I Ascend to the Divine Throne through Arcane Means

Snow Ridge Town, east of the city.

Because winters in the Northern Territory are long and cold, all the houses in the town are built with black bricks from the Luoxue Mountain Range, making the town's uniform blackness even more somber after the green leaves fall.

However, after the first snowfall of the year, the whole Snow Ridge Town seemed to don a brighter white winter outfit, which reflected beautifully against the distant Luoxue Mountains, bringing a different kind of scenery.

"Todd, hurry up and come eat!"

Upon hearing his mother's call from downstairs, Todd didn't dare to stay in bed any longer.

He knew that if he delayed any further, his mother would come up in a huff with a spatula in hand and open the windows in his room, letting the cold wind completely blow away his drowsiness.

By the Wisdom God, that would be too cold!

After the first snowfall of this year, the temperature dropped rapidly, and winter in Snow Ridge Town came just like that.

Taking a deep breath to prepare himself mentally, Todd quickly climbed out of bed and changed into his cotton clothes and shoes in no time.

After all, only the living room had a fireplace; the bedroom was quite chilly. Once Todd had changed, he hurriedly opened the door to a chorus of "thump thump thump."

"Mom, look, I'm up!"

Standing outside the door was his mother, Brenda Croft, holding a wooden spatula. Years had left indelible marks on her face, but the soft lines of her face still retained some of her former beauty.

The cold winds of the Northern Territory always made a girl's youth so fleeting.

She was now the mother of two children.

Just about to open the door, she eased her anger a few degrees when she saw Todd was already up and dressed.

After giving Todd a quick once-over and making sure he was properly dressed for winter, Brenda nodded and said,

"Hurry up and wash up, then come eat. Your sister has almost finished eating, little Todd."

"Okay, Mom."

Todd obediently replied, not wanting to stoke his mother's ire any further.

Rushing downstairs, he used the warm water his mother had prepared to quickly wash his face and rinse his mouth, then wiped down with a towel, and that was that.

Minstrels say that the Nobles in the Royal Capital wash every day with the whitest fine salt—he wondered if that was true.

After washing up, Todd hopped onto a simple-patterned pine stool and eyed the breakfast before him, still steaming hot.

Today's breakfast was corn chowder and oat bread.

Whoop!

Todd let out a small cheer; he loved the sweet sensation of corn chowder.

Unfortunately, fresh corn didn't keep for long—it was likely that they were using the last few fresh ears from their cellar.

Thinking about having to drink thick, gooey potato soup in the coming months, Todd solemnly scooped up the pale yellow corn chowder into his mouth, savoring the sweet taste of the corn as it burst between his lips and teeth, brightening his mood considerably for the day.

Picking up a toasted piece of oat bread and soaking it in the sweet chowder, Todd chewed it as he glanced at the other family members at the table.

In his sister Bev's usual spot, only an empty soup bowl and a spoon tossed onto the table remained, indicating she had already finished breakfast and ran off somewhere.

His father, Vigil, had also finished breakfast and was now flipping through a ledger, frowning, evidently troubled by something.

Finally, after finishing the morning chores, his mother wiped her hands on her coarse apron and sat down next to the table to slowly sip her corn chowder, showing a trace of relaxation on her face.

"Damn that Matt, raising the price of wheat by thirty percent—that's a whole thirty percent!"

Vigil angrily slammed the ledger onto the table, voicing his dissatisfaction as he slapped the sturdy, black pine dining table.

"Lord of Dawn above, how dare he do this! Isn't he afraid of the Lord's punishment?"

Brenda was startled by his words. She knew that the Croft family could live quite comfortably in Snow Ridge Town, in a spacious house without ever lacking oat bread and with enough firewood to fill half the kitchen, all because of the two bakeries they ran in town.

Honestly, with the family's economic situation, they could easily afford a full-time maid, but Brenda always refused whenever Vigil suggested it.

"Why waste the money when I can do it myself?"

Brenda was a typical housewife of the Northern Territory, resilient, industrious, and content.

Do-do~

Vigil tapped the table with his right hand and, after a long silence, sighed helplessly and said,

"Forget it, it's not his fault. I've asked around, and the food prices across the Northern Territory are all rising. Even the caravans heading to the Dillon Kingdom can hardly buy any food."

As a small town lying next to the Luoxue Mountains, Snow Ridge Town was not suitable for growing crops; it mostly depended on the supplies brought by caravans. Thus, it was greatly affected by the fluctuations in food prices.

The supply of white bread for the town mayor of Snow Ridge Town and a few upper-class people was still manageable. The demand was not too high, and there was enough stock.

But the impact on the black bread and oat bread, which had the highest production, was even greater, with the cost of maintaining operations significantly increasing.

"Has there been no word of any catastrophe this year?"

Brenda asked, somewhat worried.

"Who knows?"

Vigil shook his head and heaved another sigh.

The wars in the eastern part of the Kingdom were too remote for them! The very word 'war' might have never even entered their consciousness.

Prices were already so high just after autumn. By next year, before the harvest, prices might not come down, or might even go higher!

"If it comes to that, we'll have no choice but to raise the bread prices."

Upon hearing her husband say this, Brenda too fell silent.

Having come from a modest family background, she keenly understood the enormous blow this would deal to the common folk.

But she couldn't argue against raising prices either, knowing her kind-hearted husband would not do so unless it were truly unavoidable.

This winter would be even tougher!

Meanwhile, Todd paid no attention to the gloom between his parents; he simply didn't understand what the adults' words implied.

"I'm done eating! I'm going out to play!"

Having finished his corn soup cleanly, Todd pushed his bowl away and got ready to head out and play in the town.

To him, a full belly and learning to read with his teacher encompassed all of his days; the rest was playtime.

Especially these last few days with the snowfall, the teacher had given them a holiday, so he had even more time to enjoy himself.

The only pity was that his friends had to help out at home first, so he was the only one running around outside at this time.

After pondering for a moment, Todd went to the town center's square, where the black slate that covered the ground had been polished smooth by the wind, the snow, and the steps of passersby. Now, it lay covered in pristine white snowflakes.

He huffed and puffed as he rolled a huge snowball and then carefully fashioned it into an indescribable humanoid shape.

With hands pressed together, Todd stood before the "Divine Statue" and softly prayed,
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"Great Wisdom God, I hope you can hear my wish and make me smarter."

After a pause, Todd quickly added,

"Smarter than Lian is enough, I'm willing to go without corn soup for the next three months!"

Feeling he had made a great sacrifice, Todd earnestly prayed to this deity when suddenly, a voice came from behind him.

"Are you... praying to the Wisdom God?"

Startled, Todd whipped around, eyes wide open, to see who it was.

A handsome young man in Mercenary Leather Armor stood behind him, smiling at him.