Chapter 268: Nature Priests
The next day, in the Giantree City, a mysterious building suddenly rose from the center of the city. It resembled an ancient tree, about 200 meters tall, with a lush and vibrant exterior. Inside, it was a hollow hall where a statue of the Goddess of Nature stood.
This building, which appeared to be a temple dedicated to the Goddess of Nature infused with elven architecture style, was in fact the Nature Priest Job Advancement Tower. It was similar to the Mage Job Advancement Tower in the Aofa City of Kregi, but with a key difference. The latter facilitated a job advancement to become a mage, whereas this tower enabled a job advancement to become a clergy class.
Clergy represented a special and independent system, distinct from warriors and mages. Warriors trained in martial skills and Qi, mages in magic, and clergy used divine arts, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Warriors and mages required higher talent, as without sufficient talent, mastering Qi or magic would be destined to fail. Clergy, however, had lower requirements for talent or potential. Becoming a powerful clergy member mainly depended on resonating with the corresponding deity to receive sufficient divine favor.
The three systems had different limits. Although warriors and mages faced more difficult training and higher talent demands, reaching the pinnacle could potentially allow mastery over the laws of the world itself. Clergy, on the other hand, lacked the capacity to surpass deities, as their divine magic was ultimately not their own power, leading to a lower ceiling. As a result, pure clergy members were relatively rare under normal circumstances.
Clergy members often also train in martial skills or magic. The Nature Priest Job Advancement Tower constructed in Giantree City endows those who undergo the job advancement with the abilities of a nature priest, thereby granting them control over the divine magic of the Goddess of Nature. The divine magic of the Goddess of Nature is not particularly strong in combat. In fact, it can be considered quite weak. However, this type of divine magic excels in support, healing, and production, especially in terms of treating diseases, healing injuries, and agriculture, where it has excellent effects.
In terms of cost, the Nature Priest Job Advancement Tower is about thirty to forty percent cheaper than the Mage Job Advancement Tower. Although it only allows for the job advancement of elite priests from Level 1 to 5, this still held significant importance for the Chaos Forest and the Chaos Federation.
Like in the Aofa City of Kregi, the job advancement tower was not a summoning building. Its function is to train or enhance existing units. Zhang Nu won't spend money on upgrading it; instead, he can make a profit from it. Elves who wish to become priests of the Goddess of Nature must bear the cost themselves.
However, considering the residents of the Chaos Forest are not as wealthy as human residents, Zhang Nu adjusted his strategy. Elves can use contribution points earned within the federation to exchange for the opportunity to undergo the job advancement to become nature priests.
Nancilia entered the job advancement tower, becoming the first elf to experience the job advancement. Whether it's the elven Nature Priest Job Advancement Tower or the human Mage Job Advancement Tower, the essence is to add rather than overwrite. It would not interfere with one's own established power and strength; it would merely add another layer of ability on top of the existing skills.
"It's amazing!" Nancilia exclaimed. "I can feel the presence of the Goddess! His Majesty must really know the Goddess! Otherwise, how could she have descended her avatar here?" After entering the tower of the Nature Priest job advancement, Nancilia could distinctly feel as if an avatar of the Goddess of Nature was attached to the statue of the Goddess in front of her, surrounded by a strong aura of the Goddess.
The sensation was incredible. Nancilia sat down and began to meditate. A torrent of divine power was released from the statue, turning into a massive green beam, enveloping her like divine enlightenment. In Nancilia's mind, a wealth of knowledge, experience, skills, and detailed information about various divine spells related to the nature priest instantly appeared.
In the blink of an eye, Nancilia acquired the divine art skills of a Level 5 elite priest. She suddenly gained a variety of divine magic spells, including recovery, healing, protection, perception, and accelerated growth, mainly focusing on abilities such as combat support, healing and recovery, enriching the land, and increasing crop production.
For her, with near-mythic level strength at Level 6, this new power was almost negligible, and the increase in strength was not significant. However, Nancilia realized the value within. This miraculous elven sacred building allowed direct access to the Goddess's power and the granting of priesthood, meaning that theoretically, hundreds of thousands of elven civilians in the capital elven city could become Level 5 priests!
If this were achieved, with hundreds of thousands or even millions of elven civilians becoming priests, their spiritual strength and various stats would inevitably increase by many folds compared to ordinary civilians. This would not only enhance the overall strength of the elven race but also greatly benefit production and farming activities. Moreover, these nature priests, each possessing abilities to enrich the land, accelerate growth, and aid production, could communicate with various nature beings and guide the order of the natural environment, creating far greater value than before.
"As expected from His Majesty!" Nancilia thought. "With such a sacred ground, it would be impossible for the elven race in the Giantree City to not thrive!"
After acquiring the divine spells, she also felt significant changes in her body, with her Elven Empress bloodline being further activated. If everything went smoothly, in not much time, and with at most one or two more Demon King baptisms, the little Elven King would fully become a myth.
Nancilia immediately stepped out to share the great news with her people. In front of all the elders and leaders of various tribes, she demonstrated a divine spell of nature without uttering any incantations. Beneath her feet, the ground instantly turned lush with green grass, countless flowers bloomed, and small trees sprouted, bearing fruit.
These weren't magical creations; the flowers, grass, and trees were nature's creation. Nancilia merely catalyzed their growth with elven divine magic. A Level 5 elven priest's divine spell could easily turn barren land into greenery, make delicious fruits grow in infertile areas, communicate and command animals, or manipulate weather and the environment. High-ranking elven priests were treasures. Each one could significantly increase recovery speed and production efficiency in any production team they were part of.
"Simply incredible!" the elves exclaimed.
"The Goddess of Nature has shown such favor to His Majesty the Great Demon King!"
"With this sanctuary, all elven civilians in the Giantree City had the opportunity to become noble nature priests. And it wasn't just elven civilians; other believers of the Goddess could also seize this chance."
The news spread from one to ten, ten to a hundred, astonishing all elven citizens. His Majesty the Demon King had truly outdone himself! Regardless of age or talent, everyone had a chance to change their destiny, providing countless ordinary elves and devout followers of the Goddess with an opportunity they had longed for in their dreams. In no time, elves working in farms and workshops became even more diligent in their tasks. After all, working for the federation, whether in agriculture or potion production, allowed them to earn a salary and contribution points. With the advent of the job advancement tower, the value of both salary and contribution points significantly increased.
Zhang Nu was very pleased with this outcome. He believed that in just a few days, as the newly joined millions of elves began to work, and as more nature priests capable of aiding production emerged, the scale of goods produced by the Giantree City and the federation would greatly expand, and the cost advantage would become even more pronounced.
......
Meanwhile, in the southern part of the Chaos Forest, at the core hub of the Pale Moon Peninsula, Pale Moon City, which is even more crucial than the Holy Tides City, a commotion was unfolding.
"Preposterous! This is outrageous! The Merfolk White Sand Tribe is audaciously bold!"
"They actually took advantage of the broken covenant to stage a coup and seize Holy Tides City!"
A fishfolk king, adorned with a crown yet devoid of any regal dignity, was raging. Despite the crown, his appearance was far from majestic. Standing eight meters tall, his body was excessively obese, resembling a heap of fat, and his massive fish head was particularly unsightly. At this moment, the fishfolk king was engulfed in extreme anger. He had just received news that Holy Tides City had declared independence, no longer paying tribute or swearing fealty to the Pale Moon King, an act that was seen as a complete rebellion.
Although Pale Moon City was the nation's top city, this was primarily because it was the royal city. In terms of prosperity, it couldn't compare to Holy Tides City, which was the largest commercial city in Pale Moon Kingdom and the most important port city in the northern part of the Azure Water Federation.
For over a thousand years, to prevent the ignorant and decadent royal family from over-exploiting and exhausting resources, a relatively wise Pale Moon King granted high autonomy and a highly open commercial environment to Holy Tides City, under the protection of the Azure Water Covenant, knowing that it was Pale Moon's lawful territory and could not be seized by others.
This decision proved to be correct. Holy Tides City's competitiveness greatly increased, contributing a vast amount of financial revenue to Pale Moon over the centuries. But now, in the blink of an eye, Holy Tides City was lost, infuriating the Pale Moon royal family.
The Pale Moon King roared, "Summon the Grand Marshal to me!" Several fishfolks hurriedly went to convey the command, terrified by the king's fury.
A few minutes later, a black-gold sharkfolk clad in armor and of imposing stature walked in. He said in a deep voice, "Greetings, my king! I have also received intelligence about the situation in Holy Tides City. Although the White Sand family has a long history, they are merely a local noble family under Pale Moon. They couldn't possibly have the capability to control Holy Tides City. There must be other forces behind this."
The fishfolk king frowned and asked, "Other forces? Who?"
The Pale Moon Grand Marshal replied, "It's not entirely clear yet. It could be the Deep Sea Hermit Society, but we can't rule out the possibility of the Chaos Federation from the north, which has been gaining momentum."
Hearing this, the fishfolk king became solemn. Both powers were formidable. The Deep Sea Hermit Society was the largest underground force in the entire Chaos Sea, secretly controlling many countries, even playing a significant role in the current upheaval. As for the Chaos Federation, it was a rising force that had even put the Thunder Empire in a tight spot, indicating its strength. However, since the Chaos Federation had been fighting against human empires, the fishfolk king didn't believe they would have the capacity to launch an invasion from the south.
The Pale Moon Grand Marshal said, "Regardless of who it is, anyone who dares to meddle in Pale Moon's territory, I am willing to personally lead troops to subdue them, wipe out the rebellious merfolk, and reclaim Holy Tides City for our king!"
"Good!" the fishfolk king shouted. "I entrust the Pale Moon army to you. You have half a month to take back Holy Tides City!"
The Grand Marshal immediately knelt to accept the command. However, the fishfolk king failed to notice the slight cold smirk at the corner of the Grand Marshal's mouth, clearly not taking the fishfolk king seriously. Unbeknownst to the king, his once loyal Grand Marshal had already become a Hero, and a very powerful one at that. How could he truly remain loyal to such a master?
For him, Takumi Akiwawa, this was an excellent opportunity to seize control of the Pale Moon Kingdom in one fell swoop."
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