Goddess Kaleidoscope

Serana spoke, exchanging a Christian greeting with Lud.

At this moment, Ludeck waved his hand behind him, and several female disciples immediately led a group of young students forward, carrying pre-prepared gift boxes. The disciples went to Serana, Serika, and several princes from major countries, while the students approached others, including Caiside.

"This is?"

"Just a small token of my appreciation."

In front of everyone, all the gift boxes were opened on the spot. The gift for Serana was a cloak of holy light that had been blessed, while the young talents of the trial group received their respective high-level enchanted weapons and divine potion gift packs. The accompanying members of the visiting delegation received exquisite religious ritual objects. All of these were valuable gifts, showing great sincerity.

Seeing the generous gift from Lud, Serana did not refuse. Instead, she took the lead in expressing her gratitude to Lud. After thinking for a moment, she took off a bracelet with the emblem of the Holy Lord of Light from her wrist and gave it to Lud as a return gift.

The moment Lude received it, he realized that it possessed divine power, meaning... it was a divine artifact.

The divine medicines and various gadgets that Lude concocted with his divine power could, in terms of their nature, be considered "divine artifacts," but they were mostly disposable items and still differed from genuine products that could be reused.

Damn! No wonder it's the ancient Papacy; they just give this away so casually!

"This...is it too expensive?"

"No, although this bracelet is a magical artifact, its use is rather limited; it can only be used for remote communication. It can send seven short messages per day, with a maximum of fifteen characters per message. With this, communication between your side and our sect will be much more convenient in the future."

"So that's how it is, amazing, amazing..."

Lude feigned a hint of surprise on his face, but inwardly he couldn't help but think to himself, "So it turns out to be a 'magical pager,' but it's actually quite convenient to use."

Lude had previously devised a method to use a deity statue as a medium and then communicate remotely through divine thought, but it could only establish a single communication channel between a certain deity and the corresponding statue. This bracelet, however, is a remote communicator specifically designed for field personnel, and the information sent can be transmitted in real time to a large crystal at headquarters.

In comparison, they are functionally about the same, but the bracelet is much more portable than the 1/16 scale statue.

However, Lud dared not use this thing recklessly, because divine artifacts contain the power of gods, so in theory, they can be used as "teleportation beacons" just like divine statues. And with the Light Saint Lord Karius's power, which is said to be at the peak of the eighth rank, even if it's not his true body, just an avatar with 30% of his true strength would be enough to give them a hard time.

So, in Lud's eyes, Serana's "gift" was a hot potato, but he couldn't very well refuse it in public.

"Then I shall accept it without hesitation."

Upon accepting the bracelet from Serana, Lud immediately had Romian bring him a wooden box and carefully placed it inside. At first glance, it seemed he cherished the gift, but in his heart, he secretly wished he could lock and seal the box immediately and have Amy throw it into the sea that very night.

At this moment, Serica and several companions stepped forward and bowed to thank Lud for his series of "helps". Although they failed in the fourth trial, thanks to Lud, they were able to successfully evacuate the maze under extremely unfavorable circumstances without losing a single companion.

Later, the group stayed in Pine Town and participated in the adventurer training camp organized by Rudd. They learned many wilderness survival skills that would be useful in their future trials, so it was not an exaggeration to call Rudd their teacher.

"Even a thousand miles of farewell must come to an end, Your Majesty. I wish you all a safe journey and all the trials to come."

"Thank you for your kind words, Master."

As it was getting late, amidst the cheers of Lud and the crowd of those seeing them off, the airship Icarus slowly took off, and the Saintess Corps mounted their horses and set off for their next destination.

Watching the spaceship and the team gradually disappear into the distance, Lude secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He had finally managed to send everyone away safely. Although there would still be a lot to do throughout the winter, at least he wouldn't have to be as exhausted as he was now.

Then, just as Rudd thought everything was fine and was thinking about finding an opportunity to sneak away in a couple of days to relax and give his exhausted body and mind a proper break, the knight Ados suddenly came over and said that the old lady had some things she wanted to ask Rudd.

Seeing that the other party looked very serious, Lude nodded.

Upon arriving at the Baron's mansion, the old lady invited Ludwig to her study for a detailed discussion, which Ludwig instinctively resisted. Having recently experienced too many bittersweet events, he felt a dull ache in his lower back whenever someone told him, "Come inside with me."

Fortunately, the old lady hadn't invited Lud alone; the three guardian knights of the Baron's family were also present. Seeing this, Lud immediately understood what the old lady wanted to discuss with him.

"Lady Srina, has the King issued a summons?"

"Not yet, but it may be soon. You should know that Marquis Ryan came by a few days ago. He asked me about some matters concerning the territory, focusing on the autumn harvest this year and the number of able-bodied men in the area. Although I am just a woman, I know what it means for a royal censor to come and inquire about these matters."

"Did the censor say when it would be?"

"Not yet, but I don't think it will be in winter."

The old lady invited Rudd over this time hoping to have him serve as her strategist. The Baron's family currently has few people they can trust and rely on. Although the three knights are all brave and loyal men, they are well aware that they are better at charging into battle than commanding an army. The Baron's family lacks someone who is good at thinking and also understands military affairs. After thinking it over, Rudd is the most suitable candidate.

On the surface, Ludwig remained outwardly calm and collected in response to the Baron's request, as if he were weighing the pros and cons. In reality, he was secretly delighted, as if a kind person had just handed him a pillow when he was about to doze off.

After a moment's hesitation, Ludwig smiled slightly at the expectant old lady and the three knights.

"This old man does indeed have some solutions..."

Winter is a white season for Pine Tree Town.

From the moment the first heavy snowfall falls, most of the northern border of the Kingdom of Duran will enter a state of near-total road closure, turning villages and towns into isolated islands cut off from the world.

Therefore, as early as the changing of the seasons, most of the mercenaries, adventurers, and merchants from other places would try to migrate south before the snow fell, so as not to be trapped in the local area for the entire winter.

After the heavy snow blocked the mountain pass, the once bustling town became much quieter and more peaceful. This was the moment that Lude had been patiently waiting for. The creation of the second-generation god was still quietly underway.

Based on the experience accumulated from previous attempts to create gods, if the primordial fire can be actively "activated," not much faith is actually needed in the early stages. At a minimum, only a few hundred believers and six to eight months of accumulation are needed to gather enough faith, from which a new god will be born.

Aina and Shanis were both created using this "lowest limit mode". Although they were weak at the beginning, it did not affect their growth later.

Another noteworthy point is that the initial group of believers offered their beliefs along with their own thoughts. This gave the new god an independent and relatively complete self-awareness from the very beginning, rather than being a blank slate of an ignorant infant.

Aina's initial followers were the four hundred or so old villagers from Pine Village, so Aina had the simplicity and ignorance of a peasant. Shanis's initial followers, on the other hand, were a group of intellectuals gathered together by an old astrologer to take drugs, and they had a rich reserve of knowledge and techniques.

However, Ludger surmised that this influence was not absolute, but rather more like using the initial group of believers as a sample database, randomly selecting a portion of attributes, and then recombining them. Therefore, the larger the initial group of believers, the higher the uncertainty.

Take the three sisters, for example. Initially, they had tens of thousands of followers, but the three sisters had very different personalities and specializations. The eldest sister, Atropos, even thought herself superior to others like traditional gods as soon as she opened her eyes. Fortunately, she was punished by Rudd with an iron fist, and with later moral education, she gradually corrected herself.

In a sense, these fragments of thought attached to faith are like an "impurity" that cannot be removed. They can have unpredictable effects on the newly created god, causing it to deviate from the original "divine design" or even go against it.

After all, at this stage, the self-awareness of the gods has not yet been awakened, and they are unable to independently block out these messages mixed in with faith.

Back when Kumirad was still alive, he once posed a hypothetical question to Lud: what would happen if a group of heinous villains were captured and forced to worship a so-called "god of justice" through force?

When Ludd heard these words, although he did not answer directly, the image of "Homelander Crescent Moon" subconsciously appeared in his mind.

Fortunately, a deity's initial values ​​are not fixed and can be altered through influence. Shanes, for example, is the result of Rudd's painstaking re-education. If she had been allowed to grow freely, given her divine status and initial group of followers, she might have ended up as a world-altering version of the Queen of Sheba, exchanging faith for physical offerings.

Therefore, when creating the second-generation gods, Rudd was extremely careful in order to minimize the possibility of accidents.

He patiently waited for the heavy snow to close the mountain passes and for most of the mixed merchants and adventurers to leave before taking action. Still feeling uneasy, he further narrowed down the selection of initial believers, deciding to conduct the selection only among the upperclassmen of Brewster Academy.

Firstly, most of the students in the school are minors, whose thoughts are relatively simple. Secondly, under Ludwig's earnest teachings, the older students are far superior to the general public in both knowledge and character, making them a truly "high-quality group of believers".

Of course! Although the initial believers were selected from students, Ludwig did not intend to carry out any feudal superstitious activities on campus. Instead, he organized a series of competitions within the school.

Students who had finished their autumn break (going home to farm) returned to school after a long absence and found that a notice board at the school gate announced that a competition called "Goddess Cup" would be held during the winter semester. Each college would compete based on its own professional skills, and the winning individuals and teams would receive trophies and scholarships from the school.

Brewster College currently comprises six faculties: the Medical School, the Agricultural School, the Crafts School, the Business School, the Military School, and the Art School. The Medical School is undoubtedly the most central faculty, followed by the Agricultural School. The Crafts School integrates previous technical disciplines such as blacksmithing and carpentry, and has the largest number of students and departments.

The remaining School of Business, Military Academy, and School of Arts were newly added last semester, so the number of students was relatively small. However, the fact that Ludwig dedicated an entire school to them is enough to demonstrate the importance he placed on them.

At the opening ceremony, Ludwig spent nearly an hour introducing the school competition and also brought out a series of trophies that he had prepared in advance.

Each of the five colleges has three exclusive programs, and there are also five separate awards that are not limited to any college, which will be competed for separately.

All the trophies have a goddess statue on them that corresponds to the project. The students listening to Ludger's explanation noticed that in addition to the seven goddesses that everyone was already familiar with, there were several new goddesses that they didn't recognize this time, mainly in the awards of the three new colleges.

The trophy from the Military Academy features "Sura the God of War," a tall, long-haired mature woman holding a riding whip and wearing strange armor (a mix of European plate armor and German military uniforms).

The art academy's design is "Dali, the Goddess of Music," a character Lude copied from a MOBA game's Sona when creating the character's design. However, judging from the face shape alone, she looks more like a pioneering virtual singer.

As for the Business School, their trophy featured "Jessie, the Goddess of Wealth," a squinty-eyed older sister holding an abacus. Lude figured that since he was in another world, no one could pursue his copyright, so he drew several classic "anime rich girls" as options. However, drawing too many made him indecisive, so he asked Shanis, who happened to be passing by, to help him choose. Shanis immediately picked the "Lucoya option," reasoning that the squinty-eyed girl looked the most shrewd, and also that her breasts were the largest of all the options, which his master would definitely like the most.

Incidentally, Ludwig had already "invented" the abacus, a magical object that could even be used to make atomic bombs, long ago; the emblem of the School of Business and Trade is an abacus.

In addition to the above series of awards, "Elma the Scales," representing justice and fairness, will appear as the "symbol of the referee." All students who register to participate in the competition must solemnly swear before the statue of Elma the Scales that they will not do anything that violates the spirit of competition. This process is, in a sense, almost equivalent to a general prayer.

Under Lud's careful management, no real religious activities were carried out in the school, but faith was unconsciously generated among the students and efficiently absorbed under the influence of the primordial fire.

Lude estimated that with a school of nearly two thousand teachers and students, it would take about two to three months to gather enough faith to activate the four new gods.

Activities were in full swing at school, with young students eager and enthusiastic, hoping to showcase their talents in the competition. Meanwhile, outside the "ivory tower," the adults in town were plotting another matter of great importance, concerning the fate of the nation.

Two months ago, an inspector from the capital brought unsettling news: the powerful neighbor to the south was stirring. To prepare in advance, the inspector conducted a population survey of all the fiefdoms in the entire northern region. In the event of war in the south, the king would issue a mobilization order, allocating troops according to the rank and strength of the local lords, with no fewer than the required number.

Given Baron Kirk's title and the strength of Pine Town, Lady Slina estimated that they would likely request around 500 troops, which would be considered the highest among barons.

Lady Srina intended to follow the rules: whatever the king asked for, the baron would provide. However, given the young baron's young age, it was necessary to find a substitute to lead the troops in his place.

The first choice for this proxy was naturally Knight Ados, who was loyal and reliable to the Baron's family. He himself had no intention of refusing the offer. However, unlike ordinary knights who were blindly arrogant, Ados's most valuable quality was that he was very self-aware!

Ados knew his own limitations. He had excellent martial arts skills and fearless courage, but he clearly hadn't invested in wisdom. When given a force of several hundred men, Ados couldn't think of any other commands besides "Brothers, follow me!"

So when the old lady entrusted him with commanding the troops in place of the young baron, Athos did not refuse, but asked the old lady to find him a suitable strategist. Everyone immediately thought of Rudd. The infamous "Bloody Hands Severing Souls" was known to everyone in Pine Town!

Rudd did not refuse the Baron's request. As a transmigrator, Earth was his eternal home, but Pine Town was his current home. The villagers respected Rudd, and he, Rudd, naturally wanted to protect them.

However, Lud didn't think about how to keep the townspeople away from the war; instead, he planned to lead the villagers to actively participate in the impending conflict. Not only did he accept the assignment, but he also suggested to the old lady that they expand the army, making it a "round number," and send a thousand men into battle.

Because of its proximity to the Virtual Forest, the people of Pine Tree Town pride themselves on their fierce and valiant nature, but this fierceness is more of a desire for bravery and fighting than a genuine sense of courage and valor.

To put it bluntly, the thugs and gangsters who fight in the streets all look fierce, but if you really drag these "tough guys" onto the battlefield, they might be able to pull them off faster than the US president!

So after the autumn harvest, following Lude's advice, the Baron's Palace took advantage of the local tradition of holding the "town sports meet" after the autumn harvest to organize another "mass training exercise," gathering all eligible young people in the area for a three-week military training.

This military training was not for the purpose of conscripting the entire population into the military, but rather to select eligible recruits. One thousand young men who met the physical fitness standards and had the willingness to join the military were selected and given more militarized training under the name of "reserve guards".

In addition, the military academy, which was only established in the first half of the year, also began to play a role. Ludger personally took the lead as an instructor, providing officer training to a group of squad leaders, including the Three Knights.

Don't let Lu De's past life as an undercover police academy graduate fool you. He lives in the information age and is a military enthusiast. So much of his knowledge might be considered amateurish on Earth, but in this magical medieval world, it's a secret skill that many military families consider top-notch.

One is creating gods, the other is training troops. Since the beginning of winter, Lu De has been mainly busy with these two things. Although the workload is not much different from the previous quarter, fortunately, the people of the Holy Light Church have left, and the old base is closed. A lot of manpower and resources that were previously dared not be used are now being fully utilized.

In the temple's study, while Ludwig was at school during the day, his ghost secretary, Elijah, brazenly sat in Ludwig's seat and carried out her official duties.

When the Holy Light Church delegation visited, Elaine fled to Peach Blossom Village overnight with her own urn to avoid trouble, only daring to return after everyone had left.

For Eliven, who was already a ghost, having nothing to do was far more frightening than being busy. So as soon as she returned to the temple, without Ludger even having to ask her to, Eliven volunteered to work overtime, which would surely move the capitalist to tears!

During her work, Elaine discovers that Ludwig has commissioned Hume to investigate grain prices throughout the southern Canary Empire. Heavy snow can stop ordinary people, but it can't stop the God of Thieves who has regained his divine powers.

Elijah compiled and listed these data as requested by Ludd, and even made a visual curve chart of the changes.

Just as Elijah was engrossed in her work, the study door suddenly opened, and Aina slipped in, waving at Elijah with a smile before running to the bookshelf and pulling down two books.

"My master asked me to come back and get two books, so I won't bother you any longer."

Compared to two months ago, Aina seemed to have regained her former liveliness and cheerfulness. Elaine was away at that time, so she didn't know the specific reason. She just assumed that Aina had successfully broken through to the fourth level, and the knot in her heart that had been bothering her was finally untied.

Thinking that the Pantheon now has three fourth-tier mid-level gods, and a new second-tier god is about to appear, Elijah sincerely sighed in her heart, "Lord Lu is truly an amazing figure!"

"According to the intelligence obtained from Hume's investigation, the Canary Empire is indeed preparing to fight a war with someone, and it will be on a large scale."

In the temple study, having just finished reviewing the data reports compiled by Elijah, Lud concluded from the soaring grain price curve, resembling a man's "morning erection," that the Empire was making preliminary preparations for war.

Throughout the year, the Empire experienced neither disasters nor diseases, yet the prices of several staple grains nearly doubled compared to last year, and pig iron saw an even more dramatic increase of sevenfold. Moreover, this upward trend was not limited to a single region but rather covered almost the entire Empire.

Price fluctuations of this magnitude are clearly not something that a few unscrupulous merchants could achieve through hoarding and speculation; it must be the work of the imperial authorities.