Sect Announcement

Compared to the filthy, chaotic Lower City, the Upper City north of the trade market, situated on higher ground, had a far better environment.

The City Hall, the Church of the God of Wealth, the Justice Sect Branch, the Radiance Sect Branch, the Warriors' Guild, the Magic Hermit Society, and other organizations were all located here;

Caron Academy, Rustwater Trading Company, and others also held a place in the Upper City;

Carefully designed garden residences could be seen everywhere, each one extravagantly expensive, with asking prices often exceeding a hundred gold coins.

Even the air in this free port's Upper City carried a sweet fragrance that refreshed the mind.

This was no illusion. Karon Lever, the goblin tycoon, had specially hired several fourth-rank archmages through his Famous and Genuine Karon United Commercial Group to regularly use the fourth-rank spell [Rainmaking] to mix lemon-mint perfume produced by his workshops into the rainwater and spray it across every corner of the Upper City.

Karon had even arranged for the City Hall to introduce a new tax policy called the "Sweet Air Tax."

Karon claimed that he had spent heavily to provide this service so Greenport's residents could enjoy the highest-quality air.

Therefore, Upper City residents would be charged one silver coin per month to subsidize his commercial group.

Of course, most people who possessed residence rights in the Upper City did not care about the cost of one silver coin. What they valued more was the superior location and free trade environment.

Although Greenport Lower City's public order was chaotic and poorly managed, that depended on what it was being compared to.

Compared with border towns near areas occupied by evil gods and overrun by monsters, the Lower City's environment was already considered safe. At the very least, one did not have to worry about monsters sneaking in at night and biting through their throat while they slept.

North of Greenport, beyond only a stretch of the Twilight Wasteland, lay the southern border of the Rayak Kingdom.

With the Rayak Kingdom standing at the front, this wasteland had not yet been seriously affected by evil gods. The monsters were not high-ranking and were limited in number, nowhere near enough to form a monster tide capable of attacking a city.

In recent years, the border conflicts in the Rayak Kingdom had grown increasingly tense. Many Rayak Kingdom nobles with fairly comfortable means were considering buying property in Greenport.

If a monster tide broke out, they could take a goblin airship to Greenport for refuge as soon as they received word, while conveniently avoiding the royal court's conscription orders.

For this reason, Greenport's Upper City had become more and more prosperous in recent years.

However, the prosperity of the Upper City had basically nothing to do with the sighing Pete Chinar.

"God of Knowledge above! Are you serious about the exchange requirements for this third-rank spell?!"

Pete wailed mournfully, his mind displaying a glaring message.

[Target: Mage third-rank spell, Arcane Barrage]

[Requirement: 150 Knowledge Points]

"150 points?! Would I even be worth that many points if I sacrificed myself?"

As the God of Knowledge's first official believer, he had indeed enjoyed quite a few benefits at the beginning, such as [Hada's Hunger], [True Name Knowledge], and the first-rank spell [Arcane Missile].

When Pete had learned those spells, Noven had not yet introduced the Knowledge Point exchange system.

Now that there were more believers, the bonus period was over.

He wanted to exchange for a third-rank spell to deal with Caron Academy's graduation assessment, but when he saw the requirement of 150 Knowledge Points, his vision went black and he nearly fainted.

Although he had already mastered the third-rank spell [Hada's Hunger], that spell... could not be used for the assessment!

The assessment standard of Caron Academy's Arcane School was to successfully cast a third-rank arcane spell. Doing so qualified one for third-rank mage certification.

[Hada's Hunger] was not part of the arcane school. It was not even a normal spell.

Pete had looked it up in Caron Academy's library. [Hada's Hunger] was listed under the category of "Forbidden Magic."

According to the book, the principle behind this spell was to use the power of the Weave to connect with the Void, borrowing the Void to corrupt and devour creatures affected by it.

Legend had it that evil gods were born from the Void.

For this reason, nearly all magic and items related to the Void were now basically forbidden, to prevent excessive use from drawing the gaze of evil gods.

At that time, Pete had no choice and could only use whatever worked.

Now that he no longer dared use that third-rank spell, he could only find a way to master another spell suitable for passing the assessment.

After returning from Rena's family tavern to the student dormitory provided by Caron Academy, Pete had indeed regained his comfortable living conditions, but his once rapidly growing Knowledge Points suddenly seemed woefully insufficient!

Pete knew of only three stable sources of Knowledge Points.

Meditating once a day could increase his mental strength while completing the daily [Meditation] task, granting anywhere from 0.01 to 1 Knowledge Point.

Praying and attending worship once a day could earn him 1 Knowledge Point.

Then there was completing the weekly task [My Lord's Truth Illuminates the Earth]. If he succeeded in preaching, he could receive a reward of 5 Knowledge Points!

Pete did the math.

Even if he collected the full rewards from all three tasks, he would earn less than 20 Knowledge Points per week!

Adding the 10 Knowledge Points he currently had on hand.

It would take more than seven weeks to save enough points to exchange for a third-rank spell!

"Seven weeks! I can't wait that long!"

Pete was anxious, extremely anxious.

It was already late June, and less than a month remained before Caron Academy's graduation assessment.

More precisely, only fifteen days remained.

If he could not master a suitable third-rank spell before the assessment arrived, he would not receive the third-rank mage certificate issued by the academy.

As for taking the assessment at the Magic Hermit Society in the future, that route was even less viable for Pete.

The reason was simple.

One of the Magic Hermit Society's assessment requirements stated:

They only accepted those who had grasped the mysteries of spellcasting through faith in the Goddess of Magic!

Legend said that the Goddess of Magic controlled the Weave, but generously granted other gods permission to use it.

Therefore, believers of certain foreign gods could also cast spells by communicating with the Weave after receiving power from the foreign gods they worshipped.

Such people were not recognized by the Magic Hermit Society and received no rating. Regardless of their strength, they were collectively called wild mages.

Only Caron Academy's assessment would turn a blind eye to this. No matter which god one believed in, as long as one could cast a third-rank arcane spell, they could receive certification.

The magical knowledge Pete had learned came from Noven, the God of Knowledge. He no longer prayed to the Goddess of Magic, so he simply did not meet the Magic Hermit Society's requirements.

Although Pete had already changed his mindset and no longer intended to merely obtain third-rank certification before returning home to inherit his father's noble title and idle away his life.

Whether he possessed third-rank professional certification would directly affect whether he could rightfully hold a fief and recruit a private army within the Rayak Kingdom in the future!

This concerned his ambitions!

Just as Pete was at his wits' end, a new message appeared in his mind without warning.

[Knowledge Sect Announcement]

[The first limited-time event is about to begin!]

[Event: Eliminate the Bloodfang Gang]

Thanks to Shuhai Youyu for the monthly ticket.