Chapter 947

Chapter 947

Ali had a dream. He wanted to find precious friends, who he could leave his back to and even risk his life for. He wanted to be just like the main character from that famous anime, who ventured out to sea and gathered precious friends by his side. Ali achieved that dream with the help of Minhyuk and the people of the Beyond the Heavens Empire.

After achieving his dream, Ali had another dream. This time, he wanted to lead those who also dreamt of having friends like him. And today, Ali finally created the Friend Religion and became the leader of these people. He could not help but cry from the overwhelming emotions that he was feeling.

Meanwhile, Minhyuk heard several notifications in his ears.

[703 mages migrated to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]

[307 swordsmen migrated to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]

[103 assassins migrated to the Beyond the Heavens Empire.]

[...Beyond the Heavens Empire.]

Surprisingly enough, Ali’s Friend Religion included a variety of classes of players, not only mages. Well, just because he was the God of Magic did not mean that his worshippers should only be mages, did it?

The swordsmen could become the Friend Religion’s paladins, while the assassins could become Ali’s shadows. Of course, considering the steady flow of mages coming to the Beyond the Heavens Empire before the completion of the temple’s construction, the Friend Religion’s worshippers’ population would probably have around 75% mages.

‘The gods will build their religions. And if they could lead their worshippers well, they would have power on par with a kingdom.’

Ever since the Succession Ceremony ended, players have started establishing their own religions all over the world. The gods also helped them grow by giving quests to the worshippers who came to serve them.

For ordinary players, it felt a whole lot easier to enter the religion knowing that the gods that they would worship were players, too. Why? Gods were omnipotent. But if a god was a player, then they were far more familiar with them and at ease.

Perhaps Ali’s Friend Religion might be a constant help to the Beyond the Heavens Empire in the future.

‘It would be nice if my Minhyuk Religion could recruit more worshipers, too.’

The first player to ever create their religion in Athenae was Minhyuk. However, now that there were quite a lot of religions that had started to pop out one after another, the Minhyuk Religion had been left behind. Perhaps it was safe to say that the Minhyuk Religion was the most uninfluential one. The reason? Well, it was simple.

‘The Food God class is not a combat class. And it’s also quite hard to categorize it as a production class.’

The players were free to choose whatever religion they wanted to serve and worship. So, for chefs, it was probably a much better choice to serve the religion of the God of Cooking, one of the Absolute Gods. Then, what about the combat class players? Would they come to the Minhyuk Religion? They wouldn’t either.

‘Only if I take over the position and become the true Battle God will I be able to gather people under my religion and lead many more people.’

Minhyuk was looking forward to it. After all, the Battle God was the greatest god among the Absolute Gods. He was also the god who had become the subject of envy of most of the players. The day that he would sit on the throne of the Battle God would be when he would become the master of the largest and most significant religion in Athenae.

The Battle God had told them he would decide between Minhyuk and Nerva through a competition. He said he would decide who would become the true Battle God’s Descendant through this.

At that moment, another set of notifications rang in Minhyuk’s ears.

[The God of Shields’ Temple has been built in the Aveid Territory!]

[The God of Shields’ religion bears the name ‘Guardian Religion’!]

God of Shields Valentino also built his temple in Minhyuk’s territory. Minhyuk gave Valentino money on purpose and ordered him to build his temple in the Aveid Territory.

One reason was that there were still some people in the Beyond the Heavens Empire who were not happy with Valentino. Also, he needed God of Shields Valentino in the Aveid Territory, which was teeming with monsters.

Of course, establishing Valentino’s religion and temple would encourage the tankers to gather in his empire. But that would be just a shot in the dark.

‘It would already be nice if at least 300 tankers were moving to the Beyond the Heavens Empire or joining the Guardian Religion.’

Minhyuk believed that the public’s current evaluation of Valentino was not good. There were two reasons for this: one, he was kicked out of the Luvien Empire, and two, his usual attitude and behavior weren’t good.

But then, at that moment, a shocking notification rang.

[16,543 tankers migrated to the Beyond the Heavens Empire!]

“...?” Minhyuk could not help but look doubtfully at the notification.

‘A huge number of tankers are migrating to the empire all at once?’

It was unbelievable. Valentino’s position was falling rapidly. Even so, many tankers immediately migrated to the Beyond the Heavens Empire when the Guardian Religion was established. To join the religion of a player belonging to the Beyond the Heavens Empire, they also had to move and join the empire. They all moved to the Beyond the Heavens Empire for Valentino’s sake and not because they preferred the empire.

Just when Minhyuk was sporting a confused expression and was about to go to the Aveid Territory, Carron approached him and said, “Your Majesty, the gift that I was telling you about before is now finished.”

***

[Agree! Agree! And agree!]

[Without his empire, class, and vassals, he’s nothing.]

Hundreds of mocking, jeering, and malice comments covered the screen.

‘Is this my gift?’ Minhyuk thought, a frown marring his face.

The truth was that Minhyuk was aware of most of the malicious comments. He believed the best way to deal with such comments was to ignore them and not look at them.

But even if Minhyuk’s mentality was strong, there were times when he could not pretend he did not care. Indeed. In the end, Minhyuk was still human. Perhaps that was also the reason why he was very conscious of Alexander.

Anyway, Minhyuk decided to continue watching.

[But I will not give up.]

As the voice rang, one screen recording broke through the hundreds of malicious comments and floated in front of the screen. The screen recording showed Minhyuk’s exhausted figure slowly recovering his strength and standing up.

Minhyuk recognized the place where the recording was showing. It was one of the recordings of his latest battle in the Infinite Battles.

In the video, Minhyuk loudly and powerfully said, “Enough!” and all of the screenshots began to crack.

Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack–!

When the screenshots broke apart, it revealed Minhyuk charging at the countless enemies before him with a sharp and piercing glare despite his ragged breathing.

[I will show you...]

Fast-paced music suddenly rang as Minhyuk, with his sharp glare, cut through his enemies. As if following the music, Minhyuk increased his pace and swung his sword against his enemies in the Infinite Battlefield.

[...what kind of person I am.]

Minhyuk felt his heart start to speed up as the beat of the music and the cool, jaw-dropping video flashed on his screen.

[I will not fall.]

He could tell that this was Carron’s message and way of showing him his support.

[Even if I fall, I will stand back up again.]

At that moment, a screenshot, utterly different from the screenshots of the malicious comments earlier, appeared on the screen.

[The Food God is indeed the Supreme.]

[Even if the Food God has only his empire, his class, and his vassals, we still love him for who he is.]

[Everyone in Athenae loves him because he’s the Food God. Because he’s Minhyuk.]

[Thank you for showing the world what our South Korea is like, Food God!]

[Food God, you look so exhausted these days. It’s okay to rest; don’t tire yourself so much!]

[It’s okay to put everything down for a moment and rest. Even if you’re not the Supreme, we will continue to support and cheer for you!]

A smile unknowingly curled at the corner of Minhyuk’s lips when he saw hundreds of screenshots like that.

[Because there are people who believe in me.]

The camera panned to the sky as if signaling that the video was about to end.

Crackle– Crackle–

The sound of static rang as a new video appeared on the screen again. The footage showed one man and one man alone charging toward the millions of enemies that were running on a long and wide bridge.

Then, the final words appeared as the video finally ended.

[I will stand at the highest position and become the Sky.]