Chapter 20
Over the next few days, Megalith City stayed relatively calm.
The worst of the criminals had been wiped out during the coordinated attacks days earlier, and the remaining foreign Awakened had suddenly become far more obedient.
More importantly, the Church of Light had begun moving forward with its plan to establish a new city. The Oakhaven archdiocese had sent an Archbishop to Megalith City to oversee the matter in person.
No one dared stir up trouble at a time like this.
That afternoon—the fifth day of the fourth week in the Month of Renewal—Elise sat quietly in the meditation chamber at Teacher Nolan's residence.
[Meditation skill experience +30.]
After banking 30 experience in [Meditation], she opened her eyes and cast [Holy Light Bolt].
[Holy Light Bolt skill experience +131.]
[Congratulations. Holy Light Bolt has risen to LV4.]
The system prompt appeared, and the corner of Elise's mouth curved up.
She opened her system interface at once.
---
[Status]
[Name: Elise]
[Spirit: 85.4]
[Mana: 205.9]
[Constitution: 11.4]
Skills:
[Light Theology] (LV4: 1,969/100,000)
[Yassian Language] (LV3: 369/10,000)
[Meditation] (LV3: 1,894/10,000)
[Potioncraft] (LV3: 9,482/10,000)
[Runecraft] (LV3: 3,123/10,000)
[Holy Light] (LV4: 2,814/100,000)
[Holy Light Bolt] (LV4: 132/100,000)
[Holy Light Arrow] (LV4: 3,418/100,000)
[Lightshield] (LV4: 2,434/100,000)
[Healing] (LV4: 69/100,000)
[Light of Life] (LV4: 17/100,000)
---
All six spell skills are LV4 now. [Yassian Language] hit LV3 after I became a Prime Cleric, too. That skill...
Never mind. High Cleric is the priority. Unfortunately, my daily Spirit growth has slowed down.
Elise was pleased with how fast her spell skills had climbed lately.
The two back-to-back battles a few days ago, plus three light-attribute skills reaching LV4, had given the rest of her spell skills a massive boost.
But her Spirit now rose by only about 0.7 a day.
That was the problem.
By the system's standard, attempting the breakthrough to High Cleric usually required 100 Spirit.
Elise was confident she'd succeed once she hit 100—but the closer she got to that number, the harder Spirit became to raise.
She could try an early breakthrough, but from what her two teachers had told her about Second-tier advancement, the success rate would be hard to pin down.
And the reason she was so eager to reach High Cleric was simple: there was a piece of loot she wanted to claim.
Bang, bang, bang!
"Elise, I know you're casting in there. Come out already!"
Someone hammered on the door mid-thought. Lia's loud voice carried through it.
Elise stood and opened the door.
Sure enough, there was Lia, hair flashing bright.
"Elise, did you break through yet?" Lia demanded the moment she saw her.
"I have already become a Saintess," Elise said solemnly.
"A Saintess?"
Lia repeated the word on reflex. Then her cheeks puffed out, she stuck out her tongue with a little pfft, and ran off toward the stone table in the courtyard.
In Nolan's courtyard, besides Lia, sat Wylan, Lina, and Anna.
The four of them were gathered around the stone table, which had been laid out with potion drinks, fruit, and pastries.
The instant Lia sat down, both hands shot out and she stuffed her mouth full.
Lina and the others were used to it by now. They just smiled and turned toward Elise.
"What a headache," Elise said helplessly. "This suspect is living far too comfortably."
A few days earlier, during the cultist purge across Megalith City's territory, Lia had been found in Gullos's company. The Church naturally marked her as a suspect.
But Lia had also written Elise a letter exposing a long list of criminals, and her grandfather was a Fourth-tier Archbishop. The Church of Light couldn't afford to handle her carelessly.
So Lia's freedom had been restricted while everyone waited for her grandfather, Vesserdali, to come "pay her ransom."
Over the past few days, Lia had grown familiar with Elise and her friends.
By now, everyone understood what kind of person the girl was.
She was fourteen in actual years, looked seven or eight, and had the mind of a nine- or ten-year-old.
What set her apart from normal people was her sense of good and evil.
In Lia's eyes, life and death were perfectly ordinary. The strong oppressing the weak was simply nature.
In short, she believed in the law of the jungle—yet a thin thread of kindness still ran through her bones.
She was a walking contradiction.
Elise felt a certain sympathy for Lia, who seemed unable to grow up. She also sensed the girl wasn't truly bad.
Which was why Elise had spent the most time with her.
The two of them had even started a "competition" over who would advance to High Cleric first.
Lia was waiting for her grandfather. Once he arrived, she'd have access to a mountain of rare resources.
Elise was waiting for the right opportunity.
Or, if her Spirit hit 100, she could attempt the breakthrough on the spot.
But...
"Elise, High Cleric Vera went to see Bishop Almus again," Lina said as Elise sat down.
"That's a Second-tier [Pure Mana Crystal]," Lia declared with total conviction. "It only has a chance of appearing after a lifeform from Hell possesses a monster. Even the Clerics of your Church of Light would fight over one."
Elise shook her head lightly and accepted the cup Wylan handed her.
"Thank you."
The [Pure Mana Crystal] in question was part of the spoils from killing the clawbill devil.
It was a rare material for crafting transcendent equipment. Not only could it improve the efficiency of spiritual energy use—it could also devour similar materials to upgrade itself.
Naturally, Megalith's Church of Light wanted to keep such a treasure for one of its own.
The exchange condition Bishop Almus had set was simple:
A young High Cleric who had completed a Prime Second-tier mission.
Elise had assisted in purifying the clawbill devil and killing Gullos, so Bishop Almus had—quite "coincidentally"—ruled that her participation counted as completing a Prime Second-tier mission.
Meanwhile, Elise was eighteen this year, a Prime Cleric one step from High Cleric.
The Megalith diocese wasn't even pretending to be impartial.
Everyone had all but carved Elise's name into the [Pure Mana Crystal].
But the team the archdiocese had sent to establish the new city had no shortage of young High Clerics. All those people lacked was a completed Prime Second-tier mission.
"Bishop Almus definitely won't assign them one," Elise said. "Everyone's waiting for me to become a High Cleric."
Just thinking about it piled on the pressure.
The entire city was waiting for her to advance.
Meanwhile, the visiting Church colleagues stewed over it.
Which was why Elise hadn't wanted to leave the courtyard much these past few days.
But she couldn't hide inside forever.
Today was the fifth day of the fourth week in the Month of Renewal.
In nine days, the year 7795 would arrive.
The first day of the new year was known across Aurelia as the Day of Light.
Every year on the Day of Light, the Church and the nobility held grand celebrations.
As the most talented Cleric in the Megalith diocese, Elise was obligated to attend. The diocese might even present her as a living symbol of divine favor.
Nine days isn't enough to push my Spirit to 100. An early breakthrough won't have a guaranteed success rate.
And I have to attend the Day of Light celebration. If I attempt the breakthrough and fail, showing up pale and drained would be worse than not showing up at all.
This is a problem.
Elise sighed.
Just then, someone knocked at the gate of Nolan's residence.