Skill Extraction: Exploring Dungeons

Chapter 807 700: Shaping an Image

In a meeting room on the second floor of the Guild Hall.

This meeting room appears somewhat dim, contrasting sharply with the bright exterior.

The entire meeting room is located on the farthest edge of the second floor, embedded within the wall grid.

Below the meeting room is also a hidden space with a dedicated entrance and exit.

It ensures that those entering from here have no interaction with anyone from the guild, making it extremely secretive.

And those who use this dedicated entrance are naturally Kane's most lethal eyes.

Dark Servants.

Whether they are people from the Guild or soldiers under Kane's command, few have interacted with the Dark Servants.

Besides Kreya and her group, only those who once fought alongside them in the Dungeon, like Bonona, have had such encounters.

Others' understanding of the Dark Servants is even more fragmented.

Some only know of their existence, some have seen their valiant figures dancing on the battlefield.

Now, in this dim meeting room on the second floor.

Kane rested his head on his hand, looking at the information in front of him.

After flipping through twice, confirming it was the information he wanted, he said to the Dark Servant half-kneeling on the ground in front.

"This is the intelligence I need, excellent work this time, you may leave. We will begin the subsequent actions once we arrive."

Hearing Kane's words, the leader of the five Dark Servants with shoulder-length hair nodded and said.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Then the five disappeared from the spot.

Kane, on the other hand, carefully reviewed the information before him in the meeting room.

Besides the information in front of him, there was also a more detailed document with more information of lesser importance.

This pile of documents was provided earlier by Tistek and his group.

The combination of the two constitutes what Kane needs.

Displayed in the information is Kane's next target, located in the eastern coastal region of Lantern Territory, a large force.

This area occupies about a quarter of Lantern Territory, with a third of its boundary adjacent to the coast, making Kane somewhat envious.

The force on this land is a nation called the Feiten Kingdom.

The living standard within this country is approximately similar to the Middle Ages, with the country's peasants living in hardship.

At the top is the King, then the various nobles below.

These nobles partitioned various large and small territories within the country.

Under these corrupt nobles' leadership, the peasants there live very miserable lives.

Here, after all, the disparity in class in an extraordinary world is like heaven and earth, with no ground for rebellion.

If not for the Mist's mandatory requirements, there may be daily occurrences of rampant peasant deaths.

Or as called in their country, serfs.

With the warnings from the Mist, the nobles of this country became slightly restrained, yet to Kane and the Explorers of the guild, it remains angering and repulsive.

The intelligence sent by Tistek and his group was filled with loathing for this territory.

These so-called nobles were appalling to them.

Kane slightly assessed the kingdom's strength.

Honestly, it's somewhat unimpressive.

Through the investigation of the Dark Servants and Tistek, one dark, one bright, this kingdom's secrets were uncovered.

The entire nation has only two gold-level experts, namely the Kingdom Sword Saint and their general.

Among the soldiers, there is only one Knight Order consisting of 600 people, possessing silver strength.

The rest of the soldiers are mostly bronze-level strength, with only a few leaders having silver strength.

The total force barely reaches 8000 men.

To say the least, such force does not hold much appeal.

Holding this intelligence, Kane assembled some key members of the force for a small meeting.

In a larger meeting room, Kane used Origin Skills to replicate copies of the documents on each person's desk.

"Have a look at this information; it's about the coastal force we previously identified. Share your thoughts."

Upon hearing Kane, those at the table began reviewing.

And Kane sat at the main seat, waiting silently.

Bonona, after finishing, said: "The force's military strength is really too fragile for us, hardly requiring many soldiers.

We only need the Lantern Knight Order to make a pass and completely dismantle their military."

"Your Majesty, entrust this task to our Lantern Knight Order; we assure you of a successful accomplishment of this goal," Abby immediately added from another side.

They crave battle.

A government official in charge of territory publicity suddenly said: "If we proactively invade, would it affect our image? Whether it's among allied forces around or within our own territory's populace."

His words brought enlightenment to those present.

Indeed, although the World Ring is currently in a time of great conflict.

Since Kane and his group formally started, they have consistently adopted defensive and counter-offensive postures.

Never have they displayed overly aggressive traits.

For instance, in the eyes of their own populace and other external forces, Lantern Territory was considered a relatively conservative force during the initial month or two.

Despite possessing considerable strength, they refrained from external invasions, only after being severely harassed by the Cannibal Ghost race, did they begin to counterattack.

Even during the counterattack, they do not forget to rescue other forces' civilians, willingly accepting and providing excellent living conditions to the refugees coming from other forces.

After eradicating the race of Cannibal Ghosts and occupying their original territory, they never invaded outward again.

Kane never attacked those military factions; they all voluntarily joined.

Although Kane and others used quite a bit of strategy and put a lot of effort into persuasion.

But in the eyes of outsiders, Kane and his group indeed have such an image.

Peace-loving.

This brought Kane and his group many benefits.

For example, the trade caravan they established a few months ago, and the diplomats who can travel freely among all nearby factions.

Only requiring very low taxes.

Including the neighboring Three-Race Alliance.

Though this is mostly due to their formidable strength.

Recently, the Three-Race Alliance has established a trade partnership with Kane and his group, and both parties are trading their existing resources.

Many factions actively come to discuss cooperation, all aware of Kane's reputation in this region.

Some small powers in the vicinity were left with little population after the world's destruction, struggling to survive.

At this time, many small powers were willing to join Kane and his group.

The continuous influx of refugees was also due to Kane's good reputation.

Among many factions, after battles, the defeated party's common people mostly did not wish to stay with the victor but instead sought refuge with Kane's side.

Otherwise, how could these intelligent races join Kane and his group for no reason? Unless they really had no other choice.

But when making a choice among factions, Kane's side would certainly be the first choice.

Strong power, good living conditions, peace-loving…

These are all reasons.

If not for the need for a coastal area, Kane wouldn't want to invade other surrounding places.

After all, their own territory is already quite large, now the population and the land are like a drop in the lake.

Excessive territory has already posed some burden on them.

But having no sea access is not feasible.

"So, does anyone have good ideas to give us a legitimate reason?" Kane asked.

Upon hearing Kane's question, everyone fell into deep thought, looking through the data in hand.

Trying to find a good idea.

At this time, Bonona said: "To avoid this kind of reputation, the first option is to let them voluntarily join us.

Of course, given the situation shown in this data, expecting them to voluntarily join us is unrealistic. Even if they join, we would still need to cleanse their internal affairs, which is impractical.

The second option is to have them attack us, but how likely are they to do so voluntarily in this scenario? It would be idiotic unless we control one of their lords.

But doing so is too blatant; anyone with some sense would know we had a hand in it. It could be done, but the risk is high."

Saying this, Bonona suddenly pulled out a page from the data, placed it on top, and said, "Or we could cause their internal division and help one of the factions. Though this would damage our image, it's better than the previous two."

"This lord seems unsatisfied with his own country."

After Bonona finished speaking, he pointed to the top page of the data, which was provided by Tistek.

It showed that upon knowing about the existence of the Mist, a lord implemented the will of the Mist.

Improving treatment for the common people and freeing his own serfs.

This action created severe conflicts with the kingdom's nobles.

But the kingdom's nobles, burdened by the Mist overhead, could only insult verbally, not daring to act.

However, there was no lack of covert actions against him.

After looking at this information,

the head of the propaganda department suddenly said: "Actually, for our benefits and needs, we don't really need to portray ourselves as a peace-loving nation that doesn't actively invade.

We can shape ourselves as protectors of the common people."

"Portraying ourselves as the implementers of the Mist's will. This would also enhance our reputation among ordinary people.

After all, we only need their reputation; who knows, it might even attract more refugees and population.

As for the leaders of these forces or some powerful races, they are not really within our interest, and how they think doesn't concern us greatly."

"Not to mention, we currently have propaganda tools far superior to other factions and stations in other countries.

The propaganda department has always done a great job because of our previous peaceful acts, those factions haven't guarded against us in this area."

With that, he picked up the data on the lord mentioned by Bonona.

"Now isn't this a perfect opportunity to craft such an image."

Hearing this, Kane nodded in satisfaction.

"Weren't those Explorers in the Guild always engaged in such activities?"

In the eyes of ordinary people around, those with the Lamp Mark are undeniably good people.

All thanks to the Explorer members of the Guild.

Knowing that the Mist rewards those who contribute.

These Guild members, with spare time, often help all sorts of common people, with Finaris being the most prominent.

She not only has a good reputation locally but also among common people in other powers.

By relying on extensive holy light magic, she's healed countless common folk.

Plus being a former church Saintess, her appearance, image, eloquence, and magic effects all have special appeal towards commoners.

"Then let's proceed with this plan, the sooner we achieve it, the faster our development speed."