Chapter 23: Holy Sword Guardian Samuel

Each time a Transcendent Profession advanced, three random stat lines would be given.

It was only when all these stat lines came together that each Transcendent Profession formed unique and subtly different from one another.

In the game, players could repeatedly run advancement dungeons to reroll these stat lines. Otherwise, it would be difficult for players to experience various fancy builds.

But Aiwass clearly didn't have any in-game shop items.

His choice in stat lines during advancement was a one-time opportunity.

However, he had already decided on the direction he wanted to take—

To advance to Master of Beasts, he needed to seal his own six-attribute Great Beasts.

And to craft an Affinity Card for each attribute, fifty points of pure-colored mana were required.

When leveling up, the Priest profession would increase the mana pools of both Light and Fire attributes. The ratio was mostly three Light to one Fire.

The Demon Scholar typically could only increase the Mana Pool of the Darkness attribute when leveling up. If contracted with an Upper-Level Demon such as the Shadow Demon, one could also increase the Mana Pool of the contracted demon's corresponding attribute. Even though Aiwass's first contracted demon was a Darkness-attribute Shadow Demon, he could still possibly end up with a random stat line for expanding the Wind, Earth, Water, or Fire Mana Pools during his advancement.

If Aiwass leveled up normally, he feared only the Light and Dark attributes could reach fifty points.

Therefore, except for Light and Dark, he must choose any stat lines that expanded other attributes if available—even so, it was not guaranteed that he could raise all six attributes to at least fifty points. By then, he either had to endure the experience penalty to open a third Path and take up a specific spellcasting profession to increase the corresponding Mana Pool, or slowly elevate the attribute limits through various kinds of magic potions, or wear Extraordinary Items to temporarily increase the mana limit.

The basic principle was that any stat line offering expansion of the Wind, Earth, Water, or Fire attributes must be selected.

Unless a rare gold stat line appeared, Aiwass would hesitate, seriously contemplating whether to pass on the expansion this time.

But in the first advancement, only blue stat lines could appear. Additionally, spellcasting professions were bound to present both Affinity and Expansion stat lines—hence he had no room for hesitation, as he had no other choice.

However, Aiwass was quite fortunate.

Having Blood of Candle Master did not guarantee the appearance of a Fire attribute stat line; it could also be Light. If the random expansion was for the Light attribute, then he could only choose Affinity. This was because his Light Mana Pool was quite ample—he was not a Transcendent specializing in the Path of Devotion, no need to raise the blue lines too high.

Moreover, the Phantom Demon Yulia possessed was of the Fire attribute.

This meant that Aiwass had to craft a Fire Affinity Blank Card before that incident began if he wanted a chance to seal it.

He had previously calculated that the standard Mana Pool for a level 10 Priest should be 8 points of Light and 2 points of Fire, while at level 20, it should be 23 Light and 7 Fire.

When Aiwass reached level 20, counting the current time, he needed to advance three times in total. These were the guaranteed successful one at level 2 and two Ritual Trials at levels 9 and 19.

As long as he randomly received a Fire attribute expansion in these two trials, Aiwass's Fire Mana Pool could increase by another 28 points. Without using any Extraordinary Items, adding the original 7 points and the 14 points given this time would be exactly 49 points.

—A maximum Mana Pool of 49 points, if he stored four points in advance the day before, would already be enough to create a Fire Affinity Blank Card with a capacity of 50!

And once he possessed the "Phantom Demon: Defiant Flame Butterfly," Aiwass would gain combat strength far greater than that of a mere level 1 Fire Affinity!

At the very least, he would have no trouble fighting his way through to the end of version 1.0!

So Aiwass didn't hesitate.

After the stat line appeared, he thought it over, and the teardrop-shaped flame instinctively rose up and entered his mouth.

The very next moment, the illusions before his eyes abruptly shattered.

Aiwass suddenly felt a slight burning sensation on his fingertips. The sensation quickly became pronounced, like touching a candle flame with wet fingers.

He abruptly awoke.

As Aiwass's attribute list changed, the modified parts popped up before his eyes:

Priest LV2: [Basic Prayer-1st level (99%)], [Rite of Fire-1st level (5%)]

Paths unlocked: Dedication-First Layer; Transcendence-First Layer

Mana Pool: 2/2 (Light), 4/4 (Dark), 14/14 (Fire)

Free Experience: 53

Path Traits—

Dedication-Flame Container Lv1: You have consumed Blood of Candle Master, and your soul has been expanded. Your Mana Pool (Fire) has increased by a maximum of 14.

Aiwass looked up, his eyes still dazed, looking at Bishop Mathers who was astonished. He showed an expression as if he had just woken up, bewildered and innocent, and said subconsciously:

"I just... I think I saw a red deer.

"Its body was wrapped in black thorns, and it was bleeding. There were white flames on its antlers...""

"—That was Lord Candle Master!"

Bishop Mathers hurriedly interrupted.

He reached up to touch his forehead as if there were imaginary antlers there, "Lord Candle Master above... Such affection for you? To master the Rite of Fire on your very first attempt..."

Bishop Mathers murmured softly, obviously finding it somewhat hard to imagine.

But the leap in Aiwass's rank was self-evident. As a superior of the same Path, he could clearly feel that Aiwass's Path of Devotion had already successfully reached the first layer.

"... What are the characteristics of the Path you chose?"

Before Bishop Mathers could continue teaching Aiwass, he spoke with some urgency, "I didn't expect you to learn it immediately, so I haven't had the chance to tell you... If you want to obtain the ability to protect yourself right away, you must choose 'Flame Affinity' or 'Light Affinity'. Which did you choose?"

"It's 'Flame Container'."

Aiwass replied immediately.

A faintly nervous expression appeared on his face, "Does that mean I chose incorrectly?"

Aiwass breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

He thought it was a good thing he had advanced before Bishop Mathers could react.

If he had chosen the Flame Container after hearing Bishop Mathers's words, the bishop would certainly have been upset. But Aiwass did need to quickly level up his fire attribute Mana Pool, and the next round might not offer the term he wanted. So when a term that expanded the fire attribute appeared, he had to choose it immediately.

"... No, no, there's not much of a problem."

Seeing the nervous look on Aiwass's face, Bishop Mathers hurriedly comforted him, "The 'Flame Container' is also a very good characteristic—it can enable you to wield extremely powerful fire forces, it's just a bit cumbersome to use. Without an Affinity Class ability, the operation could be a little stiff... but I'm not saying it's a bad choice, I mean, it's not very flexible—but in the long run, it's a good choice!"

Obviously, this scene was not something Bishop Mathers had anticipated.

But seeing the tension and worry on Aiwass's face not dissipating, Bishop Mathers bit his lip, "This way, Aiwass! Listen to me—"

"You have now gained a powerful mana equal to a second-level caster, you just don't know how to use it yet. You can start learning spells or divine arts that rely on the power of fire, but before that..."

Speaking, Bishop Mathers took the huge key he had used to open the door from his waist and gave it to Aiwass.

It was a deep red key.

It was so heavy that it felt not like a key, but like a broken sword.

"During this time, St. Genevieve Chapel will be closed. I'm lending you the key; use it to defend yourself for the next two months—don't underestimate it, just channel fire mana into it, and it will ignite a searing, phantom blade. Even if you are not able to move, it's enough to scare off most enemies.

"Just make sure to return it to me before the Candle Master's festival on the first of January."

The moment Aiwass grasped the heavy key with uncertainty, he almost blurted out a curse.

Because this key, despite its very ordinary name, had an incredibly heaven-defying effect.

This was not only proof of his importance to Bishop Mathers but also revealed his pessimistic verdict on the current situation...

The instant Aiwass saw this effect, he knew who Bishop Mathers really was—

[The Key to the St. Genevieve Chapel]

[Extraordinary Weapon (Deep Purple)]

[Dagger, Heavy, Unedged, Resilient]

[Characteristic: It can be used to break the seal of St. Genevieve Chapel (limited to triggering by the Path of Devotion)]

[Extraordinary Module - Flame Infusion: Spend 1-10 points of fire attribute mana to ignite a blade of fire, lasting 1-10 minutes]

[Extraordinary Module - Light Infusion: Spend 1-10 points of light attribute mana to ignite a blade of sanctity, lasting 1-10 minutes]

[Extraordinary Module - Wind Infusion: Spend 1-10 points of wind attribute mana to ignite an invisible blade, lasting 1-10 minutes]

[Spell: Holy Sword Skill (Once a month)]

[Requirement: Light 11+Fire 11+Wind 11, or Light 33, or Fire 33, or Wind 33]

[Instant, Touch, Immediate Effect]

[Effect: Sanctify this Weapon, transforming it into the Holy Sword·Red-Handled Sword (Sacred Weapon - Two-Handed Sword, Heavy, Exorcising, Sharp, Resilient, Lightweight, the bearer temporarily gains Curse Vulnerability LV4), and retain the activated module effects until the next sunset]

["—The key forged from Galahad's broken sword, its power along with the curse is sealed within."]

No wonder Aiwass had no impression of the so-called "Bishop Mathers."

Because he was not entirely from the Eternal Theocracy... He was a native Avalonian.

His true identity was that of the final boss from a main quest in version 3.2, "Shadow of Avalon"!

The avenger from the annihilated kingdom of Avalon, controlled by the curse entwined with the reforged Holy Sword - Red-Handled Sword—

—He was called "Holy Sword Guardian Samuel," the Cursed Holy Knight!