Chapter 48

The Twin Suns had established the “Silver Moon Holy Knights,” finally seizing a degree of initiative.

Taylor, Eigg, and their comrades, having fought against the Blood Moon across countless cycles of rebirth, were now saturated through and through with the Blood Moon’s aura. They were like the finest hunting hounds; any “dreamscape” tainted with the Blood Moon’s presence could no longer hide from their sharpened senses.

With this knight order under its command, the Silver Moon at last launched its own hunt against the Blood Moon.

No longer was the Blood Moon able to skulk in the shadows, silently devouring the Silver Moon’s flesh. The two could now face each other directly, openly, and trade blows head-on.

Hope’s Sun, using Leo as a mouthpiece, thumped Its chest and boasted to Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang—the serial blasphemers—that in a straight-up fight, It would absolutely not lose.

Hm? Why was Hope’s Sun able to send messages through Leo, who was technically Birth’s Sun’s God’s Favored?

Well, naturally, that was because Birth’s Sun was currently far too busy—busy establishing the Silver Moon Knight Order and personally donning divine armor to march into battle and beat the Blood Moon bloody.

During the day, two suns hung in the sky. But at night? There was only a single Silver Moon.

Sure, the Silver Moon’s vestments could be worn by either Sun God. But the Silver Moon granted slumber to all living things, protecting them from being devoured by nightmares—which essentially meant granting them “Hope” for the coming day. So, most of the time, Hope’s Sun was the one holding that particular mantle.

After all, He was the more energetic, playful one, the one who enjoyed wearing alternate identities.

But after Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang had exposed the Blood Moon’s schemes, Hope’s Sun finally looked back at Himself.

And screamed internally: Aiyah! When the hell did more than half of My ‘body’ get ripped away?!

Thus, in this great war against the Blood Moon, Hope’s Sun was physically incapable of joining the front lines. He could only squat at home, endlessly pestering Perila and Leo, and obsessively monitoring Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang’s side of things.

It couldn’t be just Him suffering alone, right? Hope’s Sun was extremely curious: which other god out there was just as colossally screwed as He was?

After the War of the Gods, the Heavenly Father had explicitly forbidden gods from directly meddling in mortal affairs.

But now? Outer Gods were literally banging on the front door, and Hope’s Sun had been weakened to such a deplorable state. Surely just sending a few extra words through His God’s Favored didn’t count—the Heavenly Father probably cut Him some slack.

Every single day, Hope’s Sun would mutter incessantly at His God’s Favored, ordering them to relay messages to Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang.

Initially, He’d used Perila for this. But Perila was far too fond of remonstrating and advising, so Hope’s Sun simply switched to colluding with Leo instead. The Twin Suns shared their God’s Favored anyway. If Perila got annoyed, Hope’s Sun would just ignore him. Nyah-nyah!

Perila: “???”

His reverence for the gods was crumbling into dust.

Xia Xifeng had been absolutely, soul-crushingly correct: tying all your personal emotions, sorrows, joys, and tragedies to some deity was just profoundly, monumentally stupid. Instead of depending on gods like this, humans had far better odds just by relying on themselves.

The fact that the Silver Moon was an alias of the Twin Suns was an open secret.

When the Hope City had first been named, the Church of the Silver Moon had proactively and enthusiastically reached out to contact Leo and Perila.

The emergence of the Silver Moon’s Heroic Spirit Knights, and the Silver Moon’s divine Oracle commanding the construction of a Holy City—these were monumental honors for any religious order.

Holy Cities and patron gods mutually influenced one another. After the War of the Gods, the Heavenly Father had personally destroyed every single Holy City belonging to the gods. Since then, gods had only very rarely established new ones.

Admittedly, the location of the Church of the Silver Moon’s headquarters probably involved a great many “political factors.” But in a world where True Gods empirically existed, a Holy City directly chosen by a god Itself ought to have overridden any and all mortal political or financial interests.

Yet despite the Church of the Silver Moon not yet openly opposing the Silver Moon Itself… Leo and Perila’s status as the “Twin Suns Divine Sons” had already been formally recognized by the Church of the Sun. In that context, the Church of the Silver Moon’s continued “questioning” of Leo and Perila was, by definition, an act of blasphemy against the faith.

And at this critical juncture, with Outer Gods beginning their descent, the Church of the Silver Moon’s behavior essentially amounted to openly declaring rebellion.

Hopefully, the Twin Suns would succeed in their desperate, last-ditch efforts to salvage the situation.

For the Sun gods Themselves, the situation had become dire. Every other god, seeing the pitifully mangled state of Hope’s Sun, was undoubtedly now on high alert.

This actually allowed Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang, as Players, to finally relax a little.

At their current combat strength, they were simply incapable of participating in too many large-scale events in the real world.

If they were needed for some mission in a parallel space-time, the System could deploy them there from anywhere. So, even if they didn’t rush, it didn’t truly matter.

See? Even the System wasn’t hurrying them.

From “The Wastelands,” there were two main routes to reach the Human Empire.

The first was the land route, requiring passage through several Dwarven Kingdom fortresses.

Besides the usual forests and plains scenery, the main tourist attraction along this path was the Dwarven Canyon Mining City.

In that city, one could purchase most of the world’s gemstones. Back when Xia Xifeng was grinding the game, he’d frequently restock his inventory there.

The second route was the sea route. First, they would need to cross the vast desert and reach the largest port in the Free Alliance.

The journey from the Free Alliance’s “Free Port” to the Human Empire’s largest “Royal Port” passed by numerous small island nations.

These islands each boasted wildly unique customs and cultures, largely inspired by the mythologies of the Aegean, Western, and Northern European regions. The headquarters of the Sea God Religion was located on one such island.

Xia Xifeng summarized, “Both paths have their own unique scenic appeal. Should we… draw lots?”

Qin Lang shook his head and switched to System chat. 【You want to see the sights that won’t exist after the Apocalypse? Then take the sea route.】

After Qin Lang’s reminder, Xia Xifeng thought about it. Although the islands under the Sea God’s protection would still exist during the Doomsday Era, the seas themselves would have largely fallen under the dominion of the Outer Gods.

And the Sea God’s “territory” wasn’t just a few coastal islands. The great undersea empire of “submerged humanity” beneath the waves—that was the true heartland of the Sea God’s faith.

Oh, right. That undersea empire was also called Atlantis.

Because in literally every Western fantasy story, the undersea empire is always named Atlantis.

“Atlantis” literally translates to “the island country in the western ocean.” But after countless iterations in Western fantasy fiction, Atlantis became almost exclusively depicted as an advanced submarine civilization, a kingdom beneath the sea. Fantasy Realms was no exception.

During the Doomsday Era, Atlantis, too, had been unable to escape ruin. Players could only venture into its shattered remains to run quests and scavenge junk.

But right now? Atlantis was still gloriously intact!

“Let’s go, let’s go! We’re going to Atlantis!” Xia Xifeng made his decision instantly.

Leo spoke up. “Wait a few more days. Perila and I will come with you.”

Xia Xifeng immediately looked displeased. “Huh? Why? I wanted to travel alone with Qin Lang!”

This was a player pilgrimage site, damn it! What business did native NPC friends have butting in? With them around, he wouldn’t even be able to properly do his sacred sightseeing tour with Qin Lang!

Leo rolled his eyes. “No one wants to intrude on your and Qin Lang’s private couple’s retreat. But the last two times you exposed an Evil God’s scheme, it was Perila and I who had to run interference and shield you from prying eyes. Who’s to say you won’t stumble onto yet another Evil God plot on your journey? If Perila and I travel with you, we won’t be caught off guard and forced to rush to catch up again.”

Whether it was rescuing the souls of the Dwarf Merchant Caravan from the dreamscape, or the emergence of the Silver Moon Heroic Spirit Knights—though Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang were the true causes, to outside eyes, the “credit” belonged entirely to the Twin Suns’ God’s Favored: Perila and Leo.

The Green Sand City incident went without saying: Perila and Leo had been present the entire time.

As for the Blackstone Town affair: Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang had resolved the conspiracy in a single night, and by the very next morning, Perila and Leo had secretly arrived.

Aside from the sole witness—the Blackstone Town Mayor—no one in the world knew that Perila and Leo hadn’t actually been present in Blackstone Town during the event itself.

Of course, these two noble-hearted Halflings absolutely did not want to steal their friends’ achievements. But right now, Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang were still far too weak.

After some deliberation between Amuruo and Suer, they’d decided: since Perila and Leo were the “Twin Suns Divine Sons” anyway, they’d serve as living shields for Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang, preventing the two from being exposed before they’d had a chance to grow strong enough.

Logically speaking, Prophets like Xia Xifeng and Suer should strive to remain as low-profile as possible in their early stages.

The only reason Suer had dared to wander around before his Guardian Knight Amuruo had matured was because his adult Dragon body was ridiculously durable, and he carried a small arsenal of escape-type divine artifacts.

Amuruo and Suer had no desire to restrict Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang’s freedom. And besides, the Heavenly Father might actually be hoping they’d travel to many places.

So all Amuruo and Suer could do was rack their brains trying to figure out how to subtly shelter Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang from the storm without them noticing.

Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang—two no-name Pioneer Knights with zero renown, no noble birth, and no special bloodline—were naturally not very attention-grabbing in the first place.

But when Leo and Perila stepped forward, flaring their Twin Suns Divine Son identities, and all the conspiracies they unmasked were directly connected to the Sun gods Themselves… naturally, everyone’s attention would be drawn to Leo and Perila instead.

Would this put Leo and Perila at risk?

They had already nearly been killed by an Outer God’s schemes while doing absolutely nothing. Their circumstances couldn’t possibly get more dangerous than they already were.

Leo had initially been ordered by Amuruo to accompany Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang after completing the Hope City’s first trade caravan expedition. And now, seeing that the very first stop on their friends’ journey had brought them face-to-face with an Outer God yet again… Leo and Perila had no choice but to drop everything and rush over to formally join the party.

If it weren’t for the necessity of providing cover to Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang, Leo wouldn’t be here. Did he look like he enjoyed having perfect vision, just so he could be blinded by the radioactive glow of some disgustingly clingy couple?

Look! Just look! Xia Xifeng, that ungrateful brat, fully knew they were just human shields, and yet he was still pulling a face of pure reluctance!

I don’t want to be here either!

“You two just let us know your planned destination,” Perila said, ever the considerate one. “Leo and I will travel by a different route. As long as we can reach you at any moment, that’s sufficient.”

Xia Xifeng’s face first drooped into an exaggerated sulk. Then, unable to hold it in, he burst out laughing. “Just messing with you guys.”

He immediately added Leo and Perila to his party, then handed each of them a Teleportation Scroll. “Freshly crafted. As long as we’re within the same spatial plane, activating this scroll will instantly teleport you to a safe location within a ten-meter radius centered on me. The materials for these are extremely rare, so don’t waste them. Also, each person can only carry one at a time.”

The Party Teleportation Scroll was a reward from the System after completing the Blackstone Town dungeon.

In the game, Party Teleportation Scrolls had existed too. Any player not inside a dungeon or special instance could instantly teleport to the party leader’s location.

They had been ludicrously expensive items.

Usually, players just used map teleport points and then rode their mounts for a few dozen seconds to reach their exact destination. Party Teleportation Scrolls were generally only used in large-scale PK guild wars—because the warzone maps were special instances without any teleportation arrays inside.

This item, which had been incredibly niche and situational in the game, had now become a “divine artifact” level item of tremendous power.

“Alright, you two go wander wherever you want. Perila and I will handle our own business too.” Accepting the scroll and understanding its effect, Leo waved dismissively. “Now get lost, and good riddance.”

Perila was still a bit concerned. “Can we really arrive in time? What if we’re just too late? What if Leo and I happen to miss your distress call?”

Xia Xifeng reassured him. “Don’t worry. After joining the party, you’ll see the call for help no matter what. Just consider it a part of my Divine Favor Ability.”

Hearing the words “Divine Favor Ability,” Perila finally relaxed.

He’d already received hints that Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang were probably not the Favored of some life-related deity. They were likely under the protection of a far greater God. The only God.

Curious, Taylor asked, “I always assumed you and Qin Lang were God’s Favored of the Silver Moon. I never expected it was actually Perila and Leo. So, if you’re not… how were you able to stir the Silver Moon’s divine power?”

Xia Xifeng gave him a mysterious smile. “You’re about to meet the God of the Silver Moon in person very soon. Go ask Him yourself. By the way, I already had Leo pass along a message for you.”

A sudden chill crawled down Taylor’s spine. “What… message?”

Xia Xifeng wagged his head in a singsong rhythm. “What is there in the personality of a god that is worthy of respect, anyway?”

Taylor: “…” Before I’ve even officially started my new job, I’ve already mortally offended my new boss?!

A faint, mocking smile tweaked at the corner of Eigg’s mouth.

Well? You’re so bold, aren’t you? Say that line right to the god’s face, then.

Leo consoled Taylor. “Don’t worry too much. The Sun God has a pretty good temper. At worst, He’ll just burn all your hair off when He gets annoyed. He won’t hand down punishments that are too extreme.”

Pointing at his own gleaming, smooth scalp, Leo added, “You get used to it.”

Staring at Leo’s bald head—reflecting the sun’s rays so brightly it was practically deemed “proof of divine favor” by Sun worshippers—Taylor felt his anxiety about his future workplace environment intensify sharply.

Not only did the Big Boss have a bad temper, He apparently had the personality of a petty child.

And Taylor was absolutely, horrendously bad at coaxing children.

Seeing Taylor’s face turn increasingly green, Xia Xifeng cackled with malicious glee, swaying side-to-side—and quite accidentally forgetting Qin Lang’s stern warning to maintain some boundaries, so he ended up slumped against Qin Lang’s shoulder.

Qin Lang, too, inadvertently forgot his own warning and, out of habit, adjusted his shoulder slightly so that Xia Xifeng could burrow his face more comfortably into the crook of his neck while he laughed.