Abe the Wizard

“I’ve heard the voice of the great god of war!”

After half an hour, Levi woke up and screamed very loudly. He was then surprised to see Elder Blair and Warrior Church inside of his home.

Elder Blair went to get him up after he made a bow, “Is it true, child? Did you really hear from the god of war?”

It was one thing to see the blessing, but he had to make sure he did everything he could to verify what was happening.

Levi’s eyes shone with encouragement, “My father died today, Elder Balir, and I was just praying to see if I can become a class holder. I had no choice since it’s the only way to make my mother live better. I begged and begged to the great god of war, and thank him! I immediately felt like I was bathed in hot water.”

Elder Blair nodded and sobbed, “He hasn’t abandoned us! The great god of war is back!”

Warrior Church nodded, “We must do a test on this child! Let’s see if he’s actually qualified now.

“Right, right,” Elder Blair wiped his tears and spoke, “Give me your hand, child.”

Blair listened and gave his left hand. Elder Blair responded by withdrawing a thin power of the Will thread. A few moments later, joy was all over his face.

He checked again, “You had no talent before this, correct, child?”

Levi couldn’t lie, “No, Elder!”

Warrior Church was very impatient, “So what is it, Elder? Is he qualified or not?”

Elder Blair spoke with a serious tone, “Child, you have become a warrior of the great god of war. You must make sure to train with the blessings that were bestowed upon you. Do not let the great one down when he has great expectations of you.”

Lev’s mother murmured, “Thank the great god of war!”

Levi picked up his axes and chanted, “I’m the warrior of the great god of war! I will fight for him with my life!”

Warrior Church asked, “What is your name, child?”

Levi bowed and responded, “Levi, Sir!”

Levi was very respectful the whole time. He knew who Elder Blair and Warrior Church were, but they were always so distant from his standing. It was really a pleasure, from his perspective, that they could even speak ground to ground like this.

Warrior Church spoke, “Are you willing to become my disciple, Levi?”

Levi was starting to stutter from the excitement, “I, I, yes, absolutely!”

There were no worries for him to support his mother. As speechless as Warrior Church be if he knew about this, that’s the most important thing for Levi at this moment. Yes, it was important that they just received their first blessing from the god of war after a long time, but nothing could be more important than to support a family after a devastating war. Of course, they still needed much of the morale to let the whole city know that they were not without help.

Warrior Church smiled to Levi, “Bring your mother to me, Levi. We’ll head to the temple. That’s where your family will be living from here on.”

Abel watched the whole time. He knew that Levi gained the ability to become a barbarian after half an hour of his enlightenment blessing, which was even more disappointing. Even a young man had more talent than him to become barbarian, and there wasn’t much he could do in response to that apart from shaking his head.

When he was about to call a halt to this experiment, he received a special prayer message before leaving Doff.

“O great god of war! Our generation has been waiting for you to return! We are your humble servants and your bodies on earth. Your shepherd Blair here asks you to accept all my loyalty. Please, let me become the representative of your world.”

Abel was shocked to see that a priest was sending him a message like this. He could trace the message back to its owner, and he realized that it was from none other than Elder Blair of the Battlecry City temple.

He was quite confused because of this, “I thought he was supposed to recognize his god?”

Elder Blair was pretty much what Loraine was to the elves. He represented everything about the god of war, and it was really strange that he had no awareness that it was someone else taking care of the blessing bestowing now. That’s when he realized something. The god of war might’ve disappeared for too long for this elder to know what he even looked like.

“Being a fake god?”

That’s a big taboo, as far as Abel was concerned. That being said, it wasn’t entirely impossible from his perspective. Given that he could connect to the worshippers with the path of faith, it was actually possible to control an entire race like a real deity.

“Blair, are you willing to become my representative ? Are you willing to give your body to me ? Are you willing to take care of my sheep?”

Elder Blair was sitting where Levi was praying before. He was praying the same as he had always done, except this time, he was not ignored. As a matter of fact, he had no choice but to believe in the god of war when he said he would not abandon them. Now, that promise had been fulfilled. The sound he was hearing came to him like thunder. He was on his knees, and when he heard the questions, his heart felt like it was burning. It felt like he was suffocating. The real god of war responded to him, and his soul shook in fright when he heard it himself.

He responded with all of his power, “Yes! I shall do all of these things!”

When Elder Blair responded, he could feel a strange connection with a faraway being. Abel didn’t expect this to happen, too. Divine power was coming straight from the ancient totem towards Elder Blair. It was about a fifth of what’s reserved, making it impossible to even use his enlightenment blessing. Meanwhile, Elder Blair could also feel strange energy coming from far away into his own body. His old, frail body became full of life. It was almost like he was a younger version of himself again.

Elder Blair knelt harder on the ground, “O great god of war! My only master! Thank you for your care! I do not deserve this! I do not!”

Warrior Church was watching. This was the second miracle he witnessed today. Elder Blair just received a direct acknowledgment from the god of war. The god of war was truly back at the temple now. While Able was still thinking about recharging the lost energy, he immediately received a message from the ancient totem. It seemed that Elder Blair just became Doff’s representative after that sacred ceremony just then.

Now, even though neither Abel nor Doff could conjure the power of a divine spirit, there seemed to be a lot that the representative could do. For starters, after taking a portion of the divine powers, the representative could make use of that divine powers to his liking. Abel liked that idea, actually. If Elder Blair wanted to borrow from him, he must make sure he was doing his part to increase the number of his followers as well. In return, all he needed to do was to give up a small portion of his force.

The only thing left for Elder Blair was the ability to cast the enlightenment blessing. Abel gave the permission very quickly, and when Elder Blair was looking at his young body, he became very surprised to see that he was gaining an entirely new skill. He was bewildered to see that the blessing was on him because he did remember hearing a similar tale from one of his seniors many years ago. When he tried to activate it, he was sent a notification regarding the conditions required for activating the enlightenment blessing.

Elder Blair spoke, “Warrior Church, bring all you warriors to the temple! I have something urgent to declare!”

Things were different now, so he wasn’t just going to be carried by Church. That was what Elder Blair thought to himself, at least. He was now the most sacred barbarian out of all the barbarians. He had to do what he could to defend the dignity of the deity he represented. So, after spending a bit more time walking back to the temple, he had eight elite warriors waiting for him.

Elder Blair spoke immediately upon his return, “Warriors! The god of war is back!”

The warriors already knew that on their way to the temple, but they were still as thrilled to know this.

Elder Blair then spoke, “The temple needs to be bigger! I need to select the most faithful worshippers to become divine workers. Every time they reach a gathering spot, they shall bring the will of the god of war to every ears of our fellow barbarians!”

One barbarian warrior spoke, “That will reduce even more of our food reserves , Elder Blair.”

Elder Blair looked at him and spoke calmly, “Our sacred totem pole is lost, and the divine shine is no more. Still, the god of war has not abandoned us. If we pay enough tributes to him, then I can activate the enlightenment blessing once more to return the temple to its former glory.

The other warriors stood up, “What?”

“Did you gain the enlightenment blessing technique, sir?”

If that was true, they could now build an army at a rate much faster than before. As long as there were young men who were fit for the role, Elder Blair could turn them into warriors. They just needed time to grow influence if that was the case.

Warrior Church spoke loudly, “Our temple must grow in size! Let the advanced barbarians in exchange for food. We’ll pick the divine workers from those with clean backgrounds. We’ll commence the work right away!”