Swift Breeze

The instant the upgrade was complete, Gagnor immediately felt the changes in himself. After all, 3 points of Agility growth had a rather obvious effect, visibly improving both his reaction speed and bodily control.

Of course, what concerned him most was "Swift Breeze."

As a Blessing Ability—or perhaps it could also be called a "talent"—Swift Breeze had almost no requirements for casting motions. Gagnor merely opened his palm on instinct, and a cluster of Swift Breeze instantly formed.

A fist-sized ball of wind.

Though others could not see it, Gagnor could clearly sense and control it.

It was already daylight. He carried the cluster of Swift Breeze into the church courtyard, and after confirming that no one was around, he immediately sent it toward a pile of fallen leaves.

"Whoosh."

Swift Breeze shot into the leaf pile, scattering the leaves into the air before they drifted back to the ground, as though an autumn wind had just passed through.

The effect was basically in line with Gagnor's expectations.

After all, it was called a "breeze." He could not possibly expect it to have any direct destructive power.

Gagnor controlled several clusters of Swift Breeze to gather the scattered leaves together again, then fetched a bow and arrows and stood at a distance, aiming at a tree.

In his mind, Swift Breeze and archery should work quite well together.

"Whoosh—" The bowstring twanged, and the arrow shot forth.

A cluster of Swift Breeze flew out at the same time, clinging to the fletching and pushing the arrow toward its target.

Under Swift Breeze's effect, the arrow's range increased significantly, successfully reaching a distant spot that had previously been out of range. However, since Gagnor was not yet used to shooting this way, his accuracy suffered greatly. He failed to hit the tree and missed by quite a margin.

After reflecting on that shot, Gagnor nocked another arrow, drew his bow, and aimed at the tree.

"Whoosh—"

Just like before, the arrow drifted farther and farther off course after leaving the bow.

But at the last moment, Gagnor's thoughts shifted, and Swift Breeze immediately guided the arrow to turn, correcting its trajectory and allowing it to strike the tree.

Seeing the result, Gagnor showed a somewhat satisfied smile.

In battle, an arrow that could adjust its direction should be able to give an enemy a small surprise.

Gagnor then tried out Returning Arrow as well—making an arrow turn back and shoot toward its target—but unfortunately, after several attempts, he could see no possibility of success. It was several levels more difficult to operate than Turning Arrow.

It seemed that this more interesting idea could not be realized for the time being.

Besides enhancing his archery, Swift Breeze had many other uses, such as slowing falls and aiding his running.

After Gagnor's tests, four clusters of Swift Breeze could increase his top running speed by nearly half. As for slowing falls, he had only tested it by falling on level ground. The effect was not bad, but if he fell from a great height, it probably would not mean much.

Overall, Gagnor was fairly satisfied. His night of agonizing over the choice of a holy name had not been wasted.

Creating Swift Breeze consumed stamina. After dozens of tests, Gagnor began to feel hungry. It was also time for breakfast, so he headed to the dining hall.

In the dining hall, his mood inevitably sank a little.

He used to eat there with Raymond. Just as he had always had a friend to eat with at school in his previous life, now he could only eat alone.

The church's food was plain, only enough to fill one's stomach. Gagnor silently chewed his coarse bread until most of the servants had finished eating and left.

"Gagnor?" A voice brought him back to himself.

"Priest Gerald." Gagnor rose to his feet.

The newcomer was Priest Gerald. He kindly sat down beside the table, first offering some comforting words such as "my condolences," before changing the subject. "I would like to ask you for a favor."

Gagnor could not imagine what Gerald would need from him, but he still said, "It would be my honor to work for you."

Compared with Grimm, Priest Gerald was undoubtedly a very kind and cheerful man. He smiled and waved a hand. "No need to be so formal. After all, I'm the one asking you."

After a pause, he continued, "Now that Grimm is gone, I'm not very skilled in herbalism. And unless something unexpected happens, I'll be very busy from now on. In the entire church, perhaps only you are suited to handle the daily medical work... so I would like to ask you to become the church's herbalist. Would you be willing?"

Priest Gerald promptly added, "The church will pay you a salary of ten silver coins per month."

Gagnor froze for a moment, then answered with almost no hesitation, "I'm willing, sir!"

Ever since he had raised Herbalism to Lv. 3, he had already been handling most of the herbalist's duties in practice—and doing so without pay.

Now the work itself would remain mostly unchanged, but his compensation had soared from almost nothing to ten silver coins a month—one thousand copper coins.

He had no reason to refuse.

From a villager's perspective, such an income could even be considered a complete turnaround in life!

The moment he heard that monthly salary, Gagnor's desire to leave Driftwood Town wavered somewhat, though that hesitation did not last long.

In the days that followed, Grimm and Raymond's deaths gradually faded from people's memories. Gagnor, too, returned to his usual calm life amid his busy archery training and herbalist work.

Until one night.

Gagnor decided to tidy up his room, gathering together unused odds and ends as well as Raymond's belongings.

While cleaning, he noticed a Holy Book of Light with a golden cover. It was Priest Green's book.

Gagnor did not believe in any god in his heart, so he had never been interested in religious scriptures filled with preaching.

But as he looked at the holy book, a question suddenly surfaced in his mind.

Wasn't this book a little too new?

As a church priest, Grimm should have frequently read the holy book. Yet this copy seemed to bear almost no signs of being opened.

Gagnor casually flipped through it.

Then, with a clink, a key fell from the book onto the floor.

Gagnor bent down and picked up the key. After examining it closely, he quickly realized that it was likely the key to opening that nameless book.

The thought left him feeling a little frightened.

He had once handed that book to Priest Gerald. Fortunately, Priest Gerald had not taken it. Otherwise, Grimm's affair probably would not have passed so easily.

After putting away the key, Gagnor turned his attention back to the holy book.

Several dozen pages in the middle of the book had been carved into a key-shaped hollow. The key had been hidden inside it, quite discreetly.

Perhaps it was some dark joke of fate, but the hollowed-out section happened to be one of the holy book's important passages, the Dedication Chapter. Beside the key-shaped hollow were the famous words every Mosa Follower had heard: Dedication is the broad road to light...