Sister Theni

What he saw made no sense, yet Felix was sure of what he saw. The flames were following the dagger, disregarding their original course as the entire stream of fire was redirected to the side.

Despite the incongruity of the thing, Felix did not just stand there gasping, and instead made another set of Runic Circles, right behind the ones he had already set.

'First Circle: Wind Push'

The sudden burst of wind almost destroyed the already set Runic Circles, but they managed to hold on as the flames were fanned by the wind. It completely disrupted the divergent path as they went for Ash.

Felix felt Ash's Mana spike for a moment, but he did not move as the Flamethrower Spells overwhelmed him, bathing him in flames.

However, several seconds later, Felix was astonished to have received no notification of Ash's death, and he was still feeling his Mana in the middle of the flames.

Felix doubted his Mana Sense for a moment, but as the flames disappeared, Ash was indeed still there. His right arm had been burned into a crisp, leaving only a crackly, black hand and half-melted armor.

Felix immediately manifested several other Runic Circles, but Ash exclaimed, "Don't you dare attack you brat! I give up!"

Felix said nothing though as several spells were fired right at Ash. The man tried to defend himself, but with two limbs turned useless, it didn't take long for him to miss an attack, and from there things snowballed.

Before long, Ash was covered in injuries, and a single attack would be enough to finish him. Felix wasn't that much better though as he couldn't move his body anymore, and he was losing HP. He was somewhat holding on thanks to his Band-aid, but before long he would die.

Left struggling on the ground, Ash groaned, "What the hell is wrong with youngsters nowadays? Can't even have a friendly chat anymore."

Struggling to move his tongue as his entire mouth felt sluggish, like he had just left the dentist after an operation, Felix replied, "You attacked me. And I'm still dying here."

Ash scoffed, and Felix decided to end it as he conjured a last Spell, right next to Ash.

Yet as Felix believed things to be over, Felix felt an overwhelming Mana emanate from Ash. It wasn't his own, it was far beyond that, and a separate Mana source altogether. In the next moment, a pulse of dark red Mana was fired from Ash, completely destroying Felix's Spell and toppling him over.

Landing harshly on his back, Felix had the wind knocked out of him as he forced himself to look at Ash, and what he saw made him gasp in astonishment.

The dark red Mana from earlier was now moving across Ash's body, and in an instant, all of his injuries were healed, his two injured limb good as new.

Then, the dark red Mana disappeared as fast as it appeared, leaving Ash in a perfect condition, as if he had never fought. Hell, even his armor had been restored.

Still, even as Felix couldn't move anymore and his health was dropping dangerously low, he did not go without a struggle as he commanded his Mana to form a flurry of Spells.

Unfortunately, despite his mastery of his Spells, Felix only had so few of them, and Ash had seen most of his tricks. The main reason he had managed to injure the man so badly in the first place was the unpredictability of his Spells.

Ash quickly arrived next to Felix, unharmed. Yet, contrary to Felix's expectations, he did not finish him off right away. Instead, he crouched down and said, "You're one tough brat aren't you?"

Felix would have replied, but he could not longer even control his mouth.

Shaking his head to himself, Ash took out a vial, filled with a green liquid this time, and grabbed Felix's mouth, trying to force it open. Unsure of what was in the bottle, and what it could do, Felix did not hesitate to send much of his remaining Mana towards his head, to blow it up.

He had read about some nasty Skills and items that could result in consequences worse than death. After all, when a player dies normally, they only lose a level, as well as everything they had on them. But there were some Skills that could permanently weaken someone, and potions too.

Somehow sensing what he was doing, Ash quickly said, "It's just an antidote! Here, check it out!"

Ash stopped what he was doing, and so Felix followed as Ash showed him the vial clearly.

[H7 Antidote, Fine, Level 50]

[Upon consumption, clears away the effects of potion H7.]

Felix looked at the vial, then at Ash's smiling face, and blew his head up.

Ash blinked several times as he looked at Felix's blown up head, dumbfounded by what happened.

"Master, do you want us to…"

The moment Felix died, a woman appeared next to him, bowing her head as she spoke.

Ash shook his head and reassured, "It's fine. Thank you for not stepping in."

The woman, who happened to be Ash's disciple, bit her lower lip, breaking her mask of piety as she asked, "But Master, what if this Odin tells people about your fight? That he almost beat-I mean, didn't die instantly?"

Ash chortled, "You mean almost beat me? I don't think he will, but even if he does, he earned that right. I'm the one who attacked him out of nowhere."

The woman looked hesitant as she questioned, "Is this really a nobody?"

The question brought an interested smile to Ash's lips, "His mastery of martial arts is trivial, at best. Even you would defeat him," if she was offended by his comment, she showed none of it as she wordlessly listened, "But his magic… No gesture, no incantation, instantaneous attacks. I did not win thanks to my martial arts, but thanks to a skill I picked up."

His disciple was clearly not convinced though as she argued, "But it was luck! If you fought again, you would defeat him easily!"

Shaking his head, Ash admonished, "Excuses are for the weak, Ashara. He was a strong opponent, but more importantly, will become a fearsome player in the future. He would be a good recruit."

The woman, named Ashara, looked bothered by the suggestion as she quickly replied, "Aaru isn't a charity. We don't take just any brat."

Ash remarked, "You look the same age."

Ashara ignored him though, making Ash smile as he looked through Felix's Bag of Holding. Seeing nothing that really interested him though, he took a copper out of it, before putting it back.

---

Things went dark for an instant, before Felix suddenly found himself standing in front of an altar. It looked rather simple, with a white statue of a star sitting on it. Behind it was a half-moon shaped wall, with four stained glass. Each represented the same woman, standing in front of flames and a crowd. As for the last one, she was the only thing depicted.

Felix only spared it a glance though as something else came to his attention, through his Mana Sense. Felix could feel a Mana signature standing somewhere behind him, but he ignored it, instead focusing on the statue in front of him.

The Mana emanating from it wasn't particularly strong, at least compared to Tobias it didn't feel very strong. However, it was special in its own way.

Every Mana Signature was different, but usually it was a mix of different affinities. The statue was different however.

He couldn't put into words what it was, but the statue had a certain aura to it, it's Mana had a special feel to it. Moreover, there were no traces of any other affinity.

If he really had to put a word into it, then this Mana felt pure. Untainted by the world.

Filled with wonder, Felix placed his palm upon it, and the moment he did, he felt the Mana inside react and try to slip into his body. However, it seemed to face a barrier as almost the entirety of the energy was rejected.

"Hello, young man."

The person within the room finally decided to speak as Felix turned to look at them. It was an old woman, probably the oldest person Felix had seen in the game. Her face was scrunched with wrinkles and her long white hair had thinned out with age.

However, she stood straight, her hands joined in front of her as she gave a candid smile.

[Sister Theni, ?, Lord]

Felix had never been a religious man, but he still bowed slightly, greeting, "Sister." Maybe the fact that she emitted a more powerful Mana than both Guild Master Tobias and Earl Eric came into play, too.

The old woman looked past Felix with a smile, her gaze turning fond as she looked at the statue, and asked, "Were you confused as to why you did not receive a blessing?"

Felix shook his head, replying, "I expected it. My Faith is only 5. But it only felt right to try."

Faith was the one Stat Felix had never touched, and did not intend to touch either. It wasn't really a negative stat in his books either, as to develop Faith one did not necessarily need to be devout but rather to have a strong connection with a higher being.

This, of course, could be achieved through devotion, but one could also increase their Faith Stat without joining a single religion.

But Felix was more interested in the wonders of magic, and although he was sure there were benefits to increasing one's Faith, he would rather stick to his Magic. Of course, if some Faith Stats happened to fall into his lap, he wouldn't spit on it.

Approaching Felix, Sister Theni looked at him with an investigating sight, before eventually asking, "You do not know where you are, are you?"

Titling his head, Felix replied, "Aren't I in a church, after being revived?"

Sister Theni shook her head, "But which church?"

Narrowing his eyes, Felix said, "I have a feeling this is not Fìrma."

"Handsome and clever!"

"I'm going to blush. May I ask for the wisdom of my elders to learn what happened to me?"

Sister Theni's expression turned helpless as she replied, "That, I cannot say. I wonder what could have caused your soul to travel from that far East to Nacre."

Recognizing the name of the city, Felix asked, "Nacre? As in the capital?"

"It would appear so. If you don't mind, may I ask what were the circumstances of your… death?"

Scratching his stubble, Felix replied, "I was fighting another Otherworlder, and to stop them from making me drink a potion, I blew my head off with my Mana."

Sister Theni gasped for a moment, before commenting, "This is quite…"

Seeing the old woman was left speechless, Felix offered, "There are worse things than death for us."

Sister Theni still looked a little shaken by what he said, but she said, "Fìrma is quite the sight, isn't it? A real fragment of history that city. Did you know it was the oldest city in the Kingdom?"

"You probably know more about it than I do, I'm afraid. A part of its more recent and bloody history was shared to me, however."

Sister Theni looked almost disappointed as she muttered, "Ah, yes, Emeric… Poor lad that one. Pity what the elves did to him."

She obviously had a story to tell, probably a different one from Earl Eric's too, but Felix had more urgent issues right now.

So he nodded, "Yes. Every story has a thousand versions."

This brought back the smile on Sister Theni's face as she praised, "Wise words."

Smiling politely, Felix said, "I would boats wisdom, but I am not that shameless. But I need to ask, how long would it take me to go back to Fìrma?"

Sister Theni replied with no hesitation, "By foot, it should take you around three weeks, granted you know your way there. So you would need to first buy a map, but since you don't seem to have any money on you, you would need to first find a job. So you could be back there in around a month, I reckon. Well, that would be if you manage to get past the Level 100+ monsters around here."