10 Chapter10-At All Costs, Court [Smith]
"We've already expended a precious divination artifact, but all we got was his gaming avatar and birth location... Starting with his avatar, we've acquired no useful intelligence."
As the President began to speak, the military brass below were eager to start their discussions.
"I believe we should prioritize courting him."
"Given his careful concealment of his identity, he might not be a spokesperson for any major family, and there could be a possibility to bring him over to serve the government."
"I think the likelihood of Smith being one of those family members is almost zero. We still need to uncover the power behind him..."
…
Soon, the meeting room was abuzz with heated debate.
And the final conclusion was...
The Valoria government's intelligence department would mark the task of courting [Smith] as a top-secret mission.
They would spare no expense to bring him over to their side.
Beyond the assault of money and status, the ace of Project Swallow's seventeenth cohort, along with the team designated to replace her, would abandon their current developmental plans in Divine Age and head to the newbie zone [Losfall].
They would attempt to capture [Smith] through beauty or romance.
Meanwhile, Valoria officially maintained silence towards all nations and powers inquiring about [Smith], never voluntarily revealing any information suggesting [Smith] was currently unaffiliated with their government.
The sheer brilliance of him securing two first kills had already persuaded many wavering nations to agree to a series of terms with Valoria, essentially acknowledging, even after the advent of Divine Age, the continuation of Valoria's hegemonic rule.
To the world at this point, Valoria seemed overwhelmingly formidable, capable of nurturing a player as extraordinary as [Smith].
…
However, at this time…
Inside the Guild of Concealers' dungeon, Jason looked at the flood of rewards on his screen, smiling slightly.
"Back-to-back first kills, I must have now caught the attention of governments worldwide."
"But no matter, following the current trend, a year from now when Divine Age merges with reality, there won't be such a thing as separate nations on Earth."
In his past life, governments persisted nearly a decade after the game merged with reality, eventually transitioning to a world divided and ruled by powerful players.
But the Jason of now was confident that his development a year from now would far surpass those top players after ten years.
By then, Earth would merely be his backyard.
He then leisurely began to tally up his rewards.
The first-kill rewards and the loot exploded from the dungeon boss were all mixed together.
First, there were thirty basic resource packs and a hundred Revelation Scrolls.
Following that was a hidden blueprint: the Giant Gargoyle.
Jason had a hunch about this blueprint; by the name, it seemed to be a special entity that serves as both a structure and a soldier, akin to the War Ancient Tree.
And then there was—
[Divine Waters]
[Effect: The building invested with this resource can train 1000 soldiers without needing any materials.]
A total of twenty portions.
This was an incredibly practical item!
Training different units in the game often requires various materials, and some units even need exclusive materials for training... Of course, soldiers requiring unique materials are generally very powerful.
To train such soldiers, one usually needs to complete specific quests or clear certain dungeons to obtain the corresponding materials, and frustratingly, you might not even know which quest to undertake or dungeon to clear.
But with Divine Waters, you can train directly.
Next were some pieces of equipment obtained from clearing the dungeon.
[Blue Scale Breastplate (Bronze)], [Throwing Spear (Iron)], [Apprentice's Robe (Iron)], [Leather Boots (Iron)]
A total of four pieces.
These were quite valuable in the early stages of the game's launch because, typically, equipment could only be acquired through crafting, dungeons, or quests, not dropped by wild monsters.
Unfortunately, Jason found them unimpressive and planned to figure out a way to deal them off to other players later.
Then came the main event.
First was the [unit summoning array: Guild of Concealers], two of them.
He didn't hesitate to use them right away.
[You have activated the unit summoning array: Guild of Concealers, obtaining 200 4-tier hidden units, novice concealer acolytes.]
Since they were used in conjunction, only one type of soldier was drawn out.
[Ding! Undead Plague activated, your [novice concealer acolytes] have been promoted 1-tier and completed their undead transformation, your novice concealer acolytes have advanced to 5-tier hidden unit—[Death Acolytes].]
Instantly, a group of beings in tattered robes appeared, their garments hollow and their forms eerie.
However, Jason could see clearly that these Death Acolytes' attire was identical to the novice concealer acolytes he had previously vanquished.
Only, they appeared as though they had aged countless years, becoming ragged and worn.
It was as if a real group of novice concealer acolytes had been seized by undead forces, eroded and transformed into a different kind of life form.
"No wonder the authority's name is [Underworld Baptism]."
"The transformation wasn't evident with the ordinary units, but with some hidden units, special units, does the transformation not only turn them into undead beings but also retain some of their original traits?" Jason speculated internally.
Perhaps it was because they were hidden units that these 4-tier novice concealer acolytes didn't evolve to tier six, but remained at tier five.
However, upon seeing the attributes of the Death Acolytes, Jason was left with only excitement.
[Death Acolyte]
[Tier: 5-tier]
[Race: Undead]
[Level: 1]
[HP: 1500/1500]
[Attack Power: 300]
[Defense: 300]
[Magic Resistance: 200]
[Speed: 100]
[Food Consumption: 0]
Skills:
[Prey]: Death Acolytes will chant the true name of their lord [unset, default is Jason], bestowing an enhancement effect on themselves and other soldiers, increasing all attributes by 50% for one hour, with a cooldown of twelve hours.
[Propagation of Faith]: Death Acolytes spread the glory of their lord, with a chance to convert any unit into one under [Jason]'s control.
Description: Once devotees of a deity whose true name was concealed, they have now, in the face of the revered entity synonymous with the death of all things, offered even greater devotion and will only obey their creator [Jason].
As undead beings, Death Acolytes do not require sustenance.
…
Huh?
Wow!
That's pretty powerful!
The direct combat ability of this 5-tier unit isn't particularly strong, and the attributes are somewhat lackluster, but the two skills are quite fierce.
One boosts the entire troop's attributes by 50%, lasting a whole hour, which can be crucial for early dungeon clears or sieges.
As for the second skill, Propagation of Faith, the more Jason pondered, the more he felt something was off.
There's no written limitation… doesn't that mean this 5-tier unit could potentially control units above tier 5 through Propagation of Faith?
Isn't that excessively overpowered?
Of course, Jason also speculated that since it's Propagation of Faith, not brainwashing or mind control, spreading this faith probably requires him, their "lord," to make a name for himself to pull in people.
The effectiveness might not be great in the early stages…
Of course, the specific effects of the skills still need to be tested.
Jason first changed the default true name in the prayer to [Jason], not in the Earth's pronunciation, but in the language of the centaur planet that invades Earth in the future.
He opted not to continue using [Smith] for two main reasons.
First, his memories of over twenty years in the future made him aware of something called the power of faith.
Although the past-life Jason only heard of this term and roughly knew it was something beneficial, it's best to receive faith in one's own true name.
Second, it might also serve to explain the might of [Smith]—that he has connected with a [god] in Divine Age, and the powerful soldiers under him are gifts from this [god], hence the proclamation of the [god]'s name.
After reviewing the new unit's attributes, there were two last items left...
The equipment [Dragonblood Wristguard (diamond)].
The item [Divine Summons].
Jason's breath hitched slightly when he saw the name of the latter item.
[Divine Summons]
[Effect: Find any Hero Altar to use it, allowing your consciousness to enter the Hall of Heroes, where you can select one S-level, including or below S-level, hero.]
Simply put, it's an item for summoning heroes…
And it's a choose-your-own!
