The bard fantasized again.

Chapter 230 An Even More Incredible Reward (4k)

Goya lifted the curtain of the carriage, and a strong smell of sulfur rushed into her nostrils, almost making her sneeze.

Fortunately, she held back and didn't lose her composure in front of the nobleman.

A black silk robe covered in reddish-brown scales, four lizard-like fingers with outstretched, sharp, black nails held a pipe, burning with precious tobacco.

This is tobacco produced by the Kolhalon clan and supplied specifically to the dragonborn. The sulfurous gas in it is the favorite ingredient of these guys who claim to have the blood of red dragons.

In the Terran Empire, dragonborn are not uncommon.

Even some powerful dragon-blooded sorcerers—such as emperors—will reveal the features of their ancestors, though not as exaggeratedly as dragon descendants.

Aside from the Terran Empire, only the Sands of Wind on the other side of the continent still has a considerable number of dragonborn, with the rest being scattered clans in various places.

Now, the pipe's owner exhaled a thick plume of black smoke, with sparks faintly flying, almost hitting Goya's face.

Shu Shuang made two thick dragon horns extend outward from his lizard-like head, connecting to his earlobes. The webbed membranes there also swayed slightly, and the color of these horns was more bronze.

Corhallon Versace.

Dragonborn typically place their clan name first.

The rising star of the Terran Empire.

Of course, he can also be considered her investor.

Since the success of "Reincarnation Sotoma" at the New Year celebration, this dragonborn man has been paying extra attention to himself.

He had even personally selected her to accompany him to the border to document his illustrious achievements in 'funding refugees'—

"Get on the good side of Mr. Versace, promote their achievements, and wealth and glory will await you in the future!"

That's what her mentor always told her.

After all, aside from his tobacco trade in the Terran Empire and his identity as a clan leader, this Mr. Versace is also a sixth-circle spellcaster.

Therefore, she did not approve of the old man's behavior, but she did not refute it.

She's just an ordinary person and doesn't want to cause herself too much trouble.
"Fortune has smiled upon me, allowing me to reunite with you, Mr. Corhallon."

"Geya, I've read your manuscript, and the feedback has been good. It's just that I've been quite busy lately, so I haven't been able to find the time to reward you."

"Sir, you are too kind. It is already an honor for me to have your achievements publicized in every corner of the empire. How could I possibly accept any reward..."

【"praise"--

When you gain the favor of nobles, you have won half the battle.

The other half of the name is 'Keep Favored':
This requires you to maintain your competitiveness.

You also need to maintain high emotional intelligence.

After all, given the same abilities, nobles always prefer the one who is sweet-talking.

If you don't lick it, plenty of others will!

"A reward is certain, after all, there will be places where we need you in the future, and we can't let other clans look down on me."

Versace accepted the compliment and then handed the box beside him to Goya.

"So in addition to the promised reward, I've prepared an extra gift, which you should like."

The box is inlaid with gold wire and engraved with the beautiful 'Jasmine'.

She no longer needed to guess what it contained.

I just wanted to quickly refuse and go back—

"boom!"

A cracking sound followed immediately, and she looked up sharply to see a plume of smoke rising from Versace's pipe.

Sparks flew through the carriage, leaving behind scattered scorched brown marks:

"I hope you don't have any issues with me."

No, of course not.

Goya quickly hugged the box to her arms.
"Thank you for your gift, sir."

Versace then took a long drag on his tobacco and said contentedly:
"very good."

He tapped on the car door, indicating that the conversation was over.
"The green-skinned people on the border have been quite restless lately, so I'll be leaving the city of dying for a while. When I return, it should be around the New Year's celebration—last year's 'Reincarnation of Sotoma' was very good, and I look forward to your work this year."

The driver practically forced her out of the car, leaving no room for a response. Goya, clutching the expensive wooden box, watched Versace leave, somewhat stunned.

"So... he came all the way to the Poets' Academy just to give me the gift and let me know where he was going?"

Opening the wooden box, there were 'Morianna's' little leather shoes, the pair she always talked about.
"He even spent more time finding out my preferences and specially gave me this pair of shoes?"
Is it really necessary to value me so much?
If it weren't for the fact that he's a dragonborn and I'm a half-elf, with a significant racial barrier, I would have thought he was pursuing me…

She quickly shook her head, banishing the chilling thought from her mind.

"Although Mr. Versace seems to have a wife and children, I will try to avoid him as much as possible afterward."

Making her a companion to an egg-laying lizard is worse than letting her eat until she chokes to death with sweet orange roasted trout!
Moreover, although she neither actively pursues, rejects, nor acknowledges any suitors, it is essentially just a social means to maintain her own value.

In fact, she never felt that anyone was good enough for her.

"Talking about feelings is less interesting than reading diaries."

She muttered to herself as she walked toward the Forgotten Stone.

However, the pressure of the New Year celebrations inevitably weighed on her shoulders as well.

As Versace said, the success of "Reincarnation of Sotoma" means that she is destined to participate in the program writing for the celebration this year.

But with less than three months left, the academy hasn't even decided on a suitable play yet.

We don't expect to surpass last year, but at least we can't repeat the mistakes of the year before, forcing ourselves to do something when we have nothing to do and rehashing outdated and stale formulas.

Novel ideas don't come from just a sudden flash of inspiration.

"If it weren't for that guy Tang Qi, who defied the nobles all day long and even managed to turn the Longjin City incident into a political drama—just in time to avoid the same path as last year."

This is indeed a troublesome task.

Although this is a stepping stone to a higher path.

If you write a good play and make it a hit at the New Year's celebration every year, someone will appreciate you just like Mr. Versace did.

But the road to fame is never smooth.

The selection of actors from the Royal Theatre does not take much time.

The difficulty lies in the fact that the Goya that burned out last year is no longer surviving this year.

While she hesitated, she stood in front of the stone tablet, staring intently at the starlight on it as always.

But as time went by, her tightly furrowed brows seemed to gradually relax, until finally, her eyes shone like starlight:
"A newly adapted version of 'The House of Mist'?"
It has a ready-made script and can avoid the track of last year.

The grand scenes can be pieced together using elements of chaotic tides, and most importantly, this is a story of nobility, without even a truly significant villain...

This seems like a good option?

First, ask your advisor. If they agree, add your junior's name to the script.

Speaking of which, he should be leaving the Dawn and Dusk Forest soon, right?

...Tang Qi, still wandering in the forest, glanced at the various rewards in the logbook and couldn't help but tighten his belt:

"Could there be an even more incredible reward?"

From mature women to young girls, from angels to succubi.

You actually survived the 'torture' of the dream.

Perhaps for you, 'ruined fields' is no longer a dream.

The ambition you should be focusing on is how many fields you've ruined.

You have enhanced your 'Specialty: Superior Energy':
You can recover from 'Sage Mode' faster and without the negative effects of 'Sage Mode'.

Note: It's now at 'Ultimate Energy'!

"So this specialty means I don't even have to worry about the succubus overworking me to death?"

I remember in my dream, I made a three-point agreement with Erza—

Work is fine, but you can't work yourself to death.

Although the succubus had made verbal promises and stated that she couldn't cause any further negative effects on his body, Tang Qi still felt uneasy and suspected that she was putting on an act.

Now that he has the guarantee of [Ultimate Energy], perhaps he can be bolder in his dreams?
Tang Qi was unwilling to admit for the time being that this expertise was the most important thing to him.

So he quickly looked at the normal reward that followed—

Prophet is not the poet's primary profession.

But spreading rumors is.

So you should be grateful that you live in a wonderful era.

An era teeming with false believers, where spreading rumors about faith goes unpunished by the gods.

First instill despair, then offer hope. Under your control, a similar yet different doctrine will emerge.

The orcs just happened to be free from the gaze of the gods, and their cerebellum just happened to prevent them from thinking too much.

You should be proud of yourself.

Intercepting faith is the first step in blasphemy.

You have acquired the demeanor of 'Pagan Prophet':
Those tribal members who believe in the doctrines you have woven will be more united when they sense your presence.

Remarks:

Gewush sent me to take you guys out to eat meat and fight, so from now on you'll all listen to me!
Wow!!!

"This must be a halo effect; those who believe in the 'Conquest Codex' will worship and obey me more. It has little effect on other creatures..."

If they're new followers, they might only trust me a third of the time when they first join. But with this kind of demeanor, I've at least built a solid foundation of six-tenths of my followers.

The specific effects still need to be verified in the future.

The only certainty at present is that the scope of demeanor is not limited to the orc race, but rather extends to the realm of faith.

Just like the more numerous goblins, they are also within the scope of demeanor's influence.

However, the concept of cohesion is too general to describe and lacks a quantifiable standard.

"However, I also obtained other useful spells..."

Tang Qi looked at the next reward—

Taming orcs, leading companions, threatening enemies...

It would be redundant to elaborate too much on the skill of manipulating people's hearts.

You have a habit of ordering others to follow your instructions, and it turns out that you always get things done quite well.

Psychological suggestion may not be the fastest way to achieve a goal, but it is an indispensable means.

You have acquired the spell 'Suggestion':
The Second Ring Road, a place of confusion and control...

Remarks:

You can imply to a sex worker that you refuse to take your money, but you can't imply to a respectable woman that she works in the sex industry.

If you do that, you'd better pray this is a lawless place, otherwise you'll have to go to the Southern Great Wall and hint to your fellow inmates to stop watching your hook—

[A note left on the wall of cell number one.]

“It’s an old friend. I had a lot of contact with this magic when I was in Longjin City.”

Whether it was the villains of the Red Scarf Gang, the assassins that night, or even my own desire to go to the Starlight Mage Academy, it was all inextricably linked to Stella's [Suggestion] spell.

This kind of magic, which subtly influences the thoughts and minds of others, may not be very effective in battle, but in certain social situations, if persuasion is not an option, it can serve as another breakthrough.

"It seems that to gain more rewards from the orcs, I'll need to complete more events with this group. Next up is the castle incident..."

[Through magic, memories are forcibly implanted to achieve the effect of forced dialogue.]

There is no doubt that your understanding and application of magic are uniquely creative.

This creates an opportunity for you to talk to the deceased and present the truth.

You're always eloquent, even with ghosts.

You have acquired the spell 'Speak of the Dead':
The Third Ring Road, the Necromancer.

You grant a small amount of life and intelligence to a corpse within 5 meters, allowing it to answer up to 5 questions for you within 10 minutes.

The corpse must still have a mouth and cannot be an undead creature. If the target corpse has been the target of this spell within the last ten days, the spell will fail.

If you are hostile to a corpse, or if the corpse considers you its enemy, it is not obligated to give you the correct response.

This spell does not return the creature's soul to its body; it merely revitalizes its spirit. Therefore, the corpse cannot perceive new information, understand anything that happens after its death, or speculate about future events.

Remarks:

Don't discuss the content of questions with others while asking questions, and especially avoid uttering questions casually; it's best to tell your teammates to shut up. Don't ask me how I know—Edkin Dalvis, 'The Harpist'.

"In my memory, knowledge about the dead is limited to what they knew before they died, including the language they used."

Therefore, if I use this spell to awaken an orc's corpse, I probably won't get the answer I want..."

In his summary, Tang Qi looked at the last reward on the log.

But then he hesitated and remained in place.

Perhaps his increased reputation is also due to the fact that Tang Qi was able to witness a complete ending each time, while also maintaining a very high level of participation.

As a result, the rewards for each complex event were extremely generous, especially after Tang Qi deliberately sought out 'trouble,' which was, in fact, a way for him to become stronger.

The tragedy of the brothers, the suicide of the young girl, and the dark lord eternally imprisoned in the mist...

You successfully uncovered the truth about the Night Raven family and, from Van Frien's perspective, built a bridge between the dead, bringing a perfect end to the cycle of mist.

You have obtained the 'Spirit Story: The Vampire Song'.

"A spirit? That's rather strange."

(End of this chapter)