---Werner's POV---

  Mom was momentarily speechless. "This..."

  The elephant in the room. It's time we finally address it. "Mom, I've known about this for a long time already. You don't o keep tellihat it was some supermarket lottery prize," I said, my gaze calm as I ran my hand over the armrest of my wheelchair.

  This wheelchair had once been like a thorn lodged deep in my heart. My family never mentio, and I had pretended not to know. But pretending hadn't helped any of us move forward.

  Taking my mother's hands firmly in my own, I said, "I believe in this game. It will definitely help me earn enough money—not just for this wheelchair, but for a sed one, a tenth one... I promise I'll give you and Dad a good life!"

  Mom's eyes welled up with tears. "Werner..." She blinked rapidly, f them back. "Alright, alright! As long as you have this resolve, that's enough for me!"

  Just then—grumble grumble.

  I looked down at my stomad hung my head in embarrassment. Of all the moments to be hungry... What terrible timing!

  Mom cpped her hands as if suddenly remembering something.

  "Oh my, I knew I was fetting something. I noticed you hadn't logged out to eat, so I came t you some food. And then I got distracted and fot!"

  Turning around, she spotted the food lying spilled on the floor by the doorway, her face flushing with embarrassment.

  "Ahem, I'll go downstairs and bring you a fresh pte."

  "No need," I said, shifting myself toward the edge of the bed.

  Mom quickly moved to help me, but I held up a hand. Once I was seated in my wheelchair, I looked up at her with a small smile.

  "Let's go downstairs to eat together, Mom."

  She was taken aback by this ued suggestion, her eyes widening before she began nodding fervently.

  "Yes, yes, going downstairs is a great idea..."

  I could tell she was excited that I was finally willing to leave the room on my own. As she started to push my wheelchair, I gently took trol of it myself.

  "I avigate it," I said softly.

  "I know, I know... old habits," she replied, stepping back but h nearby as I carefully maneuvered around the spilled food.

  Her footsteps quied with excitement as she followed. I knew she couldn't wait to share the good news with Dad.

  ---Viktor's POV---

  I watched as the three pyers colpsed onto the ground, their heads hitting the floor with a dull thud.

  Even though I had been dead for turies and could no longer feel physical pain, hearing the ill made the bay skull ache in sympathy.

  If my guess was correct, when these pyers logged ba tomorrow, each of them would find a goose-egg-sized lump on the back of their heads.

  "I hope the one who learhe Holy Light spell has enough mana," I muttered to myself. Running out of mana was not an experienyone enjoyed.

  Even though the pyers were ected to their bodies only through sciousness projes, once pain stimuli reached a certain threshold, the system would shut off their paiors.

  But the pain they could feel was enough to give them hell! And maion wasn't just any kind of pain—it was the worst kind!

  I ordered Edgar to carry the pyers' bodies into the church.

  Inside, I had set up a defensive magic circle with hay spread across the ground, serving as a temporary logout point for the pyers.

  While their bodies were unscious, leaving them outside all night might lead to illness—another factor that could turn pyers away from the game.

  I was extremely cautious about anything that might affect the game's early development.

  Being a game developer was way harder than running The Watcher ever was. At least recruits could be maniputed with a few choice words.

  Outside the church, I dragged over some stone sbs Edgar had retly cut.

  The area outside the church was the pce where the flow of magic was the most stable and abundant—a perfect spot for me to heal my injuries.

  It also made it easier to absorb the energy emanating from the Land of the Gods and the Moon Goddess' Pace.

  Or, as people oh called them, the sun and moon.

  Sitting aloside, I looked up at the star-filled sky a out a deep sigh, the kind only the undead could produce.

  After all, skeletons didn't actually breathe.

  "Being a game developer is so hard..."

  And this was only three pyers! They were already giving me a headache, reminding me of the chaotic days when I first established The Watcher.

  But pyers were even more troublesome. Watcher recruits could be tricked with a few well-pced words.

  With pyers, I not only had to deal with the internal test pyers but also worry about the feedback from all the "cloud pyers" watg online.

  I extended my bony hand, juring a magic scroll and quill out of thin air.

  "ime they log in, I o find a way to guide them into building houses."

  I began jotting down notes. Keeping the pyers in the church wasn't a long-term solution. As the number of pyers grew, the church's limited capacity would quickly bee a problem, to the point where we might even have to throw out the statue of the deity.

  Halfway through my writing, I paused.

  "Wait..." I looked at my notes skeptically. "With just three pyers, how long will it take them to build even one house?"

  Uhey had powerful magic or a rge workforeither of which they currently possessed, the housing project would have to be deyed.

  I marked this task as "low priority" in my notes.

  "For now, I'll let them roam freely and gather more resources. Maybe someday I'll find a dwarven craftsman or a pyer with a background in stru..."

  I g my pitiful 23 Divine Power, and the thought bubble immediately burst.

  With so little Divine Power, I could barely afford to summon two more pyers, let aloart cherry-pig professions!

  Above me, a streak of silver light arced across the night sky.

  It was the Moon Goddess' chariot. Even though the Moon Goddess had long since fallen, her chariot still followed its designated route from the Moon Pace to the Land of the Gods eaight, awaiting an owner who would never return.

  Day after day, endlessly.

  "Ah! The sed day!" My spirits lifted. Luminaris should have successfully verted the Faith Power into Divine Power by now!

  Opening my system panel, my eyes gleamed at the updated stats. Sure enough, my Divine Power had quietly increased.

  [Name: Viktor von Vinesse][Divine Power: 365][Pyers: 3][Special Items: Int??dim????Spirit??, Divine tract (Reversed), icles of Aeltia sole][Status: Severely Injured, Weakness, Frostbite, Burns, Poisoning, Inner Sanctum Colpse, ...][Summary: Dying Undead][Survival Time: 8 days, 13 hours, 14 minutes]

  "Ah, much better!" I nodded in satisfa before turning my attention to the other updates.

  My Divine Power had skyrocketed by 342 points, fully reimbursing the cost of creating pyer bodies and the game interface.

  But before I could celebrate, my eyes were drawn to the newly unlocked item in the "Special Items" se.

  "icles of Aeltia sole? Wow, it's avaible already?"

  I had anticipated that misleading pyers to gee Faith Power den with incorrect assumptions would gradually alter my divihority and produce game-like tools.

  But I hadn't expected it to happen so quickly—just one day in!

  Suddenly, a pierg scream erupted from within the church.

  The kind of scream you'd expect from a virtuous man waking up in the paly to discover he'd been... altered.

  Opening the door, I was immediately met by a golden blur shooting toward me.

  "Viktor! What's happeo me?!"

  "VIKTOR!"

  I watched as Luminaris paced anxiously in circles, spinning around in pce.

  This gave me a good look at his current state.

  The glowing orb, which used to fit ly in one hand, seemed to have grer.

  His arms and legs, which were always tiny and inspicuous on his round body, had also grown slightly lohe most striking ge, however, was the sudden appearance of a frilly edge around his middle, precisely at the point where his arms and legs met.

  It looked strangely like a skirt. This was an ued development in character design.

  "What's happening to me?!" Luminaris tugged at the frilly edge in horror, trying to rip it off. But all he mao do was hurt himself, letting out a yelp of pain.

  I stepped in to stop him. "Don't pull at it. This seems to be part of your body now. Please stop pulling at yourself. Self-mutition isn't the answer."

  I khe source of the transformation: The Faith Power.

  Earlier today, I'd overheard the pyers referring to him as the "juvenile form of the goddess." It was likely because of this title that the glowing orb was now gradually transf into something resembling the appearance of the goddess statue.

  I expihe theory to Luminaris, not fetting to throw in a jab.

  "Faith Power is fasating, isn't it? The nerds think you're a 'juvenile goddess,' and here yrowing a skirt."

  "See? This is what you were so eager to gain—the power of belief."

  Normally, the influence of belief wouldn't be this rapid or dramatic for a deity. But the glowing orb possessed very little i divine power, so the divine peed by belief became the dominant force.

  And that was likely how he turned into this.

  "This isn't fasating! This is horrible!" Luminaris trembled all over as he processed what I had just said. "Then what do I do? I don't want to ge gender!"

  "Teically, since you only ied Aeceus's memories, you're a divine essehout a geo begin with. This isn't a gender ge. sider it practical experien diviransformation."

  "No! No way!" Luminaris' fur or whatever light particles he had bristled in shock. The glowing threads stood on end, making him look like a spiky hedgehog.

  "Anyway, I don't want to bee a goddess!"

  He started to choke up. "You promised me that as long as I acted as the game's mascot, you wouldn't turo a goddess-like figure! You said the settings were all fake!"

  "Did I? My memory's not what it used to be... being dead and all." I gazed at him affeately. "While I'm gd you've finally accepted your role as the game's mascot, you should know better than I do that the effects of belief are nearly impossible to ge."

  Luminaris' glowing orb eyes widened in disbelief. "You promised me! You specifically said—"

  I spread my hands. "But I'm just an undead. I don't have the power to alter the effects of belief. Also, I'm a bck magi. And as everyone knows..."

  "You wouldn't..." Luminaris floated backward in horror.

  "We're notoriously unreliable."

  Luminaris hovered backward, swaying as if he had suffered a massive blow. "You did this on purpose you fucker!"

  "I'm hurt. Think of it as character development. You're being more... divine. And try to act a bit more dylike, will you?" I silently observed as Luminaris cycled through emotions: Fear, anger, helplessness as he realized he couldn't fight back, a sed wave of anger, a sed bout of despair... And finally, hopeless resignation.

  Just wow.

  "I don't want character development! I want my old body back!"

  The pyers love you this way. Isn't that what you wanted? I found the whole thing immensely eaining. No wonder bck magis love building their happiness on other people's pain.

  It really was satisfying!

  After watg long enough, I finally decided to let him off the hook.

  "Though as bck magis go, I'm rather unique." I cleared my throat. "As everyone knows, I'm not your typical bck magi. So, of course, I wouldn't lie to you."

  "What do you mean?" Luminaris asked suspiciously.

  "Let's just say I have... administrative privileges."

  With that, I opehe newly acquired [icles of Aeltia sole].

  The familiar programming interface made my head throb. I was reminded of the days spent designing the game's official website, which had drained my inner sanctum. Fortunately, my ret i crash course had been useful.

  "What are you doing?" Luminaris peered at the sole.

  "Giving you a makeover. The non-divine kind, no, it should be divine now?" I successfully located the game mascot's i settings.

  After a few adjustments, Luminaris reverted to his inal glowing orb form.

  With tears and snot still pstered on his glowing face, he stared at his suddenly shrunken body, momentarily stunned.

  "Huh??? I'm back to normal!"

  "Define normal. You're still a talking ball of light," I smirked.

  "But at least I'm not wearing a skirt!" He spuedly in the air, so eted he couldn't stop himself. Sure enough, some things could only be appreciated after they were lost.

  He turo me, full of questions: "How did you do it?"

  What I said earlier wasn't wrong. The effects of belief were notoriously difficult to teract. That was why so many gods had perished in belief-driven wars.

  I gave a mysterious smile. "Secret."

  "More importantly, you'd better remember today's lesson a back to work. Remember this feeling. ime you get curious about divine power..."

  Luminaris shuddered. "No need! Lesson learotally learned! Got it! I was just curious! I'm not ied anymore!"

  To prove his words, he zipped into the cathedral with a whoosh, his retreat looking very much like fleeing in panic.

  I watched for a moment, theuro my sto, gazing at the sky at a ptive 45-degree angle. Iy, my focus was on the floating game sole in the air.

  Fixing Luminaris' transformation had been simple. Since Faith Power wasn't ag directly on his body, the issue was solvable. After all, he was just a mascot within the game.

  Pyers might idealize his image, but most of the faith was tied to the vi that icles of Aeltia was a game, which created the current game sole.

  What the game i looked like was something pyers could suggest. But ultimately, the decision to me.

  I tinkered with the sole for a while longer, successfully making the interface more user-friendly and accessible. Let's see... character design, game panel, data dispy...

  ---

  [Game Developmeures:][Character Design: Costs 1 Divine Power][Realistic Game Panel: Costs 100 Divine Power][Realistic Data Dispy – Name: Costs 100 Divine Power][Realistic Data Dispy – Race: Costs 500 Divine Power][Realistic Data Dispy – Level: Costs 500 Divine Power][Realistic Data Dispy – Experience: Costs 500 Divine Power][Realistic Data Dispy – Sanity: Costs 10,000,000 Divine Power][Realistic Data Dispy – Skills: Costs 500 Divine Power][Realistic Data Dispy – Iory: Costs 1,000 Divine Power][ization: Unlimited Divine Power][...]

  ---

  I sed the options a a chill. "Even after finally breaking 100 divine power, I only afford two or three features?"

  How miserable!

  No matter whether I had 1 point or 100 points of divine power... The only feature with any sembnce of freedom was still dressing up Luminaris!

  The realistic skills se was just a transtion of adjectives I had made up myself. Currently, the pyer panel was just ay shell designed based oraits of deities. Data ges were something I observed aly modified. I'd been hoping to rely on the side effects of Faith Power to make those ges real someday.

  But clearly, I had been too optimistic.

  Side effects were side effects because their bes would never outweigh their drawbacks. All of these features required me to spend divine power to unlock them manually.

  This was especially true for funs involving monit pyer stats.

  Each of those cost at least 500 divine power to unlock!

  Although they were oime unlocks and didn't require spending divine power on every individual pyer, like I did wheing the game panels...

  "Without resources, I'm stuck!" I let out a long sigh.

  I scrutihe list fes and couldn't find a single skill I deemed worth unlog.

  The most ridiculous one was the Realistic Pyer Name feature. This ability, which merely involved imp pyers' registered IDs into the game, somehow cost 100 divine power?!