Chapter 162: Martyr’s Seal

Next is the routine investigation and review of the deceased.

Isabella found the Apostle who had not yet sunk into the Sea of Dying, and after communicating with him, she relayed every word to Lu Yao.

“Sir, this ’Elf God’ is an apprentice deity who only appeared in this era. He is collecting faith in order to quickly enter the Temple of the Gods.”

“He has three miracles. The first is ’Miniaturization,’ which can shrink the target by a hundred times. Although it cannot affect other attributes, it requires a long time for the target to move. This miracle consumes a lot of the fire of faith, and after each use, there needs to be a short rest before it can be used again.”

“The second is ’Mist Spirit,’ which can create a ’Mist Spirit.’ There are no restrictions on this, but the Mist Spirit can only be maintained for a period of time before it disappears.”

“The third is ’Hurricane,’ which can control the power of the wind.”

When Lu Yao heard this, it seemed that this ’Elf God’ was not the deity of the ’Whistleblower.’

As a new player, this ’Elf God’ had quite a bit of strength.

Isabella continued, “Papalucas has built a special divine kingdom in the clouds, and its ability to ’Ride the Clouds and Drive the Mist’ can maintain a small mist island.”

“The statue of the Elf God is hidden in the clouds, floating on the edge of this northern new continent.”

“Papalucas is a cloud giant who, because of insufficient rainfall in the past, was punished by the Rose Kingdom and sealed in an ancient bottle. The Elf God found it, released it, transformed it into an Apostle, and had it maintain the mist island.”

“Papalucas found humans from various small islands, and the Elf God then performed miracles and created a ’Divine Kingdom,’ gradually transforming them into believers…”

Unlike the deities Lu Yao had dealt with before, the Elf God had never thought of approaching the believers.

His strategy was to stay high above, always remaining in the safe clouds. He had Papalucas bring a portion of the people to the divine kingdom in the clouds, then perform miracles, using this operation to create deterrence and awe.

The advantages were concealment and simplicity.

So the Elf God’s believers were quite scattered, with only prophets and heroes leading a fixed group of believers, all of whom were hidden in the mountains all year round.

The Elf God launched an attack on the ice and snow giants, aiming to control the elder giants, conquer this group of giants, and then drive them to control the entire northern new continent.

After accumulating for a long time, the Elf God was ready to leave the edge of the world and march onto the land.

The result was that in the first battle, he encountered Lu Yao, who was just passing by while the Dragon’s Nest was opening. It could only be said that his luck was not very good.

There was something that Lu Yao was very concerned about.

How did the Elf God accumulate so much faith?

Did he… just force it every day?

“Sir, Papalucas said that the Elf God obtains more faith through the use of ’Scriptures.’”

The so-called Scriptures were a kind of ritual created by the Elf God.

Papalucas would occasionally bring the Apostles to the divine kingdom in the clouds, allowing them to worship the statue of the deity. At this time, the Elf God would use miracles.

The most common method was to use a hurricane to take a person away, then summon a ’Mist Spirit’ to replace the person. Then the Apostle would tell the people that this believer, because of their devout faith, had been promoted to a servant of the divine kingdom.

Or, Papalucas would use ’Ride the Clouds and Drive the Mist’ to control the clouds and mist, creating various magnificent and grandiose scenes, making it difficult for the believers to distinguish between reality and illusion.

Such personal experiences were simply shocking to the people of the pixel world.

Therefore, the Scriptures often caused the believers to fanatically worship, and the Elf God was able to repeatedly collect faith from the same group of people.

But this was not sustainable.

Soon, the believers had already adapted to the power of the deity, and it was difficult to generate fanaticism.

After entering a bottleneck period, the growth of the Elf God’s faith completely stagnated. It was then that he launched an external conquest, starting with the ice and snow giants on the nearest land.

“…The Elf God wants to increase the population and faith through formal expansion, and he wants to concentrate the believers on this land.”

Lu Yao understood.

The Elf God wanted to come ashore.

The Scriptures were his forcibly created ’Sunfall Festival.’ By too eagerly extracting the faith of every person, he directly overdrawn the potential of the believers.

Lu Yao still preferred the festivals that the people themselves created.

Now, the ’Sunfall Festival’ continued to provide him with faith, although not much, only a few tens to a few hundred at a time. But it was a steady increase as the population grew.

In short, the Elf God’s attempt to transition from making quick money had failed.

Lu Yao was very interested in the cloud giant.

In the world of the blast furnace, the cloud giant controlled the clouds and rain, and was a kind of natural spirit. It was a great waste for the Elf God to use it for battle.

The cloud giant was a good helper for farming!

Lu Yao extended an invitation to the cloud giant, but it was politely declined.

Isabella gently relayed, “Papalucas said that it is very grateful for your recognition and appreciation, but it is really tired of fighting. If it becomes an Apostle but does not participate in battle, it would be dereliction of duty and disgraceful.”

“The Elf God has fallen, and it no longer wants to fight.”

Lu Yao immediately recalled.

The cloud giant had a characteristic of ’War Weariness.’No wonder in the Blast Furnace World, when the Blood Knights and Dwarves were about to get serious, the Cloud Giants panicked, unwilling to fight, even taking the initiative to negotiate peace.

Lu Yao, settling for the next best thing, invited Papalucas to settle in the ghost city of Sanilo.

There was no need for battle there.

Sanilo was a city where ghosts congregated, most of whom had experienced various hardships and battles in life, and now it served as a retirement home for Transcendent beings. Papalucas, a former Apostle with a gentle disposition, was well-suited for the place.

This time, Papalucas agreed.

Isabella led its soul into the ghost city.

The Cloud Giant officially entered Sanilo and received a warm welcome from Mayor Chapman.

Papalucas became a weather forecaster here, joining the ranks of the ground meteorologist Shaham, occasionally bringing rain to the fields and forests outside the city.

After busying himself with the aftermath of the divine war, Lu Yao took a deep breath.

The variety of divine players, especially in how they failed, gave Lu Yao quite a bit of inspiration.

It was the Yeti who obtained a trophy from the Elf God, which he hadn’t had the chance to look at yet.

Lu Yao opened his inventory, scrolling down the long list to find the last item.

…

[Martyr’s Seal LV2]: Faith +1/hour.

Stamp this seal on a believer, and after a period of time, that believer will become a [Martyr] and complete their martyrdom.

…

Understanding the item, Lu Yao realized everything.

No wonder the Elf God’s faith rose so quickly in the beginning.

He used the population as fuel. When lacking in faith, he would simply stamp the believers, turning them into martyrs for self-sacrifice.

Most gods entering this fragmented world saw it merely as a stepping stone. They made their first pot of gold, accumulated enough faith to ascend to the Pantheon, and gained a higher limit.

Currently, only Lu Yao saw this place as his own territory, earnestly managing it.

Thus, while the Elf God wanted to create martyrs to squeeze out the last of the faith, Lu Yao wanted to erase the term martyr altogether.

Hamira’s self-sacrifice was still vivid in Lu Yao’s memory.

The little people were mostly hardworking in life, busily participating in construction and labor, and in death, they should enjoy the fruits of their labor. Sanilo was the leisure destination prepared for them.

Speaking of which, it had been a while since he paid attention to the situation in Sanilo.

Lu Yao shifted his view to the skies above the ghost city.

What he saw left him full of questions.

Inside the city of Sanilo, aside from the original ghost inhabitants, other Transcendent creatures were also strolling and shopping with ease.

Just from what Lu Yao could see, there were sandworms, dwarves, corrupters, cave monsters, and even former enemies like the Cannibal Crabs, and little elves from the far south… They were mingling in pairs or groups, seemingly accustomed to wandering around this city.

What exactly was Sanilo up to?

Lu Yao noticed Mayor Chapman among a few Cannibal Crabs.

The mayor introduced, “The city of Sanilo has a long history, blessed and favored by God Yao, with beautiful scenery and a suitable, relaxed lifestyle. We’ve always welcomed friends from all walks of life to settle here. However, due to the limited size of the city, there is a shortage of housing.”

“Thanks to the tireless efforts of the citizens, we have now expanded the city, and the construction of the outer city is officially complete. We warmly welcome everyone to settle here. By purchasing a residence, you will enjoy the status of a Sanilo city resident!”

Lu Yao was speechless.

Perhaps this is what they call a consensus among mayors.

Sanilo had joined the competition for population, clearing out the city’s housing inventory.

Unlike Salt City, it was vying for a variety of Transcendent creatures, monopolizing a broader blue ocean with no competitors.

Lu Yao was also quite optimistic about the future of Sanilo.

Thanks to: The Crybaby Lunatic for the support of 1500 Qidian coins, and the Pentakill from the Bot Lane Bush for the support of 100 Qidian coins.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep