There was a joke in the streets of the continent that when the noble mages used magic, they were not only demonstrating the power of the gods, but also comparing who could spend more money. Even the simplest staff would require an ordinary God's Stone to be embedded in it. If it was a rare high-grade staff, it could be converted into coins and thrown out, and it would definitely be enough to bury an opponent.
Amon did not give the staff to Link immediately. He put it away for the time being. When Link became a third-level mage, he would give it to him as a gift before he left.
… …
After the thunder, the rain continued for seven days and seven nights before it stopped. At its highest point, the flood was only a few feet away from the lowest part of the city wall. After the rain stopped, the sun shone again and the water gradually receded. The city was finally saved! Thousands of people cheered, their voices piercing the sky and echoing for a long time.
Goliath finally walked down the city wall with the staff in his hand. He had almost exhausted all his magic. The fingernails and knuckles of the hand holding the staff had turned white. He could not help but tremble, but he tried his best not to show a trace of weakness. At this time, an ordinary person could poke Goliath to the ground with one finger. It was difficult for him to even walk, but he insisted on not being helped and walked firmly back to the shrine.
The cheering people on the street saw Goliath and took the initiative to make a path for him. The crowd automatically parted like a wave. Everyone was shouting, "Thank the gods, thank Enril for his protection, thank our noble supreme mage Goliath!"
The voices rose and fell like a tsunami in the city. The flood outside the city was receding in the sound waves. Thanking the gods had become a habit, like a natural prefix in pronunciation. Everyone shouted it unconsciously, but thanking Goliath was from the bottom of their hearts. It was the common voice of thousands of people.
Before, Goliath was respected by everyone because of his transcendent status and achievements. Today, he received the cheers of a god. For the first time, it was not only because of his status but also because of his achievements. No one knew for sure whether or not there was a god's blessing, let alone seeing it with their own eyes. But without Goliath, Syah City would never be saved. Everyone knew this.
Goliath smiled amiably at everyone, appearing humble and noble. His slow steps were calm and firm. He finally climbed up the long steps and entered the magnificent Shrine of Enril. After his figure disappeared in the shadow of the shrine gate, he suddenly swayed and almost lost his balance. He said to his disciple Walter, "Quick, help me to the back and set up a healing magic circle. I need a good rest. You will assist Governor Schmul in handling the disaster relief and other matters after the flood recedes. I will appoint you as the temporary high priest. After a period of time, I will request the royal capital to issue an official appointment. "
In addition to the Oracle and Chief Priest Goliath, there were three other high priests in the Syah Shrine: Cosman, Jeremiah, and Governor Schmul. Jeremiah was killed by Gabriel when he ambushed Rod-dick's caravan. Cosman was killed by Goliath for abandoning the city and running away. If Goliath was not here, there would be no one in charge of the shrine except for the symbolic high priest. So Goliath appointed his disciple Walter to take over the shrine.
The high priest was the noblest position in Syah after the Oracle and the Governor. It needed to be appointed by the King, so Goliath could only appoint Walter as the temporary high priest. But if Walter could handle the affairs of the city and the shrine well, with the recommendation of Goliath and Schmul, Walter would become the official high priest. He would rise from an ordinary mage to one of the most honorable lords in Syah.
Walter presided over the magic formation on the city wall and helped Goliath protect Syah. He had won the respect of the people and all mages. It was only natural that he should replace Cosman, who had run away. So Goliath gave his disciple this opportunity. Walter was appointed in the face of danger. After the cheers of the people gradually subsided, there were still many things to do.
How to rescue and arrange the refugees who had flooded into Syah, help them return to their destroyed homes, distribute enough food and seeds in batches to survive this year's famine, and support the next year's harvest. Also, they had to apply for relief and assistance from the nearby city-states and kingdoms, calculate the losses caused by the flood and so on.
Some of the materials received by the victims came from the cities and kingdoms, some had to be registered and repaid in the future, and some were loans from the shrines. It was a job to salvage the situation after a disaster, but it was also a good opportunity to fill the pockets of the people. If a greedy or incompetent official took over the job, it would cause discontent and even a revolt. So it was also an opportunity for Walter to prove himself to Goliath.
Fortunately, although the flood had swept through more than half of the territory of Syah, most of the areas in the east were deserts and jungles. Only one area was the heaviest blow. The town of Duc was gone, and the miners, who had been able to mine parangons for generations, had completely disappeared. This was an irreparable loss for the city and the entire kingdom. But for others, it had nothing to do with them, and the losses were not great. There were not too many people who really needed relief and comfort.
Even so, Walter was still very busy. Morton, the financial officer, was quite dissatisfied with Walter's carefree attitude. He once complained in private that the high and mighty mages had no concept of money. Obviously, he was talking about Walter. No one knew if he was complaining that Walter spent too much money or that he was too meticulous in supervising the funds. But Morton only complained a little. He dared not publicly accuse Walter of anything. It was much more painful than working with Cosman.
Golier didn't care about these things at all. It was as if he had disappeared. He hid in the temple and didn't show up again. He didn't ask about anything. Even the routine rituals were presided over by Warret. If it had been someone else, he might have been seen as disloyal and disrespectful to the gods. But in Syah, no one would say anything bad about Goliath.
It was not until three months later that Goliath officially showed up at a public sacrificial ceremony and symbolically performed his duties. His face was pale and the wrinkles on his forehead were deeper, but his eyes were clearer and deeper than before. At this time, Raphael had returned from the capital. The post-disaster relief work was almost completed. Goliath asked Raphael if he would like to stay in Syah as a high priest.
Raphael was very young. He was only a fourth-level mage. Although he did not have any official position, his status was not that of an ordinary noble. He was the son of the former prime minister of the Hittite Kingdom. His family was very powerful. If he wanted to enter politics, he would have a bright future in the capital. But the young man was indifferent. Perhaps because he grew up in such a family, he was used to all kinds of conspiracies and fights and was tired of it. So he was not interested in politics and was only obsessed with magic.
Because of his family's status, he was able to find a supreme mage like Goliath as his mentor and became the youngest disciple of the founder of the Hittite Academy of Magic. Becoming the high priest of the city of Syah, in the eyes of others, was a rare opportunity for a meteoric rise, but it was not what Raphael wanted. When Goliath made this suggestion, Raphael did not want to agree, but he did not want to disrespect his mentor, so he hesitated.
Goliath saw it and said with a smile, "You are my youngest disciple. Among all my students, you are also the only one I have personally taught since the first awakening of power. I know your temper very well. You are not interested in power and you also want to use magic to escape from the competition in the family.
But people have to do something to live in this world. Magic is not just an illusory achievement. Moreover, if you want to practice magic to the highest level, you must experience all kinds of hardships in the world. Otherwise, there are too many things that you cannot understand! Now, Syah needs a high priest, and you also need to be tempered in the world. Like Walter, you also need to help the city deal with everything after the flood. "
Since his teacher had said so, Raphael nodded and agreed. A mere fourth-level mage was appointed as the high priest of Syah city. It seemed that he was not qualified enough. But when Goliath sent the report to the capital to recommend both Walter and Raphael, it was immediately approved without any questions or discussions. Obviously, Raphael's family played an important role.
Walter and Raphael took over the positions of Cosman and Jeremiah. The first thing Goliath asked Raphael to do was to go deep into the muddy swamps and the wilderness where the flood had not yet receded. He had to investigate and collect all the information, including the changes in the terrain. He had to use magic artefacts to record all the information without leaving anything out, and then hand it all to Goliath.
This was a very difficult and dangerous job. He had to go deep into the desolate and dangerous areas. After the flood, it was muddy everywhere. There were landslides and mudslides everywhere, and there were frightened beasts that had survived the disaster. Goliath took out a batch of magic artefacts and scrolls and gave them to Raphael, so that he could protect himself in times of crisis.
Raphael needed to be tempered, but he couldn't let anything happen to him. It was a difficult task for a fourth-level mage to complete alone. Four months later, Raphael came back. His boots were broken and his clothes were torn. Except for a few high-level air magic scrolls that could be used to fly, he had hardly touched anything else. He was going to return them to his teacher.
Goliath shook his head and said, "I am very pleased with your behavior. You have exceeded my expectations. Keep these magic artefacts. They may come in handy in the future. I plan to return to the Academy of Magic in the capital next month. I may not be back for a long time. I will leave this place to you. "
Goliath took away all the information that Raphael had recorded with magic and then shut himself in. For a whole month, the people of Syah did not see this chief priest. He was doing something very special. Goliath recorded all the information into the Terroculus on his staff and then activated it with magic. A scene of light and shadow appeared in the void in front of him. It was a panorama of the terrain of Syah that had been submerged by the flood.
At first glance, the terrain in the light and shadow looked like a military sand table used by generals in battle. However, it was not a real object but a message from magic. It was detailed and clear, and every part could be enlarged individually. Even the wind in the sky and the airflow in the mountains were recorded with magic. The water in the river was also flowing.
Goliath did the same thing with his staff every day. If someone was watching, they would find that the magic message was changing every day, like the natural evolution of rivers and mountains, but much faster than the real dynamics of the outside world. Goliath was performing a special kind of magic – the legendary Great Prophecy.
Prophecy was the pinnacle of detection magic and information magic. It was not a supreme magic, which was said to only be mastered by the gods. In fact, an ordinary advanced mage could use it, but it did not make much sense. Either the mage did not have enough magic power to support the continuous consumption, or the result of the prophecy was far from the truth.
The basis of performing prophecy was to collect as much detailed information as possible about the things to be prophesied. Then, under certain conditions, one could predict the future of the things to be prophesied in a very intuitive way. The high priest Cosman, who had abandoned his post in the face of danger, also used prophecy when the flood came, but it turned out that his prophecy was wrong.
Based on the flood's momentum and the state of Syah, the city would definitely be submerged and destroyed. Cosman had expected this, so he fled. But he did not expect Golier to kill him so decisively and save the city of Syah. After all, a person's knowledge was limited. It was impossible to predict the interference of all the unknown information.
Although an advanced mage could perform prophecy, the real Great Prophecy was not something that ordinary mages could master. Not even supreme mages could master it. It needed to separate a relatively independent model from all kinds of complicated and changing information, which required a high degree of integration and selection of information detection. It was said that only a level-nine archmage could perform part of the magic of the Greater Prophecy.
Great Prophecy seemed magical, but its principle was simple and clear. For example, the most accurate prophecy was that all mortals would die.
Today, the eighth-level mage Goliath used Great Prophecy, but the possibility of his prediction being affected by other factors was relatively small. The only problem was that the amount of information needed to be collected was huge, and it consumed a lot of magic power. It also took a long time. Goliath had almost exhausted all his magic power. After three months of recuperation, he had fully recovered. He felt that his magic power had increased significantly after this arduous struggle.
Goliath spent a whole month in the secret chamber under the cover of the magic circle. Finally, he came to the conclusion that the geographical environment and climate around Duc would change after the flood. He finally understood why Enril said that the flood was a gift from the gods.
The most direct impact of the flood was that the land transportation between the Hittite Kingdom and the Empire of Eygut and the Kingdom of Bablon was temporarily cut off. The northern part of the Syah Desert had become a muddy swamp. Vehicles and caravans could not pass through it. For the time being, goods and trade between Hittite and the Empire of Eygut could only be transported by sea. This process could last for one to two years.
The economy of Syah might be affected, but on the other hand, it was absolutely safe militarily during this period. It was originally located on the land border between Hittite and Bablon. If the enemy launched a war from the sea, Syah would be the last to be affected. It would no longer be a significant factor in the outcome of the war.
The impact of the flood on the economy could be made up for many times, because the land around Duc and the climate of the river basin would be completely changed. The flood formed a large swamp in the low-lying areas. A tributary of the Euphrate River was cut off and flowed southwest through the Charcoal Forest, forming a huge inland lake in the low-lying areas of the northern part of the Syah Desert.
A large amount of silt had filled up the lower parts of the Charcoal Forest, forming a fertile soil layer. The northern part of the Syah Desert had also become a large grassland. Most importantly, this change was not short-term. Because of the great impact of the flood on the topography, the local climate would fundamentally change. Due to the temperature difference and the evaporative updrafts, the annual precipitation would increase from the Charcoal Forest to the edge of the Euphrate River Valley.
This formed a stable cycle. Coupled with the irrigation provided by the new rivers, there would be a fertile land hundreds of miles from east to west and thousands of miles from north to south, with the disappearing town of Duc as the center. It had hills, mountains, plains, lakes, grasslands, suitable for farming and grazing. It was suitable for a large number of people to live in. Originally, there was only the town of Duc, barely enough to ensure the basic livelihood of a mere two thousand people.
Although the miners of Duc were gone, the mines were still there. At the foot of the mountains to the north of the fertile land, there were still rich deposits of refined iron and parangons, the most valuable resources on the continent. There was no need to mention the mining of iron ores. Just the mining of God's Stone alone would make this fertile land a battleground for all nations.
Every country on the continent had decrees that slaves were not allowed to touch parangons. However, the last step of extracting the parangons from the ore core required a power similar to magic, which was usually done by low-level mages. However, the original geographical environment of Duc was too desolate and remote, and the living conditions were too harsh. It did not have the conditions to become a prosperous city, so the miners of Duc had always existed.
Now, the situation had changed. Hundreds of thousands of people could live in that area. If someone good at management was in charge of it, it could even accommodate millions of people for a long time and build homes. If this really happened, it meant that a powerful new country could be established on the continent! Although its territory did not seem to be too large.
However, the possibility of establishing a new country was very small, because the surrounding countries would not give up on this strategically and economically important fertile land. In the foreseeable future, wars would erupt here for many years. The blood of countless people would flow, and it was unknown how many lives would be buried.
Most of this uninhabited land was currently within the territory of the Hittite Kingdom, under the jurisdiction of Syah. But its geographical position was very special. It was an "enclave" inserted right into the center of the continent.
**
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