"The reason our god did not respond to you before was because our faith was not pious enough at the time! Don't tell me that you begged the god with all your might in times of danger, that you were simply asking for help for your own life or something else. At the time, you didn't care if the one helping you was a god or not! It was a pure demand, not faith! " The girl continued, "Today, here and now, please try to believe in the existence of that Lord God, believe in his protection!"
In truth, Leah was aware that there might be some among them who were very pious believers of the God of Games, but since the God of Games had yet to be revived, there was no meaning in their prayers.
Still, that was fine. Human memories were a very ambiguous thing that would change according to a person's subjective consciousness, and that was the so-called emotional filter.
Moreover, it was even more difficult to define the degree of faith that was purely idealistic. Even those who were very devout believers of the God of Games would start to suspect if they had been mistaken about the posture of faith after what happened today …
After all, what the refugees of Tierra needed now was faith, and a god that had existed since ancient times would clearly give them more confidence than a god that had just awakened.
Xi Wei's special effects were clearly not in vain. Once the supernatural scene appeared, and as Leah spoke, the refugees all tried to beg the God of Games' forgiveness with their most devout attitude, hoping that they could worship him once more.
The influx of divine energy instantly made up for the little bit of special effects he spent just now, and he even had quite a bit left over, giving Xi Wei a greater confidence in his upcoming fight against the Rotten Bones Church.
As Marni and Leah looked on in delight, names started popping up like mushrooms after a spring rain over the heads of the refugees …
Xi Wei's spirit was lifted by the sudden increase in his believers, feeling that his mind was clearer and quicker than before. Soon, he noticed that even his divine kingdom seemed to have expanded a little.
Some might think that if a mere hundred believers could improve Xi Wei so much, then Leah could go to a crowded city and turn on her special effects to sell everything she had, and there was an eighty percent chance that she would instantly attract the natives who had never seen Hollywood blockbusters to worship Xi Wei. Wouldn't she be able to ascend on the spot?
The answer was, of course, no.
For one, most citizens in major cities were true believers of a certain church, unlike the non-believers who would immediately convert to another church. In fact, it was only because the non-believers were once believers of the God of Games that they picked up the faith so quickly …
Secondly, most of the 'big cities' had already been taken over by the large churches, and the residents there must have seen all kinds of miracles. It was too much to think that they could attract people to come and serve them with some special effects.
Thirdly, and most importantly, Xi Wei was still too weak at the moment. If he rashly attracted the attention of the veteran gods, it would be good enough if he didn't explode on the spot, much less ascend …
Marni, who leveled up directly after completing the quest had thought that their progress would be much faster now that so many of them had become Players.
However, when he started moving forward again, he realized that he was wrong.
While almost eighty percent of the refugees had become believers of the God of Games and received blessings from Xi Wei, the System bonuses that Level 1 Players received were few and far between. Aside from increased resistance against abnormal statuses such as diseases and frostbite, there was little improvement in other aspects.
Even when night fell, the Players' journey was still far from satisfactory.
If they tried their best, they might reach the town in three days … but they would still lack a day's worth of food.
"Make a sled!" Xi Wei was stomping his feet anxiously in his Divine Kingdom (even though he didn't have legs). "You guys can make a few pieces of wood in an instant!"
If this continued, there might be refugee Players who would starve or freeze to death due to all sorts of accidents.
After all, the refugees who had just become Players were only Level 1 and had no EXP. If they died, they would be dead for real.
But when Xi Wei decided to give Marni a quest, he found that the guy had already fallen asleep …
"Should I give Lia a quest? No, that kid is too dumb and probably doesn't even know what a sled is … Sigh, looks like that's the only way. "
Xi Wei then turned to Marni, who was snoring away.
It was an uneventful night.
The next day.
"Oh, that thing you invented is so useful, Mister! It's just a few pieces of wood, but it's so easy! "
Lia couldn't help exclaiming in surprise as she tried out the sled Marni had rushed to make early in the morning. "How did you come up with that?"
"… I didn't invent it. It's a tool that's already available in the North, and I've been there to trade a long time ago."
Marni yawned widely, the dark circles under his eyes obvious. "I suddenly remembered it in my dream last night, so I rushed to make a few sets."
Of course, he couldn't tell the girl that the sleigh was created when he was sleeping last night. He dreamt that he was beaten up by a ball of light with tentacles. The ball of light shouted, "Build a sleigh, a sleigh, you idiot!" as it beat him up.
When he woke up from the fright, he thought it was just a normal dream. After keeping the sleigh incident in his mind, he fell asleep again not long after.
But when he fell asleep, he saw the luminous orb in his dream again, and was beaten up by it again. "How dare you come back when you haven't even finished making a sled?"
Marni was immediately jolted awake from his stupor.
After that, Marni didn't sleep for half the night, staying up all night to make a simple sled.
After preliminary tests, even this kind of crudely made simple sleigh could be used very well in the snow.
With the sled, the rest of the journey was much easier.
Marni directly took out the remaining portion of wheat biscuits and distributed it to the refugees, abandoning the carriages that were difficult to move in the snow and switching to a sled.
From the looks of it, they would reach the Unnamed Town by the evening if they hurried a little.
Far away in his divine kingdom, Xi Wei nodded in satisfaction at that.