Beyern was a simple man, he wanted power, and then wanted to abuse his power for even more power, and maybe personal gain along the way too.
He never understood people who didn't use that power, he would never either. Power exists to be used, if you don't use it, you're just wasting it and should donate it to a humble dictator instead.
What he didn't understand even more, were those who abstained from power, or didn't even wish to gain it. The power is there for the picking, and you don't reach for the sky when a ladder is infront of you?
That's like going; 'Huh, there's this dagger here, it could be used as protection against demons and ghosts, but because it was used to kill people once, I don't want to touch it.'
What, are you not going to eat because someone chokes on their dinner once in a blue moon? No!
And that's Beyern philosphy, 'Power is power, and it should be used.'
So of course, he looks down on those who do this thing called 'Charity', or anything like it.
But, still, the church of Cercil, the god of light and order, was able to do such a thing without being deemed 'Idiots'.
-Maybe not as a whole, but still a good majority were.
But more importantly, they had power, a lot of it, and Beyern wanted a share of the gold, even if it was from a demon's purse. And on a side-note, this gold had a bit of platinum mixed in, totally wasted in it's mixed form, and he would extract it by getting his blessed items.
But sadly, the gold mining business was not for the poor, he had to put in a bit of an investment to get to drilling into the soil for some of the wonderful yellow metal.
But the return on investment would be sure to profit, as long as he got the prospecting permit.
Basically, if he wanted to profit from the Cercil church, he needed to break through the one and only barrier, befriending the Cercil church.
It was far harder than the Xenxilir church, far harder.
You can slay demons, rule a city or faction, maintain order, or donate money to the church. Well... You could use the image of a faithful believer to grease the wheels a little too.
A bit of a repor with the resident priests helps too, so today he's starting that up today, with the money he's made with one gallbladder excursion.
He already had 40 bronze! That's 400 copper! And around 57 gallbladders, the beyklir hunting was doing very well.
Now, one may wonder, why has Beyern not done so previously? Well, it's simple, he was in a small town, with a small economy and a lack of currency, where he had to take a risk to leave to mysterious city that he knew little about.
With that money, he first invested into another belt bag, putting it aside the other one, and then he cleaned himself off while doing some preperation.
He got into the state of mind of 'Fearing Cercil and the church', as that was enough for almost all faith-sensors out there.
This was quite difficult, since Beyern was... Very unfased by acts of cruelty, but all he had to do for him to momentarily regain his fear was; Remember that the Cercil church has the ability to steal of his money, to rob him blind essentially, and while acting like they're in the right too.
Horrifying, truly horrifying.
And so, he walked into the cathedral owned by the church of Cercil.
The cathedral was plastered by white limestone, used as a flex that they could keep white good and clean, a real show of power and wealth. But it was still a humble brag, so it wasn't going against their holy texts.
Beyern wasn't that impressed in all honesty, you had to care about something to be impressed by it, he had one goal, be Ordained by a priest with [Ordain].
That was all for now, no great scheme or act to play out, just getting ordained was enough.
So he walked up to a priest that seemed free, not dealing with any other people within the church "Hello father, are you free?"
"Yes, what is it that you need of me?" The priest said in response, Beyern mentally dissing him due to his lack of proper language.
Beyern smiled the moment he heard that the priest was available "Father, as you can probably tell, I have not been ordained by any church. When I was young, my parents weren't able to afford it. But now that I can, I wouldn't feel right with myself to not be ordained by a priest."
The somewhat old priest smiled impercetably "So you wish to be ordained?"
"Yes, father."
"Then, please understand, that you must pay a fee as to prove your faith along with a faith sensing, all proceeds will go to helping those in need."
"Of course," Beyern said with a smile as he ruffled through his money pouch, which he may have upsized a bit by adding a good bit of copper. His smile quickly turned slightly nervous "Father, how much does it cost, I don't really remember."
"Thirty bronze coins, child."
Right away, in response to that, he took out thirty bronze coins "This much, father?" Presenting it for the priest's taking.
"Yes, this is enough, child, please put out your hand for the sensing." The priest said after gracefully taking the money.
Beyern confidently pushed out his hand for the priest to take hold, he knew his own fear better than any other!
After taking his hand, the hand of both the priest and him glowed for a moment, the priest responding "It is good that such a faithful follower of Cercil has come to be ordained, I promise that there shall be no issue in the procedure."
The priest suddenly become a good bit more friendly, which meant; The faith picked up by [Sense faith] was higher than Beyern had expected. Priests also got achievement from ordaining faithfuls into the church, especially if they have greater faith.
"Absolut-," '-ly wonderful' Beyern let slip for a moment "That's great!"
"It is, quickly, do you know the words?" The priests asked.
Beyern quickly responded "Yes, of course I do, how could I allow the father to waste so much time to teach me such simple things?"
"Wonderful!" The priest quickly said "Please follow me, child." He turned around, hastily walking towards a door around the back side of the great hall.
Beyern's goal for today's excursion was basically certain to land in his hand, as if an oracle had foretold it. He quickly followed behind, seemingly happy about the occasion.
The priest opened the door, which had not been locked, and allowed Beyern to enter before closing it behind the two.
Beyern smiled at the room, it was the place where one was ordained a member of the church. Though he had never visited this place personally, he got the chance to look at a sketch of one.
He looked around, and asked "Father, where do I kneel?"
"Please do so in the middle of the room." The priest responded.
Beyern did so without much hesitation, the question being mere formality, and when he stood in the middle of the cubic structure housing the two of them, he turned towards the door, and then kneeled on one leg.
The father went into a state of mind reserved for when he used [Ordain], and stood infront of the kneeling, and put his palm towards his head, though not touching the fake believer's scalp "Child, your faith has been proven, and expressed in action, and only one act remains, please say, what is the last step?"
"Father, I plead to be brought into the great family accepted by the great godess of light and order, to feel the warmth of her endless embrace." Beyern said.
"But why? What makes you understand the goddess' kindness, her greatness."
"Father, I was lucky, born into a family who had already seen the light of order, teaching me the greatness of the goddess, and like them, I shall teach my spawn her greatness as well."
"Today, I, priest of Cercil, ordain this faithful child of man, as a one of the church! Do you accept?"
"Of course I do, father." Beyern said, with a hidden smile, a golden light shining from the priest's hands, passing over his head.
===
You have been ordained as a member of the Cercil church, this is, although not easy to do so, a reverseable process.
Do you accept?
===
It was instantly accepted, and Beyern's goal had been attained.
After the light had receded, he stood up from his kneeling posistion, and heard the father say "Welcome to the faith, child."
"It's a pleasure, father, to be with fellow sheep of Cercil." He smiled slightly, and left through the door he had passed by previously "Have a wonderful day."
===
Okay, so, I'm going from 1 chapter a day, to 1 chapter every two days. Why? Because I'm basically burning out of ideas, and 1 chapter a day is basically taking all of my free time.
And I also have shit to do outside of writing, like the looking into stocks, playing around in music software, trying to make cool things in an art program.
And my large amount of free time is not forever, after my vacation is over, it'd probably be 1 chapter a week, think of it as me easing you into my destined writing schedule, and trying to make this beautiful thing called a 'Backlog'