Master the Abyss, starting from an apprentice priest.

Chapter 706 Returning to the Loyal Red Maple City!

"Pale Death Lord" Sather has gained a new angelic form on the path of [Glory]!
In this form, the "Angel of Death," Sasser, transforms all his power into "Radiance." The death that would normally be brought by the "Pale Death Lord" is instead brought by the "Angel of Death" in this form, a kind of "false death."

Similar to causing a state of unconsciousness and a long, eternal sleep—although Sasser's angelic form in the [Radiant] destiny is the "Angel of Death," in reality, he does not truly bring death. On the contrary, he brings "the rejection of death," plunging his enemies into a state indistinguishable from "death."

Just like complete, death-like sleep, that is the essence of "rest".

This is indeed what Luo Xiu needs right now.

Under Sather's "Angel of Death" ability, he can obtain large numbers of extraordinary individuals and saints who are kept in a "near-death" state.

Those can all serve as reserve talents for one's own "mad piety" transformation, and in many situations, it is necessary to leave survivors, so the abilities of "Angel of Death" Sather are quite crucial.

Luo Xiu was thinking about these things.

He was satisfied with Sather's new [Radiant] angel form. He carefully reviewed the contents of "Angel of Death" one last time, then closed the panel.

Currently, "Pale Death Lord" Sather is still stabilizing his power to ascend to "Primordial Demon," and Luo Xiu is in no hurry to summon him back and manifest the form of "Angel of Death."

There was plenty of time and opportunity afterward, and Luo Xiu still had more than a dozen high-level blank scrolls left. So he continued to inscribe them, creating several new skills as an expansion of his skills at the "Seventh Destiny" level.

Only after using up all the blank scrolls he had reserved did Luo Xiu rise from in front of the golden throne, activate the inscription, and leave the Holy Abyss.

With nothing more to do, he focused on continuing his journey—flying back towards Red Maple City high in the sky with Pegasus, the "Golden Pegasus."

……

May 7, morning.

Songyuan, a border town, is home to the city of red maple leaves.

Red Maple City, which had been tense and on high alert throughout the entire "War of Judgment," was unusually lively and festive on this day—all the residents of Red Maple City, as well as the guards and clergy stationed there, had received the news in advance.

—Rossi Carlos, the true leader of Red Maple City and once everyone’s “bishop,” is about to return from the capital to Red Maple City!
And that Bishop Rosh is no longer just a bishop; in the Holy See, he is now a "cardinal bishop."
In the empire, he was already a "marquis" personally conferred by the emperor, and the youngest "red-crowned prince";
In the soon-to-be-established "Saint Carlos Territory," he will be the "Lord" above millions, and the only "Radiant Wise King" of the "Saint Carlos Territory"!
This news had already been communicated to everyone in advance by Holy Deacon Hubert, who had returned from the capital.

These past few days have been incredibly busy for Hubbard. He not only informed everyone of Luo Xiu's impending return, but also had to settle the "Descendants" who returned from the capital at the same time as him, as well as the expeditionary force.

In addition, several distinguished guests have arrived in Red Maple City. However, the "Heavenly Ring Paladin" Daveld is not present. He has gone to Pine Plains City ahead of Lord Gawain's Pine Plains Expeditionary Force. Therefore, these distinguished guests will need to be received by Hubert personally.

Meanwhile, in Red Maple City, the "High Priest" Anthony, who had been stationed there, fully cooperated with the Holy Deacon Huber to arrange all the preparations for Red Maple City before Luo Xiu's true return.

This includes upcoming personnel changes and arrangements, as well as a grand ceremony to welcome back "Radiant King" Rosius Carlos.
This also includes contacting and inviting important figures from both inside and outside the soon-to-be-established "Saint Carlos Territory," as well as planning ahead for the numerous construction projects within the "Saint Carlos Territory," and so on.

These are all massive undertakings. Huber and Anthony had started making arrangements a few days in advance, and by today, they were almost all in place. Before Luo Xiu's actual return, they could proceed in an orderly manner.

This is the work that has been carried out in Red Maple City—right in the church—over the past few days.

Now, the entire Red Maple City is waiting—

Everything is ready to welcome the return of their "Glorious Wise King"!

……

"Little train—"

Outside Red Maple City, a voice called out to Thomas from behind.

Thomas turned around and saw his good teammates—Big Crocodile, Soybean, and Alicia—all wearing new gear and looking quite happy.

About a week ago, the "Guardians of the Saints" players followed the Holy Deacon Hubert back to Red Maple City from the capital.

The Songyuan Expeditionary Force has the largest number of "Descendants" in the entire empire. Most of the "Descendants" in the Songyuan Expeditionary Force are either "Guardians of the Holy Spirit" under the Church or other Destiny Players who rely on the Church.

When Hubert returned from the capital, he brought tens of thousands of "Descendants" and the expeditionary force back to Red Maple City. This brought new life and vitality to Red Maple City, which had been serving as a supply base for the war in the later stages of the "Judgment War," making it much more lively.

Most players already own property in Red Maple City. For example, Thomas bought a small villa with an estate with the money he saved during the Judgment War; and he and the members of the "Radiant Realm" guild pooled their money to buy an entire medium-sized estate near the city center, which they used as the guild's daily meeting place.

Big Crocodile and Alicia, two of the core players of "Radiant Realm", have also purchased properties in Red Maple City.

Only Soybean—Thomas knew—had taken all his money and invested it in the Gold Country Bank.

As a result, he lost everything—he made an investment that was no less lucrative than joining the National Revolutionary Army in 1949. At the time, the "staff" of the Gold Country Bank touted the investment as incredibly attractive to soybeans, leading him to go all in on soybeans.

The next day, the other party absconded, and the entire investment plan went bankrupt. So Huang Dou went to the Gold Country Bank to find the employee, only to find that there was no such employee at all. The employee was actually a fake employee hired by the company that was about to abscond.

Investment bankruptcy is actually not so bad.

The problem is that Huang Dou used leverage to borrow money from Gold Country Bank, and he even ended up with a huge debt because of the leverage. Now, he has been blacklisted by Gold Country Bank, which refuses to provide him with any investment or lending services. In fact, people come to his door every day to offer him help.

Originally, Huang Dou, like Thomas, Alicia, and the Crocodile, owned property in Red Maple City and bought a small villa in the suburbs.

However, the Golden Country Bank has now reclaimed Huang Dou's property in accordance with the contract and through compliant means, which has resulted in Huang Dou being unable to return to his own residence. He now usually lives in "Holy Abyss" or in a dormitory arranged by the church.

If the debt collectors from the Gold Country Bank pressed him too hard, Soybean would run to Thomas's or the big crocodile's villa to lay low for a while—Thomas and the big crocodile didn't seem to mind, but every time Soybean came to their house for refuge, he would inevitably be mocked by them.

Thomas turned around and saw his teammates, so he stopped and turned away.

Soon, the crocodile, Alicia, and Soybean arrived before him. The crocodile said:

“We just went to the church and received a number of reasonably well-paid quests from the bishop’s seat. We were just about to leave the city and go to the designated quest location to do some quests when we saw you.”

"Hey little train, wanna come along?"

Recently, the Church's bishops have issued numerous commissions to their "Guardians"—most of which can be categorized into two types: either to eliminate the remaining Black Army remnants and heretics entrenched and lurking around Red Maple City, or to participate in the construction of Red Maple City and its surrounding towns and fortresses.

The latter is easier to complete and more suitable for most players. However, for players at the level of Thomas, Big Crocodile, Alicia, and Soybean, it's clear that carrying out various extermination missions yields greater rewards.

"How many?" Thomas blurted out. The crocodile opened the panel, quickly scrolled to the several accepted commissions, and said to Thomas:

"The mission experience is about 200,000 to 300,000, but that's secondary... Hmm. There are four missions in total, all of which can be completed simultaneously along the way. The total reward is about 200 gold, plus a skill scroll that can be specified, and three 'rare' quality materials."

Alicia nodded, then looked at Thomas and continued in her distinctive, emotionless voice:

"Captain Connor told us that if we could capture the leader on the other side alive, who, according to intelligence, is a 'Fallen Leader' with a fourth destiny, the commission would be doubled... Hmm, the captain also emphasized the importance of that Fallen Leader... Hmm, it seems he knows the exact hiding place of an 'Executioner' lurking nearby."

“Oh.” Thomas nodded.

Thomas's current savings amount to about 30 to 40 times his current 200 gold, but there's never too much commission he can earn.

Indeed, the total reward for the several commissions was two hundred gold coins, which was quite a generous reward.

Thomas is already preparing for the arrival of version 2.0 and for the "Descendants" to unlock the "Fourfold Destiny"—he has already secured a "Golden Key" based on his outstanding achievements during the "Judgment War," which will allow him to directly advance to the Fourfold Destiny.

Furthermore, Thomas was also thinking—in fact, right after they completed their "main quest," [The Judgment War], a countdown appeared in the "Main Quest" section of their quest panel.
With less than a month left until the countdown ended, Thomas initially guessed that it might be the launch time for version 2.0. However, judging from the current signs, launching version 2.0 in less than a month might be too early. He then thought that it might be the "end time" for version 1.0.

Thomas had already figured it out; perhaps the appearance of these "Descendants" in the background setting of "God's Destiny" was to resolve every major version crisis. Now that the main quest of version 1.0 has been completed, these "Descendants," according to the setting, might disappear for a period of time, that is, "server maintenance."

If that's the case, then he only has less than a month left to prepare for version 2.0... Thomas thought.

He then pondered for a moment and said to his teammates in front of him:

"Okay, I'll take it. Then it'll be the same as before: the rest of us will get less commission, the bulk of the commission will go to Dou'er, and then Dou'er's materials and scrolls will be split equally among us. It'll be the same when we search the strongholds."

"Hmm, that makes sense." The crocodile nodded.

"Where's Alicia?" Thomas asked, looking at her.

“Agreed.” Alicia nodded as well.

Everyone looked at Huang Dou, who still had a grinning expression on his face, and said:
"It's already a convention, a convention! Oh, right—I want cash, not deposits, especially not deposits in the Gold Country Bank..."

"Pfft." Thomas couldn't help but laugh, and the crocodile and Alicia laughed too, filling the air with a joyful atmosphere.

"You should be glad you're a player, Dou'er~"

Thomas smiled at Soybean and said:

"The bank can't really do anything to you, they're just offering you a helping hand, they can't actually ban your account... If all else fails, you can just log off right now, the big shots in the Golden Kingdom can't reach into the motion-sensing pod—"

“Indeed.” Huang Dou nodded.

His expression suddenly turned sorrowful, and he looked at Thomas with an almost indignant look, saying:
"But, but! I heard that the Gold Country Bank has already submitted supporting documents to the church—if the church doesn't protect me and exposes me, this bank will be truly ruined!"

"Quack, I don't want to be expelled from the church, I don't want to actually play jungle!"

"It seems like I don't have much debt left... Hmm, just over three thousand... If I do another forty or fifty commissions and sell some of my treasured equipment, I should be able to pay it off, principal and interest..."

"..."

"puff."

This time, it was Alicia's turn to laugh out loud—

“You’ve come here to pay off your debts, Dou’er.”

"However, it's pretty much the same. Let's go. You can expect to seize a huge sum of money from that 'leader,' and then you can pay off all your debts..."

“Indeed.” Huang Dou nodded solemnly.

His right hand reached for the bracelet on his left wrist, gently stroking its surface, and he retrieved his "epic" quality staff from it, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

He seemed even more excited than before he incurred his debts and prepared for the various "trial wars." It was as if Alicia's words weren't just a possibility, but a certainty—he was convinced he would discover the "Head's" treasury and then pay off all his debts in one go!

It's on fire! It's really ignited! .jpg
And so, the players mounted their horses and galloped toward their predetermined goal.

……

Shortly after Thomas, Big Crocodile, and the others left Red Maple City.

Above Red Maple City, at midday when the sun was blazing, a beam of light as bright as the sun itself pierced the sky.

A bright and dazzling meteor suddenly streaked across the sky, and in everyone's sight, the meteor grew larger and larger, rapidly approaching the direction of Red Maple City.

At first, the city guards showed great fear at the sudden appearance of the "meteorite" in the sky. But soon, as the "meteorite" fell closer to Red Maple City and reverberated more loudly in everyone's ears, some veterans who had returned from the battlefield of the trial saw the figure of the descending being clearly.

People's expressions gradually changed from fear to joy, and then to excitement.

"It's the bishop!"

"It's...it's the bishop! Bishop Rosh Carlos!"

Someone shouted, raising their arms high towards the sky, and the crowd gradually began to cheer like a tidal wave:
“Our bishop… no, our wise king!”

"It's Rosh Carlos! It really is him, it really is him!"

"—Our wise king has returned!"

……

(End of this chapter)