---Third POV---

"Lord Viktor!" The newcomer completely ignored the group of players beneath the statue and headed straight for Viktor.

Her face, flushed from intense activity, showed signs of exertion, but Lux's heart brimmed with joy and excitement. "I knew you'd be here! Quick, help me look at this! Do you think it's useful?"

She handed over a piece of parchment that looked as though it had been chewed on by rodents, and promptly paid a consultation fee upfront.

The parchment was severely damaged, with smudged writing, but the important parts were still legible. Viktor flipped it over.

"Let me see..."

While Garble was preparing to share some good news about his breakthrough, he noticed a group of teammates gathered in a circle around Viktor.

Puzzled, he moved closer.

"What are you all doing?"

Weren't they supposed to be discussing the feelings associated with breakthroughs?

"Lux found a parchment with writing on it in town," NeverShowOff explained briefly, his focus still on the group's center.

Discussing breakthroughs could wait. Finding a piece of parchment with text in Honeyvale, a place they had scoured multiple times, was far more intriguing!

LootGoblin looked incredulous. "Unbelievable! I thought finding that topographic map of wavy terrain was lucky enough… But written text in town? Really?"

Hedgehog gave him a disdainful glance. "You talk as if the starter village is some primitive tribal settlement."

"Isn't it?"

"No counterargument."

The back-and-forth piqued Garble's curiosity, so he decided to set aside his own discovery and patiently wait to see what Viktor was translating.

Viktor translated quickly, though some heavily smudged sections took extra time. When he finally finished, a quill pen descended from thin air and landed in his hand.

"Here, it's done."

Lux took the newly translated parchment eagerly. The first three words on the page caught her eye.

"'Holy Light Spell'? Isn't that a game skill?" she exclaimed in surprise.

She read further, her astonishment growing with each line.

"The incantations are exactly the same! So game skills can actually be cultivated? But this method of training..."

Her brows furrowed instinctively. Other players, now hooked, crowded closer to take a look.

"What kind of method is it?"

Soon, their faces mirrored Lux's, as though they too were struggling to comprehend what they were reading.

---

When the first rays of dawn pierce through the eastern mountains, the mage must gather sacred dew during the tranquil moments before sunrise…

Before entering the church, one must observe a moment of silence and wash their hands…

While praying, one should kneel on both knees, press palms together at the chest, and bow their head slightly…

Before every meal, bow before your food and recite a prayer of gratitude in a soft, reverent voice…

---

"I can't! I can't read this anymore!" Hedgehog, visibly frustrated, rubbed his arms to shake off the goosebumps.

"Is this a magic training manual or a cult's prayer guide?"

Why was everything about praying? Wake up, pray. Step outside, pray. Eat a meal, pray. Poop... pray?

And the endless flowery hymns!

Ugh~

His voiced the question weighing on his heart:

"Can you really learn magic like this?"

"Of course." Viktor replied seamlessly.

He tucked away the quill and dusted off his robes, speaking with deliberate nonchalance. "Or rather, out there, this kind of method is the norm."

The group was stunned. This was a crucial piece of information for helping players understand the world of Aeltia, so he chose not to charge for it.

The discovery of this "Holy Light Spell" skill scroll had arrived at just the right time, giving him the perfect opportunity to explain.

He led the players a safe distance from the statue's range before continuing.

"First of all, what is a god?"

In Aeltia, gods were high-level entities that transcended ordinary beings. Beyond their immense power, superior even to demigods, the key was authority.

To become a god was to wield a fragment of the world's laws.

Within the domain of their authority, gods ruled absolutely, manifesting their will effortlessly.

Granting or getting power was no exception.

If a god desired, and had sufficient divine power, they could elevate a baby to demigod status instantly.

And the fastest way for gods to grow divine power?

Faith.

Over millennia, gods had refined this system into the mainstream training method.

Devout believers could receive blessings from their gods.

Non-mages could begin practicing magic. Mages could accelerate their progression through ranks...

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

This system, recognized and polished by countless deities, continued to function perfectly even 600 years after the gods' fall, providing the foundation for their potential resurrection.

"Divine blessings, derived from the laws of creation, naturally make mastering spells far easier than independent study," Viktor explained.

LootGoblin's jaw dropped in astonishment. "No wonder the lore says the church's influence is unshakable! This explains everything!"

Garble frowned thoughtfully. "Faith tied to power, longevity, and authority... That's hard to resist."

Far more compelling than simple monetary bribes, indeed.

True faith: "Believe in X and gain eternal life!"

"Actually..." Lux chimed in tentatively. "Is it really so bad to believe in these gods?"

The other players snapped their heads toward her. A traitor in their midst?

"What?"

She instinctively took a step back and placed her hands on her hips defensively.

"If others can exploit this system, why can't we?"

Hedgehog nodded gravely. "She has a point."

If becoming stronger meant pledging loyalty to NPC gods, he wasn't entirely opposed. The other players, to varying degrees, seemed to share his sentiment.

"..." Viktor didn't even want to argue anymore.

Without external comparisons, these players truly had no idea how many advantages he had granted them.

"Unfortunately, this system doesn't enhance your power at all."

"Huh?! Why not?" they all asked in unison.

The reason was simple: the divine power these gods could grant was under his control, not the system's... the God of Creativity's.

After level 10, they could forget about getting even a sliver of divine power from him!

And as for other gods… The players' bodies were fundamentally tied to the God of Light's avatar.

No other deity's faith system would foolishly allocate divine power to them.

He didn't share this deeper explanation. Instead, he offered a more straightforward one.

"To prepare for your arrival, I gave you bodies with top-tier talents. Divine power wouldn't significantly boost your training speed."

"In fact, if you rely on divine power, it can be taken back by the gods at any time."

Edgar's self-destruction wasn't because holy knights were dependent on the Church for training or power.

It was because his strength had been contaminated.

Shortcutting through divine power ultimately exacted a heavy price for anyone aiming to uncover the truth.

Hearing this, the players sobered. One by one, they made declarations of righteous resolve.

"Lord Viktor, you know me, I've never been one for shortcuts!"

"Suddenly, I don't want to be a lackey anymore."

---

After waiting for a while in front of the statue, and seeing no new players arriving, Luminaris became impatient and came over.

"Undead, what are you chatting about again? Are you going to let the god sleep or not!"

He keenly spotted the tattered parchment in Lux's hand.

"A manual for training Holy Light spells? And what's with those strange letters next to it?"

"It's in the language of the undead. Don't you have it in the God of Creativity's memory?"

The glowing orb instantly turned pink.

"Of course! Of course! Undead, with their low intelligence, naturally have equally subpar written language. Hardly worth the attention of a god!"

For once, Viktor wasn't in the mood to bicker with him and casually pushed a player towards him to brush it off.

"Three more people need your help to break through. Hurry up and get to it, Oh Great God."

Given the step-down, Luminaris quickly followed suit.

He immediately forgot what he had wanted to ask earlier and led the unbroken-through players away.

With the experience of those before and Viktor's suggestions just now, the players' career choices proceeded rapidly.

Seeing that no other issues arose midway, he felt at ease leaving.

Luminaris also returned to the statue to "recharge its energy."

The Lucky Stars Team hurried to the forums to rush out the new edition of their guide.

Halfway there, Hedgehog turned back to look at LootGoblin, who had been leaning against a stone pillar, unmoving for who-knows-how-long.

"What are you thinking about? Didn't you just play for a long time? Still haven't used up your mana?"

If they waited for the game to kick them offline, logging back in next time could be tricky.

"I was just thinking," LootGoblin said, propping his chin with one hand, "The powers of gods are limited. Their followers should only be adept at one type of magic, right?"

"Isn't that obvious?" Hedgehog retorted.

Without the blessing of prayer, normal training speed was slow. If discovered, it was considered heresy. With such disadvantages, how stubborn would someone have to be to train multiple magic disciplines simultaneously?

Who would use a regular account to mess around in a hacked zone?

"Exactly!" LootGoblin slapped his thigh. "Since our training speed is fast and we can train in multiple disciplines simultaneously, doesn't that mean we can infiltrate multiple churches at the same time?"

"Hiss!" ProGamer_Daddy stopped in his tracks, turned around, and took a deep breath.

"Have you been undercover with goblins for so long that you've gone dumb?"

A tightly structured large organization wasn't as easy to infiltrate as goblins. They might even have enough sacred texts to fill a library.

A guard at the gate could easily ask a random trivia question and filter out most player infiltrators.

"Hey! I'm just throwing out an idea!" LootGoblin remained unconvinced. "How would we know it doesn't work unless we try?"

Everyone shook their heads.

Done for, no saving him now.

They turned and kept walking towards the door.

"Then you keep experimenting!" ProGamer_Daddy waved a hand dismissively from afar. With such massive cultural and language differences, how could infiltration even work? They could exploit game bugs till kingdom come; wouldn't a head-on fight be more fun?

LootGoblin immediately ran after them, unwilling to give up and continued preaching.

"Wait, I really have the perfect plan! Since the game has goblin language translation jelly, that means all other races' cultures and languages must also—"

Thud!

Before he could finish his sentence, he tripped over the threshold of the church and face-planted.

The sound of bones colliding with stone was painful just to hear.

ProGamer_Daddy, who was closest, quickly jumped back a step.

"Whoa! Trying to scam us?"

Hedgehog came over and checked his breathing. His face froze.

"No pulse!"

NeverShowOff frowned. "Died from tripping on flat ground?!"

Only Lux seemed unsurprised, spreading her hands.

"Viktor said it before. Goblins don't have divine gifts, and that jelly has side effects."

"See? Karma strikes back!"

The translation jelly only let you live for half a month; how could you go undercover with that?

Fortunately, breakthroughs were automatically saved; otherwise, it'd be a huge loss!

After helping move LootGoblin's corpse for revival, they quickly logged out.

---Viktor's POV---

After leaving the church, I went to the holding quarters.

I had divided it into two sections: one for captives who planned to leave and another for those who chose to stay.

Thus, the area for the 19 captives who stayed was more spacious. It was also stocked with cast-off idle equipment from players, including haystacks, straw-covered floor mats, and coffin-like boxes… Though the designs were a bit odd, it was still better than the complete lack of resources on the other side.

As soon as I entered, the captives who had been preparing to rest immediately stood up.

"No need for that; it's rest time now. I'm just here to hand something out," I said gently.

For those who chose to stay, I had other plans.

I distributed 19 identical booklets.

[Player Communication Handbook].

The captives stared at them blankly.

"What's this…?" They recognized the words individually, but together, they couldn't make sense of them.

"Memorize this booklet, and you'll naturally understand."

It was a revised version of the first NPC manual from Alyanne, adjusted by me. It was meant for communication between NPCs.

Since they decided to stay, they'd accompany the players as NPCs, each fulfilling their own role. These educated mages were obviously not going to remain as laborers forever.

By memorizing this handbook, they'd master communication techniques with players. It was essentially a training manual for their new roles.

Later, when the town had a tavern, mercenary guild, or mage tower, they'd be assigned accordingly.

The resources gained from the goblin nest were plentiful, so this wasn't far off. They only had to seize the time to learn, easy-peasy, right?

"After nightfall each day, you can ask me questions if there's anything you don't understand."

There were too many of them. I couldn't answer every single question like I had with Alyanne.

Scanning the group, I pointed at one person.

"You, gather everyone's questions each day and come to me with them as a group."

The man froze for a moment, then rose from the crowd. He was a thin human with a sickly pale complexion, like a fragile invalid. A deep scar ran across his face, from his cheekbone to the bridge of his nose. The wound was deep, and fresh pink flesh was still visible.

Being singled out clearly wasn't within his expectations I supposed, but he respectfully accepted the task without asking why.

I nodded in approval.

I chose the man because he had fully embraced his current position and identity without the restlessness of others.

"What's your name?"

"Reporting to the lord, my name is Cobb."

"Good. No need for lord, leader or Viktor is fine. You'll be in charge of managing these people for now. Any objections?"

Cobb was flattered.

"None at all! Thank you, sir!"

After solving the issue, I offered some motivational words.

Cobb had been one of the captives sent to assist at the mission point.

He had a keen sense of numbers and quick thinking. If he was genuinely committed, I wouldn't hesitate to grant him more authority.

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