For adventurers who were traveling alone, this was quite a good time. The arrival of the Elemental Tide had brought about the dawn of a new era. Every day was an opportunity, and every day brought new changes …
Alright then, let me be honest. As long as you had a strong enough fist or a good enough brain, there would be plenty of opportunities to earn money and gain fame. Money and fame didn't just represent wealth; they could also buy power and status. A poor family could become a rich family with a single thought. There were some things that I wouldn't even dare to think about ten years ago that weren't for sale. But now, they were clearly priced goods.
"Recruitment, recruitment, wanted, recruitment, bounties … Why is it so chaotic these days?"
Before me was a public notice board filled with all sorts of bounty missions and announcements. But compared to before, the various recruitment advertisements were far more eye-catching.
I had originally thought that it would be quite troublesome for a stranger to be in a new city since it was a time of war. After all, spies and spies would be quite deadly. I had expected that the inspections would be quite strict, but I never expected that everything would be so smooth.
Not only did the inspections for merchants become much stricter, and all sorts of taxes increased exponentially, the checkpoints were also much more convenient for armed adventurers and Knight. In fact, the checkpoints were even more friendly to refugees who had previously been viewed as a disaster.
The reason? I had previously been rather curious about this, but I instantly understood after seeing these recruitment advertisements with excellent conditions. From a certain standpoint, population was an important resource, especially in such a chaotic world. Who would stop precious resources from flowing into their own territory?
Although it was a recruitment notice, not all kingdoms were recruiting soldiers. Merchants and travelers were looking for long-term bodyguards, mercenary groups were looking for mercenaries, kingdoms were looking for soldiers, domain lords were looking for soldiers, and even mayors and village chiefs were looking for militia.
The world was no longer safe, but the people's hearts were in chaos first. Not only were the nobles and wealthy merchants spending money to buy peace of mind, domain lords were spending all their savings in their castles to recruit soldiers. Kingdoms and empires were creating various Knight squadrons and mercenary groups. The autonomous territories and slightly more remote villages were all creating militias and self-defense squads.
In the taverns and at the stop sign, images of the frontlines were repeatedly broadcasted with the help of memory crystals. The frontlines were having a hard time, and the other human kingdoms were feeling helpless and hopeless before the demon wave. This caused the frontlines to enter a frenzied state of combat preparation. Meanwhile, new battlefields were being opened up, and the new armies were being sent into endless battlefields.
And as the Holy War progressed, the entire human race's combat potential would be unearthed. This was only the beginning …
Along the way, I asked around for information. There was news from various battlefronts, but nothing that piqued my interest.
"Aren't you going to participate? If you enter the battlefield like this, you can instantly change the outcome. "
As she flipped through the report she got from the Little Fairy, Harloys expressed her opinion with interest.
"It's meaningless. There are too many."
That's right, there were far too many of them. As the Elemental Tide became more active, those harmless wild beasts began to transform into magical beasts. Sealed magical beasts and Evil Gods broke through their seals one by one, while foreign invaders arrived one after the other. The kingdom's Knight squadron had to deal with foreign invaders, and the domain lords had to deal with the increasingly savage magical beasts. Even the militia and self-defense troops had to fight against magical beasts, evil cultists, and bandits.
This was a test that the Holy War had given to the humans, who were the rulers of the earth. The victory of an individual or an entire region was meaningless.
But due to the existence of Justice Points and the Contract Heroes system, as well as the excellent overall situation, the overall situation was far better than in the game's history.
I passed through countless battlefields along the way. It wasn't that I was cold-blooded and didn't want to take care of them. It was that there was simply no way I could take care of them all. And from a different standpoint, these battlefields were also opportunities for ordinary people to improve themselves. With Justice Points' assistance, it was worth looking forward to their growth speed …
"Sigh, if only my dragonscale armor could be repaired, I wouldn't have to wear such heavy armor anymore."
Currently, I was wearing a heavy set of golden half-body armor and an enchanted golden longsword. I was disguised as an "ordinary" high-level Knight.
I was a seventeen or eighteen year old youth with "top-level" equipment and excellent martial arts skills. My family's emblem and armor had been intentionally worn down. This was far too common in this great generation where only adventuring would bring rewards.
If there was anything special about me, it would be that I wasn't riding a large horse. Instead, I was riding a new steed created by the magical civilization — a metal motorcycle. This was extraordinarily expensive.
It wasn't that I didn't want to keep a low profile. This motorcycle helped me attract a dozen bandits along the way. It was that I would sometimes abandon my steed and fly by myself. A living horse wouldn't be able to survive for long if it was thrown into a land of death.
However, this motorcycle's advantage was that as long as I had enough mana, I wouldn't have to worry about the horse dying from exhaustion.
What I was most happy about was that after using up all my Justice Points, I was finally able to match my true age with my physical appearance. I no longer had to wear that bracelet that would lie about my age.
What was even more annoying was that although my physical body's age had increased, my dragonscale armor still showed no signs of returning to its original size. It would seem that my method of forcefully recovering my age with the Age Fruit had failed.
There was no helping it. In order to increase my defensive power, I had to apply a layer of brass coating on my heavy adamantite armor, making it look like I was wearing ordinary bronze armor.
"Others put on adamantite armor in order to show off their natural divine power and wealth. You, on the other hand, put on an extremely shabby brass coating. You're so pathetic …"
"There's no helping it. Swords and swords don't have eyes. Safety comes first. And if I'm wearing adamantite heavy adamantite armor, humans probably won't even be able to wear it."
I didn't have my dragonscale armor, which was impenetrable and convenient. As a "Knight" who mainly relied on melee combat, I could only use ordinary defensive armor. Since I was using adamantite armor to increase my defensive power, I naturally wore the sturdiest and most expensive adamantite heavy armor.
The adamantite's high density made it incredibly sturdy. At the very least, when I passed through several small battlefields, not to mention stray arrows and muskets, even ballistae and heavy cannons weren't able to penetrate my adamantite armor.
The only downside was that the adamantite heavy adamantite armor was far stronger than an ordinary human's physical strength. Even my Daybreak War commemorative adamantite No. 59 (Iron Horse) was somewhat unable to handle the weight of this adamantite armor. Wherever I passed, there were obvious tracks left behind.
In some places, the roads were so bad that the adamantite armor would crush the road, causing the iron horse to sink into the mud.
"Is it overloaded? The road's been crushed. Be careful that the domain lords come after you for compensation. At the very least, take off your armor when you're in the city. It's like you're suffering from paranoia. "
"… At the very least, I'll think about it after this period of time. In this place, paranoia really isn't a fake thing."
We were currently in the Stanley Orthodox Country. On the world map, this was nothing more than a small country that would be difficult to find if you didn't look carefully. However, this country was the core of the "Northern Divine Battlefront". Not only were the Holy Church's high-level Cardinals stationed here, there were also numerous Knight squadrons and angel squadrons stationed here.
Ever since I entered the Stanley Orthodox Country, I had already run into more than ten temporary checkpoints. And, as long as it was someone from the Northlands, the checkpoints would be much more serious and complicated.
Of course, I had a dozen "identification names" with me, and I could even smear Harloys's fragments on my face to disguise myself. These simple checkpoints were meaningless.
I had chosen to pass through the "Northern Divine Battlefront" here because I wanted to take a look at the situation here and evaluate the God of Holy Light's ambitions for the Northlands. However, the situation here wasn't good. Most of the residents here were devout believers of the Holy Church, especially the high-level Holy Knight and low-level angels who constantly patrolled the Northlands. It was obvious that the Holy Church was paying a lot of attention to this place since there was no fighting going on here.
Due to my Northland accent and my Northland Iron Horse, I had far more checkpoints than other travelers. However, I also learned who the Holy Church's leaders were.
"Archbishop Gaboro and Cardinal Soentu …"
The Holy Church had simultaneously sent out an Archbishop and a Cardinal. Not to mention, this was a Stanley Orthodox Country to begin with, and a regional Cardinal was responsible for guarding this place. For three high-level Cardinals to refuse to stay in a small country like this meant that the Holy Church viewed this place with great importance. However, I was quite familiar with these two names.
"The Eagle of Holy War and the Golden Shame? What an ironic combination. "
Due to how important the Holy Church was in human society, the Cardinals in the game's "history" were all very important. They would either go down in infamy for thousands of years, or be remembered for hundreds of generations.
However, these two Cardinals were at opposite ends of the spectrum.
Gaboro still hadn't worn a Red Robe yet, but he was one of the few high-level Holy Church leaders who had great strategic foresight during the San Antonio Battlefield in the game's "history".
During the middle phase of the Holy War, Gaboro had an angel squadron, a Holy Knight squadron, and a mage squadron under his command. These three squadrons became a mobile fighting force that could be used for emergency situations.
Meanwhile, Gaboro's colleague, Cardinal Soentu, had the legendary title of "as long as you paid enough, you could even make a deal with the devil." As long as Soentu was there, he didn't care about the battle at all, but he would definitely earn as much money as he could. Buying and selling military achievements was the norm here. He was the only person in history to directly trade with the enemy and sell out his subordinates.
I was now feeling rather conflicted. Originally, I had wanted to test out Gaboro's abilities, but I felt that it would be a pity if I killed Gaboro. Also, keeping him alive would be a threat to the Northlands, and killing Soentu would make me feel like I was helping the enemy.
"Let's keep Soentu alive. With him here, even if the Northlands' frontlines are successfully sealed off, we can still use money to buy a way out from him."
Locusts were quite annoying, but it might be a good thing if they were on the enemy's side.
The Holy War was still in its early stages. The Cardinals hadn't experienced any "trials" yet, and Soentu's true nature hadn't been exposed yet. As an expert in internal affairs, Soentu was probably the true leader of the Holy Church.
As long as nothing major happened, Soentu would likely remain here forever. In that case, I should even think of a way to help him obtain some "political achievements" so that he could stabilize his position.
As for Gaboro …
"I should keep him alive for now. No, he's one of the few Awakened in the Holy Church. Perhaps I can have a chat with him."
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