Chapter 36: The Religion of a Ball (1/2)

Aside from the bonfire and unnoticed by the Players, their surroundings were changing slightly aside as well.

Two chests—one red and one blue—appeared within the light of the bonfire, as well as a semi-domed tent.

Apart from Marni who was teleported away because of his eager touching, the others studied those new things around them in interest.

It appeared that the red chest was a supply chest according to the text hovering over it, but there was nothing inside it at the moment. Meanwhile, the blue chest was called the loot box—Players could dump any ingredients or unusable equipment they obtained in the dungeon to redeem game coins and EXP.

There were simple beds inside the tent as well. Edward lay down to try it, and realized that it rapidly restores his stamina reserves.

“Look, guys. What’s that?” Eleena asked as she climbed into the tent, catching sight of a small statue.

It was not as if she had not seen a statue—there were carpenters back home after all. Still, the statue was very unusual: apart from the pedestal, it was nothing more than a weird ball.

“It might be the holy statue of the God of Games,” the escort captain simply said when he saw that statue, not quite bothered to think about it.

“No way. That’s really disrespectful to our lord!” Doug Ag, otherwise known as Gou Dan quickly retorted, having become so loyal to the God of Games that he was almost a zealot.

Eleena, Joe, and Edward all nodded in agreement. All of them had seen Xi Wei’s mortal form firsthand—why would the great God of Games be a ball?

“Sorry, I’m just joking… I’m very devout, you know.” The escort captain naturally would not stubbornly insist on his own view and apologized cheerfully, before picking up the statue to look at it more carefully. However, just a moment later, his eyes narrowed sharply.

“Wait. Take a look at these words at the bottom.”

[The God of Games, yet to come up with a form to take—Made in the Divine Kingdom.]

“…”

The thought ‘what the hell’ appeared in everyone’s mind at once.

“Could it be that we’ve simply met a clone of the God of Games, but his true form is really a ball?” Joe looked visibly shaken, gingerly voicing his thoughts.

“How…” Gou Dan was completely stunned and clearly in disbelief.

That was when Edward, who had a moment to arrange his thoughts faked a cough.

“Do not panic. Even if this statue had really been made in the Divine Kingdom, it does not prove that our god is a ball.” He deduced seriously. “After all, even if believers would enter the Divine Kingdom after death, they might not really get to meet him! This statue is probably something made by a devout believer who ascended to the Divine Kingdom, but I also remembered that Marni mentioning that the God of Games was a new deity that appeared in the last hundred years. Unlike the ancient gods and without actual divine myths spread across the world, not knowing how to sculpt the God of Games makes perfect sense!”

“Y-Yes! As expected of you, Edward!” Eleena’s face brightened in understanding.

Even Gou Dan, whose life perspective had just been shaken calmed down and nodded as if he was convinced.

It was only the escort captain who still held doubts, but he just wasn’t stupid enough to say it.