Chapter 059: Initial Effects
“Thank you, Your Excellency High Priest! Thank you, almighty God of Light! Thank you for granting me the power of a new life!”
The woman was overcome with emotion, her eyes filled with tears of excitement. She kowtowed and thanked Chen Ran repeatedly.
“Alright, alright,” Chen Ran said, waving his hand. “That’s it. If there’s nothing else, you can go home. Find a place and start your new life.”
The woman’s expression was complicated. She didn’t leave, but bowed to Chen Ran again.
“Your Excellency High Priest, I have a request.”
“What is it?”
The woman said, “It was you and the God of Light who granted me a new life, but I have no gift to offer to God. I would like to request that you take me in, Your Excellency High Priest, and let me become a member of this church, to contribute what little I can. I know how to do many things: laundry, cooking, cleaning rooms. I can do all sorts of rough work. I believe there must be a place where I am needed. I want to start my new life here.”
“This…” Chen Ran hadn’t expected to be offered a volunteer laborer like this. It seemed she really wanted to work here.
Chen Ran also felt that the woman’s past was a bit pitiful. He thought that anyone who would come to the church to pray without interruption must have their own story. Just like the old man before, they had no one to rely on and could only place their hopes elsewhere. And faith was born from this. It was precisely because an unpredictable power had saved them that they were willing to believe in the existence of so-called gods.
“Well, alright,” Chen Ran sighed. “It’s difficult for me to manage this church alone. It needs to be taken care of, and I’ll definitely need to hire people in a while. You can stay.” At this, Chen Ran specifically reminded her, “The first few days might be quite tiring. Have you thought it through?”
“It’s okay,” the woman shook her head firmly. “What hardship haven’t I tasted? And what is more precious than the courage to live? Your Excellency High Priest, since I have been reborn, please give me a new name, so that I can completely forget the past.”
“Then…” Chen Ran thought for a moment and said, “Let’s call you Marian. From today on, you are Sister Marian. The work of this church will be in your hands from now on.”
The woman was clearly very satisfied with the name Chen Ran had given her. A smile appeared on her face for the first time, and she nodded repeatedly. “Yes, Your Excellency High Priest. I’ll go and help right away. This church really needs to be taken care of.”
Then, the newly named Sister Marian also began the task of cleaning the church. Chen Ran specifically pointed out a place where the church staff uniforms were stored, so she could change into the church’s exclusive clothes. From today on, she was a new employee of this church.
Throughout the morning, only the old man and Marian came. At the appointed time, Chen Ran also ended his morning service.
Since the others didn’t give me any face, let them regret it. Not everyone can receive the blessings of Lord Chen. One day, the people of the entire city will be kneeling and begging me to do things for them.
With nothing else to do, Chen Ran gave the old man and Marian some specific instructions for cleaning the church and even gave Marian a few gold coins to buy some daily necessities.
Chen Ran was not worried about their work. He even gave them a set of keys. Anyway, there was nothing valuable in the church. With his current assets, he could completely replace everything with a new set.
And then, Chen Ran began his grand plan to make money again.
With his almost fully recovered magic power, he made another fine lightning-element magic crystal and sold it at another magic item shop for more than 900 gold coins. Then he bought another pile of new low-grade magic crystals.
Feeling his not-so-abundant magic power, Chen Ran couldn’t help but miss the level 30 skill “Elemental Communication,” a skill that greatly accelerated magic power recovery.
If he had that skill, he wouldn’t be lamenting the pain of having a mountain of gold in front of him but being unable to take it. But he was not entirely without a solution. Don’t forget, he was also a master-level alchemist.
The life profession of alchemy was the first one Chen Ran had mastered. For alchemy, Chen Ran’s Holy Spirit Priest had a huge talent bonus, so this life skill was his starting profession. In the early stages, he made money by selling various potions and enhancement potions. It was only when his priest skills’ powerful support effects became more and more abundant, completely like enhanced versions of potions, that his team no longer needed to carry various health, clarity, and enhancement potions in battle. His money-making gradually shifted to the more profitable production of equipment, and alchemy gradually became useless.
But now, Chen Ran had to return to his old profession.
With more than a hundred gold coins left, Chen Ran went to the local potion shop and specifically selected some herbs needed to make magic power recovery potions.
After returning to the church, with Material Refinement, Chen Ran could 100% extract the essence of the medicinal materials and easily make them into powder. Then he began to mix them in various test tubes until he had successfully made several vials of azure clarity potions. He nodded in satisfaction.
The combination was not a problem at all, but the smell of the potion was a bit unbearable. Thinking of drinking this blue thing, it might not be a big deal in a game, but here…
For the sake of his grand plan to get rich, Chen Ran still pinched his nose and drank the potion, which had cost him 5 gold coins to make.
Feeling the gradually nourishing power in his body, the clarity potion indeed began to take effect. Chen Ran felt that his magic power recovery was at least twice as fast. After resting for half a day, he could make another new fine magic crystal.
A few more days passed like this, and Chen Ran’s assets had grown a lot. There was now a row of fine-grade (blue) magic crystals of various elements in his spatial ring. If he sold them, he could probably get close to 5000 gold coins. If he sold a few things, he would have enough capital to make some finished equipment.
As for the church, a few days later, Chen Ran also healed the old man’s leg completely. After all, the man had cleared almost all the weeds in the entire church. After working so hard for so many days, he deserved some reward. The old man was also moved to tears, claiming that the church had saved him and given him the motivation to live. He was willing to become the church’s gatekeeper and take care of some of the church’s sanitation problems in his spare time. Chen Ran readily agreed.
And so, with the efforts of the old man and Sister Marian, the church had unknowingly become much cleaner. The windows and everything were wiped clean, which made Chen Ran feel that this place finally looked like a place where people lived.
After recruiting the only two believers who came for morning service, Chen Ran suddenly found that no one came to this small church for morning service anymore. In a way, he had completed the task the old high priest had given him. Since there was no one, Chen Ran, under the pretext of developing the church, temporarily canceled the morning service and began to slack off, spending more of his thoughts on how to earn more gold coins.
