Goddess Kaleidoscope

The reason so many people came was mainly because some local lords who were still observing saw that Duke Gamelin and Earl Ramli were leading the way, so this year other lords followed suit and sent people over. The number of trainees in each territory ranged from a few to dozens.

Besides these "government-sponsored students" sent by the lords at their own expense, there were also students who came from outside the baronies but were drawn by the reputation of the barons. However, these people were usually older, with some even being men in their thirties or forties.

Lud initially intended to accept all comers, but then he considered that his school was a boarding school, and he couldn't just let a group of adults with unclear backgrounds move in. If a few scoundrels were mixed in, the consequences would be unimaginable!

On the first day of school, the school held a grand new student enrollment ceremony on the main playground. Principal Lu De, teacher representatives, and student representatives delivered speeches to welcome the new students to the school.

It's worth mentioning that the student representative elected by vote was none other than Fran, the divine child of Marigius, the goddess of the hearth. This little girl was both intelligent and adorable, consistently ranking among the top students in her class, and possessed a warm and cheerful personality, making her very popular among her classmates and a veritable campus idol.

Lude felt that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, once the student council was officially established in the first semester of this year, this kid would definitely be a strong contender for president.

After a brief but solemn entrance ceremony, the freshmen followed their respective college advisors and senior students to their dormitories. In the same month they entered university, these freshmen first underwent two weeks of physical training, followed by a placement test, after which they were assigned to classes based on their scores.

It should be noted that apart from the local students in Songshu Town who generally have a certain level of literacy due to their proximity to the town, the illiteracy rate among international students from other places is as high as 90%. Many of them cannot even write their own names and must first be sent to literacy classes to learn basic literacy for a year or two.

Of course! Among the nearly one thousand new students, although the vast majority are illiterate, there are also a few outstanding ones.

In this year's class, Rudd discovered a child prodigy named Elma, who was only eight years old and the daughter of a merchant. She seemed to have one-quarter dwarf blood; she was petite and small, not even as tall as a table, but her intelligence was enough to make many adults feel ashamed.

This child is not only literate and fluent in three languages, but she also demonstrated impressive mental arithmetic skills in front of Ludwig during her entrance interview. Based solely on her academic level, she could easily have entered the advanced program directly.

What impressed Lud was that, unlike most of the other freshmen who came to study medicine because of the trend, when Lud asked Elma what her first choice was to study, the little girl proudly clenched her fist and said that she wanted to become the most knowledgeable person on the entire continent, so she wanted to study everything!

In short, this child is studying at her own expense, and her parents must love her very much and be very open-minded. Ludwig was happy to admit such a gifted child.

After the new semester began, Ludwig announced that the school would make a series of adjustments to various disciplines this year, changing from a subject-based system to a college system, merging some subjects, and opening some new majors that did not exist before, such as business administration and military science.

Along with the college system, "further studies" was also introduced.

Prior to this, Brewster College was a vocational school with literacy programs. The elementary classes focused on literacy, the intermediate classes taught basic cultural knowledge, and the advanced classes specialized in science and technology. Students could skip grades if they met the requirements, and graduate once they completed their studies. As a result, the first graduating class spent less than two years on average at the school, making it an accelerated program within an accelerated program.

Ludwig needed more capable, highly skilled personnel, not just those who trained the most basic technicians. Therefore, as the student body expanded, he also upgraded and reorganized the school accordingly. He planned to retain the most outstanding graduates from each class, allowing them to continue to improve.

Incidentally, the emblems of the reorganized colleges each correspond to different goddesses. For example, the medical school, with the largest student body, uses the Goddess of Medicine as its emblem. The emblems of other colleges correspond to the "second generation of goddesses" who are planned to appear. Lu De's move is essentially planting an "Easter egg" in advance.

The first month was undoubtedly busy for Ludwig. The number of students and faculty at the school was about to exceed two thousand, and the growth rate far exceeded initial expectations. Fortunately, Ludwig had reserved land in advance, so there was space for him to expand the new campus, and he could also take the civil engineering students out for "practical training".

Besides the school expansion, Lu De had another major construction project underway: to build a village outside the town for the filming of "Seven Samurai".

The Rainbow Dance Troupe just finished their tour in the capital last week and are currently on their way to Pine Town. Once the actors arrive, filming will officially begin.

End of this chapter

Lude returned from Yanmu City with filmmaking as his top priority, investing in it second only to education. This is because, starting this year, the Pantheon will officially shift its strategy, moving from defense to offense and expanding outwards.

However, Ludd did not intend to adopt the traditional sectarian expansion method. Firstly, he did not have enough missionaries to use, and secondly, the old missionary model would inevitably make enemies and cause conflicts with other sects during the spread of the faith.

It's important to understand that being a missionary is a high-risk profession in any era. In ancient times, before the outbreak of religious wars, if a missionary was discovered in a pagan territory, they would at least be severely beaten, or worse, simply disappear without a trace. Some religious wars were even started by missionaries crossing the border.

In the present "post-God War era", although the surviving sects have toned down their behavior to some extent and are no longer as ferocious and barbaric as before, they have never stopped their open and covert struggles in missionary work.

Lude had heard rumors before that some local sects colluded with criminal gangs, hiring bandits to ambush and kill missionaries from other places in remote areas. Afterwards, they could just pretend to be ignorant and insist that they had nothing to do with it, and other sects would not be able to pursue the matter.

Therefore, in a sense, grassroots missionaries are like D-level personnel of a certain foundation, belonging to the category of "consumables".

Their superiors and the higher-ups in the sect are well aware of how dangerous the working conditions of these missionaries are, but they simply don't care.

Because any sect capable of external expansion must be a large or medium-sized sect with a certain scale, and it has no shortage of cannon fodder. Theoretically, if even one out of every ten missionaries can establish themselves in a certain place and develop dozens or hundreds of believers, then the sect can make a profit.

For these missionaries who followed one after another, this was also one of the important channels for advancement within the sect.

Most religious sects have clearly defined quotas: as long as one can develop a certain number of new believers in the assigned area, one can be promoted to novice priest. Once one becomes a priest, it's not just a promotion in status; one can also receive power bestowed by the gods, transforming from a laborer into a superior being.

Therefore, even though missionary work was arduous and dangerous, monks from humble backgrounds still flocked to it. After all, before anything truly happened, everyone felt they were the luckiest one.

However, in Ludd's view, the missionary model was too inefficient and had obvious drawbacks. Many high-ranking members of traditional sects actually inherited the mindset of feudal lords, being overly obsessed with territorial expansion. For them, missionary work was about conquering cities and seizing land, temples were their castles, and faith was the "tax" they collected from believers.

Their own preconceived notions and the limitations of their time meant that they could only reach this level of understanding, far less insightful than Ludd's.

What is faith? Fame is faith! If you think of the gods of this world as "celebrities," then everything becomes much easier to understand.

Therefore, Ludwig's expansion strategy was twofold: first, he would not send missionaries abroad, and second, he would not build temples and statues outside of Pine Town. Instead, he would spread the symbols of the Pantheon to every corner of the world through cultural dissemination, so that everyone would know about the goddesses under his command.

Lude first collected faith through drama when he created the three sisters. Although it was a great success, it was his first time, and it was far from perfect in many aspects. Especially in the area of ​​faith collection, it was only thanks to Lude's presence and the blessing of the primordial fire within him that 100% complete collection was achieved.

The problem was that there was only one Lud, and he couldn't possibly travel around with the Rainbow Dance Troupe, acting as a mobile signal base station. Furthermore, during their time in Flamewood City, they employed over a dozen film projection teams, making it even more difficult for Lud to be present on every single set.

Fortunately, Ludd knew that the collection of faith required "symbols," and symbols did not necessarily have to be solemn temples and tall, majestic statues. A poster, a flyer, or even a movie ticket stub could also serve as a carrier of symbols.

Therefore, during their time in Yanmu City, Lu De personally designed several posters, which were then mass-produced by the three sisters, so that every audience member who went to the cinema would receive one. These posters were so exquisite that they became very popular among the audience, and almost no one would bear to throw them on the ground.

Thus, the posters and leaflets distributed to everyone became a repository of faith, capable of being fully absorbed even without Luddite's presence to provide blessings. In addition, the original script of "The Count of Monte Cristo" was of high quality, and Hume's character in the play was memorable enough that the faith generated by a single performance was not much less than that of a religious gathering of the same scale.

Moreover, compared to dull and tedious sermons, TV dramas and movies generally have a longer lasting impact due to their inherent entertainment value.

Most believers who attend evangelistic meetings will likely forget what they just heard as soon as they leave the temple, and they will not take the initiative to discuss the doctrine with others.

But it's different for people who have seen the movie. If the movie is good enough, they can't help but pull others to discuss the plot, and they will also actively recommend that those who haven't seen it watch it. They will also use the famous lines from the movie as catchphrases, and that's how "memes" are created.

The extensive testing in Yanmu City enabled Lu De to master many key points of using film for missionary work, making it easier for him to "create" the script for "Seven Samurai" and make it more in line with his own requirements.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, all actors are expected to be in place by the end of April, with filming officially commencing in early May. However, Lu De himself is unsure how long filming will take.

After all, this was the first time a young woman had ever been married, and Lu De considered himself a "good actor" with excellent acting skills, but he had never actually been a director before. Fortunately, he was both the director and the investor, and there was no demanding client pressing him down, so he didn't feel much psychological pressure.

On the penultimate day of April, the Rainbow Dance Troupe finally finished their tour in the kingdom's capital. To save time from the long journey, Rude sent the red dragon Emily to the capital to pick them up.

Lude recently commissioned the dwarves to customize a manned pod that can carry 150 passengers and approximately 20 cubic meters of cargo, weighing no more than eight tons. With this, Amy has essentially become an Airbus.

It is said that when she went to the capital to pick up someone, it caused quite a stir. Even King Duran made a special trip to see the excitement and asked who Amy was under.

So Amy skillfully pulled a business card from the pocket of her vest and handed it to the king. The four large, gold-embossed characters on it made the king scratch his head.

SF Express?

End of this chapter

On the day the Rainbow Dance Troupe arrived in Pine Town, Lude personally went to "Tinglongping" to welcome them. As soon as Amy placed the manned gondola on the ground, a large group of people rushed out of the cabin and ran to the nearby open space, sticking their buttocks out and vomiting profusely.

Fortunately, Lud was prepared and immediately dispatched the medical staff who had been on standby to provide first aid, which quickly brought the situation under control.

Unlike a few months ago, when Lud and his group flew to Flamewood City in a gondola, the passengers there, except for Lud, were all "non-humans," so they could remain unfazed by air currents or even continuous Cobra maneuvers.

But Amymila's trip was different. The manned pod carried a total of 147 passengers, all of whom were ordinary people. Even with Amymila protecting them with the dragon race's unique wind-sheltered barrier throughout the journey, the stability of the pod still couldn't compare to that of a modern commercial airliner on Earth. Therefore, it was inevitable that some passengers would experience "dragon sickness."

At first, things were alright. Most passengers were not used to being in the air and were uneasy, but it was not unbearable. Some were even excited, after all, this was an experience that ordinary people could not enjoy.

However, this harmonious situation was soon broken. A 24-year-old man with an upset stomach got up to go to the toilet and suddenly couldn't hold it in. Like a Boomer, he "sprayed" on the entire row of passengers in front of him, and the gondola instantly went out of control.

This tragic "aviation accident" resulted in the temporary "annihilation" of the Rainbow Dance Troupe, and it took them almost a week to recover.

Although a few unpleasant things happened on the way here, everyone had a good impression of Pine Tree Town. Unlike Flamewood City, which has tall and majestic city walls and various magnificent buildings, Pine Tree Town is clean and tidy, making people feel very comfortable.

This cleanliness and tidiness is not only reflected in the streets and buildings, but also in the local residents.

Under Lud's persistent and earnest guidance, the locals of Pine Town have developed very good hygiene habits. The love of bathing and drinking plenty of hot water is deeply ingrained in their minds. In addition, Lud's vigorous promotion of agriculture and basic education has led to many changes in the image and temperament of the locals without them even realizing it.

Those members of the dance troupe who hadn't come before were surprised to find that there seemed to be no "poor people" in Pine Town. In addition, the locals were unusually good-looking, especially the senior students of Brewster Academy, who were once mistaken by them for aristocratic children.

Okay! Some of them are indeed children of noble families.

The Rainbow Dance Company's return was warmly welcomed by the locals. Many townspeople still fondly remembered the grand performance two years ago and eagerly anticipated seeing the Rainbow Dance Company perform again. Servis did indeed have this plan in mind, and the week after the members finished their rest, she brought "The Cave King" to the stage of the Dragon and Dwarf Opera House.

On the day of the performance, the huge open-air opera house was packed to capacity. In addition to the locals who had become wealthy in recent years, there were also many dwarf brothers who came from the neighboring underground city specifically to watch the show. Even the chieftain of the Steel Whip Clan, Gulig, and the high priest Winig came.

However, these two did not come simply to watch the play. After the performance, they expressed that they had some important matters they hoped to discuss with the all-powerful Master Lu De.

Currently, all 30,000-plus dwarves in the Steelwhip Clan have converted to the Three Goddesses Cult, becoming the primary source of faith for the three sisters. This is all thanks to the leadership of the clan chief and high priest; with the top figures on both the political and religious sides giving their orders, the dwarves naturally responded without hesitation.

However, when Gulig, having completed the religious transformation of his tribe, took the initiative to contact other dwarf clans in other places, hoping that they could join him in rebelling against the damned Earth Mother Goddess, he was embarrassingly rejected one after another.

Most of the clan leaders were not interested in Gulig's proposal for a united front. Even when he produced a video recording of the last words of the last dwarf king, Koberi, and told them the hidden truth of history, they would hesitate for a moment and still be unwilling to abandon their faith in the Earth Mother Goddess Cult.

Some even advised Gulige to be more rational, to think more about his people, and not to do anything "foolish".

It was only then that Gulig finally realized with sorrow that not all dwarves were like him.

The average lifespan of dwarves is around two hundred years, but three hundred years have passed since the end of the War of the Gods. This means that the older generation of dwarves who once lived on the land of the dwarf kingdom have all returned to dust. The new generation of dwarves, including Gulig, can only know about their glorious kingdom through some surviving ancient books.

Gulig's father was a mid-level officer in the Dwarven Kingdom's Royal Guard. He was injured and unable to participate in the Battle of Bloodtear Valley, narrowly escaping death, but he also witnessed the disintegration of the entire Dwarven Kingdom.

Gulig still remembers how his father often sat alone in his study in his later years, gazing at a tattered military flag and weeping uncontrollably. His last words, spoken while clutching the flag before his death, are something Gulig will never forget.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, we failed to protect the country..."

Therefore, after learning the truth about the destruction of the dwarf kingdom, Gulig was filled with anger and resentment. He could not tolerate himself and his people continuing to worship a shameless evil god who had betrayed them.

However, the chieftains of the other clans felt more fear after learning the truth. They felt that since the once-powerful dwarf kingdom had been destroyed by the gods three hundred years ago, the dwarfs, who had now declined to the point of needing to depend on humans for survival, had even less strength to challenge the gods.

Don't they hate Mother Earth?

It's not that I don't hate them, it's that I simply don't dare!

As for the "new backers" mentioned by the Steel Whip Clan, the so-called Three Goddesses of Craftsmanship and the Pantheon, they felt they should be cautious and observe for a while longer, as no one knew if they truly had the strength to oppose the Earth Mother Goddess.

The implication is that the three goddesses should fight the Earth Mother Goddess first, and I will believe whoever wins.

When Gulig and Winnig recalled their experiences of being repeatedly turned down, they were filled with anger. Their once proud kinsmen had become so spineless, and the two couldn't help but curse at Lud in front of him.

"These cowards! They're a disgrace to the dwarves! I wish I could send a dozen war puppets over there and send them all flying!"

“That’s right! How could a bunch of cowardly rats, along with these insects, possibly rebuild the glory of the dwarves?”

The two dwarf leaders took turns berating the clans that refused to unite with them, while Lud secretly lamented the state of his desk, which they were about to smash to pieces, and tried his best to calm the two hot-tempered men.

End of this chapter

After being comforted by Rudd, the two dwarves finally calmed down.

Lude was not at all surprised by the two's repeated setbacks; it was all perfectly reasonable.

Gulig's hatred for the Earth Mother Goddess was rooted in national and personal grievances. This middle-aged dwarf, a hot-blooded youth, was influenced by his biological father from a young age and had a strong sense of national pride. Although he had always served the Duran royal family, he never gave up his ideal of restoring the dwarf kingdom.

Besides his ideal of restoring the dwarven kingdom, Gulig also harbored resentment towards the Earth Mother Goddess, feeling that the dwarves should no longer recognize a thief as their mother and continue to worship such a treacherous and evil goddess.

However, other clans of dwarves may not have his sentiments and courage, and dare not offend the high and mighty gods. Therefore, they all keep their distance from Gulig, who is trying to confront the Earth Mother Goddess head-on.