Chapter 123: The Wisdom Goddess

Chapter 123: The Wisdom Goddess

"Friendship? Warmth? Hmph! The warmth you speak of—could it be the Internet Divine Technique?"

Before Duke Becken could respond, the elderly man seated at his right, draped in violet robes, spoke first.

He was a Believer of the Wisdom Goddess and the current Pope of the Wisdom Goddess's Faith—Rudolf!

The Greg Duchy, which held sway over the Kaman Union's discourse, was the preaching zone of the Wisdom Goddess.

"No, no, no. This is imperial diplomacy, unrelated to faith. Your Holiness need not be so tense."

Detwe smiled, appearing utterly harmless.

Rudolf narrowed his eyes at the envoy leader before ultimately choosing silence, offering no reply.

In the multiverse, the gods governed their preaching zones in varied ways.

Some micromanaged every detail, personally overseeing their thrones.

Others were lax, content to nurture their shepherds.

The Wisdom Goddess belonged to the latter. She rarely intervened directly in her preaching zone's affairs—which was precisely why the Pope sat below the Duke.

But this did not mean the Pope's authority was lesser than Duke Becken's.

On the contrary, the Wisdom Legion, which the Pope commanded on behalf of the goddess, was the most formidable force in the Greg Duchy.

"Oh? Then may I ask the purpose of your visit?"

Duke Becken, a man in his fifties dressed in opulent robes, cut straight to the point, voicing Pope Rudolf's unspoken question.

To be honest, Keville's arrival had put the Greg Duchy on high alert.

After all, Keville had seen no large-scale conflicts for centuries, and many had grown complacent about its power.

It wasn't until the assault by the Five Great Righteous Gods that the world realized—the Keville Empire's strength was terrifying!

Especially the various powers displayed by the Internet God during the war, which had thoroughly frightened its neighbors.

They feared that after defeating the Five Great Righteous Gods, the Keville Empire would ride its momentum of victory straight to their gates.

"My purpose here is bilateral trade! As you all know, Keville was attacked by the evil five gods. The mithril mines of Edga were nearly destroyed, dealing a significant blow to our empire. Thus, my primary objective is to purchase mithril."

"Of course, we’ve also brought a newly developed treasure from our empire—the labor-saving bicycle, which requires no mana to operate."

"If you follow the internet, you’d know how wildly popular and in-demand bicycles are in our empire. For this trade, we’ve come with the utmost sincerity."

Detwe spoke earnestly, deliberately projecting humility.

Duke Becken was taken aback and instinctively glanced at Pope Rudolf.

"From what I know, the Internet God has already seized two mithril mines in the Dofi domain. He shouldn’t be lacking in mithril," Rudolf said gravely.

"The Internet God's light shines across all realms. Keville is but one small flock among his followers. The mithril mines of the Dofi domain have nothing to do with us." Detwe spread his hands helplessly.

"Duke Becken, this matter is of great importance. I believe it would be wise to deliberate further," Pope Rudolf said, uninterested in arguing further and opting for delay.

"His Holiness speaks wisely!" Duke Becken nodded in agreement.

With this back-and-forth, the matter was tabled.

Detwe had anticipated this and tactically dropped the trade discussion.

Or rather, his goal had already been achieved.

Namely, to promote the bicycle.

To achieve this, the empire even decided to gift a batch of bicycles to the nobles of Greg Duchy at a loss when dispatching the envoy delegation.

The purpose was simple—to let them see the value of the bicycle.

In reality, quite a few Greg nobles had secretly logged into the internet and had already learned about the bicycle’s value to some extent.

They just chose not to acknowledge it openly.

After all, the temptation of the internet was too great. The sheer wealth of knowledge stored in the Library alone was enough to lure countless nobles to log in.

How much more irresistible, then, were the accompanying killer apps like online classes?

But back to the main point.

Once the Greg nobles realized the bicycle’s value, they would inevitably flock to it.

Their first move would likely be to summon blacksmiths in an attempt to replicate it.

But soon, they would discover that the core components were nearly impossible to reproduce.

Or, even if they managed to replicate them through extraordinary means, the cost would be so exorbitant that importing them directly would be far more economical.

By then, lured by profit, even if Greg Duchy chose to isolate itself and strictly forbade merchants from trading with the Keville Empire, some nobles would likely organize covert trade caravans to secretly import key components—or even disassembled bicycles—under the table.

Once acquired, they could simply declare them as locally manufactured. Would Greg Duchy really dare to execute merchants and cut off all noble revenue streams over this?

If they actually did, Duke Becken’s rule would effectively be over.

Besides, the bicycle was genuinely a good thing.

Any noble who wasn’t a complete fool would tacitly allow its circulation.

Once the market matured, Yu Sheng’an could use free trade as a pretext to forcibly pry open Greg’s market with military might, thoroughly eroding Greg Duchy’s autonomy.

This was an overt scheme—one with no real counter.

Unless the Wisdom Goddess’s control over her preaching zone could match that of the God of War.

Of course, the Wisdom Goddess lacked the God of War’s level of control.

In fact, the seemingly open yet fundamentally closed commercial trade of the multiverse made it difficult for her to fully grasp the implications of this scheme in the short term.

Still, she sensed something amiss.

She realized that the Internet God was attempting to infiltrate the internet through merchants.

This was evident from the Interconnected Bank’s strategic expansion.

After a long moment of contemplation, she abruptly appeared atop a hill outside Greg City and activated the internet.

Soon, a portal lit up beside her, and Yu Sheng’an’s figure quietly emerged from it.

"Respected Wisdom Goddess, I’ve long admired your name!"

Yu Sheng’an placed a hand over his chest in salute, his gaze curious as he studied the Wisdom Goddess—this was his first time meeting her.

Her wavy golden hair was tightly bound by a gem-studded circlet.

Compared to Aphnora’s radiantly pale skin, hers was slightly darker, a healthy wheat tone.

Her appearance suggested an age just past thirty, and her brown eyes held an undisguised wariness.

This made her entire presence resemble an unsheathed blade!

The Wisdom Goddess’s authority was quite intriguing.

It wasn’t the conventional wisdom of intellect, but rather—in Yu Sheng’an’s view—a true divine authority.

The power to bestow higher wisdom upon all living and non-living things.

The reason this intelligence became known to the outside world was because her Wisdom Legion was almost entirely composed of non-intelligent beings or inanimate objects—trees, stones, beasts, magical beasts, and the like.

With a mere snap of her fingers, she could transform an entire forest into an army of treants.

This ability was nothing short of terrifying.

Of course, her authority undoubtedly had its limitations.

Setting aside other constraints, one fact was universally acknowledged:

Bestowing intelligence upon other entities consumed an immense amount of Source Essence.

Otherwise, how could the Five Great Righteous Gods have ever risen to prominence?

In Yu Sheng'an's understanding, the Wisdom Godhood was a high-burst, low-sustainability power. As long as one could withstand the initial assault, victory was all but assured.

"If you don’t want every forest in the Keville Empire turned into treants, I advise you to stay out of my preaching zone!"

The Wisdom Goddess opened with a bone-chilling threat, dispensing with any pretense of courtesy.

"Oh? Then by all means, try."

Yu Sheng'an's smile remained unchanged, but his voice turned icy.

Empowered by the light domain authority, he was impervious to threats.

"Are you declaring war?" The Wisdom Goddess's expression darkened further.

"No—you are." Yu Sheng'an sneered, though his tone left her an opening to retreat.

Unraveling the light domain authority had drained too much of his Source Essence.

Now that he had obtained the Prophecy Godhood, all he wanted was time to recuperate and amass forces. Given enough time, he could crush all opposition.

Of course, the same likely applied to the Wisdom Goddess—and most deities wielding formidable Godhoods.

If Yu Sheng'an wasn’t mistaken, the low-profile Wisdom Goddess was also quietly stockpiling strength, waiting for the right moment to expand her preaching zone.

"What do you want?" The Wisdom Goddess's tone softened slightly.

Yu Sheng'an exhaled inwardly.

As expected, the Wisdom Goddess had merely been posturing.

She, too, dared not recklessly provoke a war.

Forget the question of victory—the sheer cost of conflict was more than either side could bear.

Especially with the Five Great Righteous Gods watching like hungry tigers!