A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 386 Don't kneel, stand up

After the new church was completed, many refugees also gathered there. Even among believers, there were differences in the strength of their faith. The group with strong faith went out of their way to apply for and contribute money and effort to build the church. After that, the previously silent and passive believers emerged to receive "Holy Communion".

I must say, unleavened bread made with white flour smells amazing when it's fresh out of the oven.

The old man, whose eyes were red with tears, began to give his speech again. After thanking the Lord, the parishioners, and incidentally thanking a certain monk who was an unbeliever, a lost sheep, and an impious person but had contributed land and money, he made a trembling promise to everyone:

"The Lord teaches us that brothers and sisters should love each other equally. This is the promised church of love, where we, regardless of our wealth or status, are qualified to pray, recite scriptures, and praise our God."

"Muhuitang will weather storms, but its essence will never change!"

Thunderous applause erupted, and the congregation chanted hymns of praise to God in unison.

"Haha, whatever makes you happy." After confirming the setup's effect, Rorschach and Andrei left the church courtyard. Andrei noticed the place was packed with people, and frowned, raising his second concern: "Aren't there too many worshippers?"

Rorschach nodded: "That's right. This will put the city administrators to the test even greater pressure in the future. The key is whether the restrictions on missionary work can be effectively enforced. But from another perspective, this is also a good thing."

"Good news?"

"The people coming to the church now are mostly homeless, right? But not all homeless people have come."

"That's right."

Rorschach used illusion magic to change his and Andre's clothes and appearance, turning them into two thin, recently malnourished teenagers, and their clothing changed to the Valois style.

Then they went to the community where the displaced people were housed and found those who hadn't gone to the new church. Downstairs, a group of people were playing cards, basking in the winter sun. Rorschach greeted them in a Valuwanan accent: "The new church is serving communion! Aren't you going?"

The player throws a card into the discard pile: "Three of Swords".

"Pass." The card players ignored him, so Rorschach repeated himself. The three card players looked up and saw that Rorschach and Andrei also looked like refugees. Finally, they stopped the game and said, "Holy Communion? Humph."

Another card player scoffed, "Anyone who goes will fall into the devil's trap! Kid, I advise you not to go either. What qualifications do they have to build a church? Do they have priests? Has His Holiness the Pope issued any decrees? The one leading them is definitely an imperial spy, taking advantage of our misfortune to bewitch the fools with heresies."

These words resonated with the other card players. Rorschach chimed in, "So, we still need to go back to our hometown and find a real church to attend services."

"Of course! These are all tests from the Lord for us, and we must not be easily misled. Now that we are on someone else's turf, even if we only pray to God in our hearts, it is better than going to that heretical temple and unknowingly becoming a minor heretic."

As Rorschach and Andrei left the community, he asked his apprentice, "Now you understand what I mean? The real die-hards don't go to church. We probably can't keep those people, nor can we get them to fully integrate into Byrne's society."

"The refugees who accepted the new church also found a place to call home, worked harder, and bought houses without hesitation. They gradually developed a sense of belonging to this place and were able to steadily transform into members of Kempson and even Byrne."

"Furthermore, the new church is a castrated building compared to the organization of the church."

"Castration" is an apt description. It is restricted from missionary work, lacks monasteries for studying the scriptures, does not undertake or monopolize education in the area, and has no right or legitimacy for interpretation recognized by the church. Therefore, the "reproduction of faith" will be greatly weakened.

As long as Rorschach is still alive, he will not allow the above functions to "grow".

Andrei thought about it and realized it was true: "I've learned something."

"What kind of teaching are you going to receive? Once you've rested, get back to studying magic!"

The updated spells also required Andre to relearn, and Rorschach taught him all the tricks he had recorded, as well as a small amount of first-circle magic.

Because of the update, Andrei finally began to doubt the new spell system that Rorschach had given him: "Teacher, are you teaching me a self-created system now?"

"It's just the casting method; the effect is basically the same as other mages." Rorschach was pleased that his student had finally begun to reflect on and explore the principles, so he simply told him about the existence of the "spell cloud."

"A magnificent invention!" Andrei exclaimed sincerely, not as flattery. The previous clues gradually connected: "No wonder I've progressed so rapidly. It turns out it's thanks to your system." He then remembered that Rorschach had updated the spell system after causing trouble at the church, and a chill ran down his spine.

Is the teacher stealing the power and authority of the Lord of Order?

His gaze towards Rorschach changed, and he tentatively said, "Since we are borrowing power from you, can we consider it as something akin to divine magic? Teacher, I don't think it's necessary to collect the faith power of the followers of the Lord of Order anymore. Why not design a set of prayers directed at you, so that the mages who join the new system can pray to you?"

Rorschach shook his head firmly: "'Borrowing power' is just a temporary measure. I only resorted to this because I hadn't found a way to improve the connectivity of the 'Spell Cloud.' And you absolutely, positively should not pray to me or anyone else. If you do, don't call yourselves mages anymore!"

Rorschach's words were a bit harsh, and Andrei quickly admitted his mistake.

If he really wanted to go down this path, he could have imitated the underground cult, secretly using alchemy and magic to deceive ordinary people, and even issued an order in the three factories: before eating and before receiving wages, they should thank Lord Rorschach and sing Rorschach's hymns to brainwash them into believing that "Rorschach's kindness is inexhaustible," and then collect the corrupted faith power.

But Rorschach's ideal is that the "Spell Cloud" should ultimately exist independently of him. If it truly revolves entirely around one person, then this spellcasting system will be very limited and narrow. He is the founder, but in the future, every mage can become a collaborator, recording and sharing the spells they have mastered or created, or jointly maintaining them.

He doesn't want to create some kind of cult and make others kneel and beg for his power. Rorschach wants everyone to stand up one day and work together to improve it, expanding the abilities and possibilities of all users.

As for the believers in the church, they were kneeling comfortably, and if Rorschach tried to pull them up, they would only get angry with him. Rorschach respected that, paying for their kneeling space to ensure they were comfortable and at ease, and incidentally, conducting an experiment.

The reason why the existence of "Spell Cloud" is being concealed now is because Rorschach is unsure what the great mages of the present day will think after discovering this system. It would be troublesome if someone wanted to take it for themselves and monopolize it.

Currently, neither "Spell Cloud" nor I am strong enough. We can only start by training apprentices who accept this system to cultivate a group of spellcasters who can agree with Rorschach's philosophy to jointly maintain "Cloud".

To ensure they don't "kneel down," Rorschach first needs to make sure that his relationship with them remains at the level of "teacher and student," without any thoughts of worship or deification.

Rorschach apologized to Andrei: "Sorry, I was a bit harsh just now. But I hope that one day you can create your own spells and upload them so that other spellcasters can learn and use them. Wouldn't that be cool? Making pseudo-divine spells is just too boring."

With this, the Kempson region now had a new "signal source," allowing mages in the area to connect to the "spell cloud" without delay, even when Rorschach or his clone were not present. However, he felt it was still not enough.

Inspired by the "church", he felt that the "magic cloud" should actually be placed in the "cloud", that is, it should be projected or simply moved to the symbolic realm, instead of being squeezed into a closed room in the material world. Only in this way can the limitation of real distance be broken.

So how do we do it? First, we need to find a suitable location and a way to relocate. Rorschach began to have the idea of ​​"ascending" again.

(End of this chapter)