Chapter 57 (1/2)
“Doesn’t it count as divine intervention when you get Pravos to help your avatar grow?” Karta asked, her tail occasionally twitching. Her paw was resting on Vremya’s personal computer, transmitting her divine sense into it. After a bit of begging, Vremya eventually conceded to Karta’s wishes and livestreamed his avatar’s progress. “Sure, it’s not directly helping your avatar with rare treasures, but isn’t it cheating if Pravos plants a system on someone else and directs them to help you?”
“It’s fine,” Vremya said. “Think about it. There’s an innumerable number of gods granting people systems. When the god of masochism creates an avatar, you think it doesn’t encounter any of those people? What if because of one god, a war is created, and the god of masochism’s avatar takes part in the war, using it to grow stronger? Does that count as divine intervention? It doesn’t.”
“Then can’t you just have Pravos give someone lots of treasures and have them hand them to your avatar?” Karta tilted her head. “Why don’t you just do that if Pravos’ users can intervene?”
Vremya shook his head. “Those items are tainted by the heavens.” He reached into his fanny pack and pulled out a bag of apple chips. “See the aura on this? If my avatar consumes some, he won’t be able to develop his own divinity.”
“Are those … apple chips? Old man, why do you have apple chips!?”
“They were in the bag,” Vremya said and shrugged. He glanced at Pravos. She was hunched over, her face scrunched up in front of her screen. Even though her eyes were useless in the darkness created by Gravitat, she was still sitting as if they were working. “Is the sect ready for my avatar?”
“You should’ve given me more time to work on fixing this sect,” Pravos said and sighed. She clutched her head, her hair spilling through the gaps in her fingers. “There’s just so many things wrong with it and the person running it. I think your avatar has a decent chance at entering the sect, but it’s … not as strong as it used to be. I-it’s still the best sect around though!”
Karta growled. “I can’t believe you have a bag of apple chips! I thought you loved me! Okay, I didn’t think you loved me, but I thought you were on my side!”
Vremya snorted and put away the bag of chips. “You raised a good point,” he said, ignoring the dog’s comments about betrayal. “I wonder if it’ll count as divine intervention if Pravos orders Rachel to gather rare treasures and pass them onto my avatar. There’ll probably be divine contamination from the mission if she does that; it’s better not to take that chance.”
***
Kid Vremya stood in the middle of the crowd with an impassive expression. Today was the day the Moon Lotus Sect recruiters arrived at the village. The whole village had woken up even earlier than usual, and the familiar sounds of work were nonexistent. Despite the fact the recruiters hadn’t arrived yet, the atmosphere was tense, and the vague smell of soap filled the air. The recruiters were here to choose disciples based on talent, but it didn’t hurt to look and smell presentable either.
“Isn’t it weird how the Moon Lotus Sect is recruiting members here?” someone muttered. “They’ve never done it before, so why would they start doing it now?”
“Maybe they’re an evil sect, and they’re actually gathering children to use in sacrifices or evil rituals.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard they’ve been declaring war a lot. The Sun Cactus Sect became a vassal, and even the Ten Faces Sect became a vassal too. Does that mean they’re walking a mix of evil and righteous?”
“Hush,” a woman said. “The recruiters are cultivators. They’ll be able to hear you from a mile away. Try not to think negative things about them either; it’s possible they can read minds.”
“Will you guys stop it?” an old man asked. “You’re scaring the children. They don’t want to hear that the people coming for them are evil and might be killing them in sadistic rituals. No one wants to hear about how their eyes are going to be plucked out, or how their ears will be chopped off and worn as necklaces.”