“Your Majesty, this is all the information excavated from the Old Empire.”
After receiving the information handed over by his subordinate, Alberto pondered while stroking his chin.
This was another intelligence line independent of Cassius, and it was an undercover network controlled by the An Zhu royal family that Alberto had not activated for a long time.
He had to admit that the remnants of the Old Empire, led by Cassius, were indeed very capable. Alberto had always regarded Cassius as a friend, but while being a friend to Cassius, he was also the king of An Zhu.
Alberto did not doubt Cassius’s loyalty, but even with Cassius’s loyalty, he could not ignore the things pushed forward by Cassius.
The remarkable research achievements and enormous benefits masked the current development contradictions in An Zhu, but just because they could not be seen does not mean these contradictions had disappeared, just like the contradictions Alberto could see now in the intelligence from the undercover network.
It was evident that the information submitted by the An Zhu royal family’s intelligence network was highly targeted at Cassius, with a considerable portion blaming him for colluding with the great nobles and the War God Church.
Alberto set this information aside.
While Cassius indeed had his own agenda, he was generally loyal, and those research achievements indicated that.
Alberto had once carefully studied the so-called ancient techniques of the Old Empire, which seemed to involve the consciousness and souls of humans.
Researchers once explained to Alberto that this technique connected the souls of these warriors through the Sea of Consciousness by physical means. Although it could not yet connect deeply within the Sea of Consciousness, it had reached the level of the Old Empire’s communication.
Although Alberto did not understand the specific technical details, he always felt that connecting with the entire human Sea of Consciousness might cause problems. Wouldn’t it be better to create a substitute similar to the Sea of Consciousness?
However, since the ancient technique had been in use for so long without problems, it should indicate that the technology was feasible and harmless. It was just that the process of surgical modification and the aftermath could be very torturous, especially in a psychological sense. In fact, some people went mad because they could not bear the mental pressure, but after all, that was just a minority.
Now, Cassius even had a good relationship with the War God Church; as long as the warriors’ combat power could be enhanced, many followers of the War God Church were willing to devote themselves.
Clearly, Cassius got along well with that group of fanatics.
With the help of the War God Church, the basic warrior unit of An Zhu had already started to take shape. Coupled with the Old Empire’s professional education system, the first batch of specialized professionals had graduated under rapid education, and an endless stream of professionals would continue to emerge. Although these specialized professionals still had gaps compared to true professionals, as long as they underwent surgical modifications, they could quickly become powerful warriors.
Moreover, while the Avars were continuously sending riches, they were also attempting to engage in deep cooperation with An Zhu. They also seemed to be very interested in the Old Empire’s technology, but Alberto was very wary of these guests from another continent. Although An Zhu was collaborating with them to some extent, Alberto kept a tight rein on the nobles beneath him, ensuring that the Avars did not step into the truly core secrets.
What genuinely worried Alberto was rather the War God Church. After acquiring the basic surgical method, the War God Church’s eagerness to seek battle was extremely high. While Alberto was aware that the Avars and the Demon Clan were fanning the flames from behind, the rapidly developing An Zhu indeed needed a war to shift contradictions.
An Zhu now held high-level professionals, basic warriors, Avars, and those dragons watching the situation from the shadows, who still claimed they would help; it seemed like Alberto could incite a storm with Cape at any moment, just as during the first Continental War.
Moreover, Alberto was fully aware that even if he used various means to avoid this war, the governor of the neighboring country would sooner or later initiate a war, as that governor disliked both the Demon Clan and the Avars.
But Alberto was still hesitating, as he sharply sensed something was off about the Old Empire’s technology.
The intelligence line of the An Zhu royal family, aside from smuggling goods and targeting Cassius, provided data that were indeed factual.
Among those who underwent genetic surgery, there was a possibility that one in ten would turn out to be mad.
Cassius and those high-level professionals claimed it was because each person’s constitution was different, and not everyone could withstand genetic surgery. Even during the Old Empire period, there was a risk of failure in genetic surgery; how much more so now?
No one cared about those mad individuals; even the War God Church itself looked down on those madmen, as they could not bear the gift of power.
But Alberto, as a king, had a gut feeling that something was wrong.
This was also one of the reasons why Alberto activated this long-silent royal intelligence network.
Setting aside the aggressive and biased information from the intelligence lines, Alberto compiled the entire dataset collected by the network.
Although some individuals who underwent genetic surgery might falter under psychological torment and become mad, the probability of the War God Church’s followers losing their sanity was the highest.
Moreover, ordinary soldiers who did not believe in the War God showed different symptoms of failure in genetic surgery that were not as dire as madness. They were more likely to become dull-witted and sometimes babble incoherently, so they were easily categorized under the result of “madness.”
The madness of the War God Church’s followers seemed more like a mental breakdown after witnessing something, and the deeper the faith, the higher the mastery of divine techniques, the greater the likelihood of madness.
However, those followers of the War God Church with high mastery of divine techniques generally would not undergo genetic surgery, thus making this data rather indistinct. Even the data in Alberto’s hands could only indicate a trend.
Alberto sighed deeply; perhaps all of this was just his baseless worry. After all, now from Cassius to the Avars and then to those nobles and the church, all wanted a war. They needed more land and more wealth. The situation where this privileged class united to pursue something always gave Alberto a sense that the situation might exceed his control.
“Have the generals come over for a meeting.”
In the end, Alberto still issued the command.
The War God Church, upon learning that His Majesty the King was summoning all generals, saw a distorted smile appear on the face of a regional bishop.
Finally, finally, it was time to go to war.
The original doctrine of the War God Church was actually to end war with war, using battles to protect the weak. Like other churches, it had no special universal doctrine.
But at some point, the survival of the fittest sect rose within the War God Church. Although the pope at the time had once purged them in the name of heresy, those who believed in the survival of the fittest—only the strong deserved everything—quietly established a foothold within the War God Church.
After all, the War God was among all deities, the one who granted blessings and revelations, and even divine techniques most directly, pure power.
Thus, those who believed in the survival of the fittest heretical doctrine easily began to spread within the War God Church.
Of course, the prevailing thought within the church remained to end war with war, embracing the idea of using strength to protect the weak, akin to the chivalric spirit, but recently, while praying to the War God, this regional bishop suddenly received a revelation that was entirely different from previous revelations given by the War God.
“War… more war, only war can bring me down!”
