Chapter 1 Inception

In a killing field game where anything is possible, gods are not rare.

Li Ang himself had seen gods in various forms.

From fragmented indigenous reindeer gods, with only remnants of divinity,

to Aisha, a demigod ruling an entire world,

and the monstrous, deformed octopus whose divinity was drained and sustained an entire lost world.

However, none of these were complete gods in the true sense, let alone creator gods with infinite power.

Li Ang quickly flipped through Sister Theresa Kaslana's diary, his mind racing.

The various kingdoms in this scenario world were separated by the deep ocean.

At least, according to the village chief of the Guardian Village, their ancestors had heard from heroes from all over.

The ancient human civilizations in various places jointly developed faith in the goddess.

There was no question of who came first.

Nor was there a situation where one civilization spread the goddess's faith through military force or cultural advantages.

Most civilizations would describe the goddess as a supreme and holy being.

She was the source and the beginning of everything, spending seven days creating the world, defining time and space, separating light and darkness, and creating mountains, rivers, lakes, seas, birds, and animals.

On the last day, based on her accumulated creation experience, she created her most perfect work—humanity.

This creation theory was extremely popular, and theologians and believers even found various kinds of evidence for it.

For example, the giant skeletal remains of creatures similar to dinosaurs were occasionally unearthed in the strata—these were the goddess's earliest creations, collectively destroyed for angering her.

Another example was the otherworldly travelers who often fell from the sky—they might bear some important mission that could affect the world's direction.

Sometimes, otherworldly travelers who brought new technologies to the scenario world were also considered gifts from the goddess to human civilization.

In addition, the largest church in Sister Theresa Kaslana's world

also used the holy mountain, which could fulfill various wishes, as strong evidence of the goddess's real existence—

no matter how incredible things were, they could be accomplished by the power of the holy mountain, which was a miracle that only a god could achieve, belonging only to the creator's authority.

For the first six years after joining the church,

Sister Theresa Kaslana gradually learned the dogma and became more and more devout to the goddess.

This ideological change could be clearly seen in the diary.

Especially when she was sixteen years old, she had an epiphany—a cross-shaped stigmata naturally appeared in the palm of Theresa's hand, giving her the extraordinary power to heal diseases and wounds.

The surrounding clergy were surprised and shocked. Awakening the stigmata spontaneously was very rare in this world.

Theresa was assigned by the church's upper echelons to go to a larger parish to learn how to use the power of the stigmata.

She began to work in the churches of the large parish, healing the sick and saving people.

Whether it was deliberately disguised or not, from Theresa's account, the church in this world was quite upright, always playing the role of healing the wounded, rescuing the dying, and relieving suffering.

When war broke out between the two countries, the church would try its best to mediate, or at least send medical teams to gather refugees and disaster victims, and raise orphans.

Theresa spent another two years in the large parish. She had been healing people and saving lives, and had seen all kinds of people and things.

Because of Theresa's good deeds, the people in that city sincerely called her "Saintess."

However, as time went by, Theresa's connection with the stigmata became closer and closer.

She began to see some illusions, some hallucinations related to the goddess.

The diary did not record the contents of these illusions in detail, but what was certain was that

these illusions shocked and horrified the devout Theresa.

The description in the diary was

[I can hardly believe what I saw! That goddess, the supreme being, she is one, and she is all. She is the moment, and she is eternity. She is the creator, and she is the ruler. From childhood to adulthood, I have been bathed in her glory all the time. She gave me the stigmata, and I sincerely believe that she has some kind of destiny arrangement for me, and I take this as a goal in life. But those illusions, those illusions... no, that is definitely not her, and she will never say such words! Do such a thing!]

The next dozens of entries in the diary were all about Theresa's inner struggles.

Obviously, she could not bear the inner torment, and revealed the illusions she had seen to other clergy members she felt she could trust.

As a result, this information was leaked and divulged to the upper echelons of the church.

The upper echelons of the church were extremely shocked and angry at the heretical sayings spread by Theresa.

They immediately removed Theresa from her position in the parish, and asked the other clergy members in the parish to keep an eye on Theresa, and confine her.

Waiting for the special personnel from the upper echelons of the church to come and deal with Theresa personally.

Fortunately or unfortunately, during the period of confinement,

an adventurer team that had been treated by Theresa before heard the news.

The leader of the team had a level of affection for Theresa that involved romantic feelings, and actually got carried away, defeated the guards, broke into the church, and rescued Theresa, who was under house arrest.

Strangely, Theresa and this team of heroes were not listed as important wanted criminals by the church after escaping from the church, and were not wanted and offered a reward in various countries.

Instead of publicizing it widely, the church deliberately suppressed the news and sent professional personnel to secretly capture the team of heroes.

They claimed to the outside world that Theresa had died of illness.

Not knowing what the church was thinking, the team of heroes traveled incognito all the way, fleeing in various countries, and completed all kinds of epic adventures along the way. Their experience can be described as magnificent.

Finally, after completing a legendary adventure of slaying an evil dragon, the team of heroes decided to embark on their final journey—to the holy mountain.

The team of heroes consisted of six people.

The leader, Lamont Jones, a handsome young man with red hair, a brave and resolute warrior, with a cheerful and carefree personality, was the backbone of the team.

Ken Jones, Lamont's brother, was also brave and good at fighting, but had a more refined and gentle personality.

The elf archer, Hunter Oak, had superb archery skills. He had been a wilderness mercenary before. After being rescued by Lamont in an accident, he joined the team.

The elemental mage Solomon was a genius young mage, the shortest in height. He would become furious whenever his height was mentioned by others. He was rescued by Lamont from an ogre's iron cage where he was being held as food.

The necromancer Finn, whose origin was unknown, always wore a hood. He was the last person to join the team. He had a strange personality, and everyone except the carefree Lamont felt a little strange when getting along with him, but he was a reliable partner in battle.

These five people, plus Theresa, after experiencing all kinds of adventures, their overall strength could be regarded as one of the top powerhouses even in the entire world.

Even in the face of the church's pursuit, they were more than capable of handling it and did not worry about being caught.

The purpose of their trip to the holy mountain was both to fulfill Lamont's long-cherished wish to "witness the top of the world" and to answer Theresa's doubts.

She wanted to know whether the illusions she had seen were true or false, and to clear her name.

According to the description in the diary, Theresa was mentally prepared.

Even if the final result was not satisfactory, she would accept it calmly.

This small team of heroes sailed through treacherous wildernesses and oceans, defeated pirates and deep-sea monsters, and passed through layers of fog. They finally arrived at the island where the holy mountain was located.

The last scene recorded in the diary, which was still relatively clear, was that Theresa and others received the warm hospitality of the villagers of the Guardian Village and stayed in a local inn.

They were prepared to accept the village chief's request and go to the dungeon the next day.

The date of that diary entry was July 12, 1035 in the Goddess Calendar.

"Warrior Lamont Jones, Ken Jones,

Elf archer, Hunter Oak,

Elemental mage Solomon,

Necromancer Finn,

Plus the priest Theresa Kaslana, who was wanted by the church.

This team of six heroes should be the characters depicted on the mural we saw in the dungeon before."

Li Ang muttered to himself, "Whether it is the character setting or the appearance, it corresponds.

The scene in the mural is that these six people broke into the dungeon, and as a result, they were surrounded by magical beasts.

The warrior wearing blue armor was seriously injured and received treatment from the priest.

The warrior in red armor, under the cover of other members, tried to pull out a blade inserted in a stone.

Considering the village chief's description,

that should be the famous scene where Theresa and others cleared all the dungeons in one go and were therefore commemorated and carved into murals.

Well... judging from the content of the diary, the time when Theresa and others entered the holy mountain island and conquered the dungeon was not very late.

At that time, the village was still thriving and had not experienced the premature aging disease.

There were also teams of heroes from other regions in the village.

That is to say, it was at least fifty years ago, when the accident of the shadow monsters plundering the gate bricks of the holy mountain had not yet occurred."

Li Ang gently tapped the cover of the thick diary with his finger and continued to flip through it.

The content after July 12, 1035 in the Goddess Calendar directly jumped to July 16.

[After coming out of the dungeon, we have stayed in the inn for three days. We have accomplished an unprecedented feat, conquering all the dungeons in one go, but we have also paid a huge price for it.

Solomon's scalp was cut off by a trap. I used holy healing to help him heal it, but he may be in more pain during the rainy season.

Hunter's right arm was scratched by the claws of a magic lizard. The wound was infected and festering, constantly emitting a sulfurous smell. Even if I use holy light, I can only delay the injury. It will take an unknown amount of time to heal completely.

Finn's chest was bitten by a strangely shaped magic beast. The wound looked like it was poisoned.

We couldn't identify the type of magic beast, so we broke into three dungeons in a row,

found the magic beast, killed it, and brought it back to the village, wanting the villagers to identify it. However, before we got close to the village, the magic beast disappeared inexplicably—according to the villagers, this was caused by the dungeon's own refresh attribute.

Dungeon native species, whether living or dead, cannot be taken away for too long or too far.

Fortunately, Solomon knew a spell to draw down memories, and after handing over the portrait of the magic beast to the villagers for identification, the result was that they didn't know the type of magic beast either.

That night, Finn's chest had some slight rotting, but it seemed to be under control.

The most serious thing was Ken—he suffered too much damage in the third dungeon. Even with me, it would be difficult for him to recover his strength in a short time, let alone accompany the others to continue climbing the holy mountain.

The village chief of the Guardian Village said that after the hero team completes the dungeon trial, they must go to the holy mountain within five days, otherwise they will permanently miss the opportunity to climb the holy mountain and fulfill their wishes.

At night, we had a fierce quarrel. Ken demanded that we take him with us no matter what. Lamont stubbornly insisted that Ken stay in the inn and wait for us to come down from the mountain.

Solomon and Finn stood on Ken's side, while Hunter agreed with Lamont's opinion.

They finally asked me to express my position, whether to take Ken up the mountain...

I don't know what to choose,

if I leave Ken here, he will be extremely painful and disappointed,

but if I take him with me, none of us can guarantee whether the danger of the holy mountain trial will make us fall into the abyss...]

"In order to find the strange magic beast that bit the necromancer Finn, they broke into three dungeons in a row.

Although they almost overturned in the third dungeon, their overall strength may not be much weaker than our player team."

Li Ang thought silently, "Ken's serious injury in the third dungeon corresponds to the scene in the mural where the blue armored warrior was injured."

According to the description in the diary,

Ken seemed to be a refined and gentle young man with an introverted personality, forming a sharp contrast with his brother.

Judging from some small details, these two brothers seemed to have a good impression of Theresa Kaslana.

Lamont wanted to show it more obviously, and after Ken discovered his brother's feelings for Theresa,

he took the initiative to give up and suppressed his affection for Theresa.

But this time, Ken, who was gentle on the outside but firm and stubborn on the inside, refused to be left alone in the inn, waiting for the other members to complete the holy mountain trial.

The final result of the team's discussion is unknown.

After the diary entry on July 16, 1035 in the Goddess Calendar, a large number of pages were torn, torn, smeared, and modified, and it was completely impossible to know what happened.

"Judging from the results, nothing good happened."

Li Ang glanced at the withered corpse lying on the bed, sighed, and turned over the corpse's arms.

In the palms of the corpse's hands, blurry cross marks could be seen, which should be Theresa Kaslana's stigmata.

Strangely, there was a circle of cutting wounds around the edges of the cross stigmata.

Upon closer inspection, it could be found that these wounds were not cut with sharp blades,

but were caused by something more blunt.

The whole cutting process must have been very painful,

like... someone hated this stigmata so much, but was reluctant to destroy it.

"What exactly happened to this team of heroes? Why did Theresa die here alone, looking old? Did they complete the trial and make a wish? Where did the other members of the team go?"