Chapter 12
----
[Status]
[Name: Elise]
Skills:
[Light Theology] (LV4: 14/100,000)
[Yassian Language] (LV2: 1,146/1,000)
[Meditation] (LV2: 1,896/1,000)
[Potioncraft] (LV3: 7,485/10,000)
[Runecraft] (LV3: 2,031/10,000)
[Holy Light] (LV4: 2,030/100,000)
[Holy Light Bolt] (LV3: 3,254/10,000)
[Holy Light Arrow] (LV3: 6,137/10,000)
[Lightshield] (LV4: 1,434/100,000)
[Healing] (LV3: 2,408/10,000)
[Light of Life] (LV3: 2,017/10,000)
----
Elise studied her system interface.
Advancing to Prime Cleric usually takes 80 Spirit. But with this many skill modifiers—and with Tymis contracted—I can make the attempt. My odds aren't bad.
Then there's [Meditation], still stuck at (LV2: 1,896/1,000).
That one had been nagging at her for a long time.
She strongly suspected the skill had a hidden prerequisite for LV3—most likely, refining her spiritual energy to a higher grade first.
While Elise settled on her decision, most of the Church of Light's clergy had already risen and gathered in the cathedral for morning prayers.
Those who had known the dead stayed. Even those who hadn't been close to them lingered to pay their respects before slipping away.
Then came the farewell rite.
Friends and family would bear witness as the martyrs ascended to the divine kingdom.
The Church treated such rites with the utmost gravity. This time, Dean Doran himself presided.
He led the assembly in mourning first.
After the solemn prayer, Dean Doran spoke quietly with the families of the fallen, then received their final letters.
Every time we leave on a mission, the Church makes us write a farewell letter. I always knew what they were for.
Before today, Elise had never truly felt the death toll behind the Church's missions.
Now she did.
She felt the crushing weight of it.
They had known they might die—and still, so many of them chose to fight for the ideals they carried in their hearts.
Before the altar, Dean Doran stood among the coffins and opened the first letter.
"My dear father, mother, my annoying little brother, and my sweet little sister—by the time you hear this letter..."
The first farewell letter was Sylvia's.
She began by saying goodbye to her family.
"I am the eldest daughter. I know it falls to me to prove House Sennett's unwavering faith in our god. I have always been proud to do so..."
"Please do not weep for me. I am a servant of God. We do not die. We merely go on living in another form..."
Sobs rose around Elise.
"Honored Teacher Nolan, it was my privilege to be your student. I once believed I was born to be a light-attribute Cleric, because my faith burned so bright. Then Elise appeared..."
"My friend Elise—I know you will hear these words. Please forgive how I felt about you. The truth is, I was a little jealous..."
Reading farewell letters aloud was one of the Church of Light's oldest forms of instruction.
Yet no matter how many times the lesson was taught, the clergy who attended these rites never grew numb to it.
Because lying inside those cold coffins were their friends and family.
This was their last meeting.
And it was a passing of the torch.
I have died.
I have gone to the divine kingdom.
When our god looks upon you, perhaps some small part of my spirit lives in His gaze.
For my sake, keep fighting.
Fight until the Light God's kingdom stands upon this earth.
When Sylvia's letter was finished, Dean Doran calmly picked up the second.
Similar words echoed through the cathedral.
Apart from Dean Doran's voice, no one made a sound.
Grief filled the nave.
Only the statue of the Light God smiled down with quiet compassion.
Elise had attended few memorials in her life, and none had ever struck her heart like this one.
Her spiritual energy began to churn.
Memories of Sylvia surfaced, one after another.
For the first time, Elise felt the full weight of the Church of Light's doctrine.
She closed her eyes and slipped into [Meditation] with effortless ease.
In her perception, the spiritual plane had never been so clear.
Her surging spiritual energy roiled like boiling water, while the ambient light-attribute mana seemed to gently soothe everyone present.
To advance from Senior Cleric to Prime Cleric, what I need is a deeper imprint between my spiritual energy and the spiritual plane.
My spiritual energy is sufficient now.
So is my understanding of [Meditation].
Following the method of the [Light Meditation Technique], Elise guided her spiritual energy into inscribing runes, deepening the mental link between herself and the spiritual plane.
Her spiritual energy drained rapidly.
Mew~
Hidden from sight, Tymis cried softly inside Elise's spiritual world.
Elise drank a Spirit Potion.
During the advancement to Prime Cleric, spiritual energy already spent couldn't be replenished by a potion.
But the temporary boost to her upper limit still held.
Then—
The instant the inscription completed, Elise felt a membrane tear open inside her mind.
Her spiritual energy sank deeper into the spiritual plane, binding to it.
[Congratulations. Meditation has risen to LV3.]
The system prompt appeared at once.
[Meditation] had reached LV3.
Mana surged through Elise.
Dean Doran, still reading farewell letters before the altar, was the first to notice her condition.
When he'd first realized Elise was attempting a breakthrough to Prime Cleric—standing right there in the crowd—he had nearly halted the rite to intervene.
But when she succeeded, a wave of relief washed through him.
Being moved at a friend's memorial and breaking through on the spot was not unheard of within the Church of Light.
But those who managed it were always people of deep feeling—and always gifted.
More to the point, Dean Doran knew Elise and Sylvia hadn't been especially close.
Which meant Elise could witness the death of an ordinary friend and still experience spiritual turbulence this intense.
She felt things deeply.
Someone like that was made to be a Cleric.
Made for faith in the Light God.
Sylvia would be happy for you.
Doran said the words silently in his heart.
Elise opened her eyes and looked at Sylvia's coffin.
There was something she wanted to say too.
Thank you, Sylvia.
For the rest of the rite, Elise didn't check her new skill modifier. She didn't test how much stronger she'd become.
She quietly saw Sylvia off.
Afterward, Elise left the Church with Lina and Anna.
They found a place for breakfast, then said their goodbyes.
Lina and Anna had been up all night and needed rest.
Elise headed for Helena's residence.
"Elise, don't grieve too deeply. Once you grow strong enough, you'll understand that death is not the end... Hm?"
Helena sat in the courtyard, clearly waiting for her.
She had prepared a few words of comfort, but halfway through them, she caught something unusual in Elise's mana fluctuations.
Wait.
Wasn't Elise a Senior Cleric?
Then why did her mana feel like this?
Had she advanced to Prime Cleric?
But Elise had become a Senior Cleric less than a month ago.
To be exact, she had advanced to Senior Cleric on the sixth day of the fourth week of last month.
Only twenty-three days had passed.