I, the wizard, the foolish Buddha.

Roland felt that compared to the possibility of a haunting, the probability that he had mental problems was higher.

He rubbed his forehead, ignored the hallucinations he had just seen, and continued to observe the sand table.

"Grey Falcon Fortress is so far away from Wilmik, it makes no sense for the Church to send troops to garrison here now."

"The Qing Dynasty is about to fall, and the revolutionary army is about to enter Shanhaiguan from the northeast. Why don't you, Cixi, send troops to defend Shanhaiguan instead of sending them to defend the gateway to Jiangnan?"

"Could it be because of the rebels? The rebels were created by wizards, and they were causing too much trouble around here. So the Church was worried that the rebels, Grey Falcon, and Wilmick would unite, so they made this decision?"

"That's impossible! Judging from the discussions among the lords, the rebels don't even have enough food to eat. If our people had already taken down Grey Falcon City before the Crusaders entered, how could they not even have enough food to eat?"

Judging from the discussions among the lords, it seems that a group of people joined the rebels two or three months ago, and then the rebels became very radical.

But they didn't think that group of people had anything to do with wizards, because the current rebels were even more radical than the wizards!
In the wizards' plan to overthrow the world, there are still many conservative strategies, such as seeking common ground while reserving differences with the Protestant Church, and then reaching a cooperative negotiation with the god in charge of this pasture.

But the rebels did not have a conservative strategy. They wanted to hang all Protestants on lampposts, and they also wanted to pull the god in charge of this ranch off the altar, extinguish the divine fire, and throw him into the abyss.

Roland thought, "The revolutionary uprising has nothing to do with us. The Vatican probably didn't send troops here to protect us from wizards."

Earl Bal is definitely not a wizard. He is definitely not a faithless person.

However, if this incident is used as an excuse, the Dracula family can indeed be driven away under the pretext of "sending troops to defend the Grey Falcon Fortress to prevent wizards."

Is it really as these people say, that the Vatican considered them heretics and then found a reason to destroy them?'

Roland couldn't help but frown.

"Could it really be like this? We're about to attack, but there's all sorts of chaos going on within the church, even starting a civil war over coveting a certain lord's territory?"

'How could the church be so bad?'

'There must be another reason. At least there must be a reason why I came here!'

Roland carefully examined the sand table, and was shocked when he saw it.

He 'discovered' the reason why he came here!
Magic resources!

Roland thought to himself, "Someone told me before that we're desperately short of supplies, especially magical materials. Even if there's a mine at the gate of the Holy City of the Vatican, we'll open a base there!"

'Angel River is such a resource point!'

There are no resource locations marked on the sand table, and judging from the conversations of the lords, the locals probably don’t even know how many magical resources there are around here!
So there are no large existing mining areas around here.

But after looking at the sand table for a while, Roland felt that there were many mineral veins here.

Roland thought to himself, "I am considered a polymath now, and I have some knowledge of geology.

When I was in the Ruins Garden, I felt that there were a lot of mines there. Later, when the Nagas went to explore, I found that my guess was almost right!
Although I don’t have the help of magic to deeply examine the geological conditions here, the accuracy will not be very high, but judging from the geographical structure, there are too many suspicious places here!
There must be a lot of magical ore here!

In reality, Roland was just guessing blindly. He couldn't make any sense out of the sand table at all.

Although he had studied many books and had some knowledge of geology when he was bored on the Triceratops ship, he had no practical experience at all - knowledge gained from books is always shallow!

He was able to guess correctly in the garden because that place was special. The garden was a place that O'Leary had specially picked out from the ocean trench, so it was normal for it to have many mineral veins.

But Roland felt his geology skills were quite advanced. He felt he was no longer just a theoretical geologist. So he concluded that there was a mine along the Angel River.

but!

He guessed right!
The geological activity here is very active, with many mountains. It is also a special and mysterious place where the Styx meets the human world.

The Angel River is already filled with various buffs. Under the influence of the power of the Styx, ordinary mineral veins will gradually turn into magical mineral veins. Magic mineral veins, after years of mutation, will become mysterious mineral veins that only exist in the Styx!
So there are not only many mines here, but also many rare mineral veins that wizards are extremely eager for.

However, the environment here is special, and magic, divination, prophecy and other methods will be mysteriously interfered with. Therefore, it is difficult to explore using normal means.

The southerners' alchemy technology was already poor, lacking the advanced equipment of the eastern territories. Exploration relied entirely on divine communication with the elemental gods and the assistance of elemental creatures—this was Heraka's territory, where were the legitimate elemental creatures? They were all crazy!

Therefore, the Southern Church has not been able to explore much here.

The few mineral veins that have been explored either require moving mountains and digging the ground, making them difficult to develop, or they are "barren veins" that require deep alchemical processing and cannot be used immediately.

Compared to magical resources, the Southern Church focused more on something else along the Angel River. Therefore, the rich mineral resources in this land were neglected.

But the wizards are different. They are now accumulating industrial blood and industrial food, and have plenty of means to mine.

In the eyes of southerners, rich mines are those with extremely high magic density, which can be used almost immediately after digging. Those with less than 80% magic density are considered poor mines.

But in the eyes of wizards, a content of more than 37% is an extremely rare and rich mine!

The East Territory is in short supply of this thing right now. For them, there is no need to open the mines here, they can just pick them up directly!
At this moment, Roland suddenly heard the lords mention the mine.

"The rebels have been making trouble for years, and the Church has stored so much supplies and food here. As long as we take these Acropolis and granaries, we won't have any problem holding on for a few years!"

"Yes, there are some open-air magical gem mines in the Dark Forest. Although the quality of these mines is very poor and cannot be used, they have attracted many mutated monsters. Capturing some and sacrificing them can summon a lot of helpers to help us capture the Acropolis!"

When Roland heard this, his expression changed drastically.

He thought to himself, "Fool! This mine has mutated the monsters, and you're telling me there aren't any magical resources here?!"

Don't you think about it, if there is only a handful of gem ore, can it generate enough magical radiation?!

Moreover, magic gemstones and minerals are associated with it! It can even be mined in the open air! All kinds of magic mineral veins must be concentrated here! Roland looked at a vast forest in the sand table and thought to himself: "I just saw someone pointing here. The forest they were talking about seems to be here."

Look at these mountains, look at these peaks! They were all slowly squeezed out from the ground during geological changes!

And here, here, and here. This deep forest is packed with mines! Any one of them is a real mine, so just open one!
There are energy resources, a large amount of materials, and a mysterious environment.
If I ask someone to bring in a group of prisoners, mark out an area and radiate it into a place like the 'Black Forbidden Forest' or the 'Land of the End', and then use mysterious matter to stimulate the growth of something like mysterious straw.

Then I can create thousands of straw Rolands by myself!

A flash of lightning suddenly flashed through Roland's mind.

This place is not only a large granary, but also contains many rare magical resources and monster resources. It has the conditions to nourish the mystic and also has the conditions to create a large number of undead creatures.

For mystical wizards or necromancers, this place is simply a paradise!

As long as they have a skilled mysterious wizard or necromancer, they can form an army!
Angel River is indeed very far away from the wizards' territory, but from the wizards' perspective, it is a strategic location that must be captured. And it can be completely defended!
All they need is a wizard group, dozens of prisoners, and enough mysterious substances. It won't take long for the wizards to carve out a mysterious base like the 'Land of the End' here!

By then, this place will be more difficult to attack than Wilmick!

The Angel River is the gateway from the north to the southern capital of the Holy See. Once it is occupied by wizards, the eastern border can march straight into the southern holy capital!
This place is easy to defend but difficult to attack. If the church really didn't send troops here because of carelessness, then the wizards will have to send troops here!
It is true that this place is very far away from the wizards' territory, but the wizards do not need to worry about logistics here!

As long as we can establish a foothold here, we can open any portal we want! We can even bring the entire Eastern Territory wizard army over here!
Therefore, if the wizards can take this place, they can really defend it!
Even if the wizard is unable to attack after taking this place, it will not be a problem for him to defend it for a few years!
In a few years. It can be said that as long as this place is occupied, then in a few years, the land from Grey Falcon Fortress to Wilmick will all belong to the East!
Roland thought to himself, "This plan is indeed very crazy, but even if it fails, it will only consume a few hundred wizards and a few hundred prisoners."

No wonder the Holy See attaches so much importance to this place!

I thought they were fighting among themselves, I underestimated them.'

Roland touched his chin and thought: 'This place is so far away from Wilmick, no one would have thought that the wizards had a reason to target this place. If the lords hadn't mentioned these things today, I wouldn't have thought about it at all!

I never thought the church would have such a long-term vision!
No, we must not let the Crusaders of the Church in! If they occupy this place, we will never be able to take over Grey Falcon City!
But Earl Bal and his men cannot hold the city alone. If we persuade them to join forces with the wizards, can they do it?

I can talk to them now because they think I am their god. I may really be one, but if I were to speak for the wizards, even if I were, they would probably suspect that I was a wizard in disguise.

Roland was worried about the Crusaders entering the city. Earl Barr and his men were also very worried.

Dracula has many vassals, some of whom are loyal to their family and are bound to live and die with Grey Falcon City, but some are loyal to the Church.

All those loyal to Dracula were here. They were discussing how to apostatize. But those who were not there kept asking the Count why he didn't obey the orders of the Church.

To put it bluntly, the Earl and his men don't have enough manpower.

Those Acropolis cities were not under the control of the Earl and his men. They could be taken by force, but they did not have enough men to defend them.

Once the troops are dispersed, not only will the defense of the city be lost, but the main city of Grey Falcon will also be empty.

Someone suddenly asked, "Have you found the contact person for the revolutionary army?"

"It's in Oliveira's hands. But Oliveira probably didn't get the letter."

"With only this one contact, I'm afraid we won't be able to contact the Revolutionary Army anytime soon. Negotiations will have to be put on hold for now."

"Even if we can reach an agreement now, it's useless. They're not on the same page with us. And even if we could temporarily join forces, they probably wouldn't be able to help us much."

"Joining forces with the Revolutionary Army will lead to endless troubles. Once their ideology spreads among the army, Gray Falcon City will probably change hands, not to mention the many secrets within the city."

"They are too extreme, opposing all gods. The Holy Lord hasn't fully 'awakened' yet. If we really let them into the city, I'm afraid we'll lose more than we gain."

"Let's discuss the supply of supplies to the Revolutionary Army. If they have enough supplies, they won't let the Crusaders set foot on the Angel River."

"How foolish! If they had supplies, the first place they would capture would be Grey Falcon City!"

"You overestimate those peasants. They can't even afford to eat. What can they accomplish with just their wooden spears?"

The lords talked a lot about the revolutionary army. After listening for a while, Roland realized that the rebellion was extremely serious.

There is a 'long winter' along the Angel River, and each long winter lasts for one or two years - this time it is particularly long, and this year is the fourth year.

Although it is cold here, there are abundant resources. There is a kind of "sleepless tree" growing everywhere.

The sleepless tree is unaffected by the cold of winter. Its fruit is a nut, and its yield is high. The flesh is more nutritious than potatoes, and can be eaten or used to make wine. Those that have reached a certain age can be used in potions, or even directly as a spice or incense.

This thing can not only treat insomnia, but also help restore mental strength.

The wood is also very resistant to burning and emits a refreshing fragrance, which is loved by priests and nobles.

The church praises it as the 'holy tree blessed by God on the banks of the Angel River'.

Churches across the Angel River are planting sleepless trees. Believers are planting them too, so you could say the whole mountain is covered in them.

But they all belong to the church and to God, so people are not allowed to cut down the trees, let alone steal the holy fruits.

Many years ago, those bizarre policies had a positive effect. Back then, under the church's management, the riverside area was rich and prosperous, and the people lived very well.

But as land annexation became more serious, almost everything on the banks of the Angel River became the property of the church and the private property of the priests.

Nowadays, even the nobles have become high-level workers, not to mention the people at the bottom.

The mountains and plains here are full of treasures, but people can only watch. Every household is working hard, but every household is starving and freezing.

The Vatican didn't benefit much either, as the majority of the real estate was held by the church's upper echelons. (End of this chapter)