Endless Abyss Ocean

Ye Qing's post included screenshots and recordings of Celesti as she desperately requested the help of any God out there, only to be connected with the Divine Venerate via establishing a thread of faith. Then, this thread of faith allowed the transfer of the lesser healing talisman's effect, which she shared with her elder brother.

Since this happened within Ye Qing's eyesight and earshot range, he could easily switch the perspective of the recordings as though he was standing nearby when it all happened.

In moments, the post kicked up a huge uproar.

…

[Wait! Wait! Who is this Mortal guy? Never heard of him???]

[Look! Look at the profile!]

[Yeah, ghost level… Who would ghost their level this early in the game?]

[Not the level, you fool! I'm talking about the vocation; he's a Talismans Master!]

[Oh shit, I just noticed it! Wait… why would anyone pick that vocation in this game?]

[I don't know. Yeah, that vocation is very taxing, it's like going out on a field trip with your friends and while everyone is exploring the jungle, you're stuck in a tent studying advanced quantum physics…]

[Are you all going to focus on this guy's vocation and ignore the game recording?]

[Now that you've mentioned it, we did indeed sidetrack a little…]

[A little? Jeez, people never learn how to mind their own business, what's it to you what his vocation is?]

[No like, seriously. Perhaps this vocation was a meme in the past, but don't forget about these floating academies all across the Holy Order Prefecture now, they would definitely sponsor Talisman Masters… I mean, their Goddess is a Talisman Master herself!]

[... I haven't thought about that. Yeah… If he got a good sponsorship, many guilds would compete over him in the future…]

[Hey! Idiot up there, don't you think you talk a little bit too much?]

[Haha! You just exposed the hidden agenda of many guilds! Bet they're spamming Mortal's account with lucrative offers as we speak.]

[Guys, the video…]

[Oh! Right, right, we got sidetracked again, haha…]

[Shit… That dude is seriously giving out blessings and shit…]

[Yeah, this is definitely more concrete evidence than Frankenstein's stream or the other guys in the area!]

[Can't be helped, they restructured very far, at least far enough to be considered a safe location…]

[Wait, do you mean to say Mortal survived that crash?! That's insane!]

[Well, he's a Talismans Master, it would be weird if he didn't have any defensive talismans to protect himself. Furthermore, the natives might have protected him due to his special status in the Holy Order Prefecture…]

[True, true…]

…

Just as some people speculate, Ye Qing's inbox was exploding with private messages and friend requests.

Even as he was dazed, Luke reached out to him with a telepathic message.

Luke: "You little… Why didn't you say you didn't die from the crash?! There's no way you could have recorded the scene otherwise!"

Ye Qing replied helplessly, "You guys never asked whether I died or not… Moreover, what difference does it make if I did die or not?"

Luke: "You had the perfect opportunity to stream the phenomenon, you'd have exploded with fans! Also, are you interested in…"

Ye Qing cut him off. "I'm not joining any guilds, save your breath!"

Luke: "… Fine! Anyway, that doesn't matter, just remember that if you ever feel like joining a good guild, let me know!"

Ye Qing suddenly asked, "What guild are you in anyway?"

Ye Qing knew that there was no way Luke's guild was just yet another 'good guild' as the latter's information network was too deep, yet he was running errands around in an isolated prefecture.

If any guild was large enough to branch out into different prefectures, that could only hint at how great their influence was in the home region. It wasn't just Luke, as Ye Qing suspected the identities of Quinton and Anna were just the same.

All this while, Celesti and Reiner continued to chat while eating the rations to recover a bit of energy. The former would sneak glances at Ye Qing from time to time only to find his expression to be in a daze, as though lost while thinking.

"Celesti, stop being rude."

Reiner commented offhandedly. Hearing the gentle reprimand, Celesti jolted for a bit and sheepishly lowered her head, feeling wronged.

It was at this moment that focus returned to Ye Qing's eyes. He smiled, dismissively waving his hand.

"It's fine; I was simply communicating with the other undying friends, so my expression was a little weird."

Celesti piped up softly, "Brother Mortal, can you really reach out to your undying friends regardless of time and distance? No matter what?"

Ye Qing was about to respond when a heavy droning noise weighed down on the rainforest from above. Looking up, it was a massive vessel slowly descending through the clouds.

Ye Qing was surprised. "They're already here?"

Reiner spoke up, "Our vessel might not have been the first to suffer from an ambush and reinforcements must have already been deployed. Unfortunately, they arrived a little too late."

Ye Qing understood, that might indeed be the case.

Celesti sighed in relief.

Very quickly, beams of light began to shoot down on the groups of people on the ground, indiscriminately transporting them onboard the vessel.

When a pillar of light descended, Ye Qing looked at Celesti and gave her a meaningful smile. The latter's heart squeezed a bit, but she nodded her head obediently nonetheless.

…

When Ye Qing next came to his senses, he found himself in an open stadium arena, surrounded by thousands of people; players and natives combined.

From tens of thousands to a few thousand, one can imagine the losses incurred by the ambush from the Crimson Nation. Moreover, a lot of people must have attempted to escape… No, their escape was most likely successful at this point as they gave up on joining the academy after this harrowing experience.

Ye Qing was very anxious at the moment; would they investigate everyone collectively?

The other natives were also quite anxious since they had basically betrayed the faith of Themis; how would the instructors of the academy treat them?

As for the players, they were excitedly grouping up and discussing fervently about Mortal and Lord Divine Venerate. One thing they were certain of was that Mortal should be within this group of talents, it was only a matter of time before they found him.

Luckily, Ye Qing put everything on his profile's display in ghost mode, and even his badge as a talisman apprentice was put away. He couldn't care less about preferential treatment at the moment, he was worried about the pair of siblings.

"Silence," a domineering, feminine voice weighed down on everyone. They collectively looked up, a woman with long emerald hair, hazel eyes, and a male military uniform stepped out on a high platform, her cold gaze sweeping the crowd.

"Only so little remained?" she muttered, perhaps to herself or to the fleet of instructors behind her.

Someone stepped up and whispered, "This is what remains after counting the dead and deserters… Furthermore, we have reasons to believe that Envoy Voidseye was captured alive; one of the Lesser Evils must have personally made a move."

The woman's beautiful eyes constricted as she muttered in disbelief, "Why would the Lesser Evils move out personally for a mere envoy?"

The instructor hesitated for a bit before reminding the woman in a hushed tone, "Madam… Sir Voidseye was born with an innate talent in space…"

The woman nodded; this made sense.

The instructor continued, "What about these people? Should we…"

She shook her head and waved her hand as switched to speak in a loud voice, "Everyone who chose to stay behind after this predicament no longer needs to go through the academic exams in the City of Storms; you'll officially be admitted to the Storm Floating Academy upon touch down."

The crowd below was at first shocked, then grew excited.

A player, in particular, raised his hand and shouted, "Beautiful Big Sister! Are we preparing for war with the Crimson Nation?!"

The instructors felt a chill run through their bodies and translate into thick beads of sweat on their backs.

Beautiful Big Sister? Is he tired of living? However, when they looked over and realized he was one of the undying people, they understood that this guy in particular wasn't tired of living nor afraid of dying.

The woman was also aware of the peculiar trait of these undying people, and how their traditions and mindset were a whole different story from the standard natives.

She smiled and said, "The Seven Prefectures and the Crimson Nation have been at war ever since the dawn of the Second Era during the First Epoch; they're like locusts and cockroaches."

The players, who had been clueless about the history of the realm, gasped.

The same player uttered in sheer disbelief, "You have all these prefectures and your Gods, yet you couldn't finish off these people?"

Whoosh!

Countless eyes like daggers focused on the player, causing him to shudder. Ye Qing sighed and rubbed his temples; what an idiot.

The woman, on the other hand, smiled faintly and didn't mind this tone of speech. "The influence of each deity is bound to their prefecture where faith is most saturated. As for the Crimson Nation, their base is located somewhere across the Endless Abyss Ocean, a deep body of water wrought with occasional yet infrequent magnetic storms."