Foolish Game of the Gods - Chapter 98

In the distant void, within the lifeless Fishbone Hall.

A gigantic skull sat upon the Throne of Bones, silently staring at the small skull before it.

The small skull’s mouth opened and closed rhythmically, repeating Cheng Shi’s message word for word, its voice strong and clear, in stark contrast to the deathly stillness surrounding it.

The giant skull listened quietly. Only after the small one finished its recitation did it allow the skull to return beneath the throne, where it became one of the stones in the hall’s foundation.

“Employee… how amusing…”

As the giant skull uttered these words, the entire Fishbone Hall, along with the Throne of Bones, let out a sharp, mournful wail.

“He’s coming back! Stand still! He’s coming back! Don’t run!”

“Run? Who would run?”

The skull on the throne suddenly adopted a playful tone, turning its attention to the hall’s grand doors, laughing happily.

“Hehe, old bones, your throne is still as uncomfortable as ever!”

As the voice echoed, another massive skull appeared outside the doors of the hall—this one surrounded by an even denser and more solid aura of [Death].

The moment it arrived, the Fishbone Hall and the Throne of Bones seemed to come alive, noisily disassembling themselves and scattering across the ground. Then, like a flood, they surged toward the second skull, forming a new throne beneath it.

In an instant, the two skulls had switched places.

The newcomer became the master of the throne, while the previous one was left standing outside.

“Why have you come?”

“Old bones, how dare you ask that! You stole from me, so of course I’m here to slap your face!

Oh~

Sorry, I forgot—you really don’t have any face.”

“……”

“What I took… was His authority.

What you lost… you gave to Me willingly.

I wasn’t hunting for trouble.

Yet you came anyway?”

“Don’t spell it out like that—it ruins the fun.”

The skull outside the door chattered happily, trying to hop closer, but the Fishbone steps kept stretching out, preventing it from reaching the Throne.

“I hate climbing stairs.”

“You can leave.”

“I haven’t had my fun yet.”

“……”

“Why so quiet? Feeling guilty?”

The skull on the throne was silent for a moment, then the green light in its eyes flickered. Slowly, a bone with its marrow on the outside and its walls on the inside floated up from beneath the throne, making its way to the skull outside the door.

“Take back your authority and leave.”

“No can do. If [Memory] finds out I didn’t lose anything, He’ll hate me even more.”

“That’s none of My concern.”

“Oh, but it is. You bribed My follower, used him to get inspired, and stole His authority. Now that My dear follower is being troubled by [Memory], aren’t you going to offer some compensation?”

“I have forgiven him his owed sacrifice.”

“Not enough.”

“……”

The light in the skull’s eyes flickered for a moment, then it let out a begrudging sigh:

“What do you want?”

“Hehe~ I was waiting for you to ask. I’ve had enough of Him for a while now. How about we join forces and kill Him?”

“……”

The two skulls locked eyes, and without warning, the Fishbone Hall and the Throne of Bones collapsed and disappeared into nothingness.

One skull floated in the void, its jaws opening and closing in mild disappointment.

“Tch, coward.”

…

Two days later, Cheng Shi finally received a reply from “that esteemed Lord.”

When he woke up one morning, he suddenly noticed something had changed about his status.

The “Fleeting Radiance” buff had been replaced by “Radiance Fleeting.”

Radiance Fleeting: The body of the person who consumed the potion will turn to bones within five days. After five days, they will resurrect as a human. Time remaining: 2 days.

Huh? What?

Before Cheng Shi could comprehend what was happening, his vision went black.

Dead.

Not even his clothes were left. All that remained on the rooftop was a skeleton, sitting there suddenly and silently.

When his consciousness returned, two days had passed, and the buff was gone.

It seemed like the issue had been resolved.

But the way it was handled… felt more like someone venting their frustrations.

Across the way, Xie Yang saw Cheng Shi appear and waved excitedly.

“Hey, man, I thought you were dead! Two days without a sign of you—where the heck did you go?”

Cheng Shi scratched his head, bewildered.

How was he supposed to explain this?

“You’re spot on?”

“I got lost in my studies. Didn’t have time to come out.”

“Found anything interesting?”

“Death is scary.”

“?” Xie Yang blinked, thinking he had misheard.

You holed up in your room for two days and that’s it?

“Heh, you’re a funny guy, you know that?”

“You’re not so bad yourself.”

Cheng Shi gave a mock salute and didn’t bother continuing the conversation with his neighbor. Instead, he began preparing for the next trial.

Just then, the end-of-month settlement for the Path to Godhood began.

According to the rules of the [Faith Game], at the end of every month, the Path to Godhood undergoes an additional settlement.

Players ranked at different tiers receive different rewards.

With Cheng Shi’s score of 2141, he fell into the 2000-2400 range, which meant there was a chance to get S-rank talents or items, but not many.

The closer one’s score was to 2400, the higher the chances.

Still, the rewards were good, and it was one of the few things players could look forward to without having to risk their lives.

Cheng Shi’s vision flickered, and large words appeared in front of him.

[Path to Godhood Monthly Settlement Beginning]

[Current Number of Global Followers: 5,197,421,853]

[Calculating rank and generating rewards…]

[Cheng Shi, Male, 22 years old]

[Fate: Void]

[Faith: Deceit]

[Class: Priest]

[Path to Godhood Score: 2141, Global Rank: 452007]

[Ladder of Ascent Score: 164, Fate Path Rank: 60]

[Reward Talent: Expression Watcher (A), Deceit Faith Talent. Every change in facial expression within your field of vision, even those at the edge or in your peripheral vision, will be noticed.]

[Reward Talent: Heal Thyself (A), Priest Talent. When your healing effects take place, you also receive 100% of the healing.]

[Reward Item: Frost Canyon Lizard Toe (A), Edible Delicacy. Tough texture, rich flavor, has invigorating effects, and can be used as medicine. X100]

[Reward Item: Faith Dropper (A), Truth Faith Item. Can extract faith from a target and inject it into another. The injected faith will override the original faith for 2 hours.]

[Please select your reward…]

It was obvious that not all rewards were given at once; it was a matter of picking one.

Looking at these lackluster choices, Cheng Shi sighed and casually selected the lizard toe.

He had tried this before and found it quite tasty, with a flavor reminiscent of sauerkraut. Great with rice.

As for the talents, forget it.

Talent slots were limited, and until he rolled an SS-rank talent, he wasn’t about to swap anything out.

Just as Cheng Shi was wallowing in self-pity over another wasted month, the space behind his rooftop storage suddenly warped.

A delicate skull fell from the sky, crashing at his feet and breaking its jaw.

Whatever it had been holding in its mouth flew off onto the ground.

Cheng Shi blinked in confusion at the bizarre sight.

“It’s delivered! It’s delivered! I’m off! He’s waiting for me! Goodbye! See you later!”

With that, the skull and its dislodged jaw slowly disappeared.

“……”

Wait, hold on a second! How did you manage to talk with your jaw missing?

Huh?

Why am I questioning how the skull talked without a jaw…? Shouldn’t I be questioning how a skull talks in the first place…?

This is… really weird.

Cheng Shi scratched his head and picked up the item the skull had left behind.

It looked like a brooch.

He held the small, two-finger-long object in his hand and realized it was indeed a brooch—one made from two slender finger bones.

Brooch of the Departed’s Hand (S): Sacred artifact, a brooch personally crafted by [Death], containing His deep understanding of certain aspects of [Memory’s] authority.

Special Effect — Memory of the Departed: You can converse with a corpse that has been dead for no more than 12 hours. The corpse will truthfully answer your first question based on its memories.

Special Effect — This is Not a Gift, But a Trade: Each time you use Memory of the Departed, you must offer a sacrifice to the esteemed Lord upon the Throne.

“……”

How should I even react to this…

I really feel like switching jobs.

Question:

How can I change jobs without my boss noticing, especially if I want to move to a company with better benefits? Is there a legal and compliant method?

Asking for a friend. Urgent.