Currently they were in a large room on the second floor in one of the buildings of the inner circle. From what Alex guessed this was where the bishop resided, at least it seemed so from the lavish style. All furniture – the table, chairs and cupboards were made of a beautiful black wood and the frames of paintings on the walls and candlesticks around the room were of pure gold.

Besides the two of them there was an elderly priest in the room who brought in a plate full of fruits and put it on a small table in front of bishop sitting on a large couch. Then he lit up dozen or so candles around the room, bowed and left.

“Let’s introduce ourselves properly.” Bishop spoke first, “As I said earlier, you can call me bishop Phelippe. But how should I address you? James Bond or Alfons? You know, the name ‘James Bond’ became quite famous after your awakening last year during the cleansing ceremony.”

“Your grace, should I pick another name?” Alex asked.

“No need. I just wanted to point out that till the next expedition in four years it would be better for you to maintain low profile, at least for now. You are very young after all and too much attention could hinder your education.” Bishop explained.

“Thank you, your grace.” Alex slightly bowed.

“Good, Alfons.” Bishop nodded in satisfaction while Alex swallowed the nauseating feeling again after hearing the name, “Then let’s move on to more important matters. Tell me, what do you know about chosen? What are chosen?”

After a moment of silence Alex replied, “Your grace, chosen are the children of the Lord who are blessed to bring enlightenment to the world.”

This was the formal answer everyone knew.

Bishop nodded, “That is correct. But what you don’t know is that being a chosen is not easy at all! It is a very hard job that was given to you by the Lord! And for you to fulfill your duties to the fullest, you have come here.”

‘Alright! And the brainwashing begins!’ Alex inwardly grinned, ‘Don’t worry, old man. As long as you don’t tell me that my duty is to blow you, we’re good.’

“Since the Lord has chosen you to take part already in the next expedition, you have only four years to prepare and will be too young to fulfill all the regular duties chosen normally have. But don’t worry – as you’ll grow, your duties will as well.” Bishop said, “First, for me to decide the best way of teaching you, you’ll need to display your holy power.”

While the first part was random nonsense, the second part was what defined the chosen. Alex knew what he had to do, but unfortunately he still had no clue how to ‘light up’ like those kids in the nursery or the kindergarten. Thus there was only one thing he could do – act cute.

“I … I don’t kn … know how to.” He stuttered at first and then his eyes lit up and he smiled, “B … but I know how to read and write! I’m really good at it!”

On the other hand smile vanished from bishop’s face for the first time.

Furrowing his brows he asked, “Didn’t cardinal Theodor appoint anyone to teach you how to manifest your holy power? Even sitting here I can feel the Lord has blessed you with a lot of it and you have a great potential.”

‘You can feel sh*t!’ Alex inwardly snorted, ‘You just felt the power of nature or the holy power how you call it within me while you held my hand.’

But out loud he said, “No, your grace. Priests only taught me how to read and write.”

There was no need to lie. If they found out his real name so easily, there was no hiding what he did last year. Alex only hoped no one would go through his belongings, at least not yet.

Bishop Phelippe thought for a minute and then called the same priest in, “Figar!”

Apparently the priest was guarding the door and immediately came in.

“Your grace!” He said while slightly bowing.

“Send someone to investigate what James Bond was taught during the past year. If there are any complications, they can turn to cardinal Francis for support.” Bishop instructed.

When priest left, bishop turned back to Alex, “Don’t be confused. From the way chosen display their holy powers in the very beginning we can judge their strengths and weaknesses and afterwards create the best way to teach them.”

‘Oh? An individual approach? I feel like I just entered some kind of a high-end private school’ Alex thought and held his breath in order to blush.

It didn’t quite work as intended, but bishop saw the kid’s face turn ugly and said, “Don’t worry. At least we know the circumstances under which you awakened, right? And since you only have four years left to … uhmm … learn here, we can have more generalized approach.”

‘Ok. It’s settled. No matter what happens I can’t go on that expedition. This guy already expects me to die and I’m not the first ‘chosen’ he has seen in his life. I have to find a way to disappear.’ Alex immediately decided.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

“Right. I almost forgot!” Bishop laughed and theatrically slapped his own forehead.

Then he pulled out a small wooden box from his robes, opened and put it on the table in front of Alex while carefully observing him.

Alex glanced at the box in confusion only to feel an almost irresistible urge to touch the little golden thing inside that looked similar to a skinned sunflower seed. He slightly crooked his head like a curious bird, put his two hands, that were almost grabbing the golden seed on their own, behind his back and stretched his neck towards the box. It was almost as if he was observing fish in the pond and not a treasure.

“What is it? It’s so pretty!” He knew for the longest time that under all circumstances the best way for a child to behave was to act cute.

“Oh? Interesting.” Bishop mumbled, but then said, “Take it. Sit down on the carpet right where you stand and put the golden seed under your tongue. Then close your eyes and relax – just concentrate on your breathing. I’ll tell you when to stop.”

‘Obviously this is the good stuff!’ Alex quickly analyzed, ‘There is no need for him to drug me with such theatrics – if he wanted, bishop could’ve easily knocked me out and forcefully fed me this. In addition, the wooden container also looks very special.’

He carefully picked up the golden seed, sat down cross-legged and put it under his tongue.

The next instant Alex felt as if he jumped in a pool filled with a golden energy that for some reason felt familiar. It was warm and nurturing and he could never have enough of it. He finally relaxed, swam in the energy waves and drank at the same time … but then realized this was some kind of a hallucinatory effect caused by the golden seed.

‘No! Stop! Wait!’ He screamed to himself, ‘What in the world is that thing? My body is overflowing with the force of nature! No, no, no! Not overflowing! I’m f*cking leaking it!’

After realizing the problem Alex, while partially remaining in the illusion, began to perform one of the headmaster’s techniques that allowed to absorb the force of nature. He guided it towards the spot between his eyebrows, bet a second later he felt his head swelling up like a balloon. Then he switched to another technique guiding the energy towards his heart, but when the heartbeats became so heavy they felt like earthquakes, he switched to another one and guided the golden energy towards his abdomen. It took less than a minute for him to begin to feel like he’ll soon explode, therefore he quickly switched to another technique that simply allowed one to revolve the force of nature within his body.

Only several minutes later the energy within him settled down. Alex would’ve gladly continued to cultivate, but after remembering where he was he forced himself to open his eyes. At least the force of nature didn’t leak out anymore and he would continue the cultivation after he was shown to his room.

“What did you see?” Bishop Phelippe immediately asked seeing the boy open his eyes.

“I … I …” Alex pretended to stutter while wrecking his for the best approach.

He already had an inkling of what he wanted and just needed to properly formulate that.

“Don’t rush and don’t be shy.” Bishop had his wide and kind smile plastered all over his face again, “I’ve taught hundreds of chosen in my life and I’ve experienced everything. So tell me, what did you see?”

“I … stood on the Lord’s palm … and … and then he spoke to me …” Alex whispered. Then took a deep breath and said in a louder, more confident voice, “He said I should learn to use my heart and power to guide the people in this world.”

“Hmm. The head, the heart and the body …” Bishop mumbled to himself and then said, “And how do you intend to complete the Lord’s orders?”

“I … I’m not sure yet … I think I need to learn how to cure people … like a doctor. But I’m also a chosen, so I don’t understand … yet.” Alex said.

His idea was simple – he needed to find a way to acquire more of these golden seeds. Those obviously were a natural product, some kind of a rare treasure that was amazing supplement to his cultivation. And if he became a doctor’s apprentice, theoretically he could get access to the local medicine warehouse or a storage room where the precious medicine was kept and then it was only the question on how to ‘borrow’ the stash.

“A doctor?” Bishop repeated with furrowed brows.

“I’m not sure. I’ll ask the Lord when I see him again.” Alex said some nonsense.

“Hahaha!” Bishop suddenly laughed out loud, “Do you think the Lord will just speak to you just because you want to? We pray through all our lives and only few have such luck and honor. And don’t think I’ll give you another Lord’s seed.”

‘Seriously? You motherf*cker! You couldn’t come up with a better name? I put that thing in my mouth!’ Alex cursed.

But out loud he said, “I didn’t mean that, your grace. Lord already spoke once to me before when he called me by my new name. At that time he also told me to learn how to read and write. And I did so. And during the last year I read as much as I could. I think that the Lord is guiding me … step by step.”

Alex tried to speak in a way a small, but a very smart child would and was not certain if it worked.

But bishop turned out to be puzzled by something else.

“You see, Alfons, in my life I’ve met many unique chosen. Some incredibly strong and some incredibly smart. And some of them also had the ability to speak from the birth, just like you! In fact, back then I was also one of you. Look!” Bishop said and his body slowly lit up an a golden color.

Then he asked, “Did you notice the pattern of the holy light?”

Alex scratched the back of his head and said, “Uhm … your grace … your legs turned golden first and then the rest of our body.”

“Exactly. This is the way the holy power manifests in every chosen – the first part that turns golden becomes their strongest asset. In this case – mine are legs and the rest below the waist line. Some chosen have strong legs, other arms and other hands.” Bishop took a long pause while staring at Alex. Any other person would long feel uncomfortable, but latter was curious instead.

“Which … which part of my body … turned golden?” Alex pretended to stutter again.

“That’s the thing! Nothing did!” Bishop slapped his thigh, but he wasn’t really angry – more like excited, “At first your forehead slightly shone, then the spot around your heart and then your whole body had this golden halo. But you didn’t become golden … unlike the rest.”

“Does that mean I’m not a chosen?” Alex asked.

If he was not, he’ll probably be turned into a priest and that was also fine. It was very unlikely a smart kid like him would be killed straight away.

“Oh, no. Although I’ll have to consult cardinal about this, you definitely are ‘chosen’! During the whole night you almost didn’t leak any of the holy power contained within the Lord’s seed and absorbed it all. A regular child would’ve died in your place within minutes thus it can only mean you have a very close relationship with Him!” Bishop excitedly explained.

‘Ok, headmaster! I owe you one!’ Alex inwardly sighed with relief.

Obviously the instinctive reaction of performing the cultivation methods from the beastworld helped him out quite a lot this time.

But then the rest of what the bishop said finally registered in his brain.

“The whole night?!” He involuntarily exclaimed.