Saintess In-Training

When Eleena brought Xi Wei back to Kennington, there weren't many villagers remaining. 

Even the ones who had been able to survive had been only able to do that due to the fact that the Dragonfang had been using them to satisfy its beastly nature to hunt and toy with its prey.

It would repeatedly let the villagers it captured flee, then chase after them and capture them back to where they started, then let them go again and repeating the process all over again. The moment the villagers got mauled until they couldn't move or until it got bored of them, it would finish them in one bite!

Suddenly, the Dragonfang lifted its head and fixed its gaze on the entrance of the village.

It smelled the scent of new prey, but also sensed the danger that came along with it.

"Mister Xi Wei…" Eleena gripped onto his shirt as she spoke, her voice trembling with fear.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine," Xi Wei reassured, patting her head gently.

At first, the sight of the grotesque monster startled Xi Wei as there were no animals that looked as fierce as the one before it did.

Immediately after, he realized that the Dragonfang did not have any magical energy. Even though it seemed like it held some degree of intelligence, at its core it could not even be counted as a magical beast.

If it were enemies of this level, Xi Wei could defeat dozens of them without batting an eyelid!

The Dragonfang probably knew that it was being looked down upon by its 'prey', so it growled in anger and pounced in their direction.

Feeling a sharp gust of wind coming in his direction, Xi Wei huffed coldly and stared at the monster head-on. Without him moving even a finger, the monster was deflected by an unseen force.

Most of the bone plates on the monster's body shattered, and even the spikes on its tail broke. Like a mutt that had its legs broken, the Dragonfang stumbled and let out a wail in pain.

The scene that unfolded in front of her stunned Eleena to her core. She could not believe her eyes.

Even though she somewhat felt that this man was strong and had the ability to defeat the Dragonfang, she did not think that he was powerful enough to defeat it without even lifting a finger!

Actually, it wasn't hard to understand why the Dragonfang ended up like this.

If you spit toward the sky, it would ultimately land on your own face. Even though Xi Wei was one of the weakest deities in the pantheon, he was still a god! The moment the Dragonfang attacked him, it triggered Xi Wei's Divine Fury, immediately causing its attack to be countered onto itself twofold!

Deities were not invincible, but if anyone wanted to challenge a deity, they would have to at least be a Legendary Warrior that was not confined by natural laws. If they did not meet that prerequisite, no number of mortals would be a match for a deity.

"Mister Xi Wei, it's going to run away!" Eleena shouted worriedly as she saw the Dragonfang limping away from the village, pulling on Xi Wei's shirt. Growing up in the mountains, she knew that many wild beasts were very vengeful creatures, and if they failed to slay it, the Dragonfang would definitely come back to seek revenge.

"Eleena, I can only do this much," he explained, shaking his head before looking at her seriously, "Do you want to avenge your family with your own hands?"

Eleena's eyes brightened, before dimming again and shaking her head. "I can't defeat it, I'm too weak…"

Even if the Dragonfang were at the end of its rope, a young girl like Eleena still wouldn't be able to defeat it.

Xi Wei nodded in agreement—had Eleena been too terrified to avenge the villagers, or had she been blinded by hatred and rushed in without any thought, he might have been truly disappointed in her.

Even though she met with such a terrible fate, she could still think and weigh her options calmly without letting it get to her head. It was a valuable trait to have for a young girl who grew up in a remote village such as this.

"What if the God of Games could give you the power to defeat your enemies?" Xi Wei coaxed patiently.

Eleena remained silent for a while, before resolutely lifting her head and fixing her gaze on Xi Wei. "Then I am willing to become a believer of the God of Games!"

"Belief isn't something to only be spoken by mouth. Close your eyes and envision His name in your mind, and feel His power with your heart," he said solemnly.

If he had said the same words to a person on Earth, they would probably think that he was mentally unstable, but in this world it gave off a feeling that he really knew what he was talking about.

Eleena followed his instructions and closed her eyes, uttering the name of the God of Games internally. When she was at her most desperate, the deities that she had worshipped had not even offered even a bit of pity and help. It was Xi Wei that had given her salvation and reignited the sparks of hope in her heart. So at that moment, Eleena truly offered her most sincere and earnest prayer.

"Speak the words 'O Master of Games, grant us new life' in your mind," his voice rang out in the silence.

"O Master of Games, grant us new life," Eleena muttered faithfully, as if she was sending up a prayer to the heavens.

The very next moment, Xi Wei could sense pure and abundant amounts of divine energy rising from Eleena.

'This is it!' Xi Wei thought excitedly.

He immediately followed up with the steps he envisioned countless times in his mind, projecting the system which he had consumed divine energy to create into the young girl through the Path of Faith that had been opened between them due to her belief in him.

'It all comes down to this!'

Regardless of what was happening over at Xi Wei's side, Eleena who had been closing her eyes saw a strange page appear in front of her in the darkness.

[Player: Eleena]

[Class: Saintess In-Training]

[Level: 1]

[Exp: 0/100]

[HP: 50/50]

[MP: 30/30]

[Stats: 1 STR, 1 AGI, 2 INT ]1

[Skill Points: 1]

Eleena opened her eyes in shock to realize that the page had not disappeared—it didn't seem to be an illusion.

"What is this…?" Eleena muttered perplexedly under her breath.

"This is a gift from the God of Games to those who believe in Him. As long as you believe in Him, it will not disappear," he explained, smiling softly "Now, quickly add a skill point to one of your skills, and slay that Dragonfang yourself."

Eleena stared at Xi Wei for a while, the cogs in her mind turning for a while before she came to, and nodded enthusiastically before asking shyly, stuttering a little, "H-How do I add a skill point, and what is a skill…?"

"Skills are the Sacred Arts that the God of Games has blessed you with," he explained patiently, not knowing whether he should laugh at how the girl got stuck at this point. "Open the skill tree page, and use the skill point you have to activate it. The dimmed out ones mean that you're not of a high enough level or ability to learn it."

"How amazing…" Eleena started controlling the unfamiliar system clumsily, muttering in amazement.

As a child who had been born and raised in the village, Eleena had learned Shumonian2 from her father before, but only knew a few words.

Even so, she could still understand all the words that were written on the system page. This was due to the fact that Xi Wei used Godly Script to create these pages, and the language could be understood by everyone regardless of race or whether they were illiterate.

Seeing the Dragonfang almost escape from the village, Eleena quickly chose to learn an attack skill which could be learned by a Holy Maiden at Level 1, 'Spear of Victory'. Gathering holy divine energy into a golden spear, she shot it toward the Dragonfang, pinning the vile beast to the ground.

The heavily wounded monster spasmed and struggled for a while, before it breathed its last breath and died.

Eleena could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

To her surprise, the corpse of the Dragonfang started emitting a soft golden glow before disappearing completely, leaving behind some shattered bone plates, some sharp teeth, and claws.

"What happened to the monster?" Eleena asked in her astonishment.

"Enemies killed by using the Sacred Arts would be offered to the God of Games as a sacrifice, but sometimes enemies would leave behind some materials, as well as rewards (a.k.a loot) from Him. The rewards you're given would depend on the strength of the enemy you defeated," he explained, "After that, the God of Games would give you 'Experience Points' based on the enemies you've sacrificed. When your Experience Points bar is filled up, you would be able to level up and learn new skills, and then become even stronger!"

In essence, Experience Points were derived from divine energy. Upon receiving sacrifices from his believers, he would be able to split the divine energy obtained into two: 70% would be kept in his Divine Kingdom, while 30% would be given to the believer who did the sacrifice through their Path of Faith in the form of Divine Grace. As the energy continues to accumulate, the divine energy would be converted into a form of energy that could be used by humans, or in other words: leveling up.

As soon as he spoke, a golden glow rose from the young girl—a sign that she had leveled up after she defeated the Dragonfang.