Chapter 28

The artifact, the Eternal Night Scepter, a symbol of the Undying King's authority, is said to be a personal item of the Great Lord of Eternal Night, containing the powerful secrets of the Great Lord. However, it has never appeared on the historical stage. The artifact catalog of the Tower of Ten Thousand Laws describes the Eternal Night Scepter as such.

As the only Undead Emperor in modern times, the rise and disappearance of the Eternal Night King are equally legendary. No one knows how he rose to power, just as no one could predict that he would be defeated at the height of his power. However, many speculate that his sudden rise is closely related to this artifact.

"This artifact, which has never appeared in history, was once questioned about its existence (killing a rumor-monger can earn you 100 gold coins from the Seventh Administrative Hall of the Hero Empire by presenting the head). But many of the Emperor's close guards and attendants, including myself, have heard him whisper these words."

"Do you want my power and authority? Go and find it; I have placed everything there—the Eternal Night Scepter."

"The Emperor's wisdom was as deep and profound as the sea. At the time, no one expected the invincible Eternal Night Legion to have the possibility of failure. But he was not deceived by the illusion. The soul flames in his eyes had already seen through the future. His seemingly ominous mutterings were actually instructions for the kingdom's future after his absence."

"After his disappearance (including myself, many high-ranking undead still do not believe that the invincible Emperor was defeated), this rumor spread like wildfire. 'The owner of the Eternal Night Scepter can become the successor of the Undead Emperor' has long been a consensus among all intelligent undead. If someone truly obtains the scepter, then the empire might not face its end. The Emperor has already prepared the best future for the Undead Empire, and..."

"The foolish undead monarchs, ignoring the Emperor's teachings, began to fight for power after his departure. Lacking legitimacy, they hoped to force their way to the top through military might, becoming the new Undead Emperor. As a result, the soon-to-be-established Undead Empire turned into a mirage, the invincible Eternal Night Army was exhausted by internal strife, and the remnants formed the Siro Empire."

"Due to this historical reason, even though the twelve most powerful Archmages share power, it is still an empire. But we will not allow any of us to ascend to that position. The throne has been vacant for over a hundred years and will remain so until the owner of the scepter appears. — Recorded by the Historian, the Seventh Archmage of the Siro Empire, Marquis Spider, and the Emperor's eternal guard, Reinhardt."

Cough, when I first saw Little Reinhardt's "historical work," my jaw dropped. I really didn't know how to react. If I could still sweat, cold sweat, heavy sweat, waterfall sweat, and even Genghis Khan's sweat wouldn't be enough to express my extremely complex feelings.

In a sense, the malicious joke I played back then has already achieved more than expected. Now, to make this underground world even more chaotic, I am preparing the second half of the joke with full malice.

The Eternal Night Scepter is a black wooden staff about one meter long. It looks like wood, but it is actually filled with bone powder inside, making it a specially crafted staff of bone and wood.

I carved it myself, and the blood-red rose patterns and decorations are full of my personal style. Old comrades would recognize it at a glance. The handle is inscribed with the four words "Eternal Night Scepter" in my unique gray death ice magic. Just by looking at it, you can tell it's a super high-end item, but that's not enough.

"The first thing to solve is its origin. Treasures without a source always raise suspicion. Adam, sign this document with your soul mark."

I glanced at the document, and the troublemaker Adam laughed and happily signed his name.

"Adam Han." The fiery red letters burned on the paper without any heat, a soul mark derived from the soul emblem, unique to each person, a symbol of a legendary figure's identity, impossible to forge.

The name on my staff, the gray death ice letters, carrying the scent of ice and death, is my soul mark as the Great Lord of Eternal Night, adding to its authenticity.

What I asked him to sign is a consignment auction document, with the consignee being the largest auction house in Viktandi, the city where the underground alliance is located.

With this certificate, it at least proves that the Eternal Night Scepter comes from the hands of the hero Adam Han. Moreover, it specifically declares that the artifact's origin is legitimate, obtained by Adam from the Great Lord of Eternal Night, and Adam guarantees the document's authenticity with his honor!

When this news spreads, everyone will speculate that Adam secretly kept the Eternal Night Scepter after defeating the Great Lord of Eternal Night, making its origin seem real and reliable.

Cough, what the document says is indeed true. Adam did get the scepter from me, just with a slight discrepancy in time. If you misunderstand, it's not my fault...

Then, I held the scepter, infused it with magic, and had Adam hold the other end, infusing his own power. We twisted, pulled, and turned...

"Crack."

Fire and ice collided, causing the scepter to almost break, with cracks all over it. One side was scorched by flames, and the other was corroded and turned gray-black by ice.

"Alright, this creates the damage marks from the battle between the Great Lord of Eternal Night and the Red Lotus Hero. Even if something is off, they will attribute it to battle damage."

But it still looked too new, so I threw it on the ground and jumped and stomped on it. Adam tried to "help," but I kicked him away.

This guy doesn't know his own strength. If he jumps, it will definitely break, and all our efforts will be in vain.

"Okay, the historical marks are勉强算是有了，凑合吧." Looking at the dusty and footprint-covered scepter, I nodded in satisfaction. It was no longer the pristine wooden staff but a well-worn, battle-scarred relic, somewhat like an artifact.

Margaret, standing to the side, seemed thoughtful. After hesitating, she spoke.

"Regardless of how real it looks, but..."

"Yes, it's not enough." I knew it wasn't enough. This isn't like identifying artifacts from my past life, where you can find flaws with experience and knowledge. In this world, with magic and true gods, there are various divination spells, and faking it isn't easy.

However, this was within my expectations. Both Adam and I were demigods, the strongest beings below true gods, and ordinary divination spells are basically ineffective. But there are a few troublesome abilities in this world.

High-ranking priests can use the Divine Inquiry spell to ask their true god questions. If the true god is available (even the most favored priest has less than a 1/10 chance of success), they might answer your question, but only with "yes" or "no."

Archmages can use the Planar Truth spell to summon a true spirit from another world and ask questions, but the spirit can only answer "YES" or "NO."

Witches can use Tarot divination to interpret the threads of fate, but they can only answer "true" or "false"...

As far as I know, reliable divination spells have this issue: they can only answer "yes" or "no," sometimes not at all. The shorter the question, the more likely you'll get an answer, and you can't predict again for a while after one divination.

This isn't a coincidence but a rule of this world. The more powerful the divination spell, the closer it is to the world's truth, and the more strictly it is restricted. The more information you want, the more you consume in the process, and the deeper truth you can't uncover.

I can indeed pay a price to make divination spells targeting the Eternal Night Scepter ineffective, like hiding my existence on the threads of fate. But sometimes, not finding a problem is a problem, and being unable to investigate is a sign of something fishy. So, the conclusion is clear: we need to make the divination spells give incorrect conclusions.

Making a 100% accurate divination spell give a wrong answer sounds impossible? Ha, sometimes, correct doesn't mean true, and true doesn't mean correct...

Since they can only answer "yes" or "no," there are many ways to play with it.

I outlined three possible questions they might ask. The first, and most certain, is whether this staff is the Eternal Night Scepter personally crafted by the Great Lord of Eternal Night... This doesn't need to be faked; it's definitely real and reliable.

The second most likely question is, "Does it contain the Great Lord of Eternal Night's secrets?"

This question is simple but contains a lot of information. If there are no secrets, then even if the scepter is real, it's as worthless as a fake. I guarantee this question will be asked first and many times.

So, I already put a note inside, written in Chinese, saying "secret"...

Okay, this is indeed a bit of a prank, but it should be effective. After all, those stupid divination spells will definitely say "YES!" "There is" "True."

The third question is, "Does it contain the secret to becoming the Emperor of the Siro Empire / Does it help in becoming an undead monarch?"

This asks whether the artifact has political value in ruling the Siro Empire. Well, I put in some small secrets and quirks of the undead monarchs, like how the Bone Dragon Queen sings terribly and snores while sleeping. If you use these secrets to threaten them, and they back down, it will naturally help your political life, of course, assuming you don't get killed...

Honestly, based on my understanding, if they really back down, you might as well go to a human kingdom and tell the king you want to be the boss and take the throne. The success rate would be much higher...

The fourth question is, "Is it related to the Great Lord of Eternal Night's powerful secrets / powerful strength?"

Cough, "Study hard, make progress every day, fight monsters, and level up," absolutely true. This is the Great Lord of Eternal Night's secret to power. If you disagree, come and argue...

Alright, I believe these tricks will spread the authenticity and importance of the Eternal Night Scepter throughout the underground world from the day the auction house receives it, drawing the attention of all factions. Even if no one can use it... No, more than that, the surface world will send people over, and the Archmages of the Undead Siro Empire will go crazy... If the undead empire starts fighting with the underground city lords, the second world-ending catastrophe might pass by mysteriously.

Okay, I admit I'm being overly optimistic, but it's worth a try.

"So, the initial goal of causing chaos in the underground world is achieved..."

Looking at the scepter, I still felt unsatisfied. I don't think anyone will see through the fake, but for super-strong beings, sometimes irrational intuition is more reliable than knowledge and experience, and that instinct is hard to hide.

After hesitating for a moment, I said to Adam.

"Since I've served my time, give me the Roland Holy Sword back."

"Here." Without a word, the fiery red Adam handed me the only other color on his body, the silver-white broken sword at his waist.

Margaret, standing nearby, was stunned, wanting to say something but ultimately didn't.

"Ah, my phylactery, long time no see."

Yes, this is where my soul resides. As long as the phylactery is not destroyed, the lich will not die. A phylactery can take many forms, even a book or a hat.

From the secret manual I obtained from the lottery system, that Tom from another world once divided his soul into seven parts, creating seven phylacteries, even naming them Horcruxes...

Actually, I want to say that while this makes it hard to die, splitting the soul into so many parts could lead to schizophrenia... Well, maybe he was crazy from the start.

My prisoner's phylactery was naturally with Adam, the jailer, and he always carried it with him. Of course, he was smart enough not to use it to threaten me or force me to do anything else...

Caressing the broken sword, I sighed. I chose the family heirloom as my phylactery because the Roland Holy Sword, also known as the "Indestructible Sword," had remained unharmed for a thousand years. But now, in the tide of fate, our country is gone, and this indestructible sword is "destroyed."

With the phylactery in hand, the gray magic around me slowly grew, and I felt some of my strength return.

"Legendary first stage? Then, many things will become much easier recently."

Next, I ran my finger along the opening of the broken sword and easily pinched out some metal fragments, which had soul fluctuations around them.

I scattered the fragments on the "Eternal Night Scepter" like sprinkling sesame seeds on a pancake, then gently touched it. In a moment of dazzling light, the scepter was adorned with star-like gems.

The gems continuously shimmered with silver light, the starlight jumping and intertwining between them, rising and falling. If you observed closely, the light had its own rhythm, like a living, breathing organism. After infusing it with soul fragments, the Eternal Night Scepter had a soul and was alive!

However, unlike the broken sword that held my soul, the strong wielder of this scepter will hear my soul's voice, be influenced by my decisions, and even be corrupted by my soul over time, gradually becoming my slave... Well, that's a bit off, I haven't been a great evil overlord for many years! Okay, personal habit, I slipped...

Seeing this, Adam drew a sharp breath. Although he didn't know what I did, he instinctively felt the scepter was dangerous and wrong.

But Margaret glared at me, seeing something and indicating her displeasure with her eyes, but her protests were ignored as usual.

"Alright, I slipped into old habits, indeed went too far. But at least it needs to be this level to make the underground overlords, undead monarchs, and wild super-strong beings lose their minds and jump into the chaos."

Then, I opened my mouth and swallowed the broken sword. The sword didn't fall into my bones but disappeared.

I had already moved the broken sword to a safe place, and now I am fully released.

"Apparently, it takes more than two months to reach Viktandi, the headquarters of the underground city alliance. We need to prepare early. Let Annie lead the team; it's time for her to stand on her own. You can't protect her from the storms of life forever. Don't worry, I'll go with her and continue to be the mastermind behind the scenes, ensuring she doesn't die."

With that, I turned and left.

"Two months to Viktandi? No, Master, that's old news. There are now three faster routes."

I glanced at the eager maid behind me.

"Though I don't expect much, go ahead and tell me."

"Regular carriages indeed take nearly three months, but technological advancements have made the new routes much faster. The first one takes just one second, the Gnome Dimensional Rift Machine..."

"Isn't that the Gnome teleportation device? No way, I don't want to get stuck in another dimension again. If you want to travel to another world and have a female harem, go ahead!"

"The second one takes three days, the Goblin Rocket Car..."

"No, that's still one second, and I'll be blown up in one second. Forget it, I can guess the last one, no need to say more."

But the maid, smirking behind her glasses, continued regardless of my departure.

"Three hours, the Goblin Rocket, straight up and down, convenient and fast..."

"Is there any difference? Oh, one has wheels, the other doesn't? Are you really trying to kill me for profit? I've been pretty good to you."

The unreliable master and servant left, leaving the two demigods in deep thought.

"Annie? Perhaps Roland isn't wrong; it's time for her to try. At her age, we were already forming teams and adventuring around the world."

"I know Annie should go out, but are you really not afraid of the world going into chaos by letting Roland loose?"

Faced with the Sage's question, the Hero Adam chuckled.

"Don't disbelieve me, my intuition tells me the world could end at any moment, and the only variable is this lich. Do you believe it?"

Hearing this, Margaret's face tightened, full of displeasure, then her eyebrows raised in disdain.

"You believe him, I..."

She wanted to say something disdainful, but in the face of Adam's straight gaze, she couldn't lie. In the end, she stomped her foot.

"Don't look at me like that, you gay stiff. I believe it, he's a jerk, but he's cunning enough. If he can't do it, no one can!"