The Church's Reward

"These 25 gold pieces are your weekly pay as a Confessional Deacon." In a spacious room, Du Pont accepted the coins and looked at Dorothy and another man he had never met, dressed in a high-ranking priest's robes. Righteous resolve filled his handsome face. "Thank you, Priest, but it is my duty to share the Church's burdens. I cannot accept these coins."

"The Church never forgets the achievements of those who have rendered meritorious service, especially a devout believer like you." The speaker wore a Priest Robe. He took out an exquisite necklace set with several dark green gemstones. "In recognition of your exceptional contribution today, the Church has prepared two items. You may choose one as your reward."

"First is this Amulet of Health. I heard from Priest Dorothy that your health is not very good. This Amulet of Health is an ultra-rare magical item. As long as you wear it, your Constitution will increase to 19.

"This will improve your physical condition and greatly benefit your future growth. Your chances of falling ill or being cursed will be significantly reduced. Especially for a young person like you who has not yet awakened, your bones and muscles may continue to develop. If you wear it before turning eighteen, you may even surpass your body's original potential."

Du Pont's expression froze as if someone had pressed pause, followed by uncontrollable delight. Just as he was about to agree, Dorothy took out a small pouch decorated with a seven-star ring. "This is a Dimensional Bag, another reward prepared by the Church. It can hold an additional 1,000 pounds and has ten cubic meters of storage space. Food and water stored inside will not spoil even after a year."

"But remember, you must not put living creatures inside. Given enough time, they will certainly suffocate to death. Also, do not let the opening of the Dimensional Bag connect with a portal. Otherwise, spatial distortion will inevitably occur. Getting too close may cause injuries that even divine magic cannot repair. This is extremely dangerous."

The moment he heard the name Dimensional Bag, Du Pont never looked at the Amulet of Health again. He dropped to one knee and no longer refused. With a devout expression, he accepted the Dimensional Bag, pressed a hand to his chest, and praised, "Thank you for the Church's blessing. The reason I was able to defeat evil today was truly because I often came to the Church to listen to the Holy Sound. It was the priests' holy words that awakened my courage to defeat my enemy. From now on, I will surely fight bravely under the leadership of The Lady and the priests, striving to severely wound even more enemies of The Lady!"

Angie, who had originally come along to help with chores, was so astonished that her little mouth remained open for a long while. She lowered her head to look at the Ring of Lie Detection on her hand, which had not lit up, her eyes full of confusion. Dorothy, on the other hand, nodded repeatedly, clearly quite satisfied. Even Damien nodded and praised him:

"The Church naturally knows of your devout heart, and it will not overlook any promising talent. May you always maintain a humble heart and further study The Lady's teachings. I have high hopes that you can advance to become a Spell Guardian. That is a status and ability that can bring glory to your family."

Amid Angie's shock, the three of them kept up their hypocrisy for nearly half an hour before the award ceremony finally ended. After Damien and Du Pont had both left, she followed Dorothy back to the sanctuary and returned to her own room. She took out a pure white gemstone and infused it with spiritual power. After a while, a cheerful female voice finally sounded from the other end. "What is it, sweetheart? Missing me so early?"

"Big sister, I've encountered something that's terribly confusing."

"Don't rush. Tell me slowly."

After a long time, the voice from the gemstone finally replied, "Angie, the human heart is an exceedingly complex thing, and humans are even more so."

"To some people, loyalty and devotion are rootless things. In the human world, such things can be obtained directly with bargaining chips. Whether they truly come from the heart is not nearly as important."

"But that goes against the doctrine. The Lady never demanded such things. This is wrong!" Angie protested softly.

"But The Lady never said it was wrong." The voice from the gemstone gave a soft laugh. "Human hearts are complex and ever-changing. Their alignment spans are so vast that not even elves can compare. This is their nature, and a fact that is difficult to change. By all reason, they should have gone to self-destruction while lost in confusion.

"Yet their civilization has remained stable and survived countless crises of destruction. This is something even the great sages cannot explain, and it is also why you and I entered the mortal world."

"Continue observing. We have plenty of time to observe and learn. But remember, you will always be yourself. That is the most important thing. And you must keep your secret safe. Otherwise, if others discover your talent, it will surely arouse their fear, and that may cause considerable trouble."

The communication ended. Angie tucked the gemstone away close to her body, looked at the shrine in the room, let out a long breath, and closed her eyes.

"May The Lady forgive me."

You have obtained the special ability, *Rage*

Rage: You will unlock the instincts buried deep within your genes and, with the most primal fury, drive your enemies to their deaths.

Main benefits: During Rage, you temporarily gain +4 Strength, +4 Constitution, and temporary hit points equal to character level ×2. You gain a +2 morale bonus on Will saves and resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. Damage dealt by nonmagical weapon attacks is reduced by 50%.

Negative effect: Your wild offense will make you ignore enemy attacks, reducing your defense by 2.

Fury suppresses reason. You cannot cast spells or maintain spell concentration while Rage lasts.

Your Rage lasts for 1 minute. If you fall unconscious during Rage, or if you have neither attacked any hostile creature nor taken damage from the end of your previous turn to the end of your current turn, Rage ends early. You may also voluntarily end Rage on your turn.

When Rage ends, you become fatigued and gain the negative conditions of -2 Strength and -2 Dexterity. All beneficial effects disappear, while the negative effects last for 10 minutes.

Since you have not yet obtained the Barbarian class abilities, you may Rage at most once per day and cannot activate this ability voluntarily.

You have gained 2000 Experience Points

Your proficiency with daggers has reached the trained level

Killing that pervert had brought Du Pont unexpectedly enormous rewards. However, because the circumstances had been unusual and he still had to play innocent, he could only set the matter aside for the time being. Now that he had returned to his dormitory, he finally had time to study the gains.

The special ability Rage could be called extremely powerful. Besides temporary attribute bonuses, it also granted temporary hit points. Resistance to three types of physical attacks provided nearly 50% physical damage reduction. Although it could not reduce damage from magical weapons or magic, someone like him who had only taken on a low-level contract would naturally not encounter so many powerful experts. Once activated, it practically made him unbeatable in a one-on-one fight for a minute.

Thinking of this, Du Pont began looking into the class requirements for Barbarian and was immediately overjoyed.

Barbarian prerequisites: Proficiency with simple weapons (master nearly half), martial weapons, light armor, and shields.

Skills: Choose two proficiencies from Animal Handling, Athletics, Intimidation, Nature, Perception, and Survival.

Ability: Rage (already mastered)

He was still far from meeting the prerequisites to become a Fighter, yet he had somehow mastered the Barbarian's core ability in advance.

This was an ability that even his money-grubbing system could not directly activate, yet he had comprehended it on his own. If calculated according to feats, this had saved him a considerable sum of money.

I really am a genius!

After his excitement faded, Du Pont began calculating the cost.

Comprehending two weapon proficiencies directly cost 200 gold. Light armor and shield proficiency together cost 100, and two skills cost another 100. In other words, he only needed 400 gold coins to directly comprehend all the requirements to become a Barbarian and obtain the class.

If his calculations were correct, he would then need only 1,000 Experience Points to raise Barbarian to level 2. His total level would become level 4, with 2 Wizard levels and 2 Barbarian levels. Besides gaining all the abilities of a level 2 Barbarian, he would also receive an additional attribute increase granted once every four levels.

And all of this required only 400 gold coins and 1,000 Experience Points.

This was an unbelievably worthwhile deal. Even the legendary training manuals for legendary wondrous items were said to add only 2 attribute points per reading, yet they cost an astonishing 20,000 gold coins.

And even with money, one might not be able to buy one. Without sufficient connections, no one would pay attention even if you held the money in hand. It was absolutely something with a price but no market.

In consideration of my esteemed readers' schedules and work hours, the daily update time will be changed to nine o'clock. Also, please spare some votes and help this make it onto the recommendations or something. The fantasy category is really so dead.