Sage Monarch - Chapter 1557: Faith of an Empire

# RELAXEDLiu Qing is reborn and goes back two years in time. He starts his reborn life at the point of getting a breakup text message from his girlfriend.Previously, in that life, he dated his girlfriend for a few years, and used all the money he earned from being a security guard to support her and pay for her lifestyle and living expenses when she quit her own security guard job to go back to school. However, in the end, she looked down on him after she found an office job, then cheated on him and eventually left him for another man.To add insult to injury, in his desire to have a simple life with his girlfriend, he rejected the chance to reunite with his wealthy estranged mother and missed out on the opportunity to become a rich second generation. He was overwhelmed by immense grief after all that and fell into a deep depression that eventually destroyed him.In this life, Liu Qing is determined not to become a simp again, especially since he is being given another chance to change the path of his life.He says to her, “Let's come clean. Isn't it good to break up? I don't have to be your spare tire anymore. You can also live with your one true love. We would each get what we want.”Then he resigns from his security guard job to reunite with his mother. When everyone asks him why, he says, “Because I am going to inherit assets worth billions of dollars!”

Sullo was transmigrated to a world of High Gods. The people living in the world could light the God flame by condensing their believers’ faith to expand their god realm, forming their own religion to become a high god.

The god realm could be grown indefinitely by having more followers and absorbing their faith. A follower’s strength were closely tied to the gods they followed as well. However, unlike other gods, Sullo had a unique thousand-fold amplification system that made everything grow at a thousand times of their original speed.

A normal tree spirit had evolved into a World Tree that would expand his divine domain.

A normal water snake had evolved into an ouroboros that would protect his divine domain.

A normal behemoth had evolved into a golden behemoth that would lead the attack on other domains.A normal angel had evolved into a 12-winged archangel that would gladly sacrifice for their god.

A normal elf had evolved into an elf queen that could heal anything…

Years later, as the other gods were still waging wars to gain control of the gnomes and dwarves, Sullo’s followers were already as powerful as other gods.

There is a very strange restaurant in the City of Sin.

Warning This fiction contains:

Graphic Violence Profanity Sensitive Content

Summary – Level 1:

Delve is an isekai litrpg that follows an average guy who just happened to wake up in a forest one day. He wasn’t summoned to defeat the demon lord or to save the world or anything like that, at least as far as he can tell. The only creature there to greet him was a regular old squirrel.

Soon enough, he meets other people, only to discover that he can’t speak the language, and that not everybody immediately trusts random pajama-wearing strangers they met in the middle of the wilderness. Things generally go downhill from there, at least until the blue boxes start appearing.

Delve is a story about finding your way in a new, strange, and dangerous world. It’s about avoiding death, figuring out what the heck is going on, and trying to make some friends along the way. It’s not about getting home, so much as finding a new one.

Did I mention that there will be math?

Summary – Level 2:

Okay, but what are you in for, really?

Well, this story is supposed to be realistic, or at least, as realistic as a fantasy litrpg can be. The main character doesn’t instantly become an all-powerful god and murder-hobo his way across the universe. Delve is, at its heart, a progression fantasy, but that progression is meant to feel earned. The numbers in this story actually mean something. Everything is calculated, and if you find a rounding error, I expect you to tell me about it. That said, if math isn’t your cup of tea, there is plenty more that the story has to offer. Characters are meant to feel real, and progression isn’t only about personal power; it’s also about allies, connections, and above all, knowledge. Figuring out how the system works is a significant theme.

...

What, you want more details? Okay, fine, but this is going to get a bit spoiler-y. Are you sure?

Yes!

Really sure? I mean, this summary is practically half as long as the first chap–

Now!

Okay, okay!

The main character becomes a magic user, but he takes a route that is not very popular in adventurer culture, namely that of a support. There is a full magic system with various spells, skills, and abilities, but our MC decides that aura magic is the way to go, and that the only stat worth investing in is mana regeneration. Most people at the Adventurer’s Guild think that this makes him a bit of a dumbass, but he’s playing the long game. We’ll see how that works out for him, won’t we?

Because of his build, the MC levels up fast, at least compared to normal people. There are no cheats, though, and he is limited in other ways. There are some clear and pretty obvious downsides to his build. That’s what makes it fun, no?

Morals? Our MC has them. Again, we’ll see how that works out for him. Realism, remember? Would you be okay with killing someone and looting their body? I sure hope not.

POV? The focus is on the main character, but there will be occasional varying perspectives from people around him, or involved in the events related to the main plot. It isn’t going to jump all over the place.

Tech is standard medieval stasis. No smartphones, but the MC does have a technical background. Computers and their programming might be involved. There might even be a bit of uplifting down the road, who knows? Anyway, it isn’t the focus. He isn’t going to invent the gun in chapter 1 and change the face of warfare.

Romance is not a major focus. Friendships are more the name of the game, though there will be some characters in romantic relationships.

There is exploration, though not as much of the geographical nature as you might expect. It is more about exploration of the system and the culture.

The pace is slow and detailed, sometimes verging on slice-of-life. The action is meant to be realistic and grounded in the numbers, and it is intended to have meaning beyond simply punching things until they stop moving.

The general tone of the story is grey, and some parts can get quite dark. People die. Sometimes, people with names, but not anywhere near GoT level. There is plenty of light, too, though, to balance the darkness. The world is dangerous, but overcoming that danger is why we’re all here, isn’t it?

Anyway, if you’ve made it this far through the summary, you clearly like words. I hope you enjoy the story!