"The Red Knight is going too far." The Lord of Shadows said angrily, "Does she really want to provoke an all-out divine war? Do I really think I'm afraid of her?"
A bluff.
This is the evaluation that rose in Gavin and Catherine's hearts at the same time.
A truly ruthless person would never make random noises here. He would have issued an oracle long ago and started an all-out war.
"This war was commanded by General Gavin, who used his own strength. From the beginning to the end, the lady did not take action. Naturally, he should talk to you, not the lady." Catherine gave the answer, The Lord of Shadows choked and didn't reply for a long time.
Because the other party's implication is very obvious. If you want Ms. Strategy to come out and talk to you, that's fine.
Force the lady to come out yourself.
If he had a card available, he would have used it long ago and would not have waited until now.
The Lord of Shadows turned his attention to Gavin again, and said as if he was getting to know him again: "I didn't expect General Gavin's weight to be so heavy. Can you really represent Ms. Strategy?"
Musk is indeed bluffing.
He was testing in a roundabout way, but in fact, his attention was always on Gavin.
Not only observing his micro-expressions, but even paying attention to the fluctuations of his soul.
I want to collect information that is beneficial to myself to make it easier for subsequent negotiations.
Unfortunately, this time he met his opponent.
The other party behaved perfectly from the inside out. It was not the indifference of a robot, but the wisdom in his hand, as if he had already anticipated what he wanted to do.
This is the look he hates the most, because once he sees this look, it means that his conspiracy will fail.
"It all depends on what the Lord of Shadows is talking about. If it's just on the ground, I think I can make most of the decisions. If it's on the upper plane, I can't do anything." Wen's answer is watertight.
While not giving the other party a chance to sow discord between himself and Ms. Strategy, he also showed that he has sufficient decision-making power.
"I won't argue with you today." Musk said with a kind and generous look, "Return the shadow divinity and the shadow nest. I will forget the blame. The two sides have ceased the war and will not continue. Pointless attacks and assassinations."
"Haha..." Gavin laughed out loud, as if he had heard the most ridiculous joke.
Musk looked on coldly and didn't ask why he was laughing. He was just asking for trouble.
Seeing that the other party was not talking to him, Gavin could only restrain his smile and said: "Your Majesty, you really know how to joke. In this world, how can there be any reason to spit out the food you eat?
This is your core teaching. < br>
This is our loot. Unless you can exchange it for something of equal value, there is no possibility of returning it.
If you put this aside, I agree with the truce, but there is one more thing to add. ”
The Lord of Shadows was rendered speechless.
This is a typical example of using one's own spear to attack one's own shield.
Although the other party's statement is vulgar, it is indeed his core teachings. Only in this way can they openly take possession of the property stolen and deceived.
If you deny the other party’s rhetoric, you are denying your own core teachings.
The consequences of this matter are far greater than the lost benefits.
This opponent is more difficult than most of the opponents he has encountered before.
"You can keep your loot, but I will also reserve the right to take back the shadow divinity by force. When you try to use the shadow divinity to condense the shadow godhead, the truce agreement will be automatically destroyed." The Lord of Shadows threw Set your own bottom line.
He can tacitly allow Gavin to hold the shadow divinity, but he will never allow anyone to condense the shadow divinity.
In this world, there are not a few people who hold shadow divinity. Some powerful shadow creatures may breed shadow divinity in their bodies. After all, the difficulty of breeding divinity is not particularly high, as long as the corresponding requirements are met. That’s it.
But if the divine nature is used to condense the divine personality, then there are two natures.
This is something that all the gods are extremely afraid of. They will not sit back and watch the same godhead appear.
“This is natural.” Gavin promised without hesitation.
Not only because he has no intention of peeking into the shadow priesthood for the time being, but also because he knows that these priesthoods that already have owners are not so easy to seize.
These gods already have prior sovereignty. As long as the same godhead appears within the coverage of their gods, they will immediately feel the presence of the godhead, and can even roughly sense the location of the godhead.
Stripping these challengers in the cradle is the choice of most gods, unless there are other arrangements or conspiracy.
For owners of the same godhead, both parties will automatically enter a state of divine warfare, and many divine laws will no longer apply to them until the true ownership of the priesthood is determined again.
So far, in the history of the gods of Faerûn, there has never been a mortal who has successfully usurped the priesthood.
The apotheosis of Cyric and Midnight is not a usurpation of the priesthood, but promotion. It comes from the sacred will of the god Io. It is a major reshuffle of power in the Faerun pantheon.
The remaining changes in the gods are either new priesthoods and new gods that follow the development of the world and advance with the times, such as Ms. Strategy.
Either there was something wrong with the previous god, serious dereliction of duty, or he was eliminated by history and was replaced by a new god.
Or the gods are usurping each other's responsibilities.
In addition, the shadow priest also has a reporter-the goddess of the night, Shar.
The relationship between night and shadow is very close. Shar has always wanted to bring the shadow priesthood under her control, and her Shadow Demon Network has already shown signs of this.
The Lord of Shadows dared not speak out in anger about this.
Not only because the other party is his mother, but also because the other party is far more powerful than him.
If a divine war breaks out for the Shadow Priesthood, this dark goddess will definitely get involved.
For a short period of time, Gavin did not want to get involved with this difficult master and attract her attention.
"Then tell me your conditions." What Musk put forward before was more of a warning than a condition.
In the end, you still rely on your own strength. When the opponent really condenses the shadow godhead, it means that he is ready for a divine battle.
After this series of conflicts, the Lord of Shadows has a clearer understanding of Ms. Strategy and her followers.
They are different from previous enemies. They are better at planning, and many things are interlocked.
Such an enemy must be treated more carefully, otherwise it is easy to suffer heavy losses.
"Exchange souls, one-to-one exchange of the souls of believers on both sides." Gavin was naturally not referring to ordinary souls, but to those strategic priests who were assassinated by shadow assassins.
Their souls may have been imprisoned by the shadow assassins using secret methods, or they may have been stolen into the kingdom of the Lord of Shadows.
Gavin believes the latter is more likely.
Since the soul can be plundered, it can naturally be stolen.
"One to three, if you want to, just switch. If you don't want to, forget it. Anyway, I don't lack this bit of soul." The Lion, the Lord of Shadows, opened his mouth.
He has spotted that Ms. Strategy is in the early stages of development, and the number of dedicated priests and priests is small, and their importance is much higher than his own.
"It's settled, one to three, same life dice exchange." This time Gavin did not bargain with the Lord of Shadows.
That is not just the exclusive sacrifice of three hundred strategic ladies, but also three hundred outstanding middle and low-level commanders.
As for those shadow assassins, their movements were restricted in the Vizeme Manor and they could not play their best role in gathering intelligence. They might as well exchange them for something more useful to them.
Moreover, these shadow assassins once stayed in their own Vizeme Manor, and were forced to fight for Gavin before. After they return, whether they can still gain the trust and reuse of their own organization, then two questions Said.
The number of shadow thieves that Gavin and the others destroyed was far higher than the number of exclusive priests that they assassinated.
Even after exchanging all the exclusive sacrificial souls back, Gavin still has a lot of money left.
"Someone will take the initiative to come to you about soul exchange. I hope you can keep your agreement." Musk's divine incarnation began to gradually fade, and finally turned into a shadow and blended into the surrounding shadows and disappeared. His current activity time was gained by risking being bitten by the Chaos Demonic Dog, and he tried to fight as quickly as possible.
After watching the divine incarnation of the Lord of Shadows leave, Gavin and Catherine retreated directly into the dream shield.
Although the armistice agreement between the two sides is a verbal agreement, when both sides are wary, the reliability is still relatively high, unless it is determined that it is really possible to completely defeat the other party.
The war in Shadow Nest has basically ended, and there are no more living shadow assassins to be seen.
Weizeme Manor Disaster Relief has launched a comprehensive attack on Shadownest.
It can directly corrode and transform those finished buildings with the power of shadow, turning them into a part of itself.
The difference from the past is that this time it is not as simple as transformation, but out-and-out devouring.
Vezeme Manor is using the buildings converted from Shadow Nest to upgrade itself.
Vizeme Manor had a humble beginning. It was just a family manor established by a merchant noble. The main body was a three-story main building.
Although Gavin later expanded it, it mainly stayed below the surface, and there were not much changes above it.
Wait until there is Myth Noel's Tower of Dominance and the two can be connected.
Even the underground expansion has been terminated, and most of the ancillary functions such as the Shadow Factory and the Shadow Warehouse have been transferred out.
The biggest role of Vizeme Manor now is to serve as the bearer of immortality and to brew ghost wine.
The function of the latter has also gradually weakened due to the opening of ghost wine brewing workshops in other areas.
Shadow Nest is an out-and-out castle. It covers an area that is more than ten times larger than the Vizeme Manor, and the number of buildings is not comparable to it. It is enough to accommodate three to four thousand people at the same time. Live here.
Vizeme Manor is a typical example of a small house that swallows a big one.
However, it can handle it with ease, because it not only possesses the immortality of divinity, but also possesses a large number of shadow divinity, and its carrying capacity is not the same as at the beginning.
Without the resistance of the Shadow City's Mystery Lock controlled by the Shadow Masters, the Vizeme Manor devoured the Shadow Nest at an alarming rate.
Shadownest itself is infused with the power of shadows. Weizeme Manor can now take over directly with its own power.
By the time the Shadow Nest was devoured, the overall Wezeme Manor had not changed much. At best, the main building of the manor had changed from three floors to five floors.
But if you can see its shadow, you will find that the real difference is that it is a castle.
Vezeme Manor has become a multi-structured structure. In addition to the underground, there is also an additional layer of shadow castle.
"Hiss..."
Although Gavin and Catherine are both people who have seen the big world, they can't help but gasp at this time. They are now in a place that has been transformed into a shadow. In the Shadow Nest treasure house of the castle.
“Are these shadow thieves born in the year of the dragon? How come they have so much gold in their treasure house?”
"Everyone says that the wealth of the Church of the Lord of Thieves is second only to that of Woking, the goddess of wealth. I originally thought it was a rumor, but now it seems that the rumors are conservative. How much gold must there be here? Fifty million? Or is it? One hundred million?”
“Eight thousand three hundred and twenty-one” Ten thousand, the records in the treasury account book are clear, and even the various currencies are clearly recorded. This should be the people's wealth and anointing they have plundered from Tefram City over the years, and now it all belongs to us."
< br>The treasures in the Shadow Nest treasure house are terrifyingly single.
There are no gems, diamonds, or magic weapons and equipment, only currency.
The types of these currencies are very diverse, including magic gold coins from Cyre, dena (gold coin name) from the southern region, Drogan from Waterdeep City, golden lions from the Kingdom of Cormyr, and San Bea's Nubo.
However, the largest quantity is gold bricks and gold bars. Both have standard weights. The former is ten kilograms per piece, and the latter is one kilogram per piece.
Although whether it is the iron ore production line in Colossus City or the military gift package given to Gavin by the Leatherman Kingdom, they far exceed the value of this treasure house.
But those are fixed assets, far less shocking than such a pile of gold coins piled here.
Fyodor replied respectfully on the side: "Shadow energy is very corrosive, whether it is magic equipment or various casting materials, if it is stored here for a long time.
They will inevitably be eroded by shadow energy, slowly giving them shadow attributes. This can certainly enhance the special effects of shadows, but similarly, they will also be suppressed if exposed to sunlight
Therefore, the Shadow Master Guild has another treasure house in the material plane, and there are more than one. They will not put all the treasures in one place.
Only gold is not afraid of the erosion of shadow energy. On the contrary, it will make it more pure and more sought after and loved by the world.
Shadownest's treasury is mainly prepared for Far Eastern trade.
Although the Shadow Master Guild itself is not directly engaged in Far East trade, they control 30% of the market share through funds.
They will use various means to bring down those legitimate businessmen and cut off their capital chain, and then they will come to them and provide them with high usury loans.
If they succeed in bringing back goods from the Far East, the profits will barely be enough to pay off these loan sharks.
If they fail, then all the properties of those merchants will belong to the Shadow Master Guild.
The Far Eastern countries do not recognize the currency of Faerûn, but they will not reject this gold brick and gold bar with astonishing purity. ”
This shadow assassin is now in a real shadow state.
Since he lost his shadow, he has been hiding in the shadow nest where he thought he was safe. Unexpectedly, But it became a guide for Gavin.
Although the two are the same person, they are not exactly the same.
The real shadow belongs to the undead and has no emotions. Naturally, it cannot be said to be loyal to the Shadow Master Guild, and directly uses the leading party to the extreme.
"It's really a bank vault! It's just gangster in nature, completely shady. He eats his own meat and won't even let anyone drink soup." Gavin suddenly realized.
That makes sense.
At the same time, I have a deeper understanding of the darkness of the Shadow Master Guild.
Anyway, this is a no-loss business, all risks are borne by those businessmen, but they make the most profits.
No wonder those merchants in Tefram City gnashed their teeth with hatred when they mentioned the Shadow Master Guild.
It is estimated that many people have witnessed the businessmen around them having their families broken up and their families destroyed, and some have even experienced it personally.
“What is a bank?” Catherine keenly grasped the key to Gavin’s complaint.
The two have known each other for more than a day or two, and they are very clear that the identity of the man in front of them is much more complicated than it seems. New terms mentioned inadvertently have their own special meanings.
This time Gavin did not explain it vaguely, but explained patiently: "A bank is a currency exchange with a more complete function. It not only provides different types of currency exchange, but also takes into account the function of storing currency or valuable goods. , if its own funds are strong enough, it can even provide credit services. "
The Currency Exchange is a currency institution in Faerun itself. Its main business is to provide currency exchange in countries in different regions.
But except for cities like Waterdeep that have a lot of trade with many regions and have specialized currency exchange offices.
Most currency exchange offices are part-time, either mercenary unions, king mints, lords' firms, or churches and monasteries. There are also some large businesses or shops that provide similar service industries.
As long as you have enough financial resources and a wide enough variety of currencies to meet the needs of customers, you can engage in this industry.
Most people still choose places with strong strength and reliable reputation to prevent being defrauded.
Among them, the church and monastery of Woking, the goddess of wealth, is the first choice. The possibility of exchanging counterfeit money here is the least, but the fees here are often the highest. Some people are forced to take risks and look for other preferential options.
Katherine asked: "The credit business you are talking about is not the loan sharking of the Shadow Master Guild, right?"
This kind of business is not unique to the Shadow Master Guild, and can be found all over Faerûn. Most of the gangs and thieves unions will carry out this kind of business as long as they have enough strength, especially in places with casinos and pornographic venues, this kind of business is more prosperous.
Because this method of getting money is sometimes faster than stealing money openly, it is also difficult for outsiders to interfere.
In many places, although it is black, it is legal because the two parties signed a contract at the beginning, and many slaves were born in this way.
The Shadow Master Guild is just bigger and darker than ordinary gangster organizations. (End of this chapter)