Chapter 118 Intelligence
After settling in Golden Harbor, Benjamin quickly adapted to life there.
Although the city was noisy, it gave him a long-lost freedom.
He rented a simple room and wandered the streets as "Jack" during the day. At night, he returned to his residence, where he studied intelligence and practiced quietly.
After getting rid of Carl, the other party unexpectedly did not continue to cause trouble. Perhaps he was really scared by Benjamin's methods.
Benjamin didn't care much about this. Through Jack's memory, he knew that there were only "only" five "legends" in the entire Golden Harbor.
If nothing happened, then "Low-level Adventurer Mr. Jack" would naturally not cause trouble, but if something really happened, it would be "First-level Official Wizard Jeming" who would come forward.
By then, the death of two people will not be enough to solve the problem.
Part of the reason why Benjamin had let Carl go before was that he wanted to try and see if he could catch fish.
He was a little excited in the first few days, but he didn't expect Carl to not take the bait, which made him a little disappointed.
However, the previous effect of establishing authority was indeed good.
When he stepped into the Drunken Dolphin Tavern for the second time, the orc bartender's face was less impatient and more respectful.
After Jemin asked for a small task of collecting Warcraft materials, the bartender pointed his stubby fingers at the wooden stairs deep in the tavern.
"Hey, Jack, a tough guy like you shouldn't just take those low-level jobs." The bartender lowered his voice with a hint of flattery. "The second floor is for truly 'powerful' adventurers like you. There are fatter fish there."
Benjamin glanced at him calmly, then walked straight up the stairs.
The environment on the second floor is much cleaner than downstairs, and the light is brighter.
Various quest scrolls were posted on a huge wooden board. Unlike the quests downstairs, which generally paid a dozen copper coins to a few silver coins, the quest rewards here ranged from a dozen gold coins to hundreds of gold coins.
The adventurers here are also obviously more powerful, with muscular warriors, agile rangers, and thieves with cunning eyes everywhere.
They were either in groups of three or five, discussing tasks in low voices, or alone, scanning the task board with sharp eyes.
Jemin noticed that most of the missions here were related to dangerous monster nests, ancient ruins exploration, and reconnaissance deep into certain dangerous areas.
Occasionally, an adventure team would return after completing a difficult mission, and would always attract envious or jealous glances.
However, Benjamin also noticed that legal professions were extremely rare, whether downstairs or upstairs.
Even in a prosperous city like Golden Harbor, spellcasters can only be seen a few times.
According to Jack's memory, most of the spellcasters were servants of a noble family and would never appear in such a mixed adventurer's guild.
After coming here more often, Benjamin established a good relationship with a middle-aged adventurer nicknamed "Old Gray".
Lao Hui is an experienced soldier, weathered and with a scar across his left eye.
He always liked to sit in the corner of the bar, drinking ale in silence.
Among the generally low-quality group of adventurers, Lao Hui is a rare "decent" character, although he is very stingy with money.
Benjamin was also happy to interact with him. Occasionally he would treat him to a glass of good rum, or share some rare materials he had found in the wilderness, and Old Hui would start talking.
"Hey, Jack, you're such a freak! Those little fry wouldn't last more than three seconds in your hands." Old Gray gulped down his glass of wine, his breath still tingling with alcohol. "But you have to understand, the adventurer business is a very complicated one. On the surface, it's all about getting paid to do the work, but in reality, there are two types of people in this business."
He lowered his voice, his tone filled with emotion: "One type is those of us who fight for food and clothing, for a few gold coins, and risk our lives in the wild. Even if you are strong, in the eyes of some people, you are only at the bottom."
"Oh?" Benjamin shook his glass. Hearing this, he felt curious. "Then what kind of thing is considered top-tier? Is it the other kind you mentioned?"
Old Hui's tone was filled with disdain. "The other kind... hmph, is those large adventure groups. They're the black gloves doing the dirty work for the major kingdoms. You know, the Adventurer's Guild doesn't just hand out missions casually. They all require approval from local government officials. Especially the large-scale missions, which often involve strategic materials or politics. How could the nobles just hand over such important matters to someone they don't know the details of?"
Benjamin touched his chin. He really didn't know about this matter, and there was nothing related in Jack's memory.
After all... "Jack" was just a low-level adventurer before this.
However, although he spoke with disdain, he could hear a hint of suppressed envy in this guy's tone:
"So those high-ranking adventuring groups are basically the private armies of the nobles and kings. They're just acting under the guise of the Adventurer's Guild... Aren't they just serving as dogs for the nobles?"
"Shh! How dare you say that so loudly? Are you tired of living?" Lao Hui looked around with a little panic.
Now that no one was paying attention to him, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and smacked his lips. "You're right, though... not everyone can be a dog. At least in front of us lowly people, he's still a high and mighty master."
Lao Hui suddenly couldn't help but feel proud again: "But, being a black glove is not that easy. Although they earn a lot, they are also the first to step into danger."
"Just like now, ever since those 'otherworldly demons' (wizards) invaded, all those great adventuring groups have been recruited by various kingdoms and sent to the front lines as high-end combat forces. This has made us small-timers feel proud, and it's not that difficult to grab some work."
"That's a good thing." Benjamin nodded aside.
Lao Hui was already a little drunk, lying on the table and mumbling, "That's true, but the situation has become completely chaotic, and even this place is becoming more and more dangerous..."
Seeing that the other party was completely defeated, Benjamin didn't say much. He took out a few copper coins to pay for his wine and turned to leave.
During this time, through casual conversations in the tavern, announcements of adventurer quests, and secretly observing the words and actions of the townspeople, Jemin silently pieced together the current situation in the Elosia plane:
First is the Human Kingdom, which had been at war with the Orc Empire in the north and the Elf Kingdom in the west, and was also in turmoil due to internal disputes among the nobles.
After the wizard invasion, under tremendous external pressure, the human kingdom signed a peace agreement with the other two countries to jointly resist foreign enemies.
However, this peace is fragile and frictions continue to arise behind the scenes.
Especially recently, as the wizards' offensive has relaxed again, border frictions between humans and orcs have become apparent again, and small-scale conflicts occur from time to time.
The Elf Kingdom is relatively isolated. They live deep in the ancient forest and remain highly vigilant against external invasions.
However, the internal situation is not monolithic. There are different factions, one saying "get close to nature and protect oneself from the world" and the other saying "actively fight against external enemies and maintain the purity of the plane", and there is a subtle contradiction between them.
True to the stereotype, the dwarves are stubborn as ever, clinging to their ancient mines and forging techniques passed down from generation to generation, and remaining highly wary of invaders.
Their mountain fortresses are easy to defend and difficult to attack, but they rarely take the initiative to attack, preferring to protect themselves from invasions by wizards.
The Orc Empire has always believed in primitive and powerful gods and advocated strength and war.
After the wizard invasion, they became the most direct and main source of military force to resist the wizard invasion with their amazing bravery.
However, the orcs were willing to resist the wizards before because the human empire promised to provide supplies, but since the wizards' offensive slowed down, some short-sighted human nobles have begun to plan to default on this debt.
The core that supports the operation of the entire plane is the system of gods.
The gods of Elosia have clear divisions of labor. There is the god of life who controls life and abundance, the god of death who controls death and souls, the god of war who symbolizes strength and conquest, and the god of wealth who brings wealth and trade, and so on.
Other gods except the God above Gods are not native gods. They need to obtain the power of faith continuously through the devout prayers and dedication of believers to directly cast divine spells and intervene in the mortal world.
On the day he entered Golden Harbor, he chose a small church with a long history but little popularity. After pretending to be a devout believer, he began to make small donations for a long time.
He only donated a few silver coins each time and showed a strong interest in the teachings of the gods. He spent half a month establishing simple relationships with the low-level priests and pastors of the church.
Through some casual chatting, Benjamin gradually found out some deeper information.
For example, the gods are indeed highly vigilant against the invasion of wizards and regard it as a serious threat.
But what most gods are really worried about is not the fall of the secular world, but the worry that wizards will invade and snatch their faith away.
After all, once the source of faith is cut off, even a powerful being like a god will gradually weaken.
Benjamin sneered in his heart at this, as it was completely consistent with the information he learned in the workshop.
This is exactly the "weakness" and "purpose" that the wizards deliberately showed during the invasion. They deliberately showed a strong invasion of the plane laws and coveted the power of faith in order to reduce the self-destructive tendencies of the gods to some extent.
After weighing the pros and cons, the gods will not recklessly use the origin of the plane to engage in a final battle to the death with the wizards.
(End of this chapter)
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