A supporting character in a romance anime? I became a god using a rat talisman.

Empty.

The yellow doll that was always lying there complaining or clamoring for dessert is gone.

Qianyu's eyes instantly turned cold.

"Could that guy have fallen down during the power outage?"

Although it was just a gluttonous and talkative rag doll, it was still a guide NPC.

Now, in this godforsaken world, there's not even anyone to talk to, so I have to start playing in single-player mode.

"Forget it, it's better to rely on yourself than on others."

Qianyu quickly adjusted her mindset.

As a skilled solo player, this isn't the first time I've encountered a situation where I'm missing a teammate at the start of a game.

After calming her breathing slightly, Qianyu took out the time card that had ruined her life.

He flicked the image of the old man holding an hourglass on the card with his finger, his tone unfriendly.

"Could you explain which corner you've thrown me into? And what year is it now?"

The old man on the card seemed to move slightly, and a few seconds later, a faint fluctuation of consciousness entered Qianyu's mind.

The general idea is that this is a point in the past, the exact number of years is unclear (after all, this card doesn't have a perpetual calendar), but it's quite far removed from your era.

"Then how am I supposed to get back? Since you brought me here, you must have a return ticket, right?"

As for how to get back? It's very simple.

You can either wait for the timer to slowly regenerate its mana, which might take several hundred years, or you can empower it by finding a nuclear power plant-level mana source, something similar in scale to the one mentioned earlier, which would only take a few minutes.

"Hundreds of years? By then I'll be a fossil."

Qianyu rejected the first proposal outright.

That leaves only one path: finding the source of magic.

But where can you find one in these deep mountains and forests?

Qianyu looked at the distant, undulating mountain range. Although the hope was slim, it was still better than waiting to die.

Then, with a "nothing to lose" mentality, he closed his eyes, mobilized the little magic power he had left, and activated the spiritual vision he had only recently learned.

In Qianyu's eyes, the world lost its color and turned into black, white and gray lines.

Against this monotonous backdrop, at the edge of the field of vision, which should have been empty, suddenly appeared a dazzling, intensely rich purplish-red.

That's the direction after crossing two mountain peaks.

An immense, suffocating magical reaction is lurking deep within the earth.

Qianyu rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't hallucinating from the fall.

"Really? There's such a huge power bank right next to me?"

It's like you're dying of thirst in the desert, and then you turn around and find a five-star hotel's infinity pool right next to you.

That incredible sense of surprise instantly washed away the fatigue.

Qianyu looked in that direction, and a slow smile spread across her face. The frustration she had felt from the time travel instantly vanished.

"Although I don't know what's hidden there, now that I've seen it, it's mine."

Don't miss out.

Qianyu immediately used the card shifting technique.

The surrounding space began to distort.

The next second, the scenery in front of me stretched out and blurred, turning into countless colorful lines.

When the dizziness subsided and the feeling of solid ground returned, Kazama Chiba found herself crouching on a protruding rock platform.

Below us lies a village surrounded by mountains.

Most of those houses were traditional wooden structures.

The village's layout is extremely elaborate; viewed from this angle, it resembles a chessboard laid out haphazardly.

The layers of black tiles pressed down, making it hard to breathe.

Deep within the village, a shrine built against the mountain exudes an indescribable eeriness.

It didn't look like a place for worshipping gods at all; it was clearly a huge lid, pressing down on something that shouldn't see the light of day.

The immense magical power that Qianyu coveted was continuously seeping out from the depths of the shrine, so dense it was almost tangible mist.

"Looks like this is a place with a story."

Qianyu stood up from the cliff.

For someone desperately in need of magic, this is practically a buffet.

As for what kind of demon or monster that is below?

It's none of his business.

In the usual way of online novels, such places either hide ancient artifacts or seal away world-destroying demon kings.

But to him, whether it's a divine artifact or a demon king, as long as it can be converted into travel expenses to go home, it's a good thing.

Afterwards, Kazama Chiba observed the shrine from the edge of the cliff for a while.

It was a shrine built at the entrance of a natural cave.

The so-called shrine is actually just an expansion of the original cave, with a torii gate and a few shimenawa ropes added to the outside, making it look quite authentic.

Two burly men stood guard at the entrance.

But Chiyu's focus wasn't on that; it was on the people coming and going.

He observed for a long time and saw that many people went in, but very few came out.

"Only in, no out?"

Chiyu gently tapped the surface of the rock with her fingers.

"What kind of shrine would be built like this? And in such a godforsaken place, it's obvious they don't want anyone to find out."

These places are either smuggling dens for contraband or cult rituals that can't be broadcast without being censored.

But regardless of whether they are refining poison or creating a gu, the alluring source of magic power lies below.

Judging from this, they probably won't let Qianyu in.

"Since you can't buy tickets to visit, you'll have to sneak in without one."

Meanwhile, in the village

"Everyone, stay close! Don't fall behind! Those in front, slow down!"

The female teacher leading the group waved a small flag with a red ribbon tied to it, her voice hoarse from shouting.

Michiyo Urushihara hunched her shoulders, trying to minimize her presence, and followed at the very back of the group.

Even after entering the village, the oppressive feeling of being surrounded by mountains did not lessen; instead, it grew heavier.

The dark windows around her felt like a pair of prying eyes, making her feel extremely uncomfortable.

"Wow! What is this?!"

Suddenly, excited shouts came from the front of the line.

Michiyo was startled and instinctively tried to cover her ears.

But curiosity compelled her to peek through the gap in the arm of the student in front of her.

Under a thatched shed by the roadside, there used to be a thick canvas covered with dust.

Now, the cloth was ripped off by the two naughtiest boys in the class.

The dust kicked up made those around cough.

But when the dust settled and what was hidden underneath was revealed, everyone fell silent for a second.

It was a stone statue.

It is two or three meters tall and has an eerie bluish-gray color.

It depicts a monster that walks upright, with huge claws, its chest covered with patterns like cooled lava, and its head resembling an inverted shovel.

Although the stone-carved eyes lacked any spirit, their ferocious shape made it seem as if they would come to life and roar at any moment.

"Golza?!"

Someone shouted something.

The group of children immediately erupted in chaos.

"It really is Golza! The ancient monster Golza! It looks so real! Even more real than the ones I saw on TV!"

"So cool! I want to touch it too!"

"Isn't this the monster that appeared in the first episode of Ultraman Tiga? It looks so real!"

The students, who were initially a bit reserved, instantly erupted in excitement.

After all, it's 2010 now, and Ultraman Tiga is still very popular.

For these young boys, seeing such realistic monster models was even more exciting than seeing Ultraman.

Even the class monitor, who always had a stern face, couldn't help but lean in for a photo.

But Michiyo couldn't smile.

She had a vague feeling that something was wrong, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"No...don't go there..."

She whispered something, but her voice was immediately drowned out by the cheers of her classmates.

The female teacher leading the group frowned.

She pushed up her glasses and looked at the menacing stone statue, feeling a chill run down her spine.

Why would someone in such a remote mountain village worship such a thing?