The more they oppose, the more it shows that I am doing the right thing

"You can now take the examination for the 'Deacon' position."

Priest Paxi rubbed his brow, feeling that An Su would be the death of him sooner or later.

"Establishing a Third Order or higher border world is one of the essential conditions for promotion to a Church Deacon, and also the most difficult one. This is because there are not many slots available each year."

In the spirit of his duties, Priest Paxi slowly explained,

"Nearly a hundred saints complete their scores each year, and reach the required Rank, but they still lack the experience of establishing a border world, remaining as Deputy Deacons."

"The border world you established this time is of the Fourth Order, which means not only are you qualified to become a Deacon, but you also have the qualification to become a Priest in one go."

"However, as much as that's the case, becoming a Priest is still quite a distant matter for you."

Priest Paxi stared at An Su, still feeling incredulous at this moment.

A Deacon under fifteen years of age was indeed unheard of.

What age did he become a Deacon? Twenty?

Even his genius junior sister, Priestess Ai Xueli, became a Deacon at seventeen.

And that was with the help of her family's resources.

On the contrary, An Su was relatively indifferent. He even felt there was room to improve his speed.

After Deacon comes Priest, above Priest is District Bishop, continuing upwards is Archbishop, that is Purple-robed Bishop, even further is Cardinal, donned in red, the Cardinal.

Moving up from there is the Pope, robed in white, also known as the White-robed Bishop, the shepherd of a Church.

Who will be personally crowned by the deity.

This is the division of power within the Radiant Holy See.

In total, there are seven bona fide Church hierarchies,

If one were to become the Pope managing all the Churches, they would receive the coronation from the seven deities, and be crowned the 'Holy Pontiff'.

But the Church has developed for thousands of years, and to this day, no Holy Pontiff has emerged.

It is an existence that lives only in legend.

Being a Deacon is the first step towards becoming a Pontiff.

To perfectly complete the main storyline of the game, the apocalypse ten years later—"Falling from The Abyss"—An Su needs to increase his influence within the Church.

But sometimes, he really wants to skip the dialogues... An Su stared at Priest Paxi who was still explaining in front of him, thinking to himself that he had already seen this more than a dozen times.

Priest Paxi didn't know what An Su was thinking and continued patiently explaining:

"Having become a Deacon, you will have more privileges."

"For example, higher priority in world conquest rights."

"There is no need to submit the coordinates of the border world to the Church—you see, if you were a Deacon, you could handle it through official channels, rather than sneaking in like you did this time." Continue reading stories on empire

"More freedom in justifying your actions."

"You can recruit your own private armed Holy Knights troop—limited to under ten people."

It just so happened that he has the Pain Military Academy in Seden Town, An Su thought to himself.

"At the same time, as a Deacon, you also have the privilege of offering Magic to the deities. A Third Order saint can already modify Magic."

"The unique Magic modified by a Deacon, after being graded by the Magic Guild, can be offered up to the deities, and every time a saint exchanges faith points for Magic, you can earn a commission, which for a Deacon is ten percent."

"A Priest's commission can reach twenty percent…and so on."

An Su's interest was piqued when he heard this.

He became a Deacon precisely because he wanted this Magic offering privilege.

Not to mention anything else, just his X-ray Illumination Skill that can detect various lesions is sure to attract many Low Rank healing Magicians for exchange.

Continuously modifying Magic in the early stages to hone his control over Magic Circuits is a core strategy for becoming stronger, and it's also foundational for creating one's own Magic later on.

Otherwise, if one's realm improved but one couldn't create personal Magic, their potential would be fixed.

"I've finished explaining your benefits," Priest Paxi said,

"Each Church has a limited number of Deacon positions to allocate—of course, there's no shortage of Deacon positions in the various local order Churches across the country, but those are only in name."

"The Deacon examination takes place next month. If you want to be promoted to Deacon, you need to start preparing for it."

"Of course, it will certainly be difficult."

"Because this time, all the competitors participating in the promotion examination are experienced saints who have established Third Order or higher worlds."

"Failing the first time is very normal." Paxi wanted to comfort An Su this way, but then thinking of An Su's temperament, he held his tongue.

Perhaps it's An Su's opponents who should be worried.

"The examination content also includes 'modifying Magic', you can start practicing now—if you come up with a good modification of Magic, you can also go to the Magic Guild for a preliminary grade."

After Paxi finished explaining all the plans, he focused on An Su, "That's about it, you can leave now."

An Su blinked his eyes, standing still.

"You can go now." Priest Paxi repeated, he just wanted to hurry up and send this newbie packing.

"You haven't given me the 3,800 you owe me," An Su said with an innocent smile.

Priest Paxi's mouth started twitching again. Everyone always goes into the police station to pay fines; no one fines the police station!

What a thief who does not leave empty-handed.

"Isn't your family well off?" Priest Paxi couldn't help but say, "Do you even have to shear the Church's wool?"

"It's precisely because of this that my family doesn't lack money."

An Su answered with a smile.

In truth, it wasn't a matter of money at all, but purely a matter of An Su's player integrity—entering a room and not casually taking something felt like a wasted trip.

He had just listened to such a long explanation, wouldn't it be a waste if he didn't?

—

After receiving the reward, An Su left the confession room of the Order Church in high spirits.

He sincerely felt that he should visit this place several times a day.

However, he merely wanted to learn some more about legal knowledge and had no other nefarious purposes.

The warm sunlight coated the glass dome, the shadows of palm leaves slashing across both sides of the corridor like swords, the breeze carrying their fluttering shadows that flickered with light; An Su's next plan was to head to the Magic Guild and first have an x-ray evaluation done.

The rights to develop the Chaotic Frontier would come through tomorrow; he still had to go and plant... implant some of the Church's advanced ideas.

Luojia and Enya should have come out by now.

An Su first saw Luojia outside the Order Church, surrounded by a buzzing crowd of matrons, with the Little Holy Maiden at the center.

Clad in nun's robes, they were indeed the nuns from the Monastery, and the middle-aged woman at the lead seemed to be the Mother Superior, with folds of wrinkles piled on her forehead that unfurled layer by layer when she smiled, seemingly very benevolent.

"Your Holiness, how could you do this?"

The old matron smiled very kindly but also spoke gently,

"We all want what's best for you. By going out on your own, you completely destroy proper decorum. How could you be our Holy Maiden if you behave like this, and what if you get hurt?"

"We all want what's best for you, we wouldn't hurt you."

Having said that, the old matron reached out to grab Luojia's hand, "Come back with us, don't go out for a month, spend it properly studying the Bible."

Luojia stood somewhat at a loss at the center of everyone.

Clearly, the Little Holy Maiden had chosen the 'reform through labor in the Monastery for a week' educational punishment.

Everyone, under the guise of her best interest, wanted her to stay in the Monastery.

It likely stemmed from the instructions of the Radiant Holy See's Holy Maiden faction; with Luojia's recent completion of the Fourth Order world, she must have alarmed some people.

Perhaps, she would even encounter them during the Deacon assessment.

All these behind-the-scenes machinations were known to Luojia as well.

However, she did not wish to make enemies of the saints.

Luojia lowered her head, seemingly unable to break free despite the small strength applied to her hand, and she instinctively looked back, catching sight of An Su.

"Do you still want to become like those Magicians in the recovery hall?"

An Su said something that didn't make much sense,

"Confined to that tiny phone forever, always listening to someone else's voice."

"Think about what the previous you would do."

Luojia's eyes stirred, but she did not speak.

But this was the real world; she might resist in the Nether World, but could she do the same here?

All along, the education she had received taught her to respect and abide by the law, to treat people properly, to listen obediently, and to be the most perfect Holy Maiden.

But she had also said that she wanted to keep correcting An Su's mistakes.

If she couldn't even do this much, how could she accomplish that?

The palm leaves rustled in the wind, and the sunlight reflected off the stained glass, scattering light everywhere, dazzling Luojia's eyes.

"No..." Luojia opened her mouth slightly, she broke free from the old matron's grasp and pushed away her hand, "...I don't want to go back with you."

The old matron looked at her in shock, and all the nuns stared at Luojia, thinking they had misheard.

After a long pause in disbelief, anger dawned on the old matron's face as she made to hit Luojia, "You... what did you just say!"

"Broken.. defense." Luojia remembered An Su's lesson.

[Radiant Incantation]

The incantation's attached attack judgment affected the nuns, and since the tone wasn't very strong, the damage inflicted was limited.

Their defensive habits ripped apart instantly, and numerous old women screamed, hastily covering themselves as they scrambled away in a true sense of 'broken defense'.

Resisting for the first time in reality, Luojia was somewhat flustered.

Her heart pounded.

"Alright, come with me to pay the fine; we have magical protection after all."

An Su patted her shoulder and smiled calmly,n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Another visit to the police station it was!

He intended to claim Luojia's part of the reward too, then said he would take care of the fine himself.

As she walked with her head down, following An Su, Luojia felt her heartbeat was still a bit fast.

"An Su, thank you." She gripped the hem of the young man's clothes and murmured.

"Thank me for what?"

An Su turned back, staring at Luojia, the warm wind tousling his ash-white hair as he naturally remarked:

"We are accomplices now."