After crossing the outer staircase of the Divine Tower, Lucian finally arrived at the summit of the Divine Tower of Liurnia.
Like the other Divine Towers, the top was vast and empty.
But unlike the towers that housed the corpses of Two Fingers and granted the power of Great Runes, there was no Two Fingers corpse here.
Only the abandoned body of Ranni remained.
Lucian walked forward and stopped beside Ranni's corpse.
Back in the game, players loved making puns, so this body was often jokingly referred to as "Tiny Burnt Ranni," a play on the "Miniature Ranni" doll.
But in reality, the corpse before Lucian was not tiny in the slightest.
Even curled up, the charred body was still twice Lucian's size.
Maybe "Big Burnt Ranni" would be more accurate?
After all, his future mother-in-law Rennala was huge already, and with Radagon's side of the family added in, there was no way Ranni's demigod body would've been small.
Lucian approached the corpse.
Before Ranni's body rested a golden pendant, strikingly conspicuous.
It had been deliberately left directly in front of her, somewhere visible at all times.
Perhaps in the final moments before abandoning her flesh, this was what she had gazed upon.
Lucian crouched down and picked up the talisman.
Engraved upon the golden charm was a young girl gazing into the night sky, chasing the stars and moon above.
One of the Legendary Talismans—
The Stargazer Heirloom.
And this represented the story of Queen Rennala before she became the Queen of the Full Moon.
The stargazing girl wandered beneath the night sky, spending her journey endlessly pursuing the stars.
Then she encountered the full moon and became a queen.
The talisman recording that legend also carried power within it, granting +5 Intelligence to its wearer. Extremely practical.
Looking at the talisman in his hand, Lucian stroked his chin thoughtfully.
According to what the Black Knight had said, the "Queen of the Full Moon" Rennala had a younger sister known as the "Twin Moon Knight," Rellana.
There were many moons in the Lands Between.
And every moon was unique, independent from the others.
The Black Moon.
The Full Moon.
The Dark Moon.
And if the title "Twin Moon" truly referred to Rellana's power…
Then perhaps the "twin moons" symbolized the moons belonging to the two sisters?
Meaning Rellana, like her elder sister, had also found a moon of her own?
Thinking about it that way…
There really were a ridiculous number of moons in the Lands Between.
Lucian stored away the Stargazer Heirloom and shifted his gaze back to Ranni's charred corpse atop the tower.
His eyes slowly traveled across her body, examining it carefully.
Soon, he spotted the winding Cursemark of Death carved across Ranni's back.
It was half of the centipede-shaped wound ring, radiating the aura of death itself.
Looking at the Cursemark, Lucian began recalling everything he knew about it.
When a demigod dies for the first time, a cursemark is carved upon them.
Under normal circumstances, it should form a complete centipede ring.
However, because there were two first demigod deaths, the mark split into two halves.
Ranni became the first dead in body.
And the Prince of Death became the first dead in soul.
Now, Lucian already possessed one half of the Cursemark of Death.
But the whereabouts of the other half were almost completely unknown.
Lucian had no intention of handing the Cursemark over to Fia.
The birth of Those Who Live in Death had been an accident.
Those creatures possessed no true sanity to begin with.
Lucian understood Fia's efforts to fight for the rights of the undead, but there was no way he would allow the Age of the Duskborn to arrive.
If undead beings flooded the Lands Between, then sure, they'd benefit.
But what about all the ordinary inhabitants of the Lands Between?
Therefore, something as significant and dangerous as the Cursemark of Death absolutely could not fall into the hands of Fia's faction.
If possible, Lucian wanted both halves under his own control.
That way, the followers of the Prince of Death dreaming of the Age of the Duskborn would never be able to stir up trouble.
After all, even possessing only half the mark, those people could probably still exploit its power somehow.
Fia had literally crafted a Mending Rune with the two halves.
Even a single half would undoubtedly still have terrifying uses.
Unfortunately, based on the information available in the game, only Ranni's half was obtainable directly.
The other half was never something the player searched for.
In the game, it was D who found the missing portion.
He delegated the task of hunting undead and collecting Deathroot to the player, freeing himself to pursue the Cursemark investigation personally.
By following the traces left by the centipede wound, he eventually discovered the missing half of the Cursemark.
Unfortunately, locating it also drew Fia's attention.
After cursing D to death, Fia stole the mark from him.
That was how she obtained the second half in the game.
At present, D still had not located the missing half and continued his search.
Lucian had been keeping an eye on his progress.
This time, at the very least, D probably wouldn't end up dying mysteriously in Roundtable Hold.
However…
Rogier and D had recently reconciled somewhat and were now searching for the Cursemark together.
Which meant there was no telling whether Fia might obtain information about the Cursemark through Rogier.
Or worse…
Would Rogier become the one handing the metaphorical knife to D in the player's place?
Rogier truly had devoted himself wholeheartedly to Fia, constantly researching the mysteries of Death.
But in the end, he was merely one among her many "champions."
Lucian looked up toward the sky and shook his head.
'Rogier…'
'Please don't make a choice you'll regret.'
Compared to D's situation, Lucian currently faced a more immediate problem.
How exactly was he supposed to remove the Cursemark of Death from Ranni's body?
This thing was an imprint left upon Ranni by "Death" itself, a conceptual existence.
Strictly speaking, it was part of Ranni's body, inseparable from her.
And Lucian had never been particularly skilled at dealing with conceptual phenomena.
At the moment, he had no good way to separate it.
Could he perhaps…
Just take away a portion of Ranni's corpse with the mark attached?
That sounded way too bizarre.
And even if he managed to remove it, how was he supposed to preserve it afterward?
Lucian gritted his teeth, not quite daring to attach the thing to himself.
True, his body already carried all sorts of marks.
Ranni's moonlight mark.
Sellen's mark.
The now-invalid Miquella mark.
And the spirit realm mark.
But the Cursemark of Death was entirely different from those.
Even if it was technically harmless, it was still fundamentally tied to Death itself.
After thinking it over, Lucian decided not to act rashly for now.
There was no urgency.
Once he found Ranni later, he could simply ask her how to transfer it directly.
After all, the Cursemark of Death was perfectly safe staying here for the time being.
No one knew that Ranni's discarded body and the Cursemark of Death were hidden here.
And even if someone did discover it, Preceptor Miriam guarding the Carian Study Hall and the Godskin Noble stationed before the Divine Tower were not opponents to be underestimated.
Even the elite "Death Knights" under the Prince of Death that Lucian had previously encountered might not be able to break through this defense.
Having made up his mind, Lucian turned and used the Site of Grace to teleport away from the Liurnia Divine Tower.
—
Only after Lucian had left did the Godskin Noble on the bridge before the tower slowly awaken.
"Hiss—"
The instant he regained consciousness, pain from every inch of his body violently assaulted his nerves, making him suck in a sharp breath.
One moment he had been enjoying peaceful, blissful sleep.
The next, harsh reality and agonizing pain.
The contrast was simply too great.
Under the effects of St. Trina's Lily sleep, that mud-like slumber caused one to forget everything and sink completely into it.
At this moment, the Godskin Noble felt pain all over his body, yet remembered nothing.
It was almost as if someone had brutally beaten him while he slept.
…Oh right.
He had been beaten half to death before falling asleep.
Recalling that terrifying figure from earlier, the Godskin Noble finally realized he had actually been put to sleep in the middle of battle.
He immediately leapt to his feet, clutching the Godskin Stitcher while warily scanning the surroundings.
When he saw that Lucian was already nowhere to be found, he slowly sat back down again.
Forget it.
He had followed Ranni's orders exactly. If he still failed to stop the intruder, there was nothing he could do about it.
That man had also shown proof of being connected to Ranni. Although it contradicted her original command, it should still be fine.
Most likely, after issuing the order forbidding anyone from entering the Divine Tower, even Ranni herself had never expected there would come a day when she would personally allow someone through.
What could a mere employee like him do about that?
—
Using the Grace once more, Lucian teleported away from the Liurnia Divine Tower.
This time, he appeared behind Caria Manor.
Next, he intended to head to Renna's Rise and use the teleportation gate there to reach the Ainsel River Main.
Ranni had previously mentioned that tower to him herself.
If nothing unexpected had happened, she had likely left behind the same portal to the underground as in the game.
Which meant next up…
Time to pick up the Miniature Ranni figurine!
Suddenly, Lucian looked toward the Three Sisters towers and remembered someone.
He wondered whether Seluvis was dead yet.
If not, he planned to wring the crafting method for Amber Draught out of him first.
Although Lucian did not currently possess Amber Starlight and had no intention of using the potion on anyone…
He firmly believed in the principle of "better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it."
In all the Lands Between, Seluvis was probably the only person capable of producing that concoction. If the man died, it would become a permanently missable item.
Besides, who knew whether it might prove useful someday?
And if one had to say it…
Miquella was technically a demigod too, wasn't he?
Might as well squeeze every last bit of value out of Seluvis before he died.
With that thought, Lucian changed direction and flew toward Seluvis's Rise.
When he landed before the tower, he did not find Seluvis's corpse on the first floor.
That was usually where Seluvis stayed, and also where he would eventually be executed.
Still, that alone was not enough to prove he was alive. Perhaps he had died higher up in the tower.
Lucian entered Seluvis's Rise and searched floor by floor.
After thoroughly inspecting the entire tower, he still found no corpse.
Only then did Lucian confirm that Seluvis was indeed still alive.
However, the man himself was nowhere to be seen.
Standing atop the tower, Lucian gazed toward a distant patch of ruins.
If Seluvis was not in his tower, then there was probably only one place left where he might be.
After pinpointing the location, Lucian arrived at the seemingly ordinary ruins.
Sweeping his gaze across the ground, he quickly identified the place as Seluvis's puppet hideout.
Lucian stomped apart the concealed illusion Seluvis had hidden among the ruins.
As the masking spell shattered, a staircase leading underground appeared before him.
Without hesitation, Lucian walked down.
The moment he entered the underground chamber, he saw Seluvis hurriedly standing up from beside one of the puppets.
Clearly, Seluvis had noticed the disturbance the instant Lucian broke the disguise outside.
Lucian looked at the disheveled Seluvis… then glanced at the Jarwight puppet beside him.
He opened his mouth, only to find himself at a loss for words.
"…Your tastes… no, your orientation…"
"Mm… don't worry. I'll do my best not to discriminate."
Cold sweat poured beneath Seluvis's mask.
Moments earlier, he had just finished maintaining the puppets and was preparing to appreciate their beauty.
He had only just selected the puppet he intended to "enjoy" today when the disguise outside had been broken.
Seluvis had initially been furious, fully intending to teach the intruder a lesson.
But the instant he recognized who had entered, all such thoughts vanished.
Swallowing hard, the arrogant and condescending tone he normally carried weakened considerably.
"Y-You… who are you?!"
"Why have you barged into my underground chamber without permission?!"
Seluvis exhausted nearly all his strength just forcing those two lines out.
'That was close. I almost forgot he hasn't seen this appearance of mine before!'
Lucian rubbed his chin and asked in return:
"I should be the one asking who you are."
"What? There wasn't any sign outside saying this basement belonged to you."
"If you didn't mark it, why can't I come in?"
Seluvis had no rebuttal.
Under Ranni's watchful eye, how could he possibly store his puppets openly?
If anyone else had dared say something like that to him, Seluvis would already have blasted them with a Glintstone Comet to demonstrate the authority of a magic preceptor.
But the person before him was Lucian.
Even their brief encounter at Caria Manor had been enough for Seluvis to clearly understand the vast gap between their strength.
And if they fought here, his precious puppets would definitely get caught in the crossfire.
So Seluvis could only grit his teeth and say:
"I apologize for not labeling it—"
"So now, could I trouble you to leave?"
Lucian's gaze swept leisurely across the underground chamber.
Watching Lucian inspect his beloved collection so brazenly, Seluvis burned with anger yet dared not voice it.
For ease of maintenance, several puppets had been stripped of their clothing and had not yet been redressed.
If someone shared his tastes and could appreciate the beauty of puppets, Seluvis actually did not mind showing them off.
Possessing superior puppets others lacked and basking in their admiration brought him immense satisfaction.
In fact, compared to savoring the puppets themselves, this feeling of superiority pleased the deeply insecure Seluvis even more.
But…
To ordinary people incapable of understanding such beauty, the reaction was always the same:
Disgusting.
Seluvis lowered his head slightly and clenched his fists.
Yet Lucian's next words caused him to abruptly raise his head again.
"You seem pretty skilled at making puppets."
"Can you turn truly powerful people into puppets?"
"For example… a demigod?"