Upon entering his favorite watering hole, Grant was shocked by the scene before him.
Instead of men gathered around tables with dice while they drank and wagered a few pennies, the vast majority of men at that moment were sitting at tables with books in their hands!
To confirm this, Grant even left the pub and looked back at the entrance to make sure he was in the right place, then walked back in and was shocked to see friends of his holding books!
All of their books had black covers with a red heart design, while the outline of the design was delicately drawn with very elegant little patterns, showing just how expensive these books were.
As Grant approached the table where his friends were sitting, he saw one of his friends with a big smile on his face as he looked between the book he was holding and the other four people at the table.
"You're screwed with my hand, I'll bet 5 chips." Eliot said as he rubbed his finger on something in the book and laughed as he looked around at his friends.
And that was what confused Grant the most, because he knew Eliot very well, even to the point of knowing that Eliot couldn't read.
So why was Eliot holding a book?
"Hey guys, where did you get such a flimsy book?" Grant couldn't resist asking after greeting them.
Looking in the direction of the voice, the men looked at the newly arrived Grant and greeted him back.
"Wait until the game is over Grant and I'll explain." One of his friends said as he went back to concentrating on his book.
Hearing this, Grant became even more curious and went to sit next to this friend, wanting to see what was in this book that was making everyone act so strangely, even the illiterate!
When he looked into the book, Grant was shocked to see that there were glowing things inside!
Is this a magic book?! Grant wondered in shock.
Knowing how expensive magic books were, he knew there was no way his friends could afford books like this, but almost everyone in the pub was holding books just like this.
Out of curiosity, Grant walked over to another friend and saw that his friend's book also had shiny things in it, and even more surprisingly, the things in this book were different from the things he saw in the other book!
But they were so focused on this "game" that no one stopped to explain to Grant what was going on.
Until finally Eliot won the other men's chips and the hand was over, allowing them to take a break while they began to explain to Grant what was going on and invited him over to play as well!
Hearing the explanation that this book was actually a divine artifact that the God of the Internet, the God of old Father Robert's church, made available to believers who prayed to him, shocked Grant.
Even more so after his friend showed him all the things he could do on the Internet, which made Grant even more excited to the point that he even prayed and saw the beautiful book floating in front of him.
The friend who invited him got excited when he saw the 10 Internet Coins that had just been added to his account, and quickly deposited 2 more Internet Coins into [CardMasters], adding them to the 7 Coins he had left after losing 3 Coins to Eliot, for a total of 27 Coins in his account.
He hadn't even bought any books after going online, he just directly deposited the Internet Coin he had for checking in today after learning that he would get 2 more Internet Coins for free tomorrow.
In a few minutes of adjustment and tutorial, Grant quickly learned how to play and also joined them to play poker.
While there were a few people at other tables playing Blackjack, or even people playing Solitaire, almost everyone was using the Internet at the moment.
- Adrian's POV ---
It was hard not to smile when I looked at the number of believers using the Internet right now.
From the 60 believers I had at the beginning of the day, that number has quadrupled to 240 believers tonight after the [CardMasters] launch!
The amount of Divine Power points I received every hour was almost 100 points, considering that not all users were online at the time, but that number was staggering!
When the Internet update arrived, Father Robert's reaction was priceless, even more so when he realized that I had commented on card games with him before the game was released, he imagined that I was just checking the world's information for the Internet God and felt very honored to be consulted.
I just pretended that was really the case and spent some more time helping him plan things for school and went out to see how the players were responding to the new app.
But before I left, I gave Father Robert a tip.
When he heard my tip, he quickly opened [Carrier Pigeon] and made a post just as I suggested.
[The Church of Internet God is offering classes for those who want to learn to read and write to use the Internet! Tell your friends and family who can't read to come to the Church of the Internet God to learn to read and write under Father Robert! Don't let this opportunity pass you by!]
As soon as this post was made, dozens of replies came in and several users liked the priest's post.
Seeing his reaction as he received notifications from people who liked and commented on his post thanking him, the smile on the priest's face became gigantic.
[This is great! My son is dying to use the Internet, but he can't read yet...]
[My friends who can't read are very excited about this, they're going to church tomorrow!]
[Thank you Father Robert for this idea!]
[How much are the lessons, Father Robert?]
Seeing the people asking how much the lessons would cost, the priest was surprised and turned to look for Athenos, but seeing only a lifeless white statue, he became worried as he thought about a fair price.
I didn't want to interfere with the price he wanted to charge, since he was helping me get the faithful to use the Internet even more, what was wrong with letting the man make money?
It's not like money would do me any good, especially a few pennies like that.
After much thought, Father Robert finally came up with a figure and replied.
[The classes cost two copper coins a week to help maintain the church].
He replied, worried that this amount would be considered too high.
A day's work for a commoner earned an average of 7 to 14 copper coins a day, or an average of 63 copper coins a week.
If he hired 30 students, he would earn 60 coins a week, which would be enough to live on and also give some coins to Amber to thank her for her help.
But he was afraid that Athenos would be angry with him for receiving this money while helping the god.
Fortunately, the reaction of the people was very good, because 2 copper coins weren't much to spend a week learning to read.
At the end of the day, I looked at my amount of Divine Power with a big smile.
=========================
| Character Status
=========================
| Name: Adrian Innovashine
| Titles: God of Creativity, God of the Internet,
| Level: Embryonic Divinity Rank 1
|------------------------
| Divine Power: 1,310 / 10,000 -> 1,910 / 10,000 (+600)
=========================
I had received a total of 600 Divine Power points from all the believers today, considering that many of them hadn't used the Internet for such a long time.
And considering that when the men went home, they told their families about the Internet, either to show how amazing it was, or just to get the 10 Internet Coins they received for the invitations, this meant that I received even more believers at the end of the night, even though these believers didn't use the Internet for a long time before they went to sleep.
When all the believers were asleep and there were no new arrivals, I felt the number of believers and had a big smile when I realized that 290 people had used the Internet so far.
At the rate the Internet is spreading, I don't doubt that soon the capital of the Arcantor Kingdom will be completely conquered by me!
The next day, Father Robert's surprise was huge when he realized that more than 100 people wanted to sign up to learn to read and write!
In fact, he was so confused about whether to accept these people and receive the 200 copper coins that he desperately prayed to me again for advice.
But while I was taking control of the statue in the church and going to help Father Robert, an emergency meeting was being held at the Arcantor School of Magic, the largest magic school in the kingdom.
And the purpose of this meeting was a certain book that one of the students was reading during one of the school's classes.
The cover of the book read: "Mortal Magic: Apprentice".
The book itself was very good, but that wasn't the reason for an emergency meeting of the school's administration.
The real reason was who was behind this book... the new god of Arcantor.
In a meeting room inside the Arcantor Magic School, two men and a woman sat in the main chairs, while another 25 people were scattered among the 30 normal chairs.
Only one person was standing, a young boy in a white robe.
The difference in identity between them was clear, both from the position of their chairs and the clothes they wore.
The three main people wore purple robes, while the other 25 people wore red robes, like some kind of uniform.
In Arcantor Magic School, the red cloak was only allowed for Sage Mages, representing the power and prestige that a Sage Mage had.
The purple cloak, on the other hand, was reserved for the three Archmages of the kingdom, signifying the royalty and mystery that this level of power represented.
The white cloak, on the other hand, was for the magical apprentices, representing that they were a blank slate, ready to be painted any color by the knowledge they would come in contact with along the way.
To put it in proportions, while a single Sage Mage was extremely powerful, equivalent to the destruction a battle tank could cause in a medieval war, the Archmages were on a level where the destruction they could cause was on the level of an atomic bomb...
Despite the different identities that each of the participants in this meeting had, they all had worried expressions on their faces as they looked at the boy in the white cloak and the book in the hand of Jaina, the only woman among the Archmages.
As Jaina analyzed the book in her hands, everyone remained silent, waiting for what she would say.
"The contents of this book show an understanding of Apprentice-level magic so profound that not even I would have the confidence to write something of this quality and depth... Whoever wrote it may be on a higher level than me." Jaina said with a serious look on her face.
Looking at the blonde woman who seemed to be only 28 years old, everyone in the room was shocked, even the other two Archmages.
"Are you sure, Jaina? Between us, you're the Archmage with the best didactics... is it possible that whoever wrote this book is above Archmage level?" Harry, a brown-haired man with round glasses who seemed to be in his forties, asked in surprise.
"The last wizard to cross the Archmage barrier died thousands of years ago, maybe this book is some kind of remnant of that wizard?" Charles, the oldest looking Archmage who seemed to be in his 50s, said thoughtfully.
Although all the Archmages looked very young, their ages were already very advanced, with Jaina being the youngest among them, only 68 years old, though she looked 28, Harry 96 years old, and Charles, the oldest, 113 years old.
Since they were on a very advanced path of magic, their life expectancy had increased greatly, especially compared to commoners, who had a much lower life expectancy than people from the countryside.
"That's not a remnant of that wizard..." Jaina sighed as she looked deeper into the book.
"How could it not be? Who could have written it? If someone had become an Archmage, we would know about it, let alone someone who went beyond that..." Harry commented confused.
Shifting her gaze from the book she was holding to the young wizard apprentice in the white cloak, Jaina spoke. "Raymond, explain to everyone where you got this book."
Hearing the Archmage say his name, Raymond, the young apprentice wizard, stepped forward and prepared to explain where he got the book.
In his mind, Raymond cursed himself for his greed in wanting to read the magic book he had bought from the Arcantor Magic School on the Internet.
Why didn't I wait to read it at home? He mentally cursed himself for being so stupid.
Especially since he felt that fate was against him as he walked through the corridors of the school, when Archmage Jaina passed him and was amazed by the letters of the book glowing in the dark.
When she asked him where he got it, Raymond knew he was screwed and didn't even try to lie, just confessed that he got it by praying to the God of the Internet.
Hearing this, Jaina got serious and quickly took him to the meeting room where only Sage Mages had access and called an emergency meeting.
When Raymond saw so many Sage Mages coming to the meeting because of him, he already felt that he was screwed, but when even the other two Archmages of the kingdom came to the meeting, Raymond just had a mental breakdown and just hoped that nothing would happen to his family.
With so much money invested in him for the better future he could bring to the family, Raymond was his family's hope to rise from a mere barony to an even better noble position.
Unfortunately, Raymond imagined that from now on he wouldn't exist anymore, and the only thing left for him to do was to be obedient in order to lessen the punishment for his family.
"I summoned this book after praying to the God of the Internet." Raymond said in a quiet voice.
Hearing where this book came from, everyone was shocked.
"You said you got it by praying to a god?" Charles asked in an even more serious voice as a subtle spiritual pressure leaked out of him, making Raymond almost unable to control his own bladder.
"Yes, Lord Charles. I'm sorry..." Raymond said, controlling himself as much as possible so as not to humiliate himself in front of everyone.
With Raymond's acknowledgement, Charles realized that he had overreacted to the boy and quickly regained control of his own magical pressure.
As soon as the pressure returned to his body, even the wise mages breathed a sigh of relief, as even they felt pressured by this accidental display of power.
Turning his gaze to Jaina and Harry, Charles sighed as he noticed the same concern on the faces of the other two Archmages.
But unlike them, the wise wizards were confused as to why they were so worried.
"Please, Harry, explain to them why we're so worried... I need to calm down a bit." Charles said, sighing and closing his eyes.
Hearing this, Harry sighed and nodded before looking at the wise wizards.
"Several centuries ago, the world was invaded by a powerful god. The power of this god was so enormous that even the most powerful archmages and centurions of various kingdoms were no threat to the god." Archmage Harry said with a serious and slightly frustrated voice.
Hearing that not even Archmages or Centurions, the equivalent of Archmages among Knights, could pose the slightest threat to this God, the wise mages were completely shocked.
But the most shocked of all was Raymond, who had just discovered that he was praying to such a powerful being!
Archmage Harry continued. "After showing how weak the Archmages and Centurions were compared to him, the God didn't attack or cause any damage. He just ordered all the kingdoms to build a church in every capital, but as long as that church was always functional, it could be built anywhere."
Hearing this, the various wise mages began to remember the old church run by a single priest in the city.
Seeing their recognition, Archmage Harry nodded. "Yes, the church in the capital of Arcantor was built at the command of that powerful and mysterious god."
"This God never said his name or what the origin of his divinity was, only that the churches should be built and that a few years later, other gods would come to these churches and fight. Each church would represent a country, and the gods of each church would be responsible for bringing qualitative changes to the countries they were in," Archmage Harry explained. Archmage Harry explained.
Hearing this, the Wise Mages' eyes widened in shock, especially when they realized the implications of this.
"Yes... that God may have come to pave the way for his subordinate gods to come to our world to fight each other in some kind of competition. And we're probably just the pawns on that big board." Harry said regretfully. "Even though hundreds of years have passed and the story of that day is only passed down to the leaders of each country, many today wouldn't even believe it to be true, but apparently... this one." He said, pointing to the book in Jaina's hand. "It is proof that the day has finally come..."
Listening to Archmage Harry's explanation, both the Wise Mages and Raymond were completely shocked.
"These gods... are they as powerful as the god our ancestors saw in the past?" One of the wise mages asked.
"I don't think so." Archmage Jaina replied. "Perhaps our world is being used as a test to select the best among the gods, so the extremely powerful god who came in the past was one of the test examiners, while the current gods are like the examinees."
Hearing this, the wise mages at least heaved a sigh of relief, knowing that they weren't dealing with such frightening figures.
"But don't let that fool you." Charles warned. "We are only speculating, but the strength of this god that has appeared remains unknown. What we should understand now is what course of action to take after understanding all the information we have about this mysterious god."
As soon as Charles said this, he opened his eyes, looked at Raymond much more calmly, and asked politely. "Young Raymond, please tell us everything you know about this Internet God."
Hearing Archmage Charles' question and knowing all the background of what was going on, Raymond was no slouch and began to tell him exactly everything he knew so far.
////NunuNote////
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