Chapter 157: The Arrival of March

March 1st marked a special date. For most people, it was simply the first day of a new month, but for the Church of the Father God, it was a grand occasion of immense significance—the opening day of the First Academy of the Divine Grace.

The inaugural batch of six hundred students had been publicly recruited by the Church. Ranging in age from eight to sixteen, they were divided into three academic tracks: civil, martial, and magical. The civil track naturally focused on astronomy, geography, and literature, primarily designed to cultivate various administrative talents as well as future priests and nuns, totaling two hundred and forty students.

The martial track trained warriors while also imparting basic civil knowledge, aimed principally at cultivating junior military officer talents. Promising youths from various reserve forces with military potential were funneled into this department. Thanks to the era's abundance of heroic legends and the Church's adeptness at shaping heroes, countless individuals arrived harboring grand dreams. Consequently, this department boasted the largest enrollment, with a full three hundred students.

The magical track was dedicated to sorcerers. Because magic heavily relied on innate talent, despite the overwhelming number of applicants, only a little over thirty successfully passed the trials. Combined with a few magical apprentices previously nurtured by the Church, they barely scraped together a total of sixty students to form two classes. These individuals were destined to become the backbone, and perhaps even the pinnacle, of the Church's future strength.

All six hundred students were talented individuals carefully selected through rigorous screening before gaining admission. While not all of them might remain with the Church indefinitely, at least ninety percent would become assets to the Church upon graduation. They represented the future of the Church of the Father God, drawing immense attention from the entire organization.

Led by honorary headmaster Link, the Church's higher-ups were almost entirely present, making an appearance alongside Link at the opening ceremony. Link, well-prepared in advance, delivered a stirring and highly inflammatory speech. He had modeled this address after the speeches of school leaders from his pre-transmigration era, but made it much more straightforward with fewer grand abstractions, ensuring even young children could easily grasp its meaning. Furthermore, these first-batch students had all, to varying degrees, received aid from the Church and harbored faith in the Father God, with some even hailing directly from the Church's internal welfare branches. Thus, listening to Link's words, they were deeply moved. As Link concluded, every child shouted out with radiant aspirations and dreams, expressing their gratitude and determination to Link.

The opening ceremony concluded within this passionate atmosphere, and the students' academic careers officially commenced. A total of twenty classes, thirty students per class, began their educational journeys within the still-modest First Academy of the Divine Grace. Throughout this period, they were required to pay no tuition whatsoever; they needed only to focus wholeheartedly on their studies.

This system had been established by Link with compulsory education as a reference, designed to guarantee both the quality of education and the caliber of the students. While it was possible that in the future certain students might be specially recruited in exchange for financial contributions, Link had no intention of allowing such practices at the First Academy. Those matters could be addressed later when new branch schools were established; the First Academy had to maintain its absolute purity, a principle that could never be compromised.

It had to be acknowledged that the current Church of the Father God was truly wealthy. Once Sylvanas's initial compensation totaling three million solaris arrived, construction immediately commenced on new orphanages, nursing homes, and schools, situated respectively in several larger surrounding towns. The officials of those towns had long since received warnings and orders from their superior, Baron Ravencrest, and having heard harrowing tales of the Church's overbearing conduct over the past few months, how could they dare to cause trouble for the Church? Consequently, they allocated vast tracts of land to the Church at rock-bottom prices or even free of charge. Armed with the compensation funds from Sylvanas, the Church promptly initiated various civil engineering projects.

Although these construction speeds certainly could not match the rapid pace of Divine Grace City, they were not far behind. By next year at the latest, these orphanages, nursing homes, and schools would be fully operational.

Speaking of Divine Grace City, one could not overlook its ongoing development. Over the course of several months, more than two thousand new residents had migrated to the city, pushing its population past the ten-thousand milestone. Because resources and funds were abundant, the construction efficiency of Divine Grace City was exceptionally high. Moreover, the Church had purchased numerous magical artifacts and enlisted the aid of sorcerers; by now, the majority of Divine Grace City was already built, and it was estimated that completion would take no more than half a year.

Of course, this "completion" referred only to the initial phase of the project. According to the strategic plan of the higher-ups, the optimal population for Divine Grace City was around two hundred thousand—neither too many nor too few. Two hundred thousand was the ideal figure, leaving land and resources more than adequate while fostering the prosperity expected of a holy city.

Precisely for this reason, Divine Grace City had not yet even begun constructing its city walls, preferring to wait until the population reached one hundred thousand, providing a sufficient labor force before undertaking the task. After all, building a wall capable of enclosing a population of two hundred thousand was no trivial feat; given the Church's current population, building it prematurely would merely exhaust the people and drain the treasury.

By March 15th, Link had accumulated a total of eight lottery opportunities: six routine mid-month draws and two holiday bonuses. He had won two Sacred Cloths, one divine martial arts manual, two spiritual beasts, and three medicinal herbs. Because they were all elementary-grade items, they offered little boost to the Church's overall combat power. Among them, the two Sacred Cloths were the Ursa Major Cloth and the Cygnus Cloth. The Ursa Major Cloth was bestowed upon the newly minted Saint, Aldebaran, while the Cygnus Cloth was given to a young boy named Camus. This youth, sharing the name of the Aquarius Gold Saint from the original Saint Seiya canon, was a veteran reserve Saint. His talent was unremarkable, but he made up for it with relentless effort, possessing a silent, aloof, and somewhat cold temperament. While not the optimal choice, Link ultimately assigned the Cygnus Cloth to him due to his strength and seniority.

After elevating the two to Saints, Link immediately tossed them both to Saga for rigorous training, leaving them utterly thrilled. Saga was a legendary Gold Saint; merely catching a glimpse of him was considered fortunate, let alone receiving direct guidance. This drove the pair to the brink of kneeling in gratitude to take him as their master, a reaction that even the aloof Camus could not remain calm about—prior to Camus joining the Saint reserve corps, Saga had already ascended to the rank of Saint and executed various missions, rarely interacting with the reserve trainees.

Following a period of cultivation, Link dispatched Camus and Aldebaran—who had comprehended and grown familiar with the Sixth Sense—out into the world to temper their skills. Neither of them was a mere child; they were actually older than Saga, both hovering around fifteen to nearly sixteen years old, and possessed a sturdier foundational base than Saga's cohort. They were perfectly capable of handling minor matters independently and would benefit greatly from practical experience. Link held high expectations that their future accomplishments would live up to their names and mirror the original canon by ascending to the rank of Gold Saints.

Aside from this, Link directly handed the three medicinal herbs to Cicely for concocting elixirs. The two spiritual beasts were a tiger and a snake, categorized as combat spiritual beasts. Lacking any special abilities, they simply possessed immense physical strength, both holding Tier 4 combat power. Since keeping them idle served little purpose, Link assigned both beasts to the Inquisition, utilizing them as combat pets for the Judgment Legion and the Inquisitors during external missions.

Speaking of which, upon acquiring the Blood Crystal Lotus, Link had received a somewhat anticlimactic response from Cicely: she actually knew the method for refining the Blood Crystal Lotus into medicine. However, that process was extremely time-consuming and required specialized pharmaceutical tools possessed exclusively by the former Lotus Fate Sect. Now, the Lotus Fate Sect had been utterly destroyed, and all its prized possessions seized by the Baal Cult, while Link had no idea where the Baal Cult was even located. How could he possibly retrieve those tools? Thus, Cicely's answer had left him feeling somewhat disappointed.

Nevertheless, Link did not blame Cicely. When her personal bodyguard Mylene joined the Church of the Father God, Cicely followed suit and enlisted as well. The very moment Link approved her entry, she became a zealous believer. Now, she officially served as the Chief Pharmacist of the Church, overseeing all pharmaceutical operations, providing countless usable medicines for the Church, and training numerous junior pharmacists.

Presently, under Cicely's improvements, several of these low-grade medicines could be manufactured through factory production. Consequently, Link ordered his subordinates to establish a pharmaceutical plant dedicated to producing low-grade drugs for commercial sale. This opened up a new revenue stream for the Church. Because mass-produced medicines via assembly lines were low in cost, even the lowest strata of citizens could afford them, providing a means of treatment for numerous impoverished folks in distant regions. From the bottom of their hearts, they felt grateful to the Church, earning the organization widespread recognition among the populace even in areas where its political influence had yet to reach.

This could be considered a modest strategic layout, providing certain conveniences for the future territorial expansion of the Church.

Alongside medicines, heroic biographies and fictional tales modeled after figures within the Church began circulating widely through books and traveling bards. These stories were rhetorically embellished, making them thoroughly entertaining to read or hear while remaining deeply moving, allowing countless people to witness the trials and triumphs behind the Church's first year of establishment.

The stories of positive heroes like Saga, Aiolos, Aiolia, and Ursell were heavily promoted, with each individual boasting two or more legends attributed to them. Tales of dark heroes were also disseminated through euphemistic yet passionate language, transforming the various heroes of the Church into flesh-and-blood legends in the eyes of the mortal world.

To optimize publicity, beyond relying solely on bards, Link introduced professional storytellers, dispatching them to major taverns and public venues morning, noon, and night to recount these narratives. This drastically elevated the renown of the Church's various heroes, subtly instilling trust and affection for the Church among the populace. Driven by passionate fervor, numerous spirited youths even traveled to the Church's branch chapels in their respective towns to undergo baptism and petition for admission, augmenting the Church's ranks with a steady stream of devout followers.

Particularly in the former territories of the Wrath Shrine and the War God Cult, where local faiths had collapsed and believers desperately sought a new spiritual anchor, the formidable presence and legendary tales of the Church of the Father God compelled many hearts to surrender, greatly accelerating the process of winning over the populace and securing their devotion.

By March 18th, the total number of Link's followers surpassed the milestone of one hundred thousand, with his faith points soaring to a staggering one hundred and fifty thousand—bringing the threshold of two hundred thousand required to unlock the equipment store within touching distance. In truth, had various emergencies not required divine power over this period, and had the newly acquired faith not remained somewhat unstable, the equipment store would have already been unlocked.

On March 19th, Manigoldo, the Inquisitor and Saint who had long been away executing various missions, finally returned. Yet he did not return alone; he brought with him another individual—a talent desperately needed by the Church. Upon learning of this person's arrival, Link eagerly summoned both Manigoldo and the newly discovered talent straight to his study.