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"Are you sure it\'s a god? Not some... bizarre dream?"

"It felt incredibly real! The delicious wine, the beautiful music, and the paradise-like abode! And John, I had never even heard of the name Aeolus before. Until now, I have no idea what this name truly means."

...

"Clearly, this is a sign. If this doesn\'t count as a sign, then what does? A dream so real, coupled with a physical transformation, it must signify something!"

"Does it signify that your little friend Exiled Immortal has really become a god? Come on, John, don\'t make me laugh."

Seraphina barely held back her laughter.

Taking a deep breath, she looked John in the eye and asked, "Do you even understand what the word \'god\' means?"

John shrugged and tentatively replied, "Unparalleled power?"

"What? No! Of course not! Well, unparalleled power is only a small part of it. The truly important thing is responsibility.

\'To whom much is given, much will be required.\'

Do you understand what this means?

The prerequisite for having great power is the unavoidable responsibility that comes with it.

Do you think gods are just a bunch of immortal beings with monstrous power playing house, with Mount Olympus being their sandbox?

Of course not!

That responsibility will bind you tightly! There will never be a day of rest. Let\'s take a simple example.

Take some gods you are familiar with: Aeolus, the god of wind and rain, whose daily task is to deliver timely winds and rains to the world, ensuring the growth of crops, holding up the sky and clouds, and driving the change of seasons.

And then there\'s Astreos, the god of stars.

The myriad stars in the sky move under her control, rising and setting, the tides ebbing and flowing.

This is a long, unending responsibility with no day of rest.

Do you think facing the same scene every day, performing repetitive mechanical tasks, watching the stars rise and set, and the breeze carrying the clouds, is something interesting?"

"I can tell you responsibly that this so-called responsibility is absolute nonsense. They are given power, and there must be a chain tightly locking their necks. It is what you humans often talk about... freedom."

"That sounds quite tragic. So, were you once one of them? Otherwise, how would you know so much?"

John shrugged, looking into Seraphina\'s eyes, and smiled, "Let me guess, you wouldn\'t happen to be a discarded or besieged god, left with only this pathetic remnant of a soul struggling to survive, would you?"

Seraphina: "..."

"Oh my... did I really guess right?"

"Although I hate the way you describe that past, it\'s not far off."

"Sorry, I didn\'t mean it that way..."

"It\'s okay. I decided long ago to say goodbye to that past, so... it doesn\'t matter anymore. Let\'s return to the original topic, shall we?

Regarding what you said about [gods] continuously interfering in this game and granting their powers to more people, it\'s not impossible, but I think it\'s unlikely. You might want to observe a bit more."

"More observation? Astreos, Aeolus, and even Ares, the god of war—just around me, there are already three examples. Is that still a coincidence?"

"This game shouldn\'t have any party overstepping or interfering. So, until there is concrete evidence, I\'m sorry I can\'t give you any definitive answers. However, I have to advise you a bit. If, and I say if, gods are indeed interfering in this game, it means you need to be careful.

Perhaps, in some place you are unaware of, the development of the situation has already exceeded everyone\'s imagination, forcing the gods to intervene secretly."

Hearing this, John suddenly realized.

No wonder, when he saw Lily, Qing, and now Exiled Immortal displaying god-like powers, he felt an inexplicable unease. Now, John finally grasped the key point.

"Your point is..."

"Think carefully. In this game, what are you truly fighting against? Time? Heh, as far as I know, those three sisters have always been neutral. Someone wants to intervene in this game ahead of time. Maybe they find it boring, or maybe they\'re afraid of losing.

But you should understand that the reason doesn\'t matter. What matters is the outcome.

How dire the situation has become and how much time you have left. That\'s all I have to say.

Stop trying to forcibly wake me. Without replenishing my strength, my remnant soul will only grow weaker. I must survive through sleep."

With that, Seraphina\'s figure became increasingly ethereal until she nearly vanished.

"What can I do to help you?"

"You can\'t help me. Well, maybe you can? If you bring me more soul essence, it might alleviate my troubles."

"Soul essence? The souls of the dead? What do you need that for?"

"Of course, to shatter them and use the power contained in their souls to repair my body. What else? Revive them? Haha... I will never go through that again!"

As she finished speaking, Seraphina gave John no chance to ask more questions and directly expelled him from the world inside the Eternal Alchemy Bible.

After a moment of daze, John took a deep breath and rubbed his temples in frustration.

"First [Apocalypse], then that mysterious [Lord of Abyss], and now even [gods] are getting involved. Great, who\'s next? God or Satan?"

"They belong to a different pantheon from us!"

"I know, no need to remind me!"

John snapped back at Seraphina, struggling to stand up. He needed to process this massive amount of information; otherwise, it would drive him mad.

"How about... getting a drink?"

With that thought, John logged out and returned to the real world.

As his body grew stronger and his stats improved, the intervals between his returns to the real world to replenish his stamina lengthened.

Even if he didn\'t eat for months, he would be fine.

But now, he just wanted to get drunk.

Luckily, during his last trip to the downtown supermarket, John had found quite a bit of alcohol.

"Ah... so what are we really fighting against?"

John had thought that as the game progressed and his strength continued to grow, the answer to this question would gradually come to the surface.

But the truth was, the more he knew, the more shackles attached to that answer, and he had no clue where the key to those shackles was.

Perhaps, as [Deception] had said, only when he finally had the power to face [gods] directly, to gain power equal to theirs, would he be qualified to leave the identity of a pawn and become a player in the game.

But this process seemed to be too long.

...

The next morning, John slept in for the first time in a while, not in the game world\'s sleep mode where one\'s eyes close and open again at the set time, but truly, lying in his sleeping bag, in his favorite position, finally sleeping deeply.

To be honest, it felt really nice.

It wasn\'t until this moment that John could somewhat understand why so many players, even though they don\'t feel hunger or fatigue in the game world, still prefer to return to the real world at night.

Only under the starlit sky could they truly feel the vitality of life, with a heart that continuously leaps, hot and real, rather than just a string of code.

When John returned to the game world, an announcement appeared that abruptly ended his worries.

"Major Event — Dragon Hunt Countdown: 4 hours, 7 minutes, 14 seconds."

Finally!

After a long wait, John\'s long-anticipated second Dragon Hunt event was finally starting!