Chapter 453: The Invitation from the Pantheon

On the New Continent, Thelte had already reaped sufficient benefits from this expedition. Just digesting the lands they now possessed would take some time, so they temporarily announced that they would not participate in further colonization plans there. This relief was felt by other factions, as having a powerful rival removed was undoubtedly beneficial for them.

Although the Thelte royal family made such a declaration, Donald, tempted by the Totem Gods, still managed to get involved indirectly.

To silence opposition, Donald proposed a mercenary model: any non-hostile faction could hire warriors from Dalaran to fight on the New Continent. Even Donald himself, as a true god lord, fell within this scope of employment.

His demands were modest—aside from providing necessary war supplies, employers only needed to offer a small portion of the native population, as well as altar totems that held little value to the Church of the Gods. This attitude clearly won goodwill for Dalaran’s mercenaries among both the Church of the Gods and human kingdoms.

As the main continent and the Totem Continent were in a stalemate in terms of high-level power, neither side dared to start a full-scale war that could cause irreparable damage to the world. Thus, large-scale battles ceased, leaving only minor skirmishes. After all, there were still some lower-tier Totem Gods outside the protection of the major Totem Gods—either unwanted deities or natural spirits of the earth. The tribes and territories controlled by these gods represented significant interests for various factions.

Given the sparsely populated Totem Continent, capturing a tribe controlled by a Golden Totem God meant gaining at least a barony-sized territory!

Considering the formidable strength demonstrated by Dalaran’s warriors and the fact that hiring foreign troops could reduce one’s own losses and expenses while securing greater benefits from the New Continent, the Mage Kingdom of Polin and the Church of the Agricultural Goddess, which lacked strong combat forces, quickly hired Donald’s army.

The mage lords of Polin, lacking powerful siege forces, hired Dalaran’s most formidable military units: the Musketeer Guard, the Mortar Regiment, the Druid Order from the Council of Nature Guardians, the mage legions under the Tower of Arcane Light, and the War Puppet Corps.

The Church of the Agricultural Goddess, though rich in mages but short of soldiers, hired the elite Silver Knight Order, the Holy Shield Infantry, and the Griffin Cavalry from the Silver Moon Principality.

“The main benefit of deploying the territorial forces, aside from gaining rewards, is training. I’m sure that after this expedition, all of Dalaran’s regular troops will become the finest among the finest!” Donald said to his subordinates. “But while training is important, we must not neglect the lives of the warriors. For safety reasons, all equipment and supplies in the territory must be prioritized for the troops going into battle!” As for the territory itself, with the newly joined elves and the military strength of the mage tower to guard it, security was essentially guaranteed. After the downfall of Prince Andrew and the Macbeth family, there were basically no enemies from Dalaran in Thelos anymore, and outsiders would also hesitate to take reckless actions out of fear of Thelos’s two true gods. After arranging everything, Donald had just spent a few relaxed days with his family and friends before setting out to establish his divine kingdom. Yet, peace was interrupted again after just a few days. Although dissatisfied, Donald had no choice but to get involved, as this time it was the Agricultural Goddess Eilwen herself who sent her will avatar to invite him to a grand event. “You want me to go to the Pantheon?” Donald was surprised by the Agricultural Goddess’s request. Usually, a true god would only enter the Pantheon for the first time when ascending to the Outer Realm to establish their divine kingdom, as the core of the Pantheon was said to be located in a mysterious place in the Outer Realm—the very birthplace of this multiverse. As for King Charles of the Northlands, he was the most promising human true god in these three hundred years, which is why a few powerful beings among the human gods granted him permission to be invited there in advance. Donald didn’t expect himself to be among those invited. In fact, after each true god gathered their divine powers, they would sense the existence of the Pantheon. But since leaving the main world meant they could never return, and new gods, under the pressure of establishing their kingdoms, found it difficult to create more avatars, while ordinary will avatars lacked the strength to break through dimensional barriers and reach the Pantheon. Thus, almost all true gods had to wait until they became lower-tier gods before they could go to the Pantheon to receive congratulations from the other gods. “Don’t worry. We just want you to make an early appearance. My avatar will take you in. Once we leave a mark of the true god’s will in the Pantheon, future trips will be much easier!” “Your Highness Eilwen, do you mean ‘we’ as you, along with Your Highnesses Juliana and Lauren?”

The Goddess of Agriculture smiled and said, “All three of us, along with the great Lord of Elves and the other deities of the elf pantheon, have high hopes for you. Lord Asten and Lord Galand also hold you in high regard as both a mage and a noble. These two are people you can get close to. As for the Lord of Dawn, he won’t openly show hostility toward you in front of the other gods, but don’t be deceived by his appearance—take advantage of any opportunity you get.”

“You need to be careful of that madwoman Flora, as well as Lord Rops!”

Donald was surprised upon hearing this. “The God of the Underworld, Rops? I’ve never offended this powerful supreme god; in fact, I’ve never even had any interaction with him. Why would he harbor hostility toward me?”

Eilien explained with a strange smile, “Rops was once lovers with Euliana, but they broke up for some reason. Though they lost their love for each other, given Rops’ cold and proud nature, it’s likely he can’t accept another man by Euliana’s side. It’s rare for Euliana to show interest in a young male god—do you think Rops might embarrass that person?”

Upon hearing this, Donald suddenly realized he had been wronged for no reason, being envied by his ex-lover. He couldn’t say much about it, after all, the support from the three goddesses was already a great honor. Although one still experiences mortal emotions at the level of a true god, such emotions are only shown toward beings of equal status. It was truly grateful that he had received care from these true gods even as a mortal.

As for the hostility from the God of the Underworld, it probably wouldn’t be excessive, as there was no real grudge between them. Even if he did take action, Donald wasn’t afraid. What was a supreme god anyway? Donald was confident that he would eventually reach—or even surpass—that level.