He inwardly sighed. That existence was far too biased.
That kid probably did not even know how expensive a spot in there was.
Throughout Mystra, countless Mage Families and old noble houses lived in seclusion there.
Those influential figures had innumerable relatives and family members, with even more complicated connections through marriage, not to mention collateral relatives who had come from elsewhere seeking shelter.
To preserve their family's power, they naturally did their utmost to cultivate their descendants into Spellcasters.
The Path of the Mage tested talent, but becoming a Cleric depended more on whether one caught a god's eye.
Normally, there was nothing anyone could do to change a god's opinion.
They could hardly praise some outstanding relative during prayer and hope the god would grant them a First-level Cleric rank.
Only the slots on this Divine Birthday could most directly display each family's strength and make it easier to place people inside.
Although the Goddess of Magic could hear the thoughts of her believers,
when her consciousness descended upon the temple during such a festival,
the apprentice Clerics gathered around her would always leave a better impression on her.
Or rather, she would at least show some consideration for her church in Arthur and arrange for a few apprentices to advance into Clerics.
Yet Zhao Xu had appeared, gaining Divine Spells the moment he stood at the entrance.
Under normal circumstances, it would have been fine. If someone became a Cleric through devotion, no one could object.
But at this moment, it was plainly when the Goddess of Magic had descended. She had taken a liking to him as he stood at the door and casually granted him Divine Spells.
What would the three hundred apprentice Clerics inside who had failed to advance think? Did it not simply highlight that they were still unqualified?
Rayne had not expected that bringing this calm-looking young man over would lead to something like this.
"Keep this quiet for now. Don't get excited and use your Divine Spells. Go through the training first. On the final day, reveal that you gained Divine Spells. Once you register, you can leave."
Zhao Xu had not expected such advice, but he simply nodded.
Zhao Xu had struggled in Arthur for nine years. He had not lived those years in vain.
His foundation lay with the Final Scroll, so naturally, they did not want him attracting too much attention within the church.
At the very least, they did not want him getting too entangled with these low-level Clerics.
Rayne then stepped forward to speak with the middle-aged Cleric and arrange Zhao Xu's next destination.
After some discussion, Zhao Xu followed Rayne as the Cleric redirected them to the inner district.
In the end, the church assigned Zhao Xu a new dormitory room and a schedule.
Although the schedule was densely packed with writing, it was actually quite clear upon closer inspection.
Every morning began with a communal prayer meeting, followed by studying religious texts until noon. After lunch, they would receive Cleric training according to their individual needs.
His dormitory was still a single room, though much narrower. Anyone a little fatter might have trouble turning around inside.
The room's furnishings were equally simple. Aside from a bed and a wooden table, there was nothing else.
After helping Zhao Xu complete the handover procedures, Rayne pointed out the Mage Association's contact office within the theocracy.
Rayne could not remain by Zhao Xu's side around the clock in the coming days.
So if Zhao Xu needed anything, he could go to the contact office, and they would naturally notify Rayne for him.
After explaining all this, Rayne left with the middle-aged Cleric.
Divine Birthday was not merely the descent of a god's consciousness. Many celebratory ceremonies followed afterward.
As a liaison officer, Rayne still had to coordinate the arrival procedures for personnel from the Mage Association.
In the end, Zhao Xu was left alone in the empty room.
For the rest of the afternoon until evening, the church would not arrange any training on Divine Birthday, leaving him with nothing to do.
Zhao Xu leaned against the bed and casually took out a religious text from the wall cabinet.
But after reading for less than fifteen minutes, he shoved it right back in, tightly sealed away.
Not only was the wording of these religious texts obscure, but their writing was also full of complex metaphors, enough to give him a headache.
Zhao Xu could only marvel at how others managed to chew through such things.
Turning back to it, Zhao Xu began studying his own Divine Spells again.
He could not show them to others, but that did not mean he could not use them privately.
The only troublesome part was that Clerics generally had fixed prayer times.
That was also when gods distributed Divine Spells in batches.
If a Cleric wanted to change the time, it depended on whether their god was willing to make an exception and prepare Divine Spells specifically for them.
After living in Arthur for many years in his Previous Life, countless Earthlings had tried to use their original Earth knowledge to verify, even determine, what kind of planet Arthur was.
In the end, they had all surrendered and accepted that Arthur was not part of their original cosmic system.
It possessed its own planar system.
Thus, throughout Arthur's Prime Material Plane, every location shared the same time difference, all watching the sunrise and sunset beyond the endless horizon together.
In his Previous Life, Zhao Xu had also struggled for a while before looking at the models others had drawn and accepting this view of the planes again.
Zhao Xu crossed his legs and began meditating in prayer, attempting to obtain Divine Spells.
After flipping through the religious books just now, Zhao Xu had at least learned the basic prayer words.
Fortunately, Cleric Divine Spells were not picky and did not require a full eight hours of rest.
Gradually, Zhao Xu noticed specks of light appearing in his mind.
The Divine Spell and Spell Slot symbols on his Character Card also began to sway, as if they were about to change from gray to radiant.
As Zhao Xu meditated, the image of the Goddess of Magic gradually became clearer in his mind.
Bit by bit, the details of her face came together.
In Arthur, the specific appearances of the gods were always portrayed vaguely.
Even the stone statues captured their spirit but not their actual form.
When Zhao Xu had sat upon the Arcane Throne and been summoned back through the river of history, he had seen Sisylvina before she became a god, which was why he had failed to recognize her.
If he had seen her after she became a god, with that aura identical to the divine statues, he would not have guessed she was a succubus even if he had been blind.
Zhao Xu had thus become one of the few people in Arthur who truly knew the Goddess's real appearance.
However, at the very moment her appearance was restored in his mind,
the face that was about to come alive abruptly turned into countless starlike specks and scattered away.
Zhao Xu immediately saw numerous floating balls of light appear in his mind, condensed from those specks.
Only after focusing his attention on them did he realize they contained detailed descriptions of Divine Spells.
Each of these light orbs represented a Divine Spell he could choose to prepare.
The bottom row naturally contained Zero-level Spells, while the larger orbs in the row above were First-level Spells.
Looking at the orbs, Zhao Xu roughly counted them. There were twelve Zero-level Spells and twenty-five First-level Spells.
Compared to Wizards, who had to copy each spell individually to learn it,
Divine Spells were far more generous. Gods directly listed every Divine Spell available for one to choose.
That gave him as many as thirty-seven options at once.
Even though he could currently prepare only five or six Divine Spells.
Some of these Divine Spells were identical to arcane spells. For example, the Zero-level Spell Detect Magic had both an arcane version and a Divine Spell version.
At the same time, some spells existed only in Divine Spell versions. Wizards were helpless when it came to those spells and could not learn them.
At this point, Zhao Xu had not yet realized
that not every ninth level Cleric could cast the fifth-level Divine Spell "Raise Dead."
Twelve Zero-level Spells and twenty-five First-level Spells were the most standard set.
There were more than twenty-five First-level Divine Spells. Some additional Divine Spells also existed.
Just like his First-level arcane spell Dimension Door, it was not a standard arcane spell and could not be learned without special channels.
For the vast majority of First-level Clerics, their early choices would not exceed these twenty-five First-level Divine Spells.
In fact, having ten Divine Spells available to choose from at the beginning was already considered a qualified performance. Only by gradually gaining Divine Favor could one obtain more Divine Spells to choose from.
Only First-level Clerics with the deepest Divine Favor would have all twenty-five standard First-level Divine Spells listed for them.
PS1: Thanks to Sangtian 152 for the 500 Qidian Coin reward. I am extremely grateful, thank you.
PS2: I nerfed Clerics a bit here, so they would not have every spell immediately available for selection.
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