My health recovery is incredibly fast.

"Only after gaining your complete trust will you reveal your true feelings, take the initiative to resolve the barriers between yourself and the Temple, and avoid sliding into the abyss of depravity due to a momentary unintentional mistake."

Rexor reached out and patted Shazo on the shoulder. "I have told you the greatest secret of the Witcher School, and you have witnessed my sacrifice and rebirth. So, do I now have your complete trust?"

Chapter 84 Mobilization

Rexor was right.

Before the primordial smoke overhead dissipated, Xia Zuo's area of ​​operation was only this size. Everywhere in the world belonged to either the Temple or the Church of the Otherworldly Demons.

If Xia Zuo is indeed convicted of disloyalty by Nie Jingji during the major investigation, then there are only two possible consequences for him.

First, in accordance with the temple's decrees, all rights and status were stripped, all spellcasting abilities were sealed, and he was thrown into a prison in the frozen snowfield to receive life imprisonment.

The second option is to voluntarily relinquish one's bloodline power and become a master alchemist who only knows elemental magic and has mastered some alchemy, spending their entire life in a designated position until they die of old age.

With the help of a cheat code, how will Xia Zuo resist such harsh punishment?

Slaughtering living beings, recovering vitality, reaping experience, and breaking out of the temple territory, he was hunted down by the temple and turned against his former friends.

Or perhaps they prayed that their cheat ability could counteract the temple's sealing array, forcibly preserving a portion of their bloodline power during the bloodline extraction surgery, secretly accumulating energy for their escape?

Xia Zuo felt that he did not want to see either of these consequences.

Moreover, he didn't think Rexol was trying to fool him.

Having witnessed the decision-making process of the two temples, Xia Zuo deeply understood the profound meaning behind the statement "classical Z may become the tyranny of the majority".

(Note: This refers to classical governance, not modern governance; it specifically refers to a governance system similar to that of ancient Athens. This quote is from a history textbook.)

Based on my experience participating in the two temple councils, when sacrificing one person can satisfy the interests of the majority, voting to pass something that may be in accordance with or against the law or moral principles will proceed without hindrance.

The most typical and vivid example is Calles.

Replacing Callus with a full metal body would definitely go against Callus's personal wishes.

However, if this plan is approved by the two councils, it will be inevitable, no matter how much Callus himself opposes it, because there are plenty of people who want his biological materials and bloodline power.

This time, with the help of Rexor and Selena, Shazo successfully avoided a trap, but the next time might be different.

He didn't want to become a target of tyranny, so he had to come up with a solution:

Leveraging his superior abilities, he aims to secure an unassailable and untouchable position within the Temple, with the ultimate goal of wielding immense influence in the council of the two temples. At that point, Xia Zuo may not participate in routine decision-making or express his own opinions, but when matters concern him and his allies, he must possess veto power.

When the primordial smoke dissipates and Xia Zuo regains the strength to leave this planet and travel to other planets, he will then have the means to break away from the Temple.

What a hassle... In order to openly show off and legitimately display one's divine power in front of others, one has to form cliques... This is because the rulers of this world are very powerful and control almost everything and everyone in their territory—the Temple relies on the element of light to rule the elite class of mages and uses laws and decrees to covenant with ordinary mages and common people, while the Church of the Otherworld relies on secret chambers and blood ties.

Faced with this transmigration situation, Xia Zuo felt somewhat helpless.

Let's start by finding reliable allies to change the situation.

Is the bald head in front of me appropriate?

Xia Zuo pondered for a moment, then nodded to himself in approval. The other party was an excellent choice in terms of virtue, personality, and experience.

“Master, I can completely trust you,” Xia Zuo said.

Rexor nodded steadily. "It's an honor to have your trust; it's no easy feat. According to the experience summarized by the Demon Hunter school, a pureblood mage's caution and aloofness are often directly proportional to their true strength. Among the pureblood mages I've seen, your caution and aloofness definitely rank in the top three. So... would you like to talk to me about your blood magic?"

Xia Zuo hesitated... He needed to consider which blood magic to reveal.

Rexol said, "There's something you might not know yet."

The bald man took out a parchment scroll from his alchemy pouch and spread it on the table. "The Warriors' Guild has drafted a wartime mobilization order, which is the one in front of you. The Church of the Otherworldly Demons is coming on strong, with an army of over 110 million Otherworldly Demons, which is a huge weight on the hearts of everyone who knows about it. Although the Temple will surely defeat the Church of the Otherworldly Demons, this belief still needs to be supported by sufficient military strength."

Rexor pointed to a few lines of text on the parchment: “The Temple’s regular army of mages numbers 32. After the wartime mobilization order is issued, 12 retired army mages can be urgently conscripted, and the existing 15 reserve army mages can be promoted to regular ranks, totaling 59 army mages, which will be the main force of the Temple’s army. This number is only half the size of the demon army, which is worrying.”

“Look here.” Rexor pointed to a few more paragraphs of text. “The Temple Army will continue to recruit non-combat-oriented mages into the army. These mages will have the same spoils distribution rights as army mages, and in principle, the latter must accept the former’s command.”

“Look here again.” Rexor’s finger moved to another spot. “In order to maximize the incentive for non-combat-oriented mages to enlist and participate in the war, the Warriors’ Guild proposed to use the territory of the Church of the Otherworld as a reward. Every participant who establishes outstanding military merits can exchange for a permanent fief located within the territory of the Church of the Otherworld after the war, based on the military merits established in the war.”

Xia Zuo was slightly moved. "A permanent fiefdom? Everything above and below ground belongs to the lord permanently?"

The land ownership situation within the temple territory is somewhat similar to Xia Zuo's previous life, with all ownership held by the government. Owning a piece of land entirely was something he never dared to dream of, yet he unexpectedly had the opportunity to achieve it after transmigrating.

Rexor nodded and said, “Just as you thought, the ‘lord’ mentioned on the parchment refers to the lords of the previous era. Since the founding of the Temple, this is the first time the Temple has used the investiture of a lord as a reward for a task, and it will probably be the last. You should know what it means to own a territory that truly belongs to you. As long as your actions do not violate the Temple’s laws, you will always be a lord with absolute control over the land. You can have your own people, property, manors, farmland, and a legal private guard.”

Xia Zuo's expression gradually became strange.

Using land as a reward is perfectly acceptable, after all, this is an epic battle concerning the life and death of the temple.

The problem is, if Xia Zuo remembers correctly, the territory of the Church of the Otherworldly Demons, that is, the interior of the anti-magic field, should have been severely corroded by the shadow energy of the dark room, right?

The Temple defeated the Church of the Otherworld and gained all of their territories, but that couldn't change the fact that the land was riddled with holes.

Any military mage granted land must spend a fortune to purchase alchemical devices to improve the ecological environment, hire expensive alchemists and tower mages, and thoroughly repair their land before it can be officially put into use…

The cost of the renovation is estimated to be astronomical, potentially exceeding the value of the land itself.

Xia Zuo scratched his head and asked Rexor, "Master, is there a discount for land repairs?"

Rexol asked, "Are you worried that after you get the land, you won't be able to afford the cost of environmental remediation?"

“Yes.” Xia Zuo nodded.

“The truth is quite the opposite, Shazo.” Rexor turned the parchment over and pointed to the text on the back, saying, “Military mages who receive fiefdoms will not have to pay any fees for environmental modifications. Moreover, if they can cooperate with the Temple to recover shadow energy, the lord will also receive a reward from the Temple, mainly material support for the construction of the territory.”

"Why is that?" Xia Zuo asked.

“Because the Temple is sorely lacking in shadow energy.” Rexor took out another parchment scroll.

The parchment scroll contained a three-dimensional image constructed using illusion magic.

Xia Zuo immediately recognized the 3D image. "Isn't this the internal structure diagram of the energy center of the Otherworldly Church?"

“Yes.” Rexor nodded. “After receiving the intelligence you brought back for Kalles, the Tower Scholars immediately began studying the internal structure of the Energy Hub. They came to a preliminary conclusion: replicating this dimensional device called [Saguma's Ancient Obsession] requires nine different types of energy, with shadow energy being the most abundant, which happens to be the rarest energy in the Temple.”

Rexor placed the two parchment scrolls together and said, "The Temple will attack the territory of the Church of the Otherworldly Demons, seizing land while simultaneously extracting shadow energy from the land to create dimensional devices. At the same time, they will use these devices to solidify the natural laws of the land, completely erasing the cracks and fissures in the Dark Chamber and preventing a counterattack from the Church of the Otherworldly Demons. If all goes well, these two events will begin and end at the same time."

Upon hearing this, Xia Zuo immediately thought of a wise saying: If we don't have guns and running, the enemy will make them for us.

When applied to the Temple, this statement becomes: Without shadow energy, the Church of the Otherworld creates it for us...

This idea of ​​using war to sustain war does sound feasible.

However, this will only work if the temple's mage army can advance steadily within the anti-magic field.

After a moment's thought, Xia Zuo understood one thing:

This is an unequal war.

The Church of the Otherworldly Demons' greatest advantage is not its army of 110 million Otherworldly Demons, but its anti-magic field.

In the early stages of the war, the Temple could only adopt a passive defensive posture.

Because the only army mages under its command capable of fighting in the anti-magic field are mages proficient in mental energy, pure-blood mages proficient in blood magic, self-enhancing bloodline awakeners, and a small group of shadow mages who can manipulate shadow energy.

The above four types of mages number less than 300, and are unlikely to amount to much.

If the Temple wants to launch a counterattack against the Church of the Otherworldly Demons and seize the land within the anti-magic field, it must first expand its ranks of the four types of mages to at least a thousand and successfully establish its first base within the anti-magic field.

Only in this way will the balance of war begin to tilt in favor of the Temple, the situation will turn around, and the war will enter the mid-stage counter-offensive phase.

The most crucial point lies in the four types of mages mentioned above.

How to quickly expand the number of these four types of mages?

There's no need to consider mages who are proficient in psychic energy, because such mages have limited ability in direct combat.

There's no need to consider the Shadow Mages; throwing them into the anti-magic field is like giving the Shadow Demon Overlord a huge gift.

That leaves the temple with only two options.

One is a self-enhancing type of bloodline power awakener. The artificial bloodline project perfectly caters to the need to expand the number of mages of this type. However, the research process for this project is relatively slow, and it will take at least a year to produce satisfactory results.

and so!

If the Temple wants to rapidly increase its troop numbers, there's only one way!

That is to use Xia Zuo's blood element servants to mass-produce pureblood mages, secretly build a powerful team of pureblood mages, and strike them hard when the Church of the Otherworld is on guard.

Once you understand this, then look at the conversation now.

Gee tut.

It's all a routine.

Fortunately, I've always been a rational thinker and rarely act on emotion... Xia Zuo nodded to himself and gave himself a thumbs up.

Does the temple want to use his blood servants?

can.

But a suitable price must be offered; he is not the kind of person who gives unconditionally based on sentiment, affection, and loyalty.

Offering one's own price upfront is tantamount to revealing one's bottom line, making one appear extremely naive. Xia Zuo, having lived an extra lifetime, certainly knows these negotiation tricks.

Moreover, in order to protect himself and avoid being exploited by the two temples, Xia Zuo had to set up some secret and reliable backup plans, including but not limited to tampering with the blood magic shared by the blood element servants, or deliberately obscuring certain key matters to mislead the partners without leaving any trace, but without leaving any handle or causing any negative impact.

While reading the parchment scroll, Xia Zuo quietly formulated a plan in his mind.

After reading the wartime mobilization order, he pondered for nearly a minute before carefully choosing his tone and speaking:

“Master, are you trying to encourage me to join the battle, earn military merits, and obtain a fiefdom? I admit I am somewhat tempted, but I also know the cruelty of war. Compared to fighting on the front lines myself, I feel it is more appropriate for me to stay behind and provide support to the front lines.”

In this passage, Xia Zuo subtly reveals that he already knows the temple's intentions, and at the same time puts forward some of his own demands, hoping to use this as a starting point for bargaining.

But Rexor wasn't buying it.

He glared at him and said:

"Don't try anything funny with me, Shazo. I'm a demon hunter, not a ZK. I know you know what I mean, and I know you know what I mean."

“I admit that my previous remarks did have some ulterior motives, but now that we have established a foundation of mutual trust, let’s be frank about it.”

"Ahem, alright, I'm all ears." Xia Zuo coughed lightly, not expecting the other party to flip the table first...

The bald man's control over the pace of the conversation was so precise; no wonder he's an old man who's lived for over a thousand years…

Rexor said, “I think you’ve already realized that your Blood Elemental servants are crucial to this war. Their ability to transform ordinary people into pure-blood mages is exactly what the Temple desperately needs right now. The Temple army has asked me to inquire of you what price they would pay for your help in transforming 1000 well-trained army mages into pure-blood mages.”

Chapter 85 Blood Mage Wholesaler