The Call from the Other Shore

The first-class cabins aboard the Oath of the North Wind were extravagantly luxurious.

This was entirely Sotowa's doing. To curry favor with Xia Lin and the others, he had gifted the best rooms on the ship to their group as a package.

Celia's room was spacious and bright, with thick wool carpets covering the floor.

The walls were decorated with expensive mahogany. There was a broad feather bed, with a dressing table beside it fitted with brass railings.

Celia knelt on the soft carpet with her eyes closed and hands clasped. Before her lay only the holy symbol representing Nothikura, Goddess of midnight.

They had been sailing across this vast lake, as broad as an inland sea, for an entire week.

Celia's connection with the Goddess seemed to have grown even closer.

Every day's prayers made her feel as though her soul was being cleansed by that all-embracing darkness.

Her consciousness sank into that dark divinity, mingled with compassion and endless temptation.

"I walk in the shadows..." she murmured the prayer softly, "...only to protect the souls in places the light cannot reach."

"I embrace desire..." Her cheeks flushed. "...only to understand the deepest longings and frailties in mortal hearts."

"Nothikura... my savior... my guide... grant me the power... to protect those I cherish..."

A powerful surge of Divine Art flowed into her body along that invisible spiritual thread. Celia felt her soul ascending, transforming.

It was a gentle, embracing power. It was neither as blazing and dazzling as conventional holy light, nor as cold and wicked as the power of the Abyss.

It was more like the night itself: tranquil, mysterious, and filled with infinite possibilities.

Golden light gathered around her, forming sacred runes one after another.

[Divine Grace Spell], [Remove Disease], [Speak with Dead]...

New knowledge of Divine