Godservant was a very special status within the Radiant Church.
The church publicly proclaimed that godservants were those closest to the gods, servants who attended upon divinity.
But in truth, their real identity could be understood as "the gifted," a reserve force earmarked for cultivation by the Radiance Church.
The reason they remained in the Radiant Church was, plainly put, because they were being tested.
It was much like when Sanders brought the gifted back to Savage Cave and arranged the "Nine-Cabin Blood Fight." Only after passing the test could they truly step through the gates of the transcendent.
The Nine-Cabin Blood Fight, however, was exceedingly cruel, with an extremely high mortality rate. Yet once someone became a victor of the blood fight, they could immediately enter Savage Cave and become a wizard apprentice.
The godservants' test was far gentler. There was no real danger to their lives, but they had to temper their character and accumulate merit within the Radiant Church. Once their merits had reached a certain level and they had been promoted to red-robed godservants, they could smoothly enter the Radiance Church.
If they were lucky, they could accumulate enough merit in one or two years. If they were less fortunate, spending three to five years—or even longer—was nothing unusual.
So, purely in terms of time, the Radiance Church's method of selection was clearly far more protracted.
But it was precisely because of this that the godservants who ultimately crossed the threshold into the transcendent were almost all steady-minded, worldly-wise veterans.
Uriel's friend was one such gifted individual.
Moreover, he had already advanced beyond a gray-robed godservant and become a white-robed godservant. With one more step, he could become a red-robed godservant and join the ranks of the Radiance Church.
In a sense, aside from the "church