"Do you feel it?" one of the three people asked as they tried to teleport directly into Solar System's spacecraft.
"Yes, that is the smell of the Eighth Tier weapon. This means that Arcane Empire is definitely not the Sixth Tier civilization we expected."
The room fell into a brief dead silence.
"Then what do we do now?"
"Contact as usual, just like the other three Eighth Tier civilizations. However, we must investigate in depth," one of them replied with a sigh.
Putting pressure on lower-level civilizations is usually a way for the federation to establish its prestige and seize massive resources.
But now they understand that this method will not work. Arcane Empire is not the little white rabbit they thought it was, but a hidden tiger.
Shortly after the conversation ended, the spacecraft's intelligent system received a message from the fleet surrounding them:
"You have illegally entered the territory of the Arcane Empire. Please identify yourself immediately, otherwise we will annihilate you."
"We are ambassadors for Interstellar Federation."
"Please prove your identity."
A beam of light shot out from the Federation's spaceship, projecting a golden scale badge in space.
The badge exuded a strange energy fluctuation, and the Empire spacecraft quickly scanned it.
"The identity has been confirmed," the fleet commander said. "The news of your visit has been sent back to the Empire. Someone will be here to receive you soon."
In less than five minutes, the encirclement dispersed, and a small spacecraft Empire guided the envoys to the earth.
After landing at the designated location, the three people walked out of the spacecraft.
These three ambassadors are from different races: a human wearing armor, with a huge war hammer hanging casually on his waist; a dragonborn with red scales, a tail and a black horn, his body faintly radiating heat; and the last one is a beautiful elf wearing white robes and holding a staff.
"Welcome to the Arcane Empire, distinguished ambassadors," said Grindelwald, who was in charge of the reception.
Two Sixth Tier, one Seventh Tier elf caster, Grindelwald secretly evaluated.
"I am Gellert·Grindelwald. It is a great honor for me to receive you today."
"This is our honor," the elf responded gently, "My name is Gilanna Kelsis, and these two are my companions, Augustus Lina and Oren."
While introducing her companions, she also noticed that Grindelwald was a Sixth Tier spell caster.
Grindelwald first saluted the human named Augustus, and then saluted the dragonborn.
"Your Majesty is waiting for you, please come with me."
Grindelwald led them to a Warp Gates not far away, signaling for them to enter.
While others were still hesitating, Gilanna took the lead and walked in with a smile. The other two people saw this and followed closely.
In an instant, everyone arrived in front of a magnificent castle.
On both sides of the road, soldiers wearing golden armor and holding spears stood upright like javelins.
The group of people walked into the castle and arrived at the banquet hall. Ian and Queen Olivia were waiting here, and a feast was ready.
"Welcome, ambassadors," Ian said with a gentle smile.
"It's an honor," Gilanna responded.
After brief greetings and introductions, the dinner officially began.
The food is rich in variety, covering orthodox elven, human and dragonborn cuisine, and is obviously tailor-made for the guests.
As soon as the meal started, Oren's eyes were fixed on several dishes.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't look away, and the alluring aroma made him almost lose control.
What are you doing? You're embarrassing us, Augustus reminded us through a secret communication spell.
It's not my fault, I couldn't control myself.
Seeing this scene, Gilanna decided to break the deadlock.
"Your Majesty the Consul, what exactly is this dish?"
"This is pork marinated in dragon's blood. I heard that a dragonborn was coming, so I specially asked the chef to make several dishes using the blood of True Dragon."
No wonder Oren couldn't control himself. As a dragonborn, the Dragonkind blood in his body is very thin, and this meal is likely to give his blood a slight boost.
But why is this consul so generous? Gilanna thought to himself.
No, more importantly, where did he get the blood of True Dragon?
Among Milky Way Galaxy, Beast or other species with Dragonkind bloodline can be seen everywhere, but True Dragon is extremely rare.
Not to mention that they are usually very powerful and extremely difficult to hunt or capture.
The dinner continued, and Oren ate without any scruples. After the meal, everyone started chatting.
"Ms. Gilanna, do you have any gods you believe in?" Olivia asked.
"No, I didn't."
"What about you, Augustus? I can feel the Faith Power emanating from your soul."
Augustus frowned slightly, then nodded. "I am a paladin, serving Light God Laifeir."
"I've never heard of this god, but he sounds great."
Augustus wanted to immediately declare how great his god was, but he received the signal from Gilanna and had to shut up immediately.
"What about your majesties? Do you believe in gods?"
"No," Ian replied, "Empire focuses more on magic research. Although we do not prohibit belief in gods, this is more of a spiritual sustenance rather than pure worship."
Gilanna nodded and did not ask any further questions. This topic is very sensitive and can easily lead to disagreements.
After a long conversation, the three were escorted to the accommodation prepared for them.
After the guests left, Ian asked Olivia: "What do you think?"
"Everything seems to be normal so far, except that the elf lied about his faith."
With the detection barrier in the palace, they could clearly feel the faint Faith Power in her Soul Space.
"She may be a 'God's Mercenaries', so she lied."
"I've never heard of that word."
"Sometimes, the gods want to do something shady, but don't want to be traced back to themselves. As a precautionary measure, they will sign contracts with some gifted individuals. In exchange for doing dirty work for the gods, these people will receive an increase in lifespan, mana, or magical knowledge."
"These people are called God's Mercenaries."
"How do you know this?" Olivia asked curiously.
"Didn't I tell you? In the early days of the Empire, I traveled across the universe to collect intelligence. I even left clones in some places to monitor changes when needed."
Ian couldn't help but recall that time. At that time, he was just a humble Third Tier mage, and he didn't even know the concept of rank.
Therefore, he was always cautious during the journey, and most of the information he collected was just hearsay.
But after his first interstellar voyage and promotion to Fifth Tier, he visited those clones again and promoted their ranks to collect more intelligence.
When he came back this time, he also took a look and learned some new things.
"You didn't tell me this at the time," Olivia said, but Ian ignored her complaint.
"Do you know this god named Laifeir?"
"He? He is one of the most powerful tenth-level gods in the Central Star Territory. However, my understanding of him is limited to this."
Central Star Domain is the area with the highest concentration of magic power in this universe.
It is also the main stage where the most powerful gods and races gather and compete for supremacy.
Even now, Ian does not dare to approach that area easily.
"Do you think he is one of the masterminds behind Interstellar Federation?"
"Very possible."
The so-called Interstellar Federation is essentially a scam. Although they claim that their purpose is to help lower-level civilizations survive and prosper in the cruel cosmic environment, the truth Ian learned is completely different.
Their main goal is to discover low-level civilizations and secretly spread their faith among them.
At the same time, it is also to discover talents who can serve the gods behind them.
"Then how should we treat these people?" Olivia asked.
"It's best not to make enemies of them, and not to reveal too much details about the Empire. In addition, we can try to get some information about the current situation of Milky Way Galaxy from them."
Embassy residence
After returning to the room, Gilanna picked up the staff and tapped the ground lightly.
A golden barrier instantly enveloped the entire room.
"I can finally breathe smoothly," Oren breathed a long sigh of relief.
"It's normal for them to monitor us all the time," Augustus responded. Ever since he set foot on this land, he also felt that someone was watching him.
"So, what do you think of this place?" Gilanna asked.
"Well..."