hundred-year-old Berserk Armored Alligator that was roaring in rage after being woken up from hibernation. To Ugarts memory, no resident of these sewers would have the guts to attack this monster, even he would have a hard time against it. In theory, even if there were some small fry that didnt know of its horrors and provoked it, they would have probably become its feed in a few minutes. However, the Berserk Armored Alligator hadnt calmed down ever since it started going berserk. Every time it started to calm down, it seemed to be enraged by something once more and repeat the cycle. The loud bellowing rageful roars of the monster had already become somewhat hoarse, but the unknown influence that was enraging it seemed to not have given up. Originally, the rat hordes that moved endlessly around the sewers were the loudest sounds heard every day, like a machine that kept on creating noise. Somehow or another, this noise machine stopped even making the smallest sounds from one day, as if the hundreds of thousands of Hogwash Rats had suddenly disappeared Of course, just these minor changes hadnt affected his cold dead heart. The real thing that made him uneasy was the fact that the believers under his command were disappearing. This disappearance wasnt that of traitors. As the archbishop of an evil cult, he had experienced the betrayal of believers under his command before, to the point where their hideouts would be exposed by the traitors so he had to bring his remaining followers to roam until they found these sewers that served as a passable hideout. He had mixed in some of his most trusted subordinates in within each and every team to prevent the same thing from happening. Even so, none of the teams of believers or even their Black Corpseflies that he had sent to investigate the abnormalities had returned to the hideout Zaccarah. He made his way to the foyer of their hideout and called his right-hand man, one of the three black-robed bishops of the Rotten Bones Church. Tell our believers in Lancaster it is time to kill the hundred infants that our Lord has chosen, and to send their hearts and marrows to me! But your Excellency, if we do so we might lose the support of the nobles who had supported us in the shadows Zaccarah replied worriedly. Dont mind them, theyre just a bunch of pigs that have fats for brains. When the time comes you just have to feed them enough Rions and theyll shut right up. Ugart replied in a dismissive tone. Putting that aside, something has been wrong with the underground sewers as of late, so Im going to have to go on with our plans for the possession ceremony. When our Lord appears, not even the ascetics from the Brilliant White Church could stop us! As you wish Zaccarah bowed and prepared to leave and send the message. At this moment, the main entrance of the hideout that had been renovated to look like an underground courtyard was broken into violently from outside with a resounding crash, and from the ashes stood the silhouettes of several youngsters. Holy sh*t, there really was a hidden level in here! There werent any signs of it from the outside! The youngster that stood at the front exclaimed as he carried a broadsword, seemingly the culprit of the break-in. Edward, if it werent for you being so cautious as to check out the large unoccupied space in the map, probably no one could have noticed Joe, dont let your guard down, there might be a hidden boss! The young man known as Edward said calmly with a strangely shaped staff in his hand. Theres someone thereWith HP bars! Somethings written on there, Rotten Bones Archbishop and Black-Robed Bishop, one is Level 30 and the other is Level 25 I think weve found the boss room! A skinny boy who was holding a bow and arrow shouted. According to the system, these bosses have special reward systems. If we cause 1% of damage to the Rotten Bones Archbishop we will get 200 AP, while well get 100 AP for 1% done to the Black-Robed Bishop! The girl who was standing behind them all informed the party. I see, well how can we leave these bosses unattended? Miss Jessica, help me heal while I try my hand! In the party, a middle-aged man who was the eldest and had the least amount of hair said excitedly. Sword SkillSlippery Slash! He shouted, dashing forward with odd footwork into the courtyardthe long sword in his hands held in front of him flashing with a bright white light as he slashed toward Urgat! But before the sword even had the chance to touch Urgat, the latter raised his crooked fingeran obsidian light shooting out from it towards the mans heart. The mans shocked expression froze on his face before his entire body turned into a bunch of speckled lights and disappeared Miiissteeer Maaarniiii! Joe who was a warrior too mourned the loss of Marni, drawing his voice comically long. I-I hadnt even had the chance to cast a healing spellThe young girl stood there not knowing what to do. He really fed them just like that huh Edward sighed and face-palmed. Thankfully I already spent most of my AP just now. Everyone, lets test this boss out! Seeing the youngsters want to duel him to the death, Urgat emotionlessly clapped his bony hands and from the hideout came more than ten high-tier Rotten Bone believers. F*ck, he can summon lackeys, thats so unfair! Gou Dan grumbled. The high-tier believers were not as emotionless as the archbishop was as the corruption on their heart wasnt as heavy as his, so when they heard his words they could not help but frown. Who was this small fry that looked like a peasant wearing leaves (equipment) to call them lackeys? Even though the situation was extremely unfavorable for the intruders, Urgat was shocked at how none of them chose to flee and how they all fought to the death. Even that girl who seemed the weakest never uttered a plea of surrender while Gou Dan was killed immediately Urgat thought that the ones that were causing the chaos in the underground sewers were these people, but from their prowess, they were too weak. He furrowed his brow, feeling that things werent as simple as it seemed. Just then, a few unfamiliar voices were heard from outside the hideout. Oh? Somethings wrong with this wall Oho? Its a hidden level! A hidden level! Lemme see if there are any goodies! Chapter 54: Siege on the Rotten Bones Church I Leah thought a lot over the past six days. The players seemed to be unreliable, but that was only because they let themselves be carefree without the fear of death. When they were serious, they could become a force that even the young princess had to concede to. Within a mere six days, the players almost thoroughly explored the entirety of the underground sewers, achieving the feats that the past lords of Lancaster had wanted to achieve in the past hundred years and clearing the entire underground sewer! They cleared out the Swamp Fishmen that hid in the sewers to ambush civilians, the rat hordes that cause massive losses in food and cause epidemics, the Sludges that prey on vagabonds, the Skull-crushing Crabs that hunt down pets and even the city guards that turned into Zombies after dying in these sewers Even the Berserk Armored Alligator that was unrivaled in these sewers was whittled down by the players after discovering its movement patterns, now on the brink of death. For context, these were all creatures that caused the sewers to become restricted in the first place. The past lords of Lancaster had tried to do new sketches and blueprints of the sewers, but it was because of these creatures that the plans couldnt have been carried out and were abandoned. Granted, the players died a lot of times while they were fighting these enemies, after all it was hard to react in a short time when an unknown enemy appeared. Leah couldnt even remember how many players had revived around her, but not only were they not scared nor depressed, they always kept up their morale and continued to conquer the very enemies that had killed them! After all, in contrast to other churches, these players werent bound to fight by the doctrines of the church. They enjoyed the very prospect of exploring and battling from the bottom of their hearts, and so they continued to improve themselves and make themselves stronger. Each death was the prelude for the next victory, and each victory became the bases that made them stronger. Other than that, there was the skill tree that made it easy and quick to become proficient in a specific branch of combat, so it was easy to understand why the players were so proactive in challenging enemies. After all, what was more fulfilling than witnessing your own growth? The young princess was honestly a little jealous. While she was living here, she was too weak to leave her hideout, and now if she werent bound by the duties of an event NPC, would she be able to explore the unknown and fight strong enemies to make herself even stronger? We found the boss room! The enemy is so strong that even tanks were defeated in one hit! Suddenly, someone revived from the revival point and shouted, cutting her reverie short. Hearing so, the players who were still resting at the revival point immediately surrounded the person that shouted and asked for details, starting to discuss amongst themselves. And so along with more and more players that revived at the revival point, the information everyone had on the boss increased, and they started forming a plan to defeat the boss. Other than the main boss and the miniboss, there are twelve elite lackeys. We would have to bait and kill the lackeys first, or else even players that focused on defense would be killed immediately. The main boss adds buffs to the miniboss, so the battle becomes extremely hard as if were fighting two main bossesWe have to send out a team and distract the main boss so that we can defeat the miniboss before the main boss has time to interfere! According to our observations, the lackeys have these skills This wasnt the first time Leah saw a situation like this. When they met with the Berserk Armored Alligator which was the only enemy they couldnt defeat with levels alone at the time, they did this too. Even though the rules werent spelled out, and there werent any specific roles each player took, they would always be able to compile useful information on their enemies from their deaths, and work together to summarize a way to defeat the enemy. For the time being, this is our plan so good luck everyone! Lets defeat the boss, level up, and get some equipment! Edward who acted as the commander raised his staff and started. Lets go!! The players shouted in reply, raising all sorts of weapons and equipment in a cheer. The high-tier Rotten Bone believers felt frustrated. As the main force of the Rotten Bones Church, it was a given that they had fought against enemies from other churches. It would not be a stretch to say that they were experienced warriors. But it was the first time they felt this frustrated. The enemies werent strong at all, and their numbers were only slightly more than their own, but it seemed to be impossible to kill them all. Every time they defeated a group of enemies, new ones would come in their place almost immediately Even the enemies that came in their place were exactly the same people! If they hadnt confirmed that the enemies were living beings using their Rotten Bones Energy, they would have believed that the enemies were golems If it were only that the enemies were unending, they wouldnt feel that particularly frustrated, after all they had bodies like revenants after being blessed with the Rotten Bones Energy, giving them endless stamina. But after they died the first few times, they seemed to have found out the way that they moved and attacked and started to move and dodge them easily and so it was hard to cause enough damage to them, letting the enemy cause damage to them instead. The thing that made them the most worried was the fact that these seemingly weak enemies had a strong sense of intuition. After obtaining Rotten Bones Energy, the high-tier believers started to look like skeletons with skin on themeven if they got hurt they would not bleed so it was hard to tell which was which from external appearance. So in past battles, they would always switch among themselves when fighting with enemies, exchanging the one that was the most hurt with the one that was in the best condition to give their enemies the impression that the believers of their church were hard to kill, and the member that was hurt could retreat and heal quickly using their Rotten Bones Energy. It was a tactic that was often employed because it worked like a charm. But for some reason, this strategy did not work on these strange humans at all. Even if they sneakily changed places in battle, the enemy would notice immediately and shout The enemy is escaping, go aggro them! and block the path of the wounded high-tier believer. Not only that, there were enemies that wore a garish red and gold full body armor and were sturdy and hard to damage, and these enemies would stick up their middle finger and shout profanities at them. And every time this happened, the believers would feel that the enemy was so detestable that they wanted to rip their intestines out and strangle them to silence them And so due to the influence of these thoughts, their movements became slow and sluggish and they werent able to flee quickly enough, causing them to be surrounded and killed. What are you The final high-tier believer asked weakly as he fell, his empty sockets gazing at the enemy. Us? Were just players who are on a quest. The young man smiled, and ignored the dying believer as he shouted at his allies, Alright, those who have to recover back to Princess Leah, and stock up on buffs, dont skimp on your AP! Were going to fight the boss! Chapter 55: Siege on the Rotten Bones Church II How quiet. It seems that our believers have exterminated those pests that dare challenge the might of our church. Zaccarah said after hearing no sound from outside the hideout. Those humans have strange abilities, but theyre too weak. They had no chance against the loyal believers of our Lord in the first place. Urgat said matter-of-factly. Putting that aside, I feel uneasy for some reason. Now go do the things I told you to do before those large churches get wind of our plans. It would be hard to do it under their scrutiny. Understood, your Venerable One, Zaccarah replied respectfully. Oh Zaccarah, I understand your uneasiness, but what we have done up to this point will not be for naught, Urgat consoled as he smiled, but it seemed terrible due to his ghastly visage. Once we have the hearts and marrows of a thousand infants, then we will have nothing to fear! One day, Rotten Bones will walk this land again. As the archbishop was about to break into a full-on speech, the door burst open again, attracting his attention. Did you just say the hearts and marrows of a hundred infants? What a scoundrel to stretch your filthy hands toward the weak! I will smite you heathens in the name of just Argh! Marni struck a cool pose, but before he could finish speaking his heart was impaled with an obsidian beam of light and he disappeared into specks of light. 1 Wait, didnt our tanks activate their aggro skills? Why did the boss attack Marni first? Who knows, he probably has an aura that attracts the attention of bosses 100% of the time. The players bantered nonchalantly as they started to attack the two remaining enemies in the hideout. Urgat glanced casually at the players, letting down his guard when he realized there were only around twenty of them. You dare challenge us with such few numbers? How foolish! As he said so, he raised his bony arm to buff Zaccarah. In fact, Zaccarah was the weakest out of the three Black-Robed Bishops, acting as more of a strategist that focused on behind the scenes work rather than fighting in the fray, and so he was only marginally stronger than the high-tier believers. But would the players that had anticipated this let the archbishop do this? The next moment, a warrior player sped over to Urgat and threw down his weapon that looked like an orange fruit knife, grabbing the archbishop and throwing him into a suplex! If Urgat were a Saint or a Saintess, or had he become a pope with the blessing of his god, then he would have been able to be immune to the suplex that could only have worked under the Rule of Skills. Unfortunately, he was only an archbishop at this point so he could not escape the effects of the skill, being thrown into a suplex immediately. The skill itself did not cause much damage to him, but the extravagant robe that he was wearing flipped over like a noblewomans crinoline, revealing his skinny legs that looked like chopsticks. This immediately made the boss that originally had an air of dignity become somewhat comedic How dare you The archbishop that had released himself from the hold of the players suplex lost his former cool, shuddering in humiliation as he shot deathly rays towards the players. Now die! But even then, his reactions had been predicted by the players. Except for Marni who had just revived and arrived at the doorway, the other players all evaded this attack by dodging out of the way. Along with the wails of Marni screaming that his buffs were wasted again, Urgat calmed down a little. He realized that the players seemed to be preventing him from casting Rotten Bones Enhancement onto Zaccarah. If that was the case, then he wouldnt let them have their way! Zaccarah quick, let me cast a Urgat commanded, turning over to Zaccarah Only to see Zaccarah get suplexed by a playerhis robes flipping over due to gravity and revealing Zaccarahs legs that were similar to Urgats. The only difference was that there were still some strands of leg hair left on Zaccarahs legs that were swaying with the breeze This reminded Urgat of the humiliating scene he wanted to forget so badly. Curse you damned maggots!!! And so he waved around his hefty staff and chased the player that had suplexed him. Even though he looked like a skeleton and used a staff as a weapon, people always mistook him for a physically weak mage. But in fact because his body had already been converted completely with Rotten Bones Energy, his strength and speed were stronger than people assumed it to be. He quickly chased the warrior that was fleeing away and cornered him. I wont let you die so easily! Seeing that the enemy was cornered, he shoved a ball of shadows with innumerable amounts of worms and maggots into the players body with a savage look on his face. Try out my Maggot Poison Curse! These little guys will eat away at your organs, your blood vessels and your bones, slowly taking their place and giving you excruciating pain along with an unbearable itch Until your body becomes a worm nest! Until your brains get consumed, you will live in constant pain until your death! Hahaha! As he continued, he laughed ghastly like a character from a horror movie. The player that had been frowning because of the curse that had been cast on him heard this, but instead his expression became lighter instead. So I just have to die? Then, he quickly took out a short blade that he had been carrying around and impaled himself in his chest. His body then disappeared into specks of light. Urgat: ? The players: After the entire scene was momentarily frozen with silence, Edward stood out and shouted, How dare you kill our friend with such cruel means! Everyone, theres no convincing this villain to turn back, lets kill him! Urgat felt like he had eaten a mouthful of flies. Im not, I didnt, why are you saying that! He literally killed himself LMAO again! Chapter 56: Siege on the Rotten Bones Church III Even though the players mobbed Urgat (with justice), but his resilience was beyond the expectations of the players. Even when the other group of players succeeded in defeating the Black-Robed Bishop and rushed over to help, they still werent able to defeat Urgat easily. This was normal. After all, Urgat was the top tier of believers under the command of the Rotten Bones God, and was the archbishop that held the most power in their church. Actually, Urgats greatest tactic was to turn the corpses of his enemies into rotten bones and summon Black Skeletons to fight for him, and he had used this ability to turn the tides in one of their battles against the Temple of Glory, letting them flee successfully. The gaping hole in this strategy this time around was that the players did not leave behind corpses after they died But even though he lost his greatest trump card, he could still hold up against more than twenty players, a true testament to his ability. Thankfully, his HP gauge was trickling down slowly but at a steady rate. So thats it After casting a Black Bone Wall to deflect the attacks of the players, he suddenly said, Ive killed that guy three times, but hes running around in front of my eyes like a pest now It seems that your confidence stems in your ability to revive like that! Urgat hadnt thought that the players could revive. After all, the highest level god of death Lord Hades was not someone to be made fun of. After he defeated the first god of death, he held all influence over the laws of death in an iron grip. In comparison, the Rotten Bones God that Urgat worshipped was only the lackey of Lord Hades lackey From Urgats assumptions, the players were only revenants like Skeletons that were summoned by an unknown being, so the best way was to find the caster and kill them. But now due to the players, finding the players wasnt something that could be feasibly done. If thats the case, he could only try and weaken these maggots. Thinking of this, he didnt continue to save the energy that he had stored up and struck his staff to the ground. Rotten Bones Energy flowed down to the floor like water, and black patterns rippled from the bottom of the staff, quickly covering every corner of the hideout! Whats the deal with this debuff called Rotten Bones Corrosion? My max HP is decreasing! Not only max HP, all our stats are decreasing too F*ck, my max MP is decreasing so much that I cant cast any skills, how can we defeat this boss? The players looked worried as their strong attacks became weak. Urgat smiled, seeing his plan work. Did you heathens think that you can defeat me with your simple ways? No! The one that will win is me, Ugart! If killing these maggots would cause them to be summoned again by the caster, then he can just leave them here and go kill the caster himself! It was at this moment that a silhouette appeared at the entrance of the hideout. It was a young maiden with light blonde hair that wore a battle skirt and plated armor. Even though they were underground, but the moment she appeared a warm ray of light seemed to pierce the clouds and even the earth, enveloping her in a warm and holy halo of light. The young maiden held a war banner as she stepped into the courtyard, her expression solemn and holy. Urgat knew who she was, and it was when she appeared that he realized where these enemies were from and why they had attacked him. Yakaran? Its you! The princess of the fallen Tierra, the loser that was expelled by him with her tail between her legs came back in such a matter! More astonishing was the fact that these maggots that were like unkillable cockroaches were believers of the God of Games! How was that possible? Wasnt the God of Games an extremely weak deity that couldnt even defend the country of his believers? After Tierra was taken over, the God of Games did not even give any signs, and his church hid in these sewers like turtles that could not see the light of day. If it were not for the fact that the church of the God of Games was so weak, he wouldnt have picked this place as his hideout in the first place. Now Urgat could only feel regret and a deep hatred for the church of the God of Games. If their deity was so strong, why did they hide it all this time?! If he knew that their deity was so bad*ss he definitely would have chosen another place to hide and not come here to be beaten up like this Oh vanguards of our church! Please listen to the decree of our god and entrust your backs to your allies. This battle isnt just for us, its for the futures of our allies that we still dont know yet! Take back this land that was ours in the first place! My name is Leah Yakaran, and in the name of our Lord, I proclaim this banner as our last fortress and battlefront. May you bring us victory! As she said so, she raised the banner she held in her hand as the banner unfurled, every detail revealing itself and showing the emblem of the God of Games in its full glory. Then, she struck the flagpole onto the ground, and at the instant it neared the ground, the Rotten Bones Energy that was placed there by Ugart immediately started to repel this war banner that was filled with divine energy. Even though he had no idea what was going on, Ugart was not so stupid as to let the young maiden set up her war banner, deducting that the young maiden was the caster when he saw players revive around her. He quickly activated his attack towards Leah, shooting several obsidian beams towards her. But his beams were blocked by a player using his body as a shield! That player only glanced at Ugart before disappearing, but the other players seemed to have inherited his will, making their way towards Leah and becoming a sturdy wall. Why! Ugart shouted in confusion, How can you sacrifice yourselves in such a way! What had the God of Games given you? Life? Power? I can give you five No, ten times! The divine energy attached to the flag was definitely stronger than the Rotten Bones Energy, and under Leahs effort, it destroyed the barrier made by the Rotten Bones energy and impaled the earth! The next moment, the banner disappeared, and a small altar emerged. Leave that unsightly life and power for yourself. Edward declared, From the start, you seemed to have gotten something wrong. Life isnt something to be thrown away, quite the opposite, what our Lord has given us is new life! As the sky-blue Lifestone floated onto the altar, the Rotten Bones Energy that infused the ground was dispelled immediately. The debuffs on the players were immediately cleared away and replaced with several buffs! In contrast, Ugart who had seemed powerful became frail like an old man. O Master of Games, Grant us New Life! The players shouted together as they attacked Ugart one last time. Chapter 57: Oh Please, Youre Weak Okay? This isnt over yet Lord Rotten BonesWill avenge us As he finally fell with an unwilling expression, the players finally claimed victory. The players that were panting in exhaustion didnt react in time, and some of them continued to hammer away at the archbishops corpse with their skills. Until the corpse disappeared and a system notification appeared, they finally came to their senses. [Ding! EventDawn of Vengeance is officially over.] [AP will expire after three days, please use them quickly.] [All players that participated in the event will be given the title Avenger.] [Underground Hideout of Lancaster has been added into the territory of the God of Games church. All players above Level 5 may teleport between the Unnamed Town and the Underground Hideout of Lancaster through the Lifestone (Consumes game coins)] After several moments of silence, the players let out a cry of victory. Some players had already called their friends to celebrate with a banquet back at the unnamed town to also brag to the refugee players about their exploits. As an experienced online game player from Earth, Xi Wei thought that his players had passable results this time around, but they still had room for improvement. They were not very efficient in defeating enemies, and especially the players that helped to defeat Zaccarah went straight into battle with Ugart after, wasting tons of AP when they died over and over again. Of course, these so-called problems were asking too much for his believers at this point in time. They really did pretty well in this event, even better than Xi Wei had expected them to. Seeing them celebrate in joy, he smiled happily before removing his gaze from them. Even though the real show is about to start, it wasnt their problem anymore so it was alright to let them relax. Its coming. His spherical body flashed and flickered in anticipation. The next moment. His entire divine kingdom started shaking! The monster corpses that he had carefully piled up and arranged (most of them being the hundred thousand Hogwash Rats) fell unceremoniously to the floor along with the intense tremors. Xi Wei didnt mind that, and instead set his gaze on the direction of the root of the tremors. Earthquakes didnt happen in divine kingdoms, so there was only one explanation. Another god was trying to invade his divine kingdom! In the empty space above his divine kingdom, several cracks formed as the kingdom shuddered, the cracks growing larger under Xi Weis gaze. Even though there were no sounds, Xi Wei could somehow hear the sound of glass cracking. The next moment, a rift appeared in space as the cracks shattered, a large black bony hand reaching in as the space of the divine kingdom creaked as if an unbearable weight was added onto it, the cracks growing larger. Immediately after, a large black skeleton with pieces of rotten flesh attached to it appeared through the cracks. That was the true body of the Rotten Bones God, a Demi Skeletal Evil God under the pantheon of the gods of death. Just looking at it would cause a mortals very soul to be damaged! The large purple eye that was oozing with pus locked onto Xi Wei, and even though it had no vocal chords, it let out a deep and guttural sound that was filled with so much malice and darkness that mortals that heard it would have been corrupted into revenants after hearing the terrible sound. You will pay for your insolence, God of GaWhy the f*ck are you a ball of light? Xi Wei: Whats wrong with being a ball of light! Does a ball of light steal your food?! Xi Wei started flashing and flickering with a higher frequency, agitated by the crass words. Ah well, not that it matters anyway, the skeleton said dismissively as he squeezed his body into Xi Weis divine kingdom, Fights between believers werent of any importance to us gods anyway, but you were so intent on killing my archbishop and destroying my church that you used your divine power to dispel the Seal of Curses that he created. You thought you were so slick, huh? But that was your death sentence! I must commend you for hiding so well, I wouldnt have been able to catch your tail had you not left your divine power on that accursed stone that led me straight to you! The skeleton then looked over the corpses of the monsters that the players killed and sacrificed before scoffing at Xi Wei. To him, only the weakest and lowest ranked gods would even accept rats that were sacrificed to them. If his own believers dared to do the same thing, he wouldnt even think of blessing them and instead would probably have possessed someone and killed them on the spot for the act of heresy. He cracked his mouth and smirked, creating an aura of malice along with the rotting flesh and fluids dripping onto the floor. Greed, will be your downfall. As he said so, he finally squeezed completely into Xi Weis divine kingdom. In contrast with Xi Wei who was just a ball of light, the Rotten Bones god looked like a giant. At this point, the strong and sturdy spatial barrier was not an obstacle for the skeleton anymore. In other words, the Rotten Bones God had finally cracked open the shell of an oyster, and it was time to relish on its delicious flesh. And Xi Wei who was seen as prey by the evil god hadnt even uttered a word through the entire scene. Suddenly, he started to glow brighter and brighter. At first, the Rotten Bones God thought it was an act of self-defense in fear. After all, who could read the emotions of a ball of light? But immediately after, he realized something was wrong. The divine kingdom that seemed to have shattered due to taking in a god that was of higher-rank than its owner started to heal and recover at an alarmingly fast rate. In moments, the cracks that filled his field of vision disappeared, along with the giant rift in space that he used the power of nine behemoths and two dragons 1 to open up disappeared immediately As if it were not a crack, but an intentionally opened entrance. Having a bad feeling, the Rotten Bones God immediately waved its large claws at Xi Wei, trying to kill this ominous ball of light in one fell swoop. But in response, Xi Wei only stretched out a single tentacle to block the giant bony claw. After blabbering for so long I thought you would say something intelligent, but you were only hyping yourself up Several tentacles of light emerged from Xi Wei and wrapped the evil god like a cocoon, ignoring the futile struggles of the Rotten Bones God that sent pieces of flesh and blood all over the place. Like a victim stuck in quicksand, the more it struggled, the tighter the cocoon of tentacles became. Oh please, youre weak okay? The power of nine behemoths and two dragons is a play on the saying with the power of nine bulls and two tigers which means to exert a lot of strength Chapter 58: The Fall of Rotten Bones It was not strange that it ended up so one-sided. After all, ever since he found out the existence of a newbie deity just like him he couldnt help but set up a scheme for the evil deity. He created a seemingly weak area with lots of defects in his spatial barrier, but in fact this rift in space was a trap set by Xi Wei, laying so many obstacles throughout the path that to break in through it would cost more divine energy than breaking the spatial barrier from any other point. Then, Xi Wei used the special time period of war to amass a hundred believers, letting him obtain large amounts of divine energy quickly. But even with this large income, Xi Wei still saved and used it in moderation, cutting down on all costs and even skimping out on creating a new visage for himself. While the players came into contact with the believers of the Rotten Bones God, he even acted like he was weak and that he didnt dare to show his presence. Adding onto that was the fact that the players were less experienced at the time and even the strongest players were only low leveled and couldnt hold a candle to the strong believers in the higher echelon of the Rotten Bones Church. All of this gave the Rotten Bones God the illusion that Xi Wei was an even weaker deity and he was, and that he could consume Xi Wei to further increase his divinity. But alas, after he used up a third of his divine power to pass through the trap that Xi Wei had set up for him, he was closed in and was trapped by Xi Wei who had been plotting this all along. After coming into contact with the other deity, Xi Wei realized that he had been overly cautious. Even though the evil deity was on the same level as Xi Wei, but as a deity that lived in an era close to the Middle Ages of Earth he could only roughly use a fraction of the powers he had the capability of using, to the point where even Xi Wei was embarrassed for him. This was a shame, because the evil deity had been in existence for a longer time and had more believers than Xi Wei did. To say it in another way, both parties had a rifle and several bullets, and Xi Wei carefully loaded his rifle and hid behind an obstacle, expecting an action-packed Hollywood gunfight. But in contrast, the enemy used the rifle as a staff, waving it around with vigor as they rushed overIt was so comedic that Xi Wei wanted to send a bullet straight into their forehead. What did you do! Why cant I break out? The Rotten Bones God still didnt realize the situation that he was in and was still trying to escape. I didnt do anything, youre just a noob. Xi Wei started condensing his divine energy to destroy the evil deity. After all, no matter how stupid the enemy was, it was still a deity. They were completely different life forms from mortals, and so even if Xi Wei broke its neck and destroyed its head and chopped him into bits, he would still not be able to kill a deity. To kill a deity, the only way other than letting them blink out of existence by exterminating their believers was to directly destroy their divinity! A deitys divinity was their greatest weakness. This statement was definitely true, but also too vague. It was why most legendary beings knew this fact, but it was exceedingly rare for a mortal to kill a deity. This was because while a deitys divinity was their weakness, it was harder to destroy than their bodies! So why did so many deities die in the War of Gods and Demons? The reason was simple: Gods had the ability to convert their divine energy into divine power, which was one of the few ways to destroy a deitys divinity! The divine energy around Xi Wei flowed around as it was converted into a strong wave of divine power. This divine power latched onto a few of Xi Weis tentacles, and the tips of the tentacles became sharp and started whirling. As the tentacles bound together, it looked like a giant drill with special sound and light effects. W-Wait, I can be your subordinate deity! The Rotten Bones God finally got it through his thick skull that he was going to be killed and pleaded. Youre just a new deity and you dont have your own pantheon. Dont you want to be the main deity of a pantheon? With my help, you can definitely become the deity upon deities! Well said, but I refuse! Xi Wei flickered dangerously as the divine power converged under his influence: I despise those that eat human flesh. But why?! Humans are only lowly creatures that keep on growing like weeds, why do you look upon them so dearly? The evil deity that didnt know that Xi Wei was originally a human, so he shouted in confusion. Then, he seemed to come to the conclusion that begging wasnt going to help so he started threatening Xi Wei, Stop now! If you kill me here the Skeleton God will definitely find out someday! This is equal to declaring war with the Revenant Pantheon, no, the entire Netherworld Pantheon at once! Its not too late to give up! Isnt that even better? The speck of light on Xi Wei formed a smiling face. The thing I love the most is to challenge myself with adversaries of a higher level! Youre crazy! For such a foolish reason Xi Wei who knew that antagonists die from talking too much stopped replying, as his strong divine energy converged into a giant spinning lance that was shining with an iridescent light. The next moment, this giant lance that held the most power that Xi Wei had put into an attack ever since his transmigration impaled the head of the Rotten Bones God, immediately destroying the divinity that was hidden within! From this moment forth, the Rotten Bones God was no more. Actually, had the evil deity been more cautious and tried to find a way to face Xi Wei in a duel, he still probably wouldnt have won against Xi Wei but he wouldnt have died in such a terrible way. Quoting his own words, greed was his greatest downfall. It was his eagerness to consume Xi Weis power that ironically led to him falling into the trap. And those believers in the evil deity could not draw any more blessings from him anymore, becoming normal humans again with the same ghastly visage. It was a way to condemn them for betraying their original identities as humans! Oho, this is quite nice Xi Wei happily started to absorb the shards of the fallen deitys divinity as he carefully analyzed the abilities that it held, replenishing and upgrading his own divinity at the same time. Theres a lot of useless bits, but theres also quite a lot of good stuff He then glanced at the corpse of the Rotten Bones God. The evil deity was definitely dead, but as a deitys body held strong divine energy, even if its divinity were destroyed and its consciousness disappeared, their bodies would be able to be left for a long time. The dead bodies of some stronger deities could even continue moving along with their instincts after deathThere were probably some of these in the depths of the Valley of the Tragic Dead. It seems that I can go forward with some plans of mine now Chapter 59: Festival I The unnamed town was decorated with lights and festive ornaments, and even the snow couldnt cool down the burning enthusiasm the players had on the banquet. On the small square next to the Lifestone, a pile of carefully constructed wood and tinder were ignited with a Fireball skill, the resulting bonfire lighting up every corner of the square as the residents of the unnamed town started their party. Originally the celebration was a small gathering of several players, but after Angora caught wind of it, he decided to hold an extravagant event for the entire town to enjoy in order to increase their sense of belonging to the town and strengthen their bonds. Since he found out that the Underground Hideout of Lancaster was in the territory of the God of Games, he had been feeling somewhat threatened. Granted, using the word extravagant to describe the party was a bit of a stretch, given the current conditions of the town. But this kind of banquet with a bonfire still left a lasting impression on those who hadnt experienced these sorts of celebrations before. Zonyan never knew that life could be so easy. Only one week ago he was but a lowly refugee that was looked down upon and not accepted for jobs, even as helpers in stores. Even though he was single and thus had no family to take care of, but since he had a large appetite, he had always been hungry and insecure about life all this while. After he became a believer in the God of Games and came to this unnamed town, his life became much better. As long as he was willing to spend some time and effort to hunt down some skeletons near the Valley of the Tragic Dead, he could get game coins and earn himself a good meal at the restaurant in town. Even though the veterans complained that the menu there was too simple and the options were too little, but the refugees were happy enough to be able to eat their fill. Zonyan knew what banquets were. While he was living at the refugee camp, he learned that these were activities that were only held for the aristocrats from a man called Vanke Noreki. Hence, he was surprised that the banquet that their lord held could be attended by everyone. Zonyan wasnt very interested in the decorations that lined the streets, instead locking onto the many barbecue stands set up all around the event venue. After all, even if something was pretty, it could not fill his stomach. The barbecue was handled by the townsfolkSome of them were responsible for the kebabs that were sizzling with oil and spice, some were in charge of the refreshing and multicolored vegetable skewers, but the most popular was the grill that had whole fowls stuffed generously with expensive herbs and spices. The fowls that were grilled this way were crispy and the outside while tender and juicy on the inside, and held a strong aroma of spices that was extremely appetizing! The atmosphere of the banquet became more and more heated as the veteran players joined the fraythe venue filled with laughter and noise. The veteran players that were once mercenaries surrounded the bonfire and started singing and dancing crudely to folk songs. To Zonyan who had stuck out his tongue from the head of the kebab he put into his mouth, the players werent doing a banquet dance, and they looked like they were doing the ritual dances the hunters from his place of birth did to pray for a good hunt. The dances that the players did were down to earth and easy to learn, and some refugee players that were braver stepped into the circle of players and started to sway their bodies with the rhythm, spinning around the bonfire with them. Of course, a lot of veteran players were not interested in the dance, and so they all gathered near the barbecue stands and talked and bragged about their exploits and adventures. They told grand tales of how they killed the Berserk Armored Alligator, and how they retreated unscathed from rat hordes that could eat a person whole in seconds, and someone even said that they face three-thousand Swamp Fishmen at once The refugees who had only become players listened diligently and in awe, imagining themselves becoming as strong as the veteran players one day and going on their own escapades. Zonyan who had been a hunter before felt that they were blowing the story out of proportion but he didnt have any proof, and so he only stood at a side and ate skewers as he listened to the music, pondering on whether he should invite some of them to challenge the 4% exploration rate of the Valley of the Tragic Dead after this. Why arent you joining them? A voice asked suddenly. Zonyan turned quickly and found an unfamiliar man. If it were not for the words Xi Wei floating on the latters head in white font, Zonyan would have assumed that he was a spy. Im not too great at socializing. After he confirmed that the other had no malice, he brazenly too a bite of his skewer before asking with a mouthful of juicy meat, Do you have any business with me? I dont think Ive seen you before. Im a believer in the God of Games from the outside. The man smiled softly. I have relations with Eleena and her friends so Im here to see them. Alright, lemme bring you to them. Zonyan who had finished his skewer threw the remaining bamboo stick into a nearby rubbish bin and wiped his mouth. This place is great, but there are too many rules. You can only throw your rubbish into rubbish bins and you even have to go to toilets to do your business, or else you would be given a penalty But thanks to those rules, the town is cleaner and more comfortable to live in, no? Thats true, life here is much better than the outside! Zonyan scratched his mane of hair gruffly and guffawed heartily. And so the two continued with their conversation as they passed through the crowd. Within the crowd, there were quite a few familiar faces. For example, Angora and Marni were talking not far from the bonfire. Mister Wilf, thank you for all the resources you brought. If you hadnt, it wouldnt have been possible to hold a celebration like this. No, no dont thank me. Im a merchant after all so I dont do anything that brings me loss. What do you mean? Ah, if its not convenient, you dont have to tell me Its alright. Do you remember the Shop that was built the other day, my lord? Oh, that. The quality of the products sold are pretty good and inexpensive, but the restriction on the number of items you can buy is a little inconvenient. Once he had obtained the blueprints for the Shop from Edward, Angora immediately built this building in the town. This Shop was actually the system shop that Xi Wei provided to the players, allowing them to buy items like HP Potions, MP Potions and Teleportation Scrolls, and Appraisal Scrolls. Once players had enough Reputation, they could unlock more high-grade potions and consumables. As Xi Wei didnt have a lot of divine energy to spare, he could not give his believers an infinite amount of items, so he set purchase limits for each player. After I used game coins to buy extra potions from players, I sold the items at Lancaster for Rions and bought supplies with that money. I see. I told you this because I want to do business with you, my lord. The town would definitely require more supplies and resources in the future, so why not get a secure supplier for your goods? Youre good at making money, Mister Marni Angora didnt think that he could copy the exact plan and let Vela sell potions at Lancaster like Marni did. After all, Marni had been a merchant for half his life, and so he had ways to sell these items without getting any attention. He probably told Angora this information knowing that he was the best choice to do this. Of course. Normal people want Rions and bronze coins while players want game coins. I Marni held out his hand and closed it into a fist. I want it all! Angora: Zonyan who was not far away sweatdropped. I feel like we listened in on something we shouldnt have Its alright, they probably dont care if anyone heard if they said it out here Xi Wei comforted. Then, he paused and continued, Probably. Youre making me more nervous alright?! thought Zonyan in response to the half baked attempt. Chapter 60: Festival II Leaving the scene of Marni and Angora bargaining, the duo continued to move through the rowdy crowd, moving forward through the townsfolk that were offering malt beer to the players. Then, they came across the old registrar Vanke Noreki who was speaking endlessly to Princess Leah along with her followers. So your Highness, even though we can reclaim our hideout back in Lancaster now, but if we use such a small place to start reclaiming our land it would still be too hard. Therefore, I propose that we set up our stronghold and secretly amass resources to wait for the right time Leah nodded grimly. I understand, so what your saying is that I have to grind levels and become stronger so that I can crush the damned heads of my enemies yes? No, I meant that the prowess of a single person is limited, so as the princess you should take advantage of the time weve been given to accumulate forces for the revival of Tierra I understand Grandpa Vanke, you mean I have to find good teammates so that they can stall the lackeys while I go to crush the damned heads of my enemies because Im high level enough! Leah seemed to have understood something, her expression brightening. Actually I feel that the event from earlier wasted too much precious time I could have used to grind for levels, so now Ill go and do so at the Valley of the Tragic Dead! Leah did not wait for the old man to respond before she disappeared in a puff of smoke. The registrar was so mad he could feel a heart attack coming, standing in place as he cast recovery spells on himself before turning over to one of Leahs followers. Boris, who taught the princess while I wasnt around? It was Carlo, sir. Boris replied respectfully to the revered old man. Wheres Carlo, call him over! The old man trembled in rage, his frail body seemed to be filled with power due to his anger. To teach the princess so badly until she became like this, he should be punished! Uhm, I think thats not possible, sir What? You dare cover for him? Let him come out, I want to crush his damned head! But sir, Boris replied, His damned head has already been crushed by Her Highness The registrar: Xi Wei had little interest in the topic of nobles, so he followed after Zonyan promptly. Passing by a few players who were having a drinking contest and a merchant that sold low grade equipment to other players in the chaos. Xi Wei found Ivan who was talking about strange topics with his subordinates. Ivan was the former captain of Marnis guards, and was also a front-line player that Edward and company often worked with. Captain, dont you think its strange that the defense buff in the event was called Avengers Get Beat Up by Thanos? A young man who was wearing an ironman suit asked. What are you saying, kiddo? Look, after the event ended we all got the title Avengers from the God of Games no? He pointed at the title that was sparkling above his head. Meaning that the Avengers in that buff name means us. Then who is Thanos, and why does he want to beat us up? Hm, maybe hes an enemy of the God of Games? No, this name would be too ironic if that were the case. Then other than the enemy, someone that could beat us upIs Thanos the name that the God of Games gave himself? Ivan tried to spin the cogs in his intoxicated brain on this meaningless topic. The God of Games wouldnt do something so roundabout, maybe its a way of calling someone strong, like how we call people bad*ss! The young man that asked the question guessed along with Ivan. Oh, so next time we say someone is bad*ss, lets call them Thanos instead! Right, and lets call someone who is extra bad*ss Than Than! Then Ivan and the young man held up their cups happily. The God of Games is Than Than! The God of Games is too Than Than! Xi Weis mouth twitched, and decided to stop them before the term could spread between the players. [Ding! Players Ivan and Gale have been muted for thirty minutes due to crude language.] Ivan and the young man: ??? After walking for a while, Zonyan finally found Edward and company in the crowd and left to get more skewers after Xi Wei thanked him. Eleena who had seemed to be discussing something with Edward saw Xi Wei first, and she wanted to shout for him before the man held a finger to his lips in a silencing gesture, and so the young girl quickly clasped her palms over her mouth. But her actions still attracted the attention of the others, who followed her gaze to see Xi Wei who was coming close too, their expressions excited and shocked. Uhm Thankfully Edward was not that ignorant child anymore, and so he regained his composure and asked in a reverent tone, How should we address you? Call me Mister Xi Wei like you used to, its fine. Not to be rude butMister Xi Wei, are you really Him? Edward asked, pointing to the sky. Of course not, Im somewhat like the archbishop of the church of the God of Games, Xi Wei replied with a professional smile. Even though it was different than what they guessed, but after hearing Xi Weis answer they all breathed a sigh of relief. After all, it was still too stressful to them to interact with a deity. How long are you going to stay? Xi Wei gazed at him hopefully, before exclaiming, I have so much I want to tell you! Sorry, I just wanted to see how you guys were doing, Ill be leaving soon. Xi Wei shook his head. Even though it was not hard to descend to the mortal realm, as a deity he still had to keep some degree of distance with his believers. It was fine to just experience these happy moments once in a while. Ah The silver haired young girl lowered her head unhappily. As you see, now were all living happily, and this is all thanks to you, Edward thanked earnestly. Joe, Jessica, and Gou DanDoug Ag nodded in agreement. Xi Wei smiled, and took a pack of lollipops from inside his robe, unwrapping one and sticking it into Eleenas mouth. Eleena who had been down was shocked, before quickly getting lost in the sugary sweetness. This lollipop was of course made using divine power, but since he had lots of divine energy to spare Xi Wei did not mind splurging a little. Seeing the girl become more energetic, Xi Wei gave her the entire pack of candies before continuing, Dont worry about me, Ill come and see you when I have the time. Edward and the others looked at each other, knowing that Xi Wei meant he was going to disappear suddenly like last time. Can you give us some time? Just a little. Edward pleaded. What is it, child? Xi Wei sat down, thinking that the young man had a request. But in contrast to his assumptions, Edward shuffled to a side, giving Xi Wei a full view of the sky from his position. The next moment, a few Fireballs and Frost Bullets were shot into the night sky, bursting into beautiful fireworks. With different understandings in magic, the fireworks created by the mages all were different, turning the pitch black night sky into a beautiful canvas to showcase the splendor of the fireworks. The fireworks lit up the faces of the players and townspeople as they watched in awe. Hope for the future, a reason to live, and the wonderful life we have now, this is all a gift from the God of Games! Without anyone noticing, Angora had made his way onto the rooftop of his home, raising his cup and shouting at the residents of the town under Velas careful gaze: This moment, and this cup of wine shall be given to our beloved God of Games! O Master of Games, Grant us New Life! O Master of Games, Grant us New Life! All the players held up their skewers and cups, shouting in response to Angoras declaration. Seeing all this, Xi Wei could not help but mutter in a tone that no one could hear. Im truly Than Than Chapter 61: A Whole New Version You Have Never Played Before After the players relaxed through the festival, Xi Wei immediately returned to his Divine Kingdom to resume his plans of upgrading his divinity. Under his continued efforts, most of the Rotten Bones Gods divinity had already been absorbed by Xi Wei. Using this energy obtained, Xi Wei repaired his own divinity, and even had enough to spare to make a new appearance for himself. But after calculating the divine energy he would need to do so, Xi Wei gave up on the chance to release himself from his spherical form Its fine to be a sphere, I have tentacles anyway so theres nothing inconvenient about it. After absorbing all the divinity fragments and energy, the other remaining components of the Rotten Bones God wasnt valuable to Xi Wei anymore. The remains and body parts could be used to make godly items, but he would have to remove the deific properties attached to it. Once a deitys divinity was destroyed and their consciousness wiped, their body would be able to move instinctively due to the deific properties left on it. Xi Wei could use lots of time and energy to absorb the deific properties of the remains into his own divinity to make himself become the God of Games and Rotten Bones, thus becoming a Lesser God. The concept of composite divinities sounded cool in theory, but it actually didnt have much use in reality. Xi Wei even had the premonition that if he was greedy for that bit of deific properties, it would probably pollute his own gaming divinity and make it even weaker, perhaps even putting obstacles in his own plans to develop his believers, so it wasnt worth it. To take an example, a transmigrator would need the memories of the ones they transmigrated onto, but not their original personality and thoughts. He had obtained traces of the Rotten Bones divinity anyway, so it was alright to throw away the deific properties left on its corpse. And so, Xi Wei created something like a juice blender and named it the Mound of the Bound Creator, 1 before throwing the corpse of the Rotten Bones God into it. Inside the Mound of the Bound Creator was a miniature and strong closed space, and even the body of a deity couldnt get out of it. In this space, there was a single, pinprick small opening. Just like a bee that can find the exit point when its trapped in a bottle, the deific properties of the Rotten Bones God would instinctively try to escape from the Mound of the Bound Creator through the minuscule exit. And so, the corpse of the Rotten Bones God would remain in the Mound of the Bound Creator while its deific properties would flow out bit by bit through the exit that Xi We had prepared Of course, Xi Wei had no plans on wasting the deific properties, already making preparations on how to utilize it. Actually, the Mound of the Bound Creator was connected to the Rotten Bones Divine Kingdom that had already been taken over by Xi Wei. After the Rotten Bones God died, said Divine Kingdom had degraded into a bunch of spatial fragments. If it werent for Xi Wei maintaining its existence, it would have probably disappeared into the void. Xi Wei used his divine energy to split the Rotten Bones Divine Kingdom into many separate spaces, and placed the remains of the Skeletons, Hogwash Rats and other monsters that the players had sacrificed to him, which had already flooded Xi Weis Divine Kingdom. He didnt even have the chance to convert them into game coins, because the players had enough for the time being. Regular beings from the mortal realm couldnt contain deific properties, but because the deific properties that trickled out of the Mound of the Bound Creator was very little, and was just enough to attach onto every corpse and make them reanimate,with greater power than a regular revenant. Once every corpse was reanimated, the hole in the Mound of the Bound Creator would automatically close. This was a real dungeon that Xi Wei had prepared for the players. In comparison, the Valley of the Tragic Dead was just an exploration dungeon that would only give limited rewards to the players unless they explored new territory. According to the ratio that the deific properties attached onto the corpses, the abilities and powers of the mobs created would be quite great too. For example, the challenge level for a Hogwash Rat was Level 1, meaning that even a Level 1 player would be able to fight evenly with this monster that was attached with deific properties, while the challenge level of the corpses of the believers was at least Level 15. Meanwhile, the body of the archbishop of the Rotten Bones Church had already become a Level 30 miniboss. Of course, it wasnt as strong as when it was alive, but there were only a few players that could beat him even in this state, anyway. Because every monster in every space was different and randomized, so there was a chance that the players would meet the Rotten Bones Archbishop immediately upon entering the dungeon After the monsters were defeated, the corpses wouldnt disappear while the deific properties would be sacrificed to him. After the deific properties of the Rotten Bones God was sacrificed to Xi Wei in this way, it would be filtered and purified, and become pure divine energy that Xi Wei could absorb without fear of polluting his divinity. Since the dungeon needs maintenance and to prevent them from not going out to battle other monsters, I would have to limit the amount of times they can challenge the dungeonSince there are thirty six spaces, Ill open the seventy two challenges per day. Xi Wei calculated for a bit, and discovered that if he did so the deific properties from the Rotten Bones God would be able to keep up for around half a year. He was quite satisfied with this number because there were a lot of evil deities in the world, and he would probably find a good replacement in six months. The investment he put into designing this dungeon was quite a lot, however, and just the amount required to redesign the Rotten Bones Divine Kingdom and create the Mound of the Bound Creator was around ninety percent of all his divine energy. Because he had to reserve some divine energy to deal with sudden emergencies, he didnt have enough to create the player internet that he had wanted to create. Also theres the changes that dont require much divine energy to create Like the players level cap, and new class changes and such. These parts were quite easy to do, because his own divinity had leveled up after absorbing the fragments of the Rotten Bones Gods divinity. The level cap of the players could be seen as a limiter to prevent players from becoming too strong, and could be controlled by him. Now that he himself was stronger, the limiter could of course be increased. Then, he used his tentacles to type out a bunch of data on the God Computer that he created, and after checking that nothing was wrong, Xi Wei sent the changes and updates to the players other than the ones that had management-type systems like Angora. Ding! Game Version 0.1 Updated! Chapter 62: New Classes The next day after the festival, the players had barely woken up from their hangovers and were about to start working, before they accepted the system notification that Xi Wei had sent them. Ding! [Game Version 0.1 Update Complete!] [New dungeon added: Cellar of the Living Dead (LV1 ~ LV30)] [Dungeon description: The believers of the Rotten Bones have successfully been dispelled back into the darkness from whence they came by the brave heroes of the Church of the God of Games, but they have received power from the evil deity and are plotting from the darkness. They have completely thrown away their last vestiges of pride as humans, and have turned into revenants that are lying in wait for a chance to strike, bringing unimaginable chaos and death to the world! The great and unbelievably wise God of Games has intercepted this plot, and had locked them in a spatial cellar. Now, you must purify them and send them all back into the depths of hell!] ** [Dungeon details: Only the players of the Unnamed Town and the Underground Hideout of Lancaster that have at least Friendly reputation can buy a Cellar Key (Consumable, Teleportation Item) from Angora Faust/Leah Yakaran by using game coins or by completing quests. Each key can bring six players into the Cellar of the Living Dead, and seventy-two can be used per day.] ** [Dungeon clear requirements: Defeat all the enemies in the cellar for a chance to obtain elite or even legendary items hidden in its depths!] ** [Note: Good luck!God of Games] ** The first matter notified to all the players had already made them become excited. No player had ever obtained legendary items before, so the appearance of this dungeon served as motivation for the players to work harder. As for the seventy-two keys per day, the players didnt care much about it. After all, they had the experience of scavenging and pioneering the Valley of the Tragic Dead, so they would need to have a full party to have a good chance at attempting this dungeon. Under the restriction of everyone being able to challenge the dungeon once, there were only enough players to make around twenty to thirty groups. At this point in time, seventy-two keys were more than enough. The players had thought that the new dungeon was the greatest update this time around, but the following messages were the actual bombs of this update. [Player level cap increased to Level 45] ** [New Class: Spirit Swordsman] ** [Class Introduction] ** [Spirit Swordsmen use mysterious rituals to tame evil spirits from the netherworld, and develop them into strong familiar spirits by leveling up and learning skills.] ** [Click to view demonstration video] ** [Class change requirements: Level 15 Warriors can class-change into this class upon accomplishing a special mission.] ** The video that was attached was a game CG created by Xi Wei. It roughly showed off the traits of the Spirit Swordsman class. First of all, developing a familiar spirit is not without its disadvantages. The familiar spirit would take over a quarter of the players HP gauge, so Spirit Swordsmen only had 75% of their original HP. At the same time, players would have to sacrifice a portion of their EXP to the familiar spirit, meaning that the EXP they would be able to obtain from defeating a monster would be decreased. Of course in exchange for the large sacrifice required, a familiar spirits help towards a player would be extremely great too. There were three skill trees that a Spirit Swordsman could develop in: Soul Manipulation, Evil Blade and Spirit Array. Soul Manipulation was focused on controlling spirits to fight against enemies directly, and players that focus on this skill tree could basically be regarded as two combatants. Because they can communicate and share their senses with their familiar spirit, they can experience twice the happiness of battling (of course, twice the pain too). Players that choose the Evil Blade skill tree could imbue their weapons with their familiar spirit, and under this condition they could have additional bonuses to their swordsmanship, and according to the different types of familiar spirits, even if it were the same sword skill, it could be completely different! Finally, players that choose the Spirit Array skill tree would develop multiple familiar spirits. Sacrificing their mobility and battle prowess, they would obtain the ability to cast strong AoE buffs and debuffs. It was kind of like the Soul Bender class in Dungeon Fighter Online, but the many spirit arrays look flashier. [New Class: Shadow Rogue] ** [Class Introduction] [Shadow Rogues have given up on the bow and arrow, choosing to hide in the shadows for the best chance to strike and assassinate their enemies. They pride themselves on their assassination abilities and grasp on poisons, and can even employ curses and voodoo when faced directly. Dont underestimate them.] ** [Click to view demonstration video] ** [Class change requirements: Level 15 Rangers can class-change into this class upon accomplishing a special mission.] In comparison to the flashy Spirit Swordsmen, Shadow Rogue skills were much more discreet and simple. Even if there was the existence of the game system, an assassin couldnt use a large scale and flashy skill with extravagant special effects to defeat their enemies. If Xi Wei designed the class like that, then players who wanted to become assassins could only go with the somewhat comedic route of If I kill anyone who sees me, then Ill succeed in subterfuge and assassination Even so, this new class didnt disappoint the players at all. Firstly, there was the Darkblade skill tree that allowed them to sneak around more stealthily, as well as giving them a lot of movement skills. Then, there was the Poisoneer skill tree that would give them the ability to kill enemies with terrible poisons and alchemical weapons. Finally, there was the Voodoo skill tree that lets players curse their enemies and debuff them before executing them. Even though I say that I envy you guys, I really.Really, truly, envy you!! After he looked through the system update, he couldnt help but look at Joe, who was smiling happily, and Gou Dan who furrowed his brow. Why isnt there a class change for the Mage class Does the God of Games dislike us?! It was now that Edward knew what the fifth doctrine meant when it said that Strength completely depends on the current version. Never blame yourself for the path you have chosenif you want to blame someone, then blame the cursed game designers. He was once confused about why the God of Games expected they would curse their own path after being gifted with such a system that rewarded every effort, but Now that it happened that his comrades got to become stronger while he didnt, it was quite hard not to be envious. Chapter 63: Tidal Flat Exploration When everyone was getting ready to challenge the new dungeon, Edwards party who were part of the pioneer team were on a tidal flat nearby, their steps leaving footprints on the damp sand. This place was very close to the sea, and accompanying the slightly fishy smell of the sea were the sound of waves, and the chirping seabirds were quite loud too. That being said, the sounds coupled with the scenery of the vast sea and sky made the entire image complete. Other than the five in Edwards party, Vela who was Angoras right-hand woman tagged along with them this time. In this world, other than when it was absolutely necessary, most people wouldnt travel by sea, or even go near to the sea at all. The reason was simpleThere were many times more monsters in the sea than on land, and even near the shore. Even if someone was walking on the land by the shore, it would be easy to get attacked by amphibious monsters Like now, for example, when a monster that looked like an anomalocaris with a shell that resembled armor jumped out from the sea and attacked the party! As the cream of the crop among all the players, the party reacted quite quickly and got into formationJoe who had class changed into a Spirit Swordsman blocked the monster. Edward, Gou Dan, and Vela were in charge of attacking and kiting, while Eleena and Jessica were in charge of healing and buffs. After a short while, the sea monster wailed in pain as it dropped dead, disappearing into the sand after leaving behind two forelegs that looked like saws. Joe had barely gotten hurt and had snatched the final strike on the monster, his eyes practically sparkling with glee. This class is so awesome! As the first player that had successfully class changed into a Spirit Swordsman, so he was still experimenting with his skills, but even with the simple help of the familiar spirit, it already had significantly impacted his battle style. Like the sea monster from earlier, if he was still in his earlier class, he would definitely have lost at least a third of his HP from tanking the hits for so long. After getting the familiar spirit that could tank and attract aggro for him, he could exchange the target of the enemy between him and the familiar spirit to break its combos and prevent them from getting in all the damage. Not only was it easier to tank damage and defend his allies, but he would also get to damage the enemy even more. In terms of overall contribution, his damage was only lower than Edward who focused on attacking, and this was after he had been focusing almost completely on defense, and only started attacking with Evil Blade mode at the last minute. It seemed that if a Spirit Swordsman completely went with the skill tree of the Evil Blade, it would definitely have the highest attacking power in this update. So class change seems much stronger than regular classes Why didnt you class change into a Shadow Rogue, Mr. Doug? After she saw Joes performance in battle, Vela asked the other person who had qualifications to class change in the party: Youre Level 15, unlike me whos just Level 10, right? Ahaha.I wonder why? I actually dont know myself Gou Dan scratched at the back of his head sheepishly. Dont listen to him, the only reason why he didnt class change was because he didnt want the archery that his dad taught him to be lost in his hands. Edward started chewing his own party member out. Only because Shadow Rogues cant use bows and arrows. Leader, why are you like this? Gou Dan groaned. Does it make you happy by embarrassing me? Yes, it makes me very happy! Look, mages dont even have a chance to class change and can just eat Sourboo Fruit(a fruit like a lemon) at a side in envy. You have the chance to class change, but you gave it up, so of course I dont feel happy about it! Edward replied directly, before advising, The chance to grow stronger is right in front of you, so dont give up, dont you ever stop 1 What are you saying, leader? I think that the God of Games has his own meticulous plans for not directly class changing us after were high leveled enough. Perhaps rangers can even class change into other classes that are focused on archery in the future? Gou Dan guessed. Or else it wouldnt be rational for rangers to be able to do archery in the first place, so He must be planning something for us! Did you think of this by yourself? Edward asked, his brow furrowed. No, its just that a lot of the other rangers plan to give it a moment before class changing too, without changing right away. Edward seemed to want to retort even further, but Vela didnt plan to let the party start fighting over this, so she spoke up to cut them off beforehand. Not that Im displeased about it, but is it alright to let such a young child join us? Vela looked at the silver-haired girl who was happily licking a lollipop and asked worriedly. Feeling Velas gaze on her, Eleena hid her packet of sweets and candies and gazed at her warily, not planning to share the candy that she had received from Xi Wei. Edward set aside his confusion after hearing her question and decided to ask the archbishop Xi Wei about it the next time they met. He rubbed his cheeks that had become a little stiff from the sea breeze, before smiling. Not even him, but Joe Gou Dan and Jessica all smiled, as if Vela was telling a joke. Dont judge a book by its cover, Ms. Vela. If it were just in terms of battle power, shes probably the strongest of us all. Edward reassured. Are you joking? Vela evidently didnt believe in what Edward said. To this, Edward shrugged nonchalantly, almost rolling his eyes at Vela. If you dont believe in our strength, why did you ask us to help you with this quest in the first place? Wouldnt it be good to ask Mr. Marni and Mr. Ivan, or even Princess Leahs party? Jessica didnt want things to get awkward between them, so she tried to redirect the conversation. Mr. Marni has been helping Lord Angora build and expand the merchant roads of the town, so he didnt have any time to do this mission. Princess Leah, on the other hand, was quite keen on doing this quest, but as soon as she went, My loyal followers, it is time to expand Tierra and make history!, Elder Vanke dragged her away with an exasperated expression Hearing her words, Joe and Gou Dans expression crumpled. So it wasnt because she believed in them, but because she had no one else to ask? Suddenly, Eleena stopped in her steps. Edward was about to ask why she did so, before his own expression turned serious, raising his hand to stop Vela who was about to speak, and whispered with a voice that only the party could hear. Weve been surrounded. Chapter 64: Frogman Tribe After they realized that they were surrounded, they all stopped and looked around warily. They were all quite experienced in being surrounded as they had explored a lot in the Valley of the Tragic Dead, and the most monsters there were hordes upon hordes of skeletons and monsters that surrounded players within moments. Of course, the situation right now was different. After all, revenants and undead monsters only acted on their instincts, and the surrounding was only because there were a lot of them. Now, the enemies were surrounding them with a plan and an objective. As the perimeter of the circle of enemies closed in, they saw who exactly was attacking them. These were creatures that were around 1.1~1.2 meters tall, and looked like large toads that stood on two feet. Their necks were nonexistent and their skin was damp and green or brown, with black stripes and patterns on their skin. They wore clothes made from shells that covered their vitals, while they held easy weapons made from large conches attached to tips of wooden rods. From the way they were puffing their cheeks, it was easy to see that they werent happy at all. Why are you here, dry-skinned?! A large frog with a necklace of shells shouted, and it seemed like he was the leader of the team. It spoke Shumonian (human common language) with a heavy accent. Get out of here, the Warty Tidal Flat belongs to us, the wet-skinned! The ones that called themselves the sticky-skinned were naturally the frogman tribe that Vela wanted to meet. For context, the name of dry-skinned was a slightly derogatory term that frogmen called everyone other than their own tribe and aquatic tribes. Wow, theyre all yellow named, and dont have HP barsSo are they friends, or enemies? Gou Dan muttered softly. No idea, probably neutral? Edward shrugged. We dont want to fight with you, in fact, were here to help you! Vela shouted out, and to increase her persuasiveness, she threw her bow and dagger on to the ground, and raised both arms in surrender. We just want to talk with the leader of your tribe. After she said so, she looked at the others in the party, gesturing for them to throw down their weapons too. With a sigh, Edward and the other members complied, placing their weapons down on the ground. Different than the regular warriors and mages in this world, players could still use a majority of their abilities, just without the stat boosts given by the equipment. But the frogmen didnt know this, so seeing that the players had thrown their equipment down, their hostility decreased considerably. We dont have anything to say to you dry-skinned people! Catch them all! Remember that the one that caught you was Croakatoa, the hero of the wet-skinned! That frogman sneered at Vela and the party and ordered his subordinates, puffing his cheeks in pride. Hey, thats my T2 greatsword from the Valley of the Tragic Dead, dont drag it on the ground! What if you break it Joe grumbled, but was ignored duly by the frogmen. This weapon was way too heavy for them after all, so dragging it on the ground was all they could do. Under the partys cooperation, they were brought back to the frogman settlement with strips of kelp wrapped around their wrists. As they were walking, Vela tried to communicate with the other frogmen, but they didnt know how to speak Shumonian. The village was built just by the tidal flat, and there werent a lot of houses built. Most of the houses were large, two-meter tall conches, while a small percentage of them were houses built from rocks and shells. Even though it could be considered exotic, the beauty standards of the frogman tribe differed a lot from that of humans, and standing on the roads of the frogman village, the party couldnt help feeling that it was extremely filthy Even if it were still low tide at the moment, the seawater still covered their ankles. This is my first time seeing frogman buildings Gou Dan looked around curiously. That goes for all of the human race, too. If there was a ranking of the most mysterious races in the world, frogmen would definitely rank in the top ten! Vela whispered back to him. Other than some sailors, humans didnt have much interaction with frogmen. Most of the time, frogmen would avoid humans and stayed in remote and isolated places, so it was hard to see them. At the same time, frogmen didnt have anything that warranted the attention of humansTheir flesh tastes gross, their organs dont have any medicinal properties, and they didnt have any valuable local products like pearls. The most valuable things they produced were probably the salted fish that were dried on their roofs And so after the war, the human civilization didnt have much conflict with frogmen at all. This was why Angora was curious why the Society of the Secret Eye got into trouble with the frogman tribe, and why the frogman tribe would rather fight with them instead of leaving the tidal flatsAlso, he wanted to give the frogmen some help, so that the Society of the Secret Eye didnt attack the unnamed town from the direction of the tidal flats. Here is where the village elder lives, tell him anything! Croakatoa croaked and brought the party to the largest conch in the village. You said you dont have anything to say to us, but you still brought us here anyway? Youre a good guy, Croakatoa! Joe was a warrior and a straightforward person, so he laughed and praised the frogman. I just wanted to see, what you had to say! The inside of the conch was unexpectedly spacious, and the village elder was already waiting inside. He had yellowish-orange skin that was different than every other frogman in the village, and his size was much larger too, with a bunch of gross-looking warts on his back. According to Croakatoa, you have something to tell me? The frogman asked in fluent Shumonian. I dont think I would be able to help you Please dont treat us as enemies, were here to help you! Vela tried to put on a diplomatic front. I believe you have been attacked by other humans recently Did you dry-skins do it?! Vela hadnt finished her sentence before Croakatoa jumped and shouted at her. Croakatoa, you go out first! The village elder made Croakatoa retreat, before turning back to Vela. I apologize for his rudeness, but I hope you understand. You dry-skinned all look the same, and its really hard to differentiate among you people Meanwhile, us the wet-skinned tribe have many different skin colors and patterns on our skin! Look at this chrysanthemum on my backAh, sorry elder, you know that I have always been proud of my cute little chrysanthemum. Croakatoa was bragging about his pattern, before realizing that everyone in the room was looking at him, and so he shrank into a corner. Chapter 65: The Players Negotiation Strategy is the Best in the World! After Croakatoa shrank in the corner, everyone in the conch house returned to the topic. Since you talked about the dry-skinned that attacked us, then you should know something right? The village elder asked, his cheeks puffed as he stared straight at Vela. Those people that attacked you are the bandits of the Society of the Secret Eye. They found a sea route, and want to conquer this tidal flat to change it into a harbor to allow them to smuggle their way to the Western Continent. It wasnt classified information in the first place, so she told the elder the information about the enemy. We are the adventurers from the town outside the Valley of the Tragic Dead. Weve had some small conflicts with the Society of the Secret Eye too, so we can help you. It isnt like you dry-skinned to be so generous. The village elder didnt rush to agree or decline, seeming to understand the psychology of humans quite well. He didnt believe that Vela and party would help them battle against their own race for some small conflicts. It was true that in this era before education was widely spread, most humans didnt have the ability to see the big picture and acted mostly on their urges. And so, most demi-human races looked at humans as the most selfish and greedy race in the world. This was a world led by deities and gods after all, and leaving aside the deities that werent bound by mortal laws, most church leaders like popes and archbishops as well as the monarchy that were at the top of the pyramid didnt want any insurgents popping out from the commoners that could affect their rule. And so, they all worked together to restrict education and make the commoners foolish and easy to control. This was also the reason why in a world of magic and divine arts, with much greater development potential than Earth would maintain in such a medieval era after so many years. As Vela was thinking about how to make the frogmen trust her, Joe who had been sitting on the floor until his legs were numb shouted indignantly. Enough of all this chat, just say what we have to do for you to believe us! Is it enough if I kill myself for the cause?! Heh, youre just a cowardly dry-skinned, you wouldnt kill yourself Croakatoa who was picking at his toenails with a conch spear at a side croaked and laughed out. Hearing the frogman say this, Joe jumped up from the floor, and ignoring the kelp around his wrists, he ran over to Croakatoa and snatched away his conch spear. Croakatoa was so terrified that his deep green skin became pale, but his first reaction was to block the village elder from any harm. Contrary to his expectations, Joe didnt attack Croakatoa or the village elder, instead stabbing the conch spear into his chest without any hesitation, spurting out blood from his mouth as he scoffed. This is nothing! Ill die for you right now! After he said this, he pulled out the spear and blood spurted out from his wound like a fountain, splashing all over the place. The extremely gruesome scene even scared the two frogmen guards next to him. Not only the young frogmen guards, but even the village elder that had lived an extremely long life was shocked by this action of his. Since when did humans become such a courageous race?! Everyone in the room waited for a while to realize that Joe still hadnt died, and his wounds even seemed to be closing up and healing. F*ck, my HP is too high, lemme Joe realized the reason why he hadnt died yet. Even though he impaled his heart, this attack of his that would have definitely killed a regular person didnt make him die under the protection of the laws of the game system. Even though it was a critical hit because it hit his vitals, he still had a lot of HP left. And so, under the petrified gaze of the two frogmen, he cursed and attacked himself with the spear again, spearing himself through the throat this time. F*ck, I can finally die After saying this, Joe died with an extremely satisfied expression on his face. For a while, the entire conch house was filled with an ominous silence. The players and the frogmen looked at each other for a while, before the silence was broken by Gou Dan, unable to stifle his laughing anymore. Hah! Gou Dans reaction was quick, however, and he immediately acted as if nothing had happened, looking around at the scenery. Granted, there was nothing much to see in the room. Croakatoa looked at Gou Dan with an appalled expression. This dry-skinned must have borrowed many salted fish from the one that died and was severely in debt, or else he wouldnt laugh after his own comrade died! He had guessed that these dry-skinned were acting dead to trick them, but Joes chest and throat had definitely been impaled thoroughly by the spear, and his heartbeat and breathing had all stopped. From every sign, it was clear to see that he was dead, but Croakatoa felt as if something was wrong Fine, we accept your sincerity. Seeing that Gou Dan was trying his hardest to hold in his laugh, Vela quickly talked with the village elder, trying to seal the deal. Lets talk about how we should work together. Uhm, shouldnt you take care of your comrades corpse first? The village elder asked, confused by the entire situation. Seeing his reaction, he already seemed open to the idea of working together with the players. After all, Joe had already sacrificed himself to prove their honesty, so he was scared that if he hesitated any more, the party of humans would all kill themselves in a heartbeat. Those enemies of the Society of the Secret Eye had already been a lot for the frogmen to handle, so if these humans that called themselves adventurers that could even kill themselves without any hesitation attacked them too, the frogman tribe would probably go instinct Ah, that Vela didnt know how to deal with Joes corpse either. Was she supposed to tell them that the corpse of the players would naturally disappear after a day if no revival spell was cast on them? Why dont you unbind us and let us drag him out? Edward immediately spoke up, seeing this situation. It was actually alright to let the frogmen drag him out, but first of all Edward wanted to test out how much they cooperated with them, and second of all.They all really wanted to laugh. And so, Croakatoa took the conch spear that Joe had used to kill himself to cut the kelp around the players wrists, unbinding them. Under the supervision of Croakatoa, the party dragged Joes corpse out of the conch house, while Vela stayed in the room to converse with the village elder about how they should work together. Seeing that Croakatoa was there, the other frogmen didnt think much of the players actions. Once Croakatoa went back to the conch house, Edward and Gou Dan burst out in laughter. Bwahaha Joe is such a dumb*ss! I almost died holding in my laughter! Dont laugh, he used his own life to pave the way to a peaceful futureHahaha, sorry, I cant continue anymore, its too funny! The merry laughter coupled with the brutally killed corpse attracted all the attention of all the frogmen in earshot Chapter 66: Village Protection Quest As Edward and the party were going to dispose of Joes corpse, they all received a system notification at the same time. [Ding! Unlocked chain sidequestFrogman Guardian ] ** [Quest description: After testing the frogman tribes battle power, the Society of the Secret Eye has planned to siege the village and destroy it in one strike! Heroes, help the frogman village to protect their village against this attack!] ** [Quest rewards: EXP, Game coins (proportional to enemies slain), Randomized Elite Equipment Coupon, and anything you can find in the frogman village.] ** [Note: Success of this quest will unlock the next quest-Frogman Guardian ] ** Suddenly, Edwards expression became serious. Oh no! What is it? Gou Dan was confused. According to the systems habits, for it to activate such a mission means that the enemy is already on their way! After he said so, he looked around to see where the frogmen had hidden their equipment. At this time, Vela walked out of the conch house with a serious expression. Did you guys get that quest too? She asked the party, to which everyone nodded back at the same time. Did you tell the frogmen? Vaguely, but they dont seem to have put what Ive said in mind. Even though it was hard to trust their combat power from their weapons (all their weapons including Croakatoas spear were common, White equipment), and were the type of items that even the refugees didnt want. That being said, it was still extremely important to be prepared. If they could withstand an attack for one to two hours prepared, it would be a fluke to even be able to protect themselves for half an hour if they were taken off guard. What do we do now? Gou Dan asked worriedly. Lets go get our equipment first. Edward was silent in thought for a while, before turning over to Eleena who was silently eating candy at a side. Revive Joe, we need a warrior to tank damage and attract aggro of the enemies in battles of this scale. Eleena nodded and stuck a lollipop into her mouth. Her hands that had become porcelain pale after becoming the saintess in-training waved in the air to create a golden magic circle. After that, the magic circle shattered like glass, turning into sparkling dust and flowing over to Joes corpse. Joe twitched a few times before coming back to life. What happened? Did we succeed? The first thing Joe did upon waking up was open his quest list, checking on the Work Together with the Frogmen quest that they had accepted from Angora, and found that it had already been marked as completed. After he happily accepted the quest rewards, he realized that everyones expression was strange. Did something happen? Joe asked carefully. The others looked at each other, before their gazes all fell on Gou Dan who had the best relations with Joe. Gou Dan furrowed his brow, before telling Joe everything. Joe had been quite happy for clearing a quest, but upon hearing the news his expression became troubled. So youre saying Joe looked at the other players in the party with a bitter expression. Not only did I miss a sidequest because I was dead, but I have to risk my life to help you block the enemies attacks? Youre the only one who has class-changed, so you can tank the most hits. Edward patted Joes firm shoulder and continued, After the quest is complete, well give you half the game coins as compensation. Dont worry, those people from the Society of the Secret Eye cant even beat these frogmen, so theyre probably weak! Gou Dan mirrored Edwards actions. Joe was about to say something, but Eleena suddenly spoke up, Careful, the frog is coming out. Everyone took a while to react, and the quickest was Vela who immediately struck Joes chest with her elbow, making him fall back onto the ground, half of his face covered with seawater. After quite some time of conversation within the village elder and Croakatoa, the frogman came out from the conch house at this moment. Seeing everyone crouching on the ground, Croakatoa croaked in confusion. Why are you all here? After that, his gaze shifted to Joes body. I think I saw him move, is he You were just seeing things! Vela took out a spiky conch from nowhere and used it to impale Joes kidneys. Look! Would he be completely unresponsive if he were still alive? Seeing a bright red critical hit number pop out of Joes head, the other players slowly inched away. I-I see Croakatoa was intimidated by Velas cold-blooded actions too. We frogmen twitch sometimes after we die too Putting that aside Vela pulled out the spiky conch again (which made another red number pop out of Joes head) and threw it aside. Where are our weapons? Why are you all so concerned about your weapons? We, the wet-skinned, arent that greedy! Croakatoa seemed offended. We just want to be prepared if an enemy appears! Making all precautions for every accident is our motto as adventurers! Edward made up a reason on the spot. Is that so Croakatoa was still a little dubious, his expression still filled with contempt towards the players. Hmph, I dont know why the village elder agreed to work together with you dry-skinned, but I, the great Croakatoa, do not trust you! As a warrior of the wet-skinned, I would sooner drown in the sea, before accepting your help! After he said so, he walked away, leaving the players looking at each other in confusion. What are you standing there for, dont you want your weapons? After waddling a few steps, Croakatoa turned around and asked the party. The party finally realized why the frogman had walked away mid-conversation, and followed behind him to get back their weapons. No matter what, they would need their weapons to stand their ground against the Society of the Secret Eye. After walking a few steps, Gou Dan felt something was wrong, before realizing that everyone forgot Joe on the seawater-flooded ground, then, he walked back and tried to bring Joe who was faking his death together with them. That being said, Gou Dan was quite lithe and lean while Joe was bulky, so Gou Dan couldnt carry him princess-style nor on his back, so he could only drag his friend by his feet. And so, he dragged Joe into the distance by his feet, leaving behind a long trail of blood in the seawater that looked exceptionally desolate Chapter 67: Saintess In-Training Meanwhile, Xi Wei was watching the show with a tub of popcorn. In comparison with the Rotten Bones Church, he was actually not so worried about the larger scaled Society of the Secret Eye. The reason for this was simpleThe Rotten Bones Church believed in a deity, with the support of the Rotten Bones God behind them. This meant that the main locations of the Rotten Bones Church were enveloped in the Rotten Bones Gods divine energy, and unless Xi Wei was a couple stages higher than him, he wouldnt be able to see through the divine energy to perceive what the enemy was doing. But it was completely different with the Society of the Secret Eye. It was a smuggling organization with members from all around the continent, true, but that also meant that most of them believed in vastly different deities. This made it impossible for enough concentrated divine energy to prevent Xi Weis observations. In short, no matter how secretive and how well-guarded against spies they were, it would be completely useless in the eyes of Xi Wei. As long as it were a place that Xi Weis believers conquered, then Xi Wei would be able to see every detail clearly! To Xi Wei, this organization was a piece of cake. This time too, he gave the players at the frogman village a quest to forewarn them about the attack, upon seeing that the enemies had left their base and were heading towards the frogman village. As for what happened later, he wasnt all that concerned about it. After all, the players would just revive at the unnamed town if they failed. With the Underground Hideout of Lancaster as a backup, the current starter village would be able to defend against the Society of the Secret Eye with no problems. Even if it were on the event that they lost terribly, Xi Wei would be able to descend to the mortal plane and wipe them out in one fell swoop. Again, it wasnt an organization with the support of a single deity, so no deity would come to him for retribution. In fact, after he updated the system and created the dungeon, he didnt give a lot of attention to the players on the mortal realm. Because other than that, he had much more pressing matters to attend to. The connections between deities of the same pantheon were closer than what Xi Wei had first thought. Even though the Rotten Bones Gods deific properties havent been completely destroyed, so the Undead Pantheon hadnt realized that their lackey had been killed by Xi Wei, but it was only a matter of time. Xi Wei was looking for a way to cut the connection between the Rotten Bones God and the Undead Pantheon, or at least prepare enough to be able to deal with whats to come if any deities from the pantheon wanted to look for trouble. The deity that came this time wouldnt be as easy to deal with as the Rotten Bones God, after all. Therefore, he needed a way to harvest more leeksPeh, divine power. In conclusion, it was already stretching his limits to check in on the players from time to time, and he wouldnt waste his divine energy to help beat up little kids on the mortal realm. Frogmen Village, visitors suite (a conch house). The attack from the Society of the Secret Eye came a little slower than the party had expected, the scene still quite peaceful even after the party re-obtained their weapons from the frogmen. Did the system make a mistake? Or did it stop its bad habit of bullying them? Even Edward was doubting himself after such a long time. Thankfully, they were all firm in their belief of the God of Games, most of them already reaching the level of devout believers and were on the cusp of becoming zealots. This was the reason why they quickly dispelled their own wavering hearts and strengthened their resolve, making them continue to lie in wait for the impending attack. I just thought of a problem Gou Dan dragged Joe who had almost been drowned to death onto a large, oval stone that the frogmen used as beds. As he tried to dry Joe, Gou Dan continued in a low tone towards the others, If the Society of the Secret Eye wanted to attack the frogman village, how would they do it? How would they do it? Well, just rush into the village and burn, and pillage Upon saying this, Vela trailed off too. She realized that they all seemed to have gotten the wrong idea, which was that when they knew the Society of the Secret Eye was about to attack the frogmen village, they unconsciously equated them to regular bandits. Honestly, if it were a regular group of bandits, even if there were seventy to eighty of them, they wouldnt be a match for the six players in the party. After all, other than Vela, the other five in the party were the most experienced and strongest players of all. But, for an enemy to issue a quest, it would mean that the enemy obviously werent regular bandits! This meant that any experience they had dealing with enemies of the sort had to be thrown out of the window. Which reminds me As one of the three people that had been in the Society of the Secret Eyes hideout, Edwards expression darkened to a frown. I think there are magicians in the Society of the Secret Eye The magicians that had strong, destructive long-ranged spells were definitely the most suited to siege an unsuspecting village. As if to prove his words correct, the ground started to rumble as if there were an earthquake, and even the seawater that was slightly shallower than outside ripples from the shock. The players all rushed out immediately. Perhaps it was for the sake of privacy, the frogmen built their village in a secluded corner of the tidal flats. The village faced the sea while the other side was up against steep cliffs, and on the other side of the cliffs was an endless expanse of land. Now, what Edward and party saw was a mudflow that rushed down the cliffs at a terrifyingly fast pace! The momentum and sheer magnitude of the mudflow was so large that most of the frogmen were petrified upon seeing it, their minds blank from shock. What the Edward, you didnt tell us that the magicians from the Society of the Secret Eye were so powerful! Gou Dan looked at the scary mudflow, his mind drawing a blank. No, thats not possible, Ive never met a magician of that level when I was thereIt was probably cast together by a group of magicians! Edward immediately rebutted the notion that there was such a strong magicians in the Society of the Secret Eye. After all, back when he snuck into the Society of the Secret Eye, other than a few outstanding ones, the others werent strong at all. Shouldnt we run first?! Vela shouted, already breaking out in a cold sweat. Even though they had become players that were virtually impossible to kill, and could even sacrifice their lives to create a chance for their allies against a strong enemy, their common sense and instincts still dictated that their first reaction was to flee upon being met with a natural disaster. We cant run from this, its way faster than our speed on foot! Edward was dismayed by this turn of events. If he were max leveled (Level 45) and had learned the strongest skills in their skill tree, perhaps he would be able to help, but even though he had the highest level within the players, he was only Level 28. When he was faced with an attack of this magnitude, it was still too powerless. Here, help me carry this for a while. At this point, Eleena who had been silently eating a lollipop sealed her candy packet, and stuffed it into Velas hands. Huh? Vela looked at the silver-haired girl with a dubious expression, thinking that her way of thinking was a little oddThey were going to be buried by a mudflow, wasnt it a bad time to care about candy? Eleena didnt know what Vela was thinking about, and took out her own weapon. As a higher-leveled player of the cleric class, Eleena who was a saintess in-training should have a weapon that clerics regularly usedHammers, shields, maces, or even a cross. Because Eleena had only been focused on healing or casting a Spear of Victory occasionally, she had never held a weapon in her hands before. Hence, Vela guessed that the girl hadnt found a weapon that was suited for her yet. But in actuality, Eleena had her own weapon. It was a hardcover book that had been attached at her hip using a silver chain that seemed like an accessory of a priests robe, and was locked tight with a metal lock. This book was named the Game Bible, and white metal was attached onto its corners, and was basically a rectangular mace that had eight spikes Even though it seemed to be able to deal a lot of damage in battle, it didnt look like it could help with the current situation Sacred Barrier! The girl dragged the chain and used it to swing the large book, before using the momentum to swing it into the distance. The next moment, a large, pale blue barrier erected from where the book dropped onto the ground! At the center of the barrier was a white cross, and in the four partitions that it separated were pictures resembling a sword, a mages staff, a bow and arrow, and finally the picture of a holy book. At the center of the cross was the emblem of the God of Games. This barrier was so large that it covered the entire frogmen village and even far beyond, and it was so tall it reached the heavens. The mudflow that had been flowing down the cliff with such force struck the barrier and was cut off immediately, not even making a ripple in the barrier! A-Are you kidding me Vela was in complete shock. She knew of the skill Sacred Barrier because it was a defensive skill that clerics could learn at Level 15, which could summon a barrier of light. The barriers that regular clerics could summon were the height of a single person and were around two meters in length, which was why the light barrier in front of her shocked her so much! It was at this point that she remembered what Edward said earlierDont judge a book by its cover, Miss Vela. If it were just in terms of battle power, shes probably the strongest of us all. She had thought it was a joke back then, but they werent joking in the least?!! Vela wasnt the only one that was shaken by the large barrier of light. Upon seeing the twin-tailed silver-haired girl block the attack that they had resigned themselves to dying to, they all knelt down on the ground and started muttering in frogmen language that the players couldnt understand, before prostrating themselves and hitting their heads towards the ground, as if they had misunderstood the young girl as some strange existence Chapter 68: The Magicians Trump Cards The scene of an entire villages worth of frogmen kneeling for her was too much for a young girl of her age, and Eleena looked at the scene in front of her helplessly. Hakuna Macroakcroak! The frogmen didnt seem to know that their actions troubled the young girl, and continued to mutter in a language that they couldnt understand as they worshipped her. What are they saying? Edward helped up Croakatoa that was about to kneel down too, and asked in confusion. O Great Aquatic Lord, we offer you our most sincere worship and respect in gratitude for your protection and your blessings that let us relish in the gifts of the sea. We shall never forget your benevolence, and shall the water be with us always. Croakatoa translated quickly. You said such a long sentence with a few croaks? Gou Dan felt that something was wrong. This only proves that our language is more advanced than yours! Croakatoa replied with pride. Kid, I think youre quite suited to learn our language, why dont I teach you? The players didnt hesitate in the slightest, and shook their heads at the same time. At this point, another commotion started in the frogmen again. What are they saying? Edward asked. Croakatoa listened for a few moments, before his expression became panicked. Its the dry-skinned! Theyre rushing down from the mountains! Edward looked at the others, realizing that the real deal was about to come. Albert was a magician that belonged to the Society of the Secret Eye. Different than the mage players that were supported by the system, he was a native magician of this world. The title of magician was far out of reach for commoners, and was much more mysterious than nobles and aristocrats, and many commoners even thought that their position in society was higher than nobles too. That was the case, after all. A player that could surpass the level of apprentice magician and could become a fully-fledged caster could obtain status equal to a baron. That being said, it was exceptionally hard to become even stronger for them. In this world that was filled with deities, the position of a regular mage was quite awkward. Even though magic was mysterious and had an extremely high limit for its power. If learned correctly, casters could emulate many effects of sacred arts, and could even cast ones with even stronger effects. This point could be seen from the fact that a third of the legendary champions were magicians. (The rest were clerics, and there werent any warriors) But that wasnt all there was to being a magician. First of all, potential was extremely important in learning how to cast spells. If a person didnt have any potential for magic and couldnt feel the mana in the atmosphere, it was of no use even if they were geniuses. First of all, the study of magic was extremely profound, and it was difficult to even get started without the help of a mentor. Learning theory and the basics were extremely important, and most could only claim to know magic after three years of practice casting spells and five years of meditation, along with multitudes of magical experiments. These were all indispensable to the discovery of the core of magic, and so it was hard to learn magic if an individual had the talent, but not the brains for it. All in all, it was hard for a person to remain committed to learning magic. Fun fact, the magicians had their own deity that they worshipedThe most mysterious existence among the Seven Divine Fathers, Magic Violet. This deity was different from the others in the fact that he had never actively recruited any worshipers, and didnt need the belief of followers, and had never given any oracles to his believers, In a way, he was similar to Lord Hades who was a Divine Father too. In contrast to the terrifying Lord Hades, Magic Violet didnt have much of a presence, and there wasnt even evidence in the mortal realm that this deity had existed. If it werent for the fact that there were priests and gifted humans from large-scale churches that could communicate with the gods and could confirm that this deity took up one of the positions of Divine Father, humans would probably not know that he existed. There were two main theories that the magicians had about this deity currently: The first, was that Magic Violet created all magic and defined the existence of magic, so as long as there were casters on this world, he wouldnt disappear. The second, was that Magic Violet created a web of magic that humans couldnt detect. According to this theory, all magic that existed in this world were all his divine energy, and whenever someone used magic, it meant that they had expressed their belief in him. Therefore, as long as magic existed, he would never disappear. Whichever the case was, it was an undisputed fact that for one to be able to change the laws of an entire world, Magic Violet was completely qualified to be on equal standing with the other Divine Fathers! Long story short, learning magic required vast amounts of knowledge, information and materials, and all these things could be reduced to a simple factor: Money. It was because of the generous rewards that Albert chose to join the Society of the Secret Eyes Valla Empire branch, completing various tasks in exchange for money and some rare materials Now, he was faced with a somewhat troublesome mission, which was to attack the frogmen village. He had joined the first experimental siege on the frogmen village, but he didnt personally attack them, instead collecting data of the village from a side as the other attacked. According to the information and data obtained from that attack, Albert had the preparation to destroy the village in one blow. Initially, he had thought that a mudflow was more than enough. The creation of a mudflow was simpleUse explosions to break the cliff and create a mudflow. This move was easy and practical, and other than choosing the blast points, there wasnt much effort to do this. Even so, he still used a large amount of Flame Flowers as explosives, and even though these flowers were the cheapest fire-attribute magic materials, it still cost him quite a lot of Rions. After all, who gave those frogmen the confidence to build their village by a cliff? He hadnt expected there to be someone that was as strong as a bishop in the frogmen village that was able to create such a large barrier to intercept it! Tch, why didnt such a strong fellow appear last time? Albert looked anxiously at the Sacred Barrier that was slowly disappearing down below, and didnt even notice when he bit his lips so much that it drew blood. If he knew that an enemy of this level were there, he wouldnt have chosen such a way to attack. This isnt good, if I go back like this, Black Whip is never going to forgive me! Alberts heart was filled with fear upon the thought of that malicious and terrifying man. Now that it comes down to this, I can only use my trump cards Albert frustratedly took out a scroll from his bag, before ripping it to shreds without even looking at it. The next moment, a few tall figures in black armor appeared on horses around him. Damn it, this Rhine Knights summoning scroll cost me one Gold Abby! Albert ordered the figures around him with a pained expression. Listen to my command! Go and kill all the life you see down there! The captain of the Rhine Knights nodded and saluted stiffly, before the troupe rushed down the cliff. Faint shouts could be heard from the bottom of the cliff, Its the dry-skinned! Theyre rushing down from the mountains! Chapter 69: The Dark Knights Gou Dan was the first to realize that something was wrong with the black-armored knights that were rushing towards the village. Somethings not right, my Vital Shot skill failed! These arent humans! Has anyone learned Detect? Use it to see who those are! Edward commanded, but was met with the partys lost expressions. F*ck, did none of you learn it?! We followed Mister Marni and Mister Ivans team, and theyre extremely experienced with Detect Gou Dan muttered in retaliation. With them, who would waste skill points to learn that It was true that other than people like Marni that were experienced and knowledgeable, the people of this world were mostly fed up of feeling helpless and weak. Hence, it was normal for them to want to learn skills that could be used in battle in comparison to ones that werent as useful in battle Eleena, can you cast your Sacred Barrier again? Edward asked the young girl. Its still on cooldown. Eleena shook her head, which made her silver twintails swing around in the air with the movement, and was extremely cute. So the cooldown became longer in exchange for its strength, huhI dont know whether these enemies are susceptible to tauntingIs Joe awake? Edward could only make up a backup plan on the spot, asking Gou Dan next to him. Im coming, Im coming! I dont know why I had two holes on my hip, and I spent some time drinking HP potions. Before Gou Dan could reply, Joe ran over, fully equipped. My grandma said that I can bleed, but I cant lose my kidneys! Wait, didnt this dry-skinned already die? Croakatoas eyes that were much larger than a humans widened even further, and stared straight at Joe who had come back to life. Dont fret, do you know about the last spurt before fully dying? Vela quickly explained. Thats what this is! Are you dry-skinned so active before you die thoroughly? Croakatoa looked up and down at Joe, his expression dubious. Its like that for everyone! Vela reassured. Dont worry, hell die soon! Humans are scary Croakatoa didnt know what to think, and could only exclaim, But to think that such a brave warrior sacrificed himself for a simple misunderstanding, I, the great Croakatoa feel sa- Before Croakatoa could finish his sentence, Joe felt the frogmans gaze on him, and held up his middle finger in his direction with a bright smile. Croakatoa:??? How much longer do you guys want to talk? Jessica asked in panic. Those guys are here! The line of defense that the frogmen had created in their haste couldnt defend against the enemies charge, and was broken in a flash. Even the conch houses that had been blocking the enemies path were shattered without much resistance. Get away, let me do it! Joe stuck his sword in the ground, before making a taunting action towards the dark knights. Hey, come to daddy, kiddos! There was a single red eye that shone from within the helmets of the dark knights, which turned to Joes direction upon hearing his taunting. Then, the course of the dark knights charge curved slightly, changing their trajectory to charge towards Joe. Oh, taunting works on them Joe had just finished his sentence before he was sent flying by the dark knights, not even managing to summon a familiar spirit in time. His body twisted in midair before he stopped to the ground with a squelch, as if he were a dirty rag that was filled with water. Surprisingly enough, he didnt die from the impact. Gah, that scared me Joe crawled up shaking as if he had Parkinsons. The armor on his body was filled with cracks because of the impact from earlier, and even if he didnt open up his equipment page, he knew that the durability this suit of armor that he had equipped for the longest time had been reduced to zero, and couldnt be fixed even by the blacksmiths of the starter village. Im a little pissed offEdward, there are five enemies, so other than Vela lets take one each, what do you think? Joe stroked his armor in mourning, before speaking with Edward in dissatisfaction. Sure, if you can separate them. Edward had noticed that although the dark knights were quite aggressive and scary, and their levels were around Level 20, they did not seem to have supernatural powers. According to the judgment of the system, if a player were attacked by a supernatural attack that had effects of magic, sacred arts or even curses attached to them, players would receive additional elemental damage. To most players, elemental damage was quite enfeebling because their defenses against those were weak, and there werent many equipment that could defend against those early on in the game. Now, looking back at this strong charge attack by the dark knights, because it was just a basic physical attack, there was no difference between this attack and a simple swing of a sword by a player. Basically, the players could defend against their attacks with their own stats and equipment, and after many damage recalculations, they wouldnt get hurt much. And so, these dark knights that seemed impossible to defend against could only be classified as elite monsters when compared to bosses like the Rotten Bones Archbishop. No problem, I have a plan Joe glanced at the dark knights that had slowed down to curve, and was about to charge into him again. As he was about to tell Edward his wonderful, well-founded strategy that could be used to take up 5000 words in this novel, a feminine voice rang out in the air. Sacred Barrier! Eleena who had taken the chance to get back her macthe Game Bible swung the book again, and threw it in the direction of the dark knight like a hammer throw athlete. The next moment, a sky blue barrier of light appeared in front of the dark knights that had finally gotten enough momentum for another charge. The dark knights that couldnt stop in time crashed into the Sacred Barrier that the young saintess in-training cast, and after making a dull noise, they and their mounts were crumpled into a can of spam Upon seeing the majestic dark knights getting wiped out without any hurrah, the frogmen couldnt wrap their heads around what they were seeing. Meanwhile, Joe had the regretful expression of someone who didnt have the chance to waste words in this novel. Gou Dan walked over and patted his shoulder on tiptoe. Dont be depressed, its time to deal with the root of the problem, Edward said beside him. The root of the problem? Vela who had sighed in relief got worried again. Yeah, dont you see that the quest isnt complete yet? Edward speculated. Im afraid that the leader of this attack against us is still on the cliffs. We better hurry before he does anything else. Chapter 70: Humans Are Awesome By the time the party arrived at the cliff, there was already no one there. Welp, were gonna fail this mission. Joe carried his greatsword on his shoulder and continued regretfully, The guy who hid here earlier already fled. Croakatoa that had been rushing the fastest had finally managed to catch up with the party, panting and kneeling on the ground and feeling as if he were going to dry out in the next moment. Then, he looked at Joe who didnt have any visible signs of exhaustion, and started to doubt himself. He was the greatest warrior in the frogmen tribe, but he couldnt even be compared with a human that was going to die? And according to what he heard them say, this human called Joe had just become a warriorSo what kind of monsters were these humans! There are no traces on the ground, and although its not impossible that he had escaped, but just in case Edward looked towards Gou Dan. Gou Dan immediately knew what the former wanted him to do and squatted down on the ground, starting to create an orb the size of a ping pong ball in his hands. Upon seeing this, the other players all covered their ears, leaving Croakatoa confused. The next moment, Gou Dan stood up and clammed the orb into the ground. Suddenly, a deafening boom sounded out as the orb exploded, and the sound was so loud that the party even saw sound waves vibrating in the air. This skill was called a Sonic Boom Orb, which was an extension of the Hundred Huntings skill series that was unique to the ranger class. In short, the skill was one that could be used to create orbs in response to different hunting situations, and other than the Sonic Boom Orb, there were Dye Balls, Poop Orbs and Flash Bombs, and more. Because rangers could also make explosives the height of half a human to build traps, the players from the other classes called this skill the Fourth Dimensional Pocket of the rangers. (Players dont have an inventory to store their items, and could only carry those with them, because Xi Wei couldnt create storage space for them out of thin air.) Other than attracting the attention of enemies from afar, it could also cause a petrified status for whoever wasnt prepared, and could even shake out the earthworms in the ground Now it seems that the skill was quite effective, because other than Croakatoa who had been stunned and fell onto the ground like a real big frog, another guy was blasted out from underground! This magician from the Society of the Secret Eye seemed to have used some magic spell to make the soil like liquid, and to him, the originally solid earth turned into a wide and calm ocean where he could sneak into and hide. Unfortunately, this plan that he thought was foolproof was still solved by Gou Dan. The power of the Sonic Boom Orb was definitely strong, and he was so scared that he couldnt even maintain his magic, leaving half of his body stuck underground. Uhm Looking at the players that were coming towards him with an evil glint in their eyes, Albert broke out in a cold sweat and smiled bitterly. Is it too late now to surrender? Because they wanted to learn useful information from Albert, Edward and the party didnt decide to kill Albert on the spot. That being said, when they caught him and dragged him out of the ground and left him with just a pair of boxers, the system judged that they had succeeded the first stage of the Frogman Guardian quest, and immediately issued the next stage in the quest series. The second stage was simple, which was to let the party go back to seek aid from the players back at the starter village. Once Albert, the strong magician failed to report back to them, the Society of the Secret Eye would definitely attack the frogman village with greater forces, and even use all of their resources in the Valla Empire branch to do so. Basically, it was unrealistic to block the next wave of attack by the Society of the Secret Eye with just six players and some incompetent frogmen. The players that arrived at the village and joined the defense against the Society of the Secret Eye would all get corresponding rewards. The players huddled together, discussing how to deal with the following events. We would probably need one day to get back to the unnamed town and back to the frogman village, and who knows when the Society of the Secret Eye is going to attack again Edward analyzed calmly. If we dont get back here in time, then the village is going to be destroyed without question. Therefore, most of us have to stay, while only one or two of us go to seek help. Let me do it, Ill set out immediately! Vela took up the mission without any hesitation. Im the weakest within everyone here, after all, and I wouldnt be much help. Leave this sort of mission to me! The unnamed town had been attacked by revenants not long ago, and Vela who hadnt even believed in the God of Games back then would never forget the hope that bloomed in her heart upon seeing the players save them. And now, it was time to bring hope to this frogman village that didnt even know how to speak. Alright, then. Edward nodded, and Vela set off for the unnamed town immediately. Also, I have an idea. After Vela left, Edward continued talking with the other players. What plan? Jessica asked curiously. Make the frogmen believe in the God of Games, and turn them into players too. This suggestion made the others look at the others in doubt. This, would be quite hard, wouldnt it? Gou Dan asked unsurely. The frogmen definitely have their own god, or else why would they worship Eleena as someone sent by their lord? So we just tell Eleena that their deity changed his name! Edward continued without any hesitation. Their deity didnt lend a hand to save them in the first place, and its great to believe in the God of Games! After that, he paused, and continued, Also, we can get rewards from the regular quest and get a little more EXP rewards Gou Dan and Jessica: Hey, isnt that his real motive?! On the other side, Joe felt that it was hard to follow up with the conversation because he wasnt that smart, and so he just sat at a side and ate grilled salted fish. Even though the salted fish made by the frogmen looked ugly, but because they lived by the sea, all the ingredients used were caught fresh, and resulted in the salted fish having a delectable and even fresh taste. Warrior, can you still eat? Croakatoa waddled over and sat next to Joe, looking at the young man that was eating fish with no problem as if he had grown a third eye. Joe who had no idea that the misunderstanding hadnt been solved thought the frogman didnt have any appetite because he was worried about the upcoming battle. Why not? Its times like this when you have to fill up your tummy! Joe exclaimed, himself a firm believer on not battling on an empty stomach. I see, so you dont want to pass away with an empty stomach Croakatoa stared at Joe pitifully, which made the latter quite uncomfortable. How much longer can you live? Joe was stunned by this question. Didnt they say that the players were allied with the frogmen? Why did this guy want him to die so much? But then, he came up with a reason by himself. Croakatoas Shumonian sounded quite weird, so perhaps its just a grammatical error caused by him not learning the language well. Maybe he was asking about how long the lifespan of a human was? Maybe sixty or seventy more years? Joe replied nonchalantly. You dry-skinnedHumans can live another sixty years like this?! Croakatoa was completely stunned by the revelation. Well, its probably thirty to forty years before, but now that I believed in the God of Games, my life is probably going to be longer Joe sighed in awe. Then you can even get a wife and children! Croakatoa exclaimed. Humans can last so long after finally dying? Yeah of course, and maybe even get grandchildren too! Joe didnt know what Croakatoa meant by the second half of his exclamation, but he still said proudly. Croakatoa sat there in awe, before he finally croaked out Humans are awesome Chapter 71: Deity of the Past The freezing cold wind was blowing, and even though it wasnt snowing, the weather was still quite gloomy. On the roof of a conch house, Eleena who had curled into a ball from the cold looked at the frogmen on the ground that were still in prostrate position, feeling a little distressed. Earlier that day, Edward had come to her and asked her to guide the frogmen to become believers of the God of Games, so that they could deal with any upcoming attacks from the Society of the Secret Eye better. Eleena herself agreed with Edwards plan, because other than the fact that the frogmen would be able to become stronger after becoming believers of the God of Games, it made the young girl quite happy to be able to expand the church even if it were just a little! After all, she was the first zealot in Xi Weis church after he transmigrated in this world, and was also the saintess of the Church of the God of GamesGranted, she was still in training. But even so, Eleena was still a child, and even though she went around battling monsters with her party for the past month or so and made her more knowledgeable of the world, but in the end, she still had the mentality of someone of her age. And so, it was impossible for Eleena to improvise an inspiring speech like a certain warrior princess She didnt know what to do, which left her in her current predicament. Hakuna Macroakcroak! Hakuna Macroakcroak! More confusing was the fact that she didnt know what these frogmen were saying at all, and just knew that they were worshipping her for some reason. The young girls ears that started ringing from the incessant croaking of the frogmen suddenly stood up on the tallest conch house of the village. The freezing winds blew at her silver hair, and with the light at her back, she looked especially divine. Then, the girl raised her hands and shouted as loud as she could. Rua! This shout didnt mean anything, she was just frustrated and irritable, and wanted to vent this unpleasant feeling in some way. If there was a meaning to it, this girl was probably trying to say that she was super scary!. She completely didnt know that her cute and soft appearance and her strange actions, coupled with a simple but somewhat brainwashing call, gave the frogmen a mysterious and holy feeling like an ancient priestess. And so, after looking at one another for a while, the frogmen all mirrored her actions and shouted. Rua! Rua! Rua! The whole scene became extremely rowdy, and it didnt seem so much as an oath of allegiance to the gods, but more like some sort of strange ritual. Even the party that was watching from one side was speechless. Why were these frogmen even more crackheaded than the players? Perhaps their brains were frozen because they didnt hibernate. Eleena: Seeing the frogmen that became even noisier than before, the light in her gaze flickered out in despair. In his Divine Kingdom, Xi Wei who had enough of spectating on the players turned his spherical body around, and decided to continue his daily chore of severing the ties of the Rotten Bones God with the Undead Pantheon using weapons made of divine energy. And so, Xi Wei switched on a chainsaw that was larger than his entire body, and stuck it onto the body of the Rotten Bones God, sawing it until sparks flew Fun fact, no matter what the tools looked like, their effects were all the same, meaning that a chainsaw made from divine energy wouldnt be able to cut faster than a toenail clip. This was because there were no differences in their essence. The only reason why Xi Wei used a chainsaw to sever the ties was because he thought this weapon was cooler and easier to use. What, was he supposed to clip at the ties with a toenail clip? After he sawed for a while, one of his tentacles bonked into the part of his body that was probably his head. Somethings not right! He threw the chainsaw to one side unceremoniously, and then thought about it carefully. What made Xi Wei pause wasnt the Rotten Bones God, but the situation of Eleena and company down in the mortal realm. Before explaining what was wrong, exactly, one had to know the hierarchy of religion in this world. The being at the top of the pyramid was of course, the deities themselves, no matter if it were the main deity or a subordinate god. One tier lower were the saintesses and the saints, along with the Chosen Ones. These people could all be categorized as the second-highest positioned people in a church, and were considered the servants or even avatars of the deities themselves. After that were the people like popes which were the highest positions a regular member of a church could get. As long as someone could obtain power by the deific properties of the deity that they worshipped, they could be categorized in the third tier. After that were different according to the specific church, but the people like priests and clergies that seemed to be high and mighty in the eyes of the commoners were in reality the same as regular believers of the church, categorized into the fourth tier. Even though there were some exceptions, but this was generally the case in this world. For example, Urgat who had been killed by the players was the leader of the Rotten Bones Church and held all the power in the church, but because he didnt have any deific properties, he was still an archbishop and couldnt call himself a pope. In theory, when a believer offered their worship to someone of third-tier and above, the deity that was in the first tier would be able to obtain divine energy. This meant that if the frogmen thought of Eleena as a messenger from God and gave her their praise and worship, then Xi Wei should be able to obtain corresponding divine energy in theory Xi Wei was quite confused by this. Granted, it was true that even if the believers of a church were tricked to pray and worship another deity, as long as their beliefs hadnt changed, the deity that they were tricked to worship wouldnt obtain even a trickle of divine energy. But this was on the basis that the worshippers had their own deity. The players didnt know what the frogmen were saying, but because Xi Wei was a deity, he had the ability to understand every language there was, so he knew that they were worshipping a deity called the Aquatic Lord. But the problem here was, that the Aquatic Lord had died in the war! This meant that the prayers of the frogmen were actually not owned by any deity, and in theory as long as they worshipped Eleena, Xi Wei would be able to obtain divine energy from them. Thinking of this, Xi Wei carefully tried to sense the divine energy coming from the frogmen, but to no avail. Whats the situation here? Did the Aquatic Lord get revived? Thats impossible, even his divinity was destroyed There were only a few frogmen, and it was impossible for a new deity to be born from such a small village. But no matter what, now that it was related to a dead deity, things could become quite troublesome And so, the siege on the frogmen village that had been seen as a trifle by Xi Wei suddenly became shrouded in mystery. Chapter 72: Iron Cauldron Tavern The construction of the Unnamed Town was already on track, and even though the Yield Points that Angora had were quite limited so there werent a lot of system buildings in the town, but it wasnt purely a game world after all. In fact, many believers within the refugees were skilled craftsmen before Lovinia was destroyed in the war. After settling down, many of these players picked up their original livelihoods, helping the townspeople to build various buildings and furniture, as well as crafting useful items. If someone came to the town now, their first impression would be that the town was filled with vitality, everyones faces filled with hope and the town growing prosperously. The Iron Cauldron Tavern was one such building that was built by the players themselves. Different from the restaurant created by the system at the center area of town, the food that was served in the Iron Cauldron Tavern didnt bring with them any buffs or special abilities. The prices of the ale were slightly higher than the system restaurant, but there were more varieties of better tasting food. In fact, the owner of the Iron Cauldron Tavern was a renowned chef back in the day in Lovinia, and his steak that was marinated with a secret sauce and was juicy and delicious was his signature dish. Because it was excellent when coupled with bread or ale, so it attracted many loyal customers, making it even more popular than the system restaurant. Did you challenge the Living Dead Cellar again? How did it go? The owner of the tavern called Tie Fu floating on top of his head wiped a wooden mug with a piece of cloth as he asked a loyal customer that came in with a discouraged expression. Hah, dont get me started. The player sighed, and continued, We met a Black-Robed Bishop immediately upon entering the dungeon, and lost after a long battle. Not only did we get no rewards, we even lost 10% of our experience! After dying in the dungeon, the players would revive directly from the Lifestone with a deduction of 10% of their EXP. That being said, 10% was quite a lot for a high-leveled player. Thats nothing! Another player that was wolfing down a bowl of rice looked up and cut into the conversation with a mouthful of rice. Our last run was more unlucky! We got all the way to the boss point, and even got an elite grade piece of equipment, but guess what happened? Once we started battling with the boss, the Rotten Bones Archbishop jumped out and used AoE magic spells on us as he asked if we were surprised, and before we could even respond we were wiped out! Most of the other players that heard this showed pity to him, while some laughed at his misfortune. At this point in time, because there was a party limit for the dungeon, there was no way for the players to defeat the Rotten Bones Archbishop. Only the saintess in-training Eleena and the warrior princess Leah could barely manage to hold up against him. The same could also be said if a party came up against a Black-Robed Bishop. Only top-tier players could win against them, while regular players were basically guaranteed defeat when met with them. Granted, the rewards that a party could obtain from defeating a Black-Robed Bishop were quite lucrative, with a guaranteed piece of Elite-tier equipment. The rewards for defeating the Rotten Bones Archbishop would definitely be even better, perhaps even rewarding the party Excellent-tier equipment, but the problem was that it was too hard! At this point, the Rotten Bones Archbishop was still undefeated. According to the rule that there were thirty-six rooms in the Living Dead Cellar that Xi Wei had created, it meant that there was a one upon eighteen chance that the players would be met with these two enemies. Besides that, perhaps it was the probability that Xi Wei had set wrongly, or because the players themselves were too unlucky, but there was actually a higher rate of getting these two rooms. This was the reason why there had been many groups of players lamenting their losses at the Lifestone for the last couple of days. In extension, this cooled down the players urge to clear the dungeon quite a lot, and many of them started to go back to their daily lifestyle of clearing daily chores and exploring the Valley of the Tragic Dead. What you guys experienced could be regarded as natural disasters, but what I experienced was problems with my own party. Another player that was munching on a honey-grilled steak joined the conversation too. One of my friends had something to attend to over at Lancaster, so I could only choose to join a ragtag party of a chubby man and a skinny man. When we were clearing the dungeon, the skinny one kept on telling jokes while the chubby one kept on laughing and laughing and laughing, and before we could even get to the boss area, those two crackheads didnt attract aggro in time, which caused the enemies to attack the ones at the back. He clapped his hands together, and spread them in the air. Of course we all died! Hey, who are you calling a crackhead! A fat figure stood up at the corner of the tavern. Yeah, yeah! I just wanted to joke to ease the mood of the party! What, youre blaming us for you guys not being skilled enough? Another skinny figure stood up next to the former and shouted. You goblinf*ckers, Im talking about you! The player that had brought the topic up had honey all around his mouth, but wiping it clean was the last of his concerns right now. Look at your own rubbish plays, Im praising you by saying you guys are just weak! Spidersh*t! What do you know?! Us brothers are strong players that even Lord Faust requested to clear a top-secret mission for him! Right, Silva? The fat player asked the one next to him. Thats right, Bro Terrosche! The player that was called Silva replied with a proud expression. Peh! Wasnt it just a quest to investigate the Society of the Secret Eye? What kind of secret mission is it if you two are blabbering nonstop about it everywhere! I bet you two are spouting bull! The player with honey on his mouth scoffed, and sneered with scorn. I only let you join the party because of those claims of yours! The atmosphere in the tavern was gradually becoming more and more tense. Even Tie Fu stopped wiping his mug, staring at the three players that were quarreling in his tavern. His place wasnt owned by the system, so it wouldnt even lower their reputation points even if they started fighting in here. Even worse was the fact that these tables and chairs couldnt be repaired all at once, and had to be remade by carpenters As the three players were about to duel, a commotion started outside the tavern. A few players ran into the tavern, and bought many rations from the owner hurriedly. Boss, give me ten pieces of sauced jerky, Im going on a crusade! Did something happen? The owner was taken off guard by the sudden turn in events. Its a new event, and its apparently related to the Society of the Secret Eye!You guys can claim the quest from Sis Vela!Theres a new quest called [Frogman Guardian-Doused Crusade]! Wryyyyy-! The players that rushed into the tavern all started chattering excitedly. Tie Fu was dumbfounded for a moment, before he took out all the rations he had and distributed them to the players, before taking out his own iron tomhawk from under the counter. What are you all waiting for then, lets do it! And so together with the other players, Tie Fu left the tavern, and even the players that were eating in the tavern finished their food promptly and joined the expedition. The only ones that were left were the three players that were mid-fight, which looked around at the empty tavern in confusion. The player with honey smeared on his mouth stared at the duo in suspicion. So it was true that there was a secret quest for the Society of the Secret Eye? Chapter 73: System Transfer The Underground Hideout of Lancaster had become completely different from when the Rotten Bones Church had taken over it. Other than the Lifestone that the players had erected during the event, most of the underground rooms had been modified into Xi Weis special facilities. For example, there were crops that didnt require sunlight and only water to grow called Night Paddy, inns that could recover the players HP quickly and a restaurant like the one in the Unnamed Town. The reason why such facilities appeared in the Underground Hideout of Lancaster was because after it had been recaptured, Princess Leah obtained an Overlord System which was similar to Angoras, becoming the only player to have dual systems and be able to switch between them at any time. Unfortunately, Princess Leah herself preferred RPG games instead of management games, so she always fled to the Unnamed Town together with her guards. When Princess Leah knew about the new event quest from one of her guards that she had posted at the Unnamed Town for this very purpose, she immediately started preparing rations and equipment so that she could head out for the rumored frogmen village. After all, she only showed her face for a while at the end of the event last time, so she couldnt even be considered as participating in the event, only acting as an NPC. Now that this chance came around, she couldnt hold in her desire to join an event herself this time! Before she could get to the Lifestone to teleport away, however, she was blocked by the registrar who was already lying in wait. Your Highness, youre already the lord of the Underground Hideout of Lancaster! You must settle down and build a great stronghold here! Old Registrar Vanke started persuading her again. After all, this is the starting point of Tierras revival, and the last territory we must not lose! Isnt there still the town? The young princess that was still looking for a chance to escape asked. Thats not necessarily true, Your Highness. The old man continued with a meaningful tone. The lord of that town is a noble from the Valla Empire, you see? What he meant by that was obvious. Even though the Unnamed Town was built based on the belief of the God of Games, but Angora was still, in essence, a noble from the Valla Empire, which was one of the countries that participated in dividing Tierra in the first place. Is that so? But thats okay, I believe the Valla Empire wouldnt allow their nobles to believe in the God of Games, no? The young princess thought for a bit, before refuting the registrars claim. What she meant, was that Angoras faith was also his greatest weakness in a way, and she could completely treat the former as an ally because of it. Perhaps, but even so, I beseech Your Highness to not act too rash so that the Underground Hideout of Lancaster does not lose to that town, please prioritize the growth of the hideout. The registrar was quite satisfied with the young princess refutal, because it meant that she was carefully considering everything, but even so, he wasnt planning on letting Princess Leah join that event any time soon. If it were just a dungeon or exploring the Valley of the Tragic Dead that didnt take a lot of time, he would be able to allow some exceptions, but it wasnt the same for events. From the information of the players that had come here for their daily quests, these events spanned a few days, and the event this time was at the Warty Tidal Flats that were even farther than the Unnamed Town, so the princess would have to spend a lot of time there. This meant that in the meantime, the growth of the Underground Hideout of Lancaster would stagnate for a few days, which was obviously extremely detrimental to development. Princess Leah became silent. Just as Vanke thought that the young princess had listened to his words, the latter spoke up again. But Grandpa Registrar, I still want to join the event! But Please let me finish. Before the old man could retort, the young princess stopped him somewhat rudely. Even though the Underground Hideout of Lancaster is indeed important and our only piece of land at the moment, but we cant spend too much time on it! My goal is not to be a qualified lord, not to cook or toil in the fields, nor to build a strong underground base The young princess fixed the registrar with a gaze that was more serious than ever before. I want to become a king that can rebuild Tierra, and make our flag fly once more! Even though there werent many sources of light because it was underground, the dim lighting making everything look dull, but at this moment the girls body seemed to shine with a majestic light, her brilliant golden hair fluttering in a convenient breeze that blew at her. She looked like a ray of sun in the dark underground cavern, and the sight made the old man speechless. He was reminded of His Majesty that had tamed his young, unruly self. Even though he was said to be the most foolish king in the world, but only those that had seen him with their own eyes knew that Yakaran the Eleventh was a king with a great aura and indisputable wisdom. It was truly a shame that the gaze that could see through all the lies of the world and the ruler that wanted to build a paradise on earth was shunned and treated as the source of disaster Vanke had thought that he could no longer see His Majestys unrivaled aura again, but at this moment, he saw traces of him in this young princess. In this world, the weak shall be toppled and torn into pieces by the enemy, while only the strong can rule, and revive our country! This is why I must fight, in order to become even stronger! Then, the young princess clasped her hands together in prayer. My Lord, if you are looking down on us with your omniscient eyes, please listen to the most sincere request from your loyal believer, Leah Yakaran. If you recognize Vanke Norekis talent, my Lord, then transfer to him my Overlord System! No, thats impossible The old man hadnt finished his sentence, before he received a system notification. Ding! [Do you accept the Overlord System from Leah Yakaran?] The old mans gaze moved away from the screen, staring dumbfounded at the young princess standing in front of him. The girl that once stumbled behind him and had always called him her Grandpa Registrar so sweetly had finally grown up I understand, Your Highness. It seems, that in my old age my mind has been lost in the past The old registrar smiled bitterly, before his expression became serious. If this is what you wish, then I shall bet this old and battered body of mine to protect the Underground Hideout of Lancaster, and offer my last strength to the revival of Tierra! After he said so, he chose to accept the Overlord System solemnly, officially becoming the lord of the Underground Hideout of Lancaster. As soon as he did, the young girls face shifted from solemness to exhilaration. Yay! I dont have to stay in this must place anymore! Boris, make everyone prepare, Im going to wait for you guys there! After she said so, she pranced towards the Lifestone happily, and disappeared in a flash of light. The old registrar: Why did he feel like he had been scammed? Chapter 74: Aquatic Lord As more players continued to arrive, the frogmen village became ever more crowded. Eleena and the village elder kept everyone calm, so that the frogmen just stared in bemusement as the players ran about the place. Some foolishly delved into the sea, looking for treasure, but never made it very far before sea monsters made a meal of them. If not for the forbiddingly cold weather, and the thick layer of snow that lay upon the ground, the players might even have turned the beach into an archaeological dig site, and not a single crab would have been spared. It wasnt that the frogmen had never seen humans beforebut these players were of a different breed. How could they throw their lives away so eagerly? Why did they insist on causing such a ruckus? The frogmen neither knew nor dared to ask. They simply let the players do as they pleased. Truth be told, if not for Xi Weis foresight on this matter, following up on Velas successful formation of an alliance with the frogmen by designating them as friendly units which could not be attacked no doubt some of the more belligerent players would already be testing their blades on these hapless bystanders. Fortunately, Princess Leahs arrival soon brought an end to the players assorted antics. Because they recognized her as the quest-giver NPC from the last raid on the Rotten Bones Church, and remembered her spectacular entrance towards the end, the princess was now well-regarded among the more experienced players. Considering how the newcomers had themselves been brought in under the close tutelage of these more-experienced players, she enjoyed a fair bit of second-hand renown as well. As such, they were hanging onto every word she was saying. Angora, who had never commanded such influence with the players, was on the verge of tears. Hed been there all along, leading them, training them hed been doing all of that before her! Damn it, why? After the players had settled down (if ever so slightly), Edward introduced Princess Leah to the frogmen elder. Certainly, in their exploration of the area, many players had noted this unusual-looking member of the frogmen tribe. Some of the most audacious players had even wanted to go up and have a laugh at his expense, but Edward and the others had grimly shooed them off. Greetings, elder. I am Leah Yakaran, Princess of Tierra. Grandpa Registrar, who had also been a majordomo for such functions before, stepped in to remind the princess of the proper etiquette. As a noble lady from Tierra meeting with the leader of another species, there were certain pleasantries to be exchanged. Well met, human princess. We are honoured to receive you in this humble place, the frogman elder said gently. Not a single blade of grass to be found here, such is our naked hospitality, heh heh heh Amused at his own wit, the frogman elder chuckled. Leah could only smile politely. Well, it is a sandy shore. The elder carried on about one thing after another for a while, but it was all just insubstantial small-talk. If the old manold frogkept going on like this, they wouldnt be finished even by sunset. And so, the young woman came right out and said it, This may be blunt of me, but I must know: Why is it that you would rather fight a hopeless battle than abandon this stretch of beach? This Warty Tidal Flat along the Grey Fjord Port held some strategic value to the Society of the Secret Eye, but only as a landing point for private traders. They wanted to build a port here for their own exclusive use, for no other reason but to boost the flow of goods through the region. Besides the advantage of the terrain itself, the beach basically held no worth. No mineral wealth beneath the ground, unsuitable for growing crops in the salt-soaked sand there was some fishing to be had in the shallows, but any further out to sea and youd be beset by monsters. Just as the elder had said, it was a humble place. Which was why it was so odd that the frogmen had elected to remain, in the face of these attacks by the Secret Eye Society. As far as she was aware, the frogmen were not the sort of people to get too attached to any particular piece of land. More at home in the water than any human could ever hope to be, they could easily retreat to the bottom of the shallows to evade the Society of the Secret Eye, and then find themselves a new home along some more prosperous stretch of the coastline. If they could tell her more about their side of the story, shed be better able to make a plan, such as helping to transfer the frogmen to another place, so that their abandoned village here could be used to set an ambush for the Secret Eye. Time permitting, they could even construct defense works and traps. The frogman elder was silent for a while. Just as the princess was thinking that he wouldnt answer the question after all, he quietly said, Young lady, are you familiar with the Aquatic Lord? The Aquatic Lord? Thats right. Thats the god we frogmen worship. Little human girl, have you ever heard about him? Leah was at a loss. She tried to summon all her knowledge of theology, but after much rumination, she still couldnt recall ever hearing about such a deity. As the successor to the rulership of Tierra, Leah had studied a great many things, including matters of gods and religions. One could say that in a world where the power of gods was manifest, this was an essential topic. However, not even she had ever heard of a god like that. She could pretend to recognize the title, and then ride along with whatever he had to say about the subjectbut she chose not to do such a thing. I beg your pardon, she apologized, I dont believe I know of such a figure. Thats to be expected, the elder murmured. Its been almost a thousand years since this god last demonstrated any of his powers. There are even some who believe that he was slain during the last Divine War! This information left Leah a little shocked. However, she recovered quickly. Was this relevant in any way to her question of why they were choosing to hold the beach? Weve always been here, the elder explained. In spite of the wind and the rain and the stormy sea, weve lingered here for a simple reason: A long, long time ago, our ancestors were entrusted with a task by the Aquatic God: As long as we remain here, and keep the faith, the day will come when our great deity will return to us, to lead our people once more. This past millennium, weve suffered endless hardships without a god watching over us, and weve been ridiculed and mistreated by other religions and races but weve never once lost faith that our god will return to us, and make everything alright again. No matter how dangerous or hopeless the situation may seem, we wont budge. This is our holy ground! The princess gasped, a sense of admiration welling up inside her, and she bowed slightly to him. She understood their plight better than anyone. During the fall of Tierra, the God of Games had done nothing. For a long time afterwards, the survivors had been pushed around by the other religions, until they finally retreated into the underground sewers. Even so, the princess continued to hold on to her faith in the God of Games. Now that shed finally summoned him with her prayers, it felt as though her life, which had been at a standstill this whole time, was finally in motion once again. However, compared to her scant few years of waiting, the faith of these frogmen had endured through the generations for close to a millennium! Small wonder that even an overwhelming foe such as the Society of the Secret Eye had failed to scare off the frogmen. Compared to a faith that had persisted for a thousand years, something as mundane as death held no terror for them. Chapter 75: Map Hacks There was no lifestone in the frogmen village, nor any NPCs to perform resurrections. The players could only count on those clerics whod learned the Resurrection skill. If their corpses were too badly damaged, not even Resurrection would be possible (at least half the corpse needed to still be intact), in which case youd have to wait around for three days so you could respawn at a lifestone. By now, pretty much every one of the players had experienced death before, but for the most part theyd either had a cleric nearby to bring them back to lifeor, in the case of the raid on the Rotten Bones Church, theyd revived at Leahs position. Few were the players whod ever actually had to wait three days for revival. Invariably, those players whod gone through it would rather never have to do so again. Of course, after their demise, they spent their temporary afterlives in Xi Weis Divine Kingdom. However, as a god, Xi Wei valued his own privacy, and obviously couldnt allow his faithful to wander freely through his domain. Hed long ago set aside a small area where his followers could wait out their penalty time. The problem was that they retained their consciousness during that time period. Since Xi Wei had no powers over the passing of time, that meant those unlucky faithful were practically being confined to a small dark cell for those three days. In fact, throughout that entire period of time, theyd be unable to move their arms or legs, or even look around. It was an ordeal you could only understand through first-hand experience. If not for their firm conviction in Xi Wei as the God of Games, along with a boost to their mental fortitude which gave them willpower exceeding the average of a person back on Earth some of those players might have gone a little strange afterwards. Xi Wei was aware of the problem, and a solution was already being prepared, but at present it was not an ideal situation. It was a real dilemma for Xi Wei and his Divine Kingdom. If he hadnt noticed something amiss with the frogmen village if he hadnt been paying attention to Leahs conversation with the frogman elder, and noticed how much was being left unsaid he might have erected a lifestone right in that village, so that his followers could gather there, maybe swing by for some sight-seeing in the future However, now that hed heard the frogmens story well, it put him in a tough spot. Although the frogman elder hadnt exactly said so, it had been made clear enough all the same: Beneath this village could very well be the last resting place of the Aquatic Lord, after his fall during the last Divine War! The frogmens prayers must have been feeding faith into the broken remnants of that fallen god for nearly a thousand years now. If not because they were so few in number, not to mention how their prayers were worth less than those of humans, a new divinity might well have been kindled in the Aquatic Lords remains by now. That being the case, erecting a lifestone in their village would be akin to starting a nightclub on their burial grounds, and inviting players to rave among the gravestones. It was enough to make the dead come clawing out of their coffins! How about if I set Leah as a revival point again? No, Im not up against some simple-minded fool of a god this time. If I do the same thing as last time, theyll make me pay through the nose for it. Ah, what a pain in the necknot that I have a neck at the moment, Xi Wei reflected. Screw this. For now, lets just try out everything I can think up. The players on the world below, oblivious to the concerns of their god, were bustling to make ready for war, as well as carrying their explorations into the homes of the frogmen. However, before there was even any sign of the enemy, there was a quest update in the game system. Oh, wow! Are there only sixty-seven enemies this time? Theres a bounty on each one! Lets have a look Taking down each target will gain us Reward Pointsisnt that kind of similar to the Revenge Points from last time? No, this time you can do more with the points than just exchange them for stuff: The top ten players with the highest scores will get extra rewards as well! Summer Sun, this Black Whip dude is worth a ton of points! Were even getting a full map, so I guess theres no need for recon this time? Thats not all: It says here that the green dots are players, and the red dots are enemies. Theyve got no hope at all of catching us by surprise! Looking for group! Looking to party! Level-22 Shadow Rogue. Let me take all the last hits, and when I make it into the Top 10, everyone in the team will get a share of the reward! Party with me! Level-18 Soul Blade. I can tank, I can DPS. No Rangers! What do you have against Rangers? Did one of them kill your cat or something? With all the data on their enemies that Xi Wei had provided, the players felt practically clairvoyant now, and were scrambling to find a team to work with. Already, they were negotiating claims on bounties with one another. Seeing this spike in their morale, Xi Wei felt some relief. Hopefully, they would do well in this battle. All those quest rewards would cost him quite a bit of divine energy, but it was a small price to pay to alleviate the massive headache over player deaths and revivals. With a little bit of luck, the pay-off would balance out the costs. There was also a chance that he would come out of this at a loss, but this battle was necessary nevertheless. Not because of some noble desire to protect the frogmenXi Wei wasnt some burning-heart animal-rights activist. If he was going to offer shelter to some species or other, it would have to be something that was bouncy and cute, but also handy in a fightmaybe useful as a mount too, if they were in a different kind of era (even if riding something bouncy into a fight could prove deeply regrettable). Basically, nothing like these slimy toads, here. What he was really after was the remains of the Aquatic Lord, which quite possibly lay beneath this parcel of land. If he could siphon off those divine remnants, it could grant a huge boon to his own powers, and raise him above all the other minor deities. If he could do that, then even if the Skull God rallied the last of the Rotten Bones survivors and led them against him, Xi Wei should be able to hold his own. He was not completely indifferent to the legacy of the frogmen and their thousand-year vigil, but there was a time and place for sentimentality. He had to keep moving towards his goals, and faith was the fuel of a god. Once those players have driven off the Secret Eye Society, Ill task Eleena with playing the role of a priestess. Shell inform the frogmen that their god is about to consecrate their land This will help persuade them to build a few more structures, which means yes, a sandy beach hardly makes for a good, solid foundationso well have to perform some excavations, perfectly reasonable. Even if something weird gets dug up, and then vanishes in a flash of light Im sure theyll just roll with it. Xi Weis mind was buzzing with schemes, and the more he thought about it, the more excited he became. More to the point: Whatever those excavations might turn up, as long as I make my move quickly enough, no one will have any clue what really happened! Regarding the possibility of finding nothing after all, Xi Wei couldnt deny that it would make all of this a huge waste of time. Chapter 76: New Potions Across the Warty Tidal Flat, the players were preparing to meet the Society of the Secret Eye in battle. Meanwhile, many miles away, dark plots were afoot in Lancaster City. Black Ferret Lane ran through the southwestern quarter of the city, along the outlying regions, near the city walls. At first glance, there was nothing remarkable about it. However, those in the know could tell you that this was where youd find the largest black market in all of Lancaster City. No. 58, The Golden Rose, was a name known far and wide. Its proprietor, Manager Alvankent, was an influential man, and his friends procured illicit goods from every corner of the world. It was said that the Golden Rose was the sort of place where one could buy anything provided they had the money. Few were those who were aware, however, that Alvankent was a devotee of Sothos, the God of Herbs and Poisons. Hed originally made his fortune selling potions that were cheaper than what all the other churches were offering. The God of Herbs and Poisons was a subordinate of the God of Alchemy, and was roughly equivalent in standing to the Skull God. He was far more powerful than a newcomer like Xi Wei. Like the God of Alchemy above him, the God of Herbs and Poisons never got involved in the quarrels of other gods. As long as there were people who gathered herbs or concocted poisons, he had no need to fear extinction. As such, he mostly kept to himself, and only commanded a modest following of worshippers. However, just because a particular god was a conservative loner, that didnt necessarily mean the same was true of his followers. Take Manager Alvankent for example: Using the lack of religious colleagues to his advantage, hed easily secured a high rank amongst the faithful, thereby taking over all operations for the benefit of his own business and connections. If business continued to go smoothly, he could even become one of the great rich men of the eastern continent. However, this was not a world you could conquer with business savvy alone. The methods by which he conducted business often clashed with the interests of other parties. Once, hed crossed somebody who preferred action over words, someone with limitless power and zero patience Alvankent hadnt even been given the chance to offer an apology before they ruined him completely. Fleeing with his tail between his legs, he could only eke out a wretched existence in the shadows of Lancaster City now. Fortunately, those early years of hard work had not gone completely to waste. With his connections to his fellow faithful, materials could be acquired cheaply. With a widespread network already in place, Alvankent had even managed to do well for himself, drawing enormous profits every day. Among his various products, the curative properties of the Elixir of Life and the invigorating effects of the Elixir of Will were by far the most popular. And yet, business had been slow these past two days. Seeing constipation in his golden goose, he naturally couldnt stand idly by. Hed already commissioned the best people in Lancaster City to find out the root cause of his problems. Two days passed in the blink of an eye. Alvankent was dozing off in his shop when the bell over the door rang out. Lifting his head, he saw a skinny youth in a black leather coat and a large fur cap walking in. Alvankents eyes lit up. Lang, have you managed to find out anything regarding that matter I asked you to look into? Brushing the snow off his sleeves, the young man gave him a sly smile. Naturally, otherwise what business would I have coming back here to see you, manager? His expression became serious as he took a seat before Alvankent, and laid out an overview of the situation. According to my investigations, two new potions have suddenly been introduced to the market, with effects similar to those best-sellers of yoursexcept that theyre available at a lower price. That should explain your sudden loss of customers. The young man fished out two small bottles from within his coat, one filled with a red liquid, the other with blue. The contents of both were effervescing gently. Here, these two potions, the young man named Lang declared. The red one is called Individual Dosage, One-Use Tactical Healing Potion, or Coca-Cola for short. Like the Elixir of Life, it can heal a certain amount of damage in moments. However, it has no effect against curses, diseases or poisons. The blue one is called Individual Dosage, Consumable Mini-Stimulant, or Pepsi Cola for short. Its similar to the Elixir of Will, but has no noticeable effect for most people. Its mainly sought after by mages. I fail to see any connection between the proper names and the nicknames Alvankent muttered. I think the one selling these potions was going on about how, Thats just what theyre called. I dont have any explanations to offer you in this respect. Hmph. Cheap tricks. Although he said so, Alvankent was thinking to himself, no wonder the Brilliant White Church, a purveyor of potions, seemed to have made no response to this matter. With the limited nature of these potions effects, in fact making them inferior to his elixirs, they were no threat to the upmarket potions trade. It was no surprise that the blue one was well-received by spellcasters. Even his own Elixir of Will had never been in universal demandonly mages were willing to pay for any real amount of the stuff. Alvankent placed the potions upon the counter-top, then brought out his crystal loupe to have a closer look. As a high-ranking devotee, one step away from being the high priest of the God of Herbs and Poisons, he had an innate ability to discern the ingredients of any mixture. The crystal loupe he wore over one eye was also an enchanted item in its own right. Strangely, no matter which of his analytical techniques he employed upon these two potions, all the results he got were baffling. The feedback from the red potion read: Medicine Grass, Honey, Water; from the blue potion, he got: Mana Flowers, Honey, Water. Alvankent was familiar with Medicine Grass and Mana Flowers. Medicine Grass was a beneficial herb with blood-clotting and pain-relieving properties, and was the first herb anyone learned about. It was used in almost every curative potion ever created. Mana Flowers were similar to mint, with subtle calming and stimulating properties. No need to discuss honey and water. Putting it all together, all you had was herbs in syrup. It shouldnt be able to produce such potent effects. How much does each one sell for? he asked, removing the loupe at last. Both types are 150 Rions a pop, Lang replied. Not that much cheaper, Alvankent muttered. How did it become so popular? Considering typical consumer behavior, if two products were roughly equal in terms of price and quality, most people would just stick with what they were used to. Something like this shouldnt have been able to displace him in the market so easily. Well the young man seemed a touch nervous as he whispered, I hear its pretty tasty. Tasty? Alvankent frowned, and opened up the blue one. First, he held it up for a careful sniff, but nothing seemed out of sorts. With a sudden surge of daring, he quaffed the whole thing in a rapid series of gulps, and then released a long, powerful burp. In addition to the typical stimulating effects of such a potion, Alvankents expression was one of pure bliss. A moment later, the look on his face soured again. The taste and sensation were both excellent, and its beneficial effects were undeniable. Now he understood how the product had gained such a lead over him overnight. Worse, it would be difficult for him to duplicate such a thing: Flavors could be introduced with various herbs, but how had this refreshing effervescence been achieved? Even if he managed to replicate the process, it would probably raise production costs through the roof. When he thought about how this competitor was actually selling these items at lower prices than his If he raised his own prices just for the sake of improved flavor, he would surely be digging his own grave. But something had to be done! At this thought, Alvankent waved the young man over. I have a new task for you Chapter 77: Toxic to the Core Marni Wilf trudged through the snow with his caravan. He was leaving Lancaster City. It wasnt that he couldnt move directly from the city to the underground stronghold. What he was worried about was that he might have attracted some unfriendly attention after he began selling those two new potions. If he took too direct a route to where he was going, then although he might appear to have vanished at first, it was likely that someone would eventually discover the secret entrance to his hide-out, and that could be a real problem. As such, every time hed finished with his business within the city, hed take the long way back around, and access Lancaster Citys sewers from the outside. As one of the players, he had a map of the subterranean tunnel network, so there was no fear of getting lost. However, after doing things this way several times, events nevertheless began to progress towards his worst case scenario. A faint shadow flitted past Marni, and gave him a little nod. As expected, someone suspicious is following me? he sighed. The spirit began pantomiming various gestures. Marni watched for a moment, then cocked an eyebrow. Thats a lot of people. Three dozen? Mostly a bunch of hired vagrants? Thats fine, then. He grinned, and a nasty sort of light flashed through his eyes. If it had been something like the Holy Corps of the Brilliant White Church coming after him, hed definitely be running for dear life right this very moment, and he would never bring his wares to Lancaster City again until hed risen in level some more. But if it was just some random collection of bums, that indicated the person pulling the strings was of limited means. After Marni parted ways with the Silver Chimes Merchant Guild, hed made some changes to his caravan: Now, all the drivers and guards were players too! Although Ivan was the only one among them whod even gone through a class change, the rest of the newer players had nevertheless been seasoned with time, and they were now at an average level of 10. Never mind a rabble like thiseven if they were up against proper troops, equal to them in number, theyd have the upper hand all the same! Before long, the leader of the pursuers noticed that Marni was meandering aimlessly in circles, and understood that theyd been spotted. Rather than beating around the bush any further, they decided to just make use of their superior numbers, and quickly surrounded the caravan. Although Marni had already been informed by his summoned spirit about how most of the pursuers were nothing to worry about, when he saw them in their rags, shivering in the snow, yet shouting and posturing in a desperate attempt to appear menacing Marni couldnt help but sigh. Mister Wilf, I congratulate you on the success of your new Cola products. The one in the lead had some nice stuff on him, and so did the two henchmen flanking him. It was a stark contrast from the rest of the motley crew. They outnumbered Marnis people at least three-to-one, and so they probably felt like they were in full control of the situation. With a flippant smirk, the leader of the pursuers continued, I wonder if youd be interested in becoming partners? We could make it rich together. Ah, not interested. Marni couldnt be bothered to banter with him like this, and gave him a curt reply. The other mans expression darkened instantly. Examining Marnis cold indifference, he snarled, Youd better give it some careful thought. At the moment, Im still willing to let you be somebody, moving forward. We can each have a slice of the pie. If you really dont know how to count your blessings, I may have to resort to a slightly more direct approach, in order to persuade you to share all your secrets with me! Alright. After much deliberation, I remain uninterested. Marni felt as though he could see a puff of smoke rising out from the other mans head, but couldnt decide if it was from rage or shame. Whichever the case, this signified a breakdown of negotiations. Beat them up! Take whatever you want from their bodies and their wagons! With that, the horde of hobos attacked. I feel sorry for you guys, but I must warn you nevertheless: Lay a hand on any one of us, and youd better be ready to die Before Marni could finish, some of the vagrants charged in at him, eyes on the fine jacket he was wearing. Marni could only sigh again. Well, you brought this upon yourselves. As though refusing to defend himself, he laid down both hands. Then he whispered, Im Iron Man. Next instant, red and gold armor plating flew in out of nowhere, assembling themselves upon Marnis body with resounding clangs, forming a full-body suit of metal armor! This startling development left the attackers stunned. Even the one commanding them, not far away, was gaping in shock. Then, he was looking upon Marnis armor with undisguised greed. Jarvis! Marni called out, and his spirit wreathed the armor in an ethereal blue glow, the light shining from the seams between the armor plates. This was something amusing that Marni had discovered through experimentation: If a Spirit Swordsman progressed down the Evil Blade skill tree, their spirit would attach itself to their weapon, enhancing the damage done with their skills. And yet, here and there were Swordsman skills which involved foregoing the blade to attack enemies bare-handed. One key example was Shoulder Throw, which was available at Level 3. If no sword was equipped, what would that spirit enhancement technique do? The answer was that it would be applied upon ones armor, if that could somehow be perceived as a weapon! This greatly augmented the properties of the armorand when using Brawling skills such as Shoulder Throw, the damage would be greatly increased as well! This was the personal configuration which Marni had arrived at through his own initiative. It might also be worth mentioning that when he first formed a pact with his spirit, Jarvis was a name suggested by the system, and since he thought it sounded alright, hed kept it. Iron Palm! Meteor Slam! Dragons Fang! Ora-ora-ora-ora-ora! Youre already dead! With frightening speed, the red-and-gold armored figure unleashed a series of attacks upon the hobos leading the charge. Their leader only saw Marnis fists as a blur, a storm of shadows, and then the men closing in around Marni exploded in a shower of blood! Marni was one of many players who had come from a similarly humble background as their adversaries. It was precisely because of that, that they understood how precious their new lives were. They wouldnt let anyone take it from them just for the sake of a bit of pity, and struck down the oncoming vagrants without hesitation. Both sides had barely made contact for a moment, and the enemy forces had already suffered grievous losses. Not even the bodyguards, for all their fancy equipment, were any match for the players. One could tell that theyd been well-trained, but they little experience with real combat. The players, hardened by actual life-or-death battles, made short work of them. Wait, you cant kill me I can give you money The leader of the pursuers had finally realized the gravity of his situation. Seeing that his pleas were falling upon deaf ears, he turned to flee, but Marni easily pinned him down. Knowing there was no escape for him now, he roared furiously at Marni. Just you wait my father will avenge my death! With these words, his body expanded rapidly, like a balloon. Sensing danger, Marni tried to get away, but when the mans body exploded, if not for the full-face mask he was wearing, hed be splattered all over with black blood. Well Ill be I didnt judge him capable of such viciousness, Marni muttered soberly. Having mopped up the last of their opponents, Ivan walked over and took a look at Marni. Eh, why is your health falling? he wondered aloud. What? Holy crap! When did I get poisoned? Ahh that guy was toxic to the core! Damn it, Im dead again Before he could finish that last thought, Marni keeled over to the ground. Chapter 78: Buried Treasure The excitement in Lancaster City changed nothing in Grey Fjord Port, many miles away. Now that she understood the significance of Warty Tidal Flat to the frogmen tribe, Princess Leah abandoned her plans to lay an ambush for their enemies there. After some discussion with the leaders of the various player parties, they decided to attack from the woods about two kilometers away from the cliffs. According to Edward, whod infiltrated the Society of the Secret Eye to provide information on where they were gathered, unless the enemy forces purposely extended their route by another fifteen or sixteen kilometers to go around the woods, they would definitely be passing through there. The scouts theyd sent to spy on the Secret Eyes camps had been discovered by the enemy, and immediately slain. Things were really getting exciting now. Currently, the players still lacked the ability to exchange instant messages over long distances, but party leaders were able to monitor the status of their teammates. When those scouts fell afoul of the enemy sortie, they used a code that had been arranged ahead of time, applying a certain series of buffs upon themselves in a specific order. With this rudimentary coded message, they were able to inform their team leadersa dozen kilometers awaythat the enemy was on the move. In response to this alert, the players leapt into action. Transportation methods in this setting were generally unimpressive. Ordinary people travelling in such weather should only be able to move at a crawl. At best, they could maybe get some sleds, and somehow find some Huskies to pull them through the snow. The warrior-type classes were unable to use magic to summon up any mounts, but they could run at the speed of bullet trains, and easily surpass the speed of sound. Inclement weather meant nothing to them. The members of the Society of the Secret Eye couldnt come anywhere close to such superhuman feats. Even Black Whip, the mightiest among them, was only comparable to a player at Level 40 or so. Without any high-level divine gifts, he probably couldnt even go toe-to-toe with a high priest of the Rotten Bones. All things considered, the very fastest he could go was only at about the speed of a horse-drawn chariot. Moving out immediately upon receiving that signal from the scouts, the players were easily able to find good ambush positions, and lay in wait to catch the Secret Eye troops by surprise. Xi Wei himself granted all the participating players a limited-time consumable item, Eggnog: Even if they had to lie in the freezing snow for half the day, one mouthful of that Eggnog and theyd be back on their feet at full strength, untouched by the cold! Besides that, perhaps inspired by the players astounding abilities, the normally sedate frogmen had become alive with energy, positively swarming from the nest to assist the players with their ambush on the Society of the Secret Eye! Even the frogman elder had produced some long, crooked staff from a corner of his great conch shell of a home, and came following after them along with Croakatoa. In his own words, this ambush would do little to help their situation, but he would come along anyway, and support his fellow frogmen with combat buffs. This meant there was no one in the frogmen village at the moment. To the frogmen, this would be a last, desperate stand. Removing themselves from their homes meant distancing themselves from distractions. Whatever might happen to those empty houses was of no concern to them now. Theyd left nothing of value behind besides some salted fish. It wasnt as though the Society of the Secret Eye was after their material goods. Their only interest was in the land. Even if they somehow got around the ambush and occupied the village, it wouldnt serve any purpose. It was hard to imagine that theyd go to so much trouble for something that would gain them no merit. However, this presented a delightful opportunity for Xi Wei. Descending to the mortal world straight away, he strolled through the frogmen village. Truth be told, the players had already turned over the soil three feet deep, all throughout the village. Not even a metal detector would find you any treasures herebesides the salted fish. But Xi Wei was looking for something hidden much deeper. I knew it. This aint no ordinary village. Hed already had his suspicions: The frogmen shouldnt have the ability to bring down a monster over ten meters in length, and even use its shell for a home. As such, the massive structure at the center of the village raised certain questions. Prior to their alliance, the frogman elder had told them that it was this Aquatic Lord of theirs who had helped their ancestors settle the land here. Nearly a thousand years ago, these frogmen had to have been little more than primitive cavemen. How had they all been anchored to a specific spot like this? What would have been the simplest way to accomplish this? By creating a highly conspicuous landmark. And what sort of landmark would inspire the frogmen to willingly take residence upon this sandy beach? The answer was as clear as day: A ready-made home with many rooms within, which could endure for millennia. Its more than a landmark Xi Wei knocked upon the chitinous walls, and sensed faint traces of magic flowing through them. Realization dawned upon him. It also serves as a magical focus. Ah, the patterns on the surface are actually runic symbols Interesting. A shell like this would already be infused with magical energies, and should be able to repair itself to some degree. Channeling the power of their faith, it could lure an abundance of fish to the shallow waters nearby. Maybe it wards off sea monsters, too? Whichever the case, this leviathan seashell was a landmark not just for the frogmen ancestors, but for Xi Wei as well. It didnt take him long to figure out the pattern behind the enchantments. Judging by the alignment of the shell, he was able to locate the nexus point. Standing at that spot, he opened his senses to the world. In an instant, his perception pierced through the earth below. Approximately one thousand and five hundred meters below the surface, there was an altar. It wasnt something humans could have madeit looked like a holy symbol which had somehow manifested into a physical thing, and it was still emanating a faint hint of divinity. There, at the center of the altar, lay what Xi Wei was looking for: The body of the Aquatic Lord! Not shattered remnants, as Xi Wei had assumed at first; it was a whole, complete body! Well, perhaps not completely wholeexamining the body more closely, he discovered numerous defects. Comparing a divine avatar to a crystal ball, the Aquatic Lord was cracked all over, like a crystal ball that had been shattered all to pieces, and then put back together again. And filling up those cracks, like the glue holding everything together, was a thousand years of faith from the frogmen! Chapter 79: Wrath of God Fearing unforeseen complications, Xi Wei absconded with the relic immediately, and brought it back to his divine kingdom, where he hastily tore it apart and absorbed the essence into himself. It would take some time to fully assimilate it all, but at least it wasnt lying around out there, waiting to be nicked by someone else. However, once the deed was done, Xi Wei wondered if perhaps hed been too reckless. A divine avatar also possessed some trace of the gods memories. When Xi Wei had first arrived in this dimension, he had relied upon the memories of the previous God of Games to get started here. The Rotten Bones was a similar case, a newborn deity just like him, with little knowledge of his own. The memories that one had inherited were mostly to do with the revenants, and were limited in their applications. Such was not the case with the Aquatic Lord: Hed been an elder god to begin with, and even with the destruction of his avatar, the remnants still held a wealth of ancient lore. There were secrets here which mere mortals could never hope to learn: For example, all life in this world had once gone extinct. The various species which were alive now actually represented a second generation, recreated by the gods. Another secret was that there had been as many as three Divine Wars in the past: The first one had been between the gods and the exiles. The second one had been between the old gods and the new. The third one corresponded to the memories inherited from the God of Gamesthe War of Gods and Demons, which had shattered the continent into seven pieces. A long time ago, the original God of Games had been slain by other gods, and some measure of his power had been stripped away. However, no one had taken up his portfolio or supplanted his role, so a renewal of faith had been able to bring about a replacement. Of course, these tidbits were a long way from being any of Xi Weis concern, for one thing. For another, the poor condition of the avatar caused the memories to be hazy and indistinct, so that he couldnt get anything more than a rough idea of what had happened. The details were all in a jumble, and there was no longer any hope of sorting them out. It was something else entirely which was causing him such dismay. Even before he laid claim to the Aquatic Lords remains, Xi Wei had felt that something was amiss. After defeating him in the Divine War, why had Prometheus, the Thief of Fire, not absorbed the Aquatic Lords essence right then and there? There had been a simple reason, it turned out: After Prometheus had smashed in his skull and crushed his body, the Aquatic Lords superior, the Ocean God, arrived just in time to kick his ass in return. If not for Prometheus beating it as fast as he could, hed probably have fallen during that war himself, ganked by the Ocean God. Although the Ocean God did not stand among the Seven Divine Fathers, he was an immensely powerful elder god in his own right, and the ultimate authority over the oceans. Besides the Aquatic Lord, he also commanded the fealty of deities such as the Wavelord, the God of Maelstroms and Tsunamis, the Tidecaller, and many others besides. In terms of power, he was not far behind the Seven Divine Fathers. When the Aquatic Lord was struck down, the Ocean God responded with a furious surge of typhoons to drown the land and extinguish all fires, which would have brought about the end of the Thief of Fire (not to mention all other deities who were associated with fire). The Seven Divine Fathers, who held the faith of all living creatures across the land, naturally couldnt allow such monstrous folly on the part of the Ocean God. They overthrew him and made him vow never to set foot on dry land again, and then sent him back to his cerulean domain in disgrace. Afterwards, the Ocean God gathered up the broken remnants of the Aquatic Lord, and buried him in the sand beside the water. He bade the frogmen to keep their faith, hoping that it would heal the Aquatic Lord. Once the healing process was complete, it would have been up to the Ocean God to anoint one of the faithful to become the next Aquatic Lord, or perhaps to allow a replacement to appear naturally. And then, right on the cusp of that advent, Xi Wei had broken in and made off with the goods. When the Ocean God found out about this, hed likely be facing the wrath of an elder god. Dont panic elder gods are generally slow to act, Xi Wei consoled himself frantically. I can just keep going as planned. As long as I work fast enough, Ill soon be out of their reach! The fat was in the fire now. Even if Xi Wei spat the divinity back out, brushed it off, and returned it to its rightful owner, hed probably get splattered all over the wall just the same. That being the case, rather than freak out, hed use the pressure to become a diamond. He would drive his players onward, recruit more to his side, and keep on expanding. If he could get himself enough followers, it would be possible to stand against even the Ocean God. Whats more, that guy had sworn never to set foot on dry land, hadnt he? If his crime was discovered too soon, and vengeance came knocking on the door, hed flee to the mortal world and find a place to hide. In the fullness of time, hed find a way to turn the tides. At this thought, Xi Weis gaze wandered unbidden to the world below, and to his players. Do your best, guys *** Joe sneezed. Quiet, you fool! What if the enemy hears us? Edward hissed. Sorry, my nose got itchy. Joe sniffed, and muttered, By the way, I feel like Ive suddenly become much more powerful. Our god must be watching us right now! No, its because you froze to death a moment earlier, and Eleena had to bring you back, Gou Dan whispered. Im sure you know that you get full health and mana from being resurrected. What! You can die in this snow? Obviously. Doesnt that happen a lot? Even if you werent paying attention to your health bar, this shouldnt be news to you, Edward muttered. What do you think that Eggnog is for? Try raising the Pain Sensitivity setting a little, Gou Dan suggested. Thatll clue you in when something bad is happening to you. Wheres Eleena? I should thank her. Joe looked around, feeling sheepish. Shes with the frogmen again, Jessica whispered in reply. Without her looking after them, they get anxious. Their hushed conversation was interrupted by Joes spirit whizzing through the snow-laden evergreen forest to appear before them. It was frantically pantomiming something. Everyone instantly fell silent. The enemy approaches. Everyone get ready for battle! Edward whispered. He glanced at the spirit, and remarked with a tone of envy, If not for the range limit from its user, this thing would be the ultimate scout. In the distance, a convoy trundled laboriously down the forest path. The wagon drivers hollered at one another, unhappy about the rough going. Halfway down the path, the silence between the trees was broken by a battle cry. Chapter 80: Her Majesty All told, there werent a lot of people involved in the battle. There were tribal skirmishes which boasted larger numbers than this. Nevertheless, the fight between the players and the Society of the Secret Eye was a fierce one. The Secret Eyes alchemist proved to be all but worthless, swiftly dispatched by the players. However, with his dying breath he activated some Bone Incense. They werent very far from the Valley of the Tragic Dead. Although the royal army regularly patrolled the area, there were always a few undead wandering through the region. The incense smoke wafted through the air, and skeletons began pouring in. Skeletons didnt discriminate between the living, and attacked people on both sides. Nevertheless, they had a larger effect on the players. Comparing their best fighters as well as their average combat strength, the players were at a slight disadvantage, and were relying upon their morale, their numbers, and the element of surprise to gain the upper hand. Ignoring the question of morale for the time being, as the battle continued to drag on, the shock value from the ambush naturally dissipated. Having to engage the skeletons as well meant they no longer outnumbered the enemy by the same proportion. Having become more accustomed to leadership, Edward immediately noticed that the enemy seemed to have realized the importance of their support classes, and what might be their version of Rogues were already circling around to flank their formation, hoping to pick off what few Clerics they had. Warriors, Taunt the enemy! Protect the Clerics! Edward hollered at the top of his voice. Everyone else, get the Bosses! In a game, this sort of strategy could easily lead to their downfall, since a Boss would typically be surrounded by elite units. The better way to go about things would be to focus fire on those elite units to efficiently bring them down beforehand, then regroup to attack the Boss. But this was no game, and they werent slaying monstersthey were up against real, live people. Morale was a very real concern. Edward had infiltrated the Secret Eyes camp before, where hed learned that this faction of the Valla Empire was basically united in the fear of their leader, the Black Whip. In other words, defeating the Black Whip would also extinguish the enemys fighting spirit! It wasnt mandatory for Warriors to tank up with shieldshowever, as with Brawling, there were specialized skills involving shields, mainly concerned with improving defense and health, as well as some counter-attack techniques. Among these techniques, the most useful was undoubtedly Taunt. In situations like these, Shield Warriors truly shone. Hey, maggot! Why dont you run home and cry to your husband? Your mother was a hamster, and your father smelled of elderberries! Using the Taunt skill meant actually using your own voice to draw the enemys attention, but there was no practical difference between simply bellowing Taunt!, or embellishing it with something else, so it was a mystery why Shield Warriors always felt the need to get fancy with it. Perhaps they built up a lot of resentment from tanking all that damage. Smack! Leah, going toe-to-toe with the elite enemy troops, let her guard down for an instant, and her banner-adorned spear was knocked out of her hands by a canny foe. Haha, youre finished! Brandishing dual scimitars, the Secret Eye fighter ran a tongue over his blades in an obscene gesture, his face alight with wicked delight. He wanted to see this blonde babe cowering in terror and panic before him. Although he was a fairly high-ranking member within the Society, whenever any of the members committed a serious offence, he always carried out the punishment personally. He took great pleasure in seeing their horror, despair, hatred, and desperation as he carved them up. This time, however, things didnt go as hed expected. Oh? I dont think so. Leah glanced at her fallen spear with a look of disappointment. It had been her reward for being the event NPC during the raid on the Rotten Bones Church. Xi Wei had bequeathed the weapon upon her personally. It was merely an Elite-tier item with the Indestructible property, which also extended the radius of her Auras by 20%. As a Warrior Princess, Leah was festooned with Auras. That Aura-expanding banner-spear was the perfect item for her in a team fight. But the thing was that it was mainly useful only during team fights. That was the only time when using it was worthwhile. In a solo duel, however, it was crap. It only had the stats of an Elite-tier item, and she didnt have any skills which required it to be equipped. The truth was that it wasnt her best weapon, in spite of the way it gleamed with divine radiance. Others might look upon it and imagine it to be an immensely powerful artifactcompletely ignoring the longsword sheathed at her hip! My god, wont you avert your eyes from me for a moment with a whispered prayer, she drew the blade. Whats this? You fancy a sword fight, now? Too bad for youeven more so than spears, I happen to specialize in defeating opponents with swords! Lets see you defend yourself against me, then! With a flick of her wrist, the princesss sword became a bladed whip! At the same time, something changed in her expression. The cast of her features changed from pious to haughty in the blink of an eye, her lips twisted into a vicious sneer. Her Viper Blade whirled through the air in a flashing blur, lashing and snapping all about her! Kneel before me, uwahahahahaha! Every rock and tree within reach of her whip-blade was split and sundered effortlessly, until everything had been shredded into a million fragments. The Secret Eye swordsman frantically parried a couple of strikes before being consumed by the whirling bladestorm. When the blade fell away at last, his badly lacerated body simply toppled over, barely recognizable as human. Thats not a sword he managed to gasp with his last, dying breath. The brutality of that display meant that neither friend nor foe dared to get too close to Princess Leah for a while. Your-your Highness One of her bodyguards squeaked, approaching on tip-toes. You will refer to me as Your Majesty! Leah snapped in cold reply. Uh Your Highness he choked at the words, and when he saw the chilling light in her eyes, he stammered, Your Majesty! At this, Leah nodded with satisfaction. Meanwhile, the bodyguard rolled his eyes, thinking, When you come back to your senses, and remember this moment, dont go looking for a hole to die in or anything. Chapter 81: The Fall of Black Whip Black Whip didnt have a clue where these suicidal buggers had come from. All hed wanted to do was go squish some frogs, in order to clear the way for construction upon Grey Fjord Port. Why were they suddenly being attacked by a whole bunch of tough customers like these? They were a real challenge to handle. All his subordinates had already been locked down. The native frogmen themselves were barely contributing to the fight at all, trading blows with the skeletons over here, attempting some harassment over there Long years of combat experience had honed his senses to a razors edge. Reaching behind himself, he snatched someone out of the shadows, just as they were about to stab him in the back. Black Whip had never known the meaning of holding back. He took one glance at the other players rushing in to the rescue, then snapped his prisoners neck with one savage motion. All of a sudden, the would-be assassin stopped trashing about, and went stillbut Black Whip wasnt finished: Squeezing harder, he tore the head right off in a fountain of blood. Tossing the corpse aside, he licked the blood off his lips. It was a terrifying sight to witness. Normally, such a gruesome display would have been enough to make any approaching enemies wet themselves. Even if they didnt turn tail and flee immediately, they would have all but lost the will to fight. And yet, these unknown assailants seemed to pay no heed to the death of their comrade, never breaking in their charge towards him. Black Whip spat, drew back his whip, and with a flick of his wrist, sent the incoming attackers flying away from him! A young mage nearby hurled fireballs and frost bolts at him. Somewhere in the flurry of spells were a few crossbow bolts as well, fired by a hunter. It was all in vain. The sinew from the tail of a Silkwhip Scorpion formed the core of his whip, which had then been wrapped in the leather of a Swamp Crocodile. From there, master alchemists and craftsmen had, through a complicated series of procedures, shaped it into the final product. Not only was the whip impervious to blades, it could deflect anything short of advanced magic as well. It could strike with devastating force, and the finesse with which he used it made him a unique opponent to face. This was where he got his name from. With the slightest twitch of the whip, he knocked aside the incoming projectiles. Huh? As he was about to strike down those enemy Warriors closest to him before dealing with that Mage and his Hunter friend, Black Whip ducked suddenly, dodging a vicious slash from the side. Having whiffed his attack, this Rogue moved to retreat back into the shadows, but Black Whip was faster. The whip coiled around the Rogues throat and yanked him over. You again! How? Seeing the mans face, Black Whip froze in shock. It was the same man whose head hed ripped off just a moment ago. Twin brothers? Hed heard rumors of assassin guilds training twin brothers for such purposes. As he thought about this, he noticed the Warriors hed beaten down earlier being healed rapidly by a young girl with silver twintails. Something like the Radiant Priests of the Brilliant White Church Black Whips eyes narrowed. He twisted the whip, snapping the mans neck once again, then discarded the corpse as he moved to eliminate the girl first. He had no qualms about killing women. The only good enemy was a dead one. Joe, Taunt him! the young Mage called out. Another young man, whod been lying on the ground, rolled onto his feet. Banging a fist to his chest, he roared, Piss-wad! Black Whip felt an indescribable fury swell within himself. Actually, first hed kill that twerp with the filthy mouth. But he had a tight grip on his whip, and its innate magic resistance helped him to keep hold of his senses. Dismissing the last vestiges of that stray impulse, he proceeded with his original plan, and bore down on the healer girl! He was right on top of her now. He only had to fend off another volley from the Mage-and-Hunter duo, and then nothing could stop him from ending the girls life! Black Whip stared as the girl hefted her iron-bound grimoire, and shoved it in his face. Phoenix Impact! What the hell kind of impact involved a phoenix? As the hardcover tome knocked him into the air, Black Whip thought he saw the words Holy Bible emblazoned across the front. Probably a sacred text from the girls religion. Does your god know about how youve been throwing around his divine words! he roared inwardly. In his divine kingdom high above, Xi Wei saw what had been wrought, and he saw that it was good. Black Whip fell hard to the ground, spewing blood, and decided that hed taken more damage in that one hit than hed suffered throughout the whole campaign. I see I thought she looked frail and helpless, but it turns out shes your real trump card! No wonder the Mage and the Hunter had seemed faintly amused by his charge towards her, and had only made a half-hearted attempt to intercept him. Black Whip felt hed seen through the enemys tactics, now. The way things were going, itd be best to retreat. He brought his whip around to swat aside the foes who stood in his way, and then make good his escape. This time, however, a bladed whip shot in from the opposite direction, tangling up his whip and preventing any further attacks with it! Black Whip turned and saw an imperious figure, a young lady with golden hair, who regarded him with a wicked leer. Its all over! Your Society of the Secret Eye shows no concern for the lives of the common folk, pillaging and razing as you please, and trafficking in dangerous materials and creatures! the young Mage declared grandiloquently. Your defeat was pre-ordained! It will begin with the downfall of Valla! He raised his staff high into the air, and a blue radiance gathered at its tip. Eat this! Frost Spear of Victory! Eleena cried. A ray of golden light lanced through the air. Distracted by the Mage and his extravagant flourishes, no one noticed that the girl had already impaled Black Whip to an enormous tree nearby. Blargh, Im dead, Black Whip announced. Edward stared. The orb of blue light quivered atop his staff. He felt as though hed sneezed, and then had to suck it all back in. It was not a great feeling. At last, he shot the blue light up into the air, as a signal. It exploded in the gloom of night like a brilliant blue firework. Black Whip has been slain! Resistance is futile! Surrender while you can! Edward continued with his pompous grandstanding, urging the remaining Secret Eye troops to lay down their arms. Chapter 82: Dont Stop Now! Things went exactly as Edward had predicted: Following Black Whips demise, the enemies no longer had the stomach to continue the fight. It was either surrender or die. Looking upon their prisoners-of-war, Edward felt a tinge of annoyance, unsure of what to do with them. At last, the empathetic Vela offered him a solution, Lord Angora was talking about building more dungeons back in town. Have the players transport our captives there. When the players had smashed the last skeletons that the Bone Incense had drawn over, they all simultaneously received a System Announcement: [Quest Complete: Expedition: Defend the Frogmen!] [Thanks to your tireless efforts, the dark forces of the Society of the Secret Eye from the Valla Empire, deeper within the continent, have been brought to a halt. From this day forward, no one will dare to trifle with the Unnamed Town! Cheers to your valor, for saving the frogmen tribe, and eradicating evil!] [Quest Reward: A barbecue party will be held in the frogmen village tonight. You may rest there for awhile.] [Money and Experience Points will soon be credited directly to players. Reward Points will be calculated and awarded shortly, as well. Please note that the points can only be exchanged for items during the event period (seven days).] [The system will shut down for upgrading momentarily. In the meantime, certain functions (e.g. quest assignments) may not be available, but player abilities and skills will still work as normal. Thank you for your attention.] A moment later, the newly received Experience Points caused most of the players to light up as they gained a level. Basking in their hard-won victory, the mood was merry all around. As the players made plans on where to meet up again, there were some who were beginning to miss the small-town life. However, the majority of the players would be attending the barbecue party. They left in twos and threes, laughing and chatting as they made their way back towards the village. The frogmen felt tremendously fond of these humans whod helped them to throw back their aggressors. Only the elder and Croakatoa, as well as a few others, were actually able to speak their languagehowever, every time their eyes met, they would exchange a warm Hakuna Macroakcroak! or Rua! Those were the official greetings, now. Many of the players participating in this event had heard about the trick that Eleena had played on the frogmen, and were raucously attempting conversation across linguistic barriers. Having gained a nice haul for himself this time, Edward was following everyone to the party when he noticed Eleena trudging dejectedly behind him. Is something the matter, Eleena? She was the youngest survivor from the village, and Edward couldnt help but fuss over her. Edward, do you think the God of Games has met with some kind of trouble? Eleenas dainty brow was furrowed. She was deeply worried about something. Are you talking about that guard? Probably an ordinary circumstance. Edward crossed his arms. Were talking about an omnipotent being, here. What could he possibly have trouble with? Youre thinking too much. Eleena nodded vaguely, but she wasnt fully convinced. Hugging her enormous, weapons-grade grimoire to herself, she prayed in silence. Even if it was just a little, shed be happy if her faith could be of some use to her god. *** At the moment when Xi Wei received this sincere moment of prayer, the glowing orb of his divine form was lying slumped on the floor, like a mound of slime. Hed overestimated himself somewhat. Having only just assimilated the Rotten Bones God, hed rushed over and gulped down a completely different category of divinity. This indigestion of the immanent had resulted in an excruciating experience. It wasnt that big a deal, but it was profoundly uncomfortable, similar to what follows a careless bout of over-eating, when one is being afflicted by both indigestion as well as constipation. Honestly, Xi Wei could swear that his orb form had swelled a little in size This trickle of faith is it coming from Eleena? No personal wishes or desires attached, just her absolute faith in me. That explains the purity of it. Xi Wei was actually startled by her faith. She certainly was the saint of his order. Hed chosen well. After hed absorbed that offering of purest faith energy, he felt a little better. It was probably just his imaginationfor a divine being, this amount of faith was next to nothing, not even good enough to pick his teeth with. High-quality faith was great and all, but compared to the remnants of a divine avatar, it was less than a single drop of water in a vast ocean. Few understood this like Xi Wei did, but he wouldnt let it get him down, instead urging himself to keep forging onwards. There were many souls echoing in his mind now, and he felt the touch of powers that he wasnt entirely comfortable with. He decided to complete the process of assimilation as soon as possible, and then dump the body somewhere. No choice, he told himself, his shape still distended beyond relief. This world is not the sort of place where we have the luxury to grow stronger in the fullness of time. Remembering the twin blades suspended on horse hairs overheadone from the Ocean God and the other from the Skull GodXi Wei whipped himself into action. Even if he was only doing it for the sake of his followers, and for the sake of preventing another tragedy like what happened to Tierra, he couldnt stop in his quest to grow stronger. Looking down from the heavens upon his players, eating and singing in the frogmen village, smiling contentedly to themselves, Xi Wei whispered, I wont stop. As long as you keep going, Ill be waiting for you up ahead. So dont you stop either, alright? Though he said this, he wouldnt actually be getting anything done with bluster alone. There was a limit to his capacity at the moment, and it wasnt as though he had any medicine for it lying around the place. At this rate, it could take quite a while for him to finish digesting the Aquatic Lord. Nothing for it but to keep stumbling along, then. Ill need to come up with some way to squeeze more faith out of my followers. I just finished processing another bit of the Aquatic Lord, so I should be able to manage that much, at least. Still, this Windows 98 speed just isnt cutting it. At this thought, Xi Wei transformed the faith energy into divine power, and poured it into his PC (Pantheon Computer). Originally, hed manifested this computer out of his divine power in order to help him manage player data and quests. It was lagging behind nowadays, so it was time for an upgrade and some streamlining. After a fair bit of miracle magic, the PC was born anew. Arise, Windows XP! Chapter 83: Follower The players had a merry night at the frogmen village. Although the frogmen had initially been surprised by the inexplicable appearance of a bonfire, barbecue implements, and assorted seafood in the village square, they eventually attributed it to a divine blessing, which was apparently all the explanation they needed to let loose and party hard with the human players all night long. But nothing good lasts forever. The next day, the players gradually took their leave of the village, and returned to the Unnamed Town. After all the events and quests had been done, there was nothing in the village worth hanging around for. There were sea monsters to challenge, sure but none of the players were expert divers, plus they lacked the numbers for it, and anyway it would be an enormous hassle, for little to no returns. In comparison, the Unnamed Town housed the Living Dead Cellar dungeon, as well as the Valley of the Tragic Dead, which had thus far been explored up to 22%. Those players whod levelled up and gained some new loot from the latest quest were understandably eager to test things outeven if bumping into the Rotten Bones Archbishop or one of the Black-Robed Bishops in the Living Dead Cellar would most likely end with their gruesome deaths all the same. Are you leaving already? Croakatoa asked a group of players, led by Edward. Nothing else for it! Edward laughed. We only came to help out, and now that the matter has been resolved, we ought to take our leave. And the lady saint Croakatoa turned towards Eleena. He wasnt referring to her as a saint because he was aware of her position as a saintess-in-training, but because all the frogmen had come to regard her as a genuine saint for the Aquatic Lord. It was a pity that Xi Wei was about to destroy the Aquatic Lords divine avatar, just as Eleena had inspired a higher level of faith from the frogmen. Of course Eleena would wish to leave with us. Immediately, Edward interposed himself in front of her. It had been funny while it lasted, but Eleena was a saint for the God of Games, and she couldnt keep going around masquerading as an icon for other religions. If she carried on pulling stunts like that, then as the one whod backed her up in the first place, he might end up falling out of their gods good graces. Croakatoa was silent for a moment. Then he looked up at Edward. Um could I maybe join you on your adventures? Edwards first instinct was to refuse, until he caught sight of the hopeful light in Eleenas eyes. As he waffled about in indecision, he was suddenly presented with a System Data window. So the system was back online already? Following this assumption, Edward read on: [Game Version 0.2 upgrade complete] [Player Max Level raised to 60] [New Mage Specialization added: Tide-Caller Description: The Tide-Caller is a Mage who foregoes all other elements in order to master elemental water. Raging blizzards, mighty tsunamis, and invincible water elementals are all theirs to command. Summon the power of the waves, and rise above all others!] [Click here to watch a demonstration video.] [Pre-requisites: Any Mage at Level 15 or higher may attempt the class-change quest.] The Tide-Caller was, true to its name, able to create (or actually, summon) water out of nowhere, and then wield it to do battle as a Mage. Watching the trailer video, there seemed to be three main builds to choose from: [Arctic] Attacking with ice and frost, or freezing enemies solid. [Current] Increasing the flow of water to create tidal waves or high-pressure water blades, employing water purely in its liquid form. [Wake] Summoning support creatures out of elemental water. [New Cleric Specialization added: Aquatic Angel Description: Rather than divine grace and heavenly boons, this servant of the God of Games has been inspired to hear the song of the oceans. They form bonds with leviathan creatures long dormant in the depths, and train to become accustomed to underwater movement themselves, so that these Clerics are formidable powerhouses in their own right.] [Click here to watch a demonstration video.] [Pre-requisites: Any Cleric at Level 15 or higher may attempt the class-change quest.] Taking the Aquatic Angel Specialization would result in a drop in the effectiveness of the Clerics basic spells, but in exchange, they would gain enormous boosts to their stats, shifting from a support class to a character capable of both tanking as well as dealing out substantial damage. They had the following builds to choose from: [Deephunter] Summon agile and fearsome sea monsters such as an ichthyosaur or a mosasaurus, for tremendous damage potential. [Abomination] Summon terrifying beings from the darkest depths of the oceans, like nightmares made real, and manifest them to fight at your behest. [Trident] Enter into contracts with wondrous creatures which, although not truly divine, are able to wield miraculous powers nevertheless, as paragons of their kind. Summon an aspect of them onto the battlefield to provide beneficial auras and combat support. [Follower feature introduced: Players can now hire followers at designated areas (requires Reputation of Friendly or better).] [Followers will have their own stats, but they wont be able to level up on their own. Their employer will have to manually assign points in their Attributes Window.] [Upon their death, their progress towards the next level will be reset to zero. If they had less than 10% XP when they died, their employer will have to pay a corresponding fee at a Lifestone in order to revive them.] [You may now hire Followers at Grey Fjord Port: Frogmen Village] [Reputation system active in Grey Fjord Port: Frogmen Village] [New Dungeon added: Grey Fjord Port: Shallows] There was a lot of new material this time around, but Edward isolated the main point straight away: At last, there were now Specializations for Mages! Hed no longer have to feel inferior around Spirit Swordsmen and Shadow Rogues! Seeing the Specialization on offer though, he felt a certain sense of apprehension. Busting out a tsunami sounded beyond awesome, but giving up the other elements felt like a raw deal for a Mage. Eleena, meanwhile, seemed delighted. She checked her current Reputation with the Frogmen Village, and found that she was Revered. Thus, she turned to address the frogmen before her: Croakatoa, are you serious about joining our adventuring party? Yeah! Seeing Edwards long silence, a despairing Croakatoa was now nodding fervently. Then from this day forward, youll be my Follower! Hands on her hips, the girl nodded as she made this decree, immensely pleased with herself. In response, the name that floated over Croakatoas head, written in green text to indicate he was a friendly character, now switched to white, like the players own names. Alongside a scrawl of indecipherable letters in an unfamiliar language, he also gained a title: [LandwalkerCroakatoa (SR)] Chapter 84: Wake Up, There Are Chores To Do The Follower System obviously wasnt just a random idea Xi Wei had while stalking his believers. In reality, he had already been mulling the idea over ever since he redesigned the Pantheon Computer. Since most current frogmen were still believers of the Aquatic Lord, even if Xi Wei absorbed the divinity of the Aquatic Lord, as long as he didnt inherit the gods deific properties and divine order, he still wouldnt be able to gain many followers from the frogmen. Along the same line of thought, it would be difficult for him to give blessings to the frogmen too. Xi Wei couldnt even show the full extent of his Divine Grace to the frogmen either. To make a simple comparison, say the Path of Faith between Xi Wei and other players was 5G, and that various video clips, photos, and powers could be shared between them instantaneously, then the connection between him and the frogmen was basically dial-up internet, even a low-resolution image could take upwards for half an hour to load, and even then there were a high risk of an Unable to load error popping up. Even though you couldnt give Divine Grace purely through the Path of Faith, doing so without it would require extra Divine Power, and using that many resources on a normal frogman felt somewhatwasteful. So to more efficiently farm divine energy, Xi Wei decided to use his already existing believers, the players, to act as a halfway point. As long as the frogmen swore their loyalty to any player, a contract would immediately be formed, the basic point of the contract was that their divine energy will be transferred from the Aquatic Lord over to that players main deity, the God of Games, for safekeeping. The contract needed agreement from both parties involved, in this case that would be the Aquatic Lord and the God of Games. The Divine Order of the Aquatic Lord was currently in Xi Weis control, so the contract would take effect immediately. If it were this easy to gain the divine energy from the believers of other deities, this could lead many to the question of, Does this mean all I have to do is defeat a small deity and create contracts to gain total control of their divine energy? The short answer, no. This loophole was pretty difficult to exploit. The first and most important factor to Xi Weis success was that there wasnt any previous hostility between the Aquatic Lord and the God of Games, the two stood completely independent from each other in a silent agreement of peace, so the Aquatic Lord didnt have time to react and retaliate when Xi Wei struck. Next was the problem of having the frogmen willingly pledging their loyalty to Xi Weis believers, divine energy wasnt something you could force out of someone, the true faith of an individual and their willingness to give it to you was of the utmost importance, without it there wouldnt be any effect. Lastly, Xi Wei attacked the Aquatic Lord at the perfect moment, right before his divinitys ascension, if Xi Wei acquired gods divinity later into that process, his targets may have already gained self-awareness, causing the contract to be unable to form. If he had attacked earlier and the gods divinity hadnt ascended to this level, they wouldnt have been viewed by the contract as a proper deity, again rendering the contract useless. It was under these series of coincidences and Xi Weis explicit use of a loophole that he was able to do an under the table job of acquiring divine energy from the frogmen. The divine energy gained from the frogmen was used by Xi Wei to fully absorb the Aquatic Lords divinity, it was sort of like borrowing money from someone to buy a rope to strangle them with. In a way, Xi Wei did feel bad for the poor Aquatic Lord After the Follower System came online, players who participated in the Douseed Crusade event were quite intrigued, rushing to persuade a frogman to become their follower. Although the frogmen were pretty weak in combat, occasionally losing to even the most basic Skeletons in solo combat, because they were similar to the Felynes in M*nster H*nter in the fact that they didnt take up a party slot, players could use them as bait or meat shields during their raids, since they could be revived with a little bit of gold Plus, the frogmen were still pretty low-level, even Croakatoa was only at Level 5, who knows how strong they could become in the future? Even Princess Leah, who, after regaining her rationality, hid in a corner in embarrassment and skipped the banquet, couldnt help but run out to convince Croakatoa to become her follower after the system announcement was made. She was pretty disappointed when she found out Croakatoa had already become Eleenas follower. So she changed her target to the village elder. Do not underestimate the village elder of the frogmen with his rickety old bones. In reality, he had the highest damage out of all the frogmen during their last fight with the Society of the Secret Eye, swinging his walking stick around with the precision of a trained swordsman. You wouldnt be able to tell from his usual frail appearance, but he could almost overtake a couple of low-level players. After a long stretch of silence, the village elder told Leah that he had already been chosen by the gods to become the leader of the frogmen tribe. The princess could only hide her face as she turned away after receiving a daily quest from the Elder System that helped players farm reputation To have a system like that under his control, it meant that he was an overlord recognized by the God of Games just like Angora and old man Vanke, Leah couldnt just take one of his overlords away. After the untiring diligence of players, they finally?failed all of their attempts.?? And after many failed attempts, players concluded two main issues. The first was that they didnt have enough reputation built up. The Reputation System had only just been implemented in the Frogmen Village, their relationship with players was only at the basic Friendly level, meeting the requirements to recruit as a follower. However, the only person who successfully did so was Eleena who was already at the level of Admiration among the frogmen, after all, she was viewed as a Saintess by the frogmen, her base reputation was off the charts So players thought that the higher your reputation, the higher your success rate of recruiting a follower. The second problem was the language barrier, the already recruited Croakatoa and the unable to be recruited village elder were the only two frogmen who spoke Shumonian. The rest of the frogmen werent too intelligent, and without Croakatoa or the village elder acting as interpreters, even if players incorporated hand gestures and body language, it would only end as an unwinnable game of charades, neither party getting any point across. When players went in to recruit, the frogmen not only ignored their requests, a bunch of them would gather around and watch in amusement as players made a fool of themselves. If friendly fire had been enabled, it was certain that many players would have stormed the village in their frustration The solution to these two problems wasnt difficult, in fact it was quite easy, it was all in two words Daily quests. Prestige not high enough? A daily quest is just the thing you need! Daily quests granted some prestige. If you do them long enough, you would end up at Admiration level for sure. Language barrier? Im sure the overlords still have a daily quest for you. After youve built up enough reputation youll be able to unlock a special mission from the village elder, after that mission is completed youll receive a unique item called The Frogmen Whisperer, its a small necklace with a frog the size of your fingernail, equip that and youll be fluent in the frogmens language. Basically, when players first read the system announcement, it felt like the benefits of followers were written all across the screen in tiny writing, but once they looked into the fine-print, the whole page was basically filled with daily quests. Players who werent interested in participating in manual labor promptly backed off gaining a follower, the ones that remained were those that either didnt think there was much difference in doing routine quests in the Frogmen Village and in the Unnamed Town or that were real die-hard fans of the frogmen tribe. Chapter 85: A Day of Rest: Part I Since Xi Wei had to relax and rest to properly digest the Aquatic Lords Divinity Shard, the players had found themselves with a lot more free time than usual. Well, maybe it wasnt free time per se. After all, even the highest level players were only around a measly Level 30, and the new level cap was now raised to Level 60, it was as if Xi Wei was using this simple method to tell his players, The grind never stops! You still have a long way to go, so keep at it!! But players really didnt have much to do. The Unnamed Town, the Underground Hideout of Lancaster, the Frogmen Village, all of them had their own daily missions to help gain reputation, only 25% of Valley of the Tragic Dead had been explored, and the newly opened shores of the Grey Fjord Port had only had 1% of its explorable area uncovered A lot of players drowned out at sea since they hadnt unlocked the Swimming skill yet, needing to employ the help of the Frogmen to drag their floating corpses back to shore, and then get revived by Cleric players or the frogmen village elder. A Lifestone had also been erected in the middle of the Frogmen Village, allowing players sleeping with the fish to be able to instantly respawn at the Frogmen Village though it didnt have much purpose aside from helping players save some leg time. But now players could teleport to the Unnamed Town and the Underground Hideout of Lancaster through the Lifestone by spending some in-game money. At first, Xi Wei was hesitant to place a Lifestone in the Frogmen Village, fearing that the Ocean God would storm his Divine Kingdom if he found the Aquatic Lords Divinity to be missing. But then he figured that with so many players finishing their daily quests in the Frogmen Village, even without the Lifestone, the Ocean God would probably be able to tell what had happened and invade his kingdom regardless. And without the ability to teleport, players entering and exiting the Frogmen Village would have to waste a lot of the village elders time, causing progress to be slowed and overall efficiency to drop. In the end, Xi Wei decided that what would happen, would happen, and thus allowed the village elder to set the Lifestone in place. Overseeing all the players carrying out their daily round of quests with such enthusiasm, Xi Wei smiled down at them from the Divine Kingdom like a proud mother looking at her children. After closing down for a couple of days to let its boss do some business elsewhere, Iron Cauldron Tavern finally reopened, and its business was booming as usual. Just as the owner was hanging up a notice saying, We welcome our guests to bring their own ingredients, excluding Aquatic Angels, please do not treat your summons as ingredients to give to the chef, Joe walked in with his head hung low. Well if it isnt Paul (Joes full name was Joe Paul)! Ivan saw him enter from his table with his teammates, greeting him brightly. I havent seen you in two days, have you been at the Frogmen Village doing your daily tasks? Since they were both Warrior class players they had a pretty decent relationship, sometimes getting together to eat or spar or clear raids, that sort of stuff. I dont wanna talk about it, I took on a quest to go find some domesticable animals for the towns farm, but apparently all the Frost Season animals decided to go back into their burrows. I crawled through so many caves, fought through packs of Dire Bears, and spent two whole days out in some random ravine to find a Snow-Tailed Deer that fits the quests requirements. Joe had a dark expression. Guess what the quests rewards were? What? Ivan asked curiously. In lieu of a reply, Joe started doing an extremely accurate rendition of the Gangnam Style dance. ??? I asked you what your reward was and you start dancing? I mean, its not a bad dance but still Joe stopped after a while. Ivan gave him polite applause for his performance. Not bad, but what did that have to do with your quest? That was the reward, Joe lamented, After I finished the quest I unlocked the Horse Riding skill, but after activating it, that was what I got? So does the dance have any other effects? Like maybe its a rally dance to buff you and your allies or something? Nope, Joe replied dryly, Its just a dance, nothing else. The other players in the tavern all gave an audible gasp, shocked by this turn of events. So what youre saying is, that the quest reward wasted one of your skill points to get this useless skill? Ivan furrowed his brows, thinking that this quest was a bit too evil. Skill points? No, no. The skill was straight up given to me, I didnt have to spend my skill points on it, Joe explained, It doesnt show up on the skill tree either, it opened up some weird Collectables tab, it had some other stuff in it too, I think Oh I see. Ivan nodded, deep in thought, then suddenly slamming his drink on the table. Boss, bill please! Paul, could you tell me where you obtained the quest? Yeah? Joe looked at Ivan in confusion, not understanding why he would ask such a question. You want to do it too? But this skill is pretty pointless Ivan let out a sigh then laughed. It doesnt matter whether or not its useful, Im just a completionist I guess, I wanna collect everything I can! Plus, your little dance seemed like fun, so Id like to have it in my possession, since it doesnt waste a skill point anyways. I want in too! Ivans teammates all joined in on the excitement. Stop joking, why would you want to learn this? Ivan frowned at his friends, scolding them in case Joe thought they were teasing him. Well you see, the previous two banquets, even though I went, I kept feeling like something was missing. Well for one, there werent any female players there to chat up, but thinking about it now, there wasnt any dancing either! If I could dance, Id look like such a baller! The player was practically drooling at his own fantasy. If I could do that dance during the next banquet, Im sure itll be great! After his enthusiastic speech, a few of the remaining players who were reluctant at first were now very much ready to participate. Yeah, yeah, since it doesnt use up any skill points, it wouldnt hurt to learn! Ahem, Im personally a person of a higher standard, I just think the dance looks nice. Lets get those girls! Joe didnt care about keeping a secret, telling the guests of the tavern everything from the NPC they had to talk to to the best spot to find a suitable animal. And thus, under the lead of Ivan, they went off on their journey to master the art of dance, thanking Joe for his help as they left the tavern. Leaving Joe alone in the building still trying to process what had happened. After a bit, he inexplicably started dancing again. Hmm, I guess its kinda fun The Iron Cauldrons boss was watching the whole event play out from the sidelines after putting up his notice, it wasnt the first time something like this had happened. He could already see it, a bunch of players showing off their weird dances during the next banquet, their clunky armor not hindering them at all as they danced through the night. Oh the chaos that would ensue Chapter 86: Rules of the System Collectables was one of the ways Xi Wei motivated his players to complete their daily quests, among these collectables were things like dances, various accessories that didnt take up an equipment slot, and some other fun tools that didnt have much practical use. He believed that the players who had gotten bored due to the recent peacefulness would start grinding through their daily tasks again. Of course, Xi Wei wasnt spending his time in the Divine Kingdom conjuring up ways to get players addicted, aside from digesting the remaining bits of the Aquatic Lords divinity still sitting in his stomach, he was wondering how he could improve his players skills. After all, the enemies his players faced before werent really deities like him, they were more like lesser gods that didnt have any godly blessing. But as his players territory expanded, it was inevitable that they were going to face believers of much more powerful deities sooner or later. Other deities didnt have the power to transmigrate like Xi Wei could, Xi Wei could give blessings to players simply through the Path of Faith (in other words, without a Path of Faith he would have to do an honest job of creating miracles like the other deities), but other deities had to first get through the World Barrier before giving their blessings, the larger the blessing or secret item being passed down, the more divine power it took to cross the World Barrier, it was a hard limit on how much they could help their believers. This forced other deities to mainly train their believers to build into the elite routes. Other than Saints, Saintesses, and Chosen Ones, the players who could receive great blessings were either players who went through countless hurdles to get a high rank in the church, or players who have proven their faith in the deity and have ascended to the rank of Devout Believer. Other believers could only receive Divine Graces equal to their ranks Sacred Arts limit. It was much easier for Xi Wei, he could bypass all this struggle by dropping down into the mortal realm himself, they could eat food together, fight monsters together, and become stronger together. Once he had enough believers, at least a few of them were going to be immensely skilled players, it was simple logic But Xi Wei had a couple things going against him as well, he had only just become a god not too long ago, he didnt have a stable presence in the minds of the players. Time and his number of believers were his two main deficits. Even his two strongest players, the Saintess-in-training Eleena and the Warrior Princess Leah, couldnt compare with the high-level believers of other churches. Thats why he needed to find a way for his players to become stronger. Raising the level limit for his players was the most straightforward method, but he had already done so twice before, and his players had a ways to go before reaching the limit of 60, so raising it even higher wouldnt do much right now, he might as well save his divine power to do other things. If I fully digest the remaining divinity of the Aquatic Lord, Ill probably have enough energy left over to upgrade the system, maybe add a new function or something If that was the case, should he make Specializations? That could visibly increase his players power. But after weighing up the pros and cons, Xi Wei decided to give up the Specialization system. For one, the thing would require Xi Wei to make a completely new skill tree, that would take too much divine power, Xi Wei wasnt sure he could take it right now. It would be quite a mess if he ran himself dry and still couldnt create a fully functioning Specialization system. Secondly, the current Class system was pretty crap. Each class had only one reclassing option, so even if Specializations were included in the game, it would probably just cause players to focus too heavily on single aspects of the game and affect the decision of experienced players to join his church. In the end, a huge group of players could end up with weird classes and skill trees, Xi Wei would have to then use up more of his divine power to create a Skill Point Reset Potion, it just felt like a waste Xi Wei decided he had best leave Specializations until after players got a full grasp of their classes. Then what about Professions? Xi Wei thought to himself. What Xi Wei had in mind for Professions, other than increasing production efficiency, was to create secondary classes to give players stat increases or abilities to buff their main combat classes. For example, players who chose the Blacksmith class could have an increase in their Strength. Those who chose the Farmer class would deal increased damage with pole weapons like scythes and spears; Reporter class players could have improved movement speed and so on Plus, he could make it so that when players that choose Butcher prepares meat, the remaining carcasses wouldnt be automatically sent to the Divine Kingdom (thus not being able to gain experience). It could solve the ever-increasing storage problem in the Divine Kingdom, as well as make it so players didnt always have to go to Lancaster to import meat. To add onto, and to save divine power, Xi Wei could make it so Profession skills couldnt be upgraded with skill points, instead requiring proficiency In doing so, he could not only make his players lives in-game more than just daily quests, but also improve his players combat capabilities, it was the perfect plan! And besides, this would help players who werent that into battling show off their talents in other areas, wouldnt that be great? After thinking it through, implementing the Professions system seemed to have the biggest turnover. So now comes the question of with my divine power, will I be able to finish this before I become a godly raisin? Xi Wei hesitantly wrapped his tendrils around the ball. According to the units of measurement he set in Chapter 1, Xi Weis divine energy was barely over 50 units as for how many he originally had, somewhere around 100, but after introducing two new classes and the Follower System, he didnt have much left. Some of you may be wondering, But couldnt Xi Wei completely control the games system even before his divinity stabilized? Back then he was just a kid Oh, I mean he only had ten units of divine energy! The reasoning for that was simple, the original system was extremely basic. Even things like Class specific skills and abilities were simply set up by Xi Wei, the Class system in place now had already been secretly updated by Xi Wei. Plus, there were only five people who had access to the system then, now there were over a hundred users, all waiting for their systems to be upgraded Not to mention, Xi Wei was at a dead end. He felt like sitting around all day wouldnt do him any good, so he decided, Whats the worst that could happen? and gambled up all of his remaining divine power. Even though he wasnt a mega-powerful deity or anything, there were still so many believers that relied on him now, he couldnt be as irresponsible or reckless as he was before. Im probably the only deity in the world thats this responsible Xi Wei muttered to himself, deciding that perhaps he should take a break and accumulate a tad more divine energy before building Professions. Just as he was carrying out his daily routine of digesting the divinity sitting in his stomach and lying on his belly stalking his players, he froze. Xi Weis expression turned serious (dont ask me why a ball can have a serious expression, please use your imagination). He stared off into the ever-expanding nothingness, he felt a presence suddenly appear beyond his Divine Kingdom Chapter 87: Who Goes There! Who goes there! That was what Xi Wei wanted to shout to the heavens, but for the sake of his safety, he wasnt going to simply come into contact with the other. In reality, he didnt even dare move. The Skull God and the Ocean Godthose were the only two Xi Wei could think of who would waltz in unannounced. Sadly, our main protagonist couldnt fight off either one. If we had to compare, he could probably take one or two hits from the Skull God, but he would be immediately obliterated by the Ocean God Looks like he would have to rely on his transmigration to hide out in the lower realm for now. Luckily, his visitor didnt seem to want to bust down his front door. This gave Xi Wei some time to quickly pack up his essentials. He was just about to get the rotten bones out of his juicer when he felt a feeling of kindness being sent from outside his Divine Kingdom, with its origins being the outsider deity. Now Xi Wei was confused, what kind of power move was this? Were they trying to trick him into going out, and then one-shot him? It felt kinda pointless, even if they didnt go through all this hassle, hed still be no match for them Could it be that it wasnt the Skull God or the Ocean God? Xi Wei thought it over a bit, deciding to leave the rotten bones in their little home and started to prepare for his transmigration. After carefully crossing over the Divine Kingdoms barrier, he came face to face with his unexpected guest. The first thing that came to his mind was, Wow those are some pale thighs. Thats right. His guest was a large snow-white lion. And he had a full, thick mane encircling his neckit was a male lion. Good day, young deity. The lion had a voice quite fitting for his appearance, a deep voice of a male in his late 40s, his words were filled with authority. Why is there a lion outside my Divine Kingdom The scene was just too fantastical, short-wiring the circuits in Xi Weis brain due to the overwhelming shock. A gods appearance didnt matter too much, as long as youre frugal with your divine power, you can easily become anything youd like Youre just a ball as well, no? The other replied. After his brain rebooted itself, Xi Wei scanned through the memory bank of his divinitybecause he received a portion of the Aquatic Lords memory, his memory bank now was quite a bit bigger than beforeand found that he indeed had a memory of this guy. Are you the legendary Lion King of Justice? Xi Wei was taken aback. The Lion King went by Aslan. In reality, he was the God of Justice. He originally had a human form, but according to legends he had previously made a bet with his believers, and subsequently lost. Thus, to uphold the terms of the bet, he has maintained the form of a lion to this day. Yours truly. Aslan dipped his giant, white lion head, a proud smirk crossing the lions face. The Aslan that, due to teachings that were too strict, forced a lot of his believers to break the rules and betray the Church of Justice, thus bearing the title of Deity With the Most Betrayers for over a thousand years? That Aslan? Ahem, I have since tweaked my teachings to fit mortal standards, there arent as many betrayers now, the lion said between subtle coughs, switching the topic immediately, If you dont mind, can we have a chat in your Divine Kingdom? Even deities find it hard to stay in the void this long. His words caused Xi Wei to hesitate. This lion heads reputation was amazing among other deities, if given the chance to form an alliance with any deity, there were sure to be countless lawful gods who chose Aslan as their first choice. The problem was that the guy was definitely a Lawful Good in the D&D alignment charts, but his justice felt suffocating at times. If he were to enter Xi Weis Divine Kingdom, he might just lose it at the sight of the remains of the Rotten Bones God stuffed into his juicer As the God of Justice, Aslan was the bane of many evil deities, but even so, the Lion King was always active on their servers, with a sense of I know you dont like me, but you dont have it takes to get rid of me surrounding him 24/7. It was evident that he was an immensely powerful being. Even deities like the Skull God would most likely just become a toothpick for the God of Justice Dont worry, Ive paid some attention to the actions of your believers recently, I know that youve gotten rid of that Rotten Bones fella. In doing so, his corpse and divinity are your spoils of war. As long as you dont become an evil deity, I will do you no harm. The lion could see Xi Weis visible worry, assuring him kindly. Well, since his guest basically insisted, Xi Wei could only welcome him into his kingdom. As expected, the lion frowned slightly at the sight of the Rotten Bones Gods corpse in the juicer, but didnt say anything besides that. Hey uhhh Why are you here? Xi Wei used his tendrils to pass Aslan a bottle of Coke. His guest downed the whole bottle, literally, in one gulp, letting out a belch before answering. As Ive previously mentioned, I have been paying some attention to the actions of your believers, and I have noticed that your actions, be it storming the Rotten Bones Church, clearing out the dangers in the underground sewers, culling the revenants in the Valley of the Tragic Dead, or simply helping out weaker tribes fend off bandits, have all displayed a great sense of justice. Youre not going to ask me to become one of your subordinates, right? A wrinkle formed on the surface of his sphere. Even though he couldnt best the other in a fight, Xi Wei wasnt going to become someones little follower. Becoming a Subordinate God of another deity had too many restrictions attached, and his unique ability of transmigration could easily be exposed. I, Aslan, have never sought a Subordinate God! The lion roared proudly before continuing in a softer voice, I am here to seek an alliance. An alliance? Xi Wei was stunned. Correct, for lower-middle tier deities like ourselves, further advancement is an incredibly difficult prospect, recruiting new believers can also lead to unwanted altercations with other deities. Plus, the world of the gods has seen more peaceful days, this has led to many alliances being formed among deities, Aslan started slowly, Our alliance is the Invisible Pantheon and doesnt have many strict rules to follow. Each member of the alliance has agreed to peace among each other, at times when a strong evil deity is discovered, we will allow our believers to fight side by side, and then split the divinity among us or somethingyou must understand that times have been difficult, we can only live off of these evil deities. The feats of justice your believers have shown have moved me, thus I wish you will accept my invitation to join the Invisible Pantheon and become one of us. Xi Wei mulled it over in his head. What happens if one of your members are attacked by another deity? Unless it is one of the Seven Divine Fathers, we will definitely lend a hand in protecting one of our members under siege! Aslan shook his magnificent mane, reassuring Xi Wei. Then its settled, from now on you will be my emergency plan! The surface of Xi Weis spherical body shimmered, his tentacle wrapping around the lions paw and shaking it up and down, quite the weird scene. Emergency plan? Just weird pronunciation, dont worry about it~ Chapter 88: Player Forum After Xi Wei agreed to join the Invisible Pantheon, Lion King Aslan turned tail to leave. Thats it? I dont need to sign a contract or anything? Xi Wei asked curiously. Unless you can get one of the Trinity of Creation to act as an officiator, contracts dont have much control over our actions. Aslan shook his large white mane. And as Ive previously stated, the details of our alliance is much more lax than most others, a black and white contract stating the rules would go against that philosophy, you can just treat it as an exclusive club of sorts. Then how can I contact you guys? Xi Wei asked hurriedly. Was he going to have to roam the void to find one of their allied deitys kingdom whenever he needed help This would put a dent into his emergency plan, cough, I mean alliance, wouldnt it? When his enemies knocked on his front door, they sure werent going to give him time to look for reinforcements Dont rush, I was just about to tell you. Aslan sat on the floor like an oversized cat and ruffled his mane with his claw. And then something tiny fell out from the thick fur. At first, Xi Wei thought it was body lice, but after thinking it through, unless it was a Lice God, there probably wasnt any lice that could live on Aslans body. Scanning the object with his Divination ability, Xi Wei realized that it was a small bunch of Aslans hair, carrying Aslans deific properties as well. Even something as small as hair was once part of a deitys being, so its no surprise it could become the carrier of deific properties. The lion used his divine power to pass the clump of fur to Xi Wei who had a disgusted expressionthankfully he didnt have a face, if not the lion would probably be quite offended. This is a new Glamour thats been gaining popularity among deities, it makes communication quite convenient. This furball carries my deific properties, whenever you want to find me, just imbue it with some divine power, the Lion King explained cheerfully, completely oblivious to Xi Weis inner thoughts. After that, the God of Justice Aslan left Xi Weis Divine Kingdom and returned to his own territory. Once he was alone, Xi Wei started to study the furball more closely. Oh ho, its this sort of Glamour eh Glamours were basically conduits of energy, you needed to imbue them with supernatural energy (divine energy, demonic energy, and the likes) for them to be activated. As mortals have a much lower affinity for these sorts of powers, they were unable to fully comprehend a large majority of Glamours, needing years and years of research and determination to even begin to understand these divine practices. But for high-level beings such as deities, they could easily grasp what the humans could not. Using a less appropriate, but more straight-forward metaphor, its like how for a single dot on a piece of paper, its difficult to know if the wall in front of itself was a triangle or a square, but for humans living in three spacial dimensions, finding out would be as simple as looking at the paper. The furball in Xi Weis hand encompassed spectacular and intricate Glamour, it used a divine index of different deities to connect Divine Kingdoms throughout the void regardless of distance. The knowledge of how this worked was far out of the league of mere mortals, it was basically impossible to understand and learn, only deities like Xi Wei and the others possessed the ability to use it. But this contraption did lead Xi Wei to an epiphany. Communication across time and space Come to think of it, players usually just yell at each other to communicate Xi Wei extended his tentacle to rub at what was presumably his chin. He had thought about the problem before, his original solution was to make a sort of emailing system for his players, allowing them to communicate with each other one-on-one, he wouldnt even have to cross the spatial barrier, since Xi Wei fully planned on becoming an operator to help redirect players calls. It wasnt that there werent better communication systems that could be implemented through the Path of Faith, but they all expended far too much But with reference to this new and improved technique, he could save himself quite a bit of divine power. He didnt want to think about other details, but at least the power he currently had was definitely enough, Xi Wei felt a new thought emerge in his spherical head (Body? Who knows). Should I create a public chat, and then subsequent clan chats, team chats, and private chats? No, itll be fine right now with not that many players, but once more and more players join, the public chat will be constantly updating and a lot of important messages might get missed. But if there isnt a public chat, socializing among players will become quite limited After some deep thought, Xi Wei decided to create a player communication platform in a forum style. To build a forum, he would first need a server. Xi Weis gaze fell on the hardworking Pantheon Computer XP, a smirk crossed his spherical face, I choose you, XP! Thus, Xi Wei added even more functions to the diligent little XP. Since there werent too many players currently, the little computer should be able to handle it, after the number of active players increases, our XP would surely have upgraded to a Sunway Taihulight1. After finishing up, Xi Wei typed out a system message to alert all players. [Ding! Game System V 0.21 has been fully upgraded, the Player Forum page has been added, now you can discuss anything you want there] As the Forum Page had only just been opened, its contents were still completely empty, only having Xi Weis introduction to the page showing on the top. In the message, he briefly described what the forum was, what functions it had, and also listed the rules of the forum, banning certain inappropriate behavior and writing out the corresponding punishments. Originally Xi Wei had thought that with how rowdy his believers were, all he had to do was wait a couple of minutes before the forum became filled with random, weird, and funny posts. But Xi Wei waited over an hour and the only message in the forum was his, sitting all alone at the top. After another hour, a new post finally appeared, the poster was Warrior Princess Leah. She pretty much just sung praise for the God of Games in her post, with many players following her lead in the comments, even Xi Wei was cringing at their obviously faked enthusiasm. The situation weirded Xi Wei out, since when did his group of players become so civilized? But he quickly figured out the cause. As the moderator of the forum, Xi Wei used very official language in his introductory post, plus a lot of the rules he set had the unmistakable underlying tone of Im your father, players had most likely guessed that the creator of the forum was the one and only deity himself. No matter how rowdy they were, they were still first and foremost believers of Xi Wei. Since they were given this system, they obviously had a decent amount of respect and admiration towards Xi Wei as a deity, they couldnt just show their roughest sides to the deity right away. Thats why Leah, the only person who had come face-to-face with the deity, could muster up the strength to post about how amazing Xi Wei was Do you guys really think I dont know how you are usually? Xi Wei couldnt help but diss his little believers. But he wasnt worried that the forum would continue being as quiet as it was, as long as he didnt speak and break his cover, most players would naturally relax in the forum and start showing their true colors. Just as Xi Wei was thinking this, a new post suddenly appeared in the forum. [Save the children! We need help!] Chapter 89: Jom and Terry Jom and Terry were walking in a snow-covered forest. They were friends formed during difficult times. Later in the refugee camp on the outskirts of Wickidor, the two were chosen by Marni to become believers of the God of Games in the Unnamed Town. Jom, why are we going this far away The warrior-dressed Terry looked about twelve or thirteen years of age, due to previous malnourishment he hadnt gotten to hit puberty yet, his thin body looked like a clumsy little kitten. He waddled uncomfortably through the ankle-high snow and couldnt help but complain, Couldnt we just stay in the town? Of course not! Wearing a white robe with a crossbow strapped to his back, Jom looked even smaller than Terry, but his eyes gleamed brightly, he reminded people of a mischievous mouse. He said his words boldly and without hesitation, Right now, the first half of the Valley of the Tragic Dead is always filled with people, its a complete mess, we cant get any exploring done! And we cant beat the Living Dead Cellar yet, if we keep going on like this, were never gonna get to re-class! We could go to the Grey Fjord Point, the Frogmen there make amazing fish soup. Terry thought back to the taste of the warm fish soup, drooling at the memory. Even though the Grey Fjord Point is big and full of fish, the problem is we couldnt catch any! Jom let out a sigh. We might as well go join the crowd at the Valley of the Tragic Dead. Im seeing a lot of players going to the Underground Hideout of Lancaster, there might be something good there! Terry tightened his leather vest around his small torso, but his metal armor was still leeching away his body heat. If not for the couple of warm beverages he packed in his backpack, he would rather die than go out in this sort of weather. Those people are going there to complete the The Lords Light Illuminates the Land quest, its that weekly quest to help recruit new followers, people who have completed it say the quest rewards are pretty good, Jom answered simply, more focused on his surroundings than on the conversation. Terrys eyes lit up. Then how about we Apparently a lot of players have been reported as cultists by their new recruits, some seven or eight players are already hung outside of Lancasters city walls. If youd like to become a wall decoration too, be my guest, Jom said with a blank expression. I was just joking. Terry gave a small laugh hoping to gloss over the topic. But you havent told me yet why were coming all this way. Previously when I went to get a daily quest from the temporary Overlord Hall, I snuck a look at a map of somewhere near here on the overlords desk. If Im right, straight ahead is the Trinia Forest, also known as the Forest of Monsters. This was when Jom finally explained his motives for their trek. Theres definitely going to be monsters for us to hunt there, we wont have to worry about promoting anymore! Ohh, nice going! Terry gave a weak applause. Suddenly, the two of them felt a chill run down their spines. The scent of wild beasts permeated through the air, a split second later, a giant beast emerged from among the snowy woods, leaping towards Terry! The daze had long left Terrys eyes, rolling away from the beasts attack with lightning-fast reactions! If Edward or Eleena were there, they would know that the beast that suddenly appeared before them was the same species as the Dragonfang that attacked their village! The food shortage of winter had an obvious effect on the apex predator among non-monster creatures like the Dragonfang. Its movements and attacks were noticeably more sporadic than the Dragonfang that attacked their village. The two young players looked at the Level 10 hovering above their enemies head, as well as its half-emptied health bar. After confirming that the Dragonfang wasnt a boss or elite enemy, they dropped all worries and decided to get rid of it on the spot. The moment the Dragonfang went for its second tackle and Jom and Terry unsheathed their weapons, a feathered arrow lodged itself in the Dragonfangs left eye, affecting its path of attack. A man wearing a thick fur coat leapt out from behind the two boys, knocking them both to the ground as they were channeling their abilities. He canceled their abilities, but also helped them avoid the Dragonfangs attack. Following the man were many more people dressed warmly for the cold winter, all using simple weapons like bows and pitchforks to overpower the already half-blind Dragonfang. The Dragonfang looked like a pin cushion with how many arrows were sticking out of its body, and its rage knocked down two trees before breathing its last breath, fighting and struggling all the way. The men in fur coats cheered in joy and the sight. Until now did Jom and Terry only regain their bearings, they didnt know whether to celebrate or to cry Were they raided by a group of regular hunters? No, looking at their weapons, these men might not even be hunters. The men seemed like they had been staking out the sight for quite some time, their exposed eyes and faces were already a frostbitten shade of purple, Jom didnt have the heart to voice his frustration. Which village are you from, children? The middle-aged man who tackled them pulled them up from the snowy ground. Were from near the Valley of the Tragic Dead Jom signaled to Terry to stay quiet, giving the man a vague answer. The man wasnt suspicious of them, but he made his thoughts on the matter quite apparent, Do your grown-ups not care for you? Running all the way here, dont you know how dangerous the forest is during winter?! I wouldnt have come here if it wasnt, Jom thought to himself. If the man had continued to lecture them Jom might have fought back. Luckily the man let the topic go, going back to his gentle self. Whatever, after all weve finally hunted down a beast, you two should come to our village from some stew. After youve warmed up a bit Ill send you back home, the middle-aged man asked for their opinion. Terry looked at Jom, the latter nodded their head. The men seemed to be doing this out of kindness, they didnt need to decline. To be completely honest, it didnt matter even if the men had some nefarious plan, Jom was confident that a player of his level had nothing to fear! They had trekked for a whole day and had their only kill stolen from them, if the men betrayed them later, he would let them know what was a true gamers rage! The other villagers had tied up the Dragonfang on a wooden frame from god knows where, some ten to twenty people working together to lift the beast back home. Jom couldnt help but question their intelligence slightly, couldnt they use that frame as a makeshift sleigh and save their energy? But the villagers all seemed to be in high spirits, they must have been proud of their successful hunt, so Jom didnt dampen their mood. Not long later, the group reached a nearby settlement. The village was hidden in a cave and had thirty to forty houses and families, their headcount might have even exceeded the Unnamed Town. Chapter 90: Always Take Out the Rider First, Sounds Like Logic To Me! It was evident that the Dragonfang had been terrorizing the village for quite some time, the villagers looked like they were celebrating the Harvest Festival as the hunters hauled the corpse of the Dragonfang back to town, the hunters were welcomed like heroes. The villagers even welcomed the two strangers Jom and Terry to sit beside the bonfire and enjoy a warm meal. Food in the village was simple, just some regular rye crispbread. The hunters were diligently working to fully butcher the large Dragonfang, slicing it up into palm sized steaks and handing them to the women of the village who cooked them on the bonfire and served them to the rest of the villagers. Even the bones didnt go to waste, the women tossed the bones into a large clay pot filled with water and brought it to a boil. After skimming off the scum formed on the surface and adding some leaves from a plant Jom didnt recognize, the whole mixture was simmered slowly. Not long later, the wonderfully delicious meat stew was finished. If let to cook for longer, even more flavor could be introduced into the soup, but the villagers obviously couldnt wait any longer, all eager to finally start their feast. Maybe it was because their village was isolated in a snowy cave, but it felt like the villagers hadnt had a good hearty meal like this in quite some time. Jom and Terry had only taken their first taste of the stew when most villagers had already emptied their wooden bowls, some excited kids were running to the pot asking for seconds. You guys are believers of the God of the Harvest, right? When Jom first entered the villager, he noticed something akin to a totem pole right by the entrance, the symbol of the God of the Harvest, Marcolo. Only if the villages population was over one hundred, and all villagers were believers of the God of the Harvest, would the Garden of Grains (the church of the God of the Harvest) erect such an idol in the village. It was a common symbol of pride, whenever deities created Divine Miracles, their idols would also be given a share of that power, and the subsequent aura they emitted gave the villagers special buffs as well. Other deities had their own idols similar to this one, for the church of the God of Games, it was sort of like the Lifestone. Jom curiously asked the middle-aged hunter next to him, I hear that the God of the Harvest casted his Divine Miracle down to our realm this year, since your village is recognized by the Garden of Grains, the villages harvest should have been pretty decent, so why do you guys look like youre in the middle of a famine? Since the Valla Empires under the Brilliant White Church, besides the Garden of Grains, our village has to pay its taxes to the Brilliant White Church as well. Plus, with the White Church starting their One Year War against the Temple of Glory, taxes this year have been particularly steep to help prepare army rations, after all that, we dont have much The hunter stopped himself mid-sentence, startled that he was voicing his frustrations with the church out loud, cold sweat running down his back, What do you kids know, asking questions like these! He tried to brush the two boys off. Im just curious, Jom replied, he continued asking, Theyre basically bullying you guys at this point, why dont you say anything? Watch your mouth, kiddo! The hunter shook his head in defeat, whispering into Joms ear, The elders of the village say that deities are one with the church, to dishonor the church is to dishonor the gods! If youre caught, youll be hanged dead on the town walls! Jom didnt like what he was hearing, So you guys are wimps, barely scraping by in the shadows of the infallible church? You kids these days, what do you mean scraping by, when there wasnt a war, our village was pretty well off. The hunter was obviously displeased at how Jom called him a wimp. Its just that taxes are higher during times of war Do you know what war is? It takes peoples lives, before sending those hardened soldiers to battle, of course wed have to make sure they were eating right. Hmph Jom didnt reply further. How could he not know what war was? He and Terry lost their families in that aforementioned One Year War. If it werent for the Church of the God of Games taking them under their wing, the two of them would probably have still been rummaging through garbage for food outside the town walls of Wickidor! Jom, are you not gonna eat? The breads pretty good. Terry was happily munching on his hard rye crispbread, not really interested in the grilled meat the villagers were drooling over. The most abundant food in the Unnamed Town was grilled meat, even though it definitely had enough seasoning, they were getting pretty tired of itthat was also the main reason why the frogmens relatively unseasoned Grey Fjord Point fish soup was quickly becoming a fan favorite among players. Jom took a bite of his rye crispbread, other than being as hard as rock, it tasted surprisingly similar to the sweet biscuits his mother used to make. He was suddenly reminded of his parents, engulfed by the same flames that devoured their home, the scars on his heart split open once again and he felt the same pain he had back then. If only could he have known of the God of Games before then, if only he could have followed the deity sooner, his mom and dad wouldnt have died Jom took another look at the villagers, once again feeling his gratitude towards the God of Gamesbefore everything had happened, Jom used to mock all the mindless believers that sang endless praise whenever the God of Games was mentioned. Although he couldnt beat the God of the Harvest in terms of sheer size, the God of Games still gave rich lives to his believers. Unlike the God of the Harvest who watched idly as he stole the fruits of labor of his believers, the God of Games gave his believers the power to fight back, the various raids and activities he held seemed to be teaching his players that no matter how treacherous the road to victory was, they all had the right to fight for themselves! Their world didnt run by the rules of To each its own, but Jom knew that the villagers werent going to change beliefs with the God of the Harvests totem pole in their village, so he didnt plan on trying to convert any of them to believe in the God of Games. They would prepare to leave as soon as they were finished with dinner, at most they would help hunt some small animals as a show of appreciation towards the villagers. Just as Jom opened his mouth, a startled boy stumbled out of the shadows, he knocked over a small fire pit in his rush, the clattering pot attracting the attention of the villagers. Notte, arent you supposed to be guarding the entrance? an old man who seemed like the village elder asked the visibly shaken guard. N-N-N-N-N-Not good! The villager was quivering from head to toe, his beady black eyes showed uncontainable fear. The mountain bandits are here! As if someone had pressed the mute button, the previously bustling villagers all fell deadly silent, leaving all the sound of the crackling firewood whispering through the air. How far are they from the village? The village elder was the first to break the silence, asking the villager seriously. T-T-Theyre not far! The villager was scared to tears, voice cracking from fear, Theyll be here any second! The news dropped like a nest of angry hornets, the villagers were hysteric, running around deciding whether they should find a place to hide or try to flee the village before the bandits came. Calm down! Calm down! The old man tried to maintain order, As long as we give them food, the bandits wont take any lives! But it proved useless, the villagers still screaming and shouting over each other. Just then, a loud bang boomed above the noise, even the earth seemed to be trembling. Everyone froze, slowly looking towards the source of the sound. There sat two calm-faced teenagers. One was slightly shorter, dawning a white robe and brown hair, he held a metal war hammer in the shape of a cross, the end of the cross was indented in a wok sized divot in the ground, that was the source of the loud noise. Thanks for the warm welcome. The other, slightly taller, blue-haired boy stood up as well, sticking his tongue out to lick the crispbread crumbs on his lips and unsheathed the long sword on his back. As thanks, let us handle these bandits. Jom looked at the still stunned villagers and gave them a small smile before walking to the village entrance with Terry. The middle-aged hunter from before tried desperately to stop them, Wait! These arent your average mountain bandits! Dont worry, were not your average kids either, Jom replied, making sure to put emphasis on the word kid. Hes right. Im telling you, were pretty strong. Terry broke into a smile too, as if to show off his strength, he tried to flex his biceps, but his twig-like arms had the complete opposite effect on the villagers The villagers had worry written all over their faces, but it was too late to stop them as the bandits had already reached their village entrance. It was then that Jom finally got to properly see these so-called mountain bandits. To put it briefly, they were bandits in patched-up clothes riding chocobos, but they were different from the starving villagers, these bandits obviously ate well and were much fitter and healthier. For weapons, the bandits chose the easy to wield long cavalry sword. They were storming forward unrelentingly similar to cavalry on Earth, armies of foot soldiers could be completely overwhelmed by a team of well-trained cavalry, the mental stress of facing mounted enemies was debilitating, add onto that the power of a herd of chocobos, they were technically even stronger than the average medieval armored cavalry unit back on Earth. But for Jom and Terry, they didnt even pose a threat. The reason was simple. Why are they only Level 5, thats so bad. Terry raised his long sword. I could beat these guys with a hand tied behind my back! Their chocobos are Level 8. The Cleric Jom was making his pre-battle preparations behind him. Aim for their heads. Thus, before the battle had even begun, the rushing mountain bandits looked at the two young boys trying to stop them and laughed at their feeble attempt, but some of them felt a chill run down their spine, warning them of what was to come Chapter 91: The Chocobo Riders The leader of the mountain bandits, Beardy, looked at the two young boys swinging at his chocobos head with their long swords and gave a devious smile. He could tell that these two brave little kids didnt have any experience clashing with mounted troops. When faced with a chocobo swarm, true veterans would always target the chocobos legs first, since most military used chocobos had protective gear on the chocobos head and chest, and it was hard to hit the birds neck as it was retracted in its thick feathered cut. If you tried attacking a rampaging chocobos head, you would either get knocked flying from a chocobo headbutt, or get trampled to death by the stampede, there wasnt a third option. But then the impossible happened. The young mans long sword came down hard on the chocobos helmet, the sound of clashing metal rang out loudly, but it wasnt the clear sound of the long sword shattering, it was deeper than that, like the thunking sound of a hammer beating down on heated iron. With a single strike, the chocobos helmet was deeply dented, for a moment Beardy even thought that he had misjudged the boys weapon, could it have been a war hammer shaped to look like a long sword? Beardys mount let out a blood-curdling screech, splatters of crimson red spewing forth from the chocobos eyes and beak. The boy had stopped the chocobos charge with just one blow, it was almost defying the laws of physics! Because of the combination of level difference + weak point attack + power charging, the chocobos was hit with massive damage and was instantly one-shotted. With the birds head as a pivot point, Beardys dead mounts corpse did flips through the air and crashed hard into the snow-covered ground, sending up clouds of white and brown as he did and leaving a sizable dent into the frozen earth! The chocobos rider was flung off from the momentum as well, face-planting into the ground. If it werent for the snow acting as a shock absorber, that fall could have cost him his neck. Beardy hauled himself off the ground and looked in horror as the sword-wielding boy batted the chocobos corpse as if hitting a baseball, sending it flying in the direction of the rest of the stampede. Although chocobos had immense running power, as a drawback, it was very difficult for large groups in the middle of a stampede to make coordinated movements to dodge incoming obstacles. So the rest of the chocobo riders fell like bowling pins, one crashing onto another as the whole herd fell into chaos. At the speeds that they were going, nevermind the riders, those chocobos were as good as useless, even if they managed to survive, their legs would certainly be no more good for running. Some of the chocobo riders managed to dodge Beardys mount, avoiding the fate of their brethren, but they sacrificed a lot of speed in the process. Even a chocobo charging at full speed came to a screeching halt after a single attack from the kid, after losing their momentum they would be no match for the youngsters attack, they would have to rely on their agility to avoid being instantly taken out. This wouldnt do Beardy was getting worried, using all of his strength to get out of the snow pile he had formed. The few lucky chocobo riders were being taken out by the boy one by one, an already weakened enemy like him was basically a sitting duck. He had to do something. A flash of determination crossed Beardys eyes. He knew that he couldnt take on the warrior-god-like teen, he guessed that the kid was most likely one of the Blessed from some church, possessing supernatural abilities at such a young age. His gaze fell onto the boy standing behind him. The sword-wielding kid was already on the thin side, but the boy in the white robe was even smaller. He held a scepter-like staff in his hands, with a cross about the size of a wooden ball sitting atop ita lot of churches had cross-related elements in their insignias, Beardy couldnt identify which church they belonged to based on that alone. But he was certain of one thing, Beardy squinted his eyes, he was sure that the robed kid was giving the warrior kid endless healing and divine buffs. The warrior kid was visibly getting tired from his intense battles, but with a white glow coming from the robed kids palms, he perked up once again. The kid was something like a battle priest. Beardy planned out his strategy in his head, players with healing and buffing abilities were the gems of their respective churches, but at the same time most of them werent battle-savvy, thats why they would usually have a protector by their side, and it was obvious that the warrior kid was this ones protector. That meant that as long as he got rid of this kid first, the remaining chocobo riders could slowly whittle down the stamina of that warrior kid In doing so he was basically waging war against the kids church, but if he didnt act now he could die, there wasnt time to worry about these details! Beardy steeled himself, he picked up the cavalry sword to his side and rushed towards the robed kid! Most priests were trained by their churches from a young age, they would flee as soon as situations go south. He had to use all his force right from the get-go to ensure that his target didnt have time to escape! The young robed priest seemed to have been stunned, frozen as he watched Beardy advance towards him. Die!!! Beardy had a crazed expression as he charged forward, his cavalry sword could almost reach the boy, but he suddenly noticed that something was offhe was already within striking distance, so why wasnt the robed kid showing any signs of fear, and he waslaughing? Skyward Slash! The robed kid swung his crossed scepter, sending Beardy into the air with the latter left in utter disbelief, he didnt understand what was happening. How could a tiny child shorter than his shoulders with thighs even smaller than his arms send him flying? He would never get to find out. Spear of Victory! Golden light gathered into a dazzling spear, cutting through Beardys breastplate as easily as a hot knife through butter, skewering him completely! From the perspective of the casting Jom, his enemy with the title Mountain Bandit floating above his head lost his entire health bar in an instant. Hey, you said that youd leave these bad guys for me! Terry complained to Jom while still fighting off a small herd of chocobo riders. You were too slow, he attacked me first, I couldnt just run away now could I? Jom sighed. Hurry up and get rid of the rest or else Im going to get rid of them for you. The riders knew that they were doomed, but it was too late for them to run. Divine Earthsplit Blade! The second after Terry used his ability, sword beams split the earth in two, even the few bandits who still wanted to take the bloodthirsty kid on were cleanly sliced in half! Chapter 92: Save the Children When the villagers finally peeked out to see what had happened, they found Jom and Terry rummaging through the snow. The once calm snow-covered mountainside was now covered in craters and dents, patches of the ground were now uncovered revealing strange marks and bloodstains. It looked like it had been the site of a huge war. But the strange thing was, there were no bodies. Aside from the two young men still alive and well, the scene was completely devoid of a single chocobo or mountain bandits corpse. Did not a single enemy die? Then what was all that clashing about, and what happened to the ground? Was that just a mock battle? Dont worry, we just have a special way of handling corpses. Jom could guess the villagers concerns, standing up and handing the village elder one of the items that popped out of the chocobo. See? This is the meat left from after we dealt with the chocobos. The village elder stared blankly at the slab of bird meat in his hands. So what exactly did you kids do to have this be the only remains of a large chocobo No need to thank us, we dont help others for the glory, but if you have some sort of enchanted blade you wanted to give us, well we would be glad to take it off your hands! Jom could see the many questions churning inside the minds of the villagers, so he decided to lay down his terms and conditions. Had a question you wanted answers to? No problem, just hand over the good stuff first. If you dont have anything to give, Id suggest you save your breath. The village elder let out a long sigh. Now youve gone and done it. He passed the cold bird meat in his hands to the middle-aged hunter next to him, not waiting for the hunter to say anything before entering Cutscene mode with Jom and Terry, explaining to them what they had done, Those scavenging mountain bandits arent too difficult to deal with, we have the best huntsmen in our village, even beasts like the Dragonfang arent a problem for us let alone a few bandits. No, the problem is that these bandits are part of something bigger Something bigger? Like the Society of the Secret Eye? Hearing what the elder had to say, Jom was instantly excited. If this went on, maybe he could activate a new quest! The Society of the Secret Eye? Whats that? The old man just looked at him in confusion, he let out a dry cough. No, nothing like that The story starts two years ago, back then the mountain bandits got lucky and made a deal with a Barren Giant on the brink of death. It was a massive earth-elemental monster, after the Barren Giant had healed, he became the protector of the mountain bandits, traps couldnt bind him, arrows couldnt pierce its skin, even the Holy Corps of the Garden of Grains were no match for it With you two killing so many mountain bandits, it will surely come to seek its revenge. The elder let out a long sigh before continuing, We must seek shelter in another village for the time being. How about this, you two can come with us. With us here, the people in the other villagers will accept you as well. That was what he said, but Jom knew what the village elder was implyinghe wanted the two of them to act as their free bodyguards. You guys are the victims here, so why is it that when your home is threatened, you choose to run away instead of fighting back? Terry blurted out before Jom could respond. Terry looked at the other villagers, but none of them had the bravery to step up and protest, he was more than displeased. You dont understand, the elder said sadly, Our neighboring village had tried to fight back against the mountain bandits, but the bandits just came back with that Barren Giant in tow. Everyone in that village was utterly decimated, the village itself was burned to the ground, the fires raged so brightly that we could see it from here When we rushed over, the only thing left of the village was a dog hiding in a water tank As the elder told his story, the people of the village silently parted, giving Jom a clear view of the village entrance. There slept a sickly gray Shar-Pei dog. He had thought that it was just a stray, who knew that it had such a harrowing backstory. Then you guys run, Terry and I will stay here and buy you guys some time. Jom offered. He wasnt interested in being the bodyguard of these villagers, compared to that, facing off against those mountain bandits was much more suited to his tastes, even dying in the hands of mountain bandits would be better than having to chauffeur these guys. You The elder just let out a sigh and shook his head, he figured that the two kids would do what they wanted to regardless of his advice, so he didnt say anything, turning to lead the villagers back into the village so they could pack. Jom, I get where theyre coming from, but this sucks, Terry said in his frustration, sitting down onto the snowy ground. Just kill another bandit later and let it all out, Jom replied. Do you think well be able to beat that giant? Terry asked, his mood seemed to brighten up while talking about the giant, Ive never seen a giant in real life before! I havent either, but we probably cant beat it. After all, we cant even beat the Black-Robed Bishop in the raids, this giants definitely gonna be stronger than that guy. Terry scrunched up his face again, letting out a whine, So Im gonna have to lose the experience points Ive just gained? I think its a little late to go get reinforcement from town Oh? Speaking of which, I remember hearing something about a system update Jom muttered O Master of Games, grant us new life and opened up the systems menu to check, Here it is, the new Player Forum! What does it do? Terry huddled over, but found that he couldnt see Joms systems menu. I think you can use it to communicate with other players Hmm? Is this a tutorial from the great deity himself? Let me see, first I need to create a new post and I have to title it? Terry, what do you think we should name our post looking for help? Jom asked the opinion of his best friend. My Butts Cold. My Butts No duh, your hot drinks effect has worn off and youre sitting in a pile of snow, of course its cold! Give me a serious one! What about Bandit Problem? It sounds too formal Plus if there isnt any reward, people might not come to help. Jom sat cross-legged in the snow and thought for a moment before a stroke of inspiration hit him. Ive got it, well call it Save the Children! You can upload photos here too, you go lie in that ditch and look like youve just been defeated, Ill take some photos of you. But its so cold After were done Ill treat you to some fish soup. Deal! Chapter 93: The First Post [Save the Children, We Need Help!] Xi Wei almost laughed out loud when he saw the title. Although he didnt abuse his powers as a deity to watch his players every move, almost all of each players actions are recorded in the Pantheon Computer, so he could check on them whenever he wanted to. He didnt expect that the first post in the new forum he created (excluding his original post) would use so many buzzwords already Hello everyone, Im Jom, Im sure a lot of people without set raid teams will know me, thats right, Im the melee Cleric that knows Skyward Slash! The winds blow gently on this snowy day, clouds cover the sky for miles, blablabla The start of the post felt incredibly stiff, it was like someone trying to write a letter for the first time. It was obvious that the young player who had written the post put a lot of thought into it, the wording was quite weird. Long story short, while my friend Terry and I were off exploring new regions of the map, we were attacked by enemies called Mountain Bandits. They are a group of low-level enemies who were extremely cumbersome to deal with! To protect an innocent village, we had no other choice but to engage in a vicious battle with the enemy, and in the process, my best friend Terry fell victim to countless inhumane acts! Its sort of like [Click to view image], and [Click to view image], and also [Click to view image]. Xi Weis mood was instantly lifted by those photos. Was this Yamcha (T/N Yamcha dying in a pit is a meme in China) According to the information we have gathered, the enemy will once again attack this village, there might even be a giant among the enemy forces! I hope players who are free can come assist us in defending this poor village, as a reward, the village elder has said that, after all is done, we are free to take anything we want from the village! Xi Wei looked at the history records and found that the villages elder said that they were moving, so the items in the village wouldve been free game anyways. The location is a village in a small valley about fifteen to twenty kilometers north of the town I hope everyone can come lend a hand! Jom put a lot of effort into composing the post, so Xi Wei wasnt planning on exposing that fact. Actually, he had decided to stay completely out of the situation, he wanted to see how players would react to a quest that wasnt given out by him. Not long after Xi Wei read the post, many players started replying. [Marni: Does the village have any unique items? If there are Ill consider helping.] [Edward: I need some valley specific items, do I just go north from the town?] [Eleena: Rua!] [Ivan: I havent seen you in a few days, and you guys got all the way there, you sure have a lot of movement speed] [Leah: The God of Games light illuminates the land!] [Doug Ag: Do you have to praise the God of Games in these posts too?] [Ivan: The God of Games is really Than Than!] [System NoticePlayer Ivan has been muted for 60 minutes due to inappropriate language.] [Marni: Ive told you that that phrase didnt mean anything good, you didnt learn when your account got banned. These two reactions from the Divine Deity clearly show that this phrase has negative implications, thats why you need to add a negative in front of it to make it positive again.] [Marni: For example The God of Games is NOT Than Than, like that.] [System NoticePlayer Marni has been muted for twenty-four hours due to vulgar language.] [Leah: ] [Edward: ] [Joe: ] [Gou Dan: Oh, you can change your name in the forum?] [Wow You Really Can: Let me try.] [I Wanna See Just How Long My Name Can Get: Same.] [War Princess: You two better watch it ] [System NoticeName changes now require the use of the Name Change Card item, the item can be purchased from Angora Faust, Vanke Noreki, and the Frogman Elder. Players can make a purchase every 24 hours.] [Angora: Congratulations, youve made a complete fool of yourselves in front of the great deity :Frogmen Clap: ] While Xi Wei was still testing and perfecting the various functions of the forum, the Lion King of Justice Aslan had already reached another Divine Kingdom. Welcome, Aslan. Its been quite a while since youve come here. The kingdoms ruler was a dwarf sporting a large moustache, a flask hung on the left of his belt, a hammer hung on his right. It was different from Xi Weis messy kingdom, the dwarfs kingdom was very interesting. Half of it was a forge filled with molten lava, while the other half was decorated with various types of alcohol and alcohol mixing tools, it felt like a nice little bar. The atmosphere, brightness, and even temperature of the two halves was strikingly different, they were two completely different worlds. The dwarf was called Stoff, the God of Craftsmanship and Fine Wine, and was also one of the members of the Invisible Pantheon. Would you like anything to drink? Stoff asked. No need, in fact, Ive got you an interesting little something that Id like you to have a taste of. Aslan shook his thick manea bottle of Coca-Cola fell out. Medicine? No, a beverage. Okay, I trust you, Stoff muttered as he took the soda can, he ripped off the tab and started chugging it down, finishing the whole thing in one go before letting out a long satisfied belch. That hit the spot! Drinking this while crafting might be even better than draught! Stoff exclaimed. As long as you like it. Aslan lay on the countertop. I got it from the God of Games. That new generation deity? What do you see in him? I think there are already plenty of deities in the Invisible Pantheon The dwarf started nagging. Times have changed Stoff. I smell danger. More and more gods are being brought to this land, they wage wars against each other, stealing each others divinity to become stronger Its exactly the same as what happened a thousand years ago, right before the Divine War. We need some insurance. But your insurance still isnt as strong as my hammer Heck, even Luna might be able to beat him, Stoff said nonchalantly, Plus, looking purely at battle strength, your the strongest mid-tier deity could come toe to toe with top-tier deities. Battle strength wasnt all that important, you should know, Stoff, my ranking is continuously dropping. But him, maybe hes not all that strong right now, but I believe that he has immeasurable potential Tell me, what do you think of the revival of his believers? Aslan suddenly asked. The dwarf shook the empty bottle in his hand and the sugary liquid refilled it. He took a long swig before answering, Theres no way that thats true revival. We all know, Lord Hades has complete control over death, whilst the Gospel of Life controls matters of life But even the Gospel of Life may not use her Divine Miracle of resurrection every year. Trying to swindle some control over life and death from those two is virtually impossible. Then what if, and Im saying what if The lions eyes shone a dazzling light. That new deity created a way to revive his players good as new without technically infringing on the domains of either life or death? Stoff was speechless. If thats so, he could possibly bend the very fibers of reality to his will, and watch down over all of existence with the Trinity of Creation themselves. Chapter 94: Used to Dying Is this forum thing really going to work? After the photoshoot, their model Terry was staring quizzingly at Jom while his friend was doubling over with laughter as he read the comments. It should be fine, at least Edward and the others are definitely going to come. Jom wiped at the tears forming in the corners of his eyes and steadied himself. We just have to wait and hope. Oh, the top player thatll join in whenever theres a quest, that Edward? Terry was shocked, he nodded enthusiastically. Then were golden! Dont get too excited, setting whether or not they can beat the Barren Giant aside, even finding this place is going to be difficult for them. Jom didnt think the situation was all that optimistic, he looked up at the gray sky. And thats if it doesnt snow. Having had his parade thoroughly rained on, Terry stopped talking, sitting down in the snow and continuing to munch on his crispbread. Jom had wanted to talk about their upcoming battle a bit, but after seeing Terry happily chomping down on his snack, Jom was feeling a bit peckish himselfafter the battle he had gone through, the food he ate during the banquet was completely gone. He should fill his stomach before he went into battle. Pre-battle nerves didnt really exist among players, so they had no problems with eating before a fight. Jom was just about to start on a jerky biscuit he had found when he felt someone behind him. He whipped back to see the middle-aged hunter from before standing right in front of him. You two really dont plan on leaving? The hunter didnt notice that he had startled Jom and started speaking when he saw him turn around. Terry who was previously completely oblivious of the others presence, choked on the crispbread he was eating, dropping what he had left and thumping hard at his chest. After confirming it wasnt an enemy, the title Villager still floated above his head in a neutral yellow color and there wasnt an enemy health bar, Jom finally calmed his nerves. Weve already made our promise, old man, Jom replied seriously, If you want us to go protect your other village, Ill have to politely decline. If they were up against mountain bandits theyd at least get some experience for their efforts, and if they got lucky and were able to defeat the Barren Giant with the help of their friends, they might get something good out of it! Compare that to chauffeuring these villagers, since there werent any new quests or anything, those villagers probably didnt plan on paying them back, and Jom and Terry werent fans of free labour. My names Joey Arbiter, but you can just call me Joey. Fine, Uncle Joey. Well watch your six here in the village and stall those bandits for you guys to buy you some time, seeing that Joey had something to say, Jom quickly added, Dont worry, us staying here will do you guys a lot more good than if we protected you on the road. Thats not what I mean. The hunter Joey was getting annoyed. What Im trying to say is, could you two please think about yourselves? What? Seeing the huntsman so aggressive, Jom had thought he was in for an argument. Ill admit that you two are strong, but with so many bandits, plus the strength of a Barren Giant, theres no way you can win! The hunter was at a loss for words. Staying behind is a death sentence, are you are you not scared of dying?! Death? Were already used to it. Jom softened his expression and answered calmly. Even if they couldnt revive themselves, even if their entire team was wiped out, theyd be up and running just three days later! Being trapped in the small black room for three days is pretty rough, but now as long as they were still able to read through the forums, three days was nothing! Joey was stunned. He thought of himself as having seen it all, every time something good was hunted up in the village, he was the one who brought it to the neighboring city to sell, he could easily read someones expression. Thats why he was sure, when this Jom kid was speaking, he wasnt joking. He didnt fear death at all, his face was calmer than a lake on a sunny day. So thats how it is, I shouldve known. Joey was vexed. He had heard from some friends back in the city that a few churches put children through inhumane trials and tests to train them to be able to receive Divine Blessings. They threw young children into the cruel jaws of war with only the barest of survival skills, pushing these innocent kids through the stages of maturity with blood and iron, strengthening their wills and weeding out the weak so they may eventually become the heart of the church. And these two kids were probably living such a life. They were still so young, and yet they showed the battle prowess of a worn veteran. They had grown accustomed to matters of life and death and viewed the prospect of dying as an everyday matter How many vile, barbaric acts did they have to witness to be able to think of death as nothing? Have they witnessed countless of their friends die? How many times have they had to crawl back up from the brinks of their demise? Or have their souls been clawed empty from their unspeakable trauma? Maybe the reason they walked headfirst into doom, was because death was their only escape from this savage reality. Thinking of their traumatic past, Joey couldnt help but feel sorry for them. You dont have to do this, children should be allowed to act like children! You should never treat death as an escape, come with me! From now on its okay if you live a normal life, I will protect you! Thus, the fatherly love spilled forth from Joey, declaring to Jom and Terry with all his heart, Let us rebuild a family together, if youd like, you can call me Dad too! Jom: ????? Jom couldnt fathom how exactly Joey could come to that interesting conclusion. Did he just tell them to call him Dad? From the sidelines, Terrys brain had come back online and he wasnt pulling any punches. I decline. He somewhat morosely looked at his crispbread laying on the floor, saying to Joey, Youre the one that threw everything away, even your home, at the first sight of danger. I dont want a father like you, who knows if the next time trouble comes, well be the ones you choose to throw away. Joey looked like he had been struck by lightning, freezing up like a zombie. He dragged his feet back to the rest of the villagers, wondering what he had done wrong. Jom was pretty upset by this turn of events, he had wanted to diss the guys face off, what was he going to do now? Chapter 95: Ambush From the Night They said they had to pack up, but they had been toeing the line of poverty for months now, so there wasnt much of anything of value they had to bring. Before the sky had fully darkened, the villagers were ready to go. You guys trekking through the night? Or are you staying until tomorrow? Jom was standing guard at the village entrance and asked the village elder as the elder walked past. We leave immediately, the village elder replied without hesitation, Although the bandits most likely wont come back that soon, I am responsible for the lives of my villagers, and thus we must leave as soon as possible! What about this guy? Jom pointed at the malnourished gray Shar-Pei sleeping near the village entrance. Are you not bringing him along? The village elder was silent for a moment, he shook his head. Hes still waiting for his owner to come back, hes not leaving this place. But his owner Terry had got out before Jom elbowed him in the chest. Some things are better left unsaid! The village elder watched the two quarrel, and turned back to look at the rest of the village, noticing every small detail of his home, his eyes filled up with nostalgia and longing. From the day he was born, this village had been his everything, every corner of this village was filled with memories of his childhood, of his friends. He hadnt expected to be forced to leave the place he grew up in at such an old age, the old man was obviously devastated. The village elder was quickly led away by his family. Under his guidance, villagers carried their belongings and bid their home one last farewell, families who reared animals even had their animals carry miscellaneous items on their back. Not long later, the village that had just had a noisy, bustling celebration mere hours ago, was now a complete ghost town. With nightfall, the dead silence that hung in the air left Jom feeling a little anxious, he started to miss the other players. He didnt like noise or loud sounds, but compared to that, this silence was much worse. Compared to a place like this, he suddenly realized that he really enjoyed being with his rowdy gang of friends, joking and laughing their way through quests and missions. He had originally wanted to avoid that sort of situation, thats why he was all the way out here. They really are different. Terry was the first to break the silence, with him not speaking up until now, Jom had thought he was mad at him for elbowing him earlier. Whats different? If the town was under attack by enemies, I would definitely fight back, Id never run away! Terry replied. Duh, we can revive. Its not like that! Terry struggled to articulate his feelings. Even if we couldnt revive, even if we only had one life, I wouldnt let our town get destroyed by some bad guys, I wouldnt let them wreak such havoc! Jom gave the situation some thought, and found himself though not as determined as Terry was, he would still feel horrible about not protecting his home, he would do what he could to helpthat is to say, even if there werent any rewards and his equipment would lose some durability, he would still die about three times to the enemy if it meant protecting their town. Even he didnt expect to care so much about an ordinary little town. Even so, were in no position to judge the decision of those villagers. A village by definition is a settlement of humans, as long as the people are still here, the village will continue to exist So to protect the people, giving up the village was the right choice. Jom let out a sigh and tried to change Terrys mind. I get what you mean, but they just gave up their home without any hesitation It just sucks. Terry knew what Jom was saying, but he just couldnt understand who would do such a thing. Jom was a little dejected. With Terrys IQ, Jom all but gave up trying to come to an agreement with him. Wait, Jom, do you hear anything? Just as Jom was coming to terms with his less than bright teammate, Terrys expression went from confused to alert in a second. Jom jumped a little, noticing that there was some noise closing in on them from afar. At first Jom had thought it was some players, but he realized that the sound sounded nothing like players footsteps, so he thought it was the villagers coming back to protect their village after coming to their senses, but after the sound got closer, he realized he was completely wrong. Its the sound of chocobos, the mountain bandits second wave of attack is coming! When Jom went to alert Terry, his friend had already guessed they were enemy units, quickly unsheathing his long sword that never left his side. Compared to Terry, Jom was thinking about a lot more. They hadnt let a single bandit go during their previous fight, their enemies should have been completely wiped out. Based on general knowledge, the rest of the mountain bandits had to notice that no one had returned, realize something had gone awry, and then send people to reconfirm. The whole process should have taken at least a days time, but the sun had just set and their enemies were already back This meant that either the mountain bandits could remotely supervise their members conditions and noticed that something was wrong when their previous wave of enemies were killed, or that the mountain bandits hideout was extremely close to the village! Regretfully, neither option was good news for Jom and Terry. The grounds still stable, there doesnt seem to be any large creatures. Jom tried to give Terry a smile. At least their trump card hasnt come. But theres a lot of people, from the sound of it about thirty riders? No, it might be around fifty, thats five times the number of people from this afternoon! Terry was troubled, with so many enemies, it would be difficult to fight them all of. And their previous tactic of lowering their enemys guard before they struck probably wouldnt work when their enemy came fully prepared. I shouldve become a mage, AoE damage is what theyre best at Jom muttered, Tsk, with so many people, we might not be able to hold them off for long, I hope those villagers can get away. Just as the first chocobos entered their line of sight, an arrow whistled past Jom and Terry, landing itself squarely in front of the chocobo rider, causing the mountain bandit to instinctively pull on the chocobos leash to stop it in its tracks. Jom and Terry turned to see where the arrow had come from, finding that the villagers had returned. With Joey leading them, they wore pots and helmets and had farming equipment as weapons, each sporting a battle-ready expression. If we were to let two kind and innocent children die whilst protecting our abandoned home, we would forever live our lives in guilt! Joey nocked an arrow with practiced ease, shouting loudly, Although we are weak, we will give everything we have to protect our village! Everybody, charge!!! Charge! Chapter 96: Emergency Class Change Although they had support from the system, players still grew at a much faster rate when compared to NPCs, but Jom and Terry still werent that high-leveled, they still had a long way to go before they reached the level Extraordinary, unbound by the restrictions of the mortal plane. Jom and Terry were happy that the villagers rushed back to help after changing their minds, but really, they couldnt help that muchwith weapons from the stone age and non-specific equipment, the cavalry units would completely overwhelm their foot soldiers. After their initial shock from the sudden appearance of the villagers, the mountain bandits once again began their charge! Most of the villagers were only equipped with hoes, sickles, and pitchforks as weapons and had basically zero armor, a few hunters had bows as weapons, but even then the bows they used definitely werent made for battle They were relegated to expendable minions on the battlefield, only useful to distract the enemy or to exhaust the enemys stamina and resources while Jom and Terry dealt damage. It was sad, but thats the way things worked. Dont come over! Jom had no choice but to command the villagers. Find cover, those with bows fire at will, those without shouldnt group together either, youll make easy targets! There was no other choice, this was the real world after all, even with the systems auto-targeting, most abilities still needed the player to manually aim it themselves. As a warrior and cleric duo, Jom and Terry didnt have any real AoE damaging abilities, but skills like Divine Earthsplit Blade could easily hit more than a single target, even players would sometimes get hurt by friendly fire from the explosive abilities of their teammates, and these yellow-titled neutral villagers werent under the protection of the system Although the villagers didnt really understand Joms reasoning, with the mental stress of so many enemies barging towards them, they all followed Joms orders without question, all seeking cover to hide behind save a few hunters continuing to fire their arrows. With the power of many times more chocobos than there were during the afternoon, the snowy landscape was covered in a cloud of white dust, under the gleam of the moonlight, their army looked even more formidable. Joms eye twitched, his hair stood on end as he felt magical energy coming from behind enemy lines. Careful, they have a mage! As he said those words, a fireball erupted from within the herd of chocobos. Terry wasnt able to dodge in time and took a direct hit. Along with the intense booming sound, Terry was flung into the air with a spray of snow, landing hard on the ground and rolling a few feet away before he came to a halt! Terry struggled to lift his head while lying in the snow and coughed out a puff of smoke. You couldve told me earlier Normal cavalry units were already a pain to deal with, but they didnt expect them to have a mage within their ranks, and with a casting speed that fast they were probably a high-level mage too Just who were these mountain bandits? Jom couldnt help but wonder. As he did, Jom glanced over to Terry and noticed that even though the explosion looked pretty intense, it didnt pack too big of a punch. Terry still had more than half of his health bar left Even so, Jom quickly tossed a health potion to Terry. Terry saw and quickly jumped up to catch the potion midair. He chugged the potion down with big gulps, letting out a satisfied burp when he finished. Somehow, Jom felt like he was just cheated out of his potions. But as things were, they didnt have time to care about these details. I gained a level a while ago and finally got to Level 15 I was going to wait to see if there were going to be any new class changes released, but I guess this will do. He took out a small pouch and accepted the Class Change Quest on his systems menu. There was only one class clerics could change into, and that was the Aquatic Angel! [Ding! You have activated the Class Change QuestAquatic Angel] [Explanation: Through much training, you are now ready to receive the blessings of the ocean, but before that, you must possess the ability to hear the oceans voice, as well as sign a contract with the powerful, beautiful, and mysterious beings of the sea. They shall lend their aid to you in your future conquests should you decide to call upon them.] [Requirements: 1 Listening Conch (1/1), 10 Skins of Oceanic Beasts (10/10), 30 Evergreen Kelps (30/30), 1 Length of Coral (1/1), 1 Red Freshwater Cuttlefish (1/1)] [Rewards: 1 Cloak of the Ocean (class specific equipment, does not take up an equipment slot), Oceanic Contracts, 1 Coral Pen.] [Note: Quest items can be found by exploring the Gray Fjord Port area.] Everythings already prepared! Jom took out a small pouch from his bag filled with his already prepared quest itemssince there were already quite a few players who had already reclassed to Aquatic Angel, the items required to complete the quest had been circulating through the Cleric players. A couple of these items were difficult to find too, for example, youd think a Length of Coral would be easy to acquire, but the system only accepts coral with very specific dimensions Still, most Cleric players held on to a set of these items regardless of whether or not they planned on reclassing, just in case they needed them. This, Jom felt, was definitely a case that he needed them. The mountain bandits let fly a few more fireballs, all flying towards Jom and Terry. Even if they were able to roll out of the way, the shockwave from the blast would still knock them off their feet, leaving them to be trampled by the oncoming chocobo stampede. Even though they looked cute, the Chocobos boasted a hefty two-hundred something kilograms of weight beneath their feathery exterior. With their armor and the fully equipped bandits on their backs, they could easily exceed three-hundred kilos, getting stepped on by one of them was either death or a life lived crippled! But just before the fireball came into contact with the two boys, a swarm of blue light surrounded Jom. The next moment, the fireball hit, bursting into flames and causing a thick combination of smoke and mist to cover the scene. Oceanside areas werent lacking in the wind department during winter. Valley winds swept away the smoke and mist, uncovering what had happened. Appearing from behind the fog was a huge clam? Just in time Jom spat out the bottle in his mouth and let out a deep breath. He had seen a recent wardrobe change. Around his neck was now a scarf with blue and black stripes, if you looked closely you could even see a scale-like texture on it. A sea snail brooch was attached to it as the scarf whipped in the wind, adding an air of heroism onto the young boy. His white robe didnt change much, but he had an extra pouch attached to his belt containing the Coral Pen and his Oceanic Contracts. Sprite? Terry asked, looking at the bottle Jom had spat out. Its Water from the River Lethe! Jom corrected. Isnt that sprite?! Wow, those things are so expensive! Well, I need to change my skill points a bit after reclassing. Jom canceled his clam (?) summon. Anyways, now we can finally start our second round. Following his words, many small octopus tentacles started crawling their way up from the ground, inching their way towards the mountain bandits that stopped their charge at the sight of the clam Chapter 97: Hoho, Were Doomed Morphesto sliced at the entangling tendrils and pulled at his chocobos leash, planning on leaving the tentacle infested land and restarting his charge after putting some distance between them and the village. He was the commander of the mountain bandits raid. During the afternoon, Beardy and his group of bandits went out for their routine survey of the surrounding area and never came back. Soon after their departure, their souls appeared in the Soul Lamp all mountain bandits were bound toothey had died. They hadnt expected there to be someone brave enough to provoke their gang. The leader of the mountain bandits was outraged, he sent Morphesto and his group to take action, ordering them to launch their attack immediately. His words were clear, Burn that village to the ground, leave no person left alive! But from the looks of it, they were facing some unexpected issues What the hell is this! A mage next to Morphesto was glaring at the squirming tentacles. You dont recognize this magic? Morphesto asked politely. Although he was the appointed commander of this operation, Morphesto knew that the group of old mages placed much higher than himself in his bosss heart. If he were to act rudely towards the mages, he would be in for some punishments from their boss when they got back. This isnt magic, it isnt even a Divine Art Its more like a ritual of the fishfolk, but people on land usually wouldnt be believers of the Ocean God Could it be that the revenant mages of the Black Tower have discovered some new form of revenant summoning magic? The old mage was doubting himself. Looks like he wouldnt be of much help any time soon. Morphesto let out a small sigh, but he was also glad that it seemed like the youngster using this magic had not properly mastered it yet. Although the magic was pretty gross, it wasnt all that strong. Once the chocobos start accelerating, these octopus tentacles wouldnt be able to latch onto them! Even so, during their confusion, the other sword-wielding kid had already rushed into the swarm of tentacles, easily cutting down a few unlucky riders who couldnt free themselves in time. In just a single charge, they had already lost a tenth of their men, Morphesto knew he couldnt underestimate the two kids. He cracked his whip in the air rhythmically according to the signals the mountain bandits had previously established, the remaining riders immediately split into two groups, planning on sandwiching the teens in the middle. They were forty-something fully grown bandits against two short, lanky, twelve to thirteen-year-old kids, and yet they had to fight this seriously, they would become laughing stocks if anyone else knew. But Morphesto knew that some people in this world didnt play by regular rules He had seen such a monster in the holy city of Instan before becoming a bandit. So after realizing he wasnt up against normal humans, Morphesto wasnt going to judge a book by its cover, he had to give it their all and destroy their enemies in a single blow. His decision was proven to be correct. The two kids were extremely powerful. Morphesto felt that even the guards of the holy city couldnt beat them in a 1 v 1, but against a stampede closing in on both sides, plus countless attacks from all directions, they were overwhelmed and lost their bearingstaking several direct hits from the bandits! The kid that could summon weird aquatic creatures seemed to have a limit of how many summons he could have at a time, after confirming this fact, they werent too hard to beat. Dont kill them, I want to make them my test subjects for my soul experiments! a few of the mages ordered. So Morphesto had to hold back his bloodlust and let his other riders continue wearing them down and look for openings to land a few more non-lethal strikes, making them lose a lot of blood so they couldnt fight back. What he could understand was how these two were still standing. Their bodies had obviously taken a beating, and with how much blood was drenching them and the ground beneath them, they should be passing out any second, but they werent even showing any signs of fatigue Actually, aside from the original burst of blood from their wounds, their wounds somehow started to eerily look like they were only drawn on. Morphesto couldnt even order any of his men to go capture those meddling villagers! As soon as fewer people were on them, it was possible that the teens would take the opportunity to retaliate! Maybe they should start negotiating instead. Just as Morphesto was planning his step, the bloodied cross-wielding kid suddenly leaped towards the casting mage, ignoring the multiple stab wounds on his body and swung the cross in his hand, Skyward Slash! The mage didnt have time to react. His chocobo was sent flying out from beneath him at an absurd angle from the crosss strike. The mage naturally fell from his mountlanding heavily on his back. The next moment, the sword-wielding kid rushed up to, jumping over the several riders pinning him and skewering his long sword through the mages skull! D*mn it, wrong guy, this blabbering one isnt their leader! After the two finished off the mage with a single combo, the cross-wielding kid looked at the rest of the unflinching mountain bandits and let out a groan, The Boss is someone else! They had wanted to kill off the leader in one blow so the other fighters would lose their orders to turn the tide? No, before this, how did they even communicate and formulate such a strategy? If they hadnt communicated, how would it be possible for them to work together so perfectly? Morphesto was getting worried. This wouldnt do. Even if it meant angering the other mages, these two dangerous children couldnt be left alive, they had to be killed immediately! Thus, he cracked his whip again, sending out orders. But this time, his enemies seemed to noticethe cross-wielding kid had a fire in his eyes as he stared at Morphesto like a wolf staring down its prey! Morphesto calmed himself, Its okay, theyre heavily damaged and wont be able to last much longer, plus we outnumber them, we have forty chocobo riders, tell me how we could lose! Attack! Dont let them escape! Since he was found out, there was no more need to hide, Morphesto shouted loudly, rallying his men, We outnumber them, they only have two people! The next second, a loud boom rang in the air. Morphesto had thought that one of his mages had started attacking, but he realized something was wrong, why was the sound coming from behind him? He turned to look and his whole body stiffened. A few commercial carriages appeared out of the woods god knows when, but the carriage was filled with people, even a rough estimate counted fifty to sixty people. They even used their abilities to clear out obstacles in their path to help the carriage move smoothly, leaving a straight path of destruction behind them I hear, a young mage said as he hopped off the carriage, smirking slightly at Morphestus, You outnumber us? Chapter 98: Speaking of Weak Points... There wasnt much to say about the battle between the players and the mountain bandits, it could basically be summed up to ranged-attacking players launching an unstoppable barrage towards them. Even if the mages that had just enough time to put up a magic shield and survived the flurry of spells the players had cast, they would still die from a Backstab by the players who had reclassed into Shadow Rogues. Of course, the players didnt come out of it completely unscathed, an unlucky Shadow Rogue couldnt help his curiosity while he used his Backstab ability and aimed right at the mages chocobos ass. The kick he received left him more than just a little scarred. After all, if we were comparing leg strength alone, these monsters that donned the appearance of cute birds were multiple times stronger than a horse on Earth. The dumbest thing was that after the guy was sent flying, he was clutching at his stomach not in pain, but in laughter. F*ck, so b*ttholes arent weak points? The other players laughed at the situation as well. Hahaha, you only found that out now? I already knew that. But I think attacking the balls counts as a weak point attack, it shows red damage. What the heck are you guys doing up there Why do you all sound so experienced? Seeing the players react in such an unprecedented manner, the mages that survived and wanted to take out the heavily damaged player backed off, fearing that the group of maniacs might still have some tricks up their sleeves, hurriedly hobbling away on their half-dead chocobos hoping to flee. But of course, they were wiped out when the other players with movement abilities rushed towards them all at once. After the fight was over, Jom and Terry both let out breaths they had been holding since their battles had first begun, slumping down into the snow-covered ground. While players were in still in combat they had the help of the Rule of Skill, it didnt matter how badly you were hurt or if you lost a couple limbs, as long as you still had a drop of health left in your health bar you could continue fighting as if you were completely fine, but situations like these were incredibly mentally taxing, so after leaving combat, it was naturally that they felt like they were completely wrung dry of energy. Whew, its a good thing Mr. Edward and the rest of the players made it here in time, if not wed really have to wait the whole three days to revive. Jom downed an entire health potion in one go, the carbon dioxide and sugar entering his system left him shuddering, he was starting to feel a little better. But is this really okay? Terrys voice sounded muddled, as if he was almost fast asleep and was starting to babble nonsense. What? Joms mind was still foggy from fatigue. In your post earlier, you said that after the quest was complete, everything in the village would be up from grabs, right? Oh. After being reminded by Terry, Jom remembered, he did say something along those lines. But back then the villagers had already left, who cared if the village was plundered clean, worst-case scenario they could just blame it on the mountain bandits. No the villagers had not only come back, they even helped out slightly, raiding their homes right after saving them didnt feel quite right Yo, you guys good? Edward didnt go with the others to clean up the battlefield (read: pick up drop items), and instead went over to Jom and Terry. He glanced at the coke bottle on the ground and then back at the two boys. Looks like I dont need to worry. Thank you, Mr. Edward, for coming over to help us. Although the church of the God of Games didnt currently have any sort of honor system, out of respect towards the earliest players and church believers, Jom thanked Edward sincerely. No need to thank me, Im glad we made it in time. Remember to invite me along the next time you have quests like these. Edward gestured with his hands. Plus the mage enemies here are much weaker than the guys that attacked the frogmen village, it wasnt that difficult Its natural that we made it on time, we spent more than a few pennies to borrow that stingy Uncle Marnis convoy. Gou Dan shook his head from the side. And while we were on the way here we used quite a few movement spells, one of the legs of the sled even broke off. I hope Uncle Marni wont mind too much. I cant believe youre making even more trouble for the old man Jessica sighed with her hand on her forehead. He already has enough going on. As long as we give Uncle Marni a cut of todays spoils itll be fine, Joe said excitedly, Oh right, is this the village that you said we could loot. Jom went pale when Joe mentioned their reward. He was cracking his head thinking of how he could make everyone happy in this situation. Edward and the others didnt notice Joms expression and continued chatting. Well, even if they did notice, they didnt pay it any mind, probably just assuming that he hadnt recovered from their previous battle yet. Jessica: Come to think of it, did Uncle Marni not come? Gou Dan: When I borrowed the carriage from him at the Gray Fjord Point he was busy being dragged underwater by a man-eating Cameroceras. Joe: And you stood by and watched? Gou Dan: I wanted to save him, but the problem is I cant swim, my arrows couldnt reach him either. Plus, after I told him the amount we were paying him, he just gave me a satisfied look and a thumbs up while he slowly sank into the sea, his body covered in tentacles. Edward: Even Jom felt bad for Marni. The villagers started to gather closer to them, but after the insane showcase of power the players just gave, they were a little terrified of them, making sure to keep their distance. If this went on, something bad was definitely going to happen. It wasnt that Jom doubted his players integrity. After all, most of them came from pitiful beginnings themselves. They often extended their kindness to those in need, and when compared to the lives of the villagers, the players were definitely much more well off, if you actually placed these villagers items in front of the players they would most likely decline. But collecting rewards after quests was what players were used to, even getting some garbage was better than getting nothing at all. The players didnt have any ties to these villagers either, if one of the players started spouting something rude (a very likely occurrence) and caused the villagers to think they had come to raid them too, the war that would ensue would be inevitable. The fire that had just been ignited in the villagers would take some time to cool off, and the players looked like they hadnt had enough yet too. If the two sides were to fight, the extremely under-leveled and poorly equipped villagers would definitely be wiped clean off of the face of the planet. If one wrong word from him caused an entire village to be decimated, Jom wouldnt be able to live with himself. Then, Jom saw a chocobo surviving on its last breath, inspiration struck him. Wait a minute, Mr. Edward, what do you think of those chocobos just now? Jom asked. What do you mean? Edward didnt understand what Jom was implying. What Im saying is, If I could get you a herd of well-trained chocobos, what are your thoughts? Jom persuaded. Chocobos, huh Thinking about having a mount, and the insane kicking power a chocobo had at just Level 8, Edward was definitely swayed. Chapter 99: The Barren Giant Thats right, compared to these poor little villages, the mountain bandits hideout is obviously the real treasure trove! Seeing Edward showing interest, Jom immediately started pushing his sales pitch even harder, And after the two excursions weve had with them, aside from the Boss the Barren Giant, there probably arent that many enemies left! Indeed, the two battles they had in the afternoon and at night had already dealt with roughly sixty enemy units, and all of them were healthy young men. Even the largest gangs had a limit to how much power they could possess, too big and there would be too much in-fighting and too much commotion, they would be culled by the surrounding churches. Although the mountain bandits had a track record of beating the Holy Corps of the Garden of Grains, that didnt say much about their strength. The Holy Corps of the Garden of Grains had basically the worst combat strength among all large-scale churches. I mean, you couldnt expect a group of farmers without any supernatural blessings to be all the powerful, could you? This also caused their strength as a whole to not be all that imposing, even though they had many, many believers, the God of the Harvest was still stuck at the edge of the Greater Gods, unable to advance to the status of Divine Father. Thats true, do you know where the mountain bandits hideout is? Edward wasnt a hot head that made rash decisionshe immediately asked Jom for more information. Er Jom went mute. Right, where was the mountain bandit hideout? Was there a hostage they could question? He scanned over the battlefield and found the only thing left breathing was a heavily damaged chocobo A group of players was currently standing around it debating how long it could live and whether or not Coca-Cola would have any effect on it, the whole scene was very creepy. No wonder the villagers kept their distance. Then, the skinny old gray Shar-Pei who had listened in to the entire conversation from the village entrance suddenly stood up, barking at Jom. Wheres the dog from? Gou Dan furrowed his brows, feeling that the situation had more than meets the eye. The Shar-Pei ignored Gou Dan, continuing to bark in Joms direction. Jom was confused before coming to the realization of what it was trying to do. You want to get revenge for your owner? The Shar-Pei didnt nod, but it stopped barking and started sniffing the ground, a moment later it ran off in the direction the mountain bandits came from, turning around to bark at Jom after running a few steps. Lets follow it. Jom quickly told Edward and the others the story of the dog, thus Edward made his decision. The other players decided to tag along toothey had come all this way in hopes of being able to take down a Boss, so there wasnt much point in them staying in the dinky little village anyways. Most of the villagers stayed at the village, but a few hunters followed the players with Joey leading them. Were going to go duke it out with the barren giant, why are you lot coming? Terry asked Joey as they followed the dog, Youll just get in the way. He was a straightforward person and didnt try to hide what he wanted to say, putting his thoughts clearly right in front of Joey and the rest of the hunters. You guys are too awful, youll only hold us back while were fighting the Boss if you follow us. I know we probably wont be of much help. Joey stayed silent for a moment, he had realized that his original assumption about the kids was probably wrong. The two boys werent kids who had been thrown into war when they were just children, their personalities werent cultivated from endless torture and bloodshed either, they were cultivated by these gang of weirdos in front of them who could laugh and joke while they were on the way to face a foe infinitely stronger than them. These people were definitely weird, some of them were obviously quite interesting characters, but from what Joey could see, they were undoubtedly good people. Jom and Terry would definitely be better off with these people than they would be with him, so he wasnt going to mention adopting them anymore. But at least we can watch you fight from the sidelines, and if anything goes south, we can rush back to the village to get them prepared. Jom looked at him and didnt speak, Terry didnt continue shooing them back either. The other players didnt really care muchthey were just a few neutral units, and their levels were so low, whether they were there or not didnt really affect the outcome at all. When the players got to the mountain bandits hideout with the Shar-Peis lead, they found that they might have underestimated their enemy a little. The mountain bandits hideout was built on a cliff. Maybe built wasnt exactly the right word, because they dug out the midsection of the cliff and made the hollowed out portion their hideout. The players raised their heads to look at the bandit hideout and started discussing their plans of attack. Some players even uploaded pictures and updates on their current situation onto the forum, letting players who couldnt make it be able to join in on the discussion and share some of their thoughts. When the players got closer to the hideout, a huge unassuming chunk of rock beneath the cliff suddenly came to life, swinging its car-sized rocky fist in their direction! This is the barren giant? Jom who was standing in the front easily dodged the enemys sluggish attack and felt that something was off. Although the rock man had incredibly high attack power, his fist made a sizable crater in the earth. Anyone who got hit would immediately become a pancake, but its speed was way too slow to pose any sort of threat to the players. Soon after, the health bar and name appeared above the attacking rock man. [Stone Golem, Elite, Level 12] Following that, many more stone golems emerged from beneath the ground, a rough count gave them over ten of these monsters. These things look like the barren giants underlings, we need to get rid of them before the Boss comes! The highly experienced monster hunter in Edward came out, immediately starting to command the other players to attack these golems. These high attack high defense but extremely low-speed stone golems were no match at all for the players, most of them were quickly taken out, leaving only a few left standing. Obviously the people designing their security system didnt expect their stone golems to be taken out so easily. When the last stone golem was just about dead, a rhythmic vibration resonated through the ground. Thud, thud Thud, thud Then, a hand several times larger than the stone golems entire body placed itself on the top of the mountain, pulling up a terrifying shadow previously hidden by the steep cliff walls. It was a monster almost thirty meters tall, almost as tall as the cliff. Its weight was hard to estimate but it shook the earth with every step it took. It was a super creature that could turn trees into powder without even trying and rival the likes of mythical dragons. It was a monster with a humanoid form, but its body was covered in craggly rocks and its skin was tougher than castle walls, aside from a large gray eye on its face, it didnt appear to have any other organs. The barren giant. Chapter 100: The Proper Ways of Provocation Xi Wei almost swore when he saw the barren giant. At first, he had just thought that the villagers didnt know what they were talking about, calling some earth elementals like the stone golems a barren giant. After all, besides the mountain giant, the barren giant was the most popular earth elemental among humans. Even the smallest mountain giants were a couple hundred meters tall, so there was no chance of mistaking it, thats why a lot of humans instinctively called larger stone golems barren giants by accident. But barren giants usually lived in dry places like deserts where water was hard to come by. They never came close to the ocean since the extra moisture in the air could cause them discomfort. So Xi Wei never expected their enemy to actually be a barren giant. Things arent looking good. Barren giants were true creatures of myth, a fully grown barren giant could easily come toe-to-toe with a regular dragon. The barren giant that appeared before his players hadnt fully matured yet, it was still in between the stages of adolescence and adulthood, if it were a Digimon, it would probably still be at the Rookie stage. Even so, it had enough strength to best even a group of Extraordinary level players. Not only that, the barren giant was also the sacred creature of the Lord of the Peaks, and the Lord of the Peaks was himself the sub-deity of the Earthweaver, one of the Seven Divine Fathers. No wonder I havent seen it. As the sacred creature of the Lord of the Peaks, the barren giant possessed some of the deities divine power as well, it was similar to the divine protective emanating out from the churches located at the hearts of large cities, the barren giant had a barrier hiding it from Xi Weis Divine Eye. Xi Wei had originally planned on not interfering with the quest to train up his players, but with the appearance of the barren giant, he didnt even have the option of helping them. After all, the battle between the players and the barren giant was completely conducted on a personal basis, in the eyes of the Lord of the Peaks it was basically a dogfight, even if his dog died during the altercation, he wouldnt do anything about it except blame his dog for being too weakas a deity, who didnt have tens of thousands of dogs at their beck and call (save for newer deities like Xi Wei)? These high and mighty deities werent going to stoop down to the same level as dogs. But if Xi Wei interfered with the battle, it would be as if he killed the dog right in front of its owner, getting on the owners blacklist would be inevitable. Xi Wei had the protection of the Justice Lion Aslan, so he wasnt scared of the Lord of the Peaks, but the lord had a protector of their own, and a Divine Father no less. If those ReadNovelFulls had taught Xi Wei anything, after taking out the small ones, their much stronger people behind them would come back for revenge. Even with the lions help, they would end up as dead meat Aye, this is not going to be pretty. All Xi Wei could do was obediently watch his players from his kingdom. Whatever, itll teach them a lesson, let them know that players arent invincible either. Even so, Xi Wei did still think about what would happen if his players won Although the chances were slim, what if? And so, he pulled the Rotten Bones out of his blender and broke off its pinky toe with a clean crack, shoving the skull back in once he was done. Next he used the leftover divine properties he got while digesting the Aquatic Lords divinity to try and soften the rotten toe bone, wanting to make a piece of golden legendary equipment. It was the first piece of legendary equipment he had made, he was sure his players would love itthat is, if they could get it. Things arent looking good. Edward came to the exact same conclusion as his deity did. The thirty-meter-tall and several thousand ton heavy barren giant was terrifyingly powerful, it was at a far higher level than the bosses their players had faced before at Level 50, it was even in a completely new rank, Overlord, even the Rotten Bones Archbishop they previously fought was only ranked as a Boss. Aside from the very few defensively-specialized players, all of their players would be instantly one-shot if the giant so much as grazed them, if not for the multiple cleric players that came with them on their journey barely being able to resurrect everyone as soon as they died, the players on their side would quickly start dwindling. Even still, it was just a matter of time for when they would lose, they dropped experience with every death, if they ran out it would be game over, and not every player had enough in their reserve, plus if their clerics were killed en masse, their frontline would immediately break! Besides that, the damage their players were outputting on the barren giant was almost negligible. Ten to twenty players had been continuously wailing on the monster for quite some time, and yet the stone giants health bar was still nine-tenths of the way full! We cant beat this thing, we have to retreat! Gou Dan realized that all his arrows were deflecting off their opponents rocky skin, shouting his concerns to Edward, I cant even break its defenses! Edward went silent as well. Indeed, this barren giant was unlike anything they have ever faced before, their players abilities and revival skills couldnt bring them to victory. Edward furrowed his brows, no, although their abilities and revival skills couldnt help them win alone, without the two, their players would all already be dead. Revives gave each player more time and more opportunities to damage their enemy, and their abilities helped them chip the giants health down little by little. Even if Gou Dans arrows couldnt pierce the barren giants skin, it still took with it a minimum of 1 health point from the giant. What they needed was an opening to attack. Abilities were set in stone, but the players that used them were not, if they could use their abilities correctly, it could be possible that they would create unexpected effects. Its eyes could be its weak point Joe, can you and the other warrior players get the giants attention for a bit? Thus, Edward picked himself up and started commanding the other players. Try to get it as far away as you can, we need time to prepare! Got it! Hey, rock for brains! Joe and a group of warrior players tried to use Provoke on the barren giant, but they were all obviously ignored. The barren giant was not mature yet, and it wasnt as bright as it was strong, it wasnt completely immune to Xi Weis laws of the game, but it wasnt completely controlled by it either, a classic example of this was that crowd control abilities like Provoke had no effect on ita player successfully used Air Launch on it, but they obviously werent able to launch the colossal beast. At this rate, they wouldnt even be able to gain aggro let alone lead the thing away. It was then that Joe saw a stone golem starting to self-regenerate out of the corner of his eyes. He had an idea, he quickly rushed over and jumped on top of the stone golem. Elemental creatures were hard to kill, but it wasnt so for these playersit didnt matter if you were an elemental or whatever other monster, if you had a health bar, you were going to be killed. Joe grasped his sword firmly with both hands and imbued his familiar spirit into the blade, he slashed down hard, and with a loud clunk, the stone golem stopped regenerating, a tight web of cracks started forming on its body before it crumbled into a pile of pebbles. The barren giant stopped its advances towards the mages and clerics. Joe gave it a very overdramatic apologetic look. Im so sorry, was that your aunt? Seems like I accidentally killed her. The barren giant slowly turned its head, the single eye on its craggly face staring straight at Joe. The latter looked at it and used [Evil BladeMountain Strike], ignoring the Hey dont kill steal from the other players and sliced open another stone golem. Oh, was that your uncle? Im terribly sorry, you all look so alike that I cant tell you apart. It didnt have a mouth or anything resembling that, but the barren giant let out a deafening roar, shaking the very earth as he charged towards Joes direction! Chapter 101: Thermal Expansion Staring down the gargantuan beast charging towards him, Joe could feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins, but it wasnt because he was scared. Its time to show you the guts of a true player! He pointed his sword skyward, feeling the limitless energy pouring down on him from his familiar spirit, the determination in him grew. Eat my [Evil BladeWave Bang!!! A mushroom cloud erupted from where the barren giant slammed down his fist, and Joe was flattened to a pancake. When the barren giant stood up to go gank the other players, Eleena threw a beam of white light in Joes direction. Greater Revive! The light hit Joes mangled body and suddenly he was up and running with his full health bar intact. Barren giant, your daddys back! Bang!!! Greater Revive! The same trick wont work thrice Bang!!! Greater Revive! Ive got you all figured out, I just have to roll forward Bang!!! Greater Revive! I thi Bang!!! Greater Revive! Wai Bang!!! Greater Revive! Nice job, thanks to Joe keeping the aggro on him, were ready now! Eleena, wait until the barren giant comes over to us before reviving Joe, hes probably lost a few levels, well give him the last hit later. After Joes noble sacrifices (read: multiple deaths), Edward had finally finished his preparations. The girl with the silver twintails nodded, setting the cola bottle in her arms aside and followed Edwards orders, not immediately reviving Joe after he (once again) became a pancake. As Edward had predicted, the barren giant started to make his way towards him and his group of mages. Earth elementals really had rocks for brains, its actions were clumsy and predictable, it was basically the only thing holding them back, with their power and their numbers, even the dragons might have to keep their distance. Knockback units, ready! Edward had already explained his plan in the forum, and the players cooperated, all of them in their positions ready for Edwards next orders. Edward shot a fireball to the sky, signaling his players to take action. Players popped up from behind the giant, not waiting for its reaction before using their strongest abilities on the back of the giants headthey werent abilities that dealt a lot of damage, but they were abilities that packed a strong punch! With bits of heavy metal ore growing throughout its chest area and a naturally higher center of gravity, the barren giant was easily toppled by the collective strength of the players, falling forward into a ditch Edward and his mages had only just painstakingly finished and sending muddy water splattering above it. Edward knew that even with the help of their abilities, he and the other players couldnt dig a hole deep enough to hold the barren giant in such a short amount of time, even fifteen meters would be pushing it let alone thirty, so he changed his measurements and decided to create a hole only three meters deep, but twenty meters wide and thirty meters deep, this way a short barrage from the mages would do the trick. He then got a player reclassed into a Tide Caller to fill the ditch with water and waited for the barren giant to come. As soon as the barren giant fell into their makeshift pool, all mages started using their ice-elemental abilities, instantly freezing the water This was Edwards plan, since they couldnt use crowd control abilities to stop the giant, they had to go back to basics! Ice was almost as hard as concrete, an icy prison was almost impossible to escape if half of your body was frozen solid. Now! Edward threw a lightning ball towards the enemys eyeball. The other players quickly followed suit, focusing their attacks on the giants eye. But it wasnt having any effect, all of them only dealing the minimum damage of 1 health point! They hadnt noticed because they were too far away, but the barren giants eye had a crystalline layer over it that was even stronger than armor! Edward fumbledWere screwed, why isnt the eye its weak point? A layer of ice only three meters deep wasnt going to hold the barren giant for much longer, but Edward and the other players were all out of ideas. At this point, Gou Dan started to speak up, Wait, Edward, check the forum! A new post had just appeared on the forum by the user Call me Ball, the post suggested using thermal expansion to break the crystal barrier on the barren giants eye. Edward quickly looked up how one did this thermal expansion thing. What do you think? Jessica asked him, It feels a little weird Before Edward could reply, one of the barren giants hands broke free, sweeping across the ice and turning some unlucky players who couldnt dodge in time into minced meat before swinging at the insolent little nothings that dared to cross it! The Saintess-in-training Eleena was the first to react, quickly casting her Sacred Barrier and successfully blocking the giants attack! A few beads of sweat formed on the silver-haired girls forehead, it looked like the attack was more powerful than she had anticipated. The other mage players tried to freeze the barren giants hand on Eleenas barrier, but that was going too well. We dont have time to hesitate, trying it out wont make the situation any worse than it already is! Everyone with fire abilities, attack this things eye! Edward had a pretty decent reputation among the players, so those that could followed his orders and aimed their abilities at the barren giants eye. Just as the transparent outer layer of its eye started to turn red from the heat, the barren giant finally escaped its icy bonds, its humongous body slowly rising, the frost clinging to its rocky exterior falling off like a shower of snow. Do it! Following Edwards command, the Tide Caller players shot their ice beams at the barren giants singular eye. Not a moment later, a web of cracks started forming on the barren giants eyes unbelievably strong shell! Just this alone took a solid chunk of the barren giants health bar! The giant wailed out in pain as it tried to turn tail and flee. Attack! Dont let it get away! Even without Edwards lead, the players werent going to let this opportunity go to waste, everyone gave everything they had, their enemys health bar was visibly getting smaller. Finally, Joe, who had been revived during the chaos, climbed up the barren giants arm with the help of some other players, dashing up its arm to where it was covering its eye with its hands, he looked for a slit in its fingers and stabbed his sword right on through! Thick blood suddenly erupted from the wound, drenching Joe who still laughing smugly. Chapter 102: Pets Joe had wanted to say something cool, but he slipped and fell off the barren giants body before he had the chance. That was when he realized that the gunk covering his body wasnt blood or anything, it was a slick and sticky petrol-like substance. The barren giant only had a sliver of health left, so the players were less fighting it and were rather fighting each other for who could get the last hit. The barren giant, on the other hand, had lost its will to fight, running back towards the cliff hoping the Mountain Bandits could come and hold the players off. But a few eagle-eyed players (mainly the Rangers) noticed that the mountain bandits hideout at the side of the cliff was completely empty. Some time during their fight with the barren giant, the bandits climbed to the top of the cliff through a secret passage to escape. Looks like they had never intended to help the barren giant from the beginning. It wasnt hard to understand the mountain bandits choice. In their eyes, the barren giant was an invincible being capable of destroying even the Holy Corps. It was this mentality that gave them a false sense of security, but when the players toppled the earth elemental with their ferocious attacks, the image of an unstoppable giant faded in the mountain bandits minds, and with it their pitiful bravery vanished. As for why not a single mountain bandit came to help the barren giant, even Xi Wei, the God of Games himself, couldnt completely disable Friendly Fire, so the Lord of the Peaks wasnt able to do so either. For a monster the size of the barren giant, even their steps were AOE attacks, if the mountain bandits tried to assist the giant, they would most likely get wiped out before the players even had the chance to attack The players understood their reasoning, but as the victim (and as a monster), the barren giant was distraught. The giant let out a loud wail full of sorrow and anger, it was deserted by the people it had trusted the most. The barren giant seemed to have lost all its will to live, using all its force to drive its rocky head through the cliffside, its thousand-ton body slamming into the mountain with the force of a meteor, turning the previous mountain bandits hideout into little more than dust! The cliff wasnt structurally sound enough to be able to withstand such a beating, roughly ten seconds after the mountain bandits hideout had been destroyed, the entire cliff face started to collapse. The fleeing bandits couldnt outrun the destruction and almost all of them were buried alive under the rubble of their former base! The barren giant was trapped too, only its neck, head, and one of its shoulders sticking out of the rock. It lay there, taking in its last breaths. Joe stood in front of the dying giant, he was chosen to be the one who would deal the final blow. After all he had gone through the quite traumatic experience of dying a couple dozen times Joe wasnt laughing or celebrating like the other players for finishing their quest. Being covered by the blood (oil?) of the barren giant and having its gigantic singular eye staring him down, Joe felt the giants sorrow and frustration. He didnt mock the giant to get back at it for the damage it had done, instead Joe became serious. In your next life, find some better masters. With that, Joe plunged his sword into the barren giants eye, killing it once and for all. The very next moment, almost every player involved in the fight was showered with light indicating that they had gained a level! But the players hadnt expected the defeated barren giant would vanish too, leaving a hole in the pile of rubble where it once was and causing a small-scale landslide. So the number of players who were damaged increased too What was even more troublesome was that all the equipment and items that the barren giant had dropped were all buried under the huge mound of rock and stone, they still had to dig them out. But they were rewarded with quite a few pieces of Elite equipment, so the whole process was somewhat bittersweet. And this sweetness reached its peak when they pulled out the golden Legendary-tier sword, the Giants Toe. Almost every player was making a fuss over who this piece of equipment should belong to. Based on the player who had the highest Damage dealt to enemies and Damage taken, the players decided that Joe should be the one to receive the first Legendary weapon sent to them by the God of Games. Ah Looking at the players passionately digging through dirt, Terry suddenly remembered something. The choco Before he could finish, Jom covered his mouth. Shh! Lets leave, now! Actually, Joms original prediction was right, there was indeed a birdcage in the mountain bandits hideout (something akin to a horse stable, but for chocobos), but now with the hideout being turned to pebbles by the barren giant, the chocobos werent exactly fit to be pets right now. Having consecutively broken two promises to the other players, Jom was most likely going to have to repent if he waited for the other players to realize, so he decided it was best if they left before then. After all, Jom and Terry had originally come out to explore the Trinia Forest, running into the mountain bandits was just a detour on their grand adventure At least they probably werent returning to the town until after their promise had been forgotten. Terry let out a muttered sound of agreement and nodded his head. He didnt really care what they did next, plus he was too lazy to have to use his brain, so he might as well leave all the thinking to Jom. He just thought that if Jom didnt let go soon, he was going to have his first death of the battle right there. Just as the two were sneaking away, Jom noticed the gray Shar-Pei sitting alone atop a small hill of crushed rock. He hesitated for a moment, but ended up walking to the dogs side, asking it, So youve avenged your owners death, do you wanna come on an adventure with us next? The gray dog tilted its head to stare at Jom, and then looked over to the smiling Terry. After a long moment, it slowly started to wag its tail. Jom couldnt help but smile. Lets give him a name. Terry squeezed over. Well call him Schett Kiviak Beast! The dog bared its teeth and gave a warning howl. He loves it, Terry said, completely unable to read the dog. Why the snarl Jom scratched the dogs head with a blank face. Since we dont know your old name, from today on well call you Pikes! The dog gave a very simple answer. Woof! Okay, now that thats settled They were ready, Jom and Terry brought their dog along with them, trying to sneak past the other players while they were preoccupied with digging up items and equipment. [Ding! Player Jom has acquired the first pet. The system will activate the Pet and Mounts systems in ten minutes, all players please take note.] [Pets are creatures that help with fighting, item delivery and mood checks. Recommended pet: Docile Chocobo] [Mounts are creatures that could be ridden. They are needed to unlock the Rider class in later stages. Recommended pet: Sprinting Chocobo] Jom froze, he slowly turned his head, finding the gaze of every single player present trained strictly on him. All he could do was give them an extremely stiff and awkward smile. Hoho, Im doomed Chapter 103: Cecil Faust Silver Eagle Duchy, City of the Undying Spark, the Ducal Palace. As one of the three client states of the Valla Empire, the Silver Eagle Duke Horan Faust never went out of line, constantly tip-toeing on eggshells as he followed the unquestionable orders of the emperor. He knew that governing over the Silver Eagle Duchy was the extent of his power and he didnt wish for more, but he also knew of the fear the Valla royal family had towards him. In particular, after Valla Empire waged war against the Grand Duchy of Rominos and subsequently faced a crushing defeat, the resentment those royals had towards the dukes of the empire only increased. If it werent for the fact that all three dukes were descendants of the empires founding fathers and had some form of protection from the law, the royal family would have already demoted them to your average noble. Good thing the various churches in the Valla Empire had treaties protecting them from each other, starting a war with the Grand Duchy of Rominos was already the limit of the emperors abilities, at least Horan wouldnt have to worry about the Holy Corps knocking on his front door. But that didnt mean there werent other things keeping him up at night. In reality, there were far more dangers and troubles than Horan had expected, just the letter he had received this morning left him in a sour mood, even now he still hadnt fully recovered. Father, you called for me? A clear knock came from the door, following that, a dashing young man entered the room, bowing to the old duke with an air of nobility and grace before asking. He was Horan Fausts eldest son, Cecil Faust. He had a head of curly golden hair, his face was chiseled, yet his skin made even daughters born into nobility jealous. His eyes were deep pools of sapphire and his toned, graceful body warned others that he could best them in duels of more than wealth, that his sword wasnt just for decoration. People say he perfectly inherited the noble genes from his fathers side. He was also the son Horan Faust was proudest of. Although he currently wasnt in any position of nobility, as Horans only child who stayed in the Ducal Palace, he was almost destined to inherit his fathers title, becoming the new Silver Eagle Duke. Yes, we recently received bad news from Anurad. The old duke stared at his son and slowly continued, Bandits, have killed your brother. What! Cecil was shocked, the furrow in his brow showed the duke his sons disbelief, but tears didnt fall from his eyes. He gathered himself, but sorrow had already crept into his voice. Just two months ago we were laughing and talking right here in this very palace, but now Horan seemed to be pleased with his sons reaction and gently nodded his head. Although he was the one to send his other sons away to govern over other areaskicking them out by some stretch of the term, this didnt mean the old duke didnt care about his sons. He had only wanted to do so to protect his children, and yet, Edmund still met with an untimely death. It didnt matter that Horan was already jaded from years of dealing with the schemings and backstabbings that came with frequent interaction with the nobles, losing a child would always cause their parents to feel an unbearable amount of pain. He had been suffering in the pain since the early morning, yet he could not show his troubles in front of his retainers. He couldnt hold in his grief any longer, that was why he called for his son hoping he could help share some of the pain. And his eldest son complied as always. Although he was saddened by his brothers passing, he wasnt too distraught. After all, the duke knew the two brothers didnt share the strongest of relationships, he would be more disappointed if his eldest had been in complete hysteria. Father, I will handle the details regarding Angoras ceremony, you should stay at home and rest, after all, you are the true lifeblood of our duchy. What about Angora? The old duke questioned. Isnt he Cecil looked a bit lost, perhaps he had misunderstood. Angoras doing fine, he just wrote to me two days ago, apparently his little town is doing great, Horan said solemnly, Edmund was the one who was killed! My apologies. Cecil immediately dipped his head. Its fine. The old duke sighed. You can go. Cecil bowed and promptly left the study. After returning to his room, Cecil hurriedly took out a mirror hidden beneath the floorboards. He pricked his finger and dripped a drop of his own blood on the mirror, the glass absorbing the crimson liquid like a sponge. A moment later, a dark-robed figure appeared on the other side of the mirror, its face still obscured. What troubles the future duke? The figure spoke with a raspy voice, sounding unlike any other human. Is this how the Society of the Secret Eye operates?! Why is Angora fine, yet Edmund died? Cecils handsome face was shrouded in shadow as he coldly asked. Mr. Edmunds death was an accident, but Im certain you have no interest in that sort of thing, so Ill get straight to what concerns you. In Anurad, that is, near the Valley of the Tragic Dead, an unknown force appeared. They plundered Grey Fjord Port and killed the pawn we had set in place The poor pawn hadnt even figured out who the enemy or what their motives were before he was ended, the robed-figure said slowly, As for the attack on your little brother Angora, although we cant be certain, we hypothesized that that force was behind that as well. Their goals may be similar to yours, to gain the Faust familys Divine Blessing. Cecils eyes were colder than ice. That is mine, I will never give it up. Thats right, ever mysterious, before you told us, even our Society of the Secret Eye hadnt noticed your precious treasure. Right now, the only person who could have possibly known of this treasure was your bastard brother, Angora Faust. The figure seemed to be explaining something, slowly telling Cecil the intel they had gathered. Be at ease. You have given us your money, so our society will naturally uphold its end of the bargain. As soon as the other sectors free up, we will mobilize our members to help rid you of your meddling little brother. Hmph. Cecil stood up with a small grunt and slowly walked towards the door, flinging it open once he got there. Outside was a poor startled maid. What did you hear? He asked coldly What do you mean? Sir, you Before the maid could finish, the cold steel of Cecils rapier pierced through her skull, killing her instantly! I hope you mean what you say, Cecil growled, flinging off the remaining brain matter on his rapier. Chapter 104: Soul Lamp Even though Jom had been betrayed by the system, the players didnt plan on doing anything to him anyway. They all saw the double-edged attack that the Barren Giant had used, and knew that no one could have changed the fate of the chocobos even if they were given another chance. No one could have dared to block the way of the Barren Giant, and even if they did they would have been buried in the rubble together with the chocobos, and wouldnt serve any use other than a few scraps of dead meat. When the players returned to the village in the valley, they were surprised at how the villagers multiplied drastically in such a short time. Upon seeing the scene of a few hundred people waiting for them outside the village, the players all thought that the villagers had gotten wind of their evil plan to loot the bandits, and had rallied together to beat them up Thankfully, the hunters that had gone back to the village beforehand explained the situation to them quickly. The old village elder was afraid that the players would lose, and that the rage of the mountain bandits would rain on the village again, so they went all out and borrowed the players carriages to get reinforcements from the surrounding villages in preparation. But soon after, the hunters brought back the news that the players won, and the fight to the death scenario was changed into a large-scaled celebration that involved all the villages in the vicinity. The many weird and funny dance moves that the players learned from the system were extremely popular within the villagers, and they were extremely entertained by the impromptu dance battles that they had. After this, the players all agreed to pass this down as a festive tradition of the Church of the God of Games. Meanwhile, Xi Wei was having a headache over the crumpled corpse pile of the Barren Giant back in his Divine Kingdom. This thing couldnt be consumed nor used, and because it had the divine power of the Lord of the Peaks protecting it, Xi Wei couldnt use it as a sacrifice to obtain divine energy for himself. That being said, the Barren Giant was an epic creature, and it would be a waste to throw its precious corpse awayIn conclusion, it was a headache to deal with. Ah, thats a loss for me Xi Weis spherical body bobbed up and down as if he were a landlord fussing over his monetary losses. Not only did I not get a lot of divine energy from this fight, I even gave out a Golden Legendary itemNo, I cant calculate my losses or my heart will break! That being said, he was sincerely happy for his believers. After all, even though there wasnt any guidance from the system, the players used their own skills and strategies to achieve this feat that could be seen as legendary on the mortal plane. The corpse of the Barren Giant wouldnt cause Xi Wei to get into trouble with the Lord of the Peaks because it was killed by the players, and so it was completely natural for the players to sacrifice it as a trophy for him, so even if the other deity wanted to fight over this the one in the right would be Xi Wei. The Earthweaver wouldnt get involved with such a trivial matter, and so Xi Wei who had his buddy the lion to help him deflect his problems didnt have any fear! The one that gave Xi Wei a greater headache was the other trophy that the players obtained. A Soul Lamp. This thing could be counted as an item, so it wasnt sacrificed to Xi Wei after the players obtained it, and so he could only detect it vaguely. Under Xi Weis analysis, this item was probably a Sacred Item from the Revenant Pantheon. At this point, it was probably the time to talk about the difference between Sacred Items and Godly Items. Godly Items were gifts that contained great power from the deity to their believers, and most of these Godly Items were weapons so Godly Items were also called Heaven-Forged Weapons. Even though many of the equipment that the players had were created by Xi Wei himself, he didnt imbue them with any deific properties nor any laws, nor did they fulfill the criteria of containing great power, so they couldnt be counted as Godly Items. If it came down to it, the Giants Toe could be considered as a Godly item, but it would be one of the weakest ones out there. If Godly Items had to be created in Divine Kingdoms, then Sacred Items would have to be created completely by humans. The true nature of these items were ones that accumulated vast amounts of divine energy from the believers of a church, and had gotten strange powers that were related to the deity it corresponded to as a result. Most of these treasures werent weapons, but items that were worshiped in churches, or even items that were placed next to statues of deities. There was no absolute better or worse between the twoIn the ranks of Godly Items, there was the Prismatic Edge that could crush a mountain in a single blow, and the Giants Toe that could cut the toenails of a Barren Giant; While in the ranks of Sacred Items, there was the Torrential Screen that could flood an entire kingdom underwater at once, as well as the Scarlet Goblet that could produce one liter of exceptionally tasty wine a day. On this scale, the Soul Lamp was considered the type that wasnt strong, but not weak, either. This lamp can collect souls via contract to form lamp wicks, and after those were lit, they could provide large amounts of life energy to keep its target alive. Before the lamp went out, the target wouldnt die no matter how much damage it had endured, as long as it didnt surpass the total contained in the Soul Lamp, it wouldnt die. The reason why the Barren Giant was fleeing towards the mountain bandit was probably to have its owner light up the Soul Lamp to keep it alive, but it probably did not expect the owner to flee so quickly This Soul Lamp was quite strong in a way because it basically locked ones HP gauge in place, and would allow the target to attack even if it were crushed into minced meat like a slime. This item was also quite weak in a way, because it worked based on contracts, and couldnt recharge whenever it needed too, so its use was limited. In the first place, the contracts of this Soul lamp didnt work on the players because their souls would be kept by Xi Wei in his Divine Kingdom after they died, so it conflicted with the contracts greatly. Because the priority of Xi Wei naturally came before the priority of the Sacred Item, this thing would never work on the players. Anyway. In conclusion, Xi Wei had planned to stay away from the Revenant Pantheon as far as he could as the momentThe corpse of the Rotten Bones God was still stuffed in the blender. It was completely unexpected that there were believers of the Revenant Pantheon within the mountain bandits, and ones that had gotten a Sacred Item, at that. Either the leader of the bandits were a high positioned officer in a church of a random deity of the Revenant Pantheon, or it was stolen from said church. Whichever way it was, it werent a good thing for the players. The former would mean that the members of the church would have a grudge towards the players, and Xi Wei would have to recreate the Rotten Bones annihilation crusade, while the latter would mean that the members of the church would target the players who had their Sacred Item Ahh what a pain in the buttAh right, I dont have one. Xi Wei sighed softly. I guess whats important now is to become stronger now. If I could knock out a Divine Father in one blow, I wouldnt have to worry so much. And so, Xi Wei started plotting ways to scam divine energy from the players again. Chapter 105: Change of Faith Meanwhile, the players were having a fun time at the festival as their heartless deity was plotting on ways to scam them. When they woke up from their hangovers the next day, they realized that not only did they not obtain any substantial rewards from this trip to the village, and even used up all their food and all of their potions Even if they wanted to get compensation from the village, the village itself didnt offer much in the way of rewards, and after obtaining drop items from the Barren Giant, the players naturally didnt bat an eye at the wooden spoons and cups. Finally, they could only leave the village cursing as they did. The old village elder didnt understand the players cursing ability that had been maxed out without a teacher, and only knew that the players left the village merrily, and that they were definitely satisfied with the festival from the earlier night. Thinking back to his rice bucket that had gone empty, he teared up happily Jom and Terry were about to leave with their dog, but as soon as they got to the entrance of the village, they were surrounded by a few buff men. Jom only looked at Joey who seemed to be leading them. What is it? I dont need an adoptive father. Joey scratched at the back of his head sheepishly before looking at the other villagers and turning back to Jom and Terry. Were going to leave this village. Terry who was munching on a biscuit asked in confusion, Why do you guys want to leave the village? The Mountain Bandits have already been defeated you know. We had been proud of our archery skills, and no one from the surrounding villagers were better than us, but we realized out weak we were when we were faced with the bandits Joey replied solemnly. So we want to adventure together with you and become even stronger, so that we can protect the village in the future! No, were not playing around! Jom refused immediately. Its too dangerous for you lot to follow us. Honestly speaking, it was somewhat weird for such a sentence to be said from a teenager towards a middle-aged man, but the hunters didnt think that this scene was strange at all. They all saw the battles from the day before, and in front of the sheer, unimaginable strength of the Barren Giant, the players had still obtained the final victory. That confidence and morale that never wavered, and the flashy and eye-catching way in which they had fought gave these villagers culture shock. Therefore, they wanted to become a member of the players, so that they could protect the village from ever being bullied. The hunters all took out their hunting knives and slit their wrists at the same time. This action made Jom frownWhat were they doing? Were they all going to commit suicide after being refused? Or were they using this as a way to threaten them? Whichever way it was, wasnt it too stupid?! From this day forth, we renounce ourselves from the Garden of Grains!Joey shouted in Joms direction. Jom thought that he was talking with him, but then he turned around and realized that their gazes were fixed on the statue behind him. We have no way to repay the graces we have been given, because the grains we harvested have been turned into our flesh and blood, so now we sacrifice our blood to repay you, Great Marcolo! May we become of faithless blood and flesh once again! As he said this, he suddenly became ghastly pale, and his hair turned a shade of white, as if he had become older in a split second. Not only was his blood being extracted, but something that couldnt be described was taken away from him as well. The other hunters werent any better off, most of them staggering and struggling to stay standing upright. If Jom and Terry could see the HP bars of neutral units, they would be able to see that those of the hunters all dropped down to around a fifth of their original health. Fine, fine, I accept okay? Get yourself healed up, quickly! Seeing a few of them even start showing signs of passing away from loss of blood, Jom immediately took out Coca Cola and fed it to them. Terry, feed them all of your health potions too! These guys are crazy! Terry quickly finished his biscuit and fed Coca Cola to the hunters too. Actually, regular bandages and tourniquets would have been useful for their current situation, but the players hadnt brought any of those things because they had the blessing of the system. Without an inventory space to keep things in, a roll of bandage took up quite a bit of space. Thank you for accepting us Joey smiled weakly. Bull, if I didnt speak up, you lot were going to die on me! Jom replied angrily, and looked at their names on their heads. The names were still yellow, meaning that they hadnt become players. It was at this point that Jom remembered that he had never told them that the players were from the church of the God of Games So what do we do now? Joey didnt care about Joms grumbles, and asked with a smile, Do we go to Trinia Forest with you guys? I heard you people say that you were going there at the festival Now, huh? Lemme think Jom rubbed his chin slightly, internally rejoicing that his weekly quest [The Lords Light Illuminates the Land] should be complete. Basically, what we have to do now is go to the small town outside the Valley of the Tragic Dead and start doing chores. Joey: ???? Chapter 106: A Day of Rest: Part II It had already been two days after the players battled with the Mountain Bandits and the Barren Giant, and many players started having the idea to explore and obtain rewards just like Jom and Terry did. Hence, they started to explore new maps starting from the surroundings of the Unnamed Town, but most of the players still returned to the two after they finished their daily quests. The Living Dead Cellar was still open every day, and the Valley of the Tragic Dead hadnt been fully explored yet, so they didnt think it was a priority to explore yet. As the most popular spot between the players, the Iron Cauldron Tavern was still as packed up with players as always. But somehow, the atmosphere in the tavern was somewhat different than always. In the past, there were many players that had bragged endlessly about their exploits and talked about their interesting experiences while conquering dungeons, causing the tavern to seem extremely noisy, and even players that sat at the same table had to shout to hear each other properly. There were still players like that in the tavern, but the amount was much less, and more of them were talking and chatting with their own friends, unlike in the past where those players seemed to want the entire world to know the interesting things that happened to them. Most of the players glanced at the table whenever they were eating roasted meat or drinking beer, and if a human from Earth transmigrated here at this very moment, they would have thought that there was an invisible mobile phone In actuality, the players werent looking at phones, but the system forum. Of course, there wasnt much of a difference between the two, anyway. Most of the players had reservations about this forum, and were scared to leave behind comments on it in case they left a bad impression on their god, but after the event from earlier, the importance of the forum dawned on all of them. Upon knowing how convenient it was to communicate with each other whenever they wanted to, the players started using the forum more and more. As the strategy guides and fun stories multiplied on the forum, many players started to join its ranks, and even though there were barely more than a hundred players, most of the users were extremely active, and the forum became more and more active and popular. Different from the forums back on Earth that would become filled with spam and malice once the amount of users increased, this forum was created and moderated by the God of Games himself. As his believers, the players would still be respectful of the forum and would not dare to post anything too bad, and so the discipline of the forum was impeccable. To Xi Weis memory, only some forums with restricted topics back on Earth would have such an atmosphere, because many users would reply to the posts with May the kind poster have a peaceful act for this act of generosity whenever there was a post that was particularly useful (In all kinds of ways). Even if the players wanted to fight, they wouldnt say it directly on the forums, and would only leave behind vague time and place, and sincere comments of See you then, to the point where the players that clicked in unknowingly felt as if the forum was wafting with a strange, pink and gay atmosphere At the same time, Xi Wei didnt have to worry that the players were going to become shut-ins and neets like they did back on Earth. After all, it was completely different than how the players could clear dungeons through a screen back on Earth, and the players here had to party together offline and beat up (or get beaten up by) monsters in dungeons together, and a shut-in life was completely unsustainable. Tie Fu was wiping his beer mugs as always, but the one in his hand was a glass one that could be considered extremely rare in terms of this worlds craftsmanship. This item was one of the rewards given to the players for collecting items on the Collectibles tab, and Tie Fu used half of his game coins to buy these glass mugs from other players, and now all of the wooden mugs used to hold wine were changed out with these ones. Unfortunately, all the players were either refugees or mercenaries before they became players, and so they werent all that interested in fancy drinks like wine. In comparison, they loved beer that they could gulp down quickly much more. The only player that would order red wine was Angora, who swung by for dinner occasionally. At this moment, a fat and a thin figure walked in through the entrance of the tavern. Ah, if it isnt Silva and Terrosche! One of the players knew who they were and asked, Werent you two still catching crabs near the tidal flats yesterday? Why did you come back? Did you finish exploring the Grey Fjord Port? What do you know, we were invited by Mr. Marni as bodyguards! Silva puffed his chest proudly. Bodyguard? Marni died at sea three days ago, and didnt even get to fight the Barren Giant! I even saw you two get tied up and beaten with a stick yesterday! Silvas chest deflated quickly, but he was still muttering to himself things like How could you people slander me like this? and how That cant be called beating up, its PK! and how no one knew how to be a bodyguard better than him, which made the players roar in laughter, filling the tavern with a cheery atmosphere. Meanwhile, Terrosche was quite calm about it and went over to the empty seat by the bar counter, ordering two steaks from Tie Fu. They had drunk fish soup all the while they were at the Frogman Village, and he almost forgot what seasoned food tasted like. Tie Fu had accepted two apprentices, so he didnt have to cook by himself anymore, so he used the time to ask what happened as he poured up a mug of beer for Terrosche. Silva didnt lie, Mr. Marni really did pay us to be his bodyguard because his regular guard Ivan seemed to have matters to attend to outside the town. Terrosche sighed to himself, But weve been free for too long, you see? So we arrived there an hour late on the first day, because we werent used to being mercenaries and stuff. And? What happened next? Tie Fu asked curiously. So we thought that we should get there earlier the next day, since weve gotten compensation for it you see? Terrosche replied with a righteous expression. I would think so too, yes. Tie Fu nodded in agreement. So we got there only half an hour late the next day! Terrosche replied, his expression twisting as if it were a bad memory. When we got there, half of his head had already been munched off by a fish monster, and he couldnt even be revived anymore. Terrosche then smiled victoriously. But because of this, we finally calmed down and focused on clearing the 11% and 12% area of Grey Fjord Port! Tie Fu served them their platters of steak, and asked again, So why did he beat you guys up anyway? Terrosches face scrunched up again, as if the memory were painful to even recall. We apologized to Mr. Marni later on. And? Our reputation with him was still Hate. Chapter 107: Messenger From Faust Lately, Angora felt that things were going his way. The Unnamed Town was thrivingEven though the residents didnt increase by much, it developed quite well. He duly ignored the recommended name of Starter Village given by the system, and started pondering on a good name for his land. That being said, he wasnt all that rushed about it. This sort of trivial thing could be dealt with later. Actually in the past while, the development of the town had inevitably been affected as the players started doing chores for the Underground Hideout of Lancaster and the Frogman Village. This was until he finally caved in to Velas requests to build the system building called Open-Air Hot Springs. The young lady had asked him which buildings he could build earlier, and as soon as she knew that there was a building that could relieve and heal fatigue, as well as grant buffs such as Skin Moisture UP, Skin Exquisiteness UP and Skin Smoothness UP, she had been pestering Angora about it nonstop. Out of his expectations, these hot springs became extremely popular. As soon as the female players knew of this building from the forum, they all immediately flooded back to the Unnamed Town. Even Princess Leah who looked cute and down to earth, but had the pride of a royal would come back to the town at every chance she could, with the grand excuse of discussing the expansion of the church with the other lords of the church Lady, you already gave your rights to Registrar Vanke! At the same time, perhaps it was the fixed rates of attracting perverts stat of the hot springs, but many male players came back too. In a couple of days, the Unnamed Town became the most popular converging point of players once again. He didnt worry that the two other lords would build a similar building in their lands, would players choose to bathe in hot springs in the sewers or the sea? By the way, there was a mixed bath option in the Open-Air Hot Springs, but quite unfortunately, there werent any females that appeared in that hot spring. The only ones that were left in there were the sad male players and a few monkeys that were attracted by the hot springs too, and the two parties looked at each other wordlessly What are you laughing at? As Angora was basking in the glow of victory, his assistant Vela pulled him back to reality. The young man smelled a sweet scent wafting off his only NPC subordinate, and if he werent mistaken, this was the scent of a certain type of shower gel that players could buy at the hot springs. This scent was quite effective against this young man that was still at puberty. That being said, Angora was still a noble, so he quickly hid his emotions and replied seriously, I was thinking of which player I should ask to be an NPC Ah, is that so. The young ladys voice sounded quite cold. Yeah, because I thought that you were too busy with all these matters, so I wanted to relieve you of that burden lest you work yourself ragged. Angora continued without any hesitation. After all, youre the only person I can count on. The young lady blushed slightly and nodded. Its alright, I can keep up fine. Ah right, were you going to say something? Angora asked curiously. Before the forum appeared, Vela was the main bridge through which Angora communicated with the players. The type of system he had was completely different from them so it was hard to communicate with them, and Vela wouldnt usually come to the study at this time. I forgot, a messenger came to the town, saying that he was sent by the Faust family to send a letter to you from your father. Vela remembered her original objective for coming here after being prompted by Angora. It was honestly because she was shocked by Angora laughing to himself like an evil villain in his study. A letter from Father? Angora didnt know what to do with this information. Do I need to drive him away? Vela asked with a little hesitation. Why would I want to drive him away? Angora was quite confused by her sudden suggestion. Because, uhmI know its bad for me to say this, but you know the state of our town in the beginningIf it werent for the blessing of the God of Games, perhaps your life here would even be worse than those commoners in the capitals. The young lady picked her words carefully, not wanting to cause any negative emotions in Angora. Angora immediately understood what Vela was trying to get at. Vela must have thought that he wasnt favored back at the Faust family, so he was sent to this barren village. This was also why she didnt have good feelings towards the messenger sent by his father. In response to her worries, Angora only wanted to say. Not only was he not favored, but he had almost been assassinated on his way here okay Of course, Angora knew that his father didnt have anything to do with this assassination. If he wanted to kill him, he had many ways to do so easily, and he didnt have to go through the trouble of getting him a noble rank. At first, Angora thought that it was his second older brother that had joined the Society of the Secret Eye that wanted to kill him. The video that Edward sent him also seemed to confirm this as fact, but he felt as if something was off. If his brother was so powerful as to be able to utilize resources from the Society of the Secret Eye to do such a thing, then why would he be killed by Black Whip so easily? In theory, Black Whip would have no reason to try and kill Angora after that, but judging from how he was planning to attack the town later on, something wasnt right Because he had been quite free lately, Angora suddenly thought of the possibility that the one that wanted to kill him was another person, and that his second brother was subordinate to this mysterious person, then everything would be more rational. Because his second brother was only a lackey, so he was quickly offed by Black Whip, but because Black Whip knew that the order to kill Angora came from the person his brother worked under, he still had to continue his mission to kill Angora after his second brother died Wait, wont you be exposed once this messenger gets back?! Velas eyes glinted dangerously, reminding Angora that this young lady wasnt as demure as she seemed. Do I need to kill him? No need, Ill send a letter back to my father and expose the fact that Im still alive to the perpetrator! Angora smiled and comforted Vela. After all, its too much trouble to deal with someone who is still in hiding, so why not I give them the chance to meddle, before catching them in the act and dealing with them? But Vela wasnt quite convinced, more worried about his safety than anything. Dont worry, the enemy wanted to kill me, but even in the greatest attack by them it was only a covert operation by the Society of the Secret Eye, and since theyre restricted in such a way, they would definitely be no match for the players! Angora seemed quite confident in his plans, and walked slowly to the window. Looking outside, he saw the players dancing Gokuraku Jodo on the bustling streets for whatever reason, and continued in an unsure tone. Probably. Chapter 108: Sights and Sounds of the Unnamed Town Miller Theo was a retainer of Horan Faust, the Silver Eagle Duke. More precisely, he was the son of the Minister of Finance of the Silver Eagle Duchy, and he himself hadnt been given any actual post yet. In fact, he had just had his coming-of-age ceremony a couple of days ago, and still hadnt been granted the title of a knight. Miller liked to travel and explore around the continent to experience the colorful culture and rich history that it had to offer, but because of his position as a noble, most of his travels were within the borders of the Valla Empire. Other than that, he was a rare believer of the God of Travel and Arts, Grimund. This deity would bless his believers so that they would have safer travels, and have greater creative inspiration. True believers of this deity would also be able to easily get food or accommodation from strangers through their arts, may it be singing or even telling stories. In conclusion, the believers of Grimund were extremely weak in battle, but his blessings were all surprisingly useful in everyday situations. Also because he didnt have many believers, just like Xi Wei, as long as his followers became a true believer, they would be able to get a blessing Unfortunately, there were only a small minority of people that would travel all of their lives, and a great majority of the believers of Grimund would choose to settle down at a single place when they become of age. Other than the ones that chose art-related jobs like actors or painters, most of them would choose to believe in another deity. After Millers coming-of-age ceremony, he was delegated to send a letter to the dukes youngest son, Angora Faust who had been sent to Anurad that was near the Valley of the Tragic Dead. Miller naturally didnt refuse a delegation from the duke himself, so he immediately set off to the fief that was given to Angora Faust, a small town that wasnt even noted on the map of the kingdom. Miller had thought that even though this small place had the title of a town, it was probably just a regular village. This wasnt a baseless guess on his part, because he had seen many similar towns that were just glorified villages on his travels. The only reason why these villages were called towns was to obtain support and help from nearby cities. But Angoras town gave Miller quite a shock. Even though this town was definitely smaller than average, and only had around a hundred townspeople, it was developed quite well, and was even somewhat Exquisite? This was the only adjective that Miller could think to describe this town after pondering over it for a long time. First of all, this town wasnt big, and its area was a simple and neat square. If Miller walked around the sides of the square, he would be able to arrive at his starting point in about half an hour. From the outside, there werent even walls that marked the borderlines of the town, with only a trail of simple and crudely made wooden fences. At first, Miller was quite disappointed in this small town, and he had even asked one of the farmers that was probably in the middle of worshiping the God of Harvest why there werent any walls, their answer was because it was a pain to tear walls down when the town was expanded later on. This answer made Miller scoff. Many natural disasters had been happening on the continent lately, and many of the towns by the borders of the kingdom were only sparsely populated. It would already be a blessing to not reduce the size of the town, and this farmer said that they would expand it? Were they dreaming? He had expected this of these foolish commoners that didnt even know how to sculpt the God of Harvest, and could only worship a strange-looking sculpture of a sphere As he entered the town, he realized that this conclusion of his might be wrong, and that his experience with the other villages couldnt be used on this one. All of the buildings in the town looked clean and new, and the roads were paved neatly with red bricks. The entire town was sparkling clean, and in clear contrast to the roads in other villages that were grimy and covered with disgusting muck, there wasnt even a piece of rubbish on the road. The entire town was so clean that it didnt even seem like people actually lived here. After that, he learned that the cylindrical items set by the roads were called rubbish bins, and that all of the townspeople threw their rubbish into those, that would later be disposed of together. According to them, these machines were installed by the lord of the town, saying that they could increase the Happiness of the townspeople and allow him to get something called Yield Points More surprising to him was the fact that these rubbish bins had seemed to be created using some sort of alchemical technique that was similar to golems, and whenever someone was going to throw rubbish, they would ask, What type of rubbish are you (carrying)? before telling them which rubbish bin to throw it into. Some rubbish bins were placed in remote places, and would even exclaim in delight whenever they saw any townspeople walk over to them to throw rubbish, saying things like, The rubbish is coming, the rubbish is coming! Even though Miller felt strangely offended when these rubbish bins talked, it was true that this technology made the streets become clean and tidyPerhaps he could advise the duke to use this sort of technology in the Silver Eagle Duchy after he completed his mission? Other than the clean roads and the clear signs, and a tavern that looked pretty good even by his standards, there were even open-air hot springs in this town! Miller had only been in hot springs once when he and his father went on a diplomatic mission to the Grand Duchy of Rimross, and that was an experience of a lifetime. After that, he had tried to search for similar hot springs in his travels, but he had never found any in the Valla Empire. He had never thought that he could have his wish granted in such a remote town. There were even many different types of hot springs here, like simple springs, carbonated springs, mineral springs, elemental springs, and more. Because he was in a rush, Miller only tried the simple springs that were said to be the most basic hot springs, and even so, he was filled with nostalgia as he soaked in the relaxing springs. After he came out of the hot springs, his mood became better, and even his skin that had been weathered from his travels seemed to become somewhat smoother to the touch. Of course, he didnt know that this hot spring had the ability to give sin-related buffs to those that used them, and the only complaint he had about them was that a bunch of monkeys came out of nowhere and started pointing at him mid-soak In conclusion, if he would give marks solely based on environment, this town would definitely be in the top three places in all of the places he had travelled to, and could even be said to be the best. Yes, if it were solely based on environment. In contrast to the exquisite environment, Miller felt that the townspeople were somewhatOdd? First of all, he had felt the gazes of most of the townspeople on him ever since he entered the town, and most of their gazes were not on his body, but on the top of his head? This even gave Miller the wrong idea that there was something on his head, and he had tried to reach up and pat around his head to no avail. Other than that, the townspeople of this unnamed town seemed to pray to sculptures all of the timeFarmers prayed as they sowed crops, construction workers prayed as they carried bricks, and even people that were throwing rubbish were prayingThe object of their prayers were all that strange spherical statue, and Miller even suspected that at some unknown corner of the town, there was someone selling them in bulk Other than worshiping the sculptures, the townspeople also seemed to be quite violent. Miller had been worried for this small town that didnt even have any walls because it was right outside of the Valley of the Tragic Dead, and so it was prone to attacks from revenants at any given time. When those revenants came out of the Valley of the Tragic Dead, this beautiful town would definitely become their target! As he expected, the event that he was worried about had happened right after he came out of the hot springs, when the lookout towers had released smoke signals that a group of revenants were sighted outside the town. Miller had wanted to rally and convince the townspeople to fight the revenants and protect the town, but before he could do so, he saw the townspeople all run out of the village in the direction of the revenant attack. Ah, how pure and courageous these townspeople are! He thought, and even wanted to fight by their side. But before he even got to the entrance of the town, the townspeople came back angrily with a bunch of broken bones from the revenants, cursing all the way. Apparently, they seemed to be angry that the revenant horde was too weak. Seeing a malicious and bloodthirsty aura rise from the townspeople, Miller didnt even have the courage to ask them where the other body parts of the revenants went After that, he saw two townspeople with swords start quarreling over a trivial matter, shouting something about whether the food from the Iron Cauldron Tavern tasted better or the food from the System Restaurant did. It was apparent that neither of them could convince the other, and the quarrel slowly became more and more heated. As Miller guessed that they were about to start fighting, the two townsmen stood face to face and started dancing strange dances with passionate expressions. At the side, there was even a young girl that shouted, Dont fight, dont fight! There was definitely something wrong with their heads. Milord wants to see you. When a young woman that seemed to be Angoras maid, the one that didnt look especially pretty but was easy on the eyes and had a great figure said these words, Miller was so touched that he almost cried. He had a sneaking suspicion that if he stayed any longer, something would go wrong with his head too. Chapter 109: Angoras Growth The building that Angora lived in was the same as the other houses in the town, with clean walls that were painted white, which contrasted well with the light red tiles of the roof that could be seen under a layer of snow. Along with the evergreen plants that were planted in the courtyard, the entire building seemed as delicate and beautiful as a fairys house, and didnt give the overly extravagant feeling that the mansions of the other nobles did. Upon walking into the villa, Miller was met with a meticulously furnished meeting room. Black and white tiles were laid out in a design that was simple but beautiful, and golden gilded tiles that were even considered extravagant back in the royal capital were arranged throughout the design, each and every tile polished to a shine. The interior decor was also quite stylish and refinedGray, comfortable-looking sofas surrounded the black wooden fireplace that was crackling with warm embers, while thick and lavish velvet carpets were laid on the floor. Above, a crystal chandelier hung on the ceiling and cast a dim glow on the room, and even though none of these items seemed all that special, but when put together, they complimented each other well and gave the room a special, classical air to it. Following Vela, Miller was led to the study where he met the lord of the small town, the youngest son of the Silver Eagle Duke, Angora Faust. This wasnt the first time he had met Angora. During the harvest festival two years ago, Miller who had been travelling around the kingdom received a letter from his father, urging him to come back to the duchy for the festivities. It was back then that he met this youngest son of the duke. Back then, Angora was still a young kid that only hid behind his father, and even though he had decent manners and conduct, but because he was quite demure and timid, no one thought that he was a decent aristocrat. This greatly disappointed many nobles that wanted to get on his good side while he was young in case he became the next duke of the duchy, to the point where all of them expressed support for Cecil Faust instead. This was also one of the reasons why Angora was sent to be the lord of this town that was in the middle of nowhere Miller hadnt expected in the least that such a person would have been able to flourish in this backwater town. At that moment, Angora was sitting behind the mahogany table with both of his elbows propped on the table, resting his chin on his laced fingers as he scrutinized Miller, his expression hidden by the backlight coming from the open window behind him. In response, Miller felt as if he was faced with an indescribable, suffocating pressure from the man in front of him, making him break out in a cold sweat. D*mn, was this really the same innocent young man from two years ago? Miller had visited an orc tribe on the outskirts of the Great Duchy of Rimross a while ago, and the great shaman told him that, Heroes are not born, they are made. What makes someone into a hero is not only their own talent and ability, but more so their trials and tribulations. He had completely dismissed this statement of the shaman. After all, didnt the existence of Saints, Saintesses, and Chosen Ones completely prove this statement null and void? At this moment however, he was forced to reconsider the plausibility of what the shaman had said. Was it really true that trials and tribulations could stimulate growth in character to such a degree? I have met you before, yes? Angora asked. Yes, Sir Faust, we have met at the harvest festival before. Ah, I remember now! Salutations to your father, the Minister of Military Affairs. Uhm What is it? You can just tell me whatever is on your mind, as Im not a duke like Father is, no need to be so reserved. Angora smiled reassuringly, and continued, Your position wont be any lower than mine once you get one, after all. WellMy father is the Minister of Finance Ahem, then salutations to the Minister of Finance, then. Angora corrected his mistake as if he didnt make it in the first place. And so, the pressure in the room lightened immediately. Miller who had finally become more relaxed started to relay to Angora what he came to this town for, as well as handing him a letter written by the Silver Eagle Duke, Horan Faust. The duke wishes that you could return to the capital for the sowing festival, he misses you very much. I miss Father very much too, of course, Angora replied halfheartedly, making sure that the wax seal was untouched before slicing it open with a small knife and taking out the letter from within. Unfortunately, its been a little hectic with the town lately, you see? So I dont think I would be able to go back anytime soon In the letter, Angoras father first expressed his thoughts and relief on the letter that Angora sent him earlier, before vaguely mentioning the death of Angoras older brother, warning him to be more careful. Finally, he wrote that he wished for Angora to go back and visit during the sowing festival. Angora wouldnt go back, of course. He wasnt sure if he could come back to life like the other players did, so it was the safest choice to stay put in the town where the other players could protect him. He had become extremely cautious of assassination attempts ever since the one that happened before he arrived at the town, and he never wanted to experience the feeling of having his life and death held in the hands of another. Adding onto that was the fact that there were probably people that were still waiting for a chance to kill him, so he had no reason to go back home. Upon more thought, he was actually in quite an awkward situation at the moment. His life was in peril for some reason he had no idea of, and until now, he had no idea who the mastermind behind the attempts on his life were. Now that his brother, the only one that knew the truth had died, he couldnt have any way of telling anyone. After all, he couldnt go around and tell people that his older brother got someone to assassinate him, but got killed himself in the process, who would believe him? Even the one that killed his brother had already been killed by the players, and now he didnt have even the slightest bit of evidence. More troubling was the fact that if Angora were Cecil, he would probably guess that this youngest son killed the second in line, and was about to kill him in order to get the position of the one and only heir. He would definitely be wary of Angora, and might even move to kill him first just in caseThe familial relationships in noble families were all as thin as paper, after all In conclusion, there wouldnt be any merit to returning at this point in time. After all, he didnt have a useful protection item like the Hitman Genie Lamp anymore Ah, so you wont be able to return? Thats an awful shame. Miller nodded, his expression slightly disappointed. This journey must have been hard for you, so, by all means, please stay for a night at this town before you return. Ive been busy, so I wont be going back. [Ding! Quest UnlockedFind the Tsujigiri] [Quest Reward: Hitman Spirit Wand x1] But on second thought, I think I can clear out my schedule. Chapter 110: Tsujigiri i To understand what happened, lets rewind time a little. Back when Miller had been bathing in the hot springs with the monkeys, an unexpected guest had arrived at Xi Weis divine kingdom. Hey, Ive come to visit you. The lion gods expression froze on his face as his words cut off, seeing Xi Wei who was in the midst of binding the corpse of the Barren Giant up with his tentacles in a position that could only be described as indecent. Wait, no, I can explain! Xi Wei immediately regretted his decision to bind the Barren Giant in an artistic tortoise shell shibari[1] on a whim. Did you steal this Barren Giant from the Lord of the Peaks for these purposes? If he were only a child that was a couple hundred years old, he would have probably run away from Xi Weis divine kingdom immediately, but he was already a thousand-year-old deity. In all his years, he had already learned not to be surprised by other deities special interests, and had even seen a giant cyclops in with its legs spread apart in an M position, so he only coughed softly and continued, I never knew you were into this sort of thingYou better be careful of the Earth Church in the future. This was given by my Forget it, what are you here for? Xi Wei wanted to explain himself, but he figured that it would be worsening his situation for himself. Are any deities picking a fight? Old Pot[2] lemme tell you, whether if its the Skull God or the Ocean God, they both arent good gods, so never believe in anything they tell you! Lets all team up and kill them to split their divinity between us! Stop messing around. Putting aside that weakling, just the Ocean God is enough to kill all of us combined without breaking a sweat! The lion god rolled his eyes exasperatedly, and ignored Xi Weis exclamations of, Wow, is the Invisible Pantheon so weak? before continuing, Yes, I really have something to ask of you this time aroundIf its possible, I would hope that you have your believers help me out too. Upon seeing Aslans serious expression, Xi Wei was quite surprised, and knew that it wasnt good to joke around anymore, so he started to listen to the lion god seriously too. Starting from almost half a month ago, many of Lunas believers were killed gruesomely, and even though her believers tried to apprehend the culprit, many of them were killed instead According to their state of death, I believe the killer was. F*ck, can you put that big thing down? I cant talk with a straight face with that thing floating over my head! Sorry, sorry. Xi Wei cooperatively let go of the Barren Giants corpse, dropping it onto the ground, making Aslan nod in satisfaction. Where was I? Something about a big thing floating above your head. Ah yes, that big thing, how interestingNo! You better stop joking around, Im being serious here! Alright, alright. Xi Wei patted his spherical body in reassurance, and he started to glow somewhat becoming brighter as if he wanted to show how serious he was. Dont get scared by what Im going to say, the lion continued after seeing Xi Weis reaction. Of course, Im a deity after all, I wont get scared! Xi Wei replied without any hesitation. Once he heard so, he continued with a solemn tone, After we investigated this matter, we think that Investigate? Cant you guys just use Divine Eye to see whos behind this? Its exactly because we cant see who it is only by using Divine Eye that we need to investigateIn conclusion, we think that the culprit is a Tsujigiri. Whats a Tsujigiri? A Tsujigiri is a non-believer that was possessed by a Demonic Roe. Demonic Roe? Xi Wei was curious upon hearing this new term that he was sure wasnt in the God of Games Divine Records, nor recorded in the divinity of the Aquatic Lord. You know about the War of Demons and Gods yes? You know, the one that broke out around about a thousand years ago. Aslan continued in an animated tone, I joined that battle too, you know! When I was surrounded by enemy deities, I killed them all without breaking a sweat. Pfft. What are you laughing for? The lion god frowned and asked. I thought of something that made me happy, Xi Wei replied seriously.[3] What sort of thing? That my believers sacrificed such a big Barren Giant for me Anyway, the most common way for those demonic deities to spread their influence in the mortal realm is through Demonic Roe. Aslan looked at Xi Wei with a dubious expression before continuing his explanation. These things usually attach on weapons or potions, and can bring its user unimaginable power, but in exchange, it slowly eats away at the users sanity as they become overcome with power that doesnt belong to them. In the process, the Demonic Roe will destroy the users psyche and claim them as their own, turning them into demons. Are demons created in such a way? Xi Wei was a little confused. I thought those were creatures from hell Those are called devils, theres a big difference! At this point, Aslan smacked the ground with his paw, his tone quite irritated, Can you stop flickering? Youve been blinking like a broken light bulb ever since I came in, my eyes are almost going to go blind! Ah, sorry. So in conclusion, we just have to kill off that thing called a Tsujigiri? Xi Wei apologized halfheartedly, and then asked in a curious tone, But if that was all it was, you wouldnt have to come to me like this, no? Aslan had left Xi Wei a deific communication device before, and he didnt have any need to come seek his help personally if it werent urgent. The problem with that, is that even my believers were killed in the same way, I found out through their prayers that this Tsujigiri is extremely powerful Aslan told Xi Wei with a serious expression, In the worst-case scenario, this Tsujigiri has probably completely demonified, and according to how they say it in the mortal realm, he is on the cusp of becoming a legendary warrior that can even fight with deities! To this, even the heartless sphere of a god that was listening in couldnt help but gulp slightly. Dang He really sounds strong. In conclusion, this Tsujigiri seems to be heading in the direction where you followers are, quickly have them take precautions and track his whereabouts, but remember to tell them not to engage in battle with him. Xi Wei agreed with what Aslan said, because the Tsujigiri was too strong, and even if the players all battled him at once, they would probably not even be strong enough to scratch him an enemy that was almost legendary level. So how do we deal with this demon? Xi Wei asked. The lion god stood up straight, his mane fluttering in the wind and making him look majestic and holy. When the time comes, I will descend to the mortal realm and deal with him myself. [1] if you havent realized, its Japanese rope b*ndage [2] Xi Wei calls him this because the term ڹ or to carry a black pot means to have someone be a scapegoat for something [3] This entire conversation is a reference to the movie The Mermaid by Stephen Chow. Chapter 111: Arrival Anurad, at a small tavern near the Unnamed Town. In actuality, it was also quite inaccurate to just call it tavern, mainly because no person would choose to set up a regular tavern here in the middle of nowhere, where even the nearest city was more than ten kilometers away. If it were to be compared with the novel Water Margin, this sort of place was definitely the type of shady place to serve its patrons human meat buns and dubious drinks made from unknown materials. At this moment, this tavern was filled with people, and seemed quite lively. Suddenly, the door was opened, letting in the snow and freezing winds that seemed too out of place in the warm tavern. Entering the tavern together with the snow was a man in a thick trench coat, its high collar not only covering his neck but also half of his face too. Hanging at his hip was a sword that was the color of blood, and he wore a leather hat on his head, making him look like a regular mercenary. Under the shadow cast by his hat, however, werent the cloudy and unfocused eyes of a mercenary, but were instead a pair of piercing eyes that were so bright that they were blinding. The barkeep who was wiping a cup only met with his gaze for a moment before he felt as if he was being stabbed with swords, making him lower his head immediately and avoid the other man. This tavern of yours is quite special, isnt it? The man sat down by the bar, glancing over at the silver statue of a lion that was placed on the far right side of the counter. Arent you supposed to place the statue of the Goddess of Prosperity over there? The boss likes this one better. The barkeep replied with a courteous smile, before continuing, What can I get you? The beef steak set, the man replied coldly. The barkeeps motions of wiping the cup stopped. How do you want it? Medium rare on a slow roast. The man continued. A drop of sweat trailed down the barkeeps forehead, before squeezing out a somewhat forced smile and continuing, Alright, coming right up No no no, thats not the correct answer! The man laughed, and continued in a familiar tone as if he were a teacher talking to his student, Now, you should say, My heart and my soul are as clean and polished as a mirror, and I should reply with, All my actions are according to justice, and crystal clear. Then, you should let me see the list of judgement, no? Seeing that the man already knew his true identity, the barkeep didnt bother putting up the facade anymore, immediately taking out a battleaxe from under the counter, before shouting, Judgement! and swinging his axe in the direction of the man. This shout of the barkeep seemed to be a signal, and the next moment almost all of the patrons of the tavern all stood up from their seats and flashed their weapons, shouting, Judgement! before all attacking the man! The reason why the word almost was used was because in a corner there was a player with a white name above his head that was really just a customer of the tavern. As everyone in the tavern stood up all of a sudden, he could only watch with a dumbfounded expression at all of the others, the words What is happening?Why am I here?''Who am I? practically written on his face. In response to the attacks that came like an oppressive wave, the man only smiled and stood up, before reaching for his sword as if he had done so tens of thousands of times before. A split second later, a bright scarlet flash bloomed in the room. In a single moment, a pause button seemed to have been pressed in the room, and all of the attacks stopped abruptly. Then, blood spurted out of all of their bodies, and all of them dropped dead to the ground without any resistance, their expressions frozen in mid shout, as if they hadnt even registered that they were already dead. As for the player that was completely taken off guard by the entire matter, he looked at his fork that was slashed into two as he blacked out with a dumbfounded expression After killing all of the followers of the God of Justice (along with an innocent player), the man sat back down on his seat. He glanced at the barkeep that had his head cut off, and as if nothing had happened, he reached for a bottle of wine and poured it into his cup. Then, he found two pieces of bread and smoked beef from the bar counter, and so he pulled down his collar in the tavern that was littered with corpses and reeking of rust, revealing the lower half of his face that had red, blood vessel-like marks, and started eating quickly. Suddenly, his movements stopped and his gaze trailed over to the silver lion statue on the bar counter. The next moment, the silver lion statue came to life and roared loudly, jumping down from the counter and becoming a majestic lion that was taller than the man! You demon, how dare you kill so many of my followers! Hmph, how droll. What was I supposed to do? Let them kill me on the spot? The man scoffed, and not only was he not scared in the slightest, he even seemed to be strangely excited for what was about to come. Thank goodness I finally drew you out! The Goddess Luna was too much of a chicken to come out and face me, and it was useless no matter how many believers of hers I killed! Thank goodness your so-called justice is truly simple to provoke. You The lion with white fur squinted slightly, before his expression became one of disbelief. You are planning to kill a god? No, youre not a demon, could it be that Demon? Oh, you mean that thing on this sword? The man grinned mockingly, before continuing, That thing wanted to take over my body, so of course I offed it! I didnt need any of those empty promises of strength and power! If it werent for the fact that this sword could extend my life so that I can spend more time discovering the secrets of the art of swordsmanship, and to let me experience the euphoria of killing, I wouldnt even bother using it! I see, you have a Heaven-Cursed Body that can only live for twenty years Aslan was a deity after all, so he quickly ignored the influence of the demonic sword and saw through the very nature of the man before him, but upon closer scrutiny, he was even more surprised. To be able to suppress the demonic infestation without any helpHow could such a human exist No more small talk! I will kill you right here and complete my final swordsmanship! The man held up his sword towards the lion and shouted. Even with the help of the Demonic Roe, you wont be able to extend your lifespan by much longer So thats why you are so insistent on killing? If thats the case, then I shall give you judgement as the God of Justice! Justice? What bullsh*t! Look at this chaotic world, does your so-called justice make it any better? I dont have any interest in this justice that only preys on the weak and fears the strong, so die! Without any hesitation, the man shouted with conviction, before swinging his sword towards the god. Chapter 112: God-Slaying Blade Zod was born into a family of swordsmen, with the fates of all the generation of his family deeply intertwined with swordsmanship, so it wasnt a surprise to anyone when he started to become obsessed with the art ever since he was a child. He was an unparalleled genius in swordsmanship, learning all the skills that his father who was the royal swordsmanship advisor had to teach at the young age of twelve and even surpassing him. Once he realized that he couldnt improve himself anymore, he set out on a journey to learn more swordsmanship styles. By the time he was fifteen years old, Zod had already obtained a grasp of over a thousand types of swordsmanship styles, and other than the legendary swordsman that had a miracle, it was difficult to find anyone that could beat him in swordsmanship. After that, Zod suffered a tragic defeat at the hands of a magician, which made him realize that the number of styles he had a grasp over was no use if he couldnt apply them properly in battle. And so, he started to hone his skills through combat, and started to combine and refine his many swordsmanship styles in his battles, his techniques slowly becoming more and more simple. By the time he was eighteen years old, he finally managed to converge and combine all of his skills into a mere five techniquesThe Human-Slaying Blade, Sorcery-Slaying Blade, Object-Slaying Blade, Beast-Slaying Blade and the Apparition-Slaying Blade. Everything in the world could be cut under these five blades! He had thought that he still had a long life ahead of him, and had wanted to continue exploring the art of the sword in order to obtain his own miracle. By the time he became nineteen years old, however, his chest started to hurt for no reason, and he started to cough up blood endlessly. Along with these symptoms, his body started to become weaker by the day. As a swordsman that had been travelling the continent for many years, he naturally had his own friends and ways to get help. After he got the help of an experienced life priest to diagnose his situation, he was told that he had the incurable Heaven-Cursed Body. This sort of constitution was resistant to all sorts of healing sacred arts, and those that had this only had a maximum lifespan of twenty years. This terrible news proved to be too much for this genius swordsman, and Zod locked himself in his home in despair, completely giving up on life and on furthering his skills any further. He still had so many plans he hadnt even put into action yet, and hadnt even reached the level of legendary yet, and his life was just about to get exciting After that, he found a demonic sword that was sealed by his ancestors in the underground cellar of his family mansion, and the being that was attached to it told him that if he became a demon, he would be able to lengthen his lifespan, and if he could kill a deity and steal their divinity for his own, he would be able to completely cure the Heaven-Cursed Body! And so, Zod stepped onto a path of no return after he plucked out the sword. You were definitely bewitched by the Demonic Roe! Even if you kill a deity, you wont be able to cure your Heaven-Cursed Body. None of what it says can be trusted! After he dodged the attack from Zod, Aslan tried to convince him in a serious tone. Other than the Trinity of Creation, no other deity can save you. This isnt a sickness, but a constitution that you were born with that is even harder to fix That doesnt matter, I have never believed in its words since the beginning, all I needed was time! Zod pulled up his collar to cover his face again. This thing continued to ramble on in my head, so I killed him and completed my sixth sword skill, the Demon-Slaying BladeNow, I only have one final skill to perfect, and all the time I need is for this blade He aimed his blade at Aslan again, and shouted, God-Slaying Blade! Thats no use, a mere mortals sword skill cant. Before Aslan finished his sentence, a crimson flash shone, and the lion gods body started to disappear, greatly surprising him. What the The next moment, Aslans body disappeared completely, leaving the silver lion sculpture clunking uselessly onto the floor, losing its luster. It worked! I finally No, you havent Who is it! Zod immediately reaction and slashed in the direction of the voice, but his blade was intercepted with a single hand. Unfortunately, that God-Slaying Blade of yours isnt complete. Xi Wei who had turned into a human form said as he held the blade in his hand. Heres a message from that lion, but what he did just now was just a way to descend to the mortal realm that was a mix of oracle and astral projection in order to prevent his divinity from being damaged too much. In short, what your blade cut was just the carrier he used to come down to the mortal realm and just caused him to be sent back by the natural laws of the world barrier. If anything, you only caused Aslan to not be able to come back down here for a short while. Drat, are you a deity too?! Zod immediately retracted his blade, pulling away the distance from Xi Wei. Youre strong, and I commend you for it, but you will not be able to damage us without the power of miracles. This is the iron rule of this world, and unfortunately for you, you did not create a miracle. Xi Wei spread his arms and continued, Using the words of that lion, it would probably be, I recognize you as the strongest existence under a legendary warrior!Or something like that, anyway. Its fine, dont I have another target right here? The night is long, so let me have some fun! Zod was not respectful in the slightest towards Xi Wei, and instead seemed to become even more excited. Xi Wei only snapped his finger in response, and an invisible pulse of energy sent Zod flying into the wall, making him cough out blood upon impact. As the hideout of the Temple of Justice, all of the walls of the tavern had been fortified beforehand, and couldnt be damaged easily. Zod stood up shakily, and his expression was void of any pain, but instead, the maniacal glint in his eyes became even brighter. But as he stepped towards Xi Wei, his features became even more twisted. Ahhh! Zod ripped off his trench coat and revealed his shirt that was drenched with blood, and even through the layer of cloth, the runes that were glowing bright crimson were still clearly visible, with their core being his heart. It was clear that those crimson runes were strengthening his body, and converting him into a being that wasnt human anymore. Zod immediately raised his sword and used its hilt to hit his chest right over his heart with all his strength, and judging from the resounding thud, the heart of a regular person would probably burst from the impact. Dont butt in! I want to challenge these damned deities as a human! Aaarghhh! Even Xi Wei was taken off guard by these actions of Zods. As the swordsman growled and shouted, the crimson runes on his body disappeared too. Once this happened, however, Zod paled considerably as if he was weakened from what he did. Look, this is my final As if he used all of his strength, Zod gripped tightly on his sword and pointed it towards Xi Wei. At this moment, Xi Wei knew that he could definitely kill Zod without sustaining any injuries, but upon seeing his current state, he sighed softly and fixed him with a serious gaze. Come! God-Slaying Blade! The figure of the human and the deity crossed over each other, and the two figures stood with their backs to each other. A moment later, Zods body slumped weakly onto the floor. I still lost in the end Can humans Truly not come close to deities? No, you created a miracle in the end. Xi Wei turned over to him and stretched his arm in Zods direction. On his index finger was a wound so small it could be compared to a paper cut. Congratulations, you are the first human that hurt a deity without stepping into the legendary stage. What an honor, that is What deity are you Did you come to kill me for Justice, too? I am the God of Games. Also, Im really not all that interested in all this riffraff about demons, and the only reason why I killed you was because you killed one of my believers in front of the lion See, the guy right over there. Xi Wei pointed at the players corpse that had started to disappear once the revival timer ran out. HahWhat an interesting deity Zod said slowly. AhhI cant seeAnything.AhhI want to swing my blade.One more time. Xi Wei sighed softly, and reached down to tap at Zods forehead gently. I cant fulfil this wish of yours, but I can help to pass down your legacy Zod didnt reply, only dying in silence. Chapter 113: Lion Brand Power Bank k When Xi Wei returned to his divine kingdom, Aslan was waiting for him with a somewhat miffed expression. How is it? Upon seeing Xi Wei return, the lion god asked immediately. Because of the interference of the Demonic Roe and the divine energy emanating off of Xi Wei, Aslans perception was completely masked, and he didnt know what happened down in the mortal realm. Problem solved. Xi Wei showed him something that looked like a crystal sphere that he was holding in his tentacles. Damn, did you intercept that swordsmans soul from passing on? The lion god was quite surprised. Is this useful for you? Im interested in his swords skills, you see. Xi Wei replied nonchalantly. Even though it cost me quite a lot of divine energy, I think its not a bad deal. Aslan only stared at him as if he had gone crazy. First the Ocean God, then the Lord of the Peaks, and now even Lord Hades? Why do you get into trouble so easily Are you going to challenge the Trinity of Creation next? Dont fret, its just a single soul. He wont even notice that its missing! Xi Wei smiled and reassured AslanAfter all, he couldnt lose such an ally and have to deal with everything by himself, he was just a glowing sphere! The matter with the Ocean God and the Lord of the Peaks is just a misunderstanding, and Im sure itll all be cleared up once I get strong enough to beat them up! Dont even think of it! Aslan glared at him angrily, like a father fed up with a problematic son. In response, Xi Wei only started flashing and blinking like a disco light. Stop flashing, Im not really angry Aslan sighed, and continued, In any case, I owe you one for this, so Ill help you out if you get into any trouble. He didnt know that Xi Wei was a transmigrator, so it didnt cost anything for him to jump between realms without any repercussions. Therefore, he had naturally assumed that Xi Wei had damaged his divinity by going down to the mortal realm through astral projection, and was quite guilty about it. After all, descending through oracles didnt allow a deity to fight, lest with the Tsujigiri Zod, and Xi Wei didnt have any followers that allowed for him to descend through possession. In Aslans perception, Xi Wei had descended personally without caring about his divinity that had barely just been repaired, and killed the Tsujigiri for his sake. At this moment, the lion god was satisfied with his taste in allies, and felt greatly grateful to him, even starting to consider him his brother. Alright, then sponsor me some divine power please? Xi Wei took out the skull of the Rotten Bones God from the Mound of the Bound Creator and handed it to Aslan respectfully. Just store it in here. Divine power was a type of energy that was hard to be stored in the regular container, and a vast majority of the materials that could stand divine power also absorbed it greatly. As a result, these materials would become of higher quality, but didnt work so well to store the divine power itself, and so it defeated the purpose of being a container for divine power. As an example, it was like if someone invented a phone battery, and once you charged it for half a day, the inventor told you that the battery leveled up to Level 2 once it absorbed the electric energy, becoming harder and could even deflect bulletsWhat? What about the battery level? Sorry, its still at zeroAnd so, you can only hold your Nokia that had shut down and reflect on life itself The body of a deity was definitely the best material to store divine power, granted the deity that was storing their divine power could surpass the psychological hurdle of doing so. At the moment, the lion god was staring dumbly into the hollow sockets of the skeleton head in front of him, and started to question whether this ally of his was going to turn into an evil deity That being said, he still charged the skeleton head full with divine power, and so Xi Wei watched as the skeleton turned into the skeleton of a lion. To this, Xi Wei could only muse internally about the malleability of the body of a deity. Im going to go back now, remember to keep in contact if anything happens Aslan fixed Xi Wei with a complicated gaze, flitting between the glowing sphere and the lion skeleton that was wrapped snugly in a bunch of tentacles, as if he didnt want anything more than to leave as quickly as he could. As his body disappeared from view, he said, Ah right, demons have started to become more active in the mortal realm, so you better warn your believers to be more careful Angora moved his gaze away from a post on the forum that was titled [I died out of nowhere!] The player that posted it seemed to have been eating at a random tavern in the middle of nowhere, and the patrons started to fight, then he got killed without even processing what had happened. Because there werent any cleric players around when he died, he was stuck in the intermediate space between life and death for three days. While he was still stuck in the small dark cell, he realized that the quest called [Find the Tsujigiri] that he had accepted from Angora was completed for whatever reason. As a result, he obtained a great amount of EXP, not only reimbursing his losses, but even giving him a great amount of game coins. The other players quickly called this players post into question, replying with messages like The God of Games wont issue a must-die mission, If you level up every time you die, wouldnt Mr. Marni be overpowered?, Where did you die? I want to go loot your corpse!. Of course, Angora himself could confirm that the player was speaking the truth. Not long before this had been posted, Angora had already accepted a system notification that the quest was completed, and even the rewards were already given to him. Thinking of this, Angora took out the Hitman Spirit Wand from the system warehouse. The wand was quite aesthetically pleasing but simple wooden wand that was about eleven inches long, with beautiful phoenix feathers carved on it. [Item: Hitman Spirit Wand (Grade A)] [Description: A wand! Point it at an enemy that you want to kill, and shout out Divine Guardian! to summon our hardworking hitmanA guardian spirit in the shape of a lion! The guardian spirit that you summon can last for a minute, and you can use this spell (3/3) times.] [Note: Even though the guardian spirit is strong, it still isnt as strong as the Hitman Genie (This is why it is only Grade A even though it can be used thrice). Its somewhat on the dumb side, so the way you summon it is important!] S: Even though this wand is quite cool looking, unfortunately, you cant use it to cast any other spells.] Suppressing the urge to summon the guardian spirit, Angora called Vela in. You can go find that messenger of my fathers, Angora commanded confidently. Tell him that we will start the journey to the Silver Eagle Duchy tomorrow. Chapter 114: Swordmaster After Aslan left, Xi Wei started to analyze Zods soulMore precisely, his soul was already destroyed through the torture of the Heaven-Cursed Body. Perhaps Lord Hades that had control over the laws of death would be able to repair this soul, but Xi Wei had no way of doing so. In conclusion, Xi Wei couldnt help but be curious about what the Heaven-Cursed Body exactly was. Granted, Xi Wei had no intention of saving Zod in the first place. Even though Xi Wei sympathized with him, but at the time his life was about to end, Zod was still a Tsujigiri that slaughtered many innocent lives. What Xi Wei promised was only to pass down his skills and inheritance. The way to do so, was of course to impart what Zod had learned over the course of his entire life to the players. I wouldnt be able to pass down his experienceThats understandable, if I could pass that down, I would be able to create an army of fake sword sages. As a deity, Xi Wei of course could understand the skills that Zod had while he was analyzing his soul carefully, but he couldnt impart it to the players. It seems that I can only let them learn by themselves as they use these sword skills. Thankfully, he had a lot of experience so I only have to copy and pasteHuh, he had other theories other than that one about slashing everything? Hm, Ill just stuff it all in here That being said, many of these sword skills were quite complex, and even with the Rule of Skill, the players that chose this class would have to use their own experience and understanding of the sword to use them properly, and itll probably become the hardest class to play as. Hence, the lower limit of this class would be low, while its upper limit would be extremely high. The other classes were created based solely on Xi Weis blessings, and without considering their equipment, the strength of each player at each level were all fixed at a certain degree. This was the only class that mixed the experience of the swordsmanship that this world had together with Xi Weis blessings, and if the players practice it to the extreme, they would be able to surpass the limits set by their level, and could even battle a deity! Of course, the probability of this happening was extremely small, and they wouldnt be able to hurt him anyway because his divine power was mixed into the class itself. Thankfully I got a lot of divine power from Old Pot, or else itll probably be too hard for me to create another class by myself Huh, now that he thought of it, this class would probably be ineffective against the lion, and perhaps because he mixed the divine power of justice in, they would probably be able to get critical hits on believers of evil deities? As the players were finishing their daily quests and becoming stronger, a system notification popped up out of nowhere. Different from the simple pop-up type window that appeared in the past, the system only notified that there was an update, while the actual contents of the update were posted on the forum and pinned at the very top so that all the players could see. [The Temple of Justice has become our ally.] [Temple of Justice reputation activated (Starting value: Friendly)] [Now, players can obtain a certain degree of help from the Temple of Justice, and can obtain shelter in their temples.] [You can accept Bounty Quests from the outlooks set by the Temple of Justice, and can obtain rewards such as Reputation by killing the villains that are listed.] [Please do not steal from the Temple of Justice using your status as an ally, you will become a red nameYes, you!] [Do not perform unlawful deeds at the Temple of Justice, as you will be cut down by the believers of the God of Justice.] [New class change for Warriors: Swordmaster] [Class Introduction] [Swordmaster: One that has practised swordsmanship for their entire life, and has concluded that what was needed to hone body, technique and heart, one must have the courage to put themselves in danger. Hence, they sealed their own ability to use the shield and all sorts of defense, and focused entirely on battle style, truly a maniac of the sword!] [Click here for the demonstration video.] [Class change requirements: Any Warrior at Level 15 or higher may attempt the class-change quest.] Because he didnt absorb new divinities this time around, Xi Wei didnt increase the level cap, and he figured that it was already enough for the players to work for at the current level cap of Level 60. This was real life and not a game after all, so there werent so many monsters just lying there and waiting for the players to kill them. This was also the reason why the players would act like someone was their greatest enemy for stealing the kill of a monster The system of the alliance with the Temple of Justice was also created because he obtained a lot of divine power from Aslan, and wanted to provide some conveniences for the players. Even though the lion god looked weak and gullible for being tricked by Xi Wei all the time, but he was actually many times stronger than Xi Wei was The new class that he added this time was naturally created after analyzing the remnants of Zods soul. This was a class that only had sword skills and buffs, and didnt provide any other perks in terms of other bladed weapons. Similar to the other class change classes that Xi Wei created, he had already created three skill branches based on Zods experiences. [Berserker], the branch that throws away defense in every shape and form, in exchange for sheer destructive power. [Kengyoku], the branch that was the most similar to Zods, where the player would master many sword skills, defeating strength with sheer technique and skill, as well as detecting the enemys movements and counterattacking heavily. Finally, there was [Ranbu] or [I dont know any skills, but Im going to beat you up!], the branch that didnt focus at all on skills but instead focused on using the most underhanded ways possible in swordsmanship to defeat the enemy, with the only focus being to win a battle and not on skills. After a few moments of silence, a great commotion broke out among the players. Some of the Warrior players were celebrating as if it were a festival, thinking that their class was loved by the God of GamesThey were the only class with two class changes! Meanwhile, some of them lamented over class changing too quickly. Even though the Spirit Swordsman class was strong too, but the Swordmaster class was extremely cool! Especially the Kengyoku demonstration video that showcased fluid sword skills and strong counterattacks while finding the weak links in the enemys defense, practically the coolest class out there! None of them knew that this was arranged on purpose by Xi Wei. The Kengyoku branch in particular taught the players the sword skills directly, but how to deflect attacks, detect the enemy intent and to attack the enemies correctly had to be learned and picked up by themselves, not automatic like the other branches were. If Xi Wei were to show the players the real situation that they had to go through, the players would probably not want to choose this branch at all. As an easy example, if the other players were playing World of Warcraft, the players that chose the Kengyoku branch were playing Sekiro, and without prosthetic tools at that. If he were to show the actual situation the players would be in if they chose this path, it could be titled A Hundred Ways to Die: Player Edition In the time that came after this, Sprite, the item that was the hardest to sell in the system shop would become one of the hottest selling items because it had the ability to reset skill points (Only one can be bought per day) Chapter 115: Charisma Isnt it too rash to go to the Silver Eagle Duchy in such a hurry? Vela asked Angora after she relayed the message to Miller that they were going to set out the next day. By the way, the messenger was so happy about Angoras choice that he immediately started dancing the weird dance he learned from the playersIt seemed that the power of assimilation was in one way the greatest strength of the players. The sowing festival is still quite a while away, and from the looks of it, winter is going to continue for another twenty or thirty days Vela asked in confusion, Wouldnt it be too much of a rush to do it tomorrow? Are you really planning to stay there for such a long time just because you miss your family? Of course not, I had already become sick of that restrictive life that wont even allow for the slightest bit of freedom. Angora smiled and replied, crossing his arms over his chest. What I want, is exactly to give the image that were in a rush. What do you mean? Vela was quite confused at what Angora had said, In any case, arent you the son of the Grand Duke? Why would your life be restrictive? Shouldnt people like you be sauntering around the streets with your lackeys and flirting with innocent maidens? You mean those so-called sons of aristocrats that exist as antagonists in those knight novels? Its exactly because the Grand Duke is considered high on the social ladder even within the nobles that the three of us brothers have been taught more rigorously and strictly than anyone else! From walk to talk, we have to act dignified in even the smallest details of daily life, in order to not bring shame upon the Faust family Angora sighed and lowered his head. Honestly, its a complete pain in the butt, so this time that Ive been living in this town has been the happiest and most relaxed I have ever been. Is that so Vela couldnt help the happy expression that showed up on her face. Then why be in such a rush? To reduce the time that the enemy has to prepare for my arrivalWell, if any enemy exists, anyway. There was a certain type of person that loved to lecture people on topics that they knew about for some reason that could be superiority or just because they just really loved to talk. Many antagonists in anime or movies were this sort of person, and would stop right before they could kill the protagonist party with their next move and start rambling on about all of their plans from start to end, and some would even talk about their weaknesses clearly to the protagonists, before finally being killed off by the main characters that had the time to recover properly. Coincidentally, Angora was also this sort of person, but thankfully, he didnt have any hobby of gloating about his plans to the enemy, and only did so with his most trusted subordinate. The town belongs to me, and they must have realized that it would be hard to lay a finger on me after the players got rid of the Society of the Secret Eye branches nearby. If I went to the Silver Eagle Duchy without any warning, it would definitely be a good chance for them to try and assassinate me there instead of here in the town! I see, so the sooner and less unannounced we set off, the enemy would have a harder time to arrange a successful assassination! Vela immediately understood what Angora was trying to say. Assassination wasnt something that could be done so easily. To perform a successful assassination, information about the target was extremely importantThe targets schedule, their selected route, and even some personal hobbies of the target would be able to increase the success rate drastically! If Angora just headed for the Silver Eagle Duchy right before the sowing festival, the enemy would have at least half a months worth of time to plan for the assassination, and while the plan wouldnt have been foolproof, it would still have been complex and extremely hard to deal with. Perhaps death didnt mean much for the other players because they could be revived later on, but Angora had never died before with the system he had now, so he wasnt sure if he could be revived in the same way. Just in case, the best course of action now was to take action while the enemy party still hadnt prepared properly. Not only that, but this sort of rushed assassination attempt would also cause there to be many clues about the mastermind! If theres anyone that wants to kill me, I swear on the name of the God of Games that I will drag him out from behind the scenes! Angora replied seriously. ButWouldnt it be too dangerous if it were just the two of us? Vela was somewhat anxious about it still. As Angoras subordinate, Vela was focused on helping him out more than dungeon crawling and training, so she was only at Level 14, with more or less 15% left before she reached the level where she could class change. Of course not, were going to recruit players as our bodyguards! Angora smiled, as if he had everything in the grasp of his palm. No worries, with my reputation and charisma, Ill definitely be able to recruit a thirty-person party without even breaking a sweat! [Number of players that accepted the guard quest: 0] Looking at the system page in front of him and the empty name list, Angoras hands trembled slightly. F*ck, why! Because all the players that like adventuring have already gone to explore the area around the town. Edward who had come to hand in the completion of one of his quests replied in a deadpan. All the players that left behind in the town all want to live a steady life, so they wont accept this quest that will use around ten days. What about Mr. Marni? He would accept the quest, no? He was poisoned to death at a banquet in Lancaster, and hes even complaining about the underhanded tactics of his competitors while hes waiting to be revived. So he wont be able to do business in Lancaster anymore? No, hell definitely go back there three days later and tell them that the one that died was only a substitute of his or something like that and continue to do business as if nothing happened, probably. He had already done this same thing so many times that the people from Lancaster are starting to call him the Infinite Wilf What about you? Arent you the quest-accepting demon?! Angora asked as he pointed towards Edward. Why wont you accept such a rare quest? Thats because Eleena doesnt like interacting with nobles, so our party doesnt plan on accepting this one. Edward spread his arms and replied, as if he was helpless to the situation too. Eleena? Oh, the strongest in your party? He had heard Vela tell him about how strong Eleena was, and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Was she ever bullied by nobles in the past? No, its because her father had taught her aristocratic manners ever since she was little because her mother was apparently a noble, so now she doesnt want to have anything to do with them because of some sort of rebellious mentality, Edward replied as he munched on some hard pieces of bread. Now if you excuse me, I have some other quests to complete Wait, dont go yet. Angora propped up his chin with his intertwined fingers and stared at Edward, making the latter feel a chill run up his spine. W-What is it? If I can convince Eleena, will your party be able to come help me? Angora asked. Edward thought for a bit, and thought that if Angora could convince Eleena to accept, then it wouldnt be a bad deal to get on the lords good side, so he nodded. Alright! Chapter 116: You Have Bigger Breasts, You Go First There werent any decent carriages in the town. Marni had borrowed a carriage to the players in the past, but it had been destroyed and turned into a bunch of scrap metal. This was the reason why the merchant didnt bring his carriage back to the town anymore, and always chose to leave it near Lancaster Thankfully, there were still some carpenters in the town, so they still made two snow sled carriages that could somehow be used. The problem was the beast that was used to pull the carriage. Once Xi Wei had released the pet and mount system, many players set out to tame beasts near the town. Granted, only a tenth of the beasts were successfully tamed, but considering how many people did so, there were actually a lot of beasts that were in the small town. Perhaps it was because these beasts lived near the Valley of the Tragic Dead, but all of them were so affected that they appeared like creatures that would be featured in a horror film. Hey, do you players have something wrong with your aesthetics? Angora couldnt help but ask Edward after picking around the ones that were available. About that, you can look at the post I wrote on the forum yesterday. Gou Dan who had been obsessed with writing strategy posts on the forum told Angora. The title is [About the change in aesthetics and rationality of the Abomination branch of the Aquatic Angel class.] I even took many pictures as proof! I feel like my rationality will be changed if I read the post, so just give me a summary. Angora hesitated for a bit before choosing not to click open the post, choosing to ask him directly instead. Basically, the beauty standards of the Abominable branch players would become stranger and stranger the more they summon tentacles and other meat clumps in battle, and it becomes harder for them to control their thoughts. Because of these traits, they will become more brash and odd, and I call this state of theirs Cthulhu. Gou Dan talked about the results of his research. The teammates of these Aquatic Angels would also be affected by them too, but dont worry, this wont cause a lot of trouble. Also, dont you think these beasts look kinda cool once you look at them long enough? Angora who didnt think that the beasts were cool in the least, but finally picked two deer that looked like they had hyperostosis. Even though these deer were also quite ugly, but it was much better than the other ones. The ones that accepted the escort quest in the end were Edwards party and the chubby and skinny duo who Angora had remembered from earlier as having decent luck. While the two deer were pulling the sled in the snowy plains, Edward went to Eleena and asked her curiously, How did he convince you to accept the quest? He said Eleenas expression was serious, and Edward listened attentively to hear how exactly the lord used wit and sentimentality to convince the young girl, before she said, There will be a banquet, with all you can eat milk pudding. Edward: Ms. Saintess-in-training, arent you too easy to scam? Silver Eagle Duchy, Tunaya City. This was the capital of the Silver Eagle Duchy, and the Silver Eagle Castle was built right in the center of the city. The entire city was built spreading out from the Silver Eagle Castle, the wide Arabe River flowing through the center of the city and creating a natural moat around the castle, looking like a majestic eagle in flight when looked at from above. According to history, the center of Tunaya was a small hill, but as a reward for the ancestors of the Silver Eagle Duke, the first emperor of the Valla Empire sent workers to flatten the hill and build the masterpiece that was the Silver Eagle Castle. This land then became the ancestral land of the Faust family, passed down the generations. Only when I see this sort of castle do I remember that youre a real noble, my lord Edward couldnt help but exclaim as he looked at the majestic castle that could even be seen from the distance outside the city. So you never thought of me as a real noble before? Angora grumbled in dissatisfaction. I was only the son of a village chief before, so the greatest nobles I ever saw was a powerless baron that collected the taxes from us, and even that guy looked at us with his nostrils. Edward shrugged and continued, To me, the nobles that were higher on the social ladder probably looked at people with their belly buttons. In contrast, you always check on the development of the town yourself and get along well with us players without putting on airs. I think you have the wrong idea about nobles Angora refuted immediately. There are good nobles too, and what are you talking about, looking at people with their belly buttons? Are they some sort of monsters? Angora had wanted to find more examples to prove his point, but at the moment all he could think about were the nobles that used their position to exploit the commoners, so he didnt speak any further. After that, Angora suddenly realized how his mentality had changed. If he maintained his original way of thinking, he wouldnt even have thought that the actions of the nobles that collected more taxes to satisfy their indulgent lives and the ones that killed refugees on a whim were doing the wrong thing. Perhaps it was how he had interacted with the players that were mostly from the lower end of the pyramid that his way of thinking had changedNo, more precisely, it had become more subjective. Before Angora could ponder completely over this matter, a commotion broke out outside the carriage. What is it? He raised his head and asked. Another batch of carriages have arrived at the city at the same time as us. Vela crawled out of the carriage and asked, before elucidating Angora on the current situation. They seem to want to go in before us. Angora furrowed his brow and walked out the carriage, but before he could see who the other party was, all he saw was Joe who was carrying the Giants Toe blocking the other coachman. His toned chest was wiggling alternately in some sort of weird demonstration of power, to the point where it made the sword on his back bounce along with his movements. As a warrior-type class, Joe wasnt all that susceptible to the cold, so the clothes he wore were thinner than the others in the party. In turn, this further accentuated the impact of this action of his, and the coachmans mind went completely blank. Finally, a teenage girl that seemed to be the owner of the coach looked out from the coach and looked at the scene, before expressionlessly telling Joe, You have bigger breasts, so you go first,, thus ending the meaningless quarrel right away. As Angora saw the other party, he immediately started to slink back into the carriage. Shes here? How troublesome Chapter 117: Dont Come Near Me! As the carriages of Angora and the party rode through Tunaya City, Vela was quite confused as she looked at the empty streets through the windows. Isnt Tunaya one of the greatest cities in the north? Why does it look so shabby? Why arent there any people, its like a ghost town Because winter this year came earlier, so a lot of the citizens of Tunaya hadnt had the time to prepare before the blizzard came. Now, they can only wait out winter at home until the sowing season comes around. The situation is even worse for those citizens that got their homes destroyed by the blizzard and have to stay in refugee camps or in temporarily built huts, and it would be hard for them to not get frozen into ice sticks, lest come out to wander on the streets. In the entire frost season, probably about a thousand people are going to die Even though he spent this winter in the Unnamed Town, he was still born and raised in Tunaya, so he guessed the reason why the city was in such a bad state quite easily. TunayaNo, not just Tunaya, but almost every city in Valla would meet with this sort of situation every couple of years. The God of Blizzards is an evil deity to the Valla Empire, and only a bunch of barbarians and monsters would worship it, so its only natural that this country isnt blessed by it. But arent the streets too shabby, still? I dont think they can even compare to our town Vela was still quite confused. Hey Vela, I think you have some sort of wrong idea about our town! Not to brag, but there isnt a single town or city that can be compared with our town, nor even the Imperial Capital or the Holy City! Angora said proudly. Not every deity is as good as the God of Games, and not every believer of those churches would be able to become strong and develop so easily like the players do. But there were so many people at the gatesWe even had to get in line Vela was still having a hard time processing the situation, because she was only a young lady from a small village after all. Those are all merchants. Once he said this sentence, Angora stopped smiling too, and his expression looked as if he was talking about a bug that he despised. Even though winter is about to blow over, but many of the reserves of food and water of the citizens are almost about to run out, so this is the hardest time for them. In this period of time, those merchants would be able to obtain strong young men and pretty young women that would have been hard to procure in peaceful times with a few morsels of food. You, youre saying Vela thought over his words for a moment, before her good looking brows furrowed slightly. Slavery. Other than wartime, these are the best times to obtain slaves at a cheap price for those merchants. Angora confirmed Velas guesses. And not the types that are thin and frail with unknown sicknesses at that, but high-grade slaves that are healthy and strong! Doesnt the royal family have anything to say about this? What about those people from the Brilliant White Church? Vela was completely taken off guard by this revelation. The owner of the largest slave market in the Valla Empire is the eldest prince himself, and more than half of these slave merchants serve nobles, so why would they? To restrict the nobles from joining in on this sort of thing is the greatest mercy that my weak father can do for the citizens. Angora replied. As for the Brilliant White ChurchDo you know that those laborers that clean the monasteries and sweep leaves are slaves too? The people from the Brilliant Church love nothing more than to get free slaves from the slave market using their position in the church. The most ironic thing about this is that those slaves are so thankful to them that they act on any orders and arent given any pay until every drop of blood, sweat, and tears are squeezed out from them! Upon hearing this, Vela felt as if her entire world view was shaken. The darkest matters in society that this young lady met with in her entire life were nothing more than tax officers levying more taxes, or how many of the young and middle-aged men in town were forcibly recruited to fight against revenants. After Angora brought the faith of the God of Games to the town, life had improved more and more every day, so she never knew that the situation could be so bad in these large cities. At this moment, she felt that it was definitely better to live a free and fulfilling life in the small town than becoming a resident of the big city that looked glamorous from the outside, but was corrupted where the sunlight doesnt shine. At the same time, she was even more grateful for the blessings of the God of Games and His protection of the town, turning the once dangerous town into a paradise for players like here. Meanwhile, Xi Wei who was plotting on future events tilted his spherical body in confusion as another believer of his became a devout believer. He was sure he hadnt done anything other than create a class that would cause trouble for the players lately Leaving aside Vela who was currently having a sudden epiphany, the carriage finally arrived at the Silver Eagle Castle after crossing the frozen surface of the Arabe River. Angora was extremely surprised that his father was waiting outside the castle with him with his servants, and this greatly touched Angora who had become even more mature and had developed a heart of steel. Father! He quickly jumped out of the carriage and stepped over, anticipating a touching father-son reunion. Before he could say anything more, Horan Faust looked at him with a dumbfounded expression. Angora, why are you back? Angora: ??? Hey, werent you the one that called me back here?! In a split second, Angora squeezed his touched tears that were threatening to fall a mere second ago back into his tear ducts, and started thinking whether this was a ploy by Miller and the mastermind to lead him into a trap like an eight-season-Victorian-political-fantasy soap drama. Before Angora could choose between explaining to his father and turning around and leaving immediately, Horan came back to his senses. No, son, I was just surprised that you came back so early! Didnt I tell you to come back during the sowing festival? Yes, how glad I am to see you arrive safely! Angora looked at him dubiously before his gaze flitted over the servants behind his father, all of which smiled at him professionally. Did he really think too much? Wait, but who was it they were waiting for, if not him? The next moment, Angora was given the answer to his question. An extremely familiar-looking coach tugged by chocobos stopped in front of the Silver Eagle Castle. The coachman jumped down from the coach with his chest puffed in pride, and was about to open the door to the coach with a stuck up expression before seeing Joe who was on the carriage nearby. Joe jiggled his chest at him a single time. Immediately, the coachman remembered the fear of Joes chest being held to his face, and the humiliation of having to let them go in front of them Dont come near me!!!! Chapter 118: The Best Suplex in The World Oh damn, not good was written on Angoras face the moment he saw the carriage. Even so, he was just one step behind and unable to escape. Meanwhile, no one opened the door for the girl inside the carriageHoran Faust, the Silver Eagle Duke and his retainers had all their attention seized by Joes richly rhythmic chest muscles jiggling. That being said, it was logical that they could not react immediately because not even they had seen behavior so crazy, while inside, the girl couldnt bear sitting around awkwardly, and therefore opened the carriage on her own, lifted her skirt, and stepped out. Greetings, Uncle Horan. The girl curtseyed at the Silver Eagle Duke while he finally recovered, before generously greeting Angora. Long time no see, Angora. Long time no see, Kinley, Angora replied with a troubled look. Greetings, young lady of the Ainsworth family. Horan smiled happily like a weird uncle. It surprised me to learn that you were taken as an apprentice by the great alchemist. Even your grandfather would be proud. It is merely misplaced kindness on my mentors part, the girl replied very graciously. That was when a handsome youth with blond curls slowly came out of the castle, bowing gentlemanly at the girl with an outstretched hand. Kinley, youre even more beautiful than the last time I saw you. As a matter of ceremony, the girl should be offering her hand for a kiss as a return of the youths greeting, but she seemed unable to see Cecils greeting and smiled like a flower instead. You flatter me, Mister Faust. Just Cecil is fine. Angoras eldest brother threw the most discreet of glances at Angora, before curling his lips in a sunny smile that would mesmerize the thousands of underaged girls in Tunaya. No, its very important to observe formalities. The girl smiled in return even though she was refusing Cecils attempt to bridge the distance. Pfft Joe, who was still jiggling his chest could not help sniggering. Cecil turned to Joe but did not show much expression, while holding his belittling and contempt just beneath his eyes. Who are you? he asked Joe high-and-mightily. Just a retainer, sir, Joe answered cheerfully. And what are you before that? An ordinary villager, sir. Again, Joe answered cheerfully. Third Brother, I suggest you pick better retainers because you are a part of the Faust family. Cecil spoke with the superiority complex of a victor. Dont pick anyone you could find, or youll embarrass us all. Okay, Angora replied. That left Cecil feeling as if he was force-fed feces. He could have pulled rank as the heir of the Faust family and scolded Angora if Angora had defended himself. Should Angora behave like a yes-man, Cecil would then keep the conversation flowing along to rampantly mock him, boosting his image in Kinleys mind. And yet, Angora reacted neutrally. Even though Cecil wanted to reprimand him, Angora had clearly agreed to his suggestion, and even if Cecil wanted to mock him it was no different from raising a strawmanaside from wasting strength, it would make him look silly. Hence, he kept gunning for the chest-jiggling Joe. Could you stop jiggling?! This is the age of divine skills and magic, not muscles! He mocked Joe with an angry glare. If you have so much strength, could you move that statue near the fountain? Joe stopped jiggling his chest then and followed Cecils gaze. There were four stone statues of magical beasts placed around the fountains, and the one Cecil was pointing at was a creature known as the Cherry Baboona remarkably robust and macho beast that could easily lift a drake over its own head despite how adorable its name was. That was also how it was often adopted as a totem and worshipped by many warriors. Okay. Joe replied, imitating Angora. Then, without even sparing Cecil a glance, he headed straight to the statue as if prepared to move it. The corners of Cecils lips were curled in a disdainful smile despite his anger. He has done it: that peasant who knew not a hint of manners was going to bite the dust, and he could embarrass Angora with that! After all the four statues were all carved out of different materials, with the Cherry Baboons built with an especially heavy stone. While it didnt look large, its weight was around eight tons, far beyond the weight of the other three statues put together! No human would have the strength to move it save for the God of Wars believers who had awakened their qi or strength-type divine skills! Kinley had wanted to stop Joe, but held back her worry and waited silently when she saw that Angora not reacting, and looked like he was instead expecting something. Hence, everyone watched as Joe eagerly walked up to the statue, picked up and launched it for a suplex. The head of the eight-ton statue was stiffly smashed into the marble floor tiling, with half it leaning diagonally out of the surface like a carrot. And then there was silence. H-how is that possible Cecil was gaping at the sight. Kinleys eyes sparkled but she wasnt looking at Joe, and instead at Angora who had a look as if all had gone according to Keikaku[1]. At the same time, the players who had been hiding inside the carriage could not help poking their heads out to see what was happening. It was easy to understand what happened from their perspective too: There were huge yellow words above the statue that read Ancient Golem Guard, with a huge chunk of its HP bar knocked off. With a monsters name and a HP Bar but neither divinity or resistances, Joe would have suplexed a hundred-ton Blue Whale, much less an eight-ton African Elephant! If not for Angora calling for the players to calm themselves over the forums, they would have swarmed out like bees to beat those four statues to death. Alright. Its not good getting a cold out herelets talk inside the castle. Horan quickly broke up the stiff atmosphere upon seeing his eldest son getting deflated. I have prepared the norths finest honey grape wine. By the way, Angora, have your retainer rest in one of the rooms. Thus, the players first meeting with the uncrowned king that was the Silver Eagle Duke ended on a rather sour note. [1] Keikaku means plan. Chapter 119: You Lot Dont Understand ‘Infiltration! Why are they having a feast at a dazzling hall while we hide in such a place to eat dry bread and corn biscuits?! This quest is stuck At least let us see what a noble banquet is like even if we dont get to eat! I cant even get a forum livestream going like this! Youre still actually doing that, Gou Dan? The players who were basically locked inside one of the rooms at the adjacent buildings of the Silver Eagle Castle were all voicing their discontent. Even Eleena, the little Saintess-in-training was puffing her cheeks. Shrinking herself on the couch, she was quietly voicing her dissatisfaction. Milk pudding Edward, arent you going to say something? After half a days worth of grumbling, Gou Dan had suddenly noticed that Edward hadnt said a word from the starthe had only been frowning as he sat on his chair thoughtfully. Ive actually felt that things were weird in the very beginning. Edward did not keep quiet since Gou Dan asked, and began to reveal all his suspicions. This is His Lordships old home, correct? Reasonably speaking, this would be a safe place for His Lordship even if his father is not a believer of the God of Games. Are you asking why His Lordship would hire players as escorts? The pudgy Terrosche who had slipped himself into the same quest replied cheekily. Its definitely so that he wont be ambushed by bandits. In my experience, those criminals love groups of carriages with weak defensesjust look at our journey this time: with us as escorts, no bandits dared to attack us! Impressive! As expected of you, Brother Terrosche! The skinny Silva promptly licked Terrosches boots. No. What I want to ask is why is everyone here neutral units? Shouldnt they be allies? Edward impassively put out the suspicions he was holding back. Remember, the frogmen were neutral units even though they surrounded us the instant they found us and could have attacked at any moment. Through his reveal, the players finally reflected on it and realized that unusual things were happening. With every creature and stranger that werent attacking them deliberately would be marked in yellow as neutral units so frequently, everyone had gotten so used to it that they didnt think of things that way. On the other hand, it was definitely bizarre if the soldiers at the lords own home were marked as potential foes by the System, and the hostility wasnt low either Doesnt that mean those people have bad things in mind for His Lordship? Vela asked nervously. Shouldnt we think of some way to inform him about this? Stay calm. He must know that himself, or he wouldnt have enlisted us in a hurry. Moreover, that girl is present at the banquet and it shouldnt be a problem. Edward calmed them. By the way, who is that girl? Gou Dan could not help asking in curiosity. It feels like even the lords father respects her, even though she looked so young I found out from the other guards before coming in. Edward said, having been readied for it. Her father was Count Ainsworth, a former friend of the Silver Eagle Duke. However, the count had passed away without a male heir, which is why his lands are reclaimed by the Empire. Thats not the main point, of course, because the main point is that Kinley Ainsworth is taken in as an apprentice by the best alchemist of the continent. The best alchemist of the continent Gou Dan salivated, stunned by the title. How did you find out so much? I only remember her glaring jealously at Joes chest. Joe made a bodybuilders pose at that, but was ignored by everyone in taciturn. Thats not all. Theres also another gossip. Edward continued, seemingly insistent on stunning everyone before he finished. Lady Ainsworth was our lords former fiance, but that alchemist completely disregarded the Faust familys dignity and called off the wedding when she was chosen as an apprentice. Xi Wei almost spat out the watermelon he was happily eating in his Divine Kingdom when he heard that tidbit. What on earth? So not only Angora was belittled by his own family, a noble son who had attempts on his life before becoming a lord, and even had an engagement called off? What character background is that, hello?! Who knows? If Xi Wei didnt reach out in time to save him, Angora might have become a Transmigrator after the bandits killed him, reincarnated as the most powerful being of a world who slayed gods and divine beings alike. Its a pity that Angora wasnt a God of Games believer in the past, which was why Xi Wei couldnt have known his circumstances before even if he checked the memories in his divinitydrastically reducing the fun. Still, even as Xi Wei considered whether he should pay closer attention to Angora, the other players were slowly becoming restless as well. The fearsome character that was Vela the girl from a fringe village notwithstanding, Edwards group was not a contented lot, much less the dynamic duo of fat-and-skinny who could continue fooling around under torture. The door guards mean nothing to us, but it would be troublesome if things get messy since the Silver Eagle Duke hasnt really turned against our Lord. Vela had promptly considered the duke a hostile, perhaps out of concern over Angora. His Lordship is weak and we shouldnt compare him to us. It was not as if she was understanding the guardsmen eitherthe Level 5 text hanging over their heads were just too obvious, which left a feeling that their combat ability was also only that much. On the other hand, Vale was the weakest person amongst them but she was already Level 14, not to mention that she would receive some attribute complement as an NPC and was therefore on par with Level 15 players. How many guards could there be in Tunaya? Joe was already excitedly raising the event to a siege. With a large city like this? Two to three thousand and with a garrison stationed nearby, Edward replied. But the guards arent the problemits the Holy Corps in the city. Religion here is split between the Temple of Glory and the Brilliant White Church, which means six hundred Holy Corps soldiers whom we could never win against. City guards were normal humans, and fighting in the city was not too different from direct warfare in the planes. Moreover, there were narrow alleyways that limited the number of people entering, and with Eleenas resurrection they only needed to get the strategy and the handful of Players here would grind down the thousands of guardsmen stationed here. On the other hand, the Holy Corps protected by Divine Grace were trouble. Swarming them despite the Players current ability wouldnt help matters because the Temple of Glory and the Brilliant White Church were major religions, and there were many champions amongst them who were more powerful than the Rotten Bones Archbishop. That is why we have to keep everything contained in the castle since there would just be a few mages at best. Edward concluded, slightly suppressing the players raging intention to start something. That was when Gou Dan suddenly spoke. Hold up! His Lordship had just replied to my livestream post! He is telling us to come up with a plan to infiltrate his eldest brothers castle and see if we could steal some information. Looks like His Lordship had realized something at the banquet Vela turned on her forum as well to start browsing through Gou Dans post, ignoring all his text and images and searching along his replies. She reached Angoras reply eventually, and fell into quiet thought after reading it. Infiltration? Leave it to us! Having not said much, pudgy Terrosches eyes brightened at that. We had infiltrated Secret Eyes base before and obtained substantial, solid information as a foundation for the expedition to destroy them! Thats right. Were professionals! Skinny Silva added beside him. You guys? Forget it Edwards mouth twitched when he remembered what he heard in that same Secret Eyes Base. You two are warriors and not fit for the cloak and dagger stuff. For infiltration, well should have a Shadow Rogue What would you know!? Dont underestimate us! Terrosches eyes were round as he glared at Edward and interrupted his retort. Shadow Rogues are just assassins who could move in stealth! They know jack all about infiltration! Thats right! We are just helping His Lordship in our own way! Silva shouted, raising his hand as if unwilling to fall behind. Edward had wanted to say more, but suddenly felt that having the two idiots drawing the enemys firepower up front while he slipped in to complete the quest just like last time was fine too. Hence, he briskly withdrew his retort and stopped the debate, turning to a new topic instead. That said, the most important question is how to slip out without having the two guards by the door noticing Even before he could finish, Terrosche had already dashed outside the door. Dynamic Entry! He roared the name of his skill at the top of his lungs as he crashed into the door with the force of a tank, knocking the door down. Its here! Brother Terrosche most prided Dynamic Entry, dealing twice the damage of an average player! Silva excitedly commentated beside him. The other players quietly glanced at the hands that were shaking and stretching out beneath the fallen doors, feeling sorry for the guards. Chapter 120: Have Any of You Seen A Peacocks Butt? Angora finished his first family banquet in months. Unlike the earlier dispute at the gates, he was no different from invisible at the banquet: he basically wasnt a part of any conversation and would only quietly eat his meal. Still, he shivered for some reason when he had his milk pudding dessert, with the nagging feeling he had forgotten something. Horan did not pay his youngest son any heed at the banquet either, and instead had a lively chat with Kinley. Although a great duke like him wouldnt curry favor where hes not welcome, it was quite obvious that despite his typical high-and-mighty behavior, the duke valued Kinley who almost became his daughter-in-law and the apprentice of the greatest alchemist on the continent. Angoras brother Cecil was also eagerly showing off to the lady, diligently showing off his wealth and talent while not forgetting to use Angora as a comparison from time to time. He really looked no different like a peacock in heat and spreading its tail. And like someone put behind a peacock, Angora who was the innocent victim of those snide remarks was forced to stare at the peacocks butt in all its glory. The ugliness in attitude left Angora feeling a little disillusionedwas that the same brother whom he admired as the perfect noble in his younger days? Did his IQ drop or did his days at the unnamed town matured him? Be that as it may, Angora also had the feeling that his eldest brother wasnt the mastermind who was gunning for him. After all, Cecil never held back his hostility and persistently nitpicked at any little mistake Angora made, sinking so lowly that he was no different from those clown characters who would never survive past chapter 3 in knight novels. How could someone like him be able to control a leviathan like the Secret Eye Society while continuing to move against Angoras town and Angora himself? Moreover, the mastermind had slain Angoras second brother just to silence him and left so few traces that his very existence was dubious! On the other hand, the mistress of the Ainsworth family was unusually interested in Angora, and she probably would have snuck to his side if not for Horan and Cecils persistent efforts in engaging her in conversation. Cecil was naturally not oblivious to that obvious attitude, and though his handsome face did not reveal any anger, there was a sinister look in his blue eyes that resembled their fathers. After dinner, Angora was about to head back to the outer building and meet the Players. It was a truly unusual experiencejust months ago, he had still been living in this very castle and thought of it as his home. And yet, after learning that someone was bent on assassinating him, this so-called home had become unfamiliar, even leaving him feeling uncomfortable. Almost by instinct, those Players whom he thought of as idiots were suddenly all very reliable to him at this vital moment. Be that as it may, his eldest brother had suddenly overtaken him from behind before he had gone far, and in the single instant that their shoulders brushed, Cecil spoke with a hushed voice that only Angora could hear. I know your secret. !!! Angora was stunned, and looked up at his elder brother who was still behaving like a peacock at the table just a moment ago. Cecil naturally caught his stunned look, which certainly confirmed his guessthe god-given treasure of the Faust family which their father mentioned must be in Angoras hand! Why?! I am the heir of the Faust family and the Silver Eagle Duke! Why would Father give that to a b*stard like Angora who he never even truly looked at once in his life! Meanwhile, Angora seemed to realize that his reaction was too obvious, and played nonchalance after a moment of reflection. I have no idea what youre talking about. Should I have been clearer? Its to do with a god. Cecil said quietly with a dark smile. Angora frowned. Could Cecil be talking about the God of Games? Right now, Angora was aware that the God of Games was a heretical deity in the perspective of several other religions. It was what led to the fall of Tierra after all, and if news that the God of Games had returned was leaked, things would not end well for his town. After all, the Players were still too young and tender to square off against the major churches which had almost a thousand years of history. However, if it was in the past, Angora would probably have become flustered and exposed himself in some way, but after having fed on his experience as an Overlord Player since his arrival in the unnamed town, Angora was no longer the coward punchbag Cecil remembered. In a single split second, he planned for the worst. There were still two or three years before Cecil would inherit their fathers title given Horans good health, and there was no way the experienced churches would mount an expedition with the word of a dukes son as their only proof. Angora was also very optimistic about how far those Players could develop in those two or two years. He had seen them start from zeronot only had their level increased continuously, their numbers were proactively increasing with the motivation from the weekly quest [The Lords Light Illuminates the Land]. Now, they were already more than two hundred and counting Be that as it may, all of that was dependent on Cecil not having proof. On the other hand, should his eldest brother have something that could prove the revival for the God of Games Church, it was foreseeable that those major churches would lay waste to the little town! And there was only countermeasure to handle that. Keeping a straight face, Angora opened his System which the others couldnt see and then the Player forums to assign a task Gou Dan and the rest of the Players, instructing them to infiltrate Cecils castle to ascertain whether his elder brother had proof that could threaten the town. Meanwhile, Cecil spoke arrogantly, believing that he had overwhelmed Angora given the latters long silence. You would never get it (the divine relic) to work. It would be better if you give it up. I have no idea what youre talking about, but you dont have to worry about my affairs (religion), brother. Angora coldly answered his eldest brother. They hence stood off each other while miscommunicating for a while, before parting unhappily. Chapter 121: Was I Picked Up from A Trash Heap? But just as the brothers were about to return to their lodgings, Horan suddenly approached them after settling Kinley in. Father! Cecil was absolutely prepared to accuse his brother the moment he saw daddy. However, Horan had caught the annoyance on Cecils face and spoke before he could. Come with me, AngoraI have something to tell you. Cecil, return to your keep. Cecils menacing air faded as he was left gaping. At the same time, Angora slid Cecil a look before going after Horan. As Cecil watched his father and little brother disappear from a corner, his eyes became an almost solid darkness. If none of you would give it to me, I shall take it for myself He growled, cracking his neck before turning, and headed back to his castle without so much of a look behind. *** Angora followed Horan into his private study. There were a total of three studies in the Silver Eagle Castle, with one of the other two being a shared one and the remaining study used by Horan for official business. In comparison, no one was allowed to enter his private study unless invited, and only the chief servants were permitted admittance for cleaningnot even Cecil had entered it as his eldest son. In his childhood, Angora once yearned dearly to be inside that enigmatic yet important room, because only those who were very important to his father could enter. Now, however, he suddenly gained an epiphany after getting inside. Ah. So, the study that I pined for so much when I was younger is Just a study. Angora, do you know what I want to tell you? Horan spoke with his typical indifferent tone as he settled down behind his huge ebony deskafter holding the title of duke for years, he knew very well how much pressure those underneath him felt if he stayed emotionless. I do not. Angora, however, felt nothing. He was shaking his head in a forthright manner, because he would rather be staying at his own town farming if he didnt have to uncover the mastermind attempting to assassinate him. Ive noticed that things are sour between you and Cecil. Although there are always dispute where there are people, peace is most important between brotherswith Edmund dead, you are the only two sons that I have left. Thats why any squabbles over petty emotions are completely unnecessary but what do you think? Haron suddenly shifted his attitude and advised Angora with heartfelt sincerity, perhaps realizing that treating his own son as a subordinate was not right. Angora had wanted to shoot back that he wasnt the one stirring trouble, that Cecil was the one provoking him at the very start, and that he had not seriously fought back But before he could speak, Angora suddenly realized that his once high and mighty fathers hair was very white, and his handsome face not unlike his own was now full of wrinkles. As such, his heart softened just then, and he answered rather reluctantly. I got it As long as Cecil doesnt come stirring trouble, I wouldnt have bothered with him. However. No, you dont understand me. The old man spoke slowly then, I am aware that you have grown up now. I know you wont be happy with staying beneath Cecil, but I hope that you could help him with your body and soul. No matter how ridiculous his words and whatever unreasonable requests he may give, you need to compromise with him. Wha Angora was stunned entirely. At first, he was merely assuming that the old man was favoriting Cecilhe just didnt expect that favoritism to extend up to such lengths. Hence, Angora started to search his mind on the politest way to convey Was I picked up from the trash heap? Or would a simple mouthful of spit suffice? Nonetheless, Angora stopped himself from something so rude thanks to his noble upbringing, but his face had clearly betrayed his thoughts. As the saying goes: with old age comes wisdomafter Horans years playing the role of the Silver Eagle Duke who kept every noble within the north in line and following his every command to the letter, there was no chance he couldnt guess what Angora was thinking. Very good. You didnt answer me with a punch to the face, and that tells me you are much calmer than your elder brother. The old man praised Angora, but the latter was unmoved. Horan could also clearly see that he would turn and walk away at any given moment, and as such stopped trying to give a long-winded curtain-raiser as well. The reason Ive asked to speak to you in private is because your roots shouldnt be exposed or, at least, to certain people who are particularly obsessed. My roots Angora blinked in disbelief. Hold up, was I really picked up from the trash heap? Do you know who your mother is? The old man asked. Didnt you forbid me from asking? Angora replied, upset. In public, Horan had always insisted that Angora was a child from doing the deed with a handmaiden. Angora himself had been curious who his mother was, even discreetly observing every handmaiden in the castle to seek her out, although his search proved fruitless. Nows the right time to tell you. The old man was pleased that Angoras was curious despite looking upset. Have you heard of Tierra? I-I have Angora gulped. He had trouble answering because he simply didnt expect to hear that name from his own father. Naturally, he couldnt tell Horan that not only did he know about Tierra, but the last member of their royal family was also quietly building the base for an army just beneath Lancaster with the help of Angoras own subjects Thats quite long agoIm surprised that you know. Nonetheless, the old man became serious. You must not tell anyone what Im about to tell you. The reason I brought you here is to keep this a secret. Understand? Okay. Angora quickly nodded and promised, and so the old man told him a secret that he had buried for years. Tierra had fallen after several nations besieged it at the same time. Almost none were left of its royal family, with most of them dying in the wareven the branch family did not do well after they were caught. Your mother was the youngest sister of Yakaran the Eleventh, the King of Tierra at the time, and a princess in her own right. Her name was Clare Yakaran. I was also young and vigorous back then, which is why I thought nothing of offering her shelter. There was also the fact that Cecil and Edmunds mother had passed away for two years, and as the loneliness became unbearable ahem. Angora was petrified. Just then, he remembered Leah, the princess of war who was smiling like a queen in the midst of the battlefield, and that mental image of Leah overlapped with the mother whom he never met. It was not only Angoraeven Xi Wei who was watching from his Divine Kingdom was stunned by that secret. At first, he was thinking that he was simply picking a lord whose land was just outside the Valley of the Tragic Dead, only to realize afterward that he had unwittingly drawn all the royals of Tierra into his faction in one fell swoop. Xi Weixi could not help seeing that destiny was on his side, that it desired the Players to restore Tierra Chapter 122: The Grateful Dead D*mn it! That little b*stard how dare he! Cecil was returning to his room in utter indignation, but he could not help shivering the instant he stepped inside his own room. It was not the cold air, however, despite the hearth being not ignited. What made him shudder was the ice-cold evil energy that was filling the room. The noble fur-coat he was wearing was not just for lookshe wouldnt feel the chill even if he were outside and it was pouring snow, much less within the castle. That was when he noticed further a man dressed in a black cloak with a hood up that hid his face inside the room, sitting contentedly in his lounger. Who are you?! Cecil growled the question and calmly grasped the hilt of his sword. In the next instant, green flames ignited on the hearth, dancing and reaching out of the hearth itself while licking the bricked wall around it. The terrible light promptly filled the room with faint sulfuric odor. Then, the door closed itself without any wind blowing on it, which made Cecil even more nervous. Long time no see, eldest young master of the Faust family. Only then did the other person slowly rose, giving a bow that was totally subpar that gave the impression of nonchalance. You seemed to have run into certain troubles lately. Cecil could not help grimacing at the familiarly hoarse voiceit was the same person from the Secret Eye Society who had persistently reached out to him. Thats not important. The other person replied and slowly approached Cecil. Could you not want to remove that little thing whos giving you a hard time? Little thing Cecil appeared slightly moved. Seizing the moment, the other person promptly drew out a small bottle from his cloak. It was filled with something as thick as bee honey inside, but even the bottle did not give a good impression. This is it. Cecil also noticed that the other person was wearing heavy leather gloves then, and between the persons cloak, hood, gloves and vaguely visible pants, he had basically covered every bit of their skin tightly. Whats this? He asked carefully. The good stuff. The other person slyly switched the conversation without really answering Cecil. It would give you power you could never hope to gain for the rest of your life. Just put it in your mouth and gulp it down, and not even the bishops of most churches could best you. The persons hoarse voice seemed to be enchanted, causing Cecil to unwittingly accept the bottle. Yes, just like that. With it, you would rule over everything! There was satisfaction in that hoarse voice now. Be that as it may, Cecils rather shaky will put on one last resistance. At what cost? What does it cost me?! There is only one cost. The other person locked gazes with Cecil. Become one of us. Cecil felt as if he had fallen within an icy abyss. He had long suspected that the other person wasnt human, but was completely certain of it now: those eyes had neither emotion nor warmththey were amber-colored, with two black reptilian slits in the middle for pupils. Demon. For some reason, Cecil remembered characters that only existed in the bedtime stories his father had read him. Characters of absolute evil that possessed great power. Even the protagonists of those stories could never kill those demons, and were only ever able to exile them or follow rituals inherited over years to seal them once again. No. I refuse! It was after half a beat that he attempted to return the hot potion as if jolted. Fear not. You should know that we wont force you into this choice, what with our enduring partnership. The other person didnt receive it, and instead continued slowly with an alluring tone. You keep the potion and think about it. With those words, his body was dark dust that faded into the air of the room, leaving a silver mirror on the lounger. The flames in the hearth turned orange-red once again as well. Cecil stared at the bottle in his hand. There was a troubled look on his face as he walked up to the hearth, as if considering whether he should throw the potion into the fire and let it burn. That was when someone knocked on his door. Who is it?! Cecil asked loudly as he pocketed the potion in reflex. Its me, young master. The captain of your personal guard. The person outside answered. Cecil had opened the door, but he only felt an unreasonable irritation despite the captains apologetic smile. What is it? Weve found two intruders into the castle, sir. Found? Cecil frowned, sensing the catch. Not caught? Yes, we have them cornered in the small concert hall, and the other guards are attempting arrest. We shall have them soon. The captain answered earnestly. The small concert hall, huh. Cecil strode ahead, with the captain following him. But even before he entered, they heard a voice yelling loudly. I shall not give up on my infiltration even if Im caught! Witness me, Silva, for this is how I infiltrate! The Grateful Dead! When they finally entered the concert hall, they found a pudgy man laughing manically while bleeding profusely from every part of his body. Despite that, he chased down and cut down Cecils personal guards, even as they scattered towards every direction, trying to escape. And at the fat mans side was another skinny man, who was tearing up emotionally for some reason and screaming Brother Terrosche! even as he helped stabbed the guards whom the fat man managed to cut. They naturally werent aware that Grateful Dead was one of the early core skills in the Berserker route for Swordmasters. To put it simply, it was to keep bleeding proactivelyand the lower the user HP, the stronger effect the personal buff. That being said, the bleeding increases the longer the skill was in action until even the healers couldnt help save the user, which made it a suicidal skill if not played with control. The sheer slight left Cecils mouth twitching as he asked the captain a soul-searching question, Didnt you tell me they are intruders? They are killing almost every single one of my personal guard! And here you are, just lookingare you turning against me too!? Stop them right now, or that fat one is going to take on ten men alone! After being scolded an earful, the captain quickly went to helphe had fine skill, and would have been chief knight in other smaller noble families. That was how he did not fall to Terrosche despite the Players berserk mode, and wore him down despite being drenched in the fat mans blood. Naturally, Silva could hardly keep fighting alone, and was naturally cut down by the wild slashes of the guards who encircled and attacked himbut not after he killed two of them while yelling Welp, broke even. Cecils face went white from rage at the miserable sight before him. And yet, he never knew that a mage had snuck into his room to steal some letters and documents, while most of the guards in his keep had moved here to fight the two intruders Chapter 123: Change Angora saw his father just a little differently after learning about his own roots. Afterward, they continued their conversation over a number of random things such as Angoras management of his fief, the old mans past romances, and what should they be careful about before heading to red-light districts while traveling incognito. This was the first time that Angora had such a pleasant conversation with his own father, to understand that his father was normal too, completely unlike that person who had always been high and mighty, whom overs could never hope to reach. In the past, Angora could only watch his father from a corner, and could never even look him in the eye. It was all thanks to the God of Game. Angora was self-conscious enough to know that while all the change in him might have been thanks to his life in his small town, but the basis for that courage and confidence was thanks to the Overlord System that the God of Games had blessed him with. I see, so you have some interesting fellows amongst your retainers. There was a compassionate smile on old Horans face even as Angora spoke of his crazy exploits with the Players rather braggingly. I might meet them if I have the time. What are you waiting for? Why not now? Angora asked cheerfully, having deliberately kept the God of Games System a secret. Youre being impatient. The old man said, although he had already risen to his feet and was about to go with his youngest son and check out those interesting followers. Because Im heading back tomorrow, Angora replied seriously. Ultimately, his conversation with the old man had changed his mind. At first, he wasnt too keen on staying in this home which lived for a dozen years because he basically didnt exist. Although life wasnt so tragic that he would be bullied even by the servants, life was really dull, nor did he have any sense of belonging. Now, things were different: After learning about his roots from his father, the abandonment that Angora remembered of his old man had become a deliberate cold-shouldering. To protect him. When he thought about it carefully, his father never really ignored his existence completely either. He was treated the same in every basic need as well as education, even just a little better than Edmund, his second brother. Moreover, he would have been assigned some dangerous duty such as a knight given that he was never going to inherit the dukes title. And yet the old man had somehow made him a lord and had given him a fiefhe wouldnt have gone so far for him if he had been truly biased against Angora. That was also why Angora cherished his father now. Be that as it may, his original intention here was to draw the attention of the mastermind who was bent on taking his life, to force them into making mistakes that would expose themselves since it would be fine to get rid of them right here. However, if such a conflict happened in the Silver Eagle Castleor even within Tunaya, his fathers reputation would be hurt regardless if his plan worked. Taking that into consideration, he now intended to leave Tunaya and return to the town. This way, anything that would happen would happen outside the city whether the mastermind whose existence was questionable would take action, and his father free of blame. Wont you stay another few days, leave after the festival? Horan seemed a little upset to part. The fief has just started development. Theres a lot of things I need to handle so I cant be away for too long Angora initially put up a rather cheap excuse, only to find his fathers are-you-fooling-around-with-me face and remember that Horan was the largest landowner up north. Knowing that he was fooling nobody, Angora cleared his throat and tried again. Well, Cecil and I just cant stand each other, and its going to be a problem if things get violent. Even if you did tell me to compromise, we should avoid any direct confrontation. Surely you dont wish that things escalate between us? Thats why it would be better if I leave early. It was a convincing reason, and the old man did not say anything else after a heartfelt sigh. Nonetheless, they ran into a fuming Cecil, who was leading all his guards just as they left Horans private study. What are you doing, Cecil?! The old man could not help frowning at Cecil. Are you trying to rebel, bringing so many men with you? Father, he attacked me first! Cecil pointed an accusing finger at Angora. He sent his people to assassinate me! I would have died if my men didnt defend me with their lives! In his head, Angora was musing that he only had the Players slip into Cecils keep to steal information. Assassinate my foot. He was too good at poisoning the well. Hence, he resolved himself and asked, The assassination failed since youre alive, I believe? If thats the case, surely you should present us the murderer, be they alive or dead? Its a tall tale if you put the blame on me out of empty words. Show those two corpses! Cecil sneered with a face that said I-knew-you-would-defend-yourself-like-that. The old mans expression turned strict as he stared at Angora in suspicion as well. But the guards never presented the corpses even after a long time had passed. It was only until the captain of Cecils personal guard arrived and whispered something into his ear that he roared at Angora viciously, pointing at him again. You must have done something to the assassins corpses! They vanished completely! Enough! This is over! The old mans severe cry cut Cecils accusations short. Go back, Cecil. Angora stared in shock at the old mandidnt Horan tell him to let Cecil have his way? In turn, the old man gave him a look that saidthis is the last time your daddy helps you, and youre on your own from now on. However, that exchange naturally became the picture of a good father and a devoted son bonded tacitly in Cecils eyes. He was speechless in his rage with the two men, and ended up heaving a mouthful of blood at the ground. Cecil The old man was frightened, but was shoved away as he hurried to him to check on his eldest son. He stumbled one step behind and almost fell, and found his childs gaze ever so cold and unfamiliar. Ive said Cecil turned around even as his body wobbled and spoke in unparalleled coldness. I will take if you dont give be it a gods relic or this family its all mine! All of you forced me to! I have no interest in whats yours, Angora said probingly, realizing that Cecil wasnt in a good condition. Im returning to my town tomorrow. Hmph. Thats because youve got what you wanted I know I know everything. Cecil laughed sinisterly, and slowly left the walkway along with his guards and his captain, who was helping him standleaving Angora and Horan, who were frowning at each other. Chapter 124: Cecils Choice Angora impatiently asked Edward and the others about the infiltration right after he joined the Players. I see. It was those two He immediately understood why Cecil was so angrily accusing him after learning that Terrosche and Silva had bravely volunteered to infiltrate Cecils keep. To a certain extent, his eldest brother really wasnt trying to frame himhe ultimately did order the Players to infiltrate Cecils keep, and from those two idiotic Players customary foolish behavior, they would not have refrained from attacking Cecil if he was in their way Moreover, the corpses of Players would disappear if they were not revived within a certain amount of time, and it was therefore no surprise that Cecil couldnt present the corpses of his assassins. What the hell is all that? Angora firmly scratched his head, and could not help suspect that coming back to Tunaya was the wrong decision. By the way, I dont know if it has anything you want, but I have found some letters in his room. Edward saw that Angora was left so distressed that he could lose hair, and so handed the letters he found in Cecils room, feeling very hopeful that more hair would drop off. Be that as it may, Angora took it and could not help showing an indifferent face after glancing through the beautiful handwriting in the letter. Youre mistaken. Its just a letter my father wrote to his good friend Ainsworth a long time ago. After all, what Angora wanted to see was proof that the God of Games Church was being revived that his eldest brother mentioned, and those old letters that were almost as old as Angora himself clearly wasnt that. Although I have no idea why Cecil would have it, it definitely isnt what I want That was when the relaxed Angora paused. Frowning and then sitting straight, he grabbed the letter from the table to carefully read through it again and realized his hunch was right. D*mn it, could Cecil be that stupid? He had thought that Cecil was coveting the System which he gained from the God of Games and therefore mentioned the the divine relic, although that did not appear to be the case now. What is it? Vela, who had been waiting upon him asked worriedly. The other players could not help turning their eyes to him as well. Hence, Angora told him what happened before, sparing the part about his roots. Edward couldnt help lifting a brow after he had finished hearing his story. Thats nothing to worry about, right? He is going to inherit your fathers dukedom sooner or later, not to mention that he and his lackeys were only capable of that muchunless youre still afraid that he would go for a coup? Theres nothing humans wont do when they are desperate, Angora countered. Yes, but wasnt the best opportunity to rebel was when he and his men surrounded you and your father? Edward countered firmly in turn rationally. Wouldnt a coup afterward be a little stupid and a little impractical? Angora, however, exposed the secret as to why Cecil did not take action. You dont get it. It would have been meaningless even if they had numbers then, because my father is under the covert protection of the castles chief guardian. He was a high-ranked priest formerly ordained at the Church of Glory, and he would probably have been promoted to bishop if he didnt take the job as this castles chief guardian. Mob characters like Cecil would never win against him. Whats more, my father is a duke and a follower of Kratos, the God of War. Although his ability wouldnt exactly be outstanding, he has the protection of the God of War from the Temple of Glory. Normal people would never hurt him easily. Well, your father wouldnt have to worry about your eldest brother doing him harm if hes that awesome, right? Edward asked, feeling a little surprised since this was the first time heard of some seemingly useless noble having such levels of protection. That should be the case Troubled, Angora scratched the back of his head. He just couldnt stay calm with Cecils glare of malice when they parted ways. He could only hope that nothing happens. But even as he prayed for that, someone was knocking on the door that everyone had a hard time repairing (although it still looks crooked and bent). Every Player who had been engrossed in the Edward and Angoras discussion were therefore startled, assuming defensive stances by instinct. Angora, who was relatively composed, gestured for them to stay calm while opening the door by himself. Then, the girl named Kinley lunged at him from outside, and sobbing just as Angora whipped out his wand. R-run! Cecil has gone crazy! Every Player and Angora were left at a loss by the turn of events. What is it? What happened? Angora asked mildly. He was the first to recover as well, and was stiffly pushing the girl away while stiffly meeting Velas cutting glare. Im not too sure either The girl seemed to calm down a bit then, but she was still stuttering. I was sleeping when I woke up, I could hear the whole castle caught in an uproar I ran outside and found Cecil leading a bunch of monsters and attacking the guardsmen then, Cecil turned into a monster and killed Uncle Greg (the castle chief guardian) Uncle Faust is leading the guards to fight the monsters oh, right! He told me to find you and escape with your people Monsters Angora could not help frowning. What was all this? He had assumed that it would be months before Cecil would bribe some nobles and churches to stir trouble albeit covertly, but he made a move the moment he went back to his keep? There was no way it was legal In that split second, a System notification rang in Angoras mind. [Ding] [Urgent quest started: Devil May Cry] [Quest: The Demon Gods power corrupts the world once again. Driven by his negative impulses, someone has conducted a forbidden ritual within a castle and turned into something which existence is not to be permitteda demon. Every lackey he once had in his disposal are now reduced to Lemures under the corruption of his evil powers. Hence, slay the demon before its vile acts could harm the world any further!] [Quest details: Lead the players in destroying all Lemures, and slay the demon morph.] [Quest Evaluation Objective : uncover the roots of corruption] [Quest Evaluation Objective : interrogate the enemy to discover the mastermind] [Quest Rewards: determined by Quest Evaluation Objectives] [Note: Allowing the person to die as a human before his corruption into a demon is complete might be the greatest kindness you could offer now.] Chapter 125: Devil May Cry I As a matter of fact, Xi Wei was passive on this occasion. Interference from the Demonic Roe could block the eyes of divine beings to a certain extent. After all, not even Aslan the Great Lion could see Zod back when he became the Tsujigiri, and that deity was much more powerful than Xi Wei. That was why Xi Weixi did not notice the Demonic Roe hidden in Cecils possession, and could only assume that he could not spit in certain places in the castle no thanks to the divine power of Kratos, the God of War that shrouded it (but it was actually in Cecil room). The fighting had already started at the main keep when Xi Wei finally realized that something wasnt right. Then, when he finally finished drafting the quest and assigned it to the Players, they had already understood what happened thanks to Kinley. Then, even as Kinley was diligently squeezing out more tears, she realized that the Players who had been not at all interested were suddenly all-fired up. The looks on their faces were menacing, and were basically saying got it, we are all now going to split some heads or I have no idea whats happening, or what plot is afoot, but we are going ahead for the slaughter. Just as the girl was left dumbstruck, her inward rating of Angora raised by a notch: most people would be absolutely petrified the moment they heard the word monsters, turning flustered and unsure what to do. It was already good enough that anyone would calmly and quickly pack up whatever they could before fleeing, but none of Angoras retainers were fearful. In fact, they were preparing for the counterattack. Since Kinley herself had been handpicked as the continents number one alchemist, she was naturally good at reading people. She was positive that the looks on the Players faces were definitely not ignorance and brashness in the face of frightening monsters, but irrepressible excitement and a yearning for battle (EXP). If she had to put her finger on it, a Sword Saint whom she once met in her mentors atelier had the exact same face upon learning that there was a powerful foe appearing in a certain place. Therefore, she could imagine that even if this bunch were not formidable now, they wouldnt remain average joes! Moreover, given that Angora was able to control this fine crop of retainers, he just might have more depth than Kinley had given him credit for. Be that as it may, the monster that Cecil had turned into was very different compared to magical creatures, and these people were definitely not going to survive brashly rushing into the battlefield. Although Kinleys looked absolutely flustered on the surface, she was calm and collected inwardly to promptly conclude all that. Hence, she decided to leak just a little information about the enemy and have this bunch retreat in the face of dangerthey didnt have to fight anyway since it was a win to have them safely retreat, and leave the rest to the Brilliant White Church and the Temple of Glory. I-I once saw it in my mentors encyclopedia Cecil might have become a mythical demon! The girl made a panicking face. No one other than Archbishops or White Bishops could win against it! Angora already nodded before the girl could say we have to ask the Brilliant White Church for help!, and said, I know. It was not just Angora either. In the room, his retainers were showing looks that said oh, demon, just demons, no need for panic or well, we knew all along its demons. Question marks popped up all over Kinleys head. The heck you people know?! Thats a f*cking demon! Not some Sulfur Imp crawling all over hell! Its a demon that could demolish a legion of a hundred soldiers at any given moment! And how are they going to fight? None of them look like a cleric aside form that little missy (Jessica) carrying a cross with her! I dont even know the Holy Water that I got from the continents top alchemist would work! Running is the only option, okay?! That being said, her soft-spoken, meek, and vulnerable image she kept up all along would crumble if she said all that. I think we should talk about this Nonetheless, the Players were starting to head out for the castles main keep at Angoras call. Lets get going, people! Hooah! Kinley felt her blood pressure shoot up in that very instant. Listen to others talk, you lot! And yet, it wasnt as if Angora was being stubbornhis father was in danger, and so he naturally could not afford to talk about this. Moreover, the System had already assigned a quest, not to mention that the enemy was merely a Demon Morph and not yet a full-fledged demon. Therefore, the right thing to do now was to get rid of it. *** Two walkways connected the outer building Angora and his party stayed to the main keep, but the main gates were the only point of entry into the Silver Eagle Castle. There might be a few secret passageways that exist for escaping, but Angora just wasnt privy about it. Initially, Kinley was planning to tie bedsheets or whatnot into a rope and escape from the window in the side building, but with Angora and his retainers heading straight for the main keep, it would prove troublesome to flee alone. Therefore, she followed them even as she was cursing away inside her head. Hostiles, watching the entrance to the walkway. What should we do? Joe, who was walking ahead, had poked his head from the corner of a corridor, before turning back to ask the others when he caught sight of the Lemures nearby. The walkway was too narroweasily for defense and difficult to attack, and the Players could get trapped if they tried to break through. If nothing else, Cecils doom was certain when that happens, and should things drag on and Cecil is fully demonized, the players would have to send forth their GGs amidst their own jovial laughter. The entrance is so close it would be perfect if we could lure away all the guards at once. Angora mused, and thought of getting a few Players to offer themselves as bait for a diversion. On the other hand, despite the Players weak appearance, Joes stunning suplex show at the fountain in front of the main keep meant that the Players might not catch the hostiles off guard if they went in. Even if they might leave the walkway and give chase, they could call up other hostiles to take their place at guard. That was why they must send an absolutely expendable bait, one who the hostiles might assume that they did not even need help to instakill. Still, that was a little difficult even if the guards were turned into Lemures and lost much intelligence. Leave it to me. Eleena suddenly volunteered. Then, the girl then drew a little white-red ball out of her flat chest and flung it on the ground. Croakatoa, I choose you! With a puff of white smoke as the ball hit ground, Croakatoa, who had been having dinner back at the Frogmen Village appeared before them. Eleena summarized what it had to do, and Croakatoa promptly flung away the smoked fish in its hand and saluted the girl. Hakuna Macroakcroak! I shall fulfill my duty! Beside them, Kinley was staring blankly at it all. Whats going on? What just happened? Where did that frog come from? Wasnt Angoras fief supposed to be a remote border town? How did the people over there come to learn such advanced alchemy?! *** Two Lemures were chattering away in Hellspeak. Hello, guys~ A scrawny frogman was standing at a nearby walkway and shaking its buttocks at them, showing off the tiny pattern that resembled a daisy behind himself. Wanna check out my little flower? The lemures were speechless. Ten seconds later. Croakatoa was squealing, both hands raised as it dashed past the entrance into that walkway, with several lemures hot on his heels. Theres no one at the entrance! Nows our chance! Hence, the players took the opening and slipped within the main keep. Only Kinley was casting a saddened glance at the little frog that was fated to sacrifice himself Chapter 126: Devil May Cry II The walkway and halls of the main keep were full of severed limbs that once belonged to guardsmen and servants, with many Lemures now roaming around it. From the broken equipment and incomplete forms of those Lemures, many of the slain guardsmen had their souls demonically corrupted due to their overwhelming fear before their demise. As such, their corpses were raised as the most inferior spawns of hell, being the middle ground between demons and spectral. Meanwhile, night had quietly arrived. None of the servants had the time or thought to light up the interior since most who were supposed to do so were dead or too busy fleeing for their lives. That left the entire castle in profound darknesscoupled with the blood, corpses and the Lemures walking around within, Xi Wei felt as if his Believers were playing Resident Evil in a fantasy setting. The Lemures levels were determined by their ability when they had been living beings, which was around 5 to 10. Their templates were also just a little more powerful than Skeletons, and if Players would never lose at all if they were at a wider venue. That being said, the Silver Eagle Castle was an iconic building in Tunaya that occupied a vast area, and slowly looking for their target here was no different from a trip around Disneyland. It was simply taking too much time. Nonetheless, Angora realized that continuing their brainless rush was not going to do any good after the group had punched through droves of enemies to somehow end up at the dining hall. He might be familiar with the routes, but the critical problem at hand was that they had no idea where their target was. Therefore, he quickly asked Kinley the alchemist apprentice who had just fled the main keep only to end up back here with them. Kinley, where did my father confront Cecil? Kinley, however, was shaken at the moment. She had a hunch that these retainers are definitely formidable. Why else would they launch a counterattack into the main keep? Even so, she was left stunned by the players incredible ability. How could this bunch be capable of firing beams and shockwaves out of their swords? What, thats a sword skill? Not even the Qi cultivators of the Temple of Glory would fool around like that! Why, whenever that oversized lump of meat hammers his chest armor he conjured out of nowhere and yells come to daddy, the Lemures would ignore closer targets and attack him instead? Is a larger chest more seductive to the Lemures? And why are all the Lemures struck by the Rangers arrows left floating in the air? Ive already turned a blind eye to your sliding around, but isnt that a little beyond common sense? Still, the mage seemed relatively normal not! How could he cast spells without materials, incantations or even gestures? It would have made sense if you claim that youre an accomplished mage, but theres no need to scream the name of your spell if thats the case! And why is that little girl who was tamely eating sweets flinging her tome around like a meteor hammer? Not to mention that it would split heads with every shotthat is a crazy level of power! Huh? Nonetheless, Kinley finally recovered from being mind-blown by the Players performance to promptly answer Angoras question. Oh. Uncle Horan and the others have retreated to the highest floor at the central tower of the keep! Angora knew where it was, but he also became a bit more nervousthat floor was certainly easy to defend, but there was no place to retreat from there. Horan had clearly been cornered, hence deciding to make a final stand at the tower. Oh no, my milk pudding Nearby, there was sadness on Eleenas little face when she saw that the Lemures had knocked down a fridge (not a modern refrigerator, but a chest holding ice inside) and the puddle of what was once a pudding. Just hold on a little longer. Ill treat you to butter cake when this is over! Angora consoled her in the rush. Okay! The little girl became spirited once again, and swung her meteor hammer (tome) to smash the head of another Lemureher innocent smile and the blood-soaked meteor hammer (tome) was such a remarkable and distinct contrast that the nearby Kinley was left shuddering. *** Having lived in the castle for over a dozen years, Angora led the Players to the central tower like it was a walk in the park. Still, it was on the floor beneath the tower that they ran into the toughest obstacle so far. One, two, three damn it, why are there so many Lemures here? Jessica stared worriedly at the gloomy pack of enemies. Indeed, there were almost twenty Lemures guarding the entrance into the spiral staircase leading up to the top floor. Be careful, everyone! Those Lemures were my brothers I mean Cecils bodyguards. Angora understood who the Lemures had been the moment he saw their equipment. Moreover, the Players were not only given pause by those Lemures which bodies were in perfect conditionat the center of that horde was one particular Lemure which was clearly head and shoulders taller than the others, with tight and robust body muscles as well as a long, powerful arrow-shaped tail. The name over its head read Lemure Warchief, and theres a high chance that it was once the captain of Cecils personal guard. It was level 25 and held an elite template. While the players could have handled it if that Lemure was alone, there were over twenty more normal Lemures that it was buffing at the moment, and that stops the players from their fair and just group assault. Well, the game is up Vela, take the liege up the tower while we come up with something to deal with these guys. After scouting out the situation, Edward quickly drew up a strategy after brief thought. He knew that Angora had a wand that could summon a powerful familiar, which to a certain extent meant that Angora was the most powerful amongst them and did not have to worry about an enemy that was morphing into a demon right now. Moreover, Cecil could be considered a personal problem for the Faust family, which was why Edward decided to have Angora face the real threat. That said, his group should also avoid suspicion if they could. As for Vela, well, ahahaha Angora nodded in agreement since he understood Edwards reasoning. After all, he was a Lord who has not participated in battle, and it was better to listen to professional players in the arranging of a fight. Lady alchemist, please stay outside the door and run at once if we cant hold them back. Joe, taunt those buggers. Gou Dan, run interference and try to attack them where they are vulnerable. Jessica, watch Joes HP. Ill be the main attacker. Eleena, uh can you not steal kills this time? Rua! The girl brandished her tome and made an utterance that sounded as much as an agreement as a refusal. After that, the Players and Angora tacitly glanced at each other and smiled determinedly. Then, all of them cried out at once. For the quest! For items! For EXP! For butter cakes! For justice eh? In the very next second, the battle started. Chapter 127: Devil May Cry III While the players waged a bloody battle against the Lemures by the stairs, Angora reached the top floor of the tower thanks to Velas protection. There, he found Cecil who only had half of his human form left. Youre finally here. Cecil was not as weak as he was when he vomited blood out of sheer frustration, and was instead staring at Angora composedly as he arrived. I knew you would come! Angora caught sight of his fathers figure at a corner with a gaping hole over his chest and showing no signs of life. That was basically the same as being dead for the mortals of this world, but as a Player, Angora could see that there was just a fraction of HP left on his yellow HP baralthough it was slowly draining away. Angora gave Vela a look. She nodded, and drew out a Health Potion (Coca-Cola) from her small bag and fed it to Horan. Meanwhile, Cecil did not pay attention to whatever Angoras retainer was doing as his gaze remained on Angora. Ive said that I would take what belongs to me even if you wouldnt give it to me. As he spoke, black flesh tumors and tentacles stretched out over Cecils body like a spiderweb of innards and veins, spreading over the room. He looked no different from a large beast on the hunt, gaping its maw and baring its frightening fangs. Any normal person would probably have been frightened stiff in such a situation. Even Vela appeared as if a great foe was before her despite having challenged dungeons on multiple occasions, but Angora was merely looking at his brother with his usual gaze, even if Cecil had lost half his human form and most of his rationality. Why! Why are you still giving me that look?! You should be afraid now; you should be begging for mercy! Cecils composure as if he had more than enough power to destroy Angora faded right then, his voice once again cracking in madness. I only feel that youre tragic, Angora said slowly. Youre hurt by your own delusions, ever bent on ruling over everything and ending up with your grotesque self now. To tell the truth, I didnt care how hostile you are towards me because I have never thought about having any exchange with you in the future. Angoras expression finally changed a little as his eyes conveyed anger. Father had always valued you so much and sincerely watched over youeverything would have been yours, be it dukedom or land, so why would you hurt him? Because he never gave me what truly mattered! Cecil roared at him in turn. Dukedom?! Land?! All those things are pocket change in the face of power! You know what Im talking about, and it matters not even if you still play dumb now! Is that all you wanted to say? Angora drew out the letters that Edward had stolen from Cecils room and flung them on the floor. In his letters to Count Ainsworth, Father had mentioned the treasure that God blessed me with, I believe? Yes, thats it! But its too late now. It doesnt even matter if you hide it, for I knew everything early on! Cecil said cheekily. Do you really not know what the treasure refers to? Angora asked then. Hmph! Cecil snorted hatefully. I may not know what it is, but the letters are dated around the time when your mother is latching on to the old man. Since he wrote to Ainsworth, the treasure must refer to something she gave him. How dare you claim he loves me after keeping that treasure for me for so many years! He only loved you, bast The treasure hes talking about is you, dumbass! Angora abruptly cut Cecils hateful rant short. The letters were just a conversation he had with Ainsworth: Kinley was recently born, and father was intending for her to be betrothed to you and pave your way into the Empire as you inherit his dukedom! The treasure from god is him bragging to the count about you, the son hes so proud of! Impossible how would you know Thats what we talked about after the banquet. He had actually sent out someone to recover those letters after Count Ainsworths death so that his enemies would never uncover his weakness, only to lose a few. Those would be these letters you managed to get, I guess. Angora then sneered at Cecils look of disbelief. Although the letters lack context, just thinking about it would uncover the truth. Only dumbasses who overanalyze everything would keep nitpicking, until they go as far as killing their own father. Impossible! Impossible! Impossible! If what you say is true, would those Great Ones not realize that? They clearly believed that the gods treasure existed! Such a thing Cecils fearsome figure began contorting after learning the unbelievable truth, his face turning even more fearsome at that. The Great Ones that had your back isnt even human, right? If they could not even understand human emotion, how would they understand love?! You lie! Thats impossible! Youre trying to trick me! Cecil stared in horror at his hands that were now full of tumors and green pus. Why did I for such a laughable reason His throbbing tumors and tentacles became still then. But just as Angora thought that Cecil finally realized how ridiculous a mistake he had made, Cecils face turned malicious again. Its all your fault! Its all your fault! Would I have gotten into this if you never existed!? If you dared turn me into this misbegotten form, I would destroy all that you cherish, and torture you bit by bit! Angoras heart skipped a bit, promptly realizing that Cecil had gone completely mad. Vela Before he could warn her, the girl who had just dragged the now-stable Horan to safety was caught unawares. Her whole upper body was slapped off with one of Cecils humongous flesh appendages, and she died instantly! Hahahaha! Brother mine, how do you feel now?! Cecil stared at the frozen look on Angoras face, laughing deafeningly and maniacally. Cecil. Angoras voice was immeasurably calm, but profound fury was lurking just beneath that serenity. There is only one reason for your failure. He drew out his wand and aimed it straight at Cecils face of malice. And thats because you pissed me off! Chapter 128: Divine Guardian Why arent you afraid! Why arent you suffering! Are you trying to beat me with that little stick after I have become so powerful now?! Cecil was roaring like a raging behemoth. Having lost all rationality, the last of his human form was slowly consumed by tumors and tentacles as he became an evil, sinister monster. Its body that disregarded the principles of conservation of energy and mass was filling half the room. Parts of it were coiling around the marble pillars that were sculpted with gold and silver flower patterns and filling them with cracks, even crushing the floor plates under its weight. Green pus splattered over the floor as it thrashed around, billowing waves of pungent white smoke while it sizzled. Be that as it may, Angora showed no fear. Anger fueled his words with strength, making it sonorous and powerful. Cecil, you are so stupid. Youve fallen so low because of your own desires, although theres one thing you are right about: I definitely possess a god-given treasure. Thats mine! Mineminemineminemineminemine! Give it to me! Eyeballs were growing out of the tumors and tentacles coiled around the marble pillars and staring at Angora without blinking. The flesh that was once Cecils body then split right down the middle like a blossoming daisy, with each petal laden with small but razor-sharp teeth. The monster without a name hence gaped its wide, bloody maw and bit down at Angora. Nonetheless, Angora grasped his wand at the same moment and shouted the activation command. Divine guardian, summon! Faint silver radiance shot out of the tip of the wand to assume the form of a majestic lion.[1] It did not attack, but merely bellowed at the monster lunging at Angora and sent it flying with an invisible force, slamming it heavily on the wall and cracking hairline fractures over it. Thats the treasures its supposed to be mine all of it is mine Cecils voice was reverberating out from the monsters body. No, youre wrong again. What my god granted me wasnt this wand. Angora said, holding back the words it-was-just-a-quest-reward. The god of my faith had merely granted me the courage to stand before you, monster of evil, and the strength needed to purge all of you. Even though the monster had lost its savagery right then, Angora had no intention of letting his guard down. Guardian spirit Wait! Suddenly, Cecils face appeared over the creatures flesh, with a pleading look as he begged sincerely. I have been tricked by a demon of the Secret Eye Society! They fooled me with a mirror, confounding my mind so that I would drink a suspicious potion Its all their fault! Dont kill me! We have the same blood flowing in our veins, and I could still be saved! I know I was wrong, I apologize, please, for fathers sake Kill him. Angora did not hesitate in his command. The lion, given form by the dual divine power of Justice and Games merely slashed with its claws once to tear the monster into mincemeat, just as it was about to become a full-fledged demon. The holy light shining over the lions body also instantly vaporized the green pus spurting out, and the remaining divine power from that one slash also swiftly cleansed the remaining pieces of flesh, reducing them to white dust that was blown away with the night winds coming from the windows. Its precisely because we share the same blood that I cant forgive what you did, brother. Angora said quietly after everything was over. He was also aware that Cecil was only trying to buy time so that the Demonic Roe hatched. If he became a full-fledged demon, the guardian spirit would never be able to destroy even if it could win. Looking up, Angora watched the great lion that stood beside himself. He realized then that in comparison to Will Smithor more correctly, the genie, the lion was not as quick-witted even though it appeared more majestic. That was when he realized that his quest was completed. Moreover, even the two additional quest rating objectives were met thanks to what Cecil said in his plea for mercy. The root of corruption was the suspicious potion that he had mentioned. And the culprit was undoubtedly an existent demon of the Secret Eye Society. But while Angora was still checking the system, the tower had finally reached its limit and was about to collapse. Knowing that, Angora turned off his interface and dashed to where Vela had been and found Horan looking at him. Angora did a double-take. When did you recover? Did you hear what I said just now? However, he did not continue asking more questions as the floor shook even more violently. Throwing the old man over his own shoulder, he didnt run for the stairs but instead jumped down the empty center of the spiral stairs! Guardian spirit! The lion guardian spirit caught him easily at his call, its thick and soft fur acting as the perfect cushionAngora felt no pain at all. I never passed out from the start I kept myself conscious because I was afraid that I would never wake up, and I became lucid when that retainer of yours had me chug down that weird potion. The old man slowly said, after being briefly surprised by what Angora did. He was silent for a moment, before mildly consoling Angora. Im sorry about that kid. Angora assumed that his father was referring to Cecil, only to realize later that he was speaking about Vela. Velas death right in front of Angoras eyes naturally enraged him, but Players do resurrect three days later and she had even asked the others what was going on in the forums just a moment ago Yes Angora therefore vaguely skipped that conversation. Dad, about Cecil He started an uprising and was summarily executed. You are my only child from now on and if you want, I could hold the handover ceremony for my dukedom tomorrow. The old man said quietly. You are now a lord who fits the bill, and all you have to do is beware so that others would not learn about your mothers bloodline. Angora was not actually coveting the dukedom which was within reach, however. Taking Tunaya as his domain would be wonderful, but prying eyes meant great restrain, complete unlike the small town where he had more freedom. As for that, I have a suggestion, Dad. [1] EXPECTO PATRO Chapter 129: Quest Reward What? You dont want to take over the dukedom yet? The old duke could not help looking surprised as Angora declined inheriting the title. After all, it was becoming a duke! A dukedom is basically no different from owning ones own territory to do what everyone wished! It also held the highest authority in the North next to the Valla Imperial Family, and the status of the Silver Eagle Duke was the same as an archbishop of the Divine Fathers church! Now that things have come to this, I wont lie to you: I had long since given up my faith in the God of War, having converted to the God of Games. Angora had thought things through: his fathers support was necessary if he wanted to develop well, which was the reason he decided to be frank and open-minded. The God of Games Horan was in shock and disbelief, but soon smiled bitterly. To think that it would be no other than Tierras God of Games. Could this be fate as well? Clearly, Angora wasnt aware of his mothers Tierra royal lineage, and yet he had somehow converted to the deity who indirectly led to Tierras fall. It really was too much of a coincidence that Horan could not help putting his finger on fate. Fate? No, our doctrine doesnt pay attention to any of that. Somehow, Angora appeared pleased about it. Our Lord grants us a foundation to grow stronger, but our own hard work (and guts) are what it takes to become powerful. He had undoubtedly imparted a teaching to us that humans could change their fate by their own effort, and that is the reason why we respect our Lord so much. Is that so Horan was puzzled. Why did the God of Games sound different from the one in his knowledge? But our church is still a little vulnerable and we wouldnt dare to present ourselves in the open. Therefore, it is my wish that you could keep holding your dukedom for some time since I have important things waiting. Angora continued to explain. The lion guardian spirit landed on the ground slowly then, and faded away as the summon period ended, leaving Angora and Horan, the Silver Eagle Duke who was still sprawled over his back. Put me down. I feel a lot better now. Angora lowered his father as told, glancing at his HP bar to find that it was still missing a thirdit seemed that one bottle of cola alone was not enough to fully restore him. Be that as it may, the old man was reluctant to stay over his sons backperhaps because of a fathers tiny stubbornness. He watched Angora, who was a little shorter than he was and mildly patted his head albeit worriedly. I understand that you have a divine beings favor. The old man spoke while he stared at the wand in Angoras hand. But you should also be aware that there are covert organizations in the Valla Empire serving the emperor that are bent on hunting down every Tierra remnant even though so many years have passed. Believers of the God of Games are also amongst their primary targets, and to tell the truth, I cant think well of your church as a father. His words left Angora killing the thought he had to convert his father as well. Angora himself knew very well the reason that his old man could steadily hold the position of duke and maintain stability within the Silver Eagle Dukedom was because he pursued practical things over ideal dreams of the future. In fact, Horan was assuredly dependable in handling various affairs, even possibly having plans in place for potential problems. Only a fool like Cecil who couldnt face things with reason could mess up the old mans plans, and forced him into a dire situation as he was caught off guard. Moreover, Cecil was an old-fashioned believer of the God of War who had cultivated Qi at a young age, and Angora alone would never have been able to convert him. Indeed, Cecil might in turn convert Angora and have him leave the God of Games church. I know very well that my religion is in a difficult spot at the moment. Angora naturally had a better view of the big picture when compared to most of the other idiotic Players. But that is also exactly why I would have the space to unleash my talent. My God had given me a hope and blessing that represents the future, and I would never desert Him. The old man could not help feeling awkward as Angora declared his position, unsure how he should start advising him. Meanwhile, Angoras thoughts had shifted to other things. Edward and the others were no longer in sight by the stairs, and the rampaging Lemures were all reduced to corpses. Still, Angora could see that the lethal wound on the Lemure Warchiefs head was made by a meteor hammer That was when the roar of a magical beast echoed outside. Angora could not help but frown. There were not supposed to be any magical beast in Tunaya! Its the golems! Cecil has awakened the four fountain golems! Horan identified the roaring immediately with a serious look. Your retainers are never going to win against them. Hurry off, get help from the Temple of Glory! However, Angora was immediately relieved when he learned that it was the four golems. Sure, they were tough opponents for normal people given that they were crafted from some unknown sturdy rock material which made normal attacks less effective. To Players, however, they were merely Level 26 monsters with rather high defense at best. Fighting them alone might prove challenging, but it wouldnt trouble the players once they group up. Then, Angora suddenly got an idea when he says his old mans worried look. Dad, lets play a game. With a twitch of his hand, Angora drew a small leather cape out of nowhere and swung it over his back. A game? Right now? The old man gaped at his last son, thinking inwardly that his only remaining child had gone nuts no thanks to his faith in the God of Games. Still, he also felt for some reason that Angora was all fired up just then and did not really look out of his mind, and as such actually had a hard time declining his invitation. I call it a game, but its a gamble to be precise Angora snapped his fingers. Lets bet one whether my retainers could beat those golems. Naturally, I would bet a yes. Would that mean a thing? The old man wrinkled his brow, confused as to why Angora would say such a thing right now. If I win, you would have to acknowledge my indoctrination into the God of Games church, and aid us to a certain extent. I would show restraint over that extent as well, so that I wont put you in a difficult spot. Angora smiled. But if I win, you will take over the dukedom tomorrow, and spend at least two hours every day over a year to learn my knowledge as a duke. The old man agreed to the bet, and then pointed at Angoras wand. And you are not allowed to help them with that power of yours. No problem. Its a bet! Angora gave him a thumbs up. The old man gave a cold snort and headed for the outside of the keep. Theres no way your retainers are as divinely blessed as you are [Dragon Proud Skys Mini Cape (Golden Legendary)] [Basic stat: Defense +1] [Main Character Halo: When you are attempting to convince, negotiate, advise or cheat, the IQ of non-ally targets you picked would decrease by 20%. This effect is considered a skill (effect weakens with divinity and rule resistances)] [Kingly Charisma: Prestige+10, immunity from most mental debuffs] [Note: See this cape? Wear it and you will become the main character.the God of Games] Chapter 130: A Day of Rest: Part III The Unnamed Town of Anurad. Although the liege Angora was away for a few days, the old mayor (Velas father) had kept things under control so that the town did not fall to unruly chaos. The Players were left slightly idling since there was no building construction in Angoras absence, but they could still accept daily quests from the announcement board. The dungeon key to the Living Dead Cellar could also be claimed from Leah Yakaran the Warrior Princess, which meant the daily life of Players were basically unaffected. Naturally, the idling part was limited to lifestylethe Players were not actually too loafing in mind and action. In fact, it would be appropriate to say that the appearance of the forum and various posts that were written in the fashion of [Im a newbie and I just had a level 20 Purple Rare item drop, is this item any good] to put on airs, a competitive trend appeared in the forums. Being the believers of the God of Games, the Players naturally were not competing with luxury items such as wristwatch or sneakers, but higher players levels or better items. Quite a number of Players were therefore fired up to level up and challenge dungeons so that they could get that golden godlike item drops and show it off on the forums, blinding all the players in the process. Xi Wei certainly encouraged that attitudeeven though he was clearly aware that his pool of items had no Golden Legendary items anymore. Either way, the players were now much more efficient than before they were idling around. Moreover, with the increase of their player levels, they could finally be able to stand their ground even if they ran into Black-Robed Bishops in the Living Dead Cellar. Some Players had even come up with Black-Robed Bishops quick-farming guide or Evil Bones Archbishop fast strategy. It meant easier farming for the former, and a quick death for the latter. After all, most Players could avoid the fate of teamwide wipeout whenever they ran into the Rotten Bones Archbishop. It would hence be better to just dash headlong into their deaths, and save their time so that they could explore the Valley of the Tragic Dead and the Grey Fjord Port. That also left the player missing the bygone days when Marni still held dreams about clearing dungeons. He used to challenge them twice every day, and would run into the Rotten Bones Archbishop at least once. Given that the Rotten Bones Archbishop shows up twice each day, he was basically paving a safe route for the other Players with his life. Be that as it may, Marni had given up on his dreams after realizing that his dungeon escapades were incurring losses rather than raking profits. Instead, he became engrossed with trade and exploring the less dangerous Grey Fjord Port, which left many players lamenting *** At the moment, Joey Arbiter (That middle-aged hunter who wanted Terry and Jom as his children) were walking on the streets of the small town with his fellow village hunters. They were keeping up behind a rather famous veteran Player amongst the newbies, who often kindly led less capable players to help them clear the Living Dead Cellar. Thats why positioning is very important. When you see the chance to flank the dungeon boss, hit it in the ass directly would work. He warmly shared his ideas with Joey and the others. Do you remember the chocobo that was attacking your village back then? I did tons of damage by striking it in the ass with a single hit from my blade and saved your village! Huh. But if I recall correctly, you were kicked in the head by that bird, Brother Vulcan One of the hunters hesitantly said. The hunter was assaulted even before he could finish. What are you talking about!? Brother Vulcan is kind enough to share his experience with us, why are you spouting nonsense? Quick, say thank you Brother Vulcan! Hence, the hunters all called out in one voice. Thank you, Brother Vulcan! Suddenly, another Player was yelling by the road. The Black Hand is here! The bustling street turned quiet immediately. After a moment, the Players were scampering like a flock of startled birds as if they could not wait to run away from the Black Hand. Between breaths, only Joey and his newbie group were left on the street, along with a single cabbage rolling on the ground. Joey hence turned worriedly to Vulcan, who had put on a serious face. Is the Black Hand some troublesome character we shouldnt cross? Vulcan nodded. To a certain extent, yes. As such, Joey couldnt help remembering those children of bishops or other influential people, who strutted and threw their weight around in the city when Joey went to the city to sell his pelts. Recently, however, Joey and the others came to like their lives with the God of Games church thanks to their experiences as Players. But that was also why Joey could not help being even more disappointed with situations like these. To think that such people exist in the God of Games church too Who are you calling Black Hand?! Im Zonyan Grayclaw! A man who was dressed no different from the other Players appeared by the road, complaining unhappily at the other fleeing Players. He doesnt really look like a bad person, though? Joey whispered to Vulcan. Bad? No, I dont mean that when I say he shouldnt be crossed. Zonyan is actually a nice guy with good skill, but his hands are just black. Vulcan shook his head. You are aware of corpse touching, right? That is to say, directly extracting item drops from the dead monsters in a dungeon before their bodies vanish. Joey and the others noddedthey were naturally acquainted with such knowledge regarding dungeons. The so-called Black Hand simply refers to him getting bad item drops even if he did corpse touching. Vulcan explained. Isnt that just bad luck? Is there a need to be so afraid? One of the hunters asked. Youre still too young. Vulcan shook his head. I believe you must have heard of the Bone-Colored Thorns equipment set, correct? Its one of the best equipment sets that could be found in the Living Dead Cellar, and supposedly one would get at least one part in every dungeon clearing. However, if you have the Black Hand in your party, for one whole month There would be no item drops? Joey guessed. No, but the only dropped item for one whole month is the Right Gauntlet of the Bone-colored Thorns and nothing else. The face of every new Player dropped in sheer horror. No wonder the Right Gauntlet of the Bone-colored Thorns were sold so ridiculously cheaply at the trade post in the forums, and even newcomers like them could afford one. Why do you know about that, Vulcan? And so specifically. Joey asked in curiosity. Vulcan, who had been excitedly talking about that dark part of history immediately froze. There was a pained look over his face, as if he had remembered some dark history with the Black Hand that he would rather not recall Yo, aint that Vulcan? Is your dungeon party still needing people? Zonyan smiled as he greeted Vulcan on approach, finally finding him as he blended himself amongst the novice players. Vulcan then gravely placed both hands over Zonyans shoulders, and spoke seriously to his former party member. Reset your skill points and retrain. Zonyan: ??? Chapter 131: Tsunami After winning that gamble in which his victory was assured, Angora had thought of agreeing with his fathers request to stay two more days in Tunaya. After all, the Overlord System would probably judge that Tunaya was his new domain since he realized that his father had the thought of having him inherit his dukedom. All he needed to do after that was put up a Lifestone in the Silver Eagle Castle to teleport back to the unnamed town, unlike having to spend days on the road like now. For the players, the perfect completion of their last quest rewarded them generously along with substantial EXP. Although they should be holding wild parties as is tradition, Horan, Angoras father had just lost a sonit wasnt right to celebrate regardless of what transpired. Moreover, Horan had decided to gather nearby nobles and spread news that his eldest son had succumbed to an illness while promoting Angora. As such, the Players could only hold back their festive mood and temporarily take over the security duties of the fallen guardsmen in that incident. Angora was fine with that since he didnt have to worry about not knowing what was happening in the unnamed town with their real-time communication forum. Be that as it may, relearning nobility manners were rather troublesome for Angora after he had become too relaxed in the unnamed town. Moreover, he was never groomed as the dukes successor, only learning basic conduct. As such, he had to go through many remedial lessons for utterly complicated norms, with the old duke even hiring an instructor which only made things worse for him. In fact, Angora began to think that those who set these complex ceremonies were basically bent on having their successors die. Aside from all that, Angora also had another problem in Kinleys bugging. It would a little incorrect to call it bugging, however. Kinley was certainly very interested in Angora, but she was even more interested in Angoras domain, that is, the unnamed town that had developed those Players who were fearless even against death. After witnessing firsthand how the Players had unleashed power that went beyond common sense, and worked in tandem to take down the Lemure Warchief and the four golems, she had become very curious about the existence of the Players. As such, she had kept following Angora around after the crisis was over, voicing her hopes to visit that small town and live there for a while. Nonetheless, once Angora remembered those crazy Players horrific tendencies for assimilation and what sort of problems a crazy version of Kinley would bring him, he determinedly refused. Still, she continued being persistent, leaving him utterly exasperated. But youre obviously always smiling at that, Edward said, having observed all of Angoras reactions as a bystander. Dont even joke about it. It is clearly a look of anguish on my face, Angora said with a straight face. By the way, are you on patrol? Its a trifle that needs doing, and your father did pay us. Edward shrugged. And were just waiting until the Temple of Glory sends someone to take over. Well, I did think about having the Players take over the castle defense as new daily quests, but were still too few, and diverting too many at once would affect the Churchs development. Angora sighed regretfully. It was fortunate that Horan had promised to help the God of Games Church develop in secret. Eventually, when Angora had made all arrangements and succeeded Horan as the new archduke, he would be able to formally have the Players take the place of the Temple of Glory as the strongest faction in Tunaya. However, all of that must be built upon the smooth development of the Church, and the foundation of an explosive rise in Player population. The two of them hence chatted away idly, with most of their conversation related to the Players and the System. [Marni Wilf died in a tsunami. Revival in 71:59:59] A System notification appeared into view then. Pfft. Uncle Marnis dead again Edward could not hold back a chuckle. Now thats a record. I remember not seeing him die for almost three days. Angoras lips curled up in a grin too. They couldnt laugh, however, with what happened next. [Ivan Narine died in a tsunami. Revival in 71:59:59] [Boris died in a tsunami. Revival in 71:59:59] [Zen Zidane died in a tsunami. Revival in 71:59:59] [Kate died in a tsunami] They thought the same thing in that very moment. Something happened at the Gray Fjord Port! *** Minutes ago. The Warty Tidal Flat at the Frogmen Village. Many players were walking through the village after having received daily quests from the Frogman Elder, with some intending to explore the Grey Fjord. Some were carrying marine produce that they found from some unknown place and having the frogmen cook it for them, while others, who hadnt given up on converting other frogmen as their own followers were still diligently attempting to do sowith both sides failing to understand each other. Boss, when are we going back to town? Ivan, who was on guard duty asked Marni as he attempted a frog stroke while swimming. Lets explore another 1% and well be done for the day. What do you think of my posture? But Im fed up with fish soup. Ivan sighed. I think I smell fish even when I drink water now Alright. How about this? Well go back today. Marni was not the sort of employer who doesnt listenstepping out of the knee-deep water, he arched his back backwards, perhaps as way of warm-up as he continued to stare at Ivan in that bizarre position. Well have smoked meat tonight! Oh, thats nice. The smoke meat of Iron Cauldron Tavern is first-rate by the way, are you treating me, boss? Ivan, youre a grown man. You should shoulder your own responsibility! Damn it, going cheap and yet making it sound so reasonableHmm? Ivan was about retort when he suddenly could not help narrow his eyes at the distant surface of the ocean. Whats that, a white wall? Marni straightened himself too and looked up into the distance. Why would there be a white hall on the ocean? Must be a mirage. He simply replied. Unbeknownst to anyone, a white wall had indeed appeared over the distant surface of the ocean. The wall stretched towards both sides endlessly like the infinitely vast surface of the ocean, its edge unseen. It would have been alright if that was all there is to it. The problem was that as time passed, the wall seemed to grow taller and larger After a moment, Marnis face went pale when he finally understood what that was. What the f*ck! Its not a wall; its a tsunami! Chapter 132: No Survivors What should you do when you run into a tsunami? Although there are actually no right answers, holding their hands over their heads was clearly not the Players style. In reality, Marni and the others werent too far from the Frogmen Village, and they just might reach it before the tsunami arrived. After that, they only had to use the Lifestone in the Frogmen Village and teleport to the Unnamed Town or Lancaster for salvation, since most tsunamis would only extend several miles from the coast. It would definitely not reach the Unnamed Town which was dozens of miles away, much less Lancaster which was half a mile away. In fact, many other Players apart from Ivan and Marni had intended to do that, with every last one of them dashing wildly towards the village as well. But Marni suddenly remembered one serious problem. Dont run off! He yelled at the Players who had yet to escape. The Frogmen who havent contracted with us cant be revived! Half of them would die if the tsunami hits their village directly! The other Players only realized that thanks to Marnis warning. And yet, humans who had yet to reach the level of legend were insignificant in the presence of such natural calamity. Even though Xi Wei had mentioned in the Players Class Manual that Tide Callers could stir tsunamis, that skill was a late-game technique which demanded high player-level. Moreover, even if there was a Player who could cast it, man-made tsunamis would still be dull in comparison to natural ones. After all, as a sub-deity to the Ocean God, the Aquatic Lords power only involves the sea by the slightest of fractions. It ultimately wasnt his job, and since the power that Xi Wei plundered was a defective version in the first place, it was impressive that he could use that aspect and independently create the Tide Caller class. As such, there was no way he could excessively pursue strength Thats true, but what should we do? The other Players turned instinctively, their eyes fixing upon Marni. Our strength alone is impossible to stop that massive tide, right? Calm down. We are not fighting the tsunamiwe just have to weaken the wave hitting the village! The truth was that Marni did not have experience dealing with tsunamis either, but being the Players temporary leader, he shouldnt be blundering around. Do it as usual: warriors up front and cast every defensive skill, anything you could block counts. Clerics stay behind, buff HP and cast skills. Every other class, fire everything at the wave. Dont spare any mana! He didnt make everything clear, but the other players basically knew what he was talking about. They were going to die there. The force of the tsunami was nothing to be fooled around with, and chances to survive were beyond fractional. In fact, it was possible their effort might all mean nothing. The other Players might not reach here in time to revive them either, which meant they were all definitely going to be locked up for three days in that little dark hut. Nevertheless, none of the Players ran away. The Frogmen Village was an ally of Church of the God of Games, and many frogmen had already dedicated the latter half of their lives to Players as their followers, contributing however they could in their adventures. As such, the Players should protect the Frogmen Village be it out of sentiment or reason. Perhaps their effort might be of no use, but in the very least, they must stand before the village and strive to protect it right now. Icepicks, fireballs, chain lightningwithout regard for effectiveness, all the Players who had yet to change their class were pouring out their spells at the supermassive tide bearing down on them, ready to devour heaven and earth. At the same time, Players who had changed class to Tide Callers were all casting skills like water gun, water cannons, hydro pump, or summoning cyclones to do whatever they could in weakening the force of the tide. It was just a pity that as the tide loomed ever closer, it was not even reduced in heightnot one bit. When the tide was about two-hundred meters away, the Clerics raised a radiant sacred shield as far ahead as they could. But even if they were immeasurably reliable against normal foes, it was promptly overloaded and crushed the moment the tide touched it, reduced to countless triangular fragments that faded within the tide. Jarvis! Marni cried, and a cool golden-red set of steel armor immediately enveloped his body as he led the Warrior-class Players to raise the last line of defense with their very own bodies. Be it in their mind or that their determination turned out to be useful, the tide seemed to slow down every little bit. Nevertheless, the Warrior Players all had their HP bars emptied in the very next instant. Their sturdy armor was hammered and flattened by the enormous force of the tide, while their bodies were blasted away and caught in the undercurrents as nothing more as waste. Marnis sturdy full-body armor did not last long either, since his armor was not some steel battle armor equipped with quantum anti-shock capacity that could divert the terrible momentum from the tsunami tide, which in turn reduced him to mincemeat covered in iron. In fact, he was the first to die since he had valiantly stayed ahead of the rest of the players. Naturally, the Players of every other class did not flinch. As the tide approached and they were awash under the profound soul-crushing might of nature and every part of their bodies shuddered, they forced out every last bit of their strength to cast their last skill. In the end, the thirty-three players outside the Frogmen Village all died without retreating in their battle against their invincible foe, the tsunami. And thanks to their effort, the frogmen were only injured thanks to their experience with tsunamis and preparations, even though their village was left devastated. As more Players rushed to the scene, even the critically injured were rescued with no casualties! Your names shall be remembered and your accomplishments known eternally! There were a million things waiting to be done in the Frogmen Village after the tsunami struck. The Frogman Elder stood wobbly atop the conch roof, mourning the Players who died valiantly. Meanwhile, those same honored players were raising hell in the forums. They didnt want such honors because it felt like they had really died, and it was better to give them some game currency and EXP as rewards in return. But even as the other Players were making noise as always, Angora had hurried back to the unnamed town and visited the Frogmen Village for the first time. He felt that something wasnt right. This is quite a big deal, but why didnt the God of Games react at all? He looked out at the distant sea even as those misgivings clouded his mind, noticing then that something had appeared over the sea surface that should have been flat Chapter 133: The Ocean Gods Trial In reality, Xi Wei had run into some trouble when the tsunami happened. He even had to contact the Great Lion on his own volition and ask for his help. Youre saying that this blue light pierced your Divine Kingdom right in front of your face? The Great Lion asked as he stared at the seemingly solid radiance that resembled a sky-blue spear stabbed into the ground. Thats right. It was so scary Xi Wei was still fearful after the fact. That being said, his Divine Kingdom was not actually being invadedthe last guy who attempted to do that was still in the blender being squeezed for more juice. But whatever this thing was, it was at once so invasive and devastating that Xi Wei did not dare to examine for himself what it actually was. It was fortunate that the Great Lion had seen and known much, and he had a look that said I see after his snow-white tail poked at the solid radiance just once. What is that thing? Xi Wei quickly asked. This thing is the divine power of the Ocean God. Youve really made her mad[1] Oh no, save me! Xi Wei pleaded for the Great Lions aid. No saving. Just die. Goodbye! The Great Lion was intending to leave at that, but Xi Wei managed to catch him in the end. Fine. This divine light is basically an olive branch uh, thats not quite right. The Great Lion seemed to hesitate how he should go about explaining things, and hung his head to think for half a day before simply telling it as it is. To put it in a nutshell, she has used his divine power to send a letter of challenge. She would have you go through the Three Trials, and if you do not pass, she would personally kill you even if you survive. Well, does that mean our grievances would be cleared if I passed the trails? Xi Weis spherical form brightened as if catching sight of hope. No way. She would probably take you in as a sub-deity if you pass the trials, that is. The Great Lion did not hesitate to reply. Why dont she just come over and beat me up. Xi Wei stubbornly insisted that it was impossible for him to become a sub-deity. Not in this life. According to my sources, the Church of Earth is having some landfill project or whatnot, to the point that the Ocean God is directing most of her strength to a standoff against the Earthweaver. Thats why she doesnt have time to care about a weakling god like you. The Great Lion answered, Anyway, the Three Trials would present themselves in a sequence, and this divine power records the content for one of those trials. Your believers would go through the first one: she had left one Fishmen Island near your Church. F-Fishmen Island? Xi Wei could not help thinking of that little isle ten thousand leagues beneath the sea in One Piece. Still, he recovered soon enough: although this world does indeed have fishmen that were similar to mermaids, those were rarer even when compared to the frogmen. Moreover, generally speaking, fishmen were more similar to the Murloc monsters that had four limbs, a fish head, and walked upright as depicted in World of Warcraft. They were a completely different civilization from those living on land, wielding coral-made weapons and possessing their own language and faith, not to mention their vicious, barbaric nature. That was why ninety percent of the seas were a forbidden zone for humans at the moment. Aside from the innumerable sea monsters, the greater reason was the fishmen that were even more fearsome than pirates. As a matter of fact, coastal zones were often attacked by fishmen, and until now, humans had no solution for these things that were dangerous and annoying, next to goblins. Thats right. Besides, in the heart of the Fishmen Island is an Ocean Eye which would teleport fishmen from their homes in the depths of the seas to the island itself without end it is only by finding the seven Sea Sapphires hidden in the Fishmen Island, defeating their guardians and the gems that the Ocean Eye could be closed completely. The Great Lion explained the information embedded in the Ocean Gods divine power for Xi Wei as best as he could. The first trial is passed if your believers succeed, and failed should your Church fall. Moreover, you are not allowed to aid them personally because it is a trial for Believers. Hold on. You just said without end, right? Xi Wei brightened just then. Thats right. The fishmen is the most annoying race there is: massive population, insatiable appetite, and ever-hungry, not to mention that they would keep going on land to destroy any building they could reach. It would be best for you to gather every believer you have for this trial. Let me confirm this. Xi Wei knew that the Great Lion was being kind, but he wasnt in a hurry to indicate where he stood, and asked another question instead. If this trial doesnt end, the next one wouldnt begin. Correct? In theory, yes. Why? The Great Lion asked, puzzled. Wonderful. With infinite monsters spawning, the battlefield for the players to farm repeatedly was here. And unlike other dungeons, this one was never going to consume Xi Weis divine power. Moreover, while the fishmen were not a rich bunch, they would still drop items such as corals, pearls, or turtle shells that were common undersea but preciously rare on land. The Players could gather them as specialty items and trade them with merchants from other places! Oh, please. Why bother with finding the Sea Sapphires then? The Fishmen Island was basically a treasure trove, and the Players should protect the Sea Sapphires and prevent the fishmen from destroying them instead! What are you doing? The Great Lion then stared in surprise as Xi Weis tentacle coiled around the blue pillar of divine light. Well, I definitely have to collect some interest since the Ocean God came looking for trouble Xi Wei nonchalantly pulled the divine light pillar out of his Divine Kingdom. Youre not thinking about absorbing her divine power, are you? I would advise you not to because her standing is much higher, and you would blow up instead. The Great Lion immediately warned him solemnly. I get it, I get it. Xi Wei certainly would not be suicidal. He simply drew out the skull of Rotten Bones and stuffed the Ocean Gods divine light pillar up its brain. I just thought that I shouldnt waste the good stuff. In no time at all, the skull began to shake with a series of clear cracking sounds, and hairline fractures began to appear over it like porcelain cracks. It was fortunate that the skull of Rotten Bones no longer had its own divinity or deific aspects, or it would have definitely burst apart. Be that as it may, blue fluids were flowing out of its eye sockets as if it was crying, making it appear especially miserable and sad [1] It was only at this point that this Ocean God is a female. Not sure why the author continues writing it as God instead of Goddess but future chapters will be translated as goddess Chapter 134: Xi Wei: I Choose To Ask The Audience By the way, Aslan Xi Wei raised the skull on his two tiny tentacles and asked curiously. Didnt you mention that members of the Invisible Pantheon always had each others backs? I think nows the time! He then held the skull in front of himself with the attitude of I-have-no-idea-whats-happening-but-Ill-just-put-this-comment-here. Come, help me financially if you can or with divine power if youre poor. The Great Lion looked upon Xi Wei with great disdain. Have you no shame as a god? He then realized that saying that had no effect on Xi Wei even as he quietly watched the ball of light continue flickering. The ball really had no shame Are you not contributing your power, lion? Could it be that youre afraid of the Ocean God and afraid to help me? Xi Wei complained unhappily, whipping the skull with his tentacles. Me, the great God of Justice, afraid of that mad hag?! Yeah, right. Aslan said arrogantly with a seemingly unconfident tone. But perhaps believing that he wasnt being convincing either, he quickly added, She didnt come personally and only assigned the Three Trials for you this time, but if bystanders like us get involved she might really come and have a word with you. After that, the Great Lion even made a gesture of crushing an egg (or any spherical objects) at Xi Wei, hinting that he would have been a dead ball And Xi Wei thought that it was true as well. At the moment, Ocean God had no intention to directly descend upon his divine kingdom and merely dumped so-called Trials at him made it clear that she only wanted to test him. With that being the case, their relationship would not sour for the time being before the Trial had an outcome. On the other hand, should Xi Wei really drag others into it and cheekily cheat right before the Ocean Gods face, from what he knew of her track record she might really leave her dispute with the Earthweaver for the time being, and run here to slap Xi Wei to death Nonetheless, just as Xi Wei was quietly mumbling about what is this suffering, the Great Lion suddenly spoke enigmatically. Although we cant aid you directly, indirect help is possible. Indirect help? How? Xi Wei asked in return, bemused. Helping my believers with resources? Forgive my frankness, but they dont lack anything. Although the Players were not exactly rich, the stores of food in the little town were plentiful and enough to aid the Temple of Justice instead. Moreover, as long as the God of Harvest never noticed Xi Wei had stolen its authority, the Players would not need to worry about food for quite some time. Thats not it I can see that your Believers all wield weapons, and most of those weapons are developed from metals which your divine power molded. The quality is good, but you have not used your divine power on more than a handful of those weapons that none of your power lingered over the weapons. The Great Lion paused for a moment, and continued when he saw that Xi Wei was listening attentively. Stoff, the God of Craftsmanship and Fine Wine is one of the members of the Invisible Pantheon. He is quite interested in the Coca-Cola potion you have made for your believers as well, and if you are willing to supply him a batch from time to time, he would agree to convey an oracle and have some dwarven craftmasters head to the Grey Fjord and strengthen your believers weapons. May I ask which aspect of a weapon is strengthened? Being a god who was extremely spirited when it came to scheming, Xi Wei almost agreed immediately, although his curiosity got the better of him and he just had to ask. Every aspect, of course. The Great Lion simply replied. Any dwarf that has earned the title of craftmasters have received Stoffs Divine Grace: their skills would improve every attribute of a weapon, from the sharpness of its blade, the sturdiness, and durability of the metals and making it easier to wield and so forth Is that actually possible? Although there had been many online games with item strengthening systems, Xi Weis authority in crafting was actually weak and creating basic items for the Players was basically his limit. It also could be that Xi Wei had been cheated one too many times by the shady merchants of the Divine Realm before he transmigrated, leading to him earnestly believing that item strengthening was too random a system. Still, Xi Wei could not help being caught in disbelief after learning that the craftsmen of this world could strengthen weapons through mundane forging. It feels like changing the very materials of the weapons Doing something of that level is basic for gods that hold authority in that respect. Its like how the Earthweaver could directly adjust reality almost at the same level as the Divine Fathers. The Great Lion appeared used to it. Ive heard that gnomes had such advanced technology that they built a flying warship they named the Void Star. It was alleged to be capable of killing gods, but when they were about to take it out and attack some gods, the Earthweaver only had to slightly change the quality of several metals used for building the vessel to have that godslaying weapon blow itself up. Xi Wei had wanted to gasp and yell scary, but he decided that it was nothing surprising after thinking about it carefully. If a weakling god like himself could adjust less important rules, it wouldnt be surprising for the Earthweaver who was at the level of Divine Fathers to affect reality and directly change variables of physical matter. After that, the gnomes were cursed and abandoned by the former gods until most were reduced to mindless goblins, and what left of them now remain underground, mingling with spawns of darkness but I digress. Anyway, are you going to accept Stoffs deal? Watching as Xi Wei pondered (dont ask me how a lion could tell that a ball is pondering), the Great Lion realized that he seemed to have said too much, and quickly changed conversation back to the main point. Why not? Xi Wei quickly agreed the moment he emerged from his pondering. Incidentally, I believe it is time for the Players to experience the terror of being ruled by item strengthening. Chapter 135: Winter Swimming Event After seeing the Great Lion off, Xi Wei began to think up an item strengthening system. First off, he wasnt a demon and naturally wouldnt set up low success rates like your usual game companies that cripple the players items. Still, strengthening weapons and items was not really easy. Although it was a craft that required blessings from the gods, the dwarven craftmasters had a chance for success and failure in the first place, and finer quality weapons would also have a lower chance of successful strengthening. According to the Great Lion, that was the limit of Stoffs Divine Grace relative to the world itself as the God of Craftsmanship and Fine Wine. It was the same as how the players could not stay in the air by bending the rules and stiffly manipulate enemies to die Otherwise, if any weapon could be strengthened without limit, the world would see each person wielding one beam-spamming Excalibur, with Xi Wei and the Players having no part to play. Moreover, using an art that utilizes Divine Grace was good at first, but if one continued strengthening the weapon after multiple strengthening, it would definitely consume divine energy. After all, Stoff was definitely not going to use his own divine energy over a few bottles of colaXi Wei would almost assuredly be the one paying from his own pocket. He would end up as a shriveled-up ball if he didnt enforce limits and allowed the Players to strengthen their weapons as much as they wished. When it comes to limiting, I guess I would have to enforce it through two aspects: game currency and strengthening materials. The gaming companies back on earth had already determined a complete strengthening process for Xi Wei, although he did not have the need to create a strengthening system that holds an ulterior motive. Each progressive level of strengthening would require exponential amounts of game currency and materials. Then, as for whether the item level drops or if the item breaks in the event of failed item strengthening, thats up to the gods Game currency was fine since Players only use it at the system shop, system diner, and hot springs, which was why most players were rather rich at the moment. The key was strengthening materials. Xi Wei had considered that question even when he thought about the possibility of having a strengthening system. Still, he left that problem hanging after realizing that he lacked the power to complete a strengthening system anyway, but Stoffs help now had him re-examining that problem. Out of dark comedic timing, Xi Wei would leave part of the monster corpses killed by the Players in the mortal realm as dropped items. However, as the Players started to fight a variety of monsters including skeletons, zombies, giant spiders, some grotesque beast, or warped humans, the dropped items were completely random and followed no system at all. Tsk. Following it up from here is troublesome, itll be better to start from scratch. Xi Wei coiled his tentacles over what was probably his brain. Incidentally, I could use the item strengthening mechanism to motivate the Players into clearing the fishfolk island. At that very thought, Xi Wei lay out his tentacles as if he was stretching, and then started writing new documents into his Windows XP. *** Meanwhile, it seems that the fishfolk island was not operating fully yet. At the very least, no fishmen were coming up the shores to attack the frogmen village. The Players who were gathered at the Warty Tidal Flats were warned by Angora to keep a distance from the distant island for safety. Still, if the Players could hardly keep swimming over several miles at once, they might have gone off to explore what the heck was that thing that appeared over the seas surface Just as the skies darkened and everyone remaining confused about what happened, the Players received new System notifications. [Ding!] [Server-wide event commencing] [Winter Swimming EventFishfolk Island Attacks] [Event Description: The fishfolk island which has descended from the skies has stirred tides that reaches the skies, and ferocious fishfolk has decided to invade land under an evil goddess guidance! The first that shall under their assault is the Warty Tidal Flats where generations of frogfolk lived! As disaster looms, how could you heroes watch and do nothing? Raise your weapons, use your courage and the blood of your enemies to host the grandest welcome party for those invaders from the depths of the oceans!] [Event Period: Undetermined] [Event Condition: Every Player is eligible.] [Event Content (First Phase): Players could repel fishfolk assaults at the Frogmen Village, obtaining Fishmen Eyeball, Fishmen Gills, and Fishmen Spikefin by slaying Fishfolk. Redeem an assortment of very different rewards by submitting corresponding amounts of those items to the Frogmen Elder.] [Event Content (Second Phase): Players could unlock the simple boat in their list of exchangeable items after their exchangeable item drops reach a certain quota. Players would subsequently be able to set sail to the Fishfolk Island and clear the fishfolk population living over it, and win the title Explorer of the Seven Seas should they defeat the guardians of the seven Sea Sapphires and claim said gems!] [Note 1: The Players are not fighting alone! The dwarven craftsmen would arrive as the event progresses to a certain phase, after which the players could pay a fee and strengthening stones to greatly strengthen your weapons and equipment! Even inferior weapons could match high-grade weapons after strengthening! So, what are you waiting for? Earn credits and hoard strengthening stones right away!] [Note 2: Every Player who had died in the Tsunami phase shall earn the title The Valiant Heroes Who Fought the Ocean. Apologies for being unable to promptly revive any of you.] [List of Event Exchangeable Items] [Fishfolk Helm (1000 Fishmen Eyeballs): Fashionable. Comes with an anglerfish lightbulb, lures moth as well as weakens the users stealth!] [Fishfolk Scale Armor (1000 Fishmen Gills): Fashionable. Wear it to feel like a dead fish swimming upside down. It has no use, but we think its very cool!] [Fishfolk Webbed Boots (1000 Fishmen Spikefin): Fashionable. Accelerates swimming speedbut imagine youre a frog because fish have no feet!] [Lesser Strengthening Stone (200 Fishmen Eyeballs): A mysterious gem with faint divine power. May have the ability to strengthen equipment.] [Medium Strengthening Stone (200 Fishmen Gills): A mysterious gem with a portion of divine power. May have the ability to slightly strengthen equipment.] [High Strengthening Stone (200 Fishmen Spikefin): A mysterious gem with concentrated divine power. May have the ability to greatly strengthen equipment.] [Buffer Stone (500 Fishmen Spikefin): Protects your items so that it doesnt shatter during failed strengthening. Trust me, its worth it.] [Other exchangeable selections (Click here)] *** As the Players who never had been bullied by the gaming companies of Earth patted each other on the backs to celebrate the implementing of the strengthening system, only Angora, who kept himself uninvolved frowned at the Buffer Stone in the list of exchangeable items, sensing that things werent as simple as they appeared Chapter 136: Ironfelt I refuse! *** Ironfelt is a gray dwarf who had just earned the title of Craftmasterto be precise, he had only cleared the trials of the Magma City Craftsmen Guild yesterday. Being a craftsman who had been stuck at Golden Crest for over thirty years, it was not his first-time taking part in the Craftsmen Guilds Craftmaster Hammering Trial. Still, he could not progress beyond Golden Crest until yesterday no thanks to the difficulty of the assessments questions and his limit in terms of talent. And yet, the Craftmaster Hammering Trials was surprisingly easy yesterday, and felt more or less the same as the exam questions he had when he rose from Silver Crest to Golden Crest. He had found it curious at first, but his boorish and open-minded dwarven nature stopped him from delving on it. In fact, he was joyfully downing ale as he celebrated with his family for the whole night as hard as he could. Even before his intoxication faded and his head ached terribly in his hangover, two members of the Craftsmen Guild had arrived and stuffed a very elegantly decorated letter into his hand. [Dear Mister Slag:] [In accordance to the divine oracle that His Holiness the Grand Craftmaster received from Stoff, we are pleased to inform you that you have been chosen as a representative of the Craftsmen Guild.] [As such, you shall head to the Frogpeoples Village, situated at the Warty Tidal Flats of Gray Fjord, within the domain of the Silver Eagle Duchy and the Valla Empire. There, you shall take the post of resident Craftmaster to aid our allies, the Church of the God of Games.] [Please pack up and leave Magma City before today, and make haste for the designated location.] [Yours Sincerely, Furnacewatch of the Craftsmen Guild] The content of the letter left Ironfelt frowning as he lisped. Y-you people are looking for a Craftmaster. W-what does that has to do with a Gold Crest like m-me? The two dwarves said nothing and merely stared at Ironfelts chest. Ironfelt looked down as well. There, the black scarf embroidered with a golden hammer was glimmering dazzling over his chest. Oh sh*t. Ironfelt was immediately halfway sober as memories of yesterday returned to his muddleheaded brain. No wonder the promotion trials were so easy yesterday. No wonder Ironspade who had ties with people in the Craftsmen Guild did not join the trials yesterday. Every single one of you was prepared to throw me out so that I become your scapegoat! After all, for most members of the Craftsmen Guild, staying in Magma City and near the heat from lava to forge various items was far more comfortable then heading to human or other humanoid settlements to do the same work. As such, the gray dwarves would never leave their residence unless they needed to accomplish something major. Such as a divine oracle. You tricked me, Ironspade! Ironspadeee! *** Nonetheless, complaining wouldnt help now that things have come to this. All Ironfelt could do was follow the Guilds Arrangement. It was the first time he left Magma City as a 123-year-old youth. His parents could not help shedding tears of worryIronfelt himself was anxious, too, but he tried his best to keep up a mature act, calming them and determinedly leave Magma City. Still, he went on a trip to the Guild before he left to ask the Furnacewatcher how long his residency was supposed to last. Probably over twenty years. As you well know, humans are volatile creatures with short lifespan. Youll be back before you know it. The Furnacewatcher assured Ironfelt even as he lowered Magma Citys drawbridge. Just think of it as walking a pet. My Toothy is much more adorable than humans. Ironfelt straightened his messy beard so that it wont catch any cinders even as he grumbled. Not to mention that it would sh*t out some good iron ingots after I feed it iron ores. Can humans and their tiny anuses do that!? Heh. I didnt take you for a rich kid. Not every family could afford rearing Steeleaters, can they? The Furnacewatcher replied in amazement. Ive seen one when I went on a journey over the surface too, but food is rare up there, and the poor fellow had to gnaw bamboo You visited the surface too, sir? Ironfelt stared in surprise at the exasperatingly slow Furnacewatcher. But of course. I used to be an adventurer like you, until I took an arrow in the knee. The Furnacewatcher sighed, and gestured to Ironfelt where he should be going. To head to the Norht, walk until the end of Ore Tunnel Seven and then turn left, the portal there would send you near your destination. Activation requires twenty grams of Illum Crystals with 80% purity, and according to the star readers it is now the moon of the Slime, and there would be a lot of them mating in the ore craters. You best be careful Its just Slime. The Ironfelts Amazing Magma Warhammer Im holding here isnt just for looks! Ironfelt confidently brandished the hammer he forged, seemingly not giving a damn about the so-called Slimes. You have a weird naming sense, kid The Furnacewatcher who took an arrow in the knee studied Ironfelts imposing look and thought that he really didnt have to worry about him. According to the Craftsmen Guilds inspector Ironpan Idling, the Slime seemed to prefer attacking female creatures. If the Guild did not consider that the Slimes bred through mitosis, they would have assumed that the Slimes were looking for breeding ground. From certain perspectives, Magma City counted as a subterranean city, and heading to the surface meant going through the fix tunnels connected to certain places that were dozens of miles long or portals. It was fortunate that while dwarves were average in magic, they were quite proficient when it came to portals. Coupled with the mass production of Illum Crystals that were the energy source for portals in subterranean cities, portals saw practical and common use amongst dwarves earlier than the humans and elves who researched magic on the surface. Now, it had became the standard transportation, spread throughout most of the dwarven nations. *** We finally made it back to Gray Fjord Jom was feebly walking through the dense forest. He could taste faint scent of the tides now, and the cold here chills the bone compared to other places. Even if Players could adjust their sense of pain, their limbs would still be stiff and unresponsive in the cold weather. Wouldnt the event be over when we finally arrive at the frogfolk village? Terry was following him and biting a piece off his wheat cracker, and then throwing it to their big hound Pikes The last Rotten Bones event lasted seven days. Its just three days since this one started, so it shouldnt be over yet Jom guessed. Suddenly, Pikes had straightened its ears and started barking at the right side of the duo. Jom, its a Slime! A big one! Terry yelled excitedly. Dont care. The event is most important now. Jom looked even more feeble now. But Terry scratched his head then. It looks like a dwarf is drowning inside the Slime Jom: ??? Chapter 137: Shoot Me In the first place, Xi Wei had imagined the fishmens assault on the Frogmen Village would be no different from an apocalyptic zombie movie: hordes of fishmen crawling out of the ocean, throwing the crushing weight of their sheer numbers over the weak and helpless Players. On the other hand, the Players, driven by the generous rewards he had put in place would wage a terrible war against the fishmen, inspiring songs and tears. After all, those Players who were stranded outside could not return as of yet. In addition to the thirty-three players who sacrificed themselves to the tsunami, just over a hundred Players out of the current two hundred could stand on the beaches to repel the fishfolk. And yet, reality was: That fishman is mine. Please dont kill steal, brolets be reasonable, okay? Shut up. You might have yours in the next wave. But I never got one since yesterday Oh, thats the Swordmaster class for you, I guess. Next time remember to pick a long-range class next time, got it? The faces of Players who had changed their class to Swordmasters were awash with tears. Whether it was because the Ocean Eye on the Fishmen Island needed time to be opened fully or the Ocean God considered Xi Wei too much of a weakling to really care, the fishfolk simply werent launching any major assault. Instead, they were attacking with just a few dozens in each wave. For the Players, those fishfolk that averaged less than Level 5 were small fries in the truest sense of the word. As the Players fired off barrages of long-range attacks before they could reach land, no more than a handful would actually reach the beach. Under that major premise, the waves of fishfolk were like the Hulu Brothers trying to save their grandfather, dying by each passing horde1 That, however, made things very difficult for the Swordmaster class. Whether they took the route of Berserker or Kengyoku, their basic attacks were all sword skills, not to mention that it was very rare for them to fire sword beams. On the other hand, while the Ranbu route would have long-range sneak attacks such as sand-kicking and brick-throwing, both of those skills are manually used with their own hands. As such, they were a completely different story compared to Mages spells that were homes on their targets and the Rangers arrows that correct their trajectory. Therefore, whenever the enemy attacks, swordmasters wouldnt even get a bone to pick their teeth with and were left suffering in anguish. Some might wonder then: if they couldnt get to the beasts, why not have PVP sessions and go for PVE only afterwards? The reason was simple: although Swordmaster had a higher ceiling in stats that no other class could reach, the Players had clearly not grasped the gimmick within yet to become unbeatable. And they werent getting any trade done, much less PVP *** As Players who had adventured far and wide returned and the others who had fought the tsunami to death were revived, the resistance against the fishfolks assault had become relaxed in the third day of the event. In fact, the Players were now taking turns to return to their normal daily quests. It was also worth noting that the Players who had been awarded the title of The Valiant Heroes Who Fought the Ocean basically had no stat buffs. Still, they do have a rather cool title hanging over their head as they walked around, attracting envious gazes from other Players. Meanwhile. Eyeballs, eyeballs, eyeballs Why is it always eyeballs? There isnt even a single gill, much less a spikefin! Joey grumbled as he waded through the sea to fish out his partys spoils. Ive already been picking up eyeballs the whole morning! Although the Eyeballs could be exchanged for rewards, said rewards were either useless or came with side effects. Even the strengthening stone redeemable was lesser-grade, making eyeballs the most rubbish of item drops. Be that as it may, Xi Wei had already expected such a situation. In a great gesture of compassion, he had set a trade between item drops: 5 fishman eyeballs for 1 fishman gills and 5 fishman gills for one fishman spikefin. Still, in reverse it meant that 1 spikefin drop equals to 25 eyeballs, which would have been so efficient Unlucky, so unlucky. Another Player who had watched Joey as he started to fish out the items drop could not help but sigh. Why, though? Have you been partying with someone else before this? Vulcan and Zonyan led us for one clearing of the Living Dead Cellar. I see. The Player immediately put on a Hoho, youre finished face. No wonder this is happening to you. Youre a brave one, kiddo, to party up with the Black Hand Are you joking? Im super brave. Joey shot back as he continued to fish out eyeballs, being not one to believe in superstition. That was when the other Players on the beach erupted into an uproar. Whats happening? Joey asked, curious. Not sure. Maybe the boat can be exchanged now, and Players could go directly to Fishfolk Island for monster farming. The Player appeared eager too, as if he was going to gouge out the eyes of every Fishmen he could reach. Regardless, being curious (or joining any action) was human nature. As such, Joey and the other Player got on the beach after fishing out the last eyeball and headed towards the bustling crowd to see what was actually happening. But before they could clearly see what all the fuss was all about, Joeys eyes sharply noticed the flustered duo of Jom and Terry who were being surrounded by the crowd. It was the first time Joey had laid eyes on them after he became a convert of the God of Games and they parted ways. They were looking disheveled at the moment, with snowflakes sticking on their face and some blue goo spread all their body, which could well be melted snow or something else. Joey remembered what Vulcan told him about the youths then: they had accidentally lost the chocobos they had contracted with as they led the Players in culling the Barren Giant and were being blamed by some of those Players. Seeing that things werent looking right, Joey ignored the fact that he was a newbie who hadnt even reached Level 10 as he squeezed his way through the crowd and Who are you?! One Player asked indignantly. Im their daddy! Joey replied as if justice was on his side. Then, he was backstabbed and tripped over by Terry and Jom from behind, both of whom looked upset. After a good beating, Joey only realized then that the person who the Players were surrounding wasnt Terry and Jom, but the gray dwarf who was too short and was therefore completely blocked from sight. Uh Ironfelt the gray dwarf stared at the pack of Players and, remembering what he experienced, asked Jom quietly. Are all the Players of the God of Games that crazy? Chapter 138: Why Summon A Sea Monster Over Seafood Business? Although he was a 123-year-old gray dwarf who was weak, helpless and a little bit of a gluttonous child in his parents eyes, Ironfelt actually had experience that matched his age as a craftmaster. Even if he had not been to the surface before, he would hear about it from traveling gray dwarves as they bragged away every other day in his nightly drinking session in the Magma City Tavern after work. Ignoring the narrators boasting and cleaning up the stories, the humans depicted in those dwarves stories were more or less the same. At a rough glance, their lifestyles did not differ much from the dwarves, but because humans had much shorter lifespans, they did not display the same demand for excellence or the same passion towards their craftmanship, and most of them live out their days dully and muddleheadedly under the rule of churches and nobles. Moreover, the humans were so great in numbers that their gods could only favor a select few, leaving their species weak. In the first place, Ironfelt did not want to stay in human territory for a long time, but he didnt consider it to be difficulthe would at best forge some slapdash weapons and that would fool them, because how hard would that be for a dwarf who had mingled with fire and steel over a hundred years? Just like the Furnacewatcher had put it, he would think of it as having a holiday. Eventually, things end up upside down the moment Ironfelt stepped out. He had not seen a single slime in the tunnel, and when he was assuming that they were cleared off by the miners, he ran into a Big Slime which was a fused form of many Slimes, sticking atop the dark tunnel above the portal and waiting to ambush any dwarf about to teleport. Caught off guard, Ironfelt slipped up and was gulped down the Big Slimes stomach. Worse still, the portal was already activated, directly teleporting him along with the Slime enveloping him. They reached the northern reaches of the Valla Empire on the surface, and into an isolated forest, with Ironfelt unable to get help from any gray dwarf passing by. However, just when Ironfelt thought that his fate was sealed, two human younglings and one dog suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Alone, Slimes were very vulnerable since they were the weakest magical beast there was. Although their outer gel layer protects them from physical blows, the magic stone which was their vital part was very distinct, and any child with a stick could scare them off. On the other hand, when multiple Slimes gather and fuse into a Big Slime, their ability increases exponentiallythe gel layer over their body increases in mass, whereas their vital part that was the magic stone would not enlarge despite fusing, significantly reducing the chance of a critical hit. At the same time, their massive sticky bodies provide them formidable hunting ability, and prey like Ironfelt who were completely covered in the gel wouldnt be able to exert their strength, just as they couldnt escape without outside help. Long story short: Those two human younglings were never going to defeat the Big Slime! Ironfelt opened his mouth to warn them, but he couldnt make a sound from inside the Slimes body. The gel that had weak digestive function would pour inside his mouth, and he was almost losing his sphincterif the gel started pouring in from both places at the same time he is going to end up as a pasty piece of cheese soon enough. The reason Ironfelt was still holding on was entirely thanks to dwarven robustness and durability to survive in all sorts of hostile environments, but those aspects naturally did not include their innards So why the f*ck were those two still trying to fight the Big Slime?! Go your parents! Ironfelt was bellowing inwardly. Still, it was clear that the two younglings were incapable of telepathy. As Ironfelt watched them attack the Big Slime, and he thought that he would soon be joined by two fellow prisoners and one dog. He was extremely surprised soon enough. Those two younglings could actually fight! One of them was a warriorholding a sword and a buckler, he would provoke the Big Slime from time to time, stabbing it and causing its surface to ripple. He then summoned some humanoid spectral that was throwing a barrage of punches while crying ora-ora-ora, and Ironfelt could fear the sheer force behind those blows even deep inside the Big Slimes body. The other human youth was even more mystifying: he was continuously summoning seafood to feed the Big Slime with. Yes, feeding. From land squid to sharp-finned swordfishes, dwarven-height crabs, hermit crabs with anemones growing over its shells, big spotted garden eels poking their head out of barnacles to provoke the Slime in short, creatures that would be gobbled up by the Big Slime in no time at all. At first, Ironfelt was assuming that the young summoner didnt have powerful familiars and was rather weak, which was why he kept summoning more seafood to cover the young warriors attack. Slimes were brainless magical beasts after all. They fed without restraint, and hence virtually didnt refuse any of the seafood offered. Eventually, the increasing bulk of seafood squeezed Ironfelt to the edge of the Big Slimes body, with one octopus wrapping itself tightly around his face. As he got the feeling that some parasite was about to plant its eggs into him, he promptly realized what the young summoners intention was. And just as Ironfelt predicted, the dog which had not much of a part to play from the start had slipped to the Big Slimes rear which was not really a rear since Slimes had neither face nor tail. Anyway, while the Big Slime was being battered by the humanoid spectral that the young warrior summoned, the creature never noticed the big hound slipping towards it. The dog seized its chance too, biting down on one of the octopuss tentacles which it had extended out of the Big Slimes body started to pull it out firmly. Hence, Ironfelts head also poked out of the Big Slimes body, with the dog pulling with even more strength when it saw what was happening, and dragged the gray dwarf out altogether even as he screamed My scalp! The octopus is going to tear my scalp off! and braved the risk of disfigurement (Ironfelt only). Alright, Im hitting it one last time! The dwarf exclaimed as he got to his feet almost right after he landed, whipping out his beloved hammer to join the battle. In the end, however, he noticed that it wasnt him who had been pushed to the edge, but also the Big Slimes magic stone. The young warrior made a look that said Weve-seen-too-many-kill-stealing-dirtbags-like-you before stabbing his single-handed sword viciously into the Big Slimes core. The creature immediately made a sound that resembled a shriek as its body split apart like a water balloon, its disgusting goo form spraying everywhere as its body rapidly shriveled like seafood. Left standing in the cold wind with the octopus over his head, the gray dwarf was left utterly confused: Who was it who said that humans are weak? Were all those dwarves who came on the surface before rum-brained?! Chapter 139: Its Not My Fault; Its The Items Fault! Humans are very weird. After living a while at the Frogmen Village, Ironfelt found the behavior of the people around him quite incomprehensible. Firstly, they carry out trading with something known as game currency werent human commonly using the bronze coins, silver Rions and golden Abbys as distributed by the financial cabinet of the Church of Gaglomeia, Goddess of Prosperity? To have a comfortable life on the surface, Ironfelt had actually sold off his favorite awl in exchange for a sizable amount of Rions from the Craftsmen Guild But money didnt really matter. It was not as if he was planning to start some ironworks on the surfacehe was fine as long as he had enough money. Still, the behavior of the believers simply left him bemused. They were obsessed with slaughtering the fishfolk who were attacking the beaches, even arguing over the numbers each respective person killed. Ironfelt is also confused as to how they saw death. They did not fear the idea, and even saw it as a uh, measure? He had actually seen one particular believer who floated down the shallows without any limbs, and stabbed some of the fishfolk with the stubs that was once his arm just so that he could hurry up with killing a few more fishmen. In the end, he drownedjust like that, right in front of Ironfelts eyes. That believers party members were not even surprised. In fact, they were saying something like we gotta bring a cleric next time as they turned their backs to the believer and had a laugh as they returned to the Frogmen Village. The whole incident left Ironfelt feeling chills, his hairs standing on end. No matter how obsessed they were with fighting, not even the dark dwarves saw death as an honor! If it wasnt for a divine oracle leading him here, he would already have thought that this was a settlement for insane cultist Nonetheless, what weirded out Ironfelt the most was that the believers of the God of Games did not like forging weapons. All of them had their own, although they came in every weird assortment possible. There was one longsword which looked just like one, but its edge somehow would split forward like a trident. It looked cool but was really impractical! After all, stabbing with such a blade meant the branched out edges would split the force used on the thrusting, and without a long handle that lends strength, it was not going to cut deep into an enemys body and the two adjacent edges would only be the parts doing damage. Anyone who wielded it could even tell that the longswords balance was off, not to mention that it was more taxing to use it compared to normal weapons, and even more useless than those ornamental blades that nobles used But somehow, the believer who was carrying that useless weapon was confidently saying something like Finally, an Elite Weapon. Im going to fight ten fishmen at once now!, with the other believers around him casting him envious looks. It takes great strength just to swing that thing of his at one fishman, Ironfelt could not help protesting inwardly. Any sword the rest of you have is far useful, although its not as cool as his. Apart from that, some believers had weapons glinting in mysterious lightnot light that could blind enemies but a more tender radiance that was once again useless beyond looking cool. Were they not afraid of the enemy clearly seeing where they were swinging their swords? Or were they planning to make the enemy laugh to death with their stupid weapons? Naturally, what those believers wanted to cut their enemies down with was their own problem. It had nothing to do with Ironfelt even if they were happy to use cucumber or tomatoes with those weaponshe wouldnt disagree with an easier life. The problem was that his workload never lightened. *** Ever since Ironfelt settled down, many players came to him with weapons they wanted to strengthen. And when it came to weapons strengthening, Ironfelt had gained an Art after being promoted from Golden Crest to Craftmaster: it was an ability to determine if ones forging had any problems by asking Stoff, the God of Craftsmanship and Fine Wine before getting to work. It generally went like: Dear god, is it okay if I put in some dark crystals after adding smelting acids like this? Its gonna blow. Something like that. It was not direct communication with the divine, however, since divine oracles were still a big deal for the Craftsmen Guild. The Art was an ability that simply saved the hassle of reading books to reach the answer, and the rank of craftmasters affords the authority to use this power. In simpler terms, it was Baidu. Be that as it may, weapon strengthening was an entirely different matter for the believers here as compared to Magma City. Although both imbues the strength of the gods into the armaments to improve their quality in every aspect, Stoffs divine power was used most of the time, and it was the same even for the leaders of other churches who invited dwarven craftmasters to strengthen their weapons. Here at the frogmens village, however, they are using the God of Games divine power. Although it wasnt out in the open, those believers left their weapons with Ironfelt to be strengthened, and he could feel the strengthening stones containing energy similar to Stoffs divine power. Be that as it may, that energy could not be used for anything else aside from weapon strengthening. But what worried him more was that weapon strengthening wasnt easy for the God of Games believers. It certainly wasnt because Ironfelts technique was subpar. He was actually quite accomplished in weapon strengthening, but there were simply situations where he had hammered the item of those believers just once and it exploded instantly. Ironfelt was scared to death at first, assuming that he had accidentally caused major trouble but after smashing up dozens of items, those Believers merely thought that they had bad luck and didnt seek recompense from him. He finally realized then that he wasnt at fault. It was the items fault! Chapter 140: You Have No Item, You Have No Life Unlike Ironfelt who seemed to feel bemused by his own work at first only to eventually achieve great enlightenment, the Players were all very obsessed with the welfare that the God of Games bestowed with item strengthening. It was not how to understand, however, since there were wallet warriors that exist here in the truest sense of the term. After believers became Players, they were all basically pulled up to equal statusestherefore, only three aspects could provide a sense of pride and accomplishment: items, players levels and the clearing progress of the explorable dungeons, which were the outskirts of the Valley of the Tragic Dead and the Grey Fjord Port. The condition for the latter two was that everyone must be bored and had nothing else important to do, or it would be difficult for the Players to establish a clear difference. Moreover, EXP needed to level up progressively increases, and as exploring dungeons becomes even more difficult as the game moves to the later stage, the Players who started late would slowly catch up to the veterans. Therefore, a set of excellent and rare items became a passionate pursuit for most Players in the short termand why the Black Hand was held with such disdain. And now, Xi Wei would use this opportunity to implement the item strengthening function, pushing the Players obsession for high-grade items to new heights. Still, unlike the online games back on Earth, NPCs like Ironfelt could not receive every player at the same time. As such, there would be long queues in the Unnamed Town, the underground base in Lancaster and the strengthening house in the Frogmen Village as the Players all waited for their turn to strengthen their items. Naturally, there were those who attempted jump queue since most had been ordinary refugees whose average manners left a lot to be desired. However, after those perpetrators were slapped with yellow-card warnings such as [Assured Item strengthening failure debuff (24 Hours)] or [Account Ban (24 hours)], everyone immediately recognized the necessity of manners, hence tamely understanding their place. *** Hey, arent you Marni? One particular Player could not help chatting up Marni Wilf, a legend amongst all Players when he found him queuing up in front of himself in front of Ironfelts strengthening house. Oh, you know who I am? Marni, who had been craning his head to look ahead to see when his turn would come asked in surprised. Could it be that his handsome face had spread amongst the God of Games believers that even the newbies knew him? Marni couldnt resist thinking so while stroking his chin proudly. The Player then pointed over his head, and Marnis smile promptly stiffened. Oh, right. Players could see another Players name Youve been awesome lately! The Player continued as if it was nobodys business without noticing Marnis stiff smile. Ahahaha, its nothing to brag about. Marni recovered and tried as hard as he could to control the proud look on his face. Still, all he did was connect a trade route from the Unnamed Town to Wickidor, kickstarting several operations in Lancaster to exchange lacking resources for the Unnamed Town (such as meat which the Players could not get from their monster farming), and repel the tsunami to protect the Frogmen Village four days ago! At that very thought, Marni puffed up his chest, feeling that the red title over his head that read The Valiant Heroes Who Fought the Ocean had become much more vivid Awesome! There actually hasnt been notifications in the System about you dying for three entire days too. The Player exclaimed in amazement. At the betting house, those Players putting money on you dying in another three days lost so much Cough Marni choked on his spit, surprised by what he was being praised for. Is that what all of you think of me? No, wait, what do you mean betting house? Why havent I heard of it? That was when the Player noticed that he had let it slip, and promptly tried to change the conversation. Ah, Mister Marni, your HP is quite low, is that really alright? Ive just been through a tough fight Ill get a cleric to heal me after I strengthen my item. Moreover, this place is quite far from any fight so I dont have to fear any loose arrows, and if needed I still have a bottle of Coca Cola with me. Marni replied confidently. Now, about the betting house But before Marni could finish, the Players queuing behind them erupted in an uproar. Fishman! It slipped in past our brothers at the frontlines! I see it! Be careful, everyone! Its throwing its spear! Then, a long conch spear was streaking through the air as it shot towards Marni. A sparkle flashed in Marnis eyes and he sneered. Hmph. I knew something like this would happen. With those words, he dived in a forward barrel roll, dodging the spear with inch-perfection! The others could not help but be disappointed when they saw Marnis performance after cutting down the fishman in a chaotic flurry of slashes. Is that a skill like backleap? The Player just now asked in surprise. Something like that. Its called Summer Consorts Eight Rolls, an evasion skill I learned from a person of that name when I was in Lancaster. Marni replied proudly. The skill would appear in your skill page after learning it, and you could max it at Level 8! The Player was about to say something else when Ironfelt, who had merely been coolly watching from the start as he hammered away on various metals suddenly spoke out. Next. My turn. Well talk more next time. Marni, unwilling to waste time since it was his turn, promptly handed his chest armor to Ironfelt. Hmmm. This has been strengthened before? The gray dwarf immediately saw the signs when he received the armor. I had another dwarven craftsman called Ironrooster strengthen it to plus five when I was at the underground hideout in Lancaster. Heres a medium strengthening stone, please help me strengthen it to plus six. Marni said as he placed the gem on the table. According to Xi Weis setting, lesser strengthening stones were required to strengthen items from +1 up to +5, medium strengthening stones from +6 to +10, and strong strengthening stones for any level exceeding +10. Moreover, failed lesser strengthening only decreases strengthening levels without blowing up the items, and success from +1 up to +3 was virtually assured. On the other hand, it was a 50-50 between the item breaking or decreased level in case of failed medium strengthening, whereas failed strong strengthening was a hundred percent guarantee of a broken item. I cant guarantee any chance of success Ironfelt mumbled after knocking on the chest armor and listening to the echo from it. Its fine, I have a few more strengthening stones prepared. Marni said confidently. Please go ahead. At worst, it would be losing the itemback at the Rotton Bones event, he had exchanged a few sets of Avenger Armor, so he would only feel hurt about wasting strengthening stones even if this one breaks. Ironfelt sighed and hence imbued the energy inside the strengthening stone into the equipment, before raising his hammer high above and smashing it heavily on the armor. Sparks flared at once, and the chest armor hummed sharply. In the next split second, the chest armor exploded with a loud bang, firing countless sharpness across every direction. Caught off guard, Marni looked down at one large piece of the armor sticking out of his chest and blankly said, So, failed strengthening has splash damage too Before he could he finish, he dropped to the floor, sprawling as he slowly croaked. All at once, the Players around them cheered deafeningly, all of them spouting things like Marnis dead, you bastards! or Hurry up, get Miss Eleena. Ironfelt felt as guilty as he was curious. Could this dead human be their creditor? Or is this some sort of enjoyment the God of Games believers had? He stared blankly at his little beloved, considering whether he should tread the path of a bully who mouths off things like, You have no item, you have no life Chapter 141: Fishmen Island Does Not Have Much Time Left! Finally done Xi Wei stared at the tattered little boat in front of him while wiping off nonexistent sweat with his tentacles, looking like he lost a weight off his shoulders. That was the simple boat he mentioned in the event information before. Actually, he could have directly created it in a short time with divine power since divine power is quite omnipotent, even creating a computerin fact, a Gundam might be possible too. Indeed, Xi Wei is confident that the Gundam idea was possible, although he also conceded that he was still too weak at the moment and couldnt make one Still, that would cost too much divine power, and any god might even incur loss of divine power despite gaining a major events worth. That was why the gods did not take sacrificial offerings save for the evil gods that had certain correlated authority: Xi Weis transmigrated authority kept him tax free despite the considerable divine energy he had earned through the thousands of fishmen corpses, whereas it would cost other gods even their underwear from the enormous cost. Secondly, the rubbish sent to Xi Weis divine kingdom from his believers were starting to pile. As such, he used this opportunity and applied just a small amount of divine energy to mold some of those rubbish into the shape of a boat in an effort to significantly reduce the rubbish. Direct molding is too troublesome but thanks to my foresight I had named it a simple boat. If I had tried to make a luxury liner, My Heart Will Go On would start playing halfway through the journey. Xi Wei would cry a river if all the Players were wiped out at such a place. As for Fishmen Island Xi Wei opened his Divine Eye again to attempt spying on fishfolk islandonly to be blocked by the Ocean Goddess power just like every attempt before and see a blurred image. Tsk. I guess I can only rely on the Players as my viewing lens. That being said, Xi Wei wasnt actually worried as it had only been five days since the event had started, with the Players already accomplishing a horrific feat of killing almost ten thousand fishmennot even the border war between coastal nations and the fishmen could see such an outcome. And now, making those simple boats out of rubbish was much simpler. Although theres no telling what the Ocean Goddess is doing, its better to be careful Things might blow up in his face if he was being careless, which was why Xi Wei decided to pay up a little to motivate the Playerswhen they explore the Fishmen Island, at least. Soon, the Players in the mortal realm received the System notification that the event now enters the second phase. Aside from unlocking the quest item Simple Boat, Players would be revived at the Lifestone in the Frogmen Village an hour after death if there was no Cleric at hand to raise them from the dead. Naturally, there would be a 30% EXP deduction off their current level. That way, the Players would be able to keep heading to Fishmen Island in droves even if the Ocean Goddess had set up some trap, and to remove any obstacles through the experiences they gained before dying. To put it in Xi Weis words, it was to have the fishfolk experience the horror of human wave attack And with the confidence of quick revival, the Players who had been upset with the scarcity of items drops all began exchanging boats, intent on getting to Fishmen Island for a good fight since their strengthening stones were simply not enough. Naturally, Players who had their items improved to high levels would also want to hoard some buffer stones. *** Your Highness, its too dangerous to head to Fishmen Island. Why not stay at Frogmen Village and wait for the fishfolk to come? Boris the guardsman was trying his best to dissuade his princess. Boris, youre being na?ve! Leah Yakaran the warrior princess had no intention of skipping the event, however. Our god has even told us that the war against the fishfolk is at the second phase. Its time to retaliate! But I have promised Lord Vanke to take good care of you and not let you put yourself in danger Boris said, troubled. Fishmen Island is not dangerous; its a little target at best. Leahs gaze was full of confidence. And do you think any fishman would be coming when other Players start landing on the island? Boris did a double-take at her question, realizing that he had said something stupid. He was naturally aware of what the Players were up to: they were definitely going to turn Fishmen Island upside down if so many of them head there at once. And if thats the case, would the fishfolk have the leisure to make trouble at the coasts? After all, those simple-minded vermin would never use swapping the enemys bases for theirs as a strategy Moreover, this is a good chance. Gather the other guardsmen as soon as you canwell get a boat and take down the Boss in the shortest time possible to get the Sea Sapphire, the second-phase event item! Leah added. Good chance? Boris asked, confused. The Players are recently sticking to the Unnamed Town and barely any are coming to the hideout in Lancaster we have to make ourselves known once again to get more Players to come. Leah said seriously. But arent all Players the God of Games believers, whether its the town or the hideout? Boris could not quite get the point of the question. Its different, Boris. This is different. The girl explained sincerely. I am a member of Tierras royal family, and our goal is a revival. Even though Lord Angora is a believer of the God of Games and has helped us much, he remains a noble of the Valla Empire and his path diverges from ours. It would already be the best scenario if he stays neutral when we really decide to restore the kingdom. Boris finally looked as if he gained epiphany. Although the Players were not quite self-aware, most of them had divided themselves into several major groups when the Fishmen Island event started because of the area where they operated. Naturally, Edwards group and Marni were the exception since they were famous and were often away. Still, that grouping was not assured and still fragile, and that was why recruiting Players to their side right now would help a lot if Leahs group could make a name of themselves right now. And clearly, the best promotion of themselves at the moment was to defeat the Boss and secure the Sea Sapphire. I see I understand now! Hurry up if you do. Theres not much time left! Princess Leah said commandingly. Hence, Boris completely forgot about old Vankes warnings, and scampered off to gather the other guardsmen Chapter 142: All the Other Players are Drooling Many little boats were slowly advancing out of the Grey Fjord Port towards the Fishmen Island that descended from the skies. Rushing ahead was Edwards five-person party, long since gaining infamy amongst the players as the quest-crazy demons. Still, their little boat wasnt in a good condition. Urgh. More and more cracks are breaking over the hullwe arent making it to Fishmen Island if this continues! Jessica yelled in panic even as she hurriedly buffed the others with her spells. Its a miscalculation therewe didnt expect that many seals around here Joe replied even as he used his massive chest armor as a bucket to scoop the water off the boat. That said, isnt this boat too weak? Its breaking just from a seal knocking it. This has to be a test the God of Games has given us. He must be warning us not to let down our guard at any moment! Edward was reflecting seriously as one who would make the top three amongst the Players as a God of Games prophet. We would be weak if we didnt think of this situation from the name simple boat. We would have used ice or some other material to strengthen the hull if we knew, to stop this from happening. Im splitting some heads if I see those damned seals again! Helpless, Joe mumbled unhappily. After all, both Joe and Gou Dan were left flustered and threw away their oars when the boat started leaking. That was why the boats only means of propulsion now was Eleenas familiar Croakatoa, who had a rope tied to him as he swam ahead. Meanwhile, the girl was sitting at the bow of the boat and encouraging her own familiar with her adorable voice. I say Gou Dan, who was at the boat stern and scooping water with his helm (his chest armor is leather and cant hold water) turned to Edward who was using frost spells at the holes leaking water. We dont actually have to take the lead every single time, right? Wouldnt it be enough to have the other Players to what was the term used in the forums? Frontlining? To scout out the place first? As a matter of fact, their party were definitely the ones leading the way whenever the System has a version update, new quests, new dungeons or events such as the unlocking of the boat quest item. Meanwhile, other Players would stay behind and refer to their tactics and walkthrough, thereby avoiding much detours. To put it simply, Edward and his party were wading through the river while touching the stones beneath, just as the other Players crossed the same river by touching them Naturally, the touching would earn them respect, value and considerable reputation in the eyes of other Players. Still, being the most active rangers amongst the party who had often been the victim of many first encounters, Gou Dan felt rather upsetdamn it, they were going bald the way people were touching them to cross the river. Even if it is dangerous, we pave the way because our rewards are always the greatest. Edward replied, but soon sighed. You definitely wouldnt be convinced even if I say that. Gou Dan did not reply, but Youre not wrong there! was written all over his face. My reasoning is simple: If we dont count the mysterious old man Xi Wei, we might be the earliest acknowledged believers of the God of Games. Edward mildly said. Eh? Wasnt Princess Leah a believer of the God of Games since she was a child? Gou Dan asked in surprise. In theory, yes, and I believed that as well until a few days ago. When I was doing some quests with some of her guards, I unwittingly found out that she didnt have the System from the very beginning she, too, got it when winter was arriving, a little later than we did! Edward spoke very confidently. Moreover, we have the Saintess with us. Eleena, who was letting her feet dangle while continuing to cheer Croakatoa on, felt as if someone was calling her, and turned around in curiosity. Edward made a hand gesture of nothing at her, and she turned back to the bow, humming a song while twiddling her twin ponytails. On the other hand, Gou Dan was not quite convinced, but he wasnt protesting against paving the way now. I wouldnt stop you guys from talking, but cant you help? Dont stop scooping water or the boat will sink! Joe was almost tearing up, having been scooping out water from the very start. *** Regrettably, the boat could not be saved. Just ten meters away from the shores of Fishmen Island, the little boat knocked into a coconut, which sturdy shell had broken a gaping hole on the boat like a torpedo, leaving everyones struggles to waste. As the boat slowly sinks into the sea, it proved fortunate that everyone had cleared the dungeon in the Grey Fjordthey could swim even if they did not swim well, and as such the waves did not sweep them away on a wonderful journey adrift as they succeeded in climbing up the shores of Fishmen Island. Compared to the Warty Tidal Flats where the Frogmen Village was located, Fishmen Island was much more dangerous: Edward and his party ran into their first group of enemies the moment they reached the beachit was not fishmen, but Killer Fiddler Crabs the size of a small elephant that ruled the beaches! These crabs were natural enemies of the fishfolk since they fed on them. Most fishmen would not survive a single clamming of their massive pincers, promptly cut in two and reduced to food. Their shells were not composed entirely of chitin either, but were mixed with some metals that resembled the thick plates of steel armor. The weapons and equipment which the fishfolk fashioned out of seashells and corals simply wouldnt survive, and all of them would end up as crab food no matter how they tried to gank the crabs, and it was little wonder that not a single fishman was in sight on the beach Still, the specialization of the fishmens organs for killing was not that useful against humansespecially Players. After all, wasnt that just like the plating of an armor? The Players never would have taken even full-body armor seriously: come, experience some physically weakening debuffs, armor-piercing arrows and steamed king crabs Hence, the second group of Players went through great lengths to land on the most suitable beach on Fishmen Island only to find that the first group of players were unable to pull themselves out of their newfound obsession with the gastronomic banquet of steamed crabs. In his astounding compassion, the God of Games had only withdrawn some crab meat and shell, and allowed the Players to keep most of the other parts they could eat. Crab meat was fresh and sweet, crab eggs smooth but not too greasy and crab paste sticky but fragrant. It was heavenly delicious when matched with the bread they were using as rations, leaving the other Players drooling Chapter 143: Luring Monsters is An Essential Skill! Edward and the others explored the Fishmen Island after having their fill of crab. It turns out that every other spot on the island was full of fishmen apart from the territory of the Killer Fiddler Crabs. What shocked them, however, was that there were rare elite fishmen aside from those normal fishmen that they used to kill in droves. Although they had yet to specifically explore where the seven Sea Sapphires were, the entire island was basically divided into seven parts. The first was the long coastal area that was full of reefs and sandy beaches. It was also a no-go zone for the fishmen since it was full of Killer Fiddler Crabs. Still, though they were delicious, who would end up being eaten was hard to say if anyone were to be encircled by two or more of those creatures with the same level. Meanwhile, when the island divided according to the landscape, there was a hill area which was filled with mountain rocks, cliffs and precipices which appeared yellow-brown on a single glance. There was also a lush jungle area covered with trees that showed the properties of seaweed; an especially hot desert zone despite neighboring the sea; another lush area, but it was a mangrove that had no land but was instead full of swamp, moss and mud; the most spacious spot was a grassland that was filled with waist-high herbaceous plants, but the persisting rustling from the surrounding bushes made it clear that it wasnt a peaceful place. And at the center of the island was a lofty mountain that seemed to be cut from its middle, forming a massive plateau. That was where the Ocean Eye portal was, and where hordes of fishmen were living. If other places were filled with lurking threats, that was the only place where the threats were out in the open, the one spot which was definitely the most dangerous. And since it was already so clear, there was no question that the seven Sea Sapphires were distributed throughout the seven ones. Nonetheless, Edward only had to think briefly to decide on their target: the central zone! *** Their group stayed behind a large rock just a bit away from the pateau to avoid detection, with Joe speaking first. Ive used my familiar spirit to scout it out: that Fishman High Priest which is standing right next to the Ocean Eye has a sapphire this large hanging over its neck. Joe put his hands together to form a circle the size of a bowl. Its definitely a Sea Sapphire! And? Wheres your familiar spirit? Edward asked after waiting for a while, but realizing then that Joes familiar spirit did not return. Destroyed by the fishmans magic, Joe said with a pained look. Theres going to be a ten-minute cooldown before I can resummon it. Edward clapped his hand on Joes shoulder in a gesture of consolation before turning to the others. Anyone has any ideas? Me! Me! Me! It was Joe once again. Edward, slightly surprised, made a get on with your show gesture. First, Edward and Gou Dan will ambush the enemy from the right! Joe said seriously. Call me Doug Ag! Gou Dan interrupted unhappily but Joe ignored him. Meanwhile, Edward nodded. A faint to confuse the enemy? Good idea! Then, Eleena and Jessica would ambush them from the right! Joe continued. Edward nodded again. With Eleena, their strongest party member attacking on the second wave to give the enemy an impression that they were being attacked from two sides and add to the confusion? Good idea! Then, I will attack them from the front! Joe then added solemnly. What? Edward thought. Then, well work together on all three fronts and get the Sapphire! Joe then concluded. What??? Edward thought. Is that it? What about a backup plan? And there is the strategy in that? Isnt that just direct, frontal charge right?! Would I have asked for strategy if we could do that?! Edwards face darkened, feeling stupid to have put his hopes on Joe. Logically, with so many fishmen at the central zone, having every single Player gathering there to fight those creatures directly only had a fifty-fifty chance of success, much less just the five of them. You dont think thats a good strategy? Then how about this: you four attack from the front, Ill slip to the rear and ambush themI promise you Ill take down one fishman with one slash! Joe quickly changed his position when he saw the look on Edwards face, even making a proud face that basically said What did I just say? Did I really just think of such a wonderful strategy? Im so awesome! Edward, eye twitching continuously, ignored him. Forget it. Doug, draw a group of fishmen out. Joe, Taunt them when they reach you and dont get carried awayfight but do your best to draw them far away, while Jessica keeps their HP in check. Edward gave up on asking about strategies and started distributing tasks as per usual. Both Eleena and I are long-range fighters, and when there are less fishmen around, well see if we could take down the Fishman High Priest in a single stroke. Aside from Joes upset grumblings about how his strategy had more feeling to it, the others accepted Edwards plan. And yet, the problems began with very first part of the strategy when they carried it out. Gou Dan was unable to lure any fishmen out: his arrows simply could not draw the creatures despite having substantial effect in dungeons. Moreover, fishmen priests would immediately arrive on the scene after he killed one or two, and Gou Dan was barraged by the spells that the fishmen priests squawked out. Afterwards, Edward, Eleena and Jessica attempted taking turns to use their own long-range skills to draw the fishmen out, but they failed just the sameaside from Eleena, who directly alerted the Fishman High Priest because of the sheer power of her skill. The girl was therefore chased over half the Fishmen Island as every fishman poured out of their dens (killing Marni in passing just as he came ashore). As a matter of fact, Eleena would have fallen right then if she hadnt made it to the coast and reached the Killer Fiddler Crabs that were immune to water magic that in turn scared off the fishmen. After multiple failures, Edward and the others all quickly decided to give up on that plan and were ready to come up with some other method or simply swap their target. Even so, their desperate attempt of sending out Joe somehow managed to lure out a pocket of fishmenthere werent many of them, but it finally worked. Then, they also realized that the fishmen would only chase after Joe without regard of the others. Why was that so? Could the Spirit Swordsman have something special that would get the fishmen chase him by instinct? Edward could not help feeling curious, but his eyes slowly fell upon Joes massive chest muscles and he became thoughtful Chapter 144: Ill Be Back! Jessica, I recall you have a dancer outfit, right? Edward turned to the cleric who was quietly keeping up behind everyone. Yes, I do have it Jessica was startled since she never expected that Edward would talk to her, but she quickly answered all the same. But thats basically a collectors item to fill my collection page, and it has no stat buffs. That dancer outfit, does it look nice? Edward asked directly. Eeeeeh? The girl couldnt quite keep up with Edwards train of thought, and could only answer with a red-face. Well its not a matter of nice, theres just too little cloth I-Its not something you wear for others to see! As a matter of fact, the reason Jessica completed that collection quest alone was because she heard that other female Players mentioning that the outfit seemed to delight their partners, doing it out of curiosity and the na?ve hopefulness of a pubescent mind. In the end, when she had finished the quest and saw the revealing, breezy bikini-like attire over the upper half, the demure village girl had almost died from embarrassment. She did not even dare to place the risqu dress in her room as she had thought that she must not let anyone see it. As such, she could only stuff the whole outfit underneath her bag (the dress has scarcely any cloth and therefore takes a lot less space)but despite her reluctance to ever wear it out of embarrassment, the item itself was very beautiful and she quite liked it. On another note, male Players had a prince outfit as a counterpart of the dancer outfit in the collection page. It looked nice too, but it weighed six kilograms including all the attached decorations and jewelry to make it as bulky as heavy armor, which made it a self-debuff item like the unpopular Fishman Helm. Meanwhile. Wonderful! Edward looked delighted. His reaction left Jessica even more stunned, and she felt a little fainting as blood rushed up to her brain, and her heart was thumping restlessly Could it be that Edward Give the outfit to Joe, Edward said then. The girl felt her heart stop. What??? Jessica thought. What??? Joe thought as well. If Im not wrong Edward did not notice Jessicas perplexed look, and was instead smiling as if he had everything under control. The fishmen probably prefer a mouthful of I mean, they prefer fatter prey. That is why the others couldnt lure them out, but Joe could! Jessica glanced at Joes robust chest and looked down to clap her hand over her own. A crisp jingle tingled. [System: Jessica was checking her own chest only to find nothing.] She looked at once repenting and regretting. *** Around ten minutes later. When Gou Dan returned to his partys temporary hideout after checking out the fishfolks movement, he found a stranger amongst them. His dress seemed to be weaved out of skyglow, half-transparent and unbelievably light. It was a divinely short skirt sewn from dreamlike colors, but its also clearly a full dress, not to mention that it was even more revealing than the girls vying for customers in the red-light districts of Lancaster. In fact, no, the upper part of the dress could not even be called clothingthere were only two pieces of triangular clothes covering the important parts, tied to very thin threads. And then there was the chest hair over those huge pectoral muscles that danced in the wind. The tiara over the strangers head was even more dazzling than the most expensive crown: all the gems embedded on it reflected nothing, but were shining their own blindingly enchantingly radiance, with the gem at the center even holding the profoundness of an entire universe. Just looking at it would leave anyone mesmerized, but the platinum tiara was also so dainty that it felt a little cute. And then there were the sideburns and beard on his highly pronounced face that doesnt match his age. Over the strangers body were colors that kept changing amidst light and shadow. It was like the clouds above, light, delicate, illusory and beautiful, the dresses of goddesses in myths with long, silk bands that flowed in the air behind the wearer. There was clearly no skirt holding them, but they were maintaining a puffy impression as they hung, split on two different sides of the dress that the gaze could not help but linger upon. And then there were the leg hairs beneath that wafted amidst the wind. Aaaaaaaaaaaaah! Eyes! Gou Dan fell to the ground, clutching his eyes and screaming. My eyes! Joe, in the dancer outfit was fuming in embarrassment from Gou Dans reacting and kicked him (causing a -1 sign to appear over Gou Dans head). Doggone it, dont think I dont know you have your pain level adjusted to 10%! Gou Dan was roaring with laughter even as he danced away. We cant have me blinded by myself! Im going to upload this image on the forums! You dare?! Youre dying right here! Turning pale in shock, Joe promptly whipped out his sword and swung it at Gou Dan who guffawed even as he proficiently dodged the blows. At a corner, Jessica had turned gray-white completely, holding her knees and looking like she had no more attachments in life even as she mumbled away quietly. I dont want that dress anymore Im just a moving closet anyway Although they hadnt really tried it against the fishmen, this party composed entirely of elite players had been teetering over the edge of a partywide-wipeout. Is this really going to work? Eleena asked Edward in curiosity, being too young to understand the level of devastation of Joe crossdressing in the dancer outfit. The whole partys reaction had actually shaken Edwards brimming confidence too. I-it should In the end, Edward decided to give it a try. Joe had already crossdressed anyway, and stopping now would feel like they were just fooling around with him instead. *** The fishfolk had caught a marine iguana from somewhere, but when they were just about to tear it apart to devour it, a voice suddenly caught their attention. Uh-huh~ Nearby, the burly crossdressing Joe was clumsily twerking as he did his best to flirt and reveal his huge chest muscles as Edward told him too. In fact, he even added a little condiment, casting his taunt skill when all the fishmen turned towards him. However, unlike his usual bellow at the top of his lungs, he was muffling his voice, using a weirdly sweet high-pitch tone. Cometo daddy In another spot, Gou Dan was sprawled over the ground and unable to move with a look that said oh no, Im going to laugh myself to death while trying all he could to stifle his voice. Then, just when Joe believed that the plan had failed and the fishmen wasnt paying him any attention, the whole lot of them leapt up and surged like a wave towards him. From a quick glance, one would think that a third of the entire fishfolk population on the central plateau were in pursuit! Oh sh*t! Joe only had the time to scream once before he turned to run. Soon, right after Joe and the fishmen in pursuit had vanished from sight on the plateau, Gou Dan who finally recovered his ability to move gave Edward a thumbs up before sneakily chasing after the horde. Since the dancer outfit has no speed buffs and the Spirit Swordsman class did not grant much agility, Joe would not last long. Gou Dans task was therefore simpleafter Joe kicked the bucket, he would do he can to stop the fishmen from returning up the plateau. If push comes to shove, he would have to keep killing the closer fishmen to weaken their forces. At the same time, with one-third of the fishmen gone from Joes beating, the creatures were spread rather thin and their perimeter a whole chunk smaller, which allowed Edward and the others to get within striking distance to the Fishman High Priest that was being shielded in the middle! Eleena, now! As their primary source of damage, Eleena charged her golden spear and launched her attack at the Fishman High Priest! Spear of Victory! The golden divine spear shot towards its target like lightning! In the first place, Edwardss party was still too far from the Fishman High Priest even if Joe had lured away a sizeable horde of fishmen, with neither Edwards spells nor Goud Dans arrows could reach it. Only Eleena, the Saintess-in-training whose skills were buffed by his class could! In fact, that was why the fishmen would have sent out every available force from their nest when she startled them before! However, the Fishman High Priest was another user of divine skill and therefore easily detected the charging of divine powersthe moment Eleena charged her spear, the creature had already spread out a light-blue semi-circle divine shield. That was the same shield that had blocked Eleenas previous ambush. Despite the shorter distance and the quicker speed, the Fishman High Priest had suitably shrunk the size of the shield in exchange for a quicker casting, and it still would be protected. For the creature, it mattered not if it had to sacrifice every other fishmanits survival alone was victory! The less-than-a-second advantage naturally did not break the Fishman High Priests shieldwhen the golden spear struck it, the spear itself broke like a fragile object made of glass, exploding into countless dazzling specks. At the same time, the Fishman High Priest had already commanded every other fishman to attack the two ambushes. Even so, in the cover of those countless fragments of light, the creature did not notice that Eleena had hidden a small red-white ball in the divine spear she fired! The ball bypassed the shield that the Fishman High Priest casted to parry Eleenas divine skill, bursting into a puff of white smoke the moment it dropped to the ground! Every fishman nearby was stunned, unable to react immediately. Then, in the next split second, Croakatoa the frogman had sprung away from the smoke, holding the Sea Sapphire he had stolen from the Fishman High Priest in his mouth! Joe is already dead! Edward, who could keep watch of his partys condition at all times quickly yelled at Eleena who was still flailing her meteor hammer (bible). Retreat! Croakatoa, return! Eleena shouted at the frogman. Even so, Croakatoa was already heavily surrounded by fishmen, and Eleena couldnt directly recover him because he was out of the retrieval distance. The colors of determination flashed through Croakatoas eyes when he saw that. No longer in a rush to run away, he promptly stuffed the Sea Sapphire down his own throat, titling his head to the skies as he gulped it down with a loud thud. Croak! In the next split second, he was already drowned by the wild horde of fishmen, but he raised his hand high over them to make a thumbs-up sign even as he did Chapter 145: Why Cant We Submit Missions Yet?! Nonetheless, the moment Croakatoa gulped down the Sea Sapphire was basically the moment the gem was secured. After all, no player would leave behind a pile of feces when their corpse disappears. Moreover, if Xi Wei really did establish such a hardcore setting, the courtyard where the battle against the high priest took place in the Rotten Bones event would have ended up smellier than a dung hole. And if they did create one dung hole with every major battle, even if Xi Wei would ascend as a Greater God thanks to the Players effort, none of the other gods would believe him when he introduced himself as the God of Games Therefore, as Eleenas familiar, Croakatoa naturally inherited the Players excellent System that prevents them from taking a dump anywhere, and he soon returned with the Sea Sapphire. But the problem was that the System had judged that Edwards party did not secure the Sea Sapphire. It clearly didnt acknowledge the gem that was inside Croakatoas stomach, and would only do so when it was in the Players hands or their bags. Therefore, Edward could only wait until Croakatoa had finished taking the dump of his life at the reefs before going up to dig out the Sea Sapphire. Beside him, Gou Dan was capturing the very sight, giving it the title Picking manure between the rocks before uploading it to the forums. It somehow proved wildly popular amongst the Players, going viral alongside I Screamthe image of Joe crossdressing. Even later on, veteran Players would continue to share the post with new players, preventing the post from fading away for a long time, hence ensnaring the newbies day after day. In turn, Gou Dan was affected by the warm reaction from the Players to slowly tread the path of a paparazzo of course, that is a story for later. Meanwhile, Edward had finally found the Sea Sapphire, not knowing that his reputation was already ruined. Although it had took them much trouble and time to search and steal the gem, they remain the first Players to get one. Aside from a truckload of EXP and game coins, Xi Wei also gave them a special systemwide broadcast, encouraging the Players to find the remaining gems while reminding them it was not easy to secure those items. However, it was fortunate that it wasnt just Edwards party who were being hardworking. With the first gem secured, the other six were also found in the next five days. Leah the Warrior Princess and her guardsmen managed to defeat the Rocky Fortoise and acquire the second Sea Sapphire at the mountains. Before dying, Marni snatched the third off the neck of the commander of the fishmen knights (who was riding a giant hermit crab) before dying at the mangrove area. Jom, Terry and their father-wannabe Joey were fighting salted fishmen mummies while their dog dug out the fourth. Zonyan Grayhorn was leading a group of newbies when they stumbled upon a sea griffin building a nest, with Zonyan finding the fifth Sea Sapphire in the creatures nest just before the sea griffin devoured every last newbie. Vela, under Angoras instruction, led a group of veterans deep into the jungle to defeat the fishman druid and claiming the sixth Sea Sapphire. Terrosche (fat) and Silva (skinny) accidentally found the seventh when they were having crab on the coast. After all the Sea Sapphires were found, the Players who had obtained them received a new mission assigned by the System: return to the Frogmen Village in the time given. If it had been players back on Earth, there might be some who would stubbornly attempt to disregard that quest to see if they could affect the storyline. Even so, the Players of this world were all basically believers of the God of Games, and the System, being Xi Weis bestowment meant that quests from above were no different from a divine oracle. Leaving aside any chance of disregarding, with a quest at hand and a time limit upon that, the Players would never choose to follow the instructions given. But in the end, the quest did not directly complete when the seven groups gathered. Still, with half an hour left on the clock, everyone simply guessed that something would happen after the time limit was over. As veteran Players were more or less acquainted comrades who had more or less worked with each other and werent strangers, they all sat together and started chattering away. To all elite Players gathered here, everyone must have gone through battles of near death to obtain these gems that signify glory. The pudgy Terrosche declared seriously. We are all so excellent, so dont be cagey, say what you want to say! The scrawny Silva was nodding beside him. As expected of Brother Terrosche. It was so tough eating all those crabour jaws were beginning to hurt! Edwards eyes were twitching at that. You two got the gem just by eating crabs! You the last ones we want to hear that from! Indeed, he could not help feeling disgusted when he remembered that his party had stood off against almost ten thousand fishmen, leaving Joe and Jessica traumatized while Edward himself had to search through dung to get the gem. This event might be a bit difficult, but it was fun fighting monsters over different landscapes and getting so much EXP! Jom was saying excitedly. I leveled up nine times with the quest and rewards from the Sea Sapphire quest, and just ten percent away from reaching level forty! As such, the other Players started to joining in, animatedly discussing their level up. Marni quietly closed the page after a glance at his level and EXP bar, saying nothing with a face full of melancholy. If not for the rewards from finding the gem, he probably would have dropped one or two levels if not for the EXP he earned from this event. Although the items exchangeable from this event is bland compared to the Rotten Bones event last time around, there are some good drops if we challenge stronger monsters like this one, a purple Rare Shield and Armor of the Rocky Fortoise! Princess Leah started sharing her thoughts about the event too. Zonyan Grayclaw stared at the fishman helm which was fashioned out of an anglerfishs head in his bag, feeling a little stumped and reluctant to speak Hence, the noisy chatter died down completely as the crowds faces made it clear what they were thinking, leaving a chill in the air. Things became awkward immediately. Almost everyone present was screaming inwardly. Why cant we submit our missions, d*mn it! Chapter 146: Self-Directed Act Xi Wei had been writing his script in his Divine Kingdom. After checking the time and finding it almost right, he energized this transmigration powers. Although I cant directly interfere with the trial, its probably okay for the Players to devoutly repay me after finding the Sea Sapphires! Hence, Xi Wei began the self-directed act he had been preparing for some time. *** At the moment, it wasnt just the seven parties who had found the seven Sea Sapphires sitting around in the Frogmen Village. The other Players had also seen their various posts of spoiler images, which was why they had all stopped farming fishmen and ran there to watch. Without the Lord of Dimensions interference, time moved the same for everyone. Hence, as every Player watched, the countdown timer for the quest finally ticked down zero. In the very next instant, the Sea Sapphires within the Players hands unleashed a blue radiance that shot up to the horizon. Afterwards, the skies that had only been covered by clouds became dark and gloomy, with purple-blue lightning streaking between the clouds. One could faintly see an enormous serpentine form wafting across the clouds too. What is that? What just happened? Edward watched as it all unfolded, taken aback. Then, the Sea Sapphires in their hands rose into the air! well, not all of them. Ooooooooh! Im not letting you get away! Terrosche had tightly clenched his hands over his own Sea Sapphire, pressing the weight of his entire body over it to stop it from rising. Brother! Brother Terrosche! Silva, too, tightly wrapped himself around Terrosches feet to add a bit of weight. I think nows the time to let go Terry advised quietly beside them. No, this has to be the Ocean Gods trick to get the gems from us! Terrosche yelled. The Players could only stare at the pair as if they were idiots. This is clearly the continuation of their quest. Isnt what theyre doing completely unnecessary? Eventually, there was a burst of blue light from Terrosches Sea Sapphire that sent those two flying, and only then did it rose into the air with the other Sea Sapphires vanish into the clouds. But just as the Players thought that it was over, the serpentine silhouette suddenly let loose an ear-shattering bellow. Almost every Player immediately put their hands over their years by reflex, but they soon noticed that their HP was still falling despite doing that! Its just one roar, but we completely couldnt stop it what the heck is that? Princess Leah asked in pain. I am the patron deity of the fishmen, serving the great Ocean God. How dare you maggots hurt my believers! I shall kill every last one of you vermin after I retrieve the Sapphires! Oh sh*t. It actually really was an enemy allied to the Ocean God? Everyones stares were full of respect as they turned to Terrosches comedic duo. However, Leah who had seen and known much was confused. Didnt the fishfolk believe in the Lord of Tides? How did another god with direct ties to their race pop out? Shenron(1). Or, to be precise, the voice of the fishmens god was endlessly powerful, and the Players were losing HP even though it was merely normal conversation. Some of the weaker classes and newbies were left with a fraction of their HP and about to expire. But as the Players faced their direst moment, a white light shone upon the other side of the skies. That radiance shot through the thick clouds and easily illuminated half the skies, a stark difference from the thunder and lightning of the other side. It was warm like the sun, as gentle as the winds of spring and a light filled with life. The Players realized then that their HP wasnt dropping anymore. At the same time, some of the Players with better vision noticed that the shape of a ball seemed to have appeared vaguely at the clouds behind the light. Could it be the God of Games? Some Players were remembering the gods statue at the Valley of the Tragic by connection, and yet assuming that their god was a ball felt a little insolent. Begone! The ball of light had merely cried out loud, but the distant thunder, lightning and darkness faded immediately like winter snow against the sun. The enormous serpentine shadow behind the clouds seemed to be grievously hurt right then, yelling no! as it shriveled and rapidly disappeared, and that part of the skies soon reverted to the normal winter weather. If their HP bars were not slowly recovering, the Players would actually had believed that they were seeing things. Meanwhile, the ball figure moved a part of itself that looked like its hand, and seven blue dots of light hence wafted away from the clouds. They began to whirl, rotating more and more rapidly before finally fusing into a massive blue halo. Then, with a shove from the ball, it shot towards the Ocean Eye at the heart of Fishmen Island! The moment the halo struck the Ocean Eye, it turned into a gigantic magical circle that shrouded the Ocean Eye (weirdly, the fishmen beneath it were going about their buiness as if nothing happened, although the Players vision clearly could not see that) before fading slowly and entirely. The ball of light vanished from behind the clouds too, and the Players never did see its true form in the end. After that, the Players heard a stirring sound right beside their ears. [Ding!] [Winter Swimming EventDawn of Fishmen IslandThird Phase] [Event introduction: The great and noble God of Games has repelled the fishmen god and in turn used the Sea Sapphires to seal the Ocean Eye, denying their race the ability to invade land on a wider scale. Even so, many fishmen remain on the island and are a great threat to the Frogmen Village! O brave Players, now is the time to show your courage to wipe out every last fishman!] [Event details: Clear every monster on Fishmen Island. Aside from the normal item exchange, each monster culled is awarded 1 to 10 clear points based on the monsters power level, and when the third phase of the event is over the Player with the highest clear points would be awarded with the legendary gold item Fishman Must Die] [Players in the top ten would also be rewarded with the rare purple item Venomous Fish Fin Longsword, while everyone in the top thirty would obtain the elite blue item Fishman Helm (Dolphin Style)] [Note: This is not ethnic cleansing but merely a culling of overbred cockroaches at home, so dont pay it too much mindMistolin, Anti-Fishfolk Strategist] *** Translators Note: (1) The dragon from the Dragon Ball franchise. Chapter 147: Thirty Years Down The East River… This feels so amazing! Xi Wei was clutching the seven Sapphires in his divine kingdom and rolling about without any dignity. Im rich now! His self-directed act had proved very successful, with his divine edition of the traditional shadow play coming to great effect. Even if the fishfolk deity he had fabricated never really showed up, it still left every last Player in the Fishmen Village utterly astonished. Yes, it was ultimately a mirage. Xi Wei had even kept the area of effect for those images within Fishmen Village to save divine power, and only the Players there could witness it. It was even easier to make the Players believe their HP was dropping with control over their System completely in his hand, was there anything simpler than just adjusting those values? And it was precisely with that short performance that Xi Wei tricked the Players of the Sapphires. What, the show was too short and not enough for you? Nonsense! CG needs divine power too! Still, there was no telling where the Ocean Goddess had gotten the Sea Sapphiresthe gems were clearly not durable and could break if even ordinary Players unleashed their full power, and yet it somehow could act as a crucible to contain enormous divine power like the skull of Rotten Bones. After all, the Ocean Eye definitely existed beneath the waves, but it was basically a portal connected to undersea tectonic plates and formed naturally. Unlike Xi Wei who could use a secret power like transmigrating to create the Lifestone portals, the range of the Ocean Goddess authority did not correlate to portals at all. In fact, the portal was obviously both a natural phenomenon and magitek, and was instead one of the authorities that Magic Violet, one of the Ocean Goddess bitter rivals back in the War and one of the seven Divine Fathers wielded. Coupled with the obstruction of the World Barrier, the Ocean Goddess had actually built the Ocean Eye over Fishmen Island by force. As such, the pseudo-portal that pierced space to achieve the objective of teleportation by using divine power required a lot of divine power. And the seven Sea Sapphires were the batteries used to power the portal. To use an inappropriate comparison: if Magic Violets authority over portals was an insurmountable wall and entering was to cast teleportation, what Xi Wei did in using his power of transmigration was merely to lower the spiked steel wires over the wall and open the gates over it, while the Ocean Goddess had simply brought barrels of dynamic to blow up Magic Violets wall From that point alone, one could see why the Ocean Goddess whom even Aslan the Great Lion nicknamed the mad hag was ruthless and unrestrained. Because the sheer force of the Ocean Goddess divine power was very distinct from his own, Xi Wei had difficulty quantifying the divine power inside the Sea Sapphires according to the standards he set previously. Be that as it may, he realized that the divine power inside wasnt violent after the briefest of touches. Even if the Sea Sapphires that acted as containers were destroyed by an external force, the divine power it holds would only leak and fade without any nuclear explosionsnaturally, he still couldnt absorb the Ocean Goddess divine powers from it, although he could use it like a battery like before to keep the Ocean Eye open and let some fishmen pass through it. It was certainly possible that Ocean Goddess had assumed that Xi Wei would become her sub-deity even if he passed the trial and that his believers would become hers, she did not bother to let her divine powers to go amok and blow up those powerful believers who managed to find and obtain the Sea Sapphires. Moreover, the Ocean Eye applies spatial rupturing in teleportation, which meant it had nothing to do with the bodies being sent to the other end. As such, the cost of divine power was constant regardless if it was a fishman slave or a fishman commander being transported. If 1 point of divine power was the cost to move one fishman, the seven Sea Sapphires had a total of nine hundred and eighty thousand points a quality and quantity that far surpassed Xi Weis own divine power. Once he remembered that the Ocean Goddess could throw away so much divine power over one slapdash trial, Xi Wei could not help feeling jealous. Fortunately, however, he was not completely out of ideasjust as it was with Rotten Bones whom he continued to juice with the blender. By continuously letting some fishfolk pass through and then calling the Players to farm the hell out of the creatures as offering to him, wouldnt he be quickly converting the Ocean Goddess divine power into his divine energy?! Ill let out a hundred fishmen per day, and it would last me nine thousand and eight hundred days with the divine power in the Sea Sapphires and that also means around twenty-only years no, this world has three hundred and twenty days each year, meaning that this would last up to thirty years! If Xi Wei had eyes, his pupils might be dollar-shaped right now. Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh! Thirty years might be the flick of a finger to the gods who lived almost eternally but Xi Wei was convinced that if he could really hang on the edge of the divine realm without dying in thirty years, he might not lose to any other gods by then. As the old saying goes: Thirty years down the east river, thirty years down the west river[1]do not bully the ball of light just because it looks weak. In thirty years, becoming a divine father from a weakling deity is just a minor goal! I would never believe that the Ocean Goddess could still bully me until then! If she is really is that awesome, Ill start living on handstands! That said, the bright future had yet to come, which was why Xi Wei would earnestly keep himself in his own divine kingdom to farm and strengthen his power. After all, it was basically useless to have the world progress with leaping bounds of technology. Any divine being who holds physics or chemistry authorities could just have a moment of diarrhea to promptly lay waste to decades of industrial revolution, meaning that the power of the Gods was the most reliable the end. That said, the Players are being a little slowits already been two days, so why hadnt the Fishmen Island been purged? Should I pour everyone a cup of cappuccino and have them stain their levels to work overnight? Xi Wei mumbled in irrelevance while activating Gods Eye to peek at the mortal realm as usual. Ive already set up a version update, hurry up guys. [1] Translators Note: Thirty Years down the East River, Thirty Years down the West River: It describes the fluctuating flow of the Yellow River (Huang He) down different branches in different times, and is used as a metaphor for the ever-changing fortunes in life. Chapter 148: Fishman High Priest Edward was much calmer in his second encounter against the Fishman High Priest and the fishfolk surrounding it. The reason the quest before had been difficult was because they had to recover the Sea Sapphire. On the other hand, all bets were off when the quest became a hunting quest, and they could just start nibbling away the horde from the edges. Naturally, the culling was delayed up to two long days despite the support of other Players, what with elite fishmen including stingray priests, shark warriors, grouper assassins, pufferfish suicide bombers, and salted fishman mummies hanging around. It was only after that that they took down the Fishman High Priests personal guards and finally faced the Boss over the central plateau. Now, the creature of an unknown species of fish stared at the Players encircling it heavily, clenching its fish fin staff as its green face turned solemn. Mgrlllmgrlrrr (Would you dare to spare my life?!) What is it saying? Gou Dan asked quietly. Dont know, but from the determined look on its face it probably is demanding for a delightful battle. Joe guessed. The Fishman High Priest clearly understood human tongue, but it was just unable to speak it no thanks to its unique fishman throat. Mrlllmrlrrr (No, thats not what I said)! It yelled, pointing at Joe. Joe looked delighted to be pointed at, and turned to Gou Dan. Look, it definitely is saying that Im right! The other Players all found Joe making sense as they watched the sight unfold before them, and could not help casting looks of respect at the Fishman High Priest they were encirclingits death was certain, and yet it did not fear its death, and would fight its enemy honorably to the bitter end with the last moments of its life. That certainly left the Players stirred. Naturally, there was no changing the fate of it dying. Joe hence drew out the Giants Toe, his legendary weapon. Stand back, everyone. I shall face it in a duel in its honor! Joe, are you going to be alright? Gou Dan teased behind him. It is more than ten levels above you. Men dont say impossible! Duels are a warriors romance! But Joe summoned his spirit familiar right after that, which prompted jeers from Gou Dan and the other Players. Where is that duel you promised? Shut up! My spirit familiar is a part of a duel, go away if you dont like it! Joe energized his sword skill, imbuing the spirit familiar into his sword before assuming the posture for launching Slippery Slash. As one of the few warrior-class skills that was coupled with movement, it was basically a signature move for warriors as they entered the battlefield. Grlllmgrlrrr! Mgrlrrrgrlll! (Wait, I surrender! I can take you to the nearest fishfolk settlement, spare my life!) In turn, the Fishman High Priest was no longer nonchalant, but had instead raised his fish fin staff with both handsit was the fishfolk gesture of surrender. None of the Players present had communicated much with the fishfolk, however, although each of them did kill quite a few fishman. Therefore, what they saw was that the Fishman High Priest was raising its weapon, ready to attack anytime in the face of a great enemy. Could it be that youre saying that youre not surrendering?! That you would attack to the end even if it burns out your life?! Joe felt his juices flowing right then, and gave up on his elaborate Sliding Slash in favor of the stronger and more direct Mountain Strike. I, Joe Paul, acknowledge you as the bravest of the fishkin! Come, lets duel honorably! The air between the two tightened immediately, just as the small back of the Fishman High Priest cut a rather infinitely miserable figure. Clap, clap, clap Gou Dan had started applauding, and soon the other Players followed, infected by the sight of fiery passion before them to offer their applause for the last but never yielding fishman on the island. Hence, the Fishman High Priest which had won the respect of all Players roared at Joe shrilly in absolute, inconsolable rage. Grlllrlrrr! Glrrrgrlll! (Motherf*cker! Grannyf*cker!) By the way, I remember Croakatoa mentioning that he knows some fishspeak. Edward, who had been watching from the start in a corner and having a feeling that something was out of place put a fist in a palm as he turned to Eleena. Okay. Eleena, who was sucking on a lollipop took out her red-white Famiball, summoned the frogman in question and asked. Croakatoa, what did that fishman say? Croakatoa gave Edward a troubled look after it listened to the Fishman High Priest. Its fine, just tell us as it is. Edward encouraged. Noticing what was happening as well, the other Players approached them with great interest, their ears straightening as they strained to hear what the brave Fishman High Priest was actually saying. Uh Croakatoa hence did his best to explain through the human tongue he understands albeit reluctantly. That fish man is using a crude tone to tell Mister Paul to have some illicit relations with his mother and grandmother Since the people aside from Eleena werent good people, all of them understood instantly. Which explains the indescribable looks on their faces. Joe immediately pointed at the Fishman High Priest in his irrepressible rage. And here I was, believing that you were a respectable opponent! To think that you would spout such blasphemyI shall act in the name of the God of Games and destroy you! On the other hand, the Fishman High Priest made a grieving and indignant face as it rushed towards Joe with no regrets, swinging its staff without even casting a single divine spell. It seemed to have given up on everything, and only wanted to split Joes head to vent its rage. Still, Joe was defeated by the Fishman High Priests ten-levels worth of advantage and despite the buffs from Giants Toe, his legendary weapon. Of course, the creature was also strengthened by its sheer grief and Boss template. But despite Joes death, the evil fishman was eventually taken down by the Players in the name of justice, though for some reason it had a fulfilled look on its face after killing Joe, and did not resist much before the Players kill it it was lucky that it was spared the sight of Joe being revived with a brilliant resurrection spell with full HP, or it would have died miserably. Nonetheless, Edward was frowning in bemusement after the Fishman High Priest was killedhe had waited for a while, but the System notification indicating the conclusion of the quest and the end of the event was not popping up. Wasnt the Fishman High Priest the last fishman on fishfolk island? Why wasnt it over after its down? That was when a player suddenly shouted. Check the forums! The fishpeople are gone, but a colossal Bastion Crab King has just appeared at the coastal area! Thats the real final Boss of the event! Chapter 149: Bastion Crab King When Edward and the other had reached the gathering point noted in the forum post, they realized that the other Explorers of the Seven Seas (Player parties who had obtained the Sea Sapphires) had arrived too. As a matter of fact, many other familiar faces were gathered hereeven the owner of the Iron Cauldron Tavern who never often showed up was there, gently rubbing and weighting his massive war axe, as if anticipating a violent battle. Is it that bad? Edward asked Princess Leah when he found the Players debating hotly away. How could no one have noticed the Bastion Crab King before? Although Edward could have asked the others, only the former princess of Tierra could hold things together, aside from Edward himself, Marni who was the richest person amongst the Players (not including Angora and the dukes estate he had yet to inherit) and Angora the liege of the unnamed town. With Marni still awaiting his revival, Angora absent since he did not have much fighting ability and his helper Vela not too reputable, only Edward and Princess Leah could have a say over things. As such, since Edward himself had just arrived, Princess Leah would undoubtedly be the one who would have the most complete information on the scene. And she clearly did, and explained things for Edward without a pause. It was slumbering, hidden away beneath the beach. Other Players must have awakened it after killing droves of Killer Fiddler Crabs, and thats when it suddenly surfaced on the beach, catching Mister Marni completely off-guard and killed him in seconds Being one of the serious Players, Edward naturally wouldnt joke around with Marnis dead or whatnot, and instead began to study the situation seriously. The enemy must pack serious damage if it could insta-kill Marni Even if Marni did die recently to splash damage from item strengthening, Marni had still successfully raised his item grade to +6, which was peak performance amongst Players. Despite Xi Wei having set different game coin cost for strengthening items at different item grades, the game coins spent only accumulates with more people going for item strengthening, with increasing an item from +5 to +6 costing above ten thousand game coins. Since the Players never really saved their game coins, only Marni could afford spending so much game coins on so many items. And yet, he was still instakilled by the Bastion Crab King, and it was obvious that it had ability deserving of fishfolk islands Final Boss. Why is everyone gathered here? Going for the human-wave advantage? Edward asked at that thought. Although the Players would gather at a certain place when they are fighting a Boss, the atmosphere would usually be relaxedthe fierce debating just now was quite a rare sight. Everyone has very different opinions on strategy, Princess Leah said seriously. Strategy? Edward was taken aback. In his opinion, the number of Players around here could flatten up to eight Rotten Bones Archbishops. Could the Bastion Crab King be so powerful that strategy was needed to win, even if all these Players around? Whatever the case may be, he decided to hear out what the other Players were planning. Although he was confident with his own ability to command, there were many occasions when meticulous tactics might be less useful than someone elses moment of inspiration, and it was better to check out any available plans for now. Anyone has any ideas? Yeah. To put it simply, everyone is divided into three factions. Princess Leah said slowly. Three factions Edward was rather surprised that there were three strategies could be conceived in such a short timeit seemed that there were really Players present. Thats right. The steam cook faction holds the majority at the moment, with salt-baking and grilling having fewer supporters. Edward: ??? Im sorry, werent we talking about strategy? Could you run that by me again? Edward asked, stiffening himself. The steam cook faction holds the majority at the moment, with salt-baking and deep-fry having fewer supporters. Princess Leah repeated. Uh, didnt you mention grilling before? You heard me. Hold on, isnt everyone having the wrong idea about strategies? You demons! You are talking about how to eat your enemy even before you fight it! I get what youre thinking, but are you really fearing that two hundred Players couldnt beat one Bastion Crab King, its devastating damage notwithstanding? Princess Leah shrugged with a crafty smile, seemingly pleased with her prank. Edward decided that it was the truth upon consideration. Ultimately, the Bastion Crab King was nothing more than a bigger crab, and it might actually be less powerful than the Barren Giant. Therefore, how could the Players lose? Still, crabs are so cute. If they had to eat it Can I have sweet and spicy? Edward asked then. With added habanero wheat! (A spice that basically is the combination of garlic and cumin) Buttered crab meat served with soup! Eleena suddenly shouted, having kept quiet for a while. Grilled is best when it comes to crab. Joe said, joining the grill faction. The meat, sizzling and oozing with juicesimagine taking a big bite. It doesnt get better than that! No, no, no. It has to be seasoned with dark rye flour with a touch of habanero wheat. Thats the best! Gou Dan voiced his own thoughts and his addition to the steam gang. Uh cant we have a bit of everything if the Bastion Crab King is that huge? Jessica said meekly. She flinched the moment those words left her mouth as every other Players had turned to her. Um did I say anything wrong? She asked softly. In the very next moment, all the Players who had been crazily arguing just a second ago yelled at the same time. Thats it! Eh? Eeeeeeeh? *** [Ding!] [Winter Swimming Event: Fishfolk Island Attacks has concluded] [Thanks to everyones hard work, the threat of Fishmen Island is over, but the evil Ocean Goddess is still at large despite the brave and powerful God of Games having sealed the Ocean Eye. With her craftiness, the Ocean Goddess would be able to send a number of fishmen on the island, and as such, please frequently visit Fishmen Island and purge these vile creatures to keep the peace of the seas!] [Exchangeable items remain with new fishmen kill count. Please take note that the list of exchangeable items changes according to the season.] [All Players who participated in the event earns the title of Fishman Slayer] [Note 1: Hunting fishmen is the most boring thing there is, because their heads are pungently fishy and cant be used to decorate walls.Mistolin Anti-Fishfolk Strategist A] [Note 2: Havent you heard of gyotaku[1], bro?Mistolin Anti-Fishfolk Strategist B] [1] Translators Note: Gyotaku is a Japanese method of printmaking that traditionally utilizes fish, sea creatures, or similar subjects as printing plates in its process. Chapter 150: Setting Ground Rules Two days after the Fishmen Island event came to a perfect end. After Vela received a report about a suspicious character wandering just outside the Unnamed Town but cant be fought because shes an ally unit, she led several guardsmen players whom Angora had recruited as NPCs to take a look. That was where they found that it was Kinley Ainsworth, the alchemist apprentice she had met back in Tunaya. Kinleys already-large eyes widened at the sight of Vela. Y-y-you arent you supposed to be dead?! *** Although Kinley had witnessed firsthand how the Players fought as she stayed behind Edward and the others, Edwards group was the top fighting force amongst all Players and any battle would flow smoothly like a stream as long as they did not do anything stupid. Moreover, Eleena the Saintess-in-training had gained great power through her tantrum over being denied milk pudding, and hence fought with so many special effects that the film studio must have unlimited budget. And in the confusion, even if Joe and Gou Dan were accidentally killed while luring monsters and be immediately revived by Jessica and Eleena, the impression Kinley would get was that the two were merely punched to the ground by demons and then immediately brought back to the battlefield with a single healing spell. It remained within the realm of understanding even if Kinley wasnt sure what healing spells had such cool special effects. On the other hand, the reality of having someone come back from the dead was just too astounding that Kinley could not maintain her delicate lady image in her immeasurable shock. After all, the Silver Eagle Duke himself had believed Vela too be dead, even convinced that he had inadvertently caused the death of his sons retainer-slash-lover and was very guilty about it. He had even suggested matchmaking parties on multiple occasions for Angora wherein he would invite every noble daughter in the north for his son to pick one he liked, but Angora would never hesitate to decline. Angoras intentions were clear: gamers-got-no-time-for-babes.jpg Horan naturally did not know that his son was too obsessed with his game for a blind dead, instead assuming that Angora was caught in the heartbreak of lost love and therefore felt even guiltier. Though Horan did try to think of other ways to salvage the situation, Angoras group had promptly teleported to the Lifestone at the Frogmen Village when they received word of the tsunami before Horan could do a thing. As such, Kinley, who had been stunned by the System technology and assumed that the Unnamed Town was developed in alchemy beyond its time sought out Horan, informing him that she intended to head to Angoras fief to visit him (and then think of something to learn the alchemy over there). The old man was at once relieved and did not protest at all, even giving her a lot of money for transport fee, several luxury carriages and diverting some of his best soldiers to be her escorts. In fact, Horan even went so far to hint that Angora had become the convert of a heretical god so as to prepare her mentally. Kinley did not care much about the hint from the old man. As an alchemist, she was naturally a believer of Alchemie, the Lord of Alchemywho was a heretical deity to the Brilliant White Church despite being a true neutral. Be that as it may, Alchemie had believers far and wide with master alchemists who held monopoly over the core alchemy skills of the current age, and therefore controlled technology that could turn the status quo of the continent upside down. That was why every existing nation treated them with deference, with kings of certain smaller countries being ranked less important! Kinleys master was one of them. As such, even Cecil was acting like a dog trying to lick her feet despite being the eldest son grand duke, just to gain more power in his desire to expand his influence Either way, with their own gods having not set the rules to compensate for arguments between humans, the Brilliant White Church naturally wouldnt go on inquisitorial hunts on Alchemie believers like they did to believers of other heretical deities. That was why Kinley was not troubled but actually pleased to find out that Angora was a believer of another heretical god. No wonder Angora and his retainers acted and fought differently from the orthodox churches, and their weird alchemy technology was never-before-seen. It made sense if it was a heretical god existing beyond the orthodox! The curious Kinley therefore became even more excited. What wonderful things could that heretical god show her? And she was not disappointed upon arrival at the Unnamed Town: it was the royal flush upon arrival, which promptly left her dumbstruck. Well f*ck. Isnt that a little awesome to develop actual resurrection technology? Do you people really not fear Death come knocking on your door? So, its you Vela was not concerned about Kinley assuming that she was dead, and merely frowned. Why are you here? Her reaction naturally wiped away all of Kinleys assumptions that she was a twin, which made Kinley even more curious about the heretical gods heretical tech. I came to visit Angora, of course. Could you lead me, little lady? Kinley smiled charmingly, her little face scoring so perfectly in friendliness that others around her could not help having a good feeling about her. Only Vela found a migraine after seeing that. She had the nagging feeling that this seemingly meek girl was not as simple as she looked. Moreover, it was especially troubling when Vela saw the long procession of carriages behind her, looking as if they had the wedding dress and the dowry all prepared. Be that as it may, Vela did not chase her away by using her authority. Instead, she led Kinley inside the town after a helpless sigh. After all, the System had acknowledged Kinley as a friendly unit, and it was best to have Angora decide what to do with her. On the other hand, Kinley felt Velas enmity but paid it no mind, since Vela remained a village girl despite her ability to come back from the dead, and would never win against her. As she entered the village Kinley began looking around, and found many weird things she had never seen before just as she wished. Then, Vela led her to Angora, who was seeing to some administrative work. He appeared impatient too, and was about to turn her down right away after Kinley told him why she came when his body suddenly stiffened. After a moment of staring into the thin air in front of him for a while, he mumbled tiredly. Isnt this just hitting on girls, but decreed? With that, he scratched his head unhappily amidst Velas piercing gaze and said, I can allow you to stay in town, but my subjects can be a bit oh, fine. They are almost all very special, and so I have to set some ground rules with you to avoid any conflict. Chapter 151: Slums The northern side of Lancaster City was its rundown slums. This was once a residence for the common citizen. Although it was not as elegant and noble as the southern aristocratic district or as prosperous as the trade district at the east, nor was it too different from the rather chaotic western black-market districtbut everyone could live well. Until the fall of Tierra. Lancaster wasnt destroyed by much thenbut that only applied to the noble residences and the trade district. The residential area of the common citizens had been struck most heavily, and the lack of management or maintenance reduced it to battered slums. Many buildings devastated by the fires of war then were left as it was, about to collapse at any given moment even though so long had passed since then. And in the ruins of one of those houses, three shivering children were surrounding a dying bonfire, doing all they could to draw a little warmth from the cinders. Simba was an orphan whose parents had died in the war years ago. The house they left had been occupied by local thugs, and not only was he unable to fight back at his young age, he was chased out after they had taken every last bit of valuables. In the end, he was left adrift, ending up int the wreck of a house, doing odd jobs for merchants in the trade district day after day with some theft on the side, but always barely surviving. Even so, winter was longer than expected this year. All the food, firewood and every last coin they had prepared before it was used up, and yet the sun seemed to have no intention of revealing its face amidst the clouds. Fires dying. Add some wood, Zazu suggested hesitantly. Simba shook his head. No. We cant take anymore planks off this houseits already weak enough, and any wind would topple it if we keep dismantling it. The prolonged winter had bloated the price of wood at the shops to one rion per stack, something Simba and his brothers simply couldnt afford. Brother Nalas eyes were closed as she leaned on Zazu. The skinny and sickly little girl was drifting between dream and consciousness and mumbling very softly. Im so hungry The two boys looked at each other, but there was nothing the adults could do, much less children like them. If push comes to shove, Ill get some wood from outside the city. He gritted his teeth as he made his choices. If I could just get a handful of stacks, well have wood to burn, and food for Nala! Dont be reckless! Zazus face dropped as he quickly tried to warn off Simba. The forests are as wild as it is fearsome, and few of those rion-thirsty lumberjacks ever come back. Even experienced hunters and well-equipped city watch have been killed! Ive even heard from the mercenaries at the taverns that they had spotted a rare Dragonfangthose things are much scarier than saber-toothed tigers! But theres no other way, Simba said in anguish. There are no odd jobs to be done in winter, and theres no one on the streets to even steal from Zazu was about to retort when both he and Simba promptly stopped talkingthey heard footsteps outside. The weight on those steps were lightthe boys would never have heard anything if it wasnt for the crunching sound of thick snow. Could it be slave traders? The boys shared a look and quietly picked up large stones which were half the size of a head from the ground, their hearts quickening in nervousness. Their lives would be over if children like them were captured and sold as slavesno slave owner would want sickly, scrawny and filthy children like them, and they would definitely be sent to illegal mines and be worked to their deaths, or simply fed to the monsters of various gladiator arenas However, both Simba and Zazu breathed in relief when that person finally arrived by the door, and they remained alert although not as much as before. The person was a tall and skinny middle-aged man who calls himself Mufasa. The sword he carried over his back was distinctly different from the thick, heavy weapons of other mercenaries: it was weirdly long and narrow, not to mention that it only had a single edge. Moreover, despite the cold weather, he was only dressed in something simply sewn out of sackcloth that resembled a tramp. But to call him a tramp would be wrong: those rags were actually very clean and unsullied in any manner, just as it was so flat that there were no signs of wrinkle over those clothes. Considering that both washing and ironing would take a lot of effort, Simba wondered if something sewn out of broken rags need to be washed. This wasnt the first time Simba and Zazu had met him. *** When the winter season first began, the middle-aged man had excitedly asked if they wanted to join a mysterious church. He did not mention which church it was, which was why Simba ignored him, believing that it was a cult that must not be named. He did want to drag Zazu and Nala into some bizarre cult, and then be used as offerings to evil gods. Fortunately, Mufasa did not keep pestering them and left after Simba declined. He returned a few times, however, but would still quickly leave whenever his preaching failed. And now, Mufasa raised his hands in surrender when he saw the youth and the stones in their hands, indicating that he meant no harm. Its goddamned cold around here. You wouldnt mind me using the fire too, yes? He then said, self-indulgently approaching the fire as if he did not notice Simba and Zazus hostile looks. However, none of them saw what they did but the fire suddenly bloomed. The radiant flames shone in the house that only half a ceiling left as warmth extended, with Simba feeling as comfortable as having a warm water bathand he could no longer remember when was the last time he had one. Meanwhile, Mufasa spied a bull femur in a corner that was riddled with bite marks[1] and could not help but lift a brow. Hence, he whipped out a helm-like cauldron out of nowhere and put it over the fire, before going outside to scoop up clean snow to boil in it. After that, he took out some spice Simba did not know the name of and put it into the cauldron, before finally drawing out a piece of bacon which he cut into paper-thin slices with his long sword that he cooked inside. Simba couldnt help but blink. Is that really long sword a knife to cut meat with instead? Wouldnt it hurt others, given how lengthy and inconvenient it looked? But soon enough, the sweet scent of meat soup extended, leaving Simba and the others salivating. [1] bad Simba! Go back to your slimy yet satisfying stuff Chapter 152: City Watch Want some? The seasoning is not that good, but it would taste good when cooked with soup. The middle-aged man Mufasa who always appeared casual whipped out a wooden spoon from out of nowhere, stirring the bubbling, boiling meat soup while scooping out a spoonful. Im quite confident in cooking soups. He said. Nala, who had been drifting to sleep, slowly woke up after sniffing the fragrant smell of the soup. Could it be a trap, like You kids are now a convert of our church after drinking our soup? Simba asked cautiously. He could not help being careful, with children disappearing from the slums every passing day. Relax, Im not that desperate its a permanent quest in the first place. Mufasa nonchalantly said something Simba didnt understand at all, although he did appear to not bear ill will. Moreover, despite Simba and Zazu clenching on the stones and looking ready to attack at any given moment, they were actually putting on airs since they had long since became powerless after going hungry for so long. Indeed, Mufasa would have used his long knife that could slice off thick bacon like butter to easily destroy them if he was hostile. The two boys looked at each other and eventually decided to compromise. The three children hence took out the small wooden bowl hidden in a corner of a room, took a huge serving of soup before taking turns to drink it. Its so tasty! Simba couldnt help whispering. Nonetheless, it was obvious that both him and Zazu were trying their best to control their impulse of finishing the soup in one gulp so that the frail Nala could have more. Mufasa could not help but smile at that serious look. Drink as much as you want. Arent you having any, sir? Nala asked in her tiny, meek voice. Hahaha! I may look like this, but Ive actually earned a lot just a few days ago. I wont miss a little food! Mufasa smiled in return. Liar. I saw you getting caught by the city watchthey even hung you at the gates to warn the people! Simba did not hesitate to expose Mufasas lies. Ahem! What are you talking about? Kids like you wont ever understand adults plans. Its a tactic I made with the city watch! Thick-skinned, Mufasa started boasting instead. We are basically brothers now! The three children merely casted him doubtful looks. At first, Mufasa had been intending to continue making things up as he went along when his gaze sharpened and he stopped talking to listen carefully. There were footsteps outside the house once again. Unlike just now when he came in himself, there were at least a dozen people this time. Almost half of the footsteps were also quite dull, and no one could have heard it if they didnt strain their ears. Moreover, it could only be either some fat person weighting over two hundred catties, or they were wearing heavy armor. And the only people who could wear armor in the city was the watchmen under the mayors commandchurch military units only wore cloth armor, and those without heavy armor were ordinary soldiers. After all, the winter left the city watch shorthanded, and they had to ordinary bring in a mix of ordinary soldiers for patrols and other duties. Mufasas face dropped immediately. Eat up. Pretend you never saw me if anyone asks! With that, he slipped away swiftly, climbing up what remained of the roof and vanished from sight. And just after he left, soldiers from city watch arrived inside the broken house. However, the one leading them wasnt the city watch captain who was fully-armored as usual, but an adolescent who was dressed in flamboyant dyes and had an arrogant air to him. He was clearly a noble whom the captain of the city watch submits to. The young noble then drew out a wanted poster and showed it to the children, and the portrait unsurprisingly showed Mufasa. Have you kids seen this person recently? The trio did not hesitate to shake their heads. Tch. Are you sure this acquaintance of Marni Wilf often met these three brats? The young noble asked, turning to the captain. Yes. Thats what our contacts told us. The captain answered respectfully. The young noble clicked his tongue in irritation, but when he was about to leave with the soldiers, he inadvertently noticed the cauldron hanging over the childrens bonfireit used to be a helm, and it was one rarely seen around these parts. Smiling sinisterly, the young noble paused and conveyed his orders to the captain. Take those brats away! Have someone stay here too, so that the fellow would know to come find them at the city watchs base. Would he offer himself for these brats? The captain asked puzzledly. No idea. But they are nothing more than dirty peasants, so it wont matter if they die. The young noble thought nothing of it. What matters is that we get him, and torture him for Marni Wilfs weakness That merchant has a fat stock of resources that the people in the city have their eye on! The earlier we get him, the better! Hence, the city watchmen who never flinched from bullying townsfolk charged forward menacingly at once with their orders, capturing the three children and even awarding Simba a punch for his struggling, leaving him battered and bruised. For some reason, the young noble felt great annoyed that the brat was glaring at him fiercely and unyieldingly despite being wounded. Two hostages are enough! He then pointed at Simba. Well get rid of this one right here so that that fellow would know that were being serious! Let me think right, cut off his head and hang it over the door! The soldier who had been pressing a hand over Simbas head did not hesitate to draw his sword. Wait! That was when Mufasa leapt off the roof. *** Mufasa had felt ill at ease from the very start, which was why he returned to check on the children. He certainly did not expect to see something so infuriating like this. Mufasa could not help feeling fearful after the fact too, because Simba would have died for no reason if he had been late. Aha! What did I say?! The young noble looked delighted as if he had hooked a big fish. You are wise, my lord. The heavy-armored captain beside him licked his boots immediately. Mufasa stared at the two of them in bemusement. Why would you do this? Arent they citizens of Lancaster? Or is the purpose of the city watch not to protect her citizens? Citizens? You are wrong there. Only those who pay their due taxes every month are citizens, while these are nothing more than sewer rats, scum of the city barely surviving on scraps. The young noble never faltered in his words and then pointed at Mufasa. But all of that has nothing to do with you now. Guards, take him! Chapter 153: Noble Be that as it may, neither the young noble nor the city watchmen expected that the scrawny Mufasa who looked not much better than than the peasants, aside from some color on his face was so agile and strong. Even in the small, narrow ruins, he was nimbly using the pillar and half-crumbled walls as cover, easily evading all attacks. The city watchmen simply could not reach him, and were running around in circles instead. The noble youths face darkened even as he watched his men clumsily tried to close in on Mufasa like clowns on a troupe, only to be bamboozled and humiliated. Enough! I dont have the time to play hide-and-seek! He roared, seizing the skinny Nala with one grab while unsheathing his ornamented sword and holding it over her neck. Stop right there or she dies! Could you sink any lower? Are you even a noble?! Mufasa cursed from overhead and frowned, half-crouching after having lightly leaped over a doorway to avoid being ambushed. Thats why I hate talking to filth like you. Perhaps believing that he had won, the young noble spoke with brimming confidence. Nobles are people like us: prestigious bloodlines, powerful and born above others! Everything you peasants have from wealth to life are ours! You should just quietly survive by earning for us, stay obedient like livestock and not give us any trouble! Why would your kind always get some dumb idea to resist meaningless like this? Mufasa was shocked. He was certainly caught off guard by the young nobles perspective. As a former citizen of Lovinia, the royal capital of Tierra, he had gone to the Unnamed Town with Marni after staying in the Cromwell Refugee Camp for some time. Being a peasant, he never had any dealings with the nobles and basically never wet one. Still, Tierra was itself a kingdom of wealth, and coupled with their faith in the Church of Games that kept them free from religious taxation, the citizens lived in stability and happiness, and their nobles were naturally widely respected. But as Lovinia was reduced to a battlefield and Tierras fall soon after, the former citizens were displaced and led by old Vanke, Tierras registrar and a noble to Cromwell. Although Mufasa did not encounter any Cromwell nobles, they had at least kept the refugees supplied every day so that they did not starve to death. Later, as he followed old Vanke to the Unnamed Town out of trust and became a Player, he met Angora, who often mingled with the Players in spite of being a noble and Princess Leah herself, who physically mingled with fists. Those experiences left Mufasa instinctively grouping nobles as great characters worthy of respect who would make a stand for their subjects, and he earnestly respected old Vanke and the liege Angora. Those opinions kept Mufasa a law-abiding citizen, and he did not even resist when he was captured by the Lancaster city watch a few days ago for preaching. And yet, the young noble he met today widened his horizons from a certain point of view, allowing him to see the dark side of nobles he had never seen because of his place in society. I see. I understand now. Mufasa said softly, hanging his head. There wasnt much noise in the abandoned house since it wasnt large and because the city watchmen were trying to quietly surround Mufasa, allowing his quiet voice to be heard. Finally decided to surrender? Hmph, wasting so much of my time The young noble had expected Mufasa to give up on all resistance, only to find that he was unsheathing his exceedingly narrow blade. Your thoughts are completely warped. I have given up on trying to convert you. Mufasa declared, pointing his sword at the young noble. Feeling tricked and embarrassed, the young noble exploded and roared at the watchmen who had completely surrounded Mufasa. Take him! Even so, none of them had understood what Mufasa had meant. Perhaps they did, but they simply were not concerned. Mufasa leapt forward from the wall, and the watchmen up front had the look of Here comes my contribution on their faces, spreading their hands as if to catch him. Too slow. While it may be steady and firm to have heavy armor, but they were too slow in Mufasas perspective. The light reflected from his blade flashed in an unimaginable angle, and the watchmen were cut into tiny pieces before they could react, watching as parts of their body sprinkled all over the floor. Even the heavy armor that granted them the confidence to bully peasants as they wished was simply useless now, all of which were sliced away with their bodies with relative ease like paper! It was only three seconds from the moment Mufasa leapt off the wall and the city watchmen dropped to the ground. Several other watchmeneither unable to react or having their ferocity provokeddrew their short swords to attempt ambushing Mufasa from behind. However, a single flash from his blade, and those watchmen were cut in two along with their weapons! It was only then that the other city watchmen understood that they werent trying to capture some weak refugee but a demon, in the truest sense of the term. Despite the young nobles shock, he still noticed the unsullied edge of Mufasas sword. A flash of greed appeared in his eyes. Even if he had siphoned credits off the equipment budget of the city watch to the point that their heavy armor were only defective items, everything was ultimately made of steel. And any weapon that could slice off those steel so easily was definitely a treasure. Still, he wasnt brainless and knew that only the bootlicking captain beside him could be relied upon. One shouldnt count on the captains lack of dignity, because it takes more than groveling to become captain of the city watch. After all, the mayor was not so stupid to entrust the lives of his family to some trash. In fact, this captain named Bolt had a fine set of sword skills that make him formidable even amongst the empires military. Moreover, he had spent a large amount of money bribing a priest of the Temple of Glory to tattoo a crude God of War seal over his body, and was therefore able to use qi surpassing normal fightershe could have been a knight in certain isolated locations. Bolt, take him. Cripple his limbs and that sword is yours! The young noble determinedly commanded at that very thought. Chapter 154: Kengyoku The look on the city watch captains face did not change much, but the delight was palpable in his eyes. Without regard if it was an ambush, he energized his qi, drew his sword and swung it down at Mufasa! A bright red Danger''[1] character that only Mufasa himself could sense appeared over his head. That blow couldnt be blocked! Nonetheless, Mufasas heart stirredclenching his mercurial blade, he rattled it, directly repelling Bolts blow instead of trying to parry it! His move should have sent Bolt flinching and staggered him enough to leave him defenseless, thereby creating an opening for a flurry of strikes. Bolt, however, did not so much as shake as he easily nullified the reflected blow, denying Mufasa his opening. Mufasa could not help being stunned. But unbeknownst to him, Bolt was even more stunned despite keeping a poker face. His qi strike was stopped by someone not using qi? How could this be?! Qi was the divine grace of the God of War Kratos given form, and fundamentally a supernatural strength just like magic. Moreover, the source of all the magic in this world was Magic Violet, and since both him and Kratos were two of the seven Divine Fathers, there was no distinct inequality between themin the eyes of mortals, at least. Hence, that attribute from the deity was supposed to be fatal, with normal people being unable to stop it at all no matter how good their way of the sword was. That is, unless the person in question had left the restraint of rules and obtained a miracle of their own to become a legendary champion. And Bolt would never believe that the youth before him was one such legendary champion. If he really were legendary, he would have gone out in force at the previous insult, blowing Bolt and the others up along with Lancaster itself. Likewise, it should not be magic because Mufasa had not made any signs. Hence, the only possibility left was divine art. There is a huge chance that Mufasa was buffed with some divine arts to hold himself against his qi! Regardless if Bolt the city watch captain had made his conclusion, he withdrew the disdain he had been showing. The fact that Mufasa could stop a qi-powered strike made it evident that he was more than a mortal and had ventured into the domain of supernaturalnot some existence to be harvested but one worthy of respect. I am Bolt Marbil, captain of Lancasters city watch, heir of the great swordsman Elton Cobb and a mark-bearer of the Temple of Glory! He declared loudly at Mufasa. Name yourself, special one! Such a long title, so cool. Mufasa could not help feeling envious. Hence, after a moment of silence, he imitated Bolt in return. I am a witness of Rotten Bones fall, he who light torches in the land of tragic deaths, treasure seeker in the depths of the Grey Fjord and a warrior who repelled the fishmens invasion: your typical bystander, Mufasa! What typical bystander?! Both Bolt and the young noble were cursing inwardly. Knowing that Mufasa was just making up some titles and reluctant to reveal himself, Bolt did not say another word and attacked Mufasa again. However, instead of the opening and direct exchange of blows, the city watch captain had adopted a ruthless but unusual fighting style. With qi aiding him, his speed and strength far surpassed anyone elses, and any other Player might have been distinctly disadvantaged and fallen right there and then. After all, the abandoned house was too small and too narrow: Mages and Rangers would never have the space to cast their skills, Shadow Rogues had never been good at direct fights, Clerics would get tongue-tied in their chanting while Spirit Swordsmen would have killed themselves in the process Even so, Mufasa was the one exception: he was the only Swordmaster who had trodden the route of Kengyoku. *** As a Kengyoku, Mufasa basically had no other ability apart from sword skillsno sword beam, no HP-trading buffs, no dirty tricks like throwing dirt or bricks. All he could rely on was his sword skill and himself. It had actually been perfectly normal for him to be defeated by monsters of the same level back when he first decided to change class to Kengyoku after he had been drawn to a sample video. As a matter of fact, he would be in dire straits if he was surrounded by two or three monsters, even if they were six levels beneath himhis ability to fight simply pales when compared to other Players, just as he often dragged other Players of his party to full-team wipeouts. Eventually, he decided to attempt challenging dungeons alone, giving up on partying. One should note then that the Player level average then was different then that it was now, and dungeons were extremely difficult and dangerous even for a full party. Naturally, Mufasa would die in every way possible. He could even have dropped below Level 15 if he had not been careful and be prevented from using any of his sword skills. But at some unknown point in time, he started to realize that the minions in the dungeons had become infinitely vulnerable. He could now see their every action, seeing the trail of where their attacks would end up and where they were going to easy parry or deflect. None of them could reach him, and he could in fact cut off the two-thirds of a Rotten Bones High Priests HP without getting so much as a scratch, before being instakilled by its inescapable AOE strike That naturally left Mufasa with the illusion that he could have killed even the Rotten Bones High Priest alone, if only he had trustworthy party members to buff him with shields and heal him Be that as it may, he had already earned the infamy of causing party wipeouts. Even Players who never heard of him would say things like our party is full, spare us, bro or heres twenty bucks, buy yourself some smoked meat after learning that he was a Swordmaster who had assumed the path of Kengyoku. As such, after having given up on the permanent quest [The Lords Light Illuminates the Land] for some time, Mufasa decided to recruit some new Players to party with and began preaching in Lancaster. And that was why right now, he appeared to be holding back even with Captain Bolt raining blows down upon him he could keep up with Bolts rhythm, and see through his skills even before he casted them! Therefore, Bolt who had been planning to use his flurry of blows to leave Mufasa flustered and take him out with one decisive strike was pulled into a vicious battle of attrition instead! Unlike Mufasa who could stay at his peak condition as long as he did not empty his stamina bar, Bolt was only humanhis will to fight would fall along with the reduction of his stamina, and just after half a minute of fighting, he could not react in time and had his fingers struck by Mufasa with his hilt, his blade coming loose and sent flying. But it was not over! Roaring inwardly, Bolt let loose all his qi in one big burst! There was no rule claiming that the power from the God of War could only be used with weapons! With a sinister smile, Bolt began focusing his qi into bullets that he fired at Mufasa! As a matter of fact, Bolt was good with a sword but still lacking compared to the finest, even losing often with other swordsmen of the same level. Even so, he would always get the last laugh because every swordsman would unwittingly let down their guardeven if it was just a littlewhen they knocked his sword loose. However, the reality was that the Qi Shots he was letting loose now was his strongest skill! But his smile immediately stiffened in the very next instant. The Qi Shots he had fired with every last bit of strength he had was deflected! Hows that possible?! Qi Shots are not sword skills but a condensation of pure energy. How could it have been blocked by that parrying? That is not very qi! Mufasa might be sneering if he could hear Bolts thoughts: it was just a Qi Shot after all. He had only seen too many of its usage in Player PKas long as no Danger was showing up over his head, he could parry fireballs, frost bullets, tentacles, dust, bricks, seafood, and Shoryuken! Nonetheless, Bolt the city watch captain could no longer ask any questionsimmediately after parrying the Qi Shot, Mufasa gave him no chance to surrender as he swiftly leapt behind him in a somersault and cleanly sliced his head off! [1] The Danger (Σ) character that appears over the players head is a reference to a gameplay mechanism in Sekiro: Shadow Dies Twice. Chapter 155: Filth It had barely taken three brief minutes. The young noble had not realized what had happened, but he was the only one left apart from the killer demon who stood holding his sword, along with the other two gaping brats. The young noble felt his scalp numbing when Mufasa finally turned toward him. He did all he could to clench on little Nalas shoulders and pressing his ornamented sword over her neck, whereas his body that was several times her size squirmed and contracted as if to hide behind her. D-dont come! Or Ill kill her! Although the young noble had some skill as well, he knew that he would never have such lightning reflexes to counter Mufasas clean and swift lethal moves. Now that things have come to this, his greatest chip was the peasant girl he had seized without thinking. Hence, he could not help feeling very lucky as he watched Mufasa pause instead of attacking him. His gamble worked! Still, to think that fellow would value the three mere peasant brats so much that he would commit such capital crime such as murdering the Captain of the City Watch Could he be a follower of the Temple of Justice, the least liked orthodox religion? The young noble seethed inwardly. Damn it, why did he have to run into one of those crazies here?! He should have the mayor blacklist the Temple of Justice as a cult long ago! That being said, the northern slums were least guarded by the City Watch, and help was only two city walls away. It seemed that he had to use words to stop him. Still, there were a million ways to fool peasants like him who never experienced much of the world! He tried his best to squeeze out a smile at Mufasa. I promise you I wont pursue todays matter if you let me go! These trashes are dead and gone, and no one would seek you in payback. I, however, am differentI am born a noble of Nigelania, and people will come for you in vengeance! Moreover, your peasant roots must have stopped you from accomplishing your ideals and responsibilities, yes? How about this? I will recommend you to the mayor and let you take Bolts place from now on as the Northern City Watch Captain! You can do whatever you want and out in the open, and throw your weight around! Mufasa did not replyhe had lowered his head, keeping his face from being seen as he stayed silent. In turn, the young noble was quite sure he had convinced Mufasa given Mufasas silence, and therefore continued striking the iron while it was still hot. Look, with those powers of yours, you wouldnt have to crawl around in the slums, befriend corpses and plagues in the company of peasants! You can trample all over them, and stand with us nobles at the height of humanity! Still, you might not make it without money at first. So how about I sponsor your grand career with a hundred Gold Abbys? Thats a hundred and twenty thousand Rions at current rates! Mufasa still said nothing, and the young noble was now absolutely sure that he was moved and therefore put in even more effort. By the way, you like children, yes? Im close to some slave traders. They have bagged quite a lot of goods this year, especially catamites like theseyou can have as many of them as you want! Simba and Zazu did not know what catamites meant, but they could tell from the context that it meant nothing good and could well be worse than slaves, hence exploding into a tirade of curses at the young noble. The young noble was not concerned however, and continued his attempt to persuade Mufasa. If you think that training them would be difficult, I could have them trained before sending them to you Enough. Mufasa finally spoke. However, his voice was not compromising with the promised grand futures or gold, but instead laced with rage. How much further would you trample over the people? Your kind of nobles arent people with noble character, but demons who saw the common folk as livestock, and yet still suck on their blood and lives! Mufasa then raised his sword and pointed it at the flustered young noble. I have no intention of clashing with b*stards like you, but now I must at least teach refuse like you a terrible a lesson that not everyone are slaves whom you could bully as you like! So that you would careful when you feast on others from now on! What are you doing?! You should stop right now! The young noble shrank even further behind Nala when he realized that things had gone wrong, his voice getting desperate even as he felt cornered by Mufasas towering and irrepressible killing intent. Dont be stupid! You would have to cut through this girl before you could reach me, or is this your definition of justice?! Simba and Zazu were casting nervous looks at Mufasa too, fearful that his bloodlust had clouded his mind and that he really would kill Nala too. However, Mufasa was gently rubbing the edge of his sword as if cleaning it. The rage over his face had reverted to calmness once again, as if holding that sword allows him to cool down. The art of the blade is nothing so inconvenient, he said lightly. The young noble sensed something wrong, but he was too slow in the instant he realized that. A mercurial reflection of the blade flashed. The right hand he was holding his sword with had detached at the wrist and dropped the ground. The cut was so unbelievably smooth that even blood had seemed to forget its duty in that cleanest of strikes, and only slowly spurted out seconds later! Aaaaaargh! My hand! My hand! The young noble was left blank for a moment, before releasing the girl and started screaming while holding the stump that had been his right hand. Both Simba and Zazu immediately charged up at that opening and whisked Nana away. The young noble was finally facing the stony-faced Mufasa directly just then. Wait, dont kill me! What do you want? Money? I can give it to you, I can give everything I have, even my titles! The young noble, his face already covered in tears and snivel started to beg for mercy however he could as he sensed his approaching doom. Just spare my life, and youll be a noble! Mufasa took a deep breath even as he held his sword, before roaring in immeasurable disgust. Who would want such filth! Chop! In the next second, the young noble and the wall behind him was chopped in two under the brutal force of Mufasas slash, losing all signs of life completely. Chapter 156: Not in The Top Three Yet Simba, Zazu, and Nala followed Mufasa along the wide and bright streets, dazed and feeling as if they needed more eyes. Despite having worked in the trade district at Eastern Lancaster himself, Simba thought that the streets were clean and beautiful compared to those bustling avenues. In fact, Eastern Lancaster must still be piled full of rotten snow, and yet that wasnt the case for this town. There wasnt a single snowflake on the main streets, and if not for the snow accumulating over the roofs of the buildings beside the streets, Simba would have thought that they were teleported to the mythical southern continent that was warm even in winter. Moreover, the bleakness of winter that should be present was missing hereeven though there werent many citizens, most shops were still opened for business. If Simba hadnt joined the Church of Games, he would have thought that they could survive by earning through odd jobsthe children did not refuse when Mufasa extended an invitation to join them once again after he had chopped the young noble in two. They could no longer stay in Lancaster after they left the broken house where the young noble was killed, but it was still natural that they would be curious about the mysterious church that Mufasa had mentioned after witnessing what he could do. Since Simba and the other children werent Players and couldnt use the Lifestone in the Lancaster Hideout to teleport, Mufasa had visited old Vanke to buy a Teleportation Permit (Consumable, allows non-Players to teleport with the Lifestone). Still, Mufasa did not take them to pray at the God of Games effigy immediately. He brought them to the System Tavern where they had a good meal before all elsethe cauldron of meat soup back in Lancaster had been knocked over when Mufasa fought the city watch, leaving the children starving. For Mufasa, the food in the tavern was as it always had been: it wasnt bad, but it wasnt good either given that the Players were no longer poor, powerless tramps. If it wasnt for the Teleportation Permit costing him his dwindling savings, he would certainly have chosen the Iron Cauldron since the smoked meat there was much tastier. Even so, for the three children who were famished and hadnt eaten normal food for days, it was heaven on earth. The toasted bread was a golden crispiness, and anyone would be able to smell its fragrant scents of butter and cheese, having its own special taste to the bite. The crust was crunchily delicious, the crumb sweetly soft even as the satisfying calories from butter and cheese brought the children an experience they never had before. In comparison, it was much better than the dry, hardened black bread of Lancaster that also carried weird fermented scents, which also included the occasional grass crumbs and wheat shells. If those black breads werent softened by soaking them in hot water, it tasted no different from leather to the bite and was simply indigestible. Moreover, aside from the bread, each child got to enjoy a plate of fruit jam and more steaming meat soup. There was no telling what fruit the jelly was made, but it was a tasty sour-sweet, and one could swallow it on the crunchy toast in a gulp. Simba definitely had not eaten anything so tasty since his parents died. It was naturally worse for Zazu and Nala who were orphaned as children. No longer caring to talk, they did all they could to stuff their hastily layered jam-bread down their mouths as if they would stuff themselves full and die today. Be that as it may, the childrens throats were only that wide, and they would definitely choke on the bread if they gorged too much of it. Therefore, it was fortunate that the meat soup that had floating fat chunks was there. With one spoonful, the already-soft bread would become even more soggy and could be easily gulped down the stomach, after of which the soups abundant freshness and warmth would reinvigorate the body, from the limbs down to every bone! So delicious What would happen if I cant eat food so tasty anymore Having devoured every last bit of food and even licked his own wooden bowl clean, Zazu was staring at the wooden tray on the table, seemingly considering whether he should eat that too. His younger sister Nala was much more adorable in comparison. Holding her own bowl, she let out a soft burp with a warm and satisfied look on her face. *** After that particularly scrumptious meal, Mufasa brought the trio to the hot springs. As the Players had been overworking excessively, they had become fatigued in spirit and lethargic in whatever they did. Early on, the hot springs was mostly frequented by women, with visits from men hence increasing and subsequently plummeting as they realized they couldnt peek on women, and hence had to give up on patronage as if it was a torn shoe. Still, it became a favorite spot when someone noticed that soaking in the hot springs greatly reduced fatigue, with many Players now feeling as if their day wasnt over without bathing there once. Still, it was early in the day and therefore not many people around. After entrusting Nala to a female Players care, Mufasa then went to the mens bath for an open meeting with Zazu. The springs wouldnt have much effect for children usually, but both Simba and Zazu had gained many hidden injuries given how often they were doing difficult odd jobs and were frequently bullied or beaten by other tramps. The effect of the warm water therefore became apparent once they entered the pool, and they could not help groaning as the slight itch and numbness reached across their joints. Youre so awesome, Mufasa. You have to be one of the greatest champions of the church! Zazu could not help himself from exclaiming even as he enjoyed the rather hot spring water. Simba also remembered Mufasas clean and precise fighting style, and knew right then that he must be a formidable champion given how easily he defeated the city watchs captain! After all, the city watch captain was the most powerful person the children had encountered beforehand. Meanwhile, Mufasa was recalling that he was probably ranked around seventy with the points he gained from the Fishmen Island event, and didnt even manage to get the stupid dolphin helm he liked so much. And even in duels, there werent many whom he could defeat amongst the Explorers of the Seven Seas save for Terrosche (fat) and Silva (skinny) who were just there to fill the numbers. After all, not many Players had AOE skills and it was just too troublesome to deflect projectiles, and they all knew what the only Kengyoku was capable of unlike the common folk who knew nothing. As such, they would never engage him in close combat during duels, which made things very difficult for Mufasa the peerless melee combatant Hence, he cleared his throat and adopted a serious, sagely tone. Im good, I guess, although I have not reached the top three yet. The two boys promptly looked awed and worshipful towards Mufasa, their gazes so bright without any shred of feigning that he felt stabbed. Chapter 157: Kinleys New Life I Players with sharp eyes would notice a new shop in town. Its sign which read Golden Rose made it clear that it was an alchemists atelier. Naturally, the owner was Lady Kinley Ainsworth, who had come to the Unnamed Town chasing Angora. Angora had been prepared to chase off this uninvited guest at first, only to be stopped by Xi Wei throwing down an oracle from his Divine Kingdom. In the first place, Xi Wei was curious about alchemyas the God of Games, his power with alchemy was basically nothing more than conjuring Coca-Cola. It was only perfect timing that Kinley would appear in the Unnamed Town now. As mentioned before, divine grace from the gods was not distributed equally amongst all believers, and was instead bestowed upon high-ranked leaders of their faith and a few selected believers. Although all alchemists worshipped Alchemie, the God of Alchemy, their faith was based on the teaching that the essence of alchemy is only seen through unrestrained thinking. It was not a religion in the orthodox sense, but instead a loosely established organization called the Tower of Wisdom. In turn, that group basically had no rules and did not implement any major movements, and was basically a platform that provided opportunities for exchange. Kinleys mentor was one such member of the Tower, and one of the three remaining Wise Lords of the Tower. Although he did not embody actual authority like the leaders of other faith, to hold that position alone was no different being the pope of a church. And Kinley was the apprentice of that pope, and Xi Wei would never believe that the kid wasnt special. If his hunch was right, she was a Chosen One even if she wasnt an equivalent to a Saintess of another religion! There was certainly no other explanation for how the top alchemist of the continent would take her in as an apprentice all those years ago. And that certainly proved true: Xi Wei hadnt noticed it back in Tunaya, but he could clearly detect the power of another god when Kinley arrived in his domain. *** It was only natural that the presence of other gods was virtually undetectable for ordinary believers, nor would there be useful information. In that respect, things were different for special believers. That was the same thing as how Rotten Bones had schemed to kidnap Princess Leah and reverse-trace the location of Xi Weis Divine Kingdomonly she would work, and capturing guardsmen was useless. Hence, with Kinley settling down at the Unnamed Town, Xi Wei would have the time to slowly study Alchemies power that enveloped her. Xi Wei certainly had no intention on trying to stir trouble with the God of Alchemy. Indeed, Alchemie was far inferior in combat compared to the Ocean Goddess, and on the same level as Aslan the Great Lionwith Aslan dominating in the case of direct confrontation, but Xi Wei was a ball with tentacles and definitely not a worthy opponent He only wanted to study Alchemies divine nature and divine power through his own divinity as the God of Games, and see if he could obtain more powers in alchemy On the other hand, Kinley was quite happy with her present circumstances. Angora had set the ground rules with her, literally agreeing to three laws[1]: Firstly, she must never betray the God of Games and His believers at any given time, or leak information about the God of Games to others. In return, believers of the God of Games would never be able to harm her in any way without a divine oracle. Secondly, she could leave the Unnamed Town any time she wished, but she was to produce alchemy merchandise as long as she was around to facilitate the God of Games believers, or instruct them in basic alchemy for any willing to learn. In return, Kinley could commission the believers and have them go on farming quests for alchemy materials in her stead. Thirdly, it was no issue for her to study any facilities and equipment found in the various base of the Church of Games, but permission must be obtained from the head of respective bases, and she must never spread any alchemy knowledge she gained through such studies to believers of other faith, although she could teach the Players. In return, Kinley would not have to spend game coins to directly teleport to other bases equipped with Lifestones. In retrospect, the first rule was quite basic. No church would want to let others know about their secrets, just as having someone from a different faith staying in their own base was an easy way to reach the other churchs secrets. As such, no church would allow anyone from another church to stay in their own base without an agreement of secrecy. The second rule was not too hard to accept either, since from Kinleys perspective trading between the God of Games believers was much more akin to a barter system. As such, creating some alchemy items for sale if she was to live in the Unnamed Town was normal. As a matter of fact, the Players actually traded with game coins, but since the System granted the capacity for digitalized payment or fund transfers, Kinley was no different from a boomer who still carried around a beeper in modern times. She therefore could never imagine how advanced their technology actually was, much less keep in touch with the times. Naturally, Kinley wasnt aware of that. Still, being an alchemist, she needed an atelier for experiments. Hence, from what she could see, not only did the Church of Games provided her with one, she could even get the believers to work for herwhat could she possibly argue against such joy? It was true that in her mind, it was the same as working for the Church of Games be it teaching the Players alchemy or commissioning them to obtain materials. That said, she also believed that most people were not convinced that alchemy was an easy subject. Why else would alchemists be so rare on the continent? Nonetheless, she absolutely would not reject the third rule since it was essentially the reason Kinley had come to this town. She had a hunch that there must be some spatial magitek when Angora and his retainers suddenly disappeared from Tunaya. Even so, what she assumed to be a secret item reserved exclusively for military-use was placed right in the open at the center of town, even made available to her. There could not have been a greater ecstasy for her! After all, one should know that aside from the portal technology preserved by lost tribes in their subterranean cities, portals that existed on the surface were either ancient relics or natural portals! Although she couldnt teach people of other faith what she had learned which limits her ability for full exchange of skills with other alchemists, being able to learn the wondrous alchemy tech of the Unnamed Town was worth the cost! *** [1] Լ¡an idiom, meaning to agree to a set of three rules. Chapter 158: Kinleys New Life II When the atelier was first given to her, Kinley had been worried that a workshop at the small border town would be too crude, and did not even come equipped with basic equipment. Such conditions were not rare: there had been kings who, in their lack of basic alchemy knowledge, had provided several alchemist apprentices with a few hundred Rions, telling them to get themselves any warehouse where they would craft scrolls of taboo spells That was basically the paying a group of university students a few thousand dollars worth of research fees, and have them build a nuclear bomb in some random hall. Still, Kinley was stunned as soon as she stepped inside the atelier to inspect it. The interior atelier was not actually huge, but all sorts of experimental tools were availablecrucibles and furnaces of every shape and sizes, and a giant cauldron that could easily fit an adult inside. Moreover, there were also numerous translucent test tubes and curiously made glass containers placed on the tables. Not even Kinley, whose alchemy accomplishments was already considerable had seen those weird apparatus, but she could guess how it works and how to use it with a single glance. In fact, she believed that having those apparatus would have a better effect if they were used for many past alchemy experiments! Moreover, the precision of those tools was unimaginably high, and she just needed to say the name of the materials and the needed weight for it to appear on the trays of the scales. That same voiceover function worked for writing reports too: the ink on the quill never seemed to dry, the papers would pile together as a volume and the bookmarks could help her quickly check through her notes In comparison, Kinley could not help feeling that her masters atelierthe so-called best alchemist on the continentwas as crude as those illegal underground ateliers. Damn it, what if she got used to such an excellent atelier and couldnt use it in the future? Maybe she should strengthen her ties with the God of Games believers so that she could keep using it? No when she thought about it carefully, wouldnt marrying Angora be the better choice if she really wanted to secure the astoundingly advanced alchemy technology in this Church? I dont want to wipe that stupid smile off your face, but could you please confirm the condition of this atelier so that I could make my report to the liege in time? Vela, who had accompanied her here to open shop asked impatiently. Ah, my apologies. Kinley came to and grinned. Her well-groomed young lady remained flawless that it left Vela the village girl a little chagrined in turn. It was fortunate that Vela was in a good moodshe merely pursed her lips before promptly recovering. Sure, youre pretty and noble, but could you take on a fishman? I can! And ten of them at once! Miss Vela, do you like Mister Angora? Kinley suddenly asked then, sliding her a glance. Naturally, Vela replied with a poker-face. Its not just me eithermany townsfolk like their liege too because he guided us out of our despair. I see. Hmm Well, I like him too. Kinley smiled in return. Velas eyebrow twitched. But do you like me, Miss Vela? Kinley asked then, seemingly having not noticed Velas rather dangerous look. Vela was about to say something when three other persons rushed into the atelier. Or four, to be precise. One was a middle-aged man whose Player name read Mufasa, while two others were children following behind him without Player IDs and therefore werent Players. At the same time, Mufasa was carrying a young girl over his back and likewise wasnt a Player. Her eyes were also tightly shut, her breaths choppy and her face a flushed redness of pain. Boss Lady! Mufasa was left stunned to have run into Vela there for a moment, before greeting her briskly and turning to Kinley. Are you Lady Kinley, the new alchemist? Velas mouth twitched. Why was she a boss lady and Kinley an actual lady? Do you think I dont punch hard? Meanwhile, Kinley seemed to have realized what had happened but still politely asked. Yes. Whats the problem? Nala this girl has been sick for some time, Mufasa quickly replied, but she never said a word about it. It had become serious this morning when we finally noticed it, and the Clerics exorcism or purification wont work since shes not a player. But Ive also heard that you could make healing potions you have to help her; Ill do anything you ask! The two boys behind him nodded as well. Well help too! Even as Kinley mulled over the word Player, the smile on her face did not change at all while telling them with her exceedingly mild voice, It will be alright. Leave it to me. As a matter of fact, she had no intention to follow the lofty attitude of most alchemists and ignore the peasants suffering. For one, she intended to strengthen her ties with the Church of Games in the first place, so why would she stay idle and ignore such a chance? Secondly, she had also believed that the reason good alchemists were so few on the continent was due to the alchemists own excessively high-and-mighty attitude and hoarding of alchemy knowledge, which goes so far that it prevented them from working together. Will it really be alright? The potion ingredients here dont seem to be enough, Vela asked worriedly. Ive checked: the ingredients to brew a potion for this childs condition is enough. Kinley smiled, just before she started summoning various unusual ingredients onto the scales which she then put into the cauldron to cook. Meanwhile, she connected several containers with glass tubes, pouring out the cooked ingredients, filtering it and then processing it for a second time. In a brief dozen minutes, she had completed every procedure and a bottle of jade-green potion was made. Kinley was very satisfied with it too. It would have taken her another dozen minutes if it had been her mentors set of tools, and the resulting brew would not be that good as well. Have her drink this twice over three hours. She would be fine by evening. Mufasa and the two children left in utmost gratitude with the potion. Vela gave Kinley a look of mixed expressions. After a moment, she honestly said, About your question just now I dont like you, but I sincerely welcome you to our town, Lady Kinley. Chapter 159: A Day of Rest: Part IV The Unnamed Towns inn was built by Angora to accommodate the refugee Players Marni had brought. However, now that most of those Players had enough of their own wealth to buy houses in various spots in town (Although most have become penniless once again following the introduction of Item Strengthening), business was waning at the inn. The Unnamed Town was no famous tourist spot or Holy Land itself after all, and it was not too likely to have tourist coming to visit. Be that as it may, Mufasa had the children stay there for the time being. Despite the fact that the children had agreed to join the Church of Games and become believers, it was not that easy to offer praise to an unfamiliar deity they had not been in touch with. At the very least, no matter how Simba would claim that he believed in that god now, Mufasa could tell at once that he was lying *** Nala drifted into deep sleep after drinking the female alchemists potion. Mufasa himself had things to do, and so returned Nala to the inn, but warned the children not to do anything that would lead to misunderstandings before leaving. Zazu had decided to stay in the inn to care for Nala, while Simba decided to have a tour of the streets despite worrying about her as well, so that he could understand the place. It was a habit he had developed when he was forced into burglary to survive in Lancaster. Indeed, it was something similar to taking note of every detail of the mark as any thief would put it, checking the surroundings, smoothing out any potential problems and confirming the escape routes. Moreover, after having ran around for the sick Nala since morning, Zazu and Simba did not have much to eat and were still holding on with the scrumptious dinner they had last night. Continuing on with just that was definitely impossible, so Simba could bring some food back to the inn while checking things out. Mufasa had left some game coins back in their inn, and according to him, that was the currency that the town mostly traded with. Many unique buildings and facilities that the town possessed only accepted the game coins too, whereas the Rions and coppers coins had to be exchanged before it could be used in this town. While Simba thought that it was not alright to accept Mufasas charity, he clearly wasnt getting anything to eat empty-handed. He therefore steeled himself and accepted the donation, and brought some of the coins with him before he left. The children had been hungry, tired and very nervous when they arrived in town through the Lifestone, and did not really observe the town. Now that Simba was calmer, things naturally felt different than yesterday. Firstly, the cleanliness and elegance here naturally didnt change much, but unlike yesterday, the people on the streets were flocking in groups of five to six, and passionately discussing things Simba couldnt quite understand. At the same time, from the pointedly aimed manner in which they picked their path, they were different from the Lancaster noble kids who strolled everywhere with their lapdogs. Of course, there were many things that Simba found hard to comprehend aside from those normalcies. For example, he had just seen a scrawny figure dashed past him like a wind, while a burly person with huge chest muscles was holding a massive sword glinting in orange radiance while in pursuit Just as Simba was left stunned by the violence in broad daylight and was left confused why no city watch or some other peacekeepers coming forward, he realized that the others on the streets were acting as if they had seen nothing. In fact, some of them chuckling and saying things like looks like Gou Dan is stirring things up again, He deserves that for capturing that blinding image, Calm down, everyone, lets keep the post at trending so that newcomers could be baptized with that!. That said, they were not actually reacting like they were watching people chasing each other around, but simply bearing the nonchalance of watching siblings having a quarrel. Excuse me wont they get hurt? Simba carefully asked a passerby. Theyll be fine. Joe would calm down after Gou Dan dies, the passerby answered matter-of-factly. What nonsense was that? What else would he want after his victim dies? Or was he going to chase his victim down the underworld? On the other hand, werent the townsfolks brains wired differently? Why dont they care about dying? Even the legendary barbarians of the barren highlands who valued honor and battle more than life did not ignore death to such levels! Simba then associated all that with Mufasas outstanding fighting skills and his decisiveness in cutting down his foes, and therefore had a chilling hunch: could it be that Mufasa was so strong because he stayed in such an environment? Dangerous! This religion is too dangerous! Nonetheless, Simba shook his head to throw away those excess thoughts. No, he could not be sure of what the Church of Games really was like just from such bits and pieceshe must gather more information. Meanwhile, the passerby was a little curious why Simba would ask such a question, but after a glance over Simbas head and a tiny mumble that sounded like friendly unit with no HP bar, he left in disappointment. After that, Simba continued strolling through the streets, only to run into more weird things. For example, there was a long queue in front of the blacksmith shop, waiting to have their weapons hammered by the dwarven craftsman. Once again, Simba was puzzled: it was true that mountain dwarves were rare (in reality, the blacksmith in town was a gray dwarf who had never showed up much on the surface, but Simba didnt know that), but arent the people being a little too passionate? Hehehe. Ive already did as the fortune post said: wash my face, get naked and dance around a candle at midnight without blowing out the candle. The Strengthening today will work! Your item is gone. No! Simba watched as that believer screamed and stretched his hand at the broken pieces on the anvil while Players behind him dragged him away. The weapon wasnt even heated on the fire or sprinkled with rare alchemy dust hammering it straightaway on the anvil? It would be weird if it didnt break! The boy could not help muttering inwardly. Aside from such people, Simba would also encounter weirdos wearing anglerfish heads (with lightbulb antlers) or dolphin heads, weirdos holding weird equipment as they shouted Yeah I got a drop before happily fainting on the ground and weirdos kneeling in front of half-finished houses, praying that it would complete itself Maybe every believer of the God of Games is crazy! Chapter 160: Winters End Lancaster City, the study in the mayors keep. The interior of the study was decorated luxuriously. Still, despite the walls being lined with book racks and arranged to the last corner with rare manuscripts, there was no sign that any of those items had been read. The hearth was burning brightly, warming the room as if it was spring, a completely different world from the ice-cold weather outside that sent chills down the bone. Thud, thud, thud. Someone was knocking on the Teslia sandalwood-doora material as expensive as goldfrom the outside. What is it? Corinth, the mayor of Lancaster who was also known as the Black Buck lowered his quill and asked calmly. We have found the corpse of the Baron of Nigelania, My Lord. His retainer reported with a voice that was not quite loud but audible enough for the mayor. Humph. Ive told that fellow not to be rash Corinth snorted coldly. You may enter. A man wearing the Lancaster city watchs standard issue armor entered respectfully, bowed and placed a parchment on Corinths desk and quickly left at his gesture. Corinth then picked it up and studied it carefully, only to fling it on his desk after just a moment, his aged face showing a troubled look. He had already known about the emperor dropping the heir of one of Vallas old noble houses down at Lancaster, who then proceeded to bully the citizens without restraint. Although Corinth was the mayor of Lancaster in name, a Count of the Empire and two ranks higher than Nigelania, he couldnt actually act against him as he wished. And the reason was simple: Lancaster City was the only one of Tierras four counties to mostly survived the collective assault on Tierra by all her neighboring nations because Corinth had surrendered straightaway. As a matter of fact, what remaining pockets of Tierra radicals in the city was banished to the northern peasant district and subsequently wiped out. Therefore, as repayment for his tactfulness and as a role model to persuade other locations to surrender as well, the then-emperor naturally allowed the Corinth the defector to keep his place as mayor. But now that the Empire had complete control over the former Tierra territories it was given, people such as Corinth who werent born in the Valla Empire were naturally a thorn in the new emperors side. That Nigelania who was dropped here unceremoniously, doing as he liked and even slowly eating away at his authority as mayor was just the first step. Corinth certainly could tell what that emperor was scheming: if he couldnt bear having the slow death of Nigelania humiliating him, they would seize the opportunity and dispose of him! Even if he had gone through so much difficulty establishing so many contacts to keep his place as mayor, everyone down to his closest confidants would be replaced by people like Nigelania, while the mayor himself would be reduced to a puppet with no actual power. And yet, if Corinth would live with Niegelanias provocations, they would still scrape away his authorityit would look bad, but things would not end well for Corinth either if he did not stop it in time. In fact, some of the nobles in the city who were not that strong in willor should Corinth say, having long-term goals began extending olive branch at Nigelania. And each time he received his covert reports of such details, Corinth could not help thinking that those nobles were having brain-farts. The reason all of them could keep their status was because of Corinth, why would they assume that things would end well for them if he falls? In fact, Corinth was already on the move to remove Nigelania. But in the end, that greedy fellow died because of his own greed even before Corinths plans came to fruition, destroyed ever so easily by a few peasants. A fitting end for that idiot, Corinth murmured coldly. That beings said, things could get problematic for Corinth despite Nigelanias delightful end. Even if he had complete evidence proving that Nigelania had run off to get himself killed up at northern Lancaster, the new emperor would not care for such thingshe had as many measures of setting up Corinth as he wanted. Corinth sighed deeply. The last few years felt much more tiring than any decades before. Not only would he have to endure the bloodsucking of Vallas royalty, Lancaster was deteriorating at every passing moment even as she spiraled among her own nobles politicking. In that very moment, he missed the Foolish King of Valla who supported his revolution in commerce and eventually helped to develop Lancaster as a city for trade. Well, no point in regretting it now. Corinth leaned into his chair, considering his strategies for whatever that would come next. That was when someone pushed open the door to the study by just tiny seam. The old man looked towards it by reflex to find a tiny, adorable round face. Why are you here, Gwendolyn? The old man asked his granddaughter mildly. Youre sighing again, Grandpa! The little one briskly opened the door upon realizing that she was found out, dashing inside and climbed into Corinths arms. I asked Mother to leave the city during the seeding festival, but she said that I need your approval! Its been so long since we went outside the city, can we go this time? The old man patted her head. Of course I would allow that. But Ill have people guarding you both, so dont run off, got it? The little girl beamed immediately, nodding her little head and firmly gnawed the old mans cheek. Thank you, Grandpa! Her saliva was all over the old mans face, between laughter and tears as he watched the girl run outside with a look of tenderness. Ill have to work harder for Gwendolyn Hence, he picked up the report on his desk and reread it from the start, scrutinizing the uncertain details this time around. So Nigelania wanted to get his hands on that weird but extremely popular healing potion from an unknown source? And that source is unknown even for reports on my end? Having managed Lancaster over decades, Corinth had innumerable eyes watching his city. Be that as it may, for the source of that potion to remain unknown must mean something interesting behind it all. Lets see if I can meet that undying Mister Marni The old man casted a pensive look outside the window. At the moment, a single ray of sun had pierced the thick dark clouds, streaming slight warmth over the snow-filled land. Winter was over. Chapter 161: Xi Weis Plans for Development The end of winter was great news for the common folk, since that meant no more snow and warmer weather, which was also a vital time for seeding. But that wasnt the case for Xi Wei and the Church of Games. As the snow melted, contact between cities would become frequent, and the Church of Games would expose themselves if they did not stay discreetalthough Lancaster Players were already skirting over the edge of exposure. Should the Church of Games be noticedor worse, having news of Tierras revival going publicall the Players who had yet to mature would undoubtedly be targeted by the numerous orthodox religions within the Empire. Even though the Valla Emprires main military force had been held back by a year of war, it was not impossible to dispose of every Player. After all, all they had to do was spare a few more personnel, or simply issuing decrees to have regional nobles mobilize their private army to cull them. It seems that we have been too relaxed. The Players ability needs continued improving. Xi Wei muttered thoughtfully, using a tentacle to touch what was supposed to be his chin. That said, there arent many spots to actually improve on In the end, he was a third-rate god who had provided his believers with every form of welfare he could afford. Therefore, since the Players had also worked diligently, to have them grow at the fast pace before would be too difficult. Maybe I should consider this from a different angle Xi Wei attempted to change his perspective. If he considered all the Players a single collective and expressed it with a formula, it would be: the collective ability of all Players would be the average ability of the individual Player multiplied by the total number of Players. Since the objective was to improve collective ability, Xi Wei could simply increase the number of Players substantially if he had no solution to swiftly improve individual Player ability. His first thought would be to indiscriminately accept every single refugee camp outside Cromwell, to establish a neutral faction that does not discriminate between religious roots as demonstrated in the Investiture of the Gods. After all, most of the refugees outside Cromwell were former citizens of Lovinia, the capital of the fallen empire of Tierra. Still, that was actually very ineffective if one considered it carefully: Not everyone holds gratitude (or would be easily conned), and that was the same for actual former believers of the God of Games, who would agree to take up their former unorthodox faith once again just because they were given food. It was not realistic to have the Players adopt a one-on-one endorsing structure either. Other factors aside, even the three children Mufasa took in could not go further than shallow believers to become true believers Moreover, a majority of the refugees were surviving by exploiting and taking away the rations of weaker refugees. Having experienced the sweetness of bullying the weak, those people would never hesitate to slay women and children even if they joined the Church of Games solely to gain EXP. Even if he would ban or label them, Xi Wei thought that it was no different from picking up a rock and dropping it over his own toes. In comparison, it would actually be more convenient to try his luck in villages where the people had stronger rapport. If a solution could be acquired to strategically take in an important figure there, it was likely that they would convert the entire village as well. Moreover, law-abiding villagers would be much more obedient towards the rules all Players share compared to the unrestrained thugs amongst the refugees. It was a pity that such villages were rare at the border perhaps they would have more luck at Tunaya in the Silver Eagle Duchy. Moreover, the situation on the eastern continent was worth some concern. The Players had already explored half the outskirts of Valley of the Tragic Dead, and they would soon reach the core area at this rate. It would be worth celebrating if the Players could discover any unowned divinity thereeven if it was just a fragment, but truth be told, those things were to be discovered but not sought, and Xi Wei dont believe that he could run into any so easily with his luck. But it was for sure that they could obtain many divine relics. While other gods would not touch such things out of various concerns, Xi Wei felt no such apprehensions at all, even hoping that the Players could get more *** Aside from all that, should the Players work hard and clear the Valley of the Tragic Dead, they could use the torches they put down as beacons and pave a land path that connects the eastern and western continents! Given how the Secret Eye Society could make a killing by only smuggling on the sea routes, the Players would not lose out by much with a trade route under their control. Moreover, the Great Lion had once told Xi Wei that many nonhuman races reside in the Western Continentor humanoids with beast aspects in a nutshell. While certain novels in the world Xi Wei transmigrated from also referred to beastmen as orcs, the orcs of this world commonly refered to those green-skinned brutes that had long tusks and charged at their enemies while yelling Wagggggh. On the other hand, Cait Siths[1] and Centaurs were considered humans, while other humanoids with other animal attributes were known as nonhumans. Amongst the memories recorded in the Aquatic Lords divinity which Xi Wei had absorbed, the nonhumans seemed to be descendants of creatures who had survived the Second Divine War. Then, because they had allied themselves with different gods from the humans in the Third Divine War, the humans chased them off to the Western Continent after their defeat. Later, the gods of both sides personally fought in the God of War and Demons told in human legends, destroying the previous civilization and shattering the frame of the continent. That was what led to the present geographical layout, and following that War, the battlefield then that was now the Valley of the Tragic Dead was both the edge and the heart of the world. Unlike humans who eventually gathered into different nations and waged more civil wars with lower casualties in turn, the nonhumans only ever grouped together according to their racial appearance. Though there were brief periods of peace, they were discriminating against each other most of the time, separating themselves into for more troublesome and complex tribes that numbered up to the hundreds Even so, there was one particular nonhuman tribe which Xi Wei clearly had in minda group that would be worth his courting! After all, no one was more trustworthy to the nonhumans than a fellow tribesman. That said, its still too early since the Players had yet to clear the Valley of the Tragic Dead Hmm? Hold on. At that very thought and realizing something, Xi Wei activated his Divine Eye and looked down upon the mortal realm. [1] faerie cats of Celtic mythology or the recurring creature from Final Fantasy Chapter 162: Zonyan Grayclaws Demons Zonyan Grayclaw was sharpening his dagger. He was perfectly aware that his weaponan item dropped from a dungeon needed no polishing, its sharpness being unaffected despite the stat known as durability and that it would be as good as new after a visit to the blacksmith. Nonetheless, it was a habit he had developed as a warrior, and he continued it to clear his mind and stopped remembering the past. He liked the atmosphere of the Church of Games: thought there would be killing and fighting day after day, there were not many grievances between peopleperhaps because they had vented enough in the dungeons. And even if there would be the occasional conflict, they could simply throw the gauntlet just outside the gates of the Unnamed Town. Then, after that life-and-death conflict, they would head to the tavern to chat idly about everything in the whole wide world, good brothers once who watched each other backs once again. There was no need to worry about the days hunt, no need to stiffen oneself to lay their hands on the old, the women and the children, much less aim their blades at their own friends or family. Even if the divine oracle issues quests to slaughter an enemy tribe, everyone would work together and accomplish it with all smiles. Everything was perfect save for those who start screaming Aaaaaaargh! Its the Black Hand! whenever they saw him and flee out of reach. My last name is Grayclaw, damn it! Zonyan complained inwardly. It was a nickname made for laughs, and while there were Players who had therefore become unhappy to party with him, Zonyans skill was undoubtedly first-rate and the reason many top Players would invite him when they frontline a new dungeon. As such, he wasnt actually bullied but made many friends instead. So why was he unable to forget his past pains even though he was clearly very happy? He gasped then, realizing that he was done sharpening the dagger and that it had slipped through his fingers, disappearing after leaving a faint trail of blood while a red [-1] appeared in its place. Unlike most Players, Zonyan did not turn off his pain sensation aside from just lowering it slightly. As a former warrior, he knew how pain was a way the body warned against harm, and getting used to it would allow the individual to understand their present condition. He sighed and sheathed the dagger into its scabbard. Being one of the first of the refugee Players to arrive at the Unnamed Town, he was naturally one of the leaders to the newcomers. Though he was unlucky in terms of item drops, his game coins never decreased following each dungeon session. That was why he wasnt staying in inns unlike many Players who joined when he did, but bought a house. Not only were the System-built houses tidy and neatly arranged, the interiors were also built the same and basically identical aside from the doorplate. Naturally, Players could collect wallpapers, furniture and completely random decorations from accomplishing quests to create the ideal house in their minds. Zonyan, however, wasnt interested in such things, which was why his house still had its basic template, which includes a plain dressing mirror that stood in his bedroom and was perhaps a part of welfare for female Players. Zonyan picked up the hairbrush from his dressing table and straightened his thick hair, exposing the two ears over his head that was apparently different from normal human ears. Those were a pair of beastly ears: yellow-brown, wooly, and triangular. *** Zonyan was a Leo. His former tribe Grayclaw was once crowned with such an honored and revered title by other nonhumans. Born with powerful physique, frightening speed and stunning strength, they were natural warriors who stood above the many nonhuman races as the King of Beasts. Zonyan Grayclaw was the eldest son of the last tribal leader of the Leos. His strength was unmatched amongst the new generation of his tribe too, but something unexpected transpired when he should have inherited his fathers place as leader and assumed rule over the tribe. Swordtail Grayclaw, tribe leader Grayclaws second son and Zonyans young brother who he once defeated had challenged Zonyan once again. And yet, Swordtail was not pitting brawn in a direct match. He had instead defeated Zonyan with sorcery he learned from somewhere unknown, even killing their father to directly claim his place as Grayclaws leader. Afterwards, Swordtail would kill every person in the tribe who fought his rule. Their own mother protected Zonyan with her life, but was still killed by Swordtail who was now a completely differently personZonyan, caught in the sheer force of the spell was sent flying into the sea. In this world, the seas were much more dangerous than land, and therefore landing underwater had less chance of survival than falling off a cliff itself. Even so, Zonyan didnt die in those waters. Instead, he hung on to a piece of wood that floated towards him muddleheadedly, staying adrift on the ocean for three days. Old Vanke eventually found him and fished him out of the sea, and he escaped with his life then. With that, he made a name for himself as a mercenary at Lovinia. He didnt abandon old Vanke when the registrar fell to hard times either, completely dropping his mercenary life as he escorted the old man down to Cromwell. Later, with Vankes recommendation to Marni, he became one of the first refugee Players. I guess I really couldnt let that go. Zonyans fingers gently brushed over the mirror, staring his own face that was growing in resemblance with his fathers while a fire burned in his heart. The more blissful life was now, the hotter the fire burned. He didnt know when he had clenched his fingers into a fist, but he shattered the mirror with a single punch, leaving a shattered reflection. His identity as a Player had genuinely broken his past shacklessince the nonhumans combat ability was essentially based on their physical bodies and talentsand allowed him to become a warrior greater than his father, but that was not enough. The horrific sorcery that Swordtail had used then was still coiling around Zonyan like a demonic nightmare, forcing him to dream of those very scenes of that fateful day. Even after changing class to become a Berserker Swordmaster, he still wouldnt win against Swordtail now. Dear god, what should I do He whispered with a face full of anguish. He wasnt pleading answers from his own god, but merely sleep-talking out of either habit or instinct. Nonetheless, this nonhuman from the Western Continent knew not that his god was watching (peeking) over him from his divine kingdom. Hence, a crisp sound rang in his mind in the very next moment. Ding! [Side Quest started: Triumph of the King of Beasts] Chapter 163: Adding Income, Controlling Outflow Xi Weis divinity only recorded the experiences of his believers after they became his converts. That was why he was unaware of Zonyans past. However, with the Valley of the Tragic Dead separating the two continents and the Grey Fjord being a dangerous place on both ends, few nonhumans could reach the Eastern Continent aside from using the smuggling ship route that the Secret Eye Society somehow conjured. Zonyan himself was a Leo, a rare kind even amongst nonhuman. Still, given how often he had that distant look in his eyes as if remembering something in the past he couldnt and therefore hardly fit into the eccentric nature of the Players, Xi Wei could guess that he was shouldering something even if he was just a ball. As a matter of fact, it could only be some desperate situation like parental abandonment due to his excessive preference of hammers, tribal banishment due to a failed coup or your typical Im your father!, No! sort of drama. That was why he had assigned him the quest [Triumph of the King of Beasts], so that Zonyan could lead a group of Players to scout things out for Xi Wei at the Western Continent where divine competition was a lot less fierce. If he could hence directly carve out a territory, the Church of Games could just set up another base over there. That said, the Players were still quite noob. Even if some of them had improved past Level 40 thanks to the Fishmen Island event, grasping the ultimate moves of various classes to reach a phase that others would call supernatural. However, given the Players uniqueness (and because Xi Wei was a third-rate deity) as well how much they could share from a small pool or power, each of them belonged to the lowest denomination of superhumans. As a matter of fact, the Rotten Bones High Priest was relatively weak amongst the ranks of superhumans, since his god Rotten Bones was no different from the newcomer that was Xi Wei in that they were weak gods. Likewise, the high priest was neither a Chosen One nor a Saint, just as he wouldnt count as a pope. As such, the divine power he gets to share was quite limited, and at best Level 30 according to the assessment from Xi Weis system. Furthermore, despite having the top Players surpass Level 40 and the Rotten Bones High Priest no longer able to wipeout a party with them, there were still no Players who could single-handedly defeat it despite the 10-level gapthough Mufasa who assumed the path of Kengyoku might make it around Level 40, he was still a curb stomp victim at the moment. As such, Xi Wei had no intention to teleport Zonyan off to the Western Continent right away after he accepted the quest, because the only result would be him dying all the way In other words, the Players need time to grow their levels into real power. *** Indeed, the reason Xi Wei would assign Zonyan his quest was to have him complete a special series of material gathering mainly to farm certain wood, monster materials and strengthening stones at the initial stage. After he was done, Xi Wei would make Zonyan a seafaring boat through his exquisite craftsmanship, and entrust him the second part of his quests: find party members whom he found compatible in will and spirit, working together to set sail towards the Western Continent. As for the sea charts towards the Western Continent, Xi Wei planned to set the smugglers sea route that the Secret Eye Society established it as a quest reward. Since the Players were newbies who had no seafaring experience, the maiden voyage would most likely end with a sunken ship and corpses even with those sea charts as reference. Naturally, being the compassionate god that he was, Xi Wei wouldnt set his verdict that Zonyan had failed his quest right thenhe would simply revert the quest back to the first phase and have the Players gather ship-crafting materials once again. Either way, gathering would be much more efficient with his companions Xi Wei had no clairvoyance to tell what would happen beyond that. He would just have to wait and see. In the end, Zonyan and the other Players were playing the game, not him. For Xi Wei, it was all a leisurely game of chess in the place: it would be great if it works, and he would at least know that things could be dangerous in the west if it failed, and that it wasnt the right time for a venture yet. Additionally, the Players were just a dozen levels away from reaching Level 60, but since EXP requirements increased at higher levels, the remaining gap needed much time and effort on the Players part. Either way, it was time Xi Wei really gave it some thought. Ultimately, the Players ability must develop as the situation needed if they were to improve beyond Level 60. As long as Xi Wei was willing to spend his divine power as a deity, he definitely could have the Players improve even if he had to drag them along, kicking and screaming. Still, that would beg another question: it was fine if it were a handful of Players, but should every other Player subsequently rise beyond Level 60, Xi Weis divine energy was not going to be enough and he would face bankruptcy. In fact, his divine energy was barely breaking even right now instead of the great profit he first envisioned. And the reason for that was simple: he had underestimated the cost of the skills in the System would have on divine power. Whenever each Player would learn any technique the System recognized as skills, they just had to spend skill points to immediately learn it, and investing more points would in turn improve the skills effect. The process itself had a stair-shaped cost on Xi Weis divine power: learning one skill would not consume much divine power, but the cost of raising a Level 8 skill up to Level 9 would be frightening. Xi Wei never expected such a situation at all, and as such had to spend considerable divine power to keep the Skill System from collapsing. If he could load a save file and have this book return to Chapter One, he wouldnt hesitate to establish a different setting: skill points are only invested for learning skills, whereas skill level would be improved through proficiency Ill be in the red sooner or later like this. If I dont want to become a shriveled ball, Ill have to plan the expense of my divine power from now on With that train of thought, Xi Wei would naturally have to persist on the traditional solution of adding incomes and controlling outflow. That said, controlling outflow would be the harder part since the Church of Games still had much that awaits, and places where divine energy should be invested could not be spared. In fact, it would be putting the cart before the horse if Xi Wei delayed his own development just to save on some expenses. In that respect, Xi Wei expected to put in awakening quests or something similar to restrain the Players, having them pass trials that would provide him with more divine energy before leveling upin the process, he would choose Players worth investing up to the next level. On the other hand, adding income was much easier. Incidentally, the conclusion of a recent event meant that the Players were turning up less on the forums to brag. In addition, the Players were complaining over the forums that it was too boring to be unable to do anything except watering plants in the little black hut where they wait for their resurrection. It appeared the time had come to add some other functions for the forums. As the great God of Games, doesnt it only make sense to add some arcade games on the forums? Xi Wei turned towards the three deconstructed edition of games that he had fiddled with for some time, but only replicate in his mind after much difficulty. A Gabe Newell smile showed up on his ball face then. Chapter 164: Thunder What the hell! Why did I die again?! Having accepted a daily quest at the Lancaster Hideout and running off to cull the swamp fishmen who were making a comeback, Marni was inadvertently stabbed by a fishman with a dagger dipped full of poisonbefore he could heal up, his vision went dark and he lost all senses. When he realized that he died from the fishmans spine poison, he quickly asked for help on the forums. Be that as it may, the Cleric Players were too latethe effective resurrection period had passed, Marnis corpse had disappeared and he had to suffer three whole days to be revived. With how close the gap between Player levels were, no one understood more than Marni what being dead for three days meanthe would have to spend a lot more time and work harder to make up for the lost EXP in that period. Even without a body, Marni could feel vague aching near his liver once he imagined the lifestyle where night and day was reversed. As a matter of fact, Marni had often maintained that lifestyle but never died from overwork, most likely because the body would be at peak health after reviving It even made Marni thinking that he should leave the ranks of the top players and stay as a backup Be that as it may, whenever he thought about the start of events, the adventures only top players could immediately enjoy, along with the ability to more precisely control market prices, Marni dumped that idea and decided to keep working hard on daily quests and put his liver to good use. Maybe the great God of Games would be moved by his tireless spirit. That said, am I supposed to just stroll around the forums for another three days? Though it sounded as if Marni was complaining, he wasnt actually upset about all thatbeing the unmatched champion in numbers of deaths, Marni knew better than anyone the suffering of being locked in the black hut for up to three days, unable to move, speak or even feel the flow of time before the Players forum was created. In comparison, it was much better now that he could talk to others with the forum. However, after browsing through several posts casually, Marni suddenly noticed that several Players were discussing something unusual. Game? What game? The God of Games is actually making games? It was only after he had asked them what was happening that he noticed a next page button on the corner of his forum page. Selecting it brought him to a new, never-before-seen page. If the text above the page was anything to go with, it had a weird name too: Steam. It was also blank aside from three weird icons: the first was named Thunder, the second Tierra Blocks and the third the Great Revolt (a card game resembling Fight the Landlord). Marni selected Raiden, and a smaller panel appeared while playing some simple animation and background music. Nonetheless, Marni understood the gameplay after checking it out. The Player would assume the role of a rider mounting a Thunder Griffin which keeps flying forward while being attacked by enemy griffin riders, as well as the offensive spells unleashed by various cultists or totems from the ground. Points were awarded for defeating any variety of enemies, and the enemies would also drop different magic scrolls, which the players could obtain by steer their griffin towards it to learn various attack skills. Still, Marni was confused: why would the griffin immediately forget the skill before after learning a new one? Is the creature that dumb? After playing for a while, the griffin Marni was controlling was shot down as up to eight other griffins ganged up on it. Marni was quite satisfied and was about to try the other two games when he noticed a countdown timer for continuing. Spend game coins to keep playing? Nah, ten thousand and eighty-six feels like a high score. However, the leaderboard of the top-scoring players appeared after he closed the continue panel. Someone named Vulcan was the top scorer at the moment at a hundred and fourteen thousand, five hundred and fourteen points! Gaping at the leaderboard, Marni found that he was only ranked below fiftyand there were just around sixty Players who had played the game so far. Tch. Im that far away from first place? Hold on, theres a note here Marni discovered from the note beside the leaderboard then that the God of Games would also reward players ranking within the top hundred, and that the rewards get better the higher their ranking. After blanking out for three seconds, Marni determinedly chose to play again, only for the system to display a message: Free try used. Please insert coin to play. That scared me. So, this only cost ten game coins? So cheap! 10 game coins wasnt too much money even for new Players, and certainly not for Marni, rich and generous as he was. Hence, he started a new game without hesitation. Still, his luck was poorer this timehe ended up dead with a score of 9,527. Continue with ten game coins? Lets go! He did not last long, however. Caught dazed by concentrated fire, he panicked, darting around and ended up shot down once again. Second continue for a hundred game coins? This is robbery! Marni could not help cursing. Lets go! And yet, he didnt survive too long on his third attempt either. Third continue for a thousand game coins? I could strengthen an item up to plus three! Marni was about to curse the underhanded business there, but quickly stopped short when he remembered that each game was created by the God of Games himself. Lets go! He seethed. Marni eventually stopped at 20,000 points when he realized that there wasnt a fourth continue. Admittedly, he could only surrender given how he had died three times straight. Well, I should at least make the top thirty. Pleased with himself, he turned to the leaderboard to find that he had dropped another sixty places, whereas the rankings numbered up to a hundred and fifty players. It appears that more Players had noticed the game page, along with the note of the God of Games rewards. His reward was going to disappear if this continues! Marni steeled himself right then. Im dead anyway. Want to take my place? Keep trying! He inserted another 10 game coins into Thunder. Go, Thunder! Chapter 165: Tierra Blocks While his believers enjoyed the entertainment of gaming and earnestly cherished them, Xi Wei would gain divine energy as the God of Games. In fact, the former God of Games was born through such divine energy before Xi Wei had transmigrated, staying alive until the fall of Tierra. That was why Xi Wei immediately directed his attention here when he thought of how he should secure new sources of divine energy. His rewards were merely motivation for the Players to play those Steam games, but what they really enjoyed was the game itself. That being said, the most well-received game was not the most divine power consuming Thunder or the card game Xi Wei himself held in high-esteem, but Tierra Blocks, the least conspicuous of those three. Naturally, that was a copy of Tetris that Xi Wei had made. *** Back on Earth, Tetris had a demonic attraction to it and spread itself across countless platforms since its birth in 1984, even winning Guinness World Records in its own categories. It was simple to understand, easy to play and possess a devilish charm that would have everyone continue playing. Almost all who had any link to electronic gaming would have heard of it, and it continues to create new heights in the present age. Moreover, as the eldest amongst match 3 games, Tetris has all the strong points the others possess: easy access, minimal effort and excellent feedback, delivering a strong sense of pride and accomplishment when each row was removed. In contrast to the hardcore Thunder which could be time consuming, Players could simply start a session of Tetris when they had free time since it was a casual game. It would at once vent the stress after a daily quest, placate post-slaughter impulses and perfectly utilize the Players vacant time. Moreover, each Tetris session came only at the cost of 1 game coin. It was therefore not unusual that it was more well-received by the Players. Now, the first exchange Players would share had gone from Did you farm the dungeon today? to Whats your Tetris high-score now?, and heaven knows what it would be like later on On the other hand, Thunder also did rise to critical acclaim amongst the Players, with some actually believing that it was a trial that the God of Games had bestowed upon them and that they could change class to the Riders if they had passed. However, the claim was refuted by other Players who pointed out that Players of every class could play the game anyway. Moreover, clearing each level would take too long, and aside from the people awaiting their revival in the little black hut, the Players could only have one or two sessions at night, enjoying the exhilaration of being a Griffin Rider. Additionally, the Great Revolt which Xi Wei had placed his hopes on was almost dead-upon-introduction. While it was not as if no one was trying it, there just wasnt that many who would play it. But that only made sense upon closer examination. Xi Weis original intention in coming up with this card game was to secure a wild craze like Fight the Landlord did back on Earth, but he did not consider the circumstances of this world. For one, this world had its own gambling entertainments, and if the players did not find card games to be a fresh breath of air, it certainly wouldnt be as popular as the other two games. Secondly, unlike Thunder and Tierra Blocks which could be directly played by inserting coins, the Great Revolt requires at least four players to start a session. Besides, Players werent exactly idling at home the whole day and free to play games, nor could they stay too often on the Steam platform. With the total number of Players being just over two hundred at present, it was quite difficult to get four-people in a game. Those were the exact reasons which left card games in its miserable state. Still, Xi Wei was not too disappointed. When the number of Players increased, a social PVP game like this would become very popular. On the other hand, one might actually presume that Xi Wei was introducing games to cripple his own Players, but that was not true: even throughout the society Xi Wei had transmigrated from, it was not hard to notice that it was a few minor students who had become addicted to games. Adultsespecially those with proper jobs almost never fall to the state of gaming addicts, and would at most play a few rounds of League of Legends after work, games that had a quick rhythm. The reason for that was simple, too: students face no pressures in life or an objective to strive for, and should their self-control be lacking they would become addicted. In contrast, adults would often work long, dizzying hours every day due to economic pressure. Would they have the time to get addicted? Even those who loved playing games at a younger age would have their gaming consoles and triple A games put in a corner gathering dust after buying them all Naturally, the inability for certain useless parents to properly educate their children was why there would always be people accusing video games as the root of all evil. Even so, since their pride was too strong to allow them to see that they were the very cause, they would exert every possible effort to find any excuse, and video games were certainly the best scapegoat and was often used as such targets. On that note, one should mention that anime and digital literature were the other two elements alongside video games given the moniker of the three scapegoats in childrens education. Meanwhile, the Players in this world were all essentially Xi Weis believers. Their life had barely reached sufficiency, although almost all of them understand that this didnt come easy: the God of Games could not spread its gospel out in the open to other cities yet, and if they did not diligently improve themselves, they could face disaster on the scale of Tierras fall. Couple that with daily quests and dungeon farming which basically feeds back to Players similar to a game, that was the reason they wouldnt get too addicted, and merely keep those games as a pastime. Thats right. Xi Wei can say for sure that his Players would never obsess themselves with gaming without regard for day or night! *** Why cant I get in the top thirty?! Or should I say how did those other guys survive the entire screen filled with spells?! Are the top thirty players in Thunder all monster?! Marni, who was feeling weirdly exhausted in spirit turned off the game for a while to head to the forums for some complaining. He felt his vision blur, and he had already materialized beside a Lifestone in the next split second. He gaped at the familiar sights before him, mumbling in surprise. Did I already play for three days?! No way I have to earn some EXP to make up for lost time but before that, some R&R with Tierra Blocks. Steam, start! Xi Wei: Hmmm. Probably not. Chapter 166: Seeding Festival Three days after winter was a festival that the entire Eastern Continent acknowledged: the Seeding Festival, which signified the start of the new year. Even in the Unnamed Town, the daily quests over the last two days had changed from developing the town to decorating it with a messy assortment of items. Since those decorations were provided by Xi Wei who was idling away at his divine kingdom, one could see many trinkets from Earth. That included huge red fireproof and windproof paper lanterns, dragon-boats the length of chopsticks that could move by itself on water, red wool socks larger than humans, cackling pumpkin lights, firecrackers that carried Players up in the air when ignited, along with translucent ghosts that resembled flying blankets. Amongst all that, the most popular item proved to be a rather elegant red papercutting which purpose was not quite understood. *** Could you tell your grandfather that were not going to the festival? No way. We promised that everyone is showing up yesterday. Im overworked. I just want a good sleep. Please pull yourself together. Vela smiled helplessly. Youre our liege. At her words, Angora who for some reason had a big red [1] character pasted over his forehead reluctantly put on his travel cloak. How do I look? Very hmm, energetic. Vela grinned. You could just lie and tell me Im handsome. Angora appeared even more deflated. Youre the most handsome person in my eyes all along. The girl replied with a straight face. There you go again, always making fun of me Angora groaned as he left the room. I never do. The girl muttered inaudibly before following Angora, keeping half a pace behind him. Wont you stand beside me? Talking feels inconvenient with you behind me. Angora said, puzzled. Please dont mind me. Girls at the border are like this. Really? If you say so Angora thought that it was unusual, but such trifle was not worth concerning over. Hence, he left the guest room and came out on the first-floor balcony which faces the largest square of the Unnamed Town, where almost all festivities were held. Many Players were gathered there at the moment too. Some were competing in dance-offs in their anglerfish heads or dolphin heads, some were talking about gaming strategies (Marni: What! Thunder has a Boss too? Why did I never encounter one?!), some were waving flags and shouting cheers for the dragon-boat they were supporting in the fountain, whereas some children were wearing pumpkins they plucked somewhere, laughing as they chased the blanket ghosts. The entire square was buzzing with the air of celebration wherever one would look. Greetings, believers of the God of Games and my citizens! Im Angora Faust, the liege of this little town. The letter over Angoras forehead flashed under the sun, and his face was full of wonder and pride as he spoke to the Players who paused their conversation and dancing for the moment. We had seen much this winter, experiencing adventures that we would never have come across if we had stuck to our old lives! That said, everyone, be proud of your present achievements! Every last one of you had conquered all hardships in perfect response to the God of Games expectations! Everyone here is a hero, and that is why At that, Vela handed Angora a glass of wine from behind, whereas down at the square below, each Player got themselves various beverages or alcohol from self-service stalls (which bore commercials for the owners shops) and raised their cups like Angora. To the God of Games! To the God of Games! Cheers! Cheers!!! The simultaneous burst of cheers from the Players sent the scene to its climax. I hence declare the start of the Seeding Festival! Angora smashed his glass on the floor before shouting. O Master of Games, grant us new life! Ooooh! *** Seeding Festival at Lancaster was less peaceful compared to the cheer at the Unnamed Town. What? The swamp fishmen are multiplying unusually? Count Corinth, mayor of Lancaster was frowning at the parchment his retainer delivered. Yes, the retainer replied respectfully. The scholars believed that with the passing of winter and the strange phenomenon at the Seira Marshes was causing the swamp fishmen to multiply. The miserable death of Baron Nigelania at Lancaster North had kept Mayor Corinth on the back foot since the emperor himself had placed the baron in Lancaster. Still, Nigelanias death served as a warning too, dealing a blow on other nobles of the city who had ulterior motivesincluding those who were approaching the baron on their own accordto rethink their plans, fearful that their mayor who still had some influence left would wipe them out. If I remember correctly, there are swamp fishmen living in the aqueducts beneath this city too, yes? Corinth stroked his beard in thought. Thats right, but there havent been any encounters in the city since the manhole covers were strengthened. The retainer said what he knew although he didnt know what the mayor was thinking. Whats the reaction of the churches? Corinth asked. Uh they said that they would do their best to cooperate. The retainer replied hesitantly, aware that the mayor wouldnt be happy with such an answer. And unsurprisingly, Corinth sneered. Not mentioning any actual help, just do their best to cooperate? Its really those buggers style. Forget it, have the city watch preparewe cant mount an expedition to the Seira Marshes, but it wouldnt be a problem defending Lancaster By the way, what about Marni Wilf? Have you found him yet? Did he agree to come? Well the truth is that we never found him. The retainer stiffened himself as he answered awkwardly. He doesnt appear to be present at Lancaster, but we did find some of his friends but they seemed well, unhinged. Their words are simply incoherent, like Marnis dead again or whatnot. It would probably be some time before we could reach the man himself. Oh, I see. You may leave. Corinth frowned deeply, but only after his retainer left. So, the astrologers divined that he wasnt of this world, and not even the spies could find him That Wilf is much more mysterious than I would imagine to hide himself to such extent. [1] , or double happiness is commonly used as a decoration symbol for weddings. Chapter 167: The Lancaster Hideout Appeals for Help The Seeding Festival was just over when Leah the Warrior Princess suddenly visited the Unnamed Town. What? Hordes of swamp fishmen are appearing at Lancaster? Angora had assumed that she was come to look around and relax, which was why he wasnt quite cautious when he heard that from her. Ive been to the Frogmen Village, but the elder said that nothing unusual was happening on Fishmen Island as such, I hope you could send some Players from this town to aid Lancaster. Princess Leah looked like she had gone through some difficult days, with her pretty face now appearing rather weary. The Players based in Lancaster alone are barely holding up. It wont be a problem if rewards are handled over at your end. Angora made his decision after just a moment. Although Angora wouldnt have gone so far as to not help at all if this had happened in the past, he would have bargained a little, or at least secure some profit before agreeing. After all, he had worked very hard to make his town the most stable base for the Players in various aspects. However, after he had learned about his roots from Horan, his father and understanding that he was of Tierra royalty, he did not feel so distant from Princess Leah even if he had no intention of competing for power against her. From a certain point of view, that thinking in which he held blood relations in high regarded could be considered one of the few nobility perspectives that still affected Angora. Of course, despite his cherishing of blood relations, he was not kind enough to splurge on saving the Lancaster Hideout, and certainly would set clear arrangements regarding resources and whatnot. Of course Wonderful. Regardless, please allow me to thank you on behalf of Lancaster Hideout. Princess Leah looked like he had a huge burden lifted off her shoulders since she did not really value that bit of resources. While she and her soldiers had been penniless when they were fleeing for their lives, now that things had calmed down and with old Vanke assuming leadership and diligently developing the Lancaster Hideout, they had managed to accumulate much resources thanks to being just a wall away from the city. In fact, they might have saved more resources than the Unnamed Town and the Frogmen Village put together. That was also why Princess Leah was so pleased: she had thought that it would cost the Lancaster Hideout an arm and a leg to have Angora, a noble of the Valla Empire to relent. Therefore, she was caught by surprise because she simply did not expect that he would be so agreeableespecially given how cunning he had been before. Could she have the wrong idea about him before? Leah found that she could have after some thought, since she knew a little about how Angora was cold-shouldered by his father and therefore placed in the Unnamed Town where not even the birds would fart it was normal for children born under such circumstances to be cautious towards strangers. If any opportunity should arise in the future, they could hold collaboration between the two Church of Games bases. That was what Princess Leah thought guiltily, still unaware of her blood ties with Angora. *** After getting Angoras approval, Princess Leah did not stay around in town and instead hurried back to the Lancaster Hideout. From that alone, it was obvious that the fighting over there was serious. Is this really alright? Vela asked Angora doubtfully after seeing Princess Leah off. Wont we lose Players to the Lancaster Hideout? I would be lying if I say were completely alright. Angora shrugged. In the Players point of view, both locations were very much identical. However, although one was a bustling city, it held no important memories aside from daily quests, whereas the other was a town which they had only protected from their adversaries through violent, cruel war as they fought side-by-side with their comrades. Therefore, even if the Unnamed Town wasnt as beautiful as Lancaster, the Players memories of their defense of the small town gave it greater weight in their minds than Lancaster. If Princess Leah wasnt lying and this is a tough battle, probably a third of the Players who go there as reinforcements would choose to stay in Lancaster, Angora added after explaining the suspension bridge effect for Vela. Thats not good at all! Vela exclaimed worriedly as she helped Angora put on his coat. Wouldnt a lack of Players affect the towns development? Its fine, Vela. You should look at this open-mindedly because the world isnt so narrowly defined as you would think. Angora appeared unworried at all, and was actually smiling nonchalantly. The fact is that it is immeasurably vast and that we are merely living within a corner, and this town does not contain every last bit of tolerance and ability. ? Vela had a confused look on her face that said Were we talking about that?. But the God of Games is different. In a short time, I understood one thing: like the permanent quests of the Players would put it, his light would eventually shine upon the land. Angora continued. That is why being nitpicking over tiny profit or loss of Players means nothing at all. He adjusted his collar and turned to look at the thoughtful Vela, and took the tricorne she was holding to wear it. Your eyes should look further ahead. Really? But I have the feeling that its enough as long as my eyes could accommodate you, my lord. The girl said lightly. Angora did a double take but soon smiled. Thats true. He turned, completely missing Velas point and headed for the door. Leading everyone is my responsibility, and I would do all I can to take the right path, and you just have to stay right behind me. With those words, he left the room. Vela was puffing her cheeks, quietly cursing Idiot! as she quickly followed him half a pace behind. But I dont think we should simply let so many Players go Its fine, we could just think of something to pull them back later. Moreover, I have to visit Tunaya soon to join Dads Seeding Festival as wellI wont have the time to mind the Players, and letting them vent with a good fight at Lancaster is fine too The voices of master and retainer became even more distant before finally vanishing entirely from the room. Chapter 168: Human-faced Fish The fifth day of the swamp fishmens rampage. The Players strength was not to be doubted, especially after the Fishfolk Island event had endedalmost every Player had an idea about highly-effective measures for wiping out the fishmen. Moreover, although the swamp fishmen were a subspecies of fishmen (almost like what the drow elves were to forest elves), they shared the same vitals in their anatomy. As such, not only were the Players easily replying the hordes of swamp fishmen assaulting the Lancaster aqueducts and slaying as many of those beasts they could, they were also destroying the nests of the Hogwash Rats that were seeing a resurgence in numbers as well. Still, there were still many swamp fishmen at large outside even though those in the aqueducts were cleared away. Naturally, the Players were raring to go with hundreds of thousands worth EXP waiting outside. However, the problem was the city watch that the Lancaster mayor supervises as well as the Holy Corps that the mayor forced the various churches to dispatch were everywhere, and were also slaying any swamp fishmen almost as efficiently as the Players did. With the Church of Games needing to stay unexposed, though the Players could blend their way in if they ran into city watch, the little operation to cull fishmen would directly escalate to a religious war if they run into the troops of hostile churches. Therefore, both Old Vanke and the smarter Players repeatedly warned the other Players not to farm monsters in the wild. But despite their good intentions, there were no lack of Players who enjoyed stirring trouble. If we cant farm them in the wild, how about we head straight to the swamp fishmen spawn point and get rid of the last Boss? Marni suggested, drooling at the sight of the rich EXP rewards. Being a top player who simultaneously held the titles of Valiant Hero Who Fought the Ocean and Explorer of the Seven Seas, Marni had considerable reputation amongst the Players, which was why that suggestion naturally drew much supporters. One should also note that Edward was busy with a quest he had accepted from Lady Kinley, the town alchemist, only to fail in his search for the potions requested nearby. Hence, with the battle cry of no quest is too hard for me, he took Joe and Eleena with him to the Trinia Forest, and therefore wasnt a part of the swamp fishmen culling. Indeed, whenever the Players found something that interests them, they only ever burst out in unimaginable drive and passion. *** Marni had taken out his treasured merchants map. Some rangers had marked the whereabouts of swamp fishmen in the wild on the copied map, and with some discussion as well as comparison, they soon singled out Seira Marsh as the ground zero of the swamp fishmen outbreak. We would have to make a detour to avoid running into the advancing city watch and the Holy Corps, and move along the neighboring county of Codo Bosra Marni said as he drew up the routes for the Players advance. Try to blend in if we run into either of those groups, and try not to fight even if you get caught, just prioritize escaping. But if the fighting starts, we would have to wipe them out in the shortest time possible without trying to pick up item drops. Some church could track their own equipment, and its better to put some item drops of the fishmen there and have them be our scapegoats instead At that, Marni noticed that one of the Players had raised his hand. You got a question? Whats this circle near Codo Bosra? The Player pointed curiously at an oval sign on the map. Thats the hunting grounds of the nobles. The city watch tend to patrol around it, but well be fine as long as we dont get too close, Marni simply replied. Anyone who doesnt really know the way, just follow mewe could depart as soon as everyone is ready. By the way, the Boss is first come, first served, so do not steal kills! The Players murmured replies of got it, hurry up, hurry up or cant we use the System maps instead of hand-drawn maps without any harmony. Nonetheless, having determined their standard operating procedure, the Players started to depart after partying up. *** Whoops. Mufasa turned off his map and mumbled in annoyance. We seemed to have ended up inside the noble hunting grounds where were not supposed to go. What hunting grounds? Zazu asked perplexedly, having finally become a Player two days ago and was promptly dragged by Mufasa to help fishing. Havent you heard what Mister Wilf said, Zazu? Simba asked helplessly. He had hanging over his back that looked just like Mufasas albeit being a size smaller. I was playing Tierra Blocks and wasnt listening at all Zazu, who had a wand clipped to his belt replied awkwardly. But my score is going to exceed Mister Wilfs score soon! I remember Mister Wilf saying that there the city watch is patrolling this place wont we be noticed if we simply walk right in here? Nala warned the others softly, holding a tiny crucifix. We should have been caught early onthe border patrols arent supposed to be so lax and yet we havent seen a single patrol after so long. Mufasa said calmly. With my experience of having dungeon beasts ganging up on me, they are either hiding somewhere to plan how to capture us, or its something more troublesome. More troublesome? Simba drew a blank. Having been a young thief in Lancaster for some time, Simba could not imagine what could be more troublesome than having the city watch finding and hunting them. Soon, however, he realized what Mufasa was talking about. As they continued forward, they began to find bits and pieces of human corpses. From the look of the shattered custom-made armor, all the dead bodies were city watchincluding their elites. After all, not all city watch troopers had the right to wear armor! Were they ambushed by monsters? Nala asked even as she shuddered. In fact, she almost fainted, having just recently become a player and still lacking in mental composure. Or maybe something inside the hunting grounds is drawing the monsters? I dont know, but I guess well find out when we find the culprit. Being a Player who was used to seeking his own demise, Mufasa did not hesitate to continue forward to the heart of the hunting grounds. Soon, a massive figure appeared in front of them. At first, Mufasa assumed that it was a gigantic lizardthe sort that has no wings, but he soon realized that he was wrong. It was a fish that had human limbs and teeth but grew over eight meters long, and it was chewing something. Not a moment too soon, what remained of a human arm dropped out of the enormous mutant fish, wrapped around a long trail of white drool as it fell on the ground like a puddle of mud. Then, the fish saw Mufasa and the children. I see, so its not something inside the hunting grounds drawing in the monsters Mufasa unsheathed his sword somberly. While Simba and the other children were stunned by the abnormal sight, they followed Mufasas example and drew their weapons too. The fish suddenly smiled bizarrely then, and began to flail the limbs it seemed not accustomed with, holding its body aloft as it rushed towards the four of them. Its just attracted by the food called humans! Mufasa growled. He had a hunch at the same time too. Could the reason that the swamp fishmen were going on a rampage was because this monster chased them out of the Seira Marshes, and not because there was not enough food due to increased breeding? Chapter 169: Trouble At The Hunting Grounds The nobles hunting grounds at the outskirts of Lancaster. Given that the hunting grounds were set up specially for the nobility, there naturally was a sturdy wooden hut that was decorated exquisitely as a resting stop, aside from the rich variety of game. With the fine environment, beautiful sceneries and the constant patrols that kept it free from monsters, there would always be nobles bringing their families even outside of hunting season for a stroll. The hut had a single door, and while it was very convenient for the patrols to keep watch from, things were very different at the moment. Mommy, Im scared A girl was shaking in her mothers arms. Its going to be alright, Gwendolyn Your grandfather will come for us. The gentle noblewoman was gently patting her head and consoling the girl repeatedly. Meanwhile, a massive head was stuffed into the hut where the head had been: a frightening head that had both the features of human and fish. *** Having received highborn education since she was a child, the noblewoman had read through the encyclopedia of magical beasts written by a Lancaster peasant scholar, and knew a thing or two about the creatures that appeared around the city. Even so, she knew that a monster like this existed nearby. At the moment, two lightbulbs were protruding out of the fish head with a human face, its eyes that could swivel freely over three hundred and sixty degrees glaring tightly at the few humans left in the hut. Previously, a soldier had thought that the monster could not move when he saw that it was caught in the door frame. He tried to blind it and then cut off its head, only to be caught in a jet stream of water it breathed out and washed right down its gaping jaws. Even the soldiers heavy armor that was sturdy enough to easily guard against the sharpest blades was no different from a bean. The poor soldier could only scream once, and was then chewed with loud crunching sounds, a dish of mince meat blended with steel chunks and gulped down soon enough. The remaining soldiers, unable to bear with the mountainous pressure of the monster fishs glare crumbled entirely in spirit. Believing that death was certain, they cornered themselves in the delusion of having a taste of the noblewoman and the heiress apparent of Lancaster in her armsonly to be slain by the noblewomens two battle-maids who were skilled with the sword and becoming fish food. But after that, there was even greater desperation in the air within the hut. While the building was definitely sturdy and exquisite, there wasnt any food or water stored here since no one stayed the night here. Not to mention that there were up to seven of those monster fishes nearby when they fled inside the hut! The noblewoman did not know how the monster fishes attacked, but they must be omnivorous from the look of their jaws. In fact, the noblewoman could hear them gnawing at the wooden walls from the outside. To tell the truth, the so-called sturdy wooden-walls did not really instill confidence. Moreover, their deaths appeared fated with the single way out of the hut being blocked by one of those monsters. At the same time, the noblewoman knew very well that Mayor Corinth was having a serious shortage of manpower. If that wasnt the case, Corinth wouldnt have braved the risk of wronging others when he sought out the churches and force them to dispatch the Holy Corps to help cull the gathering swamp fishmen. I must at least let Gwendolyn escape even if I die here At that thought, the noblewoman once again felt implacable rage towards the designing of the hut that did not even think about putting in an escape route. You two could have whatever food and water remain. The noblewoman told her two battle-maids, but only after Gwendolyn had drifted off to sleep after crying herself weary. After that, rest and save your strength to knock down the wall, and run away from those monsters! What about you, milady? One of the battle-maids could not help asking worriedly, noticing that the noblewoman did not mention herself. Im too slow, and Ill just slow you down Its better for me to distract them. All you got to do is save Gwendolyn! The noblewoman had resolved herself. Gwendolyns fatherCorinths son had died unexpectedly on top of another woman involved in his indulgent debaucheries. Still, he clearly was lacking in certain aspects despite countless nights of vice-seeking that he fathered no child aside from Gwendolyn. On the other hand, old Corinth was only married to one woman in his entire life, fathering only one son and had no other blood relations. As such, if Gwendolyn dies here as well, Lancaster would end up in the hands of the Vallas imperial family. But The battle-maid clearly wasnt about to abandon her mistress, but that was also when the fish monsters started to shriek outside. The noblewomans face fell. She knew that sound well: the fish monsters were excitedthey had found their prey. Could it be that help from Lancaster had arrived? No way. They never sent for help over here Lancaster was completely oblivious. Moreover, this was a hunting ground of the nobility with a garrison, which was why Lancasters military force and the mess of a Holy Corps that were busy culling swamp fishmen would never come here. It must be some peasant who inadvertently ventured wandered here the noblewoman quickly guessed. Sorry, we cant help you we cant even protect ourselves. Mommy? Gwendolyn looked up at her, having been jolted awake. Its alright, Gwendolyn. The noblewoman did her best to soothe her daughter. Itll be over soon. And yet, the fish monsters shrieking wasnt dying down as she expected. As a matter of fact, it was getting louder. Soon, sounds of fighting could also be heard from the outside, as if someone was fighting their way here. The sharp clangs of metals against monster flesh echoed, just as there were loud explosions from spells or sacred arts along with human cries and fish monster roars, making it sound as if a vicious battle was taking place outside. The two battle-maids had their blades out and were ready to join the fray, but the fish monster that was blocking the entrance had its eyes fixed tightly on them. Meanwhile, things did not look positive outside either. Should the battle-maids knock down the wall and leave, the fish monsters that had gotten rid of their adversaries would come and devour both the noblewoman and Gwendolyn. Still, things became quiet once again after a while. Who won? One of the battle-maid whispered to her partner. Must be the fish monsters. The other battle-maid grimaced. You know how frightening they are the five-hundred men garrison here were already wiped out even before they could send for help, and even our ladys elite escorts were likewise slain before they could fight back Not only were the fish monsters extremely strong, their scales were just like steel plates that no normal blows could penetrate. The battle-maid then paused before continuing. It takes two hundred elites at least to survive that long against those monsters. Could it be a squad of Extraordinaires? The other battle-maid could not help asking. Youve never met one, have you? Any group of those inhuman monsters are truly frightening, and they definitely would have quickly wiped out those monsters instead of brawling for so long. The first battle-maid shook her head and sighed. There should be cheers if the elite squad had won, too but theres only silence, so the fish monsters must have won. Her words were true and convincing. Even the noblewoman could not help nodding in agreement. They must rely on themselves if they were to free themselves from their current predicament. But suddenly, the fish that had its head stuffing the doorway opened its jaw and shrieked deafeningly, starling everyone in the hut. Just as they thought that the fish monster was about to force its way into the hut, goo was spurting out of its eye sockets and mouth, whereas its frightening bulbous eyes were slowly becoming turbid. Its head thrashed, crushing the doorframe into wooden splinters before sagging on the ground as if it was exhausted, devoid of any signs of life. The two battle-maids shared a glance, unsure of what was happening. However, before they could walk up and check if the fish monster was feigning death or something weird really was happening, the creatures body was becoming transparent. Its head and its entire body that was still outside soon vanished, leaving four dark organs that were evolved from fins and resembled clawed limbs Whats going on? It wasnt just the battle maidseven the knowledgeable noblewoman had never gone through such a situation, and were confused as to what they should do. That was when a young boy who was just a little older than Gwendolyn ran inside the hut. He did a double-take when he saw the four of them, and promptly ran outside while shouting. Uncle Mustafa! Theres someone inside the hut! After that, a mans rich, calm voice asked. Who is it? The hunting ground garrison? I dont know, theyre all women! The boy replied. What color? Yellow! The four people in the hut looked at each other, unable to help studying one another as the same question bugged them: how were they yellow? Still, before they could think, the adult man had entered, and the noblewomans body tightened the moment she saw him. She had seen that face on a report when she had arranged Mayor Corinths desk: it was the murder suspect of Baron Nigelania whom the city watch captains had uncovered after much difficult investigation! Chapter 170: Splitting Up Thanks for your aid, good sir. Theres no telling what wouldve happened to us otherwise. The noblewoman did her best to not let on while she curtseyed perfectly at the middle-aged man who was dressed rather ruggedly. Meanwhile, both battle-maids appeared nervous the moment they saw Mufasa. They started to sweat over their brows, the hands they held their swords with shaking ever so discreetly even as they instinctively shielded their mistress. But unlike the noblewoman who knew Mufasa had killed a baron, their reaction was solely because they felt a strong pressure from Mufasas mere presence! A persons aura was as vague as it was illusory, but it at least exists in this world, and was a quite common phenomenon for mortal champions. Such was the case for the Playerswho were also completely unaware that their repetitive triumphs over all enemies and levelling up had gained them a certain level of aura. However, because their strengthening was rather simple, the formation of their aura was very crude and hard to detect. Moreover, all Players essentially develop along multiple skill branch, which makes their aura not quite pure. Therefore, others would only feel that the Players had a special sensation to them. As such, the first reaction of many champions in this world when they encounter any Players would be to think of them as weaklings. Taking their own auras into account, such champions would actually be convinced that they could fight ten Players at once, and would only promptly think oh no, Ive been had! How can these people be so strong without aura!? when they really came to blows, before the Players turn the table on them and reduce them to EXP. Only Players of Mufasas style were different: be it out of class defect or the Players personality, they would give up on skills of other branches and focus their training on a single skill branch. Without the complements of skills from a different branch and having to fight in completely different environments and conditions, such Players would have to persistently train and improve their craft. In the end, they would become like the grandmaster swordsmen of oldas they gained a profound individual understanding of swordplay and skills, their aura which they had developed over innumerable trials between life and death would be much more solid than other Players, allowing them to assume a path that even people not in the Church of Games could sense. That was the case in this very moment: because the two battle-maids had their own accomplishments in swordplay, they sharply detected the aura over Mufasas body. Hence, their scalps were becoming numb while their bodies slowed as if they had fallen within an icy cavernit was a warning from their very instincts, similar to the danger sense that animals have when a predator on top of the food chain had their eyes on them. They even felt more pressure from Mufasa than when the human-faced fish monster leered at them. There was some truth to that as well: against the fish monster, the battle-maids were confident that they could react no matter how fast the beast could move, or at least would not be devoured like the hunting ground garrison without knowing a thing. On the other hand, even as they watched Mufasa right now, the experience and swordplay training they gained over the years told them that in the split second they fought him as an enemyor indeed the split second they aimed their blades at him, was the moment they die. Naturally, Mufasa wasnt aware of any of that, just as he didnt know how strong his aura actually was. All he could think of was that the noblewomans maids were too frightened, and were still cowering even with the human-faced fishes wiped out. No thanks necessary, its no trouble at all. And the human-faced fishes also give surprisingly high EXP, Mufasa said inwardly. May I ask what are your plans, sir? The noblewoman asked politely then. For his part, Mufasa assumed that she was still petrified by the human-faced fishes, and was asking to see if his party could escort them back home. Where are you from? He asked, curious to know if they were heading to the same place. Could it be that he intends to find out where we live, and decide where to go from there? All at once, the noblewoman decided that revealing her identity could lead to Mufasa holding them hostage to demand a ransom from Corinth, mayor of Lancaster. After all, this was a man who could assassinate a baron back in Lancaster and then disappear without a traceit wouldnt be a stretch for him to go even further. Im from the Miel family, of Codo Bosra. The noblewoman decided to give her maiden name after brief thought. That way, she wasnt lying, and any divine lie detector wouldnt react even if he had one. It was also acceptable to head to Codo Bosra to obtain some ransomit would be fine if her reputation was besmirched, as long as her daughter Gwendolyn came out alright. Codo Bosra? Thats quite a detour. Mufasa scratched his head. Codo Bosra and the Seira Marshes were in two completely directions from the hunting grounds. And with Mufasas past experiences, if he escorted the ladies back to Codo Bosra, the Wild Boss at the Seira Marshes would have been slain even before he could head out from there. After all, unlike the Bosses that would spawn continuously in the dungeons that the God of Games prepared, most Wild Bosses were existences like no other and gone once killed. It is also universally acknowledged that Wild Bosses had the most rewarding item drops, and the only know Legendary weapon Giants Toe was an item drop from the defeat of the Barren Giant, another Wild Boss. Well we could go by ourselves? The noblewoman asked tentatively while repressing her own excitement. Mufasa, however, misunderstood that she was still very frightened as her facial expressions kept changing. It was not too hard to understand her either: the swamp fishmen were still at large nearby, and it was just as likely for the human-faced fish to appear out of nowhere. After considering it for a while, Mufasa made his choice. Simba, you three will send them back to Codo Bosra. Im going to the Seira Marshes alone. Moreover, the fighting just now had him realize that Simbas group was still weak in ability, having just recently become Players. Even with him covering them, the children almost had the tables turned against them against one of the human-faced fish, which meant that they were definitely going to die if they went to the Seira Marshes, even killed gruesomely and repeatedly by the Boss. If a Cleric Player raised them without knowing that they did not have enough EXP, they would really die if they died again With that in mind, he decided to have the trio accompany the noblewoman to Codo Bosra, which basically was escorting them anyway. Eh? Are you going to be alright, sir? Simba could not help asking worriedly. Wouldnt you have a hard time without AoE skills if you run into a pack of swamp fishmen? After all, the children had learned things about Kengyoku after becoming Players, understanding that most of the class skills were only greatly effective in one-on-one duels. Ill be fine even if youre not! Did you think I was just fooling around alone in dungeons when nobody partied with me? Im used to fighting dozens by myself! Thats clearly bragging, but why does it sound so sad? That being said, Simba and the others agreed to Mufasas request to split ways, leading away the noblewomans group even as she tried to refuse but did not know how and headed out for Codo Bosra. Chapter 171: You Can Walk Without Three-Stage Sliding Slashes? When Mufasa and the children were still running around the hunting grounds, the other Players led by Marni had already arrived at the Seira Marshes. Occupying a major chunk of the Valla Empires territories, the Seira Marshes were uninhabited like the Trinia Forest up north, being an inhospitable place for humans that was overflowing with beasts and magical beasts. In fact, whenever Vallas Emperor bore ill will towards any noble, the most common solution was to award them a piece of land out of those two regions while urging them to hurry towards their fief with all pomp and ceremony Of course, such a solution was just useless to important nobles like Duke Horan who already owned vast tracts of land. And just as its name suggests, the Seira Marshes was a wetland that would not freeze or catch snow even during winter, and the marshes within stretched on infinitely. As such, any inexperienced person would never be able to tell what was in front of them: whether it was a dry, firm piece of moss or floating algae over endlessly deep waters. Aside from magical creatures and all manner of vicious beasts, it was said that there were witches living within the marches. Either way, it was a place of danger and no one should approach it. In contrast, the Trinia Forest was much safer despite being another notably dangerous locationhumans at least wouldnt have to worry about tumbling and drowning in the marshes just for missing a step. As a matter of fact, the Seira Marshes were not friendly towards the Players either. While resurrection spells could save them, a Player who had dropped beneath the surface was no different to having no corpse to revive them withall they could do is wait in confinement at the little black hut for three days before being brought back to life. That being said, the Players were a more adventurous bunch than most. Although normal humans might never successfully map a corner of the marshes even after sacrificing thousands, the Players were differentthey did not have to die that many times to feel out a path. Because none of them were actually doing any walking. *** Marni was issuing orders in an orderly manner. Right flank, hit the ground with mountain strikes, and dont spare even an inch of ground. Relax, the Seafood Clerics would drag you out. Left flank, cast three stage slashesremember to slash backwards on the third step, and run as soon as you lit up the map, and be careful not to fall. Leave mid to my Divine Earthsplit Blade, and all of you keep an eye out for where the water is! Hey! Care to mention who the Seafood Clerics are again? Some of the Aquatic Angels were protesting angrily. At the same time, the minimap was almost fully explored. After all, the Players had been rampantly laying waste to the ecosystem and landscape of the marshes while steadilyor indeed rapidlypushing inward. Their progress would leave every past expedition here sighing in awe. However, the Players were left baffled because they had been wrecking a sizeable portion of the marshes. Logically speaking, some magical creature like the Rutiodon should be showing up right now, but all they had faced so far were swamp fishmen, swamp fishmen, and more swamp fishmen. Therefore, almost every Player participating in the operation had the same question in mind: could it be that there were only swamp fishmen in these marshes? But their hunches were proved wrong soon enough: aside from swamp fishmen, there were human-faced fish monsters. Having seen and learned much as a former travelling merchant, Marni had initially assumed that those grotesque monsters he never heard of before were not natives to these marshes. After all, their sizes did not appear to agree with life in these wetlands, and their bodies closely resembled saltwater fish species But as those human-faced fish monsters kept increasing in number, even Marni started having doubts. Could there really have been some major phenomenon that occurred in these marshes? He thought, doubting his existence when a Ranger returned from scouting up front. Mister Wilf, I think I found something and it doesnt look good. One should also note that there had been twelve Rangers scouting ahead, but the others were now dead. It only made it evident how scary the marshes were. What did you see? The Ranger did not answer, however, and instead led Marni and a handful of Players with him to a nearby spot. There was a distinctly wider lagoon, and Marni was shocked to find almost thousands of swamp fishmen gathered closely beside the water with more coming to join them. At the center of the lagoon was a swamp fishman high priest, wearing a ritual mask while performing some sort of ritual dance. Although Marni and the others couldnt tell how the priest kept himself from sinking, what happened next shocked them even more. As the swamp fishman high priest continued its otherworldly dance, a globe of water that resembled an egg over two meters wide rose out of the waterthe water was crystal clear as well, with no impurities inside. That was when the many swamp fishmen that had been happy with standing aside and watch the show all jumped into the lagoon and swam towards the globe as if called upon, and then bounding headlong within. Hence, in spite of its crystalline appearance, the water in the globe melted any swamp fishmen that had entered whole within seconds, reducing them to cheese as if they were acid. And as the corpses in the globe increased, the cheese-shaped corpse changed further, fusing together like cotton wads and rapidly growing organs and skins. Then, when the last piece of scale took form and every piece of organ ready, the dozens of fishmen corpses would have been cultured into one human-faced fish monster within minutes. Hence, with a deafening cry and a frightening horn, it would then break out of the globe! After being born, those human-faced fish monsters would feed upon what the swamp fishmen brought from their hunt to grow into massive sizes, their scales slowly darkening and hardening. Having witnessed all that, Marni was beside himself in shock. The swamp fishmen which showed such emotions and made him doubt his existence was actually the same creature as that bizarre human-faced fish monster? If he had to describe it, it was a growth process similar to how caterpillars would metamorphose into butterflies. Moreover, he remembered something else in the surprise. So, there were no other creatures aside from swamp fishmen in these marshes or at least this zone? Moreover, the fishman priests dance must be some ritual, but it didnt resemble an offering to the Ocean Goddess and was full of such mystery that no one would forget it. At the same time, the globe of water with which the swamp fishman turned into the human-faced fish monster must be the effect of the ritual dance, similar to a divine power. And this sinister but alluring power certainly wasnt the power of any deities of the light. These fishmen had to be followers of some evil god! Chapter 172: Boss Doesnt Want to Hear You Joke; Boss Used Body Slam It wasnt just Marnieven Xi Wei couldnt sit by and watch in his divine kingdom. He was unable to do much lately due to his lacking divine energy, and simply watched as the Players ran off to farm swamp fishmen. There was nothing he needed them to do anyway once he thought about it: things were normal at Fishmen Island, and the Ocean Goddess certainly wouldnt suddenly pop up at Lancaster several hundred miles away to stir trouble, right? Therefore, the rampage of the swamp fishmen had to be a natural phenomenon. Creatures of this world would often suddenly breed in wild numbers due to the climate or some sudden factor, but though things could prove problematic afterwards it at least wouldnt hurt the balance of ecosystemsone way or another, natures cycles and conditioning could be observed. Hence, Xi Wei decided to break out his popcorn and enjoy the show when he confirmed that it had nothing to do with the Ocean Goddess trial. After all, not even he would want to visit the Players in their dreams after they had left, catching them by their collars and telling them stop going out on adventures, stay home and play games instead! to earn divine energy. Still, as his popcorn boxes piled, he eventually couldnt act as if he was uninvolved. Xi Wei certainly knew early on that the believers of certain gods were some freakish creatures, but he did not expect that the swamp fishmen would so boldly betray the Ocean Goddess to worship an unidentified evil god instead. And from the grotesque appearance of those human-faced fish that was ugly enough to destroy entire cityscapes, they clearly werent the creation of some orthodox deities to disgust themselves But what authority could modify those creatures to such degree? Xi Wei stroked himself at a spot that could be his chin. Life? Bestial? Doesnt feel like those. As a matter of fact, Xi Wei himself had the authority to modify living beingsgiven that none of the Bosses in the game looked human. After all, even Frieza had a third form that was neither human nor monster Be that as it may, his authority only alters individuals, and he couldnt create a collective of its own existence like the human-faced fish out of thin air. He couldnt make any hypothesis with the severe lack of information, and so it seemed he must rely on the Players to keep stirring trouble at the swarm to attempt learning more. At that thought, Xi Wei focused his Divine Eye down at them and started peeking. *** At the moment, the Players had already grouped up under Marnis directions, and were too preoccupied with fighting with team spirit against the hundreds of swamp fishmen and the newly born human-faced fish. That said, the Players fighting capabilities appear quite formidable now Watching as the Players calmly drove a wedge between the enemy lines to encircle and wipe them out with crossfire tactics despite their terrible disadvantage in terms of numbers, Xi Wei suddenly noticed that his crazy believers actually had some fight in them. While Xi Wei was alone as the peak fighting force and the stronger fighters were a mere handful, most veteran Players were at the level of an armys main force, and actually had a decent chance of winning even when they fought alone. If Xi Wei wanted them to, he could mobilize the Players for an uprising to claim power in small counties such as Cromwell. Such small cities had not many churches, and even less Holy Corps garrisoned. In fact, they might even take a city the size of Lancaster if they made preparations and could attack without any nasty surprises. Though it would be hard to say how long they could hold on to it. Meanwhile, the hundreds of swamp fishmen and dozens of human-faced fish monsters that could wipe out the entire garrison of a city had been completely wiped out by the Players, converted to their EXP. Xi Wei also found something resembling a map on the swamp fishman high priests corpse, and hence left it on the other side as an item drop while also throwing in a few rare-purple items. The rewards certainly delighted the Players, who in turn threw themselves on the ground, stuck out their bottoms and started to throwing some dices they were carrying with them Xi Wei: How did these fools come up with a gacha roll system without being taught? Finding himself rather apathetic about the Players just then, Xi Wei decided to keep an even closer eye on the Players private lives. Soon, after dividing the loot, the Players continued forward along the winding and crooked swamp fishmen map, ending up at the banks of a massive lake deep within the marshes. Winter had just passed recently but there were no signs of the lake having frozen over, with many aquatic plants growing beneath the crystalline surface. Several Aquatic Angels summoned their familiars to have them help scout the lake, but they were sea creatures unaccustomed to freshwater, and fled ashore soon enough. Eventually, the ever-sinister Marni made the suggestion to have the Aquatic Angels summon some rotted mackerels, stingrays, and seals (which also begs the question of why those things were labeled as sea monsters and were in the list of summonses) and dump them all into the lake. In no time at all, a jet of water shot out into the skies from the lake as a colossal figure breached the surface. But although Xi Wei had expected that the Final Boss the Players had run into was something like a Swamp Hydra, he didnt expect that the king of the lake was a Marsh Drake! And it was utterly infuriated by the Players littering into its lake, firing a jet of water that swept across the entire lake! Get down! Marni promptly yelled. Aside from several Players who had substantial HP and high defense, every other Player who could not react in time were all insta-killed by the Marsh Drakes display of power. Then, as Marni looked up to find that he was still alive, he could not stop himself from beaming. Hoho! Im finally not the first to die! Nonetheless, the Marsh Drake seemed to take the look on his face as a provocation, and insta-killed him as well with a mouthful of spit. While the flustered Clerics tried to resurrect the insta-killed Players, the others mounted a tentative assault on the Marsh Drake. The long distance, however, meant that there was almost no damage dealt at all. Dare you come ashore!? The well-rounded Terrosche taunted the Marsh Drake, before turning towards his bro beside him. Quick, you have to taunt it to come ashore! Should I tell a joke? Silva asked slowly after hesitating for half a beat. The Marsh Drake clearly didntit simply dove into the water, and in just a split second its massive body shot out of at the lake banks like a torpedo! Ive been waiting for you! Terrorsche was delighted instead of stunned, spreading his arms as he cried out sonorously. Suplex! And yet, his infallible grappling technique failedthe Marsh Drakes gigantic body simply crushed him as it moved along, flattening Terrosche into a cookie. Tsk! How could we fight it if it stays invulnerable?! Silva exclaimed just before the beast swallowed him whole. Meanwhile, in his divine kingdom, the surface of Xi Wei ball had wrinkled. Unlike the Players, he already realized that it wasnt invulnerability, but a divinity aspect which resisted all Rule of Skills to a certain extent! The Marsh Drake actually had the divine attribute! Chapter 173: The Gods have Extreme Tastes Although the divine attribute would resist and grant immunity against the Rule of Skill, skills could still inflict damage if the targets defenses could be penetrated, and that was why the Players were not running away yet. Indeed, as long as the revival mechanism was not stagnating, such a situation was merely an increase in difficulty for the Players The feeling there would be like switching games from World of Warcraft to Monster Hunter back on Earth, with the Players cursing bad strategies on the forums at worst. Being a social animal, many would indeed have such experiences: it was clearly the same boring event, but when a whole bunch of others were doing the same, it would somehow become interesting even if the content did not change at all. This aspect wouldnt change even in an isekai. It was true that the enemy was peerlessly powerful. Though a brush or a rub wouldnt lead to insta-kills, the Players would basically be left with bare minimum HP, whereas they would only deal some insignificant levels of damage despite piercing the monsters defenses. But once they had assured that they had sufficient EXP and that their revival mechanism worked as intended, the Players were acting as if they were taking part in some bizarre festival. Not only were they showing no fear or inclination to withdraw, they were focusing body and spirit under the command of several elite Players as they did battle against the Marsh Drake, amidst an increasingly passionate atmosphere. Xi Wei saw it all in his divine kingdom. While he was satisfied with the Players fighting spirit, he couldnt help feeling that something was unusual with that Marsh Drake. Naturally, he wasnt worried about the Marsh Drake suddenly going Super Saiyan Dragon or something to instakill every Player rules applied even in an otherworld. As long as it wasnt a god who could bend the rules, even Legendary champions would have a hard time creating objects out of thin air, let alone having three-stages of morphing. The truth was that the Marsh Drake was exceedingly powerful for the Players, but that meant nothing. If the Marsh Drake had six times the HP, even lasting three days and nights against the Players and pull them down by up to eight levels, they just might give up since they couldnt bear that cost on EXP. Now, however, with the Marsh Drakes HP already dropping down to less than half of what it was, the Players naturally were even more fired up. What really left Xi Wei baffled was its divine attribute. Its been a while but the Players skills arent workingeven the special buff skills are all basically resisted Xi Wei muttered, rubbing his own ball form with his own tentacle. This shouldnt happen at all if its just a normal divine creature The divine attribute wasnt amongst the three vital essences (Divine Grace, Divine Fury, and Divine Order) of the gods. In fact, mortal creatures would occasionally gain certain levels of divinity should they share a relationship with certain gods. The most common cases were believers of a deity whom they chose as their stewards, magical beasts that a deity saw as their pet, just like how popes or saintesses would obtain a certain level of divinity. Having divinity, aside from having the passive divine special-attack to deal tons of damage, one could also gain immunity against Chaos and Void, surviving for a certain period even if they were caught in Chaotic Space or the Void in the gap between different planes. Moreover, divinity protects wielders from certain rules that would make things inconvenient. Naturally, the Rule of Skill that Xi Wei himself had created would be resisted by divinity too. However, the question was that rules remain the essence of worlds. Though the gods could keep themselves completely immune from minor rules, creatures with divinity shouldnt be completely invulnerable! And yet, the Marsh Drake was completely invulnerable! Moreover, it was so weak that it might lose to the Barren Giant in a one-on-one fight. In fact, if not for the jumbled and corrupted divine power that shrouds its body and it didnt actually have any divine energy, Xi Wei would have assumed that it was some god who had gained the power to escape the World Barrier, and descend upon the mortal realm to throw its weight around That divine power is not pure at all could it be that its predatory relationship with the swamp fishmen led to the swamp fishmen worshipping it, hence creating something like an artificial deity? Given the special nature of the God of Games birth, Xi Wei imagined that the Marsh Drake was a god given birth just like the former God of Games. However, he soon refuted that hunch. Because no god could be born in the mortal realm. No matter how many individuals would worship a mortal creature it would only ever be an idol and not a god, because the mortal realm or more precisely, any planes aside from the realm did not have the condition to develop divinity! And in this world, divinitythe three-in-one element of Divine Fury, Divine Grace, and Divine Order was the only aspect that absorbs divine energy and converts it into divine power! (Even the divine power that Xi Wei used Rotten Bones to store wasnt divine energy)! From the strength of that divine attribute, the Marsh Drake is neither a chosen one nor a saint, let alone divine kin A being that stays completely invulnerable from the negative side of Rule of Skill, its divine attribute standing head and shoulders above those mentioned existences Aside from being an actual god that had descended upon the mortal realm, Xi Wei could only think of a single possibility. Its a creature with divine attribute because it was born between a god who projected themselves upon the mortal realm with a mortal creature. In other words, a demigod! That would be wrong, howeverjudging from how the Marsh Drake lived, abomination might be more appropriate So, its not a gods reptile pet, but the child of some dumb*ss god who banged a reptile? In his divine kingdom, Xi Wei could not help putting on his colored glasses[1] as he studied the battered Marsh Drake anew, clicking his tongue in wonder. What god could have such extreme tastes? However, considering that most gods werent humanoids, and that there were some evil gods with outlandish appearance aside from beast form gods like Aslan, the Marsh Drake was quite beautiful in comparison maybe? Who knows? Maybe after some time, Xi Weis believers would stumble upon some little lions that embodied the Justice divine attribute in the mortal realm But even as Xi Wei sinisterly guessed away about Aslans tastes, he suddenly sensed another god approaching his divine kingdom. After careful sensing of the others divine attribute, Xi Wei realized that it actually was Aslan the Great Lion, and suddenly felt uncomfortable with the awkwardness of being caught when bad-mouthing someone. That said, he shouldnt be locking Aslan out, and in the end had to open a gap to let the Great Lion into his divine kingdom. Even as he watched Aslans solemn and majestic lion face, Xi Wei promptly began to consider if he should whirl three-hundred-and-sixty degrees to apologize. However, Aslan spoke before he could. Something terrible has happened! [1] Putting on colored glasses (ɫ۾) means to hold a prejudiced viewpoint. Chapter 174: Nothing Happened Yet. Im Still In The Game! Xi Wei felt his heart stop beating for an instant. And then he realized two things. One, he has no heart after becoming a ball. Two, Aslan said something terrible has happened, and not youre in trouble!. Good, Xi Wei thought inwardly. Looks like Im still in the game. What happened? he asked. Do you want some coke? Its fine, Ill have that drink that taste like tea from last time. The Great Lion said as he lay down on the floor of Xi Weis divine kingdom, training a weird stare at the human-faced fish monsters that were emitting a fishy scent. Your taste for collectibles is more and more curious lately Those are offerings from my believers. Xi Wei replied as he brewed Aslan a cup of Oldenlandia Mineral Water. And as you know, they have a wide range of interests. He wanted to brag a little and add do you even get any?, but fearful that the Great Lion would bellow back Youre crazy and have a death wish! and beat him up, he decided to control himself. Unaware of Xi Weis thoughts, the Great Lion licked the cup of Oldenlandia before saying, Dont be scared about what Im about to tell you. Relax. I wont be; Im more or less a god. Xi Wei replied without any worry while plunging a bottle of cola into his ball form. Several lesser gods had fallen, Aslan said slowly then. And not due to natural causes, but by assassination. Oh. And I thought what could it be thats so terrible Xi Wei replied, leaning on a skull beside him as he waved his tentacles, completely unconcerned. He had killed another god himself after allRotten Bones head was right here, and the rest of his corpse in the grinder. Moreover, if anything happened to him here, he would fall anyway if it was either the Skull God or the Ocean Goddess Then what if I told you that there had been four fallen lesser gods after winter ended? The Great Lion added, already expecting that Xi Wei wouldnt be so easily intimated since he had slain an evil god before. What?! So scary! Youre not being serious. What are you talking about! Do you have proof?! Not interested is literally written over your ball in divine language. The Great Lion pointed at the ball of light, which had rows of text sliding over its surface like a scrolling ticker from right to left. Fine. As a matter of fact, Xi Wei really wasnt interested in the matter. Even though he was a third-rate god himself, there were still many other lesser gods in this world of innumerable deities. Even if some evil god or demon god was slaying lesser gods one by one, theres not much chance for him to hit the jackpot. Moreover, the location of the gods respective divine kingdoms was kept secret. Tracking down one would require tracing of the Churches saints or Chosen Ones divine attribute or some unique form of authority. Even Aslan the Great Lion himself had spent a long time observing Xi Weis believers before eventually finding his divine kingdom. Moreover, such indiscriminate slaughter of lesser gods would greatly affect the balance in the divine realm. In fact, even the Seven Divine Fathers would not sit idly by, which was why it was unnecessary for Xi Wei to get involved. To put it simply, the higher-ups would actually prevent the skies from tumbling down, and now Xi Wei just had to focus on going below the belt But even if he conceded that what could happen would happen, he had no solution for countering. All he could do was do the same thing he did against Rotten Bones: strengthen his divine kingdom and set traps. Forget it, then. Ive just came to warn you to be careful. The Great Lions focus waned when he saw that Xi Wei really wasnt interestedhe sincerely acknowledged Xi Wei as a new member of the Invisible Pantheon after he helped slay the Tsujigiri, which was why he thought of coming to help Xi Wei to find the enemy. By the way, you should warn your believers around this time. What is it? Xi Wei asked in curiosity. Is it about what you mention before, that the Demonic Roes were appearing by droves? No, that is important but Im talking about something else. The Great Lion shook his head, his mane drifting smoothly as if CGI was used and forcing an impulse on Xi Wei to touch it. The last lesser god victim was Mossland Spirit, but when he was attacked, he appeared to have attempted descent to the mortal realm by damaging his own divinity. Fleeing from his divine kingdom to the mortal realm, instead of asking other gods for help? Xi Wei found it unusual immediately. To be fair, Mossland Spirit was a part of the pessimist fraternity of lesser gods called Rustic Life. Maybe he thought that finding a fellow god wouldnt help. The Great Lion replied. That cleared things up: instead of dragging a friend along with him, it was better to flee somewhere the assailant would never expect. It would have the feel of this is my real escape route, fool to it, and it was definitely the better choice in terms of success rate. But he must have failed, Xi Wei said with certainty. Being the only god who could transmigrate, Xi Wei knew better than anyone how that authority could prove unthinkable and how horrific the power that restrains the gods from crossing over was. Indeed, apart from himself, other gods would never experience the sensation of their true forms crossing the World Barrier to another plane. Yes. Be that as it may, his actions still surprised his assailant, which is why something else that stunned every other god happened. The Great Lion replied, keeping Xi Wei in suspense while he made him another cup of tea. Then, after having a sip, Aslan continued, When Mossland Spirit was stuck at the World Barrier, his assailant seemed to have some powerful divine art anyway, despite that buggers intentions to directly kill Mossland Spirit, something unexpected happened: Mossland Spirits divinity was shattered. Thats it? Xi Wei Ball wrinkled in a frown. Divinity wasnt unbreakable anywaya past example was how the Aquatic Lord had his divinity shattered. No, thats not news. What really surprised all the gods was that part of the shattered divinity had made it past the World Barrier down to the mortal realm! The Great Lion answered somberly and composedly. Many of them now believe that if they could find the divinity fragments down below, they could learn the identity of the assailant, and a solution to cross the World Barrier as well! Xi Wei Ball blinked, and thoughtfully charged his Divine Eye to look down upon the mortal realm, where the Players were about to blow up the Marsh Drake. Chapter 175: Auction After seeing off the Great Lion, Xi Wei turned towards the Players who had finally blown up the Marsh Drakes head. While the Marsh Drake was related to the Marsh Hydra, it didnt possess the Hydras survivability to grow two more heads when one was cut off. Therefore, it was absolutely dead after it had its head blown up. Naturally, Xi Wei was not going to be stingy whenever the Players offered him a Wild Boss that would never appear again after one battle, which also supplies him considerable divine energy. Hence, he plucked out the heartstrings of the human-faced fish monsters corpses that almost numbered a hundred, refining and tempering them into sturdy bowstrings. Then, he extracted the Barren Giants to make the body of the bow, along with some bone-powder from Rotten Bones corpse as a string notch imbued with divine power. Finally, he put all those materials together, crafting the golden legendary war-bow AWM, a weapon of unparalleled range and penetration, coupled with a sniper scope with magnification effect and dumped it at the Players. Although the Players were puzzled by the naming of the legendary weapon, it did not stop them from going as hard as they could in the dice-rolling battle to seize the second legendary weapon ever encountered. Why in hells name are you rolling?! Youre a warrior, why would you want a bow? I could use it as a stick! Aaaaaargh! I cant use a bow after changing class to Shadow Rogue! Im fated not to possess it Fate, my foot! Youre a mage, please! Please, show some kindness to this ranger. Our class is the weakest class, dont you have any sympathy? Rangers are the weakest? Have you considered the feelings of the Swordmasters and that one Kengyoku Player? Did you say the Swordmasters are the weakest? Come, wash that pretty neck of yourswere dueling back at the village! *** While the Players fought each other in a chaotic uproar for the second legendary weapon, Xi Wei had also received the corpse of the Marsh Drake. Coiling his tentacles around it, he began studying the unusual corpse. First and foremost, that thing didnt have divinity. Well, make sense Xi Wei wasnt actually disappointed about that. Indeed, one would have to say that it was too cheap a divine existence if it really had received a divinity fragment and yet was still so easily killed by the Players. Moreover, before mortal creatures became a legendary being, they would be consumed by divinity and become fertilizer for the divinity fragment instead even if they managed to obtain it. It was true that the creature had some degree of divine power. With it, the Marsh Drake had grown very powerful and could easily wipe out fully-armored Players, but that power was also eating away at the Marsh Drakes bodyit would otherwise be difficult for the Players to punch through its defenses to deal certain damage with their present abilities. Aside from all that, Xi Wei was rather puzzled about this creature that embodied divine attribute: it wasnt actually the progeny of a divine being, just as it wasnt a Chosen One or a demigod. Even so, the concentrated divine attributes in the corpse almost reached the level of demigods. Soon, however, Xi Wei stumbled on something surprising. The aspect of divine attribute on the Marsh Drakes body did not belong to the Mossland Spirit, but was connected to beasts and forests, a divinity that was more ancient and primitive. Could a sub-deity of Bellphon, God King of the Beasts had fallen nearby? Xi Wei Ball stroked himself as he thought furiously to find a reasonable explanation. And then this dude incidentally stumbled upon the scene, infected by the gods corpse and hence obtained that power? But that did not make sense either. A god was a frightening existence even if a corpse was all that was left of them. A point in case is the bottom-feeder of all deitiesRotten Bones, which corpse was being juiced by Xi Wei every day for divine attributes and divine power to maintain an entire dungeon for the Players. Though a long time had passed, the weakening of its divine attributes was barely perceptiblethe corpse could probably stay in use for some time. Likewise, if a god really did fall in the Seira Marshes, it would have long since become an even more frightening land of death. Furthermore, Bellphon was very protective of the weak and definitely not an apathetic god. He wouldnt do nothing if a sub-deity of his had truly fallen there, and he would at least get his believers to stand guard over it in spite of the obstruction that was the World Barrier. And there werent any religious groups near the Seira Marshes at all It puzzled Xi Wei even more that the Marsh Drakes divinity was so ancient and that it was clearly not obtained recently. However, the creature only went on a rampage over the last few days, its divine power going amok no thanks to the swamp fishmens worshipping and in turn shaping into a divine art that created those human-faced fish monsters Damn it, its somehow harder to get a clear picture with more clues Xi Wei simply gave up on uncovering the truth about the Marsh Drake. But if my hunch is right, the clue is beneath the lake where my Divine Eye cant see At that thought, he simply turned towards the Players, intending to assign them a quest to explore the bottom of the lake. Be that as it may, the Players appeared to be having some bizarre meeting. Xi Wei listened in on their conversation and quickly found out that a Cleric had managed to roll for the bow just now. The Player, however, suggested that he did not need it and that he joined the dice-rolling just to fool around, and hence decided to auction it. Therefore, even before Xi Weis planned auction mechanic had opened business, the Players organized the first auction in the history of the Church of Games out in the wild. The Player forums had already exploded. Rangers who had yet to change classes were begging other Players for a loan as if they were their own grandparents in their desire to buy the AWM, so that they could say goodbye to their measly damage output and take charge instead. At the same time, the forum platform which clearly had rather crude rules for the auctioning somehow saw no unexpected incidents. Hence, after a while of competing offers from the Rangers, the curtain fell on the event. In the end, Gou Dan who was actually not present had successfully bought the AWM thanks to his powerful interpersonal relationship, hence taking a loan of twenty thousand game coins from Marni to buy the AWM in his stead, although Marni had no intentions of joining the auction at first. Nonetheless, the entire process which began with the dice rolling and ended with the auction did not take over half an hour. Aside from the Players growing proactiveness and execution, Xi Wei realized that the game version updates were falling behind the Players constantly changing and improving motivations. If this continues, something beyond Xi Weis control could happen. While something like a creative workshop (like Steam Workshop) would work in extending the lifespan of a game back on Earth, it only meant the abuse of a gods authority in this world. Looks like the game needs a version update Xi Wei sighed. At the very least, the Players mustnt speed along the path of genocidal primates. Chapter 176: Divinity Altar A frogman was diving down the dark, deep lake while glugging from time to time. It was obviously a vast and frighteningly deep lake, and yet there werent many living creatures within aside from one or two little fishes passing by. The rest probably were all devoured by the Marsh Drake, the frogman thought. The appetite of such an enormous monster must have been horrific. Although the frogman did not actually join the battle against the Marsh Drake, it was shouting cheers and waving banners for its masterthat one fact alone was enough for it to boast about the next time it met Croakatoa in the village. And now, this young frogman was beside itself with joy also exploring the bottom of the lake as requested by its master. If the cold lake water wasnt actually calming it down, it felt that it could get a boner. As a matter of fact, the Players had obtained diving equipment when they were exploring the Gray Fjord. However, they clearly werent expecting to use those stuff in this journey into the Seira Marshes, which was why none of them brought along those heavy and space-consuming equipment. It was fortunate that more Players had made contracts with the frogmen following the conclusion of the Fishmen Island event, and they could dispatch their familiars to help investigate the bottom of the lake. Meanwhile, the young frogman threw away his excess thoughts and continued diving downwards, but the water pressure was becoming even stronger the deeper it went, almost suffocating it. Croak! Just as it was about to be crushed by the enormous force, blinks of white light that resembled warm snow appeared. Soon, a gigantic altar that resembled a shrine appeared before it. The center of the altar was a single gem that was shining dazzlingly in white radiance, and yet appeared murky at the same time somehow. The entire lake seemed to shine after that. The distorted corpses of various creatures were piling around the altar. In fact, several of those lifeless corpses belonged to Marsh Drakes that were larger than the one the Players fought, along with a massive chain that was thicker than a frogmans body but having already rusted halfway through. Croak? For some reason, the frogman who should be a coward by nature wasnt frightened by corpses at all. Drawn by the strange gem, it appeared to have completely forgotten its task and only desired a closer look. That was when its face reverted from drunkenness to luciditythrough the strength of its contract, its master had told him that its task was complete and it could return. It was only then that the frogman went green in fright at the sight of the piling corpses and swam upwards as hard as it could. Naturally, the frogman wasnt aware that a ball of light appeared near the altar, extending and coiling its tentacles around the white gem to take it away. *** As Xi Wei had guessed, the white gem was a fragment of divinity, and it didnt belong to Mossland Spirit. Instead, it belonged to Amazon, the Rainforest Guardiana deity that had suddenly gone missing over seven hundred years ago. It was a pity that the fragment was so heavily damaged that Xi Wei couldnt read what had happened to Amazon from it. Still, from the way it was placed on the altar, the reason wouldnt be quite simple. Interestingly, after the fragment had descended down to the mortal realm and stabilized, it had regained a portion of the recording function that divinity has, and some scenes could be read. In the very first scene, the fragment had already been placed on the altar. Several Marsh Drakes were already bound in iron chains around it as well, acting as guardian beasts that protected the altar from being discovered or sabotaged. But as time passed, those Marsh Drakes were gradually eroded by the power of the divinity and finally perished at the bottom of the lake, although they already had descendants. The descendants would also be bound by the iron chains by some spell that existed around the altar the moment they hatched, replacing their forebears before them as the next guardians. Therefore, despite the Marsh Drakes original long lifespans, the divinitys effect on them meant that every generation of Marsh Dragon aside from the first would not live past fifty. Still, despite the legacy of divine power erosion that lasted generations, the present Marsh Drake had somehow gained formidable divine attributes. With it, it developed immunity against various spells, rules or even divine arts, hence stiffly shrugging free of the iron chains that had bound its kind over centuries. Be that as it may, it could not obtain freedom: the exceedingly heightened divine attributes had led to its mind being eaten away by the divinity fragment. Hence, not only did it not leave the lake, it began collecting the divine generation of other living beings under the influence of the divinity fragment, creating divine arts that could warp creatures with the goal of culturing a Chosen One that could embody the fragments power It would be worth mentioning here that divinity fragment had not become self-aware and was controlling the Marsh Drake, but it was a phenomenon that occurred out of instinct. Meanwhile, the swamp fishmen that had gained divine power protection became no different cultists worshipping an evil god. Their influence hence rapidly bloated, wiping out almost every other living creature in the Seira Marshes as they spread uncontrollably beyond the area. Of course, that was what drew in the Players, who then blew up the fishmen along with their guardians To tell the truth, the Players had already lost interest even though there would definitely be many swamp fishmen still hiding within the Seira Marshes. After all, fighting in the marshes was quite troublesomeother factors aside, a single battle left them no different from mud-people Furthermore, the main course that was the Marsh Drake was finished. Or were they supposed to turn back and have some coleslaw? A divinity fragment that dropped into the mortal realm, and now another fragment has followed suit could this really be just a coincidence? Xi Wei could not help pondering after looking through the scenes recorded in the divinity. That altar did not look to be a mortals work no matter how he looked at it, and that was leaving the spell that kept the generations of Marsh Dragons bound over seven hundred years. Could something important had happened seven hundred years ago? Xi Wei tried to check, but couldnt find any related records from the memories of the Aquatic Lords divinity, and there was no telling if nothing actually happened or if it was forgotten due to the divinitys damage. Ill ask Aslan next time Xi Wei scratched his head, finding himself a little paranoidwhether it had been another chain of divine murders or a chess play seven hundred years ago, none of those appeared to be anything he could interfere with. What he wanted at the moment was a measure to become stronger. Xi Weis beliefs became firmer at that very thought. Players, your new system version is arriving! Chapter 177: Gaming System Update V3.0 Having given up on putting together the grievances or perhaps what could be an enormous conspiracy that took place seven hundred years, Xi Wei began to absorb the divinity fragment as hard as he could. Though Amazon the Rainforest Guardian was an ancient god whose divinity was much stronger than the Aquatic Lords, Xi Wei had merely obtained a fragment of said divinity. As such, absorbing it wasnt difficult, and since the deity had already fallen for over seven hundred years, the original deitys mark in the divinity had mostly vanished. Indeed, it had gone smoothly. At the same time, Xi Wei had quickly developed a new version patch after working without rest. [Ding!] [Gaming System Update V3.0 Complete!] [Life Skills added for Players to learn and train] [Life Skills affects certain game effects: for example, when Players kill a target with Butcher, the corpse would not disappear but be dismembered into graded ingredients without special effects (At the same time, the Player wouldnt gain the EXP of the target). Players who have learned the Life Skills for cooking can prepare those ingredients with a chance of developing food that grants buffs.] [Life Skills can be learnt with skill points but cant be leveled up aside from repetitive application and developing Life Skill proficiency.] [EXP can be gained by using Life Skills, with increased EXP at higher Life Skill levels. Without monsters to fight, developing ones Life Skills is a good choice.] [Apprentice System implemented: Players could go to any System Shop to learn Life Skills as apprentices (Please prepare sufficient game coins beforehand).] The Life Skills System was one that Xi Wei had planned for a long time and could be used for consuming the Players skill points that increased by the day, but was also another measure for them to gain EXP aside from battle. Still, it would be natural for most Players to find fighting monsters and farming dungeons were more convenient for earning EXP than life skills. But although Xi Wei wouldnt have any good solutions to change that, having the Players being a little eager to fight was not a bad thing in the early days of the Church of Games. In the end, the fighting ability of a churchs followers is an important measure of its strength aside from the standard of the god himself. That was why the existence of Players was a clever measure to fight against enemies, since they were true believers from a certain point of view, and they could fight on behalf of their church without self-regard just like the zealots of other churches. *** Apart from the introduction of Life Skills, another new class was added in the system update. [New Warrior class-change added: Junglewalker] [Class Description: Having the Emerald Heart trait to easily bond with plants and animals, Junglewalkers could connect spiritually to the forest environments around them to gain its blessing and aid in battle. Moreover, the trait of Emerald Heart would allow Junglewalkers to extend their senses along with nature, broadening the range of their visions and hearing and improve bow skills.] [Click to view footage] [Class change requirements: Level 15 Ranger, accomplishing Class Change quests.] Like the other classes that Xi Wei had made before, Junglewalker was created after absorbing an authorityin this case, a divinity fragment of Amazon. As usual, its skill tree also had three skill branches. The first skill branch is Treeherders, who illuminates their Emerald Hearts and transmute mana to lifeforce (Not HP, but to turn the blue bar into green that-sort-of-feeling). Then, by consuming lifeforce, they would nurture normal seeds to grow rapidly, and do battle by manipulating those plants or even nurture treants out of them. A special aspect about Treeherders was their ability to grow plant familiars to help fight beforehand when they have enough lifeforce. However, the Players who focused entirely on this path could have those familiars destroyed by their enemies and it would take time to create them again, not to mention that they would need to spare some space for seeds to keep in their bags in case of emergencies. The second skill branch is Beastmorphs. By illuminating their Emerald Hearts to condense their mana into lifeforce crystals that they keep within their own bodies, they would consume those crystals and fight by altering their bodies into various beasts or even magical creatures. From a certain perspective, Beastmorphs resembled the Druids of online fantasy games back on earth: they change form for a limited period while also having to use up lifeforce crystals. In turn, condensing lifeforce crystals needed time as wellwhile the number of lifeforce crystals they could store in their body increases as the Beastmorphs level increases, things could be tight with the limited number of crystals that could be stored early on. From there, one could see that the Emerald Heart trait was basically a very heavily watered-down version of divinity. Like how divinity could transmute divine energy into divine power, the Emerald Heart allows Players to transmute mana into lifeforce, and the skill branch where they would choose to either transmute it into a green bar or crystalsor maybe half-and-half was up to the Players own choosing. The last skill branch, however, completely ignores the transmutation ability of the Emerald Heart. Grand Hunters rely solely on the improvement of physicality to improve bow skills up to new heights, using their affinity with the jungle to set traps and obtain supernatural ability with the body of mortals. Grand Hunters were basically a strengthened version of normal hunters, but this path was long and had much obstacles in store, just as their skills were demanding on ones technique. It was no different from the Kengyoku skill branch of Swordmasters because it basically provides a chance for the Players to improve up to Extraordinary. Besides, unlike the other class branches that were conveniently Extraordinary with sufficiently high levels, it would prove hard to continue on this path without determination and a little talent. *** Aside from those two changes, the new update actually did not change much else. The Player level limit remained at 60 since the volume of Amazons divinity fragment was not huge and could hardly support Xi Wei completing Life Skills and developing the Junglewalker class. Since he was also keeping some divine power as reserves in case of emergency, to achieve all that was already pushing the fragment to its limit. Oh, right. Almost forgot something there Xi Wei slapped his forehead with his tentacles. [Reputation system for Lancaster Mayor now open] [Players default reputation is Indifference] Chapter 178: Drama in Codo Bosra Clocks have to be wound back a day as to why the Lancaster Mayor Reputation System was added in the update. Under Mufasas instructions, Simba was escorting the Lancaster Mayors daughter-in-law and his apparent heir Gwendolyn to Codo Bosra, the county near the hunting grounds. The noblewoman had tried to get information from Simba and the other two children since she had recognized Mufasa as Baron Nigelanias murderer, but she did not know who the children were. Still, from how they were acting like superior and subordinate, perhaps that murderer might be supported by some unknown group in Lancaster. Nonetheless, she couldnt find a chance to do so over the journey at all. Aside from the young girl who was rather quiet, the two brats were chattering away noisily, talking about some unusual things like Thunder, high score, why no booster tsk Im dead again. Sometimes, the boy named Simba would even stare out into thin air thoughtfully, mumbling Map is looking weird. Could we have taken the wrong direction?. Then, the other two children would quickly snuggle up to Simba and debate hotly away, pointing left and right respectively while insisting that their directions were the right one, and as if a map really was there. The noblewoman felt a chilling fear, just as she wondered if the children were wrong in the head Naturally, she wondered if her eyes had problems too. But after checking with her two handmaidens and Gwendolyn that they saw nothing either, she became positive that the three weird kids had issues. *** By the way, this is my first time visiting Codo Bosra, Simba said cheerfully during the journey. Is there anything fun over there? Zazu asked curiously. Nana did not join the conversation, but her eyes were widened in adorable curiosity and fixed on Simba. You have to mention the Blunt Rhino when you talk about Codo Bosra, of course! Simba answered smugly. It is said that everyone there loves it, and the merchants there wouldnt sell you anything if you dont have your own! Whats a Blunt Rhino? Zazu became even more curious. Hmm, its a rhino thats about this size. Simba spread his hands to show the size of a Shiba Inu. I saw one in the menagerie on the trade district. It was about five hundred Rions! Oh! Zazu and his sister looked very interested. The noblewoman who was born in Codo Bosra could not resist speaking out then. Im sorry, but you have been fooled The people of Codo Bosra arent that crazy about Blunt Rhinos. It was true that most of the Blunt Rhinos in the Eastern Continent could be found in Codo Bosra and the people there loved those clumsily charming creatures. However, claiming that everyone was crazy about the Blunt Rhinos to the point that they wouldnt trade with those who did not rear one would be nothing less than a false rumor. Given that news traveled slowly in this era and only by word of mouth, the snowball effect of tall tales becoming rumors was common. In fact, it was the same back on Earth. Examples include people from a certain state wouldnt court people of a certain state, or that people from certain locations had no flair for comedy although everyone in one particular district could, or that all Hollanders steal well lids. That is probably how entire zones get a bad name. What? Really?! At the noblewomans words, Simba appeared to have a rug pulled out from under his feet, sprawling over the ground in a disappointed (OTZ) pose. Thats a little over the top. Zazu could not help rebuking him. You didnt react that much when you received the believer blessing, or are the people of Codo Bosra not being crazy about Blunt Rhinos that important to you? Beside them, the noblewoman sharply caught the keywords. Believer? Blessing? Could the murderer be supported by a church? She felt a chill, realizing things werent as simple as it looked. *** Nonetheless, the noblewoman was slightly relieved when Codo Bosra was in view. Although the Morrisonsher maiden familywasnt as influential as Mayor Corinth in Lancaster, their business in cloth and spices elevated them from the range of minor nobles to gain considerable power. As such, the noblewoman did not have much to fear after returning to the city. And since those brats didnt really incur her displeasure on the journey, she wouldnt overstep boundaries eithershe would probably just restrain them and have them drink an alchemists truth elixir to get the information she wanted. However, a weak stuttering voice called out even before they reached the city gates from a roadside bush. Y-y-young lady? Most would have ignored that frail voice if not for the childrens sharper hearing. As one of the noblewomans maids used her scabbard to push off the withered bush that was piling with snow, they found a skinny old man who was thoroughly scarred and basically a bag of bones. The noblewoman stared at him in confusion, and only recognized his face after some time. Butler Volks? Why are you here?! She asked in disbelief, holding a hand over her mouth. Master and Mistress had been framed as traitors they were publicly beheaded by Codo Bosras mayor two days ago its over for the Morrison family. The old man was choking in tears even as he tugged at the noblewomans sleeve. What The noblewoman stumbled and almost fell, but her two maids caught her in time while she gritted her teeth and sobbed. Why would the mayor do that?! Every other noble in Codo Bosra could be a traitor except them! Mommy, is Grandpa and Grandma alright? Gwendolyn asked softly. The noblewoman did not answer, and merely continued patting her head while sobbing silently. But your parents death is actually the mayors gesture of fealty towards the emperor the emperor seems intent on ending the war a year earlier, and then personally see to getting rid of Mayor Corinth The old butler stuttered. The city watch is on the search for any remaining rebels please run, young lady When he finished, the shadows of city watch soldiers had already appeared over the snow-laden path. Chapter 179: Adding PVP Points! Why are you just standing there?! Simba was the first to recover, having often been chased around Lancaster by the city watch for his thievery. He turned to find the noblewoman, who had not spoken to them much on the journey because of her lofty stats but was somehow left witless by the old mans words. Run! He shouted, frowning. The noblewoman did a double take, throwing trouble glances between Simba and the skinny old man before picking up Gwendolyn and hurrying away. Simba, what should we do? Zazu asked worriedlyit was obvious that he didnt want to get mixed up in the affairs of nobility. Its too late to run. Having rich experience in making his escape, Simba observed the speed of the city watch soldiers, did a mental calculation and quickly got a conclusion. Well have to stay here and hold them off. Is that necessary? Zazu asked, puzzled. We are not their targets right? Zazu, look carefully, Simba instructed him instead of answering. What? Zazu was only left confused. The names over those Codo Bosra soldiers are red, and theres a HP bar beneath. Simba slowly drew his sword and said with composure. According to Uncle Mufasa, they are enemies. Thats it? Thats why we have to fight the soldiers of a city? Zazu held both hands over his face and looked at Simba as if he was crazy. Thats not it. I want to fulfill my promise to Uncle Mufasa too, Simba said seriously. Promise? Oh, protecting those people Brother, Gwendolyn and her mommy they need help Nala whispered, gently tugging at Zazus sleeve. Though they did not know each other for long, the two girls were almost the same age and had already sparked a friendship. Aaaaaargh! I know, I know, okay?! Zazu drew out an arcane staff that was almost his height behind him, and assumed an attacking pose. Simba nodded in pleasure as his eyes sharpened. While they could pretend to be ordinary children and talk to the soldiers, delaying them without fighting, the city watch was not people-friendly policemen. In fact, they were closer toor worse thanthose cops who would start firing their guns the moment something doesnt strike their fancy. After all, killing a handful of irritating peasant brats was nothing noteworthy to the city watch. Therefore, attempting conversation with the soldiers would be handing them the initiative. Moreover, Simba did not want to experience the feeling of placing his own fate in the hands of others, after having gone through so much difficulty to become a believer of the God of Games and obtain the power he strived for. Alven, Bethune! Get those brats, and kill them if they resist! One of the city watch soldiers who probably was the patrol captain ordered without hesitation. The rest of you, with me! Were getting the women! *** The patrol captain had gained considerable trust from the mayor, having led his city watch squad in raiding the manor of several nobles. Naturally, he didnt consider Simba a threat. Even if the children had their weapons out and looked like lion cubs ready for a fight, they were no more than paper tigers in the eyes of the city watch. Although they might fear the well-equipped personal army of certain nobles, they definitely wouldnt flinch at the sight of several scrawny children. Soon, they realized that they were wrong. The three children were no mere pebble in their path but a sturdy steel plateas they rushed headlong towards it, their heads split and spurted blood in utter defeat! It was apparent that the children were weak and could only stay back even after gaining EXP from the swamp fishmen and human-faced fish monsters, with their average Player level in between seven and eight. In fact, in the past, Players of that level could only fight against skeletons or goblins. However, the Players of the present were very different from the past. Despite having learnt skills, the earliest Players lack of actual combat experience was clumsy in a fight and had not the faintest idea about combos. Still, as those veteran Players tirelessly studied skills and combat style, determined what they lacked through observing the waves of Players and spread those details in the forums, newer Players seemed to have gained a game walkthrough beforehand. While their stats and skills were not superior compared to older Players, their strength in combat shouldnt be compared to older standards. If one were to use a Warrior player as an example: such a Players first reaction in encountering a monster at lower levels would be to throw away his weapon, wrapped his arms around the monster for the early but most devasting skill called Suplex, and then pick up his weapon again to fire other skills on his target. Still, doing that was throwing away the precious time that the staggering from Suplex bought. Now, the Players had all basically developed a smoother combat style. They would probably start with a Stinger and follow it up with an Air Launchand with the monster floating above, they would go for a Slippery Slash that sends it flying even further. And when the monster finally lands, they would fire a Divine Earthsplit Blade, stab their weapon into the ground and only then rush up for a Suplex, before pressing their advantage with a low kick in the head. After that, theyll retrieve their weapon, pull away from their target while Stinger comes off cooldown That was how the three children stood off against the dozen soldiers, bringing down half of their ranks by using their combat style that surpassed common sense which none of the soldiers were familiar with. After having delayed them for over twenty minutes, they finally died to the patrol captains blade, as Nala had yet to learn Revive despite being a Cleric. Captain, what should we do now? One of the uninjured soldiers approached the patrol captain and asked softly. In turn, the patrol captain looked down at the groaning soldiers who were lying on the ground, his face as black as a pot. Those had been his ordinary minions, and it was not as if he was the only patrol captain of Codo Bosra. For people like him to stand out, he could only rely on his personal soldiers. Second team leader, bring out my Lytai Blunt Rhino! The patrol captain seethed hatefully at the soldier. Theyre not getting away from me! *** Meanwhile, the figure of three children appeared beside the Lifestone of the Unnamed Town. The Ankh of Revival Uncle Mufasa bought us was really useful! I thought I was going to be locked in the Black Hut for three days Zazu said, touching his chest and remembering how his heart had been pierced with a single stab. Should we buy more just in case? That thing costs 3000 game coins each, and only works for one Player per day, Simba said with a straight face. That aside, you two should get ready to teleport directly to the Lancaster Hideout, and try to come up with something to meet up with Gwendolyn and the others. Codo Bosras city watch wont take this lying down! Chapter 180: Players Happening to Pass By It took two days to reach Codo Bosra from Lancasterwithout transportation, that is. Although winter had passed, thick snow still caked most areas and humpbeast hooves would easily be caught. It was difficult for horse carriages as well since they would slip frequently, not to mention that stiffening oneself and going out would be a third slower than usual. But that wasnt a problem for departing out of the Lancaster Hideout: even during winter, Marni would often lead his merchant group on detours as he headed to Lancaster for trade. That was why the Lancaster Hideout had many small modified sleds available for rent on cheap prices (but they are still mothballed and unused). The matter of beast of burden was easily solved as wellmany Player-domesticated creatures of all unusual forms roamed just outside the Unnamed Town, with most of them currently in the crossroads. For one, setting them free felt like a waste on all the efforts spent on them. And the owners certainly couldnt bear killing them for EXP after bonding with them. That was why if any Players asked to use the creatures for normal tasks like pulling a sled, the owners would naturally happily give out the pet they dont need. Hence, Simba and the children quickly spent what few game coins they have in exchange for three pets that resembled drooling huskies with ram horns growing over their heads, and a small sled that looked like it could break apart at any given moment. While Simba was a little worried whether the sled could last long enough until they found Gwendolyn and the others, the man who had sold them the sled swore on his life that it was as sturdy as the boat which the God of Games provided in the Fishmen Island event. The man, who had started his business selling bonepowder and chest armor was even willing to put his quote on a contract, signing it with Simba and the God of Games as his witness. He really didnt look like he was lying, which was why the children decided to believe him. With the contract signed, they put the reins over the three huskies and headed out for Codo Bosra. *** The noblewoman had Gwendolyn in her arms as she ran over the snow with her handmaidens. They were unprepared. The stagnant snow was slowly eating away at their body warmth with the lack of clothes that could stave off the cold, and slowing them gradually. Moving in the snow required great stamina in the first place, which left them even slower. That was when the cries of Blunt Rhinos could be heard from behind. Damn it, theyre actually using a Lytai Blunt Rhino to hunt us in the snow?! The noblewoman immediately felt a chill in her heart. The last two days felt like the gods were fooling around with her. Oh, omnipotent Lyante, God of Light if you could hear my prayer, please grant even the faintest of miracles and grant salvation upon your child! And just as expected, nothing happened. It was true that the gods would bestow Divine Grace upon their believers, but it was only a small selection of them who would receive such grand honor. The majority of believers could only watch them in their loftiness as they lived out their mortal lives. And the noblewoman was one such mere mortal. Though born a noble, she did not inherit any titles. Once upon a time, she enviedeven felt jealoustowards those Chosen Ones who were adopted by churches as children, hence living in their lofty status and looking down upon the rest of them. She dreamed of becoming a Chosen One herself as well, that the gods had been careless enough to forget about her. Be that as it may, people grow up, and having understood that she was a mortal, normal life wasnt that hard to accept. So why was this happening? If just if, there were a god in this world who treated every believer with kindness and grant them mercy How good would that be. Stop! Youre not getting away! The Codo Bosra soldiers were shouting from behind, but the noblewoman did not stop. An arrow shot out, brushing past her ear while a fiery sting flared over her cheek. It probably scratched her. Still, she did not stop. The noblewoman knew she wouldnt make it, but she also knew that stopping meant that she would be caught and crushed by the despair she had forced herself to forget and dump from her mind. Weve already killed those three brats in the name of the law! Though I dont know how their corpses vanished, I personally cut off their heads! The soldier behind could have been merely attempting to scare the noblewoman with the childrens deaths, but the noblewomans pace was messed with ever so slightly. She had assumed that Simba and the others ran off in the opposite direction or simply surrendered, and never did she thought that they would fight to the death to buy time for their escape. In that moment, she felt regretshe had behaved indifferently towards the children in their journey, because the presence of Baron Nigelanias murderer had left her uncertain. Now that she thought about it, they were good children who had been caring for them all along, and it would have been nice if she showed a bit more concern towards them in return. That was when she found her handmaidens looking determinedly at her. Milady, you must live on, and protect Young Lady. Wait! The noblewoman knew what they were about to do and tried to stop them, but only managed a hoarse gasp. Meanwhile, the handmaidens had already turned, rushing towards the city watch soldiers on the humpbeasts, bent on sacrificing themselves so that the noblewoman had the time to escape. As a matter of fact, their swordplay was slightly more devastating than the children. However, not only were those skills demanding on a persons body, their limbs had already been frozen to the extent their blood circulation was stagnating. Therefore, how much power would their skills even have? In no time at all, they were overcome and subdued by the soldiers sheer numbers. However, they did not kill the handmaidens immediatelyperhaps because the patrol captain wanted to have a little more spoil of war. For gods sake, refusing a toast? Youll only be forced to drink a forfeit! The patrol captain cursed even as he commanded. Shoot off that b*tchs legs! Anyone who hits her gets a reward! The archers were smiling even as they trained their bows. That was when a sled rushed towards them from the flanks, knocking down several humpbeasts on the edge who in turn crashed into every other humpbeast and soldier, diverting their attention away from the escaping noblewoman. Who is it?! The patrol captain struggled to calm the humpbeast beneath him while roaring at the sled that was hidden behind the cloud of snow that it just kicked up. With his accomplishment almost within reach only to be so confoundingly stopped short by somebody else, the patrol captain was absolutely furious, feeling just like allowing a boiled duck fly off. Just some Players happening to pass by. Simba declared loudly, grinning at him after having snatched off the two battle maids off the back of the humpbeast. Remember that. Chapter 181: Applause The patrol captain did not have the faintest idea what a player was, but that did not stop him from getting the gist of the situation. Someone was stealing his duck! Dont let them get away! The patrol captain roared. However, the floating snow and the sheer speed of the husky-powered sled prevented him from noticing that the ones who had suddenly whisked the noblewomans group away were those three brats he had killed before. Relax! As long as we slide fast enough, their arrows wont reach us. Simba calmed the passengers as he spurred the huskies on. Not that their arrows would have great effect even if they catch up. He added, perhaps sensing that his previous assurance was less than convincing. Meanwhile, Zazu seized the opening to glance behind, only to find that the archers were drawing some red clay from their hip sack and applying it to their arrows. Zazu told the others about what he saw, and the noblewomans face fell. She turned to check behind, and exclaimed in shock. Its Igni Clay; its used for enchantment! Say what? Simba asked distractedly while keeping the sled going. Its an alchemy material, neither common nor rare and made from scraps of Illum crystals with the fire element trait. There are many uses for it in alchemy, and its not expensive since its not rare Put all that into a single sentence! The noblewoman appeared to be learned in alchemy and started rambling away confidently, but having no time for that, Simba promptly cut her lecture shortly and rudely. In short, when you paint it on the volatile metal of weapons and left it fly Before she finished, one of the arrows landed on the snow beside them. Booooooom! That part of the snowy ground exploded, the thick snow layer vanishing with a crater blasted into the earth which should have been frozen stiff. Soon, the snowflakes that were sent flying formed a tiny mushroom cloud overhead that slowly descended from the skies, prompting the illusion of winters return with all its goose-feather sized snow. it explodes. Its a little late for that! Simba cried as he struggled to calm the startled huskies as he continued driving them towards Lancaster while evading the Igni arrows. The huskies that had been a little leisurely and even thinking about rolling about in the snow were certainly frightened by the arrows. They actually stopped drooling as well and started running as fast as they could. Zazu and Nala were not idling on the sled idea, but trying their best to use their spells or sacred arts to shoot those arrows down. Nonetheless, pillars of snow kept blowing up on both sides of the sled, missing it by inches. It was therefore worth rejoicing that the city watch soldiers were not believers of the God of Games or the God of the Hunt, and their arrows did not have accuracy aid like the Rangers would. Moreover, Codo Bosra was no city of horseback riders, and the archers skill of shooting while riding was modest at best. They could aim better when their humpbeasts stayed still, but once those creatures start running, they could only depend on luck with the bumpiness, which meant that their accuracy was poor. At first, Simba intended to flee all the way to Lancaster or at least to a sentry spot nearby since those soldiers would not dare to be reckless where the guards could see. In fact, they did not even have to get so farthey just had to reach the Lancaster troops that were tasked with culling swamp fishmen to turn the tables on those Codo Bosra soldiers! Nonetheless, the Igni arrows messed up his plans. Normal arrows would never have cut down their HP by much. They could just use healing potions when their HP dropped to critical levels, not to mention that Zazu and Nala could be meat shields for the others as well. On the other hand, the Igni arrows were too powerful and there was no telling how much actual damage it could inflict. Still, by the looks of the towering pillars of snow, and their own tiny bodies at less than Level 10 in contrast, they are going straight to the Black Hut if even one arrow hits them. Wait, arent we going to Lancaster? The noblewoman asked, noticing that Simba had steered the sled onto a different path. Those guys will hit us sooner or later, whether luck is on their side or not, Simba explained. Im sorry, but this sled is just not tough enoughits over for us if they even get one hit. *** When they were coming to rescue the noblewoman and Gwendolyn, Simba realized how unreliable the sled was: the slightest shake would make it creak at the joints, and an entire part of the sled would be left in the snow if they accidentally run into a piece of rock. In fact, the sled had shrunk by a fifth of its original size on its way here. Well, running this way wouldnt make a difference either, would it? The noblewoman had looked around, taking in their surroundings and realizing that they were heading towards the hunting grounds. The garrison here had all been killed by the human-faced fish monsters, and those monsters in turn killed by the murderer of Baron Nigelania. And while there was that hut where they could take refuge, their assailants had Igni Clay, and an ordinary building such as that would never stop it Itll be fine. Trust us. Simba said seriously but did not turn back, focusing on steering the sled instead. The noblewoman was silent for a while before nodding somberly. The truth was that she had many questions. The patrol captain did not appear to be lying when he told her that he had killed these children, and yet here they were in perfect condition somehow getting their hands on a sled too And why would they go so far to help them? Or should she say, why would the guild of the Baron Nigelanias murderer help them to this extent? If they only wanted good ties with Lancaster, they only had to rescue Gwendolyn who would be easily brainwashed. The noblewoman and her maids were unnecessary, especially the noblewoman herself who was a mere burden without any combat ability. That was why dumping her so that they could escape with the enemy breathing down their necks was the most basic move. But even now, the three children were doing all they could to hold off the city watch soldiers of Codo Bosra. They show no inclination to dump her even against such odds, and might never have actually considered that possibility too. Watching as the sled was about to be blown by the Igni arrows into pieces, the noblewoman finally couldnt stop herself. Leave me and run, Ill try to buy you some time! Its alright as long as you can get Gwendolyn to safety! Milady! The two handmaidens had tears welling in their eyes, having barely a breather before motion sickness left them half-dead. Were coming with you! Mistress and servants watched each other, and despite often seeing each other faces, it was a little chagrining to lay things bare like that. Still, strong emotion overwhelmed them after the embarrassmentbeing childhood friends in the first place, they had accompanied the noblewoman even after she was married and left for Lancaster. They remained ever loyal even now, and would never leave her side. What are you talking about? Simba, however, was unmoved at all, and merely found their behavior perplexing. Theres no need to kill yourselfweve reached the hunting grounds! As I was saying, running here wont change a thing If I remember correctly, theres a mini colosseum, right? Simba asked even as he kept the sled going, paying her no attention at all. Since there were certain ferocious beasts that were usually prowling at the hunting grounds, the nobles would occasionally capture them during their hunts and pit them against other beasts in the colosseum for entertainment as the creatures tore at each other necks. However, that colosseum was too smallit was a small facility for pleasure-seeking, and could hardly be compared to a standard colosseum. Wouldnt that place be less defendable than the hut? The noblewoman could not help asking in return. What are you thinking?! Simba didnt answer, instead driving the sled straight inside the colosseum while knocking down the paddock. The soldiers pursuing them charged right within as well and surrounded them. Even though winter had passed, the weather hasnt been nice with cloudy skies over the last two days, leaving the mornings in darkness. A canopy was attached over the mini colosseum of the hunting grounds, which was the reason why it was much darker here than a normal colosseumthey could not actually see the spectators seats clearly. Weve got you! Surrender, theres nowhere to run! The patrol captain finally looked excited, having surrounded Simba and the others inside the colosseum. Theres twenty of us, and Im amongst the finest swordsman of Codo Bosra. Theres no getting away! That was when Simba composedly stood up from the sled and clapped in his face. Confused by the childs actions, the patrol captain seethed viciously. Dont move! Dont try anything funny! But Zazu and Nala stood up from the sled as well, smiling as they joined the clapping. Soon, however, the Illum lights hanging over the canopy shone, dispelling the darkness shrouding the spectator seats. There, the near-hundred Players who had just finished slaying the Marsh Drake rose from the spectator seats. They had all seen Simbas post on the player forums and hurried here, all of them now clapping for the patrol captain who had been boasting away despite being less than Level 20. Chapter 182: I Do Mind! The rest was history. The Players who had specially come to support their cute newbie Players had slammed a barrage of skills at the boastful Codo Bosra city watch soldiers. They did not even survive half of the ultimate skills before being sent to Xi Wei. As such, most of the Players found it a waste that they didnt have a chance of showing off to the children, and were even thinking about reviving their fallen foes for another beating. It was therefore a pity that revive spells only works on other Players At the same time, the noblewoman was dumbfounded. She was born to a named family and rather knowledgeable compared to peasants, but when hast there been such a rain of skills with such assortments of special effects that drowned their targets entirely? And when it came to special effects, even the most fearsome and cruel battlefields that were waged right now in other corners of this world would never be as cool as that sight the Players showed. Sorry, uncle. We couldnt return them safely to Codo Bosra Simba said with a downcast tone, having found Mufasa with the other children amongst the crowd. Their family was wiped out by the mayor of Codo Bosra. Thats not your fault. Actually, what youve done was very impressive. Mufasa had already learned about the whole story from Simbas post in the forums where the boy had asked for help. He naturally didnt blame the children, and even give them each head-pats. Not only did you not overestimate your ability, you could precisely acknowledge your weakness and decide to wisely ask for our help. Moreover, none of you gave up despite your disadvantage, which proves that Im right in judging you children have it in you. While Simba appeared to be still caught in his failure, both Nala and Zazu were beaming at Mufasas acknowledgment. Meanwhile, the noblewoman hesitated when she saw Mufasathe murderer of Baron Nigelania. But when she was about to approach him and say something, Marni came to her first. Greetings, milady. Marni bowed stylishly at her. You know me? The noblewoman promptly panicked. She had kept her identity hidden through it all to protect Gwendolyn, her daughter and heir apparent of Lancaster. Things were clearly going to be awry if someone could recognize her. While her handmaidens were learned in swordplay, that clearly isnt going to cut it against the overwhelming barrage of spells and sacred arts which not even a rat could escape from! With them alone against so many formidable individuals, there is just no way they could seize the initiative. The names Marni Wilf, miladyweve met once in a banquet at Lancaster. Marni smiled gentlemanly. Of course, you probably wouldnt recognize an unimportant character like myself. I would never consider anyone who could command a sacred corps an unimportant character. The noblewoman replied, trying her best to feign calmness or at least not let her fear be known. It was true that in her perspective, the Players were a large group of people who had mastered powerful magics and sacred arts, and clearly not some ordinary group either. There werent any excessively powerful mercenary outfits in the Valla Empire, just as the Players wide assortment of equipment made it clear that they were not a nobles private army or the royal army from another city, which made sacred corps the only possible answer. Despite most sacred corps having a standard set of uniform like any royal army, there were certain churches that promote the self and individuality of their believers (such as Grimund, God of Travel and Arts, and the patron god of wandering poets), which meant their sacred corps wouldnt have standard uniform regulations. Be that as it may, although the noblewoman couldnt immediately identify the hierarchy amongst the Players, Marni clearly was important even if he wasnt a commander given how he could speak for the others. Sacred corps, huh Marni had wanted to deny that idea at first, but decided that she was right to a certain extent. The Players who were striving hard for the God of Games everywhere definitely counted as a sacred corps, albeit one with neither military units nor organization. However, Marni decided to directly change the conversation and casually skip the question. Setting that aside, why would you decided to head for Codo Bosra instead of Lancaster? Because Im afraid you would ransom us right here and now after you learn who we are, the noblewoman thought. Still, she was not supposed to say that. I happened to miss my old city and was about to return for a visit. Is there a problem? Of course not. Marni nodded without letting on if he was convinced by her excuse, and simply casually said, But if you dont mind, allow us to escort you back to Lancaster. I do mind! The noblewoman almost exclaimed, but ultimately repressed her impulse. It was definitely dangerous outside at the moment, and there was no assurance that they could return to Lancaster safely without the Players help. Moreover, given what she herself said, they wouldnt just allow her to return anyway. Hence, the Players grandly escorted her group back to Lancaster, the first time they deliberately present themselves before the nobles of a city. However, it was a choice made after the veteran players had a discussion. The unrest in Lancaster was becoming serious, and since the Players would have to show their faces eventually, they naturally couldnt keep hiding down at the aqueducts. Hence, it was better to take this chance, and at least when they present themselves as good Samaritans escorting the noblewomans group, they could hold their heads high. In addition, they could give limited demonstrations of their power as long as they did no reveal that they were believers of the God of Games, therefore backing Marni who often visited Lancaster as a traveling merchant. With over a hundred strong, anyone who would want to capture Marni would have to consider if they could survive the recompense. For her part, while the noblewoman assumed that the old mayor of Lancaster who had a quirky temperament would hold off that weird sacred corps for a few days, things did not go as she thought. Corinth, who had always been seclusive had actually left his keep when he received the letter from the Players who went in to scout things out beforehand, receiving everyone outside the city and stunning the noblewoman in turn. She realized then that old man appeared to be more interested in that strange sacred corps than the safety of herself and Gwendolyn. In fact, the mayor was reacting even more unusual when a young blonde girl with a ponytail and was holding a flagpole showed up amongst the sacred corps. Mixed expressions of regret, excitement, and nervousness were actually showing up on his usually stoic face! Afterward, the merchant calling himself Marni Wilf, the unidentified flag-bearing blonde girl and Mayor Corinth had a long deliberation in the latters private study. Later, he personally saw them off, standing by the door for a long time before finally returned inside. And the result of that deliberation was the notification that all the Players saw. [Reputation system for Lancaster Mayor now open] [Players default reputation is indifference] Chapter 183: A Little Seafaring Boat Not every Player had been present during the Marsh Drakes slaying. After all, it was an operation the Players at the Lancaster Hideout took up on their own initiative instead of an Event Quest assigned by the God of Games, which was why there werent any definitive rewards. Since it entailed going down the aqueducts, wading through thick snow and swamps to find an enemy that might not exist, many Players who were either rational or not so materialistic chose to go about their lives law-abidingly. Naturally, there were others who did not want to get involved with another matter because they had their own objectives to strive for. And Zonyan Grayclaw was one such Player. The God of Games was encouraging Zonyan to return to his homeland and reclaim the honor his younger brother Swordtail had stolen from him, even giving him the fittingly majestic quest title the Triumph of the King of Beasts. Naturally, he would work hard toward that objective. Moreover, the God of Games seemed aware that the quest would be too difficult to complete in one go, and therefore specifically drew out a chain of quests for him. What Zonyan was supposed to do at the moment was the second task in the quest chain: accumulate points to redeem a boat with seafaring capacity. Naturally, there was only one source to accumulate points: accomplishing quests. That could be achieved through both Side Quests or Daily Quests, although the points gained varied depending on the difficulty of the quests. Simple quests such as sowing seeds would only be awarded a handful of points, whereas hunting selected beasts would reward much more in comparison. As such, Zonyan would often seek out the Players who had inadvertently accepted difficult quests at the taverns. He would help them complete said quests with the condition of accepting less rewards, thereby accumulating more points. One should also mention at this point that Zonyans reason for accepting less rewards and not helping them accomplish quests free of charge was because those Players appeared more trusting towards paid assistance than unpaid assistance That being said, there were many Players who received quests such as clear a dungeon multiple times but were reluctant to let Zonyan help them even though he was offering to pay them instead. They did not want his support at all, and they would look like a maiden being stared down by a hungry wolf if he gets to close, screaming Dont come, Black Hand! Aaaaaaaaaah! as they fled from him. That naturally made gathering points difficult for Zonyan *** Ive got the points! Finally! It was fortunate that Zonyan did not give up. Soon after the Players who had slain the Marsh Drake returned to the Lancaster Hideout and the Unnamed Town, he eventually achieved his objective by helping every Player who approached him without refusing any. Finally done! The newbie Joey was sobbing in joy. I dont want to clear clogged toilets anymoreand is the God of Games really so idle? How could he assign clogged toilet as side quests?! Ahem. Dont curse the God of Games, or youll get banned. Vulcan cleared his throat in warning while playing Tierra Blocks beside them. Brother Vulcan, is the game that good? Youve been playing it for two days. Joey was merely complaining nonchalantly as a believer, but he quickly changed the topic when he realized that it wasnt right. More or less. I prefer Thunder. Vulcan replied casually. But Ive already secured a seven hundred thousand point-gap against the second place, so hes not catching up anytime soon. On the other hand, Miss Eleena is hot on my heels in points in Tierra Blocks so if I dont score higher Wait, youre giving me that now?! Ah, Im dead. Perhaps because he had been distracted, the round Vulcan had been playing for most of the day went game over. The man himself turned gray-white in dejection, sprawled over the table motionlessly. Beside him, Joey decided that he would probably never understand the superior beings who reigned on top of the leaderboards, after having stayed at the bottom end of the leaderboards throughout. In this life, the best bragging he would afford to his descendants would be that he had once been on the top ten as wellback on the first day the games came online, and he reached tenth place. Thanks for your help, you two. This way, I could finally redeem the cheapest seafaring boat! Meanwhile, Zonyan wasnt concerned about Joeys complaint at all, and instead feeling earnestly thankful for their help. It was lucky that the first quest in the quest chain was to find teammates I trust for the other quests, or Im going to have to gather points for a long time if I went at it alone. Hold on, isnt there just one boat available for redemption? Joey asked, perplexedfollowing the Fishmen Island event, he had assumed that Zonyan was referring to the same default redeemable boat. But from what Zonyan said just now, it doesnt seem like there was just one redeemable boat. Theres around eight in the quest rewards list, Zonyan replied. That said, the others need more points, and all we need is to cross the sea. Its not like we would fight on the water anyway, so a little boat would suffice. After all, the most important part of the quest in his perspective was his return to the Grayclaw Tribe and dueling his brother Swordtail. Crossing the sea and whatnot was merely a prerequisite that paved the path to accomplishing his quest! Hmmm it does feel like that Joey nodded as well, completely oblivious to the dangers of the sea. All of them did not know that those boats were all replicas Xi Wei had molded. *** In the end, the Players were restrained considerably in the Valla Empire. Developing a sea route was therefore a good choice, just like trying their luck on the Western Continent by using the sea routes that the Secret Eye Society navigated. Naturally, this path required a ship capable of seafaring not those crude rafts in the Fishmen Island event that break apart with the simplest of mishaps, but one that could ride the waves and sail against the wind. While Xi Wei thought of himself as clever and capable, he did not actually have experience in making such things. That was why he needed a professional party of adventurers to test the boats he had made. Zonyans group clearly fit the bill. The trio was unaware at all about their own gods sinister intentions, but instead happily headed towards the Grey Fjord through the Lifestone. Then, after Zonyan decided to redeem the boat and watching as the boat appeared before them, they made a big, excited fuss out of it since it looked much improved than the simple boat of the Fishmen Island event. They hence boarded one after another, taking their first step in the journey to the Western Continent. Then, probably just ten minutes later, a colossal whale started to follow the boat in curiosity, and crushed half of it with one whale breached, leaving the boat slowly sinking in its wake. Another twenty minutes, the completely soaked trio swam out of the city and walked up on the beach, looking extremely miserable. That was truer for Zonyan, who wanted to cry but had no tears when he saw the quest notification that had moved up to head to the new continent revert to redeem a boat Chapter 184: Life is Hard While Zonyans group was diligently setting the stage for the Players ahead of their era of great voyages, Xi Wei was compiling Player data following the new version update. But since Rangers were not an especially popular class in the first place, there was no telling if the new Junglewalker class was well-received amongst the Players. That said, the Players seemed were very accepting of the Life Skills setting. Despite the need to spend their precious skill points for learning Life Skills, Xi Wei could tell from the data of his Pantheon Computer that ninety percent of Players had learned more than one Life Skill. It seemed that they had understood that fighting wasnt the only path to gaining EXP. Furthermore, as a surprise Easter Egg, Xi Wei deliberately left one matter unmentioned: Life Skills could boost the Players individual stats and class. As an example, learning Butcher or Dissect and improving those skill levels to a certain degree makes it easier to attack the enemys weak point with sharp weapons. On the other hand, certain Life Skills would boost other Life Skills as well. A point in case is the increase of potion skills with a sufficiently high level in Herbalisma boost that not only presents itself in the data. As a matter of fact, Players were actually familiarizing themselves with various medicinal herbs when they grow magical flora, and therefore brewing potions with those plants became easier One should also mention here thatfor whatever reason, Herbalism had become the most popular Life Skill amongst the Players. At first, Xi Wei thought that it was a good thing and that the Players had flair, imagining that he would find Starter Village surrounded in a beautiful sea of flowers. But he became speechless when he energized his Divine Eye to look down in the mortal realm. *** When Xi Wei was constructing paths in the Unnamed Town, he had carefully set aside flower patios on both sides of the paths for plantation. As a matter of fact, he would have considered that the Players had some romantic sense if they had planted something with bright emerald leaves, beautiful flowers, or delicious fruits. The problem was that the patios were now overgrown with all unusual manner of magical herbs. And man-eating flowers that could gulp down an entire goblin was the most basic of them. Others include a magical herb that looked like pair of buttocks that kept ejecting smelly yellow gas from the crack down its middle; a seemingly normal plant which roots grows into human shape and could unleash a wailing which could petrify actual humans[1]; a plant that grows into a shape resembling Hydras and lashes out at any living thing that came too close with its serpentine tendrils; a plant that looked like a Bellsprout but was actually a peashooter It appears that a weird trend had started amongst the Players at some unknown point in time. They grow the weirdest sort of magical herbs, and use them as a point of bragging to other Players. Xi Wei could not help being left speechless. He had assumed that the Players would greenify the Unnamed Town, and so rechecked the Authority with which he used to complete the Life Skill Herbalismthat was when he realized that aside from the normal definition of planting, he had also incorporated the ability of grafting and nurturing mutated attributes into that skill. At first, he thought that there was nothing wrong with introducing those weird abilities at all since he did hope for some Grand Druid to rise amongst his Players. Be that as it may, he just didnt imagine that after the Players had obtained seeds of magical plants from Alchemist Kinley and successfully sowed those seeds, their skill automatically altered the plant magically to those indescribable states. The reality was that the Players never realized that Xi Wei had sneakily grown wild edible paddy plants by a pond nearby the Unnamed Town, let alone having them develop into Grand Druids not to mention that the magical plants they grew were like ligers that only looked good but could not reproduce at all. Still, the reality made one reality clear for Xi Wei: He had underestimated the Players stupidity. Are you wretches trying to play Plants Versus Zombies?! I knew I shouldnt have put my hopes on them Feeling a migraine, Xi Wei briskly opened the Player forums and find a silly post to entertain himself with, before having a napthough he did not require sleep as a deity, he deliberately maintained some human habits perhaps because he didnt want to be utterly assimilated as a deity and be lost within divinity. Sleeping was one of those mentioned habits, although he would only nap for a dozen minutes in a week. Still, it would stabilize his divine attributes that had been getting bloated recently due to rapid leveling as well as adjust his mood, which wasnt a real waste of time. At the moment, aside from the two top posts Picking Manure Between the Rocks and I Scream which the Players manually pinned above the forums, there was another trending post uploaded by Edward the Quest Demon. [Title: Life is Hard] [Edward: Damn it! We spent five days running about the forest and almost actually reached the heart of the Trinia Forests! And now all of you are telling me that the gathering quest for Dragontail Ferns which Lady Kinley assigned could be grown with Herbalism?! Someone tell me this is all an illusionthat its fake, that its all lies!] [Leah: Its true, I planted it (image attached)] [Boris: Its true, I planted it (image attached)] [Vanke: Its true, this old man planted it (image attached)] [Terrosche: Have you seen this Dragontail Fern (image attached)? No, its neither wilted or lost, I just wanted everyone to see this Dragontail Fern which was branded excellent!] [Edward: (blocked for use of vulgar language)] [Terrosche: I wanted to see that look of your face. That look of you, envying me!] [Leah: No, you cant see it since hes not in town] [Gou Dan: Be careful, Terrosche. Edward just attempted suicide to return to town] [Terrosche: ] [Angora: Borrowing this post. Does anyone know who planted that man-eating flower down at the south part of town? That thing turned gigantic yesterday and gulped down a Playerowner of the plant, please proceed to the lieges residence and be awarded with your paid summons] [Ivan: Anyone saw Marni? We were supposed to meet at the Iron Cauldron last night but he never showed up] [Angora: Waste of time. The victim was Marni] [Ivan: ] [Ivan: No wonder he just passed me in the Thunder leaderboard] [Jom: @Edward I just asked Lady Kinley. She told me that wild Dragontail Ferns has better medicinal properties compared to the ones Players planted, and she would provide additional rewards if wild ones are gathered] [Edward: Oh thanks, thats better. I would really have died to return if not for your message] [Joe: Yeah, the Trinia Forests is boring and rarely any monsters showed up. If we knew, we would have gone with you all to fight the Marsh Drake] [Gou Dan: Hey, buddies We might have run into a problem (image attached) (image attached) (image attached)] Xi Weis drowsiness faded the moment he saw the images Gou Dan took. Oh, ho interesting. Promptly energizing Divine Eye, he looked in their direction. [1] Harry Potters Mandrakes Chapter 185: Slave Hunters Gou Dan was hidden above the trees and carefully peering at a nearby sight through the dense foliage. A group of people were having a conversation around a fire, all of them carrying unusual weapons. There were some carriages parked nearby. Some were carrying loads covered in sackcloth and could not be seen, but the other carriages were clearly carrying empty cages where the coach should be. In other words, those people were slave hunters. And like their name would suggest, a group that captures slaves. Such an abnormal group mostly appear amongst humans onlyaside from humans and orcs, other species did not possess the concept of slavery. That being said, orcs would only enslave the tribes of foes whom they had slain and found worthy of respect in the battlefield. After all, orcs were not like humansthey live in barren lands and were lacking in fertility. Considering their crudely straightforward behavior and their lack of detailed craftsmanship meant that they would only ever hold faith in the God of War or the God King of Beasts, and never the God of Harvest. That was also why their kind were always short of food, and even the flesh of the foes they defeated became one of their most important sources of food. Without industrial revolutions and no lack of labor, they naturally wouldnt want to enslave beings as humans would. In fact, having slaves was a meaningless waste of food for their own tribe, yielding no benefit in relative to its cost and no function at all. But humans were different. Even under circumstances where they need manual labor to develop land, most nations and nobles saw slaves as a form of property akin to livestock. Moreover, owning slaves of other rare races were a symbol of personal influence and wealth. Amongst those, the rarest was the wood elves. In terms of human aesthetic values, wood elves of either gender were elegant and beautiful in appearance, a rare humanoid race that could exist in harmony with nature. As such, they had an indescribable spirituality to them. Moreover, most of their individuals lived up to three thousand long years, possessing talents no human could hope to reach in many aspects including magic, archery, and the arts. If anyone could get their hands on one, with a little discipling they could be passed down like an heirloom Nonetheless, it has been a long time since humans get to capture any real wood elves, and it was even rumored that the price on one in the black markets now was Illum Crystals, ten times the weight of said captured elf. And since those slave hunters had shown up here at the Trinia Forests, their target was naturally the wood elves whom the legends claimed were living in the heart of this place. Are those guys crazy? Gou Dan muttered quietly. Even a village kid like him knew the reason why there werent any wood elves for sale in the slave market was not because humans couldnt find them. The forests the elves were rumored to live were just a few vast woodlands after all, and should the humans come in sufficient numbers and sweep it, they would always reach the elves. The problem was that not many humans could win against the elves even if they found their dwelling place. With their long lifespan, the wood elves could learn various skills, and by adulthood they would become learned mages, archers who never miss, or patron of the arts who have the finest taste in art and cultural upbringing. In terms of combat ability alone, any adult elf was an equal match, or if not better in comparison to the cardinals of middling churches. They were all powerful hunters with rich experience, and while most cardinals would own formidable sacred arts, they might not actually best veteran knights if caught off guard. Therefore, Gou Dan could not help being perplexed when he saw the slave hunters. Who could have given them the courage to come here deep within the Trinia Forests to catch elves? While he began posting in the forums informing Edward and the others regarding present circumstances, he also warned them not to take reckless actions. Ultimately, the slave hunters were behaving too weirdly. If their ability was to be judged by their appearances, a single adult elf could wipe them all out thrice over It would take an army of ten thousand fully armed, supported by a guild of mages and a sacred choir to actually stand a chance against the wood elves. And that actually includes the conditions of the opposing elves not having elite units such as Listeners, the Moon Gods sentinels, and Silver Dragons And the reality was that even though the humans could gather such an army, the elves would already have learned about the attack before it happened thanks to their bonds with the forests. In turn, they would just pack up and leave, and all the humans would get is empty villages of treehouses. As a matter of fact, humans studying the cultures of other races believed that this continent would have been ruled by the elves instead of humans, the latter of whom were now occupying more lands and flaunting their might. The only reasons stopping the elves was their poor gestation cycle where only up to two were born to a small tribe over centuries, along with their pacifist patron deities. *** In reply to Gou Dans post, Edward and the others had sworn that they were definitely not going to do anything reckless. Gou Dan, however, knew very well that those characters loved flirting with danger and getting their own demise ever since they had become undying Players, their once passionate curiosities completely exploding into overwhelming impulse. It wouldnt mean a thing even if he warned them. In theory, when a normal person sees a button labeled Dont touch or youll die, they would try their hardest to hold back the curious impulse to touch it. On the other hand, a Player would try their hardest to touch said button and see what would happen no matter how hard others would try to stop him And soon enough, Gou Dan could see several familiar names hovering in the air above some nearby bushes. But when Gou Dan was about to meet up with them and enlighten them about the seemingly confusing details included in his post, he suddenly felt something. Pasting himself to the tree, he charged the Emerald Heart which he had obtained after becoming a Junglewalker, fusing his presence completely to the natural environment around him. Anyone would have trouble finding him even if they were standing right in front of him. And before long, certain figures that were hidden relatively well but less so than Gou Dan began appearing around the slave hunters Chapter 186: The God of Games Saw Through Everything Already It wasnt just Gou Dan hiding up in the trees who picked up on it. Some distance away from the slave hunters, Edward and the others noticed them as well. Their senses were definitely not as powerful as Gou Dans. But to tell the truth, even Joe, the most simple-minded of them could tell what was happening when they were able to see yellow words like Wood Elf, Level 32 floating around the bushes. The wood elves had discovered the slave hunters and had decided to get rid of them in one fell swoop. Edward could not help feeling caught in the dilemma. He definitely didnt want to help the slave hunters, but the elves would definitely consider his party a part of the slave hunters whom they kept strategically hidden and treat them as enemies. Leaving on the other hand would be difficult as wellthey couldnt turn invisible in the forests since they did not have Emerald Heart, and the elves were likely to discover them anywhere they go. Gou Dan himself had assumed that immortal types like the wood elves were definitely slow to react like tortoises, but it turned out that they moved very rapidly. After encircling the slave hunters completely, those elves kept themselves hidden behind the foliage and rained arrows down at the slave hunters gathered by their bonfires. More than half of them were caught off guard and reduced to dartboards in no time at all. Still, the others appeared to have expected the attackdespite looking frantic, they used the still-seated corpses and the blocks of wood they sat on as cover to escape the arrows. While Gou Dan was still left stunned by the archery skills the wood elves displayed, he realized that Edward just @ed him on the forums. [Edward: @Gou Dan, this doesnt feel right. The slave hunters are neither running or retaliating after being attacked but digging in defending themselves. Their reaction is too unusual!] [Edward: If my hunch is right, this group could just be bait to hold the main elven force here] [Edward: Hurry up and search around you to see what they are up to] Arent you being a little paranoid, Edward? Gou Dan could not help voicing his thoughts, that humans of this world were not that craftythat most were inexperienced silly idiots who wanted to shoot for the skies. After all, not everyone in this world is really self-aware. Still, in spite of his misgivings, Edwards words weighed heavily in Gou Dan mind, although his System sounded a quest jingle before he could move. [Ding!] [Side Quest unlocked: The Greatest Treasure of the Elves I] [You inadvertently stumbled upon the wood elves bravely repelling slave hunters who were invading lands. But while you were gasping in wonder at the elves heroic display, the wise God of Games had seen through it all: The slave hunters true goal isnt the adult elves, for they are merely bait used to catch the elven sentinels attentiontheir objective is somewhere else!] [Quest details: Uncover the slave hunters schemes as soon as possible] [Quest rewards: Unlocks The Greatest Treasure of the Elves II, certain EXP, certain Game Points and Rare ring (Natures Breath)] [Note: Try not to be noticed by the elves before you complete your investigation] Gou Dan: So there really was something fishy after all? Furthermore, there could be no half-heartedness with a quest assigned personally by the God of Gamesbeing one of Xi Weis earliest believers, Gou Dans faith was quite strong. And after ascertaining that the slave hunters he was seeing were bait, Gou Dan noticed certain details he missed as well. For example, instead of carrying out their slave hunting business which was supposed to be carried out very discreetly, these characters were conversing loudly in the middle of the forest, even making clear their plans for coming to the Trinia Forests. They must have added something to the bonfire they should not light in the first place as well, because it definitely stung the nose. One wouldnt be able to tell if they didnt try to notice it, but if they do pay attention and take note of these signs, it would appear as if the slave hunters were afraid the wood elves wouldnt notice them At that very thought, Gou Dan promptly moved somewhere else to find clues for his quest. But with no automated navigation and no quest objective on his map, Gou Dan couldnt find what he wanted after a search around. That certainly left him very troubled. Since the quest title is the Elves Greatest Treasure, could it be some precious object the wood elves had gathered over their long lives? Doesnt this mean I have to head for the elves dwelling to complete this quest? [Edward: @Gou Dan Hurry up, the elves are almost finished with the slave hunters bait. We might get discovered hiding here once they get wiped out!] Its not like I know what to do even if you say that Gou Dan mumbled in frustration. That was when he profoundly noticed the gap between himself and Edward. That dude was definitely a mage, and yet he hid better than a Junglewalker like Gou Dan himself Now far away from the battlefield, Gou Dan suddenly heard a faint noise although he was only looking through the forums. It sounded like neither the movement of a beast nor the stirring of a magical creature, but more akin to the sound of a human running. It was exactly like just now, when Edward and the others would never have noticed the wood elves presence because their movement was too stealthy and if not for the words hovering above their heads. Could one of those slave hunters have fled here? Gou Dan paused and hurried towards the sound. He could handily get rid of any escapees since slave hunters were red-named monsters and nothing good. It would be even better if it wasntthat might be a quest objective. After changing class to Junglewalker, Gou Dan realized that moving in the forests had become easier and swifter for him. Indeed, he was moving more than twice quicker than before! If his Emerald Heart was charged, this passive ability would actually improve to the next level. He thought then that his class change was the right one. After a short moment, he quickly arrived where the sound was and immediately recognized jackpot. Chapter 187: Aiming Below The Belt is Behavior Most Despicable I wonder how is Doug Ag Jessica said worriedly. You should worry about us instead of him. Edward replied helplessly, and sighed when Jessica trained a confused glance at him. The wood elves found us. It was only then that Jessica slowly realized that the yellow names which had been hovering everywhere randomly had somehow quietly formed a circle around them. Do we fight? Joe asked, ready to go. Being the top champions amongst the Players, Edwards party averaged in Player level over forty and almost neared fifty, and almost count as superhumans in human terms. Moreover, unlike some casual Players who often leveled up through farming old dungeons or daily quests, Edward and the others were a part of the frontline in every new dungeon. In fact, they were the ones who made more than half of the exploration progress for the outskirts of the Valley of the Tragic Dead and the Grey Fjord Port. They were basically a party with extraordinary experience in combat. And with Eleena the Saintess-in-training with them, they were indisputably the strongest party amongst the Players right now. After all, Princess Leah, the only other person with a secret class would havent be whisked away by Old Vanke for lessons about formalities and what not and her level was far from catching up to Eleena. Moreover, the Warrior Princess class was more suitable for fighting in large numbers, and naturally wouldnt match the Saintess-in-training in terms of individual battle. Therefore, Edward and the others were not too worried even if they realized that his group was surrounded by the elves. Lets try talking and not make enemies unnecessarily, Edward said. But thats not what you said when we ran into those neutral dogface people on our journey here Joe retorted. You know nothing. The quest note specifies that we should not make enemies unnecessarily. Otherwise its all EXPhow is all that the same? Edward shot back with conviction. Joe responded with a your words are so reasonable Im speechless look. One should note here that the quest Xi Wei assigned Edwards party was roughly the same as Gou Dans: investigate what was happening to the wood elves of Trinia. While it was not outright stated that they mustnt consider the elves hostile, it was still hinted that they shouldnt do sothe vague conditions which, according to Edwards understanding about the quest, made clear that the God of Games was on standby since he wasnt sure if the elves were friend or foe either. Still, that didnt mean that they should just give in unconditionally. If the elves attacked first, it wasnt a problem for Edwards party to retaliate since Xi Wei never liked having his believers become bootlickers where theres no favor to be gained. Jessica hence quietly buffed her friends with a tiny magic barrier in case the elves fired a rain of arrows immediately like they did against the slave hunters. At the same time, Eleena, the strongest among them pretended her ordinary, meek little girl act, hiding between the other three as she ate cotton candy impassively. Meanwhile, Edward spread his arms, held them beside his head, slowly stood up and loudly said, Im an adventurer from Anurad! We are not friends of the slave hunters youve found! Were just passing by! His answer was an arrow shooting at his head, but it was reduced to splinters when it reached the barrier Jessica had put in place beforehand. Edwards eyes narrowed dangerously. We have no intention of fighting you, so please cease your hostility. We can talk before starting anything, so dont try any impolite provoking attacks or well be forced to attack you in self-preservation. For your own safety, please Even before he finished, the sound of nocking echoed immediately around him. A tight rain of arrows shot out from the bushes, bearing down upon everyone! There were whooshes of hits, but the arrows still couldnt make their way past Jessicas arcane barrier. Nonetheless, the Players could see that its durability value had fallen dangerously low. Edward sighed helplessly again and turned to his party members. Looks like we cant settle this peacefully. Everyone, get ready to attack but try not to killwell talk after we make them eat dirt. Got it! Joe beamed. Im already fired up! In that arrow of rain just now, he had several arrows aimed specifically for his critical area under the belt. That left him fuming even if he knew Jessicas arcane barrier would stop every arrowevery elf who had slaughtered those slave hunters were adults, and every adult elf is a sharpshooter: they would never miss once they hold arrow over bowstring, and in other words, those elves were aiming deliberately! That was because most elves knew that any elf captured by slave hunters were mostly sold to nobles as carnal slaves, which made sense that they were hostile towards those anatomies. Nevertheless, that did not calm Joes indignant as he cracked his knuckles loudly. Ill give them a good beating! *** Salent Frostleaf almost laughed at those young humans words. Beat them up? What a joke! Even the lofty bishop those humans looked up to would never dare say such a thing! The other young ones who were feigning maturity and saying wanting to negotiate and what not were funny too. They were just a dozen years old. Who would believe such absurd claims that they were passing by, and werent brought here to Trinia by the slave hunters? Moreover, it would have been acceptable if they begged for mercy and yet there they were, with their aggressive words and threats. These brats arent understanding the situation, are they? And where did they get such confidence to say such words to elves? Youthful ignorance? Well, I shall teach you kids an unforgettable lesson if you survive. Salent stretched slightly, pulling his bowstring and ready to fire his arrow when he realized that an increasingly large fist was closing in on his face Chapter 188: Chains of Penance Joe had sent Salent flying out of the bushes with a single punch. The elf rolled twice on the ground, only coming to a stop when he crashed into a tree, wincing and gasping in pain. The other wood elves were stunned. *** Pecora, Goddess of the Forest was the second most important deity of the wood elves, and she in turn had biased affection for their kind. That was the reason wood elves were born with her blessings and naturally loved by the forests, and were nothing else than gifted masters in their environments. Their blessings varied depending on the elven individual as well, but the most common is their affinity for the forestslike the Emerald Heart that the Players who had changed class to Junglewalkers, the wood elves could fuse their presence to the forest so that their adversaries would never notice them. That was the exact reason why they were the most feared hunters in the forests. A case in point was their encircling and slaughter of the slave hunters just a while ago. Their victims never noticed what was happening in time before they were wiped out by the wood elvesand thats without destroying too much of the forest or using any spells! The same thing was happening now as well: by using their stealth, they were about to get rid of those few young humans who didnt look special in any way. To them, humans and tree-dwelling gorillas were not too different, and given their mutual hostility killing a few young humans wouldnt burden them psychologically. It just didnt turn out as they would expectbecause they had underestimated Edwards party, not only had their targets weathered through their rain of arrows, one of them actually sent Salent, an adult elf flying despite attacking late! Nonetheless, the wood elves were mentally composed enough. They simply assumed that Salent was caught and sent flying because he was underestimating those younglings too much, as such did not hide well enough as well as being caught unawares. In fact, there were some veterans amongst them who were using that to instruct the younger elves who were having their first fight against human slave hunters, telling them not to be careless and that they must hide perfectly at all times, maintaining their bond to the forests. But then Joe caught more elves and punched them into the air from their hiding place. Even if the wood elves assumed that they were well-hiddenand granted, they were, Joe would never have found them if he relied on his vision, hearing, or even smell. The problem was that there was large yellow text hanging over their heads, and even those who had fused themselves perfectly into the bushes would have a Wood Elf A or whatnot hanging over their heads. That was basically no different from the ostrich that hid its head beneath the sand but exposed its butt cheeks perfectly outside and was infinitely conspicuous. And it was not Joe either. Edward himself had also hit several buttselves, to be precise. Although they did not cause fatal damage, they still beat down to the last bit of their HP and until they were not getting up for the time being. All Jessica did was cast barriers on them whereas Eleena continued eating her cotton candy, although her eyes kept darting towards the elves level over their heads. Eventually, she found the wood elves of the highest level, a weird look flashing in her eyes just then as her thoughts remained as enigmatic as ever. Meanwhile, Joe and Edward were wading through the forests, beating down one wood elf after another. It was only after the elves lost a third of their forces that they finally realized that something wasnt rightthat all of them would be wiped out right there if they kept playing hide and seek. Hence, at the call of the top-level wood elf, the others gave up on their hiding and switched to direct confrontation. And with that, Edwards easy time turned into a hard battle. It was true that his group was slightly stronger than the adult elves and could easily rid one in surprise ambushes in a short time, and they would never lose out even in a one-on-one fight. The problem, however, was that the wood elves had no chivalry. Giving up on subtlety to go all-out meant that the wood elves were now far beyond the elves that Edward and Joe were punching silly just nowbeing surrounded by them now felt as if they were being surrounded by a pack of wolves, getting wounded all over even before they could move. As a matter of fact, they might already be dead if Jessica wasnt healing them again and again. Her massive output in such a short time certainly caught the wood elves attention. The top-level wood elf hence promptly gave up on the encircling Edward and Joe who were fighting without regard of self-preservation or potential death, rushing out to attack Jessica instead. Being top-level also clearly meant great experience and veteran combat skillsthe elf combined spells and arrows to interrupt Jesscias spells more than once, and in less than half a minute, the teams weakest character was caught in a dire moment. And yet, that was when Eleena who didnt help at all finally caught their adversarys mistake. Immediately leaping out, holy golden light flickered behind her as it soon flowed like water down to her handcondensing, solidifying, and then materializing into a colossal spear of light! But it wasnt the Spear of Victory, a skill Clerics learned at Level 15 while the Saintess-in-training herself had learned it at level 1. Instead, it was the Chain of Penance, Eleena only learnt at Level 40 and required the Spear of Victory as a prerequisite! The skill itself deals 0 damage, but would deal damage equal to the targets hostility towards the Players/God of Games. That being said, it would also maintain approximately 1% of the targets HP when the damage exceeds the targets HP and debuff them with a Bind status. The power of the Bind status also depends on the targets hostility, meaning that the Chains of Penance restrained its targets harder the more hostile they were. Of course, Bind was a power derived from the Game Rules as well, which meant it could be resisted by divine attribute or another Rule. But that elf clearly didnt possess divine attribute or Rule Resistancehis body was pierced by Eleenas light, before the chains of light behind the radiant spear coiled themselves firmly around him. If Aslan, the Great Lion of Justice was here, he probably would have a why-the-bleeding-hell-that-binding-skill-feels-so-familiar sort of feeling Chapter 189: Everyones Hope The chains were clearly made of light, and yet it felt solid to the touch. Brom Daystar could feel the slippery coils of the Chains of Penance around himself. Aside from feeling goosebumps, the wood elf could not help but worry. When did the magic of humans so quietly progress to such level? He had cast several spells to free himself, and yet he was still caught within the chains. That said, was this really magic? *** Defeating the enemy by capturing the kingwhile there was no specific idiom for that in this world, it wasnt that hard to understand as a strategy. Even if it was simple and unrefined, it often proved effective on many occasions for Edward. Therefore, even before attacking the elves, he had already discreetly drawn up a plan with Eleena and the others: He and Joe would get the enemys attention and do all they could to cut down the enemys forces. Although the elves did not have the chivalry to hold back against women and children, they would still underestimate them out of sheer instinct and not attack either Jessica or Eleena outright. When Edward and Joe had the elves full attention, the elves would not direct most of their forces against Jessica even if they would notice her healing ability and thought of denying their group a healer. It was more likely that the elves would stick to their prideful style, and have their commander go out alone or bring along a handful of lackeys to take out Jessica. And should the elves do that, EleenaSaintess-in-training, the strongest Player and the trump card of Edwards partys chance would arrive. After all, the situation just now made evident that the wood elves did not believe that they were on the same level as the humans, just like how humans would never deliberately try to understand what a pig is saying. It was only by capturing their commander that they could stand on equal footing to talk terms with the elves. Naturally, Edward had also considered that the wood elves might not understand human language, but now that things had come to this, it didnt matter if they had fought just because of a language barrier. Either way, defeat merely means death and some lost EXP, and a free trip back to the Unnamed Town. But it was evident that the elves could understand human languageeven speak it. Human, let him go! Brom Daystar could see his second-in-command shouting angrily at the two human girls behind him. Just because you tell us to? That cheek of yours! Joe and Edward had also seen their chance and broke through the elves encirclement from the other side to gather with Jessica and Eleena. And at that elfs words, Joe downed a coke to pull his dangerously low HP back to a safe level, burping before mocking him in return. Who do you think you are, Lord Angora? Meanwhile, Angora sneezed while having tea with his father back at the Silver Eagle Castle, splashing the old duke in the face. You The elf was left fuming but somehow couldnt retort against Joe. Joes way of putting it is rude, but hes right. Your group was the one who started the fight without provocation. Edward added coolly. And now, you are trying to stop the fight when things have gone wrong for you, even demanding that we give up our advantage. Do you think thats really going to happen? Hmph! Dont mind those humans and their pesky words! Shoot them, you dont have to care about me! Brom Daystar yelled at his second-in-command. Dont forget your dutytheres no time to waste! While his words were bold, justified and held conviction, the bondage posture in which the Chains of Penance was holding him was as funny as it was embarrassing that whatever he said became unserious. Edward and Eleena shared a glance. She nodded slightly, her silver hair dancing behind her. As a powerful Level 40 skill for the hidden Saintess-in-training class, the Chains of Penance wasnt as simple as a nonviolent takedown. As a matter of fact, it was more similar to Wonder Womans Lasso of Truth that compels the target to speak honestly without deception. They would feel a desire to confess everything once asked, and should their will fail to hold out, they would tell Eleena everything in their heads. Therefore, what that elf had so boldly shouted was all real. He cared more about the duty that the elves shouldered than his own life, and it was urgent enough that theres no time to waste. In other words, things appeared much complicated and troublesome that Edward and his party had imagined. After thinking for a moment, Edward asked, What is your duty? Has something happened to your dwelling? Cease that ugly pretentiousness. You damned humans know what youve done to the greatest treasure! Brom Daystar sneered even as he was still held in the standard bondage position. Greatest treasure? Edward asked in curiosity. Yes, the greatest treasure that the wood elves of Trinia possess, the Divine Spear Sefarim! Sefarim? If Im not mistaken, could it be the same spear used for climbing up the World Tree of Silvermoon? You know nothing! Thats a myth passed down by word of mouth amongst you humans. We elves had survived since the last age, immortals who survived the War of Gods and Demons! Sefarim is no legendshe exists, and shes the greatest treasure that Luna the Moon Goddess has bestowed upon all elves so that we survive extinction! Edward came to a realization right then. In other words, you lost it? She should have been kept safe in the Moontree, but you humans somehow tricked her and she left our bounded field! She? Sefarim is a supreme existence even amongst divine relics. Whats weird about her having self-awareness?! Meanwhile, the other elves were gaping at their commander who was having a question and answer session like some stand-up comedy routine. Brom wasnt hesitating to reveal truckloads of the wood elves secret, which made the other elves feeling indescribably ill-at-ease. Could he be a spy sent by the humans? Brom himself had only realized what he was saying as the other elves started to stare at him weirdly, and the look on his face darkened immediately. Damn you, what have you done to me, human?! What he was saying felt especially meaningful with that amusing position of his. Still, Edward wasnt that mature and had no intention of coming out of the closet, which was why he took no mind of Broms yelling and quickly shared the information with Gou Dan instead. From the way the elves postured as if they have not settled things with them, they are not going to leave their dispute behind for the time being. This meant that the Gou Dan was the only one they could hope to complete their quest. That said, Gou Dans reply arrived quite late. [Oh.] Edward: ??? So, youre not telling us whats going on? Whether youve found the wood elves treasure or if you had been idling, at least report your situation after getting my message! That would at least be a fair exchange to the six hundred plus words I just typed, man! Chapter 190: I Heard You Have High Physical Defense? Gou Dan wasnt deliberately giving Edward a half-hearted reply. After all, being a war reporter, he enjoyed writing a huge chunk of text during quests and post it on the forum, only to have other Players would comment TLDR (too long, didnt read) beneath it. In other words, he really wasnt free at the moment. Since almost twenty people were now chasing him down to kill him. We really run into them everywhere Gou Dan was leaping from tree to tree, but couldnt resist turning to look at the words hovering above his pursuers heads. They are from the Secret Eye Society. Tch. Fight me one by one if you have the balls! No gentleman lynches! As a matter of fact, Gou Dan really wouldnt worry about those Secret Eye Society members individually, who were at best Level 30. But theres no way he could survive against all of them. *** It was just five minutes ago when Gou Dan found them sinisterly leading a bound young girl who was around ten years old, quietly heading towards the outskirts of the forest. Her face was bruised here and there and obviously battered, and her eyes were full of fear. Even so, she did not even dare to struggle now. When Gou Dan saw that, he naturally leapt down to kill the hostiles immediately. Initially, he had intended to take the Grand Hunter route after changing class to Junglewalker. However, it was not time to do so yet since he had not taken delivery of the AWM which he had gotten Marni to buy for him at the auction, and because the weapons he had at the moment were too crude to deal any serious damage as a Grand Hunter. Therefore, he simply allocated some skill points down the druidor more correctly, the Beastmorph branch, and would retrain himself as a Hunter King when he finally received that godly bow. Although Beastmorph skills appeared to be all over the place, it was versatile and Gou Dan found them quite useful after adapting to it. Including Bearmorph at Level 25, in which he assumes the form of an ordinary bear. That in turn would beg the question: how powerful is a bear? For that, one should note that when Gou Dan and the others first left their village, their party had killed a bear when their average Level was 5 And with Gou Dans current stats as a Level 40 player, the bear he morphs into would definitely be stronger than a normal bear, though that would be all there is to it. Nonetheless, leveling the Bearmorph skill up to Level 2 (Player Level 30 required) would change the user to a twin-headed bear, a creature that was infinitely resembling of magical beasts with its thick hide and dragon fangs. It wouldnt be a problem to defeat an Extraordinaire using that form strengthened with Player stats, but Gou Dan felt that he could break his own spirit if he used it for too long. At Level 3, he would morph into a Steelchomper that easily chew through ores and bite through weapons with its overwhelming fighting force. It looked quite cute too, even if it could kill a bear with a single slap. At Level 4Gou Dans current Bearmorph skill level, he would immediately assume the form of an Earthen Ursa, a standard earth-element magical beast. Having the passive skills of stone skin and Earths Breath, he has stunning physical defense and could keep healing himself as long as he stood on the ground. With it, he surpassed Joes Spirit Swordsman class in terms of durability (which decreases max health) to become the teams best meat shield. If it wasnt for the skill only lasting three minutesafter of which the life crystal before Gou Dan chest would start blinking and beeping a warning, Gou Dan is convinced that he could fight three other Players of his level albeit of different class alone! And given that the Bearmorph skill goes up to Level 6, Gou Dan could hardly imagine what monster he would turn into at max level *** Nonetheless, while Gou Dan had assumed that dropping from the skies in his Earthen Ursa form would definitely throw the Secret Eye Society members into disarray, scare them off so that they leave the girl andshould they resistwipe them all out! But before he could put up a show, the Secret Eye Society members all moved in synchrony to fire off some black ray. Their barrage blasted away half of Gou Dans HP, startling him and forcing him to flee. Tch, theyre actually using spells!? Are those swords at your hips just decorations! Come slash me, and I wouldnt be a bear if I so much as frowned! On the other hand, the Secret Eye Society members also gave up on staying on their path for some reason and chased after Gou Dan instead. He had a hunch then that the reason would be something like You know too much! Be that as it may, the more he was hit by those rays, the more Gou Dan felt his pace slowed. As he turned on his stat page, he suddenly found a Withering status on his stats bar. While there wasnt any specific information of its effect, it was clearly slowly eating away at every single stat Gou Dan has. Death Ray? Were they cultists? After all, Death Ray was a signature skill of cultists, including the High Priest of Rotten Bones. Still, the effects of that skill do vary between the evil gods they believe in: the Death ray which the High Priest of Rotten Bones release caused direct damage and softens a Players bones, causing them to become brittle in battle Holy Water or was it Wanglaoji[1]? Nah, I used mine when we were fighting that Eight-eyed Spider With Jessica and Eleena who could cast Purification and Exorcism Ring nowhere near, Gou Dan realized that things were not really going well for him. That was when he suddenly realized that someone had @ed him on the forum. In a bind, Gou Dan ignored all else and opened the forums, braving the risk of crashing into a tree because he was too busy looking at the system page. He then found out that it was Edward. The others appeared to have solved things on their endor were solved, but either way Edward had the free time to send him a bucketload of text. Gou Dan scanned through it with the speed he developed through writing war reports, skimming through ten lines at once to understand the story in the last chapter and the present situation. I see, so that girl is the Divine Spear Sefarim, and its the Secret Eye Society who stole the elves greatest treasure Gou Dan had wanted to tell Edward what he learned on this end, but the enemies were hot on his heels and he was a hundred percent going to be blown up if he distracted himself any further than reading the System page. Moreover, he believed that he has another solution to resolve the present crisis. Werent you chasing after me? Come then! Gou Dan whipped out a bottle of potion labeled Jizhi Syrup[2] and handily applied it to his own body. The item was actually known as a Lure Brew amongst the Players that would rapidly attract every monster in a dungeonand Gou Dan was planning to use it to cause confusion amongst the cultists and slow them down. Then, he casted Leopardmorph, deciding on a direction before rapidly dragging along a horde of monsters towards Edward and the others. Whats that name again? I dont know when it suddenly became a trend in the forums, but its got a ring to it during moments like this Gou Dan then roared like a tiger, his voice echoing throughout the forests and echoing over the skies. Leeeeeeerooooooy. Jeeeeeeenkiiiiiiiiiiiiiiins! [1] Wong Lo Kat (Chinese: ϼ) or Wanglaoji in Mandarin pinyin, is a Chinese herbal tea. [2] A brand of cough syrup. Chapter 191: Your Item Is Not Growing Because You Dont Have Materials (Serious) Although Gou Dan couldnt determine the strength of those Secret Eye cultists, Xi Wei saw through them immediately from his Divine Kingdom. Demons hatched from demonic roes? No, thats not it these things are less powerful than Angoras eldest brother, Ceciland he was only halfway through his demonization back then. On that note, one shouldnt be too harsh on how Cecil was instakilled by Angorahe simply had a sacred item combining Xi Wei and Aslans powers, and that thing could wipe out Edwards party immediately too. Meanwhile, the Secret Eye cultists who were now chasing after Gou Dan does have some demonic scent to them with each of them looking like double images from Xi Weis perspective, they were much weaker. That was especially evident in how Gou Dan was caught off guard, and yet their combined barrage still didnt blow him up. Their combat ability would rank around Level 28 on average then. Xi Wei concluded after observing the cultists powers, deciding that they were more or less equally matched to the second-rate Players of his church. However, they were not like him as the Secret Eye had been working in the shadows for years and were spread throughout various corners of the Eastern Continent. Their members must have reached an alarming number, and there would certainly be a lot of them who possess such level of power as well. Xi Wei immediately felt the threat from that very thought. Still, it wasnt as serious as that when he thought more about it. After all, they could only send out people of this standard, especially for an operation of luring and stealing the elves greatest treasure which risks incurring the wrath of all wood elves. There werent too many of them either, which means there might not be many of them with such level of ability But are the gods all blind that they would allow a group controlled by demons to operate for so long in this world?! Xi Wei muttered in annoyance once he thought about that. The God of Games hadnt open business for that long and theyve already run into the Secret Eye repeatedly, and used the Players strength to thwart their evil schemes. But before all this, the deities of every other religion seemed not to have noticedor even know about them at all! Still, it made sense for a warped world like this one if one thought about it: it revolves around the gods, and claiming belief mattered most for all the deities and religion, whereas each of the primordial gods were as reclusive as the next. In comparison, none of the other godsaside from Aslan, the God of Justicewould care about a faction like the Secret Eye Society which requires no belief, not to mention that they were a messy group of random people that allows any person of any faith to join. The Secret Eye was perfectly aware of their circumstances as well: they understood how the churches were not a threat to them, and could use various benefits to attract their believers to strengthen their organization. They would also be cautious of religion that were actively destroying evils such as Temple of Justice, giving them a wide berth and keeping their operations away from them, allowing Aslan the Great Lion God of Justice no chance of detecting their presence. On the other hand, they naturally wouldnt fear the Players since Xi Weis Church of Games was a newly founded religion without strong depth. They would mostly choose to kill any and silence any Player who inadvertently stumbled into their plot. Naturally, the Players were not the kind of people to take provocations lying down either, which in turn led to them being continuously at odds with the Secret Eye Society. That said, Gou Dans quest could count as complete. Lets have the quest chain proceed Xi Wei thought, and sneakily sent down a bit of his divine power down to the mortal realm. *** [Ding!] [Side Quest completed: The Greatest Treasure of the Elves I completed] [Side Quest unlocked: The Greatest Treasure of the Elves II started] [You have seen the true face of the culprit: It is indeed the Secret Eye Society that is guilty of every possible misdeed. Though you know not what plans they could have for the elves greatest treasure, it clearly wouldnt be anything good. Furthermore, you should be able to sense the evil power wafting from the cultists bodies, therefore realizing that they had been corrupted by demonic powers into demonoids and are no longer human. To protect the elves greatest pressure, you must combine the powers you and your companions have to defeat every vile demonoid immediately] [Quest objective: Slay demonoids (0/21), reclaim the elves greatest treasure (0/1)] [Quest rewards: Unlocks quest The Elves Greatest Treasure III, certain EXP, certain Game Coins and rare item: Elven Quiver (dcor)] [Note: The demonoids can no longer stop you. Make haste, brave youth, to create your miracle] Even as he fled, Gou Dan suddenly noticed the jingle of the quest update notification. He could not help feeling pleased as he glanced at the message that the quest had progressed to the second phase despite how preoccupied he was. He was even more delighted when he saw the little detail that read you must combine the powers you and your companions have. It meant that he was right to lead those monsters towards Edward and the others! As expected of him, to make the best decision despite the urgency of the situation! Promptly morphing into a leopard once more, Gou Dan could feel the colors of his coat becoming more vibrant. Still, he felt a little troubled with the quest objective. Reclaim the treasure easy for you to say The enemys barrage had blown off half of his thick load of HP in his Earthen Ursa form. On the other hand, if he had to withstand that same level of firepower and save the girl, he might last just three seconds before changing Lord Xi Weis title to Dawg Xi Wei. It seems that he would need Edward and the others helping if he was to finish his quest. That said, the Divine Spear Sefarim must be the elves divine relic really, theres so much difference between divine relics. That was certainly what Gou Dan thought once he remembered Joes greatsword Giants Toe which he hugged to sleep and his AWM which he had yet to receive delivery. Still, theres no telling what Sefarim is capable of Even though the legendary items that Players had obtained by killing monsters counted as divine relics and had high stats, the most special thing about them were that they strengthen in tandem with their user and were a growing weapon. That said, it was the same for proud wallet warriors who had the money and the materials and could keep strengthening their items as they leveled up, as any item would also have potential for growth thanks to that. In the next split second, Gou Dan suddenly felt an unusual sensationhis heart beating and his body pulsating as if some horrific monster was leering at him. Chapter 192: Ultimate Form The Secret Eye Society is behind all this. They are now chasing after Gou Dan because he exposed them. Edward finally received a reply from Gou Dan in the forum, and could tell how urgent the situation was from the very simple message. He glanced at the elves, who appeared to be finally debating about giving up on Brom Daystar and was prepared to blow Edwards party and their leader sky high with the strongest spell they had Jessica raised as many barriers as she could while Eleena also whipped out her meteor hammer (book) and casted defensive divine spells He used a Lure Brew to bait forest creatures to slow down the Secret Eye Cultists. Hes coming towards us. Got it or should I say, Im seeing him on the minimap. Joe replied casually while staring at the wood elves. It was only after two updates that the function of seeing a party members location on the minimap was implemented. However, such minor functions wouldnt be specially introduced and would have a simple mention in the update notes. Be that as it may, a function like that which couldnt be simpler for online games back on earth proved both fresh and interesting for the Players, and was surprisingly useful. Soon enough, before the wood elves finally decided to blow up their enemies and their own commander, a swift and agile figure leapt out of the bushes! Naturally, it was Gou Dan. Gou Dan did a double-take when he glanced at Brom Daystar who was being tied up in modern art fashion, but he did not slow down and kept runningpassing by Edward and the others who had a look that said good, lets break through the encirclement now. Boar, wild chickens, wildcats, monkeys and everything else then poured out of the bushes, hot on Gou Dans heels as they shrieked, passing them like a wild storm and showering the Players chicken feathers. Was the Lure Brew really that effective? Edward had a birds nest over his head and looked dumbstruck, having only used the Emergency Syrup in dungeons before. Behind the beasts, a group of black-robed people dashed out of the bushesnaturally, they were the Secret Eye Cultists who were chasing after Gou Dan. At the moment, the wood elves who had better sight promptly noticed that their greatest treasure was running beside the black-robed people, her feet working furiously and completely didnt look like she was being abducted. Meanwhile, the Players who were cracking their fists once the Secret Society Cultists appeared and ready to give them one vicious beating awkwardly realized that the cultists were completely ignoring them. Instead, they continued chasing after Gou Dan Joe could not help looking a little lost. Wow, are us Players and over thirty wood elves that unimportant? No those guys dont look like theyre chasing after Gou Dan. They looked like they are trying to Edward said urgently, noticing the signs from the faces of those Secret Eye Cultists and threw away the birds nest over his head while preparing himself mentally. In the next split second, thunderous rumbles echoed. The bushes Gou Dan dart out of just now were crushed along with several towering trees nearby. Then, a form that resembled a dinosaur bloated a dozen times immediately caught everyones attention. Drake (Ultimate Form), level 85. Run. It was only then that Edward finished his sentence while gaping at the colossal magical beast that had appeared all of a sudden. Joe glanced at the other Players and their weapons, and then at the Drake that was frightened off every nearby bird and roaring at the skies. He suddenly felt that his weapon was a toothpick. He gulped and gingerly asked Edward. Are we going to fight? Edward might have the courage to fight if that thing was a Rookie form like the Barren Giant they encountered before. But that thing is double their level. Fight it? No, its time to run. Therefore, Edward and the others ran in the same direction behind the Secret Eye Cultists. The wood elves were startled by the Drakes appearance as well, and were looking at each other. Being children of the Forest Goddess, the wood elves have a special attribute that keeps them intimate with nature, and rarely were there any creatures that could ignore that attribute. Unfortunately, the rampaging Drake was one of them. Hence, after sharing a quiet but rapid exchange with their eyes, the wood elves picked up Brom Daystar whom Edward and the others had thrown unceremoniously on the dirt but was still bound, and started running behind them as well. *** Meanwhile, the Drake which was just putting up a show with its skyward roar looked down upon it all. Oh, I was just clearing my throat. Why did all my prey run off? Hence, feeling upset, it started to chase after everyone. Being one of the sovereigns of the Trinia Forests, its slow movement was merely a misperception because of its enormous form. The reality was that it was swift in both attack and movement. However, it usually didnt have to runonce it unleashed its Dragon Might, it would always find a few petrified wild birds or rabbits nearby. But for the Drake, it appeared have had enough of fried birds, and wanted something fresh instead like conveyer belt steamboat No, were going to get caught if this continues! Edwards face darkened as he watched the Drake come ever closeras a mage, he was lacking in the agility department. Its fine, as long as we are faster than the elves! Joe appeared very optimistic and so nonchalant that he was having his familiar spirit poke the buttocks of the Secret Eye cultists with Giant Toes, shredding their HP before all else. Well escape when the Drake starts eating the elves! But that thing is native to the Trinia Forests Jessica looked worried. What if it had gotten bored of elves and want a taste of humans? Edward turned to find that the Drake was salivating while starting at them and immediately knew that she was right. He hence turned towards Eleenas flat chest and asked despite the girls unfriendly stare, Do you think the Drake would be interested in seafood? Meanwhile, Croakatoa felt a mysterious shiver while catching crabs, feeling as if the weather had become a little colder. Chapter 193: Dragon Food, Secret Eye Brand Nonetheless, Edward was not so unreasonably cruel that he would have Eleena summon Croakatoa and feed it to the Drake. Regardless of a drop in their reputation at the frogpeoples village, Croakatoa would not be large enough to be stuck between the Drakes teethsummoning it now was meaningless free lunch. They could not pin their hopes on the yellowed-named elves that were supposedly neutral but actually hostile. With that line of thought, they could only rely on the black robe figures in front of themin other words, the Secret Eye cultists. There was no telling what they were either: their skins beneath their black robes were blood-red, craggy and looked painful. There was almost no chance that they were still human, but the Drake probably wouldnt be that picky an eater, and just might enjoy some extra taste. Joe, stop poking. Get into Evil Blade form and stop those guys right here! Even as he gestured for Joe to attack, Edward had drawn out his staff, ready to cast frost spells and freeze the Secret Eye Cultists right thereor in the very least debuff them with slowed movement. Can I kill them directly? Joe asked. Of course! Were even cutting the meat millet for old Drake there. How caring could we be? Edward thought inwardly. Gathering mana and charging his spell, he was about to blow a huge one at the black-robed figure just in front of him when a black shadow flashed, and the robed figure dropped to the dirt immediately It was Eleena who drew first blood with her meteor hammer. The unlucky Secret Eye cultists had his head blown apart, and was lying on the ground lifelessly. Tch, killstealing even now? Edward turned to stare at Eleena who was running beside him as if nothing happened, understanding that her ability to steal kills had improved yet again. From now on, as long as the hate of the Final Boss in raid events did not go OT (off-tank, a player in a raid or party that concentrates on taking pressure off the main tank) to Marnie, their party was definitely going to get the Bosss head. While his thoughts wandered, Edwards hands never paused: several Frost Bullets, he iced up several of those baggy black robes ahead of himself, forcing them to run slowly and stiffly like mummies. However, there was no way the Secret Eye demonoids would take those sneak attacks lying down. All of them promptly turned around and retaliated with Death Rays, but were blocked by Jessicas barriereven if those spells would hit Edward or Joe in between barrier cooldowns, Jessica would quickly cast Purification to dispel their debuffs. And with their divine healing item that was coke, half the demonoids were down in no time at all, while Edwards side had no problem aside from slightly bloated stomachs. *** To the rear, the wood elves simply watched what they assumed was human infighting, having no intention to interrupt at all. The young girl who had been running beside the Secret Eye cultists slowed down discreetly then, intending to slip away to the wood elves. In the confusion, Edward sharply noticed the leader of the demonoidswhom he wasnt aware was the leader, but he had the highest level amongst the Secret Eye Cultists anyway. That demonoid had quietly taken out something shaped like a silver apple with one hand, and then drew out a light purple dagger with the other which he stabbed into the silver apple. The girls face when pale immediately. She staggered and fell. Mistress Sefarim! It was only then that the elves noticed their greatest treasure whom the Secret Eye Society had concealed with their black robes. All of them started buffing themselves with wind-element spells and dashed up towards the girl. Edward glanced at them. Knowing that the enemy of an enemy was a friend, his party would feel less pressure if they only targeted the Secret Eye Society now. Be that as it may, his party was busy running and couldnt even catch a breathwould they even have the time to persuade the elves? That being said, even a fool could tell the apple-like thing must have something to do with the girl, and might even be the how the Secret Eye Society had managed to lure her to them. After all, there was no way the elves would let the greatest treasure of their own race running about unchecked. And since they had decided to get rid of the Secret Eye Society in the first place anyway, they might drop that silver apple too Edwards face went pale at that very thought. Oh, rightanything the Players kill would vanish. In other words, the corpses of the Secret Eye Cultist would not become drake food, and the scent of their blood drove the hungry beast to a greater frenzy instead! Joe, Eleena, change of tacticsknock them out but dont kill them! Jessica, keep it coming with the barriers! Edward issued new orders while blaming himself in irritation. Damn it, Ive let down the God of Games Im still bound by common sense. Okay, Ill do my best. Roger, roger. Got it! Rawr. Why was there one additional reply? Edward turned his head to lookafter the wood elves had left them behind, the Drake had sped up as well and was now right on their heels, its golden reptilian vertical pupil now overflowing with hunger that sends a chill down the spine. Drakes were a subspecies of dragon and their ability watered down compared to real dragons, and could not even learn Dragonbreath. That being said, their kind could unleash a weaker version that was quite similar, although it did not count as one because that attack didnt have a dragon trait. And right now, Edward and the others were already within the range of its breathbut the Drake seemed to have no intention of releasing it, either because it didnt want burnt meat or desired a pre-meal workout. For the Players, none of them were willing to experience being eaten alive by a drake even if they wouldnt really die, which was why Edwards party was bursting out everything they had. Edwards skill swiftly and precisely struck the big black robe ahead of himself, slowing him down while Joe promptly bludgeoned him with Giants Toe. Then, to prevent the demonoid from dying, Eleena even bound him with Chains of Penance as well and left him behind. In moments, a chilling crunch of something being chewed and the screams of the demonoid echoed behind them, and Edward and the others could feel goosebumps. Even if they were the culprit, they didnt dare to turn around to see what was happening behind, and instead swiftly moved on to the next demonoid The demonoids naturally were retaliating, but the problem was that the wood elves were now attacking them as well. It appeared that the elves have learned from their greatest treasure that they were the culprit behind her abductionnot only were they interfering with the Secret Eye demonoids counterattack, they were attacking them alongside Edwards party as well, either to compensate for their disrespect or to avenge their treasure. Soon, the Secret Eye demonoids were all wiped out, and thrown off as food for the Drake behind them. Edward even handily collected the object that resembled a silver-apple in the process. [Unusual fragment: a curious piece of divine power, belonging to Luna, Goddess of the Silver Moon. Just holding it feels like bathing in moonlight.] Be that as it may, the Drake was still following them, roaring horrifically as if it was becoming even crazier. Is that thing not full yet? After eating all those people? Joe panted. Given that Joe, who had the best stamina in their party being reduced to that state, it was naturally worse for the otherswith their stamina bars now empty, they were now all moving so slowly as unstoppable fatigue made even lifting their feet a torture. Edward turned towards the Drake then, realizing that its golden pupil had turned slightly scarlet. Its not that it isnt full He said, annoyed. The Secret Eye demonoids have corrupted it It had dragon blood even if its not the descendant of pure dragons, so how could it so be so easily infected by a few human freaks? That was when Edward noticed that Gou Dan, who had been running ahead of the other Players was @ing him. [Gou Dan: What did you guys do?] [Edward: Feeding Secret Eye Cultists to the Drake] [Gou Dan: I see, hold on.] [Gou Dan: (Image)] The image Gou Dan sent was a screenshot of his quest page. It was something the Players had discovered lately, which could either be a deliberate setting made by the God of Games or a loophole. While a Player could not see another Players System page, activating the Player forums image capture function upon the System page and uploading it would allow other Players to see it. That discovery made exchanges about quests between Players much convenient, and they no longer had to repeat the content of their quest. [Ding!] [Side Quest: The Elves Greatest Treasure II Completed] [Side Quest: The Elves Greatest Treasure III Started] [The culpritsthe Secret Eye demonoidshave been defeated thanks to your hard work, but as a result, a powerful Drake has been corrupted by demonic scent and showing signs of demonization. Your partys combined strength would never defeat the Drake directly, but the God of Games never forsakes: there is a way to kill it right before your eyes] [Quest objective: Defeat the Drake] [Quest Rewards: Unlocks The Elves Greatest Treasure IV, certain EXP, certain Game Coins, Soulbound Scroll] [Note: Is that the Neo Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Cannon[1]? Its really perfect] [1] Lunaelle: I died when Calendarman showed me what this was Chapter 194: Anti-Corrupted Drake Tactics Since there was no private chat in the Game Forum, conversations were naturally visible for other Players. As such, Joe and the others could see Gou Dans text and attachment even as they were fleeing. Therefore, Joe couldnt help exclaiming unhappily, Why are we here getting chased by that Drake, while Gou Dan completes a quest just by running ahead? Isnt this a little unfair? But right after his spoke, everyone in Edwards group who was still running received a notification from their Systemthey had received the exact same quest as Gou Dan albeit with more rewards and EXP. Joe was silent and nervous in response. Could the God of Games have heard his complaining? Eleena, however, put insult to injury with horrific timing. The God of Games must have heard Joes complaint and gave the quest to make up to us, right? You only make up for mistakes. And does the God of Games make mistakes? Edward retorted with disappointment. No! Thats why this is called a delay! Still, despite everyone sensing that something wasnt quite right, now wasnt the time for fussing over that. Either way, this quest the God of Games had given us gave us clear directions. Jessica continued the conversation after it was left hanging and made Edward look awkward. She dragged it back to the main point even as she panted from the marathon of an escape and seriously said, Theres no chance of winning if we fight it head-on, but there must be a way to kill that Drake. The others responded with looks of understandingwhile the God of Games did not mention the way explicitly, there was no question what they should be doing given present circumstances. Joe: Everyone else grab its attention, and Ill slip behind to bludgeon it! Edward: We could only try borrowing the wood elves greatest treasure. Jessica: The girl is the key. No doubt about it. Eleena: Sefarim. Joe: Joe: Everyone else grab its attention, and Ill borrow Sefarim the wood elves greatest treasure, and slip behind to bludgeon it! Everyone turned towards Joe who was completely confident in himself. No, its too late to correct yourself. While they never had any expectations in Joes brains, his reaction was still surprising. Nonetheless, Edward ignored his antics and turned towards Brom Daystar, the elves leader. No ones getting away if this continues, so I have a suggestion Have you never heard of running separately? The elf glared at Edward, clearly finding that their intentions to fight the Drake was an overestimation of their own powers as well as finding trouble and their own demise. Edward certainly knew that, just as he was positive that half of everyone here would survive if they did split and run. As a matter of fact, he intended to so even before accepting the quest. Be that as it may, he was31 not running away with his tail between his legs after getting a share of Gou Dans quest. Since he was a Player, he naturally had a Players pride, and he would definitely take the path that the God of Games had shown himmany Players had nicknamed Edward the Quest Demon, but that wasnt all there is to it. To him, completing a quest assigned by his god was not only his pride, but his expression of unconditional trust in the God of Games as a believer. From a certain perspective, Edward had ascended as a zealot at some unknown point in time, even becoming the most competent of believers. Theres no use running now. That Drake has gone into a frenzy, and although it is only pursuing us now, have you not thought about what would happen if it loses us? Edward said, resorting to listing the pros and cons of their plans. After all, he knew that most measures were never going to convince the elves to lend them their greatest treasure to accomplish their quest. Maybe hunt other creatures and slowly leave Trinia. Brom Daystar replied. That would be the best-case scenario, but have you not considered the worst? Edward said grimly. If we all vanished from its sight, it just might rush at your settlement and destroy the elven tribe of the Trinia Forest! In truth, Edward was being an alarmist with that scenarioTrinia was exceedingly vast and the elven settlement is known to be protected by bounded fields. Even the Corrupted Drake would have a hard time finding them, let alone destroy it. However, it still didnt That was why Edward was betting on whether Brom Daystar would risk the elves he was leading! No. Sefarim is still our kinds greatest treasure. We cant lend her to you! Brom shook his head after a moment of silence. Somehow, he didnt care much about Edward and the others forcefully putting him in a bondage, and then have his subordinates watch him in that state for what felt like most of the day. After all, most adult elves rushed headlong into things and were old, rigid antiques that only adopt changes after sufferingjust like how they only understood that their tribes stealth was ineffective against the Players after Edward and Joe wiped the floor with half of them. And its not like it mattered even if we agreed, Brom added then. Sefarim herself wouldnt agree May I interrupt? That was when the girlthe elves greatest treasure who was being carried by one of the elves on his back suddenly asked Edward. Is that person who could turn into a bear your friend? Oh, youre talking about GouI mean, Doug. Yes, he is our trusted teammate. Edward replied, stopping short of revealing Gou Dans true name. Did you need him for something? The girl nodded. Yes. He was reckless: not only did he fail to save me, he got trampled by a horde of weird beasts and was then chased raged by the Drake Then, just as Edward thought that the girl had a grudge to settle with Gou Dan, her tone shifted. However, it is my principle to acknowledge grace and repay kindness. Since that one really had intended to save me, I shall award your band the honor of using me! Chapter 195: Divine Spear Sefarim Despite what the girl said, Edward could tell that she was feeling a little awkward. And how are they supposed to use the wood elves greatest treasure, anyway? Pick her up and throw her at the Drake? Edward really could not imagine any other outcome aside from letting the Drake having a tasty meal. But its not like you could use her even if Sefarim had allowed your band to use heronly the most faithful of Lunas believers who had been blessed by her could! Brom Daystar interjected just then, although there was a slight sense of schadenfreude to his words. And its too late for you to become converts of the Silver Moon Goddess, just as I regret to tell you that no hero who could use the divine spear of the wood elves had appeared amongst our own tribe for the last hundred years! Broms words left Edward troubled. In this realm where the gods indeed existed, the toughest problems are undoubtedly problems of faith. Naturally, Edward and his party could not be ordained as temporary convert, because that would at once affect their identity as Players and the God of Games existing blessing they held. No matter what happens, they cannot switch sides so simply. And just as Edward hesitated, the Drake which had dropped out of sight for quite some time had suddenly appeared, grabbing the nearest elf with its jaw and lifting him into the air. Muscles were chewed and bones were crunched very loudly, and the elf was eaten even before he could scream! Theres no time to hesitate! But when Edward was about to take Sefarim into his arms, Jessica had suddenly stepped up and embrace the little girl instead. Allow me. She said tenderly but determinedly. It doesnt matter what happens to me as long as Eleenas hereour groups strength wont be affected. She then lowered her head and asked the little girl in her arms. May I? Im fine with anyone, but hurry up. The little girl kept a stony face that read Ill just pretend a dog bit me, her dirty little cheeks puffed in tsundere style. Hold on, Jessica. Catch! Edward threw the silver apple-like object he retrieved from the Secret Eyes leader to Jessica. Thats thats mine! Why do you have it?! Sefarim asked in surprise while gaping at the object. Well talk about that later. Is it useful now? Edward asked. A little Sefarim answered vaguely with a pout. Although Im not sure how much of my power you could unleash, because Luna is the one who decides who is worthy Then, holding the silver apple between her teeth, Sefarims whole body shone with gentle light. As the light extended, Sefarims human form which had been within Jessicas arms disappeared. In her place was a two-meter long spear that was sculpted with a rather curved piece of wood, upon which were a few curious protrusions where a few silver fruits that resembled the silver apple just now and golden tree leaves were growing out of. Its texture was surprisingly smooth, however, and felt like it was polished so much it would reflect a persons face. And it wasnt just one, but a total of seven. The edge of the spear was two parallel sharp tips of matchless radiance, having neither tree nor fruit but a tree limb. In fact, the wood elves divine spear was more a tuning fork than a spear. It was clearly morning, but almost everyone could see a ray of focused light descending from the skies and shone upon Jessica, who now wields SefarimDivine Spear of the Wood Elves! And yet, the profound sight clearly wasnt a special effect of holding the spear. It was acknowledgement from the Silver Moon Goddess. Hence, basking under that light, Jessica understood how she could use the divine spear. N-No way! Why would Goddess Luna acknowledge a non-believer, and allow her to use Sefarim?! A witness to it all, Brom Daystar was left in utter disbelief. This isnt logical! *** The reason was simple, however. In his divine kingdom, Xi Wei had found the name of Luna the Silver Moon Goddess rather familiar, and after checking a while realized that she was another member of the Invisible Pantheon. The Tsujigiris first victim had been one of Lunas believers, and she had entrusted Aslan the Great Lion himself to handle that demon. Hence, Xi Wei picked up the strand of mane he had and made the call. Xi Wei: Hiya, you there? Aslan: No, get lost! Despite that reaction, Aslan the Great Lion was a softie and a tsundere albeit with a harsh tongue. Moreover, he was very efficient in handling matters maybe because his Divine Order was the God of Justice, and he soon connected Xi Wei to Luna. Afterward, Xi Wei secured the right to use the wood elves divine spear for his believers by offering a tibial bone of Rotten Bones in exchange. And just like how Stoff, God of Craftsmanship and Fine Wine had taught him to use item strengthening, Xi Wei also had to use his own divine power to energize the spear since Luna was only granting Xi Weis believers usage authority. But that was enough. O human child, go forth and perform a miracle. Xi Wei whispered as he looked down upon the mortal realm. *** Jessica lifted the divine spear and aimed it true at the Drake that was charging fearsomely at them, doing as the lunar radiance instructed to energize Sefarim. The blossoming leaves and fruits immediately withered then, with every golden leaf and silver fruit vanishing. Countless golden symbols swirled over the body of the spear as its two tree limbs coiled around each other to form a spiraling tipanyone looking carefully would find that it was hollow, with its inside filled with silver fruits. Soon, Jessica felt something being drained out of her body from the hand she was holding the spear with. Jessica! Your level! Edward cried out in surprise beside her. Jessica looked up and only realized then that her Player Level was plummeting, that her EXP was used to activate the divine spear! Even so, she did not let go. She had always been the weak link of her party, With Eleena, a Saintess-in-training who was basically a powered-up cleric in every aspect, Jessicas necessary in their band had always been ambiguous and not even the readers would remember her name. So she would unleash her own radiance even if it would only happen once! Or she was never going to catch up to her childhood friends who by now had gone far ahead. But reality was always crueleven as Jessica paused and prepared to unleash Sefarim, she did not have the time to do so. The Drake was going to swallow her in a single stroke in less than ten seconds! No! Im not going to make it. She despaired, but it wasnt despair in the face of death since she was more or less used to dying as a Player. Instead, she was despairing in the face of her incompetence. Even after all this, was she still going to fail and everything would end just like that? Vine Cage! Warped Roots! Cane Creepers! Holy Light Barrier: Mirror Reflection! The elves who had been fleeing had somehow stopped, turn around and casted their spells at the Drake and doing all they could to stop its advance. Then, several warm hands touched Jessicas back, sharing the drain of EXP. She turned in surprise to find Edward, Joe, Eleena and even Gou Dan whom-they-had-not-seen-for-a-long-time helping her. They were not heroically taking the draining Sefarim from her and take her place in slaying the Drake, nor were they blaming her for her actions which was meaningless aside from self-gratification. They simply stayed silent, supporting her from behind and waiting for her to continue adventuring with them. Jessica almost couldnt stop her tears. Nonetheless, she forced herself to smile as she turned somberly towards the Drake and unleashed Sefarims splendor. Like a giant silver flower blossoming upon the world, the attack was quiet and without a presence, but was of unmatched elegance. The whole world seemed to have its light taken away just then, and even far away from the forests, people could see the flowers blossoming. When the flower finally wilted and the rest was silence, the Drake had completely vanished along with an enormous chunk of the ground, leaving behind a geyser and a crater To use Sefarim and unleash a blow of such might whono, what are you? Brom could not help mumbling even as he watched the sight before him. Jessica remained impassive, rubbing the corner of her eye as she beamed widely, showing her flowery dimples. Players. Were just a few Players passing through, she replied. Chapter 196: Holy Lancer [Ding!] [Player Jessica Weiss has completed a grand challenge and obtained Proof of Hero] [Proof of Hero: Evidence of a successful grand challenge. Your accomplishment would be well remembered, and your courage existing eternally with the world. (Can only be used above Level 60)] [Player Jessica Weiss has obtained Sefarim (Exclusive item/Soulbound) and unlocked new Cleric class-change Holy Lancer] [Class introduction] [Holy Lancer: The Holy Lancer wields their divine lance from their mount to protect the weak and innocent in the name of duty. They are the ideal form of paladins, training tirelessly in combat and the sacred arts, dashing through sand and cutting through the enemies ranks. Players no longer change weapons after changing class to Holy Lancers, and must pour all their experience and skill within their holy lances to hence elevate the grate and ability of the lance itself, and bound it to the Lancer with utmost intimacy. The day the holy lance sharpens is the day the name of the Holy Lancer resounds across the world.] [Click here for video] [Class-change requirements: Player Level 15, clearing class-change quests, a Level 15 Purple-Rare item (Golden-Legendary works as well) to be delivered to the dwarven craftsman to forge the mold of the holy lance.] Xi Wei wasnt idling even though he had said nothing in his divine kingdom while Jessica and the others slew the Drake with the greatest treasure of the elves. Instead, he was using his divine power to sense the principles in which Sefarim worked. Since there is a clear divide between the gods and their various divine orders and aside from the widespread overlapping of authority, the gods wouldnt easily be able to replicate what other gods had created. And that was precisely why the gods of this world clearly had no awareness or countermeasures against theft. Moreover, although Xi Wei couldnt understand most principles of how Sefarim worked even after he carefully felt it as if he was licking it, he still gained much from that. Additionally, the introduction of Life Skills and its skill proficiency setting had allowed Xi Wei to profit with huge amounts of divine energy. Hence, in the spirit of money not spent is paper, he simply used that divine energy, and imitated the principles of Sefarim to a certain extent in molding a new class. Though the Holy Lancer appeared high and mighty, it was just like other classes with three branches in its skill tree. The first branch was the [Sacred Lance]. The Player wouldnt be able to equip other weapons after changing class to Holy Lancer, and their only weapon is the one forged from the holy lance mold that the dwarven craftsman made during their class-change. The holy lance mold would draw the Players EXP and level up in tandem with the Player, and the Sacred Lance class would allow the holy lance mold to further gain special abilities, although those abilities would never stop consuming the Players mana and would burn EXP once their MP bar was empty. Therefore, the Holy Lance would have seal certain skills correspondingly when the Players learning new ones, and most skills for this skill branch would have O Sacred Lance, unlock the seals in my name, XXX! that sort of feeling. Sealing once doesnt mean only one could be unlocked either, and several seals could be unlocked in an instant if the blue bar was sufficient, the overlapping effects of which unleashed fearsome might. Then, there was the Cuirassier[1] skill branch. As Holy Lancers couldnt switch weapons, they would have one item slot less than other Players. That being said, they had another advantage in their mountwhile other Players could ride various creatures as well, only Holy Lancers would receive stat buffs from their mounts. In turn, most skills on the Cuirassier skill branch was casted in tandem with their mounts, combining in attacks, pressing advantages and keeping guard. Like how calvaries crushed infantries, the combined powers of the mount and the Holy Lancer would achieve a 1+1>2 effect in most scenarios! Still, if one were to put their finger on the hassle of this skill branch would have, it would be the effort, spirit and even wealth required to groom their mount. That being said, unlike the Holy Lance branch which only consumes EXP partially from each monster killed, mounts are considered summoned creatures and wouldnt drain the Players EXP. Moreover, leveling mounts only required the purchase of some unique snacks from the System shop, aside from using Player EXP or Illum crystals to make energy cubes to feed them with. The last skill branch was Guardian, which as its name suggests was a tanking route that prioritizes defense. Xi Wei had noticed from previous events that the Players lack a defensive class. The Warriors should have that covered, but neither of their current available class change that was Spirit Swordsman and Swordmaster had huge amounts of HP. Therefore, the responsibility of tank was awkwardly assumed by Warriors who had yet to take class-change, which negatively affects the Players party organization. As such, there clearly wasnt any class better than Holy Lancers to take up tanking, what with them being the only armored class there is for now who could share HP with their mounts. Furthermore, the skill tree also had skills for healing and purification, which was a strengthened version of Cleric favoring defensive aspects of the game. Hence, a jack-of-all-trades class was born: they are able to heal and hold themselves in a fight, or flee on the Red Hare[2] they summoned if things looked dangerous! Nevertheless, two shortcomings of the Holy Lancer class would probably be how they were restrained in narrow spaces, be it their mounts or their holy lance that is over two meters long. And then there was their extremely fast standard speed, and that they would easily become separated from the rest of their party Still, with the class made and announced, Xi Wei paid attention to the other Players reaction towards the new class. Yeah! Clerics are finally getting new class-change! Another class-change after so long? Ive already gotten used to the scent of seafood (Before Holy Lancers, the only class-change available to Clerics were Aquatic Angels). It takes one rare item for that class-change? So materialistic, poor people are never going to afford this Looking for level fifteen rare-purple items! Exchangeable with the limited dolphin head item! Only one helm available, hurry up if you want it! Not really. But no one would want that anyway after the flawless dolphin heads started dropping at Fishmen Island? You know jack. Dolphin head of other colors have no soul! Aside from those normal discussions, the other Players rearing beasts just outside the Unnamed Town were cheering as well. Awesome, the pony Ive been raising is useful now! Wonderful, the alpaca Ive been raising is useful now! Amazing, the condor Ive been raising is useful now! Wait a minute, what did you say your pet was again??? [1] literally iron horserider [2] The Red Hare () was a famous horse owned by the warlord L Bu, who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Chapter 197: Moon Keeper Phew Im so tired Even as the Players were caught in the impact of a new class, the divine spear Sefarim which Jessica was still holding reverted to human form. And she was shrieking horribly the moment her feet touched the ground. Whwhat is this?! The wood elves had thought that she was wounded and quickly came to take a look, only to find that there was now a leather collar around the young girls neck, with a vaguely visible crystal chain dangling in front of it. Meanwhile, Sefarim was still tugging at the chain in astonishment. When the heck Come to think of it, the power that came into my body just now was weird! That definitely wasnt Lunas power! Edward frowned at the chain and then turned to Jessica, who didnt seem to realize that another transparent chain was vaguely wrapped around her right wrist. Then, he looked like he gained epiphany. I see So that was the Soulbound mentioned in the System? On that note, after the Greatest Treasure of the Elves III was completed, there indeed was something called the Soulbind Scroll whatnot listed in the quest rewards What have you people done to Sefarim!? Brom Daystar had drawn his short sword and was aiming at Edwards group. After sharing his discovery, Edward then felt a pain about how he should handle things with the elves. He had assumed that Sefarim was a one-time use quest time, and certainly didnt expect that Jessica would immediately be Soulbound to her. This was going to be a problem. There was no way they would let Jessica be interned with the wood elves in Trinia, just as the wood elves would not so simply allow them to abduct their greatest treasure. Joe glanced at the frowning Edward who was unsure what to say right then, and then at the everyone elses grim faces. And for some reason, he immediately assumed that he, having the biggest chest, should be the one who to come forward and resolve this dire stalemate. Tsk tsk! Your greatest treasure now has our gods form! Tsk the hell! Are you trying to pit us against the elves?! Edwards face promptly darkened. At the same time, the situation spiraled downwards no thanks to Joes blunder. The hostility of the elves was now hitting them face-on, and a fight was going to break out in the next split second. Hold on, just wait a minute Sefarim recovered just then and attempted to stop the fighting. Nevertheless, the look on Brom Daystars face made it clear that the elves are not planning to let their greatest treasure being taken away by humans. And after having become Players for so long, Edward and the others were never going to just do nothing and let themselves be killed. Moreover, those elves might be Drake food if they hadnt helped just now! But in the middle of their standoff, a faint blue light suddenly appeared between the Players and the wood elves, from which a figure emerged. It was another wood elf, but one who appeared more graceful and elegant than the others, and also had a mark like Justice Bao[1] scratch that, a crescent-moon mark over his forehead. Your holiness! Brom Daystar was delighted to see the new arrival. Youve come with great timingthose accursed humans abducted Sefarim So, an elven backup. Edward quickly looked above the new elfs head. [Moon Keeper, Level 59] Tsk. Theres no winning against this one! Can you use that skill just now again? Edward quickly whispered to Jessica. That exceedingly elegant blast actually wasnt an explosion, nor was there black and white flashes or impressive animations. Space itself had simply been cut out and was consumed by the void along with the Drake, and it clearly wasnt a simple attack but one which was close to spatial destruction or Rule-levels of damage. Such level of devastation could crush a Level 85 Drake, let alone a level 59 Moon Keeer. However. No, I cant use it again Jessica replied bitterly. She was Level 42, but her level had plummeted to Level 18 after she used Sefarimand that was with her party members sharing the EXP drain: Edward and the others had dropped two or three levels as well. It was fortunate that the EXP from defeating the Drake and the totaling up of EXP had leveled her up to 28, whereas the others also leveled up once. Even so, they were far from their original state even though they did make up for some losses. Still, because she was now Soulbound to Sefarim, Jessica knew very well that her amount of EXP now was not enough for a second strike. After all, the higher the Players level was, the more EXP they would need to level upand leveling from 1 to 30 takes less than leveling from 30 to 40. Moreover, the Soulbound had reduced the EXP cost which she could share with the others, and she definitely couldnt keep relying on their EXP to fight. It was so not worth it that they might as well die here, where they would at most lose 30% of EXP of their current level Have no fear, humanwere not here to kill you. The Moon Keeper said peacefully just then instead of attacking Edward and the others. Her Majesty the Elven Queen has just received an oracle from the Goddess Luna a moment ago. She sends her wishes to have your band visit our city of Trinia as guests. What?! Brom Daystar stared at the Moon Keeper in shock. Allowing these filthy humans to trample over Trinia? Its been a thousand years since the last foreigner came to our sacred grounds! That is the queens decision, Son of Daystar. You have no right to question it. The Moon Keeper said evenly as if it was fact, but did not pull rank just because a dozen levels above Brom. It may be connected to Lunas oracle, and that is clearly beyond your authority. Now, please make wayI shall escort them to Trinia. Brom Daystar was gritting his teeth in reluctance. Still, he arched his back and put his left palm over his right shoulderan elven gesture for welcoming guestsultimately obeying the Elven Queens decree and made way for Edwards party. More surprised than anything, Edward and the others moved along the path the elves made. Then, as the Moon Keeper reached Broms side, he said, Times change, Son of Daystar. You must adapt yourself to the moving tides of this world and give up on rotten, antiquated prejudices. Only then could we wood elves venture further in this new era. [1] Justice Bao () is the honorific title of Bao Zheng (, 5 March 999 C 3 July 1062), a Chinese politician in the Song Dynasty and symbol of justice famed for aiding peasants and overcoming corruption. Je is often portrayed wearing a judge miter hat and a crescent moon on his forehead Chapter 198: Invisible Pantheon (part One) Xi Wei was a shut-in even if he really didnt want to admit itthe evidence was that he had only left his divine kingdom three times in a novel thats almost two hundred chapters long. In fact, he was staying in his own domain even during the first time he slew another god, biding his time and waiting for his target to come to him and get killed. After judging his behavior, Xi Wei eventually yielded and admitted that he was a shut-in even after he had transmigrated to another world and became a god. But there is a reason I shut myself in my home. This is how Im connected to my believers in spirit, to accept their devout prayers in every moment, help them when theyre in need and pave the way ahead for them! And as long as Im here in this divine kingdom, my believers would never stop. The Church of Games would never stop, and the path towards greater gods would keep extending! So, you must understand, Im staying inside my divine kingdom for my adorable believers! Xi Wei declared generously. Its not because I can be a shut-in therefore I am, but because I have to be a shut-in! Thats the tragedy of being the God of Games, Aslan! Meanwhile, the Great Lion was wiping away the spit over his face and keeping impassive. I mostly get what youre saying, but thats not a reason to refuse joining an exchange amongst the Invisible Pantheon. *** Aslan had come looking for Xi Wei not too long after he put the finishing touches to the new Holy Lancer class, asking him to be a part of the Invisible Pantheons meeting. But Xi Wei, who had not met other gods (the contact with Luna was like a phone-call) aside from Aslan and was having a solo player complex naturally reacted with disgust and did not hesitate to refuse. Still, the Great Lion Wasnt giving up. Tsk. Xi Wei started rolling around in his divine kingdom, quietly using a physical protest against the exchange. That being said, it was not as if he had social anxietyhe simply found it too much of a hassle. Compared to the gods idle chatting and bootlicking, he would rather stay in his divine kingdom and entertain himself with the silly antics of the Players. The life of the God of Games was truly so monotonous and boring. Even if Im not concerned about formalities between us gods, arent you being impolite here? Aslan said in annoyance. You told me that the group is relaxed back when lured me to join the Invisible Pantheon, and had no compulsory activities! Xi Wei did not hesitate to retort. Thats what Im saying: this isnt compulsory, but surely you have to meet your allies as a new member god, right? Aslan sighed helplessly. You should know after so many things had happened: one lone deity cannot solve the problem of their own church, but anything would be simpler if other gods that had the needed authority came to help. Thats the reason this alliance was formed in the first place. Xi Wei had nothing to offer against that. It was true that he needed help from Stoff, God of Craftsmanship and Fine Wine during the Fishmen Island event, and he had also asked for a little aid from Luna, the Silver Moon Goddess just now. And the reason he could ask them for help was mostly because they were allies of the Invisible Pantheon. Fine Since you put it that way. Xi Wei said unhappily, scratching his ball (himself). Ill join. The Great Lion nodded in satisfaction. *** The meeting between the gods naturally wouldnt be held in the divine kingdom of any member of the Invisible Pantheon alliance. Having reached the void coordinates the Great Lion had given him, Xi Wei realized that the venue was an abandoned divine kingdom! You dont need to be concerned. There are only too many gods that have fallen in this world, so theres no lack of abandoned divine kingdoms like this one. Aslan explained, able to see Xi Weis shock. Even if the owner deity would die, their power and influence over the world would only vanish after a long time, and thats naturally the same for their divine kingdom which existence depends on belief and its owner deitys presence. That said, it would be around a hundred years for such a vast divine kingdom to vanish completely. At those words, Xi Wei remembered the divine kingdom of Rotten Bones which he had used as a dungeon. It was true that it did not collapse even though Rotten Bones for some time, although Xi Wei had initially assumed that it was because he was awesome enough to maintain two divine kingdoms at once. Aslans explanation only made him aware that he was not as awesome as he thought, but because all gods are awesome anyway And they werent the first to arrive eitheranother deity was already within the divine kingdom. It was a god that resembled a dwarf, having the humanoid races signature beard, plump shortness and strong, tight, muscles, as well as a sharp gaze that rather differs from his simple and honest appearance. Even if they had never met before, Xi Wei could guess that he was Stoff, the God of Craftmanship and Fine Wine who had helped him before! But just as Xi Wei was about to thank Stoff, the dwarven deity appeared puzzled when he saw Xi Wei and spoke before he could. Aslan didnt you say you were bringing our new ally? Why did you bring a ball or is that an egg? Your grandpas a ball! Xi Wei spat without hesitation. The egg can curse too! Stoff was taken aback. Your grandpas an egg! Xi Wei cursed again. Enough. Stoff, this is Xi Wei, God of Games and the newest member of the Invisible Pantheon. Aslan quickly interrupted the exchange and explained, afraid that the two deities would get so annoyed the more they talk and start fighting. Stoff stayed silent for a moment, but ultimately managing to smile with his weathered face. Anyway, welcome! Xi Wei thought about it for a moment and extended a tentacle. Stoffs face clearly stiffened then, and he turned to Aslan, who was giving him a what-are-you-looking-at-hurry-up-and-shake-hands sign. Then, even as Stoffs eyes kept twitching as he shook Xi Weis slippery and icy tentacle, other gods had arrived at the dilapidated divine kingdom. Chapter 199: Invisible Pantheon (part Two) From certain perspective, the Invisible Pantheon could be considered a dated alliance of the gods, but aside from Aslan the Great Lion, the founding members had all retired in the War of Gods and Demons. While Xi Wei had learnt from Aslans conversations that the Invisible Pantheon had seven members at the moment, aside from himself, the Great Lion, Stoff the God of Craftmanship and Fine Wine and Luna the Silver Moon Goddess, he didnt know which of the other three gods. And now, another goddess had arrived. She was dressed entirely in white, wearing a laurel wreath tiara and held a silver scepter, the tip of which had a whirling ball of light that was no different from Xi Wei. She passed through the barrier of the abandoned divine kingdom, landing elegantly and primly while smiling at the sight before her. Then, she asked. Why is there a squid here? Xi Wei: Im just a ball with a few tentacles! Does squid look like this where you came from?! Meanwhile, Stoff solemnly withdrew the hand he was shaking Xi Weis tentacle with, turned a side and burst into laughter while holding his stomach, sprawling on the floor and punching it. He looked just like two hundred-pound dwarf who had some fake wine. Xi Wei: Are you people really gods? Wont the faith of your believers collapse immediately at this sight? Enough. Xi Weis appearance is of his own choosingdo not shame him because of his aesthetic values. Aslan mediated with a serious look, but Xi Wei had a feeling that he was shaming his aesthetic values with a serious look. Where is Scarlet, Luna? Aslan asked the goddess who just arrived, unconcerned about Xi Weis aesthetic values. She said that the moon is not looking beautiful tonight, and would not be joining us. The Silver Moon Goddess smiled. I see. Well, theres no helping it then. Aslan nodded as if it made sense. Hold on, hold on. I say, isnt that excuse too lame? Xi Wei could not help retorting. I clearly refused so passionately but you insisted on having me come. And now that one called Scarlet is clearly giving you the cold-shoulder, and youre letting this go? As a deity, I have my own measure about what I ought and ought not do, Aslan told the ball of light that was throwing a fit with solemnly. This is my principle as a god! You might sound meaningful, but the relationship youre showing here is terrible! And what is this supposed to be? Freshman bullying?! That was when another god came through the world barrier, and did a double-take when he noticed Xi Wei whirling around on the ground. Why is there a spinning top here? Xi Wei: *** In the end, only five out of the seven gods of the alliance arrived. The last to arrive at the exchange was Gurus, God of the Hunt. Aside from Scarletwhose divine order was unknown, Aslan had explained that the other absent god was Flintman the Flamestealer. Since he was on the run from the God of Flames murderous pursuit, he probably didnt have the time to join the exchange. At first, Xi Wei had assumed the exchange between gods to be a little profound. He didnt expect to find them chatting away about their respective churches like some ordinary citizens upon meeting each other, most of their topics having to do with That believer of yours is not bad, Your believer is raw in skill but the talent is there, Let me have a look at that Chosen One you recently got. If he didnt know better, someone would probably think that they were in the middle of a major offline meetup. Eventually, Xi Wei couldnt stop himself from speaking out. I say, cant you guys have a little more theatricality for a change? Theatricality? The pure Silver Moon Goddess asked in curiosity. Style! Get it? Xi Wei leaped off his seat and connected his divine power to the abandoned divine kingdom. Big lion, give me the control of this divine kingdom for a bit. Aslan did so without refuse, interestedly observing what Xi Wei was about to do. The first thing he did was turn off the lights. Having lights or not did not have much difference to the gods, but for some reason, the divine kingdom of most gods was eternally bright aside from Evil Gods and certain deities who had an affinity for darkness. Xi Wei was no different, but that was the divine kingdom he lived in and a matter of convenienceand this was a gathering of gods at the moment! As masterminds controlling the world itself, how could the gods meet under sunlight?! Then, he conjured a long rectangular table and seated everyone according to their ranking, with the Great Lion naturally taking the leaders seat. Turn off your own light and sound effects too! Xi Wei demanded. The other gods were puzzled, but the Invisible Pantheon members present today were in a good mood and followed he instructions to turn off the divine light behind their heads and pocketed their radiant treasures, even dulling their luminous selves. When that was all done, they realized that numbers and unusual symbols were now shining in front of them. Alright, now let us discuss the future of this world. Xi Wei said in a deliberately deep voice while floating to his seat, having concealed his own light as well. But the future of the world has nothing to do with us, Gurus said. The path this world goes could not be controlled by our powers alone. Though the other gods found the new style fresh and that it felt better hiding in the dark and having only numbers or weird symbols representing themselves, all of them agreed with Gurus. After all, there were no greater gods in the Invisible Pantheon alliance and they could hardly stand against the more powerful deities, let alone change the direction the world is going. Thats the past. Although Xi Wei had put on this show partially out of personal eccentricity, he also intended to ascend his stature and authority. After all, his first impression was perplexing, and when his appearance is out in the open, a smooth ball was not going to be too persuasive. And hiding in the darkness like he did now make his words much more powerful, adding an indescribable convincing sensation to it even though the other gods would have no idea what he was talking aboutsuch was putting on a show at work! I believe everyone must have sensed that this world is changing, that there are gods who were no longer content like before The times have changed! This is a crisis as undoubtedly as it is an opportunity, and there is only one thing that we, the Invisible Pantheon should doseize this moment to stand above the vent of changing eras! Xi Wei spoke solemnly. When the winds are strong enough, even pigs could fly if they could stand above a vent! Chapter 200: Xi Weis Talk-No-Jutsu The other gods of the Invisible Pantheon were thoughtfully silent. As a matter of fact, even if the mortal humans and other intelligent races did not feel it, the gods who looked down upon the world like overlords had sharply noticed that things were changing recently. The centuries of harmony between nations were stirring as they came in conflict in the name of profit, with the fall of Tierra being a starting point. The once anonymous Demonic Roes were also showing up on the ground in droves, seducing mortals without strong minds and corrupting them into demons, going on rampages fueled by their very desires. It appeared to be a hint that those fiends of hell would return, that the future would not be kind to humans. Even the various churches that had once been allied had also became hostile each other due to a difference in patron deities. It was not just humans eitherthere were no lack of lesser gods who, though born recently, had obtained strong enough divinity to risk attacking other gods. Everything appeared treading towards the great destruction of a thousand year ago, the War of Gods and Demons that almost wiped out all human civilization in the last era! That was also why Aslan had been persistent in gathering the Invisible Pantheoneach of the past three divine wars was a calamity for all living beings, and even the gods themselves. Likewise, it was a rare opportunity. But only words would not work. What are you saying we should do? Gurus, God of the Hunt asked. Having been waiting for that, Xi Wei promptly adopted a wise, composed tone to reveal his script and schemes. It was a tone only, however, since he had no face and he could not make expressions with the light effects on his ball turned off There is much to be set aside beforehand since its still early and not the time for itbut stopping the changing of eras is impossible, and it is precisely because we are gods that we must realize our limits. Moreover, our ability as an alliance wouldnt exactly stand out amongst the divine community. Therefore, I suggest that we take the partnership of the Invisible Pantheon to the next level. Well be helping each other to survive even as we engage in mutually beneficial partnerships so that our believers would repent from the mundane and seek the strongest faith, that the first zealots would draw more zealotry so that everyone becomes a zealot! Moreover, since things had yet to turn for a worse at the moment, we should hold back and refrain on deliberate elevations. That way, we would both keep a low profile without drawing the attention of other gods until we have enough power to withstand any invasion upon us. Despite sounding reasonable, each word of Xi Weis speech was as empty as the next. But to put it in simpler, more understandable words, the general gist would be: look, the lion is not going to be carry us anymore. Its time to get to work! Be that as it may, the gods of this world were none of those angelic investors back on Earth who had never experienced the horrors of PowerPoint presentations, the gods were naturally convinced with relative ease. Hence, aside from the Great Lion who had the nagging feeling that something was definitely wrong despite how stately Xi Weis speech was, the other gods completely did not catch on to Xi Weis ulterior motives having not met him much. Nonetheless, his conviction made him sound quite reasonable, and they all nodded in agreement. Then what should we be doing, specifically? Gurus asked. How you each operate should depend on your own circumstances and by uncovering a path fitting for your divine principles. Someone uninvolved like myself certainly shouldnt recklessly interfere with your personal affairs, but since everyone might have no idea what they should be doing, Ill give a brief summary of my own plan. Xi Wei whipped out something from his ball then and lit a spotlight directly upon it to have the other gods present focus their attention on it. He cleared his throat before continuing. I call this a Wonder Rock. This is how I could rapidly transport my believers across two different places rapidly, and it holds strong strategic value even if it does consume some of my divine power. Place one near your churches, and your believers could arrive in the blink of an eye if the need should arise in the future to aid your believers! All of the gods promptly erupted in murmurs of wonder, now having a higher esteem of a third-rate god like Xi Wei despite their earlier nonchalance: Authority concerning spatiality was rare. But unlike the other bamboozled deities, Aslan was quietly giving Xi Wei a look. Did you think Im blind?! Isnt that the rock you put up in those bases of yours! Indeed, the so-called Wonder Rock which Xi Wei had put on the table is actually a Lifestone at a 1:10 scale. Where could we get such an amazing object? Gurus asked. Xi Wei almost couldnt stop himself from applauding the God of the Hunt. The silly deitys questions were so dumb that inviting him to the gathering served no purpose Good question! That said, Ill handle everything from materials to construction since its a path I chose. That is why Ive decided to have my believers diligently come forward to the church of everyone here and build ties with your believers, and once partnerships are agreed, they will build this Wonder Rock which symbolizes the friendship of our churches! Xi Wei spoke most fluidly. I shall call this the Belt and Road Initiative! Gurus nodded and smile then, seemingly satisfied with Xi Weis words. The other gods agreed with Xi Weis suggestion as well, with no deity protesting against Xi Wei putting a portal outside their own base. Be that as it may, they were no foolsall of them were perfectly aware that Xi Wei was very weak compared to every other god present. Even Luna, the Silver Moon Goddess who was the next weakest could easily blow him up. And without their gods protection, a few rioting mortals was not a problem for them at all! Nonetheless, Xi Wei appeared pleased with the other gods reaction. He understood very well why the gods would so easily agree to his request of placing a Lifestone at their base, even impatiently so without fear of him turning the tables on them. But that was what Xi Wei wanted! Not even Aslan who knew Xi Wei best that the God of Games had become ten times greater in power in the three months after transmigrating! And that was actually after Xi Wei had put most of the divine power that he had to perfecting the System, creating classes and distributing Players so that they would grow alongside him! Though it was true that Xi Wei remained quite weak, not even the greatest of gods could size up to the rate of his growth! And now Xi Wei had caught on to his finest opportunity. Moreover, he was not so weak that the other gods were not listening to him, just as he was not so strong that they were wary. That was also the only circumstance that the gods of the Invisible Pantheon would agree to let him place Lifestones near their churches. While they might not be concerned with having Xi Weis believers as reinforcements, only Xi Wei himself understood what having a world map expansion and the large addition of portals would mean to the Players! After all, there was no fooling around when the name of the Fourth Calamity was being thrown around Incidentally, several of your believers are within my domain. Luna the Silver Goddess smiled. I shall deliver an oracle to have my children work with your believers, and well think of it as breaking the ice for our partnership. Many thanks, Lady Luna. Xi Wei certainly would respond to the offered olive branch in good will. *** Are we supposed to crawl inside that? Edward asked Brom Daystar who stood beside him darkly while staring at the small, pitch-black hole in the tree. He had the feeling that the wood elves were toying with him. Being in a mad mood in the first place, Brom simply kicked Edward down the hole, his screams while falling became fainter with Dopplers effect. Still, Brom had used just enough strength for the other Players to see a -1 over Edwards head, and the elf then turned to the other Players. No kicking. Ill go myself. Mustering his courage, Joe crawled into the tree hole. And with two examples before him, Jessica, Gou Dan and Eleena followed suit. Gou Dan felt weightless just then and could hear the cry of an eagle echoing just beside his ear when he landed with the others on a haystack. That was awesome! Joe exclaimed cheerfully as he poked his head out of the dry grass. Can I go again? Please watch yourself. You are guests of the Elven Queen. The Moon Keeper told them impassively. Hold on, wheres Edward? Jessica helped up the dazed Sefarim, but couldnt find their party leader after looking around. His HP is normal in the party display, and there are no weird debuffs Gou Dan quickly answered. Everyone immediately turned to stare at Brom Daystar since he was the one who kicked Edward down the hole, but Brom seemed not to notice their stareshe was looking upward, as if thinking about life. The atmosphere became even more somber. And in half a beat, Edward dropped from the skies into the haystack. Irritated, he leapt out of the haystack and drew his two short swordsthey were actually called Ritual Daggers, mage-exclusive items which Xi Wei provide in case of people intent on engaging a mage in close-quarters. I have been falling for ten minutes[1]! Edward roared at Brom. Freak accidents occasionally happen to one in five men. Its normal Brom shrugged innocently. Why only men? Joe noticed the blindspot immediately. Instead of that The Moon Keeper interrupted their meaningless squabble, leaving the place that resembled a small cavern and turned, spreading his hands as he declared proudly to the Players. Welcome to Trinia, the capital of the wood elves! Behind him was a massive city more profound and majestic than any kingdom, a radiance of pure whiteness and emerald green. Fairy dragons were dancing in the sky, fairies were vaguely appearing all around while unicorns peacefully walked the streets. It was all elegance, beauty and an almost unrealistic fantasy. And in the heart of the city was a snow-white castle that stood in imitation of a flower, having the unique aesthetic sense of the elves. That was their destination, a temporary royal residence of the Elven Queenthe Castle of Lilies. [1] pretty sure I dont need to explain where this reference is from xD Chapter 201: The Elven Queen As the first humans who set foot on Trinia, the capital city of the wood elves, Edwards party could feel stares coming from every direction the moment they entered the city. Though they were not used to the elves pointing and gesturing, Edward and the rest did not have any other choice since they were now in someone elses territory. They were Players and certainly shouldnt be in a frenzy over such trifles, and so simply followed the Moon Keeper to the Castle of Lilies that stood at the heart of Trinia. Unlike the tightly defended castles of the humans, there were just a handful of elves watching the stronghold. Are the wood elves that fine in character that theres no need to protect their queens castle? Joe asked Brom puzzledly. But of course. We live long lives, why would we perpetrate the same incomprehensible silliness you humans go about? Brom declared proudly. Gou Dan knew the contradictions of Broms words, and so whispered to the fascinated Joe. Dont be fooled by that fellow. Castle of Lilies is alive, and thats the reason theres no guards! It would just spring into life and slap any invaders to death! Howd you know? Is that a special power Junglewalker has? Joe asked interestedly. Cant you see those big words hanging above the castle itself? Gou Dan replied in disappointment. Joe looked up and saw that there was indeed a line of green text above the Castle of Lilies. Isnt that just the name of the building? It doesnt have a HP bar either Gou Dan pursed his lips. You fool. Have you seen the name of buildings back in the Unnamed Town? In the Lancaster Hideout? Why then would this building have a name? The reason it has no HP bar is because those are monsters, that we can kill and get item drops! Is there any Player who couldnt help poking at such an enormous monster? That made sense. Joe promptly nodded, having understood it when Gou Dan made his point. Despite the lack of an HP bar, Joe found himself unable to resist letting loose his Divine Earthsplit Blade after realizing that the castle was alive. Still, despite the general craziness of the Players, they could still weigh situations. As such, Joe did not really try to hit the castle after entering to see if a HP Bar would pop up On the other hand, although Brom naturally didnt know what the Players were thinking, he only felt disdain when he saw how Joe and Gou Dan kept glancing around like a pair of boys from the countryside while whispering persistent to each other after entering the castle. He naturally wasnt aware that they werent being stunned by the majestic beauty of the Castle Lilies, but were instead discussing something a little untoward for the wood elves. Were inside our enemys body from a certain point of view. If thats the case, we should be able to pierce its defenses even if its a drake. My Familiar Spirit cant break walls inside the castle. But since there are no anti-spectral bounded fields here, this thing had lived long enough! Weakness Sense successful. It seems that the torch-like crystal over there is its weakness and could deal tons of damage. I could aim my Familiar Spirit too. Although its name is green, its not really friendly Another crystal there? I see it must be something like a brain. And according to how the crystals are arranged, there should be another four to five such crystals! Got it, strategy confirmed! We just have to follow that path and be careful not to fall into any living traps while destroying every crystal along the way! Hence, even before they even reached the Elven Queens reception chamber, the pair had already got the information they need in a few exchanges, even setting up a strategy and route against the unnamed monster. Neither the Moon Keeper nor Brom Daystar sensed the evil scheme of the pair that could crumble the Castle of Lilies itselfas unlikely as the plan would actually be carried outand continued towards the reception chamber with Edward and the others in tow. It was the largest room in the Castle of Lilies, a venue resembling a kings court where the elves convened daily. When they entered the chamber, the Elven Queen was already seated on a throne further inside the chamber, smiling in greeting. We have kept you waiting, Your Majesty. Here are our guests from the outside realm. The Moon Keeper spoke with a slight bow, with Brom doing the same beside him. Edward glanced at his party andstartled by Joe who looked ready to walk up and start talkingquickly stepped forward and bowed in common human nobility standard. He learned that from Princess Leah and hoped to fool actual human nobles with it, and naturally didnt expect that the first time he used it is this place. Might I ask your group are the believers of the God of Games, correct? The Elven Queen looked no different from the other wood elves, and would pass off as a human lady in her twenties. She would be extraordinarily beautiful in human standards as well, albeit not standing out from the other elven woman Edward they met on their way here. As a matter of fact, it was no different to how some often thought that people of color looked more or less the samehumans might therefore be blindsided when it came to looking at elves. Given that the wood elves had exquisite and elegant facial features, they would share many similarities. Moreover, wood elves would identify each other with their respective natural mana signature and certain tiny differences in facial features, and that method is too demanding for humans. We are. Apologies for intruding upon the territory of the wood elves. Edward replied sonorously without coming across as pompous or too humble. The Elven Queen nodded, and turned to Jessica who looked rather uncomfortable. And are you the brave warrior who has bound Sefarim? W-Well Suddenly being called, Jessica was startled just like a student who had her named out by the teacher in class. Unsure how to respond, she eventually decided to guilelessly apologize in the end for stealing the elves greatest treasure. I-Im sorry! Hey, Nina. You spooked my little contractor. On the other hand, Sefarim appeared quite happy for some reasonafter having submitted to reality. I have been notified about what happened. Since it was Sefarims own decision, you are not at fault. She then said mildly. Forgive my insolence, Your Majesty, but Sefarim is the greatest treasure the Silver Moon Goddess bestowed upon our race. Brom could not help interrupting. Its not a deed easily forgiven if we let the humans have her so easily! Please bind that human girl by contract so that she cant leave Trinia for life! Brom can be a little radical, but hes not being unreasonable The Elven Queen suddenly changed her stance. Edward and the others promptly became alert, whereas Gou Dan and Joe were actually leering sinisterly at the crystal behind the Elven Queen. Be at ease, however, I certainly wouldnt keep her grounded in Trinia. The Elven Queen added then. Human lives pass in the blink of an eye for us elves, and so I only hope that you would promise me something When you are a hundred years old, please return Sefarim to Trinia. Chapter 202: The Dawn of A New Era The Players showed weirded-out looks when they heard what the Elven Queen said. Initially, Edward and the others did not know if their lifespan had changed after becoming Playersbut some of the more prudent Players had scrounged out an agreement from some corner of the System that came into effect the moment they became Players. The agreement stated that the Players would still age and become old despite becoming Players, that their lifespans restrain them as it would. However, since most of them could stay immune from most sickness that oxidizes, weakens and withers their body, most Players were already going to live beyond fifty in the absence of special circumstancestwo hundred, if Xi Wei didnt keep them on a leash! Moreover, Xi Wei had created a series of Exploit quests for the Players. And if they could accomplish those, what harm was there letting live more than a hundred years? On the other hand, despite the elves alleged longevity and how they could live more than three thousand years old, the oldest elf alive right now was just around a thousand years aside from several ancientssince the War of Gods and Demons was waged a thousand years ago! The wood elves who survived it were all ancients now, with a few youths who were born as this current age began. Therefore, as long as Jessica live up to two hundred years (which was not short for the elves) unlike what the wood elves was assumed to be around fifty years, Sefarim would remain in her possession. Ahem. Well certainly agree since Your Majesty has asked. Edward responded solemnly to the Elven Queen while gesturing for his friends not to let the cat out of the bag. Even beside them, Brom had the nagging feeling that these unusual humans had weird looks on their faces. It was just that his usual disdain for their kind kept him from dwelling further on it, and he simply felt that they were unpleasant to look at. With that settled, lets move on. The Elven Queen turned away from Sefarim and Jessica, leveling her eyes on Edward, the leader. I have just received an oracle form the Silver Moon Goddess Mistress Luna seemed to have decided to side herself with your god. From this day forth, the wood elves, devotees of the Silver Moon are now your allies. Eh? Oh Edward did a double-take before nodding dumbly. He did not find the idea of becoming allies realistic. After all, the System had indicated that the Temple of Justice were their allies. Many Players were very excited then, on the look of those so-called allies and enforce justice in the name of the heavens. Be that as it may, the Players had already taken down the Barren Giant, slain the Marsh Drake while Jessica herself blew up a Drake with a single blast. Those were powerful monsters that mortals would not encounter over the course of their lives, and the Players had defeated one after anotherand another once did the Temple of Justice showed up! Tsk, is the Justice of this world so well hidden?! It might be late to say this, but I am very grateful for your aid in slaying Tigrex the Drake, a great threat to the safety of Trinia. The Elven Queen then added. As expected of heroes chosen by the God of Games who had come as our allies. Edward smiled awkwardly in return but with no lack of politeness. No, were actually here to collect wild herbs As allies, I can reward you speak, what is it you wish for? The Elven Queen smiled. Though I couldnt afford anything that exceeds my authority, Im confident I could satisfy most of your wishes. Edwards party shared a glance just before Joe spoke out. Should we claim our quest rewards first? The others all thought that it was a good idea, and each of them turned on their System right in front of the Eleven Queen. They would first see what rewards they would get from their quest, and from there decide what they would ask the queen for. From the Elven Queens perspective, however, it was as if Edwards group had emptied their minds as their gazes lost focus. What is that reaction? I would understand if you huddle up in a circle whispering away but what are you attempting without saying a word, and acting as if your soul has flown away? If one had to describe it, it was the same as an employer asking his employees how much bonus they want, and having his employees mumbling away, and then all simultaneously lowering their head to fiddle with their mobile phones. How bewildering. Therefore, the Elven Queens first impression of the Players changed slightly from valiant, sincere and capable. And after a moment, Edward looked up again and spoke with great conviction. Rewards dont actually matter to us. However, I believe we should build something in commemoration of our friendship! The other Players all nodded in agreement. There was a simple reason for that too. After getting their quest rewards, they received the last quest in [The Greatest Treasure of The Elves] quest chain. It was a simple task, too: convince the Elven Queen and place a Lifestone in Trinia. The Elven Queen naturally granted permission and noddedin her oracle, Luna the Silver Moon Goddess had mentioned something similar, to permit the believers of the God of Games to build something called a Wonder Rock. That wont be a problem. I agree to your request in Lunas name. However, only one-third of Trinias population are pure believers of Luna. Another third are pure believers of the Nature Goddess, whereas the rest are believers of both goddesses or other gods. Therefore, you may only build in the territory of Lunas believers. No problem. Edward naturally agreed as if solemnly vowing. Very well. When would you be able to finish construction? The Elven Queen asked. Today. Edward did not hesitate in his reply. Today? Yes. Xi Wei-brand blueprints, building anyplace unoccupiedyour liege wont have to worry about providing facilities! *** Hence, Edward and the others placed the quest item in the largest square along the streets that the believers of Luna owned. Then, as the elves gaped, the matured wonder that was the Lifestone started constructing itself. One must mention here that the Lifestone was the most beautiful structure in Xi Weis series of blueprintseven the elves were content with having that half-transparent crystalline stone that hovered in the air.[1] Here Upon arriving at the square, the Elven Queen was about to speak a few words to encourage the elves in working with their new allies since most elves could not accept humans yet, but in that split second, the Lifestone was spitting out a horde of Players as if it was having diarrhea. After all, Gou Dan had been livestreaming their tour of the elven capital, and many Players already couldnt wait to visit this place. As such, they were all rushing there in tour groups. This the elves capital? It feels so cool! Why are the buildings all white? Wont their eyes go blur? All these people around us must be wood elves so beautiful? Yo, youre here too, Marni? Did you bring my AWM? I did. Cash upon delivery. Deliver first. Or are you afraid I wont pay up!? The last person who said that to me con me off dozens of thousands Rions and ran away with his mistress. This square is huuuge. Can I put up a stall here? Bone Powder Chest Plate, blue item, fifty game coins, satisfaction guaranteed or your money back Conman! Return my hard-earned money! As the square erupted into a pandemonium, the Elven Queen felt her blood pressure shoot up immediately. In fact, she might have blown all those people away if not for her constant mental and spiritual development and fine upkeep. Heroes?! These people from the Church of Games are all maniacs! Even as the Elven Queen inadvertently stumbled on the truth about the Players in her mind, she did not know that she herself had parted the curtains for them as they progressed into a new era. [1] its definitely the Aetheryte Chapter 203: The Western Continent The Dark Tidal Coast, Western Continent. The presence of magical beasts and unnatural marine creatures made the oceans in this world far dangerous than the oceans of Earth. That was why despite their richness, there werent many who made their living dependent on the ocean. That certainly begs the question: would the fattened nobles of this world give up on the marine delicacies that were rarer than it was on Earth? The answer was naturally no. In fact, it was exactly because marine delicacies were rarer here than Earth that the nobles coveted it even more. After all, more than the taste, they would enjoy looking important for having things others didnt have. No trade means no hunting, although the opposite holds true as well. When something is rare enough that people would pay enough for peasants to go months without worrying, brave people would naturally appear no matter how dangerous the hunt would be. And Laybit was one of them. But it just wont be quite right to call him brave. *** Laybits tribe used to dwell near the Vierlin hills. However, his kind was not exactly physically fit and BellphonGod King of Beasts never showed mercy to his tribe, which meant there had never been a warrior who hailed from the plains of Vierlin. Therefore, when the other races became jealous of the profits his tribe gained by gathering mountain delicacies and various rare herbs, it only made sense that they were chased away from their former home. The Leos Grayclaw tribe would have upheld justice in their stead, but it had all changed when Swordtail Grayclaw became tribe leader. That scrawny, sinister Leo who completely wrapped himself in a black cloak and did not look at all like your typical bold and fearsome Leo. He even began to strengthen ties with Hyena-men and Graywolf-folk, bullying weaker tribes of other races without restraint and often forcing them to pay tributes. It was the same for Laybits tribe. With all their savings drained dry, their tribe were then chased away from their own homelands and forced to live at the dangerous, barren reaches of the Dark Tidal Coast. Now, they could only survive on gathering seaweedbut there is no way that they could survive with just that. Once any child in their settlement gets sick, they would wither away if there was no money paid to the shamans to treat them. In the end, they would die in despair! It meant nothing even if one of the shamans would suddenly grow a conscience and would treat the child without a fee. Even if they had the list of medicine needed, they would still need money for the medicine! That was precisely why the chief of Laybits tribe steeled himself and made the decision after suffering for so long: the tribe must take to the seas and gather whatever sea foot the tides wash to the shore of the Dark Tidal Coast, extract shells latching on to reefs and trade it with humans for gold! On Earth, this would be a leisurely way of making manner and even a good pastime, but immeasurably dangerous in this world: oceanic reptiles and magical beasts lurked in waters even in water that was just a meter deep and attack anyone on the shore. There were sea scorpions and man-eating king crabs as well, lurking beneath the sand and basically taking out a human with each strike. Couple that factor with how the Laybits people were quite frail and not made to fight, three were lost to the sea in less than a monthLaybit himself even witnessed his cousin being whisked away by some unusual prawn-like beast with its massive pincers, and there was no chance that he would survive. Be that as it may, Laybits tribe withstood their fear so that their tribe could survive and continued searching for valuables amidst the tides. And after a month of practice, Laybit more or less gained some experience. He could now see spots where the sand was different, give a wide birth to places where air bubbles were popping out while keeping an eye for middling-sized sea life he could catch. Today, however, he found something different. *** In the beach not too far from him, three men were laying prone over the sand in bizarre postures, the tides rushing at them and possibly washing them away at any given moment. At first, Laybit wanted to mind his own businessfloating corpses were rare, but his tribe had seen them before. They also knew that there were certain parasitic bugs that would hide inside those corpses, waiting to attack anyone coming too close. However, Laybit soon noticed that one of the corpses had a triangular beast ear. Aside from the rather funny way its soaked fur was sticking out, Laybit who had once followed his tribe chief father to visit the Grayclaw tribe knew very well that it wasnt a feline or any other humanoid, but a Leos ears! Its a Leo corpse! While Laybit didnt know what killed the Leo, bringing the corpse back to his tribe might be a good chance to get on the Grayclaws good side With that thought in mind, Laybit slowly made his approach. Nonetheless, before he could touch the corpse, it suddenly twitched and growled in pain. That startled Laybit, and he pounced a few steps backward. Luckily, the Leo wasnt doing anything unusual, which allowed Laybit to relax. Carefully approaching him again, Laybit then took out a tusk clam he just dug out and poked the Leo. After a while, the Leo opened his eyes, finally regaining consciousness. Koff He choked out a mouthful of seawater, looking lost. Where am I The Dark Tidal Coast. Laybit cautiously maintained his distance as he answered softly. Are you a Grayclaw? The Leos reaction changed immediately when he heard the name Grayclaw. His frail, harmless-as-a-pet-look vaporized as well, replaced by the determined visage of a hunter. You know the Grayclaws? I see, its a bemusing process but I guess Im finally back. He mumbled to himself thoughtfully, before looking at Laybit and became surprised. Arent you a Long-ear? I remember that your tribe lives along the Vierlin Hills, why would you be here at the coasts? Why else?! You Grayclaws annexed the lands of my tribe and gave it to the Black Fangs! Laybit[1]s ears drooped unhappily at Zonyan question. I see so thats how it is. The Leo stroke his chin, and got to his feet. He then glanced at the other two corpses and then kicked them each. Get up, stop sleeping! Weve arrived at the Western Continent! [1] Laybit is a rabbit :3 Chapter 204: That Only Makes it Better.JPG Being the last to be kicked by Zonyan Grayclaw, Joey opened his eyes to find himself looking into Vulcans eyes, who smiled, baring his teeth. Are you awake? Your bag is empty! Spooked, Joey immediately shoved him away and opened the little bag in front of his chest, but breathed a sigh of relief when he realized every treasure he had was still there. Stop fooling aroundyou almost scared me to death. Its just some materials you gathered from Hundred Huntings. Do you need to baby it that much? Vulcan replied nonchalantly. As an early skill for Rangers, materials required for Hundred Huntings were Player-friendly enough to be completely gathered in early dungeons. Still, Joe did not reply and slid a look at Zonyan Blackhand. Vulcan immediately understood. With the Super Black Hand in their party, even the lowest grade of mineral was rare to come by Nonetheless, Zonyan pretended as if he didnt see their exchange. How do we get to the Lyon Savannah from here? He asked the Long-ear called Laybit. You would reach Timite past these reefs. Lyon Savannah is past that and the Vierlin Plains after it. Laybit replied. A three-day journey, tops. I see Zonyan mused. Could you lead the way? Although Zonyan did not live like a prince when he was the chief of the Grayclaw tribe, he didnt really travel far from home either. The furthest he went was the Vierlin Plains, and he naturally wouldnt recognize the way around here. Laybits rabbit ears straightened. Sure, if you pay me. Zonyans look turned awkward. Although the Western Continent shared the same three-pronged currency of copper, Rions and Abbys that the Eastern Continent used, Zonyan didnt have any since all the currency he had were game coins. Meanwhile, Vulcan and Joe who were shoving around at each other suddenly noticed Laybit, with Vulcans gaze sharpening. Everything about her: the pink short hair, a hidden strength and toughness despite her outward tameness and soft-spoken side seemed to push his buttons in all the right places. Pushing off Joey with one firm shove then, he ran his fingers through his hair on one hand and planted himself flamboyantly between Laybit and Zonyan. Lady, the names Vulcan. May I interest you in dinner? Vulcan said, feigning a deep voice while lashing his eyebrow continuously at Laybit. Youre blind. Laybits ears drooped unhappily again. Im a man. ?!?! Vulcans face dropped, unable to keep together his Romeo act. N-no way! Long-Ears are like that. Zonyan clapped his hand on Vulcans shoulder, before turning to Laybit. I dont have money, but I have some items that I could barter with. What do you think? At that, he whipped out a bottle of watered-down Cola, a bottle of watered-down Fanta and a bottle of watered-down Emergency Syrup. Laybit simply stared at the drinks that were mostly seawater doubtfully. Zonyan himself was both speechless and helpless. When other Players were slaying monsters to farm for items, he alone quietly carried out daily quests to earn money. He was now rich, but the problem was that he couldnt get the money scratch that, he could, but Laybit wouldnt agree that it is money! Its all that damned broken boats fault! On this voyage, his party had gathered money for a long time before finally redeeming the last, most luxurious-looking boat in the list after having learnt their lesson from buying the little boat. Zonyan himself was convinced that it would be the toughest boat when he saw the name it was givenTitanic! Thats a titan, after all! Far colossal than giants, their heads reach the sky and their feet crushes the earth! They punch behemoths, kick dragons and tear leviathans apart with their bare-handsa mythical being that only existed in legends before the War of Gods and Demons! So, there is no doubt that a boat named the Titanic would be the most powerful there is! As a matter of fact, every other Player had been excited when they saw how large the boat waseven Marni was tapping his chest, assuring them that it was the largest boat he had seen in all his years as a merchant. Therefore, they redeemed the Titanic, moved their supplies on the boat and quietly chased out Marni, who had sneaked on the boat. Then, all of them excitedly road the massive liner, following the instructions given by the System and journeyed toward the Western Continent. Reasonably speaking, the routes mapped in the sea chart should be safe since the Secret Eye Society used it in their smuggling trade, but for some reason, an Iceberg Whale crashed into the liner and split Titanic down the middle, leaving it slowly sinking beneath the sea The Players on board hence had to get on the life rafts, staying adrift over the vast, borderless seas. After Zonyans party woke up, they found out the other Players who had joined them on their quest to the Western Continent were no longer adrift, but had died and returned to the Unnamed Town. And at the moment, everyone else is having a party at the elven city of Trinia. Even if they did make it safely to the Western Continent from a certain point of view, Zonyan found the process rather perplexing. Was his god the God of Games or the God of Shipwrecks? *** Laybit was naturally dissatisfied with the drinks (the healing effect is still present albeit reduced in the ratio of seawater to potion the bottle). Nonetheless, Joey managed to make the Long-Ear agree to lead the way to the Grayclaw Tribe with several smoke-bombs he made through Hundred Huntings. Naturally, Laybit returned to his tribe and informed his father the tribe leader before going, since he would be away for two days and he could sell off some corals and other items that wouldnt rot easily. On the way back to the Long-Ears Tribe, however, Vulcan had seemed to pull himself together once again. He was acting gentlemanly, persistently asking after Laybit in every little thing to the point that Joey had goosebumps. Brother Vulcan, do you have to do that? He asked softly, pulling Vulcan aside. Do what? Vulcan looked absolutely confused. Well did you suffer such a huge blow that youre having selective memory? Joey asked uncomfortably. What blow? I just find the lady quite cute, so Im just being a little attentive Vulcan replied. Thats the problem! Joey said with goodwill, afraid of dealing a blow to Vulcans heart once more. Laybit is very cute, but hes a man! Hmph. Vulcan sneered, and even as Joey thought that he was not convinced and so would try harder to persuade him, he smiled and gave him a thumps-up. That only makes it better! I see. Stunned, Joey finally realized one thing: Vulcan wasnt having selective memory after the blow. Hes gone loco (homo). Chapter 205: A Day of Rest (part Five) Unlike Zonyans party who were slowly charting a new map at the Western Continent whose every effort so far would go to waste if they accidentally died, many Players were now gathering in the elven capital of Trinia, ready to show off their talentfor one loud feast. The wood elves main food were wild herbs and fruits. Moreover, as a race favored by PecoraGoddess of the Forests, wood elves did not really have to feed and could recharge their bodies through photosynthesis. That was the exactly why they felt extremely uncomfortable about the Players who were gathering at the square and cheerfully preparing to feast. They felt even more repulsed when they saw that the players had brought meat in seasoned skewers to Trinia. Although the Elven Queen had explained that Luna the Goddess of the Silver Moon had sent forth an oracle to accommodate the Players, only a third of Trinias entire elven population were pure believers of Luna. Another third were believers of both Pecora and Luna, while the others were either pure believers of Pecora and other gods. Therefore, although Lunas believers wouldnt hold prejudices despite their dislike of humans, the others who werent believers of Luna were showing outright enmity. But most of the Players naturally didnt care. Their world view had become simple and comprehensive after they converted to the Church of Gamesregardless of how they were treated, green names were allies, yellow names were debatable, and red names enemies. To a certain extent, Xi Wei owed Luna when she allowed the Players to place a Lifestone in Trinia. As such, he would be graceful towards the wood elves whom Luna favored, and he would keep the elves names green despite their hostility as long as they didnt overstep boundaries. On the other hand, if anything past the reservation occurs and deliberate harm was inflicted upon his adorably crazy believers, apologies but there will be red names! *** Brave hero, could you speak to your comrades so that they dont feast on animal corpses while inside Trinia? Even though the Elven Queen was pro-human, she was still uncomfortable about the raw-looking meat skewerswhich Players who recently learnt Butcher had sliced and was then seasoned with various spices by others who had learnt various cooking skills. No corpses? Alright, I understand. Edward said, and relayed the queens cautioning to the other Players. Everyone else all replied with Got it, Understood or Roger, roger before leaving Triniaonly to return soon enough, dragging along living mountain goats, struggling boars, thrashing saltwater fishes and bubble-blowing crabs. The Elven Queen only felt a twitching agony in her head when Edward gave her a smug What do you think? We are so understanding, right?, as well as the impulse to slap his brains out. What did you actually understand, brute?! It was fortunate that she understood that the alliance with the Players was an oracle from the gods. She ultimately decided to simply act as if she saw nothing and left with her officials in tow, allowing the Players to do whatever they liked at the square. The Players naturally werent shying away, and started to prepare for the feast under Princess Leahs instructions. Nonetheless, their unrestrained activities naturally caught the attention of most elves. *** Marni was carrying a bucket of ale past the corner of a wall when he found a young elfs head poking out as he leaned above the wall and observed the Players warily. Hence, he walked up to greet the young elf. Yo, kid. You want to join us as well? The young elf was certainly startled and was about to flee, but he paused when he saw Marnis grinning at him in greeting without any sort of enmity and slowly approached them instead. What are you people doing? He asked curiously. A feast, of course! Do wood elves not have feasts? Marni answered as if it only made sense. The young elf became confused. A feast? Isnt that supposed to be a congregation where we pray to the statues of Silver Moon Goddess and the Goddess of the Forests, offering the rare herbs we gathered from the woods and share our recent dreams to divine the future? Thats supposed to be a religious mass Marni could not help retorting. How is that a feast? Then what should a feast be like? The young elf blinked in curiosity. A merry time fooling around, drinking and eating away as we vent all the tension we had, a celebration that is only limited to a single a day such are the feasts we hold at the Church of Games! Marni beamed, and gave the young elf a thumbs-up. Well start around the evening, so come join us if youre interested! The young elf didnt say anything. Instead, he cast Marni a long look before turning to run away. Was it something I said? Marni scratched his head, confused. Haha! Youre being barbaric, Bossman. The delicate elves would find it hard to accept your face. Ivan, his escort captain who was helping to move buckets of rum was laughing heartily. Silence. Youve never even met a human for so long that people thought that youre a magical beast. Youre the last person I want to hear that from! Marni shot back indignantly. Not a magical beast. They merely take me for a boar! Isnt that even worse?! Now that youve mentioned nonhumans, wasnt there one of them amongst the Players if Ive remembered correctly? The one who was recruiting sailors Oh, Zonyan Blackhand? Indeed, why havent we seen him at the feast? Actually, he didnt show up in Trinia at all. That fellow never liked feasts anywayhe only likes the foot. I quite liked that big steel ship of his. Who knows when the God of Games could let me something as big as that? If he did, well definitely chart some sea routes. Youre really passionate about commerce, Mister Marni. Few things interest me, but one of it is watching my wealth increase. Come to think of it, I wonder if the wood elves have stuff that could be sold in Lancaster as souvenirs. The two men hence continued their chatter they headed to the square where the feast was being held, their voices fading the further they went. And from the corner of the wall, a small head poked out jade-green pupilsflickering in the colors of curiosity just like a new sprout. Chapter 206: A Day of Rest (part Five and A Half) The feast was held as scheduled with the wood elves enmity not affecting any of the Players. In fact, most of them were actually putting their backs into it since they liked the look on those elven faces that disliked them but couldnt do anything about it. Habanero wheat being baked and spreading the scent of cumin in the airthe Players had gained variety in their feasting events after Life Skills were introduced. Outsiders might find the Players behavior indescribable. After all, the elves royal capital was an unfamiliar place to them, and yet the first thing they did upon arrival was not to strengthen ties, but to hold a feast. That being said, only the Players themselves understood why they did that: Be it the refugees from Tierra who lived near Cromwell or any other place, most Players were wanderers who had left their homes aside from the original citizens of the Unnamed Town. And after losing their home, they now saw the Church of Games as their second home. Moreover, the Church of Games did not have a strong presenceunlike other churches, they had no building, no temple or even a shrine. But if there was one thing representing the Church of Games, it would undoubtedly be the Lifestones. That was exactly why the Players would instead consider that whichever spot a Lifestone was placed was where the Church of Games had a presence, and holding a feast was a special way of recognizing that this was a part of their second home. Wearing either dolphin head hats or anglerfish head hats, they would dance and sing away on the squareit was a mess since they were dancing and singing to different tunes without any sense of order, but the delight and passion were somehow palpable. As is tradition, there were free-flowing baked meat and drinks on one edge of the square, with a side dish of ballherb (a vegetable resembling lettuce) added in its lonesome amongst the tons of meat. Still, the feast had gone on for a while and half of the meat was already gone, while no one person took any ballherb It appeared that it was going to stay all by itself before a hero discovered the unique way of eating it known as lettuce over meat Meanwhile, other Players who had learnt alchemy to varying degrees had created something similar to fireworks. Like the other Players who were competing with whose magical plant was the most beautiful, those alchemist apprentices were also pitting themselves up against other Players with the firework recipes they had come up personally. Hence, on that day, the Players were afforded a view of all bizarre assortment of fireworks, with some actually having design issues so fundamental that it couldnt be launched and simply blew up on the ground. Watching as the alchemist apprentices blew themselves up cheerfully amidst the banging and popping, Marni was chewing through some baked meat while debating against Ivan on how they should sell meat tenderizer to the wood elves with some profit as a matter of course. No way, boss. The wood elves dont eat meatand even if we compromise by a mile, they would still hold us in disdain, thinking nothing of us. Although Ivan wasnt concerned with the elves attitude, he understood well how the wood elves saw humans. No, thats not it, Ivan. Marni shook his head. Its true that the wood elves dont like us now, but its fact that we are allies now, and our partnership is just a little rough on the edges. I am convinced that one elf would eventually come forward and be a bridge between us and them. But what does that have to with meat tenderizer, boss? We could sell it as makeup! Ivan had a look on his face that said youre-definitely-the-one-to-blame-if-human-elf-relations-breaks-apart. Marni was about to offer a logical retort for his honors sake when he noticed something and turned his head. It was the young elf from before, who was gingerly standing between an alley just a few feet away from the square where the feast was held, seemingly afraid to approach. Look, the first elf who would come forward is already here. Thats why Im convinced the bridge would eventually be made. Marni grinned at Ivan, biting off whatever pieces were left of the meat he was holding and approached the young elf. Hey, so youve come. He quickly greeted the young elf who was about to run out of instincts. Perfect timing, though, our feast is about to get very interesting. Very interesting? The young elf tilted his head as he looked at the Players in the square. At some point, the fireworks competition had escalated to a fireworks battle. All the Players were now taking up the alchemist apprentices crude fireworks and firing them in every direction. There was only chaos. Burning people with those weird flames is interesting? The young elf asked, confused. Ahem. Its just a little interlude. Marnis smile stiffened, but his years as a merchant kept him from showing too much emotion. But before he could come up with something to distract the young elf, the Players were suddenly cheering loudly. They all turned by instinct towards the commotion to find a Holy Lancer riding a condor, having wrapped a bunch of fireworks around himself like a suicide bomber and shooting for the skies. In the next split second, that Player cried out. Im blowing up! He then crashed into the wood elves barrier into the most dazzling blast of fireworks of the day! Not only were the Players watching unsurprised, they were all cheering and applauding instead at the bits and pieces dropping from the skies, giving thumbs up and shouting awesome! Watching from a corner, Marni thought that these people would be suspicious and highly dangerous terrorists if he wasnt privy to the inner workings of the Church of Games. Let alone the wood elves. He immediately felt that the young elfs stare become stinging. The young elfs curved eyes narrowed into a deadly glare even as he asked with a very suspicious tone. Interesting? Theres always that one weird fellow trying to get attention and please the crowd with some crazy antics. Marni cleared his throat and explained a little raggedly. And, well, we should respect their hobbies This isnt good. It looks like the bridge of friendship between human and wood elves is about to collapse. Chapter 207: Sibling Rivalry The Long-Ears tribe had settled in an elevate area full of reefs and faced the sea, with every house having an ocean view even if it wasnt exactly warm even in spring. But that was nothing good, because the vertical cliff that kept them over twenty-meters above the sea would not ensure their safety. Tsunamis and other natural disasters notwithstanding, the proximity meant any sea monster that could leave water for brief periods could attack them. After all, they could climb the reef cliff or simply leap over those twenty odd metersit was no problem for most sea monsters with their massive bodies or their suction cups. Any smart tribal chief would never set up camp here, but it was not as if the Long-Ears chief was a fool: he only decided to settle the tribe here because they had no choice. After all, every other place in the Vierlin Plains were either occupied by other nonhuman tribes or claimed as hunting grounds. The Long-Ears only had themselves to blame for being the weakest tribenot because they had few young and strong individuals, but because they were physically weak and clearly didnt have any unique ability, and therefore couldnt compete against other nonhumans. As such, their kind was naturally denied any place to live, ending up having to choose a place as isolated as it was dangerous. Chief, we cant go on like this! Three of us are dead in just a month! A middle-aged Rabbitman with long gray ears complained unhappily. The children wouldnt have anything to eat even if we try to bear more and make up for numbers! If this continues, our tribe would be extinct in a few years! Worry not, Rangka. This is only temporaryI shall find a way so that our tribe would live in comfort. You must believe in me! The other Rabbitmanthe tribal chief of the Long-Earsresembled Rangka in appearance, but he was older and skinny. He was no longer as tall as a typical Rabbitman, and he was grasping a long, worn and yellowed staff with his hand that was grown full of calluses. It is a symbol of the Rabbitfolks tribal chief, and legend has it that it was forged out of the first magical plant that the first Rabbitfolk tribal chief had grown: the Yamallante Hollow Bamboo. One should mention here that despite the grandness of that name, it actually was nothing special aside from a simple sign of identity. At the moment, there was unconcealed weariness on the tribal chiefs face who clearly had not slept well for a long time. Even so, there was despair in his gaze when he spoke ever so determinedly. Just hold on a little longer Rangka watched the chief, hesitating to speak but eventually gritting his teeth to voice out what was in his heart. Brother, us aside, the other tribesmen are never going to accept that if this continues! Are we really not going to show fealty to the Grayclaw tribe? Even if we are weak and couldnt fight, we remain one of the three oldest nonhuman racesif we submit, they would act in our best interest even if its in the name of our forebears! Even if we couldnt return to our old lands, settling down on some fertile soil would still be better than this hell! Rangka, I will let this go once because I understand your concern for the tribe. But never mention a word about swearing fealty anymore. The Rabbitfolk chiefRangka elder brother warned severely. The Grayclaw tribe is no longer what they once were! We definitely must never join their ilk, let alone bend the knee before them! Even if our tribe might not die just to avoid slavery, we at least mustnt submit to those who had given up on the glory of their ancestors! Glory of their forebears? Brother, are you saying that Rangka was looking at his brothers pensive gaze and became bewildered as if he had immediately understood, but before Rangka could say another word, a deep and sinister voice spoke just behind them. To hell with the ancestors glory! Swordtail was rightyou Long-Ears are not going to keep your act together even after we chased you off to this place! The two Rabbitmen completely didnt notice them approaching. As they turned in pale shock, two figures had appeared less than three hundred meters from the Long-Ears settlement. One of them was no different from the werewolves described in knight novels, although he had a tuft of red mane that extended from over his head down to his tail. Rangka knew who that was: Nedlan the Bloodclaw, famous even amongst the wolf-folk for his cunning and ruthlessness! And he must have been the one who had spoken out just now. The other nonhuman stood almost three meters tall, but though his tiger-like head clearly showed no emotion, his cool gaze alone left the long-ears feeling severe pressure and terror. Anyone looking closely could also notice his two massive fangs could no longer be kept within his jaw and jutted out like a dagger from his lower jaw, adding to his fearsome presence. Rangka had never encountered another nonhuman like him, but in the instant that he saw that Tigermen, he remembered the word about an ancient Sabertooth Tiger Warrior appearing amongst the Tigermen who dwelled over the Vierlin Plains. This is the hunting grounds of us Long-Ears! The chief of the Long-Ears tribe stood up despite his pale face and the pressure that the two interlopers were exuding, asking directly. What are you doing here? Hmph, this ones feisty! But thats about it Nedlan the Bloodclaw said, licking his sharp claws before turning to his companion beside him, his eyes full of wariness. Whos going first? You or me? You first. Ive no interest in bullying the weak. The Tigerman Warrior said calmly. Nedlan laughed shrilly at that and lunged at the Rabbitfolk chief. As King Swordtail ordered, Im taking your life! Blame yourself for being an eyesore even though youre so weak! Nedlans claws were as sharp as kniveshaving a crimson glow, they resembled splashing blood whenever he slashed with those claws. That was how he earned the name of Bloodclaw. Even so, the seemingly frail Rabbitfolk chief suddenly brandished his long bamboo, moving agilely and unusually movements to keep the Wolfman at bay despite having far less strength. In fact, Nedlans face and body was already struck and bruised by the bamboo several times, inflicting burning pain and yet Nedlan never actually reached a sleeve! The Rabbitfolk chief was surprisingly powerful. Nedlan was bamboozled by his bamboo-ish appearance! Damn it! Just as Nedland became frenzied and was about to fight to the death, he was sent flying into the distance by the Tigerman with a single punch. Just stop it. Youre not winning against this one. The Tigerman Warrior appeared to have his interest piqued even as he turned to the Rabbitfolk chief. Not bad. Why not serve under me? I could appeal for Mister Swordtails grace and show mercy on your tribe. Apologies, but I must refuse. The Rabbitfolk chief said with no hesitation. Well, thats a shame. Already in an attacking stance, the Tigerman Warrior punched out at the Rabbitfolk chief the instant he finished speaking. *** Unlike Nedlans flurry of swift attacks, the Tigerman struck his opponent where it was vulnerable without playing around. It was even more frightening that his swelling muscles filled every move he had with great power and peerless burst of strengtheven if it did not flow well without any sort of chain or press, each blow was as rapid as it was dynamic! The Rabbitfolk chief escaped the Tigerman Warrior a few times, only to still end up cornered and forced to parry with everything he had. Eventually, he too was punched into the air, but that blow broke more than a fifth of all his bones unlike Nedlans case. His death was sealed in the absence of shamans and medicinal herbs. Brother! Rangka exclaimed in sorrow even he held on to the chief who kept vomiting blood. Are you alright?! Use martial arts bring smiles to the tribe The Rabbitfolk chief used his last bit of strength to hand Rangka his staff, and eventually stopped breathing in his arms. So, what are your plans? The Tigerman asked Rangka quietly despite the Long-Ears warped look on his face. Are you going to keep that promise and inherit his will, or swear fealty to me? Rangka stayed silent for a long time while holding the ritual staff, but eventually started to laugh dismally. Well theres only one choice isnt there?! He rose and snapped the staff in two over his knee. I shall swear fealty to you! Hahaha! The Tigerman guffawed. You Rabbitfolk are quite interesting! Ive changed my mind nowI wont purge your kind, then!!! Meanwhile, Rangka bowed like a loyal subject awaiting a reward, waiting for what the Tigerman would say then. From this day forth, you shall be the new chief of the Rabbitfolk! The Tigerman said, generously bestowing Rangka the title of chief. But just as the drama was almost over, a voice suddenly spoke out from the crossroads leading to the Dark Tidal Coast. Swordtails lackey, Im guessing? Your ilk really loves using sibling rivalry for plot. Is that due to Swordtails poor tastes? What?! The Tigerman turned in the direction of that voice, his pupils dilating right then. Zonyan Grayclawthe rightful heir of the Grayclaw tribes former chief who was supposed to be dead was slowly approaching them. I was about to rest here with the Long-Ears and prepare for what we plan to do next, but it seems that you get to be the first tribute. Here begins the first of many battles that we, believers of the God of Games shall now wage in the Western Continent. Laybit had wanted to drop by and inform his tribe before heading out again, leading those three fellows who had appeared out of nowhere but who didnt look like bad guys to the Grayclaw tribe. But before he could return, he had witnessed his own father being slain. He immediately lost all rational as his impulse screamed for him to charge the enemy, only to be stopped by Vulcan. After all, the Players could see levelsand since a Level 5 thrash like Laybit was never going to win against the Level 35 Tigerman Warrior, charging blindly was nothing less than a meaningless death. That said, the Players did not have to worry about all that either. If one were to call Edwards party top Players for averaging above Level 40, Zonyan Grayclaw would be second-tier because of his infamous bad luck that prevented him from getting a party to farm dungeons, which also kept him at Level 38. Still, he was basically mainstream since most other Players remain at that phase. Vulcan had joined the Church of Games at the same time as Zonyan, but he was just Level 37 because he was kind to newbies and often farmed dungeons with them. On the other hand, Terry and Jom who joined the Church of Games much more recently were actual newbies and therefore were only Level 20. And at the moment, Zonyan had changed class to Berserker Swordmaster while Vulcan had changed class to Evil Blade Spirit Swordman. Joey himself had reached the level to change class too, but he was too busy helping with the daily quests required for exchanging the Titanic halfway through his class-change class and so remained a Ranger. In level alone, the Players were clearly a class above, with both Zonyan and Vulcan being superior compared to the Tiger Warrior. They would have an easy time beating him up if he were an ordinary monster. The problem was that Zonyan could see that the Tigerman was a Saber-Tooth Warrior who had the bloodline legacy of his ancestorsjust by observing the battle between him and Laybits father without really fighting him. Even if he wasnt a Boss in the game system, he was an opponent with an elite module. After all, it would take some effort to defeat an elite beast with a level difference of 3. Is that one powerful? Vulcan asked Zonyan quietly since he wasnt aware of the unique traits that sets different nonhuman races apart. An elite monster if my hunch isnt wrong. The very-powerful type, Zonyan replied. Are you going to be alright? Vulcan became worried immediately. Ill keep him busy. You and Joey hurry up with that Graywolfman and then come helpand relax, all Graywolfmen are a little crazy, taunt them and youll have an easy time, Zonyan replied softly. Zonyan nodded. It was a common strategy for the Players to have their tank distract the Boss, allowing the others in the party to quickly get rip of the Bosss minions before rallying to defeat the Boss. Be careful. Dont get killed. You too. The pair bumped their fist, understanding each other perfectly. While the Players did not fear death, they were in the Western Continent which had no Lifestone. In other words, they would be revived in the Eastern Continent even if they had the Ankh of Revival with them when carelessly drop dead. That would also mean they suffered the Titanics sinking for nothing, and had to start all over again by exchanging a new boat Hence, Vulcan took Joey with them to try taking down the Level 23 Graywolfman, saving the Tigerman for Zonyan. Meanwhile, the Tigerman sneered. Kill me as tribute? Youre brave Its always been a pain for me seeing you Grayclaws throw your weight aroundits time for us Mountain Tigers to take the crown of Vierlin! Zonyan understood his intention from those words immediately: That Tigerman was planning an uprising, and would even take a weak tribe like the Long-Ears under his wing. Be that as it may, Zonyan kept up his tough act. You say that, and yet you work for someone like Swordtail Youre really not being honest to yourself, or could you be a tsundere? Zonyan had actually learnt the term tsundere on the Players forums. Someone fellow with the ID Call Me Ball coined it, and it somehow became widely used. And despite not knowing what tsundere meant, a vein bulged over the Tigermans forehead since he knew that it meant nothing good from the context. Mister Swordtail is one of the few whom has gained my respect. Im willing to work for him before defeating him, while you, on the other hand The Tigerman then lifted his chin slightly, poising himself as if a tiger prepared to strike. I know who you areZonyan Grayclaw, the weak former chief! To think that youre alive when Mister Swordtail presumed your death with that being the case, allow me to reunite with the ghost of your ancestors, and remember to tell them that it was Roaring Mountain Tiger who had slain you! Meanwhile, Zonyan took a deep breath. He unsheathed his blade from his hip and handily flicked it over his palm, cutting a narrow gash over his palm for a buff. Grateful Dead! Youre hurting on the get-go? Thats your strategy?! With that, Roaring Mountain Tiger did not say anything else. Every muscle over his body tightened like rubber bands pulled to its limit, and he shot forward like an arrow at Zonyan in the next split second! Be that as it may, the Berserker skill branch was basically stronger when more HP was traded for Attack, which allowed them to end the fight quickly during quick farming and when facing weaker enemies. On the other hand, stronger enemies would end the fight quickly against a Berserker. Nonetheless, since Zonyans aim was to buy time until Vulcan and Joey could come help him, he only used Grateful Dead at the beginning and didnt keep using Berserker skills. Instead, he adopted the simpler style of parrying and knockback style of Kengyokus. And that irritated the Tigerman very much. After all, conflict between the tribal warriors of the Vierlin Plains were actually crude brawls where blows were plain and direct. In such cases, the great strength of nonhumans would always make up for the lack of skill against normal humans, and even the Swordmasters of the Eastern Continent would have a hard time fighting hereunless it was enchanted or possessed some unique trait, the blade would break no matter how excellent it would be, and that would be how one fighter could take ten alone. Nonetheless, that was what would happen under normal circumstances. The Players know that their weapons have certain durability, and it wouldnt break unless it parried a divine weapon or an enemy with divine trait. And just after a brief trade of blows, Zonyan realized that he had worried too much. In stats alone, Roaring Mountain Tiger was quite powerful after having awakened his Saber-tooth Tiger bloodline. He was equally matched with Zonyan despite being three levels below, and his strength was even a whole notch above! But that was also all there is to it. Combat skills developed without principles aside from bullying the weak was as much as a mess as it was inferiorZonyan would always have the perfect chance to retaliate against every single blow. It was just like how certain newbie instructors found themselves superior just because they were dueling with newbies in the Dark Souls series Chapter 208: Guda Sensei! Laybit had wanted to drop by and inform his tribe before heading out again, leading those three fellows who had appeared out of nowhere but who didnt look like bad guys to the Grayclaw tribe. But before he could return, he had witnessed his own father being slain. He immediately lost all rational as his impulse screamed for him to charge the enemy, only to be stopped by Vulcan. After all, the Players could see levelsand since a Level 5 thrash like Laybit was never going to win against the Level 35 Tigerman Warrior, charging blindly was nothing less than a meaningless death. That said, the Players did not have to worry about all that either. If one were to call Edwards party top Players for averaging above Level 40, Zonyan Grayclaw would be second-tier because of his infamous bad luck that prevented him from getting a party to farm dungeons, which also kept him at Level 38. Still, he was basically mainstream since most other Players remain at that phase. Vulcan had joined the Church of Games at the same time as Zonyan, but he was just Level 37 because he was kind to newbies and often farmed dungeons with them. On the other hand, Terry and Jom who joined the Church of Games much more recently were actual newbies and therefore were only Level 20. And at the moment, Zonyan had changed class to Berserker Swordmaster while Vulcan had changed class to Evil Blade Spirit Swordman. Joey himself had reached the level to change class too, but he was too busy helping with the daily quests required for exchanging the Titanic halfway through his class-change class and so remained a Ranger. In level alone, the Players were clearly a class above, with both Zonyan and Vulcan being superior compared to the Tiger Warrior. They would have an easy time beating him up if he were an ordinary monster. The problem was that Zonyan could see that the Tigerman was a Saber-Tooth Warrior who had the bloodline legacy of his ancestorsjust by observing the battle between him and Laybits father without really fighting him. Even if he wasnt a Boss in the game system, he was an opponent with an elite module. After all, it would take some effort to defeat an elite beast with a level difference of 3. Is that one powerful? Vulcan asked Zonyan quietly since he wasnt aware of the unique traits that sets different nonhuman races apart. An elite monster if my hunch isnt wrong. The very-powerful type, Zonyan replied. Are you going to be alright? Vulcan became worried immediately. Ill keep him busy. You and Joey hurry up with that Graywolfman and then come helpand relax, all Graywolfmen are a little crazy, taunt them and youll have an easy time, Zonyan replied softly. Zonyan nodded. It was a common strategy for the Players to have their tank distract the Boss, allowing the others in the party to quickly get rip of the Bosss minions before rallying to defeat the Boss. Be careful. Dont get killed. You too. The pair bumped their fist, understanding each other perfectly. While the Players did not fear death, they were in the Western Continent which had no Lifestone. In other words, they would be revived in the Eastern Continent even if they had the Ankh of Revival with them when carelessly drop dead. That would also mean they suffered the Titanics sinking for nothing, and had to start all over again by exchanging a new boat Hence, Vulcan took Joey with them to try taking down the Level 23 Graywolfman, saving the Tigerman for Zonyan. Meanwhile, the Tigerman sneered. Kill me as tribute? Youre brave Its always been a pain for me seeing you Grayclaws throw your weight aroundits time for us Mountain Tigers to take the crown of Vierlin! Zonyan understood his intention from those words immediately: That Tigerman was planning an uprising, and would even take a weak tribe like the Long-Ears under his wing. Be that as it may, Zonyan kept up his tough act. You say that, and yet you work for someone like Swordtail Youre really not being honest to yourself, or could you be a tsundere? Zonyan had actually learnt the term tsundere on the Players forums. Someone fellow with the ID Call Me Ball coined it, and it somehow became widely used. And despite not knowing what tsundere meant, a vein bulged over the Tigermans forehead since he knew that it meant nothing good from the context. Mister Swordtail is one of the few whom has gained my respect. Im willing to work for him before defeating him, while you, on the other hand The Tigerman then lifted his chin slightly, poising himself as if a tiger prepared to strike. I know who you areZonyan Grayclaw, the weak former chief! To think that youre alive when Mister Swordtail presumed your death with that being the case, allow me to reunite with the ghost of your ancestors, and remember to tell them that it was Roaring Mountain Tiger who had slain you! Meanwhile, Zonyan took a deep breath. He unsheathed his blade from his hip and handily flicked it over his palm, cutting a narrow gash over his palm for a buff. Grateful Dead! Youre hurting on the get-go? Thats your strategy?! With that, Roaring Mountain Tiger did not say anything else. Every muscle over his body tightened like rubber bands pulled to its limit, and he shot forward like an arrow at Zonyan in the next split second! Be that as it may, the Berserker skill branch was basically stronger when more HP was traded for Attack, which allowed them to end the fight quickly during quick farming and when facing weaker enemies. On the other hand, stronger enemies would end the fight quickly against a Berserker. Nonetheless, since Zonyans aim was to buy time until Vulcan and Joey could come help him, he only used Grateful Dead at the beginning and didnt keep using Berserker skills. Instead, he adopted the simpler style of parrying and knockback style of Kengyokus. And that irritated the Tigerman very much. After all, conflict between the tribal warriors of the Vierlin Plains were actually crude brawls where blows were plain and direct. In such cases, the great strength of nonhumans would always make up for the lack of skill against normal humans, and even the Swordmasters of the Eastern Continent would have a hard time fighting hereunless it was enchanted or possessed some unique trait, the blade would break no matter how excellent it would be, and that would be how one fighter could take ten alone. Nonetheless, that was what would happen under normal circumstances. The Players know that their weapons have certain durability, and it wouldnt break unless it parried a divine weapon or an enemy with divine trait. And just after a brief trade of blows, Zonyan realized that he had worried too much. In stats alone, Roaring Mountain Tiger was quite powerful after having awakened his Saber-tooth Tiger bloodline. He was equally matched with Zonyan despite being three levels below, and his strength was even a whole notch above! But that was also all there is to it. Combat skills developed without principles aside from bullying the weak was as much as a mess as it was inferiorZonyan would always have the perfect chance to retaliate against every single blow. It was just like how certain newbie instructors found themselves superior just because they were dueling with newbies in the Dark Souls series Chapter 209: Spirit Familiar It turned out that there actually was a reason Nedlan the Bloodclaw could make a name for himself amongst the nonhumans. The reason it had just a bit over half its HP remaining was because he had been careless and underestimated the Long-Ears chief, and ended up being given a beating. Even so, Vulcan only realized when they started fighting that he was Level 29eight levels beneath him, but considerably powerful. Still, Nedlan wasnt actually strong in every aspectonly his agility was exceedingly high, but frighteningly slow. He could at best deal single-digit damage to Vulcan and Joey which did not amount to much, whereas his HP was definitely dropping down a notch whenever they hit him. In a nutshell, he was a fighter who sacrificing his stats in the attack and HP, making him fragile in exchange for that frightening agility. And yet that high agility was the reason why Vulcans attacks kept missing! Moreover, if he was having such a tough time, Joey who had lower HP naturally fared poorer. In fact, he had left the battle to recover with a bottle of cola. Tch, damn it Vulcan cursed and panted, after Nedlan left a three-clawed scar over his face once again while his counterattack was evaded easily. Hehe, youre quite tough Usually I would have torn apart those weaklings in moments. Youre goodboth of you, Im going to have some fun! Nedlan said, licking his claws and smiling like a deviant. At those words, Vulcan realized that he had the wrong idea. To the Players who relied on standardized data, Nedlans clawing was no different from an attack that cuts HP. But what would it be like for people who didnt have the System? Those claws were as sharp as surgical blades that would easily part thick skin without much effort and gouge out an opponents innards, which meant it would be lethal even if it didnt deal too much damage. Moreover, the high agility stat meant Nedlan could make up for his lacking defense by dodging most attacks. To most, he would be a difficult opponent! While heavy-armored fighters might be able to stop him by rendering his claws ineffective, the weight of their protection would also stop themselves from reaching him, which meant his agility focus was not a lethal flaw. But even as Vulcan was thinking about how he should defeat the Wolfman, he suddenly realized that Zonyan was pinging him wildly on the forums. Since hes not hitting Nedlan anytime soon, he simply allowed himself to get hit a few times and turned on the forums. [Zonyan: @Vulcan Whats the situation over there?] [Zonyan: @Vulcan Are you guys done yet?] [Zonyan: @Vulcan I might have a problem here. Come as soon as you can!] Uh-oh. Was Zonyan going down already? Still, that wasnt impossible eitherZonyan might be quite experienced in fighting and one level above Vulcan, but he was a Berserker. Even in lower-level dungeons, a chain of skills would leave him with only half-HP, and that was after he was healed! Thinking about it that way, it made sense that Zonyan couldnt hold on. It seemed that Vulcan must come up with something to end things as soon as possible. But the moment that thought occurred to him and before he could think of a good tactic, Zonyans next message arrived. [Zonyan: @Vulcan If you guys still wont come] If? Vulcan did a double-take and kept reading. [Im really going to kill this guy.] Vulcan: ??? Are you in that much of a hurry to brag in my face?! However, the bragging really got to Vulcan, and his brain worked furiously even as he wheezed. Well, this cant continue. It doesnt matter how powerful my Evil Blade is if Im not hitting him, and from how things look right now, I wouldnt reach him even with soul manipulation skills if thats the case, I could try using Spirit Array AOE skills luckily, I did save up some skill points. What are you mumbling for? Im really going to kill you if you dont come at me! Nedlan the Bloodclaw continued provoking Vulcan without realizing that his mood had changed. With that, he rushed towards Vulcan, turning into a dark shadow with sharp blood-red edges! Ill lead with this oneMonument: Dirge of the Frozen Sea! Vulcan stabbed his sword into the earth, and a tombstone descended from the skies in the next split second and landed forcefully before him. Nedlan was stunned and quickly turned back halfway through his charge, staring warily at the tombstone. The carvings on the tombstone then lit up, after of which a half-transparent spectral human crawled out, the coldness of its body palpable. Soon, multiple chains shot out from the tombstone, binding it tightly and keeping it restrained over the tombstone. What the hell is that?! Nedlan could not help asking, watching as the bizarreness unfolded before himself. Try guessing! Monument: Zod, the Blade Demon! Another tombstone descended as Vulcan casted his skill, and another human figure emerged. This time, however, the spirit familiar bound to the tombstone was holding a long sword and appeared especially abnormal. Charlatan! Die! Unable to hold back, Nedlan rushed up at Vulcanbut the moment he entered the range of the first tombstone, he felt as if he was thrown into an iceberg as an icy sensation shot out all over his body, even cutting into his marrow! In an instant, his movement was all over the place and he slowed drastically! Damn it! Realizing the danger, Nedlan tried to escape and barely avoided an Evil Blade slash from Vulcan. Nonetheless, the instant he avoided that blow was also the instant he stepped into the range of the second tombstone. It wasnt Vulcan who attacked him this time. Instead, it was the spirit familiar that was shackled in chains who suddenly swung his blade at Nedlan when he was within reach. Manslayer Blade! There clearly was no sound, but Nedlan somehow heard the cold masculine voice echoing right beside his ears. Blood splattered out of his chest in the next second! A wound had appeared out of nowhere, soaking his gray fur. Damn it, what the heck was that? No way Im fighting this freak Im off After all, being a combat maniac didnt mean he enjoyed being tormentedwithout knowing what was actually happening, Nedlan is not keen on continuing the fight. Its too late to run now you must have killed a lot of people, yes? Monsters like you should become my familiar spirit and be eternally bound in a monument, never able to reach the truth of deathGolden Monument: Requiem! Chapter 210: Recruiting An Army After they defeated the two humanoids of superior races one after another, the Players returned to the village where a situation was unfolding amongst the family of the Long Ears chief. Uncle, you did what Laybit was glaring in disbelief at Rangka, who still had the two broken pieces of the scepter he had snapped in two. Dont start. I was only trying to distract them. Rangka could not help looking embarrassed, aware that his nephew[1] had seen him swearing fealty. Your father isnt dead yet, He added, clearing his throat. What Laybit turned towards his father, who still was not showing any signs of life. How could he be alive? His heart has stopped, let alone the fact that he wasnt breathing! But even when that thought crossed Laybits mind, his hearingseveral times stronger than humanscaught a faint sound. Most wouldnt hear it, but it was rapid and short as it was faint and powerful. The sound was intermittent, echoing only once after a few moments. And that sound came from his fathers chest. A heartbeat. Anyone not paying attention would never hear that exceedingly slow heartbeat. Thats Laybit was taken aback. Tortoise breathing, Rangka explained then. A martial sorcery passed down over generations in our tribe that allows the use to feign death for a moment. That said, Brothers injuries are real, and it would take a long time for him to recover and heal before he could wake from it. He sighed, before continuing dejectedly and helplessly. Even so, our kind is still too weak physically despite being able to learn martial sorcery. We would never win against the other despotic humanoid tribes. *** Xi Wei almost spat out his divine attributes when he left the Invisible Pantheon meeting, returned to his divine kingdom and saw what happened. Wasnt Tortoise Breathing supposed to be a wuxia thing? Isnt it a little out of character for something like that to appear in this world? Be that as it may, Xi Wei himself was aware that his perspective differed from mortals. While they could see things on the surface, he could see it down to its essence. Unlike Chinese martial artists where they use neigong or true qi, the essence of the Long-Ears martial sorcery was the flow of a special mana around their bodies, and it would be closer to strengthening spells more than actual martial arts. That wasnt unusual, however, since the nonhumans of the Western Continent had rather singular faiththey were either believers of Bellphon, the God King of Beasts or the spirits of their own ancestors. However, sacred arts that were connected to Bellphon mostly had to do with taming or crossbreeding beasts. Any such orthodox sacred arts were also preciously rare, just as a clerical system did not exist for it. On the other hand, for the other nonhumans who worship ancestral spirits, they would actually have different objects of worship since the ancestral spirits of each nonhuman race was different. That directly led to a blurring of the deity identity for all ancestral spirits, and religious schism had left it for dead even before the Third Divine War beganin fact, it could share the crown of most pathetic divine being in history alongside Rotten Bones. Therefore, the supernatural power that the Western Continent mostly used was sorcery, a system similar to magic itself. Naturally, martial sorcery is a branch of that sorcery system. In direct translation, the technique that Rangka just spoke of was a martial art resembling a tortoise holding its breath and staying still to feign death. But when it passed through Xi Weis cognition, it was automatically translated by his mind into Tortoise Breathing That being said, Xi Wei still had his interest pique despite the difference of martial sorcery in contrast to normal magic and sacred arts, not to mention that it made him feel nostalgic about the various techniques in his former world. Furthermore, the Players might obtain new classes by learning how to train in those abilities, though Xi Wei also really wanted to see the Players going bald for some reason as well And as mentioned before, the Western Continent could be considered as virgin lands: rarely any religion exists and it is perfect for preaching. Umu. Just when Im out of ideas for Zonyan and the others should be doing. Well do just that! With that thought in mind, Xi Weis tentacles danced, the keyboard of the Pantheon Computer making cracking sounds as he started typing. *** [Ding!] [Side quest started: Recruit an army] [Although you have succeeded in reaching the Western Continent, the power of your enemy remained hidden in mists. The God of Games therefore predicts that your adventure would not go smoothly, and you need support right this second! Neither fortune nor the lands are reliableso try to earn favor of local citizens, laying the foundation and network for your operations in the future!] [Quest objective: Curry friendliness with the Long-Ears above Respect, and convince the chief of the Long Ears to allow the construction of a Lifestone in their settlement] [Quest Item: Lifestone blueprint (Throw it on the ground and itll build itself)] [Quest Reward: Certain EXP and game coins, Ring of the Lion King (Purple, rare item): Buff yourself with Splendor of the Beasts when fighting against the target of your vengeance and his minions] [Note: What King of Beasts are you if you cant deal with rabbits?! an anonymous Player named Simba] Zonyan and Vulcan shared a glance after receiving the quest, immediately understanding that they need to change their original plan of hiring a Long-Ear to guide the wayget to the Grayclaw Tribedefeat Swordtail. Now, it appears that the course of their quest had turned to gain reputation with the Long-Earsbuild a Lifestonehave them lead the way to the Grayclaw tribekick Swordtails butt. Moreover, Zonyan understood that Swordtail might not be weaker than he was after fighting the Tigerman Warrior. After all, that Tigerman Warrior did mention that he wasnt able to defeat Swordtail yet. Though Zonyans level was higher, his overall ability was inferior if templates were accounted forthe only reason he won was the advantages of Game Rule. The rich EXP rewards from killing the Tigerman made that very obvious. As such, things wont fare well for Zonyan if he challenged Swordtail alone, nor would his tribe acknowledge his victory if Vulcan and other players interferedto nonhumans, a duel with the title of chief in the balance was a sacred affair. Besides, failing once or twice wouldnt matter if they failed once or twice. All he had to do was wait until he resurrects, sum up his experience in previous challenges and re-challenge Swordtail. After all, Zonyan no longer lacked patience and the courage to face failure since he had become a Player. *** In reality, every Player would have experienced the suffering of failure and horrific deaths, be it in their exploration of dungeons where every kind of danger lurks, or when they frequented the Living Dead Cellar of the Rotten Bones High Priest. Even so, they would learn something from each of their deathsbe it the attacking pattern of their opponents, their vulnerability or a flaw the Player themselves had but did not notice before. Those aspects are experiences and platforms with which Players defeat stronger adversaries, make up for their lacking and refine their strategies while they continue journeying towards success and new heights! One could say that Players were Players not because they did not fear death, but because each death empowered them! Aside from Marni. Either way, Zonyans group would have to win the Long-Ears trust since they needed to earn their reputation. Hence, Zonyan took out a bottle of cola-cum-seawater and handed it to Laybit, who was holding on to his fathers corpse. If you trust me, please let your father drink this. Whats that? Laybit frowned slightly at the cola which no longer had bubbleshe remembered that he wanted to use that same bottle of liquid for barter to have him be their guide. There was curiosity on his face now, with one of his long pink rabbit ears dangling limply while the other was curved into a question symbol. That look of wariness was as cute as a fluffy kitten. Forget it, Brother Vulcan. Joey tried his best to keep the Moe-struck Vulcan pinned, fearful that his beastly side would go into a frenzy and fail their quest entirely. Its a One-Time, Single-User Use Satellite Strategy Healing Potion (mixed with water), Zonyan said, revealing the full name of the item instead of the shorter name that was more popular amongst the Players. By the way, that blue one is called a Consumable Single-User Use Mini Reventilating Potion. Laybit tilted his head, left confused by the long names while his eyes narrowed into two little dots. The pink frontal fringe of his hair dangled in a lovely bemused look, and I-dont-get-it-but-it-sounds-awesome was written all over his face. By the way, Laybit, could you introduce us? Rangka seized the perfect moment to interrupt as if it was only natural, just as Zonyan was about to make his potions play. Unlike the young and less learned Laybit, Rangka was just three years younger than the Long-Ears chief. As an elder of the tribe, he naturally had experienced much of the world. From what he knew, Nedlan the Bloodclaw was manageable since he could try to compromise amicably with the Graywolf-man even if he couldnt win. On the other hand, that Tigerman who had the ancient Saber-tooth bloodline was a completely different matterhis brother who was much stronger was downed with a single punch and barely survived with Tortoise Breathing. Rangka himself would probably be a one-punch kill as well. And yet, those two fellows who came out of nowhere managed to take down those two with relative ease. Leaving aside that weird human that smashed Nedlan to death with a tombstone, that Leo was clearly powerfuland brutally so. The Saber-tooth Tigerman Warrior would bend steel with his heavy blows, and any normal blades would break from a single strike. Even so, the Leo handily parried the Tigermans fist, before stabbing the Tigerman to death with that same blade which didnt look like anything special! How much training did it take to get to such level!? Rangka felt tremendous pressure at that very thought. [1] Ů the author wrote it as niece here, not sure if hes trying to confuse us on purpose or what Chapter 211: The Elven Girls Prank (part One) Setting aside the matter of grief and vengeance-seeking between the nonhumans on the Western Continent, it appeared that discreet change was unraveling in Trinia, the elves capital in the Eastern Continent. To prevent any squabble against the believers of Luna the Silver Moon Goddess, Xi Wei had specially banned the Players from altering the elven capital by keeping life skills such as Herbalism and Build ineffective. After all, the wood elves were all artisans who nitpicked everything in pursuit of perfection, and every other building in their city had only been built with the aesthetic values they cultivated over centuries. As a matter of fact, putting only one Lifestone in Trinia turned out to be an eyesore for the elves. It would be a shock no less than taking a dump on their ancestral statues if the Players went on to build a house of straws or dig a hole, and unnecessary conflict would be inevitable then. Be that as it may, the Players curiosity is restlessly stoked by the elven capital as an unfamiliar and novel place, with some Players who were not focused on leveling making frequent trips here for adventures or touring. Selene hated that. As an elf of the younger generation, her perception of humans was that they were no different from baboons of the forestthey werent hateful and it would be interesting when taken in with few glances, but there was no way she would stay in the same room harmoniously with one. And yet, her idiot brother Jamie was simply different from ordinary wood elves. He never liked any elven craft since he was younger, whereas his perceptiveness and energetic side made it difficult for him to follow the lessons of the Forest Goddess Pecoras lessons of fusing silently with the trees. He was also exceedingly curious and preferred the day, which also kept him from meeting the requirement of being constantly bathing in moonlight that the Silver Moon Goddess set for her believers. At first, she worried for her brother that he couldnt find a god he believed inunlike humans, elves seek faith not merely to gain the protection of their gods, but because they require a place their souls could rest in death. In elven tradition, it was claimed that nonbelievers would remain unaccepted by any gods, eventually descending to hell to be burnt in the inferno without hope of release. Even so, after Jamie had a taste of that so-called feast of the humans, he had developed a curiosity about the humans lifestyle. Now, he would keep following the humans everywhere, occasionally acting as guides to give those humans directions around Trinia Forests. This cant continue. *** Selene was outside her house, about to dry some bedsheets despite her irritation. While Jamie would still live over a thousand years, all elves were of the opinion that the earlier they found a religion, the bettertheir ability to contribute for the gods were limited, and it was only by joining a church they preferred early on that they could have a longer-living faith in exchange for their limited stewardship, so that they would be afforded their gods favor in the afterlife. She certainly wouldnt want her younger brother being abducted by the baboon-like humans and take up some abnormal faith. Hello. Is Jamie not in today? A mans voice spoke behind her. Selene turned by instinct, staring at him warily. She knew that humanhis name was Marni Wilf and seemed to be a warrior, and yet could command perished souls like an undead mage One could see that humans were nothing good from that fact alone, so why would Her Majesty the Queen ally with such people?! He is out on an errand. Selene stiffly replied. But that was a lieJamie had told her earlier that he was going out with some human friends to the arrowoak bushes that were near their home, where they would gather some naturally-sharp wood to make arrows with. I see well, thats going to be a problem Marni scratched his head unhappily. He told me that hell take me to the arcanum in the Trinia Forests. As mentioned before, this world was a multidimensional world formed from a combination of countless planes, as if innumerable bubbles pasted together. The biggest bubble would be the Prime Material Plane, and there would naturally be tiny bubbles. Those tiny bubbles would maintain their existence by latching on to the big bubbles and borrowing the bigger planes complete Rule System, hence forming mini dimensions known as the arcanum. Although there might not be anything good in the arcanum, it definitely held the sights the outside world would never seeand that aspect alone made those places worth exploring for the Players. Meanwhile, Selene was feeling a little curiously delighted, as if Marnis troubled look satisfied her need for payback. However, a simple lie like that would be immediately exposed when Jamie returned, and Selene became a little frustrated at that. Still, she suddenly felt a sense of inspiration as the plan for a prank took shape in her mind and took hold of her. Since Jamies busy, should I lead you to the arcanum instead? The elven girl patted her modest chest and tried hard to look sincere. Dont let appearances fool youI was a fine patrolwoman before, until I took an arrow to the knee. Marni hesitated, his curiosity about the arcanum eventually getting the better of him and he nodded. Well, Ill be in your care. *** Selene did not prepare much since she was afraid that they would run into Jamie who would be on the way home. She simply put on her old armor while mumbling why does it feel a little tight on the chest and brought along her short sword which was shining brightly thanks to her maintenance and left. The Trinia Forests are the shared domain of two different gods, she explained to Marnie, who was following behind. The clash between their powers is exactly why spatiality is more fragile in Trinia than other places, with many weird entrances into various arcanum appearing in the forests. Thanks to that, we would have to deal with monsters invading the Prime Material Plane from those different arcanum. Even as Selene spoke solemnly, she was sneering from an angle where Marni couldnt see while struggling to hold back her laughter. The arcanum entrance Im taking you to is one where a devil from hell had once been sealed. Devil? Marni was surprised, but he still appeared full of anticipation. Ive never seen such a thing! Um Arent you afraid? The elven girl appeared surprised. Whats there to be afraid of? I mean, the worse that could happen to me is dying! He was being so frighteningly open-minded, prompting chills that could cut into the bone. Dont humans have the wrong idea about death? The elven girl couldnt help but think. Chapter 212: The Elven Girls Prank (part Two) Unlike humans, wood elves were beloved by the forests, and were a species who wouldnt take normal paths if they could climb trees instead. That was the reason why the depths of the Trinia Forests retained its appearance of being a virgin forest even though the wood elves had been living there for a long time. There was not even a trodden footpath, only certain game trails where large beasts or magical creatures trod. It certainly made crossing the forest very difficult for Marni, and he was left very ragged before he could get far from the Elven Capital. Useless. Are you humans so weak that you cant walk in a forest normally? Selene the elven girl was sitting on a branch ahead of money, bored and dangling her legs as she launched a bomb of generalization at all humankind. Well, us humans cant leap around trees like monkeys. Marni smiled in return, but didnt look angry at all. Oh, look, a skunk! Selene flung a rotten persimmon at Marni, her temple veins bulging in irritation. Its not nice to attack a person physically just because you lost in verbal fencing. Marni easily evaded it, having been prepared for it. Since all Players would unleash their skills at one another even in squabbles, that fruit was much of a joke as it was underestimating Marni! Im sorry, but I really saw the head of a weird skunk over there just now. The elven girl said unapologetically then. Marni simply shrugged, having no intention to press the matter as he continued forward to the arcanum which Selene spoke of. To tell the truth, Im quite glad were doing this. He spoke after some time, perhaps finding the journey too quiet and therefore tried to start a conversation. I didnt expect you to lead me to the arcanum Ive misunderstood you before, assuming that you hate humans. Selene snorted even as she walked ahead. No, you misunderstood nothing. I really do hate humans. Anyway, it seems that trying to strengthen ties with the wood elves is wonderful. Your kind isnt as incomprehensible as I thought, Marni added. Selene, who had been pouncing between the trees stopped then, and turned towards Marni who was having a difficult brawl against some bushes. What was it that drove you people to approach us? Dont think I dont know that humans group us with magical beastsand the most dangerous species, at that! Could you be lusting after our arts, magic items or some other souvenirs? Or are you trying to capture as slaves, offering us to your nobles to serve their every whim? Thats rude. Marni shook his head. I believe in the God of Games, and the reason he would ally himself with the Silver Moon must be because humans and the wood elves could come to an understanding. After all, the legends say that humans and high elves were allies on the eve of the War of Gods and Demons. And the souvenirs that could be sold for some money is just a bonus! Marni added inwardly. No way. Wood elves and humans would never understand each other. There had been wars of different scales between our kind over the last thousand years and you know that! And that is the truth! With that, Selene turned forward again, although she was hanging her head unhappily. Arent you assuming too much if you never tried? At this moment in the very least, isnt a human and a wood elf having a friendly conversation while going on a journey together? Marni grinned. What do you mean, friendly The elven girl mumbled. And you never answered why youre approaching us. It is clearly such a dangerous thing to do, and you might lose your life If I must put my finger on it, it probably is because the God of Games had granted us Players a special trait to encourage us, so that we wont fear failure and would seek all opportunity fearlessly. Marni kept grinning. Naturally, we shouldnt disappoint him. Youre weird Selene complained quietly, unaware that Marni was talking about the Players resurrection ability. She then leapt off the tree and landed steadily in front of Marni. What is it? Marni was confused. Im bored. I dont want to go there anymorelets get back to Trinia. Youre being too whimsical Marni muttered, rubbing his temples in pain. I knew I should have waited for Jamie. Selene stared impassively at Marni for the moment. Then, just as he was about to ask something, she turned around again reluctantly. Well, well go then, but I have to warn you firstdont get your pants wet! Is that arcanum that dangerous? Instead of being scared, Marni was actually rife with anticipation. Still, Selene didnt answer, keeping a stony face instead as she led the way. Soon, they arrived in front of an abnormal cavern. The mouth of the cavern was grown full of lush vegetation. Marni would have walked past it without noticing if Selene didnt bring him here. This is it. Im warning you now: if youre going to continue ahead, the cave would make horrible noises and the airwaves could knock you off your feet. The elven girl said, trying to warn off Marni who was walking forward to take a look. An elven ancient who had survived the end of War of Gods and Humans sealed a devil that invaded Trinia here, and youre going to end up as its food even if you make it past the airwaves. Well, its meaningless if we cant get in Marni scratched his head, wondering if he should call up other Players to fight the Boss. No for long term profit, wouldnt it be better to put a stall outside and charge Players per entry? He then came to a realization. Why did you bring me here then? I wanted to scare you with the devil The girl walked up to the cave entrance before turning to glare at Marni. Because you humans keep strutting around in front of me! So disgusting! Are you going to be fine, standing right there? You did say devil Its fine. The cave is sealed, so the devil wont even put a toe out. It could only roar a bit when it senses someone coming near. Selene said, spreading her hands. Im just trying to scare you, not kill you. I se Marnis face dropped before he could finish, and he bounded toward the elven girl with a burst of strength beneath his heel. Selene did a double take. She discreetly charged her mana, believing that Marni the human was about to let his beastly instincts looseonly to be pushed by him away from the hole. In the next split second, a large, powerful hand that filled the entire hole had shot out, catching hold of Marni on the spot. That same spot where Selene herself was just an instant ago! T-That The elven girl was beside herself in shock. Stop blanking out Run! Marni murmured vaguely, already vomiting blood under the crushing force of the grip. And get help But you saved me The elven girl looked like she was about to cry. Ill be fine go! This thing is coming out! Marni smiled at Selene albeit miserably. As long as youre alright. And in the next second, he was crushed by that enormous palm into chunks of meat and splatters of blood right before Selenes eyes. Chapter 213: Devil Whats going on? Shouldnt the devil be sealed shut by the elven ancient within the cavern and be tormented without end? Selene had never come across anything unexpected when she came to play before, so why did the devils claws break through the seal today?! Like a drizzle, Marnis blood was slowly raining down on her, dyeing her most red and leaving her stunned. She only recovered when the enormous demonic talons came clawing at her, fumbling as she escaped the entrance of the cavern. She couldnt stay like that. She must run! *** Even if she was physically much older than Marni and could well be his grandmother, the mental growth of the elves was very slow. As a matter of fact, Selenes mental age would be closer to Jessica or Gou Dan despite being just over a hundred years old. That was the reason why she pranked the human irrationally out of her spite, and was caught flustered in an emergency situation such as just now, simply not knowing what she should do. It was therefore fortunate that Marnis dying words gave her a definite instruction, and she followed it by instinct: escape to Trinia, find others to help stop the devil in the cavern from causing further ruin! Hence, fumbling as she got away from the bushes in front of the cavern, Selene ran as fast as she could back to Trinia. As mentioned before, the spatiality of the Trinia Forests was very weak, and the elven capital of Trinia itself did not actually exist in the Prime Material Plane. It was more similar to an arcanum, a subspace latching on to the outer reaches of the prime material plane. Still, the wood elves had studied spatiality over a thousand years and understood it thoroughly that they had clear records of almost every variable. It was exactly why the elves could remain in the Trinia Forests even if their research regarding spatial technology wasnt that profoundthey had simply tethered the entrance and exit of Trinia on a secluded location. That was also exactly why many slave hunters were quietly running over in circles in the Trinia Forests without finding the rumored elven settlement located deep within the forests, and would instead become food for monsters and magical creatures And it was just after Selene had escape around thirty minutes away when a violent rumble echoed. The cavern had collapsed. Dust and soil were kicked into the skies in the collapse of stones, forming a mushroom cloud that covered the skies. Selene couldnt resist looking back, where she found an enormous dark shadow amidst the dust, slowly rising and shaking off the rock and dirt off its body. Even though her vision was blurred by the dust, she could clearly see its horns and the bony arrow-shape tip of its colossal tail. That demon was really free! Selene was simply stupefied. Though all adult elves possess formidable power and were once categorized by humans as a species of magical beast, that was merely the perspective of weaker races such as the humans. The reality was that they were not actually much better than if they were to be compared to other supernatural species, and devils were one of the most common of supernatural species. They were different from demons, which only hatched from demonic roes that incubated inside intelligent creatures as their hosts, infecting the body after they hatch and then slowly causing it to metamorphize. Instead, devils are former residents of hell, and themselves a unique but powerful creature. Most devils were born with supernatural abilities and they came in such a variety of forms that their taxonomy remained a mystery, although most of them would have horns that symbolize the hierarchy of their species and their arrow-tipped tails that represented their place as nobles of the underworld. There were many who wrongly assumed devils that worshipped evil gods as well. Those evil gods were actually the hosts of demonic roes, and demonic roes were themselves spread into the mortal realm personally by evil gods to choose their believers (a side that was rather resembling of Xi Weis system). On the other hand, it was unknown what gods the devils believe in, or indeed if they held faith of any kind. Be that as it may, demons were born with the power of bending space to a certain extent. Even if it wasnt enough for them to cross the world barrier to reach the mortal realm (Prime Material Plane), they could project their shadows through certain conduits like the gods on the mortal realm to interact with intelligent creatures. Furthermore, every devil had the power to bewitch humans, and they loved making contracts with individuals of intelligent species and toy with them through said contracts. Their goals were quite defined as well: they would have their unlucky toys attempt various rituals, all in the name of summoning their bodies that were in hell to the mortal world through various rituals! It was true that devils were famous and depicted as beings opposing the gods who symbolize justice and virtue in literature (believers often beautify their objects of admiration by instinct). Even so, they were nothing more than a supernatural species, and pitting them against the gods who fooled around with the Rules all the time was too much. That was why devils were not bound by the Rules that the Trinity of Creation had put in place, and humans (or any other intelligent species) could summon their true forms to the mortal realm with certain rituals! Most famous demons had been alive over a millennium (Hell wasnt involved in the third divine war, and middle-aged creatures living over a thousand years were common there), and each of them were equally match with dragons in the mortal realm. Moreover, given that most devils had the personality of only wanting to watch the world burn, they were as stubborn as they were daring to tell jokes to get the dragons attention while sending a clone to steal the dragons eggs Its moving towards me. It definitely noticed my presence, and theres no way Im getting away with my current ability. Nonetheless, Selene had calmed down despite the desperate situation. Even so, I must do as that man said and try to tell Her Majesty about the devil breaking free! She tore a large-enough leaf off a tree near herself and wrote down short and simple elven words before folding it into the shape of a paper crane, enchanting it with elven magic so that it could move on its own. With that done, the elven girl gently let it fly. Go. Im counting on you. Watching as the paper crane disappeared amongst the trees, Selene took a deep breath and turned towards the devil which figure was slowly becoming distinct in the middle of all the dust. Now well see how much time I can buy. She muttered. Chapter 214: Whale Power! All Items Stat +7 A pair of bat-like wings extended out of the devils back. They gently flapped once, and all the dust in the air was blown away. The creature resembled an exceedingly muscular hairless gorilla in appearance and stood around five meters, with a pair of horns that was around a meter each and resembled a buffalo. Its tail that protruded out of the small of its back looked like a crocodiles, albeit with a bony arrow-shaped tip that was a signature appearance for all devils. Either way, there was no doubt that the creature was a devil from every traitand an individual of a superior race at that. And before it could do anything else, it took a deep breath before speaking with its gruff voice. Fresh air, how Ive missed you! Such delight I even believed that I hadnt woken from my dream! Many assumed that devils preferred the sulfuric scented air down in hell because they lived there, but that was not truethough they could survive over long periods in environments with zero oxygen, those creatures preferred fresh, oxygen-rich air as well. Although sulfuric air would make them feel nostalgia and remind them of the scents of home, they didnt really like it all that much. In fact, the mortal realm with its fertile resources and suitable climates are the most ideal colony for most devils. Hence, the devil took another deep breathbut not merely to breath, but to identify the scents in the air. Ho? An elf with impure bloodline and that human just now. Were they really the ones who freed me? It licked the palm it had crushed Marni with, suddenly noticing in surprise that the taste of blood it expected wasnt there. The devil stared at its palm by instinct only to realized that the mincemeat and blood were gone entirely as if the humans corpse had vanished, leaving only its spit from its own licking. Nonetheless, the devil did not care too much about itinstead of minding its curiosity about the human, the fleeing elf was the real main course! Hmmm? But just two steps out, the devil noticed vines shooting out of the ground, intent on coiling around itself. I see the elves did not improve their skill even after so many years. The devil snorted at the puny spell, spread its wings, ignoring the vines as it flew straight for the elf. Even if wood elves are buffed in speed in the forests, they were no match to the speed at which the devil flewit landed with a rumble right in front of Selene in an instant! The devil lowered its back, looking down upon the elven girl which was knocked down on the ground by the shockwave and its landing. Yo, little kitty It grinned. Where are you going? Nonetheless, Selene did not say a word with the great foe right in front of herself, and promptly raised her hand, firing several emerald rays at the devils head and dyeing it in green. It was a spell of considerable power, and equal in devastation with a Blast Fireball that human mages could release after a charge delay of thirty seconds. And yet, devils were a supernatural species that bathed in magma as if it was hot springsnot only were they immune towards magic, their physical defense made such level of attacks negligible. It didnt even have to care about the greenness over its head, and it simply smiled, watching as Selene struggled against her inevitable death. Tsk tsk tsk. Unlike the foolish humans, your kind should know very well what power devils would have one lone half-bred elf is never going to win. The devils eyes widened in mockery and curiosity at the elven girl. What drove you to attack me without hesitation anyway? Were you merely trying your luck? Or could it have been your survival instincts at work? Selene did not reply, however. She was in fact hoping that the devil could muse to itself, because that was the only way that the paper crane that she released would have time to return to Trinia and inform the Elven Queen about the devils escape from its seal. No answer? Not a surprise, since generations of elves have been hostile towards my kind. The devil did not appear suspicious about the uncooperative reaction of the elven girl, and continued self-indulgently musing to itself. If thats the case, I shall make my guess. At those words, it inched its face closer to the elven girl. Selene took a step back by instinct after a single glance at the massive maw that could swallow her whole. It was not as if she hadnt thought of seizing the moment to attack its eyes or mouth, but her rational mind told her that not only would it be ineffective, it would instead provoke the devil. And if she was killed, the mana-imbued paper crane would become very obvious within this area! That is why she must endure it It wouldnt matter if she died as long as her paper crane reached other elves. Could it be because of this little thing? The devil was grinning broadly even as it showed her what it was talking aboutthe exact same paper crane she had folded with tree leaves to inform Trinia! Selene felt her mind go blank in that split second, just as her heart was clenched tightly by a colossal hand called despair. Whatever strength she had that kept herself going was also gone in an instant, and she dropped to her knees as her whole body went soft. Hahahaha! Thats it! Thats the look I wanted to see! The devil finally laughed out loud. How wonderful its not a waste of effort getting this little thing! It was so worth it! Its face turned menacing right then. And relax, youre just the first! With the hate I have after being sealed for so long, I wont be satisfied until I kill every elf in this forest! At those words, it swung its palm viciously down at Selenes head! Even so, a golden-red figure suddenly appeared in that very moment to stand between the devil and the elven girl. The figure was armed with a metallic full-body armor. Though Selene had seen armor of every variety in her long elven life, that was the first time she had seen that armor, which was at once gaudy and impractical. And yet that armored figure had handily withstood the force of the demons palm! What are you!? The devil exclaimed at the unexpected guest. Even so, the armored figure did not answer. Instead, he turned to glance at the elven girl, its weird helm suddenly opening to reveal a human face which she would never forget. Like I said, its going to be okay as long as youre alright. Marni grinned. Leave the rest to me. With that, the Iron Man armor closed itself, with every joint shining in faint blue light as the familiar spirit started firing on all cylinders. Now witness the whale power of having all item stats strengthened to plus seven! At those words, he was slapped by the devil into the dirt. Chapter 215: Awesome! Fine, it was a pathetic appearancebut having every item at +7 was still quite formidable even if Marni was slapped into the ground so hard that he couldnt pull himself out of it. Moreover, he only lost one-fifth of his HP and didnt die immediately! After all, Marni was still the self-proclaimed toughest tank amongst all Players since those who had changed class to Holy Lancers recently had not familiarized themselves with the playstyle of that class. Additionally, his whaled items as well as his innumerable death experiences that now allow him to face anything with great composure! Youre alive! Selene stared in shock at the man who was digging himself out before frowning. But I saw Selene was very sure that she had seen Marni die, and not by falling off a cliff or into the ocean, but crushed between the talons of a devil. By logic, there was no chance he could play dead. With that in mind, there was only one reason why he was still appearing here! I got it! The girl exclaimed in epiphany. Youre that mans twin! What other reason could there be? Or what, these humans had suddenly acquired the ability for limitless resurrection because they became converts of some unpopular deity? Meanwhile, Marni did a double-take. Huh? Nonetheless, Selene appeared convinced she had the right idea, and summoned vines with her elven magic to dig out Marni. The devil was no mere backdrop, however, and it immediately sensed that Marni didnt die after it had slapped him into the dirt. While it was unsure why a mere human would survive a blow with eighty percent of its strength, it was still a demon and naturally intended to try again. Be that as it may, Marni didnt come alone to the fightother Players were also arriving at the battle, and as per tradition, they greeted the World Bosses by launching their ultimate skills. The devil merely smiled in disdain when it noticed that the newcomers were all humans. Though not one to brag, the creature was the member of a supernatural species that had lived over a thousand years. Its strength and knowledge far surpassed any younger specimen of its own kind, and although it hadnt recovered its mana because it had just broken its seal, it did recover considerably. And what had it not seen in the thousand years since it lived? It didnt even have to evade the magic of the puny humans. It would be even better for it to kick up some dust around itself and appear unscathed when they assumed that they had brought it down, just so that the humans could experience despair for interrupting its fun! Hence, it pretended as if it couldnt react in time, allowing the Players to fire all their skills at his face. Tch, those spells do sting could the humans have rebuilt their magical society that well in just a thousand years? Still, the barrage of spells exploded as the demon expected, blowing smoke that immediately shrouded the devil in its entirety. Its lips parted then in a sly smile. Appearing immediately would be meaningless. It just had to wait for a moment and show up when the humans believed that they had won, and only then could it strike the heaviest blow into their morale! Even so, before it could even show itself, the Players launched another overwhelming barrage of spells, catching the devil off guard and knocking it off its feet. Damn it, these humans are really cautious! Still, that hurt less than the first wave Hmph! They would definitely think that Im beaten now, this wave must have been to check The devil grimaced in pain as it slowly got to its feet. Thankfully, I didnt scream either. They are going to be all the more shocked when I show up now! And yet, the third barrage of spells shot towards it before it could really get up, noisily knocking it down to the ground once more! This wave is even weaker! Im definitely on the right track but damn it, I would be pouncing and killing them all if I didnt want them to despair! The devil rubbed its now-swollen face, at once annoyed and confused. And when did the humans learn to be so prudent? Are their kind militarized to such extent nowadays? Unbeknownst to the creature, the Players were actually confused too. Is that Boss glitching? It already has a quarter of its HP knocked off, so why is it still hiding in the smoke but not moving? Who knows? It might be holding back its second form. And stop spacing out, keep firing! What if it is pretending that we cant see it? Theres no way we cant see it, its HP bar is so obvious My Ulti just came off cooldown! Yeah, me too. Everyone, get ready, were having another Ulti barrage on the next wave! Hence, just when the devil was about to jump out and yell surprise, it was assaulted brutally by the barrage of ultimate spells and ate dirt once more, the surprise exclamation it prepared knocked back down its own throat as it could only manage a mumble of motherf*cker On the other end, the Players were all exclaiming in shock by the time the devil got to its feet again. Is that the Bosss second form?! That bleeding-all-over look feels so awesome. Theres a lot of holes on its wings. Do all devils share the same postapocalyptic-style? It actually lost two front teeth. Careful, everyone, it is definitely going to breath fire! And now that things have come to this, even the most brainless of demons would realize that they had been playedlet alone the devil which had a far more capable brain. How dare you make a fool of me! No games of despair with you lot, then! I shall kill all of you right here, right now! It spread its wings, lunging in rage at the Players, having completely forgotten the elven girl and Marni who was still stuck in the ground. When they saw that the Boss was finally acting normal and rather indignant after having being beaten up while it stayed still, the nervous Players breathed a sigh of relief as well. Sticking to their usual tactics, they had their Warriors drawing Enmity, Holy Lancers shielding the Warriors while other Classes dealing damage and making calls, continuing their assault on the devil which HP was now dwindling. Even as it landed, the devil unleashed its powerful dark magic strikes, killing one Player after another gruesomely. But somehow, it was the one left in disbelief because not only were the humans fearless, they were all actually laughing and cheering instead when he killed their comrade who was wearing golden-red armor had been stuck in the ground all along finally freed himself and came to help, feeling no rage or misery at all. Hahaha! Marnis dead! You bastards! I cant focus every event I see him die. Awesome, awesome! This event is awesome now that Marnis dead! Meanwhile, the devil couldnt help screaming inwardly at the sight. Damn it, you people are the real devils here! Chapter 216: Taking Down the Enemy in One Shot, 1700 Meters Away The devil couldnt figure out how the Players minds worked at all. Worse still, it was now at a disadvantage, whereas their eccentric behavior also rendered its silver tongue ineffective. As such, the creature could only depend on its own brute strength to kill as many Players as it could, so that they would lose the will to fight and ultimately flee. In theory, any army in this world would lose morale and collapse when they suffer 30% of casualtieseven the most valiant of legions would not hold together when they lose half of their forces. Therefore, the will of a fighting force were all basically in parabolic formsuffering a few casualties early on would embolden them, causing the curve to rise, but once more die or get hurt the curve would drop immediately down to the abyss. Even so, the devil soon realized that its adversary simply wasnt peaking or deflating. Even as the battle went raging on and the Players had clearly lost a third of their rankswith casualties in fact slowly inching towards halfand yet their will to fight did not change at all. Inconceivable when did the humans evolve to such heights? The devil was now actually showing disbelief on its face even as it used its bare hands to crush a Shadow Rogue attempting to ambush itself, just as it glared at the dwindling ranks of the Players. This wouldnt do. These jokers just might get in the way of its resurgence but since theres not much left of them anyway, it could directly wipe them out right here! Resolving itself, it bore down its palm at another Player! *** Thanks to the experience it gained by fighting these humans, the devil had learned that they were proficient in combat, but they were just as suicidal and had no regard for self-preservation, only ever intending to inflict as much damage as they could. Perhaps such a fighting style would hold great advantage for other beings that had similar levels of lifeforce with themselves, since injuries it didnt matter as long as they could kill their enemy. Still, that was a style distinctly disadvantageous when aimed against a supernatural species like the devil. After all, merely its normal attacks would inflict tons of damage upon them! As a matter of fact, this bunch was also tough enough that it takes the devil up to four blows to make sure that theyre dead. On the other hand, normal humans would be reduced to mincemeat with a single slap! But there was a surprise this time. A male human, holding a long, unusually thin and unusually shaped single-edge sword had stopped his slap. The blade was just two fingers wide, and the human wasnt using any strength to block its blowbut by sheer technique without the use of any energy! In fact, the devil felt its heart skipping a beat for some reason when its attack was stopped. It was a sensation it had never experienced before in its long, devilish life. Even against the elven ancient, it had only been sealed by an immense sealing spell while his adversary also relied on the advantage of numbers and location! Oh? This things attacks could be blocked. The sword-wielder appeared surprised himselfas if he didnt really expect to stop the devils strike. Dont get cocky, human! The devil withdrew its palm and clench it into a fist, putting every strength it had behind it and swinging it down at the human! In that split second, however, it abruptly noticed that the youth wasnt as serious and stoic as before, but was instead showing a vague smile. An instant later, the devils fist met his blade. The creatures skin should be unmatched in sturdiness that normal blades wouldnt harm it, and the same thing happened now toothe edge of the sword couldnt cut into its skin even after it had thrown so much weight behind its fist. That being said, what stunned it was something else entirely: its full-powered punch was fully parried! If I could block, I could parry. Knowing that, youre nothing more than a bigger goblin and theres nothing to be afraid about. The middle-aged man with a gaze as sharp as a lions said excitedly. The devil, unable to redirect the deflected force immediately was knocked off its rhythm and left staggered. And since every Player present were veterans, they naturally seized the moment and unleashed another barrage of spells, fearsomely shredding off another notch of HP. Damn it! These humans are too vile! The devil knew that this mustnt continue, not to mention that its strongest advantage wasnt in physical strength, but from the magical power it could unleash that it cultivated through real battles in hell! Be that as it may, it had yet to recover its mana and was now barely a third of its peak form. It would have to let these humans have their day. But when it regained its strength, it would have them taste what a devil truly had in its disposal! At that very thought, the thoroughly wounded devil spread its enormous bat wings, intent on escaping and finding a place to recover. That was the moment that Gou Dan had long been waiting for on his perch, over a towering fir tree two kilometers away. Hyper Long-Range Hit, Precision Strike, Loose Charge, Poison, and Death Pierce! I would have been waiting for nothing if you didnt try to escape! Five buffed arrows were let loose from the divine hunter bow AWM with a loud, deafening burst, turning into a single sharp white line that most human vision would have difficulty seeing. It struck the base of the devils right wing and knocking it off in its directly, sending the creature crashing down! Yeah! See that? Thats the true power of Junglewalkers! Gou Dan exclaimed in joy, excitedly rubbing his face on the AWM that he bought with all his life savings. Though he had used it multiple times after finally getting it, he was limited to hunting lower-level creatures and did not unleash the divine hunter bows true potential at all. Now, with the weapons power unleashed, Gou Dan was whooping in his head about how it was worth every coin! Well see how youll escape without wings! *** On the other end of the battle, the devil was howling like a wounded beast as it slammed heavily down from the air, kicking up earth and dirt. However, its voice was becoming as sharp as it was furious. And as it reared its head, a ball of dark light materialized between its totem-like horns. Gou Dan noticed that Edward was pinging him then. [Edward: The Boss is aiming for you! Be careful, dont get instakilled! Gou Dan pursed his lips in disdain when he read through Gou Dans message. Instakill me? Are you joking? We are 1700 meters apart! If it really could instakill me, Ill eat up every single pine cone on this pine tree right next to me! But before he could offer a retort on the forum, the ball of light charging over the devils horn shot out with a massive burst of magical energy like a bullet from a gun. And Gou Dan himself could immediately feel that it was launched at him! Tch! Junglewal There was no way he could have cast the teleport skill in timethe dark ball of light had already blown him sky high along with the ground around him. Being the Player of a weak class in the first place, he was instakilled. Chapter 217: The Vengeful Dead Nonetheless, after the devil had a wing clipped by Gou Dan and lost its ability to fly, its repeated attempts to break through the Players encirclement failed as more Players were revived, and returned to the battle to keep it pinned at the same spot. Unlike the Players who had the System plug-in and would remain the same as long as their HP bar wasnt empty, most creatures would fall in power levels and mobility the more wounded they were. In fact, there werent any entity like Berserker Players who would become stronger the more wounded they were. Even the barbarians of the cold highlands would gain fighting spirit when they were hurt early on, but as time moved on and blood loss became excessive, they would lose strength in their limbs. Then, when their life dwindled like a candle in the wind, they would basically be lying prone on the ground, close their eyes and wait to die if they didnt have any godly technique which could turn the tables. And the four earlier barrages had shredded a considerable portion of the devils HP, to the point that its strength had weakened far faster compared to the other Bosses they fought. Naturally, that might be due to the fact that the devil did not have a second form. Either way, as the massive body of the devil crashed heavily into the dirt, all the Players who were a part of the battle were cheering in delight. Have all humans become so powerful now? Meanwhile, Selene the elven girl had witnessed the entire battle from start to finish. She wanted to help a few times halfway through but simply couldnt find a chance, and now she gaped at the curious humans having something like a party, handily grinding down the legendary devil to its death! Selene could feel chills at that if these humans who were coming in and out of Trinia freely had ulterior motives, they could lay waste to Trinia even if the other elves held them in disdain! Therefore, she finally understood why the Silver Moon Goddesss decreed an oracle of an alliance between wood elves and humans, even though she felt uncomfortable about it. The standard of average humans outside Trinia was actually obvious with how adult elves could easily get rid of droves of slave hunters. In comparison, these humans calling themselves Players were definitely much more powerful! Moreover, their powers were not like Chosen Ones who gained immense divine power through the favor of the gods, their very ability virtually being a miracle in itself. On the other hand, the Players had clearly gone through many a difficult battlethey would advance and retreat with measure even against a supernatural creature like the devil without any hint of manic. They were truly formidable! Indeed, Selene couldnt help comparing the wood elves forest patrols to those cheering humans and what would happen if they clash. And no matter how she thought about it, she had the lingering feeling that it was more likely that the forest patrol would lose the skills that the Players could unleash were as weird as they were unique, with no lack of horrific devastation. What was more frightening was that they could actually come back to life! If not for an elite division like the Moon Keepers who barely protected the dignity of elves as the superior race to humans, Selene might lose her mind. All of a sudden, however, she noticed that the cheering had died down, and every Player was staring in shock at the devils corpse. What happened? She quietly asked the middle-aged man who was wearing golden-red armor even though she was feeling a little uncomfortable. That things corpse is a little weird. Marni, having been revived, was frowning tightly at the devils corpse. Oh, really? Taken aback, Selene studied the devils corpse that was riddled with holes. This is actually the first time I saw a devils corpse but it doesnt feel wrong to me. This is the first time Im seeing one too, Marni replied distractedly. Just when Selene was about to ask her why he could tell that the corpse was weird even though it was the first time he saw one, Marnis face stiffened. Its not vanishing even now thats why its very weird! No, isnt that normal? The elven girl pouted in retort. Its just a devils corpse and not an ice cube. Of course it wouldnt vanish! By the way, how did it escape from that arcanum that you said was sealed? Marni asked. How should I know but it seems to think that we freed it. The elven girl replied almost by reflex. I see. That thing doesnt even know what happened. Marni frowned even harder. So? Whats actually going on? Whats wrong with the corpse not vanishing? Selene pressed, but Marni didnt reply this time. It was just wrong, of course. Logically speaking, every monster that the Players killed would be delivered to Xi Wei, the God of Games who hadnt shown up for quite some time. And yet, the devil had clearly died, its HP bar empty and showing no signs of life. So why wasnt it vanishing? Just as the Players were left confused by the current situation, Edward suddenly sharply noticed that the name of the creature changed. At first, the creatures name is The devil that broke out of its sealsimple, direct and without any real sense of a name. But just now, that named suddenly changed into Nightcry, the Vengeful Dead! Then, the HP Bar which the Players had emptied became full of green life points once again. And that was not allNightcry had gained a status just beneath its HP Bar called zombie blight! Be careful, its reviving! Edward promptly shouted! He didnt have to give the warn the other Players, howeverall of them had already noticed that something was wrong and were attacking the devils corpse again, ready to whip the corpse. Even so, the devils corpse withstood their attack even as it staggered to its feet, and then attacked the Players around itself at lightning speed! Its attacks were on par with the creature when it was alive too! The first to die were the Warriors who tanked damage in the battle before and died in the process, after of which they were revived by the Clerics. Unable to react in time, thirty percent of the Warriors were instakilled in the blink of an eye! The remaining Warriors were not exactly in good health either. Wait a minute, your blood is red! A Warrior suddenly told his partner beside him. Nonsense, my blood has always been red. His partner replied. What color would it be, green? No, I mean your HP bar is red! The Player looked up to check at that, and realized that his green HP Bar had really turned red. And his HP level was dropping without end. Whats going on? Am I Bleeding? No, whats with that debuff oh no, the zombie blight is an infection! Any wounds that thing inflicts would be infected and causes bleedingeveryone, be careful! Spirits swordsmen were quite weak in the first place (since 25% of their HP is transplanted to their spirit familiar). After being scratched by Nightcry and left with just a fraction of HP, the Player died immediately after bleeding for two seconds. Even so, it was not over. The corpse of the Players with the zombie blight debuff would not vanish as they usually did, but remained where they were. In moments, the corpses had turned into fearsome zombies and they started to attack other Players. And their Player name that hovered over their heads became Vengeful Dead: The Returned. All at once, the scene erupted into pandemonium Chapter 218: Resident Evil: Otherworld Edition Xi Wei was naturally paying attention to what unraveled in the Trinia Forests. At first, he thought that the Players had once again found another monster from some desolate corner and didnt pay much attention. After all, the devils powers had fallen considerably after a thousand years being kept behind a seal, though a supernatural being it may be. It would only be equally matched with the young Barren Giant the Players encountered before, let alone the Marsh Drake of the Seira Marshes. Moreover, the Players had changed now. No longer their past helpless selves back when they encountered the Barren Giant, they had gone through so many battles, leveling and item strengthening that it would take just fifty of them to slay that Barren Giant. Therefore, from Xi Weis perspective, even though there were less than a hundred Players rushing to Trinia to join the fight against the devil, their victory was assured as long as they didnt allow it to escape. And yet, something unexpected happened on top of that which was assured. Screw me, what is this supposed to be? Resident Evil: Otherworld Edition? Xi Weis ball form frowned as he trained his Divine Eye down on the mortal realm, feeling that the situation has turned awry. In fact, he knew that something wasnt right immediately when the devil was slain, but wasnt sent to his divine kingdom as an offering per the Rule he had established. And after drawing the records from his divinity, he noticed that the devils corpse had indeed triggered the effect of offering, but it was forced to a stop because it violated a greater rule. And the contravening rule is brood or apostles belonging to another living deity cannot be sacrificed as offerings. That was a rule agreed upon by several gods in the last divine war, and was of far higher priority than the System that Xi Wei himself made. The rule was agreed over unknown reasonsbut according to the blurred records pulled from the Aquatic Lords broken divinity, it was likely because the Rule which dictated that gods were unable to cross the World Barrier before the Third Divine War had yet to be established. As such, powerful demigods, divine broods, and apostles were all over the place. Mortal believers therefore could never resist them, while divine creatures would strut about without restraint, destroying the mortals homes. That was when a wise theologian thought of a solution. He began implementing major changes on ritual offerings to the gods as needed, shifting a majority of ritual conditions to the preparation of the ritual itself. That way, the offering rituals that once was a gesture of devotion to the gods became a trap that severely consumes manpower and resources! When all of that was done, once those strutting adversaries were lured to the ritual grounds, they could directly offer them to their gods! Moreover, that theologian was not all stingy about his knowledge and ritual altering. He taught it to his apprentices, and sent them forth across the continent to teach those rituals to other mortal races in other regions. Hence, the mortals relied on that one method to destroy opposing divine brood and their apostles in a brief hundred years, returning peace to the whole world. That being said, the gods certainly did not like that. Moreover, there were some believers of certain formerly weak gods who would trap powerful broods as powerful as the present-day Seven Divine Fathers, and offer them to their gods divine kingdom. And up above, that god would have just barely finished taking down one brood with all his dragon-slaying strength, only to turn and find that his believers had already sent forth another ridiculously apostle as offering Tsk. I quit! Believe in whatever other god you want! Either way, for the personal benefit and the honor of the gods, the supreme deities of that time took the lead, with many gods joining together in ensuring that the Rule of prohibiting a living deitys brood and apostles form being used as offering. But that was digressing. Either way, the corpse of the devil couldnt be sent to Xi Weis divine kingdom as a sacrifice because its body seemed to still hold some divine power. The Rule hence judged that it was the brood of a still-living god, ultimately failing the sacrificial ritual. The power to raising the dead could it be the Prince of Darkness? Nope, doesnt feel the same. Xi Wei carefully sensed Nightcrys condition through the Players fighting it. The Prince of Darkness controls the authority of Death, and that is very close to the foundation of this worlds Rules. On the other hand, this thing is like an unseasoned rack of lamb: no soul, just a zombie. *** If Xi Wei could generally feel the Nightcrys condition, the Players could observe the creature more clearly than Xi Wei. The Players infected by zombie blight, died and became zombies themselves only mutated physicallytheir souls showed no change at all, and were sent into isolation in Xi Weis Black Hut as per Game Rules. The only difference was that the zombified Players now did not have the resurrection period because their corpse had mutated. Not even the Clerics could resurrect then now, although items like the Resurrection Ankh that revived them directly at the Lifestone would still work normally. So the Players were just a little confused by the sudden situation just now. Having paid close attention to the situation down at the mortal realm, Xi Wei was pleased that the Players quickly composed themselves after the initial panic. While the zombified Players would still possess their physical strength, their greatest advantage of resurrection and skills are gone, and they are now much weaker than Players of the same level. And that was certainly true: after the earlier pandemonium, the Players soon discovered that their comrades werent really zombified thanks to the Game Forums, that they were merely sealed into the Black Hut and would be revived three days later. Its not enough to start an event, but I could assign quests to the Players who have joined the battle. The remaining Players were motivated after learning that the resurrection mechanism was still in effect, and could fight normally. Then, further spurred on by their quest, the Players erupted into a frenzy and even more so when they realized that the zombies were too weak after trading blows. According to the quest hint shown in the System, everything would be alright if they get rid of the Nightcry corpse which was the carrier of the zombie blight, and they could have a feast of grilled meat by the evening. After all, the zombie blight was in itself a deviant divine powercreatures infected and killed by it would be altered into a brood of that divine power. Likewise, if they got rid of that brood, the deviant divine power would vanish without infinite resurrection. But compared to the optimistic Players, Xi Wei was thinking much further ahead. That divine power though it definitely wasnt the Prince of Darkness, it must still be a god connected to the undead. The divine power has mutated considerably, and its true purpose now is to rapidly spread to turn all existence into their own brood but what could the culprit actually want? Xi Wei examined the zombie corpses of his Players, his ball form frowning deeper. Zombies like this would never supply divine energy like normal beings do for normal gods, and wouldnt having them in their brood only hold them back? And yet they specifically chose a devil sealed in the Trinia Forest what deeper meaning could there be? Suddenly, Xi Wei shivered at that very thought. What if there was no deeper meaning? What if the devil was simply a chess piece chosen by the culprit? If that proved to be the case, what would become of the world? Chapter 219: Angoras Worries Tunaya, the Silver Eagle Castle. Are you leaving? Horan the Silver Eagle Duke was asking Angora, who in turn was tidying himself to leave. Yes. I did say that Im staying until the end of the seeding festival. I didnt think that I would be staying this long. Angora nodded and answered forthrightly. As a matter of fact, Angora had wanted to leave Tunaya early on, but since he had become closer to his father, Horan had kept insisting that he stay longer since he was his only surviving son. Having taken the old mans feelings into consideration, he stayed for a dozen more days. Luckily, Angora could stay in touch with Vela, keeping tabs with what was happening in the Unnamed Town as well as relay instructions on administration matters with the godlike tool that was the Player Forums. That being said, many instructions on administration matters cant be relayed in detail in public. After all, the God of Games did not seem to consider private chat when developing the forums. Therefore, as many problems started to pile up recently, Angora couldnt wait to leave and return to the Unnamed Town. Cant you stay a bit longer? Be that as it may, Horan was still an old man unwilling to part with his son and stay in his home where the kids were missing from. I ready Kinleys letterisnt it easy for you to return to your fief? Its just a whoosh with that rock thing! Damn it, Kinley. You and your big mouth. Angora couldnt help retorting inwardly. Father, Im not a childthere are many things waiting for me to handle back at the fief, Angora answered truthfully. Well, could you bring me a present next time you come? The old man hesitated before asking. My father the duke asking me for a present? Thats rare. Angora was rather surprised. After all, the rank of duke stood at the top of noble hierarchy, right beneath the royal family. The wealth Angora accumulated with much effort might not even be a fraction of his fathers wealth in comparison. You cant? The old man said, looking a little lonely. Uh, of course. What do you want? If its some special local product we have Angora said, and started to think about what special local products the unknown town could provide: Players with every kind of crazy Seafood that the Aquatic Angels could summon (you would be eaten instead if cant defeat them) Beasts caught and tamed by the Players, before their body mutated abnormally Extremely dangerous mane-eating flower that swallows an adult man whole (Only for viewing) It felt like every single one of them wasnt something you give to others. In fact, it would be more correct to say that the Unnamed Town had somehow become a forbidden demonic land right under his nose Uh, now that I think of it, there arent any special local products Angora said with a troubled look. Relax, your daddy wouldnt want anything like that. But you definitely can make it! The old man spoke with a serious face. Im just hoping you could bring me a grandson next time you come! Angora felt as if he was hearing things. Grandson? Granddaughter works to, but grandson is better when inheritance rights is taken into consideration. The old man continued calmly. Dear father, Im just sixteen Thats fine, back then I dont want to hear about your carnal exploits, dad! Well, what about your mother? Oh, now thats a woman. Back when she came to me seeking refuge, oh, the things I prepared specially for her Stop! Thats not what I mean! Dont you think its too early for me to settle down right now? Angora felt mysteriously tired inside. Although his father seemed to be trying to make up for his past unjustness since Angoras eldest brother had died and asked after him in every way possible, Horans concern somehow keeps winding back to the same weird question But even as father and son debated whether marriage and childbirth were better done early or late, someone knocked on the door, interrupting their conversation about physical health. A new butler entered with Horans rather annoyed permission. Master Faust, the archbishop of Tunayas Brilliant White Church had come to visit, and he conveys his wishes to meet yourself and Young Master Faust. The butler said after a bow. He brought some gifts as well, most of them being tools such as holy water. Tell him to leave! Angora did not hesitate to refuse. As a loyal believer of the God of Games, Angora had learned through conversations with Princess Leah and historical records he scrounged to understand the fall of Tierra in detail. Although the God of Games was having a comeback at the moment and Tierra was on the path of revival, past wounds and grudges are not fading just that. And other matters aside, Angora certainly did not have a good opinion of the Brilliant White Church which had a hand in the fall of Tierra. No, you must meet him at least once. Horan shook his head, however, before instructing the butler to let their visitor rest at the guest room. Some things are unavoidable, he then told Angora solemnly. You would eventually become the lord of Tunaya and all of the North, and you would eventually meet the leaders of the Brilliant White Church. You would give them a bad impression if you keep avoiding them, and they might become suspicious of who you are. But Angora was a little upset. Relax, nothing would happen. Youre young, and any mistake could be excused by your youthful ignorance. Learn about how those people do things so that you can prepare for them later. The old man persuaded him. So, you do know that Im young Angora sighed, knowing that his father made sense. Fine, but Im leaving Tunaya after this meeting. As you wish sigh. I am such a failure of a father that my sons are all in a hurry to leave me The old man shook his head and sighed as he left the room, his once tall and strong back now appearing hunched and withering to Angoras eyes. Angora didnt know how he should set him at ease, but eventually decided to free more time so that he could come back and visit him. Hence, after tidying up his appearance, Angora followed him out of the room, intent on seeing for himself what the archbishop of the Brilliant White Church was like. Chapter 220: The Archbishop Angora arrived at the guest room to meet Hadro, the archbishop and leader of Tunayas Brilliant White Church. The man was in his seventies. He could be considered a centenarian in this world where the average lifespan was 40 years old, although archbishops of the God of Light aged much slower than mortals, with Hadro himself looking like he was just pushing fifty. May the Lords grace be upon you. He slowly got to his feet when he saw Horan and Angora enter, making a sign before his chest. It was a polite gesture of the Brilliant White Church. It was also usually paired with a bow, but the archbishop presumed that he did not have to lower his back since he was an individual of rank and old age. Moreover, the church he held stewardship over was the strongest religion at present. Nevertheless. My apologies, but the God of War has graced my family with his blessing, so we dont recover your Lords grace, Horan replied stiffly, and it was clear that he wasnt on good terms with Hadro. I see but wasnt it also true that Lord Kratos did not aid you when the bandits attacked your castle? It was clear that the archbishop had refined tempernot only was he unprovoked by Horans remark, he actually offered a counterpoint. According to what Ive heard, your eldest son fell in that accident. Surely you should know now: the fellowship at the Temple of Glory may consist of strong, burly folk, but they are all unreliable when push comes to shove. Angora noticed that the face of the respectful new butler darkened just then while clenching his fist. He understood right away that the butler was sent here from the Temple of Glory. No wonder old dad would send him off before speaking to me Meanwhile, Horan raised a hand to stop Hadro from continuing. Save your breath if you have come only to persuade me to convert. But do stay for dinner if you dont mindharvest is just over, and there is much stored food we need to get rid of immediately. Even if Horan did not put it out there, his undertone of get-the-hell-out-after-you-eat-your-fill was unmistakable. Understood, please calm down. You cant blame me for trying. Hadro chuckled cheerfully without taking offense, although his face turned a little serious. I knew all along that the Silver Eagle Duke would not so easily be converted As a matter of fact, it wouldnt be easy for Horan to convert even if he wanted to. Although the Temple of Glory was nowhere as wide-reaching as the Brilliant White Church, they wouldnt just sit and watch one of their believerswho was a duke at thatrun off to join their rivals. So why have you graced us with your presence, Your Excellency? Horan asked rather impatiently. That was an act, naturallythe old duke could have dragged the conversation on for a whole day without really talking about anything that mattered if necessary. The reason he adopted this approach instead was to convey stop-going-round-in-circles-and-say-what-youve-come-to-say. Hadro clearly understood that. He ceased his roundabout approach and went straight to the point. Young Angora here hasnt been baptized by those brutes, has he? Angora, who had merely been wallpaper until that moment was taken by surprise. Im just here to make acquaintance. Why am I getting mentioned? Still, after training himself so extensively in the Unnamed Town as well as having exchange and instruction from old Vanke himself, Angoras nose for politics had matured to quickly pick up the reasoning underneath. Cecil, the heir his father had formerly chosen died in his own rampage, while his second brother was murdered by the Black Whip even before that. Angora was therefore the only heir left of the Faust family. As long as he didnt kick the bucket halfway through, inheriting the title of Silver Eagle Duke is a mere matter of time. Since having his father, an old believer of Kratos for decades convert was virtually impossible, Angora in theory could be converted without any cost since he wasnt baptized in the name of the God of War. And that was why the archbishop had set his sights on him. Even so, the geezer had miscalculated. It was true that since Angora never received Horans favor (or as he would put it, deliberately given the cold shoulder by Horan), he wasnt baptized early on at the Temple of Glory like Cecil. And now that Angora had long since been molded as a believer of the God of Games and most willingly so, why would he become a convert of some shining deity? Even when sentiment wasnt taken into account and only benefits were taken into account, the System from the God of Games provided every form of convenience. On the other hand, the God of Light had so many believers that he wouldnt be given special treatment even if he really inherited the rank of duke. At best, he would be surrounded by a bunch of other believers like his own father wherever he went, which was merely changing staff sourcing from the Temple of Glory to the Brilliant White Church instead. With that thought in mind, Angora spoke out directly. Im sorry, but Im not interested in joining the Brilliant White Church. Beside them, the new butler had a sparkle in his eyes, seemingly pleased with his young masters reaction. Im sorry, but Im not interested in the Temple of Glory either. Angora retorted inwardly when he noticed that. Why? Instead of the stuffy, stinking Temple of Glory, us Brilliant White Church is definitely better, you know? The old archbishop continued his persuasion. Angora also noticed that Hadro was ever so discreetly throwing glances at the new butler. It appeared that the archbishop knew that he was from the Temple of Glory, and was therefore deliberately trying to provoke him. And in the blink of an eye, Angora knew what Hadro was thinking. If the new butler would endure the provocation, the old archbishop would only have the pressure of running his mouth. On the other hand, if the new butler couldnt just sit and watch and decided to argue or even brazenly resort to physical measures, he would only prove the archbishop true about what poor characters fill the Temple of Glory. And considering that Hadro was an archbishop who just might prove very formidable, it might turn out to be an almighty beatdown with which he could lure Angora to convert. Understanding that, Angora certainly wouldnt let the archbishop run his mouth. Im digressing, he smiled cheerfully at old Hadro, but what I love to do the most is to say no when someone is holding my head and forcing me to convert to some new god. The composure on the archbishops face disappeared at his clear hostility, and he began to study Angora carefully. And yet, his eyes did not show anger, but there was a look of appreciation instead. I see. It appears that I have neglected your feelings The old man was about to continue when an uproar echoed from the outside. A guardsman then hurried into the room. My Lord, he reported, A bishop from the Brilliant White Church had arrived outside, claiming that he has urgent news to relay to the archbishop Let him enter. Although Horan wasnt on good terms with Hadro, he gave the newcomer permission since he wasnt the type who resort to cheap tricks. And soon enough, a flustered man in a cassock entered. Kuffon, you are a bishop. Have I not told you that you should watch your manners at all times? Or have you forgotten? Old Hadro stared at the white-robed bishop in displeasure. Your Excellency, its an urgent matter, Kuffon replied, seemingly hesistating if he should whisper the news into the archbishops ears. However, the archbishop instructed to the contrary. Speak freely. I have faith that Duke Faust and his heir apparent dont have loose tongues. At those words, the white-robed bishop no longer hesitated. It appears that undead monsters had appeared at the mass grave near the Sotimi border The bishop paused and gulped before continuing. And weve completely lost contact with the sacred corps who have gone ahead to pacify the situation! Chapter 221: The Devil Is A Devil Even When Its Dead The most troublesome thing about Nightcry for the Players was not its stronger attacks or its immunity to pain after its resurrection, but getting hit by the zombie blight debuff! The Players would turn into zombie-like monsters once they died with that debuff, and while those monsters were weak, Cleric Players wouldnt be able to revive them. Moreover, they would have to wait for three days before reviving at the Lifestone if they didnt have a Resurrection Ankh! Still, the Players who had gathered at Trinia to slay the devil were experienced veterans who had basically experienced almost every circumstance (whereas newbies would die immediately). Having grown in one event after another, all of them had great confidence and the toughness to become even more valiant in the face of greater setbacks. Even if Nightcry had become stronger after its resurrection (mainly because it wasnt doing nothing while taking hits), it had lost all strategic sense and fought sheerly by instincts. Therefore, the Players found it easy to handle it after mapping out its attacks. Besides, the creature basically had no divine attribute although it possessed an abnormal divine power, and naturally wasnt resistant to Rules. It was affected by every skill the Players had, and even if they couldnt kill it swiftly, it greatly eased the pressure on the Players when it came to damage output. Moreover, with someone like Mufasa who could rely on his skill to block and parry a majority of Nightcrys attacks regardless of the gap between their levels, the battle began to favor the Players side. Anyone who isnt a warrior dont get too close, and dont get in the way of the Kengyoku! That Holy Lancer over theretake your condor to the rear and shoot the beast right there! Warriors, try not to get it! Getting trampled or crushed is still better than being instakilledthe Clerics could at least revive you! Damn it, friendly fire! I would have smashed your brains out if friendly damage wasnt lowered! Medic! Wait, I mean Clerics! Where are the Clerics? Im hurt, and Im bleeding green everywhere! Quick, heal, and purify me! Oh no, the Aquatic Angels cant summon seafood nowthose things can get zombified too! Well, arrows are no use now. The Bosss head has been shot so many times its a porcupine now. Marnis got trampled to death again. Anyone going to revive him? By the way, feels like the little elven lady beside him has been slacking all along. Woah, are you saying that the elves might kill steal? Amidst the chaotic shouts of the Players where some of the reputable Players temporarily took command of the situation, Nightcrys HP finally dropped to twenty percentdown to the kill zone. But that was when the weird happened: Nightcrys entire body suddenly ballooned, as if it was being filled with gas. Having guessed that it was about to unleash some special attack, all the Players instinctively pulled away when the creature simply blew up right in front of their eyes. After that, many smaller devils that looked just like Nightcry but were half the height of an adult streamed out of the corpse. Like a horde of zombies, they poured forth at the Players like a surging tide! Although they had low HP and the Players could take one down by a single skill, the problem was that they were too many! They just couldnt get rid of them before the little devils reached themand from the looks of their dark-green razor-sharp talons, they definitely carried the zombie blight too! It would be game over the Players if they were all infected. The blight rapidly shreds their HP, and all the little devils needed to do was buy time so that they could infect everyone! Mufasa, being a Player who had his skill points invested purely in Kengyoku without any AoE skills was overwhelmed by the horde in no time at all, swiftly becoming the first victim. But as things become very dangerous, Princess Leah who had slowly faded into the role of side character felt as if something unseen was poking at her brain. She was promptly inspired, realizing that she was a Warrior Princess and not an ordinary Player with a sword. Hence, she threw aside her longsword, illogically drew a flagpole lance taller than herself out of nowhere and stabbed it firmly into the ground. Blitzkrieg Formation! Temporal Drag! Hence, a golden halo immediately cascaded away around the girl from beneath the flagpole and unfurled outwards. All the Players within the circle of light promptly felt their bodies becoming much lighter, whereas the little devils would become much slower when the same light touched them! Well done! Edwards eyes twinkled. Having assumed that this would be a team wipe, he swiftly relayed new instructions to the other Players. Hit them now! Dont mind it if your attacks arent in syncjust hit hard! Having escaped imminent doom, the Players rallied and cast a myriad of skills at the horde of little devils, with most spells detonating amidst the creatures with colorful fireworks. Eventually, only a handful of the little devils were left when they finally reached the Players. Even if they were quite agile in movement after being caught in Temporal Drag, they were actually weaker than Player zombies and were soon mostly culled by the other Players. But just as the Players assumed that the day was once and became at ease and even started chatting while fighting, whatever little demons that remained began to balloon like a pufferfishjust like Nightcrys corpse did not too long ago. Tsk, are these things going to split apart too?! The Players shuddered at the thought of those little devils bursting into even smaller, mini devils, and began to focus their firepower to kill them all immediately. And yet, the little devils werent bursting into mini devils. In the instant that the Players struck their bloated bodies, they burst apart like a pricked balloon, letting loose green gasses with the scent of apples that shrouded all the Players. Im hit Edward dropped to the ground. The green gas was naturally zombie blightand unlike how it was transmitted by touch or open wounds before, the debuff effect stacks according to the amount of green gas that each Player breathed in. Even if the Clerics and Holy Lancers would persistently purify them, only one layer of debuff could be removed! Moreover, their skills were on cool downmeaning that every Player would become a zombie before their zombie blight status fades! Chapter 222: Devil on the Loose Joe stiffly set down beside Edward even as their HP kept decreasing over their heads. It would be seconds before they died by the looks of things. But for once, Joe was making a helpless face for once despite his usual scatterbrained behavior. Well, its still a team wipe in the end *** This might be the first defeat of the Players in the truest sense of the Players. In the past, team wipes would only occur in dungeons which they only entered in parties with a limited number of people, and that would only happen because their resurrection skills did not come off cooldown in time or due to an insurmountable gap between enemy and themselves. On the other hand, the Players had always triumphed with flying colors against Wild Bossesone could even say that they were undefeated. But it looks like their winning streak was at an end. Three days until we revive. Ouch. Thats not all, Edward said, able to see further than Joe. Our corpses would be zombified when we died, and in the end the wood elves would have to clean up after us our reputation in their perspective just might sink even lower. After all, the wood elves were the toughest crowd to please amongst all the other locations where Reputation Systems were implemented. Aside from Marni who occasionally brought in merchandise from the outside and gained relatively higher reputation, it was as if other Players couldnt farm reputation amongst the wood elves no matter what they did. In fact, their own persistence might even cause a drop in reputation No way! We actually helped them defeat their nemesis here Joe appeared a little caught in confused hysterics. You saw for yourself how disgustingly powerful that devil was, and even if the wood elves could beat it, it would cost them as much as it cost us! Isnt it unreasonable for our reputation amongst the wood elves to drop when we put our lives on the line to put it down?! They arent us. They dont know what happened, or how much effort and sacrifice we took to defeat the devil they only knew the outcome, that it was us who freed the devil which had been sealed for over a thousand years, laying waste to a huge chunk of the forest before getting zombified, hence suffering the consequences of our own actions. Edward could not help but sigh. The God of Games must be warning us through this case that not everyone is worth helping. And I think youre overthinking it. Joe rolled his eyes, before asking Edward softly, By the way, about the sealhow did such a powerful thing like that come out? Could it really be us who freed it? After all, most people would get as far as they could when they heard of some place which had been sealed. To Joes impression, only Players would do something as death-defying as that. No. Old Marnie likes to brag, but he wouldnt lie when it comes to such things. Edward shook his head. And compared to him, dont you think the Secret Eye Society is more suspicious? *** Ever since the incident at the Unnamed Town, the Secret Eye Society had consistently appeared everywhere, shrouding themselves in every form of conspiracythe most recently being here at the Trinia Forests, where they attempted to steal Sefarim, a sacred relic of the elves. If there is anyone to be blamed, they certainly were a better fit than the Players. Even so, Edward didnt say it out despite the nagging dj vu sensation he had inside, as if he had forgotten something. Really, Joe mumbled. Why do I get the feeling Old Marni just wanted to have the Boss rewards for himself Hold it! Though Joe had blurted those words inadvertently, Edward was promptly alert and cheerfulhe turned, holding Joe by his shoulders and staring unblinkingly into his eyes. What did you just say? Repeat that! What? Dont do that Im scared Joe, startled by his reaction, shielded his huge pectoral muscles with both hands by instinct. Pulling a long face in contempt, Edward let him go and knocked him in the head with his staff, and a red -1 appeared over Joes head. Stop fooling around, my HP is already low. Joe adjusted his helm which was knocked askew before turning serious. What is it? I could apologize if I had been speaking untowardly No, I want you to repeat what you said, Edward replied. Well, its still a team wipe in the end'' Thats too far ahead. What you said just a moment ago would suffice. And I think youre overthinking it okay, okay. Joe finally became serious when he saw Edward raise his staff again. Old Marni wanted the Boss rewards for himself? Is that it? Thats right! Boss rewards! Edward exclaimed. Why arent we getting any rewards even though the devil is defeated? Wouldnt there usually at least be a golden legendary item when we defeat a target like this? We should get a purple rare even if were unluckybut theres just no item dropped even though we had won! Maybe were just having a black day Joe guessed, but soon refuted that himself. No, thats not right. Zonyan the Black Hand isnt with us today, so we shouldnt be that black And the quest assigned to us by the God of Games isnt complete. I had assumed that we would all be wiped out from the poison and the quest would be deemed a failure because of that, but thats not the case. Edward got to his feet, turning to the other lackluster Players who were cutting down any zombified Players and yelled out. The Boss hasnt drop item rewards yet! There must be a little demon on the run! Find it, kill it, and you would get that godlike item! Thus, the eyes of all the Players immediately brightened, even though they had all became disinterested due to the horrific losses suffered in the quest. True, if they could get a Legendary itemit was worth dying and losing 30% of their current EXP! All of them immediately began to search the Bosss domain. That said, how much spirit could a bunch of excited Players muster to find something before they kick the bucket? They would dig out a mole several meters beneath the earth, let alone a little devil! There! Found it! Soon enough, Edward found the little devil hiding inside a hollowed tree. I guess I didnt disappoint the God of Games at least. Take this, Frost Ha! A huge tome which was wrapped in metals in each of its eight hinges and was wrapped in chain darted out, hitting the fleeing little devil on the head and tidily instakilling it. Eleeeeeeenaaaaaaaaaa! Edward sunk to his knees, his kill stolen once again. Taking the last bit of EXP by sheer coincidence, the radiance of leveling up appeared over Eleenas dainty body. Chapter 223: Xi Weis Personal Opinion Unlike Edward who was absolutely bloody furious, Xi Wei who had been watching the show in his divine kingdom was immediately praiseful of Eleena. As expected of the Saintess (in-training) I chose! Being able to check the Players panels, Xi Wei naturally knew why Eleena would steal the kill. That being said, his tentacles never pausedhe was dumping the corpse of the little devils into a pile and extracting from them as usual. Still, only a portion was turned into pure divine energythe rest was warped divine power of death and useless scraps. I guess theres really no telling who that divine power belongs to Xi Wei felt a curious pain even as he stared at the deviant divine power that kept squirming like a Slime. He did not have to worry about it corrupting his domain with the suppression in his divine kingdom, but keeping it wasnt a good idea either. Worse, it could not be used to create a new class for the Players or charge his divine power like a battery, much less derive a Life Skill. And yet, that divine power was so unique that Xi Wei wouldnt dare to eject it out int the Void, fearing that it would drift to some other plane instead of being obliviated in nothingness, sneaking in and turning it into some zombie plane. Staring at the pile of divine power and considering it for a moment, Xi Wei took out Rotten Bones skull. By sheer coincidence, the divine power inside the skull was almost used upit was therefore a good fit to seal that pile of boogers I mean, deviant divine power. And when that was done, Xi Wei flung the skull like a spittoon to some corner in his divine kingdom as he considered what reward he should give the Players. Truth be told, he was dissatisfied with their performance this time. The devil was strong but that was only because it belonged to a supernatural race, not to mention that its ability had dropped to an unseemly level after being kept in a seal for so long. It was basically expected of the Players to do it in, but they clearly became full of themselves after defeating the beast. Then, after they had finished Nightcry the Vengeful Dead, they became too accustomed to the creatures moveset that they had underestimated it. In the end, they were caught off guard and almost wiped out by the little Nightcries that exploded out. If Xi Wei didnt poke Leah in the head while she got preoccupied with whacking those little devils and successfully cast an oracle through divine grace, the Players would really have all been killed right then in embarrassing fashion. Be that as it may, they still hadnt learned their lesson. Just when they were almost done wiping out the little devils, carelessness struck again and they were almost all blown up in a single stroke. Though they escaped that fate, almost all of them now had dozens of zombie blight debuffs that death was inevitable! True, Xi Weis strength was enough for him to go for a deus ex machina move and remove those debuffs through divine grace, and doing that would win him a big wave of divine energy that further elevate the depth of his benevolence in his believers eyes. But he gave up on that after considering carefully. And the reason was simple: The Players wouldnt learn their lesson if he did that, and would become even more dependent on him, their god. It would be fine for them to be a little dependent if he was one of the invincible Seven Divine Fathers who was without peers amongst all divine kingdoms, but Xi Wei so weak a deity at the moment that he would have to give the Skull God a wide berth. That was precisely why he would use this to remind that the Players that they must stay vigilant despite their immortal forms, and that carelessness was the cause of failure. Still, a lesson is a lessona reward must be given for monsters. Hmmm, what should I mold this time? *** Down in the mortal realm, the Trinia Forests. Eleena? Unlike the dejected Edward, Joe noticed that Eleenas zombie blight debuff was gone. Is that the status clearing after leveling up? I leveled up. The girl with twin-ponytails and silver hair spoke seriously, before solemnly putting the meteor hammer (bible) that was still dripping with blood on her hip chain sash. Uh Joe wasnt sure what to tell her. Jessica was the one closest to Eleena, but she had remained in the elven capital of Trinia because of Sefarim instead of joining them. Meanwhile, Eleena didnt notice Joes hesitation at all. She simply took out a snack from her bag, stuff it into her mouth and chewing it extensively before swallowing. Ah What is it? Joe asked, startled. Im full. Eleena patted Joe on the shoulder even as he questioned the meaning of life, and walked up to Edward who was lying on the ground, burnt out, poking him in a tender spot on the waist. What is it? Edward asked, drifting between life and death with just a fraction of HP left. Tell everyone to gather round. The little one said solemnly. Though it was a bizarre request, Edward did as she asked and had everyone still alive gather round. Eleena was a Saintess even if she was still in-training, and would outrank Edward, an ordinary believer no matter what church they might be in Hence, taking a deep breath, several silver halation appeared around Eleena, and she raised her tome while shouting, Survival Tactics: Infinity! In the next split second, the silver halation drifted away from her body like smoke, shaping into vague silhouettes of tiny angels consisting of diamonds, all of them flying around her and tooting their trumpets. There was no music, however, but it repeated In-Fi-Ni-Ty like some repeater, letting loose faint shouts devoid of any aesthetic. In fact, the others wanted to complain how noisy it was. Even so, the Players gathering around could feel that laughable skill taking effect: something sick inside their something was rapidly fading, like snow under the springs sun In fact, as the little angles continued sounding their trumpets noisily (In-Fi-Ni-Ty, In-Fi-Ni-Ty), the dozen folds of zombie blight were quickly disappearing and were eventually gone from the Players stat bar. The surviving Players could not help but cheer in excitement. Heaven knows when was the last time they felt lucky for surviving. Nearby, Edward frowned. Not many Players were aware of Eleenas Saintess-in-training hidden class, but shes now exposed with what had happened today. And with how Leah the Warrior Princess turned the tide in the battle before, the Players might strive for a hidden class from now on But even as the Players were patting each other on the backs, they became silent when they heard a shout. Healers! Are there healers here?! Marni was carrying the unconscious elven girl Selene in his arms. Her zombie blight hasnt faded! She needs healing as soon as possible! Chapter 224: Moon Pavilion The Rule of Skill was a special authority that Xi Wei had bestowed upon all his believers in the Church of Games. And it was exactly why buffs work for Players, but not for believers of other gods. One of which was Eleenas Survival Tactics: Infinity. Most Players would have assumed that it was an AoE purification skill from its effect just a moment ago, but that was not true. After all, the real effect of Survival Tactics: Infinity was to forcefully reset the status of every Playerbe it friendly or hostilewithin its area of effect. Yesit worked only on Players and would not work on allies or enemies. All buffs or debuffs would all be reset, and everything including the Players HP and MP would be replenished in full. Given that Eleena was the Saintess (in-training) and that Saintessess were of equal rank to popes or other religious leaders, she was therefore given such authority over all Players (believers). It was an overwhelming skill from most perspective, although the technique itself wouldnt work on Eleena since she was the caster. That was exactly why it worked better when used amongst a group rather than a solo. Aside from the exceedingly long cooldown period for that skill, it was also costly in terms of MPcasting it would have been a major issue if Eleena had not just leveled up and had her blue bar fully refilled. Moreover, the skill wouldnt reduce in MP cost or cooldown time after leveling up, but increase in area of effect. One way or another, Survival Tactics: Infinity would never work on the elven girl Selene. Therefore, she was still infected at the moment, and the way she was not struggling to get out of Marnis arms meant that she probably wouldnt last long. The Clerics purification and exorcism skills worked only on other Players as well. And while potions would work indiscriminately, the problem was that the Players who had brought Antidotes (Miranda Grape) had already used up every bottle of it and had no spares to give her. Still, it was fortunate that Marni was amongst the more mature of Players and promptly realized that he was merely wasting time here. Hence, he quickly carried Selene with him and returned to the elven capital as the other Players made way. One should mention here that the dropped item from the dead devil was golden legendary brass knuckles named Nightcrys ReturnDead Undead. The item also had a passive skill called Jacobs Limbs that inflict additional damage on hellspawn and undead, but its stats were otherwise mediocre, even underserving of being a Legendary item. While the other Players were trading looks on how to actually use the item, the brass knuckles were already taken by Princess Leah with a smile since she was one of those who had contributed in the battle against the devil. Hence formally becoming the Iron Fist Princess, she promised that everyone was going to get a share, and that the other Players would be compensated in game coins after she returned to the Lancaster Hideout. *** When the guardsmen outside Trinias bounded field were startled by the droves of humans that were rushing towards them urgently, thinking that they were about to lay siege to the elven city. It was fortunate that with Marnis silver tongue and the fact that the elven girl in his arms was clearly barely alive, the guards allowed him to enter the capital city. The Elven Queen appeared to have learned of the Players visit thanks to her Iris Macaw as well, and didnt hesitate to lead Marni to a place called the Moon Paviliona secret place of the elves. Although it was called a Moon Pavilion, it was basically the fretwork of a massive tree made up of interweaved vines. A mysterious pool lay beneath the roots. Even though the dense weaves of vines kept it hidden, moonlight would always shine into it every night, with faint rays of silver sinking to its depths. In the thousand years following the War of Gods and Demons, the entire pool had become a bright silver. And now, the Elven Queen took the deathly-gray Selene from Marnis arms and gently put her in the pool. The elven girl seemed to sink beneath the silver, even as she vanished within the pool. Will she be alright? Marni asked worriedly. She will be fine. The Elven Queen spoke softly. The Silver Moonwell is said to heal all wood elf wounds and placate all hate. It is the entrance to the homeworld of my kind to distant Fairyland. Though our races bloodline had been sullied and we had lost the right to return to Fairyland because of our impurity, the Moonwell is still benevolent to all wood elves and would heal all our maladies. Then, she turned her ravishing face to Marni with a smile. But it is your actions that surprise me. Though Selene may be my precious kinsfolk, she is nothing less than a wood elf who holds you in disdain. Why would you go so far for her? Hmmm If I have to say it Distressed, Marni scratched his head before answering. Because I might have caused all this. If I hadnt mentioned that Im going to the arcanum at the Trinia Forests, she wouldnt have led me to it in Jamies place. She also had the chance to flee but didnt do so, and instead stayed beside me, ending up being caught in the devils assault. Pausing, Marni then smiled, seemingly realizing his conscience. I probably wouldnt be free of guilt for the rest of my life if I ignore a kid like this. In other words, he wasnt lusting after elven beauty, just as there was neither sentiment nor attraction in the brief few hours they shared in each others company. What Marni wanted was simple: a clear conscience, and despite how easy it was, only merchants like Marni who traveled across most of the continent knew how hard it was to do that despite the blemished ways of the world. At first, he wouldnt greed for such a thing. There were only too many occasions where circumstances were not up for hima mere traveling traderto decide, not to mention how easily some blackguard could easily take his life. It was only after he became a Playerthe believer of the God of Games that his life was no longer first priority. Now, Marni had the chance to seek his conscience so that he wouldnt have to do things against his own will, and to carry guilt with him for life. Is that so? There was no telling if the Elven Queen understood Marni. She merely nodded at him and smiled elegantly. I understand. Whatever the case may be, I thank you for your help. From this day forth, the gates of Trinia would be always open for you may the day come that you would bridge the friendship between wood elves and humans. Chapter 225: Hot Pot and Singing Several wood elves were investigating the battlegrounds between the devil and the Players. It stinks of sulfur, and there is faint hell scent latching on to nearby plans. Has the Moon Keeper reached the seal? What did he say? A green-haired wood elf asked the wood elf in charge of keeping in touch with other elves after he was done combing through a section of the battlegrounds. The wood elf, one who received an Iris Macaw that landed on his shoulder, listened to its report and replied. The cave leading to the arcanum where the devil was sealed had collapsed, but from the looks of the runestones around it, the seal was definitely broken. So those humans werent lying. They really did fight the escaped devil The green-haired elf muttered with a frown. That much is obvious from this scene alone. Another wood elf was shrugging. Indeed, there was now a vast clearing in the middle of the forests, with every tree around being uprooted or smashed by an enormous force. Looking from high above, it looked just like the bald spot over a persons head despite having overgrown hair. It was not hard to notice from various traces in the clearing of how horrific a battle had been waged here. The only thing that left the wood elves puzzled was why there wasnt a single body or drop of blood despite said horrific battle. The last time I left Trinia was around three hundred years ago. Humans only used crude weapons and barely-working magics or sacred arts back then The green-haired elf was sighing heavily in disbelief. Three-hundred years. They have progressed so formidably *** The truth was that the development of all sciences was slower in worlds governed by religion. Not only did the humans see no revolutionary change in weaponry in the past three hundred yearsthey were all still relying on cold weapons. Certainly, sacred arts and magics improved with the progression of eras and that influential churches with stronger gods had grasp miraculous sacred arts. However, there regrettably wasnt any transcendent development or change. That being said, those humans are heroes. They saved us from the devils onslaught and even brought Selene back to the capital. The shrugging elf replied. Whatever others may think, I myself wouldnt belittle them. Heroes, huh? To think that the day would come for me to consider them heroes of our kind The green-haired elf had a troubled look. Three hundred years ago, he had disguised himself as a human and experienced the mundaneness of their society. It wasnt as if he discriminated against all humans, but he did truly see the base vileness in humans in his time amongst them. They would choose to benefit only themselves whenever their kind had to make a choice, without any regard if their choice would hurt or even kill others. But it wasnt some rare phenomenoneven in isekais, the doctrine of self-centeredness was very much carved into every living creatures DNA. Selfless creatures never survive, let alone form tribes or society. Even the wood elves, who valued every member of their own species were a race possessing refined self-centered nature. The only difference was that they were closer to true social insects like bees and ants, and their self mostly refers to their tribe and not themselves as individuals. Be that as it may, it was not as if basic human nature was inherently evil. Even so, difficult living conditions where survival was already a luxury meant the kind side of human nature would be suppressed in the depths of human hearts. It was only after they had resolved basic needs and having assurances that human kindness would gradually slow. Well, Im almost done here. What are you two planning now? The wood elf who still had the Iris Macaw perching on his shoulder asked the other two elves. I might visit the humans who defeated the devil. The shrugging elf responded. I knew that humans had come to Trinia, but I disliked their kind before and with the atmosphere at the time, I never even went to look at them. Well, you missed the fun. I heard their feasts were especially interesting. The communications elf said, playing with the Iris Macaw. Youve been to one? The elf shrugged in curiosity. Nope. The communications elf replied. I heard about it from Jamie. Alright, stop the chatter. Well continue back at Trinia. The green-haired elf stopped the other two elves discussion commandingly. Lets return and see for ourselves what those heroes are up to. *** At the moment, the heroes that the green-haired elf was speaking off were sitting together and having a hot pot. It wasnt exactly a barbecue party since it was just a mini feast, although there was one held whenever they defeat a powerful Boss. While the devil was of a higher level compared to the Barren Giant, the Players had a far easier time considering their higher helpless, and they were far from their helpless selves back then. Still, after almost falling to a wipeout on two separate occasions, the Players decided to reward themselves with a smaller feast. Players who were coming in from other locations brought in meat, whereas the wood elves provided vegetables and fruits. One should note here that hot pots were not originally existent in this world. Xi Wei had invented it and put it in the Systems tavern out of curiosity, which immediately allowed business to boom over there and crushed the Iron Cauldron in fact, the Iron Cauldron would have closed shop if the owner didnt quickly get an idea how to get his hands on the good food (stock for the hot pot can be bought from the Systems tavern). Winter had passed but the weather wasnt completely warm yet. It would be first spring if it was back on earth, the most suitable time for hot pot. Hence, the Players gathered around the hot pots, singing or running off to a corner for some stand-up comedy sessions. Although it was less than a formal feast, it was as bustling as one. Furthermore, the Players efforts this time wasnt wasted either. The wood elves acknowledged the Players feat after Selene had recovered, with most of their attitude changing towards humans changing for the better. In fact, some elves joined the Players celebrations thanks to Jamies efforts (Selene brothers, the young elf who was the first to approach the humans. All at once, the little feast was overflowing with joy and harmony Until a post on the forums cut short the pleasant time for every Player. [Angora: @everyone I need your help.] Chapter 226: Bursting Pandemic [This is something I heard about in the guest room of the Tunaya castle.] [Traces of an undead horde at Sotimi, a border region of the Silver Eagle Duchy were found a day ago, and contact was lost with the sacred corps dispatched to the area by the Brilliant White Church for suppression.] [Afterwards, the border garrison had become silent after sending a report that undead numbers are wildly rising, and the garrison is assumed to be lost.] [In the first place, the Brilliant White Church didnt station too many of their sacred corps Tunaya. Their archbishop in Tunaya had now formally extended a request for help towards Horan, liege of Tunaya and the Silver Eagle Duke.] [He conveyed his wishes that Horan, who had good ties with the Temple of Glory and is himself a believer of Kratos, the God of War to persuade the Temple, so that they would help cull the undead.] [However, the chief priest of Tunayas Temple of Glory who had rushed to the castle refused Horans request for aid, revealing that present circumstances do not bode well for the Temple of Glory either.] [It turned out that three days ago, a violent landslide had occurred at Kristoff Mountains and part of the Wailing Trail of the North, south of Tunaya. Mud and rock had drowned several villages at the foot of the mountain.] [Believers of Kratos who survived informed the Temple of Glory about the situation, who naturally didnt refuse them and sent their own sacred corps to investigate the Kristoff Mountains.] [However, contact was lost with the recon force as well. However, the three-stripped warrior who was leading them sent a short message back through his sacred crest back to the Temple, informing them that they had run into a massive monster they could not defeat.] [Said creature is an undead dragon.] [Even if its dead and had been resurrected as an undead, it is still a dragonits breath melts armor and anything it slays would be reduced to its slaves. Even the most dangerous of magical creatures would not have the courage to face its claws!] [In summary, Tunaya is now caught in between two calamities. The situation is dire, and what few minor churches that had kindly sent aid to wipe out the tide of undead failed.] [It is hard to believe, but the other religions had more or less suffered great losses in the North, and not even one out of ten champions survived the onslaught.] [To every Player reading this post, if you would offer your strength for the Church of Games, come to the Silver Eagle Castle through the Lifestone so that our fellowship could walk beneath the sun with honor without needing to hide and fear capture!] [Im waiting for you here!] *** The post wasnt too long and the words were neither kind nor encouraging. Angora was basically relaying what he had heard in the Silver Eagle Castle to other Players, pushing them a little in closing and that was it. Naturally, fervent supporters of Angora such as Vela didnt hesitate to pick up their weapons and teleport to Tunaya immediately. Meanwhile, the other Players were hesitating. There was nothing scary about a few normal undead, but most children had grown up hearing legends about dragons, and those creatures were synonymous with power. It was difficult for them to face a dragon without preparing themselves mentallyeven if it were an undead. Moreover, they had just finished fighting Nightcry and halfway through their celebratory feast. It just didnt feel right to rush over to help at once. Whats happening? The Elven Queen asked Marni, who was seated beside herself. She had joined in the feast out of curiosity and was seated as a guest of honor, and naturally unable to see the Players forum page. As such, she didnt understand why the jovial humans suddenly had serious looks on their faces and the feast had swiftly turned somber, with some even rising to their feet and without so much of a look behind. Have we been unwelcoming? She added gingerly. No, weve received some news from other believers Marni caught himself at that, uncertain if he should tell the Elven Queen about the postbut he soon remembered that the wood elves appear unconcerned with human affairs or to interfere with them. As such, no matter what he said, the Elven Queen probably wouldnt leave the forest as the monarch of the wood elves. Hence, he told her about the gist of the post, and certainly didnt expect the Elven Queen to frown after thinking about it briefly. I might be paranoid, but things might not be as simple as it seems. It is best for your fellowship to be cautious Is there a reason for that? Marni could not help feeling delightedhe might be on to something there. If your information is right, the first incident occurred three days ago at the Kristoff Mountains, followed by our arcanum seal, and then the undead forces at Sotimi Do you mean that the incident of the devil is connected to Tunaya? Marni asked thoughtfully. The Elven Queen nodded. If you consider it carefully, the Trinia Forests is a part of the Silver Eagle Duchys jurisdiction as well. Although humans wouldnt venture in here. Could there be a reason behind the order in which those three entities awakened? If I had to put my finger on it, the order is a sequence from strongest to weakest. Dragons are the most powerful and therefore the earliest to awaken, followed by the devil which is a supernatural species in itself, and then Sotimis undead while there is no mention of what those undead were, it is known that Sotimi was where humans massacred some twenty thousand orks. The Elven Queen guessed. But if I remember correctly, Sotimi is a mass grave which had as many ork corpses as human corpses. Why are you certain that the undead are orks and not humans? Marni asked, bemused. The reason is simple. The Elven Queen answered with great solemnity, putting weight behind every word. Dragons, devils, and orks had survived since the First Age. They are amongst the First Eight: eight races made by the Trinity in the moment of Creation. Unlike them, humans are creatures mysteriously born out of nowhere in the Second Age. She then paused for a moment, affording Marni, a human of short lifespan time to digest the information that was as ancient as it was mysterious. On the other hand, she continued after a moment, if that mysterious zombification is really connected to the First Eight, there has to be undead of five other races awakening aside from the three that already did Chapter 227: The First Eight The First Eight Xi Wei muttered quietly in his divine kingdom. Being a newcomer, the God of Games naturally didnt have such knowledge. Still, having the keyword and searching through the memories from the Aquatic Lords divinity gathered him some information. After the Trinity had created the world, they had also made many species that lived in the Prime Material Plane that flourished over generations and brought about numerous wondrous cultures. Those races grew from strength to strength under the protection of the gods. Just like the Ediacaran biota before the Cambrian Explosion, they were at once progressive and unique. That was the prehistoric age of this world. And as mentioned before, three divine wars were waged in this world. There were no records of the first one in the memories of the Aquatic Lords divinity, probably because he had yet to be born. However, it could be ascertained that it wasnt waged in the Prime Material Plane, and that it didnt affect the mortal realm by much. The reality was Xi Wei had no idea what the gods could have been fighting aside from each other in the first war but the Second Divine War was completely different because it had everything to do with the Prime Material Plane, which in turn led to widespread extinction. The gods had been grievously injured in the first war and did not mind the progress of mortal creatures for a long time. Ironically, it was exactly in that godless era that the mortal races had developed beyond the gods interference. While the specific timing wasnt certain, one thing could be sure: the races had developed to stunning heights, forming a dazzling civilization that wouldnt lose out to Earth. And that was the First Age recorded by the races. In turn, the flourishing races and the booming population led to the rise of many deities who fed on belief in the divine realm. Their presence gradually ate away and even plundered the authorities of the first gods, and when the conflict piled past the reservation, the first gods waged a war against the gods who fed on belief, igniting the Second Divine War. It appeared that the first God of Games, who in turn was a first god and the predecessor of Xi Weis predecessor was slain in that war and had his divinity stolen. Furthermore, unlike the First War, the fires of the Second War had not only caught the Prime Material Plane but also many other planes, all of them sacrifices in a divine conflict for power and influence. The great conflict that raged on for over three hundred years devastated all ecosystems in the Prime Material Plane, with all living beings getting wiped out in unending natural calamities over three hundred years. The dazzling radiance of the First Age hence died. In the end, neither the gods of belief nor the first gods claimed victory (although Xi Wei believed that if the war lasted a little longer, the gods of belief would soon be destroyed in the absence of believers). Unable to stand idly by, the Trinity of Creation moved in to stop the divine conflict, and reshaped the world. Almost everything directly developed out of nothingness. After the gods had been given a thrashing by the Trinity and understood the anguish they brought about to the world, they temporarily shelved their differences and dutifully carried out their divine order and authority, carefully watching over the new sentient races born after the Second War. It was also when the ancestors of humans mysteriously appeared upon the world. Seizing the precious time to develop in a rare moment of concern and tenderness from the gods, they rapidly spread their shadows to virtually every corner of the Prime Material Plane! And that was the Second Age. Still, the sentient race that outperformed everyone else was actually the gnomes. They enslaved most of the other races (including humans), going the distance with technological progress and eventually invented a warship that could invade into the divine realm and fight the gods directly. Hence, after the gods slapped them into the dirt and adjusted them, reducing them to small fry devoid of their original wisdom, the gods also ceased their care and concern for the mortal creatures. Their attitude in various aspects began to shift towards the present age. It was probably because the gnomes had incurred the wrath of the gods that most of them actually saved mortal sentient races in the Third Divine war but didnt actually allow their civilization to survive. They watched as the developed multicultural societies of the Second Age died, taking every race back to the stone age where they would develop themselves all over again. What was more, the gods would often pull little tricks in the midst of progress to stall any development. In fact, the humans present progress had nothing to do with the divine teachings that the innumerable churches preached at all, but was completely built upon the graves (ruins) of the First and Second Age! One should also mention here that the Trinity of Creation had disappeared after the end of the Second Divine War. If the iron rule that prevented the gods from entering the Prime Material Plane was almost violated when the Third Divine War almost extended into the mortal realm, newcomer gods like Xi Wei would have assumed that they had fallen after the Second Divine War. In turn, the First Eight that the Elven Queen mentioned were the various races molded by the Trinity and escaped the widespread extinction of the Second Divine War, surviving until the present day. Those eight races were dragons (dragons that fought in the divine wars are all destroyed, while those who survived are their descendants that hibernated in the wars), nephilim (descendants of angels said to be molded by the Trinity from leftover materials), gyans (precursors of the giants that bears resemblance to humans but with zero relations to the Barren Giant), devils (the sole survivors of hell), nightstalkers (dark creatures and ancestors of vampires), high elves (the ancestors of all elves), orks (ancestors of modern orcs) and the mountain dwarves (the only race that did not see much change, the gray dwarves being a branch of their kind). If the zombification this time was truly occurring to the First Eight, then aside from the zombie dragon, zombie devil, and zombie orks, there would also be zombie nephilim, zombie gyans, zombie vampires (?), zombie elves, and zombie dwarves. Xi Wei felt the ball that was his body aching at that very thought. Ouch isnt this a little bad? Chapter 228: A Guest from Beyond the Divine Kingdom Xi Wei suddenly got it after aching his head about it over most of the day. The Church of Games present influence was just a small part of the Silver Eagle Duchy, to the north of the Valla Empire. And given that the enemy this time was using the ancient, little-known fact of the First Eight as their chess pieces, it was likely that they were not merely eyeing a small piece of land up in the north of the Valla Empire. It was merely fact: The North wasnt all that vast, and the news of zombie dragons and zombie orks could reach the Silver Eagle castle in just three days. And soon, they might receive word about zombie angels, zombie giants, zombie elves, and whatnot. If Xi Weis hunch was right, there was a huge chance that zombies of the other First Eight wouldnt show up in the North, but in other locations of the Western Continent. Xi Wei relaxed a little when he understood thatbut only a little. It seems that the zombie orks that keep spreading like its Resident Evil wouldnt be a threat for the Players. After all, zombies and whatnot wouldnt win against the Fourth Calamity from a certain point of view. As one of the evergreen themes for gaming, has there been any player back on earth who hadnt killed over tens of thousands of zombies? The number of zombies they killed in various days might fill the world over in fact, zombies had surpassed goblins as the friend of newbie players. The real problem is the zombie dragon. Dragons are basically creatures of unmatched power in any world that exist, standing atop every food chain. It was no exception for this world. While dragons would never win against the gods, their fighting ability alone placed them on top of the power rankings in the Prime Material Plane. They were the indisputable leaders even against supernatural races from other planes! But even as Xi Wei felt his head spin, he suddenly sensed that something was knocking on the walls of his divine kingdom. Indeed, it wasnt a violent hit but a friendly knock like knocking on the door, telling Xi Wei that someone is here. Xi Wei looked out with his Divine Eye and realized then he should adjustit was not someone, but a god. Who are you? Even though the visitor wasnt being hostile, Xi Wei didnt immediately allow him into his divine kingdom. He wasnt just being cautious, but there are just a lot of things in his divine kingdom that must not be seen. It was fine with the Great Lion who had become closely acquainted with himself since Aslan knew that the messy piles of stuff were offerings from Xi Weis believers. Though unique, it didnt actually violate the Great Lions principles or be considered evil. On the other hand, any other deity on the side of the angels unfamiliar with Xi Wei would immediately assume that they had stumbled into the old lair of some evil god when they saw the piles of corpses, rolling up their sleeves and getting ready to go a few rounds with Xi Wei *** The visitor had the appearance of a rather ragged middle-aged, black-haired man with a scraggly beard. However, it was unlike the dwarven style of Stoff the God of Craftmanship and Fine Wine, but resembled a fluffy mountain goat instead. His clothing was unlike most humanoid gods as wellhe only had a crude brown loincloth on, with most of his rather tanned skin exposed. In fact, Xi Wei could see that certain lower parts that needed holy light censorship wasnt hidden, merely kept out of sight with the loincloth from front and behind, giving the impression of unrestrained casualness. And then there was that rather tiny but eye-catching fireball hovering beside him. Even if Xi Wei couldnt tell who the visitor was, he didnt recklessly reach out to feel the fireball. But he could still feel the terrible power hidden within it. Could he be Emporio, God of the Sun? Could that thing over his shoulder be this worlds sun? That thought was refuted by Xi Wei as soon as he thought it. It was impossiblewhile Emporio was no match for the Seven Divine Fathers, he was far more powerful as a greater god in stature than the god standing in front of Xi Wei right now. The other evidence was that the memories of the Aquatic Lords divinity showed encounters with Emporio himself. He had been wearing a rather grand set of golden armor in the Third Divine War, and while his face was hidden behind a mask and couldnt be seen even with Divine Eye, he was definitely not the extremely poor thing standing before Xi Wei Moreover, the God of the Sun was affiliated with the Court of Nature. He had no connection with Xi Wei, the God of Games, and certainly wouldnt come looking for him in a place like this. Hello! Unlike the other gods, the visitor wasnt surprised that Xi Wei was a ball but greeted him instead. Its a pity we couldnt meet in the gathering a while ago. Anyway, Im Flintman, another member of the Invisible Pantheon. Flintman the Fire Thief! Xi Wei did a double-take, but he soon recovered. Even though Flintman was an intermediate god in ability, he was very famous in the divine realm. After all, he was an anti-god. Anti-gods were so named because they were originally individuals from the mortal realm that reached supernatural level despite their mortality, surpassing it to reach legendary by understanding a miracle that they individually possessed. Eventually, they would ascend as a divine existence by defeating a god and taking their divinity, or by using their miracle to steal a portion of a gods authority. Interestingly, most good gods werent hostile against anti-gods despite their names. Instead, they were respectful towards these beings who reached the domain of the divine despite their mortal bodies except gods whose authority were stolen, that is. It had been over five hundred years since Flintman became a god, but he never had a fixed divine kingdom. And the main reason for that was that the God of Flames had been chasing after him over those five hundred years, leaving him adrift amidst the divine realm Still, both the fact that Flintman had been running for over five hundred years and how the God of Flames still couldnt catch him after so long were great entertainment for the other rather bored gods, which made sense that Flintmans name would circulate amongst the gods. So, youre here to meet me? Xi Wei stretched out a tentacle to shake his hand. Not quite. The truth is Ive been chased ragged over the last few days, and Im hoping I could hide here at your divine kingdom. Flintman said seriously. The God of Flames shouldnt notice a remote and miniature one such as yours Im sorry that my divine kingdom is too remote and too small for you! Xi Wei retorted inwardly, his ball form frowning. Relax, I wont freeload here. Flintman then added, misunderstanding the reason for Xi Weis silence. When that fellow leaves, I will give you something good. And I promise you wont be disappointed! Chapter 229: The Fire Thief Xi Wei agreed to Flintmans request after thinking about it for a moment. He naturally didnt make his divine kingdom fully available since things were rather special here, and had cleaned a small space before Flintman came in while separating it from other parts of his divine kingdom. Xi Wei had learned how to separate spaces within his divine kingdom back when he was creating the black hut for the Players and a dungeon from the fragment of Rotten Bones divine kingdom. Being already quite familiar with it, he managed to get it done soon enough. Moreover, Xi Wei sneakily tried to contact the Great Lion, intending to have him come help preside over things for a bit. After all, Flintman was clearly much stronger than Xi Wei, and the balls lone power was weak if Flintman tried anything, and things would become troublesome. One should know that Xi Wei had felt very threatened after the previous meeting of the Invisible Pantheon. He had started to prepare a trump card in the face of a divine battle, but the reason why a trump card is called a trump card is because it was as costly as it was powerful when used. And Xi Wei didnt want to waste it unless it was absolutely necessary. It was a pity that the Great Lion was busy with something and couldnt come to help Xi Wei feel braver. Still, Aslan had assured him that despite being an anti-god and eccentric in behavior, Flintman was basically a good deity aside from the little fact that he had stolen the Flame Gods authority, and definitely wouldnt attack Xi Wei as another member of their alliance. Moreover, Flintman targeted the God of Flamesa greater god at thatimmediately after ascending as a deity and wasnt killed after being adrift for over five hundred years. To put it unkindly, he certainly wouldnt want the authority of a noob god like Xi Wei Still, despite the Great Lion having the right idea, Xi Wei knew himself well. While his various aspects almost appeared to be a combination of various bizarre authorities stitched together and wouldnt catch the Fire Thiefs eye, the problem was that Xi Wei had a special authority aside from the other jumbled authorities of the God of Games. The authority of transmigration. That authority of crossing the World Barrier at virtually no cost was how Xi Wei could allow his believers a never-ending good time, even though his divine energy was barely one thousandth of other gods and his revenue was basically in the red. Any other god who learned his playstyle would be long dead instead Moreover, the transmigration authority ignored an ironclad rule set in place by the Trinity of Creation and allowed Xi Weis true form to cross the World Barrier to enter the Prime Material plane. If Xi Wei wanted to, he didnt actually have to just watch in his divine kingdomhe could simply descend upon the mortal world and have a good time with his believers. That being said, Xi Wei understood the weight of things. Although he knew that it would be fun joining the Players down below and could easily assume very disguises as a god, truly becoming an omnipotent transmigrator. But if he did that, he would be blinded by enjoyment and wouldnt see the bigger picture, to seize opportunities in time or react towards certain things. In the end, he would either die in the Fourth Divine War or provoke someone he shouldnt, and be killed as their retribution descended upon the Prime Material Plane. Still, that was digressing. Either way, the authority to transmigrate was a golden steamed bun amongst steam buns. If the Seven Divine Fathers who stood at the top above all other gods would try to steal it from Xi Wei if they learned about it, let alone an intermediate god like Flintman. Your divine kingdom feels really small. Flintman spoked after he carefully studied the vast but empty world when he entered Xi Weis divine kingdom. Xi Wei could immediately tell from his tone that it wasnt a complaint, but having the meaning of I know youre hiding stuff from me. However, Flintman clearly knew manners and didnt directly say something like lemme see. And when he saw that Xi Wei was not about to humor him, he shrugged. My divine kingdom is quite vast though. Would you like to come visit? Well see when you settle things with the God of Flames. Xi Wei didnt hesitate to refuse. It was true that Flintman had created his own divine kingdom after becoming a god, but was soon chased by the God of Flames all over the divine realm. He might not even have the time to renovate his half-baked divine kingdom. Nonetheless, Flintman took no offense to Xi Weis rather impolite tone, and instead directly asked. I heard that you had reached a military agreement with Luna? In that gathering? That sounds like the agreement that some Interpol agent who in-fact is a arms trader would make or something Xi Wei couldnt resist retorting. The agreement I had with Luna is just a trial partnership. Right, right, thats it, a strategic-blah-blah agreement! Flintman responded nonchalantly, clearly not making an effort to remember the full name of the agreement. In a nutshell, the wood elves could become converts of your church. Thats true, but the wood elves are too conservative and its impossible to have them turn to a new religion. Xi Wei sighed. That was actually one shortcoming when it came to immortal types. Like how people would prefer the past, they would become more stubborn the older they geteven wood elves that were just over a hundred years old were a stickler for rules and revered tradition, and converting them was therefore as hard as reaching the skies. That was why Xi Wei himself didnt assign quests to convert the elves, relying instead on daily quests to encourage Players so that they preach in human cities and recruit reliable new believers. By the way, what does that have to do with you? Xi Wei asked, scratching himself. Aslan never told you? Flintman ran his fingers over his black hair that were as thick as dreadlocks, parting it to reveal the pointy ears beneath. Im a wood elf before I ascended as a god too. Wow-oh. Xi Wei exclaimed meaninglessly. It was true that he had assumed Flintman to be human before his ascension. To think that he was actually an elf But there wasnt anything worth fussing about. Compared to humans, the elves had an advantage in lifespanhumans would unhappily die as their life wears out before they could complete their knowledge. The elves, meanwhile, would have learned the most random of musical instruments and arts out of boredom from having an exceedingly long life, even cultivating unique artistic systems completely different from what humans have. As such, the elves would have a better chance of gaining epiphany of their miracle, ascending to legend and steal authorities to forge divinities. So, Im hoping that you could help watch over my kind Flintman continued. Shouldnt you be asking that of Luna? Shes much more powerful than I am. Xi Wei couldnt help being puzzled. Yes, but for some reason I have the nagging feeling that you have greater potential than Luna, which is why Im asking you. Flintman answered solemnly. Of course, I wont admit I said that after I leave! Its no use, even if you rat me out to Luna! Xi Wei had something to say at first, but his ball form simply wrinkled and he took back what he was about to say. Even Flintman, who had been nonchalant all along after entering Xi Weis divine kingdom turned serious. The two gods conversation were hence interrupted while a weird silence filled the empty space. And the reason for that was simple. A horrific being of immeasurable power was slowly brushing past the outer reach of Xi Weis divine kingdom. Chapter 230: Link the Fire? Most of the time, Xi Wei only has a murky perception towards all that existed outside his divine kingdom, and he could only feel it when an enemy touches its barriers. Like a person hiding themselves in a house, they wouldnt notice someone passing by if they didnt look up deliberatelylogically speaking. Still, that was logically speaking. Should some illogical situation occurred, such as a Godzilla passing by outside, crumbling sky and ground with every step and leaving the world trembling, even a blind man hiding in the house would know what was happening And that situation was a little similar to what was occurring right now. Something unknown was slowly passing by outside, but Xi Weis whole ball form stiffened from the horrific presence alone. Dont worry, Flintman whispered when he sensed Xi Weis confusion. Your divine kingdom is remote and hard to findwe wont get caught so easily. And I also did place a little something outside your divine kingdom to make it harder for that fella to find this place. Xi Wei: So, youre the one who led that devilry here, brat! Still, Xi Wei finally realized that the cuckolded God of Flames was the one passing by at the void outside thanks to Flintmans explanation, which also made him profoundly understand the gap between a greater god and a noob god like himself. Xi Wei had felt a little bloated because of his successes in defeating Rotten Bones, temporarily clearing the trial of the Ocean Goddess and successfully convincing most gods of the Invisible Pantheon to partner with his own church. His perception that there was all there was to these native gods gradually took hold. His little tricks were simply peanuts compared to absolute power. Even if his silver tongue could fool the other guy for a moment, he wouldnt have the time to try another round of persuasion before he got instakilled once they realized what had happened. Indeed, those tales where words alone had resolved various crises and even claimed victory are glorified throughout the ages mostly because they couldnt be replicated, and because everything could go wrong because of the most minor unexpected occurrence! There might those who sneer at such notions, believing that smartness alone was enough to have the powerful run in circles while they revel in immeasurable self-satisfaction. That was only because they had no idea what absolute power meant! The so-called powerful in folktales bound by various circumstances basically wouldnt count as absolute power. When one is really facing absolute power, the tiniest error or even some uncontrollable variable (such as the powerful having a bad mood on that particular day) would leave every effort thus far to waste, regardless of whether the clever one had set up some elaborate scheme and stunning strategy to direct the actions of the powerful. The clever one might even pay for it with their lives! It was true that Xi Wei had diligently nurtured his mortal Players in ability and influence after transmigrating to this world. With his ability that was almost a bug in itself, the Players were growing just as he envisioned (despite their constant trouble-seeking behavior). On the other hand, the growth of Xi Weis individual wasnt obvious aside from the two occasions where he consumed divinities, since most of his power was used to strengthen his Players and develop their abilities. But after feeling the horrific presence of the God of Flames, the thought of becoming powerful once again wormed into Xi Weis head, even applying pressure and threat upon him. All at once, Xi Wei resolved himself despite initially hesitating whether he should have the Players fight the zombie dragons and undead orks. The deviant divine power that could be extracted from Nightcrys body might not be much, but he might be able to study the origins of that divine power if more could be gained by slaying the zombie dragons and undead orks. He might even go further to find a safe measure of absorbing that divine power. Given that the deviant divine power was highly infectious and might have the potential of wiping out all life on a continent, its concentrated mass is not something to be underestimated by a newbie god like Xi Wei. If he could collect them all, he might be able to gather divine power that could match what he could gather from the Ocean Goddesss Sea Sapphires! And if he really could safely absorb the deviant divine power, Xi Wei had a feeling that he could surpass the limits of being a third-rate god and truly ascend as a lesser deityand one of the top lesser deities at that. But even as a myriad of ideas swirled in Xi Weis head, either because his divine kingdom really was too remote and too small or because Flintmans little something worked, the God of Flames seemed to take no notice of Xi Weis divine kingdom. That frightening energy hence slowly moved away from his divine kingdom and into the void. Phew! That surprised me. I didnt think that he would react so quickly Flintman looked relieved. But theres no guarantee that the fella would not turn around. I have to get away soon. Eh? Leaving so soon? Xi Wei was rather surprised. Are you for real? It might be dark now, but what I face is a fire that burns without end like the sun. Flintman smiled smugly, pointing at the fireball hovering above his shoulder. A small flame wafted out of the fireball then, which Flintman handed to Xi Wei with a rather pained look. I told you I wont freeload, so heres the First Flameits the primordial fire of this world which I stole from the God of Flames. Though I cant give you the whole thing, giving you a strand is not a problem! Xi Wei stared at flame smaller than any flame a lighter could ignite hovering over Flintmans finger and looked like it could die at any moment, his ball form gently shining with a ? symbol. Dont give me that look! It may be just a strand, but it is still the worlds oldest flame that represents the very concept of fire! Even halfway through his retort, Flintman noticed that Xi Weis ? had turned to the Han character of an expletiveand he felt being held in contempt despite not understanding the word. Fine, so youre not linking the fire, then?! Ill link it. Ill link it, okay? Xi Wei quickly accepted the flame since he was just trying to play hard-to-get even if he was the one profiting. As a god, he certainly understood how precious the First Flame was. The first thing that humansor indeed a majority of sentient specieswould worship are not orthodox gods but various natural phenomena, which naturally includes fire. That way, the First Flame which was connected closely to fires was not as simple as plasma. Instead, it would be the concept of fire itself given form after gaining divine energy, even being connected to the authority of Fire itself. There was no way the God of Flames would be chasing Flintman to the ends of the divine realm otherwise. That said, are you really going to give me something so precious? And wouldnt the God of Flames chase after me after I take it? At those words, Xi Wei suddenly thought that Flintman might be using him as a decoy to lure the God of Flames so that he could escape Relax, Im going to lure the God of Flames away. Like Ive said: Im giving you the First Flame because I can see that you have a bright future, so take it as an early investment. Flintman replied, patting Xi Wei on a spot that probably was his head. Just dont forget me when you strike rich in the future. With that, Flintman leaped as if he was jumping off a diving board and instantly left Xi Weis divine kingdom. Even as Xi Wei looked on in shock, he sank into the infinite void and disappeared from sight. *** Flintman was slowly advancing in the Void when a voice suddenly spoke, echoing beside his ears. Is it really alright giving a part of me to that newborn god? Its fine. If Aslan would think of that fella so highly, he definitely wouldnt go on to be some useless reject. Flintman glanced at the fireball over his shoulder and softly answered it, and turned towards another side of the void. Tsk. The God of Flames found me again? Well, I did leave my scent on purpose, but hes moving much faster now. This could be a problem Hes getting anxious because youve now claimed forty percent of his authority over Fire. The voice gently reminded. Hmmm. Well, things are fifty-fifty if I fight him now, even with my miracle added to the equation Forget it, then. Ill keep a low profile for a little longer to be safe. Flintman muttered unhappily. After all, the Fourth Divine War is coming soon from the looks of things, he continued softly. And when it kicks off, I could fight however I want to. That is the moment I will legitimately claim his divinity! Ah! What is it? The part of me you gave that newborn god is digested and fused. I could no longer sense or control it. That quick?! Flintman did a double take. It took almost three hundred years for me to tame you! Even if its a tiny part of you Maybe his authority is special. The volatile authority of Games unbelievable. Flintman said, stroking his chin. Aslans eyes are righthe might become unimaginably powerful before the Fourth Divine War begins, even becoming one of the rare few gods worth my attention. Should we kill him now? Dont even joke about it. I dont want such an opponent to die before the fact. Flintman was suddenly choking with excitement. Fruits are delicious when they are ripe! Apologies, but I dont understand your logic. Well, I did become a god as a man. Alright, lets get out of here or the God of Flames would catch up. I really dont want to reveal my true power before the Fourth War begins With those words, Flintmans figure vanished into the void once again. Chapter 231: A New Event Begins Xi Wei was unaware of Flintmans motives in giving him a portion of the First Flame, but it remains that it was excessively valuable for a meeting gift or a reward for offering him shelter. Still, Flintman appeared to bear no enmity, and the First Flame was not bad for a supplement for Xi Wei, who was feeling the lurking threats everywhere at the momentand he eventually accepted it. And yes, you heard right: supplement. There was no way he would follow Flintmans footsteps in using the First Flame as a springboard, with which he would steal the authority of the God of Flames. One shouldnt take the authority of Fire at its clichd face value. It might sound weaksauce as if it was no different from a fireball skill, its offensive capacity and utility made it a remarkable authority. Even if the names of most authorities sound awesome and peerlessly formidable thanks to the segmenting across various fields, the fact is that they would never match plainer authorities of Fire, Frost, or Thunder. After all, simpler authorities would always contain countless segmented authorities derived from them, even expanding into numerous powerful branches. As an example, if Xi Wei grasped the authority of Fire, he might be able to develop some skills like nuclear punches, causing fallout upon the world. Therefore, even if the God of Flames had not learned modern physics, he just needed to fiddle around with the authority of Fire that he wields and there would already be a huge chance of him coming up with something amazing. If not for Flintman suddenly interrupting out of nowhere, the Seven Divine Fathers might have become the Eight Divine Fathers instead. For his part, however, Xi Wei wasnt coveting the opportunity of becoming the next God of Flames. After all, the First Flame and the authority of Fire was not only useless to himthey might even be troublesome for him. That was why Xi Wei didnt hesitate to gulp down the First Flame, digesting it into pure divine energy and faint authority of Fire. It was a moment when the uniqueness in the authority of Games presents itself. If ordinary gods have no intent on becoming sub-deities to the God of Flames while obtaining that faint Fire authority or cause their own divinity to be pulled towards the God of Flames aspect, they would either have to give up on that precious authority or be hunted by the God of Flames like Flintman. The divinity of Games, however, was an exception because it was basically a composite of random authorities, containing every assortment of authority in itself. And now, despite the faint Fire authority that the First Flame carried, the authority of Games remained itself despite being a combination of a mess of other authorities. Hence, neither Xi Weis divine attribute or his presence changed at all Even if the God of Flames would stand before him, he would only be aware that Xi Wei was only a god and for some reason a ball without suspecting a thing (although it would be a completely different matter if Xi Wei displayed his own authority of Fire). That was the reason Xi Wei had no other gods (except Rotten Bones) come knocking on his door. The God of Games could steal the authority of other gods but it was basically such faint bits that it would feel like the variance between believer population in the perception of the other gods. It was a circumstance similar to becoming a billionaire by having everyone give me a penny every daythough the number of gods certainly wouldnt as be innumerable as the population of China, they were not to be underestimated either. That was how Xi Weis divinity had so discreetly shorn bits of the other gods metaphorical wool for so long that the other gods never noticed him cultivating his authority of Games to a fine state. On the other hand, antigods like Flintman were instead doing something like capturing the whole sheep and shearing every last bit of wool until even its buttocks were bald. Being no fool, there was no way the God of Flames wouldnt notice his butt becoming hairless Either way, after treating himself to the First Flame, Xi Wei refilled his divine power and immediately feel revitalized, ready to keep going. Anyway, Ill have the Players slay the zombie dragon and undead orks to ensure the safety around starter village. Xi Wei waved his tentacles and clacked away on his Pantheon Computer. I was about to let them handle themselves, but now that Im recharged with divine power, lets have an event. After all, there would only ever be a single legendary weapon dropped even if they succeed in slaying a Wild Boss, which greatly reduced the motivation to form parties for taking down Wild Bosses. Events were differenteven though Xi Wei had not organized many events thus far, the Players were well-rewarded in each occasion, which allowed Events to leave a strong impression and be well-received amongst Players. Though it consumed much divine power, he might actually profit greatly insteadthat is, as long as he discovered the origins of the deviant divine power, deciphering its existence and find a way to absorb it by twisting off the head and eat the rest, which contains six times of the First Flames power. Events are not indulgence! Its management! Xi Wei mumbled to instill some confidence in himself, before pressing the button to assign the event quests. In the next second, the Players down in the mortal realm received the message from their god. *** Only so few came Angora couldnt help frowning at the sparse ranks of Players who had arrived beside the Lifestone at the Silver Eagle Castle. So unreliable. Vela had a dark look as wellshe didnt expect that only so few Players would answer Angoras call. Weve just beaten the devil Nightcry and a little tired, Edward explained, having just teleported through the Lifestone as well. Naturally, the tiredness he was referring to was mental exhaustion. The Players stamina regenerates quickly, but they were still mentally human (probably), and extended periods of battle would definitely wear them out. Moreover, Nightcrys special attribute meant many Players have to wait for three days before they could be revived after dying. Princess Leah added, having arrived as well. However, the sparkling but intimidating brass knuckles in her dainty hands caught more attention than her wordseven Angora couldnt help sliding curious glances at it. Thats right! Gou Dan died, but we cant even find his corpse! Joe joined in beside them. Its his fault, thoughhe ran off so far away to shoot Nightcry just to show off his eight-times zooming scope, and his resurrection period was over before the Clerics could reach him From certain perspectives, this might be the darkest hour of Edwards party: Gou Dan, their most agile scout was dead and awaiting revival, and their reliable Jessica was being held by the elves and unable to come help for now. All Edward now had was Joe the brute, and the Loli Saintess Eleena who loved to killsteal. Huh Angora breathed a sigh. This many Players should be enough to handle the undead at Sotimi. But what about the zombie dragon in the Kristoff mountains? That was when a system notification jingled in everyones ears at once. Ding! [New server-wide event commencing!] [Undead Disaster~The Creeping Shadows] Chapter 232: The Creeping Shadows [Undead Disaster ~The Creeping Shadows] [The peace that the noble God of Games and his hardworking believers had fought so hard for did not last long. Mysterious shadows had once again appeared on the Prime Material Planeevil energies are infesting corpses, awakening the dead from their eternal slumber beneath the earth, with the culprits manipulation and the deads instinctive hatred towards the living hence driving their vengeance against all living beings! Having witnessed the threat that the dead poses towards the innocent, the compassionate God of Games now sends forth his decree in his reluctance to see the living being painted in ashin hopes that his courageous believers would triumph over the blasphemous enemy who toys with the souls of the perished and restore light upon the world!] [Event period: TBA on event posts in Player Forums] [Event location: Night of the Vengeful Dead, Zombie Dragon Slaying] [Event objective: Players could choose one or both battlegrounds. In the active period of the event, Players are afforded 1 instant revive (10% EXP will be deducted from current level). Resurrection Coins are still in effect during the event, each of which could be drawn from Personal Prize Pool or Global Prize Pool.] [Night of the Vengeful Dead: Earn RIP points by slaying the undead hordes of Sotimi. RIP points earned vary between the race of undead (click here for more details), and can be used for drawing rewards from the Personal Prize Pool.] [Zombie Dragon Slaying: Either search and destroy or defend a stronghold in order to stop the onslaught of the Zombie Dragon heading towards Tunaya. It is the Players victory if the Zombie Dragon is defeated before it enters Tunaya, and a failure if it successfully invades the city. After the battle concludes, Players participating would be rewarded according to individual contribution (click here for more details regarding rewards).] [Personal Prize Pool: Players may draw once from the Personal Prize Pool by paying 100 RIP points. Number of draws is infinite and there are 500 rewards in each Personal Prize Pool, the grand prizes being Global Pool Lottery Ticket, Item Strengthening Rate Up Ticket and Resurrection Coins (Resurrection Coins would automatically be converted to Resurrection Ankh after event), and Players could reset Personal Prize Pool after claiming the three grand prizes.] [Click here for more details on Personal Prize Pool (Contents of first 10 pools differ from every subsequent prize pool, please acknowledge)] [Global Pool: Three prize pools that progresses in the sequence of BronzeSilverGold tiers. Each pool holds 200 rewards and would only proceed to the next pool when the previous was completely drawn with the Global Pool Lottery Ticket, first come first served.] [Click here for more details on the Bronze Global Pool] [Note: I sense the approaching evil. Believers of mine, send those minions of darkness back to hell! The God of Games] The new announcement utterly ignited the Players dormant passion, allowing them to regain their excitement after having their spirits slightly dampened by Nightcrys vileness. In fact, after the Players had seen the list of rewards offered in the Personal Prize Pool, all of them promptly teleported to Tunaya from different places, dropping whatever daily quests they were doing. Anyone else would have presumed from their looks of teeth-gritting resolve that they were Tunaya locals who would put their lives on their line for their cityleaving even the wood elves of Trinia dumbstruck Other Players who for whatever reason were unable to return for the time beingsuch as Zonyans party who was farming good reputation with the Long-Earswere lamenting about bad timing, unable to hold back the thought of killing themselves so that they could return to town. Besides, Players who had fallen in the battle against Nightcry certainly didnt hesitate to use their daily single auto-revival to join in the wild rejoicing of the other Players. Hence, in just a dozen minutes, the citizens of Tunaya had the distinct sense that there were suddenly a bunch of people who had a different air about them in the city with them. The Brilliant White Church and the Temple of Glory were the major religions here and as such could hardly deceive their believers when something happened. With the other churches aiding in repelling the undead onslaught after receiving news, most citizens of Tunaya were already aware that powerful monsters were comingmonsters that neither the Brilliant White Church nor the Temple of Glory could win against. Fear and anxiety shrouded all of Tunaya, driving the oppressiveness in the towns atmosphere to its very limit. And yet, it was under such circumstances that these weird people had arrived out of nowhere, all of them overflowing with mysterious enthusiasm and with I have no idea where I am or why the enemy is coming here, but Im going to split their heads herean allys head as well, if there is the chance! written all over their faces. If they werent actually few in numbers at just a little over two hundred (not counting Players who couldnt make it in time or newbies uninterested or not quite knowing what an Event is), the backdrop of the city would have been altered entirely. It was truly weird when one thought about itthe Players were merely preparing for the Event, and yet it was now more bustling here than feast or festivals. Perhaps Events were festivals in the truest sense in the Players perspectives. Ooooh! This style of rewarding is really too interesting! As expected of the God of Gamesthere is a surprise every time! Joe was exclaiming excitedly and tapping his large pectoral muscles after Edward patiently explained to him about the Events mechanics. Well, what are we waiting for? Lets hurry off to Sotimi to farm some undead! Edward shook his head, having carefully studied the mechanics. Were waiting for Gou Dan to be revived even if it looks like the rewards are given on a first-come first-served basis, even if Players farming Night of the Vengeful Dead could draw from the prize pool early on, thats not what it actually is all about. The undead in Sotimi are summed up with points, and the list of rewards follows the rule that killing powerful undead earns more points. In fact, killing a hundred human zombies might not earn as many points as killing a zombie ork. In response, Joe immediately opened the list of rewards that corresponded to the RIP points earned. He stared at the chunks of text and pulled a long face, acting as if he understood while nodding pensively. Powerful undead would be hiding deeper in the enemys ranks. Therefore, the first ones that would be fighting are those that yield the lowers RIP points, and its just not worth spending any time on them! Edward disregarded whether Joe got the idea, and continued as if he was tidying his own thoughts. But the Zombie Dragon is different! Its totally HP is fixedso, shaving off one percent from its HP means that the others would have one percent less contribution! And by the same principle, we would earn less if others hit it more, not to mention that the rewards list make it clearly that fighting the Zombie Dragon pays more than fighting at Sotimi! As for the lottery, everyone would get the same rewards from the Personal Prize Pool anyway, whereas anyone could know immediately that the Golden Global Prize Pool which comes after the other two prize pool has the best rewards! Itll be fine even if we let the others have the Bronze and Silver Prize Pools before that! At that, Edward had decided the strategy his party would follow. That is why we are going to join the campaign against the Zombie Dragon, and then farm the Night of the Vengeful Dead if we still have the time later on! Chapter 233: Dead Red Dragon Sakasugi is a red dragon. Or, as one would put it, was. Being a red dragonthe greediest and most arrogant draconic species amongst all five shades of dragon, Sakasugi was basically the standard template of evil dragons depicted in knight novels. It was obsessed with plundering the treasures of humans and every other sentient race, and would incinerate its victims and villages whenever it felt like it, oppressing weaker beings and enslaving them so that they would plunder even more treasure or anything that interest them. Such rampant vice naturally drew discontent. When Sakasugis havoc finally affected humans too severelyor as one would say, the needs of the gods whom the humans worshipped, they took action. The boundary between the Prime Material Plane and the divine realm was not as sturdy as it was today compared to Sakasugis active years. Even though it was costly for the gods to cross over, they could at least manifest their true forms in the mortal realm, something that they were unable to do in the present. Still, descending on the mortal realm directly to slap a red dragon would cost the gods more than what they could gain, which was why the god that Sakasugi provoked chose one of his believers, conferring him the title of Chosen One and bestowed upon him a portion of his divine power. The god then sent forth an oracle that guided the Chosen One to obtain a divine dragon-slaying weapon, after of which he found Sakasugi in his lair and stabbed him to death like the protagonist of an isekai novel, after of which he took home the dragons treasure and returned as a hero in human legends. I see. I was already dead Sakasugi opened its rotten eyelids, but its eyeballs were already gone. The frightening strength of the dragon was still there even after death. Moreover, Sakasugi had died in a lofty mountainthough not frozen, the decaying process was exceedingly slow that less than half of its body had decomposed! Aside from softer parts such as the eyes rotting off, it was still rather complete in other departments. That naturally gave Sakasugi greater strength and defense than skeleton dragons! Even so, this familiar energy that flows in my body definitely isnt magic There is no telling its essence, but it must have freed me from the shackles of death and allowed me to awaken from the darkness. Sakasugi found it unusual. By logic, its soul should have been claimed by the God of Death after it was slain, and it shouldnt have maintained its self-awareness after so long had passed. Come to think of it which god was it that the human who killed me believed in? Bemused, Sakasugi felt as if it had forgotten something very importantbut with its brain having long since rotted, it naturally couldnt remember what it had forgotten. The reality was that Sakasugis mind would have been blank even though it was revived if not for the resemblance between the soulfire of dragons and the divinity of the gods which held memories to a certain extent. Otherwise, it would know nothing and would only wreak havoc by instinct. But before Sakasugis mind cleared, its resurrection had heightened temperatures around itself, melting the piling snow on the peak and causing tremendous avalanches. The landslide continued downwards, dragging mud and stone in its weak that destroyed the villages by the foot of the mountain. Humans. So puny regardless of eras. Sakasugi thought even as it watched as everything unfolded. And soon enough, human soldiers armed to the teeth advanced towards the peak, and immediately found the resurrected creature. One must mention here that in appearance alone, the draconic might of the half-rotted Sakasugi was still palpable, not to mention that it looked as vile as it looked grotesque. As it stood on the slope at the mountains peak where the landslide just occurred, it absolutely looked the part of an evil Superboss. Naturally, the human soldierssacred corps of the Temple of Glory had attacked Sakasugi first, and were wiped out just as naturally. One certainly shouldnt be fooled by the zombie dragons pathetic appearance, because Sakasugi was still much more powerful than most other dragons despite how it looked now. And after slaying those humans, Sakasugi cast one of the few spells available to it after its zombification, raising their relatively complete corpses as undead creatures. Then, from the conversation with them that started with My Lord, the times hath changed, the red dragon received some information about the current era. It appeared that there had been another divine war after its death, with an empty gap wedged into the civilizations of almost all sentient races as a new era dawned. And from then onwards, no gods ever came to the Prime Material Planethere was even a different God of Death now. What was more, the ability of those accursed gods to bless humans had weakened as well, a piece of news that was undoubtedly a surprise delight for Sakasugi. I see with the gods unable to descend here, I am one of the most powerful creatures in this world. Is this why I was revivedto use my power? Sakasugi couldnt hold back a ferocious grin before rearing its head towards the skies and roared. Everything from rotting chunks of flesh and pus was rolling off it even as it moved but it couldnt sense anything at all aside from the immeasurably joy in its heart. Hahaha! You fellows who call the shots up in your might perches! How wonderful that every last one of you ended up like menothing more than dust in the pages of history! I dont know who revived me or their purpose in doing so, but Im not going to be someone elses puppet! Sakasugi the Red declared. I shall reclaim my domain from this day forth! But before it could completely oversee its present domain, another bunch of humans had come to die. That being said, they were not like those human soldiers before who called themselves believers of the God of Warthe sacred crops at least had a uniform set of metal armor and appeared to be armed in every way possible. Each of them appeared to have awakened their combat auras as well, and would have made a fine squadron even in the previous eras. And yet, the second batch of humans was wearing a variety of equipment, with most of them adorning incomplete sets of armor. For example, one of them was wearing a thick steel plate over his chest and spittoon-shaped helms over his head, and yet he was wearing a kilt for his lower half that exposed his hairy legs, a stinging sight to the eyeseven though Sakasugi didnt have any eyes. Others were actually wearing headgear that resembled a fishs head that looked absolutely laughable, and Sakasugi had the feeling that this bunch might have come to kill it by making it laugh to death. You have insulted methe great red dragon, Sakasugi! It bellowed, even as it slapped several humans to death which prompted them to cry out (Marnis dead again!). Is that all youve got!? Come then, have at me! But as soon as it finished bellowing, it noticed more of those ragtag bunch of misfits swarming towards itself from beneath the mountain, surrounding it like an army of ants. Being surrounded by over a hundred humans wasnt a problem for Sakasugi, but what really troubled him is the look in their eyes even as they leered at his gruesome body. Those were leering of unmatched greed, as if they had found treasure. Chapter 234: Human Spirit Is [Redacted…] Anyone wouldnt think much of it when they see an ant. In fact, they might even have the leisurely mood to observe what the ant is doing or where it is going. On the other hand, if there were an army of ants climbing over the persons body without ant and looked as if they would not surrenderwhen slapping themselves, rolling all over the floor to crush a whole lot of them proved meaningless, their mood would most likely be sour. And that was how Sakasugi was feeling right now. There were clearly no champions amongst these humans who came out nowhereto a dragon, the greatest of supernatural species, born atop all that was extraordinary and strengthening even as they slumbered, the Players certainly were no champions despite having recently treaded within the supernatural. And yet, Sakasugi could only feel immeasurably shocking toughness from them! They clearly had no intention of fleeing like his previous victims no matter what harm might be inflicted upon them. Even if they were dismembered or disemboweled, they would still use their bleeding teeth to chomp down viciously on Sakasugieven if their teeth could not even scratch the dragons scales! Even though Sakasugi was revived an undead and its Dragon Might pale in comparison than when it was alive, it was still clearly effective from the way it worked on the sacred corps from the Temple of Glory. So why would it appear useless against these humans? Moreover, these humans had a wide variety of abilities: some humans were summoning seafood that spat jets of water against the dragon, just as some would spit jets of water directly by themselves. Others were summoning tombstones to smack it, with a few mumblings something called suplex as they ran up towards it, attempting to grab Sakasugis claws and dying in the process. Though Sakasugi was no clean freak, it was still a little repulsed with their persistent attempts to hug its claws, especially since they were another species. Are humans supposed to be this scary? Sakasugi asked itself. Being a moving calamity of the last era and a terror that wreaked havoc over the lands, the red dragons soulfire held many memories concerning humans. Even so, the humans in those memories were weaklings. Aside from being weaker than those pointy ears dwelling in the forests, Sakasugi only ever needed to use a fraction of its strength, wealth, or authority as bait to draw out the greed lurking deep within those humans hearts. They would then turn against those whom they called heroes or any courageous human whose ability could prove irritating, raising their filthy butcher knives. That was exactly how Sakasugi had trampled over countless human cities, plundered inestimable tons of treasure, and strutted until it was slain by a chosen one blessed with divine power by some god who couldnt bear it any longer. But everything seemed to have changed after Sakasugis resurrection. The humans were no longer flinching even against a dragon like itself, and even though their ability was far less in comparison to humans from the last era, they had the bravery to challenge it without taking so much as a step behind Indeed, they would attempt to make an opening for their comrades even if they perished in their process. Sakasugi hence understood from their incredible partnership that seemed to pay death no heed that these humans were neither a ragtag band or misfits who would only burden each other nor an army built to fight other humans or humanoid creatures. Instead, they were united in the truest sense of the word, an organized group built to fight oneor even multiple powerful entities. And having given up the fear of death, the hearts of these humans were probably as sturdy as steel, warriors who served justice impartially without pursuing any personal interest! Even if Sakasugi would offer the devastating divine relics it had hidden in the last era, the infinite amount of wealth it hoarded that could topple any human empire, or its innumerable Illum crystals that could be offered to the gods and converted into divine energy, their infinitely determined minds would probably never be shaken at all! Besides, their deaths were not wasted. True, their attacks were not penetrating Sakasugis resilient draconic scales, and the red dragon no longer had weakness after its once vulnerable innards had rotted off in the thousand years since its death, Sakasugi would still feel that something within itself was being chipped away every time the humans attacked itself. It was only when the battle against these weird humans continued after the sun had set and the binary moons had risen that Sakasugi finally realizedthe lifeforce it now possessed was what was being chipped away! Unlike the lifeforce of normal creatures, the zombie dragon was an undead in the moment it was revived, and what drove the power of its body was naturally not the lifeforce of living creatures. It was an unusual energy that Sakasugi found familiar, and yet it could not remember what it was since its memories were now full of holes. And the assault of those humans was ultimately affecting that energy, slowly causing that unusual energy to fade As Sakasugi crushed another human rushing at it into mincemeat, it noticed that the other humans nearby were not feeling fear but grinning bizarrely. Saskasugi knew then that this mustnt continue. Theres definitely something wrong with these humans! *** Even when the dragon was left in awe at the horrific durability of the Players and even suspected that they were brainwashed by some evil god, the Players were actually finding the current situation troubling as well. To put it simply, the creature was too tough. Its scales and its bones were so durable that the Players normal skills couldnt pierce them aside from cutting down a fraction of HP. Moreover, stronger ultimate skills had excessively long casting time, no to mention that they were very obvious and cool that the zombie dragon would agilely evade it whenever they fired. Even if the Players would attempt to control its movements, the dragons anti-magic nature was equally powerful, while most control spells were weak. Additionally, suplex, which everyone acknowledged as the best control spell would always be foiled whenever the dragon quickly darted ahead to trample over the Warrior Player attempting it All at once, the Players were caught in the distress of having such a tough opponent Joe, whats on your mind? Having instructed the other Players in tactics for the whole afternoon, Edward took a break to have a drink when he found Joe seemingly being pensive about something. And despite knowing that his party mate was basically brainless, Edwards passionate curiosity still got the better of him. Its nothing, Joe grinned awkwardly, scratching his head. Its just that when the zombie dragon stomped me to death just now, it looked just like a female Player who saw a disgusting bug. Edward couldnt help grinning in return. Quit fooling around. Its an undeadit cant smile, not to mention that its a dragon Even as he spoke, he turned towards the dead red dragon. Perhaps affected by Joes words, Edward suddenly noticed that whenever the dead red dragon was slamming its paw down on Players around itself, it looked like Jessica whenever she saw a cockroach Chapter 235: Attack on Zombie Dragon On a single glance, it would seem that the Players strategy against the Sakasugi the Dead Red Dragon was working steadily. Being a dragon, the creature itself embodied Rule Resistance. Even so, that resistance faded as time passed, and Sakasugi couldnt retain the last fraction of resistance when it was revived as a zombie. Though its base stats were as high as it had been before and it could instakill any non-tank Players below Level 40 with a slap, it was not permanently Immunethe one status that bothered Players the most. Moreover, having no Rule Resistance meant that the Players could deal -1 HP damage to Sakasugi even if they couldnt pierce its defenses, since they would be backed by Rule of Skill whenever they cast their skills. That was the primary reason why the Players could last until nowthough each Player was inflicting pathetically low damage on the dragon, having numbers and time meant that the damage would still be significant otherwise they would all have run off to take down the softer Undead Orks instead of fighting the invulnerable dragon. And when they saw that approximately a fifth of the Dead Red Dragons HP was chipped away, the Players spirits were roused: they would win if they keep beating it up for another four days! In comparison, Sakasugi was growing in irritation the more it foughtthe damned humans were just so bizarre! It could kill up to three Players with a slap and a dozen with a lashing of its tail, but they were also becoming more accustomed to its attacks while the battle dragged on. Slowly, they started to evade the dragons lethal strikes, and even use that brief window when the creature paused after attacking to launch a fierce barrage of attacks. And now, as long as the humans didnt make any mistake in their combination, Sakasugi would actually fail to kill even a single one of them! Even if it would maim those fully-armored Warriors who stood at the front to stop its advance, they would be immediately healed by the Clerics to the rear. And if it attempted to attack the Clerics or the Mages to the rear, the Warriors would attack the dragon where the sun dont shine. It certainly didnt deal much damage and basically felt like an itch, but even a Husky would throw a fit if you poke it long enoughlet alone Sakasugi, a prideful Red Dragon in life! How could it nothing when someone poked it in the butt!? Of course its going to kill them with its Dragon Breath! One must say that even though Sakasugi had retained a portion of its own will after its zombification, its intelligence had clearly fallen hard after most of its brain had rotted off because it didnt recognize that the human who was persistently poking it in the ass was Marni Wilf, who had died twice and enlivened the battleground. It was true that the Players had the advantage from the looks of things. Only Angora Faust, liege of the Unnamed Town who was constantly updated thanks to Vela because he had a different System and was therefore not involved realized what things were not going well. It was true that the Players had become familiar with their foes attacks after a day, strategized accordingly, and even sacrificed EXP to inflict tons of damage upon the Dead Red Dragon. But because they were completely focused in the fight and didnt have the time to stop and think, all of them never realized that the battleground never stopped moving. Given the battleground revolved around the Dead Red Dragon, be it by chance circumstances the Players were causing or by will that the Dead Red Dragon was advancing, the battle was simply moving without stopping. They had already passed through the slope of mud and stone caused by the reason landslide, traversed the hills of the Kristoff Mountains and still moving along slowly. Soon, they would pass through the Wailing Trail and reach the plains of the North, where Tunaya, the capital of the Silver Eagle Duchy sat! As expected of the God of Games he has foreseen it already, which was why the quest he assigned from the very start is city defense and not slaying the dragon. Edward naturally realized the fact thanks to Angoras tip. Should we contact the other Players and have them try to divert the dragons path? Vela asked. Angora was himself curious and wanted to see for himself what a dragon-slaying battle looked like, but Vela thought that it was too dangerous. That was why he stayed at the Silver Eagle Castle while she would relay his orders. I had Joe and the others try after our lord warned us about it, but it didnt work. Edward shook his head. The zombie dragon is intentionally advancing towards Tunaya, and it might not even realize that itself Are undead still self-aware? Vela couldnt help asking, and perhaps finding her own question vague, she tried to add, Um. What I meant was whether they could retain the consciousness they had when they were still alive, and whether they could think Being a native of a village near the Valley of the Tragic Dead, Vela had seen all forms of undead since she was a child which had no lack of bizarre beings. Some appeared to be conscious as if they were alive, but as time moved on, it was recognizable that it was not actually consciousnesscorpses couldnt think, and the reason behind their behavior had more to do with their instincts as undead. They might. The dragon did something that closely resembled thinking, but Im also sure that even though it believes it had freedom of will, it is actually being controlled by someone else. Edward said solemnly. Otherwise, it wouldnt be attacking futilely or instinctively advancing towards Tunaya while fighting after we had seen through its movements And when it was alive, Tunaya might not even have been built yet. So what should we do? Its another four days until we could take it down, but it would reach the plains in two Vela couldnt help being anxious. And wouldnt it leave the Players behind and attack the city once it sees it? Yes, that is possible Edward nodded without hesitation. Vela quietly resolved herself in that moment. If the Dead Red Dragon really reached Tunaya, she would take Angoradrag, if it was necessaryto the Lifestone and teleport to the safety of the Unnamed Town. But its still too early to worry about that. Just now, Joe noticed something about the big guy well, its not a weakness, but it is a movement pattern. Edward was suddenly smilingit was a mischievous look matching his youthfulness (that would drive parents crazy), as if he was a child about to pull a prank. Since theres no harm in trying, Ill switch to a new tactic if it works, we might really shorten the time we need to take down the big guy! Chapter 236: The Archbishops Suspicions Hadro, archbishop of Tunayas Brilliant White Church had been watching in secret all along. Still, saying that he was watching in secret wasnt quite right since the Silver Eagle Duchy was a very small territory and was a part of the Valla Empire on paper. That was the reason it wasnt valued much, which was why the Brilliant White Church didnt station a larger sacred corps here. After the sacred corps dispatched to Sotimi had been wiped out by the undead orks and he learned about the zombie dragon from the Temple of Glory, Hadro promptly ordered all remaining sacred corps to defend Tunaya. As such, he didnt pay much attention to the Players who arrived at Tunaya as reinforcements personally invited by Angora, heir of the Faust family. Their appearance was too lowly after alltheir random assortment of equipment made it obvious that they were not a regular military force but a ragtag bunch no different from mercenaries. Moreover, some of their equipment looked completely unable to defend themselves Or would those silly anglerfish helms have some special ability? Hadro had suspected that they might be the elite forces of another churchs sacred corps deliberately disguising themselves as a ragtag army so that he would drop his guard, whereas their church would seize the opportunity to claim dominance in Tunaya which was not too important a city in the continentin fact, many main religions in other cities had done the same: they would rescue the city in similar crises to gain support from the citizens, eventually claiming the peak position from major religions such as the Brilliant White Church and the Temple of Glory. But he gave up on that idea after carefully observing them. And that was because the Players had a completely different air to them even when compared to a ragtag army, let alone the elite forces of a church. One glance was enough to see that they had not gone through professional training, complete outsiders who couldnt stop giggling when they hear the bizarre confessions of other believers. Comparing them to the Brilliant White Churchs elites was demeaningfor the elites of Hadros church, that is! Perhaps Angora was thinking about using them as cannon fodder to delay the zombie dragons attack on Tunaya as much as possible, so that the churches would have the time to divert champions from other bases here to save them. That naturally made Hadro see the future duke in a different light. To him, a liege who could steel his heart, use mercenaries as fodder to buy time for a better chance of winning was much better, when the alternative was a compassionate liege who hesitate in the face of horrific disasters out of concern over the lives of a few peasants. After all, clerics were different from politicians because they had few paths ahead for them. Hadro himself might be tied to Tunaya for the rest of his life from the looks of things, or the Holy City of the Brilliant White Church wouldnt so casually grant him the title of archbishop. In the Brilliant White Church, it was an open secret that archbishops assigned to a parish without special circumstances were never returning to the Holy City. And since it was not as if there were many archbishops seated in the Holy City, there was no way out-of-towners like Hadro would be allowed back to the Holy City and make trouble for the other archbishops. After all, staying in the Holy City meant being closer to their god compared to being other parishes, and having an easier time to gain the gods blessings That was why Hadros being in Tunaya was both an insult and an honor. That being said, Angoras style did fit his appetiteonce again, he considered luring Angora into the Brilliant White Church, and even take him in as an apprentice if need be! Be that as it may, Angoras reaction was so vague that Hadro had the feeling that the Temple of Glory must have the future Silver Eagle Dukes ears to themselves. But since things had yet come to a definite end, he would spend time to change Angoras perspective so that the youth could see through the true face of the Temple of Glory, which in turn would make converting him easier. Anyway, returning to the ragtag soldiers of unmatched hilarity. Hadro had no idea what promise Angora had made to those soldiers to the point that they were so eager and cheerful even when they were up against the terrible dragon (Hadro considered the ragtag army to be fools with no vision from that point alone), but the dragon was definitely going to kill them all. He had assumed that the ragtag bunch could buy half a day at best since the dragon was an overwhelming powerful being even amongst supernatural species. After all, even though they were undead revived from corpses, skeleton dragons, rotten dragons, and zombie dragons were still incredibly powerfulwithout a sacred choir or a guild of mages helping them, not even an elite force was a match for any dragon if they lacked the numbers. Moreover, the short distance between the Kristoff Mountains and Tunaya would be an arms throw for dragons since they could fly, taking them just half an hour to reach the city. Even so, the word from believers sent out as scouts was that the seemingly inferior ragtag band had firmly held the Dead Red Dragon at the Kristoff Mountains for an entire day, and the beast had yet to leave the Wailing Trail even now! That outcome was probably what the entire sacred corps of Hadros church could amount to! In reality, the archbishop didnt know that the Brilliant White Churchs sacred corpses were much weaker and were swiftly wiped out when caught off guard as they ran into the zombie dragon. Sakasugi had actually been using its magic to observe the worlds present condition, which in turn slowed its advance toward Tunayathe Players would have been fighting the dragon in the city otherwise. But that feat only affirmed Hadros belief in his own theory: the ragtag bunch was definitely the sacred corps of another church and their best of the best of that, similar to the Brilliant White Churchs rumored special forces consisting of ascetics such as the White Courts Wetwork Squadron or the Heretical Magistrates of the Thirteenth Partisansand of course, there was no way the best of the best of some minor church could best those two Brilliant White Church outfits. Be that as it may, the ragtag bunch remained rare champions, and it was a pity that the hierarchy of their churches would make the error of sending them to their deaths at the Kristoff Mountains, just to claim the place of top religion a measly city like Tunaya. Hadro sneered at the thought. Even if they did become the major religion, wouldnt their position be unstable without their champions covering for them? Chapter 237: The Premature Demise of the Dead Red Dragon Did anyone have this feeling before? When you noticed a cockroach in the corner of a room and you picked up a sandal or rolled up a magazine as you carefully approached it, bent on killing that uninvited guest with a single strike, the cockroach suddenly turned around and agilely lunged at your face? It was as if the bug was saying Surprise! This is how Im making my escape! Now, imagined that were a swarm of said cockroaches rapidly climbing up your body without you knowinga scene only too fitting in a horror movie. That was what Sakasugi, the Dead Red Dragon was going through right now. Under Edwards command, many Players had given up on their strategy on using skills to chip off the dragons by force and were attempting to climb on to the creatures body, hanging on to it while searching for a weak spot. And like a person who had cockroaches crawling all over them, Sakasugi kept shaking its body vigorously while roaring deafeningly. To the ears of those scouts from other churches too afraid to get an inch closer to the battle and only lingering at the edge, all of them assumed that the ragtag army had finally angered the zombie dragon and that the beast was now serious about killing them all. But to the Players, Sakasugis roars were no different from the hysterical screams of a human whose face was crawling with cockroaches. Being a prideful Red Dragon, Sakasugi never had a single human make it near its own body, and certainly never experienced a swarm of them climbing up every nook and cranny of its body, unaffected by its Dragon Might. Having never experienced such a thing in the centuries that it had lived, it was becoming flustered. Moreover, the Players who climbed up on it were making new discoveries. Dragons truly had incredibly durable bodiesonly the softer parts inside Sakasugis body had rotted away even though it was dead for over a thousand years, while hard places like its scales were no different from before. Be that as it may, be it a side-effect or some other reason after its zombification, the Dead Red Dragons muscles and skins were showing signs of rot. As the saying goes: hair could only grow out of skin, the dragons scales were growth that formed over its skin, and was basically sticking to its skin and muscles. Since most Players skills were striking it with external attacks before it, each hit would be completely stopped by the dragons scales since most of the body was still intact. No matter what skills they were casting, what actually hits the zombie dragons body was whatever concussive force remaining from the skill itself after it was blocked by the dragons skills, and because undead were mostly immune to physical attacks, it was almost ineffective against the Dead Red Dragon. And yet, the Players who climbed up its body realized that such a defensive mechanism wasnt omnipotentall they had to do was find a spot where the skin was rotting, and they could use their bare hands to rip out the scale growing over it! Without the scale interfering, what they were attacking was no other than the decaying flesh of a dragon. Their skills would strike a wound hard and deep into the creature and directly cause devastating damage! One should know that in the Players fight against the zombie dragon that lasted over a day, the damage they could inflict were only mandatory -1 HP. Only Gou Dans AWM and Joes Giant Toe could penetrate the beasts defense effectively, causing two-digit damage! The Players were spurred on greatly when they realized that, and tried all they could to pry off more scales and unleash barrages of attacks upon the rotten dragon flesh, seemingly to vent their frustration after being unable to penetrate the dragons defenses while being bullied by the Dead Red Dragon in every manner possible. It really works Even Edward, who was organizing the daredevil assault was surprised by the tremendously effective strategy. He was just testing a theory after all, and didnt actually hold too much hope about the strategy itself. So this is the right tactic after all! Meanwhile, despite being unable to see its own HP bar like the Players, Sakasugi was definitely feeling that the life within its body was fading under the mortals attack. A feeling of grief hence arose in its draconic soul no one had insulted dragons like this before! Hence, firmly holding back its proud nature and yielding to shame, Sakasugi rolled around like a donkeysomething that it wouldnt have done in life, just to crush the Players crawling over its body to death. It was a trick most uncouth, but there was no doubting its effectiveness: many Players were unable to react in time and crushed into mincemeat, temporarily stopping the dire moment for Sakasugi. You disrespectful, damned and lowly humans! Ive remembered your scent now! I wont be merciful next timeIll kill every last one of you! With that curse, Sakasugi spread its massive wings that were laden with holes, intent on retreating for now and recover, familiarizing itself with its bodys condition before returning and have the damned humans get a taste of their own medicine. *** One should note here that the holes on its wing membranes would not affect its flight. In this world without Newton, true dragons differed from pseudo dragons (such as wyverns) in that their flight never relies on their wings which doesnt match up to their size. Instead, those dragons had a passive magical ability and their wings were merely a conduit of that ability, and they would be able to fly even if bones were all that was left. But just as the Dead Red Dragon rose to the air, a clear gunshot interrupted Sakasugis escapeits entire left wing was blasted clean off its joint and its massive body smashed into the ground, kicking a terrible quake that threw off many Players who were still holding on to its body! On a large tree far away, Gou Dan who had contributed with a single shot whistled in awe. Luckily, the others managed to pry off the scales of those big wings oh, my contribution rose to one percent instantly? I see but isnt that simply a percentage of total damage caused? Even as he exclaimed in amazement, Gou Dan had already put away his AWM and leaped off the tree while searching for a new sniping point. Having been blasted sky-high by the devil Nightcry previously, he had understood the basic strategies of being a sniper all by himself. And unsurprisingly, the outraged Dead Red Dragon had vaporized the tree where he had been hiding with its Dragon Breath right after it left. After that, the seesaw battle between the Players and the Dead Read Dragon lasted over another two hours. In the end, even as the Players who were still hanging on to Sakasugis body were yelling things at each other about things like The dragon scales pulled off with Butcher or Dissect wont vanish! And its a Purple item!, Hurry up, hurry up!, Marni dropped into the dragons stomach from a hole in its flesh! or Youve come to slay a dragon too, what a coincidence!, Sakasugi slowly dropped to the ground in infinite frustration and hate, the throbbing fire of its dragon soul slowly fading from its chest and vanishing Chapter 238: The Battle of Sotimi Groff Compton was the captain of a Silver Eagle Duchys border patrol, in charge of a dozen border patrolmen who guarded the frontier at Sotimi. He was a graduate of Valla Empires knight academy. Although being the second son of a baron meant he was not inheriting his fathers title, he was at least appointed a minor official of the White Quill Guards, slowly accumulating achievement in his rise as a noble. However, soon after he graduated as a training knight, his family was the victim of reprisals for picking the wrong side in an imperial political struggle and after their supporters were taken out of the equation, leaving the whole family in deteriorating fortunes. Groff was naturally targeted in revengenot only was he denied his place amongst the White Quills, he was directly dismissed from the imperial army and thrown to the remote reaches of the North. If Horan, the Crownless King of the North didnt offer a little help out of nostalgia for the old days and appoint Groff border patrol captain, he might still be wasting his youth amongst the dregs of the military. It was out of the gratitude towards Duke Horan that Groff was one of the few border patrol captains at Sotimi who wasnt scared out of his wits at the sight of zombies and immediately ordered his men to retreat. Even though the zombies had long since destroyed their stronghold, he was still leading his squad to repel the undead, doing all he could to keep the monsters here instead of allowing them to reach Tunaya. *** The truth was that the zombie rampage at Sotimi didnt catch much attention from the startafter all, the Valley of the Tragic Dead that was famous across the whole continent for supposedly having the largest numbers of undead was sitting on another side of the North. Though Sotimi was quite far from the Valley of the Tragic Dead, it was not impossible for zombies to go the distance to come here out from that place. Since these inferior undead didnt need to feed and had no self-awareness at all, it was normal for them to flock together out of instincts and reach Sotimi by coincidence. The other border patrol captains were completely unconcerned, however, and simply sent out some of their men, assuming that they would suffice for wiping them out. As a result, those men never returned. Realizing that something wasnt right, the captains immediately reported back to Tunaya while working hard to repel the growing number of zombies. It was after fighting those monsters that the captains realized that these were not the weak undead creatures they had fought before. These zombies were incredibly strong and possessed durable bodies, and they would never stop moving unless their heads were cut off or their skulls split apart. And if they killed or injured anyoneeven their closest comrades, their victims would soon become another monster just like them and start attacking the patrolmen. With hot weapons barely catching on and no accompanying mages, the warriors could only engage the enemy in close quarters. Besides, they were fighting with too much restraint since they were cautious not to get hurt, and unable to use the advantage they had as fighters. Even the sacred corps of the Brilliant White Church couldnt turn the tides at the border. As casualties mounted while the enemies grew in number, most of the other border patrol captains were left shaken and attempted to retreat. It was therefore a pity that the zombies were only too adept at swarming and killing prey that had lost the will to fight, and the horde soon flooded and killed the border patrols attempting to escape, and much earlier than the other patrols standing their ground and continuing to fight At first, Groff imagined that he would ultimately be surrounded and devoured by the zombies just like his men and be reduced to pieces. But he unexpectedly encountered a turn of the tide yesterday. At the time, Groff was desperatehe was out of supplies and ammunition, even as zombies hungrier than wolves prowled everywhere around him. Even so, when the zombies noticed his whereabouts and were about to kill him as well, a bunch of weird people suddenly appeared. They were dressed flamboyantly, adorning equipment that looked impractical no matter how one looked at it, with some women were showing so much skin that their armor might well be as defenseless as bikinis. The weapons they were carrying came in all shapes and sizes as well, with some of them making Groff do a double take: why would anyone be carrying around a big salted fish? And why was it so sturdy that it could split a zombies head? Fine, they might look so weird to the point that Groff was suspecting that they were crazy, but he found them surprisingly reliable after a brief moment together. They were effectively wiping out the zombies that were pouring towards them from every direction. They didnt lose heart even if they would run into enemies they couldnt match, and even looked happy about it. After they saved Groff, he was led to their temporary base where he met many other border patrolmen who were rescued. The weird people calling themselves Players had brought along many supplies, including potions that instantly heal wounds just like holy water, herbs that help restore spirit, and cures that remove zombie infections! And it was so delicious! Thanks to the Players, many amongst the border patrol survived. But aside from fighting, the Players could be found muttering confusing things like Tch, why is a System set meal in the prize pool too? or it must be the System tavern losing to the Iron Cauldron and had to clear stock, and then retrieving various food out of nowhere. While they regarded those food with disdain, Groff and the other border patrol guards had a happy time eating away. Being able to have a full stomach in such a terrible battle was a luxury, and the food was both delicious and pleasing to look at, even comparable to dishes made by famous chefs. Still, through it all, Groff was aware that they were holding the line all thanks to the Players. Be that as it may, humans had a limit to their spirit. After a long, bitter fight without rest that lasted a day and a night, the Players were showing visible fatigue. On the other hand, the undead didnt have any such concerns. And this mustnt continue. Groff knew very well how dire things were at the moment, but he had no solutions at all. That was when the delighted shouts of other border patrolmen echoed from the rear. Reinforcements! Reinforcements are coming! They look like Players too! Groff immediately felt joy inside his heart. Just as he was about to share the relieving news with the Player who had been caring for him most, he found the Player frowning, his face full of panic and disbelief. Before Groff could ask, he started yelling. Damn it, they got the dragonand now they are coming to kill steal! Chapter 239: Its Not Like It Would Give Birth If I Keep It In the end, the Players who chose to fight the zombie hordes at Sotimi at the start were unable to protect their crops, with the dragon-slaying Players all flooding them and stealing most of their kills. But it wasnt unusual that such a thing happenedPlayers who had chosen to fight the Dead Red Dragon were confident about their own ability and were elites amongst the Players. In a direct competition, the Players who chose to fight the Undead Orks naturally wouldnt win. Not even Xi Wei imagined that the mighty dragon was actually that noob, and dropped in less than two days under the Players onslaught. After all, his original plan was for the dragon to last at least five days despite the Players encirclement, and die from a single combined strike by all the Players when it approached Tunaya. Tunaya was the capital of a duchy after all, and the ramparts were armed with anti-siege weapons such as Illum crystal cannonseven if those cannons wouldnt pierce the dragon skills, it would inflict certain damage after the dragon had lost its ability to cast spells in dragon language, creating spots similar to vitals where the players could focus their firepower And yet, the Players played their cards beyond without common sense, climbing up the dragon unarmed and pried off its scales, ending the battle four days ahead of schedule. If an event ended just two days after it began, Xi Wei would be nailed on a pillar of shame as the self-proclaimed game planner. He therefore sneakily returned a portion of the deviant divine power which the Players had collected back to the mortal realm, reviving certain corpses at the mass graves as zombies while he instructed the Players to run everywhere and put out the fires through event quests. And with that tactic that appeared awesome but was actually impractical, he managed to drag the event up to five days. But even if Xi Wei didnt do something so excessive and would rather go about things casually by ending the event right there, the Players wouldnt be puzzled by the short period of the event. They are natives of this world after all, and they never really had much experience with events. However, Xi Wei had a vague feelingif he did things as he liked by playing on the fact that the Players of this world didnt know what games were supposed to be like, his divinity would revert from the God of Online Electronic Games And Many Other Games back to the divinity of the original God of Games native to his world when he finally altered gameplay until it was completely different from the originals. His authority gained from his knowledge of games would mostly disappear as well. It would sound cryptic, but putting it in a nutshell would make it easy to understand: even the gods themselves must respect their own divine order and authority. Even if the god doesnt die when they lose reverence towards their own divine order, they probably wouldnt rise to new heights forevermore. In other words, even though Xi Wei kept feeling like an evil game developer, he would remain the God of Fight the Landlord for life if he insisted on running the game to the ground by any means necessary. Moreover, there was no legendary item drop after the Dead Red Dragon was slain because the Players had acted too quickly, killing the monster before Xi Wei could quickly make the item. After receiving the Dead Red Dragons secondhand corpse, Xi Wei thought about it long and hard before deciding to create a legendary item for Mages. Firstly, he extracted its draconic soul, plucked out its lungs that had not rotted off and scraping out piles of corpse oil and ancient phlegm, refining and crystallizing them into Igni Gems of high purity. After that, he took out a femur of the red dragon, mixing it with some materials left from the Marsh Drake and the Barren Giant and molding it into a magic staff, while embedding the Igni Gem on the tip of the staff. Lastly, the soul! Xi Wei muttered, tearing in half the draconic soul which he had extracted at the start. He snacked on the half which is filled with wild deviant divine power, while the purer half was put into the staffs Igni Gem, literally imbuing the precious stone with a soul. The gem that carried a dragons soul hence shone in wondrous radiance. With the crystalline frame of the staff, it eventually formed the silhouette of a rising firebecoming both exceedingly beautiful and a little dangerous. It even has passive effects. Well done, me Xi Wei nodded in satisfaction. Since you have the special effects of fire and blink like youre breathing okay, I shall name you Happy Flame. With the item accomplished, Xi Wei dumped it into the Golden Global Prize Pool, waiting to see which whale would manage to get it. Meanwhile, he was also sincerely pleased with another outcome of this event. He had managed to obtain tons of deviant divine power from the Undead Orcs and the Dead Red Dragon! Xi Wei still had no idea where the deviant divine power came from and what it was like before it became abnormal. Still, he noticed that he could create a certain form of divine fire resembling the First Flame after he absorbed it earlier, and said divine fire (or indeed a counterfeit of the First Flame) could in turn burn the deviant divine power and cleanse it into relatively purer divine power that he could absorbthe divine attribute and authority which the deviant divine power seemed to have been purified in the process. One should also mention here that it was relatively purer, and the reason for that was because it would carry the attribute of divine flames due to how it was made. To put it simply, it was just like the divine power of the God of Flames, and the only difference was that the deviant divine power had no owner, allowing Xi Wei to absorb it. But even as Xi Wei absorbed it, the fraction of Fire Authority in his body grew rapidly as if it was applied with Jinkela fertilizer. Tsk. If this goes on, wouldnt the God of Flames agree to a ceasefire with the Fire Thief and combine to beat me up first? One he recalled the God of Flames temper and vengeance towards Flintman that kept him pursuing the Fire Thief for five hundred years, Xi Wei felt chills crawling over his ball form. Nope, he shouldnt absorb every last bit of the deviant power cleansed by divine fire. By relying on his fine self-control, Xi Wei halted his desire to continue growing and absorbing the purified divine power just before the Fire authority in his body grew too much. Well, theres a lot divine power left, and its not like it would bear children just because I keep it around with that being the case, I should just create a new class for the Players. Chapter 240: Working as Intended After the difficult battles, the Players celebrated their harvests in joy, while others cursed the whales who were bragging and flaunting. That being said, neither the Dead Red Dragon nor the Undead Orks dropped anything impressive aside from the dragon scales some of the Players had pried off with Life Skills, the reason naturally being that Xi Wei was dumping every reward indiscriminately into the Personal Prize Pool and Global Prize Pool as he had originally planned. At first, Xi Wei had assumed that dividing the Global Prize Pool into three categories in gold, silver, and bronze would upset the Playersand it turned out to be somewhat true: one of them did see the imbalance of such a setting and had their words about it, even complaining on the forums anonymously and getting almost 50 likes for it. Still, would being anonymous on the forums matter to Xi Wei? He could see the essence from the phenomenon, immediately realizing that it was Marni running his mouth. Hence, he sneakily lowered the lottery success rate in the Global Prize Pool by 20% for him and the other Players who liked his post, and have them understand the pain of society[1] Either way, Xi Wei realized that he was worrying too muchthe Bronze Prize Pool actually contained many useful items (such as strong forging stones), and many Players who had drained out their Personal Prize Pool and pooled enough Global Tickets started to draw from the Global Pool. And right after their fellow Players managed to draw something, other Players who had been saving their tickets began to invest their tickets in envy as well. It was basically the same thing as smartphone games, where impulsive Players assumed that the chance of success is high when they saw the System information of XXX managed to draw an SSR. Believing that they could do it as well, they would then throw their money in the game as if having lost their minds. Moreover, since Xi Wei did not put out a preview, the Players only knew about the rewards in the Bronze Pool and nothing about the other two. Therefore, to prevent a situation where something like the rewards in later pools are rare but not as useful as strong forging stone, most Playersaside from the stingy onesbegan to draw from the Prize Pool. And when most of the top prizes were taken, Xi Wei generously unlocked the Silver Pool even though there were still some junk left in the Bronze Pool. Items in the Silver Pool were naturally more enviable to the Players compared to Bronze Pool items (Purple-rare items, buffer stones that prevented items from breaking in failed forging), which in turn ignited greater reaction and competition amongst the Players. And just like he did for the Bronze Pool, Xi Wei unlocked the Golden Pool after most of the top prizes were taken. Hence, when the legendary weapon Happy Flames showed up, the Players all went mad and tried as hard they could to find any Undead Ork still on the loose to earn any RIP points they could get their hands on, bent on going for one last try. The border patrols of the Silver Eagle Duchy were all moved to tears by their actions Not only had the Players saved them in their darkest hour and handled the greatest of calamity, they simply had no intention to stop and continued searching for any enemy that remained, extinguishing any tinder of calamity that could reignite the calamity in its crib! Even if the patrol guards would try to stop the Players and attempt to reward them with food or even coins for their actions, they would merely shake their heads in disdain. Claiming that they were not fighting for gratitude, they would turn and continued onwards to chase after the undead! What makes a hero? That! Could those sacred corps of the Temple of Glory or the Brilliant White Church do the same?! *** In the end, it was a newbie Warrior who managed to get Happy Flames. As if he had just earned his doctorate, he carried it with him and paraded around the city twice, basking in the envious or jealous looks of the other Players (especially Mages) before eventually auctioning it. Given that the Mage Players were most numerous next to Warriors, all of them had wanted to claim the glory of having a legendary weapononly to hesitate when they say its stats. Happy Flames would greatly buff fire-type spells and carried the passive skill of Pyroshield that was effective three times per day. The strength of Pyroshield also increases with Player level, and could block any superpowered blow by a hundred percent even if it overwhelms the barrier itselfsave for divine retribution. Be that as it may, both fire-type buff and Pyroshield comes into conflict with water-type spells. Even if a mage could get the staff, their water-type spells would drop in effect significantly. And when one considered Happy Flames buffs in spirit and magical damage, the weapon was more or less the same as Purple-rares. Since the Mages only had a single class-change available in Tide Callers, Happy Flames was naturally a pitiful chicken feed: shunned and tasteless. Im already a Player who doesnt fear death. What good is a shield that could only be used three times a day!? was the general opinion of the Mages. But in the end, it was Edward who had yet to change his class who borrowed 15,000 game coins from Princess Leah to buy Happy Flames. Are you really buying that? Leah couldnt stop herself from asking Edward just after the money changed hands. Even if you hadnt change class, isnt there only a handful of fire-type spells? You may be the Princess of Tierra, but you clearly dont understand the wisdom of the God of Games. Edward grinned in response. I may be smart for a human and might conceitedly presume that I partially understand his plans, I know that our lord wouldnt bestow something useless for us believers! He definitely had planned for the next step, and would hence display his grand divine feat As soon as the words left Edwards mouth and as if to support his point, all Players received a system notification. [New Mage class-change: Skyblaze Herald] [Introduction: Skyblaze Heralds open paths into the plane of fire elements to summon fire elementalsthey are pyromancers who cast various powerful attacks through the combined flows of different flames and their manipulation over it.] [Click here for video] [Class change requirements: Level 15 Mages and above, clearing class change quests.] *** The reason Xi Wei didnt grant the Players ability to directly create flames was because he didnt dare to use his Fire authority out in the open. Instead, he made it so that they could summon flames out from fire aspects just like summoners. It was advantageous even though such a mechanic increased the time Players needed to cast their spells, because it meant that the power of the flames wouldnt be equal to the Players level. Even at lower levels, Skyblaze Heralds would be able to summon powerful fire elementals to do the offensive work for them despite the long chanting that was required. As usual, there were three skill branches for the new class. The first was the Blazers who directly burn their enemies into ash through specialization in unleashing fires of extreme heat. This route had many active skills in store, most of which would increase the heat of the fire elementals that were matched with passive increased the intensity of its flames, causing burn damage and ruthless fires which befits the name of flame itself! The second was the Exploders. To them, fire was supportthe art was in the explosions! This path was not concerned with the intensity of the flames or if the temperature were enough to destroy their foes. Either way, they would start blasting, and reduce their enemies to dust even if they cant burn them out! Simple, direct and devastatingly powerful, Xi Wei was looking forward to see what the Players taking this route would eventually become The last was the Firelords: since theres a path to the fire-element plane, why stop at summoning flames? Wouldnt summoning a horde of fire-type creatures and fighting alongside them while yelling about how awesome that feels. There was basically nothing to explain herePlayers taking this route are basically summoners, and at the early game they were the strongest in terms of combat ability alone of all three branches, although the Player themselves would become a vulnerable aspect in return. Either way, the update of the new class left the Players beside themselves in shock. The Mages who watched as Edward bought off Happy Flames were hitting their own chest and stamping their feet, feeling that they had missed out on a golden opportunity. Only Princess Leah stared in shock at Edward who bowed at her, his placid smile remaining on his face as if to say Dont be surprised, things are working as intended. [1] hahaha evil, pure evil Chapter 241: Towards the New Continent There were no roller-coasters in this world, but the up-and-downs in mood Horan had felt over the last few days would have been a fitting metaphor. He had learned that the church his youngest son was a part of has a number of champions following Cecils demonic incident, that they could rescue him and turn things back to the right track despite such desperate circumstances. Still, he was at a loss for words when he saw them come at Angoras call for the first time. After all, they looked no different from tramps who had the luck to find a battlefield which had not been cleaned upthere just wasnt anything elite about them. And yet, it was these tramps who first slew a dragon and then wiped out the zombies in one swift stroke. Every Sotimi border patrol guard who survived had staunchly vouched for them while completely ignoring big shots such as the Brilliant White Church and the Temple of Glory. Horan more or less understood the reason for such response. Both those churches didnt send in any of their sacred corps to help them despite the direness of their situations, taking the border patrols for weeds that wouldnt hurt to be lost. If Horan himself was in their shoes, he certainly would sincerely believe that worshipping those gods was meaningless, as if their devotion was all for nothing. Naturally, Horan wouldnt punish these loyal men who didnt retreat despite being cornered for the undead over such a trivial matterevery other subordinate would assuredly turn against him if he did so, and who would put their lives on the line when his enemies were at the gates when that happens? Still, he was hesitating about how he should be responding to the reinforcements Angora brought in. If Horan rewarded them too handsomely, other churches would definitely start nitpicking at some agreement and make trouble. Not only would that destabilize Tunaya, his stature and as a noble and the Crownless King of the North would surely be hurt. But if his rewards were too thrifty, the Church of Games would feel the disdain, just as his own subjects would be upsetthose people had fought the Zombie Dragon with their lives, and it was just too ridiculous to give them some casual medal as a way of reward. And when that happens, no one would stand up for the Silver Eagle Duke anymore. Horan himself also had a vague feeling that the God of Games believers had worked so hard without regard for death or injury to defeat those horrible foes just so that they could claim the seat of top religion in Tunaya, to secure their actual first city! Even so, the Church of Games was still stained with the dark history of Tierra, and really doing so would make the Silver Eagle Duchy a target of various nations and duchies surrounding her. When that happens, Vallas Emperor that had never liked him just have to lift a finger to direct all hate at the Silver Eagle Duchy. When that happens, they wouldnt fare as well as Tierra did! But even as Horan felt caught in the dilemma, he suddenly noticed that the Church of Games actually didnt demand a thing. After they had gotten rid of the zombie dragon and the hordes of undead at Sotimi, all of them left happily through the Lifestone Utterly confused and unable to hold back his curiosity, he sought out his own son Angora who had yet to leave Tunaya and asked the reason behind all that. Umm They did mean to declare to the world that the Church of Games is back by coming to help, but now is not the time to compete for belief with the other gods yet. Angora naturally knew about the Players reasoningtheir rewards for joining the event was whatever they drew from the Personal Prize Pools and the Global Prize Pools, and they never hoped for any other reward from the so-called duke. One might even say that normal rewards were simply meaningless to the Players And to Xi Wei, the restoration of the God of Games amongst the ranks of deities was accomplished perfectly. At the moment, the divine realm was caught in so much confusion that the greater gods simply had no time to care for a newcomer like himself. Likewise, he could mention the Great Lions name to any intermediate gods and discourage them from provoking him. As for noob gods, Xi Wei would welcome them for a fight anytime the liked. He incidentally needed divine power and divine energy, so nothing could be better for him than to have them offer their beatable selves on his doorstep! And even if the odds turned against him, he could use his special transmigration ability and flee across worldsnot many gods in this world could catch him without the right preparation. Moreover, Tunaya already had a Lifestone (inside the dukes castle at that), and only lacked a church building or temple. Either way, the Players accomplishment in rescuing the city is not going to wear off, and they would be able to use that reason to build a church sometime in the future. One might even say that the Church of Games was amply rewarded in that respect. The Players quiet departure from Tunaya also reduced the chance of them being stopped and encircled by agents of other churches, elevating the mystery that shrouds them while keeping their church a secret. Therefore, no matter how the archbishop of the Brilliant White Church was upset about it, not even him could deny that the Church of Games had become the top dog in the city of Tunaya. Still, the Players who left without being aware of their city-saving glory definitely didnt know that most the Tunaya citizens who wished to joined the Church of Games were thinking that if that bunch of bumpkins who are dressed in those rags could join the Church of Games and achieve such feat, wouldnt I be even more impressive if I joined and had strength to spare against the same enemies? Angora couldnt help smiling at the thought. And for them, there are more important things waiting to be done. More important? Horan frowned, the wrinkles over his brow making him look even more elderly. What could be more important than accepting a dukes reward? A lot, in their opinion. Such as a feast, or Angora glanced at his system notifications then, and then added without hesitation. Exploration and adventure in a new continent.] [Player Zonyan Grayclaws reputation at the Long-Ears village has reached Trustworthy] [New Lifestone constructed. Players may now teleport to the Western Continent] Chapter 242: The Believers Arrive Finally! Zonyan couldnt help but tearfully fall to his knees as the familiar Lifestone began building itself before his eyes, sighing emotionally in unmatched pain and suffering. He had assumed that he was a special Player who had the luck to be assigned a hidden quest and would be received like a Chosen One, but all he could remember were bitter tears when he recalled his journey thus far According to a Players summary post in the forums, there were many ways to improve your reputation in a certain place, but every single measure required a long-term investment of time. It was what Zonyan himself chose to dosince he was there at the Western Continent and would be pulled back to the Eastern Continent if he died, he decided to help the Long Ears tribe in various minor quests to raise his reputation. Or, as the Players would put it in more familiar terms, it was the everyday errands known as daily quests. While other Players were farming dungeons, exploring new maps and routes as they progressed, he was farming daily quests. While the other Players called upon their comrades to go on an adventure to fight the Marsh Drake and get the legendary item drop, he was farming daily quests. While the other Players ventured into the heart of the Trinia Forests to visit the mythical elven capital, he was farming daily quests. And when the other Players were instructed by the System to gather and defend Tunaya from the Dead Red Dragon and the undead legion, he was in another continent and still farming those bloody daily quests Chosen One, my foot! Isnt this just a daily quest?! Beside him, Vulcan and Joeyhis two daily quest companions did not look surprised at all, but instead nodded in great understanding. If their god didnt need them here, they would have simply killed themselves to return to the Eastern Continent Even if to Vulcan, having an event right in front of him but being unable to participate was the greatest torment in the world. Nonetheless, he was loyalit was why he survived as a tramp until now before becoming a Player, and he therefore couldnt abandon Zonyan alone here to work on those daily quests while he returned alone for the event gacha. Meanwhile, Joey who hasnt given up on taking in Terry and Jom as his godsons was hoping to make a name for himself in the new continent. He hadnt been a Player for long and had done some errands in the village himself, which was why a life of only doing daily quests in the Long Ears village didnt affect him all that much. Still, it was easy for anyone to turn from frugal to being extravagant, whereas turning from extravagant to frugal was very difficult. After having a taste of the lifestyle in the Unnamed Village which transcended eras, Joey had a feeling that what would really make life hard for them in the Long Ears village was the matter of food. Being a former believer of the God of Harvest and even before he converted to the Church of Games and enjoyed various incredible Earth food that would leave his tongue drooping, the food in Joeys old village was actually quite tasty (there is no God of Gastronomy in this world, and authority in relations to food is claimed by the God of Harvest). Meanwhile, to put things crudely, the Long Ears main food source was a wild vegetable called Betula which they prepared by cooking in clean water. The coarse fiber texture made it horrible to bite, not to mention that it tasted bitter and was pungent with the scent of soil, and it was simply horrible to eat even if they took ten thousand steps back. And yet that was what the Long Ears loved to eat, and everything from main dishes to dessert had it as an ingredient. Joeys face went green eating all that stuff, the color of his face turning into the color of what he was eatingbeing a hunter, he had never stayed in the hell of veganism for so long before this. In fact, Joey seemed to find the eyes of anything was green too, something which left Zonyan and Vulcan extremely worried, afraid that he couldnt hold back from his old hunter habits and killed a Long Ear to make some spicy rabbit head dish On the topic of food, Laybit revealed that the Long Ears used to eat fiddleheads and mushrooms, but that was back when the Long Ears village was still in the Vierlin Plains. Now, they were lucky just to have some Betula to eat. Be that as it may, their durable stomachs which could digest crude fiber clearly wasnt used to seafood It was true that the Long Ears could slowly digest things like seaweed as long as it wasnt toxic, but shells and clams which were delicious to nobility was nothing less than torment for Long Ears. Having just a few bites would cause them such horrific diarrhea that they would doubt the meaning of life And with no animals nearby to hunt, the non-poisonous fishes and ocean monsters were basically the only source of protein for the Long Ears. Fishes were easy to catch despite the irritation of not using fishing boats, and it certainly was delicious. The problem was the sea monsterssure, they were fleshy and therefore could last a long time albeit smelling like salt water, just as they were easy to swallow. However, after they discovered remains of their fellow tribesmen half-digested in the stomachs of those monsters or suddenly biting a finger or tooth or whatnot when eating those creatures, the Long Ears became traumatized *** Will it really be fine building this here? Laybit was staring doubtfully at the Lifestone floating at the center of the altar and frowning. Although Zonyan, an outsider from the Grayclaw tribe and his two human companions had earned the trust of the Long Ears tribe, Laybit was still worried when he actually saw the bizarre structure that was the Lifestone. Its fine. Zonyan grinned, revealing his sharp teeth and feeling that he could finally shake off his depression. And like Ive promised your tribe before, this thing would transport reinforcements, and we wont have to fear Swordtails cronies with their help. Even if the Hyena-men or Jackalfolk would send their troops here, we could beat them up for you! Beat them up? I think they would be pursued until their whole tribe is wiped out Vulcan muttered softly while keeping a straight face. No more grass, finally! Meanwhile, Joe was tearing up, emotional as his suffering finally came to an end. Laybit stared at the trio who were reacting completely differently and became even more suspicious. That was when the Lifestone suddenly shone. The radiance of the massive crystalline gem that hovered in the air throbbed like a heart right then. The runes carved on the altar beneath the gem floated out as if alive as well, and began to rotate around the gem itself. The radiance then pierced the runes, sprinkling mysterious patterns over the ground that kept changing as the gem and the runes whirled. The light of the gem shone even brighter than, now exuding an air of nobleness and sanctity to it. Under the radiance of that light, the entire altar seemed to become holy too as if it was bound to distant seas and skies, welcoming friends from the other side here to fulfill their destiny.[1] And in the next split second, those figures came out. So, this is the Western Continent? Thus begins Joes new legend! What? Where are the legendary items? Those at the front, stop blocking the way! Tsk, Im being pushed back! Push, my foot! Start walking! Wall glitch! Half of Marni is stuck in the altar! Marnis dead! You bastards! [1] *cue the Prelude (Crystal Theme) Chapter 243: The Real Reward What did the Players do right after arriving at the new continent? Explore the completely unfamiliar land, search for interesting quests, mysterious treasure or valuable prey in the brand-new region. (X) Declare the greatness of the God of Games to the natives of this land, preach their religion and bring in new converts to strengthen the influence of the Church of Games. (X) Help their fellow brother Zonyan get even, strutting to the Grayclaw Village with no quarter given and beat up Swordtail and reclaim Zonyans place as chief. (X) Anything can wait. The feast comes first (?). And naturally, the feast wasnt held in honor of arriving at the new continent. The truth was that the feast was more a celebration for the perfect conclusion of the previous even, [Undead Disaster ~The Creeping Shadows]. And with the scrumptious food put right in front of them, Zonyans trio naturally ignored all else and started wolfing everything down. Moreover, unlike the wood elves, although the Long Ears Tribe werent strongly positive about the Players, they didnt regard them with indifference or disdain either. For the Long Ears, since the Players were using food which they brought here themselves for the feast, wasnt using their storage (which were all Betula) and were actually exchanging some grounded sweet wheat powder for their seafood for barbecues, there wasnt any need for hate at all. And what few children of the Long Ears tribe were drooling at the sight of the grill stalls that the Players had put up In a cheerful mood, the Players naturally wouldnt be thrifty and invited the whole tribe to join their festivities. With the assurances from Zonyans trio with their strong reputation, more and more Long Ears who were unable to resist the lure came to feast away with the Players. Eventuallyeven before the skies darkened and the largest bonfire unlitthe Long Ears tribe had integrated with the Players Oh, the crabs here are so huge?! Wonderful! Gou Dan said, gnawing at a freshly cooked crab emotionally. Those fellows farming the Fishmen Island every day had cleared out the crabs back there Last time I was there, I couldnt even find one over three hours! The other Players were heaping praise on the Long Ears seafood as well. It was true that the marine life was rich and scrumptious back at the Gray Fjord Cape. But either because the Dark Tidal Coast was more dangerous or the tides there being more rapid, the seafood which the Long Ears managed to catch was fresher and tastier than the seafood at the Gray Fjord Cape. That said, the taste of the sea monsters was more or less the same, but some were grilled wrongly that caused a weird taste and less delicious than the ones the Frogmen grilled. But unlike the Players who were picky about tastesome of them who didnt like doing daily quest or farm dungeons had begun exploration in search of better food ingredientsthe Long Ears were much easier satisfied. They refused nothing, be it charred, over-fried meat or pasty bread that wasnt baked long enougheven savoring the taste. After all, they had been caught in food shortages ever since they were chased out of their homeland at the Vierlin Plains. Even though they could afford to have Betula every day and occasionally get their hands on some seafood, there was no hiding the signs that food sources dwindled with every passing day. In fact, when Zonyans trio arrived at the Long Ears village and would take up three additional portions of food, their daily rationing became stricter and they had to stay hungry constantly. Without sufficient protein from meat and eggs, the growth of children amongst the tribe had slowed as well. Their stamina was lacking, their bodies scrawny and they are definitely unable to learn the martial sorcery passed down through generations. But now, the overflowing supplies that the Players brought (mainly food) left the chief of the Long Ears feeling as if they had opened a door to a new world. In his opinion, food, an important element for survival wasnt a precious resource for the humans. Even if their tribe still couldnt break through the blockade set up by the Graywolfmen and the Hyena-men and secure necessary resources for their survival, wouldnt they be able to start something new and trade with the humans calling themselves Players? It certainly looked like they enjoyed their seafood. Still, the chief found that the numbers werent right when he thought deeper about it. The Players preference of seafood merely extends to a matter of taste, and they are not the nobility who would spend astronomical prices to buy seafood which actually wasnt worth much. Trade wouldnt last long if they use the seafood as their competitive commodity. Besides, harvesting seafood was quite difficult at the Dark Tidal Coast and a moment of carelessness would mean the loss of more of their tribespeople, which was hardly worth it Meanwhile, the Players were naturally unconcerned with what the Long Ears tribe chief was thinking. Most of them were boasting about their heroic deeds in the previous eventthere was no lack of tales about how they fought the Dead Red Dragon and crippled one of its legs or how they stood alone against hundreds of Undead Orks. Even Joe, who was taking sips of his malt ale was describing in detail to an onlooking crowd about how he knocked off one the Dead Red Dragons toes with a single swing of his sword. Edward, on the other hand, caught sight of Zonyan who looked a little lonely. He walked up, offering the Leo a toast and only then asked about why he looked a little dejected. I thought the rewards for building the Lifestone to connect the two continents would be better. Zonyan smiled bitterly, shaking his head. But all the God of Games gave is some EXP and game coins its a lot, but its not quite what I expected This was exactly what it meant: greater expectations lead to greater disappointment. Edward, however, chuckled after hearing Zonyans storyhe knew then that the Leos faith was not as firm as his that he would doubt the God of Games over something so trivial. Youve misunderstood our lord. If Im right, you could still exchange the big ships before, right? Yes but I would have to carry out more daily quests. Zonyan nodded, but then exclaimed in irritation, And I hate daily quests! But that reward is granted to you alone! Edward replied seriously. Think about itus Players may be able to move between the continents through the Lifestone, but what we could carry isnt much. We even have to pay game coins to come through! Ships are different in that respect. Make one big enough and chart a safe route over the seas, you could move as much cargo as you want! Arent you please with being able to conduct trade between continents? If it was Marni, he would literally die again from happiness! Then, Edward made a solemn face as he summed things up. So, dont be down over such things. How could the God of Games be wrong? He has already prepared everything for you! Zonyan thought about it. That did make sense, although there was also something wrong about it He glanced at Edward and thought to himself: The God of Games truly worked in mysterious ways. Us mortals could hardly understand Chapter 244: Its Black Hand, Not Grayclaw The Players were not actually in a hurry to advance throughout the Western Continent even though the Lifestone had connected the two continents. Still, some of them tried to headed out for the lands of other nonhumans, but because of the Hyena-mens blockade around the Long Ears settlement, they would run into those villains wherever they go. Although the Hyena-men would never win against the Players in a one-on-one situation, they never were solitary creatures but were social animals instead in the truest sense of the word. In other words, any Players running into one Hyena-men meant that there would at least be over twenty lurking nearby. And when they fight, three Hyena-men would be easy to handle for one ordinary Player, five would take some effort whereas its time to run when theres eight of them. If it was one against ten, one might even have to consider if they could escape. Thus far, every Player who went out of the Long Ears village to explore came back dead. While waiting for his revival, the most miserable of them even described in horrific detail how the Hyena-men bit off his balls and then sodomized him to death, a gory scene that prompted many of the Players intending to go on a solo adventure over the new continent to withdraw. Some Players even asked the Long Ears for information about the Hyena-men, and found that things were more or less the same as what the unlucky Player described. Unlike the Graywolfmen who commanded great combat ability and would lead their packs in open conflict against their foes, the Hyena-men were definitely limited in their ability to fight alone since they were much weaker than Graywolfmen in both physical ability and power. However, nonhumans feared the Hyena-men more than the Greywolfmen and there was a simple reason for it: the way the Hyena-men fought was unreservedly dirty and underhandedambushes were already their most honorable tactic, whereas attacking reproductive organs and delicate asses were their preferred methods. And despite being much smaller than Graywolfmen and far less strong, their jaw strength far surpassed the Graywolfmens. That was the reason why anyone who could defeat a pack of Hyena-men would end up losing pounds of flesh, a victory worse than most pyrrhic victories Furthermore, their kind had an especially strong memory when it came to grudges. It wouldnt matter if you killed dozens of themonce marked by their scent of hatred, they would keep coming, sneak attacking their targets with extreme prejudice. Theres only two solutions when it comes to handling Hyena-men. Being the former chief of the Grayclaw tribe, Zonyan knew certain information and posted it on the forumshe naturally wasnt going to hide it. One is to assert absolute dominance to prove that their revenge and dirty moves would only with them being dead and no other meaning. They would acknowledge your power after some time and swear fealty, obedient to your every whim. The other is to gather a force strong enough to destroy their entire race, which would make them swear fealty as well. Either way, the best description for their kind is that they bully the weak while fearing the strong. His post caught much of the other Players attention. [Im Doug Ag: I see! I guess you really are the former chief of the Black Hand Tribe!] [Zonyan: Grayclaw, not Black Hand!] [Pec King Joe: I see! I guess you really are the former chief of the Blackclaw Tribe!] [Zonyan: Ive saidGrayclaw, not Blackclaw!] [Warrior Princess: I see! I guess you really are the former chief of the Gray Hand Tribe~] [Zonyan: Your Highness, surely you jest. Its Grayclaw, not Gray Hand!] [Captain Ivan: Has anyone seen Marni? Hes disappeared again.] [Im Doug Ag: Hmm. I suppose just a Marnis dead would suffice for a reaction.] [The Peerless Marni Never Falls: Im not dead! Im just surveying for specialty products from the Rabbitfolk that could be sold at Lancaster [Many Thanks Bro Vulcan: I see! I guess you really are the former chief of the Grayclaw Tribe!] [Zonyan: Black Hand, not Grayclaw!] [Zonyan: Wait, what?!] Setting aside the jovial banter amongst the players and Zonyan who is not formally the chief of the Black Hand tribe, the frontline Players all understood from his post that the Hyena-men were a wall they couldnt bypass if they want to start exploring the new continent. And from what the Long Ears tribe had been through, it was clear that Swordtail had deliberately sent them here to harass their tribe. But to break this wall wouldnt be difficultthe Players only need to gather enough numbers and charge in for a Zerg Rush to break their crystals to end things immediately, since each of them were a lot more powerful than the Hyena-men. The problem was that most of the Players were tired of fighting after the strings of major battles they had gone through. Some werent even bothered to farm daily quest, so why bother gathering their forces once again to do a quite meaningless battle against the Hyena-men? Moreover, most of them still had too many rewards from the last event that hadnt converted them into actual combat strength. Under such circumstances, the Hyena-men werent attracting too much of the Players attention. If one had the time to split some Hyena-men heads but get nothing, why not head to Trinia and enjoy the view of long-legged elven ladies? Besides, Xi Wei, who was the only who could get the Players to mount large-scale assault had no intention of assigning any such quests either. He had only profited with a tiny bit of divine power in the previous event, not to mention that most of the deviant divine power that he purified with the First Flame still carried slight Fire authority. Besides, he didnt dare to absorb too much of it and had used most of it to bless the Players (which is why fire-type is the strongest in the current version). While his divine power not in the red, the balance between his income and expenditure remains unhealthyforking out substantial divine power in such a time for a quest that doesnt benefit himself much is just asking for it Also, things appear rather curious over here at the Western Continent. It wasnt noticeable since there werent Players there before, but now that most of them had arrived, Xi Wei sensed that these lands which the nonhumans lived was stirring some weird sensation within him. The question was that he couldnt quite put his finger on what was weird about it, and it nagged at him like a pain in the butt (even though he doesnt have a butt). Considering that the air around the divine realm had gone so weird, apprehensive and oppressive that it had been some time since the Great Lion came to visit, Xi Wei decided to leave the Players to their own devices at the Western Continent. He would just watch over things at his own divine kingdom to better understanding current circumstances. Chapter 245: The Hyena-mens Confidence Xi Wei and most of the Players were intending to ignore the problems on the Western Continent, and instead worked on individual developments, hence strengthening the foundation of the Church of Games. Though they had said before that they all wanted to explore the new continent, their interest waned considerably after some of the other Players went out only to get killed. After all, there were actually many ways they could developthe Valley of the Tragic Dead and the Gray Fjord were far from being fully explored, whereas dungeons such as the Fishmen Island and the living dead cellar were refreshed daily. In addition, reputation systems had been implemented on Lancaster and Tunaya, so not only could the Players carry out daily quests, they could also pit wits and brawn against the citizens there. Likewise, the Trinia Forests and its many arcana had yet to be explored. Should the Players head out to Cromwell from the Unnamed Town, they could head towards the center of the Valla Empire by crossing the border at Sotimi. If they depart from Lancaster instead, they could head towards the Grand Duchy of Rominos by way of Codo Bosra Either way, the Players were not short of places to explore. On the other hand, the relatively deceptive title new continent notwithstanding, Players visiting the Western Continent even in short trips would find that the Hyena-men were simply everywhere. Not only were they unrewarding to kill, they love sneak attacks and fought most disgustinglythere was just nothing fun about it. But even if you wouldnt believe in the existence of the devil, the devil does believe in your existence. There was no way that the appearance of so many humans at the Long Ears settlement could keep a secret from the Hyena-men in the first place. The only thing stopping them from making a move was that they didnt know about the background of the Players. Nonetheless, they assumed that the humans were nothing to brag about after they had managed to kill those Players who ventured out of the village. And with most of the other Players having left the Western Continent, the Hyena-men got the wrong idea that they could wipe out the humans, take their balls as evidence to appeal for recognition amongst the Grayclaw tribe. Hence, they really sent out a squad that head out for the Long Ears village. Still, one would have to give them credit as the most cunning of beasts though that only applies to beast. Like how adults would flatter a child, saying Wow, so clever~, the cleverness there didnt mean that the child was actually clever, but that the child was still at the level of a child. And that was the same thing with the Hyena-men. They might indeed appear intelligent and cunning compared to most nonhumans who were lacking in the brain department, they seemed to have reached the limits of their brainpower and could go no further as well. For example, they simply didnt consider other questions, such as Why are so many humans appearing?, Why are they vanishing into thin air? or If they can vanish into thin air, does that mean more humans could appear?. They didnt even notice that the Long Ears suddenly had gained sufficient resources (mainly food) and hadnt gone to sea for days. And that was all there was to know about Hyena-men intelligence. *** The Dark Tidal Coast had never been a safe place, which was why the sentries of the Long Ears village had never let down their guard. That was why they immediately noticed the signs of the approaching pack of Hyena-men, and they quickly fired warning signals at the direction of the village. There were also adventurous Playersled by Zonyanwho had stayed in the village, intent on exploring the new continent. They did not panic with what was happening, and started to scout out the enemy. There are almost five hundred of them A Spirit Swordsman said in confusion after recalling his Spirit Familiar which he had sent out for reconnaissance. Most of them between level ten to twenty. There are some stronger than that, but those are mostly elites. As mentioned before, most Players could basically fight five Hyena-men at once thanks to their advantage in level and item. There just around twenty Players who had hanged around the Long Ears village, and using that formula would mean they could fight around a hundred Hyena-men. But is that all there is to it? The answer to that is actually uncertain. While there would be friendly fire to a certain extent, the Players would also be able to stop their teammates from getting hurt, which would in turn greatly increase the partys combat strength. In other words, the Players had the high ground whether they were fighting a single boss or were fighting a massive battle royale. Moreover, most classes had AoE skills. It was true that such skills would be easily evaded or interrupted by an opponent in single battle because it takes a long time to cast it, and if unlucky the user might be staggered when their casting was cut short, suffering the ultimate horror of allowing their opponent rip them a new one. On the other hand, they would have their party members protection in group battle. Their opponents wouldnt interrupt them and their numbers meant that they wont evade the AoE skill easilyallowing the user to take out a whole bunch with a single casting! That being said, when the Players all excitedly headed out the village gates and directly fight the Hyena-men army, they realized that they were even weaker than they imagined. Their weapons were fashioned out of bone or rock as if they were still in the stone age. They were also wearing crude skin pelts while drool dangled over their moves, looking as if they were never had a full stomach since they were born. Compared to the Hyena-men, the Long Ears were much more normal in various aspects. Setting aside their weaker fighting ability, it was as if they were modern people whose culture went through extensive development *** Gate the Hyena-man was licking its lips. Being one of the greediest nonhuman races, they were no different from real hyenas that could sustain themselves with prey less than half their weight. Still, with winter only ending recently and the grasslands yet to bloom which in turn meant less prey, Gate hadnt had a full meal for a long time. But now it looks like it was time for a scrumptious feastthe chieftain had mentioned that no rabbits were to be eaten, although they could as much human meat as they would like! That certainly pleased Gate very much. The last feast had been before winter when he had caught a giant capybara which meat lasted him over the long winter And finally, its time to feast again. Gate could feel his drool flowing freely at the thought of the humans meat, and there was nothing more wonderful than crunching his preys bones in two! But even as his army approached the Long Ears village, Gate suddenly felt that something wasnt right. Why werent the humans scattering everywhere as most prey usually did? Why were they laughing even though they were about to die, and be torn into a million pieces? Why were they looking at him like he is the prey instead? Suddenly, Gates excellent hearing caught the words of the human before him. Grateful Dead! Sword skillSliding Slash! In the next split second, Gate felt a curious lightness as if he was flying. It was only when it saw the headless corpse slowly drop to the ground that it promptly understood what had happened. He was already dead. Chapter 246: Do I Look Blind to You? Are the humans really going to be alright? Elder Rangka asked the tribal chief back in the Long Ears village. Well be next if they cant stop the Hyena-men As a matter of fact, it was already too late to say anything. The Long Ears wont bode well even if they attempt backstabbing the Players and destroy the Lifestone, because burning bridges with the Players would instead leave them in greater trouble. Even so, it was an instinct to say meaningless things to soothe ones emotionswhich was exactly the case with Rangka. He knew very well what the chiefs answer would be, and yet couldnt hold back from asking. Theres no going back now. As Rangka expected, the Long Ears chief replied came at no hesitation. The outsiders may act weirdly but they had truly helped us. Theres no need for hesitationwe must stand with them. Taking a pause, he then continued. And the one leading them is someone Ive met years ago in a summit hes no anonymous foreigner exiled from his home, but the former chief of the Grayclaw tribeZonyan Grayclaw himself! We were already helpless when Swordtail Grayclaw forced us to such desperation. Zonyan is our last hope, and I would take this gamble for the future of our tribes children! The Long Ears chief took a long look at his brother. I ask not for you to understand my choice, but you must lead the tribe and help those weird people. Thats an order, Rangka! Alright I understand. Rangka sighed and left the room as instructed. He called up several strong Long Ears, intending to help the Players only to be stunned by the sight before them when they reached the village gates. Nonhumans rarely see large-scales battles, which was why they wouldnt match the humans in the Eastern Continent in strategy. The Hyena-men didnt have the faintest idea whats a combat formation, and were simply pouring forward chaotically just said the battle began. That being said, the Playersmost of whom were displaced peasants or ordinary trampswere more or less the same, and naturally know nothing about military tactics. Even though some had seen the fires of war, were tormented by the conflict and lost everything down to their family to it were aware that in battle, armies would assume formations before rushing towards each other, they simply didnt know what they should be doing. It was fortunate that the Players were more individually powerful despite their chaotic ranks, and the teamwork that they built while farming dungeons day after day was not just for show. In spite of being terribly outnumbered, they were no different from a steel plate that rigidly stopped the charge of the Hyena-men. All at once, everything from fireballs, tombstones, vortices, and seafood were launched across the battlefield, while ghostlike familiar spirits and Junglewalkers would slip between arrows and projectiles. The Hyena-mens physical bodies didnt last long under such hammeringsome were lit like a bonfire and slowly burned down to ashes. Others had their head split apart colorfully by massive tombstones dropping out of the skies, painting the dirt in red, black or even purple and looking doomed. Some were caught in the vortices that appeared out of thin air, their entire body ground down into mincemeat until a thick dark red puddle was all that was left of them on the ground, bearing zero resemblance to what it had been when they were alive. And then there were those who were eaten alive by the seafood. Caught in a death grip by horrific tentacles or suction pads, their flesh would be shaved off, bit-by-bit with razor-sharp teeth. That slow death was the goriest of all, and some of the other Hyena-men who was about to come out for a bite of seafood were scared off. In comparison, the Hyena-men who had their heads cut off by Swordmaster Players were the luckiest at least it was a clean death with not much torment. The Hyena-men might be strong and ruthless, but they are only strong and ruthless to the other nonhumans. None of them had ever witnessed a terrible sight such as this! Hence, what remained of them were split in two. One was the bottom-feeders. They realized that the enemy had both strength and numbers, deciding that advancing did them no good other than dying and hence lost all will to fight, and began retreating to flee the battlefield. Others were ascended specimens such as elites or warriors, with some such as Hyena-men priests that had grasped supernatural abilities. Their will were stauncher compared to the normal hyena-menthey were not frightened at the sight the cannon fodders horrible deaths, but became more cautious instead. Using their innate abilities, the ranked Hyena-men would force their fellow tribespeople forward to continue wearing down the Players while they searched for an opening, waiting for the chance to ambush the Players. And that naturally caused chaos on the battlefield. *** Nonetheless, the chaos didnt affect the ranked Hyena-mens chances of winning. It was actually helping them instead. With the normal cannon fodder Hyena-men having limits to their fighting capabilities, they could have encircled or ambush the Players if they had been alone. But with them fighting together, they wouldnt be interrupted or be cut off into fighting alone for a long time. As such, the cannon-fodder no longer holds value whether they exist or notinstead, it would be them, the ranked Hyena-men who decide the outcome of this fight! One must mention here that ruthlessness seemed to be carved into the Hyena-mens DNA even after they had ascended. When most ordinary species ascend, their change would present themselves in size, color or the growth of certain special organs. Even the most casual ones would have a few stripes added, right? But thats simply not the case for Hyena-men. There was just no difference in their ascended forms or unascended forms! Because they couldnt see that there were ascended forms hidden amongst their opponents, many champions who fought packs of Hyena-men would ultimately be ambushed in the beads and die! That was why the present confusion in battle was the perfect chance for the ranked Hyena-men to hide for an ambush! One particular Frenzied Hyena-mens reddened eyes caught sight of a Players buttocks and smiled. It slipped amongst the cannon fodders and sneaked towards him, before promptly charging its poisonous claws that it gained after ascension and charging towards the players vulnerability at lightning speed! Say goodbye to your family jewels! And yet, the human seemed to have an eye on the back of his headhe promptly turned and raised his sword, blocking the Frenzied Hyena-mans claws with ease. Then, before the Hyena-man could react as it was staggered by the parry, the Player swung his sword again and decapitated the Frenzied Hyena-man. Woah there. Trying to ambush me when elite is written so large over your head? Do I look blind to you!? The Player spat a mouthful of spit at the disappearing corpse of the Frenzied Hyena-man, cursing as he continued to cut down other Hyena-men Chapter 247: Are All the Humans of the Eastern Continent Monsters? Before they could join the battle, the Long Ears tribe were watching, dumbstruck as the ranks of the Hyena-men crumbled directly, beaten by the Players who were less than a tenth of their number. It wasnt just the cannon-fodders eithereven the ranked Hyena-men crumbled when they realized that the Players could see through their identity and attacked them with inch-precision, and that they were no longer the hunters but the hunted. Morale of the entire Hyena-men army kept dropping, reducing them to losers ruled by fear with no chance of salvaging the situation. Now, both cannon-fodders and ranked were running as fast as they could while cursing why they didnt have an extra pair of feet. Most of the Players saw the timing and stopped advancing to clean up the battlefield. The reason they were sparing the Hyena-men was naturally not because of something nonsensical like the heavens smile upon the merciful, but because Those Hyena-men were so freaking poor! The Players had managed to take down more than two hundred of them in that brief battle but their item drops just a handful, with most of them being drops from ranked Hyena-men. Whatever few Players who were chasing the Hyena-men would naturally ignore the cannon-fodder, and probably chasing down the ranked ones. Still, Rangka, elder of the Long Ears had never seen such a battle. Battle on the plainsor indeed battles between nonhumans had always been limited to armed confrontation between tribes. The victors had always been those who were stronger, fitter and numerous. The Players, however, had completely destroyed that rule which had been common sense and dragged towards the direction of the illogical, displaying overwhelming might. Rangka couldnt help but feel lucky that he wasnt a part of the Hyena-men when he saw the sad ending of the Hyena-men, and find wisdom in his chiefs foresight. He turned towards the Players, his eyes getting warmer when he looked at themespecially Zonyan, their leader. Being able to get into friendly terms with the humans of another continent was the Long Ears chance for a revival! It was time to really consider how they should swear fealty to Zonyan Grayclaw. *** Hyaena, the tribal chieftain of the Hyena-men simply couldnt understand what just happened. The Hyena-men were eight-hundred strong until they charged at the Long Ears village a moment ago, five hundred of which were strapping youth ready for a fight. In fact, they were the third strongest tribe in the Vierlin Plains, next to the Graywolfmen and the Leos! And yet, one direct confrontation led to severe casualties, and even those who survive would probably had lost their edge as warriors and could no longer develop. What actually happened? They were facing just over a dozen peoplefeeble humans they usually thought nothing of at that. But somehow the most powerful warriors of the Hyena-men were now slain in such ease, even chasing him, the King Hyena-man over more than ten miles! Yes. He was not merely a ranked Hyena-men but one who would only appear amongst his tribe once every few centuries, an individual able to unleash the full-power of all Hyena-men serving him and lead them to new heights: King Hyena-man, who stood above the rest of his tribe! He had thought that the Hyena-men would rise to the peak above all other nonhumans like the legends foretold, but he never imagined that someone so frightening like Swordtail would amongst the Grayclaw tribe. Not even Hyaena would dare to resist him being what he wasand it wasnt out of mismatched power, but it was simply crushed in spirit. And though Hyaena had assumed that its tribe could at least take second place, the Mountain Tiger tribe had suddenly gained strength over the last two years, with several heirs awakening their ancient warrior bloodlines Now, having lost so many ranked warriors, whatever was left of the Hyena-men would never be able to oppress the Graywolfman beneath them, and their tribe were probably going to drop from third to fourth. What the hell are they! Hyaena seethed. Arent they humans? A retainer said softly. You call those monster humans? Hyaena turned to glare fiercely at the retainer. Dont tell me you never preyed on humans! We wouldve been extinct if their kind were that powerful!? Could they be bishops? The retainer suggested, still speaking softly. I have not fought a human bishop before, but it had been said that such champions arent many amongst the humans. Or what, every single one of those humans were bishops? Hyaena calmed down at that, and began to consider what kind of creature was it that inflicted such horrific losses upon him. But suddenly, he sensed something approachinghe looked up to find that it was an envoy of the Mountain Tiger tribe. The Tigermans body was concealed beneath a cloak, revealing only the signature furry face of his kind. Slightly frowning, he growled. How sad, Hyaena. That look on your face is so terrible. Your tribe misinformed us! Hyaenas lips parted to expose the canine teeth beneath as he bellowed angrily in return. Those things that showed up at the Long Ears village are definitely not human! They are far more powerful than any normal humans! But that doesnt hide your failure and incompetence. The envoy icily retorted. Are you looking for a fight? Hyaena charge his King Hyena-man ability that resembled magic, immediately calling every Hyena-man to him and discreetly surrounding the envoy. The envoy, however, remained unconcerned even when he saw that the Hyena-men were glaring fiercely at him, their enmity almost materializing. Trust me, you wouldnt want to fight me. Hyaena said nothing. The two merely stood off against each other while the air grew heavier. That was when the figures of two Playersone skinny, one fatappeared behind them. Aha! I knew it! Look, Silvatheres still elites here! The fat one cheerfully dashed up at the nonhumans. As expected of you, Brother Terrosche! The skinny one praised sincerely while keeping up. Hyaenas face dropped at the sight of those two. Even if there was only two of them, he was too traumatized to underestimate them. And yet, the envoy from the Mountain Tiger tribe sneered darkly and suddenly moved. In the next split second, he reappeared in front of the two Playersin two flashes of crimson, the two Players stopped completely. Silva, oh Silva! Theres actually a Boss here! And its a Hyena-man who doesnt look thrifty! The fat Player exclaimed cheerfully, his eyes fixed on the Tigerman envoy even though he had been cut in two from the hip, with his upper body dropping to the ground. Brother Terrosche, Im split apart! The skinny one named Silva was split in two as well, but down the middle. And then they were dead. The Tigerman envoy who wanted to show off his power to threaten the ignorant Hyena-men was silent. There definitely was something wrong with those two humans. Why are they behaving as if they had found treasure when he killed them? And they died looking so overjoyed Chapter 248: Us Players Never Sell Counterfeits (Straight-Faced) Gerald McCobley was a knight in service of Lancasters City Watch. Unlike your typical City Watch captain, he served Mayor Corinth and answered to him directly, and was not required to administer various odd tasks for safety in the city. In terms of role, the knight was more of a bodyguard serving the citys mayor and key nobles. Born into the McCobley family who had been in service of the mayors for generations, Gerald had been educated to serve them since he was a child. And he did so. In any given moment, his eyes would be watchingjudging every person approaching the mayor, from outside the doors of the mayors study or a corner of church, never once letting his guard down against any stranger at any given time. And until now, he had never shown mercy to any assassin making an attempt on Corinths life. Mayor Corinth was naturally pleased with Corinths ability. Days ago, he even entrusted the protection of his beloved granddaughter Gwendolyn to himwho was also mostly targeted by all of Corinths political enemies in Lancaster. That was when Gerald noticed the many unusual characters surrounding Gwendolyn. *** Those people called themselves Players, but they were clearly ordinary peasants. Even so, they had somehow earned Corinths approval to come and go from the mayoral residence, while frequently visiting and asking after young Gwendolyn despite having no serious matters, or her mother. Please. Gwendolyn was Lancasters young mistress in the truest sense of the title. Every other noble child added together wouldnt as important as she was! If Gwendolyn would want some local fruit that only grows in lands hundreds of miles away, those beneath her would fork out their own money just to earn the future mayors favor. Moreover, Mayor Corinth spoiled her rotten, and would do all he can to make her wishes come true. With such influence, why would Gwendolyn have things that she needed the peasants for?! And yet, surprisingly, there was Having grown up within the confines of the city, the young mistress was very curious about the world outside. That was why she always wanted to hear the peasants calling themselves Players to talk about the outside, even occasionally entrusting them to teach her games and give her toys that only the common people would play. After all, the people around her were like Geraldborn into nobility and having never left the city. Aside from his richer training in things in combat, he was basically no better than her. That would have been acceptable if that was all the self-proclaimed Players were doing. But there was this person called Marni who persistently tried to sell Young Mistress Gwendolyn and her mother some weird things. It was fine if those things were priced according to its value, but every item would sound like a big deal whenever Marni promoted them, and there was no way a traveling merchant could get their hands on such a thing! Gerald knew that he shouldnt stay silent when Marni showed up again. Even if he might make his masters look bad, he would expose the conmans lies right here and now, so that everyone could see his true colors! And at the moment, he watched as the man tried to sell the young mistresss mother a huge, scarlet chunk of coral. Look! A Gray Fjord Coral found from the depths of the Gray Fjord itself. Its measure in gold is assured, a top-of-the-line item! Buy it now at the price of 6 Abbys! (72, 000 Rions or approximately 150,000 yuan) Gerald almost sneered at that. The Grey Fjord Port had been occupied by a bunch of bandits years ago. Even though the imperial army had sent several bands there to wipe them out, they all returned in failure. Moreover, the Grey Fjord was a famously dangerous place even in the absence of bandits. Sea monsters and magical beast prowled the depths or on land, and if someone was really that formidable that they could get a scarlet coral of such fine quality, why sell it in a border town like this? After all, even if Lancaster was known for its trade, that was relative to the other few cities that survived Tierras fall. Wouldnt he sell it for a better price for his trinket at Vallas capital or the Holy White City which were actual, bustling cities? And here. This art piece is made by the wood elves using lunawood that only grows in the depths of the Trinia Forests. Not only is it beautiful, it draws in the Silver Moons radiance at night, bathing you in nourishing lunar radiance, healing sickness and strengthening your body! Bargain price, 20 Abbys! Gerald was snorting when Marni took out his second item. It had been ages since the wood elves appeared to humankind, and any who had seen them would be dead, peppered with their arrows. All those adventurers boastings about meeting them in out-of-town taverns were nothing but tall tales. And if the wood elves were never seen, there was no chance of getting ones hands on their art piece. Elven art was basically considered masterpieces in the various nations of the Western Continent, objects passed down in most noble families as precious heirlooms. Why would anyone even sell it? Gerald had never even heard of lunawood either. Most likely, it was Marni blurting out nonsense, and wasnt healing sickness and strengthening body pretty much a catchphrase of every fake alchemist selling fake potions? And last but not leastyou definitely had never seen anything like this, miladya Violet Pearl of the Dark Tidal Coast, plucked out of a giant clam by a nonhuman from the Western Continent! The perfect shape and size make it rare in any corner of the world, a whole new item never-before-seen! Selling at 45 Abbys, what are you waiting for?! Gerald finally couldnt stop himself at the sight of the pearl larger than an adults fist in Marnis hand. Silence, you shameless oaf! He cried in rage as he exposed Marnis lies. Giant clams are tiny, and the largest pearl ever is just a few grams at best. That thing is at least two pounds! And what nonhumans of the Western Continent? Did you think you live in a knight novel? Theres no reason to buy your ridiculous lies! But it was really plucked out of a giant clam Marni looked utterly innocent. Gerald glared fiercely at him. Still not relenting? Youre not dragging the mayors good name through the mud! You can think about your greed and delusions in the stockade! Hold on Are you really going to just decide on my crime? Marni returned his glare with a curious look. Or are you an evaluator who could tell on a glance that my wares are fake? Why evaluate when things are so clear? Or should I evaluate anyone selling a bun as mithril!? But when Gerald was about to have the other guards take the greedy merchant away, Gwendolyns motherwho had said nothing from the start suddenly spoke. Wait, Gerald. Her words were quiet. Im not convinced that Mister Marni here would lie to me for no reason. Please ask for Maester Rad from the Starwatch Tower, and with his evaluation skills we shall see who is right. As you wish, milady, Gerald replied, calling another guardsman and sending him to bring in the astrologist even though he thought it unnecessary. Hold on, Marni suddenly said after the guard left. Its only within reason that Im dumped in the stockade if my wares are fake. But what if they are real? Gerald didnt reply, and merely flashed a false smile at Marni, clearly convinced such a thing wouldnt happen. I would purchase all of them, naturally, the noblewoman answered clearly. No, milady, youre mistaken. Marni shook his head. I trust that you could understand that my wares are far more valuable and could sell at twice my offered price in major cities! Im selling it cheap to you for nothing other than reputuh, I mean, to strengthen my merchant guilds reputation, that sort of thing. The baseless suspicion of your knight, however, had already affected my reputation! So, my suggestion is this: if my wares are proved to be genuine, Ill have sir knight here bet on his religion to duel my own underling. Chapter 249: Maester Rad Isnt betting on religion too serious, even though Gerald had been affronting? The noblewoman frowned in slight displeasure at Marnis condition. Setting aside the importance of faith in this world where gods exist, members of most churches must pay a certain price when they convert to another religion, or be subject to a particular penalty involving divine retribution. That was the case even for the mild God of Harvest, Marcolo. The Harvest Churchs doctrine asserted that the flesh and blood of every believer was composed of food bestowed by their god, which was why believers would have to present objects related to Marcolo such as statues when they leavealong with a third of their blood, a symbolic act of returning unto the grace of the God of Harvest. Milady, Im fine with his condition. On the other hand, Gerald was certainly convinced that Marni was trying to bluff his way through this, intent on using a serious bet to stop Maester Rad from verifying his wares with his detection. There was certainly no way he would relent after seeing through that ploy. I dont mind! he added. In fact, I couldnt have it any other way! The noblewoman didnt try to stop Gerald since the knight himself said so, and presided over the two as a witness while they signed a deed over their bet. And when everything was completed, Maester Rad eventually arrivedwhile dragging his feet. One should mention that despite being an advanced sacred skill, detection was not an ability exclusive to any churchinstead, almost every believer of every church could learn it. There were also many scholars who theorized that detection was a manifestation of the Authority belonging to Quark, the Foundation of The World and one of the Trinity, even utilizing that aspect to reverse-proof the existence of the Trinity. Still, it was incredibly difficult to learn detectionone would have to read through and memorize over a hundred tomes on natural history, which was a reason why not many could claim mastery over the skill. Besides, learning an advanced sacred skill mostly depended on divine grace, an opportunity that was given and not sought. And since most people would simply choose to use such a chance to learn more powerful sacred skills, valuation proved unpopular. Moreover, unlike other sacred skills that only needed the user to keep their faith in their god strong and level up through a steady stream of pious acts, improvement in detection made it the only skill that required learning of new knowledge. That was why many individuals who were once keen on learning detection would eventually change their minds like so: Ive already learned so much natural history that I could be a master of evaluating treasures. What the heck do I need detection for *** Maester Rad was in his eighties and looked appropriately old. His face, full of wrinkles and his baggy skin left him looking especially older than the other elderly folk back on Earth. Only his eyes were sharp, completely lacking the muddled quality in other elders. Greetings, Maester Rad! Gerald saluted him with utmost respect. After all, Maester Rad was an astrologist whose strong reputation elevated him beyond the mundane. Even if another nation would eventually occupy Lancaster, they would treat him as an important person. And having reached such heights, gestures of ordinary courtesy had also become meaningless. He only gave the noblewoman a slight nod before asking straightforwardly. Where are the wares that require detection? I still have my studies to attend to. Him being here to help detect something was already giving face to the aristocrats connected to the Mayor. Mutual flattery? No way! Meanwhile, Gerald quickly moved after a gesture from the woman, and promptly led the old man to a small rack he was using to display his wares. He even slid a high-and-mighty look, who appeared unmoved. Maester Rad paid the young knights behavior no heed, and merely glanced at the first of the three items. This ones a red halberd coral. The old man said just after a moment. So, it really wasnt a Gray Fjord Coral! Gerald was beside himself in excitement, but the old man interrupted just as he was about to turn to Marni. Red halberd corals have the highest quality amongst all scarlet corals, and this specimens refinement and its quality is quite rare! It only grows in the complicated yet mysterious region of the Gray Fjord but this one has a richer color, its texture denser and more evenly spread, making it quite different from normal red halberds. In fact, it wouldnt be an issue to classify this one as a new subspecies named the Gray Fjord Coral! The old man murmured in wonder. Its value definitely surpasses any scarlet coral of the finest quality! I dont know about other places, but this would sell for around eleven or twelve Abbys when I was still staying at the capital of the Valla Empire. Geralds words faded just as it was about to leave his mouth. What? Wasnt it just a plain red coral? How could it be that valuable? But before Gerald could react, the old man had already turned to Marnis second ware. This one Even without detection, the old mans eyes were showing sparkles that did not match his age. To think that I would see such immaculate elven art as I live and breathe! Its so different from the sculpting of the enslaved elves of old it is overflowing with freedom and joy, just like the wind unbelievable What about the material? Gerald couldnt help asking, realizing that it wasnt a counterfeit. Material? Well it resembles wood, but it feels completely different from and common wood to the touch This The old man cast detection again at Geralds words, and was left stunned. Lunawood to think that there is still such wonderful material in this world. This item might well be worth its weight in gold! Gerald felt a chill inside. Really?! There actually is something that improves your health while you sleep? And once again before he could say another word, the old man impatiently turned toward the last ware in the display rackthe large purple pearl. However, the old man did not say a word after using detection, and merely kept silent. Gerald felt that he might have a chance just then, and couldnt help moving closer and ask, Maester? What about it? Is it really a Violet Pearl plucked from a giant clam? The old man, however, completely ignored him and instead promptly turned toward the noblewoman. Which great merchant is selling these wares? Where is he? If hes unavailable, could you please pass my message that if he may dignify my old face, I shall have this pearla hundred Abbys! Chapter 250: A Blade That Doesnt Flash ‘Danger? Would Never Reach Me! Naturally, the pearl was sold to Maester Rad. According to the old man, the pearl was a rare gem for most people but an unequaled treasure to most astrologists for building spirit orbs that aids in observing stellar phenomena. I yield, Gerald said dejectedly after the old man left. Even so, he was dejected that he had misjudged the wares and only that. After all, he wasnt going to lose to some traveling merchants lackey. *** Gerald would never claim that he was the strongest person in Lancasteras a matter of fact, hed never make top three. Even so, his skill which he started honing since his childhood was not to be doubted. When he graduated three years ago, his master had told him that he was on par with most bishops. And as a warrior adept in close-quarters combat and speed, he could even instakill bishops of the Seven Fathers church as long as they dont pull away! So, no matter how one thought about it, theres no way the lackey of a mere traveling merchant could be stronger than a bishop, right? But even as such things crossed Geralds mind, he didnt know that Marni already had everything straightened out for him. Level 35-better than the High Priest of Rotten Bones, but the template is normal. He doesnt even count as an elite monster Marni glanced at the number over the knights head in disdain. He may have died a great many times, the power of money kept him tied tightly to the tail end of the top Players as he ascended past the gates of Level 40. In theory, he could give that ignorant young knight a thorough beatdown even if he had to do it himself. However, after becoming a Player for so long and even though he didnt believe in luck, Marni was actually scared by the misfortunes that plagued him and could reduce the wonderful to the rotten. If something unexpected occurred and he was beaten up by Gerald instead, wouldnt he be the joke amongst all Players? With that thought in mind, Marni decided to have his lackey fight instead of entering the ring himself when he made the bet. Where is your underling? Have him come to this residencetheres no need to go someplace else. Relax, we could make this quick at the courtyard by the gates Meanwhile, Gerald was still hooting away, whereas Marni had confirmed that his backup had arrived through the Player forums. Hell reach here soon. Please wait for a moment. And unsurprisingly, there was an uproar outside the gates right after Marnis reply. Then, a weird figure appeared. The man held a long, narrow single-edged sword. His limbs look no different from any normal humans but that was the extent of his normalcy. His head, on the other hand, looked misshapen with its pink flatfish head mask. It was as indescribable weirdness, as if he had his whole head swallowed by a flatfish Still, the name [Mufasa) was hovering over the flatfishs tail in every other players vision. I wont demand anything when it comes to your usual fashion tastes, but could you dress normally in a serious situation? Marni whispered to the flatfish. At least take off that funny fish head! But I refuse! This is the Flawless Flatfish Head Mask which I drew from the Gold Global Pool from the previous even, a one and only item! It has Taunt-effect too, and no other Player could get it no matter how much they want it! Mufasa refused with no hesitation, and the pride in his tone was palpable. Moreover, its just some Level 35 small fry and not some major quest. I wont even break a sweat. Marni thought about it and realized that it was reasonable. The craziness of the Players would eventually be exposed to the key characters of Lancaster anyway. He could just overlook this one *** Since both sides were convinced that it was going to be a one-sided fight, neither opted to warm-up seriously and simply went ahead to the courtyard for their duel. That being said, Gerald found Mufasas head mask exceedingly silly and disrespectful towards his muscle, and had every intention to show him whats what in the duel. As a knight of the city watch and provided elite education as a child, Gerald knew very well about the importance of staying calm in battle. Even if he had not reached the state of perfect emptiness, he wouldnt be easily provoked by any opponent. But for some reason, he would be fuming inwardly whenever he looked into the dead-fish eyes of the flatfish head mask Mufasa was wearing. It burned his heart, surging as an impulse to break Mufasas face. Driven by that impulse, he attacked just after testing and observing Mufasa for a brief moment. Still, it was meaningless. All his blows would be parried with relative ease no matter how he attacked. He even had the space to say things like so noob, not even Danger is showing up. Although Gerald didnt understand what that meant, it was clearly a taunt. The knight couldnt help quickening the rhythm of his attack. Sparks flew as their weapons collided in loud clanging sounds, as if a blacksmith was hammering away on steel. Be that as it may, he couldnt even reach his opponents sleeve no matter how many times he swung his sword. Gerald never had a battle like this-everything he did was useless and a waste of strength. Is parrying all you could do?! He yelled in irritation. Coward! That was when his sword was knocked out of his hands and himself sent flying by a kick, rolling twice on the ground before crashing into a wall, his eyes closed even as he gasped for air. Yield? The flatfish asked. Over my dead body! Gerald, who had become calmer because of the pain earlier felt his blood rushed up to his head once again-he rushed back into the duel as soon as he picked up the sword beside him. But he was beaten even quicker this time. His sword was flicked away handily, and his opponents blade was sticking just over his neck like a viper in the next split second. To be fair, your swordcraft is not bad. The flatfishs tone did not change at allthere wasnt even panting, as if the duel had been an unnoticeable warm up. However, it must only have been honed by constant training day after day, along with sparring with seniors and masters, yes? Even so, a blade that was never refined by approaching death, pain, blood, resolve and perseverance would never reach me. Peasant How many times did you die, then?! Gerald exclaimed in distress. How many times I died? I forgot. Flatfish sheathed his sword and calmly replied. Who would remember how many slices of bread theyve eaten? Chapter 251: Getting Along with Death Those words were quite solemn and would have a perfect score in theatricality, there was still an indescribable silliness when it was mouthed from what looked like the flatfishs gills. No one could stay serious at that. Even so, Mufasas words still gave Gerald pause. The young knight knew that he was right. As the heir of the McCobley family, he was a trusted supporter of the Lancaster Mayor even though he was a knight of the lowest rank amongst nobles. In fact, he might actually hold better authority and privileges compared to barons of remote, impoverished districts. That was also why he had been trained strictly at a young age, diligently refining his sword skills every day and hence gaining formidable swordcraft and aura before he was independent. But he had never faced desperation, or a real, cruel fight in the truest sense of the term. After all, all he did as a knight of the city watch was clean out some bandit lair-even then, Geralds men were doing the hard work. It was only after his men had cleared out most of the targets that he would finally come in and defeat the stronger bandits who were mostly fatigued. As for assassins, they were either weak so that they wouldnt arouse suspicion with Geralds master or too focused on their target to divert attention to someone like Gerald. His blade had never encountered death, and was therefore stuck at a bottleneck it could never break past or reach its pinnacle. Though the swordplay in dojos might be captivating, it was an art completed without regard to the rest of the world-it would never be as effective as swordcraft developed on the battlefield when it came to lethal effectiveness. Besides, as a believer of the God of War, Gerald clearly felt through the clash of blades that Mufasas swordcraft contained a fraction of divine grace. Unlike Geralds aura which strengthens him physically and empowers his blade, his opponent had parried every single one of his blows even though the volume of divine grace was far less than his! It was something simply inconceivable for believers of the God of War. After all, the strength of aura, which was the most common form of divine grace from the God of War had always determined the victor! In the end, Gerald realized something he would never have imagined before: the reason his opponent could parry his blows and restrained the path of his swings was fully dependent on the mans own skill. The only function of the divine grace that the Flatfish Swordsman possessed was to keep him immune from Geralds aura, to stop Gerald from slicing the mans weapon and kill him while ensuring that they could fight on equal terms. The might of the Flatfish Swordsman was solely dependent on the swordcraft he cultivated! And as his opponent, Gerald could feel his aura the most-Flatfish Swordsman wasnt putting on airs, but he really had been facing death time after time in search of triumph against it, and in the end his swordcraft developed to unbelievable heights! Gerald couldnt help being more shocked at the depths of his heart. Barring deserters, green soldiers who could survive a terrible battle would see that inexperience fade and themselves become up-to-standard. Survive twice and they would be veterans who would definitely make the middle-tiers of an army, thrice and they would be a precious resource in any regiment. In this world, such veterans would have more right to be granted their patron deitys blessing. In comparison, it was not unusual for the silly-looking Flatfish Swordsman who had survived countless near-death situations to develop such monstrous swordcraft! Why Geralds throat felt dry even as he realized the sheer magnificence of his opponent, knowing then that the Flatfish Swordsman was holding back in their duel-or he would have been instakilled. Why would a powerful person like you serve an ordinary traveling merchant? How much does he pay you for his services? Lancaster can double it! Im sorry, but Im just not interested in serving the whims of nobility. Mufasa might have bumblingly agreed in the past since Gerald wasnt asking that he convert, but that he joins Lancaster as a mercenary. Even so, after he had witnessed for himself their willful arrogance and contempt, Mufasa no longer saw nobles in a favorable light. That was why he would so determinedly refuse the offer. He turned to leave the courtyard, although he turned toward the ragged Gerald at the gates while ignoring the stunned looks of the two guards standing on both sides of the gate. Another word of advice: Mister Marni Wilf isnt just some traveling merchant. If I often face death, he is one who gets along with death. With that, Mufasa left the courtyard, his last words to Gerald wafting in the wind. Youre ending yourself if really do provoke him, remember that. Meanwhile, Gerald froze where he was, disbelief etched in full over his face. There was no telling how many times he was left in disbelief on this day, and he could well use up that emotion for the rest of his life. That traveling merchant who looked so weak as if any bandit would kill him was that impressive?Gerald returned inside the mayors residence dejectedly, but those inside had already known the outcome of the duel after watching from the balcony. Whether it was because she thought that Gerald had embarrassed her or because Marni wasnt giving in to her, the noblewoman had a troubled look on her face. And when he saw Marnis unfathomable smile, Gerald felt a chill when he remembered the Flatfish Swordsmans advice. He hung his head, steel his heard and seethed. Ive lost. I will leave the Temple of Glory! Gerald you should reconsider, the noblewoman said with a frown. She then turned to money and spoke pleadingly, Gerald is still young. Could you forgive his rudeness, Mister Marni? Im sorry, but the deed has been signed and not even I could break its power. And you would know that us merchants value deeds the most. Marni shrugged and replied helplessly. And you shouldnt be asking me that-its up to the God of War to forgive him. Chapter 252: Deity Defamation As Marni became silent, he appeared unfathomable to Gerald, as if he was prudently considering every decision he was made. But the truth was that he was chatting wildly away with his net buddies on the forums. (The Peerless Marni Never Falls: @Pink Flatfish] (Pink Flatfish: Mister Marni, was my brag for you before I left good enough?] (The Peerless Marni Never Falls: What did you say to that noble? His high horse could have reached the skies before, why is he so humble now?] (Pink Flatfish: I told him youre bros with death!] [Im Doug Ag: Thats a bit too much. Arent you afraid of the Prince of Darkness noticing] (Pink Flatfish: How is this too much?! Think about it, lil bro Doug Ag. Who died more times in this world than Mister Marni? Could any other Player dance between living and dead so many timeslet alone normal humans?] [Im Doug Ag: No way.) [Pink Flatfish: By the way, will you be alright, Mister Marni? Wont you get on their bad side and your business be affected for this?) [The Peerless Marni Never Falls: Its necessary. Players have to farm reputation now and are being too nice to the people and nobles of Lancaster. It would be acceptable in the short term, but once this drags on and people become dependent because it was only logical that we treat them well and steadily enjoy whatever convenience us Players provide, that would only spell trouble.] (The Peerless Marni Never Falls: The day would eventually come when we would have enough reputation and no longer need their quest. The huge difference in treatment would garner discontent towards ourselvesand if some shady characters decide to instigate things, the discontent would turn into hate] (The Peerless Marni Never Falls: That is why we mustnt simply serve their every whim and show that we have our own dignity and strength, so that they would be careful when they try to use us Players.) (Pink Flatfish: Youre great, Mister Marni! Although I have no idea what youre talking about, it just sounds so awesome!) (The Peerless Marni Never Falls: ] (Warrior Princess: Come to think of it, Mister Marni is indeed great. The EXP he wasted from dying alone could have leveled anyone else to Level 50.] [Im Doug Ag: If thats the case, Marni is the number one Player! @ Edward, come and fight!) [Pec King Joe: Doug Ag, Edward is right behind you.) (Warrior Princess: Is Sir Doug Ag still around?] [Pink Flatfish: Gou Dan?) [Pink Flatfish: Its over. Hes not responding even when I call him Gou Dan. Hes dead.] [The Peerless Marni Never Falls: @Pink Flatfish, thanks for being awesome for me! Well done, and aside from the promised game coins, I could also gift you a +5 Blue armor item. You may choose for yourself.] [Pec King Joe: Get a chest armor! It uses most materials so it holds most value!) (Warrior Princess: You shouldnt choose items with that criteria, right? The drop rate for chest armor is quite high.] [Im Doug Ag: Actually, Ive recently discovered that the current equipment system is flawed!] (Warrior Princess: Oh, hes alive.] [Pec King Joe: Doug Ag died and returned to town. Jessica was about to revive him, but we ran into a Level 33 elite beast, and the resurrection timer passed before we noticed and his Resurrection Ankh activated] [Im Doug Ag: From what Ive seen, the armor of the military in other countries actually has additional long-U shaped crotch guard, along with another plate for the butt! Its also separated from the pants since most women armor doesnt have crotch guard.] [Im Doug Ag: But us Players dont have crotch guard! What does that mean?] [Im Doug Ag: It means our lord the God of Games never knew that crotch guards are a thing, and in other words, the God of Games is a goddess!) (Pec King Joe: Oh! That makes sense! It sounds so believable!) (System Message: Player Im Doug Ag is fined 1000 game coins and chat banned for 24 hours for deity defamation.] (System Message: Player Pec King Joe is fined 500 game coins and chat banned for 12 hours for enabling deity defamation.][1] (Warrior Princess: ] [Pink Flatfish: ] (The Peerless Marni Never Falls: ] * ** Turning away from the Player Forums, Marni cleared his throat and spoke to Gerald, who was still standing in front of him. I can accept you not converting away from your current faith, but the deed would remain unfulfilled if that is to be the case. What shall Sir Gerald do, then? The noblewoman asked in Geralds stead. I have actually put in an addendum when I wrote the deedthe victor may offer certain requests should the defeated not carry out as agreed in the deed out of various reasons. And what would your request be? You may speak freely. The noblewoman appeared eager, but there is no way Marni could take her words at face value. He glanced at Gerald, and noticed that the sign above the young knights head had moved up to Level 36 after his duel with Mufasa. He just might be able to try poaching a talent. Still, what request he would make was a challenge. Nobles often put numbers in what was profitable to them, and the noblewoman might choose to abandon Gerald if his offer proved unreasonable. When that happens, having Gerald beside him meant that all his actions would be monitored. His hatred of being abandoned by his former master would also be directed on to Marniand when the time comes, he would lucky if hes not killed, much less poach him Be that as it may, a request too simple would be meaningless if its completed quickly by the other party. Nonetheless, it was difficult to have the mayors family relent solely by profit. So, why not start by changing Geralds thoughts and perspectives? Marni was quite confident with the Players ability to assimilate. No matter who it was or how high-and-mighty they would behave, all of them would eventually become crazy after being in the company of the Playersincidentally, the wood elves of Trinia who had approached the Players on their own volition recently were heading towards that direction as well. And after becoming crazy, the best place for them to be in this world was the Church of Games. Therefore, Marni cleared his throat again and voiced his request. If thats the case, Ill have Sir Gerald be my bodyguard for some time. [1] hahaha Xi Wei showing his pettiness again Chapter 253: Make Mountain Tigers Great Again The Mountain Tigers settlement at the Vierlin Plains. The current chief of the Mountain Tigers was Taiga Roar. He was of ordinary nonhuman bloodline, having no special ability like Hyaena, King of the Hyena-men-but the Mountain Tigers tribe would all defer to his rule and control. In return, Taiga had certainly proved through his actions that their confidence was not misplaced, with the tribe doubling in population over a brief dozen years. Moreover, he had both money and power which he spent to learn domesticating livestock and plantation, providing their tribe with sufficient-even excess food despite the doubling of the size of the tribe. Afterward, he would summon his fellow tribesmen to train during fixed hours every single day. With years of persistent and unyielding diligence, their physical form improved to the next level, making them even more of a threat even though they were already ranked amongst the top few of nonhumans! If not for the appearance of an irregular being in Swordtail Grayclaw who in turn elevated the Grayclaw tribe far above all other nonhumans, it would have been the Mountain Tigers calling the shots over the Vierlin Plains and not the Grayclaws. However, the tribe also thought that Taigas behavior had become unusual recently. * * * It all began half a month ago when they were opening lands for farming as usual, when some of the Mountain Tigers had uncovered the major portion of a tomb beneath ground. There was no telling who owned the tomb-it appeared to have been raided before as well, with various symbolical funerary items that should have been placed around the entombed gone. Moreover, the tomb itself used to be quite profound solely by the looks of what was left of it, and the funerary items innumerable, although what was left now were merely withered skeletons. Still, the skeletons were very complete and didnt seem to be disturbed, and must have been buried alive with the tombs owner after being knocked unconscious and then suffocated. And what all those skeletons surrounded was a single stone coffin. There were many scratches over the coffin. The grave robbers before must have tried very hard to open it to steal whatever funerary items that were inside. But it was clear that they didnt succeed since the coffin was still tightly shut. In addition, some of the tribesmen noticed that the skeletons lying around were clearly different from those buried together with the tomb owner. Could the grave robbers have activated some trap and couldnt leave the tomb? Be that as it may, Taiga still attempted to have his tribesmen open the stone coffin-which failed as well. The lid of the coffin was like a single rock, it wouldnt open no matter how they would try to pry it open. Trying to smash it apart didnt work either. They had tried everything from rock to war hammer, but the stone simply stayed unaffected no matter how hard they tried to strike it. At first, Taiga had given up and had no intention to keep fussing over the stone coffin. He ordered his tribesmen to carry it away so that it wouldnt remain there and keep affecting their crops. But days later, the coffin opened by itself. The person inside didnt resemble nonhumans at all, but he bore a strong resemblance to male humans. Taiga was surprised by him and thought that he was an undead being, only to find that he was still self-aware. Although he couldnt speak at first, he completely mastered the human tongue in just three days. The man who awakened from the stone coffin called himself a noble of the night but kept his name unmentioned. Still, it appeared that his name was Vlad, and a descendant of darkness that survived from ancient times. From the paleness of his skin, Taiga had a feeling that he might be a vampire. Human academics had discussed the essence of vampires for a long time. Some believed that they were undead while others believed that they were a form in which devils manifested-along with a few who theorized that they were the descendants of an ancient race called the nightstalkers. Be that as it may, vampires were symbols of bad luck to nonhumans and encountering one was nothing to be pleased about. It was fortunate that Vlad displayed his worth C he could study the details in the blood of the Mountain Tigers, and then energize the ancient power in their bloodline by using his own vigor. And now, there were already three warriors who had activated their ancient bloodline in the tribe. they were the Saber-Toothed Tiger Warrior, the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior, and the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior! While those three still wouldnt match Swordtail in power, they could maintain the Mountain Tigers legacy and a foundation they would strengthen upon! Meanwhile, Vlad the vampire returned to his stone coffin to continue his slumber, but he told Taiga that fresh blood would restore his power even quicker just before he slept. Nonetheless, Taiga was still too cautious about the enigmatic vampire to care about his words. He believed that the Mountain Tigers had already cemented their place as the second strongest nonhuman tribe, and were surprised when the King of the Hyena-men, a pinnacle of his own kind suddenly appeared in the scene.And that was also when the third ancient bloodline warrior screwed up. Untamed and ruthless, the Saber-Toothed Tiger Warrior failed in his bid usurp Taiga as tribal chief and left the tribe, seemingly having sworn fealty to Swordtail Grayclaw. Soon afterward, he died in a fight at some unknown place, and the totem of the Saber-toothed Tiger Warrior shone after much difficulty vanished from the Tigermens bloodline once again. On the other hand, the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warriors heart would rise in temperature to critical levels and therefore couldnt move freely. All he could do was train in an underground basement and he hadnt shown up for quite some time. Only the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior could be considered normal, and he was selected by Taiga himself as the next chief. Having only one out of the three ancient warriors able to move normally clearly wasnt what was planned. Besides-whether it had been a coincidence or fate, the world seemed to progress to an age of upheaval and opportunity after winter was over, and many beings who usually take their time coming out of their lair were all using that opportunity. Taigas anxiety about the future grew as problems arose both from the inside and the outside. He hence pinned his hopes on the plug-in of his tribe. In other words, the vampire! Disregarding all his misgivings about the vampire and ignoring his tribes protest, Taiga began gathering all kinds of fresh blood and poured them into the stone coffin. He hoped that it would revive Vlad as soon as possible and help him awaken the hidden power of even more of his tribesmen, so as to make the Mountain Tigers great again! Chapter 254: Who Would Understand What Youre Saying?! Taiga sharply noticed that something was unusual when the Players appeared in droves at the Long Ears village. He had the vague feeling that those people who resembled humans had something to do with the Saber-Toothed Tiger Warriors death. Still, neither the Mountain Tigers rank nor Taigas own position permit him to test their abilities personally. That was why he quickly sent forth the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior he so favored while forking out some profits to instigate the Hyena-men he so hated to test those humanlike creatures. And as he imagined, the Hyena-mens wits were not sharpened by much despite having their king, and they easily agreed to his request, mobilizing their whole tribe and advanced towards the Long Ears. The Hyena-men could have been assuming that their expedition was no different from a buffetthe Long Ears were too physically weak, and not many amongst them could master the unbelievable skills of martial sorcery due to the sheer difficulty of passing it down. However, what the Hyena-men bit into was a high-pressure stove made from stainless-steel. Not only did they not reach meat, half their teeth crumbled and their mouths bled. Having already suffered initial losses, the Hyena-men shamelessly tried other tricks but was still punched by the humans into the ground, even rhythmically rubbed in the dirt up, down, left and right. Finally understanding that they had provoked someone they shouldnt, only then did the Hyena-men fled the battlefield, with half of their army already dead. And after learning the news, Taiga reevaluated the Players fighting capabilities while developing an interest toward the Hyena-men who were demoralized and were only left with wounded soldiers. It was true that nonhumans could live in peace, but only if there was a distinct hierarchy in between. So, if the Mountain Tigers could seize this moment to take the Hyena-men out of the equation, their strength would rise considerably while they resolved the problem that was the King Hyena-man. Not only would they have to fear the humanlike creatures appearing in the Long Ears village, Taiga might even attempt to pluck Swordtail Grayclaws mane! Hence, he sent the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior out once again and had him persuade the Hyena-men. It shouldnt have been a difficult matter-it wouldnt matter if the Hyena-men wouldnt submit to the Mountain Tigers since the idea only randomly occurred to Taiga. Even if the Hyena-men would turn against them then and there, it wouldnt be difficult for the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior to escape. And yet, there were no signs that the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior was returning after leaving the village for so long! Could he have run into some trouble? Taiga would have mobilized his troops if the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warriors mark on their tribes totem had faded. Still, that was when his footman came to report that the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior had finally returned to the village. Taiga quickly went out to welcome him, and while he wanted to reprimand the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior for dragging his feet, those words were caught in his throat and he couldnt say anything when he saw the look on the Tiger Warriors face. One word was enough to describe him: sad! His cloak was long gone and he was caked with mud all over his body. Tiny pebbles and dry leaves were caught between his fur, whereas all kinds of wounds were laden all over his body! There were wounds from burns, frost, biting, swords, spears, meteor hammer, and even blunt instruments, along with signs of being bound and weird suction marks that the humans would leave after intense bondage foreplay some of which were dripping with blood. Taiga was beside himself in shock. How horrific had the battle been that so many scars were left! It wasnt just the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior either. Even the Hyena-men who followed him back to the village were all battered, with just over a hundred of them left of the three-hundred who survived the battle at the Long Ears village! And the first thing that the Hyena-men did after reaching safety was to lie down and sleep, but they were holding tightly to their weapons even when they did so, jolting awake should anyone touch their weapons or made just the faintest of sounds and attack strangers within reach in panic and hysterics.What What did you run into? Taiga asked the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior, who seemed to be the only one still sane amongst them. Humans. The Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior said as he wolfed down on a chunk of dried meat, a fearful look on his face. It was only two at first-a fat one and a skinny one, but more soon appeared, saying things like that lucky pair is right, there really is a ball here!, and then fearlessly attack. They are like wasps that kept coming, and it wont matter how many we would kill and their corpses would also disappear soon after they die, so we cant even use them as food. The Tiger Warrior shuddered at that. They would attack no matter what you were doing at the timehaving a meal, sleeping, or even having a toilet break. Whether you would bravely face them or run like a coward, they would fight you until they die, and anyone separated from the main group is never coming back. I had to take so many detours just to escape their pursuit and encirclement but it just doesnt work. Then, be it in fear or hate, Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warriors face contorted just like the Hyena-men. Even if only one of them would find us, more would swarm us without end even if we quickly killed him! Do you get it, chief? They are looking like us like were treasures, charging at us excitedly with a thrilled smile that never fades even when we cut off their heads! Could you understand the horror!? Who would understand what youre saying?! Taiga Roar was roaring inwardly, but he knew that he shouldnt say those words. The sad way the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior had fled home to their village made it obvious that he had done all he could. Tagias heart felt a chill as his face tightened. Wait Do you think that the humans chasing after you could find our village? The Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior who had been nibbling on the dried meat looked up at Taiga with a pair of jaded eyes, and Taigas heart sunk. Chapter 255: They Are Lusting After My Body! The reason that the Hyena-men had met such a horrible was actually their poor compatibility to the Players. In turn, there were two factors why their tribe had strutted unchallenged over the Vierlin Plains. One was their numbers, and the second is in the way their fight: extremely underhanded and ruthless, as if they dont care if they survived. Sure, there were many nonhuman tribes such as their neighbors the Graywolfmen who surpassed them in individual power, but winning at the cost of losing their family jewels wasnt worth if for their race. That was why the other tribes are not bothered with the Hyena-men as long as they dont challenge the limits of their patience, let alone provoke them deliberately. Even so, those two advantages are non-existent against the Players. So Ive heard you have many Hyena-men? Fine, there are a lot of youbut us Players can come back to life! Kill me and a million would take my place! Moreover, the Hyena-mens ruthlessness was an even simpler matter. That reckless abandonment is a survival instinct that they evolved to win in any competition, but still requires them surviving in the end. On the other hand, the Players wouldnt need to stay alive. * * * Unlike the embarrassing Saber-Toothed Tiger Warrior who was defeated in a one-on-one battle by Zonyan, the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior was the best fighter amongst the three Mountain Tigers who awakened their ancient bloodlines. While he might not best Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior in a direct confrontation, all he had to do was buy time and the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior would eventually blow himself up, which meant that he wasnt a threat to the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior. With his stats maxing out in every aspect and having no vulnerabilities, the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior fought with extraordinary power even against the Players. One-on-one basically was an instakill, and he didnt feel any pressure even when he faced up to six Players at once. In addition, he wasnt a battle fetishist-once more Players show up and were about to encircle him to take him down, the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior was always able to flee easily before the circle was complete. But in spite of his awakened bloodline and his strength that far surpassed ordinary Tigermen, he was still alive, and fighting or running ate away his stamina. W And as the Players kept coming wave after wave, he and the Hyena-men needed every second they could get just to pee, let alone sleep. Not losing their minds was proof enough of their strong will. Be that as it may, the Players ruthlessness shot up when they realized that there were no new Hyena-men spawning and that the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior wasnt regenerating HP. Even if the Hyena-men would cut them into pieces, they would still get a few good cuts in, leaving them with just enough HP to survive. Having a different principle in battle, the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior became more tired the more he advanced while his wounds only ever increased. While he couldnt see his own HP, he was formidable enough a warrior to be familiar with his own body, and to distinctly feel that his lifeforce was dwindling as time passed. It was perfectly logical. The Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior was a creature no matter how powerful he was, and unlike trolls or other races who could regenerate, he bleeds when wounded, and recovering required time and sufficient nutrition. And at the moment, the Players were clearly not allowing time to rest or eat. In the electronic games back on earth, Bosses would quickly heal themselves to full HP even though they were not attacked briefly. It was an aspect that strengthens the Boss since the designers didnt want players to relax or wear down the boss easily over time. But in this world, were the Players foes hoping that Xi Wei would stupidly heal the Bosss HP, just so that there was a little variable added into the Players battles? Xi Wei: Dream on! Die, scumbags who fight my believers, and become offerings to me! *** Meanwhile, the Players were getting more excited finally ground the powerful Boss in the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior down to bare minimum HP. The fiery gaze in their eyes were palpable, as if they could see a Legendary item in the future Naturally, those fiery gazes did the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior no favors. If he had to describe it, the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior was like a cute, fresh loli walking in a back alley in the middle of the night, while the Players surrounding him were weird uncles who were drooling and lusting. The Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior himself was sure that it wasnt a gaze aimed towards a worthy foe. Instead, they were lusting after his body! Nonetheless, he was assuredly the strongest amongst the three Tiger Warriors to flee, scar-laden and despite every unhelpful circumstance, back to the Mountain Tigers village! The Players and their little companions (their frogmen familiars) were naturally stunned. It was fortunate that as the battle dragged on, more Players were coming to the Eastern Continent to help Zonyan and the others, while farming minions for some income. There were now over a hundred of them gathered at the Long Ears village, and they would have a chance even if they were facing the whole Mountain Tiger tribe! And unsurprisingly, after ensuring that the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior was hiding inside the Mountain Tiger Village, the Player began to infiltrate it to gather detailed information. Leaving aside how they screwed up towards the end and had to start fighting every Mountain Tiger tribe folk coming at them, the Players were quite successful. They had found where the Hyena-men were lodging and the location of the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warriorand that there wasnt anyone higher in level than him! As such, they formed a loose group and infiltrated again through the front gates, but were wiped out before they could reach the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior.They tried several more times, but they were wiped out even quicker as the Mountain Tigers tribe now prepared themselves. * * * They are certainly powerful. Even their normal tribesmen are fighting us as equals! Zonyan couldnt help exclaiming in wonder after resurrecting. But wasnt the one who killed you just now named Mountain Tigers chief? Vulcan couldnt help retorting. And I have the feeling that something is wrong with the way we are infiltrating The Leo completely ignored him. Having only second-rate Players like us isnt enough! He said firmly and convincingly, having leveled up only through daily quests. Well have to cough up so that the first-rate Players would come help, and only then could we take down the Mountain Tigers village! Chapter 256: The Development Progress of the Unnamed Town May I ask where youre going, Sir Marni? Having willingly accepted his loss, taken a long leave of absence from the noblewoman and his knightly duties, Gerald was now following Marni around as an ordinary guardsman. Marni himself had never imagined that just throwing his weight around a little would get Gerald to submit, and have him around like a lackey. That was why he didnt bring Gerald to the Lancaster Hideout since it was shelter where old Vanke and the other refugees of Tierra could pursue their objectives. That was why it mustnt be revealed on a whim before the Players are able to stand against the authorities of the Valla Empire. Be that as it may, it was clear that Lancaster wasnt the place to influence Gerald and broaden his horizons so that he understood his purpose in life. So, could they head for the Unnamed Town since the Lancaster Hideout was a no go? The answer was naturally yes. *** Having experimented, the Players had proven that they didnt have to stand directly beneath the Lifestone to teleportthey could do so as long as they were within range. Therefore, some Players who had finished their daily quests and daily farming but were too lazy to go out adventuring had already found their respective spot where they could connect to the Lifestone in the Lancaster Hideout. Were going to the place where I stock up, Marni replied. Gerald was surprised-he had investigated Marni, and learned that the unusual traveling merchant had made his name in Lancaster back then because he sold two potions with incredible tastes. Sales of the potions turned out well: the cheap price and the outstanding effect made it especially well-received, while alchemical potions in the black market dropped without end. At the time, various factions in the city saw Marni as a bully-able Slime since he had yet to gain a strong reputation. It was as if everyone wanted a piece of him-some of those with bigger appetites even wanted to hog up the source of his wares. It seemed that Marni Wilf was either assassinated or kidnapped by other factions every other week then. Many had sworn that he had died to their blade, but it was at most three days later when he showed up again unscathed! Eventually, he gained the moniker The Undying Marni. In turn, the factions that made attempts on his life would be discreetly assaulted by another unknown faction. Even if the owner was unaffected, their under-the-table sections would all be wiped out! Although the city watch was left in an uproar at the time, the atmosphere Lancaster improved immediately after the cleanup. Come to think of it, that unknown faction would probably be the self-proclaimed Players who had strong ties with Marni Wilf. Is it alright letting me on the source of your goods? Gerald asked. After all, it was important information that the Lancaster factions spend great effort to uncover, but ended up not even getting a whiff of! Its fine. Its not like it would matter if you know anyway, Marni replied nonchalantly. Even as Gerald thought about what Marni could mean, he did a double take when the sights around him turned. The old, unhygienic rundown streets were gone, replaced by a road that was wide enough for two carriages to run freely. Red-bricked pedestrian paths were built on both sides of the road as well, along with a variety of shops. W-what is this?! Gerald had once heard that ancient portals could send a person a thousand miles away, but he was positive he was still in Lancaster just a moment ago. How did he come to this unfamiliar place in the blink of an eye? What actually happened? Marni seemed quite satisfied with Geralds stunned look. Smiling as if his prank was successful, he softly said: Welcome to our town. Your town? Gerald frowned. It was not as if he hadnt seen prosperous city streets, but this was still the first time he saw a street filled with such vigor. It was crowded here, but there were smiles and hopes on everyones faces. That was a sight which could never be seen in any other town, even in the relaxed district of Lancaster. Everyone would be busy making a living, and aside from a few nobles, the life of the average citizen wasnt that hopefulsurviving alone was their best hope. In this town, however, it seemed that everyone had their own hopes and objectives. Their eyes were clear and bright unlike the muddled and jaded ones of peasants from other cities. It was all so unbelievable. And then there were the surreal: some citizens here were wearing weird head mask of dolphins and anglerfishes, which appeared rather funny. That was especially interesting considering that the other peasants around them were neither shooting the head masks looks of disdain or mockery, but were instead admiring and envious. Could those head masks be a trend around here? Gerald muttered inwardly, remembering the Flatfish Swordsman who had dueled him before. After the Players diligent preaching and recommendations, the Unnamed Town had changed completely-prosperous, even though it could yet compare with major cities. The towns population now numbered over two thousand and counting. Although there were just around four hundred Players now, each were true believers with bright futures after getting their System. And with the Players acting as role models, one could be sure that the remaining sixteen hundred people would all become true believers of the God of Games the Church of Games never offer empty promises unlike the other churches, because the promise was right there and all the believers had to do was take it Yes. There are many things I would show you, but you should tag along to restock my wares first. Marni had intended to bring Gerald to the System Shop and allow him to witness the modern facilities their God of Games had invented thanks to inspiration from vending machines back on earth. However, he soon caught a discussion from some Players discussing, who were something like the Lucky Brothers found a new Boss and your news is outdated, that place is a new dungeon now and started to head towards the Lifestone. Marni promptly paused and looked at his guardsman beside him thoughtfully. I wouldnt die immediately with a guardsman, right? Chapter 257: Errand Boy Leading his new guardsman, Marni arrived the Western Continent through the Lifestone, reaching the simple settlement which the Players were using as a temporary base camp while following markers that the other Players left. By coincidence, he ran into Edward who had likewise arrived, and was reprimanding the Players who had returned in defeat from the Mountain Tigers village. I got the general idea through video. The Mountain Tigers village can be considered a difficult dungeon, but its not too difficult either since they would stay injured. At that, Edwards tone turned nasty. But even though there would surely be obstacles and losses against unknown enemies, your performance is just embarrassing! But we really did our best! A new Player who appeared unaware about the reason why Edward was recognized as a leader amongst all Playersthat his level was high just because he became a Player earlier retorted in dissatisfaction. I died so many times that I dropped one level! Doing your best isnt an excuse for failure! Edward glared at the newbie, unable to be reasoned with. And if what youre doing is wrong, what good does it do aside from troubling others? Would the cost of dropping a level like you would hold any strategic value? Edward wasnt angry, but his confidence and air as a champion which had been refined from skirting around life and death after becoming a Player easily crushed the newbie, denying him any confidence to continue protesting. Walking up to them, Marni nodded as well, knowing that Edward was right. Even if they didnt share the same path, they were both acknowledged as first-rate veteran Players. Therefore, they were mutually supportive and shared the same views when it came to certain issues. On the other hand, it was Angora, the Liege Player who once shared Marnis path who recently gave up on acting as a leader for the Players. Instead, he poured all his attention to the development of the unnamed town, expanding his fief in considerable scale within a short time. As for Princess Leah, Marni had initially assumed that she was someone who would do everything she could to rebuild Tierra, that the reason she would always be at the frontlines and the most active person in any new System Events was to build her reputation amongst the Players. However, Marni vaguely realized after a period of acquaintance that the Warrior Princess seemed to have no such intention. The reason that she would fight so hard was simply because that was a playstyle that provides more fun, which also matched her way of doing things Meanwhile, Edwards scolding continued. If you know that you cant take the dungeon, what you should have done is try your best to scout the interior of the dungeon before other Players come. Not Leroy Jenkins like an idiot! And if the Bosss skill and mechanics are all still unknown, why would you rush inside without Marni around? Its lucky that youre blasted into piecesyoull have a taste of real trouble if you get caught in there. Beside him, Marnis face blushed when Edward mentioned his name and in a favorable light, believing that he was quite reputable amongst the Players. That was when Edward added, Many Bosses arent affected by Taunt. We cant control who they attack without Marni! Let Marni take the lead so that we have the time and opportunity to check the Bosss skills, and only then could we tackle them. Get it?! The newbie Players all nodded, indicating that they understood and from now on would have Marni die twice before attempting to challenge the dungeon. And beside them, Marni wasnt sure if he should be angry or proud. Should I just retire from being a frontliner and become a normal merchant? Still, that idea was immediately dumped after dancing a circle around his head. He had long since fallen in love with the new adventurers that the Players keep experiencing, and despite the pain and suffering those things were outweighed by the joy of adventure and a life of delights. As a matter of fact, Marni was one of the few who enjoyed going on journeys to see different sights even before he became a Player. Otherwise, he wouldnt have to travel all over as a merchant with his flair for business, and he definitely could settle down in a peaceful town after making his first bucket of gold as a business owner. Wouldnt life have been easy that way? Its some serious pressure being held in such high regard. Marni hence walked up to Edward, half complaining and half joking. Although Edward wasnt bad-mouthing Marni (merely stating facts), he wasnt exactly praising him eitherwith the truth being revealed, Marni made an awkward look. Luckily, he didnt care much about being described as an errand boy, and instead cut straight into the heart of the matter. How are things at the moment? Still going alright. Its not a problem yet. Edward replied, scratching the back of his head. While his reprimanding was rather strongly worded, he was simply disappointed in the newbies development.Unlike pioneers such as them who diligently ground the frontlines and established facilities and pave the way for their juniors, newbies these days were led by the hand by the older Players and never suffered the pain of leveling through farming dungeons. That was why most of them had the flaw of blindness and arrogance, which was why having a setback like this wasnt bad. And to tell the truth, Edward wasnt worried about the Mountain Tigers. There are three hundred enemiesbut just about thirty of them are Tigermen, averaging at level twenty-five if we dont count the women and the children. There would be fifty if we count the women and the young, but the average would drop three levels. Only two are Bosses, with one being the Level 35 Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior with an elite monster template and a Level 30 Mountain Tiger Tribe Chief with a normal template. The rest are all Hyena-men. Normal template? At such a low level? Marni was taken aback. A Level 30 monster with a normal template was small fry to Players like him who were above level 40the Tribe Chief would be no match for Marnis own new guardsman either! As for the other monsters, even the second-rate Players could just charge at them to win in sufficient numbers, let alone first-rate Players. Only newbies who lacked both experience and proficiency would be repelled. Hmmm. It is a normal template in terms of damage and speed, but his HP bar is extremely long for some reason and he heals quicker than most normal monsters. He also has a buff, but its a blur, as if Edward considered how he should describe it, eventually doubtfully saying, As if its not in its final form. Chapter 258: Black Dragon Hellfire Despite being veteran Players, neither Edward nor Marni had encountered incomplete buffs. Still, they had constantly encountered new and interesting things after becoming Players. Therefore, they were only curious about the incomplete buff for a moment and soon ignored it. Then, they mobilized the troops before battle which actually was having the veterans who would be leading the frontline to encourage the newbies. And amongst the husky-like newbies who were listening was Gerald, who from a certain perspective was an untamed wolf and looking confused. Just half a day ago, I was just a knight of the city watch who escorts nobility. Wasnt I supposed to be Marni Wilfs guardsman? Why am I culling wildlings in the blink of an eye? (Since most nonhumans lived in the Western Continent, many citizens in the Eastern Content had no idea what nonhumans were and as such held many weird prejudices, and consider anyone with beastlike features to be wildlings.) And according to them, the enemies werent just a handfulbut almost three hundred wildlings! Not to mention that those were wildings that could easily defeat any ordinary guardsman without training! And wasnt there a hundred people here at best? And a lot of them seemed to have learned to fight just recently, and the way they held their weapons were simply inexperienced. Why not pay to hire some mercenaries if they lacked numbers? With such stinginess, they would be wiped out even if they ran into wildlings that they outnumbered three to one in the wild, let alone conquer a wildling stronghold three times their size! Despite Geralds growing respect towards the Church of Games after experiencing their teleportation skills, it mostly faded when he saw that the ragtag bunch of Players who looked ready to crumble at the sight of their enemy. Geralds biased thinking starting from the first impression did not help either. In his perspective, the veteran Players who said things like we are so awesome and its fine sparing the women and children of the Tigermen since theres no EXP to be gained were no different from clowns. Even funnier, the huskies around them really believed them. There was even a husky who raised his hand and asked can I fight back if a woman or child attacked me? The former even put on a sincere look before answering. Us sparing them is out of kindness, but if they provoke us or attack us, dont say a word and kill them. The God of Games watches over you! Then, the husky who asked the question looked absolutely thrilled. Wake up. Youre not even going to win against women or children with the way youre holding that big lance! It was not as if Gerald held lances in disdain. Being a knight himself, he knew how to use a lance and would admit that it is formidable, and would pierce the best armor plates made in Lancaster with enough momentum. But thats if they had a mount! How could anyone normal carry a three-meter-long lance unassisted into the battlefield! And theres not even a sharp edge on that conical lanceso are you going to swing it like a stick or fool around without momentum, and use to stab the person in front of you? *** Regardless of what Gerald was thinking, however, the battle was inevitable. Being a first-rate Player (and an acknowledged errand-boy), Marni stood at the front, and was a more or less a carry. Gerald. He quietly and seriously spoke to Gerald. When the fighting starts, you dont have to do anything. Just keep me safe, got it? At Marnis words, the last of Geralds worries faded. After all, the indescribably powerful Flatfish Swordsman had mentioned that Marni was amongst the stronger Players. Even if the Flatfish Swordsman exaggerated a little, Marni did motivate the newbies before the battle as well and would definitely be one of the top few Players, even reaching a rank of leadership equal to nobility. And since Marni had given a look that said no problem, the enemy is very weak and we have a high chance of winning, for him to now tell Gerald to protect him, it made clear that considering the wildings dangerous was the right idea. Gerald even felt that Marni had pulled every trick to con him to his side and become his guardsman was so that he could protect the merchant so that he didnt die in such a dangerous place. Relax. I, Gerald McCobley had promised to be your guardsman, and I would see through my duty and escort you away alive! Its a mans promise. He said solemnly. Be that as it may, the Players who were so obviously waving flags and the like were naturally noticed by the Mountain Tigers. Green fireballs descended from the skies even before they reached the Mountain Tigers stronghold, blowing huge craters on the ground. Gerald, who had just sworn that he would protect Marni could only watch as one fireball kept growing in size, crashing down on his and Marnis head! It was fortunate that Marni came prepared. He whipped out a round buckler marked with a five-pointed star and yelled Weapons Throw while flinging the buckler, hitting the fireball with great precision and blowing it up in the air. Green sparks licked the earth over the crater, billow bizarre black smoke. Its the Hyena-men Priests poison fireballs! Clerics, hurry up with dispel and cleansing!Edward shouted before anyone else, and did not hold back. They were still some distance away from the stronghold and not within effective range for most of their skills. The reason the Hyena-men Priests could launch their skills so far was because they were attacking from a high position and shooting far below. But Edward was different. His fire-type spells are buffed with the legendary staff Happy Flames, and that includes the range of attack! Get blast! Black Dragon Hellfire[1]! Edward cried, and a violent silhouette of flames immediately rose from Happy Flames, before shooting out and taking the form of a black dragon as it flew towards the stronghold. The thick gates of the stronghold were immediately blasted apart by the black dragons charge. As Gerald looked on in shock, it turned into sparks all over the air, throwing Hyena-men that couldnt react in time off the wall. In just the first clash, the stronghold of the Mountain Tigers tribe was left wide open for the Players, having lost all defensive use. [1] YuYu Hakusho technique, Jaou Ensatsu Kokuryuuha Chapter 259: Rocket Punch Most nonhumans were physically stronger than humans, with the Mountain Tigers being an outstanding example. That was obvious in how less than a hundred of them could build a sturdy stronghold even if they were assistant underlings and slaves. Not even its gates would be outdone by the gates of most cities in the Eastern Continent. If Gerald had been stunned by how Edward had blown up the gates, the chaotic charge of the Players into the wide-open stronghold after the gates were down left the knight reflecting if he had been entrapped by cultists and became one of them Some Players had summoned some seafood which looked bizarre from appearance alone. The critters would use their tentacles or suction pads to easily scale the ramparts of the stronghold, wiping out any remaining Hyena-men Priests Another Player had a ghostlike, see-through thing hovering beside him. He was clearly holding a sword, and yet mainly attacks his foes by smashing something resembling a tombstone down on them And then there was a Player who, upon seeing that his arrows were evaded by the Hyena-men he was aiming for, roared in embarrassed anger. He then tore off his clothes and morphed into a huge bear, rushing up to his targets and slapping them into puddles, before reverting to human form and continued shooting arrows at point-blank range Even the husky who Gerald felt doubtful about had raised his lance was yelling something like Unlock the seals, after of which the lance shone in myriad colored radiance, with a woman whispering in the radiance, saying something like Unlocking first seal, permitted Then, the radiance of the lance began to whirl, eventually become a rainbow-colored spiral that shot forward, dragging along the screaming husky and stabbing to death three Hyena-men that were trying to take advantage, piercing the stronghold ramparts before vanishing into thin air Gerald wasnt sure if it was him or the world that has gone mad. Why are their weapons firing rays and beams? Was it magic? Sacred spell? Why would they have to scream the name of their skills before releasing it? Why would they have so many cool special effects even when swinging a sword? Shouldnt battles be more solemn and serious? Why are these people fighting like a bunch of mischievous children? And the kind who wielded devastating powers! Moreover, the carnage of those skills clearly wasnt an elaborate show of light and sound effects, but real magic and sacred spells. The wildling tribes would never win against them if they fought seriouslyno wonder they were so sure of their victory. But the question is which church had so many believers with such powerful sacred spells? Where did these people come from? That was when Gerald vaguely remembered that they seemed to have mentioned the God of Games, a god he had never heard of in his young lifespan. At the very least, He didnt look like a true god whom the Brilliant White Church and the Temple of Glory acknowledged. While they were not as crazily evil like cultists, their behavior was still unfathomablebut maybe they really were cultists? Gerald then turned toward the merchant whom he should be protecting. Luckily, he still looked norm But even before Gerald could finish that thought, he saw Marni throwing off the orange dagger he had, spreading his arms and assuming a bizarre pose. Can you do it!? A Player who was running past asked. Of course! Marni answered clearly and loudly. In the next split second, many armor parts began flying out of nowhere, clinging and clanging as they automatically assembled over Marnis body and turning him into an iron-skinned man colored in red and gold. Then, iron-skin man began to send minions flying into the air with each punch, blowing off every Hyena-men that even dared to bare their fangs at him. The movement was so clean and direct that two Hyena-men turned and ran in fright. Marni did not spare them, however, and simply raised a hand. Rocket Punch (passive item skill)! Gerald watched as the armored gauntlet detached and punched both Hyena-men to death like Doomfist, before returning and reassembling itself over Marnis hand. W-what is that thing Gerald stuttered, pointed at the gauntlet that was still dripping with blood. An armor, Marni answered as if it made perfect sense. No, most armor wouldnt fly out, punch things to death and fly back! Its just a uniquely shaped boomerang. I could tell youve never played with one, but its normal for it to fly back after cutting down some men. Marni said sincerely. Young man, you should read more-dont just listen to hearsay. IIII Do you take me for a fool?! I frickin played with a boomerang before, and thats why Im asking you what on earth is that thing! Even though he was retorting hard inwardly, Gerald didnt press Marni. He was now generally sure that these people were all self-proclaimed believers of the God of Games. There naturally would be some secrets swirling since the Flatfish Swordsman did mention that Marni was someone who got along with death, and he wouldnt uncover them even if he kept asking. le *** Meanwhile, after the Hyena-men that were defending the outer layers of the stronghold were wiped out, the Mountain Tigersthe main dish of this dungeon-began to appear.They were naturally prepared after the Players upfront infiltration. Still, the Players who had been last time noticed that the Tigermen actually had a boost in stats even though their level didnt change. And from their status bar, the Tigermen must have used some potion that put them in a frenzy and temporarily boosts their stats. With the first-rate Players and second-rate Players supporting them, such level of stat boost wouldnt trouble them that muchbut their strutting was definitely interrupted. But while the Players formed parties by themselves so that they could clear the Tigermen away even quicker, a dark shadow suddenly leapt out from behind the stronghold, grabbing Marni at lightning speed. Simply unable to react in time, Marnis neck was immediately snapped. His +7 armor did not help at all when his whole head was pulled off! It all happened so suddenly. But even before the other players could react, a lone figure charged towards the black shadow. Enraged, Gerald roared as he swung his sword at the shadow. Die! Chapter 260: Auto-Battle The assailant was a huge Tigerman wearing a cloak. Even though it covered most of his body, one could still see the distinctly shaped muscles. If Gerald was a Player, he would have been able to tell that the Tigerman was in fact a Boss since it had a different name from other Tigermen! Still, Gerald knew that his target was powerful and might not win even though he wasnt a Player. After all, while Marnis armor was as good-looking as it was weird, Gerald knew enough that its sturdiness and combat ability was assuredthe Hyena-men punched into mosaic pieces along the way were proof of that. And yet, there was no indication of any resistance from the formidable Marni before he was instakilled. Even the armor itself was pulled apart, and while the human neck is known to be vulnerable, it was evident how strong the enemy was. Even so, Gerald rushed forward without regard for his own safety. He couldnt tell what he was feeling and why he would stubbornly pit himself against such a powerful foe: it could have been regret over his failure to protect his charge, just as it might be his rage over witnessing Marnis death, a person whom he began to see as a friend or it could just be a hysterical reaction out of overwhelming fear. But whether it was unyielding courage or recklessness in the heat of the moment, many Players changed their opinion towards Gerald thanks to his action. To them, he was no longer a neutral yellow-named unit mixed amongst the Players. That being said, rage does not improve ability, and Gerald was at best throwing a helpless fit the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior easily caught his sword. Back then, the Lancaster blacksmith who called themselves porters of nature, not forgers of great blades had declared that his sword, which cost Gerald thirteen thousand Rions was forged from top-grade tamahagane[1] and is made once every three hundred years. And now, it snapped in two with a swing of the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warriors back hand. Then, as Gerald caught sight of the fierceness in the Tigermans face, Gerald immediately felt that he was going to die. But when the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior was about to land his casserole-sized fist on Gerald, a huge tome bound in chains and a steel cover shot out of nowhere, agilely coiling around Gerald and pulled him to the rear, dodging the fearsome punch of the Tigerman. Still, while Gerald thought that he had escaped death, the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior suddenly gaped his maw and fired a crimson ray breath. It must be a type of spell, and it was certainly unnecessary to doubt its power. Shooting forward rapidly, it was about to blow Gerald into pieces in the turn of an eye. And in that very moment, a figure descended from the skies. Gerald recognized him as the youth named Edward, who was around his age, dressed as a mage and was one of the leaders of the Players just like Marni. He stood in front of Marni, brandishing his Happy Flames and casted something like a shield spell, handily stopping the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warriors breath. T-thanks Escaping with his life narrowly once more, Gerald only recovered then and panickily tried to free himself from the chains and thank his savior. That was when he realized that the one who wielded the meteor hammer so fearsomely was actually a quiet girl just above ten years old. No thanks necessary. Marni did tell us to take care of you if something happened to him (and couldnt be revived in time). Edward, the young mage said. Gerald dropped to his knees and stared at him blankly in disbelief. He he actually said that? Gerald was the one who was supposed to protect Marni. But in the end, not only did he fail in his duty as a guardsman and could only watch as the merchant was killed by a wildling, Marni also had to entrust his safety to his friends before he died. Marni had so many other fellow believers and he did not protect or cared for any of them, only himself Moved, Geralds heart cascaded, but he was soon drowned with the guilt and regret that washed over him at the same time for not protecting Marni. Once he recalled doubting Marnis intentions and that the merchant was only using him as a meat shield to protect himself in the cruel battlefield, Gerald only felt guiltier. Come to think of it, even if Marni did tell Gerald to protect him, Marni had rushed into the fray immediately by himself. Even though Gerald himself had beaten some of the Hyena-men, Marni would still help give the last blow, so that Gerald did not have to live with blood in his hands What sort of spirit was that!? Since he was five, Gerald had never shed a single tear. He knew well from the hard training he went through every day that tears and crying wouldnt work, aside from making his trainer stricter. However, he understood that his parents chose such a strict trainer for his own good as he grew older, since their family mutually exists with the city of Lancaster from a certain point of view. Worthless members of their clan were therefore meaningless. That was why he continued to work so hard. Gerald never once thought that it could be wrong since he was a child, and only now did he realized that he was crying without himself knowing Edward saw his tears, and suddenly had the feeling that the knight may have misunderstood himselfafter all, everyone else were Players and death was no big deal. Who hadnt died two or three times anyway? Only a non-believer like Gerald would die when he was killed, and the Clerics reviving spells wouldnt work on him. Moreover, it would be hard to explain things with Lancasters mayor if Gerald died here since the knight was of Lancaster nobility. It could well cause a diplomatic incident, which was why he was given such special treatment. Still, Edward felt a little guilty that the knight misunderstood and dropped to his knees and sobbed in regret, as if he had lost his right to live. But even as Edward was about to explain away the misunderstanding and console him, the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior whom they had stopped twice roared and charged towards them. [1] type of steel made in Japanese tradition Chapter 261: First Blood Although Marni had died-again, Edward frankly wasnt too worried about the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior. If a group of newbie Players could reach this far even with a pack of Hyena-men on their heels, how powerful could that Boss be even if he did underestimate him? And it was certainly true: though quick, strong and able to instakill the fully-armored Marni in an ambush, the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior actually wasnt killing his victims with a single blowthe System had determined that Marni was actually taken down by a series of skills that he had casted. It was only because his sneak attack combined Rapid Ambush, Death Charge, Iron Grip, Feral Burst, and Primitive Rage along with a stack of buffs that he could tear of Marnis head, which also preserves the vanity of Marnis +7 fully-body armor. And after knowing that, the strategy against the Boss was clear. In a nutshell: keep your distance, kite it with powerful long-range skills and grind it down Considering that the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior wasnt brainless (or he wouldnt have led a whole pack of Hyena-men to break past the Players encirclement and flee to the Mountain Tigers stronghold), the Players would also have to deliberately take damage and feign weakness, so that he would be hopeful of killing them with his next blow. And such an objective could only be achieved by Edward himself. The other veteran Players were quick bad at attacking, and since they were used to taunting in battle, almost all of them preferred sleazy remarks. It would not be a problem if they were fighting some mindless monster who could be kept on a tight leash with their own hate, but it wouldnt be equally effective against the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior who retained some form of intelligence. On the other hand, newbies didnt have to feign being weak since they were weak anyway. Once they cast their spells and were caught off guard, they would be counter-killed instantly. Be that as it may, Edward was assuredly the best Player there. Though the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior was Level 35 and quite low, his elite template meant that his true level was five or ten levels above that. Even so, Edward was keeping the most powerful monster in the Mountain Tigers stronghold tightly under wraps all by himself. Are you not going to face me?! Human coward! Having been baited by Edward into running a whole circle around the stronghold and suffering two Blast Fireballs that inflicted outstanding damage, the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior caught on to Edwards idea. He actually disengaged and went off to kill other players, intent on freeing himself from Edwards leash. However, the other players were already given the luxury of time to take out all of their opponents, and started to spread out in search of new ones while farming EXP by launching a few skills at the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior. All at once, the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior couldnt reach them even though he could have promptly taken them out. And even if he was quick, could he be quicker than spells? Because he had tried to ambush other Players and therefore forced to suffer two Black Dragon Hellfire from Edward, the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warriors HP dropped to yellow-a point where the Players could bring it down. But despite being unable to see its own HP Bar, the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior knew that it is going to drop dead if things continued. Hence, he issued a warriors challenge to Edward. Come fight me honorably if you can! You ambushed Marni! Youre the last person I want to hear that from! As a Mage, Edward certainly wouldnt be rolling up his sleeves, go shirtless and charged forward, swinging his staff in an open fight over such provocation. After all, he was not a War Mage like Gandalf with flashing spells and masterful swordcraft, but a physically vulnerable mage. And having understood that there was no chance of compromise, the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior therefore gave up on his pursuit of other individual Players and began to unleash his skills at Edward. The violent battle did not last long-the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior, having been put through every torment beforehand soon fell. Edward himself was slightly hurt as well. Some wounds were inflicted when he deliberately exposed himself, while the other was the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warriors actual counter-attacks at the very last moment. Any normal person would have to think about how they should handle rabies even if they didnt die, but this was also where one of the perks of being a Player came intheir bodies would never be crippled. For example, the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior had actually taken a chomp out of Edwards upper right arm. If he was a normal human, that would have meant losing his tendons and bones with just pieces of flesh connecting his body to what was left of his arm, which in turn would be disabled. While the Players would have their HP cut down in response, their arm would not be crippled-no matter how the opponent would crunch down on their bodies, it would feel no different from biting rubber. The Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior eventually pulled away, giving up because he simply couldnt sink his teeth into Edwards flash, although if he kept biting, Edwards HP would have dropped to a critical level. Still, staying calm despite the dangerous situation, Edward seized the moment and casted his Final Shine Attack at point-blank range, knocking off the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warriors last HP and successfully taking it down. The battle between the two had been so vicious that the Mountain Tigers stronghold simply couldnt be used as cover, with their clash destroying most of the ramparts in their wake. Even Gerald, who was still mourning Marni was stunned by the battle that far exceed all his common sense. Edward himself breathed a sigh of relief. Though he had expected his opponent to be tough, he didnt imagine that he could be that persistent. In fact, the battle had left both combatants exhausted towards the end and Edward himself didnt have any mana left, and was about to resort to a contest of wills. If it hadnt been the Rule of Skill that kept his reduction in HP from showing and presented a digitalized comparison of damage between them so that Edward could know that the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior was far more hurt than him, Edward might have given up earlier instead of waiting for his mana to regenerate while finding a decisive opening. Things would have ended very differently then. Now I guess the only one left is the Mountain Tiger Chief. Edward sighed, rubbing away the sweat from his brow and thinking that he wasnt needed to fight the normal Level 30 Boss. He watched as the Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warriors corpse slowly vanished, slightly disappointed that he couldnt personally bury a foe whose might he acknowledged. That was when a violent explosion erupted at the distant center of the stronghold. Dust and smoke kicked into the air, forming the shape of a mushroom cloud as Edward looked on in shock Chapter 262: Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior What happened? The list of Players who died were flooding the System page when Edward finally arrived at the scene. Although most of them were revived by the Clerics, there were still quite a number of them lost. We were pushing in when the ground suddenly blew up! Joe, whose HP was now red had temporarily pulled back to the rear, allowing a healer to restore him while he explained the situation to the confused Edward between gasps. Theres a basement beneath, and there has to be a super macho Boss hidden inside! How macho? Edward asked, curious. After all, Joes illogical body ratio was definitely exceedingly ripped even for normal Players, just his behavior was a perfect reflection of his masculinity-reckless and straightforward. Therefore, Joe didnt consider most physically strong creatures to be macho, but at best strong or effeminate. As such, any Boss he would declare to be super macho must be beyond imagination. How macho, huh Joe searched his mind for the right description, when a Swordmaster Player was sent screaming and flying through the air. His butt was on fire as he streaked in a perfect hyperbola curve before crashing into a house, which looked sturdy before but looked about to crumble now. Several Clerics who had yet to change class quickly ran up, dragging the Swordmaster Player out of the debris and took turns to beat him up with their war hammer to heal him. As a matter of fact, healing was possible just by singing a song and waving the war hammer in front of him, but the movements were complex and was time-consuming, which was why the painful yet efficient method was preferred. While the Swordmaster screamed Im fine! Ill drink a potion for the rest! Damn it, you almost knocked my teeth off, Joe turned to Edward and said, That much macho. Edward nodded in understanding. * * * Soon, the formation which the Players had assumed were complete crumbling in the face of that super macho Boss, and Edward finally saw for himself what he looked like. First and foremost, he was a Tigerman. But it was unlike any other Tigermen, who only had a tigers head while the rest of their body was more resembling of humans (a trait most nonhumans shared, which make them identical humans save for their beastlike features and in turn categorized them as non-demons). From the bone structure and physical structure, this Tigerman would resemble an actual tiger that was walking on tow legs, and its muscles were almost bursting out from every part of his body as if it was a bodybuilderthe kind of tiger that could kill a cow with a single punch. Moreover, most Tigermens fur were a combination of yellow, black and white. This Tigerman, however, was a mix of red and black. Its eyes which glinted fiercely and frighteningly were amber-colored, and anyone looking into them would have the illusion of being burned. Its body also palpated extreme temperatures, something which was obvious from how everything seemed to be shimmering. Wood and straws that were an inch too close would self-combust, whereas the footprints that the Tigerman leave in his wake were small craters of magma wells. There was no doubt that this one was actually a fire-type monster. Edward looked above his head and found that his name was a shining red. [Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior (Elite), level 42] (Status: Core Meltdown (There is an incomprehensible reaction occurring within the body of this creature, with substantial energy being released in every given moment. The energies would strengthen its physical capabilities while leveling him, a process that could neither end nor reverse and only detonate horrifically when the creatures heart melts)] [Status: Conflagration (This creature is palpating extreme heat of almost five thousand Celsius. All fire-type skills would therefore be strengthened exponentially, and even if the skill doesnt reach its target, a mere brush on the skin by the flame holds a certain chance to get burned)] (Status: Kindling (This creature is immune to fire-type skills, which only increases its power equal to the power of the skill hitting it)] And within the split second the Edward took to check the creatures name and the explanation of the buff in its status bar, it had risen from level 42 to level 43! Tch! Really super macho! Edward cursed inwardly-how were they supposed to defeat this one? The Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior was now Level 43, making it on par with the first-rate Players. And with the Level 35 Ancient Imperial Wrath Tiger Warrior being able to tear Marni apart with his bare hands, the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior who likewise had an elite template just might be able to chase the elite Players into one pile and tear them apart too Moreover, it was only Level 43 for the time being. It could keep leveling up from the looks of things. And that was not allits body was definitely spreading such horrible extreme heat that the faintest of touch meant serious damage. Worse still, its buffs almost seemed tailored to counter Edward and other Skyblaze Heralds. Fire-type skills wouldnt hurt it but instead buff the creature, just water-type skills would be largely weakened because of class change. Against this Boss, the Skyblaze Heralds just couldnt do a thing which includes Edward himself, one who was recognized as the best Player there is. Edward, what should we do now? Joe gulped and asked him quietly. I want to know that too! Edwards heart was fuming in helplessness. But being the greatest supporter of the God of Games in his church, he soon calmed down, thinking that the God of Games wouldnt give us an impossible quest and began to think about whether there were any hints provided by the System. Soon, he read between the lines and found the information he wanted. He then turned to the other players around him and began issuing orders. Keep it busy! Do everything you can to make it waste its strength! Dont care about anything else-just stop its level from increasing! Who knows what monster it would become if we dont keep wasting its strength and it continues to level up! We just last until its core melts down! All the other players immediately showed looks of understanding and went up to run interference on the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior-only to be punched into the air. The insurmountable gap in fighting ability left the battlefield a gruesome sight. Even so, they were not retreating. It was not stubbornness that took root from their sense of justice or vengeance, nor was it an anime flashback sequence. Their reason to fight had changed from avenging fellow Players or aiding the Long Ears, and every Player knew clearly what it was. Such a powerful Boss would definitely drop the good stuff! Chapter 263: Powerful! The Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior is Powerful! Although the Players did their best, effort and numbers could hardly make up for anything when the gap in power reaches a certain level. With a foe like the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior who was basically a natural disaster with legs, new Players who simply couldnt fight it could only keep their distance and occasionally throwing a handful of long-range skillseven so, there was not much chance of the skill hitting the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior, with most evaporating into thin air either because of the extreme heat or the distorted air around it. Second-rate Players above Level 20 who had partially completed their class change could help fight to some extent, but even these Players were basically Holy Lancers who acted as tanks or only running interference. Only first-rate Players who had risen above Level 40 and had learnt the ultimate skill of their respective class could lead the fight against the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior. Still, there were too few of them and most had their own objectives, and as such wasnt interested in this group which the Players organized on their own. Few of them, like Edward came to join even though the quest wasnt an event. The Mountain Tigers around us could tell that we are being wrong-footed by the Boss. Thats why they are attacking and interrupting the second-rate Players around us. We wont last against such a monster without their interference and cover! Gou Dan, who was charred all over but still looking spirited reported in to Edward. Eleenas MP is almost gone, and she had too much Pepsi (mana potion) that she is almost becoming immune. Our numbers are going to drop hard without her resurrection skills, so we should retreat to ensure we dont lose EXP! It wasnt just Gou Dan who was having a hard time-even Edward was left fuming. Though he was still in command of the battle, the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warriors immunity towards fire meant that he could only attack with spells he learned before changing class, which effect was no better than newbies Looking around, he then noticed that there were signs of wanting to withdraw on the faces of other players around him. It was the first time that the Players would pull back even though they were fighting in a group. No, now is the most critical moment! Edward shook his head, refusing Gou Dans suggestion. I am frustrated with the fight, but it also cooled my head: this fight isnt about the System or an event our god is holding, but about Zonyans group. And unlike fishmen or skeletons, the enemies are actually alive So, the Boss is no different. Dont you think that it knows it would self-destruct if it keeps fighting? That much is clear since it was keeping itself locked in that basement that was full of ice blocks. Edward took a deep breath. It is fighting with its life on the line for its tribes survival! The God of Games had set eight doctrinal tenets for his church-memorizing it and keeping it at heart was one of the rare few requirements for his believers. And there was one part in the eight tenets that read: so remember, that slaying monsters is just a means-slaughter is not your goal. Edward never cared for that particular tenet since he could kill all his previous enemies that were fishmen, fleshless skeletons or unscrupulous bandits without any psychological burden. In fact, he took slight pleasure from it. On the other hand, he sensed something clearly different when he fought the Tigermen. Even though they looked unusual, they remained alive and not monsters entirely. They were struggling to survive as well, to live and to do whatever they could so that their tribe survived. I see the God of Games didnt assign us any quest because he wanted us to fully experience this? Even the item drops are much thriftier than usual, so as to warn us not to drown ourselves in the slaughter? In other words, the enemies he had slain in the past had actually worked in the worlds favor C disposables to develop the Players handpicked by the God of Games himself. To think so far ahead, he truly was the God of Games! Naturally, the Players battle against the Mountain Tigers had reached a point where no quarter was given. Even so, the Players still occupied the moral high ground because the Mountain Tigers had attacked them first without provocation, and mercy was therefore unnecessary. Retreating here and allowing the enemy to seize the moment and give chase would cost the Players dearly as well, and they might fare worse than fighting to the end. Moreover, they might hide in some place they couldnt find so that their tribe had a shot at survival, and come harass them again when they had finished healing. Even though the Players wouldnt back down from such minor threat and even consider them EXP delivered to their doorstep, the Long Ears could get caught in the crossfire. In addition, the Players need a representative in the Western Continentbut Zonyans status akin to an exiled prince would never work before he reclaimed his rank as chief of the Grayclaw tribe. In comparison, the Long Ears were a better fit for the job. Edward gave a rough explanation of his conclusion, and the Players eventually decided to fight on against the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior despite their misgivings. After all, their bodies were immortal and the more spineless of Players werent here. The second-rate Players also tried all they could to get rid of the other Tigermen running interference so that they could return to lynching the Boss. But the might of the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior was no ditch to be crossed in a single stride. Time passed without the second-rate Players returning to the fray, and everyones strategic reviving began to collapse as their MP couldnt keep up. In fact, the Players would all be dead if Eleena the Saintess-in-training didnt tank considerable damage with her sacred barrier. Damn it, if wed only have more people Edward had left the group of Players fighting the Boss and joined a mobile party to help the second-rate Players win quicker. Nonetheless, he couldnt help feeling dejected as the situation slowly spiraled out of the Players control, feeling regret for underestimating the event and not mobilizing every other first and second-rate Player. They actually didnt even need first-rate Playerswith enough second-rate Players or even newbies, they would be able to keep the other Tigermen busy, so that the Players could put in their full power to encircle and take down the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior. And they wouldnt have to suffer so much like they did now! That was when an arrow suddenly shot past Edward, striking the Tigerman he had been facing. Doing a double take, he then turned towards the direction where the arrow came from. A group of figures with long rabbit ears had appeared at some point in time, and were standing by the gates of the stronghold. Dont worry! Laybit yelled spiritedly at the Players, a small bow in hand. Were here to help too! Chapter 264: Where Is Your Daughter?! At first, Edward was startled by the appearance of the Long Ears, believing that they had run thousands of miles to come here and die. However, be it out of fear of death or self-awareness, the Long Ears did not approach the battlefield even after joining the fight, and were merely firing from their crude bows or throwing beach pebbles at the normal Tigermen. They would also immediately turn and run once they caught sight of any provoked Tigerman charging towards them. While their speed was the same as the Mountain Tigers and might be slower no thanks to their physicality, it remains that they werent fighting alonethe Players were standing in front of them. Hence, the Tigermen who tried to attack the Long Ears would be attacked from the back by the second-rate Players with all variety of skills. They would be interrupted by the Long Ears again if they tried to retaliate against the Players, or be jointly beaten up by the Long Ears and the newbies if they tried to attack any second-rate Players who were freed. In turn, the freed second-rate Players naturally joined the battle against the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior. So, in no time at all, the Players who had been repressed on all ends since the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior showed up finally fought back by a notch, pushing the battle into a stalemate. Still, the truth was that the Players were still at a disadvantage since the attritional battle had gone on for too long-most of their blue bars were empty, and they could only buy time with normal attacks or skills that dont require mana. Even so, Edward and the others were not in a hurry. They had already weathered through their most desperate hour and a stalemate was incredible in comparison. What was there to worry about? Furthermore, all of them knew that the overwhelming might of the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior was gained in exchange for its own life. The decisive moment is when its life eventually burns out. The Players might just have to wait to gain complete victory, and await the coming change *** Chief, I brought every child in the village! In the ancestral hall, a scrawny Tigerman was reporting to Taiga in embarrassment. But I couldnt find your daughter Nina Behind her was a group of small Tigermen whose size was no different from human children around ten. They were all staring timidly at the chief. Despite his usually gentle-look, the greatest Tigerman in their tribe looked murderous right now. Forget Nina for now. Where are the old and the women? Taiga Roar asked calmly in return, clasping his hands behind his back. They had all gone out, volunteering to fight those humans alongside our youth to protect the village. The scrawny Tigerman lowered his head in a bow and replied determinedly. Even though our tribe might fall here, our future wouldnt end here as long as these children live. Theyll be in your care, chief! Even as the Tigerman politely excused himself, intent on fighting to the death with his fellow tribesman to repel the invaders, he suddenly felt an unusual sensation of dj vu. Ancestral halls were a common building in every nonhuman settlement. Unlike the gods worshipped by most intelligent races, most nonhumans worship what their ancestors worshipped or even their ancestors, and their rituals were usually held here in the ancestral hall. Therefore, the design of ancestral halls differed according to the nonhuman race, the most commonly seen being shrines filled with wooden ancestral tablets. Being one of the more affluent of tribes, the Mountain Tigers had several statues of their ancestors, with more recent predecessors being held in memory with ancestral tablets. Nonetheless, exposure to light had caused the color of both ancestral table and statues to fade or even change shape, which led to the claim that the ancestors shuns the light, and therefore most ancestral halls were built to be the darkest places in the village. And the Mountain Tigers were no exception. And because it had been too dark, the scrawny tiger didnt notice it when he first came inbut when his eyes became used to the darkness, he found that the statues of the ancestors had been moved to face the walls as if pondering their misdeeds, and on their backs were unusual symbols painted in a red so dark it could well be black. The other ancestral tablets were in turn moved to various corners in the hall in an utterly bizarre sequence. One could find the same dark red symbols painted on the floor just a few feet away from them as well. W-Whats going on? The scrawny Tigerman was at once enraged and confused towards the desecration of the ancestral hall. Has our enemy reached here already? Being their most important place, the ancestral hall was always kept closed. Only the chief and several high-ranked elders had the keys to it. With those elders now fighting, the only one who could open the ancestral hall is the chief. So when could their enemy have come inside? No time to explain. Taiga Roars face was solemn and spoke with a tone that allowed no refusal. Have those children came and flee through the secret tunnel! The little Tigermen went ahead as instructed as instructed, but was stopped by the scrawny Tigerman, who was staring behind the chief. There lay an otherworldly stone coffin which was painted with the same dark red symbols. The scrawny Tigerman certainly knew that the stone coffin was, just as he knew that it should not be here. The ancestral hall wasnt exactly huge and did not actually have many secret tunnels, but even if the scrawny Tigerman didnt know how to open them, he had some theories after praying in this hall for so long. And the stone coffin was covering the one spot he thought to be most likely leading to one. The uncomfortable feeling in the scrawny Tigermans gut grew. It stared at Taiga Roar, and suddenly found that the wise chief had become very unfamiliar. Ive just returned from the battle where our tribes fought hard against our enemy. That is why I assumed that my nose had become accustomed to the scent of blood that when I picked up the same scent of iron rust here in this hall, I thought that my nose has gotten accustomed to it. The scrawny Tigerman bared his fangs as his visage turned fearsome. Thats not the case when I think about it now. Chief no, Taiga! Ive asked other tribesmen but all of them told me that they had not seen Nina leave your house! So answer me: Where is your daughter!? Chapter 265: Lucky Koi: Its Showtime! Dont you know? Chief Taiga Roar was neither panicking nor furious despite the scrawny Tigermans protest, but instead relaxed and actually smiled. You could get killed for being too clever. But as he shifted slightly by a step, a puddle of flesh that bore no resemblance to human was exposed behind him. Those special stripes, however, made it clear that it was once Taigas own daughter, Nina. At the same time, Taiga extended the hands which he had kept clasped behind his back. They were caked with dried blood, and it was clear that Taiga had used Ninas blood to draw the symbols in the room.[1] Go to hell! Enraged, the scrawny tiger lunged at Taigathough he might be one size smaller than most adult Tigermen, he was a top warrior amongst the Mountain Tigers. His body was blessed with sorcery by Mountain Tiger Priest and he had learnt martial arts passed on from his ancestors as a child, which was why his small body didnt restrain the limits of his ability, but instead made him more agile, giving him the edge when he spars with his fellow tribesmen. Only the three Tiger Warriors who had awakened their ancient bloodlines could best him definitely, since they were a different existence after their awakening And yet, the scrawny Tigermans full-power blow was easily evaded by Taiga, who countered with a fist that punched through his chest, seizing the scrawny Tigermans heart and crushing it. The scrawny Tigerman coughed blood. Though he didnt die immediately without his heart, he certainly had lost the ability to fight. All it could do was grip tightly on Taigas sleeves, shaking and leaving frightening trails of blood. Why we trusted you Taiga looked shaken and disturbed but only for a fraction of a second, before clarity pressed down over everything else. Smiling, he pulled away the scrawny Tigermans hand and kicked him into the floor. To defeat our enemies, of course! This is a necessary sacrifice to make us Mountain Tigers great again! The scrawny Tigerman coughed another few mouthfuls of blood and glared hatefully at Taiga, but he soon becomes a corpse as life faded from his open eyes. It was only then that the little Tigermen finally realized what happened, screamed and attempted to fleebut Taiga only needed to snap his fingers for the doors of the ancestral hall to close themselves. * * * Why isnt the dude blowing up yet? His head is as bright as the son now! The plump Terrosche complained bitterly even as he goofed off. Could he be bald? Silva replied, staring at the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warriors head while goofing as well. He must be baldthe flames are so bright. Terrosche seethed, after having much EXP taken away after dying to the Tigermans AoE attacks. Meanwhile, the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior who had been dueling Joe and was about to kill him again suddenly gave up even as Joe screamed Im dying, need to tanks to take my place, and instead started to rushed towards the Lucky Koi brothers. Brother Terrosche, I think hes coming this way! Silva said a little fearfully. Oh, Silva, Silva! He would attack you the more youre afraid. He can tell when youre afraid like dogs, so dont be scared. Be brave, go forth! Terrosche coaxed him. But doesnt he look troubled? Its just a mirage from all the heat. Trust me, you dont have to afraid. Go! Got it, brother Terrosche! Im on it! Silva roared to muster his courage, rushing towards the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior with a sword in hand. He was then instakilled handily, whereas Terrosche immediately turned and ran. Damn it, I was just praising his hairstyle. Does he have to be so angry?! He rasped even as he dashed away. Even so, he clearly wasnt as fast as the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior, who ejected a small burst of strength to drive himself right on Terrosche heels and aiming one almighty wallop from behind. Grateful Dead! Knowing that he wasnt getting away, Terrosche briskly casted a buff to make a stand, only to be kicked into the air like a soccer ball. Still, since Grateful Dead grants higher buffs the user in all stats the lower their HP was, Terrosche wasnt instakilled by the kick. After soaring through the air by over ten meters, he landed heavily on a tightly shut door. The door collapsed with a deafening crash, revealing what was happening inside: Taiga Roar, chief of the Mountain Tigers was grabbing a smaller Tigerman by the throat and draining his blood over a stone coffin. The corpses of several either smaller Tigermen lay lifelessly around them, all of them having a deep gash over their necks. Still, the little Tigerman who was having his blood drained wasnt dead yet, and was struggling albeit meekly. Hope appeared in his face when he saw the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior who was rushing towards them, reaching out with his hand and squeezing out the words from his throat. Brother But soon his face turned gray-white and his eyes lifeless. What are you doing, Taiga?! The Roaring Blaze Tiger Warriors eyes were threatening bulge out of its sockets. He had been fighting for the tribe so that they (mainly the children) had the time to run. He was burning out his life to fight the Players, holding no regrets even when he knew that things wouldnt even well for him. Be that as it may, every child of the tribe had clearly been murdered by the mentally disturbed chief. The doors were scratched with claw marks of the children who clearly watched as their friends were each killed and having their blood drained, just as they couldnt flee. How could Taiga have weathered through such a ritual at the sight of their infinite desperation?! The Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior screamed as he charged. Why is everyone so keen on interrupting my offering Well, whatever. It is already done. Even so, Taiga Roar didnt evade or retaliate. He instead spread his hands, allowing the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior to punch freely through his body! Whats going on? A fight between bosses? Joe was at a loss even as he looked at the scene. Meanwhile, as they drank potions to restore both HP and MP, the other players were left amazed by the good fortune of the Lucky Koi Brothers for delivering such a plot twist. Edward, however, was frowning, having sensed that something wasnt right. Logically speaking, the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warriors body temperature had long since exceeded five thousand Celsius. Even if the punch didnt reduce Taigawho isnt protected by Rule of Skillto ashes, his blood should have evaporated instantly. But that was not the case. Blood so thick that it was almost black and seemingly alive in itself poured out of Taigas body-or was indeed drained out of his body and falling on the unusual stone coffin, absorbed within and vanishing. In the next second, almost everyone heard a weird knocking sound from within the stone coffin. When another second passed, even though he was some distance away, Edward realized that it wasnt a knock. It was a heartbeat. [1] Nooooo not Nina again :((((( (Full Metal Alchemists Nina) Chapter 266: The Revived Nightstalker As everyone looked on, the lid over the stone coffin rumbled and moved on its own. Even before the master of the coffin appeared, an aura thicker than blood and darker than the night skies were already overflowing from within, shrouding and soaking every corner around the ancestral hall. Winter was clearly over, but Edward and the others felt a coldness that cut into bone and heart-as if the frost had returned and they were wearing only a single layer of clothes. In a Shounen anime, someone would probably be yelling something like such powerful Reiatsu/Haki/Chakra right about now. And for an instant, Edward actually saw an illusion: thick blood was flowing out of the stone coffin and himself being drowned under it, suffocating It was fortunate that all Players had basically died a few times and even being locked inside the black hut was basically no different from entering the divine realm of the god they worshipped. Even if Xi Wei was too stingy to bless them with any special gifts, their souls had been refined at bare minimum level and their spiritual resistance on the higher side. As such, even though the Long Ears and the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior couldnt react immediately against such a horrific illusion, the Players had all free themselves from the domination of the illusion and regained clarity. Nonetheless, a bloody wing that was so massive it shouldnt physically fit inside the stone coffin extended from within, followed by a figure that slowly rose to its feet. It was a handsome white-haired man whose gender could be misidentified at first glance. He was dressed in noble clothes of otherworldly fashion-mostly black, but adorned with red in certain spots. In fact, it resembled the evening formal clothing of noblemen from this age. The clothes also covered most of the man, revealing only the skin on his face and hands. His skin was also pale-white but unhealthily so, as if it had never been touched by the sun. Behind him, the blood wings stretched out and filled the ancestral hall. Those blood wings werent solid but in a state between gas and liquid. The ceiling was not destroyed when they brushed upon it, but instead rotted into many holes that extended through the roof and formed a cloud of blood on the skies above the ancestral hall. The thick, heavy cloud of blood was not as immediately powerful as the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior in appearance, but it does throw an enormous shadow over everything else. Even if it prompted the sense that it could come crashing down at any given moment, it exuded a sense of unmatched threat and pressure that made breathing difficult. Every Player then noticed the System page popping out in front of their eyes. [A wild Revived Nightstalker has appeared] (Urgent world quest startedthe Nightstalker Strikes Back] [The ancestor of the Nightstalkers had learnt of his kinds demise after rising from its grave thanks to zombification. Reluctant to fall under the control of the masterminds of its revival, he exhausted all efforts to win the trust of the Mountain Tigers, and, in the battle between Players and the Mountain Tigers managed to grab hold of the mentally shaken chief of the Mountain Tigers, who in turn spilled the blood of every Mountain Tiger child and sacrificed them for his awakening. The Nightstalker is the enemy of all life, a world-ending calamity of the last century. Countless living beings were consumed as their flesh and blood, and the worlds balance had once faced destruction in their wake! Stop the world from falling beneath the dominion of a bloody storm, for now is the time that you come forth and shine!] [Quest Objective: Defeat the Revived Nightstalker.] (Quest Reward: Unlocks reputation system in the New World (Western Continent), one Awakened Nightstalker memorial item (randomly obtained), certain amount of game coins and EXP (distributed according to contribution)] (Note: In this very hour, the first and the last Nightstalker of the world shall lead the Nightstalkers to rise again! If you cant stop his awakening, they would once again feast upon all beings, and stage an encore of the calamity that lay waste to the last agesays the God of Games in a whisper] Although the God of Games had finally assigned them a quest and the reward looked quite good, none of the Players present were pleased. After all, the unawakened Nightstalker had appeared before them. Not only was he Level 55, it also has the overlord templatewhich was a higher level compared to the elite template! Its not even funny. They were almost wiped out by the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior who was below Level 50. There was just no winning against an enemy of his class, and they have to wait until every other first-rate and second-rate Player rush to the scene after receiving the quest. Ahem That was when Taiga, who was still dangling over the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warriors hand coughed out a mouthful of blood, his eyes clearing once again. W-what have I done Chief? The Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior carefully controlled the heat over his hand so that Taiga wasnt baked by the flames. Have you finally come to your senses?! I have hurt the Mountain Tigers I have dragged our tribe to a new low where we couldnt hope to recover from Taiga appeared to remember being manipulated, and firmly grasped the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior shoulder with a distorted look, his voice at once a bellow and a mourning. I killed Nina by my own hands, and used her flesh and blood as sacrifice I hate this! Chief The Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior watched him, troubled. Its good that youve killed me I cant bear to face our ancestors But in the very least, before my journey to the underworld I cough Would have that thing come with me! Taiga glared at the Nightstalker, who was still standing in his stone coffin. * * * In the distance, Rangka of the Long Ears was showing a look of empathy. While the Players had a part to play in the fall of the Mountain Tigers, Taiga merely disliked the Players and did not hate them. He had provoked them first after all, and the Players didnt retaliate with any underhanded measures-instead came knocking on their doorstep and dished out an almighty beating on the Mountain Tigers. Moreover, they were not so cruel that they would wipe out the tribes women and children, which was compassion in a war between two tribes. On the other hand, the Nightstalker had manipulated Taiga into killing every last child of the tribe, directly destroying any possibility of the tribes survival. Couple that with the indescribable tragedy of having the chief kill his own flesh and blood, and such level of hate only made sense. Rangka even felt that he would already have been driven to madness by the cruel reality if he had been in Taigas position. Leave it to me. The Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior nodded in immeasurable solemnity, while Taiga smiled in gratefulness and release in return. In the next split second, the flames covering the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warriors body raged again while Taiga, who was still hanging limply over his hand was promptly reduced to ashes. However, it did not happen out of the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warriors desire to dignify his chief with a cremationthe truth was that a mysterious power had poured within the Tiger Warriors body, causing his power to go haywire for a moment. The Players were unaware of that, and simply didnt have the attention to spare with a great foe before them, and simply considered that the Tiger Warrior was venting his frustration through the flames. And yet, Xi Wei who had been watching the show from his divine kingdom was stunned by that turn of events. Chapter 267: God Sprout The change occurring to the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior was nothing special in appearance, but it was exceedingly obvious to the gods. If one had to put their finger on it, it was just like having a plain mortal suddenly turning into a chosen Saint. Still, the change occurring to the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior was complex since he was special in the first place. Any other god would most likely have been confused by the change, but since Xi Wei had been observing the area through the Players, he vaguely understood what had happened. * * * When the Players first arrived on the Western Continent, Xi Wei had the feeling that the land itself seemed to repel the divine. It is like a fog of war that made it hard even when he tried to spy through his Divine Eye. At first, Xi Wei had theorized that the land had been cursed by some god, or some phenomenon in the War of God and Demons had led to this. He finally realized that his theory was mistaken from what happened just now. The power that pours into the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior was crude and unrefined, but he was positive that it was divine energy-a power that only the gods could use. Reasonably speaking, the nonhuman natives had no gods since most of them engaged in ancestral worship or even worshipped their own predecessors, aside from the few who worshipped Bellphon, God King of Beasts. But as their population increased, ancestral worshiped slowly manifesting their belief into a divine beingjust like the God of Games who existed before Xi Weis transmigration. Be that as it may, the god manifesting from the ancestral worship of the different nonhuman tribes would mean a discrepancy since there so many different ancestors in question that the belief couldnt be unified. Moreover, the largest tribe of nonhumans were at best five or six hundred, meaning that there was no way a god in the genuine sense could come to exist. There would be some who would interrupt here, asserting that Xi Wei did not even have that many believers before he transmigrated. But wasnt he a standard-issue deity now? That was incorrect because the manifestation of the God of Games did not depend on the handful of believers existing when he transmigrated. Instead, it was the hundreds and thousands of loyal believers who worshipped the God of Games during the golden age of Tierra! Be that as it may, the God of Games that manifested remained vulnerable and unstable, and so much so that it didnt even have sufficient intelligence to help his own believers amidst the fall of Tierra. Xi Weis transmigration was merely an opportunity seized through his Authority to transmigrate. And therein lies the question: could manifesting divinity be successful over time even if numbers were lacking? Could belief be enough to birth a god if all nonhuman tribes worshipped the same ancestor over almost a thousand years? Sadly, it did not work that way. If belief could accumulate with time anyway, gods of belief would not fall in the absence of worshippers. Nonetheless, belief that accumulated over extended eras would still have certain effects, and the long history of the nonhumans managed to form an entity similar to a budding god. It was just a chunk of energy that had no form, a mere condensation of divine energy that shrouds upon the corresponding tribethose were not gods, and naturally not bound by the restraint of Rules so as to exist in the Prime Material Plane instead of being pulled into the divine realm. It was precisely because the god sprouts were many that they mutually affected each other, eventually forming a bounded field that true gods would have a hard time sensing, firmly prying a chunk of the Western Continent from the eyes of the other gods. Be that as it may, real gods of belief would fall to the threat of death once their believers vanished, let alone the god sprouts which didnt even possess divinity. That was why the god sprouts would instinctively retaliate against the enemy who caused the potential wipeout of their believers -in contrast, they wouldnt care about their own believers as long as they didnt all go extinct. Even if the nonhumans were unaware of the existence of god sprouts, they would have a vague idea after living on the Vierlin Plains for almost a thousand years. Experience would allow them to theorize and categorize situations, hence developing rules for some of their tribesas an example, the war between two tribes must stop at certain points, any hostility ceasing when the outcome was very much decided without a complete extinguishing of the enemys race. That was why even weak nonhuman tribes such as the Long Ears could survive from ancient times until now. And at the moment, the Mountain Tigers were in the dire straits of potential extinction. Naturally, their god sprout would activate its automated defense mechanism and infuse itself as pure divine energy unto the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior, elevating him into an existence comparable to the Saints of other faiths! Finally getting to the bottom of things, Xi Wei stroked himself with his tentacle at a spot where his chin should be: Since the god sprouts created a bounded field in the Vierlin Plains where the nonhumans dwelled and the other true gods had a hard time seeing what happened there, wouldnt he be unnoticed even if he overdid things a little? That being said, Xi Wei didnt actually make a direct move in the end. There were still many Players there who wouldnt be dying off anytime soon anyway. Moreover, other players were all leaving aside what they were doing after receiving the urgent quest assignment and were headed in this direction, and would be reinforcing the current forces in half an hour. It was not necessary for him to interfere directly for now. Observing and handling things according would work better in his favor. *** Die, bastard! The Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior bellowed.Having become a pseudo-Saint and leaping up to Level 55-an equal footing with the Revived Nightstalker, punching out at the Nightstalker even before it could wake up! The massive blood wings behind the Nightstalker immediately branched out, shaping a shield and attempting to guard against the blow, only to be punched through by the fist which then landed directly on the Nightstalkers face, sending him flying out of the ancestral hall! Like a stone skipping over water, the Revived Nightstalker bounced a few times over the ground and only stopped when it crashed into a wooden hut. His whole face was punched inside, his chin punched into a tilted, horrific angle. But the Players werent optimistic, however. Only a tiny bit-a twentieth of the Nightstalkers HP bar, in factwas punched away. And even as the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior gave chase and tried to press his attack, a rain of blood started to pour down from the skies. At first, the Players all assumed that the rain would be poisonous or erosive, and prepared to counter in return-only to realize that nothing was happening. However, it was the stagnating blood water on the ground that began to squirm, shaping into bloody creatures of abnormal forms that charged towards the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior and the Players! Chapter 268: Running Away When Youre the Quest? I see! I understand now! Joe had a look of epiphany after he swung his Giant Toe to crush one of the bloodborne creatures and saw it revert to blood form. Beside him, Edward resisted the impulse of yelling What do you understand, ape!?, and instead asked, What is it? What did you notice? Our quest objective is only to defeat the Nightstalker, but it didnt mention that we must defeat it by our own hand. In other words, we could let the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior defeat him! Joe exclaimed in delight as if he had discovered a new continent. And since these blood monsters are going to stop him from attacking the Nightstalker, we have to get rid of them. After that, well just let the Boss punch each other up! III At first, Edward had thought that Joe would have at least broadened his perspective after becoming a Player for so long, even though Edward was in command of most group raids. It would at least have been normal if Joe wasnt able to see what was going wrong, and yet he came up with such a nutcracking conclusion of the situationtheres no need to tell us, we already know that! Meanwhile, the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior was still fighting against the Revived Nightstalker who still had yet to fully awaken. Indeed, fighting was not quite the right term because the Revived Nightstalker was not conscious, and fought only by the reflexive movement of its wings. Even though the strongly erosive blood wings were a nemesis to all life and couldnt even be touched, that was actually no problem for the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior whose body was now as hot as the surface of the sun. The erosive blood would evaporate under the extreme even before it could reach the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warriors skin! Moreover, the Players were holding back most of the bloodborne creatures, whereas the physically vulnerable blood wings couldnt stop the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warriors blows at all-which meant right now, the Revived Nightstalker was being punched single-sidedly. In fact, his whole body was being ground into mincemeat by the steel fists of the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior, and was just inches away from dying. But in spite of the one-sided state of affairs, all the Players could still clearly see that the Revived Nightstalkers HP Bar had only dropped by a third even though it had been punched so many times by the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior with his six thousand Celsius fists! And when they recalled the high acclaim given to the Nightstalker in the System notifications, the Players foreboding sense only grew strong. Even though the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior had been buffed by some unknown power to the point that its level was now equal to the Revived Nightstalkers, his elite template didnt change since his living form wasnt really refined. As such, the gap between him and the Revived Nightstalker who has the overlord template remained ever distinct. Meanwhile, Edward was calmly analyzing the situation. He had considered grouping the Players and help diverting some to help attack the Nightstalker so that they could shave off its HP quicker, but reconsidered and decided not to do so. The Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior couldnt see his enemy HP and naturally didnt know what was really going on with the Revived Nightstalker. Still, from the looks of his slowing punches and the dulling of his rage, the Tiger Warrior must have vented most of his hate and assumed that the Revived Nightstalker was about to die. With his stubborn attitude, the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior might not listen to the warnings of the Players eitherand that was why they must stay vigilant and try their best to prevent the Tiger Warrior from being instakilled by the Revived Nightstalker. And just as expected, the anomaly came instantly when the Revived Nightstalkers HP dropped to two-thirds! The blood wings on his back suddenly split and crystallized into a dozen long, narrow and sharp structures resembling spider legs, stabbing out at the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior who was caught off guard from every direction C just like a spider on the hunt! Black Dragon Hellfire! Having been waiting for this moment all along, Edward promptly raised his hand and blasted the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior on the back. It didnt hurt the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior since he was immune against all fire-type spells, but the impact force from the skill itself was real-two of the red razor-sharp joints only managed to scratch the Tiger Warrior, avoiding the fate of him becoming the first dish of the Revived Nightstalker in his awakening But even though Edward had assumed that the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior would keep fighting, he didnt expect him to drop to his knees with a look of anguish after avoiding the Nightstalkers fatal blow. He was even shuddering, the flames over his body now fluctuating and looked like a mess all in all. Edward then noticed that there was a debuff status named Nightstalker Curse hanging over the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warriors status bar. It didnt cause much damage, but the victim would suffer great anguish in spirit and lose the ability to fight for some time. Everyone be careful. The claws on his back is cursed! Once he saw that their powerful support was now incapacitated, Edward stiffened himselfbeing the only remaining spiritual leader of the Players, he led the Players to prepare the second phase of their strategy against the Revived Nightstalker. Ho? I thought that I would wake up finding arrogant dragons or cocky elves trying to stop me. I might even compromise and say that it wouldnt be weird to see violent orcs or the stubborn dwarves standing before me but to think that its mere humans who are here for a dance The Nightstalker spoke, even as his distorted form was rapidly recovering at a speed visible to the eye. What could food like you possess to gain the courage of standing before me? Hate? Glory? And in the next split second, he moved C instantly reaching Edward. The arcane shield of Happy Flames immediately kicked into the life and rigidly stopped the attacking crystalized blood joints, but it was only when the appendages were inches away from Edward himself that he finally realized that he was being attacked. The enemy was too quick, and on a completely different level. Any other army would probably collapse in morale once they saw the insurmountable gap between themselves and their foe, and every soldier would in turn desert their cause and flee for their lives. That, however, was not the case for the Players. As long as the System had assigned a quest, anything which had its HP bar shining brightly as an enemy definitely could be beaten! Tide Callers and Spirit Swordsmen! Slow him down right now, dont let him get away! The Players who had been left at a loss immediately understood Edwards intention, in spite of the Revived Nightstalkers dominance, he wasnt immune to debuffs like the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior was, and the Players regained the feeling of being in a dungeon and farming a Boss. Hence, all of them rushed up and encircled the Nightstalker, bent on defeating the last Boss in typical Player style! Chapter 269: Shoot that Motherf*cker To Vlad, Father of Nightstalkers, humans were creatures that suddenly appeared upon the world and, like ants, were so insignificant that they deserved not even the slightest of attention. In fact, in the past era, they were nothing but food for Nightstalkers and low-grade food at that-something which a prestigious Nightstalker wouldnt eat. True, they never surrender and always gave their all in their quest to survive, weathering one apocalypse after another and even outlived the Nightstalkers themselves. Indeed, Vlad was actually in awe of their sheer tenacity that kept them alive unto this era. But like how humans would admit that cockroaches were stubbornly resilient but would never regard the bugs as a thread, Vlads opinion of humans were that they are weeds, difficult to uproot but always multiplying rapidly even though there was nothing else virtuous about them. And that perspective hasnt changed even now, after his revival. With that thought, the Nightstalker promptly unleashed a red gust that blew every Player coming at him off their feet. Fools. It must have been too long since the fall of the Nightstalkers that you vermin had forgotten the horrors that we are! None of you seem to understand the difference between my kind and your pathetic species-do you think you could do anything you want just because you have the numbers? He growled in disdain, watching as the Players tried to get back on their feet while spreading the crystallized blood joints behind him and slowly floated into the air. Meanwhile, the blood clouds in the skies thickened as he moved, and were no longer motionless. They flowed as if some enormous being was swimming within, with purple lightning bolts colliding and dancing in between, cracking in air-piercing rumbles audible even on the ground. The air itself seemed to become stale. Edward, who barely escaped with his life felt his body hair standing on end-it was not goosebumps or a chill, but something resembling static electricity, which was actually causing his hair to lift slightly. As thunder rumbled, blood cloud churned and the Nightstalker slowly rose to the air, it felt as if he was a world-ending demon king. He then looked down upon the stunned faces of the Players from above, and continued speaking without a hint of emotion on his face. Well, you shall experience despair Ack! The weather was clearly shifting and his charisma overflowingthe perfect debut of a superboss, declaring the moment of his return to the world. It was a sight only seen in climaxes or when the game was about to end in any electronic game back on Earth, a CG cutscene so amazing that anyone would think that the studio had burnt out its budget. And yet, just as the Nightstalker was about to conclude his grandstanding, one particular Tide Caller Player who was feeling an itch casted a Frost Tide and smashed it in his face, handily interrupting the Nightstalker. Because it had happened out of the blue, every other Player turned by reflex towards the one who casted the skill even before they realized what happened. Bewildered, he scratched his head and said, Well I did recover some mana and it felt like hes going to yap on for a long time SO Back on Earth, it was equivalent to a player who always skips every story cutscene. That being said, his skill didnt inflict to much damage on the Nightstalker since Frost Tide was a low-level skill learnt soon after a Mage changed class to Tide Caller. Still, having his face sprayed full of whiteness left Vlad in overwhelming embarrassment. It was no different from cockroaches occupying your kitchen and then a sign on the door that read no entry for humans or dogs, and so Vlad, who had patiently conned the whole Mountain Tiger tribe was now uncharacteristically infuriated. As his face contorted, the frost covering it broke and crumbled, revealing the ferocious visage underneath. Im not showing mercy even if you beg now! Die! Even before he finished, thick bolts of purple-red thunder struck out like spears of malevolence from the blood clouds, piercing heaven and earth just to strike the Player who had mocked him directly. Despite being prepared, he couldnt fully block the thunderous blow and was instantly blown into a million different pieces. Clerics! Revive that idiot, quick! Another Player shouted. He is going to be the best tank we have now! As long as hes still alive, the Bosss hate would never turn to us! Tsk! The Cleric beside him merely gave that Player a middle-finger for his suggestion. Hes all over the place. Sweeping up and gathering his ashes might work. Another Player suggested. And that was when a gust kicked up, blowing away the Players ashes into the wind Then, more purple-red bolts descended from the skies. Even if the Players tried to evade them, the bolts seemed to arc towards them. Moreover, those bolts wouldnt reach for other players even if they were closer, but would always stay on the targeted Players they locked on to earlier! Fortunately, Clerics and Holy Lancers who took on defensive routes had preemptively shielded those Players, and so prevented them from being blown into ashes as well. Be that as it may, the ones struck were left staggered, their whole body getting numb and shakingthey were out of the battle for now. Your hairs would stand up when the bolts are targeting you! Edwards sharp eyes immediately picked up on the key. Shields up! Everyone else, attack that Boss! Then, he muttered to himself. But this is not going to work, we need something to shoot down that motherf*cker with Whats the long-range skill with the highest damage right amongst all Player classes right now? If we dont count Eleena or Princess Leah, its going to be the Holy Lancers Third Seal Release: Range of Truth. Gou Dan, who was always writing gossip in his news posts had gathered a bunch of random information which finally proved useful now. Even if the Holy Lancer is ten levels lower than you, give him time to release his seal, aim and charge, he would deal even more damage than you with your Black Dragon Hellfire of course, that is only if youre not using Happy Flames. Ok, I get the idea. Edward nodded. And from the look of those two thunderstrikes, that thing cant move when he fires those bolts After that, Eleena and I will get his attention since we are stronger than most, so its easier for us to make him turn to us, Edward said, swiftly putting the last touches to his plan. You and Joe should hurry up with other Players-provide cover as best as you all could for the Holy Lancers even if the Boss releases a third barrage of thunderbolts. The fourth barrage is your signal to attack, so knock him down from the skies in one go! Chapter 270: Blunder Up in the air, Vlad looked down at the Players who were still baring their fangs and had yet to give up on resistance, and couldnt help feeling confused Was humankind supposed to be that tenacious? It didnt feel like that before If it wasnt that Tigermans attacks interrupting my awakening, such mere inferior lifeforms I knew I shouldnt have helped them awaken their ancient bloodlines. Vlad gritted his teeth, glaring at the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior whom the Players had moved to the distance to avoid projectiles but still hadnt been freed from Vlads curse. Meanwhile, massive spears of light and black serpentine flames shot towards him from below. Knowing that both could hurt him, Vlad could only evade or block them with his blood cloud. Damn it! Vlad raggedly looked downwards at the rogues who tried to attack him: a youth who was holding an unusual staff brimming with mystical powers and a young girl whose body was palpating some divine power. Moments ago, Vlad had already noticed that those two had fighting power a class above the other humans. In truth, Gou Dan and his AWM wouldnt fall short in comparison to their ability to deal burst damage, but he was now hiding amidst the debris of buildings nearby, looking for the best chance to attack. Likewise, Joe was stronger than Edward in close-quarters fightingthe only problem was Vlad who didnt get the Players a chance to go toe-to-toe with himself, and so Joe the Spirit Swordsman could only give the Nightstalker dirty looks from down below. Still, after being harassed by the Players whom he saw as ants in every manner ever since he awakened, Vlad became a little serious. But despite assuming that he would crush those ignorant fools in no time at all, he had spent a lot of energy only to kill just a handful Feeling as if nothing was going according to his will, Vlads blood pressure boiled over. Without thinking, he summoned a few more thunderbolts and launched them at Eleena and Edward who dared to attack him, only to be blocked by Eleenas sacred shield. And at virtually the same instant, the weapons of several Holy Lancers positioned elsewhere shone with dazzling radiance, focused and buffed with mana before unleashed as enormous cannon strikes! Even so, Vlads target was only those two humans, and the moment of less than two seconds when his thunderbolts shone to the point that it struck at Eleenas shield, he had already regained mobility the instant his blood cloud revert to its normal form! Hence, flapping one of the crystallized blood joints behind him, he easily evaded the Third Seal Release: Range of Truth-even though it was a combined ultimate move that the Players charged for a long time! Regret and irritation showed on those Players faces just then. Even they were aware that the chance for a sneak attack only came once, and it wouldnt work since Vlad would be careful against it next time. Still, despite thanking his lucky stars for evading the combine mana cannon blast, Vlads own irritation was growing into rage. To think that he was being forced by ants to such extent, and was almost caught in their trap! Though he wouldnt die instantly from a single strike that contained such levels of mana and divine power, he would definitely be critically injured and unable to move freely for some time. And there were only too many solutions to handle an immobile Nightstalker, the most common of which was sealing him directly All of you had truly exceeded my expectations. Rejoice, Ive changed my mind! Fred roared from the skies. I wont kill you so easily, because I will torture every last one of you until you die! He glared at Edward who was hiding behind a sacred shield and was clearly issuing orders, and a smile appeared for a split second over his face. Do you think youre safe just because youre hiding behind that thing? I could use wind if thunder doesnt work! Hence, like the conductor of a symphony, Vlad spread his hands and gently drew a few strokes in the air. Two massive hurricanes immediately stretched out of the blood clouds behind him, their spiral funnel cutting straight towards Edward and Eleena! And unlike the thunderbolts, the blood hurricanes were continuous and didnt immediately fade after hitting Eleenas sacred shield. It instead gained momentum like a drill, inflicting tons of damage upon the shield. Within seconds, visible fractures cracked open over the sacred shield. I cant hold it any longer. Eleena shortly informed Edward about the terrible situation they were in, before stuffing another lollipop into her mouth to recover mana. Damn it, I didnt think that he could regain movement that quickly Edward was feeling the setback too. He took a deep breath, adjusting his mana and preparing himself mentally-while newbies all relied on the Skill System to unleash their abilities in the simplest way possible, advanced Players had learnt the flow of energies within their own bodies after using their skills over thousands of times, therefore becoming familiar with the structure of the spell that made up the skill (or something like that). Moreover, most first-rate Players shared the notion that using their own wills to construct and cast their skills instead of relying on the Skill System would make casting quicker, increasing the versatility of the skill itself while also reducing cooldown time. Edward was naturally one such Player. He had even vaguely felt out the wondrous energy that came from Happy Flames, although it was just a skin-deep feeling for now. But in this very moment, with the strategy which the Players had staked all they had ending in failure, they could only brace themselves and charge. Eventually, the two tangled blood hurricanes shattered the sacred shield and advanced towards everyone. Raising his staff, Edward was ready to cast his spell when he noticed that he was in the center of the hurricanes and could see the horrific walls of gust nearby, but his surroundings were somehow extraordinarily serene.Could this be the so-called eye of the storm? Edward thought, suddenly remembering an experienced wood elfs story about hurricanes back in Trinia. Nonetheless, a dark shadow had appeared before him in the next split second. Edward didnt have to see to know who it was the pungent scent of blood that hit him in the face and having been attacked by him on close-range before, he knew that the Revived Nightstalker had come for him again! Black Dragon H- Edward promptly casted his spell, but Vlad was much quicker. The Nightstalker reached out and seized Edward by the throat, holding his voice in his vocal cords and lifted him into the air. Youre the leader here, yes? Vlads lips parted in a harrowing smile, revealing his fangs that were much longer and sharper than that of humans. I wonder what look would appear on their faces when they realized that their leader has become my blood slave! Chapter 271: There Is A Path To Hell But You Did Not Take It Being the precursors (or ancestors?) of vampires, Nightstalkers shared the ability of most vampires but didnt have as many vulnerabilities as they do. For example, although sunlight which instantly kills vampires and burn them into ashes certainly could inflict some damage to Nightstalkers, the regeneration ability of most Nightstalkers would be compensate-or indeed overcompensatefor the damage sunlight could cause, which meant it wasnt lethal to them. Additionally, the rumor that anyone bitten by a vampire would become one was mistaken. Vampires were basically Nightstalkers of diluted bloodlines. However, when the gods wiped out the Nightstalkers, the curse they forced upon the Nightstalkers extended to the vampires, forcing them to shoulder a great many vulnerabilities and curses. Though human scholars had theorized that vampires were undead creatures, that was only because specimens were rare and any attributes of vampires could only be researched through the study legends and tales passed down from generations before. Such information passed down by word of mouth naturally lost veracity in information, just as folktales would be exaggerated or distorted. In truth, vampires were alive and could procreate normally. Victims of their bites were merely infected by the curse that plagues them, killing them instantly when they were bitten while their souls were bound in their corpse, turning them into blood slaves of the vampire. The reverse was understandable as wellif vampires could increase their numbers by biting, they probably would be everywhere now, and wouldnt be facing extinction like the giant panda *** Meanwhile, Edward was naturally struggling as hard as he could against Vlads grip, but the insurmountable gap between their stats meant he simply couldnt free himself. He wasnt aware that Vlad was disgusted by the very same thing. The Nightstalker believed that his kind stood above all other living beings, a noble race that deserves to transcend beyond all beings, which was true given their position in the food chain. Feeding upon every other creature, they were entities that could stand alone against the world. That was why Vlad, the Father of all Nightstalkers hold such contempt in drinking human blood when he had been alive. After all, they were nothing less than a species that had suddenly appeared out of some unknown gutter. If the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior hadnt punched off a third of his HP and the Players see-saw battle didnt cost him what few mana he had left after his awakening, he would rather fly away to find more savory races, reluctant to even touch any human. Be that as it may, the joint offensive of the Players did make him feel a genuine threat, and as his indignation boiled into rage, he finally admitted that the humans of today were tenacious enough to hurt him. That was the reason he would attack Edward personally. Still, admitting that the humans were formidable enemies was one thing, but disgust remained disgust Dont fight it. Your blood and your flesh shall become a part of me, and you shall become my most loyal puppet. When the empire of Nightstalkers rise again, you would realize how wise a choice it was to become my slave! Vlad whispered into Edwards ear. But whether it was the Nightstalkers words or because he was being strangled, Edward rolled his eyes, thinking: youre not letting me choose, though! In an instant, Vlads fangs pierced Edwards neck and he drank mouthfuls of Edwards blood, satiating the thirst that had never faded for a second after his awakening! * * * Although the others couldnt see what was happening to Edward since he was shrouded in the eye of the hurricane, there were in fact a pair of eyes that saw it all from the very start. Xi Wei had thrown aside the watermelon he was eating. He made a gesture as if he was clenching his fist when he saw Vlad sucking Edwards bloodbut he was excited, not angry. As the God of Games whom all Players worshipped, he had already become upset by Vlads unrestrained slaughter of the Players: how much divine energy do you think you are you costing me with your massacre?! However, he did not make any bold moves even if the god sprout were still present and could block the vision of other gods to a certain extent. It wasnt a situation where this god is overpowered but overly cautious, but things were just delicate at the divine realm at the moment-undercurrents were surging even though things appeared calm on the surface, and the simplest of excuse could ignite a divine war in an instant. That was the reason why the Great Lion hadnt come visit Xi Wei and have cola for some time. And yet, Vlads direct ingestion of a Players blood had given Xi Wei an excuse. Whenever Players fight, they would follow the Rule of Skill which Xi Wei had implemented a very simple law that was made with the express purpose of easing the actions conducted through the System Xi Wei had created. Over time, he had refined the Rule of Skill whenever he had the free time, and even though it hasnt actually by much, it was a lot better than its simple original form. The body of the Players being digitalized in battle was naturally an ability granted through the Rule of Skill. Under such state, the Players would immediately have their lifeforce reduced when hurt, but wounds would vanish rapidly even though it could be inflicted. One might even say that with their digitalized bodies, the Players had surpassed the domain of the living Therefore, Vlads drinking of a Players blood ruins the digitalizationto put on serious terms, it was an attempt of breaking a Rule. If it had been the Rule set upon this world (as in rules set by the Trinity), Vlad would immediately die. On the other hand, even if it doesnt kill Vlad instantly, the Rule of Skill was set in place by Xi Wei as the God of Games and that meant Vlad was committing blasphemy. That was why he had every reason to openly deliver divine retribution! Theres a road to hell but you dont take it, and you would crash the divine realm when theres no doors leading here eat shit! All at once, Vlads vision seemed to blur, and it felt like he was standing above the clouds. Before he knew what actually happened, he saw a ball of light appear before him, and as he looked on in confusion it grew larger and larger Ack! Even as he drank Edwards blood, Vlad was immediately maimed in spirit. He released Edward and stumbled a few steps back, before vomiting a mouthful of blood. Edward himself dropped to the ground, coughing before looking up in confusion at Vlad. Nothing changed to his body aside from some lost HP. You Vlad pointed a faltering finger at Edward then, his eyes full of disbelief while blood flowed freely out of his mouth. You poisoned your own blood?! Edward: ??? Chapter 272: You are Already Dead Although it hurts Edwards dignity to have his blood held in such contempt by Vlad as if was there was dung flowing in his veins, he knew that a golden opportunity had also presented itself. Hence, he quickly shot out a Fel Fireballthe pre-cast skill of Black Dragon Fire that could be released instantly without incantations. As a foul-green ball of flame punched out of the tip of Happy Flames, Vlads body reacted by instinct and he attempted to crush the spell in his palm with his magical resistance. However, Edwards wasnt aiming for him-he was aiming for the ground. It burst apart with a rumble over the earth, kicking up dust everywhere within the eye of the hurricane. Although the walls of gust were still surrounding them and the dust vanished rapidly, that split second was enough time for Edward to get his bearings and dash into the hurricane, allowing the wind to whisk him away while distancing himself from Vlad sufficiently. And when Vlad eventually dispelled the hurricane, the Players who had escaped the wild gusts were already waiting around him. Wait, there are more humans now Being nonhumans, each Tigerman had heads of tigers and therefore judged aesthetics differently from humans in the first place. Tigermen were basically face-blind towards humans. On the other hand, it was interesting that in spite of the Nightstalkers arrogant self-proclamations that they were a transcendent race, they bore a strong resemblance to humans-whether it was because of a convergence in derivation or the simple eccentricity of the deity who created the Nightstalkers. As such, the Nightstalkers were probably the race that looked almost identical humans amongst the First Eight, next to the elves of course. As such, Vlad could more or less identify humans through appearance. Its not just numbers either. The new arrivals seemed to differ in aura as well the aura of experienced warriors, just like that human commander who has dung flowing in his veins. Nonetheless, Vlad kept impassive, scanning the circle humans quietly even as doubt arose in his mind. How many years have I actually slumbered? To think that humans could evolve from dull primates to a race of warriors Right now, he could not afford to be arrogant. Even a while ago, the humans displayed ability that kept him on his toes, let alone the other first-rate Players who all rushed to the scene after receiving their quest. But what really wounded him naturally was the mouthful of blood he had just sucked. Unlike the god sprout that melded with the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior, Xi Wei was an actual god-even if he was unleashing his retribution through the blood of his believer, it was enough to knock Vlad silly. After all, even supernatural races were no more than mortals to the gods. One couldnt tell how many such races had been destroyed in the last few divine wars, and the only reason the First Eight had left an impression amongst the divine beings was that they had survived longer. If Vlad wasnt the Father of Nightstalkers and possessed power far beyond all other Nightstalkers, and if it wasnt his very recent revival that kept him between the boundaries living and the dead, Xi Weis retribution would have been enough to blow him back to the underworld. Even so, Xi Weis power was still harassing him. Even though Vlads mind wasnt debuffed, all his basic stats were rapidly dropping. Nows not the time to fight these humans. I have to retreat. Despite feeling humiliated, Vlad was different from the Dead Red Dragon whose brain had mostly rotted off. His revival was conducted through a relatively complete ritual which fully replicated his brain and other organs, which ensures that he retained some extent of rationality. When my body recovers completely and Ive created an army of blood slaves out of these humans, the world shall witness the glory of Nightstalkers once more Hence, he spread his blood wings and started towards the blood clouds in the skies, intent on using it as cover to escape. *** The skies are the glory of our god; the earth is the Eden of our lord. The radiance of the God of Games shall wash over this place, his great might a cage that binds all profanity. We shall thus follow his will, present his grace and preach his compassion-for our god is ever kind, forgiving all blasphemy, we shall deliver all that is profane, vile and blasphemous to our lords presence with our iron fist, blades and our might. Meanwhile, Leah the Warrior Princess was excitedly waving her flagpole, chanting a long prayer before proclaiming the name of her skill. Divine Trap: Summoners Rift. She firmly stabbed the flagpole in the ground, took out her brass knuckles from a pocket and wore it and assume a pose as if she was ready to punch her foe to death. The flag on the pole soared windlessly, revealing the crest of the Church of Games which radiated incredible brightness. Vlad, who was still soaring through the air suddenly stiffened as if he had crashed into an invisible wall, his face flattening over it in a most laughable manner. And a moment later, he crashed down from the skies, but Nightstalkers body was strong enough that mere collision wouldnt leave him brain dead. However, the Warrior Princess class was basically no different from Saintess to a certain extent, and most class-exclusive skills relied upon Xi Weis power-one of which was the ultimate move Leah had used just now. Therefore, Vlad, who was already left half-paralyzed by Xi Weis divine retribution, suffered resonating damage when he crashed into the invisible wall casted from Xi Weis divine power with the effect of one plus one equals to more than two! Even so, the Father of Nightstalkers still managed to recover immediately and didnt crash into the earth directly. Driving his broken body on, he continued evading the concentrated assault unleashed by the Players below ground, but their assault was too tight that his HP continued to drop.The Mountain Tigers secret tunnel as long as I can reach it as long as I can escape, I will rise again! Nevertheless, when Vlad finally reached the Mountain Tigers ancestral hall, the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior who had somehow been freed of his curse was standing above his stone coffinwhich covered the stone tunnel, and was simply waiting for him. No vacant spots here! Damned Nightstalker, your second life ends here! Flames ignited over the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warriors body once again. Disregarding if his heart could withstand the extreme heat, both the Tiger Warriors hands had already punched out countless times at a speed comparable to a firing Gatling Gun, raining hits down upon Vlad. Ora-ora-ora-ora-ora-ora-ora-ora-ora! Oof Even as an unintelligible utterance escape his throat, Vlads entire body was cracking with what resembled magma fissures. Youare already dead! The Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior, said coldly, withdrawing his fist and turned his back to him. In the very next moment, the Father of Nightstalkers exploded into blood then rained over the skies, evaporating from the world at the extreme heat of six thousand Celsius! Chapter 273: Holy Statue The Players who rushed across thousands of miles to join the special quest were absolutely upset when they realized that the Boss of the special quest had been killed by another Wild Boss. Even so, they couldnt even take down the Wild Boss to compensate for their lossas the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warriors emotions overflowed, his heart melted down, killing him right after he punched Vlad, Father of Nightstalkers to death. Worse, there were no item drops since neither of those Bosses were killed by the Players. Hence, the Players who participated in the quest could only receive suitable rewards But setting aside the dissatisfaction of the Players, the ones who were most astonished by the small-scale battle was unquestionably the Long Ears, who had come to aid the Players albeit ending up becoming bystanders and witnessing the entire course of events. After all, the Mountain Tigers whose strength were only next to the Grayclaws had been wiped out right in front of them! * * * In the first place, Rangka was merely following orders from his brother the Long Ears chief, leading Laybit and a group of their tribesmen to indicate their stance-wrongly assuming that the Hyena-men had been targeting their tribe instead of the Players. From their perspective, the Players unrestrained pursuit of the Hyena-men after chasing them back to the Mountain Tigers stronghold was like hosting a not-too-familiar guest, only to have said guest take a bullet for the host before clubbing that shooter into a cripple, after of which the guest interrogated them and uncovered the true mastermind, hence running off to stab said mastermind to death Still, despite how unusual everything that felt, it was generally a selfless, emotion-stirring move. Deciding that since their guests were so hardworking, the Long Ears chief decided that his tribe shouldnt be eating their seafood while enjoying the show. Hence, he ordered Rangka and what few youths of the tribe to aid them-it was probably like the host deciding that it was devastating enough for their guests to take a mop and rush the enemy, and so picked up a butcher knife to follow suit. But in the end, the guest had somehow stabbed the powerful, durable masterminds to death in no time at all, even adding whoever said that you cant kill without a spear tip? Rangka was at a loss of words to describe these humans calling themselves Players, but in the end had one thought. Theyre just too awesome. He had been a little unhappy with his brother arranging a team to help the Players and convinced that he was sending them on a suicide mission. Still, he immediately adopted a sincere stance, knowing now that his brother is truly the chief of their tribe and could see much further than he did. In fact, much, much further! When he returned to the Long Ears village and debriefed his brother about what he saw, the chief kept an impassive, I-expected-that look even though his tail was straightened behind him in astonishment. The Long Ears chief was friendly enough towards the Players from the very start because of Laybit and Zonyan for saving his life, but he didnt imagine that the Players would command such great power. Truly intimidatingly powerful. By the way, brother, the humans are hoping to build a holy statue of their God of Games in the village. Rangka suddenly remembered a request when he met the youth whom the Players called liege (Angora). Even if the nonhumans didnt maintain a feudal system, Rangka was aware from his dealings with Western Continent nobles that lieges were respectable amongst humans, and so held the request in importance. Holy statue? Thats not easily decided The Long Ears chief frowned in return. Although most nonhumans worshipped their ancestors, having a statue of another god placed in the village was still inappropriate. Rangka saw the chiefs reaction too, and softly coaxed. Actually, I think agreeing wouldnt hurt. What, are you planning to swear fealty to the humans? The Long Ears chief couldnt help teasing. Of course not! But everything that had happened to the Hyena-men and the Mountain Tigers after them wouldnt be kept secret for the other tribes-well definitely be labeled as traitors serving humans. Rangka was neither embarrassed nor irritated when his past blemish was mentioned, but actually more enthusiastic. Theres now no going back for the Long Ears, so why shouldnt we side with the humans now that things have come to this?! The Long Ears chief leaned into his seat, holding his chin with both hands thoughtfully but didnt immediately react. And from what Rangka knew of his brother, he was seriously thinking about defecting to the humans since he didnt immediately refuse, and therefore decided to strike the iron when its hot. Think about it, brother. Those humans had been adrift at sea before they reached these unfamiliar lands, and therefore must be feeling uncomfortable and fearful. Therefore, they are weak and helpless, which is why they want to build their holy statue here for spiritual countenance. Arent we heartless if we cant agree with such a small request? If they are weak and helpless, what are we before they arrived? The Long Ears chief put on a miserable look. To pummel the Hyena-men directly, wipe out the Mountain Tigers andaccording to what the tribesmen who returned had claimedthey had also slain a self-proclaimed Nightstalker as well, which could well have been an ancient demon or a devil Moreover, it doesnt affect us even if we let the humans build their holy statue. Rangka continued, acting as if he didnt hear his brothers retort. They are not forcing us to convert to their religion, and are only building a statue for their own worship. As such, our tribesmen could continue worshipping our forebears at the ancestral hall like before,yes? Even if Rangkas face had Im defecting to the Players written all over it and was therefore trying so hard to have the chief to allow the Players build their statue, the chief himself decided that Rangka was right after thinking about it for a while. It was nothing but a holy statue. While its appearance would indicate a change in awareness amongst the tribe, it doesnt actually affect them. One might even put it this way: if the group of tribesmen led by Rangka would convert to the Church of Games or whatnot and successfully become a part of those humans, the Long Ears tribe would benefit greatly. Others aside, even daily supplies and support would grant the Long Ears new life and rapid growth, and a boom in their next generation could be expected as long as no serious calamity occurred. After all, the prosperity of a nonhuman tribe was determined by their population. Alright. At that very thought, the Long Ears chief sighed, unable to resist the charm of a Long Ears revival. You may tell those humans that Ive given my permission. Chapter 274: Consolidating Power The one who was rewarded the most in the battle was not the Players who were each given a reward item, nor was it the Long Ears who were finally freed from the oppression of the Hyena-men and the Tigermen and could reclaim some space after being pushed into a corner of the continent. Instead, it was Xi Wei, who had been enjoying the show and only provided divine assistance at the very last second. After the death of the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior, the god sprout which had latched on to him faded with the fall of the Mountain Tigers. Be that as it may, it had turned into energy belonging to no order, but it remained a manifestation of divine energy. And having watched everything unfold from beginning to end, Xi Wei naturally seized the opportunity to take in the unowned divine energy, convinced that he just needed a little time to digest it into his own energy. The energy had quality where it lacked in quantity. If Xi Wei had to say it, the items and EXP reward he gave all the Players in this latest event took more or less the same amount of divine energy-he didnt incur a loss, at least. But when the event concluded, XI Wei assigned Angora a new overlord quest when he rushed to the Western Continent to enjoy the show, and had him build a holy statue for himself in the Western Continent. After all, there were already temples built for Xi Wei in both the Unnamed Town and the Lancaster Hideout back in the Eastern Continent. Any person thinking about joining his church must start by praying to the statue, and it was a fact having a physical object saw a rapid increase in devotion amongst Players. In turn, the ratio of those who became true believers to those who didnt know what their god looked like and could only develop their faith blindly would also improve considerably. At first, Xi Wei didnt pin any hopes on it-he was merely going about it like an afterthought, just as the quest he assigned Angora was a coincidental assignment without any penalty. He didnt expect that Angora would get so thrilled after receiving the quest, muttering something like The God of Games didnt forget about me while having Vela sought out Rangka, and then successfully and passionately persuaded Rangka since the Long Ears liked to swear fealty anyway. After that, the mysteriously motivated Rangka then sought out the Long Ears chief to successfully and passionately persuade him, who eventually agreed to allow the players to build a holy statue in the Long Ears village. And with the Overlord System in hand, Angora certainly allowed the Long Ears bumpkins to witness the efficiency of Players. In less than five minutes after the Long Ears chief gave his approval, an enormous holy statue that curiously resembled the FIFA World Cup Trophy rose from the ground at the center of the Long Ears village, completely towering over the landmark that was the chiefs camp. How majestic. Rangka surveyed the golden FIFA World Cup Trophy which stood over five meters tall. But why would your god be lifting a ball? Actually, the ball is our god, and the people shown beneath lifting the ball is us believers, Angora answered solemnly. Rangka:? You can forget about it this time, Rangka, but if you join our religion in the future, remember to not mention this again. Angora then added. There would be divine retribution? Rangka immediately got the idea. Nope. Youll be banned. Rangka:??? Therefore, Rangka could only think, As expected of the god of champions who could defeat the Mountain Tigers. He is so mysterious in both thought and form *** Meanwhile, Xi Wei wasnt too concerned about the slightly disrespectful exchange of his own believer, but was instead stretching out his senses to feel what was happening in the mortal realm with astonishment. From what he could detect, when the World Cup-once the holy statue of the God of Games was built, a small part of the god sprout covering the skies of the Long Ears tribe vanished and faded, gradually absorbed by the statue and delivered to Xi Weis divine kingdom, becoming divine energy he could directly absorb. Clearly, some Long Ears had earnestly envied and admired the Players existence, won over by their food and their great power. And the appearance of the holy statute became a host on which they pinned those thoughts. Even if neither quantity nor quality was high, such a situation delighted Xi Wei. It also shows that every god sprout of the nonhuman tribe in the Western could be absorbed! If the Players could assert dominance and preach the name of the God of Games to every tribe and build his statue in every village, it wouldnt be a surprise if Xi Wei could consolidate power in this place abandoned by every other god! If he absorbed every god sprout, he could at least become an Intermediate God like the Great Lion even if he cant ascend as a Greater God, right? Xi Wei was brimming with determination at that very thought, and leveled a tender gaze upon the Players in the world below who were keen on making a rendition of Hamlet for Zonyan. Ganbare[1], your god is watching over you from above! * * * The siege of the Mountain Tigers stronghold wasnt a System Event, but many Players had participated anyway. Most of them were newbies who recently joined the Church of Games, meaning that this was their first group activity after their conversion. And when Princess Leah and other famous Players showed up and joined the battle towards the end, the reputation alone did not lose out to usual Events. Moreover, as the destruction of the Mountain Tigers was a glorious triumph for the Players, they certainly would have to maintain their post-event tradition: a victory feast. Though the feast was held in the Long Ears village like last time, the air was much different. After the holy statue of the God of Games had been built, the Long Ears had clearly opened their hearts towards the Players and truly accepted them. The Players were also therefore informed by the System that they could take in Long Ears as a vassal race, just like the Frogmen of the Warty Tidal Flats. It naturally was Xi Weis plan from the very start. After all, the complete edition of the System was upgraded continuously which cost too much divine energy, and investing it on newbies wouldnt make up for the costs.And since the divine energy offered by the nonhumans wouldnt match what the humans offered, Xi Wei had specially prepared a castrated version of the System like he did for the Frogmen. You could level up by fighting monsters anyway. What is there to be upset about?! You want a complete version? Sure, if you become a devout believer. If thats the case, Xi Wei would have no problems with upgrading the Eunuch System to a complete edition of the system. Naturally, whether the Players or the Long Ears concerned themselves about it, all they were doing on this day were bonding, barbecuing and singing away, or watching the other Players engaging in dance battles on the temporarily-built podium. And yet, there was a single person who stuck like a sore thumb in this happy atmosphere. It was Gerald, who was still blaming himself for not being able to save Marni. (1) hang in there in Japanese Chapter 275: Folk Dance Having been given strict education at a young age, even though Gerald would not decline any offered in social events amongst nobles, he was strictly prohibited from losing himself in such enjoyments that paralyzes the spirit. As a personal guard serving the mayor of Lancaster, Gerald had relatively strong self-discipline and would keep himself to short sips despite his fondness for alcohol. Still, todays circumstances were special: the feasts held by the Players who were born as the dregs of society were not as cagey as the banquets of noble families. Even if they did not sink to the level of debauchery, there was still a considerable lack of restraint. Hence, affected by the Players, Geraldwho had been drinking away his troublescouldnt help breaking his usual alcohol limit. One should mention here that the process of brewing itself wasnt difficult. Even if its a normal family, they could brew some fermented alcohol in secret with enough surplus ingredients and didnt have to fear inspection. Of course, there is no assurance when it came to quality. In this world, fine wine would have to bought from the believers of Stoff. And many might have forgotten by now that Stoff, the God of Craftmanship and Fine Wine was Xi Weis fellow member of the Invisible Pantheon, who had also provided a master craftsman who strengthened item for the Players. That was why the Church of Games didnt lack a good brew, although that was mostly thanks to the trade of the two brands of colas with Stoffs church. Be that as it may, Stoffs believers still had no idea how they could mass-produce colas. Stoff himself was no different. Even if he could create a brew with the same taste as cola, it was basically a divine brew that was impossible for mass production Xi Wei felt pressure about all that. In the very least, the recipe of colas would not be easily unraveled as long as the mortals never discover what carbon dioxide was. Back to the topic at hand. Either way, Gerald himself had tasted much fine wine as a noble. He had assumed that he would only have just a few mouthfuls of the sour peasant brew in the Players feast, but he was surprised to find that it was the Wine Churchs not for sale item, and he couldnt help having a few more goblets in his depression. As the stupor kicked-in and he felt a little light-headed, a voice spoke beside him. Why are you hiding in a corner here? Edward, who was passing by, greeted him with a barbecue skewer in hand. Unlike the wildly ambitious Angora or Princess Leah who was less ambitious but always getting dragged along by Old Vanke, Edward had always kept to his original ideals as a Player. Even though he had contributed the most in this Event, all he wanted was to accomplish more quest and go on adventures in new places, having no interest at all in politics or other complex affairs. Therefore, he had slipped away before either Angora or Leah could pull him on stage, running into the heart of the chaotic feast and gluttoned away. Wont you join the Rabbitfolks folk dancing? Edward asked cheerfully, passing Gerald several meat skewers. It doesnt look exciting, but your mood would life if you go up and dance a few bouts. Its fun! Forget it. Im not in the mood. Gerald naturally recognized Edward, who had fought masterfully with his fire magic in the previous event. He even salvaged some dignity in the battle against the Revived Nightstalker even though the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warriors fire immunity had deflated him, and was definitely one of the top champions of the Church of Games. In Geralds opinion, Edward might even be stronger than the Flatfish Swordsman who easily defeated him in a duel before. He shook his head, refusing the goodwill. Dont decline in a hurry. You wouldnt lose flesh in trying. Edward pressed warmly. Life is about trying new things. That being said, his offer wasnt entirely in goodwillat best, he wanted to see what the young noble who constantly pulled a long face would look like when he goes for a folk dance But despite being unaware of Edwards intention, Gerald just wasnt interested in dancing Well, Ill try this meat skewer in my hand. Please dont mind me, I need to calm myself for a bit. What had he not experienced as a knight of Lancasters city watch anyway? Most nobles were refined in the arts, and as such elegant and conservative even when they dance-he himself had seen the performance of acclaimed dancers and artists, and could be considered knowledgeable. Compared to that, the Players peerlessly silly dances hold a certain degree of strength and techniquethe wildness as if being freed from some shackles couldnt be replicated easily. Even if not many could admire it, there was no denying a certain extent of appreciation and aesthetic. On the other hand, the folk dancing was nothing else other than a group of people making a circle, hand in hand and kicking their feet, which wasnt really all that meaningful. Moods are improved by your own. If you keep it in yourself for too long, your troubled feelings wont fade no matter how long you take to calm yourself. Despite being younger than Gerald, Edward looked more mature even as he spoke frankly and assuredly. Since youre going to feel bad whatever you do, why repeatedly chew on those horrible feelings alone instead of doing something so that your mind would be too busy and forget those feelings? Edwards words handily disarmed Geralds refusal, leaving the young knight unable to find another excuse at once.And when he saw that Gerald was about to keep refusing, Edward briskly dragged him in the direction of the bonfire. Its fine if theres something youre sad about. Everyone faces such things, and if theres something that really stumps you, you can tell me so that I could post ahem, I mean help you. Edward added. Gerald was moved since Edward had put it that way, while a figure quietly appeared in his minds eye. May I ask what was Marni like in life? Youve asked the right man. Let me tell you this, I was the one who pulled him into our church Every time that topic surfaced, Edward would unwittingly go arms akimbo. In the distance and with a sinister look on his face, Gou Dan thought about the title for his new post even as he captured the image of those two tugging and pulling as they headed towards the bonfire. He had the feeling that his post would explode in popularity! Chapter 276: Deflowering Gerald woke up to find himself naked beneath the linen sheets of a large, simple bed, with the thin cloth accentuating his diligently trained chest muscles that were next to Joes in perfection. The sun was streaming in from outside the window, and the warmth appears close to noon. Clutching his forehead as he rose despite the dull ache in his brain, Gerald felt a strange dry thirst in his throat. He hadnt experienced something like that before, but he quickly identified it as a hangover. What happened yesterday? Why, aside from his brain, was his butt feeling a fiery ache? Gerald looked around by instinct and noticed that he was within a small room. From the looks of the furniture that was one size smaller than what humans used, one could vaguely tell that it was a Long Ears room. And on the other side of the room was the youth who had dragged him along for another round of drinks, seated on a chair and looking out the window with a thousand-yard stare, an expression of fatigue and doubt of his entire existence on his face. Im sorry, can I get some water? Gerald asked. Edward jumped, startled, and turned to Gerald with an awkward smile. Ah, youre awake water, was it? Please wait a bit Taking the wooden cup Edward passed him and drinking a mouthful, Gerald then found him wanting to say something only to stop, and couldnt help but ask in curiosity. What is it? Did something happen last night? No, nothing! Absolutely nothing happened! Edward quickly denied. That agitated reaction only made Gerald feel that something definitely happened yesterday.. *** Being born nobility, Gerald was still chastebut not to the extent to claim that he was not untainted or unaware of the ways of the world. Therefore, he naturally had heard of certain preposterous rumors circulating around noble circles, and news about male nobles engaging in mutual penetration with boy toys wouldnt exactly make headlines. Gerald face dropped once he remembered that, and connected it with the fiery ache on his butt. Nothing happened? Really? He asked again, very serious this time. N-nothing Edward was immediately crushed by the aura he exuded, his words becoming choppy and stumped. That reaction made Gerald even surer. What? If that wasnt his fault, was it the fault of the bright red chicken wing skewer he last remembered eating? Hence, he narrowed his eyes at Edward. Well, where are my clothes? Uh, yesterday it was dirtied after you went to sleep, so a Long Ears woman took it to wash. Edward struggled to make an excuse. Woah, things went utterly rock-bottom-how passionate had it been if clothes were actually dirtied!? Gerald blanked out. Aside from feeling dispirited no thanks to losing the first time of his posterior, he felt Edwards reaction unacceptable. And from the looks of how sheepish the youth was, he was definitely the victim and not the perpetrator could Gerald have forced himself upon him after getting drunk? Well, uh Gerald said tentatively. Ill take responsibility. Really?! Edward looked much relieved, which only made Gerald more certain of his transgression. In fact, apart from feeling troubled, Gerald was already planning to return to Lancaster and resign from his duty as a knight-he had no right to keep holding such a title after making such a massive blunder. Its my first time, so I dont know how to take responsibility Gerald then added calmly, even though he had quite a few ideas. Oh, just money would do. Arent you being too honest here?! Gerald gaped at Edward, an indescribable feeling rising inside. Are you fine with anyone as long as they paid you!? I think thats enough. It usually costs two-hundred Rions, but things got a little out of hand yesterday so, considering psychological trauma, five-hundred Rions (approximately 1,000 yen) would more or less be right. That cheap!? Gerald felt that his world view which was corrected after much difficulty was once again shaken. Meanwhile, Edward looked much relieved. That much is enough. And here are the clothes the Long Ears prepared for you-might be a tight fit, so youll have to make do for now. Hurry up and change, were going back to the Eastern Continent. *** After Gerald changed while feeling as if his soul had left his body and followed Edward out of the hut, they headed straight towards the Lifestone. On the way, Gerald could feel many Long Ears studying him with weird gazes, but they would avert their eyes whenever he looked at them. It was a combined reaction of feeling weirded out, a little coldness and even a little disgust, and clearly different from how they behave towards Players. Moreover, Gerald and Edward also came across Edwards party members, with whom they only shared a brief greeting despite being comrades. Their smiles were stiff, and it looked like they were embarrassed about meeting him. Which only made Gerald even more certain that hes done something unforgivable. Still, after he and Edward had gone far, Joe knocked Gou Dan on the head, who was beside him. No thanks to you slipping him that super-spicy fried chicken wing. Wonderful, now hes sick! Joe complained quietly. He cant be resurrected because hes a Player! I was so shocked when he straight up puked away last night! Gou Dan pouted. Who couldve known hes not resistant to spicy food still, to think that he actually got so sick that he vomited over the whole square Beside him, Eleena impassively knocked Gou Dan to the ground even as he was about to add more, and started to beat up Gou Dan alongside Edward. Joes face actually went pale. Dont make me remember, bastard! Dont you know how long we had to clean up with Long Ears after that?! We were planning to have him follow other Players back to Lancaster today, but thanks to you its only Edward who now even dares to stick with him! Theres no telling how Old Marni is going to do to you if he knew! *** After arriving at the Lifestone, Edward didnt hesitate to return to the Unnamed Town with Gerald. What are you planning to do? Edward asked. Return to Lancaster, probably I traveled here to protect Sir Marni in the first place, and with him gone, I could only go back But the lonely words became stuck in Geralds throat even before he could finish. He stared in immeasurable shock at the figure making his way towards them. Mar-mar-mar-mar Marni eyed Gerald, who was repeating the same syllable like a broken recorder and nodded. Perfect timing. Theres some trouble I need your help with. Chapter 277: Bringing Smiles with Games What kind of trouble? Like the Marsh Drake back in the Seira Marshes or laying siege on the Tigermens stronghold? Edward asked nonchalantly. As a Player, the only things he could think of that needs the help of others was certain troublesome locations or Bosses. No, its even more troublesome. Marni shook his head, refuting Edwards guess. The emperor of Valla had sent special envoys to Lancaster and the Silver Eagle Duchy he might have sent some to other places as well, but those two are the ones we can be sure of for now. And what does that have to do with me? Edward asked, perplex. Vallas emperor is not sending people just to ask after the good health of the lords of Lancaster and Tunaya, you know. Marni was aware that despite Edwards ability in command, he remained the son of a villages head and lack refinement in politics, which was why he didnt try to put on airs and revealed his own theory. Do you remember the war back in winter? Are you talking about the Judgement War which kept displacing Lovinias refugees and shoving them around? Edward had naturally heard about it, since most Players now were left homeless and poor during that time. Thats right. That was a war ignited because of difference in political views between the gods, which also left the emperor of Valla absolutely humiliated since his prided military force couldnt defeat the armies of the Grand Duchy of Rominos. Marni nodded. The fact is that before the war, the current emperor was already hostile against the duchies that split away in the early days of the empire, and the war against the Grand Duchy of Rominos was only the powder keg. Powder keg? Edward frowned, knowing that things werent that simple. Still, Marni didnt ask Edward opinion and merely informed him forthrightly. Rominos had suffered much losses and was therefore keeping to themselves to recover. On the other hand, the empire has the advantage of population even if their military suffered losses as well, which is why they dont feel much pressure in source for troops compared to Rominos. Marni paused for a moment before continuing. One might even say that the imperial military managed to grow many generals and veteran soldiers thanks to the war against Rominos. And if Im right, those envoys are sent to scout out how things are in various locations. Their blades hone, the imperial military is now raring to go-they are butchering a turkey to warn the monkeys, and force the dukes trade some of their authority in exchange for peace. Your quest description is too long. Just tell us what you want us to do, Marni. Edwards brain hurt from listening, just as he wasnt bothered to arrange whatever was being said and simply stuck to the style of the average Player. So are we going to shoot the emperor in the head or the balls? Oi. That means war! Marni quickly stopped himif Edward and the others really ran off to assassinate Vallas emperor without any justification, the Church of Games would be targeted and attacked by every other human and church. I only have a theory what we should be doing anyway. The actual solution could only be done after the lieges were finished with their negotiations Troublesome. Edward couldnt help sighing. Sir Marni youre not dead? Even as Edward considered whether he should involve himself with Marnis troublesome matters, Gerald finally recovered from being a broken record. Sadly, I did die when you saw me get killed. Marni grinned. Although Ive come back to life now. There was disbelief in Geralds face. Perhaps because the Players had gotten used to being resurrected, there was no defining idea on how unbelievable that ability was in truth. On the other hand, Marni who often dealt with the traders and nobles of Lancaster and was closer to the average person in mentality definitely knew how shocking his revival was to Gerald. In other churches, resurrection was entirely a divine miracle, the pinnacle of a gods grace. After all, the other gods were not like Xi Wei, who possessed the Authority of the God of Games, could rely on his Earthling knowledge in his past life and exploit loopholes from certain perspectives. Having them resurrect their believers was equal to stealing from the Prince of Darkness, one of the Seven Divine Fathers. True, the Prince of Darkness wasnt as enigmatic as Magic Violet or as powerful as Kratos the God of War. In fact, his believers were basically nonexistent compared to Lyante, the God of Light. Even so, as the one mysterious primordial god whose actual Authority was undefined who had also slain the previous God of Death personally a thousand years ago, hence claiming his divinity and divine kingdom (the underworld), no god dared to test his wrath. And that was the same even for his fellow Greater Gods of the Seven Divine Fathers. Here, one should remember that Gerald was a city watch knight who was born into a noble family and had a bright future ahead. He would have been unmatched in a third or fourth-rate church (such as the Temple of Justice which belongs to Aslan the Great Lion), and receive the favor of the churchs hierarchy or even the patron deity himself. Even so, his family was attached to the Brilliant White Church by tradition, which belongs to the God of Light. As the greatest religion of present, the members of the Brilliant White Church were numerous even amongst royals. Even counts wouldnt have a high standing there, let alone a measly knight. Therefore, even if the Brilliant White Church held a rare biannual resurrection miracle, Gerald was never going to have the honor.That was why he was so astonished upon learning that the Church of Games grants resurrection toofreely and quickly at that. I could recommend you to join the Church of Games if youre interested, Marni promptly mildly persuaded Gerald, sensing that the young knight was stirring. You have a long road ahead, and now the system within the Brilliant White Church is unbelievably swollen, taxing the peasants and selling yearly indulgences just to grease themselves now. Bloated systems like that would only mean that their reaction towards all things would decline, not to mention that the various denominations in the Holy City had slipped so much in competence that even the various branches across the continent are about to become shelters for the wicked. But Gerald, who was still extremely shocked by Marnis rebirth was immediately wrong-footed in thoughts thanks to Marni, even though his instincts felt that something wasnt right. Hey, no buts! Marni struck the iron when its hot when he saw his chance. Didnt you lose your bet with me before anyway? You definitely could use that as an excuse to denounce your faith and join us! The Church of Games May I ask what is your doctrine like? Gerald asked. Marni did a double take, but also felt that repeating the Eight Honors and Eight Shames[1]I mean, the eight commandments here was a little wrong. Still, he answered after thinking about it for a moment. To put it simply We are bringing smiles to the world with games! [1] The Eight Honors and Eight Shames are the PRCs official moral guidelines. Chapter 278: Diplomatic Corps Daytime was short in spring, with the sun barely hanging nine hours in the sky every day. And now, the sun was half-sunken beneath the horizon, showering its afterglow upon the land and dyeing it orange-red. The snow on the merchant roads were finally melting in the wake of winter, and the once bleak roads showing a little life. Naturally, that was only a little since this was an age where there was no safety in travel. Aside from those who are forced to leave the city or travelling merchants, most citizens would ultimately stay within their homes and go nowhere else for their whole lives. But at the moment, a group of people were moving along seemingly in a hurry, intent on finding a place to rest before the sun sets entirely. There were around thirty of them-not too numerous for a group, but almost all of them were riding strong humpbeasts or chocobos, but they were slowed by the three bulky carriages to the rear. Anyone learned would be able to tell that they were the diplomatic corps sent by the Valla Royal Family since their crest was adorned on the sides of the carriages. Moreover, the men riding the chocobos and the humpbeasts outside the carriage was not your normal escort either. All of them were wearing elite imperial military armor-not the standard-issue light cavalry armor, but captain armor that were a class above, not to mention being both lighter and stronger. Aside being the envoys escort, the fully-armored knights were probably a display of power as well. The left-side window of the center carriage opened then, revealing a weathered face that had seen the passage of time: his hair, beard and moustache were all white. Sir Monan. Where are we now? The old man asked. Lord Basil. Weve just reached the North, on the southern edge of the Seira Marshes. A knight who was riding a chocobo approached the carriage and responded respectfully. The Seira Marshes The old man gave a thoughtful look, perhaps recollecting the details on the map and only frowned after half a beat. Could we make it to Lancaster today? We might if we hurry along the night The chocobo-riding knight said, hesitating for a moment before quietly warning. But I wont recommend doing that. Oh? And why is that? The old man asked in return, raising his brow. The snow of winter hasnt melted for long, and the road still isnt in good shape. Hurrying along would mean accidents, such as getting the carriage caught in mud and the likeeither way, it is going to be a great waste of time. Moreover, our mounts need to rest as well. Monan answered truthfully. Moreover, the people in the village where we recently resupplied had informed us that unusual beasts had been appearing near the Seira Marshes even though there were fewer over the last two days, it would be best to exercise prudence. If thats the case, wouldnt it be better to leave a forbidding place like this? The old man asked in interest. Monan proudly tapped his chest. Any losses we would suffer if we hurry on our way in nighttime would far exceed any loss we might suffer in daytime. Compared to that, it wouldnt matter if the beasts would attack us after weve found a good place to make camp, and we are all around to stay on guard. After all, any knights who would be chosen as escorts for envoys meant their ability was recognized by the high command of the imperial military, and a firm foundation of such pride. I see It also appears that the old man was not a stubborn person-after thinking about it for a while, he nodded in agreement with the chocobo knights suggestion. * * * With the old mans approval, the escorting knights including Monan appeared relieved. Unlike the old man in the carriage, they were all bombarded by the weather out there, and even if the weather was warmer with the passing of winter, the evening winds still chilled them to the bone. Bracing that over the whole night was no laughing matter. Despite being a jungle in itself, there were actually flat landscapes on the fringes of the Seira Marshes. Soon enough, the carriages found wide even ground to make camp. The skies went dark soon after the tents were raised. The moons-one red and one silverhung high above the skies, and yet didnt offer too much radiance to the land. Fortunately, the bonfire was ignited at the camp, chasing away the darkness and coldness of the night for the convoy. Old Basil was seated by the bonfire, stretching his body which had gone stiff after staying in the carriage for the entire day. Even as he kept himself warm by the fire, he reminded Monan who was cooking broth, You men should rest up after arranging for the nights watch. Clean your armor and clothes to look lively if you could since were reaching Lancaster tomorrow -everyone here will be representatives of the imperial military after all. No problem, my lord. We definitely wouldnt be mocked by those brutes. Monan replied confidently while stirring the wild herbs in the broth. Ive once visited Lancaster myself with General Mignolan. Their city watch is simply patheticthey wouldnt even beat imperial military conscripts. Really? The old man sounded skeptical.Believe me, Lord Basil. Sir Monan disregarded his impoliteness at that skeptical look and insisted seriously. Lancaster may be a border town, but its actually also in the center of the North, meaning that they dont have to worry about barbarian tribes or bandits. Their city watch are all softies whove never drawn blood too! On the other hand, even conscripts of the imperial military are often dragged off to take out bandits, making them more experienced and well-trained than Lancasters city watch. Well, what about you? The old man asked, although there was no telling if he was stoking the flames or asking casually. Honestly, they would never win against imperial knights. Monan sneered, tapping his chest again. Im not boasting, but I could take ten men at once in Lancaster, bar knight Gerald of the McCobley family, who almost look the part! It wasnt just Monan eitherthe other escorting knights who were listening in on the conversation as well showed looks of agreement. In response, the old man nodded without refutation. That way, the knights who had to deal with the indignance could put up a good performance in Lancaster tomorrow. And when that time comes, all he had to do was enjoy the show-if all Lancaster had to offer were refuse like the knights had claimed, allowing them to make a major ruckus. This diplomatic mission just might be a success to the new emperors liking. Chapter 279: Fearsome Average Citizens On the next day, the diplomatic corps was once again on the road after packing up. As with yesterday, old Basil took the carriage. They werent far from Lancaster, and would reach the city latest by the evening. And being the key player of the diplomatic corps, it was most important for Basil to consider how he would be behaving around the mayor of Lancaster. Should he be distant immediately, setting boundaries as if it was all business and nothing personal, or feign warmth to sedate him so as to measure his depth? Both ideas were immediately tossed aside the moment they appeared in old Basils mind. Direct aloofness, or indeed hostility was definitely a no-go. While the new emperor would definitely be looking to make an example of someone, should his imperial majesty decided not to choose Lancaster, Basils behavior would cause Lancasters mayor to misunderstand that he was going to be made an example as well. Although that was not incorrect to a certain extent, now wasnt the time for it yet, because driving Lancaster to become a hostile faction could corner the new emperors military with enemies coming at them from every other direction. No matter who wins then, old Basil was not going to escape judgment. That being said, feigning friendliness wasnt a good idea either. Aside from protecting him, Basils imperial military escort were actually his imperial majestys loyal eyes. Despite being all brawn and no brain, they were not likely to believe Basil even if he claimed that he was merely acting polite with Lancasters mayor, and they would surely spice up the tale when informing the new emperor. And though it was likely that the new emperor could see through Basils intentions, Basil wouldnt want to be categorized as a potential rogue-others might not be aware, but old Basil had long since sensed that the new emperor was bent on clearing away every unstable element in the Valla Empire. That naturally includes heirs to duchies divided from the empire itself back in its founding days, nobles who could threaten the imperial family, disobedient lords, old Tierra ministers and the like And since the Lancaster mayor fits both of the latter two traits, and since Lancaster was a city of trade coveted even by the imperial family, he was assuredly a target to be removed-it was just that it wasnt known how far down the cleaning list he was. And being able to survive to such an old age beneath his liege, Basil was as slippery as he was quick-wittedwhich was why he wouldnt want anything to do with the soon-to-be rebels. If Sir Monan is right and the Lancaster city watch doesnt have any strong warriors, I could have the knights assert their power in the city. Afterwards, a little warmth from me would be enough to make a strong impression. Basil muttered to himself. But before old Basil could come up with any better solutions, he suddenly felt his carriage coming to a stop. Weve arrived? Old Basil asked, parting the curtains while changing the look on his face. But it doesnt look like theres a city ahead. My lord, there is someone stopping us, Monan said, steering his chocobo near the carriage. He sounded perplexed. Still, the old man didnt think too much about it and opened the front door of the carriage to see who it was. The figure was tall but not exactly huge, and he was standing in the middle of the road as if in a standoff against the imperial knights. His clothing was extremely crude as well, although one could also discern the distinctly pronounced muscles beneath the old rags. Somehow, neither his taste of fashion or the very obvious single-edged sword that was longer than most other swords were most noticeable. Instead, it was the thing he was wearing above his neck: a pink flatfish head mask. Its tail was dangling, while both its dead-fish eyes that were only placed on a single side was staring at everyone present with a gaze of unmatched purity. On a single glance, it would look as if a flatfish had swallowed off the persons head. Who are you!? Basil shouted at him with great vigor over ten meters away. Just someone passing by oh, thats not it. Im sent here from Lancaster to receive the empires diplomatic corps. The pink flatfish answered earnestly. *** Despite those words being absolutely normal, the silly appearance of having a flatfish head mask was so unreal that anyone would be forgiven for thinking that the man was joking. In fact, old Basil had even adjusted his opinion regarding the Lancaster mayor from a smart person wisely choosing to defect and retaining partial powers despite the pressure of a huge army force into la possible imbecile, whom the former emperor didnt want to conquer in regards to maintaining his dignity Naturally, Basil promptly threw away those thoughts as well. Imbeciles could never manage a city with such am iron grip that kept the imperial capital at bay, and to the point that they felt as if they couldnt interfere with Lancaster at all. Even the baron whom they forced on the city and almost lost all face in the process had died under mysterious circumstances in the slums that was why important figures in the imperial capital were troubled too, and could do nothing more than to bribe some unimportant nobles in Lancaster so as to slowly eat their way inside the citys internal structure. And with that being the case, there was only one reason the flatfish man was being sent here: provocation. A brief look of understanding flashed in old Basils eyes. So that is it. They are intending to be heavy-handed to test my reaction, thereby uncovering the new emperors intentions? A wonderful play! If it had been another inexperienced envoy, they might well have been left perplexed by such a brainless situation and get led by the nose, and become very vulnerable when they finally reach Lancaster. Its a pity little old me saw through it!Old Basil stroked his beard and quietly whispered to Sir Monan beside him. Is that the brat from the McCobley family whom you mentioned before? Absolutely not. That young man has the pride of a knight and wouldnt wear such a funny hat Monan said, the corner of his eye twitching even as he stared at the flatfishs tails and fins which kept flipping without end. This is a dishonor towards the opponent! Very well. The old man made up his mind, cleared his throat and spoke loudly. Sir, there is no proof backing your claims, which means it is unreasonable for you to have us follow you. Be that as it may, I have heard that the soldiers of Lancaster are extraordinary-why not prove your words by having a spar or two with my man here? The old man assumed that their reception would refuse since the soldiers of Lancaster were definitely quite weak, and that accepting the challenge would be handing his diplomatic corps the initiative. He naturally didnt expect that the pink flatfish not hesitating to draw his long single-edged sword and said cheerfully, At first I thought this would be some boring errand, but never could I have imagined that you would be so straightforward! I like it. So tell me, whose head shall roll? Old Basil: ??? When had the average citizens of Lancaster become so fearsome? Chapter 280: Come at Me, All of You! Special envoy Basil narrowed his eyes and quietly looked around him. Even though the escorts of the diplomatic corps hadnt said a word, all of their faces were clearly upset because of the contemptuous indiscretion of that person from Lancaster. Good. I could use this. Old Basil nodded almost imperceptibly. But even if he did recognize the faces of his escort, he did not remember most of their names for the life of him, and in the end only had Sir Monan in mind. Despite being unaware of Monans actual ability, he probably wouldnt be that weak since he was chosen as a leader of imperial military elites. But even as Basil was about to respond to the pink flatfish man, he started boasting away. Forget it. Come at me, all of you! Incidentally, Ive just put my skill points on the nonlethal False Swipe technique! Basil:??? Were the people of Lancaster all so arrogant? Even if no one asked Basil what do you think, he was aware that something was strange. However, being an envoy who was able to think calmly unaffected did not mean that his escort could as well. In fact, Basils incitement last night meant that they were already holding in their agitation. Now, with that aberrant wearing the pink flatfish head mask clearly holding them in such disdain, how could these soldiers who thought highly of themselves as elites be able to do nothing? Well, I shall see how good you are! Monan saluted the flatfish man with a smile that doesnt reach his eyes, accepting the challenge. He really wanted nothing more to fight him alone and break that pink flatfish mask, but since his comrades were extremely annoyed as well, having anyone fighting alone meant that everyone was not going to vent to their hearts content. So, instead of stirring trouble with something as trivial as this, everyone should just have at him as he put it, and take down that supreme imbecile! Ready your crossbows. Lets give this Lancaster man a warm welcome, imperial capital-style! On Monans command, all the other knights handily nocked the bolts on their left gauntlets that were concealed in their left gauntlets under two seconds. Though the bolts appeared small and fragile, the tips that shimmered coldly made it clear that those werent toys but lethal weapons! Meanwhile, the pink flatfish had also strode forward when they were arming their crossbows, rushing towards Monan at frightening speed! In that split second, Monan and the others fired-over twenty bolts hence shot towards the Flatfish Swordsman from every direction! Monan didnt drop his guard either. He didnt stop at one boltwith the skill he had refined in the battlefield, he had let loose four bolts in the blink of an eye. And yet, the Flatfish Swordsman was unexpectedly agile. Even as he dashed rapidly ahead, he agilely shifted his path, even assuming certain poses to evade the bolts. Before some of the knights could react, they were already struck on the nape, their eyes rolling into their heads as they fell unconscious! No way! Slipping away from so many bolts Monan exclaimed in disbelief. The Flatfish Swordsman heard him and paused in the middle of his rapid evasion. Youre imagining things. I cant parry or evade every bolt when Im dashing at such high speed. He explained. That said, this stuff has low damage, so it wouldnt matter much as long as theres no critical hit or instakill. And when he looked closer, Monan did see numerous short bolts sticking out of the Flatfish Swordmans body as if he were a porcupine. But somehow, the silliest flatfish head mask wasnt struck by a single bolt. Monan inhaled sharply at the sight. Having been on the battlefield himself, he certainly knew the weakness of their boltsthe shaft was short, and the bolt itself was made light for convenience of being carried around, which meant lesser damage than ordinary bolts. Still, weapons are weaponsthe crossbows were definitely lethal even if they were not as devastating than normal ones. It would hurt as much as being struck by a typical arrow since bows did not depend on penetration damage anyway. Even the imperial military elites would have to grit their teeth and endure after struck once or twice, and even if the arrows missed their vitals. Some of the tougher ones amongst them could still fight on at full force even with five arrows sticking out of their bodies, even if their pain would cause limpness in their movement. And yet, the person before them now was basically a dartboard and yet he kept stoic (although they couldnt see his face) and continued striking them down. From the looks of how inelegantly their eyes were rolling into their heads, the Flatfish Swordsman really was holding back from directly killing them Monan found that hard to accept at once. Doesnt it hurt? Of course it hurts. The Flatfish Swordsman answered casually. There are those who fear pain (Players who completely shut off their pain sensation), but the pain helps me focus (twenty-percent pain allows him to easily understand his bodys condition without splitting his attention to look at the System page). Using pain to whip oneself into shape? No way! When had such a fearsome character come to Lancaster? Monan was speechless. Done with your questions? Lets continue then. The Flatfish Swordsman said, brandishing the single-edged sword in his hand. All of you would fall before my blood drains dry. Once again, Monan caught an unusual meaning in the swordsmans words.Was that man bent on defeating every knight escort as he betted on albeit without any stake even at the cost of dying here? Why would you go so far a champion like you would always receive the best offers Is this even worth it? Monan asked by instinct. Even if he didnt pick up on it, fear was rising in the depths of his heart even when he confronted the Flatfish Swordsman. He wouldnt talk so much otherwise. It might be not worth it (dying costs EXP after all), but its my creed to put my words into action. The Flatfish Swordsman responded so openly that Monan had the misunderstanding that he was laughing maniacally. Relax, I wont kill youit would be over soon. With that, the Flatfish Sworsman rushed toward him. Even though that head mask was unbelievably hilarious, the Flatfish Swordsman somehow looked unbelievably fearsome in Monans eyes. He raised his crossbow, firing bolts even as he yelled. Dont come! But in the next split second, he felt a dull ache over his nape while his consciousness descended down the dark abyss Chapter 281: Mental Trauma Monan found himself in Lancaster when he woke up. He felt a bitter taste in his mouth when he was informed about old Basil being received by the mayor and moved to the guest room of mayors residence. In every manner speaking, he had failed in his duty as a knightly escort. Still, the other escorts of the diplomatic corps also had terrible looks on their faces. Aside from Basil being assertively ushered away by the Lancaster mayors forces while they were unconscious, it appeared that they were more surprised by the outcome of their confrontation. It was hard to believe, but a single person had wiped the floor with them, a full detachment of imperial military elites! Moreover, not a single one of them had been killed, making it even less of a fight. Indeed, the Flatfish Swordsman wasnt giving an inch C he was giving a mile! So? What happened to that man? Monan asked another knight who had recovered before he did. But for some reason, the knight was wearing a small rag shirt that was too small for him and didnt even have a single piece of equipment. That certainly left Monan a little upset: it was a creed of imperial military elites that they never went unarmed. Who? Lord Basil or that fish-head man? The knight did a double-take when questioned, unable to react immediately. What do you mean, fish-head man? Its just a head mask. Monan corrected. I heard that that there were wildlings from certain wastelands who would put on the heads of beast to frighten their enemies, and only the strongest warriors were granted the honor to do that. It symbolizes their rank! Being a man of war who admires might, Monan wouldnt have been that respectful if they group had won the spar. Be that as it may, the pink flatfish (Mufasa) had turned their whole procession upside down alone, displaying admirable power. As such, they need to show respect, both out of a warriors obligation and to cover for their shortcomings. If such a champion was called a fish-head man, what should those who were soundly beaten by him be called? Small fry or plankton? Would most champions pick a pink fish head to symbolize their rank, though? The knight asked hesitantly. The champions in the imperial capital has their unbelievable eccentricities. Its probably just the world view of the strong. Monan sighed, before returning to his initial question. So, about that At that point, Monan suddenly realized that he didnt know the name of or how he should address the pink flatfish who came to receive them either, and after half a beat, he was forced to make up a name for him. So, what happened to his fish-head excellency? So were sticking to fish-head The knight rolled his eyes before becoming serious and went down to business. Youre right, captain, the Lancaster city watch is poor, lazy and unmotivated. Their tight patrols are actually full of openings-in fact, Ive just slipped out to get some information. So? What happened? Monan quickly pressed. His fish-head excellency is dead. Dead Monan felt his spirit left his body. It was not as if he felt anything special towards the flatfish, but merely that he had lost the chance to challenge him again and erase the humiliation before. Meanwhile, the other knight continued, painting a vivid picture of the scene. After we were defeated by his fish-head excellency, he drove the carriage and returned to Lancaster before us. Afterwards, several anglerfish-headed people appeared, pointing at him and asking why is your HP falling to zero?!! His fish-head excellency looked stunned at that, pulled out one of the bolts and yelled Damn it, the bolts actually have a HP Bar and then dropped to the ground, dead. The anglerfish-headed people then carried him away Hold on. Are you saying that our bolts were still stuck on him even after he reached Lancaster? Monan asked, gaping. Thats right. The knight nodded. He was probably afraid of bleeding profusely if he simply pulled the bolts out. Even if it was the right choice not to pull out any arrows after being hit on the battlefield, when the battle was over and there were bandages in hand, it was the right choice to plug the wounds. After all, illogical powers like sacred arts existed in this world, and as long as the wounds could be closed and then washed with holy water or be blessed by a high-ranked priest, any injury would heal completely before infection and there wouldnt be blood loss. On the other hand, this was the first time Monan ever met such a macho man who simply let a pound worth of arrows stick on him as he returned from the wilderness back to town. He would definitely make commander in the imperial military with that level of toughness, claiming achievements and accolades everywhere. It was such a waste that a macho champion like him forfeited his life for the mayor of a border city like Lancaster, leaving all his mastery and training to waste. Even Monan had to shake his head and sighed. Oh, forget it. Calming himself, Monan then checked on something else with his comrade. But since youve managed to slip out, did you manage to report what back to the imperial capital? I tried The knights face looked troubled at that. After I managed to learn what happened to his fish-head excellency, I then asked directions to the runner only to run into a group of dolphin-heads. Monan:??? Is fish-heads that popular in Lancaster? He mused, feeling as if he was out of fashion since he was completely unaware of such a weird trend.Captain, I heard that the scholars had recently discovered that dolphins arent fishes Stop joking around. What are they if not fish? Hippos? Monan waved him off, completely unaware and unconcerned about the classification of marine life. Anyway, what did the dolphin-heads do? The knight gulped upon those words. They were walking past me when they suddenly stopped, and for some reason were staring tightly above my head. Then, they started yelling, saying things like Look, red-name! or Hold on, I got a quest, we cant kill him! or Encounter quest? I finally got one! and then rushed towards me to beat me up. I tried to resist with my full strength, but they were surprisingly strong, screaming something about take the items of whatnot and unclothing me even as they beat me up At that, the escort guard hung his head, a crumbled expression on his face as if caught in profound mental trauma. I would rather fight an ogre than being dragged on the streets naked like a dead pig! Cant you understand me, captain! Monans mouth twitched even as he pictured the sight. No wonder the others are still fully equipped while youre only wearing a single piece of rag Its been hard on you Chapter 282: The Empire Might Be the Biggest Loser Instead of the damp, dark dungeon he imagined, Basil instead found himself confined to a well-decorated room. Even if he knew all along that Lancaster wouldnt overstep boundaries since he was still an envoy of the Valla Empire in name, Basil knew that there were no lack of reckless maniacs and imbeciles who lacked a few strings in their heads. And most of the time, exhorting from ministers, baseless remarks or even ideas that pop up out of nowhere could get the authority to rid themselves of the envoy, who was a thorn in their side. That was why a successful diplomatic corps would always have their actions praised in various legends. After all, too few diplomatic corps could be considered successful. Since this world has no agreement to not kill the messenger, no envoy sent to declare war could return alive. Now, Basil stroked his beard as he pondered. His visit to Lancaster was nothing as radical as a call to arms, but there wasnt any goodwill either Lancaster leaders would know that very well, just as the mayor didnt share any kind intentions. From that perspective, he was now caught in dire danger. Damn it, its the fault of all those imperial military thugs! Basils hand shuddered at the thought of his head rolling and accidentally pulled out a few strands of beard, causing him to grit his teeth in the pain. Boasting about how good they are, only to get done in when Lancaster sent out a single clown! Useless, all of them! Im telling on them to the emperor if I ever get back! He could have thrown his weight around if his escorting knights didnt get knocked out and himself ushered into the mayors residence by the Lancaster city watch, or at least not be confined so easily. But frustrations remained frustrations. Basil was helpless now, and could only sit and watch as the situation unfolds. In the very least, he wasnt dumped unceremoniously into the stockade, meaning that Lancaster was so at odds with the imperial capital that they would go for the throat That means he still had a chance But even as his thoughts drifted away, someone knocked on his door. Who is it? Basil asked warily. My Lord. Im a footman of this residence. If you dont mind, the mayor has invited you to the reception room. The person outside answered. I would take you there. Basil hesitated for a while before opening the door-choosing not to ignore or resist the mayors orders. In the first place, being the type of person whose belief revolved around I wont have a shot at divine grace since there are so many others, Basil wasnt too passionate about religion and went about his Saturday mass casually. That was why his body wouldnt be divinely blessed, and he would be killed with a single punch. He really wouldnt take that risk. * * * A plain footman stood outside the door. He bowed when Basil showed his face, gestured invitingly before turning around. Hesitating for a moment again and realizing that the footman was not going to wait for him, the old man quickly followed. Soon, he arrived at the reception room, where Corinth Atherton, the mayor of Lancaster was waiting However, Basil was stunned that any other person was inside the room. He appeared to be your typical standard-issue young noble who was barely older than fifteen, was dressed for the occasion and appeared to have been conversing with the mayor before Basil arrived. Its been some time, Basil. Mayor Corinth smiled mildly in greeting when Basil entered. The last time weve met was the emperors banquet, was it? Younger, less important nobles would have been immediately disarmed by that greeting, even developing a good opinion of Corinth in turn. However, Basil was absolutely aware that he wasnt some kindly senior, but an elder who had lived through two dynasties. His mild expression was probably the same business look he would aim at subordinates or juniors, which was why Basil wouldnt be moved so simply. Moreover, Basil also felt a mysterious pressure at the sight of the smile, and so went with the flow, yielding and flattering the mayor. Yes, and you look the same as always. Likewise. By the way, may I ask what is the purpose of his imperial majesty in sending you, his envoy here Lancaster? Corinth asked, maintaining his smile. Be rest assured, I may assist you if there is troublemy word still holds some authority within Lancaster. Why dont you open your storehouses for me to take stock of your food reserves and weapons then? Basil retorted inwardly, knowing that he was going to be sent back whence he came if he said it. As Corinth exerted more pressure, Basil, who hadnt thought of any good excuses broke out a few drops of cold sweat over his forehead. He knew that the mayor now had the initiative, that he himself was within his grasp. Even so, Basil must keep the conversation going-stiffening himself and acting as if he misunderstood Corinth, he turned towards the composed youth. And you are, young man? Corinth kept his eyes locked on Basil, however, making the envoys lips twitch. Still, the mayor smiled mildly again just as Basil thought that he had bought the farm.Oh, where are my manners. Allow me to make the introductions. Corinth said, gesturing at the young man. This young lad is Angora Faust, hailing from Tunaya. Basil was left stumped. He had presumed the youth to be the scion of a branch family in the Atherton lineage whom Corinth had brought along to groom, since Corinths own son was dead, leaving no other male heir in the main family. With Corinths granddaughter Gwendolyn being no older than a toddler, there was every chance that the mayors position could be handed to another kin too. Nonetheless, Basils eyes were bulging when he realized who the youth was. Tunaya? Could your father be Faust?! Wasnt the Silver Eagle Castle in Tunaya?! And wasnt Angora Faust the Silver Eagle Duke?! The droplets of cold sweat over old Basils head increased. Was Lancaster already in league with the Silver Eagle Duchy? This meant that the imperial family was going to be the biggest loser! Please pay me no mind. Im only here to discuss holding a tourney called the Twin City Cup with Mayor Atherton. The youth grinned when he saw the look on old Basils face and rose to his feet. After having made the long journey, you should enjoy the festivities too by the way, your escort may participate as well, although you should prepare them mentally, since the tourney might prove challenging. Chapter 283: Wonderful! Basil felt dazed when he was escorted out of the reception room by the footman who led him there, not quite understanding what was going on. The Twin City Cup? To be fair, it did sound like a tourney. What is even going on? Ive brought imperial military elites here, ready to make a display of martial force only to be sucker-punched before I reach the city. And now, the one I was about to show off to is going to show off his power instead? Isnt this straight up treason!? Basil recovered with another pinch of cold sweat dripping over his body. Nonetheless, he noticed certain unusual things after he calmed down. True, Lancaster was a relatively prosperous trading city which paid the most in annual taxes across the North, matching even several important cities in the Valla Empireand that was without the imperial capital taking a closer look at their books. Nearby, Tunaya, which was the political hub of the Silver Eagle Duchy was certainly a bigger thorn in the new emperors side. That being said, claiming that the two fiefdoms were capable of crushing the Valla Empires rule would be underestimating the depth of the empire that stood for over four hundred years. After all, the Silver Eagle Duchy was one of the weakest duchies split out of the Valla Empire. In fact, they werent a match for the Magnolia Duchytheir western neighbors who were governed by a bunch of barbarians, let alone the Rominos Duchy who stood in equal footing against the Empire herself. Neither Corinth, mayor of Lancaster nor Horan, the Silver Eagle Duke would be that unwise. Could they merely be flexing their muscles and signaling that they were not to be crossed? Basil couldnt help feeling puzzled. Meanwhile, he and the footman had arrived at a much plainer room than Basils guest room. It was spacious but virtually unfurnished aside from wide mattresses, making it appear no different from a servants lodgings. Naturally, it was the room set aside for Monan and the other imperial military elites, who appeared at once surprised and delighted when they saw Basilthey hadnt completely screwed up their duty of keeping Basil safe, at least. My lord, you may call for me anytime if you have any request or if you wish to return to your room. The footman told Basil before leaving the room, seemingly uninterested in the conversation of the diplomatic corps. Basil breathed a sigh of relief, only to feel even more confused. What could the people of Lancaster be thinking? They appear so uninterested in their strategy, as if they were confident in winning the so-called Twin City Cup. Could the tourney be rigged in the first place? Nonetheless, Basil refuted that idea immediately. Rigging a tourney which express purpose was flexing ones power would only ruin public recognition and make themselves look all-talk, defeating the purpose of the event entirely. My lord, did those brutes from Lancaster did anything to you? Monan asked worriedly when he saw Basils distracted look, afraid that he was tormented spiritually. Still, Basil did recover from his questionsuddenly inspired even as he looked at the knight before him. Im not dragging my old bones into the tourney anyway, even though I would still earn favors if we win. Losing could only mean that the imperial military is useless, and taking anything else into consideration is just meaningless. Hence, his facial muscles relaxed and his usual calm, unaffected visage returned. Its nothing, although the Lancaster mayor had informed me about something interesting. Something interesting? Monan did a double take. Old Basil nodded and told them about the Twin City Cup. But contrary to his expectations, none of the knights offered themselves as tribute even though some really looked eager for the challenge. After all, they were now rested and recharged, tapping their chest and promising to do their best in the tourney so as to wash away their embarrassment before. That certainly left Basil puzzled. Could the rewards lack charm, or you military men have tossed your honor aside? In the end, it was Monan who spoke out first. My lord, he explained, we may be champions amongst the imperial military, but frankly, tourneys like this one isnt suitable for us. How so? The old man was keen on the explanation. We develop our killing instincts on the battlefield and train our survival skills with the military. Those skillsets are simple, practical and extremely lethal, but it also means that were blunt instruments, limited and inelegant, with our weaknesses easily exposed in duels. Sir Monan spread his hands helplessly. Moreover, it is clear that this tourney involves supernatural champions. We are confident in ourselves, but when those characters are involved you know. True. Basil nodded, immediately getting the idea. Indeed, the Lancaster mayors faction must have saved up considerable wealth by now to be able to invite a supernatural champion at a hefty price. Even though those characters werent exactly useful in battle, they would take down over hundreds of veterans if they went one-on-one. There was therefore little wonder why they would choose to show off their power in such mannerthey knew that the diplomatic corps wouldnt be able to participate, and there would only be humiliation even if they did. As expected of the old fox Corinth. Basil frowned. In other words, we cant do a thing and could only watch the show? Thats not entirely true, my lord.Monan grinned. We cant leave since were confined here, but you could throw your weight around to move around freely. As such, you could try to contact the imperial capital with a messenger and request his imperial majesty to send in some champions to take part in the tourney. Impossible. Basil shook his head. The journey here is as far as it is horrid. Moreover, every supernatural champion in the capital lives like royalty-they are never coming here to help. That is true, my lord, and his imperial majesty would think so too. Even so, his imperial majesty holds our mission in equal high regard, which is why he would come up with another solution. Monan countered confidently. What solution? A vague idea came to old Basils mind, but he asked anyway. The Brilliant White Church is the official religious body of our nation and holds strong ties with our emperor and under these circumstances, his imperial majesty would definitely decree for the church in the capital sent out their forces. Monan promptly revealed his idea. And to face the supernatural champions, they would at least send in bishop-class individuals to take part! When the time comes, you just have to come up with an excuse to have the archbishop invite you to his parish as a guest, escaping the Lancaster mayors control while gaining sanctuary in the church! Old Basil put his hands together and laughed. Wonderful! Chapter 284: To Each Their Own Domo-kasa-lamo, domo-kasa-lamo In a basement beneath the Lancaster Brilliant White Church, a group of man wearing white cleric cassocks were sitting around the circle of a sacred art while chanting cryptic incantations. And at the center was a white gem the size of a pigeons egg. Moments later, a dazzling white light shone over the circle with the gem slowly melting-it then vanished into thin air. In its place, several figures were slowly materializing: backup sent from Yinstein, the Holy City. Despite being the captain of an imperial military detachment, Monan had a better nose for politics then the other knights. Still, he couldnt be sure that his theory was correct in spite of his knowledge and experiences, since he couldnt leap out of the frame to look at the big picture. It appeared that the Lancaster Brilliant White Church hard contacted their Holy City with some sacred art in the very moment Mayor Corinth had announced the organization of the Twin City Cup. The cardinal presiding over foreign relations ministry of the Holy City had decided that they could slightly uncover the depth of the Silver Eagle Duchy through the tourneythe Church of Games had only showed up in Tunaya thus far after all, and the Twin City Cup was in fact a joint event held by Lancaster and Tunaya. That being said, the vastness of the Brilliant White Church meant that they didnt have to be concerned about some minor religion that barely had any presence, even though they were clearly involved in the fall of the previous Church of Games. Still, out of professional habit and the consideration of using the budget that would be deducted next time around, the cardinal eventually decided to send in a group of people to examine the situation. Now, their figures slowly solidified within the sacred art. But not only were their clothing exuding no sense of elegance, it gave the impression of shabbiness. And it wasnt just their clothing either-this group of people from the Holy City only maintained their most basic of hygiene in hair and beard, hence looking rather unkempt. Their darkened skins were exposed beneath the clothes that fitted loosely over their bodies, palpating a brutish demeanor completely unlike the fair-skinned, delicate bishops. One could even vaguely distorted marks on their skin that looked suspiciously like wounds from lashing In fact, they wouldnt look out of place in the slums aside from being a little hygienic and not smelling weirdly. Even so, none of the clerics present were holding those peasant-like figures in disdain, let alone acting impolite towards them. After all, they were the monks. They lived in voluntary poverty, harsh living conditions to cultivate themselves, exhausting their spirit, flesh, soul and whatever they had in the name of their faith. In exchange of that pure heart was their gods watchfulness and power surpassing most other believers. Even though there were completely different structures in each church, the title of monks signified equally important meaning. No matter which faith it was, only zealots or believers surpassing them had what it takes to become monks. And inside a behemoth such as the Brilliant White Church, it was already an indescribable honor for anyone who could become a monk. There were even clerics who believed that monkhood was a more difficult position compared to bishops sent to remote corners of the continent. At the same time, the monks were the pillar of the Brilliant White Churchs intermediate fighting forces. Popes, saints, saintesses and various chosen ones notwithstanding, every member of the two most feared covert bodies of the Brilliant White Church-the White Courts Wetwork Platoon and the Heretical Magistrates of the Thirteenth Partisans-were handpicked monks. Brother, apologies for interrupting your meditations. The local bishop rose and bowed. Were counting on you for this tourney. Its fine. It had been deemed necessary, and it is a part of my meditation. The monk in the lead accepted the gesture with composure and nodded his head in return. Will someone come bring our brothers to their guest room? The bishop turned towards the other clerics. Thats unnecessary. We just need one empty room, and well handle anything else. The monks leader merely voiced a simple request, stopping the bishop from giving his group a warm reception. Dont you need food or anything else? Alright then The bishop eventually relented, and had his clerics lead the monks to a vacant room behind the sanctuary. And when the monks left, one of the clerics staying behind quietly asked the bishops. Your excellency, is it really worth calling them here? That Ash Illum crystal we used was so pure that it could have sold for three Abbys on the black market! Youre being short-sighted. The bishop grimaced in response. Requesting help from Yinstein was necessary-ever since those warmongering gorillas of the Temple of Glory spoke to Mayor Corinth a while ago, he was suddenly much more disinterested in us. Even the nobles siding with him rarely present tithes to us these days But didnt they tell us that they werent aware of that when you visited the Temple of Glory? The cleric asked, puzzled. Are you believing whatever they say? Moreover, whether it really was them, it is a reality that our influence is continuing to decline. The bishop shook his head even as he left the basement with the cleric. Even though the new emperor was already attempting to interfere with Lancaster affairs, offering olive branches to many of the citys nobles and there had indeed been some who were interested, the Atherton family still rules Lancaster. In fact, after having held the position of mayor for over forty years, Corinths personal authority was not to be toppled by the emperors lackeys and a little profit.And with Corinth setting an example, the other nobles naturally followed suit and stop sending out bimonthly tithes or any other offerings they usually gave to the Brilliant White Church. When he arrived on the surface, the bishop declared solemnly, This cant continue! We must have the world know that the Brilliant White Church is number one! The best! Therefore, the Twin City Cup is the best opportunity-I know not why Mayor Corinth would organize the tourney, just as I am not interested in knowing. Even so, as long as the Brothers could claim the top placings, our great name would undoubtedly gain stature once again, and the nobles would remember that we are no small fry, for the Holy City of Yinstein has our backs! As do our lord, the God of Light, the greatest of the Seven Divine Fathers! Impressive as always, your excellency! Youve easily thought up something we could never have imagined! Picking up on the cue, the cleric immediately licked his superiors boots. That was when an unusual gust could be heard from the outside. The bishop turned to find several dragons carefully gliding over the skies of Lancaster. They were the wyvern knightsan elite force of the Temple of Glory! The look on the Brilliant White Church bishops face turned dark. Youve even called in those things, and youre still saying the Temple of Glory isnt involved? He muttered, gritting his teeth. Hence, as the Twin City Cup loomed, unseen undercurrents began to surge within Lancaster. Chapter 285: Setting Little Goals With the Players having done enough for themselves and the veterans carving out routes for future development for themselves, the Unnamed Town was less lively and had fewer familiar faces hanging around, even though the arrival of new believers kept it ever prosperous-even though that was going to happen eventually. As such, it had been a while since the Iron Cauldron was a full tavern, with the Players now squeezing inside every inch of the building At the moment and one after another, many Players who were diligently adventuring and exploring the new continent were returning to the Unnamed Town. Naturally, there were others who returned to Tunaya or the Lancaster Hideout, although the Unnamed Town still held more nostalgic value for most Players. After all, they had grown to such extent that they could brag to the newbies about their voyages that were full of half-truths, in turn enjoying the worshipful and envious gazes from the newbies. Bragging notwithstanding, most Players were now discussing one particular topic: The Twin City Cup that was coming soon. Unlike the Brilliant White Church, the Temple of Glory and the other churches that were completely out of the loop, the Players who could see the related quests from their System page knew that the God of Games was the one who behind the tourney held jointly by Lancaster and Tunaya. That was exactly why the Players were as thrilled as if they were drugged-other reasons aside, it would be a great humiliation to all Players and their faith if the tourney was won by elements of another church! That being said, Xi Wei was aware that his believers were all training diligently, with their abilities improving exponentially. Even so, it was impossible to claim that the believers of other churches-especially those who were trained at young ageswere weaker. That was why he bestowed slight special treatment to the Players. For example, believers of other Churches were not aware of the format of the Twin City Cup (Most were under the impression it was the usual knockout duels), but the Players were informed that there were three different rounds, and it was only by clearing the first two rounds that they could enter the third round. Naturally, Xi Wei didnt actually reveal what the first two rounds were, or it was plain cheating instead of special treatment * * * Plenty of familiar faces around, Edward said, surprised by the packed tavern when he entered. We dont gather like this anymore since the Fishmen Island event. Edward! Over here! Jessica was waving at him from nearby. Yo, Jessica. Is your training with the wood elves finally over? Edward greeted her in return, hurrying towards his childhood friend. He also noticed Sefarim thenthe greatest treasure of the wood elves, who happened to be wolfing down all kinds of delicacies that could only be found in the Unnamed Town. n . The young girl who could turn into a divine spear noticed Edward then and immediately looked wary as she quietly shielded every dish on the table from him. Thats bad manners, Farim. Jessica rebuked her mildly. Ill treat you to some food at the Emerald Tree House when we return to Trinia, alright? The Emerald Tree House was the eatery known amongst the Trinia wood elves to serve the best dishes. However, Sefarim rejected that offer immediately. No way! Ive had enough of the tasteless wood elves food! The food here is much better! Wood elves and whatever step aside-I shall become a child of this town! The wood elves elders are going to cry if they hear you say that Jessica said meekly. Its fine-let her eat. You can have more if you want. Edward said casually, finding the scene interesting and not minding about those little dishes. Compared to food, the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when completing quests, along with the excitement and anticipation from exploring uncharted lands has a stronger hold on him. Moreover, unlike Jessica and her plainer tastes, Edward knew how heavily oiled and salted the food around this town was, which in turn drew people with heavier tastes Oh, youre a good person. I like you! Sefarim exclaimed, giving Edward a thumbs up. Jessica rolled her eyes at Sefarim in annoyance before turning to Edward. Wheres Gou-I mean, Doug, Joe, and Eleena? Doug Ag is prowling around Lancaster for materials, saying that its for a special feature in conjunction with the Twin City Cup, while Joe is with another bunch of Players trying to buy up consumables need in the tourney from the System Shop. Edward spread his hands helplessly. I dont know about Eleena, though. She was still with me when we came through the Lifestone, but she soon vanished and I cant find her even after running around town twice. Thats why I came here first, since its the time we agreed to meet up here anyway. That said, since the God of Games watches this town and Eleena is a Saintess, there probably wouldnt be any problems. Instead of worrying about Eleena, they should also be remembering that her power was progressively stronger with her level. Few if any Player could survive from being instakilled at her hands, and a single hand could count every Player that had a chance of beating her. True. Jessica nodded, thinking the same thing and smiled sweetly. With almost everyone in the Unnamed Town being a believer of the God of Games, how suicidal were they for them to think about making a move on the Saintess Is it just me or something stinks? Sefarim, who had continued eating away while they talked had suddenly frowned. However, both Edward and Jessica her complaints ignored her. By the way, is your training with the wood elves complete? Edward asked again, suddenly remembering that Jessica didnt answer him the first time. Yeah. I cant fully control Sefarims power yet, but I could at least fight normally. Jessica said excitedly. I can return to the party now! Welcome back, party member Jessica! Thank you, party member Edward! The two roleplayed an exchange before bursting into laughter. Dont sell yourself short. Even if you cant use me at full strength, your mastery over me is still amongst the top three! Sefarim interrupted then, killing the mood. So there had been two who could unleash your full power before? Edward asked, curious. No, none could use me at my full power before! The greatest treasure of the elves declared cheekily then, even puffing her nonexistent chest. Thats right. Im that powerful! Edward appeared bemused, and the look on his face probably said so shes just boasting, forget it then if described in words. Ah, that look! Youre doubting me! Sefarim complained indignantly, sharply noticing the funny look on Edwards face. Theres butter on your nose, Edward responded calmly. In response, Sefarim buried her head in Jessicas chest-which-wasnt-any-better and rubbed it firmly, cleaning it and leaving Jessica between laughter and tears. This was quite expensive Never mind. Ill have the elves give you a new one! But I cant really appreciate clothing weaved out of nothing but leaves Im interested. Please give her one. Edward?! Anyway, Jessica has read the archive records about me in the Moon Pavilion, yes? Sefarim asked Edward, skipping the conversation about clothing. I was already born unto this world thirty-eight hundred years ago by the High Elves, one of the first eight. My personal history is even longer than the wood elves! Eh Was there such records? Jessica looked stunned. Edward promptly made a face that say you-are-boasting-after-all. Damn it! To think that I was created for created for Suddenly, Sefarim looked blank and frowned, repeating the words created for just like a broken recorded before looking up in confusion at Edward. Why was I created again? How the heck would I know? Edward retorted inwardly. Im not even a sperm thirty-eight hundred years ago! Still, he couldnt bear to say it when she saw Sefarims miserable look. Arent you a superweapon the elves made for war? Edward suggested by reflex. You hold such power and wouldnt even leave a corpse. Theres no way youre used for hunting At that, he remembered the stunning sight of how Jessica had unleashed Sefarims power and blew a Level 85 Ultimate-form Drake.In Edwards mind, no being other than a god could withstand a strike of such magnificent proportions. But maybe, just maybe A horrific theory appeared in Edwards mind at that, but he promptly threw it away. Nonetheless, he turned to find Sefarim still musing who she was, where she came from and why was she created for while not forgetting to stuff her mouth full of stir-fried chicken. He shook his head, helpless. Jessica, you havent registered for the Twin City Cup, right? He asked, tidying his thoughts. No. She shook her head mildly. Well have you register when this one is done eating. Edward smiled and said confidently. With this, our first little goal after our party reassembles is decidedwell win the Twin City Cup! Chapter 286: Pre-Tourney Speech The first round of the Twin City Cup was at hand. Every participant who registered themselves received a bangle from the checkpoints set up on various corners of Lancaster. Each bangle was embedded with a small, metal film marked with an Arabic number (which is unfamiliar to them) that notes every respective competitors serial number. And thanks to the numbering, Xi Wei, the organizer of the tourney learned that there were 1551 participants! One might ask: for such a grand competition with no limits to number of participants, why were there so few participants? Werent the churches supposed to be sending in their believers as well? Still, the no limit thing was merely in theory. In theory, after learning that the participants were members from the faction of nobles and clerics who commanded supernatural powers, not even imperial military elites such as Sir Monan would dare risk their lives jumping into the muddled waters, let alone the peasants who were perfectly self-aware Nonetheless, not jumping into muddled waters notwithstanding, the show still needs its spectators-after all, being a bystander is basic human nature. Therefore, crowds were everywhere nearby the mayors residence on the day of the tourney, with the square in front of the building so packed that it was airtight and rubbing shoulders were inevitable. From the dark masses of people, the crowd could number well up to ten thousand and rising. The Lancaster city watch who usually liked to throw their weight around were therefore feeling immense pressure as they braced themselves to maintain the order. All the while, they were rejoicing that the spectators were not unruly elements, or they were going to be the first to die if someone starts an uproar Meanwhile, many newbie Players who were too low in level to join the tourney had set up stalls, selling various special snacks and beverages exclusive to the Church of Games such as pop-corn, melons, milk tea and sodas. Given the low price, exquisite taste, fine packaging and the fact that the spectators could carry them while watching the show, all were well received and sold well. Each packaging was printed with the Church of Games crest as well, something that would definitely not happen in other churches since it would easily be thrown away as rubbish. Even so, Xi Wei not concerned even though it was relatively blasphemous. To him, a gods name was like product brands back on earth. A new god like him asserting himself while trying to rein in new believers at the same time was no different from a business not promoting the new brand of products they had made, as if advertisement was demeaning to the stature of their brand. That said, no loyal costumers could be gained this wayhe would have to go about this for the long-term. The problem was what Xi Wei lacked the most: time. As such, he should try less than to assert himself, and whatever else could wait after his crest made enough appearance to look familiar for everyone. After all, with the tons of things to take notice of, humans were always reliant on familiarity. It was like how it was back on Earth, when people would buy things in the fashion of I dont know which brand is good, but I heard of this brand so Ill take this one. As such, merely with the incredible sales of various snacks of beverages, the Church of Games crest made its impression amongst the people of Lancasterfar more effectively and efficiently than preaching. * * * Suddenly, the crowd was several octaves softer. It wasnt actually silent yet, but it was much quieter than before. And there was a simple reason for that: Corinth had stepped out upon the high balcony of the Lancaster mayors residence, clothed grandly for the occasion. Little Gwendolyn, the future mayor was also dressed ceremoniously, her tiny face nervous as she followed behind her grandfather. My loyal subjects, guests from abroad. Though everyone here has long since heard about it, it is my honor to formally announce the starting of Twin City Cup tourney, held jointly by Lancaster City and Duke Horan of Tunaya! The first ever nonviolent event between two cities hand-in-hand since history, all in the name of peace and friendship! The old mayor appeared to be using some spell or sacred relic that amplified his voice, and therefore didnt had to deliberately raise his voice for the people below to hear him. Here, I pledge to provide all participants a fair and open competitive environment with my honor as Mayor Corinth of Lancaster and as one of the supervising organizers! Champions, unleash your potential, display your might and present your intelligence, so as to offer an amazing show to everyone watching and claim the golden goblet! Let this tourney be remembered by all and mark itself down upon history! To peace! Beneath the balcony, the mayors personal guard seemed to be drilled beforehand, standing at attention and roaring Too00000 C Peace! when old Corinth finished his speech. Everyone watching immediately felt their juices flowing by the excitement and the performance of the mayors personal guards, with all of them echoing To peace. The difference was that they had not been drilled beforehand, and since there werent any spanking doctrine to keep them in line, their chorusing was a mess. Be that as it may, the air was now chargedLancaster locals were all puffing their chest as if sharing the honor as well. That in turn left Basil, the new emperors envoy glowering from his corner. Impressive of Lancasters very own mayor to stir the citizens of his beloved city in just a few words, even holding himself as a pacifist as that. Terrific That being said, the will of the people were basically useless to quite some extent in this world, where supernatural powers exist. After all, Tierra had stood above all the nations in power, with her citizens living in riches and enjoyment without any kinds of dissatisfaction. Their will were certainly fulfilled, was it not? Even so, a nation as powerful as that was destroyed by the combined strength of several other nations, let alone one little city like Lancaster. The problem was that there had been a church that they could make a scapegoat of when they were taking Tierra apart, the perfect target they could blame before their assault. As such, the nations who destroyed Tierra had built the case that they were actually wiping out cultists, that they were justified in their actions and even righteously so. Now, however, Corinth had claimed the moral high ground before anyone else could. If nothing else, the new emperor would be scorned as a tyrant if he took action first. And in a world where the gods dwelled, tyrants werent a good label to get stuck with Chapter 287: Maze Island There are over fifteen hundred contestants participating in the Twin City Cup! We are grateful for your warm reception, but having so many contestants means that we couldnt present the tourney in the most exciting manner possible. Therefore, we are now commencing the first round: a preliminary stage where eighty percent of contestants would be taken out of the equation! Only the best of the best have a shot at the second round! After the citizens became calmer, Mayor Corinth then announced the objective of holding the first round. The crowd immediately burst into chatter in surprise and the scene was noisy once more in no time at all, although the contestants themselves appeared mostly unaffected. Even though eliminating eighty percent of contestants on the first round sounded serious, it basically meant cutting their number down from fifteen hundred to around three hundred, which wasnt beyond what they expected. In fact, aside from minor churches that came only as cameos, the major churches and the Players who actually came to win couldnt wait to eliminate every small fry in one go, saving their strength so that they could perform better in the later stages. What surprised them, however, was that there was no drawing lots or whatnot in the Twin City Cup, which in turn would have decided their slots in knockout round all the way until the next stage. That doesnt seem to be the format used right now. Nonetheless, the noisy chatter soon quieted, and only then did Corinth reveal the rules. The first round will be held on maze island, with contestants placed randomly on various locations. See the marked card on your bangles? Each marked card is one point, and each bangle could be embedded with five bangles at most! To claim another contestants marked card, injury is allowed but deliberate murder is forbidden. Any rule violation would be punished immediately with disqualification, so dont think about cheating! We would pick contestants at random and broadcast them live in this square with magic mirrors. The first round of the Twin City Cup would be held for three days, and anyone who is still inside the maze or proved unable to gather five marked cards would be disqualified as well! Any questions? Corinth explained the rules and regulations sonorously to the crowd beneath his balcony, and pretended that he didnt see several contestants who had put their hands up. Dont fool around! The rules are made by the God of Games himself-even if there really was something irregular, Corinth wouldnt dare to adjust it on a whim. Since therere no questions, now prepare yourself! Three Two One Let the games begin! In the split second that Corinth declared that the tourney had begun, bright radiance extended out of the bangles of every contestants wrist. The citizens of Lancaster and members of other churches wouldnt know this, but the Lifestone in the Lancaster Hideout was also shining in blinding light, as if resonating with the bangles. And as another instant passed, every contestant disappeared within the light. Unable to understand what was happening right in front of their eyes, the onlookers erupted in an uproar. Meanwhile, Corinth returned inside his residence after ensuring that the contestants had left, nodding at the mages whom he hired and were already on standby inside. Hence, they conjured the magic mirrors they had been preparing over the last few days, projecting the scenes observed with their mage eyes onto the square. *** Despite being called maze island, the venue of the first round was actually the Living Dead Cellar which had been reworked by Xi Wei himself. In other words, it was a fragment of Rotten Bones divine kingdom, which had been removed from the list of available dungeons two days ago. After all, Xi Wei wasnt so powerful that he could simply whip out an island and let over a thousand people run around over it the truth was that teleporting everyone to the Living Dead Cellar had already left him exhausted, and not because he lacked divine energy but because his output was subpar. If a comparison would be made, it was like having one person carry over a thousand bottles of mineral water. One was easy, but together it was heavy-it wouldnt cost you money (divine energy) to move all of them, but your entire being would feel fatigued. Naturally, Xi Wei could create a path expressly for that function, which would in turn be a figurative trolley which spares much strength. However, given that it wasted money (divine energy) meaninglessly and there was no chance that there would be no repeat of such a grand occasion, Xi Wei abandoned that idea. Still, the tourney helped Xi Wei clear away every single monster corps and any scrap that had been piling up in Xi Weis divine kingdom -most were used by Xi Wei to build various traps in maze island, along with the special bangles that the contestants were wearing. It was worth mentioning that maze island didnt actually have an exit, although the contestants could still leave by using structures similar to the Lifestone, and anyone who uncovered it would be teleported directly back to the square in front of the mayors residence. Of course, the contestant would be disqualified if he was unable to collect enough Even so, from certain perspectives, finding the exit was the most critical trial of beating the maze island. Since it had been a long time since Xi Wei had made a dungeon, he had excitedly molded the venue of the competition for a long time. That was why the contestantsincluding the Playerswere immediately stunned by the scene and atmosphere of maze island when they were teleported there. The skies were dark and starless, and the walls surrounding the maze that enclosed the entire divine kingdom were black bricks filled with scarlet cracks of flowing magma. The crimson radiance from it was the only source of light across the whole maze, but for some reason, the bricks werent actually hot and felt no different from stones to the touch, and couldnt be used as a heat source. Moreover, the bricks were not unbreakable. Sufficient strength could break the wall, although a retaliating force would strike back when the wall was hit. Any bricks that cracked would erupt in an immense explosion as well, but it wouldnt affect anything aside from the contestants And with the ground piled visibly with the corpses and bones of various creatures, the air of the venue was unbelievably oppressive. Still, there were food and water sources in the maze, along with a handful of treasure chests that contained tools. Unless they could quickly collect 5 cards and leave the maze island as soon as possible, the second most important trial for the Players was therefore to resupply within the venue while saving their strength and energy. If anyone back on earth transmigrated here, they would probably think that they had arrived in the world of Dark Souls. Therefore, to help match the atmosphere, Xi Wei had made the trip to the Prime Material Plane, visiting lairs of monsters in the wildlands, uprooting the nest in its entirety and dumping it inside the maze island. As such, after two days of initial panic, the monsters picked by Xi Wei which were around Level 20 to 30 began exploring their new home, easily running into the contestants who were looking for an exithence making up for the third trial of maze island. With Xi Wei adding some frequently-seen traps in exploration films, along with the rule to gather five marked cards while surviving the attack of the wild monsters, the seemingly simple maze island actually held five trials for the contestants! Xi Wei, who was therefore satisfied and a little proud nestled within his now-clean and tidy divine kingdom, conjured some snacks and soda for himself, intent on enjoying the performance that the Players and other contestants would put up for him in the maze. Still, he felt something weird even as he watched the contestants began to carefully explore around the maze. He only realized what it was after half a day. Isnt this just Reality TV?! * * * Naturally, this was not Reality Television since it doesnt usually involve people dying-aside from cases of sudden death. On the other hand, the maze island was a place where true dangers lurked. Peace? Nonsense. Ill be a fool if I believed that A young believer of Grimund, the God of Travel and Arts was cursing to himself as he sprawled out on the ground, wheezing-he had just barely managed to kill a two-headed gray dhole. Being the God of Travel, Grimund didnt actually have an established church, although his holy statues were often found in most outposts, allowing travelers to pray for safe journeys. And though Grimunds believers were not strong, almost all of them were experts when it came to survival in the wild. Even so, this young believers companion who joined the competition with him had died to various accidents. He stood up and turned towards the corpse of his companion who had his head bitten off. He ought to have been the one eaten, but his companion had pushed him out of harms way and got his head chewed off. His last companion had been a brutish middle-aged man but was easygoing in everything he did. Still, it was in the last instant before the beasts jaws bore down on him that the macho man showed a tender expression he never shown before, even answering the youths anguished question of why would you save me. Because I love you! After having a moment of silence and pressing the memory down to the depths of his heart, the young believer of Grimund bowed in farewell at the headless corpse. Rest in peace. Everyones efforts wont be in vain, because Im not stopping here. He declared solemnly. I will survive and leave this place, and expose the faked sincerity of Lancaster Mayor! With that, he turned to leave, his cape flapping loudly despite the lack of wind. With his staunch, weathered look, a hard man has been born from the flames! That was when he stepped on a trap brick, and was shot by arrows from the two walls beside him until he looked like a dartboard. Later, the young believer of the God of Travel found himself standing at the square in front of the mayors residence, staring dumbstruck at his companion who should have been dead. I-Is everyone alright? He asked in astonishment. Not exactly. It seems that the people who are revived from the stage would miss a few parts of their body. The iron-blooded macho man showed him the ear where a chunk was missing, after he had his head bitten off by a monster in the maze island. The youths face went pale immediately, and distanced himself while holding his backside. Chapter 288: Cant You Read Your Minimaps? At first, Xi Wei wasnt concerned with the fate of the other contestants since it wasnt the same as ordinary logistics-reviving each of them would cost him some divine power. And that was even with the contestants being inside the fragment of the divine kingdom under his rule, where the souls of the dead wouldnt be pulled into the underworld directly. As such, he didnt have to pry the perished souls from the hands of the Prince of Darkness, or the divine power he used would increase by several folds. Be that as it may, Xi Wei realized that the mortality rate in the competition could prove extremely high when he drafted the rules for the first found. In fact, compared to being killed, it was not very likely for the contestants to be disqualified by factors such as unable to gather 5 marked cards or inadvertently being teleported out upon finding and accidentally touching the Lifestone. In other words, most contestants were either going to be killed by other contestants or by traps and monsters. Even in the best-case scenario where half of the disqualified survived, that means over six hundred dead! As such, while the citizens might not realize it immediately since they would be caught in the passionate atmosphere of the tourney, their sentiment might take a heel-faced turn when the first round was over. After all, the preachers of most churches were no different from salesmen who depended on word of mouth-they would know how to incite the citizens and direct sentiment as they wanted to. And when that happens, Lancasters mayor image as a steward of justice which was made after much difficulty would crumble instantaneously! Even if they did make compromises, six hundred was a large number even spread across various churches, especially since those contestants who would participate the tourney would definitely not be weaklings. If that many people died at once, the Church of Games would be blacklisted so hard that every church would label them cultists, claiming that the Twin City Cup as a measure applied to cull their opponents. When that happens, it was like having mud dropping into your pants-it was shit regardless. Hence, Xi Wei realized that it was not necessary to drive a grudge between himself and the other churches, and made it so that any contestant dying in the maze island to be promptly revived at Lancaster Square. As for why the revived would have body parts missing, that was naturally because the other gods might realize that something wasnt right if Xi Wei resurrected them perfectly. On the other hand, although the defective revivals would still cause suspicion, they would be less wary-moreover, having decided to promote the Church of Games with the tourney in the first place, Xi Wei was prepared to alert the other gods. Yes. It definitely wasnt Xi Wei being stingy, wanting to save some divine power while reshaping the contestants bodies *** Unlike the Players who had learned through the forums in real-time from the outside world that they are revived outside the maze island after death, the wyvern knights of the Temple of Glory were caught between a rock and a hard place. At first, they presumed the Twin City Cup to be a competition of martial prowess, magic, and sacred arts. In fact, the Temple of Glory would organize such tourneys once every few months. That certainly kept the wyvern knights brimming with confidence. They didnt even bring along their lances or their mounts along, and simply arrived at the roll call with one sword and a few gimmicky trinkets. In their minds, all they had to do was be careful around the sinister monks of the Brilliant White Church. They basically feel no need to be prudent around anyone from other churches, let alone the Players who equipped themselves like a ragtag military force. Who were they kidding, after all? What could the fools wearing those silly fish heads be capable of? Instakill us? But all of them were caught off guard the moment the tourney began, falling into a brief panic when they were teleported into the maze island. Whether it was because Xi Wei had been irritated by their arrogance or simply because they were unlucky, the wyvern-less wyvern knights ran into wandering lizard beasts the moment they reached the maze island. Then, right after repelling the lizard beasts, they ran into a group of pigheaded men and were forced to beat up over a hundred of them and send them fleeing. By then, they were reduced from thirty to around fifteen and everyone was left fatigued as they dragged themselves onward. Even so, these elites of the Temple of Glory suffered another terrible setback when they stepped right into the most classic of trapsthe rolling boulder and the swinging scytheand now, only the eight of them left. When it comes to fighting, the wyvern knights were actually the best of the best. They wouldnt lose to any veteran Player by much, and on their wyverns, perhaps only first-rate Players could be an equal match. Still, they were much more inferior when it comes to exploration of unfamiliar grounds and survival in the wild. For one, despite the path of the maze appearing to be headed in every other direction, they would somehow end up returning to the same spot. That would have been fine since the maze confounds everyone within the first place, and being poor with directions wasnt actually a lethal weakness for fighters who had awakened their aura. The problem was that the traps in the maze respawned. Hence, again and again, they would have to start scampering away to escape from the huge rolling boulder that dropped from on high, or evade the massive scythes that were swinging back and forth as if they were playing a rhythm game. It was not as if they didnt try attacking the trapsbut their aura slashes which usually would have easily cut boulders in two merely left a faint gash on the boulder in the maze. That also meant missing their chance to run, and the one who tried to cut it apart would end up flattened into miserable mincemeatThings were no different with the swinging scythes. Sure, they could hit the scythes on the pivot, but the scythe would promptly explode with the force of a hand grenade. Several wyvern knights who werent killed by the scythes previously would only end up as dartboards for the shrapnel of the scythes they destroyed And what was more frustrating? Any culprit would become the dartboard, so the other survivors dont have any targets to vent with It was absolutely exasperating, but they still had to carry on. Hence, after running around in circles, the wyvern knights had lost all their composure and confidence, trudging along the maze as if they were refugees sneaking around, while also reaching out to poke at the ground every few steps they take to check for traps. Hence, when Jom and Terry inadvertently stumbled upon those miserable knights while walking their dog, both the Players were left speechless when they learned what had happened to their group. Jom, who had been wary that they were powerful foes felt utterly stumped, Why would the likes of you have the gall to call yourself believers of the War God, elites of the Temple of Glory? In comparison, Terrys thought process was much simpler. Cant any of you read your minimaps? Oh, right, never mind. They dont have minimaps. Chapter 289: End of the First Round It was possible that some would hold the opinion that having the minimap was cheating. That, however, was not strictly true. In the logic that applies to this world, the minimap that the Players have partially belongs to the divine grace which Xi Wei, the God of Games bestowed upon them, a reward for their belief in him. Therefore, if the minimap was a cheat that upsets the balance of the tourney, the believers of the Temple of Glory must be forbidden from using their combat auras, the Brilliant White Churchs monks must be banned from using holy water while the believers of the Marcolo, God of Harvest must be prevented from eating at all. The latter case was because the food they brought along were made from crops blessed by the God of Harvest, which delivers higher yield but wouldnt stay alive unless cared for by believers of Marcolo, and therefore counted as a divine grace Be that as it may, having a convenient tool like the minimap meant the Players performance were more or less of what Xi Wei expected. First, it was the Players outstanding ability for map exploration. That was perhaps thanks to the Players making a habit of consistent dungeon clearing. Even Players who did not work well in teams wouldnt squander their time and would go on adventurers over the continent to train themselves, and though such Players might prove less formidable than elite Players, their reaction speed and countermeasures against unexpected situations were better than most normal Players! One should mention here that the lazier Players and casual Players whose level were subpar were off selling potatoes with the newbies instead of participating in the tourney. Either way, in less than a day since the first round of the Twin City Cup began, ninety percent of the massive maze island which was vaster than ordinary cities was explored, eighty percent of which was unraveled by the highly mobile Players. Parties with Clerics or Holy Lancers were especially bold and unconstrained as well, since they could save anyone crushed, quartered, or reduced to dartboards. Therefore, some of the most reckless of Players pretty much paved a blood-path in the truest sense of the word. If the Players blood and organs didnt vanish after a while, the other contestants who arrived later would be suspecting that some horrific maneater demon was lucking around the maze Still, resurrection here still meant losing EXP, and even the more reckless Players became prudent after going Leroy Jenkins for a while. Naturally, the prudence mentioned here was relative. Compared to the contestants who had survived the traps and monsters in the maze, these Players were actually still strutting around. In terms of speed, they were absolutely faster than the other contestants who were walking no different than elderly people, fumbling around the walls every few steps and only proceeding after ensuring that there were no traps. It was even less necessary to talk about the monsters in the maze. Isnt that just farming? Us Players fear many things, but not farming monsters! One might even say that the Players mobility had truly exceeded Xi Weis expectations, prompting the feeling that he had nurtured a group of wonderful monsters Nonetheless, the Players did run into certain troubles and lost some of their own. The reason was simple, however: Xi Weis deliberate guidance molded the Players to become frenzied when it came to farming monsters to the point that even Bosses have to check their own sanity. That said, the Players were quite friendly aside from such occasions. Since most of them had suffered previously as refugees, and later lived in relative affluence as Players and were discreetly guided by Xi Wei by farming monsters, daily quests, and even clearing clogged toilets, their personality naturally resembled friendly Earthlings. Therefore, some of the Players who had collected enough marked cards would try to help other stumped contestants. Considering the numbers of traps and monsters on the maze island, one might say that the contestants having no trouble were in the minority, which led to many Players attempting to save believers of other churches. Even so, not everyone paid their debts. More than half of the Players were backstabbed by the people they had saved and hence eliminated. To be fair, those backstabbing did not refer to deliberate harmthere were those who did that, but there were too few of them. Instead, their backstabbing involved pushing the Players into harms way and seizing the chance to run away or reap the rewards. In fact, there were only thirty percent of those saved contestants who had only fled without betraying the Players, while less than twenty percent believers of other churches would work together with the Players to handle the new threat. Still, it was fortunate that Players were not isolated. After some of them had been backstabbed, they would immediately expose the culprits on the forums after being disqualified and teleported back to Lancaster, so that the other Players still in the game would be wary and even try to avenge them. At the same time, however, most of the Players also finally realized that the outsiders werent reliable. The only ones dependable in their opinion were other players, whom theyve always bantered with, fought for items against, and sparred with from time to time.Even Players who didnt join the tourney and were merely watching the live broadcast at Lancaster Square or joining the discussion of believers from other churches on the forums, inadvertently strengthening the cohesion between all Players. Not even Xi Wei expected that, and he was uncertain if that was good or bad. That said, it would mostly likely lean towards good when he thought about it. After all, things were awkward in the divine realm with a new divine war possibly erupting at any given moment. Not even the Prime Material Plane would be spared when the time comes, and even if the gods didnt descend upon it to stir trouble, there would assuredly be conflict between the believers of various churches. Therefore, as opposed to paying a terrible price of being backstabbed in the future due to their friendly and trusting nature, it was better for the Players to pay their dues and learn their lesson in a competition which wasnt that important, so that they would personally experience that the only people they could trust were themselves. Moreover, the vile contestants who were desperate to win and didnt hold back from backstabbing Players were singled out by Xi Wei and shown repeatedly in the magic mirrors broadcasting the tourney over Lancaster Square. Now, the citizens all subconsciously realized that those believers couldnt be trusted at all, and their gods were most likely nothing good either Indeed, none of the contestants or the viewers were expecting the first round of the Twin City Cup to be so horrific. Although Mayor Corinth had mentioned that twenty percent of the contestants would clear the first round, too many unexpected circumstances had taken place, just as the marked cards of many corpses had been dropped in places where it was irretrievable. As such, only less than ten percent of the contestants133 of them, in fact-made it through, which was a relatively high ratio in that regard. While the horrific tourney wasnt kind for the contestants, there was nothing more exciting for the viewers, which in turn grew their anticipation for the second round. Chapter 290: Dragon Rider Squadron The first round lasted for three days. Although the mages hired by Mayor Corinth worked in shifts to broadcast the tourney through their magic mirrors, the citizens of Lancaster had their own lives to live-aside from a handful, most of them were certainly not staying around on Lancaster Square for three days. If the viewership was represented in a chart, the graph would appear in a distinct U-shape, peaking when the first round started and when the first round was about to end. Still, some of the interesting parts in the first round were hot topics (such as the compilation of ungrateful believers which Xi Wei had edited), even stirring a trend that elevated the popularity of the Twin City Cup in Lancaster and surrounding areas. And yet, despite the crowds passionate enthusiasm and their looking forward to the next round, the contestants were already worn out in heart and spirit following the three-day-long fight for survival, having not even one bit of strength left in them. As such, Xi Wei naturally wouldnt urge them to promptly continue on to the next round. After the contestants had gathered and embedded five marked cards on their bangle and activated it by shaking it twice like a smartphone, human language appeared then, informing them about the venue and date of the second round. Illiterate Players naturally could use their Systems quest page and translate human language to god words (the text typically used by the System) that even monkeys could understand. As for whether the other illiterate Players understood Xi Wei: Thats none of my business! What are you complaining about? The auto-translator is a part of the Church of Games divine grace as well. Ask your own god if you dont like it! * * * The second round is three days later? Feels like quite a long gap. Jom was a little surprised even as he stared at the translated text from the bangle. He had assumed that there would only be a day of rest when they continued on to the next round. Still, it made sense when he thought about it. After all, not everyone was as accustomed as the Players were with death and injury to the point that their nerves had thickenedthey certainly wouldnt be trying to keep their intestines inside after their stomach was impaled one second, and eating red broiled intestine noodles at the tavern the next, after having a bottle of cola. To most people, sleeping the entire day away only eases off their physical fatigue, and it would take a much longer time to adjust their condition. Relatively speaking, three days was already too short. Jom, lets go eat. Im really craving for some black wheat crackers now. Terry grimaced, clutching his stomach. They hadnt had a good meal in the three days inside the maze island, and this glutton was naturally aching all over his body. Alright. Jom said, patting the head of the old dog which had been walking beside them. Its been tough on you too, Pikes. Lets get you some good grub. I also want curry rice, stir fried pig leg, terror bird egg custard Terry said, counting off his fingers. A full humpbeast baked with habanero wheat would be nice too! Its always eat, eat and eat with you. Why not eat some dragon meat!? Jom scowled at his partner. Eh? Can I really have some!? Terry was delighted, completely missing the sarcasm. Jom scowled even harder. You can have some dragon meat if you visit us. That was when a group of people approached them. Jom turned, and realized that it was the group of wyvern knights they ran into back at the maze island. And at the moment, they were no longer their ragged selves after running around in circles seemingly without end, and almost being driven mad at that. And you are The names Isaac. The man in the lead answered. Im the commander of the northern wyvern knights squadron in service of the Temple of Glory. Of course, its not real dragon meat, he added, with a proud smile that did not lack politeness. There are always some young wyverns in our dragon stables which ended up with stunted growth. Since they might affect the younger dragons if we used them for breeding, we would deal with them like poultry for meals in our training regimen. Although we cant provide much, giving each of you one thigh for a taste wouldnt be a problem. Im sorry, but were not thinking about converting to the Temple of Glory, Jom replied warily. Relax, I am absolutely aware of that. Consider this repayment for helping us in the maze island, not a lure for conversion. Isaac nodded as if it was only natural. Even if I cant say this on behalf of the Temple of Glory as a whole, I swear on my honor as the commander of the northern wyvern knights squadron that our men wouldnt fight you as enemies. In fact, I could help pull some strings to ally the Temple of Glory in the northern regions to your Church of Games. Such a gesture of goodwill was plenty sufficient for the commander of the wyvern knights. Even so, Jom really couldnt tell what he was planning, and since the commander seemed overly enthusiastic, he eventually said, Youre talking to the wrong person. Were merely ordinary believers in the Church of Gameswe cant influence the decisions of the higher-ups. Thats a pity, Isaac said without looking disappointed. Well, we still have things to do. See you around. Jom promptly seized the moment to take their leave, dragging Terry along with him. After watching as the two walked off into the distance, one of the wyvern nights turned towards Isaac in confusion. What are you doing, commander? He asked, both upset and puzzled. Do we need to concern ourselves with those two kids? Sure, they are good with directions, but their bone frames are getting fixed and wouldnt make the cut for a wyvern knight. And wouldnt it better if we gave them some coins if we were to repay their kindness? Your ability to observe is weak, Jones. Youre not going to make leader if you go on like this. Isaac replied calmly. Sure, the kids behave single-mindedly and are kind, but kind is just another word for na?ve, and to put it crudely, it means that they are too fresh. However, I dont believe that its good luck that allowed them to collect eight marked cards so quickly on the maze island. In fact, they also triggered traps like we did when they led us away from that cursed place. But somehow, they would handle one danger after another easily, which goes far beyond good luck! Isaac eyed the thoughtful Jones once and then added, Every sign points the fact that the two kids were hiding their talent from us, and there is every chance that they have considerable ability that wouldnt lose out to you lot! Dont look upset-sure, you have trained hard to cultivate your powerful auras, but auras dont decide the advantage of a person in this world. Im convinced that as the tourney proceeds, all of you would see how formidable those two young ones could be. Are they really all that great The wyvern knight named Jones clearly wasnt convinced by Isaacs judgment. Nonetheless, Isaac neither confirmed nor denied it. He merely turned towards the pair who had disappeared from a corner and softly sighed. The truth was that what drove him to his decision wasnt just the kids performance-it was the Church of Games outstanding survival rate, and the goodwill they displayed in the maze island. The outstanding survival rate also indicated that the pair of youths were not a special case C despite being a relatively unknown minor religion, most of the Church of Games member proved to command such level of strength. Their friendliness only strengthened their reputation, and in the very least, no one would have to worry about being backstabbed when they side with them. And in this age of upheaval, paying a minor cost in exchange for a trustworthy companion was definitely good. Chapter 291: An Astonishing Turn of Events on Fishmen Island It had been some time since Croakatoa last returned to the frogmens village at the Warty Tidal Flats. Since its mistress Lady Eleena was taking part in the Twin City Cup and the frogmen were not usually seen by the average person, Eleena decided not to summon it for the time being so as to prevent any incidents, and allowed it to go on a long leave of absence. Although the frogmens village had been destroyed by a flood, the Players had since helped them rebuild it, even improving it far better than its dilapidated state before. Each of the snow-white houses were tidy and clean, even having a huge pool connected to the sea built into it in consideration of the frogmens habits, as well as for keeping their skins moisturized. Moreover, the beach and the residential area which were linked to the two dungeons of the Gray Fjord Port and the Fishmen Island were also partitioned with coconut trees reminiscent of the tropics. The beach no longer looked like it was a mess like before, with rows of beach umbrellas and wooden reclining chairs placed on the sand. There was also a storehouse built at the corner, where little shovels, buckets, picnic mats, beach balls, and the like were kept. And beside the storehouse was a branch of the Iron Cauldron, although it was closed temporarily since the tavern owner was away at Lancaster for the duration of the Twin City Cup as well. Still, even if Earthlings were to transmigrate to the frogmens village right now, they probably wouldnt take notice that this was a dwelling of sticky, slippery amphibious lifeforms, but that they had arrived upon a holiday resort like the Maldives. * * * On the fifth day of his long leave, Croakatoa was wearing its special-made shades and leisurely lying down on a reclining chair, allowing the warm sun to shine upon the tiny chrysanthemum marking over its back. Ever since the frogmens village came to strategic partnership with the believers of the God of Games, their living conditions were apparently improving day after day. Compared to before when they were full one day, starved the other and had nothing more than dried fish to gnaw at, the frogmen now didnt have to worry about food at alltheir previously withered bodies were now growing stronger by the day with sufficient protein and fats. Over the last few days, Croakatoa had also found frogfolk eggs which were as large as ostrich eggs in the pools within some of the houses. It seems that there would be a group of tadpoles coming to the village soon, a burst in frogmen population that hadnt been observed for some time. As their lives improved, even their elders perpetual frown had improved, its dried skin now appearing damp and seemingly having a dozen more years to it. It wasnt just the tribe eitherCroakatoa was satisfied with its life now too. Though Edward often summoned it as a bait to divert a Bosss attention, after Croakatoa had gotten used to it and started to effectively seize even the sights of the largest of Bosses and tease monsters infinitely more powerful than itself, nothing else compared to the delight of providing an opening for its allies to maximize their damage. Moreover, Eleena didnt always use it as cannon fodder. Most of the time, the young lady would summon Croakatoa whenever she encountered something interesting, happened upon grand scenery, or was about to go for a feast, so that it could share such wonderful moments of her adventures. That naturally included the towering emerald foliages of the Trinia Forests, the elven capital hidden deep within the woods, the sinister corpse of the Dead Red Dragon, the fishmen island that descended from the skies and the Mountain Tigers stronghold that stood staunchly upon the Vierlin Plains It had just been a few months, but Croakatoa was able to see the greatest of sights that it never would have seen even across several lifetimes, witness grandness that should have nothing to do with it. Even as it basked under all those things, Croakatoa also felt its own strengthening. If its current self would return to the moment when it contracted with Eleena, it would probably have the right to brag that it could take down five of the alleged greatest frogmen warriors single-handedly. It therefore earnestly felt that it was utterly wonderful that it could become a part of the Players. Sigh. What a pity, the Twin City Cup is garnering too much attention or I could have joined as well and fought by Lady Eleenas side. Croakatoa sighed as it turned so that its white stomach was now baked by the sun. That was when dark clouds suddenly appeared in the skies. * * * Winter had clearly passed and the weather was slowly becoming warm, but Croakatoa couldnt help shivering It took off its shades and watched the skies doubtfully. While the ocean skies were volatile, what it was seeing is definitely not normal. Right now, dark clouds had occupied eighty percent of the visible sky, but it was not the usual gloomy weather that blanketed the entire world before a typhoon. Instead, a restlessly swirling vortex had appeared above the seas, as if some demon king was about to be born from it. For better or worse, the Warty Tidal Flats was Croakatoas hometown. Even though it was now a part of the Players fellowship, it would often return to the frogmen village to farm dungeons or for dinner gatherings, and was therefore aware of what usually happens at sea. In no time at all, Croakatoa realized what was right beneath the massive vortex cloud in the skies. The fishmen island? Could it be due to the Players not farming it over the last few days? Croakatoa tilted its head, puzzled by the situation. But as it looked on in shock, something really came through the cloudy vortex from the skies and landed straight on the fishmen island! *** Xi Wei naturally was aware of the strange occurrence on fishmen island. In fact, he even knew what was actually happening to the fishmen island the divine power he had laid on it was knocked out by another divine power, creating new fishmen albeit at a slow pace! Xi Wei was not unacquainted with the aspect of the divine power as wellit was the Ocean Goddesss divine power, sealed within the Sea Sapphire. Clearly, the Ocean Goddess had taken some time off her confrontation against the Earthweaver, came here on a whim to see how a noob good like Xi Wei was faring with the trial she had imposed on him. Hence, she realized that not only was Xi Wei perfectly fine, but his believers were also playing around her fishmen island like it was a farm. Therefore, she freaked out. Still, she couldnt really make a direct move against Xi Wei since she still has to be wary about the Earthweaver, one of the Seven Divine Fathers. That said, she managed to spare some divine power, causing a surge in fishmen population on the island and even dumping a Boss-class monster called the Night Tide Dragon. As with the Ultimate Drake blown up by Jessica with Sefarimthe elves greatest treasure, the Night Tide Dragon wasnt a true dragon. That said, compared to the pseudo dragons such as wyverns that were a source of meat or mounts for humans, it was untold times stronger since it was next to the true dragon bloodlines when it came to purity And at first, Xi Wei thought that the Ocean Goddess would be going for his face. However, he had moved the location of his divine kingdom slightly after she had fired her lance into his domain, and it was unlikely for her to find him immediately againnot that she would spare the time to do so anyway. So, that was why she could only aim her fury at the newbies who were farming fishmen on fishmen island Isnt that a coincidence? Xi Wei muttered, sliding a glance at the corpse of the Dead Red Dragon behind him which he had altered halfway. And here I was thinking that this gimmick Im making is not up to standard for the second round of the tourney, the dragon-slaying heroes At that very thought, Xi Wei extended a tentacle, crafted a message with his divine power and sent it up the vortex above fishmen island. Thank you for spawning a Boss, Ocean Goddess! Purple-red thunder promptly exploded out of the clouds of gloom, blasting the hundreds of fishmen along with the dozen of barely-surviving Players within an inch of their lives. Nonetheless, the Players were clearly the Ocean Goddesss target and the fishmen were merely caught in the middlebut its their own fault raising steel weapons up high while encircling the Players. That woman really strikes out at her own followers too when shes mad Xi Wei shrank a little when he saw what had happened, and began to draft a message that he would send out to the Players hanging around Lancaster for the Twin City Cup. Chapter 292: The Eve of The Second Round Let us wind the clock back half a day. There was a five-storied luxury guesthouse on the edge of Lancaster which stood in a U-shape when viewed from above. Its center, which points to the north was a courtyard, with another lush garden in the back. The luxury guesthouse was usually empty. Still, one would learn just be asking nearby residents that the owner of the guesthouse was no other than Corinth, mayor of Lancaster. In fact, it was the guesthouse that Corinth arranged for his private guests to stay. However, the nobles of the Valla Empire had distanced themselves from him, a remnant minister following the fall of Tierra and would never visit Lancaster, just as allowing unimportant nobles to stay in the luxury guesthouse would depreciate its value. That was why Corinth rather kept the guesthouse vacant but ready to operate at a moments notice, and even though its yearly maintenance cost was expensive. And now, with some extent of partnership between Lancaster and Tunaya as well as the hosting of the Twin City Cup, the first group of guests had finally arrived in the guesthouse. *** So, have you decided to accept the goodwill of the wyvern knights? Jom and Terry had made a special trip to the guesthouse, sought out Angora, who held the strongest authority amongst the Players and relayed what Isaac, captain of the wyvern knights had told them. Why not? Even if Angora was unsure the circumstances surrounding the Temple of Glory-whether they were treading on thin ice or developing rapidly, it didnt stop him from knowing what the captain had in mind. It was clear that the north was not in a steady state of affairs at the moment. After the new emperor of Valla had fought out to mutual defeat against the Grand Duchy of Rominos, he had been on the lookout for some small fish to fry, and it was likely that he would set his sights on the north. Furthermore, even if the Temple of Glory was amongst the top three religions on the continent and could hold their own against the universally acknowledged top religious faction that was the Brilliant White Church, it remained that the official religion recognized by the Valla Empire was still the Brilliant White Church. Hence, as the two factions continued to compete for limited resources, all differences and confrontations would clearly escalate with each passing day. And should the imperial military really turn their sights on the north right now, there was every chance that the Brilliant White Church would seize the opportunity to deal a blow on the influence of the Temple of Glory, and eventually expand their own authority over the north without anything impeding them after the war-over the lands scorched by the flames of war, they would rely upon their sacred arts and holy water to swiftly claim riches and preach their good word. After all, that was precisely what the Brilliant White Church was most adept at. It was the reason why they hold a good reputation in the minds of the peasants: their flocks of clerics who healed sickness and maladies had created an image where they appeared to be pacifists, friendly and compassionate, even though the truth was that they would often have a part to play in destabilizing the internal structures of nations, driving civil strife and revolutions by rousing oppositions. In fact, there were many who were convinced that the Brilliant White Church had another three covert outfits aside from the White Courts Wetwork Platoon and the Heretical Magistrates of the Thirteenth Partisans, specializing in doing their dirty work. That was precisely why many who were aware of their inner workings were reluctant to join them, supporting other religious factions instead of allowing the Brilliant White Church to claim all resources and authority for themselves. If they didnt keep the current situation in its delicate balance, the Brilliant White Church would already have choked off every other faith on the continent as they ascend as a monster that walks over everyone. Nonetheless, despite the gods wrestled and restrained each other while fearing that the fourth divine war would involve the world once again, the state of the continent was changing after a rare period of tranquility. It seemed that the fragile balance would be broken at any given moment. Taking that into consideration, siding with the Temple of Glory would therefore be a good choice. At the very least, the Church of Games would at least have a bigger banner to keep the others at bay before they rose to power themselves. While the Temple of Justice had also allied themselves with the Church of Games, believers of that particular faction appear and disappear in equal unpredictability. They didnt even have a fixed place of worship apart from several moving temples, and were simply unthreatening Go and offer them a reply, and tell the captain of the wyvern knights to come find me if he has anything further to clarify, Angora told the two Players in front of him. With my clearance, I would apply a quest later to reward you two. Thanks for your work. Thank you, my lord, Jom replied in gratitude politely, before leading the dog and Terry away, the latter of whom had been blanking out without saying a word. It was when they reached the staircase that Jom elbowed Terry. What was in that head of yours when I was talking to the liege? You look just like an imbecile, standing there and saying nothing-how rude! No, its just that I saw someone with a red-name when we came here Terry replied, scratching his head. Red name? Probably someone from a church opposing us. Its rare, but with so many outsiders pouring into Lancaster over the last few days, it wouldnt be a surprise that people like that exist. Jom glowered at him. And its just a red-name-do you have to stand there, musing to yourself for a whole half-an-hour? Its a habit, Terry said, scratching his head and flashing a dumb smile. We used to kill or be killed by any red names we encounter before, so it just nags me when we arent allowed to kill it. Great. Now save your strength for the next stage. Jom sighed, looking helplessly at his silly friend. Oh, how nice how nice That was when a voice spoke from behind. It sounded so much like a vengeful spirit that Jom jumped. He turned to find that it was Princess Leah. However, the usually vibrant and dazzling girl was nestled on a couch, looking sad and withered like a wilting rose. Like Angora, Leah was staying in the guesthouse as well, although they and their underlings were staying on different parts of the building-Angora on the east wing, and Leah on the west wing. Your Highness did something happen? Jom asked gingerly. Her Highness has been banned from the tourney. One of her followers answered with a helpless look. And its a divine decree that our god personally issued. After all, Leah remained the former princess of Tierra. Though not many people know her face, some noble who came from afar just might have seen her before. Even if the various religious factions and nations could live with the rise of the Church of Games, they wouldnt hesitate to move as quick as lighting to destroy them if they found out that the heir of Tierras royal family was amongst them just to utterly extinguish the lone tinder left of Tierra. Be it to protect Leah or take the safety of the church into consideration, Leah mustnt be seen in public before the Church of Games was strong enough to fight on multiple fronts. As such, Jom and Terry could only share a glance, unsure what to say. It appears that even being a high and mighty princess doesnt mean being able to do whatever you want. That was when their bangles vibrated slightly, the marked cards embedded into it slowly projecting lines of text. The event of the second stage was finally being announced. Chapter 293: Tourney Quest Like in the first round, Isaac led his squadron toward the designated venue as instructed by their bangles. If he had underestimated the first stage a little, he was now giving the second round every bit of focus he had following his baptism of fire. Over the last three days, the magic mirrors at Lancaster Square was not turned off, but instead replayed some of the most exciting moments in the first round. Naturally, the most frequently replayed clips were a compilation of betrayals. Even if the average citizen wouldnt dare to point their fingers at the unscrupulous behavior of believers from other churches, since clearing the first round meant that those underhanded individuals actually have some extent of ability-it didnt stop them from spreading the word in secret. Moreover, the other religious factions who were already at odds with those factions would jump on the chance of making them a laughing stock, and in just a few days, the reputation of several churches fell rock-bottom. And for Isaac, captain of the wyvern knights squadron, dying in battle didnt matterbut embarrassing themselves was a big deal. For better or worse, he was someone with stature in the Temple of Glory, a believer of the God of War who valued honor. If he were to face such outrageous humiliation, he would have committed ritual suicide in public even if he had won. And that sentiment wasnt limited to his squadron either. The believers of other churches had more or less felt the terrific power of becoming the topic of conversation, although they werent aware of how vital such things were and had no intention of wrestling control of public opinion from Lancaster city or the Church of Games. In fact, it wouldnt mean a thing even if they wanted to since not all gods had the free time to make videos for them. And without anything as proof apart from their word, they were naturally less convincing than the Church of Games. Even in this era without the Internet, the principle of pictures or it didnt happen still appliedwith Xi Weis exquisite edited video compilation, it didnt matter if everyone else tried to explain themselves away over three days and nights * * * It appeared that the starting point of the second round wasnt limited to one: on the way to his destination, Isaac had noticed two other roll-call locations for members of other churches. He found that others had already gathered at his own designated location when he arrived as well, including two familiar faces: Jom and Terry. Could it be that were grouped according to the time when we cleared the last round? Isaac thought while greeting the pair of youths. Hey, kiddos. Have you thought about my offer? Our leader has given his approval, although we would have to wait until the match is over before we go into specifics. Jom relayed Angoras reply word-for-word. But of course. Isaac nodded, knowing then that the leader of the Church of Games wasnt an unreasonable fool while coming up with some theories on the Church of Games development strategy. Some might feel confused since Isaacs suggestion was clearly a win-win and benefits the Church of Games to some extent, so why refuse him? Even so, such offers were actually often refused. After all, to the decision maker, agreeing to it would benefit the group and not themselves individuallyand in some cases hurt them. That was why those people would always make a choice that appeared unbelievable to outsiders. For example, if Angora were a traitor who was intent on pledging his loyalty to the Brilliant White Church by selling out the Church of Games, he certainly wouldnt ally his faction with the Temple of Glory, which at once hurts his impression to the Brilliant White Church while making his inevitable betrayal more difficult. By the way, are you two joining us for the second round? Isaac asked then, extending an invitation to Terry and Jom. Even if the captain of the wyvern knights still didnt know about the minimap gimmick, he remembered how the pair seemed to have a perfect sense of direction and performed outstandingly. And when he connected that to compilation videos showing the top performances that the other players put in in the last round, Isaac was not that foolish to not recognize that the Church of Games believers had grasped something akin to sacred arts in recognizing the way. As long as the map wasnt so narrow that a single glance was enough to take it all in, such ability would be quite vital. In addition, the two kids could hold themselves in a fight-meaning that they wouldnt have to worry about being a burden for the team and that there was value in inviting them. Be that as it may, Jom had promptly refused Isaacs invitation, even building on it with an excuse that Isaac couldnt counter. After the various backstabbing incidents in the last round, the believers of the God of Games had decided to make their own groups like the other churches in the second round. As such, Isaac could only feel that it was a pity. And since they werent from the Temple of Glory, his squadron was not going to kidnap them by face. Meanwhile, as the countdown timer to the second round arrived at zero, everyone who had reached their designated locations were teleported away by Xi Wei once again to the venue of the second round: the fishmen island. To the contestants, the teleportation was no different from last time since they arrived at their destination with a flash of white light. Still, Xi Wei had to use a lot of strength compared to the teleportation maze islandindeed, he deflated like a balloon when he then remembered that he had to teleport the contestants back after this round was over Meanwhile, every contestant was informed about the details of the current stage with their bangles, while the Players were assigned a new tourney quest in their quest panel. [Tourney quest: Dragon-slaying heroes] (A vile dragon, rising from the depths of the seas is now attacking this peaceful island with its brethren, spurred on by a certain mastermind. Your quest is to reel its brethren and claim the head of the vile dragon who underestimates earth itself right here to warn off the villain who doesnt belong on land!] (Quest objective: The killing of each quest target would be rewarded with corresponding pointsfishman invader (1 point), elite fishman invader (10 points), fishman invader leader/chief/shaman (50 points), and certain special fishman invaders are rewarded with additional points (please check the following table). Additionally, the death of the Boss of this stage C the Night Tide Dragon rewards a total of 100,000 points, with the points being distributed amongst the Players according to the extent of damage they inflicted upon the Boss. Clearing of the second round shall be viewed as quest accomplished, with the opposite being quest failure.] [Quest reward: one mysterious weapon box (purple), two mysterious weapon box (blue)] (Quest Failure Penalty: Player name would be mandatorily adjusted to Loser after the second stage is over (Not listed in titles, no negative effects).) [Note: Victory comes first, friendship comes second-The God of Games) Chapter 294: Your Blood is All Over the Ground Compared to the dark and oppressive environment of the maze island in the first round, the stage of the second round was much wider and well-lit. There wasnt anything like a maze that partitioned its space, which fully gave the sense that there was freedom and a sense of release. Oh, thats light! Oh, thats water! By the coast, Marni was exclaiming loudly at the sights before him and the crystalline seas nearby. However, his enthusiasm soon left him as he pursed his lips in disinterest, holding even slight disdain. What the heck, isnt this the fishmen island? Fishmen island? Gerald, who was grouped with Marni for now repeated the term. You know this place, Mister Marni? Yes, its a hunting grounds for us Players. Marni nodded grimly. Even if I didnt visit this place too many times, I remember this landscape well. Of course, no one could be more familiar with these lands. Ivan Narine, a former mercenary leader who escorted Marnis merchant convoy smiled teasingly, dismantling his former boss without showing mercy towards his reputation. Since your blood is all over the ground, boss. Gerald leveled a troubled look at Marni at that. Even though he hadnt officially converted to the Church of Games yet, after experiencing so many things which made a tremendous impact on his world view, his heart had long since began to lean towards the Church of Games. That was exactly why the yellow name over his head which once showed that he was neutral had turned completely green recently, an ally whom the Players acknowledged. As such, certain secrets kept amongst Players (such as the Lifestones) were now known to him, a treatment reserved only to the frogmen, believers of the God of Justice, certain wood elves, and the Long Ears tribe who had recently allied with them. It was also why Ivan would joke around in his presence. It should also be mentioned here that the names of the Players hanging above their heads were in white. At first, Xi Wei intended to label the Players with green fonts as well since it feels safe and natural, but he decided that it was not a good omen after thinking long and hard about it, hence adjusting it to white. No bonus for you this month, Ivan. Mani slid Ivan a sideways glance and flashed a smile that doesnt reach his eyes. Sorry, Boss! Ivan promptly apologized earnestly. Please forgive me, I still need to buy higher-level items this month. Well, since youve apologized so sincerely, I shall forgive you in my great compassion As long as you promise that you would keep me safe in the tourney so that I wont die for some stupid reason. Marni nodded in satisfaction at that, suddenly feeling quite important. Nonetheless, Ivan scowled and considered it for a moment, before shaking his head dejectedly. Forget it then. Ill skip on that bonus. Marni: ??? While I dont wish to interrupt you when youre teaching your man a lesson, it seems that some things are trying to surrounding surro us. Ever since he had joined up with Marni, Gerald certainly proved that he deserved his former post as the personal guard of Lancasters mayor. While he might still be lacking in ability compared to the first-rate Players, his well-honed wariness and sharp senses were not something many Players had. And thanks to his warning, Ivan, who had been having a laugh with Marni quickly turned serious and pulled out both his swords. He had taken the Ranbu route of the Swordmaster class and complemented it with a few Kengyoku skills, and his dual-wielding was one of Kengyokus skills which increases his damage. In truth, the Berserker skill branch has quite a few fine skills as well, but as Ivan had been an armed escort for merchants before he converted to the Church of Games (Being the former escort leader of Marnis merchant convoy), he needed endurance and ability to fight for extended durations to protect others instead of dealing short bursts of extreme damage. In addition, he could last even longer by buying some time to rest, in turn rapidly recovering combat ability and stamina. As such, the Berserker path that trades HP for damage was naturally ill-fitting for a guardian role. But despite claiming that he couldnt stop Marni from dying, Ivans still focused his senses and then some when the fighting began to protect his employer. Marni was clearly aware of that-in spite of their frequent banter, the first person he would think of when he needs an escort would always be Ivan, and he would compromise and request others only if Ivan wasnt available. Aside from fishmen, what danger could there be on fishmen island anyway? Marni, however, looked most nonchalant of the trio. Relax. Not even I would be killed so simply by just a few fishmen! That much was trueeven if Marni seemed to give the impression he had a passive Taunt skill that kills him in the most random ways possible, he was actually strong first-rate Player who could just punch heavily at low-level monsters and win (he wouldnt be that high-level otherwise), although he would be instakilled by every Boss he encountered. And just as expected, it was a bunch of normal-looking fishmen that appeared on the coast and were trying to surround them. No caster, no priest, no leader or liege! Ivan promptly made his choice. Averaging at Level 15 We can take them! But Gerald was quicker than him-he had already rushed forward. While the young knight couldnt see the text over the fishmens heads, an ordinary fighter like him could determine his opponents strength through their presence. Such a method always tended to work, although it would be less effective against the crazy bunch called the Players. Having trained in swordcraft at a young age, Gerald had a firm foundation, while his swings were at once swift and viciously elegant. He would only be defeated soundly only when it came to duels against Kengyoku Players, who preferred their blocking and parrying that wrongfoots his rhythm. Against the fishmen, however, it was one swing one kill. And as Ivan and Marni joined the fray-with the latter donning his Ironman armor, the fishmen that had come to hunt them down were sent scampering instead. Not bad. We could collect enough points if this keeps up. Marni nodded in satisfaction as he opened his helmet and turned on his quest page and studied the point counter. Now we just have to find the Night Tide Dragon and kick it in the balls.That was when he sensed that things had become rather quiet around him. Turning of his system page and looking up, he found Ivan and Geralds staring at the sea behind him, their eyes widened. A foreboding sensation arose in his mind just then. He slowly turned and found himself looking into a pair of golden eyes the size of lanterns. Well In the next split second, the Night Tide Dragon stretched its gaping maw and promptly bit down on Marni, snapping him in two and left his lower body on the beach while it turned and slipped beneath the waves. It was only then that Ivan yelled as if jolted from a dream. Oh my god, Marnis dead again! Chapter 295: Im Listening While the Players were very familiar with the layout of the fishmen island, all of them were actually heading towards the assembly point they had agreed upon before this stage of the tourney. That was why the monks were currently topping the leaderboards in points amongst all contestants, followed closely by the wyvern knights of the Temple of Glory-although the gap was widening. It was not to say that the wyvern knights of the God of War were weaker than the monks of the God of Light. In fact, believers of the God of War would always outclass believers of the God of Light in combat ability even if they were on the same level, and could even take two of them at once. The problem, however, was the difference in their training. In the last round, most of the wyvern knights who were heavily conditioned for combat had fallen victim to traps repetitively, causing their morale to crumble to the brink of breaking apart. Even if Terry and Jom had helped them in the end so that they could reach the next round, not many of them managed to survive. On the other hand, the monks daily training revolves around endurance and weathering through pain to hone their spirit. Therefore, even though they set off equally more traps compared to the wyvern knights, their mentality remained stable, and they could remain unfettered as they faced one trap after another. That was why they had the least casualties in the first round, which in turn secured them a strong advantage when the second round started! One might even say that since the Players had yet to make an effort and with far less men compared to the monks, it was already a miracle that the wyvern knights could still keep up with the first teeth and hold on steadily on second place. This would have lasted until the Players were gathered and began their show. But circumstances had suddenly changed * * * I cant feel the Ocean Goddesss eyes anymore Xi Wei muttered quietly even as he stretched out his senses throughout the fishmen island through his believers. It appeared that the Ocean Goddess had been traumatized considerably after she had tried to wreak havoc on land in the last divine war, only to be ganged up by several other gods and pummeled back beneath the sea. This time, she was already scared off when a bunch of believers from different faiths came to the islandthe other gods didnt even have to show up! Still, she was not to be blamed for being that scared. After all, there was no faction that held an event like the Twin City Cup. At best, it was two or three allied factions having a banquet to celebrate and in the Ocean Goddesss knowledge, the humans of this world were not that bored that they would go to an island and slay a dragon to celebrate. That being said, some might wonder that since the Ocean Goddess was more or less a god who was only next to the Seven Divine Fathers in power. With minor churches participating in the Twin City Cup as well, wouldnt some of her believers at least be aware of the event even if she wasnt? It was therefore only a pity to say that she really wasnt aware, and she only had herself to blame for not accepting human believers Well, this was the right move. Xi Wei stroked himself at a spot that was supposed to be chin. And the Ocean Goddess might misunderstand that I have good relations with other gods, and wouldnt make a move for the time being. In fact, Xi Wei was trying to put on airs and intimidate the Ocean Goddess for a bit with the believers of other gods, although it proved too effective and scared off her off entirely. Therefore, the Twin City Cup was worth Xi Weis resources if only because it managed to buy precious time for him to develop. And after the Ocean Goddess, the only other god who would come looking for trouble was the Skull God. In comparison, the shut-in that was the Prince of Darkness would only come looking for him if he noticed Xi Weis tricks, or he wouldnt come bother Xi Wei over a noob evil god like the Rotten Bones. Moreover, no matter how one went about it, the Prince of Darknessone of the Seven Divine Fatherswould be discrediting himself if he came personally to bother a newbie like Xi Wei. Even if the Skull God who was more likely to show up on Xi Weis doorstep was stronger than him, Xi Wei himself hadnt been goofing around. His ability had increased exponentially to the point that he wouldnt be instakilled in a direct confrontation, and it wouldnt be a problem as long as he could hold on until the Great Lion rushed to the scene and crush the Skull God. While Rotten Bones had been an evil god and therefore a natural enemy to Aslan, the God of Justice, the Great Lion wouldnt bother the Skull God since he was more or less neutral. However, if the Skull God remained obsessed with settling the score over Rotten Bones death and attacked Xi Wei, the Great Lion would have every reason to help his ally and destroy the Skull God. Furthermore, Xi Wei had the feeling that the Church of Games would become known across the north when the Twin City Cup concludes. They wouldnt have to work in secret like they did in the beginning, and the number of believers could increase exponentially. When that time comes, he might be able to earn a huge wave of divine energy or even make a breakthrough, freeing himself from the label of newbie with the chance of ascending as an Intermediate God. Hmmm? Just as Xi Wei was looking forward to his beautiful future, he suddenly noticed that something not quite peaceful was happening at the tourney. *** Two groups were in the midst of a standoff over a cliff-one group being the monks of the Brilliant White Church and the other being a group of Players led by Zonyan. I had assumed that the Church of Games was keeping quiet, so imagine my surprise when I found that it is such a blasphemous religion! The leader of the monk was glaring at Zonyans party, his old and stiff face showing indignationthe most emotion he had shown thus far in the tourney. Accepting even a deviant wildling like you as a believer how disappointing! Zonyan frowned. It appeared that the monk was a zealot of the human-only doctrine who considered all humanoids and nonhumans deviants. Vulcan, who was standing behind Zohan glowered at the monks spat and was about to retort, only to be stopped by Zonyan. After all, there were such people back in the Western Continent as well Zonyan had personally encountered them as their chief-in-waiting of the Grayclaw tribe Therefore, he was aware that no words would work against them. Right now, his group had yet to assemble with the other players, meaning that there was only him, Vulcan, Joey, and Laybit (whose Player System was incomplete). On the other hand, the group of monks averaged at Level 30, and after taking into consideration that they possess sacred arts, they probably were no different from elite monsters.To put it in simple terms, Zonyans group wouldnt win against them. Sure, the Players could revive, but being in a tourney and without a Cleric, Holy Lancer or Reviving Armor equipped (a new and very expensive item available from the System Shop) that enabled instant resurrection, they would be disqualified because they were revived at the Lifestone even if they had a Resurrection Ankh with them. And Zonyan wouldnt go so far to have his team be eliminated from the tourney just because he saw red. You there, beast! The monk appeared even more upset when Zonyan said nothing, and started yelling. Listen here But in the next split second, the Night Tide Dragon leapt out of the seas and bit off the entire upper body of the monk, before swiftly slipping beneath the waves once again. Both Zonyans party and the monks were speechless. Zonyan kept quiet for half a beat, staring at the monks legs that were still left over the cliff and shrugged. Im listening. Chapter 296: Coming from Behind With their past success of bringing down the Dead Red Dragon, the Players underestimated and misjudged the Night Tide Dragon to a certain extent. After all, the Dead Red Dragon was an undead creature, and was a true dragon before it died. On the other hand, the Night Tide Dragon was a pseudo dragon like the drake of the Trinia Forest, which was why the Players werent that worried about it and simply considered it a Boss that was a little more powerful than the average Boss. That was exactly why the Players were taking casualties beyond what they expected. As if mocking the Players shortcomings, the Night Tide Dragon would swim around the fishmen island and ambush the contestants near the shores, even obstructing them from assembling-after all, the Players were familiar with the landscape of the island and knew that it was easier to gather on the shores than the interior of the island, therefore becoming the primary victims of the Night Tide Dragons sneak attacks. At the same time, the fishmen were maintaining their usual every fishman for himself tactic, putting the fear into the contestants as they killed away rampantly, slowly learning in the process and planning strategic ambushes against the contestants. With high-level fishman elites hidden in each ambush, the contestants were suffering heavy losses-apart from the Players who could prepare themselves, since they could see the monsters name and level. One way or another, one day had only passed in the second round of the tourney but things proved so horrible that Xi Wei was considering interfering to helpthe Ocean Goddess would suspect something if the Players and the members of the other churches were wiped out. It was therefore fortunate that he underestimated the Players durability. In fact, it might be more appropriate to say that the Players were used to horrific failures in their early days of exploration. They would only become more excited against a powerful foe as long as it didnt prove unbeatable, since according to their experience, the stronger the foe, the better the item drop! Moreover, the elites of other churches were not all-talk even though they were second-rate (why would a church send their trump card or secret weapon to a tourney after all?). Each of them represented their own churchs cutting-edge fighting force and reputation, and their mentality had also improved after learning that they wouldnt really die after the first round, with morale not crumbling as easily as it had then. Therefore, things were turning for the better on the second day. First and foremost, the monks of the Brilliant White Church used their position to rein in some bootlickers and neutral churches as they worked together to wipe out the fishmen. And when the monks second-in-command (their previous leader was eaten by the Night Tide Dragon) saw that the fishmens attacks had become orderly, he knew that there was a liege-level of existence had appeared amongst their ranks. Hence, the monks used the wyvern knights to bait the fishmens assault, diverting the main force of the fishmen away from their lair and have the wyvern knights fight them while the monks search for their liege. Then, when they found their quarry, the monks unleashed an AoE holy chorus that blasted the main force of the fishmen, the fishman liege and most of the wyvern knights sky-high, sealing their place in the top-ten of the second round! On the other hand, the Players finally assembled and began to track and attempt to slay the Night Tide Dragon. The creature had repeated its gimmick of attempting to snag and devour Players on the beach, only to have the Players turn the tables and encircle it twice. Even though it had managed to escape with its life, the Players didnt give up and instead use both occasions to ascertain its movements, almost uncovering each of its abilities and attack patterns. Sensing the realistic threat that the Players posed, the Night Tide Dragon attempted to flee and hide for a while at the depths since it wasnt under the Ocean Goddesss influence anyway. But just as it was about to arrive at the deep, it slammed firmly into an unseen wallXi Wei had actually enveloped the fishmen island with his divine power, and the creature was unable to distant itself from the island! Be that as it may, Xi Wei wasnt actually singling it out since every creature on the fishmen island including the Night Tide Dragon were all trash to a god like Xi Wei. He was only trying to reduce the toll of divine power for reviving believers of other churches and the risk of having other gods noticing. As such, after ensuring that the Ocean Goddess wasnt watching, he shrouded the entire fishmen island within his divine power, cutting it out of the prime material plane to some extent. It was a method similar to the one the Ocean Goddess had used when she threw the fishmen island at him, although Xi Wei spared more strength since he had the Authority to transmigrate, just like slipping through the barriers without needing to pay for VPN And now, the fishmen island was basically a simulated divine kingdom thanks to Xi Weis molding As such, it was impossible to escape from that domain-whether you were a Night Tide Dragon or a Fishman. It was fine for the fishmen since they were amphibious and could live on land as long as they could keep their skin moist, but it was very troublesome for the Night Tide Dragon which limbs had mostly devolved. Not only was it unable to escape, it would be persistently harassed by the frogmen which the Players summon even if it hid beneath the waves. And when it would try to chase those inferior lifeforms which dared to bite its scales up to the shore, it would find the Players waiting in formation for it come Wow. Even if it wouldnt be butchered like a fish out of the water when it was on land, all the Night Tide Dragon could do was flip around, as agile as a snail. Sorry for bothering you. Goodbye! Nonetheless, the Night Tide Dragon didnt get beneath water for too long when the damned frogmen came at it again. Worse still, they were more experienced this time and no longer poked at its scales.Instead, they were aiming for its cloaca. Aside from several unique species, all draconic races were bad tempered in the first place, let alone the Night Tide Dragon which was born under the waves and unintelligent. It blew its top immediately-you frogs want to die! Ignoring the Players that were waiting for it on the beach, the Night Tide Dragon locked on to a frogman which markings looked like a vulgar form of a chrysanthemum, rushing onto the beach and crunching down on it. Since the creature only just scraps of HP left in the first place, the Players cut off its escape and firmly unleashed their skies, bombarding it for half an hour before it died miserably One should remember that even without counting the fishmen that were caught in the crossfire of the battle, the Night Tide Dragon alone was worth a hundred thousand points. While the total points from killing the hordes of fishmen was more than the points gained from killing the Night Tide Dragon, the Brilliant White Church had to split the points with contestants from other churches. The wyvern knights whom they had blasted sky-high had also killed quite a number of the fishmen and occupied a major chunk of points as well, which meant the monks personal points gained was nothing to brag about. Hence, the Players who inflicted the most damage came from behind to beat the monks of the Brilliant White Church, claiming their place in the final round. Chapter 297: The Third Round Following the rules set before, Xi Wei ranked the contestants by their points accumulated, allowing those within the top thirty-two to qualify for the final round of the Twin City Cup. The event was relatively normal duels. At first, Xi Wei had intended to scale up the last round, to make it grander. However, the second round had cost him more divine energy than he had expected-even if he had relied on the simulated divine kingdom to retain and revive the souls of those who died within with less cost. He had fork out divine powers that he had stored before the entire tourney as well since the divine power he had allocated for the tourney was basically used up. Aside from the divine power required for maintaining the Players daily necessities and reserved for emergencies, Xi Wei had basically not one drop of excess divine power left. That was why the last round had to be conducted so plainly. The citizens of Lancaster, however, were not dissatisfied at all. One might even say that they were excited to see the usually high-and-mighty priest and clerics throw themselves at each other like a bunch of wrestlers. In fact, when Mayor Corinth announced the format of the third round, the citizens actually looked like they were a little eager than the two rounds before. On the three days of rest for the contestants following the conclusion of the second round, everyone in Lancaster was talking about the Twin City Cup. The hottest topic, of course, was who they were hoping to triumph in the end. wa Naturally, the ones tipped to claim the final victory were the monks of the Brilliant White Church. Even if they top champion was eliminated from the finals and their top scorer in the second round was outside the top ten, the reputation of the Brilliant White Church as the top religion of the continent and the monks performance in the first two rounds had earned them the support of many conservative citizens, who were assured that these monks would last until the very end. In comparison, the citizens who supported the Church of Games were scarce. Nonetheless, the Players didnt think much about that since most citizens werent even aware of the existence of the Church of Games before the Twin City Cup started. Still, after strong performances in the first two rounds that drew much fans for them, the God of Games rose from an anonymous religious faction to become one of the dark horses of the tourney, which could be considered a profound development. But behind the Brilliant White Church and the Church of Games, the performances which the remaining religious factions put up paled in comparison, and support for them naturally were less warm. In truth, the wyvern knights of the Temple of Glory hadnt been lured by the monks of the Brilliant White Church and then directly blindsided, with only their champion Isaac and Jones, who happened to be nearest to Isaac alive and qualifying for the last round. Still, those two were hurt considerably by the holy choir bombardment of the Brilliant White Church. And unlike the first round, when Xi Wei revived the dead on the second round, he would stuff in some missing innards and put in some slapdash healing to prevent the revived from dropping dead immediately again from their mortal wounds. Basically, he didnt care much about anything aside from ensuring that they didnt die. That way, many would be left injured and, on the surface, Xi Wei, the God of Games would take a blow to his reputation-but that proved not to be case. Not only would he save divine energy, he could also indirectly promote his two colas in Lancaster. And as for the Brilliant White Church selling holy water of the same effect Who would want those expensive trinkets!? *** It seems that the entire city is talking about who would come out on top in the third round, and they are even betting privately. What do you think, Sir Isaac? Terry and Jom had taken some time off to visit their new ally while bringing along a set of cola meals. After all, that stuff was not expensive and they would be reimbursed anyway! The Temple of Glory was another religious faction of great scale and influence. While they did not provide mystical holy water and didnt possess much sacred healing arts, they were considerably learned in potions as the believers of the God of War, and could concoct potions with good effects. When Terry and Jom arrived at the Temple of Glory, Isaac, who was caught in an explosion in the second round could now get off the bed to move, but his face still looked pale. If theres nothing unexpected, the winners of the tourney would either be those monks of the Brilliant White Church or believers from your Church of Games. Isaac sighed. For one, a majority of the third-round contestants are from your church. Secondly, even if the believers from other churches could heal their injures in the three-day break, they could hardly recover from their mental fatigue. He glanced towards the spirited Terry and Jom at that. After all, not everyone is the same like the members of your fraternity-not one of you look tired even after beating a monster like the Night Tide Dragon. Likewise, the monks of the Brilliant White Church are used to spiritual torment, and that bit of fatigue wouldnt affect their performance. The magic mirrors were still replaying the thrilling moments of the second round in Lancaster Square, with Isaac himself having made time to take a look. And when he saw that the believers of the God of Games stood off against a colossal creature like the Night Tide Dragon without fear and composedly planned countermeasures despite being foiled several times, eventually succeeding in luring the creature on land to encircle and bring it down, he couldnt help admiring and be in awe of them. One should know that fear was a self-preservation mechanism of humans. For example, most humans would shut their eyes when a needle was stabbing towards their eye, and even though the needle was still some distance away-it was an instinct that prevents oneself from getting hurt. On the other hand, the believers of the God of Games had conquered that fear to directly confront a monster much larger than themselves. Hence, in mental composure alone, the Church of Games could hold their heads high even in the presence of older churches. Naturally, for Isaac who basically lives in medieval times, it was hard for him to understand the Players mindset who directly converts a foes power to rare, powerful items The Night Tide Dragon notwithstanding-even if it was a true dragon, all they need were weapons and the view of a HP bar, and the Players would have the courage to attack! Dont you have a good chance of winning too, Sir Isaac? Jom said then. I saw from the bets that your odds are one to one, just like the current leader of the Brilliant White Churchs monks. If we fight unimpeded, I certainly wouldnt fear the Brilliant White Church, Isaac said, shaking his head. However, half the skills of us wyvern knights revolve around combined attacks with our mounts, making it a tough fight especially since those shameless monks of the Brilliant White Church is focusing on our sacred arts of combat aura. Both my physical strength and aura would naturally drop to rock-bottom if I faced two of them-one after another, and I just cant last long enough to fight. Moreover, there were thirty-two individuals who qualified from the second round, meaning that ultimate victory requires five consecutive victories. Clearly, compared to Isaac who was all by himself, the monks and the Players who could choose to save their strength and have the stronger ones enter the next round if they were matched up against an ally would have the greater advantage! Chapter 298: So Cool! The third round of the Twin City Cup arrived as scheduled. No colossal arena was needed this time since the format of the third round was different from the first two. Therefore, using the three-day break, Mayor Corinth of Lancaster invited a ranked priest from the Earth Sect to conjure several arenas on the vacant lands to the vest of the city. The usually isolated western outskirts became crowded almost immediately, with many smart citizens imitating the newbie Players by setting up stalls selling snacks that earned them a little fortune. Before the third round began, the thirty-two contestants headed to the mayors residence to draw lots, and by following the number sequence of number 1 dueling number 2 and number 3 dueling number 4 with the victor proceeding to the next round until the final winner was decided. Still, being one of the main organizers, the Church of Games naturally fiddled a little with the lottery albeit without really oversteppingthey basically made it so that the first rounds pitted strong contestants with weak contestants so that seeded contestants wouldnt have to secure hard-fought victories where they would be injured as well, so that the weaker contestants who would meet them in later stages would benefit as well. As such, the first stage of duels wasnt all that exciting as the stronger contestants virtually had no problems eliminating their opponents and proceed to the next round. Nonetheless, the air became charged once the tourney moved on from the last sixteen to the quarter finals. * * * Following the serial number and matchup displayed on the magic mirrors, Jones, one of the wyvern knights had managed to find the arena where his captain was fighting-only to realize that the match was over. Are you alright, captain!? He asked Isaac anxiously, who was panting heavily beneath the stage. Im fine, I just underestimated my opponent a little. Hes a ranked believer of Gurus, God of the Hunt-and I had assumed that there was nothing to fear worry about in an arena where he couldnt distant himself and couldnt set traps, but he still proved to be a surprisingly tough nut to crack. Isaac had managed to utter a reply. However, from the looks of his rapidly healing wounds thanks to some cola, along with several arrowheads scattered on the ground that were dipped in his blood and were clearly pulled out of his body just now, it wasnt as easy as he described. Captain Relax. I could at least last another two rounds. Isaac was not about to look vulnerable in front of his own squadron member. The truth was that he had definitely miscalculated-even if the believer of the God of Hunt couldnt use their full power, he was in the same situation since he couldnt summon his wyvern either. If they had been fighting normally in the wild, he could have directed his wyvern to shield himself from his opponents rain of arrows with its thick scales, and then take him down in a instant when he was exhausted. Under such conditions, the believer of Gurus was no different from small fry and far from being a worthy opponent. By the way, captain Recognizing the cue and deciding not to press the topic, Jones instead pick another topic which Isaac was interested in. I just heard from arena number seven that two Church of Games followers have already won their match earlier and are about to fight each other. Those two have entered the quarter-finals already? Isaac stood up and followed Jones to the arena, not forgetting to instructing his comrade. But the fact is its meaningless even if we go to watch the match. They are both believers of the God of Games so they wont really resort to violence-at best, they would use two or three weaker sacred arts before the weaker one surrenders, allowing the other one to join the last four. Really? Jones was slightly surprised. For sure. Even if those two had a grudge against each other, they would be thinking about the honor of their church and would let it go, so that the stronger one could achieve a better result. Even as they conversed, the two of them arrived beneath the arena. Incidentally, they knew both Church of Games members on the arena. To the east corner was Jom, whom Isaac had offered an alliance before (Terry had been eliminated earlier), whereas to the west corner is Edward, the champion of the God of Games believers. The one called Edward would win. Isaac was almost instantly certain that Jom would surrender. Really? But I think Jom is quite strong too Jones was puzzled when he remembered how Jom fight. For example, if you were matched up with me in the arena, would you really fight me with your full power? No way, youre my captain oh! Jones understood with a start at that. I see. After all, the replays on the magic mirror already proved that Edward was quite strong in the first round. Then, in the second round, it was also proven in the battle against the Night Tide Dragon that Edward was high-ranked amongst the God of Games believers, and could command the other believers to some extent. On the other hand, while Jom had some extent of ability, he wouldnt compare to Edward. From how Jom had to ask the higher-ups about an alliance, he didnt look like his position in the Church of Games was that high. Their duel was therefore pretty much a counterfeit compared to the one Isaac and Jones had, which was why Isaac could tell who would win so quickly. However, even as Isaac thought that and the umpire declared the start of the duel, the two youths on the arena moved. Edward started things off with a barrage of Black Dragon Hellfire-a dark inferno that assumed the form of a dragon, carrying a horrific presence and rolling heat as it lunged towards Jom. Careful as ever, Jom raised his hand to summon a giant clam that firmly blocked the attack. All at once, the sweet seafood scent of baked clam filled the air. Then, several tentacles shot out of the ground towards Edward.Edward reacted by swinging Happy Flamesthe tip of the staff unleashed another blaze, which soon shrank into a straight line and increased in speed just like a laser. It sliced off the tentacles with a gentle swipe, and also cut Joms clam shield in half! Jom continued to summon more creatures such as walrus and sea centipedes that poured towards Edward, which he handled respectively. He promptly blasted the ground into magma, burying the sea centipedes that were pouring towards him before unleashing Black Dragon Hellfire on the walrus that was charging fiercely at him, killing it where it stood! The two traded blows without compromise, their battle growing exceedingly fearsome and leaving the whole arena in tatters, not that it stopped their battle. And beneath the stage, the atmosphere amongst the Players heightened at the sight of the fierce fight, with arena number seven instantly becoming the most popular arena. Jones watched as fire and ocean beasts danced over the stage, explosions and ocean tides kicking into the air before turning around to look at Isaac, whose mouth was hanging open as well. Surrender the match? It felt like they were about to beat each others brains off instead Even as Jones watched them trade more blows with their skills, a mysterious feeling arose in Joness heart just then. The believers of the God of Games are so cool! Chapter 299: Searching For Red-Names Northern Lancaster. If the previous two rounds of the Twin City Cup charged the atmosphere of the city, the Third Round directly ignited the excitement for all Lancaster citizens, with everyone leaving the streets empty as they went to watch the tournament. Aside from some merchants on the commercial street who couldnt afford to close their shops or were not interested in the tournament, there was basically no one to be seen on the streets of the northern district. After all, this district was a slum-beggars and pickpockets would have better gains at heavily crowded areas. Even so, two unfamiliar figures could be seen walking the rather filthy streets here. Your high-milady, is it really alright for us to come out here? Boris asked carefully as Princess Leah walked ahead of her. We should at least inform Lord Vanke If we do, hes going to give me an earful and stop me from coming. Princess Leah refused determinedly. But there are many eyes around inside Lancaster. It will be troublesome if youre recognized. Boris dissuaded. Its fine. Everyone left to watch the tournament, and theres basically nobody anywhere else in the city. Leah dismissed him nonchalantly. And were just coming out to play. Boris the guard made a helpless face: so thats why were here? To play? However, Princess Leah didnt pay attention to the look on his face and kept disguising her slipping out as serious business. I heard a few Players mentioning that red names were showing up at Northern Lancaster. They are the enemies of the Church of Games, and with other Players being busy with the Twin City Cup while yours truly being not allowed to play -I mean, not involved, Im the most suitable person to investigate this matter! But didnt Lord Vanke and Lord Angora believe that it was normal? Boris replied, trying his best to stop Princess Leah from slipping away and return to the guesthouse. News of the Twin City Cup had spread far and wide after the last two rounds, and visitors are coming from as far as Wickidor now Even if this was a fantasy world, it was rare for most peasants and minor nobles to encounter magic, sacred arts or combat aura. As such, an occasion such as the Twin City Cup where a crowd of people with supernatural powers were beating each other up was something they might not even see for a lifetime. Moreover, with Xi Wei replaying edited videos that took inspiration from Earths game or reality tv shows, its outreach potential could instakill the Brilliant White Churchs preaching! With so many watching the gif images begging of more, who wouldnt want to see the real thing after those thrilling edits? With so many believers of different churches here, it might be unavoidable if those Boris paused at that as he corrected himself. I mean, deviants who view the God of Games as a heretical god He was about to mention that those churches that invaded Tierra, but soon remembered that the Brilliant White Church was a part of them and yet their monks were just yellow with a little shade of orange. That meant that they were neutral units that were unfriendly, but not red hostiles. Princess Leah snorted then. If there really are enemies of the God of Games, I dont think they are here for peace and friendship if they still come inside the city after the Twin City Cup was announced. That is true, your himilady, but theres no need for you to come personally, is there? If anything happened, us royal guards have the whole country (Tierra) to answer to. Boris scowled. Itll be fine. At worst, Ill die and hadnt I died before? Theres nothing new about that. The girl smiled unusually carefreely, although her guard was taken aback. Please dont make such a joke, your highness! He said, before solemnly tapping his chest in assurance. I will definitely keep you safe even if it kills me! With that, Boris took the lead and scouted the way ahead suspiciously. He looked so careful that he would notice grass moving with the wind, fearing that a mouse leaping out of a ditch could stab him to death. Clear, your hi-milady. Come on! He whispered, after studying the path ahead for half a day and ensuring that there were no threats. And yet, there was no reply after half a beat aside from the whooshing of cold winds. Promptly turning, he realized that there was only a ghost street behind him, and Leahs figure was nowhere to be seen. He went pale in shock. Oh no, what should I do now? I lost the princess! Leah was slowly advancing in the aqueducts. Boris was really making mountains out of anthills back there, and in the very least, Leah wasnt convinced that he could find any red names. And naturally, aside from avoiding her annoying escort, there were other reasons she wanted to come here. As mentioned before, Lancasters aqueducts were very complex, and the Players had yet to fully explore it. Still, since this place was inhabited by some small monsters that werent strong, many newbies who couldnt win against skeletons would come to explore it. The red names had also been spotted in the aqueducts aside from Lancaster North, although it was glimpses most of the time and the newbies could have been seeing some monsters escaping from them. Moreover, even though an entire group of red names would definitely stand out, but no Players had yet to found a specific place where they gathered. With that thought in mind, it was very likely that they were using the aqueducts as a hideout, just like the Players did at the start. With that thought in mind, Leah began scanning randomly around the aqueducts of northern Lancaster. And after watching for over half an hour, she found several suspicious figures with red names hanging over their heads, vanishing with a flash at the mouth of the aqueducts! Chapter 300: Cultists in the Aqueducts Unlike the Lancaster Hideout and its immediate surroundings which had been cleaned up and rebuilt by the Players into a subterranean city, the aqueducts of Lancaster North were as filthy and messy as it ever had been in the absence of Players, always full of a vile stench. It was fortunate that Leah wasnt your typical pampered princess in the days she spent in hiding, and the most such a hostile environment could get from her was a raised brow. Nonetheless, the aqueducts were very dark. It was fortunate that the red names were clear beacons that allowed the young girl to follow. Eventually, they gathered in a small partition within the aqueducts. There were four peopleall of them were wearing red cloaks. They were standing around an unusual magic circle drawn over the floor, which was surrounded by hundreds of blood-colored candles. Leah listened in on them for a while, but learned nothing aside from those people being cultists as they chattered away about something unintelligible. Frowning, and after checking that they were not a threat, she simply walked inside the partition. The red-cloaked cultists couldnt react immediately because her appearance was just too sudden. Still, their eyes immediately brightened at the sight of her beautiful face. A girl actually came knocking on our door! Such a fresh girl is definitely a rare, a top-quality ware! A Level 3 mohawk cultist exclaimed tilting his head. Ive not seen such a ravishing female after hiding here for the last few days. Come on, let me go first! Another Level 4 cultist with a slanted mouth was drooling. Hehe itll be better if you dont resist, girl. Dont be afraid, we will spoil you lots! A dumb-looking fat Level 3 cultist added. You three dont get it. Such a fine girl must either be sacrificed to the emissary or to our god! The only cultist who didnt look like a pig and actually resembled human shot back. He was Level 5. With that, they started to move closer to Leah. Leah, Warrior Princess, Level 46: Sighing with inward weariness, her eyes that were leveled at the cultists turned cold. She sheathed the whip sword which she had drawn with one hand, and stabbed her flagpole on the floor firmly with the other, keeping it standing with the flag untouched by the sewage of the aqueducts. On the other hand, the cultists watched her do so, assuming that she had been scared by them and was quietly giving up on any resistance by disarming herself. The Level 4 cultist who looked bent on satiating his sexual urges darted towards her, intent on getting something for himselfwhile the highest level cultist amongst them had decided to present the girl to their higher-ups or as an offering and he wouldnt get anything out of it, wouldnt it be normal for the captor to take extra steps or fumble a little when subjugating a captive? Be that as it may, he was sent flying with a single kick, his entire body bending in an unbelievable angle before he actually slammed into a wall, crumbling into a puddle of mosaic that dripped down the wall. Moments later, even the mosaic vanished into thin air, but the large splatter of blood over the wall and the floor made evident that everything wasnt an illusion. The other cultists stared at everything before them in astonishment, unable to understand at once what was happening. All of you are instakills with any skill and you really got on my nerves, but Ill keep one of you alive because I need information. Leah, meanwhile, remained nonchalant as she slowly put on her brass knuckles and smiled kindly. Old Vanke will get angry if I dont get back after the Third Round well, come at me then, all of you. Im in a hurry! So youre a little good at melee combat. But we still have the advantage in numbers! Get her! The Level 5 cultists drew a dagger that was convenient for fighting in a narrow place such as the aqueducts while calling for the other two to attack her as well. Leah took one small step back, evaded the dagger and countered with backhand punches that sent the two Level 3 trash flying and slamming heavily on the floor, fracturing it. They were promptly knocked out, although there was no telling if they were dead or merely unconscious In an instant, the trio were reduced to one Level 5 cultist. No way are you a believer of an orthodox god? But those moves didnt resemble anything of the top three churches Then, seemingly realized something, the cultist started growling with a warped face. O, god of mine All at once, dark red smoke flowed out from his body. Even if Leah wasnt familiar with spells because of her Warrior Princess class, she could still feel the evil contained within the dark red smoke And as the dark red smoke churned, the Level 5 cultists body suddenly doubled its size, his thick muscles bursting through his cloak, leaving only his loincloth covering his strapping body. His face had changed as well no longer human, his enlarged but distorted features were sharing space with thick tumors, with irregular bone spikes growing out of the edges of his face. Power overflowing! Im now three times stronger-such is my gods power! Young vixen who believes in a heretical deity, bow down before the power of my god! Leah merely looked up over the cultists head, where the hovering red name now reads: mutated cultist, Level 15. The girl sighed again, and became a little more solemn this time-she wasnt feeling threatened by the cultists ability, but merely because the cultist had insulted her God of Games. Blasphemers were punished by divine retribution. However, if said blasphemer were an insignificant maggot, it certainly wouldnt warrant divine retribution since it holds no worth. With that being the case, Leah, a believer of the God of Games has a duty to punish the cultist who had mouthed such blasphemy against her god. That convoluted spirit and that ugly delusion you must have sold the depths of your soul to that evil god too! Your face has fallen to such state, let alone your mortal spirit someone like you has no right to call yourself a human! Thus, vanish from this world as a monster! Golden thunderous bolts began to dance over Leahs fists. It was not a skill, however, but merely her drawing the strength within her own body and directing it towards her fists. Golden divine grace rampage! Tierra royal chain punch! Although Leah had trained in swordcraft before changing class to the Warrior Princess, it was only to normal for her to suddenly found herself weaponless in the days where she spent running. That was why she had learnt many unarmed martial arts along with the techniques of other weapons, most of which included how to throw punches. In fact, she had even learnt how to disarm and claim an opponents weapon, although she never had the chance to use it. And now, as she rained down a storm of fists down at the mutated cultist, his body crumbled like a cookie with no resistance at all! Each punch from Leah which was imbued with divine grace could pummel the cultist into dust. With the insurmountable gap in abilities, he couldnt even parry! Aaaaaaah! My god will not let this go! Unable to stop a fist or punch out once, all the mutated cultist could do was leave a curse before being punched into bits. Phew. That felt good. With her enemy slain and finally being able to vent her boredom after being kept locked in the guesthouse recently, Leah wiped nonexistent sweat off her brow, looking revitalized. It was only then that she realized something. Ah, I forgot to keep him alive in all the excitement I wonder if the small fry I sent flying are alive though Chapter 301: Pink Flatfish Western Lancaster, the venue of the Twin City Cup semi-finals. The rules of the final round didnt change since the last eight, with each battle exceedingly fearsome and thrillingwhich took a toll on the contestants even if it was a good thing for the spectating crowd. Still, taking into consideration that the contestants require time to require stamina and strength, the bishop of the Earth Sect had been asked to combine the previously used arenas into one massive arena after the quarter finals. It extended the duration of each respective match, giving each contestant who wasnt fighting time to rest. And what followed the last eight was naturally the last four, which consists of Edward, Mufasa, one monk from the Brilliant White Church and another magea believer of Magic Purple and a specialist in morphing. The semi-final fixture hence pits Mufasa against Edward, and the mage against the monk. Meanwhile, Corinth, mayor of Lancaster who was watching the match on a temporarily built balcony had a grave look on his face. There was a problem at the moment. As mentioned before, the fixtures were actually slightly tampered with. However, according to the idea in dividing the matchups, the believers of the God of Gamesthat is, the two strongest Players were suppose to fight in the final, and not the semi-final. But when one thought about it, the Players were either facing each other or some outstanding believer of another church in the third round, as if someone was deliberately trying to grind down the Players in spirit and strength (although it wasnt actually a problem for them since they had honed themselves to farm dungeons overnight). It could only mean that someone interfered when the Church of Games tried to tamper with their drawing lots, and there was a high chance that it was a turncoat on Corinths side. Therefore, despite its prosperous and stable appearance, Lancaster City was nothing other than a little boat caught in the heart of a storm, and was about to flip over in any given moment. Be that as it may, as the captain of the boat, Corinth must keep himself from showing fear or weakness, or those bloodthirsty sharks beneath the surface would swarm towards the boat and tear it into little pieces Corinth became melancholic at the mere thought. Grandpa, whats the matter? His grandchild Gwendolyn asked softly then, tugging at his sleeve. Your face looks scary. No, its nothing. Corinth recovered and patted the little girls head and smiled mildly, before turning towards the arena again with a frown and mumbling unknowingly. Its nothing. * * * Edward certainly wasnt aware of such messy affairs at the arena below since Angora and old Vanke would handle anything political. Moreover, he was on the arena alreadyall he had to do was enjoy the fight. Be that as it may, he still felt a little helpless whenever he looked at Mufasawho was still wearing his pink flatfish head mask. I say its the semi-finals now, so cant you take off that head mask? At least look as if youre taking this seriously. Well said, but I refuse! Mufasa replied, drawing the long sword that was exclusive to the Swordmaster class. I fight very seriously at any given moment! Edward sighed. Even if you say that, I dont think I could be serious with you looking like that. Is that so? Mufasa paused for a moment. Ive already changed my forum nickname to Pink Flatfish, though. What is that supposed to mean? Are you even in your right mind now Edward was confused now and not quite sure what Mufasa was getting at. Mufasa, however, still spoke seriously. Each match now is going to be announced on the System, right? Think about itif you lose, the System would display: Edward, Explorer of the Seven Seas has been defeated by Pink Flatfish. The forum would also get flooded three times in a row. Tch Edward inhaled sharply. He could feel a breeze in his scalp as the will to fight ignited in him, and even Happy Flame was ablaze in his hand, sensing its owners agitation. Who would bear such shame?! Come at me then! * * * As the semi-final match raged on, Princess Leah had managed to interrogate the Level 3 cultists who survived and received some useful information. After meeting up with her escort, she had promptly returned to the Lancaster Hideout and told the Players gathered there what she learnt after much trouble. To put it simply, they are Aojo cultists and they were up to some conspiracy. In other words, Your Highness, your information is useless, Marni said with a pained look. Most cities tend to have a few cells of cultists hiding, scheming ritual sacrifices or what not, even though not many of them succeed since a believer of evil god would have their brains affected by their own object of worship get it? Finding them is as difficult as finding certain special rats nest in the aqueducts. After all, this world was a host to many minor evil gods whose names were never even heard of. In fact, there were a lot of evil gods who earned a reputation and had actually fought the Seven Divine Fathersby throwing shurikens at them every several hundred years in a divine war. In reality, there was virtually no evil gods who could stand on equal footing against the Seven Divine Fathers, or they wouldnt have become sneaky evil gods in the first place. Under such circumstances, there would only be a lot of cultists who believes in respective evil gods, and wiping them all out was just impossible. In fact, the Rotten Bones Cult we wiped out before was one of the larger cultist groups, Marni said after explaining that reasoning. Moreover, the name Aojo doesnt sound like your typical evil god, and more like a title some powerful vile creature made up to charm humans. I really dont think its necessary to follow up on it, and we should just leave it to the city guards Thats fine, I have nothing to do anyway. Princess Leah appeared unconcerned with that. In fact, she was undeterred, and even went on to goad Marni. Dont you have nothing to do as well, Mister Marni? You couldnt make it to the Third Round even with your Resurrection Ankh, Reviving Armor and stacks of Cola. Or what, are you going to go back up to watch the match? Youre killing me, Your Highness Chapter 302: The Cultists Goal The Cultists Goal When the semi-final match was over, one more Player came to join the other murderous Players who were scrounging through Lancaster for cultists. Were actually hearing their cheers from way out here. Arent the Lancaster citizens being a little too passionate? Princess Leah shook her head after listening to the roars of the crowd from the west side of the city, before turning to the youth beside her. By the way, are you really not watching the finals?. Im not that keen on meeting other Players right now, Edward said, keeping a straight face even as he quietly turned off his System page-new messages were streaming in without end after the Explorer of the Seven Seas was beaten by the Pink Flatfish, which in turn made it the hottest topic there was. Still, it really was a shock. The equally miserable Marni who in fact didnt even make it into the Third Round was smiling kindly-either in schadenfreude or consolation, while gently clapping the youth on his back. That said, Im not too sure since I never challenge other players to duels, but if I remember correctly, Pink Flatfish I mean Mufasa was considered the weakest Player who couldnt join any party to farm the Living Dead Cellar and yet he made it into the Third Round and even defeated you, Edward. Could he have learnt some foreign skill? Foreign skills were techniques unavailable in the Players skill tree but could be learnt from believers, mages or martial artists of other churches. However, such skills require a huge investment of skill points and the effect was not assured, which was why rarely any Player would try to learn it. No, Pink Flat Mufasa was weak in his earlier days as a Swordmaster because the class is hard to level, especially because he took the branch of Kengyoku which doesnt have any attack skill upon class change, which was why it wouldnt even compare to other classes. As a first-rate Player, Edward was naturally more knowledgeable than Marni about such things compared to Marni, who was only focused on getting rich instead of PKs. Even after reaching Level 20, he explained, most Kengyoku skills remain chicken feed if I had to put my finger on it, that is because Kengyoku skills is very dependent on the persons awareness and skills, and they need a foundation of sword skills to even things out. The most obvious of that aspect is the skills derived from that class: parry and block. Those skills would not work if you mistimed it for the slightest fraction, which means the Swordmaster would be defenseless and take one blow without being able to retaliate. What makes it worse is that their HP growth isnt high and they cant tank, and one blow leaves them half dead Oh! Now that youve mentioned it, I did read on the forums that many Swordmasters were complaining that the Kengyoku branch is useless and its like having one less skill tree compared to other classes Marni exclaimed, looking enlightened. Well, they are not going to complain after the tournament. Thats right. As difficult as it is to master Kengyoku, there are great rewards-perfect mastery of the timing would allow the user to guard against almost any attack, leaving only a few AOE skills capable of hurting them. And as everyone knows, while AOE skills does deal significant damage, it also cost much strength. Therefore, if the Kengyoku user could exploit his chances and fight guerrilla style, its a matter of time that mages like me who are weak at close quarters combat to lose. Even if he was still upset about losing to Pink Flatfish, Edward actually acknowledged Mufasas abilities. Mufasa must have ground for a long time to come up with a flawless fighting style like that and master the right timing for all his Kengyoku skills. He didnt give up even though he had fallen to the bottom, and by persistent training, he eventually rose to the strongest ranks amongst us Players that mental fortitude alone really makes Mufasa outstanding. Marni stroke his chin and began to consider how he should draw Mufasa to his side. I wonder if he could become my escort. Its like Im useless what with the way youre putting it, Mister Marni. Strongest is just some nonsense joke amongst the other players who dont understand the truth-I would never win against Eleena or our highness over there. Edward complained, before showing a teasing smile while nudging Marni in the back. And I have the feeling that aside from a select few, anyone who knows who you are wont be your guardsmen. Urgh Marni had no comeback, and merely stared unhappily at the ceiling. I think theres a reason Mufasa improved so quickly. That was when Princess Leah, who was walking ahead both of them turned back-she did not deny that she was the strongest, but merely said, Ive actually sparred with him just after winter, but he wasnt that strong yet if I had to put my finger on it, his ability only improved rapidly after he took in the three children from the slums Fathers are strong huh Edward muttered thoughtfully. Your Highness! Just as Edward was about to say something, Boris, who had been scouting far ahead of them returned. Other royal guards had found three places where there was recent cultist activity, and from the rituals they held, they must have been from the same cult! So many?This time, not even Marni could stay composed. You are right, Your Highnesswith that many rituals, the cultists must be up to something with Lancaster empty and defenseless. Nonetheless, that was when the trio realized something The Twin City Cup was almost over. In other words, their window of an unguarded city would close immediately with the conclusion of the tourney. Therefore, this moment right now is the best chance the cultists have to accomplish whatever they were up to! Mark the location of the cultists activity! Leah told Boris even as she started pulling out her System map without hesitation, with the latter pointing out the coordinates as told. There are several arcs if we connect the three locations and the spot where Her Highness found the cultists before. Marni said as he helped studied the cultists base as well, but unlike Edward and Leah, he was knowledge enough to connect the arcs into a circle. Most rituals or even spell layouts are circular, and if we line them up together, the building at the center of the circle would be The envoys lodgings! Princess Leah immediately recognized the location and knew what goal the cultists had in mind. They want to assassinate the new emperors envoy and start a war! Chapter 303: Grand Final Alfonso Dirac was very bothered by the sight of the man wearing the pink flatfish mask in front of him. He had never faced such an opponent. It was clear that the man wasnt buffed by sacred arts, nor did the power of elemental elves or demons surround his body, let alone the bloodline potential of supernatural races. All he had was remarkable physicality, and was no more than a mortal with unmatched agility. After all, in contrast to Earth, humans possessed much better physical potential in a fantasy realm such as this-supreme physical strength was mere foundation with sufficient food and training, and knocking out cows with a single punch was nothing but the passing mark of physical prowess. On the other hand, while lifting 300 kilograms was a world record back on Earth, it was only the required standard for street performers for this world. As the first batch of Players were stricken refugees who never had a full meal and couldnt even afford to keep themselves warm, their basic physical aspects were hardly impressive. Therefore, even if a born refugee like Mufasa had reached Level 40, he was more or less the same as the monk in stats, and might lose out if it had been an elite monk such as Alfonso Dirac who made it into the final like him. After the Night Tide Dragon had slurped the leading monk of the Brilliant White Church down its throat as if he was a cuttlefish, Alfonso was elected unanimously as their temporary leader since he was strong in both spirit and ability. ers But ultimately, Lyante, the God of Light was one of the Seven Divine Fathers. Even if Xi Wei would empty his vault to groom his believers (why does it feel like it should be the other way round?), he could barely match the God of Light in improving his believers stats even though Lyante was merely giving his own believers scraps. Still, it had to be said that thanks to the brand-new doctrinal module that Xi Wei had founded, his believers were granted immense freedom instead of stiff rules and commandments, pumping his believers full of motivation to improve-even the weakest Players were diligently carrying out side quests to develop their Life Skills. And with their activeness-or indeed their ability to find trouble that far surpassed the believers of other churches, the Players didnt let Xi Wei down in the Twin City Cup and handed in their exam papers which satisfied him. Not only had their average standard surpassed your usual believer of any church, their elite could match the intermediate forces of the Brilliant White Church! While that comparison might make the Church of Games appear lacking, the Brilliant White Church remained the top religion as acknowledged by the entire continent, and one of the few factions with confirmed legendary beings. In fact, they were brimming with such strength and depth that they were an equally match against the third to tenth in the list of top ten religions. The second was only an exception because the Temple of Glory had confirmed legendary beings as well But that was digressing. Either way, even though Alfonso stood as one of the stronger middling forces of the Brilliant White Church, he would hold a place amongst the champions of the continent. Even so, he found himself extremely bothered against the pink flatfish. It was not as if he couldnt match his opponent in sheer brute strength-monks had refined themselves through ascetic training and empowered their will through traditional arts, meaning that Alfonso would neither feel pain nor suffer even if he was being handed a single-sided spanking, and might even get excited about it The reason he was bothered, however, was because his opponent wasnt strong at all. In fact, he was weaker than Alfonso himself in every possible aspect, and yet he proved peerlessly sharp and agile as if he could foresee every one of Alfonsos blows-no matter how he tried, the pink flatfish would perfectly parry or evade his attacks. It was not as if Pink Flatfish was using some extraordinary sword art or footwork. In fact, anyone looking closely could tell that his moves were extremely basic and limited: he would rapidly charge at Alfonso with a sliding step that prevents the monk from pulling away, parry any armed strike or sacred arts, slashing out or stabbing out in a straight line as if he was a meteor. Then, whenever he anticipated a counterblow, he would sidestep in evasion, and actually keep his upper body on an attack posture while his legs moved In other words, the monk couldnt reach the Pink Flatfish no matter how he tried, leaving him feeling frustrated as he punched out again and again only to hit thin air, let alone reach his target. It was even more irritating that the pink flatfish head kept flopping around flaccidly whenever Alfonso traded blows with his opponent. The taunt on that cartoonish fish face was simply overflowing with such mockery that increased Alfonsos blood pressure, his serene monk mink utterly ruffled. Dont get anxious dont get angry you mustnt let your opponent disturb the rhythm of the battle Alfonso warned himself again and again, assured that once his opponent would end the fight with a lightning-quick blow once he exposed an opening in Alfonsos own rhythm. Even so, Alfonso would only fail whenever he tried to feign an opening to trick his opponent. As such, he could only fight patiently and must not get anxious at all. Im. Very. Calm. Alfonso told himself. The skies are ever clear, the air ever refreshing. There is no need for anger. The Pink Flatfishs face: Heh. IL 1 Alfonso: Die right now flatfish!*** And here I was expecting the monk would be shouting stuff like stand and fight like a man or lets have an honorable match. Joe said, bemused by the sight of the monks hateful face. Amongst Edwards party, Joe and Gou Dan had been eliminated from the Third Round when they failed to get through to the last sixteen, whereas Jessica didnt make it into the Third Round at all because she wasnt allowed to use Sefarim in the tourney and was eliminated in the Second Round since her points were too low. Meanwhile, Eleena, the Church of Games own saintess was taking a break as ordered from the very start. Xi Wei himself had issued the decree to keep the girl from revealing herself, since it was best for every other church to be unaware of her existence before she could reach a certain threshold in power, and was disqualified alongside Jessica in the second round due to lacking points. Did you think everyone else is a big oaf like you? Gou Dan rolled his eyes at Joe even as he thought of a new post. Would you ask for magical beasts to retract their claws, extract their teeth, seal their skills to fight fairly with you in the wild? Of course not, Joe replied, jiggling his massive pecs as if he were using it to think. Claws, teeth and skills are a magical beast. And thats the same thing with Mufasa: judgement and evasion is a part of him, so why should he give up on his advantage in a fight? Gou Dan said as if it only made sense. By the way, what do you think about the title: Shocking! The Brilliant White Church monk is outmatched by the Pink Flatfish!? No impact Better change it to Shock! Youll never believe what the Brilliant White Church monk did against the Pink Flatfish!. Well, its you. Gou Dan murmured with deeper meaning even as he stared at Joe. But even as everyone focused on the match, there was a distant rumble reverberating from inside the city, with a dark mushroom cloud rising from within Chapter 304: Cult Leader? Twenty minutes before. Within a secret room in the Lancaster aqueducts, a red-robed man sat upon a stone throne-like chair as devotees prayed to him. Remaining impassive, he gently touched his left eye which was covered beneath an eye patch. It appears that the city watch had found out about the ritual, John Dhana mused. He then turned towards the believers who were completely unaware and were still repeating chant after chant and bowing at him, slight irritation rousing within him. Now appears to be the time to give up on this bunch of witless fools. He must act even though preparations were not complete, and move on to another city to take in new believers whether he succeeded or failed. It was fortunate that the Lancaster city watch reacted slowly to any incidents, and he would definitely have a lot of time to plan for his next move. And yet, that very thought evaporated from John Dhanas mind just a moment later. He touched his left eye again, sensing that a believers soul had entered. That could only mean that more of his believers were discovered and slain despite their resistance. Even if he was ready for it since multiple rituals meant greater risk of exposure, the rate at which the rituals were being found were too quick-as if the enemy had already found out most of their pattern. No, it must be a coincidence since the rituals is laid throughout the city in the formation of a spell circle they should have come knocking here if they noticed that secret. But even as that thought crossed his mind, two more ritual sites were exposed with every believer in it killed. No more waiting! Right now, I have to Even before he could finish that thought, one of the walls of his secret room collapsed as several figures rushed in. Dont move! A young man brandishing a torch (Happy Flames) was shouting. All of you has the right to remain silent, but anything you would say is meaningless! Surrender now or be prepared to fight! A young woman with brass knuckles shouted beside him as well. Im not being prejudiced; Im just saying that everyone here is wubbish! A steel bucket that sounded like a middle-aged man appeared by the entrance of the secret room as well, calmly lifting his sword at the direction of the two youths. Ahem. The youth cleared his throat. Sorry. The Mark 8s optics act weird even though all parts are plus seven Thus, the middle-aged man turned, this time aiming his weapon at the rump of one of the cultists who shuddered even as he clutched his backside. M-My lord Godchild The dozens of cultists who were surrounded all turned towards John Dhana, but were not panicking soon enough after seeing him being unaffected as if they had gained backbone. In fact, they were even trying to outflank the three Players now. Humph believers of traitor gods, I see. John sneered even as he rose from his stone throne-standing around 1.7 meters, he was around Edwards height. Nevertheless, a horrific atmosphere extended from him even as he got to his feet, suffocating those caught in it as if a giant was looking down upon ants. To think that you few could see through my city devouring formation and picking up on my intentions to claim the souls of Lancaster I must praise you for your sharp instincts. Wait a minute. Do you mean to say that you werent trying to start a war by assassinating the envoy of the new emperor with your ritual? Princess Leah did a double take and asked by reflex, even though she was caught off guard by Johns rising aura. Envoy of the new emperor? What the hell is that? Leah: John: In the briefest exchange of looks, both sides realized that they were mistaken as an awkward air swirled in the secret room. You were about to sacrifice the whole city!? Leah then shouted. I shall punish you for your grievous deed! Woof, the traitors of the gods bark! John shouted as well. Stop me if you can! The two determinedly and cooperatively kept quiet as they moved on to the next stagewith John raising his right hand and snapping his fingers. Darkness filled the room in a split second! What vile trick is this!? I cant see a thing! Marni cried out in surprise since his weird helmet weakened his vision in the first place. Nothing, he only turned off the Illum lights Edward replied, his vision still clear thanks to Happy Flames. That being said, Happy Flames itself has a limit to its illumination-couple that with the fire dancing unsteadily on its tip, the shadows around them appeared to be wild dancing fairies, even though the cultists themselves were fidgeting around in confusion as well. Nonetheless, when Edward eventually brightened Happy Flames to illuminate the entire secret room once again, John was already gone from his seat. Right now, he had mixed himself into the crowd of cultists and changed his appearance. How na?ve, to attempt surrounding him with just three humans! Being a serial criminal who wreaked havoc across the land, this was not the first time John Dhana had been surrounded by followers of orthodox churches. Only In fact, he was rich with experience on how to handle such situations. Now, I just have to drive these foolish believers and stay with them as they make a break for the exit even though those two younglings over there look weaker, they must be elites since they are brave enough to confront so many of us on the other hand, although that clumsy heavy infantry looks powerful, his movements would be slow. The believers only have to knock them down for me to slip away Johns mind moved swiftly as he planned his next move. But he soon paled in shock when he found the youths standing at the opening of the wall and the steel bucket near the door turning simultaneously towards himself. No way! How could they see through my disguise?! A level thirty-two elite mixed amongst a bunch of level eight small fry? Do you think were blind? Hence, before John could react, the girl just now had dashed ahead of him and punched him viciously in the cheek with her fist that was surrounded with golden bolts of holy power, causing his face to cave in as teeth flew out! That was such a horrific sight that Edward felt his teeth ache just by watching. Chapter 305: Escape Even though Princess Leahs punch was as fierce as it was violent and literally knocked Johns teeth out of his jaw, the cultist leader was no ordinary human either-in the split second he touched the floor, he melted into it like a fish leaping into water. Is that an Earth Sect sacred art or an earth-element spell? Or could it be a camouflage? Princess Leah did a double take, before quickly realizing that she had been misled. If John really had such an ability, couldnt he have slipped into the ground and escape in the confusion just now? Why would he have to try to give the slip by hiding in the crowd, only to have his teeth knocked out? Nonetheless, Princess Leah gave up on thinking after a brief moment of hesitation, and directly punched out with full strength at the spot where John had slipped beneath. All at once, the floor crumbled three inches deep like a wok! The sheer force of the punch kicked up dust and debris out in a circle around her, but that was not the end. Ora-ora-ora-ora-ora! As her fists rained down, each of her punches were piledrivers that hammered deep into the greened bricks, knocking the floor an inch down with ever further punch why debris flew wildly around her. The cultists around her were left dumbstruck, with most of them thinking that they had run into some monster disguised as a human and left shuddering. Some who were more knowledgeable had become pale and were praying quietly. Heavens, are the barbarians of the plains coming to invade Lancaster? Even Edward, who was still blocking the opening on the wall was sweating. He could tell that Princess Leahs power had increased once again-as expected of the Warrior Princess, a hidden class alongside Eleenas Saintess-in-training. That muscle strength had to be much higher than people of normal classes such as himself Moreover, Leahs chain punches were not wasted. The debris and dust were rapidly outlining a humanoid form in a corner: John had merely conjured an illusion of him diving into the floor, all he did was cloak his form and hide in a corner! Still, it was obvious that he had skill in illusions since he could hide his name as well, although it was a pity that Leah had exposed him with sheer strength. What mutha-f*cking monster are you?! Knowing that he was exposed, the cult leader dispelled his illusion as he glared at the girl who looked skinny and frail, no different from an ordinary girl. Im just a mage! Leah declared, puffing her chest. Who do you think you are fooling! For once, Edward, Marni, and every cultist in the room shared the same thought. That said, the Warrior Princesss class abilities revolved around buffing her teammates and casting halos although she has various attacking skills as well. From that alone, her class was more resembling of a magic swordsman. Youve forced my handtheres no going back now that it has come to this! John drew out a dagger he concealed in his chest and pointed its edge at Leah. Both Marni and Edward rushed forward by instinct to help-while players could be revived after death, it was rather unpleasant to have a noble princess like Leah being killed right before their eyes. The person in question, however, was not at all concerned. The cult leader was only Level 32 and far beneath her, just as it was proven from their clash just now that he wasnt a Boss, but a normal small fry with an elite template. If she were to be a little more arrogant, she could beat two of him even if she gave a handicap and fought only with one hand! Still, cultists were a special local product for this world, and what made them most revolting was that they had some bizarre sorcery that varied according to the evil god they worshiped. Some evil gods would even personally turn them into aberrant lifeforms early on, each of which would have the potential to turn the tables even against high-level Players. Die! John roared and flung his dagger at Leah, but just as the Players were at their most alert, he turned and ran. Stop him, Mister Marni! It was in that moment when a drawback of the Players rich experience in combat presented itself with the worst timingtheir instincts kept their eyes glued to the dagger, and when they eventually decided that the trick wouldnt do much harm, they already missed their chance to prevent Johns escape. And John was sticking to his plan from the start to run towards Marni, at the same time confounding a few of his cultist followers with his illusion spells to run with him towards the exit. With humans being social creatures, the other cultists who were left aimless naturally stuck to their group. As a cultist leader who bewitched minds, John naturally was aware of that. In fact, most evil god believers were weak enough in heart and mind than the average person and were more prone to trickery and getting swept along by groupthink. That was why John only needed to use a bit of his strength to beguile the stronger cultists, and the others would stick to their usual habits of following them to pour towards the exit. Hah! Nonetheless, with a loud battle cry, Marni dispersed the crowd with a single punch, knocking the first few cultists to the floor and unconscious. Even though Marni died all the time and appeared to be a weakling, that was relative to circumstances. He was usually instakilled by inescapable calamities or extraordinarily powerful Boss monsters. Compared to those, the noob cultists whose level didnt even reach two digits didnt even make Marni feel any pressure-if he really died to them, he might really have to consider retiring. And yet, the cultists leader had achieved what he wanted: While Marni was subjugating the other cultists, he had used his disguise ability once more to evade Marni. After him! Boris and the others are coming to take the small fry off our hands. We cant let him get away! Leah shouted. At the same time, she had whipped out a weird spherical object, narrowing her eyes as she tracked Johns escape route and promptly threw the dye ball which was made with a Junglewalkers Hundred Huntings skill, hitting the cultist leader on the head. But even though he could hardly disguise himself after being marked, John was rapidly approaching the surface after escaping the three Players encircling. And for a master of disguise like him, everything would be alright once he slipped into a crowd. Those minions of some unknown church would never find him! Still, he ended up running into Players who were coming towards him just as he left the aqueducts. No way! Its such a short time between now and the ritual ground being found they shouldnt have the time to call the others! How did they know I was running this way?! Poor John would never learn for the rest of his life that there was a little gimmick known as the Player forums that allowed real-time communication. Even if it was flooded with headlines of Pink Flatfish Defeats Edward. Chapter 306: Blasphemer No, I cant get caught here! Touching his left eye, John Dhana affirmed himself and turned to run towards the other direction. He was heading to the heart of Lancaster which was usually heavily patrolled by the city watch, although those bustling streets were now empty after most citizens had left for the western district to watch the ongoing tourney. There was no crowd for John to blend in, and his camo skill was ineffective with the dye ball still in effect, meaning that he was going headlong into a trap at this time. Behind him, Leah, Marni, and Edward had also climbed out of the aqueducts and met up with the other players who agreed to help them catch the cult leader on the forums. That direction he ended up running towards the envoys consulate after running everywhere else Edward couldnt help being surprised by the turn of events. He really might have nothing to do with the envoy, and had only gone that way because he was desperate and had no choice. The envoy of the new emperor has his personal guards as well so it shouldnt be a cause for worryhe is not getting away. Marni said, having taken off his helmet to breathe in mouthfuls of air as if he had been suffocating. By the way, do you think the craftsmen back at starter village could help adjust my armor size? Im becoming more muscular lately. Edward stared at Marnis girth but said nothing. He definitely wasnt going to provoke the reward giver. No, we have to stop him right now! On the other hand, Princess Leah was being unusually serious. Have you forgotten what he said before? Wha Edward was taken aback for a moment but recovered quickly. Are you talking about that city-devouring ritual? Wasnt it incomplete since weve found and destroyed all his ritual grounds? Ive learned a little heraldry, and ritual circles are basically magic circles, which includes partial contents of heraldry and according to my mentor, making the core of any circle always tends to be the simplest process. Every other process is to complement or perfect it, mostly to ensure that it could activate, run normally and afford better control, or to tether and bind energies or anything else within the circle. Leah explained things for the Players beside her even as she dashed towards where the cult leader fled. The reason that cult leader would run to the center of the circle even after all that has happened is not because he wants to confound our eyes, but because the core of the circle is mostly complete and could be charged with some special move! Isnt he afraid that the ritual circle would lose control? Edward asked, stunned. Compared to failing entirely from the start, its even more upsetting to fail when something unexpected happens just as your scheme is nearing completion. That is why there is nothing these cultists wont do! Marni, meanwhile, appeared to agree with Leahs opinion. Its like when you are holding in peeits really horrible to keep holding it in than to pee halfway and try to hold it in again. I think that analogy is fundamentally different from the current situation. Edward calmly retorted. Even as they spoke, they had arrived in front of the consulate and found John Dhana somehow climbing up to the roof of the embassy, towards a lightning rod that was sculpted into the shape of a thunderbird. Is there anything special about that place? Edward was confused by the cult leaders behavior. Could the mechanism to charge the ritual circle really have been placed there? Its because thats the dead center of Lancaster itself! That was when Gerald, who was still a city knight of Lancasters city watch had arrived at the scene. Early on, Lancaster had been built around the mayors residence, but as the trade district prospered and expanded quicker than the slums and other residential districts, the center of the city shifted here instead. Gerald? Youre here too? Marni was surprised by the presence of his former escort who had failed to stop his death. Ive got a quest from the System, Gerald replied, a newbie Player albeit one who started things off at Level 15 (with combat strength that could match Level 15 Players, but Xi Weis system has no AI and only determines basic stats). Something about having me stopping a cultists schemes Oh, thats true I didnt notice since weve been busy chasing that bugger, but Ive got the quest too! Edward said, noticing the system notifications when he opened his System page as well. (Side quest: Investigate and capture the mysterious cultist) Wait, mysterious cultist? Werent they believers of that evil god named Aojo or something? Marni had clearly received the same mission as well, and was muttering to himself in confusion after checking his own page. Meanwhile, Gerald had ordered the other city watch soldiers to assume formations and fire their arrows at the rooftop of the consulate. Given that Lancaster was a merchants city, the city watch was well equipped compared to other cities even though their individual standard and quality were irregular and average. It was a city of trade after all. Mayor Corinth wouldnt mind that little bit of money Soon enough, John Dhana was struck by three arrows and bleeding profusely. His movements appeared enfeebled, as if he couldnt hold on to the roof tiles and would drop off the roof at any moment. Weird he really is level thirty-two, but isnt he too weak? Edward wondered, suddenly feeling unsettled. Even though his template wasnt elite-let alone Boss. Even so, normal beasts would already reach the threshold of supernatural by Level 32, and no matter how weak the cult leader was, there was no way a few arrows would do him in But even as Edward pondered, John Dhana had already climbed to the top of the consulate. Heaving, he glared down at everyone below, his face now pale from blood loss. However, he was also smiling fearlessly.I hate minions of the gods like you the most! Most of all, I hate those so-called gods who only ever abuse this world! I have seen people fighting to present their offerings to the gods, leaving families without homes and innocents reduced to ashes because of the gods wrath! The gods have no reason to exist at all. All they do are take what they want from this world! Such meaningless beings! Mortals, superhumans, humans or even elves -every life in this world are no different from livestock within their clutches! Everyones fate is at the gods mercy! The gods drain every sentient being dry; they are the enemies of all living things! They are a tumor unto this world! John Dhana was becoming more hysterical with every passing moment, and he eventually drew out a small, exquisite silver knife from the pendant hanging over his chest. He gripped the knifes hilt with both hands and aimed it straight at his face. And I we! We shall banish all those lofty monsters without exception from this world! And in the next moment, the edge of the knife stabbed viciously into the socket of his left eye. Glory to Finnia! The Silver Oak shall never dim! Chapter 307: Aojo In his divine kingdom, Xi Weis body was flashing like the three-minutes Ultraman color timer. It meant that he was thinking. At first, he was not really concerned about the cultists that Leah and the others found. For one, his attention was mostly occupied by the Twin City Cup, and he was also keeping an eye on Fishmen Island at the same time so that he was ready when the Ocean Goddess turned her gaze upon it once more. Secondly, Xi Wei more or less shared Marnis opinion that there was no major cultist group hiding in Lancaster. After all, the Players were Xi Weis eyes, and he didnt have to deliberately take notice of wherever they were since any new places they go would be marked on the minimap. Therefore, there basically werent any blind spots on the map in Lancaster where the Players were present in great numbers. Almost everything was exposed to Xi Weis eye, and if he wanted to, he could directly use his Divine Eye to observe places where his believers couldnt enter-such as civilian houses. That was also why Xi Wei did not directly assign Leahs group any quests at first. In fact, he only realized that something wasnt right after they had found the secret room where the cultists were hiding and ran into the cult leader. And without using his Divine Eye, he was unable to clearly make out the cult leaders appearance too! The situation was actually due to Divine Grace and not some rare powerful ability. It could easily be exposed with Divine Eye, which made divine grace a form of protection of the patron god over their believer, a declaration to other gods that Ive got this persons back. Reasonably speaking, anyone could earn such a basic Divine Grace if their rank was high enough in their church, which was the case for believers from other churches participating in the Twin City Cup. In other words, there definitely was an evil god behind the cultists back. But for some bizarre reason, Xi Wei was unable to sense belief in the cult leader. Instead, divine energy was swirling around the other cultists John Dhana had bewitched in the secret room, offered towards the evil god Aojo that they were all talking about. It should have been impossible for a person without belief to become a leader of a cult, especially in this world where the gods truly existed. Moreover, Aojos name didnt exist in the memories in the God of Games divinity. It probably wouldnt be any famous evil god, and was at best third-rate like Rotten Bones. That was why Xi Wei decided that the cult leader was a problem, and only then did he assign Leah and the others a new quest to have them capture or directly take him out-the gods could get much information they want even if its from a corpse. In the end, both Xi Wei and his believers witnessed the same sight. *** Leah watched as the cult leader spat blasphemy before stabbing that suspicious knife into his own eye. Black blood began to shoot out of his eye at irrational volumes, raining over the roof of the consulate and dyeing it black. At the same time, John Dhanas body bloated like an expanding balloon before bursting apart with a loud boom on the lightning rod! The mushroom cloud of an explosion rushed into the air. But it was not over even though the cultist leader was now in pieces. Instead, it was just beginning! As the mushroom cloud dispersed, and the rain of black blood stopped, an arc that would upset Newton to death appeared as it shot towards the skies, converging in the air above the consulate to form a massive black sphere. Edward, who didnt know what was happening but was absolutely sure that this mustnt continue immediately unleashed Black Dragon Hellfire-his most powerful skillat the sphere. The black fiery dragon, however, was devoured entirely once it struck the sphere, leaving not a single spark behind! The other players tried to attack it as well to no effect. Meanwhile, the sphere was continuing to expand-it was almost a hundred times larger than the cult leader now, and there was just no explain how a single persons body could have contained so much black goo. Right now, it hanged in the air like a hovering meteor, and the Players felt a pressure they hadnt felt for a long time as it palpated an intimidating presence as if it could crash down with apocalyptic force. But in the next split second, the sphere split open down the middle as its entire body parted, revealing crimson eye beneath Yes, it wasnt actually a meteor, but a colossal eye! What manner of monster is that Leah stared at the horrific eyeball in the sky and couldnt help feeling goosebumps. The System page appeared before her once more then. (Ding] (Side quest: Investigate and capture the mysterious cultist failed] [New urgent quest started] [The crusade against Aojo, the manmade Abomination] * * * Xi Wei immediately picked up on what was unusual about that colossal eyeball when it appeared. It was no natural monster, but a container created with an unknown method and imbued with a certain level of divine attributes. Its purpose must have been to contain those impure divine energy from the cultists. If Xi Wies hunch was right, it must be what the blasphemer had been counting on-even though John Dhana had cursed the gods with his last breath, the monster he made was basically the crude replica of a divine being.In turn, the purpose he had for forming a cult was to gather divine energy. Nonetheless, the monster still lacked a vital part: a divinity that purifies divine energy and convert it into divine power. Moreover, it had no Authority that allowed it to interfere with Rules, and it couldnt even simulate the Divine Order that Rules manifest. In fact, the divine attribute that it had which shrouded itself from the eyes of other gods and held its divine energy was no more than a derivation of the three essences of a god. This counterfeit of counterfeits made through such artificial means wouldnt compare to the most inferior of evil gods, let alone any god. If Xi Wei had to put his finger on it, that was no more than a new form of Abomination. Be that as it may, such a technique capable of allowing mortals to reach the domain of the gods is almost at the level of the gnomes who were raising their banners against the gods in the last era Even an outsider like Xi Wei was surprised by how unbelievable the entire situation was. The humans of this age are really full of surprises, though Finnia? Silver Oak? The God of Games memories doesnt have anything related to those terms I should ask the lion about it. But before that, lets have the Players deal with the current situation Chapter 308: You Are No Longer the Foe I Must Defeat The explosion seized monk Alfonsos attention for a split second. Even though he promptly recovered thanks to his constant spirit training, he realized that now was the best instant for him to defeat the Pink Flatfish. And just as he imagined, the head mask didnt affect his opponents vision at all, and Alfonso could sharply sense that the Pink Flatfish had his attention caught by the explosion, leaving him distracted in the middle of the arena. There was no doubt that it would be his undoing! The reason behind that was simple. Alfonso was better be it in strength, speed, and every other physical attribute. The reason the two of them fought so fiercely until now was solely because of the Pink Flatfishs instincts and technique in actual combat were far better than Alfonso. He would keep evading each of Alfonsos lethal blows, stopping it from time to time with parries and slowly build his advantage from there, seizing control of the flow of the match bit by bit. That being said, both his evasion and parrying was built upon his extreme focus! Now that his attention had shifted somewhere else and he couldnt focus entirely in the fight, Alfonsos win was within grasp! That was how he had assumed things would go. Just as he concentrated on seizing his chance and attempted to knock the Pink Flatfishs weapon from his hand with a charge to force a yield, the seemingly absent-minded foe moved even quicker than before-evading Alfonsos attack by moving to his side, he then parried Alfonsos strike from his weakest angle. No, thats not a parry! Alfonsos face fell when he sensed the impact on his weapon: He couldnt hold on to it, because the Pink Flatfish had deflected his strike and handily knock it out of his hands! The monks face darkened as he watched his weapon fly into the distance and dropped to the ground with a loud clang. You Were you pulling your punches all along?! Aside from that reason, Alfonso just couldnt imagine how the Pink Flatfish could suddenly turn so strong to instantly knock away his weapon. No way. The Pink Flatfish replied with calm composure. Deflecting is much more difficult than parrying since its a high-level skill with a low success rate. Naturally, I have to completely understand your combat style before I could use it. What Alfonsos eyes were bulging in disbelief. The Pink Flatfish had completely figured out his combat style after just dueling him for minutes? Impossible! The Brilliant White Church monks style which was passed down over a century and not just for show! Taking a deep breath, Alfonso forced back his spiritual fatigue and allowed his holy power to flow (a strength unique to superhumans of the Brilliant White Church, equivalent to the Players mana bar and the Temple of Glorys combat aura) and circulate around his body. His rather exhausted body regained top form once more. After all, the Brilliant White Church must not lose face here. Even when disarmed, the monks had learnt to fight unarmed-now was the time to hit the Pink Flatfish at least once even if Alfonso had to stake his life on it! With that resolve, Alfonsos aura did not slump from losing his weapon. Instead, he was charged even stronger than before! The Pink Flatfish, however, had sheathed his sword and walked off the arena! What are you doing!? Alfonso felt extremely frustrated and upset, as if he punched into cotton. Youre no longer the foe I must defeat now. The Pink Flatfish calmly said then, that funny fish face of his no longer leveled at Alfonso but within the city. There, a dark colossal eye was slowly rising. One did not have to open their sense to clearly feel its oppressiveness and malice. Thats *** The giant eye was staring at the Players and city watch soldiers who had gathered beneath the consulate. It wasnt doing anything, however, but just by being present, the building beneath it was slowly turned to cheesy goo by an unknown force. Even though the Players kept their distance, the Players realized that the durability of their various items were slowly decreasing as well. Beside them, white smoke was billowing from the bodies of the city watch soldiers, with their clothes and exposed skin slowly melting off. Moreover, under the giant eyes stare, the soldiers had lost all of their ability to fight. The Players therefore had to chase them off and have them hold the line some distance away. Despite the giant eye having no vocal organ, it was still speaking with a human voice-and it was not just one voice either, but thousands of different voices belonging to man, women, elderly and children weaved into one and speaking at the same time, and otherworldly yet wide-ranging chorus. This is the threshold of the gods, because even the human body could reach the domain beyond the supernatural! Do you still have hopes for the gods who exploit minions like you after bearing witness to me? The giant eye said then. Ill show mercy because we are all humans, and as long as you are willing to renounce the darkness to join me so that you wouldnt remain as the gods lackeys, I shall forgive your sins and even bestow the same measure with which I had become god! The words and the voice had a mysterious bewitching power to it-any believer who was less than a zealot of any church might have fallen for it since Divine Grace was mostly exclusive to the churches hierarchy, and many believers go their entire lives without ever witnessing a single godly miracle. And yet, the giant eye was facing the Playersbelievers of the God of Games. They were very different from the believers of any other church because they were constantly in touch with a miracle: The System which Xi Wei, the God of Games bestowed upon them. All of them had a definitive goal in improving themselves through various aspects such as levels, skills, and items, unlike other believers who were left hopeless and confused about the future.Furthermore, almost every believer of the Church of Games had all experienced bitterness in life, and the one who pulled them out of futureless lives and gifted them hope was none other than Xi Weis Church of Games That was why its bewitching wouldnt work on them. Enough with that nonsense! What right have you to call yourself human when you dont even look like one! Princess Leah shouted as she waved the flag spear bearing the crest of the Church of Games, allowing it to soar in the air. I know now your pain that led you to hate the gods so bitterly, just as I wouldnt defend the other gods. Even so, your blasphemous words had insulted my faith-the God of Games of whom granted me hope and salvation from endless despair! I wont ask for you to apologize from the God of Games, but keep your eye open, monster, and watch as we beat you until you cry! The other players then echoed her raging bellow with roars of equally righteous anger. Hear, hear! Screw you! Do you think youre better just because your eye is bigger? Drop dead, monster! In the next split second, the Players began to charge at the monster that was virtually an evil god to them without self-regard. Chapter 309: Turning Point Skills were raining down like a thunderstorm of unlimited budget, shooting towards the massive dark eyeball hovering in the sky in an all-encompassing assault. It was not really effective, however, as the Players could see that Aojos HP bar was only reduced by a minor fraction. That said, it was not as if Aojo was so exceedingly powerful that the Players skills were harmless because had yet to reach the lower threshold of the gods. It was at best an Abomination, and the Players attack was actually effective. Even so, the monster which was a namesake of evil eye (in Spanish) had an attack called Gaze, dealing continuous damage to anything in its vision aside from what it willfully exempted. That naturally includes the skills that the Players were bombarding it with. Every skill launched at it would be nullified preemptively by its gaze, and only some high-level damage skill beyond level 40 would survive Gazeeven then, the skill would be having less than one-tenth of its original effect, and the damage would naturally be very low. What was more upsetting was that even though the monster was basically one big eyeball, there was not just one crimson pupilthere were actually several, that kept darting around the eyeball. In other words, Aojo could stare at multiple directions at the same time with no chance of leaving a blind spot! We cant go on like this. We wont kill it even if everyone drains themselves dry! Edward panted, not because of physical fatigue but because of slight mental weariness. After all, ultimate skills beyond level 40 were as devastating as it was heavily taxing. Even Edwards MP bar could barely last a few shots he would need to have some Pepsi when hes drained, and that potion-chugging strategy had its limits. It was not as if he would develop immunity towards the potion itself, but the problem was very real: colas always leave drinkers feeling bloated and they couldnt drink too much in a short time. In fact, imagine how awkward it would be if you start burping halfway through a spell chant You could try throwing me up there. Beside Edward, Joe offered a suggestion to the group-he had been idling because his range of attack wouldnt reach Aojo. He usually would be taking the role of tank, but the enemy this time was unique which left the tank position ineffective. After all, Aojos vision would constantly deal damage to the Players around it, just as the tanks Taunt skills wouldnt work at all. Now, Edward and the others shared a glance before he nodded at Joe. Got it. Be careful. Jessica flicked Sefarim to cast a shield over Joe, whereas Gou Dan promptly turned into a black bear, picking Joe who was a head shorter now and flung him into the air with all his strength. After that, Edward brandished Happy Flames and unleashed a powerful black fireball that sent Joe flying once more towards Aojo just when he was about to be pulled down by gravity. As the black fireballs momentum waned, Eleenas Spear of Victory came as expected, bursting apart Jessicas shield (which was cast to prevent friendly fire) over Joe and shredding his HP bar by a small notch, although it sent Joe flying even quicker towards Aojo. Still, Aojo naturally noticed the Flappy Bird strategy as well as the person who was rapidly approaching it. Hence, it instantly directed several of its crimson pupils towards Joe, intent on vaporizing him before he could reach it! I knew you would do that! Spirit Familiar! Joe laughed cheekily as a human silhouette appeared before him, making a cool pose as it appeared just before it was mostly vaporized in the next split second. Spirit Familiar: Joe finally reached his enemy after sacrificing his spirit familiar, and he clutched Aojo tightly with an embrace. The tainted divine energy within the Abominations body became agitated just as its energy went on a frenzy, tearing wounds all across Joes body-he would be bleeding all over by now if the Players blood hadnt been harmonized by Xi Wei. Its over! Eat this! Every muscle over Joes body tightened as his veins bulged, while his MP bar was being converted to physical strength similar to aura. Thus, he roared. Suplex! Nothing happened. Joe was bombarded by Aojos pupils even as it sweated buckets, and he fell to the ground below while billowing smoke. Edward: Jessica: Eleena: Gou Dan: That idiot! That boss is permanently immune no matter how you look at it! You should be using an ultimate skill at that point! After foiling the sudden strike, Aojo began to reorganize its defenses against the Players. With ordinary measures now ineffective, the battle became attritional once again. Even so, the Players were losing people quicker than Aojo was losing HP-after all, not every Player could afford Resurrection Ankhs or Reviving Armors, and anyone not revived by Holy Lancers or clerics were going to be locked in the black hut for three days. As the losses piled, even Xi Wei couldnt bear to watch in his divine kingdom. If the battle hadnt started so suddenly, Xi Wei could have set up a resurrection channel like he did in events before this to prevent losses albeit by consuming his divine power. Even so, making one now from bottoms-up was too late. He had also used up a lot of his divine power in the Twin City Cup, and there would be unimaginable consequences if he used up all the capital he had right now. Should I just manifest down below, slap that ball half to death and let the Players finish the job? Just as Xi Wei decided to risk the other gods noticing himself and attempted to bestow a divine miracle to protect his believers, a turning point had quietly arrived for the battle in the world below. *** Mufasa was leaping from roof to roof to try getting close to Aojo, but its threefold vision allowed it to easily avoid him.If Aojo was already a poor opponent for tank classes, it was a much worse adversary for Swordmasters who took the Kengyoku route. There was no parrying or deflecting vision, and they would have to get very close to inflict damage-Mufasa just couldnt shorten the distance between him and the monster for an attack, let alone the fact that it kept getting away because it can fly! Damn it Im blurring out Mufasa murmured. His HP was already on a critical level after being Gazed by Aojo for so long. The world spun around him, but a figure soon appeared beside him just as he was about to drop dead and casted a white radiance at him. In the next split second, his HP rose by a whole notch and his spirit was reinvigorated. He looked up, expecting a support Player, only to realize that it was Alfonso, the Brilliant White Church monk who had somehow appeared beside him and healed him slightly with holy light. Theres no way Im letting you die here when our duel is not over Alfonso said, turning away and averting Mufasas gaze. Well definitely see whos better after we had slain that malice! Chapter 310: Plan Flocks of wyverns were streaking through the skies, each of them carrying wyvern knights from the Temple of Glory carrying five-meter long dragon lances with which they constantly fired spiral blasts at the evil god. At the same time, followers of the Earth Sect who couldnt attack Aojo because it was floating high in the air would keep creating small bunkers for others, blocking the Abominations vision and keeping them immune from damage. The believers of Gurus, the God of Hunt were also creating arrows and bolts with their sacred arts, just as Alchemie followers were freely handing out their precious potions, providing it to believers from other churches without charge. Even the clerics (not monks) of the Brilliant White Church who usually live like princes were heading into the bunkers, volunteering to heal the injured. For once, every church that participated in the Twin City Cup had set aside the human grievances between them and joined hands against Aojo. While it appeared that the gods did not have a hand in this, and that it was merely humans working together to protect the city from a common enemy capable of threatening it and solely showing true human potential, the Players who had been the lynchpin of the attack knew very well that the God of Games had guided the partnership. If the God of Games did not immediately assign a quest once the Abomination revealed itself so that every Player nearby rallied together to attack it even if it meant dying, the believers from other churches would not have come to help so decisively. In the end, humans were social creatures. To put it kindly, they have empathyjust as it could also mean that they liked to go with the flow. The truth was that the brave warriors who charged into the battlefield were not actually being courageousthe environment where everyone was putting their lives on the line had infected them, forcing a rush of blood into their heads that denied them the ability for calm judgement. And it was precisely because the Players had taken the lead that the believers from other churches followed, binding themselves as one to fight Aojo together! Even though the Players had been caught in a tough fight early on, losing many of their owns since their clerics hardly being able to catch up with their reviving, their hard work did not go to waste. The bitter confrontation had kept Aojo pinned right where it was without a chance of escape, allowing the other churches who rushed to the scene later on to enforce a perimeter around it. Still, that did not change the fact that Aojos Gaze was too unbalanced a power, leaving most attacks against it ineffective and barely damaging How are we supposed to win again a monster like that? Edward muttered, rubbing his own belly which was becoming bloated due to too much Pepsi. At the same time, he was looking out in distress from a firing hole to find Aojo who was still throwing its weight around everyone. You did mention before that its an Abomination, right? Its a pity theres no Saint or Saintess amongst you, or I have an idea that we could try. The elven sacred lance Sefarim said then, having morphed into a young elf again to reduce the burden on Jessica and to take a break. At her words, Edward and the others shared a glance before exclaiming as one. Couldnt you have said that earlier!? Eh? But arent holy ones so important to their churches that they arent allowed to the frontlines without permission from popes or other heads? Sefarim countered blankly, startled by their reaction. That applies to most churches. Do you think our church is most churches? Edward replied. Fair enough Sefarim said, facepalming even as remembered the Players silly and bizarre behavior. But I dont think thats a good thing Ahahahaha I never mentioned it to Seffie here since I never had chance Jessica said, scratching her face awkwardly while nudging Eleena on her shoulders to make the introduction. Actually, Eleena is the Saintess of our church. Eleena, who was holding a lollipop in her mouth proudly puffed her chest which did not really move at all. In-training, though. Gou Dan added. * * * Sefarim felt an unusual sense of dj vu when she learned that the young girl who was constantly sucking on her lollipops and had not much presence to speak of was an important Saintess. Still, out of trust toward her contractor, she revealed the plan she had in mind to Edwards group-without Joe, since the muscle king hadnt returned after dropping to the consulate beneath Aojo. Now I shall explain things a bit, Sefarim said then. Abominations possess divine attributes, but their bodies cant contain it like the gods do, and the best they could do is create a core inside themselves to embed the attributes She then paused for a moment before continuing, Of course, the antique elves of the Moon Pavillon also believe that the form of Abominations is built in imitation of divinity itself but thats not important. The point is that destroying the Abominations core would hurt it very much, and killing it directly would be possible if the damage was really serious! In other words, we should be destroying the core directly? Edward asked, frowning. Well said, but we cant even penetrate its armor right now Edward did not need to finish his sentence for the others to know what he meant.If they couldnt even penetrate the armor, they definitely werent going to pierce the unknown black substance beneath it to strike the core buried deep within Aojos body. Even if we could pierce its armor, theres no guarantee that we could hit its core. Gou Dan, who was best at sniping interrupted beside Edward. The core doesnt sound big at all, so surely we cant assume that its right beneath its skin and hit anywhere we like, can we? Saints and Saintesses have the ability to sense divine attributes, Sefarim explained. It wouldnt work against the gods since that would be a blasphemy, but that taboo wouldnt apply to Abominations. That is why as long as the Saintess is with us, she will be able to tell where the core is. Edward turned towards Eleena, who nodded when she sensed his gaze, indicating that she could indeed feel the location of the enemys weakpoint. Sefarim then smiled smugly. As for piercing it to directly destroy its core Have all of you forgotten who I am?. Certainly, Edward and the others were speechless after witnessing Sefarims capacity for destruction first hand, although it would still be a pity to lose all that EXP. And with Joes attack foiled, it would be much difficult to attempt closing in on Aojo now. That said, I do have a plan for that Edward told the others confidently after considering the problem for a moment. Chapter 311: As the Dust Settles Aojo suddenly realized that the humans assault was slowing down. Unaware that the Players could communicate with each other in real-time and merely feeling that the attacks throw at itself was becoming milder, the evil god naturally assumed that the battle had gone on for too long-that the toll had exceeded what the mortal believers could take and that they couldnt maintain the same intensity of attack before. The truth, however, was that Edward put together a plan which he described to his group, gaining their approval before sharing every step in the plan on the Player forums. With that, the other players all began to do as instructed, even guiding the believers from other churches to follow suit. After all, their excellent performances in the Twin City Cup and how they held themselves against the Abomination in this very battle had more or less granted them a stature to command the other believers. While the clerics of the Brilliant White Church did have things to say about the plan, they eventually conceded their pride as the top religion and decided to put their trust in their Players for oncewhich naturally didnt involve sending them to their deaths. Still, unlike the people of the Brilliant White Church, the Players always tend to shoulder the most dangerous part of the plan under such circumstances. While part of the reason for that was to maintain a noble character, the more important reason was that such dangerous tasks tend to be granted greater rewards, including a legendary item drop or something along those lines The believers from other churches were naturally unaware of that, which was why they were persuaded by the Players noble character as they kept braving the frontlines, which also greatly improved their impression in everyone elses minds Thanks to the simple bunkers that the Earth Sect made, Aojo was simply unaware of the fact that Edwards plan was already in motion. First off, Gou Dan would seize Aojos attention even as they weakened the firepower coming from other directions. Locking the legendary weapon AWM (crossbow mode) on his wrist, Gou Dan leapt out of a bunker. When he confirmed that at least one pupil was looking at him thanks to the decreasing durability of his items, he raised his hand and assumed a flamboyant pose like an eight-grader. At the same time, both Eleena and Edward quickly buffed him with their skills from the bunker behind. Wondrous white radiance (Eleenas holy light) and dark malevolent flames (Edwards black dragon) hence circled around Gou Dan, and spiraled as they converged onto Gou Dans crossbow. Then, Gou Dan stealthily changed the form of the crossbow-with some clinging and clanging sounds out of a science fiction novel, it turned into a massive crossbow. Meanwhile, the air raged as white light and black flames intertwined, and it appeared as if Gou Dan had worn an ethereal war robe that changed between light and dark colors. Nonetheless, both elements continued to converge upon the heavy crossbow, and Aojo could feel as if he were charging a powerful technique. Therefore, it began directing every other pupil towards Gou Dan as well, intent on vaporizing him before he could fully cast it! Dozens of death rays overlapped, multiplying the sheer carnage it was wreaking to burn down Gou Dan. Most of his equipment were already melting like ice cream put into a microwave, just as his own HP bar was dropping rapidly. Even so, the durability of the AWM was above most items since it was legendary-tier (maintenance is naturally expensive as well), and it could still maintain its structure despite being bathed under the horrific Gaze. In turn, when Aojo saw that the human was about to be baked while the weapon still remained fine, it knew that its hunch was right C he must have been holding back a devastating strike! Thus, its Gaze became even stronger. *** At the same time, Edward confirmed with the other Players that most of Aojos pupils were now directed towards Gou Dan. He nodded at Eleena, and she casted a supreme Flash like no other on Gou Dan. As a skill, Flash was quite useful in affecting the vision of a target in a fight. However, the Players usually dont have any use for it since they were usually pitted against sightless undead or fishmen which had poor vision, which was why Eleena never used it herself. However, the minor skill which could already be learnt at Level 5 would clearly be more than that for Aojo, which was an eyeball through and through. And in the instant that the blinding light shone, almost everyone could hear a deafening wail. It was not a real, physical soundbut a mental attack similar to Psychic Scream! Even though Aojo didnt actually possess Psychic Scream as an ability, the super Flash that had blinded all its pupils at once clearly hurt it so viciously that its spirit unfurled externally in waves. And like a porcupine, countless long sharp needles protruded out of Aojos body, and it seemed to expand up to four times! Be that as it may, its reaction to prevent the enemy from coming close to hurt it in the period of its blindness only made evident that it was vulnerable despite appearances! Now! Attack! Once the Players who had closed their eyes and stuffed their ears even before Eleena casted Flash saw what had happened, all of them promptly urge everyone else to attack. Now, their attacks could deal certain amounts of damage, even though it clearly wouldnt be very effective against the thick armor their enemy had. Still, these attacks were unleashed only as insurance. The purpose of it was to prevent Aojo from attacking in other ways, so that it wouldnt be able to tell where its enemy was attacking from before it could regain its vision! And with the cover from the Players and believers from the other churches, Jessica, who was already prepared rode forward on her deer while holding Sefarim, aiming her at the divine attribute core which Eleena pointed out beforehand. Seffie, seal eight. Release!Understood. Seal eight release This is a spear that stood where stars fall; her greatest radiance lingers amongst constellationsLuminous Lance, Stardust! Jessicas EXP (divine power from Xi Wei) hence poured into Sefarim, setting her ablaze in stellar illumination that revolved around the girl and the sacred lance. A belt of light appeared beneath the hooves of the deer as well, connecting it and its rider and guiding it towards the enemy as if it was a stairway to heaven. The light was immeasurably determined and gallant as if it would kill any foe within reach, unshaken even in the face of an enemy which was dozens of times its own size! In that moment, the sounds of the world seemed to become distant. When the light eventually faded, the figure of the young girl had already gone passed the Abomination. In the next instant, pungent black pus was spilling out of Aojos pierced body. Its body crumpled even as it screamed, and it eventually disintegrated into mincemeat mixed with the pus as the dust settled. Sunlight returned to the dark skies then, and the major incident tied to the grand final of the Twin City Cup concluded with the peace after a battle. Chapter 312: Rewards and the Conclusion of the Twin City Cup The Twin City Cup only concluded following a grand final rematch after the battle against Aojo, with Mufasa formally defeating monk Alfonso of the Brilliant White Church to come out on top as champion. In a cheery mood, Xi Wei directly gifted him a Fushigiri, Legendary weapon exclusive to the Swordmaster class-it was a blade that dealt special damage on all undead creatures, nullified rebirth or any other undead effects beneath Rule-level. While its attack stats were no different from normal swords, Fushigiri had several times better durability in comparison. That alone made it much useful for Kengyoku Players who often use their weapons for parrying and deflection, pitting steel against steel-after all, no one would enjoy having their swords breaking halfway through a parry, because it was as uncool as it was lethal. Mufasa seemed to like it very much too, and had been hugging Fushigiri to sleep over the last two days. At the same time, while Aojo appeared to have been killed by the Players, its core which was broken by Jessicas elven holy lance and parts of its body were sent to Xi Weis divine kingdom, where he could study it further. But even after he had done his research, Xi Wei couldnt find any clue that traces back to the mastermind It appeared that the very existence of Aojo was no more than a normal human who had intercepted divine energy with a certain method before mutating into a monster. The core that was sent as an offering was indeed the part where it had stored divine energy, having mutated into a crystalline structure. If there was no appropriate handling, the structure itself would have expanded without end and turn Aojo into a crystal, since divine energy wasnt something normal beings could sully. Moreover, the divine energy stored in the core was simply impure and couldnt be absorbed with normal methodsXi Wei had the feeling that he would definitely get an upset stomach even if he would gulp it down his gullet. Therefore, he summoned the First Flame to burn the core, extracting pure divine energy. The First Flame was a good measure to extract divine energy with, but it was a pity that it takes a heavy toll and burnt off seventy percent of the divine energy in the core, and the remaining thirty percent was better than none. In comparison, Xi Wei had gained a lot more divine energy from another channel. With the conclusion of the Twin City Cup, the Players who had performed impressively in the tourney had gained some reputation amongst the citizens as believers of the God of Games. That in turn greatly increased the value of Xi Weis stocks, just as more converts joined the Church of Games. The divine energy from his new believers naturally was the best for any god because it was easily digestible and absorbed. As tons of genuine divine energy streamed into Xi Weis body, he broke through the gate where he had been stuck all along, hence ascending from a lesser deity to an intermediate god! The terrific gains were certainly leaving Xi Wei in awe: hype once and you get fed for a day, hype all the time and you eat for a lifetime Having become an intermediate god and rising from third-rate to second-rate, Xi Wei finally gained some confidence too. That said, he still couldnt defeat the Ocean Goddess just like before, and if his trick before was exposed, she was definitely stringing him up for target practice. Be that as it may, he now had the foundation with which he could face the Skull God, a second-rate deity in a direct confrontation. Moreover, becoming an intermediate god meant that he had also shaken off his label as a cannon fodder, and even if a divine war really begins, he now had the right to join in as a pawn even if he wasnt. Naturally, any benefits come with their own shortcomings. He was becoming known to many other gods after he had ascended thanks to the major event that was the Twin City Cup, and he was no longer able to develop himself discreetly like before. He could even tell that some unruly god would definitely command their believers to make things hard for Xi Wei in the near future. Still, its not like I can prevent such a thing even if I want to. At best I could just keep an eye out for it. Not to mention that there was other good news for Xi Weithere was progress with the investigation he entrusted the Great Lion with. That being said, it did not really count as an investigation as Aslan did react to the name Finnia before. However, whether he was afraid of their conversation being spied upon or he needed to compile some data beforehand, he didnt immediately inform Xi Wei about what he knew, and visited Xi Weis divine kingdom directly instead. I remember it well. It was in a flowering season in the Third Age, when the Trinity had yet to confine every other god into their respective divine kingdoms Are you going into a narrative the moment you enter? Xi Wei asked helplessly, watching as the Great Lion face turned nostalgic. Youre even using first-person perspective. Should I perform a vanishing trick for you as the fee for your investigation? Fair enough. Keep telling your story, Ill make you something to drink.Xi Wei rolled his eyes, before extending his tentacles to whip out a cocktail shaker and began to jiggle it. Aslan naturally didnt nitpick with Xi Wei and continued his story. The world is no different from a high-precision machine built by the Trinity, with everything within operating under principles and rules. Even so, even the best machines would develop errors as time passes. And in that flowering season, a special child was born unto the Prime Material Plane. She is human, and was no different from any other human aside from one little fact She couldnt believe in any god. At that, Aslans voice turned quiet. It did not matter how devoted she washer prayers would never reach the gods, her sadness never tugging the heartstrings of the divine. In fact, us gods could hardly observe her even if we tried to do so with purpose. That was why she was taken to be faithless, with nations and churches torment her as she wandered aimlessly for her whole life, ultimately dying in isolation and despair. Aslan paused then. And yet, thats only the beginning of the tragedy. Xi Wei opened the shaker and poured a clump of jiggling jelly, which had a slit over it that resembling a mouth as if saying, Hurry the heck up! No cliffhangers please! The Great Lion merely slammed his paw down and squished it before continuing. And since she wasnt taken in by any god, evil gods couldnt find her either not to mention that the Prince of Darkness was still playing mud at who knows which hellhole either way, death was not the end of her despairtormented eternally and caught in perpetual isolation without any chance of peace, her mind was lost to madness. Her mad spirit hence drew other despairing souls to herself, eventually becoming a crucible of hopelessness and suffering that mutated frighteningly it was too late when us gods finally noticed. She had been corrupted utterly, reborn as a new evil god of despair Divine Injustice, Pain Eternal. Chapter 313: Eat Dung, Aslan! Divine Injustice, Pain Eternal Xi Wei pursed his lisp as he murmured the name, finding it much more awesome then trash like Rotten Bones. She must be very powerful, then. Aslan, however, shook his head. No, Pain Eternal is actually very weak as a newborn evil god. If I had to compare, she was as noob as you were when we first met. Thats quite something if thats the case, actually! Xi Wei pouted. It doesnt matter, or as I would say, I knew you were not all that meets the eye from the very start. You certainly didnt linger on the bottom end, although it still surprised me that you could squeeze your way into second-rate so quickly really, your growth is divinely surprising. The Great Lion straightened his fur with his tongue while murmuring in awe. Anyway, youre saying that the girl who turned into an evil god was that Finnia, yes? Xi Wei, meanwhile, had brought out his brews that contained certain degrees of divine attributes, including absinthe (90%), water of life (90% whisky) and Poland vodka (approximately 92%, and one should probably mention by now that antiseptic alcohol is only 75%) as he mixed a new cocktail for the Great Lion. Yes. She had since lost all rationality after becoming an evil god, and she was now bent on flooding the world with chaos. Aslan paused then, spitting out a furball. At the time, the mortal realm and the divine realm werent separated that tightly and the other gods were unwilling to get involved, and in the end, it was I who personally went down there to end her. Why wont the other gods get involved? Xi Wei asked, puzzled. If it had been him, he would definitely be joining the fight. Is there no divine power or divinity to be gained? Divine Injustice is special. She is a being abandoned by the gods in the first place, which makes her divinity and her divine powers poison to other gods even after she had turned into an evil god. The Great Lion shook his head, his thick mane flowing in circular waves. Simply absorbing it does you no good, and it would corrupt your own divine attributes in return. Xi Wei, who had just finished absorbing Aojos divine energy pursed his lips-he did not actually feel ill in any way. By the way, didnt the civilization of the Third Age collapse in the War of Gods and Demons? He then asked. Why would anyone in this new age know about Finnia? This time, Great Lion stayed quiet for a long time before sighing heavily. It was my fault. He said. I felt sympathy for Divine Injustice after learning about her past, and just when I was about to slay her, she pleaded for mercy when I was about to land the final blow. She didnt beg for her life, however, because actual death was a release to her. That said, after going through a lifetime of abandonment by the gods, she couldnt accept that she would fall just like one, and was hoping that I would kill her as a human. And I agreed to it. Hence, she was dismembered, parts of her body were thrown into volcanic acid lakes to be melted. Using my divine kingdom as a pestle and the prime Material Plane as a mortar, her divinity was extracted and crushed utterly, and flung into the Void where the remains are left to its own fate. Then, at the very end, I cleansed her divine power with my Authority of Justice, granting her rebirth as a mortal human before I slayed her. Now that I think about it, pieces of her divinity must have slipped through the World Barrier and fell upon the Prime Material Plane. After that, freak accidents happen, preventing her form from completely disintegrating and allowing her power to gain new life. Meanwhile, Xi Wei had become silent. His delight in breaking through the shackles to ascend as an intermediate god had faded considerably. He knew all along that the Great Lion was powerful and stood at the top of all intermediate gods, but to think that he was that powerful And what was using my divine kingdom as a pestle and the prime Material Plane as a mortar even supposed to mean!? Sure, it was poetic, but that was basically lifting your own divine kingdom and smashing it down at the Prime Material Plane! Moreover, the only thing between Aslans divine kingdom and the Prime Material Plane was the divinity of one evil god. Did he have to go so far to destroy a divinity? Why not use a nuclear bomb to break a walnut too!? * * * After half a beat, Xi Wei gingerly asked, Should I have my believers help you dig out Divine Injustices cult? No need. Its my loose end, Ill think of something to handle it. The Great Lion did not hesitate to decline. You dont have to be concerned. Hold on. If Finnia refers to the Divine Injustice, then what about the Silver Oak? Xi Wei pressed The explanation for that is not so long-winded. The Great Lion replied as he fiddled with the furball he spat out with his claws. The Silver Oak is an ornamental plant that Silver Dragons nourishes, but those are extinct since the Second Age. There arent any now in the mortal realm. Thats it? Xi Wei was full of doubt, feeling that the word wouldnt be so meaningless after Aojo had shouted it like a slogan Of course not. The Great Lions face turned solemn. The matter itself unraveled in the Second Age, when the distance between mortals and gods were much closer and less distinct. In fact, many gods loved to descend unto the mortal realm to live amongst mortals. At the time, there was a God of Steel who is as arrogant as he is delusional. One time, when he was drunk, he told the people All of you are so weak. Look at me. Even without the protection of divine power, my body is as tough as iron and impenetrable. A Silver Dragon was extremely displeased when it heard him, and was intent on teaching the God of Steel a lesson. He hence beseeched the Dragon God to bless a branch of the Silver Oak he had been growing to grant it powers to hurt a god, and the dragon brought it along to meet the God of Steel, provoking him in his drunkenness into a bet. That god therefore allowed the Silver Dragon to stab him with the Silver Oak without using divine power. But what no one expected was that a god who had a grudge with the God of Steel had swapped the Silver Oak branch with one that was laced with divine bane, and when that branch stabbed into the body of the God of Steel, the bane ate away his divinity before he could react and he fell right there and then. At that, Xi Wei got the idea why the Silver Oak was extinct. Even if it wasnt the main cause, the Silver Oak had killed a god, and there was every chance that a whole crowd was bearing witness to the bet. It therefore directly elevated a mundane plant like the Silver Oak to a god-killing existence, which threatened the gods even if they actually could resist it with their Rule Resistance. But the gods certainly wouldnt abide by the existence of such a thing, and hence quietly set things in motion to wipe out every last shrub of Silver Oak. Indeed, the reason that the Silver Dragons were the rarest species of true dragon might have something to do with that mishap. The cult your believers found not only worshipped Finnia but was also aware of the Silver Oak. Perhaps what drives them behind the scenes is no trifle The Great Lion continued even as he fiddled with the furball, which had somehow turned into a small lion doll. Take this, this is a copy myself. You can talk to it if anything comes up, and its encryption would be more reliable than the furball before. It also counts as a backup of myself. Your cocktail is done. Why not try it? Xi Wei extended a tentacle to take the doll before passing Aslan the alcohol-filled glass. The Great Lion snapped its large feline claws, and pale blue flames ignited over the drink.Im not drinking anything that could be set on fire. Give it to Stoff (the God of Craftmanship and Fine Wine) instead. With that, Aslan left Xi Weis Divine Kingdom while laughing heartily. Its okay if you dont want it. But dont you know its such a waste burning it? Xi Wei withdrew his tentacle in displeasure, unable to prank the Great Lion and make him make a fool of himself. That was when the doll Aslan left him came to life. Extending his senses over it, Xi Wei noticed that it was basically a golem that wasnt too smart and was only capable of some simple movements. While he had no idea why the Great Lion would call it a backup, Xi Wei had a strong feeling that the purpose of the doll was to monitor him. Therefore, the self-indulgent and freedom-loving Xi Wei promptly carved a small space out of his divine kingdom and made it into a cat playground where he dumped it into. Keeping an eye on me? Eat dung, Aslan! Chapter 314: The Mining City of Undercurrents Crookes was a mining city within the bowels of the Valla Empire. Mount Meredith, which stood over its rear was where the citizens of Crookes mined excellent Illum crystals and a fine variety of surface ores, which was perhaps how Crookes got its name, which meant rich mountain capital in an ancient tongue In the beginning, this place was a wilderness, but after the founding of the Valla Empire who conferred it to Tyler Meredith-an avid explorer and a noble, he discovered scores of rich mineral veins on the unnamed mountain, and began to organize groups of people to mine everything He later named the unnamed mountain after himself, which eventually became one of the most important mountain mines of the Valla Empire. In its early days, Crookes was just a flock of wooden houses where the miners lived, but as Mount Merediths fame grew, more and more people came, perfectly away that Illum crystals had more utility than gold in many places. Hence, in less than two hundred years, the shacks at the foot of the mountain was continuously expanded and refurbished into a new city. And even though Crookes did not really prosper as well as trade cities like Lancaster, it was far better at generating wealth. In turn, the Meredith family who still ruled over Crookes were naturally so rich they could hold their own against nations. Old Meredith was himself a firm monarchist. That being said, he inherited his faith in Grimund, the God of Travel and Arts from Tyler Meredith himself, even though that religion had no proper religious buildings and was a true neutral through and through. That was precisely why the imperial family trusted the Meredith family. Coupled with old Merediths reputation, Crookes was as steady as a rock in many ways. Even so, there would always be undercurrents beneath such stability-and the reason was simple: Old Meredith had no heir aside from one daughter, who had died to illness long ago. The familys fear of the imperial family also kept them from forming alliances through marriage, which kept them from having some complex family relations and each generation was basically a single vertical line. That being said, if their pocketbooks were not loaded and their yearly tithe of Illum crystals to their god and their emperor, the family would have long since vanished from sight. Even so, Old Meredith was a mortal with a limited lifespan. He was now a mere candle in the wind despite his divine blessings, and was about to reach his end. If things went on like this and he passes away, everything the Meredith family had and the ownership of Crookes would be reclaimed by the imperial family. With such ample rewards in sight, there were certainly elements too eager to put their hands into the proverbial cookie jar. As long as Old Meredith would write a will before his demise with the gods as his witness, the person named would inherit a huge chunk of his fortune and ownership of Crookes (minus the portion which the imperial family would take away, bypassing a sanctified will through takes or other due causes)! *** The main bedroom of the Crookes mayoral residence. Mister Meredith, there hasnt been much change in your condition. An acolyte from the Temple of Life took off his arcane tool that resembled a stethoscope and spoke to the shriveled old man lying helpless in his bed like a dry corpse. Like Ive said before, although the elven stone embedded on your heart does slow aging, it is defective and the energy within is fading The acolyte paused then, as if hesitating if he should continue. Dont hold back. Just tell me how much time I have left. The old man said. Your aging is severe, and from how things look at the moment, the elven stone might still last for around a year. The acolyte answered truthfully, unafraid of getting caught in an outburst since Old Meredith had the positive reputation of not being your typical callous noble. If you could find a perfect elven stone in a year and change it with the one you have, you might live a little longer. Thats not happening. You dont have to console me on that. The old man smiled, but his shrivel face was slightly horrific instead of friendly. One year, huh The acolyte had become silent as well, realizing that his kind words were meaningless. Ultimately, the elven stone were treasures of legends on par with the philosophers stone forged only by mythical high elven royals. Each of them has the power of resurrection and extend a persons lifespan, or even ascend a mortal to a supernatural race called the blood elves. Be that as it may, the high elves were extinct, while the wood elves who were their direct descendants couldnt even maintain a tenth of high elf arts, let alone other elven races. Therefore, the elven stones that once truly existed would disappear with the fall of the high elves civilization into the pages of history. Even though the acolyte himself had read about that from ancient text, he would have thought that the elven stone was only a myth if he hadnt found one in the old mans heart. Leave me. I want some time to myself. The old man said quietly. You may ask my butler for your fee. The acolyte tried his best to keep his pleasure from showing-whenever the old feudal lord asked for him, his finances would be in the green for yearsas he bowed respectfully and eagerly left. There was silence in the room after the acolyte left, aside from the cracking sounds of the hearth in the room. Lying in his bed after a long silence, the old man sighed lengthily. He knew very well that the elven stone in his heart was not defective, but a real elven stone, and there was a simple reason why the energy within was fading. He was Tyler Meredith, the same noble who had found the ores in Mount Meredith! He had survived until now with the power of the elven stone, applying arts of disguising that he learnt to prevent suspicion, pretending as if the first Meredith had died from old age while maintaining the impression that there were new generations of Meredith. But the power of the elven stone eventually proved limited, and he was now at deaths door. To tell the truth, Tyler Meredith had lived long enough, and did not fear death as much as he thought he would. Even so, there were still things he could not live with. Having gone through all walks of life even two hundred years, he knew what fools the present-day nobles were, and that Crookes would crumble after his death. It would be no different if the imperial family took over since they were never going to move their capital here, and would merely send someone here to manage things. That person would have to pay taxes from time to time, but since everyone loves profit, they would attempt to carve out more earnings to themselves apart from the norm, and that eventually meant draining the peasants dry and the working the miners to death The young never appreciates the struggles of the old. What Tyler cherished and spent a lifetime building would hence be squandered and ultimately destroyed at the hands of the other all in the name of a drip of gold. With that in mind, how could Tyler Meredith die in peace?Fortunately there is still hope. The old man took out a compass from beneath his pillow. It was a divine item he asked from his god Grimund, and it had only one function: it points towards people with blood relations to Tyler himself. In his lifetime, Tyler Meredith had given Crookes everything he had until it was set firmly on the right track and his worries were unneeded. Only then did he spare some though on himself and experienced the affection of a normal human, even gaining a daughter. Sadly, his wife had died due to complications at labor, while his daughter, who lacked a young peer had eloped with a peasant in her teens. Even though she had been captured and brought home by men Tyler hired, she had died from an illness in her melancholy, leaving Tyler beside himself in remorse. It was only recently that Tyler received a revelation from Grimund and learnt that he had a relation who was very much alive-in her eloping, his daughter had birthed a bundle of joy, and she had deliberately allowed Tylers people to catch her so as to protect her husband and child. That gave Tyler a new hope. Whether it was a grandson or a granddaughter, he would bring them in, instruct them for over a year so that they could inherit his will and continue his just rule over Crookes! Chapter 315: Eleenas Last Name Lancaster Hideout. Edwards group teleported at the lifestone looking gray-faced. They were not returning after being killed by some powerful monsterthey had merely used Town Portal Scrolls-a newly added item from the System shop to return to the place they were last revived. That was also why they appeared quite ragged, which was quite different from recently revived Players who always looked revitalized. Aside from Eleena, everyone was covered in sticky, brightly-colored goo that were even dangling along their sleeves disgustingly. Joe, theres still one on your head. Gou Dan said, hanging his head. Dang! Joe shuddered as he caught the crab-sized black spider off his head that was baring its fang and flung it to the ground. The spider burst apart and splattered green blood as its short HP bar emptied in an instant, all of its remains vaporizing into thin air. At the same time, Joe dropped on his rump as if he was utterly drained. I dont want anything to do with those nobles anymore! * * * The truth was that Edwards party had accepted a request by a Lancaster noble. They were to retrieve a gonfalon and a deed to his estate from his abandoned former residence, the former of which was said to be a gift from the former emperor. Edwards party did not think much about it since the same quest appeared in the System, with Edward the Quest Demon naturally accepting the assignment and dragging his party to work. They ended up finding the old residence occupied by a Spider Shadow-a monster that seemed to have come out of nowhere. It was merely Level 24 and wasnt too strong despite having an elite template, and each member of Edwards party could in fact face it alone. What was troubling, however, was that Spider Shadow was a Shadow-type creature. While its level was too low to develop magical abilities to camouflage in the shade, the concept of width did not apply to its body. In other words, it could move through any opening-even if it was a hairs breadth. Moreover, it was especially fertile, filling the entire studio with tiny studios like the one that was crawling over Joes head just now. Because of the control of Rules, the creatures of this world could never fully inherit the abilities of their parents (or monsters would rule the Prime Material Plane by now). The little spiders only partially awakened their Shadow-type bloodline and could wander through the tiny cracks of the wall like their mother. Still, even though the broodlings were around Level 1 to 8, and Players with high strength stats like Joe could send them to their maker with one punch But there were just too damn many of them! Not to mention that they were very leaky! Punch them to death? They would spit goo that looked like puke in your face! And with Jessica the Holy Lancer once again away from the party, the absence of her guard and purification spells made things worse. That said, Jessica did burn off much of her EXP when she used Sefarim, the greatest treasure of the elves once again. Her level had dropped back to around level thirty, and that was only because she regained some in the victory against Aojo the Artificial Abomination, or she might have dropped to the standard of newbie echelon at Level 20. Moreover, Sefarim seemed to be ill after defeating Aojo, which was why Jessica had left the party to prevent any problems for the time being to bring Sefarim back to Trinia. Edward and the others had decided to accompany her initially, but because Sefarim was a treasure to the elves, her upkeep had to be performed behind closed doors at the Moon Pavilion. Aside from Jessica who was an exemption by grace of being compatible with Sefarim, the others could only wait outside. The elven siblings Selene and Jamie had even assured Edwards group that the upkeep would be brief, which they believed only to wait for three days without any developments. It was only after Princess Leah who happened to be passing by then suggested that they ping Jessica on the forums and ask her directly that they came to a realization and did so, and learned that there was still a long time needed for Sefarims upkeep the elven siblings simply had a different perception to time, and any duration short of a year was brief But thats a conversation for another time. Either way, after Edwards group used dye balls to mark Spider Shadow and took quite some time to take it down, the smaller spiders that were assaulting them in suicidal fashion finally scattered and fled. However, the already rundown residence that was already on the verge of collapsing naturally crumbled after Edwards party battled against the spiders. Even though the Players were supernatural individuals that had all sorts of abilities that prevent them from being crushed, it still took them a lot of time to find the deed and the gonfalon underneath the rubble. Worse still, when they all assumed that it was quest accomplished, the nobles face paled the instant he saw the gonfalon that was dyed in every possible color, and immediately turned to run. The quest they had gone through such lengths for was hence in stasis. If the name over the nobles head wasnt green and judged him an ally, the utterly irritated Joe would have drawn out his Giant Toe and claim his head, or perhaps even debone him! Edward promptly dissuaded him. The System did mention that the quest would be accomplished once the noble accepted the quest item, and all they had to do was convince him to take it. However, their client proved to be most uncooperative and even accused Edward for trying too hard to act like a noblethat not only did he lack the air of a noble, he was a stain to their image, even irritating the good-tempered Edward to the point that his veins were bulging. It was fortunate that Eleena came forward eventually. Even though she didnt usually like to talk, she relied on her sweet childlike demeanor and flawless noble mannerism, denying the noble any grounds to nitpick. Lastly, as Eleena requested (with Joe inching closer with a false smile and jiggling chest muscles), the noble compromised as he accepted both deed and gonfalon with a sour face, allowing the quest to be accomplished by the skin of their teeth.By the way, although I know that Uncle Redkin had you learn noble manners, I didnt expect you to really know it, Eleena. Edward praised. The nobles lesson in formalities was an important part in the education of younger nobles, far surpassing the importance of teaching them morality. That was why although many noble children proved to be spoiled brats who throw their weight around and had chips over their shoulders, there never seemed to be any issues with their manners. After all, in the perspective of most nobles, even if one was had the wealth of nations, they were no more than crude self-made men if their noble manners failed the passing mark. And they wouldnt count as a member of high society. That was also why learning noble manners was viewed as a path to the upper-classes, just as it was expensive to hire a specialized instructor for that purpose. That was why Edward was surprised that Eleena had really learned noble manners. Still, compared to how much of a stickler for rules Eleena had been back in the village, I like her lively self now, Joe said cheerfully, even as he took off his clothes and squeezed out the stinking spider goo on the floor (which drew disapproving looks from other players around him). Because noble stuff is too troublesome. As the Saintess-in-training who possessed passive purification skills that kept her from getting dirty, Eleena opened the wrapper of a lollipop before putting it into her mouth with a happy look on her little face-unlike other Players, her quest rewards tend to include various candies and snacks for some reason. Its better if things stayed like they are now. By the way, what was Eleenas last name? Gou Dan asked, curious. I know her fathers last name is Redkin, but he mentioned before that Eleena uses her mothers name, and Ive never heard her use it. Maybe saying it out loud could cause trouble, Edward said, turning to Eleena. Its fine if she doesnt reveal it if thats the case. Meredith. Eleena, however, didnt hesitate. Father said that it would trouble me so I shouldnt reveal it but I think thats fine now. I am Eleena Meredith. Chapter 316: Major Trouble at Crookes Terry and Jom were walking the streets of Crookes and reveling in its novelties. Unlike the atmosphere of a trade city like Lancaster, huge chimneys from which dark smoke was billowing and rising into the air were everywhere in Crookes. There were many circular metallic feedstock tubes around the city as well, which left the environment resembling a city of heavy industry. There was even a faint scent of coal in the air. Its tail straightening, old Pikes sniffled, seemingly displeased with the air quality of the city. After the pet function had been added to the System, Pikes was classified as Joms pet and could be revived through game coins and EXP even if it was killed in battle. Still, pets were not popular with the Players at the moment. After all, since Xi Wei had been hard-pressed at the beginning, the Players, pet, mounts, followers, and familiars were all lumped together. The Players therefore had a limit to the creatures they could take in, let alone classes like Holy Lancers who required a mount. And since pets like Pikes that were weak in battle and couldnt devote itself to the God of Games, the dog couldnt level up with the usual method and couldnt be recruited by most Players. With that sort of position, were the frogmen of the Warty Tidal Flats not better as tools that could get underwater to lure monsters? Are the Rabbit Headsthe Long Ears of the Western Continent not better since they could now change class and learn Backstab? If push comes to shove, even the various mounts that the Junglewalkers could tame was fine Though they were perfectly aware of that, Jom, Terry and Pikes had long since bonded together in their travels, with Pikes escaping its trauma of losing its owner to favor its two young masters. As for the two youngsters, abandoning the dog would only be cruel, just as it could easily die if not recruited as pet, which was why they did so. But neither Jom nor Terry find it a waste. In fact, they were planning to strengthen Pikes. There were more than a few ways to strengthen a pet, the simplest of which was blessing them with the bloodline of magical creatures. The System also provides a chain of such quests (limited to beasts that the Player had slain before), although the difficulty was auto-assigned and cost a lot of game coins. However, both Terry and Jom did not find it difficult, and were actually thrilled to take up the questthey had been a bit lost about what quest they should take up next following the end of the Twin City Up, and any quest spared them the need to think. This is the quest destination, right? Jom mumbled even as he turned on his System Page to check the quest information. Thanks to the crude quest markers on their minimap and continuous asking of directions, the two finally reached a rundown cottage on a narrow alley where their quest was marked. Still, Terry looked rather tired, and was clutching his stomach with a scowl. I hope we get fed. My stomach is flat, and I dont see any taverns on the way here We cant eat even if theres a tavern. Weve used up all the Rions we exchanged with Mister Marni, and we only have game coins left. Jom replied, before knocking firmly on the door. Is there anyone in here? He knocked for quite some time before the door opened, albeit by a narrow slit. The speckled face of an old man looked out warily. Who are you people? We are messengers from Lancaster, bearing a letter from Corinth Atherton. Jom answered, drawing out a well-kept sheepskin paper which bright-red seal was still intact. The old man looked between them with lingering suspicion, and then at the personal seal on the letter before opening the door. However, just as both Terry and Jom was about to enter, the old man stopped them. Wait. Both of you pluck out one hair. Pluck hair? Is that some weird custom around here? Jom was puzzled. Custom humph! The old man sneered. Theres no such weird custom in Crookes. Im checking whether you are swampmen! Swampmen? Those sticky, big humanoid monsters? Terry asked, perplexed. Those are swampbeasts. Swampmen are morphing monsters that could imitated a persons memories and appearance, right? Jom, on the other hand, knew more since he would occasionally browse through beast compendiums on the forums out of boredom. Even memories? Terry paled in shock. Dont worry, our memories are protected by our gods. Those monsters wont keep our memories even if they imitated our appearance. After all, the Players know too much-the other gods would be able to tell that Xi Wei was not normal if anyone could see their memories, and would string him up to be dissected into pieces. That was why any Players memories being read by a foreign power would alert Xi Wei himself, after which he would inflict divine retribution. In fact, that mechanism also keeps the Player immune against mind control aside from preventing their memories from being read. Jom naturally wasnt aware of the reasons behind it all and merely continued his story. It was also said that if any part of the swampmens body is detached, the loss of lifeforce would revert them to mud. Thats probably why plucking out a strand of hair would prove that we are fine.And with that reason made known, neither youths protested any further, each plucking out a hair to prove themselves for the old man. Knowing now that they are alright, the old man only let them in then. Since youve mentioned it, does this city have a problem with swampmen? Jom asked in curiosity. Has wild magical beasts blended in? Didnt the churches here take action? I dont know the specifics, but swampmen has definitely blended in. We have found several water sources that theyve poisoned, and corpses whose identity they had taken. The old man quickly closed the door after both youths entered and only looked relief after he closed its many locks. The city watch has lost all reputation after going days without finding a clue. And its not like churches are dependable anyway, so everyone could only protect themselves by being cautious Jom made a solemn face, while discreetly judged if this would be the next quest. Give me the letter. The old man then sat grandly beside the hearth and accepted the letter from Jom. Let me see what the old chap has to say to an old cripple like me. Chapter 317: Quest Update Terry and Jom sat beside the hearth as well and waited for the old man to finish reading the letter. Whether it was because of the citys sea level or the climate in the region, Crookes was still freezing even though Lancaster was getting warmer lately. It was fortunate that the cottage was very warm and entering it was revitalizing, just like soaking in a hot spring. After this quest is done, Im going back to the Unnamed Village and jumping into the hot spring. Jom thought for some reason, giving him a little motivation. Beside him, Terry was fidgeting around restlessly on his chair which did not look sturdy in the first place, and was now creaking beneath his weight as if it would fall apart at any given moment. Jom glared at him, but his warning went unheeded-Terry wasnt even looking at him. And not a moment too soon, Terry finally couldnt stop himself from asking the old man, Do you have anything to eat, sir? Im starving! The old mans eyesight appeared to be poor and was squinting to read each word beside the light of the hearth. He looked up at Terrys interruption, threw him a look before turning back to his letter again. But just as Terry presumed that the old man wasnt offering any food, he spoke quietly from behind the letter. Theres some seasoned sausage in the bucket over at that corner. You could bake it at the hearththe clippers are just beside it. Or do you need me to teach you? Thanks! Terry cheerfully ran off to get the sausage, while Jom didnt move at all. Weird. Why hasnt the quest on the System page update itself? Maybe he has to try something to move it along? With that in mind, Jom frowned at the old man and asked, Whats the letter about? An old-timers crazy talk. The old man said as he slid Jom a glance. Dont you the contents? You sent it here after all. Jom shrugged. Were just normal couriers. Do you know about Tierra? The old man suddenly asked. Of course. It was a fallen kingdom. Jom, unaware of why the old man would ask that, chose to answer as normally and ambiguously as he could Theres no way he was going to say Tierras Princess is my bro In fact, with her dozens halo, buff skills, and ferocious battle style which earned her love from everyone whenever she joins a group, many Players now called Princess Leah bro. Still, she personally disliked that title, and anyone saying that in front of her would be given an almighty beating with her legendary-tier brass knuckles. One should mention that the princesss brass knuckles had a hidden attribute that inflicts 20% extra pain to its victims, although many Players would still tirelessly provoke her to earn that beating Indeed, the Players madness stat was getting richer. And this letter is from a loser of that fallen kingdom, howling at other dogs to have them rally so that they would start barking vengefully for that long-dead kingdom. The old man threw the letter into the hearth then, watching it as the fires consumed it as it vanished. While it sounded vague, Jom got the general idea. Lancasters mayor Corinth Atherton had saved his family by defecting to the Valla Empire, surviving by the skin of his teeth. Even so, Corinth could still be considered a former minister of the fallen nation Tierra, and calling him a loser wasnt an issue. And with Aojos recent manifestation at the consulate in Lancaster which directly killed the new emperors envoy, a fight against Vallas army might prove unavoidable. Even so, the success of the Twin City Cup, as well as the Players display of power at the tourney and against Aojo afforded Corinth some confidence to resist the imperial military. Be that as it may, although the Players had several leaders who were good at command, they were not actually trained specifically for the task. While it was true that they were effective at certain ambush tactics, they still lacked the genuine experience of assuming military command. It was therefore understandable for Corinth to seek out old comrades of his Tierra days, inviting them to Lancaster to help. But unlike Corinth who was treated fairly because of his willful defection, his old comradesincluding the old man now facing Jom-were mostly likely on the Valla Empires wanted list and was forced to leave their homes while leaving in anonymity, and as such were losers as well. And from how the old man reacted, it was clear he wouldnt help Corinth. That was the hunch Jom had thanks to the information he had. Could the next quest involve persuading the old man on Corinths behalf so that he came to Lancaster? He turned towards the System page but found that the quest still had not been updated. That was when Terry came to the hearth with the sausages. Jom thought that he was here to baked his sausages, only for Terry to suddenly draw his sword and swing it at the old man when he reached them! The old man must have been military tooeven though he looked advanced in years, his movement was nimble enough for him to roll off his reclining chair, roll on the floor to evade Terrys swing. Wait, Terry! What are you doing?! Jom was about to stop him, but Terry kept a cold glare at the old man even as he replied. Jom. Dont you remember when we were asking directions that this old man had a granddaughter and a dog too? Jom did a double takethat had indeed happened, although he didnt pay it much heed. What are you saying? Maybe the old man was afraid that were not friendly and had them hidden away? See for yourself. Terry didnt protest further and merely threw a sausage at Jom.As mentioned before, the Players had some extent of appraisal ability, which was why Jom could see information about the sausage even as he caught it. (Human-canine sausage (seasoned with habanero wheat)] Jom stared at the sausage in disbelief, and turned to the old man standing in a corner. The yellow marker that hovered over the old mans that labeled him neutral senior citizen promptly turned to blood-red letters that read swampman. Well, I cant do anything since Im found out. My seasoned dishes are dwindling anyway. The old man smiled then, revealing untidy teeth full of yellowed tartar. Blame yourself for nosing around, and curse the injustice of your fortunes But before it could finish, Terry, who had taken the Berserker role in the Swordmaster-class had cut it in two with Grateful Dead. Jom also unleashed his skill right after Terry, summoning a monster resembling a chunk of meat. It gaped what appeared to be its jaw and swallowed the swampman, who was squirming seemingly to try something, before devouring itself as well and vanished into thin air. Ah, the quest did update, Jom said, having turned on his System page to check out the new quest. But Im not pleased at all. Chapter 318: We Got This There were two new quest objectives. The first one was to investigate the swampmen incident in Crookes just like Jom had predicted. Hold on, didnt we already kill the swampman? Terry asked in surprisehe had scrounged out some normal rations in the cottage thanks to Pikess sharp nose and was now cooking it on the hearth. And since the objective of the chain quest was written briefly unlike main quests, side quests or event quests, Jom could only offer his own predictions. He hence revealed his theories, making deduction along his trail of thought while tidying his thoughts at the same time. There are two possibilities. Either the swampmen are like parasites residing in the city, and we have to find the queen and kill it to accomplish our quest, or the swampmen are unleashed on purpose here by a certain faction in the city. But isnt it possible that there are just a handful of them that managed to slip into the city, and its quest accomplish if we kill off the others? Terry asked. Thats simpler and more direct The keyword in the quest is investigate. If things were indeed the way you put it, the quest would instead say destroy or slay. So troublesome what about the second objective of the quest? Terry mumbled in irritation while using his spoon to stir the wheat stew dangling over the hearth. See for yourself. Its not like you dont have a System page. Urgulumu Terry muttered unintelligibly while sneaking a sip of stew, but Jom had the feeling that he was most probably saying something along the lines of thats so troublesome. * * * Compared to the first quest objective, the second quest objective was much simplerafter the investigation, they have to come up with something to personally inform Meredith, the mayor of Crookes about the truth. But it only looks simple. Knowing that Terry wouldnt understand the implied complication, Jom offered an explanation. A quest where you personally inform the mayor definitely wouldnt be easy? Really? I dont think it would be that hard. If the Lucky Brothers can infiltrate the Secret Eye hideout and the Silver Eagle Castle, why not us? Terry protested unhappily. It was worth mentioning here that Edwards group which had been instrumental in both incidents never enlightened the others about the actual truth, whereas the fat-and-skinny duo of Terrosche and Silva would brag about it every day at the taverns. Many Players, unaware of the truth all believed that they were really adept at infiltration especially since the two living treasures had earned the title of Explorer of the Seven Seas, a title only first-rate Players possess Therefore, unbeknownst to the Players, the duos infiltration simply meant going to their target location, throw a fuss and go on a rampage. Jom was one such Player who had been fooled as well, although that was not the point. Getting past the guards and the perimeter to meet the mayor wouldnt be a problem, but dont forget that the specialty of the swampmen is that they could kill humans and imitate their appearance, and could replicate their victims memories as well. That ability is especially valuable when it is used against important people, and the most important person in Crookes is I see, its that old Meredith mayor person! At that, Terry finally understood what Jom was talking about. If their investigation was too slow to the point that old Meredith was killed and replaced by a swampman when they finally uncovered the truth, they wouldnt be personally informing old Meredith even if they managed to sneak into his residence. That way, the whole quest was stuck and basically a failure. Then what should we do? We dont even know where to start investigating. Terry was now a little unsettled at the idea of a failed quest, and the need to restart the whole quest chain. Although they were motivated to do the quest chain to change Pikes bloodline, the objectives were definitely complex and it was time consuming It was like a video game-if there was a huge chance for anyone to rush towards the pinnacle on a single stroke, many wouldnt tire from playing no matter how troublesome the stage would be. On the other hand, if your account was suddenly corrupted in the servers when youre just a step away from becoming the best, and your only compensation was some gold to have you start all over again, most people wouldnt have the fortitude to do so. All they would do was curse the poor management and not touch the game for a long time afterward. As the saying goes: fighting spirits would always be roused at the first drumroll, waning by the second and depleted by the third. It is true that Crookes is smaller than Lancaster, but its a city built upon mountains. Just two of us searching for clues is like finding a needle in a haystack Jom muttered, scratching his head. I didnt want to bother others, but it looks like we have to ask other Players for help in the forums. Terry was not optimistic about that. Would they come here, crossing thousands of miles? Theres no lifestone to teleport too Itll be fine. After all, dont you think that Crookes is overflowing with quests if we could get such an unusual one as soon as we arrived here? Jom, on the other hand, did not doubt the Players motivation to chart new maps. No one would be upset with too many quests, and with Edward the Quest Demon taking a break recently, they would surely come. I hope so. Sluuuurp Hey, dont hog all the wheat stew! Leave some for me! * * And just as Jom had predicted, many Players who had gotten sick of idling at Lancaster or being hired guns for the nobles were forming frontline teams, intent on going on a trip to Crookes. Wheres Mister Marni? Edward asked when he reached a particular group that was supposed to be disguising themselves as traveling merchants, only to find that Marni Wilf, leader and investor of the group missing. Did he die again? But Resurrection Ankhs are available and he looked like he had some recent income, shouldnt he have revived himself right after he died? Dying. Ivan, Marnis escort corrected while giving a shrug. He slipped into a pool of acid in a quest, and its so thick that he couldnt move at all, let alone climb out. He would actually sink if he moved around too much, and lose HP because of the acids corrosion that said, because he has plus seven immunity and high HP regen, it would take him around half an hour to die hes given up on struggling at the moment and gone off to play some Tierra Blocks, and thats him, the one with six-five-five-three-five points on the rankings. Im being mean to Marni, but I think we got this because hes dying so miserably! Gou Dan exclaimed, stroking his chin stubble with a twinkle in his eye. The others nodded in strong agreement. Chapter 319: The Players Attack! Strom Mickey was a city official in Crookes. As one who served under old Meredith, he was the noble whom everyone formerly believed had the best chance of becoming mayor-with the condition of the imperial family not interfering. The reason formerly was used there was because another faction led by Magistrate Lloyd had swiftly risen to power, following the leak of old Merediths illness by the acolyte of the Temple of Life. And at the moment, Lloyds faction had overwhelmed Strom, whereas Lloyd had also taken his place as the next best candidate for Mayor. That left Strom a little flustered. As Merediths deputy, he had often clashed with Lloyd who was a second-in-command, and the rift between them was publicly known. In fact, with old Merediths silent approval, they would mutually attempt to sabotage and slow each other down. While there had yet to be direct conflict, Strom had indirectly caused the death of Lloyds only son, which prevented the rift between them from ever healing In fact, it would be no exaggeration to say that all of Crookes nobles were allowed to side with Lloyd except for Strom. And should Lloyd claim the mayoral seat, Strom would definitely be toyed to death. Hence, Strom panicked even more as he watched his old rivals all began to kick him when hes down, having tolerated him for his position and the old mayor. And to save himself, he did not hesitate to rely on a cabal that had offered him an olive branch. Initially, Strom had assumed that it was an evil god cult, only to find out that it wasnt when he eventually joined. The group itself did not impose any prohibitions on faith, and they were merely passionate about studying taboos instead of religious factions. Gaining power in todays world did not interest them at all, and Strom even had the feeling that if authority didnt provide them with better conditions for their research, they wouldnt bother seizing power. Naturally, that has nothing to do with Strom at all. He was fine with being a hired gun or even a puppet for a cabal as long as he could reclaim his place on top of Crookes and not be purged by his political opponents. And today, he impatiently slipped into his dungeon once he returned from the mayoral residence. The crest he kept concealed beneath his robes was heating up-the mysterious cabal were calling for him. The dungeon itself was piled full of letters not for anyone elses eyes and treasures Strom hoarded, the most conspicuous being a massive standing mirror. After he put the crest on a socket on a frame, the eye sculpted on the mirror frame promptly opened as if it was alive and stared straight at Strom. Even though he had used the enchantment many times, Strom still shivered when the eye above the frame stared at him. Meanwhile, ripples stirred over the surface of the mirror, and Stroms reflection in it vanished after a moment. In its place was a robed man who had pulled his hood over his head, half of his face out of sight. What is thy bidding, my lord? Strom asked meekly, even as he tried his best to repress the forbidding feeling inside while rubbing his hands like a fly. A group of people has come inside Crookes recently. You best pay attention. The man in the mirror said flatly. Uh In Strorms head, there were many different reasons why the man had called for him, but the mans words now left him puzzled. Was that it? But considering that the mysterious black-robed men were not the type to suddenly attack for no reason, Strom knew that there was more to the matter than meets the eye. Are there problems with that group of people? He asked carefully. They are believers of a certain church investigating the swampmen. The mans answer left Stroms heart sinking. That was true. He had obtained the swampmen from the cabal and smuggled them into Crookes. His objective was simple, too: under his control, the swampmen would take the place of the other nobles with no one knowing, therein covertly strengthening his faction-naturally, it would be nice if they could directly get rid of Lloyd too. Still, most of those nobles had one or two formidable bodyguards with them. And in this world, most bodyguards were hired from churches, and any under a nobles employment would most certainly be a supernatural individual, or one just a step away from reaching it. The swampmens ability was utterly lacking in comparison to those believers and their considerable strength in combat. True, the swampmen could completely imitate another person, but that was merely in appearance and memory. Even so, their living essence had changed utterly, and since they were incapable of any faith, they couldnt fool the gods to gain any Divine Grace or protection. In other words, even if one particular swampman proved extraordinarily lucky and managed to kill a church priest with considerable ability and take his place, he would still fail to replicate his victim, sacred arts, and certainly couldnt touch the holy water that church used. Considering that combat aura and magic were products with inextricable relationship to belief (faith in either the God of War or Magic Violet was necessary), it was no different if the swampman chose to imitate a warrior or a magethe only thing that changed is appearance, and abilities simply couldnt be replicated. Either way, it was difficult for them to kill a noble and take their place right beneath the noses of such bodyguards. That was why Strom decided to take a detour and have the swampmen replace some peasants, who would in turn get themselves employed as servants or gardeners who could get close to the nobles before killing and replacing them. After all, there was no way the bodyguards would stay at the nobles side twenty-four seven. However, that plan had now hit a snag halfway through it was just days after the swampmen were deployed, and now some unknown church was nosing around in Crookes. Strom was going to be in trouble if he got caught. Theyre not from the Temple of Justice, are they? He asked uncomfortably at the thought. If there was anyone whom he feared most because of his dirty deeds, it would be those believers from the Temple of Justice. Fearless against death all in the name of perpetuating righteousness, those nutjobs were so radical they once put together a group of around thirty people to infiltrate a royal castle just to stop a senseless war, even assassinating the tyrant in the name of justice. One could tell from that alone how mad those nutjobs could beanyone ending up on the Temple of Justices naughty list wont be safe even if they hid at the ends of the earth. Even the black-robed man appeared wary about the Temple of Justice as well. Nonetheless, he answered. No, they dont have the light of Justice. They wouldnt be believers of Aslan, the Lion of Justice. Strom was certainly slightly relieved that it wasnt the Temple of Justice. Well, did those people manage to find anything out yet? He then asked. How are they investigating the matter anyway? They The moment they entered the city, they would knock on every door they reach and asked the people inside Are you a swampman. The mouth of the black-robed man twitched even as he struggled to maintain the mysterious air surrounding him, while Strom was absolutely confused. How was that a covert investigation? Sata? Could those people be idiots? Were the swampmen supposed to admit that they were swampmen? Sure, the swampmen were slightly less smart than your average human since Strom himself had checked them once he received them. That being said, impersonation was carved into their very bones and instincts, and it was actually very difficult to expose them. The glitch where missing hair could expose a swampman that Strom missed the first time had been compensated for as wellnow, the swampmen would scalp their victims and wear it over their heads after killing their victims. Hair identification no longer worked! Strom became relieved at the thought. He expected to find a male lion on his doorstep, only to realize that it was a harmless groundhog guess it was a false alarm. Dont get too comfortable yet. There is no telling what arts they were using, but after each questioning it would only go either one or two ways: one, they leave while cursing, saying things like yellow, still yellow or no, we cant get yellow but if the one they questioned is a swampman, they would start shouting Red! Its red! and start cutting them down to pieces. The black-robed mans words left Stroms heart strung up once more. As more swampman were exposed, magistrate Lloyd ordered the city watch support their search. A tenth of the swampmen I had given you are now dead-feel it through the trinket that controls them if you dont believe me. Strom hence quickly drew out an object resembling an abacus, and he paled after some clicking and clacking. The black-robed mans information was actually outdated: he had actually lost contact a fifth of the swampmen.Strom certainly didnt expect magistrate Lloyd to help those believers who came out of nowhere, although that made sense if he thought about it-before this, Lloyd had been left frustrated with the various murders that the swampmen committed which in turned called his authority and competence into question. Now that someone suddenly popped up to help solve the whole issue, there was no way he would have a brain fart he naturally would work with them. If this continues, every swampman other than the ones who had replaced nobles would be wiped out! Damn it! Were those idiots really that threatening? Strom was now beside himself in panic. It was like facing what was supposed to be a scared groundhog, only to have it suddenly cry out Aaaaaaaaaaaa! and then burst into a Super Saiyan Groundhog as it rushed toward him. How was Strom supposed to survive that? My lord, save me! He immediately licked the black-robed mans boots. We can provide you another product of our research, and thats it. The black-robed man replied mysteriously as if he did not hear Strom. Only you can save yourself. Think of it as a trial After all, the Secret Eye Society wouldnt keep trash even if we do raise bootlickers. Chapter 320: The End of a Swampman Flotog was a 33-year old peasant and believer of Sothos, the God of Herbs and Poisons. He lives at the common residence on the east district of Crookes and was unmarried. He worked at a nearby Sothos potions chain store-an enterprise founded by the believers of Sothos and the source of their religions main income, it was a common establishment in most major cities which majorly traded tobacco and potion ingredients. Be that as it may, Flotog tend to work overtime every single day, and would not go home until the stars were twinkling brightly over the night sky. Moreover, although his work was connected to tobacco, he didnt smoke, and he also did not drink frequently. He would go to bed as the stars shone directly above his head, sleeping for eight hours every night with a goblet of hot ale and twenty minutes of prayer just before. He would fall asleep the moment he hit the bed until daytime, all his tension and fatigue never carrying on to the next day Even the acolyte from the Temple of Life claimed that he was very normal. Indeed, Flotog wasnt behaving out of the ordinary at all until he went off work today. That was, aside from the fact that he was an impersonation-a swampman had taken his place. Ordinary people like him who was somewhat isolated and without strong ties with others were swampmens favorite food: there were very low risks in taking their place since others would hardly notice, and the swampmen could easily play their role despite their lacking wit. *** At present, Flotog the Swampman was kneeling before an idol of Sothos and praying. Swampmen were creatures without faith, nor would they gain the gods favor through prayer. However, after they had impersonated any human, they would inherit everything from appearance to habits and memories. It was why even if its prayer now served no function at all, it would keep going about the routine. Thud, thud. That was when someone knocked on the door. Flotog frowned. In his memories, Flotog was an orphan with no familial relations, and what passed off as friends for him were his colleagues at the potion chain store. They were certainly not close enough to randomly visit each other houses, and no one should have come calling at this hour. That said, Flotog shouldnt be ignoring the guest. Who is it? He stood up and went to open the door warily, and was taken aback by the scene outside. Three youths who stood out like a store thumb were standing there. In truth, two of them looked normal, but the one on the right was such a strapping figure that he resembled a clothed bear at a single glance. The silver moon had just rose to the skies, at an angle which prompted the illusion that the three youths were standing right beneath the moon. Sorry for disturbing! The bearlike youth exclaimed loudly. Its Uncle Joe! Please dont be alarmed, this is just a small survey. The youth on the right had a slim figure, but despite having the looks of a sincere and guileless farmboy, he gave the impression of being cunning and shrewd for some reason. Are you a swampman? Actually, you dont need to answer that. The youth standing at the center then spoke. He was holding something that was either a magic staff or a torch and looked like the leader of the trio. We could see for ourselves. Nonetheless, his words left Flotog apprehensive. Ho? Looks like theres no need to confirm it Even before the youth holding the fiery staff could finish, Flotogs muscles suddenly expanded as it promptly tore the door out of its hinges and flung it at the trio. At the same time, it promptly shot out like an arrow, aimed for the empty space on the left and fled! Spirit familiar! The bearlike youth cried. A human silhouette immediately appeared beside him, unleashing a barrage of punches that smashed the door into tiny chips of wood -a much harder feat than sending the door flying However, several city watch soldiers who had been ordered to hide nearby immediately appeared out of the two alleys on both sides of the path, intent on stopping Flotog-however, they clearly couldnt stop the swampman when its basic stats was a notch higher than ordinary humans. Flotog merely threw himself into them to scatter the soldiers like bowling pins. Sirs, thats an area weve checked before! If it escapes, well have to scour it all over again. One of the city watch soldiers who came out of nowhere told the three youths. Relax, its not getting away. The cunning youth said, raising his hand-the gauntlet over it rapidly changed form then, clinging and clanging as it automatically assembled itself into a golden, sparkling wristbow. Split Shot. All at once, a bolt loaded itself and was let loose in one swift stroke. It was a movement that went as smoothly as water flowing down a stream, taking less than a second! In fact, when the sound of the shot could be heard, the head and legs of the swampman which had gotten quite far away were blasted into pieces-it was a strike that could pierce a dragons wings after all, and it certainly could destroy a normal human with a single shot. Around him, the city watch soldiers watched as the cunning youths wristbow reassembled itself into a gauntlet, their faces looking just like envious eighth-graders who saw the Ironmans suit for the first time at the movies -power notwithstanding, that contraption was just so cool! Nonetheless, the swampman was no human. Even without brains or legs, it was crawling swiftly over the ground. Thus far, the Players didnt know where their vitals were eitherthey could only kill them by emptying away all their HP or vaporize them. While the swampman naturally wouldnt crawl to the area that was checked before and hide once again, there was a ditch nearby-unlike Lancasters aqueducts, the sewers in Crookes couldnt fit a person, and the only available drainage was the drains on both sides of every street. The drains were cover with stone grates, having an opening every few paces that stank because it wasnt cleaned periodically. And since the true forms of swampmen were basically no different from piles of mud, it would be very difficult to dig them out if they could hide inside. Just a little bit if I could just get insideDespite being headless, Flotog crawled as hard as it could towards the drain and eventually reached inside, shrinking itself amongst the mud and melting into it. It was relieved, as a smug thought arose in its not-so-smart mind. Damned humans, none of you expected that, did you!? This is where I was fleeing to in the first place! However, it saw an unbelievable sight through the one pile of its own body that it deliberately kept at the opening of the drain. The youth who had been holding the fire staff raised his hand, summoning black flames. The fire promptly converged into the shape of a black dragon with red eyes, and directly its infernal breath down into the sewer. In the next split second, all the drains in the street were covered in black flames. The fire faded another moment laterthere wasnt even a single roach left, let alone swampman. Chapter 321: Kidnapped With the remains of the swampman dealt with, Edward conversed with the leader of the city watch detachment. The chief of the city watchthat was, the citys magistrate had yet to make a formal appearance over various reasons, but both sides were showing understanding in their partnership On the other side of the street, a bored girl whose silver hair was tied into twintails was sitting atop a roof, her feet dangling in boredom as she had her candy. The whistling cold wind didnt seem to affect her thin self. While Eleena was the strongest Player, her identity was too important for her to display her powers in front of everyone else. Moreover, she was usually very quiet and had nothing she especially liked aside from eating and killstealing. She naturally wasnt interested in the search of those ugly swampmen, which was why she only watched from start to finish. She would only act if Edward and the others encountered something unexpected that they really couldnt handle. Nonetheless, alls well that ends wellthe highest level swampman was Level 20 and simply didnt hold a candle against Edward and the others. Aside from having the boys flex a little to impress the city watch around them so that they wouldnt have any ideas, there was basically no problems. Be that as it may, Crookes was quite a vast city and it would take some time even though other Players were helping in the search for more swampmen since they were just a small portion of the entire Playerbase. Most of them were reluctant to take on a quest when the rewards are undetermined, not to mention taking on the long trek there. But even as Eleena idled, a sackcloth suddenly descended from above and enveloped her entirely! Then, the figures of two men slowly materialized in the air. They deftly tied up the sack and casted a spell over it, strengthening the whole sack. It happened so suddenly that Eleena didnt realize she was captured. With their quarry in the bag, the two men promptly leaped off the roof from a direction where there were fewer people, and started to dash wildly along the alley. And here I thought we would have to run far for the quest. To think our quarry came to Crookes by herself! The taller man said cheerfully even as he stuffed an object resembling a compass into her chest pocket. Its like a rabbit running to the lions mouth by itself! Dont be too pleased yet. Our quest is not over, what with the undercurrents raging in the city. Nows not the time for us to reveal ourselves were not going back directly, so lets get to the black house, the shorter man replied calmly even as he carried the sack. Youre powerful, brother, but youre too prudent as well, the tall man replied, unconcerned. Not many in Crookes would best you. And with me, were unbeatable in this city! Theres a lot more frightening beings in this world. Dangers lurk everywhere in the Eastern Continent alone, and our ability is at best intermediatemake too much noise and were destroying ourselves! The short man glared at his nonchalant comrade while growling a warning. It was a pity that the latter didnt really listen, and continued to strut as he liked. Moments later, the short man promptly turned, realizing that Edward and the others were giving chase unbeknownst to them! Let her go! Joe the muscle king was the first to burst out his strength. The veins on his feet were bulging as he leaped into the air at full power, his spirit familiar turning solid to catch him and launch him rapidly at the two kidnappers! Careful, he cant control spectrals! Even though the short man couldnt tell what the spirit familiar was, he guessed that it was a being of energy akin to ghosts. Got it! Meanwhile, the taller man had whipped out a warhammer from his pants. However, instead of engaging Joe in a melee, he held the rope tied to the handle, whirling it several times before flinging it at Joe. The war hammer was not actually large-it was around half a meter with the handle at best, resembling a toilet plunger that was marked with a sapphire inscription, looking small and delicate. On the other hand, Joe stuck to his instincts that were honed from combat, holding his Giant Toe vertically in front of himself to block the seemingly flaccid strike. And then there was a loud clang! The plunger-sized war hammer had stiffly knocked Joe, a one-point-eight-meter tall youth and his two-meter long greatsword, sending both flying! Gou Dan agilely evaded Joe as he landed from high above and smashed a hole into the ground. Are you alright, Joe? He only asked then. Im fine, I didnt lose much HP Joe said with a long face, his embarrassed expression only half-showing since his face was half-caked in mud. He glanced in disbelief at the war hammer nearby which had smashed into the road, and then at the legendary-tier greatsword which lost a notch of durability. You cant see it, but that thing is very heavy! And frighteningly hard Its fine. Hes weaponless now. Gou Doug Ag appeared unconcerned, however. Unless his hammer could fly back to him. But even as his words left his mouth, he saw the tall man who never stopped running extended his hand. Come! The war hammer that was deep beneath ground immediately whooshed towards its owner. Joe, who expected to see the man being struck by his own hammer was soon disappointed as the weapon tamely returned into the tall mans grip. Beside him, Doug Ag who was forced to eat his own words unfurled AWM over his wrist and started shooting.However, the two men proved cunningthey would take cover behind bystanders, walls or even the most random of objects. Doug Ag did not have a clear shot for days, and since the two men were far familiar with the area around them, they were getting further and further away from their pursuers. Edward tried to launch several fireballs as well, only to miss just like Doug Ags bolts. Even though he could control the black dragon of his ultimate skill, Black Dragon Hellfire, his own body would slow down entirely, and it was just not suitable for pursuit. It seems that I have no choice Edward raised his hand, with two red crystals held between his fingers. Those were Illum crystalssimilar to the mana crystals of most fantasy novels, a crystallization of pure energy. Those crystals would crystallize into different colors according to the associated element. And the ones Edward was holding were Red Illum crystals, associated with the fire-element. Ive learned the Level 50 skill, but Ive never used it because it consumes Illum crystals but its cheap in this city, so nows the time to use it! Edward took a deep breath and raised Happy Flames, the Illum crystal in his hand turning into dust and spreading into the air. Red Eyes Dark Dragoon Blast! Chapter 322: Tensions Running High The number of skills Players could learn drop drastically after they reach Level 50, although the power of their skills would also rise to the next level with the high specialization that came with taking different skill routes. And just like before, Xi Wei shouldered the skill costs for the Players. It was fine since the number of Players were still few for now, but their average level would definitely increase as time went on. Moreover, as more Players rise beyond the threshold of level fifty, the casting of high-level skills would definitely drain a huge portion of Xi Weis divine power. To be frank, Xi Wei was feeling a little overwhelmed But he was a deity, and there was no way he could cry to his believers, saying, Stop! I really have nothing left! Therefore, to ensure that he wouldnt be drained dry, he decided to attach a certain additional condition to skills above level fiftyit was the consumption of Illum crystals, which energy would be used to compensate for the skill cost. The variety of classes would in turn require different colored Illum crystals, which was why the powerful skills beyond Level 50 were all known as colored skills amongst the Players. Xi Wei had assumed that the new change would draw discontent amongst the Player base. After all, using their skills before this did not require consumables and the blue bar tend to recover on its own with time, which was freeloading at its essence. And as anyone would know, freeload a day and you feel good for a day-freeload a lifetime and you feel good for a lifetime. Even so, the Players appeared understanding about the update, and even believed that the God of Games held the same conscience just like before. The reason was not hard to guess feelings of happiness were actually relative, a whataboutism. While the other gods would respond to their own believers and bestow them their own power in the form of so-called sacred arts, even the simplest ones require corresponding incantations, hand gestures or runes. A shrine and required offerings would also be mandatory once they reach stronger sacred arts, just as the rituals must be carried out strictly according to what was dictated-it was also worth mentioning that such rules were conveyed through dreams or oracles. That was why the moment that the reaction of any city watch informed about the presence of cultists was to search for the shrine that the cultists would be using: humans were alive and could move, but shrines would leave traces even if it were destroyed. As for why the gods would trouble their own believers over all that? It naturally wasnt because they wanted to watch a monkey show out of boredom-belief was actually a power that bound the gods and their believers, and even the gods need the believers to pray and the foundation of bonds in order to respond to them. The problem was that the gods had a limit to how far their minds could extend. Even though they could gain substantial divine power if their believers would pray to them at once, they would also bother the gods with countless different wishes. That was why aside from the few special exceptions, most gods usually keep themselves oblivious to most prayers because they didnt want to hear their believers praying about everything that irritated them. That in turn presented a new problem: If the believers had an urgent need for the gods help, what could they do especially since they were keeping themselves oblivious? That was how rituals came to be. To put it in simpler terms: the whole relationship was like that of a radio-the believers normal, daily wishes would be blocked by the gods like random static. On the other hand, when they need help over a certain purpose, they could apply certain rituals, which was akin to putting their information up on a selected channel. When the corresponding god heard that channel and received the information, they would verify if the prayer was a believer of their own, and bestow them their divine powers once no problems were found to complete the sacred arts. It was simple why advanced rituals were more complicated as well-channels had limits, and it was only by working on specialized radio channels to fulfill wishes when there are complex categories. The original ritual would therefore be added with certain little variances to realize the functions of different sacred arts, which in turn complicates the rituals. Even so, that problem didnt exist for Xi Wei. With his ability to transmigrate and to build a direct connection to the Players belief, he didnt have to share the congested channels of electromagnetic waves with other gods, and instead fool around on a separate blank channel he had all to himself. Instead, what bugged Xi Wei as a god was the matter of insufficient divine power which didnt exist for any other god, since none of them were feeding back their believers with that much divine power. *** When Edward finished casting his spell, a tremendous black inferno shot out from Happy Flames, converging and materializing into a massive dragon with crimson eyes. Its gaze was overflowing with the scent of an evil dragon, whereas its black scales reflected a metallic luster as it bellowed at the skies with stunning might. No matter the perspective, it was a totem of fire itself-no one would believe that it was a real dragon! And now, the black dragon was streaking downwards, unleashing a massive black fireball at the two men who were fleeing at their top speed, sack in two. The tall mans face had gone palehis war hammer was certainly not going to stop that fearsome attack. On the other hand, the short man who carried the sack turned around. He was holding a weirdly shaped buckler on his hand that emitted champagne-colored radiance, maintaining a transparent circular barrier which both men stayed behind. Soon enough, the fireball slammed heavily into the barrier but could not break it, and was instead deflected to a nearby building. The walls and the roof were vaporized instantly by the black flames, but the people inside were somehow fine. The family of three who were having some bacon hence stared blankly as the black dragon flew past, followed by Gou Dan and Edward, the latter of whom was being carried by Joe. What the heck was that? Gou Dan couldnt help gaping. As a Level 50 skill, the fireballs that Edwards black dragon breathed wouldnt cause secondary damage of searing heat or explosion. It merely burns to the extreme, and any substance touched by the black flames would vaporize immediately! Even so, that mysterious buckler had succeeded in deflecting the entire fireball without taking so much as a scratch. Its either a relic imbued with a powerful sacred art, or the sacred item of a certain religion. Only something along those lines could stop my Red Eyes Black Dragons blast.Edwards face was pale. The Level 50 skill took a heavy toll, leaving his body feeling drained. The other mans hammer is the same-if Im not wrong, its a sacred item too! Im not sure whats happening, but this is a provocation against the Church of Games! Joe looked extremely irritated even as he carried Edward. Ill flatten them! But they are cunning, we have to prepare for a long chase my stamina potion is ready! Gou Dan said solemnly although he was barely doing anything Clearly, they were exceedingly furious to find Eleena who grew up with them being abducted. Even as the chase continued amidst the trading of a wide assortment of skills, the air between both sides were running high with tension. That was when the two kidnappers suddenly and simultaneously fell heavily face-first into the dirt. Edward and the others did a double take, but soon noticed the white chains of light bound on their feet. It was a derivative of Eleenas Chains of Penance. Still, because he had fallen too hard, the sack on the short mans back that was holding Eleena dropped into a nearby river with a plop Chapter 323: Automatons Joe, Gou Dan, keep up the pressure on those two! Edward cried as he caught one of the Red Eyes Black Dragons talons as it flew downstream. Ill help Eleena! After all, even though Eleena was able to cast her skill and prove that she wasnt stunned or put to sleep, the sack and the rope keeping it close proved enough to stop her from escaping. If left to her own devices, she might soon die and be resurrected in the Unnamed Town Im Doug Ag! Gou Dan complained, but didnt protest against Edwards call. As a Player, he was certainly very sharp when his foe wasnt dead. The EXP hasnt come to me yet! Who do you think youre fooling by playing dead!?? Even though the two kidnappers had fallen quite hard, they were certainly tough enough to survive it since they had managed to keep their distance from three first-rate Players for so long. In fact, they had regained consciousness even before Joe and Gou Dan could reach them. Whether it had been because Eleena had flowed downstream and gone out of range or some other reason, the Chains of Penance that bound the two mens feet had vanished, breaking into countless fragments of light and restoring freedom to them. It appeared that they had no intention of running eitherwith their target lost, the two simply stood their ground to face Joe and Gou Dan. The shorter man had even whipped out his small shield in an instant, deflecting the arrows Doug Ag shot at him. The text on both mens heads then left Gou Dan and Joe doing double takes. The tall man was named Mercurial Automaton and was Level 36. The short man was Silvered Automaton and was Level 44. They werent humans, but automatons, like golems!? And their levels were surprisingly high-few first-rate Players would have the depth to defeat them outright. That was especially true in the cast of the shorter man. Although theres no telling what template he possessed at the moment, at his level, he could hold his own against the young Barren Giant alone! Furthermore, when their mysterious war hammer and the buckler were taken into account, they were surely evenly matched against Players of the same level even if they had normal monster templates, or perhaps even a class above. Naturally, Joe and Gou Dan were prepared for them to be as strong as they were mysterious. But what truly stunned them was that they had clearly abducted Eleena and fought them, but their names remained yellow-neutral even now, and not red, signifying an enemy. Gou Dan, what should we do? Joe asked. If they stick to Edwards usual orientation, they would refrain from attacking yellow names and try to win them over to their side, in turn strengthening the reputation of the Church of Games. In fact, that principle was more or less how the Players easily won the assistance from the Crookes city watch. Do you need to ask? Get them! Gou Dan didnt hesitate to raise his AWM. Its not like this is our first time taking down yellow-names! Or what, are we supposed to invite them to do after what theyve done?! No sooner had Gou Dan finished, he was sent flying into a building beside the path as the war hammer streaked towards him. That naturally provoked Joe, who swung his legendary greatsword Giants Toe at the two men while bellowing, Smite! The short man merely raised his buckler calmly in response, but Joes familiar spirit suddenly leaped out from the ground beneath them, crying ora as it punched them on the chin and sent them flying. Fools! Ive never learned Smite! Joe grinned as he pressed his advantage, controlling his spirit familiar to grab the Silvered Automatonthe shorter man-and barraged his face with full-strength punches with such violent force that the ground beneath was cracking! Beside him, the lanky Mercurial Automaton could well see that the situation was dire. He immediately spread his palm to summon his illogical war hammer, which shot out from the building which dust had yet to settle. But when the tall man really focused his eyes, he soon realized that it wasnt just his hammer flying to himthe young human he had sent flying was coming too. Even as Gou Dan held on to the war hammer as it streaked towards the tall man, he raised his AWM which was in wristbow mode and shot the tall man at point-blank range. Armor-piercing shot plus explosive enchantment! Now die! The bolt that was wrapped in Divine Grace easily pierced the tall mans head, punching into his head with only half of its shaft sticking out. Soon, the explosive enchantment kicked in and the bolt blew up violently in the mans head, the shockwave even sending Gou Dan flyinghe was only able to stop after rolling a while on the ground. At the same time, smoke billowed and swallowed the two automatons, preventing both Joe and Gou Dan from confirming what happened to them. No EXP! They arent dead yet! Joe shouted at Gou Dan after checking his System notifications. Tch! They survived!? Gou Dan exclaimed in disbelief. I blew up his brains! Its not like hes undead! Are automatons any different from undead? Uh Gou Dan considered it at Joes question, and realized that the two really werent that different. If one had to describe it, undead were bodies that moved driven by soulfire, whereas automatons used a different energy source. Moreover, compared to undead which were merely fragile corpses and skeletons, the automatons were several times more durable Looks like we either have to empty their HP bar or destroy their energy core if headshots wouldnt work. Gou Dan frowned while blowing a raspberry at how troublesome the situation was.*** As the dust settled, the two automatons were already gone, leaving silver fragments which had either been punched out or blasted apart. Each of the fragments were tossing and turning like worms or leeches too, twisting into an S-shape one second and a B the next Both Joe and Gou Dan were left bewildered, even though they had been wary of any danger at first. Damn it, they got away and without making a sound? Are they cats or something!? Joe cursed, clenching his greatsword as he vented his frustration. Gou Dan couldnt help being weirded out too. There werent any alleys nearby where the automatons could escape from, and while there were drains, it was too small unlike the sewage in Lancaster-no adults could move within. And if they were really running under the cover of the smoke, they shouldnt have gotten so far there was no glimpse of them in such a short time. So how the hell did those two automatons escape right under their noses? I feel that this city is not as simple as we imagined. Gou Dan muttered, scratching his head. Chapter 324: Lost Magitek Edward, Gou Dan and Joe were trading glances, with a dripping-wet sack fished out of the river placed beside them. It was true that the two kidnappers escaped Joe and Gou Dan, which left them hanging their heads. However, the problem was that although Edward did succeed in fishing Eleena out of the river, the rope and sack that was holding the Saintess could neither be undone or broken-not even the flames of the Red Eyes Black Dragon could damage it. Hence, the air between them turned awkward. Eleena, how are you feeling in there? Edward then asked the sack. Im fine, its quite cozy in here Zzz The girls reply from inside sounded bored. Ah, Im not sleeping! Im not asleep! The three youths outside scowled. Here we are, racking our brains to save her but the person in question has so unworriedly fallen asleep. Whatever the case might be, they shouldnt be keeping the Saintess-in-training a genie in a sack. However, all three of them and Eleena had all took turns attempting different things, but they were all left scratching their heads after firing their skills simultaneously at the sack to no effect. Could you try killing yourself? Gou Dan suggested then. You could revive at the lifestone of the Unnamed Town anywayyoull just lose some EXP. It would take too long: she doesnt have a Resurrection Ankh with her and would only be revived after three days. Edward shook his head. Lets save that until we dont really have any other ideas. What ideas do you have then, Edward? Gou Dan asked. Edwards face wrinkled as he thought hard about it. Those two are too evil. Forget how powerful the hammer and buckler wereeven their sack is troublesome. Joe couldnt help complaining. Feels so gimmicky Actually, they themselves are gimmicky too. In the end, automatons are a magitek similar to golems, a product of civilization in their quest to create life and reach the level of the gods. That said, as long as the God of Lifes Authority didnt fall to anyone else, the automatons wouldnt count as being alivethey are mere objects even if they had developed some extent of self-awareness. Edward had clearly studied information about automatons through the forums, and was now holding his chin as he made his analysis. They wont go after Eleena for no reason. Someone must have ordered it behind the scenes! Is that why their names are yellow and not red? Gou Dan said with a look of understanding. After all, the weapons of monsters would only count as equipment and not enemy! Edward didnt argue, although he doubted that inwardly. It was not as if they had not fought golem enemies beforethose enemies were red-named, which was why Gou Dans theory was incorrect. Even so, Edward could not come up with any explanations beyond that, which was why he should refrain from discussing the clue further until there was confirmation. Either way, it seems that our enemies this time has some powerful items Edward said, making conversation to break the silence when he suddenly felt an inspiration. If thats so, shouldnt we talk to a specialist? Specialist? Gou Dan and Joe looked confused. Sure, we usually call our own stuff items, but from an academic perspective, most items that possess special effects can be categorized as magitek! Edward hinted. Naturally, although legendary weapons such as Joes Giant Toe, Gou Dans AWM and Edwards Happy Flames were handmade (or tentaclemade) by Xi Wei personally and strictly speaking were divine relics, that wasnt really important Ive got it! We should look for an item specialist in other words, Ironfelt or the other dwarves! Joe put his hands together in understanding. No. Ironfelt and the other dwarves are actually blacksmiths. The alchemist-Lady Kinley would be the one who has studied magitek. Edward corrected while rising to his feet. We should go back to town for a bit anyway. Are you alright in there, Eleena? The sack: Zzz. The trio: Dont fall asleep! * * * The white radiance of a warping faded as soon as it appeared after a town portal scroll was torn. When they could see again, the trio plus one sack was already beside the lifestone of the Unnamed Town. The townsfolk were used to Players who exploring foreign places bringing back a random assortment of things (any imports exceeding the weight limit would be charged with the purchase of a permit), which was why Edwards group having a sack with them wasnt exactly special. But before they could carry the sack with them and leave the lifestone, another light shone beside them. Although Edwards group assumed that it was another returning Player, they turned to find that it was Marni, who had just come back to life. He became interested in the rope and the sack as well after hearing their story, and went with them to the atelier. Kinley Ainsworth-ex-fiance to Angora, liege of the Unnamed Town, had an atelier in the town itself. As an instructor in alchemy to most Players for their Life Skills, coupled with her good looks and having a way with people, many loyal bootlicking Players were at her beck and call since she wasnt a baddie despite being a little keen on personal profitEither way, she studied the sack for over an hour after Edward and the others handed it (with Eleena inside) to her, before smiling and admitting defeat. It isnt human magitek at allthe structure of the magic circuits and even its conduction system defy common knowledge. The lady rubbed her forehead while looking rather bemused. Of course, its neither a sacred item or a holy artifact. It is just a magitek built using unknown principles. So, what should we do? Joe looked immediately dumbstruck. That said, he didnt understand what she was saying at all. Meanwhile, Gou Dan patted the sack and somberly said, Kill yourself, Eleena. Edward sent him flying with a kick before turning back to Kinley. Is there really no other way? My mentor could examine some of the technology if hes here. The lady shrugged. In the very least, I dont have that ability. However However? Edwards eyes brightened, having lost all hope just then. Im not sure if its a coincidence Kinley cleared her throat as she flinched inwardly under Edwards gaze. The patterns on the sack bears some strong resemblance with the elven crafts brought here from Trinia. A trip there might get you something. Chapter 325: Sefarim Changing Deep within the Moon Pavilion in the elven capital of Trinia. The day was clearly still early, but this natural structure of hard aerial roots and vines which formed at the foot of the titanic Moon Tree was exceedingly dark. That might not be exactly correct, however-if one were to really describe it, it was the same as being shrouded in night. The fruits that were growing inside the Moon Tree itself was quietly spreading the moonlight stored in the leaves, keeping the air in the Moon Pavillon serene and sacred. A small lake could be found at the center of the Moon Pavilion, its waters reflecting the slightly radiant fruits that were as numerous as the stars in a night. And at the moment, a group of wood elves was sitting on the edge of the lake and watching the surface worriedly. If one could see through the starry reflection of the lakes surface, they would find a dainty figure floating over its waters. It was the treasure of the wood elves, and a symbol of their diplomacy with the humans (mainly the Church of Games)Sefarim, who was temporarily loaned to Jessica. Right now, the treasured girl had her eyes tightly shut. Her face was pale and she looked a little sick. Mysteriously, she was breathing although she was submerged entirely beneath the surface, with her flat chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm. If Xi Weis Divine Eye was watching, he would know that the lakewater wasnt really water, but moonlight in liquid form, accumulated by the elves over thousands of years. That radiance came entirely from the silver moon, which to some counted as a divine grace bestowed by Luna, the Silver Moon Goddess. It might not match sunlight or the Goddess of Life in power, but that divine grace would still aid in growth and heal illnesses or curses. In fact, the spirits of the elves who were especially devoted in life could be brought back to life after staying for a long period of time in Lunas divine kingdom! And now, Sefarim was endlessly absorbing the cleansing moonlight that the entire lake was slowly shrinking. When the elven elders who constantly watched over the moon lake to stop any younglings coming here to steal its waters saw that, their faces were left twitching, obviously feeling heartache at the rapid shallowing of the lake. Even so, they couldnt avert their eyes in their unquenchable fear that something might happen to their treasured girl. Still, while the elders could see the shallowing with their naked eyes, it was not really obvious to Jessica as a human. And being the only human sitting beside the lake, she couldnt help turning to Nina, Queen of the Elves to ask, Is Seffie going to be alright? If the other elves were only able to determine what Sefarims current condition was through her facial expressions and her outer appearance, the elven queen who holds the highest authority in the Moon Pavilion would definitely have a deeper understanding in comparison. In truth, Sefarims body was disintegrating and melting on a microscopic level, with the waters of the moon lake replenishing lost parts to build a new body and organs. Even though one couldnt tell from the surface, Sefarims body had actually changed completely since she was brought here. Nina herself had never heard of such a thing, let alone judge if it was good or bad. In fact, she couldnt decide if Sefarim was still Sefarim after she was changed entirely. Therefore, reluctant to lie to a worried Jessica, the elven queen could only frown slightly and shook her head. Sorry. I cant tell. No way Jessica became even more anxious. After all, she didnt expect such an outcome in the battle against Aojo. To be fair, Aojo was really powerful to the point that the Players combined assault did not have an obvious effect (Naturally, that had something to do with the Players not reaching Level 50 and having yet to obtain Colored Skills). Even so, Aojo was a little mysterious at best-when it came to pressure and brute power, the Drake of Trinia was far superior. Therefore, since Sefarim didnt show any illness after killing the Drake, Jessica thought that there shouldnt be any problems if she used Sefarim to take down Aojo as well. As such, she couldnt help blaming herself a little over what was happening. Even so, it is too early to mourn. Though the elven queen looked like she was in her twenties, she had lived long enough to tell that Jessica was feeling guilty and therefore mildly consoled her. Its not Really? Jessica regained hope at that. Really. The elven queen promised-although from her perspective, instead of describing Sefarims condition as encountering a problem and hence restoring herself, it was better to say that she had triggered some hidden condition and was updating herself Regrettably, Sefarim remained the greatest treasure inherited from the high elves who were wiped out after the War of Gods and Demons, with the wood elves barely surviving as well. There were just no clues for the present situation, what with parts of Sefarims own memories missing and unable to be used for reference. But as Jessica now expectantly watched Sefarim, a moon keeper entered the Moon Pavilion and passed the elven queen a banana leaf with a message written on it. Your Majesty, is there a problem? Jessica looked at her, puzzled. Your friends are here. Nina handed her the leaf. Even though Jessica couldnt read elven, she had a hunch who her friends were. Still, she only left the Moon Pavilion after the elven queen after another long look at Sefarim, and headed towards the wood elves visitor chamber. When Jessica entered and was about to greet Edward and the others, she realized that someone was missing. Wheres Eleena? Is she not coming? She asked in confusion. Im in here, Jessica. The sack beside Edward rolled for a bit. Jessica blinked before inhaling sharply. Are you selling off the Saint-are you selling off Eleena? We elves detest human slavery as much as we detest keeping slaves. Behind her, the elven queen said somberly while glaring at Edwards party, who were therefore forced to explain the reason they came to Trinia as best as they could. Jessica felt a little dejected when she learned that they were not here for her. Giving her a sympathetic look, the elven queen then said, It would take some time to study the sack and the rope. You may leave for a stroll with Jessica, Edward. No need. Edward didnt hesitate in his reply, being ever the insensitive oaf that he was. I could stay here and learn a few things about elven culture. Doug Ag, Joe, you should go with Jessica. Both Gou Dan and Joe shook their heads so hard they were leaving afterimages when they noticed Jessicas threatening glare, and quickly replied that they admired elven culture greatly as well and would stay to learn As such, the elven queen had to study the mysterious sack while they watched, unsure if she should laugh or cry. Chapter 326: Elven Arcane Text At first, the elven queen wasnt really concerned about Edwards request. Like present-day humans, the elves had once ruled the known world when their kind was spread throughout every corner of land. And even after the High Elves went extinct, many branch races possessing their bloodline survivedthe wood elves themselves include. To put it harshly, one could find antiques of their race wherever they dig a hole in the Eastern Continent. That was why she was quite sure what Edward had was one such trinket. Nonetheless, she realized that she was wrong after examining it seriously. The words inscribed on the sack are the arcane text of the High Elves that are completely different from our modern text. It, however, does not record a messageit is made exclusively for simple rituals and to imbue it with a corresponding Mystery, which is why deciphering the original content requires a special ritual that matches it. The elven queen explained to Edward and the others. The sacred arts system of the High Elves is different from what we have today. They seemed to have reached some pact with the gods in exchange for Mystery. Mystery? What is that? Gou Dan asked in confusion. I do not know. However, it is often used in the ancient texts our tribe has inherited it should be the name for a special power. The elven queen explained. These Mysteries is a condition with which the high elves casted their sacred arts, and because it is distributed equally, more people knowing of it would spread the Mystery thinner amongst each person. That was why the high elves generally adhere to secrecy so that the secrets in their own tribe wouldnt be revealed to anyone else. In fact, the high elves valued their secrecy so much that it reached airtight boundaries. They had even established a secrecy device specifically to handle situations where a captured high elf was about to reveal their Mystery (through hypnosis or other mind control), hence burning them into ashes because they were violating the oath of secrecy. Thanks to the secrecy device and the application of Mystery being kept at maximum potential, the high elves were next to the gods in strength even in the age of the gods. The elven queen added before sighing. But it was also because of the strict secrecy that cut short the glory of the high elves Edward had a vague hunch even though she left the actual reason unsaid. Given that Mystery was fully monopolized and isolated by the leaders of the high elves, the essence of Mystery would be lost if those leaders were to be wiped out in one swift stroke through mishap or something else. In turn, the high elves that survived wouldnt have any measures which they could revive their race with. No wonder the high elves bloodline was all spilled all over the place, forming numerous different descendant elven races. In other words, with the high elves all extinct now, this spell cant be undone Edward did a double take even at his own words. If the high elves extinction also meant the loss of arcane text knowledge, the application of this magitek that wielded a Mystery should have been lost together with it. So how did those two automatons obtain the application of the magitek? Edward quickly conveyed his doubts to the elven queen, who in turn asked in detail about the two automatons attributes. She believed that they were automated magitek that the high elves left behind and were basically humanoid golems built from liquid metal, in this case mercury. In turn, it made sense why they were able to use the rope and sack that were high elven magitek as well. That said, the automatons are themselves magitek. If someone didnt awaken them, they wouldnt awaken so many thousand years later after the fall of the high elves and appear in Crookes out of the blue. Edward pondered. Mystery is most likely needed to awaken them, and in other words, there might be someone in Crookes who has control over the high elves Mystery! The idea itself was not entirely impossible. Edward never considered himself a genius. But if even he could predict the disastrous outcome of the high elven leaders keeping Mystery to themselves, the high elves themselves would definitely be able to predict it as wellthey once founded the grandest of civilizations after all. That was why they were likely to have kept the clues to Mystery someplace else in case of emergencies even before they were wiped out. However, it appeared that the surviving high elves didnt know about that or couldnt reclaim Mystery over various reasons, which in turn led to the schism between the elves. Even so, it wasnt impossible for someone to stumble onto the high elves legacy after over a thousand years by sheer coincidence. * * * After hearing out Edwards analysis and thinking about it for a moment, the elven queen had a moon keeper ask for two elven elders who were learned in elven history to come to the visitor chamber, before requesting Joe and Gou Dan to reveal what they knew about the two automatons once more. Unlike the elven queen who only possessed slight knowledge about the high elves, the two elders who were clearly historians and knew much more about the subject. That was why when Gou Dan mentioned the war hammer that looked tiny but was extremely heavy and could be summoned into the users palm, one of the elders uttered the name Moon God Meteor Hammer in agitation. They also subsequently confirmed that the curious buckler the other automaton had to be a protector exclusively used by the high elves called the Moon Sky Guard! While those names dont exactly roll off the tongue, the Moon God Meteor Hammer was forged entirely with starsteel. It was a metal divinely created as it only exists in the Moon Gods divine kingdom (there were no stars in this world in the real sense of the word, the stars which mortals usually see are divine kingdoms embedded in the realm of the gods), and a blessing that only devoted Moon God believers could obtain. Even if the Moon God Meteor Hammer was less than thirty centimeters in length, the amount of starsteel used to forge it had to be gathered by dozen thousands of zealots. And since zealots would never give up their gods blessing, it was only taken after they diedtherefore, taking into consideration that most of the Moon Gods believers were elves, it would take far longer than a thousand years to gather all those materials. It was also said that the Moon God Meteor Hammer could only be lifted by the high elves when it was finally finished. With it, the lightest of swings would crush stone, whereas a full power blow could split mountains. Still, while it didnt compare to the divine spear Sefarim, it was famous amongst high elves too. On the other hand, the Moon Sky Guard was mass produced and was no more protective than an ordinary metal shield. However, the sacred arts that buffs it could divert most attacks aimed at it, misdirecting the oncoming blow away from the buckler itself to protect its wielder. However, the elders still failed to recognize what the gimmicks of the sack and cloth were, and could only confirm that they were made by the high elves hanks to the arcane text inscribed over them. Just as Edward considered how he should ask the elves to help, his System page suddenly bounced out in front of his eyes. [Ding] (Large-scale side quest started] [Searching ancient ruins: Elven SIN (Synchronized Intellect Nation)] Chapter 327: They Can Divide Themselves Too? [Searching ancient ruins: Elven SIN (Synchronized Intellect Nation)] [Quest: Three thousand years ago, the high elves who were still ruling all land were suddenly wiped out, the Mysteries in their legacies lost. Now, however, you have inadvertently stumbled upon certain secrets they once held, just as you had determined that an ancient ruin belonging to the high elves is present near Crookes. Find that lost world for a glimpse into the nation where the elves integrated all sentient beings. Under the guidance of your wise and powerful god, you shall embark on the journey in search of those ruins.] (Quest objectives: (This quest will be shared to all Players) Search and confirm the location of the entrance to the ancient ruins the high elves had left behind.] (Quest rewards: Certain amount of EXP] [Note 1: It is recommended to have a wood elf as a strategist in search of the entrance due to the cultural difference between high elves and humans] [Note 2: Event Ancient Arcanum: Elven SIN will be unlocked upon quest completion] * * * ven Looks like we really hit the jackpot this time Marni muttered quietly even as he read the System page and left a comment that read Thanks for the invite, Im already present on the scene on the Player forums which was already in an uproar. III as In the first place, he had only come to try getting better equipment, especially since the ones he had at the moment were falling behind in level. In fact, he would have sold them off if each item wasnt kept relevant thanks to their +7 stats. He certainly didnt expect to stumble into such a mystery and start a large-scale side quest. Even though the quest reward appeared measly since it only gives EXP for rewards, Marni knew that the real rewards wouldnt be equally poor once the event kicks off. Moreover, there could well be hidden rewards given in the side quest itself. Indeed, he could compromise by assuming that there wont be any rewards in the side quest. Even then, having completed it would definitely secure him an advantage of some extent in the subsequent event. Meanwhile, the elven queen watched as the Players fell silent at the same time, and then vaguely realized something. Ultimately, the high elves are the precursors to us wood elvesif you dont mind, would you allow Trinia to join you in your effort? She offered. Pausing, she then added, You may set your minds at ease, as I would only be sending some of our people to observe and collect information. They would not interfere as long as your side does not blaspheme against the Moon God. Edward, who was hesitating how he should request assistance couldnt help breathing a sigh of relief at the elven queens offer. Thank you. I was just thinking that we need your strength in helping to accomplish our goal. Beside him, Marnis merchant instincts almost made him barter to see if he could get more out of it. He was naturally left upset as his words were stuck in his throat after Edward agreed to the elven queens offer before he could. Still, he knew that Edward wasnt doing anything wrong when he thought about it. Given the difference in mindset between humans and elves, the Players need to be much more direct and less crafty, especially when the other humans were so deceitful. If Marni really did try to barter like it was another business deal and drag out his bartering, the negotiations might have broken down directly because he was looking at a gift horse in the mouth, he might be reduced to an eternal criminal, with other Players taking turns to PK him *** The magistrates office in Crookes. Magistrate Lloyd could feel strands of his hair shedding when he received the report. So what youre saying here is after the followers of that mysterious church had killed another swampman, one of their companions was kidnapped by unknown individuals before they themselves vanished in the ensuing pursuit? That is correct, my lord. The soldier who submitted the report was sweating buckets, his stomach and feet twitching. Theres only a broken rock left when we reached the scene Lloyd flung the report in his face. Are every last one of you corpses?! Forget not having any progress with finding the swampmen, youve lost the very people who came willingly to help and work with us despite all the trouble! Anyone who would kidnap their companions is most likely the mastermind behind the swampmen, so get to the bottom of it! If you cant find the killer or those helpful followers, you dont have to report to me again! Yes, my lord! The soldier clutched his report and fled the office with a pale face. After he vanished beyond the door, the infuriated Lloyd slumped into his chair. Early on, the swampmen were not exactly a problem. However, every citizen in Crookes started to panic when that mysterious church scrounged out a whole bunch of them in such a short time, leaving them in fear that their friends and family were swampmen impersonations. The already unfriendly opinion of Lloyd amongst the citizens hence turned worse. But that was not all doom and gloom, however. All Lloyd needed for his reputation to recover was to let the mysterious church continue exposing more hidden swampmen, and he might even earn a majority support-after all, resolving the swampmen crisis was a great feat for the citizens to talk about. The problem was that the followers of the mysterious church were gone, and the situation was extremely terrible for him. But even as Lloyd scowled over the matter, another soldier rushed inside his office. My lord! I have something to report. What is it? Lloyd asked by reflex, being still a little distracted. Did you get the mastermind behind the swampmen? Uh, no. The soldier did a double take, shook his head before reporting the latest development. A large group of people had suddenly entered town. More crystal washers? Is there another crystal rush lately? Lloyd asked in bemusement.After all, what drew people to Crookes was the Illum crystal veins on Mount Meredith. Even though those veins were already claimed, it was said that brushings of rain and mountain springs throughout the year washed many Illum specks of dust into the mud beneath the river. So-called crystal washing was to use specialized tools to extract the minerals from sand, and rumors of how some got rich overnight would lead to crystal rushes here, attracting many others to settle down in Crookes. However, there hadnt been anyone who got rich by making a living out of crystal washing. Indeed, some now consider that getting rich through crystal washing was a rumor that the mayor spread in order to increase the citys population No, its the followers of that mysterious church. Oh? Theyve returned! Lloyd was beside himself in joy. Not only have they returned, there are more of them! The soldier then added in shock. In fact, they number up to the hundreds! Lloyd became a little confused at that. Perhaps the believers of that mysterious church were capable of dividing themselves? Chapter 328: Ill Do My Best Strom was having such horrible mood swings lately that it felt like he was riding a pendulum. The mysterious church that came to Crookes and began a widespread inquisition against the swampmen he controlled was stretching his nerves to the limit. If the Secret Eye Society hadnt provided him some of their research subjects as a trump car, he wouldnt have stop short of having the swampmen start an uprising just to attempt conquering the mayoral residence. It was fortunate that his rational prevented him from that impractical idea. While the city watch under the command of Lloyd, his deadly rival was not actually too impressive, they were still the second most powerful peacekeeping force in the city. As for the number one force, it was merely a not-quite-legendary rumor that circulated amongst nobles and was not known to the peasants: a covert outfit said to have been groomed by the Meredith family, the rulers of Crookes. Naturally, the nobles couldnt prove their existencebut whenever one amongst them would threaten the mayor after being mesmerized by the riches of Crookes and getting ideas they should not have, their residences would be gone overnight no matter how prosperous their family had been. That includes one particular noble family that prospered over a hundred years in Crookes. At the time, they happened to have three bishops of different churches as well as a mage who reached the domain of supernatural in a single generation. No one could ignore such power no matter what city it was, just as any mayor would have to compromise with their whims. It was perhaps why the then head of the family who was also one of the three bishopstook advantage of the great influence of their family. Having steeled himself, he was ready to overrule Old Meredith and take a bite out of the mining industry of Crookes. He and the other two bishops diverted detachments of sacred corps to Crookes, whereas the mage in the family would stay on standby in their own residence, posturing as if they were ready to declare war on the mayor if he disagrees. But on the next day, the entire family disappeared from Crookes. It was no culling following a violent battle, but the hundreds of members in that family literally vanished overnight. Their luxurious mansion which was comparable to the mayors was gone as well, leaving only an empty land. Later, the bishops respective churches sent in their own people to investigate the matter, even interrogating the mayor himself-but they found nothing. In fact, one of the churches proved to be a little too rude and was blacklisted by the old liege, banning them from ever preaching in Crookes. That particular church had just planned their revenge when their religious leader suddenly died out of the blue. In his wisdom, the new leader promptly withdrew the churchs sacred corps to keep a healthy distance between themselves and Crookes, and only then did the entire matter blow over. How the old mayors covert outfit accomplished all that was still a mystery, but since then, no noble had dared to stir the hornets nest. Even though old Meredith was now sick, old, and on deaths door, every last noble in the city were only dutifully supporting the candidates they believed who might take his place without trying anything funny. In fact, Strom himself only cooperated with the Secret Eye Society to protect himself because there was just no other way. Even now, he feared that the old mayor would notice that he was the one who controlled the swampmen and was up to no good, that Meredith would send out his covert outfit to destroy him. But even as Strom as panicked to the point of hysteria, the mysterious church suddenly left the city. There was no clear reason, but the swampmen that had slipped into the city watch reported that they were the victims of a strange ambush. Afterward, Strom himself went to the scene personally to observe the carnage left by the unknown church and their equally unknown adversary, only to see how horrific their powers really were. The swampmen wouldnt survive a fight against either side anyway. Nonetheless, just as Strom was about to breathe a sigh of relief with the departure of the mysterious church and consider how he should make a breakthrough, the swampman mole brought him more bad news. The mysterious church had returned and they brought along many of their friends! And it seemed that they were on the search for something else. Despite Stroms assumptions that they would continue the Swampmen Inquisition, he later realized that they were a lot less interested in them as they scrounged around the city. But that didnt mean Strom could rest easy. Sure, that strange church was less keen on finding swampmen-but that did not mean that they were not on the look for them. In truth, they were still as zealous about it as they had been before. Even as they combed the city for their new target, they would ask still ask anyone they run into whether they were a swampman albeit as an afterthought. And just like before, any swampman questioned would be immediately exposed and then die as the churchs followers hack them into tiny pieces For his part, Strom couldnt figure out for the life of him why would they still search for the swampman. What good would it do them? Lloyd wasnt even paying them! He just couldnt imagine that the gimmick called EXP was much more precious to the Players than gold. * * * Lord emissary, please tell me what to do! Strom had eventually found himself cornered and helpless, and therefore reached out to the enigmatic emissary with the mirror in his basement. Am I supposed to use the trump card you gave me right now? Ive told you. This is a trial. On the other end, the emissary of the Secret Eye Society was cursing inwardly as well. He was absolutely irritated by the Players who suddenly appeared out of nowhere, but his reaction was kept hidden thanks to his hood. You are the only one making decisions here. ButNo buts. The emissary didnt hesitate to cut Strom short with an obviously indignant tone. This is the last time I answer your call before you take over Crookes. What My lord! Storm exclaimed, flustered. Did something happen? Weve found an undead night elf in the Tegrono Federation. Its no longer self-aware, but its mind still holds the knowledge it gained when it was alive. Compared to your frivolities, capturing it is more important to us! The emissary of the Secret Eye Society was being very impatient-clearly the effort to capture the undead was clearly unsuccessful. Prove your worth to us or we shall abandon you! And you know very well what would happen when we do! I I understand. Stroms brain seemed to turn into mush at the emissarys threat. Even so, he had made his choice inwardly. Ill do my best! Hence, even as the mirror dimmed, he remained before the mirror and stared at his unhinged reflection while repeating to himself, Ill do my best do my best His words grew in determination, whereas the triangular eyes slowly glinted fearsomely. Chapter 329: Mining Cave Mining Cave Number Three, Mount Meredith. To what do we owe the honor, Lord Mickey? A lead miner asked Strom Mickey, who had appeared there for some reason. Although miners such as them were paid well enough, their jobs were still hard labor and most nobles wouldnt bother looking into their ashen-faces, believing that they were beings just a little better than slaves. Naturally, for some big shot in Crookes like Strom himself to come here suddenly was leaving the stout lead minerwho resembled a dwarf in appearance-confused. Im just looking around, Strom replied. I am a city official in Crookes after all, so I should learn a little about the mining caves that are the lifeblood of the city. The lead miner accepted the reply at face value. Even if Strom was showing signs of losing power, he remained an important official and noble of the city, someone whom peasants like the miner himself must never provoke. Hence, even though he didnt know what was going on, the lead miner did as he was told and freed up a mining cart before having two other strapping miners drive it for Strom. Strom didnt protest. His face was serene even as he sat on the cart that slowly ventured deep into the mining cave, as if he really was there for an inspection. No one saw that a clear fluid no different from water was dripping all over the cave from his fingertips-and when the unusual fluid seeped into the dirt, it would quickly sneak beneath ground without a trace, preventing anyone from seeing it. Still, nothing changed, although the Illum crystal ores on both sides of the cave that the miners left as markers and a source of light seemed to brighten a little *** Are you awake? Weve finished your Red Scream! Zazu woke up to find his good friend Simba telling him that whilst standing over himself. Startled, he promptly checked his bag, only to find that the expensive fire potion Red Scream was still inside and untouched. Dont joke even about that. Its an item I need for class change. Zazu said as he carefully stuffed the potion deeper inside the bag and then closing it once more. Its so expensive on the market. Are you really planning to change class to Skyblaze Herald? I think Tidecallers are quite good toothey could summon seafood, so we wont have to worry about going hungry. Simba suggested. Aquatic Angels are the ones who could summon seafood. They are very different from Tidecallers, please. Zazu retorted even as he stretched his body. At the moment, they were sitting in a Crookes alley. Crookes was no tourist spot and therefore did not have many taverns, and any lodgings were soon full house after the Players had poured into the city in droves. Third-rate Players like Simbas group who moved slower in comparison were therefore forced to sleep at the cleaner alleys when they eventually reached the city. It was fortunate that the System shop provided sleeping bags to handle the problem, so they did not have to worry about the cold. Moreover, Simba, Zazu, and Nala were never pampered children, which was why they were alright aside being a little stiff when they woke up. Wheres Uncle Mufasa? Hasnt he arrived in Crookes yet? Nala then asked Simba in confusion. He accepted a job from Marni to escort the wood elves Trinia is sending to Crookes, Simba replied after checking Mufasas comments on the forums. Although I have the feeling that Mister Marni who is tagging along with the wood elves wants Uncle Mufasa to protect him as well. With Eleena always playing pretend and Princess Leah usually not being considered a Player, the Players whom other players considered to be the strongest in the Church of Games was either Edward or Jessica (thanks to the buff of the divine spear Sefarim). That lasted until after Mufasas dazzling performance in the Twin City Cup tourney, which promptly left most Players certain that he was now the best of them. But do the wood elves need escorts? I think they are stronger than us Nana asked softly. They are strong, but they die when they are killed. Simba shrugged. They cant keep reviving like us. And then theres the fact that not many people dare to accept Mister Marnis escort quest these days. Zazu chimed in. With that strange luck he has, no amount of money would suffice to pay for contract violations. The other two children nodded in agreement. *** Simba was about to announce the days schedule. Since they were already here, they would naturally proceed with the event quests that would soon start. Moreover, they were never really hopeful about completing the prerequisite quest of finding the entrance to the high elves ruins. There were just so many Players who had come to Crookes, not to mention that there was no lack of first-rate Players present. Trying to steal the quest from them was just too difficult for a tiny party that hadnt even change class. en Still, while other players were searching for the entrance, the children could search for swampmen, completing the mini side quest to earn a little EXP. It was worth mentioning that the children had already gone past level 15the mark for class-change, and each of them were over level 20. The reason they didnt change class was because the required quests were too troublesome, just there would be even more quest items needed, thereby increasing the demand of those items amongst the Players. Of course, asking Mufasa for help would get them those items, but Simbas group believed that they already owed Mufasa too much. After all, he did rescue the orphans from a rotten young noble, bringing them to the Church of Games and be blessed with a System thanks to the grace of the God of Games. They would become good-for-nothings if they cant even complete a trivial matter like obtaining their own class-change materials, which was why they never asked and focused all their efforts in collecting the items. Suddenly, the ground was shaking violently. Before Simba and the others could get up, one could see from the city that the peak Mount Meredith was visibly crumbling. Soon, a colossal serpent with scales resembling mineral ores slithered out of the shattered mountaintop. It was still some distance away from Crookes, but its size could still be determined by comparing it to the peak. It would rise as high as twenty meters into the air if it straightened itself vertically, and its body was long enough to coil around two soccer fields. But if one looked closer, they would notice that it was not a giant serpent but a mine shaft that had become sentient, although its head was quite serpentine. And the instant they saw it, the Players could see the name hovering above the monsters head. [Illum crystal lifeform-Tunnel Eye Serpent, Level 35 (increases as time passes)] Chapter 330: How Do You Fight Something Without A HP Bar? It was not just the newbiesfirst-rate Players such as Edwards group who had been honed through many battles were startled too. Even if it were a Boss template, why wouldnt a mere Level 35 monster not have a HP Bar? After Gou Dan shared his analysis with Edward, the latter groaned for a moment before his eyes sparkled. I got it! Edward exclaimed seriously then. The absence of a HP Bar is a hint from the God of Games! What hint? Are you saying that its an ally? Its name is bright red through and through Joe couldnt help asking. Even the two automatons we fought were yellow-names in comparison. No, the Tunnel Eye Serpent is definitely an enemy, but there are two reasons why it has no HP Bar. Edward explained to his party. First off, the enemys true form is not there: the big thing were looking at is something like a shell, and the HP bar would only show up in its true form. Thats possible should we reach out to the other Players and get some help finding the true form? Gou Dan quickly asked. Edward, however, shook his head. Believe me. Once we announce that possibility in the forums, every last Player in Crookes would rush out with a whoosh to find the true form. None of them is going to stay here to fight that thing to the death. After all, while their code of honor was important in the perspective of all Players, Crookes was not Lancaster which had formed an alliance with the Church of Games, just as it wasnt liege Angoras hometown of Tunaya. All it was, was a new map. They were utterly unacquainted with the city, let alone develop sentiment with it. That was why controlling the Players motivation was undoubtedly beneficial right now. Since gold and authority wasnt too attractive to the Players, rare items, substantial EXP and game coins were much more useful for them in comparison. as As such, given that staying in the city was both dangerous and unprofitable whereas searching and destroying the true form was simpler and effective, it was only too obvious what the Players would choose to do. Still, if Edwards theory was right, searching and destroying the enemys true form counted as saving the city from another perspective. In turn, the Players wouldnt really be the ones to blame for their choice. Then, how about we have them fight that thing while we drag out the true form and spank it? Joe asked, scratching his head. That is possible, but I dont want to get infamous. Edward shook his head again. Didnt I mention it? There is another possibility. What is it, then? Gou Dan pressed, curious. That thing is its true form and actually has a HP bar, but it is only after certain conditions are meet that its HP bar would appear. Edward reply. The best evidence to that theory is that its appearance didnt start any new quest in the System. Gou Dan was visibly confused. How does that logic connect to anything? Based on the System or indeed the God of Games usual style, if that monster was really just a shell while the real enemy was controlling it from some corner, there would be a quest that reveals that fact. Ever the lecturer, Edward was not all bothered to have to explain things. But such a quest hasnt shown up even now, meaning that it is possible that no one is controlling it! And the reason that there is no HP bar shown is merely because a condition was yet to be met. In fact, if he drove his theory further, Edward believed that the Tunnel Eye Serpent might have already appeared as a part of some quest. Hence, after eliminating the less likely quests, it would either be a part of the Swampmen Incident quest or the Ancient High Elf Ruins quest. So, what should we do? Gou Dan asked, feeling a headache just then. Fight or flight? Fight! Edward made the call without hesitation. Im betting on my second theory. By detonating every Illum crystal on the monsters body and testing every last possibility, we will only hold back that monster and let the other players find the true form if there is another way! More donkey jobs, Joe complained, although he was already clenching the hilt of his greatsword and summoning his spirit familiar. Well, we are the earliest believers of the Church of Games. Gou Dan didnt add anything further, but he had already set his AWM to super-long-range sniper mode with maximum output. We have to shoulder some responsibilities. Edward smiled at his companions and raised Happy Flames, charging his blue bar and preparing himself. That was when the sack beside their feet which had stayed silent all along suddenly wiggled, followed by Eleenas meek voice. About that can I come out now? Whoops. They forgot about the Saintess-in-training. Chapter 331: Rescue The Tunnel Eye Serpent was just too massive. Since it was also in a location high above, the citizens in Crookes were all frightened by its presence and began to drag their families with them to flee the city. Such chaotic reaction further escalated the panic in the city, leaving every path congested by droves of citizens trying to flee and causing one trampling incident after another. Even before the monster had reached the city, the death toll had immediately reached two digits and rising. Meanwhile, most Players were following Edwards group out of the city to fight the Tunnel Eye Serpent, whereas third and fourth-rate Players like Simba remained in the city. They were weaker in comparison and didnt have the ability to join a battle against a World Boss. After all, they would lose a lot of EXP instead of gaining any. This cant continue! Simba was scowling on a roof and watching as the waves of people below surged. The young and old would die in the stampede. We have to help them! How? Zazu asked, grimacing while holding his magic staff. Youll get trampled to death if you try to stop them. Moreover, we dont have any Resurrection Ankh-we could only revive in three days. Thats right, Simba its too dangerous. Nala agreed. Ill try to guide them forward or at least clear the way for them and widen the path Simba said, his teeth gritting in resolve. With that, he was ready to jump off the roof. Dont be stupid! Zazu quickly stopped him. The people are now scared out of their minds; they wont care even if you shout yourself hoarse! Youre dying for nothing? Dont you believe me? I know, Zazu. I understand everything youre saying. Simba replied solemnly. I could die if I jump down right now but so what if I die? Huh? Zazu didnt understand what Simba meant. Zazu. We dont really die after we joined the Church of Games, since we would just come back to life in three days but the people down there only live once, and would really die if they are killed. Simba said earnestly to his friend. Even if I could save just one person and exchange their one-time life with my infinite life is good enough, and I would do it even if it kills me. Do you get what Im saying? Youre too nice Since Simba had put it that way, Zazu doesnt feel the need to stop him now. No way. I might not help anyone if I had only one life and wouldnt be revived when I die. Simba smiled in relief when he saw that Zazu had given up on dissuading him. How is that nice? Fine. Zazu whipped out a cloth out of nowhere and started to wipe the tip of his magic staff firmly, making it dazzling and intimidating before going to stand beside Simba. Count me in, then I want to feel what its like being the good guy. What about you, Nala? The girl made a helpless look at the question, but couldnt help smiling either. Im definitely coming. I could revive you both if you die, but just dont die too soon since the skill cooldown is super slow. Complain to Simba only. Its his idea. Zazu stood at the edge of the roof and looked down, ready to jump. That was when a small window bounced up in front of their eyes. [Shareable side quest stared: One for all, all for one] (For the God of Games loves the world-even those who dont believe in him has the right to his mercy. Under his wise and gallant guidance, it is time to show who the Players are to the ignorant who had yet to put their faith in him!) [Quest objective: With Players Simba in command, evacuate as many citizens of Crookes to safety as it is possible, thereby elevating the reputation of the Church of Games in these parts.) [Quest Rewards: Each participating Player will receive a time-limited Resurrection Ankh (disappears automatically in 12 hours), 1 to 3 level 30 blue or purple item containers depending on performance) [Note: Attacking unreasonable brutes with non-lethal blows would not result in red-naming. Please do not hold back from beating up any immoral thug who cant listen to others.] The trio stared at the new quest in surprise. Zazu was the first one to react. He really is the God of Games! He is always watching over us. He beamed. Having been orphaned as a child, having such a great power supporting him felt wonderful. Hence, he turned towards Simba. If it was you, I think you would selflessly try to save others even if you only had one life. With that, he leaped off the roof. *** While the third and fourth-rate Players were busy aiding and guiding the fleeing citizens, a fierce battle was being waged on the other side. The Red Eyes Black Dragon had taken to the skies as it breathed waves of flames from its maw that resembled red lotuses. The blazing flames detonated over the craggy skin of the Tunnel Eye Snake. But nothing happened.The monster merely kept its head low as it continued towards the city of Crookes. It simply collided with the Red Eyes Black Dragon when it stood before it, reducing it into a bundle of flames that vanished into thin air. In the distance, Edwards face had turned pale-white. Even a level fifty Colored Skill has no effect could my theory really be wrong? He wasnt close at all, but Edward could still see everything His Red Eyes Dark Dragoon Blast had struck the Tunnel Eye Serpents body, but it didnt hit the targeted Illum crystalwhen the flames were about to reach it, a thin screen of light resembling a soap bubble appeared over it. It blocked the black dragons flames even though it would burst with the slightest touch. Sniping doesnt work either the bolts would rebound by some passive ability when it pierces the screen, and explosive arrows wouldnt detonate Gou Dan added with a frown. Its meaningless for normal arrows to pierce its body too, since it is all rock. The distance is just too far. How about we try attacking from a closer range? Joe, who lacked any long-range attack as a swordsman suggested. Well, we could give it try. Edward gambled since things had come to this. Joe, bring Eleena along. Doug, were up. Edward, wait! That was when Joe cried out in disbelief while staring behind them. The sack Eleena is gone! Chapter 332: “Im Your Grandfather!” “No-!” Caught in the sack and unable to do a thing, Eleena could only entertain herself by playing games at the forums. When she sensed that something strange and opened her eyes again, she found herself released from the sack. The one who freed here wasnt Edwards party, howeverbut an old man with a withered face and looked like he could drop dead at any given moment. The words over his read Mayor of Crookes and was in yellow: a neutral unit. Beside him were the two automatons that had kidnapped Eleena before, and they were holding the sack and rope in their hands. The old man then drew out something resembling a compass and held it in front of Eleena. There was no doubt that the needle was pointing straight at her. Theres no mistake. The mayor of Crookes pocketed the compass while trying his best to make a tender face. Be that as it may, his facial muscles seemed to have hardened-either because he had not made such a face for a long time, or because he was now just skin over bones. He just couldnt convey tenderness, and his smile bore a strong resemblance to an undeads vile grin. Eleena shrank by instinct, her little hand reaching for the steelskin tome hanging by her hip. The two automatons promptly reacted to that, intent on staying between her and the old man-only for the old man to wave them off. Master! The short automaton shouted worriedly. The old man shook his head, however, signaling them to stay away. Its alright. Dont worry, shes just a child. It doesnt really show, buy Tyler Meredith was actually very happy. He had been prepared to months or even half a year for his automatons to return with his heir. After all, it had been a long time since his daughter eloped, and after her death, the man had done all he could to distance himself from the city of Crookes, be it for self-preservation or for the sake of their child. Tyler certainly never expected the child to be inside Crookes, hence saving a whole lot of time. That alone left the dying old man happy and rejoicing in his heart, to the point that he didnt care about the girl reaching for the tome. Even though it did not look like an ordinary tome, he simply let it pass. After all, her father had spent a lot of time running and probably wouldnt have much money left. It was a stroke of stupendous luck for Tylers granddaughter to survive, let alone gain some special ability. Indeed, if Xi Wei wasnt having an urgent need for believers in the very beginning for being a noob god and came in time to save Eleena in her desperation, she, along with Edward and the others would have been killed back when the beasts attacked their village. And despite his old age as well as how his frail frame looked about to croak any time now, his body had been honed by the elven stone over a hundred years, making his body much stronger than a normal human. Though he could no longer fight, he was still as tough as nails. In fact, he would be perfectly fine even if two strapping adults punched him with their casserole-sized fists, let alone a girl who looked around twelve. As such, in his mind, it was alright for the girl to punch him a bit to vent her frustration and alleviate her terror from the kidnapping. There was nothing wrong with Tyler Merediths reasoning too. In this word, only the rich could choose to learn spells or martial artspeasants would never be able to afford the costs, and the limit of a lifetime for most of them would at best be the rank of priest. However, that outdated rule was broken with Xi Weis appearance. In his perspective, there should be equality as long as they were willing to work even when it came to powerful special classes like the Saintess-in-training and the Warrior Princess. If you keep goofing off instead of farming monsters or use safe Life Skills to earn EXP, you would never hold a candle against Players who work themselves to death. In other words, if Eleena really whipped out her meteor hammer (bible) right now and smash it down the old mans head, there is a huge chance a critical hit sign would appear over his head while he keeled over, and go forth to Xi Weis side It was therefore fortunate that Eleena has gone through much despite her young age. In fact, she might have more experience and insight than ninety percent of the worlds population. And when she noticed that the old man wasnt hostile (his name wasnt red), she quickly calmed down instead of attacking. On the other hand, her self-control and the quickness at which she regained calmness made the old man appear even more satisfied: she might be young, but there was potential for development-a little instruction and she would definitely become a fitting successor to continue the Merediths family glory. I know its definitely a little scary to find yourself somewhere you dont know the moment you open your eyes. But its fine We have all the time in the world, and I will explain everything. The old man scratched his loose scalp. Where do I begin? Right, first and foremost you should call me grandfather. *** At first, Eleena had been doubting why the old man had her abducted and brought here, and was left stunned at his request. Her face which had been growing rounder recently was an adorable blankness. Im the father of your mother is it not normal for you to call me grandfather, once? The old man added then. Mothers father Eleena blinked. That was when she suddenly remembered something her father once told her: her mother was a noble daughter, and she too, would one day return to that family The old man actually wasnt exaggerating? Eleena found it all hard to believe. You are my only heir and would one day inherit everything I have. That is why I wouldnt deceive you. The old mans eyes were still fixed on Eleena, his smile now finally becoming more natural. Back in my youth, I had inadvertently stumbled into a high elf ruin, and partially activated it and receive some extent of clearance it was one reason for the smooth development of Crookes in her early days. Even though the old man had been a stranger minutes ago and it was weird for him to spill out his secrets, he didnt have much timethere were too many things to teach his heir in his remaining moments, and if she didnt work with him, the progress may not be ideal. That was why he set the bait with high elven ruins and clearance from the get go. Eleena had already shown that she was notch more mature than children of the same age, and she surely would be maturity if that maturity was genuine. As for her trial, in which she would take her own precautions against entrusting her property to unscrupulous elements, that could entirely be included in her instruction. That said, testing an heir on the first meeting was folly. They wouldnt be tested if the trial was too easy, and they would certainly fail if it was too difficult-finding them in the first place was meaningless. Therefore, instead of picking an heir through first impressions, it was better to interact and learn about the other person, and only judge if they were suitable later. High elven ruins? Where? And just as the old man expected, Eleenas eyes were sparkling when she heard him. cause That being said, he would never have imagined that Eleena was happy only because she had gained a clue for the prerequisite quest to an event I could tell you that its beneath Crookes, but that wouldnt mean a thing. You alone would never reach it. The old man said self-assuredly. Or are you going to dig a hole down there? *** Yes. Aside from making management over wanderers who came to Mount Meredith for crystal washing, the more important reason for the founding of Crookes was to cover up the high elf ruins. With the city being built directly over the ruins, Tyler would be able to use the excuse of no excavation in the city to justly and honorably prevent all miners from digging any tunnels to it. These two are named Beerus and Whis. Both of them are golems (automatons, but the old man couldnt tell the difference) I found in the high elven ruins, and they would be at your side from now on, helping me to instruct Before the old man could finish, a violent rumble echoed from outside the building, and even the floor was shaking. It seems that the Tunnel Eye Serpent was closing in on Crookes. Its almost time I dont know how that idiot Crookes got his hands on that thing, but since its now in range, this is it. The old man sneered, and turned towards the two automatons. Energize the Pyrocrystal Cannon. Blow that thing into pieces! He commanded. The two automatons nodded at the order and quickly left. However, just when the old man turned back to Eleena, a figure suddenly slipped inside from a window. The old man looked in that direction to find that it was one of his gardeners. Did anyone allow you to come in? Get out! He shouted angrily. Even so, the gardener wasnt at all concerned with his rage. He was actually smiling sinisterly. Beside him, Eleena thought about it for a moment before showing a look of understandingIts a swampman. She warned the old man calling himself her grandfather. Its identity exposed by Eleena, the gardeners body hence slowly melted into a puddle of black mud, and reassembled into a black human figure between breaths. Youve actually come to die The old man snorted coldly and drew out his walking stick. However, the cold sweat over his brow only showed that he was not actually calm inwardly. He may have technique, but he was old and weak. While he could use his clearance to summon other things from the elven ruins to come to his head, would he really last until then? But in the split second that the swampman surged as a tidal mud towards the two of them and as the old man face went pale, Eleena lifted her tiny hand, directly materializing a flashing sacred spear. It pierced the swampman in the head in one swift stroke, instantly emptying its HP Bar. The old man gaped at the holy light radiating from the young girls body, and was left speechless just then. Becoming mayor sounds good, but I prefer freedom and going on adventures with everyone, Eleena said solemnly then. So, Grandfather, forgive me for not going along with your wish. With those words, she left the room, intent on fighting the Tunnel Eye Serpent with the other Players. Chapter 333: Something Sinister Has Crossed The Sea The White Reef Shore of the Valla Empire. Oceans of this world were extraordinarily dangerous. What comes from it would never be spring warmth or blossoms, but only vile monsters of the fearsome tide. Indeed, the White Reef Shore was not safe, even though it merely faces an inland sea called Kakatino. That was why the Valla Empire would build a pillbox alongside a watchtower on the reefs of the shore. As wind streamed in the pillbox from various openings, two coastal guardsmen were crouching beside a bonfire while shivering amidst the ocean winds. The climate around the area was freezing even though the flowering season was at hand, let alone the damp sea winds. When the heck would the weather get warmer One of the guardsmen who had a bow slung over his back was warming himself and complaining unhappily. Ive got to get my family to pull some strings and get myself a post as a city watch soldier at a nearby town. There is just no surviving this hell. Stop dreaming. In fact, its better if you didnt-rumors had it that cultists are getting active for some reason, unless you planning to fight them with the city watch. The other guardsman who had a spear placed beside him replied casually. Its not so bad for us, reallyits our comrades posted here in winter who had it worse, especially the ones stationed at the watchtower. I heard from my friend that one of them was as white as a snowman when he changed shift, that there were popsicles beneath his chin. Youre being bamboozled. The bowman retorted confidently. I heard that they would stay inside the main citadel back there and never come out. There is no need for sentries since the sea surface would be frozen in winter and neither fishmen nor sea beasts are coming out. They just have to last through the season as long as theres no real emergency. In truth, sea beasts were actually an excess worry since most sea beasts cant move freely when they come on land. That was why the pillbox was mainly used to watch out for fishmen-like nomads of ancient times, they would only come out of the sea just before winter and wreak havoc along the coasts. The human nations just couldnt come up with any good solutions against those irritants that promptly flee back into the sea once their defeat was all but sealed. They could at best build fortresses to maintain a perimeter and warn nearby cities to arm their defenses beforehand. After all, the fishmen were sea creatures that did not have much potential laying siege to cities, and no major problem should occur if they were kept in check at the right time. Really? The spearman was furious when he heard what the bowman had to say. He lied to me! No wonder he kept making it sound so miserable, and would always try to claim duty in winter! It was a pity that his rage changed nothing here, howeverhis flames of anger were merely extinguished by the chilling winds that came whooshing in. By the way, do you know why the other side is in a mess? Feeling a little drained with his frustration gone, the spearman simply changed the conversation. The other side he spoke of refers to the other side of the Kakatino inland sea, which was not a Valla empire territory but a federation called Tegrono. While the federation had a rather loose internal structure and the member states were often squabbling and seemingly incohesive, they were exceedingly united whenever a foreign enemy invades. Back when the Valla Empire had claimed half of Tierra for itself, the emperor at the time had become full of himself and turned his sights to Tegrono, or at least conquered a few of its smaller nations. Naturally, he ended up being spanked all the way home by the federation, slamming heavily into the impregnable stronghold of their unity. If the federations armies didnt quickly separate right after repelling the empires invasion and counter invade them, the empire would have lost a good chunk of their territory instead. It was worth mentioning that the citizens living by the frontiers of the two nations were actually unaffected. Their lives wouldnt change drastically regardless of which nation was in charge, and they would instead observe both sides situations like they were watching a drama. Nonetheless, it appeared that there had been unrest within the Tegrono Federation recently. There were incidents of explosions across several cities, as well as ancient machines that awakened out of the blue and wreaked havoc everywhere around it. While the armies of the federations nobles and royals did not have problems, their sovereignty hence staying unaffected without any signs of uprisings, the various problems were blown out of proportion to the point that this side of the Kakatino inland sea caught wind of it. I dont have anything concrete, but what I do know is that a bunch of people are attempting to capture something. The bowman replied softly. Eyewitnesses had spotted people in black robes running around inside the borders of the Tegrono Federation, and it seems that they were the ones behind the ancient machines waking up and the explosions in the cities too. With such a big mess, arent they afraid of being captured by the Tegrono Federation themselves? The spearman asked in confusion. They definitely wouldnt be followers of any normal church, right? That is because the normal soldiers in the city watch cant capture them since they have quite a few supernatural folks with them. When the Federations own finally arrive, they would already have left, strutting as they did so. The bowman shook his head, hinting that it was not the Federation being reluctant to capture the culpritsthey had simply failed to do so. But doesnt that mean that they would be blacklisted? They would definitely have a hard time working inside the Federation in the future. The spearman said, finding the culprits behavior hard to understand. What could be so worth capturing that they would risk a culling from the Federations armies later on? Im not sure, but its alleged to be something that looks like a human. The bowman smiled sinisterly.Like a human? And dont suddenly talk so mysteriously, Im getting a little scared here The last time I heard of the news was from a traveling merchant, just before I came for this shift. According to him, what the black robes wanted to capture ended up jumping into the Kakatino Sea. The bowman took no notice even as the spearman began to tremble and simply continued. The black robes had actually summoned a giant water elemental to capture that humanlike thing, but they still failed, and that humanlike thing disappeared, just like that That was when the spearman rose to his feet. What are you doing? The bowman asked. I need to take a leak Damn it, my junk is getting frosted if this continues. The spearman replied. Im heading to the watchtower for my shift soon-no way Im staying there and getting my junior blown by these winds. Careful. Dont get eaten by weird stuff. The bowman teased. Bugger off! The spearman cursed unhappily before running to a distant observation well and started to pee into the sea. And yet, before he was relieved, he found a yellow pair of abnormal, callous eyes glaring coldly through the well at him M-monster! Chapter 334: Undead Elf Although it was quite embarrassing that a swampman was quietly allowed inside his residence, the Pyrocrystal Cannon that Tyler Meredith had unearthed from the high elf ruins was quite powerful. Stretching out from beneath ground, its barrel appeared to extend over thirty meters and consisted of over a hundred spiral silver metallic tubes. Each barrel was inscribed with elven arcane text, and it has a complex beauty in appearance only, even if one couldnt have known that it was a weapon. After burning off Illum crystals-a material that breaks the hearts of the Players, electric bolts began to spark between the silver metallic barrels. Even so, those were not actually electric bolts. They were actually energy masses, compressed and focused into arcane radiance. And when the sparking bolts reached a certain number, the entire cannon shone in violent white light. Hence, a silver beam-a photon ray was fired out the mouth of the barrel of those hundreds of tubes! Indeed, it was neither the most commonly see straight-line laser beams or a solid weapon, but an artillery strike that directly blows up the enemy with bursting photon ray Right now, the goal of the Pyrocrystal Cannon was to shoot off the outer shin of the Tunnel Eye Serpent! The photon ray that was fired through the application of some unknown principle easily drowned the Tunney Eye Serpent, and on the surface, it was obvious that the monsters body was being disintegrated by photons. It was worth mentioning that the monster was able to take the full brunt of the Players Colored Skills without taking so much as a scratch, its HP bar never once appearing! Didnt that mean the single cannon strike was several times more powerful than the first-rate Players Colored Skills? That was why one of the Players sneaked up beside the photon ray and put his hand into it. Oh, wow! This thing is so powerful, the durability of my gauntlet is gone in an instant! The idiot Player exclaimed, just as a strand of the photon ray coiled around his hand and rose up to his arm, consuming the entire Player and vaporizing him, and the thick, powerful ray only then reverted to calmness then. The other players were left in awe at the sight of it as well. Youre gone too Naturally, the Player was already blabbering away in the chatroom with horrible timing, holding off against ten others by himself as the forum bustled with noise and excitement. Nonetheless, after someone had tested the ray with their pig hands, the other players understood that the photon ray was quite the tough cookie, and therefore instinctively kept their distance. Even if they could all come back to live, there wouldnt want to die accidentally since it costs them EXP. And when the light faded, the barrel tubes of the Pyrocrystal Cannon had turned from its silver metallic silver to red, having clearly overloaded and couldnt be used for a while. Even so, the true form of the Tunnel Eye Serpent was revealed to all. Chunks of Illum crystals were hidden beneath the protection of its skin of stone and mud, and it might be inappropriate to still call it the Tunnel Eye Serpent nowat the moment, that monster was no different from an eastern dragon which body was composed of crystals and precious stones! At the same time, the HP bar that the Players had anticipated for a long time appeared! Indeed, Edwards prolonged confusion was promptly relieved. I see, thats why its called an Illum crystal lifeform. The mud and rock skin it had over its body was all fake from the very beginning! The bits of Illum crystals exposed is where the true form was! That was why its HP bar couldnt be seen at all beforethey werent looking at its true form. And now that its outer skin had been shredded off by the photon ray, its true form was utterly exposed before them, which was the reason why the HP bar showed up now! Of course, a body being hidden does not necessarily mean its HP bar would never be seen, because there were occasions where Players could find an enemy thanks to their hovering name, even if they were adept at hiding. But considering that this was a Bossfight, the unseen name was probably a hint from the God of Games! Edward earnestly praised the God of Games inwardly at that very thought. He truly was the God of Games! But in contrast, the Players were acting much more practically, and greeted the Tunnel Eye Snake with barrages of every kind of skill as if it cost nothing. And yet, they soon noticed something that upset them very much. No way, its still so tough! Our attacks only knock off one HP, not to mention that its HP bar is so freaking long that it might well be unaffected! They could have taken their time to grind the monster down if it had been far away from the city of Crookes. Even so, it was almost at the outskirts, not to mention that the evacuation organized by Simba and other weaker Players were in complete, with many yet to leave the city itself. Is there a way to lure it away? Joe couldnt help asking It wont be that simple. Gou Dan shook his head. It was not as if the Players had not tried the simple tactic that is diversion. Regrettably, however, the Players just couldnt tell why the monster was rushing towards the city relentlessly like a machine, just as it was immune from Tauntwhich was why simple tactics like a diversion never worked. And in the critical moment, it was still Eleena who took the reins and directly casted a massive holy barrier. The Tunnel Eye Serpent hence crashed headlong onto the barrier of light, its advance stopped by sheer force! Until now, Eleena was the only Player who had stopped its advance. Be that as it may, her barrier was already fracturing all over after the Tunnel Eye Serpent knocked into it twice. It clearly wouldnt be stopped for too long. Theres no other way! Everyone, give up on the ramparts-Tidecallers, quickly build a second perimeter with ice walls but be prepared to retreat too! Try to hold it down in a city district where most has evacuated, and wear it down! In the end, as Edward determined that the damage which the Players could inflict was limited before the Tunnel Eye Snake actually reached the city walls, he promptly decided to wait until it entered the city, after of which they would use the buildings to fight it. And yet, just when the Players gave up on the first perimeter and were withdrawing all their forces to the second perimeter, something unbelievable happened.Oh, no. The Tunnel Eye Serpent is heading towards someone who hadnt flee the city! The sharp-eyed Gou Dan shouted. Joe, take it Edward was about to issue another command when he sensed that something wasnt right. Hold on, that thing That person was standing in the middle of a road, and wasnt even trying to flee! And from its muddled gaze, rotted body as well as the turbid magical power palpating from its body, that person was obviously an undead! An undead elf? Joe exclaimed in surprise. This is the first time Ive seen one! Its level was quite high too! And now, the undead reared its head and hissed at the Tunnel Eye Serpent just then, as if to warn the latter to come no further. Even so, that was meaninglessthe Tunnel Eye Serpent had no brain in the first place, and even fools would understand that it was going to keep advancing as it wished. But in the next split second, the ground outside Crookes rumbled and split apart as a frightening colossal head rose from beneath the earth, biting and snapping the rampaging Tunnel Eye Serpent in two! Chapter 335: Chaos and Confusion on the Battlefield The White Reef Shores on the Valla Empire. Kristina was walking within the walls of the pillbox. The fortification which stood facing the Tegrono federation from across the Kakatino inland sea was a gate and watchtower of the Valla Empire. At the moment, its appearance resembled an impregnable prison, sinister, wet but exceedingly sturdy even though the interior had long since changed. Commander! Weve searched around and confirmed thirteen corpses out of the fourteen guards assigned here. One is missing, and we are trying to confirm if he survived A soldier in the inspector regiment reported to Kristina then. 118 You dont have to look. The last one must have been abducted by the invading monster. The young lady said confidently, shaking her head. What!? The soldier did a double take. The evidence is the trail of blood stretching from beside the bonfire out to the main gates, Kristina added. In fact, the blood that splattered over the brick floor inside the pillbox had already oxidized become pitch-black, although there were no other clues such as footprints aside from the irregular trail of blood. While the others couldnt observe the more subtle clues from the blood trail, Kristina was different. She was a Scepter of the Temple of Glory whose eyes were strengthened through divine grace, enabling her to see what normal people couldnt. And she could clearly pick out the traces of a certain monsters movement in the blood trail. Foremost, the creature used all its limbs to crawl just like a sea beast coming on land, and its limbs were incomplete at that as shown from the clumsiness of its crawl. But soon afterward, there was another exceedingly huge splatter of blood on the ground, and the creature stopped crawling and started to walk on two feet, its missing limbs seemingly restored! That meant that the guardsman whose corpse wasnt found was very likely eateneven if the principle of the conservation of mass doesnt exist here, most magical creatures that possess supernatural healing possess a stunning appetite, just as it was common for them to hasten their healing through feeding. That was the main reason why humans couldnt exist in peace alongside them: to most of those beasts, humans were weak but many and rich in protein. They were the best food source indeed! At the same time, Kristina completed her deduction in her head: from the looks of things, a monster had ambushed the pillbox, kill every soldier and ate one of them, before strutting into the Valla Empire. It would definitely be not easy to slay it too, given how it had hunted and killed every guardsman without triggering any alarms. If a bounty was put on mercenary guilds, it would be at least worth ten Abbys. And though the others would never be able to tell, Kristina could see that the last clue she could find the blood puddle was a human footprint. That indicates that after the culprit had eaten the guardsman, it very likely had assumed a human appearance. If that was true, it would be troublesome because searching for a doppelganger amongst vast populations wouldnt work at all without certain divine grace. That was when another soldier from the inspection regiment entered the room and gave his report. Commander, weve found something at foot of the cliff. *** Kristina promptly followed the soldier down the cliffs to find what appeared to be a few fish lying there. It was neither a sea mammal nor some oceanic behemoth, but in appearance alone, it was a sardine that was several thousand times bigger than normal. However, it had already been dead for some time, with its belly being torn apart by brute strength. Its dark red and white innards were dangling out and the whole scene stank pungently, with humming flies and squirming maggots making it appear even more revolting. It was fortunate that Kristina had firsthand witnessed the carnage of battlefields and wasnt spooked by the disgusting scene, and she merely frowned. Her eyes are telling her something once again the fish had its bowels split from the inside. It appeared that the monster that attacked the pillbox had been hiding inside the fish stomach to cross the dangerous Kakatino inland sea and eventually reach this side of the shores. Look, commander! The inspector regiment soldier who was pinching his nose pointed at inside of the fishs stomach then. Kristina looked towards it to find the flesh within carved full of letters. With a closer look, once could notice that it was a rather short word being inscribed over and over again. It should be old elven from the morphology Luckily, its not high elven arcane text or theres no deciphering it. The soldier carefully copied the word while murmuring in awe. So, the text can be deciphered? Kristina asked him. More or less. We did manage to get our hands on many records of old elven text thanks to the empires partnership with the dark elves. The solider whipped out pocket-sized notebook and began to cross-reference with the information he gathered beforehand. Ruentner, Hayero, Kachumouth, Mitrayati What does it mean? Kristina asked a little impatiently. In human, its elfs, synchronized, genuine, nation. The soldier translated rather choppily. However, before Kristina could press him any further, she suddenly noticed that the long-dead sardine eyes twitching abnormally, and abruptly began to thrash around with its massive body. It slammed heavily into the inspector division soldier, who coughed out a mouthful of blood as the blow knocked him into the sea. The smell of bleed immediately drew a swarm of sea beast into a feeding frenzy, tearing the soldier into a million pieces before he could swim. Hes not going to make it.Zombification after it was killed? The changing is slow, but damn it! Grimacing, Kristina waved, and a luminous silver staff appeared in her hand. It seems that the monster that came to Valla this time is really troublesome *** Meanwhile, outside Crookes. Almost every Player couldnt understand what happened-how did the Tunnel Eye Serpent which had been steamrolling into the city get bitten in two? Still, from the Players perspective, it was clear that the Tunnel Eye Serpents HP bar was not emptied. After it was split in two down the middle, both sections were still twisting and turning. Be that as it may, most of the Players eyes were no longer fixed on the Tunnel Eye Serpent. Instead, they were staring at the head of the gigantic beast poking out from the ground outside the city which was far more massive than the snake itself, and the undead elf who appeared out of nowhere and was now standing over the beasts head. Things were getting chaotic and confusing Chapter 336: The Thing Hidden Beneath Crookes The earth was quaking. Although many citizens had managed to escape the city thanks to the instructions from newbie Players, many could not make it out in time, and were beginning to panic right now. Calm down! Everybody, please calm down! Nala tried her best to set the crowd at ease. My people will try to buy time, none of you have to squeeze. This will only make things worse! And yet, no one heard her. With everyone only caring about running away, why would they listen to a young girl? Hence, a figure descended from the air, promptly knocking several brutes leading to the charge into the ground or to the nooks on the street. The movement was as ferocious as it was intimidating, and it appeared to have been done more than once. You could tell us if you want to die right here, right now. Ill grant your wish! Simba roared at the crowd. Nana looked at him worriedly, afraid that his heavy-handed behavior would only cause retaliation. The truth, however, proved to be the exact opposite. While the young girl had kindly persuaded the crowd failed, the pressure of Simbas swift and decisive iron fists had instead forced them to queue up tamely to leave in an orderly manner. Aside from the few thuggish exceptions, the citizens had become so amicable that there wasnt even anger in their eyes, and appeared much settled than before. What was going on? Nala was left a little puzzled. The blind and the deaf are not many, so there is no keeping the drama outside secret from them. Simba then took some time to offer an explanation, seemingly having seen through Nalas confusion. In such a situation, you would have to be harsher the direr things were. If us leaders are too soft and scared, they would think that things are even more out of control, but if you are harsh, they would think that we still have the strength to spare despite the danger to maintain order and therefore calm down. I see Nala watched her former playmate, looking as if she didnt really understand. Still, it had been just half a day, but the air around Simba had changed considerably. As the person in charge to lead the other newbie Players in evacuating the citizens of Crookes, he was changing and growing in the process. In Nanas eyes, even though his level would never catch up to first-rate Players, Simba could ease everyones minds just by standing there. His leadership stature did not lose out to the first-rate Players who moved heaven and earth, and perhaps only the dukes heir, Angora Faust would match him in the entire God of Games. No wonder the God of Games would suddenly assign such a quest. Could he have seen through Simbas talent aside from acknowledging Simbas ideal? He really was the God of Games! (Xi Wei who was multitasking in his divine kingdom sneezed, his ball form wrinkling.) Nonetheless, Simbas growth was limited, and he certainly couldnt stop the ensuing turn of events. As everyone watched in astonishment, the city of Crookes rose to its feet! It was not some bizarre metaphor. Three pairs of colossal legs built from stone and metal which resembled spider legs were extending from both ends of the city. The legs hence propped up the city-or indeed something beneath Crookes so that it could stand up. When the entire city eventually stopped rising into the air, the Players who had some spare time noticed that the spider legs had quickly shrunk beneath the city. And when seen from the distance, the upper half of Mount Meredith had turned completely into a tortoise of titanic proportions. Not only did it carry the city on its back, its head was the size of a hill! And the monster that had chomped the Tunnel Eye Serpent in two was the tortoisess head! Woah. So thats the true face of the high elven ruins!? Edward observed the monster of unmatched size while riding the Red Eyes Black Dragon he summoned, finding his perception of size crumbling On the Player forums, Eleena had already revealed what she knew, which meant that every Player was now aware that the high elven ruinstheir objective for coming to Crookes was in the ground beneath it. That being said, they did not expect the ground beneath to flip over and one ginormous mountain tortoise. What even is this setting? Even the typically quick-witted Edward was left dumbfounded. Edward, where is Gou Dan? Joe asked from beneath Edwards dragon. He had tried his best to fight the tremors as the tortoise got up, but still ended up tripping more than a few times. I think he went off to hit the tortoises head Edward scowled as he glanced at where Gou Dan was heading. His specialty being agility, Gou Dan had scaled a good portion of the tortoises neckbut the behemoth appeared to feel an itch in its neck just then and shook it a little, throwing Gou Dan off itself and leaving him to vanish into the rolling clouds of dust in its wake. And when he saw Gou Dans name turn gray in the party display, Edward knew that he was definitely dead But just as Edward was about to inherit his will and fly over to the tortoises head to start some trouble or at least wash its head with some black dragon flames, he noticed that the undead elf was standing atop it, watching everything else with a blank gaze. Could that thing be controlling the tortoise? Edward thought then. Then, even as he steered his dragon towards it, he was forced to retreat as the undead unleashed a cone of ice before he could get closer. Edward has exceedingly high elemental immunity a Player who had surpassed the threshold of level 40, thereby making his way into the grand domain of level 50. Even so, the resistance buff that his items and class possess wasnt effective against the undead elfs frost magic!And was that really ice? Edward then understood in his disbelief: The undead elf was more than a little troublesome than he had expected. Hence, he collected himself and his underestimation against it, and began to observe it carefully. With that, its stats naturally showed up over its head. (Undead high elf, The Last Crypter, level 48] Its level is lower than mine elite, or maybe a Boss template? Or could it be class advantage? Edward hence began to hover above the tortoises head like a fly, attempting to find an opening for an ambush. Weirdly, however, the elf didnt bother itself with Edward the fly. It instead kept standing over the tortoises head, watching the skies as it persistently muttered something Chapter 337: Our Main Character Finally Showed Up Unlike the Players who were caught off-guard, Xi Wei had identified the undead high elf at once. Yes. It is another First Eight undead like the Red Dead Dragon and the Nightstalker before. However, even as Xi Wei tried to retrace its trail, he realized that it was different from the other undead encountered before this. It had actually awakened in the Tegrono Federation, which was quite far from former Tierra lands, and then run all the way here to Crookes-a territory of Valla even before they invaded Tierra. Its behavior was different from the other undead as well. The Red Dead Dragon, the Nightstalker, and the True Ancestor had maintained some extent of self-awareness, with a latter even conducting a ritual to revive itself. The undead high elf, however, wasnt self-aware at all. Its movement was purely driven by strong obsession and survival instincts. It actually sensed my eyes? Ancient high elves are so OP no wonder youre extinct! Xi Wei wasnt really peeking seriously, but the high elf still managed to sense the gaze of his Divine Eyes. It turned its head by 360 degrees which no living being could have done, and aimed its own hollow gaze straight back into Xi Weis Divine Eyes. The movement was so sudden that Xi Wei jumped in shock, even though his mind was now different from a humans. Even so, that was all there was to it. Although the high elf had sensed Xi Weis eyes and turned to look back, it didnt react too much. But if it had been alive, it would most likely have casted some mysterious concussion to temporarily stop him from peeking. Therfore, aside from undead orks which had been wiped out by the Players without making much of an appearance, the high elf was the worst of the undead thus far. That said, its obsession had driven it back here to activate the ruins looks like my Divine Eyes arent going to see through it this time around. As expected of the backup the high elves left before their demise. Xi Wei stroked his chin with a tentacle. The Mystery which the high elves exercised was certainly a miraculous force, with their creations still maintaining the power they were imbued with from the very start. Since the source of Mystery was a divine power, almost all of their creations could be hidden from the gods prying eyes. If a god were to spy their creations, they would either have to put in more divine power to directly see through the divine powers shrouding it, or break unravel the source of the opposing divine power (by breaking down the Mystery system) to bypass its protection. It was worth mentioning that the high elves contract with the gods in the past had been kept secret that no one knows which gods had come to an agreement with them. Moreover, Xi Wei was a newbie god whose divinity had no such records, just as there were no clues after he scrounged through the divinity fragments of the Aquatic Lord and the Rainforest Guardian-meaning that the second solution was not available for him. The source and application of Mystery has to be stored in this ruin Xi Wei thought. While it was quite awkward to say it, it was quite obvious what was the last resort kept within the high elven ruins if one really thought about it. The true form of the contract, made between the high elves and the gods in the age of myths If that proved to be the case, Xi Weis spying past their divine power and instruction of his Players to stick to their plan and steal the true contract would break the rules, and definitely catch the attention of those involved in the contract. For his part, Xi Wei had just recently ascended as an intermediate god. But because his body had been drained dry by the Players and he was disadvantaged in a fight, he could transmigrate past the World Barrier as he liked, affording him a great chance of survival. And if any other gods followed him down to the mortal realm-regardless of how they chose to transmigrate, their powers would be shredded. As long as it wasnt powerful greater gods (such as the Ocean Goddess or the Seven Divine Fathers), Xi Wei who would have preserved his full strength was confident enough to take them on! After escaping down to the mortal realm and shorten the gap between his and the enemys abilities, he would then use his rich experience and usual provocations to defeat them. Even if he couldnt win, he could still summon the Players to award them a beat down. Such was the fighting style that Xi Wei thought up for himself. That being said, his abilities were actually limited, and he wouldnt want to be dragged into a godly conflict this early if he could avoid it. Leaving other matters aside, if he had another two to three years to hone his believers and establish his foundation, it would basically be smooth sailing for him. But from how the state of affairs were stirring at the moment, Xi Wei didnt have much time. If the ruin is armed with some countermeasure against Divine Eye installed, its going to be a problem if I caught the attention of the Seven Divine Fathers by recklessly looking inside. Xi Wei was rather worried. After all, any god who could groom such a logic-defying race like the high elves was definitely no weakling. And have you seen the Players? They couldnt even defeat a living corpse moving sheerly by instinct, and it was only too obvious how frightening the high elves could be at the height of their power. Nonetheless, Xi Wei was still very much interested. If it does preserve the contract between the mythical high elves and the gods, I might be able to strengthen myself by extracting the divine power which had been converted to Mystery. Meanwhile, the Players were working hard too. All of them had climbed up to various vital points of the tortoise, intent on attacking it from there or at least stop it from moving If they could just open a crevice and enter, Xi Wei could use them as his eyes and peek into what was inside. But it just wasnt working. The tortoises shell, and even the various seemingly vulnerable joints were frighteningly tough. Not even the Players strongest skills could cause enough damage. Should I give them a hint? Xi Wei muttered, a little anxious now after seeing the Players doing their best but to no avail. Just as he no longer could stop himself and was about to clue the Players in, his tentacles having already reached his the keyboard of his Pantheon Computer to click and clack away, he abruptly stopped. The Players own reinforcements had arrived! Chapter 338: Its Over, Theres No Winning This Time While the colossal tortoise that carried an entire story seemed to move very slowly, the world seemed to quake each step it took. Even if a person wasnt directly stomped, the waves it kicked up was enough to send them flying The situation was therefore exceedingly horrible for the weaker Players. Half of their HP would disappear if they got just a little to close, and they would be gone with the slightest of knock or brush. Likewise, they couldnt inflict effective damage if they kept their distance. Setting aside the city of Crookes that was the tortoises shell, the beasts four feet had such high defense that the Players would only deal a -1-mandatory damage, and it was simply unfazed even with almost a hundred Players focusing their firepower. The skies had also dimmed, laden with thick and heavy clouds of gloom that appeared bent on crushing everything on the ground. Dust and smoke were billowing in every direction, followed by the refugees screams of heartbreak over lost kin-even so, the tortoise colossus was unmoved, and continued lifting its sky-pillar feet as it continued forward like a moving disaster. The entire scene was filled with dull grayness, overflowing with the scents of despair and destruction. Or that was how was supposed to be, until the second wave of Players arrived with the wood elf elders sent here from Trinia. And amongst them were Mufasa, first-rate Player and champion of the Twin City Cup tourney who escorted the wood elf elders all the way here from Trinia! Amidst the scenes of extreme tragedy and oppression, though the pink flatfish head was no blossoming flower, it at least cut short everyones mood which had been spiraling downward. Whether the gales kicked up by the tortoise colossus was too violent or Xi Weis modeling had a bug from his faraway divine kingdom, the fins over Mufasas pink flatfish head mask looked like it was having a stroke. In fact, each of the fines were flapping so vigorously the whole fish seemed to have come to life. Even if the sight before them was as profound as it was solemn, the other players who just arrived couldnt help turning their eyes to Mufasa and not the Boss they would face. And perhaps Edward had been imagining it, as the scene degraded into sheer silliness, the undead high elf who had never so much as glanced sideways after so long couldnt resist glancing down at the pink flatfish too. I had already caught sight of it from the distance, but its still a little profound when I saw it directly. Mufasa himself seemed to have not noticed the flapping fins or that he had become the center of attention. He simply held a hand over his eyes as he looked up at the tortoise colossus while murmuring in awe. It was worth mentioning here that Kengyoku Swordmasters had an advantage against massive, slow-moving creatures such as three to five-meter tall titans, just as they could cut off the nape of ten to twenty-meter tall titans. However, that advantage revolved around the target not being rule-breaking in size. So, with each leg of the tortoise being more than a hundred and fifty meters thick, any bladed weapons would be deflected without hope of cutting through the defense. Moreover, each single movement of such a colossal creature was an AoE attack on its own, which made it a worse nightmare for Kengyoku-try deflecting or parrying when each step bore down a hundred thousand-ton worth of kinetic energy on the ground! That said, there were Players who tried suplex on the colossus. It just might work against a normal giant tortoise, but this thing was a legacy of the high elves and was shrouded with the protection of Mystery. And given that Mystery was basically a divine power, it kept the colossus very much immune against Rules, with Xi Weis Rule of Skill being not strong enough to be effective. Luna protect us it really is an undead high elf The wood elf elders who had been swanking about on their way here had all become crestfallen when they saw the undead elf standing atop the tortoise colossuss head, and appear very much spooked. That certainly made sense, because high elves were the ancestors of every tribe of elf in the present day whom they held with pride. After all, not every race in this world could achieve such solidarity and almost achieve racial transcendence. It was therefore definitely shocking to see their ancestor appear before their eyes as a zombie That feeling was like some normal Chinaman suddenly finding a zombified Qin Shihuang on their doorstep one day, asking for 648 bucks[1] as capital to revive his dynasty. And being the oldest generation of wood elves, the wood elf elders revered the high elves as much as they held humans in disdain. It was an attitude inscribed into their marrow far deeper and unchangeable compared to younger wood elves. Even so. Retreat if you cant be of help! This isnt a fight you can join in!. Mufasa cried out even as he drew his sword while gesturing for the wood elf elders to back down. The elven elders face turned into a mixture of green and red but remained speechless, which certainly pleased Mufasa inwardly since he had enough of those old bones mockery throughout their journey here. In truth, the wood elf elders might prove to be considerably stronger than the average first-rate Player in ability alone. However, unlike the Players, their ability to flight drops with the slightest injuries, just as they would be rendered defenseless if they were struck on any vital point. The Players were much better in comparison. Not only were their will to fight much durable, they would take the most grievous injuries in their stride without being reduced much in their fighting ability. As such, despite their dislike of humans, the wood elf elders wouldnt deny they were qualified warriors, and it wasnt as if their dominance over the continent had no other reason other than the gods blessings. That said, the truth was that the Players whom they were observing should not be used as a reference. The reason humans had claimed dominance over most of the continent was really because of the gods biased affections. *** Mufasa watched as Edward arrived in his black dragon, and was about to ask him about how things were at the moment. In his opinion, Edward would have the best understanding of the overall situation since he was one of the top players and their commander-in-chief. But given that they were pressed for time, questions must be chosen carefully. Nonetheless, Mufasa needed but a moment to decide on the one question that concerned him the most. How many times has Boss Marni died? I dont think he has, Edward replied. Ive even seen him having a good time running around over there just now. Its over. Mufasas spirit plummeted immediately. Theres no winning this time. Edward stared at the pink flatfish which eyes were still twitching between laughter and years, before forcing himself to tear his eyes away from the devilish fish scales as he turned to the elven elders. Its rather sudden, but I have a question [1] 648 yuan is the price for the most expensive gacha package in the mobile game Honor of Kings Chapter 339: Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation While sacrificing Marni as an offering was a path of research, Edward was much more interested in what the undead elf had been murmuring repeatedly for some time now. The words were so unintelligible that Edward couldnt understand what it was saying at all. But if there was anyone who would understand those words, it would undoubtedly be the wood elf elders sent here to help. After all, the wood elves claimed that they were the closest thing to a proper descendant for the high elves compared to the other elves, and it was equally likely that one of the elders turned out to be a great-grandchild of the undead high elf over there What were the words? The wood elf elders quickly askedthey understood Edwards intention and naturally were not denying him. If I remember correctly Edward paused for a moment and took a peek of the video clip he posted himself on the forums and then mimicked it word-for-word. Ruentner, Hayero, Kachumouth, Mitrayati Anything comes to mind? The wood elf elders traded glances. Edward assumed from their reaction that they were stumped. In fact, he had every intention to sling a jibe at them and say how dare you call yourself descendants when you dont understand your ancestors language, and ride his black fire dragon out of there. However, the leading wood elf elder spoke. We naturally had heard of it before. Eh? Edward was surprised. Its ancient elven and rather different from the modern elven tongue, but it remains essentially similar. The elder added when he saw Edwards blank look. If one were to compare, the difference between modern and ancient elven was the same as the difference between simplified and traditional Chinese text. As long as they know the simplified word by heart, they could more or less grasp the meaning even if it was written in traditional Chinese. Be that as it may, it is something akin to a folktale when it is mentioned in literature that survived the age of mythology. The wood elf elder hesitated for a while and that, but eventually decided that a rumor in the age of mythology was not confidential and hence revealed everything. What the undead high elf speaks of is the Elven Synchronized Intelligence Nation (SIN). I have heard to the elves once ruled the continent a long, long time ago could that be the elven kingdom of that age? Edward asked in curiosity. While civilizations of the last two eras had not survived, the survivors had passed down certain information had been passed down to the next generation by word of mouth, and in the forms of myths and folktales. One such tale was about how the dragons, the giants, and the elves had taken turns to rule the world. There tend to be many inconsistencies in such tales, but the circumstances of the previous era would be re-lived to a certain extent. Thats not it. True, the high elves had once ruled most of the continent, but there were also city states that secede out of differences in political ideology. In fact, most governments then had a loose alliance like present-day federations. As expected of a specialist of high elf history, the wood elf elder knew the narrative of the last era by heart, including many secrets before. It was rumored that the leaders of the high elves were not content with ruling land and had planned to explore new domains in other planes. Naturally, they would have to integrate every resource in this plane before they do so, to build an immeasurably stable base to fall back on from which they could both attack and defend. And the name of that plan is the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation. I see, so the Synchronized Intellect Nation is the elves plan to rule the world Edward nodded, slightly disappointed by the answer. No, it is not to rule The wood elf elder appeared to have a hard time explaining. After racking his brains for a few moments, he asked Edward, Have you ever seen an ironfort golem? A few times In a nutshell, ironfort golems were small metal pillboxes that were golemized, having grown a few legs and could freely move around. Aside from inconsistent firepower (depends on the people inside) and being slightly slow, it resembled a tank from Earth, but was a little superior in its maneuverability over harsh environments. In this world, they were mainly used for an army to steadily advance on the battlefield, especially since blitzkrieg warfare roles were assumed by swift and agile supernatural individuals. Along with its expensive maintenance costs, the golems were therefore less used than their Earth counterparts, and only several powerful nations have them. The Valla Empire had a handful of them, but were all poor models that were mainly used for moving troops. Well, that makes explanations simpler: The Synchronized Intellect Nation is not to only assert dominance over this plane. Instead, it would fashion this entire plane into a weapon like the ironfort golem, capable of attacking and defending! What?! Now Edward was really shocked. Even though he had tried his best to elevate his opinion of the high elves, he was still bound by the issue of horizons and as such still underestimated those past sovereigns. Not even the gnomes would have capable of the insane idea of fashioning the entire Prime Material Plane into a weapon! It was also no wonder that the wood elf elder who held high elves in such high regard would consider that the Elven SIN was no more than a folk tale. Could the reason those madmen were all wiped out was because of their crazy idea? When it comes to a weapon created out of an entire plane, even the gods would have to give it a wide berth regardless of how one would think about it. So, would those lofty divine beings permit such a thing to happen? Clearly not.Nonetheless, Edward threw away the thought even as it came to his mind. Leaving aside the dishonor to the God of Games, now wasnt the time to think about such things. In fact, Edward had generally understood the present situation. The massive tortoise that they assumed to be an oversized golem was more than what met the eye. If Edwards hunch was right, it was a miniature or even a model of the SIN made before the high elves went extinct! To create a mini world out of thin air the high elves magitek (or indeed Mystery) was simply horrific! No wonder skills are useless Edward grimaced as he watched the tortoise slowly trudge along. It felt like we were fighting a shrunken world. Against such an illogical foe, Edward finally felt like he was totally out of ideas and didnt know where he should start. And that was when the colossal tortoises movement turned violent! Chapter 340: Charge With Me! Edward jumped, but recovered quickly to instruct Mufasa so that he escort the wood elf elders away from the battlefield. After all, the relationship between the wood elves and the Players were still in a delicate phasethough the elven queen sided with the humans, the wood elves still disliked humans overall speaking. As such, if anything happened to their elders under such circumstances, a rift would certainly come between the wood elves and the Players even if the elven queen remained on their side. Tch. The question and answer session lasted for so long, but all Ive learned is something weird Edward couldnt help muttering to himself while watching Mufasa escort the wood elf elders away. After all, knowing what the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN) meant was not at all helpful for the current situation. In fact, the Players spirit might be affected if Edward simply revealed it to the others, which was why he didnt post it in the forums as usual to keep information going both ways. Steering his dragon, he simply went off to fetch his party and told only them what he knewthat said, with Gou Dan dying without being revived in time and Jessica staying with the elven treasure Sefarim and never having joined the current quest in the first place, Edwards party consisted of only Joe and Eleena, who just joined the battle. The undead elfs obsession must be to complete the Synchronized Intellect Nation, and the tortoise colossus is a miniature version of that world fortress. Logically speaking, the high elves should have left some information inside No, we just dont have enough details to deduce what that thing is trying to achieve by controlling the tortoise colossus. Edward couldnt help becoming frustrated as the tortoise colossus continued to move. Youre distracted, Joe said, frowning at him. You need to calm down, Edward. What? Edward was certainly taken abackhe never expected that the day would come for Joe, the very definition of a brute to call for calm. I might not know what the undead elf is planning or what the damned tortoise is going, but in the end, we only have one job. Joe added, flashing a confident, dazzling smile and a thumbs up, before leaping off the dragon. And that is stopping them!. He spread his arms as if to embrace the ground, the cape attached to his armor spreading like a flying squirrels skin flap, keeping him streaking forward in a smooth curve instead of falling in a straight line! It was only when Joe came close to the colossuss head that he changed his pose. Drawing the greatsword Giants Toe that was slung over his back, his spirit familiar appeared out of thin air and turned itself into a light that latches over Giants Toe, buffing its damage! Hence, Joe maintained his course of descent, bearing the acceleration of gravity to increase his momentum, thus swinging his sword fearsomely at the head of the colossus! And then he was swallowed by the colossus. (Player Joe has died. He is tortoise food now.] Edward: ??? Fine. Joe was feeding, but at least he was right. Now that things have come to this, the undead elfs intentions no longer matterthe one thing they have to do was stop the tortoise colossus from advancing. Eleena. Edward glanced at the girl who was the only other surviving member of his group. Hmm? The girl who had been staring daggers at the tortoises head turned to him, puzzled. Ill do whatever I can to stop them but theres not much chance of success. If I die too, you should quickly retreat with the other Players and do not linger here. Edward said solemnly. Youre not like us. You are the Saintess of the Church of Games its fine no matter how many times we die, but you have to live. While the rank of saintesses would differ depending on the religion-such as certain cult saintesses who accommodated all followers by being part-time harlots. That said, they are still a symbol of most orthodox churches of the fellowships own purity and sovereignty. And unlike most Players who had less of a heart, Edward who had long since become a true believer truly cherished the Church of Games, which was why it was reasonable for him to see Eleena in a different perspective. When I come back to life, Ill get in touch with other players who are revived, deduce the path of the colossuss advance and assemble a second perimeter to stop it. Ill then announce the location on the forums, so you dont have to worry. Just run. But Eleena was about to protest, but Edward would not hear of it. Instead, he had his black dragon put her somewhere far from the battle, before summoning it back to him and began to provoke both the undead elf and the tortoise colossus. As a Skyfire Herald who could freely control flames, Joe was much more versatile than Gou Dan and Joeby continuously changing the form of his flames, he managed to bog down the undead elf for a long time. It was only over a dozen minutes when his blue bar was drained dry that the undead elf saw its chance and froze one of Edwards hands. Unable to drink a Pepsi to recharge and missing his chance to run, he ended up being vaporized by a blast from the Pyrocrystal Cannon on the back of the tortoise colossus. And it wasnt just Edward. By that point in the battle, many first-rate Players were already killed in battle. If the Players spirit themselves were not far beyond the other fighting forces of this erain fact, if they were any other army, they would probably have already fled, scattering into the wind. Hence, Eleena had every intention to follow Edwards instruction to retreat for the time being, and head to the second perimeter which they would prepare. That was when she noticed that many Players were still there, beneath the feet of the tortoise colossus to fight back as hard as they could while protecting any citizens who had yet to escape. Most of them had yet to change class or were newbies who changed class very recently. But even if they were fully aware that their attacks wouldnt affect the colossus at all, they were fighting to buy the slightest chance to save the peasants. All of them were still trying their best. Eleena was speechless. Was it right for her to abandon the believers of Church of Games, just because she held the title of Saintess and therefore flee in the name of self-preservation? She couldnt help hesitating. * * * Simba was at his limit.He had used every last bottle of potion and most of his skills were in cooldown. But even if the other players fighting by his side were throwing every last skill at the colossus, its looming feet that were coming down towards them never slowed down. This was it. Sure, he and the other players could come back to life, but the citizens who had believed in them and followed their instructions as they tried to evacuate was not getting away. Simba felt an indescribable misery at that very thought. He felt like he had let them down. The mountainous tortoise bore down, and everyones vision turned dark at once. But the expected impact never came. Simba couldnt help opening his eyes, and found that the leg was stopped by a barrier of light-even if fractures were cracking all over it, the barrier had stopped the brute force of the tortoise! Then, Simba followed the source of light to find a silver-hair twintails girl who was clearly younger than himself, but beneath the illumination of the holy radiance and as her silver hair dance, she was every bit as awe-inspiring as the Valkyries of legends. I am Eleena Meredith, Saintess of the Church of Games! Followers of the God of Games, if you have even a bit of fight left in you, raise your weapons and charge with me! O Master of Games, grant us new life! Chapter 341: Dying Too Late Even though Eleena wasnt as high-profile as Princess Leah, the earliest believers of the God of Games more or less understood what made her extraordinary. After all, even if the Players mostly began with the same default level but with different starting stats because of their physical attributes, that bit of starting stats wouldnt affect their power when they increase in level. And yet, even if some veterans had not really been active, they were neither blind nor dumb. As time went on, they would definitely notice what was unusual and connect that to the living example who was Princess Leah, more or less getting the idea. Be that as it may, most of them would merely guess that Eleena had changed class from a cleric to a hidden-class. It was only now when she showed it out in the open when they realized that the young girl who always followed Edwards group, quietly and guilelessly having her candies and occasionally stealing kills was actually the Saintess of the Church of Games Even if the Players thinking had been refined to almost resemble Earthlings (and became ever crazier) with Xi Weis various quests, they were still easily influenced. Such as by the weight of the word, Saintess. To earthlings, Saintess was no more than an adjective in literature, and especially after ReadNovelFulls, games, and anime had abused the term to its limit, Saintess became no more different from archtype labels such as tsundere, kuudere, or yandere. But to the people of this world, Saintesses were an agent of their gods next to divine children, a being of immeasurable rank. And once they knew that the Saintess of their own church was fighting by their side, the Players who had felt exhausted physically felt a new power surging within them. Under Eleenas leadership, the remaining Players began another counterattack against the tortoise colossus. Despite the intensity of their fighting spirit, however, reality wouldnt change because of human willor most game development would be on the same level as Earth. The Players were still attacking the legs of colossus which defense they couldnt even pierce, and it was only the few Junglewalker Players who could barely fire their arrows into the enemys body. And when those arrows eventually reach the colossus, they had already lost all momentum, and there was no more damage than direct hits on its legs. Worse still, when the Players attempted to climb p those legs or tried harassment to get closer, they would be blasted by the Pyrocrystal Cannon on the body of the tortoise colossus. Therefore, in spite of a rallying of spirit, the Players were once again left helplessly awkward against the steel-skinned bustard which had a body full of thorns. On the other hand, the slightest brush of the tortoise colossus on any Player would directly kill them, or at least wipe out half of their HP. As such, even though Eleena was exerting her full strength with no holds barred to stop every single one of the colossuss blows, it came at a price. In the end, the Saintess was merely a hidden class-barriers, healing, and resurrection would all consume her blue bar. Her potions had long since been used up, and she was barely holding on even though other players were willingly offering her mana potions. And after the battle lasted so long, every other Players blue bar were mostly drained as well. As the end looms and even with Eleenas filthy face keeping stoic, she was starting to become flustered inwardly. Dont panic! Sure, the enemy is more powerful and scarier this time, but we cant give up! Marnie seemed to sense that too, and promptly spoke out to calm the troops. The best way to defeat horror is to confront it! Perseverance is victory, do your best- But before he could finish, he was crushed into a puddle by a giant boulder that was knocked off the body of the colossus, killing him instantly when his HP bar was emptied. Nonetheless, not only were the Players not spooked by the sight, they had even become a little pleased. Marni has died again! Doesnt that mean we can turn things around? That we can defeat the monster now? No, the first-rate Players are all dead. Its going to be difficult to turn things around damn it, if only Marni died earlier! Eleena naturally could hear the Players discussion. She usually wouldnt believe such superstition, but at this very moment, she was not going to give up on even the tiniest bit of hope. It was therefore a shame that her other party members had all died horribly. Gou Dan was probably trampled into tiny scraps, Joe was directly eaten by the colossus whereas Edward was directly vaporized by its Pyrocrystal Cannon with nothing left of him. Even if Eleena had learned outstanding revival spells, she couldnt make bricks without clay. In fact, aside from Eleena, the only other first-rate Player who survived was Mufasa who just escorted the wood elf elders to safety and just returned. Just as she was nearly exhausted, Mufasa was unable to unleash his wrath against such a supermassive foe. It was like how the Player put it just now: the turning point had come too late Be that as it may, even as that thought crossed Eleenas mind, the back of the tortoise colossus exploded violently. The blast was so violent that half of the city of Crookes which had remained over the colossuss back was reduced to ashes, and a skull-faced mushroom-cloud now billowed from it! In fact, it was such a powerful explosion that the tortoise colossus let out a blood-curdling shriek, with a big chunk of its HP dropping off its red bar visibly! Eleena couldnt help gaping, unsure what had actually happened. ***Tyler Meredith-Eleenas maternal grandfather and mayor of Crookes stood at the edge of the crater and watched the explosion nonchalantly. He remained still and imposing no matter how the ensuing gales would rear at him, completely unlike the withering old man who was about to die before. Eleena, my heir. I may not agree with your choice, but I have witnessed your courage and that is why this old man wouldnt just sit around and watch you die. He said as he raised his walking stick. Elven keeper! In the name of Tyler Meredith, destroy every Pyrocrystal Cannon that had gone out of control without exception! He turned towards the edge of the city, but because his position wasnt elevated and he couldnt look downwards or see Eleena, whose face he longed to see once more. Shaking his head in regret, the old man then drew out an old but exquisite key that had a special aesthetic to it. He handed it to the shorter automaton which had been on standby beside him all along. It nodded and left swiftly with the key. Eleena grandchild, take it. Even as the old man watched his city being destroyed before his own eyes, there was relief even in his troubled look. This is your grandfathers last blessing to you! Chapter 342: Heirloom The Players didnt know why the tortoise colossus was blowing up, but that was clearly good news for them. After its HP had dropped by an entire notch, the monster had stopped in its tracks while the unusual patterns painted all over its body was flashing in red light like a siren light. The God of Games protects us! Now, everybody! Charge! Thanks to his experience in many major battles, Mufasa was the first to recover, yelling as he raised his sword while everyone else was left stunned by the turn of events. Even so, most of the Players still looked confused. Simba, who had recovered as well thanks to Mufasas yell quickly noticed that. Still, an idea quickly came to his mind, and he raised his weapon like Mufasa did. The Boss is stunned! Its now or never-for the items! At his words, the Players recovered with a star, and began to charge with like a storm at the tortoise colossus that was rendered immobile! Mufasa glanced at Simba, his flatfish eyes full of tenderness. He was immeasurably pleased that the ordinary young refugee who he saved had grown so much. Still, he only spent half a split second to be in awe before running ahead of the other Players. And he wasnt interested at all with the tortoise colossus-his real target was the undead elf which had hidden on the supermassive Bosss head! Regardless of whether that thing had been the one who summoned the tortoise colossus, it wouldnt be a mistake to cut it down. Even if it wouldnt work, he would at least prevent it from killing the other players in the same way it killed had Edward: getting frozen by its spell and then vaporized by Pyrocrystal Cannons. Be that as it may, the undead elf seemed to realize that its colossus was malfunctioning as well. Even if the instincts carved in its DNA allowed it to continue controlling the model of the high elves Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN), instincts remained no more instinctsthere was no way it could have a tortoise colossus diagnostic and maintenance manual carved into its instincts. And such was reality: after noticing that the tortoise colossus has stopped moving, the undead elf left its head and headed towards the core-naturally to reactivate it instead of repairing it. It was an equipment anyway. Its a glitch sixty percent of the time, and restarting it would fix it That was why it was gone from the colossuss head by the time Mufasa reach it. *** Meanwhile, Eleena had returned to the city of Crookes above the colossuss back. To be precise, it was what was left of Crookes -over half of the buildings had crumbled from the explosion just now, and what was left were partially crumbling in the aftershock of the blast. The ruins were filled with the sounds of fires blazing against the wind, cracking as they devoured the wood of houses. Human sounds, however, were non-existent. Even though Simba and did their best to evacuate most citizens, there should have been over ten thousand people who had yet to escape the city. Now that only the sounds of fire and wind could be heard while human voices were the only thing missing, there was only one cruel truth. The citizens who couldnt make it in time were all dead. Nonetheless, before Eleena could start looking for the old man calling himself her grandfather, a stout man suddenly appeared before her. Young Mistress! Youre the young girl glanced at the word above the automatons head to find that it had turned completely green, meaning that it was a friendly unit. My former master has passed his clearance to you. It said, going down on one knee while handing her an old crystal key respectfully. From here on out, you are the controller of the Faint Crystal Stratum. Faint Crystal Stratum? Eleenas head tilted in confusion. Its the domain I protect, the outermost stratum of the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN). The automaton answered. The SIN is divided into five stratums: Faint Crystal, Deep Wall, Dark Sky, Steel Earth, and the Eternal Archives, with each stratum having a different guardian. So that was it. The event this time was to clear stratum by stratum until they reach the Eternal Archivesthe core of the SIN. Eleena nodded lightly, gesturing she got the rough idea. By the way, what happened to your former master? She couldnt help asking then. mer He has infiltrated the outer reaches of the Deep Wall. The automaton kept its head lowered as it answered truthfully. He intends to use his dwindling elven stone to suppress the corruption that comes from deep within, to try his best to delay the revival of SIN. In other words, the big tortoise was not reactivating because he is buying us time? It was only now that Eleena understood why the tortoise colossus was immobile, even though it only had its outer shell blown up. Glancing at the key, she asked, Can I enter the Faint Crystal stratum with this key? How do I use it?But before she finished, the stout automaton was suddenly on its feetwith a war hammer in its hand. However, even as Eleena raised a barrier over herself by reflex, she realized that she wasnt its target: the automatons war hammer bypassed her, hitting the undead elf which was about to ambush her. Nonetheless, the undead elf seemed to have buff itself. Not only did the war hammer that weighed tons failed to send it flying. Instead, the weapon struck its arm with a deafening ring of clashing metals, even igniting sparks! Eleena panicked for a moment since she never fought alone before, although she soon regained her composure to summon a Spear of Victory even as she raised her hand. And yet, the undead elf merely shifted slightly to evade the radiant spear, and even retaliated by launching a spell resembling Frost Nova at Eleenathe barrier that shielded here immediately became her ball cage instead, obstructing her from moving. Then, when she finally smashed through the thick ice with her meteor hammer bible, she found that the elf had already killed the automaton, and was using its skin to absorb its mangled body. With that, the body of the undead became thick and filled, with some extent of facial expression returning to its cheeks. It sensed her gaze then. Even so, it didnt feel threatened and with the rest of its body remaining still, its neck turned more than ninety degrees to face the girl directly to flash a ferocious but otherworldly grin. Chapter 343: Ice Flakes Even as the undead elf smiled sinisterly, four long humanoid arms extended out of its back, with loose sheets of skin connecting each of them. With how it looked completely different from a bat, it appeared especially as bizarre as it was twisted. And whether it was because of its frost magic or she was simply too frightened by its appearance, Eleena felt her entire body grow cold, and even forgot to fight back or run. The undead elf was clearly no gentleman that waited until a magical girl finished her transformation. Before Eleena could break through here fear, the four arms behind it spread out and lunged towards the girl, moving as quickly as a tarantula on the hunt. It was only when Eleena was at deaths door that she regained mobility, and her mind that had gone mostly blankly started moving again. Even if the Players could come back to life, to survive was a human instinctand that wouldnt change even after becoming a Player. And in this split second, Eleena was bursting with survival instincts that she herself couldnt imagine. Giving up on casting any skill, she simply unleashed the holy light energy within her body as much as she could. That energy stopped her enemys blow, even repelling it by a stride. In fact, the undead elf would have been blinded if it hadnt lost its normal sensory organs too. Seizing the moment, Eleena rolled backward to distance herself away from the enemy, pulling herself together to cast several Spears of Victory in the process. Even so, the seemingly stiff undead elf was much agile than she expected, and dodged every last one of her spear combos. Eleena, keeping her surprise in control, promptly used another spell in Chains of Penance to limit her foes movement, but the undead elf simply conjured frost shields out of thin air to obstruct her effort. With two attempts foiled, Eleenas gap against the undead elf was shortened and her situation was becoming more dangerous. Worse still, she no longer could use the holy light gimmick just now. Eleena tried to raise a shield by instinct. But even as she was about to cast it, she hesitated: if she used it again, she might be enclosed within thick ice like before. And without the automaton drawing the heat away from her, she just might be blindsided just as she was about to break through the ice. Nonetheless, that split second of hesitation afforded the undead elf a chance to burst forward. Its speed shot up in that instant until it arrived right in front of Eleena, and was close enough that raising her shield would be useless! It seemed that she would have to use her equipment to withstand the brunt of its blow but even though she was the Saintess-in-training, she remained a glass cannon with a low defensive buff But just when the undead elfs over two-meters long arms were about to reach Eleena, a cold flash streaked through the air to cut down one of the arms and the skin around it. Green, pungent pus shot out from its wound, and the air was filled with the scent of a rotting corpse. Sorry Im late! Joined the battle, Mufasa took a moment to adjusted his titled flatfish head mask, before staring at the undead elf which was hissing at him after having one of its arms chopped off. Even though it wasnt roaring, the sound that resembled a tire losing gas or a snakes hiss was much more unsettling than a roar. Eleena, hurry off and get to shelter. But I have the key to start the event, Mister Mufasa! I have to think of something to open the colossus! Eleena told Mufasa instead of listening to him. We would only stop this moving disaster from moving when we start the event! After all, it was obvious that the tortoise colossus which was modeled after the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN) was more than what the Players could handle. That was why the better choice now was to follow the hint that the God of Games had given out earlier: start the Elven SIN quest and directly progress into the game event! It was only then the God of Games who assigned the quest could take notice of the circumstances in the mortal realm. And being the medium of the quest, the tortoise colossus would definitely be restrained by the God of Games as wellor at least be prevented from reactivating and harm the fleeing citizens again! While Mufasa wasnt sure about the complicated specifics, he generally understood what Eleena wanted to convey. As such, he made up his mind after a short hesitation. Keeping the undead at bay quietly with his sword, he cleared a path for Eleena. I dont know if it works, but Ive found a totem that resembled a keyhole on the tortoises head. You just might open it if you go there. Thank you, Mister Mufasa! Eleena thanked him and started to run towards the direction he pointed. Meanwhile, the undead elf seemed to have realized that Eleena was running to its treasured seat before. It hissed and started towards that direction, but Mufasa intercepted it. The creature hence loosed a flurry of strikes which were easily parried by Mufasa, his deflection and parrying styles making it doubt its existence. With me here, dont even think of leaving! Its irritation turning to rage, the undead elf lunged at Mufasa againbut despite its swiftness, its movement was quite crude and full of flaws in Mufasas eyes. Its over-eh? And yet, just as Mufasa was intending to take one step black, wrongfooting its blow and take its head, he suddenly lost control and tripped backward! If he didnt promptly realize that something was wrong and rolled aside, the undead elf would have come close enough for an embrace to claim him. What the heckWhen Mufasa rose to his feet again, he saw that there was a pile of ice on the ground where he had tripped. But what was more astonishing that there was a frozen leg on its surface! Quickly looking down, Mufasa only noticed then that there was nothing beneath his right thigh! Oh dang, my leg but when the hell But even before Mufasa could think about when he had gotten hit, the undead elf was attacking again. While he couldnt attack with one leg less, Mufasa could still somewhat handle his opponents attack-but when he took notice of what changed around him this time, he noticed that there were many tiny ice flakes in the air. Anyones body temperature would drop, their senses dulled if those ice flakes entered their body, rapidly frosting their innards alongside the cold air outside. In fact, if Mufasa wasnt a Player, his lungs would probably have frozen, suffocating him and directly killing him! In other words, the ice flakes that wouldnt have been seen without looking carefully had turned the tables instantly against Mufasa! Chapter 344: Event Unlocked When Eleena reached the tortoises long neck, it seemed to have recovered from the explosion before and was slowly rearing its head. There was certainly no telling what happened to the old man who had infiltrated the Faint Crystal stratum. Although the colossus was somewhat bothered by Eleena running over its nape, she relied on her fine balance to cross its neck between stumbles and arrive on its head. The tortoise colossuss head-or indeed its braincase was quite vast, but a careful look would be enough to make out a small platform sticking out. Considering that the high elves wouldnt construct a useless platform on the miniature of their Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN), it was likely that it was a control panel. Noticing that, Eleenas heart danced with hope. Totem, keyhole Got one. Is this it? She exclaimed, finding the totem that Mufasa had mentioned after a brief search. There were five rhombic openings on the totem itself, which definitely looked like special keyholes. But Eleena soon found that it doesnt work. Her key just doesnt match any of the holes, and couldnt be inserted no matter how she tried. Maybe not this one? She began looking for other places to see if there were any spots that resemble keyholes, but that was also the moment a chill prompted her to shiver. She didnt even need to look to guess where the chill was coming from. Down the colossuss nape, the undead elf was slowly making its way here. A closer look would reveal that a small notch of its HP above its head was gone, which corresponds to a smooth cut over its left hand at the wrist which was missing an entire palm. Even though the tortoise colossus was still shaking its neck, the elf would frost and defrost its feet into the ground with every step, keeping its movement unusually steady. The creature had reached her so quickly-to think that even Mufasa, the best Player couldnt hold it back for too long. Gritting her teeth, Eleena kept searching for any spot that the key could be inserted even as her little mind spun furiously in hopes of finding another solution. It was only a pity that she couldnt make a breakthrough even as the undead elf was within casting range at the platform. She would be mostly frozen even if she raised her barrier. That was when the elf opened its jaw and mouthed several words awkwardly. How regrettable You can talk?! Eleena did a double take. *** Ever since the undead elf had shown its face, it had only acted like a zombie that relied entirely on instincts, which was why Eleena didnt expect it to talk like an intelligent creature. That one was quite formidable The undead elf appeared to be in awe even as Eleena blanked out slightly, before realizing that it was talking about Mufasa. Even if I freeze off one hand one leg did everything to take my palm Despite the space between its words, Eleena could understand how hard Mufasa had fought. Even if he had lost his limbs, he determinedly unleashed one last blow before his death to claim the palm of the undead elf. Wanted to fuse with him in salutation but his corpse gone regrettable. A nameless flame of wrath ignited within Eleena at the words of the undead elf. Salutation! Stop kidding around youre just defiling a body! Though Players dont really die, the young girl who had personally witnessed every last corpse in her village being thrown into a single pile was enraged at the thought of such defilement. No wonder necromancers are never welcomed. No one would want the remains of friends and family-or even their ownbeing toyed around by someone else. Human foolish unable to understand our tragic will The undead elf raised its hand. All at once, frost rose into the air like mushrooms after the rain, enveloping the girl as if it would drown her. Even if she wasnt really drowning, Eleena could see her HP decreasing rapidly, her shield seemingly unable to keep out the chill that cuts into the marrow. In fact, she wasnt a Player but a normal human, her body would have been frozen stiff by now, her lost mobility denied. I dont care what your tragic will is! Knowing that only death awaits if this continued, Eleena resolved herself. Almost every first-rate Player who had come to Crookes were all killed in battleit was the toughest fight they had, with no exceptions. And even if Eleena were the Saintess-in-training, she never considered herself different from other Players: she would be sad if their campaigns go sour, would laugh when theres a feast and quietly shed a tear when she remembered the day her village was destroyed. This is going to my last stand! If I cant play this event with the others, I would at least die like a Player! Dispelling her shield, Eleena drew out the ancient key as the ice shell outside began to creep inside and climbed up her ankles. Give me that! The undead elf suddenly became emotional. But Eleena ignored it. When she thought about it, she realized that her grandfather had left her a clue. Though the old man was the mayor of Crookes, activated the Faint Crystal Stratum of the Elven SIN and obtained the elven stone, he never showed any superhuman abilitieshe had no special abilities and never showed signs of having used magic, just as he didnt have the scent a person from a churchs hierarchy would have (In fact, Tyler Meredith was a believer of the relatively weak Grimund, the God of Arts and Travel, and his rank as a ranked believer was bought with the money he gained from becoming the mayor of Crookes). So how did the old man activate the Faint Crystal Stratum of the Elven SIN in his youth? Eleena would be the first person to doubt that he had triumphed over waves of obstacles and dangers in the Faint Crystal Stratum with his own ability And by extending from that hunch, she could make a bold deduction. What if there was actually a very simple way to activate the outer stratum of the Elven SIN and obtain clearance over it? Such as Please, give me something! blood identificationEleena hence stabbed the key firmly into her own chest. All at once, the ancient key started to draw her blood-Players wont bleed, but that did not mean they had no blood. [Elven SINCFaint Crystal Stratum activated] (The God of Games great power has stopped the external movement of the Elven SIN) [New eventElven SIN: Ancient Atrocities unlocked] [New spawn point-Elven SIN: Outer Platform established] And with that came a blue radiance that shot into the sky. After just a split second, vague figures of countless other players appeared behind Eleena. Though they wouldnt have made it here before, they were all now here, revived through various items! Chapter 345: The Bane of The Undead Elf Even though the undead elf had not much emotions, it could not help feeling an instinctive fear when the Players who should have been dead were appearing in droves before it. After all, even if its ability was so superior above the average Player that it had wiped out Edwards party aside from Eleena and easily defeat the strongest Player Mufasa, its victories were built upon the advantage of the Pyrocrystal Cannon over the body of the tortoise colossus, or in a one versus one situation. And now, with the tortoise colossus was rendered immobile by a profound power, the humans were cracking their fists and stretching their muscles. They certainly did not look like they would honor the knights code of chivalry to fight it in single combat, and were instead prepared for one justified lynching The elven elf would have fled early on-if it had still been its just-awakened self, but that would not fly now. After it had awakened from its long slumber, the instincts that drove it forward and all the way here to activate the Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN), and strode towards the high elves Promised Land back when it was alive. Such was the tragic ambition shared by all high elves before their extinction. That was why it was not retreating, and instead attempted to reclaim control from the Players over the tortoise colossus-in other words, the Elven SIN. While the Players werent aware of such insider information, they probably wouldnt have cared anyway. Though the dying will of a clan sounds profound, the high elves were a mythical existence even in the last era. And the age of humans was now. In other words, there was no reason to forgive or understand a corpse that came back to life from six-feet under, massacring thousands of innocents in Crookes for a so-called tragic will that had long since died with its own kind! Cast your ultimate skills right now if you have any since its still quite far away! Only use precision skills when its closer to prevent friendly fire! Melee units, get forward, protect the glass cannons on the back row and stop that thing from cutting his way to them! Edward wasnt sure what happened since most of the veteran Players were dead when the tortoise colossus exploded. Moreover, the newbies who survived seemed to have forgotten about the forums or simply couldnt afford to be distracted-after all, both saving and evacuating the citizens or fighting the tortoise colossus with the Saintess does not afford them time to goof off. Nonetheless, just as Edwards vision saw nothing but darkness, he suddenly received new System notifications: [Eleena, Saintess-in-training has completed the prerequisite quest.) (Outermost stratum of the Elven SIN activated.] (Event has started, new Spawn Point establish.) He didnt even think before teleporting here. A spawn point being added in conjunction with an event was nothing specialthe same thing had taken place back in the battle against the Rotten Bones cult. Still, the spawn point at that time was built beside Leah the Warrior Princess, while this one was on a fixed platform. Still, unlike the other players who were confused when they teleported here, Edward had fought the undead elf on close quarters before. Even if its appearance had changed drastically now and was making strides towards the transcendence of human, Edward could still quickly recognize the being that had killed him once before. Hence, he promptly issued his order, ready to lead the Players who came teleporting alongside him to wipe the floor with that Boss! He even flashed a praiseful smile at Eleena in between. Right now, he finally saw Eleenathe little girl in his village and the Saintess he must protect as a true, qualified Player! *** On the other hand, the undead elf wasnt about to resign itself to its fate despite what was happening, and rapidly attacked the Player instead. Its exposed skin began to secret black goo that hardened into something like armor plates whereas the four arms behind its back became even sensitive. Each of them was stretching out and dangling on the ground in a bizarre arc, replacing the elfs feet as way of balance. On a single glance, it was an oversized four-legged black spider, although there was a layer of thin membrane between its legs. However, the thin membrane was exceedingly sturdy that it was not really affected by several powerful skill detonating over it, even though it had shaved a thin notch off the Bosss HP bar. Dont get too close! It might have a frost aura around it! Mufasa warned after having been blindsided by that skill once. But that was when the four arms over the undead elfs back curved further as if it was about to drop to the ground. Just as Mufasa assumed that another Players control-type skill had taken effect, he realized that something was wrong upon a closer look. The creatures crouching posture doesnt it look like it was charging its strength, instead of being knocked off balance by the Players assault? Edward noticed it too, and didnt hesitate to yell out. Scatter! However, that was one step too slow-using the strength of all four spine arms, the undead elf lifted itself high above and leaped towards the Players! And for the Players, hitting a moving target was extremely difficult even with the skill targeting that the God of Games blessed them with. Only a handful out of the barrage of skills unleashed by fifty Players struck true, and with the undead elfs skin membrane protecting what could be its vitals, there just was not much damage inflicted. And when it landed between the backrow Playersall of whom were glass cannon classes, that one hit inflicted tons of damage and direct crushed several Players who just revived to death. Others were more or less affected by the creatures frost aura, with white snowflakes appearing over their body.If it had been a human military outfit, that single blow would have sent a hundred-men battalion running. It was therefore regrettable for the undead elf that the Players werent. They were continuing their relentless output, since the worst thing that could happen to them was that they would be born anew three days later fate getting killed. In contrast, the undead elf did not have such special treatment. Despite having the potential of becoming a machine of perpetual motion as an undead, each scar inflicted on the creatures body was very real, and very obvious thanks to the HP bar over its head. Halfway through the battle, it attempted to seize and devour one of the Players the way it had devoured the automatons, healing its injury while increasing its power as well. That clearly wasnt an attribute of any ordinary high elf, but an addition thanks to it being an undead to counter a numerical advantage strategy. It was therefore unfortunate for the undead elf that the Players vanished directly upon death and leaves no physical corpse, which naturally denied any devouring As such, devouring the Players became no different from taking a gulp of air for the undead elf. Theres nothing to even fit the gaps between its teeth, with the Players proving that they were the greatest bane to its existence! Hence, the violent battle lasted just three and a half minutes for the undead high elf and the first Boss of the Elven SIN to fall to the Players butcher knife. Chapter 346: Rune Embedding System Xi Wei breathed a sigh of relief when the Players eventually took control of the battle. It was only because the Players had gotten used to winning every battle that he didnt pay too much attention in the current event, and the inadvertent slip almost led to the Players total wipeout. It was fortunate that the little Saintess he had scouted in the beginning proved reliable, and ultimately provided him an excuse to interfere and bring the Players back to life. Xi Wei had a feeling that he would deflate otherwise. Damn it, how did the high elves even make such a thing? Be that as it may, when he reached out to with his tentacle (which no mortal creature could see) to handle the tortoise colossus, he was actually repelled by the interior of the colossus-in other words, the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN). That certainly left Xi Wei astonished. It was worth mentioning that he was the recently-transmigrated noob god, but a real intermediate god who could fight ten lesser gods like the Rotten Bones at once! Let alone the beings in the mortal realm who wouldnt be able to fight against the gods. And yet, the Elven SIN within the tortoise colossus was different. After probing it tentatively, Xi Wei realized that he couldnt directly drag it into his own divine kingdom! The non-physical weight of the Elven SIN alone enough to make Xi Wei take it seriously. As such, he directly severed a part of his divine power and turned it into a clone which directly descended upon the Elven SIN. It did not take too long for it to be corrupted and warped by an unfamiliar force inside into an indescribable monster. That might probably be the Mystery which the high elves allegedly gained after a deal with an unnamed god. Still, Xi Wei gained some extent of understanding about Mystery after recalling the distorted clone back to his divine kingdom for study. as It remained unfamiliar, but a thorough study would still reveal that the essence of Mystery was divine power. Although there was no telling what the high elves had done to that divine power or what it did to the high elves, the power itself was utterly distorted that there was no identifying the owners Divine Order or Authority. Any ordinary humans who recklessly touched Mystery would also be rendered insane by otherworldly whispers that were ever-present, their souls and eventually their entire being corrupted into a misshapen monster. Still, it was only an unowned divine power to Xi Wei that was fully deformed-even if it had belonged to one of the Seven Divine Fathers, they probably could no longer sense it and let alone control it. Therefore, with such a great supplement put right in front of him, why would Xi Wei not eat it? Still, there needs to be some adjustments for the Players While the Players could revive, they were still humans that had just taken a single step into the supernatural. Their souls were not too different from any normal persons, which was why recklessly intruding into it would render them corruptedwhen the time comes, Xi Wei wont be able to save them. That was why Xi Wei must separate them from the evil whispers from the very start. Heart wall and spirit guard Hmm, giving it too all Players is a little extravagant, and a jackpot is still needed for the event. Xi Wei muttered, becoming reluctant to throw out a huge clump of power after checking his stores of divine power and divine energy. Hold on. If spirit corruption is a part of the Mystery that the high elves developed, couldnt I try to digest a portion of its controlling system? At that very thought, Xi Wei promptly dismantled his corrupted clone, and managed to dissect things from it. Interesting protecting the Players this way would cost me a lot of divine power, but I dont actually have to worry about being unrewarded even in the early game. And I would definitely get rich if they Players could really clear SIN entirely! With that in mind, Xi Wei no longer hesitated. After slightly developing the new countermeasures for every Player, he started hammering away on the Pantheon Computer to set up the entire event. In the next split second, every Player finally saw the full face of the event. (Elven SIN: Ancient Atrocities] [The mystery of the high elves which had been dormant for thousands of years resurfaced to the world under the influence of an undead bearing a tragic ambition, inside of which remains secrets and power that reaches the domain of the gods. Even so, the God of Games who dwell above the heaves had sensed the foreboding air that swirls in the elven ruins-it is no gospel of history, but an omen of destruction. Therefore, the great god invites all of you to defeat the elven ruins before calamity comes, to retrace and sever the atrocity at its roots!] [Event period: 7 days) (Quest Requirements: Players above Level 5 may enter the Faint Crystal Stratum, Players above Level 15 may enter the Deep Wall Stratum, Players above Level 25 may enter the Dark Sky Stratum, Players above Level 35 may enter the Steel Earth Stratum. There is no requirement for entering the Eternal Archives Stratum, but the four strata before must be cleared.)[Event objective: Players can enter the Elven SIN under the guidance of Eleena Meredith, Saintess-in-training. The event is divided into four strata: Faint Crystal, Deep Wall, Dark Sky, Steel Earth, and Eternal Archives. Defeat each Stratum Boss to obtain stratum clearance and succeed in clearing current stratum (All Players shares exploration progress). Event is a success if the Eternal Archives is cleared in the event period. ] Players would receive corresponding numbers of elven arcane text according to a series of standards including personal damage count, healing of allies or damage taken.) [Event rewards: There are no redeemable items for this event, but the elven arcane texts could be refined into high elf rune. Each high elf rune can be embedded into weapons, with better rune obtainable through more arcane text invested. Runes can be combined into compound runes to further increase item stats.) [List of high elf runes (Click to expand] [Note: Embedding runes are to be performed with the blacksmith of the starter village, Lancaster hideout, Tunaya, and the Long Ears Village. White normal weapons may be embedded with a single rune, Blue-elite weapons may be embedded with two runes, Purple-epic items may be embedded with three runes, Golden-legendary weapons may be embedded with four runes.] [Notice: Unwanted runes can be removed at selected blacksmiths, but runes are not salvageable through dismantling, although the corresponding rune socket of the weapon would be cleared.) Chapter 347: First Test of the Runic System After Xi Wei personally suppressed the Tortoise Colossus, the first and second-rate Players were all cracking their knuckles and baring their fists, ready to clear the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN). Even noob Players like Simba were intending to join the event as well since anyone above Level 5 could enter the Faint Crystal Stratum, just as they could make an attempt on the Level 15 Deep Wall Stratum if they tried a bit. However, that would still require veterans to scout the road in the dungeon ahead, while Simba and the others would have to stick to their current task of evacuating and relocating survivals of Crookes. It was worth mentioning that the undead elf the appetizer of the entire event did not drop any legendary items, but every Player who was a part of the battle were given some elven arcane text instead. After all, while the undead elf could single-handedly crush Mufasa the Pink Flatfish, it proved quite weak when the Players encircled it for a beating, and simply didnt live up to the Dead Red Dragon or the Nightstalker that were as genuinely powerful as a Boss. As such, Xi Wei felt that dropping a legendary weapon over such a noob monster really devalues any preceding or subsequent legendary weapon Moreover, he had just introduced the runic embedding system, and intend for the Players to get to work collecting elven arcane text to be refined into runes. That was why they had to first taste some of the goodness of the runic system beforehand. And it was the reasons mentioned above that led to Xi Wei canceling any drops for the Undead Elf, and switch it for the elven arcane text which was extracted out of his corrupted clone. It was an optimal consideration of game planning accountability toward Players, and not because he wanted to hog the corpse of the undead elf for himself! And just as Xi Wei predicted, most Players were not entering the dungeon although the event had already started. They refined the elven arcane text into runes, and returned to the selected cities or bases to have the dwarven craftsmen who were idling for some time now to embed them. It was thanks to Xi Wei sneaking an oracle to the dwarven craftsmen by impersonating Stoff, the God of Craftmanship and Fine Wine that they had learned how to embed those runes. Unlike the strengthening where you would easily get a Ding~ congratulations, your item is gone!, embedding always succeedsalthough runes are consumables that cant be extracted again once embedded. And soon enough, the Players quickly understood the subtleties of runes once their embeddings succeeded. *** Gou Dan had been asking the Players who were done with embedding about the actual conditions before quickly posting the results of the Player forums. Unlike strengthening which improves overall stats, runes seem to buff certain unusual attributes at the moment. The currently confirmed runes are Zoffy which increase fire resistance; First which randomly redistribute weapon stats; Seven which increases throw damage; Jack which increase damage in fights against multiple enemies; Ace which grants melee weapons ranged effect and Taro, which trades durability for super damage of defense. Since each Player would at most receive two runes, there wouldnt be definite results if we test arrangements and conditions at the moment, and that is a point for further study. By the way, according to the Players who had tested it, embedding Zoffy on helms would grant the best effect, granting almost double the level of fire resistance compared to embedding in equipment for other anatomies. His post was promptly liked and saved by the other Players and commented heavily in no time at all, and was staying on top of the main page and not dropping anytime soon. Players who discovered any new information about the runes would post it below as a reference for other players, including about the Leo rune which buffed unarmed damage and Eighty which greatly increases defense. And with Players like Gou Dan running around gathering information like a journalist, there were naturally certain Players who understood certain insider information and filled in the blanks on their own. Elven arcane text High elf runes Though Marni looked confused by the words on his System page, a storm was stirring inside him. Unlike the other players who didnt understand the background setting of the high elves, he was with Edward and the others when they visited the Elven Queen and learned about the secrets of the high elves of the last age. Even if the event quest did not offer specifics, he could basically be sure that the so-called arcane text and runes were mostly likely a power that the high elves of the last age used for controlling Mystery! In fact, the runic embedding that the page mentioned was probably to apply that same method to weapons and equipment. To think that the God of Games could see through the secrets of the high elves and achieve such feat-he truly is the God of Games! On the other hand, while Edward didnt make information about the Elven SIN public, he had mentioned it to Marni who was revived at the same lifestone at the same time. High elven ruins, super magitek that emulates a world and whatever it sounds great and all, but it ended up as nothing more than toys for us, believers of the God Games to strengthen ourselves. All at once, Marni revered the God of Games even more.The truth was that Xi Wei did not actually quarantine all the distorted power that could corrupt souls in the Elven SIN. Instead, he would draw in any of the powers that came to him without rejecting any, extracting the high elves basic arcane text and then use it for a basis for further extraction, and the arcane text would eventually take the form of runes. Such was the solution Xi Wei applied to resolve the players risk of being spiritually corrupted by Mystery. The advantage of this was that there wouldnt be a widespread swap for items and new equipment amongst the Players. Xi Wei would be able to spare substantial divine power needed to create new items, just as he wouldnt have to rack his brains over what to do with the old items. Moreover, the Players equipment had already reached maturity at the current phase as well. Therefore, instead of having Xi Wei waste his own strength to introduce stronger event-limited items which the Players would have to form, it was only obvious that rune embedding was a quicker and better path of improving the Players overall ability. And it has been proven that the Players quite liked the runic setting (since it doesnt cost money), and many of them were already testing different assemblies of runes. The Players who contributed less and in turn obtained fewer elven arcane text were already urging Eleena to quickly open the gates to the Faint Crystal Stratum to head within SIN for monster farming and rune collecting. There was a total of 50 different runes, each of which could be affixed into three-runes or four-runes arrangement-but the four-runes assembly were mostly a strengthened version of the three-runes assembly, meaning that the system basically follows a Gaussian distribution. Any plans of collecting everything in the middle of the event would be very difficult. Still, even if the Players could really clear the Elven SIN and allow Xi Wei to completely claim the Mystery within, he wouldnt have to rely on the Elven SIN to make runes from then on since his own power would suffice. Chapter 348: We Found Your Grandfather! In here, there was no sun, moon or stars. Only darkness. However, claiming that there was no sky in here and that there was only a pitch-black ceiling would be a little incorrect. If there had been a bird flying in a straight line upwards, it would never reach the ceiling even if it flew ten thousand years and rose dozens of thousand miles above the ground. Still, if one had to say it, the height within this space was not really significant even if it was endless. And while there was no sun, moon or star in here, the space in here (the ground, specifically) was not actually dark. That was thanks to the massive crystal formations that stood over the ground over several or even dozens of meters, each of which glowed dimly in milky-white or emerald radiance. While the radiance of just one or two crystal pillars would be faint, but like the trees in a rainforest, the countless crystals here were radiating enough light to illuminate every inch of the ground. When sufficiently elevated, one would see that the ground was actually square like a chessboard, and anyone walking over one edge would appear on the opposite edge, which was why there was no horizon here. And at the center of the ground was a bottomless, deep crater, the outside of which was covered in a blue net composed of light. Upon a closer look, innumerable black freakish being were attempting to escape from the crater at bottom of the net, but were firmly stopped by the net! And beside the net were two figures. One was a spiny old man who was so skinny that he looked no different from a skeleton covered in human skin from a single glance. The other was a lanky male elf who did not really look special. How are things now? The old man asked then. His voice was dry and hoarse, even hurting to the ears. Naturally, he was Eleenas maternal grandfather: Tyler Meredith. The Clearance of the Faint Crystal Stratum has changed hands. The lanky elfthe other automaton which the old man had found in this very elven ruin answered reverently. According to the blood test, she should be your granddaughter. The old man smiled in satisfaction. Is that so well, all I have to do now is continue suppressing these monsters coming from the Deep Wall Stratum. He heaved a breath. The elven stone over his chest was not very radiant now, and anyone could imagine that it would go out at any given moment. I dont know how long I would last either. *** The truth was that the old mans lifeforce was almost depleted when he triggered the explosion on Crookes, and he would have died if the elven stone did not keep him alive. And this place was naturally the Faint Crystal Stratum, the only stratum which he could control. That said, he couldnt actually control much of it either aside from several automatons, the Pyrocrystal Cannon, and some secondary weapons. In fact, many automatons that had gone out of control wandered the Faint Crystal Stratum itself. The old man had attempted to wipe them out at first and use the entire stratum as his own warehouse, but he gave up on that after losing two good automatons in his attempts. And with a single automaton left now, he naturally did not dare to keep goofing around and did the only thing he could: leading the automatons discreetly to the central area to hold back the things coming from the Deep Wall Stratum with the power of the elven stone. Master, I seem to hear the sounds of fighting. The lanky automaton reported to the old man then. This is the Faint Crystal Stratum. Without my consent, not even supernatural individuals could enter-let alone ordinary beings. The old man said, shaking his head. But hadnt you handed the clearance to the young lady? The automaton asked. The old man did a double take, only remembering then that the was no longer the one who held clearance over the Faint Crystal Stratum. Now, anyone could be allowed in to here as the clearance holder pleased. Oh no. I forgot to tell her that this place is too dangerous. She shouldnt have entered so simply! The old man looked very worried right then. The sounds are getting louder. They may be coming in this direction. The automaton added then. The old man shook his head again. Impossible. It took me a hundred years to barely clear a safe trail how could anyone fight their way here so quickly? And dont forget about the automatons wandering in the crystal forests! Although the automaton beside the old man was human-shaped, the rampaging automatons would devour their own kind, turning into massive spiderlike creatures! Their bodies were as hard as they could move rapidly, able to fire powerful death rays from their single eyes that would detonate anything with devastation even with the slightest brush! It was worth mentioning that it didnt detect foes with its eyes, but by sensing vibrations the single eye on its head was just a decoration. And thats not all. The maze of the crystal formations becomes more complicated the closer you come to the center. The old man summed up then. That is why most groups would never make it here. And soon enough, the old man himself could hear human voices nearby, followed by the death rays and ensuing explosions unleashed by the rampaging automatons. After all, there were more rampaging automatons in the center reaches of the elven ruins. It seemed that the people who came in for an adventure were not going to survive this wave. But just as the old man showed a look of regret, he heard more shouts from the same direction. And for some reason, he had the feeling that the shouting was an effort to hold in laughter instead of panic and terror. Wheres Marni? He was vaporized by a beam!Mister Marni died so fast this time! And theres even nothing left of him! This stratum is as good as cleared! Dont panic, those beam monsters move very slowly! Slip behind them and stab them in the neck What, no neck? Then hit it in the ass! Oi, Mufasa! What the hell are you doing!? Why are you just watching over there! Quick, unleash your Kengyoku power and deflect the beam! You cant deflect a beam with a sword, damn it! Why not try it with your shield!? The noises died down another moment later. Nonetheless, when the old man assumed that the intruders were wiped out, several figures appeared within sight. The youth in the lead was holding a long, blazing stick that could have been a torch or a magic staff. The helm he was wearing was ablaze for some reason too, making it appear slightly funny. His eyes brightened when he saw the old man and turned behind to shout. Eleena, we found your grandfather! Chapter 349: Elven Stone and Moonstone As the clearance holder for the first stratum, Eleena could be considered a human tool from a certain perspective. In fact, Edward and the others were at first reluctant that she wouldnt join them-no one knows what would happen inside, and if Eleena died out of some mishap, she would have to revive and rush to Crookes if more Players want to enter the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN). Still, Eleena managed to persuade Edward and the others to include her into the frontline with the condition of not going to the deeper strata, and to find her maternal grandfather. And things proved to have gone well. Eleena? You The old man murmured in disbelief, staring in shock at the Players who were all well-equipped and spirited, and certainly were not looking ragged or exhausted. How did you people reach this place?. When he first acquired the clearance of the Faint Crystal Stratum, it took him over a hundred years and the protection of two elite automatons to evade the rampaging automatons, feel around and finally map a trail to this place! And these people had caught up to his hundred-year long progress in less than half a day! In fact, the old man didnt know that it was just 40 minutes between the moment Eleena opened the entrance and the Players reaching herewhich was a lot shorter than half a day! I think its Mister Marnis sudden death that ensured us finding the right trail so quickly. Gou Dan muttered just then, with everyone showing looks of agreement, aside from Eleena who looked a little troubled and Edward who was staying serious as the leader. The Pink Flatfish who was hanging behind even firmly flipped its tail to indicate his agreement. The light of the God of Games guides our path, Edward said with conviction while his helm continued blazing away. Moreover, Xi Wei had decided that the Faint Crystal Stratum was a level 5 area that even small-fry Players could enter. While the rampaging automatons were powerful enough to kill a first-rate, level 40 Player with a single blast, their bodies became exceedingly weaker after losing the protection of the Elven Sin, and even level 5 Players could hurt them effectively. To put it simply, the monsters of the first stratum were glass cannons in the truest sense of the term: it could indiscriminately kill newbie and veteran Players alike, just as newbies could kick their asses. And originally, the greatest threat against the Players in the first stratum should have been various traps and Pyrocrystal Cannons, but those were either directly suppressed by Xi Wei or turned offline by Eleenas clearance. Indeed, the old man had the feeling that something wasnt right, but decided not to ask. Having lived two hundred years, he naturally knew that talking too much with strangers was nothing good-especially with devote zealots. With that thought in mind, the old man glanced at the blazing helmet over Edwards head: to his knowledge, anyone who would wear something like that were definitely cultists and zealots who would self-immolate for their faith. Anyway, knowing that they were reinforcements his granddaughter brought in was good enough. Im grateful towards all of you, the old man said, spreading his hands to reveal his withered body. But as you can see, I dont have much time. I would die soon even if I follow you away from here. Sorry, but is that thing on your chest an elven stone? Edward asked tentatively when he saw the gem on his chest that had lost its radiance. Yes, it is. It had kept me alive, but its all over now the old man smiled faintly. It would become dust like me as its final light goes out. My fortune built upon this high elf ruin would now be returned entirely to it, which in a certain sense fits the high elves belief that all blessings are returned to nature. Eleena will inherit everything I have when Im gone. You will be the new mayor of Crookes However, even before the old man could finish, he saw Edward draw out and emerald jade from his trouser pocket and tap it lightly on the elven stone over the old mans chest. The stone in Edwards hand promptly lost all glitter before crumbling into dust, whereas the elven stone over the old mans chest shone in emerald radiance once more, as if it had drained the light from Edwards stone. And in the old mans memory, the elven stone was only that bright fifty years ago! In other words, he could live another fifty years if nothing unexpected happens! W-what The old man couldnt find the words in his shock. This was a moonstone, an object the wood elves made in imitation of high elf ancient magitek. Edward explained. They couldnt fully replicate elven stones because of the lack of Mystery, which was why they could only make something like this, a crude version of Illum crystals.It was worth mentioning that the moonstone was a gift from the wood elf elders who had come to Crookes with them. They only gave up on their wood elven pride and acknowledged the Players will-after witnessing the Players continued fighting with their lives on the line despite the desperation of the situation, and yet ultimately succeeding in bringing down the high elves ancient relic. But since they had yet to convert to the Church of Games and were still convinced that people die when they are killed, they therefore entrusted the Players with exploring the Elven SIN. That said, they had also sent a letter to the Elven Queen in Trinia, requesting some tools that could help with the exploration. And the moonstone was one of them. Still, even though it was a weaker replacement for the elven stone, the moonstone not only activated most mechanisms that the elven stone could, but it could also charge the elven stone as a source of energy. Naturally, frontliners notwithstandingPlayers would have to exchange various high elf relics they find in the Elven SIN for a moonstone. While this ruling meant that Players would have to turn the dungeon upside down as they scour it, it also helped Xi Wei make up for the lack of item exchange for this event. Chapter 350: One More Show Even if the wood elves could really replicate high elf magitek dont they see humans as enemies? The old man still appeared to have a hard time believing what happened his long life had afforded him rich experience, but his perspective had also become gradually stubborn. Why would they give humans such a treasure? Sure, they are unfriendly towards most humans Edward murmured. He reached out his hand to scratch his hand by reflex then, but quickly retracted it when he was scalded by the flames over his helm, even blowing it for a while before saying, But us Players had allied ourselves with the wood elves of Trinia. Isnt it normal to help an ally? Edwards explanation, however, was rather exaggerated. Although Goddess Luna had allied herself with Xi Wei and had her believers to work in a bilateral partnership with the Players, that didnt actually change the wood elves natural disdain against humans. Even if the Players displayed their ability and extended good will time and time again, only a small portion of the wood elves would treat them as equals. Prejudices carved into the bones are really hard to change. That said, Edwards boasting was measured. The old man appeared very weak, but he should live for some time thanks to the moonstone recharging his elven stone. And as long as he was alive, he would still be the highest authority of Crookes. The Meredith name alone had stood tall over Crookes over a century and was as effective as a golden cudgel. He just needed to show his face to calm the refugees whom Simba and the other newbie Players were relocating, so that they wont have to stay scared in every moment or even stir trouble. It was harsh to say it, but most humans were always social creatures who liked to blindly follow the crowd. Moreover, the Players could handle any provocateur daring to stir trouble, and there was no need to worry about the old mans safety. But the problem was that Old Meredith was neither a player nor a believer of Xi Wei, the God of Games. Even with Eleena keeping the peace with both sides, Edward wouldnt trust him. This was the time that a certain level of the Players intimidation was quite important. That was why Edward would put things that way, since being allies of the wood elves could command a strong influence over a typical small country, let alone a city. I see While the old man still doubted that the wood elves would trust humans, there was no faking something that recharges an elven stone. Moreover, the group led by the youth was also equipped with items that had an elven air to it. In exchange, could you tell us what that big hole behind you is? Once Edward saw that the old man accepted his explanation, he quickly pressed on with the question he really wanted to ask. This is a tunnel directed straight into the Dark Sky Stratum, which pierces the second stratum of Deep Wall Im not sure about the actual depth, but it would definitely extend beyond a hundred kilometers! The old man spoke solemnly. I once had a flight-capable automaton explore it, and thats the distance when we lost contact. Ive come this time to suppress the monsters from the tunnel and the third stratum, because they dont belong to the Faint Crystal Stratum. If they came in as they liked and activated the defensive measures, the entire ruin would become even more active! Edward summed up his thoughts after listening carefully to the old mans description. The Faint Crystal Stratum which was full of crystalline formations was the first stratum, and with the ground itself having the effect of a thick rampart, it was therefore the Deep Wall. As such, past the thick wall would be the Dark Sky Stratum! In other words, the second stratum was behind the hole the old man was struggling to defend! Alright. Mister Meredith, please leave the Faint Crystal Stratumthe people of Crookes still need your leadership. Edward promptly said after getting the information he wanted. You can leave this to us. Dont underestimate the monsters from the second and third stratums! The old man shook his head with a grave look. Stardust Netthe high elf relic I use only stopped those things by using almost remaining energy left in the elven stone! I wouldnt have lasted another hour if you didnt come in time, but that energy would have enough to restrain an adult dragon for three days and night! So, youre saying there are stronger monsters than dragons? Edward asked. Individually speaking, not really they might be as powerful as wyverns, but in numbers they would be stronger than dragons! The old man answered solemnly, having no intention to make light of the situation. Edward was nodding empathically in response too. But just when the old man presumed that he understood his advice, Edward suddenly said, Got it. If theres nothing else, please withdraw the high elf relic and leave. You people understand nothing! The old man almost blurted out a curse. Nonetheless, for the sake of not having his image break down in front of his granddaughter, he kept his frustration in control and reemphasized himself. They are monsters that could match a dragon in groups! Arent they just wyverns? Its not like we havent dealt with those. But this time, the Players appeared impatient as well-in fact, Joe was pulling at his hair and complaining quietly. If it had been a real dragon, the Players might have called up their companions here to beat up that Boss. But to tell the truth, when it came to normal beasts like wyverns, any Players present here would be able to take down two or three of them alone. Soloing a devil would get you followers on the Player forums, whereas soloing a giant would earn you cheers. But if you solo one wyvern and then tried to show off for the forums, the Players would most likely assume that you were joking and suggest that you put up one more show by soloing a Megasaur or something Chapter 351: Come Back if You Havent Had Enough! Old Meredith clearly appeared doubtful towards what the Players were saying, convinced that they were bragging away. However, he didnt do anything in the end when he saw that his granddaughter was standing by the Players, merely sighing lengthily before shambling to the side to give way. While this place here were accessible from all sides and the Players would be able to enter the cavern reaching into the Deep Wall Stratum, the old mans gesture showed that he trusted the Players. And with him giving the way, the net of light that had been blocking the crater crumbled and disappeared. The monsters that had been kept beneath it hence rushed out at once, giving the impression that it was a black, oppressive wave! A closer look would reveal that those monsters came in many different sizes, but there were only two that really threatened the Players. One was the horse-sized monsters that were pitch-black like crows that were rather numerous. Where their heads should have been were chunks of flesh that keep wiggling away, just as the belly had plenty bird heads embedded on it. The eyes on those heads were opening and closing too, their beaks crying out and clearly working normally. Looking carefully, the name above those creatures HP Bar would show its name: Nine-headed Bird. According to the old man, the Nine-headed Birds were creatures native to the Deep Wall Tunnel and commonly found in it. One, two, three, four there really are nine heads Joe muttered after counting the bird heads. On the other hand, the other creature was massive as a double-decker bus and resembled the love child between a massive Megalograptus and a Anomalocaris, a steel-green weird insect that soars freely in the air. But what puzzled the Players was that the monster that should be called a XX bug or a XX beast was named Sky High. It also turned out that the Sky Highs were visitors from the Dark Sky Stratum and the most unstable element at the moment. Back when they used to show up on the Faint Crystal Stratum, every autonomous weapon would focus fire on those monsters. There are around forty Nine-headed Birds and three Sky Highs Gou Dan quickly take a count of the enemy numbers and informed the others. Ill grab the attention of the Nine-headed birds, the rest of you clear off the Nine-headed Birds first. Edward promptly made a decision, raising his hand to summon a Blackfire Dragon-he was the only Player who could fly around freely after all. Bring me along, Mufasa said, leaping on the dragons back as well in his pink flatfish head mask. Attacking from above would be more effective. Hence, the other players prepared to fight off the monsters as told. While Old Meredith had entrusted everything to the Players with his silent approval, he did not actually leave, and watched the fight from the distance. Moments later, the only lanky automaton that the old man had left appeared beside him. How was it? The old man asked. Unbelievable The automaton replied. Aside from several long-range units, the rampaging automatons are all indiscriminately destroyed. What?! The old man frownedhe had been fighting against the rampaging automatons and knew very well that they were no trash that could be destroyed by just anyone, and were quite powerful (or he wouldnt have just two automatons left). Worse still, normal attacks wouldnt even tickle those rampaging automatons But now, these believers of some unknown good who could easily destroy them in seconds might be more powerful than the old man imagined What if he asked Edward and the others whether it was happy to believe in the God of Games and becoming a Player? They would answer with utmost solemnness and sincerity: You would never imagine how happy we are! Moving shot! Pierce! Poison! Natures course! Full buffs, and heres Multi Chain Shot! Gou Dan had opened his AWM and changed his crossbow to gatling mode, its bolts now smoking with blue fire and its bullets easily piercing steel skins! The Nine-headed Birds that noticed the Players presence and was about to come for their meal did not even have the time to react when they were blasted into fried chicken. Their mushy bodies (compared to dragons) were easily pierced by the crossbow bolts, which in turn stayed on their wounds to rapidly grow into buds while absorbing the creatures lifeforce, rendering the hosts immobile while vines soon covered their bodies. The poison laced on the bolts would then directly extinguish the last traces of life in the Nine-headed Bird, melting its corpse into stinking yellow pus! In fact, the Nine-headed Birds were mostly cleared away before the others could move, with black feathers drifting across the air like snow. Mufasa, seeing that he might not have a chance to kill some monsters if he didnt act, took aim at one particular Nine-headed Bird which was flying quite high and leapt off the Blackfire Dragon, stabbing his blade into the chunk of flesh which was supposed to be its head. Then, using it as a jump pad, he would leap twice to blindside another Nine-headed Bird, and then leaping to another new target C dispatching five Nine-headed Birds before landing! But compared to the other players who were having an easy time, Edward was having problems on his end. When he first saw the Sky Highs drifted out of the crater, Edward had assumed that those shell creatures that looked like steel juggernauts would move very slowly. He therefore decided to rely on his dragons mobility to keep them occupied, or kill them if the opportunity presents itself. And yet, when Edward flew past one of the Sky Highs and they noticed him, their speed increased by a hundred flow, darting so rapidly that Edward could not see them at all aside from massive black blurs! In several exchanges, the Blackfire Dragon had a hole in its chest and missing feet. If it had been a real creature and not something Edward fashioned out of flames, it would probably have been dead! It was therefore fortunate that Edward wasnt fighting alone-after clearing off the Nine-headed Birds and the other abnormal small fry, the other players all came to his aid. And the greatest support was still Eleena. After all, Mufasa cant fly and catch up to the Sky Highs even if he could clearly see their movements. Likewise, Edward could fly and could set traps with the flames he could summon as a Skyfire Herald, but he couldnt see the enemys movement. Even if they worked together, the enemy would be gone by the time Mufasa would pinpoint the Sky Highs heading for Edward. Nonetheless, even as the Players debated heatedly about how they should defeat the Sky Highs, Eleena had directly casted Chains of Penance and wiped out all three Sky Highs, fully displaying her virtuous tendency of kill stealing. Hence, the Players easily destroyed the monsters coming from below, even wanting another wave since the elven arcane text drops were not enough. Chapter 352: Ferrying No matter how old Meredith was reluctant to face the truth, he had to admit that the Players ability was far beyond his own and the Crookes city watch (although they when he saw them stormed forward and destroyed the monsters he could never stop, and was barely preventing them from entering the Faint Crystal Stratum. I see, so thats what it is Old Meredith eventually turned his eyes to Eleena. No wonder you wouldnt want my title as the mayor of Crookes, insisting that you want to go on adventures with your friends I could mostly understand that now. Eleena turned blankly at the old-man who was posturing just then. Your abilities definitely far surpassed that of normal humans, and perhaps already reaches into the level of superhumans Instead an old, decaying city, it makes sense that you prefer the radiant and the natural, to continue exploring the world with your companions and revel in your freedom. The old man laughed self-deprecatingly. Yes. This era is changing, and Im just a codger, an antique that survived the last era. The future is yours! With that thought, Old Meredith finally gave up on his meaningless intention, and could make peace with it all. But Im not supposed to go ahead after I am done with the Faint Crystal Stratum. The girl shook her head. Im leaving the rest to the others. Certainly, the reason she would follow the frontliners into the Faint Crystal Stratum as if fooling around with her own life was actually to find her long-lost grandfather as soon as possible. Now, not only did she find him, she had more or less profited with the other frontliners, making the trip worth it. After this, she would start carrying out her role as a toll to ferry groups of Players into the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN). After all, the key to the front gates was in her possession. On the other hand, the old man was left confused, but despite feeling that something was out of place, he did not probe into the matter. Indeed, he felt that it was good that his granddaughter didnt risk herself, and those Players who possessed supernatural abilities were the best pick to explore the other strata of the elven ruin. Edward had even flown off in his Blackfire Dragon deep into the tunnel, coming back up after taking a brief look around. Ill summarize it: there are not many monsters in the Deep Wall Stratum, Edward said, trying his best to reveal his findings. There are a lot of small holes and the wall with some big enough to fit six people, but some would barely fit a boot. If you cant fly, you should be able to use the holes as climbing grip to slowly climb downwards. To put it simply, Players who couldnt fly could only climb down. That said, as long as they keep their stamina bar in check, not to mention that they could take breaks at the bigger holes and not worry about becoming fatigued. Even so, it would increase the time needed to clear the dungeon considerably. But after a brief farewell with Eleena, the others began to enter the Deep Wall Stratum tunnel one by one. That said, sentimental and tearful partings were meaningless to the Players. Even if another person was on the other side of the world, communication was no problem as long as they could access the player forums. They could even link up for a round of Tierra Blocks Arent you hoping to go adventuring with your friends? The old man said, gently patting her head. Why not go with them? Because I have my responsibility, Eleena said solemnly. Though she wouldnt match Edward in belief towards the God of Games, she would definitely rank amongst the top few. She had long since become faithful towards Xi Wei after he performed miracles to save her again and again, therefore regarding the oracles from the divine kingdom with the greatest importance and carry it out with unshakable trust. This event was a fine examplesince the God of Games had made clear in the quest objectives that her task was only to ferry other Players inside the Elven SIN, she would naturally not do anything else. In the first place, Eleena never cared about being the Saintess (in-waiting), and that there was nothing too important about all that. Nonetheless, after recently leading the Players in a banzai charge against the Tortoise Colossus, the other players subsequent unconditional trust and high regard towards her had left her a little lost, but also holding her status with some importance. Even as she enjoyed the honor and power of her hidden-class-Saintess-in-training, Eleena had finally realized that she should shoulder an equal extent of responsibility. Meanwhile, every Player was left thrilled after the first-rate Players had cleared the first stratum of the Elven SIN in under half-an-hour. After all, this event would only last seven days.If they couldnt clear the whole dungeon in seven days, there just might be a huge reduction in runic rewards and whatnot And now, the frontliners were proving that the Elven SIN dungeon was not as difficult as imagined After Eleena came out, she began sending in many other groups of Players inside. Most of them were naturally following after the footsteps of Edward and the others, heading from the central Deep Wall Stratum tunnel down to the Dark Sky Stratum. There were others who chose to remain at the first stratum as well, exploring places Edward and the others hadnt explored. After all, the Faint Crystal Stratum was quite vast, with Edwards group having covered less than one-tenth of its area in their search for the way to the next stratum, meaning that over ninety percent of all area was still idle. Those Players were expecting that there might be some good stuff hidden in the unexplored areas, and it was soon proven true: many of them had managed to get their hands on many weird relics in the first stratum, and exchange them for some fine trinkets from the wood elf elders. Nevertheless, there was a new post uploaded on the player forums come evening. It was not long and its content simple, the general idea being we have cleared the Deep Wall Stratum and reached the Dark Sky Stratum. Chapter 353: Clearing the Deep Wall Stratum It was only natural that the process of clearing the Deep Wall Stratum was not as easy as the forum post title suggested. While it was just a descent overall speaking, Edward encountered something unexpected as he attempted to fly through the entire tunnel on his Blackfire Dragon. First and foremost, the Nine-headed Birds and other monsters living in this stratum would attack himalthough it was not too fierce and manageable for Edward, guarding against the attack still drains his strength. But there was a bigger problem after dealing with the creatures attack. Edward had tried to descend past the entire Deep Wall Stratum tunnel since his Blackfire Dragon wasnt a real creature. Rapidly descending on it was equal to having a near-physical shield of flames beneath him, blocking the brunt of the damage of anything it crashed into halfway through the descent, even dealing critical hits on monsters like the Nine-headed Birds with physical collision and fire damage! And yet, in the rapid descent quicker than free falling, Edward noticed that something wasnt right. He clearly wasnt being attacked, but his HP bar was dropping quickly! Upon a closer look, he noticed that there was a status called (Abyssal Curse, Grade 3] on his status bar. After several tests, Edward ascertained the cause of the curse even though he didnt know where it came from. In a nutshell, the curse would come into effect when his descent exceeded a certain speed limit, and the curse could be categorized into several different grades. Grade 1 causes fainting and nausea, but wouldnt inflict any actual negative effects aside from that. By Grade 2, the person would lose their sense of balance, their bodies being struck with a status similar to being stunned, although mage-grade Players like Edward who has stronger spirit stats was immune to a certain extent. Grade 3 was the level at which Edward first sensed the Abyssal Curse itself. This grade was where physical damage started to be inflicted, presenting itself in the form of sweating bloodbut thanks to the Players physicality, the blood sweat would directly vanish as it leaves the body and wouldnt cause major blood loss. Nonetheless, Edward attempted accelerating afterward, and discovered that there were two more grades of Abyssal Curse beyond grade three. At Grade 4, the person would feel as if a fire was burning inside their body (doubtful since Edward feel that it could be a status exclusive to the class of Skyfire Heralds), with the persons HP decreasing at a rate far quicker than at Grade 3, just as the spirit stats would decrease as well. Grade 5 was the strongest level of the Abyssal Curse that Edwardor indeed the Blackfire Dragon-could make out through acceleration. Now, the Players spirit stat would drop wildly, their physical stats becoming erratic, increasing from to time instead of dropping straightaway. Furthermore, the Grade 5 Abyssal Curse would inflict an additional unusual status called Melt. It was coupled with a percentage, although Edwards HP was completely drained before he could reach 100% on two occasions, which was why he wouldnt know what it actually does. Still, Edward had a hunch that it meant instant death as the person melts into a puddle of blood. *** So, in a nutshell, the Abyssal Curse prevents us from quickly crossing this tunnel to reach the Third Stratum, Edward concluded after his experiments. He was now resting with the other frontlines in one of the caves over the walls, having a hardtack and some cola. The others were fine, but Edward, who died twice to test the depths of the Abyssal Curse looked exhausted. Well, you did pass through the Deep Wall to reach the Dark Sky, right? Mufasa asked interestedly. Whats it like down there? Complete darkness, although the air has some buoyancy, and it feels like youre in a pitch-black ocean with only a faint ray of light, Edward said, feeling a little troubled when he remembered what he saw. Its not easy to describe, so we should get down there first. Is there nothing resembling a Boss in the second stratum? Joe asked, a little unhappy. Clearing the second stratum feels so easy too easy, actually, to the point that its disappointing This tunnel itself is probably the toughest trial of the second stratum. We find it simple is only because we as Players never die, and Edward has already checked out the rules! Doug Ag couldnt help preaching to Joe. Think about itwhat would have happened if we arent Players and didnt know a thing about this tunnel?Arent we going to just climb down like before? Joe scratched his head, unsure what that meant. Human patience is limited. There wouldnt be problems at first, but after hours of climbing but when you look downwards to find that the bottom of tunnel still out of sight, you would start feeling anxious. And when that happens, you would try to descend quicker over worries about resources and whatnot, such as using a rope. On the other hand, Mufasa did understand Doug Ags reasoning and explaining things for Joe and the other confused Players. And once the Grade 2 Abyssal Curse kicks in and youre left stunned and out of control You would fall off the rope! Joe only understood what they meant then. Thats right. The speed of your drop would also trigger the curses of subsequent grades which kills you even quicker. Edward added with a nod. With such difficulty, do you really think clearing the Deep Wall Stratum is that easy? Urgh, so sinister! Anyone other than us exploring this place would be dead with such a thing! Joe swore, frowning. The people who designed such a thing must be nothing good! But thats not entirely the case. Edward shook his head. Although this is definitely a trap that kills you on your first encounter, the high elves that built this ruin had left a hint. The Grade 1 curse? Gou Dan palmed his fist in understanding. Thats right. The Grade 1 Curse doesnt inflict actual damage, and all it does is leave the target nauseated. Thats the biggest hint that forces any explorers to do nothing other than to climb downward. Edward nodded again, wolfing down his rations in several quick bites. The curses are invoked only if you ignore that and continued a quickened descent, but thats not important to us. Clerics, prepare your HP recovery skills, everyone else, prepare your colas. Were going straight down, just be careful about your HP levels! Chapter 354: Citizens of Crookes! Your Mayor Has Returned! Even as the frontliners powered through the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN), the newbie Players led by Simba had not even entered the dungeon. After all, they were busy putting out fires everywhere. The refugees of Crookes whom they evacuated had been rather compliant at first, but after the Tortoise Colossus had stopped moving for so long, they began to have other ideas. Moreover, crowds who had just been ruled by terror and had yet to regain peace of mind were the easiest to incite into panic. If not for the Players superhuman abilities that allowed them to temporarily suppress the spread of panic through strength, the refugees would probably be rioting now. Aaaaaargh! Those bastards! After having evacuated Crookes, fight the Tortoise Colossus and suppress the spread of panic amongst the crowds in quick succession, Zazu had become quite upset in his fatigue. Cant they just behave for a bit? Leave this place and go to another city if theyre so afraid that the tortoise would move again! What use is there flocking around and making noises!?. They are too weak. Thats why they are afraid to run away, and they are flocking because of their fear. On the other hand, Nala appeared much more rational, although she was quite tired as well since clerics like her had to heal the other players (Most Players healing skills are ineffective towards non-believers of the God of Games). And we cant give up since we decided to save them from the start, right? Or wouldnt our hard work before all go to waste? Simba flashed a pained smile. We could just burn those troublemakers into ashes! Zazu exclaimed, emboldened in his frustration and raising his magic staff for an iron-blooded repression. Thats the last resort. Simba didnt say anything saintly like murder is wrong, since a person who grew up in the slums like him knew better than anyone that a stable environment would favor the survival of the many, in contrast to personal freedom or even right to life most of the time. And before we have to go that far, know that massacring citizens would seriously hurt the reputation of the Church of Games Uncle Mustafa would skin you when he hears about it later. At Simbas words, Zazu had to lower his magic staff unhappily and sit down on a boulder nearby. That was when a little girl holding a bear doll stumbled towards them. Hello! She said gingerly as she went to Nala. Thank you, you saved my mother. I only helped bandage her. Nala recognized the girl and smiled tenderly. You should hurry back to your mother. As an orphan like her brother Zazu and living through hardships, Nala naturally sympathized children like the young girl and hoped that they would cherish their parents. This is George. It has always been with me. I hope it could bring you good luck. The young girl then handed Nana the little bear doll she had been holding preciously. Simba felt pleased at the sight, feeling that it was worth it and not a waste of effort to save so many people. Its alright, it would want to be with you more. Nala declined gently instead of taking the doll, however, and stroked the little girls head instead. The girls hands shook just then. Ill be very sad if you dont take it is George too dirty? Im sorry, I dont have anything else She murmured, swallowing: Nala accepted the doll helplessly since the young girl had put it that way. Thank you. Ill treasure it. She said seriously. The girl smiled in return, before turning and slipping into the nearby crowd. However, that smile was rather abnormal for some reason that Simba felt a sense of dj vu. He therefore turned to look at the doll Nala was holding, casting an Appraisal on it by instinct. His face dropped in the next split second. Throw away the doll, Nala! What? But Before Nala could react, Simba had already rushed to her and punched the bear doll into the air! At virtually the same time, the doll abruptly bloated as sharp spikes shot out of its body to attack Nala, but it was too late. When it hit the ground, it continued bloating until it reached the size of a real bear. At the same time, a HP bar and a red name appeared over its head. [Special swampman: claw bear form] The citizens nearby were frightened like Nala, just as Zazu was left uncertain what was happening in his surprise. Only Simba attacked immediately, killing the special swampman even before it could react! While the special swampman appeared capable of changing to a smaller form and even imitate an object, it also decreased in level as a result and was probably just a little stronger than a normal person. It wouldnt have a good chance against trained warriors, and newbie Players like Simba would be able to instakill it. Their objective was clear, too: they would attack Simba and the other newbie Players since they were the ones keeping the peace amongst the refuges of Crookes. And since Simba was their leader, there would only be confusion if something happened to his group! Damn it, find that girl! Simba flung away the puddle on his blade and barked at the others. There were quick responses to his command too. And soon enough, the Players found the girl behind a nearby boulder That is, her corpse.There was a gash that stretched down her chest to her stomach, with every last innard gone. She was pretty much just limbs, head, and skin-an utter scene of horror! No wonder her name didnt go red when we were looking at her some parasite was controlling her Simba muttered in frustration, leaving her remains to be buried by the other players. While there was no telling what those things actual objective were in mixing themselves amongst the objectives, there was little doubt what they were. Hostiles. Simba didnt hesitate to say the word. Search and destroy! But wont the citizens think that we are killing innocents? We might cause a riot too A Player said hesitantly. They need a strong presence who could control all the refugees and snuff out their doubt. But where would they get such a person? That was when an old but spirited voice spoke out from the distance. Citizens of Crookes! Your mayor has returned! Chapter 355: Reaching Dark Sky Meanwhile, as they exited the tunnel of the Deep Wall Stratum, the frontliners reached the Dark Sky, the third stratum of the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN). It is clearly below, so why is this place called Dark Sky? Gou Dan asked, perplexed as he looked at the stone wall barrier over himself. The exit from the tunnel which they just left protruded downwards, resembling a stalactite hollowed out at its center. Twinkling radiances were spread across the walls too, and a closer look would reveal that those were luminous ferns. Aside from the one from which they exited, they could also see that there were other stalactites in other areas, meaning that there might be more tunnel entrances into the Dark Sky Stratum from the Deep Wall Stratum. But that was all their vision could see. The luminous plants growing on the stone walls notwithstanding, the Dark Sky Stratum was filled with darkness. While there were faint starry sparkles inside, those only extended for a certain length to pierce through the darkness and werent actually too bright, to the point that you almost cant see your own fingers within the Dark Sky Stratum. No one knows what the high elves were thinking, Edward muttered. Anyway, by logic, the so-called Steel Earth should be below, right? Although the party was still going downwards after entering the Dark Sky, their descent had become remarkably slow that they felt a curious buoyancy. That was why Edward simply turned his Blackfire Dragon into a fireball that enveloped everyone as the first line of defense. Edward, cant you use your peerless fire magic to come up with something and brighten the area around us? Joe mumbled. He was stretching his eyes as wide as he could but he couldnt see a thing, and became even more flustered after summoning his spirit familiar, only for it to turn out that having four eyes didnt help matters either. That said, he wasnt really afraid of the dark -after learning to use fire and its light to dispel the darkness, the discomfort in dark became inscribed into their instincts. Let me try something. Multi-cast, Flame Convert, Edward murmured softly, conjuring a white fire out of thin air. Flare Strike! With Flame Convert, Edward attached the Flare Strike that should have been shot out to his helm, keeping the white flames blazing on it. Since the helm was imbued with a Zoffy rune as well as Edward splitting his attention to control the flames and increased the fuel (mana) to maximum output, it slowed down the decrease of durability of his own helm. The reason Edward would use Flare Strike was also because a white flame-like flare was the brightest fire spell he had at the moment. And that was very much the truth: while normal flames illuminated a circle of around a meter radius, the flare illuminated a circle with a radius of five meters, increasing the visibility considerably. But the Players didnt realize what would happen to them for doing something like that in a pitch-black environment. Hold on, Edward, snuff out the fire right now Gou Dan appeared to sense something then and shouted urgently, but was promptly dragged out of the protective circle formed by the Blackfire by his navel and disappeared in the darkness outside. (Player Doug Ag has been killed by Limulus, Sky High, Sky High, Sky High, Sky High, Sky High, Sky High, Sky High, Sky High, and Sky High) ?! For a moment, Edward assumed that the System notification was lagging, but soon realized that it was not the case. The System notifications were not wrong. Aside from the monster called Limulus, there were nine more Sky Highs that had sized and killed Gou Dan! After all, Edward had fought several other Sky Highs to know that they were extremely quick and devastating in attack. While a single specimen could not instakill a Player, nine attacking at once would be another matter! Clang! Mufasa rattled his sword just then, deflecting a silver threat that the naked eye would have difficulty seeing. Careful. Something is trying to grab and kill us one by one! He yelled. Be that as it may, the fish fins that kept flapping on the hilarious pink flatfish was an utter mismatch with his solemn tone, leaving Joe a little deflated even though he had almost turned serious. And in that split second where Joe relaxed, the silver thread slip through the protective flames again, catching him unawares to coil tightly around him, grabbing him before he could even react. Joe! Edwards was utterly enraged. (Joe Paul has been killed by Limulus, Split-tooth Crawler, Loving Poison Mother, Yekel Insect, Sky High, Sky High, Sky High, and Sky High) Put out the fire! Hurry! Those bastards are pinpointing our location with your fire! Mufasa roared, swinging his sword again to deflect another oncoming silver threat. There were even more different species of monsters that killed Joe this time, making it obvious that more enemies were being drawn towards them. Its too late! Those damn things are already flocking here! The quick succession of his friends deaths left Edward a little flustered. Its just us two nowtheres no way Tch. So, we have to die once, huh Mufasa pursed his lips unhappily. Well, youre going to have to foot the bill for one wasted Resurrection Ankh! You are the champion of the Twin City Cup, cant you fork out that little bit of money? Edward couldnt help protesting against Mufasas stinginess. Im not alone, you know, I have three rascals to feed Mufasa retorted casually. They did well this time, but they were also catching so much attention and might get involved in some trouble. I have to prepare beforehand.Fine, just this once! Flame Convert, Red Eyes Dark Dragoon Blast, and Flare Strike! Edward exclaimed, raising Happy Flames from which a gigantic fire dragon surged out. In no time at all, white spots were shining upon the black flames that burned over the Blackfire Dragons body, rapidly expanding and consuming it to create a white dragon of luminous flames. Blue Eyes Whitefire Dragon! The colossal dragon body naturally brightened the previous light radius by several times. Nonetheless, both men who were feeling high-spirited just then were left stunned in the instant they saw the situation around them. Thousands of abnormally shaped monsters were keeping a tight circle around them, and there were definitely over five thousand of them even if one didnt bother to count! Some were so massive that they were far larger than the Dead Red Dragon the Players had to fight so hard to defeat! With such ranks, they were only going to be monster feed even if every other player was here, let alone a handful of first-rate Players. After a moment of silence, Edward uttered a single word drily. Tch. Chapter 356: Finding Party Members When Edward woke up, he found himself standing at the small square over the head of the Tortoise Colossus. Tch He was not too willing to remember how he died since his death had been too horrible. Even if Player could adjust the sensations of their bodies to a certain extent, it was just too horrific having to watch countless misshapen creatures tearing your own body apart. Youre out too Gou Dan, who had been sitting in a corner greeted him. What happened after I died? Joe here died too quickly and saw nothing. You died before I did! Joe couldnt hold back a retort, clearly upset with being mocked by Joe. Alright, stop fooling around. The Dark Sky Stratum is much scarier than I thought anyway Edward couldnt help feeling a shiver when he remembered the monsters he saw when he summoned the Blue Eyes Whitefire Dragon. Weve had it too easy in the Faint Crystal Stratum and the Deep Wall Stratum, and now that I think about it, there is no way it would have been simple since the event period is seven days. It was already frightening that they could reach the third stratum in such a short time, and who knows what Steel Earth or the Eternal Archives would have in store. That being said, Edward wasnt at all cowed as a devout believer of the God of Games. Moreover, Players never lacked a big heart which always allowed them to forget their pain, and an immense curiosity towards dungeons they had yet to clear. He hence told Gou Dan and Joe about what Mufasa and he saw after they died, freaking them out. Naturally, neither of them was actually intimidated. In fact, they became even more interested in Dark Sky thanks to Edwards description. Edward then spoke about the uniqueness of the monsters that killed him in hopes that they wouldnt be making the same basic mistakes in their next entry. However, even as he felt his throat go dry from talking, the person he was waiting for still had not arrived. Wait. Mister Mufasa still hasnt come out? After all, Mufasa was with Edward when he died, but he was showing no signs of resurrecting after coming back to life for so long. There was no notification of his death in the party channel either-in fact, his HP was quite healthy, and since buffs that appear after successful deflection or parrying keep popping up over his status bar, indicating that he was still fighting. As expected of him, doing what we cant so easily Beside Edward, Joe couldnt help giving his praise. Oh, right. Wheres Mister Marni, then? Wasnt he out for some time? Edward asked, bemused. He must have joined another group and entered the dungeon before us, Joe replied. He did die quite early. Edward found it reasonable when he thought about it. Given that no one would know whether the later dungeons were dangerous, Marni naturally wouldnt stay here to wait for themwhat if they managed to drive straight through the entire dungeon? Wouldnt he have been waiting for nothing? Still, Edward was a little disappointed not to have Marni with them at Dark Sky. If they could feed him off to the monsters, their group might have been able to reach the next stratum Edward himself killed the thought the instant it surfaced. Oh, Edward, Edward. How could you come up with something that? Its not theological at all! It seems that my faith is not firm at all, I should chant the Church of Games doctrine a hundred times later. Looks like it would take Mister Mufasa a while more to come out. With that being the case, lets look for things we need for the next exploration. Having understood the current situation, Edward didnt keep hesitating around and waste time. Players like them who had reached Dark Sky would more or less saved up some elven arcane text that could be smelted into new runes. They could then try exchanging unused runes or attempt new runic arrangements. Moreover, they need to replenish potions and other consumables, which they had spent a lot in the Deep Wall dive alone. Incidentally, my Zoffy rune isnt effective and I should exchange it for other runes. As the Skyfire Herald, Edward possesses strong fire resistance in the first place, which meant that the fire resistance rune Zoffy was useless for him aside from increasing his equipment durability against fire damage. Besides After exchanging his runes at the blacksmith shop of the Unnamed Town, Edward hesitated for some time, and eventually teleported to Trinia through the lifestone. *** They couldnt mobilize a raid party for this event, and could at best operate in a group of six. And initially, Edwards group was a full party when they entered the dungeon, which included himself, Joe, Gou Dan, Eleena, Mufasa and Marni. Nonetheless, the team was already left with only four at the Faint Crystal Stratum when Marni was killed and Eleena left the group after finding the old mayor of Crookes. It hurt even more that they had no healers and what passed off as half-a-tank amongst their quartet. After all, Joes Spirit Swordsman class deducts one-fourth of his HP to be used as HP for his spirit familiar, which mean that familiar swordsmen would only have slightly more HP than mages even if their basic stats were quite high. Therefore, if they werent an armored class, they wouldnt even count as half a tank. It would clearly be a little difficult to clear a dungeon with such a setup.Moreover, Eleena, their partys usual carry was being used as a tool for this event. She had to stay in front of the Tortoise Colossus to open the path into the dungeon for other Players, and therefore couldnt really join the event. Marni had also left their party earlier to join another party, and with that being the case, they would have to look for others to fill the vacant spots. Therefore, the people Edward had to sought out was certain. The first would be Leah. The Warrior Princess was quite interested in the new dungeon as well, although she was a little uncomfortable with joining the event since she wasnt present in the battle against the Tortoise Colossus. But after Edwards invite, she easily agreed to joining his party, ignoring old Vankes protests. Hence, the new carry was online. Still, Leahs Warrior Princess class leaned towards combat. Compared to Eleenas Saintess-in-training class which had an assortment of skills to handle almost all situations, Leah was more like a machine for team buffs, with herself having high attack and defense allowing her to both fight and defend, although she only lacked healing despite her strength. That was precisely why Edward had to visit Trinia to find their last party member. Jessica, could you come to help me at the moment? Chapter 357: Reversal Interesting. So interesting As the Players continued exploring as his tentacles, Xi Wei had basically drawn all of the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN) under his control. While it was not to the extent that he could manipulate it as he wished, he had reached the level where he could spy into every secret of the Faint Crystal and Deep Wall Strata. He could now observe the intentions of the designers, and it wouldnt a problem if he wanted to build lifestones on the first two strata. But unlike the Tortoise Colossus which is just a container, the Faint Crystal is the real outer shell that ensures the completeness of the Elven SIN. As for the Deep Wall Stratum beneath it, it would be where failures were kept and the bridge for launching a siege, aside from acting as an inner section of the outer shell. To use a weapon for comparison, it would be like the barrel of a gun or a cannon. It is worth mentioning that the monsters in the Elven SIN were not full artificial lifeforms. Instead, they were creatures that existed in the high elves era which they modified with biological magitek, meaning that they were chimaeras in a fundamental definition. If the two outer stratums are already so interesting, what would the three inner stratums that holds the secrets of the Elven Sin be like? Really hoping that the players could put in more effort. Xi Wei sighed. After all, it seems that there are some who are now watching my movements. *** Since Sefarim had not been fully restored (or refurbished), Jessica did not participate in the Elven SIN: Ancient Atrocities event at first, and was staying in Trinia to accompany Sefarim. But with her companions being routed in the dungeons and forced to ask her for help, Jessica did not hesitate to agree to Edwards request to join his party. Still, since Sefarim was not fully restored (refurbished), Jessica could only join the event as an ordinary Holy Lancer. It was fortunate that Edward and the others were first-rate Players who possess many rate materials. Couple that with their good relations with others, they could buy certain items they lack from other players at a reasonable price. And soon enough, Edward and his party managed to forge another holy lance for Jessica to temporarily replace Sefarim, allowing her to use the standard class skills of Holy Lancer. Hence, Edward spent almost a day to draft a party. With his original first-rate team members acting as the foundation, along the addition of two more super first-rate Players in Leahs Warrior Princess hidden-class as well as Mufasa the Twin City Cup champion, the new party was very much a dream team amongst the Players. Still, this new party had one problem: Mufasa, their main damage dealer hadnt been killed and therefore had not left the dungeon yet That was why Edward couldnt stop himself from @ing Mufasa on the forums, but didnt get a single reply. It was only until the entire party became slightly impatient that he finally answered in the post. [Mufasa: Im not dying anytime soon] [Edward: ???] [Mufasa: After you died, I start killing everything around me since I cant see clearly anyway] (Edward: And? You killed them all?] [Mufasa: No way. Ive only managed to free myself from their encirclement, although I cant feel them around me now so I should be safe. (Edward: ] Didnt we promise to all die and get out her? How could you be so outstanding? That being said, its not unusual when one thought about it. Kengyoku Swordmasters were a specialized branch for inflicting single-target damage, coupled with excellent individual endurance because their skill costs were very low, not to mention that they had a killing-intent sense (the passive skill where a shows up over their head) which is a perfect counter against an enemys blindsiding. Considering that Mufasa was fully invested in Kengyoku as well, he probably had invested many skill points into his various techniques and therefore had a much higher standard compared to other Swordmasters who invested their skill points in different skill branches. As such, as long as he didnt run into some high defense, high HP and mountain-sized monster with AOE skills while brawling, soloing wouldnt be a problem. Be that as it may, it still surprised Edward that he could cut his way through the monsters encircling in a single stroke and escape directly, which make it clear that the upper limit of a specialized Kengyoku assuredly far surpassed most normal classes. Naturally, their lower limit was beneath other classes and skill branches. That was perhaps why many Players who were moved by Mufasas feats and therefore taken up Kengyoku was still very noob (Edward: So? Have you reached Steel Earth?] [Mufasa: No way. Ive just finished my thoughtless massacre, so Im actually having problems with directionsI dont even know where I am now.] [Edward: Well, thats going to be problem] (Mufasa: I could still see a few blinks of light, but most of those are fluorescence the monsters used to lure prey. Moreover, Ive used up quite a lot of stamina, so I could just slowly float upwards while waiting for it to recover.] (Edward: Well, Kengyoku skills are more demanding on stamina than mana] It was right after he sent the message when Edward suddenly realized that something was wrong. Floating? Werent they sinking continuously when they just entered Dark Sky? Could it be that the buoyancy beneath Dark Sky was stronger? Thats not quite right This dungeon was made by the high elves after all, and something so meaningless wouldnt be the case.And with that possibility being eliminated, the most probable reason was that Mufasa had inadvertently flipped himself while fighting Without anything to act as a reference, he got his directions mixed up: he thought he was floating, when he was actually sinking. Eh? Edward suddenly felt inspired at that thought. He didnt notice it at first, but when he remembered it, there were many monsters that resembled fishes when the light from the Blue Eyes Whitefire Dragon revealed them. In fact, even Sky Highs resembled some of the shelled monsters found in the sea Could it be that the high elves created this simulated world by using a reversed system, where the skies were below while the ground was above? Considering that the Elven SIN was itself an anti-world weapon, that was very likely! Reversing the world, jumbling up all common sense so that even Rules became abnormal. One could put it this way: The Elven SIN is a syringe that injects its abnormal Rules into a separate plane during contact. After it instantly throws all existences and phenomenon in that plane into disarray so that there was chaos in their very foundation, the targeted plane would never be able to resistlet alone retaliate! Chapter 358: Autism Correctional Fist Rules were either set in place by the gods of gods whose names no mortals would know when the world was first created, or were derived and amended by the gods born later. Either way, Rules were very important and a constant for this world. Most races would never be able to touch it, let alone change it so that an entire world became their weapon. Could the high elves have caused their own downfall because of their intentions to change those Rules? Is that what the atrocity in the even name (Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN): Ancient Atrocities] referred to? Edward found that reasoning rather implausible even as he thought about it. After all, rewriting Rules were rare circumstances, but not inexistent. Almost all legendary beings reached the foundation of Rules, hence escaping the worlds restraint. In fact, it was only by achieving this that one could be considered a legendary champion. Moreover, there were bounded fields that corrupts the Rules of this world to a certain extent and a period of time, creating more Rules that were distinctly different from Reality. While such a bounded field would never compare to the Elven SIN, it still holds similarities, not to mention that the known legendary beings were alive and well If they took a step back to check, even the Players themselves counted as beings who had transcended a number of Rules. While they must follow the Rules of the Game that Xi Wei had dictated and were not immune towards basic Rules like Gravity, it was true that their existence was a product of adjusted Rules. And since the Players had the God of Games watching their backs, Edward would never believe any claims that the high elves had no gods supporting them too. Forget it. Theres no meaning in thinking such things Edward gave up on thinking eventually, since such wretched matters had nothing to do with clearing their dungeon, and continuing that trail of thoughts would lead to horrific places. Moreover, the God of Games were not having the Players fight the entire world like the high elves did. Instead, they were only exploring a relic they left, more or less in penance for high elvesthere is effort even if their contribution didnt count! That was why what he needed to do now was still considering how to clear Dark Sky, the third stratum of the Elven SIN. No point in thinking. Lets just get in the dungeon. Meanwhile, Princess Leah was raring to go. No thanks to old Vankes constant watch and being forced to farm dungeons which were ensured to be safe beforehand, the young girl was the most excited person in the group since it had been a long time since she had a good adventure. In contrast, Jessica who hadnt been adventuring recently but was quieter wasnt feeling so anxious, merely silently watching with an OMO look on her face. Right, there wont be new clues even if we keep thinking. We wont have new information if we dont clear it personally [Mufasa: I seem to have new information.] Edward: ??? (Mufasa: Its not just light. The monsters in the Dark Sky react to sounds as well albeit less sharply, and the larger the monster is, the slower they react.) (Mufasa: They devour each other as well, and the bottom of the food chain is some luminous mushrooms that looked like jellyfishes.) Since most Players including Mufasa had farmed the Gray Fjord Cape before, they were quite familiar with seafoodI mean, sea creatures. [Mufasa: The light from those shrooms are dim and could only be seen up close, but any creature that ate it would inherit its luminescence] (Edward: In other words, the creatures higher up in the food chain would have stored more of those luminous mushrooms and that the stronger monsters could be seen from far away) Edward couldnt help frowning at Mufasas comment. If what he said was true and the more powerful monsters had brighter bodies, they are facing a big problem. Not one amongst the hordes of monsters that swamped them before was shining, or cant be seen under such distances even if they were shining. In other words, the monsters of the Dark Sky that killed Edward were all low-level monsters. And if Mufasas theory was right, heaven knows what would happen if they stumbled into a high-level monster I should have thought about that earlier. After telling the others in the party about the theory, Edward became a little crestfallen. The high elves were a race that once ruled the world after all, so theres no way the Elven SIN they made using everything they had would be cleared so easily To tell the truth, Edward did feel quite a blow. After all, his experiences after becoming a Player was smooth sailing aside from the occasional deaths. And thanks to the mechanics that Xi Wei, the God of Games had put in place which revealed visible growth as well as himself being well-known the Players, Edward unwittingly developed the illusion that he was powerful. Naturally, he wasnt completely wrong because his abilities had definitely gone beyond the limitations of mortals to venture within the supernatural. But if he extended his vision to the continent and then the world, such ability only reaches the passing mark to step up on to the stage of this era. It would be utterly insignificant to the previous ages which boast combat forces far beyond this age, let alone the Elven SIN, a supreme creation of the high elves, former sovereigns of the last age.What should we do This was the first time Edward was caught in desperate straits and unsure how to proceed. Sorry about this. Princess Leah said softly then, before coming to Edward and punching him fiercely on the cheek, sending him flying and his HP bar dropping down a whole notch. What are you doing!? Jessica glared furiously even as she drew her holy lance and set herself between Edward and Leah. Joe wanted to draw his sword too, but was stopped by Gou Dan. Leah, however, ignored Jessica and spoke to the bewildered Edward (who had lowered his pain setting) instead. Sure, its a good habit to study your foe or the battle before fighting, but you need analysis after the battle to set up your strategies too! If youve analyzed all the time only to conclude Im so noob, youll only demoralize everyone so whats the purpose in that!? I Edward was at a loss. Instead of worrying about this and that, its more practical to go in and feel around as you clear the dungeon! Princess Leah continued sonorously. What are you afraid of when death isnt even a problem? Isnt it the Players style to keep trying and eventually succeed?! Chapter 359: Read the Room, Please Straightening out from Princess Leahs punch, Edward no longer hesitated as he led their group down the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN) dungeon. There were many Players who had entered the dungeon by now, obtaining stacks of exchangeable items which they used to redeem various wood elf items from the wood elf elders. The elders therefore had to transport those exchangeable items back to Trinia directly so that the items would not be lost because they were piling up over here. That being said, it was not only the wood elf elders who were feeling pain as they watched as the Players carry a truckload of dungeon exchangeable items through the spawn points back to TriniaXi Wei, who was watching from his divine kingdom felt the pain too. After all, the Players were still not afforded convenient things such as item bars, parcels or backpacks. While those things were a common thing to have for games back on Earth, the backpacks in most RPG games could hold a lot of things while keeping itself unconstrained by gravity. It was normal and not surprising for players to carry over up to hundreds of potions or up to three sets of equipment. It was fortunate that the natives of this world had not played those games and therefore knew nothing about backpack or item barsif this had been Earth, the developers would have resigned from the Players toxic complaints. Even though it was not as if Xi Wei did not want to give that to the Players, he decided to give up after some research. While the God of Games had more or less involve himself with the Authority of Space, it was regrettable that such a minor connection was not enough for him to create backpacks. Even the Authority of Transmigration-Xi Weis greatest gimmick was not useful this time around. Of course, it was not as if there was no way to exploit loopholes. If Xi Wei could take control of someone elses divinity, he could naturally cut it into demiplanes to be used as the Players backpacks to store their items. However, not only did Xi Wei not have any divine kingdom fragments at the moment, but if he really had some that could be used for a new dungeon which the Players would slowly dismantle to absorb the divine power it held was said divine power not useful to Xi Wei himself? Why would he invest it on the backpack system that provided no benefit? At first, Xi Wei had lost all hope toward the idea of such a system and had no intention of involving himself with this Authority before ascending as a Greater God, but the Elven SIN had allowed him a glimpse of hope. Since the Elven SIN itself applied profound spatial technology, as long as XI Wei could gain full control over it to study the spatiality within, Xi Wei could assign quests to the Players and have them prepare the necessary materials even if the did not embody the Authority of Space. After that, he just had to work a little and earn even more divine energy And that was why Xi Wei was so keen on claiming the Elven SIN. *** Unlike their first time in the Faint Crystal Stratum where they had to feel around as they moved forward, the Players who were entering the first stratum mostly knew the place thanks to shared minimaps. Edwards group could therefore run straight down to the entrance of the Deep Wall Stratum, blasting their way past the out-of-control automatons. And since they were the once who cleared the Deep Wall first, Edwards group was untroubled, and they soon reached the Dark Sky Stratum once more! Even now, that stratum had yet to be cleared even though many Players had now reached it. Still, it was worth mentioning that Mufasa who was still down there had yet to be killed. Be that as it may, even as he continued floating upwards, he had inadvertently startled a certain flashin other words, a particular monster that shone quite brightly. And despite it being so far from Mufasa that he couldnt see its name, Mufasa could still sense the profound danger from it, prompting him to quickly float upwards, dashing away in the other direction. Nonetheless, given that maps wouldnt work in Dark Sky, Xi Wei had specially granted the Players System a minor function similar to a treasure detector. Once a Player activated their beacon, the System of other players in their party would show response when they were facing toward that Players position. And thanks to that function, Edward and the others managed to determine Mufasas location and began to make their way toward him-even though there was no telling how far he was. After Edwards group had been routed in their first attempt into the Dark Sky and thanks to Mufasas information, the Players now abandoned their usual vocal communication, resorting to using the forums instead. As such, the posts on the top page of the forums were all internal conversations of frontline parties. Naturally, Edward and the others made an entirely new post as well. (Edward: Although you would sink downwards slowly in Dark Sky, moving your limbs as if you are swimming would slow yourself from sinking or stop that altogether.] [Edward: That is how we will make our way to Mufasa while making minimal sound.] (Leah: What about formations? What if we run into an enemy on the way?] (Edward: Joe will carve a path ahead. Have your spirit familiar run ahead, but remember to keep it in spirit form. Most living creatures wont sense it in that state, and we would have time to react even if we run into a monster.) (Joe: No problem.] [Edward: Doug Ag, youre taking the second position. Help Joe with damage output once we found a monster, and kill it before it could make noise. And dont enchant your arrows because that stuff shines.] (Doug Ag: This whole place is so dark. Its miserable for hunters like me who depend on their vision.) (Edward: Get used to it. The experience we gain today would definitely be useful for future battles.] [Edward: Princess Leah will be third, staying in the middle of our formation. Once Joe realize that we can quickly finish off our enemies ahead, we would have to trouble you with buffs.] (Leah: Rawr.) [Edward: ???] (Doug Ag: I think she meant to type okay but her fingers slipped.)[Leah: Okay.) (Edward: Jessica, youll be fourth. The combat skills of Holy Lancers are not very subtle, so you should work mainly as a healer and bring back anyone who dies as soon as possible.) (Jessica: Got it.] (Edward: Leave the rear to me. I will warn everyone if somethings wrong.] (Edward: Thats all I have to say. Lets do this! Clear the dungeon in one life!] (Joe, Doug Ag, Jessica: Okay-] [Leah: But didnt you guys all die once before except Jessica] [Edward, Joe, Doug Ag: ] Please read the room, Your Highness! Chapter 360: Taunt The second venture into the Dark Sky was rather successful for Edwards party. Although they did run into several monsters on the way, they worked together to swiftly get rid of them without alerting other monsters nearby and get encircled like last time. Moreover, they were slowly making their way toward the missing Mufasa. [Edward: The Systems reaction is stronger here. Mufasa has to be nearby.) [Leah: You say that, but its all darkness and nothing could be seen. It spoils the mood even more because we cant use lights here.] [Doug Ag: And its very quiet around us, with no monster sounds I have a bad feeling about this.] [Marni: Damn it, I died again! There are so many monsters down in Dark Sky!) (Marni: Sorry, wrong post.] [Edward: ] [Leah: Im suddenly in a very good mood!] (Doug Ag: Im suddenly feeling very confident for some reason too!] [Edward: Do your best, everyone. We are very close to clearing this floor!] (Leah, Doug Ag: Yeah-!] [Marni: ] (Marni: Although I know about the rumors circulating amongst the Players, dont you think its hurtful to say that in my face? Is our friendship fake!?] [Edward: If we clear this stratum, I could embed one rune in one of your items.] (Marni: Really? Then should I come to the Dark Sky to die again? By the way, I dont want the Ace Rune. Some Player who embedded it got team wiped for some reason.) (Edward: ] Hello? Are you not being a little too materialistic there? Although Marni appeared keen on continuing the conversation to get more information about Dark Sky, Edward and the others were still in the process of exploration. With the lightless environment making their work a lot harder, Edward and the others responded to Marnis other questions rather slowly. And being not one to keep bothering others, Marni soon left the post and built another new party. Soon, however, Joe whose task was to stay on high alert as the partys vanguard and as such did not join the chat came online. (Joe: I have good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?] Edward did a double take. When did an oaf like you learn this trick? [Doug Ag: Good news first. Well be happy then, and then well get shocked by the bad news later.] (Joe: Good news it is. Well, I think we found Mufasa.] (Edward: Where?] (Joe: Nearby, just ahead. And now the bad news: I can see some flashes from here] At first, Edward had been distracted by Joes information, and soon become nervous as some faint specks of light showed up. That was probably the flashes Joe had seen. And one powerful monster that shone brightly was coming their way! Edward also quickly realized that it might be the same monster that Mufasa startled before. Does that mean the creature had been chasing Mufasa until now? Come to think of it, they definitely had not talked to Mufasa for some time. [Edward: Mufasa, you there?] (Mufasa: Yeah, but this isnt good] Even as Mufasas comment appeared on the Player forums, his figure appeared within everyones vision! You guys Mufasa had barely breathed those two words when he promptly realized that he must not simply make a sound in the profound vastness of Dark Sky. Hence, he promptly switched to commenting on the forums. [Mufasa: Run!] In fact, his comment came too late. Edward and the others saw the illusory radiance behind Mufasa and immediately became wary. But that wariness was single-sided and momentary. After all, Edward was not wary in the next split second-though there was no telling how far the monster was, its bright body alone made it appear to be over two kilometers away. It appeared to be a cross between a prawn and a dragon, with sharp spines growing over its body. Although it had no limbs or teeth, it had a horrific, gaping maw with innumerable tentacle-like things growing out of it. Could the monster be the reason why things had been so silent around them? [Muta the Black Dragon Python, LV30] Edward had assumed that his eyes were playing tricks on him and rubbed his eyes to check. Even so, the monsters level was still 30 and not 130. (Edward: Mufasa, prepare to counter. Well support you.) [Mufasa: Dont be fooled by its level! Its definitely not just level 30I would believe it even if the System says it is level 60!] [Edward: What?!] Nonetheless, Edward did not have much time to prepare. The creature was moving along the trail where Mufasa fled, brushing past Edwards party. Not about to miss his chance, Edward immediately casted a Red-Eyes Dark Dragoon Blast, attacking the monster from beneath its belly! At first, he thought that launching his ultimate skill at such close distance would blow the creature half to death even if he did not kill it, or at least stun it. And yet, Edward did not expect that his attack did not cut down the monsters HP by much! Edward was immediately dumbstruck. How could this be? A level 40 monster would have been maimed if it had a skill like that fired on its stomach, let alone a level 40 monster Meanwhile, Muta the Black Dragon Python appeared to notice the presence of Edwards group just then, hence turning around to lunge towards them! We have no choice! This is going to be a direct fight! Joe, Doug Ag, use whatever skills you have! Edward cried while waving Happy Flamesthe passive barrier had been broken after he died last time, and the staff only buffs the damage of his fire spells now. Princess Leah, please buff us. Jessica, were counting on you on heals and other buffs too! Ive been waiting for this! After holding back for a long time, Princess Leah promptly unleashed her weapon, waving her flag in the gloom of Dark Sky, revealing the steel shaft beneath. Warsong Chorus, Hero Creation, Unyielding Strength! Dont worry and charge! Edward Jessica seemed worried, but she did not stay idlethe hilt of her holy lance was shining with silver light. Gou Dans AWM had turned into a large bow as well, and he handily got his arrow nocked. At the same time, Joe had drawn out Giants Toe and smiled fearlessly at the behemoth, hooking his finger at it while using a Taunt. Come to papa! Chapter 361: Optimal Solution The strongest party of Players led by Edward, joined by Mufasa, Twin City Cup champion and top Player as well as Leah, who holds the hidden class of Warrior Princess. Aside from Eleena being absent and Jessica not wielding Sefarim, they were very much the strongest and grandest lineup of Players. Therefore, the outcome was imaginable when these elites fought the Level 30 shining behemoth bug called Muta the Black Dragon Python. They were all eaten by the latter. Theres no winning here! Joe exclaimed, leaning on the respawn platform above the head of the tortoise colossus. We just cant deal enough damage whether we used normal attacks or colored skills! Once its head-if you call that a head -closes in, we would be caught by the tentacles inside its mouth, dragged inside and be eaten! Even sacrificing Mister Marni failed. We are really out of options here Even Leah, who had been very excited about going on an adventure was showing disgust on her face. She was fine with dying, since was there any Player who had not died before? On the other hand, having tentacles coiling around you and then slowly melting was so utterly horrible that it would leave anyone with Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There has to be a way to clear it. Why else would the God of Games hold this event? Edward insisted, his faith in the God of Games remaining ever firm. That being said, his tone was not convincing. I think so too, although we didnt notice it Gou Dan agreed, whether because of his journalist instincts or having noticed some signs in the fight. Are you alright, Mister Mufasa? Jessica was about to console Edward, but when she found Edward being rather spirited, the caring girl turned towards the pensive Mufasa who had not made a sound for a while. At the moment, Mufasa had taken off his beloved pink flatfish head mask into a normal barbarian helm-it seems that dying just now had affected him quite a bit. And with his name having been called, Mufasa stopped playing dead and voiced his opinion. Do you think we might have mistaken the clearing conditions? Clearing conditions? Edward did a double take, before coming to a realization. Ah, are you talking about sinking? In other words, there has to be another way to clear the Dark Sky Stratum since killing every last monster inside was not an option. At first, Edward assumed that the clearing condition was to dive down a certain depth without getting the monsters attention. But after Mufasa mentioned it, he noticed that something was not right. In turn, Mufasa struck the iron was hot and continued, And if we think about it carefully, we would find the flaw in many aspects. And the flaw that Edward found was very simple. The Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN) has an identical time flow as the outside, meaning that time passes the same for everyone, whether inside or outside the SIN. And therein lies the problem. It took almost a day for Edward to group up and form another new party to clear the Dark Sky Stratum! In other words, it meant that Mufasa had to be floating in the Dark Sky (his senses had become reversed compared to Edwards group) for most of a day as well. Nonetheless, it took less than an hour for Edwards party to clear the Deep Wall Stratum and find Mufasa. The time they used was simply unequal, because it clearly doesnt make sense that they just needed an hour to catch up to Mufasa after he journeyed for almost a day. Still, since things were dangerous what with Mufasa was being chased by Muta the Black Dragon Python, no one noticed that little fact. Moreover, it is just not right in the perspective of us defeated Mufasa added when he saw that everyone accepted his idea. There is that level thirty shining behemoth, Muta The phenomenon all indicated that they are not going to sink down in one go. When you mention it, I wonder if I was seeing things, but when I was eaten, I could vaguely see something like a key inside that things stomach Princess Leah said then. She was the most tanky Player even though her level was lower compared to the others. Given that her Defense and HP levels were much higher than the average Player, she survived longer and therefore lasted longest (and being tormented) in the monsters stomach. I see! I got it now! Edwards eyes brightened at that, finally getting the key of the matter. Misters Mufasa first theory is wrong. Although the monster food chain in the Dark Sky Stratum would increase the luminescence in their body, those lights are limited and would dim over time! Moreover, Muta is only level thirty, which means that the theory that brighter monsters are more dangerous is wrong. From the very start, the bright bodies that we could see from afar is the key to clearing that floor! Even as Edward explained his idea to the others, he was tidying his ideas in the process. Like the Abyssal Curse in the Deep Wall, it is a hint that tells us that those shiny creatures hold the key to clearing that stratum inside their bodies? Joe still looked despondent. Even so, we cant beat those guys No, if Im right, we dont have to beat them! Edward continued. If the quest item is one of Mutas organs, we would have to kill it. But if the quest item is simply inside its body like how Princess Leah saw it, we dont have to fight it to the death because there is a simple way. Leah immediately understood Edwards idea at his words So, youre saying that we should enter its body on our own, and before we melt, activate the quest item that sends us to the next floor? Thats right. With everything impossible eliminated, this is the optimal solution we have with how things look now! Edward said seriously, before putting a look of admiration. He truly is the God of Games, immediately arranging something like this after noticing that we had been a little low on morale lately, allowing us to recognize our dispositions once again Chapter 362: Fight To The Death Dark Sky Stratum, the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN). (Mufasa: Its here!) Having equipped his full fishman equipment set and gained a distinct increase in speed while moving within Dark Sky, Mufasa assumed the task of luring monsters. After all, he was the only Player who could flee from the shining monster for hours and instakill any small fry in his way. Moreover, after having assumed the path of Kengyoku, all he could wield was sword skills with no elegant special light effects and he therefore did not have to worry about other monsters coming to encircle him. Nearby the entrance of Dark Sky, Leah, who had prepared herself beforehand was alert and waiting After discussing about the dungeon before entering, it was decided that she would be the core of the plan-she would be eaten inside the monsters body and take the key before she melts away. Being the one with the highest level of HP and defense was the reason why she could glimpse the key the last time she was swallowed by the monsters. While the Princess Warrior-class has a halo effect that buffed everyone around her, the effect of the skill was doubtful after the buffed target was swallowed, let alone the fact of how fast the shiny monsters moved which allowed them to quickly flee its area of effect. Therefore, letting the person casting the halo buff being eaten was unquestionably the best choice. The other candidate, Jessica, also generously buffed her stats and casted protection over her. Naturally, even with Jessica buffs, Leahs own halos and HP, it was likely that she melted away before she reached the key inside the monsters body. And even if she did not melt off, she would still die if her HP bar goes empty. That was why she needed stronger defense buffs and more barriers. And who was the most adept in those skills amongst all Players? The answer was quite simple: Eleena, Saintess-in-training. Even if Eleena had the role of a tool and was not allowed into a deeper floor such as the Dark Sky Stratum, the quest did not prevent her from casting her skills. Therefore, just before entering the Elven SIN, Edward had Eleena give Leah a full course of buffs and various protection, stacking her until she was as tough as a robot. Indeed, she did not have to worry about any attacks bar the divine retribution of the gods. Nonetheless, all skills lasted only a fixed period of timeeven if it was casted by Eleena. Therefore, while Edwards group had been leisurely in their first two ventures down the SIN, they were having a race against time this time. As such, they had Mufasa who was the quickest and wouldnt Taunt monsters excessively, while waiting for Jessica to buff Leah. With the buffs in place, the monster soon arrived. Just as expected, no sooner had Mufasa commented in the forums, his ragged figure appeared near the entrance to the Dark Sky. Moments later, a shining monster that resembled a turtle and was the size of a hill showed up before them. [Chomper the Black Toothed Turtle, LV35] Level 35 It was five levels above Muta the Black Dragon Python which had wiped them out before. They could only hope that their plan worked. Ready Edward called out, watching keenly as the creature glided towards them and gaped its maw. At first, Leah was still worried that the shining monster might have a different body structure. But when Chomper opened its mouth, she promptly realized that its maw was the same as Mutas and had grown full of meaty tentacles! While other monsters would have different physiology, those two distinctly varied shining monsters somehow had a striking resemblance in their organs. Edwards hunch was right. The shining monsters was the key! If Old Vanke knew, he would probably be giving me a hard time for being reckless, Leah thought. But now was not the time for such stray thoughts. Throwing away the excess thoughts in her mind, the girl took a deep breath and prepared herself mentally. Spread out! At Edwards order, the Players who were gathered at the edge of Dark Sky promptly sped off in different directions, leaving Leah, the bait at the same spot. The shining monster did not even think-or was perhaps incapable of thinking at all-as it bore jaws down on Princess Leah and swallowed her. Attack! Draw its attention so it wouldnt have the time to chew! Edward then commanded. Hence, the nearby Players promptly casted their variety of skills to beat up the Black Beak Turtle. After all, protection and what not only last that long. With the monsters size, one chew would crush most of Leahs shields! And just as Chomper became provoked by Edward and the others and began to chase them, Leah had managed to crawl past the tentacles and squeeze her way deep down its throat. It was fortunate that her protection was strong enough to repel the tentacles and any pus. Otherwise, Leah was not sure if she could stay sane being in zero distance against all the gross fleshy bits and tentacles. Got it! I knew what I saw! There was no telling how long had passed when Leah finally escaped the tentacles. All of her protective barriers were gone now, and the durability of most of her equipment were hanging by a thread due to Chompers digestive fluids and would break in any given moment. Even so, she and Edward groups effort did not go to waste: She had found the key inside the monsters body. It was a palm-size yellow-bronze key that resembled a doorknob, with rounds of exquisite patterns carved over it. A close look would reveal that the arcane text of the high elves was hidden in those patterns, indicating that the shining treasure was made by the high elves themselves. But just as she was about to retrieve the treasure, a volley of infinite tentacles grew out inside Chompers body and streaked towards her! As their ranks were too thick, the tentacles wrapped round and round over Leahs body before she could evade or run. Worse, the pus secreted by the tentacles would burn parts of her skin, leaving it pitch black while puffing out trails of white smoke. Be that as it may, Princess Leah did not give up. She reached out with her hand as hard as she could-because dying means nothing as long as she could retrieve the key! But it was no use. Her fingertip was just an inch away from the key, and now the tentacles were dragging her away, widening the gap. It was a failure Was everyones effort going to waste again? No, its not over yet! Even though half her face was missing, the girl suddenly wrung her wrist, with a whip sword showing up in her right hand, where missing flesh revealed the white bones underneath. This is my last The sword blade extended, and the girl lashed it out as hard as she could like a whip, catching the key and pulling it to the girl. Without further ado, the girl caught it with her mouth. The girl only made a relieved smile when she saw (Quest item Steel Earth Key obtained] show up on her System Page, and soon vanished as endless sparkles. Chapter 363: Bode There was a curious border city named Bode that sat twelve thousand kilometers away from Crookes on the Eastern Continent. So, the rumors were real there actually is a Vertical City in this world! A youth with a large backpack gasped in awe at the sight before him. How do I get up there? The bulk of Bode was a straight stone pillar with craggy precipices poking out, each of which had compact houses built over it. With only the residence of Bodes mayor was built upon the top of the stone pillar and having no obvious stairs built over it, there was no telling how one would get into the city. First time here at Bode, kid? A middle-aged merchant having some tobacco from a pipe eyed the youth as if he was small fry. The people of Bode are called Bodians, and they are nonhumans who look like birds. If you are interested in trading, you just have to set up shop over at Bodes Hand, although you would have to pay for overhead. Bodes Hand? The youth repeated in confusion. Thats the one. The merchant pointed ahead. Oh. The youth only realized then that the majesty of Bode had diverted all his attention away from a village beneath it. Upon closer look, it was made up of five small stone pillars that resembled fingers, which was little wonder how it got its name. Kid, you must be thinking that Nature is such a masterful artist, arent you? The truth, however, is that neither Bode nor Bodes hand are naturally formed. No way! The young traveling merchant gapedsuch a grand stone pillar didnt form naturally? Theres a legend circulating amongst Bodians a long time ago, their kind were allies of the high elves who watched the skies for them. However, the high elves own burgeoning ambition led to them committing a crime the gods could not abide with, and because the Bodians wanted to stop the high elves, they commissioned the king of dwarves and his race to build a weapon that could keep them level against the high elves. The middle-aged merchant took a puff on his pipe with enjoyment, puckering his lips before continuing, However, it was too late when the weapon was finally finished. The high elves were wiped out by the wrathful inferno unleashed by the gods, which in turn ushered in the long period of war between gods and demons, utterly wiping the world clean and it is said that Bode and Bodes Hand were the weapons left behind from that time. To think that something like that actually happened The youth was captivated by the story. Hahaha! Got you good, huh? The story was never recorded anywhere-its just the Bodians tooting their own horn! The middle-aged merchant pursed his lips. Alright, its our turn now. Get ready to cross the bridge. And yet, that was when the ground began to move. The earth where the five pillars of Bodes Hand was suddenly split apart. Every last building over the area was instantly crushed as an actual colossal hand reached out from beneath ground, catching hold of the lower half of the Bode stone pillar. Soon, the barren earth shook violently, splitting and cracking everywhere. Then, a titanic body rose from beneath the earth. It was a giant that had the features of a dwarf, but stood over three-hundred meters tall! As it mustered its strength, it pulled the entire city of Bode out of the ground! Hence, all the houses and boulders that had been piling over the city for years fell off, revealing its true face. It was a gigantic sword like no other. Hence, the dwarven giant started to move slowly towards Crookes, twelve thousand kilometers away *** [Steel Earth Key (Novelty)] [Item: A key forged by high elf royalty, a symbol of chosen members of their race and identification of those who embody Mystery. Only high elves who obtain this key are permitted into Steel Earth, the fourth stratum of the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN). It appears to holds other functions as a novelty forged from Mystery as well.] (Maximum users: 6] (Usage: Players with the Steel Earth Key do not have to cross the Faint Crystal Stratum or the Deep Wall Stratum. They would be teleported directly to the entrance of Dark Sky, where they would pave the path into Steel Earth.] [Note: The key is effective within a radius of 10km from the Elven SIN) We did it! So, this is the quest item to reach the next floor! After leaving the Elven SIN, Edward looked excited when he saw the key in Leahs hand. Edward and the others had stopped fighting the shining monsters after Leah died and got out-in fact, after Leah had retrieved the key, the light of the turtle monster had vanished without a trace, and soon what was left of it was all bones as various monsters swarmed it and devoured it. Aside from Joe the oaf who got caught in the crossfire because he was too slow, everyone else made it out successfully. Still, it was Edwards first time being that excited.Since his party had become Players for a major chunk of the year, going through various adventures, near-death situations and deaths, this was undoubtedly the toughest obstacle they faced. They would at most die once usually, but in this event, everyone here has died at least twice, and were even left confused to the point of almost giving up. Even so, when it came to the lasting excitement from the conflict and the triumph over obstacles, such delights and sense of accomplishment was nothing that the average quest or adventure would give. After all, humans were such creatures prone to addictions. This world notwithstanding, back on Earth where supernatural powers did not exist, many people would involve themselves in extreme sports without any self-regard, seeking excitement and accomplishment. One might even say that the endless challenge of ones own limits to develop and grow was a Players nirvana. Two more floors to clearing the Elven SIN! Jessica, who joined the adventure halfway through was calmer than the others. And its just four days left. Need a breather, guys? Edward asked the others. No need. I actually cant wait to see what the next floor is like! Mufasa exclaimed determinedly, now wearing his pink flatfish head mask once again. I think seizing the moment is better as well. Princess Leah nodded. Hold onin other words, the way to clear the third floor is by getting the key alright, Ive posted the strategy. Gou Dan looked from the Player forum page. No problem on my end! Alright! Well wait until Joe revives and we replenish our items, then we head towards Steel Earth! Chapter 364: Steel Earth Xi Wei was neither omnipotent nor omniscient despite being a god. He could not keep an eye on border wastelands, let alone be aware that a giant was heading towards the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN) from twelve thousand kilometers away. That was why he was simply pleased that the Players secured the key to enter the fourth stratum and therefore did not hesitate to whisk it away and replicate it with a counterfeit for Edward with his divine power. The heck you looking yet? Never seen a god exploiting his followers? That being said, Xi Weis action was a type of protection towards Edwards group from a certain point of view. After all, the key itself was tailored to each high elf, one of the greatest supernatural races there were. Even first-rate Players like Edwards group would have a tremendous gap in power compared to them, and something bad could happen if they used the key recklessly. As the race who could utilize Mystery-a power connected to divine power, it was hard to guarantee that such an item would not affect the users soul. And to Xi Wei, it was fine if his believers body was directly destroyed. On the other hand, not even he could help them if their soul was distorted or instantly crushed. Still, high elf technology is really unbelievable After getting the pass and seizing the opportunity to take control of Dark Sky Stratum, Xi Wei understood the place somewhat even though it had been inscrutable before. At first, he had assumed that Dark Sky was a sealed space that separates Deep Wall and Steel Earth. But once he took control of the third stratum, he realized that it was a spatial fragment separated from the worldthere was no escape no matter how one wandered if anyone inside could not find the key! It was very likely that this spatial fragment belonged to a shadow plane, with the high elves processing it into a reflection of the Elven SIN. It thereby acts as a cover, keeping every observation method inside the world from seeing through the inner strata of the Elven SIN. Normally, almost all observation would fail to look inside the Elven SIN, and even the God Eye of divine beings could only see things in the mortal realm, with their followers acting as beacons. Otherwise, they would have to spend a lot of divine power to observe from worlds beyond or be blocked by Dark Sky Xi Wei couldnt help gasping in awe. With such class of talent that surpasses human intelligence and technology of processing planes, the high elves magitek levels would probably not lose out to the gnomes who invented god-killing ships And there was no telling if it was that talent that led to the extinction of high elves, or if they had sensed the gods malice, and only then spend their talent in building the SIN in a fight to the death against the divine. Since the God of Games of that age had recently died at the time while Xi Wei (and his predecessor) were yet to be born, he simply didnt know what happened between the high elves and the gods of that era. Either way, they became despondent like the punished gnomes, losing their heart to stride towards the future. * * * Unlike their god who was still left in wonder at the impressive concept of Dark Sky, Edwards group did not rest too much after clearing that stratum. Once they finished replenishing consumables, they made a circle around Princess Leah and watched as she activated the Steel Earth Key. In an instant, pale-blue radiance burst forth from the tip of the key. Everyone in the party could then feel invisible threads pulling their unresistant bodies into the light, drawing them into the belly of the tortoise colossus. But unlike before, what appeared before them was not the Faint Crystal stratum which was full of crystal clusters, but a massive metal city that was still working! If Xi Wei were the judge, he would say that the city was brimming with steampunk. While there was no ever-present steam, the different-sized metal pipes, towering chimneys, old but still-moving gears and bearings as well as spherical buildings that were probably furnaces were all there. There was no telling what the automated machines were producing, just as everything was the color of metals far as the eye could see-it was all distinctly steampunk. And if one were to put their finger on what felt out place, it would be the lack of any person walking in the streets. There were instead several small automatons the size of an Akita dog, each resembling silver teapots with long legs that walked around to clean the place, which was not steampunk but cyberpunk instead. As Edwards group walked along the streets, they were left utterly confused by the current situation. There were no monsters suddenly leaping out, enemies standing in their way or even traps of whatnot While it felt safe here, how were they supposed to clear this area? Well, it is steel I cant find a single normal rock on this floor, and there are manmade metal buildings everywhere. It looks bustling and the houses are clanging from the inside, but theres just no one around.Gou Dan scratched his head. Even though he was not a coward, the unusual air around does leave him flustered. There are too many diverging paths and they look like they would reach different directions. It is basically impossible to find targets around here. Princess Leah decided. Lets split up from here and try looking for clues to clear the floor. Gather here around two hours later, and remember to comment in the forums if you cant. Alright! It was true that both Earthlings and people from other worlds quite enjoy the term freedom. As Princess Leah called for a disbandment, everyone including the typically-composed Edward excitedly scouted around. There were many buildings beside the streets, most of which had their doors opened and gave the impression of being a shop. When everyone had a rough look around just now, he did not point out anything even though there had been elements he found interesting. Nonetheless, the Players still have their basic safety knowledge and would not stray too far from other party members. They stayed on the same street and at a distance where they could hear if one of them were yelling out, so that they could help each other when someone needs help. And after half a day of separate scouting, the Players led by Edward found something interesting just as expected Chapter 365: You Have Been Spying On Us! At first, Edward had been misled by the name of Steel Earth into assuming that the Fourth Stratum was a realm of metals, which proved not to be the case after he looked around a bit more. Aside from steel, there were many other things in this weird city of steel such as food. It was indeed very weird. After Edward noticed a building that resembled a restaurant in the steel city, entered and settled onto one of the ice-cold seats, one of the teapot automatons outside the building shambled inside and asked for his order-or something like that, since he didnt understand a word of the text which that thing was showing on its lid, and hence simply poked one. It was worth mentioning here that the name hovering over the teapot automatons head is Silver Agent and was yellow, meaning neutral. Still, its name did not match the rather cool name, which was why Edward called it teapot in his head. And soon enough, another teapot shambled inside while carrying a steaming steak. Still, after having died a few times, Edward decided dying again would lose him too much EXP for his liking, not to mention dropping a level below. That was why he did not go bon apptit straightaway, and instead casted Detect on the steak. And soon, the result of the appraisal appeared over the steak. [Sky High Steak (consumable)] [Item description: A steak made from a Sky Highs shell. The meat is as stiff as metal and unbendable, and edible since it is not poisonousin theory. Recharges stamina.) [Note 1: Has a chance of causing vomiting.) (Note 2: Hmm this is soft but fatless, and feels rough and hard to the bite. It is so Blargh!-a certain high elf aiming to be a gourmet.) Edward: It would be better if he did not eat it. Even though Edward assumed the teapot automatons would stop him if he left without eating, it turned out that the automatons did not pursue him at all even after he had already left the building. When he turned to check, he could see one of the teapots recycling his steak. I guess they really are neutral units Edward shook his head, rather unsure what he should do now. Ah-! That was when Joe yelled from a nearby building Frowning, Edwards Happy Flames promptly appeared in his hand while he dashed towards the direction of the shout, running into Jessica, who heard the shout as well along the way. Princess Leah and Gou Dan had arrived when they reached the direction of Joes scream as well but they were too late. Joe was lying in a room full of gold coins and was swimming through it. Joe! What are you doing?! Edward yelled helplessly, frowning. Look, Edward! So many gold coins! Joe only noticed Edward and the others then, and happily waved at them. If we bring it back, Marni would definitely die from happiness! Sorry, but that probably wont work. Princess Leah had picked up one gold coin and was studying it, her Detect hence activating and revealing what the gold coins really were. (Elven Gold (novelty)] [Item description: A special alchemical creation by the high elves of the last age. Unless carried by its owners, Elven Gold disappears after being taken a certain distance away and would reappear where it was previously found.) [Note 1: Ranked second in best anti-theft currencies of this world (Game Coin is ranked first)] [Note 2: We hadnt need physical currency for a long time, damn it! Leave these wretched things here, or they would keep wasting the energy of the Starpulse Core whenever they activate!-high elf technician] As such, Princess Leah held the gold coin and walked out of the building, and she was just two hundred meters away when the Elven Gold disappeared. At the same time, one gold coin appeared mid-air back in the room full of gold coins, clanging clearly when it landed. So, we cant take them away what a shame. Joe walked down from the pile of gold coins miserably. It was fortunate that he was not greedy for money, and after having joined the Church of Games at a young age, his consumer practices had long since been distorted by game coins. He was therefore interested in the gold coins because it was new and interesting rather than out of greed. But this Steel Earth Stratum is really weird there are no enemies in the building I went to, only some Silver Agents (teapots) that tailor clothes for people. Still, its fashion tastes are just a little weird, and it uses too little cloth Princess Leah pondered, holding her cheek as her head tilted sideways. Ive found a costume accessory maker myself, Jessica added. Those trinkets are beautiful, but anyone who doesnt have high elf blood would be cursed for wearing itEverything looks perfect somehow, but there really isnt anything practical. Gou Dan said suspiciously then. There are many plants in the building I checked, but most are ornamental, and theres none grown for potions or food So weird. We have to keep looking but is it really going to work if we keep investigating without a clue? Princess Leah couldnt help asking. The steel city is grand and vast as we all could we see for ourselves, but I had not even seen its border. We dont even know where our enemies are even now, and with four days left until this event ends, can we really find the key to clearing this stratum? Although Leah has talent for combat, was also easily influenced and had been instructed enough by Old Vanke to show some gift in politics, she clearly was not happy with a codebreaking event like this one. No need, Edward chuckled just then. I think I have an idea about whats behind this floor. What? Oh, right, what facility was the building you went too? Gou Dan quickly asked, turning on his forum and was ready to write a post. The Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN) is an offensive weapon of the high elves and where they lived but it is obvious that the Faint Crystal Stratum, Deep Wall Stratum and the Dark Sky Stratum arent fit for living, and that is why the high elves must have lived or settled their own tribe here! I see if thats so, what we saw just now makes sense. Joe put a fist over a palm in understanding, but soon became confused again. But who is our enemy if thats the case? How could we get to the next floor without enemies? If my hunch is right Edwards facial expression turned solemn just then-he looked around, before crying out at the top of his lungs, You must have been spying on us all along, protectors of this city! Chapter 366: Who Said That Fakes Cant Surpass The Genuine? Although the hidden hand was supposed to react to Edwards theory, nothing actually happened after Edwards loud declaration. The air turned awkward at once. But just as Joe and the others assumed that he had it wrong, Edward continued, Youre not showing up, huh? Thats expected. If thats the case Grinning, he turned and started walking, telling his party members when he passed them, Lets return to the entrance and leave this place. The others first did a double take, but the smarter ones such as Jessica and Princess Leah quickly caught on to Edwards idea and followed him quietly. While Joe and Gou Dan found Edwards words rather bizarre just then, they did not ask questions after having built a bond of absolute trust with him and immediately kept up with Edward. In truth, it was a test of logic that was not quite hard. Since Edward and the others arrived at the Steel Earth Stratum with the Steel Earth Key, there should not be an entrance reasonably speaking. If they want to leave, they only need to teleport back to their respawn point, and would not have to go through the entrance. Although that was common sense for the Players, the hidden hand did not know that! Therefore, when Edward and the others pretended as if they were about to leave to put his theory into the test, the air around them changed. Unwittingly, a flock of teapots slowly encircled them, although the names over their heads were still yellow in color, and had not changed to the red that indicates them as an enemy. Then, a humanlike figure several screens that resembled billboards hanging over buildings, but the persons face cant be seen because the light of the background was too bright. % @#&* The figure then began to speak in a language Edward and the others could not understand -it sounded like elven but had a completely different rhythm to it, and was mystically beautiful as if it was a song sung by the children of a sacred choir. Could it be high elven? We cant communicate with the language barrier Joe scratched his head, realizing that they had a problemthey could not communicate with the figure even though Edward had managed to trick them into revealing themselves. No, it understands human language, although it could not speak it because it lacks the ability. Princess Leah quickly picked up on what was unusual about the matter. After all, if the figure could not understand human language, it would not have known what Edward and the others were doing when he pretended that they were about to leave, and would instead choose to keep hiding. And since it revealed itself, it was clear that the figure could understand human language but could not speak it for some reason. Probably because of discrimination. Edward hit the nail on the head immediately. The Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN) is made at the height of the high elves power, and being an extremely ethnocentric race, they would belittle everyone, even other supernatural species, let alone a weak mortal race like humans. Since that thing is a creation or consciousness that the high elves left behind before their extinction, it wouldnt surprising if it behaves in the same stinking way like the high elves. And as if on cue, once Edward had a dig at the high elves, the figure in the screens spoke again. This time, it was no longer using its singsong language, but a jerky, unusual accent of the human tongue. The high elves are extinct? Their whole race had been dead for over a thousand years. Dont you even know that? Joe replied. I see. To think that something actually happened. The figure sighed heavily. And here I thought that they had merely abandoned me. And what does that have to do with not letting us leave? Gou Dan asked in confusion. Instead of stopping invaders like us from departing, shouldnt you be attacking us from the start? Jessica punched Gou Dan just then, since his words were aimed straight at a sore spot for the figurewhat if the other side was provoked and they immediately started fighting? They did not even know where the true form of the figure was While your group are not the high elves who were my masters, you hold their scent and are therefore guests, not enemies. The figure said calmly, before realizing with a start and introduced itself. My Name is Iron Commandment. I am the guardian and overseer of this stratum, in service of the high elves and their guests. Although Edwards group certainly had no idea why they would have the scent of the high elves, we would have to rewind time, and return to the moment when they obtained the Steel Earth Key in the Dark Sky Stratum to talk about it. At the time, Xi Wei had promptly taken away their key, studied it and made them a counterfeit. While many would feel that fake would not match the real, the key that Xi Wei confiscated was definitely better than the fake one he made.Well, fine-it was actually true that the real key was much stronger than the weak one Xi Wei made. That being said, the problem here was that the real key was useless for Edward and the others, who were humans and did not have any high-elf blood in them. They would never activate it or use its power to open the door in Dark Sky that was connected to Steel Earth. Instead, Xi Wei had adapted the fake key so that it would verify faith instead of bloodline, and any Player of his church would be able to use the key and enter Steel Earth. Be that as it may, while Xi Wei could use brute force to break the safety measures that the high elves kept between Dark Sky and Steel Earth, he quickly picked the simpler way after deciding that brute force would consume his divine power: by adding the scent of high elves on the Players body, fooling the safety measures and allowing them to enter Steel Earth directly. That was why Iron Commandment, overseer of the fourth stratum identified Edwards group as guests when they should have been enemies. It afforded them food and water and did not attack them at all, even protecting them secretly. Naturally, Edward and the others were not aware of that fact, although they more or less had a hunch that it was thanks to the protection of Xi Wei, God of Games, and naturally admired their own patron deity even more. Still, they could have had a good talk with Iron Commandment and clear the fourth stratum without a fight. However, after it had survived through untold centuries in eternal solitude, Iron Commandment had developed a few bugs, and didnt seem too keen about letting such rare guests to leave Chapter 367: Fight First, Talk Later If you serve us, why would you prevent us from leaving? Though he was unsure why he was identified as an ally, Edward did not ask about it directly and asked instead about something else. Since we are guests, it is our own freedom to decide whether we stay or go! That is because Project Tinder has been activated after I have not received new orders from outside over a hundred years. At present, I am trying my best to bring in any surviving high elves and their allies until the Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN) is destroyed. Even as it spoke, Iron Commandments tone became stiff. Please follow the procedure and my instructions to take refuge. What if we refuse? Princess Leah asked unhappily, frowning. Then I could only subdue you with force. Relax, even if your limbs have to be dismembered, the medical facilities here in Steel Earth would ensure you stay alive. At those words, Iron Commandments human sentiment seemed to vaporize away. All at once, the air between the party of Players and the teapot automatons turned to a standoff. Still, although they were being wary of the teapots on the surface, the Players still could spare their attention to chat on the forums. (Leah: Edward, how did you know that thing wont let us go?) While everyone had more or less sensed that something was unusual after arriving on Steel Earth, it was not only Edward alone who had a hunch that their enemy was watching them. That being said, Edward was the only one who determined that their adversary would not let them leave. After all, according to the experiences they had over the last few floors, their foes should be wary against allowing them to go forward rather than preventing them to leave. (Edward: It was just a feeling. We have to either go to the next stratum or return to the last stratum to force our foe to reveal itself, but from how it allowed us to move around freely, raising a ruckus wouldnt work.] (Edward: And since we dont know how we are supposed to go to the next floor, there is only one choice. And since it did not know how we arrive here, we could trick it by pretending to go back up.) Like any question with only two choices, it was nice to pick the right answer, although there wouldnt be anything major even if one got the wrong answeraside from Edward failing in showing-off. (Joe: Well, what should we do now, Edward?] (Edward: Fight first, talk later.] Joe immediately became focused-like how many other believers gave up on thinking after experienced the convenience of being Players, instead of cracking some code and mystery, Joe preferred fighting directly with his heavy fists! Resistance is futile. Please take refuge accordingly Refuge this! Before Iron Commandment finished, Joe swung his Giants Toe. The greatsword which was now embedded with multiple runes was much more powerful than before, and not only did it break one teapot with one swing, the shockwave from the blow knocked the other teapots off balance. However, even though they were attacked preemptively and they began to organize a flustered counterattack, the name over the teapots heads were still yellow, remaining neutral rather than becoming an enemy. Halo of Courage! Leah cried, stabbing her flagpole into the hard metal ground below before drawing her whip sword to lash out at the teapot. While the Bleeding effect of the whip sword did not work against automatons, the heightened damage meant she was attacking to great effect. At the same time, Gou Dan took cover behind Jessica, breaking one teapot with each arrow, even claiming two kills with one arrow occasionally. Jessica herself was healing and casting protection on her teammates, and although she was not dealing damage, she became a moving, human-form machine of buffs like Princess Leah, becoming a core part of her team as well. Naturally, the one dealing the most damage in the party was Edward, who was riding his fire dragon. As one of the most powerful skills the Player had at the current phase, the black fire dragon would easily melt the unknown metals which the teapot was made out of. It only streaked over their head to burn most of them into wax, rendering them immobile even though they clearly had half of their HP left. Still, the Players overwhelming advantage did not mean that the teapot automatons were very weak. While most mass-produced teapots were around level 20, some of the more elegant ones was over level 30. That being said, the power Edwards group unleashed in breaking those teapots was equal to one of the special task forces of major religions, such as the Temple of Glory. At the same time, even though Jessica continued to heal the group, Edward and the others would keep an eye on their HP levels, drinking colas to restore themselves from time to time. Still, as their initial advantage slowly faded, their average HP gradually fell beneath the safety zone. And that because the teapots were only focusing on their limbs. It appeared that, just as Iron Commandment had mentioned, it was intent on not killing Edward and the others, that it would break their limbs and hold them captives. As such, it was regrettable that it did not know that it could not break the special state enforced by the Rules of the Game (such as divine powers are resistant against Rule in attacking or being attacked, and would be effective even against anti-magic weapons), keeping the Players limbs from being dismembered.Why? Your limbs are unbreakable, despite your feeble appearance Iron Commandment was therefore left extremely confused, with Joe immediately summoning his spirit familiar to smash the screen it spoke from with a single punch. Did you think we would tell you?! Even so, as if it was this entire stratum given form, Iron Commandment was showing up on the smooth mirrorlike walls of nearby buildings as well as the screens. It would persistently question how the Players were defying logic, leaving the Players both irritated and fatigued as more teapot automatons showed up. Eventually, Gou Dan failed to stop one particular automatons attack out of a moment of carelessness, and was stabbed through the arm with its razor-sharp feet. His HP bar empty, he fell to the ground just like that-with Jessicas resurrection yet to come off cooldown, the group could only watch as he turned to sparks of light and disappeared. Why would he die? The automatons clearly did not hit him in the vitals, and he was not bleeding profusely The Iron Commandment could not help being puzzled at why Gou Dan would die. Still, it clearly possessed outstanding intelligence. Soon, it realized that the Players would die after suffering a certain amount of damage, and that they would die despite the lack of a lethal wound. Therefore, it immediately changed the combat style of the teapots. Change of strategy needed automaton number nine-five-two-seven is dispatched for live capture of guest Chapter 368: Preparation and the Second Venture Once the Iron Commandment adjusted its tactics, the Players soon found that aside from the teapot automatons, several new automatons that were basically mobile cylindrical cages resembling an octopus showed up. When he first saw them, Edward thought that his group was being insultedhow could anything moving so slowly and carefreely capture the Players? Still, Iron Commandment soon proved that it could through action! And there was nothing especially mysterious or profound about it either: the cages and the teapots were simply relying on numbers. Once caught by the cage automatons, the captive would be continuously tormented by some nonlethal magical beam. The split second of pain would prevent the captive from praying, casting spells or sacred arts, hence achieving the objective of restraining them. And Edwards group learned that firsthand thanks to Joe being caught when he let down his guard. Moreover, Princess Leah noticed the gimmick of this floor as they fought The teapots that cant fight or move would melt into silver liquid that the floorboards absorb, which then create new ones endlessly! To most people in this world, such a function that retrieves ally corpses and relentlessly create new units was definitely endlessly troublesome. But that was not the case for the Players We cant stun them all at once. We have to focus our damage and kill them one by one! Leah then yelled. And that was certainly true: by logic, the teapots that could not fight or move being recycled by the floor meant that the ones which the Players completely destroyed would be retrieved as well, keeping the enemies coming without end. But only the Players were different in that respect. The monsters they killed would be directly offered as sacrifices to Xi Wei, the God of Games! And that is true even if they are in the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN)! Therefore, stunning flocks of teapots like Edward wouldnt have much effect, and would instead allow the teapots to be melted down for material recycling. In comparison, using powerful single-target skills to take out their enemies one by one so that their corpse vanished immediately was the right choice. Be that as it may, the battle had become attritional, and it was after fighting a long time that Edward realized that his sides defeat was inevitable. Fighting on was therefore meaningless since they could not turn the tables with their current strength. Retreat! Edward ordered determinedly at that. Give up. There is no escape But even before Iron Commandment finished, the Players body turned into sparks and they simply vanished. If Edward and the others could speak then, they would definitely have mocked the automaton loudly: We have town portals, silly! * * * So, you guys werent actually respawning. Marni had run into Edward and the others at the spawn point, and could not help conveying his shame that they came out through teleport and not death. Though Im a little upset by what you said, business comes first how far have you guys gone in Dark Sky? Edward asked Marni. We found a shining monster, but the enemies between the first stratum to the third stratum took too much of our time, and the buffs Miss Eleena gave us at the entrance was fading by then. Even if we could get down the monsters throat, there is no getting past the melting tentacles-wed just die on the way. Marni said with unhappily. The one in charge of snatching the key in Marnis team was the Berserker Swordmaster, Zonyan Grayclaw. While Berserker Swordmasters had more HP than Spirit Swordsmen if they were on the same level, their core skill Grateful Dead burns through their HP, which left them more vulnerable than Spirit Swordsmen. The reason Marnis party chose Zonyan as their key snatcher was because the digestive fluids secreted inside the body of the shining monsters were extremely devastating. No Player would last long even if it wasnt a Berserker Swordmaster, and most normal classes would not have the stats of a hidden-class like Warrior Princess. On the other hand, although Berserker Swordmasters were weak, their vampiric skill buffs could stack. After weathering through the first round of attack at the entrance with Eleenas buff, Zonyan would rush into the targets body, activate Grateful Dead to caused significant damage inside. Then, he would use his vampiric support skill to heal his HP, healing through fighting and hence attempt to take the key. While the idea was good, there were two problems with the actual implementation. For one, the shining beasts were usually too far from the entrance of the Dark Sky Stratum, and Eleenas buffs would be waning by the time a target was lured there. Secondly, the damage Zonyan could inflict was not high enough that he could survive the digestive fluids, and he would melt apart halfway through I see. I got the idea now. Edward nodded, and told Marni about his plan.The latter appeared doubtful after considering it for a moment. In other words, you want to have everyone clear Dark Sky as soon as possible? Thats right. There are still four days until the event is over, and Im ready to free a day to do what I can and help other players to clear Dark Sky. But what good is that? Its a strategy for Steel Earth, Edward explained solemnly. There are too many enemies down in the fourth stratum, and having just a few of us would never get it clear. That is why we need numbers to hold back the small fry, while we think of something to take out the enemys mastermind. I see, so thats what youre going for. Mani nodded and smiled in understanding. That works. I certainly dont mind, not to mention that we would have to fumble around Dark Sky for a long time if you dont help us. Theres definitely no harm and all profits for us if we could get up to the fourth stratum. Hence, as Edwards party went to work, more and more Players successfully cleared the trial of the Dark Sky Stratum, hence becoming an indisputable assisting force in the advance down to Steel Earth. Thus, on the fourth day of the Elven SIN event, the Players made their final preparations under Edwards instruction. In the next split second, a group of over fifty Players simultaneously activated their Steel Earth Keys, arriving at the same time at the realm built entirely of metal. Chapter 369: Steel Earth Cleared Iron Commandment obviously did not expect that after Edward and the others left, they would show up once again with a whole bunch of people. In fact, its processing speed lagged for a moment before it directed the teapot and cage automatons once again to capture the Players. Still, in contrast to the automatons who fought in a singular style, once there was an increased number of Players with their diverse skills, their combat ability increased exponentially Holy Lancers and other heavy-armor units would assume formations that easily stopped the teapot rush, while mages staying at the rear would fire their spells. Using the three-stage tactic as one would employ a matchlock squad, they would bombard the advancing foes with an endless, all-encompassing attack. At the same time, aside from killing more targets, Shadow Rogues and Spirit Swordsmen who could summon spirit familiars had the more important task of finding a breakthrough. And after about half an hour, the good news was posted on the player forums. (Terrosche: We found a hidden room that the Boss might be in.) [Silva: The one inside is called Iron Guardian, a teapot we never saw before.) (Edward: Good job. Now come back and dont do anything reckless.) (Terrosche: Got it!] [Edward: What?] (Edward: No, wait. What did you guys get?] (Terrosche: Were going in!] (Silva: In the name of the God of Games!) (Edward: ???] [Terrosche: We died!] (Silva: The teapots breathe fire.] (Edward: ] Were those two here to have a laugh? Whatever the case might be, the location of the hidden room where they died was marked on the shared minimap that the Players all charted. Hence, a small division of elite Players built around Edwards party split out of the Players ranks, and charged confidently towards the hidden room. And when he eventually saw the building marked on the map, Joe cant help being surprised, Isnt it a little obvious for a hidden room? It was a cross-shaped steel building that stood around fifty meters tall. While it did not stand out in Steel Earth, it was still rather conspicuous-no wonder the Lucky Koi Brothers found it so quickly out of all the buildings nearby And when the teapot and cage automatons realized that the Players target was the cross-shaped building, their attack became fiercer, which only proved that the Players found the right target. The Boss of this floor, or indeed their target was definitely inside! But just as they were about to break into the building, Edward who was in the lead suddenly paused and slowly turned around. Although the others were confused at least, they followed Edwards gaze and realized what he was doing, and therefore stared in the same direction. That naturally startled Marni, who was being stared by every other Player. Though they did not say it, their eyes were communicating the intention, Do you want to try dying as an offering? Ive already died once! He therefore cried in fright. A cleric brought me back! Even though there was no telling if that offering works, the Players had yet to completely lost their humanity and really demand that Marni die. And after making some adjustments, the group charged into the cross-shaped building And as the Lucky Koi Brothers had reported, the monsters there were elite monsters called Iron Guardian instead of the normal teapots. Almost each of them had level 40 basic stats and were most immune to debuffs, making them quite tough. If not for their lack of variety in attack and simple combat tactics, Players of the same level would not win against these bucketheads. It was therefore fortunate that the Players present were all elites, and though they were constrained by facing those level 40 targets in a narrow path, they did not have a hard time aside from being slightly obstructed. Soon, they broke past the Iron Guardians blockade and charged into the core area of the building At first, Edward thought that he would find a room full of ice-cold magitek equipment laden in heavy iron plates, the Players were left stunned when they entered. The central room of the building was like a fairytale realm. There were gentle, beautiful sights everywhere with trees and mushrooms that grew up into the air-even the screen that displayed the state of all of Steel Earth was made into the reflection of a lake, making it appear both lively and interesting. Nonetheless, a careful look would reveal that everything within the room was made from metals as well. The lake was liquid mercury, the tree leaves composed of malleable alloy slides-even the butterflies that occasionally perched on the flowers had gears for wings And at the center of the room was a sphere composed of gears, axles as well as various other machine structures. It seemed that every part had been working flawlessly until now. The words Iron Commandment hovered above the machine sphere. Its over now, surrender! We will spare you because you did not intend to kill us from the start! Edward shouted loudly then.Iron Commandment, however, was unmoved, and continued repeating itself, Friends of my master needs to be protected. You need refuge and accommodation please do not resist, it would soon be over and everything would be better Edward frowned. Its broken, Marni said, clapping him on his shoulder. We cant communicate with it, and the only thing we could do now is to completely destroy it. If you really feel bad about it, you can bring its remains to Miss Kinley and see if she could rebuild it. No, Im not that weak. Edward remained impassive as he shrugged off Marnis hand. Its regrettable, but it seems that we cant ask it about the Eternal Archives. Accommodation accommodation Iron Commandments spherical body began to shift then as it materialized chainsaws, drills, bone cutters, spears, and many other weird things, seemingly intent on attacking Players. Nonetheless, it was merely an object similar to an AI that occupies the rear, and its actual strength was lacking-in fact, the teapots of the fourth stratum were simply weaker than the mutated monsters of the third stratum. Upon the combined strike of several Players, Iron Commandments body was promptly destroyed and reduced to a pile of spare parts littering the heavy-metal style fairytale room. Steel Earth, the fourth stratum of the Elven SINcleared! Chapter 370: Clue To the Eternal Archives Its just a little over a day until the event is over. What should we do now? Princess Leah asked in slight annoyance. As a matter of fact, it was not just heralmost every first-rate Player who managed to get inside Steel Earth were left in a troubling limbo. Indeed, they were stuck. After Edwards party had destroyed Iron Commandment, the Boss of the fourth stratum, the teapot automatons reverted to neutral units (with Xi Wei taking control of the stratum). In fact, when Players entered selected buildings, they would stick to offering their services, making the fourth stratum a place to rest for the Players as well. But that was also the reason why the Players lost the clue to proceed into the fifth stratum. At first, there were Players who had suggested that the clue must be hidden somewhere in the city and therefore strolled randomly around, but even they were becoming desperate now that things had come to this. In the cross-shaped building at the center of the fourth stratum, Edwards party was trading looks with other top Players inside the room of heavy-metal fairytales. They intended to discuss any clues or information about Eternal Archivesthe fifth archive. However, with everyone present appearing to have no intention of speaking out, it seemed that none of them knows what to do now. We shouldnt have destroyed Iron Commandment just like that back then Edward couldnt help sighing feebly, feeling somewhat regretful. Still, there was a chance that Iron Commandment knew nothing about the Eternal Archives, not to mention that it clearly caught some serious bug to the point that it could not communicate. But as usual with people and their mindset that prefers all sorts of flukes, they would only ever prefer the road not taken, hence believing that it would have been so much better if I did that instead of what I did. Its useless to say that now, and everyone had agreed to destroy Iron Commandment anyway. Princess Leah promptly stood out to smooth things out as the air in the room became depressing. Instead of regretting, lets try our best to think whether weve missed some tiny detail all the way from the Faint Crystal Stratum to this place. While the Players did not assert equality, the System basically kept everyone in the same status but with few exceptions. Princess Leah was one such Player, and while she did not usually show it, her rank was more or less quite high amongst the Players, which was why she was the best person to smooth things over. Youre right. Edward slapped himself firmly to muster his spirit. The God of Games wouldnt put up an unsolvable puzzle the answer must be hidden in front of us! Even as he spoke, everyone turned to stare at the lake that depicted all of Steel Earth and racked their brains. Xi Wei, who saw that sight with Divine Eye was left between laughter and tears. If he really did have any clues about Eternal Archives, he would have been fine telling the Players about it directly since they were his believers and his employees in the first place. The problem was that Xi Wei himself didnt know a thing about the Eternal Archives. Yes, even though he had assumed control over the fourth stratum of the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN) and analyzed most of the weapon, he still had not the faintest idea about the Eternal Archives. In fact, the Eternal Archives was only mentioned once in the records of the Fourth Stratum control terminal, and there were no useful clues. At the same time, Xi Wei was certain that the Eternal Archives existed. As mentioned before, after having learned about the previous strata of Faint Crystal, Deep Wall, Dark Sky and Steel Earth, Edward found that a small part, or indeed the most vital part of SIN technology was hidden even after he had studied most of SIN itself. Therefore, that part of the information must have been recorded in the Eternal Archives. Moreover, after taking control of the Fourth Stratum, Xi Wei sensed that there was something irregular about the Elven SIN. While SIN itself was like an exquisitely made machine, it appeared unable to work normally as if it was missing a few gears and bearings. But no matter how Xi Wei scrounged around, he couldnt find the missing parts. And now, Xi Wei could only pin his hopes on the Players, wishing that they could find a flaw in the high elves designs to uncover the Eternal Archives. As such, he would be fine spending some divine power to help them in the ensuing effort. Hmmm? And yet, while Xi Wei kept most of his attention on the Players in Steel Earth, the small portion of his attention that he diverted elsewhere caught on to something unusual. Was that an earthquake? No thats 16 Quickly turning away and assigning a third-rate Player in the vicinity of the phenomenon, Xi Weis sight found the epicenter along with the Players movement. It was a steel giant of enormous proportions! When it came to size, the tortoise colossus that carried a small mountain was already massive enough. This giant, however, was three times taller than the tortoise colossus when it stood up straight! Additionally, it was holding what appeared to be a greatswordbut from the looks of the magical inscription and runes over it, it was obvious that it was a frightening gigantic magitek weapon. Tch. That thing moves very quickly it would reach Crookes within four hours at most if it continued on like this. Xi Weis ball wrinkled, feeling that this year had really been inauspicious. If they cant activate the Elven SINthat was, the tortoise colossus itself, the giant might directly cut off the tortoises head! Should he evacuate all the Players away from the Elven Sin and assign them a new quest against the new foe?Xi Wei was left in a dilemma right then. Even so, that was when Edward, who had kept his eyes glued to the lake reflection looked up, and his face suddenly erupted in delight. Ive got it! The sun! Its the sun! He exclaimed excitedly. This stratum is clearly Steel Earth, and yet there is a sun up in the sky! There is definitely something weird about it! The sun The other players stirred, with all of them looking up to the sky as well. At the same time, Edward, who had thought of it first had already summoned his black fire dragon and streaked into the air Sun? What sun? In his divine kingdom, Xi Wei did a double take. He adjusted the angles of his God Eye several times, but he couldnt find the sun that the Players were talking about. Soon, he understood. Could the high elves had deliberately developed some bounded field or magitek coating, just to stop the gods from peeking into the core of their weapon?! Chapter 371: Shoot Me No can do. Theres an unseen wall in the skies that block us when we reach certain altitude. We cant continue rising. Edward told the Players gathering around him as he landed his Blackfire Dragon. But the higher I go, the more I could feel that the sun is abnormal How abnormal? Too hot? Joe asked in curiosity. Its not a matter of hotness, it is just that sort of stuff you rarely see Edward racked his brains as he tried to describe the feeling, only saying uncertainly after he hesitated for a while, Well have you been to the churches of major religions?. Ive been to a few, since the churches would set up shop in most major cities. Although they would always claim that they dont charge believers of other churches extra, they would bother you when you leave your city if you dont go into their church and pay them taxes. Marni answered, after having been a traveling merchant for a long time. But what does that have to do with the sun? Arent there statues of gods in those city churches? Even if there arent any, there would at least be some cross, totem or whatnot that represents their deity. Being no longer the village boy who rarely leaves his own dwelling, Edward had visited many cities and gained rich experiences, and had a broader perspective compared to the middle-class citizens of this world. That was the exact reason why he would realize that something was not right. And when it comes to the gods or the things that represent them, wouldnt you feel an overwhelmed pressure? Even if it isnt the god you believe in, you would lower your head by reflex when you stand before such objects. You mean Marni, who was rather quick on the uptake immediately understood Edwards meaning. Yes, that sun has feelings too, and that sense of pressure feels stronger compared to the idols in churches. Edward nodded, confirming Marnis hunch. A symbol of a gods presence in this world no, if what you say is real, it just might be possible that the sunis a relic that other gods left in our world! Marni mused, lowering his head. Although Im not sure what you guys are talking about, is there actually a way to clear the last floor now? Joe asked impatiently, scratching his head. There isnt much time left! Edward, cant your skill break the unseen wall? Gou Dan asked curiously as well. Although he was not the strongest Player there was, the devastation of Edwards black flames was already quite stunning. Even Eleena might not match his potential for damage even though she was stronger. Nope. My skills dont work much against the wall, but I did think of something. Edward nodded. If our damage isnt powerful enough, why not we use something even more devastating? Are you talking about Mufasas flatfish fins twitched as he asked hesitantly, The Pyrocrystal Cannon? Although the Pyrocrystal Cannon did not exactly inflict the highest damage according to what the Players had encountered so far, it was the strongest tool that the Players could control. With there being no other options anyway, once the idea was mentioned, the Players dismantled the two Pyrocrystal Cannons outside the main entrance of the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN) with help from Eleena, who holds the clearance of the first stratum. After that, they teleported the Steel Earth Key down to the fourth stratum. Since the Players who had learnt alchemy (mainly magitek) as a Life Skill from Kinley were lower in level and could not enter the fourth stratum, they could only instruct the combat-class Players in how to assemble and control the cannons through the Player Forums. It was fortunate that just like back on Earth, the more modern the technology, the more user-friendly products such as mobile phones were. Even though the humans did not know much about the high elves historical developments, it was more or less obvious that their creation would be useful even in the near future after surviving through the ages-aside from being easily damaged Naturally, the Pyrocrystal Cannons were a little different since they are non-civilian objects, although said difference was that it can be easily used and would work when plugged into an energy source. Fire! Leah assumed the role of ordering the firing of cannons. One must say that the power of the two Pyrocrystal Cannon was certainly powerfulthe beams from both cannons pierced the unseen wall directly. Edward, who had been watching from a corner promptly rushed to the opening, only to find that the wall restored itself after the beams were gone. They tried several more times, but each attempt was met with failure. This wont do, setting up the cannons cost us too much time Even Princess Leah was feeling a little hopeless. Edward, however, did not lose hope. After thinking for a long time, he suddenly asked, Does everyone remember the elven gold? Are you talking about the pool of coins we found in the building? Joe, being the one who discovered the coins immediately remembered. Didnt you say that the coins are useless? That depends on the situation. Edward grinned. Being a currency with supreme anti-theft function, the elven gold would return home if it was taken away. And that same effect might activate when it was struck violently. Still, that would mean that elven gold had to have excellent defensive variablesin the variables, the coins would not be destroyed in the instant they were struck.In other words, the defense of the coins was frighteningly high if used correctly to the point that it could bend the Rules of the Elven SIN itself! Hence, Edwards group ran to the room and pasted the gold coins all over his body. He was intent on using that as an armor to slip into the beam when it pierces the unseen wall, crossing it and entering the fifth stratum: The Eternal Archives! Naturally, Edward was the tester this time. Are you ready, Edward? Leah asked somberly. You might get fully vaporized from a single blast by this thingy, and would have to respawn. Im ready for a long time! Edward yelled, taking a deep breath as he flew in front of one of the barrels. Shoot me! In a split second, a piercing radiance shone over the barrel of the Pyrocrystal Cannon, firing a beam straight into the skies while supposedly avoiding a direct hit on the Eternal Archive. Within the instant when the wall was confirmed to be pierced, Edward, who was pasted full of elven gold, armed with Leahs halo as well as Eleena and Jessicas stat buffs rushed into the beam. And in the next split second, Xi Wei, who had been watching idly jumped. What the heck?! Chapter 372: Ancient Atrocity If the connection between the gods and their believers could be compared to a game, its genre would most certainly be RTS-a real-time strategy game. Like a player, the gods would sit outside their computer screen (divine kingdom), observing their believers through the screen. Interestingly, the believers were no different from troops in the game: once the gods gazes turned to linger upon them, there would effectively be a divine perspective. While the believers would be unable to see for themselves or the corresponding senses, the gods would be able to observe every circumstance within a large radius around their believers, which felt similar to a radius that unravels the fog of war in a strategy game. That was an attribute that naturally applied to Xi Wei too. At the moment, most of his attention was focused on how to improve his control over the Elven SIN as well as observing the Players who were finding clues in the Steel Earth Stratum. Naturally, the circumstances around the Players was also made clear for him-or at least he thought so, until Edwards words revealed that there was a sun in the fourth stratum. And the outcome proved to Xi Wei that there was indeed a shining comic body hovering above the seemingly empty skies. No. It might not even be a cosmic body but something manmade. When Edward successfully made it past the barrier Xi Wei could not see thanks to the elven gold keeping him fireproof, Xi Wei finally determined what was in the air. It was no core space, but something much more troublesome. No wonder the gods would wipe out the high elves and speak not a word of them later. Not even the benevolent gods would feel remorse with the potential of destruction the high elves could wreak, and even the high elves own documents declared that their own kind had committed an atrocity In the first place, Xi Wei had named the event (Elven SIN (Synchronized Intellect Nation): Ancient Atrocities] more or less as a joke, having simply extracted the term from an old text. Who could have known that it was neither an exaggeration nor the symptom of the high elves eighth-grader syndrome, but a simple statement of the truth? As a matter of fact, the sun which the high elves exhausted all efforts to hide from the gods was a spheroid magitek object with thirty-two faces, and seemingly having been pieced out of obelisk plates. The function of the object itself could not be verified, because its internal structure had long since been corrupted in its entirely, leaving a shell that was soaked with powerful presences of divine attributes. Right now, it was merely a container. A container that held divinity. Thats right. The so-called Eternal Archives that was the core of the Elven SIN, the greatest secret of the high elves and the reason their kind was destroyed by the gods was because they had dabbed their fingers into what they shouldnt, breaking a taboo of the gods. Perhaps, only the Trinity of Creation who made all things were capable of explaining what divinity was. However, the only thing everyone could be sure about was that divinity were the essences and the very reason they are godsregardless if it was a god was born from faith or a god that naturally came to be, both deities possess divinity. That was also the exact reason why divinity was a taboo that applied for all gods: only another god was permitted to claim, assimilate or destroy a gods divinity (including Fire Thief, the antigod who surpassed legendary)! Any mortals who dared to covet a divinity would therefore be destroyed summarily. Be that as it may, the high elves technology is quite frightening their bounded field could block out the gods prying eyes, their magitek could hold divinity, and a Rule weapon like the Elven Sin itself It was exactly because of the threefold assurances with the Elven Sin being kept hidden, the sun bounded field that blocks out the gods eyes and the mysterious magitek container that holds divinity which kept that divinity from being stolen after over a thousand years. But now its mine! Xi Wei naturally wouldnt refuse good stuff sent to his doorsteps. Still, that would mean that the Eternal Archives could not be used as a dungeon now. How should he explain this to the Players (Ding!) (You have discovered the Eternal Archives and started the event quest for the next phase] [Remnant Glory of the High Elves] (After your brave adventure, the great God of Games has finally reached the core of the Elven SIN, the forbidden weapon built by the high elves. In that very instant, the Eternal Archives are being rewritten by the great God of Games, and the gallantly kind Players shall inherit the high elves heritage that stood over a thousand years. And yet, that action had sprung an ancient defense mechanism: The Mecha Giant which the Bodians, former slaves of the high elves secretly commissioned the dwarf king to create has awakened from its ancient slumber, and is bent on claiming control of the Elven SIN. This is the final battle of this event- before the great God of Games completely rewrites the Eternal Archives, do all you can to slow the giants advance!)(Quest reward: The ancient Mecha Giant is coming. Do what you can to snipe and obstruct it, and prevent the outer shell (tortoise colossus) of the Elven SIN from falling beneath 30% in durability over three hours. Quest is deemed a failure otherwise.] (Quest Reward: Certain amount of EXP, ranked contribution: top 100 Players would be awarded 1 to 3 random runes. In addition, top 10 Players would be awarded special rewards, top 30 Players would be awarded event limited items, top 50 Players would award event cans (awards random rewards when opened)] [Note: Good luck, my heroes-the God of Games] Edwards hunch is really correct! Joe couldnt help exclaiming excitedly after a glimpse through the new quest, before coming to a realization soon afterward. Wait, wheres Edward? Did he respawn? Nope. His HP isnt empty on the party page. Gou Dan said, calling forth the Player panel. But even if hes not dead, he would definitely fall to his death from up there Mufasa shrugged. Dont forget that there is fall damage. Everyone fell silent. Anyway, shouldnt we be heading outside? That Mecha Giant mentioned in the quest must be coming from out there. Princess Leah said, breaking the silence while everyone all showed their agreement. Hence, they teleported away, disappearing from Steel Earth even as several Players cried out oh no, a fireball falling from the sky killed Mister Marni! in surprise. Chapter 373: Anti-Mecha Strategy After receiving the last event quest, the Playersaside from the newbies helping old Meredith maintain order amongst survivors of Crookeshad gathered, and went off to bother the ancient Mecha Giant. The grandiose look they have seemed to say what do you mean, three hour-limit? Why cant we just destroy it?! And yet, when they encountered the Mecha Giant just twenty kilometers away, they were almost team-wiped instead. After all, supermassive enemies meant superior HP and Defense to the Players, along with their Rule Resistance that prevents them from taking turns casting control spells. Indeed, they were very much the worst opponents the Players could encounter. Still, the Players who had at least been cornered several times over the last few days were no longer a bumbling, blind and thickheaded crowd who only use their numbers and death toll to push for a win. Instead, they began to examine tactics and strategy. That pleased Xi Wei since he had definitely taken a wrong route early on. He had led his own believers along the path of a video game from Earth, even if his Players would fear nothing and would attack anything with a red name. Be that as it may, ever since he ascended as an intermediate god and had studied this world further, Xi Wei found that the still waters of this world run rather deep. Therefore, though his believers could be trained into courageous, dauntless Players, Xi Wei himself was not a peerless system so frequently depicted in novels or games, and getting full of themselves would only draw self-destruction. And after having weathered through the period of danger following his transmigration, the right choice now was to take a step back. Xi Wei should wait until his believers had all become overwhelmingly powerful, and becoming vigilantes who fought injustice, beating up evil gods and their minions to a pulp. Back to the matter at hand. Once the Players had realized that their waves of ultimate skills were only inflicting single-digit damage and did not affect its HP bar, all of them retreated immediately-not the scattered withdrawal as most ragtag bunch of armies would do, but following the decision of the leading Players when they decided that continuing to fight was meaningless. Although the spread-out formation looked similar to a fleeing pack of pigeons, it was merely because each blow of the Mecha Giant were AoE attacks and so that more of them would survive. After all, only automatons or undead had better more morale than them No wonder the quest only had us delay and obstruct it from causing too much damage to the tortoise. Edward sighed as he sat on his Blackfire Dragon. To think Ive thought that the quest is not that difficult I really did not think this through. And between the Blackfire Dragons talons, Joe we frowning. That thing is as tough as its powerful, and the damage we could do to it is pathetic. Even if it doesnt attack, we would have to focus our firepower for over ten days or even half a month to blow away its HP. Forget that it cant be stunned, put to sleep or poisoned. It cant be repelled or frozen-this is very troublesome. He truly is the God of Games. He had thought of the fifth stratum just when we saw the second! Edward praised devoutly. By the way, can you let us on the dragons back? Gou Dan, who was held between the dragons other leg had wind stream down his throat the moment he opened his mouth, and hence shouted at Edward who was sitting on the dragons back as hard as he could. My leather armor is not windproof, and my junior is about to get frozen off! Just turn off your senses, Edward suggested seriously, unaffected by the winds since Jessica had raised a shield over the dragons back. Theres no stopping junior getting froze off even if I turned off my sense! Gou Dan yelled, feeling as if he was a balloon having air pumped inside him. Let us up there! Sorry, full house. Edward refused regrettably. Wasnt it able to carry more people before!? Skill got nerfed after version update, Edward replied seriously once again. Who do you think youre fooling!? Frustrated, Gou Dans whole body was shaking from the chill. You are getting back at us because we left you to die with Mister Marni back on Steel Earth! Time is short. Red Eyes Black Dragonaccelerate! Edward pretended that he did not catch that and sped up. @# %%&* This time, Gou Dan couldnt even speak. He could only hope that his junior could work normally when they return to Crookes. Still, it didnt really matter even if it got frozen off. They were Players, and all they have to do was ruthlessly cut it off and down a bottle of cola, and it just might grow back Quit it with the nonsense. It feels like Im becoming stupider. Princess Leah, who was sitting behind Jessica on the dragons back sighed heavily, feeling helpless that the boys would still have the mood to fool around despite the sheer difficulty of their current quest. What should we be doing now, actually? Are we supposed to wait until it reached the tortoise colossus, while we buff the tortoise with shields, damage immunity and keep healing it to last the three hours? No. The tortoise colossus is a neutral unit so we cant heal it and that thing seems to be a huge magitek mechanism, so healing it might be a problem. Edward promptly rejected the Warrior Princesss suggestion. The Mecha Giant would react to our attacks, which is why attacking it to prompt its retaliation is the only way to slow it down. That said, its damage is so high and all of its attacks are AoE. Numbers wont work, but sending in one person at a time works. Sending people to take turns dying and buy time Princess Leah became thoughtful. But that wouldnt buy much time.While a suicide squad is certainly an idea when they were out of ideas, Leah was just a little uncomfortable about it. Moreover, now that the event had progressed thus far, the Players stores of revival items such as Resurrection Ankh were almost used up. They have to minimize deaths now. Dying is just a front, Edward replied, turning on the Player forums to upload an edited map. That thing only walks in straight lines, so its movement could be predicted! Since our attacks wont stop its advance, we just have to switch landscapes! You mean Leah stared at Edward in surprise. Thats right! We will have the Players who cant change the landscape to play the role of expendables and slow the giant down, while other players would dig a pitfall along the route of its advance! It most likely wont hold it since it could break the hole with just a few punches and create a path forward, but we can attack where its feet would land when it climbs, and knock it back inside the hole! As long as we take care not to be caught in its blows, we could send it dropping into the hole again and again. Edward then concluded in great spirits. Its not impossible for us to buy the God of Games three hours! Chapter 374: The Fate of the Diggers Since there was no class of Players specializing in the Earth element, their hole-digging basically depended on art (explosion). Moreover, even though the expendable team could delay the Mecha Giant for around half or one hour, relying on explosions in that bit of time could hardly dig out a pit that would hold a three-hundred-meter all behemoth. Furthermore, most explosion craters were bowled-shaped, which was very different from what was required to restrain or even cage the Mecha Giant. It was therefore fortunate that the Players above Level 40 were there. With a Skyfire Herald like Edward consuming all his Illum crystals so that his Blackfire Dragon was at maximum output, he could easily burn sand into glass, instantly heating things above 4500 degrees! In fact, when Xi Wei was designing the class of Skyfire Herald, he had wanted them to unleash heat reaching or even surpassing the 6000 degree Celsius of superheated flames. However, he soon realized that the little bit of Flame Authority which the First Flame provided was not enough, and he would either have to obtain more Flame Authority or claim a partial Authority of the Sun (or indeed the Authority of nuclear fusion) to reach such temperatures. Be that as it may, 4500 degrees was still enough to handle most objects. In fact, against certain mage shields, he could just steam the mage up even if his Blackfire Dragon could not penetrate the mages defenses Either way, superheating the ground to melt it and blast it away was much quicker than focused explosion on a fixed location. Additionally, the depth of the pit would be much deeper than a typical exploded pit. (Joe: Is the digging team done yet? We cant hold it any longer!] [Edward: Almost] (Joe: Hurry up I almost got touched by a shockwave that could have instakilled me!] (Edward: Cant you have your spirit familiar do the fighting, and keep your distance away from the giant?] (Joe: Wont work. My familiar has no range.] (Joe: Hurry up. We are almost wiped out here.] [Doug Ag: No choice. We, the second team is going out!] [Edward: Why is a long-ranged unit like you joining the fun?] [Doug Ag: That thing probably has an ability close to Protection of Arrows. Long-range attacks deal not much damage and wouldnt draw its attention] (Doug Ag: Since we cant help in the latter half of this quest, why not join the expendables and earn some contribution points] *** It was just before the expendables had all died out that Edwards construction team finally dug a pit to a barely-useable extent. In return, Edward estimated that he would start throwing up whenever he smelled the scent of cola. Its coming! With the roar from the Players just ahead, a ginormous hand reached out from behind a mountain, grabbed hold of it and leaving a massively visible print over its stone. And as the giant hand clenched, the ancient Mecha Giant slowly revealed itself from behind the mountain. Its horrific frame was much taller than normal mountains as it showed up once again before the Players sight with its overwhelming might! Everyone, fall back! Edward commanded. Long-range units, maintain the pressure and lure it here. Do your best to prevent it from noticing the crater in the ground to avoid any surprises! Although a thin layer of stone was used as camouflage, the Players were too pressed for time, and any intelligent creature would have sensed that something was wrong. Even so, despite the Players long-range attacks having no effect against the Mecha Giant of ancient times, its eyes or what was supposed to be its eyes were kept fixed on the Players, and it never noticed what was beneath its feet. Hence, when it stepped on one of the camouflaging rocks, its terrible weight left it slipping down the pit! Success! Edward and the others were clapping in celebration. Nonetheless, the pit was not too deep and half of the giants chest was exposed outside the pit. While the scene appeared rather funny, the hill size behemoth still prompted a sense of danger. Then, the Mecha Giant reached out to grab the edge of the pit, intent on mustering its strength to climb out. Now! Demolitions! At Edwards call, the edge of which the Mecha Giant had grabbed hold was immediately blasted off by the Players. Losing its grip, the Mecha Giant stumbled, its head smashing heavily on the edge of the pit, kicking up sand and stone in a roaring storm of dust, seemingly blocking out the sun and the stars. How is the target? Edward quickly asked. Its HP bar basically didnt change! A Player who braved death to stay near the pit reported. Tch! If it had been human, it would either have fainted or had its two front teeth knocked off. Even though Edward had no illusion that his tactic could destroy the Mecha Giant, it was still troubling that it was utterly meaningless against the behemoth. Forget it then. Dont try to hurt it-focus on its legs and dont let it climb out!Be that as it may, Edward quickly collected himself since that was expected. Moments later, following waves of rumbling, the Players at the frontlines reported in again. It is switching its response after we tripped it twice! It is destroying the pit walls now it is trying to punch out a ramp so that it just has to walk away! Then destroy the ramp! Edward calmly commanded since that was expected as well. Use every skill-explosion, frost, wall-breaking or even seafood and throw it at the pit! Dont let it get out no matter what happens! Hence, the Players persistent tactics became effective. After the Mecha Giant tangled with the Players for almost half an hour, it did nothing other than widening the pit by three times and making it comparable to a grand rift valley, and not once did the Mecha Giants attempt to climb out succeeded! Awesome! We got this in the bag! Having joined the demolitions team, Marni exclaimed cheerfully at the sight of the ancient Mecha Giant being foiled. While Gou Dan doesnt know what a death flag was, he sensed that something was wrong the moment he heard Marni say that. In his impression, whenever Marni said stuff like that, there would be At that very thought, Gou Dan rolled aside by instinct. What happened next proved his instincts right. His move saved his life! For in the next split second, the ancient Mecha Giant fired a red mana beam out of its mouth, directly piercing the edge of the pit and blasting away the Players obstructing it. The beam never slowed down either, and struck squarely on the tortoise colossus to the rear! All at once, the HP of the tortoise colossusthe objective which the Players were supposed to protect with their lives dropped by a visible notch! Chapter 375: The Confined Divinity Tch! So that thing has that up its sleeve! Watching as the battle spiraled uncontrollably from bad to worse, the usually elegant and nonchalant Edward could not help cursing in frustration. Dont panic! Its not like we cant do anything yet! Beside him, Princess Leah calmed him while reminding him, If even you start to fluster, the other Players definitely cant work together effectively. Indeed, while it was true that the Players had no limits to their morale, they were loose like a clump of sand without a singular command structure. And if they could not organize themselves, they were certainly no threat against the behemoth that was the Mecha Giant. Sorry, I lost my composure. Thanks to Leahs words, Edward calmed slightly and began to rack his brains to come up with something that could resolve the present disadvantageous situation. From the looks of the melted ground, the mana beam of the Mecha Giant must have converted mana into heat as an attack, unlike the pure mana devastation that the Pyrocrystal Cannons unleashed. Why would the Mecha Giant not attack like that before? Why did it only unleash it just now? Could it have been underestimating before, believing that using such an attack on ants like us was being extravagant? Just like how no one would strike a mosquito with a Presence of Mind plus Fireball combo, a wave of hand would be enough against such a thing that could not even be considered an enemy. Still, Edward soon eliminated that possibility. Wrong. This thing doesnt have self-awareness, just as it wouldnt belittle or underestimate foes, or it would not have fallen to our trap so easily just now Perhaps it would only attack with the mana beam when it was rendered immobile thanks to the movement module it has. Considering how powerful the mana beam is and how the Mecha Giant doesnt use it all that much, the beam must take a huge toll on it! Edward still remembered how the Players worked together to attack the tortoise colossus, only to barely scratch it after half a day. If the old man calling himself Eleenas grandfather did not blow up Crookes that stood over the tortoises back, the Players might still be locked in battle against the colossus. And yet, the Mecha Giant just now merely shot one hot beam and managed to cut down a huge chunk of the tortoise colossuss durability. The devastation was clearly horrific, but generally speaking, energy attacks such as beam or spells would always be proportional in cost to effect. The Mecha Giant would not usually use the beam because it costs a lot, and only unleashes it when it is constrained now that makes sense! With that being the case, what they have to do now was clear. Inform the other players to ready up fire-resistance potions and have Clerics buff the tanks with fire-evasion blessings. And check if Mister Marni is revived! If he is, get him to head toward the other direction of the tortoise colossus to check if he could draw the Mecha Giants attack! Having regained calmness, Edward primly issued new orders. Either way, any ideas to buy time was enough, and as long as his theory was right, there was a limit to how many times the Mecha Giant could use its beam. They just had to endure until the behemoth used up its ammunition, enters cooldown, and then the Players chance to win would increase greatly! And yet, before the tank Players could get into position, the Mecha Giant had unleashed another orange-red mana beam from underneath the pit once more, and it streaked toward the still tortoise colossus once more! Oh no! Edwards heart sank. The first beam had knocked off much of the tortoise colossuss durability. If this hits it again, its durability might drop beneath the quest requirement, and everyone would have to face the music of a failed quest Nonetheless, it was all too late. Edward could only watch as the beam bounded away from beneath the earth, shooting over the Players head toward the tortoise colossus! And yet, just as the beam was about to hit the tortoise colossus, a white radiant screen suddenly appeared and bluntly intercepted the beam that the Mecha Giant fired! Though cracks were appearing all over the screen, it eventually succeeded in withstanding the blast and saved the colossus. Its Eleena! Eleena is still there! Edward understood what happened after blanking out for the moment. After all, the first strike of the Mecha Giant had come too sudden. Eleena just couldnt have imagined that it could snipe the tortoise colossus from such a distant pit, and caught unawares, she allowed the tortoise colossus to eat the beam in full force. But having now prepared, Eleena directly stopped the enemys second strike! Although much of Eleenas mana was consumed in a single stroke, it still counted as a success. And it wasnt just Edwardthe other Players had immediately become excited, feeling as if they had caught the wind in their sails If the tiny Saintess could do it, we wouldnt fall too short! Hence, the Players rallied their courage, assuming their respective roles under Edwards command to buy more time for the God of Games. *** Not bad.With his Divine Eye, Xi Wei got an idea of what was happening in the mortal realm and could not help being pleased with his choice of followers. And I almost have an idea bout the divinity hidden in the Eternal Archives After so long, Xi Wei finally broke through the high elves restraints in the Eternal Archives and reached the divinity inside. Though absorbing it would take some time, Xi Wei could see some records that remained in the divinity despite the brief contact. It was a divinity belonging to Ogayo, the God of Flowers and Fertile Earth. Interestingly, the divinity had yet to vanish, meaning that there was no new God of Flowers and Fertile Ground in the current era. Therefore, instead of saying that the high elves had stolen a gods divinity, it was more that they had confined that divinity. Whatever that case may be, this thing is now mine. Xi Wei took the divinity with him, ready to absorb it when he had the time. While the God of Flowers and Fertile Ground was a lesser god and completely absorbing it wouldnt ascend him into a greater god, it could be considered a great supplement. Heaven knows when the Fourth Divine War would blow up, and having substantial divine power to strengthen his foundation was already good enough. And from the looks of the Divine Order of that divinity, its Authority would help Xi Wei with his shortcoming of farming. But before time, its time I make a move, Xi Wei said, flexing his tentacles. Or my believers would all die out Chapter 376: Event Conclusion Although Eleena had helped to defend the tortoise colossus, the Saintess-in-training was still only human, and she would never win against the ancient Mecha Giant in a direct confrontation. After all, the Mecha Giant was a titanic assassination weapon, designed solely to destroy a Rule weapon like the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN) in the first place! Aside from the fact that the tortoise had more or less lost some durability, Eleena herself had reached her own limit (having drunk too much cola and wanting a toilet break). The countdown is almost over! Were at the home stretch-lets keep going! Edward, who had just a fraction of his HP left harassed the Mecha Giant on his Blackfire Dragon, attempting to draw its attention but to little effect. It made sense if they thought about it. The Mecha Giant was not even bothered by Marnis Taunt-if it rather attack the tortoise while leaving Marni alive and kicking, it would definitely not be distracted by Edwards crude Taunt. Naturally, it was likely that having killed Marni once already left his metaphysical ability to draw hate ineffective Nonetheless, the other players who had survived until now mustered their spirit, intent on launching a final assault against their enemy and do what they could to slow the tortoise colossus. And yet, that excessive emphasis on defense and baiting left them neglecting a more serious problem. Just as everyone kept their eyes on the head of the Mecha Giant to guard against its mana beam, it suddenly extended both its hands and stabbed them heavily into the walls of the pit! Oh, no! Its trying to climb out! Demolitions! Edward yelled. Having overseen the entire battle from overhead, he promptly knew that things had gone awry. We dont have a demolitions squad for a long time! Leah, the Warrior Princess who had been buffing the other Players reminded him loudly. They were too close to the pit, and were all dead half an hour ago! Tch! Why does it have to be now! Nonetheless, Edward hesitated for a split second before making up his mind. Steering the Blackfire Dragon toward the Mecha Giant, he attacked one of the hands that the behemoth had stabbed inside the stone wall without regard for self-preservation. The Blackfire Dragon promptly burst apart as a scorching red lotus, shattering the stone wall and knocking the Mecha Giants hand off the ground and the behemoth itself off balance, leaving it about to stumble and fall. That was the second phase attack of the Skyfire Heralds Red Eyes Dark Dragoon Blast -a blow more devastating than the Blackfire Dragon that would increase in power if the Player was riding it. Naturally, the player could choose not to ride it while having the Blackfire Dragon blow itself up. However, that would leave the Skyfire Heralds blue bar (known as a Blaze Bar after class change) in a meltdown state, and they would not be able to use any mana-consuming skills for a short time, reducing them to a cripple who could only use normal attacks. Revive! Jessica casted her last revive spell which she had charged for some time on Edward, bringing him back to life. Did it work? Even before Edward could offer his thanks for being resurrected, he had already turned toward the Mecha Giant. He hence watched as the Mecha Giant suddenly extended a third hand from its back when it was just about to drop into the pit once more, firmly gripping the edge of the pit and holding itself steady before climbing out with a burst of strength! Damn it! That damn thing had another trick up its sleeve! Edward couldnt help cursing. No. It wouldnt have been restrained for so long if it only had one hand. Thats a new limb it grew to free itself in that short time! Princess Leah said while watching the Mecha Giant warily. Theres no other way to stop it now. We wouldnt have the time to build a new pit Its fine. Princess Leah shook her head then. Just as Edward thought that she had an idea, the girl merely smiled. Times up! Thanks to her reminder, Edward quickly turned on his System pageand found that the quest event was indeed accomplished. Still, it puzzles him that the tortoise colossus did not change. Looking up, the Mecha Giant fired another scarlet beam at the tortoise colossus! Eleena hurriedly raised her meteor hammer to raise a shield, but something reacted quicker than her. The two Pyrocrystal Cannons on both sides of the tortoise rapidly changed directions and fired a barrage. The beams from the two behemoths hence collided, nullifying each other with one terrific explosion. The Mecha Giant slowly advanced, however, seemingly intent on physically attacking the tortoise colossus. At the same time, the two Pyrocrystal Cannons of the tortoise colossus turned backward for some reason. Then, its head started to crack apart as the shell over tortoises head peeled off starting from the mouth, until the final layer spreads out like a blossoming flower, revealing a dark, cavernous and gigantic barrel! But for some reason, Edward felt his crotch hurting somewhat at the sight of that and couldnt help crossing his thighs Meanwhile, although the Mecha Giant appeared to move very slow, each step was several hundred meters, and it soon covered the gap between itself and the tortoise colossus. By now, a new structure had grown out of its third hand: it was a rapidly whirling chainsaw, a frightening weapon with blade blazing with searing mana! CdOrdinary ramparts were paper-thin against the Mecha Giant now! But just when the Mecha Giant was about to attack the tortoise colossus, the tortoise head cannon fired. In that single instant, Edward felt his eyes burn as if scorched by light, and the world seemed to lose all voice and color, with everything reduced to a distorted sight of black and white, weaved together. There was no explosion, shockwave, or gust. When Edwards sight returned to normal, the Mecha Giant which never lost more than a fraction of its HP despite the Players barrages was gone, with only a black cloud of dust left where it was that dispersed when the wind blew. After that, the Pyrocrystal Cannons aimed at the back ejected scorching white steam with a poof, as if it was dispersing the heat from the main cannon. Mysterious particles shining in various colors were left in the air, with fragments of illum Crystals in the mix And that announced one ding to the Players. The Elven SIN: Ancient Atrocities event formally concludes! Chapter 377: The Players Turf Xi Wei hurriedly moved his tentacles to control the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN) and stop it. Although he knew from the start that it was an anti-world weapon powered by diviner power, he realized that he had still underestimated the power of the Elven SIN after actually activating it. And he certainly did not expect that the tracer beams which calibrated the main cannons could instantly destroy the ancient Mecha Giant, which was built by the Dwarven King of the last era! Indeed, the horrific cannon blast which the Players saw easily vanquished the Mecha Giant was actually the Elven SINs tracer beams, used for adjust the main cannons aim the actual main cannons were charging and had yet to fire! Still, it made sense if one thought about it. Just as its name suggests, anti-world weapons were armaments designed to fight other planes. Like how galactic-scale weapons would not be used within the atmosphere, the Elven SIN certainly would not be used to attack something within the same weapon. It was even possible for the Tracer Beam to pierce the World Barrier at full power, shooting toward another targeted plane up int the Void. There was no telling where the former Dwarven King got the confidence that some Mecha Giant alone was enough to claim control over the Elven Sin. Even though both creations were at the class of Wonders, there was an insurmountable gap between the technology of both sides, and it was no different from pitting an arrow against an intercontinental ballistic missile Naturally, such a powerful weapon was not without its flaws-after just that tiny bit of firing just now had cost much of Xi Weis divine power. To put it in more understandable units, it was probably the amount of divine energy used to revive Marni over a thousand times. If he really did fire the main cannons, even an Intermediate God like Xi Wei (whose stores of divine power was on the side of lesser) would find it taxing Still, Xi Wei was quite pleased with the weapon he acquired. Right, since this thing is now mine, theres no need to keep calling it Elven SIN now With that in mind, Xi Wei pulled out his Pantheon Computer and spread his tentacles to clack away on the keyboard. *** The earth shook, and a terrible rumble echoed in the air. Hence, all the Players who were just finished with the (Elven Sin-Ancient Atrocities] event and were looking for a place to hold a feast looked blankly around them. What happened?! Nervous, Marni promptly summoned his spirit familiar. It took him great difficulty to survive until the end of the event, and he is now afraid that some boulder flying out of nowhere would smash and kill him. Look! Its Crookes! The sharp-eyed Edward immediately found the cause of the anomaly. Or as I should say, the tortoise colossus! Everyone looked towards the direction he was pointing and found that the tortoise which carried a small mountain and a city was slowly withdrawing its limbs into the Faint Crystal Stratum. Its body, however, did not drop to the ground. It hovered in the air and slowly drifted to a higher location, where it could only be found if one looked up to the clouds. Moreover, the ruins of the city over its back began to change as well. Endless bricks, boulders, clay, and illum crystals began to gather under the influence of an invisible strength, and eventually formed a profound castle. The castle was probably half the former size of Crookes, but it stood higher than the hill near it. With the pinnacle of the hill and the top of the castle within sight of each other, they had the majestic splendor of twin peaks. Hence, as the Players and the survivors of Crookes looked on in astonishment, the tortoise colossus had taken the shape of a floating castle city. And unlike the survivors of Crookes, the Players soon received messages from the System. (Ding] [New game version (Omens of Cataclysm) is now online] [New Player turf-Sky Horizon: Gaim] [Only Players (Believers of the God of Games) may teleport into Gaim via lifestones from other cities] [Final Battle Weapon added: Blade of Reason (Main cannons of Elven SIN)] [Auxiliary Weapon added: Sky Sparks (Pyrocrystal Cannons used for aerial carpet bombing)] [Auxiliary Weapon added: Tengai Shinsei (Crashes Sky Horizon City down on targetuse with care)] [New building added: automaton atelier (crippled)] [New building added: Faith Core (provides power to Gaim through consumption divine energy)] [New building added: ball-shaped idol (Partially stores divine energy, works as a fuel silo)] (Click here for more details on new buildings] *** [New building added: The Roundtable Council of Twelve-Court of the Chosen] (The Roundtable Council shares all authority over Gaim, the Sky Horizon, including and not limited to the mobile city itself, activation of the Blade of Reason, the construction of new facilities as well as the dismantling or renovation of existing facilities. The title of Roundtable Knights are awarded to the twelve (and only twelve) seats in the council who take part in decision making.) (Seats of the Roundtable Knights: Each seat is only awarded to Players whose faith has reached certain heights. Each individual Player may only hold 1 seat at any given time, and no chosen vassals are allowed to take part in the council. Seats would be reevaluated as each season concludes.) [Knight of Nobility: The seat of the head/ pontiff of the Church of Games. Vacant.] [Knight of Sanctity: The seat of the Saintess or any of her successors, currently held by Player Eleena Meredith.] [Knight of Purity: The seat of the Warrior Princess or any her successors (non-hereditary), the inheritance ceremony of which shall be observed under the witness of the God of Games. Currently held by Player Leah Yakaran.) [Knight of Unity: Seat of the Player with most votes in election held for each season. Vacant](Knight of Order: Seat of the Player with most moral points in the previous season. Vacant) [Knight of Diligence: Seat of the Player with the most contribution points in the previous season. Vacant) (Knight of Establishment: Seat of the Player with most fief points in the previous season. Currently held by Player Angora Faust.) [Knight of Bravery: Seat of the Player with the highest general combat ability in the previous season. Currently held by Player Mufasa Lyon.] [Knight of Abundance: Seat of the Player with the highest general combat ability in the previous season. Currently held by Player Marni Wilf.) (Knight of Pioneering: Seat of the Player with the highest exploration points in the previous season. Currently held by Player Zonyan Grayclaw.] (Knight of Hundred Battles: Seat of the Player with the highest numbers of battles in the previous season. Currently held by Player Edward Kennington.) (Knight of Humility: A random Player who meets all basic requirements chosen at random by the God of Games, changed every season. Currently held by Player Terrosche.] [Note: Though you have come from different places and hold different ideas, goals, and dreams, commence the Roundtable Council as the best of Players under my witness for the future of all Players!the God of Games] Chapter 378: Believers Who Do Not Want to Be Knights Are Not Good Players Caius was a warrior who had awakened combat aura and possessed some degree of accomplishment. That meant that he could skip the interview to become a pastor if he went to the Temple of Glory, or a priest in a more remote location. Even so, a stable job like that did not mean great rewards, not to mention that the daily life was dull and repetitive. Clearly, that was not a life that Caius would want after awakening his combat aura. After all, once most people had gained supernatural powers, their mental state seemed to bloat and become dissatisfied with present circumstances. They would yearn a life of adventure for excitement and new experiences, imagining that they would suddenly get rich by exploring ruins or slaying magical beasts. It was the same for Caius too. And the northern border of the Valla Empire was no doubt the most popular place for exploration. To name a few, there was a mysterious religion with a strong background and profound power to hold a major event like the Twin City Cup; the wood elves who were recently beginning to reveal themselves to humans after a long seclusion; the undead dragon that rocked mountains and earth that appeared as suddenly as it vanished, the fishmen island that was said to land from the skies, hill-sized giants that easily crushed an entire army, as well as rumors of the recent appearance of a city of fantasy, said to hover in the skies The word treasure seemed to look within every rumor, and it was enough to prick the nerves of adventures and draw them all towards Northern Valla. And yet, for some reason, magical beasts were suddenly increasing in numbers at the various frontiers of the Valla Empire or indeed all over the country and the regions around it. Many adventurers who proved lacking were therefore advised to withdraw, with some already ended up as snacks of magical beasts even before they set foot within Valla borders. And yet, that danger did not stop the adventurers and made them even more excited instead. The reason for that was simple: Do you think you are heading towards treasure if there was nothing standing in your way? As such, adventurers who were confident in their own ability began to swarm towards the Valla Empire. That naturally left the border magistrates on their toes, believing that the nearby countries could no longer hold back and was about to invade Valla what with their unstable state of affairs And Caius was one such swarming adventurer. Although he was not too far-reaching the level of superhuman, his combat strength was already quite good and he was naturally confident in his skills. In the end, the treasure which all adventurers seek was never assured to fall into the hands of the strong. Movement, observation, and luck were quite important too. And most importantly, the confidence of who-else-other-than-me-could-achieve-th at! That was why Caius was about to die now. Why would a Scorptail Ape show up here!? While the name Scorptail Ape sounded like a species of ape, it was in fact a hellspawn with some extent of demonic bloodline. Its appearance resembled a giant bipedal lizard that stood over one point two meters tall, with sharp spikes growing over its back and a tail that was twice the length of its body, the tip of which was dark-red stinger resembling a poison stinger. Still, they were not as dangerous as most hellspawn, which was why not one church was sending people to cull them, leaving them to spread in the remote locations on the continent. The problem was that although Scorptail Apes were a minor species amongst magical beasts and could lose an actual beast such as the Dragonfang, they were pack animals. Moreover, the most important reason that put them in the category of magical beast was the stinger on their tails that could shoot venomous needles. Those needles were not actually solid but a pseudo-magic, although it was not too toxic that it merely paralyzes human-sized prey for a moment. That being said, there would at least be five Scorptail Apes even in the smallest of packs (Their kind would have been easily wiped out by stronger beasts or magical beast), and typically moved around in flocks of up to a hundred! As such, although poison needles from a single Scorptail Ape were very weak, having more shot at you meant trouble. It was just like the Earth saying, the dose makes the poison: once the amount increases, even clear water could drown you And despite being a warrior who had awakened combat aura who could hold his own against up to five Scorptail Apes, the group which Caius had run into was a midsized tribe, with up to fifty of them. Hes dead if they closed in on him, and the Scorptail Apes just had to shoot him to death with their poison needles even if they did not attack with their limbs. Oh no, its a cliff ahead! Having lost his way in the jungle, Caius suddenly realized he had nowhere to run. Those damned Scorptail Apes chased me here knowing that theres a cliff! He turned, ashen-faced while holding his sword against the Scorptail Apes that had surrounded him. Just as their tail stingers began to glint in a dark-red light which would kill Caius with the pain of a thousand needles, a dog suddenly leaped out of a bush, knocking down one of the Scorptail Apes and throwing the rest into confusion. Soon, a blue streak of light shot out from deep in the jungle, hitting the ground and materializing the silhouette of a massive sea monster that looked like a sealion, chomping and crashing into the swarm of Scorptail Apes. The poison needles that the Scorptail Apes were so proud of were useless against the sea monster-in fact, the creature appeared to become even more excited. Knowing that their advantage was lost, the Scorptail Apes turned and attempted to run, but that was already too late!A young man with a sword leapt out of the bushes, yelling Demacia and slashing down wildly after stunning the monsters. Who cares if there was any damage? He had plenty of vigor. And soon enough, every last Scorptail Ape was slain by one human and one dog. It was only then that Caius realized that he had been saved. Thanks for the help, young man but who are you? He couldnt help asking. Before he got too close, however, the silhouette of the massive sea monster and the dog turned to stare at him, keeping him from doing anything reckless. Nonetheless, the youth answered casually, Just a Player passing by. That was when another youth dressed like a mage came out of the nearby thicket and said, Two Players, to be precise. What do you want? Caius gulped even as he looked at the leering silhouette of the sea monster, remembering how it had easily killed dozens of Scorptail Apes. We can talk about this Fear not, were not the good guys I mean, were not the bad guys. We just wanted to ask you about something. The young mage smiled. After all, we want to earn more exploration points to get the Pioneering Seat next season. Chapter 379: Your Information is Too Outdated After the Gaim: the Sky Horizon and the Players turf was finished, Xi Wei had also set up several weird, experimental facilities. One of them was the bulletin board which was separate from the Players quest page, posted with quests that Xi Wei was counting on the Players to accomplish. And at the moment, one of the more rewarding quests was the investigation of the ancient Mecha Giants origins. After all, that things weight had been out there for all to see: it was not difficult to trace its footsteps when it was leaving a crater every few hundred meters. In comparison, the quest to investigate the origins of the undead high elf was less popular even though the reward was equally generous. That was also the reason why once a clue was found and the quest to investigate the undead high elf was accomplished, the Player who took the quest would be able to claim all the rewards. That was why Terry and Jom eventually decided on that quest after talking about it. Leonginet was a small town in the Tegrono Federation, beyond the borders of the Valla Empire. After rescuing the adventurer named Caius sheerly by chance, the older adventurer decided to put his journey to the Valla Empire on hold, leading his two saviors (and one dog) to the border town. Caius had assumed that Terry and Jom had come after hearing about the rumors regarding the Valla Empire. However, he did not think that they would be uninterested in the Valla Empire, and instead asked about any rumors of weird undead creatures recently. Im sorry, but there was no word on such incidents recently even the Valley of the Tragic Dead which usually sees much undead activity has been very quiet this year The adventurer who managed to escape his life told the two youths earnestly in a tavern within Leonginet. He carefully studied the two youths who had clearly grew past their teenage years recently, and could not help adding, It has been years since there was a plague of undead. Many nations had even withdrawn their policies that reward hunting undead, and there would not be much profit even if you bet your life to destroy some of the stronger ones. According to what I know, some of the famous undead hunters had even changed jobs to become bounty hunters! When he saw the thoughtful looks on his two saviors faces, Caius tried even harder and continued, Compare to that, it is better if you pin your hopes on Valla! Terry, who had been gnawing at a chickens leg looked up, but Jom stopped him with a look just when he was about to say that they had come from the Valla Empire. Whats with Valla? Jom then asked nonchalantly. Thats what Ive been telling you. Theres a great deal of things happening in Valla recently! Joms question appeared to have scratched Caiuss itch, and he began to speak with a lively tone, First off, theres that mysterious competition called the Twin City Cup. Its said that the victory could obtain the blessings of the gods, earning them power to match dragons! Jom looked puzzled. He naturally knows about the Twin City Cup -in fact, he had managed to reach the Third Round of the tourney. That being said, although the rewards of the tourney had indeed been fantastic, it was an exaggeration to say that anything won there could match a dragon. As a matter of fact, Mufasa, the champion of the tourney had his butt handed to him both against the tortoise colossus and the Mecha Giant There was certainly no telling how word of the Twin City Cup had become so distorted when it spreads to foreign soil. And then there are the wood elves who are making their return! They had not left Trinia for hundreds of years, but for them to come back to the humans realm with such timing it has to be because of the wood elves greatest treasure! Caius had a look of utter admiration just then the average wood elf was far stronger than humans, and something that was a treasure to them would be even more precious to humans. If anyone could find it, they wouldnt have to worry about the latter half of their lives! I see do you know what the wood elves greatest treasure is, then? Jom asked. Oh, how am I supposed to know that? Caius answered matter-of-factly. But since it is the greatest treasure, it must be something anyone would recognize when they see it, such as a sacred crystal that shines in rainbow colors, or some pure origin stone which had been cleansed of inner evils! Regrettably, your guess is completely wrong. Having some insider information, Jom watched Caius without a wordthis man would not recognize a thing even if the wood elves greatest treasure were to be placed right in front of him. Moreover, the reason the wood elves would appear before humans was only because the Church of Games success in claiming control over the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation, in turn remolding it into Gaim, the Players turf. And that in turn slowly changed the mindsets of the wood elves in spite of preexisting enmities. Even though they would still look down on humans as usually, most of them now recognized that the Players are beings whom even the high elves acknowledge. They were certainly no longer upset when younger elves who thought well of Players would group up with them too. By the way, speaking of undead, it seems that there were rumors of an undead dragon in Valla. That said, it had been some time since the rumors circulated, and I believe that it was nothing but a hoax since there had been no continuation. Caius then continued on to other rumors, with Terry and Jom keeping a straight face as they let him talk-especially since they had personally experienced that particular event. Then, there is that giant machine that left the world shaking in its wake which had a large group of Players retracing its footsteps, and it wouldnt mean a thing even if Jom and Terry joined them now And a mysterious city above the clouds! We just got off that city Hence, Terry and Jom traded glances. Could this man have no useful information aside from outdated details of the Church of Games recent events? At that very thought, Joms interest waned, whereas Terry threw his chicken bone down to Pikes beneath their table out of boredom. That was when the tavern door opened, and a lady wearing heavy armor stood appeared with several knights wearing the same armor in tow. The style of those armors looked like it belonged to the Valla Empire instead of the Tegrono Federation. Federation citizens in the tavern were certainly nervous for a group like this to show up at Leonginet, a town within the borders of Tegrono, fearful that the newly coronated emperor with a terrible temper was about to invade the federation. Still, others such as Caius were quite calm. He whispered to Terry and Jom then, That ladys name is Kristina. Shes a Scepter of the Temple of Glory, although her jurisdiction is in the Valla Empire and she usually wouldnt come to these lands. Its said that she is leading her group in their search for an extremely dangerous magical beast but gossip had it that their target is no beast but a high elf! There was a glint in Joms eyes at those words. Finally, a useful clue. Chapter 380: Youre In Trouble! After claiming control over the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN), Xi Wei was playing with it without restraint like a child who just got his hands on a beloved toy. To put it in Xi Weis own words, a fantasy world without floating island or hanging cities are hamburgers without lettuce-once that was accomplished, he found that he had gained some extent of Authority connected to skies. He thought about it, and decided that Gaim taking to the air was perhaps a sign that his believers had been free from the shackles of the earth, and as such gained Authority in that aspect. While there was not telling if that was the actual case, gaining some Authority out of nowhere was not bad. In fact, Xi Wei was very thrilled. It was worth mentioning that Zothor, the God of Sky and Thunder and one of the Seven Divine Fathers held the Authority over the skies. There was no telling it he sensed that Xi Wei had stolen a part of his Authority If he counted the Earthweaver and the Prince of Darkness, the number of Divine Fathers whom Xi Wei had crossed was now three, and it would be more than half if he crossed another Be that as it may, since the debts had piled up and there was no quick removal for them anyway, Xi Wei left that matter out of sight and out of mind. After all, he intended to push on before the other gods realized what he was doing, and improve his powers as best as he could. By the way, the divinity of Ogayo, the God of Flowers and Fertile Earth whose divinity I claimed had some Earth Authority. Add that to the little bit of Sky Authority thanks to Gaim, doesnt that mean I hold Authority over both sky and earth?. While that bit of Authority was not significant in actual terms, Xi Wei nonetheless cheerfully designed new classes based on his Authority on those aspects. Aside from that, Eleenas performance in the Elven SIN event had been remarkable and very worthy of praise, and she did not let down Xi Weis hopes in picking her as his Saintess-in-training. Since she had shown growth and was no longer the little loli who only sucks on lollipops, it was about time Xi Wei design a trial with her in mind, so that she could formally be promoted as the Saintess of the Church of Games. After all, the presence of a high-ranked cleric in a church greatly affects the unity of the church itself. And with Xi Wei having no intentions of choosing a pope, having a Saintess would firmly keep his believers in line. In addition, the Saintess could act as the Church of Games banner, so that the Players would know whom they should listen when they need to work together Its also worth mentioning here that Xi Wei had considered whether he should change the name of the Church of Games to the Church of Gaim since the former was too simple and directif they were going to work together or fight other churches, the other side would immediately know that they were dealing with Xi Weis believers once the Church of Games was mentioned. That would be alright if Xi Wei was a boss on the level of the Seven Heavenly Fathers, but he was just an Intermediate God right now. His reputation alone was far from the level of putting fear in his adversaries with just a mentioning. But after some hesitation, Xi Wei decided to drop the idea. First off, the Church of Games had a certain extent of protection. Just like how many other churches would underestimate the believers of Grimundthe God of Travels and Arts, they would not be aware that Grimund was quite formidable in divine power. Likewise, while the Church of Games sounded curiously weak, the Players could use the advantage of enemies underestimating and easily defeat them. In fact, they had a chance to turn the tables even if the odds were against them. How wonderful would that be? And with no popes or bishop to handle miscellaneous matters, using the forums or the System notifications to indicate that their church was changing names had a weirdly childish sense to it. That was why changing names would have to wait until Xi Wei had screened through a pope. Still, compared to Eleena, Leahs performance in this event is a little poorer. Though both of them were special-classes, Eleena, who had always gone on adventures with Edward and the others had long since surpassed first-rate as the Saintess-in-training, becoming the strongest Player in the truest sense of the term. Although Leah, the Warrior Princess was quite diligent, she was excessively protected by Old Vanke and the other Tierra remnants to the point that her combat instincts had degraded considerably compared to the time when Xi Wei had first met her. Her performance did not excel even when she was pitted against normal Players like Edward who had no special abilities, which left Xi Wei rather disappointed. If this went on, how long would they have to wait before they could rebuild Tierra, a nation for the Players? Should I directly provide guidance by assigning a main quest? Xi Wei mused, scratching a spot that was probably his chin The current average level of the Players had increased. Unless there was a doubling or tripling of Players within a short time, the Players overall ability had arrived upon a bottleneck. Apart from Players who only develop their Life Skills, most Players were now quite formidable. They were now not a power to be ignored even when ranked across the continent. And with the creation of Gaim which provides the Players a route of escape, the last bit of hidden worry was resolved. If Xi Wei was not careful about the three Divine Fathers that might hold a grudge against him and afraid that the players would draw enough of their attention to get to him from across thousands of miles and blow him up, Xi Wei would long since had his Players go on an age of conquest Either way, we should stay discreet. Lets start with recruitment and resource gathering -a god from Hua Xia at least understands the fundamentals of increasing stockpile of food resources. As for Zonyan, it is time to conquer the Grayclaw tribe so that the Players could settle down and build a base to explore new frontiers. While the Long Ears tribe would survive, they still remain in poverty-stricken with no good crop yields nearby. That was why most Players were not bothered to go to them after heading there once or twice. After all, the most useful thing about the Western Continent had right now was the seafood of the Dark Tidal Coast, but even that was lacking compared to the scrumptiousness and freshness of Gray Fjord Cape seafood. Moreover, the frogmen who lived by the seaside for generations were much better than the rabbitfolk at cooking seafood Therefore, the Vierlin Plains where the Grayclaw tribe dwells would make a much better base for the Players. From that perspective, Xi Wei realized that he had much to do at the moment. Just as he pulled out the Pantheon Computer, and began thinking what rewards he should motivate the Players with or the wording of his various quests, the divine power surveillance placed outside his divine kingdom suddenly surged when he typed away. It was Aslan, the Great Lion. Not quite an unfamiliar guest. Why would the lion come here? Xi Wei mumbled with suspicion while disabling the divine-powered traps he put in place. Then, when Aslan eventually, entered his divine kingdom he immediately barked, Xi Wei, youre in trouble! Chapter 381: Someone Is Here With A Bone To Pick At first, the Great Lion had scared Xi Wei into rolling three times, believing that the Thor oh wait, I mean a Divine Father had come calling Still, he soon calmed down since things did not appear that bad from the look of how the Great Lion was reacting. Indeed, if something like that had happened, Aslan probably wouldnt have the mood to joke around with Xi Wei. So, what happened? Xi Wei asked. I thought you would be more frightened Aslan sighed unhappily, with his woolly feline face showing a look of thats it?. Im very busy. Go to the other gods of the Invisible Pantheon if you want someone to joke with. Xi Wei was even sure that there was nothing important when he saw that reaction. Well, it really isnt anything important, although the Lord of the Peaks is claiming that your believers had killed his flock, and that you have stolen a treasure he had his eyes on in the mortal realm. Aslan found a rather clean spot in Xi Weis messy divine kingdom then and sprawled over it like a really big cat, speaking lazily while licking his fur. Rubbish! Xi Wei flailed his tentacles in frustration. I admit I killed his flock, but thats a lie about stealing his treasure! After all, the Players had definitely killed an adult Barren Giant. Though that was nothing major, the grudge had already taken form. Xi Wei had been a noob god at the time who only dared to hide behind the Great Lion, fearful that the Lord of the Peaks would come for blood. Moreover, the Lord of the Peaks did have a Greater God backing him in the Earthweaver, who was also one of the Seven Divine Fathers. Still, Xi Wei was relieved since he did not take action for a long time. It made sense when he thought about it. Even though the Barren Giants were rare, there were at least thousands of them in the multi planes-it was like a nursery, and no one would notice one or two missing if they didnt deliberately make count. Furthermore, it was the Players themselves who had beaten up that one Barren Giant from start to finish, with Xi Wei at most giving its body a bondage and leg-spreading session, allowing the creature to use up its lingering warmth As for the treasure or whatnot, that was complete nonsense. The treasures of mortals were not even a strand of hair to the gods, for what treasure is down there that a god would covet? But while Xi Wei voiced his opinion vindictively, the Great Lion yawned lazily beside him. No, there is a treasure didnt you get a new toy recently? Are you saying that he had his eyes on the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN)? Xi Wei did a double take, only realizing then he indeed acquired a masterpiece created by mortal beings that was formidable in the divine realm. Others aside, the divinity hidden in the SIN core alone would leave most gods drooling. To be precise, the Lord of the Peaks had his followers searching all along but didnt even get a whiff after over a thousand years. The Great Lion made a good-natured mocking face then, which could have been ridiculing the noob that was either the Lord of the Peaks or his believers. He had been throwing his weight around by mentioning Earthweavers name and never once managed his own church. Thats more or less how he would end up anyway. At first, Xi Wei had wanted to remind the Great Lion that he had few believers too, as well as the number one for years in losing believers. Nonetheless, Xi Wei shut up tamely when he remembered how shady people were left fearful of showing up in the open, afraid that they would be put on the list of judgment and be pursued relentlessly by the believers from the Church of Justice. Aslans church might have few believers and a high percentage in death and conversion, but those believers were extremely active! Even if the Temple of Justice did not even have a tenth of the Temple of Glorys number of believers, their reputation was not that weak compared to the Temple of Glory. Moreover, whenever the peasants run into trouble, the first thing they remember would never be their own church but the believers of the Temple of Glory. Such was the reputation that Aslan, the God of Justice and his believers had developed over a thousand years. So, what does that dude want? A fight? Xi Wei asked. Having developed recently as well as absorbed the divinity in the Elven SIN, Xi Weis divine power had developed sufficiently even if he had not ascended beyond the level of Intermediate Gods, his divinity having solidified considerably. If they had to fight, Xi Wei would not fear the Lord of the Peaks as long as he did not bring his sugar daddy into the fight. The Lord of the Peaks is all talk while you lack vitality. A fight between you two would be interesting. After all, the Great Lion was aware that Xi Wei often used his divine power to improve his believers ability or forged some bizarre items for them. That was why he was definitely lacking in vitality from a certain perspective, given that he had less divine energy stored compared to other gods of the same level. Sadly, however, that would not fly. The Great Lion then make an X with its two front limbs. Things are jumpy around the divine realm at the moment, and to tell the truth, it only takes a spark to kick off the Fourth Divine War. If you two start a loud, banging war, some of the other easily excitable gods would get excited, the Great Lion explained when Xi Wei was left puzzled. That would blow up the current situation and directly cause the Fourth Divine War there might be no telling how this one would end, but as the initiators of the war, the two of you would be targeted by other gods during the early stage of the war. If theres no physical fighting, then how about a battle of wits? Xi Weis tentacles were flailing even quicker, indicating that he, a transmigrator who suffered through nine toxic years of mandatory education feared nothing about that. Im good at that, whether it is a couplet battle or a trivia battle heck, even physics and biology quizzes work! Come at me, Lord of the Peaks! The heck are you on about. It was clear that this otherworld had no such thing as a battle of wits, and so Aslan was looking at Xi Wei (who now looked like a jellyfish) like an idiot. Anyway, when the gods cant fight directly, they naturally would compete in believers. Huh? Xi Wei did a double take, his tentacles tangling in a bunch and even tying a butterfly knot by instinct. The Lord of the Peaks sent a neutral god who in turn approached me, The Great Lion spoke with a look that said the Lannisters send their regards. It seems that the Lord of the Peaks intends to launch a siege on that toy of yours. Its his defeat if your believers could defend your turf and all grudge before is resolved, but that toy would become his if your believers fail to defend it. Xi Wei scratched his ball form, finding the Lord of the Peaks a simp just then. The Sky Horizon was really proving troublesome, what with his opponent intending to conquer it without so much as a greeting. But since it was clear that the enemy was at the gates, are the Players supposed to just lose their turf? Moreover, Grim was itself an anti-world weapon with supreme abilities. At that thought, Xi Wei had gained assurance inwardly but still pretended as if he was in great trouble. The odds are not in my favor. Cant you talk to him a bit, to see if its possible to Chapter 382: Event Announcement After seeing off the Great Lion, Xi Wei started to prepare against the impending assault by the Lord of the Peaks believers. He removed some of the strategies he had drawn up beforehand, adding new plans for the time being. Still, Xi Wei was quite relaxed when it came to the Players. Just as the Great Lion had put itwhile the Lord of the Peaks was no evil god, he was not fervent in developing his own believers since he could borrow the Earthweavers divine power. With that being the case, the believers of the Lord of the Peaks could not share much Divine Grace. The upper boundary of his churchs strength was not exactly high, and was one of the Earth Authority religion that disparaged that faction itself. Moreover, he did not have a champion, and the average strength of his believers was on the weaker side. Although the Players were still resting and recuperating, they now have Gaim to rely on as well as more Players improving beyond level 50. For them who had gone through all kinds of terrible battles by now, the believers of the Lord of the Peaks were only a side dish a welfare character in between events. Aside from betting with what the Lord of the Peaks mentioned, Xi Wei had also insisted that they increase their bet by adding fifty percent of their respective Authority. In other words, whoever between them loses would also drop down from the rank of Intermediate Gods, whereas the victor would basically take their place through a snowball advantage. Of course, Xi Wei believed that someone like the Lord of the Peaks was one who would shy from big deals but fall over himself to claim tiny profits. He would never dare to raise the bets, which was why he told Aslan that the lowest bet would be 20% of their respective divinities. Even if Xi Wei would lose, he could just hand over the divinity of Ogayou, the God of Flowers and Fertile Earth-in other words, the divinity he found in the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN), and he would stay completely unaffected. If Xi Wei wins, he would at least get one-fifth of the Lord of the Peaks divinity. That could prepare him well after he fully ingested it, allowing him to understand the key in breaking the shackles of Intermediate and rise as a Greater God. When that time comes and even if a divine war truly ignites, not only would Xi Wei be able to protect himself, he could even try to exploit it and secure some profit for himself. But its no good if we go on a slaughter. Since we are going to deliver some profit, Ill just have to increase the difficulty taking an enemy hostage would be rewarded five times better than killing an enemy. That should do it. Xi Wei might not be a holy maiden, but the Lord of the Peaks is still a god on the side of justice, not to mention that he was backed by Earthweaver, one of the Divine Fathers. Even if he had said that this bet would cancel out all their grudges, if Players decided to crush the Lord of the Peaks church and massacre his believers just for rewards, there was no way that the grudge would disappear -it was no different from snuffing out the source of his divine energy, and equal to killing his dad. Others notwithstanding, even the Great Lion would have something to say if Xi Wei left the rivers flowing with blood. Hesitating for a moment, Xi Wei eventually reduced the exchange points rewards to triple. Okay, I dont need to worry going bankrupt on divine power like this. Only then did he nod with satisfaction, muttering as if to explain himself to someone else. Im not stingy. I just want the Players to stay motivated! Moreover, Xi Wei would also get the Life Skill Players to build dungeons to confine the hostages the other Players had caught. Additionally, points would only be awarded for hostages kept inside in the dungeons. Xi Wei would never allow the Players to farm points with catch and release schemes! Naturally, there would be those who would ask: the Players had just fattened up recently after the Elven SIN event. With their items all embedded with runes, they might not be moved by anything for the time being and actively involve themselves in the Lord of the Peaks siege event, would they? Xi Wei was naturally prepared for that. *** Eh? Theres a new announcement on the System. Edward, who was having a meal at the Iron Cauldron Tavern opened his System in surprise. Looks like a new event is coming soon. Gou Dan said casually after browsing through the page. Spare me. The fatigue from clearing the Elven SIN had yet to pass Joe said unhappily while drinking a bee-honey ale. When I turned off my pain breakers yesterday, my muscles got so sore I almost fainted The pain breaker was merely a general concept. In the end, Xi Wei was not a god of humans (It is worth mentioning here that no God of Humans exists in this world for some reason), and he therefore did not have good control over the human body. Therefore, once the Players turned on the pain breakers, they were in fact killing off some extent of their sense of touch. That sensation was like wrapping yourself in a thick, cotton coat as well as wearing leather gloves that had no weight and would not interfere with your movement. There would be no feedback no matter what object you were lifting, and while it was alright in battle, it was uncomfortable to have it in your daily life, which was why most Players would never turn off their pain breakers. Ah, I got the quest too, Eleena exclaimed quietly, turning on her System to look whilst lowering her knife and fork, having done battle against a rather well-done honeyed steak. Its not a quest, just an event announcement Since the event had yet to start, Edward just read around for a bit before turning off the page and continued with his lunch. No, mine is a quest. Eleena replied. My class-change quest. Oh, class-change. Eeeeh!? Edwards eyes bulged at that. Whats the class-change for Saintess-in-training? Are you formally becoming a Saintess? There are three routes: Valkyrie, Holy Songstress, and Saintess of Grace. Eleena replied. The requirements for class-change to Valkyrie is leading everyone to defeat our enemies in this event, for Holy Songstress it is gathering twelve Hymn Scrolls but there is no requirements for Saintess of Grace, which I could change class to as long as I take part in the event and finish it. I seeAlthough Edward was not sure about the limits on those class-change requirements, he could more or less guess the differences between the three Saintess classes. The Valkyrie must be a route that develops combat ability. Although the details on the class of Holy Songstress was not exact since there was no telling what the Hymn Scrolls were, Edward could guess from the name that it was a route that offers great support or sacred arts like the Warrior Princess. Lastly, given how easy the class-change to Saintess of Grace was, it was possible that it refers to the Saintesses most commonly seen in other churches Its not just Eleena! Gou Dan then exclaimed after carefully reading through the event details. Edward! Quick, look at the event rewards page! What rewards could it be? EXP, items, or runes? But I dont really lack items at the moment Edward slowly opened his System page again. Its none of those! Gou Dan gulped. The reward is a special class! Chapter 383: Goblin Nest The wave of monsters appearing around the Valla Empire had not only been a great obstacle for adventures entering her borders in search of treasure, it was also a serious problem for the people who want to leave Valla. Dont be afraid! Goblins are the lowest of beasts and cowards. Kill some of them quickly and the others would be discouraged! Kristina was barking orders at her men who were preventing their perimeter from being overrun by goblins that outnumbered them ten-to-one. She did not make an OMO face either, and was simply watching. As the religion of Kratos, the God of War, the Temple of Glory naturally would not rank people in importance on their so-called qualifications. While it was not to hostile extents of survival of the fittest, no person would hold a high and stable position in the Temple of Glory without sufficient ability or bravery in combat. That was perhaps why the Temple of Glory and the Brilliant White Church would end up losing out slightly in their administrationeven the leader of the Temple of Glory who was in his sixties was all muscles. He was a super macho man who could punch a Dragonfang to death, and while there were elements of the God of Wars grace, he had basically punched and kicked his way to his current title. And since their leader was such a man, one could already imagine what the other hierarchs of the Temple of Glory would be like. That was why they would never best the old foxes of the Brilliant White Church at power play or political intrigue. Naturally, the Brilliant White Church would only take sneaky jabs to trip their adversaries while never crossing the line, let alone resort to vile actions that assure mutual destruction with the Temple of Glory (which other churches often resort to). That was because they know that the hierarchs of the Temple of Glory were all machos who were lacking in the brain department-pushing them too far would make them drop all restraints such as the greater good or humankinds future in the next hundred years, and take up their swords to go amok But that was getting sidetracked. Either way, as a Scepter of the Temple of Glory, Kirstina had naturally learned combat aura, and had become a champion with outstanding strength. Moreover, she was one of the rare few superhumans whom the main temple of the Temple of Glory had sent into the Valla Empire. And now, she summoned the Chaos Staff-a sacred object that only Scepters possess. Then, with a loud cry, she joined the battle. Although the Chaos Truncheon had a staff in its name, it actually resembled a Chinese halberd albeit with a larger blade that was almost semi-circular. The staff itself would accumulate the users combat aura day after day, unleashing air blades that had no element attributes in battle and could attack from long ranges. And being a sacred object of the Temple of Glory, users wielding it could add various cool lights or special effects to the air blades-it would not increase the power of the attack, but it still looks rather cool. After all, the Scepters basically had the rank of imperial envoys. They were few in number, but they were spread across the entire continent. But despite being one of the two strongest religion of this age, the Temple of Glory was not rich enough to provide each Scepter with a genuine sacred relic. Under such circumstances, those cool effects would not cost much in materials or divine grace. Moreover, looking from that perspective, the quality-price ratio for Chaos Staffs that could be mass produced would be quite high And once Kristina joined the battle, she easily cut down over ten goblins with the long-range strikes of the Chaos Staff. The goblins that were advancing in waves were at once stunned by her might, and became much slower. On the other hand, the other Temple of Glory believers were encouraged and became quicker as they cut down the goblins, downing one after another as if harvesting wheat And yet, the plan to repel the goblins with one swift stroke was foiled. Kristina had sharply caught sight of a burly bear-goblin at a nearby thicket, with the phantom figures of several wolf-riding goblins disappearing in a flash nearby. No wonder there arent any monsters nearby. It seems that there is Goblin Nest-a high-level magical beast which danger level is above XX appearing nearby. It might grow into a Subterranean City if we allow it to keep growing When large goblins tribes move around in this region, humans of nearby towns would definitely spot their grand advance, and governors would send out armors to clear these beings that would threaten their cities and towns. But according to Kristinas information up till now, it seemed that nobody had noticed them. It could only mean that these creatures did not live in the Prime Material Plane, but was brought here by a Goblin Nest posing as a cavern. The Goblin Nest creature resembled a massive, earthen-yellow bag. The lower-half of its body was hidden underground and it only had a large maw exposed to the air. In fact, its insides were a pocket dimension which provided a much larger space that could fit the populace of an entire city. Low-level pack beasts, such as kobolds and goblins would often form a symbiotic relationship with the Goblin Nest within its belly. And when the Goblin Nest grows to a certain extent, the space within its body would develop. The symbiotic monsters would hence increase in numbers, species, and powerwhen that time comes, it would no longer be an ordinary monster but a living Subterranean City. Whenever such a Subterranean City shows up, one or multiple human cities would be attacked by its symbiotic beasts. As such, most churches decided that it was a great threat even though a Goblin Nest had no power on its own. Hold on, if thats the case, could it be that the Goblin Nest had already evolved into a Subterranean City what with so many beasts showing up nearby?. But despite Kristinas shock, her hands never stopped moving as she continued harvesting goblin lives. However, although the cannon-fodder goblins were left utterly demoralized, they did not have the guts to run away with the bear-goblins and the wolf-riding goblins overseeing the battle from behind, instead bracing themselves to continue charging at the humans and die. While it appeared that the Temple of Glory had the advantage, they actually could not afford to have this go on. After all, combat aura was an energy combined from Divine Grace and lifeforce-it was not endless, and they would eventually die from exhaustion if they kept this up. Worse, they could not break through the goblins circle, just as they would be stopped by endless cannon fodders if they tried to advance. And there was also the bear-goblins holding the rear, as well as the highly-mobile wolf-riding goblins leering at them if they tried to scatter and run. Oh no. Even so, just when everyone felt like they had their backs against the wall, a young voice suddenly shouted, Get down! Although the believers of the Temple of Glory were blanking out a little in the ceaseless slaughter, they all did as the voice told even if they could not recognize whether it was Kristinas orders. And once they got down, a turbid stream shot out from behind, scattering the thick droves of goblins. Since they did not have any formations in the first place, their movement was left in an utter mess that neither the bear-goblins nor the wolf-riding goblins could rally them for the time being. Kristina promptly understood their rescuers intention. Were breaking through! Follow me! The girl shouted like Saint Joan of Arc, raising her Chaos Staff high in the air. Chapter 384: Elephant-Trunk Clams This way! Terry, the not-so-stout youth cut down a goblin with a swing of his sword while calling out to Kristinas group who was breaking through the goblins encirclement. Thanks for your help, brave warrior! There shall be thanks when we return to the Temple of Glory! Kristina did not say much and merely saluted him-even though she was speaking basic, her accent was so thick that Terry found it rather curious. Dont call me brave warrior, it sounds so weird. My name is Terry, and my companion will support you from those bushes nearby. Get there, quick. Terry frowned, cutting the conversation short while leading the old dog Pikes to repel the goblins that were about to swarm towards them once more. The bear-goblins are coming! A Kratos believer cried just then. Soon, a burly figure that held a club crudely fashioned out of a tree caught up to them, trampling many goblins to death in its wake. The Kratos believers couldnt help stiffen and clench on their weapons at that, as if that would give them courage against the behemoth that was half-a-head taller than them. But before the bear-goblin could reach them, the youth who just rescued them suddenly yelled, Leave it to me! The rest of you, run! The Kratos believers were stunned, but recovered soon enough. Indeed, would an average joe have the courage to save them under such circumstances? They could see that the youth was not robust, but he was easily wielding a heavy full-steel sword (decorated with many meaningless ornaments on its hilt and blade) without getting tired. Moreover, he was always cutting down a goblin with each swing with hands that never trembled, meaning that he was most likely a big shot with a youthful act. Perhaps, that old dog accompanying him which was just skin over bones was some powerful familiar that had not unleashed its power yet! Hence, under Kristinas lead, the Kratos believers nodded at Terry in gratitude before running off to the bushes behind. Some of them couldnt help turning around even as they run, to see for themselves how the big shot would slay the bear-goblin. Meanwhile, the bear-goblin let loose a vile-roar, raising its club that was thicker than the youths waist and swung it down at him! Good! Terry wrung his wrists and raised his longsword in response. There was a loud clang, and Terry was sent flying five meters up in the air like a golf ball, before slamming down heavily on the ground, lifeless. Uh The Kratos believers who were keen on watching the big shot put on a good show did a double take. They did not expect that Terry was as average a youth as he looked, left irresuscitable with just a single swing of the bear-goblins club. Despite their shock, the Kratos believers never stopped running. Poor Terrys fate made them understand that the bear-goblin was assuredly more powerful than the average goblin, and messing with it could only disadvantageous-retreat was the best option here. Once past the bushes, they found the companion whom the youth mentioned. It was another youth, one who was dressed like a mage and looked around the same age as Terry, although he looked skinnier and weaker than Terry. But behind the young mage was a row of over ten Elephant-Trunk Clams. Neatly arrangement and standing at the height of two humans each, they appeared unmotivated with their fleshy trunks hanging out limply. Rawr-! To the rear, the bear-goblin and the other normal goblins were coming, allowing Kristina and the others not time to think. Split into two lines and give way! The young mage barked then. After fighting hard for so long, Kristinas group naturally had no morale to continue the tough battle. Hence, at the young mages cry, they tamely made way even though they were a little upset about that. The bear-goblin had also parted the bushes just then, and found Kristinas group fleeing as well as the young mage who was standing nearby and leering at it. Its unwise brain promptly made a decisioneverything could wait after it beat up every foe! But the young mage clearly would not let it do that. Fire! At his command, the limp flesh of the Elephant-Trunk Clams turned erect and ejected jets of water. While a single jet stream had not much power, there were two rows of over twenty clams behind the young mage. A horrific tide took shape the moment the streams collided, directly blasting the bear-goblin and the other lesser goblins into the distance. But that was not the end. Even as the streams weakened, the young mage had already finished chanting his spell, and gently touched the streams with his staff. Hence, starting from the point where he touched the water, the streams began to freeze, leaving the washed-away goblins shuddering in the cold. Some of the bear-goblins that freed themselves from the ice continued their attempts to attack the young mage, but quickly tripped when they stepped on the flat and smooth icy surface, stiffly knocking a crater into the rock-hard ice. In fact, even the agile wolf-riding goblins were falling over themselvestheir wolves could not gain traction on the ice with their paws, and were tripping here and there over the smooth ice. Nows our chance! Retreat! Only then did the young mage give the command for a strategic retreat. Your friend It was only then that Kristina had the chance to apologize to the youth. Its fine. He will catch up soon. The youth simply replied. Im sorry, but your friends neck was bent to ninety-degrees. He could not be deader Still, unsure how she could break the news about the young mages friend, Kristina merely followed the young mage quietly and ran along the trail he had found beforehand and left the forest.But before Kristina could ask the youth for his name, another figure had dashed out of the woods. The Kratos believers promptly raised their weapons in self-defense, only to find that it was the old dog and Terry, who should have been dead! Youre late! I wouldnt have waited for you if you were any slower. The young mage complained. Nothing I could do. My neck got twisted by a whole circle and my windpipe snapped. The cola was spilling out of it and I couldnt heal at once. Terry shrugged innocently. Meanwhile, Kristina and the others stared in shock at the now-unscathed Terry. That regeneration Could you be an undead wearing human skin?! Nonetheless, perhaps sensing the shock in Kristina and the others, the young mage whispered a few words to Terry before heading straight for them and curtseyed not-quite-professionally. Greetings. Im Jom. I heard that your group has been investigating about certain magical beasts, he grinned then, and continued despite Kristinas confused look, Thats such a coincidence-I have some information I could share with you. Chapter 385: The Lord of the Peaks Believers At first, Jom had sought out Kristina only to trick her so that she would leak information about the undead high elf, since that was very important to their current quest. Soon, however, he had another idea once the even announcement popped up. That being said, Jom would never believe that the believers of the Lord of the Peaks could defeat the Players. After all, the first-rate Players were all superhumans who could single-handedly defeat ten opponents at once. With a flying turf supporting them and the Lord of the Peaks believers mostly likely linked to the earth-element, they would never reach the Sky Horizon, whereas the Sky Horizon could bombard them from above without missing. How would that even be a fight! That being said, Jom would not believe that the Players could easily best the Lord of the Peaks believers. Even though the Church of Games were recruiting new blood from Lancaster, Tunaya, and the refugee encampment of Crookes, there were not many of them whose faith reaches the standard required to become a Player. After rounding off things, the total number of Players was around fifteen hundred. As for the Unnamed Town and other spots, those were all basically the Players private property, and there are no prospects of recruitment there. Moreover, sixty percent of the fifteen hundred Players were still non-combatant newbies. In the end, the Players competence was not developed from a single stroke but from an accumulation of EXP, and right now, Xi Wei had only a handful of dungeons to offer the Players for repetitive farmingthey had almost reached the heart of the Valley of the Tragic Dead, and since there was a limit to EXP provided, time was needed to mold the Players into a fighting force. On the other hand, the Lord of the Peaks would have a considerable number of believers as one of the older divine beings. He could raise an army of up to eighty thousand with a single stroke if he wanted to, with over a hundred thousand more ready as reinforcements from various corners of the continent, and that would be quite a problem for the Players who would still be understaffed when the event begins. That said, it was worth rejoicing that the third-rate players led by Simba had finally grown after several major events, becoming a new pillar for intermediate Players. At the same time, first-rate Players such as Edward had risen past Level 50 and was heading toward 60, and it wouldnt be an issue for them to graduate through the event if they could survive through the difficult initial period of the event. On another note, in Joms perspective, it was perhaps a test which led to the God of Games had informed the Players about the event early on. The enemies in past events were not weak, but usually most events would start immediately. Only this event was an exception. Does that mean the God of Games revealing the event details beforehand was so that the Players would prepare, even taking certain actions to lower the event difficulty while increasing the events chance of success? For example, coming up with some way to deceive factions such as the Temple of Glory to obstruct the Lord of the Peaks believers from gathering at the Valla Empire (or Gaim)! Therefore, after rescuing Kristinas group, Jom went on a lively description of his hunch. Are you saying that the monsters that are suddenly appearing might have been chased her by the Lord of the Peaks believers? Kristina stared at Jom rather suspiciously. Yes, Jom answered with assurance. Thats impossible! Kristina suddenly cried and aimed her Chaos Staff straight at Jom. The Lord of the Peaks is no vile god, how could he abide with his believers in such behavior?! Which hole had you come out of, villain?! What are you trying to achieve by slandering the Lord of the Peaks believers?! Terry, who was having a bottle of cola promptly drew his sword and held it in front of his friend by reflex. Likewise, the other Kratos believers behind Kristina also drew their weapons and glared at the pair of youths. At first, Jom thought that he had been exposed, but then recalled that he was flawless in both action and words. Hence, he tried his best to control his panic, keeping a straight face as he continued talking unaffectedly. Im not slandering. Wont you know if you check whether the Lord of the Peaks believers are gathering at Valla? And we are no villains, but preachers from Valla. Which church? The girl lifted her chin slightly. The Church of Games. Jom had wanted to simply offer the name of some random church, but he answered honestly once he remembered that Kristina might ask him about their creed, which might lead to his slandering accusation proved true. Nonetheless, Kristina lowered her staff. It seems that you speak the truth. Forgive my manners. It appeared that she was just intimidating Jom to get some truth out of him. Inwardly breathing a sigh of relief while praising his own composure, Jom became rather curious why Kristina would change her stance once she learned that he was a member of the Church of Games. I am acquainted with Isaac, captain of the wyvern knights. He holds the Church of Games in high regard. Kristina replied. Well, do tell me more about the Lord of the Peaks believers. Ive already told you most of what I know, Jom said, taking a moment to think before adding, There are many monsters around Valla such as Goblin Nests that usually appear in the mountains. It is abnormal that they would show up here as if they were chased here. At the same time, I have heard that the Lord of the Peaks believers were advancing here, and I dont think they are here to preach when they look like they are out for blood Kristina hesitated at Joms words. As a matter of fact, while the Lord of the Peaks was a god on the side of Order, his reputation was not ideal because his believers were mostly hill-folk. Hill-folk were humans, and as the name suggests, they were a people who lived in the mountains since ancient times. Most nations are convinced that the hill-folk had yet to become civilized, and were no different from aborigines or wildlings. Indeed, hill-folk had more robust bodies and relatively long arms, which made them resemble oversized monkeys on first glance. As their kind lived off the mountains, once most of the wild herbs, fruits and beasts in one region had been mostly consumed, they would leave the mountain to steal food or daily necessitiesand the occasional woman. Thanks to their faith in the Lord of the Peaks, the mountains were their finest fortress. Moreover, a small army would never win against them, let alone adventurers. But if they did get out of line, the main religion of the affect cities would send in their Sacred Corps to the mountains to handle them. Still, once the hill-folk made the briefest of contacts with the opposing side and determined that they would not win, they would always surrender immediately and hand over their loot and treasures to the Sacred Corp. They would then mention that their god was the Lord of the Peaks whose boss was Earthweaver, one of the Seven Divine Fathers and proceed to plead mercy for the Divine Fathers sake, blah, blah, blah. Most of the time, the Sacred Corps entrusted with handling them would give face and bring several heads with them to appease the citizens or their liege. Hence, the Sacred Corps would save face and earn some riches, the hill-folk would obtain food and other living resources, with both sides getting what they want for a win-win situation. That behavior slowly became the norm and an annual thing However, the hill-folk would always be careful when choosing their targets and avoid touching cities protected by the Temple of Glory. After all, Kratos believers were all war junkieswho could they reason with if they were killed before they could surrender? For their part, once the hierarchs of the Temple of Glory learned about the Sacred Corps and their ongoing schemes with the hill-folk, they waited for the hill-folk so that they would get a piece of the cake as well, so that everyone got their just rewards. However, they became exceedingly furious when the hill-folk never showed up-how dare you not come out to plunder when we let you?! Its like you monkeys have the gall to belittle the cities we protect! Hence, the reputation of the hill-folk and the Lord of the Peaks only worsened in the Temple of Glory. Though a Scepter, Kristina was not high-ranked enough to know such inner workings, and years of being influenced by her own church meant that she certainly did not like the Lord of the Peaks believers. Therefore, thanks to Joms pushing her further in that direction, she really believed his explanation that the Lord of the Peaks believers had been chasing the monsters away from the mountains Chapter 386: He Actually Reached The Answer First Naturally, Xi Wei saw everything Jom was doing. His assessment was thus: Wow, to think that you reached the answer first. It was true that Xi Wei had high hopes toward his believers and was convinced that small fry like the hill-folk would never win against the Players. However, the condition of the bet was whether the opposing side could occupy the Sky Horizon, formerly known as the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN). If their opponent proved shameless and would claim that they succeeded in occupying the Elven SIN by just having one or two believers landing on Gaim, even getting the Earthweaver to uphold fairness, Xi Wei would have to suffer in silence. But since the Lord of the Peaks had a positive public image to uphold, he could not afford to be unreasonable and directly bully others with his power. That was why even if he would resort to dirty tricks, he would at least need to fly his believers up to Sky Horizon. That way, what Xi Wei had to do was clear: his believers need to do what they can to stop the hill-folk, and prevent even one of them from getting up to the Sky Horizon! They could even go further and avoid the hill-folk from learning where the Sky Horizon even was! *** Soon after the Players actively prepared themselves, the event started once the Lord of the Peaks believers began to set foot within the borders of the Valla Empire. And not long afterwards, the envoys and supplies from Lancaster had reached Crookes which was under reconstruction. Still, Lancaster had not sided outrightly with the Church of Games the moment. Being a city of trade, there were many churches that had a foothold within, and the various religious factions acted as a deterrent against each other, hence maintaining a certain balance. Even though Corinth Atherton had discreetly sided with the Church of Games, he did not actually change his faith. From a certain perspective, he was merely working with the Church of Games. Moreover, the waters of Lancaster ran deepmany nobles and ministers were ready for conflict at any given moment, because of their birth and the perspectives instilled in them. As such, even though they were aware that their mayor was allied with the Church of Games, they would at best show goodwill and not side with them alongside Corinth. Indeed, the nobles thoughts and attitude did not change much even after the Twin City Cup and learning the strength of the Church of Games. In truth, it did not matter to them who their mayor was or which church held powerwhat, is the mayor not going to need us nobles to manage his city just because your Church of Games controls it? Herman thought so too. That was why he was really reluctant to be appointed as envoy by Mayor Corinth, who attached him to the supply convoy heading for Crookes. Why would Lancaster have to donate our resources without recompense? It would be fine if it was to earn good karma back when Crookes was a powerful mining city. But after it had been reduced to debris by natural causes (the official statement from Crookes was that a mountain collapsing and destroying the city), its former prosperity was now buried underneath mud and rockwho knew how long it would take for them to rebuilt. In comparison, wouldnt it be better to keep the resources at Lancaster to reward us nobles who contributed so much to the Twin City Cup? It was therefore a pity that Gerald McCobley, captain of the Lancaster city watch had been keeping a very close eye on the convey throughout the journey. Herman would have diverted half of these fifty supply carriages so that the Lancaster nobles could be reimbursed for their losses! Welcome, envoy from Lancaster. Mayor Meredith greeted Herman in delight when he eventually reached Crookes. Truly, you only know who your friends are in times of hardship. In the past, a noble of Hermans level would never have the right to meet old Meredith. But now that he saw for himself that Crookes was just a pile of debris, Herman was shaking. He naturally could not say anything assuring in response to old Merediths greeting, and simply played along with some half-hearted grunts. It was only when he reached the tent prepared for him that he turned to his aide and said, Since Crookes had fallen to such a state, we probably wouldnt get much in return even though we invest so much resources in them. With Lancasters future development in mind, lets keep some of the goods for ourselves. Wont Mayor Corinth accuse us if we bring it home with us? His aide asked rather worriedly. Naturally, we wont bring it back to Lancaster directly. That is why you will wait here until we leave Crookes, and move the goods to a nearby city, where you would buy land to store it. Herman spoke with a look of righteousness just then. It is all in the name of Lancasters future! Knowing his cue, the aide started to lick his boots. * * * Old Meredith was not aware that Herman was such a short-sighted person. Believing that he was merely tired from the journey, he did not urge the handing over of supplies. And during the actual handover next day, Herman had quickly rushed to the scene, ready to embezzle a portion of the supplies on an official capacity. Or that was how it was supposed to go. Before he could put on airs and talk things out with Old Meredith, he noticed several familiar Players walking by from the encampment of the Crookes survivors. Though the Lancaster nobles were basically not involved in preparing or running the Twin City Cup, they did watch the tourney and naturally recognized some of the more famous and stronger Church of Games membersin other words, the Players. And one of them was the champion who wore a pink flatfish head mask. That was truly unforgettable And now, not only were those powerful Players showing up in Crookes, but they were also involved in some sort of secret operation. Whats the matter, mister envoy? Meanwhile, old Meredith was puzzled by the Lancaster envoys behavior. He could overlook Hermans not handing over the supplies immediately since he was wise enough after living so long, and knew that some people would always think about getting some commission as the middleman. But this envoy was neither requesting anything or reacting to the numbers old Meredith himself was putting out, which was certainly puzzling. Nonetheless, Hermans attention was completely drawn to the Players, especially when he found them dragging one unconscious person after another past the encampment. Occasionally, one of them would exclaim This ones debuffs are all gone! Hes playing dead! After that, a whole bunch of Players would rush toward them, give the unlucky fellow a wild beating until his face was all swollen. Only then would they continue dragging their victim away. Some of the unluckier fools were directly beaten within an inch of their lives. Seemingly afraid that they would die just like that, the Church of Games believers would force feed them cola to save them, and then beat them up again to knock them out before dragging them away Even bystanders would feel that their victims were better off dead than alive. There was no telling as to where the victims were being dragged off too. It was only known that there were no stockades or dungeons in the encampment, and that those people dragged away never came back Sir Herman? Old Merediths voice left Herman shuddering just then, and he promptly recovered. T-Those people being dragged away Dont worrythose are elements who wish Crookes ill. You are our kind friend, sir, how could you hurt Crookes in any way? The old man said kindly. Now, about the supplies Still, the old mans kindly looked appeared unbelievably sinister in Hermans eyes right now. Therefore, he did all he could to stop himself from shaking, while speaking seriously as if it only made sense, Of course, theres no problem with the supplies. Take everything! I wont permit you leaving with one short! Chapter 387: Just Robbers, In the End Since living conditions in the encampment of the Crookes survivors were rather horrid and it was likely that some double-agent or whatnot had blended in, the Church of Games did not build their hill-folk dungeon over there. In fact, the Players who specialized in Life Skills receive a quest to excavate and construct a dungeon just two days ago. Doing that, however, was not as easy as it sounds. One must not forget that the patron deity of their opponent was the Lord of the Peakseven if he was not the ruler of the ground, he possessed some extent of Earth Authority. Naturally, his believers would be adept in sacred arts connected to the earth element. If you would simply dig a hole and throw them in, you would be blanking out when you find an empty jail just ten minutes later, and be prepared to fight those moles adept at digging holes in a tunnel battle. That was why the dungeon which the Life Skill Players built was a game facility that Xi Wei strengthened with his own Earth Authority. The restraints were set to three different standards depending on the criminal: minor sacred-arts immunity was tailored against your average hill-folk, earth-element insulation that prevented priests or clerics to use their powers, as well as Game Rule: No touching of ground that sealed the powers of any high-ranked hill-folk hierarchs. As a part of the event experience, after beating up any hill-folk they found, combat-class Players could use the lifestone to dump their captives into the corresponding dungeon to earn the corresponding amount of points. Since the top rewards of this reward were a hidden-class for the four classes of mage, warrior, ranger and cleric, almost every Player was feeling motivated to beat up some hill-folk. w It was fortunate that they could identify targets with the words hanging over anyones head, or they would probably have mistaken some mountain-dwelling hunters as hill-folk and capture them instead Either way, this event has no level limit and Players of any level were allowed to take part. Even if you could not defeat high-level Lord of the Peaks believers, you could defeat quality with quantity by capturing many low-level Lord of the Peaks believers. Moreover, the event rewards were really alluring. That was why everyone from Edwards first-rate gang down to third-rate Players who were shaping up as a fighting force was really keen and active on this event. That, in turn, left the Lord of the Peaks believers to suffer. Although the hill-folks shared a common faith and were united enough against outside threats, they were not actually a single group, but consisted out of three greater tribes and over a dozen lesser tribes. * * * What is going on! Kaven Mor yelled. He was the shaman of one of the three greater tribes and was in charge of prayer rituals to the Lord of the Peaks. He also usually held the post of leadership as village head (or indeed chieftain.) And right now, he was bellowing in rage and insecurity. Where are the scouts? Why didnt any of them come back?! Are they betraying the Lord of the Peaks! As a matter of fact, Kaven Mor had gone through great lengths to lead his lackeys to a border region where magical beasts were flourishing to enter the Valla Empire. He was convinced that he could put on a good show after receiving an oracle, only to have none of the scouts returning after sending them out to find the Promised Land mentioned by the Lord of the Peaks. Moreover, even though he had used his sacred eyes to sense where his scouts had gone, he only received feedbacks of theres no such person. He had only sent them out for two days! Even if they died in such a short time, the presence of their corpses that belonged to the Lord of the Peaks would not vanish, and he should still pick up on it anyway. Maybe not? They are proud warriors of our village, why would they betray the Lord of the Peaks? Another shaman sitting beside him suggested I could sense the presence of any believers within five hundred square mowtains (a unit hill-folk uses, with 1 mowtain being equal to 1.1 kilometers). Even if they die or only had limbs left, I should be sensing them! But there is just no reaction! Not only did the other shamans suggestion failed to calm Kaven Mor just then, it had instead left him flipping out. What else could it be? They must have been persuaded by the Vallans with some trick to renounce their faith! Or what? Did our foes drag them beyond five-hundred square mowtains in a single day or imprison them in a building that hides them from my sensory sacred art!? The other shaman was unable to defend the scouts at Kaven Mors rant. After all it was unlikely that the scouts were dragged beyond five-hundred squared mowtains in a single day or imprisoned in a sacred sanctuary covered in the presence of another deity. It would make sense if the Valla military took captive of an important hill-folk like Kaven Mor himself. On the other hand, those scouts had some degree of bravery and were quick-witted, although they remain average hill-folks and not worth holding expectations over. Even so, I believe that it is not likely for the warriors to betray us. The heretics of Valla must have gotten their hands of some measure that corrupts will and unhinges ones faith! The other shaman added after some thought. It seems that it would be meaningless to send more scouts, aside from costing us more warriors.I know! Kaven Mor felt much better inside after venting, with a glint appearing as soon as it disappeared in his eye. It is fortunate that the oracle had shown us the general direction of the Promised Land, and it is a divine will that it is so close to my village relay my orders. We shall all advance simultaneously down south! Wont that be reckless? We might not find the Promise Land if we keep going south anyway! Taken aback, the other shaman quickly tried to discourage him. Kaven Mor shook his head. The other tribes are arriving too, and if we wait, believers from other churches would reach Valla too theres no helping being a little reckless in other become the most accomplished child in the eyes of our lord. The Promised Land he desires must be something special that could be seen dozens of mowtains away! The other shaman was about to say something just then, but Kaven More beat him to it. And even if we couldnt find the Promised Land in the very end We would reach the mining mountains of Meredith if we keep going south! He did not continue because his intention was too clear. Aside from fame, Kaven Mor was also drooling in his desire for Illum ores, which were worth their weight in gold! After all, in the end, the hill-folk were still robbers who enjoyed their banditry. TN: This is the last chapter available to be translated on Original Website. Were not sure what happened to the author (no updates since May) but do keep voting for this book anyway! Hopefully hell be back soon :> Chapter 388: People Cannot Be Generalized At first, it was as if the Players who were forming groups two or three to search and capture the hill-folk were playing whack-a-mole. However, they were all caught off guard when Kaven Mor led a whole village and ambushed them. Aside from several not well-known second-rate Player groups who were team-wiped, even Marni himself accidentally fell to their trap. After he was stripped naked, he was stabbed dozens of times to death and eventually revived at the Sky Horizon without wearing a thing. There was even a photo of his tragedy posted on the Player forums, offering a cheer and was kept on top of all posts by everyone. Still, for better or worse, the Players were still in the middle of an event. Aside from making fools of themselves if the hill-folk legion that had appeared out of nowhere managed to find the Sky Horizon, it would be a real shame if they lost their shot at the hidden-class promised to them! As such, to avoid the worst from happening, the Players quickly gathered at the Crookes refugee camp as they usually did whenever there was an event. Right now, the gap between the strongest and weakest hill-folk is confirmed to be very large. And as always, Edward was the first to speak. Although there arent old, women or children with them, the lowest level of hill-folk is level ten. And the one confirmed to be the highest level amongst them is the Hill Shaman, who is level 46 and suspected to have a Chosen One module! Doesnt that mean that he is very noob? Joe couldnt help exclaiming in delight. After all, the first-rate Players now averaged around Level 50. After learning their powerful colored skills, a Boss who was merely Level 46 would not be a threat to them. Even if the Chosen One was invincible, they simply had stronger Rule Resistance. With their advantage in level, the first-rate Players who were rich with combat experience could wear them down anyway. The problem is that he has over three thousand hill-folk serving him, with no lack of Level 40 elites. Edward added then. In fact, three thousand monsters were not too many for the Players with their current level. It was the same even if they faced a superboss thanks to their undying bodies, they would eventually clear them away after a few tries. The problem, however, was that their objective was not wiping out every hill-folk, but to protect the Sky Horizon. If the Players main force was somehow kept occupied while their opponents used some unknown method to uncover and leap up to the Sky Horizon, it would be the Players defeat! That said, theres no use in overthinking. Right now, it is better if we go face them directly. Marni Wilf shook his head. In fact, it was better to say that the current situation is good. According to what I know, there are three major hill-folk tribes near Valla, but only one Hill Shaman was with the ambush force. That means only one of the tribes has come out, and we definitely have the chance to destroy one tribe after another! Thats true Edward thought that it made sense after some thought. Instead of debating it, directly removing the threat was clearly the better choice. Hence, he called for a Roundtable vote to take Sky Horizon higher into the air. Then, with the new added dice-rolling function, he stationed a group Players who use long-range attacks to stay behind while he led the other Players to attack the hill-folk like an oncoming storm! People cannot be generalized-as the old saying goes: when enemies come face to face, their eyes blaze with hatred, Marni was so furious now that he could instakill anything, though not to the level of punching through a fifty-meter thick steel plate. With his short sword in-hand, he slid beneath one of the hill-folk who undressed him before while cutting the man in two. While his victim screamed that his stomach was falling out, he rose to his feet and cut off his head, more or less exacting terrible vengeance for himself. Still, he was soon struck by a sacred art unleashed by Kaven Mor, the Hill Shaman who was waiting nearby. The divine art that was shaped like a rock ball pierced Marni through the chest, and with such profound devastation that it continued flying over dozens of meters after tearing through Marni. In the end, it crashed resoundingly, forming a crater up to six meters wide, catching hill-folk and Player alike by surprise and killing them. When Gou Dan saw it, he was about to shout Marni is dead again, you bastards, still, we got this in the bag as usual when he found Marnis body turning into a blur, just before it became solid again. That naturally left Gou Dan doing a double-take. How did you come back to life? He asked Marni. Its the power of runes, Marni answered proudly. Someone who studied runes for some time had discovered that the Tiga rune is very special. It has a Lumenize function that keeps the user immune to physical damage for 1 second after using it! Doesnt that mean youre Invincible?! Gou Dan exclaimed in surprised. How could it be that simple? This gimmick needs anticipation and some charging. First, you would need an item equipped with the Tiga Rune, and then you would have to chant Simmer the bones into broth in front of the God of Games statue five times. Moreover, it can only be used once after each charge its so troublesome. You actually have so much time to study that, Mister Marni Gou Dan murmured, at a loss for words. Although theres no telling what simmering bones had to do lumenizing, Gou Dan at least knew that he wouldnt have the patience to do such a thing. It seemed that he would have to give that nice gimmick a miss. Hey now. Im a businessman, earning hundred thousand coins with every passing second-why in the name of Valla would I make the time to do that? Marni retorted cheekily. I simply asked newbie Players who dont have much money to help me. I pay them a thousand game coins for each item charged, and now with five items charged on my body, it means Im safe from five lethal blows! Gou Dan throw Marni a look that say So thats the power of money, as expected of you! But in the next split second, every Player received a System notification. (Ding] (Player System updated to V3.1] [-Bug fix for Tiga runes. Players now have to charge the runes personally) [-Change for class skill: Lumenize. No adjustments against damage or effects now, but it looks cooooooler now.] (Happy playing!] Marni gaped at the notification. Due to the incredible shock, he did not even realize that a hill-folk had blindsided him, punching him into the dirt. If Gou Dan hadnt helped, he might have been stripped naked and beaten to death once again. Even as he dropped to the ground, he was still thinking: The God of Games has it out for me! *** To tell the truth, Xi Wei wasnt having it out against Marni. Still, leaving that bug alone would make the Tiga Rune wildly popular. Though it was a good thing for the Players and it did increase the Players ability as a collective, it was a headache for Xi Wei because he didnt have the Authority of Light. That was why a power like lumenize was very costly to his divine power Therefore, to save divine power, as well as adjusting for the rune system which he had wastefully implemented and left a hidden glitch, Xi Wei had to issue the System patch. TN: The author seems to be back after a several month hiatus! Were unsure what the release rate will be like but we will be translating the chapters as soon as we get them. Chapter 389: Dirty Fireworks Since there few Players actually relied on their wealth, Xi Weis adjustment of the runic system therefore did not affect anyone aside from Marni. In fact, with the cooler special light effects, the Players had become even more motivated to give the hill-folk a beatdown. As such, the hill-folk who felt as if they had collided headlong into a steel wall was being cornered even further, with the Players giving them a good trashing with their variety of skills. It was true that they were buffed by the Lord of the Peaks divine power, but that was not preexisting welfare, but a buff given to his own believers just recently so that they could kill the Church of Games followers. That being said, how could a temporary strengthening compare to the Players who earned their EXP trickle by trickle, constantly familiarizing and refining themselves? If they were not obsessed with gaining three times the reward points from capturing compared to killing, the three hundred Players would have massacred the few thousands of hill-folk without leaving anyone alive! And just like Xi Wei predicted, after the Players collectively weathered through the difficult starting phase, they now looked the shape of a strong legion with a place amongst the best on the continent! As the Players continued to improve and nourish the God of Games from various aspects, Xi Wei himself would raise the limit of Player level and strengthen the Players. With this cycle now coming round, the Church of Games would rise rapidly and become a force that the other faiths could not ignore! Still, the only thing that was curbing them from rocketing forward was that there were too few Players to form an effective swarm But that was digressing. Either way, Kaven Mor, the Hill Shaman and the Lord of the Peaks Chosen One was feeling a lack of power despite will in the face of the Players vicious assault. As more and more hill-folk ended up killed or captured, Kaven Mor mental state took a turn for the worse. They had never ended up so miserable, even though Kaven Mor himself had led his tribe to pillage and ended up being pursued by the Brilliant White Churchs sacred corps! Moreover, this was the one occasion he could not choose to surrender, since this was no raid but a religious war-in the truest sense of the term! Under such circumstances, choosing to surrender was equal to betraying his own god, which was the most heinous of crimes in this world. That was the reason why wars between churches were always solemn, profound and cruel-something which Kaven Mor learned most deeply. This isnt working. The dudes resistances are too high and hes even invincible against most control skills! Its too difficult to capture him alive! Hitting him in the balls might work! There was another hill-folk with powerful resistance and will, but he was knocked out while foaming at the mouth a Holy Lancer hammered him there repeatedly! Which bloody church are you people from? Isnt that too cruel, damn it?! Despite the air being heavy like a solemn self-destruction ritual just moments before, Kaven Mor almost broke out into a tirade of curses. His rhythm off-balanced, he hence stumbled a little and would have suffered a strike otherwise. Indeed, Kaven Mor lost composure even as he watched the youth who was circling around himself whilst holding a greatsword that could crush a drakes egg. Even if buffed by the Lord of Peaks, his balls would either be crushed or end up with such agony that leaves him immobile if struck by that weapon. Still, the truth was that because of the Rules of the Game, the Players would only cut down their foes HP even if they struck said foe in a physically vital position in normal combat. Effects would not reflect physically even in critical strikes. The problem, however, was that the hill-folk were buffed with the Lord of the Peaks divine power, which came with their own Rule Resistance. Therefore, the hill-folk were immune to the Rules of the Game created by Xi Wei. While they would be immune against the Players control skills and debuff, the effect of the Players attacks would also be reflected in full effect on the hill-folks physical body instead of only cutting down their HP. It was difficult to label that as a good or bad outcome, but from the current situation, the bad outcome appeared more significant. After all, the Players attack skills mostly sourced from Xi Weis own gaming experiences, making the gameplay exceedingly complex and develop variety amongst the Players skills. It was like a vaudeville in the perspective of most people of this world, and there was just no imagining what form their attacks would take. For example, the Divine Earthsplit Blade was a sacred art that unleashed a swords qi along the ground toward a target. It was not powerful since it was one of the earlier skills the Players would pick up, and they learn it only to unlock later stronger skills and yet, this one technique was working wonders as it reached unbelievable success rates of nutcracking! Now, having known that there was no salvaging the situation and that his side was being routed, Kaven Mor finally regained some shred of rationality-perhaps out of worry for his own balls. But that was not important. Upon understanding that his advantage was lost, Kaven Mor decided to come up with a way to escape and rally the other tribes. For better or worse, he was a Hill Shaman. The other two major tribes wouldnt act against him even if they dont see eye to him, whereas he could simply rely on them to rescue his own tribe, perhaps even luring hill-folks from the other tribe to his own. Hence, Kaven Mor suddenly switched defense to attack, punching down Joe who could not react in time without trying to get another hit in in the heat of the moment. Instead, he directly created a small earthquake by twisting his foot on the ground, seizing the moment when the other players surrounding him could not attack to directly sprint toward a gap in their encirclement which he had eyes on earlier! And thanks to the Lord of the Peaks divine power buff, each step he took was much more powerful than an average persons step, allowing him to run with extraordinary speed and taking him off the edge of the jungle in the blink of an eye! If he fled into the jungle, he could keep relying on the Lord of the Peaks buff and the hill-folk skill of blending into the mountains. Catching him would be more than difficult when that happened. Still, the Players led by Edward were not in a hurry.In fact, in the split second that the earth started quaking, Edward had already reacted but he did not bother summoning his Blackfire Dragon, take to the air and avoid the earthquake. After all, Kaven Mors attempt to escape was within his calculations since the HP bar over his head openly revealed that he was too weak, his armor now mostly shredded. Not a moment too soon, a streak of cold glint flashed like a lightning bolt. In the next split second, Kaven Mors trousers that were weaved out of vines and leaves from an unnamed tree was blown up amidst a fiery light! There was not even time for the smile that appeared on his face at the thought of surviving a disaster to fade away He was sprawled over the ground in the next instant, foaming at the mouth while his eyes rolled upward, and he was soon unconscious. On a tree crown nearby, Gou Dan moved his eyes away from the eight-times magnifier while putting away his AWM, throwing a look of disdain at Kaven Mors blurred-out lower body and spitting to the ground. Dirty fireworks. Chapter 390: Trampoline A dungeon in the Unnamed Town. Angora entered the new building constructed for the hill-folk siege event. Unlike what he thought at first, the dungeon was not dark and damp but quite bright and dry instead. The walls were not made out of mud that could be tunneled with a small rake or whatnot, but concrete walls similar to other Church of Games buildings where one could feel the divine power of the God of Games buffing it. Moreover, the dungeon itself was not guarded by Players, but humanoid automatons. It was a pity that Angora did not participate in the previous Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN) event, or he would have noticed that the automatons in the dungeons were completely different from the ones in the SIN. Still, the structure in the joints and other parts clearly applied the same technology. In the end, this world had no copyright laws, and the ability of the gods were always unreasonableas long as they had a blueprint, no secrets would be withheld from them if they studied it seriously for a bit. Of course, the technology in the mortal realm was not especially noteworthy, and only Xi Wei was so keen on adopting technology belonging to others for widespread use Furthermore, automatons would not be confounded and show considerable ability in combat, and had strength in numbersthe Players daily quests include making these automatons and as long as they didnt stop working, the automatons would be limitless in number. And now, Angora glanced at the warden automaton. Unlike the hill-folk imprisoned in the dungeon, the convenience of the System provided the Church of Games followers additional information when they look at those things. For example, the automatons were all named Humagears, and beneath the table of their stats was a line that read Humagears have no heart, please dont cause programming error by talking about dreams or whatnot. Be that as it may, there were curious Players who ran here, and started blabbing about their dreams and whatnot at the automatons after seeing that line. The automatons would always react to it by giving said Player a beating, and carry them out as if they were a pig and throw them out of the dungeon But that was digressing. Either way, unless the hill-folk reach the level of legendary and awakened their miracles, the hill-folks intention of escaping the dungeon was like an imbeciles daydream. As the liege of a small town, Angora naturally did not come to the dungeon for a pleasure trip. While the dungeon appeared clean and tidy because of a complete sewer system and the automatons tireless cleaning, it didnt change the fact that this was a jail. Aside from those people who had certain eccentric hobbies, no one would like the atmosphere here. Arriving outside the most special cell, Angora looked through the glass-like wall that was much sturdier than glass. It should have been a rather solemn scene since the prisoner was the Hill Shaman, the highest-ranked individual amongst the hill-folk captured by the Players. Nonetheless, even though Angora had gone through much storms (and the Players silly behaviors) that matured him compared to his peers despite his youth, he definitely was not as composed as his elders. Which was why he could not stop looking down at the Shamans lower body, where strips of cloths were tied over his crouch like a supersized diaper. I wont be that impolite if I were you. The Hill Shaman glowered at Angora and said with disdain, Dont you plains-folk hold your manners with pride? It seems that your manners extend only that far. Oh, wait, Ive forgotten-your manners only include bowing and kowtowing to those people of important status. Manners are reserved for those deserving of respect. I treat even peasants with manners if he has done something respectfully heroic, and clearly you would not grant me such courtesy. Angora did not hesitate to retaliate with his banter. Then its best you pray to your god that I wont escape. Otherwise The Hill Shamans eyes were overflowing with killing intent and he was not holding it back. You dont need to waste your breath. This dungeon itself is a blessing from my god. Angora spread his hands and watched as the Hill Shamans expression turned from shock to understanding before becoming full of despair, and felt a slight pleasure from it just then. However, it is not as if we cant let you go if you are willing to work with us and give us some information. Dream on! You damn plains-folk is as vile as shrews. Did you think I would believe you?!Proving himself to be quite the character, the Hill Shaman firmly refused Angoras negotiation after realizing that he could never escape from the dungeon. Dont get so full of yourselfwe were only ambushed because we were in a rush. When the other hill-folks reach this place, it would be the end for you #$toads*[email protected]#$%! The Hill Shaman was mumbling a bunch of unintelligible words, and from the context, it appeared that the Hill Shaman was comparing them, the plains-folk to a bunch of animals, which was quite a rare manner of cursing. Angora could not understand it and was therefore not really angry, since he did not intend to complete his System quest that easily. As such, he turned on his quest panel to look through the items noted on it, sniggering imperceptibly before clearing his throat, Im not hoping that you would cooperate that easily either, which was why Ive prepared some interrogation for you Hahaha, you weak plains-folk are such fools! The Hill Shaman broke into laughter. We are the hill-folk who live amongst the great mountains! Our weaklings have long since died in the hunt. Wounds and pain are the norm for us, and even leather whip laced with saltwater Did I even say that I would torture you? Angora cut him short impatiently. At first, I intend to drug you with two bottles of aphrodisiac and have some belly-dancers give you a lap dance, before throwing you into another cell with a pig when youre burning with arousal and record everything with a magic stone, and show it to everyone in this dungeon when you recover. Ill repeat it when you regain some of your vigor, and of course out of human consideration, we would switch the pig with a dog for a change of palate the second time Kill me now! The Hill Shaman screamed, his face turning pale as he rushed toward the wall. However, the dungeon walls were made anti-suicide, which was why he bounced back as if hitting a piece of rubber, before being bounced between the walls of the cell like he dropped on a trampoline. If one did not take notice of the Hill Shamanas wildly panicking looks, it would be a happy scene as if an overgrown child wearing a supersized diaper was trampolining Chapter 391: Torture, Information, and Detachment Despite bouncing around his cell for half a day like an oversized baby in a diaper, Kaven Mor the Hill Shaman did not give the information Angora wanted. In the end, he was considered half a chosen one-even though he was not one in an orthodox sense. His outstanding powers came from the Lord of the Peaks generous strengthening of his believers when his wager against Xi Wei began as a hasty, last-minute effort. Still, half a chosen one was a chosen one, and held a higher position in their church. On the other hand, for a god like the Lord of the Peaks who had no formal religion, his chosen one would therefore show up in a form of someone holding the position of village chief. The threat of his bestiality being known to all could not force Kaven Mor to betray his allies either. Betraying allies was usually no big deal for the hill-folk since they were bandits who knew nothing about morals, and friends were made to be betrayed. However, with two churches in conflict and the clash itself involving their gods, betraying his allies now was not too different from betraying the Lord of the Peaks. That was exactly why Kaven Mor decided to grit his teeth and weather through it even if his name would get dragged through the mud. However, that was within Angora and Xi Weis calculations, which was why Angora read about the other torture techniques included in the reference materials for his quest. For example, there was the technique of painting the persons soles with bee honey and have goats or other livestock lick it, a torture technique which killed humans from laughter back on Earth. Another was to bury a person beneath the ground, open a hole in their head to pour in mercury, forcing them to struggle amidst extensive pain and wanting to break out of their skin and leaving it in the mudthat was most likely just a rumor since it was unrealistic for Earth, because humans would die when mercury was poured into them and they had no chance of crawling out of their own skin. However, this world has sacred arts for healing, and even if no clerics would be willing to cooperate with such inhumanity, Angora could simply rely on several bottles of cola to achieve the same effect. Likewise, skinning was even more cruel in this world. After the victim was tied up, they would be kept alive through sacred arts or potions while their flesh was peeled off piece by piece, tormented by the extreme agony without the chance of dying in the process The more he read, the more Angora himself felt uncomfortable. If his faith was not so strong and Xi Wei had never done something so outrageous, the reference material would have been evidence enough that the God of Games was an evil god demanding ritual sacrifices. It also left Angora rejoicing that he did not bring Vela with him to the dungeon. She would have nightmares even if she was a girl from a border town who was much stronger than the delicate city girls of Tunaya. On the other hand, Kaven Mor directly fell apart. Begging for his death in his cell, he started bounced around again as if trampolining (which looked like a cheerful scene to outsiders) before eventually giving up and revealing all the information he had, hoping he could exchange that for sweet death. And once he got his hands on the first hand information, Angora promptly uploaded it on the Player forums and accomplished the quest Xi Wei assigned him. The situation was actually not complex, and indeed simple and straightforward. There were three major hill-folk tribes near the Valla Empire that could threaten the Sky Horizon, the weakest of which was the major tribe led by Kaven Mor himself, which had less than three thousand standard warriors. Around eighteen hundred were captured by the Players in the battle before, and of the remaining twelve hundred, half were killed on the spot while half had fled, and were basically useless. However, when Kaven Mor launched his assault, two of the tribes further away were rapidly advancing to the Crookes refugee camp as well. Those two tribes boast a combined population of twenty-five thousand, although they had less than ten thousand warriors. Still, it would be troublesome even if they really joined forces to assault the Sky Horizon. Their horrific numbers would keep the Players in a disadvantage. Even if Xi Wei was convinced that the Players could destroy up an army of up to thirty thousand people and let alone ten, the wager this time was not to completely wipe out opposing forces, but to prevent the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN) from being taken! As such, Xi Wei who added a flight function to the Sky Horizon out of a whim and thought that it was quite safe that way felt threatened for some reason. If the Players were really suppressed, would the Lord of the Peaks believers really still be unable to reach the Sky Horizon which hovered several hundred meters in the air? It was undoubtedly reckless and foolish to pin ones hope on the enemy, something which Xi Wei and Edward knew, the latter of whom was acknowledged by all Players as their chief commander. That was why Edward was keen on dividing and conquering. His tactic was to use multiple small groups and have them do what they can to prevent the two hill-folk tribes from gathering And the reason for that was simple. reason Moreover, whether deliberately or inadvertently, the classes Xi Wei had set in place have some degree of damage output. Unless the Player was deliberate in piling points in certain skills, there was no pure-take or pure-support in the truest sense of the term.And that was why each Player was highly effective in single duels. In fact, if they were not overwhelmed in level and facing an opponent without a special module, it was not hard for a Player to fight ten monsters of the same level. However, while ten Players might defeat a hundred monsters in a single battle as well, it was naturally more difficult to challenge ten monsters of the same-level alone. Then, as both sides doubled down with a thousand monsters attacking a hundred Players at once, the Players would definitely be cut down in numbers despite having the greater chance of winning. And now, the Players were less than a thousand, and it was a pain for them to face ten thousand monsters at once. That was exactly why Edward determined that the Players would have an easier time facing two armies of five thousand than a single army of ten thousand. Moreover, if they launched an attack right now, the Players would have enough time to revive even if they would die in a seesaw battle. On the other hand, their opponents would die one by one without any chance of coming back! However, as the Players began to carry out Edwards divide and conquer tactics, a new and surprising development occurred at the frontlines. Chapter 392: Curtains Fall While most Players acknowledged that Edward was their commander during events, that title was not officially given (by the God of Games). Even the Knights of the Roundtable-leaders with the highest authority in the Church of Games were not acknowledged by all Players since their group was only formed recently. As such, several Players would decide to fight alone or not take part in the event quests. Terry and Jom were an example of that. They never were near the Crookes refugee camp in the first place, but had run off to investigate the trail of the undead high elf and coming to know Kristina, an agent of the Temple of Glory in the process. Then, when the hill-folk began their assault, Kristina was swindled by Terry and Jom into believing that those tribes were intent on burning and pillaging the Valla Empiresince banditry was something the hill-folk did in the first place. After confirming that droves of hill-folk were indeed approaching Valla, therefore startling whereas beasts and magical creatures in the mountains into a great migration, Kristina promptly returned to the Temple of Glory to report her findings. While the Temple of Glory was not the official religion of the Valla Empire, they had established themselves with strong footholds there for years, and was only next to the Brilliant White Church in terms of influence. Moreover, since they were no match for the Brilliant White Church when it comes to political intrigue and powerplays, the Temple of Glory were mostly based at frontier cities which would be the first cities caught by the hill-folks assault. As such, new grudges combined with old grudges once the Temple of Glory saw that their bases in the Valla Empire would be caught in the hill-folks rush, in addition to their past dissatisfaction for being the only church whom the hill-folk didnt share their booty with. As such, the ever-bad-tempered Temple of Glory promptly dispatched their wyvern knights and one sizeable detachment of their sacred corps led by Kristina. After Angora posted the information that he got out of the Hill Shaman Kaven Mor and the God of Games kept it pinned on top of the forums, Terry and Jom immediately guided Kristina to ambush one of the remaining tribes of hill-folk with inch-close precision! Even though the Temple of Glorys forces was still outnumbered by the hill-folk, they had a lot more people compared to the Players. Moreover, the wyvern knights and the sacred corps were a standard military force with each individual believing in the God of War, which meant one could easily imagine their strength. In addition, unlike the Players, the sacred corps had no orders to capture the hill-folk, and would directly kill them on sight. The hill-folk were simply no match for the Temple of Glorys sacred corps despite having the Lord of the Peaks blessing, crumbling easily under their assault even though they had their leader with them. As there was not much difference in the power of their sacred arts, the leaders head was hacked off by the captain of the wyvern knights squadron in two moves and placed on his lance as a show of force. The other hill-folk was left dumbstruck: our leader is gone, what about us? Hence, without any way of retaliating, they were routed entirely and reduced to no more than ordinary thugs, their numbers culled without end by the Temple of Glorys military. Woah. The armies of the major religions are quite scary Terry was sighing as he watched what remaining hill-folk charged towards the sacred corps formation, only to splash apart like a wave after crashing into a breakwater, before fleeing with their tails tucked between their legs. Ive imagined that they were quite noob. They are definitely noob in single duels, but their strength multiplies greatly once they start to fight as an army Jom said as he observed them beside Terry. According to what Lady Kristina told me, the God of War is not just a god of conflicts, but a god whose authority revolves around war. That is why once his believers arrange themselves in certain formations, everyone in the army would increase in strength. And that was not all. Unlike the hill-folk who were basically doping to increase strength and speed thanks to their god but unable to control it well, the sacred corps of the Temple of Glory would often conduct drills in various battle formations to attain unmatched synchrony, just as they were always able to control their buffs well. Indeed, they might have long since gotten used to such situations. As a matter of fact, while it was another matter if they had an advantage in levels, the Players might get the short end of the stick if a hundred of them clashed against a hundred-man sacred corps detachment from the Temple of glory if they were on the same level. Furthermore, with the Temple of Glory often being known for warmongering, how many such trained detachments of sacred corps do they have in reserve? It must be a stunning number either way, considering that they could pull out over a thousand soldiers on a whim. Despite being the second top religion, the Temple of Glory can really be quite frightening. Jom sighed. We really cant underestimate any of the other churches. Leave the wonder after the event. Lets go get some or the hill-folk would all be done in. Were going to have a problem if our contribution points come up short. Terry said while drawing out his longsword. After all, they were the ones who caused the conflict between the Temple of Glory and the hill-folk, which counted as unloading some pressure off the Crookes refugee camp. They may have bought their comrades time and would therefore earn some contribution points, but how much points were another matter altogether. Thats true. Well, lets go! Naturally, Jom also understood that they have to earn themselves as many heads as possible for safety reasons. They are never catching any hill-folk what with soldiers of the Temple of Glory all around them, or they would start arousing suspicion. Hence, raising his staff high into the air, an elephant-trunk clam appeared behind the youth.*** After being assisted by the Temple of Glory in ridding them off one of their enemys detachment over some curious reason, Edward naturally was able to redirect most of the Players stationed on that front to strengthen their formation against the last remaining detachment, even sending a few groups to watch their home base while they give the hill-folk what for. Indeed, the defense that the Players mounted with their lives on the line was already piling pressure on the last legion of hill-folk, and that pressure was increased once the Players stationed there at first were relieved by the reinforcements from the other flank. Eventually, the assault of the third legion of hill-folk collapsed utterly when Mufasa failed to capture the last man and inadvertently cut him down instead. Hence, the curtains fell upon the initially mighty assault of the Lord of the Peaks believers with a very sloppy ending. Meanwhile, even the Players guarding outside the Sky Horizon had made their catch. Some of the hill-folk from smaller tribes were intending to infiltrate the city with various measures, only to be easily seen through by those Players and intercepted. After all, a huge red HP bar was hovering over their heads! One particular group of the Lord of the Peaks zealots who were fearless against death, however, cut through the Players interference and tried to get up to the Sky Horizon with everything they had. The Players almost allowed them to succeed out of a moment of carelessness, but when they were less than fifty meters away from the Sky Horizon, they saw that the grand city hence took to the air right in front of their eyes and flew away Chapter 393: The Lord Of The Peaks Although the wager between Xi Wei and the Lord of the Peaks ended in rather sloppy and even humorous fashion, the final outcome of Xi Weis victory was not affected. Your believers had done quite well. Aslan, the Great Lion soon arrived at Xi Weis divine kingdom to offer his congratulations. I had even assumed that they might be kept on the back foot for some time, but eventually gain victory through that curious reviving ability of theirs. If the Great Lion who was somewhat aware of the Players strengths thought that, the other gods were certainly surprised by that outcome. On paper, the Church of Games really had too few believers, numbering less than three thousand even if they included shallow believers who did not even awaken Systems. On the other hand, the believers of the Lord of the Peaks had three sizeable hill-folk tribes near Valla alone, and the number of warriors in their weakest tribe was already equal in number to the entire Church of Games. And yet, the Players won with such a clear victory that not even Xi Wei expected that. He had expected some extent of Player casualty since there really were a lot of hill-folk, and a zerg-rush would be enough to overwhelm most of them. Somehow, Terry and Jom who were on another bounty quest had managed to swindle a Scepter of the Temple of Glory so that the other church interfered and vaporized the strongest of those three hill-folk tribes. To some extent, the decisive battle that the gathered Players had waged against the last tribe felt rather dull Nonetheless, winning is winning. As Xi Wei was reluctant to reveal the location of his divine kingdom, Aslan had therefore found him an abandoned ruin of a divine kingdom as a place for their deal. Unlike the ruined divine kingdom where the Invisible Pantheon previously met, this ruin was falling apartwhich made sense, since it would discourage any god from claiming it even after it was found. It was worth mentioning here that Xi Wei found crossing divine realms easier now that he had the experience of joining the Invisible Pantheons gathering and himself having ascended as an Intermediate God. They quickly arrived at the ruin thanks to the Great Lions directions. Soon, the Lord of the Peaks arrived as well. While he resembled Magni Bronzebeard of World of Warcraft in appearance, he also stood over three meters tall and his skin did not look organic. Instead, he appeared to have concrete painted over himself and then rolled around a mine. He had no eyes either, while his face was composed out of rock and moss, and he spoke like booming thunder. This isnt fair! He complained loudly. The believers of Kratos (the God of War) had taken part in this battle! I wouldnt be defeated if Lord Earthweaver decreed that his believers aided me! But I didnt do that because it is unjust! On the other hand, a weirdly shaped ball like you had done just that! That is why I refuse to acknowledge the outcome of this wager! Xi Wei, inwardly retorting that A rock-headed person like you shouldnt be complaining about me looking weird then spoke to argue his own case, I did not ask the God of War to help. The outcome came entirely from my believers choices. While he did not expect the Lord of the Peaks to renege, Xi Wei more or less expected the Lord of the Peaks to use the Temple of Glory as leverage and as such had an excuse prepared. I wouldnt have said a word if your believers could direct the Earth Sects believers into taking action as well. At that, a crescent-moon slit appeared over Xi Weis spherical face as if to mock the Lord of the Peaks. At the same time, his tentacles slapped on his own body as he exclaimed as if in understanding, Oh, that reminds me. Your believersthe hill-folk are just a bunch of vile bandits. The Earth Sects followers had long since set boundaries against them, so why would they ever help you!? Damn it, your lord must have neglected to educate you! You should show gods who outrank you with respect! The Lord of the Peaks embarrassment turned into rage while divine power surged over his body. As one of the older Intermediate Gods and a sub-deity of Earthweaver, one of the Seven Divine Fathers, the Lord of the Peaks clearly had much stronger backing compared to a newbie Intermediate God like Xi Wei. But he did not come alone-indeed, he would not deal with the Lord of the Peaks face-to face if he had to come alone. Stop it, rock head! Aslan, the Great Lion of Justice roared then, his mane dancing despite the lack of win. His majestic yet menacing presence gave the Lord of the Peaks pause right then, preventing him from any reckless move. Keep protecting it, Aslan! Just like a kitty and his favorite fur ball! The Lord of the Peaks retorted, but that was the only thing he could do-he had hesitated for half a day, and ultimately did not have the gall to challenge the strongest intermediate god. Whatever. Hand over your divine power as agreed! Aslan bellowed again. I refuse! Do whatever you want, I wont resist! The Lord of the Peaks yelled back, unwilling to yield. But remember, you would be harming the sub-deity of a Divine Father! Aslan was clearly cautious about the Earthweaver, and so both sides arrived at a stalemate right then.Just as Xi Wei tried to swindle some information or get some divine relic out of the Lord of the Peaks instead, a presence that left the heart palpating with fear and was without match suddenly arose within Xi Weis heart. He felt just like a tiny wooden raft amidst rolling waves or an ant in the middle of a forest fire. The horror around him was so profound and unfathomable that even his divinity was shaking. Soon, a divine power that was the very incarnation of fear arose beyond the fallen divine kingdom. The faint traces of that power which were spilling inside alone was nothing Xi Wei could hope to match, be it in quantity or quality! At the same time, the already-ruined divine kingdom began to fall apart upon that divine powers appearance-even though he was not deliberately exerting any pressure! Though Xi Wei could not see the face of its owner, he had already realized something. After all, the Lord of the Peaks was laughing wildly in his face! In fact, the three-meter tall rock dwarf was raising what appeared to be his hands high above, towards the rupturing skies of the ruined divine kingdom. Lord Earthweaver! He shouted on top of his lungs. I did not expect you to come! In the name of Peaks, I beseech your favor to unleash your divine retribution upon these two gods who failed to appreciate kindness to protect the dignity of all earthen gods! Chapter 394: Justice Needs No Impurities Before transmigrating, Xi Wei had read a random magazine, saying that before death, male animals would get an erection or even ejaculate ferociously out of their instincts to procreate. Now, although it was questionable whether Xi Wei was male, he was definitely getting an erectionto be precise, the tentacles he put on for the convenience of creating items were getting hard. Still, it was not to ejaculate since Xi Wei doesnt have that function right now. While installing that function was just a matter of thought, now was clearly not the time. As a matter of fact, he was ready to transmigrate. If the Earthweaver made a move, he would flee with the Great Lion in tow. Out of considerations for safety, he certainly couldnt bring the Great Lion along to the mortal realm. Nonetheless, his Transmigration Authority not only allowed him to cross the barrier between the divine realm and the mortal realm, but also to other planes, using them as a stepping stone as they returned to the Divine Kingdom fragment that the Invisible Pantheon used. After that, both him and the Great Lion would return to their respective Divine Kingdoms, and whether the Earthweaver would beat them into a pulp depends entirely on their luck. And at the moment, the skies of the broken divine kingdom were disintegrating into endless dust by the divine power of the Earthwaver, revealing his true face to Xi Weis eyes. To his comprehension, that was a mountain. It sounded weird, but that was definitely the case. That which had appeared beyond the Divine Kingdom and hovered in the void was a valley of mountains stretching forth majestically. Clouds and fog surrounded it and obscured its full form, but one could still make it out clearly through the shadows. The main peak also stood far taller than the other summits, and it was now aimed true at Xi Weis direction, with its frightening divine power embodying the force of a typhoon laying waste to the crumbling Divine Kingdom fragment. Feast your eyes! This is the God of Gods, one of the seven Divine Fathers, the Ruler of the Ground and the Lord of all Earthen Gods! His Holiness, the Earthweaver! The Lord of the Peaks exclaimed proudly. Your lives may be spared if you admit your wrongdoing now, or you shall fall here! So, its come to this. In the split second that he sensed that the surging divine power had changed its path, Xi Wei had discreetly charged his Transmigration Authority. And yet. The profound divine power landed not on Aslan and Xi Weis position, but locked on to the Lord of the Peaks instead. Your Holiness?! If the Lord of the Peaks did not have a stone face, he must look shocked. H-hold on, its me, the Lord of the Peaks! Your sub- You have overstepped your boundaries. The mountain spoke. His voice was not the same as your typical deity, but an echo amidst the mountains: layered, ethereal and yet immeasurably solemn and majestic. It was precisely because of the folds of echoes that Xi Wei could not tell whether the Earthweavers voice was male, female, old or young. All he could tell that it was all of those yet none of those. No, its that ball! It clearly broke the rules The Lord of the Peaks twisted his body, seemingly intent on escaping the pincer hold of the Earthweaver with his own divine power, but it was clearly futile. Though it has been a long time since Ive last looked down upon the mortal realm, did you think you could cloud my eyes with that level of deceit, Peaks?. Your Holiness Panic could now be heard in the Lord of the Peaks voice. Xi Weis ball body flashed as he watched everything unfold before him in astonishment. On the other hand, Aslan did not appear surprised at all even now, aside from being startled by the Earthweavers appearance just now. Gaaaaaaaaaah! Even before Xi Wei spoke to break the standoff, the Lord of the Peaks suddenly started screaming as rocks began to split out of his body and converged along a green radiance, becoming a ball of rock that was almost the same size as Xi Wei. It was a fragment of the Lord of the Peaks divinity. As agreed, here is a third of Peaks divinity, with ten percent added as way of apology. The Earthweaver spoke with a rumble. However, I shall warn you just this once, Aslan: do not try any tricks with my adjutants. Xi Wei, who had been shocked by Earthweavers move and was about to say something quickly held his tongue. He looked in disbelief at Aslan the Great Lion, who was merely a mediator and had never been a part of Xi Weis wager against the Lord of the Peaks from beginning to end. However, the Earthweaver directly pinned the blame on Aslan, and the so-called tricks probably referred to how Xi Wei had modified the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN) into the Sky Horizon so that it could take to the air without giving the hill-folk a chance to claim it. Still, when Xi Wei thought that he should argue for Aslan who was made his scapegoat, he realized that the Great Lion wasnt looking at himself but at the Earthweaver as he spoke, I have no intention to make enemies of all Earthen Gods either. The truth is that the one who came looking for trouble is that sub-deity of yours. The Earthweaver did not say anything else, and merely thickened the divine power around the Divine Kingdom fragment. However, just when it was powerful enough that Xi Wei thought that the Earthweaver would directly crush both him and Aslan, the Earthweaver withdrew it.Soon, the Earthweaver and the Lord of the Peaks vanished within the cloud and fog, which was in turn consumed by the Void. Only the crumbling Divine Kingdom fragment was left, along with one lion and one ball. Aslan, did you know all along that the Earthweaver wouldnt attack us? Xi Wei asked the lion in curiosity. Aslan, however, answered with a question of his own. Did you know why, of the Seven Divine Fathers, only the Earthweaver and Magic Violet do not have names? Uh because they dont like their name? Or maybe most people dont dare to say their name directly? Xi Wei guessed, while considering if he should have his own believers call the Earthwaver the god of mysteries or whatnot The reason is because they had offered their names in the last divine war, to take up an oath that they would never fight another divine war. The Great Lion said meaningfully. The true names of the gods are immeasurably precious and not something that tiny bits of divine power could compare too. Even if there is just the tiniest of possibility, he would never deliberately take any actions that could trigger another divine warthat is, unless you provoke him on purpose. When that happens, the other gods wont say a word even if he flattens you. I dont quite get it Xi Wei scratched himself with his tentacle, and then turned towards the ball of rock hovering in the air. So, want to split that? If Xi Wei had personally resolved the entire matter, he would never have split out even a piece of that divinity fragment. Still, the Great Lion did take the bullet for him this time and shoulder all the blame from the Earthen Gods, which was why he couldnt bear to hog the whole divinity fragment of the Lord of the Peaks for himself. No need. Keep it for yourself. The Great Lion licked his paw and started to groom his mane. Justice needs no impurities, and if you could strengthen yourself, you would gain more of a say amongst the Invisible Pantheon. Chapter 395: Hidden Class Since the Great Lion had put it that way, Xi Wei did not hold back and took the divine fragment of the Lord of the Peaks. He had more or less sensed then that Aslan was consciously grooming himself. While he didnt know the Great Lions specific reason for doing so, it was perhaps to strengthen the Invisible Pantheons overall strength so that their cabal would gain more authority amongst the gods, increasing their odds of survival if a divine war really kicked off. After all, the Great Lion seemed to have been shouldering the Invisible Pantheon on his own, and it made sense that he would find it hard to keep things together by himself. Moreover, Xi Wei had the greatest potential to improve amongst the other gods, which was why it was normal to develop him. And once Xi Wei returned to his Divine Kingdom, he began absorbing the divinity fragment of the Lord of the Peaks. This was a different case compared to the First Flame that he got from Flintman the Fire Thief. Xi Wei did not dare to absorb the First Flame since it had been stolen from the God of Flames, in fear that he would come knocking down his door, string him up and use him as a punchbag. On the other hand, the Earthweaver had directly torn the Lord of the Peaks divine fragment off his body. Xi Wei learned it legitimately and it was fine to use it. Even if the Lord of the Peaks kept a grudge and attempted revenge, the Lord of the Peaks was no match for Xi Wei now, not to mention that there was the question on whether the Earthweaver would allow that. After all, Peaks divinity had a third of it torn off by force, and it would take him a long time to repair that damage. On the other hand, Xi Wei had that portion for use as supplement, and would have finished digesting it when Peaks eventually come to settle the score. Eh? Although this divinity fragment belongs to the Lord of the Peaks, it is resonating with the fragment I got from Amazon, the Rainforest Guardian Although directly fusing divinities would improve a gods power quicker, Aslan had reminded Xi Wei that Justice needs no impuritiesto maintain the purity of his Divine Order as the God of Games, Xi Wei decided to resort to a stabler measure of absorbing divinity. Hence, he ended up realizing while absorbing it that it had a resonation with the divinity fragment that he got from the Seira Marshes, which once belonged to Amazon, the Rainforest Guardian. So the Rainforest Guardian isnt a Deity of Nature, but an Earthen God? It was an unexpected finding. No wonder he felt an incompatibility while designing the Junglewalker class since he had designed it with a deity of nature in mind. But back to the point at hand how did the Rainforest Guardian fall? With the existing barrier between the divine realm and the mortal realm, there shouldnt have been much left of a lesser god that fell below, which meant that it was likely that Amazon had fallen in the last divine war Hold on. The Great Lion mentioned just now that the Earthen Gods were not a part of the divine war since even the Earthweaver was forced to offer his true name in an oath of neutrality When Xi Wei connected that to the sudden death of the Mossland Spirit, one could tell that a sinister entity lingered in the divine realm. Could that entity who was targeting lesser gods be collecting their divinity to strengthen themselves, or were merely spreading terror and to ignite the fourth divine war? At first, Xi Wei was a third-rate god and doesnt have the right to interfere with something as important as thisall he could do was run away with his Transmigration Authority if the culprit came looking for him. Now, however, it was different. As he continued becoming stronger and ascended up to intermediate, he gradually gained some ability to protect himself (although he would just be blown up against an opponent of the Seven Divine Fathers caliber), reaching the level where he could fight as equal against most gods. That was also why he was vulnerable to get caught in the culprits conspiracy. As such, Xi Wei regained a sense of urgency after becoming an intermediate god and a little lazy. Being intermediate was still too weak. He would at best be an equal to Aslan the Great Lion even if he improves his combat ability to his limit, and powerless against the greater gods who rank just below the Seven Divine Fathers. Either way, he has to continue thinking of ways to improve. Anyway, lets distribute the event rewards to the Players first Being distinct in rewards and punishment was important for a god in maintaining his sovereignty. Since he had promised a hidden-class for this event, Xi Wei would have to create it. It was fortunate, however, he did not promise the number of hidden-classes, and having control over that meant he did not have to put out additional divine power. *** (Your contribution points are sufficient for a class-change to hidden-class. Would you change class to Magma Lord?] Edward was as startled by the sudden notification from his System as he was delighted I got the hidden-class! He exclaimed in joy to the others in his party. Its Magma Lord, a mage class with double attributes of fire and earth! Ive got enough contribution points too, but the hidden-class I get is called Lithic Trooper and feels quite weird Joe said, having slung his greatsword over his back. Must be a tanking class of the earth-element, its not too suitable for me Looks like the class-change offer would be passed on to the next Player with most contribution points if you refuse, Jessica said then. Did you get the offer, Jessica? Edward asked. Nope. I didnt fight much this time around and couldnt earn enough points Jessica shrugged. If thats the case, it must be those two. Gou Dan joined in. He was naturally referring to Terry and Jom who alone had swindled the Scepter of the Temple of Glory and had them help destroy an entire detachment of hill-folk, reducing the event difficulty from normal to easy. That was why their contribution points were the highest too. By the way, the hidden-class available to Players seems related to their original classes. Jessica continued. Mister Mufasa could change class as well, but he doesnt like the Steel Honor class available to Swordmasters either and rejected it. The offer was therefore extended to Marni, and since hes a Spirit Swordsman like Joe, so the hidden-class he got is Lithic Trooper too. Could it be because we defeated the hill-folk? I have the feeling that all the hidden-classes are connected to earth Gou Dan muttered. Probably just a coincidence. Edward smiled lightly. Or what, did the God of Games rob the hill-folks deity off his divinity? Chapter 396: The Players Day of Rest (part Six) After capturing or wiping out the hill-folk who had sneaked into Valla, the tides of attacking beasts from around the nation subsided, even though some magical beasts still roamed those places. Perhaps they found that their new hunting grounds were much more convenient, but they were lacking as a wave and were not be a direct threat against Valla. Kristina, Scepter of the Temple of Glory who led their task forces to attack the hill-folk therefore received her churchs commendations too. While the God of War did not involve himself in Xi Wei and the Lord of the Peaks wager, Kristina had led the sacred corps to deal a vicious blow against the hill-folk, allowing the hierarchs of her faith to vent their grievances against the hill-folk. Indeed, that one battle alone would also prevent the hill-folk from making trouble in Valla for several years to come. It was worth mentioning here that the hill-folk who were imprisoned in the dungeon within the Unnamed Town were released. After swearing upon their own faith that they wont attempt revenge and working at the various Players bases as laborers, they were then released to the hills. Nonetheless, only the first major tribe of hill-folk led by the Hill Shaman Kaven Mor (who was given a nutcracking) had been mostly captured. Of the two other major-tribes, one was wiped-out directly by the Temple of Glory and the other being routed by the Players, with not many of them being taken prisoners. It was also too much of a hassle to have them convert their religion or keep them in the dungeon, and too cruel if they were all killed. The latter might also give the impression to other gods that Xi Weis faction was sadistic, which was why after more consideration, Xi Wei decided to have the hill-folk labor for their freedom. And having been defeated, the Lord of the Peaks would not have much of a say against his followers being punished with menial labor. But that was getting far from the point. Either way, after clearing their event, the Players naturally had to organize a feast in celebration. Moreover, the feast celebrates both the mini-event of the hill-folks invasion and the Elven Synchronized Intellect Nation (SIN) event. After all, the last event was so difficult that even first-rate Players like Edward had died more than once. Almost every Player who took part in the event was beyond tired when it finally ended, which was why no feast was held, aside from the little parties that the more energetic Players organized. And after the hill-folk event was over, Leah the Warrior Princess came to Angora, asking that he could back the Players for a major feast. The hill-folk event had not much charm for Leah since she was a hidden-class in the first place, which was why she merely skirted around the event and had a good rest, recharging herself. Like her, Angora was an Overlord Player and not a fighting-class. Feeling quite spirited himself, he thought that the Unnamed Town had not been particularly attractive to the Players recently and needed some new excitement, which was why he immediately agreed to Princess Leahs request. Xi Wei, who was in his Divine Kingdom digesting the divinity fragment from the Lord of the Peaks naturally saw that as well. When he thought about it, he did get that fragment and allowed several top Players to swap for hidden-classes, whereas the unlucky average Players had to drag along their fatigued bodies to fight the hill-folk, which got them nothing aside from EXP, game coins, and certain not-too-rare items and certainly deals a blow to their motivation. That was why he simply assigned holding a feast in the form of a quest for Angora, with him taking on most of the costs as their patron deity. All Angora had to do was invite as many Players as he could to the gathering at the Unnamed Town. As an Overlord Player and lacking EXP from a certain point of view, Angora was naturally very keen on carrying out the quest. He did not even bother to rest as he tried his Players to get everyone to join the feast by teleporting from lifestone to lifestone. To be fair, he was the only Overlord amongst all the Players and holds a strong reputation amongst their circle. He was also the one who posted the intelligence he gathered from Kaven Mor on the Player forums, contributing immensely to the Players victory even though he was not a part of the battle, elevating his popularity to the next level. While the other races would not be aware of such reasoning, but it was only reasonable for them to take a trip to the Unnamed Town when someone like Angora had spoken. Hence, the Unnamed Town saw its most chaotic period since its foundingbut chaotic did not mean that the people were causing trouble and leaving the street lawless. Sure, there were the occasional fellow who got confused, but they would soon find themselves in the towns dungeon after just five minutes of causing trouble. The chaos in the town was merely the little conflicts that started when different races run into each other. For example, the Players who were celebrating the Elven SIN event would naturally go to the wood elves and invite some of the individuals who had better relations with humans to have fun. At the same time, when members of other races like Zonyan Grayclaw who often hang around at the Western Continent were unable to sit still when they saw the wood elves increasing, and ran off to the Western Continent to bring in several Long-Ears as guests in their festivities. Later, the sacred corps who were about to return to base after destroying the hill-folks had arrived after Jom somehow brought Kristina to the feast. And so the latter-half of the event saw the involvement of those soldiers in their plate armor and helms, who, after a few drinks, dragged the Players along as they started to rant about their troubles because they were quite aware of the circumstances surrounding the Temple of Glory. Unbelievable. Watching as her sacred corps cried into the Long-Ears shoulders, wood elves drinking fruit ale while pitting their archery skills against Players and other lively scenes, Kristina shook her head in awe, while also finding it a little unreal. I never thought that such things could happen in this world Here be the Church of Games. Jom chuckled. He seemed to have a little too much fruit ale as well: his cheeks were red and his words were not as clear as usual. We set no boundaries between races, and the only measure we uphold is our devotion and diligence. You might not believe it, but aside from the God of Games protection, it is only because we are able to reach this level! This sort of life wouldnt last. Its fated to fail. Kristina, however, shook her head. No person could really coexist in peace with a race who looks completely different from themselves. That doesnt matter. Jom grinned, with the sweet scent of fruit ale spilling from his mouth. Because it is a god, not a person who guides us to this end. Chapter 397: Limit The Lyon Savannah of the Vierlin Plains, the Western Continent. This place where water and plants once blossomed was now a wasteland. Overhunting had left the spotted bison and horned gazelle-excellent sources of protein that once could be seen everywhere disappeared from sight. Half-eaten corpses had taken their place, with vultures that were once rarely seen due to lack of food now circling around in the air constantly, their numbers and sizes increasing visibly. Worse, the milder nonhumans who lived for generations at the Lyon Savannah were displaced, whereas the warmongering and barbaric tribes developed with unprecedented progress. The herbivores disappearance also allowed the unbridled growth of weeds, stubbornly turning the old grasslands into a green ocean of waist-high weeds. Even so, there was no life that grasslands ought to have here, because it was a wildland where only insects cries could be heard, adding a sense of desolation to it. In fact, right now, every bit of air in the Lyon Savannah was swirling with the stench all carnivores had. And the cause of it all was undoubtedly because of the change of chiefs at the Grayclaw tribe. Swordtail Grayclaw, who should have no way of claiming the rank of chief had learned sorcery from an unknown source, easily killing all who resisted him in his bribe. The fate of his brother, Zonyan Grayclaw was unknown after he had fallen off a cliff in the duel against Swordtail. Since the Grayclaw Tribe had been the undisputed king of all nonhuman tribes since ancient times, Swordtail now ruled over the right to live or die for all those tribes when he became chief. To strengthen his authority, he rampantly recruited and accommodated the warring tribes while exiling, oppressing or enslaving the tribes that could not resist heir power. The diligent management and balance that generations of Grayclaw chiefs had maintained were therefore utterly destroyed, with all nonhuman tribes living near the Vierlin mountains affected seriously. The oppressed nonhumans wanted to fight back, but Swordtail Grayclaw proved too powerful after he learned that obscure sorcery of his-not even Zonyan Grayclaw was a match for him, let alone the champions of average tribes. At the same time, his recruitment of the vile, warmongering tribes was too strong for the other nonhuman tribes even if they banded together. Not to mention that they were absolutely vulnerable without anyone taking the lead to unite them, and they were forced to endure alone as separate tribes, attempting to surviving from day after day. But there was a limit to such situations too. Rangka, the elder of the Long Ears had believed that when the nonhumans reached their limits, they would be forced to unite in resistance as life became unbearable. As such, he was a little hopeful since after the weird humans called Players set up base at his tribe, their lives had improved. The Players seemed to have extraordinary mobility and would not shy away from responsibility as well, and were the best choice to lead the oppressed nonhumans in mounting a resistance! And they had shown that their ability to fight far surpassed any nonhuman tribe in the battle at the Tigermens fortress. Although Rangkas limited knowledge certainly did not recognize what terror the Players skills could be, he had more experience than the average Long-Ear since he had led merchant groups to foreign lands to sell seafood to human nobles. He understood that the Players power came from their god (and was also curious why the Players would worship a ball so fervently), and were much stronger compared to the nonhumans who could only gain strength through awakening ancient bloodlines or through prayers to ancestors. If they really would fight for the nonhumans, they would definitely ease the oppressed nonhumans even if they cant overturn Swordtail Grayclaws rule. However, Rangka never expected that the alliance of meat-eating nonhumans was the first to reach their limit. In the first place, they were a loose alliance dragged along by Swordtail and pieced together by force. At first, they had plentiful water and food, and would go around bullying little kids (docile nonhumans), and would hunt depending on their mood and leave their prey half-eaten. There was no sense of law-abiding now unlike the rule of the previous Grayclaw Chief, who ensured that food was not wasted as much as possible, which ensured immeasurable happiness and presented no issues. With the uncontrolled and wasteful lifestyle Swordtail and his ilk, the docile nonhuman tribes who made a living with farming and rearing livestocks were chased away from the Vierlin Plains, their former livestock slaughtered excessively alongside the wildlife of the Lyon Savannah. When they finally realized what was happening, the balance in the grasslands ecosystem was completely shattered-carnivores on top of the food chain such as the wildlands wolves and the saber-tooth lions were almost hunted to extinction, let alone the herbivores Naturally, the carnivorous nonhumans who had lost their food source became very much agitated. Indeed, they would have reached their limit earlier if the equally-voracious Tigermen and the Hyena-men had not been virtually wiped out in the previous battle. Eventually, the mood discontent of erupted yesterday: a Jackalman attacked the Curly-Horns tribe that had been chased to the edge of the Vierlin Plains, and the Sheeple watch in horror as their clansman was eaten alive. All at once, the already nervous atmosphere in the Vierlin Plains shot up to its limit. Even though they had not met and made an alliance, the usually docile herbivorous nonhumans began to band together tacitly to combine and resist against the meat-eating nonhumans that could come for them at any moment. While the meat-eating nonhumans would more or less listen to Swordtail Grayclaws orders, hunger was divesting them from their principles. Major tribes were hence wandering off the main area of the Vierlin Plains in search of herbivorous nonhumans who would be easy prey to them. As such, the nonhuman communities who stood unified for centuries with much difficulty was now split in two, breaking apart following Swordtail Grayclaws promotion and one bloody hunt. Now that things had come to this, there is no need to hesitate! I once held my faith in my ancestors in seeking their protection, but they didnt choose the Long-Ears in the end! Rangka exclaimed agitated at his brother, the chief of the Long-Ears tribe. It is now the best time to present our loyalty to the Church of Games, for they are the true saviors! Only they could save us now! Calm down, Rangka. The Long-Ears chief said. The saviors you speak off are still in the midst of their three-day feast. Why would that bunch always have to hold some feast? Chapter 398: The Curly-Horns Tribe With the situation about to blow up at any moment, though it was worrying that the Players being away from the Long-Ears settlement was worrying for their chief and elders, they eventually decided to contact the other herbivorous nonhuman tribes. Even though they did not know about the excellent diplomatic solution of the enemy of my enemy is friend that was never outdated for back Earth even after thousands of years, but they still understood the basic principle of there is strength in numbers. Of course, they could not send out too a big group. After all, the Long-Ears population was dwindling at the moment, and there would be no sufficient forces to defend their home if they sent out too many since the Players had yet to return. In fact, the Players who were stationed at the Western Continent were now a lot fewer than the start, since life here had become dull after destroying the Tigermens fortress. There were only daily quests to do even if they stayed here. Moreover, daily quests with Long-Ears tribe was quite low in rewards yet troublesome, which was a lot less attractive compared to the Unnamed Town, the elven capital or even the frogpeoples village. Though they could encounter many nonhumans on explorations, all of them would be neutral. With all wild animals and whatnot being captured and eaten, there was no monsters to fight either. That was why aside from Zonyan and a few others who were still farming the good graces of the Long-Ears, most Players had returned to the Eastern Continent for other quests. It was also why although the seven-days feast that Angora had organized was over, most of the Players returned to their work at the Eastern Continent, but almost none came to the Long-Ears settlement at the Western Continent. But that was besides the point. Either way, the Long-Ears lacked numbers and could not send out too many of their own to discuss an alliance with the other docile nonhumans. Moreover, they were one of the oldest nonhuman tribethe other tribes were keeping an eye on them despite having cornered them to such desperate straits, and any major movement makes them vulnerable to those violent tribes ambush. In fact, if the Hyena-men and the Tigermen were not wiped out and the other meat-eating nonhuman tribes did not become aware of their backing, they probably would have come for the Long-Ears long ago! That was why the Long-Ears chief eventually decided to send Rangka and Laybit to seek an alliance with the other nonhuman tribes. Being the second-in-command of the Long-Ears and having a say in matters, Rangka could make an oath in the chiefs stead if necessary. While he was no match for the Players (second-rate or above), he had some extent of accomplishment in martial sorcery, and was one of the elites of the tribe. As for Laybit, he would work as Rangkas helper while gaining some knowledge in the developments of the outside world. As the son of the current tribe chief, he could be kept as a hostage in another tribe if necessary, so that they could have no worries while working with the Long Ears. If it was in the past, the Long-Ears tribe chief would definitely tell Rangka to try to claim leadership over the alliance. After all, since they had martial sorcery and were one of the oldest nonhuman tribe, they would have no problem being the boss of the alliance. But now, that was unnecessary since no matter which tribe was the boss, they would have to listen to the Players once they return. If any tribe proved to be stubborn they must have seen what had befallen the Hyena-men and the Tigermen, no? It would be a light punishment if they were strung up and beaten since the Players could blow up your tribe into dust. You could count on that! *** At first, the alliance talks were thought to be a hassle and could take a rather long time, but the Curly-Horns immediately agreed to the alliance when Rangka and Laybit arrived at their village and made their intentions known. The reason for that was the Curly-Horns village had been closest to the Vierlin Plains after they were banished. In other words, the Sheeple would the first victims once the meat-eating nonhumans there lose control. As a matter of fact, one of their own was already eaten. I didnt imagine that you would be this understanding that you would agree to the alliance so easily, chief of the Curly-Horns. Rangkas apprehensiveness was alleviated considerably. With your leadership, Im sure the friendship of our tribes would last a long time! Perhaps you believe that we are cowards, Mister Rangka. The chief of the Curly-Horns tribe sighed. No way. I hold absolute respect for you! Rangka said, tapping his chest. That was when he realized that it was a rather crude and impolite gesture on his part, and couldnt help muttering inwardly that he was infected by the rugged and bold manners of the Players Weve sent someone to issue a strong protest with the Grayclaw tribe. The Curly-Horns chief, however, paid that indiscretion no heed. Seated at the main chair, there was an ugly look on his face as he told Rangka, But this morning, only that clansmans incomplete corpse was returned to us! Wha Rangka was stunned. The Grayclaw tribesman who brought the corpse to us claimed that they had run into some beasts on the way, but the bite marks clearly were not from ordinary beasts! The Curly-Horns chief snorted. Moreover, every beast in the Vierlin Plains was probably eaten by the meat-eating nonhumans if they could still be called that! Thats really Rangka racked his brains, but was unable to find a word for the unrestrained behavior of those nonhumans, and could only shake his head. So horrible. No wonder the Curly-Horns would agree to the alliance so easilytheir entire tribe had long since become unhinged with a member of their tribe being eaten, and twice at that. In a few days, I would move our tribe so that we could be as close to the Long-Ears tribe as possible. I hope you could inform your chief about that, Mister Rangka, so that your tribe could accommodate us. The Curly-Horns chief sighed again-it was upsetting to leave your home, but it was still better than being wiped out.Understood. I shall leave right now. Rangka did not hesitate. He shared the Curly-Horns horrific experience, since he too almost had his entire tribe being wiped out by the meat-eating nonhumans, and would not complain even if would have to work hard a little. Oh, before that, could you bring along Woolsprout, my youngest daughter? You may just consider her a hostage. The Curly-Horns chief suddenly said. Rangka and Laybit shared a glance. While they did not expect the Curly-Horns chief to share their intentions, there was also a change in perspective: instead of calling the chiefs daughter a hostage, bringing her along was more like protecting her now. Even though the Long-Ears were good at sprinting and moved quickly despite having problems with their stamina, they would definitely move a lot slower if they had a Sheeple with them. Rangka was about to refuse, only for Laybit to answer before he could. No problem. Leave it to us! Chapter 399: The Players Return Woolsprout, the daughter of the Curly-Horns tribal chief did not differ much compared to the average Sheeple. With her long blonde hair, white gown, and a little leather bag hanging off her waist, her looks were more on the side of charming and sweet instead of beautiful. If one had to put their finger on it, she perhaps had a slight plump attractiveness from the perspective of a sheeps proportions. However, she had the same volume of hair as a human, which was fewer than most Sheepleher kind change coats periodically, and the Curly-Horns tribe often made clothes and fabrics out of the fur shed. One should mention here that while only rams grow horns in nature, the Curly-Horns tribe grew horns as well without regard of gender (and was also their namesake). Still, male horns were longer sharper while female horns were quite tiny, appearing like an ornament and much more dainty. Sorry for the trouble. The young Sheeple who had learned about the specifics of the current situation bowed at the two Long-Ears. Her eyes were crystalline and her pupils a rare violet, just like a sparkling high-grade carnelian. Its fine. And instead of observing meaningless gestures, we should get a move on. Rangka had no idea why Laybit would agree to bring the Curly-Horns princess along their return home, but he could not decline now that it had happened, and merely grumbled, Time waits for no lazy rabbit. The girl sensed Rangkas impatience and so said nothing as she quietly followed them along on their return journey. It was a dull journey until Rangka paused, seemingly sensing something. What is it? Laybit asked in alarm. Rangka picked out a single strand of fur from his hat, which was squirming and bending like a caterpillar, as if it was alive. This is a heartstring imbued with sorcery that your father gave me before we left. There were rarely any nonhumans who could use magic, and only shamans were capable of sorceryaside from individuals who awaken their ancient bloodlines to obtain pseudo-magic. Their sorcery resembled the divine arts of the various churches in the Eastern Continent, but because ancestral spirits were not actually gods and each tribe worshipped a different spirit, a corresponding god could not be created and only exists in the form of sprouts. That in turn left the nonhumans with an incomplete sacred arts system that eventually developed into sorcerya special branch that did not require high divine energy, instead needing compatible conditions to activate, mainly through rituals or motions. Swordtail Grayclaws dark sorcery and the Long-Ears martial sorcery were included in that domain. It was precisely because sorcery was equivalent to the magic of the Eastern Continent in the perspective of nonhumans that they consider it an ability their kind possessed. Therefore, while Swordtails dark sorcery does violate certain taboos, the other nonhumans did not protest too much when he used it to claim the spot as his tribes chief. On the other hand, the Long-Ears shaman was very old and died when they moved to their new settlement. Moreover, there had yet to be a new shaman groomed and just a handful of candidates who could take the roll, which was why their elderly tribe chief had to play the role of shaman too. Still, the Long Ears were no fools despite being vulnerable, and since the Players did not hold back, their tribe soon developed a method to communicate from across long distances. Having been put on the backfoot because of that, the Long-Ears promptly asked the Players for details, but unfortunately that ability required conversion to the Church of Games, and they must become true believers too. Even Rangka, one of the Long-Ears who had already planned to declare his faith in the God of Games, was unable to immediately forget his reverence towards his ancestors which had grown and accumulated over the years and simply shift his faith to a new entity, which was why there had yet to be any Long-Ears Players. With the Players forums hence remaining unavailable, the Long-Ears chief had to give up and asked the Players about other ways to communicate over long distances. That was when one of the Players revealed how they kept in contact before the Player forums came online. At the time, Players would often be revived at far-flung places after they died in a dungeon or an event. They had to communicate in real-time as well, which was why some Players simply agreed upon a meaning for the different order which they arranged their buffs, so that after several refreshes, the other Players in the party could tell what was going on. That method certainly couldnt be used by the Long Ears since they couldnt see a fellow tribesmans HP bar or status bar. Nonetheless, they were inspired by the story and developed very simple sorcery. The effect was to cut a heartstring in two down the middle to dod something similar. Three twists and two curves. Rangkas gloomy look turned cheerful right then. Players are returning to our village. Thats wonderful! Laybit breathed a sigh of relief as well. After all, if it were only the Long-Ears, they would never really be able to hold their own if the more fearsome Nonhuman tribes come calling. What is a Player? Woosprout asked in curiosity after listening to them, and had a hunch from how the other two Long-Ears were relieved. Could they be some magical beasts your tribe tamed? That being said, it was too troublesome to tame magical beasts in this day and age. While it was fine for the Eastern Continent with their systematic nations and churches, the Western Continent was much more chaotic that even the human territories were always caught in a conflict between feudal warlords. That meant catching a powerful magical beast was already difficult, and having them to procreate like your typical domesticated beast was even more so. Even over at the Eastern Continent, the most successfully bred magical beast was only the wyvern flocks of the Temple of Glory. As such, even if some nonhumans had the immense luck of capturing a magical beast and taming it, they had to be released back into the wild when the creatures were in heat. They would have to wait and see whether it might bring its young back to their settlement, because magical beasts could get very violent in heat and would threaten the entire tribe. That was why Woolsprout would assume that the Players were some powerful magical beasts when she saw how relieved Rangka and Laybit were upon learning their return. N-no Urgh, if I had to say it Rangka denied it by reflex, but suddenly found that Woosprout was not exactly wrong after thinking about it. They would often eat and drink what the Long-Ears had and defending their tribe when there was trouble, occasionally helping them with menial labor. They would leave the village when it was time for one of their feast, before returning after some time They certainly resembled domesticated magical beasts in that respect. Be that as it may, Rangka would never dare to directly label the Players as magical beasts, and shuddered when he remembered how they destroyed the Tigermen and the Nightstalker in quick succession. Hmm, he said solemnly, they are beings more horrific than magical beasts, and could well be a calamity. Chapter 400: New Believer After learning that the Players had returned to the Long-Ears village at the Western Continent, both Rangka and Laybit clearly felt relieved. Even so, they did not waste any time to continue on their journey home, with the Curly-Horns Woolsprout in tow. The Long-Ears were champions at marathons. Though their endurance were not as strong as that of humans (Humans of this world were somewhat different from Earth humans, with stronger physical aspects), their top speed and acceleration were far above than that of humans or most other nonhumans. In other words, they were their own best horse and therefore needed no horse. That was exactly why although Rangka thought that bringing the Curly-Horns princess along back to their tribe lands was nothing but dead weight. Still, he eventually decided that it was not the case. While the Sheeple did not have the habit of rearing livestock, but they did domesticate horned antelopes as a way to travel for long-distance trade. Those antelopes were once so abundant everywhere over the Vierlin Plains they were a disaster, but now they were nowhere to be seen. Instead, only their endless corpses and bones was proof that their kind had once flourished, and that fact only made it clear how much damage Swordtail Grayclaws tyranny had inflicted upon the plains. As a matter of fact, the Curly Horns had kept the horned antelopes enclosure were some distance away from their village, so as to avoid the prying eyes of the meat-eating nonhumans. It was basically a cavern dug of the ground which entrance had been covered in tall grass, which could not be seen if not observed carefully. Moreover, Saber-Tooth Tigermen feces were placed around the enclosure to interfere with the sense of any predators and meat-eating nonhumans. That was why although the antelope in the enclosures looked skinny and weak due to lack of grass, their spirit and health were still assured. And once Woolsprout swapped walking for riding the one-horned antelope, she moved more than a notch quicker. With that, they would be able to return to the village soon. Nonetheless, as the old saying goes, the road to happiness is strewn with setbackssoon after leaving the Curly-Horns settlement, Rangka felt danger with his sharp Long-Ear senses. They were being shadowed! However, shadowing was clearly not their day job, or perhaps those pursuers were simply not worried about Rangkas group. They strutted along without hiding their enmity, staying behind them unhurriedly. Rangka, who was the brains of his own group had no intention of stopping either, and simply clenched his teeth as he led Laybit and Woolsprout in running. He had a hunch that Swordtail Grayclaw had learned that the oppressed nonhumans were considering an alliance to rebel against his tyranny. Therefore, he had sent his elite champions to ambush and kill envoys of those tribes to prevent them from communicating, without igniting a major tribal war! That move was simple, direct but effective. Even if the oppressed nonhumans were in a hurry to form their alliance, the fact that their own envoys were not returning would cause doubt towards their potential alliesno matter how understanding they might be. While that doubt would be wiped away should any one envoy survive, on the more likely outcome that they did not, the tribal chiefs would have to make huge gestures and personally meet one another, or the misunderstandings would not go away. Moreover, the intent of Swordtails plan seemed to be for buying time, instead of sabotaging the alliance of the oppressed tribes And that hunch left Rangka extremely uncomfortable. Who knows what could happen when Swordtail really showed his hand?! Uncle, we cant continue on like this! Laybit said decisively then. Our stamina would continue to drop, and when we fatigue, we are not getting away if they attack! I know! Rangka said, taking a deep breath and turned to Woolsprout. Could your antelope carry one more? It might. She nodded. Good. Laybit, youre light. Ride along with Lady Woolsprout and escape. Wait! What about you, uncle? Laybit knew what Rangka was getting athe appeared to have no plans of leaving. Someone has to slow them down, Rangka sighed with melancholy. Or none of us are getting away. Even so, he did not believe that he was wrong in saving his nepheweven before the Players came to them, the older Long-Ears had all made their resolve to sacrifice themselves for the younger generation when a decisive moment comes. The only thing he regretted was being unable to personally witness the revival of the Long Ears, for it was his conviction that as long as they had good ties with the God of Games believers, that day would eventually come. But, uncle Even before Laybit could finish, Rangka had seized that girly nephew on his and threw him over the antelope, with the creature rearing its hooves and darting away in its surprise. After one last look at the departing figure of his nephew, Rangka turned around. Their pursuers had noticed that something was not right, and appeared behind bushes that were half the height of an adult human. It was a burly nonhuman who was almost two meters tall. Its shoulders were equally wide, and it has a thick hide over its body as well as a long rhino horn growing over its nose. And it was riding a giant serpent that was over twenty meters long and had a nose resembling an elephants trunk! To ride Grootslang, the Elephant Snake of the marshes beneath Mount Vierlin you must be Sutan, the former champion of the Ryhorn Tribe. Rangka whipped out his weapons: two daggerlike knives with a troubled faceafter all, those trinkets might not even pierce his foes skin. Sutan is still a champion! The white-skinned Ryhorn roared resoundingly. No, youre not. Not after youve sworn fealty to Swordtail and raised your blade against the weak. You are just a butcher now! Even if Rangka knew that he would never win or even so much as give Sutan a scratch, he braced himself to mock the Ryhornadding some heartfelt words in the mix, naturally. Rubbish! I, Sutan will always be a champion! Infuriated, the white-skinned Ryhorn bobbed its head repetitively. It was a funny look, but Rangka couldnt laugh. Because it was a sign that a Ryhorn was going on a rampage. The Ryhorn hence raised its greatsword that resembled a door and was larger than Rangka himself. Spurring on Grootslang the Elephant Snake at the same time, he roared and charged towards Rangka. May the ancestral spirit protect me But halfway through that thought, Rangka had another that was exceedingly sacrilegious. Us Long-Ears have never held back in prayer and offerings, and did not stop our ancestral worship even when we were chased to the dangerous coastal areas. Even so, our own ancestor clearly wouldnt respond to our tribe and almost leaving us on the brink of extinction. Im dying anyway, so why should I offer my prayer to that ancestor who has never sympathized with his own tribe? Hence, Rangka promptly changed his prayer. May the God of Games watch over meeven if its for a moment. Please grant me the strength to stop this bastard and buy Laybit a chance to survive! While Rangka had tried to pray to the God of Games under the Players urging, he never received any response. This time, however, his prayer was immeasurably devoted, as if he would offer all his faith with a single breath as he softly voiced the prayer of the Church of Games. O Master of Games, grant us new life In the next instant, he seemed to hear an incorporeal voice beside his ears. [The ball has received your faith!] Chapter 401: Level 1 Player In the exact moment that Rangka offered his faith to the God of Games, he felt that the world within his eyes changed. First, something indescribable appeared to be added into the depths of his very soulafter all, a System was immensely difficult to comprehend for the natives of a fantasy world. As such, after Xi Weis silly believers adapted to it, they would instruct the juniors by word or example, allowing later Players to use the System smoothly. Then, Rankga could saw a lot more things than before, including the name of his opponent and HP bars. HP bars notwithstanding, the former was much more obvious. Even a monkey would get the idea after fiddling around with it for a while, let alone a nonhuman whose intelligence was more or less the same as a humans. Still, after gaining that ability to see names, Rangka suddenly realized that it was not just Sutan the Ryhorn and his mount Grootslang shadowing him. To the rear, there were many more Ryhorn Soldiers attempting to use the waist-height grass as cover, discreetly surrounding Rangka even as Sutan drew his attention. Once the encirclement was complete, Sutan would probably quickly steer Grootslang away to pursue Laybit and the princess of the Curly-Horns, leaving the other Ryhorns to deal with Rangka. Rangka therefore broke out in cold sweat. The reason he had confidence in buying time was because his martial sorcery was special even though it was not especially powerful. As long as he had enough strength, he would have been able to run circles around his opponent, denying them a quick victory even if he could not beat them. That, however, was limited to a one-on-one confrontation. It was another matter entirely if he was surrounded by a group of Ryhorns. If he had not realized at the last possible moment and offered his faith to the God of Games and be acknowledged as a believer, he would have died senselessly and for nothing, since his intent to buy time at first failed as well. That being said, things were still dire right now. For one, he was definitely not a match for Sutan (for some reason, the champion of the Ryhorns had a level 39, elite template next to his name) or his mount, Grootslang (level 36, elite template), let alone the other Ryhorns trying to surround him. Just as Rangka was left hesitating, weird text suddenly appeared before himthough clearly illiterate (in human language), he somehow understood its meaning. [Side Quest: Traitors Must Die] [Though the Ryhorns are one of the stronger nonhuman tribes, not only did they not aid the oppressed of their kind in their moment of need, they sided with Swordtail Grayclaw instead, raising their blades against former allies. It is a betrayal against all nonhumans! Such a tribe that would insolently surrender for their own interest would ultimately lead all tribes to the abyss of decay!] [Quest objectives: Slay as many Ryhorn soldiers as you can before you die or escape] [Completion reward: 100X EXP for targets killed, each kill is rewarded with a blue-elite item ranging from level 1 to 15 at random (limited to Ryhorn sets)] [Note: It is only by paying a bloody price that traitors would repent!] While he had no idea why those words appeared, Rangka was more or less one of the more knowledgeable Long-Ears and quickly got a hunch Could this be the oracles human religions often mention? Wonderful, I think Im slowly understanding everything! Dont fight Sutan and attempt to surprise and kill the Ryhorns surrounding him. That was the oracle the God of Games had delivered unto him! With that in his conviction, Rangka promptly evaded Sutans charge, sneered at him before promptly turning to run. Sutan simply watched as he ran towards his fellow tribesmens encirclement without giving chase. He simply waited there, keen on witnessing Rangkas despair once he realized the truth. Yet, something he did not expect happened. Just as Rangka was about to run into the other lurking Ryhorns, he reacted quicker than they did. Bursting out with an acceleration, he directly stabbed his twin daggers into the eyes of one of the Ryhorns! Sutan would entirely have been able to evade that level of acceleration, but the hiding Ryhorn was only an average specimen (level 12) and simply couldnt react in time, and was promptly stabbed in the eyes and blinded! With the agony of having his eyes stabbed through added to the instincts of a blinded creature, the Ryhorn screamed even as he flailed wildly with his thick rusty saber. Still, such imprecise attacks would never hurt Rangka. Instead, it obstructed the other Ryhorns who saw that their ambush had failed and came to help. All of them were shouting to calm their blinded companion when Rangka moved ahead of themaiming his blow on another Ryhorn who was almost cut down by his blinded comrade, losing his balance as he tried to escape! In the next instant, another brand-new blind Ryhorn was born. The other Rhyhorns were left in shock and rage, but they were shielding their eyes even as they cursed away at Rangka. That distraction naturally greatly reduced their ability to attack, and even if they came to surround Rangka, he had a much easier time evading them now. Still, when he saw that a furious Sutan was rushing to help as well, he knew that he could not create more blind Ryhorns. There was a chance he would be able to escape if he fled now, but if he did so, Laybit and the others who had not offered their faith to the God of Games would be in danger. His determination to protect the next generation kept him from running. Hence, he agilely leapt atop the two blinded Ryhorns, who were calmer now despite their initial panic thanks to their tribesmens soothing. However, because they were not flailing their weapons wildly, Rangka was afforded an opening. He turned on the mechanism of his two daggers and whirled it, and both daggers immediately became longer by an entire notch. Then, moving as quickly as a lightning bolt, he stabbed the daggers into the Ryhorns eye socket again, although this time it was a full-power strike. The two daggers sunk inside the Ryhorns skulls, and as Rangka deliberately gave them a twist, their brains were churned into crushed tofu and they died instantly! Just you wait! Rangka declared fearlessly, watching as Sutan turned from gray to red in his fury. Someone would eventually avenge me! In the next split second, his head was shattered and he thus died after the words critical hit appeared over his head, and his corpse vanished right in front of the glaring Ryhorns after another moment. Chapter 402: Revived Rangka had thought about how it felt to die before this. According to nonhuman myths, their souls would fuse with ancestral spirits after death and become a part of their ancestors, eternally protecting their tribe. However, he had also heard of the human myths claiming that the Prince of Darkness retrieved the souls of the dead, using them as the cornerstone of the underworld and keeping them eternally in hell, and that there was only salvation through faith in the other godsmost claims were identical, and there only inconsistencies when it came to the religion in question, because that depended on church of the person you were asking. However, it seemed that that was not the case for the believers of the God of Games. Rangka felt as if he was floating in a pitch-black sea, unable to see or feel anything. His existence seemed to become illusory yet realistic at once, and he was not suffocating even if he could not breathe. He could vaguely feel the presence of a certain thing nearby as well. If he pushed his senses, he could make out a vague feedback called Player forums. However, before Rangka understood what was going onthough the minds of the dead should not be working, he felt that his body (or existence) was being pulled along by an invisible threat towards the surface of the pitch-black sea. It was hard to describe that feeling, but it was immeasurably clear and definitely not imagined: he was escaping death with the help of a great but unknown power! In the next split second and as if his head really poked his head out of the surface of the pitch-black sea, his lost organs returned inside his body. Indeed, Rangka had the impulse to shed tears amidst the warm sun and fresh air. A blur figure appeared before him then. Rangka, who had some understanding of human religion instinctively assumed that it was the angels, stewards of the gods whom the white-robed priests always mentioned, while he himself had arrived in a Divine Kingdom. However, even as he looked on dazedly and in reverence, the angel spoke. What the heck, why did a rabbit head come out? Soon, other voices followed. Where is he? Where is the baldy? Who would still be a baldy with the Aesthetic System? No way! I think the recently trending green turtle helm is no better than being bald. Try not to say that out loud. This Divine Kingdom is quite noisy, is it not? Moments later, the dizziness in Rangkas head faded and the sights before him became vivid. At first, he had thought that he was not in a divine kingdom due to the noise around him, since it did not feel right that angels could be such trolls. Still, he doubted his judgment a little after seeing the sight before him. The Long Ears village was a rather rundown tribal settlement, and almost all the houses were straw huts. In days where strong gust blew in from the Dark Tidal Coast, the entire tribe would have to hide in underground cavities and be prepared to rebuild their straw huts by the next day. Even if the Long Ears had not moved out of the Vierlin Plains, their houses would at most be built with wood and clay given how far they had been cornered. Those were houses overflowing with Western Continent nonhuman aesthetic to put it gently, and natural primitive clay huts to put it harshly. Moreover, the severance between civilizations due to the divine war made communication between the two continents difficult, and that naturally led to a difference in the recovery of human civilization on both ends. The Eastern Continent had almost progressed to acceptable standards with their grand cities, but things were different on the Western Continent. The nonhumans influence and their wide conquests occupied most of the humans domains, and with small-scale but numerous chaotic wars, the cities of the Western Continent were much smaller than Eastern Continent cities and much more backwater. What few human cities around the Vierlin Plains which Rangka visited felt dirty and tattered. Moreover, since most of the buildings were made out of limestone and mudstone power, it gave the impression of dullness. But the city before his eyes now was completely differentit was much more beautiful and grander compared to the Long Ears village or the human cities of the Western Continent. In Rangkas mind, if a divine kingdom truly existed in this world, this would be it. The even red-bricked streets (pedestrian walkways, but Rangka doesnt know that) were clean and tidy, with dust nowhere to be seen, let alone rubbish. Both sides of the streets were also lined full of pretty, exquisite buildings, embedded with wondrous but intricate metal decorations (fire hydrants), along with light pillars straighter and more towering than trees and benches. The people on the streets appear to be in a hurry, but there was no worry or blues showing on their faces, and they exuded only bliss and energy. Soon, Rangka realized that hew was standing beneath a hovering rhombic sculpture. There was another one of that in the Long Ears village made by the Players, but unlike the one that stuck out like a sore thumb against the buildings around it, the one here that towered over the streets appeared quite fitting. It was such a wonderful and mythical place! Rangka would bet the long ears he prided himself with that even the streets of Vannado, known as the Nation of Nations in the Western Continent would not compare to this place! Even the plants on both sides of the streets were totally different. There were towering flower stems that grew over two meters, their emerald leaves larger than giant clams. The purple flowers were bright, beautiful and had the rare spots, and beneath its blossom were concealed, sharp teeth Hold on. Teeth? Grooooooowl! (A flowers shrieking) Aaaaaaaaargh! (A humans scream) Oh my god! Mister Marni was eaten again! Who the heck planted that thing? Wasnt it already forbidden to plant offense-type magical plants in the town? You bastards! Stop with the memes! Mister Marni would be gone if you keep memeing! Tch, the flower is too powerful and Im not winning! Quick, get the peashooter! Its already uprooted. How about first-rate Players? Every last one of them had gone off to play quests. Who else is in town? [Player Marni Wilf has been killed by Man-Eating Flower (temporary name)] Alright, move along, everyone. Remember to notify Mister Angora and have him send people to move the flower away. Hence, the bystanders slowly dispersed as if nothing happened and resumed their tasks at hand. Still, Rangka was left blank, having witnessed this situation for the first time. Uh this doesnt quite fit the impression I have of divine kingdoms? Suddenly, a rather familiar voice spoke beside him. Eh? Arent you Mister Rangka? Why are you here? Startled, Rangka turned around towards the voice, and realized that the person was someone he met several times before. It was Joey Arbiterthe man who had kept following Zonyan Grayclaw around. Chapter 403: Waters Run Deep With The God of Games Joey Arbiter was once a believer of Marcolo, the God of Harvest. However, after the Players had rescued him on one occasion, he paid the price of a-third of his blood to leave that religion and convert to the Church of Games (while harboring the ambition of becoming Terry and Joms stepdad). Unlike most of the Players who base their activities on the Eastern Continent, Joey was in a three-man group with Zonyan Grayclaw and Vulcan Cher because of his good relationship with Zonyan. They would always be exploring the Western Continent, and would never be in the Eastern Continent unless the God of Games had started an event. Still, the quests over at the Eastern Continent could be dull, and the only thing they could work on continuously was to farm reputation amongst the Long Ears. In fact, Joey and the others had taken part the hill-folk siege event two days ago in order to join in the liveliness, but they did not score well and none of them managed to secure a hidden-class. Of course, it was not to say they returned empty-handed. With their contribution points, they managed to exchange for some items. But being the one with the lowers level amongst the trio, Joey naturally had to use the contribution points in the event to redeem more acceptable equipment, so that he could go about quests better. That was why he was alone at the Unnamed Town after Zonyan and Vulcan had already returned to the Western Continent. Though the Player forums were convenient, it was easier to bargain offline, just as it was both more convenient and encrypted for people to exchange certain second-hand equipment. And now, Joey was certainly very shocked to find Rangka in the Unnamed Town. Mister Rangka, are you a believer of the God of Games? But since when would the Rabbitfolk started to convert to the Church of Games? Rangka, meanwhile, was pleasantly surprised. He naturally could not avoid feeling nervous and worried in unfamiliar land, even if it appeared wonderful In the distance, the man-eating flower was poking its tongue out. Okay, not all that wonderful. Either way, Rangka was very relieved to see a familiar face. Moreover, he got a clue of what was going on thanks to Joeys words. Since Joey was so sure that he was now a believer of the God of Games, it meant that this place was open only to the God of Games believers, even if it was not his divine kingdom! Hence, he no longer hesitated to approach Joey and told him about everything that happened to him. Joey was taken aback. Still, he got the gist of itin a nutshell, in a situation where his death was certain, Rangka became a believer of the God of Games, barely surviving the threat and was revived at the lifestone of the Unnamed Town. In fact, the God of Games had even assigned Rangka a quest so that he had enough EXP to be revived. Still, isnt he supposed to stay in the black hut for three days before being revived? Joe mused to himself doubtfully. I heard that new believers of the God of Games get a revival experience ticket. A Player passing by answered. A revival experience ticket? Yes, and its more or less the same like a Resurrection Ankh, although you would be revived at a locked place and not the closest lifestone. The Player added. It feels unreliable, however, which is why Im still planning to get more Resurrection Ankhs. Joey nodded then. No wonder Rangka would be revived at an Unnamed Town. Though strictly speaking, the Sky Horizon was the Players base at present, the God of Games had decided that the Players default respawn locationwhether deliberately or accidentallywas the Unnamed Town. Whats going on now? Rangka was left utterly confused as he listened on beside them, finding that waters run deep with the God of Games. Resurrection Ankh, revival experience ticket and whatnot, those things were a bunch of random stuff here at the Church of Games when it would be immeasurably profound in other faiths. It even sounded as common as cabbages, and the believers of the Church of Games appear to feel nothing forbidding about it That being said, Joey did not have Rangka go on the Player forums directly to check the post of other newbie Players, since the forums was an utter mess of random things with all sorts of different exciting posts. If they allowed a Player who was not mentally prepared to enter, they would leave it not as a dominating Player who understood the System like the back of his hand, but a degenerate One ought to mention that Xi Wei would definitely bring his knife to every harmful post, but since he also believed that lewdness was one of the original motivations for humankind, he would let it pass as long as there was no explicitness, voyeurism or nonconsensual elements. And that was the truth. Although wanting natives of a fantasy world to understand the various functions of a web forums was quite troublesome, newbies began to join the forums quicker with the lewd posts, not to mention that the comments beneath the post were quite peaceful and not violent. But that was digressing. Either way, Rangka was extremely stunned after understanding that the believers of the God of Games could consume EXP for revivals, with his ears straightening. Nonetheless, he soon recovered and conveyed his hope for Joey to help him save his nephew. Although he had nothing to offer that Joey would like, his ears had actually straightened. For his part, Joey did not protest, and both of them promptly teleported to the Long Ears village with the Unnamed Towns lifestone. The Long Ears had gotten used to the Players emerging from the lifestone out of the blue, with some of the Long-Ears who were close to the players being invited to the Players feasts before. Still, some of them were startled this time when Rankga leapt out as well. Still, Rangka anxiously told the tribal chief about what he encountered on his return journey, and was ready to leave to rescue Laybit. However, he did not expect that the tribe chief would hesitate for a moment before telling him, Actually, I think it doesnt matter whether you go now. What? Rangka couldnt help exclaiming in shock. Dont you trust me anymore? I am still a member of Long-Ears tribe even if I had joined the Church of Games! And Laybit is your son! He is now in dire straits because of our mistake, why shouldnt we save him with however we can!? Calm down, Rangka, youve misunderstood me. The Long-Ears chief sighed, and waved his hands for Rangka to compose himself. I mean that Zonyan and Vulcan who were already at our village before had left just a while ago. What but how could they have known Rangka paused in shockhe had paid the price of his life to allow Laybit to escape, but somehow others had learned about it already. I dont know either, the Long-Ears chief answered with a pained smile. But thats probably what it means to be Players. Chapter 404 - Emergency Rescue It had been half an hour since Rangka volunteered to cover Laybit and the Curly Horns princess retreat. Even so, they were unable to free themselves, and were once again in danger. This isnt working. Those guys are catching up! Laybits ears had straightened and swiveled around to pick up on the unusual noises. Even if the horned gazelle was adept at running and was not slow, it was just an ordinary wild animal without magical powers, just as it was not a divinely-blessed species. It could not run at top speed over long periods, and needed rest for a moment before continuing to run. Moreover, it was carrying two peopleeven if Laybit and Woolsprout were less than fifty kilos combined, they were still almost two hundred catties together, and it was already a sign of this particular horned gazelles extraordinary nature for it to be able to run for so long. After all, a princesss mount should definitely possess a rather excellent bloodline. Naturally, they were a more than a little inferior compared to magical beasts. Even though Grootslang, the Elephant Snake that inhabits the foot of Mount Vierlin was not a magical creature made to run over long distances, its mobility would still surpass most normal animals with the strengthening of magical energythe burly Ryhorn warrior Sutan would never have chose it as his mount otherwise. Indeed, the reason Laybit and Woolsprout were not captured for half-an-hour was because of Rangkas beyond par performance (after becoming a member of the Church of Games). Theres no helping it, Laybit sighed at the girl who was panicking in front of himself. Keep running towards the Dark Tidal Coast. Youll be fine as long as you could reach our village. Hold on, does that mean youre about to The Curly-Horns little princess became even more panicked when she guessed what Laybit intended to do, and tried to dissuade him fervently. M-maybe there is another way! Now is not the time to give up! Now is already too late whatever else we try. This is all I can do now. Laybit said, knowing full well about the current situation. After all, the Ryhorns were not here to force a surrender, but to hunt and kill the envoys of the oppressed nonhuman tribes. So, since surrendering was meaningless, it would be better if Laybit make his death useful rather than dying without resistance. However, as long as you could reach our village, Swordtail Grayclaws conspiracy would be exposed earlier. So, dont stop! With those words, Laybit ignored Woolsprouts efforts to keep him and promptly leapt off the horned gazelle, rolling once to alleviate the inertia before standing staunchly in front of Grootslang. As mentioned before, Sutan was able to catch up to Laybit entirely because of Grootslang, meaning that the other Ryhorns were unable to follow them here aside from Sutan. As such, Laybit only had to face him and his mount. More Long-Ears trash. I bashed the last ones head in how long would you last under my blade? Sutan stared at Laybit, who was aiming his enmity at him. It was just like a rhino watching a rabbit baring its teeth at itselfhe felt no threat at all. So, Rangka was already dead. Though he had guessed that earlier, Laybit still felt sad when Sutan told him the truth. Nonetheless, he was not afforded the luxury of mourningbecause his enemy was already coming. However, when Sutan saw Laybit draw out a long, thin stick that looked like a teachers cane, his face showed even more disdain. So weak. You wouldnt penetrate my defense even if I didnt move! As if to prove that he was not lying, he even assumed a standard pose, mocking Laybit who did not dare to make a move even so. Come at me if you dare! And yet, it was in that instant that a red flash streaked in the air, and a blood-red mark appeared instantly over Sutans chest. Blood thicker and redder than a humans poured out, leaving the warrior of the Ryhorns bellowing in pain and anger. Grootslang the Elephant Snake, which had been intent on hunting and devouring Woolsprouts horned gazelle, Woolsprout, as well as Laybit who had been ready to die were all stunned by the dramatic turn of events. Laybit was the first to recover, and he swung his bamboo whip at Sutans chest wound, only to be kicked over ten meters away by the Ryhorn. He dropped to the ground, vomiting blood which was mixed with parts of his organs, and looked terribly injured. Who ambushed me! Sutan continued bellowing. Didnt you allow me to attack? A rather flat but gruff masculine voice echoed. Sutan looked towards the voice which came from his left, where a nonhuman had appeared without him knowing. Thick mane was growing over his neck and his face resembled a lions, although he looked more human than a lion. And right now, scarlet air razed around his body, and the sword in his hand flickered with a cold glint that seemed to cuts into the bone. A Grayclaw? Why would you come here? Are you observing our work or obstructing us! Sutan asked hoarsely, just as he pressed his hand over his wound that bled profusely. Dont you know we are under Swordtails orders Whatever he is doing, I would eventually settle things with him and that day is soon. Zonyan Grayclaw, who finally sensed and unlocked Grateful Dead was staring at the little giant that was over half a head taller than himself, and spoke dispassionately, But before that, I would need to teach you fellows who lost yourself in the slaughter. Behind Zonyan, his longtime partner Vulcan Cher was using a potion to treat the near-death Laybit. The potion was extraordinary as usual, and soon, Laybit recovered after being just at deaths door a moment ago. While he was not lively enough to pounce around, his survival was at least assured. The little Curly Horn princess did not run far after realizing how things had changed either. She simply nestled somewhere close and watched the confrontation, unsure if she should keep running or watch how events unfolded. Humph! So youre that Grayclaw traitor? Fine, let me see what youve got, and teach you the reality that your measly strength would never hold up against Swordtail! The Ryhorn warrior bellowed. Fear my power! Give me all youve got, then. Having been influenced by Mufasa to slowly switch from Berserker to Kengyoku, Zonyan Grayclaw brandished his sword and told Sutan, However, you would be in resting pieces in an instant!