Chapter 820: Complex And Complicated
Take the Brilliance Shrine as an example. Putting the pope and the four archbishops aside, the cardinals alone were at least Legendary powerhouses. There were also the Brilliance Knights who were responsible for guarding, and were led by a Sword Sage. Actually, there were nearly 100 Legendary powerhouses in the Brilliance Shrine. Such a force was not to be trifled with at all.
As for the Tower of Dusk, there were barely any such powerhouses apart from the Legendary-level President and his Legendary Undead servants, at least in the eyes of others. Even if the other mages already reached the peak of level-19, they would still be unable to pose any threat to a real Legendary powerhouse unless they took the last step.
“However, even if it’s just you and your two Undead servants, I doubt there’ll be many forces who dare to go against you,” said Englos, who actually wasn’t too sure about the actual power of the Tower of Dusk. However, he knew that Lin Li’s abilities were at the pinnacle of the Legendary-realm, and he definitely was too strong for an ordinary Legendary powerhouse to contend with. Hence, he wasn’t too worried about the Tower of Dusk at this moment.
“Yeah, the Breezy Plains isn’t large after all,” Lin Li said with a nod.
Actually, the top force of the Breezy Plains was definitely the Glittergold Trade Union. Even in the Felan Kingdom and the entire Anril, the Glittergold Trade Union was considered a powerful force. However, the Glittergold Trade Union was the first to establish a cooperative relationship with the Tower of Dusk because they were well aware of the true value of the Tower of Dusk, and also knew that their longtime cooperation had allowed them to continuously obtain considerable benefits. Hence, it definitely wasn’t the Glittergold Trade Union.
The Dark Blade used to be the top bandit force of the Breezy Plains, and if it were in the past, they would definitely be one of the culprits. Unfortunately, as the three Legendary leaders were gone, the Dark Blade had become so weak that it could barely survive. Although the Tower of Dusk had not taken any action against the remaining members of the Dark Blade, the Malfa Family definitely wouldn’t allow the second Dark Blade to appear.
As for the Malfa Family, they might be the top family in the Breezy Plains, but they were no longer on the same level as the Tower of Dusk in terms of strength. Given Cheyenne’s wits and shrewdness, he definitely wouldn’t partic.i.p.ate in such things. Moreover, the cooperation between the Malfa Family and the Tower of Dusk would only bring him even more benefits. On the contrary, the Tower of Dusk becoming unstable would be the last thing that they wanted.
Whenever the top forces of the Breezy Plains were concerned, the top 10 bandit groups, top families, and major mercenary corps would definitely be mentioned and ranked according to power. However, in the vast Breezy Plains, there were plenty of forces of various sizes, some of which existed even since the Dark Age. How could they be defined based on just some rankings? The established forces were actually disdainful of such boring games, and they preferred manipulating things behind the scenes. Interests were the most important to them.
When Lin Li first established the Tower of Dusk, his knowledge of the various forces of the Breezy Plains was actually based on the rankings, and the traditional forces in the Breezy Plains were rather repulsed by outsiders like him. Hence, they naturally would not tell him which forces to be careful about in the Breezy Plains. As for the Malfa Family, they were actually also considered an external force, even though they had a cooperative relationship with the Tower of Dusk. They had only been established in the Breezy Plains for hundreds of years, and had yet to integrate themselves into the circle of traditional forces in the Breezy Plains.
However, there was something about Lin Li that Cheyenne could not compare to, and that was his sources of information, which were not limited to the Breezy Plains. In particular, he had been shuttling between the Brilliance Shrine and the Darkness Shrine, both of which had been standing strong since the end of the Dark Age. Everything that had happened in Anril after the Dark Age was known to them, what more information on the traditional forces.
Hence, after hearing Alan mention the unknown forces, Lin Li immediately thought of the so-called established forces which often hid behind a facade. He linked it to the information in his memory, and could almost guess the ident.i.ty of the unknown forces. In Lin Li’s opinion, the greatest suspects in the Breezy Plains would be the Blood Moon Clan and the Mithril Alliance. Of course, they definitely had the support of many other forces.
It was said that the predecessor of the Blood Moon Clan was the Blood Moon Guards helmed by a High Elven leader. Most of its members carried the blood of both humans and the High Elves. Of course, the hybridization did not mean that the High Elves had mated with humans. After all, mating was not the only method of hybridization in Anril. Besides, apart from the hybridization between High Elves and humans, there were also hybrids of humans and wyrms, or humans and Abyssal Demons. In short, the Blood Moon Guards were also labeled as the Hybrid Legion by the rebellion forces at the end of the Dark Age.
During the war at the end of the Dark Age, the Blood Moon Guards and the High Elven lord failed to stop the rebellion forces. As a result, the High Elven lord was killed, while the remaining survivors of the Blood Moon Guards fled into the Abyss. The rebellion forces only disbanded at the end of the Dark Age because of a conflict of interests, and the remaining members of the Blood Moon Guards quietly returned to Anril. They then became a powerful underground force under the name “Blood Moon Clan” in the Breezy Plains.
The hybridized members of the Blood Moon Clan were no different from humans when they were not awakened, and no one noticed them for a long time. Their secret was only discovered when the Brilliance Shrine was purifying a heretic from the Blood Moon Clan. However, at that time, the power of the Brilliance Shrine was no longer effective in the Breezy Plains. Hence, they decided to leave something behind in the Felan Kingdom.
Of course, not all members of the Blood Moon Clan were hybrids now, because they did not have the hybridization techniques that were used back then. Only the core members of the clan were hybridized humans, who were definitely terrifyingly powerful since they could live until now.
Unlike the Blood Moon Clan, the Mithril Alliance was a force that was purely made up of humans, and had a longer history than them. It had already existed in the Breezy Plains at the end of the Dark Age, and was truly an established force. The original Mithril Alliance was composed of 13 families of the Breezy Plains, none of which the Malfa Family could compare to. At the end of the Dark Age, they became the actual rulers of the Breezy Plains, and even the Felan Kingdom could not intervene or mess with them.
However, during the battle with the Blood Moon Clan, seven families of the Mithril Alliance were destroyed. One of the reasons was because the Blood Moon Clan was incredibly powerful, but another was that there was an internal war within the Mithril Alliance. After the demise of the seven families, the remaining six families of the Mithril Alliance quickly reached a truce with the Blood Moon Clan to stop the war, and they split the huge wealth acc.u.mulated by the seven fallen families amongst themselves.
The Blood Moon Clan and the Mithril Alliance were hidden in the present-day Breezy Plains, and only very few people knew about the state of those two forces. In fact, most people had never even heard of their names. However, they had plenty of informants who lurked in every corner across the Breezy Plains.
It was said that many factions in the Breezy Plains were actually controlled by those forces. As long as interests were concerned, they would definitely be present.
Although the Tower of Dusk used to develop rapidly in the past as well, their pharmaceutical business, which was a mainstay industry, was still restricted by the market. Regardless of how he increased the supply and production volume of the potions, the market demand would not change much. Expensive potions were not a consumer good that everyone could afford, and potions were not meant to be good, either. Most people would purchase potions and reserve them for emergencies. Hence, regardless of the rapid development of the Tower of Dusk, they could only reach the level of the Dark Blade at best due to the limitations.
However, after establishing cooperation with the Brilliance Shrine and the Ledin Kingdom which provided the supply of high-quality ore, the Tower of Dusk began to expand their forging business on a larger scale, and there was another surge in their development speed. With such a momentum, they would probably really threaten the status of the Blood Moon Clan and the Mithril Alliance over time. Of course, more importantly, it was because of the ma.s.sive wealth that the Tower of Dusk had acc.u.mulated. Even the Mithril Alliance and Blood Moon Clan couldn’t help but be jealous.
“Okay, got it. Go get some rest, and then return to the Tower of Dusk. Tell Gavin not to worry.” Despite having guessed that the matter should have been caused by the Mithril Alliance and the Blood Moon Clan, Lin Li did not show any worry or immediately decide to return to the Tower of Dusk.
“But President, you…” Alan could not remain as calm as Lin Li, especially after hearing Lin Li’s introduction of the Blood Moon Clan and the Mithril Alliance. He felt even more worried after knowing that the Tower of Dusk was facing an unprecedented powerful enemy this time.
Lin Li waved his hand without further explanation, and said, “I still have some things to handle. I’ll return after I’m done. It shouldn’t take much time. By the way, the deal with Prince Arthur should have been settled, right?”
“Yes, Prince Arthur has already given those two magical crystals to us,” said Alan, who couldn’t understand why Lin Li was still concerned about the two Legendary magical crystals at this juncture. However, he had no choice but to suppress his doubts and answer truthfully.
“Okay, keep an eye on those two magical crystals. I’ll need them,” Lin Li instructed, and dismissed Alan to let him get some rest. He then continued to talk to Englos about pharmaceutics as if the matter just now had nothing to do with him.
On the following day, Alan left the Dawn Cathedral and returned to the Tower of Dusk, filled with worry and doubts. Lin Li, too, flew back to the Holy City, Delano, after bidding goodbye to Englos.
Upon arriving on the Holy Mountain, Lin Li saw a few high-level members of the Brilliance Shrine, and they were once again shocked because of the increase in his strength. However, this time, Lin Li could only apologize to the ones who raised questions about pharmaceutics. Instead, he asked to see Pope Rosario.