Lilian blew at the faint green smoke curling from her fingertips and turned her head toward the entrance of the passage.
Clara was slumping limply among the gravel, her hand still clutching two stones. Tearstains glistened at the corners of her eyes, and her nose twitched as she sobbed, blowing tiny snot bubbles.
“Clara, sleeping isn't allowed here.”
Lilian patted the dirt off her skirt and smiled. “Which brave warrior was blindly throwing rocks with her eyes closed just now? You're getting quite bold, Little Nun. Do you really think you're a Holy Light bombardier?”
Clara's eyelids fluttered, cautiously cracking open a tiny sliver.
There was no man-eating magical beast left in front of the passage—only a charred crater two meters across. The fierce, terrifying Flame Dog that had been standing in the center had long been blasted into tiny pieces.
The little nun sniffled, scrambling up from the muddy water on all fours. She wiped her tears away haphazardly with the backs of her hands and burst into tears:
“Waaah... Lady Saintess! You're not dead! That big dog really got blown to bits by you! Waaah...”
“Hurry up and wipe your nose.”
Looking at her, Lilian let out a soft laugh.
If Clara hadn't distracted the Flame Dog just now, Lilian might not have held out until the blessing arrived.
Lilian walked over to the edge of the dark hole beneath the withered tree and poked her head in to look down.
Deep inside the hole was neither magma nor glowing coal, but a palm-sized, crimson flower burning quietly.
Right in the center of the stamen rose a slender flame, twisting and coiling back and forth like a small snake flicking its tongue.
The Searing Spark inside her body pulsed faster and faster, like a starving ghost that hadn't eaten in three days and nights. Its desire for the object before her had reached a fever pitch.
What on earth was this thing?
Clara limped over to join her.
The little nun craned her neck to peek into the hole. Her tear-stained face instantly froze, and she clapped both hands over her mouth:
“O-Oh my goodness... Lady Saintess! You're rich! You're super rich!!”
Clara pointed at the twisting flame in the hole, her words rattling off like popping beans:
“This is a natural wonder! A Snake-Form Fire Spark! At major merchant guilds or black-market auctions, the starting bid would be three hundred gold coins!”
She pointed at the golden patterns on the flower stem, her eyes shining brightly. “Look at these patterns! It's clearly on the verge of breaking through its form and evolving into a First-Rank Python-Form Fire Spark! If we wait for it to grow into a python form, grand nobles will fight to buy it for a thousand gold coins!”
“How much? A thousand gold coins?”
Lilian's breathing hitched.
According to the going rate in this world, a thousand copper coins swapped for ten silver coins, and ten silver coins equaled one gold coin. One copper coin could buy a loaf of black bread, which meant a thousand gold coins was a whole million loaves of black bread!
That was enough to crush someone to death!
Lilian raised an eyebrow, her gaze falling upon the little nun. “I didn't expect that from you, Clara. You actually know quite a lot.”
Clara twined her thumbs together tightly against the hem of her nun robes, the tips of her ears turning red.
“Everyone at the abbey thinks I'm too young. Usually, after finishing morning prayers, I just hide in the backyard by myself and flip through old travelogues I scavenged... After reading so many, I just remembered them...”
Knowing a lot was a good thing.
However, the Snake-Form Fire Spark before her shoved a stark, practical question right into Lilian's face.
Should she wait for it to evolve into a First-Rank Python-Form Fire Spark, harvest it, and trade it for a thousand gold coins, or let the Searing Spark inside her devour it right now?
The scales in her mind tipped for less than two seconds before Lilian reached a decision.
No waiting. Devour it directly!
Wait for it to evolve to First-Rank? Heaven only knew how long that would take.
Besides, once this thing actually evolved into a First-Rank fire spark, the Searing Spark inside her body might not even be able to swallow it.
If money was gone, she could rob—er, spit, earn it back.
But a natural wonder in the middle of nowhere was a once-in-a-lifetime chance.
Searing Spark was her only offensive attack. As long as she maxed out her firepower, how many thousands of gold coins wouldn't she be able to get?
A full belly inside her own stomach was the only hard truth that mattered.
As for Clara's opinion?
The girl herself belonged to her anyway.
Lilian grinned and let loose.
The skin on her wrist flushed warm, and a bright white spark leaped out from her palm. Like a hungry wolf catching the scent of blood, it dove straight into the dark hole below!
The spark expanded as it caught the air, pouncing directly onto the crimson fire snake inside the rock crevice.
Sensing danger, the slithering snake thrashed violently, attempting to spew flames in resistance.
However, it was no match at all for Searing Spark.
The white flame expanded into a gaping maw, swooping down and swallowing the entire burning natural wonder in one bite!
Soon, the white flame shrank back to the size of a fist, all crimson light fading completely away. The shape of the flame elongated into a tiny, crystalline-white incandescent fire snake.
The tiny fire snake darted joyfully out of the dark hole, nuzzling gently against Lilian's fair wrist twice. Like a docile living creature, it turned into a line of fire and burrowed back into her body.
Lilian shook her wrist and tapped lightly on the air, opening the system panel.
[Name]: Lilian
[Identity]: Church Saintess
[Rank / Level]: LV6 (176 / 300) / Unranked
[Available Free Attribute Points]: 3 Points (Unallocated)
[Faith Value]: 621 / 1000
[Talents]:
Favored of Heaven (S): ...
Outsider (EX): ...
Super-Core Blue Battery (S): Permanently grants +20% Magic Damage Amplification. Immediately restores half the mana spent after casting a skill (minimum of no less than 20 points).
[Basic Attributes]:
HP: 50
MP: 90
Strength: 3
Constitution: 5 (Average Person)
Agility: 2
Intelligence: 9
Spirit: 9
Luck: 8
Magic Damage Amplification: 60% (Light Blue Buff 40% + Super-Core Blue Battery 20%)
Physical Damage Amplification: 40% (Light Blue Buff 40%)
Equipment: None
[Sigil Slots (System Equipment Slots)]: 1 / 3
Slot 1: 【Light Blue Buff】 (Bound: +40% Magic Damage Amplification, +40% Physical Damage Amplification, Restores 5% Max MP per second, Returns consumed mana upon killing a target)
Slot 2: Empty
Slot 3: Empty
Basic Purification Spell LV2 (6/30): ...
Basic Meditation MAX: ...
Searing Spark: Spiritual Snake Form LV4 (12/100) (Evolved by devouring unranked fire spark): Consumes up to 14 MP to launch a fire snake forward whose direction can be controlled, dealing fire damage equal to (Consumed MP + Intelligence) to the target, and burning the target for minor damage over time. Mastery cap increased to LV10; automatically advances to Rank-1 Magic upon reaching Level 10.
Strong. Abnormally strong.
Lilian immediately allocated her three attribute points: one to Intelligence, one to Spirit, and one to Constitution.
With those three points deducted, her Intelligence and Spirit instantly maxed out, both hitting the mortal ceiling threshold of 10 points!
The cap for a single stat of an unranked mortal was 10 points.
The boost in Intelligence made the mana circuits inside her body run far smoother. Lilian even felt like she could control the tiny fire snake to perform a dance.
The improvement in Spirit was even more pronounced—the tiny movements of insects crawling behind the stone wall ten meters away were projected into her mind as clearly as an HD radar display.
Increasing her Constitution was to prevent sudden death.
What made Lilian even happier was the evolved Searing Spark.
【Searing Spark: Spiritual Snake Form】!
The status panel stated crystal clearly: 【Consumes up to 14 MP】.
Those few words were the absolute essence of her gains from this battle.
"Up to" meant that the mana consumption of this skill wasn't fixed. She could control the mana cost of every fire spark she cast completely at will!
The talent Super-Core Blue Battery restored half of the consumed mana immediately after casting, with a guaranteed minimum recovery of 20 points.
This meant that even if the fire spark eventually reached high ranks in the future—where a single cast might cost hundreds or thousands of mana—as long as she kept her cast consumption actively below 20 points, her magic combo would never break!
What was a hand-crafted perpetual motion machine?
This was fucking extreme firepower suppression!
“Lady Saintess, how did your fire eat the little snake?” Clara tilted her head, her big eyes blinking as she stared at Lilian's wrist, not feeling the slightest bit of heartbreak over those hundreds or thousands of gold coins.
“You're the only one who knows, so don't tell anyone else.”
Lilian pinched Clara's little cheek. “This is an ability granted to me by the Goddess. If you see similar fire sparks in the future, remember to keep an eye out for me. I'll have great use for them.”
Clara nodded, her heart thumping wildly.
A secret that only Clara knew! And giving Clara such an important task—Clara would definitely not fail the Saintess's expectations!
Lilian walked over to a large rock and sat straight down. The series of expenditures had left her somewhat drained.
Not knowing whether the magical beasts outside had all left, the two of them decided to rest first and head out after recovering their stamina.
Not long after Lilian sat down, she was dripping with sweat from the intense heat.
Huh? Wasn't that fire spark devoured by me? Why does the temperature inside this cave feel like it's getting higher and higher instead?
Lilian didn't want to just sit around waiting to die. If there was danger, deal with it; if there was treasure, loot it.
“Clara, help me find the hottest spot in this cave. Maybe there are more treasures.”
“Alright, Lady Saintess.”
Rate on N.U.
