Ye Hui Fei wore a bitter expression.
“Forget it, Xiu-ge. Let’s not think about going to show off in front of Garble Bro.”
“San Value only tells us how to reduce it, not how to restore it. We have to use it sparingly!”
Lin Xian nodded in grief.
“You’re right. This kind of ability should be used for more practical purposes, not for empty boasting!”
Ye Zhi: “……6.”
“Alright, Xiu-ge!”
Ye Hui Fei’s gaze turned resolute.
“In that case, let’s go do the quest first!”
“Once we have real power, we can figure out more practical ways to use it!”
“You’re right!”
Lin Xian sighed.
“We were all distracted by the emptiness outside the Church.”
“We didn’t firmly choose to go to the village entrance—no, the town entrance—to chop wood! Truly a failure!”
“Let’s go!”
The two finally disappeared from Ye Zhi’s sight.
Ye Zhi tossed aside another shattered wall brick.
“Hmph, at least they remembered the main business.”
Edegar asked, “What’s this San Value they mentioned?”
“Resist Dragon Slayer’s Chain.”
Ye Zhi replied.
“After returning, I thought about it and felt you were right.”
“Although I trust my Players, I also never underestimate the Church!”
“If the day ever comes when they’re brainwashed by the Church and can’t be saved, I’ll send them away.”
This was the final safeguard Ye Zhi left for Blue Star Players.
From beginning to end, he never intended to drag the Players completely into the mire of Aeltia.
There was no need for San Value to reach zero.
As long as a Player started to have thoughts influenced by Aeltia that affected their real life—
Ye Zhi would forcibly set their San Value to zero and kick them back to Blue Star!
Consciousness projection didn’t mean they couldn’t be harmed; only with consciousness projection plus San Value as protection was it safe!
Of course.
That was Ye Zhi’s original idea.
Now, he found using San Value occasionally to restrain Player behavior was also quite effective!
Edegar’s expression was stunned.
“You really care about them. I’ve never seen you consider others like this.”
Ye Zhi shrugged.
“Maybe because I see my former self in them.”
When he first crossed into Aeltia, he was only a bit more steady than these game Players.
After all, he knew this world wasn’t a game and there was no Resurrection Mechanism.
But he wasn’t much steadier, either—he stepped into many pits even a six-year-old local child wouldn’t have.
He stumbled for several years.
Edegar raised an eyebrow.
“Then why do you make your ‘former self’ do manual labor?”
“Unless you want to do it yourself?”
Ye Zhi shot back.
“Or do you want me, an Undead who falls apart after walking a few more steps, to clean such a big town?”
Edegar silently shut his mouth.
He was a dignified Paladin—of course he wasn’t happy to do manual labor.
Besides, he was still injured, and his strength hadn’t recovered since defecting from the Church. He needed rest.
Ye Zhi’s gaze swept over his face, the blue soul fire flickering.
Hmph, just as he thought!
Only a fool wouldn’t use free labor!
“And guess what—I obtained the Light God Divinity. What do you think I used to create their bodies?”
Edegar first pondered, then suddenly realized.
“Divine Avatar?”
His tone was full of certainty.
As a former high-ranking Paladin of the Bright Church, Edegar, like Ye Zhi, understood most characteristics of divinity.
One of which was the skill to create Divine Avatars for gods to freely walk on the Aeltia Continent.
A god’s avatar naturally had enviable talents.
And even carried some divine traits—manual labor and moving boxes to ordinary people, but for a Divine Avatar, it deepened their understanding of the world’s laws.
In other words, the more Players did hard labor, the stronger they became!
However.
It was Edegar’s first time seeing a god’s avatar that could be possessed and used by others!
“How did you do it?”
Edegar was shocked, hardly able to believe it.
This was as bizarre as a sentient Light God Divinity!
Ye Zhi smiled smugly.
“I told you—my Necromantic Resurrection Magic isn’t just a suicide bombing spell! Do you believe me now?”
A byproduct of a Forbidden Magic Circle;
A Divine Spark born with self-awareness;
A light cluster connected to the Blue Star Network.
These successfully created the perfect Player Summoning Spell and an excellent body with Magic Talent!
The more Ye Zhi thought about it, the more he felt like a genius!
“Otherwise, how could I guarantee that after reaching Level 2, all three could learn a magic spell?”
Relying on the Player’s talent?
No, it was a gift from the Divine Spark!
Divine Power directly enhanced the avatar’s strength, even faster than boosting ordinary humans!
If Ye Zhi didn’t only have a total of 89 Divine Power, barely enough to grant each Player one blessing, he would’ve upgraded the Level 2 reward to two spells!
The stronger the Player, the more help they provided him!
Creating three Player bodies cost 30 Divine Power, six Game Panels cost 6 Divine Power.
Next, bestowing a Level 1 magic spell required 10 Divine Power.
The Divine Power was just barely enough.
If he used any more, Xiao Ming would probably go berserk on him.
Speaking of which, the reason Xiao Ming obediently stayed in the Church earlier was also closely tied to Ye Zhi spending Divine Power like running water.
To survive, it had no choice but to work hard to earn Divine Power.
Ye Zhi put on his cloak, concealing his entire body in shadow.
In an instant, he changed from a standing skeleton to a gloomy, withdrawn mage.
“Let’s go. We haven’t finished expelling all the monsters from Sweetwater Town. On the first day, we still need to keep an eye on them.”
“I bet, with their current combat power, they can’t even beat a Red-skinned Earthworm.”
***
“Swish!”
A jagged sound of wood scraping echoed.
A tall cypress let out a “crack” and fell slowly.
Ye Hui Fei immediately dodged out of the way.
“Nice, Garble Bro! That’s the eighth one, right? At this rate, we’re already forty percent through the upgrade!”
“Did you use to be a lumberjack?”
They’d entered the woods together, with Garble Bro only slightly ahead in tree selection.
But as time went on, the gap in their results grew larger.
Garble wiped his sweat.
“Yeah, I used to help out at my uncle’s lumber mill when I was a kid.”
“And, the progress isn’t forty percent. It’s forty-five percent.”
“Forty-five?!”
Ye Hui Fei was shocked.
“That can’t be! I remember each lumberjack quest only gives five experience points! Is there a hidden quest?”
Lin Xian lowered his head, deep in thought.
They’d all checked the quest bar at first. There really wasn’t any task with more than five experience points.
Considering he’d been chopping wood for two hours and felt more energized the more he chopped, Lin Xian had a bold idea.
“Garble Bro, could it be—”
Garble nodded first.
“Yeah, chopping trees gives experience.”
“What?!”
Ye Hui Fei screamed.
He immediately opened the Game Panel and saw his experience was 3/100.
He’d chopped six trees but hadn’t turned in the quest yet.
Where did the experience come from?!
Lin Xian showed his own experience: 8/100.
So this was a hidden reward in addition to the final reward!