Chapter11-Divine Summons

"As expected of an item from the first-clear rewards," Jason remarked with delight in his eyes. It was an item for summoning heroes. As for what heroes are…

Hero units are akin to player units; they can lead troops, command in battles, wear equipment, and level up to enhance themselves. 

In the later stages, after establishing a [Divine Realm], they can even assist the player in handling state affairs and leading armies to subdue enemies.

Generally, in the early stages of Divine Age, there are two methods to obtain heroes: one is by completing quests to obtain various hero relics, which can then summon the corresponding hero through a special building known as the Hero Altar. 

The second is through hero summoning commands obtained from quests or dungeons, which are also used at the Hero Altar to randomly draw heroes. 

However, with random draws, it's common to end up with some less desirable heroes due to bad luck.

Of course, Divine Age is extremely flexible, and aside from these two methods, there are numerous other ways to acquire hero followers, and Jason wouldn't dare claim he knows them all.

And this time, the [Divine Summons] obtained from the first dungeon clear allows the selection of an S-level hero?

"Then…" With his knowledge from his past life, Jason quickly made a decision. 

He knew of many S-level heroes who were exceptionally strong, which meant this [Divine Summons] could be utilized to its fullest potential in his hands.

Moreover, Jason was also aware of several Hero Altar locations near the city of Losfall.

"Now that I have an additional squad of 5-tier units, the kind that can add buffs, I should have a chance to take down an altar, right?"

Hero Altars, being a special resource, are naturally not randomly placed in the open for anyone to use. 

Generally, in the early stages of the game, players from the nearby starter villages need to collaborate to conquer it.

If Jason remembered correctly, the simplest Hero Altar near Losfall was guarded by tens of thousands of beginner units, along with a certain number of intermediate units.

Though his side was inferior in terms of the "quantity" of soldiers, the "quality" was exceptionally high, and coupled with Jason's over twenty years of command experience, he felt it was worth a try.

While pondering, Jason picked up his last loot.

[Dragonblood Wristguard]

Tier: Diamond

Attributes: Command Limit +4500, Attack Power +800, Critical Rate +50%, Speed +50

Additional Battle Skills:

[Fire Resist Ring]: Creates a flaming barrier that surges in all directions, causing enemies hit by it to be stunned for five seconds.

[Gods Descend]: Magic Resistance increases by 5000 points, lasting ten minutes.

Both accompanying battle skills were superb; Jason equipped it without hesitation, enhancing his attributes significantly.

After tallying up the spoils of war, what remained were two special items.

[A Letter from the Guild of Concealers]

[Description: After using this item, you will trigger a chain of quests, and you will be able to head to the outskirts of Newton City to unlock the dungeon [Guild of Concealers Warehouse (Silver)]]

And the other was—

[Lost Necklace]

[Description: A necklace inlaid with expensive rubies; perhaps you could inquire about its origin in the city of Losfall]

Jason first used [A Letter from the Guild of Concealers], and immediately a scene appeared before him: a tranquil night, a roaring bonfire at the corner of a dense forest, and several figures in robes whispering secretly...

"Skip."

Jason couldn't be bothered to watch the CG; he had seen enough in his past life.

The plot involved the leader of the Guild of Concealers, Jasteel — the very dungeon boss he had just defeated. 

His presence in the Guild of Concealers was to urge the monks in the Losfall region to mine a special ore and deliver it to the [Guild of Concealers Warehouse].

Divine Age offers a high degree of freedom, and Jason could go to the [Guild of Concealers Warehouse] even without using the item, but he would miss out on the rewards of a sequential quest. 

Now, his quest log indeed had an additional entry:

[Guild of Concealers' Secret (Diamond-level)]

[Description: This sect, devoted to an unknown deity, maintains its steadfast faith even in an era where gods have fallen. Perhaps the entity they serve is beyond imagination.]

[Reward: Determined by the number of dungeons cleared that contain the [Guild of Concealers] tag.]

[Current progress: [Guild of Concealers]]

Though he accepted the quest, heading to Newton City would mean leaving the newbie area. 

A silver-level dungeon wasn't something Jason needed to consider now; this quest could be ignored for the time being.

As for the other item, [Lost Necklace], ordinary players would indeed need to complete several tasks to discover the owner of the necklace. But Jason knew well.

This necklace belonged to the daughter of the Losfall city lord, and he could trigger the quest directly when he returned to the main city.

If he remembered correctly, completing this quest chain could unlock the training permission for a 4-tier hidden unit—[necromancer], whose combat power surpassed many 5-tier soldiers.

Coupled with [Underworld Baptism], it could reliably produce a high-tier, powerful soldier.

This was considered one of the most valuable quests in Losfall city.

After tallying up his gains, Jason decisively chose to exit the dungeon.

Subsequently, his vision darkened, and he was teleported outside the dungeon, greeted by a new prompt.

[Dungeon resetting: 23:59:59]

After clearing any dungeon, a cooldown period is required before it can be challenged again, and the higher the dungeon's level, the longer the recovery time. 

Of course, for Jason, there was no need to challenge this iron-level dungeon a second time; he glanced upwards a few times. 

The sun was high in the sky.

Time in Divine Age corresponds one-to-one with reality, but day and night are reversed. 

The game server opened at 6 PM, and the in-game time started at 6 AM.

"Counting the initial quests, the first boss and dungeon clear, plus the time spent traveling... it should be nearly afternoon now."

"I need to hurry to summon the hero." Jason planned, hoping to resolve the hero issue before the first nightfall of the game. 

Because on the second day after the server opens, an event would start.

At that time, depending on the number of monsters killed, gathering various resource points, and other developmental actions by players, they could earn event reward points. 

With a hero, grinding monsters and resources would become twice as efficient!

As for why he needed to hurry before nightfall... it's because the early game in Divine Age has a significant night-time penalty; not resting properly would cause a severe drop in various attributes the next day.

So now, Jason was pressed for time. 

Thus, without hesitation, he stripped off his equipment and let a 2-tier wild wolf kill him, respawning at the starting point church. 

Of course, he lost a level again; he had reached level 14 after clearing the dungeon, but now he was back down to level 13.

"Hmm, what's this?"

After returning to the church, he noticed that a section of the wall beneath the central mural had turned semi-transparent.

"Huh? Am I this lucky?"

Jason was momentarily stunned. 

His spawn point church was a very famous location in his past life because this church would open at specific times, leading to an underground space's gateway.

Inside was hidden a very high-quality [Artifact].

However, for Jason at present, the underground section of the church was terrifyingly difficult and entirely beyond his capacity to explore, so he left without any reluctance and turned away.

Following the memories from his past life, Jason swiftly advanced toward the northwest. 

Along the way, aside from encountering monsters, he also discovered several resource points including a wild gold mine, an abandoned lumberyard, a deserted quarry, and a slaughterhouse. 

These resource points function by deploying soldiers, heroes, or the player themselves, which after a certain period, yield certain resources like gold coins, lumber, etc.

In the early stages, the efficiency of resource gathering by players and soldiers is low, the profit less than that from completing quests, and these points are often guarded by monsters, making them somewhat ineffective. 

But for Jason, who could accelerate time immensely, these were easy pickings. 

He didn't gather now to save up for the reward points from the event starting tomorrow; he merely noted down the coordinates.

"Since it's a choose-your-own hero... I'll pick her. Although she's not the most overpowered among the S-levels, her utility in early-stage map exploration is significant, and she'll help me quickly clear the resource points near Losfall."

Jason pondered, while the monsters that lunged at him were instantly killed by the dark green soul fire unleashed by the Death Acolytes following him.

After marching for over two hours, a valley shrouded in a faint mist appeared in front of Jason. 

In the center of the valley, a rather lavish altar was faintly visible, radiating dazzling light!