Even though Jom's actions were clearly planned out by the System, the players didn't really do anything to him in the end. They had all seen the barren giant's suicidal strike, and they knew that the chocobos' annihilation wasn't their fault. Even if they did it again, it probably wouldn't change anything. After all, no one dared to stop the barren giant in that situation, and even if they did, they would probably end up buried under the rocks with the chocobos. Other than a few more bits of flesh, there wouldn't be much of a difference.
But when the players returned to the small village in the valley, they found that there were a lot more villagers than before. Hundreds of them were waiting for the players outside the village, and it was a frightening sight to behold. Some of the players even thought that their evil plan to ransack the village had been exposed, and the villagers were calling for reinforcements to come and beat them up …
Fortunately, the hunters who had returned to the village earlier came out to explain.
The village elder and the others were afraid that if the players lost the battle, the mountain bandits' wrath would return to the village, so they decided to go all out and borrow the carriages the players had left in the village to bring in reinforcements from the surrounding villages, preparing themselves for the worst.
But it didn't take long for the hunters to bring back the good news that the players had won, and so what was supposed to be a battle to the death turned into a huge carnival that included several nearby villages.
The Players learned all sorts of silly dances from random quests, which were highly sought after by the villagers during the banquets. Moreover, the villagers never got tired of the bizarre battle dances, to the point that they unanimously decided to continue the tradition as part of the Church of Games' celebrations.
While the players were celebrating, Xi Wei, who was far away in his Divine Kingdom, stared at the barren giant's orb in pain.
That thing couldn't be eaten, and it was still shrouded in the Lord of the Peaks' divine power, so it couldn't even be used as an offering to absorb divine energy. But the barren giant was an epic creature, and their corpses were hard to come by, so it wasn't a good idea to just throw it away … Either way, it was completely tasteless, and a pity to throw it away …
"What a loss, what a loss." He shook the ball of light, looking like a rich landlord who was worried about his property. "Not only did we not get much power of faith from the battle, but we also lost a Golden Legend. This is a huge loss."
That being said, he was actually quite happy for his players.
That was because this incident proved that even without the guidance of the quest, the Players could rely on their own abilities to accomplish such great feats among mortals.
Moreover, the Barren Giant's corpse could be ignored for now since it was the Players' spoils of war, and it was perfectly reasonable for them to give it to their god. Even the Lord of the Peaks wouldn't be able to say anything, and Xi Wei would be the one in the right to start a fight. At the very least, the Earthweaver wouldn't have a reason to fight, and Xi Wei had nothing to fear now that the Great Lion was helping him!
What really gave Xi Wei a headache was the other loot the Players obtained.
A Death Lamp.
It was an item that the Players wouldn't give to Xi Wei, which was why Xi Wei could only get a general sense of it.
According to Xi Wei's senses, this Lamp of Souls should be a sacred relic of the Necromancy Divine System.
There was a need to explain the difference between a sacred artefact and a sacred artefact.
Divine Artifacts were bestowed by the gods to their believers. They were the creations of the gods with great power. Most divine artifacts were weapons, which was why they were often described as' divine weapons'. Although many of the items the Players wore in the Church of Games were made by Xi Wei, they didn't satisfy the requirement of 'great power', nor did they have the blessing of divinity or Authority, which was why they weren't considered divine artifacts. If one had to put a finger on it, the Giant Toe Greatsword was probably the only one in the entire church that could be considered a divine artifact, and it was the weakest of them all.
If a divine artifact had to originate from a divine kingdom, then a sacred artefact would be a treasure created by the mortal realm. They were essentially treasures that had accumulated the power of faith from their believers and gained mystical abilities (basically abilities that corresponded to the authority of the gods they believed in). Most sacred artefacts weren't weapons, but objects that were consecrated in the church or beside the statues of the gods.
There was no absolute difference between the two. Among the sacred artefacts, there was the Apocalypse Rainbow that could easily crush a mountain, and the Giant Toe that could only repair the feet of the Barren Giant. Among the sacred artefacts, there was the Veil of Haoyu that could drown an entire city, and the Scarlet Golden Goblet that could only produce one liter of excellent red wine per day.
On the other hand, the Lamp of Death was the type that was neither weak nor strong.
It could collect the souls of others through a contract and use it as a wick, and when lit, it could provide a specific target with large amounts of life force to extend its life. Before the lamp went out, no matter how much damage the target suffered, as long as it didn't exceed the total amount of life force in the lamp, it wouldn't die.
The reason the Barren Giant ran to the bandit hideout before it died was probably because it wanted its master to extend its life. However, it ran away before it could do so, and the lamp was never used in the end.
The reason this thing was strong was because it was unkillable after being lit, and even if it was reduced to a pile of minced meat, it could still continue to hit people like a slime …
The reason this thing was weak was because it had to sign a contract with someone to replenish its soul, and it couldn't be replenished just like that.
Moreover, the contract was useless on the players. After all, as Xi Wei's believers, the players' souls would be directly sucked into the little black room in the divine kingdom after they died, which would conflict with the contract itself. Moreover, the gods had a higher priority than sacred artefacts, so the contract wouldn't work on the players.
That was getting off topic.
Anyway, Xi Wei had originally planned to not have anything to do with the Undead Pantheon — the Rotten Bones God's corpse was still stuffed in the juicer.
But the world was unpredictable. There was actually a believer of the Undead Pantheon among the mountain bandits, and the fact that they were able to obtain a sacred artefact meant that either the bandit leader had a high position in the Undead Pantheon, or he had stolen it from the Undead Pantheon.
Either way, it wasn't a good thing. The former would no doubt form a grudge with the Church, and Xi Wei might have to repeat the attack on the Rotten Bones Church again; the latter was now that the sacred artefact was in the hands of the players, the Church members would most likely target the players as well …
"What a pain in the ass … Although I don't have any right now." Xi Wei sighed. "Whatever, I'll just keep working hard to get stronger. If I could kill a Heavenly Father with a single punch, I wouldn't have to be this pain in the ass. "
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