But Roland declined after only two seconds of thought. He shook his head and said, “Sorry, but I don’t know how to devote my faith to a goddess.”
Stunned for a few seconds, the angel put on a weird expression. “Why? This is an invitation from a goddess. Shouldn’t you feel honored?”
“I am honored.” Roland sighed and said, “But it doesn’t mean that I have to worship any goddess.”
“Any goddess?” The angel shook her head and said, “Occasionally, there are such Mages. Then let me ask you, what are gods and goddesses in your eyes?”
“Powerful beings, so powerful that we cannot understand them yet.”
The angel asked with a smile, “Yet? Does it mean that you will try to understand them when you’re capable enough?”
Roland nodded.
Hearing that, the angel slowly descended to the ground. She didn’t look down at Roland anymore, and the ivory light around her was gone.
“As expected of the descendants of Goddess Mystra,” said the angel gently. “Then let’s put it in a different way. How would you like to be Favored?”
The Favored… were the people who were favored by gods and goddesses. Essentially, the Saint Samurai, including Schuck, were Favored.
But Roland shook his head again.
Schuck was much handsomer than other people, and the females were quite tolerant of him. They wouldn’t feel that he was a terrible person even though he did something inappropriate.
But Roland knew that he wasn’t as charming.
Besides, the Favored were in a weak position. They were like the pets of the gods and goddesses.
Of course, some pets might be appreciated because they were lovely, but Roland didn’t think that he would receive Schuck’s privileges with his unremarkable face.
He knew that most Saint Samurai were careful and cautious every day. They would sincerely pray to their goddess and try their best to fully comprehend the doctrines.
But Schuck was different from them. He traveled on his red dragon every day and paid little attention to the rituals, but he was the Saint Samurai who was making the fastest progress.
Every time he hung out with his friends, Schuck would always talk about the beautiful scenic locations and wonders he saw.
He was a battle-type player, but it was almost like he was a player who was only here to enjoy the scenery.
Roland was never jealous of Schuck’s appeal to women. He never dreamed to be like Schuck.
Every person was unique. It was impossible to copy other people’s success or lifestyle.
Therefore, Roland was not interested in becoming one of the Favored.
In Roland’s eyes, the Life Goddess probably intended to raise a puppy, preferably one with sharp fangs that could help her bite her enemies now and then.
Roland would rather not be a puppy.
Pretending to think for a moment, Roland raised his head and said, “Sorry, but I’m not qualified to be Favored.”
Though he claimed that he wasn’t qualified, it was an obvious declination.
The angel was smart enough to get Roland’s implication.
She was rather angry, but she seemed angrier at herself than she was at Roland.
As she was upset, even her white wings became dimmer.
Eventually, she heaved a helplessly sigh and glanced at Roland pitifully. Without a word, she flapped her wings and soared away, quickly disappearing.
Several white feathers fell.
Roland subconsciously picked them up, only to find that they were illusions. The feathers penetrated Roland’s hand and slowly vanished.
Pulling his hands back, Roland took a deep breath and smelled a vague apple fragrance.
Roland was rather tired after the angel was gone. He sat down on the grass and opened the forum again.
He intended to find out what the function of the green circle was and what was going on in Winterwind.
The previous stream channel was still on. The streamer seemed to have come to somewhere near the Temple of Life.
“Look. The players of Silver Wings and Jalan Temple all have a leaf on their faces.”
The streamer said quite excitedly, “It seems that they were marked by that green circle… Wait, the Knights Templar of the Church of Light are coming.”
On the picture, countless Knights Templar in white armor broke into the city and dispersed. Most of them cleaned up the remains and rescued the civilians buried under the debris.
In the meantime, the strongest of the heavy knights began to chase after the players with leaf marks.
They would charge at such players like rabid dogs the moment they spotted them. With their advantage in number and equipment, they would simply cut the marked players into pieces, and cut them down again after the players were resurrected.
Eventually, the three hundred players were blocked near the resurrection point in the Temple of Life. They couldn’t get away at all under the siege of thousands of knights.
Though it was impossible to see the Knights Templar’s faces with their helmets on, they were obviously full of angry indifference and showed no mercy to the players who had leaf marks.
The gory images were displayed in the stream channel.
The bodies of the players were everywhere and almost blocked the gate of the temple. Dozens of rivers of blood were flowing.
The whole place reeked of rust.
The streamer was surrounded too and trembled in fear. but the Knights Templar ignored him after finding that there was no leaf mark on his face.
Roland closed the stream channel and sent a message to Schuck in the guild system. “Will the black leaf disappear after several deaths, or after a certain amount of time?”
“No!” Schuck soon replied. “Those people are doomed. That is retribution from the Church of Life. The leaf mark will haunt them forever. Anyone who kills a person marked with a leaf will not be considered a murderer.”
Roland was rather surprised. Silver Wings and Jalan Temple seemed doomed.
Then he asked, “What about the gold mine?”
“The Church of Light will protect and manage it for now. It will be returned to the local mayor… or his heir. He’s a poor man. His soldiers and himself were all killed. If his wife and his children weren’t hiding in a secret shelter, his whole family might’ve been wiped out by Jalan Temple.”
Roland heaved a sigh. He had been proud of his identity as a player earlier.
However, after seeing the miseries in Winterwind and learning what happened to the mayor’s family, he suddenly felt that the players weren’t any better than the natives of this world.
They would also commit all kinds of heinous crimes for their self-interests.
Those people weren’t qualified to play this game anymore!
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