Yes, I became a god just by exercising.

Chapter 158 A game developed by the gods? It's so much fun!

"Where?"

Xia Fa asked with great curiosity.

Chestnut suddenly grabbed his hand and smiled mysteriously:
"Come on, you'll see when we get there!"

She was quite shy yesterday, but today she seemed to have suddenly figured things out and boldly took Xia Fa's hand.

Feeling her delicate, smooth little hand, Xia Fa couldn't help but chuckle to himself, but he let her have her way and immediately let her pull him towards the lower city.

The upper town was where nobles lived, while the lower town was quite chaotic, with all sorts of people from different walks of life.

Furthermore, the Dames district, located between the upper and lower city areas, serves as the dividing line.
The closer the downtown area is to the Dames neighborhood, the better the security and management.

The further away from the Dames neighborhood, the worse the security and management, and the more thieves and hooligans there are.

The Holy Cathedral of the Silver Church is located in the center of the Dames neighborhood, directly opposite the Holy Cathedral of the Natural Church.

The Holy Cathedral is the center of the church in every country; there is only one cathedral per country and per church.

The people of the Kingdom of Augustus generally worship the two righteous gods, the Silver Universe and the Nature Monarch, and the two sacred cathedrals of the Silver Church and the Nature Church are both located in the city of Augustus.

I've heard that the Holy Cathedral is presided over by a cardinal archbishop, a figure who commands all cardinals and is only one rank below the patriarch.

Chestnut pulled Xiafa along, and they arrived at the entrance of the Damais district. Then they went into a small alley, wandered around, and stopped in front of a gate.

The gate was quite old, made of mahogany, with peeling paint revealing splinters, and the brass door handles were worn shiny.

Banli winked at Xia Fa, signaling him to be quiet, then quietly stepped forward and gently knocked on the door.

Thump—, thump thump!

Xia Fa noticed that she actually used a knocking method of one long knock followed by two short knocks, and knocked a total of three times.

Above the main gate, a small rectangular panel suddenly and without warning pulled open from the inside, revealing a pair of wary blue eyes.

"Who? What do you do?"

The blue-eyed girl sized up Chestnut, then glanced at Xiafa before cautiously asking a question.

Instead of answering directly, Chestnut took out a gold coin from her small satchel.

Xiafa immediately recognized it as a gold coin issued by the Kingdom of Augu, with a face value of one gold pound and the family crest of a roaring lion engraved on it.

The Kingdom of Augustus had two types of gold coins with a face value of one gold pound, issued by the banks of the Augustus family and the Selene royal family, respectively.

The gold coins bearing the lion's roar crest are those issued by the Augustan family six hundred years ago or even earlier, and are commonly referred to as the old gold coins.

The gold coins engraved with the family crest of a dragon breathing fire were naturally the gold coins issued by the Selenes royal family over the past six hundred years, and were known by the people as royal gold coins.

Xia Fa had previously wondered why the Selenes royal family did not collect a large number of old gold coins and melt them down to make new ones after they seized the throne.

In retrospect, the oddities surrounding this are quite intriguing.

Six hundred years ago, there must have been some great secret behind that change of dynasty.

Once I join the Augustus family and gradually become a core member, perhaps I can find out some information.

Just as he was thinking this, the blue eyes in the doorway disappeared, and a short while later a hand reached out and took the old gold coin that Chestnut handed over.

The moment he took the gold coins, Xia Fa raised an eyebrow, a hint of surprise flashing in his eyes.

Because Xia Fa clearly saw that the front of the old gold coin was indeed a relief of a roaring lion, but the back... was actually a relief of a dragon breathing fire!
What's happening here?
A gold coin bearing the coats of arms of both the Augustus family and the Selene royal family.

Suddenly, a rhythmic "click" sound came from inside the door, like some kind of mechanical gate gradually unlocking.

The next moment, the mahogany door retracted into the left-hand crack and opened.

The owner of the blue eyes came into their sight. He was a young man wearing a captain's hat but dressed in a white sailor uniform, with an elegant yet sly smile on his face.

With a flick of his thumb, the gold coin made a soft clanging sound, traced a graceful parabola in the air, and landed back in Chestnut's hand.

The young man smiled and said:
"Welcome, guests. As usual, the entrance fee is one hundred gold pounds per person."

One hundred gold pounds?
Xia Fa was somewhat surprised. What kind of entertainment venue was this? Why were the prices so high?

That's almost a third of the annual income of a middle-class family!
Fortunately, he had 2.05 million gold pounds, so after a slight surprise, Xia Fa flipped his palm and prepared to pay.

But just then, Chestnut pulled out four fifty-pound notes from the small satchel with a cat pattern.

"Here, this is for both of us."

The blue-eyed young man took the banknotes, his smile unchanged, and stepped back.
"Understood. Please come in, both guests."

Seeing this, Xia Fa was somewhat surprised, not expecting that Ban Li would actually pay on his own initiative.

Two hundred gold pounds is nothing to me, but for Chestnut... well, it doesn't seem to be much either.

After all, she was born into the Silver Iris Orchid Rat Clan, the only noble family in the rat clan, which was equivalent to the rat royal family, and she also had a demigod grandfather...

Xia Fa pursed her lips and decided to insist on paying next time, since she couldn't always let Ban Li pay.

He followed Chestnut into the house.

But Xia Fa immediately felt somewhat lost.

The room was completely empty; there was no one else there, except for three large doors at the back of the room.

These three gates are undisguised, heavy iron gates, unlike the mahogany gate which is clearly a mechanically driven gate disguised with mahogany, and the disguise is quite convincing.

On the left iron gate, there was a carving of two boxing gloves colliding with each other.

This pattern gave Xia Fa a vague idea that it was probably some kind of underground fighting arena.

But what's behind the other two iron gates?

On the iron gate in the middle was a monster that looked like a slime, which at first glance resembled the traveling slime that Offe rode.

The iron gate on the right is even stranger; it's actually a map with three paths: top, middle, and bottom.

All three paths originate from the same house, traverse canyon-like terrain, and converge to another room.

Which one do you want to play first?

Chestnut smiled and looked at Xiafa, asking in a gentle yet playful tone.

Xia Fa asked in confusion:
"Behind these three doors..."

Chestnut chuckled:
"Actually, I don't know either. This old royal gold coin was passed down to me by my grandfather. I heard that he, Uncle Axor, and Uncle Bedivere often came here when they were young. Occasionally, Uncle Cardan and Prince Ariman would also come."

Now, Xia Fa was genuinely curious. This place looked remote, but it was actually a hidden gem!

Chestnut continued:

"You choose one, I'll listen to you!"

Xia Fa's gaze wandered between the three doors, finally settling on the middle iron door with a slime carving pattern.

"Just choose this one."

Chestnut nodded obediently:

"it is good!"

She seemed quite happy today, and took Xia Fa's hand, leading her to the iron gate in the middle.

This time, she once again took out that old royal gold coin and pressed it onto the slime pattern on the iron gate.

The slime pattern suddenly lit up, and then the iron gate opened to the top and bottom.

Noise and shouts poured out from the long corridor inside the door, which seemed to conceal a mysterious world filled with pleasure, excitement, and endless joy.

Then, Xia Fa witnessed a scene that was quite unbelievable to him.

At the end of the passageway was an extremely spacious hall. The floor and ceiling were made of large iron plates joined together with rivets, and the walls were covered with all sorts of graffiti.
The purple neon tubes emitted a soft glow, illuminating the faces of the guests.

Some faces were flushed red, some were filled with ecstasy, and some were sighing, but they were all gathered in twos and threes around the tables, waving their fists and shouting something.

"Hahaha, I got it! I got it! It's a treasure worth a thousand gold pounds! I'm rich!"

"I'm so envious. I played ten rounds and got nothing but a single, worthless 'Purgo', which is only worth fifty gold pounds."

"A thousand gold pounds is enough to make you happy? I sold a sealed artifact the day before yesterday for a whopping three thousand seven hundred gold pounds!"

"That's nothing. I once sold a high-level secret contract. You know what a high-level secret contract is? I sold it for 20,000 gold pounds. I think it was called something like Lord of the Bees!"

"I've heard that it's possible to obtain a Hegemon-level Secret Contract. Has anyone obtained one?"

"Just listen to the boss's bragging. This shop has been open for almost three hundred years, and I've never heard of anyone revealing a top-level secret contract."

As Xia Fa listened to the guests' conversation, he was quite intrigued. His gaze swept across the room and settled on an empty table.

He didn't forget to take Chestnut's smooth and delicate little hand and led her quickly over.

Chestnut looked around with great curiosity, as this was her first time visiting the place. She had only heard her grandfather and Uncle Yaxo mention it briefly in conversations before.

Finally, Xia Fa and Ban Li arrived at an empty table.

The other guests, seeing that they seemed to be a young couple, and that Xia Fa was dressed like a commoner while Chestnut was quite fashionable and a rare member of the rat tribe, did not disturb them.

Xia Fazhe was able to see what was on the empty table.

It was a table with a hollow interior, half a meter deep, and in the middle of the table was a slime the size of a tomato, bouncing around.

That was clearly what the Traveling Slime looked like, with a dreamy pink hue; however, Traveling Slimes don't seem to be this small.

But strangely, in the corner of the table, there was a toy soldier wearing metallic armor and holding a sharp longsword that was polished to a cold gleam.

On the west side of the table, in front of Xia Fa, there was a small, long, narrow opening, seemingly for putting money in, with the number "100" written below it.

"One hundred gold pounds per game?"

Based on the guests' previous conversations and the occasional gasps and curses that still erupted, Xia Fa immediately understood how to play. He was about to flip his palm over and take out a stack of gold pounds to try his luck. After all, he had come here with Chestnut to relax, and he had been too tired these past few days, so he might as well have some fun.

Just then, a pair of fair hands reached out in front of him, holding a stack of banknotes.

"Xia Fa, here, let's each play once!"

Xia Fa glanced at it and found that it was a full thousand gold pounds. He turned his head and met Chestnut's sincere eyes.

Chestnut's idea was actually very simple. After all, Xia Fa had only recently become a superhuman and was still just an insect-level superhuman. He probably hadn't caught any good prey in the Mist God Hunting Grounds and probably didn't have much money.

In this situation, when the two go on a date together, she should naturally pay for it.

She was unaware that in addition to receiving a title, Xia Fa had also received a bank draft worth one million gold pounds. In fact, only Prince Ariman, who was in charge of the matter, knew about it, and it was scheduled to be cashed three months later.

Xia Fa accepted the thousand pounds, thought for a moment, and then decided not to refuse the chestnut's offer.

Anyway, there's still plenty of time today, and he absolutely can't let Chestnut pay any more money next time!
Thinking this, Xia Fa nodded to himself, took out a 100-pound gold pound from the stack of money, and stuffed it into the long, narrow hole.

The gold pound sterling shot in with an incredibly smooth "whoosh."

The next moment, a "click-clack" sound rang out, and the toy soldiers on the table began to twist their necks and rotate their shoulders, their expressions becoming more lively.

It gives the impression that it has come to life.

By this time, two or three guests had already gathered around, but they were all quite polite, keeping a step or two away from the table and watching from a distance, seemingly just curious about the outcome.

The next moment, a clattering sound rang out, and the toy soldier began to run with incredible agility, looking just like a miniature version of a real person.

It ran a few steps to the tomato-sized traveling slime, then leaped high and chopped it down with force!
Click!

The Traveling Slime was split in two, and a white light burst out from it.

The toy soldier turned around gracefully and walked towards the corner of the table, seemingly preparing to return to its original position.

"Oh! It's out! It came out right away!"

"You two are really lucky!"

"Even though it's just white light, it might still be enough to break even!"

Xia Fa and Ban Li stared curiously at the ball of white light, which was so bright that even the purple neon lights couldn't overshadow it. The traveling slime, which had been split in two, turned into specks of light and disappeared.

The next moment, the white light dissipated, revealing a fruit that looked like a cherry!

"It's a Flamgo! Shafa, it's a Flamgo!"

Chestnut excitedly grabbed Xiafa's arm and shook it twice, pointing her fair index finger at the cherry-like fruit:
"We broke even! We even made a small profit. The church buys these Flame Fruits for 150 gold pounds each!"

Xia Fa was also somewhat surprised, but at the same time, he completely understood how this hall worked.

It looks like this: each time you put in 100 gold pounds, the toy soldier kills the traveling slime, and a prize is randomly awarded.

To be honest, it was quite fun. The toy soldiers looked just like the real thing, and when the traveling slime was split open, some sap even splattered out.

Xiafa reached out and picked up the Flame Fruit, an extraordinary fruit rich in fire element, a favorite of those who signed the Fire Pact or the Ether Source Pact.

"My turn, my turn! You can keep the Xiafa fruit."

Chestnut's little face flushed red as she squeezed next to Xia Fa and stuffed a hundred gold pounds into the long, narrow opening.

Xia Fa noticed that an oval-shaped Star Spirit Gate, about the size of a dinner plate, had suddenly opened in the very center of the table.

Another tomato-sized traveling slime jumped out, and it was completely different from the previous one.

The previous traveling slime was a dreamy pink, while this one is a hazy, bluish-white.

As the oval-shaped astral gate slowly shrank and disappeared in a flash, while the traveling slime remained motionless, Xia Fa's curiosity grew even stronger.

The Star Spirit Gate isn't something anyone can open, nor is it something that can be opened casually, since it leads to the Star Spirit Realm.

But now, of the hundreds of tables in this hall, only a few are empty.

On the tables that weren't empty, the Protoss Gate would open almost every few seconds, depending on how quickly the guests put in gold coins!
Under normal circumstances, such a frequency... would be enough to attract the attention of those unknown beings in the Protoss realm!

Especially those unknown entities with ulterior motives that try to get close to the real world!
According to the guests, this place has been open for more than 300 years and is still safe and sound.
Seemingly noticing Xia Fa's confusion, an older customer, clearly dressed as a businessman, smiled and said:
"Don't worry, young man, is this your first time here? This 'Traveling Slime's Bizarre Adventure' is said to be a game created by the gods! Don't worry about the Celestial Spirit Gate opening too frequently or anything, it's never had any problems."

Xia Fa's spiritual intuition stirred slightly, and he sensed that this was at least a whale-level superhuman. Moreover, his money bag was casually hanging on his waist, with a family crest of a giant bear climbing rocks on it, so he was probably a local nobleman.

But it makes sense. Who but nobles, wealthy merchants, bounty hunters who can earn huge rewards, or super hunters who specialize in hunting supernatural creatures could afford to play this game for a hundred gold pounds?

Traveling Slime's Bizarre Adventure... To be honest, the game's title is quite darkly humorous.

Just then, the toy soldier moved again, and this time it made a beautiful leap, swinging its sword horizontally and cleaving the traveling slime in two.

A burst of purple light erupted from it, and envious gasps of amazement immediately rose from the crowd.

"Purple light! It actually emitted purple light!"

"I'm not kidding, this young couple is incredibly lucky!"

"Is this what the newbie protection period is like? I'm so envious!"

"Back in the day, I was like that too. I was guaranteed to get good drops every time I played. It's a pity that I can't do that anymore, sigh..."

"There's a chance of getting a high-level secret contract from the purple light. If they get one, they'll make a fortune!"

The purple light slowly dissipated, revealing a pebble.

"Huh? What is this?"

Chestnut was stunned. She was initially quite happy because of the burst of purple light, but now she was somewhat bewildered.

Xia Fa couldn't identify what kind of extraordinary metal or material it was either. Despite having read two books on mysticism, namely "Secret Texts and Divination" and "The Mystic Exploration Records of the Fog People," he still couldn't recognize it at first glance.

The pebble was about the size of a palm, rather flat, and looked quite ordinary, as if it had been picked up casually from the riverbank.

"Wait, something's not right..."

But Xia Fa immediately noticed something was amiss.

The purple neon lights were a bit dim, and I didn't see them clearly at first, but now Xia Fa could see that there seemed to be faint veins on the pebbles!
This looks like... an eyeball!
He reached out and picked up the pebble from the table, trying to turn it over.

The back of the pebble was covered with densely packed secret texts; it turned out to be a high-level secret contract!
More and more guests gathered around, seemingly drawn by the purple light, and exclaimed in surprise upon seeing it.

"Oh my god! It's shipped! A high-grade secret contract!"

"This looks like a 'Deep-Diving Fishman', right? It's an extremely rare high-level contract, worth at least 16,000 gold pounds on the market!"

"Earned 16,000 gold pounds in one go? That's incredible luck!"

"As expected of the rat race. I've heard that the rat race always has good luck when playing this game."

"Young man, you'd better cherish your rat girlfriend; she's a real lucky charm!"

Xia Fa couldn't help but smile, finding the game increasingly fun.

In just over a minute, I've earned 16,000 gold pounds. If I played all day, what would that be like?

Of course, he also understood that, judging from the occasional angry curses and even wails from other tables, the longer they played, the more balanced their income and expenses would become, and they might even lose money.

After all, the owner of this shop isn't a philanthropist.

So he just thought about it casually and didn't actually plan to spend the whole day there.

"Xia Fa, you should keep it. What if you need to sign this high-level secret agreement someday?"

Chestnut smiled and said, "This is clearly something good that I revealed, but I'm giving it to Xia Fa without hesitation."

Xia Fa didn't take it this time; he was a little embarrassed.

Xia Fa grabbed one of Chestnut's fair and delicate hands, and placed the pebble-shaped, flat eyeball into her palm with her other hand.

"Take it, and be a good boy/girl."

He was about to try to persuade Banli again, but as soon as he said the word "obedient," Banli seemed to think of something, and her face flushed slightly. She lowered her head gently, and her voice became soft:

"Okay... okay."

Seeing her flip her hand and put the pebble into her pouch, Xia Fa smiled:

"Alright, it's my turn. Don't worry, I'm sure I'll make a big splash this time!"

Although he had only played three rounds, he had already learned the terminology from the conversations of the guests around him.

Chestnut smiled gently:
"Yes, yes! I believe in you!"

Xia Fa smiled and nodded, then took out a hundred-yuan bill and inserted it into the long, narrow hole.

The toy soldier had just walked back to the west corner of the table when the Celestial Gate in the middle of the table opened, and this time a traveling slime with a dreamy purple color jumped out.

The toy soldier seemed not to feel tired at all. He turned around, adopted a charging stance, and rushed towards the traveling slime.

At that moment, the surrounding guests tensed up, as if they were personally involved.

There's no way around it, this young couple is riding high, who knows, they might actually witness some miracle?

Xia Fa, however, stared thoughtfully at the slowly disappearing Star Spirit Gate, which was the size of a dinner plate.

Since the Kingdom of Augu is the territory of the Silver Universe and the Nature Monarch, then this game is most likely developed jointly by these two righteous gods.

The toy soldier was very much the work of the Nature Monarch, and the Protoss portal that could be opened at any time to teleport traveling slimes clearly involved the authority of the true god, the Argent Universe.

This time, however, Xia Fa didn't care about the two gods' motives, because the game was indeed fun and harmless.

Perhaps it was just something the two true gods deliberately set up to provide funds for their followers and even the church?

The next moment, the toy soldier swiftly and cleanly pierced the traveling slime's body with his sword, then quickly pulled it out, wiping the slime off the blade.

Wow——!
Immediately afterwards, a dazzling and blinding light shone forth.

A burst of golden light erupted!
(End of this chapter)