“Griffind, come with me for a moment.”
After finding Griffind, Muxuan spoke and immediately turned toward a nearby tree.
Griffind quickly followed Muxuan.
“Your Grace, is something the matter?”
“Look here.” Hearing Griffind’s question, Muxuan pointed to a map he had nailed to the tree.
This was a rough map of the surrounding terrain, drawn by Buzachi when Muxuan sent him out on an errand.
Muxuan had obtained it after returning from the underground labyrinth last time, but only now did he take it out.
“You’re in charge of establishing this base. This village counts as a large base, but you’ll need to set up three smaller outposts in this direction from the village.”
Small outposts could be considered extensions of the large base, specifically to guard against and scout for nearby dangers. Unlike the village, which already had some existing buildings, it was not easy to establish an outpost from scratch.
Moreover, these three small outposts were key to connecting with the Church’s headquarters.
Griffind knew this would be troublesome, but he replied earnestly, “I guarantee the task will be completed!”
Muxuan nodded in satisfaction, then said, “Assign two knights to each outpost. For this operation, you’ll take a total of twenty knights, eleven of whom are new recruits.”
“After Beckze makes the arrangements, someone will inform you. Go get some rest.”
After bowing, Griffind took the map and left.
Muxuan also returned to his residence after Griffind’s departure.
Having learned from the last incident, this time, of the three stones given to Buzachi, one was specifically for sending messages.
Looking at the message that appeared from the scepter, Muxuan fell into deep thought.
The news from Buzachi this time wasn’t about finding survivors, but about discovering a half-excavated mine…
And around the mine was a forest stained with blood…
As for minerals and such, Muxuan wasn’t concerned for now. The current houses were all wooden, but that mine could be treated as a quarry. Not only that, there was open-air marble there!
Although no one was there, plenty of gathering tools had been left behind.
It was truly an important discovery.
However, the place was still quite far from where Muxuan was. Moreover, the bloody forest had been marked as dangerous by Buzachi.
A danger mark was only used when something could threaten their lives at any moment!
This meant that Buzachi’s power—ten strands of faith—wouldn’t be nearly enough there.
To extract resources there, they would need enough manpower. But Muxuan couldn’t grant everyone the power of ten strands of faith.
Thanks to a recent prayer, he once again had some faith power in hand.
Shaking his head, Muxuan instructed Buzachi to leave the area.
The place was marked, but for now the Church did not have the strength to mine it… It would have to wait for another time…
With that thought, Muxuan marked the spot on the backup map and labeled it with the same danger symbol as the goblin underground labyrinth.
In the black mist, Buzachi kept sneaking around, avoiding the strange phenomena whenever possible, always exploring outward from the base. Honestly, he had it tough, and he even brought Na’er along…
But at least Muxuan could finally rest.
Everything at the base was handed over to Beckze and the two newly promoted bishops. Maintaining order and fending off supernatural threats was now the knights’ responsibility.
For now, all Muxuan had to do was accumulate faith power every day in peace.
With that in mind, Muxuan released the Light Power enveloping his body, leaned back against the chair, and stretched with a big yawn.
Four days passed quickly, and the large base had taken clear shape.
The three light pillars of the small outposts had also been completed.
Looking from the edge of the base into the black mist, one could see faint beams of light shining within.
During this time, another group of refugees arrived. Griffind arranged for all of them to help build the outposts.
Everything was going well, except…
Looking at his hair, now more than half silver-white, Muxuan was in a foul mood. His height, thanks to the faith power returned from the believers’ ceaseless efforts, had shrunk considerably.
Even his voice no longer sounded distinctly male…
If not for the fact that he still had that thing, Muxuan would have doubted he was still a man.
Was the combination of Light Power and the Divine Core really this ridiculous?
It forcibly turned this body into such a petite, adorable form.
Sure, the Goddess once said that the purer the Light Power, the more beautiful one became. But this wasn’t what Muxuan had in mind when he wished for better looks!!!
Rubbing his face and looking at the delicate, adorable visage in the mirror, Muxuan felt deeply uncomfortable.
With such a look—one that would burst into tears at a single punch—who would like it?!
Annoyed, he tugged at his hair and once again shrouded himself in Light Power, disguising himself as his former self.
But this Light Power that cloaked his body was like a phantom, without any substance.
Inside, he was left with a body barely one meter sixty tall.
As a result, his clothes were completely ill-fitting, hanging loosely over his frame.
Although someone skilled in flax weaving had been found over the past four days, and a simple set of spinning tools had been made,
the process of making clothes was still slow, and Muxuan was embarrassed to ask for a child-sized set. Most importantly, the linen clothes were nowhere near the quality of the clothes he wore now.
Ask the Goddess? At this rate, that wicked-hearted woman would just laugh at him again.
Irritated, but with no alternative, Muxuan carried on.
To keep his light-robed disguise from dragging on the ground, Muxuan used Light Power to boost his apparent height. His feet never touched the floor, his whole body hovering as if floating. To outsiders, though, it looked like he was standing on solid ground.
At present, Muxuan’s Light Power had reached nearly ninety-eight strands—enough for such feats.
After fusing with the Divine Core, he had long surpassed the stage of condensing a core.
While he could grant faith power to upgrade the believers, the fifty-strand mark would inevitably be a major threshold.
He could forcibly use faith power to push them to fifty strands of Light Power, but condensing a Light Core depended on personal affinity with Light. That was a matter of talent!
Of course, Muxuan could forcibly help someone condense a core, but such a core was temporary and would soon dissipate once the Light Power was exhausted.
But once someone succeeded in condensing a Light Core, they could then advance on their own, no longer relying on Muxuan’s bestowed faith power to increase their Light Power.
At that stage, faith power mainly served as auxiliary acceleration.
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