Chapter 81.3 – The Reader and Protagonist Definitely Have to Be in True Love

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Chapter 81.3 Protagonist: New skill get.

Du Ze wondered if he somehow violated a taboo in the Gnome Ruins. Was he being punished? First it was the Moe Lord’s beastkin form, then the gnome form. Even if he has a powerful 0-point restore skill, this type of play is still a bit much.

In order to leave this cursed place as soon as possible, Du Ze urged Xiu to speed up his progress. After the “Crown” plaza, they went to the “Wisdom”, “Kindness” and “Victory” plazas. There were no difficulties as Du Ze and Xiu went around the Kabbalah Tree of Life in a clockwise direction until they finally arrived at its core, the “Beauty” plaza.

There were no machines or buildings on the central plaza. It was empty except for a big tree with its sephiroths etched on the ground. Du Ze instantly saw the place where Xiu’s battle will start: There were ten sephiroths but the middle one was dark and lightless.

Suddenly, a pair of pointed boots appeared, stepping on the lightless sephiroth. Du Ze’s eyes traveled up and saw … a jester? The newcomer was dressed in a red and black Harlequin costume with a horned fool’s cap. His slightly pointed gnome ears were barely visible.

This is … the ruler of the gnome gods?

The jester seemed to be weightless, hovering in the air like a feather in the wind – it was surprising to see a gnome with such a lithe and dexterous body. Xiu’s seven-star mechanical puppet sprinted forward and positioned itself in front of Xiu and Du Ze. The jester moved back, avoiding the seven-star mechanical puppet’s attack.

“My name is Garl Glittergold. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it.” The jester floated in the air. The sound of his voice was high-pitched and thin. “I was just too excited.”

To the astonishment of Du Ze, the Harlequin-clothed gnome god started weeping.

“I didn’t think the gnome race had a future anymore …”

The transparent tears dripped down to the ground, but the gnome god was smiling happily. Garl stretched out his hand and the star chains on his and Xiu’s wrists lit up at the same time, as though they were transmitting messages to each other.

“Xiu?” Garl read the message and seemed very satisfied and happy. “Seven Star mechanic … Very good … “

He took a step forward, but found that Xiu was still very alert. Garl hesitated and carefully stopped moving.

“I won’t hurt you.”

The gnome god stood there alone, with his big eyes full of sorrow.

“Apart from you, there are no gnomes in the Chaos Continent … Whether it’s a gnome, or a gnome god …”

The voice of Garl echoed in the Gnome Ruins, a desolate and empty city, full of cold and dead objects. It was as if his heart had been pierced and the enormous hole in it was full of a cold wind. This sort of immense sorrow and grief over the loss of his race could not be faked.

The gnomes were sentenced to death in the fifth era and now even the gnome gods are dead? Du Ze’s mood was indescribable. This was what the author carelessly wrote about the history of this world, but now that he was face to face with the reality, this was the first time that he truly knew how heartbreaking it was.

When he saw this, even though it was not easy for him to trust another person, Xiu did become less resistant. Naturally, Garl knew that paranoia was a common characteristic of gnomes. He was very understanding and kept a proper distance between the two of them. The clown jumped on the tree and the accessories he wore jingled.

“I’ll give you a present.” He opened his arms wide as if to show something cheerfully. “Kabbalah, I give you the Kabbalah.”

Kabbalah … The Tree of life?

Du Ze’s heartbeat sped up and he looked up at the gnome god – it can’t possibly be what he thinks it is?!

The jester’s grin grew wider.

“The Crown is the head, Understanding and Wisdom the shoulders, Might and Kindness the hands, Splendour and Victory the legs, Foundation and Kingdom are the feet, and Beauty is its core. It’s called the Kabbalah and it’s right under our feet.”

Except for the dark sephiroth, all of the other sephiroths brightened then formed into bright meteors that rushed into Garl’s hands, forming into a solid object.

“As long as you can fix it – this is my little test – you can take it away with you.”

Garl presented the object that was missing its core to Xiu. His body was bent down, like a jester performing a curtain call.

“In this whole world, in the entire Chaos Continent, only you can receive this gift.”

… Author, is it really okay to blatantly favor the Moe Lord like this?!

Although Du Ze has not seen the power of the eight-star mechanical puppet, the gnomes had been working on the Kabbalah for a very long time. Surely it was a tremendously powerful fortress, perhaps on the same level as the gods who ruled their pantheon.

A god who is completely obedient to Xiu’s commands… Du Ze can just imagine how the overpowered Moe Lord will annihilate everything in his path during the angel race’s trial. Du Ze couldn’t resist making a sad expression for the BOSS, the god of light .

Xiu was also surprised by the unexpected offer but he has no intention of refusing. So, under the gnome god’s directions, Xiu began making the final missing part. Because the core is the key to activating the eight-star mechanical puppet, its parts are more complex than the previous ones, and Xiu failed.

Garl said nothing. He simply instructed the mechanical puppet from the “Might” plaza library to fetch a pile of thick, heavy books. The meaning of his action was self-evident.

Du Ze looked at the heap of books that was taller than Xiu and admired him from the bottom of his heart. Xiu was sitting on a pile of books. He would read a document and occasionally pick up some materials to conduct experiments.

Garl stood far away, looking at Xiu as though he was a treasure. His gaze was full of both sorrow and contentment.

Perceiving Du Ze’s proximity, Garl turned his head. Perhaps he had the “love me, love my dog”¹ attitude so he was very friendly to Du Ze.

“Is there something you want to ask?”

“Do you know anything about the god of creation?”

When he heard Du Ze say that name, Garl’s eyes widened and he pulled on the horns of his jester’s hat, looking a little sickly.

“Why do you want to know this?”

Seeing Garl’s reaction, Du Ze knew right away that the god had some information but the other person obviously did not want to talk about it. When it comes to social skills, Du Ze is seriously lacking. He grew anxious and had great difficulty organizing his thoughts and speaking properly. He saw Xiu from the corner of his eye and blurted out: “Because of Xiu -”

The expression on Garl’s face instantly changed. The jester screeched like a cat whose tail had been stepped on: “Is Father God paying attention to him?”

Garl’s shout alarmed Xiu who looked up at them. Garl swiftly ran towards him and asked Xiu anxiously: “Have you seen the Creator God? Did the Father give you anything?”

Xiu was perplexed and shook his head.

Garl was relieved then suddenly thought of something. He turned to look at the northwest side of the Gnome Ruins. “No, I have to destroy the wheel of time that my Father gave me …”

When Du Ze heard this sentence, a huge amount of information seemed to flood his mind, making his brain blank out for a moment.

The wheel of time was … The Creator God’s gift to the gnome race?

Du Ze thought of the piece of paper that he saw in the lab, which had an strange and abrupt blank space.

[Time is so wonderful, if _____ had not given us the wheel of time, we are afraid that we never would have been able to touch the law of time.]

A chill rose from the soles of Du Ze’s feet and spread to his whole body.

Why did the gnomes disappear?

Because of their study of time.

The world’s Creator God, who was responsible for this, destroyed the entire gnome race.

********

Translator’s Notes:

• A Harlequin is a traditional clown costume with a diamond design.
• I hope everyone enjoyed the previous chapter. That was unexpected BDSM for me. What did you think?
• The gnome trial really is a walk in the park for Xiu. Even the BOSS won’t fight him. However, he does still have to make the missing machine part. It’s similar to the human race trial: no fighting but you have to be very clever to pass.

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1. 爱屋及乌 – If you love someone, you should accept everything and everyone that the person loves