Chapter 358 (1/2)

Chapter 358: Invitation

Translator: Meh/TransN Editor: – –

This was not a wild guess, but it could be best proved by the development of human civilization.

It took mankind nearly a million years to enter the Iron Age from the Stone Age, but only 3,200 years from the Iron Age to the Age of Steam. From the Age of Steam to the Electric Age, it merely took 150 years, and the world directly stepped into the information era in another 50 years.

From the information Agatha disclosed, demons were not an invariable race. Over 800 years ago, they combatted in a close range with knives and shields made of bronze and pig iron, fighting in a similar way to mankind. In order to compete against witches, some Senior Demons would also wear God’s Stones of Retaliation. Every time they attacked a city, demons generally did not have any effective countermeasures for long-distance weapons such as crossbow bolts and mangonels, and therefore always suffered great loss before conquering a fortified city. If they were not born to possess such immense power, perhaps mankind would have become the ultimate victor of the first Battle of Divine Will.

Nevertheless, demons had already been able to mass produce Magic Stones in the second Battle of Divine Will, and their groups had also experienced differentiation. Demons of various forms took on diverse operation missions, and even Mad Demons who outweighed in number had also developed measures for long-distance attack. According to Agatha, they even created transportation tools and engineering instruments driven by Magic Stones! Now more than 400 years had passed, how far had they evolved?

Roland originally thought Agatha would bring him the Magic Stone technologies from Taquila’s Quest Society, and based on them, he would be able to wedge a new path of industrial development, but he did not expect that such technologies were from the enemies. In that way, the competition against demons would very likely become a war between industrial and Magic Stone technologies.

“Only the one that develops technologies faster will win in the end.”

At this thought, Roland could not help but heave a sigh. It seemed necessary to have a thorough discussion with Tilly.

…

Roland met Tilly Wimbledon at his office after dinner.

He felt pleased when he saw she came alone—at least there had been great progress in terms of trust between them.

“Nightingale told me you want to discuss something with me.” she took a seat and came straight to the point.

“Yes.” Roland poured a cup of tea and handed it over to her himself. “It’s mainly about how to cope with the third Battle of Divine Will and our future.”

Tilly took the tea cup and blinked, seeming to wait for him to continue.

“According to Agatha, the Four Kingdoms was merely a tip of the Land of Dawn and that even the Barbarian Land used to be the most prosperous Fertile Plains. It was after being defeated by demons twice that human beings had to retreat to this place. Based on the time the Stone Gates opened, the third Battle of Divine Will is at the corner.” Roland hesitated for a moment and stated bluntly, “I hope you can stay.”

Tilly smiled faintly after a short pause and said, “I didn’t expect you would say that.”

“The strength of demons is unpredictable, and we must gather all the powers available to win the war. Although Agatha said the first Battle of Divine Will was operated by both mortals and witches, it was very likely that their cooperation was only on the surface, which essentially had no difference from the second Battle of Divine Will.” He addressed in a sincere tone, “As you’ve already seen, the excess of the memories in my head possesses weapons sufficient to defeat demons. Once these memories are converted to physical entities, mortals can also burst out powers beyond imagination. The right choice is to have witches take care of the operation of war machines, while ordinary people fight in the war. Upon a big war, one more person means one more source of strength.”