Online Game: I Started with Max Charisma and Caught the Goddess's Eye

Staring at the abandoned manor before him, Luca was utterly puzzled.

"How did we end up here? According to the map, once we left that dense forest, we were supposed to emerge at the foot of Mist Mountain. And that's exactly what we saw from the Black Forest camp as well.

Did we somehow experience a spatial shift while passing through the forest? Or did the Shadows of the Spiritual Creature deliberately send us here?"

He muttered in confusion.

The shock of suddenly finding himself near the abandoned manor even outweighed his curiosity about the Shadows of the Spiritual Creature.

He didn't even think to immediately question Sophia about them.

"Maybe that's exactly it! After all, you gave them a lot of help in that battle. Of course they'd be willing to offer you some help in return."

Sophia's voice broke the silence then.

Luca nodded and asked,

"What exactly are the Shadows of the Spiritual Creature? Why did you say earlier that we absolutely mustn't become one of them? Is turning into a Shadow of the Spiritual Creature some sort of curse?"

Faced with Luca's barrage of questions, Sophia patiently explained,

"Shadows of the Spiritual Creature are beings in a soul-like state, born from the forces of nature after a powerful life-form dies.

Because they come into existence only after death through natural power, they're usually regarded as the 'shadows' of life itself—hence the name, Shadows of the Spiritual Creature.

But for a Shadow of the Spiritual Creature to be born requires extremely harsh conditions.

First, the living being that precedes it must possess immense strength. Only in that way can it retain its intelligence after becoming a Shadow of the Spiritual Creature.

Second, Shadows of the Spiritual Creature can only exist in areas rich with life-force. These areas are usually places blessed by the Goddess of Life, so the Shadows are also regarded as her servants.

Finally, Shadows of the Spiritual Creature can indeed be killed. And when they are slain, they often leave behind rare and valuable materials. Of course, killing one comes at a very steep cost."

"The Shadows of the Spiritual Creature themselves are deeply tied to the Goddess of Life, so anyone who kills them is bound to suffer the curse of the Goddess of Life.

However, because the materials left behind after a Shadow of the Spiritual Creature dies are extremely precious, there are always people willing to take the risk. The Dragon King's subordinates are probably hunting them for those rare materials left after their death."

Sophia rattled off all the traits of the Shadows of the Spiritual Creature in one breath.

But even so, it still didn't resolve the doubts in Luca's heart.

"According to what you're saying, becoming a Shadow of the Spiritual Creature doesn't actually sound that bad. At the very least, it lets a dead life continue to exist. And becoming a servant of the Goddess of Life doesn't seem like such a big deal either."

He had once received the blessing of the Goddess of Life himself.

So in his eyes, the Goddess of Life was a very positive chaos deity.

His words left Sophia completely shocked.

"What are you even saying?! The Goddess of Life is also a chaos deity! Becoming Her servant is no different from becoming Zenobia's servant. Don't you plan to fight against the chaos deities?"

Sophia's reminder finally snapped Luca back to his senses.

"You're right. I was thinking far too little about this."

After saying that, he turned his gaze toward the abandoned manor.

"Since the Shadows of the Spiritual Creature can only live in fixed areas, they won't be able to interfere with our next actions. Looks like we should take this chance to enter the abandoned manor again. There must still be other secrets inside that we haven't uncovered."

Luca felt that since they were already here, there was no need to deliberately avoid the abandoned manor.

Its underground area had never been fully explored.

He believed that beneath the manor lay an interconnected network of secret passageways.

It was quite possible that the Dragon King's subordinates had been using this network to remain hidden around the Black Forest camp.

This time, Sophia did not object.

She also felt that going back into the abandoned manor might lead to some discoveries.

This time, Luca chose to climb over the wall into the manor.

Going in alone meant he could explore however he wished.

He wouldn't need to come up with excuses to put off the people traveling with him anymore.

There was nothing left to explore in the structures on the surface of the abandoned manor.

During their previous operation, he and Lucas had already combed through almost every building aboveground.

So when Luca entered the manor this time, he went straight underground.

Following the passage he had discovered on his last exploration, he quickly reached the hall where he had once fought the Blood Dragon in the final battle.

The hall was now spotless and orderly.

It was obvious that Bloody Knight Anwar had already sent soldiers from the Black Forest camp to clear everything out.

Both the Blood Dragon's remains and the corpses of the fallen nobles that had once littered the hall had all been taken back to the Black Forest camp.

This didn't surprise Luca much.

After all, through his conversations with Bloody Knight Anwar and Lucas, he had already confirmed how highly the Crimson King's subordinates valued any information related to the Goddess of the Night.

"They took everything they could, and what they couldn't take, they destroyed. Looks like we won't be able to find any clues here," Sophia said with a hint of disappointment.

But Luca didn't seem concerned.

After scanning the hall, he quickly strode toward one of the corners.

There he found another hidden door.

"How did you know there was a hidden door here?" Sophia asked in surprise.

It felt to her as though Luca had known about it all along—after entering the hall, he had only glanced around once before heading straight to that spot.

"I noticed during my fight with the Blood Dragon that part of the hall's floor was hollow. Because the situation back then was so intense, I didn't have the chance to explore it.

Now that I've come back, it was easy for me to lock onto where the hidden door would be. Let's go straight through. Behind it should be the underground passage area of the abandoned manor."

With that, Luca stepped into the hidden door.

Below it stretched a pitch-dark passageway.

Luca pulled out a torch, barely illuminating the area around him.

He continued downward along the dark corridor. After only a short walk, he came to a fork in the path.

The appearance of the fork in the passage proved his guess correct.

"As expected, there's a sprawling underground tunnel system. It must have been gradually built by the manor's original owner.

We might even be able to find further information related to the Goddess of the Night somewhere in this network. Then again, it's also possible that the Dragon King's subordinates have already discovered anything connected to her."

Luca spoke his reasoning aloud as he moved through the passageway.

Not far beyond the fork, he extinguished his torch.

The section of tunnel he'd entered was already bright, with sunlight streaming down from above.

Plants even grew along the walls.

The temperature here was much warmer than in the pitch-black corridors they'd walked through earlier.

Sophia couldn't help but remark,

"This doesn't feel like a secret passage at all—more like a sunbathing hall. The builder of this abandoned manor really knew how to enjoy life."

Luca didn't contradict her.

He too felt that this part of the tunnel hadn't been added later.

The passage they were walking through now was probably constructed by the manor's builder originally to improve his quality of life.

Later, when the underground network was expanded, this entire section had been integrated into it—likely as a connecting link between two large underground complexes.

After passing through the sunlit Calla passageway, Luca entered another stretch of darkness.

He hadn't gone far when he suddenly stopped.

"What is it? Have enemies appeared again?" Sophia asked in surprise.

She couldn't sense anything ahead, but she knew her Perception wasn't as sharp as Luca's.

Luca didn't answer her question.

He simply stared intently into the darkness at a shadow not far ahead.

He could feel that an enemy was hidden within that shadow.

But he wasn't confident he could strike first and hit the foe behind it.

So he chose to wait there, letting the enemy make the first move.

Seconds ticked by.

Neither side seemed willing to attack first.

In the end, Sophia simply couldn't keep waiting any longer.

She turned to Luca with a direct proposal.

"How about I make the first move? I can use frost magic to rapidly drop the temperature in this area. That way we can slow the enemy's movements, and you can take the chance to finish them off."

Luca didn't immediately agree to her idea.

He was worried such a move might startle the enemy and ruin their advantage.

But staying locked in this standoff forever wasn't a solution either.

At last, Luca had no choice but to reluctantly accept Sophia's suggestion.

Immediately, Sophia cast her frost spell.

The temperature in the passageway plummeted, and frost spread across the walls.

At that moment, Luca gripped his weapon tightly and charged straight toward the shadow.

Even though his and Sophia's coordination was flawless, they still failed to catch their opponent off guard.

Just as Luca launched his attack, the enemy hidden behind the shadow suddenly darted out.

Only then did Luca and Sophia finally recognize the enemy's true identity—

a dragon-man assassin.