Mystra was rather frustrated to be declined by Roland. She heaved a sigh. “Other goddesses seem much luckier than me. The man that they’re interested in is their believer, friend, and companion. I’ve finally met someone who is rather capable, yet he wants nothing to do with me except earning money and reputation with me.”
She spoke in a slow and gloomy tone as if Roland were really a terrible man. Roland secretly chuckled.
Born in an information world, he had seen countless girls manipulating the guys who were in love with them. He didn’t think he could see through all of them, but he certainly wouldn’t fall for this one, whose expression was obviously insincere.
“We are merely cooperating with each other.”
Roland had truly intended to earn more reputation and money through Mystra, but it was a win-win.
It wasn’t like he didn’t pay anything.
Sacrificing spells could benefit the development of the Church of Magic.
Mystra had received a lot more power of faith lately, mostly because of the oil-making and water-making spells that Roland sacrificed. After the Temples of Magic shared them, they got quite a lot more long-term believers.
Few Mages could avoid learning those two spells in the future.
The sugar-making spell was undoubtedly another must-learn.
Seeing that Roland wasn’t tricked, Mystra helplessly rolled her eyes.
Beauty was truly a great advantage.
Rolling your eyes could easily ruin other people’s impression of you, but when she did that, she almost looked cute.
Certain people with special interests would probably find her attractive.
However, Roland was still not intrigued.
Having been enjoying himself regularly, he was already strongly resistant to beautiful women.
Storing the paper on which the spell model was written, Mystra said in disappointment, “Okay, let’s be friends for now, but I still want you to become my believer someday.”
“Maybe later.” Roland subtly declined her.
“This is your reward.” Mystra waved her hand.
A light ball submerged into Roland’s body.
A few seconds later, a sophisticated spell model appeared in Roland’s mind.
Mystra looked at him with a smile. “I know that old woman Sophie gave you a scythe. But the scythe is just a dead object. What I gave you is real good stuff.”
Sensing the nodes in his mind, Roland asked in surprise, “Mystra’s Sword?”.
“Yes.” Mystra opened her right hand, and a long and narrow sword suddenly appeared in her hand. “This is my alchemical creature, known as Mystra’s Sword.”
The sword had no sheathe and was completely black. However, there was a white eye at the grip of the sword, which was staring at Roland with great interest. “Sister, this is the first time you’ve seen a human being since you became a goddess, right? He’s also a man.”
The voice of the sword was gender-neutral.
Mystra said with a smile, “He’s very talented. He can look a god in the eyes. He’ll be our good friend.”
The sword hummed a response and then disappeared.
Seizing the chance, Roland asked, “The spell to summon Mystra’s Sword already exists in the main plane. Is there anything special about the spell you gave me?” “This is the spell model that I optimized after I became a goddess. It requires a lower level to learn, and the sword illusion that it summons is more powerful and intelligent,” said Mystra with a smile. “Even the illusion summoned by a Legendary Mage with Mystra’s Sword can only inherit thirty percent of the original sword’s power. But if you do that with the spell I’ve optimized, it can be seventy percent as powerful, and more intelligent.”
Awesome!
According to the books that Roland had read, Mystra’s Sword was a powerful, continuous support spell.
After Mystra’s Sword was summoned, it would automatically float near its summoner and enhance them with a lot of support spells. It would also voluntarily attack the enemy, or help take damage.
It could also be a partner to speak with.
However, it wasn’t easy to summon Mystra’s Sword.
Even if one’s level met the requirement, one still might not succeed in summoning it. It depended on if one’s soul matched the sword. So, it was a matter of luck whether or not Mystra’s Sword could be summoned.
Few Mages in the entire world could summon it.
At this moment, Mystra had offered an optimized version and even asked the sword to meet Roland. The hint was almost obvious.
Mystra’s Sword would surely show up when Roland summoned it.
Mystra’s Sword was well-acknowledged as a powerful spell. If possible, every Mage wanted an illusion of Mystra’s Sword.
“Are you satisfied with such a reward?” asked Mystra with a smile.
“I am.” After a pause, Roland said, “Goddess, I’m curious about something. What do the odds of success in summoning Mystra’s Sword under normal circumstances depend on?”
“Apart from personality and the matching rate of soul waves, my baby loves those who are charming.”
“You mean those who have a high Charm?”
“Yes.”
Roland heaved a sigh. “No wonder the odds of successfully summoning Mystra’s Sword are so low.”
Under normal circumstances, the Mages focused most of their stats points on Intelligence.
The Mages who had a high Charm, such as Vivian, often had limited achievements.
If she had devoted some points to Intelligence, she would’ve probably become a Master.
Yet, she had barely made any progress after she became an Elite.
Mystra’s Sword, on the other hand, was a high-level summoning spell that only the Legends could learn.
Generally speaking, few Legendary Mages had a high Charm.
Like… really few!
Since the Goddess of Magic was capable of letting her intelligent alchemical sword respond to summoning of certain people, Roland had an idea.
“Goddess, aren’t you frustrated by the lack of believers?”
“Yes. That’s why I want you to create more interesting spells that low-level Mages can use.” Mystra nodded with a smile. “It’s very important to me.”
Mystra could transform other people’s divine power into her own. It was inappropriate for her to rob the other Lawful gods, so she could only look for evil gods in the Astral Plane.
She robbed them of their evil power of faith, refined it with magic, and then used it as her own power of faith.
However, the additional two steps resulted in the low efficiency.
Over the years, Mystra had lived on the tiny bit of power of faith from her believers and her loot. She had to budget carefully, and her life wasn’t easy.
Who would work hard if they could get what they wanted without doing anything?
Her life didn’t improve until Roland sacrificed a few spells recently. Still, the improvement wasn’t significant enough.
Roland nodded and realized that all gods and goddesses loved the power of faith.
Otherwise, the Church of Light and the Church of Life wouldn’t have been expanding so hard.
All the Lawful deities were the same.
The Goddess of Magic couldn’t be an exception.
“Mystra’s Sword is a spell that all Mages yearn to learn, and few have succeeded.” Roland pointed at his head. “In fact, you can promise that when the faith of the believers and clerics of the Church of Magic reaches a certain level, they will automatically pick up Mystra’s Sword and can summon it with a 100% success rate. I believe that a lot more high-level Mages will be willing to worship you.”
Mystra hit her right hand with her left fist and said with great enlightenment. “Right, I didn’t know that method before. Thank you very much.”
Then she waved her hand excitedly and released Roland back to the main plane from the Realm of Gods.
Roland saw the tiny church again.
Roland took a deep breath and left.
He went to the First Princess’s manor and found Stephanie and Andonara.
Andonara looked as happy as before. She was only responsible for protecting Stephanie and eating nice food every day. Her life was quite comfortable.
Stephanie, on the other hand, had dark shadows under her eyes.
“What happened? Have you been busy?” Roland sat down opposite her.
“Father has given some of his power to me. I have to deal with those old foxes every day, and reason with the glowing zealous believers. Life is so hard.” Stephanie laid her upper body on the table, not caring that her breasts were being squeezed and even partly exposed. “You and Anna look so happy. You only need to do magic experiments every day, and she’s satisfied just by watching you. Why is your life so easy and simple?”.
“Because we’re strong.” Roland smiled. “Leaving Anna aside, I’m a powerful and promising Mage who knows how to build a floating city. So, I can ignore many of the unspoken rules and shackles, but you can’t.”
“Do you know that truth can be hurtful sometimes?” Stephanie sat straight, depressed. “I have no strength, and I can only count on someone else’s power. How embarrassing… Okay, you should go. Anna would want to have fun with you if you stay, which will make it even harder for me to rest. You really messed up my room. I opened the window for half a day, but the smell still lingered.”
Hearing that, Roland quickly flashed away.
He had to, as he felt rather guilty.
Roland returned to the Transmutation Magic Tower and rested in the dormitory for half a day. Then he went to class.
In the class, everybody who knew him looked at him in a weird way.
At first, Roland thought that it was still the consequence of his successful investment on the Julian family.
But then he realized that those people looked at him with gratitude and admiration.
Huh?
That didn’t feel right.
Normally, they should be jealous of a man who had won a political gamble.
Why the gratitude and admiration?
Then Kujira came. The moment he saw Roland, he said with a smile, “Mr. Roland, it’s truly remarkable for you to create a food-making spell so quickly. Although it does not provide staple food, the sugar that I tried can indeed keep me full without requiring additional magic materials. Incredible!” He raised his thumb at Roland with obvious appreciation on his face.
