The Swordsman of Faerûn

On the contrary, Foxes and the other five real shadow spirits did not adhere to this "tradition". They readily accepted the hospitality of the doppelgangers and claimed that the tribe they were from was relatively "enlightened".

After staying in the reception area of ​​Laprous' Nest for a day (there is a day and night in the etheric world), William signaled to Foxis that he wanted to leave this place and was going to look for the Raven Queen elsewhere.

It was the guards of Laprous' Lair, but they tried their best to keep them, and claimed that their boss had a lot of contacts in the entire ether world and was well-informed. When the Lord of Many Faces came back, he would definitely help them find the whereabouts of the Raven Queen faster. , of course, the premise is that the Raven Queen is indeed in the etheric realm.

William and the others have long seen that these shapeshifters and their servants have ulterior motives, and they don't want outsiders like them to leave. It is very necessary.

After being kindly retained by the master, some ghosts fell into the land of tenderness and couldn't extricate themselves. They dragged their feet to persuade Foxis. In order to forget the irritability in my heart.

Naturally, the maverick "Shadow Spirits" like William couldn't be neglected, and a few eloquent little genies and shapeshifters led them to wander around Laprous' lair and hunt.In this, William showed his amazement towards various things in the etheric world. Whether it was the more common etheric landscapes or various spirit world creatures, he would ask questions curiously.

The little elves and shapeshifters who were in charge of entertaining William even privately made a list of the most ridiculous questions William asked, among which the top few questions included:

"Are all places in your spirit world so cold?"

"How do you grow food on these waxy snow fields?"

"What does the village look like here?"

……

Such ridiculous questions, but those who have a little understanding of the ether world will not be so ignorant.

William played the role of a country bumpkin who just came out of the shadow plane with ease, and talked about how lively the tribe he was from in front of the doppelgangers, how majestic he was among a group of peers, and so on. of.

The little dwarfs are basically a tribe of little dwarfs from the independent material plane. Although they are a little upset about William's bragging, they don't take it too seriously.

But those relatively simple shapeshifters can't bear it anymore. Their ability to read memory is immature. Generally, if they want to receive information, they are basically the same as normal humans, and they can only rely on biological organs such as eyes, ears, nose, and tongue. , naturally, some special emotions are easy to arise, such as competitive and showing off.

Soon, a doppelganger can't help but claim that there's a great village in Laprous' Lair too, as William 139 brags about his tribe.Just like the real village on the main material plane, there are amazing stories happening every day.

When he heard the news, William's heart beat violently a few times, but he still concealed it calmly.

William pretended to be careless and began to ask for specific information about the village, but the doppelganger hesitated to elaborate.Ever since, William proudly claimed that these doppelgangers were lying. There would be no real villages in such a desolate area covered with ice and snow.

Then, in the next few days, William still described his tribe exaggeratedly, and would end with contemptuously laughing at the doppelgangers every time, which made all the doppelgangers want to beat him up.

Finally, these shapeshifter cubs still couldn't hold back the competitive feeling in their hearts—of course they didn't understand what this unique emotion was. Before William wanted to "brag" again, several shapeshifters brought He sneaked through the isolated area of ​​Laprous' Lair and came to a snowy forest that was extremely rare in the etheric world.

In the middle of the forest, there is a village surrounded by wooden walls. Through the log gate of the village decorated with wild animal skulls, you can see the smoke from the village, people are faintly seen, and the calls of various livestock can be heard from time to time. .

Then a group of human teenagers rushed out of a big wooden house, stepping barefoot on the muddy street mixed with ice, snow and mud, looking behind them in horror from time to time.

Then I saw the sound of thumping footsteps, a blue-haired tomboy who was barely shorter than William, chased out of the big wooden house like a bison. She was also barefoot and dressed in filthy tatters. He caught up with the teenagers in front of him in a few strides, and then knocked them down one by one with his fists, just as easily as a high school student beating a first-grade elementary school student.

-------------Chapter Dividing Line---------------

The girl had a silly smile on her dirty face, but her subordinates beat up a group of children mercilessly.Although those cubs were beaten so hard that they couldn't fight back, they kept spitting out cursing words, such as "giant bastard", "silly big man who doesn't grow a beetle" and so on.

The girl wasn't angry either, she just threw these scolding, tough-mouthed boys into the dirty mud pit arbitrarily, turning them into mud monkeys covered in stinky mud, and then walked away with a silly smile on her face.

William really wanted to step forward and grab that childish girl, and then hug her fiercely, but after a few ripples in his heart, he suppressed the thought.

Because William wasn't sure if it was Phinya herself who just ran out to beat up the little friend, or a fake shapeshifter.

But soon William realized that the "Feniya" who ran out just now was indeed a fake.The reason is very simple. Not long after, another group of idiots rushed out of the big wooden house just now, and then another childish version of Phineya chased out from inside. She knocked the group of idiots to the ground in the same way, and then After throwing them one by one into the mud pit, they walked away in high spirits.

Not to mention that the previous batch of silly boys were still lying in the mud pit and did not crawl out, but the two young versions of Phineas went into another much dilapidated wooden house one after the other, and anyone who was not blind would open his eyes. You can tell they have a problem at a glance.

William took a deep breath. He squinted at the doppelgangers around him with expressions of admiration on their faces, and said in a low voice with extreme disdain: "That's it? This is what you call an amazing performance. The village of the story? Are you trying to laugh me to death?"

The leading party among these deformed monsters said proudly: "Isn't this exciting enough? You can see how beautiful their curse words are, how real the beating process is, and their unyielding expressions , It is no different from what actually happened.”

William shook his head mockingly, and laughed loudly: "You call this wonderful? Hahaha! This is the funniest joke I've ever heard in my life! Hahaha—I really don't want to laugh at you, just I really can't help it!"

He smiled awkwardly on purpose, as if he was trying to suppress his voice, but couldn't.Well, this kind of awkward performance is really hard and difficult to grasp.

In the terrified eyes of these familiar doppelgangers, William's laughter still alarmed the people in the village after all, or it should be said that the more mature doppelgangers.

Those human kid-like guys squatting in the mud pit crawled out of it with anger on their faces. They rushed towards the hiding place of William and others regardless of the stinky mud all over their bodies.

Then the two fake Phineas who entered the dilapidated wooden house also rushed out.

The doppelgangers in the village quickly caught a few voyeurs. They looked angrily at the juniors who violated the rules, or rather, younger brothers and sisters, and reprimanded them with the language that belonged to doppelgangers.

Of course, some shapeshifters looked at William with weird eyes, and they were quite interested in a shadow spirit that appeared out of nowhere.An unruly humanoid alien from the Shadow Plane should be able to do many interesting experiments, such as forcing some kind of indescribable communication, reading memory, shapeshifting and so on.

The two Phinea-like shapeshifters who rushed over last seemed to be the leader of the group of shapeshifters. They looked at William with scrutiny, and then began to question the shapeshifter cubs who were about to be terrified.

After getting more detailed information, one of Phineya said: "Unruly guest, your behavior of violating the prohibition of Laprous' Lair is unforgivable. Of course, I heard that you are a very Talented guest, please tell me, what is wrong with our performance just now, so that you laughed regardless of your safety."

Another Phinea continued: "Please speak out boldly, guests who can't help laughing. If what you said is really reasonable, maybe we will forgive you for violating the prohibition, and even we I will give you a rich reward in return."

William resisted the idea of ​​punching the two impostors into peachy faces, pretending to be humble and said: "No! What's the problem? I just want to say, your performance is really good!"

Unexpectedly, the doppelgangers didn't appreciate it. They almost screamed in unison: "No! He's lying! This guy who can only play with shadows is laughing at us in his heart!"

William pretended to be shocked as if the little secret in his heart had been exposed, and then said with a frustrated face: "Okay! You guys found out. I admit, I really think your performance is very bad, very bad."

The shapeshifters corrected angrily: "We are not performing, we are copying a piece of human life! Although the copy may be bad, please don't slander our professionalism!"

William shrugged and said, "The spirit is commendable, and the level is poor." Although this evaluation is a bit biased, it can be regarded as pertinent.

……

After a quarrel-like exchange, the doppelgangers decided to hire William as their life copying consultant to help them correct the mistakes and omissions that occurred during the life copying process.

After some false refusals, William finally accepted the job he was looking forward to under the "coercion and lure" of the doppelgangers.

……

"...Remember! When Ms. Phinea beats you, you must beg for mercy loudly! Do you understand begging for mercy! What? Why beg for mercy? Idiot! What you are playing now is not a strong and unyielding tough guy, but a You vicious little human bastard!"

……

"...Serious and internal? Don't you even understand this? Well, let me explain to everyone. You all understand the word brave, tell me who among you is the bravest person recognized by the big guys?"

Said one of the doppelgangers who had taken part in the disguise of a beaten savage boy friend: "It's Radur, who once disguised a famous warrior."

William nodded. He knew the tradition of doppelgangers. The first doppelgangers didn't have their own names. Only when they really copied the life experience of an intelligent creature would they take the name of the creature as their own (in that after the creature dies).

There are many famous characters in the history of Faerun who survived a terrible crisis, and then began to change their temperaments, some became greater, and of course more became very bad.There is no doubt that a large part of these guys were actually replaced by shapeshifters.

Any shapeshifter by name is a successful figure respected by all of its kind.

The shapeshifter Radul was not a successful person, because it had never been in contact with the real warrior Radul, it just played the role of "Radul" in the illusion of a certain key person, although the result of the performance It wasn't successful, but it was the closest to being successful among the doppelgangers in front of William.

William let the shapeshifter Radul come to his side and made him look like the warrior Radul.This is a tall guy with a big belly and a rough face. There are many small scars on Radul's body, but William just glanced at it for a while, and he already understood who this so-called warrior Radul was. what kind of goods.

Using this Radur as a template, William began to explain the information contained in it to the shapeshifters.

"Look, this Radul's teeth are complete, which shows that he is not very old, but his muscles are relatively loose, and his fat content is high, especially Radul's belly is very thick, which is full of fat. Oil, do you know what that means?"

A group of shapeshifters are full of bewilderment, how could we know what this means.

William didn't keep it secret, and continued: "This shows that Radul is not a strong-willed person. His job is a warrior. Warriors are proud of fighting, but this Radul has neglected to exercise, causing his muscles to relax. It shows that his name as a warrior is not true.

He also likes to enjoy, and has almost no restraint on eating. The fat all over his body already shows that his will is weak.

There are also traces of minor injuries on Radul's body, and it is almost difficult to see serious wounds, especially on his front, where the wounds are almost pitiful, which means that Radur is not a person who is good at fighting from the front. tough guy.

Look at the wounds on his back, there are many marks of arrow wounds and chopping, ha!This is a guy who likes to run away with his back to the enemy. "

In the end, William concluded: "This warrior Radul is a stern character. He looks very powerful on the outside and has a good reputation, but he is not a real warrior on the inside. Facing the powerful The enemy always chooses to run away rather than fight, and he is really a coward."

The shapeshifter Radul argued a little unconvinced: "But the warrior Radul has won many battles, and he has killed many enemies."

William said disdainfully: "Radur should have killed enemies who were weaker than him, right?! I believe that when he faced a really powerful enemy, he would even be scared to pee his pants!"

The face of the shapeshifter Radul suddenly became ugly, and he said with a sad face: "You are right, sir. When the real Radul was facing a giant dragon, he really peed his pants and couldn't help excreting. He pooped in his crotch. Then the dragon let him go in distaste, which made Radul famous, and he was the only one who came back alive from the dragon's claws."

……

Under William's direction, the play of young Phinea beating children continued, but the details have changed beyond recognition.

Accompanied by the sound of messy footsteps, the young version of Feniya chased and beat those mean-spirited barbarian children. The beaten children always screamed and begged for mercy, and when Fenya went to beat another child, he beat them again. Will pick the girl up again and end up with another heartbreaking beating.

In the end, the furious Feniya threw these stalking boys into the mud pit, and a Highland Rose beast came to the mud pit and defecated. Feniya laughed loudly under the ugly eyes of the boys. Walk away.

-

Although the shapeshifters watching on the outside didn't understand the reason behind William's detailed adjustments, they could clearly feel that those participating companions seemed to be interpreting a true story.

For doppelgangers, there is no greater reward for success than this.

And success always leads to greater opportunities.

The doppelgangers are always so obsessed with the real performance, they desperately hope to replicate this success forever, so they tirelessly rehearse the repertoire of "the young version of Phinia beating up the little pot friend" time and time again, but William can't Not wanting to be tormented by this kind of same content all the time, he glanced vaguely at the snow-covered forest area, then got up and said goodbye, he wanted to go back to the food area to enjoy a comfortable life.

When William and his adventure partner Dove had some kind of indescribable communication to relieve the anxiety in their hearts, in a more hidden village not far from the village William had visited, those shapeshifters pointed out by William were Repeat their renditions.

The real and unexpected interpretation shocked all the shapeshifters watching.

The doppelgangers living in this village are all battle-tested performers, and many doppelgangers have even acquired their real names. It can even be said that they are all reservists of the spirit world's shapechangers.

These nearly top-level shapeshifters can sneak into other planes to conduct real life trading trials after completing the final simulation trial.

But now these "fresh students" who are doing "simulation of the college entrance examination" find that a group of ridiculous "high school candidates" have achieved far superior results on the "simulation questions of the college entrance examination".

After some tracing and questioning, the name of William's disguised ghost was exposed in front of all the doppelgangers.

There is actually someone who knows how to play life better than the doppelganger.

Although this sounds a bit unbelievable, the doppelgangers know that among the intelligent civilizations of many planes, there is indeed a unique profession-playwright master.

Those geniuses who amazed the shapeshifters to the point of incomprehension are not only good at interpreting the past history into wonderful stories, they can even fabricate out of thin air, deduce a story and experience that does not exist, even the shapeshifters can hardly tell the veracity of these stories.

They are the angels of the shapeshifters, but also the nightmare of the shapeshifters.

With the unconscious help of playwright masters, stories adapted from real events are enough to sublimate the shapeshifters in essence, while false stories will make the shapeshifters intoxicated by it forever and unable to extricate themselves, and finally become a lost monster. ego monster.

After a detailed understanding of William's guidance during the day, the doppelgangers believed that William was definitely a guy with the potential of a playwright, a real treasure boy.

For shapeshifters, there is nothing more important than mastering such a playwright.Of course, before that, they had to verify for themselves whether William really had the potential to be a playwright.

-------------Chapter Dividing Line---------------

Since coming to the lair of the spirit world shapechangers, Dove has maintained close contact with William, because she needs to ensure that she will not be seduced by the handsome men and women transformed by those shapeshifters, and thus succumb to herself. physiological needs.

What?You mean old mage?

Unlike the other sisters who always push the relationship with the old mage to a certain bottom line, Dove prefers to regard Elminster as her father, so she has always maintained a relatively pure adoptive father and daughter with him. relation.

Of course, the old mage liked to hear about it. It was because of Dove's specialness that Elminster and all the sisters doted on Dove even more, although she was essentially the older sister of most of them.

In fact, Dove is very satisfied with William. She regards him as one of the most perfect partner candidates, and the other is the famous black-skinned and white-haired double swordsman.

When William was taken away from Dove by a group of shapeshifter elites, she chased her out before she even had time to put on her clothes, but William gave her a calm look, and Dove stopped her aggressive behavior just now. But the brave lady was still a little worried. Later, she found the old mage and prepared for the worst possible accidents.

William has long been mentally prepared for the arrival of the changeling monsters. Thanks to Queen Manimo, the poet of Aura Leon, and her subjects, William has provided the most detailed and reliable information, allowing him to be in this spiritual world of skin-changers. The lair can carry out its own plans with ease.

In fact, in order to keep secrets in the doppelganger's lair, only William himself knew the most detailed information, followed by the old mage Elminster who knew part of the information. Before breaking into the ether world, even their original memories of rescuing Phineya were temporarily erased.

It was another village in the snowy woodland. Although it looked almost the same as the village William entered last time, William knew very well that this was a new village.

Of course, William didn't judge by intuition. Yesterday he secretly left a lot of hidden marks in that village, and in this village that looked exactly the same, he didn't find any hidden marks. Prove that what William saw yesterday and what he saw today are two villages.

After all, all matter in the ether world is in an unstable state, and no one can say whether the village itself has restored the daily changes. There are so many strange things in this world, and any possibility is possible.

In this village, another past experience about Phinya is being reenacted. This is an experience about returning from hunting. The juvenile version of Phinia follows her father to learn to hunt wild deer. Her brain is not very good. Always hunting failed, which made Phinea's barbarian father very angry and disappointed, but he still took the trouble to teach his daughter.

For the old savage's nearly collapsed psychology, William was naturally deeply touched, after all, he was also a sympathetic fellow.As far as Finiya's brain is almost like an elm lump, William taught her the simplest ax technique for two years, but this woman has never been able to fully learn it.

Many times, William even wondered if the child's brain was broken by someone when he was a child, so that there was always a string missing in it.

William could imagine how broken and desperate his cheap old father-in-law, who had never masked his face, was when he taught Phinea hunting skills. It was definitely the worst tragedy in the world.

As far as William knows, Feniya's hunting skills are still unsatisfactory up to now. She is better at tracking prey, but as long as she finds the prey, she basically relies on recklessness to get lucky , or relying on the natural talent of throwing stones to kill the prey (this is also the hunting method with the highest success rate of Phinia).

It can be seen from this that the old barbarian's father's teaching of Phinea basically ended in failure.

What appeared in front of William at this moment was the first time that Phineya killed the first prey with a stone-throwing blind cat like a dead mouse, and brought it back to the barbarian village.

The shapeshifters' interpretation of this scene was really bad. They easily found out the problem, but they encountered difficulties when solving it. None of the shapeshifters could perfect the barbarian old father. presented.

"My father... I successfully shot a wild deer..."

"Really? My dear little Phinea, you're finally enlightened...Thank the gods..."

……

William and a few elite shapeshifters hid on the outskirts of the village, watching the shapeshifters who were in charge of portraying Phinea and her old barbarian father struggling there. "Family interaction" was interpreted as the most vulgar and low-level third-rate stage play, which was so embarrassing that the doppelganger that turned into a dead deer as the background board was brought to life disgustingly.

By the way, the reason why the doppelganger interprets other people's lives is not because of idleness, nor is it the so-called honing of acting skills, but because it has its inner true meaning.