Chapter 236.1 – Tutorial 56th Floor (3)
I sighed while watching the people gathered beneath the tower give me their enthusiastic support. Unconsciously, I raised my hand to hide my face. If possible, I’d like to go back.
“You f.u.c.king lizard…” I muttered grimly. I told it about the situation I wanted to avoid, and yet, it chose the stage that had everything I didn’t want. I was devastated but decided to focus on the stage rather than sulk. The only way to get out of this place was to clear the stage.
I checked my current situation. I was standing atop a high tower with crowds of people swarming the open fields beneath. People fascinatedly looked up at me as if they were watching a fireworks display.
d.a.m.n it.
“Apostle!”
It didn’t seem necessary to answer their desperate shouts, so I decided to ignore their screams for a moment. Just by my presence, people seemed to be moved to tears. I decided to check my notification window rather than deal with the situation at hand.
[Stage Mission: Understanding the sect]
Description: There are five-story stone paG.o.das hosting more than 900 humans. Challenger should open a basic sect and raise its religious level. Stone paG.o.das are located in open plains, making them very vulnerable to attacks. Every night, monsters will attack, and over time, increasingly powerful a.s.sailants will come.
If you are a challenger who is not familiar with faith, buy a notation of faith from the store.
[Clear Condition]
Raising sects
Securing Faith: 500
The explanation window slightly differed from the usual. Typically, it wouldn’t give any relevant information, but now, it was filled with essential details. As the notification advised, I went to the shop window and looked for notations of faith.
[Confidence notation]
Description: Measures and indicates the level of faith in your religion or sect.
It had a rather basic task, but the prize was beyond imagination. I estimated that with the same amount of money, I could buy a few bottles of Elixir.
[Life force notation]
Description: Measures and marks the buyer’s current life force.
[ Mana notation]
Description: Measures and marks the current mana of the buyer.
These were notations that functioned similarly to RPG game windows that showed stamina and mana. However, among the windows, the life force notation was generally considered useless. During combat, having a vital point usually resulted in instant death or damage equivalent to immediate death, so the life force notation wasn’t able to accurately describe your sustainability. Still, several challengers felt rea.s.sured by being able to see their amount of health, so they still purchased the life notation.
On the other hand, the mana notation window was incredibly useful. When using skills, challengers always consumed a certain amount of mana. The presence of mana notation helped challengers preserve and allocate mana.
The Order of Vigilante recommended buying and using only the mana notification window, especially for challengers who frequently used mana. They were expensive but worth it.
When I was clearing the lower floors, I thought it would have been convenient to have such windows, but they were only available for purchase once the challenger entered the 30th floor. People typically bought it right as they hit the 30th floor, but by the time I’d realized such windows existed, I didn’t have a purpose for them. I was familiar with my strength and mana without having to measure it, so I didn’t bother to invest money in the windows.
However, whenever I look at the windows, I wondered what it would’ve been like if I’d joined the tutorial later; I would’ve started with a notation window or basic items from the top challengers. It would’ve been convenient if information about the h.e.l.l’s Difficulty Stage was already known by the time I joined. Maybe, I wouldn’t be in such risky situations as often. It’s certainly dangerous to challenge h.e.l.l’s difficulty without any information, but the rewards of the task were always proportional to the difficulty.
I went back to thinking about the religious portion of the task. Lately, my thoughts have become mixed. Perhaps it’s because I’ve had too much spare time that I often recalled what happened in the past.
I rechecked the faith notation and bought it. Immediately, I opened a window to see my faith.
[Faith: 0]
It was empty. Perhaps the reason for the indictment of zero was because I hadn’t started a sect. But first of all, how would you begin a cult?
[Warrior?] Ahb.o.o.boo called.
“Yeah?” I stopped thinking for a moment to look back at him. He pointed at the people under the tower by moving the handkerchief tied to his core. All the people were staring at me. For a moment, I was unresponsive and then got embarra.s.sed. Was something wrong?
“Let’s go down for now.”
For now, we’d start with crowd control.
* * * * * *
I’d spent a large portion of my time laughing with people, shaking hands, and hugging. Before I knew it, the sun was about to set, and the sky was a deep red. As soon as they saw the setting sun, people panicked and rushed into the tower.
As the stage description stated, monsters would appear at night. Fortunately, the tower had a narrow entrance and a long pa.s.sageway, which served as a natural barrier to monsters. Above all, the main gate was broad and durable, so if supported well, it could prevent the monsters from entering.
The first floor of the tower exuded a shrine-like atmosphere. There were also s.p.a.ces and other symbols that could be used to pray or perform ancestral rites. Some people took seats on the first floor, came down to rest, or began to guard the entrance. The guard post rotated amongst different individuals, and in case the gatekeepers were pushed back, others would also come to push against the door to stop the imposing monsters.
Until now, it seemed as though they’d been able to keep the monsters in check. But, the monsters were going to become more powerful by the day, and it would become harder for these people to stop the monsters alone.
I told everyone to go up to the second and third floors to rest or sleep while I’d protect the entrance. People were delighted by the news. Some wanted to stay on the first floor to aid me, but I refused their offers. I wanted to be alone for a moment.
[The first floor is nicely decorated. We can use this place as a new gathering spot. From now on, come down to the first floor in case of troubles.] Ahb.o.o.boo said.
“Okay.”
It was fortunate that I had Ahb.o.o.boo by my side since he was well-versed on religion. I asked Abu about the making of a sect, which was currently my biggest obstacle.
[How to create a sect?]
“En. They want us to open a sect. Do we have to catch some beasts and hold a memorial service?”
[Well, I’m not sure about that either. Don’t you know how to create it?]
“I don’t. It’s not like shouting, ‘Create a sect!’ will be able to get me anywhere.”
[Created a new sect.]
What the f.u.c.k? It worked?
[Measuring target ent.i.tlement requirements. The stage mission has met all conditions for creating a sect.]
[You can choose the religion that will be the focus of the sect.]
After reading the explanation, a list of selectable religions, some of which worshiped pre-vaccine deities, appeared. Before I chose one, I asked Ahb.o.o.boo for advice.
[If that’s the case, you’d better choose one that can bring about the established doctrines of other religions. It would be easier to expand a religion that already has a reputation.]
As Ahb.o.o.boo said, a popular religion would be easier to work with. If so, which religion should I choose?
[I recommend the G.o.d of the Sky.]
“G.o.d of the Sky?”
[Yes, I’m not saying this because I’m biased.]
Is that so?
[Really not!]
“Sure. Explain first.”
[First of all, the G.o.d of the Sky values relationships, so he’ll be thrilled to open a lower sect. This alone is a considerable advantage.]
That was true. Some G.o.ds didn’t care whether you made a lower sect or not, and some, such as the G.o.d of Adventure or the G.o.d of Light, didn’t even authorize one to establish an inferior sect.
[The G.o.d of Adventure is disappointed.] The G.o.d of Adventure expressed his disappointment.
The G.o.d of Chaos, the G.o.d of Death, the G.o.d of Sowing, and the other evil deities wouldn’t be good choices. But, that only left one G.o.d, the G.o.d of Hope, but I refused to choose him.
[In addition, the teaching of the G.o.d of the Sky is suitable for governance. Many countries on the continent, including the empire, believe in the G.o.d of Sky, and worship their lower sect.]
[Lastly, I know the doctrines of the Sky.]
“Okay. Let’s go with that one,” I said and chose the G.o.d of the Sky.
[Faith Window]
Species name: Unknown
The founder of the sect: Unknown
Sect symbol : –
Sectarian tendencies : –
Sect doctrine existence: –
Number of believers: 890
Headquarter Position: Unknown
Degree of faith: 3
Mainstream Religion: G.o.d of the Sky
Description: It is a newly established sect, and the indigenous people know little about it. The 890 believers are forced to follow the words of the sect’s founder to live, but have no sincerity about the sect. Believers are very distrustful of the founder of the sect, who hasn’t even disclosed his name yet. They’re fearful that he will suddenly disappear, which will increase the danger of the night.
The religious faith of the sect is so weak that it is impossible to use divine orders. Due to the poor finances of the sect, they cannot provide any support to the believers. Only with a sect’s outstanding strength can the founder be able to keep his promise to ensure the safety of his followers without difficulty.
As soon as the sect had been created, I read the long pa.s.sage of text. There were still many shortcomings, but I liked that the details were explained in great detail. Looking at the status window, I thought I could clear the stage without difficulty if I fill in each of the deficiencies.
First, I decided to fill in what was marked as deficient at the top of the status window. The doctrines of the sect are something I can deal with right away.
“Ahb.o.o.boo, first of all, I think we need to write down some of the doctrines.”
[Yes. Can I write it on the poster over there?]
“Go ahead.” I took out a pen from my inventory and handed it over to Ahb.o.o.boo. Although he lacked limbs to hold it correctly, he could still use magic to write.
The next step was to find a symbol. I decided to put down Ahb.o.o.boo without much thought. He’s the Holy Sword; he’s colorful, magical, divine, and likes to be noticed. He would’ve been the perfect symbol if it wasn’t for the fact he was currently tied with a handkerchief and not a sword.
I looked at what I had, wondering if there was anything suitable.
“Call.”
“Kea-ek!”
“Yes. Nice to see you, frog.”
For now, we needed a G.o.d who would be the symbol of the sect. I didn’t know whether a frog would be able to fill the role, but why not?