51 Checks and Golden Fingers

  "What's wrong? Aren't you satisfied with this reward?" Wogin looked at Penny, who was crying and laughing at the same time, with an expression that seemed to be smiling but not quite: "Take this check to my temple, I can guarantee that my priest will make up the 50,000 gold coins for you even if he has to dismantle and sell the temple."

  "No, that's not what I mean." Panni swallowed a mouthful of saliva. Five hundred thousand gold coins were not a small amount, enough to buy a medium-sized village as his territory, but it was useless to him now, and he silently cursed in his heart.

  "Is it useless?" Wogou's smile faded away, and his expression became unpredictable: "However, my divine position has decided that my followers will only ask me for these things."

  The sentence was inexplicably wonderful, Penny furrowed her brow, and heard the faint sense of melancholy in the words, seemingly with a hint of dissatisfaction and self-mockery, but more of the feeling that this sentence wasn't directed at her, with a greater component of talking to oneself.

  Wogendon paused for a moment, continuing to speak in a sentimental tone, his eyes filled with nostalgia or reminiscence: "As a god, there aren't many among the gods of Ferren who are younger than me."

  Pan Ni didn't know what Wang Jin meant by "reminiscing about the past", so he could only temporarily be a qualified listener, listening to the goddess's nagging complaints:

  "For in the Toriel universe, commerce is also a concept that has only recently emerged with the development of civilization, and the time it takes to transform into a divine occupation is even shorter."

  Pan Ni nodded, as he said, compared to some original concept worship formed gods, the emergence of the business concept requires a certain degree of civilization, and history is indeed not long, so Wogin is considered one of the relatively young among the gods - in terms of godship.

  "But because of the universality of trade, my followers can be said to be not a few, you know, even the believers of other gods will pray to me before doing business." Wogin said this, and his face showed another obvious smile with a hint of mockery: "But when it comes to praying for protection, there are very few people who think of me."

  "Your Highness, you mean that your followers lack..." Panni furrowed his brow, as if he understood what Wogin was getting at.

  "Loyalty." Vaugn held up a finger, cutting off Penny's interruption, and continued on his own: "There were several deities who had it worse than me during the Time of Troubles, like Bane. He was worse off than I - killed by Torm, but when he came back fourteen years later, all of his followers returned to his church, and he still has great divine power!"

  Penny clearly heard the goddess's anger: "I actually thought it was normal that I lost so many followers during my disappearance!"

  Penny's mouth was shut, obviously the goddess is very dissatisfied with her followers. To know that for those fourteen years, Benn was truly dead, his divine authority - tyranny, dictatorship, and brutal rule came from inheriting the name of the gods, while Wogin's divine authority was still being issued in its original name with Lila's help, but the phenomenon of losing a large number of followers and shrinking divine status did not appear on Benn's side, which shows that the commercial goddess's followers' faith is worth testing.

  "Actually, Your Highness, I also think this is a very normal phenomenon." Panni said so when the goddess was about to close her eyes and rub her temples due to frustration.

  "Normal? Hmm, I see what you mean. And I also understand why my followers lack devotion." Wogan didn't get angry, probably because he was already fed up: "Most people are more willing to dedicate their lives and loyalty to tyranny and power - like Bane - rather than money - except for a few misers, aren't they?"

  "Your Highness is wise." Panni bowed his head and gave a moderate slap on the back: "This is something that Your Holiness has decided."

  "Not bad, not bad, believer, you're quite awake." Wogin sighed, somewhat helplessly: "If it weren't for the tumultuous years' experiences, I'm afraid I'd still be gloating with a large number of believers to this day."

  Who told you to make a deal with the devil, knowing that the devil doesn't follow the rules? Ugh... Penny was just grumbling in her heart when she looked up and saw the goddess's playful gaze again. She quickly calmed down her thoughts, after all, gods have automatic thought detection, who dares to harbor malicious intentions in front of them?

  "Is that stupid?" Unexpectedly, Wang Jin didn't get angry, but instead calmly took over Pan Ni's words and said something that left Pan Ni stunned: "Your sentence is correct, I was indeed foolish at that time."

  Wogin continued to tell Penny, who was still stunned: "You mustn't think that just because gods have lived for a long time, with superhuman bodies and brains, they also possess extraordinary wisdom. I'm telling you the truth, this is a one-sided misunderstanding of most mortals. From a certain perspective, the more powerful a god's abilities are, the more crucial their divine position is, and the more numerous their believers are, the dumber they become!"

  "How is this possible?!" Penny was shocked, this was an unthinkable theory. With normal reasoning, the longer you live, the stronger your powers should be, and with wisdom existing within yourself, shouldn't you be extremely intelligent? How can you become dumber and dumber, it's clearly against logic.

  "Of course, I am a god, would I deceive a mere mortal like you?" Wogin savored Panni's astonished expression and said languidly, "You only need to know that this is a fact - if powerful gods are so wise, what about Shilique?"

  Penny fell silent, and Shrek was indeed an example of a higher deity brain damage theory.

  This guy obtained the divine positions of Mirk, Bar and Bane through epic adventure actions in his turbulent years, leaping from a mortal to become the most powerful deity in Toril, and gained recognition from Ao, the Overgod, with unparalleled momentum.

  He then took down the Phantom Lady Layla with the help of the bandit god Mask, and his consecutive victories and the fear of the gods made him complacent - like a certain Queen of Obelis, he thought it was unreasonable for someone as talented as himself to be restricted by AO, so he wanted all living beings to believe in him, thereby gaining unparalleled divine power and status.

  His arrogance can be glimpsed from the name of his divine kingdom - Supreme Throne.

  To achieve his goal, he spent ten years writing a masterpiece that would shake the world - the renowned "Book of Xel'kor". This sacred text possessed mystical powers that could convince anyone who read it that Xel'kor was the one true god in the multiverse and make them devoutly worship him. Such power even extended to the gods themselves.

  Then he read the book himself and went mad, paying a terrible price before regaining his sanity...

  "The reason for this involves the rules of faith and divinity, which are too complicated. Simply put, a god's way of thinking is determined by their divine position and the beliefs of their followers." Woguo spread his hands: "Different gods think about things in different ways, following the thought patterns and perspectives decided by their divine positions. For example, Tyr thinks in terms of justice, Bane in terms of authority, Mystra in terms of the dissemination of magic, and so on... So it's not that they're stupid, but rather that they're simple-minded, with many blind spots in their thinking."

  Ben Zhang's mouth was wide open, this theory really broadened his horizons.

  "I negotiated with Graz'ter, simply with the idea of doing business, but it gave me a very profound lesson. Under the strong authority, there is no transaction, only plunder!" The goddess said here, her face turned black again: "Ideology and doctrine are the foundation for gods, but to expand power, what's more important is loyal followers and strong authority!"

  "But my divinity cannot provide me with those things." Wogin sighed again: "The nature of the divinity depends on the beliefs of the faithful, and without the faithful, no one will pray to the goddess of commerce for those things. The nature of the church will not change either. I can assign followers to build a commercial system in the multiverse, and organize a somewhat efficient business intelligence network... but wanting them to shed blood for me, defend the authority of the church, is probably impossible... because they have never prayed to me for such things, nor do they think I need to provide them with such protection. My divinity also does not have a mechanism to respond to these requests..."

  Penny nodded, he also understood that in a place like the Toriel universe where strong men filled the sky, violence was the key factor driving the progress of the world. Money and commerce were unlikely to establish a solid order as they did on another plane, nor would they generate a strong faith. So although Wogin had a huge number of followers across the multiverse before the turbulent years, his status was quite ordinary.

  Because those who contribute to her faith are all self-interested guys, some of whom are not even monotheistic believers in her alone - but rather treat her as an auxiliary belief.

  Doing business is all about harmony and wealth, if you want to make the church of Woguo have fighting power and authority, establish a powerful organization like the Church of Tiel, first ask those selfish believers if they are willing to risk their lives...

  The goddess's divine position also determined that she could not issue such an oracle to her followers through divine power, as it did not conform to the nature of her divine position and might conflict with the divine positions of other gods.

  "For this reality, Wogin also felt helpless: 'If you hadn't touched my emblem in the depths, I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to respond to your fifteen years of non-stop harassment.'"

  "So all my prayers for fifteen years have been in vain?" Panni was depressed at that time.

  "At least I'll remember you." Wogin smiled lightly, pointing to Penny's hanging hands. The mage only then noticed the injured arm he had neglected while talking to the god. A beam of light shot out from Wogin's fingertips and landed on Penny's arms. He felt a strange power enveloping his numbness, and then the pain in his broken bones disappeared.

  "You are one of the few believers who ask me for something other than wealth, or rather, you don't even qualify as a believer. But putting aside the divine aspect, I am willing to accept your faith in my own name." Wogin smiled: "In other words, I'm willing to continue this transaction disguised as faith. If you understand what I said earlier, you should know what I want. If you're willing to work for it, as part of the deal, I'll also give you what you want... power. Of course, I can give you a little deposit first."

  Two exquisite gemstone rings flew out of the goddess's fingers, transforming into a puddle of metallic luster in mid-air and gradually dissolving into Penny's right hand: "There is some knowledge of ancient empires in your brain, but it lacks a golden finger. Most of those things are just decorations."

  Pani moved his right index finger, and he felt that the skeleton of this hand seemed to have become somewhat abnormal, especially from the forearm bone to the tip of the index finger, there was a clear sense of strangeness. The fingernail on the index finger also reflected a metallic color: "Is this... the magical hand of a Qi Mechanic?"

  "Although the principles are somewhat different, the effect is the same." Wogin nodded.

  Penny's heart skipped a beat, and as he moved his right hand, the knowledge of ancient empires in his mind surged forth, telling him what he could do with this hand.

  In the process of arcanic development in the Empire of Imaskar, some fanatics began to modify their own bodies in order to gain better abilities. The most advanced technique was to transform one's hands through magical metallurgy to acquire a series of quasi-magical abilities suitable for artificers, including enchantment, shape manipulation, mana manipulation, and material transmutation.

  Although this thing is dispensable for high-ranking clockworkers, it can bring great convenience to clockworkers in the early stages of their research.

  Later on, most of the advanced spellcasters who became master machinists had to undergo this operation with a not-so-low failure rate. Many technologies developed in the later stages of the empire were basically related to this thing.

  This also became a characteristic of the Qigong masters, and this modification procedure was listed as confidential by Yimasu, even among high-ranking Qigong masters, very few people knew about it, including that one hiding in the shadow plane.

  This was like a key that unlocked the things Pascal had crammed into Penny's brain, magical constructs, magical tools, enchantments and so on. Without this, Penny could only use those knowledge to be an ancient magic researcher or assistant.

  He tried to touch a small stone with his fingers and activated the shaping ability, and the stone gradually changed into a ring shape, a piece of...

  "Is it fun?" Wogin asked with interest, watching Penny's movements.

  "Ah... excuse me." Panni awkwardly stopped the experiment, stood up and scratched his head.

  "You have plenty of time to study it later, now this incarnation of mine doesn't have much divine power left. After I dissipate, you can return to Ser through this transmission gate." The goddess's expression gradually became serious, and her body began to fade away along with the magnificent throne beneath her.

  "Wait." Seeing the golden light about to disappear, Penny hastily pointed at the unconscious Saint Warrior behind her: "Can you send her back to her companions?"

  "A follower of Thiel?" Lady Wealth frowned: "That one-eyed old stubborn always sends followers to slander my loyal servants... Never mind, it won't consume much power anyway, since it's your request..."

  Wang Jin paused for a moment, stretched out his hand and pointed at the warrior on the ground.

  "Just consider it as doing a good deed."

  A divine light enveloped the body of the Holy Warrior, disappearing into thin air. Penni secretly let out a sigh of relief; if this Tiel's Holy Warrior were to appear in Sel, it would be disastrous.

  But thinking about it, they might not meet again, and the law master had a nostalgic feeling in his heart. In the chaotic adventure experience of Beidi, this female warrior was one of the few highlights.

  The goddess gradually disappeared, and his voice remained in the air: "Although I don't think it's necessary for me to force you to make a deal with me, but you have to remember that I am the trading god of the multiverse, all transactions are under my protection, only I can decide whether it is reasonable or not."

  "As my most special follower, if you can get me what I want, I won't hesitate to leave the most dazzling position for you in my kingdom."

  "Building a powerful governing body for an inherently weak church?" Penny watched as Wogin's avatar disappeared, letting out a sigh of relief at the same time, his heart filled with "what a joke" kind of complaints. After all, he was just a nobody, nominally a follower of Wogin, but in reality having no connection to the Church of Wealth whatsoever. The difficulty level of the task released by Wogin was simply epic for him.

  However, thinking of the large sum of money and the shiny new ring on her finger, Penny also had some ideas about taking advantage of her: "If it's within my power to do things for her, that's not a bad thing."

  He didn't think that the goddess's favor towards him meant she had great expectations of him - a deity wouldn't have such thoughts, it was probably just a low-cost investment in a potential stock - non-mainstream followers like Pan Ni were rare, success would be an unexpected delight, and failure wouldn't result in any loss.

  But overall, it is still beneficial and harmless for Penny now.

  He rested for a while, feeling the strange sensation of the demonized metal embedded in his right arm gradually fading away - his body had already begun to try and get used to the foreign objects.

  "Squeak..." Beren emerged from a corner, his beady eyes fixed on the area where Shen had disappeared, still full of vigilance.

  "Don't you like gods?" Panni crouched down curiously and stared into the mouse's eyes.

  The mouse flicked its tail, looking very disdainful. Penny dodged the dust raised by the mouse's tail and waved her hand: "Forget it, let's not talk about that issue. Are you not planning to return to the Material Plane with me?"

  After half a day without hearing any response from the mouse, Penny shrugged helplessly: "OK, then I wish you all the best in your development in the abyss."

  Bailen opened his mouth and let out a huge yawn.

  Pang Ni felt helpless, thinking it was better to draw a clear boundary with this dangerous guy. He couldn't control the situation anymore, so he let things take their course. With a deep breath, he plunged into the shimmering portal.

  The law master left, and Bailun opened his eyes, shaking his mouse head and brain, the rabbit-like long ears on his head swaying back and forth, slowly crawling out of the underground room.

  Above, a group of demonized beasts were still trembling with fear. The cunning demon Adi saw the mouse come out and jumped up and shouted: "Oh?! You damned, oh no dear master, you actually weren't killed by the terrible gods?"

  A glint of ferocity flashed in the mouse's eyes.

  ……