Chapter 36: Chapter 36

Aside from the bonfire and unnoticed by the Players, their surroundings were changing slightly aside as well.

Two chests—one red and one blue—appeared 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 box—Players 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. What’s 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 statue—there 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. That’s 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 Wei’s mortal form firsthand—why would the great God of Games be a ball?

“Sorry, I’m just joking… I’m 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 take—Made in the Divine Kingdom.]

“…”

The thought ‘what the hell’ appeared in everyone’s mind at once.

“Could it be that we’ve 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!” Eleena’s face brightened in understanding.

Even Gou Dan, whose life perspective had just been shaken calmed down and nodded as if he was convinced.

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It was only the escort captain who still held doubts, but he just wasn’t 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 funny—he had made that statue of himself to strengthen and alter that bonfire save point.

By exuding Xi Wei’s 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 Wei—Players could play around with the statute but within the bonfire’s 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…”