Arcane Journey

Chapter 306 Oracle
Mokou Town, the temple of Oghma, the God of Knowledge.

Inside the temple, the magic ever-burning lamp shone softly, dispelling all the darkness.

This temple shrouded in divine light is like a library, full of acolytes of research knowledge and various books, maps, and scrolls.

In the bright hall, there is a strong atmosphere of books everywhere, as if to make people indulge in the ocean of knowledge and the torrent of history.

knowledge is power.

In the temple of Mokou Town, there are countless books kept. In addition to poetry, historical documents, and celebrity biographies, there are also many knowledges such as spells, alchemy, mysteries, and taboo knowledge.

As long as the clergy here can collect and preserve the knowledge here, they will try their best to copy, repair, and complete it, and finally store it one by one.

At this moment, the Patriarch Tysonde of the temple was wearing a white robe full of scholarly temperament, holding a golden holy emblem carved with a blank scroll, standing in front of the statue of Oghma in the center of the temple, praying devoutly.

As the power of Mokou Town continued to grow, with the help of their clergy, all towns within the territory began to establish colleges one after another to teach common people the most basic knowledge, such as arithmetic, literacy, reading and writing, and so on.

These basic knowledge are completely funded by the territory, and the temple sends tutors to teach them to all school-age children for free, uniformly and forcibly.

As a cleric of Oghma, Tysonde certainly knew the difficulty of spreading knowledge.

In the eyes of ordinary people, the first thing they need to consider is how to fill their stomachs, and then they are qualified to think about other things.

The backward social system makes commoners think that instead of wasting their children's time in free and boring colleges, it is better to work on farms or manors in exchange for food and clothing.

This phenomenon is not uncommon even in a powerful kingdom like Cormyr.

But the lord of Mokou Town seems to have understood this situation a long time ago. He not only granted a large number of slaves the status of free people, but also distributed them land, taught them farming knowledge, and made appropriate adjustments in land taxation, so that They can afford the taxes and have surplus food at home.

The policy promulgated by Mokou Town, in the past half a year, with the help of the Church of the Mother Earth, has allowed a large number of farmers to obtain a relatively satisfactory autumn harvest for the first time, and save enough money at home to last Leftovers from the second harvest.

It is precisely because the civilians in the territory have enough food and clothing, and the slogan of "Knowledge Changes Destiny, Magic Creates the Future" preached by Mokou Town, that the consciousness of the common people began to awaken and gradually realize the importance of learning knowledge.

The lord of Mokou Town claimed that the education that is popularized to every citizen is not simply literacy, but also basic natural knowledge, political thought... and the national consciousness and sense of belonging instilled in it.

Because of the improvement of the cultural level, the territory can have enough grassroots manpower to promote change. Compared with the ignorant people who don't know why to fight and accept the suffering, the awakening of national consciousness will make them explode unimaginable the power of.

The civilians in the territory are like the fire seeds sown by the lord. One day, they will set off a prairie fire on this continent!
The facts are indeed developing as he imagined.

In today's Mokou Town, he can always hear children or adults chatting about the kingdom.

After all, the more civilians they are, the more they like to discuss the affairs of the kingdom. Although they are not direct beneficiaries, they are definitely direct victims.

After the capital of the Sambia Kingdom was destroyed by the huge dark ritual performed by the City of Shadows, most of the surviving nobles and wealthy businessmen immediately deposited their wealth in the Temple of Wealth.

For them, as long as they guard their small coffers, even if the country is destroyed, the family will not perish. As long as they have money, they can still live a luxurious life.

When the female leader of Sembia took office, a large number of rich people took this opportunity to buy assets at extremely low prices in the kingdom, which made Sembia still in deep trouble.

However, these wealthy merchants all took away their wealth and moved to other kingdoms along the coast of the Sea of ​​Fallen Stars.

After all, it is human nature to seek advantages and avoid disadvantages. Since this kingdom is not good, they can continue to live in another kingdom.

But civilians have no retreat, the land under their feet is theirs, this is where they settle down, and they can't even leave for the rest of their lives.

Once foreign enemies invade, their only way is to take up arms and resist desperately.

Even if the kingdom has been destroyed to pieces, they can only hold on to the kingdom. They have no chance to retreat, because taking a step back means ruining the family.

Loving one's own kingdom is the last dignity of common people.

The lord of Mokou Town seems to understand this very deeply, so he personally helped the clergy of the temple to change the teaching materials of their college, so that the common people in the territory can gradually cultivate a new national consciousness.

For this matter, Tysander is naturally happy to see the results. After all, the higher the education level of the civilians in the territory, the wider the scope of knowledge popularization.

Just like the rebellion war of Prince Celant not long ago.

With the end of the war, the Queen Regent not only exempted the common people from the land tax for one year, but also distributed the land equally for them, and even established free academies in the pilot towns, allowing their clergy to spread knowledge to children of the right age and culture.

In the past, the queen regent's reforms would definitely be strongly opposed by the aristocrats. Even if they were enforced, not many commoners would be willing to take their children to the academy to 'waste time'.

However, there was a precedent in Mokou Town, and the lord of Mokou Town was Cormyr's protector. He played in all the battles without exception in the Dragon Madness Rebellion, the Orc War and the Rebel War, and turned the tide.

This allowed the civilians and nobles of the entire Kingdom of Cormyr to know the name of the Lord Protector.

The lord's reputation resounding throughout the kingdom, as well as the representative figures of the Reformist Party, naturally attracted the attention of the masses to the governance of the lord of Mokou Town.

In the territory of Mokou Town, whether it was the abolition of slavery policy, the equal distribution of land and the establishment of free colleges, or the slogans they preached, all of them aroused strong repercussions from the people of the entire kingdom.

It was in this wave that the queen regent's reform policy came into being, and the vast majority of the common people in the kingdom saw the shadow of preparing to follow the Mokou town system.

In this case, the academies in those pilot towns have not yet been established, and the clergy of the Temple of Knowledge church in the entire kingdom have already received all the registration lists.

This kind of strong response, as well as the common people's desire for the popularization of knowledge, caught even the clergy who believed in Oghma, the god of knowledge, a little unprepared.

It can be seen from this that with the promulgation of the reform policy, the entire Kingdom of Cormyr, under the leadership of the lord of Mokou Town, is marching towards a brand new future step by step.

But behind the prosperous scene, Tysander saw a trace of worry.

This matter started when the lord of Mokou Town prepared to add simple magic knowledge to popular knowledge books, so that children would gradually understand what magic is.

At first, he didn't pay much attention to this decision.

If you want to cultivate spellcasters, it is indeed the best choice to provide children of the right age with magical enlightenment education, which can allow them to integrate into the magical atmosphere and imagination more quickly.

However, until today, he saw an elder from the Kingdom of Harua leading nearly a thousand spellcasters. After they settled in Mokou Town, Taisend not only did not become more powerful than the citizens because of the power of the territory. Happy, but a little worry rose in my heart.

As the senior priest of Oghma and the Patriarch of the Temple of Mokou Town, Tysonde is naturally qualified to know some ancient history about the God of Knowledge.

According to the records of the temple, in the ancient Netheril period, the floating city of Azuma was the largest academic research center in the entire empire.

Grand Arcanist Opus is also a devout follower of Oghma, the god of knowledge.

The Grand Arcanist's floating city is like a scholar who hides from the world.

This is the city with the highest literacy rate and magic popularization during the ancient Netheril Empire.

There is no bustling trade or convenient transportation here. The leaders have been living a peaceful life, busy with their missions like a group of hermits.

Until the eve of Netheril's demise, Grand Arcanist Opus gradually grasped some secrets of the higher creations in the Netheril scrolls.

The study of life creation, no matter what period, is the most restricted knowledge of the church of the gods. Even the church of Oghma, if this kind of knowledge is collected, it will be directly sealed and will not be passed on.

Although Grand Arcanist Opus, as the strongest Grand Arcanist in the field of creation during the Netheril period, has successfully come into contact with the research of life creations, he has not yet transformed his research into results. The net is broken and left alone.

The reason why Tysander recalled these materials was mainly because he felt that as the Kingdom of Cormyr continued to grow into a real magical kingdom under the leadership of the pioneer territory of Mokou Town, it was very likely that they would also come into contact with these living creatures knowledge.

After all, after Haruah's mage group joined the forces of Mokou Town, rumors spread throughout the territory.

Claim: Their lord is a mage from Halrua, and even a remnant of the Netheril Empire. He not only wants to lead the Halrua mages to build the floating city, but also to restore the former glory of the Arcane Empire.

This seemed to be an impossible rumor, but Tysonde calmed down, and after thinking about it, he suddenly realized that the actions of their lords had been developing in this direction?
For example, in the depths of the Mokou Mountains to the north of the town, some huge and dense cave groups built by stone giants began to appear, and a large number of laborers were transferred to work in them.

Where is the Mokou Mountains?
Since the many hobgoblin tribes and other humanoid creatures in the Mokou Mountains were wiped out by the Purple Dragon Knights, they have become the territory of the Stone Giants, and at the same time they are the entrance to the Underdark.

The Gray Dwarf's Odus King City has several direct access to the Mokou Mountains.

Tysander can find a steady stream of mineral materials being transported to the depths of the Mokou Mountains every day, but he has never seen large quantities of weapons and equipment made by gray dwarves appear in Mokou Town.

Does this mean that their lords are probably preparing for the floating city by accumulating so many raw materials.

It can also be seen that the Lord Lord is definitely preparing for the establishment of the Magic Academy by adding simple magic knowledge to the new textbook.

Obviously, he intends to be like the Haruah Kingdom, not only to make knowledge and culture universal, and even national consciousness, but also to let them master magic.

What is magic?

In the ancient age when elves, dwarves, giants, and dragons still ruled the dense forests and wild wilds of Faerûn, those who have the ability to wield magic did not seek great power, hidden knowledge, and more. Learn more about the nature of the magical web in order to outwit your opponents.

Whatever the end result, their powerful civilization almost all disappeared in the long river of history.

In this regard, the early empires of mankind are exactly the same:
The Imascar Empire has a lot of knowledge about portals and gates to other worlds, and has captured tens of thousands of original residents from other worlds, forcing them to become slaves of their own occult power.

The Empire of Netheril was proficient in all kinds of techniques for making magical devices, and these amazing or frightening effects still lurk under the Ennook Desert.

And Lomasa summoned many orc tribes from other worlds to fight against Nalfio, but it didn't take long for these warriors to escape from the master's control and become the permanent scourge of Faerun.

There is no doubt that these powerful civilizations and empires were all destroyed by their abuse of magic.

After all, as a wizard, a spellcaster who masters the arcane arts, they are all committed to discovering new schools of magic, gaining a deeper understanding of secret arts through other means, or gaining terrifying new powers in forbidden research.

In history, there have been many ways to understand power, and then they were sublated, and the various researches that are ongoing, some are cautious explorations, some are terrible fantasies, and they continue to bring out various Faeruns. Theories of arcane magic and new spells that have never been seen on the mainland.

There are many stories of ancient Netheril and of the legendary spells of the fallen elven kingdoms, which are said to dwarf even the most powerful "wishing spell" of the day.

If the power of magic is not considered carefully, then even if a powerful magic empire is established, their end will be the same as that of Netheril and Imasca sooner or later.

Therefore, when Tysander saw that the sprouts of the Magic Kingdom had begun to burst in Mokou Town, he suddenly hesitated, or rather lost.

If he followed his inner thoughts, as the priest of the God of Knowledge, and benefited from the lord's kindness, he would definitely spare no effort to help the lord of Mokou Town spread knowledge.

There's nothing wrong with that.

But as the power of the church continued to grow in Mokou Town, Tysander clearly felt that his strength was not only stagnant, but even declining.

As a priest, his power comes from the gods he believes in, so he knows all too well what this means?
He doesn't doubt that this is a problem with his belief, so the only possibility is...

"Am I confused, or did I really do something wrong?" Priest Tysonde looked at the statue of Oghma devoutly, muttering to himself.

Oghma, the God of Knowledge, is an absolutely neutral deity, which determines that the Temple of Knowledge can gain a foothold no matter in a country ruled by the good camp or in an evil dark area.

But for Tysander, he was more inclined to do his best to help the lord.

"Knowledge is everything."

During the reverent prayers of the pastor, it didn't take long before a faint voice sounded from the bottom of his heart, awakening Tysander.

"My lord!"

Tysonde showed surprise on his face, and hurriedly knelt down to the god.

Oghma, the God of Knowledge, appears on the Material Plane as a handsome young adventurer, dressed in elaborate and richly decorated armor, and carrying a harp of snowwood with a beautiful sound.

Little by little divine brilliance emerged.

The tall statue was vaguely coated with a layer of golden light. Taisander knelt down and bowed his head, still feeling a pair of eyes full of majesty, as if watching from the distant kingdom of God.

“Remember: No matter how illusory or crazy a new idea may seem, we shouldn’t hide or cover it up, but let it be known and scrutinized by all.”

"Then why..." Tysander hesitated for a moment, then spoke slowly, but in the end he still didn't express his doubts.

"Knowledge is the greatest gift that mortals can get, and its value is more important than anything else."

"You can choose to stand under the banner of Zilong..."

The solemn voice of the god seemed to echo from far to near, echoing in the pastor's heart, and gradually disappeared.

As the brilliance of the statue gradually dimmed, Tysonde stood up regretfully, and the statue of Oghma in the hall also returned to normal.

As a priest, being able to communicate so directly with the gods he serves is simply a dream for him.

Moreover, he can also clearly sense that his stagnant strength is improving at a speed visible to the naked eye, and it seems that he is not far away from the Legend of Destiny.

"Stand under the banner of Zilong, not..."

Tysander stared at the statue, murmuring to himself the last sentence left by the God of Knowledge, which seemed to be a helpless sigh, but also seemed to be meaningful.

"Could it be that……"

The pastor looked shocked, as if he understood the myriad meanings contained in this sentence.

…………

Port of Masampa.

The blue sea is very calm, only the slow and steady beat of the drums and the gentle paddling of the wooden oars can be heard.

The laden merchant ships "My Fair Lady" and "Shy Maiden" groaned, the taut tow ropes were drawn away, and the bulging sails were slowly raised from the masts.

The High Priest of the Temple of Wealth is still dressed in jewels, like a graceful and luxurious lady.

She stood at the port, facing the wind, letting the salty sea breeze blow her loose golden priest robes fluttering, revealing the plump and slim silhouette of her graceful figure.

Watching the two wind snakes sailing with the ship, chasing each other in the clear blue sky, the high priest felt unprecedentedly happy.

The Tucans of the endless wilderness like to call the sea poisonous water. These nomads believe that as long as the horse cannot drink the liquid, it is unclean.

She saw on the My Fair Lady, three Tucan guards from the nomadic wilderness, the moment the merchant ship weighed anchor, their faces looked as if they were heading for the abyss, not for Mulhorand.

They stared at the shrinking coastline, their eyes widened and white, and they clung to the railing desperately, no matter how small the bumps were, they made them vomit.

Evidently, they seemed to prefer to dance with nervous horses than to see this terrifying world without land.

The corner of the high priest's mouth couldn't help showing a smile. She watched the two merchant ships that could take the gold from Mulhorand leave, and then returned to the temple. And to the scroll.

This is a palm-sized golden scroll, which means that there is very important information hidden in the information conveyed in the scroll.

Thinking of this, the High Priest brushed back his blond hair that was blown by the sea breeze, the smile on his face subsided, and he looked carefully.

After about ten minutes, the high priest put away the scroll, showing a thoughtful expression.

"The elder from Harua led his mage group to join Mokou Town." The high priest muttered to himself, showing an unexpected expression on his exquisite face reflected by the light of jewels.

As the High Priestess of the Goddess of Wealth, she manages the temples of the entire Kingdom of Cormyr, as well as the large-scale caravans.

This gave her a good understanding of the magical kingdom of Harua, which opened to foreign trade in the last century.

She originally thought that the mage lord of Mokou Town was just an extremely talented spellcaster, and because of Cormyr's frequent disasters, he succeeded in obtaining his current status.

Who ever thought that the other party was even more incredible than imagined.

When she learned that Alaad, the elder of Harua, brought nearly a thousand spellcasters with her silent wizard, all of them were loyal to the mage lord named Brian, which meant that she had to change her attitude toward him again. view.

At first, the purpose of making good friends with Brian was just to make it easier for him to take advantage of the hatred of the dark monarch Grazt against him when there might be turmoil in the dark region in the future, and take the opportunity to weaken the power of the demon lord.

However, what she didn't expect was that as she got to know the mage lord better, she became more and more interested in him.

She once went to Mokou Town in person. As the high priest with a pivotal position in the Temple of Wealth, she just took a casual look and immediately discovered that it was full of vigor and vitality, and gathered a lot of wealth.

Such a town located on the only way to the Ennook Desert, as long as there is a stable order, will soon attract many merchants who are trying to open the trade line between the central part of the mainland and the Northland.

This is exactly the case. Even several large-scale caravans managed by the Temple of Wealth have successfully opened up trade channels with the Northland and earned a lot of wealth.

Especially when Masumbo's rebellion was quelled, she invited Brian to her temple as a guest, and after talking about trade, she refreshed her understanding of him.

Among these conversations, what impressed the high priest the most was that Brian inadvertently chatted with her about a certain kingdom'33 gold coins' ruling the people.

As priests who believe in the goddess of wealth, they have very keen insight, especially in grasping wealth and business opportunities.

In the identity of Brian, the high priest has passed the important news through the scroll, marking him as the person with the strongest development potential among the guests he has seen so far.

Thinking of this, she felt that as the patriarch of all the temples of wealth in the Kingdom of Cormyr, it was necessary to carry out more in-depth cooperation with the other party.

She rubbed the ruby ​​ring on her finger lightly and began to think about how to cooperate with it.

As the mage lord of Mokou Town and the protector of the Kingdom of Cormyr, even the queen regent listened to him, and now he has won the allegiance of a powerful mage group.

Thinking back to the recent series of reform policies in the Kingdom of Cormyr, and Mokou Town, a town known as the 'pioneer of reform', the high priest realized that the descendant of the ancient Netheril Empire may have more ambitions than Cormier is that simple.

If he gathers the power of the entire Kingdom of Cormyr and defeats the City of Shadows, then he can use Mokou Town as a bridgehead to gradually conquer the entire Ennook Desert.

Although the largest desert on this continent is barren and there is no use value, but as the highest priest of the goddess of wealth, he has even personally participated in the adventurer who went to the bottomless abyss to save the goddess.

The high priest has long understood based on the information and knowledge he possessed that the fundamental reason why the former territory of Netheril turned into the barren Ennook Desert is the ancient monster buried deep underground—the Faerim Sorrel.

If the Felin Mokui can be completely wiped out, then it is only a matter of time before the desert can be turned into an oasis by manipulating weather spells or getting help from a god of the natural pantheon.

It's a big gamble!
After considering the ins and outs of the whole issue, the high priest instantly realized what kind of choice he was making.

As the Goddess of Wealth, once weakened to the point where her divine power was about to fall to the level of a demigod, she suddenly rushed to the realm of medium divine power. This is naturally related to the wealth, trade, currency and merchants controlled by the goddess.

In the realm of the Goddess of Wealth, once a war breaks out and trade is involved, her power will be affected, because in this case, there is basically no way to conduct trade, and naturally there is no way to improve the divine power she has obtained.

However, with the advent of the "Arcane Catastrophe", the unprecedented disaster almost spread to the entire continent. The power of the Goddess of Wealth not only did not fall, but increased steadily at an extremely fast speed. , and the help of the temple to protect the wealth is inseparable.

But for the goddess, this is already the limit, and it is obviously not advisable to rely on disasters and wars to break through the middle divine power in one fell swoop.

Under such circumstances, the high priest gradually set his sights on some potential kingdoms and territories.

After all, in a prosperous country, trade will also increase rapidly, living standards will improve, and the wealth accumulated by the people of the country will gradually increase.

If it continues to develop in this way, then the function of the Temple of Wealth to help civilian merchants or nobles keep their wealth will become an indispensable existence in everyone's life.

If such a prosperous and powerful empire can continue to develop continuously, it may even allow the goddess to obtain a new protection priesthood, even if it is promoted to a powerful divine power, it is not impossible.

In the eyes of the high priest, among the many countries she traveled to, whether it was Silvermoon City in the Northland, Waterdeep City in the Sword Coast, or even Amn, Calimshan and many other regions, none of them met her standards at all.

On the contrary, it was the series of reforms in Mokou Town that had just emerged, the emphasis on education and magic, as well as his identity as a descendant of Netheril and the joining of the Harua Mages, which gave her a glimmer of hope.

The most important thing is that when talking with the mage lord of Mokou Town, Brian also told her that when the other party traveled to other worlds on different planes, he had seen some prosperous countries, and they had long since given up gold and silver to forge Currency, replaced by notes and 'bank cards'.

These words of his are undoubtedly tantamount to helping the high priest open a new world and the future development direction of the Temple of Wealth.

Thinking of this, she was faintly ready to make a decision.

She is not only the high priest of the Temple of Wealth, but also a businessman who is extremely good at investing.

Hundreds of years have passed, and she can still vividly recall the growth history that changed her life.

She was born in an ordinary family in the Kingdom of Cormyr. If there were no accidents, she would spend her whole life working on the land.

When she was 20 years old, she hid her parents, mortgaged her house and real estate, and borrowed a sum of money from the Temple of Wealth in Daodan Town. She used the money to buy a large amount of acacia bark. Nose' guy buys there.

At that time, someone mocked her: If anyone would buy acacia bark from Sembia, he would be really stupid, because in the Kingdom of Cormyr, oak bark can be bought at an extremely cheap price.

But the next day, the Druids of the Kingdom of Cormyr threatened that if people did not stop destroying the oak trees, they would let the plague and locusts come to that land, and the elves of the Forest of Kings also supported the Druids.

As the ruler of the forest kingdom, the king of Cormyr announced a permanent embargo of oak trees, effective immediately, and the price of acacia trees continued to rise.

This was the first pot of gold she earned in her life, and she became a clergyman of the Goddess of Wealth, and eventually grew to her current status.

The high priest came back to his senses, his bright blue eyes gradually became firmer, and he beckoned, and a female priest in a golden robe walked in.

"Help me deliver this gift to Brian, the lord of Mokou Town." She took out a shiny gold card with the emblem of the Goddess of Wealth engraved on it, "This is a golden card from the Temple of Wealth." Card, as long as you hold it, you can withdraw 50 gold coins from any temple on the mainland at any time."

"You tell this lord." The high priest considered for a moment, then said slowly: "Although I need to establish a cooperative relationship with him, this gift is not within the scope of our next transaction. Represents the mind of the temple."

"In the Kingdom of Cormyr, the Temple of Wealth has the strongest financial resources and the largest caravan. We can fully afford any future construction."

Looking at the back of the female priest leaving, the high priest nodded slightly and turned to stare at the statue of the goddess.

Vol'jin, Goddess of Wealth, appears on the Material Plane as a slender young woman with gorgeous long, bright golden hair and eyes like two melting golden balls.

She wore a robe studded with various gemstones and precious metal sequins, a cloak strung with gold coins, a belt made of gold, and a pair of golden boots studded with large pearls.

As the goddess who controls wealth, the Temple of Wealth is not short of money, even if the 50 gold coins are given away, she will not feel a little distressed.

Right now, the only thing she lacks is a potential partner.

This should be her biggest investment with far-reaching significance so far.

Although returns cannot be obtained in a short period of time, if the investment is really successful, the returns obtained cannot be measured by money.

She believed that the lord of Mokou Town could make the most appropriate choice after seeing the gift she sent.

After all, if you have money, the rules can be changed; if you have power, the rules can serve you; if you have neither money nor power, then the rules are tailor-made for you.

…………

(End of this chapter)