214: Chapter 212 The Gods Will Be Displeased: The Coming Kingdom of Ragu

The greeting was so abrupt that it took Zhang Mu a long while to snap out of it and realize what was happening.

Instead of immediately stopping him, Zhang Mu looked down to inspect his own body.

Mana circulation was normal.

Mental Energy fluctuations were normal.

The Shadow Technique was operating normally.

To confirm he wasn't hallucinating, Zhang Mu straightened his arm—there was no shadow of his arm on the grass.

Despite the lingering disbelief in his heart, after repeated confirmation, Zhang Mu finally determined that the guy had indeed seen him.

Even while the Shadow Technique was active.

His breathing paused briefly.

Zhang Mu was filled with confusion.

One had to know that even the City Lord, a Magister, couldn't detect the slightest anomaly in his Shadow Technique. How did he...

Regaining his composure, Zhang Mu flickered forward to block the man who had greeted him, sizing the other party up.

He recognized him.

Upon seeing his face, Zhang Mu's shock and surprise faded slightly.

It was the young man who had led the way to find Geoffrey, the one he had felt was off.

Back then, the young man had also suddenly greeted him just like today, yet he hadn't sensed a thing before the man spoke.

At the time, Zhang Mu had wondered if he was some scion of a top-tier Magic Family out gaining experience.

Since the man didn't want to reveal his identity, Zhang Mu had simply pretended to know nothing.

But looking at it now, being able to see through the Shadow Technique was not something a mere family scion could achieve.

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Zhang Mu asked, "You can see me?"

"Hmm?" The young man whose path was blocked was confused for a moment before realizing, "A gift from God does not work against a Believer."

The words were easy enough to understand, but they brought even greater confusion.

Zhang Mu didn't believe that just any random Believer of some god could see through the Shadow Technique.

Since obtaining this magic, aside from it being only partially effective against the Violent Bear in the Silent Forest, it had been successful every other time.

He had encountered the church's Believers many times, and it was the same; he had never been exposed.

Was it possible that the Violent Bear's faith in God was more devout than that of the Believers?

Convinced the other party was fooling him, Zhang Mu felt a slight urge to fight: "Can we find another place to talk?"

They couldn't fight at the construction site; if things were broken, they were all his.

The young man didn't seem to have any intention of moving.

He put down the rock he was holding and sat on it. "Lord City Lord, the speed of your progress in strength surprises even me, but it's best if you don't fight me.

You are a good City Lord, and I don't wish to harm you. Uh, perhaps in a few decades you can try challenging me."

As he spoke, his expression was serious and his tone sincere, without any condescending contempt, as if he were simply stating a simple fact without any personal emotion.

At least, that was how Zhang Mu felt.

His fists tightened and then relaxed as Zhang Mu asked, "Who are you?"

"Maciej."

"I'm not asking for your name.

Your identity."

"The Pope."

"?"

Zhang Mu tilted his head slightly to the left, his small eyes filled with massive bewilderment. "Is it the Pope I know?"

"If the one you know is the Pope of the Church on the Saul Continent, then it should be."

Things had become even more complicated.

To describe the Church's power on the Saul Continent as an 'uncrowned king' was being polite; it was a king in every sense.

So here was the question.

You, the head of the most powerful force on the continent, came to my construction site to carry bricks?

And you've been carrying them for several months?

For what? Because the food at my construction site is better?

Did the Church short you on food?

There were so many things he wanted to ask that Zhang Mu didn't know where to start.

Taking a deep breath to calm his emotions, he shifted his gaze to the Pope sitting on the rock. "What is your purpose in coming to the Lake Kingdom with a hidden identity?"

"I didn't hide my identity."

Zhang Mu was silent for a moment. It seemed that was true; the man had told him as soon as he asked.

"And the purpose?"

"God told me to come."

God...

It had been a long time since anyone mentioned that word. Zhang Mu had almost forgotten that gods existed on this continent.

"What did God tell you to do?"

"I would also very much like to know the specific goal, but God didn't tell me," the Pope blinked.

He didn't know if the man was playing dumb or what, but in any case, the conversation was becoming impossible to continue.

But Zhang Mu didn't want to give up.

With such a person inexplicably showing up on his territory, he wouldn't be able to sleep at night without figuring out the reason.

After some thought, Zhang Mu decided to change his line of questioning. "Why are you staying at the construction site?"

Maciej looked into the distance at the refugees working hard. "I caused them to lose their homes, so I want to help out a bit."

"The monster that destroyed the city was you?!"

"Eh—how could I be a monster?"

Zhang Mu didn't want to deal with his banter and pressed, "Why?"

"Well, it's like this." He placed both hands on his thighs, rubbing them somewhat awkwardly. "I intended to find the local branch to inquire about something.

I unexpectedly discovered that the local branch was committing the evil deed of accumulating wealth in God's name.

In my anger, I wanted to punish them, and then... then as you saw, my anger went a bit too far."

Zhang Mu was thoughtful.

If it was indeed as he said, then the impression of corruption the Church in the Lake Kingdom had given him couldn't be applied to the entire Church.

After thinking about it, he still decided to ask, "Are there similar situations at the Church headquarters?"

"Yes," the Pope nodded honestly.

"Why don't you smash the headquarters?"

"The Holy Mountain is a gift from God; I wouldn't dare smash it."

He was quite blunt, not hiding his inner thoughts at all.

Not knowing what to say, Zhang Mu was silent for a while before asking, "How long do you plan to stay here?"

"Until I find the 'him' in the divine oracle."

From this brief interaction, Zhang Mu understood that he would say what could be said, but if he didn't want to say something or couldn't say it, no amount of asking would get it out.

Therefore, although he was curious about who "him" referred to, he didn't ask further.

Zhang Mu sat cross-legged, wanting to learn everything about God.

The Pope was likely the person on the Saul Continent closest to God, and he didn't seem difficult to talk to.

It would be a total loss not to take the opportunity to ask something.

"What does God look like?"

"God has no appearance, or can have all appearances."

"Defined by human perception, is God good or bad?"

"God acts as He pleases."

"You can see through the Shadow Technique because of your status as a Believer, so why can't other members of the Church see me?

Is it because their faith isn't devout enough?"

The young Pope suddenly began to laugh. "Faith?

God doesn't care about their faith, let alone the degree of their devotion.

Lord City Lord, you seem to think too highly of yourself, just like most humans.

If God cared about people, He would not be God."

Stunned for a moment, Zhang Mu didn't get angry and continued asking other things.

The Q&A session lasted from daytime until evening, only stopping when the Pope cried out that he had skipped work today and wouldn't get paid.

After promising to take care of dinner, Zhang Mu stood up, patted his butt, and left.

This somewhat dazed Pope had no intention of leaving anytime soon; he had plenty of time.

After walking a few steps, Zhang Mu suddenly remembered something and turned back to ask the Pope, who was picking up a rock, "I remember that the Pope knows the True Word Spell, right?

Why not use the True Word Spell to help the refugees with their food, clothing, and shelter?

Is the cost of using the True Word Spell very high?"

The Pope gazed at him for a good while.

Finally, he turned to walk into the distance, his voice slowly floating through the air: "Lord City Lord, there is no cost for a Believer to cast the True Word Spell, but to use it to help insects...

God will be displeased."

...

Zhang Mu returned to the City Lord's Manor and pondered for the whole night, finally figuring out the reason why the Pope could see him while other members of the Church couldn't.

Believer.

The Pope hadn't lied; the reason he could see through the Shadow Technique was indeed because of his status as a Believer.

It was just that his 'Believer' status was a bit different from common knowledge.

To put it simply, everyone in the Church called themselves a Believer.

Considering the differences in profession and strength, there would be slight variations in detail, such as Fanatics and the like.

But overall, they all identified themselves to the outside world as 'Believers of God.' Calling anyone in Divine Officials' attire that wouldn't be wrong.

The problem lay right there.

God had never acknowledged their status as Believers.

When the first ray of the morning sun pierced the darkness and fell through the window onto the face of Zhang Mu, who hadn't slept all night, he raised his bloodshot eyes:

"On the Saul Continent, there is only one Believer of God—the Pope.

So... Teacher and Senior Sister... in the end, it was just a conflict between humans."

All the suffering endured by the living beings of the Saul Continent originated from themselves.

It had nothing to do with God.

This answer made him feel that Potter's persistence and life-risking efforts were just a joke.

Resist God?

God had done nothing; what was there to resist?

Just because He was there?

Exhaling, Zhang Mu stood up with a heavy body, intending to go to the front yard for some fresh air.

*Creak—*

After just a few steps, the study door was suddenly pushed open from the outside.

Palina, wearing a long dress, walked in carrying a wooden tray. "Lord City Lord, are you planning to go out without breakfast again?"

He gave his usual smile. "Professionals don't entirely rely on food to replenish their bodies."

"So you still need it?"

Normally, Palina rarely dared to go against Zhang Mu's will, except when it came to eating, where she always had a strange stubbornness.

She pressed Zhang Mu back into the wooden chair behind the desk and watched him finish breakfast before skipping out of the room with the tray, satisfied.

Shaking his head with a wry smile, Zhang Mu stood up and headed outside the city.

...

During uneventful days, time always passed quickly.

The cold wind howling across the wilderness gradually warmed, the gray woods outside Gur City turned green, and the clothes worn by the citizens slowly became thinner.

Some more time passed.

The warmth people used to signal the rise in temperature was replaced by heat, the half-gray-half-green woods leaned entirely toward the latter, and everyone changed into short sleeves and shorts.

Summer had arrived.

In these four months, many things had happened.

First, by consuming magic potions without regard for cost and spending a lot of effort every day practicing the Meditation Method, Zhang Mu finally advanced to a High-level Magician before the war arrived.

Counting his buffs, he was equivalent to a Magister, finally stepping over the threshold of a High-tier Professional.

Although there would definitely be more than just one Magister coming from the Lagu Kingdom, and their numbers would certainly be plural, Zhang Mu had the panel's revival function; with proper planning, he could handle it.

In his plan, Domit and Solon would lead the army to intercept the enemy at the outskirts of the Silent Forest.

At the same time, they would report to the Royal Capital.

With ironclad evidence, as long as the Royal Family sent someone to take a look, there would be no more doubt.

Zhang Mu's choice to give up the advantageous city walls and place the battlefield at the edge of the Silent Forest was also calculated.

He couldn't let the enemy surround the city; otherwise, Gur City, with its information channels blocked, would sooner or later die from exhaustion of supplies.

Sending people out a few days early to spread the word wouldn't work either.

Zhang Mu estimated that High-tier Professionals from Lagu were likely already lurking inside Gur City, and anyone sent out wouldn't be able to escape their pursuit.

Since that was the case, he might as well place the front line at the Silent Forest, preventing the enemy from setting up sealing arrays around Gur City. This way, Zhang Mu could report to the Royal Family as soon as the war began.

Furthermore, as long as the enemy was blocked in the Silent Forest for long enough, once all the migrating magic beasts returned...

They would die a very ugly death.

Next, the second stage of the project was successfully completed last month.

Although the workers, who now had deep pockets, were looking forward to the start of the third phase, Zhang Mu announced a suspension of work after collecting the buildings and the artificial forest, with the restart date to be announced later.

Zhang Mu wasn't completely certain he could stop the enemy in the Silent Forest.

For safety's sake, the third phase should wait until after the war.

One last thing: Geoffrey's research had made significant breakthroughs.

After countless tests and improvements, he successfully designed the first mature magic rifle that could be mass-produced for use.

Considering Zhang Mu's requirement to "mainly target low-tier Professionals and ordinary Soldiers," this rifle didn't completely abandon kinetic lethality.

Setting aside Magic Shields, the power of the bullets was still substantial.

The reason Zhang Mu made such a request was entirely because "magic-conducting technology" was in its infancy.

Its potential went without saying; he felt that in the future, everyone on the Saul Continent could become a magician, and it wasn't a fantasy for magicians to put down their staffs and pick up handguns.

But this was precisely what required the time Zhang Mu currently lacked the most.

For magic-conducting weapons to develop to the point where they could threaten high-tier or even top-tier Professionals, Zhang Mu didn't know exactly how long it would take, only that it would be measured in years.

In any case, it certainly wouldn't be in time for the war with the Lagu Kingdom.

Rather than making something that was a jack-of-all-trades but master of none, it was better to focus on improving one specific aspect.

As for why he didn't just go full throttle on producing fully kinetic firearms, the reason was also simple—to give ordinary Soldiers a fighting chance when they encountered Professionals.

Professionals, especially magicians, had Mental Energy that crushed ordinary people.

In such a situation, a single spiritual penetration would render any number of Soldiers with guns useless; at most, they might manage to kill one or two by ambush, but in the end, they would still be wiped out.

Geoffrey's magic rifle partially solved this problem.

He abandoned attack magic and mana storage modules, instead equipping two Cores that stored Mental Energy to defend against spiritual attacks from Professionals.

Due to the storage limit, it could currently only withstand a spiritual piercing from a Beginner Magician at most.

It was enough.

In Kingdom-level battles, on the arduous and dangerous front lines, the highest-level Professionals encountered were generally at the Elementary.

Middle-level and High-level ones were mostly in the rear drawing Magic Arrays to provide fire support for the front.

For even higher Magisters, simply blocking Mental Energy was meaningless.

After personally firing the magic rifle, Zhang Mu immediately ordered the munitions factory, which had already expanded several times, to operate at full capacity.

By not long ago, enough had been produced to equip a ten-thousand-man legion, along with matching bullets and Mental Energy Cores.

Today, the workers in the "World" had finished counting and packing the items into crates. After Zhang Mu inspected them, he led Solon to Moza Village early in the morning.