Chapter 31

After Leo and Perila proved their identity as “Sons of the Sun,” the Church of the Sun’s higher-ups had to shut their mouths, no matter how much discontent they harbored.

There was no helping it. Gods in this world were truly real.

The families who had once loudly proclaimed themselves Sun Guardians continued to call themselves Sun Guardian Families.

The gods never stipulated there could only be one Guardian Family.

Though this year the God’s Favored appeared among Halflings, perhaps next year it would be in our family.

They each dispatched elders and young talents from their families to establish friendly relations with the Sunflower Family, and to inquire how one could gain divine favor.

Xia Xifeng believed that after their inquiries, they would undoubtedly gain nothing.

The Twin Sun Gods liked the Sunflower Family precisely because their personalities were similar—shining quietly, without showing off.

If a family hadn’t produced a single Sun God’s Favored for nearly a millennium and still shamelessly called themselves Sun Guardians, even if the Twin Suns gave them some care out of respect for their ancestors or their power attributes, a God’s Favored was out of the question.

Divine favor, after all, was the gods’ fondness and affection.

Just look at Leo and Perila’s shiny bald little heads.

The gods even joked with their little God’s Favored, showing they never put on an aloof air before them.

Leo and Perila also didn’t treat the gods with extreme reverence and trembling fear.

Not to mention Leo, who spoke without restraint and often got his head shaved bald because of it. Perila treated the Suns as if they were parents or elder siblings—respectful, yes, but that respect was mixed with intimacy, an attitude unbecoming of how believers should treat their gods.

That’s probably why there were rarely God’s Favored within the churches.

But though other Sun Guardian Families weren’t highly regarded by the Twin Suns, being able to receive the Twin Suns’ blessings meant they generally aligned with the Sun’s convictions and weren’t bad people.

Xia Xifeng was very welcoming of their arrival.

If they could purchase property and land in the Knight’s Domain, invest in workshops and shops, he’d be even more welcoming.

These old-established divine guardian families were very wealthy.

“You’re also an old-established divine guardian family. Why don’t you seem like a wealthy, powerful family at all?” Xia Xifeng asked Leo and Perila.

Perila gave Xia Xifeng a melancholy look, unwilling to speak.

Ever since his hair was burned off, he had been depressed and gloomy, constantly shedding tears before the mirror, only speaking when absolutely necessary.

Leo was the same as always. He was probably used to it.

“Dummy, how could wealth and power be outwardly displayed?” Leo beckoned Xia Xifeng to crouch down, whispering in Xia Xifeng’s ear, “What are gold, silver, and jewels worth? Our secret grounds are piled with god-blessed weapons. Even newborn children get one for themselves!”

Xia Xifeng first showed an astonished expression, then remembered the current Sunflower Family looked like an ordinary farming village, but the Sunflower Family members after the Apocalypse… ah, indeed, every single one was armed to the teeth with artifacts.

That Halfling elder from the Sunflower Family he frequently visited to turn in “military supply preparation” quests even had dentures that were artifacts.

“No wonder the evil gods targeted you first.” Xia Xifeng said.

Leo’s expression froze for a moment, then he stood with hands on hips, huffing angrily: “They’re just jealous that we live well with the Suns!”

Xia Xifeng said: “That is indeed the case.”

It was impossible that the Outer Gods, whose homelands were nearly rotting away, weren’t jealous of the Dream World’s gods.

“All life relies on the sun.” This maxim held true in the Dream World as well.

Although the class most skilled at communicating with plants and animals were Druids, and the deity directly related to agriculture and animal husbandry was the God of Harvest, the Church of the Sun also had considerable expertise in agriculture.

The God of the Sun and the God of Harvest got along quite well.

When news of the Sun God’s Favored appearing spread, the Harvest Church also notified Amuruo that they wanted to build a church in this newly established Pioneer Knight’s domain.

The first group of clergy and construction supplies had already arrived.

When they learned of Xia Xifeng’s abilities in farming, they suspected Xia Xifeng might be the God of Harvest’s God’s Favored—the Halflings had previously been similarly suspicious.

The Harvest Church prayed to their god. Though the god’s response was vague, the content was very clear—he was not.

However, although Xia Xifeng was not their God’s Favored, the God of Harvest gave another response, still vague in content but very firm in emotion.

The God of Harvest greatly liked Xia Xifeng and hoped his church would assist Xia Xifeng.

The higher-ups of the Harvest Church, who could receive divine responses, were truly deeply devoted to agriculture, making it their lifelong dream that ordinary people could also have full bellies.

Upon learning that the God of Harvest acknowledged Xia Xifeng, the high-ranking clergy immediately held a meeting. They found several other God’s Favored and Guardian Families of the God of Harvest and unanimously decided to grant Xia Xifeng an “Honorary Bishop” title, allowing him to participate in the internal evaluations of the Harvest Church.

If Xia Xifeng could develop high-yield farming techniques, his Bishop rank could be promoted just like actual clergy members, allowing him to exchange for many benefits within the church.

The Harvest Church displayed full sincerity, making Leo exceptionally angry.

Though he hadn’t previously cared about the Church of the Sun or the Church of the Silver Moon, Xia Xifeng was his friend. If anyone was going to recruit Xia Xifeng as an “Honorary Bishop,” it should have been the Church of the Sun or the Silver Moon first!

Leo hurriedly prodded the Twin Suns.

For some reason, the Twin Suns had gained the Heavenly Father’s permission, and their connection with Leo and Perila had massively increased.

Even without formal ceremonies, they could now communicate with the gods through prayer.

The Twin Suns’ response to this was that they couldn’t be bothered to manage the Church of the Sun. If Leo had such ambitions, he could strive to become the High Priest himself.

Ah, a pair of lazy suns.

Leo asked Xia Xifeng: “Do you want to be an Honorary Bishop of the Church of the Sun? If you do, I’ll go seize control of the Church of the Sun!”

Xia Xifeng slapped Leo’s head: “Shut up! Do your work properly and don’t slack off!”

Halflings engaging in power struggles? Are you joking?

Leo had no choice but to helplessly give up.

Xia Xifeng indeed had very good compatibility with the Harvest Church.

However, it wasn’t due to Xia Xifeng’s personality. Even Qin Lang, who was indifferent to everything outside of combat, also got along well with the Harvest Church. When Xia Xifeng was busy, Qin Lang could chat amicably with them too.

Increasing farmland yields was a traditional pursuit etched into the homelands of Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang. In their eyes, caring about increasing yields for commoners’ fields was a matter of course.

Halflings loved farming, but they rarely thought about increasing others’ yields.

Leo and Perila, now wearing a hat, took turns accompanying Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang through the fields, listening to them converse with people from the Harvest Church, and tirelessly explaining the church members’ somewhat obscure jargon to the farmers in simple, understandable language.

Their own perspectives slowly began to change.

Xia Xifeng once complained that this world’s production levels were very fragmented.

Agricultural production was the same.

Lords only cared about collecting taxes, rarely concerning themselves with increasing grain yields for commoners. Because the grain produced from those small commoner plots wasn’t even enough to fill the gaps between teeth.

The lord’s estates and the city’s “public fields” were all tended with spells and potions. Magical agricultural machinery had essentially enabled fully automated field operations.

This level of agricultural production was even higher than the high-mechanization large farms of Xia Xifeng’s homeland.

Xia Xifeng’s farming skill could shorten the harvest of crops that normally took half a year to just one month.

Many Druids could achieve similar feats.

Though it depleted the land’s vitality, their potions were far more effective than the chemical fertilizers of Xia Xifeng’s homeland.

“Mana” truly was a very convenient energy source.

But for the commoners of this world, their farming standards likely couldn’t even match the late feudal era of Xia Xifeng’s homeland, probably roughly on par with the Western Middle Ages.

Their staple foods were black bread, boiled beans, and potatoes. Iron farming tools were a rarity, and the exploitation of animal power was incomplete.

Farmers with low productivity struggled just to feed a few mouths in their family. Even if they accumulated farming experience, they had no surplus energy to summarize and organize it into “knowledge.”

In Xia Xifeng and Qin Lang’s homeland, the entire society cared deeply about the fields.

Even in the feudal era, there were many “farming-reading families” where scholars personally worked the land. Some wise officials and virtuous ministers also frequently walked through the fields. The imperial court would regularly issue decrees to commend those commoners who invented new farming tools and methods.

Even before technology advanced to mechanization, commoners had pushed farming techniques to the limits of their era’s productivity.

This world was different.

Those with wisdom and power were already accustomed to utilizing the Mana Network. This led them, when solving problems, to first consider how to let commoners also use mana energy, rather than directly abandoning it.

“Building more Mana Network Stabilizers, or equipping magic farm tools with small-scale Mana Network Stabilizers, is indeed the ultimate solution. But while the technology is immature and funding is insufficient, we must still let farmers use other tools first.” Xia Xifeng said to the clergy of the Harvest Church, “And we can also simplify some parts of the farmers’ production process, such as seed breeding and forging sturdier tools.”

Although magic farm tools couldn’t yet be widely distributed, some parts of agricultural production could be carried out within the city.

Workshops could use mana to breed seeds; farmers only needed to purchase the seeds. Workshops could use mana to mass-produce sturdier metal tools; farmers only needed to purchase the tools. Workshops could use mana to manufacture farm-use potions that only needed to be sprayed; farmers only needed to purchase the potions.

When farmers’ funds were insufficient, or they dared not trust these things they hadn’t used before, the lord could provide subsidies first.

Once farmers had a successful harvest and possessed surplus money, they would proactively purchase these production tools themselves.

Commoners are not stupid at all. Anyone capable of supporting a family possesses sufficient wisdom for survival.

“How to reduce the cost of agricultural production materials and promote them among farmers—the Harvest Church must be very skilled in this.” Xia Xifeng flattered the Harvest Church, “I can only manage whether the commoners in my Knight’s Domain have full bellies. The Harvest Church cares about whether commoners across the entire world have full bellies. You are the most noble people.”

Although it was flattery, Xia Xifeng was sincere.

Everyone striving so that “ordinary people can eat their fill” was the most noble of people.

The clergy of the Harvest Church were moved to tears by Xia Xifeng’s words.

Because the fields of “city folk” didn’t require the Harvest Church’s efforts—with the support of the Mana Network, barring external interference, crop failure was almost impossible—they had no need for the Harvest Church, and naturally didn’t hold it in high regard.

As for the Harvest Church always wandering around commoner fields for a millennium without achieving much, their respect for the Harvest Church wasn’t high.

This wasn’t to say they didn’t recognize the loftiness of the Harvest Church’s ideals. But no matter how lofty an ideal, without any substantial achievements, it became laughable empty talk.

The Harvest Church clergy had never met a noble lord who acknowledged their ideals and even found a viable path for them.

To think there was actually a noble lord who cared about commoners who couldn’t even use the Mana Network!

“One day, I want the entire domain to use Mana Network energy!” Xia Xifeng looked at the Mana Network like he was looking at a power grid.

Access to roads, networks, and electricity—the “Three Accesses” was the foundation of domain construction!

I might not be able to manage the entire world, but can I still manage my own domain, right?

“Right, Qin Lang?” Xia Xifeng clenched his fists, fighting spirit surging.

“Mm.” Qin Lang buried himself in writing the plan, listing a long string of expenses, hinting for Xia Xifeng to not just stand there, head raised, “ablaze with passion,” but to also look down at reality.

Xia Xifeng looked down, then covered his eyes with both hands.

Infrastructure was too expensive. The money he borrowed from Amuruo and Suer wasn’t nearly enough.

“Think of what products we can develop to rob money.” Qin Lang said, “We should form our merchant caravan.”

“Sigh.” Xia Xifeng wilted.

So poor!