Arcane Journey

Chapter 302 The Temple of Wealth
Although he killed the deep hell fiend and successfully collected his soul, Brian's mood didn't seem as happy as expected.

At this moment, he could not help feeling terrified when he looked at the corpse of a rat that had been patted into mud by the fiend in the deep hell.

From the fight just now, he could see that the strength of this devil was at least above the medium legend, that is, the creature level was as high as 25 or above.

But it was such a powerful devil, but the sorceress beside him stretched out his staff, and with a light touch, he turned into a little white mouse that even ordinary humans could handle at will.

Transformation spells belong to a branch of the School of Change.

The spells of this branch are mainly divided into two types, which are fighting by turning oneself into a powerful creature, and turning the enemy into a weak creature.

Among Brian's subordinates, Battle Mage Marek is a typical representative of the former.

As a war shaper, once his strength reaches the legendary realm, he can even turn into a legendary dragon and possess all the abilities of a dragon.

The role of the latter is mainly to weaken the enemy. The most typical representative spells are the fifth-ring spell "Malicious Transformation" and the eighth-ring spell "Transform All Things".

If this spell fails the saving throw, the subject will lose all of their own characteristics and specialties, including supernatural abilities, spell-like abilities, and the ability to cast spells, and will also use the alignment, special abilities, and six-dimensional attributes of the new form. to completely replace its original capabilities.

Theoretically speaking, if one is hit by the transformation technique, it means that the battle is over.

Because no matter how powerful the legendary creature is, as long as it is turned into a small animal, it will lose almost any resistance during the period of being transformed.

It can be seen from the introduction that the transformation spell is a bit ridiculously powerful.

However, the cruel reality is that there are very few spellcasters who can specialize in this transformation genre.

The reason for this phenomenon is nothing more than that the spells of this genre are very tasteless.

The principle of transfiguration is to forcibly transform the original form of matter.

These spells act on enemies of the same level, even enemies one level lower than their own, and it is difficult to cast them successfully. For spellcasters of changing genres, the role of spells is to abuse vegetables, and it is difficult to use them in battles with the same level of strength. is used.

But in today's battle, Brian has really gained a lot of insight.

Although this deep hell demon was overconfident in the strength of his original fire, he was restrained by his curse fire, so he overturned and was seriously injured.

But as a Batezu devil, not to mention the many powerful resistances and specialties of the deep hell fiend, just his physique and strength attributes above 25 points can allow him to easily break free from the eight-ring spell "Transform All Things". The power to change one's own form.

But in fact, the devil was directly turned into a mouse without any resistance, and was then easily killed by him.

Kala Dena's powerful transformation spell simply refreshed his cognition.

He was in the game world, but he had never heard of this sorceress who was offline in the early stage of the game, so powerful.

He only knew that the other party's greatest hobby was to turn disobedient subordinates, or players who offended him, into small animals as a punishment.

Regarding this, he could only think that there was definitely some kind of powerful warlock blood hidden in the opponent's body.

After all, the spellcasting of warlocks is the result of talent plus tempering. They don't need spellbooks, mentors, or even spellcasting theories, and they only rely on pure willpower.

Their magic is not so much based on logic, it is better to rely on intuition, and it is impossible to predict what kind of powerful power is hidden in the body.

"It's too wasteful." Miss Warlock's words interrupted Brian's thinking. She looked at the corpse of the fiend in the deep hell and the depression made by the crushed palm, and couldn't help complaining: "It can be solved with one kick." The problem, but you killed it with a powerful nine-ring spell, it's simply overkill."

Brian stared at Karadena, and found that her flying dark purple hair was fading at a speed visible to the naked eye, turning into the original golden color, and the original magical energy surging around her was also slowly dissipating.

She carefully wrapped the magic wand she had just released with black linen cloth, and carried it back behind her back. The rope connected to the wand stretched from her shoulders to her slender waist, and stretched out the pair of capitals on her chest. Full and seductive silhouette.

"What kind of warlock bloodline are you awakening?" Brian looked away, and while walking towards the collapsed secret room, he asked the sorceress who was quickly following him.

Warlocks harness their innate magic.

This magic may be from supernatural blood, otherworldly influences, or exposure to some unknown multiverse force that lurks deep within the sorcerer's body, mind, and soul, waiting to be unleashed.

This makes them not need to learn arcane knowledge, and they will not rely on contracts to obtain spells like magicians. They only need to master the method of controlling and guiding to increase magic power through continuous practice, and then they can gradually develop more effective ways to release the hidden magic power. The powerful magic in the body.

"Can't you see that?" The female sorceress Kaladna tied her loose blonde hair with a rope again, and said with a smile: "I awakened the original magic, the most powerful and most unstable of the sorcerers' bloodlines. magic."

"Then it's a miracle that you've survived until now and successfully advanced to the legendary realm." Brian glanced at her. Although she was dressed in a black robe, she still couldn't hide her tall figure and curves, and her complexion looked slightly She looks pale, but her facial features are perfect like a foreign beauty.

Among the warlock bloodlines, primordial magic is the most difficult to control and control, and at the same time the most powerful, because the chaotic storm they unleash is simply unpredictable.

For example, the other party just detected the traces of the devil through primitive magic, so that he was turned into a guinea pig by the unpredictable chaotic storm.

Warlocks who have mastered this kind of blood can master a new seat-opening technique almost every time they release a chaotic storm.

"Of course." The sorceress deliberately walked in front of Brian with light steps. After attracting his attention, she raised her chin proudly and said:
"I have witnessed the elemental power exposed in the inner plane, and I have also been baptized by the violent and chaotic magic power of the Chaos Sea. If I hadn't been in the Mistara Mountain in the Kingdom of Harua, I had been instructed by the Goddess of Magic. The rift has absorbed the blue flame left over from the 'Arcane Catastrophe' period, and I'm afraid it won't live until now."

Mount Mystra, the wall of Halrua, is the largest temple of the goddess of magic, Mystra, located in the entire Faerun continent.

This point, Brian is quite clear.

It can be seen from this that the female sorceress in front of her should have entered the cave group of Mistala Mountain.

Because any practitioner of arcane arts related to magic, including warlocks and warlocks, can find the answers they want as long as they do no more than five years of diligent research in a mysterious cave in this temple.

As for the "blue flame" that the sorceress called, Brian was very familiar with it.

'Blue Flame' is the original energy that erupted after the magic net was torn apart. When the 'Arcanian Catastrophe' happened, the Council of Elders of Haruah sent the people of their country to the To other worlds other than Toril, such as Abel, and the small world where Brian was reborn.

And the main material of Bryan Olympic Fire is also Blue Flame.

Coincidentally, the place where he extracted the blue flame was also the Great Rift Valley that the sorceress spoke of.

Because it can be seen that this mysterious blue flame, which represents the essence of the magic net, does have the effect of neutralizing violent magic energy and original magic.

"Your adventures are really wonderful." Brian said with a smile: "At least I have never been to the Chaos Sea, and I can't even imagine what the chaotic magic power from the Chaos Sea looks like."

"It's a kind of violent energy that makes you look at it for the first time, and you never want to look at it again." The sorceress showed a lingering expression, then her eyes flickered slightly, and she asked with a slightly disturbed expression:
"Do you have a magic flame similar to the Austrian fire and the silver fire? Otherwise, it would be impossible for you to resist the original fire of the deep hell refiner and cause him to be severely injured."

"That's right." Brian nodded slightly, without concealing it, "I do hold a flame."

"Really." With a happy expression on her face, the sorceress approached him and eagerly said, "Can I have a look?"

She looked like a little girl begging for sweets.

"Of course." Brian looked at her thoughtfully, and said with a smile in an inexplicable tone, "However, the premise of all this is to let me see the wand behind your back. I am also curious about your wand. this piece of equipment."

With his understanding of Kala Dena, he had already vaguely guessed that the reason why the other party was able to turn the pit fiend into a guinea pig was probably due to the magic wand wrapped tightly by her.

So he was really curious about what kind of equipment this was.

"no!"

Brian was a little surprised by the resolute expression of the female sorceress. She looked at him vigilantly, like a female cat with fried fur, "This wand is my talisman, and I can't leave me for a moment, so no one can Check."

"Then forget it." Brian didn't force it, shrugged at her with a smile, and continued walking, obviously not intending to let her watch the Austrian fire.

He had a hunch.

This female sorceress is by no means as simple as mastering the original magical energy in the blood of the sorceress. This is a problem that he only realized after carefully recalling the battle scene just now.

And he always felt that the way the other party found the trace of the devil, and the timing of turning into a guinea pig, was a bit too coincidental, but he couldn't say the specific reason.

In this case, he felt that it was necessary for Hesaiah to test her depth after the battle was over.

Carladna behind her heard Brian's indifferent words, her wine-red eyes showed disappointment, and finally she could only follow helplessly.

Speechless all the way.

The two soon arrived at the battle site in the city.

Brian and Hisaiah looked at each other and nodded slightly, indicating that the matter had been resolved by himself.

"I'll give you this soul spar." Then, he threw the spar he got from the pit fiend into the hands of the tiefling warlock, and said to him, "I need you to do it as quickly as possible." , to torture out what I want from his soul."

"Don't worry, my lord." The magician looked at the spar in his hand, showing a sinister smile, "This kind of thing is a trivial matter to me."

The female sorceress standing on the other side saw Brian handing the soul spar to the warlock, showing a hesitant expression on her expression, but she still didn't say anything in the end.

Brian naturally didn't notice this detail, but focused on the situation in front of him.

In this battle, with the core members of the secret room of the merchant council being killed, the balance of victory has completely shifted to their side.

The next battle was hardly difficult, but it was a bit troublesome to find out all the blood slaves who were hidden in the crowd and transformed from vampires from Ximen.

However, these small winds and waves are no longer important.

at dusk.

Mashanbai has completely changed hands. The merchants' guild and the noble council, which were tempted and corrupted by the devil, have suddenly become the target of everyone. Even some nobles and merchants with good conduct have become the object of suspicion, thinking that they may also exist with the devil. trade.

There were some riots among the angry populace, and their accumulated resentment exploded, with some even trying to attack members of the Council of Nobles and Council of Merchants.

But soon, these people were brutally suppressed by the purple dragon knight under Hesaiah, and the remaining members of the noble council and merchant guild became the current protection targets.

"My lord, I have already investigated clearly." In the hall, a Battle Mage spy reported to Brian Hui: "Except for the merchants and nobles under our control, most of them are hiding in the temple of the Goddess of Wealth, and the church's armed forces We are guarding around the temple, we may not be able to get close."

When Brian heard this, he showed an expression that was as expected.

"You go first." He waved his hand, signaling the Battle Mage to retreat, and then began to think about this issue.

Just as he imagined, Mashanbai is the most prosperous trading port city in the entire Kingdom of Cormyr, with a huge group of merchants and aristocrats, it is not surprising that there is a huge belief base for the goddess of wealth here, and it is temporarily sheltered.

After all, as the Goddess of Wealth with the priesthoods of merchant, wealth, trade, and currency, her temples all over the mainland are, in essence, no different from banks in the real world.

And it is an absolutely neutral bank.

But this is obviously what Brian doesn't want to see, otherwise, apart from recovering Mashanba, they won't get any spoils of war.

Because the wealth of the Merchant Guild and the Noble Council all exist in the Temple of Wealth.

And what he needs is the wealth of this group of merchants and nobles.

In this case, if you want to forcibly obtain it, you will inevitably have conflicts with this temple.

You know, in the secret room, he slaughtered all the core personnel of the entire Merchant Guild and the Noble Council. These people have at least 80% of the wealth of the entire Mashanbai, and they want the dead to obediently hand over the gold coins stored in the temple. , is obviously impossible.

Of course, it is even more impossible for the people in the Temple of Wealth to hand it over on their own initiative.

Because with the demise of the Merchant Guild and the Noble Council, a large amount of dead debt will definitely be left in the temple. If you want to inherit these inheritances, you must first find a way to prove that you are yourself, or let the dead go to the front desk to handle business.

This also means that the Temple of Wealth took the biggest advantage after their recovery battle was won.

"Assemble the people and go to the Temple of Wealth." Brian stood up from his chair and said to Hesaiah.

When the last light of dusk disappeared over the horizon, Brian and Hesaiah brought the purple dragon knight and battle mage to the area of ​​the Temple of Fortune.

At the same time, teams of heavily armed golden knights appeared and blocked their way.

All those who lead the Knights of the Temple are clergymen covered in jewels, and the heritage of the Temple in the Kingdom of Cormyr for nearly a hundred years is revealed at this moment.

Teams of temple knights and guards, all of their equipment is shining golden armor.

"In Cormyr's territory, all churches and temples must respect the regent and abide by the laws formulated by the royal family. I can think that you are challenging the authority of the royal family?!"

A purple dragon knight yelled at the leader of the temple knights: "You dare to shelter the rebels, which is an open provocation to the royal family!"

"Please don't get me wrong, Regent." The leader of the Templar Knights said respectfully, "We have no intention of provoking the authority of the royal family, nor do we have the intention of sheltering any rebel army. believer."

"The most devout believer of the Goddess?" Brian snorted coldly. "So, you publicly surrendered to the rebels, and your Temple of Wealth also participated. Can I label the entire temple as a rebel?"

"Your Excellency, please do not misunderstand." The leader of the Temple Knights said calmly:

"Since the establishment of the Temple of Wealth, it has consistently maintained its own camp and will not collude with the rebels. The goddess often teaches us: Anyone who steps into the Temple of Wealth, whether it is a rebel army or The purple dragon knights are the most devout believers of the goddess and deserve to be protected. I am our duty."

After hearing this sentence, Brian frowned slightly. He could clearly feel that there was something wrong with the temple knight. Although the words were very respectful, they contained a full of provocation.

In fact, he didn't want the temple to conflict with the royal family, not that he couldn't offend the goddess, mainly because doing so would mean that they would not get the wealth of the Merchant Guild and the Noble Council.

Similarly, the Temple of Wealth would never dare to blatantly conflict with the Kingdom of Cormyr. If they dared to do so, all the temples in the entire kingdom would definitely suffer a devastating blow.

He didn't think the archbishop of the temple would make such a foolish choice.

There is another thing that surprised him even more. It stands to reason that in the face of this kind of conflict, the archbishop of the temple should be the one who should come forward, not the leader of the Knights of the Temple.

"Brian, there is something wrong with this Temple Knight."

The sorceress Kaladna's voice transmission sounded in his mind, "I suspect that he is a hidden devil, but I can't guarantee that he must be."

"I can't guarantee it, so just give it a try." Brian replied, looking at the leader of the Temple Knights, his eyes turned slightly cold.

——"Madunkin's disintegration technique!"

Brian stretched out his finger, and a terrifying energy erupted. The leader of the Templar Knights who was caught off guard was startled, apparently he didn't expect that the other party would dare to make a real move.

He was about to fight back when it was too late.

The energy of the Disintegration Technique, which disintegrates all material forms, instantly caused the golden armor all over his body to explode without a trace.

——"Advanced manifestation technique!"

Kaladna pointed her hand, and a dazzling purple light suddenly burst out from her palm, covering the terrified temple knights.

The Temple Knight first let out a shrill scream of panic, and then his skin gradually turned dark red, his pupils turned a strange green, his forehead grew a curved horn, and his sharp fangs were exposed from his lower jaw.

"It's the devil!"

All the priests and onlookers in the temple exclaimed.

——"Skinning!"

The sorceress successfully released another spell, and a strange dark red light shrouded the whole body of the temple knight.

In an instant, before the devil returned to his real body, the painful howling sounded directly.

His skin suddenly began to fall off, pieces of bloody scalp fell off like this, and then his ferocious face slid off mixed with flesh and blood, the skin of his arms cracked directly, and the swollen muscles showed a strange dark red color and creepy bones. People look as if they were skinned alive.

Brian took this opportunity to release an attack spell, ending the life of this high-level devil whose strength was not even in the legendary realm.

Seeing this situation, the priests of the Temple of Wealth fell silent.

Because the lurking of the devil represents their dereliction of duty, and it also proves their incompetence.

The temple didn't even notice such a serious corruption that it almost brought an armed conflict with the entire kingdom.

At this moment, a group of clergymen dressed in golden robes, headed by a priest, rushed over with a look of haste.

The head priest is a woman wearing a golden robe with gold thread inlaid cuffs, beautiful golden curly hair, and seven jewel rings on her ten fingers.

It is said that the Goddess of Wealth loves gold, and many of her priests have long golden hair, and these priests are full of jewels, like to wear expensive jewelry, and their clothes are exquisite and luxurious.

This is a plump and tall young woman wearing a string of pearl necklaces of amazing value on her chest. She leaned over and smiled towards Brian and Sisaiah, and said slowly:
"I am very sorry, respected regent, Lord Protector. I express my sincerest apologies for the hindrances the temple has caused you."

"At the same time, I also thank you for assisting the temple to find out the devil hidden inside." She continued in a gentle and soft tone, "I know the purpose of your coming here, the regent, don't worry, the temple of wealth will fully cooperate with the royal family action."

"The Knights of the Temple listen to the order!" The female priest's eyes turned slightly cold, and she gave the order: "From now on, I will do my best to assist the army in capturing the remnants of the rebel army."

With an order, the temple knights who were blocking the way immediately moved out of the way.

Hesaiah immediately gave instructions to the purple dragon knight and the battle mage, and under the guidance of the temple knight, they ran towards the interior of the temple together.

"Lord Protector." The female priest looked at Brian with soft eyes, and asked with a smile, "I don't know if my sincerity is enough for our future cooperation?"

"The next cooperation?" Brian's expression was slightly startled, and he asked in doubt.

"Don't you remember?" The female pastor's expression was still kind and gentle, a smile floated on her lips, but there seemed to be thousands of meanings in her words, "I have heard with my own ears that your lord's territory used to be many Don’t you feel a headache when you encounter demons for the first time?”

After hearing this sentence, Brian suddenly showed a sudden look.

This forced him to look squarely, and seriously sized up the bejeweled, young and beautiful female priest in front of him.

Goddess of Wealth Vol'jin.

Before the Troubled Times, she was originally a young deity with few enemies except for being in direct opposition to the vocation of Mask, the god of thieves.

During the turbulent years, in order to avoid this catastrophe, she entrusted her remaining divine power to the goddess of joy, and with the help of an alien envoy, she sneaked into the astral world.

After entering the star realm, she negotiated with Graz'zt, the dark lord, hoping to return to her kingdom of God through his territory through the bottomless abyss.

However, after the Goddess of Wealth arrived at the territory of Grazt, the Lord of the Darkness, the giant of the bottomless abyss tore up the contract without hesitation and imprisoned her in his own territory.

What good will happen if it falls into the hands of the dark monarch Grazter?

You know, in order to avenge the succubus queen for rejecting his courtship, the demon lord even took the form of Meicanxiet to seduce Koschurch, one of the ugliest Tanari lords in the Abyss—— A demon lord who looks like a giant.

And between the two, many things that cannot be said or described in words have happened.

In the end, Lord Wuan also regarded this incident as a great conspiracy against the Succubus Queen.

The result of this 'temptation' deeply ashamed the Succubus Queen.

Because many people still firmly believe that Meikanxiet, who is subdued by Koschurch's majesty, is not at all pretending to be the black monarch.

Goddesses like Vol'jin, for a demon like Graz'zt who prey on men and women, are excited to hold silver parties in the abyss every day to celebrate, and will never let go of any hole in any part.

It was a long period of captivity.

This not only caused the Goddess of Wealth to lose a lot of divine power and followers, but also suffered countless terrible insults.

Even her church in the material world has been infiltrated by Graz'zt, and Wojin's temples scattered around the world are filled with all kinds of usury services and terrible hob profits, which have bankrupted countless families and completely ruined the reputation of the Goddess of Wealth .

It wasn't until a group of adventurers rescued her that the goddess of wealth regained her divine power. At that time, her power had been greatly weakened by usury.

This incident is an indescribable shame for the gods!

As a god, as a goddess.

Therefore, in addition to the original Mask, the Goddess of Wealth has another Grazte as her enemy, and she vows to avenge him, at any cost.

Apparently, this vengeful goddess probably learned of what was about to happen in the Underdark through some means, and was about to launch a crazy revenge.

Otherwise, in the game world, when there is great turmoil in the Underdark, there will not be so many legendary adventurers who have received high bounty missions to hunt the avatar of Graz'zt, and there will even be a large number of priests and saints from Vol'jin. workers.

It is precisely because of the absence of Graz'zt's restraint that the succubus queen Meicanxiet found an opportunity to plot against Demogogan, which caused huge turmoil in the abyss pattern.

As for why she suddenly came to him, it was not difficult to understand.

After all, he stole the dragon egg that Graz'zt had planned for a long time.

Mokou Town has indeed encountered many calculations and attacks by the demon lord, and even the power of the king of gnolls has appeared in Gewoqi, west of Mokou Town.

Therefore, if you want to combat Graz'zt's influence in the material world, it is naturally the best choice to use him as a bait to wait for the rabbit.

Wanting to understand the ins and outs of the problem, Brian suddenly realized that the reason why the female priest appeared in such a kind manner was probably premeditated.

It is very likely that she has noticed the hidden devils in the church in advance, and then deliberately made the devils embarrass them, and finally made a gorgeous appearance to find out the traitors, so as to win the favor of the royal family and leave a deep impression on them.

It can be seen from this that the female priest in front of her is still very scheming, even the devil who is good at playing tricks dares to take advantage of her.

"I am looking forward to the cooperation with you." Brian said sincerely.

After stealing Lord Wu'an's dragon egg, the other party will definitely not let it go, so why not take advantage of this opportunity, like some unknown adventurers, and lead a team to dive into the bottomless abyss to overturn the demon lord.

Of course, this was just a joke. With his current ability, even if he reached the level of a high-level legend, he might not dare to face the real body of the demon lord directly, and he is still in the opponent's territory.

Besides, he didn't want to waste time here either, right now he still has the powerful enemy City of Shadows, threatening him all the time.

Next, as he expected, with the help of the Temple of Wealth, the task of suppressing the Merchant Guild and the Noble Council became very smooth.

After all, all of these people were hiding in the temple, so they came directly to catch the turtle.

…………

(End of this chapter)