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Translator: adomman
Editor: Snorri
Moses and his people needed a faith to guide them, Metatro and the other disciples also needed a faith to guide them, and Amon, in his solitary quest, needed a faith even more. Amon might not have understood at this moment that the faith he pursued was a wish of an incredibly epic magnitude. To accomplish it, one would require a realm that no ordinary god possessed, and it would surely allow one to master whatever came after transcending eternal life.
……
Amon walked neither fast nor slow, but he did not stop for a single moment. He had entered a trance-like state of being oblivious to everything around him, not resting or eating for many days, as if he was walking in an endless river. It was an unimaginable experience, and there had not been anyone who had passed the test of endless ceasing and arising cycle in the midst of walking and achieving the ninth level of the power of origin as a result, but Amon had done just that.
When that meditating soul finally walked out of the Syah Desert, it was as if it had also walked through many lifetimes. It was like a tiny little drop of water getting through the stormy sea and remaining intact.
How to describe this feeling? When walking in the sun, he was like a drop of water, reflecting and refracting the various colors of the world. He experienced many lifetimes, like a bird flying over a mirror multiple times, each time leaving a clear reflection before disappearing again and again. When Amon opened his eyes to see the world again, he suddenly realized that there were countless numbers of him in different people’s eyes, just like the endless experiences of life. These countless reflections converged on the shadows he left behind in this world, as if they were countless selves which, after experience and verification, shape the true self in turn.
After possessing this kind of achievement, he became what common people would call a god in the continent. He possessed an seemingly endless life, and was now qualified to possess a divine realm, enabling him to receive the power to strengthen and repair his soul. When he came back to his senses, Amon couldn’t help but wonder. If he had not taken this step, there were some things that he would never have experienced. He also thought of another thing – that maybe there was a need to build a place that only belongs to himself.
Amon had realized how dangerous his experience had been. He had actually entered a meditative state in the midst of walking and had passed through the test of endless ceasing and arising cycle. Out of the instinct for self-preservation, he had unconsciously channeled his magical power to conceal his form, and that had allowed him to walk in the desolate desert without being disturbed accidentally. Due to the habit that he had formed regarding the use of magical power, his reservoir of magical power was so deep and vast that he was able to remain invisible for a month. If any of these factors were missing, he could not have done what he just did.
Recalling the time when he was faced with the test of losing his power, the situation had been quite dangerous as well. If he had been on the battlefield or in the middle of some fight, it was very likely that he would not have survived! The price of achievement was great, as the price not only included the test itself but also the environment or situation one was in during the test, and he did not want his disciples to go through the same dangers as he had. If one knew the dangers of the path that one was about to take but continued to rely on luck to advance on the path, that would not be bravery but stupidity.
The place he wanted to build was not a city in the secular world like Salem, but a place like Aeru, the Ennead’s Heavenly Palace, where the emissaries of the Ennead lived. It was separated from the outside world by elaborated spatial magic, and it was a very good environment for training, suitable for the disciples to meditate, and at certain times, it could provide protection not found in other places on earth. Such a place was not a true divine kingdom, but a sort of residence where the gods of legends resided.
Amon had already chosen a location, and he already had a picture of it in his mind. It would be like a garden in the plain grassland. There would be fountains that spring out water all the time, and there would be fruit trees and flowers everywhere. This was a legendary place people sometimes talked about when he lived in Duc as a kid. It was the opposite of the barren, rocky land surrounding Duc in that time. In the garden people could feed themselves with the fruits from the trees, without having to labor all day to trade for the next meal. He called it the Garden of Eden, as the Ducians called it. Right now there were still a lot of things to do, and after Salem had gained a foothold in the Plains of Duc, he would then gather his disciples to make plans for the Garden of Eden.
……
A month later, at a checkpoint on the borders of Syah, an idle soldier was staring off into the distance when a man suddenly came from the desert. He couldn’t help but rub his eyes, thinking that he was seeing things, as the man had appeared out of thin air!
It was only when he lowered his hand that he was sure that he had not seen wrongly, that there really was a man coming from across the desert. The man came without a carriage, without a horse, without even any baggage on his back! He quickly grabbed his weapon and shouted: “Who are you, where are you from, and what business do you have?”
The man replied in a loud voice: “My name is Amon, and I have come from Ejypt to duel Celia, the imperial supreme mage, at her request!”
The entire garrison of the checkpoint was alerted, and the officer quickly blew the assembly horn, leading the soldiers in line to greet him. He stood at the entrance and greeted Amon. “Our esteemed Lord Golier and the Governor of Syah, Lord Samor, have given the orders in advance, no matter where Supreme General Amon entered Hittite from, he should be received with utmost respect and courtesies. Carriages and guards have been arranged to escort you all the way to the city. We have one of the finest carriages here prepared for you, and I will personally escort you to the city.”
Amon laughed. “I called myself Amon, but I don’t have a token for identification. You also have not done anything to verify my identity, but you are going to give me a grand reception just like that?”
The officer replied: “Other than the mighty Supreme General Amon himself, who else has the ability to cross a thousand miles of desert alone with his hands behind his back. Besides, I have seen you on the battlefield before!”
Amon was ushered into the checkpoint, and the officer wanted to keep him for dinner and had instructed the carriage and guards to prepare, but Amon waved his hand and said: “No need, I am going to a duel now, so leave the grand reception for after the duel. Please inform the city of Syah that Amon has entered the territory of Hittite and will be waiting at the designated place for supreme mage Celia.”
The officer was a bit anxious and said: “But Lord Golier said that he wants to see you personally.”
Amon smiled. “We’ll naturally meet when we should, I have some business to attend to, so I won’t bother you for now.”
After he finished speaking he took a step and appeared in a far away spot, and in a few more flashes, his figure had disappeared, stunning everyone present. Not to mention that these border checkpoints had been ordered to welcome Amon, even if they wanted to stop him, it would be impossible. With Amon’s current achievements, he could already be considered a demigod. The only reason he showed up and walked through the checkpoint was because he wanted to give a greeting to Golier.
……
Amon headed straight for the eastern shore of the inland lake and the southern end of the Charcoal Marsh, which was close to the site of his duel with Celia, and also the location where he had arranged to meet with El Mar. Coming from the Plains of Duc, there was no way to cross the thorny bushes, dense vegetation and large muddy swamps, but that could not stop the King Ironback as this was its natural habitat.
Not only did he see El Mar, but Lynk and Aesop were also there. Two men and one beast greeted Amon when they saw him, and the King Ironback pressed his front paws down and nodded his large head, having learned the movements quite well. It made Amon happy when he saw it, and he smiled as he asked: “I only asked for El Mar to meet me here, why are the two of you here as well? Aesop, didn’t I ask Metatro to take you to Memphis to find Theo, how did you end up here?”
Aesop replied: “Why did you spend so much time on the road? I have already returned from Memphis and have made an agreement with Theo to organize caravans to Salem, but only if there are roads for them to pass through. When I returned to Salem, Lynk and El Mar had already scouted out a route through the swamp. I needed to take a field trip personally to determine how long it will take for the caravan to pass through, what dangers there will be on the way, what preparations I need to make, and calculate how much it will cost. We knew you were coming, so we purposely waited here. In the end, we waited for ten days before you appeared.”
It was true that Amon had taken a little longer, and even he himself had not expected to be gone this long. But he had passed the test of endless ceasing and arising cycle, and using only a month to do so was amazing enough!
A lot of things had happened in the past month or so, and Metatro had quietly gone to Memphis with Aesop to find the noble and wealthy merchant, Theo. Theo’s business was now getting bigger and bigger, and a year ago he had received a heavy investment from Amon to expand the size of his business in various cities and to purchase large numbers of camels, horses and carriages.
This was obviously to prepare for the large-scale long-distance trade, and for the time being, the money could only be spent without any returns and could not be used to its full potential. But since the money was given by Amon, Theo went ahead with it. When Theo heard about Amon’s departure from the Ejyptian Empire, he became worried about Amon’s situation, as he might not be able to do business that easily in the future. He had worked as a logistics quartermaster for the An-Ra Legion, and was acquainted with many generals during the war, so the majority of his current business were connected to the authorities. Thus losing Amon as a patron was a loss of an important source of capital.
It was at this time that Metatro visited with Aesop, a former slave of this rich nobleman, to discuss a very important business.
A new city named Salem was being built in the Plains of Duc, and Aesop served as the governor. Of course, the construction of a new city required a lot of manpower, resources and financial investment, so Metatro asked Theo to organize caravans from various merchant houses to transport goods to Salem. That way, the rich products of the Plains of Duc could also be shipped out for trade, which was a mutually beneficial business.
Another thing which they needed from Theo was a continuous supply of military supplies. On the other hand, there was no trade between Salem and the outside world as yet because roads did not exist, and people had not seen the potential benefits, so for a big merchant like Theo to take the lead in establishing the trade route could also serve as an example and a guide for others.
Amon’s current situation was a little strange. Although he killed Prince Snek and left Ejypt, he was not publicly wanted by the Empire, and he seemed to have become a figure that the whole country deliberately avoided talking about. One of the reasons was because the scene where he killed Prince Snek was witnessed by nearly a thousand soldiers. It was the Prince who ordered the attack first, and the Supreme General merely acted in self-defense. On the other hand, the reason the Pharaoh sent Snek on this mission was to borrow the hand of Amon to remove him.
Prince Snek was the eldest son of Ramses II, he was not a supporter of the Merneptah’s religious reforms and had his own faction in the kingdom. This contributed to the political instability in Ejypt. Now that he has been killed by Amon, Merneptah could only be happy about it, for he was able to make good use of the Supreme General one last time before he left Ejypt.
A peace treaty had been signed between Hittite and Ejypt, and trade had been resumed, and it was perfectly legitimate for Theo to organize caravans in the name of trading with the city of Syah. Military supplies did not necessarily refer to armor and weapons, and it also included all kinds of items and materials that may be used in the battlefield, such processed materials and semi-finished products.
After reaching Hittite, the caravan would still have to pass through territory controlled by the city of Syah, so one of the things Amon intended to talk to Golier about was to secure the passage.
Aesop privately gave Theo a list of supplies needed for Salem, and also what was being produced in the Plains of Duc. Since it was profitable and also instructions given by his benefactor Amon, and seemed like a legal cross-country trading business, Theo agreed readily and immediately went to make preparations. But doing business required accounting for costs, and in addition to the taxes at the various border crossings, there were also the risks encountered during travelling and the freight costs, and no one could be sure until the road was open.
The road that could be opened in the shortest possible time was found by El Mar together with the four Ironbacks. The discovered route twisted and turned through the Charcoal Marsh, intermittently passing pockets of hard soil that were exposed above the water, and eventually led to the eastern shore of the inland lake. It was not going to be easy to open this road, and it would require filling in the lowlands, removing the thorny vegetation along the way, and cutting through the rugged rocks. If all the manpower in Salem were mobilized, it would take at least half a year.
When Aesop returned to Salem, he requested to take a trip through the planned road so that he could estimate the cost of transportation through the road and the maximum capacity of the caravans that could pass through. El Mar happened to be going to meet Amon, so Lynk brought Aesop along.
Amon frowned slightly and said: “It will take half a year to open this road even if you mobilized all the manpower in Salem?”
Lynk smiled bitterly. “Half a year is just for opening up a path, to completely build a road, it will take at least one or two years with just the manpower that Salem has right now. The Assyrian Kingdom’s people who came over the highlands have already named their city as Enlil City. Their population is growing in numbers, and the walls are getting taller and taller, so I’m afraid it won’t be long before a new conflict breaks out. If this road is not built as soon as possible, very soon we will be in an isolated position in the Plains of Duc.”
Amon thought about it and replied: “I’ll take care of this problem, you guys will first build the checkpoint and defenses at the other end of the road, then build as much as you can from there into the swamp. As for this end of the road, I will try to have it passable after a month, and after three months make it possible for two wagons to be able to travel in parallel.”
Aesop exclaimed: “Wouldn’t that be a miracle!”
Lynk, on the other hand, patted Aesop on the shoulder and said: “The things that God Amon does are naturally miracles!” Then he said towards Amon: “I am also curious as to why you are so confident of this.”
Amon smiled. “The so-called miracles are also created by people, and besides, this isn’t much of a miracle, it’s nothing more than the power of having manpower and resources. Salem is now short on manpower and supplies, but the city of Syah has them, and as long as the terms are agreed upon, the road here can be built with hired manpower.”
Aesop nodded. “I see, this is also a mutually beneficial deal. We have the treasures of Mourrin, so we can hire men to build the road from the outside as long as the city of Syah is willing to agree.”
Amon suddenly remembered something and asked Aesop: “It’s good that you’re here, I was just about to consult you on a matter.”
Aesop was surprised. “You are someone who is like a god, what do you need to consult me about?”
Amon asked with a seeming smile: “I’ve heard you tell the story of Pythagoras, the wise man from afar, and you claimed to have seen it with your own eyes. You are also literate. You weren’t born a slave, were you?”
Aesop bowed his head. “My homeland is far away, and my father had been a bard. He was killed by pirates on a long journey, and I became a slave at a very young age and was sold to many different places. That was the reason why I have been to many places.”
Amon: “There is no need to talk about the sad past, I know you have been to many places and are very knowledgeable, I have never met anyone who knows the legends of various places as well as you do, have you ever heard of the legends about the Plains of Duc?”
Aesop replied carefully: “There are many stories about the town of Duc, but I know that you were born as a miner in Duc, and I was worried that some of them would be offensive and disrespectful to you, so I never mentioned them.”
Amon smiled bitterly. “I see, I should have asked you a long time ago! It’s not too late to ask now, but have you heard any tales that are very special?”
Aesop looked up and asked: “What kind of special, are you talking about the war of the gods? There aren’t many folk tales, you once spent time in the archives of the Shrine of Isis, and if you have studied the records there, you should have found more information than the folk tales in circulation.”
Amon’s eyes lit up. “There’s no need to talk about the war of the gods, since I even know a few of those involved in the war. Are there any older, more ancient legends?”
Aesop frowned in thought and said: “I vaguely remember a legend, a very bizarre story, about a tower. You have been to Bablon City, and you should know that there is a magnificent tower in the outskirts called the Holy Gate. It was built by the successive generations of kings of Bablon to pay homage to the Marduc, and it may have something to do with a story that once circulated on the continent.”
……..
It was said that before the war of the gods, the Anunnaki divine clan was ruled by Anu the god of sky, but Tiamat, Anu’s mother, was the one who possessed the most powerful item of the clan, the Book of Destiny, and she held supreme power. Later on, Tiamat gave the Book of Destiny to her other son, Kingu, in an attempt to make Kingu the king of the gods. This caused the discontent of many gods and eventually led to a split and civil war in the divine clan.
The legendary story of that tower would have taken place before the war of the gods, as the god king in the story was still Anu. At that time there was no town of Duc or its miners, and the area around Duc was hundreds of miles of fertile land. The people who lived there were strong and intelligent, but they were so smart that they became overly conceited and even attempted to spy on the secrets of the gods.
They built a huge city, in where Salem now was, and planned to build the greatest tower that had ever existed in the world, calling it the Tower of Gods. The people worked ambitiously, carving the stones in the hot sun and piling them up with asphalt. The tower grew higher and higher, and they hoped to reach the kingdom of the gods through the tower.
The noise of the people alarmed the sleeping Tiamat, and she called Anu to ask what was going on. Anu reported about the people building the Tower of Gods and summoned the other gods to discuss the matter. It was said that all the gods came together and decided to stop this. So the gods worked together to confuse the people’s language with their powers so that the people couldn’t understand what each other were saying. It was said that this was the reason why there are different languages spoken in the countries of the continent today.
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Thanks for the chapter, I really love this series.
More biblical references! I love this series
Thanks for the chapter!
Somehow it feels like the chapter ended abruptly…