Discount 503
Northern Ufeiga, within the territory of Adus.
The scorching sun in the sky shone brilliantly, and under its glaring light was an endless expanse of barren desert. Amidst this desolate wasteland, a railway stretched out, piercing far into the distance. On this railway, a train spewing thick smoke sped forward, racing toward the horizon.
The Desert Arrow, a luxurious train carrying the envoy group of the Judge of Heaven Church to Adis for negotiations, had now returned from a relatively smooth negotiation. It was once again on a journey back, with the destination being the port of Kankdar, where they originally set out from.
After the incident in Adis ended, Shadi, who already dominated the Revolutionary Army, began to openly and covertly reorganize the internal forces of the army. He did not immediately announce a break with Muhetar but instead prepared a grand public mourning ceremony for Muhetar, signaling his stance to all local factions of the Savior Faction and pacifying them. Then, he used the significant power vacuum created by Muhetar’s subordinates’ deaths in the upper echelons of the Revolutionary Army as bait, luring local armed leaders of the Savior Faction to come to the capital, replacing them with his own people in their positions. Upon arriving in Adis, they would find themselves faced with promises filled with hope but uncertain when they could be fulfilled. Some of these individuals would eventually be secretly executed when the overall situation was settled.
Using great power as bait, Shadi began to court and divide the local Savior Faction, labeling those who questioned him as foreign agents working for the Savior Faction abroad. Through inducements, divisions, and suppression, Shadi gradually gained control over the leadership of the Savior armed forces across Adus. For those factions he could control, he immediately ordered comprehensive restructuring, replacing officers and secretly executing many with strong resistance sentiments.
For armed groups that were harder to control directly, Shadi transferred them to regions under his firm control, strictly supervising them. For troops that had seen through his true nature and showed clear signs of rebellion, Shadi had his loyal forces quietly surround them, planning preemptive strikes.
In such a vast country, it was inevitable that there would be bloodshed during such a large-scale rectification movement. However, Shadi had done his best to confine the conflicts to the smallest possible scope. What was originally a nationwide civil war had been reduced to several one-sided small-scale wars and countless secret purges and executions by the time Shadi tore off the mask. Although this would inevitably earn him numerous accusations of betrayal and cruelty, tarnishing his political career, he was already indifferent to such matters as he was originally a treasure hunter.
After Muhetar’s d*ath, the underlying currents in Adus did not subside but intensified instead. Shadi’s internal rectification to consolidate power could not be completed in less than two or three months. The continued presence of the envoy group here served no other purpose and would even interfere with some of Shadi’s governance measures. Therefore, after the remaining guard force had recovered enough from their injuries, Vania bid farewell to Shadi and led the envoy group on a return journey aboard the Desert Arrow. Dorothy and Nephnis also joined them for safety.
The long train sped across the desolate wasteland. Dorothy sat in her carriage, gazing out at the sandstorms raging outside, pondering recent events. Her main focus was on a divination she had recently experienced, which was also the reason she planned to leave Adis soon.
When she disguised Nephnis as a priestess of the Judge of Heaven and invoked divine judgment in the form of a thunderstorm, attributing Muhetar’s d*ath to the non-existent Judge of Heaven Church, she anticipated facing numerous divination attacks from various sources. After all, this was the manifestation of the “Enlightenment” deity’s power from thousands of years ago, something unprecedented in this era. Such a powerful event was bound to cause a stir in the Secret World, and many societies would surely attempt to confirm it through divination. Despite her preparations, the scale of the attacks still left her somewhat overwhelmed.
Within three days, Dorothy faced 12 divination attacks targeting herself and Nephnis. She had to consume 12 points of “Shadow” to counteract these attacks. The most intense attack came in the morning of one day, with five divinations aimed at her within just an hour, causing her considerable distress at the time.
Worried about the limited supply of “Shadow,” she immediately consumed 10 points of “Lamp” to target what she believed were the most likely parties to conduct divinations: the Sacred Summit Church and the Savior’s Incarnation Sect. This managed to calm the initial wave of attacks. Over the next two days, Dorothy faced sporadic divinations, ultimately consuming 12 points of “Shadow.”
Dorothy believed that while she faced 12 divinations, the number of divinations worldwide seeking to uncover the truth behind the lightning judgment in Adis was much higher. With countless societies, churches, secret police agencies, and the Savior’s Incarnation Sect eager to know the truth of Muhetar’s d*ath, plus the wealthy Sacred Summit Church with unknown resources at their disposal, it was certain that numerous divination attacks would follow. The total number of divinations could easily exceed fifty.
Facing such a massive number of divinations, even if Dorothy had the most abundant “Enlightenment,” it might not have been sufficient. However, she managed to withstand this wave of divinations by expending only 12 points of “Shadow” and 10 points of “Lamp.” Her spirituality, which had previously been abundant, had significantly diminished, leaving her in her current state.
24 Cups, 12 Stones, 10 Shadows, 15 Lamps, 25 Silences, 50 Enlightenments.
*Phew… Even though I had expected a large-scale divination attack, I didn’t think the impact would be so severe. With Enlightenment Temple bearing the brunt, I still lost a lot of my spirituality…
*This wave has attracted too much attention. After the divination tide, various forces will likely send people to Adis for on-site investigations. I need to leave first before they arrive, otherwise, it will be too late to escape.
Gazing out at the swirling sand outside the window, Dorothy thought to herself. To avoid being investigated by various forces, she decided to leave promptly with Nephnis, following Vania back to Kankdar. She would let Shadi handle the various factions himself and stay out of it.
Although she was away from the Enlightenment Temple and couldn’t browse books for now, she realized that even if she found books, her current level of ancient Northern Ufeiga language proficiency meant it would take a long time. Staying there for long wouldn’t yield much benefit anyway. Once she mastered the ancient Northern Ufeiga language, she could revisit the Enlightenment Temple to read books later.
After leaving Adis, Dorothy began carefully considering her next actions. Her current goal had shifted from simply severing spiritual threads to preparing materials for the Red Tier Level promotion ritual. This time, she needed six divine blessing objects, and she only had one “Cup.” She needed to plan for the other five.
*Currently, I haven’t figured out specific channels for obtaining divine blessing objects for “Shadows” and “Lamps,” so I can put that aside for now. Here in Northern Ufeiga, there are all kinds of undead tombs underground. Perhaps I can find clues for the “Silence” divine blessing object. So, I can start with “Silence.” Coincidentally, Nephnis’s promotion ritual also requires an underground tomb with dense “Silence” energy, making it a dual target.
*Kankdar Port is one of the most bustling cities in Northern Ufeiga, gathering all sorts of people. Once there, I can start collecting information on this front, hoping to find some leads. Since I’ve come to Northern Ufeiga, I shouldn’t leave right away.
*Additionally, for the “Enlightenment” divine blessing object, either I find a way to use the system to create one myself or figure out how to obtain a divine blessing object of the Judge of Heaven. This is most suitable to do in Northern Ufeiga.
*Finally, for the “Stone” divine blessing object… There’s only one channel for this…
Thinking this through, Dorothy took out her magic box, opened it, and flipped to a communication page. After some thought, she wrote:
“Hello, are you there?”
“Yes, I’ve been waiting for your contact for a long time, dear earthly proxy of the Judge of Heaven.”
After writing, the page almost instantly replied with a perfectly printed response. Seeing this, Dorothy was slightly taken aback and continued writing:
“You’ve heard about what happened in Adis?”
“Of course, and almost immediately after your activities at noon, I heard about it that evening. Don’t underestimate our intelligence capabilities.”
“Honestly, although I expected you might cause some news in Northern Ufeiga, I didn’t expect it to be this big. You’ve stirred up quite a few people, including some old-timers who haven’t been involved in centuries.”
Beverly responded to Dorothy in the “Navigation of the Literary Sea,” and seeing her words, Dorothy was somewhat surprised and wrote:
“Old-timers who haven’t been involved in centuries? Who are they?”
“I can’t go into details, but suffice it to say that your actions have caused quite a stir. I hope you can handle it. Doing business with you is quite interesting. Speaking of which, why are you contacting me now—are you looking for business or asking for more information?”
Seeing this response, Dorothy paused and then continued writing:
“It’s business. Do you have any divine blessing objects blessed by ‘Stones’?”
“‘Stones’ divine blessing objects? Of course, we have them here. If we don’t have them, no one else does. Why? Are you interested in divine blessing objects?”
“Not exactly, but if I wanted to borrow one of your divine blessing objects for a while, would your higher-ups allow it?”
“Ah… You want to borrow a divine blessing object, not buy one. That’s a bit disappointing. But sure, we can lend it to you. We have a complete rental process for sacred and divine gifts. As long as you can pay the price, we have a variety of divine blessing objects for you to choose from.”
Seeing that the other side had a tradition of renting out divine blessing objects, Dorothy’s eyes lit up. She continued writing:
“So, how is the price determined? I want to rent the cheapest ‘Stone’ divine blessing object for a while. How should I pay?”
Dorothy quickly wrote down her request, and not long after, she received a response.
“For divine blessing objects, our minimum rental period is six months, and the rent for the cheapest divine blessing object for six months is thirty thousand pounds.”
Seeing the numbers on the page, Dorothy, despite being prepared, couldn’t help but gasp and hold her breath. However, what shocked her even more was yet to come.
“The rent is thirty thousand pounds, but since this is a rental, we also require a deposit. The deposit is the true value of the item multiplied, so it’s ninety thousand pounds.
“But considering you helped us resolve Garib last time, we owe you something. We can waive part of the deposit and rent. How about this: you only need to give us ten thousand pounds for the rent, and the deposit will be thirty thousand pounds. Is that acceptable? This is a huge discount.”
