Chapter 1412: Crisis of the Dwarves
Abel had finally found a moment of peace for the first time in six months.
Of course, he was not any less busy. Large amounts of followers from the Goddess of the Hunt had emerged, not just from the faithful ground Chia forest, but throughout all the central continent.
She was basically gaining new followers by the day. Their numbers had already reached ten thousand.
Therefore, Abel couldn’t help but use some more holy crystals to increase the amount of housing in the Goddess of the Hunt’s Divine Kingdom.
At this rate, his original ten thousand houses might not be enough!
As for the Ice God, it was much more stable in comparison. Not much had changed with the snow apes, but still their population had grown with the increase in food.
That wouldn’t do much to the Ice God, since they probably wouldn’t be able to produce enough Faith to level up his Kingdom without hundreds of years to work with.
The God of Black Fog was the best performer, with sixty million new tauren followers. With such an abundance of Faith, he could even help the other gods.
By that point all three gods had learned what they needed, and they had returned to their Kingdoms.
Abel was not worried about their safety. As soon as a God Rank entered their faithful grounds, the other gods would come for support through the Teleportation Circles in their Kingdoms.
With Faith as suppression, even God Rank wizards wouldn’t stand a chance!
After all, he did have an equal number of God Ranks as the Wizard Union now.
The only thing he felt a little stressed about was the Mountain God. His followers had also grown in the past six months, but they were all dwarves. Not just blacksmith dwarves, but normal dwarves and even wizard dwarves.
As far as he knew, this shouldn’t have been a problem. The dwarves were a part of the Wizard Union, and in the past the Wizard Union had restricted the worship of the Fire God, meaning only a small number of blacksmiths were allowed among the dwarves.
Although the Fire God was named after fire, his Fire Control was actually far inferior to the Mountain God, and the Mountain God had many more tricks up his sleeves.
Therefore, the Fire God’s death actually did not cause much of a drop in blacksmith ability, and it even caused a bit of commotion at first.
In the past six months, twenty-five more master blacksmiths had emerged! They were all followers of the Mountain God, enchanted by the Mountain God’s Fire Control ability.
A main reason why so many elite blacksmiths could not break into the master rank was not because of their dedication, but their ability to harmonize with fire. After all, forging was their ultimate passion and nothing would stop them.
Not all dwarves had the Power of the Will, so they could not control fire with perfect precision. Although there were some geniuses who could do so, finding one was extremely rare.
But ever since the Mountain God began granting his Fire Control ability to his followers, those elite blacksmiths had gained their chance to break through!
The Mountain God’s Fire Control was easier and more direct than controlling fire with the Power of the Will, so after so many successes, the greatness of the Mountain God was recognized.
Furthermore, most dwarves had been hearing about the Mountain God since they were little, so most of them did not hold back on their Faith.
At the same time, the wizard dwarves also realized the benefit of Fire Control. It could drastically increase the power of their fire spells, and the news started to spread among them.
Finally, the dwarf alchemists had also realized that Fire Control could bring benefits to their alchemy!
Since all those professional dwarves were attracted by the Mountain God, it only made sense that normal dwarves were, too.
Therefore in just six months, two million dwarves had pledged their faith to the Mountain God.
Since the Mountain God did not have a Kingdom, all the Faith rushed into his body, but his capacity was limited.
Therefore, he had to sacrifice a good percentage of that Faith to transfer it to Doff’s Kingdom. It was better than not doing anything, but it was still a huge waste and it drastically limited the Mountain God’s potential.
——-
“Everyone, a large number of dwarves are beginning to worship the Mountain God. We must stop them and let them know what they are doing is wrong!” Wizard Hawthorn declared in a deep voice.
Around the meeting room were eleven God Rank wizards, some of them newly anointed. Including the one stationed at the Howling Castle, the Wizard Union now had twelve God Ranks!
“Yeah, we can turn a blind eye to the tauren because of Abel, but the dwarves are a part of the Wizard Union. It is our internal affair and headmaster Abel had no right to interfere!” Wizard Mosley added.
Although two million dwarves were nothing compared to the sixty million tauren in the Winter Hoof kingdom, the orcs were low-level beings and the Wizard Union had always protected the dwarves.
They had even opened the dwarves up to wizardry! Thus, the dwarves could not be allowed to start worshiping a god.
That was especially true when considering that the Mountain God was the Wizard Union’s enemy, and what the dwarves were doing was basically helping the Mountain God recover!
It was a huge insult to the Wizard Union, so the God Rank wizards had gathered to decide what action to take.
“We should notify the dragons, saying the dwarves are a part of the Wizard Union and they have no right to interfere!” Wizard McPhee suggested.
“That’s a must. If Headmaster Abel interferes, then he will be messing with our internal affairs!” Wizard Hawthorn declared grimly.
Indeed, these wizards were still trying their best to avoid a conflict with Abel.
Wizard Smith knew this couldn’t be resolved quickly so he suggested, “Let me go talk to King Dunba first. We can make a move later if necessary!”
After all, the dwarves were still very important to the Wizard Union. Most of their larger constructions had been built by the dwarves, especially the fortresses for war. It would be impossible for the Wizard Union to train up a new batch of workers in time.
“Good idea!”
“I agree!”
The wizards were all clear-minded, so they agreed.
Even the irritated wizard Hawthorn nodded.
If he could, he also wanted to punish the Winter Hoof kingdom for what they were doing, but as the number of God Rank wizards grew and after so many conflicts with Abel, a problem within the Wizard Union was clear.
Every God Rank was capable of making an irrational decision when hot-headed. Therefore they had to gather for a meeting before every important decision.
——
King Dunba soon received the command to head to the Wizard Union headquarters. He was frightened, because the names of eleven God Rank wizards were written below the letter!
He immediately sought out Wizard Fara.
“Fara, I will go to the Wizard Union headquarters now, but I want you to help me do something!” he bowed.
Wizard Fars bowed in return. “Your Majesty, can’t we take care of it after you come back from the Wizard Union?”
King Dunba shook his head. “Fara, I am not feeling good about this, so I have to tell you something before I go. You are the most powerful dwarf, so I will be much less worried with you as support!”
“The Wizard Union might make a move on you?” Wizard Fara’s face sank and he added, “Then you should not go!”
King Dunba shook his head again. “It was an order from eleven God Rank wizards. If I don’t go, all the dwarves will be at risk!”
“Could it be about the Mountain God?” Wizard Fara wondered.
“Maybe, but my life is not important. I just hope you can take good care of Yoby!” King Dunba asked in a deep voice.
Yoby was King Dunba’s only son, and the future king of the dwarves. Besides King Dunba, Yoby was the only one who had access to all the top secrets of the dwarves.
“Your Majesty, don’t worry. I will protect Yoby, and no dwarf will reject him as the future king!” WIzard Fara promised respectfully.
“If I don’t return, please send Yoby to Headmaster Abel and tell him everything that has happened. If possible, the dwarves will also serve under him!” King Dunba spoke softly, but Wizard Fara could hear every word.
King Dunba sensed a threat from the Wizard Union. If they really made a move on him, then the entire dwarven nation would be at risk!
The dwarves stood no chance against the Wizard Union, but they would still cling to every hope.
King Dunba had only expected a minority to return to the worship of the Mountain God.
If the Wizard Union commanded it, he would have been able to silence them easily, but with two million dwarves converting in only six months, there was nothing he could do!