Goddess Kaleidoscope

Thanks to his eloquence, Gulig was already being swayed. Rudd, disguised as a broker, carefully inquired about the dwarves' needs for the new god, offering advice and suggestions. Finally, under Rudd's persuasive guidance, they settled on the position of "God of Craftsmanship".

Prior to this, the dwarves worshipped the Earth Mother Goddess because they needed to mine minerals, hoping to find high-quality veins and fearing terrible geological disasters such as earthquakes and lava eruptions. However, as a renowned people of artisans, the dwarves' most fundamental goal has always been the development of technology.

So Gulig ultimately decided to seek out a god who liked technology!

"Your Excellency, now that the divine positions have been determined, what is the next step?"

"Next, I need to communicate with the goddess I teach and use her connections to help you contact an honest and reliable deity from the divine realm. I need to perform a divine initiation ceremony, which will require some preparation time. Sir, you can proceed according to your original plan. I will notify you once everything is ready on my end."

"Then I'll have to trouble you."

After a long talk, Gulig got what he wanted and hurriedly left the temple before the night had faded.

Lu De thought to himself that three hours had passed without him realizing it, but thankfully the conversation went well. If everything went smoothly, he believed that it wouldn't be long before a new idol, Lu, joined his "Pantheon Group"!

End of this chapter

A few days later, the dwarves assembled the war puppets they had brought.

As this steel giant, standing a full thirty meters tall, strode toward the forest, the dwarves cheered with joy, while the villagers and knights stared in disbelief, unable to comprehend that such a colossal creature could have been created by mortals.

However, in Lud's eyes, this thing was really cool, and he was itching to jump on it and control it himself. After all, most men cannot resist the temptation of piloting a giant robot.

While emotional attraction is one thing, from a rational perspective, such bulky and slow giant humanoid robots are not the most cost-effective choice, whether in the military or engineering fields.

In Lud's view, if the dwarves of three hundred years ago could build such large robots, they must have been capable of manufacturing specialized engineering machinery such as excavators and cranes.

Considering the difficulty of manufacturing these war puppets, even the Dwarven Kingdom at its peak only managed to assemble a little over two hundred. If all the manpower and resources were used to build tanks and cannons, an iron torrent would be a reality!

However, since there are no excavators available at the moment, this incredibly powerful war machine is indeed the most efficient engineering unit at present, given the existing conditions.

The war puppet arrived at the edge of the forest, stretched out its enormous hand, grabbed a tree as thick as a bowl, and gently pulled it up by the roots, as easily as an old farmer picking a scallion from his own field.

In less than ten minutes, the war puppet uprooted hundreds of large trees, creating a passageway seven or eight meters wide and nearly twenty meters long. Other dwarves who followed were responsible for processing the uprooted trees, cutting them into logs on the spot and piling them up by the roadside for temporary storage. Meanwhile, another group of dwarves carrying shovels and pushing stone rollers were responsible for filling in the soil and leveling the ground.

At this rate, this war machine can clear a passage of over a thousand meters if it works from now until nightfall. Moreover, the forest is not entirely made up of trees; some open areas can be used after the ground is leveled due to factors such as soil conditions.

Gulig's plan is to build roads while conducting exploration. He has already sent several advance teams into the Virtual Realm Forest, and the deepest one has already reached the "Nameless Ancient City".

Adventurers have already established outposts there, and some daring merchants have even opened shops to sell supplies to explorers from all walks of life.

Once the route survey is completed, Gulige will next dispatch multiple engineering teams to start construction in sections in order to further accelerate the road construction progress.

To be honest, Rudd had a very good impression of these dwarves. They were indeed a very skilled artisan people who firmly believed in the teachings left by their ancestors and regarded hard work and perseverance as traditional virtues.

Furthermore, dwarves are among the most literate races in the world today, and education is one of their ancient traditions. The main functions of the tribal elders, besides advising the chief, are to serve as teachers, responsible for teaching the children of the tribe to read and write.

Therefore, in Rudd's eyes, these tens of thousands of dwarves were all high-quality "industrial population"!

It should be noted that in Songshu Village at present, the basic education led by Lu De is only in its infancy, and the target audience is mainly minors.

Those villagers who are illiterate are certainly fine as agricultural workers, and they can make do with light industries such as textiles or handicrafts. But if they want to climb higher and reach the level of a true "industrial population", they need to improve their education level first.

"It takes ten years to grow a tree, but a hundred years to cultivate a person!"

Lu De's experience in teaching and running schools over the past year has allowed him to truly understand the truth behind this statement.

Fortunately, the humans and dwarves have supported each other for the past three hundred years and have always had a harmonious relationship. Gulig is now in need of his help, so Rud is confident that he can win over the Steelwhip Clan and make them work for him in the future.

After that secret meeting that night, Lud began preparations, mainly focusing on creating a "divine design" for the title of God of Craftsmanship, and drawing up the design diagrams. After five days of preparation, Lud once again invited Gulig.

"Your Excellency, have you made contact with the divine realm?"

"Yes, I have informed the goddess of your Steel Whip Clan's request, asking Her to find a suitable person... The Chosen One has already been the subject of interest for more than one deity, but this has led to a debate, so in the end the choice has been left to us, Sir."

"Me? You want me to choose?"

Upon learning that he suddenly had the power to summon a particular god, Gulig showed an expression of disbelief, while Lud placed three sketches on the table in front of him and pointed to the portraits.

“These three were all interested in becoming the Goddesses of Craftsmanship. I saw their faces during the divine ritual, so I drew them from memory.”

"Why are they all goddesses? And apart from the youngest one, the other two look just like you humans."

"Um... Our Lady Evelina of the Medicine God Cult is a goddess, so naturally her social circle consists mostly of goddesses. These are her close friends, and they are three sisters. This one over there, the more mature-looking one with the pipe, is the eldest sister, Atropos, who possesses a pair of nimble divine hands and is the strongest craftswoman in the divine realm. The one in the middle with short hair and agile movements is the second sister, Clotho, who is the embodiment of furnace fire and can manipulate temperature to refine all metals. And this last one is the youngest sister, Lachesis. Don't let her small stature fool you; she has the greatest strength, and her pair of large hammers are used to forge divine weapons. These three each have their own strengths, but they all fit the role of the God of Craftsmanship, so they are all interested in descending. I wonder which one you, Sir, prefer?"

After introducing the three goddesses, Lude handed the choice to Gulig. The dwarf chieftain frowned, seemingly struggling with a decision-making problem.

After thinking for a long time, Gulig finally raised his head, but his words stunned Lud, who was waiting for him to make a choice.

"To be honest... Your Highness, these three goddesses are all very good. Can I have them all?"

"..."

Unsure of the gods' strength, and prioritizing the safest approach, Gulig considered practical needs. His biggest concern was the potential for retaliation if he betrayed the Earth Mother Goddess. Finding a powerful backer was also a way to deter the Earth Mother from unleashing divine punishment.

Therefore, Gulig believed that "many gods make great power." If all three goddesses could descend, even if they were no match for the Earth Mother Goddess in a one-on-one fight, the three of them together would surely be able to overpower the Earth Mother Goddess, right?

After a moment of stunned silence, Lud thought Gulig's idea was good!

The transformation from "Goddess of Craftsmanship" to "Three Goddesses of Craftsmanship" simply requires manipulating the doctrines and avoiding deliberately creating contradictions in the minds of believers. The fact that dwarves worship multiple gods simultaneously means that the amount of faith they produce can double.

So Ludwig immediately slapped his thigh and said that this was a good idea!

End of this chapter

Regarding Gulig's choice, Lude said that he would need to communicate with the divine realm again and prepare for the "invitation ceremony." He instructed Gulig to gather as many like-minded people as possible, but not to make it public, lest the news leak out and invite the Earth Mother Goddess's revenge.

Gulig showed no doubt about Lud's instructions and arrangements, and began to carry them out as soon as he returned that evening.

Compared to a year ago when everything was just beginning, Lud is no longer an unknown nobody. Stories about him are circulating throughout the northern part of the kingdom, and the two powerful local lords, Earl Ramli and Duke Gamelin, both praise him as having the appearance of a "saint".

The recognition from those in power and the widespread praise from the public gradually gave Ludd "authority" to him.

However, Lud felt that the main reason was the "expert" that Gulig had mentioned earlier. It was that expert who gave the Steel Whip Clan the idea to come to the northern border of the kingdom to find him.

Gulig seemed to trust this mysterious and unpredictable master very much, and thus also trusted Lud, who was recommended by the master, very much.

Following the previously summarized process of creating a god, Lud will first need to make the idol, while the collection of faith can proceed simultaneously.

However, since this time a "goddess combination" was released directly, three statues had to be made at once, which was quite a lot of work. Lu De estimated that if they were to make life-size statues, it would take at least two to three weeks, but if they were to make 1:6 scale figures, it could be done within a week.

Then Lude thought of something: the Rainbow Circus, which was rehearsing a play in the village, might come in handy this time.

So the next morning, Rudd made a special trip to the Rainbow Circus's temporary location. When he arrived, a rehearsal was taking place, so he quietly stood in the shadows in a corner and watched.

On the rehearsal stage, the performance currently taking place is the second half of Act II, where Romeo and Juliet secretly seek out the kind Father Lawrence and beg him to officiate their marriage in secret.

When Luther was writing the script, he secretly added some personal touches to the character of Father Lawrence, making him a priest of the Pantheon. Romeo and Juliet secretly married and worshipped the god of passion, and the potion that the priest later gave Juliet to fake her death was obtained from the god of medicine.

When Servis was reading the script, she felt a strong sense of déjà vu about the character. She thought to herself, isn't this lovable character, who is witty and cheerful and is responsible for almost two-thirds of the humor in the whole story, just like Ludger himself?

However, Servis didn't think there was anything wrong with it. After all, the script was written by Ludwig, and it's not uncommon for the original author to make a cameo appearance in their own work, or even directly play the male lead.

After watching the rehearsal for a while, Lude nodded in satisfaction. The three actors on stage all performed well, especially Servis, who played Romeo. Her delivery of lines and acting skills were very solid, and her micro-expressions were incredibly lifelike. The moment Romeo put the ring on her finger, tears welled up in her eyes, perfectly capturing the emotion of "tears of joy".

Therefore, when this scene ended, Ludwig couldn't help but applaud.

"Absolutely brilliant! Ladies and gentlemen, a near-perfect performance."

"Your Excellency! When did you arrive?"

"I've been here for a while, but I couldn't bear to interrupt your wonderful performance, so... I've been hiding to the side and watching."

With a warm smile, Lu De showered the actors with compliments, making them all a little shy, but more than anything, they felt the joy of having their talents recognized.

Besides praising them, Lude also brought some snacks baked by Romian herself as a token of appreciation.

“Miss Servis, would it be convenient for us to talk in private? I have some things to discuss with you regarding the script.”

"Of course, no problem. Please follow me."

Led by Servis, the two left the practice area and went to the room next door. Upon entering, Lude realized that this seemed to be Servis's boudoir; it was very clean and had a pleasant fragrance.

At this moment, Servis walked to the bedside, pulled out a locked safe from under the bed, then reached into her collar and took out a key. In front of Lud, she opened the safe, revealing the script that he had given to Servis earlier.

Seemingly noticing the surprise that flashed in Lud's eyes, Servis smiled and explained.

"For actors like us who make a living by performing, a good script is priceless, and it must be kept strictly secret before the premiere."

Servis smiled, a hint of sadness flashing in her eyes. She had learned her lesson from trusting those around her before, and thus secretly vowed that she would never make the same mistake again in her life.

"Let's talk about the script. Teacher, did you come here this time with some new ideas that you want to adjust?"

"Yes, there are indeed some new ideas, but don't worry, the changes to the existing plot are minor, mainly just adding some supplementary settings."

"Additional settings?"

"That's right, it's used to complete the religious setting of the work."

Taking out a small notebook from his pocket, Lud explained to Servis the content he wanted to add and its role in advancing the plot.

Prior to this, only two gods appeared in the entire script: the God of Medicine and the God of Love and Desire. The gods themselves did not descend; they mainly served as part of the plot background and did not appear many times, but each appearance was just right and left a very deep impression on the audience.

This is the essence of cultural promotion—it emphasizes subtle and pervasive influence!

Lude hopes that Rainbow Circus can complete the script rehearsals around mid-July, and then hold its first performance in Pine Village.

The target audience includes the more than 3,000 villagers of Pine Village, as well as the more than 2,000 noble soldiers and more than 30,000 dwarves from outside the village. In order to accommodate so many people watching the performance at the same time, Lude plans to borrow people from Gulig to build a special open-air theater outside the village.

This performance was undoubtedly a good opportunity to "advertise," so Lu De decided to add extra scenes for the "Three Goddesses of Craftsmanship" so that they could also have the opportunity to appear on stage and become known to the audience.

All these spectators combined numbered nearly 40,000, almost a hundred times the total population of Pine Village when Lude created Aina! Lude estimated that, with the blessing of the primordial fire within him, perhaps this performance would be enough to awaken the faith of the three goddesses.

End of this chapter

Rude spent an entire night researching how to add more screen time to the three goddesses of craftsmanship in the storyline, but initially couldn't come up with any particularly good ideas.

Adding scenes is similar to product placement; the worst thing you can do is force it in, as this can easily affect the audience's viewing experience and lead to a decline in their overall impression. This is a very counterproductive approach.

Therefore, the key to adding scenes is to make them as natural as possible and avoid breaking the immersion!

Unable to come up with a good idea for the time being, Lude felt that this matter could not be handled by his own brain alone, and it would be best to pool everyone's wisdom. However, the people in his family were clearly not helpful in this regard. Even his smartest secretary, Elaine, could not come up with any good ideas that would catch Lude's eye.

After much deliberation, Lude decided to approach Servis, who was, after all, an industry professional and might be able to offer some advice.

Of course! The reason for adding scenes also had to be cleverly explained. Lude explained to Servis that he was actually the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Pantheon, and every once in a while he would use a "divine ritual" to report his work on earth to the goddess of medicine, Ephrinna, and the goddess of love, Shanis (the board of directors).