I was an apprentice in Ferren

Chapter 53 Shrine
Taking on a mission from the church is definitely more troublesome than going to the tavern. These shrines are made of precious metals and are quite expensive. They require real information as collateral, otherwise, it would be a serious matter if they were to swindle the sacred object away.

As for whether the priest here will do anything with his badge, that's not a concern.

This thing itself isn't worth much; if it's lost, it can be replaced at the academy. Besides, the other party can't just run away; if something really happens, he has acquaintances in the church who can speak on his behalf, so he's not afraid of causing any other trouble.

After accepting the deed, the pastor breathed a sigh of relief and gave him a bottle of holy water and two holy candles.

"Take it. The holy water can ward off evil spirits and also harm the dead and demons. Use the holy candles as you see fit."

This pastor is quite reliable, DuPont silently accepted.

Holy candles are a lower-tier alternative to holy oil. They are ordinary candles imbued with holy properties through long-term prayers by priests. When applied to weapons, they can also deal an additional 1 point of Radiant damage to demons or undead creatures.

Although the damage is not high, it is stable and inexpensive, and can also provide underground lighting and underground wind direction information.

Upon touching the shrine, DuPont couldn't help but whistle inwardly.

Silver Shrine of Mystra

Quality: Rare item

Effect 1: Within a 1000 square meter radius, the magic lady's followers will receive a default increase of 1 point in attack, defense, and magic resistance, and their morale will remain stable at or above the level of calm.

Effect 2: Once per day, when triggered by a follower of the Goddess of Magic, it can quickly purify the aura of purgatory, abyss, and the undead within a 1000 square meter area. The attack, defense, and magic resistance of any evil faction will be affected by the holy influence, reduced by 2 points. It can be restored by prayer from a priest of the Magic Church after use.

Effect 3: Unknown
Value: 1000 gold coins
Note: Divine power flows slowly within this shrine, but due to your lack of arcane knowledge, you cannot fathom its mysteries.

An item made of pure silver can be worth a thousand gold coins, not only because of its exquisite craftsmanship, but also because it contains a special sacred power.

However, just as DuPont was about to put the shrine into his spatial bag, Jeram stopped him.

“How can the Church’s sacred objects be stored in these mundane objects made by a sorcerer?” Jerram frowned, his expression serious. “This is against the rules. I have a tribute chest that you can carry on your back. You will need to use this to carry it.”

"..." DuPont looked at the silver statue, which weighed at least 20 pounds and was 7 inches tall, and suppressed the urge to complain: "Okay."

The pastor was pleased with DuPont's performance: "That's right, you must have a devout heart towards ladies, otherwise how can they take care of you? Let me tell you, when I was young..."

DuPont let it go in one ear and out the other, thinking to himself, "If the lady cared about you, would you still be a pastor in this remote mountain village?"

However, it was not wise to discuss these things with a devout believer, and Dupont had no intention of debating. He simply watched as the pastor solemnly placed the shrine into a specially made wooden box, covered the box with a tarpaulin bearing the church's mark, and handed Dupont a cloak, saying solemnly, "Alright, now you won't have to worry about the rain and it will be convenient to go out. Remember to keep a close eye on it."

"..." DuPont picked up the shrine and took the cloak, and was surprised to find that the cloak was indeed quite extraordinary.

Blessed Cloak
Quality: Normal

Note: This cloak provides you with 1 point of defense value and 1 point of saving throw bonus for 24 hours. This is a sanctification bonus and expires after 24 hours.

"We must find the place with the strongest necromantic aura, otherwise the purification may not be complete, and we'll have to make another trip." The priest instructed, "Also, if all else fails, come back. The shrine is important, but the safety of the lady's people is equally important."

"Thank you," DuPont said sincerely, but after taking a few steps, he turned back: "By the way, since there are undead there, there might be skeletons and zombies. Blunt weapons are better for dealing with them. Do you have a spiked hammer here?"

The priest rummaged around for a while and pulled out a small hammer about half a meter long: "This is all I have here. You'll have to make do with it. If it doesn't work, you can go to the blacksmith's shop." The small hammer was somewhat like a mallet, but it was longer and heavier, weighing about four pounds. DuPont put the item away and was about to leave when he thought for a moment and replied, "If I'm not back before dark, remember to take a few militiamen to look for me. It's a small matter if my squad dies, but it would be a big problem if the shrine is lost."

After listening for a long time, the pastor finally said, "Why don't you return the shrine to me?"

It was still impossible to repay, so DuPont went to the village to buy necessary supplies.

First, I went to the blacksmith shop and spent 4.5 gold to buy a spear, a short sword, and five bear traps, which were spare weapons and auxiliary items, respectively.

He has 4 spell slots in the first ring and only 2 spell slots in the second ring. If there are many monsters in that underground tomb, it is basically impossible to defeat all the monsters with spells alone. It is still necessary to have some weapons and auxiliary items on hand in case of unexpected events.

Although that wretched beast didn't step on it when he was slaughtering wolves before, low-level undead creatures have lower intelligence than wild beasts. Anyway, he has a space bag and it doesn't take up much space, so we can look forward to seeing how it performs in actual combat.

I bought a leather shield, several burlap sacks, and a trap net from the leatherworker for 1 gold. The burlap sacks were used to collect the filth and put it in my spatial bag to prevent it from soiling the other things in my bag later.

His spatial bag wasn't very large, only ten cubic meters in total.

After purchasing the DuPont weapon, I only had 7 gold and 7 silver left. I tried it out and felt that the feel was slightly worse than the weapon I used in the training ground. The workmanship was also relatively rough, but it was still quite sturdy and durable.

Bear traps are even more vicious; once placed, they can snap a wooden stick as thick as a forearm in two, and an ordinary person stepping on one would definitely not fare well.

Having prepared all this, DuPont went to a tavern for a hot meal, told the tavern owner that someone was looking for him and asked them to wait, and then left the village and headed north.

He also had some braised flatbreads he'd gotten for free from the school cafeteria in his storage bag, and he'd prepared several bags of water in advance, enough to last at least three days, so he didn't need to worry about supplies at all.

After leaving the village for about a mile, DuPont put the shrine directly into his spatial bag.

Carrying something weighing 20 pounds for more than 10 miles would probably leave you covered in sores by the time you get back; only a fool would do that.

The further north he went, the worse the dirt road became. He could still walk through the wheat fields that hadn't sprouted yet, but when he saw the village cemetery, the area was already muddy, and his boots were covered in mud, which he had to clean as he walked.

After walking another three miles north, DuPont finally saw the place the pastor had mentioned where the crows had gathered: several withered trees stood alone around the cemetery, showing no sign of sprouting even in the warm spring season. Many of the tombstones were dilapidated, the inscriptions on many were illegible, and bones were exposed in the wilderness. The stench of decay and the sudden drop in temperature made DuPont frown.

The necromantic aura here is indeed quite strong, which will inevitably lead to the growth of evil creatures.

DuPont took out the shrine and set it aside. He then took out the holy candle and rubbed it carefully on the nail-head hammer. After rubbing it, he hung it and two bottles of holy water on his waist. Then, he put on a mask, took out three bear traps from his spatial bag, and carefully placed them in front of the dilapidated archway in the cemetery.

Once prepared, DuPont crushed a piece of dry bone with his deerskin boots. The bone powder sparked tiny phosphorescent flames under his feet, but no sound was made, leaving DuPont astonished.

These shoes are really useful; they actually made his attempt to lure the enemy fail.

If one method doesn't work, try another. DuPont went to the side wall of the tomb entrance, tapped the basalt inscribed with "Silentium Mortis" with his cane, and silently recited the incantation on it.

The deceased remained silent.

A flash of silver light appeared, but perhaps because of the passage of time, the rune vanished without unleashing its power. Instead, a strange sound came from behind the tomb door, and several hidden, eerie scratch marks appeared on the moss-covered bricks below the tomb chamber.

“Interesting.” The mage’s fingertips traced the scratch marks on the edge of the door frame—they were definitely not left by tools. The three parallel grooves still reeked of rotting flesh, smelling like the product of a failed “Necromantic Sac” spell. Through arcane vision, he also saw a row of crooked abyssal characters.

During the seventh lunar eclipse... the Gate of Flesh and Blood will surely open.
(End of this chapter)