Although Blackwater Province is located in the warm and humid south, the weather in the morning moon still has a hint of winter, especially for those who go out early in the morning.

A girl with dragonfly wings on her back, only the size of a palm, sat on the shoulders of a tall man in black with two swords on his back. She tightly grabbed a piece of the man's cloak behind him and wrapped it around her body, trembling non-stop.

He kept sneezing and sneezing several times from time to time.

"So can witches catch colds too?"

After the other party sneezed for an unknown number of times, Cass finally couldn't hold back his curiosity and asked.

The other party rolled his eyes at him, then casually picked up his cloak and wiped his nose and said:

"There is only one kind of person in the world who doesn't catch colds. What do you think it is?"

"What?"

Cass asked.

She had a successful smile on her face and was about to answer when the magic chanter who was walking at the front wearing a brown shabby robe and gray-white hair said:

"I didn't expect to hear this saying in this place. Where did you learn it?"

"It seems like something I saw in a children's comic book I read before... Ah Qiu!"

She said and sneezed again.

"Comic strip? Well, it makes sense... Cass, you don't have to worry too much. There will be a period of time after the witch is born that is easily affected by the external environment. It will usually be fine in a few months."

As he spoke, William turned back to look at Kasdao, who looked worried.

"So I plan to let her rest in Dusk Fortress for a while, but she must come with her..."

Cass said helplessly.

"What? You are allowed to run out of the stripped fortress and play, but you are not allowed to come out too?"

She interrupted Cass with wide golden eyes.

The look and tone of voice are exactly the same.

Cass replied with a headache:

"As I've said before, I'm here to carry out a mission with the Chief Judge, not just for fun..."

"Ah, there is actually no difference in terms of difficulty. But Liz, your description of the Dusk Fortress is a bit too much. That is to dismantle the structure of the fortress and lay the basic source silver lines, and then repair them.

OK."

William, who was walking in front, said helplessly.

This is also the reason why he brought Cass out this time, because the opponent's training on mastering the authority of the God King Oka has just begun. Previously, he had always asked him to conduct simulation training in the underground meditation room of the Dusk Fortress, just in case something happened.

If it gets out of control, the remaining sealing techniques can be used to suppress it.

But now the entire Dusk Fortress is about to be renovated and laid with new lines, and the meditation room has been temporarily cut off from magic. So William simply took Cass with him, intending to guide him on how to control his power on the way.

After all, the effect of learning and training in actual combat is far better than simulated training created through illusion.

What was more surprising was that the witch who had just been reborn not long ago was clamoring to follow her, but Cass couldn't resist her, so he asked William's opinion uneasily.

And such trivial matters never mattered to William.

By the way, Cass originally planned to give the new witch a new name, but she insisted on calling herself Liz.

I don’t know if this is the effect of the Golden Mist Rose that William took out from the Treasure Hall. William remembered that the better the flower medium used by the witches when they were reborn, the more memories of past lives they could retain. So William flipped through it.

In the Treasure Hall, we found flowers that were said to be used by demigods to perform divine wedding ceremonies as a medium during the Silver Age.

The result is that, except for the fact that her eyes turned pure gold after her rebirth, this witch's personality, appearance, and even memory are almost exactly the same as the previous Liz.

So in this case, should we treat the other party as the same person?

William felt that he should discuss the concept of "Ship of Theseus" with Cascop if he had the opportunity in the future.

"So who doesn't catch a cold?"

"Hey, guess what~"

The bickering between the man and the witch behind him was still going on, and William was wise enough not to disturb the two of them anymore.

"Lord Kane."

At this time, Nezemar, who had been silent all the way behind William, suddenly spoke.

"What happened?"

Breathing the moist morning air, William asked without looking back.

"There's one thing I don't quite understand. Why are you so eager to master the... um, craftsmanship of blessing the icon? If you go directly to Platinum City or Wanren City and directly use the icon there to manifest the Holy Spirit, then what's the point?

Wouldn’t it be possible to announce to the world that he is back faster?”

Hearing this question, William sighed and replied:

"First of all, your idea is still based on the premise that I am the Eighth Holy Spirit. But I am not. Believe me, I know what happens when the real power of the Holy Spirit is used."

As he spoke, William recalled his memory of activating the incarnations of the Seven Holy Spirits to beat up the three void kings in the ending of Waning Moon.

Then he continued:

"Then, and most importantly, if I do this, the icon will really only be used as an icon in the future, and the equation that I equal the eighth Holy Spirit will be fixed in the minds of the people."

"But the icon should not be..."

"A thing that allows people to monitor their surroundings in real time and can be used as a medium for remote spellcasting. In the end, I just used it to preach?"

Seeing the confused expression on Nezemar's face, William pointed to the rice fields on the roadside and planned to give her an example.

Due to the years of famine, blight has spread in the rice fields. More than half of the rice seedlings are sickly gray, and some have died, falling on the ground like dried corpses.

"According to the standards of the Star Law, you are also a magic chanter who has studied life spells to the seventh level. Tell me, if I order you to be responsible for delaying the spread of blight, how much arable land can you be responsible for?"

Nezemar looked at the endless rice fields, silently calculated in his heart, and then replied:

"If it is only responsible for purifying the pollution caused by blight, considering the recurrence of the epidemic, it will probably be around a few hundred acres."

[Dispelling Disease] is the most basic life-based spell. To use this spell at her level, especially to use it on plants, you only need to consider whether your own mental power will not be able to sustain it. In terms of magic power consumption, it is basically

It's negligible. Her main limitation is transportation, or space - she can't travel to so many places a day to disperse and purify.

"The annual output of several hundred acres of cultivated land is only enough to feed a few hundred people at most, and the City of Thorns alone has hundreds of thousands of residents. Even if all the magic chanters who study the life system in Blackwater Province are sent out, we will not be able to support them.

It is only a drop in the bucket to help spread the epidemic throughout the Blackwater Swamp."

As William spoke, the magic agent in his hand emitted a circle of green ripples, and the sickly gray color on the rice seedlings melted like melting snow after coming into contact with the green ripples.

As the ripples spread, a circle of seedlings so emerald green that they seemed to be dripping with water appeared at the place pointed by William's magic medium. But compared with the endless gray rice fields around them, they looked like a rice seedling that had fallen on the beach.

Emeralds are generally small.

William continued:

"Spells must rely on the perception of the magic caster, and the range of the spell has its limits. Even I can't cast spells on things that I can't perceive. If I want to rely on magic to stop the spread of this plague,

, I have to go to every acre of land to cast spells in person like you. At most, the efficiency is higher than yours, but if I can produce those holy statues and put one on every field...

So now do you understand the true purpose of those icons?"

After discovering that "holy images" could be used as a medium, William never thought of using them for manifestations or evangelism. In William's view, those holy images were sensors and spellcasting nodes that could maximize the

used to extend one's own power.

And maybe it can do much more than that...

Looking at Nezemael's expression of realization, William thought to himself.

If the essence represented by the Eighth Holy Spirit is really as stated in the manuscript of "The Hidden Holy Spirit", it is the immortal spirituality in the heart of every living being. Then since I can obtain part of the Eighth Holy Spirit because of these hundreds of years of faith

authority is enough to prove that this authority can be reshaped by changing beliefs

The essence of belief is just a concept with common cognition. It does not necessarily have to be presented in the form of religion, nor does it necessarily have to be centered on a small number of believers.

If I can change the belief form of the Eighth Holy Spirit in the future so that everyone can become a node of this network, I might be able to bypass the existing astral circuit form and create a magic network protocol that truly exists based on consensus.

"Lord Kane!"

Nezemar's voice suddenly brought William back to reality from his exciting thoughts.

"What's wrong?"

Looking at the other party's eager eyes, William asked strangely.

"The problem just now is that I was too superficial. I didn't expect you to be so compassionate and willing to use your holy statue to provide relief for the suffering of living beings. You are really too..."

Ahhh...

William didn't listen carefully to her compliments, he just resisted the urge to cover his face.

I guess the biggest obstacle in my mind is how to change the thinking of people like her.

Of course, it's too early to think about those things now. It is estimated that for a long time, the biggest role of this icon will be to extend one's own power.

At the very least, it should be used to eliminate the blight currently spreading in Blackwater Province.

"The Year of Famine..."

William gritted his teeth slightly when he thought of this.

He also learned from Vincent not long ago that there is such a thing as the so-called Calendar of Disasters.

Vincent had previously found William, saying that he had seized Duke Simon's secret warehouse hidden in the underground palace, and asked what to do with that batch of supplies.

After all, the batch of materials was huge, with more than fifty tons of refined source silver alone. It was Simon's strategic resource reserve accumulated over more than 20 years.

At this time, William finally recalled the reason why he came to Thorn City and immediately planned to buy fifteen tons of source silver.

Vincent, on the other hand, directly allocated twenty tons to William and said that he would not need to pay a penny.

"This is still not good..."

William said embarrassedly as he looked at the Stone and Earth Spirits who were constantly carrying boxes of source silver ingots through the portal to Dusk Fortress.

Vincent shook his head and said:

"You have saved the lives of this city and even the entire Blackwater Swamp. For this alone, this source of silver is far from enough as a reward. Besides..."

Vincent said and sighed:

"Besides, it doesn't make sense for the Rose Palace to ask for so much money now. At the request of the empire, the surrounding provinces have cut off trade with us, and the Star Council has completely stopped the awakening services for new mages in the entire Blackwater Province. With our current situation

In this situation, this source silver cannot be exported, nor can it be digested internally, so it can only be piled here. If you are very urgent and need a large amount of source silver, it is better to give it to you first, and at least return it.

It’s of some use.”

But in the end, at William's strong request, Vincent accepted a sum of money.

"After all, they are all the property of Thorn City. You will compensate the miners for part of it. Please help me hire some trustworthy enchanters for the rest to help process the source silver into the most basic demon-sealing runes and magic guides."

Line. By the way, does the empire have no other actions besides cutting off trade and stopping the awakening of mages?"

William thought that after the previous big moves, the empire would at least put some more hard pressure.

"This year is the year of famine. The ban on trade alone is enough to cause heavy losses for us here. If we cannot trade with Cuiyu Province, our food problem will be very serious this year."

Vincent said seriously.

"Wait a minute, what is the Year of Famine?"

After hearing this word, William had an uneasy suspicion in his heart, and he asked quickly.

From Vincent's answer later, we learned that this is a periodic law derived by the imperial astrologers by observing changes in the stars. There is a cycle every thirteen years, and there may be related disasters on the continent every year.

Leaders need to make appropriate preparations to reduce the losses caused by disasters.

The year of death and blood, the year of famine, the year of madness and stupidity, the year of mad power, the year of conspiracy...

War, famine, madness, careerists, turmoil...

In this world, changes in the stars can affect people's destiny. Numerology constellations are the most typical example. Children born under specific constellations may have special talents in certain aspects.

Specific to the game, players are also required to choose their own constellation when creating a character, and the corresponding constellation will have bonuses for skill upgrades.

But these years correspond to the domain of the King of Nothingness!

In response to William's question, Vincent nodded and said:

"That's right, the chronology of disasters was caused by the combined influence of the star realm and the moon realm on the present world. It is said that in the past thirteen kings of nothingness would have affected the present world together, but after the establishment of the Star Law, only

There will be a Void King taking turns."

So you still think you’ve made a profit, right?

After hearing what the other party said, William almost blurted out.

Back then, that situation occurred because of the lunar rift. After the lunar rift was sealed, the Void King could only have an impact on the Vic Continent through his own Summoning Sun.

Where does the moon realm crack come from now...

At this time, William recalled what he had seen at the Star Lighthouse in Thorn City.

Not only are there, but there may be twenty-four.

William finally understood why the crack in the Moon Realm dug by the Star Lighthouse was located in the unclaimed land of the Moon Realm.

Because the Void Kings don't need to seize the rifts to exert influence on the Vic Continent. The method of directly invading the world is inefficient and wasteful. They only need to wait until the year of their rotation, and then they can make waves to grow.

the strength of one’s own field.

This is also the reason why when he observed from the commanding heights of the Moon Realm, he found that the thirteen realms have become more powerful now than a thousand years ago.

After so many years of disaster rotation, can the nourishment not be strong?

"You said this was the year of famine, right?"

After listening to Vincent's words, William asked slowly.

The other party nodded.
Chapter completed!