While the Church of the God of Knowledge was actively going about to preach, the Church of Void Mask had also carried out its own preaching activities within the Mifata Federation. Of course, they would not intentionally snatch any of the followers from the Church of the God of Knowledge, but if they did meet with anyone sharing similar ideals and principles, appropriate preaching was naturally permitted as a matter of course. Or rather, it would seem inconceivable for a clergyman to not carry out his preaching when an appropriate opportunity was presented to him.

  Not only that, the Church Union of the gods, consisting of the God of Medicine and the God of Healing, was also going about to preach. Although the influence of their preaching was not that obvious, the number of their followers was indeed increasing.

  About half a year later, this wave of preaching activities gradually passed. The gaps in belief that originally emerged upon the fall of the various gods from the Mystery God System had been remedied and divided amongst the various churches. The religious arrangements of the Mifata Federation had undergone some massive transformation too.

  At this point in time, something, that was both surprising, yet somewhat within expectation, happened.

  Grey Tower City, which was once almost considered to be the Holy City of the God of Scholars, openly declared that the belief of the God of Knowledge and Culture would henceforth become the local, official belief. The city also declared that it would be absorbed into the Republic of Northwest and become an enclave of the Republic of Northwest.

  In fact, this meant nothing at all. According to principles of law, the Mifata Federation was not considered a country, but an alliance formed between a certain number of cities built around a mage tower. The Mifata Federation was loosely structured, so the various cities were free to join or quit as they pleased.

  Back then, the establishment of the Duchy of Thunder and the Dhaka Commercial Association was accompanied by a situation where several cities had cut ties with the Mifata Federation. It was only later when the Federation finally decided to convert these two countries into their own vassal after trying out various means and ways did they manage to play down the impact of that incident.

  But now, with the Grey Tower City openly announcing that it would be seceding from the Federation to join the Republic of Northwest, this incident re-surfaced and once again, became the topic of discussion.

  The key to why the Mifata Federation could stay so stable and united over the years was because they had the great founder of the new Spell System, Master Ymirjar Le-Peyroux, as their spiritual leader. With the passing of Master Le-Peyroux, the capable leaders still heading the Mifata Federation did not wield that same powerful influence and appeal as Master Le-Peyroux. A country with them as the core would not have a natural form of divinity as when it was led by Master Le-Peyroux.

  So following Grey Tower City’s declaration of their intention to secede from the Mifata Federation, quite a handful of cities also started to make alternative plans for themselves.

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  It was long before Grey Tower City announced its secession from the Federation and began its journey as an autonomous city.

  Not too long ago, Grey Tower City had completely shifted its belief over to the God of Aristocracy and became a territory of the Church of the God of Aristocracy, thus making it difficult for the Mifata Federation to issue orders over at this city. Now, the Federation had come to the point where it was merely left with the last step to take, which was to tear down that final layer of fig leaf that was protecting its very last shred of dignity.

  Two cities gaining independence from the Federation successively was more than enough to anger the higher-ups. More than one higher-up had proposed that they take a military approach to resolve the problem, where they would suppress the two cities by force and eliminate these separatists.

  However, when the time came for a meeting to be held to discuss whether they should use force as a solution, all these great mages began to hesitate again. The use of force was no trifling matter as it concerned the fate of an entire country. Not only did it require a tremendous amount of money, material resources, and manpower, it would also bring about great damage to the country and people.

  More importantly, if the use of force could enable if to win the battle, then there was nothing much to worry about. But if the Mifata Federation was still unable to win by using force, then it would lose the final governing legal principles that it held over the two cities and could no longer stop them from gaining their independence.

  This was a responsibility that was difficult for anyone to shoulder.

  So they discussed it over and over again, from different perspectives and all, and yet, after more than half a month of discussions, they were still unable to reach a final decision.

  Quite a handful of higher-ups even felt that perhaps it would not be all that bad to let the matter drag on like this. Anyway, so long as the Mifata Federation did not acknowledge their independence, then these two cities would not be considered as truly and completely independent. If there was a chance in the future, the Federation could still force them to give up their autonomy.

  This was obviously wishful thinking on their side. They were too naïve in thinking that this would work out because it would not take long for another city to show signs of wanting to gain its independence from the Federation.

  Moreover, this time around, it was not only one or two cities showing such an inclination towards gaining independence. The number was up to five or six. Their combined sphere of influence covered quite an extensive area of the northern part of the Mifata Federation. Or rather, the total area occupied by all these cities added up, could possibly be as big as one-tenth of the entire territory of the Mifata Federation.

  Seeing the stage at which things had gotten to, the higher-ups of the Mifata Federation were finally forced to face up to reality. They could no longer adopt the ostrich policy and continue to live with self-denial. There was no way they could put up with such a situation any longer, and it was time to face up to reality.

  As a result, something that had never happened in the entire history happened—the Mifata Federation issued an order to all the cities under its command to mobilize and assemble their army troops, and then prepare to launch a military siege on those areas with autonomy.

  The convenience they had by relying on a large number of spellcasters was that the army they called for was assembled very quickly. A great amount of material resources was also amply prepared way before the army was assembled, all ready to go to battle.

  “This is destined to be a fierce and intense battle that will go down in history,” said a Legendary Mage in high spirits before the grand army set off. He was entrusted with the role of chief commander for this battle. Filled with enthusiasm, he said, “We will make a grand victory to prove that our Federation is not only about knowledge and wealth. The power of our magic, when used in battles, is also unstoppable!”

  But he spoke a little too soon. A few days later, on their way to Golden Tower City, they met with an ambush and suffered a great loss of heavy casualties.

  That was not a large-scale ambush to start with, so the damage it could do to this grand army sent out by the Mifata Federation was limited. But to the army’s morale, the influence was massive. Originally, the generals felt that they had a great advantage, even to the extent of thinking that a simple flat push was all they needed to win. But the facts told them otherwise. Their advantage was not as great as they thought it was, and their enemy was definitely not that easily defeated with just a simple flat push.

  Therefore, that Legendary Mage exercised prudence right away. He changed the momentum of his army from a full-throttle advance to an unhurried march. On an average day, the furthest they traveled on foot would at most be around 40 miles.

  Advancing at such a slow-paced march, the ability of the army in taking precautions against ambushes and sudden raids was naturally enhanced. Yet at the same time, the consumption of material resources was also greatly increased, especially when the army had to spend a much longer time traveling as compared to before. Amidst the army, an atmosphere of worry and unease was growing with the passing of time. Of course, such an important matter would not go unnoticed by the Legendary Mage leading the troops. But he was at his wits’ end.

  There had been peace within the Mifata Federation for much too long, and though the Federation had an army, there were not many who were talented in the military aspect. If not, who would have chosen a Legendary Mage, who should be assuming a commanding presence within a magic tower and spending all day long on researching tasks, to be a chief commander of an army heading out for the battlefield?

  This master had to wield extremely powerful combat power. Unfortunately, one’s personal combat power and one’s ability to lead an army out to battle did not equate to the same thing.

  Slightly more than ten days passed again. The army finally arrived at Golden Tower City, albeit much later than expected, and started to launch attacks on the city.

  Half a year was spent on this bout of attacks.

  Golden Tower City, which had long built a firm and secure defense, had the support of followers of the Church of the God of Aristocracy from all over the world. Despite falling behind in military strength and resources, relying on a firm belief and the support of fellow church followers, Golden Tower City managed to block off the attacks of the army troops of the Mifata Federation time after time, steadily defending and holding onto its city.

  Subsequently, that Legendary Mage also realized that it was hopeless trying to conquer the city by attacking it. So without further ado, he changed his plan of action to laying siege around the city. He hoped that the siege would cut off all supply of material resources to Golden Tower City, which would, in turn, bring down the morale of its army and thus, the city would have no choice but to surrender.

  However, in a magical world, confronting a city that had the help and support of a great number of clergymen and various spellcasters was not a reliable approach.

  On the contrary, the morale of the army laying the siege was continuously on the decline. After around half a year, this grand army of the Mifata Federation finally gave way and had to declare the withdrawal of its troops.

  As a result, the independence of Golden Tower City had more or less, become an established fact.

  It brought about a domino effect where a few other cities, including Grey Tower City, had made good use of the favorable circumstance to achieve their goal of gaining independence.