Chapter 41: Poisoned Paradise

Reviving farmland was something Exitra had already been thinking about.

However, for it to happen like this because of the Goblin Shaman’s torrential rain… that was unexpected.

But the heavy rain hadn’t only brought good things.

“Oh no, my house collapsed!”

“When am I going to get this repaired…?”

“Ugh, the ground’s so muddy it’s hard to even walk.”

The torrential downpour had destroyed some people’s houses, and the muddy roads made transporting goods difficult.

“Damn it! The wagon won’t move!”

“Someone help!!”

The wagon wheels seemed to be stuck somewhere in the soggy ground, refusing to budge.

Even with people trying to pull it free, the weight of the cargo made it almost impossible.

“We might have to unload everything if we want to move it.”

“Haah, that’s going to take forever…”

“And we’ve already been delayed so much because of the rain…”

The members of the Architect Guild looked troubled.

The rain had already set them back a long time.

They needed to get started on repairs as soon as possible, but with the cargo wagon stuck, the delay would only grow longer.

“I’ll help.”

“Huh? Ah! E-Exitra!”

“N-No, it’s fine, we can handle this.”

The members of the Architect Guild knew Exitra’s face.

After all, he had saved them—there was no way they could forget him.

“You can’t get it out anyway, right?”

“That’s true, but… do you have some kind of method?” one man asked.

At his question, Exitra grinned.

“Just a moment…”

Exitra opened his status window.

[Name: Raiders Exitra]

[Title: Official Successor]

[Class: Spirit Mage]

[HP: 1,000/1,000]

[Spirit Power: 5,000/6,000]

[Strength: 10] [Agility: 10] [Endurance: 10] [Wisdom: 5] [Spirit: 70]
[Points: 20]

After defeating the Goblin Warrior and completing the quest, Exitra had 20 points left.

This time, he distributed them evenly.

“Let’s put 5 into Strength, 5 into Agility, and 10 into Endurance.”

— [Huh? You’re not increasing Spirit?]

“Spirit is more than enough right now. You need to take care of the other stats too. If you don’t manage them, things will get difficult later.”

— [If you mess it up, you’re soooo screwed~]

— [And there’s no stat reset in this game. If you make a mistake, you’re doomed in the late game.]

“Hahaha, exactly. You need to raise everything to a certain level. Besides, I’ll be earning plenty more stat points later.”

***

After raising his stats, Exitra closed the status window.

Then, staring at the muddy ground, he summoned a Gnome.

“Alright then…”

Exitra lightly tapped the ground.

And then, something surprising happened.

The wagon’s sunken wheels popped right out.

“Whoa! It’s out!”

“How did you…?”

“Is that the power of a spirit?”

Even with five grown men, they couldn’t pull the wagon free—but the Gnome had done it with ease.

That wasn’t the only surprising thing.

“Huuup…”

‘Set range.’

‘Set material.’

‘Set location.’

Multitasking, Exitra calculated several factors and set the parameters.

Then—tap!

When he struck the ground again, the once-muddy surface instantly transformed into solid, dry earth.

He couldn’t cover the entire territory, but he made sure the inhabited areas were workable enough for people to continue their jobs.

“Oh! This is amazing!”

“Unbelievable!”

“Just a moment ago, the ground was too muddy to work…”

“So Spirit Mages can do things like this too.”

The townsfolk were astonished.

They had thought the mud would make things impossible, but they never imagined a spirit could transform the ground so easily.

“Truly incredible.”

— [??? : bruh, there goes my job.]

— [The rising star of the Road Construction Bureau—Exitra! LOL]

— [Who needs heavy machinery? Just tap-tap and you’re done. Hahaha]

The viewers were stunned.

The versatility of a Spirit Mage was far greater than they had imagined.

No one had expected he could even do something like this.

“Alright, you can work now, right?”

“Of course!”

“Come on, everyone, let’s get moving!”

“Bring that wagon over there. Let’s start fixing the collapsed buildings first.”

The members of the Architect Guild busily moved about, repairing and reconstructing buildings.

Many structures that had barely stayed standing collapsed entirely from the rain, so there was a lot to handle.

“Phew, there’s a lot to do…”

Carter, the guild’s representative, surveyed the situation.

The amount of work was overwhelming—he didn’t even know where to start.

“Shouldn’t we be charging more for this?”

It seemed like the costs would be higher than he first estimated.

‘Maybe I should go back and renegotiate?’

Given the state of things, asking for more money didn’t seem unreasonable.

But then—

‘40%.’

‘40%.’

‘40%.’

He remembered that firm declaration.

If he brought up renegotiation now, there was a chance they might cut the price instead.

‘Better take what I can get.’

Carter wasn’t particularly smart, but he had excellent animal-like instincts.

That sense of danger was what kept him out of trouble.

It was an impressive talent in its own right.

“Well, let’s get started at least…”

Perhaps because the Architect Guild was skilled, the repairs progressed quickly.

“Hehehe, nothing else should happen now.”

Exitra leisurely watched the workers.

At this point, there wasn’t much he could do here.

“Shall we take a little break?”

— [Wow, just here to spectate again~]

— [Not doing anything again, huh~?]

— [Oh my, such a bystander~!]

— [Lolol]

“What do you mean, spectating? Honestly, I’ve got nothing to do right now.”

It was true.

There really wasn’t much Exitra could do to help repair the building.

— [I really want a fast forward. You in?]

“Fast forward? I’d like to, but… I’m a bit worried…”

— [Yeah, that’s understandable.]

— [If we fast forward, who knows what might happen…]

— [Exitra’s territory is in the worst possible condition… If we fast forward now, it could be a disaster…]

In the beginning, fast forwarding hadn’t been a big deal, but that was no longer the case.

‘Maybe it was because of the constant string of misfortunes?’

Now, Exitra couldn’t recklessly fast forward for fear that something terrible would happen.

— [Eh, come on. What could happen this time?]

— [Yeah, think about it. It’s been nothing but bad luck so far—don’t you think it’s about time things got better?]

— [Trust us!]

— [Trust your viewers! And besides, if you just sit there, it’s boring. Fast forward for us~]

“Hmmm…”

Exitra thought for a moment.

But they had a point.

If he just sat around waiting, the stream could get dull.

That was something he absolutely had to avoid.

“No matter how bad the territory’s condition is, it can’t keep being unlucky forever… Tomorrow should be fine, right?”

— [Of course!]

— [Trust your viewers!]

“Alright. Then I’ll trust you guys and give it a try.”

Exitra nodded, adjusted the settings, and started the fast forward.

“I’ll just skip ahead by one day for now.”

Usually, it was better not to fast forward more than a single day—too much could happen in that time.

“Alright, here we go.”

Exitra activated the fast forward and closed his eyes.

Keeping them open during fast forward could make him dizzy.

[Fast forward function activated.]

[You may feel slightly dizzy. Please be careful.]

The background around him began to rush by at incredible speed.

[Fast forward complete.]

[You can move again in 10 seconds.]

Time flew by in an instant, and a day passed in the blink of an eye.

Exitra cautiously opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw… was the townspeople collapsing in pain.

At the same time, a message appeared in front of him.

[Emergency Quest: “Leaked Poison” has been generated. Accept? (Y/N)]

— [God of Broadcasting…]

— [The God of Broadcasting is truly blessing you…]

— [How is it possible for misfortune to happen literally every single day…?]

“What… what the hell is going on…?!”

“Good heavens, how can one person be this unlucky?”

Chronos, who had been watching Exitra’s stream, was speechless.

‘How could so many disasters pile up one after another?’

‘Don’t tell me… a new God of Broadcasting has been born without me knowing?’

Chronos seriously considered the possibility.

It was entirely possible.

After all, gods were beings that could be born from human belief.

If enough people started saying, “God of Broadcasting!” and truly believed it, a new god could indeed be created.

“It’s been over 500 years since a new god was born… but maybe it’s finally happening again?”

Since Chronos rarely interacted with other gods and spent most of his time in his own space watching broadcasts, it was possible he hadn’t noticed a new god’s emergence.

“Truly impressive… At this point, you could call it a blessing.”

‘How could a steady stream of new content-worthy disasters happen literally every day?’

It was truly extraordinary.

“Well, I’m enjoying it, so…”

Chronos smiled faintly.

Exitra’s suffering was his entertainment.

“Let’s see… I think I have something prepared for this…”

Chronos opened a drawer in the corner of his space.

Inside, various types of popcorn were neatly arranged.

“Hmm, the classic choice is original… but you can’t just ignore caramel either… Which flavor would let me savor Exitra’s misery the most?”

After a moment of deep contemplation, he came to a decisive conclusion.

“Both.”

If it were anyone else, they might worry about calories and gaining weight—but for a god like Chronos, such things were irrelevant.

“Alright, mix them together~ The perfect sweet-and-salty combo~”

Crunch crunch…

Chronos casually mixed the two flavors, settled into his seat, and focused intently on the stream.

“Alright, Exitra~ Let’s see how you’re going to handle this today. I’m really curious.”

***

— [Ex-hyung, did you become best friends with misfortune or something??]

— [This is beyond best friends—it’s like you’re blood relatives.]

— [How is this even possible lololol]

— [On other streams, a single disaster is huge news, but here it’s just pure chaos lolol]

“Sigh…”

Exitra let out a deep sigh.

All he’d done was fast forward a single day, and something had already gone wrong.

And the situation looked bad.

About 10 seconds later, time began to move again.

Cough cough!

“Uwaaaagh!”

“S-save me…”

The townspeople clutched their throats in agony.

Exitra quickly checked the quest.

***

[Leaked Poison]

[Description: Somewhere in the territory, poison has begun to leak out. The poison isn’t strong enough to kill instantly, but if left untreated, everyone who has been poisoned could die.]

[Objective: Eliminate the source of the poison, obtain the antidote serum, and cure the poisoned individuals.]

[Success Reward: 10 points]

Failure Consequence: Chain Quest “Contaminated Territory”

***

“Poison…”

Exitra immediately summoned Silph and surrounded himself with wind to avoid being poisoned.

“That was close. I almost got poisoned too.”

— [Isn’t this basically a total wipeout scenario? Everyone’s going to die from poison.]

— [Why the sudden poison??]

— [Where is it coming from?]

Just like the viewers said, the first step was to find the source of the poison.

Exitra racked his brain as hard as he could.

‘Where have I seen this quest before…?’