AN: Merry Christmas everyone! This chapter took longer due to some rework of older chapters as well as the week I had to spend in re-service and resulting multiple blisters from digging shell-scrape which greatly slowed down my progress. Anyhow I still managed to somehow finish this chapter in time for Christmas as a gift for everyone! Hope all of you have a great holidays and enjoy time with family and loved ones!

“Ro, why is everyone staring at us?”

“No… They are staring at Feng. Why don’t we walk a little faster ahead of him.”

“Muu.. Sorry Feng…”

Rania and Roth picked up their pace and distanced themselves slightly from Feng who was being stared at by every single passerby, ever since they got back on the road.

The group took a much longer time to reach back to the town and was forced to camp out for the night as they were slowed down by Feng’s excessive looting culminating in him dragging behind him… a huge stack of interlocking furniture ranging from beds to tables and stools and barrels full of food as well.

Although that was probably the most comfortable camping experience ever after they set up the beds…

Feng himself was happily oblivious to the odd looks he was getting as he muttered numbers under his breath and cackled sinisterly whenever he glanced back at the loot pile.

‘Ahahaha! After all those damn enemies not dropping any loot, I’ll be damned if I let a single copper worth of loot slip out of my hands! Plus all these will work perfectly with my plans to build up a force of my own. Heh.’

Within short order, they were soon nearing the library. Roth bid farewell to them and continued ahead back to the Adventurers’ Guild.

Dragging the massive stack of loot towards the library entrance, Feng suddenly noticed movement out of the corner of his eyes in a nearby alley.

‘Spies?’

With a quick [Qing Gong] step, Feng reappeared in front of the culprits… only to startle two street kids scavenging through the trash for discarded food.

“EEP!”

“S-sir! W-we are sorry! Please don’t hurt us!”

The smaller of the duo, a little girl ducked behind the other with a loud squeak as the older boy hurriedly bowed, stammering in fear as he plead for mercy.

His eyes softened at the sight of the two pitiful children and his hand reached for some coins only to stop short.

‘No. They are just AIs. No matter how pitiful they look, I have to focus on my goals. Every bit matters and I can’t afford to waste my resources like this.’

Just then, the little girl peeks out from behind the boy and Feng was startled by a sudden recall of a long-forgotten childhood memory. How long has it been since he thought of those dark days which drove him forward to become more… As a small Asian kid from a poor background, if it wasn’t for her…

‘… It’s not charity, I can turn this to my advantage.’

Beckoning at the two kids as he turned towards the library, Feng spoke simply.

“Follow me.”

The children’s eyes widened in fear and they visibly paled before the boy pled harder with Feng.

“Please sir! We were just looking for food!”

Feng glanced back and winced as he realized how threatening his words sounded in hindsight. He turned back to face the two fully before speaking in much gentler tones.

“Hush child. I know, come with me. We have more than enough food.”

Unfortunately, instead of setting them at ease, the boy’s expression became even more guarded and he shuffled the little girl behind him. Stammering a respectful reply, he looked ready to bolt at the drop of a hat.

“S-sir, t-thank you for your kindness but we a-“

A small grimy hand reached around tugging at the boy’s rags and interrupted his rejection.

“Brother, I’m hungry…”

Feng quietly stretched out a hand with two cookies which were grabbed swiftly by the little girl though the boy tried to hold her back. A faint smile appeared on Feng’s face as he saw her hand one over to the boy before wolfing down the other.

“…Follow me and I can get you some more food.”

A table retrieved from his massive stack was placed on the grass outside the library. Bread, dried meat and other foodstuffs he looted from the Redcloaks alongside some cookies covered the table.

The two street kids stared and rubbed their eyes, unable to comprehend the feast which appeared before them. The boy looked distrustful of Feng’s intention but appears to be mollified by the fact they were in full view of the library square with many merchants and passerbys.

“Eat up.”

Heading into the library after seeing the two children start on their meal, Feng spoke to a few players and sent some out while others were asked to bring the rest of the loot supplies into the library storage. He saw Alicia who was busy instructing the other players as well as organizing some of the on-going classes and decided against greeting her. Rania had no such qualms and bounced up to her, before being swept into a hug by the blonde who then looked around wildly for Feng.

Greeting Alicia with a simple wave, Feng busied himself with the administration of the library and spoke to some of Kuron’s men posted at the library to update his backer and get reports on the progress of their plans.

After sorting through everything which took nearly an hour, Feng then returned outside to the grounds which now looked like a campsite with tables and mats all over and filled with food. Scores of poor and homeless children were filling up their bellies and some shot him grateful looks.

Though by now, there were quite a number of curious bystanders gathered and some were not as welcoming at the sight of the lower class in this district. Feng however ignored them and simply estimated the numbers with a calculating eye.

‘Hmm.. A fair number of commoners, Kuron’s merchants and a few upper class with one or two Travelers and some priests. This should suffice.’

Clapping his hands to gain everyone’s attention, Feng faced the gathered poor and homeless, directing his words at them.

“Don’t worry; you can get back to your meal soon. I just wanted to say that, the Church of Christ will be giving out food to those who need it at the library daily and you may take shelter here if you need a place to sleep. Additionally, we are currently hiring extra help for errands though if you wish to learn more and receive Christ, we are happy to take everyone in as well.”

There was a silence as everyone stared at Feng with confused expressions before muttering broke out. Faced with a less than positive reaction, Feng simply shrugged and waved at them.

“That’s all I have to say. Please carry on with your meal!”

“Thank you all for gathering. All of you have in one way or another suffered persecution when you identified yourself as Christian in Athal. While most would bend and worship false gods or simply stay silent, all of you have done what was right and not what was easy. Hence I have gathered everyone to ask for your assistance to set up the Church of Christ here. While this may be a game, it does not mean we can’t spread the Gospel here and reach out to our fellow players. ”

“Personally, I can contribute by providing funds and the library as a base for church operations and intelligence for other players in terms of hunting and such. Furthermore, we have begun getting copies of the Bible written out by other players. What we really need now are people to spread the good news.”

“However, with that said we are still here to have fun and thus I would like to set up the Church to support all of us in having fun as well. Everyone should do what they enjoy while contributing what they wish to. After all, He has freely given us all things and we are called to first receive before giving.”

With that said, the meeting proceeded apace with fruitful results though it was disrupted by the girl who Feng had previously left to answer the crowd when she recognized him and called him out on it.

Feng stepped out of the library doors with a spring in his step as he made a beeline towards the crafters’ lane.

‘The Church will pull away worshipers of Ralos and eventually form a large enough organization hopefully gaining legitimacy which will stop the Church of Light from taking direct action. But I'll need to get stronger myself…’

Rotating his shoulders and lifting his knees, Feng tested out his full range of motion in the finely-crafted armor.

“Nice! It’s far more comfortable than the old leather armor and feels a lot sturdier as well.”

“Yes. The [Giant Comodon Lizard Hide] provided the flexibility and base toughness while the harder but unbending [Rock Lizard Hides] were used to reinforce the armor exterior like armor plating. The [Black Wolf Boots], [Bracers] and [Loincloth] have been reduced to fit your size and match appropriately with the [Reinforced Lizard Armor] and [Reinforced Lizard Leggings]. However, there is no way to shrink the [Wolf Skull Helm].

Using the [Chimera Hides], I have created a [Chimera Hooded Cloak], however the magical properties that enable its camouflage has faded in the process. The rest of the weapons you commissioned are still being prepared.”

Feng stared at the previously taciturn blacksmith for a few long moments after he elaborated on the work done till the man felt somewhat uncomfortable and fell back to his previous speech pattern.

“… Need to know. Work done right.”

“Heh. Alright, how much do I owe you for this lot and when can I collect the weapons?”

“Nothing. Excess materials worth more than cost. Come back in two weeks.”

“Great, I’ll be back then. Oh, would you happen to know where I can identify magical items as well? “

The large bald man thought for a while before responding.

“Ozhodian. Magic academy there. East. Three weeks' journey by horse.”

“Thanks.”

Feng’s face twisted into a thoughtful frown upon the blacksmith’s answer.

‘… They have a magical academy there, that’ll be a great chance to improve my skills. But damn that’s way too far. Tch, maybe I should ask Kuron if he has any connections who can teach me, we need to plan our next steps regarding the Redcloaks anyway.’

“Damn, we cannot openly support you against the Church of Light. The Merchant Guild is required to be an independent association… But as a personal ally, I can devote some of my resources to helping you. However, rest assured we can and will continue to work against the Redcloaks especially as more evidence has surfaced about their doings against some of our merchants. Do you have anything you require?”

Feng simply nodded, understanding Kuron’s position after his reveal of their findings at the Redcloak base.

“First off, we’ll need to decipher the contents of these documents to incriminate the Church. Secondly, I have obtained a map of the Redcloaks operations, with this we should have an easier time investigating them. Third, I would like to set a mercenary group, and the weaponry repossessed from the Redcloaks can go towards outfitting them as well as sold for the monies required. Finally, I would need the services of a mage to tutor me for a week. The last two requests are personal requests and would of course be negotiated separately and paid for appropriately.”

“Hahaha, good man. You know when to keep business and personal separate, the going rate for the mercenary mages we have is one gold a day for escort missions… But since this is a non-combat job, I can spare a mage for five golds for the full week. I’ll simply take the coins required for the mercenary groups out of your share you have left with me. As for the rest, they are easily done. Though what do you wish to name the group?”

“Heh, in honor of a good friend. The Blood Hawk Brigade.”

“So you are the one?”

Feng opened his eyes from his current meditating position and looked up at the voice. A blue robed middle-age man with balding grey hair stared down at him with an upturned curl of his lip. Getting up and extending a hand to the man, Feng replied him coolly.

“Yes, I’m Feng. You are the mage assigned to teach me then? Might I have your name?”

However, the man scoffed and ignored Feng’s outstretched hand and rudely spoke down to him.

“Kain. I don’t know what relationship you have with Head Trader Steele for him to request for me to teach you but there is simply no way you can learn anything in one week. Mages have to be trained for long periods of time not like you simple warriors and I personally took eight years to complete my training to become a high-ranking mage!”

Feng stared at him and mentally rolled his eyes at the arrogance of the man as Kuron mentioned that they only had middle-ranked mages on their payroll. However, knowing that the man was his only hope at getting a decent magical education fast, Feng decided to push through and not expose the braggart.

“Hm. We’ll see. So do you know about enchantments?”

“Pah, that school is for the weaklings. I’m an Invoker and have demonstrated my combat abilities through multiple missions that no weak Enchanter would have been able to accomplish!”

The mage puffed out his chest as he boasted only to receive a small disappointed sigh from Feng, causing Kain’s face to visibly twitch at the slight.

Shrugging Feng decided to make the best of things and continued, tossing a bit of flattery in to soothe the man’s ego.

“So what can you teach me? I’m sure an accomplished magus like yourself must have learnt a great deal over your training.”

Watching the short bald man puff himself up like a peacock, Feng knew he got the man to spill about all the spells he knew.

“Well, it’s good at least you can recognize the abilities of your superiors. I guess I can enlighten you on some of the spells I have picked up. My most powerful spell is the [Fire Lance], a spell which generates a long line of fire that pierces through enemy lines and armor alike. That’s impossible for you to learn and I can’t teach you as losing control of the spell will be disastrous.

Then there are spells like [Earth Spike], [Magic Bolts], [Armor], [Sleep], [Mirror Image] and so on but those are rather complex and require weeks to learn. Maybe I can teach you some of the basic spells we teach apprentices, there’s the variants of the [Bolt] spell. I took two weeks to learn it at first but the other variants took only a few days so that should be easy enough you might be able to grasp something and practice afterwards.”

“Hm.. Do you have anything more basic and more to do with the basic elements?”

“Hahaha, admitting defeat already? Sure, we all learn the four basic elemental cantrips. They aren’t useful for battle but can be used for small conveniences. Like the breeze cantrip which allows you to call a constant breeze to keep yourself cool. Or the water gathering cantrip, which allows you to draw small amounts of water from the surroundings which is very useful if you are travelling through a desert or cave.

There’s mold earth which allows you to make small objects from the ground, but it only lasts for a few hours at most so we just use to train control. The last one is just a simple warming cantrip that allows you to heat up yourself or something slightly and is one of the most commonly used.”

“Alright, these sound good. Let’s get started then.”

“Wait, don’t you want to try learning any of the higher-tier spells? These are known to be useless in combat!”

“… No. These four will do.”