Chapter 605: Adventurers of Dalaran
There stood the Nine-Headed, Eighteen-Armed Destroyer Golden Body atop the Vajra Lotus Throne. One hand held a pagoda, another a pearl, yet another a short spear and a golden shuttle; one arm waved a flail and a long rope, another grasped a war hammer and an axe, yet another held a staff and a trident, while another carried a golden bell, a crystal lamp, and a silver mirror. There was also a long sword in one hand, and both hands held a treasure vase, with the last two hands empty.
Adorned with these divine artifacts, the Destroyer Golden Body appeared even more sacred and majestic, and its combat power soared accordingly. Nearly half of these artifacts were purely offensive weapons. Aside from the war hammer and the long rope, which were true divine artifacts, the rest were lesser divine artifacts. These two true divine artifacts were used respectively for breaching defenses and capturing enemies, and when combined with the other offensive weapons of the Destroyer Golden Body, they could unleash a powerful synergistic effect in battle.
As for the auxiliary divine artifacts, the most important were the golden bell and the treasure vase—both true divine artifacts. Although the other lesser divine artifacts had their own uses, they could not reach a higher level. The golden bell could emit sound waves upon being struck, serving as a powerful area-of-effect attack, ideal for dealing with groups of enemies. Even demigods would be affected and lose their composure, and even powerful true gods would have their minds confused, losing the optimal timing for battle.
The treasure vase was an elementary divine artifact with storage capabilities, similar to the legendary purple-gold gourd from past lives. Though it couldn’t hold the entire world, as long as it wasn’t exceeded in capacity, it could contain both intense energy attacks and enemies themselves. Without any special safeguards, even a mid-tier god would eventually be transformed into energy essence or crystals by the treasure vase—only divine essences and artifacts with rule-based powers could survive.
Without these divine artifacts, the Destroyer Golden Body, though powerful, could only withstand the presence of one mid-tier god in its true form and up to three lower-tier god avatars. However, with the aid of these fifteen divine artifacts, it could even hold its own in battles against up to three mid-tier gods or ten lower-tier gods working together.
With such a powerful entity suppressing the divine kingdom, it was as if another top-tier mid-tier god avatar was stationed in Azeroth, allowing Donald to free up plenty of time for other matters. Even though he had two more avatars than an ordinary newly risen lower-tier god, plus a true form of a law god, he still wasn’t busy enough.
Among the three avatars, the Avenger Avatar is held back by the Order’s Whip and the Crystal of Annihilation, a process that will last at least ten years. One avatar must constantly keep an eye on it. The True Form of the Faith God needs to reside at the core of the divine kingdom, while the Natural Guardian Avatar and the Demon Hunter Avatar are responsible for managing the affairs of the divine kingdom and ensuring the safety of the Nordheim plane. Since the True Form of the Law God can enter the divine kingdom or other planes such as the main world without restriction, it monitors all activities to prepare for potential emergencies. Even with the Destroyer Avatar in charge of protecting the divine kingdom’s security, it’s difficult for Donald to free himself up for long periods; any issue that arises will inevitably put him in a tight spot. This is also why he has expanded his domain so much. Which lower god could achieve what he has done? Not only does he possess a divine kingdom that is larger and more complete than most mid-tier gods’, but he also controls a small material plane, along with territories and assets in the main world! If not for his strong strength and numerous powerful allies, other true gods would have already tried to seize control! In fact, even with all this, Donald has not stopped planning for the next steps. While his various avatars and true forms are busy, Donald sends an avatar incognito to leave Dalaran alone and head to the continent with the flow of adventurers. Over the years, the Dalaran Adventurers’ Guild has become the largest loose organization on the continent—no, actually, in the entire main world. Although it’s a loose organization, each local branch has independent authority. However, thanks to the backing of a true god at the headquarters and its robust management systems, even remote branches generally follow the headquarters’ commands. When establishing the Adventurers’ Guild, its founder, Donald, anticipated that local power groups might try to plant agents within the guild or even seize control of a branch. Therefore, he established a series of treaties in advance to prevent his guild’s intelligence and other advantages from being exploited by enemies. The most direct measure is a rotating term system: the head of the guild headquarters serves for ten years, while branch heads serve for five years. This system is mandatory; at the end of each term, the next branch head is elected by the guild’s stewards and managers. A person can be elected twice at most, but not consecutively—there must be at least one term in between.
This eliminates from the root the idea of certain ambitious individuals trying to seize control of a faction. Although it doesn’t completely prevent such attempts, in the face of competition among local forces, it’s difficult for the same person from the same faction to rule a branch for over a decade.
As for the head of the headquarters, he is appointed directly by the Lord’s Palace in Dalaran, unlike the branch leaders who are elected by relevant personnel. With this system, local forces that see potential in the Adventurers’ Guild basically give up the idea of taking control of the entire guild’s branches and instead choose to place their own people in key positions to gain advantages.
As a result, most branch leaders and managers are loyal to the Adventurers’ Guild, which greatly ensures the transmission and execution of headquarters orders.
As evening fell, in a small town on the border between the Swordsmen Kingdom of Kort and the western continent, the Adventurers’ Guild branch there was brightly lit and bustling. This was a border town at the junction of Kort and Ifu, remote and impoverished, and it had been a long time since such activity had occurred there.
The reason for the sudden bustle was that Ifu had recently engaged in a fierce battle with the Land of Dawn and successfully reclaimed the region of Kiev. However, although Kiev had been cleared, there were still many hidden radical religious elements and religious fanatics infiltrated from Sendel, causing trouble throughout Kiev and the entire Ifu Kingdom, even launching several suicide attacks.
These situations put the Ifu Kingdom, which had just won the war and needed to maintain stability for reconstruction, in a very difficult position. After all, it couldn’t resort to mass killings just to eliminate the Dawn believers within the kingdom.
It was no longer wartime. Although relations were tense, it seemed the Land of Dawn didn’t want further conflict and instead hoped to undermine Ifu’s internal development through such despicable tactics.
To address this troublesome issue plaguing the Ifu Kingdom, the new ruler of the Kiev region, Marquis Kelsas, a foreign noble, proposed a clever plan to Her Majesty the Queen. It involved issuing missions through the Adventurers’ Guild to attract adventurers from across the continent. This would help divert or even eliminate conflicts between the people of Ifu and those in Kiev who had been brainwashed by religion, thereby disrupting Sendel’s schemes.
This plan won praise from the kingdom’s elite. Nobles from various territories, including the royal family, spent heavily to hire foreign adventurers, which is why this border town was so bustling!