232. Glorious Warrior
It was over.
Li Aozi lifted the Abyss-Red Blade in his hands. This weapon could be called the last vestige Lidevidens had left behind in this world.
The Fate Awakening Sword lay buried under the snow, entering a long slumber—likely needing decades to recover.
For Jania, it seemed rather pitiful. She had only just emerged from her solitude, only to sink back into lonely silence again.
He climbed to the summit of the snowcapped mountain, calling on the natural elements to deliver a small bouquet, which he placed gently before the sword.
"Take a good rest for now, Jania. You've worked hard enough lately."
Being unable to use Jania for a while certainly meant losing a bit of support.
The players who had logged off to preserve their accounts all logged back in. Li Aozi checked and found that of the 25 players he had brought from Azure Star, only 11 remained at this point—more than half lost.
These players were not just typical hirelings; they were top-tier pro players, with accounts built up since the closed beta. Even aside from sentimentality, if you converted their value into real currency, it wouldn't be cheap…
A considerable loss, indeed.
But even so, Li Aozi's haul from this venture was extremely substantial.
"The planetary consciousness' thought process is quite straightforward. When the players wear biomechanical suits, it basically assumes the entire time it's me alone doing the damage, so all the kills fall under my tally."
Li Aozi had planned this thoroughly from the start. Once the operation succeeded, his Legendary Fame on White Candle Star couldn't be lower than 7.
Now that it had reached the maximum 10, Li Aozi figured it might also be related to Lidevidens acknowledging him.
Lidevidens represented the ancient Farlicia civilization, which for generations had safeguarded this planet from [Society] invasions—once, now, and evermore. In a sense, the heroic souls of Farlicia could be viewed as part of this planet, too.
That point mattered immensely. Without Lidevidens, he probably wouldn't have gotten 10 points.
"Right now, I have an entire planet… and the loss of a few Alpha-tier players is trivial; with White Candle Star's advanced productivity, it could easily crank out billions more."
Li Aozi's personal resources had been sparse to begin with, so this was basically like getting something for nothing.
With the battle finished, Li Aozi exhaled deeply and let the players freely search and clean up the battlefield. The remains of the Mechanical citizens might still have valuable materials or weaponry to salvage. If they happened to snag a few Saint Son Cores, Li Aozi could flip them for profit at Valkyrie Fortress.
On the market, a single Saint Son Core typically cost anywhere from 3,000 to 20,000 Anjin, fluctuating with completeness and grade. Unfortunately, among the three major narratives in the Abyss, there wasn't a purely mechanical civilization; otherwise, these Saint Son Cores would probably sell out immediately once listed.
As the players happily rolled for loot and rummaged corpses, Li Aozi headed over to Lake Fairy Sophia Marlin—there was an important matter he needed to discuss with her.
"Fairy Sophia Marlin, thank you so much for your assistance—"
Before Li Aozi could finish, Sophia Marlin suddenly said:
"Now that everything is settled…"
She stretched out her hand and rubbed her fingertips together, a motion universally understood as asking for money:
"Let's talk about compensation for the damage done to my Ghost Garden."
"…Damage?"
"My garden contained a total of 230,000 ghostly flowers, cultivated over three millennia at great expense. Even selling them wholesale wouldn't come cheap. Your little ones burned them all in one go. Out of consideration that you did it to protect this planet, I'll just assume you've purchased them. I'll give you a 20% discount, so in Anjin, it comes to roughly 69 million. And as a Zeta-tier, I charge an appearance fee too…"
The fairy, who had been so distant and impassive, was now rattling off costs at high speed. Li Aozi found her obsession with money quite unexpected.
At first, Li Aozi was puzzled, then he glanced aside at Caramel Snail, who was joyfully rummaging through garbage, wholly unaware of the near-murderous look Li Aozi was giving him.
"…If you can't afford it, that's fine as well."
Seeing Li Aozi's hesitation, the Lake Fairy continued:
"I can sense that this planet already sees you as its true master, so—just let me rent out the Farlician Heroes' Graveyard area and that section of the hills for 2,000 years. That's all I need."
"Forgive me, but are you a follower of Red Kin?"
"Not exactly. But I've learned some of his practices."
Li Aozi did some quick mental math. Paying off the debt at once was obviously a bad deal.
In any case, the Lake Fairy just wanted a quiet place. There shouldn't be an issue like pollution. And since Faithkeep Village was close by, if anything dangerous happened, maybe they could even rope in this Zeta-tier power for free assistance.
By that reckoning, he'd be turning a small profit.
"All right, we'll do as you say," Li Aozi said, feigning a pained expression. "I just hope you'll care for that land and forest, to protect the ecosystem in that area…"
Sophia Marlin shot him a glance:
"No offense, but it's your little ones who trample around, killing birds, chopping goblins, recklessly mining, and conquering underground caverns. That's what I'd call destroying the environment."
"How's that destruction? We're bringing them civilization!" Li Aozi brazenly replied.
"Then why not pay a storage fee by the civilized rules for all those times you casually entered my garden and threw your weapons around?"
"I don't think I'm that civilized yet."
After some back-and-forth, Li Aozi had a clear impression of the Lake Fairy's personality.
Though she might appear half-awake and out of it most of the time, she was actually quite sharp, especially regarding finances—her calculating was on par with a certified accountant on Azure Star.
Luckily, Li Aozi's [Charisma] was high, and the fairy seemed to have a good impression of him. Taking advantage of that, he swiftly said:
"Fairy Sophia, there's something I want to ask you."
Sophia Marlin replied matter-of-factly:
"If you want to learn from me, I doubt someone as headless as you can absorb anything. Better not waste the money."
[Wow, sis, you're a fairy—and now a ghost—why are you so fixated on money? Did you die broke or something?]
Li Aozi grumbled inwardly, but still asked:
"I want to ask about Leozi. Since you predate Lidevidens, I figure you know more, right?"
"Leozi…?" Sophia thought for a moment, then nodded. "Indeed, I do know a bit. I lived in Leozi's era, but even for me, it's mostly secondhand stories. Which part do you want to know?"
A row of choices popped up for Li Aozi:
A. Ask who Leozi actually is.
B. Ask what Leozi did.
C. Ask how Leozi met his end.
D. Want a Sol Deck? (Click here to jump to the shop and build your deck.)
E. Mock her
[Judging by the system's options, Sophia only knows this limited info.]
Li Aozi curled his lip and asked:
"…Who exactly is Leozi?"
"He's one of the Outer-Abyss main gods, an executor of the [Domination Will] Morphedria—the master of Haines, the founder of the Pantheon. His divine authorities include 'reality,' 'existence,' 'realization,' 'understanding,' etc. His divine name is 'Leozi.' He also wields Morphedria's authority, making him the god closest to a main deity of the [Domination] path, no rival."
Sophia Marlin explained in detail. After some thought, she added:
"Like other gods, Leozi had followers, though for some reason there were very few. His adherents and believers nearly overlapped entirely."
"Though in the Outer-Abyss, gods do not rely on believers for power, having more followers could still act as a foundation for a deity's control of reality. Yet Leozi was already the master of reality, so He didn't really care much about followers."
"Even though He wasn't keen on developing a congregation, He shared many resources with powerful gods under Him. For instance, the [Goddess of Truth] Sharguenia was His foremost aide. At her peak, she commanded nearly two-thirds of Haines's believers, dominating the scene. Other gods also received much assistance from Leozi."
"Nevertheless, even though Leozi allocated lots of resources, the Pantheon was extremely dissatisfied with Him. Myths frequently mention gods accusing Leozi of tyranny, hoarding authority, ruling as an absolute autocrat. So many gods rebelled against Him."
Li Aozi absorbed this and pressed on:
"You mentioned Leozi's believers and his retinue were the same group. Do you know more about that?"
"Yes, indeed. In the legends of Haines, although Leozi seldom manifested, each appearance reshaped civilization and altered history. During wars to resist [Society] invasions, aside from the Pantheon warriors, Leozi's retinue contributed the most. They were Leozi's only retinue, his only chosen, and his only worshipers—genuinely faithful heroes of salvation."
Sophia Marlin became animated discussing this and held them in high esteem. It seemed she really had experienced the era when Leozi's chosen fought to save the world.
"Those chosen and believers—did they have a particular name?" Li Aozi asked curiously.
"Of course. Though few in number and prone to arrogance, once you understand them, you realize how purely powerful and passionate they were."
Sophia Marlin spoke glowingly, naming those radiant warriors:
"They were called… [Starfall Masters]."