On the journey to the Temple of the Moon, Rhodes found the perfect opportunity. While the party camped by a crystal-clear stream to rest and the Moon Priestesses were deep in meditation and prayer, he quietly submerged his consciousness into the Heroes of Might and Magic system, intending to conquer the Dragon Utopia.
Before entering the dungeon, however, Rhodes visited the Library of Enlightenment. This is a very special structure that can only be accessed once a hero reaches Level 10 (unless they possess the Diplomacy skill to lower the requirement).
The administrator allowed him entry. Though he could only stay a short while, he learned a great deal.
Effect: Your hero gains +2 to all primary attributes.
This special building was excellent, though currently, Styg was the only other hero under his command who had reached Level 10; the others still needed leveling. Furthermore, because he had traveled ten thousand years into the past, his other heroes hadn't followed him. They appeared as "blacked out" in his interface, and Rhodes couldn't even contact them. It seemed that even the system couldn't cross ten millennia to reach subordinates on another timeline, though he expected to resolve this upon his return.
After the attribute boost, Rhodes assembled his forces: 5 Archangels, 10 Sacred Phoenixes, and exactly 10 Black Dragons. His creature dwellings had accumulated quite a bit of power recently, and this combination was more than enough to steamroll the Dragon Utopia. There was no need to bring low-tier fodder.
With a thought, Rhodes selected the "Dragon Utopia" instance on his system interface. The scenery around his consciousness shifted instantly, accompanied by that all-too-familiar music. A virtual battlefield appeared: his troops stood in the center, surrounded by four groups of dragons.
The defenders consisted of: 8 Green Dragons, 7 Red Dragons, 4 Gold Dragons, and 3 Black Dragons.
"Archangels! Take the vanguard and draw fire! Use your resurrection trait to tie down the Black Dragons!"
"Sacred Phoenixes! Use your speed and fire rebirth to harass and split the Green and Red dragon flights!"
In terms of speed, Rhodes held every advantage. The Archangels moved first, cutting down 5 Green Dragons in a single sweep and losing only a negligible amount of health to the counterattack. Next, the Phoenixes swarmed the enemy Black Dragons; against ten or more Sacred Phoenixes, three Black Dragons were simply outmatched. Rhodes's own Black Dragons then lunged at the Gold Dragons, unleashing a terrifying breath that annihilated all four of them.
The remaining Red Dragons flew up to bite at an Archangel, but they only managed to shave off a few dozen hit points. The Archangel's casual counterattack slew 4 Red Dragons instantly. In the next round, the Archangels finished off the remaining Green Dragons, and the Phoenixes swooped in to clean up the last of the Reds.
The battle was over. The Archangels had taken a few hits, losing about 100 HP in total—an essentially flawless victory. After all, Rhodes's Attack and Defense stats had reached staggering levels. Over twenty dragons guarding the Utopia had been wiped out in moments.
Glorious Victory!
You have gained a massive amount of experience.
Level Up! (Rhodes is now Level 17).
Skill Choice: Rhodes chose to upgrade to Expert Water Magic.
With this, Rhodes had mastered all four elemental magic schools to the Expert level, achieving maximum versatility. He put his attribute point into Power to further enhance his spellcasting.
After the battle, Rhodes reached into the system interface to extract the twenty dragon corpses. These were top-tier materials! Dragon Utopias were rare encounters, and dragon remains were notoriously hard to find.
Once the battle calculations were finalized, the treasure rewards were revealed:
Gold: 30,000
2nd-Tier Treasure: [Crown of Knowledge] (+4 Knowledge; an excellent replacement for his current headgear).
3rd-Tier Treasure: [Giant's Cuirass] (+4 Power; exactly what he needed most).
4th-Tier Treasures: * [Spellbook of Fire Magic] (Allows the hero to cast all Fire Magic spells).
[Orb of Driving Rain] (Increases the damage of Air-based spells by 50%).
The last two treasures left Rhodes in a state of shock. Happiness had come far too quickly! These were god-tier items in both Azeroth and the Heroes world.
While Rhodes knew a few spells, his repertoire was limited to his city guilds and a single wilderness shrine. The Fire Spellbook changed everything. It granted him instant access to every Fire spell at maximum level. In the game, Fire magic's damage was second only to Air.
First, the damage spells: Fireball and Fire Blast would now hit significantly harder than his Lightning Bolts while covering a much larger area. But the real showstopper—the spell Rhodes had been pining for—was Armageddon.
In Heroes III, Armageddon is the ultimate damage spell. It hits every unit on the entire battlefield, friend or foe alike. With Rhodes's Power stat nearing 30 and the boost from Expert Fire Magic, this spell would deal over 1,600 damage to everything in sight.
To put it bluntly: among the Legion's ranks, besides Archimonde or Kil'jaeden, almost no one could survive a 1,600-damage nuke. Aside from demigods, it was a "one-shot everyone" button. The concept of "numerical superiority" had just become irrelevant to Rhodes. As long as he brought units immune to fire—like Black Dragons, Phoenixes, or Magic Elementals—he could run the "Armageddon Strategy." I don't care how many thousands of soldiers you have; one cast, and everyone meets their maker.
Rhodes covered his eyes and let out a manic burst of laughter. He felt incredibly "inflated" with power.
"Hahahaha! Ah! Hahaha!" This Dragon Utopia had come at the perfect time.
The Moon Priestesses, jolted out of their meditation by his demonic laughter, stared at him with concern.
"L-Lord Rhodes? Are you alright?"
"Is something wrong? Have you been hit by some demonic mind magic?"
"No, no, ladies," Rhodes said, waving them off. "I just thought of something very... funny. Don't mind me."
Don't mind me, I'm just drowning in euphoria. What a beautiful world! Now, who wants to be the first to catch an Armageddon?
The priestesses exchanged glances, having no idea why he had suddenly descended into madness.
Rhodes also considered the other spells: Sacrifice (useful for reviving high-tier units, though Resurrection was usually better) and Slayer (deadly against Dragons and Demons—perfect for the upcoming war against Sargeras).
Then there was the Orb of Driving Rain. Its effect was simple and brutal: +50% damage to Air spells. Since Holy Light was classified as an Air-based attribute in his system, his holy power would now be terrifying. Rhodes estimated that if he summoned a Guardian of Light now, it would be fifty meters tall—a veritable Ultraman of the Holy Light.
Burningly Legion, you're a gold mine, Rhodes thought. Every demon is worth so much. Archimonde is bound to show up in the War of the Ancients. I think I'll wear a disguise and kill him one more time.