Surviving The Fourth Calamity

The usually fearless Hill was still troubled for several days, unable to continue his meditation. Every day he would wander the small forest outside the tower, staring blankly into the distance.

However, one day while feeding the cat, the white cat gently jumped into his arms, meowed a few times, and tenderly licked Hill's cheek as he looked up.

Hill looked down into the cat's deep blue eyes and smiled gently, "Life is always full of surprises and twists and turns, but it's the little unexpected joys that keep me spirited and moving forward."

From that day on, the white cat began to play inside the Magic Tower, though it still went back to rest in the forest. But during the day, it was willing to stay by Hill's side.

Then one day, Hill crouched in front of the white cat and asked, "May I know the name of the beautiful miss?"

The white cat bit into the little fish Hill offered and said, "Alice!"

It really was a name befitting a cat! Hill silently exclaimed, petting Alice's little head, "Hello, Miss Alice!"

Alice gave him an elegant glance, pushed his hand away with her paw, bit the dry fish, and gently jumped onto the windowsill, where she lay down comfortably.

After that, Hill returned to his regular routine, the difference being that now he had Alice by his side.

When Adrian came back three months later, Hill had completely stabilized. He even asked Adrian curiously about his impressions.

"What a crazy race!" Adrian was on the verge of losing his mind, "I thought Undead meant that their lives never end! But they actually resurrect! The soul and the body are separate! Their bodies seem to be made by a God, and as long as the soul doesn't die, it can continue to be used! The Divine Power of the God of Time and Space is actually wasted on making bodies for them!"

Hill pulled him up saying, "Don't waste your breath, let's go to the study and tell Grandfather at the same time!"

Fran was quickly connected, probably having been waiting all along.

Adrian took a sip of wine, loosened his collar, and slumped on the sofa, saying listlessly, "Sometimes I think He is a devil who steals Divine Power, otherwise why would He create such a race! No shame, they scramble madly for any benefit, and they fight over the smallest advantages. Prince William's men are maintaining order every day!"

Hill said, "Then they must be easy to use, right?"

"Extremely easy to use! Not a shred of Professional dignity! Give them some money and you can boss them around. William had them build houses for commoners, and they were willing to do so!" Adrian reflected, "I don't know where this deity finds the souls. Although they are ruthless in their actions, they are all Neutral Faction. I saw several Paladins of the Lord of Justice throw Detect Alignment on them! And they turned out to be Chaotic Neutral and Lawful Neutral!"

Hill gently replied, "That's because they haven't really interacted much with the common people, right?"

"That's true! It seems William has his doubts too, as it's his men who deal with the Undead! Speaking of which, they are actually quite easy to talk to; they are happy building their own houses!" Adrian said with confusion, "William even placed them in a valley far from both the commoners and the Nobles. They have to walk a long distance every day to build houses for the commoners, but they don't seem to mind at all!"

Hill thought to himself, "If it were me, I'd be happy too! What kind of divine game is this where you get to have a house to build right from the start? In that keyboard game I played before, it took me 10 years to get a house, and it would crash unexpectedly, yet I still played with joy!"

Adrian continued, "I was originally planning to watch them for a longer period, or maybe interact with them!"

Hill gave him a sideways look, "Have you lost your mind?"

"I see them getting along with those Peekers who talk to them," Adrian said. "You just need to give them something in return to talk, and I can afford that!"

"If you talk to them, Prince William will know! Don't attract his attention! Grandfather is still in the Capital!" Hill strongly objected.

"Yes! Yes!" Adrian said, admittedly at fault, "I haven't gone ahead with it yet!"

"What's happened?"

"I overheard their conversation, they were talking about some tests coming to an end. More people are about to arrive soon! I calculated their numbers, there are already over a thousand, and more are coming!"

Fran suddenly interjected, "Are they all Professionals?"

"Yes, Teacher!" Adrian quickly sat up to speak. He and Hill forgot that Magisters could speak even during the activation of the communication device; luckily Fran could only listen, or Adrian would have been scolded if seen.

"There is another terrifying thing, they have an Alchemy Device that allows for communication between each other. And it's not just one-on-one, but multi-person communication. Sometimes, when something happens, almost instantly everyone is alerted. They can also directly inform Prince William; that's how some of Edward and Charles's people got exposed."

"No wonder there's no news at all from the Royal Capital," Fran almost laughed, "No matter, we can watch for a little while longer. If those Undead are really that many, I'll find an excuse to go to your side."

Hill immediately said, "Better come quickly."

Fran replied, "Edward and Charles should be the most anxious now! They looked down on William at the beginning, using him to establish their authority. They didn't expect that the one they forced away would become a Divine Envoy. Indeed, the Deities do not permit fighting among humans, nor wars between nations. But since William has a claim to the Saral succession and is associated with a newly born deity, there won't be any intervention from the Temple."

Adrian responded, "That's good then, whoever took action back then, now they can all be finished together!"

"It's unclear whether William is a Follower of the deities or the future high priest. But if Saral becomes a Divine Kingdom, a lot of people are going to be in trouble," Fran said, almost unable to suppress his laughter.

Hill thought to himself: I wonder if this William is the so-called God of Time and Space. Hill had also read some web novels about summoning The Fourth Calamity, where generally the protagonist becomes a king or a god. If William is a transmigrator, then he's probably destined to become a deity. No, maybe he's a pawn of the deity, and the system that helps him summon people might also become divine. Anyway, Saral's future is not going to be easy.

He suddenly looked up and asked Fran, "The King is said to have three more years, right? So if Prince William comes back leading the Undead to the Royal Capital within these three years, doesn't that mean he can directly inherit the throne?"

Adrian asked in surprise, "Do you think the Undead can form a large army? That would take tens of thousands of people, right?"

Fran said, "The test subjects they used to verify the summoning stability already numbered over a thousand, so the main force must be tens of thousands!"

Hill thought: Tens of thousands? If it were an online game, something this interesting would probably draw hundreds of thousands, not just tens of thousands. After all, such intelligent NPCs would be enough of an attraction!

He looked up and said, "Grandfather had better start packing. If something happens, we should just leave. I remember that Grandfather's contract with the Saral Royal Family can be terminated at any time."

Fran responded, "Yes. One must serve the Saral Royal Family upon reaching the Archmage stage, and only after becoming a Magister can one occupy a Magic Tower. If one no longer wishes to be a Tower Master, they can leave at any time."

Adrian spoke gloomily, "Originally, this tower was supposed to be ours; all that effort gone to waste."

Hill replied, "What matters most is staying alive, or would you prefer to become a devout Mage of the deities?"

"Forget it!" Adrian said, "The Saral Holy Kingdom, huh? It's been tens of thousands of years since a Holy Kingdom appeared. Who would have thought Saral would have this honor!"

In conclusion, Fran said, "Enough with the nonsense! I'll find a way to pass on the information to Edward and Charles. And I'll pack up anything important; if it comes to war, I'm leaving immediately! I have no interest in participating in the internal strife of Royalty!"

Hill knew well that if it were an external invasion, Fran would certainly stay and defend until the last moment. But the way the Saral Royal Family had treated his daughter made it crystal clear that Fran would not involve himself in their internal conflict. Moreover, with the involvement of the deities, it is likely that for the next few years, or at least until the God of Time and Space ascends the Divine Throne, all eyes of the deities will be on Saral. The common people of Saral, who are nearly all believers, will surely be safe during this time. As for the Nobles, Fran could not care less about their fate.

Before Fran cut off the communication, Hill hurriedly added a last request, "Grandfather, you should come over as soon as possible! I need your help too!"

Hill felt that these players probably came from a high-tech era, otherwise, they would need incredibly powerful server hosts to convincingly simulate such intelligent NPCs.

From the moment he first encountered this aberrant society, he found the behavior of the Nobles disgusting, their attitude of treating human life cheaply would be considered a mental disorder in Hill's world. Adrian, who merely looked down on commoners and servants without actually harming them, was practically an exceedingly good person by contrast.

The gap in living standards between Nobles, Professionals, and commoner slaves was like a coexistence of modern society with a bygone era of slavery. Hill's Magic Tower's kitchen used alchemy products powered by Elemental Crystals, not even requiring an open flame, yet some farm slaves couldn't even afford firewood. The terrifying class contradictions were firmly suppressed by sheer power.

Lacking the strength to rebel and being alone, Hill could only hide and turn a blind eye. But with the appearance of hundreds of thousands of players, who aren't afraid of death and are bold as brass, ready to help whenever they see injustice, ready to teach innocent and ignorant peasants' children, this continent that had maintained a slave society for hundreds of thousands of years was about to boil over into a tumultuous mess.

If Hill were among these players, he would also have no hesitation in rebelling against the Nobility that oppresses the commoners. What is there to fear from divine retribution in just a game? And besides, why would the Human deities punish players who help peasants, the very foundation of their worship? In the end, the only thing the deities could do was to compete for faith. These are hundreds of thousands of Professionals! Hill believed that the God of Time and Space couldn't control the players' determination to convert, as long as the benefits were right. The players could take actions beyond their own understanding.

If the ever-serious and indifferent Fran were to clash with the players, he would certainly be enraged to death! Their way of thinking was something Fran could never comprehend.

In the past, Hill had thoughts of developing his territory, but now he could give up on that. Better to invite Fran over to build another Magic Tower!