Chasing the Light (Please Follow)

The nun dormitory occupied only a small building of the church, with four or five rooms scattered inside. Li Wen walked straight to the innermost room; Pastor Mog had already told her it was the only vacant one.

Li Wen pushed the door open. The space inside was small but fairly clean and tidy, clearly someone had been cleaning it regularly.

Li Wen had no particular thoughts on this—after all, she wasn't really planning to stay here.

"World Tree: Origins" had restrictions on player logout. Players had to be in a sufficiently safe place to log off; otherwise, there would be offline penalties—not only would experience gain be affected for a certain period, but a debuff called "Overfatigue" would appear, lasting one hour.

The judgment for what counted as a "safe place" had always been strict, but an enclosed, private residence definitely qualified, especially since this was the Holy Candlemas Church—there was likely no safer spot in all of Ake Town.

Li Wen used the room key to lock the door, drew the curtains, and only then looked at the item in her hand.

It was a candle as white as jade, about three fingers thick and arm-length, with a very unique texture when touched.

[Whispering Candle]

[Consumable - Knowledge Vessel - Magic (Blue)]

[The saint received an oracle from the light, and thus light became a special vessel. Sects that believe in Radiance use light resin seeping from stone crevices to make candles, recording knowledge that cannot be passed on externally.]

[Light the candle to learn the content it carries.]

This candle was the wool she had sheared from Pastor Mog. What it recorded should be an unknown path from the Radiance Spectrum. According to him, he had seized it from another pastor of the Candlemas Church, and his current identity as a pastor had come from replacing that person.

In the worldview of "World Tree: Origins," there existed twelve gods known as the Pillars, who created and sustained the world. Each represented one element that constructed the world—the so-called twelve Spectrums.

And the Paths were the supernatural routes developed based on these Spectrums.

As a major sect serving Radiance, the Holy Candlemas Church controlled three of the Paths within the Radiance Spectrum: Sacrifice, Judgment, and Protection.

The item came from Pastor Mog. According to him, what it recorded was neither the Path of Sacrifice nor Judgment. That meant it could only be the Path of Protection.

Li Wen wasn't very familiar with the classes of the Protection Path, but the powerful ones were always just a few. Of course, no matter what it was or how strong, it didn't matter to Li Wen. She had asked Mog for a Path only to use it as a transition—later, she would either replace it outright or keep it as a secondary class.

Li Wen found matches in the room, lit the candle with one, and the bright yellow flame danced, illuminating the somewhat dim space.

At the same time, Li Wen seemed to hear faint whispers, like murmurs after a long dream. The sound was so weak that she had to focus completely to catch any of it.

The Spellbook, existing as a Game Panel, automatically appeared, and began writing out some incomprehensible text. The strange runes vanished into the pages as soon as they appeared, leaving only a faint glow flickering.

[You are listening to a Whisper]

[You have learned a secret of Radiance. It says: The moth shall bathe in the light!]

[You have comprehended one of Radiance's Paths—"Path of Light Chasing"]

[You have mastered knowledge: Whisper Interpretation lv1, Sacrificial Fire Ritual]

Li Wen opened her eyes, a look of surprise on her face.

This Whispering Candle, supposedly obtained from a Candlemas Church pastor, recorded none of the three Paths the church controlled, but an entirely unfamiliar one.

This was truly unexpected.

Moreover, Path of Light Chasing was a very well-preserved Path. Even if Li Wen followed it step by step, she could reach up to the seventh stage, which in game levels meant above level sixty.

One must know that the greatest mage in the Kingdom of Arthur, Siswell, leader of Dark Dawn, was at this level.

At this degree, it was perfectly suitable even as a main Path.

The only regret was that this Path of Light Chasing recorded only one class, and it was purely supportive.

But for Li Wen, this was no problem at all—she even considered it an advantage. What she needed was precisely a strong supportive class as her second profession; otherwise, she wouldn't have chosen a Radiance Spectrum Path as a transition.

And this class called "Supplicant" perfectly matched Li Wen's idea of a powerful support.

Its class change conditions were also very simple. The knowledge content had been fully imprinted in Li Wen's mind through the Whispering Candle; she just needed to slowly digest it. The rest was a very simple baptism ritual, which could be completed in any church serving Radiance.

"Good, then next... log off!"

*

Real world, Li Wen took off the VR headset.

He glanced at the time; it was just past twelve.

His phone was blinking nonstop—all spam messages, except for one from the homeroom teacher asking why he hadn't come to school, but with no follow-up.

Li Wen was in no hurry. He first put a instant meal into the microwave, then recorded his gains from the game in a notebook, along with his goals for the afternoon and beyond.

Once the meal was heated, Li Wen began eating while browsing the game forum.

As soon as he opened the homepage, he saw the post he had made this morning. The reply count had already exceeded ten thousand, even breaking into the forum's trending list. But when Li Wen clicked in and read through it, he found most of the content was just meaningless water posts and memes.

In the thread, there were people pretending to be transmigrators, some claiming to be WG Corp insiders, others saying they were C-language experts. They all riffed on the topic of "transmigrating into a game world," having a great time—everyone except Li Wen, who was very frustrated.

But frustration was useless; he had long realized this would be the result. He simply turned a blind eye and blocked the thread.

What the forum was discussing now were mostly early-game content. The most common posts were help requests and guides, along with complaints about the game's difficulty. Many believed the development team probably never played the game themselves, or they couldn't have made something so absurdly hard.

Whether WG Corp staff had played the game or not, Li Wen didn't know, but the game definitely wasn't made by their company—that much was beyond doubt.

Li Wen scrolled through the forum and found another player serving as a cautionary example.

This player claimed in their post that they had only sneaked into someone's house to grab something, but got caught on the spot by soldiers. Not only did they die once while fleeing, but they also ended up on the town's wanted list, and now the entire town's soldiers were hunting them.

Many players in the thread expressed sympathy or mockery, while others shared similar experiences.

Li Wen thought for a moment, then reminded them: Don't commit crimes in order-aligned countries. Otherwise, getting killed or wanted is the least of your worries—if you get caught and thrown in jail, you're done for, and you'll have to delete your account and start over.