“An item that allows one to transcend into a god?”
Even if Su Mo tried to control his emotions, he could not help but be shocked at what Connie just said.
From what he knew, having a certain amount of authority would make him a “god”.
This information was supposed to be a secret, but it seemed that the foreign races were already aware of it; it was even their primary objective in coming to the wasteland.
This was too much information for him to handle!
“That’s right, Ever since I was born, no, ever since I inherited my memories, I have been abiding by our deity’s prophecy very seriously, just like my ancestors.”
“We have been born and sent into the wasteland generation by generation to find the god-transcending item prophesied by our deity.”
“But it’s a shame that the lion people… have never been able to find it despite all these years!”
“It was because we did not manage to find the god-transcending item that the blessings from our deity got weaker and weaker and, correspondingly, so did our powers.”
“If we had found it thousands of years ago, the Lion people might still be one of the kings of this wasteland today!”
Sip by sip, Connie finished the contents of the little, green beer bottle in her hand.
Beer was a beverage unique to Earth. It had a weird initial taste, but the more she drank, the more Connie found it hard to stop.
Su Mo casually handed her another bottle together with some grilled beef. After that, more exciting secrets started pouring out of Connie’s mouth.
“When I first heard of the god-transcending item, I of course wanted to find it. After all, who wouldn’t want to become a god?”
“However, I don’t even know what this god-transcending item looks like despite my inherited memories and my people’s description of it!”
“Its name is all I know!”
“In fact, that was all the foreign races knew about it. We don’t have any more information. That is because every single god-transcending item looks different, so they will exist in varying different states.”
Connie viciously bit down on the beef and gulped down the beer. Su Mo was pretty surprised to discover her chatty side.
Were it not for the night wind in the wasteland and the sight of Hope One standing tall in the distance, this would be exactly like how he would be drinking and having fun with friends back on Earth.
“What about you? Didn’t you say you came of your own free will? Did you come for the purpose of becoming a God?” Su Mo asked as he gulped down some beer.
“I’ll admit it. Before I came here, I did have such a dream.”
“But now, to become a God? Do you really believe in such things?”
“Su Mo, you’ve got to be kidding me. I have never seen a god before in my life. Oh, more accurately, you have killed one of the only gods I’ve seen in my life.”
With complicated emotions on her face, Connie stood up and started to dance on the side of the platform.
If a human were to dance like that, it would have looked really weird.
However, her moves were accompanied by gusts of little green wind, making her look all the more mysterious.
“What if I told you that I’m going to look for the God of the Ocean after the disaster strikes?”
Hiss…
His words had the same effect a pause button would. Connie, who was in the midst of dancing happily, stopped abruptly.
The little gusts of wind around her dissipated as well, and even the little green bottle in her hand fell to the ground with a thud.
On her face was a look of shock and questioning.
“What? You are going to look for the God of the Ocean?”
“Didn’t you say you wanted to go to the New World?”
Connie had seemed slightly tipsy initially but, at this moment, it was clear that…
She was sober!
If Su Mo went ahead and searched for the God of the Ocean before knowing the foreign races’ plans beforehand, that was fine. However, given that he now knew…
This was akin to suicide, right???
“You already know that there’s a tiger in the cave, but you’re still going inside. Not bad, Su Mo. Do you know what kind of enemies you’re going up against while looking for the God of the Ocean?”
“Isn’t it just the Five Royal Clans? What’s there to be afraid of? Besides, you just mentioned that tens of thousands of years ago, you lion people were royalty!”
“But look at you now. That means that even royalty can be defeated.”
“Plus I have your help, don’t I?”
He waved at her and picked up another skewer of grilled beef. Su Mo ate and drank as his words were filled with confidence and gusto.
“It’s just… the Five Royal Clans…”
“With my help…”
His words made Connie the Lioness’ mouth contort in anger.
The expression on her face turned from shock and anger to sad laughter.
“What use am I to you? My subordinates are completely useless anyway. I have a chef who is crippled in one leg, and an archer who is blinded in one eye.”
“My goodness, I even spent 50 points for a chip just to train that one. You’re relying on them to kill whom exactly?”
“The Cursed Tiger? Or the Crystal Dragons?”
“We will be skinned alive if that’s the case, and since you have killed a god before, they will assume that you have a god-transcending item with you and things will take an even worse turn. We will be hunted by millions of those lunatics!”
Ever since Connie joined Hope Village and learned the human language, she also “learned and refined” her use of the language.
She was helplessly angry. and her hair could not help but stand on its own as if she had just been combed and groomed.
“No no, please do not belittle yourself. We need you very much right now.”
Su Mo could not help but smile once the Lioness took the bait. He stood up and walked over to her.
“Look at Hope One over there. That is one legendary ship!”
“Trust me, if you give it just a little blessing, we can control it and sail it on the ocean.”
“Forget about the foreign races, we can even kick the Five Royal Clans’ butts with it.”
“Your chef will get the chance to cook different kinds of foreign race creatures while your archer will become the pride of the lion people!”
“And you, Connie, you can also complete the objective that you came here for!”
Su Mo exaggerated things and coaxed her; he did not give an ounce of respect to the Five Royal Clans. His words seemed to have been suddenly imbued with a sense of bravado and arrogance.
“Didn’t you want to… become a god?”
“If you follow me, there will come a day when you become the Lion God!”
Su Mo stared into Connie’s eyes, and the intense look in his eyes made Connie feel tense herself.
“So…”
“Can I live with the villagers on the mountain if I give Hope One a blessing?”
Connie could not help but step back as she gulped nervously, staring at the “crazed” Su Mo.
There are lunatics everywhere, and everyone was afraid of being associated with one.
As for the Five Royal Clans, the repressed sense of fear inside her said that…
Even with Hope One on their side, their chances of winning such a battle would be zero if they did not have the numbers to back them up.
“Oh, my dear Connie, how could you say something so heartbreaking?”
“Don’t you want to join us in destroying the Five Royal Clans?”
“As the leader of the fallen lion people, you shall spit in their face and tell them that they had their time ruling, and that it’s now time for yours!”
“Isn’t that exciting?”
“I don’t want to go…” Connie stepped back again and realized that she was on the edge of the cliff. There was fear and horror in her eyes.
“No, you want to go!”
Su Mo pulled Connie in the front of the grill and looked at her intensely.
“No, I don’t want to.”
“No, you want to!”
After making sure that the look in Su Mo’s eyes was not at all fake, Connie decided not to run away anymore.
“Can’t you do this without me?”
“No, we cannot!”
Connie asked him a serious question, and Su Mo gave her an equally serious response.
The aroma of grilled beef wafted in front of them, but neither of them were in the mood to eat.
They stared at each other, and in the end…
“But I’m just a lion priest, my blessing…”
“No, your blessing is enough. Besides, didn’t you say that you will be rewarded for every battle you win? I’ll bring you along during my battles, and your rank will skyrocket in no time!”
Every word Connie said was met with Su Mo’s rebuttal.
However, Connie suddenly thought about the lion clan’s blessing in the Underground Shelter and shook her head. She looked deflated as she sat down.
The green bottle that was sitting on the ground was picked back up before all of its contents had spilled onto the ground.
Connie “despondently” took a big gulp as she picked up a skewer of beef and viciously bit into it.
“Su Mo… do you know where we foreign race creatures get our powers from?”
“Oh?” Su Mo looked over, pretending to be curious.
In the past, these weird and mysterious powers seemed to be hidden behind an invisible “shroud” that was cryptic and enigmatic.
However, after becoming the “God of Cooking” Su Mo already had some speculations about them.
“Our powers do not originate from our deities, and nor do they come from cultivation. Instead, the game…”
“The game is the one that gives us our powers!”
“Our powers, weak or strong, are dependent on the deity’s blessings. The moment we entered this wasteland, we had to fight for ourselves.”
“I did not become the youngest lion priest ever because of my talents or good luck, it’s because of my… parents.”
Connie’s eyes looked like gemstones right now, glimmering under the moonlight.
A reminiscing expression appeared on her face, but when she mentioned her parents, she suddenly stopped talking about it and changed the topic.
“Every clan has a “quota” for every batch sent in, but these quotas can be accumulated and used in one go.”
“The lion people have fallen because we accumulated a hundred and eighty-nine batches of lion people. Twenty thousand lion people were sent in all at once and, after that, a hundred and fifty thousand followed. But for some reason, the hundred and seventy thousand lion people… are all dead!”
“It was because of that incident, the core of our lion people and all our warriors had been lost. Our deity was greatly weakened, and even the land we lived in was devastated.”
“Of course, the other foreign races did not fare much better. Other than the Five Royal Clans, who sent in the minimum number of people that time, all the other foreign races were just like us, sending in accumulated batches of people as well.”
A simple beer could have such an amazing effect when used at the right time.
Su Mo noticed that Connie was spewing out so many secrets, so he could not pass up this opportunity as he pressed on.
“Why did the Five Royal Clans choose to send in the minimum number of people?”
“I don’t know. We used all of our resources coming here. After all, it was the deity’s prophecy, so we have no idea what happened during that battle.”
“As for my parents, they were sacrificed…”
“Enough of that, let’s talk about powers. After we lost, the deity gave us another prophecy.”
“After that, each time we entered the wasteland, we would only utilize 10% of the available slots and resources we had. We would accumulate the remainder for the following batches. If the lion people who were sent in managed to reach a node, or gain more points by winning battles, we would increase the amount of resources and reinforcements allocated to them. If things went wrong, then we would give up on that particular batch.”
“If you told me twelve days ago that you were going to bring me into battle, the lion people would have invested more resources into me and given me more power. I would have been very happy then.”
“But now… you know…”
Tears streaked down Connie’s face as she looked at the sky. Who knows whether it was because she was grieving her family, or whether it was because her people had given up on her.
Conflicts in the animal world were much more cutthroat than ones between humans.
They know nothing about emotions nor pride. All they cared about were… benefits!
If you could contribute to the clan, they would invest in you and make you stronger.
If you weren’t worthy, then they would give up on you and wait for the next batch.
“Is there no other way to increase your powers?”
Su Mo hazarded a question after he saw Connie like this.
The method to increase one’s powers was not like how he had initially thought; killing other creatures for experience.
Winning battles seemed like the only way to gain more power, just like in a video game.
Like Connie said, you had to show your worth to your clan in order for them to invest in you but, after they gave up on you, there really was no other way.
However, Connie’s answer stunned Su Mo.
“There is, but the answer lies within you… no, to be specific, it lies within Oreo!”
