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The statue was nearly three meters tall and composed of three elements. Jake barely registered the awe, claps, and confusion of all those around him as they all closely studied the statue, and he, more than anything, just wanted to rush forward and break it.

It depicted a large beer bottle with a black snake identical to the one Jake had seen in the mural depicting the Malefic Viper way back in the Challenge Dungeon coiling around it. Out of the top of the bottle sprung not beer but a large mushroom, with the Malefic Viper’s fangs open about to bite down on the thing from above.

The craftsmanship was ridiculously detailed. Every single scale was perfectly created; the pupils of the Viper almost looked alive, and the beer bottle looked to be made of brown glass, despite being some kind of marble-like rock. The mushroom even looked soft, and it had a slight depression on the top, just where the Viper was about to bite down.

Jake just kept staring at it as his eyes opened wide when he noticed one detail.

No… oh, for fuck sake…

He saw it. The beer Jake had shown back then was based on his favorite brand. On this brand, the label was slightly raised and on the glass itself, making it look nice. However, on the statue, rather than the beer brand, Jake had replaced it with something else when he made his silly mana constructs. Something far more stupid, as Jake – in his defense – had made this as a joke. With cursive letters written in an overly artistic way, it displayed three words.

Warning: Danger Noodle

Jake wanted to not only break the statue but punch Felix into submission. What made it worse was the sculptor standing there, looking prouder than he had any right to. Then, to make matters worse, the fucker spoke to him in a reverent tone.

“Oh, Chosen of the Malefic One, only one piece remains… would you honor me and place your blessed hands upon the statue and give it your approval?” Felix asked with his eyes practically glowing as he looked expectantly at Jake.

The impulse to yell “fuck no” was strong, but… everyone was looking at him. Looking at him with expectations of him to truly bless the abomination before him. He remembered the conversation he had with Miranda and Vesperia, and he knew… he had to accept it.

“Very well,” Jake spoke, trying to sound dignified despite the derpy statue. He moved forward and placed his hand on it as he infused his energy and “approved of it.”

Villy could still refuse it, but… of course, the asshole instantly gave the damn statue a thumbs-up

A moment after his hand touched the statue, the entire hall rumbled. A dark green aura spread throughout as momentarily it felt like the Malefic Viper himself had descended, and the eyes of the statue began to glow dark green. Intense energy was emitted as he saw the fangs almost look like those of an actual beast, and a single dark droplet fell onto the mushroom.

Everyone around him kneeled as Felix kowtowed. “Praise the Malefic One! Praise the glorious True Vision of the Malefic’s Chosen!”

Jake used Identify on the statue as he wanted to gape.

[True Vision of the Malefic Viper’s Chosen (Mythical)] – A statue depicting the Malefic Viper’s glory as envisioned by his Chosen. Made with unrivaled reverence by a creator who willingly dedicated their entire life to its existence and the direct support of his Patron, the Eternal Servant. Through their efforts, a miracle has occurred. Blessed and approved by the Malefic One and his Chosen himself, a true myth then born. This statue is indestructible to any mortal and shall never decay as long as the Malefic One and his Chosen persist. Enchantments: Significantly increases the mana regeneration of anyone in its presence. Increases the potency of all non-combat alchemical applications of skills carrying the name of the Malefic Viper. Inspires reverence. Toxins will slowly accumulate within the depiction of the Malefic One, dripping from the fangs after enough has gathered. Takes approximately ten years per drop of venom, dependent on the environment. Must be placed within the territory of the Malefic Viper.

A fucking mythical rarity statue created from a bad joke. A really, really bad joke that the fanatic sculptor had taken way too far. To make matters worse, Jake was the only one who seemed to have a problem with it. He did see Caleb try really fucking hard to hold back a grin, Miranda resisting a facepalm, and Maria outright failing as she chuckled under her breath. The Sword Saint just looked on with admiration, clearly not understanding the dumb joke, with the Fallen King unreadable and Sylphie clearly approving.

As for everyone else, they saw nothing wrong with it from the looks of it. When Jake spotted the fucking Viper himself also hiding in the crowd with the fakest-looking face of reverence Jake had ever seen, he nearly lost it.

Jake kept staring at the statue and failed to hold back his curiosity once more. He used Identify on the droplet that fell from the Viper’s fang and landed on the mushroom. He instantly regretted that too.

[Vision’s Venom of the Malefic Viper (Legendary)] – A single droplet of pure concentrated energy and Records related to the Malefic Viper. Significantly increases the potency of any toxin it is mixed with. Using this venom during the creation of any alchemical toxin increases the chance of activating Malefic Viper’s Poison, empowering the final product with the Records of the Malefic Viper. If used by the Chosen himself, the activation of Malefic Viper’s Poison is ensured if the created item is applicable.

Why does it have to be so good!? Jake cursed internally. If it had just been shit, he would have felt way better, but it was actually so fucking good it was infuriating. Malefic Viper’s Poison was a skill Jake had only triggered twice in his life during alchemy due to how rarely it activated, but now he had a way to ensure it. As for the question of ensuring it was worth it… well…

[Malefic Viper’s Poison (Ancient)] – The Malefic Viper stalks its prey and needs only to strike once as venom devours its prey. Increases the potency of all created poisons. Grants the ability to craft a poison with a rarity above that of your Concoct Poison skill if certain conditions are met. The poison may at most be upgraded to the rarity of the Malefic Viper’s Poison skill (Ancient). Allows poison not to lose efficiency for a long period of time after being applied to a weapon.

With his newest evolution, every craft using one of these droplets would always result in an ancient rarity poison. Even if Jake took two shit-tier ingredients and threw them together to make an inferior-rarity necrotic poison, the skill would activate and upgrade it to an ancient-rarity one. It was pretty much a way for Jake to create a “trump card” poison that was better than what he usually had.

Jake stared at the statue and the droplet as he heard the clamoring from all around. Discussions of what different parts of the statue could mean, praise of the workmanship, and admiration towards the craftsman. Especially the three words on the bottle were heavily discussed. Jake was honestly expecting to get a dozen levels for being a heretic, but… no.

“The meaning in those words… truly profound,” an old-looking S-grade elf from the Altmar Empire nodded.

“Indeed,” another agreed. “A warning, followed by directly stating danger, finished with the invitation to dine… truly encapsulates the Path of the Malefic Viper. Scheming, dangerous, yet approachable in some cases.”

“The bottle design is interesting,” another noted. “A bottle that does not fit the regular design of potion or poison bottles but is clearly filled with poison based on the potent mushroom sprouting from it. Finally, the Malefic One’s stance, capable of striking the mushroom at any point, yet waiting to let his venom accumulate… the patience it captures. The willingness to nurture a toxin till perfection.”

More similar comments came from all over, with but a handful of people present truly knowing what was going on. Felix simply stood there with the biggest grin imaginable on his face as he was showered with praise from all around. After a few more minutes, Felix finally spoke once more.

“Needless to say, the Primordial Church and I dedicate this sculpture to the Chosen and the Order of the Malefic One,” Felix once more said with a massive bow.

Jake looked at him for a while. He wanted to punch him. He really did. But Jake held himself back. “I thank you and the Primordial Church.”

Claps echoed throughout the hall as Viridia called some people to bring the damn thing away, and Jake hated that the consensus seemed to be that the Primordial Church were the winners so far for this ceremony when it came to gifts.

Would I get levels if I broke it? Maybe… but… I want that venom… fuck. Wait, can I even break that thing?

At least he would only have to look at the damn thing every ten years to get one of those drops of venom, right?

The ceremony could finally continue with the statue cleaned up and Felix now in a corner, surrounded by admirers. However, it quickly became clear not many factions were interested in going up now as they feared their gifts would be viewed as lesser after the “best gift” had just been given.

Luckily, there were still three major factions yet to gift anything. The Automata Legion, the Endless Empire, and the United Tribes. The Draconian Accords would apparently give gifts behind the scenes and, from what Viridia informed him, were scrambling a bit as two of the nine Dragonflights feared Jake wasn’t very keen on them.

Jake had expected these three major factions to gift anything here and now… but what he got instead was Viridia informing him of a change in plans.

“The United Tribes, Endless Empire, and Automata Legion would prefer to discuss this entire matter between closed doors, and the Endless Empire wants the True Royal present if possible. I can refuse them, but I shall leave it up to your discretion. Their gifts may or may not be better based on how this private discussion goes,”Viridia said.

“Alright, let’s have a private chat,” Jake agreed. “One with gods present, I presume?”

“Yes,” she confirmed.

“Alright, go right ahead and end this gifting part of the ceremony then since no one else seems interested in coming up,” Jake told her.

Virida sent another mental confirmation and did just that.

“It appears none are keen on trying to match the Primordial Church? I cannot say I fault them,” Viridia said in a partly joking tone. No one commented, making it clear there indeed weren’t more who wanted to go up on stage.

“The Order of the Malefic Viper and the Chosen thanks you all for your wonderful gifts, and anything not handed directly to the Chosen will naturally be presented to him afterward. I have just been informed that the United Tribes, Endless Empire, and the Automata Legion shall have private discussions with the Chosen and the Malefic One, so sadly, the Chosen will have to leave us for now. Everyone is naturally free to discuss in his absence, and the Chosen shall return. I am sure there is plenty to talk about, isn’t there? Once more, I thank you all, and unless there is anyone we missed, let us move on.”

There were no objections as everyone clapped again and thanked Jake for his time. It felt a bit weird, but Jake stayed dignified. “Thank you all for your intentions and contributions.”

With that, Jake stood up. For a brief moment, the presence of the Malefic Viper descended as Jake was teleported, disappearing from the room, along with one other random guy in the crowd who totally hadn’t been Villy in disguise.

With Jake’s disappearance, the focal point of the ceremony was temporarily gone. This allowed the factions present to begin discussing internally, and with Viridia remaining behind, she naturally had many who wanted to discuss with her. Plans were even made about where to establish more branches of the Order of the Malefic Viper in other universes, preferably close to these factions, to make cooperation easier. While teleportation was widely used in the multiverse, it wasn’t something that one could constantly do. It took a lot of resources to maintain and establish, and unless a god wanted to spend all their time operating a teleportation circle, teleporting across large sections of entire universes wasn’t possible.

Logistics, investments, trade deals, and potential admittance of more students to the Order were discussed. The matter of Yip of Yore wasn’t even brought up. People perhaps simply couldn’t imagine a reality where a Primordial actually died, so the worst case they saw was the Viper possibly losing and having to recuperate for a while, but for him to actually die? Impossible.

These discussions were primarily reserved for the high-ranking individuals of the factions and those of higher grades. It was why they were there. This left many who were not there for solely political reasons. Individuals who all happened to be recent C-grades with levels between 200 and 209.

Their focus was on three people and three people only. The Sylphian Hawk, the Unique Lifeform known as the Fallen King, and the human who dared call himself a Sword Saint.

Miranda didn’t have much reason to stay around at the ceremony hall as she had other important matters to deal with. No one knew she worked directly for Jake but simply believed her to be Viridia’s assistant or maybe just a young talent they wanted to bring along. Either way, people showed little interest in her and considering she wasn’t even C-grade yet, no one viewed her as a potential party member either.

This allowed her to silently slip out and head somewhere quieter where she could finally get a grasp on her upcoming workload. She needed to be prepared, after all. Because she knew she would soon be utterly swarmed.

She had just gotten a headcount for slaves. One counting all those who had simply gifted behind the scenes. The problem was… the total number had exceeded her expectations. One also had to consider where all these people would be sent. They were natives of the ninety-third universe… and bringing them to the first universe and then back to the ninety-third wasn’t feasible. It wasn’t what the factions had planned on doing either.

The plan was to set up a one-direction teleportation circle, something Miranda learned was a lot easier than anything that could go two-way. This was how Neil and his party had been able to teleport sometimes thousands of kilometers despite being in E-grade back when she first met them.

With the assistance of gods, a massive circle with meaningful investment, and C-grades behind the actual construction, sending a group of slaves across a significant portion of a universe wasn’t impossible. Feasible, even. Of course, a lot was given up when doing this, and one of the reasons why practically no one had gifted C-grades was because it would be incredibly difficult to teleport them so far. Another reason was, of course, that there simply weren’t that many C-grades yet. Much less C-grade slaves. Those there were could only possibly come from war criminals who had been enslaved after evolving.

After leaving the hall, she had met up with an A-grade from the Order working for the Verdant Witches and had been handed a compiled list of the total number of slaves gifted. She had quickly taken a seat when she saw the number.

One hundred and twenty million people total. More than five million of them were D-grade, with the rest of them E and even F-grade. There were also two hundred and eleven C-grades, though. The races of these slaves were a total mix. Humans, elves, scalekin, dwarves, beastfolk... as long as they were enlightened, they had been gifted.

“Alright, bring me to the organizers,” Miranda ordered the A-grade.

While her identity as Jake’s manager hadn’t been revealed before to the wider crowd, she had no intentions of keeping it a secret. She would reveal it all to those responsible for handing over these slaves and other resources and deal with them directly. Her reason was obvious:

Records.

The reason Miranda had not evolved yet wasn’t that she couldn’t. She had completed all her quests already and felt comfortable with her current skills. No, she had delayed her evolution to wait until after this ceremony.

Because, with all this bullcrap she had to deal with, it had better result in some good evolution options.