I Don't Agree to the Terms

"Regarding the materials, they should be sufficient now," Gu Shanhai said.

Gu Shanhai was preparing to make a tribute to the Divine to see if there were any clues.

Mr. Qin had brought him a lot of intelligence and secrets, including some strategies not circulated among players. As for Shura and the other seekers of the Divine, they had gone to capture a Divine alive to complete their mission but had yet to make contact.

So, Gu Shanhai decided to first see what the situation with the Divine was.

This time, he was offering tribute to the Divine known as the Hunter of Sea Sharks, which favored shark fins—the stronger the shark, the better the feedback from the offering.

After making the offering, nothing happened.

This puzzled Gu Shanhai.

"This... shouldn't it work?" Gu Shanhai was at a loss for words; he had made the offering, but nothing had unfolded.

"Is it because of me or something else?"

Normally, even if you offered a pile of dung, the Divine would respond, although the response could vary; offering dung might incur divine punishment, like being struck by lightning or suffering great misfortune.

The Divines of this world were supposed to respond to any request, although the nature of the response was not specified.

The lack of response from the Hunter of Sea Sharks was very strange.

"Did I do something incorrectly, or is the Hunter of Sea Sharks dead?"

"That shouldn't be possible. I haven't heard of Divines dying," Gu Shanhai mused as he sifted through the information, but found nothing.

"Let's try a different Divine."

Since the Hunter of Sea Sharks had not responded, there were other Divines to attempt contacting.

In this world, because it mainly consisted of oceanic regions, all the Divines were associated with the sea; those related to land also served part-time duties as ocean Divines.

This was a local feature.

"How can none of them respond? Is it a program bug?" Gu Shanhai was completely baffled; every Divine acted in the same manner.

It felt as if the network connection had been lost.

"Wait, don't tell me I need to be at sea for this?" Gu Shanhai suddenly thought of this possibility.

He reviewed all the locations where tributes to Divines were made; although not explicitly stated in the documents, various indirect descriptions confirmed that indeed, they were all at sea.

Meanwhile, Gu Shanhai was on land.

"It can't really be like that, can it?" Gu Shanhai could hardly believe it; it seemed one needed to be in the sea to have a 'signal.'

Gu Shanhai continued analyzing the data and indeed, no one had ever made tributes to the Divine from the islands; it was as if it were common knowledge, and the players also behaved this way.

As for Gu Shanhai not knowing, it made sense; he hadn't been there long, and since the others considered it common knowledge, they didn't mention it.

"So, the islands can block the gaze of these Divines," Gu Shanhai thought, not about these issues, but rather why the islands had this capability.

Was it due to some inherent special trait?

"It seems there are secrets hidden between the royal family and the earth dwellers, secrets no less significant than those of the Divine, maybe even related to them."

"I assume it's also because of these limitations that the Divine only have a lifespan of ten years."

"Lucky I didn't choose that identity, or I'd really be stuck here."

There's a fundamental difference between the Divines of the Adventurer King world and those of the Azure Sea World; the former are remnants phased out over eras, while the latter might still be caught in a trap.

He sifts through trash, the world doesn't mind, but stealing from the tiger's mouth is quite obvious.

"Being cautious really has its benefits."

"But from this, it's clear that staying on the island makes it difficult to dig anything up; maybe I should become a royal? Forget it, even the identity of the Divine is a trap; the royal family probably has issues too."

Indeed, you could become a royal by murdering the current royal and seizing their position, but that was easier said than done.

What about the earth dwellers? Gu Shanhai hadn't even considered them.

"So... do I have to go to sea?" Gu Shanhai frowned, not wanting to go to sea since it seemed pointless; he indirectly controlled such a transcendent force as Player Island, and as long as the demands were not too excessive, the commercial center of Player Island wouldn't reject him.

So it essentially meant sitting back and receiving resources.

Only, this could easily block his path to becoming stronger. Here, he could only practice Child Skill, Golden Bell Shield Iron Cloth Shirt to get stronger; like his Spirit Root Ability, improving these Divine Skills was a matter of time-consuming, mundane effort, even with unending resources reaching a qualitative change was not easy.

Instead, enhancing his identity as Abnormal God·Heavenly Emperor and breaking through the Divine Phase would allow him to ascend significantly, not just once but twice.

"Let me wait a bit longer, turning the intelligence I have at hand into money first."

Gu Shanhai was also waiting if Shura and his companion could capture a Divine, then Gu Shanhai wouldn't need to go to sea.

However, after his failed tribute, he didn't hold much hope for the duo's success in capturing a Divine; in his eyes, the Divine might be like signals, invisible; tracking and observing them might not be too challenging, but capturing them was a different story altogether for the duo.

"Let's set it for a year; if there's no news by then, I'll build a ship and head to sea myself."