Chapter 14

"Is the human body really structured like this? It just feels a bit off..." Gerald scratched his bald head and frowned as he looked at the skeleton Sui Xiong had assembled.

Sui Xiong flew into a rage at the doubt. "How could it be wrong?! Do you know what I used to do? Let me tell you, I've drawn more human bodies than you've chopped apart! There's absolutely no way I made a mistake!"

"But it still doesn't seem very reliable."

Speechless, Sui Xiong flicked a tentacle, grabbed a skeleton from afar, and threw it beside them for comparison. "Look at that skeleton and compare them. Aren't their structures exactly the same?"

"Wouldn't a skeleton's structure... be too fragile?" Looking at the skeleton in the distance, which was already practically falling apart, Gerald's expression grew even more troubled.

Sui Xiong casually waved his tentacles and laughed confidently. "Don't worry. I'll use plenty of materials. I guarantee even an axe won't be able to chop it apart!"

Gerald recalled the skeletons he had seen and felt somewhat worried. "Wouldn't that make it lack flexibility? The skeletons I saw moved rather stiffly..."

Sui Xiong froze for a moment, then thought it over. "I'll divide the bones into more sections and add more muscles. That'll make it more flexible."

As the body gradually took shape, Gerald voiced another question. "...This structure is really strange. I've never seen anything like it."

"As long as it's strong and moves flexibly, what does it matter if the structure is strange?" Sui Xiong said carelessly.

Gerald suddenly understood. "That's true. Being able to live again is already good enough. There's no need to be so particular about it... Oh, right, help me strengthen the muscles some more."

"That's easy! Leave it to me!" Sui Xiong promised, waving his tentacles.

Gerald was delighted and quickly came up with another idea. "It's easy? Then can you strengthen the skin too, make it natural armor? And things like darkvision, poison resistance, and so on..."

"Strengthening the skin is easy, and darkvision isn't too difficult either, but poison resistance is a bit troublesome." Sui Xiong pondered for a moment. "I'll make you a magic-powered poison resistance system."

Gerald was taken aback. "But I can't use magic."

"It doesn't matter if you can't. I'll teach you." Sui Xiong laughed loudly.

"Can I learn your magic?"

Sui Xiong thought for a while and came up with an idea. "I'll make you a magic core too. Problem solved."

"...So am I a human or a magical beast?" Gerald asked blankly.

"Anyone who cares about details is a fool! As long as the body works, who cares whether it's human or magical beast!" Sui Xiong swept a tentacle through the air, brimming with confidence.

"...I can't just ignore that! Now that I think about it, this body's structure is clearly that of a magical beast!" Gerald stared in shock.

"Don't worry. I'll make it look human on the outside. It'll just be a little bigger."

"...Isn't this way too big?" When Gerald entered that body and controlled it as it swayed unsteadily to its feet, he discovered that he was tall enough to look down on the roof and could not help complaining.

"Isn't this perfect? Once you look like this, the people who hold grudges against you definitely won't recognize you."

"...I feel like I've been tricked." The reborn giant habitually scratched his head, his expression complicated. It was hard to say whether he was happy or depressed...

But happy or depressed, Gerald Caban had truly come back to life.

Using his stored nutrients, Sui Xiong had created a new body for him. It was extraordinarily powerful: it could uproot a tree as thick as a person with sheer strength, run faster than birds could fly, use its arms to block axe blows head-on, see in the dark, chew wood like crackers, and eat deadly poison without suffering the slightest effect... Its only flaw was that it was far too huge. Conservatively estimated, it stood nearly four meters tall, higher than two people stacked on top of each other.

Gerald naturally had quite a few objections to this. No matter how he looked at it, that build was not that of a normal human. However, Sui Xiong said that this height was nothing compared to his own, and since they would be traveling together in the future, it would look uncoordinated if their height difference was too great. Gerald had nothing more to say.

Although that reason was extremely unreliable, ever since Gerald had revived by possessing the body, he had seemed somewhat restrained around Sui Xiong. Sui Xiong always felt that he was a little absentminded.

"I used to move around at sea, so I'm not familiar with things on land." Sui Xiong casually changed the subject. "I'm planning to find somewhere inhabited and stay there for a while. Where do you think would be best?"

"I think any village would do." Gerald answered, but his gaze remained fixed on the eastern sky.

It was dawn now, and sunrise would come soon. The weather looked good today. It should be sunny.

"What are you looking at?" Sui Xiong asked curiously.

"I'm waiting. Waiting for the sun."

The sun? Sui Xiong looked at the sky in confusion. Was the sun in this world special? Or did Gerald worship the Sun God and need to pray at sunrise?

After a while, the sun rose, and golden sunlight shone over the earth.

Gerald, too large to have any clothes to wear, stood naked beneath the sunlight. It fell upon his solid, sharply defined muscles and his hard-lined, somewhat fierce-looking face. He did not move, like a statue.

At first, he looked somewhat tense. Gradually, as the sunlight grew stronger, his expression calmed. His tension turned into joy, and finally into relief.

"I... am really alive..."

"You were alive already. Your heart is beating, your blood is circulating, and all your organs are functioning normally—you're not just alive, you're very healthy!" Sui Xiong thought Gerald was doubting his craftsmanship and could not help getting angry. "Don't underestimate my skills! What's so difficult about making a body out of flesh?"

Before he had finished speaking, Gerald had already fallen to his knees, prostrating himself before Sui Xiong and kissing the tentacles that supported his body.

"Great Your Majesty, you are my savior, my faith, and the resting place of my soul!"

He was so sincere and devout that Sui Xiong jumped in fright.

"Gerald, what's wrong with you? Are you sick? Or is something hurting? That's impossible! Your body is so strong that even if you aren't immune to all illness, you shouldn't collapse just from standing in the sun!"

"Your Majesty, I am very healthy."

"Then why are you acting like this? This is completely abnormal! How is that healthy?"

Gerald bowed once more before climbing to his feet. His attitude was extraordinarily humble, as though he were ready to kneel again at any moment.

"It seems that Your Majesty has not yet realized your true identity—you are not some legendary creature, but a god who has only recently awakened and now walks among mortals!"

"What?" Sui Xiong froze. He carefully examined himself and confirmed that he was utterly different from the gods described in the information he had obtained from the Shrine. He could not help shaking his head. "You're mistaken. I'm just an ordinary wanderer, at most a little bigger than average."

Gerald did not argue over that obviously unreliable statement. Calmly, he said, "Granting life to the dead is something only gods can do. Even the most brilliant spells can only create humanoid golems suspended between life and death, moving through magical energy rather than normal life force. You truly resurrected me and saved me. That is unquestionably divine authority!"

"Perhaps you did not realize this in the past, but as the mortal you saved and as your believer, my existence is proof of your greatness!"

Gerald's devout expression contained no trace of falsehood, making Sui Xiong almost believe him. But on second thought, he noticed a major flaw.

"You say I'm a god. Then since you believe in me, why can't I receive Faith Power?"

Faith Power was something extremely important in this world. Sui Xiong did not yet know exactly how important it was, but the information he had obtained from that Shrine told him that Faith Power was an immensely valuable resource to gods.

Back then, that Shrine had contained a small amount of Faith Power. Sui Xiong had analyzed and absorbed most of it. Some of the remainder had not fully condensed and pointed toward the Sleepless God like a needle. He had not dared to touch that Faith Power, so he had simply thrown it, together with the Shrine, into an undersea volcano.

If he truly was a god, Gerald's faith in him should have produced Faith Power, and there was no way he would have failed to sense it.

Gerald smiled at the question. "Your Majesty, how could a mere mortal like me peer into the world of gods? All I can do is believe in you wholeheartedly, revere you, serve you, and devote myself to you. Only you yourself can answer such profound questions."

Sui Xiong had no reply to that. Seeing Gerald's expression of whether you believe it or not, I believe it anyway, he shook his head and stopped pursuing the matter.

"Fine. Whatever you say."

Arguing with a fanatic that "the god you worship isn't real" was absolutely one of the stupidest things in the world. Even on Earth, where no gods existed, fanatics would blow themselves and their enemies to pieces for the glory of their gods. In this world, where gods truly existed, the power of faith was naturally even greater.

Sui Xiong still remembered the old chief priest of White Leaf Village, who had sacrificed himself alive for the glory of his god.

Judging by Gerald's demeanor, if Sui Xiong needed it, he could surely do the same and sacrifice himself.

Of course, Sui Xiong was not a god, but even if he truly were one, he would never be an evil god like the Sleepless God. In his view, a god's glory came from the virtue and talent of their believers, and from the praise of those who had benefited from them—not from threats and fear.

A god who demanded that believers give everything, even their lives, was less a god than a demon!

Thus, only one final matter remained regarding whether Sui Xiong was a god.

"Your Majesty, please forgive my boldness, but when I pray, by what title should I respectfully address you?"

"A name?" Sui Xiong thought about it. "My name is probably different from what you're used to..."

"No, I am asking what title should be used to respectfully address you," Gerald corrected him. "One must not speak a god's true name directly."

"This really is troublesome!" Sui Xiong thought carefully before saying, "In that case, call me Oscar. Oscar the Void Mask."

Oscar meant acting, while Void Mask was the name of a creature from one of the games he had once enjoyed most—a being with several tentacles, rather similar to a jellyfish.

Gerald nodded, indicating that he had remembered the name. He showed no intention of asking what Oscar meant or why Sui Xiong had specifically emphasized "Mask." Sui Xiong, who had been prepared to spend some time explaining, felt as though he had punched cotton and was slightly helpless.

Having settled an issue entirely unrelated to real life, it was time to deal with practical matters.

After asking Gerald, Sui Xiong decided to leave White Leaf Village and head for the outskirts of Ash Forest.

There were several small towns there, located roughly at the edge of civilized society.

Whether he wanted to obtain something or strengthen himself, the first priority was to return to the civilized world.