Promotion

A crack split open in the void of darkness, and light seeped through that fissure.

The rays fell upon Li Wen's face, but she felt no warmth—they were like icy daggers piercing her from the inside out. Amid the suffocating sensation and pain, she sensed an inhuman gaze.

The fissure was both a passage and an eye, a gateway from the outside. So as the external existence gazed upon Li Wen through the medium of light, she too saw through the crack that supreme and great being.

It dwelt in a palace of pure white radiance, more majestic than the sun, its entire form emitting infinite brilliance. Angels within the light praised the supreme and great Lord, prayers like symphonies echoing everywhere. Bathed in endless glory, this was one form of Radiance—the Crown of the Sun!

In that instant, scorching flames ignited from within. Li Wen's body was engulfed in white fire, her consciousness melting into the blaze. In that moment, she understood—she was the moth that burned to death chasing the light.

*

In the main hall of the church, the violently flickering candle flames calmed in an instant. The sacrificial fire had died out, the ritual array dimmed nearly beyond recognition, save for seven candles still emitting light.

Li Wen opened her eyes. In her right eye, a deep crimson like the glow of sunset flowed.

[You have completed the promotion (Stage One) "Supplicant"]

[Your Radiance Spectrum rank has increased]

[You have mastered the ability "Prayer Incantation lv1"]

[You have obtained "Trait - Blood of Candlelight (Blue)", your trait cap has increased]

[Due to the gaze of Radiance, you have obtained "Status - Melt into Light (24h)"]

So that's it?

Li Wen looked at her palm. The wound cut by the dagger had healed, replaced by a semicircular pattern like a flame or a sun, with a moth dancing inside.

Without overthinking, she summoned her Spellbook and flipped to the character page:

[Mephisto - Terra Human - Comprehensive Level 1]

[Class: Radiance Spectrum - Path of Light Chasing (Stage One) - Supplicant lv1]

[Health 100% - Healthy]

[Mana 10/10]

[Abilities: Radiance - Prayer Incantation lv1 (0%)]

[Knowledge: Terran Language, Cipher Decryption, Basic Ritual lv1 (10%)]

[Traits (5/6): Retrograde in Shadow (Blue), Blood of Candlelight (Blue), Nimble Hands (White), Professional Pickpocket (White), Necessary Sacrifice (Red)]

[Status: One-Eyed, Melt into Light - 24h (While in this state, your wounds heal slowly, Radiance Spectrum ability effects increased by 10%, some Umbral Lineage traits/abilities are temporarily disabled until the duration ends)]

[Experience Pool: 20]

Successfully advancing to Supplicant didn't bring much change to Li Wen's external abilities—after all, this was only Stage One, and Supplicant was a support-type class.

But with a class, the experience pool became useful; she could now freely level up.

[Prayer Incantation lv1]

[Radiance - Divine Art]

[Requires: 2 Mana, one basic prayer]

[Targeting - Quantity 1]

[A special prayer Divine Art, originating from Canaan, the birthplace of all faiths.]

[When used on an ally, provides a shield that can block damage equivalent to [ability level x 10% health], lasting [30 x ability level] seconds. After the duration ends or the shield is broken, restores a small amount of health and partially dispels curses and bleeding. When used on an enemy, it can be treated as a same-level "Dark Word Curse," dealing a small amount of continuous curse damage and causing temporary blindness for the next [5 x ability level] seconds.]

[Blood of Candlelight - Extraordinary (Blue) - Radiance]

[Using a saint's blood as candle oil, the flame can burn long without dying.]

[When insufficient mana is available to cast Radiance Spectrum spells/rituals/items, health can be consumed as a substitute.]

Supplicants could master a total of four abilities, and Prayer Incantation, as the initial skill, needed no further praise for its power. As a support skill, it combined defense, recovery, dispelling, damage, and debuffs—its versatility was unmatched, a divine skill in any situation.

And Blood of Candlelight was also an exceptionally strong trait.

Mana in "World Tree: Origins" was precious; it couldn't be restored through conventional means, only through the passage of time or class-specific skills like meditation or prayer.

So any method to quickly recover mana was invaluable. Blood of Candlelight couldn't restore mana, but in emergencies, it could substitute health—potentially turning the tide unexpectedly.

With these two abilities and traits, Li Wen felt she was one step closer to her goal.

Li Wen was about to clean up the ritual site when a cold voice came from behind her.

"You need to do something for me."

Li Wen turned and saw Pastor Mog in his clerical robes.

"Only you can do this for me. Siswell ordered me not to act rashly." Pastor Mog's expression was grim. He glanced at the ritual array behind the girl, utterly indifferent.

Was this a quest being issued?

In "World Tree: Origins," there were many ways to gain experience—learning, working, killing, even exploring the world. But the method that yielded the most experience was participating in the world's progression, which players commonly called completing quests.

Li Wen had just been promoted and was sorely lacking experience, so the more the merrier—she wouldn't turn anything down.

"Just say it."

Mog didn't respond. Instead, he turned and walked away, only tossing back a sentence once he was far off.

"When the time comes, I'll tell you."

*

Li Wen hadn't expected that so-called "time" to arrive so quickly.

After cleaning up the scene and returning to the Nun Dormitory, she was considering whether to invest her experience points into Prayer Incantation. Those 20 points probably weren't enough to level it up, but based on past experience, they likely weren't.

Just then, a knock came at her door.

Li Wen paused, setting aside her thoughts, and opened the door.

No one stood behind it—only an envelope lay on the ground, its surface inscribed with "To Pastor Mog."

A letter meant for Pastor Mog naturally wouldn't be delivered to the Nun Dormitory. That meant someone had deliberately left it here. The most likely candidate was Mog himself, though it could have been someone else—but that someone would undoubtedly be Mog's accomplice.

With that in mind, Li Wen picked up the envelope and, without any hesitation, tore it open to examine its contents.

Inside the envelope was only a strange gold coin and a piece of letter paper scrawled with a few crooked, oversized characters:

"The moment has come. Twin Moons rise together. Black Wind Fang."

--

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Dragged by a friend to play Remnant 2, got pretty hooked. Suddenly remembered I hadn't updated yet, so I hurriedly banged out a chapter.