In the eyes of Shandaral's mage nobles, this was simply the perfect combination of a "controllable target" and a "potential magic source."
Their plan was not complicated:
Dispatch infiltration teams into Ital'ruk, analyze the essence of the new god, investigate the mechanism of divine power flow among believers, and search for exploitable "interfaces."
In other words, they attempted to "steal" the source of divine power without alarming the god himself, and convert it into magic for their own consumption.
If successful, they would be able to solve the problem of magic addiction in one fell swoop, and even potentially open up a completely new path of power.
The plan was perfect, but the first step went wrong.
They disguised themselves as ordinary Frost Troll believers and tried to blend into the city.
But soon after entering the city, they encountered a huge obstacle: they couldn't even enter the temple!
It wasn't because their identities were exposed, nor was it because a Divine Emissary was vigilant—it was because there were simply too many trolls!
In recent months, Ital'ruk had been flooded with pilgrims, and the appointment list for the shrines was already booked three months in advance!
In desperation, they decided to risk casting an enhanced invisibility spell to force their way in.
Theoretically, with their mastery of magic, this spell would be almost undetectable in Ital'ruk.
But they overlooked one point—
The Holy Fire.
The platinum holy flame burning before the idol was not ordinary fire; when it shone on them, even in an invisible state, it would cast faint shadows on the ground.
So their plan failed once again, and they were almost caught on the spot.
Just as they were about to give up, a new opportunity finally appeared: the Blessing Ceremony.
An official event that allowed close contact with priests and divine power, and essentially did not screen the trolls participating.
So, they gambled their last chance, planning to create chaos at the ceremony site to induce the manifestation of divine power, thereby analyzing its structure.
What happened next… need not be elaborated.
One was captured and brought back to the Divine Realm, the other was stuck in the portal.
They tried to "borrow some divine power," but instead, they became part of a miracle themselves.
After understanding the full story of the incident, Ekseltus began to consider how to deal with these audacious magic thieves.
The simplest and most brutal solution came to mind: he would personally go to Shandaral and incinerate the entire city with a single breath of dragonfire.
The intensity with which this thought arose made him realize—he was truly enraged.
Any dragon would find it hard to remain calm when so calculated against and having their core power spied upon, let alone one who had already ascended to godhood.
But Obsidian was not just a dragon; he was also an existence who had lived mortal years and ascended to godhood.
He knew that emotions should not dictate decisions and quickly dismissed the idea of complete annihilation.
Only the greedy noble mages had truly offended him; the other Shandaral Elves were merely pitiful creatures trapped in the North and tormented by magic addiction.
From the perspective of faith, that was a highly potential "fertile ground"; there was no need to wipe them all out because of a handful of scoundrels.
It would be unwise.
The question was: how to evangelize to them next?
First, exclude the option of him personally visiting and striking a deal with them.
One, it was no longer the initial stage when he had just become a god, going around recruiting followers and door-to-door sales.
As a god, he should not frequently appear; maintaining an air of mystery was a key method for purifying faith.
Two, even if he did appear and captivated those mage nobles with the "source of magic," gaining their verbal submission, it would be difficult to guarantee that they wouldn't feign compliance and secretly continue to engage in actions that disgusted dragons.
If that happened, it would be even more annoying—just thinking about it gave him a headache, so it was better to give up.
Three, and most crucially: they had just offended Obsidian.
This slight could not go unpunished.
So, "negotiation" was not an option, at least not now.
If gentle methods wouldn't work, then only force remained.
Should he directly send troops and conquer them by force?
It wasn't impossible, but it wasn't that simple, nor was it that worthwhile.
According to the original course of history, if these Shandaral mage nobles were to fight, they would completely disregard the rules.
A direct, head-on confrontation could very likely result in heavy losses for his followers, making it not worth the effort.
He needed a more "elegant" method—one that could both punish those elven nobles who dared to covet divine power and smoothly integrate Shandaral into his faith system.
Fly over and directly use violence to punish the upper echelons, then support the commoners to rise to power?
It wasn't impossible… it just felt a bit lacking, but the idea was correct.
A color revolution is delicate work; doing it this way would be fast, but unstable.
Ekseltus's gaze slowly fell upon the female elf in KaIgnas's claw, who was trembling slightly from despair.
A plan began to gradually take shape in his deep dragon eyes.
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