Chapter 28: Step-By-Step Guide Teaching You How to Make Fake Goods
Translator: StarveCleric Editor: StarveCleric
“G.o.d Equipment, Eternal Night Scepter, the symbol of authority of the Undead. It was said to be an object the Emperor of Eternal Night kept closely by his side and hidden within it is the reason for his overwhelming strength. However, it has never once appeared in history before.” That was how Eternal Night Scepter was introduced in Ill.u.s.trations of G.o.d Equipment by Tower of Ten Thousand Magic.
As the only Undead Emperor in recent times, the rise of the Emperor of Eternal Night and his disappearance were equally mystifying. No one knew how he rose to power, and similarly, no one would have guessed he would be defeated in at his strongest state. However, quite a few people reckoned that his sudden rise to power might be related to this G.o.d Equipment.
“This G.o.d Equipment which has never appeared on the stage of history has had its existence questioned (By presenting the head of one who spread such rumors, one can claim 100 gold coins from the Xiluo Empire’s 7th Administrative Bureau), but there are numerous Royal Guards and followers of his, with me included in their midst, who heard him mutter these words.”
“You want to obtain my power and authority? Go and find it, the object that I have put my everything into— Eternal Night Scepter.”
“The Emperor’s wisdom is as deep and vast as the ocean. No one would have thought that the invincible Eternal Night army would fail. But he was the only one who wasn’t fooled by appearances, the Soulfire that burnt in his eyes allowed him to peer into the future. That seemingly ominous mumbling of his was actually his way of pa.s.sing down his will for the future of the Empire, when he’s gone.”
“Ever since his disappearance (With me included in the midst, there is still numerous high-tier Undead who refuse to believe that their invincible Emperor would die in battle), a rumor has been spreading like wildfire. ‘Only the owner of Eternal Night Scepter can become the successor of the Undead Emperor’ has already become the common knowledge among all intelligent Undead. If only there was really someone who obtained the scepter, then perhaps the Empire wouldn’t have ended up like that. The Emperor has already prepared the best future for the Undead Empire, but…”
“The foolish Undead Lords actually ignored the teachings of our Emperor. After his departure, they engaged in an internal strife for their own benefits. Despite not having any legitimacy, they hoped to use violence to forcefully ascend to become the Undead Emperor of the new generation. In the end, the dream of forming a great Undead Empire bursts and the invincible Yongye army ground itself down. Eventually, its remaining members formed the Xiluo Empire.”
“Due to this historical reason, even though the authority of Xiluo is split between 12 of its strongest Senators, it is still considered an Empire. However, we won’t allow anyone within our midst to climb up to that seat. That seat of the Undead Emperor has been empty for over a hundred years and it is destined to remain empty until the owner of that scepter appears — The Keeper of History, the 7th Senator of Xiluo Empire Spider Marquis, the Eternal Royal Guard of the Undead Emperor, Lionheart.”
Cough, when I saw this ‘known work of history’ written by little Lionheart, my jaw immediately dropped. I really don’t how I should react to this. If I was still living; sweat, cold sweat, sweat profusely, sweat like a waterfall and Genghis Khan, I’m afraid none of it would be sufficient to explain my complicated emotions then.
TL: It is a pun. Genghis Khan has the character for ‘sweat’ in its Chinese name.
From a certain perspective, the joke that I made in bad humor has achieved an effect way beyond my expectations. Today, in order to make this Underground World even more chaotic, I had prepared to realize the latter half of the joke with malice.
Eternal Night Scepter is a meter-long black wooden scepter. It may seem like it is entirely made of wood, but in reality, its interior is filled with bone powder.
I made the scepter personally and the blood rose carvings and ornaments on it were all to my style. My companions back then would recognize it as my work with a single glance. The scepter even had the words ‘Eternal Night Scepter’, which I have written with Death Ice Mana, an attribute that was exclusive to me. Just the outer appearance itself screamed that it was a high-tier item but even so, it was still far from being enough.
“The first problem we have to settle was its origin. A treasure without an origin would cast doubts on its authenticity. Adam, sign on this doc.u.ment with your Soul Imprint.”
Looking at the doc.u.ment, Adam, the type of person who only feared that the world wasn’t sufficiently chaotic, gave a hearty laugh and happily signed his name on it.
“Adam Han.” The fire-like words that quietly burned on the paper were surprisingly cool. The Soul Imprint, which originated from the soul, is different for everyone. It is the symbol of the ident.i.ty of a Legend-rank and is entirely impossible to forge.
The name that I wrote on the scepter with gray Death Ice Mana smelled heavily of death and ice. It was my Soul Imprint when I was the Emperor of Eternal Night, and thus, its presence added to the authenticity of the scepter.
What I wanted him to sign was a doc.u.ment entrusting the auction of this scepter to someone else. The one entrusted with the task is the biggest auction in the city where the Underground Alliance was formed, Velkastance City.
At the very least, this doc.u.ment of authentication proved that the Eternal Night Scepter originated from the hands of Hero Adam Han. This strongly hinted that the origin of the G.o.d Equipment was legitimate and that it was the spoils of war Adam retrieved from the Emperor of Eternal Night. Adam was using his own reputation to ensure that the scepter is real!
When word spreads out, everyone would suspect that Adam had hidden the Eternal Night Scepter after defeating the Emperor of Eternal Night. If so, the Eternal Night Scepter was likely to be a real.
Cough, in any case, what was written on the doc.u.ment was indeed the truth. Adam did receive the scepter from me. However, you couldn’t blame me if you misunderstand the timing when he received the scepter…
After that, I grabbed onto the end of the scepter and infused magic into it. On the other hand, Adam grabbed onto the other end and infused his power into it as well. Then, with a twist, a pull, and a rotation…
Kacha
When the fire and ice mana collided with one another, an explosion immediately occurred and the scepter nearly broke into pieces. Countless cracks appeared on its surface and on one end, the scars from being incinerated by flames could be seen while on the end, a gray-black color from corrosion and frost.
“Alright, this would be the damage marks when the Emperor of Eternal Night and the Red Lotus Hero fought. So, if there’s anything wrong with it, they could blame it on the damage it incurred during the battle.”
But it still looked a bit new, thus I threw it on the floor, jumped and stepped on it. Adam wanted to come over and ‘help’ as well, but I immediately kicked him away with my foot.
This rascal didn’t know how to control his strength properly and his strength was exceptional. If the scepter was left to him to play with, it would immediately break immediately. Then, wouldn’t what I did before go to waste?
“Un, the scars of history on the scepter is still a little lacking, but it should suffice.” Seeing the scepter which was full of dust and footprints, I nodded my head in satisfaction. It was no longer that brand new wooden scepter anymore. At this moment, it was obviously an ancient artifact which had undergone the trial of time.
Margaret went into deep thoughts and after hesitating for a moment, she spoke up.
“No matter how real it looks, but…”
“Yes, it is still not enough.” Of course, I would know it wasn’t enough. The Eich Continent had a different way of authenticating artifacts compared to that of my previous world. People did not just depend on their experience and knowledge to find flaws in the object. This is a world with true G.o.ds and innumerable divination techniques. As such, faking an object wasn’t that easy.
However, I had also considered this problem from the very start. Both Adam and I had once attained the powers of a SemiG.o.d, the most powerful existence below true G.o.ds. Normal divination magic was ineffective to us. Even so, there were still a few powers that were rather troublesome.
The High Priest’s Revelation of G.o.d Spell allowed a person to pose questions to the G.o.d he served. If the G.o.d happened to be free (Even if a priest favored by the G.o.d used this art, the probability of success of was still less than 1%), they would answer your question. However, the answer was limited to only ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
Archmage’s Otherworldly Art of Truth summoned a Truth Spirit from another world, at which, one was allowed to ask him questions. But the only answers it could give was ‘YES’ or ‘NO’.
TL: This yes and no is written in English, thus the caps.
There’s also the Witch’s Tarot Divination. It brought the user to the truth by reading the lines of fate. However, it could only answer with a ‘True’ or ‘False’ as well…
From what I know, those reliable divination techniques had a common problem. Putting aside the fact that they were usually ineffective, they could answer with ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Also, the shorter the question, the greater the possibility of one receiving an answer. After divining once, the person wouldn’t be able to divine again for a period of time.
This wasn’t a coincidence but a law of the world. The stronger a divination technique is, the closer it is to the truth of the world and thus, the stronger the restrictions on it. If you wish to obtain more intelligence, you will have to be prepared to sacrifice more in return to uncover the truth. At the same time, it made it likely for one to neglect the underlying truth behind the matter, especially with the huge cost involved in it.
Indeed, I could have paid a price and just like how I hid on the lines of fate, I could make divination techniques ineffective on the Eternal Night Scepter. But sometimes, being unable to find a problem with something would indicate that there is a problem with it. If divination couldn’t be used on it, it was likely there was something wrong it. Then, the conclusion was clear, we needed to make the divination techniques come up to the wrong conclusions.
Causing the 100% accurate divination techniques to come to a wrong conclusion seems incredible? Hehe, sometimes, just because it’s correct doesn’t mean it’s true, and just because it’s true doesn’t mean it’s correct…
Since it could only answer with ‘yes’ or ‘no’, a two-dimensional answer, there were actually a lot of things we could do with it.
I deduced that there were 4 questions that they were likely to ask. Firstly, also the most important question that had to be asked, was this scepter the Eternal Scepter handmade by the Emperor of Eternal Night… We don’t have to play any tricks with this one, this scepter was definitely handmade by the Emperor of Eternal Night.
Then, the second most possible question to be asked was ‘Is the secrets of the Emperor of Eternal Night hidden within?’.
This question was simple but of great importance. If there was no secret hidden within it, then the scepter was as good as a fake, regardless of its authenticity. I could personally a.s.sure you that this question would be asked over and over again.
Thus, I had already written a note with the word ‘secret’ on it…
Alright, I know this seemed like a bad prank but it should be useful. After all, those dumb divination techniques would definitely be screaming ‘YES!’ ‘yes’ ‘true’
The third, ‘Is there the secret to becoming the Emperor of the Xiluo Empire hidden in the scepter/ Is it useful against those Undead Lord?’
This question was asking whether the G.o.d Equipment had value in helping one rule over the Xiluo Empire… Alright, I wrote the little secrets of those Undead Lords and their little quirks within it, such as like the Queen of Bone Dragon Gria sang very awfully and snored in her sleep. If you took these little secrets and threatened them, if they were to give in to it, then naturally, it would be useful to your life in politics. Of course, the prerequisite was that you had to avoid getting silenced first…
Based on my understanding of them, it was much more probably for one to head to a Human Empire and demand the emperor to step down and pa.s.s the throne over to you than for those great evil beings to give in…
The fourth, ‘Is the secret related to why the Emperor of Eternal Night was so powerful/ related to great power’
Cough ‘Study hard every day and aim for greater heights. Fight hard against mobs and try your best to level up.’ This was definitely the truth behind the Emperor of Eternal Night’s strength. You can feel free to challenge that if you disagree with it…
Alright, now that I had prepared all these methods and the issue behind the authenticity and importance of the Eternal Night Scepter had been resolved, the news of it would spread across the entire Underground World from the day that the auction received the good. It would draw the attention of all powers in the Underground World, even though no one would be able to use it… No, not only that, the Surface World would send people over as well. At the very least, those Senators of the Undead Xiluo Empire would all go in a frenzy for it… If the Undead Empire and the Underground City Lords were to suddenly get into a fight, then maybe the 2nd Calamity could be somehow be avoided just like that.
Fine, I admit that I was being too positive, but trying doesn’t hurt right.
“So, my first step to causing chaos in the Underground World has been achieved…”
Looking at this scepter, I still felt a little dissatisfied. I didn’t think that people would be able to tell that it was a fake. However, to the powerful experts, unreasonable intuition was sometime much more reliable than rational thinking, knowledge and experience. It was almost impossible to fool one’s intuition.
Thus, after hesitating for a moment, I said to Adam.
“Since I have already finished serving my sentence, return my Roland Sacred Sword to me.”
“Here.” Without a second word, the fiery red Adam removed the only different color on him, the silver-white broken sword on his waist, and pa.s.sed it over to me.
Standing beside him, Margaret was stunned. She seemed to have wanted to say something but the words didn’t come out.
“My phylactery, we haven’t seen each other for a long time.”
Yes, this was where my soul resided. As long as my phylactery wasn’t destroyed, I, as a Lich, would be indestructible. The phylactery could take on any shape; it could even be a book or a hat.
From the secret manual in the system’s Lottery, that otherworldly Uncle Tom once broke his soul into 7 parts and made into 7 phylacteries…
Even though it made the person difficult to kill like that, wasn’t he afraid of turning into a madman with personality disorder when he split his soul into so many pieces… Alright, perhaps he was already crazy from the very start.
The phylactery of a prisoner was naturally left in the hands of the warden, Adam, and he brought it along with him everywhere. Of course, this rascal was still quite smart. At the very least, he wasn’t dumb enough to try using my phylactery to threaten and force me to play along with his games…
Touching this broken sword, I felt a little sentimental. The reason why I used this family heirloom to make my phylactery back then was because I shared a name with this Roland Sacred Sword. Also, this sword, dubbed as the ‘Indestructible Sword’, had survived thousand years without a scratch on it. But now, under the tide of fate, our country had come to an end and this indestructible sword has been ‘destroyed’.
In this moment, with my phylactery in my hand, the gray-colored mana around me gradually expanded. The discomfort of being suppressed disappeared and I regained some of my strength.
“Legend-rank primary stage? If so, it would become easier to do many things.”
I rubbed at the broken edge of my sword and easily pinched out some metal fragments. The pulsation of a soul could be seen from the fragments.
Afterward, just like how one scattered sesame seed on top of a biscuit, I scattered the fragments on the ‘Eternal Night Scepter’ before stroking lightly on it. There was a flash of light and sparkling gems resembling stars appeared on the scepter.
The gems sparkled a brilliant silver radiance and starlight seemed to be hopping from one gem to the other, crossing each other. If you were to take a closer look, the starlight seemed to have a tempo of its own, as though a living being. After embedding the fragments of my soul into it, this Eternal Night Scepter gained its own soul and became alive.
However, different from this broken sword which held my soul, the person wielded this scepter would be affected by the words of my soul and his decisions would be influenced by me. After a period of time, his soul might even be corrupted by mine, causing him to become my slave… The situation seemed a little wrong, haven’t I retired from being a Demon King for a very long time? Alright, seemed like old habits accidentally…
Looking at the sight, Adam sucked in a breath of cold air. He might not have understood what I just did but he instinctively felt that this scepter had become extremely dangerous and that there was something eerie about it.
On the other hand, Margaret stared at me furiously. She could roughly tell what I was doing and she was using her glare to express her displeasure. But her protest was ignored by me, as usual.
“Fine, seems like my habit kicked up again and I went a little overboard. But it had to be at least of this level for the Underground Autarchs, Undead Lords and all of those experts to desire it to the point of being willing to jump into the eye of the storm.”
Then, I opened my mouth and swallowed the broken sword. The broken sword didn’t fall through my body which consisted solely of bones. Rather, it disappeared completely.
I had transferred the broken sword to somewhere and safe. Right now, it could be said that I had been finally released from my sentence.
“It is said that the trip to the headquarters of the Underground Alliance Velkastance City will take around 2 months. We have to prepare in advance. Let Annie bring the team there, it is about time for her to try standing on her own feet. After all, you can’t shelter her from the storm for her entire life. Don’t worry, I will follow along and operate in the shadows to protect her.”
After finis.h.i.+ng my piece, I turned around to leave.
“Going to Velkastance will take 2 months? No, Master, you are talking about ancient times. There are 3 routes now and it is much faster.”
I glanced at the eager maid behind my back.
“Although I do not hold much expectation for your words, say your piece.”
“Going by normal carriage would indeed take close to 3 months but the advancement in technology has created a new and faster route. The first route only takes a second, the Dwarf’s Dimension Ripper Machine…
“…Isn’t that the teleportation portal of those suicidal Dwarves? Forget it, I don’t want to be stuck in another dimension. If you want to travel to other dimensions and become the queen of some Back Palace, go ahead!”
TL: Back Palace -> The place where all the concubines of Ancient Chinese Emperors live.
“The second route would only take 3 days, the rocket car of the Goblins…”
“No, that will only take 1 second as well. After 1 second, I would be blasted to the heavens. Forget it, I have already guessed what the final route would be. You don’t have to go on anymore.”
But the female head maid simply propped up her gla.s.ses and secretly laughed beneath her expressionless face as she followed behind her master, continuing on with what she was saying.
“3 hours, the Goblin rocket. It goes directly up and down and it is both convenient and fast…”
“Is this any different from the one you just said? Oh, one has wheels and the other one doesn’t? Just how much do you want to kill me to obtain my wealth? I think I have treated you quite well to not deserve such treatment!”
The departure of the unreliable master and servant left the two SemiG.o.d behind in deep thoughts.
“Annie huh? Perhaps, what Roland said isn’t wrong. It is about time for her to give it a try. After all, at her age, we were already running around the world in our party.”
“I know that Annie should go out to gain some experience, but aren’t you afraid of plunging the world into chaos by setting Roland free?”
The Hero Adam laughed in response to the doubts of the Saint.
“You probably won’t believe me when I say this, but my intuition tells me that this world might come to an end anytime, and the only unknown factor is this Lich.?”
Hearing this, Margaret’s face scrunched into displeasure. Then, with her eyebrows raised, her face changed into one of disdain.
“You sure believe him, I…”
She wanted to say something in disdain but Adam’s straightforward gaze towards her prevented her from spouting any lies. In the end, she stomped her feet.
“Don’t look at me like this, you block of gay wood. I believe you, are you satisfied? He might be a b.a.s.t.a.r.d but he is cunning. If he can’t do it, then n.o.body else in the world would be able to!”