Domain

Day after day, Clerics constantly examined their hearts through prayer to the gods, clarifying the sincerity of their faith.

Compared to the many apprentice Clerics present, Zhao Xu had skipped many steps, more like a transfer student.

Ordinary apprentice Clerics first reviewed their daily gains and losses before the gods. Only at the very end did they spend a small amount of time selecting the Divine Spells granted by the gods, not daring to slack off in the slightest.

Some Divine Spells could only be obtained after one actively conveyed one's needs to the gods.

Zhao Xu, however, spoke a few formulaic pleasantries to the Goddess before directly entering the stage of acquiring Divine Spells.

If other players had taken his same attitude, they would naturally have been stopped at the step of acquiring Divine Spells.

Offering faith to the gods, who then condensed it into divine power and bestowed blessings upon their followers—this was Arthur's unchanging principle for countless ages.

By the time Zhao Xu finished studying his Divine Spells, everyone's hour of prayer was nearly over.

After the Clerics' morning lessons ended, they had some free time to arrange for themselves, most of which was spent reciting scriptures.

Zhao Xu found a corner and joined the players, intending to exchange some information.

There were not many players in Mystra at present, and those who could make it here had already passed an initial round of selection.

"That Luo Feng successfully advanced to Cleric yesterday?" asked a tall, burly Cleric.

"Yeah. Yesterday, he was one of the few player representatives on that list of three hundred. Then he successfully advanced and is now a probationary Cleric with Divine Spells, so he didn't pray with us anymore," another replied.

"As for Feng Shao, he didn't make it. I saw that he was so depressed today that he didn't even log in," an apprentice Cleric standing in the corner interjected.

"This place is seriously unfair. From what I've seen on the forums, other churches tend to give players more opportunities. Unlike Sacred Heart, where players have to pass an assessment just to get onto the list of three hundred. Those veteran apprentices with over a decade under their belts can't even pass it. We've only been playing for half a month—how could we possibly pass?"

"Eh, it's not too bad. Those native Clerics have it even harder. Even if they pass the assessment, they have to compete over seniority and family background to squeeze onto the list. At least we can still switch to other classes."

"Switch classes? Xiao Ke, other players might not know, but how could those of us in Mystra not know how powerful Wizards and Clerics are? Would you really be willing to switch to a non-Spellcaster class?"

After the tall man said that, the female apprentice Cleric named Xiao Ke, who stood opposite him, immediately fell silent.

"Are we playing the game, or is the game playing us? I feel like I'm about to truly believe in the Goddess from the bottom of my heart," said a somewhat chubby player.

"Watch your words," said a Cleric who had remained silent until then.

At those words, all the apprentice Clerics present felt lingering fear.

After repeating Morning Prayer and studying scriptures every day, although they were not as devout as Arthur's native inhabitants, they no longer dared to blaspheme the gods as casually as players outside did. They did not even dare to indulge in such talk.

As time passed, more and more players became immersed in this kind of role-playing. In the end, like method actors, they could not truly live without throwing themselves into the role.

"Are you new here?" At that moment, a player noticed Zhao Xu and asked him.

Most of Arthur's native Clerics had returned to their dormitories to continue their morning lessons.

The only ones who could still hang around here chatting were players like them, who merely had to wait for afternoon training.

Zhao Xu nodded. "I just arrived yesterday."

"You just got here? Then hurry up and delete your character to go somewhere else," said the tall player from before.

Zhao Xu was surprised. "Is there some special reason?"

"Don't listen to his nonsense. Mystra is the headquarters of the Church of the Goddess, so its standards are higher. The advancement requirements are stricter than those of churches elsewhere," Xiao Ke explained.

"In some churches, players advanced to official first-level Clerics a week ago. We're still suffering through it here. Only yesterday did a player officially break through. He'll probably finish the procedures and become an official first-level Cleric in the next couple of days."

Hearing that, Zhao Xu more or less understood. It was a combination of cutthroat competition and elitism.

Otherwise, the players in Mystra had already been selected for suitable talent. Logically, they should have graduated faster.

They should not have failed to even squeeze into the initial hundred-person tier by now, without causing even the slightest stir on the forums.

At first, he had assumed there were simply too few players. Now it seemed they had all been blocked completely.

People like Zhao Xu and the others had not yet advanced to Clerics, and if they did not want to study scriptures, they had nothing else to do.

At a time when every moment was incredibly precious in the early stages of the game, they could only gather here and chat.

The people around him also took the opportunity to teach Zhao Xu some basic knowledge about Sacred Heart Church.

It was not until the afternoon that Zhao Xu finally reached the church's officially scheduled training time.

Cleric training courses were conducted in parallel batches, generally dividing the Cleric's class abilities into modules before teaching them.

Zhao Xu was not eager for weapons and armor training, since he could not wear heavy armor anyway.

As for the ability called "spontaneous casting," he had already figured it out on his own yesterday, so he did not need training for it either.

He looked directly through the schedule and found the first session of the "Domain" course, which happened to be underway.

Clerics were also among the few classes that could use power bestowed by the gods to master most of their abilities on their own.

Because Zhao Xu had entered through the wrong door at first, the Cleric responsible for teaching had already been speaking for a while by the time he arrived.

"The Goddess is a deity of great divine power. Her Domains are broad and powerful, and we Clerics may each choose two Domains from them as our personal Domains."

"With every Domain gained, one can master that Domain's power and spell list."

"Whether you have mastered a Domain depends on whether you can wield its Domain power."

"At the same time, for every spell level, we gain one Domain Spell Slot to cast Domain spells."

The apprentice Clerics all found corners to sit in. Everyone present had already asked around about this knowledge.

Even so, they continued listening patiently, not daring to interrupt the elderly Cleric's train of thought.

After Zhao Xu finished listening at the doorway, he quietly walked in and found a seat.

Every sentence he had heard just now made his heart leap.

He knew that Domains were a powerful ability of Clerics.

He just did not know how powerful the Goddess's Domains were.

Next, the Cleric began having them go up one by one to collect materials.

In truth, the Cleric did not know how many people would come, so the stack of materials had been piled up thickly.

After each person stated their name, the Cleric drew out a sheet of parchment and handed it over.

Everyone was probably receiving the same materials.

Zhao Xu followed the person in front of him. When he reached the Cleric, he briefly gave his name and training time.

Just as before, the Cleric drew a sheet from the thick stack of parchment and handed it to him.

Zhao Xu's eyes immediately twitched, but he said nothing.

He noticed that the Cleric had drawn the sheet from the very bottom.

Everyone present was basically looking down at the contents of their own parchment, and no one noticed this.

After accepting it with both hands, Zhao Xu gave a slight nod of thanks, then slowly returned to his seat.

The moment he sat down, he hurriedly examined the parchment carefully.

Unlike the others' parchments, which listed and explained four or five Domains, his had only three: Magic, Planning, and Knowledge.

Beneath each Domain was a deliberately added line of small print.

Did this mean he would have one more Domain than everyone else?

PS1: Thanks to Three Kingdoms Poison Strategist Jia Xu 2 for the 100 Qidian Coins donation. Thank you.

PS2: Thank you all for your recommendation votes and encouraging comments. I will work hard to write this well.