Chapter 753: Section 541: What’s the Deal with the Second Time Being Even More?
The metal hatch closed once again.
Cang Xu continued to be vigilant.
After all, this was only the second time the Fishman youth had done such a thing. If there were any confusion in his memory, not only would the Deep Sea Monster Fish be at risk, but more importantly, so would the youth himself.
"Although the Deep Sea Monster Fish is a Gold Level demon energy vessel, it’s nothing compared to the squad leader!" Cang Xu cared most about the Fishman youth.
A moment later.
Divine Blessing occurred once again.
Cang Xu widened his eyes in surprise and exclaimed, "What’s happening?"
"The fluctuations of the Divine Power in the second prayer were even greater than before."
The metal hatch opened, and the Fishman youth walked out, his steps steady, his expression still a bit odd.
Cang Xu cautiously exchanged the agreed-upon code with the Fishman youth.
Having confirmed that the youth was in good condition, the Undead Mage sighed in relief, "Squad Leader, this time..."
The Fishman youth coughed, "This time, my Divine Office Level has also been promoted to Silver Level!"
"?!" Cang Xu was stunned for a moment.
As one of the three major Transcendents, Divine Officers certainly had their own Extraordinary Levels.
Like fighters and Mages, they started at Bronze Level, followed by Black Iron Level, Silver Level, and so on, all the way up to Divine Level.
Cang Xu tried to analyse, "This can actually be understood."
"Although the Extraordinary Level of a Divine Officer has no connection with the Divine Office."
"But generally, in real life, the higher the Divine Office required, the higher the Transcendent Level must be."
"As a Priest, pairing with the Silver Level of Transcendence is a normal situation."
After the second transportation back, Cang Xu approached Zhou Zhang and other members of the Charming Blue Sect, from whom he learned a lot about the enemy.
In the Charming Blue Sect, monks were usually at the Bronze Level, missionaries and priests were between Silver and Black Iron Levels, while fathers and bishops were around the Gold and Holy Domain Levels.
Monk, missionary, priest, father, bishop, and so on—all of these were sect offices, referred to collectively as Divine Offices.
The relationship between Divine Officers and these sect offices was similar to the relationship between Mages and professions like Alchemists, pharmacists, and Battle Mages.
Comparing to fighters, based on their Combat Skill and Fighting energy, they could serve as soldiers, knights, mercenaries, thieves, assassins, and so forth.
Speaking of this, Cang Xu changed the subject, "But, Squad Leader, your second prayer also reaped such great benefits."
"You should know, I’ve prayed so many times, and although I have the office of a missionary, I am only at the Bronze Level as a Divine Officer."
"With just one prayer, you’ve managed to skyrocket your Divine Officer Level directly from Bronze to Silver."
"This is truly..."
If it were someone else, they might feel unbalanced in their heart.
But not Cang Xu.
He was filled with gratitude towards the Fishman youth and willing to follow his leadership. Learning that the Fishman youth had gained so much, his heart was filled with surprise and admiration.
"Cough cough." The Fishman youth then spoke up, "In fact, that’s not all that I’ve gained."
"Did you also receive the gift of Divine Arts?" Cang Xu asked curiously.
"No, it’s the deity statue." The Fishman youth didn’t beat around the bush.
Then, Cang Xu walked into the cabin and saw the deity statue mentioned by the Fishman youth.
It was a statue of the deity Charming Blue, carved in the likeness of a mermaid.
Originally, it was quite ordinary.
Just one of the fixtures in the cabin, deliberately arranged, without a hint of Extraordinary Elements.
Just an ordinary item.
But now, the statue was clearly emitting an aura of Silver Level!
It had been promoted.
It was even more exaggerated than the Fishman youth.
From an ordinary item, it had been promoted to a Silver Level Holy Artifact!
"Is this, this the might of a god? To turn the ordinary into the divine?!" Cang Xu was shocked.
Multiple times, he had knelt before this same statue to pray.
He understood well, the statue was an ordinary item.
But now, it had become a Silver Level Holy Artifact.
Holy Artifacts, being made of Divine Power, naturally had corresponding Extraordinary Levels.
Cang Xu’s expression soon turned grave, "Although I have only recently become a Divine Officer, I do know a little."
"The creation of Holy Artifacts also requires Extraordinary materials."
"To use ordinary materials and create an Extraordinary Item... this is unheard of for me."
The two men looked at each other, speechless for a while.
Compared to the deities, they were still too small, too weak, unable to see through or understand many things.
After a silence, the Fishman youth with a deep look in his eyes, spoke first, "I know the function of the deity statue, it can guide Faith, accumulating and storing spiritual power."
"With the Silver Level Holy Artifact Divine Statue, my continued prayers will bring even more benefits."
"However, the statue is not just a conduit for Divine Power and a reservoir for Faith, but also a surveillance device for the gods."
Cang Xu felt some relief from his worries and doubts when he heard his squad leader say this.
From this, it could be seen that the Fishman youth didn’t have such deep Faith yet and still maintained a strong sense of self.
Cang Xu said, "Something seems off."
"Squad leader, the gains from your second prayer were even more than the first."
"The first time, your Mage Level was promoted from Black Iron to Silver. The second time, it was your Divine Office Level that went from Bronze to Silver."
"The first time, you obtained the priest position along with 28 Divine Arts. The second time, it was a Silver Level Holy Artifact Divine Statue!"
Cang Xu couldn’t make sense of it.
He couldn’t help but speculate, "Could it be that this Bolang Fishman Bloodline is of considerable importance to the Charming Blue God?"
"Even though its concentration is only 11%?"
The Fishman youth mused, "Perhaps, the situation of the Charming Blue God is dire. He urgently needs a critical element to break the deadlock, and a Divine Bloodline represents hope for Him."
"Just like before when you prayed as an Undead Mage, and He accepted it."
Cang Xu kept thinking but couldn’t come up with other reasons in a short time.
He tried to follow the Fishman youth’s line of thought and continued analyzing, "If that’s the case, truly because of the Bolang Fishman Blood, then the most important task for you, squad leader, is to increase its Bloodline Concentration!"
The Fishman youth nodded.
He had already made that decision.
He had always actively searched for Bloodlines and continuously accumulated them.
Through his efforts, the King of Flame Dragon Bloodline he had before had already accumulated to 34%. The reason why there had been no progress with the Bolang Bloodline was simply that there had been no way to start.
Now that he knew it was the Bolang Bloodline, he just had to identify downstream life forms from the Bloodline Map and find targets to work on.
"Given the current situation, Zhou Zhang and the others can select some specific sea beast groups to teleport in for me to absorb," said the Fishman youth.
Cang Xu nodded, "That’s a good method."
"With the strength of Zhou Zhang’s group and the Beast Tide of the White Hair Sea Trench, they will definitely be able to bring you plenty of Bloodline targets."
Outside the Ocean Nest, standing silently atop the Gold altar, Zhou Zhang had no idea that she, a Holy Domain Level, had been reduced to a mere tool.
The Fishman youth sighed, "The higher the Bloodline Concentration, the greater the favor I’ll receive."
"However, the Bolang Fishman Bloodline Concentration must reach around 60% to be promoted to Holy Domain Level."
"If reaching the critical point is necessary to draw the gods’ closer attention and regard, then we need to be very selective."
Cang Xu nodded in agreement.
Regarding the research findings on Bloodlines, the upper limit of cultivation for different life forms is determined by the concentration of various Bloodlines.
Applied to reality, as a Lower Species like the Fishman, it is very difficult to produce high-order Transcendents. Their Transcendents are concentrated in the lower to middle range.
In terms of Bloodline Concentration, even if the Extraordinary Bloodline Concentration is low, Fishman often can practice up to Black Iron or Silver Levels.
The youth had only 11% of the Bolang Bloodline, but because it was a Divine Bloodline, it allowed him to cultivate to Gold Level. But to reach Holy Domain Level, the requirements for Bloodline Concentration soared significantly.
Cang Xu said, "Squad leader, you need to accumulate Bloodlines, as well as Divine Grace."
"Either one would bring you greater benefits."
"I can’t compare to you at all, and from now on, I will assist you with all my strength!"
The Fishman youth’s benefits led Cang Xu to voluntarily step back, ceding the main position.
"We’ve prayed twice in a row, but we haven’t tried using Divine Grace yet."
"Since you now have the priest position and many Divine Arts, you might as well help others convert and earn some Divine Grace for use in prayers."
"Let’s see what benefits we’ll get this time by using Divine Grace in prayer!"
The Fishman youth nodded, the comparative experiment continued.
Earning Divine Grace wasn’t difficult.
They easily fished out a Charming Blue Sect follower from the nest.
The Holy Beast Octopus knew nothing under the Deception and Disguise Skill.
When the Fishman youth first used Divine Arts, his greatest feeling was that the release was extremely convenient and the success rate was very high.
The set of Divine Arts for conversion was quite special, but the Fishman youth had previously practiced many Undead Mage arts, so it was no problem at all.
After the set of Divine Arts, the Dragon-man youth immediately earned 10 Divine Grace.
This was because the one he helped convert was just a Bronze Level Fishman.
Cang Xu was more concerned about one thing, "Squad leader, what did you see when you used the Spiritual Navigation Divine Art?"
"According to Zhou Zhang’s direction, this Divine Art locates the god directly, allowing the believer’s Faith to be offered directly to the god’s true form."
"So, whatever form you see is your understanding of the god’s true form in your heart."
The Fishman youth grasped Cang Xu’s meaning, "I understand now."
"You mean, from this form, we can observe the caster’s proximity to or degree of Faith in the god?"
Cang Xu nodded, "That’s right, or one’s level of understanding."
"At first, I saw the statue of Charming Blue God, then I saw the Gold altar used in the Blood Sacrifice. This means I’m getting closer to the Charming Blue God."
"What about you, what did you see?"
The Fishman youth showed a puzzled expression, "I just saw a sea, but strangely, this sea was constantly spinning, forming a huge vortex."