I Am the God of Games - Chapter 274

Chapter 274: Consolidating Power

The one who was rewarded the most in the battle was not the Players who were each given a reward item, nor was it the Long Ears who were finally freed from the oppression of the Hyena-men and the Tigermen and could reclaim some space after being pushed into a corner of the continent. Instead, it was Xi Wei, who had been enjoying the show and only provided divine assistance at the very last second.

After the death of the Roaring Blaze Tiger Warrior, the god sprout which had latched on to him faded with the fall of the Mountain Tigers.

Be that as it may, it had turned into energy belonging to no order, but it remained a manifestation of divine energy.

And having watched everything unfold from beginning to end, Xi Wei naturally seized the opportunity to take in the unowned divine energy, convinced that he just needed a little time to digest it into his own energy.

The energy had quality where it lacked in quantity. If Xi Wei had to say it, the items and EXP reward he gave all the Players in this latest event took more or less the same amount of divine energy—he didn’t incur a loss, at least.

But when the event concluded, XI Wei assigned Angora a new overlord quest when he rushed to the Western Continent to enjoy the show, and had him build a holy statue for himself in the Western Continent. After all, there were already temples built for Xi Wei in both the Unnamed Town and the Lancaster Hideout back in the Eastern Continent.

Any person thinking about joining his church must start by praying to the statue, and it was a fact having a physical object saw a rapid increase in devotion amongst Players. In turn, the ratio of those who became true believers to those who didn’t know what their god looked like and could only develop their faith blindly would also improve considerably.

At first, Xi Wei didn’t pin any hopes on it—he was merely going about it like an afterthought, just as the quest he assigned Angora was a coincidental assignment without any penalty.

He didn’t expect that Angora would get so thrilled after receiving the quest, muttering something like ‘The God of Games didn’t forget about me’ while having Vela sought out Rangka, and then successfully and passionately persuaded Rangka since the Long Ears liked to ‘swear fealty’ anyway.

After that, the mysteriously motivated Rangka then sought out the Long Ears’ chief to successfully and passionately persuade him, who eventually agreed to allow the players to build a holy statue in the Long Ears’ village.

And with the Overlord System in hand, Angora certainly allowed the Long Ears bumpkins to witness the efficiency of Players.

In less than five minutes after the Long Ears chief gave his approval, an enormous holy statue that curiously resembled the FIFA World Cup Trophy rose from the ground at the center of the Long Ears village, completely towering over the landmark that was the chief’s camp.

“How majestic.” Rangka surveyed the golden FIFA World Cup Trophy which stood over five meters tall. “But why would your god be lifting a ball?”

“Actually, the ball is our god, and the people shown beneath lifting the ball is us believers,” Angora answered solemnly.

Rangka:?

“You can forget about it this time, Rangka, but if you join our religion in the future, remember to not mention this again.” Angora then added.

“There would be divine retribution?” Rangka immediately got the idea.

“Nope. You’ll be banned.”

Rangka:???

Therefore, Rangka could only think, ‘As expected of the god of champions who could defeat the Mountain Tigers. He is so mysterious in both thought and form…’

***

Meanwhile, Xi Wei wasn’t too concerned about the slightly disrespectful exchange of his own believer, but was instead stretching out his senses to feel what was happening in the mortal realm with astonishment.

From what he could detect, when the World Cup—once the holy statue of the God of Games was built, a small part of the god sprout covering the skies of the Long Ears tribe vanished and faded, gradually absorbed by the statue and delivered to Xi Wei’s divine kingdom, becoming divine energy he could directly absorb.

Clearly, some Long Ears had earnestly envied and admired the Players’ existence, won over by their food and their great power.

And the appearance of the holy statute became a host on which they pinned those thoughts.

Even if neither quantity nor quality was high, such a situation delighted Xi Wei.

It also shows that every god sprout of the nonhuman tribe in the Western could be absorbed! If the Players could assert dominance and preach the name of the God of Games to every tribe and build his statue in every village, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Xi Wei could consolidate power in this place abandoned by every other god!

If he absorbed every god sprout, he could at least become an Intermediate God like the Great Lion even if he can’t ascend as a Greater God, right?

Xi Wei was brimming with determination at that very thought, and leveled a tender gaze upon the Players in the world below who were keen on making a rendition of Hamlet for Zonyan.

Ganbare[1], your god is watching over you from above!

***

The siege of the Mountain Tigers’ stronghold wasn’t a System Event, but many Players had participated anyway. Most of them were newbies who recently joined the Church of Games, meaning that this was their first group activity after their conversion.

And when Princess Leah and other famous Players showed up and joined the battle towards the end, the reputation alone did not lose out to usual Events.

Moreover, as the destruction of the Mountain Tigers was a glorious triumph for the Players, they certainly would have to maintain their post-event tradition: a victory feast.

Though the feast was held in the Long Ears’ village like last time, the air was much different.

After the holy statue of the God of Games had been built, the Long Ears had clearly opened their hearts towards the Players and truly accepted them.

The Players were also therefore informed by the System that they could take in Long Ears as a vassal race, just like the Frogmen of the Warty Tidal Flats.

It naturally was Xi Wei’s plan from the very start.

After all, the complete edition of the System was upgraded continuously which cost too much divine energy, and investing it on newbies wouldn’t make up for the costs.

And since the divine energy offered by the nonhumans wouldn’t match what the humans offered, Xi Wei had specially prepared a castrated version of the System like he did for the Frogmen.

You could level up by fighting monsters anyway. What is there to be upset about?!

You want a complete version? Sure, if you become a devout believer.

If that’s the case, Xi Wei would have no problems with upgrading the Eunuch System to a complete edition of the system.

Naturally, whether the Players or the Long Ears concerned themselves about it, all they were doing on this day were bonding, barbecuing and singing away, or watching the other Players engaging in dance battles on the temporarily-built podium.

And yet, there was a single person who stuck like a sore thumb in this happy atmosphere.

It was Gerald, who was still blaming himself for not being able to save Marni.

[1] hang in there in Japanese