Sisters

Just like other players who started at the game's launch, "Lost a Leg" carved out his own unique leveling path after discovering that all the monsters outside the city were Silver Rank.

He left Broken Sword Valley, traversed the Misty Forest, and entered the "Crystal Sealed Village" deep within the earth through a hidden entrance behind the lava waterfall in the Molten Basin, arriving at the closest "newbie village" to Iron Wall City.

This area was mainly populated by Lava Monsters above level 60, but there were also some level 1 to 20 Slag Elves that could be farmed.

In his first playthrough, a Lv163 Boss was hidden here.

It was the "Despair Echo - Aperia."

Although it sounded like a humanoid monster, it was actually a mass of black mud sealed in crystal.

Only after killing it was the teleportation point for "Crystal Sealed Village" unlocked, allowing players to reach the Red Rock region behind the village.

With a half-god level Boss blocking the way, "Lost a Leg" had no intention of entering the village.

But when he discovered that the village, which should have been desolate, was actually inhabited by a group of NPCs busily forging iron, he risked wasting his experience and walked into the NPC settlement.

Towards him, an outsider, the villagers showed considerable enthusiasm, constantly inquiring about the outside world.

While reviewing background information, "Lost a Leg" answered most of the villagers' questions, exchanged them for a set of good, unrestricted equipment, and met the village's true leader.

The Saintess who claimed to be the Creator God, one of the former leaders of the Salvation Army, had sealed herself in crystal due to corruption of her body. She hadn't yet become the blocking Boss, but her lower body had already rotted into a disgusting mass of festering flesh – the "Despair Saintess - Aperia."

Upon meeting the Saintess of the Creator God, "Lost a Leg" subconsciously assumed he could level up here.

However, Aperia was completely sealed within the crystal and couldn't be touched. So, he had to farm monsters for a while longer. Only after the return of another Saintess in the village, the "Unsealing Saintess - Aperia," did he approach this Saintess, who looked exactly like her sister but was a few years younger, to request an upgrade.

The result, naturally, was failure.

Aer was able to upgrade players because Li Li had shared the abilities of the "Divine Legion" with her.

Other Saintesses of the Creator God, however, had not received this permission.

If it weren't for the God Banning Barrier, Li Li could have granted them permission from afar.

But in the context of the entire god's corruption, Li Li, who was holed up within the God Banning Barrier, had to meet them in person and touch them to grant permission to his Saintesses.

Upon discovering that Aperia couldn't upgrade him, "Lost a Leg" thought he had encountered some hidden plot.

However, after observing the chat logs of other players in the group, the speculations and discussions of top players online about the game mechanics, and the situation of the most recent update, "Lost a Leg" discovered something.

The previous announcement stated that "Faith" would be changed to "Experience Points," but it didn't specify the update time. Initially, he thought it was an official error, as his interface hadn't updated.

But he discovered through group chats that other players' interfaces had updated long ago, and after killing monsters, they would also display the total experience points they received.

In the same game, on the same server, there was a situation where some players were on the new version, while others were on the old version.

This led "Lost a Leg" to speculate that the player data in this game might be running on an independent server.

Players would not participate in the entire world's operation but would act as temporarily joined "variables." Only when players were active would the logic of the world's operation change.

In this way, when players disappeared, there would be no need to calculate the player variable.

Similarly, the world itself would not change player data. Players would not automatically level up, be twisted into monsters, or be able to excrete or reproduce. To change their character's status, they had to find the avatar of the Creator God.

That guy was the junction between the "Player System" and the "World System."

Only when players touched him could their latest data be uploaded to the "Player System."

In other words, the "save point" of this game was that divine avatar named Li Li.

The reason for this design was not difficult to infer: separating "players" from the "world" could prevent most bugs.

As a former programmer, "Lost a Leg" found this design quite ingenious.

However, while it made things convenient for the development team, he still had to return to Iron Wall City to level up.

After bidding farewell to the sisters Aperia and Aperia, "Lost a Leg" set off on the road back to the city.

And as the Saintess of the Creator God, the freely mobile "Unsealing Saintess - Aperia," along with her Knight order, followed him on what was called a pilgrimage.

"Lost a Leg" was initially reluctant because if he were alone, his player character, who didn't need to eat, could easily avoid dangerous monsters and traverse high-level monster nests.

But before long, he found himself singing a different tune.

After all, this Knight order, calling themselves the Salvation Army, with the younger Saintess Aperia included, had an average level of over 60.

Upon realizing this, "Lost a Leg" proactively asked them to assist him in leveling up. The scattered high-level monsters he killed along the way increased his accumulated Faith from the 6 points needed to reach level 10 to 72 points, enough to upgrade some skills.

With "Lost a Leg" clearing the map, the group successfully reached Iron Wall City without any casualties.

Although they were stopped by soldiers at the checkpoint when entering the city.

However, facing six Gold Rank powerhouses, the soldiers' attitude towards them was completely different from that of other explorers blocked at the checkpoint, and the procedures were quickly completed.

After entering the city, "Lost a Leg" led everyone to the warehouse.

He was already behind the first echelon in terms of leveling progress anyway. After grinding for several consecutive days, he planned to go back, level up, log off, and get a good night's sleep before considering catching up.

However, upon returning to the warehouse, "Lost a Leg" saw a group of NPCs with [Lv: ???] surrounding the area and decided to finish the storyline before resting.

Li Li helped Aperia up, sighed, and had the hidden Aer reveal herself to send this Saintess, who had appeared out of nowhere, to rest in the back for now.

Representatives from several different factions silently observed Li Li's actions.

There were many types of special units exclusive to gods, but very few deities possessed a [Saintess].

Because a [Saintess] requires a vast amount of [Prayer] to be born, and with the gods corrupted, the act of praying itself carries significant risk.

A deity possessing a [Saintess].

This indicates that the deity has not only avoided any corruption but also possesses remarkably pure [Faith].

Li Li had no idea what these people were thinking, but for the sake of the upcoming transaction, he needed to show them something.

So, he walked over to "Lost a Leg" and asked him:

"You've collected quite a bit of energy from the corrupted monsters. Do you need me to help you convert it into your power?"

"Can I upgrade now?" Lost a Leg glanced around, swallowing hard as he was stared at by a group of NPCs. "Don't I need to go through the story first?"