Chapter: The Saint
The bishop of the Church of Light could sense the remaining light power in Cheng Yu. Cheng Yu couldn't deny it.
"Yes, it was me. What do you want?" Cheng Yu admitted directly.
The wrinkles on Zern's face trembled slightly. He was so excited he burst into tears. "The prophecy of the first generation of priests turned out to be true!"
"Prophecy? What prophecy?"
Cheng Yu was confused.
"The first generation of priests of the Church once predicted a sage who inherited the will of the Goddess of Light would appear near Black Stone City. That sage possessed the same light power as the Goddess of Light and led the Church of Light to meet the Goddess of Light."
"Is it possible the prediction of your first generation of priests was wrong?"
Cheng Yu didn't inherit the will of the Goddess of Light at all—only inherited her underwear.
"It must be you! The remaining light power in you is much stronger than the light power we cultivate with light magic—just like the goddess herself."
Cheng Yu had pure light power and was near Black Stone City—perfectly matched the sage in the prophecy. Zern believed Cheng Yu was the one in the prophecy.
Then he invited Cheng Yu, "Join our Holy See of Light. We'll give you supreme status and honor."
"Not interested."
Joining a religion meant abiding by religious doctrines—similar to a company's employee code of conduct.
Cheng Yu had long been tired of working life. He issued an order to expel Zern and the others. "This is my territory. You can leave."
"My friend, don't rush to drive people away. We can talk about ideals and life," Zern said.
"Get out. I have nothing to talk about with an old man."
Who has nothing better to do than talk about life and ideals with an old man? If you want to talk, you should talk to a beautiful young lady.
Zern changed his way of expression and looked at Cheng Yu with hopeful eyes. "Young man, do you believe in light?"
"Sorry. I'm dark inside and don't believe in light," Cheng Yu said.
Zern didn't give up and continued, "Join our Church of Light. No matter how dark your heart is, it'll be illuminated by light."
Illuminate it!
Cheng Yu had no interest in the Church of Light at all. He said to Mina beside him, "Mina, turn on super fierce mode."
Awoo~
Mina's pretty face showed a fierce look. She made a low wolf-like whimper, baring her teeth at the Church of Light people.
While baring her teeth, the lightning arc of the Thunder Bracelet on Mina's wrist jumped. The purple current as thin as hair wandered around the surrounding environment. Everyone felt numb.
As long as Mina wanted, she could summon thunder to bombard them at any time.
This...
Zern was a bit scared. They hadn't come here to conflict with Cheng Yu. Seeing Cheng Yu was unwilling to join the Church of Light, he left tactfully.
After breakfast, Cheng Yu tried to learn stewing magic.
Just like Charles said, stewing magic was very simple life magic.
With his extremely high magic talent, Cheng Yu could learn the general idea after watching it once.
In addition to learning stewing magic, Cheng Yu tried to make bread.
Before, Cheng Yu had earned a lot of positive emotions and money by selling egg fried rice, buns, and barbecue, but the efficiency of obtaining positive emotions still wasn't high enough.
Cheng Yu planned to make bread to sell.
The staple food of the Black Sun Empire residents was potatoes first, bread second.
The bread made by local residents was too hard and shaped like a stick. It could be used as a weapon for self-defense—also called bread stick. Not very delicious.
Cheng Yu came to the kitchen and mixed a certain amount of yeast, sugar, eggs, and flour. After mixing evenly, he added butter that had turned into oil and continued mixing evenly, then kneaded it into dough.
Last time Cheng Yu went to Black Stone City, he'd met a necromancer named Barron.
Barron had sold Cheng Yu a preservative that could prevent corpses from rotting and food from spoiling.
Cheng Yu tested it with small animals and found this preservative was indeed non-toxic with no side effects.
Barron is a talent for making this pure natural preservative.
He added a little preservative to the dough.
"Mina!" Cheng Yu shouted.
Mina ran into the kitchen. "What's the matter?"
"Help me knead this dough for about ten minutes," Cheng Yu arranged.
When making buns before, Mina was responsible for kneading dough.
Now when making bread, Mina was still responsible for kneading dough.
Mina is Cheng Yu's dough-kneading tool.
"Okay!"
With a flame in her eyes, Mina was full of energy. She rolled up her sleeves, washed her hands, and kneaded the dough on the chopping board frantically.
After kneading the dough, let it rest for a while.
After the dough had risen, he brushed a layer of egg yolk on the dough's surface.
He cut the dough into eight small pieces, sprinkled some sesame seeds on them, and put them in the oven for baking.
Eight golden and soft breads came out of the oven.
"What's this?" Mina looked at the eight breads in surprise.
"Bread," Cheng Yu said.
"Aren't all breads shaped like sticks? As hard as stones."
Mina had seen bread, but in her impression, bread didn't look like this at all.
"This is the soft bread I improved."
Mina picked up a bread and tasted it. "It tastes good, but I still prefer meat."
After eating one, Mina didn't eat any more.
Cheng Yu also picked up a bread and tasted it. The texture was soft, sweet and delicious—much better than bread stick.
Cheng Yu found a place to put the remaining bread to see how long the preservative's effect could last.
In the next few days, Cheng Yu did nothing. He raised flowers and planted crops every day. When the corn in the field was ripe, he boiled the corn and ate it. When the tomatoes in the field were ripe, he squeezed them into tomato juice.
He marked out a piece of farmland, irrigated it, and planted a piece of high-quality fragrant rice.
Ivennie's plant growth magic had reached perfection. She spread the fragrant rice seeds into the fields and used plant growth magic to promote the fragrant rice's growth.
The fragrant rice seeds took root and sprouted, growing into seedlings.
The farmland was fertile. The farmland turned into a green rice field.
That afternoon, the Church of Light people came to Cheng Yu's manor again.
Bishop Zern saw Cheng Yu in the yard and waved to him happily. "Little brother, I have good news for you!"
Cheng Yu walked to the door with a dark face and annoyance. "Why are you here again? I said I won't join your Church of Light!"
Zern ignored Cheng Yu's impatience and said to himself, "After discussion between the Archbishop and several priests of the Church of Light, they all agreed you have extraordinary potential and can serve as the Saint of the Church of Light."
Cheng Yu's mouth twitched speechlessly. "No. I'm a man. You want me to be a Saint?"
"[Saint] is just a job title. Gender isn't important."
Just like there's no wife in wife cake, the Church of Light didn't stipulate the Saint must be a woman.
"Is there a position called Son of God?"
Cheng Yu used to read fantasy novels. A certain holy place had both Son of God and Saint.
Zern spread his hands. "No. There's only Saint."
The Celsis Continent was a Western fantasy world. There was no such thing as Son of God.
"As long as you agree to be a [Saint], I can promise you anything."
Zern knew very well humans were animals driven by interests. When someone refused you, it must be because the price you offered wasn't high enough.
That's why he came to Cheng Yu again and invited him to join the Church of Light.
After hearing what Zern said, Cheng Yu was really interested. He'd refused to join the Church of Light before because there were no benefits. If there were enough benefits, he'd still consider joining.
"Really? You can promise me anything?"
"Yes, that's right."
"I want to be the king of the Black Sun Empire."
"...Do you want me to pick the sun down for you to play with?"
Zern was speechless. What kind of request is this?
"Not impossible," Cheng Yu said.
"Change to a simpler one. It's unrealistic to help you become the king of the Black Sun Empire," Zern said unhappily.
"Tsk. Who just said you could agree to any condition?" Cheng Yu said disdainfully.
Zern's old face was gloomy. He'd just said he could agree to anything Cheng Yu said to show he could satisfy Cheng Yu's requirements to the maximum extent—not that he could really agree to anything.
"Help me find some high-level plant magic books. This should be no problem."
Ivennie had great magic talent but no high-level magic to learn.
Cheng Yu had always wanted to find high-level plant magic for Ivennie, but there was no good way.
The Church of Light not only had light magic but also had a collection of plant magic.
Zern nodded slightly. "That's no problem."
"And... I'm just a Saint in name, filling your vacant position—not showing up, and not subject to the constraints of your church," Cheng Yu added.
It's too socially dead for a man to be a [Saint] of the church and show up in public.
Zern's face fell. He was unhappy. He said righteously, "How can this be? A true Saint must fast every day, pray devoutly, preach to the people of the Black Sun Empire, and spread the great deeds of the Goddess of Light!"
"Okay, then you help me become the king of the Black Sun Empire, and I'll be a real Saint," Cheng Yu said.
Zern was stunned for a moment. "Uh... you should just be a Saint in name only."