Chapter 37: The Hero’s Altar (Part 1)

“Hehe!”
Seeing the guy frozen in place, too scared to try escaping anymore, Donald smiled and said, “Good. You’re smart—you didn’t attempt to run away. Otherwise, you’d end up like him. Ghouls are undead creatures. Though they’re just defective variants created by the great archmages when trying to create vampires, they still possess the same infectious nature as vampires. This infection has even mutated into something akin to a plague. If they scratch even a tiny bit of your skin, you’ll contract the undead plague—a painful and prolonged death process. And after dying from the infection, you too will turn into those soulless, ugly monsters!”
These words weren’t fabricated to deceive him; such monsters as ghouls indeed existed in this world, and their attributes and origins were astonishingly similar to those described in fantasy games and legends from his past life. It seemed that some fundamental laws applied across worlds.
After a pause, Donald’s voice sounded especially eerie against the monster’s grotesque appearance.
“Similarly… your soul will be polluted by negative energy, turning you into a pitiful undead creature. By then, even your gods might abandon you, their poor believer. And even in death, you’ll retain a sliver of consciousness as a living being, watching yourself wither and rot, gradually turning into a monster—a feeling far worse than death itself!”
Donald’s words nearly shattered the guy’s mental defenses, leaving him terrified as he stared at the monster beside him.
“But rest assured, without my command as your master, the summoned creatures won’t attack you.”
With that, Donald abandoned the terrified spy and summoned another creature—this time a Level 2 Orc unit, the Soul Walker, who had once been very useful to him.
The spy, seeing Donald summon another Soul Walker that resembled a minotaur shaman among orcs, remained confused. One ghoul was already enough to deal with him, who had combat strength comparable to a Level 3 warrior but was more of an assassin. So why summon another monster?
But soon, the spy understood the purpose behind it.
Donald had ordered the Soul Walker to impose Soul Chains on both him and the spy.
At its basic level, the Soul Chain ability could link up to four targets to the Soul Walker’s own mind. All units affected by the Soul Chain could transfer 50% of the damage they received to other units.

And when the body and mind are fully connected, everyone’s thoughts at that moment can be known by the person on the other end. After the soul chain took effect, Donald began to casually ask this spy, whose origin was unknown. “Is your master a noble?” “Is your master’s rank higher than mine…?” “Is your master’s domain in Stone City?” “What is your master’s name…?” … Although the spy avoided giving direct answers or simply remained silent to each of Donald’s questions, he couldn’t hide his inner thoughts. Through these clever inquiries, Donald quickly obtained the answers he wanted from the spy’s mind. Though the spy skillfully avoided direct responses or stayed silent each time, he couldn’t conceal his shock and other emotional reactions. As he secretly breathed a sigh of relief that the questioning was over, he had no idea that Donald had already obtained the answers he desired through these clever questions. “So it was the governor of North County who sent you. This viscount really goes to great lengths! He caused my parents’ early death, stole our family’s wealth and lands, and still wasn’t satisfied. Now, he even doesn’t intend to spare me, the last heir of the Merlinna family! Hmph! But I, Donald Merlinna, am not someone to be trifled with!” The previous failure made the viscount more cautious, so he suspended some of his overt activities and sent spies to infiltrate Darknight Manor to uncover Donald’s plans. It’s also worth mentioning that the viscount and his secret forces communicated through intermediaries, with no direct connection to the viscount’s manor. Thus, this spy from a different organization didn’t know that the previous assassination was carried out by Macbeth. “How do you know!!! I didn’t reveal a single word! Not one! What’s going on…!” Leaving the still terrified spy behind, Donald found a chair and sat down to carefully consider the implications of Macbeth’s actions toward him. “Macbeth stole our family’s wealth decades ago, and now I have great potential…” “Once I grow stronger, the first person I’ll deal with will definitely be that old bastard Macbeth! I used to hate Macbeth’s actions back then with all my heart.”

“The Macbeth family has ruled the North County for over a century, with deep-rooted power. They have always sought to annex surrounding territories and certainly wouldn’t allow an enemy like me to exist. But openly, they surely wouldn’t dare attack me, so the assassination last time was likely orchestrated by Macbeth behind the scenes! Maybe that sorcerer is also involved!”
At that moment, the spy also came to his senses. After all, he wasn’t stupid; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been trained as a spy by a faction. He quickly realized that the interrogation only began after the minotaur was summoned and magic was cast. So it must have been the magic cast by that minotaur—some strange spell that revealed his thoughts without him noticing.
“You’re a devil!! You’re a demon from the abyss…”
It’s worth noting that due to the severe loss of spells related to hypnosis, enchantment, or controlling humans within the schools of magic, most people don’t even know that ancient mages once possessed such powers to manipulate people’s hearts and minds.
In the legends of this world, aside from gods, only demons from the abyss and evil creatures from other realms are said to be skilled at manipulating the souls and minds of intelligent beings. Realizing that all his secrets were known to the other party, the spy gave in to despair, completely abandoning resistance. He pleaded, “Please spare me! Lord Mage, I’m just a lowly servant! I pose no threat to you! If you let me go, I swear I’ll never reveal anything to the Viscount. Please believe me!”
Donald looked at the pleading spy and said with a smirk, “Even a lowly person can be useful. If you do me a small favor, I’ll not only let you go but also grant you unexpected benefits!”
A plan that occurred to him on the spot made him abandon his earlier intention to eliminate the spy.
“You should also understand that even though Macbeth is a viscount, he’s still just a mortal. What he can offer you, I can do as well. And what I can offer you, only gods can bestow!”
Donald’s tone was full of temptation. The spy, having witnessed the mage’s tactics earlier, was already completely broken. How could someone of his humble status not desire to rise above and live a peaceful life?!

Donald’s tone was filled with temptation, and the spy, having witnessed the mage’s tactics earlier, already had his will seized and was on the verge of collapse. How could such a lowly man not desire to stand out and live a peaceful life?

Caught between the crisis before him and the pressure from his master behind him, he hesitated, his expression shifting as he struggled to make up his mind. In the end, between losing his life and betraying his master, the spy chose the latter. After all, the fear instilled in him by the viscount was far greater than the torment his soul would suffer at the hands of that demon-like mage after death.

Moreover, the secret had already been revealed. Even if he returned safely and reported everything to his master, he would surely be killed by McWhite to silence him.

Under such coercion, Donald’s attempt to turn the spy over succeeded smoothly. No one knew what Donald and the spy named Ad had discussed in the room. It was not until two full hours later that Ad was quietly taken out of the manor by Donald, unnoticed by anyone.

After setting this stage, with the butler preparing the items needed for him to go to the battlefield, Donald, in high spirits, went alone to the Tree of Life.

“Book of Truth, summon the Elven Heroic Altar for me!”

As soon as Donald spoke, an altar-like structure appeared before the Tree of Life—resembling the Moon Well but shaped like a golden sun, with a size ten times that of the Moon Well. At the same time, Donald’s stock of elemental crystals was reduced by half. And this was just the construction cost; even greater expenses lay ahead!

The base of the Heroic Altar was made of unknown bluish-white stones, adorned with mysterious and intricate patterns. Four stone columns supported a stone beam on each side, with a golden sun totem at the center.

Due to the previous demon attack, Donald was determined to go all out to enhance his strength. Even though he possessed the powerful artifact, the Book of Truth, he was not a true god and could not handle everything perfectly. But such minor flaws didn’t need to worry him. Long ago, he had found solutions in the Book of Truth to address his strength issues and to deal with sorcerers and demons.

That solution was to summon a Heroic Altar through the Book of Truth and then transform himself into a hero.