Chapter 27
888 wanted to punch itself if it had hands.
What was there to worry about? Did the host need worrying over?
He used a divine statue to club people and the only thing he questioned was whether it was solid gold. No reverence whatsoever.
If he were an atheist, fine. But he wanted to become the God of Wealth, and he knew actual gods existed in this infinite world—yet still acted this way. Bold beyond belief.
Oh, right. His sanity was only at 60. Apart from money, he had no obsessions at all.
Realizing this, #888 went strangely calm, comforting itself:
It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine. If the host were rational and cautious like the previous ones, he’d be just as dead as they were by now.
Humans can’t be expected to be flawless and calculating.
[Host, divine statues contain power, they’re not easy to destroy, and this one is also a key item.] #888 took a deep breath and tried to persuade him, [It’s absolutely solid gold, I can guarantee it.]
“Sigh, that’s not the issue. Even if it is pure gold, if it’s so hard that it can’t be melted down, then a gold recycling shop won’t consider it real anyway. What’s the point of me knowing it’s real?” Lu Chuan sighed. “Although… it is pretty good for bashing people.”
#888 didn’t know what to say.
It wasn’t like it could just use its own upgrade points to melt this statue down for him.
“You… what’s wrong with you exactly?” The two remaining players saw Lu Chuan keeping silent, and kept fearing some new form of torture. For a moment, they even felt jealous of their companion who’d been knocked unconscious already.
“Tell me what you discovered in this dungeon. I’ll listen. Careful—if you lie, I’ll know.” Lu Chuan pulled out his Seal of Contract. “You should know what this thing is. If you lie to deceive me, you’ll die miserably.”
“This is our second time experiencing this dungeon. Last time we failed the sacrificial ritual, so we’ve been waiting here for a second chance. We didn’t expect that our guild’s Major [Shadow Fiend] would come scouting this dungeon, so when we ran into him, we rejoined his team.”
Lu Chuan was a bit curious—he knew the Abyss Guild used military ranks internally.
The Guildmaster was called Marshal. There were three vice-masters, all Generals. Then came Lieutenant General, and below that Major General.
So Major General was roughly equivalent to Shen Li’s position in the Star Guild.
Tsk. Names really did affect how cool something sounded.
When I become president of the Star Guild Gaming Guild, I’ll change the titles too.
We’ll call them “Ministers.”
Sounds just as authoritative.
“Our Abyss Guild’s [Grand Duke of Demons] and [Berserker Queen] are planning to clear this dungeon to obtain a Lord Title. They already got a small territory from another dungeon, so the Lieutenant General was delighted and immediately approved them to come attempt this one. Major General came ahead to scout the path.”
“Yes, we were following Major [Shadow Fiend]. He should be dealing with your captain right now.”
The two players didn’t dare hold back, spilling everything they knew like beans from a jar—about their guild’s current situation, and what they’d discovered in this dungeon so far.
“This is our second time in the dungeon, but the first time we failed miserably.” One of the players sounded dejected. “Our captain was ambitious. He found a key in another dungeon, but instead of handing it in as per guild rules, he brought us here. If he could’ve gotten a Lord Title, he’d have secured a higher military rank. But in our first run, we got wrecked.”
“What did your captain do?” Lu Chuan asked. He knew he could clear the dungeon himself, but sometimes it was fun to learn the “wrong answers” others had tried.
“Our captain studied the village’s existing records and our guild’s notes, and concluded the sacrifice pattern was nine good gods, then one evil god. Good gods usually grant more Lord Titles—five or more—while evil gods rarely give even one or two. In our first run, it just so happened to be the evil god’s turn. And worse, we ran into Resurrection Guild’s [Eye of Rebirth].” The player sounded desperate.
“That name is…” Lu Chuan hesitated.
[Third on the Newcomer Ranking, Host.] #888 hurriedly supplied.
“Oh, third place,” Lu Chuan nodded smoothly. “I heard [Hand of Rebirth] and [Eye of Rebirth] are half-siblings, same mother different fathers. Didn’t they come together?”
As two of the strongest rookies from the strongest guild, their information had already been thoroughly dug up by other guilds. Their backstory was practically legendary.
Their mother was one of Resurrection Guild’s Vice-guildmaster, with a fertility-related ability. She specifically sought out handsome, smart, capable guild members to date, and bore many children—but most were mediocre. Dissatisfied, she set her sights on high-level dungeon NPCs. Using skills and items, she bore two children by them.
Those two were [Hand of Rebirth] and [Eye of Rebirth].
They were naturally gifted—born with NPC affinity, extremely sensitive to divine auras, and awakened talents in their very first dungeon. They were practically made for the game.
Incidentally, their mother was considered one of the most accomplished “romance-route” players.
Unfortunately, her luck ran out. Since this challenged the authority of the Evil World system itself, both she and the NPC fathers were eliminated in a dungeon by the Burial Squad.
The Burial Squad were feared across all five great guilds largely because of this case.
Even the Resurrection Guild’s president—who at that time wasn’t yet #1 on the God-Tier Rankings—personally intervened to save her, but failed.
Afterwards, the president adopted the siblings as his disciples. But since he was usually absent, it was clear he only wanted to ensure their safety. Other Vice-guildmasters handled their training.
A year ago, when the siblings officially entered the game, they skyrocketed onto the Newcomer Rankings—one at #1, the other at #3—in no time.
The remarkable talents they displayed had already stirred up envy across many guilds. If other guilds could replicate this—by producing players born to NPCs—they’d leap forward in power. If not for the Resurrection Guild’s overwhelming strength, the siblings would probably already have been kidnapped and studied.
When Lu Chuan first learned this gossip, he’d been stunned.
Humans really would try anything.
No wonder Wu You from the Resurrection Guild treated him so coolly when recruiting—turns out their guild already had two “children of destiny.”
“[Hand of Rebirth] supposedly already gained a Lord Title from another dungeon. If she’d been here too, we’d definitely be dead,” one of the players added. “Even just [Eye of Rebirth] was terrifying enough.”
“Oh? Tell me more.”
Among the Newcomer Ranking top ten, Lu Chuan only personally knew Starry Shasha. But she was about to drop out of the list, and although her ability was freakishly unique, her dungeon-clearing power was only average.
Still, Lu Chuan wasn’t arrogant enough to think all the top-ranked players were pushovers. Especially not these two legends—he was very curious how they cleared dungeons.
“[Eye of Rebirth] somehow convinced the village chief he was a priest of another god, sent here to deliver an oracle. By the time we discovered it, he’d already gotten a Lord Title and even destroyed a divine statue. The evil god assumed we were colluding with him, so not only did it deny us titles, it hunted us down. Our captain was desperate and kidnapped the village chief’s daughter.”
Lu Chuan recalled the chief’s daughter who’d guided him earlier—cute, and clearly beloved by her father. If a player kidnapped her, wasn’t that just suicide?
[Eye of Rebirth] had skill though—managing to divert the disaster onto them.
“That girl looked innocent, but she was actually a demon. She pretended to be scared, lured our captain into the sacred mountain, and before we could follow, our contract with him was dissolved—he died inside.”
“We were terrified and just hid, surviving through the first ritual. The system ruled us failed. Without escape items, we had no choice but to wait for the second ritual. When the Major arrived, we revealed ourselves immediately.”
Lu Chuan was a bit disappointed. These two basically didn’t know anything useful.
But that made sense—if they had known something key, they wouldn’t have been caught so easily.
“We’ve told you everything. Can you let us go?” the two players pleaded nervously. “We really don’t know much more.”
Lu Chuan just grinned and swung the statue again.
Knocking them both out.
[Host, you’ve knocked everyone out. What now? Should we go help?] #888 could sense Shen Li and Starry Shasha were both fighting enemies.
“I’ve only got one Eye of Wealth, and I can only use it once per dungeon. If I went, I’d just make things worse. They can handle it—we’ll just wait.” Lu Chuan tossed the statue up and down casually. “Say, if I pulled off the red cloth and threw this statue into Shen Li’s room, would that Abyss Major General get targeted by the god instead?”
[…Yes, but since he’s Major General rank, the dungeon’s gods probably wouldn’t affect him much.] #888 replied.
“Then forget it. If it didn’t work and he stole the statue, I’d be the one losing out.” Lu Chuan gave up on the tempting idea. “I used to think of using gold bars as weapons, but they’re too soft. This statue, though—this feels great. I like it!”
[Host, the gods really will notice you.] #888 practically wanted to kneel and beg him to show some respect to the divine.
“What’s there to be afraid of? I’m going to be a god myself. Sure, I haven’t officially started the job yet, but that doesn’t mean I should let the old-timers bully me.” Lu Chuan had his own logic. “Didn’t you also say the dungeon gods here are all low-level? Nothing impressive.”
[That’s true, but still…]
“These dungeon gods don’t even look rich.” Lu Chuan sighed. “If all my future dungeons have such poor bosses, how am I supposed to live? I’m already making so much money in real life. When will my dungeon account ever catch up? This third dungeon’s been my least profitable one yet.”
“You’re going through a game dungeon—you’re not actually making money.”
#888 didn’t even want to argue anymore.
After all, the Host never listens.
With just this little bit of rationality keeping him human, what else could one expect?
Shen Li and Starry Shasha quickly finished up their side of things as well.
Since Lu Chuan hadn’t gotten the divine statue, the Abyss Guild members couldn’t keep fighting either.
They thought the statue would be with Shen Li or Starry Shasha, but it had been tricked out from under them, so they had no choice but to retreat.
“Didn’t expect you’d anticipate this and put the most precious item in the hands of the weakest person. This time, I admit defeat—but next time, it won’t be so simple.” [Shadow Fiend] had been Shen Li’s rival for years; there was nothing he couldn’t handle losing.
He called out, and the remaining guild members who had been tangled up with Starry Shasha left quickly.
Shen Li went straight to Lu Chuan’s room. Starry Shasha kept her distance, too cautious to approach.
As soon as he entered, Shen Li saw the divine statue tied with red cloth and tucked at Lu Chuan’s waist, along with three players knocked unconscious.
“…Can’t you just put the statue in a box?” Shen Li’s heart skipped a beat at the sight.
Could this guy not feel the terrifying aura radiating from the statue?
Oh, right—he couldn’t even sense the aura of a Vice-guildmaster.
But he could get that close to a divine statue and be fine? Shen Li had no confidence that this guy’s sanity could even be at 75.
“It’s easier to grab from here.” Lu Chuan blinked, patting the statue at his waist. “I don’t really have offensive tools, so I use this as a weapon. If I get pushed, I can pull the red cloth off—it works pretty well.”
“You don’t have a tool? Then I’ll give you one.” Shen Li couldn’t bear it any longer. He picked up the box from the corner of the room. “Put it back in quickly. If they failed once, they’ll come back for a second try.”
Reluctantly, Lu Chuan placed the statue back in the wooden box.
Shen Li felt that the terrifying aura of the statue seemed much diminished when it was boxed.
Probably just a mental trick.
After all, seeing Lu Chuan tie it to his waist like that had erased almost all of Shen Li’s sense of awe.
“We need to prepare for the next time. Before the sacrificial ritual begins, they’ll definitely try to grab it again.” Shen Li closed the box, face serious. “If you trust me, I’ll keep it safe.”
“Shasha, you stay close to Lu Chuan and protect him…” Shen Li was worried that next time, the Abyss Guild would try to kill Lu Chuan.
“Huh?” Lu Chuan was confused. “Wait, we’ve already been through all this. Now we still have to stay here and wait for the enemies to come?”
“As long as we have proper defenses…” Shen Li began to argue.
“We could just stay at the village chief’s house. He’s got a couple of floors.” Lu Chuan pointed to the three players he had knocked out. “I’ve already attracted attention by getting the statue. Doesn’t the chief need to be responsible? I’m basically their biggest client in the village.”
“Anyway, staying at the chief’s costs nothing, and his chickens and ducks are delicious.” Lu Chuan wasn’t about to back down. “If they’ve got the guts, let them come to the chief’s house to get me!”
