Ch. 175
Chapter : 175
The quest to explore Hawthorne Village was drawing to a close. With the experience of several high-level players bolstering their efforts, they had concluded that Hawthorne Village was actually a village composed of secret cult members.
Hidden among ordinary villages, they had built an altar in the underground space of the village, using unknown items as sacrifices for their rituals.
And these sacrifices were very likely passing merchant caravans, travelers, and children who had gone lost nearby.
"This is just a cult, isn't it!" [destin] blurted out. "Using human lives as sacrifices or whatever, that's too cruel!"
"Actually, it's quite normal," [Pig Chasing Butcher] explained. "Settings like this often appear in some R21 game works. Moreover, this world is one where gods actually exist.
Have you looked into the background story of the Ailman Continent? Wars of Gods and such—I remember someone posted about it on the forum."
[Rin] raised her hand: "Big shot, are you talking about that thread serialized by [Broken Bridge, Lingering Snow] in the forum? I skimmed through it last night; I know a little bit."
"That one, I read it too. It's really well written." [Big Brother A] chimed in. As a game blogger himself, he naturally knew [Broken Bridge, Lingering Snow].
He was currently writing a post about his experience in Hawthorne Village, but he hadn't expected [Broken Bridge, Lingering Snow] to post first.
[Pig Chasing Butcher] nodded: "That post is quite comprehensive. Just as Teacher Xiami said, this world is extremely realistic. Although the otherworld is on the magic side, certain historical processes can reference Blue Star's past... Just speaking of our country's ancient history, didn't many incidents of using human lives for sacrifices occur?"
"Let alone a world that truly has gods; using fresh blood for sacrifices is all too normal."
"According to [Broken Bridge, Lingering Snow]'s post, the gods of this world aren't anything good either. By the way, is the rune symbolizing the 'Eternal Lord' that we found on the altar related to that Eternal Empire in [Broken Bridge, Lingering Snow]'s post?"
"It's possible, but words like 'Eternal' and 'Star' are quite common in Western fantasy works. It might not necessarily be the same one."
When I found this group of players, this was the conversation I heard.
The forum? An analysis post about the background story of the Ailman Continent?
I became interested. I hadn't logged onto the forum for a long time, so I didn't know there was already a post analyzing the background story of this continent. It seems I should visit the forum more often in the future.
However, these players really had some skills; they actually found and interpreted the rune symbolizing the 'Eternal Lord'.
As someone who had personally been to the Eternal Divine Sect's underground altar, I naturally knew what was carved there.
Those were sacrificial texts written in Ancient Ailman. The general meaning was praising the 'Eternal Lord', hoping the 'Eternal Lord' would be satisfied with the offerings, and protect his sincere believers.
Reading it made me, the Eternal Lord himself, feel embarrassed. At the time, I had just glanced at it hurriedly and didn't want to look again.
It was quite unexpected that the players could translate 'Eternal Lord'.
I had confirmed before that there were some subtle differences between the players' game system and my game system.
For example, the players' game system didn't come with a language translator. Their communication seemed to be transmitted to the ears of the otherworlders as the current Ailman Common Language through the game's medium.
And the words spoken by the otherworlders (limited to Ailman Common Language), after passing through the game's medium, became the players' respective native languages in their ears.
As for those Ancient Elvish, Ancient Draconic, Ancient Ailman, and so on, they sounded like a pile of awkward garbled code in the players' ears. Especially those magic incantations—it was impossible for them to understand the meaning within.
Only I was different. I seemed to have been loaded with multiple language packs. No matter what language it was, I could automatically understand and learn it. However, these languages still sounded like their original tones to me, without any conversion.
It was as if I already knew these languages.
Ancient Ailman is currently the mainstream magic language, but there are few who have truly studied and mastered it. Most mages still rely on rote memorization to remember magic incantations.
The players' levels weren't high right now, and they were all active in the novice village, so they had no opportunity to access the study of Ancient Ailman. The cost of learning Ancient Ailman was especially high; looking at the difficulty commoners in the otherworld faced in learning magic, one could see how high the cost was.
Under the circumstances where it was impossible for NPCs in the novice village to provide learning channels for players, and it was hard for them to access relevant materials, it was truly incredible that the players could translate 'Eternal Lord'.
I approached silently and suddenly spoke up, startling the players present, answering the person who asked the question at the beginning: "The Eternal Lord is the King who established the Eternal Empire."
The sudden appearance of the Mysterious Person indeed shocked everyone present. If there were only a few of them, it might have been understandable that they didn't see the Mysterious Person's arrival, but there were nine of them in total! Nine people, and not a single one noticed someone approaching—this Mysterious Person was a bit too elusive, wasn't he?
Only [Rin] and her friends' eyes lit up. They were just wondering how to find this elusive Mysterious Person NPC after completing the quest.
Now that the Mysterious Person appeared on his own, it saved them the trouble of searching for the NPC to submit the quest.
Except for the four players including [Rin], the other five players had only heard of the Mysterious Person before. Seeing this so-called Mysterious Person now, they were all stunned.
No wonder [Rin] and the others knew this must be a hidden quest as soon as they received it. This NPC was wrapped up tight from head to toe, his appearance completely obscured. Just one look and you could tell this was an NPC with status!
I ignored the players' scrutiny. I walked forward on my own, looking up at the altar in the underground shrine. "I didn't expect your abilities to be quite good. You even investigated the Eternal Lord... Do you know Ancient Ailman?"
The players looked at each other, and the one with the least presence, [He Kou Wang], stepped forward.
"I bought a fragment book written in Ancient Ailman in the neighboring town earlier. I just happened to recognize the rune of the Eternal Lord by comparing it."
I gave him a second look. I didn't expect this kid to be so lucky. A fragment written in Ancient Ailman that could circulate freely outside was most likely not an important book.
Coupled with the 'Eternal Lord' rune, it could basically be determined to be some poems created by bards during the Eternal Empire era, or travel notes and the like.
After so many years of great changes, very few paper media, which are most easily destroyed, could survive. Plus, it just happened to be about the Eternal Lord, and he just happened to translate it correctly. This forced one to marvel at his luck.
Could this guy be a 'Super High School Level' Lucky Student?
I nodded slightly, diligently revealing information to the players according to my persona. "As agreed previously, if you found out the truth about Hawthorne Village by yourselves, I would choose to tell you some things."
Here it comes. All the players' spirits lifted.
It was time to submit the quest. At this moment, everyone felt an uncontrollable excitement.
[Computer Sleepy Cat], who was best at consolidating data and happened to be a university student, stepped forward to take the responsibility. "I'll say it."
Her three roommates looked at her with expectant eyes, causing [Computer Sleepy Cat] to freeze for a moment. She had a sense of déjà vu, like being pushed forward to present the PPT during a group project report.
[Computer Sleepy Cat] cleared her throat and spoke seriously: "Hawthorne Village, which was massacred, was actually a village formed by cult members in disguise. They pretended to be ordinary villagers living ordinary lives during the day, but in secret, they built a massive underground altar for conducting sacrificial activities."
The Mysterious Person didn't interrupt her. His face, hidden by the hood, showed no expression, so [Computer Sleepy Cat] couldn't judge from his expression whether their conclusion was correct.
She bit the tip of her tongue. The faint stinging pain focused her attention.
"The sacrificial offerings were humans, and the existence they sacrificed to and believed in was called the Eternal Lord."
[Computer Sleepy Cat] recalled what the Mysterious Person said when he first appeared, paused, and inserted the information he just gave into their quest results.
"This Eternal Lord is actually the one who ended the War of the Gods more than two thousand years ago..."
"......"
[Computer Sleepy Cat] organized the information into language methodically bit by bit. When she reached the last sentence, which was the truth about the massacre of Hawthorne Village, she couldn't help but take a deep breath, her words coming out with her exhalation: "The massacre of Hawthorne Village was very likely done by people seeking revenge. Those people might be the families of the people whom the Hawthorne villagers had sacrificed as offerings."
After speaking, [Computer Sleepy Cat] looked at the Mysterious Person somewhat anxiously.
Much of this information was organized into words on the spot, and a lot of it was her personal speculation, so she couldn't guarantee it was completely correct.
I remained silent for a while. Just as the hearts of the other players were gradually rising in suspense, their task panels showed that the quest [Explore Hawthorne Village (In Progress)] had been marked as completed.
【『???』's favorability toward you +5】
【Quest Completed. You have obtained: [Gold Coin x50], [Experience x10000], [Skill: Primary Fireball Spell], [Skill: Primary Swordsmanship], [Skill Book], [Weapon Blind Box x1]...】
A string of rewards popped up, awarding a pile of items based on their respective quest completion progress. In particular, the experience points allowed all the players present to level up directly by 1-2 levels.
Immediately, the eyes of all the players present lit up as they looked at the Mysterious Person.
This NPC was a bit too generous! He actually gave so many things!!!
The Mysterious Person was silent for a moment, then let out a scoff: "I'll consider you qualified."
"It is mostly as you said, but there is one thing you got wrong."
"Although they worship the Eternal Lord, they are not acknowledged by the Eternal Lord's former kin."
"Those believers self-righteously sacrificed lives to the Eternal Lord, unaware that they were completely deceived. Their sacrifices not only failed to bring protection but also allowed them to be controlled and used by the people behind the scenes."
The players' hearts shook. They knew that what the Mysterious Person was saying now was either the main storyline of the game or important side quest content, so they hurriedly pricked up their ears to listen.
"This is a religion called the Eternal Divine Sect. They are like rats in the gutter, secretly developing believers among the bottom-rung populace, deceiving believers into sacrificing their own lives to the Eternal Lord. They believe that people are born with sin, and sin flows in the blood. Only by cutting the flesh and draining the sinful blood can they obtain protection and forgiveness."
My words were blunt, causing the young women present to frown upon hearing them.
"However, in fact, they are merely using the Eternal Lord's name to bewitch these believers into sacrificing themselves and their families."
"You are right." I looked at [Computer Sleepy Cat]. "Everyone in this village was a hidden believer of the Eternal Divine Sect. They used their identities as disguised villagers to harm the nearby commoners."
"And their deaths, in a sense, can be considered as granted by the Eternal Lord they believed in. It can be counted as getting what they wished for."
When I said this, my voice carried a subtle tone of mockery, which all the players on the scene could hear.
"Huh?" Hearing this, [destin] was bewildered. "Didn't you say they were just using the Eternal Lord's name to run a cult? How did it become the Eternal Lord granting them death?"
As her voice fell, she felt the Mysterious Person's gaze land on her. She blinked, not understanding why.
I chuckled. That laugh was a bit low and deep, making one's heart palpitate. "Yes, that is why they were torn apart by the Eternal Lord's former kin."
Former kin...
Right, [Broken Bridge, Lingering Snow]'s post wrote that although the Eternal Lord went missing more than a thousand years ago, his kin did not. Nowadays, many of the Eternal Lord's kin have become overlords of their own regions, especially the Giant Dragon race.
So, were these cult members in Hawthorne Village all killed by the Eternal Lord's kin? Then that indeed could be counted as the Eternal Lord granting them death.
"What exactly is the goal of that Eternal Divine Sect? Do they just want to kill people for sacrifice?" [Pig Chasing Butcher] asked.
He was a professional player with ample experience and could grasp the key points from the Mysterious Person's few words.
"Generally, religions conduct sacrifices to control people's hearts, and subsequently amass wealth and seize power. But you just said they recruit ordinary people. Money and power are hard to scrape from these ordinary people. So what is their goal?"
My gaze shifted from [destin] to [Pig Chasing Butcher]. I scoffed again. "You are very smart. Yes, what are they after?"
"I cannot answer this question for you. You will have to find out for yourselves later."
"When war and calamity descend, and the world is annihilated, only the Descenders can save it all."
Although my expression was hidden by the hood, the players could still feel that the Mysterious Person was gazing at them deeply. "Perhaps they are doing it to fool this world? I wonder, as Descenders, will you really save it all as the prophecy says?"
As if to verify my words, all the players—the nine on the scene and the remaining two thousand or so not present—regardless of what they were doing, had a notification box pop up in front of their eyes.
【Beta Test 1.0 has ended. Thank you for your support in the development of the game "Return".】
【Please note, the game will undergo an update and upgrade for three days. All players please find a safe place to go offline within ten minutes. The game system will forcibly log out all online players in ten minutes. Losses caused by the death of game characters during the upgrade period will not be restored!】
【Please note...】
【Please note...】
The notification box, which could not be blocked, remained floating before the players' eyes.
The players were all astonished; some complained about the sudden end of Beta 1.0, while others were curious about the content of the upcoming update...
The nine players present all widened their eyes.
Was this a coincidence? Right after this Mysterious Person NPC finished his last sentence, the system notified them that Beta 1.0 was ending and the game was updating!
No, how could there be such a coincidence!
Wouldn't that indirectly prove that the intelligence given by this Mysterious Person NPC is the main storyline of this game, Return?!
At the very least, in the upcoming version update, it would absolutely become the main storyline!!