Mini World Game Console

'Sacrifice' or 'Redemption'?

It seems I can't choose 'I want them all'... Ren Suo muttered. Just then, the game finally, albeit belatedly, displayed the prompts:

"Sacrifice: Draw out the sin and soul from the heart of the Demon with your right hand, leaving it with no anchor for existence. As a result, the Magician will bear the 'Resentment and memories,' enhancing the Magic Power of the right arm (strengthening the Offering's Attack effect) and increasing the Mana limit. But what will happen if the Grudge Spirit in the right arm exceeds its limits...?"

"Redemption: Activate the humanity and kindness in the heart of the Demon with your left hand, turning it back into a human. In turn, the Magician can restore their own Physical Strength and Mana through the momentary 'Thanks and Prayer.' This increases the Physical Strength limit and enhances the Holy Power of the left arm (strengthening the Offering's Healing and Shelter effects). However, humans who have fallen once can only live for one or two days at most. In this short time, they are almost certain to become tainted and fall again..."

"Destiny: Leave the Demon's fate to Destiny, with balanced increases in Holy Power, Magic Power, life, and Mana."

In simple terms, Sacrifice adds Attributes and Mana, while Redemption restores Physical Strength and Mana, and adds to Physical Strength...

Just in terms of cost-effectiveness, 'Sacrifice' is far superior to 'Redemption' in the long run. The stronger the Magic Power, the more powerful the Offering's effect, and Offerings are the Magician's primary means of combat. Although an increase in Holy Power could enhance Healing and Shelter effects, Attack Power is paramount when fighting Demons.

In terms of consequences, 'Sacrifice' is also far superior to 'Redemption.' Demons that are sacrificed are certainly dead. Those redeemed can, at most, live for a day or two, and during this time, they might transform back into Demons.

'Sacrifice' is the cannibalistic path, 'Redemption' is the saintly path, and 'Destiny' is the Balanced Stream.

Let's try Redemption first, Ren Suo decided. The Magician aimed his left hand at the emaciated man, steadied it with his right, and shot out streams of green light with a pose suggesting, 'I can hardly control my own hand!'

At this moment, Ren Suo noticed a left-hand icon appear on the left side of the screen, showing 'Holy Hand Level 0' advancing to 'Holy Hand Level 1'.

The Magician's left hand became even more robust!

Red Hood shook her head slightly but didn't say anything.

Shortly after, the hungry man got up from the ground. He looked at the Magician and Red Hood, seeming to want to say something, but ultimately said nothing. He just sat on the barren ground, dazed.

Red Hood then said, "What are you being merciful for? Do you think you saved a good person? Considering his previous Demon form, can't you imagine the sins he committed?"

"Human-shaped Demons tormented by Hunger are among the most powerful Demons that can appear in any sanctuary, aside from Devils themselves. Do you plan to redeem them all in the future?"

"Or are you just like those cowards in the Sanctuary, lacking even the resolve to bear the sin of killing the sinful?"

I just wanted to test the game's settings... Ren Suo pursed his lips and typed back, "Then why don't you sacrifice him yourself? Aren't you a Mage too?"

Red Hood was silent for a moment. "...I cannot do it. And that is precisely why you are here."

After speaking, Red Hood continued into the Monastery to engage more Demons. Ren Suo glanced at the man on the barren ground and noticed he was looking down, scraping at the ground with a stone.

Ren Suo took a look. It seemed like the man was writing something, but even Ren Suo, proficient in several languages (the local Lianjiang dialect and Mandarin), couldn't understand it. It must be the language of Another World, he figured.

Ren Suo had managed a lively chat with Red Hood just now. This was largely because subtitles appeared whenever Red Hood spoke; otherwise, Ren Suo wouldn't have understood her at all.

An hour passed, and a few more emaciated men and women appeared on the grassland. They made no interaction with each other, as if they were real NPCs. They just sat there on the grass—some in a daze, some lying down, some in tears.

Of course, the Magician and Red Hood achieved more than that in an hour. By then, they had cleared a third of the Demons in the Monastery—about seventy or so in total.

Among these Demons, only a few were transformed from humans. Many others were various small animals: giant rats, skull-eared crows, bees with the upper body of a woman, and rabbits with exceptionally large ears.

For small animal Demons, whether 'Sacrifice' or 'Redemption,' it didn't matter much. According to Red Hood, these were just Lower Magical Creatures, contaminated by humans and much weaker than humanoid Demons.

Even if all of them were sacrificed, as long as the Devils in the Monastery remained, they would reappear after some time.

Therefore, Ren Suo chose to 'Redeem' them all. Since it was a game where he could reload, he decided this save file would follow the saintly path to see the outcome.

Undoubtedly, Redemption, Sacrifice, and Destiny were three different paths, corresponding to Holy Arm, Magic Arm, and Balance. Since it was Ren Suo's first time playing, he naturally wanted to see the effects of focusing exclusively on one path.

Each time a Demon was defeated, it would randomly drop Offerings. Red Hood, naturally, didn't want any of them, leaving the Magician to handle them all.

There were many identical types of Offerings, which could be fused and upgraded into stronger ones using Magic. When upgraded to a certain point, there could even be a qualitative change. For example, 'Fragment of Sword' had been upgraded to 'Fragment of the Broad Fire Sword,' a fusion of several 'Fragment of Sword' and 'Fragment of the Fire Sword.'

Hmm, the Magician is still in melee mode, Ren Suo noted.

However, Ren Suo was very careful, saving the game after dealing with each Demon. A 3-star+ game definitely isn't this simple, he felt.

Sure enough, two hours passed. The Magician and Red Hood had dealt with half the Demons and were confronting a humanoid Strange Creature when a series of roars suddenly erupted from outside the Sanctuary.

The few humans waiting in the wasteland outside unexpectedly transformed back into humanoid Demons and stormed into the Monastery to attack Red Hood and the Magician!

"HUNGER!"

"HUNGER!"

The chaotic cries from the mouths of the Patchwork Monsters instantly overwhelmed Red Hood and the Magician!

Dealing with even one humanoid Demon took several minutes of hit-and-run tactics. Faced with an attack from seven or eight Patchwork Monsters, Ren Suo knew the outcome without thinking. He deftly executed the 'System Interface,' 'System,' 'Load Game' sequence in quick succession, returning to three minutes earlier!

At this point, Red Hood was preparing to engage a Demon when Ren Suo hurriedly called out to her, "Wait."

Then Ren Suo had the Magician return outside the Monastery. He saw the humans he had redeemed still lying listlessly on the wasteland, showing no signs of turning into Demons.

"What, have you finally come to your senses? It's not too late now," Red Hood said. "Rather than let them languish in Regret for another day or half, it's better to give them release right now."

Ren Suo looked at these Another World humans awaiting their fate. With his Level 3 Player intuition, he felt this couldn't just be a trap.

This is a game with save and load features. If the humanoid Demons redeemed by the Player were inevitably going to transform back and attack the Player, then only a Sand Sculpture would choose Redemption, Ren Suo thought. So there must be some mechanism that gives the act of 'Redemption' equal value to 'Sacrifice.'

Ren Suo asked, "Is there really no way to prevent them from falling back into becoming Demons?"

Red Hood scoffed. "A way? Oh, there is one. Satisfy the Desires hidden deep within their hearts, and their souls will be completely purified, no longer tainted by the Holy Grail. They might seem calm now, but they're so starved they want to tear you to shreds and devour you!"

"Cut off your flesh, feed it to them!"

At that moment, the game displayed a prompt: "Do you choose to cut off your own flesh (permanently reducing your maximum health) to satisfy the Hunger of the Demons?"

Ren Suo asked, "Is there no food here?"

Red Hood replied, "How could there be food? Besides you and me, there are only Demons, dirt, and stones here! This world has long stopped producing any life!"

This is definitely the distinction between Sacrifice and Redemption, Ren Suo realized sharply.

If the Magician chose to cut his flesh, he would certainly obtain something worthwhile, its value likely greater than the loss of maximum health. However, doing so would mean negating the maximum health increase gained from 'Redemption.'

It seems this is the only way, if I'm following the saintly mother path...

Just as Ren Suo was pondering, his phone rang. He instantly picked it up. "Hello?"

"Dinner's ready, and Xiao Yan is here too. Come and eat," Dong Chengling's voice came from the other end of the phone. "I made curry potato chicken cubes today. I don't know if it's as good as the cafeteria's."

Definitely tastier than the cafeteria's... Hmm, chicken cubes?