Zhang Tai.
A professional worker and a novice believer in the Goddess of Wealth, he dreamed of becoming rich overnight. After finishing his day's work, he lay in bed, picked up the equipment distributed free of charge by the church, and entered the forum, wanting to see if the God of Storytelling had released any new stories. This was one of the few ways he could relax each day.
After reading the first two chapters of the new book, he suddenly felt a little bored. Although the content and writing style were excellent, the plot was too clichéd; he could guess what would happen next just by reading the beginning.
"With so many gods, isn't there any one who can make my life a little more interesting?"
As he thought this, he suddenly heard the sound of a new message coming from the device. He grabbed his phone, thinking it was a message from Xiaomei, whom he had just met, but it turned out to be an automatically pushed message from the forum.
[New God Promotion This Month...]
"Heh," Zhang Tai chuckled coldly. "Just as I thought."
But since he was just idling around anyway, and didn't have the money to spend in the God of Entertainment's kingdom, he might as well take a look. Zhang Tai lay on the bed, scrolling through the screen with a look of disgust on his face.
"Damn, why are all these new gods so bizarre? Which star system has experienced a cultural upheaval?" Zhang Tai couldn't help but complain as he looked at the new gods, who were all grotesque and devoid of any beauty.
As a deity, the most important thing is to make believers feel close to you, and a beautiful appearance can often make your preaching more effective. It is worth noting that the Goddess of Beauty, one of the eight main gods, stood out from many powerful deities and became one of the most worshipped gods today because of her outstanding appearance.
These deities often have corresponding appearances in propaganda for different species. For example, on this human planet, the deities are depicted as humans. However, if they were on an ocean planet, they would exhibit distinct characteristics of aquatic species.
As for these bizarre new gods before him, there was only one thing to say: they weren't putting any effort into promoting themselves. Zhang Tai pursed his lips, wanting to leave the forum, but found that his progress bar was about to reach the bottom, so he simply scrolled down to read it all at once.
Instantly, the image of a little girl with cat ears, red eyes, and white hair appeared before his eyes.
"Holy crap!!!"
Zhang Tai's eyes widened, and he instantly became interested. Whether it was her pitiful expression or her slightly dazed tilt of her head, it struck a chord deep within his heart.
This month, there was such an amazing new god! Oh my god, he wanted to become her follower! The saying goes, "Beauty is justice," and Zhang Tai suddenly felt that his polluted eyes had been cleansed again. He quickly looked at the name of this new god.
Lord of Pleasure
"A deity on the emotional side?" Zhang Tai chuckled. "I love it when deities manipulate my emotions."
He summoned the power of his accumulated soul. Each new god had its own promotional works. As long as enough people tried them, they could gain traffic and get a higher position on the new god's list. For example, last month, a new god in the music field won the top spot on the new god list with a traditional Chinese-style song, directly transforming from a demigod to a weak god, leaping a major level.
Zhang Tai also wanted to give a shout-out to this god who suited his taste. He was somewhat surprised to see the price of "5 Faith Power." Most promotional materials for new gods usually cost 10 Faith Power, and some new gods from major pantheons were priced even higher. This work only cost 5 Faith Power—it was incredibly generous!
Zhang Tai made a decision: as long as this work wasn't too bad, he planned to give all the soul power he had spent on the God of Storytelling this month to the Lord of Pleasure. Perhaps he would even gain His favor and become His messenger! Thinking of that scene, Zhang Tai's face lit up with an immense smile of joy.
Without further ado, although he didn't know why this work was called "Dark Souls," judging from the label "a cute and relaxing world that people with high stress levels should not miss," it should be the kind of work that made people happy and cheerful. With this fantasy in mind, he entered the game.
"Clang!"
The ancient bell tolled from afar, waking Zhang Tai from his slumber in the coffin. He stood up and frowned slightly as he saw graveyards and bones all around him.
"This art style doesn't feel right. How did I get born in a cemetery?" Zhang Tai looked around and felt that this was quite different from the relaxing and stress-relieving atmosphere he remembered.
The sunlight shone in front of him, pointing out a path. Zhang Tai walked along the path and suddenly noticed that the sunlight on the ground had turned into two arrows. He looked in that direction and saw two skeleton soldiers wearing tattered cloaks lying there, seemingly praying for something.
Looking at the shield and longsword in his hands, Zhang Tai understood that he was to kill the two skeleton soldiers.
Experiencing this situation for the first time, he became immediately interested. He stopped and quietly walked to the side of a skeleton soldier. As if he hadn't been noticed, the skeleton soldier remained lying on the ground, muttering unintelligible sounds from its not-yet-completely-corroded trachea.
Facing the unsuspecting skeleton soldier, Zhang Tai smiled wickedly and fiercely stabbed it in the rear with his longsword. As the skeleton soldier screamed, the feeling of successfully backstabbing it invigorated Zhang Tai. Another skeleton soldier heard its companion's voice, slowly stood up and approached Zhang Tai, but was easily dealt with by him.
Looking at the bone fragments lying at his feet, a sense of accomplishment welled up in his heart.
"That's too easy!"
Next, following the guidance of the light, he charged forward, and the soldiers along the way were no match for him. Soon, after turning a few corners, Zhang Tai arrived at a high platform. He walked onto the platform and unexpectedly discovered a bonfire next to it. As Zhang Tai approached, the bonfire slowly began to burn.
[Campfire: A small ember that can briefly revive an extinguished fire for undead, replenishing consumed flasks.]
Weary creatures, rest here and let the fire warm your body and soul.
Zhang Tai curiously touched the flame inside; it wasn't as hot as he had imagined, but rather as warm as sunlight.
[Ahead lies a challenge; please enter your vow.]
"A vow?" Zhang Tai pondered for a moment, thinking about how he had been cutting vegetables and chopping melons all the way, and he did feel that the pressure of a day's work had indeed dissipated a lot.
"Since that's the case..." He had a sudden inspiration, then smiled wickedly and typed two large characters on the panel with swift and powerful strokes.
"That's it?"
Having done all this, Zhang Tai, completely unaware of what would happen next, jumped down the low slope. In front of him was a huge classical building, its dilapidated stone walls still bearing many knife marks, revealing the vicissitudes of time.
Just as Zhang Tai was about to step forward, he noticed a strange whisper coming from behind him.
"Damn it, an ambush!" he thought to himself, and just as he was about to turn and dodge, he felt a distinct metallic piercing sensation in his waist.
"Ah! My kidneys!"
Zhang Tai screamed, but found that it didn't hurt that much. Realizing what was happening, he quickly launched a counterattack. With a wail, the skeleton soldier behind him fell at his feet.
Still shaken, Zhang Tai patted his chest, surprised that the skeleton soldier was quite cunning. As if anticipating his injury here, a line of writing appeared on the nearby wall. Following the instructions above, Zhang Tai opened his backpack and took out an elemental bottle.
[An undead treasure. Restores health upon use; uses are automatically replenished at a campfire.]
He gulped it down, and the sweet and sour taste invigorated him. It felt like a fire was burning in his chest, and his health bar, which had just dropped, recovered.
"Fire-lighting Ritual Site"
When Zhang Tai got to the side of the building, he noticed a name engraved on it, along with a line of smaller characters next to it.
"There are strong opponents ahead, be prepared."
He pushed open the door nonchalantly. Although he had been ambushed once, most of the attackers were weak and insignificant fodder. In this casual game, where could he possibly encounter any strong opponents?