Chapter 6: Goddess Statue: Escaped a Close Call

At this moment, the Church Father was still sipping tea with Mirecia, inwardly cursing his two incompetent subordinates.

“Seriously, of all the times to make a scene, you pick when the royal family is visiting?? Just when I praised your manners, you go and slap me in the face with your actions! You’re trying to make me look bad on purpose, aren’t you??”

Even though the person being criticized was that infamous scoundrel, Winnie, who made Princess Mirecia very uncomfortable, it was still the worst timing. Didn’t this make the Church’s clergy look terrible? What were they thinking?

As for Winnie, he too was grumbling in his mind, but he wasn’t blaming the clergy; rather, he was angry at the statue in front of him.

“Come on, buddy, where are my gold coins??”

“Old Deng, I’ve been praying in front of you for almost two hours now, and you haven’t given me a single coin?!”

If it weren’t for the clergy and the faithful around him, Winnie would have been tempted to kick the goddess statue to see if it could trigger any gold coins.

As for what the clergy were muttering nearby, he didn’t even pay attention. Even if he did hear them, he couldn’t be bothered.

“What? Cursing me? Go ahead, just don’t get in the way of my gold coin explosion.”

Finally, two hours passed.

Winnie could no longer hold back and was just about to pull out his "double-barreled shotgun" to give the statue another go when, suddenly, a line of text appeared on the statue.

“Virtue +2”

“Good, good, good! Praise the Goddess!” Winnie instantly felt overjoyed, and his hand instinctively lowered the "shotgun" he was about to fire.

The statue had narrowly escaped.

The response startled the nearby clergy, and even Mirecia and the Church Father, watching from the second floor of the church, were momentarily stunned.

Honestly, +2 Virtue wasn’t much, but for Winnie, it opened a potential path forward.

That’s right—praying!

Praying in front of the goddess statue for two hours earned him two points of Virtue, which was a huge gain for the impoverished Winnie!

Glancing at his current Virtue total—four points.

This meant that even if he didn’t “spend money to avoid disaster,” if he prayed in front of the statue for two hours each day, in just thirteen more days, he could awaken his family’s bloodline!

Not bad, not bad! A little family bloodline awakening trick every day.

Stretching his stiff shoulders after two hours of praying in front of the statue, Winnie ignored the looks and whispers from the people around him and leisurely walked out of the courtyard, oblivious to the gaze from the second floor of the church.

He was feeling great now, and no matter what others said, he could just smile.

Uh-oh, it seemed like accumulating Virtue was a bit addictive, like spamming Q with a dog’s head—no matter if it crashed or not, just stacking it felt good!

Now that he had his Virtue, it was time to move on to more important things.

Ignoring the surrounding chatter, Winnie focused his gaze on the magnificent royal city in the distance, his eyes shining as though he had found a new direction.

Looking on the bright side, being reincarnated as cannon fodder and stuck with the villains wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It was still better than lying flat, after all.

As long as he stayed careful and didn’t give the protagonist a chance to kill him, things should be fine, right?

Being a slightly capable extra might not be so bad. As for being hated by everyone? Who cares??

He wasn’t the old Winnie anymore, completely unconcerned with the opinions of others.

“I’ll live my life the way I want, and how you see me is none of my business. After all, they can talk all they want, but they can’t control me.”

But even though he wasn’t going down the villainous path like in the original story, staying close to the protagonist group, those harbingers of doom, was bound to cause trouble sooner or later.

So, cherish life and stay away from the harbingers of disaster.

Why not leave the capital and head to a small kingdom that hasn’t been tainted by his bad reputation? Become a knight captain or get a small fief and become a small lord, find a girl who likes him, and spend the rest of his life in peace. Wouldn’t that be great??

With that, Winnie had another brilliant idea.

How could he achieve this goal? The little kings of small countries weren’t idiots. Could he really become a knight or even a small lord with his current resources?

Clearly, no.

But this wasn’t a problem. A diploma from a prestigious university could solve most of his issues.

For example, the renowned Karelman Academy—anyone who graduated from this academy was considered exceptional, and the diploma carried great weight. Getting one meant you were someone special.

The reason this game was called Karelman Citrus probably had to do with the academy being the central stage of the story.

Indeed, the game’s plot started at Karelman Academy, where Aeciphysis, Mirecia, and most of the other heroines were students.

As for the risk of being with the harbingers of doom in the same academy, Winnie only had two words: all in!

All in was a strategy.

Wealth and power are sought through risk, and Karelman Academy, as the continent’s premier institution, was large enough—its campus was as big as an island. If he stayed careful, he could avoid crossing paths with the harbingers of doom. As long as he avoided the main storyline, disaster would always be a step behind!

Once he survived this difficult period and graduated from the academy, a bright future awaited him! He would soar to new heights!

Under normal circumstances, someone like Winnie would never get an entrance exam spot for Karelman Academy.

But no worries, King Camellia would give it to him.

King Camellia had been quite benevolent. In the name of the Goddess, he had helped the fallen Aeciphysis family, but only to a certain extent.

In the original story, it was King Camellia who provided Winnie with the entrance exam qualification and covered his tuition and living expenses. The Church had seized the Aeciphysis family’s property but didn’t dare do much to Winnie, likely because the Aeciphysis family was a barony granted by the King.

At least now, Winnie wouldn’t blame the Peono royal family for not stopping the Church. After all, even when they took in the Aeciphysis family, they did it for the Goddess’s sake. The relationship between Aeciphysis and Peono wasn’t very close. The royal family didn’t owe them anything, and they had no reason to offend the powerful Fanghui Church for Winnie’s sake.

As for how Winnie managed to pass the entrance exam in the original story? The shortcut was a form of dark magic—focused on quickly boosting power, but it came at a steep price.

The price was his life.

This time, Winnie had no shortcut to take to get into Karelman Academy. With his aptitude, he was under immense pressure.

This might be an impossible road, but he had to try.

If he could pick a Soul Art that suited him, perhaps there was hope.

Winnie let out a sigh of relief.

Approaching the gates of the royal city, two fully armored Angry Dragon Knights blocked his way.

Of course, they recognized who Winnie was, but without a pass, no one was allowed into the city.

“Gentlemen, I am Winnie Aeciphysis. Here is the pass granted to me by the King, allowing me to enter the royal city to select a suitable Soul Art,” Winnie said, clearing his throat and respectfully handing over his pass.

The knights were surprised. The pleasantries were normal coming from others, but hearing them from Winnie, a notorious troublemaker, was odd.

Who didn’t know that this guy was a sycophant to his superiors and a bully to everyone else? A scoundrel with a reputation for doing evil wherever he went, always spewing venom?

But they didn’t ask any further. It wasn’t their place to meddle in matters outside of their duty.

After verifying that the pass was indeed sealed with the King’s personal stamp, the knights handed it back to Winnie, bowed, and made way without saying a word.

Winnie thanked them and entered the royal city.

This wasn’t his first time in the royal city. In the past, Winnie often found excuses to come to the royal city to visit Mirecia.

The royal city lived up to its name—magnificent and grand—but he didn’t have time to appreciate the scenery. He headed straight for the royal Soul Art repository.

Whether he succeeded or not, it all depended on this Soul Art guide.

If he could find a Soul Art with 70... or even 80% compatibility, a one-star Soul Art would be enough.

Winnie wasn’t asking for much—just that.

“Stop right there,” a young voice suddenly came from behind.

Winnie ignored it. With so many people in the royal city, it couldn’t be him they were calling, right?

Not wanting to cause trouble, he quickened his pace.

“I said stop! Didn’t you hear me?” The voice came closer, and footsteps followed.

Before long, a figure clad in armor stood in front of him, blocking his path.

Winnie looked up at the tall, handsome young man, and once he saw who it was, he rolled his eyes inwardly.

Great, he had encountered a sticky problem.

The young knight in front of him was named Karon, the son of the Angry Dragon Knights leader. With extraordinary magical talent, he had absorbed the Dragon’s Eye Soul Art at a young age and joined the Angry Dragon Knights as their youngest member ever.

Additionally, Karon was one of the most fervent suitors of Princess Mirecia in the game.