Goddess Kaleidoscope

Looking closely at the necromancer's true appearance, Lude thought to himself that this guy's problem wasn't just ugly, but that his skull was severely deformed. Who knows what he went through in the womb to develop into such a grotesque creature.

However, putting aside his appearance, this person is indeed quite capable. He can control more than one undead and possesses a divine artifact like "Gaze into the Abyss" which has the ability to attack mentally. He should have been a very difficult opponent.

Lude was quite interested in this guy; "necromancer" was both his code name and his profession. And in today's world, this highly specialized profession, in terms of rarity alone, far surpassed that of mages and priests!

Three hundred years ago, during the War of the Gods, necromancers were deeply hated by the public for blaspheming the dead. In the end, all the righteous sects joined forces to exterminate the necromancers with justice, and almost all of their books were destroyed.

Over the next three hundred years, necromancers gradually faded from public view and were forgotten by most people, but a small number of survivors still hid in the shadows and stubbornly survived to this day. The one in front of Rude was one of them.

Legend has it that this profession requires extremely demanding talent, and only "half-stillborn" babies can learn the relevant spells. These "half-stillborn" babies are those born after their mothers have died; they possess an innate affinity for the dead and are unaffected by the corruption of living souls.

Therefore, there is an unwritten rule in this world that if a newborn is born and a difficult labor occurs, and the baby does not come out before the mother dies, the baby must be executed on the spot, so as to completely cut off the new blood of necromancers at the source.

But there are always exceptions. Not everyone can be so heartless as to kill a vulnerable new life, especially husbands who have lost their beloved wives. The thought that this is the last treasure their loved one left them makes it even harder for them to do it.

So, many stillborn children actually survive, and as long as they don't come into contact with people or books related to necromancers, they can live normal lives. The only problem is that the special constitution of stillborn children makes them more likely to attract undead.

The interrogation of the necromancer did not go smoothly at first. Apart from staring at Lud with eyes full of resentment and fear, the man refused to utter a single word, showing a posture of being prepared to resist to the end.

"I advise you not to try to act tough; it won't do you any good."

Faced with Lud's repeated threats, the necromancer always responded with a terrifying sneer. His congenitally deformed face looked comical when expressionless, but it was quite chilling when he laughed.

Seeing that the man refused to speak, Lud turned to the guards present and gave them instructions.

"You guys, take this guy (referring to Maine) back to his cell. I need to deal with this one over there using some special methods. No one is allowed to enter this room today without my permission, understand?"

"Understood, Master!"

The guards exchanged glances. Most of these former members of the militia had heard the story of "Bloody Hands and Souls" from their old captain, Ron. They knew that Master Lud, who was known for his kind face and easygoing manner, was also a peerless killer in his youth, as ruthless as cutting leeks.

Such a powerful figure naturally possesses extraordinary interrogation techniques!

So the group quickly carried Maine out of the interrogation room, thoughtfully closing the door behind them. Once Hume was sure they were all gone, Ludd spoke to the ground beside him.

"Eleven, you can come out now."

To the necromancer's astonishment, the undead Miss Eliven emerged from beneath the floor, accompanied by the female ghost she had recently captured.

The necromancer immediately recognized that this was the dead slave he had previously "lost contact with." It turned out that he had not been eliminated. But what shocked him even more was Elaine beside him and Lud, who calmly summoned the undead.

"you you……"

"Surprised? Unexpected?"

"This is impossible...aren't you a priest?"

Who is permanently prohibited from working part-time?

"..."

With a playful smile, Lude plopped down in the chair, crossed his legs, and his arrogant posture revealed a completely different temperament from before, instantly transforming him from a dignified priest into a "socialite".

The necromancer, on the other hand, was clearly overwhelmed by the sudden surge of information and was thrown into unprecedented chaos.

Can a priest become a necromancer?

Can a necromancer also become a priest?

Damn it, Li Liang! I just can't understand this!

Seeing the necromancer's bewildered expression, Lud knew he had achieved his desired effect. He then gave Hume a wink, and Hume immediately stepped forward and removed the shackles from the Regret Chair.

After being freed, the necromancer did not try to escape or attack Rudd again. Instead, he looked at Rudd with a very puzzled expression, with countless questions in his mind, but he did not know where to start.

"How about it, kid? Now that there are no 'outsiders' here, can we have a frank and open chat? Speaking of which, it's been almost a hundred years since I've seen any other colleagues. I'm quite excited to think about it!"

With the superb acting skills honed from his undercover work in his previous life, Lu De perfectly played the role of a profound and unfathomable senior in front of the necromancer. His demeanor and behavior were very natural, and he kept throwing out various false information to interfere with the necromancer's thinking, so that the necromancer was unknowingly led by the nose by Lu De.

The necromancer was completely stunned. He had witnessed Lud ignoring the artifact's attack and being brutally beaten to the ground by a pair of iron fists. Now he saw the other party commanding the undead and casually uttering such an incredible word as "one hundred years".

All the information indicated that the seemingly young Lude in front of him was not only a colleague, but also a senior with unfathomable strength, and possibly even an ultimate boss who survived the God War.

So, amidst the fear, the necromancer couldn't help but feel a touch of joy.

He was a self-taught necromancer who learned necromancy from two incomplete books. Although he made a name for himself in the underworld and was a high-ranking member of the Black Hand Brotherhood, his current status was largely due to his technological monopoly. As a necromancer, he was naturally a rare commodity!

Because he had never met other necromancers, the necromancer always had a question in his mind: was his current strength enough to be considered among the strongest necromancers?

Now that he had finally met a "peer," and a senior who could easily defeat him, the necromancer took him as a "benchmark." While fully recognizing his own weakness, he couldn't help but have the idea of ​​becoming his apprentice. His large and small eyes looked at Lude again, but the hostility in his eyes had disappeared, replaced by... a hint of flattery.

End of this chapter

Mistaking Lud for a fellow necromancer, the necromancer's attitude completely changed.

After all, there were two “living” undead right in front of him. As a priest, Rudd did not directly destroy them with holy light, and the two female ghosts showed great obedience and compliance, so he had no choice but to believe them.

It's incredible to think that a necromancer could not only become a priest, but even a saint revered by thousands!

Then things became much easier. The necromancer proactively revealed his real name, age, and background to the "senior" he thought he was. Lud, on the other hand, "just right" showed interest, intentionally creating the illusion that "the master wanted to take on a disciple."

The necromancer's real name is Dick, and he is thirty-four years old. He is a half-stillborn child adopted by grave robbers. His adoptive father found him in a mass grave, and due to a moment of conscience, took in this unremarkable, deformed child and raised him as his successor.

At the age of fifteen, Dick followed in his father's footsteps and became a tomb raider. However, his first job turned out to be a highly difficult one. His adoptive father and his accomplices all died in the trap-filled underground tomb, and only Dick managed to escape, managing to take two tattered books with him.

Ironically, Dick, raised by tomb raiders and living on the margins of society doing dirty work, was literate and could read and write more than one language and script. This was partly due to his natural talent, but also because his adoptive father forced him to learn these skills from a young age—essential "professional skills" for any tomb raider.

Because he was literate, Dick recognized that both books were necromancy codes. Since he was a half-dead child who met the learning requirements, he kept the two books out of a desire for power and became a necromancer through self-study.

Later, Dick was invited to join the Black Hand Brotherhood, where he stood out with his unique necromancy and rose to a high position.

But Dick did not abandon his old profession because of this. Instead, he used the fact that the undead have no physical form to help him rob tombs, hoping to find more ancient books about necromancy. The artifact "Gaze into the Abyss" was one of the treasures he later found in other ancient tombs.

However, due to his congenital facial deformity, Dick has always felt very inferior about his appearance and always wears a mask, not daring to show his true face. But this has created the mystery of the necromancer, which has earned him a large following in the Black Hand Brotherhood. He has also started to wear a mask to imitate his idol.

After Dick finished recounting his life story, Lude thought to himself that this guy was also a "protagonist template," obtaining secret manuals and artifacts through tomb raiding, mastering unparalleled martial arts skills, and rising from a lowly nobody to a powerful gangster. This was definitely a satisfying story... until he met Lude.

"Speaking of which, what's your relationship with Maine? This guy came to cause trouble on my turf while I was away. I just dealt with him less than a week ago, and you've come all this way to settle scores for him. You weren't behind this, were you?"

"No, no, no, senior, you misunderstand. My relationship with that guy, Myne, is merely one of cooperation; we're not actually that close. Moreover, my trip to the North wasn't specifically to help him. I sensed that my dead slave had disappeared, so I came to see what had happened. Any offense to you, senior, was entirely a misunderstanding!"

"Heh, misunderstanding? Do you think that just because I look like I'm seventeen or eighteen, I'm as easy to fool as a child? Your brotherhood has been trying to infiltrate my territory time and time again, and now that you've been beaten, you're telling me it's a misunderstanding?"

Lude looked at Dick with a cold smile, his aura imposing and intimidating, immediately putting great psychological pressure on the other man.

To be honest, Dick did initially have some ideas about taking over Pine Town. It is located on the border of the kingdom, right next to the Void Forest, and surrounded by ancient battlefields from the War of Gods. It must be home to many powerful undead. Dick wanted to establish a base here so that he could hunt undead and conduct some special experiments that could not be seen in the light of day.

So Dick and Maine formed a partnership, with Dick lending Maine a dead slave to help him assassinate the old lady.

But Dick never expected that there was another necromancer in Pine Town who was even stronger than himself. His sneaky outstretched hand touched a guy who was much bigger and harder than himself!

Seeing Dick sweating profusely, Lud knew he had put enough pressure on him, so he slowly asked.

"Speak! What is your purpose in coming to the North? I am not a devil, and I have no reason to make things difficult for a junior like you who doesn't even have a master."

“Senior, no… Master! I, I really didn’t mean to offend you. I was actually… actually helping our guild leader find something.”

"what?"

"This……"

"Tell me! Don't force me to do it myself. You don't want to have nightmares, do you?"

Lude deliberately emphasized the words "nightmare," his smile bright and cheerful. Dick glanced at the two undead beside him, only to discover something unusual.

Elijah was the best-looking undead he had ever seen, a stark contrast to the withered, starving dead slave beside her.

Based on Dick's years of research on the dead, there are two important indicators for judging how many years a spirit has been a ghost. The first is the color of the spirit's body, which is the most direct indicator. New ghosts are usually grayish in color, then slowly turn blue, and then from blue to green.

Dick calls this color change "psychic patina".

Therefore, based on Elijah's bluish-green skin color, he judged that she was a spirit that had existed for at least two hundred years, close to three hundred years.

However, all undead creatures have an inherent flaw: they cannot sleep. As time goes by, the negative emotions that accumulate in their minds drive them insane, a process that continues to worsen.

When choosing a target to subdue, a necromancer considers the mental state of the undead, as those who have gone mad are difficult to control. Dick believes he can only subdue undead that are "50% insane" at most; he dares not approach undead that are more severely insane.

But the Elaine before him clearly overturned Dick’s traditional understanding, because her mental state was too good. A ghost who had been dead for two or three hundred years should at least be seven or eight parts insane, even if she wasn’t completely insane.

A powerful and unfathomable elder and an illogical little ghost are forcing Dick to fill in even more gaps in his mind!

End of this chapter

Now that he believed Lud was a necromancer like himself, Dick was no longer frustrated by the beating he had received earlier and wanted to curry favor with Lud, not only to become his apprentice but also to recruit him into the Brotherhood.

In Dick's view, he and Ludd had become friends after a fight, and it was better to be friends than enemies. With Ludd's strength, as long as the old man was willing to nod, the person in charge of the Brotherhood was no idiot; he would at least get a high-ranking position, and might even be promoted further and invited into the "Council of Elders".

As for whether the addition of the more powerful necromancer Rudd to the Brotherhood will diminish the once unique position of Dick?

Dick felt that there would definitely be some impact, but as long as he could successfully become an apprentice and establish a stable master-disciple relationship with Ludd, then bringing him into the Brotherhood would definitely be a better move than a worse one!

Any organization that grows large will inevitably begin to form factions and engage in open and covert struggles. Moreover, a criminal organization like the Brotherhood of the Black Hand, which is half gangster and half religious, doesn't recruit decent people. You can't expect a bunch of thugs to join the Brotherhood and become brothers.

While Dick was already a high-ranking officer in the Brotherhood, above him was a council of six elders, and above the elders was the elusive and rarely seen chairman. The elders' positions were equivalent to archbishops in a typical religious sect, and there were rumors within the Brotherhood that whoever ascended to the position of elder would receive the blessing of the God of Thieves and become a divine messenger under the god's command.

Dick joined the Brotherhood at the invitation of an elder when he was only eighteen. To avoid being looked down upon, he always wore the artifact mask and lied that he was forty. As a result, he has been pretending until now, and the thirty-four-year-old man has lived like a fifty-six-year-old man.

But on this point, he and Ludwig had much in common.

In the first few years after joining the fraternity, the elder who recruited him did indeed take good care of Dick, helping him to rise steadily within the fraternity. In less than ten years, he became a senior councilor, second only to the elder in status.

To Dick's great regret, this elder later lost in a power struggle and was eliminated by the other elders. As his confidant, Dick was able to escape the purge due to his rare abilities and his official status did not decline, but he was ostracized from the inner circle and assigned to risky and troublesome "dirty work" on a daily basis.

Dick wanted to change this awkward situation, but unfortunately, the elders above him had already reached a tacit understanding in private. They only regarded him as a useful tool, but no one was willing to accept him into their circle.

Forced into a corner, Dick eventually had no choice but to start his own faction, recruiting some equally frustrated outsiders and newcomers like Maine who hadn't been with the organization for long. However, his personality flaws made Dick an unsuitable leader, and his forces were simply no match for the elders.

If possible, Dick really wanted to bypass the elders who didn't like him and talk to the chairman. But this chairman was even more mysterious than himself. Dick had been a member of the Brotherhood for sixteen years and had only seen him three times, and all of those times he had only seen his back. He had never seen what the chairman's face looked like.

Fortunately, perseverance pays off. Dick finally learned that the guild master had been searching for a divine artifact, and he had recently obtained information about its whereabouts in the northern border of the Kingdom of Duran.

So Dick secretly went north alone to search for treasure, but just then he sensed that his dead slave had "disappeared," so he came over to take a look and bumped into Lud in Pine Town.

Dick didn't hide anything from Lud's questions and explained in detail his search for the artifact.

He wasn't afraid of arousing Ludd's greed; on the contrary, he secretly hoped Ludd would come up with some ideas. Because he, Dick, wasn't the only one searching for the artifact in the north of the kingdom.

The informant who provided him with the clues was a very unscrupulous guy who also made a deal with another group in the Brotherhood.

The clues provided by the intelligence broker were not detailed, and the territory in the north of the kingdom was quite large. The two groups were searching separately, and they should not have run into each other. However, the leader of the other group did not get along with Dick and deliberately followed behind Dick, looking for opportunities to cause him trouble, which made Dick very angry.