Mo Tan, feeling a bit down, had just entered the chapel when he saw Yu Cheng waving at him from not far away.
Standing beside the girl was a human man who didn't look very old; he was rather thin and seemed somewhat scholarly, but his presence was quite weak.
“Your room has been arranged~” Yu Cheng whispered to Mo Tan in her characteristic mosquito-like voice, then pointed to the young man beside her: “His name is Gareths, and he also just arrived in Hofur City recently.
He’s been helping out here very diligently.”
Mo Tan smiled kindly at him: “Hello, my name is Black Vatican, I’m a probationary priest, and a friend of Wang Yu.”
“Hello, Mr. Black Vatican,” Gareths greeted shyly.
“Little Wen Qiu will be looked after by Gareths for now; she’s already gone back to her room to rest,” Yu Cheng gestured towards a nearby room, then turned and nodded to Gareths: “I’ll trouble you for this period.”
The latter immediately shook his head and bowed respectfully: “It is my honor, Holy Maiden.”
Yu Cheng smiled a bit awkwardly, then tugged on Mo Tan’s sleeve and whispered: “I’ll take you to where you’ll be staying, and we can chat about what’s happened recently.”
A few minutes later, on the third floor of the chapel, in front of a certain room.
Mo Tan looked at the space inside, which, though not luxurious, was certainly not low-grade, and couldn’t help but whisper to Yu Cheng: “Isn’t this a bit wasteful? I’m not actually going to live here.”
“It’s fine,” Yu Cheng, however, walked into the room without a care, turning back to smile at Mo Tan: “This place was originally used as a guest room by the regional bishop, and there are many other similar rooms.”
When it was just the two of them, this overly introverted girl seemed to become a little more cheerful.
After all, they were both players, and had even met in reality, so there was no need to be as nervous as with a stranger.
“Then I won’t decline,” Mo Tan didn’t say anything more.
After entering the room, he sat down at a square table and let out a long sigh, resting his head on it: “Phew, at least I’m finally here.
All I’ve done recently is travel, travel, travel.
I feel more tired online than offline, and I clearly remember being half a shut-in.”
Yu Cheng also sat down opposite him, and upon hearing this, immediately shook her head gently, staring at the wood grain on the table as she whispered: “Um, if possible, it’s still better to exercise appropriately… Otherwise, it’s easy for something to happen.”
“Something happen?” Mo Tan was a bit confused.
“Mm,” Yu Cheng unconsciously touched her index fingers together, whispering: “I’ve seen a lot when I helped at the hospital… muscle atrophy and such, also fainting… sudden death… um, Mom said they all died from being shut-ins.”
Mo Tan was shocked: “Dying from being a shut-in and being a shut-in don’t seem to be the same thing!”
Yu Cheng’s face began to redden gradually.
“And you use emoticons so skillfully…” Mo Tan sighed, shrugging: “Don’t tell me you have zero experience in that area.”
Thump!
Yu Cheng hit her head on the table because she bowed it too low.
‘I was just trying to make a joke to liven up the atmosphere! Big failure (>_<)!’
The above was the message the girl sent the moment her head hit the table.
Mo Tan: “…”
Yu Cheng: “…”
The scene became extremely awkward.
“So…” Mo Tan tried to break the deadlock: “I always feel like the style of your text messages and your in-person speech are vastly different.”
Yu Cheng slowly raised her head and looked at him, whispering: “Because I don’t know why, but I feel very shy… texting is… much easier.”
Mo Tan shrugged: “This is a psychological issue for you; you need to adapt slowly, otherwise, you’ll eventually become one of those super reclusive shining acupressure therapists.”
“No, I won’t,” Yu Cheng shook her head, her voice slightly louder than before: “It will get much better once I get used to it.
I guess I’m just too timid.”
【Speaking of which, this shouldn’t just be a matter of timidity, right?】
Although he inwardly complained, Mo Tan didn’t intend to say too much, simply and naturally changing the subject: “By the way, how are things here?”
“About the same as before,” Yu Cheng was much more relaxed now.
She sighed softly, shaking her head: “Because Holy Maiden is very capable, Hofur City has barely stabilized, but other places are still… a mess.”
Then she told Mo Tan the new information the Holy Knights had gathered over the past few days.
Essentially, because Misha County had been completely infected, although Holy Maiden Xia Lian had been treating the infected in Hofur City, it was ultimately just a drop in the bucket.
In other places, hundreds or thousands of people still died every day, and those improperly handled corpses would become new sources of Plague, forming a terrible vicious cycle.
But there was also good news: the source of the Plague seemed to have disappeared.
All new infections these days were from accidentally being infected by others, and the transmission methods had basically been identified.
According to Yu Cheng, it essentially included all known infection routes such as blood, air, contact, and insect vectors.
Although in the real world this would be a serious level capable of causing international panic, in Innocent World, there were still countermeasures.
Clergy members purified the soil over large areas through prayer and holy water, mages created wind and water elemental barriers for isolation and filtration, Alchemists also began mass-producing insect repellents and incense, which were then distributed to surrounding areas by professionals such as Thieves, Rangers, and Knights…
“And Holy Maiden has already started setting up a large-scale divine spell array in Hofur City,” Yu Cheng, like a hamster, cupped a warm cup and sipped some tea (which Mo Tan had just brewed), whispering: “After it’s activated tomorrow, everyone in the city should be cured.
Then we’ll move to the next severely affected area and temporarily seal this place, only allowing uninfected people to enter the city.
If all goes well, we should still be able to save as many lives as possible.”
Mo Tan nodded silently; he didn’t have any better ideas.
“Oh, right!” Yu Cheng seemed to suddenly remember something, pulled out a gold-covered booklet from her satchel, and handed it to Mo Tan, smiling weakly: “I’ve already learned everything inside, but you might find it useful.”
Mo Tan reached out and took it, looking down…
【Dawn Divine Spell Mastery · Manuscript】
Special Item
Quality: Unique Excellent
Use: Gain skills Holy Healing (already learned), Recovery Prayer (can be mastered), Redemption (can be mastered), Calm Aura (can be mastered), Condensing Light Arrow (already learned), Dawn Nova (conditions not met), Luminescence (already learned), Life Link (conditions not met), Dawn Wish (conditions not met)
Trait: Unlocks the proficiency of the above skills.
When the proficiency of a certain skill reaches maximum, the skill can be upgraded to an enhanced version.
※Hyperlink※
1. Limited to Priest-type professions who believe in Dawn Goddess Pakesi.
2. Upgrade operation is irreversible; enhanced skills may incur additional consumption and cooldown time.
【Note: This is an introductory (crossed out) divine spell guide that the great (strength) priest, strong (crossed out) Holy Maiden Xia Lian Zhuye, pondered for several days.
Its content combines conciseness, profundity, practicality, and effectiveness, among many other advantages.
The only drawback—‘ugly handwriting’—will not cause any trouble for you who can see this note, because you don’t actually need to flip through this thing that looks incomprehensible at first glance, and even worse upon closer inspection.】
“I feel like I’ve seen something incredible,” Mo Tan gave a dry laugh and made a face at Yu Cheng: “I’m glad our Holy Maiden can’t see item notes.”
Yu Cheng stuck out her tongue and didn’t speak.
However, a few seconds later, she sent Mo Tan a message: ‘Hehe, I thought so too ヾ(≧▽≦*)o’
Mo Tan: “…”
In any case, setting aside the routinely misleading notes, this 【Dawn Divine Spell Mastery · Manuscript】 was still very, very practical.
Firstly, it contained a large number of practical basic divine spells.
Mo Tan could immediately learn three of them, and the remaining few with unmet conditions were only due to insufficient attributes or Holy Light knowledge.
As long as he leveled up (which was not easy), he could learn them immediately, and he could also upgrade these skills, which were the advanced skills like 【Enhanced Holy Healing】 and 【Enhanced Condensing Light Arrow】 that we had seen in Yu Cheng’s skill bar earlier.
For novice priests in the early stages of the game, this was definitely quite a loving gesture, and most importantly…
This item, like the 【Diesel Knight Training Guide - Manuscript】 he had received from Jia Deka when he was ‘Mo,’ was a non-consumable item.
This characteristic obviously greatly increased the value of this book, and the absence of ‘soul-bound’ greatly increased its commercial value.
If it weren't for the generally low level of the divine spells recorded within, and their lack of rarity, this manuscript with notoriously bad handwriting would definitely not be just of 【Excellent】 quality; it would at least be of Fine quality.
“Thanks, I’ll return it to you once I’ve learned everything,” Mo Tan wasn’t overly polite.
After all, Yu Cheng had already said she had learned everything inside, and they were also friends, so declining would have seemed inappropriate.
Yu Cheng blinked: “I’ve already learned it all, you don’t need to return it.”
“You can sell it for money!” Mo Tan said with a serious expression.
“Hmm, it’s fine, I’m eating and drinking at the Holy Church United now…” Yu Cheng pursed her lips and chuckled: “I’m very lucky.”
Clearly, this girl didn’t have to worry about money in the game.
Mo Tan had already fully appreciated the status of the ‘Holy Maiden’ role through those Holy Knights.
As for reality…
【It seems that besides me, everyone at that gathering had family situations similar to Yi Dong’s, so maybe I shouldn’t bring it up.】
Mo Tan thought about it, then didn’t insist too much.
After confirming the time, he smiled apologetically at Yu Cheng: “Sorry, I think I need to go offline.
I have something to do today.”
The girl paused: “At this time? Hmm, working seems so hard…”
It was 10:30 AM game time, which was 8:45 PM real-world time.
Normally, most people wouldn’t have anything to do at this hour, but Mo Tan had told Yu Cheng before that he worked at night, so the girl wasn’t too surprised, just a little emotional.
“Oh, no, it’s not that.
I just made an appointment to see a friend off,” Mo Tan shook his head.
For some reason, Mo Tan didn’t want to lie in front of this girl who gave off an exceptionally pure vibe, so this time he didn’t use the excuse of working, but rather chose to tell a selective truth.
Seeing a friend off was true, but he didn’t say whether it was in the game or in reality.
Hmm, so this shouldn’t be a lie… right?
“I see,” Yu Cheng nodded, then suddenly suggested in a low voice: “Do you want me to give you a ride?
Yi Dong mentioned where you live before… the hotel I’m staying at isn’t far from there, Yao… uh, an aunt of mine lent me her car a couple of days ago.”
What a kind girl; after subtly guessing that Mo Tan definitely didn’t own a car, she immediately offered this gentle suggestion.
Mo Tan was deeply touched at that moment.
It was just a pity that the person he was seeing off today was Cordova, who was currently packing his luggage on the Seventh Outer Mountain of Tian Zhu Mountain, preparing to embark on his journey.
So…
“Ah, no need, no need.
I might also have to have dinner with him, so I won’t trouble you,” Mo Tan shook his head and smiled at Yu Cheng: “I don’t know when I’ll be back.”
Yu Cheng didn’t insist after hearing him say that, just nodded: “Okay… Then when I go out later, I’ll say you’re a bit tired and resting.”
Mo Tan nodded.
“Be safe~” the girl instructed with a smile, her smile clean and gentle.
Whether it was her clear black eyes, her elegant smile, or even the faint concern in her words, everything was so pure, without a hint of impurity.
“Ah, okay,” Mo Tan suddenly felt a little flustered for some reason, then, as if possessed, added: “My friend is a big guy, over 1.9 meters tall, and he’s going back to his hometown to get married.”
Although Yu Cheng didn’t know why he suddenly added that, she still nodded, impressed: “That’s really amazing…”
“Then I’ll go offline now, see you later,” Mo Tan gave two dry laughs, then decisively disconnected.
【You have actively disconnected.
Would you like to reconnect?】
“No connect…”
【Execute wake-up procedure?】
“Execute.”
【Received.
It is now January 21, 2049, 8:34 PM.
You will awaken in one minute.】
One minute later, Mo Tan in the game pod suddenly opened his eyes like a reanimated corpse.
After pushing open the cabin door, he rushed into the bathroom without a word and splashed cold water on his face.
Then, shivering like a grandchild from the cold, he collapsed onto the sofa.
【I must be going crazy…】
He rubbed his hair in distress, his expression utterly defeated.
“Why did I have to add that the friend was a guy, and even flag Cordova to prove my orientation… I really must be going crazy…”
Chapter 156: The End