Extraordinary Pedigree.

Chapter 1242 An Era of Civilizational War

Red Scars, Battlefield of Civilizational Narratives, Round 40.

With a humanoid form but purple skin and a third eye on his forehead, Setek stood in a void within the red scar, overlooking the Red King's [World Bubble]. He was full of confidence—as the Emperor of the Neforu Dynasty, one of the nine core dynasties of the Gate Empire, also known as the Winged Dynasty, he never believed in the cumbersome path of slow cultivation.

According to the Winged Emperor, speed and surprise are the highest art of war, and this creed also applies to missionary work.

Ahmus, the military scribe of the Flying Wing Dynasty, stood before the Star Chart Platform, his head bowed as he recorded the changes in civilization within the Red Scar. He followed the Emperor into the Red Scar to observe this rare experiment of civilizational interference.

The Winged Emperor abandoned civilization-based development from the start. He did not establish a nation, nor did he, like other civilization narrative interferers, diligently promote technology, civic development, and population growth.

He thought those were all just fancy tricks and techniques, not as good as the missionary methods of the Men Empire!

It should be noted that the original roots of the Gate Empire were a loose alliance of outcasts, sorcerers, scholars, exiles, protectors of outcasts, and mystics.

For the Gate Empire, the state is merely the shell, the gateway is the blood vessels, knowledge is the skeleton, and esoteric Buddhism is the most suitable seed to infiltrate the interior of civilization.

The Winged Emperor chose a fallen nobleman, stuffed his mind with corrupted supernatural knowledge, and made him hold his first secret gathering at night.

There were only seven people at the gathering: a bankrupt nobleman, a doctor expelled from the church, a smuggler, a knight who had lost his land, two young apprentices, and a nun who was overly obsessed with miracles.

Ahmus initially thought this step was too small and advised him to stick to farming instead.

But the Winged Emperor simply smiled and told him that the esoteric sect only needed to have the first basement, the first forbidden book, and complete its first successful missionary work to develop faster than any interference.

Subsequent developments completely confirmed the French Emperor's judgment.

Tantric Buddhism was initially regarded as heresy, besieged by the church, arrested by lords, and had its strongholds burned down by the city-state courts. However, as long as one branch survived, it would continue to grow branches like the tree of knowledge.

Missionary work is like a snowball rolling downhill. When the first snowball starts rolling, no one pays attention to it, but once it crosses the hillside, it will form an avalanche that can swallow up city walls.

After forty rounds, the Winged Emperor gained control of a feudal imperial civilization through esoteric Buddhism.

This civilization is called the Ceronian Empire.

On the surface, it was still ruled by the emperor, nobles, the church, and the knightly order, but in reality, from court astrologers to border tax collectors, from the southern port merchants' guild to the underground academy in the capital, it had long been permeated by the secret religious network laid out by the Flying Emperor.

The emperor of the Celonia Empire believed he was using heretical knowledge to strengthen his royal power, the bishops believed they were recruiting a group of controllable sorcerers, and the nobles believed that the ordination ceremony was merely a new tool for trade.

They were all wrong, terribly wrong!!!

The Celonia Empire was the one being controlled; their politics, laws, and economy were all built around the foundations of Tantric Buddhism… oh, now it should be said that it was built on the foundations of the only orthodox sect—the Appeturian Orthodox Church.

The Aperture Orthodox Church, also known as the Church of the Holy Gate, is a powerful narrative anchor established by the Winged Hierophant in the Red Scar. Through this church, he has controlled multiple parts of the world map within the Red Scar.

Now, he intends to incorporate this sacred world, number 777, beneath his feet into his own territory. According to current projections, the Ceronian Empire will enter the steam industrial age in eighty rounds.

Once that era arrives, Tantric Buddhism will continue to spread through printing, railways, colleges, factories, and urban slums, at which point the entire 777 world will be completely controlled by the Church of the Holy Church.

Now, the Ceronian Empire has begun to expand outwards.

The elven tribes born from Gaia's consciousness are still in the Bronze Age of city-states. Although they possess extraordinary archery skills, natural magic, and the advantage of forest terrain, they are still constantly forced to retreat when faced with the heavily armored knights, siege towers, and church legions of the feudal imperial era.

The several classical kingdoms that emerged from the Alaya consciousness were also forced to form an alliance.

These kingdoms barely managed to withstand the frontal attacks of the Ceronian Empire by surging their populations and conscripting large numbers of militia. Several valley fortresses changed their flags three times a day, and the corpses dragged away from the city walls would be replaced by new troops the next day.

The two narrative interferers were forced to form an alliance.

The elves used forests, bows and arrows, and nature magic to slow down Ceronia's advance, while the Alaya consciousness caused several classical kingdoms to expand their armies at an alarming rate, using numbers to bridge the gap between eras.

This resistance was indeed effective, but the scribe Ahmus saw it clearly: it was only a temporary delay.

The Ceronian Empire was a generation ahead in productivity; its knightly orders could launch continuous expeditions; and its ecclesiastical legions could exploit morale with indulgences and inquisitions.

More importantly, the esoteric teachings of the Winged Emperor did not only develop within the civilization he controlled, but also spread into hostile civilizations along with caravans, prisoners, exiled scholars, and battlefield refugees.

The merchant forces of the feudal empire have brought back intelligence on the civilization controlled by the Wolverines.

That civilization had originally reached the feudal imperial era, possessing a vast monarchy, a stable vassal system, and a polluting army. However, its chosen supreme ruler died unexpectedly in the previous round, and the entire country instantly fell into division and turmoil.

The feudal lords were divided, the priests accused each other, the corrupt legions lost their unified command, and several border provinces even began to fight each other.

The Winged Emperor immediately judged: "The group of Wo Wutu will stop developing for at least twenty more rounds."

This presents an opportunity for the Winged Emperor.

The proxy civilization supported by the Eldar remains a formidable opponent. They are developing steadily, have a clean technology tree, and are making solid progress in municipal affairs. They also have the support of the Eldar genealogy network's correction path.

But the Winged Emperor was not in a hurry. The religious points of the Celonia Empire were steadily increasing, and the deeper the esoteric network went, the more great spirituality he could project into the Red Scar.

Once Ceronia enters the steam industrial age, he will be able to activate the long-prepared religious card—[Victorian Mysticism].

At that time, the gateway technology for cross-regional teleportation will be revealed, and the Celonia Empire will use this opportunity to vigorously develop its army—especially its tank forces.

The tank legions would bypass the forest via the gates, traversing the entire continent in a single day, striking the Eldar civilization like lightning. The Maginot Line, which the Eldar had chosen, was utterly laughable in their eyes.

The Eldar proxy civilization would be forced to fight at a pace it is least suited for in a blitzkrieg, then lose cities, alliances, and technological advantages, and finally be swallowed up by the Ceronian Empire along with the entire regional civilization module.

The Winged Emperor sat on the Gate Throne, looking at the deduction diagram inside the red scar with a calm smile on his face.

"Give me eighty more rounds, and once Ceronia enters the steam industrial age, the 777 world will be mine."

The scribe Ahmose bowed his head and wrote down the sentence. In his view, barring any unforeseen circumstances, everything was going according to the French emperor's plan.

If nothing unexpected happens...

Just when the Winged Emperor and the Scribe thought the Celonia Empire had secured victory, an unexpected event occurred.

The first bad news came from the western border.

A caravan from the Celonia Empire, carrying esoteric scriptures, border trade contracts, and three cartloads of silver coins intended to bribe tribal chiefs, was intercepted by a cavalry force emerging from the mist as they entered a newly opened trade route along the edge of the Red Sands.

The cavalry, clad in greyish-white short cloaks with long-barreled muskets hanging from their saddles, charged without drumming or raising flags. They simply formed two ranks behind the dunes, and as the Ceronian guard approached, a volley shattered the breastplates of the front-ranking knights. The Ceronian guard, still operating in the feudal imperial era, with its heavily armored knights, crossbowmen, and accompanying priests working in perfect harmony, found their armor pierced within a hundred paces of the heavily armed rangers. The horses, startled, broke ranks, and the caravan was plundered in less than half an hour.

He initially thought it was just that some emerging tribal power had acquired a small number of futuristic weapons—yes, although it was a bit far-fetched, some "primitive and barbaric tribes" could indeed possess unique technologies that surpassed all current eras due to narrative shifts.

Unfortunately, this was not an accident, because not long after the caravan was robbed, the golden fleet that the Winged Emperor had spent ten rounds building was completely wiped out.

The Celonia Empire's Golden Fleet consisted of twenty-seven light sailing ships, eleven escort ships, and three heavily armed merchant ships.

This fleet was the naval asset that the Winged Emperor had accumulated for future colonial wars. It was originally intended to bypass the Elven forest, land by sea behind the Elven proxy civilization, and then deliver esoteric teachings and gateway technologies to ports that had not yet been reached by the Empire.

However, in the imperial history books of the 777 world, the fleet's final destination is a special narrative anchor point—the Battle of Black Sail Bay.

On that day, just as the Golden Fleet sailed out of Black Sail Bay, the fog on the sea was suddenly torn apart by the sound of cannons. Three steam-powered ironclad ships, covered in riveted armor and billowing black smoke, emerged from the fog wall. Their bow rams cut through the waves, and a salvo from their broadside heavy cannons directly turned the two foremost escort ships of Ceronia into burning wood.

The Golden Fleet attempted to break the encirclement, but the wind direction was meaningless in the face of the ironclad ships.

While the light sailboats were still adjusting their rigging, the steam-powered ironclad ships continued forward, braving the crossbows, rockets, and divine light. Their ironclad hulls were scorched black, but they did not stop. Instead, they used their cannons to sink Ceronia's main fleet one by one.

The naval battle lasted less than three hours.

The navy that the Celonia Empire had built up over ten rounds was completely gone.

It's all gone!!!
The scribe looked at the French Emperor cautiously, hesitant to speak for a moment.

He saw that the Winged Emperor's face was ashen, his entire purple face was almost black with anger, and the light of the Gate in his third eye was trembling constantly.

Bad news soon followed.

Through the rules of civilizational war within the red scar, the Winged Emperor finally learned that the country that sank the Golden Fleet was called the Covenant Nation.

Its ruler was: Roger Abraham, the King of the Word.

It was only at this moment that the Winged Emperor realized that he had been caught off guard and had capsized in a ditch.

Within the red scar, all the intervenors can only know what other narrators have generally promoted through narrative summaries, but they cannot see the specific micromanagement, troop production routes, technological breakthroughs, and the laying of hidden threads.

Of course, the intervenor can also spend one turn to activate [Narrative Fog], creating a five-turn concealment period. However, in the first forty turns, most areas are filled with weak players fighting each other, and no one is willing to waste precious development turns just to cover up some early moves.

Everyone knows that a new narrator has entered the game, but they don't care. They've played too many rounds of this sandbox war of Red Scars. What difference does one more newcomer make?
Could it be that these veteran interventionists would be completely outmatched by a newcomer?
Unfortunately, the Winged Emperor didn't know that this new narrator was a shameless cheater.

Not content with simply having a full map cheat, Lao Xiu also secretly activated an invisibility cheat for Luo Jia's Covenant Kingdom. Without spending any turns to create fog, he allowed the Covenant Kingdom to surge forward in the shadows of the border, from the tribal fire era to the steam industrial era.

Through his extremely ruthless and insane methods of [superior annotations], Roger encountered all sorts of primitive and barbaric tribes, and by subduing them, he unlocked all the prerequisite technologies for the Steam Age.

Don't ask why primitive and barbaric tribes would have these things. Anyway, when Xia Xiu was in the [Superior Annotation], the rules of the Red Scar Garden World were not interfered with, which proves that this kind of play is possible.

Thus, after advancing technology and mass-producing troops, Luo Jia began to expand outwards, and the Winged Emperor finally saw the army of the Covenant Kingdom.

First to appear were infantry columns, dressed in greyish-white uniforms, with short cloaks over their shoulders, badges of the Holy Word hanging on their chests, and carrying breech-loading rifles. The accompanying priests carried brass megaphones and recited the Holy Covenant Law and the list of the dead along the way.

Then came the first generation of steam tanks.

These cumbersome steel monsters advanced along the border road, their tracks crushing the barricades and trenches of the Ceronian Empire, their turrets spewing thick smoke as they blasted city gates, towers, and cavalry charge formations to pieces.

Higher up, several early biplanes swept across the battlefield. They didn't fly very high, and their fuselages had a rough wooden and iron structure, but they were able to scout the rear over the city walls, drop small bombs, and disrupt the assembly and supply lines of the Ceronian army.

When the Flying Emperor saw the airplane, his veins throbbed.

If you see ironclad warships and a modern army in front of you, I can barely understand it as this newcomer's incredible skill.

But you've already mentioned the plane, do you think we're stupid?!

Before the Winged Emperor could vent his anger, the Holy Covenant Kingdom officially declared war. The reason for the war was simple—to eliminate heretics!
Luo Jia personally led three army groups through the fog of the border to launch a large-scale assault.

The First Army landed along Black Sail Bay, with ironclad warships providing shore bombardment, while infantry and tanks directly tore through the Ceronian coastal defenses; the Second Army moved south along the Seabuckthorn Road, using rangers to cut off trade routes, and then the main infantry force pressed towards the border fortresses; the Third Army, through the railways and supply lines pre-built by the [military engineers] of the Covenant Kingdom, advanced into the heart of Ceronia for seven days and seven nights.

The narrative marker following this battle is titled "The Seven-Day Covenant Blitz".

The Celonia Empire, which originally intended to launch a blitzkrieg against the Eldar, was instead blitzkrieg'd by Rhoga.

The feudal legions of the Ceronian Empire simply couldn't keep up with this pace. At the speed of this blitzkrieg, the Ceronian Empire would soon be completely conquered.

A military gap spanning an entire era, or the gap between the feudal era and the steam industrial era... Why even bother fighting the Ceronian Empire? Just surrender.

The Celonia Empire actually surrendered immediately; shortly after the Seven-Day Covenant blitzkrieg, they raised the white flag and surrendered.

[Intervener of the Gate Empire, the civilization you chose can no longer keep up with the times; they have vanished from history!]

Seeing this, the Winged Emperor finally couldn't hold back and slammed his fist on the Star Chart Platform in front of the Throne of the Gate.

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

His third eye suddenly widened, and his purple fingers nearly crushed the civilization projection on the table.

"The Celonia Empire has 700,000 feudal legions, 27 fortresses, and 30 trade routes. Even with these, it would take dozens of rounds to enter the steam industrial age!"

"How can a newcomer like him develop so quickly? How can he suddenly pull steam-powered ironclad warships, tanks, and airplanes out of the fog of war on the border?!"

"This guy is definitely suspicious!!!"

The Flying Wing Emperor was furious! The other side wasn't even bothering to pretend anymore, they were just taking advantage of his kindness!

Moreover, he felt that he would most likely keep running into this shameless cheater.

The mechanisms of the miniature world are rigid; it is itself a shattered narrative bubble of the Red King. It can only instinctively perform civilizational deductions. If the interferer can successfully cheat inside the red scar...

If you succeed, then it's not called cheating, it's called a system.

The system doesn't allow for reporting, so even the Flying Wing Emperor can't report Xia Xiu; all he can do now is rage in vain.