Chapter 00026: Purification
# Purification
Chapter 26
Novel: AFK Game: Portal to Another World
Chapter 26: Purification
On the other side of the screen, Li Chengxi was staring at the druid who suddenly collapsed onto the ground, a bit confused.
"Did that guy not get enough calcium or something?"
Fortunately, even if he really was calcium-deficient, it didn't stop the druid from using Animal Communication to chat with a pigeon.
Through the pigeon's retelling, Li Chengxi managed to understand what had happened.
To put it simply, a group of followers of the Plague Goddess had done an absolutely shitty thing by attacking the long-inhabited forest of the Tree Elves and contaminating the springwater.
The toxic water was now poisoning the Tree Elves and other fairies living in the area.
It hadn’t spread yet only because Springlight Woodland was protected by druidic magic—basically covered by a magical dome.
But as time passed, the druids’ magic would lose effectiveness.
When that happened, the poisoned water would seep through and endanger the whole forest.
If it entered the underground water vein, nobody could say how far the damage would go—for all they knew, by that time, the Tree Elves would either have had to relocate or would've already died off.
These people had wanted to get in touch with Viola because they’d heard that the god she worshipped had easily driven off thousands of bandits.
They thought the Demon God might be able to solve this too.
That was pretty much the gist of it.
After reading the Tree Elves’ explanation, Li Chengxi moved his mouse and shifted the camera to that massive pond in the forest.
Honestly, he had noticed the purple-colored pond from the beginning but had assumed the color was normal.
I mean, come on, these secret forest locations always needed something that looked kinda fantasy, right?
He right-clicked on the water.
The dialogue box that popped up read: “Water source contaminated by the Divine Power of the Plague Goddess.”
So that was the problem.
But then again—how on earth was he supposed to solve this?
If it were just some monster, Li Chengxi could directly reach in and crush it with his hand.
But purify a water source…
He did recall that one of the divine arts he could grant included something like “Purify Water,” but using just a divine art probably wouldn’t be enough—not when it clearly said the water was tainted by the power of a goddess.
Right-clicking on it again brought up no other usable options.
Li Chengxi was stumped.
“Purify… Clean Water? I wonder if water purification tablets would work.”
Those things could be bought at any pharmacy.
Normally used for disinfecting water storage tanks or for sterilizing drinking water in the wilderness.
And they were cheap too—only a few bucks for a big bottle on the online shop.
“Doesn’t matter if it works or not, trying it won’t get me pregnant.”
With that, Li Chengxi turned the camera back to the Tree Elves and picked up his headset to talk to the pigeon.
“I have a method, but there’s no guarantee it’ll work. I also have some requests.”
The druid population in the Tree Elf tribe could surely be of help to Princess Viola.
——
“Elder Sister, what’s Uncle Muer and the others doing?”
Lia was holding her sister’s hand, watching a group of people hauling wood and busily working by the pond, confused.
“They’re building an altar, Lia. Don’t go bother them, okay?”
Lia nodded hard, showing that she’d behave.
The Demon God’s requests were surprisingly simple.
He asked to be allowed to spread his faith in Springlight Woodland, to be able to request the help of the druids when necessary to assist Princess Viola, and for the Tree Elves to begin trade with the people of the city.
Though that sounded like a lot, for the Tree Elves, these were all perfectly acceptable demands.
The Elder of the Tree Elves couldn’t believe his ears and asked again and again just to confirm—was that really all that was needed?
After getting confirmation, the Demon God also said he would need about half an hour to make preparations. (This was the time Li Chengxi needed to make a pharmacy run.)
The Tree Elves automatically assumed that the Demon God needed an altar to act directly—something akin to a medium—so they hurried to bring over wood to build one by the pond.
Given the time crunch, the altar couldn’t exactly be a work of fine craftsmanship.
The Tree Elf most skilled in carving was now gritting his teeth as he worked on the divine statue based on the Holy Emblem tied to the pigeon’s leg.
That statue was the most important part of the altar and would temporarily turn the entire area into a Temple.
Just like in the Chapel, where divine arts granted by Li Chengxi would consume less Faith Points, operating near the altar now would also lower the cost of Faith Points.
From this perspective, the Tree Elves had accidentally made the right move.
Faced with a life-threatening crisis, everyone was moving quickly.
Before long, the wooden divine statue stood upright.
They decorated it with piles of flowers, fruit, and leaves, giving it a pretty solid Harajuku vibe.
All the remaining Tree Elves, fairies, and even some of the wild beasts that lived in Springlight Woodland knelt behind the altar and began whispering their prayers.
Time passed by, and just as the agreed-upon time neared, those praying looked up to see a light orb appear above the polluted pond.
“It’s the Demon God, He’s acting!”
Every creature—truly every life form—looked up.
Then they saw a whole pile of white tablet-like pieces drop from the orb.
There were quite a few, probably close to a hundred.
“Could be some sort of medium the God uses to cast a spell.”
The druids tried to justify it, but almost nobody was listening.
They were all watching the tablets plop into the polluted water and immediately start giving off a hissing sound.
The surface of the pond was bubbling and roiling like it was boiling.
With a loud boom, the water exploded.
A huge cluster of purple-black, filth-colored smoke, sparkling with impure divine light, twisted its way upward from the surface.
Suddenly, a fierce wind blew along the pond, as if even the sunshine overhead had dimmed.
The creatures kneeling behind the altar were thrown back by the gusts.
“Back! We need to move back further!”
The druids summoned vines to pull away those who couldn’t move on their own.
Everyone retreated by twenty or thirty meters before the wind seemed to weaken.
“What is that?”
“That’s the Plague Goddess’s Divine Power.”
The druids stared at the storming smoke and explained to those around them.
“She’s been provoked. Be on your guard. Don’t get caught in a god battle.”
Just as those words fell, everyone saw the light orb above the pond suddenly expand, becoming a sort of protective shield that covered the pond completely.
The Plague Goddess’s Divine Power thrashed wildly within it, but every time it slammed against the protective shield, the smoke seemed to weaken bit by bit.
“The Plague Goddess… was suppressed right from the beginning?”
——
On his side of the screen, Li Chengxi quickly pulled his hand out—he had nearly tossed the entire medicine bottle into the scene along with the tablets.
That would’ve looked like he was littering.
These purification tablets were supposedly more effective than the normal ones.
A hundred tablets per bottle, only fifteen yuan.
That was retail price, too—cheap and plentiful, for sure.
But whether they’d actually work or not, Li Chengxi wasn’t entirely sure.
Worst case scenario, he could just suggest that the Tree Elves drink more hot water.
He tossed the empty bottle into the trash and looked back at the screen.
The light purple, pixelated pond was bubbling and hissing—seemed like the purification tablets were kicking in.
A cloud of purple smoke rose off the surface, nearly filling the zoomed-in camera view.
“Pretty sure that wasn’t in the product description.”
He kinda wanted to check the packaging and see if smoke was a normal side effect.
But just then, the screen shifted again.
The cloud of purple smoke disappeared.
In its place appeared a bunch of different-colored bubbles, along with a singular controllable bubble at the bottom of the screen.
“Wait a minute... isn't this just Bubble Shooter?”
Sure, the details were a bit different, but the gameplay was basically the same.
AAI had done an excellent job when it came to the game’s fine details, but tossing in this kinda casual mini-game felt weirdly out of place.
Still, grumbling was one thing—Li Chengxi had nowhere official to send a complaint anyway.
He flexed his fingers and grabbed the mouse.
Bubble Shooter was something he used to play back in elementary school during computer class.
He knew the game like the back of his hand.
(End of Chapter)