Arknights, But Terra is Farmed

The effect was minimal.

Even Kal'tsit herself didn't quite believe this explanation.

Trying to understand an incomprehensible being with human logic... would only lead to one outcome: incomprehensibility.

But at least the superficial appeasement had to be done. As for whether these survivors would believe it...

Whatever.

Kal'tsit let out a sigh, a hint of a headache in her voice.

Surely... nothing could be worse than the current situation?

... ... ...

... ...

"She's really gone? Did I miss something? Or did she already run off?"

Chen Ran leaned in close to the planet model.

He distinctly remembered placing the female survivor in this basin just moments ago, but in the blink of an eye, she had vanished without a trace.

"Could it be the rotation speed of this planet model? No, wait, that's actually quite possible."

Earth takes 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds to complete one rotation. But when this planet model came to life, Chen Ran had already mentioned that its rotation was visible to the naked eye.

So...

Perhaps for Chen Ran, it was merely the blink of an eye, but for the natives within this planet model, several hours had already passed?

Never mind.

Chen Ran's initial goal in messing around with this was to see if there were any survivors left in the worldline where the Sea Creatures brought about the apocalypse.

Now that he had a definitive answer, his objective was naturally achieved.

It was a bit of a shame he hadn't seen Kal'tsit, that Hakimi, or the Doctor, but—

Your name is sung, your deeds are praised, your existence is revered.

The semi-transparent pop-up window appeared again:

+1 Follower

Faith Power gained.

All Stats +1.

You have grown stronger, by a little bit (Character panel function not yet implemented, image pending).

Chen Ran: "?"

Hold on a second.

What do you mean, Faith Power?

Where did I get followers from?

Am I actually becoming a deity of faith?

012. Follower count? No species limit? The Sea Creatures are in the tens of thousands... Time to farm!

Chen Ran had no idea what was happening... well, he genuinely didn't.

From Chen Ran's perspective, he had just taken a look, played with some mud and water, grabbed a lucky individual, put them back, and then looked again.

Aside from spending a bit too much time on the mud, all the other actions combined wouldn't have taken more than a minute.

In such a short time, how could he possibly know what had happened?

"But Faith Power... how does one gain faith?"

Chen Ran clenched his fist loosely. Hmm, he felt nothing.

Regarding the "+1 to all stats" mentioned in the pop-up, was this stat system based on a scale of five, ten, a hundred, or was it unlimited like in Dragon Ball?

Going from a weakling to a slightly less weakling with a +1 stat increase would be quite noticeable.

But if it was +1 to a base stat in the hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands...

"Although I really want to issue a warning about feudal superstition... it doesn't cost anything to try."

"Left eye twitching means fortune, right eye twitching means superstition."

"So now there are three ways to 'farm'?"

"Raise Skadi the Corrupted's favorability, exploit the Sea Creatures, and collect faith?"

When it came to collecting faith, most people would instinctively think of things like proselytizing, performing miracles, or descending holy relics, right?

But after a moment of thought, Chen Ran turned his head and looked at Skadi the Corrupted, who was idly floating upside down with a small biscuit in her hand.

"Skadi the Corrupted? Red T? Honeycomb T? Isabella!"

After calling out several names in succession, Skadi the Corrupted finally turned her head to look at him.

So Chen Ran directly asked, "Do you believe in me?"

Heart of the Corrupted Skadi: "?"

Believe?

The question made Heart of the Corrupted Skadi tilt her head.

She recalled what she had found in that small glowing box earlier:

Belief is a theological term, referring to faith in God → This is the responsibility of a witch or nun → A witch is a type of role-playing → Role-playing is a form of BDSM.

With a blink of her small eyes, Heart of the Corrupted Skadi seemed to understand something and immediately reached down, taking off the boots she had already put on.

Then she floated towards Chen Ran, lifting her small, bare feet, preparing to step on and stuff them into Chen Ran's face.

"I think I need to ban you from using your phone from now on."

Seeing this, Chen Ran naturally reached out and caught Heart of the Corrupted Skadi in his palm, thwarting her plan to step on his face and stuff his mouth.

"Alright, alright, I'll lick your legs off later."

Chen Ran held Heart of the Corrupted Skadi by the back of her collar with two fingers, bringing her up to his eyes. "For now, help me test how to exploit a bug... oh no, I mean, test a small idea."

Although Heart of the Corrupted Skadi tried to wiggle her feet even while being held, she still blinked her small eyes and asked, "Lord God? Is there something you need me to do?"

"Yes, just like I said, try believing in me."

"Believe?"

So Heart of the Corrupted Skadi continued to wiggle her feet.

Seeing this, Chen Ran sighed and proceeded to teach her the correct way to show belief.

Finally, after he managed to teach her, Heart of the Corrupted Skadi blinked her small eyes as if in sudden realization—

Heart of the Corrupted Skadi stood in Chen Ran's palm, knelt on one knee, clasped her hands together, and just as Chen Ran had taught her, she mimicked him, softly praying, "Lord God..."

The next second, the semi-transparent pop-up window predictably flashed before Chen Ran's eyes:

「Your follower count +1」

「You have gained Faith Power」

「Your all-attribute stats +1」

"Ah, as expected."

Chen Ran had started trying to exploit loopholes as soon as he realized that this so-called follower count didn't have species restrictions.

And now, with Heart of the Corrupted Skadi becoming one of Chen Ran's followers, this faith, following the Hive Cluster Mind (like the Sea Creatures), spread throughout the entire Great Swarm of Sea Creatures in an instant.

Those Sea Creatures in the Great Swarm, far beyond the planet model, still crying out for sustenance, though they didn't know what was happening, all began to mimic.

Those who had evolved legs learned to kneel on one knee, those who had evolved hands learned to clasp them, and those who had evolved nothing began to evolve.

All the Sea Creatures, whether through roars, beast language, or human speech, uttered the same tone:

"Lord God..."

And with that came the semi-transparent pop-up window in front of Chen Ran, which began to scroll frantically.

「Your follower count +1」

「You have gained Faith Power」

「Your all-attribute stats +1」

「Your follower count +1」

「Your follower count +1」

「Your follower count +1」

「Your follower count...」

「Your...」

「... ...」

As the semi-transparent pop-up window scrolled into a blur that was visible to the naked eye, Chen Ran could also feel his physical strength increasing at a visible rate.

Until the pop-up window finally finished scrolling and, after a long silence, began to flash again:

「You are rottenly wicked」

Chen Ran: "Ha."

So the semi-transparent pop-up window finally reacted, huh?

But it didn't matter, he had already reaped the benefits.

Although it hadn't reached the level of Homelander, from "protecting our Earth" to "protecting my Earth," and then to "I don't eat beef,"

but—

Listen to the teachings of the Deity.

Listen to the prayers of the faithful.

"Lord God, Lord God, hungry, food, eat!"

"Lord God, I'm dying of thirst, give me some water, some water."

"Lord God, when is dinner?"

"Lord God, what's for breakfast? What's for lunch? What's for dinner?"

"Lord God, is there a midnight snack?"

"Lord God, huh? I'm fine, I'm just shouting for fun."

"Lord God..."

Chen Ran: "... ..."

Mute, ban.

He took a deep breath.

"Damn it, idiots."

Chen Ran seemed to understand why the deities in those mythological novels were unwilling to respond to human calls.

However, since he had gained something from them, and this group of Sea Creatures was indeed crying out to be fed.

So Chen Ran first stuffed another small biscuit into Heart of the Corrupted Skadi, then leaned closer to the planet model.

Among the vast, dense swarm of Sea Creatures, Chen Ran picked and chose:

"Oh, this Sea Creature has grown human bodies and limbs, but why is its head a jellyfish head? Never mind, at least it's quite good-looking, you'll do."

He reached out, picked it up, and placed it inside the newly formed planet model.