Chapter 500: Island of Devil’s Maw (6)
“Please select one of the following as your answer,” The system rang out at that moment. At the same time, a window floated up before the players’ eyes. They were provided with 5 options and their respective explanations.
“Idiente, God of Folly, the giant destroyer who is armed with a mace, belongs to the chaotic evil camp. Their disciples are temperamental, vicious, savage and love conflict; they will act rashly under the influence of greed, hatred or desire, spreading sin and chaos. They will not only destroy life and beauty but also the regulations and order on with life and beauty rely on to survive.”
“Yver, God of Deceit, the dismal king who wields a giant scythe, belongs to the neutral evil camp. Their disciples behold one simple tenant, which is everything for themselves. They will never shed a tear for those who have befallen before them, be it for wealth, for joy or just for convenience. They dislike order and violate the law and spat on any conventional or traditional beliefs. The scariest part about them is their pure sin, there is no difference in honor or their target, in other words, they are ‘pure evil’.”
“Walker, God of Travel, master of disguise who uses a rapier, belongs to chaotic neutral camp. Their disciples are the quintessential individualists. They avoid authority, despise regulation, and challenge traditional. They are not entirely irrational but they do not have a clear stance. Their alliance depends on their whims. In other words, they are ‘pure chaos’.”
“Weston, God of Wisdom, the arch mage using a staff, belongs to neutral good camp. Their disciples try their best to be Good Samaritans. They are always available to land a hand and are willing to work under those in authority but do not believe that they were being controlled. They will not abide too much by their order but will not purposely go out of their way to defy them, in other words, they are ‘pure good’.”
“Tureus, God of Truth, the holy knight using a giant sword, belongs to lawful good camp. Their disciples live their lives by the regulation and will stop at night to fight against evil. They speak only the truth, live by their promises and aid those in need. They will speak up if they see anything unfair. They are blessed with a great sense of honor and kindness.”
[Hmm… so the so-called choice of faith is actually a choice of one’s ‘camp’ is it?…] Feng Bujue looked at the window before him and thought to himself, [We are at the four Pillars of Divinity’s main universe so where do all these random deities come from… and who among them are really at the ‘god’ level…?]
At the same time, Leideson did not stay idly like a NPC waiting for the players to choose. After waiting for 10 seconds, he urged impatiently. “Hurry up, humans! I do not have all day. Do you still want to repay me or not?”
“I believe in Yver.” Feng Bujue instantly replied. At the same time, he tossed a glance at Ambitionist who was not too faraway. The latter caught the message and added, “I believe in Weston.”
Uncle Worthless at the side saw through their plan so he said, “I believe in Walker.” These three were all following Brother Jue’s plan, and that was… to have everyone select a different answer. Currently none of them knew what these different faiths meant, perhaps one would bring benefit and other might cause tragedy, anything was possible… separating their choice was the most rational choice, after all, why place all the eggs in one basket.
…
“As a hero, naturally I choose Tureus!” Pegasus spoke then. Even though he did not get what the other three teammates were planning, he still chose something different because that aligned with his personality. Of course, this was not a coincidence. Feng Bujue, Ambitionist and Uncle Worthless all predicted Pegasus would choose the ‘lawful good’ camp so they purposely avoided it. And finally, Atobe-sama was left.
“Okay… I get it now…” Atobe looked at his teammates and grumbled softly, “Everyone picks differently to see what kind of outcome these five choices will bring, is it…” As he said that, he scanned the window in the menu. At that moment, as if purposely to warn him, the system added, “Please do not provide an answer that is not part of the option like ‘Buddhism, Christianity, Atheism, Science, Marxism, Communism or so on’. Such answer will lead to catastrophic consequences.”
“Aiz…” Atobe sighed and lifted his head to look at Leideson, “I believe in Idiente.”
By then all five had given their answers. Leideson continued, “Okay, as long as you can provide me with enough ‘sin’ to ‘digest’, I will provide the reward that corresponds to your faith.”
[So that’s all? The different faith represents different reward?] Feng Bujue thought.
“Side quest triggered.” The system announced. A new mission was added to the player’s quest tab. “Describe seven sinful acts to satisfy Leideson’s ‘hunger’. Current progress 0/7”
Leideson had not done because he turned to Brother Jue who was the first to profess his faith and said, “Disciple of Yver, I will give you ‘one chance to lie’.”
[So it’s nothing physical…] Feng Bujue’s expression showed nothing but he thought, [However what does that mean… I need someone’s permission to lie? Could it be that… at a certain spot on this island… people aren’t allowed to lie?]
When he was thinking, Leideson turned to Ambitionist, “Disciple of Weston, I can tell you ‘a piece of information that you have to know’.”
“Oh?” A flash of anticipation crossed the eyes beneath the glasses. He calculated internally, [in that case… I should be able to find out the exact location of the Shrine of Faith.]
Then Leideson told Uncle Worthless. “Disciple of Walker, I can give you ‘a one-time ability to take up a disguise’.” Then to Pegasus, he said, “Tureus’s disciple, you will get nothing but this…” At this point, Leideson suddenly used his baboon face to make a wry face at Pegasus and then showed him his middle finger.
“Ha?” Pegasus was stunned for 2 seconds and 2 seconds later, his reaction was still…”Ha?”
“And you, disciple of Idiente…” After putting down his middle finger, Leideson told Atobe, “I will gift you this axe.”
Silence… lasted for about 5 seconds.
“Hey! What is this!” Ambitionist was the first to complaint, “The variance in your ‘reward’ is too big, isn’t it!”
“Hmm… Flipping the lawful good off but gifting weapon to the chaotic evil?” Feng Bujue scratched his chin to say, “This time Atobe sure is darn lucky…”
“Ha ha ha ha…” Atobe crossed his arms and guffawed. His face was filled with relief and pride. “This is god’s will! You bunch of piranhas went after all the better options but you didn’t expect the last choice will be the best one, right?! Ha ha ha ha…”
“What is there to be so happy about, this is not the Killing Game…” Feng Bujue answered. “Furthermore, the axe is probably just a broken quality weapon…”
“Pfft! All I can hear is your jealousy!” Atobe shouted, “You neutral evil bastard, eat me beep!”
“Jesus, you sure get into character fast…” Feng Bujue wiped away the cold sweat from his forehead.
“Humans! Stop wasting my time, these are the rewards I can give.” Leideson said, “if you want them, you better…”
“A question.” Feng Bujue interrupted with firm tone, “Is there any limitation to our description of sin? Like ‘one of us has to provide one’ or ‘a person can only describe two sins’…”
“No, no, no!” Leideson repeated anxiously. His eyes were getting agitated, like an addict at the edge of acting out.
“Then it means… I can do this all on my own?” When Feng Bujue said that, he turned around to glance at his four teammates. His teammates naturally had no complaint about his suggestion, as they say… why not leave it to the professional?
“Sure… just make it quick…” Leideson widened his eyes, the muscle on his face was twitching. “Quick! I can’t wait anymore!”
“Okay!” Feng Bujue suddenly shouted. Then, he strode powerfully towards one of the nearby boulders. He sat on it and started to recite. “Qing San You Xing Mai Zhong Gu, Bai Tie Wu Gu Zu Ning Chen. Zheng Xie Zi Gu Tong Bing Tan, Hui Yu Yu Jin Pan Wei Zhen. (Poems inscribed at the Tomb of General Yue Fei. Yue Fei was the chief military general of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127 – 1279) during the battle against the Jin Dynasty (1115 – 1234). He is best known for leading Southern Song forces in the wars in the 12th century between Southern Song and the Jurchen-ruled Jin dynasty in northern China before being put to death by the Southern Song government in 1142. A few treacherous court officials persecuted him to his death. Read more about it here: https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/zhejiang/hangzhou/yuefei.htm)” Then he picked up a flat stone and slapped on the boulder he was sitting on, creating a loud bang.
“What in the world is this? Ding Chang Poem (the poem read when making one’s first appearance) is it?! Are you preparing to start a mono crosstalk?” Atobe gasped.
Ambitionist pushed on his glasses and mocked. “brother Feng, you are quite professional… Should we clap and cheer while chanting ‘encore’?”
“Encore? Sure.” Feng Bujue tossed his head up and smiled slightly. “Going worried over law abiding, going strong through the night with wine and song, hurting other profiting oneself makes for a good life, being good and fair makes you go hungry. Fixes the road and bridge but lead to nowhere, murders and arsons are much too common, I come to the west paradise to ask Buddha and Buddha said…” He took another slap of the stone, “I too can’t do nothing!”
“How did you just come up with things like that… impressed…” Uncle Worthless laughed.
“Oh! So this guy is on the opposite camp of the lawful good?” At that moment, Pegasus appeared to have transmigrated into another world. He was reacting to what happened a few minutes ago.
“Jesus Christ, just how slow can you be…” Ambitionist said haltingly and he shook his head. “Never mind… I shan’t waste time talking to you…”
On the other side, the listener Leideson had already crossed his legs and sat down. Leaning against the axe, he looked excitedly at Brother Jue, waiting for him to continue.
“As one says, there was one reckless man…” And Feng Bujue gave the audience what he wanted. Brother Jue managed to discern from the content of the quest and the conversation earlier that the quest did not require him to recite ‘sin that he has committed’, it would be fine to talk about others. So… now he had complete confidence. After all, it was much easier to talk about others than to make up stories about one own. And Brother Jue did this for a living, he could go on forever much less only 7 sins…