CHAPTER 114: CHAPTER 114: NIGHTLY CHANGES

In the evening, seated in front of the computer, Chen Shouyi carefully drew a terrain map using a drawing software, relying on his memory. After half an hour, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, such work doesn’t demand much from a Martial Artist, nor can it be expected to.

As for precision, what is that anyway? Relying on visual estimates, how precise could you really be?

If one can roughly depict where a mountain is, where a river flows, the degree of danger in various areas, and the size of tribes that exist, that would already be quite good.

Next, he began drafting the exploration report.

This was relatively simple.

There is a fixed format for such reports.

Furthermore, for the passage in Dongning City, there’s not much to describe; there are just these two islands nearby, and the main danger has already been resolved by him, leaving only a group of frightened and helpless old, sick, and feeble Barbarians.

At this moment, Chen Shouyi had an idea and specially noted down the gold mine discovered on the small island at the end of the report.

Thinking about it, he opened the map again and marked it anew.

According to the Explorer’s regulations, any property obtained by explorers during alternate world exploration belongs to the explorers, and for discoveries such as mines, explorers also enjoy a ten percent profit.

However, few Martial Artists benefit from the latter.

The alternate world is almost completely undeveloped, with an astonishing abundance of mineral deposits, numerous enough to be seen everywhere.

But in reality, scarcely any companies conduct mining in the alternate world.

On one hand, ordinary machinery is useless in the alternate world, with steam power being the maximum achievable, yielding extremely low efficiency.

On the other hand, triple gravity means any worker in the alternate world needs to be at least at the Martial Artist Apprentice level. Human capital costs are exorbitant, and often the value of minerals extracted is far less than the cost of wages and casualty allowances.

Moreover, danger can arise at any moment in the alternate world, which leads to few companies daring to mine there.

Of course, there are exceptions, unless the mineral is of extremely high value or holds strategic significance.

For example, high-grade uranium ores or some rare metals.

And a rich gold mine barely makes the cut.

The small island has abundant gold, with little danger nearby. Mining is easy, even the Shell Lady can casually collect a few taels of gold every day, and the entire island is estimated to have more than a hundred tons.

Gold prices have been rising recently, from over three hundred per gram originally to now surpassing five hundred per gram, making Chen Shouyi feel the island definitely holds mining potential.

He uploaded the map, which he himself found somewhat unsatisfactory, along with the exploration report to the Explorer’s website.

Awaiting final review.

...

Dongning City, Mou Luo Town, Niutou Mountain.

The night was silent and dimly lit when the sudden sound of rolling shattered stones erupted.

In the mountain’s mid-section, an opening appeared.

In the night, one figure after another emerged from the cave.

A total of thirty-five Barbarians, these Barbarians wore animal hides, with robust and hardy physiques. Upon arriving here, they appeared very excited, each prostrated on the ground, loudly praying.

"Great God of Hunting, you are the source of power, the merciful protector of the tribes... Coming to this Devil’s world, we shall spread your glory with the Devil’s blood and soul, enhance your greatness, and welcome your arrival."

"Blood sacrifice!"

"Blood sacrifice!"

"Blood sacrifice!"

A group of Barbarians lowly roared in excitement, their terrifying aura startled countless drowsy birds into flapping away.

...

The alternate world is a realm of rising gods, some powerful, some weak, some are True Gods, some haven’t even developed Divinity. They’re merely worshiped or feared primitively by Barbarians and treated as gods.

All kinds are beyond count.

Setting others aside, focusing on specific True Gods.

Among them, Natural Spirits becoming gods, is a special category.

Due to their innate capability to devour souls and flesh, such gods often have a habit of blood sacrifices to absorb life’s essence and souls, thereby enhancing their power.

Especially certain gods with fear-related Divine Positions, before becoming gods, they were mostly oblivious without much intent to guide followers into faith, recklessly treating Barbarians as penned sheep, instinctively maintaining limited reproduction and survival.

The Barbarians live in fear and despair from birth, not only wary of beast attacks but also dread Natural Spirits’ consumption, deeply rooted in despair and dread, so faith is naturally out of the question.

These Natural Spirits passively receive emotions like fear, resentment, and despair year after year, day after day.

Eventually, they successfully seal their godhood through these emotions, relying on spreading fear to uphold their divinity.

Of course, many restrained Natural Spirit gods already understood the importance of faith before becoming gods and recognized the preciousness of followers, only targeting other tribes for blood sacrifices or substituting with livestock.

Even as True Gods, they maintained such habits.

To them, faith is like staple food, monotonous but sustaining, while souls and flesh are desserts, delicious and sweet.

The God of Hunting is one such.

Earth’s existence presents a sumptuous feast to such gods, who’ve long been drooling.

People here are physically weak, yet their souls aren’t frail, and compared to the alternate world’s sparse population density, Earth is densely populated.

Previously, their powers were mostly unnoticeable here, Divine Power dissipated completely upon arriving here, leaving many gods to attempt numerous times yet always ending in failure.

However, now as the world undergoes a significant shift, though gods’ powers exhibit slight regression, it’s similarly allowing their power to be transmitted here to a limited extent.

Many gods begin to stir anew.

In fact, almost every god has faintly anticipated that an unprecedented upheaval is imminent. Some gods will weaken or fall during this shift, while others will rise, everything reshuffled anew.

They’re all preparing for the impending upheaval.

Some orthodox gods venture to stealthily establish faith, while other Evil Gods issue divine commands aiming to perform blood sacrifices in the other world to accumulate power.

As long as they locate a safe Spatial Passage, it’s easy to kill hundreds or even thousands, and losing a few followers pales in comparison with the gains.

The God of Hunting seeks a win-win approach.

Previously, he tempted human explorers into building a cult, successfully for a while.

Unfortunately, the good times didn’t last, and soon, his established faith was eradicated by humans, leaving him utterly dissatisfied with the extensive Divine Power expended for initial investments.

This time, he no longer intends to sneak around.