Boom!
The violent explosions from the "portable spirit wave cannon" echoed on both sides of the cliff, startling many birds into flight, which quickly flew away.
Whoosh~
Large swathes of rocks were blasted into the air like fireworks, some falling into the river at the bottom of the canyon, others crashing onto the narrow road that could only accommodate one carriage at a time. For a moment, dust and gravel obscured Odis's vision.
The power of the "portable spirit wave cannon" stunned the extraordinary individuals of the "Rose School." They even initially thought that the spirit wave cannon was also a level 1 sealed artifact.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Odis infused his spirituality into the "Dream Bracelet," securing his spiritual body and mental form. He then infused "star sand" into the "Gus Staff," and amidst the dazzling starlight, he simulated "divine light."
A pure white beam of light fell on Odis himself. The vengeful spirit that was possessing Odis could not withstand the scorching light and had to end the possession, hiding back in the cracks of the rock wall.
Odis immediately stopped maintaining the "Holy Light." At this moment, his whole body was red, like a steamed shrimp, and he was somewhat dazed. However, with the double protection of the "Dream Bracelet" and the "Scale Armor Scroll," he quickly recovered.
He quickly put the "Gus Staff" back on his waist and threw a "Gravity Scroll" at the "vengeful spirit" that was about to "possess" him again.
This scroll was developed by Odis through his study of the black crystal obtained from Whale Island.
The "vengeful spirit," which had no physical form and seemed as light as a soul, suddenly felt several times the normal gravity and plummeted straight to the bottom of the steep canyon.
At this moment, the other "vengeful spirit," who had been kissing the rock and hadn't been awakened by the explosion of the "portable spirit cannon" or even affected by the rolling rocks, finally broke free from the influence of the "aphrodisiac scroll."
Just as he was preparing to observe the surrounding battlefield, a bolt of lightning as thick as a bucket struck him, turning him from a "vengeful spirit" into a physical form.
Odis gave him no time to react, and bolts of lightning struck down one after another, flashing like lightning, each flash a bolt of lightning capable of causing great damage.
After seven bolts of lightning struck, the "vengeful spirit" was reduced to charred remains. Although it did not die immediately, it had completely lost its vitality, and its extraordinary characteristics began to emerge.
At this moment, the "winner" who had just gone to the spirit realm to avoid the "portable spirit wave cannon" shells dared to appear. After glancing at the situation on the battlefield, she immediately raised the dagger in her hand, and the falling rocks seemed to suddenly come to life, smashing towards Odis.
Everything happened very quickly. Odis had already broken free from the "possession" of the "vengeful spirit" and killed another "vengeful spirit".
Most of the rocks blasted down from the mountaintop had only just landed in the middle of the canyon, which is why the "winner" was able to use the sealing artifact to imbue them with sentience and life, allowing them to attack Odis like stone cannonballs.
Whew~
Odis raised the "Scepter of Disaster," and a hurricane with blue "wind blades" blew in, sending the incoming rocks flying into the sky.
At the same time, it made a "poof poof poof" sound, and some larger rocks were cut into smaller pieces by the "wind blades" as if cutting cheese.
Odis's spirit continuously poured in the "Scepter of Calamity" while throwing a "Scroll of Doom" at the "winner".
His tactics were also carefully considered; for the "Rose School," the extraordinary individuals of the "Prisoner" pathway were the true progenitors.
However, the Level 1 sealed artifact was not used by either of the two "vengeful spirits," but by the "winner." This led Odis to speculate that the "winner" possessed certain qualities that might have prevented the artifact from having negative effects.
The main ability of the "winner" is to accumulate luck, so Odis guessed that using that sealed artifact requires a certain amount of luck.
The "scroll of misfortune" he throws out has a certain probability of breaking the balance between "luck" and "misfortune" created by the "winner".
This attack method is the advantage of "The Scroll Professor," as he can attack his opponent with scrolls while maintaining the power of the sealed artifact.
The moment the scroll shattered, "Winner's" eyes narrowed. She sensed a strong sense of crisis, and in the next instant, she unleashed a vicious curse at her wielder.
Just as Odis had guessed, the dagger's negative effect was that it would randomly curse the wielder during use.
However, if you're lucky enough, the sealed item might be in a "dormant" state when the holder uses it, giving you about 3 minutes of safe usage time.
Even if the sealed artifact "awakens" ahead of time, if you are lucky enough, the curse of the sealed artifact will ignore the holder and instead target the people or things around the holder.
The "winner" had accumulated enough luck to allow her to use the sealed artifact for a certain period of time. However, the "Scroll of Misfortune" thrown by Odis prematurely consumed the luck she had accumulated, causing the sealed artifact to "awaken" early and issue a curse to her.
But she escaped the first curse using the luck she had accumulated beforehand. A tree not far away was cursed, withered rapidly, its leaves fell like snowflakes, and its bark cracked dryly, instantly losing its life.
The "winner" did not linger in the fight and used the level 1 sealed artifact in his possession to prepare to escape back into the spirit world.
She knew very well that if she couldn't reseal the sealed artifact in her hands as soon as possible, the damage it would cause her would be no less than the damage caused by Odis.
Seeing that the other party was about to back down, Odis immediately threw out a "spiritual scroll".
In the instant the scroll exploded, he glanced at the "vengeful spirit" who had just fallen into the steep canyon. At this moment, the effect of the "gravity scroll" had ended, and the other party was unaware that the "winner" was preparing to retreat and was returning to the battlefield to help as quickly as possible.
However, because there are not enough mirrors around, it will take another second or two to return.
For Odis, this was a good window of opportunity, and he once again looked toward the "winner" at the summit.
The next instant, the scroll exploded, and the "winner's" spirit immediately felt a certain impact.
Odis said in a solemn tone, "Discard the seal!"
The "Scroll of Words" is a scroll created by Odis using the "talks of the true creator." Since only nine scrolls could be made in total, three had already been used before this one.
Scrolls of this level are also effective against demigods, and Odis is generally reluctant to use them.
However, because the other party was holding a level 1 sealed artifact, Odis wanted to prevent the other party from escaping from the spirit world, so he simply used the scroll that he usually couldn't bear to use.
The "spiritual scroll" was quite effective, and the "winner" tossed the sealed item aside without even thinking.
Then, as if belatedly realizing she had done something foolish, she bent down to pick it up, but the area around the level 1 sealed artifact, which was shaped like a dagger, turned dark red, and a stream of magma emerged, engulfing the sealed artifact.
This magma was, of course, created by Odis using the "Scepter of Disaster." If there were volcanoes nearby, this scepter could directly trigger a small-scale volcanic eruption.
Even without volcanoes, large amounts of lava can be generated in rocky areas to attack enemies.
Upon seeing this scene, the "winner" hesitated for a moment before reaching into the lava to search for the sealed artifact.
Ah~
With a scream, the "winner" withdrew his hand; the physical strength of the "monster" pathway extraordinary individual was far inferior to that of the "prisoner."
The "winner's" hands were scalded and bloody, completely unable to withstand the high temperature of the lava.
In that brief moment of hesitation, the lava rapidly increased, engulfing her legs. Flames consumed her clothes, and amidst the "winner's" screams, Odis swallowed her with the lava.
The "vengeful spirit" that rushed back from the steep canyon had already reassessed the battlefield situation and immediately jumped back to the bottom of the valley, preparing to escape.
But before he could land, a hurricane blew him into the sky, and blue wind blades dismembered the "vengeful spirit" and blew him back to the road carved out high in the valley.
Then Odis struck each of the two "living corpses" with a bolt of lightning, leaving them half-dead. Longzel stepped forward and killed them.
The assassination attempt was thus resolved cleanly and efficiently.
However, Odis did not immediately collect the spoils. Instead, he had the carriage, which was still suspended in mid-air, return to the road and instructed Longzel to lead the caravan through the treacherous road as quickly as possible.
Several "Extraordinary Puppets" were injured in the battle just now. They were carried away quickly by other "Extraordinary Puppets".
Several "extraordinary puppets," under Odis's instructions, diligently cleaned up the battlefield, making sure to collect all the weapons, even taking away all the broken gun parts that had fallen to the ground.
Once the caravan had set off again, Odis began collecting the spoils. First, he went to the lava at the mountaintop, where the dark red lava suddenly began to churn again. The level 1 sealed artifact, shaped like a dagger, was intact and even felt somewhat cold.
Odis first placed it in the "wilderness of knowledge," and then used the "scepter of disaster" to bring out the remains and characteristics of the "winner."
The other four properties also began to be released. After Odis picked them up one by one, he blew the shattered corpses and many rocks on the road into the steep canyon.
However, there have been significant changes here compared to before. A large crater has been blasted into the mountaintop, where the lava has begun to cool rapidly.
Caravan members who frequently travel this route would certainly be surprised by such changes.
When Odis caught up, the caravan had already left the treacherous road, and Longzel arranged for the group to rest in a flat area.
Lately, Long Ze'er has been extremely busy. Not only does he have to temporarily act as Odis's head butler, but he also has to keep an eye on the three suspicious clerks who were just recruited. Whenever he has time, he also has to learn how to use the "extraordinary puppets" more efficiently, as well as the weapons they use.
However, after this period of effort, Longzel has become basically familiar with the "extraordinary puppets" and the performance and power of the extraordinary weapons equipped by Odis.
Odis was quite satisfied with Longzer's command today. After learning that Longzer had purchased all the auxiliary materials for the "Sheriff" yesterday, Odis told Longzer to calm down and maintain a good state. During the lunch break, he would prepare the "Sheriff" potion for him in advance.
Odis then tallied the losses. Nine "Extraordinary Puppets" were wounded in the battle, two of whom were seriously injured and required major repairs.
They were basically damaged by falling rocks. Compared to the zombies, they reacted faster and were more adept at using weapons, so the zombies didn't cause them much damage.
Of course, Odis was well aware that this was the behavior of encountering a "middle-order" extraordinary being. If he encountered a demigod, such as a "puppet," they would likely be "turned to the side."
At this point, Odis prepared to further improve the "Extraordinary Puppets" by setting up a "one-click shutdown" function. If a demigod were to seize control of the "Extraordinary Puppets," Odis could instantly "shut them down."
Moreover, Odis felt that this matter was urgent, because he felt that once he became a demigod, he would definitely encounter some demigod-level opponents, and it would be too late to make changes then.
As Odis was lost in thought and about to get into the carriage, Longzel came to report: "Another clerk has died."
Odis was not surprised by this: "Which one died?"
"Corey," Longzel said, "was killed by another female clerk, Roxanne."
"Roxanne said that Corey struck first in the previous fight, and she had no choice but to retaliate."
Odis paused for a moment. He had hired three clerks in Azshara, two men and one woman. One of them, Neil, had been killed by Bernadette in the assassination attempt early yesterday morning.
Odis estimated that the other two clerks were also informants for other organizations, but Roxanne's actions made it impossible for him to distinguish which one was the informant for the "Rose School".
Corey may have been an informant for the "Rose School," and he inadvertently exposed himself during a previous assassination attempt, leading to his death at the hands of Roxanne.
But it's also possible that Roxanne killed Corey simply to cover up her own identity as an informant for the "Rose School".
However, one thing is certain: Roxanne is not an ordinary woman, or rather, Odis does not believe that a single heartbreak would suddenly transform Roxanne into an assassin.
After a slight pause, Odis said, "Give Roxanne a bonus of 200 Sassans to recognize her bravery."
200 sassins is roughly equivalent to 40 pounds.
Long Zelden immediately understood that Odis was preparing to observe further. If Roxanne was indeed the spy of the "Rose School," then she was only doing this to protect herself. She would likely escape at the first opportunity, and it wouldn't be too late to intercept and kill her then.
However, for Odis, the most important role of these three informants was to let him know that there were probably several hostile extraordinary organizations, or rather, extraordinary organizations that were interested in him, that knew he was about to take up his post in Wotai State and had the ability to organize an assassination attempt against him in a short period of time.
The result was three answers.
Two have emerged so far: one is Fenneport's military, and the other is the "Rose School".
As for the third extraordinary organization that wanted to kill him, Odis guessed it was either the "Morse Penitentiary" or the "Iron Cross," with the former being more likely, since he knew very well that several "pillars" were already looking for him.
Odis believed that he had only killed a Sequence 6 member of the Ironblood Cross, which was not a deep-seated hatred, so he thought the Morse Penitentiary was more likely to be the culprit.
Whether Roxanne was an informant for the "Morse Penitentiary" or not was no longer important to Odis, since she would most likely face another assassination attempt from the "Morse Penitentiary" soon anyway.
After dealing with Roxanne's matter, Odis boarded the carriage and ordered them to continue their journey.
Bernadette, who had been sitting in the carriage, glanced at Odis: "You already have three Level 1 Sealed Artifacts, right?"
Odis then recalled that Bernadette had been by his side when he obtained these three Level 1 sealed artifacts, and he smiled and nodded: "Yes."
Bernadette hummed in agreement and said nothing more.
She only recalled that she also had a Level 1 Sealed Artifact when she was at Sequence 5, but those Sealed Artifacts were all given to her by her father.
During the rest of the journey, Odis took a break to enter the "Wilderness of Knowledge" and glanced at the Level 1 sealed artifact that he had just captured.
The negative effects were similar to his previous guesses. He tried to seal it with "Knowledge Wilderness" and made the sealed object "well-behaved". Even if Odis didn't have enough luck, he could safely use the sealed object for 3 minutes.
As for the main abilities of the sealed artifact, there are two: one is to imbue inanimate objects with sentience, turning them into the holder's puppets; the other is to emit a shriek that can attack spirits.
After naming it the "Puppet Dagger," Odis returned to the real world.
That noon, while the group was eating and resting, Odis praised Roxanne in front of everyone.
Roxanne looked very excited and said she would definitely be loyal to the governor.
To be precise, she couldn't help but be excited. In the entire team, Long Ze'er and the "soldiers" were all subordinates of the governor, and the beautiful lady was a friend of the governor. She was the only outsider.
Given the opportunity to demonstrate her loyalty, she naturally wanted to do so.
After lunch, Odis kept his promise and granted Longzel the extraordinary trait of "Sheriff".
Similarly, right after drinking the potion, Long Ze'er felt that the "sheriff's" potion had been completely digested.
In the two assassination attempts that Odis had encountered before, Longzel didn't help much in the one against Fenneport, but he performed well in the assassination attempt against the "Rose School" that happened this morning, and the merits he accumulated were roughly equivalent to the sum of the extraordinary characteristics of "Arbitrator" and "Sheriff".
A Sequence 5 can easily earn "low-sequence" merits in missions.
Odis then promised, "You can start collecting supplementary materials for the 'Interrogator' now. As long as your condition allows, you can be promoted first, and the merits can be made up later."
Long Ze'er smiled and said, "Okay."
Although they encountered an assassination attempt in the morning, it did not affect their itinerary. That evening, they arrived at a small town with a hotel to rest as planned.
During dinner, Odis and the others noticed that almost everyone else in the restaurant was watching them.
These must be spies sent by the state of Wotai. Odis didn't take them too seriously and continued to eat and rest as usual.
That night, Odis and his party were not attacked or anything strange happened. Odis rested and continued their journey the next day.
We finally arrived in Wotai City at around 10:00 AM.
A dozen or so people were waiting on the edge of the city to welcome the new governor. Longzel got off the carriage and asked around, only to find out that they were all staff members of the state government, as well as a bishop of the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom.
Odis got off the carriage and first went to chat with Bishop Cassie, who was in charge of missionary work in the province of Vauthäus.
After a brief chat, Bishop Casey left, citing other work to attend to.
Under normal circumstances, it would be unusual for a bishop to greet an administrative official, but because of Odis's special circumstances, Archbishop Douglas sent several telegrams requesting Bishop Cassie to fully support Odis's work in Wotai.
That's why Bishop Cayce came to greet the new governor; his presence here was tantamount to demonstrating the attitude of the Church of Knowledge.
After seeing the bishop off, Odis asked the officials, "Is the state government still functioning normally?"
"Yes," one of the state government officials, who was in his thirties and looked rather amiable, replied. "It has always been the self-governing council that has helped the state government maintain normal operations."
Odis said "Oh," indicating that she understood.
The implication was that during the period without a governor, the self-governing council had been paying their salaries.
So now the state government is the state government of the self-governing council, not the state government of Remburg.
Odis seemed not to have grasped the other person's underlying meaning and asked the official who had just answered, "What is your position?"
"Police Chief," the other person replied with a smile, "My name is Wells."
In the absence of a governor, the police chief, who is responsible for maintaining order, is the most powerful figure in Wotai City.
As he spoke, he glanced at the hundreds of soldiers Odis had brought, silently assessing the new governor's strength in his mind.
"Very good," Odis said. "Introduce your colleagues."
The remaining officials include those in charge of finance, agriculture, commerce, and so on; they are all key officials responsible for maintaining the operation of the state government.
However, their current administrative power is probably only within Wotai City, and most of the officials there actually have little real power.
Odis said to Wells, "Take me to the state government."
Wells immediately said, "Please follow my carriage."
"No," Odis said, "we'll walk."
Wells paused for a moment, then forced a smile and said, "It's quite a long way."
Odis frowned: "I came all the way from Solothu without saying a word."
Wells had no choice but to say, "Well... alright then."
Even though he was already working for the self-governing association, the governor was still his official direct superior.
This is why officials still come to greet the new governor after learning that he has taken office; although most of their positions are now nominal, they can still receive a decent salary in Vote State.
The newly appointed governor has the power to remove them from office, so it's important to give them face.
Odis didn't say anything about this power of personnel appointment and dismissal, but he made up his mind that if he built up enough power in the future, only provincial officials could appoint and dismiss key state officials, and governors would only have the right to make suggestions.
However, for Odis now, this system is still quite good, as it can guarantee him sufficient power in Wotai City.
Odis led the way, strolling into the city streets. There were quite a few pedestrians on the somewhat dilapidated streets, and if you ignored the fear on their faces when they saw Wells, everything seemed normal.
Odis smiled and said, "The security here is quite good. I thought there would be a lot of gang members on the streets. Thank you for your hard work, Chief."
Wells replied with a smile, "Since we're doing the job of maintaining public order, of course we have to do our best."
Odis nodded and suddenly asked, "Why didn't the members of the self-governing council come to greet us?"
Wilston paused for a moment before finding an excuse: "Today... today the Autonomous Council has an important meeting."
They were actually discussing their attitude towards the new governor. Originally, they planned to concentrate their efforts on dealing with the new governor, and at worst, they would scare him away with assassination or kill him directly.
However, after learning that Bishop Casey had personally come to greet them, the council's attitude softened considerably.
In the preceding years, no matter how the nobles and merchants seized the opportunity to compete for profits, and no matter how brutally the bandits ruled over some areas of Wotai Prefecture, they dared not touch the interests of the church.
Because they are well aware that there is an agreement between the church and the government that the church will not interfere in secular affairs under normal circumstances, but if the interests of the church are harmed, the church will definitely take action.
These bandits and nobles knew very well that they were as weak as ants in the face of the church.
The arrival of Bishop Cassy made the members of the self-governing council wonder if the new governor was recommended by the Church of Knowledge. If so, assassination would be out of the question.
So they held an emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures.
Upon hearing Welsh's reply, Odis said, "Take me to where they are meeting."
Wells gave an awkward smile: "This...this isn't quite right."
As he spoke, he quickly winked at the officials behind him, signaling them to inform the members of the self-governing association.
Odis then looked at Longzel beside him, who immediately understood and said to the "Extraordinary Puppets" holding semi-automatic rifles, "Load!"
With a synchronized "clatter," several semi-automatic rifles were loaded at the same time.
Odis smiled and said, "Their marksmanship is excellent. If I want to kill someone within a hundred meters, they can kill them for me."
The officials all trembled, and none of them dared to slip away.
Odis then looked at Wells and said coldly, "Lead the way."
"Yes, yes, yes." Wells immediately realized that the new governor was not someone to be trifled with.
Under the watchful eyes of Longzel and others, the officials boarded a carriage and led the way for Odis.
Soon, they arrived at a tall building with state guards at the entrance and state guards patrolling the courtyard.
The carriage stopped in front of the courtyard gate. Odis exchanged glances with the sentries before saying to Wells, "You go first."
Wells smiled wryly and said, "The state guards won't let us in."
Odis said nothing, but took the gun holster from Longzel and tied the bag to his waist.
Wells had no choice but to bite the bullet and go forward, but to his surprise, the sentry on guard acted as if he didn't see them and let them in.
The soldiers patrolling the courtyard glanced at Odis and then continued their patrols, making no attempt to stop them.
This immediately terrified Wilston: Had these soldiers been bribed by the new governor? When did this happen? Did the lords know?
In fact, Odis hypnotized them by making eye contact with them.
These people are mostly ordinary people, with only a few "low-sequence" extraordinary individuals.
Odis used the "Dream Bracelet" to hypnotize them almost instantly, and they would be ignored for the next few minutes.
Odis had no intention of playing political games with these people; instead, he planned to crush them with sheer force.
Odis would be delighted if they were to use force.
Just as everyone entered the courtyard, Odis felt as if there was someone behind him, but when he turned around, he saw nothing.
However, Odis soon realized that Bernadette's "invisible servant" had followed them.
He knew Bernadette wouldn't miss the chance to watch the show.
Arriving at the meeting room door, Odis kicked it open.
Glug~
The double doors slammed against the wall. Inside the spacious conference room, a dozen or so members of the self-governing association looked at the doorway in surprise.
When they saw the unfamiliar young man, and the officials and soldiers in uniform behind him, they were even more surprised, because they had a vague idea that this man should be the new governor.
Their surprise stemmed from the odd fact that the guards hadn't stopped the new governor, or even informed them of the situation.
Seated at the head of the table, an elderly man in his fifties, with slightly graying temples but well-maintained and without any wrinkles on his face, stood up and asked, "Who are you?"
"Odis Gar," Odis said calmly.
Then, feigning ignorance, he asked, "Who are you?"
"David Darnell".
He is the current president of the self-governing council, Baron Darnell.
Odis said casually, "Nice to meet you."
Then he continued, "I heard you have an important meeting today, so I'm here to inform you: because of the governor's arrival, the autonomous association's mission has ended, and it is officially dissolved from today onwards."
"If such gatherings occur again, they will be defined as illegal gatherings."
Before the members of the self-governing council could say anything, Wells and the other officials gasped in shock.
They originally thought the new governor was just there to show off his authority to the members of the self-governing association, but instead he was going to dissolve the association.
This sent chills down their spines; they felt like the sky was about to fall.
The members of the self-governing council were initially surprised, and one of them smiled and said, "Mr. Governor, you may not be familiar with the situation in Wotai State. Without the self-governing council..."
Bang!
Without a word, Odis drew his "Flaming Arrow" from his holster and shot the member in the head.
Glug~
The body lay slumped on the conference table, convulsing, blood flowing across the surface.
Holding a gun in one hand, Odis asked the members of the self-governing council with some confusion, "Sorry, I didn't quite hear what he said."
Wells thought to himself: Didn't you hear me clearly? Why did you still fire?