Divine Prayer and Craving Light

Li Wen was considering what she still lacked. In terms of survival, she had two rare-grade pieces of equipment: the Shattered Eye of the Transcendent and Eternal Star of Emerald. There was no need to say much about the Shattered Eye of the Transcendent; instant teleportation was an immensely useful ability at any time.

As for Eternal Star of Emerald, its damage-absorbing shield equal to 100% of her own health was no slouch either. In World Tree: Origins, damage-absorption shields took damage first and then absorbed it. In other words, they only blocked post-mitigation damage.

So-called post-mitigation damage referred to the final damage inflicted after an attack or spell hit someone and was reduced by armor, magic resistance, and various shields. In other words, the shield provided by the Emerald Star Cloak could be regarded as Li Wen's second health bar. It was the sort of thing that would make people from another world cry out that it was a divine artifact, and that was precisely where its strength lay.

As for offensive methods, the tremendous damage from Spell-less Arc Light and the Bone-Gnawing Short Sword was already enough to let her instantly kill any Transcendent below level 10 who was not on the Flesh and Blood Path. The damage-over-time effect and blinding effect of Dark Word Curse could catch enemies off guard, serving as a safeguard for overcoming stronger foes in critical moments.

Looking at it this way, what Li Wen mainly lacked was endurance. Although Prayer Incantation could restore health, it was still useful at low levels. As Li Wen's level increased, once either of her Paths advanced to Stage Two, her life essence would undergo an enormous transformation, and that little bit of health recovery would become a drop in the bucket.

Moreover, abilities could be upgraded through repeated use, so raising their levels was not urgent. Thus, Li Wen spent 300 and 400 experience respectively to unlock the Supplicant's third and fourth abilities—Divine Prayer and Craving Light.

Divine Prayer lv1

Radiance—Divine Art

Required: 2 mana, one basic prayer

Targeted—Number: 1

One of the many widespread Divine Arts propagated by the religions of Canaan, and the first Divine Art that priests of the Ancient Sun God Cult were certain to learn. Only truly fervent faith could draw the gaze of light.

When used on an ally, it restored [ability level x 20% of the caster's health] health and slowly restored an amount equal to 10% of the caster's health over the next ten seconds, while granting a degree of immunity to bleeding, poison, vulnerability, and similar conditions. When used on an enemy, it was treated as a Divine Strike of the same level, dealing [ability level x 15% of the caster's health] damage to the target and leaving them dazed for five seconds.

Craving Light lv1

Radiance—Divine Art

Required: 5 mana, one prolonged prayer

Targeted—Non-self—Number: 1–3

One of the long-lost Divine Arts of the Ancient Sun God Cult, recreated by an unnamed saint of the religions of Canaan. The reason for its loss was not that it had been abandoned by the times, but that it was excessively powerful and dangerous. "There is no fault in craving Radiance. The fault lies in standing too close to the light."—Aries Admonitions

It granted up to [ability level] targets a "Craving Light" status. While this status remained, targets would unconsciously yearn for light, and the effects of Radiance Spectrum spells upon them would be increased by an additional 20%. After the status lasted one minute, targets would wish to remain in illuminated places, or else become emotionally restless. After five minutes, targets could act only under direct sunlight or firelight, or else descend into madness and harm themselves. After ten minutes, targets would be ignited by light until they died. "Craving Light" was regarded as a curse or blessing of the same level. Casting this Divine Art on a target again could remove the status.

As 700 experience flowed away like water, Li Wen's Path of Light Chasing reached lv4, and her total mana also rose to 40.

The reason she had delayed learning these two new abilities was mainly because they were difficult to apply in most situations.

Divine Prayer restored health and dealt damage based on a percentage of her own health, making it far from universally useful. At her current low level, it was not as practical as the fixed-value Prayer Incantation and Spell-less Arc Light, but it would certainly become one of her primary methods in the future.

As for Craving Light, there was even less to say. Its five-mana cost rivaled that of some second-tier spells, while the casting time for its prolonged prayer was a full ten seconds. In intense combat, that much time was enough for Li Wen to die several times over. It could not be cast on herself, and using it on allies was dangerous if it ran overtime. So while it looked impressive, it was actually not very useful at all.

Though its description claimed it had been lost because it was overly powerful and dangerous, Li Wen was deeply skeptical.

Li Wen had only learned it now because she wanted to unlock all the Supplicant's abilities, then find time to grind skill proficiency and raise all their levels to the maximum.

"Is there anything else?"

Pastor Mog saw Li Wen standing there for a while without leaving. Though he was utterly unwilling, he still asked aloud.

"The mission bestowed upon me by our mentor is about to begin. As one of Dark Dawn's members, you must contribute to it, Tilroggzak. You understand what I mean, don't you?"

When Li Wen spoke his true name, Pastor Mog's expression changed again and again.

"Siswell, my esteemed mentor, sage, and master, has not given me any instructions. I have my own mission to complete. Until then, unless I receive a personal order from our mentor, you can forget about anything else!"

Li Wen sneered. "Heh, what kind of being is our great mentor? Why would he personally contact a maggot like you? Do as I say! Or are you planning to defy our great mentor's orders? If you delay our great mentor's plans, can you bear the consequences?"

A cold wind blew into the church through the windows and doors. The candlelight swayed, yet never went out. Only their shadows flickered indistinctly in the candlelight, making the scene especially chilling.

Doubt appeared on Pastor Mog's corpse-like, cold, rigid face. Siswell truly would not contact him personally. He had accepted his mission and come to Black Dragon Territory three years ago, and had not received another instruction from Siswell since. Otherwise, the first thing he would do now was beg his mentor to drive away the annoying trash known as Li Wen.

Unfortunately, Siswell had ordered him not to act recklessly. Otherwise, Mog would have slaughtered Li Wen, used her ashes to craft a soul vessel, and sacrificed her soul to the demons of Purgatory.

"Tell me. What can I do?"

After weighing his own honor and disgrace against Siswell's wrath, Pastor Mog ultimately yielded, just as expected.

"Don't worry, it won't take too much of your time..." Beneath her cloak, Li Wen narrowed her eyes. "First, we need twelve sacrifices, one for each of the Twelve Pillar Gods."