Advancement

High Priest Reed pushed open the door and entered the Study Room, where Jasper and Abbott were sitting obediently on their chairs, hands clasped together, silently reciting prayers.

High Priest Reed glanced at the two of them, a hint of helplessness in his eyes.

He walked over and sat down in front of Roy, pinching the corners of his slightly strained eyes before speaking to Roy, who was practicing the 'Strength Blessing' divine纹:

"Roy, how is your practice with this Divine Magic?"

Roy sat up straight, a little embarrassed to answer, "I haven't learned it yet, that divine纹 is a bit difficult..."

Seeing that Roy hadn't mastered 'Strength Blessing' yet, High Priest Reed didn't find it strange, and simply said:

"Practice more, and it will be fine once you are familiar with it. Back then, I also copied it for nearly a week before I could accurately and completely draw the divine纹. Even then, when I coordinated it with chanting the prayer, I still made mistakes. Don't be too impatient when learning this kind of Divine Magic, just take your time."

Roy shook his slightly sore wrist and asked High Priest Reed, "Teacher, have you been to the Grimm Empire?"

High Priest Reed laughed and replied with a hint of nostalgia, "Of course, that's my hometown. Castleton City is just a small stop on my life's journey."

Roy actually wanted to ask what life was like in the Grimm Empire.

After all, the soul in this body was human, and he yearned for human life to some extent.

But before he could ask, he heard Priest Edison say in the corridor, "High Priest Reed, there are two Elf Rangers outside who want to see you."

High Priest Reed immediately replied, "Okay, I'll be right there."

He stood up from the round table, paused for a moment, and reminded Roy, who was diligently studying the divine纹, "Only with sufficiently strong Holy Light power can you learn more advanced Divine Magic. All Divine Magic is built upon prayer. Roy, you must memorize the Holy Prayer, so that the Goddess can feel your piety, and you will gain more Holy Light power."

"Understood, Teacher," Roy said.

High Priest Reed opened the door of the Study Room and left in a hurry.

Once the wooden door closed again with a dull thud, Jasper and Abbott, who had been clasping their hands together, opened their eyes again, both letting out a sigh of relief.

With High Priest Reed gone, they felt much more relaxed.

Seeing Roy begin to try chanting the Holy Prayer, Jasper whispered to Roy, "Even if we pray all day long now, we can't gather much Holy Light..."

Abbott, sitting next to him, also slumped down, resting his pointed chin on the table, and said weakly:

"Yeah, I feel like the Goddess has completely forgotten this Elf Continent, or maybe she has too many followers and can't take care of everyone. Anyway, it's been at least two months since I felt that feeling of being bathed in Holy Light after praying."

His naturally curly golden hair lifted as he looked at Roy out of the corner of his eye and asked, "Roy, have you ever felt... you know... a beam of Holy Light shining down from above, enveloping your whole body, that feeling of your entire body becoming almost translucent in the Holy Light, with countless Holy Light Particles washing over the soul inside you?"

Roy shook his head, surprised, and asked, "Is there such a feeling after reciting the Holy Prayer?"

Jasper then said, "It's not always there, but it used to happen once or twice every month. Each time I bathed in Holy Light, the Holy Light power in my body would become incredibly full. If I happened to be on the verge of Advancement, this beam of Holy Light would break through the shackles and help us Advance successfully..."

"Breakthrough?"

Roy didn't expect that after becoming a Novice Priest, it wasn't just about learning Divine Magic, but that the most important thing was to gather Holy Light power to break through.

"Yeah, like, we Novice Priests have ten levels in total," Jasper said matter-of-factly.

"Each time we break through, the Holy Light power in our bodies will have a leap-like increase. That feeling is very clear. After reaching level ten, if the Holy Light power reaches that critical value, we can become a true Priest. Of course, the Temple will also hold a simple ceremony."

Then Abbott added, "In the past, as long as you diligently recited the Holy Prayer, you would gather enough Holy Light power, and Advancement from Novice Priest to Priest was just a matter of time."

He paused for a moment, then said, "Now it's more troublesome. We can't feel the sensation of being bathed in Holy Light when we pray anymore."

Jasper said with considerable helplessness, "Yeah, I've been stuck at level eight for more than two months, and there's no hope of Advancement in sight."

"Roy, since you felt the Holy Light, haven't you been bathed in Holy Light yet?"

Roy nodded.

"Then you don't even need to test, you're still a level one Novice Priest."

Jasper patted Roy on the shoulder, offering comfort.

"But Roy has already learned 'Glimmer Illumination'!" Abbott didn't quite agree with Jasper's point of view.

Jasper said with certainty, "That only means he's very talented, it doesn't represent his level. That's why High Priest Reed tells him to recite the Holy Prayer more often."

Abbott casually flipped through the Holy Prayer in front of him and said weakly, "But what's the use? I've already lost all confidence."

Jasper hooked his arm around Abbott's neck, reminding him, "As a devout Goddess of Freedom Temple Novice Priest, Abbott, you'll get whipped for saying such things."

Abbott spread his hands, saying with a bit of rogueishness, "So... I never said it!"

It was obvious that Jasper and Abbott had a good relationship.

With their explanations, Roy understood the High Priest Reed's earnest exhortations. He probably felt that he was too focused on Divine Magic and not devout enough in his prayers, which was putting the cart before the horse.

Afterward, he put down the Strength Blessing and began to learn to recite those complex and lengthy Holy Prayers.

But after some attempts, Roy found that it was just as Jasper had said.

His prayers seemed to be of no use at all, and the Holy Light Particles around his body showed no sign of gathering.

The Seed of Light in his body was still doing its own thing, using that invisible arm to scoop up the surrounding Holy Light Particles, but the Seed of Light seemed to have sprouted a tender bud. Roy suddenly found that the light cluster was much brighter than yesterday.

The light in that Seed of Light seemed to be flowing slowly, like the rolling mist by the Da Nei River in the morning.

And as the tentacles continued to suck Holy Light Particles into the Seed of Light, the brightness of the Seed of Light in Roy's body began to surge, even bursting out through Roy's body.

An extremely warm light spread throughout his body, and the warm current flowed through his body like water filling an empty bottle.

Roy could clearly feel that the hidden injuries on his body that had not completely healed were slowly dissipating under the illumination of these Holy Lights.

The Seed of Light stretched out another invisible tentacle in the dazzling Holy Light. Now there were actually two tentacles dancing non-stop, touching the Holy Light Particles floating around Roy's body, and sucking them into the Seed of Light.

The light from the Seed of Light in his body had not completely dissipated when Jasper, seeing Roy open his eyes, grabbed Roy's arm and asked loudly:

"Roy, how did you do it?"

"What did I say? Roy has a talent for being a Priest. It seems the Goddess hasn't completely forgotten this place. She's only forgotten the two of us..."

Before Abbott could finish speaking, his mouth was covered by a hand.

"Don't talk nonsense, the Goddess is watching..."

Jasper's expression changed slightly, and he rebuked Abbott.

Abbott pushed away Jasper's big hand and said to Roy:

"Roy, congratulations on successfully achieving Advancement to... a Level Two Novice Priest."

Roy sat on the chair, somewhat at a loss.

Abbott saw the blank look on Roy's face, knowing that he was a beginner who didn't understand much, so he said to him, "As someone who's been there, I suggest you take some time to adapt and feel the subtle changes in your body. These Holy Lights will not only improve your physique, but more importantly, they will enhance your mental strength, allowing you to enter a state of prayer more quickly. In general, your body has become stronger..."

Roy stood up from his seat.

He stretched out his right hand, palm up.

As he concentrated his thoughts, a dazzling ball of light appeared in his hand. Although the flame was only the size of an apple, it was much brighter than what Roy had condensed before.

"So this is the feeling of Advancement..."

Roy tried to use the Holy Light power in his palm to draw the Divine Mark of Strength Blessing. Perhaps because the Holy Light was particularly rich, this time it was much smoother than before.

And so, he spent the afternoon in the Study Room.

Roy's successful Advancement also completely reignited Jasper and Abbott's confidence, and they recited the Holy Prayers with utmost seriousness...

On the way home, Roy was thinking about going to the Elf Academy tomorrow.

The Elven Noble Steve had been beaten, and he would definitely not be willing to let it go. He might even bring people to block him on the street tomorrow.

Roy wasn't stupid.

Of course, he knew that in Castleton City, a Silver Moon Elf Noble wouldn't care too much about the life or death of a half-elf without any background.

That was why he had tried so hard to drag Klayr into the conflict between Klayr and Steve.

With him there, at least the other party wouldn't go too far.

Otherwise, with his half-elf status, he could easily be ambushed in an alley and shot to death like an Elf Thief, or even have his hands and feet broken in secret.

Now he had tested the other party's bottom line.

Perhaps because Klayr was there, the young elves were quite measured in their actions, and at least didn't use lethal force during the gang fight.

After thinking about it, Roy decided to practice the disassembling moves he learned in the Elementary Martial Arts Training again tonight.

Maybe he could use them tomorrow...

"Roy, you seem to have gotten paler..."

Katie Vinal, the neighbor's mischievous child, perched on her own wall, mocking Roy on the street.

Roy bent down and picked up a stone from the side of the street, scaring the mischievous child into quickly sliding off the wall and hiding in the rose bushes next to it.