Full health is the kill threshold, no matter if you're a god or a demon!

Facing the gazes of the four dukes, Liu Nian simply nodded slightly with a calm expression, neither being impolite nor showing excessive enthusiasm or humility, maintaining his usual calm and composed style.

Wu Zhan timely took over the conversation. As the chief negotiator for the human side, his voice was steady and powerful, responding to the other side's greetings while directly getting to the point:

"Thank you for your congratulations and greetings, Your Excellency Duke Yanglavi and the other dukes. We also highly appreciate and welcome your sincerity and foresight in forming an alliance at this crucial moment. As the decisive storm of the Six Races Ascension War approaches, the union of wisdom and strength is the cornerstone for us to steady our ship amidst the raging waves and sail to the other shore. We are ready to engage in frank, pragmatic, and in-depth exchanges with you on all issues of common concern, with the aim of reaching a solid alliance that can withstand the test of war."

After the diplomatic pleasantries, the negotiations quickly moved into the substantive phase.

The initial issues, such as "the principle of non-aggression against each other's territories and existing controlled areas," "establishing an intelligence-sharing mechanism regarding the movements of common enemies (pigmen, ratmen, goblins, and other chaotic factions)," "opening channels for direct military-level communication in the event of a large-scale emergency," and "coordinated operations on some battlefields," progressed relatively smoothly. Both sides had clear common interests and relatively few differences on these fundamental and principled issues, and quickly reached a preliminary framework of consensus.

However, as the discussion progressed, the real difficulties and points of contention began to emerge.

"Regarding wartime military coordination," Duke Yanglavy proposed a concrete plan, "we can promise to deploy a large number of elite 'Stormwing Knights' elite units, personally led by myself or other dukes, as rapid reaction forces at key battle junctures, providing highly mobile air strikes, precision decapitation strikes, or tactical cover support." He then shifted his focus, "However, in return, considering the mobility and preciousness of our forces, we hope that our human allies will assume a greater responsibility for drawing and absorbing enemy fire on the main battlefield, especially in ground defense and advance. Meanwhile…"

He paused, his gaze sweeping over Wu Zhan and Wang Mian, his tone still gentle, but the content getting straight to the point: "We have a strong interest in certain... 'strategic technology blueprints' that your side may obtain during your exploration of ancient ruins. Perhaps we can establish a limited and controlled channel for technical exchange and discussion, which would greatly benefit the enhancement of our alliance's overall defense and deterrence capabilities."

Wu Zhan responded almost as soon as the other party finished speaking, his pace steady but his wording precise: "His Excellency the Duke's vision for military cooperation can be discussed in further detail. Specific support timing, scale, command and coordination mechanisms, and especially the clear definition of joint command authority to avoid battlefield chaos, all require clear agreement clauses. As for technical exchanges…"

He glanced at Wang Mian, who nodded slightly and continued, "Technology exchange is a sensitive and complex issue. We are willing to explore the possibility of equal and mutually beneficial technological cooperation within the framework of the alliance. However, this requires first assessing the strategic value, uniqueness, and actual enhancement of the combat capabilities of both sides of the relevant technologies to ensure the fairness of the exchange. Here, I would also like to raise one of our requests: the Eagle Clan is renowned for its soaring through the skies. Would you consider providing our human allies with a batch of high-quality flying mounts or the taming technology for related city guardian beasts? This would be a great help in enhancing our strategic mobility and urban defense capabilities."

At the negotiating table, the atmosphere began to become subtle and tense.

The representatives from both sides, whether it was Wu Zhan, Wang Mian and his advisors from the human side, or the four dukes and their high-ranking nobles and generals from the eagle-descended side, began to constantly put forward new conditions, test each other's bottom line, repeatedly wrangle over details, and argue over a single percentage point of benefit or the interpretation of a single word.

Interests, risks, trust, suspicion... various factors collided and intertwined silently above the long table.

Liu Nian remained silent for most of the time, sitting in his seat like a rock.

But he could clearly perceive the sharp, hawk-like scrutinizing gaze of the several eagle-descended dukes opposite him, especially the Duke of Salvador, known for his bravery, as well as the occasional strange glances cast by the mysterious Duchess Alicia.

They were not only engaging in verbal and contractual negotiations with Wu Zhan and Wang Mian, but also observing and assessing him.

Every subtle change in his expression, his demeanor when facing certain sensitive issues, and even the mere "presence" he exuded while sitting there were taken into consideration by the other party as a basis for judging the degree of unity and determination within the human camp, as well as Liu Nian's true attitude towards the alliance.

This intense diplomatic maneuver lasted from dawn until noon and into the afternoon. Although it took up most of the day, the results were significant and entirely worthwhile.

Finally, before sunset, a multi-layered "Human-Eagle Strategic Cooperation Alliance Agreement" was finalized.

The human side offered some rare materials, design blueprints, and information about the Chaos faction in exchange.

The Eagle Clan promised that after negotiations, until the end of the Ascension War, they would open leveling areas for human allies from level 70 to 90; provide thirty 'Galehawk' cubs that had been initially tamed and related basic feeding guidelines; and share their intelligence on outposts, strongholds, cities, troop movements, and the abilities of some special units of the three chaotic races of Pigmen, Ratmen, and Goblins, as well as information on high-ranking personnel.

Most importantly, it involves the exchange of information about the rules of the promotion battle itself.

The Eagle descendants, through their own channels, have learned about some of the rule changes that occurred during the Ascension War:

In addition to the known rules such as "three level 1 main cities can be merged and upgraded into one level 2 main city" and "failed upgrades result in becoming wild monsters," they also confirmed:

During the promotion war, all participating cities will have their "newbie protection" or "peaceful state" completely removed, and their main cities will no longer be invincible and can be directly attacked.

In addition, level-based access restrictions in all combat zones will be temporarily lifted during the war, and death penalties will be adjusted.

When a player dies in the Ascension War, their level will not be reset to zero and all their equipment will be lost. Instead, they will reappear at their own team's bound resurrection point after 6 hours. However, they will suffer a period of "war weakness" penalty and lose some of their current level experience and some equipment.