Cthulhu Gonfalon

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The old man was the elder in the church of the Goddess of Bumper Harvest who had lived in seclusion for many years. Two thousand years ago, he had broken through the limit of the Legendary Realm and became an immortal semi-god. Over the years, he had been living in seclusion in a small world commonly known as the "Half Plane" by magicians. He devoted himself to improving his levels, hoping to become a god successfully as soon as possible. But two thousand years had passed, and he still felt he had a long way to go despite the progress he had achieved over these years. He did not see any hope.

In this case, he gradually became frustrated, and over the last one hundred years, he had been in a kind of idle depression. Recently, the Goddess of Bumper Harvest decided to find a god follower because the church of the Goddess of Bumper Harvest had suffered great losses in the main plane. Then she found him and asked him whether he wanted to be a god follower.

Generally speaking, semi-gods were unwilling to become a god follower by direct promotion because if they did so, their roads would be revised and their past efforts would be cast to the winds. What's more, they would still face huge risks when becoming a god and there would be deviations in understanding and grasping due to different roads, and that would eventually lead to failure.

There still existed risks of failure due to inadequate understanding and gasping through relying only on their own strength to become a god. But in practice, one had more chances to become a god depending on their own strength than with direct promotion. Once a man had become a god, he could no longer move forward unless he was lucky and talented enough to improve his original road. Otherwise, he would only stay at the level of weak divine and could not make any progress.

From ancient to modern times, few gods had been able to become a god again after direct promotion. In other words, this road was actually a dead end.

But for this elder, he had already abandoned his intention to become a god through his own strength, so what did further progress matter to him? He could not even become a god so what did it have to do with him if he could not make progress after becoming a god follower?

But he was afraid of death, after all, so he now felt a little uneasy and agitated.

It was too dangerous to become a god through this road!

But he still wanted to become a god regardless of its great dangers. If he did not try, he could not die in peace. What's more, the orders of the emperor goddess needed to be respected because her protection and help had contributed a lot to his current achievements. Now, his emperor goddess encountered difficulties which needed a god follower to help, and she found him. He had no choice but to consent to her request.

It was like depositing small sums of money every month and drawing out both the principal and interest in a lump sum when the specified time came up. The Goddess of Bumper Harvest had helped him for many years, and that was equivalent to piecemeal deposits. Now she wanted him to become a god follower, which was like drawing out both the principal and interest in a lump sum. It was very fair and reasonable.

Without the protection and help of the Goddess of Bumper Harvest, he would have died long ago. Even if he was lucky enough to survive, he would not be able to become a semi-god. It was like on earth where a man had succeeded in being a subordinate of a big boss. And when the big boss needed him to risk his life, he could not refuse.

Now, he was standing on the holy emblem and could not help but recall his whole life's' experiences as he watched the coming danger.

I remember when I was young, I was a paladin. Although I believed in the emperor, I was not very pious. Later, I came across a huge opportunity and learned a big secret. If it worked properly, I could get amazing wealth, but I couldn't get it relying on my own strength. Therefore, I decided to tell this secret to the emperor's church, hoping to benefit from the power of the Church. Since then, I had become the backbone of the Church and have achieved today's success step by step…

If…I didn't choose to depend on the strength of the emperor's church, but chose to concede and endure, waiting for the next opportunity, what would happen?

Perhaps it would still be the case. I was an ambitious man after all. It was impossible for me to concede and wait all my life. And if I wanted to move forward and seize opportunities, I could only rely on the emperor's church. In the end, the result would not be much different from what it was now.

My life path had been probably doomed.

Thinking about this, he couldn't help but sigh deeply, and his heart was filled with frustration and depression.

At this moment, another idea arose in his mind.

This time… could I succeed?

Everything would be fine. I have been in danger more than once in the past, and I have also experienced more dangerous things than this. I have succeeded in the end.

But… I had the emperor protect me in the past. Now, can the emperor still protect me as well?

It should be okay. It was just about apotheosizing a semi-god. The emperor has met with much more complicated problems. Even if a rich businessman had problems in the turnover of funds temporarily, it would still be easy for him to subsidize a farmer to make a fortune.

Yeah. It was indeed like this! Haha!

The Goddess, who never came out and had always spun and manipulated the thread of destiny in the dark, has given me such a destiny, and it shouldn't end at this moment. I thought I was an actor on your stage; I was quite dedicated and have performed well. You would allow me to continue my performance, wouldn't you?

He thought in silence; his mind was never calm.

Time went by slowly, and after the day, there came the night. The night was also passing away slowly, and a new day was coming soon.

At midnight, the church of the Goddess of Bumper Harvest organized the residents of the whole city to pray together in accordance with the previous maneuver.

Promoting a god follower was not an easy task, especially for those who didn't reach the end of their own road and were far from being well-equipped.

Promoting people like Wall and Arcaian, who were already well-equipped themselves, was a much easier task, and the god only needed to push them at the critical moment. The possibility of failure was minimal. But this kind of practice didn't actually refer to the promotion of a god follower. A true sense of promoting a god follower referred to people like the elder of the church of the Goddess of Bumper Harvest who was not qualified in becoming a God but had been promoted to a god directly.

Although there was no story about "pulling up seedlings to help them grow" in the world, there were similar stories. And everyone knew the results of those tales.

So the church of the Goddess of Bumper Harvest had made full preparations. The church had spent lots of money in making the whole Rem City full of holy emblems and icons. The Goddess herself even made those emblems and icons possess sufficient Divine Power at any cost, and a large number of pious believers were also assembled from all sides. They even brainwashed all the residents of the whole Rem City to become believers of the Goddess of Bumper Harvest.

At least for the time being, this city was a sacred realm for the goddess and the kingdom of God on the earth!

In the Pantheon, many gods were concerned about the situation in Rem City. At least 20 gods came to Rem City in their incarnations, and even Sui Xiong was called by Javier in his incarnation to visit the scene from a distance.

"Do you think they will succeed?" Sui Xiong asked curiously as he watched the holy light gradually rising from the dark in Rem City.

Javier shrugged his shoulders, and his pretty appearance made his gesture particularly handsome.

"How would I know? There has never been much certainty about such a thing. Since I became a god, I have seen many people attempting to promote a god follower, but in general, most of them have failed, and few have succeeded. In other words, failure is normal while success is… Well, I can't say it's abnormal, but it's certainly not as normal as failure."

"Moritre, the God of Harvest, will be very unhappy to hear your words." Manissy, the Goddess of Wealth, said with a smile, but her words showed some kind of joy.

The reason why the Goddess of Bumper Harvest was so stressed that she risked promoting a god follower that was also one of the chief criminals.

"You are so petty." Morani laughed. "But considering that Moritre had been casting her eyes at my little earthworm, I also tended to make her suffer.

"It won't be injured in the sinews and bones anyway." The silent warrior Mo murmured and then picked up his wine gourd.

He seemed to be drinking all day long, just like soaking in a wine jar.

The God of justice, Yorgaardman, had not spoken yet and watched Rem City carefully. He concentrated his attention on the elder who was in a perfect set of equipment and stood at the top of the temple. He was absorbing the strength of the Holy Emblem from zero distance, without even blinking his eyes.

Sui Xiong could not help but look at him carefully for a while when he saw how concentrated he was. But he really could not find anything, just thought that the elder had a strong power and perhaps he could succeed.

But just as he thought about it privately, Yorgaardman sighed deeply.

"What's wrong?" Sui Xiong asked curiously.

"This man is distracted, and he lacks fighting spirit and determination. He won't get out of the key step," Yorgaardman whispered. "There are generally two difficulties in becoming a god either through your own strength or by being promoting, except for Wall's case. The first is to test the understanding and mastery of the road to be taken, and the second is to test whether he can firmly believe in his understanding and mastery or not. With Moritre's help, there will be no problem in the first difficulty. But the latter difficulty… It's not easy for a man who had his own path to change his own way and to be firm and steadfast! Throughout the ages, most of the people who want to promote a god follower have failed in this step. It seems that there will be another failure today. "

Sui Xiong thought about it and asked, "Didn't the Goddess of Bumper Harvest choose the road for him? Didn't he believe in the gods he believed in?"

"Believe… That's easier said than done!" Yorgaardman shook his head. "If he were to die for Moritre, he would not hesitate. But if asked him to deny his own way and what he has been pursuing for a long time, could he really do so without hesitation and concern and be steadfast all the way?

Sui Xiong thought it over carefully and shook his head.

"Yes, so it's hard to promote a god follower! Hard! Hard! Hard!"

"But how come so many people have succeeded?" Javier asked curiously.

"Successful people always have their own reasons," Yorgaardman laughed and said. "But the failures are about the same."

"Your words are so reasonable!!" Sui Xiong gave a thumbs up with his tentacles. "Brother, you are quite philosophical. Why don't you consider changing your image? For example, you can wear silver shining armor, comb your hair neatly and show a more serious expression. If you do so, you will have more believers."

Yorgaardman laughed again and shook his head. His eyes became distant. "For me, justice is standing on the side of the weak who have been oppressed and fighting those who have oppressed and damaged the weak. Most of the people who need my help are in a very awkward situation. Why should I dress myself up like a man who oppresses and damages them?"

"It's always necessary to dress yourself up. You look like a beggar on the street, and that makes it difficult for you to have more believers."

"Ha ha! I never want people to believe in me, on the contrary, I would rather people never believe in me and do not pray to me!" Yorgaardman laughed. "If one day I die for lack of faith, then I would say goodbye to you with a smile. That would be the best and the most perfect ending which I've long been dreaming of."

During their conversation, the eastern sky became a little white, and the dawn came.

This also meant that the critical moment of promoting a god follower was coming!