Chapter Seventy-Two: A Month and a Half of Progress

After a series of twists and turns, the Church of the Father finally found its footing and began to develop in earnest... A month and a half after the merger of the two churches, the Church of the Father started pouring huge amounts of money into building new facilities, greatly stimulating the flow of people and economy. The population of Qinke Town kept rising, and the church gained a multitude of new followers.

Moreover, the construction projects solved the livelihood issues in the slums. The poor, loyal devotees of the Church of the Father, eagerly seized the opportunity to work for the church. With the Holy Light Cathedral present, even if someone was injured on the job, they could simply visit the cathedral, recover, and return to work. Beyond that, the Hall of Talents flourished as well, attracting chefs and commercial talents from far and wide. After passing faith and character assessments, these individuals were welcomed into the church, and the commercial talents were already setting up new businesses.

However, recruiting alchemy talent proved much less successful. Since most injuries and illnesses could be solved with magic, the demand for medicinal herbs in the Star Kingdom was limited—mainly martial artists needed quality herbs to strengthen their bodies. Those skilled in preparing such medicines were exceedingly rare and had already been divided among the major powers. Even the five great churches of the Red Moon Province had few.

There was little that could be done. Alchemy originated from the Dongyun Empire, and outside of Dongyun, skilled alchemists were scarce; low-level alchemists were less useful than ordinary magicians, and most were under the control of powerful factions. Linck knew this well and didn’t force the issue, turning his focus elsewhere.

Since self-sufficiency was a goal, agriculture needed to be developed, and manpower was not lacking. Some followers and their families enjoyed farming and were more than willing to cultivate land for the church. At this point, it’s worth mentioning that famine was rare in the world of Solacon. The use of magic led to many tools and devices that aided planting, improved soil and water quality, and ensured abundant harvests except in natural disasters.

Unfortunately, while famine was rare, other calamities occurred frequently, and war and heavy taxes kept the population from growing. Now, however, Qinke Town had become a paradise. Thanks to the church, Count Losa exempted most taxes, and the Church of the Father paid none. With ample funds to buy magical tools, just a hundred people could feed nearly a thousand, an astonishing yield comparable to modern China.

Linck was no expert in agriculture. He hadn’t studied it before, and even if he had, it would be useless—crops in this world were nothing like those on Earth, so even an agriculture graduate could hardly help. Thus, he left matters to the professionals. Assigning tasks to knowledgeable subordinates while himself overseeing strategy and direction, Linck felt increasingly like a true leader.

With agriculture settled, Linck turned to the issue of branch churches. Renovations were complete, management talent was in place, and it was time to send people out. He dispatched five to each church—guards, priests, celebrants, nuns, and congregants. The guards were Saint Knights. After the last assessment, several had become Saint Knights, and aside from training and meditation, they had little to do; sending them out for experience was worthwhile, since the power of Holy Light could be cultivated anywhere.

Soon, the Church of the Father blossomed everywhere, prompting nearby religions to become vigilant. Yet there was little they could do. The church’s performance during the Festival of All Gods had spread, and all religions in the Red Moon Province knew of them. Though the merger with the Heavenly Spirit Church hadn’t yet been widely announced, some were already aware. The insiders, shocked, dared not offend the church further.

Linck saw faith and follower numbers surge. Those dispatched were highly effective, especially the Saint Knights. With their innate holy aura and devout, loyal attitude, they preached for Linck, aided by the power of Holy Light, and easily garnered widespread devotion.

It must be said, Saint Knights were born missionaries. Possessing the eight great virtues, they were heralds of light and executors of justice. Their initial skills included healing the sick and injured, making their preaching doubly effective. The more people they helped, the stronger their sense of justice and light, enhancing their Holy Light power and proficiency, creating a virtuous cycle that won Linck ever more followers.

In just one month, Linck’s followers had grown to more than sixteen thousand, and his faith points soared past sixty thousand—six thousand more followers and over twenty thousand more faith than a month ago. At this rate, in two or three months, faith would reach one hundred thousand, unlocking new shop functions.

Meanwhile, news came from Count Losa: the punishment of the Star God Church was proceeding smoothly. Several other churches had long-standing feuds with them, and the Star God Church had many enemies. When the walls fell, everyone pushed, and they were soon crippled. The fifty thousand Solas owed to the Church of the Father were recovered by the authorities. Count Losa arranged for the money to be sent to the church, and even sneaked in an extra fifteen thousand—sixty-five thousand in all. With this windfall, Linck wouldn’t have to worry about money for a long time.

However, although the Star God Church was defeated, their archbishop and some high-ranking members had vanished. Count Losa wrote that these people bore deep hatred toward the Church of the Father, and might attempt harmful actions, urging Linck and the church to be vigilant.

After reading the letter, Linck immediately instructed Bai Ling and Altair to strengthen security and report any unusual movements, and arranged for spies to search for the missing Star God Church leaders.

Aside from such victories and mixed events, Linck faced some frustrating issues. After a month and a half of development, he participated in two routine lotteries. But out of four draws in June and July, three yielded medicinal herbs, and one produced a Bronze Cloth of the Leo constellation that he’d never heard of.

Linck planned to give the new Cloth to Aiolia, brother of Aiolos. Though only eleven, the boy was tall and the strongest among the trainee Saints; giving him the Cloth wouldn’t cause dissatisfaction—especially since the trainees were all young, and after Saga and Aiolos graduated, the eldest was only thirteen.

Looking at the heap of herbs, Linck felt a headache. Without a skilled alchemist, should he sell these herbs? That would be wasteful; even if they were low-grade system items, they were rare and valuable on the market. The church had no shortage of funds, so selling them was unnecessary. But leaving them unused was also problematic—even system-produced herbs had a shelf life and would become useless if left too long.

“No, I must find an alchemist soon, or all these herbs will go to waste,” Linck thought, deciding to consult the three cardinal bishops tomorrow, and if nothing worked, ask Count Losa for help.

On the morning of August 16, Linck handed the Leo Cloth to Aiolia, nearly causing the boy to faint from excitement. Then he sought out Wind Spirit, Water Spirit, and Wood Spirit, the three cardinal bishops, to discuss the search for an alchemist. The three could only smile wryly; they wanted to find someone, but had no luck. Finding a skilled alchemist through the Hall of Talents was nearly impossible.

Though he had expected this, Linck was still disappointed and considered writing to Count Losa immediately. Sensing his reaction, Wind Spirit pondered and said, “Archbishop, though the Hall of Talents failed to find an alchemist, the three of us can try divination.”

“Divination? Is that possible?” Linck looked at the three in surprise.

Wind Spirit nodded, then shook her head. “We’ll try our best. Divination is inherently unstable, and searching for a fixed target is even less reliable. We never expected much, but seeing you anxious for an alchemist, I’ll try. Don’t worry—the spell won’t harm us, just some energy consumption. A day or two of rest will suffice.”

Linck nodded, withholding his objections; he was curious about divination, wanting to see how the three elders would perform it.

The three gathered in a circle, closed their eyes, and began chanting. As their incantation rose, white light markings appeared on their bodies, and a white magic circle formed beneath their feet, creating a mysterious and powerful magical field.

The spell was dazzling, but its effect seemed lacking; before they finished, the three elders showed disappointment and frustration.

Linck shared their disappointment—but at that moment, a sudden message from the system startled him.

“Power of destiny? Destiny-type influence?” Linck paused, recalling the blessing of destiny given by Remilia. He was deeply curious about this power, but ten points of divine power was no small sum; with a thousand faith points needed for one divine power, ten points meant ten thousand faith. He hesitated.

After some consideration, Linck realized he had no immediate use for divine power. He didn’t need to exchange it for medicines, and now it could have other effects. Curious, he agreed to use divine power to guide the force of destiny.

Immediately, his faith dropped by ten thousand. Under the system’s influence, the stored power of destiny in the Holy Light Cathedral activated, bestowing its effects on the three cardinal bishops. They showed astonishment, then hastened their spellcasting.

When the spell ended, the three exhaled with relief and exchanged surprised glances.

Linck quickly asked, “How did your divination go?”

The three looked at Linck, and after a glance among themselves, Wind Spirit nodded. “Archbishop, our divination succeeded. We truly found a powerful alchemist, but during the spell, a strong force intervened and helped us greatly. Do you know what that was?”

Though she was asking, Wind Spirit’s gaze made it clear she was sure Linck knew something.

“That was the guidance of the Father,” Linck replied, unhesitatingly using the Father as a shield. The matters of destiny power and Remilia were best left unsaid.

Hearing it was the Father’s help, the three were amazed, but soon felt reassured. Since joining the church, they had witnessed many miracles and firmly believed in the Father’s existence. They bowed their heads in reverence and declared, “Praise be to the Father!”