"Ten thousand years? Why doesn't he just rob me!"
Dai Mubai roared, feeling he was being robbed.
Tang San beside him was also speechless, feeling Su Ming was asking for too much.
One must know that back when he was inheriting the Sea God's divine seat, the other Shrek Seven Monsters undergoing trials with him didn't receive such generous rewards.
Ning Rongrong's Red-Level Trial had only increased her Spirit Ring age by less than ten thousand years in total, and her first two Spirit Rings were still at the thousand-year level.
Moreover, she only had seven rings at the time.
Now, apart from Su Ming, all the War Gods had nine rings.
To give them Black-Level Five Trials, with each Spirit Ring increasing by at least ten thousand years...
The expenditure would be completely comparable to Ning Rongrong's top-level Seven Trials.
And that was for a quasi-God King like the Sea God.
Dai Mubai's body trembled with anger.
The inheritance from the previous War God, plus the faith he had accumulated over ten thousand years, was only enough to give this much reward to ten people.
Meaning, if he didn't need to consider finding a successor, this accumulation would only be enough to nurture one successor.
Such terms were absolutely impossible for Dai Mubai to agree to.
Because it was a bottomless pit.
After all, the War God Hall already had six War Gods. Who knew how many more could be added as the war continued?
He, Dai Mubai, was competing for the War God Hall's faith to gain benefits, not to incur losses.
Beside him, Tang San, on the other hand, fell silent.
This decision wasn't one he could easily help Dai Mubai make.
To gain returns, pay was necessary. The War God Hall currently showed enormous potential and played an exceptionally important role in this war. Once he could obtain its faith, the returns would certainly be substantial.
The premise was that Dai Mubai would gain the faith of the War God Hall as an organization, not just the faith of the First War God position Su Ming was giving him.
Of course, even if it was just the First War God position Su Ming was arranging for Dai Mubai, Tang San estimated the faith would not be insignificant.
Given enough time, he would always recoup his investment.
After all, as the number of War Gods increased, although the pay would also increase, this also meant the War God Hall's scale would grow. As the First War God, he would naturally be more revered and harvest more faith.
According to Tang San's estimates, this would at least result in no loss.
And on the premise of not losing capital, if Dai Mubai could find another opportunity to shed the embarrassing position of First War God and instead replace the entire War God Hall, becoming its symbol and gaining the faith of the entire War God Hall, the gains would swell noticeably.
Furthermore, his very condition for securing the First War God position was granting trials to all the other War Gods.
This was also buying people's allegiance.
Thus, to take the final step and emerge from the War God Hall's organization, it wasn't without opportunity.
This might even be the key for Dai Mubai's War God divine seat to advance to First-Class God.
Even after the war ended, the War God Hall's potential would still exist; it was bound to develop into a prototype of a superpower on the continent.
Considering all these factors, Tang San felt it wasn't a loss.
However, Dai Mubai couldn't see this.
This wasn't about courage or anything.
It was simply that he didn't have the resources.
With empty hands, he lacked the confidence Tang San had when considering such matters.
Invest?
Dai Mubai understood. Before becoming a god, he had lacked for nothing in the mortal world and had shared Tang San's perspective. But what Su Ming wanted now was faith—something he currently lacked.
All the trial rewards, at their core, were converted from faith.
He had too little faith.
Seeing Dai Mubai struggling to decide, Tang San couldn't help but offer some advice.
"Dai Boss, you don't need to worry. The War God Hall's rules are almost taking shape, especially regarding the addition of War Gods. It's likely that no more can be added for at least a year. For now, you only need to consider maintaining the trials for the current War Gods. And you can appropriately increase the difficulty. A Black-Level Five Trial isn't something just anyone can complete. Especially with such high rewards, you can also proportionally increase the trial difficulty."
Having said this, Tang San reiterated his analysis.
Dai Mubai was silent for a long time, finally gritting his teeth to make a decision.
"Fine, I'll do as Xiao San says!"
What were a few Black-Level Five Trials?
He'd grant them!
As for whether they could pass the trials and obtain these rewards, that was up to them.
"Once you gain a foothold and the position of First War God is solid, you should be able to sense the faith. That's something even Su Ming cannot take from you."
When it came to the entire War God Hall, the First War God Su Ming could certainly compete with Dai Mubai, a War God with little foundation in the organization, for faith. But for the position of First War God itself, Su Ming couldn't further annex. Conversely, Dai Mubai could refer to Su Ming's methods to compete with Su Ming for the faith of the entire War God Hall.
The more Dai Mubai listened, the brighter his eyes became.
As expected of Xiao San!
Fourth Peak.
Outside the War God Hall.
The time Tang San and Dai Mubai spent in the God Realm wasn't long, but it wasn't short either. Converted to the lower plane, several hours had passed.
Su Ming didn't press aggressively.
He only made his suggestion lightly. After receiving no response from Dai Mubai's statue, he simply let the topic drop, leading the assembled War Gods into the War God Hall to perfect its rules and regulations.
Xu Tianran, seeing this, also mixed in.
He couldn't let the War God Hall fall into Su Ming's hands.
He was very optimistic about this organization and planned to continue investing, even after the planar war ended, to gradually turn it into an official institution of the empire.
"The previously established rule of adding War God positions once a year shouldn't be too rigid. Leave room for flexibility. As long as over eighty percent of all War Gods agree, a full vote can be called at any time to add a War God."
"The War God Hall can also issue Contribution Points, decreasing from War Gods down to War Kings, War Generals, and Warriors..."
"Establish a mission board. Team missions, hunting missions, all can be completed under the War God Hall's witness."
One by one, new proposals were passed. Just then, a commotion arose outside.
"A manifestation!"
Su Ming was the first to react. This was, after all, within his expectations.
Inside the hall, everyone hurried to the square outside, only to see Dai Mubai's statue emitting a dazzling white-gold light. Then, a grand and authoritative voice resonated through the Fourth Peak.
"War God Trials have begun."
In front of the divine statue, six pillars of light appeared, each with a corresponding name, representing the other six War Gods.
Their pillars of light went through the changes of white, yellow, purple, and black, finally stopping at black.
The pillars transformed into pentagonal prisms. On each face were incomprehensible golden characters, all appearing somewhat dim.
Though the onlookers couldn't understand them, they grasped their meaning with a single glance.
These were trials.
Black-Level Five Trials.
Each face of the pentagonal prism represented one trial. Completing a trial would light up the corresponding face.
After the five pentagonal prism pillars stabilized, they shot out a beam of light respectively, striking the brows of the six War Gods who had rushed out of the hall.
Su Ming didn't dodge. After being struck by the light, he could sense a divine sense lock. The next moment, a character-shaped mark appeared on his brow.
The character-shaped mark had barely formed when Su Ming's Pioneer Mark devoured it, merging it within.
Not only that, but the divine sense locked onto Su Ming suddenly lost its target.
Su Ming looked up at the first pillar of light corresponding to his own trial, connected with his spiritual power, and understood the trial's content.
***
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