Crossover: In the Little Garden, Becoming a God by Proving It Once and for All

"As far as I know, unicorns like places with clean water, but your territory doesn't have any, does it?"

"I can make you a lake and plant it with the moonlight flowers unicorns like."

"I can also have people bring the food and things you like into the forest and sell them to you."

"In return, though, I'll need you to purify water, look after the plants in the fields when appropriate, and use your abilities to help me make antidotes."

"Of course, I'll pay you for it."

Qin Qi began to explain his real purpose.

"That... sounds good, but why didn't you ask me to help you in the game contract to begin with? Then you wouldn't have had to pay anything."

The unicorn listened to Qin Qi's terms. They were good, very appealing, especially the lake. That was his favorite kind of environment.

"Although the terms of a contract can't be broken, that wouldn't have been something you willingly agreed to do."

"I'm a businessman. I want to do business that benefits both of us, with both sides participating willingly."

"The game before was just my way of proving that I was strong enough to do business with you."

"I don't want to use it to force you into a deal."

Qin Qi spoke.

"Thank you for your respect, human. I greatly admire your strength, wisdom, and will, so I accept your terms."

"I'll help you as much as I can."

The unicorn looked at Qin Qi. At that moment, he seemed able to sense the purity in Qin Qi's heart and see the respect for him in Qin Qi's eyes.

Qin Qi didn't hold prejudice against phantom beasts because he was human; instead, he respected a phantom beast like him.

This was a very polite person, and the unicorn liked polite people.

The unicorn stepped forward and lightly touched Qin Qi's body with his head. This was how he returned Qin Qi's respect.

The unicorn, who had only ever allowed pure maidens to touch him, had now reached out to touch Qin Qi of his own accord. That was the greatest respect he could show Qin Qi.

"That proud unicorn actually approached a man on his own!"

"This is... this is unbelievable!"

"But that human seems pretty good. He's polite in the way he does things, and he respects us."

"And that rabbit seems to follow his orders. This person is impressive."

The watching creatures' impressions of Qin Qi had changed. They all thought he was an impressive person.

"Black Rabbit, tell the others that I'm willing to do business with them too. I'll give them what they want, and in return, they'll need to help me."

Qin Qi could sense the many life signs hidden in the forest. He spoke to Black Rabbit.

"Yes, manager!"

As Black Rabbit looked at Qin Qi, little stars also appeared in her eyes. She had come to admire him a little too.

Over the following period, Black Rabbit relayed Qin Qi's words, and the other creatures in the forest began to feel tempted.

"Partner... may I call you that?"

The unicorn looked at Qin Qi. He hesitated, but still asked.

"You may. If you want, you can join my community. You'd be very welcome."

Qin Qi spoke with a smile.

"Thank you for the offer, but I'll pass for now. Partner, though, let me introduce you to the others in the forest."

"With me there, they'll show you at least some consideration."

The unicorn was ready to help Qin Qi negotiate business. He was fairly well known in this forest, and with him vouching for Qin Qi, things would go more smoothly.

"Then I'll leave it to you."

Qin Qi spoke with a smile.

Chapter 22: Martial Arts of the Divine Realm, the Water God at the End of the World!

The forest covered a vast area, and it was home to many creatures. Qin Qi and the others were busy from daytime until the sun went down.

"Manager, um... I'm very sorry, but I have to go back and look after the children. I'm really sorry."

Black Rabbit looked at Qin Qi, who was still busy, and felt terribly embarrassed. Qin Qi was clearly the one who had been working hard all along.

She had only been responsible for translating, yet she still had to leave early. She was truly sorry.

"Oh... it is getting late. Here, these are your wages for today. Get off work early; I can handle the rest myself."

Qin Qi looked at the sky. Before he knew it, evening was almost upon them. He took out a few silver coins and tossed them to Black Rabbit.

"Th-that much!"

"No, wait, manager, I still owe you a lot of money. I can't accept these wages."

Black Rabbit was surprised. She couldn't normally earn that much hosting games. Looking at the silver coins in her hands, she was a little reluctant to part with them.

But she still decided to return them to Qin Qi. After all, she still owed him a lot of money for the medicine.

"These are your wages for hosting the game and translating. I've already deducted a portion to go toward your debt."

"Keep the rest without worrying. Given the state of your community, if I didn't pay you any wages at all..."

"I'm afraid you wouldn't even have money for groceries."

It wasn't that Qin Qi looked down on No Name... all right, he did look down on them. A community that couldn't even scrape together 2.5 gold coins...

In his eyes, they were too poor to afford food.

"Mm..."

Black Rabbit lowered her head, a little embarrassed. Qin Qi was right. If things went on like this, it wouldn't be long before they couldn't afford food.

After all, Black Rabbit was the only one in the community who could earn money, and now that she was working for Qin Qi, the community had lost its source of income.

Feeding and providing for over a hundred people cost quite a bit every day.

"Th-then I'll accept it. Thank you, manager."

Black Rabbit still felt very embarrassed. She felt she hadn't done much, and accepting the money left her somewhat uneasy.

"All right, stop dawdling. I still have work to do. Bye."

Qin Qi prepared to continue working and try to get everything settled before tomorrow. Black Rabbit's departure would make things a little troublesome.

But it was fine. The unicorn was still there, and he was already familiar with the process. Even if Qin Qi couldn't understand the others, it wouldn't matter much.

The unicorn could translate for Qin Qi using expressions and gestures.

"Then I'm going."

Black Rabbit bowed and thanked Qin Qi again before turning to leave. She was so fast that she vanished in a flash.

Qin Qi continued working, but not long afterward, Black Rabbit returned with something in her hands.

"Manager, I'm back. The children in the community have all eaten and gone to rest. Here, I brought you dinner."

Black Rabbit wore a sweet smile. She still felt too embarrassed to go back and rest just like that, so after taking care of the children, she had brought dinner to Qin Qi.

"I'll count this as overtime and pay you extra later."

Qin Qi didn't stand on ceremony. He was indeed hungry, so he sat down and started eating. He soon finished, then got back to work with Black Rabbit.

With Black Rabbit translating, communication became much more efficient, and their pace picked up considerably.

In the blink of an eye, the night had passed. It wasn't until five or six in the morning that Qin Qi finished speaking with the forest's inhabitants.

"Look, Black Rabbit, this whole forest belongs to me now!"

Qin Qi and the others stood on high ground, looking out over the entire forest. After a night of hard work, they had reached agreements to cooperate with all its inhabitants.

Some negotiations hadn't gone so smoothly, and fights had broken out, but Qin Qi had dealt with them all. In the end, the result was very good.

"You're amazing, manager."

Black Rabbit couldn't help admiring Qin Qi. Now she understood a little about how he had expanded his commercial community to such a scale.

"Manager... though it's a little rude of me, I'm still very curious. What Gift were you using?"

"Why have I never seen it before?"

Black Rabbit had seen Qin Qi unleash golden lightning and thought it must be a Gift, but she had never seen it before.

"A Gift... no, this isn't a Gift. It's a special ability formed by humans developing their bodies and growing stronger."

Qin Qi smiled and answered without hiding it from Black Rabbit.

"Mm... is it a martial art? You trained to this level with martial arts alone?"

"Amazing!"

Black Rabbit couldn't help looking surprised. In the Little Garden, there was something called the Martial Arts of the Divine Realm.

Without relying on Gifts, divinity, or any fantasy or mystery, one relied only on oneself, constantly increasing one's power until finally reaching a realm comparable to the gods.

But it required tremendous effort and consumed a great deal of time and energy. Compared with Gifts, this path was far too difficult.

"Rabbit, praising me like that won't get you a raise."

Qin Qi didn't grow complacent. In the Little Garden, where gods walked everywhere, his current strength still wasn't enough. He needed to keep working hard.

"Let's go, Black Rabbit. There's one last problem to solve."

Qin Qi spoke.

"Haven't we dealt with all the creatures in the forest? What else is there?"

Black Rabbit had only just recovered from her surprise. She asked in confusion.

"There's a snake god in the Waterfall at the End of the World who commands the power of water. I'm going to ask him to cooperate with me next."

Qin Qi spoke.

"A snake god?! No, no, manager, you really can't do that. Anyone with divinity is at least five digits."

"With your current strength, manager, you definitely can't beat one. Don't go. It's very dangerous."

Black Rabbit grabbed Qin Qi's hand and shook her head frantically. A five-digit snake god was nothing like the creatures in the forest.

"Black Rabbit, doing business always involves risks. Besides, if the talks really don't work out, I'll have to ask you to take me and run."

"With your speed, we should be able to escape, right?"

Qin Qi reached out and rubbed the rabbit's ears as he spoke.

"Mm... th-then leave it to Black Rabbit! Black Rabbit will definitely protect you, manager!"

Black Rabbit couldn't take part in a game that had already been decided, but if the game hadn't started, she could still take Qin Qi and escape.

Qin Qi and the others headed for the waterfall and arrived before long. Standing atop a huge rock, they looked at the Waterfall at the End of the World.

At that very moment, a gigantic white snake emerged from the water, sending up an enormous splash.

"Eeeek!"

Black Rabbit jumped in fright and immediately prepared to run.

"You're a Moon Rabbit, a Noble of the Little Garden, after all. Don't jump at everything. It's just a little splash."

Qin Qi stood where he was, his expression perfectly calm, without the slightest sign of fright.

"B-but something that big suddenly popped out. It really was scary."

Black Rabbit spoke with a woeful look. She felt that being startled at a time like this was the normal reaction. Wasn't it abnormal for the manager not to be surprised at all?

"Human, have you come for a challenge? Or a trial? Strength? Wisdom, or courage?"

The enormous snake god looked down at Qin Qi and also spotted Black Rabbit beside him. She showed a somewhat surprised expression.