Each Star someone possessed permanently increased their physical strength by condensing highly concentrated and refined mana into their body through the stars.
Thankfully, Carlos was an average man and had not condensed a single star yet, that meant a broken leg for him was not equal to a broken leg for Seraphina.
When Seraphina took upon his injury, she barely felt anything at all, which was not surprising considering the difference between them.
However, maybe it was unfortunate that Carlos was weak, as he would not have been injured in the first place had he been stronger.
After 'healing' him, Seraphina whacked the idiot's bottom until it became red, and even though he had begged her to heal his bottom, she had lent his pleas her deafest ear.
Then, she advised Mairie to discipline her husband well, or they would always be the last one in line and there would be no exception like this time.
After all was done, Seraphina went out of the chamber as there were still a lot of people to take care of.
....
Healing a dozen more people was not a very long task for Seraphina and she quickly finished it in less than an hour.
Next on her agenda came the prayers and the offerings.
The current High Priestess was inside the Sanctuary, a dedicated place where she could perform
Seraphina knelt in front of a tall and rectangular structure with hand carvings. This monument was built partly from red and shimmering diamond-like stones—Power stones, and gold.
This table-like structure was the Altar of Seraphina's church.
As it was built from Power Stones, the Altar did not have a very smooth surface due to Power Stones being impossible to carve or mold. The gold in the Altar had been melted for its construction and acted as some kind of glue, stitching the Power Stones with each others.
The Altar was undoubtedly durable considering the materials it was made from. So durable in fact that it not only predates Seraphina's birth but also Alequessa's entire history.
'May the rest of my day go smoothly and be filled with happiness...' prayed Seraphina earnestly.
She stayed in the same position for a while before getting up and taking out a heavy and golden cup from her leather pouch.
This "cup" was the High Priestess' chalice and it was made out of the purest of gold!
Seraphina placed her golden chalice on the altar before picking up a small knife she had left on the altar previously.
That chalice was not just a mere decoration, as part of the ritual, it needed to be filled with the highest quality of wine in tribute to the Deliverer of ancient times, the one chosen by the Supreme Being to guide humans.
But this wine was....EXPENSIVE! It cost up to SIX WHOLE GOLD COINS!
Depending on the season and how the harvests went, it could get more or less expensive, anywhere from three golds up to ten golds was possible and that, just to fill the chalice.
Alongside this expensive wine, Seraphina also needed to make an offering in the form of a magical treasure or magic imbued resources, which could cost as much or even more than the absurdly priced wine.
Seraphina's church activities more than certainly cost a whole lot of money—money she would much rather spend on feeding the supplicants.
There was no way she could consistently gather all this money while also taking care of her church, so the brilliant little girl with her bright little mind had come up with another one of her plans.
*Pshh!*
Using the small knife she had picked up, Seraphina made a clean incision on her forearm, letting red droplets splash inside the golden chalice.
Those red droplets were her blood!
The wine inside the chalice was supposed to be a substitute representing the Deliverer's blood, so Seraphina using her own blood as substitute for the wine should be theoretically correct, right?
Seraphina was not a masochist and did not like to hurt herself, but this option truly brought too many benefits to pass. First, her blood was already her possession and it was completely free, unlike the outrageously priced wine!
Next came the offerings,
Seraphina gathered her light-elemental mana inside her eyes and locked her gaze on the insides of the chalice. Her blood that was at first red, like when she got bitten by that rabbit, suddenly became a light pink in her view!
Each time someone condensed a new Star, tremendous changes would occur to their body, but the star that produced the biggest effect was the 4th Star.
The first three stars only imbued a being's outer shell—like skin or scales, with mana. However, from the 4th Star and onwards, the inner part of a being previously untouched, would receive magic refinement after magic refinement.
For humans, this stage started at the fourth Star with their very own blood!
As blood flowed everywhere throughout the body, the physical enhancement it brought was incomparable to the first three Stars.
Natural defenses, memory improvement, senses and intelligence enhancement, nearly undepletable stamina, physical boost....
The list of advantages the fourth star brought could go on and on without stopping for at least an hour, truly showing how fundamentally different it was from the previous three which only did some minor changes.
It was not an exaggeration to say that upon condensing the fourth Star, one would not be considered a human anymore as it was such a big leap from the third Star.
Naturally, very few could actually reach this level—even reaching the third Star was already extremely rare as the vast majority of people could not form more than 2 Stars.
However, inside the Church three stars were a common occurrence with four stars only being a slight oddity.
Though Seraphina's methods were a bit unorthodox, it was not something unseen inside the Church to offer one's own blood as offering.
*Shiiing*
The altar shone with an amber light coming from the material it was made of, as if it was accepting her offering.
Well, it did, in fact, accept her offering as Seraphina's blood was rich of her light-element mana, causing it to turn lighter if one looked on with magic-enhanced eyes.
The altar flashed three more times before its amber light finally dimmed and disappeared without a trace.
Seraphina took back her chalice—which was devoid of any blood, and put it back inside her leather pouch.
Through some complex magic arrays engraved in the altar, her blood had been sent to the Grand Cathedral at the heart of the Empire.
What they did with it was really not her business...
Anyways, after completing her weekly offerings, Seraphina performed a regeneration spell over her damaged forearm.
The light-elemental particles gathered around the precise and clean cut she had made before stitching her skin back together like threads of gold sewing two pieces of cloth.
Fully regenerated, Seraphina went out of the Sanctuary intending to take a short nap before resuming her duties.
However,
"High Priestess! The Lord of Alequessa wants to have a meeting with you!" a masculine voice said, shattering Seraphina's wish of napping.