When the Flayed Duke and his daughter knelt before Ambrose, he distinctly felt a change in the Golden Throne.
The gold was actually increasing, and by a significant amount.
Ambrose could feel that their prostration added the weight of several gold coins to the Golden Throne.
It should be noted that previously, whether it was the [Quicksilver Effigies] or the undead servants created by Ambrose, their combined kneeling over a long period amounted to less than a single gold coin.
This "surge" had two reasons. The first was that humans possessed high intelligence, far surpassing the puppet servants Ambrose created.
The second reason was that both were fanatics; the devoutness of their faith was not something ordinary people could compare to.
Husky was smart enough, but that guy only regarded Ambrose as a boss. His loyalty might be fine, but Husky didn't feel Ambrose was particularly divine, so he couldn't be devout.
Ambrose secretly decided to discipline that undevout fellow later.
What pleased Ambrose even more about this experiment was that even if he used deception to make people kneel, he could still farm faith-gold.
In that case, it would be a disservice to his oath if he didn't wipe out Loviatar's believers in one fell swoop.
After enjoying their worship, Ambrose immediately said to the Flayed Duke and his daughter, "Very well. The goddess acknowledges your devotion. Now, I will convey her oracle to you on her behalf."
Hearing this, the two knelt even more properly. This was the God's Favored personally interpreting the oracle.
"The goddess is carrying out a grand plan, and I am the direct executor. I cannot tell you the specific details; you just need to cooperate with me. But I can reveal a little: this is a magnificent plan to deceive the gods and the Nine Great Kingdoms. There may be many actions that seem to violate the doctrine. But remember, this is part of the plan. When the plan is complete, those who believe in Pain will spread across the entire continent!"
Ambrose's words were ambiguous, saying everything and nothing, but neither of them doubted him.
Since Loviatar's previous oracle was confirmed true, and Ambrose was indeed the spokesman chosen by the deity, trusting the spokesman was surely correct.
As for mortals not being allowed to know the god's specific plan, that was perfectly normal; all epic stories described it this way. Mortals could never understand the greatness of gods or view things from a divine perspective, leading to countless misunderstandings and tragedies. The Flayed Duke and his daughter told themselves in their hearts: never become such fools.
Seeing that the two were sufficiently bamboozled, Ambrose proceeded to loot the treasury clean, true to his original intention.
Then he gave them an order: "For the recent period, do not torture the slaves anymore, and do not conduct pain rituals privately. Understood?"
The Flayed Duke hesitated for a moment, but under Ambrose's gaze, he immediately replied, "I understand. It is all part of the plan."
Ambrose patted his shoulder with satisfaction. "Correct, all part of the plan. Remember, do not care about momentary gains and losses; the goddess's true goal is grander than this. For now, guard your territory, do not expand blindly, and keep an eye on the movements of the elves for me. Once any elves come knocking, tell me immediately."
The Flayed Duke agreed repeatedly.
Just as Ambrose was about to leave, Bella Trix stepped forward and said, "My Lord, please let me follow by your side."
"Follow me?"
Bella Trix hurriedly explained, "Yes. My only ability is slaughter. If the territory is no longer expanding, I am useless here. My Lord, you surely have use for me."
Ambrose thought for a moment, then said, "Fine. Wait for my command. I will have a task for you soon. But for now, stay here. I believe someone will come to trouble you very soon."
Bella Trix said excitedly, "As you command, My Lord."
Having finally finished his con, Ambrose went to another warehouse and looted a pile of alchemy materials.
Bella Trix had originally wanted to package those alchemists and send them to Ambrose as well, but upon hearing they were all formal alchemists, Ambrose chose to refuse.
Those who could obtain formal alchemist qualifications in the City of Alchemy would be considered masters anywhere else.
Such people definitely had deep expertise in their specialized alchemy. If they wanted to pull some tricks, Ambrose might not discover it in time, and even if he did, solving the problem would take effort.
There wasn't a single alchemist who didn't want to conduct their own experiments, and no alchemist was willing to be just a worker. Even the Alchemists' Council could only distribute talent by separating various topics, rather than brainwashing them into cogs in a machine.
Ambrose didn't have a complete alchemy industrial system and didn't have that many positions for them to fit into; recruiting them would only bring trouble.
After rejecting these alchemists, Ambrose finally extracted himself and returned to his castle.
Upon returning, Ambrose couldn't wait to open the [Codex of the Undead] and sent a message in the group chat: [Friends, I want to kill a god. Does any senior have experience in god-slaying? Please share.]
A reply came shortly after.
[Crown of the Headless Knight: As expected of my brother, you've started talking without using your brain.]
[Tiga Ultraman: Shut up, let Sister-in-law speak.]
[Pale Little Skeleton: Honestly, I agree with Gareth. Saying that implies you have no brain. Are you under some curse that lowered your IQ?]
[Hates Humans: Friend, what madness has taken you? Listen to my advice: if you move against the Elven Gods, not even your ashes will remain.]
The Elven race didn't have just one god, but a whole pantheon.
If a divine war truly broke out, even the Lord of Dawn would have to call upon allies before daring to war with the Elven race; otherwise, he certainly couldn't win. With such a powerful pantheon, how could a mortal dare utter the wild boast of god-slaying?
Helpless, Ambrose explained: [I'm not preparing to trouble the Elven Gods; I'm not that stupid. I want to deal with the Goddess of Pain, Loviatar...]
Ambrose briefly described his experience in the chat, not going into too much detail, only stating he was tricked by Loviatar once and now felt forced to work for her, so he planned a severe retaliation.
[Hates Humans: The Goddess of Pain... She's not a weak god you can just bully. To us, she remains an unreachable deity. Brother, why not endure it? Just working for a god, what's so hard to accept? She's in the Evil alignment like me.]
Ambrose firmly wrote this sentence: [Working is impossible. She didn't pay!]
[Hates Humans: Gareth, how long will his condition last?]
[Crown of the Headless Knight: Don't know. I'm not that close to him.]
...
The group clamored in discussion for a round, resulting in no one being able to give any useful advice. God-slaying... legends said many great heroes had done it, but as for *how*, very few people actually knew. One should never take the lyrics sung by bards as historical fact; they'd make up anything for a rhyme.
After waiting a long time, [Withered Rose] finally appeared.
[Withered Rose: How did you provoke a god again? How do you plan to handle the Elven invasion?]
Ambrose replied: [Handle them together. The Goddess of Pain tricked me at this time probably because she eyed this chaotic battlefield. Once war starts, pain naturally follows like a shadow. The demise of every life is a feast for this goddess. Loviatar wants me to influence this war, making the deaths more tragic and the pain more intense. Therefore, I will resolve this war without bloodshed. I'll make the Queen of Pain look but not eat, ideally frustrating her to death.]
[Crown of the Headless Knight: Change your class to Headless Knight, friend. Your head really is useless. If you alone could make the Elven race abandon the invasion, you could charge into Ryan and chop off their Emperor's head with no problem.]
[Tiga Ultraman: Get lost, Gareth. Mention heads again and I'll spill the beans about Lilith, Jenny, and Ashley.]
[Pale Little Skeleton: Who are they?]
[Crown of the Headless Knight: He's making it up! I don't know these women at all!]
[Tiga Ultraman: Then how do you know they are women and not female orcs?]
[Crown of the Headless Knight: No, that's not what I meant!]
[Pale Little Skeleton: Sorry, you guys chat first. We're going offline for a bit.]
Ambrose sneered. Hmph, a mere live-in son-in-law trying to play mind games with a Lich? Does he not know how many holes are in his ribs?
Ignoring that disruptive guy, Ambrose stated his plan in the group again: [War is nothing more than plundering resources: land, population, supplies, etc. The Desert Dwarves need a strategic retreat, so they need land to settle their people; that is their demand. As long as this problem is solved, they don't need to invade. The Elven race is the same. They come fiercely, but ultimately, it's for profit.]
[Withered Rose: Everyone knows this principle, but do you know what the Elven race wants?]
[Tiga Ultraman: This is exactly the intelligence I need most. The Elven race has plenty of land, and they don't need other races to fill their population. In terms of resources and wealth, the core of the City of Alchemy is gone. Are the remaining peripheral cities and their paltry alchemy industry worth such a fuss? Is there some other reason? If we can find this reason, perhaps we can diffuse this war.]
[Withered Rose: Don't you have a grudge against the Elven race?]
Ambrose paused his finger, but soon continued writing: [Yes, I hate those elves who drove up material prices, but revenge doesn't have to be a massacre. I prefer seeing their faces twist in loss at the negotiation table.]
[Hates Humans: Mental pain is still pain. Wouldn't the Goddess of Pain profit anyway?]
This dwarven vampire suddenly interrupted. He started to feel Ambrose wasn't joking. Diffusing the war seemed just a tiny bit plausible, so he became interested.
Before Ambrose could explain, [Withered Rose] answered for him.
[Withered Rose: The mental pain of high elves is insignificant compared to the damage caused by war. It's like having a lavish dinner placed before the Goddess of Pain, but in the end, she only gets to eat a single leaf of salad. She will definitely be furious.]
[Tiga Ultraman: Correct, that's the logic. We can't make the world completely pain-free, but we can massively reduce pain, leaving that woman impotently furious in her divine realm, wriggling like a worm!]
[Withered Rose: Do you need me to continue gathering information for you?]
Previously, Ambrose had asked [Withered Rose] not to intervene further. Now the situation had changed, and it seemed he needed her help again.
[Tiga Ultraman: No, not necessary. This time I will personally go find the elves for a chat.]
*Apologies, overslept this morning. Update is late.*