Chapter 38
The south was rainy country.
While Elise ate breakfast, the sky above the Pyreflame Woods still shone clear blue.
By the time she finished and stepped outside, dark clouds had rolled in over Crimsonwood camp.
A soft rain began to fall.
From above, the camp of mostly wooden buildings looked wreathed in rising white steam.
The rain gave the commoners some relief from the heat, but it made monster hunting harder on the Awakened.
The commoners' spirits lifted.
The Awakened grew testier.
One after another, the Awakened filing into the Church for prayer shed their cloaks. Many wore hard faces and grim expressions.
Some had lost teammates recently. Some had been wounded on hunts and were still smarting over the cost of healing. Others fretted over progression resources.
Fortunately, the Church of Light carried enough prestige and power.
The moment the Awakened stepped into Crimsonwood Parish's temporary Church, they forced their darker moods down.
Every head bowed. Clasped hands rose before lips. Silent prayers turned toward the statue of the God of Light.
When Elise and Lorna entered, more than a hundred people were praying together.
Compared with the Church in Megalith City, though, the faith here felt shallow, and the light-attribute mana inside the building was far thinner.
"May the God of Light bless you," Lorna whispered as she followed Elise toward the pulpit, offering what encouragement she could.
Elise stood before the pulpit and looked out across the congregation. Emotion swelled in her chest.
This was her first time presiding over a prayer rite.
She still remembered standing in the little Church of Ashwood Village, listening as Father James expounded the Codex of Light from the pulpit.
Studying the Codex had given her [Light Theology], improved her [Yassian Language], and earned her the right to enter the Church in Ignis.
Now she was the High Cleric leading the rite.
Could the people below even imagine that three months ago, she had been an "illiterate" commoner?
Beneath the pulpit, the Awakened who had come to Crimsonwood to gamble on their futures regarded Elise with mixed thoughts.
Some hailed from Megalith City; they knew her deeds and her face.
Even so...
An eighteen—
No, a nineteen-year-old, newly advanced High Cleric, sent to lead the first morning prayer rite in the new city's Church?
Wasn't that a bit careless?
"God teaches us..."
Under Lorna's worry and the Awakened's doubt, Elise opened the Codex of Light and began reading selected passages.
This was a form of preaching.
As a High Cleric, when Elise read the words aloud, she was expected to guide light-attribute mana in support of them.
To commoners, a powerful High Cleric expounding the Codex of Light from the pulpit seemed to radiate light itself, settling peace into their hearts.
Awakened were not so easily moved.
They had come to borrow [Holy Light].
High Cleric Elise could speak on the Codex as beautifully as she pleased, but without a show of real ability, she would not earn their respect.
Elise understood that perfectly.
She finished the reading, closed the book, and prepared to perform her duty.
Here it came.
Everyone in the Church, Lorna included, waited for her to cast.
Far away, Archbishop Norias stood inside his crude mage tower, his gaze seeming to cross the distance and settle on the Church.
The night before, he had gauged Elise's transcendent rank at a glance, and her handling of the [Holy Light Prison] scroll had told him roughly what her casting ability was.
In truth, today's prayer rite was meant to build Elise's reputation.
In a tangled place like Crimsonwood, reputation was armor.
Norias hoped she would seize the opening well. At minimum, he trusted she wouldn't embarrass herself.
God is watching you, the Archbishop thought, expectation kindling in his chest.
Just before Elise closed her eyes, a thought drifted through her mind.
This feels a little like a counseling session back on Earth. Except I calm the patients with spells.
She considered a moment, then drew her staff from her spatial bracelet and cast [Holy Light] at full strength.
Above the congregation, a sphere of light swiftly took form.
Just as Sister Ciriana had once done while preaching in Ashwood Village, Elise created the [Holy Light] first, then swept its sacred radiance slowly across everyone in the Church.
A calm, peaceful spiritual energy rolled outward.
"God above..."
"I pray to You..."
"Light above."
...
The commoners felt confusion, tension, and even some of their pain being swept from their hearts. One by one, they sank deeper into prayer.
The Awakened felt a powerful soothing force as well. Their strained minds eased.
But the most excited person present was Lorna, standing at Elise's side.
She was a sister. She had no transcendent talent, but she had witnessed countless prayer rites, and she could tell Clerics from High Clerics by feel alone.
To Lorna's senses, Elise's [Holy Light] was tremendously strong.
Perhaps stronger than a Senior High Cleric's.
[Holy Light Skill Experience +3,738.]
Nearly four thousand experience points, in a single stroke.
Along with it came a deeper understanding of how [Holy Light] worked in practice.
In that moment, Elise felt she had struck gold.
Presiding over Church prayer rites was superb for [Holy Light] experience.
Awakened under crushing mental pressure, commoners with hidden agendas, commoners of sincere faith—every one of them was a perfect target for [Holy Light].
A few more rites like this, and her [Holy Light] would level at a blistering pace.
Inside the Church, the Awakened had registered the power of Elise's casting too.
They were not ignorant commoners. They knew exactly what it meant for a single [Holy Light] to dispel the negative emotions of more than a hundred Awakened at once.
And beyond that...
"High Cleric Elise borrowed a great deal of divine power."
"Second-tier High Clerics cast divine arts, yes—but our god seems to favor High Cleric Elise entirely too much."
"God above... I felt Your gaze."
The more devout among them suddenly felt they ought to become more devout still.
Because when Elise cast [Holy Light], custom required her to display a "miracle."
In Aurelia, clerical Awakened could present their faith to their god—and the gods truly existed within the spiritual plane.
So when Elise displayed her faith in the God of Light through her spiritual world, the God of Light in the spiritual plane genuinely turned His gaze upon her.
With the modifiers of [Light Theology], [Meditation], and [Holy Light] all active at once, Elise truly seemed a child favored by God.
Naturally, her [Holy Light] was powerful.
And powerful in a way all its own.
While the Awakened inside the Church marveled, Archbishop Norias stood in his mage tower, silent.
He had assumed Elise would simply avoid embarrassment and more or less meet the expectations ordinary Awakened held of the Church.
That expectation now looked laughably low.
This [Holy Light] had nearly surpassed the level of a Senior High Cleric, so much divine power had she borrowed.
More important still, Elise's faith in the God of Light was unusual.
She came from Earth, and deep down, she held no contempt for Awakened outside the Church.
Because of that, the God of Light she displayed felt peaceful, egalitarian, and brimming with living hope.
"Honored High Cleric Elise, the prayer rite is complete."
As the [Holy Light] faded, Lorna's voice sounded beside her.
In that moment, Lorna was excited enough to praise the God of Light out loud.
For one simple reason.
She was Elise's assistant.
The more brilliant and powerful Elise became, the higher Lorna's own standing would climb.
"Yes. Let's go."
Elise was satisfied too.
She finally understood why the Church sent Clerics and High Clerics out to preach.
It was, in effect, live practice for light-attribute divine arts.
Through these opportunities, Clerics naturally deepened their grasp of light-attribute spells and divine arts while drawing more believers into the fold.
Killing multiple birds with one stone.
Right then, Elise wanted to spend all six of her full-power daily casts presiding over prayer rites.
At this rate, [Holy Light] could reach Level 5 within days.
And once both [Holy Light] and [Holy Light Arrow] hit Level 5, the Church's hellspawn purification missions would become far easier to complete.
She looked forward to it.
But Elise was still in her rapid-growth phase, and she had yet to assemble her new team.
For now, she could only suppress the urge to plunge into the forest and start hunting. Strength came first.
Time to earn money, pay down her debts, and buy more potions to speed her progression along.