After a struggle with his thoughts, Zhang Tai quit the game. After dying repeatedly, the soft bed beneath him felt incredibly comfortable.
"The Lord of Pleasure must be an evil god!" he glared angrily at the Dark Souls interface. "Only an evil god would create such a torturous game!"
"You are not worthy to be a god; I'm going to report you!" Zhang Tai muttered as he pressed the report button, but he hesitated when he looked at the portrait of the Lord of Pleasure.
Just now, Lin Xuan had anticipated that the first batch of players tricked into the game would definitely have complaints. He was prepared in advance. As soon as a player was detected to have quit the game after dying twice, the Lord of Pleasure would switch to the second original painting.
At this moment, the little girl with cat ears, red eyes, and white hair, who had been standing in the center with a slightly tilted head and a bewildered expression, had transformed into a pitiful figure sitting by the campfire with tears in her eyes.
Zhang Tai instantly felt his soul suffer a devastating blow. Under the gaze of the Lord of Pleasure's bright, watery eyes, he seemed to hear her reluctant voice:
Are you giving up on me too?
His anger was instantly extinguished, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him, and a strong sense of guilt spread from his heart to his very core. Upon seeing the portrait of the Lord of Pleasure, Zhang Tai hurriedly exited the reporting interface and slapped himself hard across the face.
"I deserve to die!" He clutched his hands, filled with regret. These sinful hands had almost reported a kind new god!
So what if the game was a little difficult? Wasn't it just because he was bad at it? What was wrong with the tag "relaxing and stress-relieving"? After being constantly overwhelmed and killed, didn't returning to reality feel relaxing? He had only given a little time and faith, yet the Lord of Pleasure had given His entire kingdom!
"Zhang Tai, Zhang Tai! You almost made a huge mistake!" He looked angrily at himself on the screen, then suddenly opened the recharge interface and transferred all the faith power he had planned to give to the God of Storytelling this year to Lin Xuan. Only in this way could he feel a little comfort in his soul.
After doing all this, he let out a soft breath and felt much more relaxed. He then opened the forum with a cheerful expression and posted a message:
[I highly recommend: I've discovered a new god with tremendous potential; especially his works—they're truly amazing…]
Zhang Tai hesitated for a moment, seemingly going through a difficult internal struggle, but in the end, he finished the sentence:
It's very relaxing; I had a great time using it, and the promotional images are also very beautiful. I hope everyone will support it.
After typing these words, Zhang Tai didn't know why a smile appeared on his face, and he felt happy all over. He checked the time and realized it was getting late. He had to work normally the next day, so he put down the equipment and went to sleep with a smile.
On the other hand, although Zhang Tai was just an ordinary forum user, the new god recommendation post always attracted traffic. Zhang Tai had never posted false information before, so his account had a good reputation score. With his strong recommendation, quite a few people clicked on it.
William was one of them. As the old priest of the Temple of the God of Heroes, he didn't have much work to do. After seeing off a believer attending Mass, he walked to the statue and whispered a prayer. Hearing the crisp sound of weapons clashing in his mind, his previously weary spirit was instantly invigorated. This was a divine blessing bestowed by the God of Warriors upon a devout believer.
As a god in the God of War system, the God of Warriors was relatively young, having only recently ascended to intermediate divine power a few hundred years ago. Most believers were adventurers from the lower classes who yearned to change their fate, and most of them were full of curiosity about new things. William was no exception. During his breaks, he liked to visit the Gods Forum to see what new posts were being published.
He casually scrolled down and happened upon Zhang Tai's post:
[I highly recommend it…]
Upon seeing the title, William raised an eyebrow slightly, showing a hint of interest.
"A new god?" he said softly. "It seems like there haven't been any particularly attractive new gods in recent years."
He was no stranger to the New God Ranking. According to the history recorded in the temple, the God of Heroes he worshipped also first appeared on the New God Ranking and ultimately achieved a good result of twelfth place that year. He received an invitation from the God of War system among the eight major pantheons, and successfully ascended to the level of a medium-level god two thousand years later.
For ordinary people, two thousand years is enough to span more than a dozen generations, but for gods, two thousand years is only enough to accomplish a little work. Expanding God's Kingdom, writing creeds, and spreading faith are all tasks that cannot be accomplished in a short period. It was precisely by joining the God of War System that the God of Warriors obtained high-quality resources; otherwise, even after several more millennia, his advancement would still be a long way off.
"Luckily, I had the foresight to submit my resume to the Temple of God right after graduating from the academy." William touched his silver priest's robes and narrowed his eyes in satisfaction. He had graduated from one of the top 1,000 universities in the universe, where students majoring in priesthood received a great deal of attention from the gods every year. Because powerful gods and priests were usually selected from the top-ranked academies, most of the top thousand were weak gods and a small number were newly promoted medium-level gods.
At that time, the God of Heroes was only a weak god and did not receive much attention. But William sensed His potential, so before graduating, he submitted his resume to the God of Heroes and entered the temple for an internship. After graduation, he received His offer and became a full-fledged priest.
Meanwhile, Lao Zhang, who graduated the same year, was arrogant and applied to the temple of the God of the Furnace with intermediate divine power. Fierce competition left him laid off after two years of internship, and he lost his status as a recent graduate. He was currently working as a bishop in a temple of some unknown weak god, which could be described as losing both his wife and his army. Thinking of this, William couldn't help but stroke his beard—a sign of his pleasant mood.
When William came to his senses, he realized he had unknowingly clicked on a link in the post and been redirected to the New God Ranking.
"Lord of Pleasure." He murmured the name of the new god, and the anime-style image on the promotional poster was indeed refreshing. But he was quite old, so he didn't feel as excited as Zhang Tai. He was more interested in the works mentioned in the post than the promotional images. He allocated some of his faith power to the Lord of Joy, which would not offend the God of Courage; on the contrary, it would encourage him. After all, the discovery and exploration of new things was part of his authority.
William adjusted his posture slightly; the afternoon sun felt very comfortable on him. With a cheerful attitude, he entered Dark Souls with ease.