Chapter 19: Advancement

So Christine's daily routine became regular. She went to the Mage Guild in the morning to study, and returned to the manor house shortly after four in the afternoon, taking time to pray at the Dragon God Temple in Rennes City.

Don't think of Rennes City as the capital of the county of Brittany, but because there are not many Dragon God worshippers here, there is only one city-level temple, which is still for the sake of the church's dignity. Otherwise, a village-level temple would suffice, and the few priests are at most fourth-rank.

That's why Christine was always warmly welcomed when she went there. Firstly, because of her status as a descendant of the Dragon Bloodline, and secondly because she always donated gold coins, even though there were only ten of them, which was a lot compared to the donations of ordinary believers.

The Church in this world is not like the medieval Blue Star, where it can own large tracts of land. According to the 'Pact of the Gods', apart from the seat of the Holy See, which is the size of a barony, the size of the land of the temples in other cities, towns and villages is regulated.

In other words, the Church's fixed sources of funding are limited to tithes, donations from the faithful, and the business of subordinate chambers of commerce. Of course, this tithe is paid by everyone, peasants, craftsmen, merchants, nobles, except the royal family.

And as there are few followers of the God of the Long Dragon in the city of Rennes, there is naturally less tithing to pay, and the expenses are basically covered by church subsidies. Grants can only guarantee the basic operation of the temple, but holding large-scale prayer activities costs money.

The reason for this rule is that if the church owns land, it becomes exclusive. For example, can the Church of the God of Order allow people to believe in other true gods on the land it owns? Absolutely not.

So if the Church of a powerful God is allowed to annex land, the medium, weak, and feeble gods will become weaker and weaker without believers, and may even fall. So they united to demand that this rule be added to the 'Covenant of the Gods'.

As for the secular kingdoms and duchies, it doesn't matter. Although the royal family of the Kingdom of France is the divine bloodline of the God of Order, the court magicians believe in the Goddess of Magic, many generals believe in the God of War, and many scholars believe in the God of Knowledge. As for the ruling nobles, their beliefs are even more diverse.

More importantly, there are a large number of field nobles in various kingdoms and duchies who believe in other gods, such as Baron Stewart, who believes in the Dragon God, and Baron Campel, who believes in the Goddess of Agriculture.

Even in the territories of these local nobles, there are many people who do not believe in the same true God as the Lord, such as the merchants in the territory who believe in the Goddess of Wealth, and the judges who believe in the God of Order.

Don't look at the medium, weak and weak gods with little power. The number of believers alone is not comparable to that of the powerful gods, but the total number of believers in these true gods is far greater than that of any powerful god.

Slightly off topic.

The Mage Guild, the spell testing room.

Mage Dubois, who had come in a hurry to hear the news, asked happily, "Christine, you have applied for promotion to second-level mage?

Master Dubois, this is only a promotion test, there is no need to warn you.

Normally, it is enough for a mage two orders higher than the applicant to certify it, which means that Christine only needs a third-order mage to conduct the assessment for her promotion to second-order.

That's fine, I'll just sit here and do nothing. Come on, show me.'

'Okay.'

Christian immediately cast a spell to communicate with the magical network. First he cast a protective spell of 'Wizard's Armour' on himself and then fired a 'Magic Missile' at the nearby human target.

Not bad, Christian. Congratulations, you are now a second-level wizard.

A second-level wizard has two first-level spell slots, which means they can use one first-level spell twice a day. Now that Christian has used these two spells, he has naturally passed the promotion.

Immediately, Master Du Bois told the apprentice to go and have her mage insignia replaced with the second-level mage insignia, which has two stripes, while the fifth-level mage insignia is a five-pointed star.

Very good, Christine. We can all see your diligence and hard work,' Master Du Bois said.

Thank you, Master Du Bois.

Everyone felt that Christine's promotion to second level magician at her age was only natural. She had been taught by her mother, a seventh level mage, since she was young, so it would be strange if she didn't progress quickly.

Besides, Christine had spent at least five hours a day studying in the library of the Mage Tower for the past two weeks. There was no mage who studied harder than she did.

In fact, other mages would also like to spend every day in the library or laboratory, but most of them did not have the financial means to do so and had to go on quests to earn money and points.

Christine's promotion did not cause much of a stir, and everyone took it for granted. But in fact she was promoted, just not to the rank of Fifth Mage, which she had to hide.

On this continent, there is no such thing as pretending to be one thing when you are something else, because everyone is treated according to their rank. Even among mercenaries, the commission for a third-level warrior is different from that of a fourth-level warrior. Who would be stupid enough to hide their rank?

But Kristen couldn't. She was a time traveller herself, and there were many secrets about her. It was better not to draw attention to herself until she had reached a certain level of power.

The Mage Guild, the spell testing room.

A middle-aged mage with a third-level badge entered and asked, "Mage Yibel, you want to take the test to advance from first to second level, right?

'Yes.'

'Then let's get started.

'Okay.'

Yibel chanted a spell to communicate with the magic network and cast 'Magic Rocket' twice in a row.

'Very good, Mage Yibel, you have passed the test and are now a second-level mage.

'Thank you.

The apprentice in charge of running the spell-testing room came over and replaced Yibel's badge with the second-level badge, while the middle-aged mage signed the document to confirm it.

Soon the news of Yibel's promotion to second-level magician spread. Although she was two years older than Christine, it was quite an achievement for someone of her age.

Count Rein and Yibel's father, Arcati Rein, were very happy to hear the news, and Count Rein even wanted to hold a small celebration banquet for her.

However, when Iber gently raised the issue of her marriage, she was refused. There was nothing that could be done about it. Her nominal fiancé was also present at the banquet. He was an inconspicuous-looking man. Because his grandfather was a mage, he was very good at writing and calculating, and currently worked as a clerk in the Earl of Renn's Chamber of Commerce.

At the banquet, Iber forced a smile, and when she returned to the villa, she burst into tears. She had studied hard for her promotion, thinking that once she became a second-level wizard, her family would let her dissolve the marriage, but unfortunately it still wasn't possible.

Crying wouldn't solve anything. When Iber had calmed down, she took a book from a locked box, opened it and looked at a page. In a cold tone she said, 'You all treated me like this, so don't blame me.