Chapter 42
Morning in Crimsonwood was cool, especially sitting in the courtyard the Church had arranged. A light breeze drifted through the yard, carrying the living scent of the forest.
In the ten days since Elise's arrival, her training had advanced steadily.
Her work under Lady Gwenaeris had proven easy enough, and she had presided over the daily prayer rites without a hitch.
In the short term, all Elise lacked was the knowledge and experience needed for fieldwork beyond the camp.
And her position had changed.
In the past, whenever Elise went out on missions, she had played support. Stronger Awakened had always stood at her side.
Now she had to lead a team herself.
Fieldwork beyond the walls was nothing like missions inside them. Most of her fugitive-catching experience from Megalith City no longer applied.
To make her team members truly follow her command, Elise chose a simple method.
Show her strength and her talent.
How strong was she?
How high did her talent reach?
She would put all of it on display.
That way, her teammates would know how to coordinate with her in battle—and they would understand, without ambiguity, her standing within the Church.
Hiding her strength was the wrong play.
Using [Holy Light] to soothe Harkian's spirit would serve as her declaration.
Elise studied Harkian's calm face, checked the others from the corner of her eye, then drew her staff from her spatial bracelet and activated every modifier she could.
She felt stronger than she ever had.
As she constructed [Holy Light], the thrill of a massive step forward ran through her.
A Level 5 spell skill really was different.
The new modifier wrought a qualitative shift in the refined mana and external mana forming the spell.
In midair, a sphere of light condensed rapidly—far brighter than ordinary Second-tier light-attribute mana.
The mana fluctuations rolling off it drew a visible reaction from everyone present who knew the craft.
This did not feel like an ordinary Second-tier spell.
Once the spell took form, the sphere descended slowly before Harkian's chest, and strands of light mana drifted into him.
The spell's energy washed across his body and spirit, dispersing part of the corruption in his spiritual world and settling peace over him.
"Light above," Harkian murmured in prayer.
"The God of Light watches over us," Chalmers said, eyes widening as he strained to gauge the spell's power.
Adair—mocked by others as a rogue, though he insisted on styling himself a Second-tier shortsword swordsman—bowed his head and closed his eyes with theatrical solemnity.
Lofnar, however, felt his heart hammering.
He had only ever seen Elise use a spell scroll. He'd had no idea what her actual casting looked like.
Now that he'd witnessed it firsthand, he wanted to curse the clansmen responsible for intelligence gathering.
This was what they called "a little better than the average newly advanced High Cleric"?
This was casting above her rank.
Senior Second-tier.
That was Senior Second-tier spell strength—and the value was not modest, either.
Lofnar finally understood why, even though Archbishop Norias was supposedly "furious" at Elise's disobedience, he had rushed to the scene in person the instant she tore open a Third-tier spell scroll.
He understood, too, why the Church of Light had entrusted her with three Third-tier activation-type scrolls.
Because Elise was a supreme prodigy.
A supreme prodigy of the light attribute.
In that moment, Lofnar genuinely acknowledged her talent.
But the stifled feeling remained.
Because even with this [Holy Light], Elise was still weaker than him in raw strength.
Lofnar turned his head away, expression dark.
Elise had no attention to spare for him.
She focused on control, guiding [Holy Light] to work specifically on Harkian.
A moment later—
[Holy Light Skill Experience +5,903.]
The prompt appeared.
Nearly six thousand experience points.
Elise almost cheered aloud.
Level 5 [Holy Light] was extraordinary after all.
Originally, each point of her spirit could drive 6 points of refined mana, and each point of refined mana spent on [Holy Light] could mobilize about 4.2 points of external mana.
Stack the amplification from [Light of Megalith] and the divine-power modifiers scattered across her skills, and her spell strength had already left ordinary High Clerics far behind.
Now?
With [Holy Light]'s new Level 5 modifier, each point of refined mana could mobilize over 4.8 points of external mana—and the quality of both the refined and external mana had risen.
By pure calculation, that [Holy Light]'s spell strength approached 500 points.
But the unit had changed.
Before, it had been measured in ordinary Second-tier.
Now, divine power included, it had finally reached Senior Second-tier.
The same number, measured in a different unit, meant power on an entirely different level.
With [Holy Light] at Level 5, Elise had finally reclaimed the ability to cast above her rank.
"Elise, your [Holy Light] is wrong."
The moment the spell ended, Lia—who had chosen Elise as the rival she meant to surpass—spoke first, frustration threading her voice.
"Dear Lia, this is the power of the Light." Elise was in a splendid mood and couldn't resist a wink.
She badly wanted to add one thing.
A little squirt like you wants to surpass me?
Mew.
Tymis crowed smugly in Lia's spiritual world, as if showing off how wisely it had chosen its contractor.
Lia grew angrier still.
She converted grief and outrage into appetite, stuffing her cheeks full again while her hair flashed at high frequency, bright and sparkling.
"Light above."
"Elise, thank you. The devil in my heart is retreating."
"Honored High Cleric Elise, you truly deserve the title of Crimsonwood Parish's supreme prodigy."
Chalmers, Harkian, and Adair offered their praise in turn.
Only Lofnar sat nearby, face flushed from the effort of containing himself. At last he forced out a grudging sentence.
"Your talent is... like a towering mountain."
Elise smiled, entirely comfortable.
Sincere or false, his praise didn't matter.
Her goal was to make everyone face reality.
I am Elise, supreme prodigy of the Church of Light.
When you assist me on missions, behave yourselves.
But Elise had underestimated the tangles of the human heart.
Chalmers and Harkian were bound tightly to the Church; naturally, they would focus on cooperating with her.
Lofnar carried the duty of mending relations between Crimsonwood's dwarves and the Church of Light. At worst, he could stew in private.
As for Adair—that old fox of the mercenary world held only one word in his heart.
Profit.
When he took his leave of Elise, his face wore a bright, relieved smile.
The moment he returned to his quarters and slipped into his room, the smile died.
Two people waited inside.
One was a two-year-old boy.
The other, a middle-aged woman in Grand Mage robes.
"As a father, you should mind the energy fluctuations on your body at all times. Don't wake Dias."
The woman's name was Mona. She was Adair's wife, and her strength stood one minor rank above his.
Toward his wife, a Senior Grand Mage, Adair—born with dwarfism—showed nothing but love and respect.
He gazed fondly at his sleeping son, Dias, his expression softening. In the end, he only sighed.
"The plan has changed. High Cleric Elise's strength is comparable to Senior rank."
"So what?" Mona lifted her chin slightly and soothed her husband in a honeyed voice. "If you can't seize leverage over her, then earn the bond of fighting at her side."
"For Dias, I will."
A veiled gleam crossed Adair's eyes. Then he spoke with anticipation.
"Perhaps Elise won't move against Anarias at all."
"Then you'd better pray no one in the Mercenary Company becomes Anarias's target." Mona laughed softly. "Even you aren't confident you'd pass the Death Sovereign's judgment."
"True. We're all guilty of something." Adair exhaled. "Fortunately, our sins don't run deep. Anarias has better targets."
"We will obey High Cleric Elise's orders, reform Ember Shield Mercenary Company, and then... assist High Cleric Elise in completing more missions."
"Adair, don't disappoint me or Dias."
"I will succeed."
For an Awakened like Adair, who had clawed his way up from the bottom, survival ran on a single rule.
Profit.
To win their son a piece of territory, Adair and Mona would dare to scheme around even a supreme prodigy of the Church.
And in truth, that was Crimsonwood's current state of affairs.