Chapter 8
For an ordinary First-tier spellcaster, one point of spirit energy could drive two points of mana.
For a Senior First-tier spellcaster, one point drove two and a half.
The ratio between mana and ambient magic was another matter entirely. That depended on the caster's understanding of and control over the specific spell.
But Elise carried a stack of skill modifiers.
After reaching Senior Cleric, a single point of her spirit energy could already drive 2.9 points of mana—higher than the standard for an ordinary Prime Cleric.
And since all her spell skills had reached LV3, moving three points of ambient magic per point of mana was only natural.
Back when [Holy Light] was LV3, Elise could spend 12 points of spirit energy to drive 34.8 points of mana. That 34.8 mana could move 104.4 points of ambient magic, putting the spell's final strength at 139.2.
Now that [Holy Light] had reached LV4 and gained the [Spell-Structure Perception] modifier, her efficiency had improved at every stage of casting.
When she cast [Holy Light] now, one point of spirit energy drove more than three points of mana, and each point of mana moved more than 3.1 points of ambient magic.
In other words, 12 points of spirit energy drove 36 points of mana, and that mana moved 111.6 points of ambient magic. The spell's final strength had climbed to 147.6.
A bit more than a six percent increase.
It might not sound like much, but the number mattered.
First, it was free.
Second, it was permanent.
Most importantly, it was a final multiplier.
If [Holy Light] had a spell strength of 100, the LV4 modifier added 6 points.
If [Holy Light] one day reached a spell strength of 10,000, the modifier would add a full 600.
It meant she would always stand six percent above anyone else at the same baseline.
And this was only the starting point.
"At my current level, [Spell-Structure Perception] boosts [Holy Light]'s strength by six percent," Elise murmured.
"What about after I become a High Cleric? What if [Light Theology], [Meditation], and my other skills gain modifiers too? Could it become seven percent? Eight? Even ten?"
She looked forward to finding out.
Forcing down her excitement, she raised her hand and cast [Lightshield] at the target she'd set up inside her room.
[Lightshield skill experience +161.]
Again.
[Lightshield skill experience +148.]
[Congratulations. Your Lightshield has risen to LV4.]
Her second LV4 spell.
When Elise checked the new modifier, it was the same: [Spell-Structure Perception].
After downing a Spirit Potion, she cast [Lightshield] a third time.
[Lightshield skill experience +157.]
The gain looked smaller, but she'd also spent less spirit energy.
"[Holy Light] and [Lightshield] share the same effect."
Elise was deeply satisfied.
She'd been sitting in her own room, and the instant her skill leveled, her spell strength had jumped six percent.
The system was far too generous.
If I advance to Prime Cleric, will my combat power approach an ordinary High Cleric's?
She couldn't help imagining it.
She hadn't forgotten Dean Doran's warning.
Until she became a High Cleric, she was forbidden to leave Megalith City alone.
Because of that restriction, Elise had only been able to take missions inside the city lately, which had slowed her growth.
A question lingered in her heart.
Was the world outside the walls really so dangerous?
At that very moment, someone Elise knew could have answered with absolute certainty.
...
Before dawn, Whitemere Lake mirrored the stars and moon. Wind brushed across the water, folding the silver reflection into ripples.
On a hillside a few dozen yards from the shore, a group of Awakened had gathered.
Transcendent items that could never appear in any legitimate market were being traded openly in this makeshift camp.
At its center, Lia stood obediently beside a cloaked man.
"Undead-modified corpse! Only seventeen gold!"
"This is agony-blood, drawn from a six-year-old under extreme pain. One gold doesn't come close to my price."
"Praise Hardinias. This bottle of [Nia's Sigh] is perfect."
The main tent at the camp's heart was large; the smaller tents around it were crude and scattered. Every so often, words that would crawl under any normal person's skin drifted out of them.
Young corpses.
A child's despair.
A maiden's spine.
Here, all of it was ordinary merchandise.
That alone said everything about the Awakened gathered in this camp.
Lia had never considered herself a good person. But next to the cloaked man beside her, she felt qualified to move straight into the Light God's divine kingdom.
"Miss," the cloaked man said suddenly, letting out a sick little chuckle, "what a beautiful sight this is. Wouldn't you agree?"
Lia nodded with grave sincerity.
"Yes. Praise the Undying God..."
Halfway through, she stole a careful glance at the cloaked man, then smiled sweetly.
"And praise Dorsanis and Dinariak as well."
Dorsanis and Dinariak were the divine names of the God of Darkness and the God of Destruction.
Lia praised all three gods in a row not because she worshiped all three, but because the lunatic beside her was a believer of both darkness and destruction.
Gullos Sennett, currently going by the alias Dinariax, split his mouth into a grin. His teeth were so white they seemed to gleam beneath the shadow of his hood.
He looked as if he wanted to laugh.
Then, a heartbeat later, anger overtook him.
A heartbeat after that, his spirit energy surged with excitement and delight.
This lunatic.
Lia wanted to cry.
She wasn't afraid that Gullos. Vesserdali had already placed protections inside her body.
Two triggered Fourth-tier spells. That was Lia's greatest reassurance when traveling abroad.
But Gullos was planning to destroy the town of Whitemere.
The madman was a Prime High Cleric bearing both the darkness and destruction attributes. To break through to Third tier as a Destruction Cleric and become a Destruction Bishop, he had seized on the opening created by Megalith City's recent chaos.
And afterward?
If he succeeded, Gullos would simply run.
Lia would be the one left holding the trouble.
Her glowing hair was already somewhat famous across the Blythean Empire, and plenty of Awakened in the Kingdom of Hesse knew of it too.
Who didn't know that Archbishop Vesserdali of the Undying Court had a granddaughter?
Who didn't know that this granddaughter was extraordinarily gifted—and that her hair glowed?
Which was exactly why Lia wanted nothing to do with any of this.
Unfortunately, she'd gone off hunting for something good to eat and accidentally learned far too much.
Gullos couldn't risk the information leaking, so he had forced Lia to stay at his side.
Barring the unexpected, once Gullos struck Whitemere, Lia's name would land squarely on the Church of Light's kill list.
Of course she wanted to run.
Inwardly, she wailed without pause.
Vesserdali, come back already.
I don't want to contract a spiritual creature anymore.
I miss you.
I'll never wash my hair again.
Before leaving Lia, Vesserdali had painstakingly disguised his rare granddaughter.
What he hadn't anticipated was that she would ruin the disguise the very next day, wander off alone in search of good food, and stumble headfirst into Gullos's conspiracy.
Fortunately, Lia was a clever little turncoat.
Before she was caught, she had already made her preparations.
Now all she could do was hope her backup plan worked.