Chapter 1: Zhuang Zhou Dreams of Being a Butterfly?

  Wandom, a port city with nearly 100,000 people, is a shining pearl on the Starlight Continent.

  This city, situated on the muddy wet plain, was favored by the gods. It faces the White Wave Strait, known as the "Golden Road", with a natural deep-water harbor, and 40% of the world's maritime trade passes through this city.

  This brought endless wealth to Vandom and made the rulers of Vandom City, the Premo royal family, the richest family in this world without exception. And Vandom itself means 'city built with gold' in ancient Hebrew.

  In this prosperous city, you can wear smooth silk clothes transported across the endless sea from the distant eastern continent, use whale oil from the harsh northern polar regions, equip yourself with divine weapons forged by dwarves hidden in mountain caves, and even buy beautiful female slaves from various tribes on the black market!

  Here, you can get everything, you can enjoy everything, but on one condition: there must be gold coins in your pocket.

  Unfortunately, our hero, an orphan who was abandoned as a child and doesn't even know which textile worker's belly he crawled out of - Luo Lin, didn't have any gold coins in his pocket. In his fifteen years of life, he had never seen that yellow stuff at all.

  He now has only twenty silver coins in his possession, and this 'huge sum' is being tightly grasped in his hand, squeezed too tightly, sweaty.

  To make up for the money, Luo Lin (or rather, the previous Luo Lin, who is no longer the same, at least not in spirit) sold his only property - the old wooden hut left to him by his foster father, the fallen soldier and drunkard Amos, which was almost indistinguishable from a shed. He also mortgaged his own freedom and borrowed usury from Malfo, the leader of the thieves who specialized in usury in the old city district. Even after losing everything, he still owed more, sacrificing everything for the second half of his life.

  He did so because his adoptive father was dying from a long illness, years of excessive drinking had thoroughly destroyed his body, cheap herbal remedies were completely ineffective for him, and even relieving the pain was impossible, only the temple priest's divine magic could save him.

  Now, Luo Lin, with a large sum of money in his pocket, stood outside Heli Church in the old city, hesitating whether to go in or not.

  If it were the moment before, Luo Lin would not have had such hesitation. He would have definitely risked everything to save his foster father, as he was his only relative. But now, he is no longer the original Luo Lin, his soul comes from another world, a place called Earth.

  There, now this world is just a super-large-scale holographic game called "Ancient Gods".

  In the previous moment, he was a powerful warrior with a level as high as 41, who had just advanced to the legendary realm and was gathering herbs in the perilous Moonlit Marsh to refine the "Dragon Slaying Potion". But in the next moment, after crossing over from a dark place, he became such a weak and frail youth, almost skin and bones.

  Just after crossing over here, Luo Lin even thought he was still in the game, and the strange state around him was just because the game had a BUG.

  But in the next hour, the details of the environment around him that were far beyond the Earth's game technology, and the memories of Luo Lin in his mind kept reminding him that things might not be so simple. He should have crossed over, his soul crossing into a world similar to the game "The Ancient Gods".

  Otherwise, as a veteran player with over ten years of gaming experience, he would not be unable to find the 'exit game' button.

  After realizing this, Luo Lin found it difficult to accept for a while, but soon he came to his senses. No matter whether he accepted it or not, things were already like this. Since he was still alive now, anger and panic could not solve the problem, and he could only face it rationally.

  "He sacrificed everything to save his foster father, and the original owner of this body was indeed a man with feelings and righteousness." Luo Lin thought that if this foster father was really a good person, then he wouldn't hesitate either, and he would definitely go to fulfill the young man's last wish to save him.

  But the problem is that this drunkard named Amos is a thoroughgoing old scoundrel, who indeed brought up Rollin, but only until he was ten years old; for the next five years things were turned upside down.

  Old drunkard Amos was cheated of his money by a woman, he became thoroughly depressed, drank all day, and even hit people for no reason. What's more, in these years, his drinking money, food money, clothes, and all expenses were earned by Luo Lin doing odd jobs at the dock. This old man relied on a child to support him for six whole years!

  In Rouran's current view, even if the favor was as heavy as a mountain, repaying it for six years should be enough. This old scoundrel isn't worth sacrificing his freedom for the rest of his life.

  If he uses this money to pay the pastor to save people, then he will definitely not be able to repay the usury, and will become a slave of Marlow, losing everything.

  Luo Lin wanted to turn around and leave, letting this nominal adoptive father fend for himself, but there was an extremely strong thought in his mind that kept shouting.

  "Save him, save him, save Amus." The young man's obsession echoed in Rolen's mind, incredibly strong, even though the possession had ended more than an hour ago and still hadn't dissipated.

  It was this very thought that urged Roland on for the whole hour, bringing him to the church door and preventing him from turning back with a hardened heart.

  After hesitating for a while, Luo Lin sighed and finally stepped into the Hellen Church.

  It has to be said that this world and the game "Elder Gods" are really similar to an extreme degree, for example, this church, it also exists in the game, only not as realistic.

  "No matter what, I've taken over your body. Since this is your last wish, I'll help you fulfill it." Luo Lin said to himself. As for the usury afterwards, could a living person like him be driven to death by such a thing? There would always be a way to solve it.

  It's strange to say, but once he made a decision, the obsession in his mind subsided a lot.

  As he entered the church, Roland saw a minister and when he looked at his face, all the memories of this person as a young boy flashed into his mind: 'Conway, a noble minister.'

  Rolin was slightly startled because he knew this Conward, to be exact, he remembered the name! In the past, in the game, he had even done a quest line about Pastor Conward.

  At the beginning of the task, Conward was just an ordinary low-ranking pastor, with some arrogance and greed for money. However, in the beastman invasion wave, this Conward went through nine deaths and one life, escaping from the destroyed Wandum, and also rescued hundreds of civilians. He was reborn in this escape.

  Then, Conwold joined the army and became a combat chaplain. With a series of good luck and talent backing him up, at the moment when Roland crossed over to this world, he had already risen to become one of the top-ranking Holy Light Grand Bishops in the world, becoming a leader-level figure who was crucial in resisting the Destruction Legion!

  Roland didn't expect to run into him here... Wait, Beastman invasion? The vanguard of the Destruction Legion? Valtor was destroyed?

  Luolin's mind was flooded with memories of the history in "The Ancient Gods", and for a moment, she was stunned.

  The point in time he crossed over to seems a bit subtle, the Vandom that was originally destroyed by the beastmen is still right in front of him, and Conwood is just an ordinary low-ranking pastor... wait, he must confirm whether this Conwood has the same personality as in the game.

  If their personalities are consistent, doesn't that mean everything that happens in the game will also happen here? Thinking of the beastmen sweeping in like a tsunami, leaving nothing but desolate wasteland in their wake, Rolin couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.

  I hope... I hope this isn't a world of ancient gods filled with disasters and hardships.

  At this time, Conwad also found Rolen, he walked up and said lightly: "Hey, little guy, today is not a day of alms, the church does not give out rice porridge."

  As expected, he was still a bit arrogant and treated the shabbily dressed Roland as a vagrant who had come to beg for alms.

  Luo Lin stepped forward and whispered: "Pastor, I've come to ask you to save someone. Please be kind and save my adoptive father, he's very ill."

  The frail and short boy looked very humble, his tone was also very urgent, but Conward always felt that the boy was not as anxious as he seemed on the surface, and seemed to be secretly observing him.

  Maybe it's just an illusion, what kind of mind can a little guy like this have?

  Conway's tall and large figure looked down at Rolen, calmly saying: "Although God is merciful, divine magic is extremely precious, only those who are pious enough can enjoy the blessings of divine magic."

  That's where the money comes in; the church pastor releases a basic divine technique for treatment, and at least twenty silver coins need to be paid, which is also why Rolin is scraping together money.

  Roland keenly sensed the impatience in Conwood's eyes, apparently Conwood didn't think Roland could afford this sum of money. This guy's performance was surprisingly similar to Roland's experience in the game.

  "How frightening." Luo Lin sighed quietly, the more similar it was, the more likely other histories would repeat themselves.

  From his memories as a youth, Luo Lin knew that this year was 1158 of the Sacred Era, and the beastmen's invasion would begin next year, in 1159.

  Luo Lin felt his weak body, his height was okay, but he was really too thin, just like a bamboo pole. This was completely two extremes compared to the strong and iron tower-like legendary warrior in the game.

  In the game, as a professional player, he entered the game a bit late and missed the first opportunity, but his gaming talent was really good. In the previous moment before coming here, he had already rushed into the realm of legendary warriors and became a member of high-end players. But now all these are gone. The physical attributes he was proud of, the legendary weapons, various battle skills, even the alchemy skills he had practiced to the master level, all disappeared.

  But without power, how can he survive in the beast tide?

  "I only hope history doesn't repeat itself." Luo Lin sighed inwardly, although he himself didn't have much confidence, because this world and the game were really too similar, even the details could be matched.

  Rolin was daydreaming, but Conwold took it as a sign of being penniless.

  He looked the boy up and down, taking in his clothes which were full of patches and seemed to be several sizes too big for him. The impatience in his eyes turned to disgust. He disliked people who didn't take care of their appearance because they only had a few coppers in their pockets at most, and more often than not, all they had was lice. These poor devils came to the church every time just to beg for his charity.

  In fact, this young man was also familiar, he was the adopted son of the drunkard Amos, Rolin. Judging from Amos' moral character, he definitely didn't have any money.

  "Rolin, divine magic is a precious gift from the gods, and it's also limited in number. I've already used up my divine magic for today... Alright, the benevolent god must have been moved by your filial piety. As it happens, I still have one divine magic left, so I'll give it to you this time." Lord Conrad's tone suddenly changed, and with a practiced hand, he retrieved the silver coin from the young man and put it back into his pouch.

  Since he gave him money, they are all neighbors, and he is willing to go with him.

  Rolin's face showed a pleased expression, but Conwold thought this joy was still a bit fake, as if it was put on, but he didn't think much of it, an adopted son of a drunkard wasn't worth his brain cells.

  Next, Rowland immediately led the way forward, with Conwell following behind him.

  Two men came out of the church, passed through the busy dock, entered the slum where dockworkers gathered, and finally arrived at a vagrant shelter in the most remote corner.

  The pastor followed, his eyebrows tightly furrowed and his hand covering his nose to prevent the stench from entering his nostrils. He said in a low, muffled tone: "Luo Lin, how did you end up living in this shelter?"

  Arms was once a guard of Vandam when he was young, and he lived quite luxuriously. After becoming an alcoholic, although he became very decadent, he should still have had a small wooden house, even if it was very broken down.

  "The wooden house has been sold by me." Luo Lin responded with a sound.

  "Oh." The pastor responded with some surprise, and immediately understood that the other party had sold the wooden house to raise money for Am's illness. He suddenly felt that the silver coins in his pocket were a bit hot, but even if they were hot, they were still silver coins. He would rather have his hands burned than let these little darlings leave his pocket.

  Rolin first entered the shelter, and the pastor hesitated for a moment before following him in. He had already taken the money, so he might as well do some good this time.

  As soon as Luo Lin entered the shelter, he was stunned and tried hard not to let the joy in his heart show on his face.

  He saw, in one corner of the room, his foster father Amos slumped over on the edge of the bed, stiff and twisted, his eyes wide open, a cheap wine bottle rolling off the hand that hung down at his side, and the floor was splattered with spilled liquor.

  This old guy has already kicked the bucket himself, which is just as well for him to save a sum of money, and he doesn't have to worry about usury anymore.

  "Arms is a thorough madman, he drinks like crazy, and no one can stop him." An old man in the shelter sighed.

  The pastor walked up, suppressing the disgust in his heart, and placed his hand on Am's neck to feel it. Then he said to the silent boy beside him, "We're too late, he's gone."

  Luolin nodded and let out a long sigh, feeling calm in his heart. The obsession of the original owner of this body did not appear, it seemed that he had completely dissipated.

  Everything is over, he's free.

  Luolin is ready to get the money back from Kangwuerde, even if he can't get it all back, getting some of it back is good, that's his life-saving money.

  "Child, don't be sorrowful. Your foster father chose this path himself, you've done all that you could do, no one can do better than what you did." Pastor Conward comforted faintly.

  As he spoke, a soft glow appeared on his hand, this was divine magic, the glow did not shine on the already dead Amos, but fell into the frail body of the young man, and disappeared inside.

  A look of astonishment appeared on Luo Lin's face.

  Conway misinterpreted his words, saying: "Ames died of drunkenness, which is suicide, a desecration of the temple of God, and therefore he was not worthy to have the glory of God. You are born weak, may this thread of holy light bless you with health and growth."

  Having done all this, Conwad no longer wanted to stay in this dirty and smelly shelter, turned around and stepped away quickly. After walking out of the shelter, he touched his purse again and felt that the silver coins inside were not so hot anymore.

  Roland could only smile wryly. This Covord priest was still as greedy as ever, the money that went into his pockets never came out again. He wasn't surprised by his arbitrary actions, what surprised him was the effect of this divine technique on his body.

  At the moment when the divine technique entered his body, a line of information that was different from this world flowed past in his mind.

  "Brain activated, unknown error occurred in brain... Error cleared, successfully entered parallel universe of 'Ancient Gods'. Host detected, transmitting preset settings... Transmission successful."

  "Received primary treatment, body nourished by holy light energy, vitality +1."

  "Unleash Talent: God of War!"