A Guide to Becoming a God Starting from a Monastery

"Oh, I don't know his last name," said Thomas. "Everyone calls him Gandalf." Or Gandalf.

"Russians?"

"No, not really. He's from a very distant country... He should have gone back." Thomas really experienced the saying that if you tell a lie, you have to make up for it with ten lies.

"Gandalf? Gandalf..." The old man pondered the name, then continued, walking past Thomas.

After taking a few steps, he turned back. "That's a good name."

"Ah, yes, very good." Thomas could only reply.

"It's an exotic name," the old man said. "From a distant land? Not from China, right?"

There are people with the surname Gan in China, but there is probably no one named Daofu.

However, it was really surprising when the other party casually said the word "China".

For Europeans, China was a land of legends. While China itself was known to Europeans, it was only known to scholars. Ordinary people probably couldn't even spell it correctly.

“I don’t think so,” Thomas replied.

The old man nodded and took a step forward.

Thomas looked at the old man's back as he walked away, and suddenly he shuddered and remembered something.

This outfit...could he be a magician?

In fact, he had heard that the image of "Gandalf" in the movie was indeed derived from the image of a magician in European and American folklore.

With this in mind, Thomas didn't bother to go into the store. After all, if he delayed a little, the store wouldn't run away. He immediately followed the old man's back.

Chapter 19 Gandalf 2

Fortunately, firstly, there were no pedestrians blocking his view in the suburbs, and secondly, Thomas was young and healthy. So even though this "Gandalf" walked very fast, he was still caught up by Thomas.

"Old sir, old sir!" Thomas chased after him. The old man heard the call from behind, stopped and waited.

"Anything else?" the old man asked.

Just now, Thomas was shocked by his Gandalf-like appearance and was a little confused for a while, so he realized at this time that this person was indeed unusual.

There's something... indescribably special about him.

It seems to be particularly attractive to me.

This is not the first special person. The last one Thomas met was a man who called himself "Raven", who taught Thomas the necessary knowledge to advance to the elite level.

"Old man, I forgot to ask your name."

"I think Gandalf is a good name," the old man said with a sly smile. "You can call me Gandalf, too."

Thomas was choked and didn't say anything for a long time.

Is this an indirect rejection?

"Well... Mr. Gandalf," Thomas said helplessly. "Have I met you before?"

"Maybe." The old man answered casually.

"Are you a magician?" Thomas hesitated for a moment, then decided to go straight to the point.

"I guess so." The old man looked Thomas up and down. "Why, Mr. Knight, do you not like magicians?"

"I have no prejudice against magicians... I just... I think I saw you on the streets of Kiev's main city a few days ago. I remember you were accompanied by a companion who was wearing a scimitar. It's not common to see that, so I was deeply impressed."

"Oh..." The old man uttered this word meaningfully.

“I think that’s you,” Thomas said.

The old man stood still, his eyes surveying Thomas. "The first level of the Magical Web..." he said. "Very good talent, to be able to access the first level of the Magical Web at your age... Well, when did you start learning meditation? How long have you been studying?"

“Over two years,” Thomas said.

The old man's eyes seemed to light up, and he once again looked Thomas up and down, from his armor to his sword, staring at everything carefully.

"You lied to me," he said casually. "Otherwise, would the church be willing to let someone like you become a knight?"

"Uh... this..." Thomas wanted to explain, but found it difficult to do so.

"Tell me, who sent you to see me? The Grand Duke of Kiev?" the old man said impatiently. "My words remain unchanged. One of the fundamental principles of alchemy is that everything has a price! No one can create gold out of thin air!"

"Could it be... that you are the great magician in the rumors?" Thomas asked solemnly.

"Great magician? That's not really... well, you weren't sent by anyone?" the old man said doubtfully. "I'm not a great magician, just a consultant. Others might exaggerate and call me a sage, but I know I'm just a consultant. People pay me to find answers, that's all."

"Spending money looking for answers? Why? Can you answer any questions?"

“Everything has a price, but knowledge is the greatest luxury,” the old man replied.

"Who was your companion when we last met?" Thomas asked. "What questions did he ask you?"

The old man stretched out his thumb, index finger and middle finger, made a classic gesture of counting money, and then left only the index finger.

"This is?"

"Everything has a price, and knowledge is the greatest luxury. I never provide free services!" said the old man seriously.

Thomas took a florin from his pocket and handed it to the other man.

"His original name should be Boris, but now he is called the 'blasphemous knight'." The old man put away the gold coins and replied.

"Blasphemy Knight?"

"You haven't heard of it?"

"No... Um, is he famous?"

"He's not very famous. He just happened to be on the wanted list in Rus', Hungary, Poland, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Roman Catholic Church. Oh, maybe there are other countries looking for him too, but I'm not sure. By the way, in Kievan Rus', he's ranked fifth on the wanted list. Worth an estate!"

"A... protector of the country?" Thomas thought of this instinctively.

If he didn't have the ability to protect his country, how did he survive being wanted by so many countries?

"Huh... Protecting the Nation? Well, that shouldn't be the case." The old man paused. "He's seeking the path to protect the Nation. So I think he's reached what's commonly known as the peak of the elite and is searching for a way to ascend."

"Are you sure?"

"Indeed. Because he sought the path to enlightenment from me," the old man replied. "If he already knew, or even had taken that step, why would he seek knowledge from me?"

"You told him?"

"Yes." The old man said with a little arrogance.

Thomas' eyes lit up.

"If you know how to walk the Road to Protect the Country, then you must know... the Road to the Elite, right?" Thomas asked.

"Yes, I know," the old man replied. "But..." He stared at Thomas with a piercing gaze that reminded Thomas of the X-ray machine he had encountered in the hospital in his previous life.

"If I'm not mistaken, you've succeeded," he said. "That's remarkable."

At this age, it is already remarkable to be promoted to elite.

The most common way to be promoted to elite is to transcend life and death, but it is not so easy to transcend life and death.

It's not an easy thing for anyone.

"I learned a secret art," Thomas said. "But I only know part of it. So I want to know the rest."

"Part of it?" the old man stared at Thomas. "Where did you learn this secret technique?"

"I bought the scroll from a passing merchant," Thomas said. "He told me the secret scroll consists of three volumes, upper, middle, and lower, each of which is a prerequisite for practicing the next. But he only has the first volume. He said this secret scroll came from a monastery in Kiev..."

"You want to know about this secret technique?" The old man gestured, indicating a number. "If you just want a rough idea, this is it."

"...Mr. Gandalf, why would a wise man like you be obsessed with money?" Thomas took out five florins from his pocket, but still couldn't help complaining.

"Everything has a price, but knowledge is the greatest luxury," the old man replied proudly. "Besides, even a sage needs to eat. Even a sage needs to pay for shopping. Even a sage needs to pay for various living expenses!"

"Okay." Thomas had no choice but to hand over the money.

This information was indeed worth his money, because it was really troublesome to find it himself.

"This secret art originated from the church of an untraceable ancient deity, originating directly from the East, likely Persia, or perhaps even further east. It is part of a larger secret art. Someone compiled a relatively independent portion of it into a separate volume and sold it to the church in Kiev. However, without the support of other content, its practice was extremely difficult, so it was lost after a brief circulation in Kiev. If you're looking for the other volumes, I suggest you look for them in the monastery outside Novgorod. If they weren't destroyed due to lack of use, they must be preserved there."

Thomas was stunned. "How did you know that?" he couldn't help asking. Then he immediately took out another five florins. This was all the money he had left in his pocket.

"Of course I know." The old man took the money nonchalantly. "I'm the editor."

Chapter 20 Gandalf 3

Thomas didn't know what to say for a moment.

Damn, it seems like I found a treasure!

Although this old man who looks like Gandalf asks for money, things that can be solved with money are not a big deal.

Money, although precious, is the least scarce thing.

Because it's everywhere.

Most importantly, Thomas is rich now!

The old man looked at Thomas again. "Young man, I haven't asked you your name yet."

This was the first time he asked Thomas' name. Or rather, before this moment, Thomas was not qualified to give his name at all.

People just treat him as an ordinary person.

A passerby who doesn't need to be paid attention to.

Say a few words, complete a few transactions, and then see each other for the rest of your life - in that case, there is really no need to remember names.

But now, the old man started to care about him.

"My name is... Aragorn!" said Thomas.

"Aragorn? What a strange name," the old man said. "Well then, Aragorn, have you really only learned to meditate for two years?"

In fact, Thomas hardly meditated at all.

Although improving magical abilities is also part of his plan, this plan has a lower priority.

Thomas would rather learn martial arts than magic which is easily exposed.

After all, one magic today, one magic tomorrow, and you have to go to the grill the day after tomorrow.

"Yes."

The old man didn't believe it at first, but now he believes it a little.

Because Thomas has mastered a secret technique that is basically impossible to master.

The secret technique was inherently difficult, and Thomas had only mastered a man-made, castrated version. The ability to master something like this only showed incredible talent.

"That's unlikely... You've already touched the first layer of the Weave in two years. That means within thirty... forty years at most, you have a high probability of touching the seventh layer or even higher!" The old man looked Thomas over as if he had discovered an alien. "Do you know what this means? It means that in Rome, you have a good chance of becoming a cardinal, or even Pope. In Kiev, if you so desire, you could become Patriarch! I even dare say that with enough experience and Constantinople's approval, you have a good chance of becoming Patriarch."

Being the Pope is too difficult, but just being qualified to think about the position of Pope is a very impressive thing in itself.

How could a normal priest be qualified to think about such things?

"You," the old man said, "why do you want to be a knight?"

"Maybe it's because I want to be a knight," Thomas replied. "I don't want to be a priest because I think..."

“Is the church corrupt?”

“Maybe?” Thomas said.

"Then," the old man's eyes lit up. "Do you want to be a magician?"

"Magician? What do you mean?"

"Ahem! Ahem! If you can reach the first level of the magic network after two years of meditation, then you are indeed qualified to be my disciple!"

At this moment, the old man's eyes seemed to be glowing.

Unfortunately, Thomas had no intention of becoming a magician.

Apart from anything else, he had discovered that he could only gather divine power by staying in a church or at least near one. In other words, Thomas had no magical talent at all outside the church.

"I still want to be a knight," Thomas replied.

"You're obsessed with the mundane," the old wizard sighed. "It can't be helped. This world is filled with discrimination against wizards, unrealistic discrimination. They all think that becoming a wizard requires enduring loneliness, boundless solitude, and the need to be alone in those towering magical towers, spending long hours staring at crystal balls, mumbling spells written in virgin blood on snake skin, and poring over moldy scriptures."