Li Jiehao thought for a moment, "There's a problem. In the history you just mentioned, the Church appeared too suddenly. There was no mention of the Church at all during the Imperial period, and then suddenly there's a ' War of the Churches '..."
Carlo, who had initially been indifferent to the science popularization being discussed here, chuckled and said, "Looks like I'm not that stupid after all."
Li Jiehao turned to look at Carlo, Carlo was twirling his pen. " Asa, the history you just talked about, was it Lessing taught you that?"
"Yes."
" Lessing?" Li Jiehao looked at Isaac; he remembered that Isaac's last name was Lessing.
Carlo put down his pen. "If you were to have another church tell the 'orthodox' history, you would find that the shadow of the gods is everywhere during the imperial period."
"The conquest of 'King' Kaolose was a power bestowed by the gods; the wisdom of 'Holy King' Alexius and 'Wise King' Mikhail was inspired by the gods; and various heretics lurked in the shadows, launching counterattacks from time to time."
"In their narrative, the outbreak of the War of the Churches is a natural progression and does not seem abrupt."
"But the problem is that every church tells a different history. Each church claims that its own God has been the orthodox faith of the empire since ancient times, and that other churches are heretics that emerged during the decline of the Great Sunset."
Lessing believed these claims were unreliable, so when he discussed imperial history, he removed the unreliable influence of gods and only talked about the evolution of secular power. As a result, the role of the Church before the Great Sunset became blank, and then suddenly reappeared during the War of the Churches, so you naturally felt a disconnect when you listened to it.
"Of course, Lessing's views can't be spread everywhere, since the church wouldn't be happy to hear them."
Li Jiehao thought to himself that this world was really complicated. He then asked some common sense questions about daily life, such as the monetary system, price levels, modes of transportation, and social class divisions. Isaac answered them one by one, trying to be as concise as possible.
After asking these basic questions, Li Jiehao rubbed his hands together and asked the question he was most concerned about, "What about extraordinary power? What is the extraordinary system like in this world? How can one obtain power? Is there a clear path to advancement? Like magic potions or something..."
"Extraordinary beings exist, and the boss is one of them, but acquiring extraordinary power..." Isaac paused.
Carlo continued, "Broadly speaking, extraordinary powers can be divided into three categories. The first category consists of skills that can be mastered through one's own spirituality and related knowledge, such as Spirit Vision, occult rituals, and the use of Wonder. These have a certain barrier to entry, but as long as one has the resources, one can eventually master them."
Li Jiehao's eyes lit up.
"The second category is divine gifts. These are obtained through prayer to deities, and the acquisition of this power depends on the will of the deity. It often comes with obligations of faith, such as conversion, adherence to church rules, daily prayer, and service to the church..."
"And what about the third category?"
"The third type are the truly extraordinary individuals. They possess special powers that they don't need to rely on external means or pray to anyone. This type of person is extremely rare, and it's generally believed that only those born with this ability possess it."
Li Jiehao's expression fell. "Only by birth? That's too rigid..."
"Based on current experience, that's certainly the case," Carlo shrugged. "However, this is only a conclusion drawn from existing cases. Perhaps there are special acquisition methods that just haven't been discovered yet. Or perhaps—"
He changed the subject, his gaze sweeping over Li Jiehao: "You already possess extraordinary power, you just haven't awakened it yet."
Li Jiehao perked up. "Really?"
"Hehe, it's fake."
"Oh, how could you do this!"
"But the fact that you're still alive and kicking after going through Morzul's ritual is unusual in itself," Carlo said. "Perhaps some seed has been planted within you."
"This sounds a bit dangerous..."
Carlo opened a drawer, took out a document, and pushed it onto the table. "Anyway, let's sign the contract first."
Li Jiehao picked up the contract and flipped through it. He couldn't really understand many of the densely packed clauses; it felt even harder to comprehend than reading comprehension.
"After signing, I'll be a member of the Joint Investigation Bureau, with a permanent position?"
"Dream on. This is a contract from my firm. After you sign it, you can become a contract agent for Section Nine, but you won't have a formal position with the Joint Investigation Bureau. After all, I have to personally take care of the people under my command."
Li Jiehao pursed his lips. "Then how will the salary be calculated?"
"If you come early, you can get the same treatment as Asa." Carlo gestured with his chin toward Isaac. "The firm takes on jobs, and the payment is split 30/70. I get 30%, and the other party gets 70%."
"Boss, you have a really good conscience! Seventy percent!"
"But that's the treatment for the boss's assistant. You're late, so we'll use a different algorithm."
Li Jiehao's expression fell. "How much can I get?"
Fixed salary, £2 per week, with potential increases for good performance.
"2 pounds... Boss, the difference in treatment is too big! One gets 70%, the other only 2 pounds. There's a huge gap between your position as an assistant and a non-assistant!"
"I only need one assistant; the rest are mostly extras. Besides, even a weekly wage of £2 is more than what I make moving corpses in the hospital. If I'm really not satisfied... then I'll just keep quiet, or I'll go back to jail."
Li Jiehao shrugged, but after all, he had been bailed out by Carlo, and he was indebted to him.
Since he had to sign anyway, he decided not to bother reading the contract carefully and flipped to the back. "Which name should I sign?"
"The contract should be signed with Jacob Hamil; after all, that's based on secular legal validity."
Li Jiehao picked up a pen and wrote the letters Jacob Hamil in the name column in a crooked hand. His handwriting didn't match the original owner's signature, but probably no one would care...
Carlo turned the page. "There's one more."
Attached to the back was a form. Li Jiehao looked at it and asked, "What's this?"
"Just sign it, sign your real name here."
Li Jiehao hesitated for a moment. He had just heard Carlo talk about the risks of revealing his real name, and now he was being asked to write it down on paper. He couldn't help but feel uneasy.
But then he thought, Carlo is a senior transmigrator, he shouldn't harm him, right? No, even if he did, it seems there's nothing he can do about it...
With that in mind, he simply wrote down his real name, Li Jiehao, in the name column.
The moment the pen left the paper, he sensed something amiss. Below the name field, the age field displayed "18," the gender field read "Male," and then the occupation field...
"Student/False Believer".
Huh? Li Jiehao was stunned.
The numerical columns below also began to appear one by one:
Physical condition: 5
Strength: 8
Agility: 6
Charisma:7
Spirit Mediumship: 10 (8+2)
Rationality: 8