In the Infinite Worlds, I Just Want to Be the God of Wealth – CH193

Chapter 193

Revealing such an existence wasn’t as simple as grabbing a loudspeaker and shouting across the dungeon world.

Though Lu Chuan was tempted to do exactly that.

But since he still needed to hide his cultivation — and keep it secret from Shen Li and the others — he decided to take a subtler approach. At least let him enjoy a couple more years as Guildmaster first!

When it came to playing mysterious deity, Lu Chuan admitted he wasn’t as skilled as the real gods.

Cang Jiu once again found himself interrogated by Lu Chuan and, under Lu’s “patient guidance,” reluctantly shared a few personal tips on “pretending to be divine.”

Lu Chuan was astonished. As expected, no long-lived god was ever simple.

He quickly began preparations.

To spread belief in the God of Wealth, he first needed stories — and witnesses to those stories. These could be dungeon NPCs, real-world players, or ordinary people.

Lu Chuan planned to work both fronts.

First, he painstakingly sculpted a statue of himself in gold, making it hundreds of times more handsome, so that even Shen Li, standing before it, couldn’t connect that dashing idol with Lu Chuan.

Cang Jiu’s eyes gleamed with an unnoticed smile. He took the statue from Lu Chuan and reworked it with a carving knife.

Suddenly, the originally humanoid statue changed: its head became a miniature money tree; its limbs were etched with motifs of various ingots; its garments were studded with tiny gems. The result looked only faintly human, part ghost, mostly divine — a piece of art.

“A god’s statue can’t look too human,” Cang Jiu explained thoughtfully. “That affects how followers perceive you. Something too similar to mortals may comfort them, but it also makes them doubt a deity’s power. People prefer to believe gods are different beings — especially in our infinite world.”

Lu Chuan had taken it for granted.

In his own world, gods were ascended mortals, naturally bound to protect humans — and if they didn’t, people might smash their shrines in protest.

But here, in the Infinite World, it was different: gods were lofty beings of another dimension. They needed human faith to descend, not to exist. Only constant prayer and offerings could win a sliver of their attention.

So Lu Chuan’s original statue, too humanlike, wouldn’t do.

“I see.” Lu Chuan nodded. “Then could you carve a few more for me? I’ll need at least ten.”

His face twisted in pain at the thought of spending that much gold.

“Actually, they don’t have to be solid gold,” Cang Jiu suggested. “Silver plated with gold would work.”

“No way! I’m the God of Wealth — appearances matter early on. If someone scratched the surface and found silver underneath, I wouldn’t just lose face; I’d lose divinity! Later it won’t matter, but while my name’s still spreading, I can’t be stingy.” Heartache aside, now wasn’t the time for thrift.

“…It’s unlikely anyone would scrape off the gold to check,” Cang Jiu said, briefly at a loss. “Besides, you can infuse your divine power into the statues so no weapon can damage them.”

“Huh?” Lu Chuan perked up, leaning in, eyes sparkling with curiosity. “Really? That’s possible?”

“Of course.” Cang Jiu edged back — Lu Chuan was way too close. “Remember when you first possessed my idol and used it as a club? That thing was indestructible.”

“Haha, that was ages ago; I don’t remember.” Lu Chuan denied it stubbornly.

Cang Jiu didn’t dwell on it. He only wanted Lu Chuan to sit back in his proper place, so he’d brought it up deliberately. “Just leave a trace of your power in the statues, make them unbreakable. And if you want them to manifest miracles, you can also imbue them with protective force…”

Cang Jiu carefully explained many little tricks to Lu Chuan—how to use his divine power, how to ensure its sustainability, and so on.

Lu Chuan took notes nonstop and even ordered the backup program of #888, which was still upgrading, to memorize everything as well.

He’d definitely need it in the future!

After confirming that his silver-gilded statues wouldn’t be detected, Lu Chuan felt energized and full of spirit.

Silver was valuable, sure, but compared to gold, its value was a hundred times lower. How could the two even compare?

With just a little bit of gold, he could exchange it for a pile of silver.

Hehe, saving money was earning money.

“Then I’ll go try it out. I’ll start spreading my divine name both in dungeon worlds and the real world.”

Yi Jun had just graduated this year from the Noah Guild’s player training class. His grades were rather average—barely passing. In his rookie dungeon, he only managed to scrape a B rating, while several of his classmates had already earned A ratings. Rumor had it that someone in the school had even achieved an S rating and qualified for the Genius Cultivation Program.

By comparison, his performance seemed painfully mediocre.

But even so, as someone born an ordinary person, getting these results was already enough to make his parents proud.

“Son, don’t worry. Slow and steady wins the race. You’ll gain experience over time. Besides, we don’t expect you to become some top-tier player. The stronger you are, the more danger you’ll face. If you can live a steady life in low-level dungeons, that’s better than anything else.” His mother nagged while piling some scrambled eggs onto Yi Jun’s plate.

Life as a player was far better than it had ever been as an ordinary person.

Now, they could eat eggs three times a day, sometimes even have meat. Before, they mostly survived on tasteless nutrient paste. Natural food was far too expensive for them to afford.

“I’ll work hard, Mom,” Yi Jun nodded. “I’ll help you tidy things later. Since we just moved, I’m sure there’s still a lot that hasn’t been sorted.”

“Alright, you can help us in a bit,” his parents said, happy to see their son no longer so depressed.

Moving into the players’ city meant they had to throw away many old and useless things. Yi Jun’s assigned dormitory wasn’t large enough to store everything. Buying a bigger house was out of the question—he didn’t have nearly enough valuable items for that.

While packing, Yi Jun discovered a strange golden statue covered in dust inside his mother’s box.

“Dad, Mom, where did this come from?” The moment he saw it, Yi Jun felt uncomfortable. It looked a lot like the divine statues their instructors had mentioned in class.

But how could that be?

Things related to gods only appeared in dungeons, usually in high-difficulty ones or extremely rare side quests in normal dungeons. Their family had always been ordinary folk—how could they possibly own such a precious artifact? Maybe his parents were scammed when trading and ended up buying some useless thing.

“I don’t really remember.”

“No idea when it ended up in our house.”

“Look at all this dust. It must’ve been here for ages. Some of these boxes were from your grandmother. Maybe I stuffed it in without noticing.” His mom hesitated. “It does look old though. Maybe it’s something valuable?”

“This thing’s rock solid… feels off,” Yi Jun tapped the statue against the wall. “Forget it. Just leave it here. If it’s useless, we’ll throw it away later.”

Yi Jun quickly forgot all about it.

But the next time he entered a dungeon, the statue silently appeared in his system space, marked as “Unbound.”

…

“Ahhhh, don’t come any closer!”

“Stay away!”

Yi Jun hid inside a cupboard, trembling at the sound of approaching footsteps. Terror consumed him.

He’d only entered a low-level dungeon, but for some reason got matched with players from other guilds. At first, he thought he could latch onto them, but those players were reckless, pushing for hidden quests until they triggered a boss far beyond their ability.

Yi Jun had watched a powerful player hacked into bloody chunks before his eyes. His legs nearly gave out, but sheer survival instinct made him crawl into a cupboard. Still, hiding wasn’t a long-term solution—he’d be found eventually.

What to do? What to do?

Frantically, Yi Jun opened his game panel and checked his system space for anything useful.

Huh?

He froze. When did this statue appear in his inventory?

The game panel even displayed information about it:

[Statue of an Unknown Deity]
Grade: A–S
Status: Unbound
Divine Name: Unawakened
Binding effect: Binding this artifact makes you a follower of this deity, granting one divine blessing.

Note: This item can be transferred if unbound, but beware the god’s grudge.

“The heavens want me dead…”

Yi Jun’s mind reeled. Why did this thing suddenly show up? His first instinct was to throw it out. Their instructors had warned them countless times: never mess with gods. Once you became a god’s follower, you could be chosen as a vessel. If your body wasn’t naturally compatible, possession meant certain death—no item could save you. Fighting gods was the job of master-ranked players, not nobodies like him.

But right now…

The footsteps outside drew closer. His rationality and emotions tugged violently at each other.

He had no items left. Opening the cupboard meant certain death.

But staying put also meant death.

If he bound the statue, maybe he’d survive.

Yi Jun thought of his parents, his classmates, even a stray dog he’d once seen lying dead in the street as a child.

Clenching his teeth, he chose to bind it.

[Notice: Binding requires an offering equal in weight to gold. If no gold is available, silver, currency, or equivalent items may be substituted. If none are available, binding can proceed on credit, repayable in installments with 3% monthly interest.]

Binding a statue had terms and conditions? This thing must really be something.

Yi Jun sighed in relief. As long as it only demanded gold and not his flesh or life, it was far better than he feared.

“Bind it! I’ll pay later. Once I get gold, I’ll offer it up.”

[Statue successfully bound.]

[Congratulations, you are now a follower of the God of Wealth.]

[As a follower, you must additionally offer 100g of gold monthly. After three missed payments, your follower status will be revoked. Upon revocation, all previous blessings will be charged with compound daily interest.]

Yi Jun’s face darkened. Monthly offerings?

At least it sounded like he could back out later. That was a relief.

Before he could think further, the boss’s bloodstained axe smashed through the cupboard door.

He squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for death.

But the pain never came.

Opening his eyes, he saw the golden statue blocking the axe. The weapon’s blade cracked, while the statue remained unscathed.

Yi Jun gaped, realizing the statue’s terrifying power.

Seizing it, he bolted while the boss was stunned.

And he wasn’t alone.

In other dungeons, similar “chosen ones” also found statues through various means, each narrowly escaping death.

But behind it all, Lu Chuan was the one consuming his own God of Wealth skills to shield them.

“…Only charging 100g of gold is way too cheap. This is a losing business.” Lu Chuan grumbled. Did those people think the power came from nowhere? It was his skills, draining his wealth!

Still, he had no choice. Since he wasn’t a true god yet, the only way to spread his existence and faith was to bind his skills into these statues.

Charging offerings wasn’t greed—it was to make sure followers valued him, instead of treating the statues like disposable items.

Humans were like that. The more expensive something was, the better they thought it was. If it was cheap or free, they wouldn’t take it seriously.

So Lu Chuan adopted a tiered pricing scheme: the first blessing came cheap, just a token amount of gold. But with each use, the cost—and interest—would rise higher and higher.

Only this way would match the true essence of the God of Wealth—he couldn’t really just go around doing charity.

Fortunately, he had only given out about ten statues in the beginning. After all, believers were valuable for their devotion, not their numbers. If he were to distribute a large number all at once, it would definitely draw the attention of the Main God System, and his existence would be exposed prematurely.

“System bro, credit where it’s due—you’ve become pretty amazing after your upgrade, being able to tweak some of the Main God System’s permissions.” Lu Chuan sincerely praised.

The fact that he could spread out the statues so smoothly now was partly thanks to Cang Jiu’s “tips and tricks,” and partly thanks to #888’s upgrade.

It was now capable of secretly altering some permissions within the Main God System—though not too often, and never against sub-systems of high-level players. Still, it was more than enough when dealing with low-level ones.

[Of course, Host. In the end, both the Main God System and I were born under the same rules. In human terms, you could even say we’re brothers.] #888’s tail perked up with pride. [Now that your body and soul have both undergone divinization, all you need to do is spread your name and faith, slowly condensing fortune into your weapon and authority. Slow and steady work is fine—we’re in no rush.]

#888 was giddy with pride.

It was no longer the pitiful system that could only get beaten down by the Main God System, unable even to whisper warnings while the Host was in a dungeon.

Now it could peek into some of the Main God System’s secrets.

Heh, all thanks to the Host being amazing—racking up such a massive haul of game points in one go—that it could upgrade so quickly.

And now the Host had condensed his own seed of divine power, making him, at least in size, a minor god. By the looks of it, their core mission was already halfway complete.

Hahaha, #888 had never thought they would progress this fast.

It had only been three years since binding with Lu Chuan, and in just three years they had already reached such heights. What would ten years look like? It didn’t even dare imagine.

Heh, the other systems would die of envy. Getting carried by the Host like this was just too awesome.

“I’m not in a rush,” Lu Chuan propped his cheek on one hand. “But I do hope my faith spreads faster. Still, the Main God System is too idle—it could notice us at any moment. So, for now, we need to keep it distracted, buy ourselves some time.”

[Leave that to me, Host!] #888 patted its chest confidently. [Watch me stir up something big!]

With its upgrade, #888 could indeed give the Main God System some trouble here and there.

For example, making high-grade items lag during use, or causing slight chaos when players entered dungeons—enough to send the Main God System scrambling to investigate.

#888 never went too far though—one strike, then gone—never leaving its tail caught.

The time it bought for Lu Chuan was invaluable.

Rumors about a mysterious statue began to spread among both new players and some veterans.

They said that whoever obtained one of these statues would be granted a one-time defense. But after that, a terrible consequence followed: they would become utterly destitute!

No matter how wealthy the player once was, once they got the statue, they would be cursed. Mighty players reduced to living like ordinary folk—surviving on the cheapest nutrient packs, wearing rags, even renting out their dorms for extra money.

And yet, strangely enough, no matter how poor they became, none of them were willing to part with their statues—as if bewitched.

Both the player forums and the in-game newspapers picked up on the story.

“I heard these statues might be some revival method for an unknown god.”

“Hiss—who dares provoke an unknown god? Are these newbies insane?”

“What if a god invades reality?”

“The Five Great Guilds all have powerful rule artifacts. Even if a god did invade, it’d still be shackled. What are you panicking for?”

“Is it true you become poor when you get one of the statues?”

“Apparently the statue protects everyone.”

“If it can save your life, then being dirt-poor isn’t much of a price, compared to death.”

“What god is it exactly? This sounds kind of like that Loan Company one.”

“Not impossible. Might be a subordinate god of theirs.”

“We’ve been talking for ages—hasn’t a single statue holder come out to say something?”

***

After a long while, one anonymous reply appeared in the buzzing discussion thread: “Don’t approach it. You’ll become poor.”

Naturally, word of the mysterious statues reached Guildmaster Lu Chuan as well.

“You’d never touch that thing. Becoming poor is no different than dying for you,” Shen Li wasn’t worried about Lu Chuan, but about whether guild members might get bewitched.

“Everyone makes their own choices. If not this god, then another.” Lu Chuan drawled lazily. “Lately, the fight between the Main God System and the gods is only getting fiercer.”

Just then, Shen Li’s face suddenly shifted.

“What’s wrong?” Lu Chuan asked.

“The Main God System just sent me a notification.” Shen Li was silent for a moment, then told him: “I’m afraid the others got it too.”

Lilus, Cynthia, Messiah, and even Edith and Starry Shasha, who had only just passed the Divine Trial dungeon, all received the Main God System’s prompt:

[Detected divine name of hunt target.]

[Current hunt target confirmed.]

[Its name is the God of Wealth. Players are urged to slay it swiftly.]

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