Chapter 653 What have I become?
As the day went on Rudra became more and more astonished as to what was going on.Hades actually listened to his appeal that he made and by the time the 300th devotee had gone out of the prayer room , he had awarded one of them an ability to summon a single undead.
What happened afterwards was for everyone to see , as the moment he went outside and the news about his new ability spread the quiet lines started to turn unstable as people pushed each other out of the line in trying to enter the church faster.
There was a lot of violent fighting that broke out especially near the back-end of the lines , people who figured out that it was moving too slowly for them to get a chance to enter today.
The idea that they were missing out on cool abilities due to a massive line. Made many players go crazy as they did everything in their power to progress through the massive line or to hold onto their spot in the line.
Thankfully the elite NPC army and the true Elite guild members on patrol were not someone that the common players could mess with as crowd control was something that they mastered in.
Atleast infront of the authorities , nobody dared do try anything funny as the elites arrested the uncivil elements without a seconds hesitation and detained them in local prison.
Ever since Rudra became a king he gave the Elite internal security group the right to detain prisoners for 1-3 days , hence players could be jailed should elite policemen feel that they had broken laws.
It was too much power in the hands of the wrong players who could use it to satisfy personal vendetta , but in the hands of the elites it lead to a more stable and secure civil order as they did not play favourites and respected the law that Rudra had established.
Rudra also responded to the situation appropriately and started to take in groups of 15 people instead of groups of 3 in order to try and move the line faster and it worked.
More and more people joined the church of death by pledging their blood and loyalty to Hades and while what one got depended on their own prayers to Hades , everyone walked out with something atleast.
Many players tried to talk to Rudra and take pictures and do fan- boy type stuff , but the pope Rudra was not interested in entertaining any of this.
The moment any human tried to talk to him , he would turn towards lord Hades's statue and start praising his immense glory , making the other person feel awkward till they walked off.
********
11 hours after the opening , something interesting happened as a woman player got an ability to summon an undead horse as her mount!
Everything from her expression to her tears as she profusely thanked lord Hades for it was priceless , and for Rudra who was desperately waiting for such promotional material , it was the poster reactions that would drive his expansion agenda.
He walked upto the player who was crying heaps of tears infront of the lord's statue and said " My child , why do you cry? ".
Rudra instantly felt cringe to say words as if he was a 75 y/o grandfather , but he did not understand why , but it just felt right to call others his child as a pope.
The devout who was in tears looked at Rudra and said " He-he listened to my prayers . My adventurers party , everyone had a mount except for me . I could never afford to buy a proper one and never settle for a useless one , so i was the only one without it.
My party members bullied me for it and it made me feel like quitting the party.
I came here today expecting nothing , but i-i actually got a mount like nobody else has . My happiness can't be put to words ".
Rudra wanted to just hug this woman at this moment , even if he scripted this whole thing he could not have chosen better words to put into her mouth as her words were just perfect for his marketting agenda.
Rudra said " The lord always listens to all his devouts , but you must have really connected with him for him to bless you with a mount.
You are a true beleiver it seems and the lord looks favourably on you.
I am but his mouthpiece on this planet , but i have the role of expanding his relegion far and wide , so that everyone that is in need of his kindness and warmth recieves it.
I am alone in this mission as of now , and the church needs a few paladins and bishops to really get going.
Since you are favoured by the lord ...
I shakuni extend to you , the invitation to be a paladin in the church of death , and enlist in the service of Hades the merciful ".
As Rudra said this a system notification popped up infront of the woman who immediately accepted the proposal , as she became a paladin in the church of death.
Her original class was a healer and she was a tier 3 one at that , however being a typical adventurer party player she could never break through the ranks of mediocrity and make a lot of money.
The encounter with Rudra today was a turning point in her life though as becoming a paladin in the church changed everything for her.
From getting daily missions that gave rewards like cleaning the church and mentaining the sanctity of the place , to helping 3 people in need in the name of god Hades it was a journey for her to get ridiculous rewards for nominal work.
Although Rudra had not understood the role he was exactly in at the moment or how much micromanagement needed to be done to be a relegious leader , everything was slowly going to unravel before himself as he started to build power and influence before his inevitable rise against Lucifer.