Chapter 1: Thank you for the invitation, I have already become a god, recruiting players 74
In the depths of the Eternal Divine Realm. 10
A barren land only a hundred meters in radius, overgrown with weeds, the ground covered with broken and pale bones.
In the center of this space stands a cylindrical totem statue. The statue is mottled and cracked, covered with dense patterns, but the figure of the god can still be vaguely discerned.
The entire totem statue is emitting a majestic divine radiance, and on top of it sits a young man wearing a black robe, with a crimson divine crystal on his forehead. He is staring blankly, his mouth slightly open, looking at everything around him. 13
I... I think I died from an illness, and then... I was reborn? And I became a god!? 19
Ren Zha felt the divine power within him, and the divine power emanating from the statue beneath him, that feeling of being high above and looking down on all living beings, but there was no joy in his heart. 49
Because his consciousness now contained a large amount of information about gods and the divine realm.
The situation is not optimistic.
The Divine Realm is an infinite alternate dimension where all gods reside. It is filled with abundant spiritual energy, which supports the power of gods and divine beings. 9
And every god has their own divine domain.
The divine domain is the fundamental source of power for every god.
Legend has it that the strongest gods above nine stars possess divine domains that can encompass several universes, with countless billions of believers providing them with the power of faith and strength. 18
And these powerful gods also provide the best resources and protection for the people in their divine domains. The deity that Ren Zha replaced was actually a dying god, with no followers whatsoever. Its divine domain was only about a hundred meters in radius, roughly the size of a football field – pitifully small. 15
These weak deities are generally those who have lost their source of followers or have suffered repeated defeats in divine wars. 7
They don't even possess divine power, completely insignificant. 13
Among the countless deities in the entire divine realm, they are called poor gods, trash gods, useless gods, non-existent gods, and so on. 37
They are basically just waiting for their own demise.
The so-called divine war is, in essence, a war of divine domains.
The gods in the divine realm are restricted by the rules of the divine realm and generally do not engage in direct combat, but they do attack and fight each other, usually by sending their subjects from their divine domains to battle.
If a deity personally intervenes, they will be severely punished by the rules of the divine realm. In severe cases, they will be annihilated and their divinity will dissipate; in milder cases, their divinity will be weakened and their divine power will vanish. 21
The predecessor of Ren Zha's current deity was completely defeated in a divine war, its divinity dissipated and annihilated, which is how Ren Zha got this opportunity. 4
No, I've picked up a piece of trash... Ren Zha looked speechlessly at his small plot of land. 7
He didn't even know where his divine domain was located. Beyond a hundred meters, there was a void of black mist, requiring followers to explore to understand what it was. 6
Even the laws of the entire divine domain were somewhat unstable, showing signs of collapse.
Other gods ascend to the throne of heaven, their divine power overwhelming, surrounded by celestial maidens, their divine fire blazing, and millions of followers kneeling and offering sacrifices. 5
He didn't even have a chair after becoming a god; he could only sit on his own crude statue. He didn't even have a cup of hot water to drink. His divine domain was just a barren wasteland of skeletons spanning a hundred meters, like an abandoned football field.
It was utterly miserable! 5
And to make matters worse, he could face a brutal divine war at any moment.
According to the laws of the divine realm, only gods of the same star level can initiate divine wars against each other, and divine wars between the lowest-level gods, those without even a star level, are the most frequent. 10
The reason is simple: these poor gods, who don't even have starlight, basically don't have many followers, and they don't have the capital to develop their divine domains in the divine realm. It's faster to launch a divine war and plunder the divine domains of other gods. 10
Ren Zha's predecessor was completely defeated in a series of battles, his divinity shattered and himself destroyed. 2
After all, according to the laws of the divine realm, gods cannot directly participate in battles; they can only watch helplessly as the other side's followers and believers destroy their domain, which is infuriating. 25
The dead god and his divine domain, under normal circumstances, would eventually merge into the divine realm and completely dissipate. 1
Ren Zha had already made up his mind that he must diligently manage his divine domain and at least condense the starlight of divine power.
To become a one-star god! 3
Once he becomes a one-star god, he will have the ability to completely leave his divine domain and even return to Earth!
A true god descends! 1
Recovering from his initial shock, Ren Zha quickly calmed down and began to think from an absolutely冷静 perspective.
A faint divine light enveloped his body, including his mind.
Even the poorest and most worthless god is still a god, a powerful divine being, possessing a divine body, capable of perfectly controlling his emotions and thoughts. 12
He first expanded his meager divine power throughout his entire divine domain, wanting to investigate whether his divine domain had any value at all.
Besides, did the previous god who died leave behind any trump cards or anything? What if there was treasure? 1
Soon, he had finished his investigation and completely abandoned this plan.
This was a barren land, completely worthless. 5
Suddenly, Ren Zha discovered a strange point of light in his sea of divine consciousness and quickly went to investigate, his eyes lighting up.
There was actually a vortex-shaped spatial passage here, leading to his former world, Earth! 10
This is... a loophole in the laws! 5
Through this passage, using the divine power he now had left, he could recruit believers to come to the divine domain to fight for him! 5
Moreover, the believers who came to the divine realm through this loophole in the laws could transcend the laws of the divine realm and could be resurrected infinitely by him using his divine power! 18
However, to recruit people to come to the divine domain to fight for him, they must first be completely willing. He currently didn't have the time to spread his faith and select believers.
Secondly, even if he could find willing believers, their combat effectiveness would be absolutely worrying. Ordinary people who suddenly entered the divine domain would be unable to overcome their fear in a life-and-death battle and would inevitably completely collapse when facing the armies of other gods' believers.
That's right, games! 9
Thinking of the games he used to play and the various game forums he used to frequent, Ren Zha's eyes lit up! 1
The issue of willingness is easily solved. Just create a dense set of contract terms, the longer the better, so that players are too lazy to read them and just click to agree to the contract. 47
The bravery and fearlessness of the believers can also be solved by making them think it's just a game!
It's just a game, after all, so they won't be afraid of death. Moreover, his divine domain's laws were broken and had some loopholes, allowing him to directly use his divine power on his followers in the divine war, which was quite convenient. 16
Ren Zha's divine consciousness and divine power quickly traveled through the spatial loopholes of the sea of consciousness to Earth, directly connecting to Earth's network and beginning to make arrangements. 4
Even the weakest divine power is still divine power. Facing a native planet like Earth, which has not even a trace of spiritual energy, it was very simple to arrange a spiritual energy conduit on the network. 16
Even more convenient was that virtual reality technology on Earth was quite developed, and there were already virtual reality gaming pods, which further facilitated Ren Zha's spiritual energy channeling plan. 2
The more Ren Zha thought about it, the more promising it seemed. 5
It's important to know that even in the endless star sea and the eternal divine realm, humans are a legendary race, an absolutely high-level race. 20
Any low-level god who hasn't condensed starlight would be overjoyed to have human followers.
While thinking this, his divine consciousness received a warning from the laws of the divine realm! 1
Another deity had locked onto his divine domain and would launch a divine war to attack him in about two hourglasses, which is approximately two hours!
A declaration of war from the God of the Endless Ocean! 6
"Big brother, I'm already so poor, please don't come and mess with me, okay? Do you have to kill me just because I just became a god?"
Ren Zha complained inwardly, but he also understood that this was the rule of the divine realm.
Then he chuckled. 3
"Then let's see whose followers are more powerful, yours or the human followers I recruit in these two hours!" 5
...
On Earth, on the largest gaming forum in the Eastern Republic, MGA, third-year college student Chen Yu was browsing and posting on the forum. 2
Chen Yu, ID: Zaiwan Duo D, is a veteran gamer and game commentator/streamer, considered an opinion leader on the MGA forum. 9
At this moment, he felt somewhat bored.
After earning some money from game commentary, he had moved out of the dormitory. He originally thought that with his own independent space and a virtual reality gaming pod, he would be able to play to his heart's content.
However, after playing continuously for about half a year, he started to feel unenthusiastic. 1
He was simply tired of playing.
The major game companies didn't have any new games coming out, and once gaming became his profession, he started to lose the fun of it.
Suddenly, the webpage refreshed, and a post about a new game's beta test was pinned to the top of the site:
"Explosive! The fully immersive, realistic virtual reality game 'Gods and Demons Battlefield' is about to begin its first beta test! Welcome to register! The first fifty people will receive a beta test gift package! Ten billion investment, just waiting for you!" 8
Chen Yu was stunned, then showed a look of disdain.
What kind of thing is this? A game that he had never heard of before suddenly starts a beta test, and it's even pinned to the top of the site as an advertisement.
The name sounds so old-fashioned, doesn't it? 2
And what's with "fully immersive, realistic virtual reality"? Only fifty people for the beta test? Do you only have one server? 5
Has the MGA forum, which has always prided itself on fairness and impartiality, also been bought out by the evil power of money? 7
Are they starting to accept money without any bottom line?
Such an old-fashioned advertising slogan made Chen Yu feel like he was back ten years ago, when virtual reality equipment wasn't yet perfected, and those web game advertisements were everywhere.
However, he was so bored that he casually clicked on the advertisement to see which company it was.
Real Game Company? 6
"What kind of ridiculous name is this? Does it have to be so honest? It's incredibly tacky..."
"And the promotional images are just a pitch-black wasteland with a strange totem pole standing in it. The environment rendering is barely done; it looks so cheap."
"Also, the game description has some strange requirements:"
"'This game is an unrestricted god-war game. Players can hold any weapon they find in their hands when loading the game, which will be simulated in the virtual space by the game engine to enhance the experience.'"
"This is the first time I've heard of a virtual reality game with such a requirement."
At this point, Chen Yu actually wanted to see what this game was all about.
After all, his game commentary videos also have a吐槽 (tucao/complaint) section specifically for criticizing bad games, so it would be good for gathering material.
He grabbed a large wrench, put on the VR headset, and lay down in the VR gaming pod. Chen Yu raised his hand and tapped the "Load Game" option in the AR image.
What appeared was a dense, hundreds-of-pages-long game agreement. After flipping through the first few pages and finding it full of repetitive nonsense, Chen Yu impatiently clicked "Agree."
At that moment, he felt a jolt in his heart, as if something was missing from his soul.
Then he instantly disappeared from the gaming pod, leaving only a virtual image exactly like himself.
A similar scene unfolded throughout the Eastern Republic. Players who clicked "Load Game" were directly transported, body and soul, through a loophole in the divine realm space, to the divine realm!
In the nameless, dilapidated divine domain within a hundred-meter radius, Ren Zha, squatting on the statue totem pole, looked excited.
He didn't expect to recruit enough believers so quickly. There are really a lot of players who are bored out of their minds! 1
As for why there were only fifty people the first time, it was mainly because his divine domain was too weak; it simply couldn't handle more people. Even with this small number of transmissions, half of his divine power was consumed. 3
Soon, a flash of light appeared in the void next to the statue and totem pole, and a young man holding a large wrench, wearing shorts, a tank top, and flip-flops, appeared, with the ID "Playing Again, I'll Chop Off My D**k" above his head.
Next came a胖 man in pajamas, holding a kitchen knife, ID "Deserves It". 10
A middle-aged man wearing glasses, holding a pure copper ashtray, ID "I Will Always Love Asuna". 20
A young man in sportswear, holding a baseball bat, ID "Blue and White Sky". 10
Another young man in shorts and flip-flops, carrying two kitchen knives, ID "Only Drive Maseratis". 4
...
Players appeared one by one, mostly in casual home attire, many holding kitchen knives, since that's basically the most lethal weapon in an ordinary household. 1
Soon, a flash of light appeared next to the stone pillar statue, and the last player appeared.
This was a burly man with chest hair wearing a lolita outfit, with the ID "Cute and Adorable" above his head, holding a samurai sword. 5
He stared wide-eyed at the other players who had arrived earlier, and they stared back at him.
Then he shouted loudly:
"Holy crap! It really can be completely restored!" 15