Goddess Kaleidoscope

It's worth mentioning that Lu De plans to take the entire crew back to Songshu Town in the north for filming, and while he's at it, he'll build a fantasy version of Hengdian World Studios in his hometown. He plans to use it specifically for this project, which will also boost the local economic growth rate by a few percentage points. He'll also offer related courses at his school as a side project, making it a win-win situation.

While Yanmu City is prosperous, it is ultimately located on the southern border of the empire, bordering a powerful neighboring empire to the south. Given the current tense international situation, no one can guarantee that a full-scale war won't break out between the two countries one day. Furthermore, the presence of many locals makes it difficult to maintain secrecy during filming.

In contrast, the North is much more peaceful, and it's right next to the Void Forest. Lude can use his connections here to invite some heavyweight "big shots" to make cameo appearances at any time.

End of this chapter

Thanks to the complete restoration of his divine power, Hume has been living a very carefree life recently, wandering around the bustling city of Yanmu every day, sometimes mingling with the crowds, and sometimes leaping on the rooftops.

Occasionally, when he was in a good mood, he would temporarily return to his old ways, going to the homes of local notorious tyrants and bullies to rob the rich and give to the poor. Afterwards, he would leave a particularly arrogant symbol in the most conspicuous place, making the villains whose homes he robbed furious and causing their blood pressure to spike.

However, Hume, who seemed to be living a carefree life and rarely returning home, was actually simply afraid to go back.

Ever since he regained his divine powers, Hume has been deliberately avoiding Rudd. Every time they meet, he gets so nervous that he can't look Rudd in the eye and ends up running away.

Rather than saying that Hume wanted to renege on a promise he had made to Ludwig, it's more accurate to say that she was in a bad state; her heart would pound whenever she saw Ludwig, and she couldn't help but recall the words she had overheard in the cave.

When Lud went to confront Kumirard alone, Hume, who was lying on the altar like a dead fish, was still conscious even though her eyes were closed and she was motionless. Therefore, she heard the entire conversation between Lud and Kumirard.

To be honest, Hume was really moved at the time. Her relationship with Rudd was just that of cooperative allies, unlike Fallen Leaf who was her divine messenger. Therefore, even if Rudd eventually chose to give up on her out of rational consideration, Hume would not blame him. After all, Rudd was a mid-level god, a formidable character that Rudd could not confront head-on at this stage.

But Ludd eventually came, and was willing to sacrifice half of his primal fire to save her, even at the cost of their mutual destruction. From that moment on, Hume could no longer interact with Ludd as casually as before.

Hume would never admit that, after living for thousands of years, he would be as shy as a little girl when facing a mere mortal man.

However, continuing to drift along like this couldn't go on forever. Fallen Leaf had already come looking for him many times, but Hume had always brushed him off with the excuse of "gathering intelligence." After much thought, he decided he had to go back.

Hume then turned and leaped back into the tavern, then scaled the wall and jumped into the backyard, silently entering the house through the kitchen back window like a nimble black cat. The whole sequence of movements was fluid and graceful, but as soon as his feet touched the ground, Hume suddenly frowned, a question nagging at him.

"Why should I be treated like a thief when I'm going back to my own territory?"

Realizing that this was another instance of her occupational habit, Hume scratched her head somewhat awkwardly, thinking to herself that thankfully no one was in the kitchen at the moment. But just as she was about to leave the kitchen, she suddenly heard the voices of a man and a woman outside the door. The man was naturally Ludwig, but the woman's voice was not so familiar.

Subconsciously, Hume crept to the door and peeked in the direction of the sound. He discovered that not far away, around the corner of the corridor, Ludwig was talking to a dark-skinned woman who looked almost exactly like him. It was none other than Hume, the imposter Hur who had taken the curse of the god of war in Hume's place.

Counting the days, it's been almost half a month since the imposter was caught. At first, he was very resistant and even tried to escape, but after only a few days of not paying attention, they've gotten along so well that they're chatting and laughing together.

Watching Ludwig and Hugh chat happily, Hume, who was spying on them, felt a sudden, inexplicable unease. It was as if some dried fish he had been saving for too long had been snatched away by another cat that was stealing it.

Meanwhile, on the other side, neither Ludd nor Hume noticed that Hume was watching them from a short distance away. During the time Hume was pretending to be asleep and wandering around, Hume's attitude was actually gradually softening and changing. He seemed to have come to terms with reality and felt that since he couldn't beat them, he might as well join them.

Luther did indeed have plans to influence and reform Hugh's thinking, bringing her into the Pantheon's camp. The valuable experience gained in this process would certainly come in handy in the future.

So during this period, Lude talked to Hugh quite a few times, and the effect of the talk therapy was surprisingly good.

Ludd knew that Hugh had been a heretic for nearly two hundred years, and talking to her about morality, righteousness, truth, and beauty was pointless; she would only laugh at his naive and childish thinking. So Ludd talked to her about the Brotherhood, specifically analyzing the many drawbacks of the old "divine wine model" and the advantages of the "movie model" he was now promoting.

In comparison, the former is something that cannot be seen in the light of day, and drug addicts cannot be considered believers. The faith that can be produced seems to be a lot at first glance, but it is not lasting, just like "shooting". And the sage time after finishing is too long with zero output. The overall output is not as good as that of general believers.

The Brotherhood's insistence on this business stems purely from the profits they've made from drug trafficking. However, Hugh, as their deity, is actually at a disadvantage; the income from their faith is meager, and they risk being branded as an evil god.

In comparison, film is an art form with a very wide audience. While the income may not be as high as that of drug trafficking, it is certainly not much less.

Most importantly, movies, as an upgraded form of drama, are legal all over the world and can be operated openly. Because they do not appear to have missionary attributes at first glance, they are highly deceptive and covert.

This has been confirmed by the Rainbow Dance Troupe, which previously toured the country. Other sects are very wary of missionaries from other religions, and are not vigilant about song and dance images. Therefore, when disseminating them to the outside world, many unnecessary troubles can be reduced.

After listening, Hugh felt that there was some truth to it, but she was still somewhat skeptical. She felt that even if movies could be promoted to the whole world and everyone could see them, it wouldn't be enough to turn all the viewers into believers. Would it really bring more faith benefits than the Divine Wine model?

So Lude used the most intuitive quantitative analysis, gave Hugh a few simple and easy-to-understand math problems, and then pointed to the results, answering Hugh with great confidence.

"It will definitely be higher, and by a significant margin! Looking at the entire world today, there are only the three founding families who are truly universally known as gods. As long as someone recognizes you as a god, they will have faith. Perhaps the number of individual faiths is small, but as long as they accumulate, they can form a tower. So I can tell you with certainty that just achieving universal recognition is enough to crush the vast majority of gods in this world in terms of divine power."

After a thorough analysis, Lude's words were reasonable and well-founded, which convinced Hugh, and at the same time, some very bold ideas began to sprout in his mind.

End of this chapter

After more than ten days of careful observation, Hugh believed that he had gained a fairly thorough understanding and knowledge of the so-called "Pantheon".

This is less a religious alliance composed of gods and more a corporate group centered around Rud, a mortal. The goddesses are like employees, working under Rud and obeying the absolute leadership of the chairman.

At first, Hugh found it absurd that a god would serve as a subordinate to a mere mortal. But Hugh had to admit that Rudd was indeed extraordinary. Even disregarding the fact that he possessed the primordial fire within him, his abilities were enough to impress all the gods.

This made Hugh very jealous of his sister, who, after more than three hundred years of bad luck, was able to turn her fortunes around and hook up with such a peerless genius.

So she secretly adjusted her mindset. She did not give up her plan to take revenge on Hume, but decided to change to a less harmful but extremely humiliating method: to find a way to cuckold Hume and firmly grasp the "future" that Ludd possessed in her own hands.

Hugh knew that she was currently at the very bottom of the Pantheon, a captured “modified person”, and because the God of War’s curse had been transferred from Hume, she had lost all her divine power and was not much stronger than a mortal.

But seducing men often doesn't require divine power. Hugh looked around the entire Pantheon and saw that although there were many beautiful women, each one bigger than the last, a little research would reveal that they were nothing more than a bunch of "vulnerable" chickens and dogs!

Of the seven goddesses, Aina is the group's darling and a clueless fool with an immature mindset, not a threat at all. Shanis, on the other hand, seems like a seasoned pro, but is actually all bark and no bite, only good for empty talk. As for the three sisters who formed a group, these dwarf goddesses, whom Lude jokingly calls "tech geeks," couldn't even find the racetrack.

After looking around, Hugh felt that apart from Marigsis, the goddess of the hearth whom he had not yet officially met, Hume was a worthy opponent.

After analyzing the situation, Hugh believed he had a significant advantage!

So, taking advantage of Hume's absence and fear of returning home, Hugh took the initiative, using conversation as an opportunity to shower Ludd with attention. Although she lacked "real-world" experience, she had at least had a seasoned madam like Shirley under her command. The more she interacted, the more she naturally learned.

As for Ludwig, who was being seduced, he could obviously see that Hugh was constantly flirting with him, but he pretended not to notice and didn't directly call her out on her little schemes. This wasn't because Ludwig was attracted to Hugh's beauty, but rather to make it easier to "re-educate" her.

However, Lude believed that he had adhered to his principles and bottom line and had never crossed the line in his interactions with Hume. But in Hume's eyes, the fact that the little bitch was dribbling and charging at him, and that he didn't even dodge, was a very serious problem!

Realizing that the situation back home had become unexpectedly serious during his absence, Hume disregarded everything else. He tidied himself up a bit, unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt, which were originally tightly fastened, and strode out of the kitchen, heading straight for Ludd and Hugh, who were chatting happily.

Lude, who was explaining "communication studies" to Hugh, suddenly saw Hume, whom he hadn't seen for several days, walking towards him. Just as he was about to ask a few questions, Hume reached out and grabbed him by the neck, forcefully pulling him away from Hugh and then loudly proclaiming in a deliberately carefree manner.

"What are you chatting about? Count me in!"

"Cough cough... What are you doing?"

Lude, who was suddenly grabbed by the neck, staggered and almost fell due to loss of balance. She ended up leaning against Hume's chest, with half of her face pressed against a soft object. Although the touch was pleasant, the position was rather awkward and embarrassing.

Meanwhile, Hugh, seeing Hume suddenly appear out of nowhere, couldn't help but sneer inwardly. Without backing down, he grabbed Ludd's arm and said to Hume with a beaming smile.

"Alright! Let's chat! Master Lude's knowledge is really amazing! I'm having trouble keeping up with him."

Using a way that could easily be misunderstood, Hume and Hugh started a “god-level tug-of-war” in the corridor, making Ludwig, who was being pulled, feel both pain and secret pleasure. He was a little confused for a moment, not understanding what was going on with this sudden White Album atmosphere.

"Ahem... If you want to talk, let's go to the study. Also, please, you two, stop pulling me, I'm about to cut off the connection..."

At Ludd's pleading, Hume and Hugh finally relented and released their grip. Ludd touched his neck, feeling as if he had escaped a disaster. Putting aside their divine strength, the strength in their hands alone far surpassed that of ordinary mortals, and could be classified as "superhuman strength."

It was fortunate that they didn't really kill him, otherwise Lud would have been split in half.

In the following days, Hume, realizing that Hugh was still up to no good, stopped going out and kept a close eye on Hugh, not giving him any chance to be alone with Ludd.

Seeing Hume's protective stance, Hugh was not discouraged at all; instead, his offensive intensified, his face displaying an arrogant "what can you do about it?" expression. Hugh clearly realized that although he was currently in a weaker position, weakness had its advantages.

She wished Hume would make her lose her temper, preferably by actually hitting her, so that Hugh could then throw herself into Ludd's arms, feigning pitifulness, and complain about Hume's wickedness.

Seeing Hugh with a face so similar to her own, yet shamelessly putting her to shame, Hume felt an unprecedented sense of crisis. She realized that she had unknowingly come to value Ludwig far too much, so much so that she couldn't even imagine the possibility of him being taken away.

Hume then secretly resolved that he could no longer hesitate.

On the night Hume made his decision, Ludd returned from the theater. The framework of the film company was almost complete, and the casting for "Seven Samurai" was largely finalized. Ludd decided to lead the team back to the north ahead of time to prepare for filming, and to officially start shooting as soon as spring arrived.

After a busy day, Ludd had dinner, took a nice hot shower, and was about to go back to his room to sleep. But the moment he opened the door, he was stunned. He saw Hume sitting in front of a bookshelf in the corner of the room, dressed in a very professional-looking outfit and wearing thin-rimmed glasses.

The dim candlelight shone on the dark-skinned, sophisticated woman who suddenly exuded an intellectual air, causing Lu De to unconsciously swallow hard.

End of this chapter

"Hey! You're back."

Inside the room, Hume put down his book, got up, and walked toward Ludd, who was standing dumbfounded at the door.

The dark-skinned, mature woman, who usually dressed as a wandering swordswoman, suddenly changed into an outfit completely out of step with the times: a white shirt, a navy blue pencil skirt, black stockings, and high heels. While it looked like a time warp, it was undeniably beautiful.

Seeing Ludwig's blank expression, Hume, who was deliberately showing off his outfit and physique in front of him, couldn't help but feel secretly pleased, while silently giving a thumbs up to the two "allies" who provided great assistance.

Hume's outfit was secretly made by his eldest sister, Atropos, and the design was completely copied from a "secret sketchbook" provided by Shanes. It was said to have been drawn by a priest named Lu, whose name could not be revealed. Shanes would take it out to peek from time to time to keep track of her mentor XP's latest activities.

It was thanks to the strong support of these two that Hume, who was determined to launch a direct attack, delivered a "critical strike" with just his first appearance.

"How is it? Does it look good?"

"Okay, okay... Oh no, I mean... where did you get these clothes?"

“Atropos made it! She made a batch of samples based on some clothing designs you provided her before. I think this one is pretty good, so I'll try it on first! Is that not allowed?”

"Uh... of course it's not impossible, it's just that... I don't think I included this in her design?"

Lude had indeed given the three sisters a batch of drawings a while ago, including some clothing designs, but if he remembered correctly, there shouldn't have been any office lady outfits among them. But since the actual items were right in front of him, and even on Hume's body, Lude couldn't help but wonder if he had accidentally mixed in some of his own "drafts" when he gave them the drawings.

The thought that this was indeed a possibility made Lud feel extremely guilty.

Oh no! Did I accidentally reveal something?

Lude was unaware that she had been completely exposed, while Hume on the other side had come prepared. In addition to her XP-revealing outfit, she had also specially brought two bottles of fine wine. Under the pretext of relaxing a little, she asked Lude to have a drink and chat with her.

Luther thought for a moment, realizing he was no longer sleepy; the moment he opened the door and saw Hume, he instantly perked up. He also had some things he wanted to discuss with Hume, so he nodded in agreement.

Hume then warmly pulled him to sit down at the table, and with a flick of his wrist, used his divine power to close the door from a distance, and even locked it.

At that moment, not far from the door, around the corner, Shanes and Atropos, hiding in the shadows, were watching. Seeing that Ludwig had been successfully dragged into the house by Hume, the two goddesses knew that the first step of their operation tonight had been successful. Next, they would support Hume, helping to "fight" reinforcements while she surrounded the area, and blocking anything that might cause trouble.

"Shanise, do you think Hume's sister's move will work?"

"It's basically a sure thing. After all, Master is still a male. As long as Hume doesn't back down at the crucial moment, there's no way she can fail."

"And what about you? You didn't have any thoughts about letting Hume get there first?"

"Me? To be honest, I'm even more excited."

"..."

In the room, Hume and Ludwig drank and chatted casually, and the atmosphere gradually warmed up.

Lude mentioned the filming project, saying they expected to finish up here within a week and then head back to their hometown in the north. They'd been away for almost three months, and with winter almost over and spring approaching, it was time to go home.

After returning this time, Lude plans to lie low for a while. First, he will focus on making movies and continuing to develop his base. Second, he will try to help Aina and Shanis break through their ranks. Finally, he will create a batch of "second generation" members to further expand the Pantheon in order to deal with any possible invading gods.

At this moment, Ludwig noticed that Hume was resting his chin on his hand, silently watching him with a smile, which made Ludwig, who had been talking eloquently, blush a little.

Why are you staring at me?