Coincidentally, the church that the pamphlet said she could learn Dark Priest skills was atop the very same hill she stood on. And so, she followed the spiraling path up the hill.
There were no back alleys she could creep through to avoid the man road, but this wasn't much of a problem due to the players having not migrated to this area quite yet.
Finally reaching the peak of the mountain-hill, a Gothic church came into view. Outside, a line of what appeared to be almost a hundred people stood outside spread across five separate lines.
at the end of these lines were banners showing similar, yet slightly different symbols. All of them featured three animals curling around, siting on top of or standing in front of a pentagram. In order from left to right; a goat, a raven, a frog, a shark and finally a snake.
"..! That's the same symbol as the one on the card the old guy gave me." She rummaged through her inventory before pulling out said card and comparing the details.
"No doubt about it, its the same symbol..." Just as she was about to walk forwards she paused. This line was almost double the length of the first.
"He said I could... Best not." Just thinking of skipping to the front of the line was way to much for her to handle. So like the rest she patiently waited in line.
"Oi, I reckon yer ere for em Priest exam too?" A voice came from behind. A very British voice.
-Error, language not recognized. Translation function failed to activate.-
"I-I'm sorry I didn't catch that! I-I must have been spacing out..!" She slowly turned around to be greeted with an absolute unit of a man.
Nearly double her height, the man's prominent bear belly blocked out any sunlight that could have reached her eyes.
"Holly shit..!"
"Yew a'right lass?"
"Uhh... Yeah." She said, sweat dripping.
"I'm ere cuz the internet said the class me dau'tah picked mash real well with this one, yeah?"
"Y-yeah" She had no clue what he was saying.
'I have no clue what he is saying'
-Translation software update complete. Apologies for any inconvenience-
"Name's Henry, what's yours?" He held out a hand. With the fix from the system he was now intelligible... Though his accent remained harsh.
"A- Alissa." She stammered out.
And so, the blue sky turned golden yellow as it finally reached her turn to enter the church.
Candles lit with purple flame flickered on the back rests of the pews as she walked towards the alter. Up on the main stage a man holding a long staff waited for her. He resembled a wizard from a book about rings.
"Wait is that-" The man turned to face her.
"Ah, Alicalissa! What took you so long to stop by?" Brutus's once intimidating demeanor dropped in an instant.
"I was just, y'know... Doing stuff." She scratched the back of her head with the shame of having wasted an entire day waiting in line while holding a get-out-of-jail-free card in her pocket.
"Well then, no need to be a stranger! You're the first person to make me laugh in 30 years!"
"That sounds like a made up number."
"It is, I got dementia."
"eh..?
"Anyways, though I would love to catch up, we have more important matters. Unlike priests who use their great faith to borrow the Mana of their gods to perform miracles, Dark priests use the faith of people who believe in, look up to and or admire them to siphon small amounts of Mana from them. This is the basic foundation of Dark Priesthood."
He turned to a chalkboard behind him, grabbing a ruler to point at the different scribbles written on it
"There are many ways to instill faith in others. Through political power like the Goat branch, through immense skill and expertise like the Raven branch, Through charity and kindness like the Frog branch, though battle prowess like the Shark branch, and finally- the branch I run; The snake branch who gains faith through stardom."
"So you... Get stronger the more popular you are?"
"Pretty much."
Gulp...
Alice could feel a cold sweat start to form... Her? Popular? No. Way.
"That brings me to what you came here for. You must amass 150 followers before midnight tomorrow. If you do so, you shall be accepted into the school of the Snake and will be able to begin learning the way of the dark priest. If not, you'll have to some back next month. Now, I have a line of people waiting outside. Shoo"
"Followers..? As in like... Cult followers?"
"No like Yitter or Yitch followers. Whatever you otherworlders use."
'im fucked.'
------------------------------------------------------
'150 followers...' She waddled down the hillside towards the crowded streets, head spinning.
'Is it even possible to gain 150 followers in a single day from nothing?'
She had considered changing her class, but a quick search online showed that she'd have to delete her account and wait a whole 2 weeks to be able to create a new account. Considering her impending homelessness, this option was not available.
"I guess I should make a Yitch account before I do anything else, huh?"