Chapter 3: Exchanging Skills
Watching Dawn Moon, who instead of approaching that group of people, moved further away from them, Little Sprite was extremely puzzled.
Dawn Moon reached out a finger and tapped its little head: "You keep an eye on them for me. Once they set off to leave, notify me immediately."
Little Sprite nodded blankly.
After a while, it still didn't understand and asked: "Why not just go over there directly?"
Regarding the cute little system, Dawn Moon didn't mind telling it her thoughts and plans. After all, both sides were now in a collaborative relationship on a united front; it was best for it to know her plans to avoid exposing any flaws when the time came.
"Look at their clothing and Guards; they are definitely not ordinary Common People. If they were ordinary Common People, perhaps I could use their sympathy to hitch a ride on the carriage. But for those with such obviously extraordinary family backgrounds, how could they easily let someone of unknown origin like me board their carriage?"
Little Sprite tilted its head: "But your face is beautiful."
Dawn Moon was choked up for a moment, then said: "If one has status and strength, a beautiful face is the icing on the cake. If one has nothing, a beautiful face is a disaster for a woman."
"To make them willingly take me away from here, I must have an identity that makes them feel awe and fear."
Seeing that Little Sprite still didn't understand, Dawn Moon smiled slightly: "And that is a deity!"
"But..." Little Sprite hesitated: "You aren't one."
"But I have the skill Star and Moon Accompany, which I can use to impersonate the Moon Goddess and collect faith points along the way to continue exchanging for other skills later. As time passes, people will only become more convinced of my identity as a deity."
Little Sprite was stunned and murmured: "Aren't you afraid of being exposed?"
Dawn Moon smiled: "The bold feast while the timid starve. As long as my appearance is shocking enough and achieves what ordinary mortals cannot, others will believe."
After saying that, she sighed regretfully: "If it weren't for wanting to leave this place and not wanting to walk anymore, I would have chosen a large town to make a grand entrance as an immortal descending to the mortal realm. Who knows how many faith points I could have collected then?"
However, there was no rush for that. Once out of this forest, there would be plenty of opportunities in the future.
Next, she thoroughly explained her plans and persona to Little Sprite, hoping the other wouldn't hold her back.
Little Sprite guaranteed with a serious face: "Host, don't worry, I will definitely cooperate with you well."
If things really went south and they were exposed, it would just find a way to take its Host and run; it definitely wouldn't follow in the footsteps of 001's Host.
The main system had secretly given it some faith points, which meant it had a bit of private savings. If things really got bad, it could exchange them for a life-saving skill for its Host.
Even if that failed, if she was caught after being exposed and they wanted to burn or kill her, the Host wouldn't die anyway.
After many attempts, once they realized the Host couldn't be killed no matter what, they would probably get tired. Maybe they would let the Host go then?
Little Sprite thought uncertainly, not daring to tell Dawn Moon its inner thoughts.
To the side, Dawn Moon watched Little Sprite's beautiful large eyes darting around and guessed that it might be hiding something from her.
But there was no rush; the little fellow couldn't hide its thoughts and was timid. If it really was hiding something, it would only be a matter of time before she pried it out.
The person and the system stayed about one kilometer away from the carriage, waiting for nightfall.
Only when it was dark could Dawn Moon begin her performance.
During the wait, Little Sprite kept a constant eye on that group of people, fearing they might suddenly set off, forcing Dawn Moon to chase after them.
Fortunately, as dusk arrived, the other party seemed to intend to rest on the spot for the night and had no plans to leave.
Watching Dawn Moon tidy her appearance, a conflicted expression appeared on Little Sprite's face again.
Should it really take out its private savings to exchange skills for the Host? What if the Host was exposed, tied up, and killed repeatedly?
Various human ways of dying appeared on the system panel: strangulation, drowning, beheading, bludgeoning, dismemberment by five horses, burning... The young system couldn't help but shiver; it didn't want its Host to die before even completing the mission!
Dawn Moon calmly observed the constantly changing expressions on the little system's face, finding the little fellow quite interesting; it couldn't hide anything going on in its mind at all.
She wondered if it would give her away when it came time to act with her.
She pretended not to see the little fellow's abnormality and tidied her appearance using the camera display projected by the system. After confirming she looked like a deity with celestial grace and jade-like beauty, she nodded with satisfaction.
Fortunately, the body molded by the system was flawless and didn't require eating or basic bodily functions; otherwise, any human would have basic pores, and it would truly be difficult to deceive others.
While she was satisfiedly examining herself, the Little Sprite system also made up its mind and flew in front of Dawn Moon.
"Host, I still have some private savings here; I can exchange two skills for you," Little Sprite said with a pure expression.
Ah, that really was an unexpected pleasant surprise.
A large smile appeared on Dawn Moon's face. She felt she should be nicer to this lovable little fellow in the future; after all, such a pure system could easily be cheated by others.
Cupping Little Sprite in her palms, her voice was as soft as water: "Sweetie, you actually have private savings."
The little system only felt that the Host's voice was so gentle right now, and the smile on her face was truly beautiful.
It thought dizzily.
"The main system gave it to me secretly before, telling me to buy things I like in the mall," it said without any concealment.
It seemed this little fellow's status with the main system wasn't low.
Dawn Moon continued to smile gently: "But that's your private savings; are you really willing to give it to me?"
There was a trace of reluctance on its face, but it still nodded seriously: "You don't have many skills to protect yourself; it's easy to be exposed. I don't want you to be caught and experience all those ways of dying."
Dawn Moon was somewhat moved; she wondered whose system could be so pure and kind.
Purity and kindness were beautiful virtues that she didn't believe she possessed herself.
Well, as long as it didn't harm her personal interests and she had the ability, she was also willing to be pure and kind.
In the end, she used the system's private savings to exchange for two skills.
One was 'Within the Domain, All is the King's Land'.
That is to say, within a one-kilometer radius centered on her, all people and objects would be under her control. She was the king within this domain, acting as she pleased.
Another one she exchanged for was 'Space'.
As a deity, she couldn't let the people around her carry bundles whenever she traveled. Naturally, she should be able to wave her sleeves and take all the clouds away.
As for 'Riding the Clouds and Mist', Dawn Moon hesitated for a moment and chose to give it up for now.
For now, exchanging for these two was more useful.
Next, by using the exchanged skills, she should be able to gain some faith points, and then she could exchange for other things later.
—
Night fell, and the bright moon and stars hung high in the sky, casting a layer of silver glow over the earth.
As time passed, the bright moon moved to the very center, and suddenly, a silver-white beam of light shot straight down from the moon, falling onto the earth