The kobold willingly gave up his seat, but the other onlookers weren't as pleased, shouting that cutting in line wasn't allowed.
The boy in the black trench coat didn't get angry. Instead, he casually threw a handful of gold coins into the air.
Making it rain.
The boy's wealth had the crowd, for a moment, forgetting about the arcade machine. Even Maya, the vampire lady, discreetly joined in on the coin collecting frenzy. At that moment, her devotion to gold far surpassed any loyalty to the gods.
With the crowd distracted, the boy sat down at the machine.
As the lively, energetic rhythm of the game music played, the small red plane known as Thunderbolt once again popped up to the screen.
Minutes passed, the boy sat, with hardcold face, concentrated at destroying the coming planes.
When the boy saw Game Over appear for the first time, he adjusted his hat slightly.
"This seems to be something new."
"The things inside this game… actually die."
"And they have value?"
"Could something fictional also be real?"
The Kobold leaned in, curious: "Are you going to lose again on the second try?"
The boy replied, "Nah, I'll win."
After all, he was the God of Death. How could he lose to a machine? He was the true challenger here.
Five minutes later, Game Over flashed on the screen once again.
The handsome boy became completely absorbed, forgetting the passage of time. It wasn't until the crowd around him started to thin out, colloidal sunlight began to seep through buildings, that he noticed dawn had broken.
As the final game music played, the boy in the black trench coat finally stepped away from the arcade machine, letting the long-awaited players have their turn.
Although the dawn in the Gray Lands was still gray, as if the sun's rising didn't matter, the boy had already gotten everything he wanted.
"It really is fun."
That was the God of Death's assessment.
He had experienced happiness—something rarely felt, even when taking value from others. Watching people struggle at the peak and in the depths of life, constantly on the verge of suicide, was enjoyable, but it lacked a certain sense of involvement.
As for the man who almost polluted the Death Soul Pool, the God of Death temporarily revoked his right to die. The man now had an invincible period, and as for his debt, the God of Death decided to wipe it clean.
The handsome boy brushed past the trench coat man, who was still wandering aimlessly down the street. Stopping for a moment, he whispered:
"Your debt to death has been cleared. Consider it a reward for helping me find new source of value."
The man had no idea what just happened.
After the boy vanished, one of the other gods of this world, one who commanded a certain level of faith, reaped a value.
The God of Pain—a god true to his name. He thrived on all sources of pain, accepting any form of suffering with open arms.
At that moment, this god was spiraling into madness in his divine realm, screaming about unbearable pain. Suddenly, he received a surge of painful faith. Confused, he checked the regions under his influence, but there was no obvious source for this newfound suffering. He was now confused.
"How is there faith from an unknown region?"
"Is this a scam?"
———
Meanwhile, Ashur, who had been studying runes in his temple, burst into laughter.
His laugh sounded like a croaking, off-tune frog.
"The arcade worked really well this time. It means, the information I tagged it with works."
This plan was indeed effective. Everyone who had inserted game coins into his arcade machine had now become his shallow followers.
There are many ways to recruit believers. In this era, gods often resorted to offline preaching to attract followers, but they were always preaching the same meaningless stuff.
What could be faster than games to attract people?
Especially when, under the influence of his modified divine powers, the arcade machine can become a passive addiction.
Spiritual energy continuously flowed toward Ashur. He could feel the power of time, which had been encroaching upon him, gradually retreat. The once imminent threat of time now seemed to diminish.
At the same time, a few shallow believers appeared within his perception. Their spiritual energies were weak, indicating their status as lowly laborers.
[Faith from Kobold +9+3+11]
[Faith from Black Dwarf +7+6+11]
[Faith from Human +10+4+5]
[Faith from Troll +2+2+1]
[Faith from Minotaur +4+4+2]
[Faith from Iron Golem +20]
Faith values kept jumping before his eyes, and these could be broken down into individuals. Bored, Ashur clicked on each one, just like how a game developer secretly reads player reviews when a game launches.
'In any activity where imagination and coordination bring into existence something that doesn't originally exist in reality but is plausible, both the initiator of this fictional activity and the receiver or viewer of this fictional creation can generate fictional value.'
"So, using games to grow my faith is completely in line with the concept of fictional value, ideally bringing fictional creations into reality. In turn, I can gain all kinds of real value within the fictional world."
"Next, I can reduce prices, extend playtime, and scale up. I'll need to place more arcade machines in public spaces. Looks like I'll be pulling some all-nighters."
This was just a test, and based on the current feedback, it had been a highly successful one.
[Ding~]
A new notification popped up.
"Another believer?"
[Faith from the God of Death +22 (Black Faith). This faith is of exceptionally high value.]
[As a supreme god who commands the essence of death has granted you positive faith, you have gained the divine attribute "Curse Rejection"—you are now immune to curses from any gods beneath the supreme level.]
At first, the source was unknown, but the Enlightenment Rune engraved by terminal quickly stripped away the secrecy, revealing the detail behind the message.
[The God of Death has shown interest in your divine relics.]
[The God of Death's expectations for you have grown. While playing your arcade machine, he granted you divine faith and also extracted some Death Value from it—generated by the repeated deaths of the game characters controlled by players.]
In the vast macrocosm, there were nineteen entities known as True Gods. They were the highest tier of deities, overseeing countless lesser Evil Gods and representing various cosmic laws of the universe.
The fact that the God of Death himself had played Ashur's arcade game and provided positive feedback while granting part of his divine essence...
'Enlightenment Runes are that powerful?'
Ashur was pleasantly surprised, and a bold idea suddenly lit up in his mind—'what if I sell the game to all the gods?'
But for now, that wasn't feasible.
His focus shifted back to reality.
'Wait, what was that about', "value generated by the repeated deaths of game characters controlled by players?"
Ashur's second reaction was:
"Is this a bug exploit?"