Observing the Church's Baptism

The only thing Matthews regretted was that he lacked an affinity for the earth element; after all, the original work described many cultivation methods for the Laws of the Earth and the Laws of the Wind. If he possessed these two affinities now, he might have been able to draw some inspiration from them.

Seeing Matthews looking so focused, Kelly walked over, took his arm, and asked, "What are you looking at?"

Mia, following behind, saw this scene and thought to herself that her brother was truly a dog for love; otherwise, the grand feast he had promised her today wouldn't have just vanished like that.

Matthews asked while observing the stone carvings, "Is there any school of stone carving that uses only a flat chisel?"

Kelly explained earnestly to Matthews, "No, stone carving requires varied textures in many places. A single flat chisel is far from enough!"

Hearing Kelly say this, Matthews understood that there was no such school of stone carving here as described in the original work.

Upon reaching the second floor, he found works by various painters. Most of the paintings here were of a Western style and quite abstract.

In the past, because his grandfather was a beam painter—a master who painted beams for scenic spots and temples—he had learned some painting techniques from that school during his childhood, as well as some modern sketching techniques. From his current perspective, the strength of the masters here was still inferior to his grandfather's, and they had not reached the flourishing, diverse situation of his own world.

This piqued Matthews' interest in painting, so he bought some art supplies. However, most of the pigments here were extracted from minerals, which were not as cheap as the synthetic chemical materials from his previous world. It cost Matthews quite a few gold coins!

When he returned home that evening, Mia pouted and said to Matthews, "You guy who values romance over family!"

"Hey, that's going too far. Just tell me, did I or did I not take you out for a grand feast today!"

"Pfft, you just value romance over family!"

Matthews was already a seventh-rank warrior, but his soul strength was only at the level of a fifth-rank mage. This did not meet his requirements; a warrior's rank represented combat power, but mages found it easier to comprehend the laws because a mage's soul strength was generally higher than a warrior's.

Matthews also wanted to comprehend the laws and become a god, so his soul strength could not be weak. He couldn't use the protagonist's stone-carving method to improve his soul, but he could try painting. Painting, like stone carving, required focused mental energy. It was estimated to have a similar effect to stone carving!

Afterward, Matthews began his disciplined life: waking up in the morning to practice martial arts and absorb lightning-element energy to improve his battle qi cultivation. In the afternoon, he began painting to improve his concentration as a substitute for meditation, and at night, he would meditate for a while before going to sleep.

"Brother, I've never seen this style of painting before!"

"Hmm, this is a new school I'm experimenting with."

Mia looked at the portrait of Kelly that her brother had painted and said, "Then can you paint one for me?"

"Sure!"

Afterward, Matthews earnestly painted a portrait of his sister as an innocent young girl—a sketch of a cute girl with her right hand making a wink gesture. A lively and adorable thirteen-year-old girl, full of charm, seemed to leap off the paper.

Mia was very satisfied as she took her portrait, and she also secretly took a few Chinese-style landscape paintings.

That morning, just as Matthews finished his cultivation, he heard Kelly's voice outside the door.

"Brother Matthews, are you home?"

After Matthews walked out, he saw Kelly's carriage parked at the entrance.

"Kelly!"

"Mm, I came to take you out for a spring outing."

When Matthews and Kelly arrived at the city gate, he discovered that all the people he had saved last time were there. Except for the mage named Wood, whose expression was somewhat unnatural toward him, the others were fine.

By the small river outside the city, Matthews and Kelly sat together.

"Brother Matthews, it was so cool seeing you fly last time. Can you take me for a flight?"

Matthews nodded, walked over, and picked up Kelly. Kelly blushed and wrapped her arms around Matthews' neck. Matthews said to her, "Are you ready? I'm starting now."

"Whoosh—"

As electric light flashed on Matthews' feet, he carried Kelly and soared into the sky.

"Wow—"

Amidst the flashing electric light, Matthews flew up with Kelly. It was Kelly's first time experiencing flight, and she squealed with excitement in Matthews' arms.

Soon, they flew over the small river and landed on the stone cliff of a small mountain peak.

After landing, Kelly excitedly hugged Matthews and kissed his face, and seeing this, Matthews kissed her back!

An hour later, Nina, who saw her best friend return, asked, "Where did you two go just now?"

"We went for a walk around!"

Nina looked at her happy friend and asked, "Are you two together now?"

Kelly nodded happily, and Nina asked, "You didn't do that, did you?"

"How could that be? I'm a person who knows my limits!"

"That's good!"

In the evening, Kelly reluctantly parted ways with Matthews. In the days that followed, Matthews acted like any ordinary couple in the early stages of love. They went on dates every few days. One day, Matthews took the finished, touched-up portrait of Kelly and went to find her again.

The two watched the rice-scattering activity of the Divine Beast Sect together, where the Pope on the high platform was preaching the greatness of the Four Divine Beasts they worshipped. He was also emitting a mentally intoxicating ripple; Matthews' fifth-rank mental power managed to resist this Saint-level group mental guidance.

In Matthews' view, this kind of mental guidance from a Saint-level figure was so potent that his soul, at the level of a fifth-rank mage, had almost been baptized just by standing near the front. Looking at the commoners around him, they couldn't resist this baptism at all. It seemed he would have to give his sister a serious warning later; he couldn't let her participate in this kind of baptism.

Those who became gods were people with firm selves. Although he had never heard that one could not become a god if they worshipped others, this kind of blind faith born from baptism was ultimately not good!

"Brother Matthews, how was it?"

"It was alright, but you should attend these baptisms less often in the future!"

Kelly frowned, puzzled, and asked, "Why? Isn't it good to worship the great Divine Beasts?"

Seeing Kelly, who had just been in a state of intoxication, looking somewhat unnatural, Matthews explained, "It's not that; I'm just not used to it!"

"Oh, I see!"

Afterward, Matthews continued to tour other parts of the Imperial Capital with her, until Kelly said to him, "I haven't seen anyone looking after your daily needs these past few days. Let me take you to pick out a few slaves!"

Matthews was led by Kelly to a slave distribution center in the Imperial Capital, where he saw the mark of the slave trader who had previously sold him to the auction house!

"BOOM—"

Matthews was instantly enraged; he had been held captive by this very slave faction back then. Although someone had inexplicably saved him later on, it was also because of them that he had lost his sovereign artifact, the Death Scythe.