Volume 10 Bugs Chapter 49: The Gods’ Reward, Property Subscription Certificate
If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would never have believed that such a majestic temple was hidden on such a sparsely populated and harsh ice field: eighteen huge ice pillars over fifty steps high stood proudly in the canyon, like eighteen ice giants, forming a circle. Between every two ice pillars, the entire surface of ice and snow fell from the top, forming a series of crystal ice walls with cold light. On the outside of these walls, dozens of layers of densely packed ice ridges were hung. Countless sharp ice ridges showed a surging posture, pointing grimly to the ground, like a waterfall falling straight from the endless sky, and being completely frozen the moment it hit the ground. Once the Tianhe thawed, this solidified torrent seemed to be able to pour down at any time, breaking down and shattering this long-frozen land; but at the same time, they seemed to never waver or fall, trying to maintain an indescribable majesty and sacredness forever.
You can't simply say that this temple called "Rainbow War God Temple" is a majestic building - in front of its magnificent momentum and awe-inspiring solemnity, the simple word "majestic" seems so pale and powerless. The temple is blocked by tall ice walls on all sides, leaving only two opposite entrances on the north and south sides. Just above the two walls with the intersections, two majestic statues were carved out of solid ice. At the southern end close to us, a human wearing heavy armor and holding a shield and an elf with a longbow on his back and a soft feather hat held hands with sincere smiles on their faces; and on the northern side far away from us, an undead holding a battle axe and a shield and a demon wielding a long-handled war hammer in both hands stood back to back, all with their mouths wide open and eyes wide open, posing a posture of shouting and fighting. Each of these four majestic sculptures is at least thirty steps high and weighs at least tens of thousands of pounds. The wild storms rushing across the plateau have deeply etched traces of the passage of time on these four giants. They are like witnesses of the vicissitudes of life, looking through the endless flow of time, casting a scrutinizing gaze from ancient times, standing on the top of the world and looking into the future.
I can't imagine who moved these majestic statues to such a high roof, and how those amazing guys did it. Apart from miracles, I can't think of a second reason that I can accept.
Compared to the towering ice wall and the majestic four colossi, the temple's only two entrances are pitifully small. The rough and simple doorway is very inconsistent with the size of the wall, which easily reminds people of a temporary passage dug on the courtyard wall for cats and dogs to pass through. Only when you are really in it can you truly feel the height and breadth of this passage: the width of the entire passage is enough for six post carriages to pass side by side without any cramp. Even if three or four minotaurs stand there with their heads and feet stacked, it would be difficult to touch the ceiling of the passage. If this passage is really just a dog hole opened in the wall, then pedestrians passing through it are no different from ants stumbling in the dog hole, and they will only feel more and more insignificant.
What is even more shocking is that the passage leading into the temple is hundreds of steps long, and the walls on both sides of the passage are all crystal clear and extremely solid ice. You know, the length of this passage is equivalent to the thickness of the entire wall. The walls are hundreds of steps thick, all made of solid ice, which means that the water used to build this temple is enough to fill a huge lake - I can't even find the right words to describe this spectacular scene, and my heart is filled with the four amazing words "incredible".
The designer who built this magnificent temple seemed to think that our jaws were not open wide enough. When we passed through the corridor and really entered the interior of the temple, he finally revealed the most magnificent side of the temple, successfully shattering the concept of the word "magnificent" in our minds.
The sky above the entire temple was covered by an extremely huge ice dome. The sunlight shone on the ice surface, spreading along the frozen texture inside the ice. The strange light instantly covered the entire ice surface, illuminating the entire hall brilliantly, and even the huge ice wall that was freezing cold was filled with warm colors. The light was repeatedly projected between the ice layers, and the various gorgeous colors gathered in the pale sunlight were peeled off layer by layer, crossing a rainbow bridge along the curved dome, condensing in the air like a substance, and would never dissipate.
Now we know why this magnificent building covered with layers of frost is called the "Rainbow Temple of War".
Compared to the magnificent structure of the temple, its interior furnishings are too simple. In the empty temple, there is only a chest-high circular ring in the center. The ring is not very big, with a diameter of only about 30 steps. Like the basic structure of the entire building, this ring is also made of a piece of hard steel ice. However, even such a solid ring is still covered with various deep scratches and gaps - just looking at these shocking marks, you can fully imagine the tragic battles that have taken place on this ring.
"Ah, we're finally here..." Looking at the empty arena, Feiyin sighed expectantly, and then she turned to us and said, "...take advantage of the time to rest. If you have equipment suitable for a duel, change into it as soon as possible. I'll go sign up when you're all fully recovered."
My companions immediately took out various foods to restore their strength and started to eat them. It was only then that I suddenly realized something important: I had been busy tracking down Wagner, and I joined Feiyin's team temporarily. I only knew that they came here together to complete a very important guild mission, but I knew nothing about the mission itself.
It really can't be blamed on me for being too careless about the future of the guild: when anyone knows that the end of the world is coming, it is unlikely that they will pay attention to what they will do after the end of the world, right?
"Um... President..." I raised my right hand hesitantly and asked with a confused look on my face, "...what exactly is our mission?"
In my impression, almost all the tasks that must be completed in a team in this world require us to travel a long distance to the mountains and then plunge into a pile of monsters that are more numerous than cow hairs in some inexplicable cave or fortress, throwing our heads and shedding our blood, passionately and selflessly hacking and being hacked, and in the end, there will most likely be a huge, ugly, slow-moving, but amazing attack power - most importantly, a guy with a desperately long health bar - who will appear, and the task will not be completed until he is hacked to death. And the more important and difficult the task is, the more monsters there will be along the way, and the longer the health bar of the big guy will be in the end - this seems to be one of the many rules that apply to this world.
I have never seen a more spectacular man-made landscape than this temple, but I have also never seen a worse quest location than this one: in this empty hall, there are neither small monsters with a huge population base nor large monsters with a strong life index. No enemies, no experience points, no quest items... In general, this is an unattractive "three-no" quest - I really can't imagine what kind of quest can be completed under such simple conditions.
But soon, the task description presented by Feiyin solved my doubts:
"Gods' Arena": In the steep mountains of the Kokla Mountains, the spine of the world, there is a legendary warrior temple - "Rainbow War Temple". Curious gods sometimes come here to admire the heroic fighting of the warriors in the underworld. The brave warriors who come together will find this temple, show their bravery in front of the gods, and please the gods with nine victories. The gods will give you and your companions rich gifts.
This task requires five participants to work in the same guild, and they will fight one-on-one with opponents from the hostile camp. In order to express their piety and awe for the gods, the warriors who go on stage to duel will not be able to use any potions. All they can rely on are the weapons in their hands and the courage in their hearts. There are two ways to win. One is to completely defeat the opponent and make him unable to continue fighting; the other is to use your skills to knock the opponent off the stage. The winner of each duel, no matter how much health is left, will stay on the stage to face the challenge of the next opponent. Until all the warriors of one side are defeated, or a member of the team quits midway, it will be judged as a defeat.
To have the opportunity to duel in front of the gods, to prove my bravery and piety by defeating my opponent, and to add a sacred glory to my military exploits in the majestic eyes of the gods, is simply the highest honor that I have dreamed of all my life as a warrior. And now, this glorious moment is about to come, and the great happiness suddenly stirs up a generous and heroic spirit of dedication and piety in my heart, making me want to devote my limited life to the infinite service of the gods.
But the gods are merciful, and they love those pious and brave fighters very much, so they will not let them sacrifice in vain to please themselves. Therefore, the duelists who are defeated in the ring will not really die. When their health is only a little bit left, they will completely lose their fighting ability and be judged as failure by the gods.
As a devout believer who worships God and has firm faith, it is such a blessing... uh, I mean regrettable... thing that I don't have the opportunity to shed the last drop of blood in this most sacred battle of honor, to dedicate my life before the glorious throne of God, and to bear this most solemn sacred glory with my humble soul .
Hey, don't show that suspicious expression, how can you question my piety like this? This is simply a great insult to my personality, I really feel sorry - of course, it is not bad news that I don't have to die here meaninglessly because of a show to entertain the gods.
Although I would like to tell you that my companions have the same lofty beliefs and ideals as me, and they have traveled a long distance with me, overcoming numerous difficulties and obstacles to come here, just to dedicate their honor to the gods, but to be honest, even I can't fool myself with such nonsense. What really drives them to travel thousands of miles and brave the dangers to climb this frozen continent full of death, cold, loneliness and despair is the rich rewards that the gods will give to the winners:
No matter how many duels you lose, once you win nine duels, the gods will recognize your bravery and tenacity and be satisfied with your piety. In recognition of all you have done, the gods will grant you a "Certificate of Glory of the Chosen Knights". Any adventure guild that obtains this certificate can exchange it for a fiefdom from the temple and build a guild headquarters on the fiefdom. Here, guild members can improve their skills faster and enjoy greater price discounts in buying and selling medicines and equipment.
It is particularly important to point out that even if you have fought many hard battles, suffered many defeats, and finally won nine victories after bloody battles, and finally obtained the honor certificate given by the gods, the temple will not give you a piece of land in the downtown area for nothing. If your guild wants to obtain its own guild headquarters, it must first "donate" 100,000 gold coins.
To put it bluntly, the certificate of honor bestowed by the gods is nothing more than a high-level real estate subscription certificate. The ultimate goal is just to let a lot of gold coins flow into the pocket of "Darimos Real Estate Development Co., Ltd." which is always ready to take advantage of you - although I don't understand what this means, it sounds like Feiyin makes sense.
"These damn profiteers!" When she said this, Fei Yin glared with a pair of angry eyes and cursed fiercely - in my opinion, she did this not only out of strong indignation towards the profiteers, but more out of deep jealousy towards these profiteers and a strong desire to become such a profiteer.
"One hundred thousand?!" I was shocked by this huge astronomical figure that I had never seen before. "And it's gold coins?! President, do we have that much money?"
"What do you think?" Fei Yin glared at me angrily. "Everyone borrowed hundreds of gold coins from the guild, and they didn't pay it back for a week or two. We couldn't form a gold group after three days, and finally formed one, but it was wiped out six times in one night... Paupers, rookies, black hands... How come it seems that all the idiots and scum in the server have crowded into our guild? One hundred thousand gold coins? Even if I cut you all into pieces and sell your meat, it's not worth this price..."
As she spoke, she looked up and down with ill intent at Chang Sanjiao, who was squatting not far away. I think what she meant was: if the members of our guild all grew into the same body shape as the Orc Shadow Rogue, the money from selling meat should be enough - maybe there would be some surplus.
Chang Sanjiao probably didn't hear what Feiyin said. Under the chairman's gaze, he patted his belly shyly with an embarrassed smile on his face - he didn't know that his bloated figure had obviously doubled his value in Feiyin's eyes.
"Then...how much money are we still short of?" Yan Zhen came over and asked with concern.
"Including the guild's public funds and my own pocket money, I already have more than 94,000. If I can add another 5,000 gold coins, it will be almost enough..." Fei Yin shook her head in frustration.
"Originally?" I was sensitive to the word that symbolized the past tense. Logically, after such a long adventure, our gains along the way should be able to fill the gap in quantity. So, I asked with hope:
"And now?"
“…There’s still more than 8,000 left…” The president’s voice was as small as a newborn kitten—I’ve never seen her look so ashamed.
"How could this happen?" Yan Zhen cried out in disbelief, "Why is it getting worse and worse?"
"You damn woman, you actually have the nerve to ask me..." Fei Yin was so angry that she glared at Yan Zhen, then took out a dozen potions from her backpack in frustration, "...Do you think these things are given by the system for free? Our level is not very high. We don't know how many games we have to lose to win nine games. When our health points are completely empty and we exit, we can't just sit there for ten minutes waiting for our health to be fully restored, right? These potions will come in handy then. In the end, I didn't expect that the monsters on the road were so difficult to fight, and you didn't even have enough life potions. I thought this was a good opportunity. If each of you could buy two more bottles, the guild could suffer less losses. A bottle of potion only costs you 10 silver coins, which is not much more expensive. It's better than dying and starting over. But I didn't expect that your little white rabbit would jump out to make trouble..."
The president became more and more indignant as he spoke, and in anger and intimacy, he stretched out his two fair little hands and rubbed Yan Zhen's face back and forth to express his dissatisfaction with this good female companion. Yan Zhen giggled and pouted his little mouth to defend his pet under the ravages of Fei Yin's clutches:
“Doing this can’t be considered as making trouble. My rabbit has made great contributions…”
I completely agree with Yan Zhen's opinion. That magical little white rabbit has indeed made great contributions to us - at least it successfully saved my already very shy wallet from the hands of the president who was more greedy than a dragon. I will never forget this kindness.
No matter how bad the means of oppressing the working people are, I can't help but feel a little guilty for the president who single-handedly supports the entire guild's finances. Looking back, I seem to have never actively participated in the guild's various profit-making businesses, and the alchemy I practiced seems to have been making a huge contribution to the guild's burning of money. And from what Feiyin said, it seems that there are still many guild members like me who lack the spirit of collectivism and are lazy to engage in productive labor. For many people involved in the air, guild members like us who don't create much labor value and can't contribute much in guild battles seem to be only suitable for two glorious jobs: one is herding cattle, and the other is paddling - I don't know why they say that...
In short, a free-spirited adventure guild like this actually has a surplus in the public account - such an outrageous thing could probably only happen in Feiyin's hands.
"President..." I said to Feiyin with deep admiration and respect in my heart, "...I now deeply understand that it is really not easy for you..."
Facing my sincere sigh, Miss Feiyin also seemed to be somewhat moved. There was a glittering light in the corners of her eyes. She held my hand tightly with her right hand, picked up a stack of life potions with her left hand, and placed them in my hand with care:
"Since you know how hard it is for me...just buy two bottles..."
I:"……"
