The Death God felt wronged.
After spending so many years in Hell, he had never seen a Trainee Death God as long-lived as Lance. If Lance had been a Death God serving in Hell, living for seven or eight hundred years—or even over a thousand—would have been perfectly normal.
The problem was that Lance wasn't. He was human. Was it normal for a human to live for seven or eight hundred years, or even over a thousand?
No.
It wasn't normal at all, okay? Unless Lance was a False God.
A False God living for over a thousand years was normal.
But if he wasn't a False God, he could live for five or six hundred years at most. If he managed to obtain divine medicine when his lifespan was nearly exhausted, extending it by a hundred years would also be normal.
No matter how one looked at it, Lance living for over a thousand years as a human was absolutely abnormal.
He had only ever heard of Hell's Death Gods outliving Trainee Death Gods. He had never heard of a Trainee Death God outliving a Hell Death God.
He didn't want to become a disgrace to the Hell Death God world.
In Hell, every time he thought of Lance, this Trainee Death God, he would silently pray for Lance to die soon, then give him a Promotion and Salary Increase and make him a full-fledged Death God.
Sitting on the ground, Lance scratched his head with a dragon claw. The superior Death God responsible for contacting him was fine in every way—except that he talked far too much.
From time to time, he even hoped Lance would die soon.
He had discovered that long ago. Whenever he didn't apply for leave, this superior would occasionally issue him some ridiculously difficult missions. If Lance had really been a human powerhouse, some of those missions could have killed him five or six times.
Luckily, he wasn't. Every time he completed a mission, he pretended to be gravely wounded and on the verge of death, just to make this superior happy.
Later, some blabbermouth Trainee Death God reported him, claiming that all the blood on his body was tomato ketchup. After learning the truth, this superior had been so furious that he had waved his Death God Scythe and nearly run out of Hell.
If he had known this fellow was so good at complaining, he should have picked a female Death God when choosing his superior.
"Isn't it a little excessive to hope every day that such an outstanding partner as me will die?"
"Do you think I'm hoping for you to die? I'm hoping to give you a Promotion and Salary Increase! I'm hoping to make you a full-fledged employee, buddy."
"Then you'll have to keep hoping. Not long ago, I took a trip to the Elf Kingdom and drank an entire vat of Spring of Life. I figure I can live another five or six hundred years."
"Cut it out. Every time I ask when you're going to die, you either say you were lucky and ate several doses of divine medicine, or that you encountered some fortuitous opportunity and a mysterious powerhouse infused you with several hundred years of lifespan. Why don't you just say you're the undying man from legend?
"Seriously, when are you going to die? If you can't die anytime soon, I hope you'll start working. I've collected a whole pile of highly dangerous—cough, cough, I've collected a whole pile of bounty missions with incredibly high rewards. Once you complete them and take the money, you can enjoy yourself for a long time again."
Death God Solomon could see that long-lived Lance wouldn't be dying anytime soon. He had no choice but to make Lance start working. He hadn't spent all these centuries in Hell doing nothing.
He had taken on a great many dangerous bounty missions, waiting for Lance, this Trainee Death God, to start working so he could assign them to him and help him receive a Promotion and Salary Increase.
"I don't have any intention of working for now. Hmm. I am considering resigning, though. You keep hoping to give me a Promotion and Salary Increase every day. It's making me a little scared. You know me. I'm a Trainee Death God with no ambition.
"Working hard, then dying and going to Hell for a Promotion and Salary Increase—that isn't for me. I still want to live a few more years."
"Really?" Death God Solomon was overjoyed. "Write it! Write it for me right now! Write your resignation report, and I'll approve it immediately!"
Since he couldn't wait for Lance, this Trainee Death God, to die, it would be fine if Lance submitted a resignation report and left. He could happen to look for a new Trainee Death God. Over the years, he had encountered quite a few promising candidates; with a little training, they could become the Hell Death God's agents in the mortal world.
The salary he paid Lance was enough to support eight or nine—no, ten or twenty Trainee Death Gods.
The reason he still hadn't received a promotion, apart from never managing to wait for an outstanding Trainee Death God like Lance to replace him,
was that he paid the highest salaries and cultivated the fewest Trainee Death Gods. Who did all the money go to? Lance!
Because of Lance, he didn't have the money to train any other Trainee Death Gods.
"Can't you just terminate the cooperation contract we signed?"
"You really don't plan to be a Trainee Death God anymore?"
Death God Solomon had thought Lance was just speaking casually. He hadn't expected this fellow to truly be planning to give up being a Trainee Death God.
Being a Trainee Death God was a pretty good job. After death, one would go to Hell and train below for a while, with a chance to become a full-fledged Death God.
Someone as outstanding as Lance would become a full-fledged Hell Death God immediately after death.
Giving up his status as a Trainee Death God would be a huge loss for Lance.
As for him... he had lost an outstanding successor, but it wasn't a big problem. As long as he discovered and trained several new outstanding Trainee Death Gods, he could be promoted immediately and become a Tier Two Death God.
A Tier Two Death God's benefits were far better than those of a Level One Death God.
The most obvious visible benefit was the black Death God Robe he wore. It would turn into a handsome, eye-catching black-and-red Death God Robe.
His pitch-black Death God Scythe would also turn into an attractive black-and-red Death God Scythe.
He would also have a chance to travel to Heaven.
All the Death Gods who had joined at the same time had been promoted. He was the only one who hadn't, all because of Lance. Now that Lance was quitting, he would probably be promoted soon too!
"We've cooperated for so long. I'm still a little reluctant to see you suddenly quit. After all, in my heart, you're the Trainee Death God best suited to take over my position."
Solomon felt he should at least show how much he admired Lance. Wait, no—that wasn't right. He had always admired Lance.
If he hadn't admired him, would he have hoped for him to die?
What he should show was how reluctant he was to part with Lance.
"Your heartfelt admiration is so hard to respond to that I don't even know how to comment. Let me confirm something with you: After a Trainee Death God resigns, he can freely summon Hell's undead without limit for three hundred years, right?"
"Yes, yes, yes. Given your performance, summoning some of Hell's undead troops won't be a problem. As for an Undead Bone Dragon that isn't from Dragon Island, you also have ten chances to summon one. Whether you can summon it successfully will depend on your ability.
"Undead creatures at the level of a bone dragon can refuse a Necromancer's summoning at any time if they don't want to answer the call. You should know that."
Lance nodded. He knew that.
"Ah, I originally sought you out this time to give you a Promotion and Salary Increase. I didn't expect it to turn into terminating our contract. Forget it. After you die, I'll still strongly recommend you to become a Hell Death God. Don't disappoint my expectations—hurry up and die of old age.
"Wait, why are you raising a young dragon too? You wouldn't be resigning because you want to become a Dragon Knight, would you? What a fool! What combat power could such a tiny young dragon have? An Undead Bone Dragon is far stronger than this young dragon."
"I plan to take the Knight of Light examination at the Temple of Light."
"???"
"So you're resigning because you want to become the Temple of Light's Dragon Knight of Light?"
"Mm. The Temple of Light has good benefits."
Before you continue