Azure Scepter

Page 182

The bet was lost!

He had thought that the young, newly appointed duke would want to eliminate dissidents and consolidate power, and that the injustice he had suffered could be used as a weapon to gain the duke's protection. But now it seemed that he had completely miscalculated.

He and his followers might not only fail to gain protection, but could also be purged for their abrupt actions—after all, their current actions are tantamount to forcing the other party to make a choice, and given that they have already received the other party's life-saving grace, such actions are quite despicable.

Putting himself in Trier's shoes, if his position and Trier's were reversed, he would not hesitate to kill someone like himself who was trying to force his way out.

However, the next moment, Trier changed the subject and said with a smile, "But there is no need to be discouraged. Count Bortard is not only cruel to his people, but also involved in the rebellion. He will be put to trial sooner or later, and that day is not far away. In order to live to see that day, you should first cure the blood plague."

At this point, Trill paused, then walked up to a refugee whose body was covered in bloody abscesses and casually extended his right hand.

The refugee looked up, somewhat bewildered, and in the next moment, a holy light enveloped his head.

"And I can completely cure the blood plague."

In an instant, warm and comfortable light spread in all directions, enveloping everyone in layers of light. In this pure white ocean, a few people knelt down in pain and vomited violently. As they vomited, the horrible blood plague maggots left their bodies and burned into scattered dust.

Those who were not infected with the blood plague also felt a sense of inner peace and a vibrant life force. An old man who was already on his deathbed even regained his vitality, and a child who had been pale due to lack of food became rosy-cheeked.

In an instant, the previously dejected crowd erupted in cheers. People frantically pushed past the kneeling leader, trying to get closer to Trier, but Trier waved his hand, stopping the crowd from approaching.

He took out a gold coin from the cave and threw it in front of the distraught leader.

“I know perfectly well that you just want protection. So, as you wish—keep this gold coin safe, and you will be protected.”

"Mind reading?!" The leader was startled. He looked up abruptly and blurted out the question instinctively.

Trier shook his head, his tone calm: "You made it too obvious. You'd better watch your behavior in the future."

After saying that, he turned and left.

"You...you are a saint?" Only now did the leader awaken from his daze. His voice trembled, and he felt quite remorseful.

What exactly did I miss?!

He quickly replied, "By the radiance above, I have always been a devout believer, and I have a deep faith in Saint Seir!"

“Then you’ll have to find someone else.” Trier didn’t turn around; his voice remained calm.

He finally finished the first item on his to-do list. He secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Afterwards, Trier pulled the dumbfounded Edith back to retrieve the horses, and then returned to the upper town of Eraf before midnight.

Thanks to Noy's diligent work, everything was arranged in an orderly manner. After returning to the upper town, Trier checked Noy's progress and was quite satisfied with the results.

Although the workload he assigned to Noy was extremely unreasonable, to his great surprise, Noy made significant progress on all tasks on the first day.

All the work has been planned and arranged, the framework of most of the organizational work has been completed, and even the church reconstruction has begun to be organized in detail. Noy’s work started with those monasteries and seminaries that were less affected by the blood plague and still maintained their complete structure.

Seeing how capable and enthusiastic Neu was, Trier was completely reassured and abandoned his plan to increase Neu's staff.

Over the next few days, Noy worked diligently until late at night, while Trier enjoyed a rare period of peace.

Trier already possessed 20 points of extraordinary physique, and now with an additional 6 points, he was no longer affected by dizziness caused by lack of rest. With this high physique boost, even Edith, whose physique stat was equally extreme, was slightly outmatched. As for Fythia, who already had poor stamina, she would even mutter things like "I can't go on" and "Have mercy on me" in her dreams. Only Noi, who had no physique attribute at all, could keep going without stopping...

In his spare time, Trier would take the Holy Sword and chop at the Soul Gem of the Lord every day. After several days of tireless chopping, the last remnant of the Lord's spirit finally collapsed, and it became a completely mindless entity.

Trier collected the purple crystals dropped by the fallen, and then spent a day combining the remains of the fallen with the scepter of the Pope of the Radiant Church. After that, he transferred the priesthood, which had gradually become a huge burden, to the scepter.

He had prepared himself for unexpected events and even complete failure, but to the transmigrator's surprise, everything went incredibly smoothly, and he directly assembled an ultimate staff that could be considered a high-level divine artifact.

The moment he finished creating the artifact, the countless whispers that had been swirling in his mind all the time vanished, and the faint sense of rejection and alienation he had felt from the world since he took up his divine office also disappeared.

Lines of dark gold information flooded into his eyes like a tsunami.

[You have successfully forged the advanced artifact "Unnamed"]

[Warning: You are no longer affected by the Azure Laws.]

Trier picked up the scepter, the warm handle giving him a unique tactile sensation. He closed his eyes, and a surge of power instantly flooded his consciousness, becoming one with him.

This scepter has no side effects. As long as Trier holds it in his hand, he will be equivalent to a weak deity who can move freely in the prime material plane. Since the divine authority attached to the scepter is inextricably linked to Trier, if anyone else wants to control this scepter, they must first engage in a soul-death battle with Trier.

Aside from the pure blessing of status, the most important function of this scepter is that it can be used to create wet components made by the masses, with Trir setting up the response program in advance. Then, it can automatically assign divine spells to respond to prayers, and Trir can change the settings at any time if needed.

Looking at the huge sapphire at the top of the scepter, Trillen fell into deep thought.

"Let's just call it the Star Guide Celestial Globe."

As he slightly changed his mind, the original dark gold information notification also changed.

[Item Name: Celestial Globe]

[Item Level: High-Grade Artifact!]

[Item Type: Weapon/Trinket (Bound)]

[Item Description: A scepter forged from boundless power and ambition. Forging this scepter seems to have weakened the forger's power, but perhaps the forger already foresaw the future bloodshed and patiently awaited the opportunity to reap the rewards.]

[Item effect: ? ? ?]

[Note: None]

Trier nodded with satisfaction, and then contacted Lady Bloodthorn through the crystal ball, intending to offer her the divine position of "Guardian God of Hybrid Humans," which was highly likely to cause dissatisfaction among gods of other races. However, to his surprise, she refused the deal with great fear.

“You’ve already broken the agreement and killed everyone else. I’m worried that you might take this opportunity to kill me as well. My original plan was to rely on the others, even Losevie and Fusada, to achieve a balance and ensure the deal went through, but you’ve killed them all. Now, breaking the agreement has no cost to you.” The succubus said seemingly frankly, “Besides, I’m not human, and this divine office is not very compatible with me. If you really want to fulfill the agreement, then you might as well give me a divine title, or hunt down an abyss lord with me in the future. The divine office that it possesses is the one that I’m compatible with.”

Trier knew very well that Lady Bloodthorn's words were quite insincere. After all, she had been going on for so long just to obtain a divine position, and the so-called compatibility was a standard lie. After all, once one ascends to godhood, one can switch between ordinary races at any time.

“I need to fulfill my promise to shift the tide. Once we fulfill our agreement, the curse of the masses will fall away on its own,” Trier said.

However, after hearing Trill's sincere words, the succubus on the other side of the crystal ball seemed even more terrified. It seemed Trill's friendly attitude further fueled her illusion that he was trying to lure her to her death—of course, there was also the possibility that even a chaotic and evil demon wouldn't trust another chaotic and evil person...

In the end, Lady Bloodthorn hastily agreed to some rather flimsy and absurd action plans with Trier, then deliberately cut off contact. A few seconds later, the crystal ball disintegrated on its own...

Trier looked helpless, sighed, and shook his head. If this were still in the game, his reputation level would probably be "notorious"...

"Let's use the Holy See's sacred artifacts to reset the alignments and oaths," he muttered to himself.

After a short while, the time traveler picked up the scepter again, intending to test its new function of responding to prayers.

However, at that very moment, another inspiration suddenly struck the time traveler's mind—he suddenly recalled the painful feeling he had experienced when he was subjected to a massive amount of prayers in the past.

"Wait, the purple crystals dropped by everyone seem to be affected by the Celestial Sphere..." Trier thought, "Doesn't that mean I can use the purple crystals to directly infuse the massive flow of information generated by prayer into the minds of those who possess them?"

"If I create a magical item that looks quite powerful from the purple crystal in advance, and then give the magical item to the enemy force after the divine descent in the future, I can suddenly activate the information flow impact when I take action, causing the opponent to freeze."

“No, no, that’s too limiting.” Trier shook his head. “I don’t need to use prayer to cleanse myself; my own will is more than enough. I can use the scepter as a medium to connect with the purple crystal and then erode the user’s will.”

"Wait, isn't this the One Ring? I might as well make some rings myself. After all, rings are versatile; all creatures can use them." His thoughts became clearer. "Throw these rings into the Underdark, into the sea, among the mountains where the trolls live..."

"Whoever finds these rings, they will either be elevated by the power they bring or be taken away by someone with greater power. In short, there is a high probability that these rings will end up in the hands of their legendary powerhouses."

"Once the divine descent begins, I can completely corrupt their pillars on the prime material plane, thereby gaining a huge intelligence and tactical advantage—to prevent myself from planting a flag, it's best not to give the halflings the rings..."

"I'll think about this later. I'd like to test the function of actively responding to prayers first."

Chapter 346 Bloodstained Bandages

When Trier grasped the scepter and activated the active prayer response function, he felt as if his soul was soaring into the air, and everything on the ground dissolved into a thin mist. At the same time, hundreds and thousands of golden light spots pierced through the mist, and then streams of information poured out from the golden light spots, turning into streams of light that rushed towards him. At first glance, it looked like a dense golden net.

The gold threads varied in thickness and color. As Trier noticed this phenomenon, he also realized the answer to the question: the thickness might represent the intensity of the other person's emotions during prayer, while the color represented whether the prayer was in a safe situation.

He casually touched a thick line stained with a little blood, and the scalding hot information line instantly flashed with golden light. A moment later, Trier's consciousness was projected onto the sky above where the prayer was.

It was a valley filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers. Trier looked down and saw a man dressed as a fisherman struggling desperately in the stream. Although the water was not deep, the fisherman panicked and choked on several mouthfuls of water. With a wave crashing in, he swallowed another mouthful of water. His struggles became slower and more chaotic. If nothing unexpected happened, this unfortunate fisherman would soon drown.

After observing for a moment, Trier mobilized some divine power and cast an "underwater breathing" spell on the fisherman.

Almost simultaneously, the fisherman sank to the bottom, and gurgling bubbles rose to the surface. A moment later, the fisherman's face, which had turned purplish-red due to severe lack of oxygen, suddenly burst out of the water. He touched his face in disbelief.

Seemingly relieved of his panic, the fisherman quickly swam ashore using a doggy paddle. Once ashore, the survivor collapsed against a tree stump, panting heavily, small fish occasionally leaping from his mouth... After a while, he calmed down, then cautiously surveyed his surroundings. He shouted a few words of thanks, and upon realizing no one was around, his pupils suddenly contracted. He then knelt on the ground and began to pray devoutly.

Trier clearly felt the increase in his faith value. At the same time, he had a vague premonition that his long-stagnant legend level also seemed to have increased slightly.

He shook his head and then severed the mental projection.

Then, he touched the second blood-stained information line. This information line was special; it was made up of more than a dozen threads. This time, the object of the prayer was Eraf. The moment Trier projected his consciousness onto it, he realized the source of the danger.

They were a group of stonemasons attempting to rebuild a structure amidst the ruins. Their work was quite professional, but they failed to notice that a load-bearing pillar behind them was teetering precariously and about to crash down on them. Trier quickly cast a spell to deflect the pillar's trajectory, and the dozen or so men narrowly escaped death...

Thus, Trier quickly processed all kinds of prayers. Only then did he feel the enormous acceleration effect of divinity on his thinking. He found that in this state, he could handle thirty things at the same time. After he finished processing most of the prayers involving life-threatening situations like a firefighter, his faith value increased by a huge margin.

—The fear between life and death is immense, and the ability to survive death can itself inspire people's faith.

"This is quite interesting," Trier thought to himself.

However, at that moment, he suddenly felt a stirring in his heart and vaguely sensed that something was calling to him from beneath the thin mist—a call that was not directed at the clergy, but entirely at himself.

He focused his mind slightly, and the thin mist was instantly pierced by his will. Then he saw something rather strange.

It looked like a bandage stained with blood, and at that moment, a frenzied, crimson plea was surging hysterically. Even from a distance, Trier could feel an overwhelming hatred.

“Wait, that looks like the bandage I used when I was injured in Beaver Town.” Trier blinked incredulously, and out of a mix of nostalgia and curiosity, he immediately projected his will onto it.

Half an hour ago.

The streets of Beaver Town were still shrouded in a thin mist in the early morning, with few pedestrians and only the "thump-thump" sound of blacksmiths hammering iron in their shops could be heard.

Sparks flew everywhere, and the dwarf was drenched in sweat. As the warhammer was finished being forged, he let out a long breath, immediately quenched it in cold water, and then picked up a towel to wipe his sweat.

A few minutes later, the dwarven blacksmith picked up the newly forged warhammer, walked out of the smelting room shirtless, and returned to the front desk.

“Twelve bronze deer.” He slammed his warhammer on the table and glanced at his friend across the counter.

His friend rolled his eyes at him: "Ten bronze deer, that's the most you can get."

"By Torrag, you know my skills; it's absolutely worth the price!"

"Eleven dollars. I need money everywhere now."

“Then treat me to another dinner.” The dwarf put on his linen shirt. “It must be beer and grilled fish.”

"Deal." The friend smiled, took out his empty money bag, took out eleven bronze deer coins, and slammed them on the table.

“I recently took on a job.” The dwarf put away the bronze deer and whistled. “Remember that lad from the old garrison, Hurt? Torrag’s hammer… I don’t know what stroke of luck he had, but he actually became a knight with a fief…”

"Stop talking nonsense and get to the point." My friend picked up the warhammer, tested the weapon's center of gravity, and said, "You know what, the craftsmanship is actually pretty good."

“We need to scout out the abandoned Thunder Iron Watchtower to the north,” the dwarf said. “Let’s go there and find out how many undead there are. We’ll get twenty silver wolves as a reward. Think about it, nothing could be simpler.”

“You said the same thing when you helped the lender get the IOU back last time.” The friend was quite speechless. “And what happened? There was a corpse demon hiding in his old house! By the light of day, this is the first time I’ve seen a corpse demon since that great battle.”

"So what if it's a ghoul? Didn't you and I smash its head in together?" The dwarf stroked his beard and pulled a roll of blood-stained bandage from a drawer. "You still lack experience. Back in the day, Lord Trier and I faced thousands of skeletons head-on. Hey, we were sneaking along that drainage ditch. The horde of undead was less than half a meter away from me, but my heart didn't even race. That's called mentality—that cultist mage, I still smashed his head in with one hammer blow—look, this is the bandage Trier used back then!"

“By the light above, we are so grateful to have met Trier,” my friend said sincerely. “If it weren’t for Trier, we would have been swallowed up by those undead. By the way, I have some good news for you. I’m engaged to Jelawan. She should be bringing us food later.”

The dwarf suddenly fell silent, remembering his wife Martha who had abandoned him without a second thought.

At this moment, the friend seemed to realize that he had touched on the other person's sore spot, and the atmosphere suddenly became a little awkward.

The friend was about to say something, but the dwarf suddenly laughed nonchalantly: "So, are you still going to do this job or not?"

"Of course I'll do it," my friend nodded. "The pay will still be split 50/50."

Suddenly, the dull, rapid sound of horses' hooves approached from afar, shattering the morning's tranquility in an instant.

In the distance, crows took flight, their hoarse cries sounding like harbingers of doom. At the end of the deserted street, a rider dressed in black galloped along. Both he and his horse were draped in black cloaks, their horseshoes also wrapped in black cloth, and the dust they kicked up seemed to be tinged with black.

For some reason, as soon as the rider appeared, a cold and oppressive atmosphere spread with the mist.

The dwarf felt a little uneasy. He patted his friend, signaling him to stay close, and then tried to return to the ironworks.

However, the rider in black was a step ahead; before the two even entered the ironworks, the rider had already approached them.

"You two, stop," the rider said in a gruff voice. He dismounted, and his nose twitched slightly as if he had smelled something under his black cloak. The next moment, he slowly walked into the blacksmith's shop.

The dwarf cursed his bad luck inwardly, after all, the other person's attire did not look like that of a normal person, and he even suspected that this person was a surviving member of the Silent Whisperers.

But it was too late to complain now. So the dwarf put on a shrewd, obsequious smile: "Oh, what brings you here? Do you need your horseshoes tightened, or your chainmail repaired?"

The rider didn't answer. He glanced coldly at the bloodstained bandages on the counter, then chuckled and flicked a ring onto the table.

The dwarf glanced at it; the ring was engraved with a rather extravagant family crest, which must be the mark of a human noble family in the kingdom.

"So it's you, Your Excellency. Please have a seat." The dwarf knew the visitor was up to no good, so he became even more respectful. "How can I help you?"

Perhaps the constant flattery had worked, for the knight spoke up: "I am a special envoy appointed by Count Bortard. I am searching for a dangerous wanted criminal. He is tall, covered in festering sores, and commands a dozen or so outlaws. Have you seen him?"

"Covered in pus?" the dwarf repeated incredulously. "Torrag's hammer, these are symptoms of late-stage Blood Plague infection, aren't they? If someone had progressed to that stage, they would have turned into a zombie long ago—sorry, sir, I've never seen anyone like that before."

“My patience for deception is very limited.” The knight’s voice suddenly turned cold.

The dwarf quickly smiled apologetically: "What you're saying! I swear to you in the name of Torrag, I have absolutely never seen such a person. Think about it, with such a dangerous infectious disease patient, I have no reason to hide his whereabouts, right?"

The knight remained silent, but the flames burning in the blast furnace seemed to dim slightly.