Chapter 439: The Council of Natural Guardians

Regarding Donald’s success in obtaining a divine position and becoming a new god, aside from the Alliance True God, the King of the North, only the high-ranking officials in his domain were aware of it. The news of him becoming a demi-god and then ascending to true god status had not yet been announced to the common people or the lower nobility.

Now that he was a true god, there would come a day when he would have to leave behind his status as a mortal noble. However, Donald had no descendants, meaning his title and lands had no heir, which could easily lead to the loss of succession. Therefore, he still needed to stay in his domain for a while—at least until he had children with his wife—before he could rest assured about passing on all worldly matters.

Since it was still some time before he could reach a position to rule a kingdom, he might as well use his free time to focus on creating life.

The total area of Donald’s three domains already exceeded that of most small duchies on the continent, yet he had no desire to establish a nation. Managing these three domains was already enough to keep him busy. If it weren’t for his clever and capable subordinates who handled various administrative tasks, he would likely have been constantly occupied since gaining the domains. It would have been impressive if he could even reach the Silver rank, let alone having already achieved immortality and become a true god!

As for establishing a kingdom or even dominating the continent to create the fourth empire in history? Such an idea had never crossed Donald’s mind. Only by unifying the continent could one establish an empire—just like the High Elf Empire, the Ancient Arcane Empire, or the Ancient Magic Empire of Bannai from a thousand years ago.

Donald lacked such ambition. With higher aspirations, why would he return to his origins to pursue something he no longer needed? It was like a butterfly no longer crawling on leaves as a caterpillar but flying among flowers, choosing sweet pollen and nectar as food.

Secondly, he was concerned about the reaction from the pantheon of gods. After all, no matter how powerful a true god might be, they could at most hold the faith of one kingdom. They still needed to leave room for other true gods. Otherwise, it could easily provoke outrage, and the consequences were predictable. With the example of the Orc God Lord in mind, Donald would never be foolish enough to violate the gods’ taboos.

Thus, Donald only established a relatively low-key and conservative small church organization within his own domains. He had no intention of expanding or spreading his teachings outward; he merely wanted his divine doctrine to permeate, guiding spontaneous believers in his domain and providing them with protection.

Donald plans to adopt the title of Nature Guardian and use his own name as his sacred name. The name given to the church organization will be the Council of Nature Guardians. By using this name, it aims to distinguish itself from orthodox churches, indicating that it is a relatively loose organization with no grand ambitions.

Half a month after the news of the establishment of the Sea God’s kingdom was announced, the Council of Nature Guardians was quietly formed in Dalaran. Not only were few people outside aware of the existence of this church, but it wasn’t even widely publicized within the elves themselves.

The members of the Council of Nature Guardians in the main world are mostly druidic elves who revere Donald, along with a few human believers. Most of the other believers are located in the demi-planes.

The last time Donald ignited the Divine Flame, the semi-divine warriors summoned by the Elven Council were tasked with protecting the Tree of Life as a surprise attack tactic. However, they never got the chance to act—their mission was easily accomplished, and the invaders were swiftly defeated.

Later, after meeting that semi-divine high elf several times and recognizing Donald’s immense potential and the benefits he could bring to the elves, this high elf, who is considered an elder among the current Elven Council leaders, ordered the Elven Council to place the elves who had migrated to Dalaran under Dalaran’s rule and publicly declare Dalaran as the third independent elven territory.

Now that Donald, with high elf bloodline, has become a true god, a group of elves in his territory have spontaneously followed his path and become his believers. Among them are mainly the elves from the druidic elf tribes who were saved by Donald and have since been well taken care of by him. Essentially, all members of the druidic orders have officially joined the Council of Nature Guardians. Some young elves from the tribes have also become believers. These elf believers revere Donald, the true god, with pure idolatrous devotion. Donald does not require his believers to have extremely fervent faith—only a certain degree of respect toward him is sufficient. The structure of the Nature Guardian Church is also relatively loose, but Donald is not worried that this church organization will get out of control.

The doctrine founded by Donald is centered on loving and protecting the natural environment and maintaining the stable balance of the main world, with relatively more freedom in other aspects. After all, the true god they worship belongs to the order-neutral faction, and those who adhere to the teachings of the Nature Guardians are mostly not from the realms of darkness and evil. Their greatest task at present is to restore the areas of the main world that have been polluted by invasions from the Abyssal Plane and demons.

Compared to the Sea God Kingdom, the emergence of the Nature Guardians Council did not cause much upheaval in the main world. Even in the Celt Kingdom, which rejects the influence of various god churches, it did not spark much resistance.

Unlike other true god churches, the Nature Guardians Council did not spread its beliefs or proclaim the power of the great true god from the very beginning. Instead, it simply was established in the forests of Dalaran without even being officially announced by the kingdom!

This is because Donald already had those believers in the half-plane, who were sufficient to support his daily divine power, with even a surplus. Moreover, he secretly held the identity of a Law God, and the divine power he generated each day was comparable to that produced by a thousand believers praying morning and evening.

Under normal circumstances, if a demi-god gains the faith of ten thousand believers, with over 30% being devout followers, he can quickly reach the level of establishing a divine office within a year. A newly risen god, if it gains the faith of one hundred thousand believers, can accumulate enough power to found a divine kingdom and ascend to a throne within five years.

However, most demi-gods and true gods have not been able to develop their influence so smoothly, not only due to competition from other true god churches but also under the pressure from various kingdoms and local forces across the continent.

With thousands of devout believers confined in the half-plane, along with nearly two thousand subjects in Dalaran, Donald’s advantage in faith is actually several times greater than that of many true gods in the early stages of their rise.