Chapter 00287: The Temple is Complete
# The Temple is Complete
Chapter 287
Novel: AFK Game: Portal to Another World
Chapter 287 The Temple is Complete
The temperature grew colder and colder.
When the day marked ‘Great Snow’ on the calendar arrived, snow finally began to drift down from the sky.
Li Chengxi stood inside his convenience store, enjoying the comfort of the heating, watching the heavy snow whirl outside the glass window.
The pedestrians on the road hurried along.
He felt very much at ease.
A few more days had passed since Audel ran off to find the Ring of the Demon King.
These past few days had been very calm.
Nothing had happened in the game; it was completely in an idle state.
Qian Sen hadn't called Li Chengxi at all either.
Checking the news, the world was still the same.
At most, there was occasional news about armed conflicts breaking out in some region or another, but overall, it was still peaceful.
The matter of the gods descending upon Earth didn't seem to have entered the public eye.
Perhaps his Section Nine colleagues around the globe were all working hard.
After standing at the entrance for a while, the cold draft blowing in from the gap in the door was a bit chilly.
Li Chengxi returned to his seat behind the cash register.
On the new computer's screen, Viola could be seen standing before a newly completed building.
She held the Holy Emblem of the Demon God high, loudly leading the commoners below in prayer.
This newly completed building was the Temple of the Demon God.
Its main structure was built from stacked round logs, giving it a Viking vibe, or perhaps the art style of Skyrim from The Elder Scrolls.
It couldn't be considered grand in size.
The entire temple could really only accommodate one large divine statue, plus some living quarters in the back.
It was about the size of a small country church.
Of course, Viola wanted to build a magnificent, large temple, but material conditions simply didn't allow for it.
The Leon Territory was too barren.
Labor was already scarce, and there was a whole pile of infrastructure projects waiting.
Even after capturing many prisoners of war to serve as laborers, building a large temple was just a thought.
However, this was, after all, the first true temple.
Its commemorative significance was far more important than its appearance.
Li Chengxi, on the other hand, didn't really care about the temple's size; he didn't even consider it a major event.
But Viola considered it very important and had specially organized a grand ritual of worship.
Watching the endless stream of ‘Gàn!’ and ‘Cǎo!’ pop up on the screen, one could roughly understand why Li Chengxi wasn't very concerned...
As the ritual proceeded, Royal Guards brought over the final stone brick, which even had a red silk ribbon tied to it to signify its importance.
This was much like a leader's ribbon-cutting ceremony; what mattered was the sense of ritual.
As the self-proclaimed Archbishop, Viola had to be the one to lay the temple's final brick.
Only then would the temple be considered successfully completed and ready for use.
Li Chengxi watched Viola happily lay down the brick, as if he were watching the evening news, accompanied by the cheers of the assembled followers.
It didn't seem like a very important matter.
Li Chengxi was just casually watching and was about to turn his head to look at Yang Yiyi on the old computer.
But at that moment, a dialogue box suddenly popped up on the screen.
‘The Temple has been constructed.
Begin setup?’
What could you even set up for a temple?
Li Chengxi's interest was immediately piqued.
He picked up the mouse and clicked ‘Yes’.
A new interface immediately popped up.
On the upper left was a thumbnail of the entire temple, and below it was written:
‘Faith Point acquisition increased by 5%’
‘Cost and requirements for bestowing Divine Arts reduced by 10%’
‘Followers of hostile deities are weakened by 10% upon entering the temple’
There were still many empty spaces below, but only these three attributes were listed.
The temple was probably just too small.
If it were a large temple, the attributes would likely be better.
On the right side was a box with many empty spaces, and to the right of that was a dropdown menu.
This time, there were many more options.
For instance, the Faith Point acquisition bonus increased in increments of 10%, 15%, and 20%.
Besides that, he could also see high-end attributes like ‘Followers are automatically healed upon entering the temple’, ‘Automatically enchant weapons and armor offered in the temple’, and ‘Automatically generate Temple Guards’.
However, clicking on these attributes would prompt ‘Insufficient temple slots’.
The box with many empty spaces was the slot grid.
Different buffs required different amounts of space.
It was like playing Tetris, fitting attributes of different shapes and sizes into the grid.
Naturally, a small temple had fewer slots, while a large temple would surely have more.
Li Chengxi had seen similar setups in mobile games.
The biggest challenge with this kind of gameplay was how to maximize the use of the limited slot space.
After fiddling with it for a few minutes, Li Chengxi chose ‘Faith Point acquisition increased by 15%’, ‘Healing effect of Divine Arts increased by 10%’, and ‘Devotion growth increased by 1’.
Since it was a small temple and the slot space was truly insufficient, Li Chengxi didn't pick any of the flashy options that required a lot of space.
He chose the three that felt the most practical.
–‐‐——–‐‐——
Demon Lord Calendar, Year 648.
September 11th, morning.
“Praise the Lord Demon God!”
“Gàn!”
“Praise the Lord's grace!”
“Cǎo!”
Wearing a laurel crown and a long golden robe, Viola led the populace in loud praise.
The commoners below all responded with either ‘Gàn!’ or ‘Cǎo!’, making it feel like some kind of cult gathering.
The completion of this temple was extremely important to Viola.
If conditions had allowed, she would have conscripted laborers to build it long ago.
Although it was only a small temple, it represented the return of the Demon God and held great historical significance.
Watching the cheering populace below, Viola swore in her heart that she would definitely drive out the invaders and spread the Lord's glory throughout the entire world.
She saw Zola bring the final brick and raised a hand to the crowd.
“The Temple will soon be complete, and the Lord's glory will grace every single person!”
The followers below once again erupted in fervent cheers.
They might not understand the value of faith, but they knew that the Demon God's existence had earned them benefits.
This alone was enough to win the people's support.
Viola held the satin ribbon, lifted the final brick, and placed it at the temple entrance.
“The Temple will be open to all. Regardless of wealth or status, everyone has the right to believe in the Lord.”
This statement once again ignited the passion of the populace.
The people shouted ‘Gàn!’ and ‘Cǎo!’ in unison, and the scene was on the verge of losing control.
Viola was just about to signal the Royal Guard Shelly, who was standing on the periphery, to maintain order, when Audel, beside her, tugged on her sleeve.
She was about to tell Audel not to fool around when she saw the sunlight seem to converge on the temple's roof, forming a massive halo of light.
The cheering populace was also stunned into place.
For a moment, the scene fell deathly silent.
After four or five seconds, the massive halo on the roof burst open, transforming into a huge pillar of light that shot straight into the clouds.
The few thin clouds in the sky were torn apart by the impact, revealing a perfectly circular hole.
Immediately after, the pillar of light shattered, turning into a sky full of light that rained down from above.
And standing at the grand entrance of the temple, Viola could see a golden light flowing over the tall divine statue inside, which was carved in Li Chengxi's likeness.
It even seemed to come to life, winking at Viola.
But when Viola rubbed her eyes, she found that the light on the statue had already vanished.
This meant that the Lord had blessed the temple, and it now possessed the functions of a temple.
Temples and divine statues are not merely man-made objects.
Usually, when a new divine statue is established, the god will bless it, allowing it to exert its functions.
Simply put, this was like a consecration.
(End of this chapter)