Crafting the First Sacred Relic

I opened my Status Window.

Without a moment's hesitation, I burned a full day on the class switch.

The moment the switch finished, I pulled up the window again.

For the record, becoming a Pardner didn't mean losing the ability to heal.

The word "Cleric" sitting in the common skills slot meant one thing: every B-rank class could use the Cleric's skill set.

My gaze slid further down the window and settled on the middle of the list.

There they were: the skills befitting a Pardner. Plenty of them, but only the first one mattered to me right now.

I used it without hesitation on the data file I was working on.

It worked!

Astonishingly, divine power could be poured into a program, too.

I hurriedly checked my reserves. My maximum Holy Power had originally been 2,000; the class switch had eaten 1,000 and Sacred Relic Crafting another 300, leaving me with 712.

Why 712 and not exactly 700? Because in the meantime, the faithful of our Yeonok-dong had lifted prayers with me on their minds.

Out of pure curiosity, I tried using the skill again.

It stacks?

Unbelievably, it went through a second time. And then a third.

After that, I stretched the coding out as slowly as humanly possible and ground through the full 24 hours, firing off Sacred Relic Crafting the instant another 300 Holy Power accumulated. The single day I was allowed to remain a Pardner slipped by quickly.

Partway through, Elder Heo dropped by to check on me, so I told him I'd be secluding myself in my room for a couple of days of spiritual training. Shortly after, I barely managed to talk Heo Yuna out of packing me a care package.

After roughly fifteen uses, the usage cap finally reared its head. Not long after that, the day ran out.

And so I returned from Pardner to Priest. By then, the app was already finished.

Maybe I should pour Blessing and Baptism on it too?

Back in my Priest form, I decided to douse the little fragment of data before me with both.

The app, to its credit, had the decency to accept the baptism and blessing only once each.

The problem was…

Luck had scored a critical hit — three times in a row.

"What the hell is this? It's terrifying."

By this point, even I was growing afraid of what kind of app was actually being born here. I found myself glancing out the small window of my one-room apartment.

The pre-dawn sky stared back.

"Mother…. What on earth have You been playing at?"

Something like this could not be chalked up to mere luck. The hand of the Mother of All Things had clearly been at work.

Four days later, the first formal worship service was held at the Yeonok-dong Senior Center.

Twelve devout believers were there, including Yumi, who sang my praises with her whole heart; two more whose faith had crossed into outright fanaticism; a hundred-odd ordinary believers who were still on the fence; and fifty-odd ordinary citizens who had simply tagged along behind them.

"Our Providence Church is a gathering devoted to the praise of the Mother of All Things, the Weaver of Providence."

"Ahhhhh!"

"As Providence wills."

"As Providence wills."

Happy Conversation (B) — the Priest's version, one evolution beyond the C-rank Warm Conversation — worked beautifully. I had spoken a single sentence, and the eyes of the vast majority listening turned bright with happiness.

"Today marks our monumental first formal service. Who knows — someday, billions of brothers and sisters across the globe may rest in commemoration of this very day."

"As Providence wills."

"As Providence wills."

Every time I finished a sentence, the call-and-response of the Providence Church rang out, led by the devout. It spread little by little, until before long even the ordinary believers were tossing out an "As Providence wills" here and there. Quite a few of them had even picked up the Church's sign of the cross from watching others.

No matter how much of a cheat divine power was, no matter that the Status Window was a god-tier idol — without this one thing, any religion would remain half-baked.

Doctrine.

"As a servant subject to Providence and belonging to the Master of All Things, I intend to share with you several miracles, and several doctrines."

The Bible, the Quran, the sutras — the Earth I now stood on was overflowing with doctrines of every shape and size.

They're remarkably well-made, too.

Naturally, my order in my past life had had doctrines as well. They simply lacked the depth that Earth's had. The reason lay in divine power itself. With a tangible miracle like Holy Power standing at its center, doctrine had never been all that important back then. Earth, by contrast, was a world without divine power — which meant it had been forced to pour everything it had into doctrine.

If I import my old doctrines wholesale, it's over. The game won't work. But copy-pasting Earth's doctrines doesn't sit right with me either.

In other words, I had to forge a brand-new doctrine for the Providence Church — one suited to the modern world.

"First, allow me to share a few of our doctrines."

Drafting them turned out to be easier than I'd expected.

"Do not proselytize, in the name of the Mother of All Things and the Weaver of Providence. This applies to me as well."

I began by gently smoothing away the entry barrier that modern people — especially the irreligious — felt toward religion. That was the first line.

"Do not evangelize. It is enough to aid the troubled, and simply to remain at their side. Never reveal the Mother or ourselves before one who is suffering. Act out of pure love, and nothing more."

However deep and noble the doctrines of Earth's religions might be, there were inevitably parts that no longer fit the modern age.

"And if that person should ever seek to come into our embrace of their own accord — then embrace them with all your heart."

That was the part I had aimed for.

"And if, later, our embrace grows stifling and they wish to leave — do not stop them. Simply bless their back as they go."

This was a doctrine that only a side armed with divine power and a Status Window idol, possessed of overwhelming confidence, could afford to declare.

"And if, in days to come, the wandering soul should seek our embrace once more, welcome them as naturally as a parent greeting a child returned from running away."

"As Providence wills."

"As Providence wills."

People's eyes shone at this strange yet refreshing doctrine.

"Never forgive a wrongdoer on your own authority, without the victim's consent. Do not forgive your enemies as you please."

Some of my doctrines came straight from my past life. A few of them fit today's world — so hungry for harsh justice — perfectly.

Earth's most famous teachings — love your enemies, hate the sin but not the sinner — were, in a world teeming with magic, divine power, demons, and monsters, outright madness. Preach that doctrine in Icadia and you would never survive.

And the same logic applied to the jungle of modern society.

"Even should a great sinner exist, even should that sinner repent with all their heart — do not forgive them of your own accord. Do not take them in carelessly. Neither I nor any ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of us possesses the right to forgive or accept that sinner."

Among the many reasons certain religions of today's Earth had grown corrupt and decayed, the reckless overuse of "forgive the sinner, love thy neighbor" ranked high.

"The right to forgive belongs solely to the wounded — to the victim. Only the victim holds the right to forgive that sinner, and to take them in."

Later, once Emotion Reading evolved into Soul Reading, I would be able to peer into souls themselves. And reading enough souls, one occasionally came across a person whose soul itself was wicked.

Those types were fiendishly cunning. Magnificent actors. They exploited human goodwill with surgical precision. This was precisely why I treated any doctrine commanding me to forgive sinners and love enemies as a poison to be guarded against.

"Our Providence Church shall embrace only those who are upright, holding upright faith. The standard of uprightness shall be proven by divine power — the living evidence of the Mother's Providence."

One could call this moral gatekeeping. But I didn't consider it a bad thing. It beat naively swallowing every half-hearted penitent and paying for it later.

"Before you judge anyone, stand in their place and think. Ask who profits from the hatred you feel. But know this: the more you hate, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠more surely you yourselves will suffer."

Then came the doctrines tuned to the modern sensibility — a safety net for those worn down by competition, social media, hate, and the worship of money.

"Do not strain yourselves so. Do not run until you bleed. Do not overreach. Sometimes it is permitted to give up. Rest a while in the embrace of Providence, and set your burdens down."

That part, I'll admit, I just asked ChatGPT to write, and it handed back something suitably plausible on the first try — a collage of sound ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bites lifted from shorts videos and tear-jerker motivational lectures.

But spoken with divine power woven through every syllable, it landed like scripture.

"Do not obsess over the displays of others. In the moment you compare yourself to another and condemn them, the ugliest figure in the room is your own."

There was no concrete solution here, and it was doctrine steeped in emotion rather than reason — but it didn't matter.

"Be free of vanity. Do not cling to material things. Fill yourself with spiritual abundance. Pity those who squander their lives on vanity, comparison, and luxury."

In the modern world, religion is a service industry that dispenses comfort, belonging, and a sense of direction — nothing more. To be blunt, how many churchgoers or temple visitors truly understand their own doctrine? Very few.

If anything, the Providence Church's doctrine would strike the modern heart far more deeply.

Because it was a flavor they'd been feeding on all their lives.

"As Providence wills!"

"As Providence wills!"

The sermon, layered over the passive skill Happy Conversation (B), was devastatingly effective. It was nothing more than a polished heap of pretty words, yet everyone gathered there wore hazy, blissful expressions. The devout believers' faith deepened by the minute. The ordinary ones, dropping their usual casual airs, gazed up at me with reverence. A few were so moved they were on the verge of tears.

As for Heo Yuna and Elder Heo, the two fanatics — they simply stood there, unshakable.

"Now, we shall proceed to the baptism."

With the sermon concluded, I prepared for the long-awaited highlight: the Baptism. It was time to unveil the true idol of the Providence Church.

"But first — those of you meeting me and the Providence Church for the very first time today, please raise your hands."

Before the baptism, I sorted out those among the gathered who hadn't yet become even ordinary believers.

"If any of you have taken an interest in the Providence Church and would like ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to participate more actively, could I ask you to install this app on your phones?"

I made the proposal casually.

"Ah — of course, it's entirely voluntary. If it feels like too much, or if you're suspicious of it, there's no need to install anything."

It was the very app I had spent the past several days hammering together at home — a lump of data bathed, no less, in repeated baptisms and blessings, an extremely, extremely sacred chunk of code.

The idol prepared for ordinary people who knew nothing of the Providence Church and had no faith of their own yet.

The Status Window app: Providence: Raising a Clergyman.