novelraw #245 - Section 245
#245 - Section 245
He didn't clearly see the existence of a System Child, but he could deduce that the current changes in the enemy indicated a force targeting them.
The starting point of this force was to disbelieve in any gods, relying solely on the power of mortals to change the world.
This resolve rendered the internal strife methods that the mutually hostile Seven Gods excelled at ineffective, and the war expenditure increased significantly.
So the God of Knowledge made a move, a simple one: spreading the method of bestowing godhood.
There are more than just the Seven Gods in the world; other new gods also crave the power of faith. They too will incite battles between believers and provoke wars with the Seven Gods' churches, still achieving the purpose of internal strife.
Who knows, maybe some System Children also want to become gods?
As long as those people can't unite, they are just sand on my path of advancement, easily washed away.
Tavera dared to promise godhood to Yavin Sally and others because the God of Knowledge had opened up this permission.
Of course, she also invested heavily.
Creating a godhood requires consuming a massive amount of faith power. The method of bestowing godhood they spread in other planes doesn't include this initial funding.
Believers need to find their own way, or a pope who has already intercepted faith needs to emerge and quickly complete the action of igniting the divine fire.
But Tavera hated Tassica to the bone, directly promising godhood to the dark elves, which was both an investment and a bait to stimulate their potential and drive them to madness.
......
......
Arcane City, Maotai Manor.
"Right now, the entire Underdark is in chaos, with battles incredibly messy. It's impossible to tell who is fighting whom."
During breakfast again, Margaret told Roger about the news she heard from the Nightingales, her face full of helplessness.
"Isn't this your arrangement?" Roger asked, frowning and sensing something unusual.
"Definitely not! I've always advocated for sustainable development. It's all a mess; sending in a trade caravan results in its immediate disappearance, making trade impossible!"
"Then it seems a god has intervened... the Goddess of War?"
"It seems so. Isn't the Dark Goddess her alter ego? Should we strike at the Underdark first?"
"Not yet, let's play with her first."
Roger was somewhat tempted by Margaret's suggestion, but after brief consideration, he gave up on directly attacking the Underdark.
Although the empire's current combat power could easily nip the dark elves' plot in the bud, the problem is that their battlefield with the gods isn't just the Eternal Night World.
With the success of the System Child project, the Seven Gods' plan to sweep across the planes was greatly slowed down, and they had experienced the ocean of people's war.
Those strong individuals born in those worlds, leading forces that had nothing to do with any belief in gods, refused internal strife and resolutely resisted the invaders, and the war of attrition immediately caused the Seven Gods' blood pressure to soar.
If they didn't change their tactics and continued to exhaust themselves like this, Roger would find it suspicious!
Rather than being caught off guard by the new tricks the Seven Gods came up with on the front lines, it was better to see what Tavera would do in the Underdark in her desperation.
In these five years, Roger, as the empire's designer, although focused on development, had devoted a great deal of energy to working with the Eternal Night Empress to advance the System Child project, exhausting all means to sow enough nails in the Seven Gods' path forward.
They had cultivated a considerable number of strong individuals and were also touched by the will of those strong individuals.
As Roger said, what the empire needed wasn't cannon fodder, but like-minded allies.
Although these people who resisted the Seven Gods were in different planes, and their strength couldn't be united, their desire to live by their own will, not to be the livestock raised by the Seven Gods, was completely consistent.
Give me liberty, or give me death.
Regardless of origin, regardless of race, as long as they possessed a certain strength and had thought about this world, and controlled their own destiny to some extent, the more people there were, the smaller the probability, the more people would be born who lived for more than just living.
This was a characteristic of intelligent life, a more advanced emotion that was bound to be born after basic needs were met.
Although mortal life was weak and short, they also hoped to burst out infinite energy in a limited time.
Therefore, not long after the System Child project began, Roger understood that although they were hiding behind Afu, the guidance carried out in the name of the system had a suspicion of deception.
But when those selected children truly grew up, sooner or later, they could find partners with common ideas, and everyone would work together.
They had already undertaken the risk of frontal combat. Although the empire provided support in terms of equipment, techniques, and intelligence, it had always been eager to make more contributions.
It wasn't a transaction or coercion, but a promise to allies and companions, hoping to assume more responsibilities.
Therefore, Tavera, under stimulation, opened up a second battlefield in the Eternal Night World. It was entirely a risk that the empire should take to test the enemy's methods.
Therefore, after notifying the Eternal Night Empress and after discussion by the cabinet, although the empire noticed the abnormality in the Underdark, it was currently only strengthening the acquisition of intelligence and maintaining a wait-and-see attitude, focusing its main energy on the Terra Kingdom.
Due to Tassica's series of operations, her hatred had been maxed out. At this moment, the military forces of the great powers around her, except for the Green Vine Empire, were gathering in that direction.
The originally hostile countries had temporarily put aside their differences and intended to launch a joint offensive against Tassica.
While completely expelling the traces of the Goddess of War, the Terra Kingdom also sealed its borders, especially the City of Freedom, successfully detaining a large number of nobles and wealthy merchants from various countries.
The great powers were naturally extremely indignant, scolding Tassica as a madman and threatening Tassica with the means of stationing troops on the border, urging her to stop as soon as possible and not to intensify the conflict.
They could have been happily making money, so why suddenly cause trouble?
The great powers couldn't understand what Tassica wanted to do, but negotiations were very difficult. Everyone suspected that the Capital Queen, who had always been adept at maneuvering, had been occupied by a demon, which was why she had made such a brainless move.
But so many countries united together certainly couldn't retreat to Terra. They always maintained a tough attitude, hoping that Tassica would behave herself.
Tassica's response was also quite simple and direct:
She stopped the export of totem bracelets and stopped the services of Elysium Fantasy.
Suddenly, the great powers expressed great pressure.
Chapter 221: The Players' Anger
In the Green Vine Empire, biding their time, the Eternal Night World was not peaceful in these years when the former warmongering empress suddenly lost her voice.
Not only do people find it difficult to learn lessons from history, but even the long-lived species can't change this problem.
Smart people also get seriously ill, which may be the lazy side of thinking, always only seeing the information they want.
What's more, there is the perfect intelligence war conducted by the Night Watch, and the great powers of the Eternal Night World always get the empire's false information.
After relaxing their vigilance, the great powers saw the soaring national power at home, and a large number of excellent and cheap weapons and equipment on the market, they definitely couldn't suppress their warmongering hearts.
Even the monarch of a country, proceeding from the overall situation, believes that more strength should be accumulated, and the noble lords under his command are unwilling, and they all feel that winning this battle is inevitable, why not take the free military merit?
So starting from the fourth year of the Eternal Night Calendar, in the ocean, according to the empire's needs, under the guise of testing weapons, the actual number of casualties in the offensive and defensive battles was much less than in the past.
On the ground, however, blood flowed into rivers, and multiple meat grinder battlefields appeared.
Among them, the Seven Gods Church fueled the flames, and made considerable efforts, and was also one of the empire's major arms sellers.
Because of the existence of Elysium Fantasy, the number of believers in many countries has not changed, but the amount of time they spend on prayer and religious activities has decreased significantly.
This has made the church unable to harvest enough faith power, and is facing the situation of being punished by the Lord.
Even the Pope has KPIs!
And Elysium Fantasy does reduce the cost of national governance, and the people's willingness to work is increased.
Most of the enjoyment needs are completed in the virtual world, venting their grievances, the number of riots is greatly reduced, and they are more likely to accept heavy labor.
Although Elysium Fantasy does not have as rich educational resources as the empire, the nobles do not care about educating the two-legged sheep, and there are not so many jobs that require high-quality workers.
But in the subsequent version, Tassica developed a module that can train simple skills and repetitive operations.
Therefore, after using Elysium Fantasy, the productivity and production efficiency of the great powers have greatly improved.
Secular regimes do not agree to ban Elysium Fantasy, and even the believers themselves do not want this beautiful virtual world to be restricted, so the church is also very helpless.
Ordinary prayers simply can't achieve the same level of stimulation as Elysium Fantasy, and the attraction of promising a better future is getting lower and lower.
Because what the gods promise, believers can now enjoy in Elysium Fantasy, who wants to look forward to the illusory afterlife?
I can only say that the second dimension is too funny. If the body allows, I would never want to leave the second dimension in my life (50 cents per post, sent at 8 o'clock)!
This is actually a kind of technology abuse, which belongs to quenching thirst by drinking poison, consuming the potential of the people, making them accustomed to virtual stimulation, and losing the ability to engage in boring work and long-term research and creative work.
The nationals of the great powers raised in this mode are actually very similar to the Sanhe Gods.
If they have no money, they go to work. In order to be able to play Elysium Fantasy, they can endure even the hardest work, as long as they get paid daily.
Then they vent in the virtual world for a long time, and when the cost of living threatens life again, these laborers return to their jobs.
But it can only be said that the ruling level of this era is low, and feudal serfdom and even slavery still widely exist. Even the Sanhe Gods have a higher subjective willingness to work than the original whipping.
In addition, Elysium Fantasy is customized by the great powers, and the official designated venting channel, so the interval period and frequency of work and entertainment must be more in line with the needs of the rulers, bringing a significant increase in labor efficiency.
But this improvement is only at this stage.
When the Green Vine and Terra continue to upgrade their industries, and the work that needs to be completed around them becomes more and more complex, the Sanhe Gods will definitely not be able to keep up with the demand, and their patience at work will also be eliminated.
Can the great powers not see this hidden danger? Impossible, of course they can see it.
But in their common sense, the improvement of technology is measured in units of ten thousand years. The empire's round of technological explosion is the accumulation of past magical civilization. Within hundreds or thousands of years, it should be like this.
The problems brought about by Elysium Fantasy are what the descendants need to worry about, and have nothing to do with their generation, so what are they worried about?
I believe that by that time, technology will develop, and the descendants will definitely be able to think of better ways to solve the problem.
This is a kind of after I die, who cares about the flood thinking. At this stage, Elysium Fantasy can bring all kinds of benefits, why should I think about the future?
Compared with the Green Vine Empire and the Terra Kingdom, which have always used the Fearless Space, the degree of stimulation and enjoyment is definitely far less than Elysium Fantasy, but it is also easier to balance the life arrangement between virtual and reality, and assumes more educational, commercial, and social functions.
The church also understands the hidden dangers of Elysium Fantasy, but the attractiveness of this thing is stronger than their group magic brainwashing, which is also quite helpless.
The churches of the gods still have the task of handing in enough faith power.
In this case, only war is a more attractive collective activity than Elysium Fantasy.
The spirit that people burst out on the battlefield will also provide more and more devout faith than usual.
In addition, winning the battle will also have prisoners, which can be used to catalyze a wave of faith power through rituals, so the church actually needs war more than those nobles who crave military merit.
In this internal war, the desire is high, and there is a little devil constantly jumping up and down to provoke, how can the land countries be peaceful?
In these four years, there have been constant battles of all sizes, and many times the fighting is simply for killing people.
The church here wants to complete the task, the church there also wants to complete the task, and the rulers above are urging them urgently, and the generals leading the troops also feel very helpless.
Although everyone's equipment has been greatly improved compared to the past, the equipment that the enemy gets has also been improved. If you really face each other head-on, the final result is still a tie.
If there is an absolute gap in strength between the two sides, the past encounters would have been won or lost, wouldn't they?
Many times, these countries are actually deliberately fighting meat grinder-style wars under the promotion of interests, and often there is no result in the end.
Of course, in the history books written by the emperors for themselves, they can write about how many enemies they have annihilated, and what great victories they have won. They can boast about their literary and martial arts.
Anyway, the Spring and Autumn brushwork can completely ignore their own losses, and they can get the support of a considerable part of the people when they are sent back to the country.
As for the population reduction, food decline, resource shortage, and death of relatives brought about by the war, because the virtual world consumes too much energy, the people's mood to care is also much weaker...
Anyway, this life is hard work, and it is impossible to turn over and be the master, so I just accept my fate!
So different from the complex problems caused by past wars, as long as Elysium Fantasy launches a few new activities, and the rewards of the game are higher, many mistakes seem to be directly forgiven, and the cost of launching wars by the upper class is reduced, so wars for various reasons are more frequent.
In the first two years, after everyone was exploring how to fight the new era of war, in these two years, although they have not fought the kind of world war, there have been constant frictions between countries, and countless small-scale, high-intensity wars have been fought.
Except for the Green Vine Empire and the Terra Kingdom, the total population of the land powers has decreased by 30%.
This is still due to the sufficient food supply, reduced famine, and a significant increase in the birth rate of newborns, but it cannot change the various losses caused by the war.
Under the tool of the Blissful Illusion, the great powers are actually developing towards a Zerg-like civilization.
The upper-level brains have absolute control over the lower levels, stimulating the lower levels to perform high-load labor through hormonal means, while the lower levels only exist for the mission of work and do not think too much about personal interests.
The side effects of prolonged use of the Blissful Illusion have become prominent. Those people who were not highly educated in the first place can no longer distinguish between virtuality and reality, and have been cultivated with extremely high obedience by the colorful task system.
The rulers didn't feel there was a problem, but instead thought it was great:
They only need to print out colorful task panels in reality and then guide and stimulate these people to make them work.
Human rights?
Sorry, this is the Middle Ages. Nobles are not punished the same as commoners when they break the law. The interests of the strong represent everything in this magical world.
If this environment continues for hundreds of years, the upper and lower classes of the great powers will undergo severe segregation, eventually forming two races with completely different languages, cultures, and even racial attributes.
But the Empire will not give them this time. After completing the Five-Year Plan and lighting up the Eternal Night in the sky, it is actually starting to slaughter these fattened pigs.
The surface powers appear to have stable political situations, and their national productivity has significantly improved compared to five years ago, but their war potential is about to be exhausted.
Just one bomb needs to be detonated, and they will reveal their true colors.
This bomb is very simple, that is, to stop the service supply of the Blissful Illusion!