At least in this matter, Iver could be certain that Bishop Mathers's intelligence was genuinely inferior to his own.
Although Iver had completely forgotten the plot, the Letter to the Noble Red Society from Someone he had obtained at the Pelican Bar had mentioned some crucial information.
The letter had roughly stated that the Demon Scholars sent by the Noble Red Society this time should be "a group of people," rather than merely two. That Lord would cooperate with their operations, continuously creating incidents throughout Glass Island ahead of time to divert the Bureau of Supervision's attention and manpower.
Likewise, the mysterious person who had written the letter had issued a warning to the Noble Red Society in an almost equal-partner-like manner. The gist was that the amount of credit he was willing to extend to the Society was limited. If the Society still failed to give him what he wanted this time, then he would also "carry out, with a heavy heart but unwavering resolve, certain unfriendly actions that neither of us wishes or wants to see."
The two "pen pals" who had come to meet Iver in person had actually arrived ahead of the main group.
Their motives were easy enough to understand.
They had been operating the "Iver" line for a very long time. Perhaps they believed Iver would die in the ongoing turmoil; perhaps they thought their superior would come and seize Iver as a resource; or perhaps they were uneasy about this operation and had activated Iver, their reserve ration, ahead of time to replenish an important resource.
Perhaps they had initially come for the reputation of the "Moriarty" family, but once Iver became a priest and continued to trust them, he himself became a source of special value.
Noble blood, a pure heart, a soul seeking transcendence, a willing sacrifice—perhaps there were other factors as well. But Iver was a very high-grade sacrifice.
That was because the sacrificial ritual had not been a ritual specifically meant to summon a Shadow Demon. Any higher demon could come. As soon as the ritual began, the Shadow Demon had caught the scent and come running.
Iver had used half his life force as an offering and signed a contract with the Shadow Demon. That was actually the proper price.
The proper price of a sacrifice was "half." No matter how much you offered, a demon would only take half—and usually, it would be the half that could regenerate. That was because the essence of this ritual was "equal division."
Equal division of property, equal division of power, equal division of profits, equal division of risks—only then could the two parties be called partners. If the summoner's qualities were enough to satisfy the demon, the summoner could symbolically take an extra 1%, thereby acknowledging the distinction between "master and servant." If summoning the demon had only barely succeeded, then the division was usually an ordinary fifty-fifty split.
But in reality, this placed no restraints on the demon's behavior. It was merely the difference between verbally addressing it as "master" or "partner."
Demon Scholars were a legal profession in every country except Avalon and the Eternal Theocracy. If using sacrificial techniques required killing one's own sacrifice, Demon Scholars would inevitably be murderers, and the profession could never be legal. Moreover, if a Demon Scholar performed a self-sacrifice, it would be tantamount to suicide.
The sacrifices performed by Demon Scholars in the Avalon Kingdom were accompanied by massacres, but those were not actually the demons' demands. They were necessary for silencing witnesses, robbery, or preparing ritual materials.
With the spread of mystical knowledge restricted, most ordinary people did not even know what Extraordinary Professions existed on the Path of Transcendence. They did not even know the formal name "Demon Scholar," instead using "warlock"—the fixed folk impression of "some lord who can cast spells, anyway"—as a common nickname.
But in truth, Demon Scholars' spellcasting abilities were not strong, and they could use very few types of spells.
Compared with mages of the Path of Wisdom, necromancers of the Path of Twilight, and sages of the Path of Adaptation, they fell far short. They were even inferior to Law Mages of the Path of Authority. Demon Scholars' main strength came from "rituals" and "demons." Many spells relied on rituals, required advance preparation, and possessed power far beyond that of ordinary spells.
For example, Veronica's "Curse Infant" required an infant who had been cursed to death by the spellcaster as a ritual material. A ritual spell guided by a Second Level Demon Scholar possessed enough destructive power to threaten or even instantly kill a front-line Extraordinary Profession of the Third Level.
If a Demon Scholar had neither suitable materials at hand nor a sufficiently powerful demon under contract, they would become extremely weak.
But conversely, if a Demon Scholar plotted in secret and prepared in advance, they could unleash destructive power far beyond their own level.
Now, Iver was in the open, while they were in the shadows.
If Iver relied only on his abilities as a Demon Scholar to fight them, he would be at a double disadvantage—not only would he risk exposing his identity, he would also be completely unable to coordinate with his teammates.
He could not even muddle through. He could not even lie down and let things carry him.
Iver had originally planned to obtain the priest profession level as soon as possible, but he had not expected it to happen so quickly. He had not even told his adoptive father yet, but Bishop Mathers had anticipated it.
That morning, the Bureau of Supervision had called to make an appointment, saying that they planned to visit Moriarty Manor in the evening. His adoptive father had been quite happy and said they intended to give Iver some sort of Award Order or something... But Iver was not particularly interested in that.
What good things could the Bureau of Supervision give him? In the game, players bustled around doing this and that, only to receive practically nothing in the end. They had divided all the benefits among themselves.
Besides, Iver was worried that Hai Na, that simpleton, would be the one coming again and arrive several hours early. So he had not dared leave the house that day.
He had originally planned to stay home and read with his younger sister.
Yet at nine in the morning, Bishop Mathers summoned him to Candle Holder Cathedral.
But Iver felt not the slightest bit of dissatisfaction. He was exceptionally devout and extremely serious.
Just kidding—this was a profession skill mentor! And strictly speaking, he had taken a back door. Without taking an exam or completing that long and smelly chain of "recognition quests," he had directly obtained the qualifications to learn Sacred Art!
The old Bishop preached leisurely, "The so-called 'Sacred Art' is the most practical, safest, and easiest-to-master mystical art of the Path of Dedication, carefully selected by the Church according to the principles of 'safety,' 'health,' 'ease of learning,' and 'Benefiting Others.' After passing the corresponding qualification exam, a bishop will teach you the corresponding art free of charge until you have mastered it."
I understand. It is the starter trio: Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur... The emphasis is on being useful and easy to raise.
Iver muttered inwardly, feeling terribly impatient and eager to begin.
Bishop Mathers continued unhurriedly, "There are four Sacred Arts that can be mastered below the level of bishop.
"'Prayer,' 'Offering Fire,' 'Illumination,' and 'Blessing.' Pay particular attention to this: you must not interpret the essence of mystical arts literally."
The old Bishop explained, "The so-called 'Offering Fire' refers to a technique for strengthening the body and restoring oneself.
"A person's life is like a candle, while the soul is the flame. We companions of the Path of Dedication share our light and fire with others. This also means that we gradually become depleted ourselves.
"I deliberately put myself into this unhealthy state to demonstrate it to you."
As he spoke, the old Bishop pointed at the unnatural white hair at his temple.
Iver knew what he was about to say, but still nodded obediently.
Simply put, the spells of the Path of Dedication burned one's own blood.
Even healing burned one's own blood to restore someone else's health. Since that was the case, the Path of Dedication had to possess a stable means of recovering blood.
That was the art of "Offering Fire."
"First, light a new candle. Any color will do; there is no difference. Once you are skilled enough, carrying a pack of matches with you will work as well."
As the old Bishop spoke, he extended his left hand. "I don't know how much mystical knowledge you have, so I'll start from the beginning.
"Among the five fingers of both hands, the thumb symbolizes fire, the index finger symbolizes air, the middle finger symbolizes aether, the ring finger symbolizes earth, and the little finger symbolizes water. Each of the four basic elements corresponds to two fingers, while light and darkness correspond to the left and right hands respectively. Therefore, we generally use the left hand for Offering Fire. Since the elements of the Path of Dedication are light and fire, our most important fingers are the left thumb and middle finger.
"Until you can use it proficiently and engrave it into your instincts, I do not recommend using your right hand for any operation."
As he spoke, a cluster of white flames ignited on the old Bishop's left thumb and lit the candelabrum before them.
A thick, long white candle had been placed there in advance. Once lit, its radiance instantly illuminated the entire space.
"To make it easier to guide you through your first visualization, I specifically chose the brightest model."
Bishop Mathers explained this as he gestured for Oswald to push Iver's wheelchair over.
"Come, raise your left hand. Follow me..."
His movements were very slow. "Imagine that what lies before you is not a candle flame within easy reach, but a golden sun far beyond reach.
"No matter how bright the fire before you is, imagine it shining with an incomparably brilliant light. That radiance fills every corner of your field of vision, flooding your entire view without the slightest shadow. Imagine that it can penetrate your palm. Even if you open your hand, it should be as transparent as glass."
Iver did as instructed.
But just as he extended his hand, a pop-up window suddenly appeared before his eyes: Samuel Mathers is teaching you "Offering Fire." Pay 1 Public Experience to master this mystical art?
The instant he saw the pop-up window, Iver froze for a moment and instinctively looked toward Bishop Mathers.
In the game, if a player obtained a mystical art through a quest—in other words, not by reading books, but by maxing out an NPC's personal favor and receiving one-on-one instruction—the experience required to learn that mystical art was directly proportional to the art's level and inversely proportional to the teacher's level.
In other words, the easier the mystical art was to learn and the higher the teacher's level, the less experience the student had to spend.
This setting did not have much significance in the game. It merely indirectly demonstrated how powerful someone was, because players were not short on this little bit of experience anyway. The broken game did not even have an energy limit, and learning mystical arts did not cost much experience.
But whenever players discussed "who was stronger than whom" or "who could instantly kill whom" online, they would bring this up as evidence and work backward to deduce the NPC's corresponding profession level.
Back then, players had all needed to spend seven experience points to learn Sacred Art. Even that teaching NPC whose name Iver had forgotten was at least some kind of bishop, no matter how weak he was.
Then what was your situation, old man? You already had such a high level in Version 1.0, so why had I never heard your name in the game?—Damn it, he had run into a hidden master.
It was still over six thousand characters today. Remember to keep reading during the new-book period~
Before you continue