A tiny hamlet had been born around the temple, and the people had moved out, leaving the temple empty. Although there were no priest recruitments yet, the Goddess had her eyes on several candidates.

She had been thinking about the future a lot lately. If she wanted to accomplish her plan of world domination, she needed both warriors, settlers, and scholars to aid her in this. Warriors weren't difficult, throw a sword or bow at a human, give them a couple of monsters to fight and they'll figure it out eventually. Settlers were easy, as long as they had enough women around willing to have children, then that was that. Scholars were a bit tougher.

All of these people were illiterate, and most of them had never held a book in their lives. They had already erected several wooden huts down by the grasslands and had even built a road all the way up to the temple. It wasn't very far between the two, only a couple kilometers.

The farmers had already begun to tilt the land, the children were slowly getting used to a life where, even though it was hard and rough on all of them, they were free.

Monsters that so much as sniffed around the territory had been thoroughly exterminated by a very angry Goddess that refused to have her hard work destroyed by a bunch of overeager vermin. Furthermore, this land had once been infested by vermins (goblins), which she had exterminated. However, the elves and beastmen around these lands didn't know that, and thus kept their distance from the annoying goblins that seemed impossible to kill for good as their breeding rates were simply insane.

As time passed, a rhythm within the tiny village was eventually established. Several adolescents had begun training with swords and bows, all created by their revered Goddess. They were taught by an old farmer who had, once upon a time, been a guard.

A year after the establishment of the village, which the Goddess herself had named Jade City (yes, her naming sense was bad, but she would never admit that), the goddess descended.

The moment she appeared in the skies, everyone dropped to their knees to pray. They had seen their goddess act several times in the past year, from exterminating monsters, curing the sick, to simply giving advice.

"The time has come, my children. I have chosen my candidates for priesthood, and I wish for them to head up to the temple at once..."

She called a total of 12 names, some of them were old men, some barely in their teens and some in their middle age.

Out of a population of 200, twelve was already a very generous amount, to be honest. However... She had absolutely 0 intention for her following to be so small. In fact, now that the town had been established and a system of governance, no matter how small, had been set up, she planned on going out and rescuing more humans from their captors and putting them into the city.

It would cause a bit of chaos for a while, but it would be very beneficial. She had created a sort of elective council for this very reason, where 8 members are elected and work together to solve issues and manage things. Naturally, the real power still rested neatly in her hands, and nobody so much as dreamed about even thinking of taking it.

But for now, priests.

The Goddess watched as all 12 members of what she hoped would become her main way of spreading her roots through the world trecked through the dirt road that led to the temple. They were nervous, that much was obvious.

She had included Helen in that group because honestly, she had far too much potential not to be included. If she accepted, The Goddess would gain what she hoped would eventually become her right-hand woman.

Furthermore, if her research in souls, faith, and her Ruler domain was correct, then she would never have to fear a rebellion from any of her worshippers, be they priests or not.

Upon reaching the great arch that was the entrance to the temple, they looked as though they were either entering the gates of hell, or those of heavens, or maybe both. Pretty accurate really.

They eventually found their courage and entered, borrowing strength from the famed group mentality. As soon as they were within the great hallway, they immediately saw the form of their great Goddess sitting lazily upon the throne, her arms resting on the armrests, head tilted slightly to the sides and one leg over the other. Overall, it wasn't a very dignified position, but the Goddes made it work. Somehow.

"Welcome, darlings. Today will be the day where you shall decide whether or not to bind your fate to mine." She said, her eyes closing and forming a cute little eye-smile.

She pointed at one of the priest-hopefuls, a young woman in her early 20's. "Come here, child."

The woman's eyes were wide, and she looked like a deer caught in a headlight. What's a headlight? No idea.

"Y-yes!" She said and quickly ran up to the throne and dropped to her knees in front of it. With a smile, the Goddess reached forward with her hand, lightly putting it upon the young woman's head.

For a couple of seconds, nothing seemed to happen as the woman closed her eyes. However, after exactly 5 seconds, the woman let out a loud gasp as she pulled her head back. Everyone, excluding the Goddess, stared in wonder at the young woman's forehead, which now had a tattoo-like image of a pair of golden wings that started a little above the center of her two eyes and curved all the way to her cheeks.

The woman gingerly touched the strange tattoo with an awed expression, causing the Goddess to chuckle.

Truth be told, although it had only taken a moment, the woman had passed well over an entire day within her mindscape, forced to constantly bathe within divine light, which was the Goddess' power.

The Goddess hadn't actually expected the woman to succeed in the ordeal, but surprisingly, she did. And quite well at that too. Now, as long as she trained for a couple of years, the woman would be able to cast spells utilizing the energy that the Goddess had baptized her with, and if she prayed for more energy during a battle or outside of it, the Goddess would refill her.

Furthermore, she would now be able to utilize Divine Light spells, which the Goddess had spent around a month devising a whole slew of and recording them down onto books, before putting them in the temple's library.

Of course, the whole illiteracy thing would have to be solved, but the Goddess doubted that the woman would have any trouble with that when she had actually managed to accept and absorb all the power that she had sent, as it was hella painful.

"I am very impressed, child. Congratulations on becoming my first priestess." She smiled at the woman, who was still gingerly touching her mark.

For the next half hour, she baptized all the other priests. While not completely unexpected, it was still surprising that none of them failed the trial. She had indeed been experimenting a lot, and thus could tell the chances of someone succeeding in it and had chosen accordingly. Still, it was a pleasant surprise.

Finally, it was the last priest hopefuls turn - Helen's. The Goddess looked into the eyes of the youngest person in the room, who looked anxious enough that she might have fainted if not for the hidden determination in those eyes.

The Goddess smirked inwardly. She could see a lot of pain behind those eyes, but also a strong determination, and her soul was so stunningly delicious that the Goddess couldn't help but want to have it all for herself and no one else. If some other god so much as touched her, she might honestly rampage.

She extended her hand and repeated the phrase that had been said 11 times. "Come here, child."

Helen closed her eyes and took a deep breath before walking up to the Goddess with fake bravado in her steps and then getting on her knees.

The Goddess gingerly put her hand on Helen's head and sent a burst of power much stronger than that of those from before.

Helen gasped as sweat trickled down her brows, but she didn't pull away. The Goddess could see Helen's soul as it swam within a literal sea of divine light.

Once it looked like the light sea was drying up, she projected her voice into the little girl's head. "Do you wish for more?"

Helen's body trembled in pain, but she still gritted her teeth and nodded. Receiving all the consent she needed, the Goddess sent another burst of power into Helen's body.

Helen held back a scream as her very soul seemed to be burning up while also being torn apart, but she refused to give in. Her chance for a better life, one where her mother didn't have to work herself to death just for scraps, stood before her. She'd rather die than miss it.

The pain was almost unbearable, but she refused to give in. After what felt like forever, the pain slowly receded, until it completely disappeared.

Helen collapsed, her body completely soaked with sweat. She wanted to stay up, to continue on, but as a pair of soft arms wrapped around her and pulled her onto an even softer body, she gave in to her desires.

"Shhh... You've done well, child..." The Goddess cooed. She was a bit surprised at seeing tears coming down the little girl's face, but, sensing her emotions, she could tell those weren't sad tears. No, they were tears shed for a hopeful new beginning.

And if the Goddess had a say in it, which she did, the little girl would forever be by her side, perhaps not always happy, but never again a powerless nobody.

After a couple of minutes of softly petting the child, she inspected the changes on her body.

Like the others, she too had gotten the two-wings tattoo on her face, but unlike the others, the tattoo ran down all the way to her feet, wrapping around her torso and coiling around her legs. Furthermore, Helen's soul had now turned completely golden and felt at least a hundred times stronger than before.

The Goddess smiled at this positive change. She handed the child off to the first priest, the young woman, before stepping back and looking at her newly made priests.

"From today onwards, you all will be the Sacred Priests, and from now on, I am the Sacred Light Goddess. In my presence, you are to address me as 'Lord'. I will teach you how to read and write first, and then, magic. After that, I expect you to contribute to my faith, and to properly guide humanity." She said, her eyes roaming over her priests, who all held their heads down, eyes filled with reverence and expectation.

She nodded. "Good attitude. Let's go." With that, she teleported her followers over to the library, where she began the first teaching session, one of the many, many more to come.