I Am the God of Games

While the first expedition had fallen in the Valley of the Tragic Dead and the other Players remained in the starter village as they waited for them to be revived, Xi Wei turned his eyes to another place.

Leah Yakaran was leading what few of her guardsmen left, crossing mountains and ridges to make haste for the starter village, just outside of the Valley of the Tragic Dead. At the moment, they were taking a break in a small city called Wickidor to resupply.

The town itself was not too far away from the Valley of the Tragic Dead, and Xi Wei estimated that it would take them one or two days to reach the starter village.

Leah’s escorting guards were shallow believers of the God of Games—the kind of people who would offer a brief prayer when they encounter divine statues. Nonetheless, it was a habit that developed in their younger years when the Tierra Empire still existed, and not the prayer that the devoted offered.

After Xi Wei had rescued them (although the truth was that Xi Wei wanted to save Leah and they were simply a bonus) just as they were encircled by the Cult of Rotten Bones, however, the guardsmen became much more devoted in their faith toward the God of Games.

As Leah, who had changed class and leveled up in the journey while gradually revealing her power, they even skipped the phase of true believers and immediately became devout believers of the God of Games.

After all, Leah’s hidden class ‘Warrior Princess’ was just like Eleena’s Saintess-in-training, characters who were considerably bugged in the gaming sense. Under ordinary circumstances, they would completely decimate other Players of equal combat ability, not to mention that other Players were still dwelling in basic classes, and the class-change system was yet to be made.

Either way, the players of this world were all his believers, and there was no need to worry that they would break the balance aspect of the game…

Furthermore, the guardsmen who were able to follow Leah until now were themselves handpicked by the imperial family of Tierra, royal guards who held devout faith in the God of Games.

If not for the lack of any providence from the God of Games during Tierra’s fall that resulted in their loss of faith, they would probably have become Xi Wei’s first group of zealots after he transmigrated!

Nevertheless, they immediately became devout believers after regaining their faith, getting into character far faster than the other believers.

Still, on an interesting note, those guardsmen had all picked the warrior class when they rose past the level of shallow believers and activated their own Systems.

It directly increased the ratio of warrior classes to other classes, with mages and rangers just behind them.

Instead, it was the cleric class that proved few in number.

In the first class-change page, Xi Wei had put in some explanation and demonstration of class skills. However, most users preferred playing the hero—be it in this world or back on Earth. That was why once his believers had a look of the explanation and footage, their first pick would be the strong and courageous warriors or the cool and powerful mage. The ranger class also had a strong charm to it: being agile, swift and formidable in long-range attacks, and as such was quite popular as well.

It was the clerics, who have a hard time in direct confrontation against any enemy. Their earliest skills were also only support and not appealing at all, and naturally none of the Players would want to play that role.

In that regard, Xi Wei wanted very much to yell at them, ‘Don’t you fools know that the cleric-class is the class closest to god!¹‘

After the class-change system was complete, he would have them know the horrors of after game versions updated…

Still, as Xi Wei kept his eye on Leah’s group, he unwittingly noticed that cultists from the Rotten Bones had actually started to show up in Wickidor as well.

***

At first, Xi Wei was shocked, believing that the cultists influence had expanded to Wickidor in days. However, it proved not to be the case—after he looked carefully, the cultists in the city were few in number. If it was another god’s stronghold (with their church established in it), the region would be filled in the god’s Divine Fury, and not even another god would be able to see inside it.

And Xi Wei did not find any place like that.

By observing the behavior of the cultists, Xi Wei realized that they appear to be there in pursuit of Leah’s group. Carlo, the middle-aged man who betrayed the God of Games.

While the actual reason was unclear, it probably was because the cultists had discovered traces left after Leah’s group was teleported away, and then used some special move to track and follow them.

With that in mind, Xi Wei was relieved. As long as the Cult of Rotten Bones did not expand and their divinity was not promoted at its essence, he had nothing to fear.

He was not at all concerned about the safety of Leah’s group.

In all fairness, the Rotten Bones outnumbered Leah, and their men were not lacking in ability even when compared to Carlo. Although they were not strictly as powerful as Carlo, Xi Wei could feel Rotten Bones’ blessing exuding from their bodies, which alone allows them to stand with Carlo stand as equals.

One should certainly note that Carlo was the captain of Tierra’s imperial guard and Princess Leah’s own sword instructor. His ability was certainly imaginable!

As for the reason that the cult would send so many of their finest to track down Leah’s group was probably fear that they would make things worse, that they would surrender themselves to an orthodox church and informing them about the cult’s hideout in Lancaster.

After all, that was the cult’s main base, and if they got wind of it, the orthodox church would probably purge them entirely right after they established themselves in that city. Even if they were not wiped out, they certainly would be dealt a heavy blow!

If it was days ago, it would be certain death for Leah’s group against the cultists’ finest.

Things were different now, however. Leah’s group obtained new power and leveled up continuously by killing monsters in their journey after obtaining the System. In fact, so what if the impossible worst would happen and Leah’s skill proved lacking, and their entire group would die?

The Rotten Bones were unaware of Xi Wei’s horrific lawbreaking creation that was the System. Even if their heads were cut off, it was but a flesh wound—and a new person three days later!