!
Mo Tan once thought he was hallucinating, otherwise how could the Dawn Goddess's art style suddenly collapse without warning?
Although this has been happening to him for more than twenty years, atypical personality disorder shouldn't be so widespread yet, right?!
Or was he not even logged into the game at all, and had accidentally added high-purity alcohol or something similar to his coffee earlier, and was now in a collapsed state?
No, his thoughts were starting to get chaotic...
"Hey, give me a reaction!"
Logically, shouldn't a Dawn Goddess's setting be a contradictory complex of being cold, rigid, aloof, yet compassionate and universally loving?
"Are you going to say something or not?! It takes a lot of effort for me to respond to a prayer!"
But even though this one was also quite contradictory, why did she always feel a bit strange? Do Goddesses also like to say things like 'slap them' and 'blow them up'? Is she that trendy?
"I said, what are you pondering about over there? If you don't respond properly, I can't hear you!"
There are also those who take an unconventional route, for example, some Light Gods, Dawn Goddesses, and the like are not good gods; their affiliated sects appear benevolent on the surface but are actually involved in all sorts of illicit activities. This kind of setting also seems quite popular, but this one doesn't seem to be like that either...
"I feel like you're thinking some very disrespectful things."
Oh! Speaking of which, that older sister from the class next door, who led a bunch of unruly kids to dominate the entire junior high, seemed quite similar to this one. Of course, the latter was more robust, and even before adulthood, she was already about to break the 200-jin mark...
"Are! You! Lis! Ten! Ing! To! Me!?!"
At this moment, the illusory figure of the 'Dawn Goddess' in front of him finally couldn't hold back. She glowed with a soft, pale golden light, and in this boundless world of light, she darted forward, swung her arm, and slapped him!
Mo Tan only felt a warm gust of wind, and subconsciously wanted to dodge to the side, but unexpectedly, a heavy and solemn force suddenly enveloped him, and then he was hit squarely, letting out a cry as he spun several meters away...
However, although the slap hurt, it didn't cause him to lose health. Instead, it knocked out the 'intermittent thought rampage' unique to Mo Tan when he was in his Absolute Neutral personality.
"Um... Goddess-sama..." Mo Tan awkwardly got up from the ground and bowed to the illusory figure in front of him, who stood with her hands on her hips as if she were angry. "I apologize for my offense."
Seeing that he finally reacted, Dawn Goddess Pakesi, finally stopped stretching her joints and asked in her still slightly ethereal voice, "Do you feel that I don't seem like a Goddess?"
"This humble one wouldn't dare." Mo Tan, finally certain that he wasn't dreaming, now had a fawning smile on his face, denying it repeatedly.
This was a direct response from a true god during a prayer process. Even though it was only a 'god' set in the game, if she got unhappy and directly caused him to fail, the consequences would be severe!
Moreover, this Goddess-sama seemed to have quite a temper...
To be honest, if Mo Tan hadn't harbored any malice or disrespect during his earlier wild thoughts, even if the Dawn Goddess herself didn't mind, at the level of laws, he would have been directly labeled as blasphemous, and then suffered a price that would have been less worthwhile than simply deleting his account and starting over.
"Wouldn't dare?" The illusory figure in front of him seemed to let out a light laugh and spread her hands at him. "Although you are my worshiper in this world, and I am your God, as a life form one dimension higher than me, what could you do even if you truly disrespected me? Even if the body currently praying in a certain church were destroyed, what impact could that have on you?"
!!!
This sentence was nothing short of a thunderbolt to Mo Tan. Perhaps not just him, but any player who heard these words would surely be greatly shocked.
It's like you transmigrated into an anime, and then a certain character who constantly complains walks up to you and, with a demonic grin, complains, "Are those viewers out of their minds!!! Why do I, a character with such depth, substance, and profoundness, only rank eighth in every poll?! My glasses aren't my main body, dammit! Go back and watch it a hundred more times, you idiots!!!"
It was a feeling similar to that...
If this wasn't a system setting, but rather this 'NPC' actually knew something, then the game Wu Zui Zhi Jie was somewhat beyond common sense.
This touched upon a forbidden line that no matter how humanized an AI was, it could not cross...
However, even though Mo Tan was completely unsettled, he quickly calmed down due to his strong psychological fortitude (after all, he was sick) and tentatively asked, "What do you mean?"
"Literally." The illusory figure of the Dawn Goddess shook her head. "You don't need to be nervous. I just think that getting things out in the open will help our subsequent communication, but at least I hope you maintain your faith in me in this world... Hehe, or rather, trust. Otherwise, even I cannot influence the 'blasphemy' judgment."
Mo Tan nodded lightly, and also relaxed a bit. Although he hated trouble at the moment, if something truly troublesome came knocking, he could handle it well (after all, he was used to it).
"First, I want to tell you~" The other party elegantly sat on a luxurious chair that had appeared at some unknown time and said in a relaxed tone, "I am indeed a god, one of many deities. If I must be strictly defined, you can consider me 'Neutral' and 'Good,' but in reality, 'gods' are not as lofty as mortals understand them to be. We also have emotions and true names. The Dawn Goddess is Pa Ke Xi Vina, not 'The Dawn Goddess is the Dawn Goddess,' understand?"
Mo Tan rubbed his cheek, which had just been slapped, and agreed quite readily, "Before, the feeling might have been vague, but I now deeply understand."
"Don't be so resentful~" The corner of the Dawn Goddess's mouth, hidden behind the light, curved slightly upward. "As long as I don't want to hurt you, even if I kick you rolling on the ground, there will be no consequences, such as injury."
Of course, Mo Tan didn't take that slap to heart. After all, he didn't suffer from psychological conditions like 'straight male cancer.' Compared to such insignificant matters, he was more concerned about other issues...
"You seem to have something on your mind." The Goddess said as if she could read minds, "Spit it out... Um, just say it!"
Mo Tan rubbed his forehead. Putting aside everything else, the initial tension he felt was now completely gone.
So he asked the question that had made him most curious from the beginning: "Actually, I just want to know why you found me. I think even without counting the worshipers who were originally in this world, there must be many 'like me' among those who worship you. I wonder if you, Goddess-sama, have treated everyone equally by saying those words before, or if you have only had such a conversation with me. If so... I'm very curious as to why?"
Perhaps if someone with a similar personality were here, they wouldn't ask such a question to the Goddess, but at this moment, Mo Tan, in addition to his personality, also possessed sufficient calmness, so he was very concerned about this point.
After all, when great responsibilities fall upon a person, the rest of the saying isn't usually good news...
He sincerely hoped at this moment that he was not an exception!
"A very good question." The Goddess-sama nodded in satisfaction, then remained silent for a long while before answering, "I don't know about other deities, but at least I've only had this kind of conversation with you so far. As for the reason..."
Mo Tan could feel the other party's gaze fixed directly on him, as if trying to see through him.
"I can feel that you truly believe in me, although it's not a fanatical piety, you still position yourself well as a worshiper, looking up at me from a mortal's perspective." The Goddess said faintly, "But I also sense a nearly non-existent contempt in you. For some reason, I always feel that you could never bow to any deity. It's an aura that makes me want to feel hostility towards you. Although it's imperceptible, I can still vaguely perceive its existence..."
Mo Tan was startled. He almost immediately thought of his Incredulous talent when he was Tan Mo, but this shouldn't make sense. Perhaps it wasn't very obvious in reality, but in the game Innocent World, he, who could log in as Black Vatican at this moment, even if it was the same him! Logically, he absolutely shouldn't possess the aura belonging to another personality!
Unless...
This 'God' in front of him, regardless of dimension, truly possessed power akin to a deity.
"I'm very curious, so I wanted to chat with someone from your dimension for a bit." The Goddess didn't pay attention to Mo Tan's change in expression, but continued, "After all, becoming a god is boring, tedious, comes with great responsibility, and you always have to maintain your composure."
"Becoming a god, then..." Mo Tan repeated in a low voice, but before he could say "which means you weren't a god before," he was immediately interrupted by the other party.
"There are some things I can say, but you cannot, so I speak, and you listen." The Dawn Goddess seemed to shrug helplessly. "Continuing our previous topic, I said that the Dawn Goddess is Pa Ke Xi Vina, not 'The Dawn Goddess is the Dawn Goddess.' This naturally implies that I was once... a mortal in the conventional sense..."
The other party not letting him continue earlier was clearly for his own good, so Mo Tan listened obediently and dared not interrupt again.
"Mortals are mortals because they don't possess power strong enough to command belief and worship, but if they did..." The Goddess sighed deeply. "Then they could become 'gods.'"
This didn't surprise Mo Tan. After all, people's thinking was already advanced enough. He himself had even complained about this statement more than once when watching works about superheroes and the like.
So, according to the script, this lady with a slight tendency towards violence, must have been elevated to the position of 'God' after becoming powerful enough.
Mo Tan immediately thought this, just like most people.
But he was wrong...
"Whether it's Pa Ke Xi Vina, or Izanael Kashu, Diliya Xilu, Serella Maiti, Tisu Guangyi, these guys were all just 'mortals' at first." The Goddess's voice seemed to carry a slightly distorted sadness. "One could even say they were anomalies within their own race, a group of rebellious young people."
Anomalies?! Rebellious?!
Mo Tan's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Yes, at least among our race, they were." The Dawn Goddess gave a self-deprecating smile. "As a result, a very, very long time ago, our race was exiled by a powerful force, and a few individuals like me were spared for some reason. Later, we became gods."
Mo Tan now particularly wanted to know how powerful the former race of this Goddess in front of him was. One should know that just the remaining few 'rebellious' young people had all become gods.
"Is it strange?" Pa Ke Xi, however, shook her head slightly. "No, it's not strange at all. Imagine a race whose average qualities in all aspects are several times stronger than a dragon. They would naturally become a transcendent power. But if only a few individuals of this race remain, what would they become?"
Without a doubt...
When a race whose strength difference from mortals is like a chasm has only a small number of survivors left, and mortals, no matter how hard they try and pour everything into it, cannot surpass them, or even see their backs...
Then they will become gods.
"I'm very curious, what kind of power was that..." Mo Tan rubbed his forehead. "It's really hard to imagine."
The illusory figure of the deity left the chair and walked in front of Mo Tan, asking in a low voice, "You really don't know? If it's about contact, you, as higher-dimensional beings, should be the most qualified to deal with it, right? That irresistible, omnipotent existence."
Mo Tan's body trembled. He didn't answer, but a solution had already surfaced in his mind...
The System.
That existence which assigned factions to all players, bestowed talents, distributed quests, and rewarded equipment and experience, absolutely deserved the eight words 'irresistible and omnipotent'!!
Could it be that this book was going to start with a trope from now on? Players, guided and helped by the surviving deities, would fight the system? Terrorist attacks? Blowing up servers?
That should be popular...
However, just as Mo Tan was almost done imagining a series of Epic and moving stories, the other party once again interrupted his thought rampage.
"That power is correct." The Goddess sighed. "The destruction in the prophecy is unstoppable. My race, which once stood at the highest point, overlooking and observing all things, could not stop it; we so-called deities, who have conflicts and contradictions with each other, also cannot stop it; but perhaps it can... guide you... guide us..."
Mo Tan was dumbfounded, completely at a loss.
"Alright, I'm still very busy." Pa Ke Xi smiled. "I just wanted to chat with someone from your dimension for a few minutes, and the time is almost up..."
"Wait!" Mo Tan waved his hand. Although he disliked trouble, this kind of half-spoken, abrupt ending plot was simply too annoying!
The Dawn Goddess started swinging her arms as if she hadn't heard him. "Of course, if you get the chance to encounter worshipers of Diliya, Saville, Izanael, or Evil Cultists, it's best to blast them! I will reward you!"
"Wait...!"
"Bye bye~"
Bang!!
When Mo Tan came to his senses, he found himself sitting on his rear in front of the Goddess statue, with tangible holy light still swirling around him.
...
Chapter 27: End