Goddess Kaleidoscope

Lude looked around. Despite the erotic atmosphere around him, with three beautiful girls half-undressed and drenched in sweat, Lude, panting heavily, felt a sense of relief, as if he had just escaped a calamity.

End of this chapter

Given Shanis's unstable state, Lud could only use the power of the Primal Flame to temporarily drain her divine power.

This skill seems incredibly powerful at first glance, because Rudd's absorption capacity has no upper limit. Therefore, theoretically speaking, no matter how powerful a god is, Rudd can completely drain them.

However, this skill has a fatal limitation: physical contact is required for absorption, and the more divine power the target possesses, the longer it takes to drain it. Therefore, in practice, this technique is completely unusable in potential "anti-god conflicts."

Shanis's divine power was absorbed by Lude on the spot, nearly 90% of which was drained away. She fell into a coma due to exhaustion. Aina and Romian, who were also affected, also fainted and collapsed on the bed, unconscious.

Rude tiptoed to tidy up the three girls' disheveled clothes. Looking at the three unconscious women, Rude was very troubled. Especially when it came to the unsuspecting and innocent Romian, he didn't know how to explain it to her.

Suddenly, a tall figure flashed into the room. Lud was startled at first, but then quickly realized that it was Luo Ye. This usually taciturn divine messenger girl, in her male form, had a particularly imposing face that resembled that of the governor, making Lud subconsciously feel a little guilty.

As the messenger of the God of Thieves, Luo Ye also had the ability to sense the fluctuations caused by the rampage of divine power. Therefore, when she noticed something unusual at the temple while training the militia outside the village, she rushed back to provide support. What she found was Lu De, who was not wearing a mask, in a room with three unconscious girls. The priest was trying to "unbutton" the buttons on the dragon girl's chest (just kidding), and his expression perfectly revealed his guilty conscience.

The perpetrators were caught red-handed; there's nothing more to say!

"Fallen Leaf, let me explain! You might not believe it, but actually, it was the three of them who started it..."

"..."

Fortunately, Luo Ye was not the righteous vanguard of the Holy Lord of Light, so even though he caught Lu De red-handed at the "crime scene," he did not immediately pull out a large axe to execute him on the spot on behalf of the people. This gave Lu De a chance to explain the ins and outs of the matter.

After listening to Lude's account, Fallen Leaf, who had shrunk back to her original female form, looked thoughtful. Then, as if she had suddenly thought of something, she suddenly moved closer to the three girls who were still unconscious, sniffed them carefully, and then nodded.

"It doesn't smell like dried squid, so I trust you!"

"I……"

Regardless, Luo Ye believed Lu De's explanation and helped him deal with the "crime scene," sending Romian, who wouldn't wake up for a while, back to her room.

Lude was initially worried that this rampage might cause psychological trauma to the Dragon Girl, but the experienced Fallen Leaf reassured him that once Romian woke up, she would most likely not remember what had happened during that time.

Because divine power is the most advanced known energy in the world, originating from the minds of countless mortals, yet possessing the terrifying ability to alter the laws of all things within a certain range. Romian was previously affected by the rampaging divine power of Shanis, her state resembling "possession," that is, being possessed by a deity. Her memories during this period will disappear along with the withdrawal of the divine power.

"So, she won't remember anything?"

Yes, including during the current coma.

"What do you mean?"

After everything calmed down, the three who had been unconscious did not wake up until the afternoon of the next day. As Hume had said, Romian was completely unaware of what had happened while she was under the influence of divine power. Ludwig made up an excuse, saying that she had been "tested" by the goddess while praying, and that her underage body was not yet able to withstand the power of the gods, which was why she fell into a coma.

Rude comforted her, saying that this was actually a "good thing," because the goddess sent down the trial to test whether she was capable of becoming a priestess. Romian was not even fourteen years old this year and she had already won the goddess's favor. Her future achievements would definitely be greater than her own, who was over thirty years old when she was enlightened!

The Dragon Girl had no doubts about her beloved master and truly believed that she was being tested by the goddess and would soon become a priestess who could heal and save lives like her master. She was quite excited.

In fact, Rude wasn't just fooling people; he had already planned to make the dragon girl an apprentice priest when she was around fifteen years old. Anyway, it was just a matter of a word, and Aina certainly wouldn't disagree.

Meanwhile, after Shani woke up, she was summoned to Lud's office and given a lecture. Until a way to control her rampaging divine power is found, Lud will temporarily manage the collected faith to prevent her from easily reaching the critical point.

Realizing she had almost made a terrible mistake, Shanis was immediately depressed. She thought she was definitely not going to be on the trip, but she also knew that her current situation was indeed dangerous and she didn't want to hurt anyone around her.

"Master, I know I was wrong."

"I can't entirely blame you. I was also negligent in this matter and failed to discover the problem with you earlier. Don't worry, I will definitely help you find a safe and feasible solution."

"Okay! Then you don't need to take me on this trip."

"Tourism? Who wants to go on tourism?"

Seeing Lud's puzzled expression, Shanis was also slightly taken aback. The two stared at each other blankly for a while before Lud vaguely realized what was going on.

"Shanis, where did you hear that from?"

"Ah! Uh... this..."

"Stop bluffing, tell me the truth!"

"It's that... gossip."

Who gave you the inside information?

"It's Elijah."

Damn! This is a real mole!

Upon learning that it was Elizabeth who had overheard and spread the "non-guest cow," Lud immediately understood why everyone in the temple had been fawning over him lately. It turned out that they wanted to go on a publicly funded trip with the group. This truth left him feeling both amused and exasperated.

"You guys are so naive! You believe everything you hear. I'm right here, why don't you just ask me directly? But speaking of which, what are those three sisters up to? It feels like they've been holed up underground for days, I haven't seen them in ages. Do you know what they're up to?"

"I'm not sure, but they really want to go out and have fun."

"Never mind, I'll go down and take a look myself. You come with me."

Out of concern and curiosity, Lude decided to check out the underground palace. Thanks to the three sisters' continuous expansion, it now had a four-story building and a vertical mine pit 400 meters underground. It seemed like they were just like Minecraft players, not only enjoying digging holes but also living in underground caves.

The human and the god went straight to the underground. Since they didn't know the exact location of the three sisters, Lud released a bit of Atropos's faith, letting these blue orbs of faith guide them.

Following the floating ball of light, Lude quickly arrived at a giant iron gate on the fourth underground level. The ball of faith passed directly through the iron gate, indicating that the three sisters should be on the other side.

Looking at the metal door that was seven or eight meters high, Lud, with a furrowed brow, hesitated for a moment before finally knocking on the door.

"Who?"

Krotto's energetic voice came from inside the gate, and the tightly closed gate slowly opened with a series of "click-clack" mechanical sounds.

"My lord, what brings you here?"

"You haven't shown up for several days, I have to come and check on you, right?"

Upon learning that her three sisters had been in the lab for seven days, Croto scratched her cheek somewhat embarrassedly, but then, thinking of the "masterpiece" they had just completed, she excitedly pulled Lude along and headed inside.

"Sir, we have made what you requested!"

"It's built? What's been built?"

"The gun! That Fire Kirin you mentioned the other day."

"..."

Upon hearing Croto's excited announcement that they had created a gun, Lud's eyes widened in disbelief.

Just like many protagonists in novels who transmigrate to a backward alien world, Lude also has a "gun-making dream"! However, limited by the local objective conditions, the closest thing he has made to a gun so far is the "pine cannon" that was highly praised by the villagers when fighting against bandits, but that thing has no technical content at all.

Later, as the temple's various businesses expanded, Ludwig temporarily put the gun-making project aside and focused on developing the economy. Unexpectedly, the three sisters quietly produced one, a truly delightful surprise.

However, when Ludwig saw the actual product, his initial excitement was immediately overwhelmed by a strong urge to criticize it.

So it really is a "Fire Qilin"?!

Looking at the large treasure presented by the three sisters like a precious gem, Shanis circled around it with a puzzled expression, completely unaware of its purpose. Lude, on the other hand, picked it up and weighed it in his hand. It was much heavier than he remembered, and the texture of the surface was completely different. It was golden and covered with complex magical runes, giving the impression that only a super member could afford it.

Following the sketches in Ludwig's notes, the three sisters spent seven days making a 1:1 high-fidelity replica of a domestically produced Type 56 assault rifle (with a circular front sight).

However, Lud quickly discovered after actually handling the rifle that it was made of luxurious materials and had an extravagant appearance and color scheme. It only replicated the appearance, but the internal structure was completely different. To be more precise, it didn't have an internal structure at all!

The magazine couldn't be pulled out, and the trigger and bolt wouldn't budge no matter how much you pulled them. The most outrageous thing was the barrel, which was completely solid, and the muzzle flash cap was an inlaid ruby. The overall weight was definitely over ten kilograms, making it heavier than a squad automatic weapon!

So after receiving this item, Ludwig's expression remained expressionless, while Atropos, standing beside him, enthusiastically explained its various uses to him. This weapon, which resembled a rifle, was in essence a multi-functional priest's scepter.

So Lud imagined himself holding this thing, standing on the temple platform, preaching to the believers below, and he was truly full of "majesty" in every sense of the word!

End of this chapter

It feels like just yesterday, and now it's the end of October.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of tens of thousands of dwarf craftsmen, the simple road, nearly 160 miles long, was successfully opened to traffic before winter.

The dwarven migrants who had been staying in Pine Town for several months were finally able to set up camp and move out. Except for a few dwarves who would continue to stay in the town, the rest of the population would be relocated to the underground ancient city.

The city, now back in the hands of the dwarves, was named "Kalashnira" by Gulig, meaning "land of resurgence" in the ancient dwarven language.

On the day the migrants set off again, Rudd and the village leaders held a send-off ceremony for the Steelwhip Clan. The dwarves were represented by Chief Gulig and High Priest Winnig, while the humans were represented by Rudd, Sharo, and Rodriguez.

Ural and Hamilton were originally supposed to be there as well, but both left the area last week. Ural had some matters within the church that required his return, while Hamilton was "invited" back by someone from the Tri-Talisman.

Lud still remembered that day when a squad of six griffon riders suddenly flew to Pine Town, specifically asking for the fire archmage Hamilton. They were acting on orders from the other two archmages of the Three-Man Tower to take Hamilton back.

The old magician was initially reluctant, saying he hadn't had enough hotpot and didn't want to go back so soon. However, the knight leading the group pulled a letter from his pocket and handed it to him. Hamilton opened it, glanced at it, and his expression changed drastically. He immediately relented and agreed to go back with them.

Lude was very curious at the time about what exactly was written in the letter that could make this brat so wary. It wasn't until he later had the opportunity to visit the Three-Person Tower in person that he learned from another female archmage that the letter contained only a few sentences, threatening Hamilton that if he resolutely refused to return and admit his mistakes, she would have to read aloud in front of everyone at the Three-Person Tower a love letter he had written to a female mage in his youth, and also copy the attachments to send to other magical groups on the continent for their appreciation.

With his "dark history" in someone else's hands, Hamilton, not wanting to lose face in the industry, had no choice but to comply.

Fortunately, whether these two are there or not doesn't have any real impact.

It is worth mentioning that during the farewell ceremony, the high priest Winnig, who had converted to the Craftsman God religion, always carried his priest's scepter, which was shaped like a "physical holy sword," and would occasionally raise it and wave it a couple of times.

Lu De wore a polite smile, but inwardly he was cursing. If he had known the scene would turn out this ridiculous, he would have brought out the "Fire Qilin" as well.

"Lord Rud, we have troubled you for many days. On behalf of myself and my people, I thank you for your help these past few days. As long as Kalashnira remains in our dwarf territory, my people and I will always welcome you!"

“You flatter me, Chief Gulig. I only did some minor work, which was also the will of the ‘goddesses’.”

Mentioning the words "goddesses," Lud, Gulig, and Winnig exchanged smiles. More than three months had passed since the Steelwhip clan's leadership converted, and thanks to the prestige of the clan chief, elders, and high priests, over ten thousand dwarves had joined the ranks of the Craftsman God.

Thanks to the promotion of the concept of the "Pantheon," these tens of thousands of dwarven believers, although converted to the three sisters of the God of Crafts, also developed faith in the God of Medicine and the God of Love, who belonged to the "same camp," because there was no direct conflict in their beliefs.

Even the priests who are preaching encourage you to "push as much as possible," so believers naturally won't have any taboos about it!

Winnig stated that he would strive to extend the worship of the goddess to every dwarf in his tribe, and in the future, to other clans. One day, the dwarves will vote with their feet and sever ties with the Earth Mother who once betrayed them.

In addition, Winnipeg told Rudd that the temple he was building in the underground city would also enshrine statues of the god of medicine and the god of love, and that Rudd was welcome to come and preach whenever he was free.

During his time in Pinetown, Winnig also observed Lud's sermons in person. He admired Lud's "storytelling" style, so he tried to emulate it within his own community, which was very popular with the believers.

Given this trend, Ludwig thought that maybe one day he could team up with Winnipeg to do a "collaboration" and perform a religious comedy routine for the believers!

"Farewell, everyone. Now that the road is open, we'll definitely be visiting each other more often. See you next spring."

"Goodbye."

Watched by Rudd and the others, the dwarves, with their families in tow, drove their carts northward along the newly opened road toward their promised land.

Sharo and Rodriguez also planned to return to their territories with their respective armies in the next day or two. Since late October was the transition from autumn to winter, no one could guarantee that a sudden heavy snowfall wouldn't block the mountains. Therefore, they needed to hurry back while the main roads were still passable.

The noble armies of these two families stayed in Pinetown for nearly four months. Their ostensible mission was to assist the Steelwhip Clan's dwarf migration and build good relations with their new neighbor, but their real purpose was to demonstrate their presence in the northern border region.