Four-Armed Divine Emperor

The advantage of this is that the center can always hold the upper hand in a country, but it will not form an overwhelming gap with other forces. It can not only guarantee the authority of the center, the king, and the rulers, but also check and balance their power. If the royal family is ambitious or acts perversely, they only need to send some letters to the mages served by the royal court in the name of "private persons" to persuade them with emotion and reason. Even if only two or three hundred out of a thousand mages can be persuaded to tear up the contract and end the consulting service early, it can greatly shake the prestige of the center. Then naturally, the domestic coveters will rush in to do the "dirty work" that the White Tower does not want to do, or manage the government, or do

Chapter 369

Crisp instead.

Unless it involves the bottom line, that is, the official large-scale education of illegal spellcasters, intended to cultivate spellcasters who bypass the White Tower system, and the worship of ancient kings and secret communication with the old times, the floating city rarely directly uses force to interfere in secular affairs.

They learned a lesson from the Witch-King's defeat.

After all, the stability of the White Tower order, in addition to expelling the Witch King and replacing him with the White Robe Wizards, and improving the pyramid hierarchy of extraordinary people and mortals to allow those who are outstanding to gain room for advancement, another crucial factor is the role of the overall environment.

As the saying goes, "A person's destiny depends on his own struggle..."

Human hair, at the same time the magic tide no longer grows infinitely.

The ratio of intelligent individuals to magical power is no longer as disparate as it was in ancient times, so that a natural spellcaster may be born in any remote village or tribe—even a "Witch King" who can be called a god.

If it were not for the arrival of the peak of the Demonic Tide, which greatly increased the number of natural spellcasters among the billions of mortals oppressed by the Witch King's tyranny, and allowed the group of extraordinary people who had both ability and no due status under the ancient king's order to finally accumulate the power to overthrow the old order, and the "War of the Gods" - the civil war of the Witch King to assist, perhaps until today, Zoroastrians would still be worshiping the great "Lord of Ashes", and other mortal races would also be ants under the feet of their own "gods".

If the White Tower acts recklessly and unabashedly regards secular monarchy as everything, then one day in the future, the demonic tide recedes, and the white-robed wizards have made predictions about the coming of doomsday for wizards, or the demonic tide erupts, ushering in another "Great Magic Age". In either case, the order of the White Tower will surely suffer a huge impact and even collapse completely. If the "End of the Dharma Age" that may not appear for thousands of years is as predicted, then the wizard's legacy may be regarded by today's mortals as the Witch King was, despised, cursed, and completely wiped out.

.......

Normally, in the continent of Tartarus, for an empire or kingdom with a large number of spellcasters to change dynasties and establish a new dynasty, the central government would generally have to continue to decline for a long time. By the time Tai'a fell, the royal power would be difficult to revive. The resources and strength that the central government could control had declined during the long period of "waste" to the point that even with the "biased distribution" of the White Tower, it could hardly afford the expense of supporting a large number of mages. Factional forces had taken advantage of the situation to grow stronger, further eroding the central government's resources and base. Only when the spellcaster resources greatly exceeded the central government could a civil war to seize power or a negotiated coup be launched to change the dynasty.

Because in the extraordinary world, everyone has plenty of fun, so there is no need to kill everyone.

Wouldn't it be better to hand over the kingship, go somewhere, collect the salary, continue the bloodline, and enjoy life in peace?

Or simply "sell the crown", pack up your bags and go to the Apennines to find a prosperous city-state, or go a step further and directly climb the White Tower to live as a floating citizen.

However, the Alan Empire did not experience many situations that met this standard impression of a country's "collapse".

Everything originated from the failure of a foreign war, but for Alan, this was not even a serious blow. After all, Serso was a place of poor demons, and it could be argued that the role of mages was greatly weakened. It was not uncommon for barbarism to defeat civilization and the advanced to be defeated by the backward in the past. It could only be said that Prince Ahmed's army underestimated the enemy.

The Azad dynasty would perish, but the speed was a bit "too fast".

Not only in China, some talented and ambitious people who came to their senses and some observers from the outside world began to think about some issues in this imperial transformation after the "New Zoroastrian Empire" was hastily established and an incongruous "Senate Deliberation" was held.

It was as if there was an invisible giant hand pushing everything, urging the Alan Empire to rush towards destruction.

Normally, the speed of going downhill would never be so fast.

So, what is the reason?

Chapter 49: Exposed

Since the end of the war that overthrew the old order represented by the Witch King, there has been no major upheaval or event in the world of Il that can be said to have a "global" impact for thousands of years.

Although the order of the White Tower seems to be another, more sophisticated means of "control" than the Witch King's brutal tyranny and slavery, magic is about talent first. People without talent cannot master knowledge and power, while people with talent and opportunities can get opportunities for advancement and a vast new world. In terms of upward channels and using the power of magic for people's livelihood, or at least treating intelligent life as "human beings", wizards do at least much better than the Witch Kings.

No matter what, intellectuals, academic fanatics, academic tycoons, seekers of knowledge... no matter what, they are still much better than the "witchcraft tyrants".

And you have to know that even the Zoroastrians (Alan), a veteran power on the Tartarus continent, the "Millennium Empire", the undisputed "Eastern Overlord" on the Tartarus continent, actually only occupies less than one-tenth of the area of ​​the vast Tartarus continent. Moreover, even with its corrupt and backward political structure and system, and the fact that most of its territory is built on mountains, hills, and deserts, which are not fertile except for a few areas, this empire still has a population of over 100 million at the official level.

In the magical world of Il, society is very divided.

Fire Worshipers can make one city a province, one city a country

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, in a magical world similar to the era before and after the great geographical discoveries on Earth, create and maintain a giant metropolitan area with a population of tens of millions around the capital.

But on the other hand, they still adhere to the inefficient and backward slavery system that is almost from the tribal period, while on the other hand, they can use magic puppets and spirit elves as bureaucrats and servants in the core circle of the capital to maintain the almost "heavenly" enjoyment of the powerful.

On one side is the lower class. Most areas still maintain a basic structure that is not much different from that in ancient times. Commoners farm, hunt, and raise children until they die.

Due to the rich resources and fertile land of Yipu, a major factor limiting population does not exist in the world of Yil. In addition, with the support of extraordinary powers, although the secular regime is backward, it has the check and balance of magic. Internally, it is not afraid of rebellion from the lower classes to overthrow the current order. Externally, they fight each other without breaking each other, and foreign invasions do not kill them all. Therefore, the whole world is moving forward in a weird, dirty and vibrant, backward and promising way.

If it continues to develop for hundreds or thousands of years.

The White Tower Order might see development and change, and it's possible that it might even create a magical civilization similar to Netheril.

Returning to the present, according to the estimates of the descendants of Ai, the population of the entire Alan Empire is between 110 and 30 million, which is a very large number. In the entire prosperous realm, that is, the part west of the Antolian Mountains and south of the Usriv Empire, the "civilization essence" on the Tartarus continent is conservatively estimated to have more than 700 million intelligent beings, which may have exceeded modern Europe. After all, the lower-class civilians, who are huge in number and not too worried about survival issues, rarely have the awareness of limiting fertility.

With such a huge population, there naturally exists a relatively large "superstructure", and there is never a shortage of elites, talented people and ambitious people.

Although the disguises of the Children of Aiur were flawless, relying on their absolutely loyal children who would not betray them, the extraordinary use of psychic energy such as brainwashing, essentially changing their appearance to be undetectable by magic, coercing and bribing the powerful and wealthy to join them, and then branding them with psychic energy, they could continuously brainwash and strengthen their loyalty while monitoring whether they would betray, etc...

The intelligence organization of the King of Kings' court uses various means, and the "Ashes Agents" that are feared by everyone from the powerful to the common people are just amateurs in terms of infiltration and lurking in front of the Four-Armed People.

So far, there has not been a single incident that directly exposed the core secrets of the Four-Armed Clan, no body of any descendant has been left outside and not recovered, and no non-magical psychic power has been exposed without the witnesses being "blocked" - either silenced or successfully converted.

Once the fact that the Four-Armed Man is an "outsider" is made public, Ai'er's terrifying "father of billions of offspring" and the Four-Armed Man's innate ability to master "spellcasting ability and outsider powers (psychic power)" will immediately bring about the wrath and terror of the floating city. Needless to say, the mages will regard Ai'er, an outsider who has secretly infiltrated and was the first to show his malicious intent, as the number one enemy surpassing the Witch Kings.

At the call of the White Tower, the whole world will form an alliance to launch a siege on the New Zoroastrian Empire currently controlled by the Four-Armed Man, and the sky cities floating high in the sky will start to move and resume their original duties as sky fortresses in the war against the Witch King.

Even the great wizards who have traveled far into the astral realm and disappeared may be summoned by their disciples and return.

Although Al now has the confidence to overturn the table and start a war with the White Tower, he still tries his best to avoid such things.

The time is far from ripe.

His psychic predictions were not wrong. Regarding the rulers of the previous era, the losers of the new era, and those ancient kings who retreated and lay dormant, and who were obsessed with "returning home", his psychic predictions gave him a general feeling:

"On par with"

That is a 50-50 split.

Considering that when Al made his assessment of the power comparison, he was based on the "Remnants of the Old Ones" and the "Defeated Witch Kings", a camp that might not even be considered a "camp", as a whole, he did not believe that the Witch Kings could unite and fight him to the death in an actual war.

Moreover, the power of a single "Witch King", once the top combat force in the world of El, El has already had a detailed understanding of it through the remnants of the will of the "Lord of Ashes" guarding the bronze gate. He can win for sure, so he is not particularly worried that a big hole will suddenly appear in the Tomb of Amen-La, and a bunch of old remnants will crawl out from it and disrupt his great cause.

The power of the floating city currently regards him as: "better than"

It is quite difficult, but not impossible.

What's more, Al has a trump card:

Run!

———If it doesn’t work, run away!

move place!

He is now a portal that can take him to all the heavens and worlds at any time. If the situation in the Il world is really unfavorable, he can just run away and develop in another world.

Of course, the best case scenario is that he continues to accumulate strength, develop and expand his clan, and it would be best if he could solve the problem of too many descendants and believers as soon as possible. He does not take the path of billions of people returning to one, which is a problem that cannot be borne by his personal will alone. He can produce hundreds of millions of extraordinary descendants to overwhelm the entire Il - this is an exaggeration.

In short, Al expected that it would be best for him to develop steadily for another ten or twenty years, and then go to war with the White Tower after he was completely confident.

But now the question is...

His biggest secret, the Four-Armed Man, which would make him a universal enemy if revealed, was not exposed.

But in another direction, they "expose"

Chapter 371

The.

Chapter 50: Mortals Transcend the Extraordinary

There are many talented and ambitious people in Tartarus.

The Alan Empire fell so quickly that even though Ai'er's descendants tried their best to arrange a reasonable script and process that was not so noticeable in all aspects, many people still noticed the "abnormality" in it.

There are a thousand upper classes who are curious about the fall of the Alan Empire and the establishment of the new "Most Honorable Senate and Holy Roman People's Republic". Among these thousand people, a hundred have enough initiative and resources to "investigate" the fall and rebirth of the empire. Ten out of a hundred pieces of intelligence mentioned some key words, and in the end only one person can come to a conclusion that "fits" the truth behind it, that is, "a mysterious and powerful force is behind the scenes pushing this change of dynasty."

Then this sound cannot be reduced.

After all, there are definitely more than a thousand people who have the ability, the interest, and the willingness to investigate.

As one of the three oldest empires, the Alan Empire has long suppressed and vassalized the Indian countries and Bactrian princes in the east. It is the only overlord in the eastern part of the Tartarus continent and has no challengers.

Regardless of whether it was the Indian countries, the former Golden Dynasty, the Antolian Mountains, the Arabi tribes... so many regions were under the control of the Zoroastrian Empire, as well as the prosperous territory in the west. As the basically unchanging challenger, opponent, and covetant of the Central Continent Empire, whenever the Zoroastrian Empire entered its heyday, it would almost without exception seek expansion to the west, to the central region of the Tartarus continent. During its heyday, its territory once expanded to the Apennine Peninsula west of the Aegean city-state, and its troops even reached the Black Forest in the middle of the continent.

At any time, any central empire, now Kronos, cannot lack attention and vigilance towards its eastern opponents, and vice versa.

As long as they really look it up, it’s not easy, but not particularly difficult either. They can lock onto a keyword:

Respect your father;

Honor the Fathers;

Honoring the Father;

And a series of related words that match it: "North", "origin of rebellion", "land of poor demons", "suddenly rising country", "mysterious wizard", "forces behind the scenes", etc.

After all, the descendants of Ai'er are absolutely reliable, but the believers are not necessarily.

He used the sect to spread its teachings in Alan, and through secretly displaying extraordinary supernatural powers and using the temptation of obtaining extraordinary powers and expanding the family to accelerate the absorption of the powerful and noble class of the Alan Empire. It was indeed very effective, but it also carried a lot of risks of being "exposed".

Even if the believers have no subjective intention to betray or expose themselves, they are not as ideologically imprinted as the descendants after all. Information leakage is inevitable, and Al was prepared when he did it.

Among these, superstitions such as "Redemption God" and "Creation Father God" are all false. The real core and the focus of those who have investigated this step is only one point:

"(Respected Father) allows mortals to master extraordinary (magical) power"

“No side effects, no defects, you can have it as long as God blesses you.”

"Let mortals also master extraordinary powers"

This is an enduring topic.

But so far, no method can compare with the orthodox and purest way of the mage, which is to master knowledge through meditation, practice, learning, and then master power.

The innate power of the [Witch King] is too individualized to be universal;

The supernatural talents of elemental elves, dragons, and orcs are either too weak compared to magic, or have bloodline limitations;

Human experiments and species modification are too risky, cannot be quantified, and the results achieved are extremely limited;

......

All of the above.

So far, the main and "only" way for mortals to acquire supernatural powers is still "learning".

But in everything, there are always people who want to take shortcuts or "overtake on a curve".

There are also those who really have no talent, but still try their best to squeeze in.

The topic of "making mortals master extraordinary (magical) powers instantly and easily without side effects" is not as some people imagine, that it will be suppressed by wizards and rejected by the White Tower. On the contrary, when wizards hear someone shouting "let mortals also master magic", they may just smile knowingly, thinking to themselves which guy with a drained wallet is so shameless as to cheat Muggles.

A "shocking case" once occurred in Pridain, an island country located northwest of the Kranos Empire.

Some local dignitaries reported to the Sky City "Adele"—named after a legendary female wizard, claiming that the royal family and nobles there have been secretly cultivating their own secular spellcasters. What's more, many members of the royal family have quietly mastered the ability to cast spells, bypassing the restrictions of the White Tower.

Sky City was furious and immediately sent a large group of people to investigate, vowing to severely punish the secular monarchy that dared to continue to violate the arcane prohibitions after the destruction of "Ivangelist". As a result, the White Tower wizards went from serious anger at the beginning to being in a dilemma in the end:

It turns out that all of this is a wizard association - a kind of association where wizards gather together because of their interests or hobbies or the same research topics, and there is no particularly strict distinction between superiors and subordinates.

A misunderstanding caused by three five-ring mentors and twenty-two apprentices.

They are all fanatical "star lovers", but due to their lack of talent, they may never be able to truly touch the white

Chapter 372

Unable to see the "endless magnificence of the stars" as described by the robed mages, they tried to find another way and use other methods to make up for the lack of strength to explore the star realm.

They built an observatory, refined magic potions, and also bought some "arcane secrets" and "essays of predecessors" at high prices that were said to be very effective in improving their skills. As a result, the "laboratory" was seriously short of funds and even owed a lot of debts.

How can we chase the stars while keeping our feet on the ground?

This "star-chasing society" came up with a solution.

Their strength is not even above average among the extraordinary people. If they want to make money, working hard in Sky City is tiring and not cost-effective.

So......

Looking for a "local rich man"? ———The worldly dignitaries!

So they went to Pridain, and after a period of preparation, they falsely claimed to have discovered the so-called "ancient secret treasure" that could prolong life, strengthen the body, etc. Because of their extraordinary identities, mortals believed it without a doubt, and thus they defrauded a lot of wealth in Pridain, an island country located overseas, which was relatively closed and backward.

But perhaps because they have tasted the sweetness, the people in the star-chasing society have not thought of stopping as soon as possible. Instead, they have been doing more and more, trying to make enough money for the future. However, just the general "fraudulent means" and "temptation", such as being strong and healthy, can actually be achieved by magic and potions. After all, the mortal and powerful are willing to pay a limited price for this. They dare not brag about those who are about to die, otherwise they will be exposed soon.

But soon, someone came up with a "treasonous" idea.

What ordinary people and powerful people have always pursued can actually be summarized as "power".