Second-Order Priest and Territory Mage

Fran frowned as she watched Sean's departing figure.

"Where did this Third Order Mage come from?!"

Fran was puzzled, but then she remembered Sean's surname from earlier.

"Lorenbu, wait, isn't this the background of the Blood Wolf Knights that I wiped out?"

Fran still remembered that back in Gede Town, members of the Lorenbu Family had been obstructing the investigation.

Fran had originally intended to shift the focus of the investigation to the Blood Wolf Knights.

After all, everyone knew that the Blood Wolf Knights had appeared in Gede Town at that time, so it was quite reasonable to speculate on their involvement.

However, the Investigator at the time, Dante, strongly opposed this approach and implied that it was the Lorenbu Family's idea.

Fran gave up at the time, after all, the Investigator was only a First Order Mage, and he couldn't possibly fight against those powerful family tycoons.

"The Lorenbu Family, I remember that family only had one mage."

After killing Connor, the leader of the Blood Wolf Knights, Fran certainly didn't pretend the incident had never happened.

She had learned a little about this Mage Family; although she didn't know much, she had grasped some basic information.

In other words, that mage Sean was an Astrology School mage, and also the father of Connor, the leader of the Blood Wolf Knights.

Furthermore, as a mage of the Astrology School, Sean had just shown interest in a question that Fran could never answer.

A cold glint flashed in Fran's eyes; she instantly realized that the presence of that mage Sean, posed a risk to her.

If Fran were to rank those who pose a danger to her, Sean would definitely be near the top.

Of course, after calming down a bit, Fran gave up the idea of killing Sean directly, as that was simply unrealistic.

First of all, Sean is a Third Order Mage, and the gap in tiers makes it almost impossible for Fran to defeat Sean.

If Sean really dies, the impact won't be limited to the Grey Soil Province.

The death of a Third Order Mage in a small country near the Alliance would directly shock the Alliance's higher-ups, making it extremely difficult for Fran to conceal the name of her Deity.

Although the Alliance has not yet been able to detect a mage's death and send a notification to a machine, such devices are still in the experimental stage.

However, a Third Order Mage must frequently contact other mages. If contact is suddenly lost, and considering that Fran has been to Antir, Fran will not escape a spell interrogation.

Even Fran herself wasn't entirely confident she could defeat a Third Order Mage; perhaps in a desperate battle, she could at least inflict serious injury on her opponent.

However, Fran wasn't sure if she could incapacitate her opponent or even kill them.

"I can't right now, but..."

Fran is not the kind of person whose combat power cannot improve rapidly in a short period of time.

She has Panel that allows her to quickly increase her combat power.

Furthermore, she has already laid a solid foundation for improvement, and with continued effort, she can elevate her skills to an astonishing level.

Once she completes these improvements, her chances of killing Sean will likely increase significantly.

"What am I thinking, killing a Third Order Mage..."

Fran shook her head, banishing the idea from her mind; its feasibility was simply too low.

"But now is the time. I need to spend some time developing power comparable to a third-tier being, so that if a third-tier being were to attack me, I could handle it."

Fran acted immediately, first picking up the golden book that was tucked inside her robe.

She placed her hand on it, and the book vibrated.

At the same time, a layer of white light emanated from Fran's body, and her skin was covered by a white film that spread outwards from her chest.

When the white light enveloped her entire body, she felt her Mental Power rise, and she felt as if there were many inexplicable connections between herself and the book in her hands.

Fran had already met the requirements for the Radiant Priest Profession advance to the second tier. Around the time they had just conquered the Royal Capital, the number of followers the Radiance Priest needed was almost there.

However, in order to produce more First Order Priest first, she did not immediately advance herself, since the energy of faith is always limited.

"After that, the Sect won't be able to produce a new Profession for at least half a month."

Fran examined the remaining white light within the book, and after a few calculations, arrived at this answer.

Then, Fran brought up the Panel.

[Name: Fran]

[Profession: Radiant Priest (Two Stars)...]

[Attributes: Constitution 40.5, Spirit 47.3]

[Arts: Sacred Binding Word (Mastered) (Proficiency: 0/1000): Consumes Divine Grace to bind the target with words.]

Blazing Light Strike (Mastery) (Proficiency: 0/1000): Radiance will be attached to your body and scatter forward through your attacks, and will not easily dissipate.

Flowing Light Protection (Mastery) (Proficiency: 0/1000): A layer of Radiance adheres to your body, and all attacks targeting you will be deflected by the radiance.

...]

[Trait: Light in Blood (Radiance resides within your body, healing all your wounds and, at your will, harming any creature that comes into contact with it...)]

Fran checked the changes in her stats after acquiring the second-tier Radiant Priest Profession.

My physical condition has improved slightly, but my mental state has grown so much!

This increase exceeded any of Fran's previous Profession bonuses, since the higher the original value, the lower the increase would be.

This almost proves that even if Fran only chooses the second-tier Radiant Priest, her Mental Power will be significantly higher than that of a normal Second Order Profession User.

"It seems to be because my missionary work in Antir has had a significant impact on the church."

Fran guessed that this was the reason.

After all, there seems to be a mechanism in the Profession system on the mainland that rewards those who have made contributions.

Those Profession who achieve certain results and gain a reputation tend to advance faster than ordinary people, both in terms of basic skills and promotion speed.

"They gave me three second-tier divine spells, not bad. I don't have many second-tier Arts on hand right now..."

However, Fran also knew that not every Lord of Radiance Priest advanced to the second tier could obtain three second-tier divine spells.

This is because she is the Proxy of the Lord of Radiance, and has certain privileges in this regard. Normally, after Priest is promoted, he can only directly learn one divine spell of his Order.

For more divine spells, you'll need to look in the book <Radiance Prayer>.

Anyway, after reciting for ten days or so, you can learn a new divine spell; more will require even longer recitation time.

"The properties of the blood have also changed; originally it was only for healing..."

"I thought that after the promotion, my blood would become able to heal others, but I didn't expect it to increase my attack power."

Fran scraped her finger with a knife, and with great effort, she managed to squeeze out a single drop of blood. The wound on her finger healed instantly.

The drop of red blood stopped growing and slowly settled in the palm of her finger.

She placed the drop of blood on the cutting board, and under her will, the cutting board seemed to be touched by a red-hot iron ball, and the blood droplet shrank downwards in the blink of an eye.

Fran quickly canceled the attack with her mind, and the red blood droplet was now embedded in the small round groove on the cutting board, the groove still containing the rough wooden tube wall.

"It still has some offensive power... it can at least melt second-tier materials, but..."

Fran had no good way to use her blood for attacks, as she could barely produce a single drop.

"If I really wanted to use this thing for an attack, I'd probably have to modify an organ using the Transmutation School... Forget it, it's too much trouble."

After Fran experienced the enhancements she gained from achieving the second-tier Priest Profession, and satisfied with the test she completed, she looked towards the south of the Royal Capital as if by divine inspiration.

"That's right, it's about time now."

That was a resonance from the territory; Fran had long ago instructed her followers to carry the small Stone Tablet bearing the [Self-Establishment Decree].

After killing the local lord, they threw the Stone Tablet into the castle.

Now, judging by the timeline, the two new territories have already come under Fran's control.

"I now control a full ten territories, so..."

Fran blinked, feeling herself receive another boost.

This time she's Territory Mage. Normally, if she had occupied more than six territories, she could have become a second-tier Territory Mage after a while.

After occupying ten territories, the time required was almost zero, and she is now a second-tier Territory Mage.

"Panel."

Although she had just looked at the Panel once, it was a bit of a hassle to look at it again now, but with the positive improvements, Fran didn't find it troublesome.

[Profession: Territory Mage (Two Stars)]

[Attributes: Constitution 40.5, Spirit 51.0]

[Arts:...]

[Trait: Territory Mage's Blessing (Your territory provides you with Mental Power buff while you are on your territory.)]

"No spells were given?"

Fran noticed the characteristics of this Territory Mage and wondered if this Profession had focused all its features on increasing Mental Power, without any spell bonuses whatsoever. Was that acceptable?

The answer was yes. Fran tried the Mental Power boosted by the territory, and the result was amazing. Ten territories increased her mental attribute by 15 points.

"His Mental Power alone is enough to crush other mages."

Fran smiled and shook her head. She calculated again that if she brought all eighteen territories of Antir under her control, the territory bonus alone would provide her with more than 20 points of Mental Power.

"Although they lack Talent in magic, this Profession is truly powerful as long as they have a large amount of territory."

"Wait a minute, am I now almost capable of going toe-to-toe with Third Order Mage?"

Fran calculated the bonus she would receive, and her right hand trembled slightly.