[Physique level 15 → level 20]
My body slammed against the raging water, sending a painful shock through my limbs. I gasped in surprise, and the pigeon’s lung fell out of my mouth. Mouthfuls of polluted water flooded my throat.
Massive chunks of debris crashed into the water and sank just beside me; I jerked to avoid them, but some still struck my shoulder or leg, forcing me deeper down. Streaks of red blood flowed out of the resulting cuts before they vanished into the raging water.
My legs desperately flailed beneath me, and my hands clawed through the water until I reached the surface. I coughed and sputtered, wheezing to try and catch my breath.
Waves continued to force my head down, but I struggled back to the surface. I frantically rubbed my eyes to clear my vision. The pigeon’s lung was being washed further away; I quickly reached for it and reattached it to my mouth, taking in a big breath of fresh air.
Thankfully, upgrading my physique level before the fall made up for most of the pain, but my body was still throbbing from the force of impact. I would definitely have a nasty purple bruise in a few hours.
I quickly pinpointed the sea serpent, Hindsight still guiding me through all of its movements. Having finished its destruction of the freeway, the sea serpent dove back down into the water, its body barely leaving a ripple. Despite being used underwater, Hindsight continued to track the most likely moves of the sea serpent.
I surveyed the underwater landscape and was amazed to see I could no longer see the bottom in some areas. It was so deep that it looked pitch black.
From the depths, there was an occasional burst of color from the hundreds of other water beasts that flittered in and out of the darkness. I could see the glint of thousands of menacing eyes, but they all kept their distance, deterred by the sea serpent’s overpowering presence.
I swam toward the shallower end, which was still too deep for me to feel comfortable. I was surrounded by the towering landscape and huddled toward the edge of a steep cliff, clinging onto the rocks to save my energy.
The serpent’s body was a dark shadow darting through the water until it suddenly vanished, diving deeper until neither my eyes nor Hindsight could track it.
My heart froze in my chest. Damnit! There was no way I could get through this. It wasn’t possible in my novel, and in a world governed by rules, my written word triumphed.
I quickly steeled myself, closing my eyes and slowing my breathing. This was the perfect opportunity for me to elevate myself to observers and gods alike. If anybody would accomplish this, it was me. Or Feiyu, but he wasn’t here.
I looked around the water to make sure the pest control van wasn’t caught in the collapsing freeway. Various cars floated atop before slowly sinking, but I recognized none of them. They must have made it. Yang could take care of all of them, and with Archangel Michael and Sun Wukong, they would be just fine.
A massive sense of foreboding shot through me. At the last second, Hindsight warned me of a rapidly approaching entity.
The sea serpent appeared beneath me, its jaw unhinged and ready to snap shut on my legs. I rushed to the side to avoid its attack, but its massive body whizzed past me and sent me soaring into the sky with an explosive rush of water.
My arms flailed in the air while I hovered in between its gaping jaws, looking down its burgundy and fleshy throat.
I let out a surprised scream, and my eyes squeezed shut with sheer terror. This was far scarier than what I had originally imagined, and this serpent was young and inexperienced—what would the rest of this world look like with cannibalistic demons, gored ghouls, and vile beasts??
[Agility level 1 → level 10]
I grabbed onto the fang of the serpent, holding on and trying to swing myself onto its scaly nostrils.
A blue flash appeared before me, and a small dragon popped up. Seeing Chang and the sea serpent side by side, they looked incredibly familiar with their same-colored scales and red eyes.
“Look at what we have here! It’s very impressive you haven’t died yet, but you’re sure to meet your end soon.”
This damn money hungry moderator. To these gods and observers, I was nothing more than a character. It was like they were tuning into their favorite show at night.
But, just like Archangel Michael sponsored coins when he enjoyed what was happening, gods could sponsor me now. I needed to put on a show defeating the serpent—not only to save my life but to also win the approval and money of the gods.
I dug my nails into the serpent’s scales, slowly pulling myself up and grabbing its whiskers. Each scale was practically the size of my palm. It let out a horrific cry, its voice reverberating throughout the air all around it.
The sea serpent was one of the most powerful demonic beasts. Unlike most dragons where there were hundreds of tales involving their brutal deaths, tales of a serpent’s death were much less common. Even in Surviving My First Run, the most powerful sea serpents were talked about like myths and hardly appeared.
[108 new observers have joined to watch your struggle!]
These observers were no different from gods.
[Observers Chat]
Socrates: This is so cool. It’s like I’m watching you write a new chapter before my eyes, Jia Li Unless you die, obviously.
[You have received a new review!]
IHARU REVIEW: ★★★★★
Liu Peijin is really impressive and a bit crazy. Who would ever run straight into a situation like this? I don’t know. Still, I applaud her determination.
The serpent slammed back down into the water, dragging me along as I struggled to hold my grip. I slowly inched up its whisker while my fingers and knuckles turned white from the pressure exerted.
I held my breath and puffed my cheeks—although pigeon’s lung helped me filter the toxic outdoor air, it didn’t help me breathe under water. Thankfully, the spiritual energy from the positive review gave me a slight boost, letting me hold onto my breath for longer.
I grabbed onto both whiskers and quickly entangled them around my forearms, tugging them back and bringing the serpent to a momentary halt before it thrashed uncontrollably, infuriated by my sudden control over its movements.
Using its whiskers as reigns, I forced it to the surface of the water. I gasped for air before holding my breath again. The serpent took a wild dive down to drown me, but I quickly pulled it back up.
Looking through the water, the naturally mountainous terrain led to giant caverns and towering underwater structures. I tugged on the whiskers, forcing the sea serpent into the jagged rock.
It let out a loud cry underwater, bubbles shooting out of its mouth. I could feel myself running out of oxygen—I tugged the serpent back to the surface to catch a breath.
[You have received a new review!]
PINKPINEAPPLE REVIEW: ★★★★★
An amusing mess! Liu Peijin’s personality isn’t very good, but there aren’t many disciples that show so much promise.
[You have received a new review!]
SAPLING123 REVIEW: ★★★★★
Leaving this review bc I don’t want Peijin to drown
[You have received a new review!]
UGGSHOES REVIEW: ★★★★☆
Liu Peijin is very interesting to watch. Maybe a bit less than Qiu Feiyu, who I’ve also been following… I just feel like I could do a better job than Peijin
I could feel a surge of spiritual energy through me from the positive reviews, but I did my best to limit its flow throughout my body. There was something I wanted to test, and I needed all the spiritual energy I could get. I also needed to show that drowning was one of my biggest obstacles.
The serpent dove back down underwater, and I forced it straight into another jagged rock. The terrain exploded from the force of the sea serpent’s body, but I could sense its growing panic.
Desperate, the serpent began to viciously thrash underwater, bucking its body to throw me off. The serpent violently flung me into the riverbed as I gagged, quickly spitting out mixtures of water and saliva down my chin.
I scrambled for the pigeon’s lung that started floating up toward the water’s surface and reattached it to my mouth. I coughed, and I instantly felt the water enter my nose and mouth. My face burned and chest tightened while I struggled to the surface.
Was no god going to sponsor me some coins? Anything at all??
I finally broke to the surface, sputtering and breathing as hard as I could through pigeon’s lung. Bright blue sparks erupted next to my face.
“You’re still putting up a pretty good fight. I’m surprised you’re not dead yet, Liu Peijin.” Chang cackled, a devious glint in his eyes. “This is such fun. You really don’t want to die!”
I wanted to reply with something snarky, but I thought I would choke and die the moment I tried to speak, so I stupidly continued gasping for breath.
[Editor’s Pen activated!]
Having enough spiritual energy invested in my edit would allow me to make changes without worrying about Editor’s Pen stopping me like it has been. My edit was a small one, but it was better to be safe.
[Pigeon’s lung not only filters toxic air pollutants but also allows for underwater breathing.]
One concern had been burning in the back of my mind, and this was my opportunity to finally test it—were the edits I made detectable? If the function of pigeon’s lung suddenly changed, would gods and observers question how I could now breathe underwater using the pigeon’s lung even though I almost drowned just prior? Or would gods and observers simply think that my edit had always been reality?
[Edit granted!]
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
My entire body was aching by this point, and my arms were covered in various gashes and bruises. I stuck my head underwater, using Hindsight to analyze the current situation.
The sea serpent was still throwing a fit underwater. There were now dozens of other demonic sea beasts swimming around—though none posed as big of a threat. They were attracted to the sporadic movements of the sea serpent but kept a safe distance.
Some were oversized fish with mutated, razor-sharp teeth; others were sharks with terrifyingly swollen flesh and fins, making them look ready to pop.
All beasts were demons, and all demons hated one another. Even though demons all belonged to the demon realm, none of them ever got along, and constant warfare was at play.
While the serpent was currently acting as a deterrent to other beasts since it was only targeting me, if I could get the serpent to accidentally attack some and cause internal fighting, I could defeat the serpent through the sheer number of lower-ranked beasts that would attack it.
It was like the goblins all over again.
I sucked in a breath through pigeon’s lung and dove back underwater, this time thrashing around to attract the sea serpent’s attention once more. Its bright red eyes were narrowed and its rage evident. I could feel a shiver travel up my spine.
I swam deeper down, keeping my eye out for any messages about my new ability to breathe underwater, but none came even as I went deeper and deeper. I couldn’t stop a small smile from creeping onto my face.
Even if Editor’s Pen rarely worked, it became an increasingly formidable skill. I just needed more spiritual energy to wield it.
I swam just in between the sea serpent and a school of mutated fish, waving my arms frantically.
[358 new observers have joined to watch your struggle!]
The mutated fish snapped their jaws curiously in my direction but kept their distance, warded off by the overwhelming aura of the serpent. The serpent, however, paid no attention to any other beasts.
It whipped its head around and roared underwater, causing a flurry of bubbles and a current to shoot right into me. The disoriented demonic fish were spinning in the current, unsure of what hit them. The serpent darted forward, jaws wide.
Just before it could latch on, I exhaled all my air into pigeon’s lung while kicking up toward the surface. It inflated like a balloon, almost to the point of popping, but it lifted me just high enough to avoid the jaws of the serpent.
The sea serpent latched onto one of the fish and quickly tore into it, shaking its head and causing strings of flesh to dissipate into the water. The rest of the fish immediately swarmed the serpent like piranhas, biting down and tearing through its thick flesh.
[Observers Chat]
Socrates: This is so stressful to watch
ZebraMM: You got this Peijin! I’m rooting for you!!
CommerceADK: Thank god I’m not a disciple…
The serpent only seemed more enraged, completely ignoring the fish that tore through its body. It let out another vicious roar and headed straight toward me.
My eyes widened in fear. I was relying on the air I exhaled into pigeon’s lung to bring me to the surface, but the serpent would reach me before then. Instantly, I diverted Hindsight to focusing on finding a place for immediate shelter and spotted a nearby cave thanks to my heightened senses.
However, with my attention turned away from the serpent, it quickly caught up to me. I dove for the cave’s small opening the moment the serpent’s front teeth snagged onto my leg. I winced, slowing down as the serpent quickly moved to finish me off. I pulled my leg from its jaws, mangling it but holding in my cry.
I gripped the edge of the cave with my fingertips and pulled myself into it. The sea serpent raged outside, slamming its wide-open jaws into the rock to try and grab me. I could feel myself becoming more and more lightheaded. My vision was fading in and out of darkness, and I swam farther into the cave before reaching a small air pocket.
[623 new observers have joined to watch your struggle!]
[10 major gods are watching you!]
My head broke from the water, and I spat out the pigeon’s lung into my hand. I brushed my slick hair off my face. My surroundings were pitch black, and I could sense nothing but the pain in my leg and the sound of sloshing water on the cave walls. I was so exhausted I could faint, but the panic was welling inside me.
Blood was oozing out of my calf from where it bit me. The pain shot up my body. The cave was already crumbling from the serpent’s relentless attacks—my time in this pocket was limited, and my chances to defeat the serpent were quickly dwindling.
It was true that there were hardly any ways that the sea serpent had been previously defeated in mythology. However, there was one well known one—and it involved Medusa’s head.
In fact, it was the exact reason why I didn’t want Amelia to side with Athena or the Abyssal Kraken of Black Seas for her sponsor. I didn’t want to make enemies of either of them.
Perseus was able to slay the sea serpent when Athena gave him a shield and Medusa’s head to turn the serpent into stone. Similarly, by recreating that myth, I could do the same.
But due to my low spiritual energy and star count, I would have to sign a contract with Athena to get Medusa’s head. It would be like what Yue did with the Goblin King—I would sacrifice something worthy of Athena’s contribution, and I would be contractually obligated to execute my half.
If I failed to do so, I’d face horrific consequences the same way the Goblin King did when he took advantage of Yue’s body.
I opened the system, checking how many stars I had.
[Stars left: 18,800]
“Socrates!” I shouted, “Give me some of your spiritual energy so I can talk to Athena!”
[Observers Chat]
Socrates: What? No way.
“Even if you hated me as a person, you can still like me as a character,” I gasped, barely able to steady my breath while treading water with my injured leg, “You said you were excited by this, right? I’ll show you something even better. Watch me defeat this monster.”
[Observers Chat]
Socrates: What makes you think I wouldn’t leave and watch another broadcast?
“You’re the only one aware of… me other than Nipon and one other. You’ve been sending me private messages instead of public, so I know you’re only interested in watching me through these arcs.”
“Can you not do this whole secret messaging thing right now?” Chang quickly interjected. “You’re upsetting the viewers by being cryptic right now.”
Suddenly, my breathing calmed completely as if a restorative wave rolled right through me. Ha, so Socrates really did give me a bit of spiritual energy. This would be enough just to spark a conversation and permit Athena to send me messages.
“Chang! I want to sign a contract with Athena!” I cried out at the creature, wet hair clinging onto my skin in the dark.
“A contract? With Athena?”
Chang burst out laughing, holding onto his stomach before his eyes turned menacing. Chang’s fangs seemed to grow before me as he took on a horrific look reflecting that of the sea serpent outside.
“You think you can open a contract with her? You’re weak. Here you are about to die after making it past just the introduction to this world.”
“Athena!” I shouted, completely ignoring Chang, “I know you’re watching me! Let me sign a contract with you. I know of a god far stronger than you, and you, the almighty Athena, has never even heard of him. Don’t you want to hear all the nasty things they had to say about you and your inferiority?”
With Hindsight activated, I could see the faint silhouette of her figure staring at me, an owl perched on her shoulder. She bristled at the mention of the “unknown god.”
I knew of Athena’s immense pride given the myth of how she turned Arachne into a spider for claiming she was better than Athena at weaving. I wanted to grab Athena’s attention no matter what.
Divinity The One Who Fights in Front is surprised by your bold request for a contract.
I scowled under my breath; the constant attacks of the sea serpent caused small rocks to crumble and smack down into the water beside me. I groped along the dark walls, trying and failing to find a tunnel I could squeeze through.
Had I known it would play out like this, I would’ve done more to gain Athena’s favor.
I opened the Azure Dragon store, quickly swiping through the long list of items until I found the one I wanted.
[Shield of Truth: 30,000 stars]
It was that expensive? It wasn’t that strong of an item outside of any arcs involving Medusa, but I needed to try and replicate the original story to have a chance at escaping.
[Editor’s Pen activated!]
[Shield of Truth costs only 2,000 stars.]
[Error! Impossible within karmic restraints.]
[Potential edit: Broken Shield of truth costs only 15,000 stars.]
Was my skill seriously bargaining with me? Well, there go all my stars.
I made the purchase and a burst of blue sparks appeared before me. They dissipated and revealed half of a large stone shield, which quickly fell into the water and began to sink. I panicked and reached down, pulling it back up.
Despite being split in half, the shield had some good weight to it and elaborate engraving across the surface depicting various Greek myths and achievements. Thankfully, it still shielded most of my body.
I lifted the shield above my head to protect me from the crumbling cave while desperately kicking to keep myself afloat in the pitch dark.
Divinity The One Who Fights in Front realizes your plan.
Divinity The One Who Fights in Front sponsors 5,000 stars.
If this was going to be the only star sponsorship I got throughout this entire ordeal, I would never live it down. I glared at the notification before looking up at Chang.
[You have returned 5,000 stars to divinity The One Who Fights in Front.]
Divinity The One Who Fights in Front is angered by your hubris.
“Athena, I’m not asking your money right now,” I declared loudly while I continued to search the Azure Dragon store for what I needed. “I need you to sign a contract with me. Send me your stars after.”
Sending back star sponsorships wasn’t something the disciples dared to do in Surviving my First Run, but I needed to show Athena that I was serious about the contract. I also didn’t want to show my reliance on the system or gods. I was only willing to abuse the system.
Admittedly, I desperately needed the money, but my pride and the contract mattered more.
“Chang, open up a contract.”
Chang puffed out his chest and crossed his arms in a stubborn gesture.
“You’re making a lot of enemies, Peijin.”
“You’re about to be one of them. Open a contract,” I said.
“If you keep this up, I’m going to have to report you to my supervisor. A disciple like you abusing and ordering around gods? Ha!”
Like everyone else in the system, Chang was incredibly money driven.
“Chang,” I said, “I’ll let you have a say in the contract terms.”
I could virtually see Chang’s eyes fill up with dollar signs. “Deal.”
He floated up into the air, batting his long gold lashes again and holding clasped hands cutely against his cheek. “I’m so sorry to all my beloved viewers, but unfortunately the next segment will be ads. Feel free to buy the Platinum subscription to my channel to skip them in the future!”
[1,129 observers and gods are crying out in anger!]
[Observers Chat]
Aslan: ARE YOU KIDDING???
ZebraMM: This is corrupt. You’re a shitty moderator!
CommerceADK: This is such a bad story. Contemplating leaving a 1 star review. I can’t believe you’re making us pay for this.
Evian: How are we supposed to know what’s being negotiated then??
Chang looked at Evian’s message and gave a dismissive wave. “Don’t worry about something like that. Karmic restraints check everything. Besides, it’s just an ad break. Don’t go around spreading conspiracies on my broadcast.”
[104 observers are rooting for Liu Peijin’s death!]
… Okay.
Chang winked at the camera, bringing two of his claws beside his eye to form a peace sign before flicking off the broadcast. Now, only Athena, Chang, and I remained.
“I’m sure they don’t really want you to die. It’s just so exciting,” Chang said.
A bright blue screen opened before me, yet this time it was iridescent, gleaming with an almost gold sheen. It lit up the cave enough for me to inspect its current state.
Half of my small cave had collapsed now, and I could see the sea serpent’s bright red eye staring at me through a gap, its thin line of a pupil flickering back and forth. Gold and brown veins gave it a horrific look as it continued to peer at me.
Divinity The One Who Fights in Front warns that you’re setting dangerous precedents.
If other gods discovered that Athena was making this deal, she could face severe backlash—same for Chang, but I didn’t care about what happened to him.
I hardened my expression and proposed my plan.
“My sponsor Eternal Wish isn’t a god anyone would recognize. For you, that might not be so strange, given that there are thousands of gods far weaker than you. Of course you can’t be expected to know all of them,” I began.
Divinity The One Who Fights in Front claims you know far too much given your current status.
I needed to come up with a convincing enough lie that would work for the gods and disciples. Telling them I created this world would just be a death. I let the gears turn in my head and worked to stall. “I’ll get to that later. Let me finish with the Eternal Wish. One of my skills allows me to manipulate what happens in an arc. I’m allowed to use this skill once at the start of a chapter, side story, or arc. No one is aware of the edit I make.”
Of course, that was a lie. Now that I knew my edits went undetected, I wanted to sow seeds of fear into Athena. Still, I didn’t want to give away the full parameters of my skills—thus, I claimed I could only use it once at the start of the arc.
Divinity The One Who Fights in Front says that no such skill would be permissible in the system!
Divinity The One Who Fights in Front claims that you are nothing more than a fraud.
I lifted my broken Shield of Truth up. “See this? My edit for this side story was that I would obtain this item despite the fact I’m too weak of a disciple for something like that. Of course, that fact must have slipped your mind because you would’ve otherwise questioned how I got this item.
“My edit for the last chapter was for Sun Wukong to be my sponsor. Despite my ability to make edits, I couldn’t influence anything involving Eternal Wish,” I said. “Do you know why?”
Chang blinked absentmindedly at me, clearly confused—but the flashing blue notifications appearing before me gave me enough of a sign.
Divinity The One Who Fights in Front says that what you’re suggesting is impossible!
I smirked at the blue screen, looking up at Chang with a cocky grin. “Eternal Wish is a completely unknown god, but he has enough power to heavily influence the early arcs. Even you, Athena, can’t do that. It’s impossible for any god given karmic limitations. That’s what Editor’s Pen told me when my Sun Wukong edit fell through.”
Editor’s pen hadn’t explicitly stated that; however, the fact my edits were impossible in the earlier sponsorship selection implied that Eternal Wish had unspeakable power. Editor’s pen wasn’t even able to provide an alternate edit like it just did for the shield.
“Eh?! How could you have put all of this together? Are you really a fortune teller?” Chang replied, completely stunned as he stressfully tugged on his whiskers. “Ahh, I could make so much money off of this! A disciple this powerful in my broadcast? But, I thought Yue said you weren’t a fortune teller.”
I replied firmly, staring up at him. “Yue is right. I’m not a fortune teller.”
His small blue head cocked to the side as he stared at me, confused.
“Then how do you know so much?”
With the blue glow of the hindsight skill in my eyes, I appeared menacing in the cave while glaring at Chang. My voice remained steady despite the water splashing against my parted lips.
“I’m a god.”
Chang burst out laughing, throwing a complete fit while rocking back and forth in the air. His clawed hands grabbed on his tail, tugging and pulling it with each cackle he let out. “You should go into comedy! There’s always an opening with a pretty good star salary.”
“Qiu Feiyu is a disciple in this area who has not chosen a sponsor and has sworn to tear all gods down from the heavens or drag them through hell. The next arc is a personalized dungeon room that’ll test every single person in the parties we made. After that, the top parties will battle, and the winning group will pick the following arc out of three proposed options. And, in the fifty-third arc, Athena will fall at the hands of Feiyu.”
At my words, the entire cave fell silent except for the sloshing of water against the cave walls. Chang froze, staring at me with widened and shaking red eyes. Even Athena herself seemed to vanish.
“... What are you the god of?” Chang asked hesitantly.
“Fate and fortune.”
“Why are you here as a disciple? You should be in one of the realms if you’re this powerful.”
“That’s where I’m trying to go back to. So, help me, and I’ll make you unparalleled in your power and wealth.”
Divinity The One Who Fights in Front is stunned.
Divinity The One Who Fights in Front says you’re relying on too many assumptions.
“No assumptions if I’m a god,” I said. “Besides, what other disciple could have a skill as powerful as mine? Athena, grant me Medusa’s head, so I can survive this. If you do, I’ll show you the best story out of any other disciple here. I’ll uncover Eternal Wish.”