A Very Important Task

Duru, Horace's teacher, stared at the middle-aged man who had just entered, the old man visibly stunned. The man held a Magic Net Ring identical to Horace's.

"You have one too?!"

The man was astonished, and Duru was no different.

"I went to buy potions, and a lady mage who was close to—or perhaps already at—the intermediate rank gave it to me. She should be a follower of the Magic Goddess. She said it was an item bestowed by the Magic Goddess."

After a brief moment of shock, the middle-aged man recovered as well. "I haven't tried praying yet, but one of the runes on it resembles Wind Whisper. I guessed that the connection the lady mentioned came from—"

"I don't care about that. Tell me first, where did you meet that lady mage? I'm going there right now!" Duru cut him off before he could finish.

No one noticed the strange expression on the middle-aged man's face.

That... Coffin Bearer lady had said he was an honest man, so she had given him a Magic Net Ring... To be honest, honest man sounded like a good term, but for some reason, it still felt rather strange...

After getting the details, Duru hurried without pause to the space between Shops No. 9 and No. 10. Yet when he arrived, he did not see that respectable lady, nor did he see a "coffin." He could not even spot anyone carrying a large box.

Had he missed her?!

Duru could not help but sigh.

Seeing that quite a few people around him had already received Magic Net Rings, with light screens like Horace's appearing before several of them, proved that they had successfully activated them through prayer...

Listening to the hushed discussions around him, he only regretted not having two more legs, or failing to use wind magic to hurry on his way here.

"There was once an opportunity right before me, but I failed to cherish it..." Duru muttered as he followed the crowd and began searching.

Meanwhile.

In a small shop not far from him, Hedy took out another ring. "Little girl, it seems your teacher has not treated you very well. The burns on your face should have come from being scorched as one of his test subjects, right? Do you want to change your fate? You only need to pray to it..."

Goddess of Magic's Divine Kingdom.

"More than a hundred spellcasters have already prayed. Though most of them are Mage Apprentices, Roger, things are going more smoothly than we expected!"

Before Roger could speak, the book teaching before him impatiently spoke up, as though it had finally caught the puppet in a mistake. "Betty! I am teaching Lord Roger. This is a task entrusted to me by the Goddess, so please do not interrupt. The Goddess's will cannot be obstructed. Even you cannot interrupt it..."

The puppet had initially wanted to interrupt the book, but it clearly stumbled the instant it heard the word Goddess. Still, it quickly recovered. "But Lord Roger is in charge of the Goddess's internet faith project. I must report the internet's phased progress to him. That is also the Goddess's will!"

The Goddess's wills clashed.

Neither could gain the upper hand.

Yet both had valid reasons.

They immediately reached a stalemate.

Watching the two bicker, Roger could not help leaning back in his chair with a smile.

This counted as one of his rarer forms of entertainment.

Especially now that he could already feel his Blank Divine Core beginning to no longer be blank. At the very least, it now contained a drop of faith. That excitement was beyond words!

In short, he was in an excellent mood.

After quite a while, the puppet suddenly remembered it had business to attend to. "Roger, although that Hedy is somewhat... abnormal in choosing who to give them to, she is distributing them very quickly. Should we prepare another batch of Magic Net Rings for her teacher?"

Hedy was not a devout believer. In the royal capital, she also had no suitable place to build a magic array for communicating with the Divine Kingdom, so she had to go through her teacher as an intermediary.

"Of course."

Roger smiled and nodded. "But let me remind you of something. I think the people she gives them to are rather interesting."

Before the Betty puppet could voice her doubts, he added, "By the way, how many Magic Net Rings have we made in total?"

"About ten thousand." Betty knew the figure by heart.

"Very good. Tell that old mage that after distributing fifteen hundred for free in the royal capital, we will switch to a paid model."

Betty could not help crying out, "Ah?! Why?! Mortal money is of no use to us at all. Charging for them will definitely affect the spread of the internet."

"The Divine Kingdom's Refined Iron is not inexhaustible. We need them to sacrifice enough Refined Iron."

Roger's expression turned very serious. "Besides, this is the Goddess's grace. Even the Church of Light's watered-down Holy Water is expensive enough to deter people, yet we are giving ours away for free. Don't you think they will treat the Goddess's grace cheaply?! The more free it is, the less they will cherish it."

"Furthermore, we are merely following the rules between mages: an equal exchange. After purchasing one, they will have the right to dispose of it as they please and can send it to friends and family far away."

"Then how should we price them?" Betty thought it over carefully and felt that this did seem reasonable, especially after hearing the last part.

That's right! Once they had to pay, mages would not be limited to getting just one. They could buy them and give them to distant friends... That would spread faster than relying on believers to do it!

"One Gold Shield each. It is a price even ordinary Mage Apprentices can afford if they grit their teeth." Roger thought for a moment. "However, when we expand into other regions in the future, the price will need some adjustments."

"Ah, Lord Roger, your wisdom is always so refreshing! Though I am not a person and do not have ears. Just as you said, the easier something is to obtain, the less people know how to cherish it. You are practically a philosopher. Let them trade one and a half to two months of income for a Magic Web..."

"How do you know that one Gold Shield costs one and a half to two months of income?"

Roger looked at the book in surprise.

The Divine Kingdom could only communicate with the mortal world through converts.

Even when observing, it could only observe events happening around converts.

Yet this fellow actually knew the income of Mage Apprentices in the Dawn Kingdom's royal capital...

"Of course, through the Magic Space. Several little ones are discussing their wages in the Magic Space. I have to say, your decision to let them appear anonymously on the internet was absolutely brilliant! Without exposing their names, they revealed everything they had buried in their hearts and dared not say. If it had been a real-name system, they definitely would not dare discuss their income..."

Roger once again found a key point in the book's words—or rather, inspiration. "Book, I have a very important task for you!"

"Please, give your orders. It is my duty. I am your most loyal steward..."