Under normal circumstances, nighttime always feels relatively short for us, because whether it's sleep that ends with the blink of an eye, or the shameless, intimate cuddling with a lover, or pulling all-nighters for anime or games, all these things make time fly by.
But there are a few exceptions.
For example, overtime, insomnia, being single and having insomnia, being single without insomnia but having to work overtime, or in games and novels that only support sleep mode…
That last item, which somehow snuck in, always makes the night feel long, while the day rushes by.
And then, well… there is no then, the day just passes.
As dusk fell, the winter in City B wasn't too hard to endure; although it was still difficult to see stars, if you closed your eyes and took a few deep breaths while emptying your mind, you'd find that even the haze could be quite refreshing and pleasant.
In such a cold, emotionless city, maintaining a romantic spirit at all times is very important…
Mo Tan, dressed in pajamas, lay on the balcony and indulged in romance for a while, feeling much calmer.
The reason wasn't hard to guess: it was cold, and he was freezing like a grandson…
In any case, he went back inside, washed his face, then lay on the floor reading comics for a bit, and then got ready to log into the game.
…
Game Time AM 07:02
【Your spiritual connection has been detected, personal information is being synchronized…】
【Connection complete, character information is being loaded】
【Welcome back, Absolute Neutral Black Vatican, Innocent World will now load, good night】
…
Mo Tan, who appeared on Hordir Avenue, looked around and quickly spotted little Wen Qiu squatting by the roadside in a daze. Before he could even go say hello, the girl had already reacted quickly, turning around with a big smile and running over to him: “Good morning, Black Vatican Big Brother!”
“It should be ‘good night’ now, shouldn’t it?” Mo Tan smiled gently at the girl, then said somewhat apologetically, “Sorry, I logged off around noon yesterday. You didn’t encounter any danger, did you?”
Wen Qiu shook her head vigorously: “No, after Black Vatican Big Brother logged off, Wen Qiu played nearby for a while, and then also obediently logged off! I was super, super good!”
“You worked hard, but logging off early and getting a good night’s sleep is actually not bad~” Mo Tan blew his wolf whistle to summon Little White, then lifted Wen Qiu onto her. He then flipped onto the wolf himself, wrapping his arm around the girl’s waist from behind, and chuckled, “Then let’s set off immediately! If nothing unexpected happens, even if we only travel for half a day today, we should reach our destination by tomorrow morning.”
Wen Qiu’s expression suddenly dimmed, but she still nodded obediently: “Mm…”
Mo Tan paused, then, while patting Little White’s neck to make her run, he asked the girl in his arms with some curiosity, “What’s wrong?”
“Hehe, nothing.” Wen Qiu turned her head and made a face at Mo Tan, then comfortably rubbed against him in his arms: “What are you going to do over there, Big Brother? Wen Qiu heard that it used to be a heavily affected area by the Plague, with over two thousand people dying there, it’s so dangerous!”
Mo Tan thought the girl was a bit scared, so he quickly reassured her: “Don’t worry, it’s safe there now. The church’s aid has already arrived in Hofur City, and they’re currently busy with treatment. A friend of mine is also there, so it might be much livelier then, and safer too~”
“I’m not scared!” Wen Qiu spread her arms, feeling the breeze constantly sweeping over her body, and narrowed her eyes contentedly: “Is the friend Big Brother is going to see a girl?”
“Yes, she is a girl.” Mo Tan nodded.
“Hehe, is she a girlfriend?” Wen Qiu turned back and smiled slyly at Mo Tan, then suddenly pouted: “Oh, that’s too bad! Then Wen Qiu won’t be able to marry Big Brother when I grow up!”
Mo Tan let out a dry laugh, poking her delicate cheek: “That’s too fake…”
The girl pouted: “I was just saying! Didn’t it move you at all?”
“Not at all…” Mo Tan rolled his eyes.
“Hmph, boring!” Wen Qiu wrinkled her nose and leaned back forcefully, giving Mo Tan a harmless headbutt: “Treating a lady like that will make you die alone!”
Mo Tan flicked the back of Wen Qiu’s head: “I’m happy to!”
“Don’t people say three years minimum…”
“That’s an old meme from how many years ago? Now it’s at least thirty years minimum!”
“Hmph~ Too cowardly!”
“Heh… To be honest, when I go crazy, even I’m scared.”
“Braggart!”
…
At the same time
Hofur City, Holy Church United Chapel
“Xia Lian Big Sister…”
Yu Cheng ran to her mentor, her face flushed, and whispered with a sweet smile, “The friend I mentioned… will probably arrive tomorrow!”
Xia Lian Zhuye, who was meticulously examining a bottle of dark red liquid, turned her head and blinked, asking curiously, “Is that the pastor named Black Vatican you mentioned to me before?”
“Yes, he’s also a clergyman of our Dawn Sect.” Yu Cheng nodded vigorously, clumsily lying, “Because we had… exchanged letters before, so he also plans to come here to help.”
Although she didn’t have high expectations for an ordinary pastor, Xia Lian didn’t say anything to discourage Yu Cheng. She just smiled and patted the girl’s head: “Little Wang Yu, you’re blushing~”
“Huh?” Yu Cheng was stunned for a moment, then immediately waved her hands vigorously: “Xia Lian Big Sister, you’re overthinking…”
“What am I overthinking?” Xia Lian spread her hands innocently: “You’ve been blushing eighty percent of the day.”
“Ugh!”
Yu Cheng pouted, staring resentfully at her ‘Holy Maiden’ who always liked to derail the conversation.
Her misty big eyes were full of grievance…
As a fellow female, God-blessed one, and Holy Maiden, Xia Lian finally succumbed after stubbornly holding on for five seconds. After two silly laughs, she sheepishly stuck out her tongue and said nothing.
“Hmm, Xia Lian Big Sister, how’s your analysis coming along?” Yu Cheng also quickly changed the subject, pointing at the bottle behind her and whispering, “That Plague…”
Xia Lian’s smiling face also turned serious. She turned around, staring intently at the liquid, and said in a deep voice, “The situation is very delicate. I’ve tried almost all divine spells with identification capabilities this entire morning, and even used a few magic scrolls brought from Light Capital, but this still can’t fully analyze this Plague. Although it can be purified through High-Rank divine spells like Dawn Wish, effective analysis cannot be performed.”
“So, there’s still no way to find the pathogen, and no way to know the cause of this Plague…” Yu Cheng sighed softly, looking at the bottle of blood sample collected from an infected person, her delicate brows furrowed: “Besides a few specific infection routes, we’re also at a loss regarding the medium.”
Xia Lian looked at her disciple, whose demeanor was slightly different from usual, and couldn’t help but smile with satisfaction…
【After personally witnessing those horrific tragedies and personally treating those tormented commoners, I feel like this girl has grown up so much all of a sudden, even…】
She glanced at the young man standing quietly not far away and shrugged.
【She even has her own follower now.】
However, Xia Lian was actually overthinking a bit. The reason Yu Cheng suddenly became so calm and composed was not because of what she had mused about in her heart earlier, but merely a habit she had developed from long years in medical university and hospitals. Although she usually appeared timid, this did not mean Yu Cheng would be as afraid as Xia Lian had initially expected. Although it might sound strange, Yu Cheng had no fear whatsoever of things like corpses, Plagues, or even death.
As a girl determined to become a good doctor, Yu Cheng would absolutely not be scared in such a situation. In fact, quite the opposite, this could be said to be her home turf.
“If we can’t analyze the components, it’s hard to achieve a complete cure or symptomatic treatment.” The girl mumbled, resting her chin on her hand: “But without any professional equipment and with no understanding of this world, what can be done is really too limited. Many basic knowledge points cannot be applied here at all… Ugh!”
Xia Lian affectionately pinched Yu Cheng’s cheek: “What are you mumbling about?”
“Ah, nothing.” The latter quickly waved her hand, then said shyly in a low voice: “I was thinking if we could ask a powerful Alchemist to help analyze the components, and then try to find the source of the disease.”
“It’s been analyzed.” Xia Lian shook her head, giving Yu Cheng a look: “It was when you secretly ran out and wandered around before; I already had people from the Alchemist Guild come over, but they couldn’t analyze anything useful either…”
Yu Cheng sighed somewhat dejectedly: “Is that so…”
“Don’t be too anxious.” Xia Lian gently patted the girl’s shoulder: “At least the epidemic here in Hofur City is under control, and I haven’t heard any news of large-scale infections in other places these past few days. Perhaps the source of the disease has already disappeared, who knows? In any case, the most important thing right now is to save the people in front of us.”
Yu Cheng nodded weakly. She was a bit disappointed in herself, as someone from a medical background, for not being able to come up with a good solution to the epidemic.
“Well, I’ll go out first. You must wait here obediently.” Xia Lian took off the Star Gold Cross from behind her and sternly instructed: “No more running around haphazardly like before, and no making moves casually! Although your divine spells are progressing very quickly, you are not allowed to use them indiscriminately until ‘that problem’ is solved!”
Yu Cheng nodded obediently: “Oh.”
“Then that’s it~ Wait for me to come back!”
Xia Lian smiled, swiftly reached out and took a quick feel on Yu Cheng’s chest, then turned and ran, taking dozens of Holy Knight stationed outside the chapel with her to save lives and heal the wounded.
Five seconds later, a stunned Yu Cheng belatedly covered her chest and let out a soft cry: “Ah!”
One has to say this girl’s reaction time was truly a bit slow…
After a while, she opened her character panel with a troubled expression, sighing wearily in a low voice: “So, how can ‘that problem’ be solved, anyway…”
【Yu Cheng】
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Level: Pastor 7, Holy Maiden 3
Alignment: Absolute Neutral
Faith: Dawn Goddess Pakesi
Health: 260 / 260
Stamina: 230 / 230
Mana: 300 / 300
Faith: 300 / 300
Talents: Inconstant Divinity, Gospel, Mercy, Benevolence, Purity, Piety, Holy Light Avatar (Active) / ???
Basic Attributes: Strength 5, Wisdom 20, Agility 7, Constitution 13
Civilized Attributes: Eloquence 1, Charm 60, Knowledge 18, Leadership 1
Combat Attributes: Holy Light Knowledge Level 9
Skills: Enhanced Holy Healing, Enhanced Recovery Prayer, Enhanced Redemption, Enhanced Calm Aura, Enhanced Regeneration, Enhanced Condensing Light Arrow, Enhanced Dawn Nova, Enhanced Luminescence, Life Link, Dawn Wish
Judging solely from her character data, Yu Cheng could definitely be considered a rather powerful healer. In the same clergyman class system, she was several times stronger in all aspects than Mo Tan when he was Absolute Neutral. And this doesn’t even account for the bonuses her entire 【Apprentice Holy Maiden Set】 provides to various attributes, making her unreasonably powerful.
But she was still not allowed to cast spells freely, and the reason lay in the talent called 【Inconstant Divinity】 in the data above.
Let’s take a look…
【Inconstant Divinity】
Passive Talent
Trait 1: When you cast a Holy Light spell, there is a 50% chance to trigger Dawn Divinity, increasing the effect of your next Holy Light spell by 100% and reducing its cooldown by 50%. There is a 25% chance to trigger Dark Interference, causing your next Holy Light spell’s effect to mutate, increasing its effect by 100% and reducing its cooldown by 50%.
Trait 2: ???
【Note: The deity you worship seems to be hesitating about something, so her feedback to you is always unstable, and there seems to be another entity always trying to cause you trouble…】
This talent seems somewhat profound, but we can take any skill from Yu Cheng’s many skills as an example here.
For example…
【Enhanced Holy Healing】
Active Skill
Holy Light School Active Skill
Mastery Requirement: Holy Light Knowledge 13 or possession of the profession 【Holy Maiden】 / 【Holy Son】
Cost/Restriction: 40 Mana
Effect: Restores a small amount of health to the target, cooldown one minute
※Hyperlink※
【Note: Although it’s not ‘that Holy Healing’, the effect is still… well, actually not that great.】
Looks pretty normal, right?
Come, let’s open that hyperlink and take a look.
※Hyperlink※
Due to the talent 【Inconstant Divinity】, when this skill is cast under specific circumstances, its effect will transform into one of the following results:
1. Trigger Dawn Divinity — Restores a moderate amount of health to the target, cooldown 30 seconds.
2. Trigger Dark Interference — Deals moderate Shadow damage to the target, cooldown 30 seconds (Due to the talent 【Holy Light Avatar】 being active, this skill will carry the ‘Radiant Holy Glow’ effect.)
This is… quite awkward.
Yu Cheng still remembered the time she healed a Holy Knight so hard he stumbled because she didn’t check the skill’s hyperlink. However, at that time, the scene was quite chaotic, so no one suspected her, only thinking it was the monster being besieged…
But in fact, it was supposed to be a heal!
That skill was for healing!
Chapter 143: End
Happy Mid-Autumn Festival everyone~
Also, congratulations to Comrade Blackhand on the birth of his son, I hope the little one grows up healthy and with sound morals~