Prayer Space and the Seal of Holy Light

After hearing what the system said, Benjamin froze.

It wasn't that he was all that surprised. The system's words had simply reminded him of a detail.

When Grant had prepared to use divine arts and Holy Light began to gather, Benjamin had first been drawn to the magical fluctuation it produced. Things had been rather urgent at the time, so he hadn't paid attention to it. But now that he thought about it, it really was...

That fluctuation had been far too similar to the one produced when magic was released.

"Based on my analysis of the data I collected, the fluctuation from Grant's divine arts is exactly the same in essence as the one from your Water Ball Spell. Both involve manipulating scattered elements and putting them to use," the system said, then couldn't resist twisting the knife. "Of course, his fluctuation is several hundred times stronger than yours."

Benjamin ignored the system's taunt. If this discovery was true, it would be hugely significant to him.

So he asked again, "Are you sure?"

The system answered impatiently, "Of course. When have my analyses ever been wrong?"

"..."

The system's assurance only made Benjamin feel less certain.

After giving it some thought, he decided he should test this.

If divine arts and magic really were the same thing in essence, that meant he could learn both magic and divine arts. More importantly, it meant that the theories behind divine arts could be applied to magic as well.

Divine arts had undoubtedly developed far further than magic. He could borrow their theories and apply them to his own magical training. Wouldn't that be a lot better than sitting around, racking his brain and getting nowhere?

At last, he had found another path.

Of course, all of this depended on divine arts and magic truly being the same at their core. If the system's conclusion was wrong, then all this thinking would be for nothing.

With that thought, Benjamin got out of bed and headed for the door.

"Where are you going?" the system asked.

"To find Grant. He's been studying divine arts for so long, so he must have plenty of books and materials about them. I'll borrow some to read," Benjamin replied.

He wasn't stupid enough to go to The Church to learn about divine arts. That would be completely pointless. Grant lived under the same roof as him—and was his younger brother—so it couldn't be more convenient.

He didn't want to put this off any longer, either. Now that he had an idea, he should act on it. He couldn't afford to procrastinate.

Following the system's directions, Benjamin arrived at Grant's bedroom door.

He thought it over and decided to knock first.

What if he snuck in and got caught? Better to ask him openly. Grant was so gullible that a made-up excuse should be enough to get the books from him.

After what had happened at the castle, Grant probably still felt guilty toward him.

No one answered.

Benjamin hesitated, then knocked again.

Still no answer.

Benjamin raised an eyebrow. In that case, he couldn't be blamed for going in without permission.

He grasped the doorknob and turned it gently. When he felt that the door wasn't locked, he couldn't help feeling pleased. He carefully turned the knob and opened the door as quietly as he could.

A series of snores came from inside.

Benjamin walked in and saw Grant lying on the bed, wrapped in a thick blanket and sleeping like the dead. Benjamin could have whooped with joy. It was as if fate itself had lent him a hand.

He tiptoed over to the bed and called softly, "Grant, Grant, are you asleep?"

The only answer was another snore.

Benjamin immediately relaxed and stopped worrying. He went straight to Grant's desk and began flipping through the stacks of books piled on it.

Kingdom Plant Encyclopedia? Forget it... Chronicles of Hori Kingdom? Way too thick... Selected Past Exam Questions for Priesthood Qualification? Get away from me... Studies on the Evolution of Continental Languages and Marginal Cultures? What the hell... 101 Life-Benefiting Stories? What a load of crap...

Finally, Introduction to Divine Arts. This was the one!

Just as Benjamin happily tucked Introduction to Divine Arts into his shirt, a soft cough suddenly sounded behind him.

The back of Benjamin's head went cold with fright.

He spun around, but there was no one behind him. Grant was still sleeping peacefully on the bed, his face buried between the pillow and blanket. His snores came in steady waves, and he showed no sign of waking.

Seeing this didn't put Benjamin at ease. If anything, it made the situation more terrifying.

What the hell, was the place haunted? If there was no one there, where had that cough come from?

Clearly, Grant hadn't coughed in his sleep. His snoring hadn't stopped when the cough sounded—Grant couldn't possibly snore and cough at the same time, could he?

Damn it, there was someone else in the room!

Could it be Michelle? Was she still hiding in this big house, using some trick to conceal herself?

Or... someone from The Church?

That second possibility was even more frightening than the first.

Just as Benjamin stood there, undecided and with every hair on his body standing on end, another cough sounded—soft and clearly stifled, coming from beneath Grant's blanket.

"..."

Benjamin understood at once.

He immediately relaxed. He'd been so scared—what had he thought it was? It was just... just...

He'd underestimated his younger brother.

Benjamin did his best to rein in his slightly lecherous grin. Then he went to the bedside and said softly to Grant, "Grant, I can't sleep tonight. I'm going to borrow a book from you, okay?"

Grant's snoring paused for a moment, then quickly resumed, as if he were sleeping soundly.

Benjamin smiled and sauntered out of Grant's bedroom. He even considerately closed the door behind him.

"What happened? Why did you do that? Why can't I understand any of it?" the system suddenly piped up, sounding clueless.

"Don't pretend. I've got almost a terabyte of porn saved on your hard drive. Why are you acting so innocent?" Benjamin retorted helplessly.

After a brief silence, the system let out several unsettling, lecherous mechanical laughs.

And so, despite a few "minor hiccups" along the way, Benjamin successfully got what he wanted and returned to his room.

He climbed back into bed, put away the Bible that belonged to mages, and opened Introduction to Divine Arts.

Unlike the mages' crude revolutionary pamphlets, Introduction to Divine Arts was compiled in a far more detailed, systematic, and comprehensive way. It began by getting straight to the essence of divine arts: using one's mental power to communicate with the Holy Light drifting through the surrounding environment, then drawing on the power of God to perform miraculous arts.

This was entirely in line with Benjamin's understanding of magic: replace Holy Light with water elements, and the power of God with the power of nature.

That was already enough to confirm the system's claim that "divine arts are magic."

Benjamin continued reading. The book went on to explain what kind of people could practice divine arts and what kind couldn't. This reminded him of the system's claim that "Benjamin was found to have no talent for divine arts."

If divine arts and magic were the same, then why did he have a talent for magic?

The book said that anyone wishing to practice divine arts needed two qualities: powerful mental strength and an affinity for Holy Light. Weak mental strength made divine arts likely to fail, while poor affinity made it hard to gather Holy Light. Both were essential.

For magic, the equivalent should be mental strength and an affinity for water elements.

But after he asked the system, Benjamin learned that during the initial test, both his mental strength and his affinity for Holy Light had been poor. That was why he had been judged to have no talent for divine arts. But magic also required mental strength. If his mental strength was poor, how had he learned magic?

"Hmm... That's probably why you keep failing to learn these spells," the system suddenly said.

Benjamin thought it over and suddenly understood. No wonder Water Barrier kept failing—it was because his mental strength was inadequate. As for his affinity for water elements, judging by the book's description, his probably wasn't much better.

This result did not make Benjamin happy.

That meant he would never be able to learn magic like those who were naturally gifted.

Looking at his Consciousness Space and the blue characters, he understood that even asking Michelle would be useless. He could only follow his own path and take his high-tech approach all the way.

Fortunately, Introduction to Divine Arts went on to describe a special case: even people with poor mental strength and affinity could learn divine arts and reach an exceptionally high level.

The book called it "opening a Prayer Space and condensing a Seal of Holy Light."

Benjamin immediately perked up.

At last.

After reading a few more lines, he confirmed that the so-called "Prayer Space" was the Consciousness Space, and the so-called "Seal of Holy Light" was a magic character.

The book didn't say much about this. It warned that the method was extremely dangerous: while opening a Prayer Space, one could easily be invaded by demonic power and become a mindless, vegetative person. Besides, no one actually knew how to open a Prayer Space. Those who had truly managed it had done so by chance, and very few people in history had ever succeeded.

Thinking back to what had happened to him, Benjamin could only scoff at the idea that losing one's mind had anything to do with demonic power. He had simply gotten lost deep inside the Consciousness Space and could never find his way out.

After listing the drawbacks, however, the book also explained the method's advantages. A Prayer Space could store drifting Holy Light, greatly reducing the time needed to channel divine arts and even allowing Mind Casting. Divine arts released through a Seal of Holy Light were incomparably more powerful and controllable than those performed by ordinary methods. With a Prayer Space, one didn't need to train one's mental strength as painstakingly as everyone else, nor would one encounter a bottleneck. One only had to keep strengthening the Seals of Holy Light within it.

The book went on to say that the fourth Pope had cultivated this way. He was the Pope who had unified the Hori Kingdom and truly led The Church to its peak—the "Son of God."

Benjamin couldn't pretend that this didn't excite him. That passage was practically telling him that this path was not only viable, but also had great promise. If he kept at it, he could become a great figure of his time.

He felt relieved as well as excited.

After all, according to the book, only one person in ten thousand could open a Consciousness Space.

He really had to thank the system. Without its spell loop, he would never have stumbled into the Consciousness Space, much less found his way out.

With his heart full of hope for the future, Benjamin held the book and continued reading.

But when he reached the section on how to cultivate, it felt as if someone had poured a bucket of cold water over him. His excitement sank straight to the bottom.

The book said that each person could condense at most three Seals of Holy Light. Each Seal of Holy Light represented one divine art. In other words, anyone who cultivated this way could learn no more than three divine arts in their lifetime. Their chances of successfully using any other divine art would be multiplied several times over.