Chapter 71: A Milestone Discovery

Chapter 71: A Milestone Discovery

The God of War glanced at the God of Death, rolling his eyes disdainfully.

"Don’t think just because you agree with me, I’ll be weeping with gratitude! Let me make this clear—if you don’t return my subordinates’ souls, I’ll tear through your Underworld sooner or later!"

The God of Death couldn’t be bothered to respond to the God of War’s threats.

Once souls entered his Underworld, was there ever a chance of them leaving? What a joke!

"Keville won’t be easy to conquer. Those three little brats—Fertility, Plague, and Misfortune—are already eyeing us like tigers. If we rashly divert our forces, they’ll surely exploit the opening."

The God of Life lowered his gaze.

The Five Great Righteous Gods had dominated countless domains, their might renowned far and wide.

But everything came at a price.

The more domains they swallowed, the more they stretched their reach—and the more enemies they made. Their battle lines were long, and the fires of war never ceased.

Apart from their respective home domains, nearly all other large, medium, and small domains were embroiled in friction, standoffs, or outright war.

If they wanted to attack Keville, the forces they could spare were actually quite limited.

Moreover, the Azeroth Domain was special.

It was a primary domain, teeming with active deities.

Even with Churches suppressing the preaching zones, rogue gods still caused trouble. If they suddenly mobilized troops for an expedition, who knew what schemes these gods might hatch?

Especially the God of Fertility, whose descendants had formed entire clans. Beyond dragonkin, he had even awakened the ancient Titan Bloodline of the divine race, making his combat prowess formidable.

Now, he had united with the Gods of Plague and Misfortune, dominating the northeastern Plen Union Kingdom of Azeroth.

He was nothing short of a major thorn in the side of the Five Great Righteous Gods.

"One month!" The God of Death suddenly spoke. "If we can take Keville within a month, then even if we lose a few Churches, it’s a price we can bear."

"Oh? You have a plan?"

"Not so much a plan. The God of the Sea can heavily pressure the Plen coastline, while the Earth Mother Goddess manifests as the land to guard our preaching zones. The three of us will then split our forces to attack Keville from three directions! As long as one front succeeds and establishes a Church, Keville’s fall is assured."

"An Exchange Tactic?" The God of War scoffed.

A true general considers defeat before victory—only then can he fight a hundred battles without peril!

Before starting any war, the worst possible outcome must be weighed.

Though the Earth Mother Goddess could manifest as the land to defend the Five Gods’ preaching zones, the defensive line was simply too vast. There would inevitably be moments when they couldn’t cover everything.

It was easy to imagine that as they systematically dismantled the Magic Towers, their preaching zone Churches might fall one by one.

This was a risky move.

"It’s worth the exchange! Our preaching zones are in the central region, a battleground on all fronts. Even with the God of the Sea’s containment, we’re still constrained. If we take Keville, we can gradually swallow up the fragmented Kaman Union to the east and encircle the Edith Empire to the west. With the southern Azeroth as our rear, we’ll have the freedom to besiege the Plen Union Kingdom. The prospects are vast."

"This war will also curb the Internet God’s growth. In the future, there may even be a chance to encircle and kill the Internet God again, seizing the Contract Godhood."

The God of Life narrowed his eyes as he spoke.

With that, three of the Five Great Righteous Gods had agreed to attack Keville.

According to the Five Gods’ pact, all land within fifty kilometers of the coast automatically belonged to the God of the Sea. Conquering the coastal nation of Keville would bring him only benefits, not losses—so he had no reason to oppose it.

As for the Earth Mother Goddess, after brief negotiations among the Five Great Righteous Gods to divide post-war interests, they quickly reached a strategic consensus.

Subsequently, the five deities discussed specific details to prepare for the war.

Militarily, they would feign an attack in the east while striking in the west—a strategic diversion.

Since war mobilization and preparations couldn’t be hidden from prying eyes, the Five Great Righteous Gods decided to feign an assault on the Bayer Empire to lull Keville into complacency.

Diplomatically, they would ally with distant powers while attacking nearby, doing their utmost to bribe the Northern Tribes and the Southwestern States to restrain potential enemies.

At the same time, they would dispatch envoys to Keville to engage with the Internet God, executing a diplomatic deception.

This secret meeting lasted until dawn before finally dispersing.

The sun rose.

Yet, strange sounds emerged from the bedchamber of the Divine Palace.

"Gentler..."

Yu Sheng'an watched as Aphnora closed her eyes, her pink lashes fluttering like butterflies, her delicate singing utterly charming—yet he still had to remind her.

"Was the pitch too strong?" Aphnora opened her eyes and asked.

"A bit too strong. The prelude should be softer, gradually rising in tone, building up the emotion before suddenly erupting," Yu Sheng'an explained.

Originally, he had planned to record songs tonight.

But as the recording progressed, Yu Sheng'an couldn’t help but frown.

The music of this domain, in his eyes, was almost entirely decadent and unbearable to his refined ears.

The kind of fiery tracks he wanted—the "no one can defeat me in my BGM" type—were nearly nonexistent.

Thinking about it, how many people besides true warriors would even like such intense music?

Yet in this world, music was a luxury reserved solely for the nobility, often used to flaunt wealth at banquets and other grand occasions!

Thus, the absence of such fiery tracks was hardly surprising.

Dissatisfied, Yu Sheng'an decided to rely on the music authority of the Music Godhood, dredging up melodies from his memory and humming them for Aphnora to transcribe and recreate.

Hence, the earlier scene unfolded.

"I’ve been exposed to so many new songs tonight that I’m a bit overwhelmed. Let me go back and organize them before singing them to you again!"

Aphnora said, her limpid eyes gazing at Yu Sheng'an with an indescribable brilliance.

The fact that Yu Sheng'an, upon first touching the Music Godhood, had already unearthed several abilities left her utterly awestruck.

Who could have expected that tonight, his musical talent would leave her even more emotionally stirred?

Though most of the music was fragmented, consisting of only short melodies, didn’t that precisely prove these were his spontaneous creations?

By now, Aphnora could no longer muster even a trace of jealousy.

Perhaps this world truly had its geniuses!

Aphnora departed.

Yu Sheng'an had also finished recording over a hundred songs.

A hundred songs might not sound like much.

But in this multiverse where spiritual entertainment was severely lacking, a hundred songs was already a considerable quantity.

Many commoners would only ever encounter a handful of folk songs passed down orally in their entire lives.

The nobility had broader exposure, but even then, the selection was limited.

Ultimately, this world lacked not only the fertile soil for nurturing music but also effective means of dissemination.

As for Vias?

A city-state with only a hundred thousand residents, though hailed as the music capital, was inherently limited by its isolation, making it nothing more than a self-contained circle of self-amusement.

And Blue Star?

Not to mention the creations of its people, there were even geniuses who used computers to generate 68.7 billion melodies, freely available for public use.

The two were simply not on the same scale.

Thus, the music that managed to spread beyond and leave an impression on Yu Sheng'an was, unsurprisingly, mostly quite exceptional.

No wonder it had such an impact on Aphnora.

Yu Sheng'an stored the music away, summoned the internet backend, and began creating the music section.

He and Aphnora had already agreed to name it the "Music Sanctuary."

It would feature two types of music:

Ordinary music and divine music.

The former required only minimal soul power to enjoy, allowing ordinary people to listen for up to six hours without issue.

The latter, however, came with various buff effects—soothing pain, alleviating hunger, aiding sleep, and even bringing happiness, joy, strength, courage, calmness, and other enhancements.

As a result, it consumed significantly more Source Essence, with ordinary people able to listen to only about three to five songs a day.

The Music Sanctuary would be managed by Aphnora, whose primary duty would be reviewing and approving music submissions.

This function was a transformation of Yu Sheng'an's linguistic authority—users could submit music by singing solo or forming bands.

Upon submission, they would be rewarded with Points.

If a song was adapted into divine music, the creator would not only receive a substantial Points reward but might even earn the chance to meet the Music Goddess.

In any case, this entire setup was designed to squeeze users dry—er, to enhance user engagement and increase time spent on the platform.

"Without spectrum blocks, it just feels like something's missing!"

Yu Sheng'an stared at the bland music playback interface, feeling somewhat dissatisfied.

But there was no helping it—this was the 2G text era, and flashy designs simply weren't feasible.

"What if I enlarged punctuation marks to act as spectrum blocks?"

A spark of inspiration struck him.

Wait!

Yu Sheng'an suddenly raised his head, his pupils contracting sharply.

If enlarged punctuation marks could serve as spectrum blocks, then couldn't infinitely shrinking them function as pixels?