686 Transformation (1/2)

In the Year of Evil Demon's Descent, accompanying the war with the Evil Demons, the first batch of Deities appeared among the humans.

They could transform into an Evil Demon and absorb power from killing and fresh blood. Of course, the fastest method was still killing each other.

The most important thing was that being Deities gave them sufficient concealment abilities. Ordinarily, they were completely the image of an average person. As long as they did not actively reveal themselves, even a pastor's magical abilities could not tell the difference, unless a Legend pastor carefully investigated or they entered the domain of an actual God.

And more and more infected appeared, causing the Church of Death, which implemented the 'purification order', to become the target of public criticism, leaving them with no choice but to withdraw the Inquisition.

After all, the rate of infection of the demonic illness was really too high, and there were no effective preventative measures nor treatments. If this was really implemented, there would be no soldiers willing to enter the battlefield in the future.

This was also one of the properties of origin power—the horrifying infectivity and its nearly unsolvable irreversibility.

Naturally, the demonic illness created by the fusion of secondary origin power and the Evil Demon Placenta could actually be relieved. A True God's power could definitely expel it, but it was a problem of efficiency and cost.

Even to 'exorcise' the most average soldier, a bishop-level pastor was needed. Looking at the sea of people, if there was a True God that dared do something like that, the ultimate outcome was definitely one that was unmanageable and would cause all their powers to be completely expended.

In addition, the soldiers with the demonic illness only looked a little strange, and their mental states were still clear. Extraordinaries could even actively suppress these abnormalities, having no difference with ordinary people, and were gradually accepted by the people in the world, who no longer deliberately gathered to attack them.

Of course, secretly in the various churches, although there was some relaxation in the surveillance of those infected with the demonic illness, the surveillance of the Deities were instead greatly enhanced. Once they were discovered, they needed to be captured and burned at the stake. This was the unanimous decision by the True Gods!

Thus, the Deities concealed themselves even more covertly, and their conflict with the church's Gods gradually became greater.

…

Time flew by, and soon, it was Sun God Year 2670, four years since the day of misfortune.

Stan Duchy, Storm Hill.

Luhn, an embodiment of Fang Yuan, rode a horse and inspected his territory, going to and fro.

Four years was insufficient to cause his body to age, seeming more mature and filled with charm.

Looking at it, the grains in the territory were growing and blossoming. A breeze blew, sending the golden wheat fields tumbling, and the fortress not far away could be faintly seen.

This was naturally Fang Yuan's design to congregate the originally scattered serfs and unify control. High walls were constructed in all four directions with a watchtower in the middle. If anything happened, a warning could be instantly sounded and the serfs could retreat into the fortress.

The existence of a ditch and high walls caused the originally romantic and idyllic scenery to contain an atmosphere of warfare and slaughtering.

However, there was no choice. In order to face a potential attack by the Evil Demons, this was a necessary precaution. Furthermore, this was copied by many nearby feudal lords, who constantly promoted it in the Stan Duchy.

Fang Yuan stopped on a spot among the hills, looked down onto the maize plains, and said while smiling, ”Seeing that this year's harvest is decent, I'm relieved!”

”Yes, Sir. After inspecting the land and combining Storm Hill and Howl Manor, we have two thousand acres of arable land and five hundred acres of sloping fields!”

As for the land on the hills, Fang Yuan would naturally not let it go derelict, but instead make the best use of it. Anything that could be reclaimed would be reclaimed, and it could still be used to plant fruit trees and the like.

After conversion, two thousand and five hundred acres of farmland was equivalent to fifteen thousand mou in ancient China, and could be considered the amount of land a powerful landowner would have.

After a slight estimation, Fang Yuan knew that the harvest in the territory this year would be plentiful. Being able to have nearly two million tons of harvest was the outcome of him unleashing the production boosting method. Unfortunately, it was still troublesome to promote and should not be too conspicuous. Nevertheless, if there were no major natural or man-made disasters in the coming year, the harvest would definitely be more bountiful.

Such a yield, if taking everything into account, would be sufficient to support five thousand people.

In fact, in the current territory, there were only about three thousand people and a standing army of three hundred that could entirely be counted as military strength.

However, in this era of war, only this would suffice.

Compared to the territories of the other knights, viscounts, and barons, the people under Fang Yuan's command were already considered very fortunate.

At least, there was a safe fortress for them to stay in. Furthermore, once they encountered an Evil Demon, Knight Luhn would instantly lead the army to deal with it.

In the heart of the continent, within a few human empires, the Evil Demon disaster was extremely fierce. It was rumored that there were already many extinguished kingdoms, and many nobles and royal families had no choice but to escape.

Instead, for areas like the Stan Duchy that were at the fringes of human civilization and was thinly populated, the demon crisis was not too serious yet.

Although Marseille's various reports were still ringing in his ears, Fang Yuan sighed. ”Just… such good days are finally ending.”

After four years had passed and the hugh price that was paid, this world was already gradually getting accustomed to the demon crisis, while many issues and conflicts which were held up previously were finally floating to the surface.

For example, the destruction of the central kingdoms had caused massive powers to spread to the fringes.

Even the Noether Kingdom suffered much coveting.

Although in the views of the former central nobles, the Noether Kingdom could only be considered a remote and backward place, and the Stan Duchy an uncivilized region that could not even be considered as one, they could not withstand the impact of the Evil Demons even a bit.

Now, without discrimination, these original 'wastelands' instead became a land of idyllic beauty!

Many nobles intended to set up a few territories here and even migrate their entire families.