The Era of Gods

Chapter 563: 563: Dark Territory

Chapter 563: Chapter 563: Dark Territory

The boss was quite friendly to Lin Xiao. Not only did he not charge any fees, but he also specially arranged a cargo vehicle for him and a maid to serve him.

Any merchant who trades year-round would know how significant the role of a senior magician can be when a caravan is attacked; he doesn’t have to do anything in the caravan, just eat and sleep every day.

Lin Xiao lay on the soft animal skin cushion in the carriage, his goblet filled with emerald-green Albori wine, and several kinds of fruit platters on a plate beside him.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve relaxed and enjoyed life like this!”

It was apparent that Ma Lin, the merchant caravan leader, truly understood how to live. The carriage walls were lined with thick animal skins to insulate against the heat, and there was a small thermal magic array on the carriage ceiling, maintaining a spring-like temperature inside despite the insulation and regardless of the outside conditions, never feeling too hot or too cold.

There was even a little wine cabinet under the seat, chilled to a constant temperature around zero degrees by an ice magic array, containing fresh fruits and drinks that could be enjoyed at their freshest even in the hottest times.

In modern times this would not be anything special, but in this ancient era of different domains, it was definitely a luxury only aristocrats could afford.

Along the way, Ma Lin often came to chat with him. With nothing better to do, Lin Xiao took an interest in chatting with the caravan leader, and inadvertently learned a lot of the latest intelligence about the Burlai Duchy and the nearby duchies or kingdoms from him.

Even without inquiring in detail, information would slip out during their casual conversation.

Ma Lin didn’t care about these details, after all, Lin Xiao’s identity at the moment was that of a visibly powerful senior magician; he had no sense of alertness toward him.

The caravan quickly arrived at the entrance to the under world, Dark World, where the Lord of Lede City had built a checkpoint for entry. The caravan was allowed to enter easily, descending along a huge ramp into a giant underground passage over twenty meters tall.

It was evident that the entrance of this underground passage had been carefully constructed; the edges still showed signs of chiseling, and there were ever-burning lamps installed at regular intervals along the sides.

The caravan slowly descended the ramp into the passage, the light gradually dimming. Lamps started to hang from every few carriages or pack animals, their faint lighting illuminating the surroundings.

The underground world Lin Xiao had seen in other worlds wasn’t much different from this one: twisting passages and rugged terrain, strange rock formations standing tall, with ordinary people easily getting lost in the under world.

Ma Lin’s Flame Flower Merchant Group, which had traded with races from the under world and Dark Territory for years, had drawn detailed maps, but even so, they did not dare to be careless.

One must know that the Dark Territory of this world has a total of seven continental levels, each connected by countless natural passageways and rotating stone staircases. Frequent geological movements caused continuous changes in the underground world’s terrain, with new faults constantly appearing and lava flows and limestone cones shifting.

Most critically, passages and stone staircases to different areas would be disconnected due to geological shifts, cutting off the original routes. These changes meant that even seasoned merchant associations trading among the various levels and regions of the Dark Territory for thousands of years could not guarantee that they would be able to find the original trading races again.

Of course, these were concerns for Ma Lin and other native business owners to worry about. Lin Xiao didn’t need to be concerned with these issues. He had no specific goals at the moment, just drifting along, going wherever the flow took him. Without a specific destination of his own, enemies couldn’t predict his whereabouts.

Through multiple interactions with the caravan leader, Ma Lin, whether intentionally or unintentionally, Lin Xiao had now got a rough grasp of the under world and Dark Territory’s overall situation.

Thanks to the exploration of countless adventurers over thousands of years, the first level of the known Dark Territory is the most familiar to everyone. The trading partners of the surface’s major merchant associations are mostly the various races living on the first level of the under world.

The cities of the Grey Dwarves, the tribes of the Goblins, Minotaur tribes, Halflings living under the patronage of Grey Dwarves or Minotaur tribes.

Most of the monsters and poisonous insects in the regions where the underground races gather have now been mostly cleared out by these major races, and the first level of the Dark Territory is relatively safe, provided one does not get lost.

The second level of the Dark Territory is the most barren, with few mineral resources, mainly dominated by Cave-dwellers.

Like Cave-dwellers in all worlds, this weak race is the most hard-working in the Dark Territory, constantly planting underground crops.

However, this race is naturally physically weak, lacks professional heritage, and has no written language, let alone magic. Since the fall of the Cave-dwellers’ god thousands of years ago, no deity has cared for this weak and pitiful race.

Every half year when the underground crops mature, the Dark Elves living on the third level form raiding parties to rush to the second level and commit arson, murder, and plunder everywhere, stealing away the Cave-dwellers’ half year of hard work.

Occasionally, when food is scarce, races like Goblins and Grey Dwarves from the first level will also form parties to enter the second level and plunder.

But compared to the brutality of the Zoel, who would even kill the Cave-dwellers, the Grey Dwarves only rob the food.

Fortunately, the race of Cave-dwellers has an astonishing reproductive ability. With two to three offspring per birth, a Cave-dweller can reach maturity and breed in just three years; even now, there are over a billion Cave-dwellers discovered just on the second level of the under world, and their vast numbers and strong reproductive ability allow them to stubbornly survive on the resource-scarce second level.

The third layer of the Dark Territory is the domain of the Zorel Elves, also known as the Dark Elves.

Like many of their kin in other worlds, these Zorel Elves are inherently cruel and use their formidable military power to plunder far and wide, capturing members of other races as slaves.

In the Crystal Wall Universe connected to the Toriel Multiverse, there also exists a faction of Zorel Elves with their own Racial God. However, it is not the widely renowned Spider Queen Lolth, but rather a deity with dominion over Dark Elves, evil, darkness, brutality, plunder, rogues, assassination, the shadow magic net, and eight aspects of deity, boasting a God Level of eleven and a Medium Divine Power, known as The Lord of Darkness.

This pantheon is even more luxurious than the renowned Spider Queen Lolth’s, which would have made it an imposingly Powerful Divine Power in the Toriel Multiverse, but in this world, the cosmic tier confines it to merely being a Medium Divine Power.

Yet, even so, The Lord of Darkness remains the most powerful True God in the entire Underground World, unbeatable by any Powerful Divine Power in its home territory.

Under normal circumstances, with such a strong local deity, it would be nearly impossible for Lin Xiao to gain a foothold in the Underground World. But as the saying goes, the same factor that heralds success can also cause failure; the Underground World is simply too vast, considering that the Primary Material Plane is a Super-Giant Plane.

What constitutes a ‘super-giant’? Well,

a large plane is roughly between the area of the Pacific Ocean and the total surface area of the earth.

An extra-large plane is akin to the total surface area of several earths.

A giant plane might be about ten times the total surface area of the earth.

And a super-giant plane… is at least as big as three giant planes put together, with no upper limit, as everything above a giant plane is collectively termed a super-giant plane.

Thus, the Primary Material Plane of this Crystal Wall Universe is immensely vast. With such a vast Underground World, it’s impossible for The Lord of Darkness to maintain complete control; in fact, He only controls part of the third layer of the Dark Territory, exerting influence over nearby planes without having total domination.

At least on the first level of the Dark Territory, the racial gods of various races have formed a loose Divine System to oppose the brutal rule of The Lord of Darkness. With covert assistance from the gods of the surface world, they have managed to withstand the oppression of The Lord of Darkness.

When the time comes, if Lin Xiao finds an appropriate location, he will attempt to impersonate an indigenous True God and join this loose Divine System to counter The Lord of Darkness.

Locally, he’s no match for The Lord of Darkness; even if all members of the Giant God Combat Team swarmed at once, they would only be sending themselves to defeat—the disparity in strength is too great.

Therefore, Lin Xiao will certainly disguise himself, preparing for his incarnation to undergo Divine Enthronement once again in this world and to assimilate into it.

It’s not mere pretense; it’s actual Divine Enthronement.

This is a necessary step; otherwise, as soon as you establish a faith in this world, it will immediately draw the attention and hits from the will of the Crystal Wall Universe.

Each world is different; this world is not the same as the ones Lin Xiao has previously experienced. A world teeming with indigenous True Gods and even a Hall of All Gods representing the world’s will—Lin Xiao must assimilate into this world and become one of its True Gods to spread his faith on a large scale.

Besides, this is also a step that Sons of True God Level Divine Realms must take to plunder the origins and rules of alien worlds.

Only by becoming a True God of this world, can you, at the moment of Divine Enthronement, connect to the Source Sea of the alien world, just as Lin Xiao had previously connected with the Source Sea of the Gaia Main World during his Divine Enthronement. You will continuously extract source power and touch the foundational rules of the world.

As a True God of this world, upon returning, you will bring back all the harvested source power and all the rules of deity you’ve controlled to the Main World. You will be directly taking from this world and making it a part of the Human Gaia Main World, and then receiving feedback from the Gaia Will.

The more you plunder, the more feedback you naturally receive.

This is the path for Sons of True God Level Divine Realms—to pillage the origins and rules of alien worlds to strengthen the Human Main World and then strengthen themselves through feedback from the Gaia Will.

Of course, the underlying rules of a typical world are nowhere as robust as those from a civilization of the Human Divine Realm. The True Gods of weaker worlds are incomparable to those of powerful Crystal Wall Systems. Indigenous True Gods certainly don’t stand a chance against Sons of True God Level Divine Realms. Moreover, due to the differences in deity aspects already owned, and considering that the feedback also needs to simultaneously strengthen the Son of the Divine Realm and the Divine Realm itself, the benefits received from Gaia Will’s feedback do not directly correlate with the strength of the incarnation.

For example, if an incarnation ascends to a Powerful Divine Power in one go, the feedback from Gaia Will might only enable an ascent to a Medium Divine Power upon return—or perhaps not even that. The greater the gap between the worlds and the stronger you are, the less you receive in feedback, which is inevitable.

Take Lin Xiao, for instance; he possesses the Ancient God’s Divinity and an Innate Ancient God Body, along with several exceedingly powerful aspects of deity. The feedback he receives is fully in tune with his deity aspects, though the quantity is necessarily not as substantial.

One thing is certain; the feedback will be the purest and most suitable power for oneself—Gaia Will would never let you be at a loss.