Chapter 289
Chapter 289: Martial Arts Harem Story Protagonist Mass Production Plan
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav
“I, Ayer, Death God, Guardian of the Cycle of Reincarnation, and Defender of Order henceforth declare that, in this Holy War, we proclaim battle against the Chaos Faction as well as all invaders from other dimensions!”
It was a simple proclamation that the entire world heard, yet it shocked every living creature. Not only were ordinary people shocked, but even the other True Gods and demons were shocked by this ancient True God’s calm yet sudden proclamation.
Perhaps this was only a simple proclamation of war, but the hidden meaning and political ramifications behind it were worth deep consideration.
A proclamation of war? Why make a proclamation of war? Weren’t all the Holy Wars in the past begun just like that with no need for such proclamations?
Why was the Death God Ayer making the proclamation of war? Based on the current state of things in the Order Faction, even if they wanted to proclaim war, shouldn’t it have been the strongest Order God, the God of Holy Light, declaring the war?
No other True God had made a public statement like this before, so why was it that Ayer, who had stayed out of so many Holy Wars and remained neutral, had suddenly come out with such a proclamation? Just what was Ayer intending? Wasn’t he afraid of the God of Holy Light’s displeasure?
Oh, and he even used the term “we.” That meant that there were others apart from him! Was this an internal power struggle amongst the Order Gods? Were factions beginning to form amongst the True Gods of Order?
Only the first part of this proclamation already caused the perceptive to notice that there was a huge storm brewing. It would make anyone afraid to think too deeply about what was really happening.
Still, I nodded, as I had expected all this.
“Battling without a proclamation of war? Infighting without making it apparent on the surface? So we’ll all just pretend to get along, while secretly doing our own things?”
“Yep. We don’t need to directly have any conflicts with the God of Holy Light and his Follower Gods. What we need is the right to speak about the Holy War. Only those considered to be on the side of justice will find the most followers! When everything is chaotic, only those who shout the loudest are considered justice. Only those with the right to speak up can possibly be considered the just. Since this is naturally a scenario about justice fighting against evil, we need to figure out a way to become the biggest representations of justice and morality.”
This proclamation of battle was the first step in my plan to steal the microphone. It would declare Ayer’s faction’s ambitions and goals. This seemingly meaningless proclamation was actually using the Holy War as an excuse to raise a gigantic flag representing the Ayer Faction, giving birth to a new Order Faction different from the God of Holy Light’s faction.
Yep, although Ayer’s faction appeared to be on the Order side on the surface, internally… since it was quite obvious that they were a faction splitting off from the Order faction, how could they truly still be considered an Order faction!? Well, they wouldn’t be on the side of Chaos regardless, so it was more like a Neutral faction.
But only raising the flag and letting people know about the existence of an Ayer faction definitely wasn’t enough. After all, nobody would want to board a sinking ship.
Since the God of Holy Light and his system of belief was overwhelmingly powerful in the current era, everyone knew who they should be supporting. Even though there wouldn’t be an all-out internal conflict on the Order side for the time being due to the Holy War, since we had made it so obvious that we were breaking off from the God of Holy Light’s faction, if the God of Holy Light emerged as the overall victor in this Holy War, we would definitely become his next targets immediately right after.
“So, we need to take advantage of the opportunity of this Holy War. Not only do we need to find a way to keep being proactive, we also need to enlarge our faction. At the very least, we need to become a faction similar in power to the Holy Light faction.”
This sounded rather self-contradictory. Since our faction wasn’t large and powerful enough, we wouldn’t be able to attract followers. Without enough followers, we wouldn’t be able to enlarge our faction. However, I knew a method to break this contradiction.
“Have you heard of the Anli Insurance Company? No? Wonderful! Cough—whoops—we’re not as bad as Anli, and we’re not a pyramid scheme. After all, we’re only doing direct selling. Fine then, I’ll speak simply. What we need to do is to make customers believe in us and spend money on our various products that will enrich our faction. Basically, they’re going to be investing in our faction. Once they’ve paid and invested in us, that makes their personal benefits tied to us, so naturally they’ll be unable to leave us.” [1] 1
How to do all this, specifically? Actually, it was quite simple, as I had an example already—my System that loved to make me suffer.
When talking about how to make people fall into pitfalls, who could possibly compare to this bastard System of mine that has made me suffer for several centuries already? What we planned was to give every person a “System”, which would naturally give all the “Main Gods” of the neutral faction the authority to speak. Then, people would fight for us on the neutral faction and would be rewarded and slowly grow in power level. This was my self-named “Martial Arts Harem Story Protagonist Mass Production Plan.”
Indeed, as the battle continually escalated in scale, in “history,” this Holy War was destined to become the final Holy War. The constantly increasing power level of the enemies finally even made most of the game’s players, who were like cheaters in how fast they could level compared to Eich’s natural residents, unable to keep up with the difficulty spike and never making it to the end of the game.
But as I reminisced on the game’s “history,” I felt that it was only natural. After all, for quite a long while, these visitors from another dimension didn’t feel a sense of belonging in this world. Everything they did was motivated by only their personal benefits. Perhaps today they would fight for honor and glory on the Order Faction, while tomorrow they would betray Order for the sake of some extravagant Myth-ranked sword that a powerful demon promised them as a reward. There were countless players that even transformed themselves into demons or undead.
“A sword that fights without belief behind it is meaningless. Power without direction will only harm oneself.”
Meanwhile, the original residents were another matter entirely. They had their own species, families, and homes, and already stood resolutely on one side or the other. However, their births determine what side they were on, and it was too difficult to change their ways of thinking that had been deeply ingrained. They were limited by their own countries and species and kept fighting countless internal conflicts amongst themselves, losing elites and resources. By the time that they learned who the real enemy was, it was already too late.
With all these restrictions against them, the original residents of Eich were limited in growth speed as well. They were unable to keep up with the enemies that only became stronger and stronger and were far too weak to do anything by the end.
However, this world that became real for me didn’t possess any dimensional travelers that represented the players who didn’t have any beliefs or ties of their own in this world. The original residents were all I could rely on, but just the current them alone were still insufficient.
“So, we need to give them a direction to point their swords at, along with helping them with shortcuts to growth. We need to give them opportunities to jump out of their narrow way of thinking.”
This was the main objective that I mentioned in my report. As long as we were able to achieve all this, the world’s original residents would become our sharp swords. Not even counting the power of new believers’ faith which would power up the neutral faction’s True Gods, the power we possessed would naturally keep increasing as well.
Was my plan unimaginable? Impossible to put into place? All we had to do was imitate what my System was doing for me. Although my System was truly unique in this world, I had True Gods on my side. What my System could do for me was quite easy for the True Gods of Eich, who were connected to the basic natural laws of the world, to imitate.
“I, Catio, God of Fate, Weaver of Fate, and Defender of Order henceforth declare that, in this Holy War, we proclaim battle against the Chaos Faction as well as all invaders from other dimensions!”
The second scroll, which was golden, opened, and Catio’s proclamation echoed throughout the entirety of Eich. However, the truly important part of the proclamation was destined to come afterward.
“I, Patricia, Moonlight Goddess, Guardian of the Night, and Defender of Order henceforth declare that, in this Holy War, we proclaim battle against the Chaos Faction as well as all invaders from other dimensions!”
This time, a silver scroll was torn and yet another powerful True God made a proclamation. Patricia’s gentle-sounding female voice made such a steely proclamation.
“We shall act as guardians and mark all invaders from different dimensions as well as evil members of Chaos! All heroes who are willing to fight for justice and Order shall receive rewards directly from the Order Gods!”
The golden and silver scrolls containing divine power transformed into the purest divine power of all, combining together into a divine powered forbidden spell. It transformed into a pillar of light covering the sky, and the very next instant, even though it was still daylight, an endless amount of moonlight descended upon all of Eich.
“The skies turned dark!!”
“The galaxy… how is this possible!”
With two powerful True Gods combining their powers together to cast a forbidden spell, the entire world was covered by night and the beautiful galaxy was shown in front of everyone. Not a single person dared to ignore this direct proclamation by the Gods.
In his own Temple of the Fate God, Catio unraveled his Web of Fate that he had weaved. The Web of Fate that lost control collapsed into countless knots, and then the knots unraveled into countless lines of Fate. All Fates were tangled together, and all Fates became completely unknown. From this moment onwards, all divination magic stopped working entirely as all individuals’ futures became uncertain.
The moment Catio stopped controlling the lines of fate, his divine power instantly started massively decreasing. He instantly went from a powerful God to only a medium-power God and was still decreasing in power!
Meanwhile, the same thing was occurring in the Moonlight Goddess’s Divine Kingdom, where starlight and moonlight gathered.
The Moonlight Goddess who had spent much divine power on the forbidden spell was currently at her weakest now as well. In just a short instant, she also went from a powerful Goddess into only a medium-power Goddess.
These two True Gods spent tens of thousands of years of accumulated power and basically broke off all possible relationships with the God of Holy Light through this. Naturally, for these two True Gods to pay such a huge price, they hoped to gain even more in return in the future. The divine power that they spent on the forbidden spell interacted with each other and created a star net that covered the entire world, transforming into a perfect surveillance system that could sense everything.
Meteors flashed across the sky, and stars shone brilliantly in a manic fashion. All the intelligent creatures were able to sense that they felt like something was watching them.
What spread out along with this divine power were countless thin and invisible threads. Gray stardust landed upon the undead that had just invaded the mortal plane who were currently standing outside the Forest of Dreams. Red infortune [2] 2 emblems representing calamity marked these invaders, while the mortal plane’s residents were marked instead with a calm blue starlight emblem.
This star net created by the powers of Fate and Moonlight was an eternal forbidden spell. From now until eternity onwards, every existence that entered the mortal plane would be touched by the star net. Those existences that entered the mortal plane without permission would be marked with an infortune emblem. This emblem had zero attack power, and its only use was to mark the enemies of Order so that they could easily be located on the maps of any major church’s holy temple.
The two True Gods of Fate and Moonlight paid a tremendous price to create this star net. From now on, these two True Gods’ priests and divine job class members would obtain the power to use all sorts of locating and searching divine arts. Not a single person would be able to escape detection from the star net that was literally everywhere.
This was also one of the critical parts of my plan.
“First, what we need to do is point out who is an enemy of the mortal plane, and who is an ally. This is the primary step, as well as the most important step of all. Hmm, it’s best if we can use divine power to cast an eternal forbidden spell. Although this might require a huge price to be paid, only this can help obtain the greatest authority, as well as allow people to trust its neutrality and accuracy. Right, don’t forget to leave a backdoor program to manipulate it. By the time that everyone trusts that we’re only pointing out their true enemies… heh heh.”
At this moment, even Ayer heaved a sigh of relief that the star net was established successfully. Although the star net still needed many more days to finish developing and reach its full potential, the only critical moment in which it could be stopped was just now. Soon, the star net would become a basic foundational law of this world. By the time that the other True Gods realized what this star net could truly do, apart from killing the True Gods of Fate and Moonlight, there would be no other possible way to obstruct the star net.
And if they wanted to find the True Gods of Fate and Moonlight that would require hibernation to recover divine power… they’d have to ask Ayer first! From today onwards, these three True Gods would join their Divine Kingdoms together. As a True God from the immemorial generation, Ayer wouldn’t fear any other True God’s challenge.
Right now, in the Forest of Dreams, I admired the brilliant starlight as I looked over the words that had Ayer prepared for me. I knew what I needed to do as well, so I spoke up.
“I, Wumianzhe, God of Law and Contracts, Guardian of Law and Defender of Order henceforth declare that, in this Holy War, we proclaim battle against the Chaos Faction as well as all invaders from other dimensions!”
“I, Benny, Guardian God of Smiths and Dwarves, Overseer of the Development and Research of New Technologies and Defender of Order henceforth declare that, in this Holy War, we proclaim battle against the Chaos Faction as well as all invaders from other dimensions!”
“I, Beyana, Goddess of Wealth, Overseer of the Wealthy, and Defender of Order henceforth declare that, in this Holy War, we proclaim battle against the Chaos Faction as well as all invaders from other dimensions!”
One Main God, two powerful True Gods, and three mid-ranked True Gods. Not a single faction would dare to look down on Ayer’s faction’s strength now. Fine then, I suppose I should say that it was now more like one Main God and five mid-ranked True Gods’ power. However, this definitely wasn’t the entirety of Ayer’s faction’s strength. Perhaps nobody truly knew just what else Ayer had up his sleeve.
At this moment, I took a deep breath, because I knew that when I spoke the next part of the proclamation the entire world would be changed.
“As the creator and guardian of Contracts, any who wish to battle for the cause of justice and Order may sign a contract with me in order to become a guardian warrior who defends their home and Order. No matter what your identity or status was in the past, after signing the guardian warrior of Order contract with me, you shall all become allies and friends on the same side that must support each other. Those who betray the mortal plane and their allies shall be punished by the power of the Contract, while the brave warriors that fight for the mortal plane shall be rewarded by the Gods as according to the contract’s stipulations.”
The Smithing God Benny spoke up again after I finished my proclamation.
“In order to successfully ensure the guardian warriors of Order contract, all who sign the contract may obtain a free ‘Hero’s Armlet’ from me. This Hero’s Armlet will automatically record a warrior’s combat achievements and experiences and calculate the number of ‘Justice Points’ that the warrior should receive for their deeds. The first batch will only be 10,000 Hero’s Armlet’s, it’s first come first served! As for the second batch… wait for me to have some free time creating them!”
Benny was originally a dwarf when he was a mortal. His voice retained the sharp guttural sounds of dwarven speech, and his tone was the same as well. Even though he was a True God now, he still had a dwarf’s jokester personality.
“As the Guardian God of Wealth, you may exchange Justice points which represent glory and wealth for the Gods’ treasures with me! We have tens of thousands of years of accumulated treasures, and our treasury is quite full! The Elixir of Youth which can make you undying, Myth-ranked weapons and God Equipment, divine wine, beautiful women and handsome men, noble or royal status, and even the chance to ascend to Godhood, any mystical treasures that you can imagine, we possess! However… we don’t accept any debt payments! We only accept cash!”
The Goddess of Wealth Beyana’s declaration was quite amusing in its own way as well. However, it was actually the most important motivating factor for everyone. Without any rewards and benefits, why would anyone else work for you? This time, Ayer and his allied Gods were truly giving it their all. Just looking over the available items for exchange moved me to the point of wanting to go rob them!
Fine then, by this point, perhaps all the readers of my log must have noticed. While most people treated games as different worlds to be enjoyed, I was treating this different world as a game to be played. Since this world didn’t have game players that were the equivalent of cheat-like existences when compared to the native residents, all I had to do was create the equivalent.
“Martial Arts Harem Story Protagonist Mass Production Plan! What’s the scariest thing in the world? Protagonists with massive plot armor due to their luck in being the main character! That’s why all the main characters of any legend are like undying cockroaches! That’s because those who can’t survive to the end naturally won’t have any legends told about them! This time, with the first batch of 10,000 Hero’s Armlets, show me how many among you are lucky enough to be the main character type! Big bosses, tremble in fear! A game-player army is coming for you!”
Note:
[1] TL/N: Anli Insurance is an insurance company famous for a notorious pyramid scheme in China.
[2] ED/N: “Infortune,” in Astrology, means a malevolent influence; the planet or aspect causing this; especially either Saturn or Mars (more fully “the greater infortune” and “the lesser infortune” respectively). (Source: Oxford Dictionaries)