Iensius, the Self-winder

Rumble--

The earth shook and consciousness shook.

Shortly after William fell asleep, his consciousness seemed to sink into the deepest part of the earth, a huge porous cavity.

There were mysterious patterns on the rough rocks, layered over every inch of space.

William used his arms to support himself as he tried to get up. The ground beneath him was rough and damp to the touch, and an indescribable stench came from his nose.

Looking around, there didn't seem to be any life in this mysterious place very deep underground, but the peering sensation coming from one of the countless oval holes, large or small, assured William that he wasn't the only creature here.

Although he had never visited this place, nor had he read from any information what this place was, he had vaguely realized that he had entered an extraordinary place.

Here was the source of all serpents, the original lair of all footless reptiles, where the evil gods dwelled.

This was the subterranean divine realm of Iensius, the self-winder, the god of serpents, the great terror of the depths of the earth, the place where it bred the countless species of snakes in the world.

So, where was Iensius?

William suddenly had a realization and turned his head to look behind himself, and there was Iensius.

He couldn't describe what it was, it was far beyond the realm of snakes, reptiles or living species, morphing into some kind of transcendent being in the metaphysical sense.

And the only sense that mortal senses could make of it was that there was a perfect being there, self-existent, eternal and everlasting, as if born before the earth came into being, and would continue to exist until after the earth's destruction, and still be able to exist without relying on any external conditions.

That was the self-winding serpent god Iensius.

For some reason, as William gazed upon this perfect god, a music that made his heart and mind tremble boomed out, as if it were the sound of drums from ancient times, or a rumbling vibration from the depths of the earth that penetrated his body, soul, and mind, causing him to shake with it.

He had heard this kind of music once before, and that was the secretive music he heard during his short contact with the world-class BOSS, the demigod 'Evgeny, the Heavenly Visitor', as if it represented this demigod's extraordinary origin.

The one he heard now was even more shocking, as if it was the heartbeat of the earth that the Eternal Serpent in the depths of the earth had heard in the endless years that had passed, originating from the heart of the earth.

While the music was playing, the Immaculate Serpent in front of him slowly turned over a piece of its scale armor, under which a pure black eye was revealed with a vertical pupil, as if it was a golden wound.

Because of the near-lightless surroundings, William could even see the golden light surging from its eye, like countless thin tentacles crawling out of the pupil.

With only a glance at each other, accompanied by even more surging and stirring music, a unique HP emerged, spanning gray, white, light gold, purple, dark gold, and finally fixing itself into a rich crimson color.

And unlike any NPC he had ever seen, the contents of this HP was not a normal projection like a progress bar, but a vivid snake that was roaring as if it were a living thing.

At this time, William also received dozens of system alerts, countless buffs related to it appeared on his body, even the race in his status bar blurred, as if it was going to change him into some kind of half-human, half-snake demonic monster.

Iensius watched him silently, not attacking or doing anything to him that would have been too much for him to handle.

But just as this change was about to happen, just as William felt as if his skin was about to grow scales, a brilliant light erupted from his body.

The buff named "Polynesius' Blessing (Permanent)" in his status bar was shining brightly, and all the other buffs disappeared like ice melting under this sun-like light.

With a roar of unwillingness, an even more dazzling light engulfed everything.

After an unknown amount of time, William opened his eyes and realized that he was still in the cave where he was camping. He hurriedly checked his status bar and found that in addition to the original buffs, there was also an additional buff called "Iensius' Gaze (Temporary)", which allowed him to gain a little bit of affinity for snake-like beasts.

Moving his aching body around, he noticed that what had happened before didn't seem to have affected the real world, and even the four mercenaries he lived with were unaware of it.

However, he knew that this was by no means a dream, and although what he had just faced was not the true essence of Iensius, he had still been able to make a divine journey into its divine kingdom, and had also come into contact with one of its incarnations, the 'self-wraiths'.

He also quietly checked his backpack in the gap between breakfast and before he left, and unsurprisingly, the obsidian statue in the item bar that he had bought in the village of Karn had shattered and lost its value.

Despite messing with a god on the first night of his trip, William was instead more excited about the trip.

Several of the mountains he planned to visit this time were likely to have pre-quests with the national-level event 'San Virgin Ascension Relic'.

This large-scale epic-level quest was not something he could accomplish at this point in time, and he had come here on the one hand to examine the scale of the relics on the ground, to see if there was a possibility of processing and expanding the relics in the future to use it as the guild's headquarters. On the other hand, it was to activate the initial quest for the next transfer.

Elinchus had ascended to godhood here, leaving behind a legacy that was bound to be extremely suitable for William's further advancement.

His current ideal professions were 'Sunburst Flagellant' or 'Righteousness', the former possessing a variety of Silent Skills and the latter being able to use a strange Skill: When the 'Righteousness' is killed, he can use a spell whose MP requirement does not exceed the player's MP total at the time of death, regardless of whether he or she has mastered the spell or has the conditions to use it.

Both professions fit his progression path, and both can be used up to Extraordinary Order before considering the next step in progression.

If he raided the Coronal Church's plot quests normally, it was a bit more likely that William would obtain the 'Sunburst Flagellant', while the 'Righteousness' was a profession inheritance that was unique among the relics.

Both were extremely powerful professions, and it depended on how William's luck was on this expedition, whether he would be able to successfully inaugurate one of them.

Or maybe he would find a third special profession?

In any case, William was determined to win.