The sun was high in the sky, casting warm rays slanting through the crack in the window onto the edge of the bed.
Lilian rubbed her sleepy eyes and stretched comfortably. With Little White keeping watch, she had slept exceptionally soundly, finally giving her nerves—taut for days—a chance to relax.
The bedside was empty; Little White was already long gone.
[Faith Value +1]
[Faith Value: 193/200]
Looking at the tick up in Faith Value, Lilian knew Little White had gone to "work" in her place.
She wasn't sure if it was because her performance yesterday had been too striking, but today's Faith Value progress was almost surpassing what she'd gained over the past half-month combined.
At this rate, she would be able to receive another blessing ability today.
Lilian closed her eyes and connected to the link with Little White.
Little White sat quietly on a bench in the church nave, her hands folded together on her lap. With that completely flawless face of hers, she gave a gentle, slight nod to the believer praying before her.
Even when believers offered flattering praise, Little White could flawlessly respond with a precise "May the Goddess bless you."
“Tsk tsk, a perfect wage-slave grinder.”
Lilian severed the shared perspective and prepared to chew on another fruit, only to find the pouch empty.
Tsk, she needed to go find some somewhere.
As Little White's memories from this morning flowed back to her, a piece of news trickled into Lilian's consciousness.
Sister Fina had... breathed her last in the retreat room during the late hours of last night.
Lilian jolted fully awake.
“She's dead?”
She raised an eyebrow and immediately searched through the gossip Little White had overheard.
This morning, the entire abbey in Glimmer Town had already boiled over with commotion.
Everyone was talking with vivid detail: saying Sister Fina was domineering and vicious in her daily life, that she got what she deserved, and that offending the Saintess had brought down the Goddess's chastisement.
In the eyes of the bullied believers and novice nuns, this was practically a textbook divine miracle of "the heavens opening their eyes and justice being served"!
As the "Chastisement Saintess" who had brought down divine fire, Lilian's prestige and authority within the parish were pushed straight to the peak.
“Good riddance...”
“That annoying fly has finally shut its mouth.”
However, Lilian didn't let her guard down. Instead, her eyes narrowed.
Something wasn't right!
A senior nun like Fina, who had lorded over the abbey for years, would have a Constitution attribute of at least 3 to 4 points even without exercising, given how well she ate and drank year-round.
Converted, her base HP would be at least in the 30 to 40 range, close to the average for an adult male.
While life in reality couldn't be evaluated purely by hit point stats, after receiving treatment from the priest, she shouldn't have just died like this.
At the very least, a single ball of her fire had a high probability of not being enough to burn her to death; it would take two.
It seemed someone else in the abbey who wanted her dead had acted. Who could it be?
Toss checking that question to the back of her mind, Lilian swallowed hard as she looked at the impending blessing.
I should count as having followed the Goddess's words... right?
To prevent the blessing's light from drawing attention and potentially exposing Little White as a clone, Lilian decided to wait in her room a bit longer.
Though if someone found out, so be it—it was all given by the blessing anyway—it was still best not to expose a trump card like this if possible.
Besides, three blessings in two consecutive days was an exaggerated frequency even across the entire Church of Light.
Before she built up her power, she didn't want to become a target for everyone.
Half an hour later.
[Current Faith Value: 200/200]
[Ding! Your talent 'Favored of Heaven' has been triggered, drawing the attention of the Goddess...]
[Current Faith Value: 200/500]
[Next stage blessing threshold: 500]
It's here, it's here!
Those believers aren't devout at all; dozens came forward to pray and only added 7 Faith Value points. Let them eat grass from now on!
This time, the Goddess's voice didn't come right away.
Lilian broke out in a cold sweat. Holy crap, don't mess with me!
Just as Lilian thought she was about to get struck by lightning, the Goddess's voice finally sounded:
[Beloved by believers, dignified and proper, punishing evil and promoting good.]
Three Bronze cards surfaced in Lilian's mind.
Lilian let out a long breath. It seemed she had managed to fool her this time.
From her experience over these few times, Lilian realized the Goddess's judgment criteria evaluated the Saintess's deeds based on the believers' faith.
If that was truly the case, her room for maneuver in the future would be enormous.
She looked up at the first Bronze card.
Written on the card was:
[Bronze Augment: Practice Makes Perfect]
[You gain 50 unallocated Skill Proficiency points.]
(A gospel for lazy people.)
Written on the second card was:
[Bronze Augment: Bronze Spoon]
[You gain 50 EXP. (Leveling up grants unallocated Attribute Points)]
(Winning at the starting line!)
Written on the third card was:
[Bronze Augment: Faint Blessing]
[Randomly gain 2 Base Attribute points, capped at limit. (Current limit: 10)]
(A passable augment.)
Practice Makes Perfect? She had received this augment the first time she got a blessing, but back then it was Silver, and the numerical gain was the same as this one.
However, back then she didn't even have any skills, so she directly chose 'Worth the Wait'.
It seemed the same talent augments could still show up again later.
And Silver Augments were definitely a higher tier than Bronze, yet the effect right now was identical.
This meant that as her Faith Value increased, the base value of the talent rewards would also strengthen, which was fantastic news for her.
50 proficiency points? She could boost Searing Spark to Level 3, or raise Purification Spell to Level 3.
Lilian shook her head. Not much of an upgrade; casting her skills a couple more times herself could achieve the same effect.
The second card, 'Bronze Spoon', directly gave 50 EXP, which she estimated could level her up by 1–2 levels. Each level gave 1 unallocated Attribute Point, making it 2 points.
Not bad.
However, Lilian ultimately chose the third card, 'Faint Blessing'. For no other reason than with her lopsided attribute points, adding them anywhere wouldn't be a waste.
Besides, she could still continue gaining attribute points by leveling up in the future.
As the light faded:
[Constitution +1]
[Strength +1]
Lilian felt a faint surge of power well up inside her body. She was indeed slightly stronger, but not by much.
“Not bad, at least it didn't give me 2 points in Strength.”
Her 20 HP became 30 HP due to the Constitution increase. Wow, a massive 50 percent increase!
Lilian rolled her eyes. Hilarious, I can't even feel happy about this, okay?
With the blessing received, it was time to get down to business.
She retrieved a small cloth bundle from under the bed, containing a hooded robe she had previously prepared for running away.
Lilian slipped on the robe and left the church without a sound.
There were many travelers coming and going in Glimmer Town, and plenty dressed like her, so she didn't stand out.
Her goal today was to go to Clear Water Town, a small town nearly a two-hour round trip from Glimmer Town, because black fruit was only sold over in Clear Water Town.
In Glimmer Town, where the Church had a permanent presence, black fruit—which had a mild detrimental effect on human health—was not permitted to be sold.
However, in an era that didn't even have cigarettes, Lilian could only rely on this black fruit to soothe her ten-year smoker's craving.
As for the trace toxins?
That was how her LV2 Purification Spell came to be...
Lilian licked her lips. “Goddess, as you know, I don't actually like eating this stuff; it's all to train my skills.”
She pulled her hood low, deftly blended into the bustling travelers, and stepped out of the town with light steps.
Little did she know that a squad of knights clad in the holy crest of the Morningbell City Church was heading toward Glimmer Town, followed by a luxurious carriage. By the looks of it, they would step onto the streets of Glimmer Town in less than an hour.
Rate on N.U.
