Chapter 200 (2): If It Works, Work It to Death

The obelisk, lost and regained, was always going to be Wayne’s possession, but not the antique silver coin. Schrödinger could come knocking at any moment, so he had to extract elements from it for two hours per day.

At this point, Wayne’s Silver Cross was taking shape. Nature, Moonlight, and Sun were growing and thriving, soon joining the ranks of Darkness and Death. With the obelisk in hand, he didn’t have to worry about not having enough elements. He decided to add heaven’s holy light and hell’s wicked energy in the next phase.

Silver Cross consisted of god, life, void, and self. Its balance would determine a mage’s power. With god being divided into seven parts, the corresponding life essence, knowledge, and thoughts had to reach a greater standard, too. It would be quite an extreme requirement. Without the obelisks, he wouldn’t have dared to try.

“My knowledge of Nature, Sun, and Moonlight is enough. For heaven, I have the

Golden Law of Angels

, and for hell, I have the

Divine Comedy of the Seven Deadly Sins

. I’ve even acquired introductory materials on hell from raiding the Snow family. I don’t have to worry about those five parts of god.”

“Death wouldn’t be a concern, either. There’s more than enough for even the Golden Triangle stage.”

“That leaves Darkness!”

Wayne muttered to himself. He only had one Darkness ring and limited contact with the faith. While it was enough to unlock the Silver Cross, his understanding of it fell far behind the other faiths.

To prevent the weaker parts from becoming fatal weaknesses, he had to find an expert in Darkness faith magic to guide him, or pick up a powerful Darkness magical artifact to plunder the knowledge within through the

Book of Greed

. In all of Londan, the one most knowledgeable about the faith had to be the Goddess of Darkness’s chosen knight.

Despite Darkness and Death being allies, though, Wayne, the Death Knight, didn’t know the Darkness Knight, and their first meeting had not been pleasant. It was unlikely for him to get help in that way.

The second-best choice would be Planck.

“There’s no one else. But he hasn’t come to steal the antique silver coin from me. I can’t just go to him and give it to him...” Wayne found it troublesome. Taking initiative meant losing the upper hand. It was different for him to seek out Planck and for Planck to come to him.

“Fortunately, I can afford to wait. I won’t make the first move so easily. I’ll put aside Darkness for now and advance the other faiths first.”

He closed his eyes, grabbed several textbooks on hell, and went to the basement to focus on his cultivation. He had read many books and consulted his tutor, Kristen. Communication with nature had been limited to the theoretical stage before; even though some mages could do it, the requirement for rank and power was quite high.

In other words, Silver-ranked mages should forget about it. Just be realistic and meditate.

Wayne rejected that conclusion. He had communicated with nature before. It was a process where the macroscopic influenced the microscopic, and the microscopic, in turn, shaped the macroscopic. It had been because of that brief interaction that he advanced to the Silver Cross stage.

Success was either impossible or could be replicated many times. Since he had proven communication possible, it stood to reason that he should be able to do the same thing again.

It’ll work for sure!

Let’s start grinding!

***

December eighth, night.

In the second-floor bedroom of Filomina’s residence, Wayne leaned against the headboard, holding a textbook on advanced faith magic of the Church of Moonlight. The cover featured a full moon symbol. Unlike the abridged version of the

Book of Moon Shadow

, this advanced textbook was detailed. Without Gold-ranked mages’ level of thoughts, readers would suffer from mild dizziness at best and severe headaches at worst.

Wayne enjoyed it very much.

Meanwhile, Filomina enjoyed him very much. She spoke around a mouthful, “You bastard, I told you to find me at the library. Why did you come to my place, sneaking through the sewers like a thief?”

“I’ve been busy!” Wayne sucked in a sharp breath. “How’s the negotiation between the Church of Moonlight and the Ministry of Magic progressing? Are you going to compromise, or the Ministry of Magic?”

“What, does the Church of Nature’s archdeacon want information from me?” Licking her lips, Filomina looked up and saw the cover of the

Manuscript of Full Moon

. Her leering was falling on blind eyes!

Huffing, she swatted the book away and said, “Look at me instead.”

“Fine, fine. I’m looking at your pretty face.” Wayne put a hand on her head. “So how did it go? Which side conceded?”

“Both,” Filomina spoke with some difficulty. “The Church of Moonlight suffered heavy losses due to the traitor at the ministry. Although Priestess Dorrin also played a part...”

“The Ministry of Magic agreed to my demands. As long as I advance to Legendary rank in Londan and keep it a secret from Moonlight’s allies, the ministry will turn a blind eye.”

“The ministry encountered more trouble recently, which led to them suddenly making concessions in the negotiation. To my knowledge, they have contacted the Church of Nature and the Church of Sun...”

Wayne frowned. The ministry’s recent trouble was likely related to the Snow family. The legendary mages had been keeping vessels for the Seven Demon Lords, which made the Queen panic a little. To maintain balance, she allowed the Life Alliance to expand its influence.

No, it was likely to increase the elite combat power in the nation by allowing legendary mages to enter Windsor. In fact, once the Life Alliance grew in power, the Church of Death and Church of Darkness were likely going to be buffed in the next version, too.

Windsor was an expert in maintaining balance. No single faction would be allowed to gain dominance. While targeting the Life Alliance and sowing discord, the Church of Death and Church of Darkness would feel the pressure from outside forces.

It was a dangerous game. Sooner or later, the five churches would fight back.

“How about the Church of Heavenly Father? Have they been invited to a talk, too?”

“...”

“Why aren’t you speaking?”

“I don’t want to talk about work now!”

Filomina was displeased. They hadn’t seen each other for half a month, and she missed her young boyfriend so much that she felt depressed. Her heartless boyfriend, however, wouldn’t stop talking about work and fishing for information, not even offering any sweet words to her.

“Then hurry up, and we’ll talk work afterward.”

“Hmph!” Filomina lowered her head and glanced up at Wayne. “You’re being annoying like the High Reverend of the Church of Nature. That old woman keeps calling me ‘big sister’. Bah! As if she’s that young. She’s gotten married and had a child...”

Wayne let his mind wander and ignored Filomina’s sarcastic comments, refusing to join the conversation.

“Oh, I just remembered. You’re her student. You aren’t going to tell her that I called her an old woman, are you?”

Wayne chose to stay silent. Filomina had his weakness literally in her grasp, so he didn’t dare to speak carelessly.

How smart of you!

Filomina raised an eyebrow with satisfaction. “I would like to get along with her since we’re going to become family in the future, but she was being passive-aggressive toward me from the start, as if I were trying to steal her student. How shameless! I had first claim.”

“...”

Again, Wayne had to emphasize that Kristen was technically the first.

“For your sake, I didn’t stoop to her level. Am I not respectful to my elders?”

“...”

“Speak!”

“Mm, you’re most sensible. You’re my favorite.”

Wayne rolled his eyes. Filomina being respectful? He could already imagine that once he learned the faith magic of the Church of Moonlight and had some achievements under his belt, Filomina would be rubbing it in to Silvia.

𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

He sighed. “She’s like a parent to me. If you love me, you should at least tolerate her.”

“What about my feelings? You didn’t see how she was bullying me. She was so domineering and seemed ready to punch me.” Filomina complained, her childish tone in stark contrast with her mature, noble temperament; she acted like a typical girl in love.

Love really did make people young.

“Vent your grievances on me. I’ll make it right for you.”

“You’re only talking!”

“The movie I starred in is about to be released. I’ll book a midnight screening for you.”

“Not enough!”

“That day, I’ll be at your disposal.”

“That’s more like it...”

Having gotten a satisfactory answer, Filomina finally let go of his weakness. The way she gracefully cleared her throat was incredibly alluring. Succubi were nothing compared to her.

“Oh, right. Why were you part of a movie? Is it a romance movie? Who’s the female lead? Is there a kissing scene?”

“...”

“Tell me!”

“I don’t want to talk about work right now.”

***

Inside the dark domain, Filomina walked in the front, wearing her young boyfriend’s white shirt with her long hair running down her shoulders. She had created this domain with her thoughts. It was the safest place in the manor, so she chose to make her attempt to become a legendary mage here.

Wayne followed right after her. Looking at her masterful combination of a white shirt and stockings, he couldn’t help but say, “I remember you being quite conservative. Why are you wearing less and less fabric now?”

“Do you like it?”

“It’s alright.”

“Just admit that you like it. I wouldn’t be dressing myself like this if you didn’t like it.”

Filomina took the offense fiercely. Having gotten used to Wayne’s smooth talk, she learned from his example and said, “There’s no one else here anyway. Even if there were a pervert, you would protect me, wouldn’t you?”

“No wonder I’ve only been speaking nonsense lately. You’ve stolen all my sensible lines.” Wayne sighed, following Filomina into the magic circle of lunar phases. On their right, left, front, and back, four lunar phase cards stood upright, the moon patterns glowing softly.

Finally!

“I’ll open the Gate of Truth...”

“Wait, won’t that be dangerous?” Wayne interrupted, remembering the gluttonous Astral Worm. He still felt apprehensive when he thought about it.

What if it hasn’t left?