Nidalee didn't refuse; she stepped out of the spring, took a bath towel from the nearby rack, and carefully dried herself off.
Watching her figure, half-covered and half-hidden by the bath towel, Charles suddenly had a new thought: Wait, if the class change process requires complete nudity and immersion in the spring, wouldn't that mean every nun under my command will end up being seen by me?
Hiss—
At this notion, he glanced behind him; Sephera had followed him into the baptistry. In his mind, he wondered—could it be that the venomous witch was right after all?
Just then, Sephera looked at him as well. Master and servant were psychically attuned, and the venomous witch immediately understood his concern. Instantly, the corners of her mouth quirked up: "Don't worry, Master, I'll handle the screening. If they aren't beautiful and well-proportioned, I won't allow them to join the monastery!"
Hearing this, Charles facepalmed. "No, that's not what I meant… Ugh, there must be a solution!"
"At worst, I'll just keep my eyes closed from now on!"
...
Once the baptistry was finished, Charles wasted no time and called up another construction: the Hall of Thunder.
Here, another pastor specialization could be produced—the very class Charles had envisioned after promising Rahman, the Storm Domain Pastor.
This was a branch of pastor who could also be clad in heavy armor, and wield spells calling down lightning and thunder to devastate foes.
Even more, the surface of their metal armor was charged with high-voltage current; any foe who struck them would be jolted in return—in this aspect, they were even better tank frontliners than Life Pastors.
Of course, what Charles most anticipated was their guided Divine Power: allowing his lightning and thunder damage to skip random dice rolls and simply take the maximum value every time.
In practice, this meant all electric charges were directed by Divine Power, controlled, and struck foes directly, with not a single spark wasted.
Combined with Rahman's Ion Beam Emitter, its power could be maximized, overheating could be prevented—a win-win all around.
Storm Domain Pastors would be the perfect users for these weapons!
As purified white light fell, a new little chapel slowly took shape. Unlike the baptistry's steepled roof, this structure's top was adorned with a three-pronged lightning bolt—identical to the sacred symbol of the Storm God.
In fact, to construct the Hall of Thunder, one needed not only six hundred Purification Points, but also an item blessed by the Storm God.
Normally, in the early stages of the game, the fastest way to obtain such an item was to raise prestige with the Amazons and get a related artifact from them—for these women, long at sea, dealing with storms and tsunamis, possessed the most Storm God clues.
Reality, however, isn't a game; after hearing the Blue Dragon Prince's request, Charles simply used it as a reason to ask Rahman directly for an item blessed by the Storm God.
Though the blue dragon's own vault contained no such object, he checked with his kin and found that another blue dragon's trove held a trident, blessed a hundred years ago by the Storm God for a valiant believer. Rahman promptly acquired it and gave it to Charles.
For blue dragons—who lack for nothing—such a trophy was far less valuable than brotherhood. It was true for Rahman, and for the blue dragon who gave it up.
Charles accepted this artifact—prized beyond measure by the Storm God's church—trembling, and brought it to the monastery, using it as the core to complete the new structure.
Now, all that remained was to wait for dawn, when the nuns would wake, and allow them to choose: become a Life Pastor, tending the wounded, or a Storm Pastor, fearlessly slaying the enemy.
...
The next morning.
"You want me… to choose a domain, and become a pastor class?"
In the monastery garden, Carol blinked her large brown eyes, facing Charles and Theresa and the others with confusion.
This girl was the eldest daughter from the refugees Charles had rescued that day—the one who had declared she'd heard the voice of the Goddess of Life and who had, by her faith and insistence, rallied her family and neighbors to hope for rescue.
After Charles saved her whole family and eleven neighbors, bringing them to the shelter, she insisted she'd received revelation, and began preaching the Goddess of Life's doctrine to the other victims, converting many to true belief.
She even startled Sophia, Ekta, and Andny—who were on duty that day—when they realized how many she'd inspired.
But in the end, the three witches determined she was merely an overzealous, if slightly fanatical, believer—a one-girl volunteer PR campaign for the Church of the Goddess of Life, not evidence of any true divine resurgence.
Thus, once the shock passed, they relaxed and let her be.
Afterward, at Charles's instruction, Theresa personally recruited this girl as a nun and urged her to bring more girls in, swelling the monastery's numbers under Charles's rule.
Carol herself was a typical girl from the South Harbor District slums—a child of poverty.
Her height was similar to Hattie's, just over one meter sixty, and her figure was meager, skin dark and thin, clad in a thick black nun's habit, appearing even more flat-chested than Ruth.
Rough, freckled skin, brittle hair, a nose dusted with spots; only her big brown eyes lent her a faint beauty.
When Charles rescued her, her face had been even thinner, darker, and gaunter.
If not for the nutrition she'd received in the monastery kitchen, her sallow complexion would look much worse than now.
These days, she and the other girls were getting regular nourishment, exercising—a far cry from a true warrior, but close to a militiaman's level by now.
This isn't exaggeration—slum girls weren't pampered like those in the big city.
They were used to hard labor, shouting matches with thugs, even fighting with clubs against wild dogs, thieves, gangsters, or murderers.
They had the grit—the only thing lacking was physical condition. With the monastery kitchen's food, their combat strength quickly soared; outfitted in armor, weapon in hand, they were not inferior to most militia.
Now, Charles intended to advance them further: raising them to true, classed combatant level.
"Yes."
Seeing Carol's confusion, Charles took a breath and said, "As a believer in the Goddess of Life, only by gaining supernatural divine magic like your eldest nun can you save even more people, right?"
Through observation, he'd discovered the key: this girl idolized Theresa, so mentioning Big Nun would maximize her motivation.
And just as he expected, upon hearing this, Carol's eyes lit up with excitement.
"So that's it," she murmured, looking to Theresa. Her voice was eager: "Then, which domain did eldest sister choose?"
Theresa's gaze was gentle as she looked down at the girl. In the past, encountering a hardworking, admiring girl, she'd have taken wicked delight in manipulating her life—leading her through glory and ruin to become a despairing misanthrope.
But, unfortunately for that habit, she had now been purified. So, as for Carol, all she could think to do was help her.
Thus, according to the excuse they had previously agreed on, Theresa gently replied, "My own situation's a bit more complicated, as I'm not a pure pastor but also a warlock, with some supernatural gifts as well. So I might not serve as the best reference for you."
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