Chapter 302

As for Hersola, although its territory is large, it has little economy and is constantly invaded by the Kingdom of Oen. In all aspects, its situation is far worse than that of Port of Misi.

Jonathan knew all this because Lady Winchel had an emotional outburst during a deep conversation with him and poured out her troubles to him.

Although they are sisters, they don't get along. Winchel wants to help her sister, but the latter doesn't appreciate it and thinks Winchel is just putting on an act.

"So what are you planning to do?" Ryan had figured out the whole story, but he was still a little confused.

"I plan to go to Hersola in a few days. You should contact General Shally, just in case we need the Holy Blood Army."

Ryan uses a fadeaway jumper.

No, Old Joe, are you craving a sisterly rice bowl?

He's even better at enjoying himself than I am!

Are you sure it can work?

"Why don't you try and see?"

"Alright, let me know when you're going, but you'll need to make arrangements for Port of Misi."

If we can capture Hersola, and have these two cities as our base of development, then the Primal Church will basically have nothing to worry about in the early stages.

After talking with Jonathan, Ryan returned to the hotel and took 'Adele' and Sesia to the manor.

The estate is very large, with about twenty guards, ten maids, and more than sixty staff members responsible for planting grapes and making wine.

They were called staff, but in reality, they were slaves. These people were bought by Winchel and became her personal property. She didn't need to pay them any wages; she just needed to provide them with food and lodging every day.

Winchel's winery business was doing well, so the slaves living there were also doing relatively well. Although they were indeed exploited, as slaves, they were already fortunate to have enough to eat and wear.

Winchel had already explained that Ryan and his group encountered no obstacles after entering.

"So what should we do next?" Sesia looked at Adele. "When will the rest of the Primal Church arrive?"

"They're not coming." Adele walked to the sofa and sat down gracefully. "The Kingdom of Loente is very wary of other forces. I never planned to send anyone over. It's just the three of us starting from scratch... Hmm, another one should be coming in a few days."

"???"

Sesia was stunned, thinking to herself, "Don't you want to hear what I'm saying?"

"Rider, this girl... are you sure she's reliable?" She pulled Ryan aside and whispered, "With such a strong foundation, and without letting her subordinates come to help, she actually wants to handle everything herself?"

Ryan shrugged. "That's just the kind of person she is. Maybe she thinks the Primal Church is just starting out in Lorient and wants to control the core members herself. You know how fierce the competition for faith is in the Southern Continent. If the upper echelons go astray, it'll never be able to develop further."

"That's true..." Sesia felt something was off. She even had the illusion that the Primal Church was just starting out... That shouldn't be the case. Since they believed in the Lord of Creation, regardless of whether he really existed, their power was definitely not small.

Witches, the key is that there are witches. Sesia shook her head, brushing away the unrealistic thoughts in her mind. How could a force with witches not be strong? But she had never heard of them before. Perhaps they were also enemies of the Gate of Janus, which was why they were so cautious.

Sesia understood. She understood completely.

"Alright, Sesia, don't doubt it. This has nothing to do with us. We're cooperating with her, and we each get what we need. Even if the plan in Lorient fails, we've still helped, haven't we?" Ryan laughed.

"Yes, Rider Excellency Ryder, I was too naive; I didn't immediately grasp your intentions."

After the two finished their quiet conversation, Sesia fell silent and handed over the reins of their joint effort to develop the church's power to Ryan. After a discussion with Adele, Ryan ultimately decided to start from the bottom.

First and foremost, there are the people in the manor. Whether they are slaves or guards, they are all living providers of faith. It just so happens that this is Ryan's first time trying to collect faith from ordinary people. He needs to think carefully about what will happen in this process.

Moreover, secrecy is guaranteed within the manor.

"... That being said, these people in the manor should be believers in the Earth Goddess, right? How should we begin?" Sesia was still so unreliable. On someone else's turf, in someone else's home, starting to preach another god's faith? Where was their professionalism?

Anyway, it's started.

"Name."

"Philip, Phyllis."

"Age."

Sixteen years old.

"Please introduce yourself."

"My father was a worker at the Port of Misi Ironworks, my mother was sick and unemployed, and I was only sold to the estate this year. Lady Winchel bought me and put me to work here. I live and eat at the estate, and I have half a day off each month to leave the estate to visit my family, plus a half-silver coin bonus... Well, this is the current incentive policy of the winery; it didn't exist before."

Inside the room, a girl dressed in a black and white maid outfit stood with her hands clasped in front of her, her fingers interlocked, her expression filled with unease.

In front of her, Ryan was leaning back in his chair, sizing her up.

"Phyllis, do you believe in God?"

"...God?" Phyllis was taken aback, then lowered her head. "Of course I believe. I believe in the great Rhea, the God of the Earth, who is the origin of all life."

"Hmm, a very formulaic answer, but as far as I know, she never has the habit of praising Goddess, and she has never gone to Church even once during her holidays. Do you really believe in God?"

Phyllis's face turned pale instantly, and she knelt down with a thud.

"My lord, please forgive my sins!"

"Sin? What sin have you committed? Because you only had half a day off, you wanted to stay home to take care of your mother, who was on her life. Even if you prayed for the Goddess's protection, the gods wouldn't bestow any blessings. You'd rather rely on your own hands to achieve miracles... Hmm, is this the sin you're talking about?"

Phyllis was somewhat bewildered; for a moment, she didn't understand what Ryan meant.

"Phyllis, your father's wages are two silver coins and twenty coppers a month, right? The environment in the ironworks isn't good; it's easy to get sick if you stay there too long. Even so, it's your family's biggest source of income. Your family lives in the lower-class area of Port of Misi. There's only one bathroom in that shared house, and the rent is one silver coin and twelve coppers a month. Let me do the math... the remaining money is probably only enough for your family to eat porridge every day."

Phyllis lowered her head, her expression somber.

Ryan was right; that was her family's situation. In fact, they struggled to even get enough to eat each day, and they still needed to get medicine for her sick mother. She secretly sold herself without telling her parents, receiving eight silver coins in return.

This was a huge sum of money. Phyllis, an uneducated lower-class person, couldn't find a good job at all. The most common jobs in Port of Misi were for sailors and dockworkers. She was a malnourished girl who couldn't lift a finger or carry anything heavy. There were far too many people like her.

Selling oneself not only provides financial support to the family but also ensures free food and lodging. The only concern is that slaves have no human rights and are not protected by the kingdom's laws; their fate depends entirely on whether they can find a kind master.

"My lord, what exactly are you trying to say?"

"I want to tell you that the great Lord of Creation, Balshatt, will save you from this calamity. From this day forward, we are the masters of this manor. We bring mercy and spread the glory of the Creation God. Phyllis, congratulations, you have been chosen by God."

"Huh?"

Phyllis looked up in surprise.

"Have I been chosen by the gods?"

"Yes, I declare that you will be freed from slavery and regain your freedom. You will work for the plantation and receive regular pay, and your mother will be given a new life by God!"

Phyllis's name struck him like a thunderbolt, and his mind went completely blank for a moment.

The same thing happened to Adele and Sesia.

Ryan personally selected the three best women from the manor to be the original believers of the Primal Church. Ryan chose Phyllis not because she had beautiful blonde hair, beautiful emerald green eyes, a face that was far more beautiful than the other slaves, or a large bust size that was estimated to be over 36D.

Well, I have to say Phyllis is really filial; she takes very good care of her grandmother.

The main reason is that Ryan secretly tested the Magic Power talents of the people in the manor through the relics, and Phyllis was the most outstanding one among them, with potential no less than that of Sesia.

Otherwise, Ryan wouldn't have taken action himself.

As for the other two, they were passable, but the rest basically had no talent and didn't even have the potential to become Supernatural Being.

"Why are they all female believers?"

By nightfall, most of the people in the manor had been lured into the Primal Church.

Without any hesitation, Phyllis decided to follow the Lord of Creation without reservation after Ryan said that God would save her mother.

Actually, it's more like a transaction than a faith, but that's how it has to be from the start. If there aren't tangible benefits, why would people believe that faith in a deity is effective?

Only after starting, allowing the first group to experience the blessings, and then letting them recruit more people, will the protection of faith gradually decrease layer by layer until the most ordinary believers are developed on the outermost periphery.

Although these ordinary believers receive the least favor, they provide the most faith power. For example, only those in the core of the church have access to extraordinary power through the Gate of Janus, but 99% of those who provide faith power to Janus are ordinary believers outside the church.

Even if you casually say "praise the Goddess," it doesn't matter how sincere you are; the key is to accumulate these sentiments, as quantitative changes lead to qualitative changes.

Of course, quality was the priority from the start, so Ryan was very strict in selecting believers.

Even for estates, besides qualifications, character and personality are also considered during the screening process.

As a result of this screening, nineteen female believers were directly identified.

Damn it, when will men ever stand up again!

"Alright, let's try it and see how it goes."

Ryan compiled the list of people, and the next day, he sent Adele and Sesia to each of these believers to help them solve their problems.

Faced with extraordinary power, the problems that drive mortals to despair are nothing but child's play. When the illness that had plagued Phyllis's mother for months was resolved in an instant, Ryan clearly felt a subtle fluctuation from his soul.

He closed his eyes and sensed a faint wisp of faith gathering from Phyllis and merging into his body.

This wisp of power, ultimately tracked by Mental Power, anchored itself above the mist of the mysterious space, illuminating a star in that expanse of sky.

Ryan then used his Mental Power perception to discover that he could summon Phyllis's consciousness directly into the mysterious space through the stars.

"It's a success!"

Despite the lessons learned from the past, Ryan was still very excited to apply the experiment to the 'ordinary' group and succeed again.

After all, witches like K and the alt Alts are rather special beings, and they alone cannot provide much faith power.

"The faith that has gathered for me seems to be related to the mysterious space as well, but the Faith Power I've collected is too weak right now, and I can't detect any changes at all."

The mysterious space must have existed for a long time, but he only discovered it later as his Mental Power improved. Ryan still doesn't understand the secrets inside, but it seems that as long as he continues to collect Faith Power, he should be able to unravel the mystery step by step.

Unfortunately, apart from Phyllis, the other eighteen believers were unable to directly provide observable faith power; this will likely require a gradual, cumulative process.

Ryan wasn't in a hurry. He planned to wait until these people were fully integrated into the Primal Church before using them to recruit others, such as parents, siblings, and extended family members—the more the better.

Ryan personally selects high-quality believers, but the development of peripheral believers is handled by his subordinates.

"Wait a minute, why does this feel like a pyramid scheme?"

Ryan opened the game, somewhat speechless, to check on the other characters.

In the few days that he began to tinker with the Primal Church, the Northern Continent Conference had successfully concluded. With his first wife, Lin Qi, acting as a go-between, the conference ended perfectly as Ryan had predicted.

Of course, this perfect outcome was just a meeting. What he didn't know was that Kachia and Kachina had been staring at each other in disbelief for the past two days. The reason was that they were completely stunned after receiving Sesia's magical letter. Their shock was even more exaggerated than when they heard that the Augustus Empire was going to attack the Eastern Continent.

No, we sent you to protect someone, and it's only been a few days, and you're already trying to climb into bed with them?

Although it was supposed to be to improve their strength, this was just too outrageous. As a result, the Geminis had been preoccupied with how to respond to Sesia for the past two days and had no interest in politics at all.

Say yes, we've gained a sharer out of nowhere.

If I don't agree, he's a guardian knight I grew up with, loyal and devoted; I'm afraid he'll lose heart.

Moreover, if Sesia were to break through to the seventh rank, it would be of great benefit to the Arcadia Empire.

Ryan was naturally unaware of these matters. After inquiring about the situation in the Western Territory with 'Vainay,' he prepared to go find Jonathan to see how far things had progressed between him and Lady Winchel.

Before he even left the house, 'Adele' came looking for him.

"Witch K is coming back. She'll be here by tonight at the latest."

"So soon?" Ryan stroked his chin. "If she comes back, the first thing she'll do is verify our identities. I wonder if she knows anything about the Northern Continent."

It wouldn't be funny if he recognized him later.

"That's easy." 'Adele's' lips curled up slightly. "Just tell her that it was all thanks to Balshatt's guidance."

"Uh, for example, how do you do it?"

Ryan humbly sought advice from the Alts.

"Praise be to the great God, whose will transcends all." Adele clasped her hands together. "Lord of All Gods, sublime Balshatt, I pledge my allegiance to you, and you, grant me the primordial Saintess."

Ryan was taken aback, thinking to himself, "Adele, you're actually putting on quite a show."

Make Adele Saintess of the church, and then Adele will give him an important position. Witch K will then have nothing to say.

He's Balshatt, after all. Even if he made Witch K kneel, she would do it without hesitation. Isn't that a simple matter?

Seeing Adele's nonchalant attitude, Ryan suddenly felt that his perspective was a bit narrow. Yes, as long as the mysterious space could be used properly, it wouldn't be impossible to strip the witch K naked and bend over.

Chapter 187 In-depth communication with witch K in her dream

Within the gray, Misty Space, stars, each gleaming with a faint light, were gradually illuminated.

The light floating on these stars slowly merged into the Misty Space, allowing Ryan to gradually feel the originally lifeless space beginning to 'come alive'.

He stood above the mist, closed his eyes, and sensed the state of the stars. With a little Mental Power, he could see through the stars the source of their faith.

"The fastest took less than half a day, and the slowest took only two days. Is faith in this world so easy to attain?"