Volume 4 Chapter 574: Paradise
This time, Duke Lucan also responded to him immediately, and then accompanied by a faint white light, he came to a green meadow.
The flowers around are as bright as the stars in the sky, the clear pond in the distance is like a shining gem, and silver clouds are floating under the flawless sky. Everything here seems to have a very strong color contrast, yet it is so beautiful and peaceful.
At the same time, active positive energy also flowed through Levi's whole body. Without even looking, he knew that in this environment, all magic that tended towards light and goodness would be greatly strengthened, while the dark type would be greatly suppressed.
Even ordinary undead below level 7 would probably be easily purified the moment they appeared.
Beyond that were open meadows and rolling fields, and a mighty river flowing endlessly, while at the farthest horizon rapids and waterfalls plunged from the sky.
This is not just a description. Although the Paradise is not as good as Mount Heaven, it also has four levels.
A deep ocean, home to a variety of marine life;
A layer of swamps full of life, a favorite of swamp creatures such as crocodiles and frogs;
The first layer is half mountains and half rivers. In addition to the regular Gaidingtian people, there may also be some angels, elemental giants, etc.
Compared with the Star King's Court and Heaven Mountain, the Gaiding Clan's paradise is very welcoming to the existence of many kind camps, so it has also become a famous tourist destination.
It is not just for fun, but also a place for many kind people to make friends.
And the layer where Levi is located, with grasslands and forests, is the layer with the largest population and number of Gaidingtian people.
However, there is a river called Poseidon River on each layer. It runs through the entire Paradise. It is said that it was left by a kind sea god, but now its name and history have been lost in the past.
In addition, there are some small portals in Paradise, connecting the Beast Garden and the Twin Paradise.
The former is a paradise for all kinds of wild beasts and animal lords. Theoretically, all animals that exist in the main world can be found there. Therefore, they have always had a good relationship with the Gaidingtian people who also have animal characteristics.
The Twin Heavens are mainly inhabited by a large group of dwarf gods, several dwarf gods, and the good dragon god - Bahamut, etc.
Therefore, compared to the Star King's Court, Paradise is easier to enter.
Looking around now, people of all kinds of Gaiding celestial tribes are strolling freely here. Compared with the drinking and revelry of the Aici celestial tribes, they are enjoying a different kind of life.
Occasionally there are some heroic spirits from various races such as gnomes, dwarves and humans, as well as humanoid creatures with gold and silver skin and eyes wandering around.
They are the Asmoans, basically humans or elves with some celestial blood.
In fact, the passionate and unrestrained Aesir tribe is often more likely to produce love fruits with mortals, but unfortunately, the Star King's Court will not allow aliens to enter easily.
Therefore, even if they have offspring, they basically spend the rest of their lives in the main world, or in paradise, or the kingdom of some kind gods.
At this moment, Duke Lucan and the Heir of the Wind, who had dealt with Levi before, were already standing there waiting for Levi.
In addition, there was a male Horse Crazy Envoy. Levi immediately knew that the other party should be another reinforcement that Duke Lucan had found for himself, that is, the Horse Crazy Envoy who had voluntarily retired - Lord Huiwen.
Although there is a Crazy Horse Master among the five Lords of Gadin, she is a woman.
So Levi immediately greeted them very enthusiastically, and they responded one after another.
The Mad Horse Envoy, Lord Huiwen, also quickly expressed his willingness to sign a contract with Levi to fight against evil together.
He didn't have any special feelings towards Levi, but he and Duke Lucan were good brothers, so he would help even for the other's sake.
Lord Huiwen's fighting ability is relatively mediocre among the many current and former Lords of Gaidin.
His abilities are pretty mediocre. He's pretty good at attack, defense, and speed, and he knows a few spells, but he's not really good at anything and can't stand out among his companions.
Even in Levi's opinion, his fighting ability might not be comparable to that of the weakest messenger among the Seven Paragons of the Ark.
Because the messenger can wield lightning sword energy and fly at high speed, when he encounters an enemy like the Great Unclean One of Nurgle, it is entirely possible to use kite tactics to eliminate the opponent without injury, but Lord Huiwen can only bite the bullet and fight.
But no matter what, he is also a legendary cavalryman. For Levi, the more reinforcements of this kind the better.
After greeting, Duke Lucan, who had the best relationship with Levi, said bluntly: "Levi, you came at an untimely time. The prince is meeting with the messenger of the God of Good Dragon."
The Dragon Madness Mystery broke out prematurely, causing heavy losses to the dragons and dragonborn in the main world. Imrik, who often conquered and tamed dragons, was immediately deified, and dragons happened to be among his priesthood.
Even outsiders like them could roughly imagine how much suspicion and resentment the two Dragon Gods had towards the elven pantheon and the elves at this moment.
If Levi, who is also a prince of Caledor like Imrik, met the messenger of Bahamut at this moment, it is hard to say what kind of conflict would occur.
Levi was certainly aware of this. In fact, ever since the Dragon Madness Maze, his subordinate Alduin, who was born a bronze dragon, had been seriously affected.
He has become a "former paladin".
Because of some of Bahamut's orders, a serious conflict occurred between Alduin's original oath of complete loyalty to Levi.
However, this actually relieved Levi of a small worry. As for Alduin, whose strength had obviously weakened a lot, he instead improved his treatment and comforted him that one does not have to believe in Bahamut alone to become a paladin.
The Dragon God is not the only god in this world who symbolizes kindness and justice.
This also made Levi realize very clearly that although Bahamut has not yet decided to start a war, his hostility towards the elven pantheon is already very obvious.
After the battle with the Corrupted Dragon God, Levi knew that the Dragon God was indeed much stronger than ordinary gods of the same level.
Bahamut is a weak divine power, but it is completely fine to treat him as a medium-level divine power.
So after hearing this, Levi couldn't help but become a little more serious: "What does the Dragon God want from the Gaiding Clan?"
"I heard that he wanted to obtain some guards for his dragon vassals."
Levi frowned slightly: "Isn't he trying to expand the size of the Dragon's vassal?"
Dragon's Vassal is a special job transfer for Bahamut, and can basically be considered a way for him to expand the size of his believers.
Because the requirements for taking office are relatively loose, paladins, warriors, rangers, barbarians, etc. are all eligible.
Then there's the alignment of lawful good, worship of Bahamut, and killing an evil dragon or drake independently.
Once the job transfer is successful, the Dragon Vassal will become a powerful warrior similar to a paladin who can cast spells. At the same time, he will be strengthened when fighting against evil dragon creatures, and good dragon creatures will be more willing to help him.
Then there are the scales of the evil dragons they killed, which, after prayer, will be blessed by Bahamut and become powerful dragon scale armor.
In addition, as the level of the Dragon's vassal increases, they will continue to receive personal rewards from Bahamut, which is a large amount of gold coins, and each time will definitely be more generous than the last.
The last one is more outrageous. Dragons are greedy for money. Why would Bahamut, the dragon god, not only not require offerings from his believers, but instead be willing to actively share his treasures with his mortal believers?
That's of course because Bahamut can gain greater benefits.
The descendants born of the Dragon's vassal will all have dragon blood and naturally have a stronger desire to believe in Bahamut.
In a sense, Bahamut was secretly transforming humans into Dragonborn, and because the rewards for the job change were indeed amazing, he didn't even need to actively promote it, as a large number of outstanding warriors would take the initiative to try the trial.
For Bahamut, some gold coins seem less important than the power of faith.
Based on his good reputation and the fact that he did not aggressively develop dragon vassals throughout the entire main world, and more importantly, his strength is indeed very strong, most gods chose to remain silent or be patient.
Anyway, Bahamut is not someone who can just fleece a single sheep. He is developing dragon vassals extensively throughout the main world. On average, the impact on each god is actually very small, so there is no need to really make enemies with him.
Duke Lucan nodded slightly: "Yes, he probably wants to quickly expand the scale by lowering the threshold and improving the treatment."
"Further lower it?" This time even the Crazy Horse Envoy, Lord Huiwen, couldn't help it.
He had just returned from outside and was called by Duke Lucan to receive Levi, so he was not clear about this matter yet.
But now the conditions for the job change of Dragon Vassal have become very relaxed, because there is no requirement for the strength of evil dragons or dragon beasts at all.
Theoretically, if you encounter a level 2 hybrid dragon beast, or a level 3 young white dragon, as long as you kill them, you can be considered to meet the requirements!
If it goes down even further, what's left? Just faith in Bahamut?
The Heir of the Wind also narrowed his eyes slightly. He usually did not make malicious assumptions about others, but Bahamut's behavior this time was indeed very suspicious.
The bloodline of the giant dragon has an almost overwhelming advantage in inheritance. No matter what race the other party is, the offspring will basically show certain obvious characteristics of the giant dragon. The large number and variety of dragon beasts are clear evidence of this.
Lowering the threshold for becoming a dragon vassal at such a critical moment can be said to be to help mortals better fight against evil, but isn't it also taking advantage of someone's misfortune?
Levi thought for a moment and said, "I heard that something happened in the Border Kingdom two days ago."
"When the defenders were about to run out of ammunition and food, the 'kind' Dragon God Church appeared 'in time' and delivered a large amount of food to the city, allowing the defenders to continue. As a result, many mortals in the city chose to change their beliefs."
Hearing the two words he emphasized, no matter whether you had heard of the existence of this thing or not, you could not help but be silent for a moment.
This matter depends on the angle from which you interpret it.
On the bright side, it was the Church of Bahamut that felt compassion for the people and could not bear to see the defenders in the city starve to death, so they took the initiative to deliver food. The defenders were grateful and decided to believe in Bahamut from then on. Both sides were good people with noble character.
But if you think about it in a bad way, why did the Church of Bahamut calculate the time so accurately? If they really wanted to save the other party, why didn't they do it earlier?
Moreover, it is a border kingdom, which can basically be considered a bandit kingdom. Both the attacking and defending sides are full of bad guys. Are they really worth saving?
Thinking further, with sufficient food, would the war continue, leading to more casualties and giving Bahamut more opportunities to gain believers?
If this kind of thing happened once or twice, it might be a coincidence, but in recent years, it has happened too frequently, which makes people wonder about the truth behind it.
And their suspicions were not groundless, because Bahamut had indeed committed many bad deeds in the past.
The most famous one is that a long time ago, when the dragon pantheon was still thriving and almost ruling the entire main world, and when there were no titles of the God of Good Dragons and the God of Evil Dragons, Bahamut once asked the dragons, dragon beasts and dragon descendants who believed in him to carry out genocide in his name.
Bahamut became the God of Good Dragons only after the dragon pantheon rapidly declined.
Seeing the expressions of several high-level Celestial Clan members, Levi knew that their ideas were probably highly consistent with his own, which basically meant that he would also win some help among the current Five Lords of Gaidin.
Before Duke Lucan stepped down, he recommended his own clansmen as successors. They still had to give him some face. Ideally, he could get up to six supporters, including Duke Lucan.
If they all raised their doubts, Bahamut's wish would basically be in vain.
The Air Clan is basically ruled by the Queen of Stars. When the Sub-Sky Clan faces major affairs, they usually hold a meeting for discussion with the seven Lords of Heaven.
On the side of the Gaidin Celestial Clan, the decision is mainly made by the Lion-Headed Messenger, Prince Talishid. However, if any of the Five Lords of Gaidin disagrees during the process, the prince will never act arbitrarily.
However, since they hadn't even met, there was no need for Levi to say anything more. He just stopped there:
"Okay, it's good that we are all clear about this matter. In the end, the final decision will be left to Prince Talishid."
"No matter what, he is still in the good camp, and the priesthood of lies is not in his possession."
It would have been better if Levi didn't say anything, but when they thought about Xirik, the guy who lied to the point of driving himself crazy, Duke Lucan and others couldn't help but make more associations.
If it was just a simple disguise, Bahamut would not have been able to disguise his own camp, because a camp is the external manifestation of a series of things such as the mind and behavior of an existence. No existence can disguise itself, not even Cyric.
But what if Bahamut possesses some special abilities and treasures, such as hypnosis or illusion, so that even he himself believes that he did those things purely out of kindness and compassion?
It was as if under the influence of the Cyric Sutra, Cyric really believed that he was the only true God!
Although this speculation is very bizarre, it may be the best possible explanation for Bahamut's series of abnormal behaviors.
Because the time is too long, many things about the dragon pantheon are no longer so clear, and the priesthood that Bahamut displayed to the outside world may not be all he has.
Lord Huiwen couldn't help but muffled his words and said, "Even if the prince really agrees to the other party's conditions, I will definitely tell him all these things."
Although he has been retired for hundreds of years, based on past friendship and merits, Prince Talishid would definitely consider it if he asked.
The Heir of the Wind and Duke Lucan looked at each other and nodded silently.
At this point, things actually have little to do with Levi.
Even if Bahamut has not done any more evil deeds since he became the God of Good Dragons, truth will eventually come to light. If everyone's speculation is true, he will be exposed sooner or later. They don't want the Gaiding people to use their lives to serve a hypocrite.
What's more, their Gaidin tribe has many ways to fight against evil. For example, those Gaidin tribe stationed in Fear Rock or Skogi basically fight evil every day. Why should they take the risk to help Bahamut?
After reaching such a tacit understanding, they stopped talking and just started taking Levi to visit Paradise.
Levi did not refuse. Not to mention that he had just entered the legendary realm, even for a being like Lilith, if he really faced Bahamut, it would definitely not be easy. There was no need to fight hard.
Wait until Bahamut's messenger leaves, then go see Prince Talishid yourself.
It’s no wonder that the environment and scenery of Paradise are really great, so it has attracted many travelers from other kind planes. Levi has met at least dozens of believers and servants of gods from more than a dozen different planes.
However, their strength varies. Compared with the mortals in the main world, they are definitely much stronger, but not particularly outrageous. They are mainly concentrated between levels 3 and 5.
The proportion of beings above level 5 is already very low, and there is no legendary one at all.
Despite this, Levi still took the opportunity to make some new friends. It’s not that he really wants to get something from them right now, but with more friends, who knows, maybe he will get some small surprises in the future.
Even when possible, Levi would take the initiative to do something for the other party.
For example, Levi made friends with a Pandaren scholar named Zhou Zhuo, who claimed that he wanted to leave Zhendan and travel to the Western world, but because he had no money, he was trying to make a profit by selling homemade wine.
After hearing this, Levi generously used 500 gold coins to buy several jars of plum wine from the other party.
If we only look at the business aspect, Levi must be a huge sucker. Those jars of wine are not worth that much at all, but does he care about those gold coins?
For example, Levi encountered the family of the demigod, the swan fairy, Feyella, and had a very pleasant conversation with them.
He also learned by the way that Corellon and the Minglong Yinyin of the Zhendan pantheon were trying to pull the Swan Fairy into their own pantheon, which was an unexpected gain.
There are countless examples like this, but after wandering around for most of the day, Duke Lucan went to the top floor of Paradise several times, but he always returned disappointed because Prince Talishid was still receiving the envoy of Bahamut.
This made the Heir of Wind and Lord Huiwen a little uneasy. Although when faced with major events, the prince usually would not agree directly, but would discuss with the five Lords of Gadin before making a decision, they were really worried that the prince would be impulsive.
But Levi didn't care. Instead, he comforted the other party, saying that a long time did not necessarily mean that the negotiations were going smoothly. Perhaps they were unable to reach an agreement on some key issues, so they were entangled there.
To be honest, Levi felt that only the Gaidingtian clan would attach so much importance to such an agreement because they were too honest.
If it was the Ai Ci Tian Clan, even if they really agreed, what would happen? They had too many ways to not work hard, or simply mess things up.
Despite this, after several hours, Duke Lucan and his men could no longer bear it. After confessing their crimes to Levi, they headed straight to the top floor of Paradise.
Levi didn't stop him. He just squatted in front of a celestial halfling chef with a few dwarf ancestral spirits he had just made and the lightning elemental messenger from the wind elemental plane, waiting for the sumptuous dinner that was about to be prepared.
Another half-lava giant was responsible for making the fire, while Wange and the other girls helped to wash vegetables and so on.
All day long I'm either fighting or on the way to a fight, so today I'll give myself and Wange and the others a day off.
One has to admit that all halflings are good at cooking, and this celestial halfling is the best among them.
Especially with the addition of many high-quality ingredients that Levi had just brought from the Ai Ci Tian clan, this dinner became even more delicious and even attracted an uninvited guest.
It was a young girl with green eyes and long hair covered with green leaves and golden moss, wearing a green gauze robe. She ran over with surprise:
"Wow, what a sumptuous dinner. I brought a few bottles of wine. Can I join in?"
Her voice was clear, pleasant and full of charm. Even in the distance, the sounds of countless birds could be heard echoing.
The Lightning Elementalist said nothing. The dwarf ancestor spirit and the halfling chef both expressed their warm welcome, but immediately stated that they could not make full decision because a large part of the ingredients for this dinner was provided by Levi.
Of course Levi would not refuse. It was just a meal and he wanted to make more friends through it.
What's more, compared to the dwarf ancestors, he, who possesses divinity, can perceive the other party's nature more keenly.
Coupled with the other party's unusual appearance, he quickly determined the other party's identity.
It is very likely that she is a medium-level deity from the natural pantheon, the incarnation of Mielikki, the goddess of forests and rangers.
This neutral and kind goddess has a truly profound background. Her father is the powerful god of nature, Silvanus. Many gods, including Lathander, regard her as a friend.
The three demigods, Noban Nien, Lord of Firemane, Shialya, the Stonegoat Goddess, and Guillen Liufeng, the human ranger, are all her subordinate gods.
The Queen of Unicorns, Lurue, has served as her mount more than once in the war between gods.
As for her enemies, the main one is Mala, followed by Talos, and finally the goddess of poison and disease - Talona, who should have a lot in common with Levi.
After all, Levi has been enemies with Mala more than once, and Mala once had intentions on Sobek and Seleket, so Levi has even more reason to deal with him.
But since the other party did not reveal his identity, he naturally did not want to do this, so Levi did not say anything and just enjoyed the food in front of him.
Anyway, to the true God, the divinity of himself and Wange and others is like a candle in the darkness, which cannot be ignored at all.
So until they finished eating, they did not have any extra communication with each other. The halfling chef began to clean up the table, and several dwarf ancestor heroes began to drink and talk about their glorious achievements in the main world in the past.
However, considering the dwarves' habit of bragging when they drink, these achievements must be inflated.
Mielikki's avatar seemed like a real human spirit, and she also told some stories of her own.
Elegy, Donna and others couldn't help but be infected and soon joined in. If it was about telling stories, they had followed Levi in his conquests so they would never have to worry about lack of material.
Just like that, after a long time of excitement, Mielikki suddenly stood up and said with regret: "Sorry, I still have some things to deal with. I hope we can have a chance to meet again in the future. Your food is delicious and your stories are very interesting."
Although the halfling chef and his companions felt a little regretful, they did not take it too seriously and just bid farewell to each other. After all, in Paradise, there were too many opportunities for such chance encounters.
Only Levi heard more voices. Mielikki also invited him in the name of the goddess. If he had the opportunity, he could visit the Temple of Nature in the natural god system.
Levi naturally nodded and accepted. He was very much looking forward to this invitation.
The natural gods are basically neutral good or lawful good, which is very consistent with Levi's camp. The relationship between them and the elven gods has always been very good.
In addition, there is another point. Mielikki’s father is the god of nature, so who is her mother?
This has always been an unsolved mystery, but there are rumors that the possibility is very high that the goddess of love and beauty in the elven pantheon, Lady Golden Heart.
Given that it has spread so widely, related gods such as the God of Nature and Ms. Golden Heart have never come out to refute the rumor, which in itself is quite telling.
If that's the case, it would be more understandable for Mielikki to show a little kindness to Levi.
After Mielikki left, Donna couldn't help but sigh: "She is really beautiful. Her youthfulness and agility are really enviable."
Cindy nodded hurriedly. Although the man looked older than her, he was more youthful than her.
But the dwarven ancestors nearby all looked surprised: "Youth? Are you sure you are talking about that old human lady?"
The half-molten giant said in a muffled voice: "Human? Isn't he a rock elemental?"
"What? Why does it look to me like she's a dwarf?"
"Nonsense, isn't it a mermaid?"
After a brief argument and a few glances at each other, they all understood. Well, this was definitely some special power exerted by the other party.
Hearing this, even Levi couldn't help but feel a little surprised. He and Donna and the others saw the same appearance, and they didn't feel any magical fluctuations at all. She is indeed a real goddess.
At this moment, there was a sound of flapping wings in the distance , and the Heir of Wind came over with a happy look on his face: "Levi, Prince Talishid is waiting for you!"
