Chapter 23
Samuel, the Guardian of the Holy Sword
Every time an Extraordinary Profession advances, three random slots are obtained. These slots, when combined, form the Extraordinary Profession that is subtly different for everyone. In the game, these slots can be re-rolled by repeatedly playing advancement dungeons. Otherwise, it would be very difficult for players to experience different builds.
However, Eivass clearly did not have access to the in-game shop. He had only one chance to choose his slots when advancing. But he had already decided on his career path. To advance to the “Lord of Great Beasts,” he needed to seal his own Six-Attribute Great Beasts. Each attribute’s blank card required fifty points of pure-colored Mana to craft.
When a Priest’s level increases, their Mana Pool for Light and Fire attributes increases, with a ratio of approximately three parts Light to one part Fire. A Demon Scholar, upon leveling up, usually only gains Mana Pool for the Dark attribute. If they contract an Upper Demon of the Shadow Demon tier, they can also gain Mana Pool for the corresponding attribute of the contracted demon. Although Eivass’s first contracted demon was a Dark-attribute Shadow Demon, during his advancement, a slot for expanding Wind, Earth, Water, or Fire attributes could still appear randomly.
If Eivass were to level up normally, he would likely only reach fifty points in Light and Dark attributes. Therefore, for attributes other than Light and Dark, he had to choose any expansion slots that appeared. Even then, he might not be able to reach at least fifty points in all six attributes. At that point, he would either have to choose a specific spellcasting profession to raise the Mana Pool of the corresponding attribute while enduring experience penalties, or rely on various potions to slowly increase his attribute cap, or wear Extraordinary items to temporarily increase his Mana cap.
The basic principle was to always choose expansion slots for the Wind, Earth, Water, and Fire attributes if they appeared. Only if a rare Gold Tier Slot appeared would Eivass hesitate and seriously consider whether to skip the expansion slot this time. The first advancement could only yield Blue Tier Slots at most. Furthermore, spellcasting professions would invariably have the slots for “Affinity” and “Expansion,” so Eivass had no room for hesitation here as he had no choice.
Fortunately, Eivass was quite lucky. The “Candlemaster’s Blood” did not necessarily grant a Fire attribute slot; Light was also a possibility. If he happened to randomly get a Light attribute expansion, he would only be able to choose Affinity. His Light attribute Mana Pool was actually quite abundant, and he was not an Extraordinary specializing in the Path of Devotion, so he didn’t need to raise his Blue attribute cap too high.
Moreover, Yulia’s Phantom Demon was Fire-attributed. This meant that Eivass would need to craft a Fire-attribute blank card before that event began if he wanted to seal it. He had previously calculated that a standard Mana Pool for a Level 10 Priest should be 8 points of Light and 2 points of Fire, and for Level 20, it would be 23 Light and 7 Fire.
By Level 20, Eivass would have advanced three times in total, including this current advancement: once at Level 2 where success was guaranteed, and twice more at Level 9 and Level 19 through ritual trials. If he randomly obtained a Fire attribute expansion slot in those two trials, Eivass’s Fire attribute Mana Pool could increase by another 28 points. Without using any Extraordinary items, combined with the initial 7 points and the 14 points from this advancement, it would be exactly 49 points. With a maximum Mana Pool of 49 points, and having stored four additional points the day before, he could already craft a Fire attribute blank card with a capacity of 50!
And by obtaining the “Phantom Demon – Butterfly of Contrary Flames,” Eivass would gain combat power far superior to Level 1 Fire Affinity! For at least the entire journey until the end of Version 0, he would undoubtedly be fine!
Therefore, Eivass did not hesitate. As soon as the slot appeared, he had a thought, and the teardrop-like flame of fire flew up on its own, entering Eivass’s mouth. The next moment, the illusion before him shattered. Eivass’s fingertips suddenly felt a slight burning pain. This pain quickly intensified, like touching a candle flame after dipping one’s fingers in water. He suddenly woke up.
As Eivass’s attribute list changed, the altered sections jumped out before his eyes:
Priest LV2: [Basic Prayer-Level 1 (99%)], [Fire Worship-Level 1 (5%)]
Lit Paths: Devotion – Layer 1; Transcendence – Layer 1
Mana Pool: 2/2 (Light), 4/4 (Dark), 14/14 (Fire)
Free Experience: 53
Path Trait –
Devotion – Fire Vessel Lv1: You consumed the Candlemaster’s Blood, and your soul was expanded. Your Mana Pool (Fire) maximum capacity increased by 14.
Eivass looked up, groggily at Bishop Mathers, who was looking astonished, and with a confused and innocent expression as if he had just woken up, he subconsciously said, “I… I think I saw a red deer just now. It was wrapped in black thorns and bleeding. Its antlers were white flames…”
“—That is the Candlemaster!” Bishop Mathers quickly interrupted. He touched his forehead as if there were phantom antlers there. “Candlemaster above… For Him to show such pity towards you! You have mastered the Fire Worship technique on your very first attempt…” Bishop Mathers murmured, clearly somewhat incredulous. However, Eivass’s advancement was self-evident. As a superior in the same path, he could clearly feel that Eivass’s Path of Devotion had successfully reached the first layer.
“…What Path Trait did you choose?” Bishop Mathers couldn’t continue teaching Eivass and asked urgently, “I didn’t expect you to learn it immediately, so I hadn’t had time to tell you… If you want to gain self-preservation ability immediately, you must choose ‘Fire Affinity’ or ‘Light Affinity.’ Which did you choose?”
“It was ‘Fire Vessel’,” Eivass replied immediately. A hint of nervousness showed on his face. “Did I… did I make the wrong choice?”
Eivass secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He thought to himself, “It’s fortunate I advanced before Bishop Mathers could react.” If he had heard Bishop Mathers’ words and still chosen Fire Vessel, he would certainly have been displeased. But Eivass really needed to increase his Fire attribute Mana Pool as soon as possible, and the desired slot might not appear in the next round. Therefore, when the Fire attribute expansion slot appeared, he had to choose it immediately.
“…No, no, it’s not a major problem.” Seeing the nervousness on Eivass’s face, Bishop Mathers quickly comforted him. “‘Fire Vessel’ is also a very good trait—it allows you to wield extremely powerful flame abilities, but it will be a bit more troublesome to use. Without affinity abilities, your control will be somewhat stiff… But I’m not saying it’s a bad choice; I mean, it’s not very flexible—but in the long run, this choice is excellent!”
Clearly, the current situation was not part of Bishop Mathers’ plan. But seeing that the nervousness and worry on Eivass’s face had not subsided, he gritted his teeth. “Listen to me, Eivass! You now possess immense Mana equivalent to a Level 2 spellcaster, you just don’t know how to use it. You can start by learning spells or divine arts that rely on flame power, and before that…”
As Bishop Mathers spoke, he took a large key from his waist, the one he had used to open the door. It was a deep red key. It was so heavy that it seemed less like a key and more like a broken sword. “St. Genevieve’s Chapel will be closed during this period. I’ll lend you this key for you to use for self-defense for the next two months—don’t underestimate it; it can unleash a scorching phantom blade by channeling Fire Mana. Even if you can’t act, it’s enough to scare off most enemies. Just return it to me before the Candle-holding Ceremony on January 1st.”
As he grasped the heavy key with confusion, Eivass almost blurted out an expletive. This key, despite its ordinary name, had an incredibly amazing effect. It not only proved how important Eivass was to him, but also revealed his pessimistic assessment of the current situation… Upon seeing its effect, Eivass knew exactly who Bishop Mathers was.
[Key of St. Genevieve’s Chapel]
[Extraordinary Weapon (Deep Purple)]
[Dagger, Heavy, Unsharpened, Durable]
[Trait: It can be used to open the seal of St. Genevieve’s Chapel (Triggerable only by Path of Devotion)]
[Extraordinary Module – Fire Infusion: Expend 1-10 Fire Mana to ignite a blade of flame, lasting 1-10 minutes]
[Extraordinary Module – Light Infusion: Expend 1-10 Light Mana to ignite a blade of holy energy, lasting 1-10 minutes]
[Extraordinary Module – Gale Infusion: Expend 1-10 Wind Mana to ignite an intangible blade, lasting 1-10 minutes]
[Spell: Sacred Sword Technique (Once per month)]
[Required: Light 11+ Fire 11+ Wind 11, or Light 33, or Fire 33, or Wind 33]
[Instant, Contact, Immediate Effect]
[Effect: Sanctify this weapon, transforming it into the Holy Sword – Red-Hilted Sword (Holy Weapon – Two-Handed Sword, Heavy, Wards Evil, Sharp, Durable, Lightweight, Holder temporarily gains Curse Vulnerability LV4) until the next sunset, while retaining activated module effects]
[“—A key forged from the broken sword of Galahad, its power sealed along with its curse.”]
No wonder Eivass had no impression of the so-called “Bishop Mathers.” He wasn’t entirely affiliated with the Eternal Holy Kingdom; he was a native of Avalon. His true identity was the final BOSS in a main story dungeon of Version 2’s “Shadow of Avalon”! A vengeful spirit from the fallen Avalon Kingdom, controlled by the curse entwined around the reforged Holy Sword – Red-Hilted Sword—he was the cursed Paladin known as “Samuel, the Guardian of the Holy Sword”!
Reporting good news, the current readership of this book has already exceeded three thousand! This is likely Cat’s most smoothly written and best-performing book so far… Thanks to the support of the litter box owners—and hope for continued support, meow!
