**Chapter 4: Lawful Good Mo**
What would happen if a necromancer drank holy water?
*Boom!*
"Ahhhh!!!" Medi suddenly let out a loud howl, but because of the barrier he had activated earlier, his voice clearly could not leave the confines of this small hut. Pale flames ignited from within his body, scorching his flesh and soul. In other words—his HP was plummeting rapidly.
At this point, ninety percent of Mo Tan's plan had been completed.
Earlier, after leaving that street, he did not come here immediately. Instead, he found a small shop and used the currency from the vegetable vendor's wallet to buy a flask. He then filled it with clean water and began to pray devoutly, successfully creating a simplified version of [Holy Water].
Then, using various excuses, he gathered a considerable amount of information about Medi from some townsfolk before setting off.
An hour later, the former priest, now necromancer—Medi Levin—was burning in his own cottage, seemingly on the verge of death.
But...
"You despicable... vile... bastard! Maggot! Scum!" Medi rasped, staggering step by step toward Mo Tan. "Pay the price! Did you think tricking me into drinking that bit of holy water would be enough to kill me? You should know that I am..."
"A former priest, right? I learned from others that you preach to some children every Sunday." Mo Tan's voice was like a demon in Medi's ears. He chuckled lightly, "Your Holy Light Knowledge is far stronger than your research into necromancy. That's both the reason you haven't been caught and 'purified' all these years, and the source of your confidence that holy water wouldn't destroy you. But..."
*Pfft!*
Medi collapsed to his knees, spitting strands of pitch-black blood from his mouth.
"Who told you this was simply holy water?"
**[Holy Water (Fake)]**
One-time consumable
Effect: Unknown
[Note: Created by the insincere prayer of a faithless person.]
Attempting to use his devout power to neutralize the holy water's effect, Medi suffered a second severe blow—this time on a soul level.
If consuming holy water causes massive damage to a necrophilic constitution, then this bottle of fake holy water, while possessing the former effect, also causes backlash from any divine power.
Of course, it is useless against high-level existences of High Priest rank (at least level 35 Holy Light School) or above, or against zealots. But Medi clearly did not fall into that category, so moments later, he was already on his last breath...
"Manna..." The old man, kneeling on the ground, stretched out his arm as if trying to grasp something, murmuring weakly. The pain on his face from before actually transformed into an expression of relief in his final moments. He smiled.
"She has been waiting for you all along." Mo Tan crouched down in front of Medi, his voice unprecedentedly gentle. "Now you can rest, Mr. Medi."
"I have been waiting for this moment for far too long..."
The moment he stopped breathing, Medi Levin had turned into a pile of black ash.
The next second, the system's voice echoed in Mo Tan's mind.
【You have unlocked the profession: Deceiver, Level 2, Experience 77/150】
【You have gained new skills and attribute points】
【You have acquired the talent: Unbeliever】
【Tutorial Quest completed. You may choose a reward profession: Thief/Warrior/Mage, and gain 60 experience points】
【Tutorial Quest completion rate: 300%. Reward: one piece of equipment, optional 150 experience points】
【Item Encyclopedia, Character Encyclopedia, and Story Encyclopedia unlocked】
【Holy Water, Holy Water (Fake), Medi Levin, and "Medi's Love" have been added to the encyclopedia】
【You have received a Unique Quest. Unique Quest unlocked】
"Well, that was quite rewarding..." Mo Tan said absentmindedly, then picked up a ring from the pile of ashes on the ground. As expected, it was a piece of equipment of considerable quality.
【Medi's Wedding Ring】
Type: Ring - Set
Quality: Fine - Unique
Attributes: Intelligence +5, Constitution +5, Strength -1, Necromancy Knowledge +1
Trait: Additional Skill: Medi's Persistence
Equipment Requirements: None
Set Effect: 【Medi's Wedding Ring】/【Manna's Wedding Ring】—— Increases Constitution by 10%
【Note: The matching rings exchanged when Medi Levin and Manna Ayn were married. They once contained a remnant soul of Manna Ayn and were never removed.】
From the description alone, it was clear that this fine-quality ring was an excellent find in the early game—the kind of item worth showing off on social media. It was also part of a set, and with Mo Tan's intelligence, it wasn't hard to guess where the other piece was located. Without a doubt, the corresponding 【Manna's Wedding Ring】 was buried under the tombstone in the backyard that held no one's remains.
However...
Mo Tan did not put it on his finger. Instead, he found a jar in the house, collected the ashes Medi had left behind, and brought both the jar and the ring to the backyard. After digging up the other ring, he buried the pair of rings and the jar back underground.
Such an act was clearly incomprehensible to most people, just as confusing as how Mo Tan could kill the lovelorn necromancer without any moral burden.
But he didn't care. Or rather, this personality called Tan Mo didn't care. He simply wanted to do it, so he did. As for losing two decent pieces of equipment or the fact that the dead NPC couldn't truly "rest in peace," he was utterly indifferent.
From this, we can see that nothing in this world describes him better than the words "Chaotic Neutral."
Afterward, Mo Tan returned to Medi's cabin, sat down in the chair, and began to examine his new profession.
【Profession: Deceiver】
Experience: 77/150
Category: School of Guile
Attribute Bonuses: Intelligence 5, Dexterity 2
Weapon Requirements: None
Exclusive Skills: 【Confuse】, 【Tempt】
Description: The most perfect lie is one that can deceive even the liar himself the moment it is spoken.
[Note: If one day you can no longer even trust yourself, please immediately undergo a rigorous psychological evaluation.]
"Hah~ Without a doubt, a support class~~" Mo Tan chuckled, then muttered to himself, "If I were to become an actor, I might have quite a future too..."
Then he planned to check his new talents and skills, and also look up what those illustrations were all about, but unexpectedly...
A sudden wave of self-blame struck him, and then...
[You have been forcibly disconnected. Please choose whether to reconnect.]
"Yes."
[Reconnection beginning...]
[Connection complete. Loading character information...]
[The Innocent Realm has opened its doors for you. Character creation process is about to begin...]
...
The same prompts, the same stone platform, the same nine doors, but a different... Mo Tan.
He did not immediately choose 'that' door suited for him, but instead crouched in place, holding his head and sighing in distress.
"What kind of mess is this?!" Mo Tan slumped his shoulders, his face grimacing, "Do I really have to spend a large part of my life wallowing in depression and regret? What the hell did I just do?!"
He was agonizing over his previous actions as Tan Mo toward Medi...
In the current Mo Tan's eyes, before the system's so-called 'Bone Plague' occurred, Medi had likely not harmed any innocent person, and his story was quite sympathetic. Although he had devoted himself to the embrace of so-called 'evil magic' to resurrect his wife, he was by no means a bad person.
Yet such a person had been easily killed by him. Though the final outcome brought some comfort to the current Mo Tan, it still felt unpleasant.
Because he felt that if it were him, there would definitely be a better way to solve the problem...
The quest required preventing the plague from breaking out, not killing Medi Levin.
There were many ways to achieve this goal. The simplest was to find an excuse to lure Medi away from his home, then sneak in and destroy his spell model.
Another was to find evidence that Medi was a necromancer, then locate the passing 'Fierce Jackal' mercenary group at the town's tavern and have them drive him out. Mo Tan had already learned this information while wandering around the town earlier.
At this moment, Mo Tan leaned toward first honestly telling Medi that resurrection would surely fail, then trying to find other solutions together. After all, he didn't know much about the Innocent Realm—perhaps there really was a way to bring Medi's wife back to life...
Unfortunately, the Chaotic Neutral Tan Mo had chosen the simplest and most brutal method, also reuniting Medi with his wife, just in a different form.
Mo Tan sighed again, then glanced at the Pure Gold Door that had already swung open, and strode inside.
With the same memories but always dissatisfied with 'his own' methods, this morally upright Mo Tan had considerable objections to his [Chaotic Neutral] 'self'...
The door of [Lawful Good] slowly closed, concealing his retreating figure.
The process of character creation is not worth repeating, so let's jump straight to the character stats this time...
[Calculation complete. Your initial character stats are as follows:]
Race: Half-Dragon (Thunder Dragon Lineage)
Gender: Male
Alignment: Lawful Good
Talents: Dedication Spirit (Increases HP by 5% when fighting alongside friendly targets, but increases critical hit rate taken by 5%), Iron Spirit (Grants additional defense bonus when HP is below 30%, scaling with lost stamina points)
Base Attributes: Strength 7, Dexterity 5, Intelligence 9, Constitution 7
Civil Attributes: Eloquence 5, Charm 5, Knowledge 8, Leadership 8
Combat Attributes: None
"Heh, I'm not really that great..." Mo Tan scratched his hair, wearing a slightly smug expression.
[Please name your character?]
"Mo, no need to confirm again," Mo Tan replied, feeling that a single-character nickname was fine for now.
[Would you like to adjust your appearance?]
The Half-Dragon's appearance was not too different from a human's, except for some fine purple scales on the neck and wrists, a slightly more robust build, and... a tail...
Mo Tan frowned slightly: "Can we negotiate getting rid of the tail?"
[Certain racial traits cannot be removed; only adjustments within a certain range are allowed.]
The system replied mechanically, and the tail behind the Half-Dragon in front of Mo Tan, originally about half a meter long, shrank by four-fifths.
"Uh, that looks like a swollen butt. Better change it back..." Mo Tan pondered for a while and decided to leave it unchanged. After all, Innocent Realm was a bit domineering—from alignment to race, nothing was up to him to decide...
[Character creation complete. Lawful Good Mo, welcome to the Innocent Realm.]
The third time...
Mo Tan opened his eyes and found himself on what appeared to be a Land Dragon, and he wasn't the only one on it.
Taking a quick look around, the roughly five-meter-long draconic creature carried seven or eight people, followed by several carriages and riders on horses and various exotic beasts, all seemingly combat-capable.
[Tutorial Quest triggered—Protect the Forest Spirit Merchant Caravan]
"Hey, kid." A large hand suddenly slapped Mo Tan's shoulder twice. He turned around to find a red-faced, bearded dwarf grinning at him.
Mo Tan nodded slightly, a bit dazed: "Hello, may I ask..."
"Meg, just Meg. Rollin' Iron~" The dwarf made a funny face. "We set off in a hurry earlier and didn't get a chance to introduce myself. I'm the captain of the Manticore Mercenary Company, the escort leader for those... uh... green-skinned little sticks this time."
Mo Tan nodded slightly, not daring to speak rashly, since the other hadn't yet told him his 'current' identity...
"You're in luck~" Meg winked at Mo Tan and the direction behind him. "Since your destination is Kuxi City too, you've hitched a ride with us~"
You?!
A conjecture immediately formed in Mo Tan's mind. He quickly turned around and, sure enough, saw a handsome, resolute young man making faces at him. The man wore linen clothes similar to his own, had empty hands, and notably lacked scales and a tail.
From any angle, he was clearly a player just like himself.
"Please go ahead, Mr. Guntie." Mo Tan gave the young man a knowing look, then turned to Gray Guntie and extended his hand: "My name is Mo."
"Gale Sean!" the human youth raised his hand cheerfully in return.
The dwarf warrior in chainmail gave Mo Tan a hearty hug, which cost him a bit of health, then clapped hands with Gale Sean: "Just call me Meg. By the way, kid..."
He glanced at Gale Sean: "What are you looking around for?"
"Uh..." the young man was at a loss for words, but Mo Tan had already guessed that the other had received the same tutorial quest as himself. His earlier behavior was likely just wariness of the unknown enemy.
Just then, a mustached mercenary riding a highland pony came up beside the land dragon and laughed: "Meg! You bastard, think you can just drink on the job because you're the captain?!"
"Beat me, and I'll share." Meg rolled his eyes, hefting the axe that was almost as tall as he was and baring his teeth at the mustache.
"Piss off, I don't want your Low Sweep to clip my junk!" The other spat on the ground and shrugged: "But this road probably isn't dangerous anyway~"
As everyone knows, at this moment, in this situation... such words are an obvious death flag, like the end of a horror movie when some main character jumps out to court death by sighing, 'Guess there really are no ghosts~'
And then... they bite it.
"Watch out!" Mo Tan suddenly kicked the mustache off his pony. His innate 7 points of Strength, combined with his Half-Dragon bloodline, actually managed to send the battle-hardened—well, battle-experienced—mercenary flying.
"What the hell..." Meg's eyes went wide, and he was about to grab Mo Tan's collar when a whistling arrow streaked through the air, grazing the highland pony's back and slamming deep into the ground!
Meg immediately roared: "Alert!" and rolled off the land dragon, landing steadily on his feet. He didn't forget to give a thumbs-up over his shoulder.
"I owe you one, buddy." The mustache scrambled up from the ground and nodded to Mo Tan: "Thanks."
Mo Tan smiled back. It wasn't that his senses were particularly sharp; he had just subconsciously scanned the environment when the mustache planted that flag. He noticed this place was an excellent ambush spot, so he looked up uneasily and caught a glint of light in the air—which he now realized was the reflection of an arrowhead—aimed straight at the mustache...
As for why this modern person was so experienced... well, that was the fault of the guy named 'Tan Mo' in the game. After all, their memories and experience were shared.
"Sand Goblins!" the elven ranger, kneeling on the land dragon's back, shouted: "A lot! A whole lot of them!"
"How the hell many is that?!" Meg shouted back in frustration. "Second Captain, bring me my Idari Firearm!"
A lizardman riding a giant lizard sped past him without looking back, yelling, "Get it yourself, you old drunk! I'm going to check it out!"
"You two, can you still wield a sword?" The scarred elf ranger turned back to ask.
Mo Tan and Gale Sean both nodded. Whether out of a sense of duty or personal conviction, neither of them would stand idly by at a time like this.
"The weapons are under the boards. Try to stay back and look after yourselves!" The elf spoke rapidly, simultaneously drawing three black feather arrows from behind his back, nocking them to his bowstring, and releasing them in a single fluid motion.
The enemy's first wave had arrived!
The road at this section was a gentle slope, and the caravan's current position offered a poor line of sight. To the right was a low cliff, the origin point of that first arrow. To the left, as Mo Tan observed, was a rare plain marshland...
Just as Mo Tan and Gale Sean had barely grabbed their weapons, numerous dark figures began to emerge faintly in their field of vision. At the same time, several bursts of black mud, carrying streams of murky water, came surging in from the left!
"Mud Fishmen!"
A thin barrier spread out around the caravan. A woman in a bright red robe, holding a reddish-golden baguette, came running up from behind and exclaimed in shock, "How are there Mud Fishmen here?!"
Chapter 4: The End