Lawful Good Mo

What would happen if a necromancer drank holy water?

Bang!

"Ah!!!!!" Medi suddenly began howling loudly. However, because of the barrier he had activated earlier, his voice clearly could not escape the cottage. Pale flames rose from within him, scorching both his flesh and soul—in other words, his HP was plummeting.

At this point, Mo Tan's plan was ninety percent complete.

After leaving that street, he had not come here immediately. Instead, he had found a small shop and used the money from the vegetable seller's wallet to buy a flask. He then filled it with clean water and began praying devoutly, successfully producing a simplified version of holy water.

Afterward, he had used various reasons to ask some townspeople for information about Medi. Once he had gathered quite a bit, he set off.

An hour later, the former priest, now necromancer—Medi Le—was burning inside his cottage, clearly on the verge of death.

But...

"You despicable... vile... bastard! Maggot! Scum!" Medi rasped as he howled, struggling toward Mo Tan one step at a time. "You'll pay for this! Do you think tricking me into drinking this little bit of holy water can 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 sounded like a devil in Medi's ears. He chuckled. "Your knowledge of holy light far surpasses your understanding of necromantic magic. That's why you've avoided being discovered and 'purified' all these years, and also why you're confident holy water won't destroy you. But..."

Pfft!

Medi fell to his knees, thin streams of black blood spilling from his mouth.

"Who told you this was ordinary holy water?"

Holy Water (Fake)

Consumable

Effect: Unknown

Note: Created through the hypocritical prayers of an unbeliever

Medi had attempted to use the power of devotion to dissolve the holy water's effects, but had suffered a second heavy blow—this time to his soul.

If drinking holy water inflicted immense damage on a necromancer's affinity-based constitution, then this bottle of fake holy water possessed that effect while also causing any divine power to rebound upon its user.

Of course, it was ineffective against high-level beings of the High Priest rank—at least level 35 in the Holy Light School—or against fanatics. Medi clearly did not fall into either category, and so moments later, he was already at death's door...

"Mana..." The old man kneeling on the ground stretched out his arm as if trying to grasp something, murmuring weakly. The pain on his face unexpectedly transformed into relief at the final moment, and he smiled.

"She's been waiting for you." Mo Tan crouched before Medi, his voice gentler than ever. "You can rest now, Mr. Medi."

"I've waited too long for this moment..."

The instant his breathing stopped, Medi Le turned into a pile of black ash.

The next second, the system's voice rang out in Mo Tan's mind:

You have unlocked the class: Deceiver, Level 2, EXP 77/150

You have obtained new skills and attribute points

You have obtained the talent: Faithless

The tutorial quest has been completed. You may choose a reward class: Rogue/Warrior/Mage, and receive 60 EXP

Tutorial quest completion: 300%. Reward: one piece of equipment. You may choose 150 EXP

Item Codex, Character Codex, and Story Codex unlocked

Holy Water, Holy Water (Fake), Medi Le, and "Medi's Love" have been added to the Codex

You have received a unique quest. Unique quest unlocked

"Well, I gained quite a lot..." Mo Tan said absentmindedly. He then picked a ring out of the pile of ashes on the ground. As expected, it was a piece of equipment of fairly good quality.

Medi's Wedding Ring

Type: Ring—Set

Quality: Fine—Unique

Attributes: Wisdom +5, Constitution +5, Strength -1, Necromantic Knowledge +1

Trait: Grants the skill: Medi's Obsession

Equipment Requirements: None

Set Effect: Medi's Wedding Ring/Mana's Wedding Ring—increases Constitution by 10%

Note: The matching rings exchanged by Medi Le and Mana Ayn when they married. One wisp of Mana Ayn's soul was once contained within. It was never removed.

From the description alone, it was clear that this fine-quality ring was an exceptionally valuable item in the early game, the kind one could absolutely show off on their social feed. It was also part of a set. With Mo Tan's intelligence, it was not hard to guess where the other item was. Without a doubt, Mana's Wedding Ring was beneath the gravestone in the cottage's backyard—the one where no one was buried.

But...

Mo Tan did not put it on. Instead, he found a jar inside the cottage and stored Medi's ashes inside. Then he brought the jar and the ring to the backyard. After digging up the other ring, he reburied the pair of rings and the jar underground.

Such an action was clearly incomprehensible to ordinary people, just as it was baffling that Mo Tan could kill the lovesick necromancer without the slightest psychological burden.

But he did not care. Or rather, the personality known as Tan Mo did not care. He had simply wanted to do it, so he did. As for losing two decent pieces of equipment and the fact that dead NPCs did not have something called "resting in peace," he did not care in the slightest.

From this, it was clear that there was no phrase more fitting for him than Chaotic Neutral.

Afterward, Mo Tan returned to Medi's cottage, sat down in a chair, and began examining his new class.

Class: Deceiver

EXP: 77/150

Category: School of Cunning

Attribute Bonuses: Wisdom 5, Agility 2

Weapon Requirements: None

Exclusive Skills: Confuse, Bewitch

Description: The perfect lie is one that successfully deceives even the liar at the moment it is spoken.

Note: If one day you no longer dare believe even yourself, please undergo a thorough psychological evaluation immediately.

"Ha~ Without a doubt, it's a support class~~" Mo Tan smiled, then muttered, "If I became an actor, I might have quite a future too..."

He then planned to examine his new talent and skills, and check what those codices were all about. Unexpectedly...

A sudden wave of guilt struck him, and then...

You have been urgently disconnected. Would you like to reconnect?

"Yes."

Reconnection initiated...

Connection complete. Reading character information.

Innocent World is now open to you. Character creation will begin shortly...

The same notification, the same stone platform, the same nine doors, but a different... Mo Tan.

He did not immediately choose the door that suited him. Instead, he squatted there in considerable distress, clutching his head and sighing miserably.

"What is this supposed to mean?!" Mo Tan hunched his shoulders and said with a mournful expression, "Do I have to spend a huge portion of my life feeling depressed and regretful? What the hell was I doing just now?!"

It turned out that he was troubled by what he had done to Medi while possessing the identity of Tan Mo.

In the current Mo Tan's eyes, before the system's so-called "Bone Plague" occurred, Medi had probably never harmed any innocent people. His story was also deeply sympathetic. Although he had resolutely embraced so-called "evil magic" in order to resurrect his wife, he was absolutely not a bad person.

Yet such a man had been killed by him with ease. Although his final action had given the current Mo Tan some comfort, he still felt rather unpleasant about it.

Because he felt that if it had been him, he certainly would have found a better way to solve the problem...

The quest had required him to stop the plague from breaking out, not to kill Medi Le.

There were many ways to accomplish that goal. The simplest would have been to find an excuse to trick Medi away from home, then sneak inside and destroy his spell model.

Another option would have been to find evidence that Medi was a necromancer, then locate the Savage Hound Mercenary Group passing through the town tavern and have them drive him away. Mo Tan had already learned of this information while wandering around town earlier.

But the current Mo Tan leaned toward honestly telling Medi that the resurrection was certain to fail, then trying to work with him to find another solution. After all, he did not know much about Innocent World. Perhaps there really was a way to resurrect Medi's wife...

Unfortunately, the Chaotic Neutral Tan Mo had chosen the simplest and most brutal method. He had also reunited Medi with his wife, though in another form.

Mo Tan sighed again. He then glanced at the pure-gold door that had long since opened and walked through it.

Although he possessed the same memories, he was always dissatisfied with "his" way of handling things. This moral-model Mo Tan had a rather strong opinion of his Chaotic Neutral "self"...

The door of Lawful Good slowly closed, hiding his figure.

The character creation process will not be described again. Let us go straight to this character's information...

Calculation complete. Your initial character information is:

Race: Half-Dragon (Thunder Dragon Bloodline)

Sex: Male

Alignment: Lawful Good

Talents: Spirit of Devotion (when fighting alongside friendly targets, increases HP by 5%; when attacked, increases the chance of receiving a critical hit by 5%), Steel Will (when HP falls below 30%, grants additional defensive bonuses. The exact value depends on lost stamina)

Basic Attributes: Strength 7, Agility 5, Wisdom 9, Constitution 7

Visible Attributes: Eloquence 5, Charisma 5, Knowledge 8, Leadership 8

Combat Attributes: None

"Hey, I'm not actually that great..." Mo Tan scratched his hair, wearing a somewhat irritating expression.

Please name your character.

"Mo. No need to confirm it again." Mo Tan replied. At this point, he felt that a one-character nickname was pretty good too.

Would you like to adjust your appearance?

A half-dragon's appearance was not much different from a human's, except for the fine purple scales around the neck and wrists. Its build was also slightly sturdier, and... it had a tail...

Mo Tan furrowed his brow slightly. "Can we negotiate and remove the tail?"

Some racial traits cannot be removed and can only be adjusted within a certain range.

The system replied mechanically. The tail behind the half-dragon before Mo Tan, which was roughly half a meter long, shrank by four-fifths.

"Uh, it looks like my butt is swollen. Let's change it back..." Mo Tan pondered for a long while, then decided not to make any changes. After all, Innocent World was somewhat overbearing. From alignment to race, there was not a single thing he could decide for himself...

Character creation complete. Mo, the Lawful Good, welcome to Innocent World.

The third time...

Mo Tan opened his eyes and discovered that he was inside a creature that appeared to be... an earth dragon. Moreover, he was not alone.

He gave the surroundings a rough scan. Seven or eight people were seated on this draconic creature, which was about five meters long. Several carriages followed behind, along with people riding mostly horses and various other beasts. They all appeared to possess some combat ability.

Tutorial quest triggered—Protect the Sylph Caravan

"Hey, kid." A large hand suddenly slapped Mo Tan heavily on the shoulder twice. He turned around and saw a red-faced dwarf with a full beard grinning at him.

Mo Tan nodded somewhat dazedly. "Hello, may I ask..."

"Mag. Mag Ironfist~" The dwarf made a comical face. "We left in such a hurry that I didn't have time to introduce myself. I'm the captain of the Savage Earth Dragon Mercenary Group, and the leader of the escort team for those... uh... green-skinned little sticks this time."

Mo Tan nodded slightly without rashly replying, because the other man had yet to tell him who he was supposed to be "this time."

"You two are lucky~" Mag squinted and jerked his eyebrows at Mo Tan and the direction behind him. "Since your destination is also Kusi City, you got to hitch a ride with us~"

You two?!

A guess immediately surfaced in Mo Tan's mind. He turned around at once and, sure enough, saw a handsome, resolute young man winking at him. He wore clothes similar to Mo Tan's hemp garments, had nothing in his hands, and lacked both scales and a tail.

From every angle, he was another player just like Mo Tan.

"Sorry for the trouble, Mr. Ironfist." Mo Tan returned an understanding glance to the young man, then turned around and extended his hand toward Gray Ironfist. "I'm Mo."

"Zephyr Saine!" The young human also raised his hand and said cheerfully.

The dwarf warrior in chainmail hugged Mo Tan tightly, causing him to lose a little HP, then high-fived Zephyr Saine. "Just call me Mag. Speaking of which, you..."

He glanced at Zephyr Saine. "Why are you looking around so much?"

"Uh..." The young man was at a loss for words, but Mo Tan had already guessed that he had received the same tutorial quest. His earlier behavior was probably because he was wary of an unknown enemy.

At that moment, a mustached man riding a highland pony came up beside the earth dragon and cursed with a laugh, "Mag! You bastard! Just because you're the captain, you think you can drink during a mission, huh?!"

"If you can beat me, I'll share it with you~" Mag rolled his eyes. He hefted an axe nearly as tall as himself and bared his teeth at the mustached man.

"Get lost! I'm afraid your low slash will cut off my balls!" The other man spat onto the ground and shrugged. "Still, there shouldn't be any danger along this road~"

As everyone knew, saying such a thing in such a moment was absolutely a death flag, like a major character at the end of a horror movie jumping out to declare, "So there really aren't any ghosts~"

And then getting killed...

"Watch out!" Mo Tan suddenly launched a kick and sent the mustached man flying. His innate Strength of 7, combined with his half-dragon bloodline, actually sent a seasoned mercenary—who had fought a hundred... ten... uh, several battles—flying when caught off guard.

"You son of a..." Mag's eyes went wide. He was just reaching out to grab Mo Tan by the collar when a feathered arrow whistled through the air and slammed into the ground, grazing the pony's back!

Mag immediately roared, "Stay alert!" He flipped off the earth dragon and landed steadily on the ground, not forgetting to give a thumbs-up with his other hand.

"Mm, I owe you one, mate." The mustached man rolled to his feet and nodded at Mo Tan. "Thanks."

Mo Tan smiled at him. It was not that his senses were especially sharp. He had simply instinctively observed the surroundings when the mustached man raised that death flag, noticed that this was an excellent place for an ambush, and uneasily looked up. As a result, he saw an odd glint in the air that, in hindsight, had clearly been the reflection from an arrowhead, aimed directly at the mustached man...

As for why a modern person possessed such experience... that was the fault of the guy named Tan Mo in the game. After all, memories and experience were shared.

"It's the Sand Goblins!" The elven ranger kneeling on the earth dragon's back shouted. "There are a lot of them! Very, very many!"

"How many the hell is 'a lot'?" Mag shouted back unhappily. "Second Captain, bring me my Idari Firearm!"

A Lizardfolk riding a giant lizard raced past him and shouted without turning his head, "Get it yourself, old drunk! I'm going to take a look!"

"You two can use swords, right?" asked the scar-faced elven ranger as he looked back.

Mo Tan and Zephyr Saine nodded at the same time. Whether for the sake of completing the quest or because of their own positions, neither of them could stand by idly at a time like this.

"The weapons are beneath the boards. Try to stay toward the rear and take care of yourselves!" the elf said rapidly. At the same time, he drew three black-fletched arrows with his other hand, nocked them, and fired them together.

The enemy's first wave had arrived!

This stretch of road was a gentle slope. The caravan's current position offered poor visibility. To the right was a low cliff, which was also where the first arrow had come from. To the left, Mo Tan observed, was a rare flat marshland...

Just as Mo Tan and Zephyr Saine had picked up their weapons, a large number of black figures had already begun to appear faintly in their field of vision. At the same time, several masses of black mud carried streams of murky water as they came rushing from the left!

"Mud Fishmen!"

A thin barrier spread around the caravan. A woman in a bright-red robe came running from the rear, holding a crimson-gold staff. She cried out in alarm, "Why are there Mud Fishmen here?!"

Chapter End