Goddess Kaleidoscope

Recently, Shanis has been in a good mood. Lude has organized a number of activities related to her divine position within her own parish, especially the establishment of Valentine's Day. While boosting population growth, it has also brought Shanis a lot of benefits. Now her divine power has reached the peak of the third tier, making her the second goddess in the Pantheon who is about to break through.

In stark contrast to Shanis is Aina, who had already touched the threshold half a year ago but still hasn't been able to cross it. Her divine power is currently in a state of saturation, and the excess can only be stored up by Lude, as she herself can no longer consume it.

It's worth noting that during the fight against the Black Hand Brotherhood, Rudd placed high hopes on Aina, regarding her as their "final weapon," believing that as long as Aina could break through to the fourth tier, everything would be fine.

As a result, even after the Black Hand Brotherhood swallowed Lud and even Hugh, the thief god's alternate form, was captured and incorporated into their ranks, Aina was still stuck at the peak of the third tier, much like a resource stuck at 99.99% in a download.

After the crisis was resolved, Lude did not blame Aina and comforted her, saying that she should not worry and that her master would definitely find a way. However, Aina felt very guilty and felt that she had let down her master and her companions. Anxiety and unease continued to grow in her heart.

On a country road, two donkeys walked slowly, but the two goddesses they carried had different expressions.

Shanis was all smiles, pondering whether to sit at the children's table or the adults' table when they arrived at Qingshui Village. Meanwhile, Aina, who was usually carefree, seemed a little absent-minded.

At this moment, Shanis finally noticed Aina's expression. The two sisters had always had a good relationship, and Shanis immediately asked with concern.

"Junior sister, why do you look so listless?"

"N-nothing... By the way, Senior Sister, you're about to break through, right?"

"It should be soon... right? Recently, I have indeed felt that the divine power in my body is almost full, but strangely, unlike the previous two times, I don't feel sleepy when I'm about to break through. Instead, I feel super energetic. My master said that this may be due to the difference in the divine power."

When the topic of her upcoming breakthrough came up, Shanis chatted like a friend, getting excited as it touched on her area of ​​expertise. Aina, whom Shanis considered a close friend, talked at length about her plans after the breakthrough.

Soon, the two rode donkeys to their destination, Qingshui Village, where wedding preparations were complete. Upon seeing the nuns from the Pantheon arrive, the mass wedding ceremony officially began.

As the religious master of ceremonies for the wedding, Shanis, who had already been granted the title of novice priestess, blessed each couple who came forward, and because she was in a good mood, she secretly used a bit of her divine power.

Each young couple felt a warm, comfortable sensation as the priestess gently touched their heads, unaware that they had received a personal blessing from the true goddess. Tonight, all eight grooms were sharpshooters, hitting their targets with perfect accuracy.

After the wedding ceremony, Shanis and the whole village happily waited for the food to be served. The village chief took out a small gift that he had prepared in advance and insisted on giving it to Shanis.

The entire barony is currently the absolute core parish of the Pantheon, with over 90% of the locals worshipping the gods of the Pantheon. Since almost all the locals are settlers who migrated from the kingdom's interior only a few years ago, they inevitably compare the Pantheon to the sects in their homeland, and the difference in their status is immediately apparent.

The locals have a genuine love and respect for the Pantheon and Ludwig, and this respect makes Shanis and Aina, as the master's most outstanding students, very popular among the local people.

Unable to refuse the village chief's earnest invitation, Shanis reluctantly accepted the gift he insisted on giving her. The gift box didn't contain any expensive gold or silver items, but rather some rare wild herbs.

After the wedding banquet, Shanis and Aina intended to set off immediately and return to town before dark, but the sky, which was clear at noon, was suddenly covered by dark clouds, and large raindrops poured down.

Although Aina and Shanis were divine beings, and the heavy rain had no effect on them, they were disguised as mortal nuns. Seeing that the rain was so heavy, the village chief felt it would be inconvenient to let the two nuns go back in the rain, so he kindly arranged for them to stay in the village.

And so, Shanis and Aina decided to stay overnight in Qingshui Village and arranged a small courtyard for them to stay in.

As night fell, the heavy rain outside continued to pour down. Aina lay alone in bed, staring blankly at the unfamiliar ceiling, while Shanis, who should have been lying in the next bed, had run out to "hunt for food" as soon as it got dark.

After an unknown amount of time, Shanis, who had transformed into a black shadow, finally returned from outside. Not a single drop of rain could be seen on her nun's habit, but she couldn't stop smiling, clearly having had a very enjoyable "eat".

"Snacks are indeed different from regular meals. Although they don't fill you up much, they have a unique flavor. Shimizu Village, thank you so much for your hospitality!"

"Senior sister, you're back!"

"Hey! Why aren't you asleep yet?"

"I can't sleep."

As Aina spoke, she sat up from the covers. Although, in theory, gods, like the dead, don't need to sleep or rest, and can remain energetic forever as long as their divine power is sufficient, Aina and Shanis, having been human for so long, naturally got used to going to bed on time like mortals.

Seeing that her junior sister seemed to have something on her mind, Shanis, who had just finished eating and drinking, thought to herself, "Why don't we both stay up and have a good chat?"

Shanis actually knew roughly what Aina was worried about lately; it was nothing more than getting stuck on the threshold of breakthrough.

Shanis always felt that Aina was undoubtedly happier than herself and Hume. From birth, she had Ludl by her side to take good care of her. She may have experienced poverty for a period of time, but she had never actually gone hungry like herself, and had almost starved to death. Nor had she been sealed away with her divine power for three hundred years like Hume, living a life that was neither human nor god.

But as Kumirad said, Aina was too happy; she was protected too well by Lud, like a flower growing in a greenhouse.

Yes, the temple does indeed have a small greenhouse where Lud is growing some very delicate and rare plants that he brought back from the south.

“Aina, I can’t help you with your breakthrough, since I’m still in the third stage and I don’t know if it will go smoothly either. But you’re being too anxious right now.”

"But……"

"But what? You feel useless and sorry for your master? In your master's words, you're just being stubborn!"

"..."

"If you ask me, instead of making a breakthrough in divine power, you should help your master solve his problems in other ways."

"Like Romian?"

"Uh... even I..."

When the mention of the clever and understanding dragon girl, Shanis couldn't help but cough awkwardly twice.

Although Romian has not yet been truly absorbed into the "core circle" of the Pantheon by Lud, and does not know that her senior sisters who are with her day and night are not actually human (no offense intended), she is undoubtedly the best helper for Lud at this stage. Many tasks that Aina and Shanis cannot do, Romian is already doing with ease.

After a brief silence, Shani came up with what she thought was a very good "idea".

"Actually, Master's most serious problem right now is overwork. Since returning from the south, he has hardly had a proper rest. Physical fatigue is manageable, as our divine power can solve it. The main problem is mental fatigue. I just thought of a good idea. When we get back to town, I'm going to ask Elaine for a favor. Maybe it can help Master relax a bit on a mental level."

"What...what are you planning to do?"

"Of course, we want Master to have a good dream! Master once said that time in dreams is twenty times longer than in reality, which is enough time to play many different games."

Lude has indeed become very tired lately due to the surge in workload, but at the same time he feels very fulfilled, experiencing both pain and joy every day.

Under his diligent management, the Pantheon has developed rapidly while maintaining its facade of being a "harmless little rabbit." In the eyes of other traditional religious forces, they are just a small, unambitious local sect, with their core parish consisting of a town of about 20,000 people.

Although there are more believers in Oyster Harbor, the Pantheon has not established its own temple or stationed priests there, so it does not count.

As for Ludwig himself, many religious people who know him or have heard of him feel that he is an outstanding priest with exceptional abilities, but he devotes most of his energy to making money.

Under his leadership, the Pantheon has become more and more like a merchant guild than a religious sect in recent years. They export more and more goods, but have never sent a missionary. This has made many religious sects lower their guard against them without realizing it, and some have even taken the initiative to send people to contact them and buy Pantheon's specialty products.

To use a somewhat inappropriate analogy, it's like a certain Austrian man with a mustache before 1939, before he swept through Poland like lightning, most of the European leaders firmly believed that he was a pacifist.

As it turned out, Lud's disguise was very successful. The Pantheon had fewer than 50,000 baptized believers in Pine Town and Oyster Harbor combined, but its fame had quietly spread throughout the entire Kingdom of Duran. As its goods were exported, it quickly spread to neighboring countries. Its trademarks, which replaced the symbols of the gods, even appeared openly in the temples of some major religious sects without anyone noticing.

No one knows how many followers the Pantheon currently has. Even Lud himself can't keep track. He only knows that the faith "remitted remotely" from outside Pine Town every day is more than five times the local production. Besides Aina and Shanis, the three sisters are almost at the peak of the third tier, and the last to join, the Hearth Goddess Marigis, has also recovered to the normal level of the third tier. However, this guy still spends most of his time sleeping in Fran's body, which has made Lud complain more than once that he wants to become the Goddess of Sleep.

With increasingly sophisticated publicity channels, Lu De felt that once the film industry took off, it would be time to launch the "second generation of gods" for the Pantheon.

Just as Lude was pondering whether to release the second-generation gods one by one or all at once, a bell rang outside the window, and Lude immediately remembered that he had to go to the school for an inspection this afternoon.

Since the arrival of the mage corps from the Three-Man Tower, the academy's affiliated research institute has been bustling with activity. Following the example of universities on Earth, Lude has also established several affiliated institutions within his own school, intending to recruit elite students for research and development.

However, the ideal is often far from reality. Expecting a few research geniuses to immediately emerge from a group of students who have just completed basic literacy education is less feasible than creating a god of research outright. But creating a god would be tantamount to deviating from Ludd's original intention.

Rudd hoped that mortals could be self-reliant and create a better future through their own intelligence and hard work, rather than placing all their hopes on divine handouts.

Before the arrival of the mage group, the entire affiliated research institute had only twelve staff members: five students, six dwarves, and Hamilton's disciple Dave. Apart from Dave's enchanted plants, the other staff members only invented some relatively simple new agricultural tools. The ideas and original blueprints were even provided by Lud.

After leaving the temple, Lud walked alone to the school. The affiliated research institute was located in the southeast corner of the campus, in a secluded area. Because it was used to store dangerous goods, ordinary students were not allowed to enter or leave freely on weekdays.

And as it turns out, Ludwig's security measures were correct.

In the second month after the institute was established, a very serious experimental accident occurred. A dwarf researcher was planning to develop a new type of alchemical bomb with greater power using enchanted chili peppers. However, during the raw material preparation stage, his hand slipped and he blew up a two-story building into a single-story house. As a result, the dwarf researcher's head was physically "blown off".

When Lu De arrived at the scene, he was faced with a headless corpse. He held onto his resurrection spell but dared not use it. He mobilized more than a hundred people and spent more than an hour searching for his head. Finally, they found his head in a ditch, reattached it, and then pulled the person back.

After that, the institute continued to have accidents, but the rules and regulations were gradually improved after each accident. Behind every new rule was a bloody lesson, and the price paid for it could be a researcher's head, arm, or even testicles!

As soon as Lude arrived at the research institute, he was approached by Debra, the female archmage, who said that she had seen a series of projects that the institute was currently developing over the past two days and felt that they were all somewhat low-end.

"Of the fourteen projects, only one is related to agriculture, two are so-called water conservancy projects, and the rest are categorized as livelihood issues. Master Lude, I don't mean to belittle your esteemed school, but is it really necessary to invest so much capital in these trivial projects and even involve mages in their development?"

Debra considers herself a progressive in the magical world and hopes that magic can shine in other fields besides war. Therefore, she was a major supporter when Ludd took the initiative to invite the three-person tower to cooperate.

However, upon seeing the projects Lude was planning, Debra was completely stumped. They were actually going to use magic to farm?

Ludd had anticipated Debra's reaction.

"Master Debra, you must have never farmed before, right? You probably haven't even gone to the fields to do any real-world research either, have you?"

"Yes, I was born into royalty and started learning magic at the age of three. I have spent most of my life studying the mysteries of the elements in the mage tower, so I know very little about agriculture."

"That's why they say that every profession is like a mountain to climb. You don't know how hard farmers work, nor do you know how difficult farming is."

"I would like to hear more details, Master."

"To give a simple example, farmland irrigation requires water, but where does that water come from? Not every field is near a water source, and carrying buckets of water is inefficient. That's why we have the irrigation system of Project 11. Better technology means that farmers can cultivate more land, produce more food, and feed more people. Hunger is one of the many culprits that cause war. Agricultural development may not completely eliminate war, but it can at least reduce the probability of it. Don't you think this is a great undertaking?"

Ludd had always admired Hamilton and Debra. In such an era, these two top-tier fighters, who came from noble families and possessed extraordinary personal combat skills, were progressive and enlightened thinkers.

They may lack understanding or knowledge of many things, but they do not adopt the arrogant and condescending attitude of many conservative rulers.

After listening to Ludd's examples and explanations, Debra nodded after a moment's thought, indicating that she understood and would do her best to support the development of these projects. However, she then made a request: once the projects were completed, she needed to see how these technologies were actually used locally. If they were as excellent as Ludd described, she would use her status as the King's aunt to persuade King Durand to promote them throughout the country.

Having settled things with Debra, Lude then wandered around the research institute.

In addition to the university projects proposed by Lude, the institute also supports students and researchers to carry out independent projects. As long as they apply to the university and get approval, they can receive project funding.

There are currently four similar independent projects underway. Lude has been preoccupied with other matters recently, so he hasn't paid much attention to these projects for a while. He took the opportunity to visit them during this trip.

Of the four independent projects, Lude is currently most optimistic about one called "Lightweight Single-Person Heavy Armor Defense Suit," which is one of the few military-related research and development projects in the institute.

Two people participated in the project, both acquaintances of Lud: Charlotte Golden Axe, the nephew of the dwarf chieftain Gulig, and Mochi, the youngest son of Viscount Map. This boy was one of the very few teenagers in the school with the potential to become a scientist. Although he looked simple-minded, he was much better than his sister Himak, who was hopelessly entangled in a lesbian relationship.

When Ludd arrived, the two researchers, one tall and one short, were fiddling with something in front of a shelf. Hearing the knock, they almost instinctively pulled the curtains closed. But Ludd had already seen this subtle reaction through the small window in the door, which only piqued his curiosity.

"Principal! What brings you here?"

"Did I come at the wrong time?"

"How could this be... Haha..."

Looking at the two people in front of him, Lu De couldn't help but think to himself, with such poor improvisation skills, they would have died countless times if they were undercover agents. So he chuckled coldly at the two of them and pointed to the curtain behind them and asked.

"What are you messing around with? Let me see!"

"..." x2

Seeing that they couldn't avoid the knife by sticking their necks out or hiding, the two exchanged a glance and then silently pulled back the curtain. Lu De's previously calm expression froze when he saw what was hanging on the shelf behind him.

"I gave you guys two hundred gold coins as project funding, and this is what you came up with?!"

"That... the project was actually successful? Don't be fooled by how small the coverage area is, its defensive capabilities are definitely at the level of heavy armor, and because of the application of a magical barrier, there are no blind spots."

Pointing to his "masterpiece," Charlotte's expression was a mix of trepidation and pride. Rudd was willing to believe him because he could indeed feel the magical reaction from this so-called "equipment," but the style of this magical equipment was really too vulgar.

An enchanted bikini armor? I can't believe these two came up with that idea!

The initial research and development idea came from Mochi's sudden inspiration. He remembered that his father had a set of enchanted plate armor passed down from his ancestors, which was indeed extremely strong in terms of defense, to the point that it could withstand a crossbow bolt head-on.