Millennium Witch

Book 3: Chapter 284: I’ve Got It at Home

Tertia’s additions about the War of Divine Judgment ended there. It was only a hypothesis, but as one of the Mortal Realm’s top powerhouses, her exploration and understanding of the divine realm was certainly no less than anyone else’s. Since she could reach the conclusion that the path to godhood didn’t lie within oneself, but in something external, it was most likely true.Fortunately, Yvette herself was also an exception. Since she could obtain a divine realm by devouring and deconstructing it, perhaps the creation of a divine kingdom could be done the same way. The problem was how to find an opportunity to slip into a divine kingdom and quietly take a bite out of it.

Thinking of this, she asked, “What do you think of my church plan?”

In her view, since True Gods required faith, then by seizing believers and applying pressure, she might be able to force a True God out of their divine kingdom.

But this was still only a theory, with many conditions yet unclear. At this point, as dean of the Academy of Truth, Tertia’s judgment became extremely important.

Tertia pushed up the round frames on the bridge of her nose, pondered for a moment, then said solemnly, “Overall, it’s workable. But, Grandmaster, there are a few parts that may need some adjustment.”

“To achieve your goal, a holy war is unavoidable. After all, if we can’t inflict a catastrophic blow on the Crimson Sanctum, the Ancestral Holy Spirit will have no motivation to open the gate to the divine kingdom.”

“And with Snow Country’s current military strength, there’s no way they can support a full-scale war against the Sit Kingdom.”

“So the top priority may be to first construct a training system for clergy, and by teaching divine arts, raise the combat power of the church, and even the entire Snow Country, to prepare for the war to come.”

As she spoke, she rose to her feet and paced over to the window, looking out at the sky full of swirling snow.

Her expression was very calm, but anyone could hear the cruelty hidden beneath those words.

To achieve their aim, they would have to let Snow Country and the Sit Kingdom go to war. How many lives would be lost in between?

Shuanghua lowered her head, her long white lashes casting a fine shadow across her cheeks.

By rights, as the Snow Emperor, she should be voicing her support right now. But clearly, just imagining the tragedies that might happen already made her unable to meet her Grandmaster’s and Senior Sister’s eyes—silent opposition in and of itself.

Noticing her junior sister’s dim expression, and glancing at their Grandmaster, who was still deep in thought, Tertia added, “Junior Sister, don’t worry. Snow Country won’t be the one to start the war.”

Shuanghua looked at her, a trace of confusion flickering in those empty eyes of hers.

Tertia smiled faintly, let her gaze pass beyond the wind and snow outside the window, and casually brushed aside the fringe on her forehead. “We don’t need to be the ones to launch the holy war. All we need to do is proselytize within the Sit Kingdom and attract believers. As long as the preaching goes well enough, the Crimson Sanctum won’t be able to sit still and will push the royal family to start the war themselves. At that point, the moral high ground will naturally be on our side.”

She was, of course, not speaking without basis.

Throughout history, Snow Country had been invaded by the Sit Kingdom many times. Beyond the grudges built up over the years, it was also because Snow Country held rich magic-ore veins and all kinds of ancient ruins buried beneath the permafrost—precious treasures the Sit Kingdom had coveted for many years.

On top of that, with the True God having withdrawn from the world, all decision-making power in the Crimson Sanctum was firmly in the hands of secular people, making their actions all the easier to predict.

Thinking of the past invasion wars the Sit Kingdom had launched, Shuanghua’s mood improved a little, and she let out a soft “mm.” The war would still happen, but there was a huge difference between an unprovoked invasion and a defensive counterattack. That difference was enough to dissolve most of the guilt in her heart.

But soon, a new problem arose.

Even if they did set up a divine arts training system for clergy, how many years would it take before Snow Country had the strength to go to war with the Sit Kingdom, the second-largest human nation?

Tertia had plenty of thoughts she was eager to share on this question. She unconsciously straightened her back, lifted her chin slightly, and looked at Yvette with a bit more expectation in her eyes.

After all, she was the dean of the Academy of Truth, and what she possessed was not only knowledge of heaven and earth, but also many years’ worth of accumulated experience in education, even including politics and economics—fields most mages would never bother to study.

She was sure that once she started eloquently laying out her analysis and viewpoints, she would definitely astonish their Grandmaster.

But—

Yvette instead said, “Preparing for the holy war is indeed an important point. But training clergy in divine arts isn’t that urgent. If we want to raise Snow Country’s overall strength, we don’t necessarily have to use such traditional methods.”

Tertia froze, all the words she’d been ready to pour out suddenly stuck in her chest, making her feel a bit stifled. She subconsciously asked, “But if we don’t do that, with Snow Country’s population and military, how are we supposed to contend with the Sit Kingdom? Don’t tell me you plan to personally—”

Yvette said, “We can solve the lack of manpower and combat power with alchemical equipment.”

Tertia said awkwardly, “Grandmaster, the Academy can only support Snow Country with alchemical equipment through one of the Nine Divisions, the Alchemy College. But their production capacity is limited as well—”

“No, I don’t need the Academy of Truth to provide alchemical equipment for Snow Country.”

“Then how will you solve the alchemical equipment problem?”

“I’ve got it at home.”

…Tertia stared blankly at her, and Shuanghua’s expression also turned adorably dazed. Clearly, neither of them understood what their Grandmaster meant by that sentence.

She had it at home—but where exactly was their Grandmaster’s “home”?

Could it be—

the Land of Finality?

Ten minutes later, in the new-energy industrial zone of Ish City on Ish Island, inside a factory currently churning out stealth shuttlecraft, countless AI skeletons were hard at work, doing the final assembly on the shuttles’ components. Huge magic lamps hung from the ceiling, casting cold white beams of light that illuminated the busy production lines.

Standing to the side, Tertia and Shuanghua stared unblinking at the scene before them, while in their ears was Yvette’s calm explanation: “—Right now the factory’s energy supply is limited. Relying on clean energy alone isn’t enough to run the entire industrial district at full capacity, so production speed is heavily constrained. Once I open up the connections between divine realms and finish building a spatial corridor linking Snow Country and the Land of Finality, Snow Country’s magic crystal ore will let this industrial zone’s potential be brought—

—out in full—uh, are you two even listening?”

There was no response. The two of them stood there like they’d turned to stone, not reacting at all.

A moment later, Shuanghua was the first to suppress her emotions—she was the intuitive type, basically a complete layman when it came to alchemical technology, and was mostly just here to gawk at something novel.

Tertia, on the other hand, needed much longer to recover from the enormous shock. A clear flush crept across her elegant, fair face.

Clearly, her understanding of alchemical technology far surpassed that of ordinary people, so the impact of seeing this smart factory—this mechanical work of art—was beyond what words could describe.

Never mind the products; this place itself embodied a kind of beauty she would never be able to feel in any alchemical workshop in the Mortal Realm.

“I never imagined you would have such an unbelievable alchemical workshop,” Tertia took a deep breath, thinking, As expected of Grandmaster.

It was just the tip of the iceberg, but already enough to make her believe that in the holy war against the Crimson Sanctum, it would be the Silver Witch Church that had the last laugh.

Then she hesitated for a moment, changed to a more serious expression, and said softly, “But, Grandmaster—I have to remind you of one thing.”

“What is it?”

“The divine realm suppresses the Saint Realm, and I believe the higher level divine kingdoms would be the same,” Tertia said. “If we enter a divine kingdom, the escape ability based on your divine realm’s anchors might fail. When that happens, even if you manage to rescue that Eldr—uh, Martial Uncle, will you still be able to bring him out?”

“Yes,” Yvette said. Her flesh-and-blood marker teleportation ability did not rely on her domain, so the divine kingdom’s suppression of the divine realm simply wouldn’t apply.

Besides, she was already about to go to war with the True Gods’ churches. How could she be afraid of a little risk like that?

Thinking back to certain details from their first meeting, Tertia faintly guessed as much. “In that case,” she said, “once I return to the Academy, I’ll immediately start handling the church matter. I’ll get in touch with the temple in Adelock to help their development, and at the same time spread a church network throughout the Free Alliance.”

Snow Country lay north of the Sit Kingdom, while both the Free Alliance and the Academy of Truth were to the Sit Kingdom’s south, sharing borders with it.

If they were going to start a holy war, besides Snow Country marching south, having the Free Alliance push northward would also be an excellent option, allowing them to pincer the Sit Kingdom from north and south.

So other regions could wait, but the Free Alliance was a region they absolutely had to secure.

“Mm, I’ll leave it to you,” Yvette nodded, then seemed to remember something and added, “There’s one more thing.”

“Please, go ahead.”

“After I came to the Mortal Realm, I took on a new student. Her name is Lucia, and she’s currently at the Academy of Truth. She’s half demonkin, so I need you to keep an eye on her for me, in case anything troublesome happens,” Yvette said.

Demonkin blood? Tertia was a little surprised, but agreed without hesitation. On the surface, they had long since cut ties with the demons, but due to historical reasons, the Academy of Truth was far less hostile toward demons than other regions. If anything, many of the Academy’s upper echelons leaned toward reestablishing relations with the demons, just like in the Legendary Mage’s era, turning the Academy of Truth back into a platform of exchange between the Eastern and Western Continents. So never mind a half-demonkin—if a pure-blood demon showed up and they decided to shelter them, they’d do so without the slightest psychological burden.