Global Game: Developing a Knight Clan

Chapter 519: Chapter 104: General Ed, the Lurking Player (Part 2)

Ed becoming a Transcendent was just the beginning of his faction’s early expansion.

As the Monastery was enlarged, a great number of displaced children were sent there.

And as the children of the Monastery were educated one by one by the Elder Priest, they soon became Ed’s staunchest supporters.

They were merciful to the common people and severe with evildoers.

They spontaneously upheld all the military discipline of the Salvation Army.

And so, sixteen years passed.

It could be said that within the entire Salvation Army, nearly all the core, high-level members were once children from the Monastery.

They supervised everything and maintained everything.

They were Ed’s eyes, Ed’s shield, and Ed’s spear.

They helped Ed conquer one city after another.

By now, Ed had conquered nearly all the cities in the Western Old Kingdom, near the Great Desert.

He controlled over twenty cities, large and small.

He had over a thousand Transcendents under his command, and his army of ordinary humans had swelled to a force of two hundred thousand.

With such a powerful army at his disposal, Ed naturally developed the desire to establish a country of his own.

Therefore, as early as six months ago, Ed began actively attacking the natural fortresses of the Old Kingdom.

His goal was to capture all the cities on the plains within the Old Kingdom’s former capital region as quickly as possible.

Once he annexed the Old Kingdom’s Royal Capital and its surrounding territories, his plan to found a nation would have a powerful foundation.

’If I succeed in founding a nation...’

Ed knew it could be the greatest achievement of his life.

The Titan Divine Race.

He could receive a reward from the Divine Race, perhaps even the right to ascend and become one of the Deities.

Each and every one of these possibilities was an immense temptation for a mortal.

As for the Elder Priest, the Deity he had served had long since fallen.

This world no longer belonged to those antiquated Deities.

As people of this world, they had no choice but to follow the Titan Divine Race.

Not a single living being in this world had a choice.

Even if they knew this so-called Titan Divine Race might not be good Deities.

But what could they do?

In this world, just being able to look out for oneself was already a blessing.

As for anything else, not even the current Ed dared to hope for more.

———————

「That night.」

On the very night that Ed and his six core officers decided to rush to the front lines the next morning to prepare for the campaign into the heartland of the Old Kingdom...

The two orphans from the Monastery who had been with Ed during the day were now drinking together in a small house, in high spirits.

"This world is really interesting!"

"Looking at this situation, it’s actually a bit similar to the records of the Empire’s campaign against the Crimson World."

One of them said with a relaxed expression.

"Yeah, just a little bit similar," the other replied with disdain, taking a sip of wine.

"After all, according to the records, the reason the mortals on the ground had their Power sealed during the Crimson World war was because a powerful Ancient Deity was involved."

"Does this world have one of those?"

"Heh, according to the mission briefing, it’s at best just some Clans of Ancient Gods manipulating the world’s will. These guys sure know how to lord it over everyone. They’re a far cry from our Star Empire."

"But speaking of which, Ed hasn’t discovered our activities, has he?"

"So what if he has? It’s not like we’re doing anything malicious."

"Besides, we’re spreading the faith of the Star Empire, but not within the army. We’re just promoting it a bit in some small cities."

"In times of war, suffering is widespread. Our mission this time can basically be considered more than accomplished."

"I reckon it’s about the same for the other Players who descended in different regions."

"This world has been so thoroughly infiltrated by us Players it’s practically a sieve."

"And yet those so-called Titans? They haven’t noticed a thing. They really have it coming."

The young man drinking let out a sly chuckle.

It was clear that as Players, they had no major concerns about their safety.

What’s more, the strongest Transcendents in this world were only around Tier Three. No one could possibly threaten them.

If they weren’t worried about exposing the fruits of their year-long Descent to the Titan Race, they could have easily decapitated the entire Royal Capital Divine Guard Army.

There was no question about it.

One of them was already a Tier Seven, and the other was Tier Nine.

In any world, the two of them would not be considered weak. At the very least, among mortals, High Tier Transcendents were definitely the pillars of any world.

Not to mention, according to the system prompt, this world had been assigned ten thousand new-generation Players from Blue Star.

A year had passed.

Even if some unlucky souls had died for various reasons, the number of remaining Players was still immense.

However, the mission required all Players to conceal their presence as much as possible and focus primarily on spreading their faith.

So, on the surface, the native Human Race of this world was still engaged in a back-and-forth warlord free-for-all.

And the Players?

They were naturally watching coldly from the sidelines, happy to enjoy this unique "cinematic blockbuster."

Therefore, in places unseen by the warring factions, in the slums of impoverished cities, new religions with different divine names and different doctrines were on the rise.

This was to be expected.

The Star Empire already had a great many Deities.

In fact, many of these Deities were Players themselves.

On the Player forums, the main focus for these Deity Players was recruiting new Players to become members of their guilds.

And when new Players descended into different worlds, their obligation was, of course, to spread the faith of their own guild’s Deities.

The benefits of spreading faith were no secret on the Player forums.

All in all, the benefits Deity Players offered to new Players were quite good.

As long as new Players could secure enough believers for them, the Deities would grant these new Players massive cashback rewards upon their return.

Yes.

You read that right!

The Players of the Star Empire now enjoyed dual benefits.

On one hand, there were the evaluation rewards from the True Game itself. On the other, there were the cashback rewards from Deity Players after the game ended.

These benefits were leagues better than what the old Players had.

One could only imagine how comfortable the lives of most Players were now.

Furthermore, because the Star Empire was currently in a period of high-speed expansion, wars between civilizations were frequent.

This month, they might find one civilization that needed conquering; the next, they might find two more that were valuable and ripe for conquest.

It had to be said.

Even the native races of the Star Empire were profiting handsomely from the spoils of war.

Of course, once the war fervor took hold, the side effects were also quite significant.

However, everything was still under control.

After all, this wasn’t an ordinary world. The Deities existed above the Star Empire.

And Lince existed.

Therefore, the Empire being swept away by the people’s passion for war was an impossibility.

All wars were initiated only when the Empire and the Deities deemed it so.

Of course, everything was primarily based on Lince’s will, supplemented by the will of the other ten leading Players.

Just like the current war against the distant World Community.

The war against the Titan Race had happened so suddenly.

After all, the Star Empire had been focused on containing the Black Prison Race for years, and the two sides hadn’t even had their final confrontation yet.

So how did some native world of the Dragon Race and their old nemeses, the Titan Race, suddenly appear?

’Man, the Chief’s thinking really jumps around.’

At least, that’s what the Players thought.

But regardless, the emergence of such a war was undoubtedly of great benefit to the ordinary people of Blue Star.

It was only when powerful worlds appeared that the Chief Player, Lince, would allow the True Game to issue new Player slots.

Just like when they first began the campaign against the Black Prison Race’s world.

And so it was.

The two lucky ones currently in Ed’s camp were still comfortably enjoying a drink.

However, their momentary leisure was about to come to an abrupt end!

Because from just outside the door, a panicked shout suddenly rang out.

"This is bad!"

"General Ed has been assassinated!"

"Sirs! Quick! Quick..."

’Assassinated?’

’At a time like this?’

The two exchanged a look, both seeing a trace of shock in the other’s eyes.

However, compared to the shouting Imperial Guard outside, the two of them were much calmer.

"Alright, stop all the shouting!"

"Let’s go. We’ll head to the City Lord’s Mansion first."

"..."