Chapter 22
At year's end, the Kingdom of Hesse still sat in the mid-seventies—the kind of weather most people would call perfect.
Megalith City never saw snow. Even in the year's final weeks, the trees didn't fully shed their leaves. Along the wall of Nolan's courtyard, the wind kept stirring the branches with a soft, dry rustle.
Elise, Vera, Lina, Anna, and Lia sat on the stone benches in the courtyard.
The first four wore the clerical robes of the Church, hems falling past their knees. Whenever the breeze moved through them, the robes swayed in a quiet, solemn rhythm.
Lia wore the transcendent leather armor her grandfather had commissioned for her. Her short, trouser-clad legs dangled above the ground, and her cheeks puffed out as she stared at Elise.
Unless they had all misheard, Elise had just announced she intended to "take part in the construction of the new city."
Why?
She didn't need to choose that path.
The Church of Light had two main tracks for raising young prodigies.
Ordinary talents split their time between study and fieldwork. At each transcendent tier, they could spend five years at an Academy of Light before returning to practical service.
True monsters got the full Academy track.
A city-level Academy of Light guided students to the Cleric rank. A provincial academy trained High Clerics. A kingdom-level academy prepared Third-tier Awakened. And the imperial Academy of Light produced Fourth-tier Archbishops.
If a student lacked the strength to keep climbing, they could settle into a parish of the appropriate level and continue training in relative safety.
Once someone reached Fourth-tier Archbishop, the rest of their life could be devoted to chasing the legendary ranks.
That Academy path was enough to make every Awakened in Aurelia green with envy.
Elise was unquestionably one of those true monsters. By all rights, the Academy path was hers.
So why choose field service?
It made no sense.
"Elise, you should be heading to the Academy of Light in Holim," Vera said. In that moment, the Second-tier [Pure Mana Crystal] was the furthest thing from her mind. Her warning was dead serious. "Building a new city is dangerous work."
"The Light gave me courage," Elise said calmly.
Vera grew visibly anxious. "If this is about the [Pure Mana Crystal], I can—"
"It isn't," Elise said, cutting her off. "Crystal or no crystal, I'd still choose the new city. I need real combat if I want to grow stronger."
"You could join the cultist sweeps," Vera said, and now the panic in her voice was impossible to hide.
But Elise wasn't acting on impulse.
A Fourth-tier Archbishop would oversee the new city's founding. In the early stages, nearly all its residents would be Awakened, which made a successful cultist strike unlikely.
For a project of that scale, only a Fifth-tier monster could create a true city-ending disaster.
Was a legendary monster going to wander out of the Pyreflame Woods and attack the new city?
Not a chance.
She could study and train on ordinary days, then leave the city on assignments to hunt monsters. Her system experience would climb fast.
The new city was perfect.
And if a prodigy like her joined the project, the Fourth-tier Archbishop would almost certainly see to it she was heavily protected.
Only an idiot would pass that up.
Vera, however, saw something else in Elise.
Style.
She could have taken the safe Academy path, yet she insisted on walking the combat path of an Awakened. There was something different about her.
No wonder Megalith City's parish had dug in its heels over the [Pure Mana Crystal]. They wanted it for Elise.
She had earned it.
"In that case, I withdraw my claim to the [Pure Mana Crystal]." Vera, though a High Cleric herself, rose and gave Elise a formal bow. "Cleric Elise, you have my respect."
"The Light watches over us," Elise said, returning the salute.
After seeing Vera off and returning to her seat, Elise found her friends staring at her in open awe.
Her mood improved immediately.
Impressive, right?
Hold your applause.
Elise was happy to soak up the admiration, but preparations still had to be made.
After chatting with Lia and the others a while longer, she left Teacher Nolan's residence with Tymis fluttering circles overhead and headed for Helena's potion workshop.
She opened the alchemy gate with a practiced pulse of mana, entered Helena's residence, and went straight to the workshop without announcing herself.
Another pulse of mana unlocked the door.
Inside, she found two familiar figures.
One was, of course, Teacher Helena.
The other was a tall elven woman.
"Master. Lady Gwenaeris. Good afternoon." Elise stepped inside and bowed.
"Elise, come here," Helena said, waving her over.
Gwenaeris gave the faintest nod. "Good afternoon."
Her aloofness wasn't entirely unearned. Elves were born with gifts other races could only envy.
Judged on appearance alone, Gwenaeris was tall and elegant, with flawless features, pointed ears, and long hair falling behind her shoulders. Everything about her carried a cool, effortless grace.
In strength, she was a Senior Third-tier Mage and a Third-tier potion master.
She had come to assist the Church of Light with the new city's founding; her role was preparing magical potions for the Awakened stationed there.
Her lineage was more impressive still. Her name alone said plenty.
In the Yassian tongue, Gwe meant a direct female descendant. Naer meant beauty. Ris meant cherished.
Gwenaeris meant "the cherished beautiful daughter of Gwe."
And anyone who traced the long chain of family names in her full title—anyone who understood elven nobility—would know she came of imperial blood.
Most important of all, elves held an overwhelming advantage in potioncraft.
Gwenaeris had been able to sense the subtle spirit within plant-based potion materials from birth. Her rank as a potion master had risen naturally alongside her transcendent strength.
Helena, by comparison, was merely a "low-end" Second-tier potion master.
If the blood-warp sickness potion hadn't been mildly interesting, Gwenaeris probably wouldn't have bothered setting foot in the workshop at all.
Elise had committed to helping build the new city, and she meant to grind spell experience through real combat.
But that didn't mean she planned to fight around the clock once she arrived.
Her plan was simple.
Her main work: potioncraft, study, and training.
Her side work: taking missions, hunting monsters, and pushing up her spell experience through live battle.
If she wanted a place in potion preparation, winning the approval of Lady Gwenaeris—a Third-tier powerhouse—was essential.
Unfortunately, Elise felt her progress there had been painfully slow.
For two days now, she and Helena had sat through discussions of magical potions with Lady Gwenaeris.
And the attitude they'd received in return...
It was the way one might regard two pieces of wood.
[Potioncraft] is almost Level 4, Elise thought, head aching. Please give me a useful modifier.
Even now, she had no idea why Gwenaeris treated them that way.