HTLCCBFT Chapter 76

Has The Lord’s Career Chart Been Filled Today? – Chapter 76

Of course, Oliver had no idea that the incredibly good-tempered Cat God had been severely provoked by his behavior throughout the day.

Though the newborn deity still couldn’t quite hide his gloom over his beloved believer abandoning his promise one moment and openly petting chicks the next, he was at least gradually getting used to it.

As he drifted in and out of sleep, his divine consciousness was filled with images of that gentle, beautiful lord who would smile at him and pet him so affectionately.

…… There was nothing he could do about getting used to it anyway.

He thought dejectedly.

…… He couldn’t actually restrain Oliver and stop him from petting those annoying chicks.

Even if he had enough divine power to do so, he didn’t want his beloved believer to feel unhappy because of it.

……. Anyways

……. As long as Oliver would still hold him affectionately every night, speaking to him while his soul followed him into the golden temple…

……. he would……. reluctantly stop being angry at those chicks.

Just as he had convinced himself of this, he never expected that his seemingly emboldened believer would push his luck further—by planning to keep cats!

After a brief moment of bewilderment, he merely stirred his divine thought, and knowledge about “cats” as living beings flowed like a spring into the golden divine realm.

Cats were creatures somewhat similar to his initial form, also possessing the fluffy ears, long tails, and soft bellies that believers loved most…

They would coquettishly meow…….

No.

The magnificent golden temple instantly dimmed in luster due to the deity’s sorrowful mood.

……. He……. didn’t even have a soft belly……………

……. and he couldn’t even meow…….

…….

The fluffy golden tail drooped completely, no longer swaying left and right in contentment and leisure as before.

…….

……. Oliver…….

……. Would he pet those ‘cats’ the same way he pet me? …….

…….

As the believers prayed sincerely, divine power continuously flowed into the golden light surrounding him.

Causing the divine body of this newborn deity of wealth to grow more solid with each passing day.

However, as the number of believers increased, their wishes were no longer as pure as before.

During nightly meals and before starting work each morning, when they bowed their heads in prayer to the deity, their words inevitably became tainted with worldly desires.

They didn’t dare expose their dirtiest wishes before the omnipotent deity.

But aside from the purest devotion, gratitude, and admiration, threads of greed, jealousy, and laziness still flowed toward the golden temple.

In everyone’s understanding, deities also possessed emotions.

Toward things they liked, they were generous, never hesitating to bestow divine favor.

Toward things they despised, they were brutal—once detected by their divine consciousness, they would not hesitate to bring down terrifying disasters to utterly destroy them.

And for ordinary believers, they were capricious… requiring careful treatment, prayers filled with awe and devotion,

and offerings of wealth or even life, before they might receive some small blessing someday.

There were good-tempered deities, and there were bad-tempered ones.

There were insatiably greedy deities, and there were gentle, generous ones.

He was no exception.

His consciousness grew clearer, and the periods of lucidity lasted longer.

His divine body, which had initially been a hazy golden mist, became increasingly solid—to the point where his devoted follower could “hug” him firmly last time.

He sensed it clearly.

At this rate, in just a little while… no more than two months at most, perhaps just one month…

He would be able to manifest his true form, shaped by divine laws and faith, before his follower without scorching those blue eyes more beautiful than the stars.

At least within the divine realm, he could let his beloved follower see his face clearly.

He eagerly anticipated that moment.

Thinking of this, he suddenly stopped caring about those bothersome ‘cats.’

…….

……. Oliver.

…….

……. Oliver…….

…….

In the distant Golden Divine Realm, the newly born deity repeated the name of his only cherished follower with a touch of infatuation.

…….

……. His most beloved……. Oliver…….

…….

In his eyes, he could clearly see that Oliver’s soul was as silver-white and pure as moonlight.

But it was brighter than moonlight and warmer than firelight.

Though his strength was limited, this newly arrived lord of Laina spared no effort in contributing his wisdom and energy, striving to free the lives in his territory from the torment of hunger and cold.

His kindness filled the slaves with gratitude; his appearance earned people’s deep affection and praise.

And his powerful, pure, and beautiful soul plunged the newly born deity into profound fascination.

It was like… a burning star.

Whenever this star appeared in the divine realm, those golden eyes infused with divine power couldn’t help but follow him.

How could a human soul be brighter and more beautiful than some of the deities wandering the divine realm, even those with weak divine power?

If other deities were to notice, they would immediately sense something unusual.

Yet the newly born deity simply accepted it as a matter of course.

After all, from the moment he gained consciousness, the Oliver he silently watched had always been this way.

Thus, the idea of ‘leaving Oliver’s side to go alone to the cold temple’ became utterly unbearable.

Unaware of the Cat God’s agitated emotions, Oliver had swiftly completed his routine: bathing, changing clothes, and lying down in bed.

Although, by observing the moon’s position, he estimated that there was still a little time before the system forced him to rest… he had no intention of delaying any further.

In fact, he wished he could fast-forward to the next day—energy fully restored, the sky bright, and continuing his mining endeavors under the strict and ever-watchful eye of Fosse.

Good night.

“My dear Cat God.”

Just before closing his eyes, he remembered the nearly forgotten God of Wealth statue.

He quickly sat up in bed, retrieved the golden fortune cat statue from his game backpack, and held it with both hands on either side. With a mix of tenderness and slight perfunctoriness, he kissed the raised paw: “Thank you for your protection. Good night.”

He didn’t notice at all that the paw pad, which usually grew slightly warm with shy delight after this casual goodnight kiss, showed not the slightest change this time.

In fact, Oliver’s mind was completely occupied by the vast mining area at this moment.

If only the other areas could yield ore as well…

Perhaps tasting the sweetness of a successful wish, Lord Laina couldn’t resist glancing at the solemn cat statue standing at the head of his bed before closing his eyes. With an irrepressible smile, he prayed: “Oh, dear Cat God. To gloriously establish our great Cat God religion, could you generously bestow upon us larger, more numerous, or deeper mines?”

After saying this, he remembered he hadn’t promised any “tribute” yet.

One shouldn’t try to get something from a God without offering anything in return – that would be too shameless.

After reconsidering, he seriously promised: “If you can fulfill my wish, I will definitely build you a larger and better temple.”

After all, as the pillar of people’s spiritual world, the embodiment of emotions and faith, the Cat God would eventually need a grand temple as a symbol of prestige.

If the mining area were large enough to fill the gap in his metal ore resources, then the stone materials that became available should indeed be used for temple renovation.

“You’ve always worked hard to provide me with so many metal ingots.” At this point, Oliver’s joking tone couldn’t help but carry some sincerity: “Although your temple won’t be extravagantly built entirely of gold, I promise it will be very beautiful.”

Once Laina was fully established and the industrial chain developed somewhat, making materials like stained glass less scarce, he could have people build the Cat God’s temple even more beautifully and creatively.

Anyway, a temple would be much better than staying at his bedside.

Holding these beautiful wishes, Oliver finally lay down again with peace of mind.

The moment he closed his eyes, the daily settlement panel instantly popped up.

[ Farming ] remained at level 6, with experience points having moved a pitiful 3% toward level 7 only because he had petted some chicks.

[ Combat ] also stayed at level 2, but the experience points had actually… increased by 1%?

It had climbed from 98% (almost ready to level up) to 99%, even closer to level 3.

Oliver couldn’t help but freeze.

What had he done?

Perhaps because the day had been quite long, it took him a while to recall the only time he had taken out [ Cat God’s Sword ].

— He had killed a fly, and had forgotten to check the pink loot he obtained.

Realizing this, Oliver was unusually choked up by the system’s calculation method.

If he remembered correctly, killing a bandit had only given him 5% experience.

Killing a fly could give 1%… In the system’s eyes, five flies were actually equivalent to one person’s value?

At first it was hard to accept, but upon second thought, it made sense.

To the system, which had no concept of emotions or ethics, flies and bandits were essentially both [ enemies ] that he had personally “instantly killed” using the powerful sword.

Other bandits who died from punishment didn’t provide any experience points.

The difference in experience gain might just be due to the different “HP” values determined by the system.

Oliver fell into deep thought.

It seemed that leveling up the Combat profession wasn’t as difficult as he had imagined.

He didn’t need to become a “battle maniac” or a “murderous demon”: although slower, simply by turning into a crazy fly killer, he could gain a small amount of experience points.

Worth the effort.

Having made this decision, Oliver turned his attention to the only profession skill that had seen significant changes after a long time.

The long-stagnant Mining skill, after his earlier vigorous digging, had directly jumped from Level 2 to 67% of Level 3, simultaneously unlocking the recipes for silver ingot and furnace!

Oliver’s eyes instantly lit up.

To craft one silver ingot, he needed 5 silver ore and 1 coal.

As for the most crucial furnace, it only required a small amount of stone materials and copper ore.

The important thing was that with stable smelting methods for silver ingots and copper ingots, he could create more recipes and no longer rely so heavily on the cat statue as his sole source.

Satisfied, Oliver closed the settlement interface.

Since he had been completely absorbed in mining all afternoon with no intention of petting cats, he fully expected to fall into a deep, dark dream and wake up to daylight.

Unexpectedly, he still entered that dream with the golden temple and the golden cat.

Before Oliver could clearly see his surroundings, a golden flash caught the corner of his eye, fiercely swinging toward him!

Caught off guard, the light hit his elbow. Though it didn’t hurt at all, Oliver was startled, then confused.

What kind of dream was this?

He focused his gaze…

It was a tall figure both familiar and unfamiliar to him, now standing with its back turned, its pointed triangular ears trembling with anger.

“Meow meow?”

Oliver called out blankly.

He finally figured out what the “weapon” that had “attacked” him earlier was—precisely that fluffy golden tail he had coveted for so long but never dared to touch.

Compared to the vague, hazy appearance from days before, the tail now seemed more real and even more tempting to stroke.

Especially since it seemed to be fluffed up due to its owner’s anger, becoming puffier and even more irresistibly fuzzy…

Recalling the strange, brushing sensation from the fur against his elbow earlier, Oliver fell silent for a moment.

This kind of… happiness from being attacked by a cat’s tail.

The next moment, he sincerely asked the seemingly upset big cat: “Meow meow, could you do it one more time?”

Deity: “……”

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