Becoming a god starts with enhancing fire arrows.

"Stop putting on airs, what do you want with us?" Ivy Ramen's attitude towards Cassandra was very bad.

Cassandra ignored Avira and instead looked at Rhodes, a smile spreading across her face.

"Your skill in improving magic is indeed well-deserved, but Appraisal is useless against me."

This time it was Rhodes' turn to be surprised.

Adhering to the fine tradition of assessing someone's appearance upon first meeting them, he casually chanted an appraisal spell after clearly seeing Zhuo Er's appearance.

He figured that if she was weak and had no other guards, he could just take action directly.

If you can beat them, who will negotiate with you?

Anyway, that mid-level drow is still on the ground. Even if it's a two-on-one fight and we're not very confident, at least we can escape.

But to my surprise, the identification technique was discovered by the other party. This was the first time the identification technique had been detected.

What puzzled him even more was that the result of the forensic examination was presented in just one short sentence:

[Authentication Failed]

Is it the effect of some kind of equipment or spell?

"I haven't received any test results yet."

Rhodes remained calm even after being exposed.

Cassandra pulled out a talisman she always carried, like a scholar imparting knowledge to her students: "This talisman can block the effects of detection spells."

As she spoke, she showed the amulet.

Cassandra is very different from what I imagined.

Rhodes's information about this drow came entirely from descriptions by members of the town's adventurers' guild and from Elvira's experiences.

Judging from what I've heard, he seems to be a cold-blooded, vindictive, and ambitious person.

How come it looks so different from what I imagined?

Rhodes then steered the conversation back to Avira's initial question: "So, what did you contact us for?"

Cassandra fiddled with the torch, making sure it wouldn't fall, before slowly walking towards the enormous spider throne.

"I thought that, given your personality, you would be more concerned about the ambush at the goblin camp."

Seeing that she had changed the subject again, Rhodes could only suppress his temper and go along with her conversational rhythm:

"The ambush at the goblin camp was your doing. You first had Sam gather a group of the town's top fighters, including Vanessa, and then used the excuse of saving the balance of Phil town to make us kill the goblin leader, Zalido."

"This wasn't supposed to be a very dangerous mission."

"But you also used the connections of the 'Black Hand' to contact several chieftains of other nearby races, all of whom were mid-level, in order to deal with Vanessa."

"I'm sure you can persuade them to take action even without paying a high price, after all, these alien races have been eyeing Phil Town for a very long time."

"What's more, this time there's also a chance to kill Vanessa, one of the only two mid-level fighters in town."

"Very good." Cassandra's face was expressionless, but her tone carried a hint of praise.

"However, you still misjudged Vanessa's strength. You didn't expect that although she was only a mid-level warrior, she could kill two of the clan leaders by herself, which ultimately led to the failure of your plan."

"But it's estimated that Jet and Clay are probably already dead."

"It was Kelda who made the move," Cassandra added, confirming all of Rhodes's earlier speculations.

Her gray hands were folded together, her tone flat: "Actually, in my plan, all I needed to do was kill Vanessa; the rest of you were just extras."

"Since you enjoy analyzing things so much, why don't you guess what my plan is?"

"Before I guessed your plans, I guessed something very interesting," Rhodes said with a smile, looking at Cassandra.

"You're quite adept at controlling the pace of negotiations," Cassandra nodded approvingly. "Then I'll take this opportunity to ask what you guessed."

Rhodes' tone became calm and composed: "Regardless of the full scope of your plan, killing Vanessa is definitely a crucial part of it."

"For such a crucial mission, if you only use four mid-level ambushes, it can be barely explained as either not having enough manpower or you thinking things are foolproof."

"But you clearly had a mid-level bodyguard with you, yet you didn't let him participate in the ambush plan."

"This means you really need his protection, or that you are not very strong yourself."

This was a test by Rhodes.

He had to be prepared to turn hostile and take action at any moment.

Unexpectedly, Cassandra nodded after listening and said calmly, "I am indeed not a mid-level guard. Becoming a mid-level guard is not as easy as you imagine, and I only have this one mid-level guard by my side."

"He is not only my protector, but also my companion at night."

Rhodes scoffed after hearing this: "You explained it in such detail after I only tested you a little? Aren't you afraid we'll just kill you?"

"You can give it a try," Cassandra said, her expression unchanging.

They couldn't gain the upper hand at all.

Damn it.

Rhodes cursed inwardly.

If she lied about her abilities and is actually a mid-level player, then taking action now will not be beneficial.

If she wasn't lying, then given her personality, it's absolutely impossible for her to let the guards go to the ground without any precautions on her side.

We cannot take action now.

This was a decision Rhodes made in accordance with his consistently cautious style.

"Let's talk about your plans instead." He changed the subject, acting as if nothing had happened.

"Yes." Cassandra nodded and began to explain:

"My plan is simple: open up Phil Town."

"From now on, there will be no more sunrise zones or sunset zones here. Let's build a town where other races can coexist."

Should we establish a system where "other" races coexist, rather than "all" races coexist?

"I don't think I need to ask you which race is excluded from 'other,' do I?"

Cassandra shook her head and replied calmly, "I'm not really interested in power, whether it's governing the town or the 'black hand'."

I don't care whether Phil is a town of humans or a town ruled by something else.

"That's why I entrusted all the town's affairs to Sam. He's more like a profit-driven businessman than a manager, isn't he?"

"I only care about the people in the town."

"As you've probably noticed, I'm actually an anomaly among the drow. I'm not particularly prejudiced against humans; the only race I despise is the elves."

"Heh." Avira sneered, not even bothering to look at the other person directly.

"But you humans are far too valuable," Cassandra continued.

"Ever since the idea that 'humans are the primary productive force of other races' became popular, your price in the market has been rising higher and higher, especially the closer you are to the north."

"Humans are a great race, but I won't turn down money."

"So I need to open up Phil Town and transport all three to four thousand humans there to the north to raise funds."

"I have to thank you for this, Rhodes. After Stanley and Phoenix died, I had Sam spread the word, which led to an attack on the town by other races."

"Letting these strongmen in the town die again will cause panic among the residents."

"When the alien attacks become more and more frequent, and the new mayor Sam is forced to abandon the treaty with your former chairman Raymond and open the Sunset District, then other human towns will completely abandon this place."

"This will make it easier for me to sell these residents' properties in batches, one by one."

"Well, it won't be in many installments. I have some buyers who are happy to accept large numbers of humans."

Cassandra spoke very seriously.

Rhodes looked up, staring intently into Cassandra's eyes: "It's strange, isn't it? A drow who doesn't care about power at all would care so much about money?"

"What do you want to do?"