What in the world is going on…
Mo Tan sat on the ground, momentarily bewildered. The increased attributes and talents in his character panel clearly proved that everything before was not an illusion or a daydream, but that the Dawn Goddess seemed to have truly just wanted to chat with an Otherworlder. Everything she said to him was completely irrelevant and had no beginning or end…
He would think about it later when he had time. Perhaps when he was in another personality, he might be more interested in these things, but for now, he would rather live a little easier, what's wrong with that?
The old priest, who had been occasionally observing him, quickly walked over and asked Mo Tan, who had just gotten up from the ground, with concern, “Are you alright? If I’m not mistaken… you were blessed by the Goddess just now?”
Mo Tan was slightly stunned, but then he immediately remembered the substantial holy light that had lingered around him when he first regained consciousness. From the other party’s slightly excited reaction, it was clear that this was not a normal phenomenon; at the very least, it had to be a membership-level light effect…
Hmm, it seems the Dawn Goddess still thinks highly of him.
“I don’t know if that counts as a blessing,” Mo Tan replied while deliberating in his mind. “Just now, I seemed to hear the Goddess’s voice, and then I felt much better mentally, and my whole body felt quite comfortable.”
Saying that increasing Intelligence and Constitution by three points each felt “quite comfortable” should be fine, right?
Sure enough, the old priest immediately became excited. Upon hearing this, he immediately pulled and dragged Mo Tan into the prayer room behind the church, asking with a trembling woolen beard, “What did the Goddess tell you?”
Was he so excited that his dialect came out…
For some reason, Mo Tan suddenly thought of that dog-girl whose ‘woof’ even seemed to have an accent~
Tsk tsk, what a huge difference!
“Uh, what did the Goddess tell me…” Mo Tan suddenly blushed inexplicably, then scratched his hair awkwardly, “It’s quite hard to say.”
Clang!
Without another word, the old priest directly knelt on a nearby cushion towards the statue of the deity, which was always shrouded in a layer of holy light. He trembled as he performed three bows and nine kowtows, then began mumbling things like ‘Goddess! Forgive me!’ ‘I really didn’t mean to!’ ‘I didn’t think anything!’ ‘Goddess, you are magnanimous, please don’t give me any divine punishment!’ ‘My heart of faith is pure!’
Mo Tan: “?…!!!”
He suddenly found this old man a bit cute.
After a long while, the old priest finally stood up with a pale face. He looked up at the ceiling, confirmed that there seemed to be no sign of divine retribution, then turned to Mo Tan and twitched his lips, “Son, try to think before you speak from now on…”
【You’re the one who came up with some weird fantasy, aren’t you?! Is it my fault?!】
Though he thought this, Mo Tan certainly wouldn’t say it. He just nodded solemnly, then spread his hands and said, “The Goddess thinks I’m too weak, and traveling the world… I mean, traveling the continent with my meager skills, would easily embarrass her.”
Here comes the important part~
Mo Tan’s words just now could indeed be considered the truth in some sense. After all, the Dawn Goddess did say that he needed to temper his spirit and body, which meant she wanted him to become stronger. And why did she need him to become stronger? Naturally, it was because Mo Tan wasn’t strong enough. What does not strong enough mean? It means weak!
So, there’s nothing wrong with that!
Like most of them, Mo Tan occasionally had a dark side, trying to scheme for some benefits for himself…
“Too weak?” The old priest blinked twice and said with some difficulty, “Well, as believers of the Goddess, shouldn’t the most important thing be to remain steadfast and devout, and to extend a helping hand to those in suffering and lost lambs? As for strength, it should also be a gradual understanding…” This…
Mo Tan shrugged: “I don’t know what the Goddess is thinking.”
“Hmm… Hmm…” The old priest nodded repeatedly. “The will of the gods is not something we mortals can casually speculate upon. Hmm, let me think.”
He stood there pondering for a while, then walked to a cabinet in the corner of the prayer room, carefully took out a scroll of neva fao's manuscript from it, and reverently handed it to Mo Tan.
“This was left by my godfather back then,” the old priest said with a smile. “He was a very powerful Discipline Priest in his youth. This neva fao's manuscript records some of his insights into faith and divine magic. My talent in this area is quite dull, so I will entrust it to you for safekeeping from now on. Perhaps this is also the will of the Goddess…”
Here it comes!
This is the rhythm: by some serendipitous chance, he is bestowed with a secret art by a white-bearded old man. The seemingly ordinary cultivation method contains a hidden opportunity to slay gods and demons, just like the max-level Wild Boxing that slays anyone in its path, or the Dugu Nine Swords that breaks all martial arts. At this moment, Mo Tan’s heart was excited, his hands were trembling, and he felt as if he had eaten a golden fertilizer—!
White-bearded old man! An old, simple neva fao's manuscript! The white-bearded old man’s godfather, who might be a reclusive master!
All the conditions are met!
He reached out to take it, looked down…
【Neva Fao’s Manuscript】
Special Item
Use: Learn Skill: Law Decree Shield; Activate/Complete Class Quest — Discipline Priest
Quest Conditions: 【Perform 20 Critical Heals 0/20】, 【Pray Devoutly 0/20】, 【Cast Law Decree Shield on Friendly Targets 0/30】, 【Priest Level 2/15】, 【Holy Light Lore Level 1/7】
Reward: Obtain Class 【Discipline Priest】
【Note: A neva fao's manuscript left by Neva Fao during his lifetime. Mr. Faao was an ordinary, kind, not-very-ambitious, and not-yet-free-from-low-brow-tastes person. His life was unremarkable… so there’s nothing much to say.】
If there’s nothing to say, why are you saying so much?! Are you crazy?!
Mo Tan’s heart roared. It seemed that Mr. Faao’s unremarkable life had dealt him a heavy blow…
However, if you disregard his previously unreliable thoughts… conjectures, this item is actually quite good. After all, in the game Wu Zui Zhi Jie, players can have multiple classes. And for Mo Tan, whose original class is Priest, gaining a new class in the same system but a different direction would obviously be beneficial.
To give a simple example, if a player who primarily focuses on the Warrior class obtains the Mage class through a fortuitous encounter, it would be difficult for him to learn many skills that require high intelligence, unless he diligently trains his Mage level. But in that case, his strength would easily fall behind…
Therefore, in the early to mid-game, having more and more varied classes doesn't necessarily mean being stronger. After all, not every bald man is named Kratos, and not every high-level player is a master of all specializations.
Moreover, after some classes level up, they not only fail to fully increase attributes, but may even deduct existing attribute points. After all, powerful archmages generally don't have very strong strength attributes, and elusive rangers are rarely burly men…
Of course, we are talking about conventional situations… conventional situations…
And in this world, there will always be some unreasonable people, and there’s nothing anyone can do about that~
Hmm, I accidentally went off on a tangent for a while. Let’s get back to the topic.
Although it's quite unrealistic for Mo Tan to complete this class quest in a short time given his current level and Holy Light Lore, it's not without any immediate benefits. At least he can still learn a skill right away, right…
【Law Decree Shield】
Holy Light School Active Skill
Mastery Requirement: Holy Light Lore Level 1
Cost/Restriction: 20 Faith Points
Effect: Creates an absorption shield for the target that is unaffected by any attributes, absorbing a small amount of damage and reducing all damage taken by 5% for 30 seconds. Cooldown: 30 seconds.
【Note: Go! That warrior, go take more damage for me! In the name of the Goddess, charge forward and get beaten up!】
Compared to the two support skills Mo Tan had already mastered, this damage absorption shield with a cooldown of only 30 seconds was clearly very cost-effective.
“Thank you, I will take good care of it,” Mo Tan said gratefully to the old priest as he put Faao’s notes into his bag. “If I can fully comprehend it one day, I will return it to you then.”
The old priest stroked his snowy woolen beard and smiled, “The Goddess guides you to pursue power, and I happen to have a divine magic manuscript from my godfather’s lifetime. It seems all of this is the arrangement of fate.”
This is the good thing about dealing with God’s followers: no matter what happens, they can explain it with phrases like ‘the Goddess’s guidance’ or ‘the arrangement of fate,’ never taking things too seriously.
(PS: But please, absolutely do not get the idea of throwing your boyfriend/girlfriend into church life for a period of time. Any extreme consequences resulting from such behavior are unrelated to the author.)
The two continued to praise the Dawn Goddess for a while, then Mo Tan received a series of messages from Shuang Ye, the general meaning of which was that if he was online, he should return to the outpost immediately, as it seemed there was some trouble.
It was still early, not yet Mo Tan’s planned character-switching time, so he quickly bid farewell to the old priest, replied to Shuang Ye’s message, and jogged back to the barracks as quickly as possible.
Before he even reached the outpost, Mo Tan noticed that the atmosphere around him was somewhat tense. The Autonomous Army soldiers, usually few and far between, seemed to have suddenly increased in number, and everyone’s expressions were a bit grim…
He walked quickly for a while and soon saw the members of Fenrir Squad standing not far away, all present. They were gathered around Ned, discussing something animatedly. Shuang Ye stood a bit further away. Upon seeing Mo Tan, she immediately waved to him and then turned to say a few words to Ned.
“You’re finally here.” Ned strode over, nodding to Mo Tan. “Emergency mission. Burning Point Squad, who were on patrol today, haven’t reported back yet. The higher-ups want all squads to search as quickly as possible. We’re responsible for the area Southwest of Dieyan City. Get ready to depart.”
Yinna, who had walked over with him, rolled her eyes and mumbled, pouting, “I don’t know what those ‘higher-ups’ are thinking, making such a fuss just because a routine patrol is late…”
“Exactly,” the Lizardmen Monk Salazar said as he slipped his hands into his gauntlets and walked over. “They probably just ran off to drink and slack somewhere. It’s a waste of my time.”
Krab, however, seemed quite excited. He lifted his seemingly heavy great axe and laughed, “It wouldn’t be bad if we ran into some trouble; it’d be a good chance to stretch our muscles!”
“If you jinx it again…” Ned glared at him, “I’ll stretch your muscles first.”
Krab immediately cowered. He was quite fierce when occasionally bickering with Salazar, but he had never been seen joking around with Ned; he seemed quite afraid of him.
“Krab and Salazar had a fight when they first arrived~” Yinna secretly whispered into Mo Tan’s ear, “The captain beat them both up, and then those two troublemakers became obedient.”
Mo Tan suddenly understood; it turned out to be a forceful suppression…
“Alright, since Black Vatican is here, let’s not delay.” Ned said in a deep voice, “I also think the order from above is a bit inexplicable, but since we’re taking their money and living on their territory, we have to do our job when it’s time to work. Let’s go.”
With that, the group, in a mighty… scattered… leisurely manner, left the city.
Mo Tan noticed that at least three or four squads were heading in roughly the same direction as his group, and even more teams were heading separately towards the west and south, appearing very purposeful.
“It seems this emergency situation was anticipated by those ‘higher-ups,’” Shuang Ye, who had circled around to Mo Tan’s side at some point, whispered. “The purpose is too obvious.”
Mo Tan shrugged and turned his head to ask her, “What exactly is the situation?”
“It’s just what the captain said earlier,” Shuang Ye pushed up her glasses and spread her hands. “I also received the notification while wandering around the Mage Guild, and then I immediately told you to come over. Luckily, you were online.”
“Hmm, I’ve been quite busy lately…”
The two chatted idly like this, and soon the squad left Dieyan City and began exploring towards the Northwest. Geographically, this should be the very edge of Marshall Territory. Because it wasn't an official road and there was no commercial exchange with the other territory beyond the border, it was very deserted, with hardly any pedestrians in sight.
Of course, while they said they were searching, everyone was just walking and chatting. After all, no one believed that the other squad would actually run into any trouble. Even Ned was just yawning, planning to quickly make a round and then go back to report.
But usually, at times like this, something is about to happen, for example…
“Help!!”
Bang!!!
Ned moved like lightning, kicking Krab several meters away with a whip kick, cursing, “Your damn mouth should be sewn shut! All units, prepare for combat, prepare for rescue!!”
Whoosh!
A fist-sized fireball rose from Shuang Ye’s palm, followed by an oval halo appearing beside her.
Turning his head, Mo Tan had already cast a Tenacity Prayer on Ned, the flickering light from his fingertips illuminating the slightly dim ground under the setting sun.
“Everyone be careful.”
Chapter 28: End
