Chapter 292
Chapter 292. Establishing a Faith
After Brian spent a peaceful, comfortable night and woke up in his house the next morning, he heard a commotion outside.
“What’s going on...?”
“Why has the snow here melted?”
“Why do those people who went to that church or whatever last night seem different?!”
Those words made Brian, who had only just woken up and still carried a trace of drowsiness, snap fully awake. He jumped out of bed, put on warm clothing, and rushed outside.
When he pushed open the door, he saw this scene.
The entire village had crowded around that small house, with no gaps left between them.
What surprised Brian the most was that the snow around the house had already melted, revealing solid ground beneath it, and the crowd was standing on the land where the accumulated snow had melted away.
Someone in the crowd opened his outer clothing, and after that, he did not put it back on.
When the others saw this, they followed suit and opened their own outer clothing, leaving only thin inner garments.
To these people’s delighted surprise, even though they were now wearing such thin clothes, they did not feel cold at all.
From Brian’s perspective, what he saw was the crowd collectively cheering because they felt warmth. This made his hand unconsciously lower from the air.
Brian also saw something that drew his attention greatly.
Above the church, he could vaguely see a golden phantom appear. It had a pair of feathered wings, but its face could not be seen clearly.
However, after he blinked, he could no longer see that golden phantom no matter how he looked.
“Was it an illusion?” Brian shook his head, but he still did not see that phantom again.
Thus, he lowered his head and stopped thinking about that phantom. Instead, he looked at the changes beside him.
He did not know whether it was his imagination, but after the crowd began cheering, he seemed to feel much warmer, and...
Brian lowered his gaze. Beside his feet, the layer of snow was slowly melting.
---
Anna stood on the second floor of the church and looked down. She could not help swallowing. For the first time, she felt where the gap between mages and other Professionals truly lay.
Before this, she had never seen a Professional like Fulan, who seemed capable of almost everything and stood out in every aspect.
If Fulan’s previous combat ability had made her somewhat envious, then this incident filled her with a deep shock toward the methods of mages.
She looked at the crowded villagers below as they requested to join the church in front of the few people Fulan had received last night. After receiving permission, they lowered their heads and prayed on the other side.
“Is this the power of an Alliance mage?”
To be honest, when Fulan first told Anna to build a church, Anna had been rather confused.
In Anna’s mind, Fulan’s action meant that she wanted to establish a faith, which was why she had sent Anna here first to set up a church.
But in Anna’s shallow understanding, she knew that not every religious group could be called a true faith.
A faith like the Church of the Goddess of the Currents was a typical example. It had a vast body of believers, a complete internal priest system, and sufficient religious activities.
Anna was not surprised that such a faith possessed methods that allowed people to become Professionals, along with a vast Professional system.
But aside from the Church of the Goddess of the Currents, Anna had also heard of many small religions in the past.
Before she arrived at White Dragon Harbor, she had passed through many places, and on the road, she had encountered many strange and peculiar beliefs.
Things like the Fish King and the Lord of the Forest were still understandable. She had even encountered a religion that believed in a wildflower that could be seen everywhere.
That religious group had placed that wildflower, which Anna had seen many times in other places but which was rarely seen in this particular area, upon an altar. Then the villagers of several towns worshiped it with deep reverence.
This incident had left a deep impression on Anna. Therefore, when Fulan asked her to find a church, the first thing Anna thought was whether Fulan wanted to create a religious group similar to that wildflower faith.
After all, although Anna did not know the process of establishing a true faith, she still knew that even for the sake of a faith’s future development, one could not establish it inside a small village, right?
Fulan had asked her to establish this faith in a small village where no one knew how long it would take before another outsider passed by.
No matter how Anna looked at it, Fulan did not seem as though she truly intended to operate a faith seriously.
But reality once again refuted her guess. As those villagers prayed one by one, even she, a Ranger, could clearly sense an unknown fluctuation on the divine statue.
By now, how could Anna still fail to understand? The faith of these villagers could produce extraordinary power, and there was also a chance that it could produce Professionals.
This discovery made her eyes widen, and she felt as though her previous understanding had been overturned.
That was because before this, she had believed that faith, including the faith of the Church of the Goddess of the Currents, was merely a banner.
She had believed that the reason the Professionals inside those religious groups were different from other Professionals was only because their internal Professional systems were relatively special. Fundamentally, there was no essential difference between them and other professions.
It was not only her. Most Professionals thought the same way, believing that the faith of these religious groups merely borrowed a name.
However, after seeing extraordinary power appear on that divine statue, Anna overturned her previous assumption.
That was because beneath the divine statue, she saw Ella, whose arm had been injured a few days ago, now standing completely unharmed in front of the divine statue.
Perhaps because of that incident, these villagers were all very willing to approach Ella.
Anna could clearly see that inside Ella’s body, that fluctuation was gradually taking shape, and Ella’s physical movements also seemed a little lighter and smoother than at the beginning.
“She can already be called a veteran Apprentice-Tier Professional.”
Anna was extremely curious about the changes in Ella’s body and stared at her without blinking.
“She won’t directly advance into a Professional of the formal tier, will she?”
One had to know that even after Anna obtained the Ranger advancement method, she had still spent roughly a year training before she successfully advanced.
But judging from Ella’s current state, it seemed that as long as time passed, she would be able to become a formal Professional.
“She won’t advance right now, because there aren’t enough people.”
Fulan’s sudden interjection startled Anna, but Anna soon recovered and grew curious about what Fulan had just said.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean there are too few people in this village. Even if the two nearby villages are also converted into believers, it still won’t be enough to let her advance to the formal tier.”
“If she can convert the entire Snow Bear Territory into believers, then advancing to the formal tier will naturally be more than enough.”
Anna understood the meaning in Fulan’s words, so she asked in return:
“You want Ella to spread this faith throughout the entire Snow Bear Territory? But didn’t you already use up the one thing the lord promised you in exchange for these three villages?”
Fulan revealed a meaningful expression, then said:
“That is indeed the case. So this matter is only a small request from me to that lord. If the lord doesn’t agree...”
Fulan stopped and did not continue. Anna also knew what method Fulan intended to use.
The two of them fell silent for a while. Then Anna asked:
“Then why did you choose these three villages? Wouldn’t it be better to open this faith directly in Snow Bear City?”
This had been Ella’s question all along. Even if Fulan truly wanted to create a real faith, logically speaking, this faith should be in Snow Bear City, or even outside the Northern Society, rather than in this small village.
Fulan smiled, then said:
“That isn’t my purpose in asking for these three small villages. Developing a faith and what I want to do are two separate things. I merely happened to do the other matter first.”
“Just now, I was doing that other matter.”
As she spoke, Fulan took out a huge stone slab and pointed to the words on it.
Anna read the words on it aloud.
“Believer Precepts...”
“All believers’ property is protected...”
“All those who violate believers’ rights will be brought to the church and undergo judgment...”
“Judgment will determine whether this person is guilty, and what punishment should be imposed...”
This was one of Fulan’s attempts to obtain Territorial Blessing. She had not first used Law School spells to impose coercion, but had instead established a system to test the waters.
In order to ensure as much as possible that this system would be accepted by the people in the village, she had gone to great pains to design this ‘law’ in a simplified form.
Moreover, considering the productivity conditions here, she had deliberately set in the law that all judgments would be decided by people, and that the standards of punishment would also be discussed before being implemented on their own.
The goal was to fit the circumstances of this village.
Fulan knew that inside the Alliance, institutions similar to courts had actually existed for a long time. But in this backward feudal territory, all coercive measures were carried out by the villagers themselves.
If someone beat you, you could just beat them back yourself. If they truly encountered someone guilty of the most heinous crimes, then all the villagers would simply kill that person together.
In contrast, Fulan’s simplified court system actually seemed somewhat ‘progressive.’
“Carry it out according to the rules written on it. If someone violates them, discuss it with the believers, then carefully think about an appropriate punishment.”
Anna looked at the contents written on it and felt a headache coming on. She said:
“Why are you making me do this? I’m really not good at this kind of thing. Besides, if I’m doing this, what are you going to do?”
“I have other things to do. I need to leave this place for a few days.”
“Ah?! You’re leaving at a time like this? Wasn’t this faith only just established?”
Anna could not quite understand Fulan’s thinking. Their faith had only just begun to show promise, so why was Fulan already going off to do something else?
Fulan glanced at Anna. Had she not brought Anna back to the Northern Society precisely because she wanted someone to help her manage things?
Now was exactly the time when she needed Anna, while she herself still had matters in the Spirit Realm to handle.
“All right. I’ll do it.”
Under Fulan’s gaze, Anna still accepted this errand.