Goddess Kaleidoscope

"I was so stupid, so incredibly stupid! If I had known he was borrowing the treasure from me to scare the Queen awake, I would have swallowed the sword whole rather than give it to him!"

In the break room reserved for Dragon Clan couriers at Shunfeng Company, Sanders, who had just been "kindly" lectured by Isabella, was lying on a cushion in his dragon form, sobbing uncontrollably. The Dragon Clan couriers who had rushed over to offer their "comfort and concern" were unaware of what had happened to him under the Queen's control, but seeing his pitiful state, their faces were filled with undisguised sorrow.

"Hahaha! Sanders, you've finally met your match."

"Exactly! What's that called again... Oh right, those who do many evil deeds will surely perish!"

"Damn it! I'm in this state, don't you guys have any sympathy?"

"Who dares to provoke Her Majesty the Queen?"

"Damn it, I didn't even go and provoke them!!!"

Hearing the merciless mockery of his kin, Sanders felt deeply wronged. Although he admitted to having committed many evil deeds, he was always quite shrewd and knew who he could mess with and who he couldn't. If he had to choose his own targets for pranks, he wouldn't dare deliver his Dragon-Slaying Sword to the Queen's bedside, even if he had ten lives.

He just wants excitement, not to die!

Just then, the red dragon Amy ran over from outside carrying a basket. Unlike her other kind, she didn't laugh at him for his bruised and battered appearance. Instead, she reached out and touched his dragon horns with a look of sympathy and asked him gently.

"Sanders, you're so badly injured, you must be in so much pain you can't even stand up, right?"

"Ouch! That old... Your Majesty hit too hard! These heartless bastards are even laughing at me!"

Seeing that someone of his kind cared about him, and that she was a young and beautiful female dragon, Sanders was so moved that he almost cried. Then he saw Amy take out a stack of manuscript paper and pen from the basket she had brought and place them in front of him with both hands.

"This is?"

“I was thinking, since you can’t move, you should focus on finishing your manuscript.”

"???"

Looking at the paper and pen in front of him, Sanders never expected that Amy, who seemed to be the most compassionate, was actually the most ruthless. While the others came simply to watch the show and laugh, she was there to urge for more updates.

Unlike his fellow countrymen, Sanders, though also living in Pinetown, didn't join SF Express as a glorious courier. Instead, he continued his beloved literary pursuits. Besides writing scripts for the Rainbow Dance Troupe, he also wrote serialized novels for the Pantheon's magazine, which were beloved by a wide readership for their beautiful writing, clever plot design, and precise chapter breaks. Even more than half of the dragons at SF Express were his readers, including Amy.

The dragons were making a ruckus, teasing Sanders's backside, and no one noticed or cared that a group of people dressed in various priestly robes had just passed by the lounge and stopped to watch for a moment.

"It's unbelievable, those are all dragons?"

"This Pantheon is indeed not to be underestimated!"

Outside the lounge, the passing priests were representatives from various denominations invited by Rudd to Pine Town for the "First Religious Conference." They were currently touring Pine Town's "Advanced Demonstration Zone," led by Sister Shanis, the chief disciple of the saints. Most small and medium-sized denominations lacked the formidable power of the three major religions. Therefore, when they saw over a dozen dragons and monster lords obeying the Pantheon's commands, willingly acting as deliverymen, flying across the world to deliver goods, they felt a profound sense of awe and fear.

To draw an analogy from Earth, Lu De's behavior is like painting a dozen or twenty H-20s in the yellow and blue livery of food delivery services, then confidently claiming they're civilian transport vehicles filled with 500kg precision-guided super-sized bottles of sugary drinks. No matter how sincere your words or how earnest your gaze, to onlookers it's all utter nonsense!

But regardless of what others think, Ludwig himself was indeed acting for peace.

After the end of the Imperial Wars, the Pantheon's international reputation soared, and with the strong support of the Church of Light, it had become the newly emerging fourth largest denomination in terms of influence and number of followers.

So Ludd consulted with Pope St. Leonid, suggesting that they gather the leaders of all the reputable sects in the world to form a religious council. They could then sit down and jointly formulate a set of regulations that would benefit the majority and be widely accepted—what was known as "rules of the game." In Ludd's view, the rulers of both secular and religious circles in the world today were far too unruly, and simple consensus alone could not create a stable order.

Even the worst rules are better than no rules at all!

The Pope, who had always wanted to be the leader of the religious alliance, was very supportive of Ludd's proposal. In particular, when Ludd clearly stated that he would do his best to support his elder brother in serving as the first chairman, Saint Leonid wished he could pick up his sensible younger brother and give him a good kiss.

Of course! This meeting is not only about establishing rules for the community, but also about pooling resources to jointly address this crisis.

Since his transmigration, Lude has been pondering a question: what is the purpose of the existence of these worshipped "gods" in this world? It wasn't until he came into contact with the Fire Tree and understood its operating logic that this question was finally answered.

Although gods are born from faith, the entire system is supported by the Fire Tree, so they can actually be seen as the "fruits" of the Fire Tree. The Fire Tree created these gods with the intention of guiding mortals to jointly maintain the world laws that support the normal operation of the entire world, and divine power is equivalent to their reward.

However, due to the conflict among the gods, much knowledge was lost and the inheritance was interrupted. The new generation of gods did not know the obligations they should bear and comfortably enjoyed the transcendent status given to them by their powerful divine power.

This was the fundamental purpose of the meeting. In addition to the religious leaders in the mortal realm, all the gods also received invitations. Rude wanted to make these high and mighty gods understand that the days of taking benefits without doing any work were coming to an end. Whatever your god is, you must bear the corresponding obligations. If you are determined to be unrelated, then Rude will find a way to replace you with someone willing to work.

Now, Rudd essentially holds the very roots of the world in his own hands, giving him the confidence to challenge the gods.

Upon returning to the ground, Lud immediately sought out the Dragon Queen Isabella, asking her to help translate the new coded message he had just received.

Her Majesty has been enjoying a very pleasant vacation in Pine Town lately, as the issue of her successor that had been troubling her has been resolved. Her previous anxiety has naturally disappeared, but what has taken its place is a kind of laziness that Elder Lotte calls "the return of old habits."

In fact, most dragons over a thousand years old are quite lazy, and Isabella, who is over fifty thousand years old, is undoubtedly the goddess of laziness! This guy just patted his chest and made a promise to take Kanna as his apprentice and train her into an excellent super dragon, but then he turned around and said that the child is still young and he can teach her when she grows a few hundred years older.

To Lud, this was utterly absurd, like a mother opening the door for the absurd! But upon closer examination, it's not hard to see that for a dragon with such a long lifespan, this is probably perfectly normal.

Keep in mind that Kanna is only eight years old this year. If we convert that to the age of three hundred years for a typical dragon, she's about the size of a six-month-old human baby. Even though the growth stages of different species aren't always the same, Kanna's growth rate far exceeds that of a typical dragon, but she's definitely not old enough to start school yet.

In short, Isabella settled down in Pinetown and was expected to stay for quite some time. Rud was quite happy to have such a knowledgeable and long-lasting queen on his turf.

The translation of the secret message didn't take long. Ludwig then obtained a short sentence in the style of the Riddler. He tried to simplify it into relatively straightforward plain language, which meant that the incubation of sin could not be stopped, but not all sins breed evil.

"What do you mean? Is that tumor some kind of egg?"

Upon seeing the word "hatching," Lud instinctively imagined a monster emerging from the tumor. Isabella suggested he consult the wise Kumirard, as dragons try to avoid interfering in the affairs of the native world, so she couldn't offer any good advice.

After leaving Isabella's mansion, Lude summoned Hume and asked where Kumirad was. He learned that Kumirad had gone to the labyrinth with the three sisters a couple of days ago and had not yet returned.

Upon hearing that Kumirard had gone to the labyrinth, Lud suddenly had a flash of inspiration and thought of "Little Grey" who was located on the fifth floor of the labyrinth.

When Rudd built the labyrinth, it was by a twist of fate that a "Labyrinth Heart" was cultivated. The gray mist grew stronger by absorbing the negative emotions generated by adventurers within the labyrinth. Now it has become as solid as a physical object and has even shown a certain degree of intelligence, able to interact with Rudd.

At first, Lud was a little worried, fearing that this thing might eventually give birth to some terrible existence. But he later discovered that although Little Gray was like a greedy kitten, eager for all kinds of negative emotions, its devouring ability, if used properly, was almost the strongest purification spell.

During this time, Lude recruited soldiers and horses to build the "underworld" and searched for suitable ghost messengers everywhere. However, due to the negative buff of not being able to fall asleep, the condition of the dead would generally deteriorate irreversibly over time. Unless it was a fresh dead like Elijah who had a place to sleep or had just died, they would all have some mental problems to some extent.

Fortunately, Lude thought of Little Grey. It had swallowed many evil spirits before. Some were completely digested, while others were regurgitated after being purified. As a result, Little Grey became the sole interviewer for the selection of ghost messengers. Anyone who could get its "verbal" approval could officially take up their post, thus greatly increasing the number of ghost messengers.

Now that I think about it, maybe Little Grey can get rid of the tumor inside the Fire Seed Tree, but the new problem that follows is how to get Little Grey out of the maze and into the Fire Seed Land, or how to cut off the tumor and put it to Little Grey's mouth.

In addition, Lude was also a little worried. Could Little Grey, with his size, swallow a tumor that was hundreds of times larger than himself?

But in any case, this is at least a possible solution.

Seeing that it was getting late, Lud, who had been working non-stop for three days and three nights without sleep, decided to take a short rest. It just so happened that the delegations from all the major sects had arrived in Pine Town, and it was time for Lud, the initiator, to show up and properly entertain these guests who had traveled from afar.

That evening, more than 100 people from over 20 different religious sects gathered at the newly built banquet hotel in the area. The brightly lit hall was filled with priests, but the atmosphere was not very lively. Representatives from each sect generally formed their own small circles, trying to avoid contact with other sects present.

In fact, for a long time, the major religious sects have maintained an overly cautious "non-contact policy," keeping to themselves and avoiding conflict, which has led to the current strange situation.

They were clearly a group of eloquent religious people who made a living by deceiving believers, but when they got together, they suddenly all became socially awkward. The scene was quite comical.

Fortunately, the awkward silence didn't last long, and Lud entered the venue with representatives from the three major religions. The representatives from the other religions were surprised to find that, unlike other religions, which sent either their second-in-command or senior figures, the Holy Church of Light had sent the Pope himself, which was more than just a gesture of respect.

Others with more astute minds noticed that Rudd, as the head of the Pantheon, entered side by side with the representatives of the three major churches, with Pope St. Leonid smiling broadly, as if there was nothing wrong with it.

"It seems that the era of the three religions standing side by side has come to an end."

However, before everyone could finish their reflections, an even more surprising scene unfolded.

Suddenly, the large circle of statues that had been arranged beforehand around the hall emitted a collective holy light. Then, one after another, countless gods descended from the heavens, some in avatars, others in their true forms. Every mortal present was seeing so many deities for the first time.

"My Lord, what's going on?"

"My God, all three great masters have come!"

"There are just too many goddesses in the Pantheon!"

The collective descent of the gods was so overwhelming that the assembled priests were stunned for a moment before realizing they should pay homage to their deities, and they immediately knelt on the ground. Amidst their shock, they couldn't help but think that this religious assembly, organized by the Pantheon, was likely discussing something quite significant!

The first religious conference was held in a seemingly peaceful and friendly atmosphere. Representatives from small and medium-sized religious sects wore warm smiles throughout the meeting and frequently stood up to give enthusiastic applause to Ludwig's brilliant speech.

These shrewd individuals had already realized that the Pantheon had definitely coordinated with the three major religions beforehand; it was all pre-arranged, and this conference was purely a formality, a way to gather everyone and inform them. Despite their displeasure, these smaller sects, who had always struggled to survive, knew their own limitations and avoided provoking those they couldn't afford to offend. Moreover, some had also discovered that the proposed alliance seemed to actually benefit them, as weaker sects.

Lud's plan is to promote his own pantheon model to the whole world. Different gods and their affiliated sects will have to assume corresponding obligations according to their respective divine positions. For example, the gods of rivers, lakes and seas, since you are in charge of this, it is no problem to entrust you with the management of water pollution and water resource protection, right?

Correspondingly, this sect will be allowed to establish offices or churches in towns and cities with natural waterways, and local sects will not be allowed to obstruct them and will be required to provide them with necessary assistance.

This is quite attractive to small, marginalized sects.

As for the major sects, although they may seem to have gained little benefit and even had to share some profits with smaller sects, in reality, the top powers like the three major sects, who hold leading positions, already occupy the vast majority of the pie. Taking a few more scraps would be of little significance. Comparatively, what they care more about is maintaining the long-term stability of the current world order as much as possible, not only to prevent another war of the gods from breaking out, but also to concentrate their efforts on protecting the entire world.

At the end of the meeting, Lud revealed the existence of the Land of Fire to the representatives of various factions and the gods present, and explained the importance of the giant tree to the entire world. This was both to make the various religions face the real crisis and a form of deterrence. He, Lud, was now the "operations manager" of the entire world server. If you displease him, believe it or not, he would perform his "database deletion and escape" trick.

Thus, all the gods present swore an oath and jointly signed a divine covenant called the "Supreme Covenant." Mortal sects formed a religious council, with Pope Saint Leonid becoming its first chairman, and Rudd serving as his deputy, effectively controlling most of the council's affairs. This was the result of discussions among several high-ranking gods, and Rudd had already proven his abilities through his actions.

For the first time, the world's religious communities united, but for Rudd, this was only the first step.

Meanwhile, on the other side, on the fifth underground level of the labyrinth, numerous undead, responding to the summons, were lined up in an orderly queue, one after another heading towards the gray sphere, allowing this strange object to swallow them whole.

Most of the swallowed undead will be regurgitated after a period of time, and although they are covered in strange, mysterious slime, their original evil-like physical characteristics will be completely eliminated.

As for those that didn't vomit, for the spirits who couldn't die, it might be a kind of relief.

Perhaps due to the recent overeating, the dumpling, which Lu De'ai calls "Little Gray," is growing at a visible rate. Originally only about one meter in diameter, it has now swelled to more than three meters. Its appetite has also increased from one bite at a time to three bites at a time.

During this time, Kumirard had been observing Little Grey in the maze. She was very interested in this strange thing that Lud had concocted, and felt that the principle behind its creation should be the same as that of the gods, only the "raw materials" used were quite different.

"It grows by consuming negative emotions, yet it's not a demon; its intelligence is even quite simple. An interesting little fellow!"

Standing in front of Little Grey, Kumirard carefully examined the gray sphere, then casually condensed a ball of divine power and gently tossed it towards the other. Little Grey, however, showed great resistance, extending a thin tentacle directly from the surface of the gray sphere and knocking Kumirard's divine power away.

"Don't you like my divine power? Little mouse, why don't you give it a try?"

"No way!"

Not far away, at the stone table in the garden, Ikaven, looking utterly bored, rolled her eyes at Kumirard. She didn't have a following of her own, nor did she have the widespread fame of Kumirard, so the divine power within her was dwindling with every use, making her extremely hesitant to abuse it.

Previously, Ikaven had finally managed to be taken to live in town by Rud because of her good behavior. This little rat goddess quickly discovered that the locals were generally very kind and especially doted on children. She only needed to act cute a little to get a lot of delicious food from the food stall owners in the food street. Thus, the dignified goddess quickly fell into depravity. By the time Rud found out, this girl was already able to call people grandpa and grandma without batting an eye.

However, this good life of having plenty of food and fun did not last long and was brought to an end by the arrival of Kumirad.

The reason was that Lude felt she should find a teacher for her and Ah-Dai, but she was too busy to do so herself, so Kumirad volunteered to take on the task. But Ikavin always felt that the way this blue-haired woman looked at him and Ah-Dai was not the way a teacher would look at students.

Not long after, under Lude's arrangement, Ah-Dai began to set up the so-called Underworld Agency, with its headquarters temporarily located in the labyrinth. Kumirad was very interested in the facility that Lude had set up and came to inspect it himself. He even dragged this cheap student along, and Ikaven was thus forced to return to this run-down place without a snack street.

However, Ikaven also admitted that Kumirad was indeed very powerful as a god. Although she and Ikaven were both at the seventh level, there was a significant difference in their use of divine power. The two had several simulated battles, and Ikaven was always easily outmaneuvered.

Thinking about how he had wasted his divine power and still hadn't won, Ikaven angrily showed off two more large boxes of butter cookies.

Ikavin was eating a biscuit when the slowly moving procession of the undead suddenly stopped. The female ghost at the front of the line looked blankly at the large gray sphere floating in mid-air, wondering why she hadn't been eaten.

Kumirard, who had been observing Little Grey, also noticed this unusual phenomenon, and a look of great interest appeared on his face.

Is change finally coming?

Beneath the giant tree in the land of the fire, Ah-Dai sat on the tree root, lost in thought.

As the new Grim Reaper of this world, her daily work is to guide the souls brought to the gates of the Land of Fire on their final journey before entering eternal slumber.

Since there aren't many ghost messengers working outside at the moment, the efficiency of sending away the dead is not high. Therefore, Ah Dai doesn't have to be busy all the time. Occasionally, when she has nothing to do, she will squat under the tree and watch the dead turn into starlight in their dreams, feeling a little curious about the world they are about to go to.