Priests in the Temple

"Did you encounter that Naga Assassin?"

Jasper was startled, leaning back in his chair and staring at Roy with wide eyes.

"Yes!"

He leaned forward, staring at the linen bandages on Roy's body and said:

"Let me see your injuries."

Seeing the dried blood-stopping paste and some scabs on his back, Jasper began to panic a little.

A hint of embarrassment appeared on his face:

"Roy, about that... I have a private purification job tonight, so I need to conserve some Holy Light power. You know it's already difficult to gather Holy Light when praying now, so... it's not like I'm shirking, I really need to save some Holy Light."

Jasper patted his forehead and continued:

"Let's go call Abbott. That guy has been praying day and night recently, he might have gained something."

Roy didn't expect Jasper to have even taken a private job. Since that was the case, he could only go to Abbott.

"I saw Abbott in the gatehouse, I'll go find him now."

Perhaps feeling bad about rejecting Roy, Jasper took the initiative to say to Roy, "I'll go with you..."

The two walked out of the Study Room and stood in the dormitory corridor. Roy asked Jasper, "Jasper, are you going to treat someone tonight?"

After Jasper closed the door, he turned around and walked downstairs with Roy, saying as they went:

"Treatment jobs are generally hard to come by. Ordinary healing potions in the Potion Shops only cost fifty Kele. If the injured person is a Silver Moon Elf, they don't need it even more. Besides being able to get Tree of Life Sap from the Moon Goddess, the priests in the Moon God Temple also have healing Divine Magic, they won't come to us."

Before Roy could ask further, Jasper continued, "It's to purify ghosts on a ship."

Roy knew that there were several Great Sea Ships docked at the pier.

Jasper didn't hide anything, already treating Roy as one of his own.

He said to Roy, "Sea ships often dock at the port. When these sea ships are sailing at sea, some crew members die on the ship due to various accidents. Often, their souls cannot cross the Nether River and become wandering souls on the ship. That's when we priests use Holy Light to purify them."

Roy didn't know how many times he had heard the story about the Nether River and the ferryman.

It is said that behind the Nether River is a place called the Despair Plain, which is covered with Yellow Springs Flowers – Other Shore Flowers.

All souls who cannot enter the God Country after death must enter here...

Roy was also very curious about those wandering ghosts.

It is said that souls with great resentment after death, or souls that have not been guided after death, will remain in this world and become lost souls. These souls will either be purified, or they will wait for the fire of their souls to burn out and dissipate with the wind.

Obviously, Jasper's private job was to purify these wandering souls.

Roy hesitated for a moment before tentatively making a request to Jasper, "Jasper, can you take me with you tonight?"

Jasper didn't expect Roy to make such a request...

"You want to go see?"

Roy nodded and said, "Yes, I'm a little curious."

Jasper hesitated slightly.

But thinking about it, since Roy was already a Novice Priest in the Temple, these things would naturally not be hidden from Roy in the future.

"Okay, actually, when you learn Purification in the future, you can join us completely, or you can work independently. As long as you're in Castleton Harbour, you won't have to worry about business." Jasper said to Roy frankly.

The two passed by the well and walked into the courtyard in front of the Temple.

Priest Anderson, who was sitting by the pool, was no longer there. Roy looked back at the main hall of the Temple, which was also quiet.

The entire Temple was very quiet when there were no gatherings. No one ran around, and no one made noise or clamored.

Jasper looked at the Goddess of Freedom statue in the center of the pool, his pace suddenly slowed down, his eyes fixed on the stone-carved Holy Prayer in her hand, and asked Roy:

"Roy, what is your dream?"

Roy also slowed down with Jasper and casually said:

"I want to learn as much as I can about this world, to see if this world is connected to other worlds..."

"Of course, there are quite a few, actually!"

Jasper gave Roy an answer without hesitation, then said in a calm voice, "But... we don't call them other worlds, we usually call them planes. As far as I know, we have discovered at least a thousand planes of all sizes so far. Some planes are extremely rich, while others are constantly plagued by disasters. And even if we discover some new planes, we usually don't easily change their environment, at most we just transplant the Tree of Life over there."

Roy followed behind Jasper and couldn't help but ask:

"Jasper, do you know where I can learn about these planes?"

Jasper shook his head and patted Roy's shoulder in a comforting manner:

"Those are things that only the upper-class high elves can access. It's not easy for half-elves like you and me to enter that circle. And even if you enter that circle, it's not realistic to learn about all the planes, because the information of each plane is very precious, and those nobles are unwilling to share it with others."

"I see!"

This was the first time someone had talked to Roy about these things, and it was very novel to him.

Jasper arrived at the gatehouse in front of the Temple's main entrance, where Abbott was still praying earnestly.

He knocked on the open door.

Abbott opened his eyes and saw Jasper, a look of doubt on his face:

"Jasper, did that group of people change their minds? Wasn't it scheduled for the evening?"

"The agreement over there hasn't changed." Jasper walked in and said, "Abbott, I need you to do me a favor. Roy suffered a minor injury this morning. You know my situation, so I'm afraid I have to ask you this time..."

"Oh, why didn't you just tell me? Is my 'Minor Healing' worse than Jasper's?"

Abbott didn't decline, but instead joked with Roy with a smile.

Roy stood at the door and explained somewhat awkwardly, "I saw you praying in the gatehouse just now, so I was too embarrassed to disturb you..."

Abbott asked Roy to sit inside the gatehouse.

The narrow space couldn't accommodate three people, so Jasper could only stand outside.

Abbott picked up the prayer book from the side, examining Roy's injury while complaining to him:

"Hey, it's getting harder and harder to condense Holy Light these days. No matter how much I pray, there's no effect. Roy, how on earth were you able to achieve Advancement under these circumstances..."

Roy felt that even if he told the truth again, the two of them wouldn't believe it.

Even if someone did believe it, they would likely treat him as an oddity...

Whether human or elf, people always like to find partners with common ground to be friends with, and are accustomed to rejecting those who are different.

Roy said vaguely:

"I just felt the Holy Light Particles around me constantly merging into my body, and then I achieved Advancement without realizing it."

Abbott slammed the table hard and said loudly:

"It's just as I suspected, it was entirely due to the Holy Light power naturally merging into Roy's body that caused the Advancement. This situation can only occur in low-level Novice Priests. If we two want to rely on this to achieve Advancement, it will probably take decades..."

Jasper was also a little dumbfounded: "It can't be that exaggerated, right?"

"Why not!" Abbott said again with despair, "I originally thought that the Goddess's Holy Radiance might have some strays that shone into the Elf Continent, but it turns out it was all my imagination."

Seeing Abbott's low mood, Jasper quickly reminded him:

"Hey, be careful, failure is the greatest waste."

Abbott patted the prayer book and said confidently, "With this... how could I possibly fail!"

The three chatted, and in the narrow gatehouse at the Temple entrance, Abbott completed Roy's treatment.

As Minor Healing landed on Roy, Roy clearly felt the scabbed wounds begin to heal quickly again.

Just as Roy stood up and tried to move his body, Jasper said to Roy, "Roy, in the future, try not to ask High Priest Reed and the others to do this kind of thing..."

Roy looked at Jasper with some confusion.

Jasper said, "As long as you go to High Priest Reed, I guess he probably won't refuse, but next week's Temple gathering still relies on him to inject Holy Light power into the pool to maintain the basic efficacy of the Holy Water in the pool..."

Abbott sat back in the gatehouse and asked in a low voice, "Hasn't Priest Anderson's Holy Light recovered yet?"

Jasper was nominally Priest Anderson's student, and knew more about Priest Anderson's affairs. A look of worry appeared on his face as he said:

"Recently, the teacher's mood has been a bit off. I think he seems to be looking at everyone as if they were the Holy Grail thief..."

Abbott also sighed and muttered softly:

"If the Holy Grail were still here, life wouldn't be so difficult!"

Roy suddenly thought that there were three priests in the Temple, so he asked:

"What about Priest Theodore?"

Abbott chuckled and said casually, "He is now the Temple's golden signboard. If the Elven Nobles in the city have any needs in this regard, he is almost always the one who comes forward to solve them. So, the teacher is almost always outside, and even if you can meet him in the Temple, he will most likely refuse. Even when I go to ask, it doesn't work. He won't waste Holy Light power easily. A few days ago, he even argued with Priest Anderson about this."

Jasper put his arm around Roy's shoulders, waved to Abbott, and walked with Roy towards the backyard, saying as they walked:

"So, you've come to the right people for this kind of thing. We will definitely help if we can. Of course, it would be best if you could learn 'Minor Healing' yourself. There's nothing difficult about basic Divine Magic. Just practice more often."