Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 395 Volunteering
The smiling mask badges with sun patterns resemble clowns, yet also seem like priests in religious ceremonies.

When this emblem appears on the chests of churches and clergy, it inexplicably carries a sacred connotation.

Even though the worshippers below still remember that the shepherd on the platform was not long ago the resident poet at the tavern at the end of the street, they still listen attentively when the hymns fill the air.

"There are quite a lot of people." Sitting on a secondhand bench in the newly built church, looking at the crowd of devout worshippers in front of him, Rean sighed with a touch of emotion.

“In this era, it’s always a good thing to have a god willing to protect you.” Sheena, standing to the side, seemed a little confused.

My cousin seemed very strange in every way. He wore the same clergy robes, but he didn't show much respect for the gods.

Is this what a dragon is? Is this how dragons view deities? Perhaps I, a mere half-dragon, need to learn this?
Sheena fell into deep thought, entering her own world and drifting off into her own thoughts.

Rean glanced at Sheena and sighed. She seemed normal most of the time, but something was always off about her.

But she was also telling the truth. Most people in this world have faith, more or less. The only ones who absolutely have no faith are probably some ancient species, such as giants and ancient beasts.

Even the dragon race has dragon gods, but their belief is roughly equivalent to "You're a powerful member of our race and the Dragon King, help me out."

"The short lifespan, frail body, and inability to protect themselves of mortals may make them the ones who most need something to rely on for spiritual support, even if they themselves are unaware of it."

Some things go beyond expectations from the very beginning; the new church's development has been far too smooth.

The residents of the dock area, the town of Dania, and even the entire city of Radiant City rejoiced at the revival of this ancient benevolent god.

Some nobles even formally suggested to Dania that yesterday be turned into a city festival, such as the "Celebration of the Revival of the Gods."

This is partly because people in this era do enjoy festivals (lacking other forms of entertainment, festivals offer food and drink to win people's hearts), and partly because Radiant City and even the kingdom itself hope to receive more attention and blessings from the gods.

After all, no matter how powerful other churches are, they will only set up a branch or a low-level parish here.

This is similar to a chain store. If you can make money, that's enough. If you can't, you can just close down and run away. But if the headquarters messes up and ruins its reputation, then it's truly over. And if this radiant and joyful god revives here and regards it as the headquarters of the church, He will naturally protect this city from disaster.

For Glorious City right now, this is like timely good news.

This scene surprised and enlightened Rean. He now understood why the "gods" were too lazy to teach those inheritors; it was simply unnecessary.

The true "gods" are here, the doctrines are there, the flags are there. If you want to go in and learn, then go in. If you don't want to, I have plenty of people here who yearn for salvation, faith, and power.

The "inheritance of deities" may be a pursuit of the inheritance of "cognition" and "worldview".

It is probably the least selective lineage in terms of the candidate's qualifications. Judging solely from the shepherd's cultivation, there is no difference between the poor and the rich, and the advantage of the talented is not obvious.

On the contrary, willpower and piety became the key elements.

Let it develop on its own.

Perhaps, the current City of Radiance will be quite accustomed to this resurrected deity.

After all, there is nothing here, but there is enough "faith." The more suffering and despairing a person is, the more devout and sincere their faith will be.

"Sina, haven't you awakened your second character yet?"

Rean's purpose in seeking out Sina was certainly not for tourism.

He secured a position for Sheena, as he had told her mentor, inviting her to become a spellcasting advisor. However, given her current skill level, she was only good enough to be a mage apprentice, and at least needed some self-defense capabilities.

Dragon Spellcaster is a class that can be quickly built up to be powerful. It is naturally suited to the growth of dragon veins, and one can even reach the level of a spellcaster above the Archmage level by focusing solely on this path.

Once a certain level is reached, in addition to enhancing spellcasting abilities, it can also improve the "Dragon's Body," indirectly granting it strong self-protection and melee combat capabilities.

As a symbol of an era (the Dragonborn Era), it is a near-perfect class in terms of strength, with the only drawback being that it is "Dragonborn exclusive".

When Rean asked her, Sina gave a rather distorted smile, probably a mix of three parts flattery and seven parts inferiority—a standard response she used when asked about her recent situation by her teachers and senior classmates during her studies.

"Well, for someone of my inferior mixed blood descent, I'd be quite content to awaken even one spell." Her smile grew even more humble. Based on her past experience, the worse her response to inquiring about her progress, the happier the other party would be to mock her, and the less trouble she would have.

Rean frowned. He was very familiar with that smile. You, a high-ranking dragon bloodline descendant, a born powerhouse, have actually fallen so low that you've become accustomed to being bullied? You've fallen so low that you have no self-confidence at all?
Seeing Rean frown, Sina shrank back, looking down at her boots, completely avoiding his gaze. "I kind of understand why you, a dragon, would be 'TRI (Darkness that swallows light)'. You just want to hide yourself somewhere no one can find you."

Dark magic is not a rare spell; it exists in the talents of sorcerers (magicians), warlocks, spellcasters, and even dark elves. This is because it is not only low-cost but also easy to use, and can be used for ambushes, escapes, sneak attacks, and distracting opponents.

However, Sina's Dragon's Darkness is quite special. Other low-level dark magic is afraid of strong light or even strong winds. It can be dispelled with "light". Even if it cannot be dispelled, it can at least avoid its influence to a certain extent.

Her dragon-like darkness can transform "light" into a shadow of "darkness," and lighting a light within it will only make the darkness thicker.

That is true, infinite darkness, and Rean has not yet found a solution.

"The dragon's words have a very high ceiling, and can even be described to a certain extent as 'light and darkness interchange' and 'reversal'." Even that god gave the dragon's words extremely high praise.

Rean therefore valued this "cousin's" potential even more. The dragon's words alone could form a rather powerful combat system. However, when he actually trained her, he discovered the true reason behind the dragon's words, which were probably "Don't find me" and "Please let me disappear."

She has great potential, but if she continues with this personality, she will only become a burden to her comrades.

After some thought, Rean felt that this guy had good potential, and it would be a real shame to give up on him like this.
"Do you know what? I saved your life."

"Of course! I'm very grateful. If you hadn't taken me away, that evil dragon would have eaten me long ago!"

Rean shook his head, his expression towards the girl showing more sympathy.

"Do you know what? If I hadn't asked your advisor to take you away, you would be dead for sure. In the future, you would most likely still die."

Rean guessed that she had some suspicions, and now it had been confirmed. He calmly recounted the misfortune that might befall her.

You've witnessed the ugly side of those archmages, their despicable act of abandoning their comrades. If you go back and say something, they'll be finished. They'll naturally shut you up beforehand.

The Land of Truth, too, would not let the girl go. They wanted to obtain more detailed information about the day. The information they could get from the escaped archmages was limited, but they would not hesitate to dig out those deliberately concealed secrets from the mind of an apprentice.

"Even if you weren't killed by those examiners who went to dig out your brains, you would have been silenced by the archmages from that day. The pathetic scene you witnessed involved more than just one archmage."

Rean wasn't lying; if it weren't for his intervention, Sheena would have been dead without her mentor's protection.

Instantly, Sina turned pale with fright, her head covered in cold sweat, and her body trembled uncontrollably.

They were so close that the chair was trembling, and Rean even wondered if she had changed her clothes.

She sensed her situation was dire, but she never expected it to be like this. Lies wouldn't scare her; the truth was what was deadly.

"I"

"Only if you have value can I speak to the people of the kingdom and give them a reason to better protect you."

Sheena remained uneasy; the word "valuable" felt too sophisticated for her.

"You're strong enough, otherwise you wouldn't die so inexplicably."

Rean said this, seeing the girl's still wavering and uneasy face. She probably never thought she would become a strong person. Maybe she dreamed about it, but she never took it seriously after waking up.

Rean thought about it for a moment. It was really rare to find a girl with such low self-esteem who couldn't even be provoked.

Because she felt she had no value whatsoever, she felt that the path Rean pointed out for her to "become valuable" and "become powerful" was impossible for her to achieve, so this "persuasion" was indeed meaningless.

So he tried to understand the way this autistic girl thought.
"Well, if you learn more Dragon Language, you'll be even more valuable as a test subject. They might go a little easier on you when they experiment on you. Keeping you alive will allow them to collect more data and information."

Instantly, the girl's eyes lit up.

Perhaps, becoming a valuable experimental subject was the best future she could imagine.

"It's really hopeless."

(End of this chapter)