Goddess Kaleidoscope

So, at Lude's instruction, Lacey directly used her Dream Builder privileges to forcibly erase the two unbalanced dream projections, just like a truly "excellent" planner who would definitely fix bugs that benefit the players as soon as possible!

Then the dream fast-forwards again, and Rud appears as a retired archmage, rescuing Aina who is trembling in the cellar.

The subsequent developments are relatively predictable: the archmage, skilled in both magic and martial arts, takes the exceptionally talented but vengeful Aina as his disciple and takes her to the heart of the human kingdom, the Third New Gondor, where she meets many companions and together they fight against the invasion of the demon Sauron.

The entire dream script is essentially a hodgepodge, not only having the grand background and worldview of Lord of the Rings, but also mixing in a bunch of elements full of wicked humor.

Especially in the war section, Lacey handed over the authority to build dreams to Lud himself, allowing him to recreate the classic scene that had greatly shocked him in the past, according to his own memory.

However, Ludwig was, after all, a well-informed and imaginative shut-in cop. His divergent thinking led him to subconsciously associate the scenes he imagined with unrelated things. These fleeting thoughts were faithfully reproduced and shaped in his dream.

So, among the massive demon army were some green-skinned figures, and among the herds of war elephants was a four-legged mech from Star Wars. Meanwhile, the defending forces simply turned the Gondor defense into a comic convention, making the originally imposing Gondor defense battle feel like a scene from Ready Player One.

Lude actually wanted to be serious, but the scene was just too ridiculous, and it got out of control and he couldn't stop!

Meanwhile, Lud was having a blast, while the two undead standing behind him watching the chaotic battle were astonished by the bizarre war machines before them. They didn't know that these things were from games Lud had played or movies and anime from his past life, and assumed that these strange and wonderful contraptions were things that Lud had personally fought against in the real world.

"This is terrifying! Have these all been seen by the masters before?"

The two undead girls, still in shock, exchanged a silent glance and wisely refrained from speaking, daring not to say or ask anything!

Under Lud's patient guidance, Aina had grown into a capable female warrior. Whenever she appeared on the battlefield wearing the same battle armor as Lud, the morale of the male soldiers on her side would be greatly boosted, unleashing an astonishing fighting power.

However, war is not always smooth sailing. Lud does not want Aina to think that fighting is a "fun" thing. While tempering her spirit and will with blood and fire, he also wants her to see the cruel side of war, so that she will not become a warlike goddess who would easily start a war in the future.

Therefore, every battle Aina experienced was accompanied by mountains of corpses and rivers of blood, and the sacrifice of her comrades. And these fallen friends, in their dying moments, would tell Aina their hopes and resentments.

Those who love war will perish; those who forget war will be in danger!

This is the lesson Lud hopes to teach Aina through this dream war, but like many others, he has heard these words before, but before he suffers the consequences, he always easily forgets them.

Finally, the final battle unfolded in front of the Demon City. Rudd, who had somehow reverted to his original form, delivered Aragorn's famous morale-boosting line before the vast army. Then, he grabbed the fire unicorn and rode "Kharkov's Moving Castle" into the massive demon army, followed by a group of conscripts shouting "Hurrah!" and even Putin riding a bear.

Lude was completely letting loose at this point, to hell with the restrictions and formalities, RMN just needed to get the atmosphere going!

In conclusion, after paying a heavy price, this brutal war ended in victory for humanity.

Meanwhile, the old sorcerer, played by Lu De, was struck by an RPG-7 fired from who-knows-where at the last moment before victory. The 70mm rocket pierced his chest, and his body slumped helplessly into Aina's arms, only managing to say, "Thank goodness, you're alright," before stopping breathing with a smile.

This seemingly long trial dream ended with Aina's heart-wrenching cry. This intense emotional upheaval, while waking Aina from her sleep, also seemed to have touched something deeper within her, stirring up considerable turmoil.

End of this chapter

When Aina woke up in the early morning, she felt that she had a very long dream last night. Although she could not remember what happened in the dream, she felt as if she had experienced a lot. There was an indescribable feeling in her heart, which made her unable to calm down for a long time after she opened her eyes and returned to reality.

After all, you only realize that a dream is fake when you wake up.

The dream experiences she's had during this period have helped Aina grow a lot, and she's begun to understand Lude's intentions.

So far, the training has been quite effective. Although the improvement in mental state brought by a single dream is not significant, far less than a real adventure in reality, it is completely controllable and repeatable, making it the most suitable training method for Aina, who is only missing a breakthrough in mental state.

Upon waking, Aina didn't get up immediately. Instead, she remained huddled under the covers, stealing a glance towards the head of the bed. Due to the influence of necromancy, Lud, who was connected to the dream, would usually wake up a little later than Aina, who was dreaming, unless forcibly awakened. So, he remained seated in the chair with his eyes closed.

During each of Aina's dream trials these days, Lude would stay by her bedside, entering the dream together to provide assistance and guidance.

Although Aina couldn't remember everything in her dream after waking up, at least one thing was certain: no matter how difficult the situation, her master would always be on her side, just like in the real world, and was the person she could trust most in the world.

However, last night's dream trial made Aina experience the pain of "loss" for the first time. Even after waking up and realizing that everything in the dream was not real, she still couldn't help but feel a wave of fear.

So, subconsciously, after staring at Lude for a long time, and seeing that no one else was around, Aina secretly stretched out a small hand from under the covers, wanting to grab Lude. But just as her fingertips were about to touch him, Lude suddenly snorted, startling Aina into quickly pulling her hand back.

"Hmm...is it morning already?"

Lude, who had just woken up, stretched and got up to move around a bit. Although Aina had also had a dream all night, she was at least able to change into her pajamas and lie in a warm bed, while he could only sit in a chair, feeling sore back and aches all over, and his joints felt like they were rusty.

Turning her head to look at the wooden window, golden sunlight streamed into the room through the cracks. Aina was still lying in bed, but strangely curled up under the covers. There was no sign of Elaine or Lacey, presumably because it was already broad daylight and they had already gone back to the basement.

So Lude patted Aina, who was curled up in the blanket, and said...

"Aina, Aina! It's Monday, get up quickly."

"I...I'm awake."

"Then hurry up and wash up, I'm going back to my room first."

"Oh!"

To avoid being discovered by Romian or Olivia and causing unnecessary misunderstandings that could damage his image as a teacher, Lude didn't dare leave directly. Instead, he opened the wardrobe in Aina's room, where a hidden door led directly to the underground hall.

After Lude left, Aina peeked half her head out from under the covers, her once fair face now flushed red...

According to Lude's estimation, given Aina's current rate of progress, breaking through to the fourth tier before the end of this winter is a certainty. After all, the most difficult of the key conditions required for the breakthrough have already been met.

After breakfast, Lude asked Olivia to go to school with him.

Olivia has been in Pine Town for a week now, and she's adapted to life there relatively quickly. After all, the conditions here in Lud are quite good. Her main challenge is figuring out how to live independently without servants.

Lu De had previously given this young lady a basic literacy test, and her level could only be described as so-so. Reading and writing were generally fine, but her math was a complete mess! On a third-grade math test, she could only score single digits out of 100, highlighting a huge "room for improvement"!

With her current level, it's definitely out of the question for her to be in the advanced class for her age group. Moreover, this child hasn't thought about what she wants to learn at all. Therefore, Lude plans to arrange for Olivia to be placed in the lower grades that Shanis is in charge of, at least to raise her math level to the third grade of elementary school before making any further plans.

The group headed straight for school. Olivia's eyes darted around, seemingly looking for a chance to slip away, but Shanis was right behind her. Lude had already anticipated that this mischievous child wouldn't behave herself at school, so he had instructed Shanis beforehand to keep an eye on Olivia.

However, just as the group was about to reach the school gate, Lude suddenly caught a glimpse of a familiar figure sneaking around in a nearby alley. He turned around and said to Shanis behind him.

"Take her to school first, I have something to take care of here."

"Okay, Master."

After reminding Shanis to "take good care" of Olivia at school, Lude also slipped into the alley, but the figure he had just glimpsed was gone. Lude then casually cast a self-created divine spell, "Eye of Peeping PLUS".

"Eye of the Peeping - PLUS" is an upgraded version of Ludo's improved version. The original Eye of the Peeping - PLUS is similar to a camera and can only be placed in a fixed position, while the one used by Ludo creates a completely transparent dragonfly that can fly into the sky like a drone to take aerial photos.

It's quite interesting that, although there are far fewer gods in the world today than before the God Wars, there are still dozens of them, both good and evil. However, the divine magic systems of various sects all use the same "skill tree," with only a few types of divine magic at the high, medium, and low levels. A few sects have two or three "unique skills," the only difference being that the specific effects vary slightly due to the different divine positions and ranks of each sect. In addition, a few sects...

Take the War God Cult for example; their healing spells are terrible, but their buff spells are exceptionally powerful.

This universal "skill tree" was actually a set of "rules of conduct" established by the surviving victorious gods after the end of the divine war. The gods only lent divine arts to their ordinary priests, but did not directly grant them divine power. It's like a software developer selling applications but not releasing their source code.

But it's different for Lud. Aina, Shanis, and the three sisters have all granted him full access, not only allowing him unlimited use of divine magic, but also directly giving him divine power. This allows Lud to try to improve existing divine magic, and once he fully understands the working system of divine power, he can then develop new divine magic.

Soon, Lud used his Eye of Insight to find his target in the alley, thinking to himself that he hadn't been mistaken before; it was indeed Trin in the body of a necromancer.

This guy didn't follow Lud's instructions to stay in the hideout. Instead, he ran out and wandered around. And judging from his anxious waiting look, he seemed to be preparing to meet someone.

End of this chapter

In a secluded alley, a flustered Terlin, wearing a makeshift cloak made from a bed sheet, huddled behind a pile of junk in the shadows of a corner, peeking out from time to time to look around.

Since being "picked up" from the maze by Lud, Terin has been in Pine Town for almost a month, anxiously waiting for news from Flamewood City every day. The torment is making him increasingly restless and anxious.

So, five days ago, late one night, unable to bear it any longer, Trinn broke Lud's rules and secretly left his hideout after nightfall, wanting to go out and find some fun to relieve his growing sorrow.

However, after wandering around for a while, Terlin was disappointed to find that although Pine Town had a certain nightlife economy, it lacked the kind of "entertainment" he preferred. There were no open venues on the streets, and no local experienced guides to the darker ones.

However, just as the disheartened Terlin was about to go back and rely on himself again, he unexpectedly spotted a familiar sign on a street corner.

It was a mud stain that was easy to miss, located at the base of an ordinary house on a street corner. At first glance, it would look like a dirty handprint left by a child playing in the mud, but the little finger of the handprint was the same length as the middle finger and was slightly curved, resembling a mutated claw.

Normally, streetlights are not yet widely available in the area, and in the pitch black of night, such a small mud print would be impossible to see. However, when Terlin passed by that area, the clouds parted and the moon shone overhead, and the handprint suddenly glowed with a faint blue fluorescence when illuminated by the moonlight.

Upon seeing the symbol, Terlin became immediately excited, for it was the Black Hand Brotherhood's communication symbol.

As the largest criminal organization in the Kingdom of Duran, although their headquarters are in the south, their vast intelligence network, comprised of beggars, thieves, and even prostitutes, constantly extends its reach outwards. The fact that this symbol has appeared on the streets of Pine Town means that they also have members there.

After only a brief hesitation, Trin followed the Brotherhood's internal procedures and left a mark next to the Black Hand symbol, hoping to meet with the Brotherhood's local leader.

Although Lud's words successfully made him suspicious of his family, blood is thicker than water, and Terlin decided to contact his family. He held onto a sliver of hope that his previous suspicions were just paranoia and that his family would definitely not abandon him!

Trilling's operation went smoothly. When he went out again late at night the next day to the marked location, there was a message written in code next to him, arranging to meet at Wheat Lane four days later.

Trilling didn't understand why they had to meet at such an inconvenient time in the morning, but he still risked going to keep the appointment, only to be spotted by Lud from afar.

Using his enhanced voyeuristic vision, Lud raised his vantage point, surveying the alleyway and its surroundings. It was near the main road, and just a wall away from Trilling was the town's bustling center. Trilling clearly knew this place was easy to spot, so he huddled behind a pile of junk, looking terrified.

Just then, a man dressed as a vendor hurried into the alley, hunched over and carrying his trouser bag. He looked as if he was in a hurry to urinate and had deliberately slipped into this secluded alley to find a quiet place to relieve himself.

However, as soon as the person entered the alley and turned a corner, their posture returned to normal. Their pace was not very fast, but their head was frequently swaying from side to side, clearly indicating that they were cautiously and vigilantly observing their surroundings.

If nothing unexpected happens, this should be the person Trin is going to meet.

Although Lude didn't know the specifics of how Trin made contact with the Black Hand Brotherhood, some things were actually not hard to figure out, and with a little thought, he could guess the gist of it.

Lude guessed that Trilling was probably getting impatient with his delaying tactics to buy time. But the fact that this guy had managed to contact the Black Hand Brotherhood on his own turf was a pleasant surprise.

Using this guy as bait should be able to lure out quite a few rats!

So Lude manipulated the Eye of Peeping to lower its altitude, hovering less than half a meter above the contact. Seeing that the other party had no reaction, he concluded that the person could not sense the divine magic. So he "modified the program" on the spot, further enhancing the Eye of Peeping PLUS and giving it the ability to eavesdrop.

Even Rudd, who hasn't had much actual contact with divine power, could make such small additions and improvements. It shouldn't be a difficult task for those veteran gods.

But the entire world's divine magic system remains exactly the same as it was three hundred years ago, which only shows that these arrogant gods are truly lazy to the core!

Soon, the contact approached Terlin's location. Hearing footsteps approaching outside, Terlin did not rush to show himself. Instead, he hid behind a pile of debris and deliberately lowered his voice to speak.

"I will paint my hands black."

"Just to blend into the night... Come out, brother!"

After a slight hesitation, Terlin got up from his hiding place, but when facing his contact, he still wrapped himself up tightly and covered his entire face with a black gauze (curtain), leaving only two holes to expose his eyes.

Upon seeing his appearance, the other party couldn't help but frown.

"Hey bro, who are you with?"

“Navarro, I’m from the Navarro family. My name… I can’t tell you yet.”

"Navarro?"

"When Trin introduced himself, a strange light flashed in the contact's eyes, but unfortunately Trin did not notice it. The black veil covering his face affected his vision to some extent, preventing him from noticing these fleeting changes in his micro-expressions. However, Lud, who was dozens of meters away, saw everything through his spying eyes."

At that moment, Trin took out a letter from his pocket and handed it to the contact.

"Do me a favor and deliver this letter to the Navarro family in Yanmu City. As for a reward... I don't have one right now, but I can assure you on the honor of the Navarro family that I will repay you handsomely in the future."

The contact looked at the unseen Trilling and the strange letter in his hand with a suspicious and scrutinizing gaze. After a moment of contemplation, he put the letter into his pocket and nodded to Trilling.

"I'll arrange for someone to deliver the letter for you, but this place is thousands of miles away from Yanmu City. Even using a flying goose, it would take more than ten days to make a round trip, and there's no guarantee that nothing will go wrong. Once I get a reply, I'll leave a mark for you at the 'usual spot.' What do you think?"

Trillin thought for a moment and, finding nothing wrong with it, nodded to his contact. The two silently took a few steps back, then turned and left in different directions. Trillin was eager to return to his hideout; he still needed Lud's shelter and help, so he didn't want Lud to discover his scheme. His contact, on the other hand, quickly left the scene, intending to take the letter Trillin had given him to a distinguished guest familiar with the Navarro family, hoping the guest might glean some clues from it.