Fireworks in the Rain

The mirror no longer reflects the captain's bedroom, but rather the interior of the temple's storeroom.

Shelves, Wooden Box, and miscellaneous items were present, but the Holy Light Candle and Priest Anderson were conspicuously absent.

Priest Anderson sat in front of the mirror, but he couldn't see himself either...

A skeleton with blue Soul Fire burning in its eye sockets suddenly appeared in the mirror. It carefully avoided the holy light, leaned against the edge of the warehouse shelf in the mirror, and tried to get its head as close to the edge of the mirror as possible.

The skull twisted its bony neck, making strange cracking sounds.

The flames in his eye sockets flickered incessantly.

"You're just an ordinary elf now. Do you really think you can gain the Goddess's Holy Radiance like this? Anderson, stop daydreaming," the skeleton said to Priest Anderson with a dry laugh.

Priest Anderson swayed and nearly fell over...

The skeleton in the mirror gripped the edge of the frame with its hands full of white knuckles and continued in a hoarse voice, "Why don't you release me? As long as you open the seal on this mirror, I can come out. I can draw a Divine Descent Ritual Array. If you're worried that I won't keep my promise, I can sign a Magic Contract right now. Think it over. Looking at your terrible state, you don't have much time left."

Priest Anderson frowned and remained silent.

Should he make a pact with an undead?

He never even considered it...

Seeing that Priest Anderson did not respond, the skeleton changed its tone and mocked him, "The Goddess of Freedom has abandoned you. You and your faith are just a pile of trash discarded in a corner. Anderson, if you don't hurry up and catch up with her, you will be abandoned on the Elf Continent."

"Can't a devout believer give up everything to pursue their faith?"

As he spoke, the skeleton in the mirror knelt on the ground, clasped its hands together in front of its chest, mimicking the way devout believers pray under idols...

After a few seconds of silence, the Soul Fire in the skull's eyes suddenly leaped up. He brought his skeletal face close to the edge of the mirror, unconcerned about the faint Holy Light Power could burn him...

Wisps of smoke even rose from his bony face, but he still pressed himself against the edge of the mirror, speaking to Priest Anderson in the most sarcastic tone, "And you? What have you been doing lately? Besides waiting for the Goddess's charity, what is there to praise? Nothing. You've always been utterly useless..."

The skeleton suddenly disappeared from the mirror.

Then, leaning against a dimly lit corner in the mirror, he used a small hammer to break a piece of bone, put it into a mortar and crushed it vigorously. Finally, he picked out a bit of white bone powder and smeared it on the somewhat charred head.

The charred black on the bones began to fade gradually, and the skeleton placed the mortar on the shelf with satisfaction.

He said to the Priest Anderson outside the mirror, "Anderson, wake up!"

"She has abandoned you. Listen to me, the reason you can't sense the Holy Radiance is because she has completely abandoned you, and even the entire Elf Continent. If you can wake up now, you should join the Lich Lord's ranks, just like me... immortal. Haven't you tasted the soul yet?"

He raised his head, spread his arms, and struck a pose of utter ecstasy.

Priest Anderson hung his head, watching dejectedly as the skeleton performed in the mirror...

"I will prove to you that I have not been abandoned by the Goddess, never have."

Priest Anderson's voice sounded weak and listless... He couldn't even convince himself with his own words.

He then suddenly stood up. Although he was swaying and looked like a drunkard, he still grabbed the linen cloth from the wooden frame, walked to the Bronze Mirror, and casually covered it with the Bronze Mirror.

"Hello..."

The skeleton in the mirror let out a hoarse call.

The Priest Anderson didn't respond anymore, but it became even more anxious. "Hey, Anderson, where are you going? Let me out, I can help you, I swear..."

The last few sentences became somewhat hysterical:

"Hey... hey! Don't go, only I can help you!"

The footsteps gradually faded, ending with a dull slam of the door closing.

In early August, Castleton experienced far more rainy days than sunny days.

Dark clouds gathered, and a light rain began to fall, though it wasn't heavy at first.

But as Roy stepped out of the academy gates, a wind picked up at sea, and the sea breeze, carrying rain, lashed at the pedestrians on the street. At that moment, no umbrella was of any use.

Roy wrapped the two textbooks in his clothes and stood in the rain for a while until he was soaked to the bone.

Fortunately, the Long Carriage arrived just in time, and he didn't have to wait in the rain for too long.

Soaking to the bone, Roy crawled into the carriage, glanced apologetically at the coachman in his straw hat, and obediently dropped a Kole into the box.

There weren't many passengers in the carriage; in this bad weather, the elves preferred to stay at home.

The shop signs hanging in front of the shops along the street swayed in the wind, some metal plaques creaked, and some shop owners sat in front of their windows to enjoy the rainy scene on the street.

Roy jumped off the carriage at the intersection of Brown Street, while the waterline of the Da Nei River continued to rise, once again submerging the stone steps along the riverbank.

He braved the rain and ran to the gates of the Goddess of Freedom Temple, only to find a group of believers gathered at the temple's entrance despite the heavy rain.

Jasper and Abbott stood guard at the door, neither of them wearing rain cloaks, their Novice Priest robes clinging tightly to their bodies after being soaked by the rain.

They were both soaked to the bone, and with long faces, they patiently informed the believers that today's gathering was temporarily canceled.

Roy knew Jasper was an optimistic Half-Elf; even when he was bedridden recovering from his injuries, he never looked as gloomy as he did today.

Roy realized that something must have happened at the temple, as even the weekly gathering had been canceled.

He struggled to push his way to the front of the crowd, and Jasper saw Roy, soaking wet, and his bad mood was practically written all over his face.

"Jasper, what's wrong? What happened at the temple?" Roy leaned over and put his arm around Jasper's shoulder, asking.

Jasper had Abbott stop the believers, pulled Roy through the iron gate, and whispered in his ear, "Professor Anderson is performing a Divine Descent."

"Ah?"

Roy knew that only by passing the séance could Priest become High Priest.

Both Priest in the temple are stuck on the threshold of advancing to the rank of High Priest. However, each Priest needs to be bathed in Holy Radiance to advance, but the Holy Radiance of the Statue of Goddess of Freedom has not appeared for six months.

It's not easy for Priest these days to maintain enough Holy Light Power in their bodies, let alone to perform a séance that requires a large amount of Holy Light Power.

"Is he trying to force his way through the level barrier and become High Priest?" Roy asked Jasper.

Jasper shook his head, covered his face with his hands, and said, forcing back his grief:

"He just wanted to prove to everyone that the goddess's divine light still shines on the Elf Continent."

Roy couldn't understand Priest Anderson's thinking and couldn't help but ask, "Is it possible that the Divine Descent ritual might fail?"

The worshippers outside the temple gates gradually left in the rain. Abbott walked in, wiped the rain from his face, and said to Roy:

"You should ask if there's a chance the Divine Descent will succeed!"

"Really?" Roy asked.

Abbott didn't give a direct response, but just muttered with his head down, "The Holy Radiance doesn't even reach here, how could the Goddess possibly descend?"

Roy pressed further, "What if the séance fails and Priest Anderson doesn't become High Priest?"

"He will become a martyr..."

Abbott glanced at Jasper and answered quietly.

The rain intensified, High Priest Reed stood anxiously outside the Main Hall, but he didn't see Priest Theodore...

According to the rules established by Bishop Felix Mitchell, the Priest ' rituals of summoning the gods are protected by the Goddess and must not be disturbed.

The three Novice Priest were soaking wet, with water dripping from their bodies.

"Go change into dry clothes, the ceremony won't be over so soon..."

High Priest Reed spoke to them.

Inside the Main Hall, Priest Anderson Priest Anderson before the Goddess of Freedom Statue, undeterred by the howling wind and torrential rain outside...

He held a sharp dagger in his hand, which was also covered with divine runes. The blade cut a wound in his palm, and blood containing holy light flowed out of the wound. He dipped his finger in the blood and drew a divine rune on the floor.

He was very focused, as if he were completely immersed in his own world.

Each stroke seemed to consume a great deal of energy, and he appeared increasingly haggard, his thin face almost expressionless.

He just kept reciting prayers.

The Statue of Goddess of Freedom relief looks with pity at everything that is happening in the temple; those stone-carved eyes are icy cold.

After completing the divine runes for the séance all by himself, Priest Anderson could no longer hold on and collapsed to the ground with a thud.

His face was pressed against the cold stone slab, his body prostrate within the divine runes, yet the Holy Prayer from his lips did not cease...

The nearly depleted Holy Light Power in Anderson's body began to flow into the divine runes, and his body began to convulse violently...

The ceremony began with a prayer.

The holy light within his body rapidly withered, his skin shriveled, and the long life force belonging to the elves was constantly being drawn from his body to maintain the operation of the Divine Rune Magic Circle.

He went mad, clinging to the last vestiges of his will, and kept reciting prayers.

A Holy Light Pillar appeared within the Divine Rune Magic Circle, instantly shooting out from the roof of the Main Hall and piercing through the dense dark clouds.

Holy light exploded in the clouds, like a magnificent firework blooming in the night sky.

In an instant, even the dense dark clouds were blasted open with a huge hole.

A ray of sunlight shone through the hole, and Roy could even see the clear blue sky outside.

Then the pillar of light transformed into countless leaves formed of holy light, which fell from the sky.

Before the holy light leaves could even fall to the ground, they all vanished in the heavy rain.