Chapter 598: Chapter 598 - Trap and Upgrade

The orders Lucien had sent earlier went to Eldran and Reaper.

Both received them through their Administrative Systems at almost the same time.

Neither asked questions. That was one of the reasons Lucien trusted them with this kind of work.

Reaper and Eldran only needed an order that made sense.

And this order was simple.

Spread rumors.

The rumor concerned Lootwell’s future intercontinental teleportation array.

Lootwell was supposedly planning a new array that would connect all five main branches.

The important part was the detail attached to it:

[The new array would require surveys of leyline stability and old spatial pressure points across all continents.]

That part was bait.

But the hidden Origin Core fragment bearers did not know that.

If they were guarding the hidden array, they might try to stop the survey.

If they were using the array for something dangerous, they might try to mislead the survey.

If they were innocent, they might not react much.

That was the point. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Lucien did not need them to confess.

He only needed them to move.

A person hiding in darkness was hard to identify.

A person hiding in darkness who suddenly reached out to protect a secret became much easier to see.

•••

The order carried several attachments:

Watch which factions reacted.

Watch who sent messages.

Watch who moved personnel.

Watch who checked leyline sites.

Watch who visited old nodes.

Watch who contacted hidden allies.

Watch who suddenly stopped talking.

That last one mattered too.

Silence was not innocence.

Sometimes silence was just panic dressed properly.

Lucien also sent a similar directive to the recorders.

The recorders obeyed.

The instructions appeared directly in their systems, arranged into categories, reminders, and priority flags. No one needed to remember a complicated order by memory anymore.

The system would mark it.

The recorders would archive it.

The Shadow Information Network would trace it.

Lucien would read the pattern.

That was how Lootwell worked now.

It did not merely react.

It listened.

Then, when the rumor spread far enough, Lucien would announce the intercontinental array plan himself.

At the peak of rumor pressure.

When everyone who cared had already heard enough to become nervous, but not enough to prepare properly.

That was when the real announcement would fall.

By then, the hidden bearers would have chosen their first reaction.

And first reactions were often the most honest.

Lucien stood inside the Origin Core Shrine, watching the map of the five continents hover before him.

His eyes carried a strange glint.

Whatever those hidden bearers were brewing, he would see through it.

He would not tear the net open yet.

He would feed it a shadow and watch where it tightened.

•••

While the Shadow Information Network and the recorders began their quiet work, Lucien turned to another matter.

The Grace Systems.

More outsiders had received systems through verified faith, service, and contribution.

Lootwell was growing.

So the systems had to grow with it.

Lucien closed his eyes.

Two hundred fragments had now been merged.

The number alone carried weight.

Many things became possible because of it. That’s also why Lucien wanted to upgrade the Grace Systems.

Before, the Grace Systems guided users.They gave direction.

But too much still required physical handling.

Quest acceptance had to pass through chapel boards.

Rewards often required claim stations.

Storage had to be managed manually.

That was acceptable when the system was young.

It was no longer enough.

Lucien began the first upgrade.

From now on, Chapel Quests could be accepted directly through the Grace System.

Completion could be verified through the same channel.

Rewards could be delivered through it.

Lucien tested the structure with a small spirit crystal.

The crystal vanished from his prepared storage array.

Then reappeared in a nearby recorder’s hand through a system-mediated transfer.

Lucien watched it for several breaths.

Then tested again.

This time, the crystal appeared inside a registered storage ring placed on the table.

The transfer succeeded.

His eyes brightened.

The mechanism was not simple teleportation.

It was a layered authority transfer.

The Grace System confirmed the user.

The Origin Core verified the path.

The registered storage ring served as a permitted receiving vessel.

Lucien’s Law of Living Creation stabilized the object so it arrived whole and unchanged.

The Divine Energy in the environment paid the cost.

The system recorded the delivery.

Users who wanted direct delivery would need to register their storage rings with the system.

Those who did not want that could simply receive rewards in their hands.

Privacy clauses were added.

The system would not inspect the contents of a storage ring unless the user gave permission.

Still, the improvement was enormous.

A farmer in a distant branch could complete a soil recovery quest and receive spirit crystals without walking half a day to a counter.

A healer could finish emergency treatment and immediately receive medicine credits.

A student could complete academy assignments and obtain reading tokens.

The world became smoother.

A smooth world wasted less effort.

And effort saved could become growth.

That was worth the cost.

•••

But Lucien did not stop there.

Rewards could be more than crystals, tokens, medicine, and materials.

His goal was not merely to make people comfortable.

His goal was to strengthen the world before the next disaster arrived.

Direction helped.

Systems helped.

Resources helped.

But skills could change lives.

The question was how to grant them properly.

Lucien did not want to throw simple skill cards into the world like festival candy.

That would cheapen growth.

Worse, it would make people chase rewards instead of meaning.

He needed a method that created opportunity, preserved effort, and deepened faith without turning miracles into a crude transaction.

Then his gaze moved toward the main territory.

The Rainbow Slime Lord Statue still existed there.

Lucien had removed statues of himself.

But the Rainbow Slime Lord Statue remained.

Lucien stared into the distance.

Then slowly smiled.

’This could work.’

He would not grant skill cards directly.

He would craft offering objects. Law-safe vessels containing skills suitable for verified Grace System users. It was similar to the items he had once offered to the statue back in his origin world, the ones that had granted him skills.

The user would receive the object as a high-level reward.

Then they could offer it at the Rainbow Slime Lord Statue.

If the prayer was sincere, if the user had met the conditions, and if the skill suited their path, the offering would dissolve into their body.

And they would immediately learn the skill.

...

Lucien began drafting the system category.

[Grace Reward Upgrade: Offering Skill Seeds.]

[Eligible users: Verified Grace System holders.]

[Condition: quest contribution, sincerity score, compatibility, branch approval where required.]

[Offering location: Rainbow Slime Lord Statue or approved branch replica.]

[Prayer requirement: truthful gratitude or truthful request.]

[Faith flow: routed through Grace network.]

Lucien paused at the branch replica line.

Yes.

He would expand the Rainbow Slime Lord Statues to other main branches.

As sacred miracle terminals.

That wording made him stop.

He rubbed his forehead.

"I have created religious vending machines."

Then he frowned.

"No. That sounds terrible."

He changed the internal name.

[Rainbow Offering Shrine.]

Better.

Still suspicious.

Clara would love it.

That was unavoidable.

•••

Lucien spent the rest of the night designing safeguards.

The offerings could not be bought directly with money.

They could not be transferred freely.

They could not be used by unverified people.

They would expire if stolen.

They would reject false prayer.

They would favor consistent service, honest growth, and compatibility.

The skill seed would not forcefully rewrite a person.

It would only let them learn a new skill.

The rest depended on them if they are sincere enough.

...

When the prototype was complete, Lucien tested it with a simple offering object.

A small rainbow crystal shaped like a droplet.

Inside it rested the pattern for Slash.

A one-star skill.

Lucien placed it before the Rainbow Slime Lord Statue in the main territory.

The statue glowed faintly.

Then the offering dissolved into his forehead.

Since Lucien already has that skill, he didn’t learn anything.

Still, the test succeeded.

If other people did the same, Lucien would surely gain more faith divine energy from it.

From the meaning of the act itself.

Lucien’s eyes slowly brightened.

This could work.

It would make Grace Systems more useful.

It would help ordinary people grow.

It would deepen faith without requiring statues of his face.

It would make quests more exciting.

And yes, he wanted the people to enjoy it.

A world where growth felt like endless suffering produced strong people, but it also produced many broken ones.

If people could smile while becoming better, why not?

Fun was motivation that did not require a whip.