Chapter 250: Employee Benefits

——Sylvanus's Woodland……

——This is the name of this settlement……

Xia Zhi walked briskly away from the outer gate area while heading toward the depths of the Woodland, and by the way also pondered the naming of this Woodland.

One can very simply tell from the literal meaning which Divine Spirit this group of Druids believes in.

Father of the Oak Tree——Sylvanus.

It is said that is a wise Divine Spirit like a benevolent father, an existence of Greater Divine Power.

Across the entire Faerun Continent, the forces of the Sylvanus Church are everywhere, and the power it possesses far exceeds ordinary imagination.

However, that is the result viewed from the overall level.

The Sylvanus Church is indeed a Colossal Thing; compared to it, the Supreme True God Sect is not even worthy of carrying the former's shoes.

However, looking at specific events, the problem of the mountain being high and the emperor far away has always existed.

………………

From the gate to the interior of the Woodland, there is still a stretch of Distance.

The rugged mountain path winds and twists, as if a natural Mystery labyrinth, branching into several small trails.

Xia Zhi chose the trail leading to the Deepest part, followed it inward, and before long could already see a huge natural rock Cave appear ahead.

Like a rock palace formed by nature, the interior is incomparably spacious, well-ventilated, and the lighting is also excellent.

Sunlight sprinkles in from the Cave's entrance, illuminating the entire space, making everything here appear full of Vitality.

"Hello, need to buy anything?"

At the entrance, there is a halfling; seeing Xia Zhi's arrival, he also asks with a face full of Smiles.

Shen Hou the halfling are several Shelves, forming a relatively simple Stall, on which are placed this Merchant's goods.

"What things are there?"

Xia Zhi asked with interest, and also walked straight over.

"All here, take a look, maybe there's something useful for your journey." The halfling Merchant pointed a hand at the Shelves behind him.

The variety of goods on the Shelves is not many, but all have been carefully sorted and categorized, giving a clear-at-a-glance feeling.

It's just a bit of a pity that the goods are all relatively Ordinary, without any Attractiveness.

Besides tools like rope and lockpicks, there are just some food supplies and such, as well as a small portion of weapons and armor.

Longbows, staves, axes, and Leather Armor, roughly that sort of thing.

However, the quality is all very Ordinary; to describe it in game terminology, they are all Whiteboard Equipment, with no additional Element bonuses whatsoever.

At most, compared to those shoddy inferior weapons and armor, what's sold here is a bit better — for instance, solid materials, fine workmanship……

But there's still no Essential difference; they remain Whiteboard Equipment.

Xia Zhi wasn't too Disappointed, instead casually picked through them, and conveniently bought a Hand Crossbow; he happened to still have a bit of money on him.

It was the voluntary Gift of that unlucky bastard who was Stimulated by the Insect in his head, transformed into a Mind Flayer.

"Don't have anything related to Magic?" he asked in passing.

"No…… to tell the truth, those things aren't easy to find; in my whole life I haven't seen more than a few pieces."

The halfling Merchant waved his hand Shaking Head; he's just doing a bit of Small Business, how could he possibly have that kind of high-end merchandise.

"True." The youth Nodding, as if it was just a casual passing question, not holding much hope himself.

Seeing he had no intention to continue shopping, the halfling Merchant happily gave him change; even though the transaction amount didn't look like much, he still appeared very pleased.

"Take care, may the Great Sylvanus protect you——"

"……"

"……"

Xia Zhi turned and left, fiddling with the Hand Crossbow he had just bought in his hand; as an artisan's work, it is indeed sufficiently fine.

From the Detail perspective, the maker was still very conscientious; only whether range or lethality, both are clearly unsatisfactory.

He pondered slightly, so that means——

As far as weapons go, the current era is roughly at this level?

Hmm, perhaps standard-issue military weapons would perform better? Military is better than civilian, that should be Common Sense.

But if they're all cold weapons, the improvement is probably limited, unless they're Enchanted Weapons or true Magic Equipment?

However, Magic Equipment seems to be something even rarer than Magic itself.

Whether it's Mingsala's statement or this halfling's behavior, both fully Prove this point.

Especially according to Mingsala's statement, even though she is a so-called True Soul, with decent treatment and rights in the Supreme True God Sect, it is likewise very difficult to obtain a proper piece of Magic Equipment.

Just like those stories passed down since ancient times on the Faerun Continent, those adventure heroes who displayed Divine Might in bards' mouths, who fought everything from Dragons to Demons……

The whole team from Beginning To End might at most have only one or two pieces of Magic Equipment.

And the grade probably wouldn't be very high either.

Can't say it's stingy, just that Faerun has its own national conditions.

So——

After passing the "knocked unconscious with a stick" first round of employee recruitment, Mingsala's employee benefit is "Enchanted Weapon" Quantity +1……

Using her Nail Hammer as Carrier, the Magic User simply and crudely processed it, injecting a trace of energy.

Because of Lack Understanding of this World's Magic Equipment system, temporarily Unable to figure out the Corresponding Rarity of that Nail Hammer……

But in terms of actual combat capability, it seems enough for Mingsala to crack open that old ghost woman's skull — if the latter hadn't run away fast.

"Magic is universally Existent, but Wizards are not universally Existent……"

"Mors Strength is universally Existent, but usage has strict Restrictions……"

Faintly, based on the Intelligence and observations he grasps, Xia Zhi preliminarily confirmed where his Advantage lies.

If the divine spirit side also has some troublesome restrictions on interference with Faerûn, or the so-called Material Plane, then that would probably be the best news.

How to put it, it's like originally thinking you were fighting an away game—

Only to discover the home field advantage is entirely on your own side.

Visitors with ill intent?

Who the visitor is, that's still hard to say!

………………

………………

Simultaneously.

On the vast Emerald Plains, a squad faintly resembling a remnant-blood unit was moving through the forest.

"Damn it……"

The female drow gritted her teeth hatefully, leading the few surviving goblins back toward the big camp.

Finding the hag went smoothly, but the target execution wasn't very satisfactory—

The intended frame-up target was not only very strong himself, but also seemed to have top-tier survival instincts; seeing the momentum was wrong, he went straight from avatar to invisibility, then ran off without looking back……

Mingsala simply couldn't keep him.

That was what infuriated her most.

Although she still decisively killed most of the remaining goblins as planned, creating a reasonable battle-loss scene of a hag ambush.

But just that alone, whether it can persuade the other colleagues is still an unknown.

At least in her view, this probability isn't very high.

After all, True Souls are not just colleagues, they're also competitors — that's undeniable, especially at such a critical juncture right now—

In the territory occupied by the largest sect in this region, the main leader is about to be decided.

At this time, any little problem will be infinitely magnified by opponents, seized upon for attack — that's completely beyond doubt.

Thinking of this, the female drow's expression grew even darker; she couldn't accept such a result.

The frame-up-hag mission had an incident, already making her worry whether it would lower her evaluation with the new master; if even the most crucial undercover mission—

"Striving to climb within the Supreme True God Sect, seizing higher status and power"……

—if even this is done badly, with consecutive setbacks, Mingsala simply fears to think of the consequences.

She doesn't know what kind of personality the new master has, but the psychological shadow left from their first meeting forces her to unconsciously imagine toward "cruel", "ruthless" directions.

And drow concepts also make her unable not to think that way; survival has never been a natural right, the weak never have dignity, the strong never have mercy.

A cold light flashed in her eyes; Mingsala tightly gripped the nail hammer in her hand.

That's right, need to switch thinking!

She glanced at the faintly visible ruin outline ahead, and finally made up her mind.

The bloodstained weapon in her hand also gave her enough awe-inspiring composure; this power bestowed by the new master is enough to support her completing the new plan!

The hag escaped because of her own lack of understanding of it.

But her own good colleagues — what abilities and combat styles they have, she understands only too well…… guaranteed one hammer each, sending them all off!

Especially since this power from the new master's bestowed weapon happens to counter mind flayer powers and shield mind flayer tadpole perception—

Absolutely no one will know what happened!

………………

………………

Regarding the first employee's mission failure, immediately preparing to switch approach—

To turn on former colleagues with bloody means and forcibly seize control of the regional branch……

Xia Zhi isn't very concerned; he's wandering in the outer cave of the Druid camp, searching for his next desired target.

Inside the cave, many big tents can be clearly seen; beneath these tents are piled large and small wooden crates and barrels, as if forming a temporary open-air warehouse.

Besides these practical facilities, there are also some scattered small tents in the stone cave. Inside these tents are placed crude bedding and sleeping bags, seemingly places for people to rest.

A group of tieflings are walking back and forth in the stone cave, carrying various supplies.

Or doing various jobs; anyway, each is busy with their own matters.

In the stone cave there is also a raised highland, seemingly set up as a crude combat training ground.

Wooden puppets and straw men stand on the ground; a group of children, under adult teaching, wave wooden swords and such, practicing tactical movements in a decent manner.

The Magic User stopped, carefully sensing the creature waves of that tiefling teaching the children.

Pride, nervousness, sense of responsibility, and hesitation and fear, and a slight uncertainty and unease about the future……

A moment later, he nodded.

"Who is that?"

Casually grabbing a passing elf, he asked.

"That one? That's Saeflo…… the leader of those tieflings, I guess." The elf pouted, saying it disdainfully.

(Chapter End)