Sunlight streamed through the window crack onto the bed, and Adam woke up from his sleep, a little later than usual.
Last night's encounter still left him with some lingering fear, but fortunately, it was a blessing in disguise.
Adam looked at everything around him, and suddenly, sounds, smells, and light seemed to explode. Every single thing around him was imprinted in his mind, as if a certain boundary had been broken. He became exceptionally familiar with everything around him, feeling as if everything was within his grasp.
"Perception?" Adam's state of perceiving everything didn't last long; it quickly faded.
Before last night, when he smelt something, he simply smelt it; when he saw an image, he simply saw it. But now, during that period, all perceptions were integrated, and he could even collide his perceptions with those of others.
If he hadn't exited the perception state in time last night and had forced a confrontation, he might have been completely overwhelmed by the dark smoky werewolf's perception, then suffered various sensory impacts, and fainted.
Exhaling, Adam tidied up the attic, listened to the sounds downstairs, picked up the book "The words of God", and headed down.
Downstairs, priest Fra was talking to Maggie, seemingly about tuition fees.
In Sky City, behind Roya, there was the Holy Radiance Theological School. Most of the priests and nobles in the vicinity graduated from this school, but the tuition fees were too high for ordinary commoners.
Although Fra thought highly of Adam, he couldn't possibly pay this sum for Adam, as he himself wasn't wealthy.
Moreover, Adam wasn't willing to go to that school.
Why go? To die?
Looking at Adam, who came down holding the church's scripture, the priest's eyes were filled with regret, regretting that Adam was born in the wrong era. Years ago, before the theological reforms, commoners could enrol simply by passing a test and buying a copy of the scripture.
However, with the increasing power of the nobility, most theology underwent reforms, and the entry threshold became higher, making it incredibly difficult for ordinary commoners to get in.
Although the priests of the church thus gained better resources, and the status of priests became more esteemed—even the priest himself was a beneficiary—he still sighed with a touch of regret.
"Priest Fra! You haven't been here for several days." Adam ran over, seemingly very surprised, then his face filled with reluctance, but he still handed over the scripture and placed it in front of the priest: "Here, it's yours."
"I've been quite busy lately." Seeing Adam's behaviour, the young priest became even more regretful, but he still took the copy of the scripture. Although he was capable, he was essentially still not wealthy, partly because he had rejected some inappropriate 'gifts' from the city's nobles.
However, upon taking the scripture, his expression shifted, and he opened the book. Tucked inside was a small, thin wooden chip. On the chip was a drawing, made with charcoal, mimicking an illustration from the book.
Uncle Arlis did some carpentry, and this wooden chip, along with the charcoal, was found in his small carpentry workshop. Adam had already prepared his plan to become a painter these past few days.
"Did you draw this?" The priest was very surprised. The charcoal was too coarse, and drawing on a wooden chip made the entire drawing seem too crude, but it was not difficult to see the similarity between the drawing and the illustrations in the scripture.
"Mm! " Adam seemed very embarrassed, just hummed and then lowered his head, saying nothing more.
"It seems to have worked! " Adam clearly understood the art of negotiation. When you want to make a request but fear others won't agree, what do you do?
First, make a more outrageous request, and then after the other party refuses, propose your original request. At this point, the chances of the other party agreeing will greatly increase.
Although Adam's and the priest's situations were somewhat different, the principle was the same. First, let the priest see his talent in theology, but the priest didn't have the means to sponsor Adam.
Therefore, when a slightly lesser alternative option appeared, the priest would, out of guilt, choose to compensate, even if this option would slightly violate his principles.
To some extent, Adam was exploiting the priest's kindness.
"You also have a good talent for painting." The priest did not stint on his praise, squeezing the scripture in his hand and saying with some delight.
After a moment of hesitation, the priest said, "I know a few painters. I'll go and discuss it with them later. Perhaps they can let Adam learn something."
"Why aren't you thanking the priest!" Maggie pushed her nephew while joyfully trying to give the priest some meat pies, but the priest refused.
"If it works out, I'll come over to pick you up first thing tomorrow morning." The priest said, then exited the Cooper family, muttering softly, "God surely favours believers."
Watching the priest's retreating back, Adam grinned, saying to himself inwardly, "God doesn't favour anyone; only I favour myself!"
"Adam?" Maggie's voice made Adam turn his head and smile shyly.
"This is great. Adam has a talent for painting and can also get help from the priest." Maggie was very happy. After her nephew came, there was an extra mouth to feed in the family.
Although Adam was a very capable worker, it wasn't true that the more people working, the more income there would be. A family's income had its limits.
Adam smiled, walked into the kitchen, picked up the basket of pickled vegetable pies, and walked out.
Aside from encountering a powerful kin last night, everything else was still under his control.
He had collected a lot of information, and among it, besides information about various residents nearby, the most important was naturally information about the south district church.
Through information such as the purchasing of materials by the south district church's procurement personnel and the arrangements for believers' baptisms and worship, Adam analysed a piece of intelligence: the church might need renovations, with the focus likely being on the frescoes.
He had considered this aspect when he chose to make becoming a painter his goal.
Adam had deeply analysed priest Fra: born into nobility, but not the firstborn, he was given a sum of money and kicked out of his family upon adulthood.
With that money, he entered the theology school; most illegitimate sons of nobles chose this path.
Perhaps influenced by some priests in the school, Fra had a strong sense of justice and greatly disliked the nobles raising the school's threshold. After graduating, he didn't even return to his family's territory but instead came to Roya.
In Roya, he also rejected the overtures of the nobles and had no connections here.
Adam greatly admired people like priest Fra, but this didn't stop Adam from using this naive young priest.
This naive, unconnected young priest, unable to sponsor Adam to the seminary, upon discovering Adam's talent in painting, would then recall the church's need to repair its frescoes.
Adam recalled the splendour of the priest's sword during the night of the immolation. With his identity and ability, he could actually gain a lot of benefits if he were willing to speak up.
According to Adam's judgement, having Adam join the fresco restoration as an apprentice, assisting the painters, should be well within the priest's psychological bottom line.
Being able to enter the church and stay there from morning till night would allow him to collect an immense amount of intelligence.
At that time, whether it was to use the church to restrain Baron Mansla from seeking an opportunity to cross the wall or to explore the church's defensive layout for Roya's border wall, he would gain more initiative.
Most importantly, as the local church, its information would certainly be the most well-informed. From here, he should be able to get some early information about personnel changes in the church.
"Although I've made a lot of disguises, one day that person will find their way to Roya!" Adam thought, after selling a pickled vegetable pie, he put down the cover cloth, raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his face with the back of his hand, and gently rubbed the scar on his face.
Of course, even if it failed, Adam had nothing to lose. Everything was the priest's spontaneous action, unrelated to Adam. The only thing he feared was the priest's bottom line dropping too quickly, directly using his connections to send him to the theology school.
Lowering a good person's bottom line is as disgusting as dumping a bucket of faeces from the second floor. Adam knew this well, but he did not regret it.
Whatever his ideals, hobbies, or great beliefs, the premise was always to survive.
The priest walked into the church through the side door, nodded to the other priests and then became somewhat hesitant.
He had never done any
thing like using his connections to seek benefits for others.
But in the end, the priest still went to the painter.