The Temple

After that exchange, Zhao Xu had more or less figured out Rayne's frivolous way of speaking.

"Also, you didn't seriously think you could have hit Antinoa just now, did you?" Rayne said.

Zhao Xu shook his head. He knew his own limits.

Besides, judging from Rayne's tone, even an idiot could tell something was off.

Antinoa should have been able to cast a spell like Prismatic Sphere as well, enough to block one of his attacks.

"Good thing you're not like me. Back then, I thought I'd really hit my mentor. I was happy about it for ages." Rayne immediately sank into reminiscence.

Zhao Xu suddenly felt a little awkward. Why did this sound increasingly like some anime's bell-stealing gag?

"Actually, in front of Antinoa, you wouldn't be able to cast any spell at all. Because we Wizards can use Counterspell, giving us overwhelming suppression against rookies like you. But that's beside the point. We'll talk about it after you receive training in the Spell Identification skill."

Next, Rayne directly teleported him down to Mystra.

This was Zhao Xu's first time setting foot on Arthur's real soil again after half a month.

Breathing in the surface air, he found it had a distinctly different flavor.

The temple of the Goddess of Magic and the Church headquarters, Sacred Heart Cathedral, stood right next to each other.

The temple had been expanded from the Goddess's residence before she became divine.

Sacred Heart Cathedral had been built closely beside it. The inner hall handled the Church's daily affairs, while the outer hall was for believers to pray to and worship their deity.

Many of the Mage Association headquarters' research institutions and organizations were located in the Floating City.

As a result, the temple and cathedral occupied an enormous area within the city.

Mystra itself had even been expanded outward from them as its center, radiating outward in a star-like pattern.

As the central gathering place for believers, the outer hall area of Sacred Heart Church had always been bustling with crowds.

Zhao Xu had already experienced that on his first day here.

Yet when he returned this time, he found the crowd so dense that it was impossible to squeeze inside.

Ordinarily, churches only became packed closer to the interior. Yet right now, even the outermost perimeter was already this crowded.

"Today is the Goddess's Divine Birthday. That's why," Rayne explained.

Zhao Xu nodded upon hearing that.

In his Previous Life, his family had lived in the bitterly cold north, where most residents worshipped the God of Justice, the God of War, and the like.

On Divine Birthday, local churches would bestow blessings upon their believers.

The most sought-after and popular of these were the Holy Water that normally cost 25 GP a bottle.

With Holy Water being distributed freely on Divine Birthday, it was only natural for people to fight over it.

But Mystra's residents lived in the prosperous south, much like the residents of national capitals on Earth.

Not that they were necessarily superior to others, but their standard of living ranked among the best of all Arthur's towns and cities.

Looking carefully at the crowd before him, many were dressed in respectable clothing and did not look like poor folk at all.

At the intersections farther away, even carriages had been restricted from entering.

"The Goddess's will may descend upon Arthur's Material Plane on Divine Birthday," Rayne explained. "So today, it's very possible for the Goddess to bestow divine grace and formally make someone a Cleric."

Zhao Xu could not help feeling tempted when he heard that.

Although he believed there was a ninety-nine percent chance he would become a level 1 Cleric anyway, there was no reason to pass up the chance to make up that final one percent.

Clerics in Arthur generally followed two paths.

The first was to be trained from childhood as a prospective Cleric, studying the deity's doctrines step by step in the local church while undergoing foundational occupational training.

Then, they waited.

Once the deity sensed their devotion, they would take the final step in one go, advancing from an apprentice to a true level 1 Cleric.

If the path of a Mage Apprentice was difficult at first and easy later, then the path of an apprentice Cleric was easy at first and difficult later.

At the Mage Apprentice awakening ceremony Zhao Xu had attended that day, most of those present would actually succeed.

But for apprentice Clerics, there were still many senior candidates waiting in line for the deity to notice their devotion.

After all, the number of Cleric positions granted by deities was limited. Otherwise, everyone could simply become a Cleric, and the Church would directly become the continent's greatest power.

The other path for Clerics was to win a deity's favor and be chosen directly.

People like that only needed to go through the motions at church and receive some training.

That was why Zhao Xu was fully confident he could complete Cleric training within a week.

Thinking of it, Zhao Xu could not help sighing.

His wife in his Previous Life had also been from Earth.

After transmigrating, she had been noticed by Bella, the high priestess of the local Goddess of Fortune, and accepted as an apprentice Cleric.

However, his wife had spent two wasted years without becoming an official Cleric.

By then, among the Earth transmigrators, the player group that had transformed into an upper-class force was gradually reaching the stage of marriage.

During those two years, Zhao Xu had served as the town's sheriff. He had performed well and earned a good reputation, so people knew his background well enough.

With no hope of breaking through, his wife had been brought together with Zhao Xu by their parents and married him, eventually bearing children.

If this had been on Earth in this life, without transmigration—

As a beautiful, wealthy young woman born into an illustrious noble family, she would have been completely beyond the social class he could have approached.

Even now, he had no way to notify her.

But one day, he would make Arthur's bards sing of his name.

"Brother Rayne, then why don't we just teleport inside?" Zhao Xu asked after coming back to himself, seeing Rayne patiently standing in line.

"Even the chairman enters through the main gate," Rayne said irritably. "Once you become a Cleric, you can fly straight in, but I can't."

"Brother Rayne, you aren't a Cleric?"

"Obviously. Anyone in the Association can take on being a Cleric part-time, except me, the liaison officer. Otherwise, am I the Association's liaison officer or the Church of the Goddess's liaison officer?"

The moment Zhao Xu heard that, he realized he had not thought things through.

Although he had entered the upper circles of town in his Previous Life, he had never reached the level where he could speak directly to the highest authorities. Any random lord could have crushed him with ease.

"But surely even a liaison officer doesn't have to stand here stupidly in line?" Zhao Xu said in annoyance.

To put it imprecisely, someone like Rayne would have been ambassador-level on Earth.

Forget privileges; he should at least have received basic courtesy.

"I notified them when I came. Who knew what problem the Church ran into today, making us wait this long? Usually, I'd either swagger in with you and cut the line, or use a spell to clear the crowd. But on Divine Birthday, how would I dare?"

Suddenly, a middle-aged Cleric in white robes walked out.

When the surrounding believers saw the Cleric emerge, they consciously moved aside and opened a path.

Outside the church gates, where people had been packed together like dumplings, a path wide enough for three people immediately appeared.

"Mr. Rayne, I'm very sorry to have kept you waiting," the Cleric said, lowering his head slightly in apology.

"It's fine. Let's get inside quickly. This kid is here to take up the Cleric profession." Rayne sounded unconcerned as he grabbed Zhao Xu's Wizard robe and strode forward.

Zhao Xu was wearing a hood at the moment, dressed just like Antinoa. His entire head was shrouded in shadow, blocking the curious gazes of the surrounding crowd.

The Cleric gave Zhao Xu an extra look, then nodded as well. "Then please follow me inside."

After the middle-aged Cleric spoke, Zhao Xu and Rayne hurried after him. Who knew whether they would be wrapped up by the crowd again if they fell two steps behind?

The outer walls of Sacred Heart Cathedral were covered in reliefs displaying the Goddess's miracles.

The threshold beneath the main doors was not a square stone sill, but the side of a half-arched stone pillar, as though it were half-buried underground.

After the first two crossed over, Zhao Xu followed suit.

Suddenly, he felt his mind go numb.

At that moment, melodious bells rang out from the temple behind the cathedral.

Wave after wave.

"Praise the Goddess." The middle-aged Cleric hurriedly lowered his head and began praying in silence.

Countless people around them lowered their heads in prayer as well, while some even fell to their knees on the spot.

"The Goddess has descended," Rayne said softly.

Zhao Xu was somewhat dazed. Inside his mind—

It seemed that some Divine Spell Slots had appeared?

PS1: Thanks to Daoist Jiuyu V for the two donations. Much appreciated.

PS2: I had it wrong before. Since the protagonist was not a Third-level Mage, he could not use the extra Second-level Spell Slot granted by Intelligence, so I revised the previous two chapters.