Wizard: Starting from the Skill Tree

"According to reliable intelligence, the core of the Shadow Council’s upper echelons is a Great Mage named Dominic, who took over the council’s actual control after Julius’s death. But that’s not the most critical part; what’s crucial is that the Shadow Council worships a deity."

The air in the conference hall suddenly stagnated for a moment.

Robert continued, "This deity is most likely not a native god of the Oracle Plane. From the description of its followers, its power nature is highly compatible with the Shadow Rules, but some features are fundamentally incompatible with the native Four Gods and the Light Divine Status. During prayer, its followers have mentioned that the god comes from a world beyond this world."

The Duke placed his folded hands on the table and remained silent for a moment.

A deity from beyond the world—in the Endless Plane, such entities are generally referred to as Evil Gods.

Not a god embodied by native Plane Will, but instead like a parasitic worm burrowing into various planes, feeding on the souls of followers, sustaining itself with the Power of Faith as a cross-planar raider.

He had encountered similar cases, where the Evil God spread faith in Kabro City through wooden plaques and carved idols, siphoning the negative energy surrounding its followers.

Though the power level of that Evil God wasn’t high, and its followers were merely a ragtag band, the most troublesome thing about Evil Gods is never their strength, but their unpredictability.

The current situation is exactly that: the Evil God worshiped by the Shadow Council has a power level completely unknown and an infiltration degree into the Oracle Plane completely unknown. Whether its spread of faith is solely to extract Power of Faith or is eyeing the entire plane’s resources or even the Plane Will itself is also completely unknown.

If it’s the former, dealing with the Shadow Council itself will suffice.

If it’s the latter, then it’s not a problem that can be solved by clearing out an underground organization.

The Duke’s aim is naturally to fully control the Oracle Plane, but the existence of the Shadow Council signifies that another powerful entity from an Other Plane has set its sights here and has been making arrangements for a long time.

He doesn’t become arrogant just because he can crush the Great Mage of the Three Great Sects, knowing full well as someone from the Wizard Plane that the Endless Plane is filled with numerous powerful beings.

An existence capable of spreading faith across planes is at least a Level 4 or higher existence.

The Duke certainly wouldn’t be a match for the opponent now; the only room for maneuver is that the Oracle Plane is a Low Plane where Level 4 and above beings can’t enter, only existing in the form of projections.

This is most likely why the opponent established the Shadow Council: due to the Endless Plane’s rule constraints, they cannot personally descend to this plane to harvest resources, having to support a force like the Shadow Council to do their bidding.

After the meeting ended, the operation pace of Furnace Castle noticeably hastened.

Dali integrated the former intelligence network of the Light Sect with the patrol reports shared by the Three Great Sects, forming a unified alert system.

Anomalous events reported daily by each district are summarized, categorized, prioritized, and then delivered to the desks of Dali and the Duke by nightfall.

Bishop Ambrose’s basic training was simultaneously progressing, with the first batch of students pulled from various sects already beginning systematic learning in Furnace Castle’s joint library.

The Basic Meditation Method Manual was translated into the common language of the Oracle Plane, with handwritten notes attached next to unfamiliar terms in the Magic Potion Introduction Manual.

Resource distribution was also proceeding methodically.

Two hundred sets of basic alchemy tools and Magic Potion Material Sets from the Light Sect were allocated to training points in each district within days, with Dali verifying and signing off on each set according to a pre-determined list to ensure every tool reached specific individuals.

As for the Star Embers Guild, Robert managed the connection independently, selecting the first batch of trainees from the Intermediate Spell Optimization Theory and Introduction to Compound Potion Making courses and began closed training in an independent workshop in the city’s west.

Players participating in the training signed confidentiality agreements offline, prohibited from leaking course content on forums.

Simultaneously, the defense against the Shadow Council quietly tightened.

The Duke issued an order to Robert, integrating all channels at hand to fully gather intelligence on the Shadow Council.

Robert’s player network quickly expanded, with the guild’s intelligence group opening an encrypted discussion thread on the player forum, exchanging intelligence regarding Shadow Council activities using Star Embers’ internal code.

Some players who had once been part of the Shadow Council but later left were recontacted, with those willing to sell internal information bought at high prices, and those unwilling to reveal themselves transmitting scattered clues through anonymous emails.

Daily intelligence summaries were consistently delivered to the Duke, detailing the activity patterns of low-tier members of the Shadow Council, changes in common code phrases, locations of several abandoned bases, and range of areas suspected to have high-level presence.

But the Duke did not rush to act. Most of the intelligence focused on minor outposts noted.

Temporary lodgings of a few Black Robed Assassins, a couple of abandoned mining site outposts, and some lower-tier priests responsible for spreading Shadow Runes in remote villages.

These targets were unworthy of his personal visit, entrusted instead to Knight Henry’s patrol or joint clearing squads from the Three Great Sects.

The Duke was waiting for a sufficiently big fish.

Meanwhile, he maintained vigilance against the Three Great Sects as well.

All intelligence regarding the Shadow Council provided by Selena, Baroque, or Zephiris would be cross-verified by Robert through player channels.

This wasn’t out of distrust but basic protective redundancy.

After waiting for a while, the big fish the Duke was aiming for finally took the bait.

Robert knocked on his door one late night, clutching a report freshly obtained from the Furnace Castle’s intelligence group, breath still unsettled, yet his eyes were bright.

He had just received a piece of intelligence from special channels—source indicated by three independent player intelligence vendors with no possibility of collusion.

The intelligence pointed to the northeastern border of the Rising Sun District, close to the junction of the Wind District and Earth District, an area of barren mountains.

That region lacks an official name on maps; locals call it the Shadow Rift due to a naturally formed gorge on the summit, where the base never sees sunlight and Shadow Energy concentration is peculiarly high.

According to the intelligence, Dominic, the Great Mage of the Shadow Council, the one who took over after Julius’s death, has been frequently appearing near the Shadow Rift in the past half-month.

More importantly, one intelligence vendor mentioned that Dominic, every time he enters the Rift, brings along a batch of specially treated Magic Materials, far exceeding what would be needed for personal supplies.

These materials seem more like preparations for maintaining some large-scale ritual or Magic Array.

Furthermore, more than one player noted that during patrol tasks near the Shadow Rift assigned by the Shadow Council, occasional deep buzzing sounds emanate from the depths of the gorge, with faint vibrations felt underfoot, as if something is slowly operating in the underground depths.

The Duke placed the report on the table, pondering.

Dominic wasn’t forced to hide in the Shadow Rift out of desperation; a Level 3 Great Mage, even if he lost most bases under joint clearing by the Three Great Sects, the Oracle Plane is vast, with plenty of places to hide.

Yet he chose a rift with abnormal Shadow Energy concentration, treacherous terrain, and not too far from sect territory to hide in, frequently transporting large amounts of supplies in and out, suggesting only one thing.

Something there requires his personal supervision, and that something needs continuous resource input to be maintained.

The Duke lifted his head, asked Robert one final question, "Can you confirm the original source of this intelligence is players within the Shadow Council?"

Robert nodded affirmatively, the core information of the intelligence came from players currently active within the Shadow Council.

The Shadow Council’s control measures on members mainly involve Life Stone monitoring and death threats, but the player’s soul consciousness bodies are in the Mercury Plane, with the Life Stone bound only to their physical form in the Oracle Plane, rendering the council’s soul-targeted restraints almost ineffective.

They’re not worried about being executed if exposed; death, at worst, just means revival.

This unique state of existence emboldens them to do things native members absolutely wouldn’t, like publicly discuss internal intelligence of the Shadow Council on forums for some extra cash.

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