Dragon, choose cultural victory to make money

Chapter 405: Cultists Must Also Study Hard

Principality of Orion, Golden Plains.

The sky is overcast and you can smell the scent of rain in the air. The last rain just ended not long ago and the next rain should be coming soon.

It is the rainy season, a troublesome season.

There are clothes that never dry, food that gets moldy if you're not careful, and walls and ceilings that look like they've been soaked in water when you wake up.

Bad season.

Bruce was smoking a pipe, staring out the window in a trance.

In the distance, you can see a crowd of refugees. They are wearing tattered clothes, their hair is unkempt, and their faces are dirty. The rain cannot wash away the mud they have passed through along the way.

Refugees were gathering on the roadside, trying to light wet wood to keep warm, which was not an easy task, but in such weather, it was almost impossible to find dry fuel.

Despite shivering with cold, the men did not attempt to approach the spire where Bruce was.

There were eerie ancient spires, strangely shaped houses, a creepy dark red light occasionally coming out of the small windows, and an old man with a gaunt figure and an expressionless face.

It basically says "It's dangerous here" directly.

Rather than entering such a place, it is better to be outside in the cold and rain, as we have encountered many such situations along the way anyway.

They are people who had to flee because of the war.

I hope the lords of other territories can take them in.

Bruce didn't think they could get asylum, for a very simple reason: the lords here were in trouble themselves.

The Roman Empire's offensive encountered almost no decent resistance in Orion.

The gap is too big.

Weapons, tactics, soldier quality, and material production capacity are all at different levels.

What's more, Loman also has a legion of demons that have no sense of fear.

Grand Duke Orion is seeking help everywhere, trying to gain support from other countries.

However, the powerful countries on the continent only condemned Roman's actions without taking any substantive action.

The meeting has already been held for several rounds.

Bruce guessed that those princes and nobles were probably arguing about what Roman's goal was, whether he should only attack Orion, and whether it would be worthwhile for them to die.

The only one who offered to help was Sutton.

But the Grand Duke refused, and this move was supported by lords across the realm.

Their logic is that even if they are defeated by Roman, they will probably just become a vassal state of the Roman Empire. If it is worse, at most they will be incorporated into the territory.

According to the long-standing aristocratic code, although they were losers, they still had noble duties to do.

But if the Sutton people were allowed in, it was hard to say whether they would do to Orion what they did to their own nobles.

Compared with losing sovereignty and humiliating the country, not being able to be a superior person is more unacceptable.

So the Grand Duke and other nobles rejected Sutton without hesitation.

This is the only force on the continent that could possibly fight against Loman.

Perhaps the church can do so, but most smart people who pay attention to the world situation have discovered that the church is not as strong as before and no longer has the final say it once had on the mainland.

The church has not made any statement regarding Loman’s aggressive behavior.

In short, for Orion, it should only be a matter of time before it is conquered.

Perhaps the grand dukes and marquises in the capital are already discussing how to surrender in a dignified manner while gaining the most benefits.

Now the only thing limiting the Roman army's advance should be their marching speed.

It is estimated that it won’t be long before the Golden Plains will be engulfed in war.

Bruce was not worried about this. He was a quasi-sage among the soul raisers. No, he was now a formal sage.

After learning the valuable knowledge bestowed by the great Drogo, he solved many important problems in succession in the Sanctuary of the Soul Ascenders and was successfully promoted.

The war launched by Roman was not only for the revival of the empire, but also for the grand plan of the Soul Ascenders.

As a high-ranking soul ascender second only to the Great Sage, he is fully capable of protecting himself.

In order to complete the final uploading of consciousness, there must be enough human brains as carriers.

In every occupied area, large numbers of civilians would be taken to concentration camps and never be able to get out.

"Necessary sacrifices in grand schemes."

Bruce once firmly supported this grand plan, believing that this might be his last chance to find the truth in his limited life.

But now, this so-called plan is no longer the only thing he can count on.

He has received greater revelations and seen greater beings.

The original god - Drogo.

All your time and energy must be spent on more valuable things.

In comparison, the Soul Ascendant is far less important than Drogo, and joining the Council of Sages is just to carry out His orders.

After smoking a pipe of cigarette, Bruce felt that his brain was no longer so tired, so he closed the window and returned to his seat.

There was a book on the table. It had no name and was bound in a very plain way, using the most ordinary leather and paper. However, it was the most important book in all Bruce's collection.

A gift from the great Drogo, a book of truth containing countless knowledge.

In addition to the book, there was also a calendar and countless pieces of draft paper on the table, all of which were densely written on.

Not only on the table, but also on the chair, on the floor, and on the bookshelf, everywhere was filled with his used drafts.

This book of truth was so obscure that he had to go through a lot of deductions and verifications before he could have a preliminary understanding of every line of content.

The easy ones take a few hours, while the difficult ones take a few days or even weeks. There are also many knowledge points that he cannot fully understand now.

But Bruce had no complaints. The path to truth should be so difficult, and the sacred truth should be so obscure.

He picked up a pen, put on his glasses, and began to derive the analytical formula of a rune.

After writing and drawing for a long time, he suddenly threw down his pen, tore the draft paper into several pieces, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it away.

He couldn't calm down.

Bruce took off his glasses reluctantly and looked at the calendar on the table.

There was a red circle drawn on today's date, representing the day he would take his midterm exam. Drogo had notified him of this a few days ago.

Since being given the Book of Truth, he has gone through many tests, about once a month.

The great Drogo called it "The Test of the Month".

It is an exam to test his learning achievements every month.

It was also because of the monthly test that Bruce believed that Drogo was a being truly worthy of the status of a god.

He not only grants knowledge to his believers, but also regularly tests their mastery of knowledge.

What a responsible and loving God.

He is even more responsible than he is towards his alchemy apprentices.

Bruce's way of teaching his apprentices is always to throw the production process notes directly to the apprentices. If they can do it, they can stay, and if they can't, they can leave.

As for how well they master each step of the production process, I don't care at all.

Bruce couldn't help but burst into tears whenever he thought about the fact that he was following such a great god.

It is also because of this that he regards every monthly exam as a divine gift.

But today's exam is different from the monthly exam.

During the monthly exams, Zhuogo simply sent the test papers and answered them in an open book. There was no invigilator, and he was required to write as much as possible. He would provide the answers a week later and correct his mistakes by himself.

The midterm exam will be a closed-book test, and more importantly, the great Drogo will be present in person to supervise the exam.

Therefore, Bruce has been so nervous that he has been unable to sleep since he got the news.

In every previous monthly exam, his accuracy rate was never higher than 50%.

He naturally had no confidence in getting a better score in the more important midterm exam. Bruce believed that the great and loving Drogo would not punish him for the accuracy of his test.

But he couldn't get over this hurdle in his own heart.

Under His gaze, I would show Him how ugly I was when answering the questions, and He would realize how poorly I knew. I'm afraid that would disappoint Him.

I am such a stupid and useless believer.

Bruce rubbed his eyes and looked at the clock. It was almost time. No matter what, no matter how reluctant he was, he had to take Drogo's midterm exam.

He changed his clothes and took a bath. Although the image in the consciousness space would not be affected by reality, as a believer, he must have such self-awareness and sense of ritual.

After getting everything ready, Bruce connected into the consciousness space.

As soon as I entered, there was no regular login area. I felt my vision blurry for a moment, and almost instantly, a smooth silver platform, a sky with rolling numbers, and a flashing red figure appeared.

Just like the last time He came.

Bruce prostrated himself before he could regain consciousness.

"My great ancient god."

"Well, these mundane formalities are of no use to me," Drogo said.

He felt very uncomfortable hearing others call him like that.

It's as if he is some kind of anti-creature.

"Sit down. It's an exam. You should have a seat and a place to answer the questions."

As he spoke, silver-white tables and chairs appeared.

"Thank you, great..."

Bruce was about to perform another great ceremony.

"Okay, no need to read the title. Time is tight. Two hours, one set of test papers. Answer as many questions as possible."

A very ordinary test paper and pen appeared on the table, with a few sheets of draft paper attached.

Although you can answer the questions without a pen in the space of consciousness, an exam should still have the flavor of an exam.

Bruce immediately sat down in his seat and opened the test paper.

Two hours, much less time than the time he took to finish the monthly examination papers, which he did every day.

He took a few deep breaths to try to keep his heartbeat as steady as possible, but it was all a psychological effect.

After I felt less nervous, I started answering the questions seriously.

However, contrary to his expectations, the test paper was not as difficult as he had imagined.

The initial questions were about very basic rune calculations, simple alchemical principles, and some knowledge points about the construction of consciousness space.

Compared with the super complicated questions in the monthly exams that were hard to understand even after reading the questions, this midterm exam was extremely "gentle".

Although Bruce is eccentric, eccentric and paranoid, he is an excellent alchemist with solid basic skills and good learning ability.

These basic questions are not difficult for him at all.

After answering the first few questions, turn to the next page, where the difficulty of the questions increases sharply.

From the basic rune problem, it has become an inscription group problem that is closer to the principle nature, and alchemy also involves more complex alchemy changes.

These questions are enough to stump even a skilled alchemist of average level.

But it's still within Bruce's capabilities.

It only took twenty minutes to finish writing these two pages. The test paper had a total of eight pages. If he continued at this pace, Bruce was confident that he would get a good grade.

However, after turning to the next page, his hand holding the pen tightened.

The difficulty of the questions has risen to a higher level, and is now close to the difficulty of the big questions in the monthly exam.

Complete the high-level rune array, and calculate the mana loss and operating efficiency after completion...

Based on the nature and function of the given inscription, deduce the nature type of the next inscription...

Constructing a spell model in the consciousness space, the maximum capacity per unit area...

Seeing the questions becoming increasingly difficult, Bruce had a bad guess about the big questions that would come later.

I glanced back and found that I couldn’t understand the question anymore.

They are all common words, but when put together, they seem to become a foreign language.

He couldn't tell how much more difficult it was than the monthly exam.

Because they can’t be done.

Sweating.

Bruce lowered his head, not daring to look at the great Drogo. Now, He must be very disappointed with himself.

No, I can't give up.

In a trance, he seemed to have returned to the days when he was an alchemy apprentice, doing odd jobs in an alchemy workshop.

At that time, the workshop also conducted regular assessments, and apprentices who failed the assessments would be eliminated immediately.

There are plenty of people who want to be apprentices, so there is no need to train an untalented person.

Whenever there was an assessment, the alchemist in the workshop would stand beside him and watch him do the experiments in silence.

He passed every test in his childhood. He was the most outstanding alchemy genius. Even though he is old now, he should not give up when faced with difficulties.

Bruce frantically recalled everything in the Book of Truth, using all his memory and imagination to match the knowledge points he had learned, the formulas he had seen, and every step of his deduction with the questions here.

Unfortunately, even if I try my best, I can't win.

The following questions were completely beyond his ability and a bit unbelievable.

He even began to wonder what some of the questions were asking.

He studied every example in the Book of Truth until he could recite them backwards. It's impossible!
The more I do it, the more I sweat, and my breathing becomes more difficult.

It's a shame. As the first follower of Drogo, his level is so poor. It's a huge shame.

At the same time, Drogo, who was invigilating the exam, glanced at Bruce and noticed something was wrong with him.

He said he was invigilating, but in fact he was secretly watching Tom and Jerry, just glancing at them occasionally.

The current Zhuogo deeply empathizes with his former invigilators.

No wonder they have to stand next to the candidates and watch them answer the questions.

It's really boring.

If you don't watch something, you'll suffocate yourself.

Fortunately, he was able to secretly play cartoons.

Shuang watched several episodes, glanced at Bruce, and saw that the old man was about to pass out.

Was I being a little too harsh on him?

Drogo thought.

In order to make the book of truth of higher quality, Xiao Mo and Fulin were asked to write it together.

The two most unspeakable people in the entire Drogo Group.

In addition to the spell knowledge from the Soul Engineer, a lot of the explanation part was deleted.

These are books that are difficult for normal people to understand.

The old man is quite old. If he does something good, it won’t be easy for him to develop a subordinate among the Soul Raisers.

Thinking of this, Drogo said: "The time is up, the exam is over."

The test paper disappeared instantly.

"I can still answer, I can still ..."

Bruce said desperately.

(End of this chapter)