Chapter 417: Dawn's Hand 'Ande' (22)

Joyful bird.

Half an hour later, Luosen disguised himself as 'Dawn's Hand Ande', while the real Ande vanished directly.

Luosen wasn't worried at all about being exposed.

Because Liv directly extracted all of Ande's memories.

Throughout the extraction process, Ande offered not the slightest resistance, even actively cooperating, like a male mantis voluntarily sacrificing itself.

In the room, Luosen pinched the slight flab on his belly, then carefully examined himself in the mirror.

"Any flaws?"

Liv circled Luosen once, her gaze tracing his waist birthmark and the few black moles on his arm one by one.

"Aside from expression and gaze, it's almost identical to the real person."

She paused, then asked: "Your Majesty, although the Mage Association rules Grey City, in the whole Abyss of Pain it's nothing at all. Why risk entangling with them?"

Luosen carefully imitated Ande's expression: "I don't want to either, but between Grey City and the Goddess of Annihilation, I'd rather remain entangled with the former."

Having said that, he turned his head to glance at Liv.

"The Goddess of Annihilation surely came looking for you too. She probably did so even earlier than I did, right?"

Liv's face showed a hint of embarrassment: "Your Majesty, I'd very much like to tell you this, but you know, not only you, I and my master are far unable to oppose the Goddess of Annihilation; we can only stay silent."

Luosen nodded: "I can understand."

"But since we've already made things clear, I hope to meet with your master again."

"Of course."

As they spoke, Liv began kneeling on the ground to pray.

After a few minutes, when she raised her head again, her eyes held a watery pink glow, and her expression became even more alluring.

She walked to Luosen's side, raised her hand, and lightly stroked his body.

"Your Majesty Luosen, your rate of progress truly exceeds my expectations; I thought you'd need at least two years to reach this level."

Luosen grabbed her continually probing arm and laughed: "Great Joyful One, a sword of annihilation hangs over my head, yet I have no trace of lustful desire."

The Joyful One Talanya shrugged, turned, and walked to a nearby chair to sit down.

"The Goddess of Annihilation has found my true form and wishes me to become her subordinate deity. I have no choice but to obey."

Luosen leaned against the wall by the mirror, arms crossed: "Alright, I understand you, but my trust in you has thus been greatly diminished."

The Joyful One sighed, a hint of helplessness on her face: "Sorry, Your Majesty, but the weak struggle to control their fate, so I understand you as well."

"You and my supreme deity have a wager, and the deity demands I not interfere in any way. Thus, this will be my final assistance to you."

Regarding that, Luosen had nothing to say.

Fortunately, he had secretly ignited the divine flame, grasped the essence of divinity, and gained a fairly stable income of source substance.

Thus, his mind remained calm at all times, yet on the surface he still let out a long sigh, his face showing a hint of uneasy anxiety.

"Ah~~ The path of a true god is indeed rugged and arduous."

Talanya raised her brows: "That's because Your Majesty chose the most treacherous road."

"If you were to bend slightly, with your current follower base you could easily become a core deity of the Annihilation Pantheon."

"But you insist on retaining your independence, which naturally means facing external storms."

Luosen wore an expression of 'deeply feeling the same': "You're not wrong; perhaps I should consider changing course."

"What, Your Majesty, are you planning to concede?"

Luosen shook his head: "Concede half, I intend to do everything possible to win the wager, prove my talent to the Goddess of Annihilation, and boost my leverage for allegiance."

In fact, he had no intention of conceding at all, because his beliefs directly clash with those of the Goddess of Annihilation.

He lacks the qualification to concede—victory or death! But Talanya failed to see this, for in her eyes Luosen is merely a mortal, and mortal thoughts are unstable; as long as he is willing to submit, there is no insoluble contradiction between them.

Now seeing Luosen have the idea of yielding, she is also quite pleased, for it means they can easily obtain a huge number of stable followers in the new world.

Thus, she lightly clapped: "That's a great idea; then I'll congratulate Your Majesty in advance on your success."

Having said everything that needed to be said, Luosen then said: "Well, then I won't disturb you further."

He put on his clothes, turned, and prepared to leave the room.

"Wait a moment~"

Talanya called out to him: "Your Majesty, given the current situation, I bear an inescapable responsibility."

"I'm sorry; as compensation, this is for you."

As she spoke, a faint light flashed in the air before her, condensing into a scroll.

"Because each god's personality differs, the source substance attributes they acquire also vary."

"Yet source substance also shares many commonalities; this scroll records all my understanding of those commonalities, hoping it may help Your Majesty in the future."

Luosen's heart stirred slightly; he already understood her intention.

"No wonder she's a prostitute goddess, skilled at dancing with her sleeves, hedging her bets."

Getting back to the point, this material truly helps him greatly, so he naturally owes them a favor.

He took the scroll, glanced through it quickly, recorded its contents into the Laifu database, then returned the scroll.

"Great Joyful One, thank you very much for this gift."

The Joyful One smiled faintly: "Good luck, Your Majesty."

Afterward, the watery pink glow in Liv's eyes faded, her alluring aura diminished considerably, and she returned to the appearance of Apostle Liv.

Luosen had already finished dressing: "Miss Liv, farewell~"

"Farewell~ Your Majesty." Luosen dressed and went out, turned and walked to the VIP room, following Ande's behavior pattern, lightly knocked on the door, and called softly.

"Mr. Alaikesi~~ Mr. Alaikesi~~"

After a while, Alekesi's response came from inside the room.

I heard you, stop arguing.

After a while, the neatly dressed Alex opened the door and stepped out, his face once again assuming that previous aloof, arrogant expression, but his gaze was much more unsettled than before, constantly looking left and right, searching.

Luosen immediately knew he was looking for Liv, and inwardly sighed: 'Liv's new lapdog.'

He naturally wouldn't expose this: 'Sir, it's about time; we should head back.'

Unexpectedly, Alex waved his hand: 'You go back first; no need to worry about me.'

Luosen wore an 'unexpected' expression: 'Sir, it's not safe outside.'

'Just a bunch of ants; nothing unsafe about it.'

He impatiently waved his hand: 'Alright, don't bother me anymore, get lost!'

Looking at his demeanor, it seemed that if Luosen said another word, he would strike to punish.

Luosen imitated Ande's reaction, immediately retreating in a timid, obsequious manner.

He retreated all the way to the first-floor hall, then immediately straightened his back, his face showing a stern look, and thereafter walked forward with dragon-like strides and tiger steps for a distance, arriving beside a pile of entangled 'meat worms'.

He lifted his foot and kicked a meat worm that was in the process of pupating.

'Jack, don't use so much force, be careful the gun breaks in Ruth's butt.'

Jack is the leader of the Iron Stone Gang, and the Iron Stone Gang is merely a triad in Grey City; Luosen, playing Ande, is the gang's backer.

So although Jack calls the wind and summons the rain before his underlings, before Ande he is a fawning, obsequious dog who would eat feces rather than gnaw a bone if told to.

He drew his gun outright, rolled up from a cart, stood before Luosen with a sheepish, downcast look: 'Sir, what are your orders?'

'Stay on guard here; if that old gentleman upstairs comes looking for me, tell him I have urgent matters and have returned first. If he has business, he can find me at Dawn Fortress.'

'Yes, sir.'

Luosen nodded: 'Keep busy with your work.'

Having said that, he no longer paid attention to the gang boss, turned and left the Pleasure Bird.

After leaving the brothel, he followed Ande's memory all the way to the Dawn Fortress at the center of Grey City.

Grey City is not large; Luosen soon arrived at the destination.

At this point in time, Aoliangde had just seized a large batch of prisoners from the Dragon Mountain Brotherhood and also killed the official Kageru.

The situation was quite serious; the atmosphere throughout Dawn Fortress felt oppressive, everyone bustling about, fearful that moving slowly would earn them punishment from superiors.

Luosen, portraying Ande, is a Dawn's Hand, equivalent to a vice-president in the Mage Association.

Of course, there are many vice-presidents, a full thirteen.

Originally there should have been fourteen, but Dawn's Hand Gwenyth just defected, and no replacement has been filled yet.

Regardless, the position of Dawn's Hand remains high.

Upon reaching the gate of Dawn Fortress, people continually saluted Luosen, addressing him as 'sir'.

Luosen lifted his chest and raised his head, ignoring the salutations of ordinary mages all the way, heading straight for the private study on the third level of Dawn Fortress.

He intended to go to the study to peruse materials, to thoroughly understand the situation of the Dawn Eye Mage Association.

If he could obtain Grey City's deployment map, that would naturally be ideal.

But before he reached his destination, someone intercepted him.

'Ande, weren't you accompanying the sir out? How did you come back alone?'

The one who stopped him was a graceful but tall female mage, a full head taller than Ande.

Before her, Ande seemed like a child.

She possessed fifteen rings of power, two full rings more than Ande's thirteen.

Ande's memory informed Luosen that this person was also a Dawn's Hand, named Natalie, daughter of Association President Savros, herself possessing strong magical talent, and is indeed the second-in-command of the Dawn Eye.

Ande's memory also told him that Miss Natalie's magical talent was superb; from childhood she had been favored by the president, making her haughty and disdainful of everyone, and the less capable someone is, the more she looks down on them.

And Ande happened to be a Dawn's Hand with little ability, so he is constantly picked on by this young lady.

He immediately nodded and bowed: 'Miss Natalie, Sir Alex is enjoying himself greatly and does not wish to be disturbed. Considering the association is currently short-staffed, I could only return alone first.'

Natalie gave Luosen a look of contempt: 'Your paltry abilities are of little use even staying in the association; serving the sir well is your primary duty.'

'So, go back where you came from. Since the sir doesn't want to see you, wait nearby and make sure you can hear his summons at a moment's notice.'

No sooner had the words fallen than Luosen had yet to respond, when hurried footsteps sounded from the corridor behind them.

Before long, a shadow assassin covered in blood came running up quickly.

Upon seeing Natalie, the assassin immediately halted, face pained, breathless, and said: 'Both sirs, something's wrong!'

'I don't know why, but those escaped prisoners of the Dragon Mountain Brotherhood have become extremely formidable; we are no match for them.'

'Especially Aoliangde—he's terrifyingly strong!'

'All our brothers died in battle; I exerted my utmost and only then managed to break through and return to report.'

With the matter at hand, Natalie immediately forgot about finding fault with Luosen, she waved her hand firmly: 'Come, let's go see my father.'

She turned and walked toward the president's study; after a few steps she turned her head to look at Luosen.

'Are you just standing there like a wooden post? Hurry up and follow!'

(End of chapter)