A Guide to Becoming a God Starting from a Monastery

In other words, it doesn't work well against a prepared enemy.

He also figured it out. After this stage of the course was over, he would also study magic.

Joshua told him a lot of basic knowledge about magic, and then the two of them went their separate ways.

Joshua was meditating over there, while Thomas was reading quietly.

Chapter 63: Cardan City

Litoměřice County, Kadan City.

This is an industrial and commercial city. Although it is under the rule of Count Jaromil, the lord of Litoměřice, it has actually achieved autonomous status long ago.

The mayor of the city is not appointed by the lord, but is elected from among many councilors composed of various forces, including various guilds and big businessmen.

It wasn't completely independent, but it possessed an army (city defense forces) independent of the count's control, as well as taxation and fiscal authority, making it at least semi-independent. If war were to break out, especially a civil war over dominance, the city would be entitled to remain neutral. In other words, if it remained neutral, Count Jaromil wouldn't have much to do about it.

And this city has a special feature, there is a mercenary guild in the city.

Yes, this is a place where mercenaries can be recruited openly and legally.

You can recruit larger mercenary teams, smaller teams, or even individual mercenaries.

Of course, solo mercenaries are rare these days. In fact, it's difficult to be a mercenary alone unless you're exceptionally skilled.

But if you are very capable, you can become the captain and gather your own team. After all, in this line of work, force is one of the most important assets.

At this moment, the entire top floor of the building housing the Mercenary Guild was vacant, with chairs neatly arranged.

Each mercenary broker or mercenary captain sat on a chair with his trusted guards.

Everyone's eyes were on the tall woman sitting in the middle.

Although the woman was tall and slender, with a haggard face, graying hair, and crow's feet around her eyes, she was quite old. She was estimated to be in her forties or fifties.

In this era, this age is barely considered "elderly".

She was wearing a light white robe, but it was not a normal female garment, but a male garment that wrapped her entire body tightly.

In this early autumn season, I am wearing a bit too much.

The woman lowered her head and coughed a few times. "You may have heard that my son died. We still don't know how he died."

She paused.

Anyone who has a little information in Cardan City knows the identity of this woman.

The current president of the Mercenary Guild, the daughter of the former president of the Mercenary Guild, and the mistress of Count Jaromil.

Because she's a woman, she doesn't often go out and about, and her control over the mercenary guild isn't that strong. But if she really wants to do something, everyone really has to listen.

"The Earl brought back his body... It was in a terrible state. He had been disemboweled."

"If it's a serious crime, or a life-or-death duel, there's nothing we can do," the woman said. "But if it's a duel between nobles, there are no witnesses or assistants. If it's manslaughter during a melee, he won't die on a battlefield. If it's a crime punishable by death... there's no judge, no jury, and no lord to witness it."

"The Count said it was most likely done by the Chomutov Monastery. He offended the Chomutov Monastery. If it weren't for what the Count said, I simply couldn't believe a monastery could be so cruel! They were determined to put us to death!"

"The Chomutov Monastery is just an ordinary monastery, right?" a burly middle-aged man said.

"Ordinary? Not at all! They occupy almost half the land in the Chomutov region. It's said the rent alone is over 1,200 florins a year!" another person replied. "However, I do know the Chomutov Monastery isn't very strong. The knights and apprentices of the monastery only number about a dozen or twenty... very average, not even as good as an ordinary mercenary squad."

"You forgot to consider the other monks in the monastery," someone else muttered. "There are at least hundreds of young and strong men in the monastery! And besides those... it's still a monastery after all!"

His last words were very serious.

The monastery is not easy to deal with.

Among the monks in the monastery, there were many old men who had been meditating for more than ten years, even decades. No one could tell whether they would cast a high-level spell.

Moreover, the monastery was part of the Church, and the Church was a truly enormous entity.

"Actually..." the female leader continued. "I've already investigated. This incident... was a joint effort between the monastery and the Duke. However, the Duke didn't kill them all. He deliberately left some wiggle room and spared my son. It's just that my son was suddenly attacked on his way back. The wounds on his body... he died from the Qi-raising Slash."

Ordinary people may not understand the term "Qi-lifting Slash", but everyone in the Mercenary Guild knows it.

"Invigorate and slash?" The middle-aged man frowned. "No one would waste energy carelessly, so is it really a killing move?!"

"Indeed, it's a skill usually reserved for survival...although almost all those who have mastered it will use it in their first few life-or-death battles," an agent added.

"Who in the Chomutov Monastery has the Qi-Boosting Slash now?" another person asked seemingly casually.

"To achieve the Qi-Boosting Slash, at the very least, you need to have not faced a true life-or-death battle with another for at least five years," someone said. "So, knights who have been in the monastery for less than five years can be ignored, as the chances of success are slim."

After joining the monastery, there is basically no need to use the Qi-raising Slash, so there is a possibility of accumulating again.

"As far as I know, there's only one person, Giuliano, the captain of the monastery's knights. He must have joined for exactly five years!" one person said. "The other one might be a new knight. Do they have any new knights?"

"No, I'm more familiar with the situation on the Archbishop's side. I haven't heard of them canonizing any knights recently. At least not yet!"

"So... Giuliano is the most likely candidate?"

"Even if it's not him, he must know who it is!"

"No, it can only be him." said a mercenary captain in armor.

"Why are you so sure?"

"It's a secret, not many people know it. Giuliano was once a guest of Count Svetopelk."

The rulers of Bohemia, the Psemice family, faced internal and external troubles. The internal trouble was naturally the quarrel between brothers, and the external trouble was Count Svetopelk of the Zzilica family, who was eyeing the opportunity to make a fortune and even overthrow the dynasty.

This was no secret in the mercenary industry, at least among the mercenary captains themselves, everyone knew it.

Many people are waiting for this opportunity. War is a disaster for civilians, but an opportunity for mercenaries.

Opportunity to make a fortune.

"Is it Count Svetopelk's...hidden pawn?" someone gasped.

With this, it seemed as if all doubts could be dispelled. Count Svetopelk would certainly be happy to intervene. If it could provoke a war between the brothers, that would be even better. Even if that didn't happen, it would at least increase the rift between the two brothers.

"It seems that the most likely person is Giuliano." The female president's face became increasingly gloomy.

"Count Svetopelk's guest is truly extraordinary... Since he dared to kill my son so brazenly, I don't have to worry about anything either!"

She lowered her head and coughed a few more times, this time covering her mouth with a handkerchief. When she put it down, there was a faint trace of blood on it.

The sharp-eyed people nearby could sense that the female president's health was probably not that good.

Of course, in this era, without antibiotics and modern medical technology, those who can live to old age are the result of God's blessing.

No matter how merciful God is, he cannot see most people.

Her eyes swept over the crowd. She was obviously a woman, but for some reason that look could make even the battle-hardened mercenaries feel uneasy.

"Everyone, I have a plan... If Giuliano hides in the monastery, no one will be able to do anything to him."

"However, Count Svetopelk has a base in Cardan. Furthermore, we have connections with the Cardan City Church. We can use these two channels to get him here... Even if Giuliano is cunning, he would never have thought of this!"

Chapter 64 Breakthrough

When autumn comes, the intense study career finally comes to an end.

Logic, grammar, rhetoric, mathematics, geometry, astronomy, music... the basic parts of the seven courses have been taught.

The master will lead you to the door, but the practice depends on the individual. From then on, it will not be this kind of class-based teaching.

If you want to learn further, you have to find your own way.

The most motivated of the newest batch of novices have all found teachers. Although they still bear the title of "novice monks", they are no longer considered novices, but members of the monastery.

Those who are not motivated will either be expelled or become menial servants and are no longer in the sight of the monastery's top management.

Unless there are special opportunities, the future of these novice monks is already doomed and there is no hope.

According to the original practice, we now have to look for a new batch of novice monks.

However, due to personnel issues at the top level, especially the new dean's delay in arriving, and Vice Dean Conrad's injuries recurring and never getting better, this matter was delayed.

The dean’s affairs are not something that the monastery can decide on its own; they are a game of negotiation from a higher level, but it is different for the vice-dean.

As soon as he died, that position became vacant.

Even though he is just a vice president, he is enough to make countless people rack their brains.

The entire monastery seemed to have returned to its former tranquility. Although there were turbulent currents surging in the dark, these currents had nothing to do with Thomas.

Regardless of the personnel changes, it had nothing to do with him, as he had already been clearly designated and would be assigned to the nearby Cardan City Church.

This was a very common personnel transfer, probably similar to the inter-unit borrowing he had experienced in his previous life. All he had to do was give the boss a heads-up.

It takes about a year.

This kind of thing is very common and happens to almost all knights - with the exception of Giuliano, the captain.

Thomas clearly felt that his martial arts training had reached a bottleneck.

For others, the so-called bottleneck is exercising for a long time without getting any effective growth.

To Thomas, it was like a ball of divine power that was almost ineffective.

Before, after being infused with divine power, one could immediately feel an improvement, but now, there is no noticeable change at all.

He is now stuck at the "lower middle level".

Giuliano was completely unfazed. For him, months without progress was normal—why bother?

It is normal to see no significant growth in one or two years, let alone a few months.

Practicing martial arts is not that simple. If it were that simple, then the core warriors wouldn't be called core warriors.

But the good thing is that the end of the cultural courses finally gave Thomas enough energy to start accumulating divine power.

Faced with the most difficult course taught by the most irresponsible teacher, there is no way to learn it without divine power!

It was dark. Thomas was alone in the abbey's drill grounds.

Before leaving the monastery, he hoped to go one step further.

Thomas carefully took out the potion box. He had bought the potion for three florins, and now only a little was left.

Looking at the empty box, Thomas sighed inwardly.

"I used to hear people say that the poor are good at literature and the rich are good at martial arts. Now I understand the helplessness of life."

You need to eat, drink, and take medicine.

The regular meals at the monastery were not enough, so Thomas started eating specially prepared meals after he began training.

In the monastery, there is a small dining hall for knights, where Thomas can enjoy food that ordinary monks cannot, such as honey broth.

But even that is not enough, additional food and drink are required, and all of this needs to be paid for.

Most of the spoils Thomas had obtained before had turned into this kind of expenses.

But compared to potions, eating and drinking are really not the big deal.

It hadn't been long since he officially started using potions. Even with three gold coins' worth of potions, using the most economical method, it had only lasted for two months.

If used normally, it will probably be used up in a month.

"The key is that the effect is not very good..."

No matter how good a potion is, it can't compare to divine power. But after all, the rate at which divine power can be generated is limited. Cultural studies consume too much divine power.

But as for the potion, it all depends on whether you have money!

He sighed and examined his damaged godhead.

There are now nine groups of divine power.

He figured it out, since he was going to the city, it would be easier to buy medicine.

The potion formula is already in hand, so I'm going to try and learn how to mix it myself. The price of mixing it myself can be significantly reduced.

It is estimated that one florin can be saved.

It may not seem like much, but over the years it becomes a large number.

Then he started warming up.

Simple running and exercises can adjust your physical condition to the highest level, and can also be used to absorb the effects of potions.

After completing all the preparations, Thomas returned to the center of the field and picked up a training sword.