Chapter 121: Pure, Untainted Energy

Chapter 121: Pure, Untainted Energy

In the bustling city of Lake Blue, the Church of Sparkfire stood majestically at the heart of the urban center. Even in a provincial capital where every inch of land was valuable, the Church of Sparkfire occupied a vast expanse of prime real estate. The church buildings were opulent, with walls constructed from expensive marble, exuding an aura of luxury and grandeur.

At this moment, a distinguished guest had arrived in the church's grand reception hall.

Brack and Joris hurried to the hall, only to find Duke Lake Blue sitting on a sofa, his face dark and his untouched cup of tea cooling on the table.

The two exchanged glances, their eyes flickering with concern.

"It's been a while, Your Grace. It's truly an honor to have such a noble guest grace our church with your presence," Joris forced a smile, his words dripping with flattery.

Duke Lake Blue, however, was not in the mood for such pleasantries. His face remained cold as he replied, "I fear that if I don't come now, I might never have the chance again."

Brack chuckled, trying to lighten the mood, "Your Grace, you jest."

But Duke Lake Blue cut him off harshly, "I am not joking!"

He tossed a battle report onto the coffee table.

"In just two months, one earl, three viscounts, and thirteen barons under my command have been killed. And they were all slain by Su Nan, who brazenly stormed into their manors, murdered them, and left without a trace!"

"Now, all the nobles in my territory are living in constant fear, terrified that Su Nan, that butcher, will come for them next. Even I, a duke, feel no sense of security!"

"Before this, what did your church promise me?"

"That you would handle Su Nan, but what was the result?"

"You yourselves are struggling to deal with him, aren't you?"

Brack and Joris's faces turned grim, but they had no counterarguments.

In truth, the Church of Sparkfire had suffered significant losses during this time. Every town where a noble was assassinated saw the local church branch destroyed, with almost all the followers killed.

The continuous bad news had left the two high priests trembling with fear.

Su Nan's displayed strength far exceeded their initial intelligence reports. Even Jensen, who carried a holy artifact, had fallen to Su Nan.

For days, they had been grappling with how to deal with Su Nan and how to explain the situation to High Priest Ovij.

"Your Grace, we admit that we underestimated Su Nan's capabilities. However, please rest assured that High Priest Ovij will soon emerge from his seclusion. With his power, he will surely eliminate Su Nan," Brack said with a solemn expression.

"I hope you keep your word and don't just spout empty promises," Duke Lake Blue's face remained dark, but his tone softened slightly.

"There's one more thing. You previously mentioned that the cost of creating stone golems was high, and Su Nan wouldn't be able to produce them in large numbers. But what about this?"

"Reports from the Somman Province indicate that the Flashing Domain has deployed at least three armies of stone golems on the front lines, each containing two to three hundred golems. That's nearly a thousand stone golems in total, which contradicts what you told me. How do you explain this?"

Brack and Joris exchanged another glance, their eyes filled with shock.

They were not entirely aware of this, as the Church of Sparkfire's influence had not yet extended into the military, and their access to battle reports was slower compared to Duke Lake Blue.

The number of nearly a thousand stone golems was indeed staggering.

During the conflict with Duke Goldrock, the Flashing Domain had barely managed to field two hundred stone golems.

Where did Su Nan acquire the resources to create so many golem puppets?

Joris's eyes suddenly widened, and he blurted out, "The Forest Cottage!"

Brack quickly caught on, nodding in agreement, "Yes, it must be the Forest Cottage supporting Su Nan. Otherwise, the income from the Flashing Domain alone would never be enough to sustain such a large number of golems."

"The Forest Cottage?" Duke Lake Blue's face showed a mix of surprise and uncertainty, "I've heard of this wizard organization, but they are known for their discretion and rarely interfere in the affairs of nations."

Joris sneered, "That might have been true in the past, but it seems Su Nan has likely joined the Forest Cottage. He must have convinced other wizards with something, and they have already destroyed many of our church branches."

"So that's what happened," Duke Lake Blue's expression cleared, understanding dawning on him.

He had heard that the Church of Sparkfire's branches in several cities had been attacked, and he had wondered who was behind it. Now, it made sense that it was the Forest Cottage.

Duke Lake Blue's expression quickly turned sour again.

One Su Nan was already a significant problem, but if the Forest Cottage was involved, could they still handle the situation?

For a moment, Duke Lake Blue regretted his decision.

Had he made a mistake by aligning with the royal family too early?

Perhaps he should have delayed his decision until the situation became clearer!

Seeing the Duke's shift in demeanor, Joris and Brack immediately understood his concerns.

Brack was about to offer some comforting words when a somewhat aged voice suddenly rang in his ear.

"This time, the Forest Cottage was not involved."

Joris and Brack turned around sharply, their faces lighting up with surprise.

"High Priest!"

"You've emerged from your seclusion!"

Standing in the living room was an elderly man with silver hair and a youthful complexion. Despite his age, his skin was taut and his face rosy, making it hard to believe he was a centenarian. Only his pale blue eyes betrayed the weight of years.

He wore a finely crafted star map blue robe that accentuated his composed and vigorous demeanor.

Duke Lake Blue instantly recognized the man as Ovij, the highest-ranking and most powerful High Priest of the Church of Sparkfire, second only to the rarely seen Grand High Priest.

It was said that the royal family's resident wizard had been killed by this High Priest!

A figure even more powerful than a wizard!

Duke Lake Blue stood up.

In the presence of such a formidable individual, even he, a Duke, did not dare to be disrespectful.

"First meeting, Duke Lake Blue."

"I apologize for being in seclusion and unable to welcome you personally."

High Priest Ovij's tone was unexpectedly gentle, devoid of any arrogance.

Duke Lake Blue forced a smile. "High Priest, you are too kind."

Pausing, he couldn't help but ask, "What did you mean by your earlier statement?"

High Priest Ovij smiled slightly. "I once engaged in combat with a wizard from the Forest Cottage. They were only after a specific holy artifact of our church, not out to oppose us. In this war, the other wizards of the Forest Cottage will not get involved."

"I see," Duke Lake Blue sighed in relief. "What about Su Nan?"

"Rest assured, Duke Lake Blue. I will personally deal with Su Nan."

"Su Nan is the backbone of the Flashing Domain. Once he is eliminated, the Flashing Domain will no longer be a threat."

Hearing High Priest Ovij's personal assurance, Duke Lake Blue visibly relaxed, his smile becoming more genuine.

"Then I leave it in your capable hands, High Priest Ovij!"

"I await your good news!"

In a quiet room, Su Nan focused intently on the book in his hands.

This was the holy artifact he had obtained from Jensen. Later, he learned from other Church of Sparkfire followers that it was called the Book of Stars.

The other golden beetle, known as the Golden Beetle, was also a holy artifact of the Church of Sparkfire.

While continuously assassinating nobles in Lake Blue Province and destroying branches of the Church of Sparkfire, Su Nan had also taken the time to study these two holy artifacts.

His efforts had not been in vain; he made some intriguing discoveries.

Generally, holy artifacts contained divine grace.

The Book of Stars and the Golden Beetle were no exception.

Su Nan had extracted two threads of divine grace from them.

He opened his palm, and two fine, hair-like golden threads floated above it, intertwining and swirling like a graceful dance. Tiny specks of light sprinkled around, creating a beautiful scene.

One of the threads was notably thicker, extracted from the Book of Stars.

Divine Grace, 1 (2) Standard Units: Pure energy containing a faith imprint, with the potential to cause mental corruption. Absorbing it can alter one's thoughts and perceptions, leading to a fervent and fanatical belief in the source of divine energy.

Divine grace, in essence, was a form of divine energy, purified by a deity.

Its purity rivaled that of soul energy.

However, like soul energy, divine energy had a significant drawback: it contained the faith imprint of the deity.

If absorbed, the soul would inevitably be corrupted by this faith, gradually turning the absorber into a devoted, even fanatical, follower of the deity.

This corruption was more severe than the contamination caused by absorbing different souls.

Absorbing different souls might lead to conflicts in consciousness, thoughts, memories, and emotions, resulting in mental confusion and loss of sanity. However, the individual's will would still be the dominant force, retaining most of their self-awareness.

Faith corruption, on the other hand, would forcibly twist the absorber's will and perceptions, making them a loyal and fanatical follower of the deity.

Even if your memories remain the same and you appear to be a normal person, your consciousness, thoughts, and emotions will undergo tremendous changes, turning you into a puppet devoid of free will, with the deity as your ultimate authority.

For a wizard or apprentice who seeks self-discovery and truth, this is absolutely intolerable.

Between becoming a madman and becoming a puppet, a wizard or apprentice would rather choose the former.

However, what surprised Su Nan was that the two threads of divine grace he extracted from the Book of Stars and the Golden Beetle, while still containing faith imprints, gave him a very mechanical feeling.

It was as if they had lost their controller and were now operating according to a predetermined program.

This was somewhat similar to the golems in the wizarding tradition.

"If the deity behind this divine grace has already fallen, the divine grace and the faith imprint within it should have completely dissipated."

"Since the divine grace and faith imprint still exist, it means the deity behind them is still alive, or at least hasn't completely fallen."

"Sealed? Dormant?"

Su Nan shook his head.

From what he knew, the Church of Sparkfire had only existed for less than fifty years.

Before that, the so-called Star Deity had very little influence.

Such an extremely weak and almost non-existent faith could not sustain most deities for a thousand years, even in a sealed or dormant state.

Su Nan was puzzled for a moment.

What exactly was the Star Deity behind the Church of Sparkfire?

After a moment of thought, Su Nan shook his head and stopped dwelling on this question, turning his attention to another matter.

While divine grace had many drawbacks, they all stemmed from the faith imprint.

In other words, if the faith imprint could be removed, the divine grace would become truly pure, uncontaminated energy, suitable for absorption to increase mental power.

This was different from soul contamination, where the consciousness, memories, thoughts, and emotions are inseparable parts of the soul. Unless the entire soul is destroyed, they cannot be removed.

However, faith imprints can be removed.

This characteristic of divine grace is why so many wizards eagerly hunt deities, aiming to extract their divine energy, purify it, and use it to increase mental power.

Ordinary wizard apprentices, including Su Nan himself, could not remove faith imprints.

But he had the Synthesis Cube!

The Synthesis Cube, while merging and enhancing similar items, also weakens and eventually eliminates their side effects.

The dragon blood and divine blood amber were examples of this.

Given this, the Synthesis Cube should be able to eliminate the side effects of divine grace as well.

"If the Synthesis Cube can root out the faith erosion from divine blood amber, there's no reason it can't do the same for divine grace."

Su Nan opened the Synthesis Cube and placed the two threads of divine grace inside.

Instantly, the synthesis interface displayed new items and information.

Divine Energy, 3 Standard Units: Pure energy containing a weak faith imprint, with mild mental contamination. Absorption will cause slight changes in thought and perception, leading to a growing fervent belief in the source of divine energy.

"Indeed, it works!"

Su Nan's eyes lit up.

Compared to the divine grace before synthesis, the description of the divine energy after synthesis included the prefix "weak" before the faith imprint and "mild" before the mental contamination.

This confirmed that the side effects of divine grace could indeed be weakened through synthesis!

With this, he could acquire more holy artifacts, extract more divine grace, and synthesize it into completely uncontaminated divine energy, which he could then absorb to increase his mental power!

A delighted smile spread across Su Nan's face.

Now he had another way to increase his mental power!

It seemed he was really going to clash with the Church of Sparkfire!

Without choosing to synthesize, Su Nan closed the Synthesis Cube and placed the divine grace back into his spatial ring. He then took out the divine blood amber.

Over the past few days, he had destroyed several branches of the Church of Sparkfire, acquiring over ten divine blood ambers, all of which he immediately synthesized into the higher-grade divine blood amber, further enhancing his meditation efficiency.

Just two days ago, he successfully constructed the thirteenth star ring.

His mental power had also increased to 38.13.

"Only five more star rings to go!"

The level 14 Star Ring Meditation Technique required an astounding 1.5 million points of proficiency to level up.

"Currently, I gain about 4,300 points of proficiency per day through meditation. It will take roughly twelve months to construct the fourteenth star ring."

"However, if I can use divine energy to increase my mental power, it should significantly reduce the time needed."

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end