Is the person you sculpt as cute as me?

"Regarding this, we in the Church have a great predecessor, a true martyr and saint... He has already prepared for us. For this, we can once again borrow the power of the foreigners."

……

Silently, a new announcement appeared on the official website of the game in the old world.

There were no awkward statistics or balance changes, no temporary maintenance or rewards for players to worry about, just a few lines of casual writing.

"To welcome the arrival of the Millennium Ceremony, the organizer, the Church of Time, will invite strangers from all over the world to their mysterious place.

There lies a vast and astonishing treasure, unprecedented challenges, scenery beyond common sense, and the answers to most questions.

Of course, the "Holy See of Time" will also ask for a few admission tickets from everyone.

You only need to pay the price of death once to enter it."

301 It’s Even Later

"That's all we have to say about the Dawn Mutation."

"As always, the following matters will be led by Master 'Mourning'."

The tone of those who participated in the council was relieved of the heaviness.

They were all happy that a troublesome matter had been resolved, and they were also happy that this era was led by "mourning".

Besides--

"Mourning Master, is there anything else we can do?"

"Everyone, just handle the affairs of the Church normally and prepare for the Millennium Ceremony... Well, that's enough."

At this point, Mourning made some small movements with her hands, which all the members of the parliament noticed, and they waited tacitly for her to continue speaking.

as predicted--

"However..." Mourning spoke again, and everyone smiled. "My intuition tells me that there might be some additional trouble, so I want to make another plan to ensure that everything is stable... Therefore..."

"What do you need?"

"We are ready to be deployed at any time."

Mourning nodded. "To do this, I need the Saint to do something for me. Please inform her that she can suspend the ceremony on the lake today and have lunch with me."

"understood."

Most of the things finally came to a conclusion.

With a little bit of small talk and confirmation of insignificant details, time slowly passed and it was lunch time as stipulated by the "calendar".

This emergency meeting, which brought together almost all the high-level officials of the "Holy See of Time", finally came to an end in a relaxed atmosphere.

"Then the chefs prepared a lunch of the highest standard."

A servant greeted us at the door and introduced the important lunch.

The Church of Time is not a moral religion that advocates asceticism and requires everyone to restrain themselves like a saint. On the contrary, its teachings encourage pleasure to a certain extent.

Among them, diet is a very critical part.

They also have a prayer before eating, which accurately describes the concept of the entire religion -

“Since we are born into this world and are assigned a short life span, let us fill it with beauty and positivity, rather than living in vain and dying in regret.”

As long as you fill your life with meaningful experiences, that's enough.

What the Church of Time hates most is living in vain and wasting time.

It just so happens that every meal in life can be a wonderful experience – hence the focus of the teaching.

"Freshly caught silverfish, mushrooms in season after the rain, and the summer bamboo shoots that Orientals love. Besides that, there are also delicious desserts. The recipe I got from a foreign dessert boat mainly uses some fruits and honey..."

The attendant tried to introduce them in a calm and pleasant voice.

Compared to unknown gods disturbing the dawn of the world, compared to millennia of rituals, compared to "lies" that might be hostile - a hearty lunch is much better.

appetite.

Even powerful figures are driven by the instinct of life.

They listened carefully to the words, thinking about the wonderful meal that was to come and the beautiful future that lay ahead.

Mourning herself, the one who might have brought all this about, was contemplating something horrible.

……

Although the "mourning" table is open to the sky, it is strictly hidden by all means.

To ensure the purity of everything, not even life is allowed to participate, only magical creatures created by magic, without emotion or intelligence, serve as servants. When a meal is over, they will be destroyed.

Therefore, it is extremely rare to have guests participating like today.

"...Mournings, long time... no see. Thank you for inviting me to lunch."

"Lady Saint, welcome."

A strange atmosphere permeated the air; the relationship between them was always so strange.

"Mourning" invites the other party to take a seat and then signals for the food to be served.

Now the Saint of the "Holy See of Time" looked very tired, as if she was about to fall asleep on the table at any moment.

"I invited you here to discuss a great matter. It's not something that can be discussed publicly, so let's talk privately... well, privately, just the two of us."

"...Will it be troublesome for me?" The saint hates trouble.

For her, being able to live a lazy life and be admired and praised by countless people is the best thing.

She wanted to be a vase and live a simple, carefree life.

Mourning first asked, "Lady Saint, do you still remember why you were chosen to achieve your current status?"

“…To be honest, I have no idea.”

"Because you are a very, very simple person."

The tone of "Mourning" is full of envy, full of praise, and pure.

"Mourning" continued, "You were born into an ordinary Christian family. Sick from childhood, you couldn't make friends, go to school, or go out to play. You just lazily stayed at home, reading the only book in the house, the 'Book of Time', in bed, until you were twelve years old."

"...Yes...so what?" The saint was quite shy.

"So you are an empty head, an empty heart, and an empty body."

The saint listened carefully and it took her a full minute to understand.

Her expression gradually turned worse, and she felt like she was being insulted... But so what, whatever.

"I always feel like you're scolding me. But it's you who's scolding me, and there's nothing I can do about it. As long as you're happy, that's all I need."

"No, this is sincere praise. You are a pure, empty shell, possessing infinite potential... That is why the Archbishop and the Dead chose you to serve as the Saint. And the next question is—do you know what the duties of a Saint are?"

"Well, of course. I've been doing this for four years."

The saint counted them one by one on her fingers.

"Serving as a vase on various festivals, celebrations, and anniversaries, parading through the streets or sitting on a bench... At the beginning of each year, they give a symbolic speech and write holy words... From time to time, they go to various islands to hold events and bless newborn children... And so on..."

"That's right." Mourning was very satisfied with the other party's answer and added, "But this is just a secondary job. The main job is another one."

"Ok?"

"When necessary, it serves as an empty shell, a real carrier for the advent of spirits."

The saint pondered for a few seconds, and while happily eating the new bamboo shoots, she figured out what "mourning" was talking about.

"……what?"

Mourning said with satisfaction, "This duty has never been exercised, but I intend to use it this time."

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"To deal with the potential trouble... that unknown deity that disrupted the dawn, I will make further preparations. I will summon an... extremely special... terrifying deity to descend upon this world to increase our combat effectiveness."

"...Me...me? Am I going to...become a victim?"

"I'm not a sacrifice. I'm just borrowing your body. When it's over, it's over, and you can continue to live your life as usual."

The saint pondered for a few seconds and felt that there was nothing special about this matter.

Rather, what if a powerful god descended and manifested himself through his body? Wouldn't that be—

"He has come upon me and will live and work for me from now on. How long can I rest now?"

"...I can't say you're wrong."

"That's fine, I can accept that. It's vacation time."

I just wonder what it'll feel like then... Will my soul be squeezed out and left huddled in a corner? What's the exact process? I'm really curious.

Ah, there is a key point -

"Mourning, my Lord, which deity will descend upon me then?"

"Lady Saint, you know that this world... has a border farther than the ocean, right?" Mourning spoke slowly. "Beyond this border, shrouded in a strange fog and nothingness, filled with endless terror and the unknown. Yet, within this vastness, where no one knows what exists and time has ceased to exist, lies the God I wish to summon."

"……what?"

"One of the 'World's Fundamentals', an existence that exists outside of the realm...even outside of time and death. As a deity that symbolizes 'lost', its name is - 'Deep Sleep'."

……

Covered in blood, Serenade survived from nothingness and returned to the abundance of Rumana Seti.

She lay on the ground, curled up like a tired cat, yawning from time to time.

“It’s so dirty…”

She wanted to lick herself again, but stopped midway because it was too dirty to bring her mouth down.

It had nothing to do with morals or habits. Even now, when she was almost human, she still felt that licking herself was very efficient. That is, provided she hadn't gotten herself dirty from a difficult dungeon.

In addition to the blood and body fluids of various monsters, there are also scabs of dried mud, monster fur, vegetation, and dead branches.

They stuck to Serenade's body in a murky way, making her feel terrible.

"Need... help? The great 'Rebellion Against All Things'."

It was the "Fate Changer" who appeared in her sight, with confusion and fear on his face, but at the same time he was trying to be friendly.

As Yu Man's assistant and Lumana Seti's manager, she certainly knew Serenade's origin and status.

"You're just in time, little assistant. Take me to take a shower... I'm so tired."

"What kind of battle did you go through? You are in such a predicament..."

"I fought a seventh-tier dungeon and pushed myself to the limit. I almost died. Almost."

But it can be clearly felt that the serenade has become stronger.

Unlike the feeling of a magician, if these sword-wielding warriors become stronger, the magic power condensed in their bodies will become solid and full like a lump, making the entire body full of vitality and possibilities.

There is always a simple and easy-to-understand metaphor on the Internet for this.

Warrior upgrades are like loose flour that is kneaded into dough, making it possible to make cookies or bread.

Therefore, these players who play the warrior system will gradually be called various types of noodles due to convention.

Even when applying for guilds, jobs, and recruitment, they call themselves that—

"Looking for a group to buy top-quality European white bread, the unboxing is very good.", "Looking for a group to buy expired baguette, the bag is tough."

But in this week, folk customs like these have not yet corrupted the old world.

The "fate changer" performed a little magic trick, rolled up the serenade and floated it in the sky, and took her to the waterfall.

But on the way——

"what!"

It was Liu Tong and Qi Hua. She was fetching water from the stream when she saw the two of them coming.

The island wasn't small, but it was sparsely populated, so it was quite a coincidence that they could meet along the way. After all, they usually communicated through magic or the guild channel.

"Oh! Flowers." Serenade's cat's tail curled a few times out of joy. "What are you doing here... Why is there a house?"

"I built the alchemy workshop."