Volume 3 Messenger 097, Talents Emerge in Large Numbers

  Rodick nodded and asked: "What about that messenger named Raphael?"

  Aristotle smiled: "Groteus' suggestion also mentioned the city-state of Uruk, he also sent an envoy to see Gilgamesh, you send a spy to find out how Gilgamesh treated that envoy?"

  Raphael arrived at the city-state of Cape, and handed over a secret letter to the lord of the city. However, there was no response for a long time. Every day, he was treated with good food and drink, but his residence was heavily guarded by soldiers. On the surface, it was to protect his safety, but in reality, he was under house arrest.

  Huawei came to the city-state of Uruk, Gilgamesh and Enkidu were patrolling outside the city and had not returned. He waited for several days at the guest house, where he was usually received by a pair of brothers named Abel and Cain. These two men were fallen nobles who had undergone a ritual of empowerment in their youth and were said to have been cultivating divine magic on a farm, recently becoming mid-level divine magic users, and were highly praised by Gilgamesh, the lord of Uruk, and promoted to high-ranking priests of the temple of Uruk.

  The lord of the castle praised their perseverance and willpower, although their family business had declined and was unknown, they did not give up hope and effort. Without receiving guidance or help, they practiced magic on their own and achieved middle-level achievements, which made many people ashamed. Promoting and reusing this pair of brothers is also a model, encouraging more talents to emerge in the city-state.

  The high priest of the temple of Uruk is also a high-ranking officer in the city-state's military, and Lord Gilgamesh has recently been recruiting talent and strengthening his arsenal, seemingly preparing for war. It's always good to be prepared during peaceful times, but the people of the city-state are puzzled - with Lord Gilgamesh and Enkidu around, who would dare to invade Uruk?

  Abel and Cain repeatedly asked Walter about his intentions, but Walter only replied that due to the Great Flood cutting off the roads, the city-states of Syria and Uruk had not communicated for two years, so Lord Golre sent an envoy to convey greetings, but did not say more.

  After Gilgamesh returned to the city, he summoned Hua Lai Te and remained silent after reading the secret letter. He ordered someone to call En Qi Duo over and directly handed the letter to his most trusted brother. En Qi Duo read the letter, furrowed his brow and said: "Gao Lie's guts are not small, actually proposing such a suggestion, truly daring! To be honest, I quite admire him."

  Gilgamesh laughed and said, "There are not many people under the sky who can make you admire them. Kor is indeed not simple, but his suggestion I have no way to respond to. My brother, what do you think we should do?"

  Enqi Du: "I heard that the messenger who delivered the letter, Hualeite, is a direct disciple of Songlie and also the high priest of the Xia City-State. He doesn't know what kind of letter he has brought. Let's call him over and have him take a look at the letter himself. Perhaps from his attitude as a student, we can glimpse what kind of person his teacher is."

  Gilgamesh ordered the people to invite Hualeite, exchanged a few pleasantries, and then ordered all the servants to withdraw. The room was left with only three people. Gilgamesh smiled and asked: "Lord Hualeite, do you know the content of the letter you sent?"

  Walter shook his head: "My teacher, Song Lie, only told me to deliver the letter and have you, Lord City Master, open it personally. He didn't tell me what's inside."

  "Far, far away, crossing the swamp and desert, experiencing many dangers, just to deliver this letter, but I don't know what's inside, it's a pity. Take a good look."

  Huawei shook his head and said: "My teacher has instructed me not to open this letter, nor should I be curious."

  Gilgamesh: "Is it not you who opened the letter? Are you not seeking my response? I shall discuss with you the matter of responding to this letter. Did Lord Enkidu say that he would not allow you to speak face-to-face with me about this letter?"

  "That's not true."

  "Then just watch."

  Walter took the letter calmly and looked at it, his expression becoming increasingly solemn. Gilgamesh's narrow eyes narrowed as he stared at him: "Messenger, you brought such a letter, how should I deal with it? In order to show my loyalty to the kingdom, should I hand you over to King Balen along with this letter?"

  "I'm just a messenger, I didn't know the contents of the letter, but now that I've seen it, I won't avoid talking about what's in it. My teacher doesn't have any hostile intentions towards you, his eyes see not only the gods, but also foresee an impending conflict and war. Whether it's the will of the gods or human greed, my teacher wants to prevent a tragedy as much as possible, which is something I deeply respect. I understand his thoughts, and now await your response, Lord City Master."

  Gilgamesh showed a look of approval and nodded: "Aren't you afraid at all?"

  Walter smiled wryly, "I'm surprised and worried, but being afraid is useless since the letter has already been sent. You two are heroes revered by millions on the continent, even daring to slay gods. But I'd like to ask, what's your purpose in slaying Hong BaBa? This letter only made a suggestion; you can either reject or accept it, so why be afraid of this suggestion? Since I dared to send it, aren't you brave enough to read it?"

  Enqi suddenly slapped the table, but the cups and plates did not shake. The four wooden legs of the table sank several inches into the stone floor tiles. He laughed loudly: "Huarui Te, you dare to say such things in front of us? You have guts! Whether we accept Ge Lie's suggestion or not, we won't make it difficult for you. I will personally escort you back to the border of Balen... Lord City Master, what kind of reply do you plan to give? We don't need to make this messenger uncomfortable."

  Gilgamesh: "In short, I understand. Please convey that to Lord Gure." He thought for a moment and asked with some curiosity: "Halter, you are said to be a 6th-level divine spellcaster, aren't you?"

  Hua Lai Te nodded and replied: "Yes, when I came here, I was a 6th-level divine spellcaster."

  "Gilgamesh sighed inexplicably, 'An era of strife will also be an era where heroes emerge. The mainland has indeed produced many talents recently! I heard that the Guardian Saintess of the Isis Temple is currently the youngest Great Divine Mage, and our own Barren Kingdom has a Divine Mage named Jake who just advanced to become a Great Divine Mage. Who would have thought that the Hatti Kingdom will also be getting a new Great Divine Mage soon.'"

  Judging from his tone, Hualeite was certain to become a great magician. Hualeite himself wanted to say something but stopped, with a thoughtful expression on his face, without denying anything.

  Rod-Dick, on the advice of Aristotle, sent a spy into the city-state of Uruk to gather information about another messenger, Hualete. The spy returned to Cape City-State to report back, and more than a month had passed. Gilgamesh did not make things difficult for Hualete, and Enkidu even personally escorted him to the border. Upon hearing the news, Rod-Dick also prepared to send Raphael back to his country.

  Vice-Chief God Officer Julian heard that the messenger of the Xuya City-State had arrived and specially summoned Raphael to ask about many things after the Great Flood. Raphael answered as politely and in detail as possible, except for the secret letter he hadn't seen himself, everything else was true.

  Julian recently went to Egou Wangdu, returned to the city-state and summoned Raphael, and then found Rode-Dick for a secret meeting. In the secret room, he said: "The Pharaoh has ordered to prepare for war against the Hatti Kingdom, with Haicheng City-State as the front base. In the next half year, various materials will be secretly transported to Haicheng City-State through various means. We need to make all preparations, but we can't alarm Hatti for now."

  Rodick let out a low sigh, the thing he had been worried about was finally going to happen, and there was no way to avoid it. On the surface, however, he looked puzzled and asked, "Why must the attack on Hatti be based in the coastal city-state? Wouldn't it be more convenient to set sail from the Roni River and land directly across the ocean?"

  Julian explained: "One year later, the land transportation between Cape City and Syria City will be restored. The Pharaoh chose this route to attack with profound meaning. In the original Duchuan Town area, a thousand-mile fertile field will be formed two years later, which will be the new rich territory in the central part of the Tianxu Continent. The Pharaoh's goal is to make the Hittite Kingdom forever and thoroughly surrender, only by occupying that territory can it shock the entire continent and lay down an immortal achievement for the empire."

  Although Garet's letter had already contained the prophecy, Rodrick was still shocked to hear it confirmed by Julian, and he furrowed his brow in pursuit of an answer: "Can this really be true?"

  "Of course it's true, the elders of the Egu Shrine Academy collectively made a prophecy and it has been confirmed without a doubt. There is also an oracle in the temple that says although the Hatti Kingdom built temples for Horus all over the place, they did not lead their people to make genuine sacrifices with a true heart. This kind of behavior that disrespects the gods is unforgivable. Therefore, this war is not only a battle to build merit for the Empire but also a battle to protect the dignity of the divine king Horus."

  Rod-Dick's eyebrows locked deeper: "About when?"

  Julian said, "This matter is still top secret for now, and only the two of us are qualified to know. In a war between nations, there are many preparations that need to be made, and the mobilization of supplies and troops cannot escape the ears of spies, but it's better to delay the opponent's detection as much as possible... The messenger from the city-state of Syria suddenly arrived, and I met him today too. Sending someone at this time is likely a probing move, and Lord City's decision to keep him under house arrest was indeed wise."

  Roderick smiled wryly: "But I can't keep this messenger at the inn forever, and was just waiting for you to return to discuss it."

  Julian smiled and said, "This is easy to handle. Give him the best hospitality, send him the most valuable gifts, select beautiful women to serve him well, and have someone take him on a tour of the city-state's scenic spots. Then, dispatch people to escort him back across the desert to his country, so that the envoy will have nothing to say... Under the pretext of sending an envoy to return the courtesy, we can also send a trusted messenger with a guard to visit and take a look at the situation there."

  Raphael stayed in Cape Town for two months, and Roddick's hospitality was already good, but after Julian returned, the treatment became even better, he became a noble among nobles. Raphael was born into a high-ranking family of the Hatti Kingdom, with a respected status since childhood, he could venture alone into the dangerous wilderness, but also took human pleasures such as wine, lust and wealth for granted.

  Two months of not going out was just in line with Raphael's thoughts. He had traveled through the Syrian desert and was extremely tired, a kind of fatigue that was different from ordinary exhaustion. As a divine sorcerer, his magical powers were almost depleted and recovered particularly slowly, and he didn't have the confidence to safely return through the treacherous Syrian desert in a short period of time, so he might as well take a good rest.

  Two months later, Roddick came to apologize to Raphael again and explained that Vice-Chief God Officer Julian was not in the city-state for a while and was busy with various things, so he delayed the messenger. During this time, he invited Raphael to relax and enjoy himself in various parts of the city-state, appreciate the local customs and people, and have a good time, and if he saw anything he liked or wanted, he could make a request.

  He spent many more days in the coastal city-state, seeing a scene of singing and dancing, and Raphael's magical powers were fully restored, but his strength was still growing slowly. He was both surprised and delighted, but didn't show it, thinking that since the other side was so enthusiastic, he might as well enjoy himself. He also asked to go out of the city for a spin, to take in the scenery of the foreign mountains, fields and gardens, and after playing around like this for a while, nearly another month passed.

  When Raphael finally bid farewell and returned to his country, Roddick sent a messenger with an escort to return the visit. This trip had to go through the treacherous desert and swamp, and for safety reasons, he couldn't let the noble Lord Raphael travel alone. As for Roddick's response to that secret letter, it was - no response at all!

  ...and not to mention several city-states are busy with their own affairs, Armon has also been quite busy recently. He led the tribe of cave dwellers out of the deep mountains and moved towards a new home. In Link's tribe, there were more than 600 men, women, children and elderly people in total, as well as many living supplies to bring along, slaughtering large livestock to make dried meat, while young animals that had not yet matured also needed to be brought along for continued breeding. Such a procession marched through the deep mountains, truly a grand migration with the whole family in tow.

  This road took only five days when Armon and Medanzo came, but it took a whole month to go back, which made Link exhausted. The mountain road was not easy to walk, but for the cave-dwelling wild men who lived in the deep mountains since childhood, it was nothing, just that there were too many things to carry. The most deadly thing was that many roads were cut off, and along the way, there were numerous landslide lakes, and after leaving the mountain, there were several swamps that could not be passed through at all.

  At this time, the advantages of Yunmeng and those four large iron-clad beasts were revealed. They could carry very heavy things to cross the water surface and marshes, especially in the muddy marshy areas, which was much more useful than cars and boats. Amun handed over the magical bone to Link, letting him drive the invisible big ship to transport his people on lakes and marshes.

  The invisible space on the boat is very large, but Link's operation of transporting too many people at once is also quite laborious. All the tribespeople and livestock need to make several trips back and forth to transport everything. On the water surface, it's not a big deal, but in the swampy area, moving forward with a full boat of people is quite difficult.

  Armon didn't lift a finger, and Maidan Zuo also had a wicked smile on his face, just watching the excitement. Link was almost exhausted from using magic, and when he arrived at Douke Town, he really collapsed from exhaustion, lying there resting for several days without moving. Armon let Maidan Zuo command the tribe to set up a temporary camp, and arranged everything that would happen in the future.

  They brought enough dry rations for a year, and the nearby wilderness forest can also hunt, while Amun's Wind Charm Dance has prepared various seeds of grain, handed over to Link to arrange for the tribe to sow in the spring next year. He drew out various landmarks on this deserted island, telling Link which are the lands and mines of the people of Duck Town, and they can choose other places to open their own farms.

  At the foot of the mountains on the northern Assyrian plateau, divine stones and minerals can be mined. Divine stones are not the most important resources at present, but smelting iron ore is urgent, whether it's for making farm tools or weapons. If you want to mine, you also need to cross a swamp, and five iron-clad beasts are the best escorts.

  After this great migration, Lin Ke finally led his people out of the deep mountains and established a home on fertile land. This exhausted tribal leader also quietly possessed a sixth-level achievement with two sides of power.

  After setting up a simple camp, the future stronghold needs to be planned. The mine is also a quarry, and the sturdy men of the cave-dwelling barbarian tribe are naturally good craftsmen. These don't require Amundo's worry, only time. With Ironclad Beast King Yunmeng and Lin Ke and Mei Dangzuo here, safety in the wilderness is temporarily guaranteed, and large-scale conflicts will not spread to this place for at least one or two years.

  After everything was settled, Ahmon instructed Maidan to: "You stay here and help Link train warriors, teach combat, and defend the homeland in future conflicts. Once they've built a simple stockade and the warriors have learned combat, you can leave here and find me at Dreamflight City. I have some business to attend to first in the city-state of Syria, so just stay here and help Link."

  "Ahmon god, you have led us to successfully complete the trial journey, we have all become sixth-level magicians and warriors, what are you going to do now?"

  Amun said, "The deed of Du Ke Town was left by Moses in a secret place in the city-state of Syria. I will go and retrieve it first to prevent any accidents, and also take the opportunity to investigate the terrain around the original Hei Huo Cong Lin area, completing the task given to me by the Isis Temple. I know you want to follow me, but the people here need you more, and it's more convenient for me to go alone."

  The Ironclad Beast King Yun Meng carried Ah Mon through the vast marsh, all the way to the edge of the Black Fire Forest. Ah Mon said to Yun Meng: "You can go back now, this marsh can't stop my footsteps, but those tribespeople live on a huge isolated island surrounded by mud, and they need your help to come and go. Cultivate your own strength well, don't learn from those strange beasts who stir up trouble for no reason, and guard this homeland well."

  Yun Meng's nostalgic gaze lingers as he walks back, with Xue Dingyuan continuing westward in Ah Meng's large leather bag. The Black Fire Forest has completely changed its appearance, with strange black shrubs still growing on the high boulders, but the lower areas have been submerged by silt and accumulated water, forming a marsh within the forest, which cannot be traversed even by boat, let alone on foot.

  The black fire swamp couldn't stop the great magician and warrior Amun's footsteps. Some of the paths in the strange rock cluster were very narrow, so Amun didn't unfold his invisible large ship, instead he walked on foot with a staff in hand. The muddy swamp and water surface under his feet seemed like solid ground, walking elegantly and steadily.

  Before entering the Black Fire Swamp, Armon suddenly stopped and knelt down in the mud, putting down his staff. Not far ahead, between two giant stones protruding from the water, a girl stood there, seemingly smiling at him.