A Guide to Becoming a God Starting from a Monastery

After simple processing, we returned to the convoy.

Rostislav had returned, and of course his water-skin was full and hanging on the rack of the carriage. He was sharing some wild fruits he had picked from some bush with the children.

Very harmonious atmosphere.

On the other side, the convoys have also been on the road one after another, and everything looks very calm.

Soon, the carriage caught up with the team and everyone left the temporary shade of the woods.

The team moved forward for a distance and Thomas came to Rostislav.

"Coach Rostislav," Thomas said. He had some respect for Rostislav, so he always addressed him as "coach."

"how?"

"Is there going to be war in Bohemia?" Thomas asked.

Rostislav was silent for a long time. "Yes," he finally answered.

The answer is simple, yet it reveals such complex information.

"Does my teacher... Giuliano know about this?" Thomas asked tentatively.

"I know." Rostislav was silent for a while. Then he shook the water bag in his hand. "Would you like some?"

It was said to be a water bag, but Thomas immediately smelled the smell of alcohol.

“No, thank you,” Thomas said.

He had no love for alcohol in his previous life, and it was even more so in this life.

He didn't even understand why people in this world would drink sour red wine with bread and use it to rinse their mouths and protect their teeth.

He just uses a cloth to clean his teeth now anyway.

"You are very pious," Rostislav said suddenly.

"what?"

"When your teacher told me this before, I didn't believe it," Rostislav continued. "But now I have to believe it. Someone like you would never waste your talents on the nobles' boring power games. Believe me, going to Kiev is your best choice."

Thomas seemed silent.

But in fact, if he was allowed to express his feelings with facial expressions, his mouth would be wide enough to swallow an egg.

Influenced by his past life, he is an atheist at heart.

Or according to one setting, he is a senior member of the Society of Non-Gods.

Even though he had a damaged divine nature, deep down in his heart he had no desire to worship any god, not even the omniscient and omnipotent God.

Such a person is actually described as "pious"... Is he blind or does his neck get twisted and his vision is crooked?

"Coach Rostislav, your opinion of Kyiv..."

"I've been away from there for a long, long time," Rostislav smiled. "I'm a complete stranger there. I don't know anything about this Sunflower Knight Order you're going to."

"The teacher told me there are some 'remnants' there?"

"Remnants of the Old Ones," Rostislav said. "I suspect this is how the Order of the Sunflowers came about. It's a common practice in the Church to form a knightly order whenever dealing with remnants of the Old Ones. It used to be a tactic used against heretics, but now it's widespread. From this point of view, I suspect the Order of the Sunflowers isn't a church order. It's likely formed by a grand duke or some other noble, with the support of the Church."

"What are the remnants of the past?"

"Some of these old entities, long since eliminated by time, are often considered the creations of the devil," Rostislav said nonchalantly. "In the glory of the Lord, they are unworthy of mention. But I must remind you that while they are destined to perish under the glory of the Lord, some are powerful among them. Some of them even require an entire army to deal with."

Non-human beings?

Thomas thought of the knowledge from his past life.

In places like Eastern Europe, legends such as vampires and werewolves have always existed and have even spread throughout the world.

Of course, there are many more stories about witches and evil spirits, but these stories have never spread to the world.

Could it be this kind of creature?

This actually made him look forward to Kyiv a little.

Section 1 Kyiv

On the endless plain, stands a huge city.

He gazed into the distance from his horse. A magnificent city bathed in the morning light loomed before him, its towering golden dome gleaming like a spotlessly polished cup. One could only wonder if this city was crafted from gold and silver.

Hagia Sophia is the most conspicuous and magnificent building in the city. The largest dome is located on a high drum at the central intersection of the church. The twelve domes around it are grouped in decreasing height, forming a pyramid-shaped outline, showing the supreme authority of God.

This is an ancient Slavic city that has now grown to an astonishing scale.

In Thomas's past life, the city had already been repeatedly ravaged by the Mongols by this point, having lost its former glory. Ultimately, Kiev, known as the "Mother of Cities," was forced to abdicate, handing the throne to Moscow.

But in this parallel dimension, the Mongols obviously did not arrive.

The reason behind it...I can guess it.

With the magic network, the development line of the world is different.

Just as there would be no Normandy Conquest (theoretically) in this world, it would not be easy for Genghis Khan to rise to power.

Apart from anything else, Chinese history would certainly not have developed that way.

For example, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, perhaps the demise of the country was inevitable, but it would definitely not have resulted in the rise of many heroes and the Three Kingdoms being unified under the Jin Dynasty.

Thomas recalled that the average lifespan of Eastern Han emperors was only 26 or 27 years old, even though the average was raised by the 62-year-old Liu Xiu, the 53-year-old Liu Xie, and the 47-year-old Liu Zhuang. Beyond these three, the remaining ten emperors rarely lived past the age of 30. The average age of accession was around 12 years old, with the youngest, Emperor Shang of Han, Liu Long, being carried to the throne at just 100 days old.

Therefore, some people think that the royal family of the Eastern Han Dynasty was cursed, or that their luck was preempted by the founding monarch Liu Xiu.

The reason why Dong Zhuo finally entered the capital was that the emperor was young and unable to govern.

But in this world, apart from anything else, the Eastern Han Dynasty could easily last for several dozen or even hundreds of years.

The Sima family's crazy moves will not happen! China will be very stable.

As long as China is stable, it will be difficult for Mongolia to rise, and Kievan Rus will not be the next domino to fall.

After a slight sigh in his heart, he looked around.

Kiev is not an isolated city. There are dozens of villages and towns of all sizes within the city's radius. These towns can be regarded as Kiev's tributaries.

Then there are the neatly arranged farmlands that cover the entire plain, stretching almost to the horizon.

Ma Dan is really blessed with unique agricultural conditions.

Not to mention the Dnieper River in the distance. At this moment, you can see the fleets coming and going on the river.

If this place hadn't been destroyed by external forces, it would have been impossible for it not to develop!

Along the rivers and roads, a large amount of wealth and agricultural products flow in and out every day and night, like a flowing river of gold.

Thomas's gaze was fixed on the church dome in the distance.

Big, big enough!

It is not a problem to accommodate thousands of people praying at a time.

Thomas looked on with envy.

Along the way, Thomas had traveled through many towns and villages, large and small, and seen countless churches. Practical testing had proven that the speed at which a damaged godhead could gather divine power was related to the number of people present.

If it is a small country church with dozens of people attending the sacrament, there will basically not be much benefit.

But if it is a church in a larger city and there are hundreds of people attending the ceremony, then basically the damaged godhead can be condensed into divine power.

Sometimes, there are examples of two balls of divine power being condensed at once.

As for this church... Thomas estimated that the harvest would be extraordinary.

By visiting all the churches along the way, Thomas managed to accumulate seven or eight points of divine power despite his journey.

The accumulation speed is naturally slower than in Cardan City, but the time is not wasted.

Thomas and the others parted ways near Kiev. Rostislav had already made arrangements; he wasn't going to Kiev specifically, but to one of these nearby cities.

Although the two sides are on the same journey, their goals are actually completely different.

Rostislav came here to arrange for the rebels' families and would soon return to Bohemia.

Thomas came here to join the Sunflower Knights.

Although he had the letter of recommendation, Thomas didn't know where the Sunflower Knights were located. So all he had to do was go to the cathedral and ask around.

Entering the city gate, Thomas guessed that the city should have a population of several hundred thousand.

By the standards of this era, it's almost reached its limit. After all, it has developed for dozens, perhaps even hundreds of years longer than the history of the previous life.

Thomas believes that the main difference in the historical development of the two parallel planes is stability.

If a dynasty continues to exist more stably, the number of foreign invasions it faces will be greatly reduced.

After all, invasion is an opportunity-based thing. Only when a country is internally divided and politically weakened can it be vulnerable to external invasion.

But this kind of thing is mutual. You have no chance to invade me, and I have no chance to invade you.

For example, as far as Thomas knew, the several foreign enemies in Kiev had not yet been dealt with.

The Estonian Chuds in the north were still causing some friction on the border, and the Polovtsians (also known as the Kipchaks and Cumans, a Turkic nomadic people active in the southern Russian steppes) and Pechenegs in the east were still invading from time to time.

As for Poland in the west and Byzantium in the south, there is no need to say more.

Regardless of which parallel dimension, the Rus were always aggressive and ferocious. Her neighbors all disliked her, and frequent battles were the norm. Peaceful coexistence was impossible, not even in this lifetime.

When Thomas arrived at the church, a large-scale ceremony was taking place.

Thousands of people were in the church, praying.

Thomas naturally blended in with the crowd, sitting in the outermost corner of the church, just a visitor.

Anyway, there is no requirement for buying tickets to enter here, and no one is allowed to enter without a ticket.

In short, at the end of the several-hour ceremony, Thomas's divine power increased by two points.

This place is nice.

If Thomas had been a little hesitant before, he now truly thought this was a good place.

After the ceremony, Thomas found a church apprentice, a boy of twelve or thirteen.

"Excuse me, where can I find the Sunflower Knights?" Thomas asked, handing the other party a silver coin.

This is a very generous reward.

After receiving the money, the child's eyes became bright.

"It's right here!" he said. "I'll take you there."

He didn't care about anything else, dropped the work in his hands, and took Thomas through the church.

This church is actually not as big as it looks from outside the city. Although it is a relatively large building, its area is not exaggerated.

In addition to the main structure, there are only five ancillary buildings. The buildings are closely spaced, surrounded by high and neat walls, and there is a lot of greenery inside, with artificial gardens and flowers.

In front of the gate is a flight of granite steps, on which you can see many people coming in and out.

The child took Thomas to a gate in a high wall and suddenly asked a question.

"Are you here to join the Knights?"

"Oh," Thomas said, startled. "Yes. Are there many people joining the Order?"

"Quite a few recently," the child said with a sly smile, pointing to a monk in the distance. "Just ask him about the rest."

Section 2 The Knights

Thomas walked towards the monk - he didn't look like he was there by chance, but deliberately.

When he saw Thomas, the monk crossed himself and saluted him.

"Brother, what are you doing here?"

He was very polite, probably because he noticed that Thomas's steps were like those of a tiger or a dragon, and his behavior was different from that of ordinary people.

Thomas returned the salute. "Brother, my name is Thomas, and I wish to join the Order of the Sunflower."

After saying this, Thomas respectfully took out the letter of recommendation.

Although he was still a little nervous.