Chapter 163: Adding Income, Controlling Outflow (1/2)

Xi Wei’s divinity only recorded the experiences of his believers after they became his converts. That was why he was unaware of Zonyan’s past. However, with the Valley of the Tragic Dead separating the two continents and the Grey Fjord being a dangerous place on both ends, few nonhumans could reach the Eastern Continent aside from using the smuggling ship route that the Secret Eye Society somehow conjured.

Zonyan himself was a Leo, a rare kind even amongst nonhuman. Still, given how often he had that distant look in his eyes as if remembering something in the past he couldn’t and therefore hardly fit into the eccentric nature of the Players, Xi Wei could guess that he was shouldering something even if he was just a ball. As a matter of fact, it could only be some desperate situation like parental abandonment due to his excessive preference of hammers, tribal banishment due to a failed coup or your typical ‘I’m your father!’, ‘No—!’ sort of drama.

That was why he had assigned him the quest [Triumph of the King of Beasts], so that Zonyan could lead a group of Players to scout things out for Xi Wei at the Western Continent where divine competition was a lot less fierce. If he could hence directly carve out a territory, the Church of Games could just set up another base over there.

That said, the Players were still quite noob.

Even if some of them had improved past Level 40 thanks to the Fishmen Island event, grasping the ultimate moves of various classes to reach a phase that others would call ‘supernatural’. However, given the Players’ uniqueness (and because Xi Wei was a third-rate deity) as well how much they could share from a small pool or power, each of them belonged to the lowest denomination of superhumans.

As a matter of fact, the Rotten Bones High Priest was relatively weak amongst the ranks of superhumans, since his god Rotten Bones was no different from the newcomer that was Xi Wei in that they were weak gods. Likewise, the high priest was neither a Chosen One nor a Saint, just as he wouldn’t count as a pope. As such, the divine power he gets to share was quite limited, and at best Level 30 according to the assessment from Xi Wei’s system.

Furthermore, despite having the top Players surpass Level 40 and the Rotten Bones High Priest no longer able to wipeout a party with them, there were still no Players who could single-handedly defeat it despite the 10-level gap—though Mufasa who assumed the path of Kengyoku might make it around Level 40, he was still a curb stomp victim at the moment.

As such, Xi Wei had no intention to teleport Zonyan off to the Western Continent right away after he accepted the quest, because the only result would be him dying all the way…

In other words, the Players need time to grow their levels into real power.

***

Indeed, the reason Xi Wei would assign Zonyan his quest was to have him complete a special series of material gathering mainly to farm certain wood, monster materials and strengthening stones at the initial stage.

After he was done, Xi Wei would make Zonyan a seafaring boat through his exquisite craftsmanship, and entrust him the second part of his quests: find party members whom he found compatible in will and spirit, working together to set sail towards the Western Continent.

As for the sea charts towards the Western Continent, Xi Wei planned to set the smugglers’ sea route that the Secret Eye Society established it as a quest reward.

Since the Players were newbies who had no seafaring experience, the maiden voyage would most likely end with a sunken ship and corpses even with those sea charts as reference.

Naturally, being the compassionate god that he was, Xi Wei wouldn’t set his verdict that Zonyan had failed his quest right then—he would simply revert the quest back to the first phase and have the Players gather ship-crafting materials once again. Either way, gathering would be much more efficient with his companions…

Xi Wei had no clairvoyance to tell what would happen beyond that. He would just have to wait and see.

In the end, Zonyan and the other Players were playing the game, not him.

For Xi Wei, it was all a leisurely game of chess in the place: it would be great if it works, and he would at least know that things could be dangerous in the west if it failed, and that it wasn’t the right time for a venture yet.