“How did you do this?” Daryl looked at Annan in disbelief, “In any case, it is impossible to purify so many nightmares in such a short period!”
“Unless?”
“There is no exception. The mechanism for holy light engravings is strict. Even if you purify the nightmare with the assistance of others, engravings will only be obtained by the person who purifies the nightmare.” When Bishop Bread Daryl said this, he suddenly paused.
He seemed to have realized, “Those are your guards, right?”
“Although I’m not sure if you know, I hold the Book of Truth in my body.” Annan said slowly, “One of its abilities is to summon these humanoid creatures from another world. They only exist in the projection mode in this world, and they are immortal. This world is like a game to them, so they call themselves ‘players’.
“Their souls are summoned by the Book of Truth, and their bodies are also made by the Book of Truth’s power. So they are actually part of my Book of Truth — the nightmares they purify will naturally have the merits counted in me.”
Annan was honest and told all the truth he could tell.
After all, he was here for advice. It was in his best interest to tell the situation as detailed and truthfully as possible to get reliable and useful advice.
Given Bishop Daryl’s status, he wouldn’t do anything bad to Annan. After all, Silver Sire was currently on Annan’s side.
Moreover, Bishop Daryl’s identity was probably not simple.
It was apparent from the fact that Bishop Daryl knew Annan’s grandfather and Nicholas Flamel. Also, he was at least a hundred years old.
He even knew of the first Holy See Council of this epoch. Moreover, he knew the entire matter and the location of Nicholas’ cemetery without having his memory purged.
Thus, it was likely that he was a participant of the Holy See Council.
To become a saint, one not only has to be a Transcended but at least Gold Rank or above.
However, Bishop Daryl was not a Transcended.
Then, there was only one answer.
There was a high probability that Bishop Daryl was once the Silver Sire’s pope or at least the cardinal bishop who had access to the center of power.
That was why he could summon Silver Sire.
But, even if Annan knew that Bishop Daryl’s identity was not simple, he wouldn’t say it out. Since Daryl didn’t tell him directly, then he wouldn’t ask.
This was the tacit agreement between them.
“I see.” Daryl murmured absentmindedly, “It actually works like that.”
Obviously, the fact that Annan could steadily increase holy light engravings even if he went idle and did nothing was a shock for Daryl.
Upright deities’ church wasn’t inferior to the false deities. The false deities would grant holy light engravings at will, but the upright deities wouldn’t because they had to consider the fairness of the rules.
The bishops distributed the rewards of holy light engravings for “doing work for the church”.
As they grew above the ranks of bishop, they didn’t need holy light engravings to strengthen themselves. After all, the Silver Sire’s priest was different from the priest of other deities.
The clergy of Silver Sire itself “trade”, and thus it was given that His priest would spend more silver to buy more potent divine art. This led to the fact that the Silver Sire’s bishop would not need holy light engravings to improve their strength. After all, it was useless to buy divine art without silver coins.
Conversely, the Silver Sire highly recommended His priests use holy light engravings to “buy” services directly from Him.
In the churches of other upright deities, getting holy light engravings was not so easy. The believers would have to either do a favor to a big shot or do a great deed.
The hundreds of holy light engravings on Daryl’s body should have been the fruits of him going through dungeon instances one by one.
For a priest, three to four hundred unused holy light engravings carried the value of a platinum trophy in the games’ achievement system.
In the face of Annan’s situation, this fat bishop who always smiled no matter what happened lost his smile for the first time.
Annan gave off an embarrassed and shy smile of the seal meme who only surfaced in chat groups to show off their rare cards in Gacha [1] or loot boxes.
Daryl sighed helplessly, “You got to tell me what type of divine art you want, Your Highness Annan?”
“What I’m good at is mid-to-long range area-of-effect (AoE) controlling ability and mid-to-short range strong single-target control ability. I lack a more effective long-range ability. I prefer a powerful ability that can harm my enemy at such a distance.”
Annan answered clearly, “I plan to purchase two divine arts at the top grade. I have about 300 holy light engraving on me. For the rest of the engravings, I want to buy blessings and buffs that take effect forever.
“I don’t know what I can buy, so I have to ask your help to get me a list.” Before he came to Roseburg to consult Bread Daryl, he had already thought about the purpose of his trip.
[Clanging Object] was good divine art, but its power was not enough for now.
The power of [Clanging Object] in shooting out a silver coin was roughly equivalent to an ordinary bullet. Moreover, the blow wasn’t piercing, but a shocking attack with its might diffuse on the surface area.
To put it simply, when a [Clanging Object] struck a person, it could hardly penetrate the target but caused bruises and fractures.
Taking Captain Klaus as an imaginary target, if Annan wanted to damage a Silver Rank Transcended Swordsman, he would need to send out at least 8 to 15 shots.
It was not that Annan found it to be a loss of money. It was still profitable.
However, it was inconvenient to carry so many silver coins.
Silver Sire did not support the service of using gold coins or paper money to unleash divine art instead of silver coins.
The main problem was that the range of [Clanging Object] was limited.
[Clanging Object]’s range was positively correlated with Annan’s perception. However, even at his current Perception level, he could only hit the target of about fifty meters with this divine art.
It was too underwhelming.
Another problem was related to the Energy Falteration School’s wizard common issue.
Annan was short of AoE damage ability.
The expression of the Old Bread was like that of an African boss who was bitterly thinking about how to assemble the team after finding out a new and cute leopard.
Old Daryl frowned and thought for a while, then formally suggested to Annan, “Since you’re not short of controlling ability, I will recommend two divine arts, [Silver Blade] and [Silver Blaze].
“[Silver Blade] is a relatively common and practical high-level divine art. It is also the standard divine art of a [Silver Knight]. It requires a silver weapon or a weapon that has been blessed by the [Silver Hand] to utilize it. You will have to sacrifice the weapon and send out the powerful silver sword qi in the next attack or before the blessing effect of the [Silver Hand] is wholly consumed.
“The most important thing is because this divine art uses your weapon as a medium, then if your swordsmanship is excellent or has special effects, it will also have the same bonuses. The greater your Strength, the greater its power and speed. Your Perception attribute will affect this divine art by enhancing the blessing effect of the [Silver Hand]. You can also consume a large number of silver coins and silver utensils to make a better [Sharp Object] and use it to increase the might of this blow.
“This art has a devastating might, suitable for a frontal assault too. Its maximum distance is about three times the [Clanging Object], and it can lock the enemy within its radar. So I think this art is just right.
“At the same time, this divine art is not expensive for you. You only need 30 engravings to buy it.”
“It’s cheap.” Annan was a little tempted.
It was an ability that could be blessed and buffed in multiple aspects, thus giving it an all-rounded enhancement. The complementary effect expanded more than a simple addition of 1 +1 = 2.
Moreover, it was a single-target ability with high enough power that Annan needed.
“As for [Ritual: Silver Blaze], it is a divine art that only cardinal bishops could buy because it is so powerful it is almost forbidden. But I think you should have permission to access it too. Although you are young, I think you are sensible for it.”
Grandpa Daryl’s expression was serious, “This divine art has an overwhelming might, but it’s also costly.
“At least 500 silver coins are needed to activate it once, and that’s the minimum value. For every 500 coins increment, the power can be increased by one notch, with the limit at five notches of increment.”
“In other words, it takes a maximum of 300 silver coins to activate it once?” Annan was a little thrilled to hear it.
“Yes.” Daryl nodded, “If you need to continue maintaining the divine art, you have to continue consuming silver coins.”
“Since you recommend this divine art to me, it must have irreplaceable advantages,” Annan complained politely and indirectly.
But Daryl didn’t seem to hear it and just nodded thoughtfully, “Yes, indeed. Its greatest value lies in its spell casting distance.”
The Old Bread replied calmly, “I strongly recommend you buy it because the original version of this ritual can unleash its might within five kilometers. You can designate an area with a diameter of about 5 meters and a height from 2 meters to 280 meters. Within the cylindrical range, there will be a bombardment of the silver blazes that arrived instantly and had an extremely high temperature.
“This divine art will last for five seconds. The temperature is enough to melt the solid city wall, and it will do extra damage to the living enemy. The metal exposed to the blaze set off from the sky will turn into molten silver, instantly destroying the enemy’s armor and weapons. If you keep putting in the same amount of silver, it will maintain that temperature or spread from the sides.”
Daryl continued, “Of course, I recommend you to buy an optimized version of it — [Daryl’s Silver Blaze]. After my improvement, it can be safely released within twenty kilometers, and the range has been expanded to a diameter of 13 meters, and positioning is also more accurate. It can be released precisely through the [Silver Coin Imprint] and even supports a time counter to cast the spell. Of course, the temperature is also reduced to a certain extent, but the effect of dissolving metal still exists.
“The original divine art alone costs 200 engravings. As for my improved version, I have a certain authority to give you a discount, and I only charge you 180 engravings. Plus, I will give you the [Silver Coin Imprint] worth 3 engravings for free to you.”
“Wow, there’s a discount?” Annan was silent for a long time, then he blurted.
He always felt that this Bread looked familiar as if he had seen it before soul-crossing to this world. But for a while, he couldn’t remember why it felt familiar.
Daryl said sternly, “I have already given you a great discount, Little Annan. I think you can also know the meaning of this divine art. Although it requires a lot of silver coins, it overcomes the shortcomings in the difficulties of carrying around so many silver coins because of the increase in spell casting distance.
“Its power is enough to destroy most enemies. Most importantly, it is almost a sure-fire kill for the Transcended of Gold Rank and Bronze Rank. Although liquid silver can still carry the curse of the Silver Rank Transcended, Gold Rank and Bronze Rank Transcended have to avoid them.
“Before they find a new vessel, they will keep the curse activated. If the curse’s power is exhausted and a new vessel is not found, their soul will be quickly eroded by the external curse.
“It’s a simplified ritual that can be activated with 500 silver coins. It can also be used to break the traps of the ancient ruins and forcibly open the metal door. Also, you can use this divine art to transform a large amount of metal into silver, and then you can use it along with the [Silver Hand] art. Isn’t it quite handy?”
“Yes, I will buy it, I will buy it.” The more Annan was told, the more tempted he became, but he still reluctantly responded.
This was indeed the divine art that Annan needed.
A divine art for a long-range attack. As a melee magician, what he lacked most was the long-range artillery type of spell.
Although [Daryl’s Silver Flame Bombing]’s power output had decreased, its versatility had indeed been greatly improved.
It came with the functionality of time lock and target lock.
Combined with Annan’s [Frost Arena] spell, he could use it to weaken the enemy’s defense and thus make up for the loss in output power.
The most valuable part was that this art could also form a combo with Annan’s other divine art. If Annan were lucky, he could use the silver produced by this divine art’s metal molting property to replenish the silver coins consumed during spell casting quickly. Although these silvers could only be consumed by the [Silver Hand] art, the ability to utilize the silver coin another time was a profit.
“As for passive abilities, do you have any ideas on your direction?”
“Yup!” Annan answered with great certainty, “I want to become Tanky!”
“What?”
“I want to have more resistance to damage! Or, the passive abilities can make me fight more safely, without worrying about sneak attacks, sniping attacks, and the lethal ability that targets me!” Annan didn’t want to be an ADC [2] who died suddenly.
He was a close-combat magician. If he became tanky, the enemy would fall into despair.
Your damage doesn’t hurt me even when it hits. You can’t run away from me when I rush over. If you want to attack my teammate, you can’t get rid of my controlling ability. If you ignore my attack, you will die immediately.
Annan hoped that he could declare one day that “I, Annan, can go wherever I want”.