Chapter 00280: Path of Pilgrimage
# Path of Pilgrimage
Chapter 280
Novel: AFK Game: Portal to Another World
Chapter 280: Path of Pilgrimage
For a person with no faith to suddenly have a holy emblem appear on their body, is that normal?
To be honest, it was not exactly rare.
Pan-believers and non-believers still made up the majority, so how to attract followers to follow them with unwavering devotion was something every god had to study.
Relying on mere words could only fool the easily swayed; you had to offer tangible benefits.
When a non-believer prayed, if that non-believer suited the needs of a particular deity, they would be given a small blessing.
This blessing was usually the ability to use some simple magic, or something like ‘steel skin’ to make one more durable, or ‘brute force’ to make one stronger.
The one who did this most often was actually the Goddess of Magic.
If she took a liking to you, she would grant you a Mage Hand or Minor Illusion.
It was like giving you a piece of candy first, then telling you, ‘It’s delicious, isn’t it? Come, come, believe in me.’
Of course, even a small blessing that was insignificant to a god was not given to just anyone.
It usually depended on whether the person praying fit the deity's preferences and requirements.
In the current situation, however, it was slightly different.
This was a temple of the Demon God, but not the current Demon God.
The previous Demon God was thoroughly dead, and His temple only had a tiny bit of divine power remaining.
In other words, it had lost its ability to discern, so as long as a non-believer prayed, they had a chance to receive a blessing.
Once the last bit of divine power was used up, the divine statue naturally could not hold on and thus collapsed.
The holy emblem that appeared on Nimia's lower back suddenly changed its appearance, which also proved that the original Demon God had disappeared and the new Demon God, Li Chengxi, had taken over all of the old Demon God's legacy.
That was why the holy emblem had changed.
Audel, unlike Viola, was not so enthusiastic about proselytizing.
Her goal was not to gain followers, but to confirm that the position of Demon God had completely changed hands.
This point seemed trivial, but it was actually very important.
Gods were difficult creatures to kill, and even if killed, there was a high probability they could be resurrected.
If a new god recruited followers in the name of an old god, when the divine power and faith accumulated to a certain extent, the old god could very well be resurrected from the new god's body.
This was not a fantasy, nor was it without precedent.
Since gods existed through faith, they could naturally be resurrected through faith.
That was why the best way to completely eliminate a god was to destroy their very existence.
If no one worshipped them and no one knew of them, that god would naturally fall.
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After advancing for several hours, even if their stamina could hold up, their mental energy would suffer.
Audel felt that she was getting closer and closer to the Ring of the Demon King.
Referencing Zola's experience, it was normal for something to be guarding the seal.
To ensure their combat effectiveness was not compromised, the group rested in the secret chamber for over an hour.
Compared to the outside, the secret chamber was relatively safe.
After a simple rest, the group embarked on their journey of exploration once more.
They passed through the empty room and continued forward.
They reached the end of the corridor.
Fortunately, this time the staircase was not blocked by a collapse.
Following the stairs down again, they were presented with an intersection with eight different paths.
One look and it was obvious this was a maze.
Mazes were the most common feature in things like ruins or underground cities.
They were effective at blocking intruders, cheap to build, and when combined with traps and guardians, their effectiveness multiplied.
For adventurers, navigating mazes was already the norm; they would even specifically train this skill.
Among the three adventurers, Nimia was the most enthusiastic, possibly due to the blessing she had just received.
She now felt full of strength.
This time, however, it was not the adventurers' turn to show off their specialty.
Audel fumbled around and took out the psionic crystal detector she had obtained from the nautiloid.
As soon as this black, soap-sized object was taken out, it immediately began to emit a long beep—beep—beep.
And when Audel held the box and turned it towards one of the eight paths, the beeping sound became more rapid.
"This way."
"Huh? Professor, you know the way?"
"I don't, but there was a hint."
The magic simulacrum they had just seen said one last thing: ‘The Heart Stone will tell you the answer.’
Psionics was, in fact, mind energy, and psionic crystals were naturally the Heart Stones.
Psionic crystals were almost useless to mages, and no one would specifically develop spells to detect psionic crystal deposits.
In this regard, the mind flayers were in a league of their own.
It was no wonder the Aurora Society had first guided Audel to the nautiloid.
The purpose was to obtain the psionic crystal detector.
Whenever they encountered a fork in the road, they used the psionic crystal detector to see which path produced the shortest beeps.
After repeating this several times, the group arrived in front of a huge stone door.
This stone door was almost ten meters high, its frame touching the ceiling, and its hinges seemed to have been stuck.
Delge had to exert a great deal of effort to finally push it open a crack.
Behind the door was another corridor, but much wider than the previous one.
The group also noticed that the ground was dotted with round hollows.
They did not look natural; when building a corridor, one would not intentionally use flawed stone for the flooring.
Audel squatted down and felt the size of a hollow, discovering that it could just about accommodate a knee.
This was a path of pilgrimage.
In the Mythic Era, people who walked here would kneel in worship to the Demon God every two steps.
Over time, hollows formed one by one on the ground.
Following this path of pilgrimage forward, after walking for about forty to fifty meters, the group found a doorway in the wall.
Inside was a room of about thirty square meters, filled with tables and chairs.
The walls still bore the marks of tools that were once hung there.
Nimia checked for traps and said:
"This should be a rest area, right?"
"How do you know? You're not a follower."
"I've seen one before. The Grand Temple of the Lord of Dawn has a similar setup, specifically for pilgrims to rest and drink water."
Perrin nodded from the side.
"Yes, we have them."
Audel listened to the conversation of the three, but she had a different opinion.
This was not a rest area.
Or rather, it might have been a rest area once, but not anymore.
She found the marks on the wall where tools had once been hung, and then looked at the carving marks left on the tables.
She then turned her gaze to the ceiling above, where there was a huge magic formation almost buried in dust, large enough to cover the entire room.
This was a Rune Room.
To put it bluntly, it was a place specifically for carving runes.
Magic runes had a wide range of uses.
Not only could they be used for casting spells, but also for creating magical artifacts, magic scrolls, and even potions.
But for one to appear next to a path of pilgrimage was very strange.
Without a god's permission, arbitrarily changing the purpose of a religious building could truly result in divine punishment.
But from the current traces, it was impossible to tell whether this modification was permitted by the god or done by someone on their own accord.
It was only known from the number of remaining carving marks that some kind of magic-related item had once been mass-produced here.
Audel's fingers traced along a table as she prepared to walk deeper into the room.
Just then, she suddenly felt a warmth on her chest.
The holy emblem hidden under her clothes seemed to be guiding her, leading her toward the innermost wall…
(End of this chapter)