"I didn't expect that the Naga Kingdom and the Mermaid and Fish-Man United Kingdom would choose to send troops at this time to clear the remaining pirates in the Arctic Ocean, it is said that the Pirate Alliance has suffered heavy losses and is ready to escape around the North Pole to the Western Ocean, the sea they are most familiar with, but according to my estimate, they should not be able to escape the pursuit of the United Kingdom soldiers. ”

The next time he saw Bill, it was two hours later, and the human priest shared the news he had just received with Talos.

He was not indignant that fellow human pirates had been slaughtered by the Sea Clan, but on the contrary, as a clergyman who was deeply influenced by the goddess of wealth in both his thinking and acting patterns, it was good news for him.

Talos also knew about this matter, which came from Alesha's notice just now, and he nodded in agreement: "Yes, among the four pirates of the Central Ocean, the barbarian pirates were all wiped out on Black Dragon Island, and the pirates under the command of Tidal Shooter Robert were originally Naga, and the remaining two were attacked by vampires after entering the Leth Triangle like the Pirate Alliance, and suffered heavy losses, and now they are being pursued by Sea Clan soldiers. ”

Naga made a gesture representing death, a little gloating: "According to the current situation, the United Kingdom is responsible for cleaning up the Western Ocean, and the Naga Kingdom is responsible for cleaning up the Central Ocean, and the sea will return to the arms of the Sea Clan in the future - what are you looking at?"

The second half of Talos was addressed to Richard, who had been staring at his tail, and Naga's fiery gaze made Naga feel very uncomfortable, and if he had hair on his tail, it must have all stood up by now.

"I'm wondering......" Richard withdrew his gaze from Talos' eight-foot-long tail, "will your scales save my fleet from robbery, given the fact that the pirates who will be active in the central ocean will be Naga in the future." The identity of the heir of the Black Sea Lord should be enough, right?"

"You must be kidding, by the way, the second in line to the throne. ”

Talos flicked his tail lightly and whipped it on Richard's calf, surprised to find that the human blood knight's calf was not as thick as the end of his own tail, such a direct comparison gave him a deeper understanding of the size of the Naga's large creatures.

"I'm a Naga and I'm not a dragon, and there's no tradition of giving scales in recognition. Taking a step back, even if I give you a scale, it doesn't have the dragon power on it to recognize. Cut out the unrealistic thoughts, Richard, and now the focus is on the treasure hunt ritual about whether Bill can be successfully promoted to the third order. ”

Richard and Alessa followed Talos together, separated from Bill, walked towards a small hill, and said puzzledly, "I thought I could see the will of the goddess of wealth up close." ”

"Believe me, unless you're a member of the church—no disrespect in advance—it's not an experience to look forward to. Talos, who had just had the privilege of experiencing it, admonished.

With the open view from the hill, Talos could clearly see that not far away Bill was making final preparations in front of an altar that had just been erected by two priests.

It was a very simple-looking, but not shabby-looking altar, with the emblem of the goddess of wealth embellished on a circular altar with a radius of five feet, and a handful of golden fleeces, reflecting the atmosphere of the earth's riches and wealth in the afterglow of the setting sun.

That alone was enough to make other clergy who prayed on a large scale in the wild bury their heads in shame in the ground, presumably only those clergy who insisted that "pious faith is more important than precious sacrifices" were exempted from such a low-key and luxurious altar.

On the altar, all the treasures that Bill had acquired during his adventure were placed, two chests full of gold coins, a chest full of jewels, and several other treasures as ceremonial offerings for the treasure hunt.

- Bill had already checked when he got the chest, and the value of a gold chest was at least 5,000 gold.

"Let's get started!"

At Bill's orders, the two young pastors each took out a musical instrument and played and sang a hymn in praise of the goddess of wealth.

The human priest took a deep breath, knelt down in front of the altar and began to pray reverently to the goddess of wealth.

In the eyes of many outsiders who do not understand theology, the clergy hold all kinds of sacrificial ceremonies extremely grand, solemn, luxurious, and complex, from costumes, rituals, chants, and prayers to have very strict steps and requirements, in order to maximize the respect and reverence for the gods and expand the influence of the gods.

It is undeniable that this is indeed the original purpose of part of the ritual, but the most fundamental function of the sacrament is to enable the clergy participating in the sacrificial celebration to completely empty their minds in the shortest possible time with the help of the sacred and solemn atmosphere, enter a state of absolute humility and admiration, fit the will of the gods from the depths of their hearts, and agree with the gods from the soul and faith.

Bill knelt in front of the altar and quickly entered the state with the help of the humble sacraments and pious prayers, completed the sublimation of his soul and faith, and asked for the answer of the goddess of wealth in the most pious and humble gesture, giving him the authority and glory belonging to the third-order bishops.

"You're right, it's a good thing we didn't get a close-up view of the ceremony. ”

Time passed by without a movement at the circular altar, and when the two young priests sang the hymn for the eleventh time, Richard finally began to feel a little bored.

Considering Richard's status as a believer in the goddess of wealth and the impression of being bored, the excessive cumbersomeness of the treasure hunt ritual can be seen.

As soon as the words fell, one or two pleasant sounds similar to the collision of gold coins suddenly appeared in the chant, which made people feel refreshed and happy, and became more and more frequent.

"The Goddess of Fortune is beginning to respond to Bill's treasure hunt. Such a highly personal omen would have made it difficult for Talos to draw other conclusions.

Sure enough, in the next instant, the Golden Fleece Holy Emblem on the circular altar glowed with a round of golden light.

This golden light is very elegant, like a ray of sunlight reflected by a gold coin, extraordinary and not dazzling, but also with a magnificent sacredness that is difficult to ignore.

The fact that the ceremony was reciprocated by the goddess of fortune made the chants of the two young priests even brighter, and faith and spirit were integrated into the songs, adding another element of sacredness to the ceremony.

Accompanied by chants and golden light, a huge will poured out from the emblem on the altar.

"This should be the will of the goddess of medium divine power wealth!"

In just one day, Talos had the privilege of witnessing two gods from the outer planes descend on the main physical plane, the god of order and knighthood through the vessel Armand, and the goddess of wealth through the altar and emblem of the treasure hunt.

"With the advent of containers, you can temporarily walk on the earth, and with the help of the emblem, you can respond to the prayers of priests, does this mean that both containers and emblems are essentially a coordinate, used to induce the will of the gods who are rejected by the law?"

The brilliant golden light centered on the altar, like ripples of water spreading out in all directions, some wrapped around the treasure chest placed on the altar, and some of it gathered on Bill when he met him.

Airplanes!

With a soft sound, the altar and Bill were bathed in divine golden light at the same time.

"Her Highness the Goddess's will has descended on the altar, and it looks like Bill will soon be promoted to a third-order bishop, which is really enviable!" said Richard, who was still hovering on the second order.

Talos shook his head and denied him: "No, getting the response of the gods is only the first step of the ritual, and the success depends on whether the goddess is not satisfied with the sacrifice offered by Bill. ”

Naga closed his eyes after speaking, and communicated the soul fire, and the snake pupil appeared when he opened his eyes again, helping him to see another picture that ordinary people could not detect: a huge scale!

The scales are made entirely of golden light, representing the goddess of wealth, and contain a vast and majestic will, which is extremely beautiful.

At one end of the scales are the treasure chests and treasures that Bill has placed on the altar, and at the other end is Bill himself, rocking up and down, waiting for the final result.

Sure enough, the Goddess of Fortune has her own rules for dealing with treasure hunts in a transcendent way. ”

In Talos's mind, priesthood is probably the most susceptible to external forces among the three major career systems.

If you can obtain divine grace or divine favor, you can go from the first order to the fifth level without any level obstacles, and the time required can make any other professional jealous to the point of madness.

On the other hand, if you make a very serious mistake in the course of dealing with religious affairs, such as causing the faith of a diocese to be shattered, your strength will be stagnant from the very least, or you will be deprived of the ability to cast spells by one or more ranks, and you will be demoted.

This general deity-church-priest system has created a clear hierarchy of clergy in the Sainz world, forming a standard pyramid and a well-established operating system, and no church is exempt.

The composition of the Church is clear from top to bottom, including popes, cardinals, archbishops, bishops, priests, and priests, and the number of clergy at each level is maintained within a reasonable range based on the size of the church.

Therefore, the improvement of the strength of the clergy does not only depend on outstanding talents, pious beliefs, excellent ability to deal with religious affairs, superb means of faith propagation and contributions to the church and gods, but sometimes requires a certain amount of luck, opportunity and qualifications.

When a bishop is promoted to archbishop, the vacant position he leaves can be used as an opportunity for other priests to be promoted, and a priest who is deprived of the ability to cast spells for serious violations of the canon objectively creates an opportunity for the promotion of other first-order priests.

This is very similar to the shut-in, and it is also the fundamental reason why the gods do not send down the grace easily.

——Raising the rank of a pastor can certainly obtain a large number of high-end combat power in a short period of time, but it pays a heavy price for the collapse of the church's inherent institutional order.

Originally, Bill was constantly moving forward on such a path, but in view of the Goddess of Fortune's plan to build a new business platform on the magic web, the priest, who was keenly aware of something, decided to bypass the conventional constraints and advance to the third rank as soon as possible through the traditional treasure hunt.

Exceptional promotion is a special situation everywhere, and it is this special period that Bill is going through at this time.

The scales swayed up and down, and the gold coins and jewels in the treasure chest continued to disappear into wisps of brilliant golden light, and for every point the sacrifice disappeared, Bill's weight increased by one point.

When all the sacrifices at one end of the scales in Talos' special vision turned into golden light and disappeared from the altar, the scales just reached a balance.

"The situation seems to be a bit bleak. Talos frowned, he didn't think that a well-balanced scale would represent the goddess of fortune's endorsement of the treasure hunt.

"It's a pity that it's limited by the rules of the treasure hunt, otherwise this special situation would not have happened if Bill had accepted a treasure chest that I gave him before. Talos's face grew solemn, as if he were the one who was the one who performed the ceremony.

"If Bill's ritual fails, I'm afraid my time to go to the lower planes will be a little bit back. ”

Just as Naga prepares for the worst, Bill seems to realize something and prays to the goddess of wealth for a short while.

Then, under the astonished and delighted gaze of Talos, the scales shook for the last time and slowly fell towards Bill!

Under the setting sun, the body of the human priest was enveloped in a burst of golden light, as if wearing a golden armor, emitting a magnificent halo of gold, which was extremely gorgeous.

Bill opened his eyes suddenly, his pupils taking on the color of pure gold for a split second, and it lasted for five seconds before the vision faded.

"It worked!"

"Congratulations, Your Excellency!"

First-order priests, second-order priests, third-order bishops, from this moment on, Bill was officially promoted to the third order, obtained the title of bishop, and had the qualifications to recommend personnel to the church to go to the gladiatorial arena of the lower planes!

"Thank you, my lord!" said Bill to the altar before standing up to accept the congratulations.

"It's no wonder that very few people in the church would choose a treasure hunt, it was so hard that I almost failed. Bill wiped his forehead, all sweaty, and said with a palpitation.

"Trust me, I'm no easier than you. Talos said.

"Of course, Talos, thank you for your help along the way. Bill gave Naga a big hug and said seriously, "Now it's my turn to fulfill the terms of the divine contract." ”

"Great, I've been waiting for that. If it weren't for the liturgy, I promise it would be the first thing I said after meeting a bishop of the Goddess of Fortune Church—when?"

Bill smiled, not minding Talos's bluntness: "Anytime, my lord's god's birthday is November 11th, so the 11th of every odd-numbered month is an opportunity." ”

"Don't worry, when I return to the headquarters of the Church to meet His Holiness the Pope, complete the final formalities, and obtain my own parish cathedral, I will recommend you to the Church in the name of a bishop to go to the Colosseum. ”

Thalos was very satisfied with Bill's assurance, he thought about it for a moment and said, "I think the sooner this time is better, if nothing else, 17 11 will be a good choice." ”

Now the time is 16 March 30, and he still has about half a month to prepare.

PS: 2-in-1.