I stared hard at the pop-up message. I blinked my eyes several times. It couldn't be right. The notification read, "PROMOTED to Adept in the Church of Britannia. +1,000 Reputation. +2,000 XP. Subclass UNLOCKED." I was planning to demand a promotion from the bishop and I was going to threaten to cancel Musa's mission if I did not receive one. However, Bishop Canterbury essentially one-upped me by voluntarily giving me the promotion. In doing so, the church official was spared from the verbal assault that I had planned against him. How disappointing.

I was mindful of the fact that the gods possessed the ability to read my mind via my marks, and Lord Bane undoubtedly had some method to communicate with his lackey. Perhaps Enab conveyed my intentions before I entered the dining room. The timing of my promotion within the church was very suspicious and I believed that I was walking into another mouse trap set up by the chaotic god. What did Bane want from me this time?

"Please rise, my child," the bishop ordered, intruding on my thoughts.

"Of course, Holy One," I stammered out my reply. I was so lost in my thoughts that I forgot I was still kneeling before him! How embarrassing! I quickly changed the conversation. "Your Excellency, I was surprised by the notification that I received announcing my promotion. It mentioned that a subclass had been unlocked. What subclass is available to me now?" I inquired. I had to make some feeble excuse to save face; I didn’t want to show this man how easily I could be rattled.

The old man slowly returned to his seat on the bench; he let out a small "ah" when he felt relief in his hips and knees.

I immediately joined him and sat in my old seat directly across from the bishop.

"A fighter class who is also an adept within the Church is qualified to become a Paladin," the church official answered with a smile. He pointed a finger at me to offer a warning. "I know that you may be tempted to take the Paladin subclass since it will offer a number of benefits to both of your current quests; these benefits include enhanced effects of reputation, holy protection against chaotic enemies, and minor access to the divine sphere of magic," he explained. "However, these benefits are intimately tied to your personal alignment. The further you stray from Lawful, the more you will be penalized with a reduction in the effectiveness of these benefits. Thus, it would be prudent for you to delay switching to the paladin subclass if that is your intention," he warned.

I almost burst into laughter at the cleric’s warning because I absolutely HATED paladins. The last thing I planned on doing in this gaming world was to become a paladin. I will admit that I was heavily biased against the Paladin subclass. The reason was that the paladin had a rigid belief in the advancement of goodness and justice, and this mindset was contrary to my personal desire for freedom of choice as a way of life. In other words, paladins were my nemesis. Thus, I usually avoided paladins like the plague and I had never played one in my gaming. That being said, the rules of this gaming world were different and thus, I had to adapt my old way of thinking to this new environment if I wished to win the crown. And this included the possibility of taking the paladin subclass. "Thank you for your explanation and warning, Holy One," I replied politely with a deep bow.

"I am only doing what I can to help you advance your candidacy for kingship," the bishop answered. "However, please note that the paladin subclass is NOT a prerequisite for kingship. The perfect example is Merlin, who attained the crown despite being a sorcerer," he pointed out.

Hearing the name of my predecessor being mentioned, I wanted to ask the bishop questions regarding Merlin and his background. However, I was interrupted by the church bell. It tolled seven times, meaning that I had stayed too long in this meeting. I cringed at the thought of Kalistra sharpening her claws while awaiting my return. "Holy one, I must return to the dojo. With your permission, Bishop Canterbury."

The church official nodded and held up a finger to signal my dismissal from his presence. "Yes, please return to the dojo. I'm sure you have a long day of training ahead. May the grace of the gods continue to shine upon you, Adept."

I stood up and bowed deeply to my superior. Then I quickly left the room. When I stepped out into the hallway, I found Enab waiting for me as I already expected.

"I will escort you out, adept," the young man bowed respectfully and began to walk down the hallway. When I started walking behind him, the human avatar of Bane immediately stopped and turned around. "Please walk next to me, adept. You are now a true brother of the Church, not a guest," he reminded me. “Furthermore, you are my equal in ranking within our Church. If you insist on walking behind me, it will create problems for me with my superior.”

Chastened, I hurried until I reached his position and we started walking side-by-side down the hallway. Several clergymen passed by and everyone nodded to us respectfully. Each cleric took a moment to study my face and familiarize himself with the newest member of their brotherhood.

When we were alone again, Enab made a quiet observation. "I'm surprised by how well you're behaving in my physical presence. I know that you were very upset yesterday and you gave us all quite a scare with your near death experience. If you had died, the gamemaster would have punished me for it," he admitted sheepishly.

"Oh?" I snorted. "My pathetic life actually means something to the gods?" I retorted in a low voice.

Abruptly, my temporary companion stopped walking and grabbed my left arm. When his fingers pressed against the mark of Bane, I felt a tingling sensation in my arm. "The gamemaster is the only entity with the power to bring player characters into our world. We gods were charged to be the stewards of these few PCs. We challenge them, teach them, and yes, even humiliate them when necessary. But the one thing we avoid is causing needless deaths of PCs," he explained.

"Why would you be concerned about player deaths? We will just resurrect at a safe spot, right?" I asked. From my extensive gaming experience, player character death was not permanent.

Enab looked at me intently. "Whenever you die in this world, a piece of your immortal soul is destroyed. If this happens too many times, you may lose your soul identity and never be able to return to your home world. So while you CAN be raised from the dead, there are tremendous costs involved to both the spell caster and the recipient. Resurrection is one of the highest tier spells of the Divine Sphere, and the number of clerics able to cast this spell can be counted with two hands," the young man said; he raised his hands and wriggled his fingers for emphasis.

"Now, the second reason why I WOULDN'T want you to die is obvious—we share a bond now through your mark. I can hear your thoughts and I can feel your pain. It is truly a great honor for the human sheep to receive a divine mark. In your case, you've obtained three. And I could think of several more gods who may be interested in branding you as well," Enab noted.

"Whoa!" I immediately threw up my hands. It was bad enough that I had three distinct gods interfering with my life. Now, Enab was suggesting that I will be getting MORE divine marks? I was flabbergasted by the notion because each bond meant a deep, personal commitment to the deity who granted my mark. I was already drowning in commitments—to the dojo, the church, Tregome, and three gods. If I ended up overloading my platter with these commitments, how will I be able to do other things like dungeon crawling, inventing machinery from my home world, or engaging in commerce to accumulate enough wealth to rival a king?

The human avatar of Enab grinned as he read my personal thoughts. "Milord, relationships with the gods are give-and-take affairs. We will help you achieve your dreams and desires to the extent of our abilities. Remember that our purpose is to groom you to become the Champion of Order. Your happiness and well-being are necessary for that to happen," he reminded me.

I crossed my arms and stared at the demon lord-in-disguise. How much could I trust what Enab had said? How much were simply lies?

The young man smiled at my doubts. "You'll see in due time. Now, let's return to your feline companion. I understand that she has created a very challenging training program for you today," he grinned.

I covered my mouth to stifle my groan. I refused to give the demon lord the satisfaction of riling me up. Even though what he said was most likely the truth.