“Ah yes, sorry my bad.” Jin stood up and walked towards Yun who had opened a portal ready to transport Jin back to the Dungeon Maker.
“Seriously, I have waited quite some time for it ever since you made the timed published post. And now everyone’s asking where the new dungeon instance is.” Yun sighed as she knew that Jin must have been swiped away by this impromptu event.
“And here I was wondering where you went after the Yu Sheng. Thank you for the assist.” Jin placed his two palms together as a sign of apology to Yun.
“To work, duh. Someone had to man the post until you put up that new shop instance of yours. Now, hurry.” Yun rushed Jin in a hasty tone with her arms folded. She knew what exciting mess Jin had in store for the Pandarens but more importantly, Yun could potentially work lesser if what Jin implemented were operating as intended.
“Are we going to disperse this meeting too?” Qiu Yue shouted out loud as Jin was about to enter the portal.
“No, you guys should discuss that fantasy religion thingy or just do some small talk. If there are any good ideas, the System will just pen them down and send it to me for consideration. I will be back soon! Promise!” Jin said as he entered the portal before Yun followed behind him.
“Sometimes, Master reminds me of my senior colleagues when I used to be working for a physician clinic,” Pei grumbled when her eyes trailed Jin going into the portal, followed by Yun.
“How so?” Lynn asked as she brought out a few finger snacks from her storage ring and shared it with everyone. She knew eating while discussing was the best way to get the ideas flowing as compared to staring at everyone.
“They always used to do things halfway and later get called for more important stuff. Before they left, they promised they would return but ultimately left us dangling to fend for ourselves.” Pei caught a cheese ring snack from Lynn and opened it up.
“Isn’t that applicable to all the super busy senior colleagues in every kind of work setting?” Claire commented as she thanked Lynn for the snacks.
“I might be guilty of that, even more nowadays.” Ayse raised her hand to catch the snack pack and nearly missed it. “But you got to give him credit. He always does return.”
“Oh, you are definitely guilty of that. My girl keeps sending me System messages to tell me how bored she is waiting for your approval.” Gold sniggered as he started munching on some seaweed flavoured chips.
“Please, Weslie is more than capable of tinkering on her own inventions without needing my approval. She could just go ahead with me looking at it.” Ayse shrugged her shoulders.
“True, she used to do that in the past. However, after all the time she had been in servitude, your validation is one of the most encouraging things for her. It certainly spurs her on to greater heights. Sigh, you are definitely the thing we talk about most often…” Gold suddenly started munching a little faster than usual.
“Hahaha! Do I detect some jealousy? Aren’t you a Scholar as well? Perhaps you should start creating some inventions to have some common ground with her.” Ayse snorted, and the rest were enjoying this mini-drama.
“My focus as a Scholar is not really transferable to make some inventions… Anyways, do you guys have any ideas about that religion?” Gold tried to steer back the conversation, but everyone understood that he was just running away from the previous discussion.
“I am not really a religion fanatic even though I do pray to our Shaitans at times. I would like to suggest that we should expand on the lore on how these two ‘sisters’ became angry at each other.” General Nubwort inadvertently stared at the Avatar of Slydra leisurely eating chips.
“Are we really going with what Jin suggested? Isn’t that taking the joke a bit too far?” Milk looked at Nubwort with a death stare and pouty face full of snacks within.
“Even if it may sound like a joke, it seems rather valid. Pardon my rudeness, but you are tremendously beautiful, Ms Milk. For you to act as a Goddess of ‘Good’ will definitely attract many followers.” Nubwort looked back into her eyes, revealing that he was not afraid as he enjoyed his spicy Mala flavoured chips.
“And as for little Peppers, she has her own unique traits that should make her quite an attraction to us monsters.” Nubwort tried to please the mage before he got blown to pieces.
“What do you mean by unique traits? Are you implying that all monsters are paedophiles?!” Peppers showed her teeth as a sign of aggression at Nubwort, but the people at her direction noticed there were some cheese bits stuck between her teeth. (She was, in terms of physical appearance a kid after all)
“I haven’t met any monsters who would not admire a Goddess boasting such destructive powers.” Wolte chimed in. He himself would also patronise a God of Destruction if there was one under Jin.
“We actually could make their origin story really fun since Peppers and Milk always tend to fight over the most petty thing ever.” Qiu Yue added.
“Like a plushie?” Lynn chuckled, and everyone seemed to be nodding their head with approval upon hearing her idea. It was definitely something they could picture those two fight over. (maybe even die for?)
“Not just any plushie. Perhaps a platinum animal Plushie. One that smells of gummy candies or something along that line. Those two are always fighting over those gummy bears anyways.” Qiu Yue decided, and Lynn added how sparkling it could be.
“Or maybe, a sparkling platinum Gummy Panda plushie! ” Lynn took the chance to bring out two bags of gummy bears and threw it to the hungry looking hyenas.
“Are the two of you tempting us?” Milk chewing on her gum burst candy had actually been imagining a plushie that looked like Jin in Panda Suit with an overhead Panda head, so it did not cover his face. Smelling of candies and sparkling whenever she hugged it. What a fantastic idea. (And she could finally stuff her face into the plushie and imagine Jin hugging her all day.)
“Is there even such a plushie that I do not know of?!” Peppers imagined her plushie to be a ginormous Panda plushie that had many pockets to put her snacks in and maybe even fly her around like a magic carpet. When she would be cold, the plushie would be able to cuddle her to sleep or maybe blow her cool with magical wind if she was too hot.
As the two were imagining their ideal plushies, the thought of each other taking it away suddenly snapped them out of their dreamworld simultaneously. They accidentally made eye contact with each other, and the onlookers could practically see the lightning between their eyes meeting.
Even without saying a word, the group understood that the plushie idea could be a viable bait for them to work their roles. (And perhaps without acting and with real emotions invested in it!)
���But jokes aside… If I can add on to the validity of the idea, what Jin proposed is extremely radical but in my opinion, quite plausible. Only now do I realise that there is no such thing as Gods and religion in our Dungeon World context as compared to Master’s world. Sure, we have the Church of the Afterlife, but they only preach how one should live their ways. After all, they are responsible for something everyone needs. They are not spiritual leaders or people who guide the lost. Compared to Jin’s world, even though they have the power of resurrection at their disposal, they still believed in superstition and gods.” Moloch added.
“Where I come from we use the concept of Gods to gather their powers. After all, we generate our mana and chi from within our bodies or from the surroundings. It’s not like a universal mana pool like Peppers. That is why the stronger our belief in something, it somehow clicked and we can conjure a stronger spell.” Lynn replied and hopefully explained to Moloch why their world needed gods.
“For us, our powers are from the blessing of the Shaitans. Even the goblins’ magic comes mostly from them or well, the astral plane that our Shaitans are residing in.” Ayse said as she stuffed more chips into her mouth.
“But my powers are not from Shaitans at all.” Dread Reaver commented as he and his two other brothers were also part of the group that had been called to stay back to represent the goblins.
“Still, your powers are coming from Lady Death herself. It’s a magical plane nonetheless and not from the universal mana pool.” Ayse added.
“From what we know, this universal mana pool concept exists in the Farming World, Dungeon World and whatever world which Peppers was from,” Moloch said to confirm the facts and the monsters in those worlds nodded their heads.
“Definitely not for my world. Unless we had some sort of shadow organisation which ran everything in the background like some had theorised, we should not have had access to magic. Even our technology can only be called mediocre if compared with Master Jin’s world…well since we are from a world that based solely on technology.” Half Ghoul Lord Derek spoke out after he chewed and finished a biscuit.
“Nevertheless, we believed in Gods and their bullshit before they came into our world and annihilated us.”
“Speaking of Derek’s world. I heard that you’ve been trying to concoct a remedy to reverse the zombie virus? How has that been going?” Ayse wondered since there was never a good time to talk to him.
“I have done quite a number of tests, and while not conclusive, the cure could actually just be in the System’s possession. Somehow the System allowed the zombies to gain intelligence and strength. One of my zombies has even successfully evolved into a ghoul, and she retained her previous memories too.” Derek shared with the group.
“Any differences between a ghoul and a half ghoul lord like you?” Claire queried.
“In terms of evolution, I believed she has surpassed me in all attributes since I am just a half ghoul except for intelligence. For some reason, my current state gives me more clarity and insight. I am afraid if I were to evolve into a full ghoul, I might lose that intelligence.” Derek spilt out his worries.
“System will assure Half Ghoul Lord Derek, there is no need for worrying. Evolutions always enhance you and will not become a disadvantage. System further wants to point out that the Evolution would be at least to a Ghoul Lord which is a higher being than a ghoul.” The System suddenly stated its assurances but also reminded the group that the System was hearing them.
“Heh, thanks for the vote of confidence. Anyways, while painfully slow, it is indeed possible to return the zombies to their ‘normal’ state.” Derek said with air quotes since they will never return to normal because even he knew that also as a human, he could never have the strength to carry a vehicle that he had now.
In fact, being a zombie allowed Derek to continuously evolve to a superhuman than returning back to normal.
“But I assume that you are not satisfied with the result?” Rex expressed his concerns since he knew how revenge can consume someone upon secretly receiving a crash course from the System on Derek’s situation.
But until the act was done, they too could never find peace.
“You read my mind. Jin only captured a few hundreds of us. Compared to the millions back in my world, we were the lucky ones to get out of that mindless loop of hunger and instinct.” Derek said.
“How come you never really asked Master Jin about saving your people’s life at all?” Wyrstriker exclaimed, and Derek scoffed at his remark.
“Why should I? It’s not like my world is ending. In fact, it practically already has ended. I am not that compassionate. Perhaps it’s because I have just been a small cog in the machine while alive so I do not see it as my responsibility. Instead of curing humanity as a whole, I am more interested in the people who inflicted this damage to us. Those Gods.” Derek replied.
“In fact, I am very certain that if Jin were to fight with those gods, the System might obtain some goodies that will significantly increase its processing capabilities and thus making the Virtual Network much easier.”
“If I am not wrong, those Gods that you speak should be from the Gods Realm. And if that’s true, we might have trouble fighting with them.” Baal who had been listening quietly finally spoke out. He was forced by Moloch to stay with the ‘upper management’ crowd even though he still considered himself as an outsider. But right now since he had some inside information on them, Baal hoped it could provide some insight.
“Unlike the Demons, the Gods are highly reverted and worshipped because of the philanthropic actions they partake. Thus they are more powerful in terms of strength and numbers. Look at Wolte, ever since there were Dark Templars worshipping him as their new saviour, he had been growing leaps and bounds.” Moloch explained and using Wolte allowed them to visualise how absurdly strong the gods could be.
“But everyone in the Demon Realm knows that they can be as evil as the perceived demons. Or maybe even worse than us. And what’s more, they use our perceived stereotype to shift all the blame to us. And while hate and blasphemy is also a form of worship, they do not give as much as the favoured gods.”
“Because their love for their gods is the main product while hating you is the byproduct?” Evon asked, and Baal nodded his head.
“Unless it’s pure hatred for us, the powers we can receive are subpar.”
“Is that why you became a power greedy King despite the fact that you have a decent base of followers from doing your job right?” Wolte questioned, and Baal kept quiet for a moment.
“System believes that the User requires more time to stabilise himself before he should even attempt fighting against such celestial beings. User has too many things on his list of agendas and adding one major objective would less likely to benefit the System.” The System spoke out.
“However, with the incoming Virtual Reality Network, more zombies will need to be captured, and when there are sufficient amounts of evolved zombies, Half Ghoul Lord Derek can suggest under the recommendation of the System to build a base camp in the Zombie World.” The System elaborated which shocked everyone.
“Woah, this is the first time I heard the System being so nice to a monster’s plight,” Pei mentioned sarcastically.
“System believes that the Zombie World has a lot of untapped potential and possible scavenging could help enhance the processing capability even without fighting against the gods.”
“But our technology is equivalent if not lower than Master’s world.” Derek wondered.
“That’s where you are wrong.” Moloch shook his head. “Now I know why System is suggesting that.”
“Hahaha, yea there is no way the System is charitable. I am seeing where this is going.” Kraft laughed.
Because it was a world that immediately turned every single person into zombies, there were money, gold, and raw natural resources which could be pillaged to enhance the System’s capabilities.
In short, it was a ‘gold mine’ world for the System to tap into when Jin was strong enough.
