The small town, once deathly silent, became noisy again due to the actions of these people.
Gradually, people began to walk out of their houses and came to the Temple Square, making the once deserted square chaotic and noisy.
They naturally also noticed Lor standing in the square, but were not too surprised, thinking he simply came first.
And the red-robed mage also returned to the edge of the square, followed by Baron Radef and his family, as well as two knights and four militiamen.
"Fortunately, Chris is alright." Lor, over the crowd, spotted Chris among the militiamen, and felt relieved.
It's not surprising, the mage still needed people to help complete his tasks, he wouldn't kill indiscriminately, probably just a show of force.
The red-robed mage looked at the chaotic square, frowned slightly, and glanced at Baron Radef behind him.
"Everyone, quiet down!" The corpulent, luxuriously dressed baron immediately shouted loudly.
This usually authoritative baron's words immediately quieted the hubbub in the crowd, as they all turned to look at him.
Waiting until the sound entirely disappeared, Baron Radef took a deep breath and said:
"The gentleman standing before me is a wizard more noble than the divine, and his purpose in coming to our Radef Town is to give you all an opportunity to become a wizard."
"You must be grateful and respect this wizard as you would a god."
"Now, line up and one by one step before the wizard..."
Saying this, he suddenly stumbled.
Because he didn't know what to do next, he could only look pleadingly at the red-robed mage.
"God... divine?" Someone unbelievingly rubbed their ear, doubting what they'd heard.
"Is what the baron said true?" Someone's eyes were ablaze, looking skeptically at the red-robed mage in front of the baron.
"How is that possible? The divine is supreme, the baron has betrayed the divine, we must kill him!"
More than thirty fanatics were extremely angry, breaking the newly restored order, and charged barehanded at the baron and red-robed mage.
"Aah—"
However, the red-robed mage merely glanced at them, and they collapsed to the ground, entirely red, wailing in pain.
A second later, their bodies shriveled, and their hair ignited spontaneously.
After two seconds, their skin began to burn, exposing charred organs.
After three seconds, their organs and bones burned together, turning into a heap of black ash.
"I said I am more noble than the divine, does anyone still oppose?" The red-robed mage's gaze swept over the crowd, his expression indifferent.
The crowd instantly fell silent as cicadas in winter.
...
Outside the town, on a high mountain.
An old and a young temple knight, both clad in magnificent blood-red armor, looked into the town from afar.
"Wizard—"
The young temple knight clenched his fists, gritting his teeth as he stared at the red-robed mage dictating everything in the town, seemingly about to charge into the town at any moment.
"Rosa, impulsiveness is inadvisable; it is meaningless except for courting death." The old knight advised, then continued:
"Now that the people of this small town have accepted the wizard's rule, they are no longer the people of God, and we no longer need to protect them."
"What we need to do now is collect the war god's gift and seek out other knights to unite and plan a revenge against the wizard."
Rosa pointed at a dim shadow hidden within the white clouds above the town, "Anjek, I want to start the revenge from here."
"If you insist, it is not impossible." Anjek looked at the mage's spaceship among the white clouds, his eyes flashing red briefly, then disappearing, and turned to Rosa:
"I marked it, and if it passes by places with powerful temple knights, surprises will await it."
"As for now, we must go; the most important thing for us currently is to find a hidden place and absorb all of the divine's final gift, to become strong."
"Alright." Rosa nodded, and the two temple knights disappeared into the forest.
...
In the town, at the square.
Seeing no one speaking up, the red-robed mage nodded in satisfaction, took out a crystal ball, and said:
"Since no one objects, line up, and come before me one by one to touch this crystal ball."
Radef immediately instructed a few militiamen behind him: "Go and help out."
"Yes, Baron sir." The four militiamen bowed in salute and walked into the square.
The crowd also moved at the sound, eventually, with the help of a few militiamen, slowly starting to form a line.
"Lor, stop standing there, follow me later, I can let you be at the end of the line."
Chris discovered Lor still standing motionless in the square, and immediately approached to speak to him.
In his view, getting involved with that wizard was never a good thing, so the later he touched the crystal ball, the better.
"Chris, don't worry about me."
Lor patted Chris's shoulder, took out a parchment with drawings from his arms, and handed it over, smiling:
"After today, we might part ways. This is a parting gift for you, keep it well."
The parchment details the method of salting fish, both illustrated and in text, very thoughtfully considered.
He didn't think Chris had a Meditation Talent because it was, in fact, very rare, practically one in a million.
With this parchment, Lor believed Chris's future life would be much better.
"Lor, don't be impulsive!"
Chris glanced at the parchment and immediately understood what it was, instantly grasping Lor's shoulder and advising in a low voice:
"If you die at that wizard's hands, the God of Wealth may not bring you into His Divine Kingdom."
He clearly thought Lor was going to make a desperate charge against the wizard, like those fanatics.
To protect the dignity of the gods, even at the cost of life.
"No, you've misunderstood."
Lor shook his head, both crying and laughing, and explained:
"I was actually the first to arrive at the square. At that time, the wizard had not yet gone to the castle. He let me touch the crystal ball first and then asked me to wait for him here."
"Is... is that so?" Chris released his grip, looking at him somewhat skeptically.
"Goodbye." Lor stood on tiptoe to pat Chris's shoulder, then walked toward the red-robed mage without looking back.
"You there, why are you not lining up and coming here?" Baron Radef chided loudly as he saw Lor approaching.
Lor immediately stopped and cast a 'helpless' look at the red-robed mage.
"Did I ask you to speak?"
The red-robed mage coldly glanced at the baron and his family behind him, and the knights: "Why are you still standing here? Go get in line!"
"I... this... Yes, Wizard."
Baron Delaf stammered, not knowing what to say, finally leading his family and the knights protecting him to honestly head to the already-formed queue's end.
He was merely trying to curry favor here.
Judging by this one's reaction, it seems he values that little guy very much.
No, I must go back and find out if the little guy has any relatives or friends.
Treating them better in the future may mitigate some troubles, after all, he just gave a scolding, nothing too offensive.
"Come over here and stand behind me." Seeing the baron leave, the wizard turned back to Lor, speaking mildly.
"Yes, Wizard."
Lor bowed, amidst the unbelievable, deeply shocked gazes of the orderly line of small-town residents, and slowly walked to stand behind the red-robed wizard.
"He didn't lie to me."
Seeing that the wizard even drove away the baron, yet allowed Lor to stand behind him, Chris was stunned.
After quite some time, he came to his senses, carefully tucking the parchment he was holding into his arms, continuing to maintain order while silently marveling:
"No wonder it's him. Although he didn't become a knight, he is about to become someone more remarkable than a knight."
After about half an hour, when the queue was roughly aligned, the red-robed wizard looked at the middle-aged man at the front and said:
"Come, place your hand on the crystal ball."
The middle-aged man followed the instructions.
After waiting a second and seeing no reaction from the crystal ball, the wizard immediately said, "You can leave now, next one."
...
"Stand behind me."
...
"Next one."
As time passed, the red-robed mage's brows furrowed deeper and deeper.
At the start, when testing Lor, Lor had given him a big surprise.
He thought that after casually testing a person in this small town and finding a level five Meditation Talent, there should still be hope to find another one or two with advanced Meditation Talent.
As it turned out, after testing more than a thousand people, not to mention advanced Meditation Talent, there were only five people with Meditation Talent at all.