Chapter 345: Chapter 19: Growth of Faith Power

It’s night, Resentment Forest.

“Crackle!”

In a clearing deep in the forest, a bonfire sizzled and burned, the sound of wood crackling and popping in the flames.

Four young adventurers sat around the bonfire.

Triss poked burning pine resin into a tree hole with her dagger, and the flames that burst forth illuminated the dark red star-shaped mark behind her ear.

Sirius tore open a charred rabbit leg, and the oil splattered onto the leather armor’s shoulder buckle, sizzling into a series of tiny silver blooms. His meat-stained fingertips caressed the hilt’s relief, the dark patterns shimmering with a golden hue under the firelight.

Hilia sat dutifully at the side, holding the silver staff, and devoutly performed her routine prayers with clasped hands.

“Goddess of Light above, your devoted servant Hilia prays to you here… Thank you for blessing these fireflies that glow in the darkness, lighting our path ahead; thank you for granting this old elm tree to shelter us and keep us warm…”

“May this night be so, every night.”

Finally, she solemnly traced a cross over her chest, marking the end of Hilia’s prayer.

Meanwhile, a notification popped up on Lynch’s system panel:

[Believer Hilia’s Faith Proficiency +1]

The Power of Faith in the Light Cathedral truly grows fast; in six years, it has now reached the Second Order Level, purely in terms of energy strength, it’s now no less than Lynch’s Spiritual Field.

Having such a great treasure before him, it’s almost impossible not to covet it, so Lynch has never stopped his research into Faith Magic over the years, experimenting, analyzing, and even daringly separating a sliver of his own Soul Power to connect with it.

After extensive research and experimentation, Lynch ultimately—

—made no real progress.

Without making a strong spiritual connection, that cluster of Power of Faith floating in the Light Cathedral remained a dead object; no matter what method Lynch used, he could not manipulate or mobilize that power.

Of course, these years of research weren’t entirely unfruitful, and the notification before his system panel was one of Lynch’s gains.

In an instance where he tied a portion of his Soul Power to it, Lynch unexpectedly discovered that he had gained the ability to sense believers’ inner voices, although that sliver of Soul Power was soon overwhelmed by the believers’ willing power, it gave Lynch some additional ideas.

Subsequently, he tried a few more times in that direction, managing to establish a certain degree of connection between a part of his Soul Power and the Power of Faith.

Such a connection didn’t allow him to use this Power of Faith, but it did enable him to view some information about the Power of Faith, including each believer’s devotional status and the state of each prayer.

Eventually, Lynch made a surprising discovery: each time a believer prayed, his system panel would receive a message, allowing him to specifically check the believer’s level of devotion to the Goddess of Light through it.

[Believer: Hilia]

[Devout Believer of the Goddess of Light lv2, 36822/50000]

What a marvel.

Sirius asked, “Hilia, are you done? I’m so hungry I’m about to drool.”

Hilia put down her silver staff and nodded, “Yes, I’m done.”

Sirius handed the torn rabbit leg to Hilia, then gnawed on the remaining part himself, complaining while eating, “I really don’t understand you religious folks, why get so obsessed over this, praying before eating, before sleeping, always praying.”

Hilia sternly said, “One must not disrespect the gods.”

Sirius replied nonchalantly, “Does this Goddess of Light really have such charm? Why? Just because of that so-called Saintess’s mass in the square?”

Hilia said, “We all witnessed the miracle.”

Sirius rolled his eyes, “You’ve been fooled. My, uh… I heard someone mention it, that so-called miracle is nothing but the Wizard’s Magic, a Wind Element Spell and a Spirit Magic, driven by some Wizard behind the scenes.”

Lynch’s means on the square might deceive ordinary people, but not someone like Sirius with a family connected to the Transcendent and the Nobles.

Unexpectedly, Hilia didn’t refute, but instead said, “The real miracle isn’t the Saintess’s mass, but all the changes here over the years. Six years ago, we were still struggling for food, yet now, even the poorest child has clothes to wear.”

Sirius pouted disdainfully and said, “Isn’t it all pushed by that Wizard, though I don’t know the reason, he surely has some unspeakable purpose!”

Hilia smiled and said, “Then how do you know that the one pushing all this wasn’t guided here by God? Your so-called unspeakable purpose, who can guarantee that’s not God’s will at work?”

Oh, dear…

Lynch, munching away beside them, couldn’t help but twitch his lips. What’s this? The legendary “after crossing the customs, there will be great scholars to debate scriptures for me”?

Sirius was left speechless.

After thinking for a moment, he continued to ask, “Speaking of which, have you ever met that person behind the scenes?”

Hilia asked perplexedly, “Who are you talking about?”

Sirius said, “The Transcendent who set all this in motion, the one people are spreading as the Guardian.”

The previously silent Triss obviously focused her attention here as well.

Hilia shook her head, “No one can see the Guardian; he isn’t a servant of God but merely pushed all this under God’s will. After accomplishing all this, he hid himself, and no one knows where he is now.”

Sirius continued asking, “By the way, between the Guardian and your Light Church’s Red-clothed Archbishop, Holy Daughter of Light, who is stronger?”

“Well…”

Hilia was clearly stumped, but after thinking for a while, she continued, “I don’t know, the Guardian is only a legend, and the adults in the Church Court wouldn’t actively discuss him…”

However, after some thought, she added, “But I heard my teacher… I’ve occasionally overheard the bishops chatting, they say that before in Feiyan City there was an evil Black Wizard, even the Saintess was imprisoned by him. In the end, it was the Guardian who defeated the Black Wizard to rescue the Saintess, so the Guardian might actually be more powerful.”

Triss asked, “Has the Church ever left any trace of the Guardian?”

Hilia questioned, “Trace?”

Triss said, “Garments worn, personal items used, I’ve heard the Holy Daughter of Light is supposed to be his student, haven’t you heard the church mention these?”

Hilia was taken aback, “I don’t know, who did you hear that from?”

Triss furrowed her brow.

She had been here investigating this Guardian of Feiyan City under her mentor’s instructions for some time; the plan was to figure out his true capabilities, or at least his approximate strength level.

However, upon arriving, she realized this task was akin to climbing the sky; this Guardian seemed to exist only in legends passed down by word of mouth, as if nonexistent. Never mind understanding his strength and abilities, no one even knows if he’s male or female, where he came from, or how old he is.

The only thing certain is that his strength exceeds Wizard Level, because Tristan and her mentor were from the same school, and had he beaten Tristan, his strength must have surpassed that of a Wizard.

“My Archer, come, have some rabbit leg.”

Sirius offered the piece of roasted rabbit leg to Lynch nearby, the dripping golden oil sizzled on the burning charcoal making a ’sizzle! sizzle!’ sound, the aroma titillating the senses.

“Thanks.”

Lynch took the rabbit leg and began to eat it. To his delight, it was as delicious as it smelled.

Sirius, being considerate, asked, “Why aren’t you joining the conversation? What is it? Do our topics not interest you?”

Lynch replied earnestly, “Just listening to you all is enough for me.”

Sirius, eager to please, said, “You should be more outgoing, being talkative and good with words is what makes ladies like you, right, Triss?”

Triss remained expressionless, being a member of the Nobles and a Transcendent being. If not for the mission, she wouldn’t even be here talking with these two mortals, let alone have anything in common to discuss with them.

“Rustle…”

Just then, suddenly, from the side, an unexpected situation arose!

“Awooooo!”

A long howl of a wolf exploded in the forest, and immediately, a giant wolf’s head emerged from the thicket…

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