With Life Light, Dispel Eternal Darkness!

"Uncle John, why didn't that Church Knight retreat after chasing the cultists for a week? He was all alone! There were no reinforcements, no supplies. He should have retreated immediately, or gone around the cultists to notify the Church in White Deer Baron Territory."

By the campfire, Parr flipped through the Church Knight's diary as he voiced the question in his heart. This was the part he understood the least. Although the Church Knight's sacrifice had spared him and Haystack Village from disaster, Parr knew that if it had been him, he would definitely have retreated first and sought help. There was no need to risk his life for an unfamiliar village, especially when he was only a Bronze-level Knight.

In terms of value, the life of a Bronze-level Knight was more precious than the lives of everyone in an ordinary small village.

"You're asking about that?"

John picked up a piece of hardwood firewood and tossed it into the flames. After a long silence, he finally spoke in a somewhat reflective voice.

"Kid, you've only just left home and have barely had any contact with Church people. If you interact with them more, you'll understand. Most people in the Church of Neutral Light are like that Church Knight—equally stubborn, equally foolish. It's annoying that they often arrive last, but once they get there and see cultists, they won't just stand by and watch them harm people. Even if they can't win, they won't take a single step back. There's a saying passed down in the Church: 'When facing cultists, we have nowhere left to retreat. Even if we are outmatched, we must die on the path of Charge, using the faint Life Light to dispel eternal darkness.'"

"But isn't that just throwing their lives away?"

Parr poked at the campfire with a long branch, even more confused. How was such behavior any different from seeking death?

"Sometimes, it really is throwing their lives away."

John nodded. He did not deny it. That was also why he had not joined the Church. His goal was to kill every cultist, and he would spend his entire life doing so. Therefore, when he knew something could not be done, he would not throw his life away for nothing. He knew he still had room to grow stronger, and once he did, reaching his goal would be easier.

However, that did not mean John looked down on Church people. He even deeply respected those endearingly foolish people. It was precisely because of people like them that this world had not been destroyed by the endlessly spawning cultists over the past thousand years.

Thinking of this, John reached out and patted Parr's little head, instructing him, "Kid, remember this: knowing death is certain and still pressing forward is a Knight's greatest courage and glory."

"Oh!"

Then John told Parr a story, which also answered the question in Parr's heart: why Church people were not afraid of death.

After the Great Calamity a thousand years ago, the four nations of the continent had only just been founded, and everything was waiting to be rebuilt. Cultists sprang up like mushrooms after rain, while the lingering Evil Gods sought to return to their divine thrones. The peace the races of the continent had bought with countless sacrifices was on the verge of being shattered.

At that moment, a group of Knights holding aloft pure white Dazzling Light appeared. Led by the Radiant Holy Dragon Holy Knight, they established the Church of Neutral Light and began hunting down cultists across the continent while seeking the hidden places where the lingering Evil Gods remained.

This was destined to be a protracted war. At first, there were very few Church Knights. Against the vast numbers of cultists, they were like faint lamplight facing darkness that blotted out the sky and earth. If not for the Radiant Holy Dragon Holy Knight, one of the Seven Savior Holy Knights, the Church would have long since been destroyed.

Yet the Radiant Holy Dragon Holy Knight's true opponents were not those cultists, who were no more than foot soldiers in his eyes, but their leaders—the Evil Gods who had survived the Great Calamity and were lingering in hidden places.

Thus, the Radiant Holy Dragon Holy Knight often could not look after the Church's other Knights.

Much of the time, when facing cultists who vastly outnumbered them, the Church Knights could rely only on themselves, their comrades, the weapons in their hands, the armor on their bodies, and the faith in their hearts. Then, shouting their slogan, they would launch a desperate Charge at the cultists.

"Using the faint Life Light to dispel eternal darkness."

After every battle, the Church Knights naturally suffered devastating casualties. Entire units being wiped out was commonplace. Yet their disregard for their own lives intimidated the cultists and shook all the races of the continent, awakening those who had become immersed in hard-won peace. The races realized that while the Great Calamity had ended, the fighting had not! Thus began a continent-wide campaign of extermination. People of every race and nation picked up the weapons they had cast aside and brought them down heavily upon those brainless cultists.

In the end, through the efforts of the Church Knights and all the races of the continent, the cultists' rampant momentum was suppressed. Though the cultists were not completely eradicated, they no longer posed a major threat. People laid down their weapons again and began to recover and rebuild, while the Church continued hunting cultists.

"The later Church Knights inherited their predecessors' faith as well. They never retreated a single step before cultists, using the faint flame of life to dispel eternal darkness."

By the time John finished, Parr's doubts had finally been cleared up. But new questions soon emerged.

"Uncle John, it's been a thousand years. Were Church Knights of every generation really unafraid of death? Or was there some other reason?"

"Hm?"

Hearing the question, John gave Parr a surprised look, then laughed as he ruffled Parr's short black hair.

"Hahaha! You're a fool sometimes, but other times you're pretty sharp."

"Don't mess up my hair!"

Parr covered his hair. It was not very long, but it was not as short as John's either, about the same as it had been in his previous life. So, during the two days before they set out, aside from wandering all around Haystack Village, he had spent half a day fixing up his hair as a sort of memorial to his previous life.

"Alright, alright."

John stopped laughing and withdrew his large hand, then added two more logs to the fire.

"You're right. The Church Knights' fearlessness of death comes not only from the faith passed down by their predecessors, but also from their backgrounds."

"Their backgrounds?"

As Parr tidied his hair, he thought about it. Was there something special about the Church Knights' backgrounds? Wait! Could it be...

Before Parr could confirm the vague answer in his mind, John explained.

"Most Church members are orphans. They grew up in the Church from childhood, with little contact with the outside world, and they have no interest in worldly affairs. All they see is hunting cultists and protecting people's safety. So sometimes they seem a little inflexible. You may feel they're making things difficult for you, but that isn't the case. It's simply their nature. They can't change it."

"There are that many orph—"

Parr suddenly stopped speaking. He remembered that the original owner of this body had also been an orphan, without father or mother, taken home and raised by Old Man Jack.

"..."

John had long since asked around Haystack Village about Parr's circumstances. Seeing Parr's expression now, he guessed what Parr was thinking and said nothing more.

This continent was not peaceful, and there were no shortage of orphans.

In the Deep Forest, beside the campfire, the two of them, one large and one small, fell silent. After a long while, John stretched.

Yawning, he rubbed his eyes, then got up and pulled two wool blankets made from hairy cowhide from Parr's large pack. He kept one for himself and tossed the other to Parr.

"Alright, kid, stop overthinking. My bedtime story is over. Time to sleep. We still have to continue our journey tomorrow!"

With that, John found a spot not far from the campfire, wrapped himself in his blanket, and went to sleep.

"Oh!"

Parr snapped out of his thoughts and answered perfunctorily. After accepting the blanket meant to keep him warm at night, he did not go to sleep right away. Instead, he picked up the Church Knight's diary and continued reading. He urgently needed to learn more about every aspect of this world.

Snore... snore...

"..."

Amid John's snores, Parr read from the first page of the diary to the final page containing any writing, then a helpless expression appeared on his face.

The diary was quite full, but most of it described the Church Knight studying and training in the Church or hunting cultists outside. There was far too much repetition and virtually no substantial information. It was incredibly perfunctory, as though writing in the diary were a daily task that had to be completed. The small remaining portion concerned a little girl named Ithil.

"Was this twelve-year-old girl named Ithil the Church Knight's adopted daughter?" After reading for so long, that was the only vague piece of information Parr could draw. There was nothing else, and he had not even found the Church Knight's name.

That was right! After talking about him for so long, Parr and John truly had no idea what the Church Knight was called. The diary did not say, containing only "I" as a self-reference. Nor was there anything among that pile of belongings. The Church personnel badge that should have recorded the Church Knight's name had likely fallen somewhere during the battle, and Parr and John had not found it.

So Parr and John could only refer to him as that Church Knight.

Rustle!

After turning past the last page with writing, all that remained were blank pages. Those blank spaces would never again have the chance to be filled.

Thinking of that Church Knight's fate, Parr sighed. He closed the diary and was about to put it into the small bundle containing the Church Knight's belongings when he suddenly let out a soft sound of surprise.

"Huh? What's this?"

There seemed to be a sheet of paper tucked between the final pages of the diary, with one small corner sticking out. Parr noticed it, and out of curiosity, he opened the final pages. A folded sheet of thin white paper fell out.

"This is..."

Parr quickly caught the paper before it could drift into the fire. Curious, he carefully unfolded the clearly unusual sheet of white paper.

Ding. A learnable Skill has been detected. Spend 10 Mental Energy Points to learn it?

"Huh?"

Before Parr could see what was written on the paper, a prompt appeared on the Status Panel. Upon reading it, he froze for a moment, then his little face broke into wild joy. He nearly jumped up on the spot, quickly turning around and covering his mouth to keep himself from laughing aloud and waking John, who might think he had gone mad.

Huff... huff...

Calm down. I need to calm down...

After taking several deep breaths, Parr finally suppressed his excitement. Then he held the thin white paper before his eyes, activated Dark Vision, and examined it carefully.

"Let's see what kind of Skill this is."