"Goodness gracious," Cyrus mumbled, hugging his shoulders to try and stop the uncontrollable trembling. "What kind of freaky drug is the pod pumping into my body? That crap better not be addictive stuff..."

  With a final heavy exhale, Cyrus turned [Mortal Eyes] upward when he was done panting like a dog that had been saved from a lifetime of drowning. Immortal Ghoul, the Moon, had dropped, its silver light fleeting by the time he came down from the high.

  { Master! Is Master feeling all better now? Moshi kept Master's Godhood unsealed for the shortest time Moshi could. Fortunately, Master was within a sub-space created by that Apostle, and the space and its owner took the brunt of Master's presence, and Hollow Rift didn't behold Master's Greatness. That must be why Moshi was permitted! }

  "Ah, is that so?" Cyrus mindlessly responded, not registering a single thing Moshi was saying.

  { Yes, Master. That Apostle ended up helping Master! If not for them, Master's Divinity would have corrupted all the mortals in the eastern village. That certainly would have roused up World Will, even if these mortals have long since been forsaken. }

  "Hm? Yeah. That Apostle," Cyrus mumbled, his mind regaining its clarity at last. "Do you know what time it is, Moshi?"

  { It's four hours before sunrise, Master. }

  "Wrong!" Cyrus made a loud beeping noise. "It's time to collect my loot."

  He drew his sword with a crisp shime. It didn't hurt, vigorous strength still in his bones from the Miracle. He turned his gaze to spot a crumbled 'log' on the beach, soaking in a pool of blood. He marched toward the figure, the tip of his sword drawing a long, wriggly line in the sand. A low, merry hum escaped him, only half-aware to himself.

  A nasty shade of purple painted Linlin's pale skin, not an inch of it spared from large bruises and deep cuts—as far as their tattered robe showed. Their arms were white bones wrapped with melting shreds of flesh and skin. Taking on a direct attack that dealt ten thousand pure damage for someone who had just a little more health than that, he was surprised to find them still conscious.

  "Let this be a lesson not to taunt when you can't afford to," he echoed their line, a petty urge winning over his desire to stay in character.

  [ [Moral] Compassionate Opposed. -5 Fate ]

  Cyrus sneered. Worth it. He would probably get fined even more since this was out of character with his setup, but he had much more to gain.

  A level one player killing a character who had tenfold health of a 5-Star Hero... He smacked his lips. Sweet.

  Cyrus called up his World Will log to see the notification he had missed while he was a bit out of the world. The latest one read, Duel Won (Apostle Linlin), and he received Minor Insight x3, Major Insight x2, and Profound Epiphany x1. They were all Enlightenment, materials, which translated to 50, 250, and 1,000 Ken, respectively.

  Enlightenments were used to level up his Apostles, the summoned Heroes, which included himself. A sum of 1650 K (Ken) was enough experiencepointst to upgrade any Hero all the way to level 9. He obtained Enlightenments on his first blood and upon Yaoming's death. It was pretty much guaranteed to obtain even more on his first kill of another god's Apostle. Not to mention the fact that with Linlin being a high-level Apostle, surely their drops would be good stuff for a player who was still at the very start of the game.

  Cyrus knew there would be no second of this. Divine power, just as Moshi said, was way too powerful. It could kill a thousand enemies effortlessly, but also those he was supposed to be saving. Plus, it made him feel...strange. Not to mention the risk of getting kicked out and banned from the Hollow Rift server.

  So, it was for everyone's sake not to spam it.

  He raised his sword, blue light sheening through the shadowed night. All it would take was one move, a single swing to deal the killing blow.

  < I shouldn't kill this mortal yet. >

  "Huh?" Cyrus jerked at the mist-shrouded texts, his blade stunning mid-swing. "And why the heck should 'I' not?" he blurted, arguing back with the game prompt without a thought.

  Then he quickly realized the answer—the NPC was here to deliver his story quest. Since the game gave a warning, this quest had to be a key starting point of the main story, and Linlin was likely a key character.

  Cyrus clicked his tongue, tasting bitterness at the back of his throat. It was regret laced with the aftertaste of the blood he'd just vomited. "Tsk. A shame."

  A sharp breath came from below. Cyrus's brows twitched, thinking he was being mocked. Only when he looked down did he remember that Linlin's face was so messed up, they probably couldn't even see. Unless they had a way to do that, even with their head caving in. Who knew how a lump of meat could still make noises.

  "He...came...for...you." Linlin spat out black blood from their 'mouth', a hole that took up half of their face.

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  Must be Xianxia magic or something. Last time I checked, you need your throat not torn apart to be able to talk.

  As terrible as it looked, Linlin at their level most likely wouldn't die even if he left them alone. Still, for the peace of his mind throughout the duration of the upcoming quest infodump, he summoned Ollow.

  The trader was one call away, probably not having much of a choice.

  "Apostle Cyrus, you are awake," the bean spoke, its voice bittier than usual as it hovered in the air before his face. "At this hour."

  "Yeah. You got anything to help with that?" Cyrus pointed down.

  "Byah?" Ollow looked beneath. "Help with w—WAUGH!"

  "Waugh, indeed."

  "Byik!" Ollow quickly snapped its head up, straightening up its short neck, or body. It hopped to the side, pointing up a short leg to hurriedly display whatever amazing things that could heal Linlin.

  "Wait," Cyrus interrupted. "They are an Apostle too. Subtract the cost from their pocket. It's for them, and as you can see, they can't buy it themself. I'm only doing the shopping since they are...incapable at this moment and will remain that way forever if I don't. That's allowed, right?"

  "Ollow needs permission normally...but just this one time, Ollow allows."

  "Good. Also, only show me the most effective items within their budget." He already wasted five Fate on the NPC, and he certainly wouldn't spare a single more. Not for someone who just tried to kill him for shit and giggles.

  "Byak. Apostle Linlin has a net of 22,222 Fate!" Ollow declared as two screens emerged before Cyrus.

  [ Life Pill: A pill that contained a life. Needs four more words. (9999 Fate)]

  [ Sweet dew water: A drop of divine mercy bestowed from the sacred willow branch. This droplet speaks for compassion toward the foolish mortal who has angered the Divine. Let forgiveness rest upon you. (10,000 Fate) ]

  22,222!

  "Ollow..." Cyrus muttered, his gaze never leaving the screen, more specifically the numbers that came before a certain word beginning with F. "Say. When an Apostle or anyone with Fate passes away, what happens to their Fate?"

  Ollow let out a confused byah. "The passing of an Apostle is sorrow. Their Fate will be settled. Half of the sum will go to their god. The other half, either Worldly takes, or if other people blessed by Worldy are present, Worldy will pass it to the nearest Blessed. If the individual doesn't have a god, all of their Fate will be passed onto the nearest Blessed or taken away by Worldy.

  "Worldly and Ollow hopes for the Blessed who received the Fate to do good deeds on behalf of the fallen Blessed!" the businessbean declared, blissfully unaware of the way Cyrus's lips curved up as he tapped a finger on the sword hilt.

  "Half? So, 11,111 Fate?"

  "That's correct, Apostle Cyrus. Why does the Apostle suddenly ask this?"

  Silly Ollow. No reason at all. This definitely wasn't a mechanic meant for players who liked to take high risk for faster gain, especially those who had chosen an Evil-aligned character build. And certainly not an incentive for them to hunt other gods' Apostles down for thrills and rewards.

  The grin tugging at Cyrus's blood-stained lips widened. "Good deeds? I can do a lot of good deeds, yeah. In fact, I'm going to save Hollow Rift from all evils!" Cyrus declared, raising his fist to the air.

  [ [Moral] Compassionate Opposed. -5 Fate ]

  [ [Moral] Compassionate Opposed. -5 Fate ]

  "Geez. Can't take a joke?" He snorted. Unlike Ollow, Worldy was sharper. "It even fined me twice."

  Eleven thousand Fate was a lot, but he had more on the way as he completed the main story questlines. He cared much more about real cash than some in-game currency anyway.

  The bonus promised to him would go through only if he got to the True Ending, and one of the hints he was given was that he needed to achieve a hundred percent completion rate on all the Divine Tribulations, the main quest chains.

  For that, he could restrain his grabby hands sufficiently. Not enough to stay happy as he bought the two items and threw the Fate that could have been his down the drain, but enough to not pocket them.

  He rolled a round red pill between his thumb and index finger. The pill that had cost a thousand Fate was less than the size of his pinky's fingernail. A pill that contained life, the description read.

  "That doesn't tell anything at all. Ollow," Cyrus turned to find the bean with its legs raised, caught mid-escape. He turned a blind eye to its antics and asked, "What's up with the pill description? Needs four more words... Is the minimum length requirement for the description ten words?"

  "Byah. Apostle Cyrus is correct. Moshi tried to get them to write a proper description, but that Blessed lazy! Very lazy!"

  Cyrus laughed at the bean's distress.

  "That reminds me," he said, going through his two-layer storage. He dumped the gourd, which had to be turned upside down first for him to take anything out, and sent a thought to fetch his fresh loot, the Spawn's eye. "Can I also put this up in your trade?"

  "Byak! Apostle Cyrus first needs to pay 1000 Fate to become a registered member of the trade."

  "No discount?" Cyrus crossed his arms and puckered his lips. "I thought we were buddies now. I bought so much stuff from you already."

  "...Apostle Cyrus can also pay Ollow an item! If Ollow likes, Ollow accepts even if its value is less. That item, Eye of a Mourning Current Spawn, Ollow can accept!"

  Cyrus hummed in thought. [Crow Eyes] told him the eye was worth three hundred Fate, but Ollow said they would accept that in place of the registration fee of a thousand. There must be a reason for that. Ollow was a trader, and a businessbean like themself surely wouldn't do a losing deal.

  Taking advantage of Ollow ogling over the eye, practically hugging the item like it was already theirs, Cyrus reached and snatched a pinch of their cheek between his fingers. "This is mine. I didn't say anything about selling it just yet."

  "Byak! Release Ollow at once, Apostle Cyrus!"

  Cyrus did just that but stuck his tongue out in victory. "Byak," he echoed back.

  "Apostle Cyrus is bad! Ollow angry! Ollow leaves!" The bean escaped with a final declaration.

  "So squishy. Like that round rice snack," he said, rubbing his fingers. "Haven't had that in a while since rice prices decided to touch the sky. If it looks like and feels like one, maybe it will taste like one too."

  A groan sounded on the mark, almost in protest, or complaint, and Cyrus finally remembered about his dying quest giver. He moved fast to shove the pill down their throat and pour the single clear dewdrop into their mouth.

  Linlin began beaming like a snapped glowstick the second after. The splintered white pieces scattered across drew together, fusing back into bone as the cracks repaired themself. Missing flesh regenerated in mere minutes, torn skin reattaching over the muscles, sewn up with invisible stitches.

  He even watched their eyeballs, a gooey liquid, solidifying and reforming back into shape in marvel. Finally, swirling purple marks were wiped away, though some darker ones left behind faded traces and patterns.

  The work of twenty thousand Fate was remarkable.

  Cyrus stood up, satisfied. "Hey, think you can give me the quest now?"

  following, favoriting, commenting, rating, and maybe even reviewing when you're ready. The number helps summon the Algorithm Goddess! If you want to binge more, is 12 chapters ahead.

  Linlin is spelled '嶙林' in Chinese.

  嶙 : ranges of hills; 嶙峋 means bony (of people) and rugged (of terrain)

  林 : woods; forest; 树林 means grove

  This will make sense when we find out their actual name + backstory (Linlin is a nickname). Trust.

  https://chinese.yabla.com/chinese-english-pinyin-dictionary.php) to pick the words I like and smash them together, so they might not make as much sense or feel as natural as real names. Only for some characters tho. Most Chinese names are either from /Pinterest or made of random words.