The sacred mountain blocks the severe cold of the north. The sky, shrouded in mist all year round, is protected by Rosemary's magic. It faithfully keeps all the mist at a higher place. No matter what color the sky changes, Rosemary's sky is always milky white.
The largest temple of light in Beludendi, Naga, and the most famous academy, Cote, are located there, one to the east and the other to the west, forming a natural shield with the magic tower of Landry, which is further south of the city center.
Berudendi is a magical empire, and its level of magic is far beyond that of a martial nation like Pisan. The division of the summoning system alone is far beyond the comprehension of a Pisan.
Ossirena and their target was Kotor Academy, while LAN's target was the Naga Temple. After a rough agreement on their future contact, they parted at the foot of the Landley Tower - Kotor Academy had strict rules and students were not allowed to leave the academy at will before the end of each semester.
Naga is said to be the name of the son of the Light God.
Looking at the temple before him that was glowing with a soft holy glow, its grandeur exceeded LAN's expectations, but it did not give him much shock. The right finger slipped quietly, and a small memory crystal appeared in his hand, which the old village head had given him in advance. After giving the crystal, the old village head did not have any particular requirements, but only told him to do as he wished and not to force himself too much.
Presumably the memory in the crystal has something to do with him, LAN thought.
Step forward and bow to the guardian knight at the temple gate, "Hello, I have come to pay my respects to Richard. The Sith priest."
The guard knight at the door sized LAN carefully, exchanged an affirmative look with his companion on the other side, and said in a very respectful tone, "Please follow me. The Great Priest is waiting for you."
Through the long corridor, there is no denying that the interior of the temple is much darker than it appears, neither the glass lamps at the top nor the gleaming crystal pillars can dispel the darkness in the corridor.
LAN was led to a gate with elaborate patterns, and the knight leading the way indicated that the person he was looking for was waiting for him inside.
Without hesitation, LAN pushed open the door in front of him. The old man inside was very much like the old village chief, not in appearance but in feeling, old, peaceful, not sacred but with an unassailable dignity.
As if aware of someone coming in, the old man opened his eyes slightly, and the quiet air around suddenly flared up, and an invisible pressure arose with the act of opening his eyes.
LAN bowed and just stood there, neither respectful nor proud, completely oblivious to the change of the surroundings.
Seemingly satisfied with the young man's performance, the old man nodded slightly and pointed to the chair beside him, "Sit down." Then he put his palm in front of LAN and said, "Give me something."
With understanding, he handed out the memory crystal in his hand.
The aged palm held the crystal tightly, and from time to time, white light leaked from the fingertips. It was obvious that he was reading the information within the crystal.
"Alex sent you here..." As if remembering something, he paused for a moment, "Alex is the village chief of your village and an old friend of mine... You should have noticed on your way here that the holy light of the temple is fading."
"Yes, it was strange just now. Why is the interior of the temple so dim?" LAN followed the old man's question and raised his own doubts.
"A century of peace and prosperity is over." The old man motioned for the young man to finish speaking, "This happened not long ago. The sacred artifact 'Judgment Sword' kept in the temple of Naga was stolen by the Dark race. On the same day, we also received the news that the Ring of Judgment, which was kept in the magic tower of Landley, had been stolen."
"These two things are not just artifacts," the old man continued. "When combined with the Heart of Alex, they can open the gates of the other world. And the Heart of Alex has been something of the Dark Race since ancient times. It is for this reason that Alex was driven out of the temple of Naga."
"Alex Heart and Alex Village Chief..." LAN didn't want his guess to be true.
"The 'Heart of Alex' is Alex's heart. Unlike humans, demons do not die without a heart. Alex, who grew up in the temple, was found to have no heart and was immediately driven out of the temple..." Suddenly a hint of guilt and relief appeared in the old man's eyes. "He is the child brought back by the previous generation of the great priest. If I hadn't talked too much, he wouldn't have been driven out. Fortunately, he didn't hold a grudge against me and now sent you here to help me."
"..." After a moment of silence, LAN finally understood what the village chief meant by "no need to force", but then thought that if he could get an identity in the Temple of Light, it would be very convenient to go there in the future, even in times of war, no country could restrict or kill neutral clergy. "So what do you need me to do?"
"I hope you can join the temple." The old man gave the answer he had already prepared, and of course he had other plans, such as raising LAN to be his successor, but all on the condition that the young man must enter the temple, and of course it also concerns the issue of faith.
"I will." In the old man's expectant gaze, LAN gave the answer.
"Then first you need to choose the deity you believe in. Of course, since you have chosen the side of light, you cannot choose a deity that is opposed to the god of Light. These things that require ideas will be explained to you in detail by Gasiah later." The old man glanced at LAN. "In a moment, Garcia will take you to the rank test first to determine your rank." Having said that, the old man summoned a very young guardian knight and motioned LAN to follow him. Needless to say, this knight was the Gasiah whom the old man had mentioned several times.
"My full name is Gasiah. Ken, do you want to clarify your faith first or take the rank test first?" A young voice is humble, a young face is respectful, but it gives the impression of being distant.
"LAN, I don't remember what it was originally called." The young man also gave his name, "I think I should first clarify my beliefs."
Although the old village head had told him that a man without faith could not use magic, LAN had never believed in any deity in his heart. At this moment, it was just a matter of routine choice.
When he saw the long list of deities that could turn him into a mummy, LAN was convinced that he had seen a fleeting smile on the face of the knight named Gasiah, who had never thought there would be so many deities in the world. "Gasiah... Do you mind my calling you like that?"
"Yes, may I ask what you want?"
"Could you please give me an introduction to the functions of the gods of the Light sect?" Since it is not a sincere belief, it is better not to offend too powerful gods. Though not afraid of anything, it is really troublesome to be an enemy of the gods. "The more tolerant, the better." He added, not at ease.
Apart from the god of Light, Vino, you can also choose a deity from a non-opposing camp as a secondary faith. However, according to your request, it seems that only the long-missing god of Glory, Inviger, remains. While curious about LAN's requirements for choosing a faith, Gasiah gave a very serious answer: "The god of Glory, Inveg, is one of the six deities that a guardian knight must choose."
"Well, this one." The God of Glory should not be a very powerful god, and he has been missing for a long time to avoid unnecessary trouble.
"Are you really going to choose this deity? That's almost equivalent to giving up a secondary belief, because a missing deity won't give you anything in return." Though not optimistic about the young man who is about to become a priest, since the high priest has commanded himself to take good care of him, he will still do his duty to give appropriate reminders.
"That's exactly what I need." LAN smiled faintly. Even though he didn't understand, he knew that once faith was chosen, if one wanted to change it, one could only choose the opposing camp. The dark deity was willing to accept the fall of light, but the light deity was unable to accept the conversion of darkness.
"Since you have decided, please answer your decision before the gods." Gasiah pointed to the crystal ball in front of the Wall of the gods. "Put your hand on it and recite the prayer in silence."
LAN placed his right hand as he said, and in an instant, the divine light covered his entire body, and he did not recite the prayer. In the divine light, countless voices were heard, and the only word that could be heard clearly was "Neutral one", and then it seemed that the countless voices had communicated with each other for a while, and the god of faith he had chosen had already given him the mark of faith, at the same time, Countless dark voices were also clamoring, but since they had been recognized, it was not so important what they were clamoring about.
"All right," said Gasiah, "if you get approval, God will leave a mark on you."
LAN nodded, knowing that two marks were on his right arm.
"After obtaining the approval of God, you can perform the corresponding divine arts, which of course are determined by your level. Since the God of Glory does not offer any help to his believers at the moment, you only have the divine arts of the God of Light. When you become the 5th Light Priest, you can learn to perform 'protection', and when you become the 10th light priest, You can learn to perform 'Holy Light', the 11th Light Priest will be promoted to sacrifice, the 5th Light Sacrifice can learn to perform 'Exorcism', the 10th Light Sacrifice... Gasiah's introduction suddenly gets stuck.
"The 10th is' Divine Power ', the 15th is' Divine punishment ', and as for the full 20th, no one has reached such a level in thousands of years, so there is no detailed record." LAN took over the topic, "I saw it in the book of the Holy Word promoted by the Temple of Light."
"Then comes the rank test." Gasiah stopped the embarrassing topic. As a guardian knight, he should have been very familiar with these things, but he had forgotten! If the Precepts knew about it, he would surely be punished... There is always a feeling that my destiny will change because of this young man before me.
A little restless, he led LAN to the room for the rank test. "You just need to go in. If you feel unwell, please shake the bell in your hand and the door will open naturally."
"How long can most people stay inside?" LAN suddenly asked curiously.
"The longest stay was three days, or about ten to fifteen minutes for most people." Garcia hesitated for a moment and added, "I stayed for seven hours."
"Oh." LAN responded, his hand already pressed against the door but not immediately pushed it open. "I've never heard of a priest who needs a guardian knight, and the grand priest has entrusted everything to me, an outsider, without asking anything. I guess there must be a plan in mind. Leaving aside the issue of trust, is there no one who doubts my identity? Why is a man of unknown origin and ability suddenly so highly regarded? I am not a pawn in the battle of the gods, and no one in this world can control me."
Having said this, LAN pushed the door open, and the moment he opened it, he knew exactly what kind of test it was.
In the boundless Hell, there is no light and no sound. The only object that can make a sound is held in one's own hand. By shaking it, one can be liberated.
A contest between temptation and will.
Gasia stood at the door, not knowing what to do. He couldn't understand why such a gentle young man would suddenly say these words, but he also found it strange that the priest indeed didn't need a guardian knight, and that there was no prior warning about the young man's matter, and that he had only been informed this morning that he would be entrusted with an important task. He was assigned to the young man named LAN in the afternoon.
It would be impossible to say there were no doubts. But for the first major sacrificial decision, whatever reason can be given will be given. If no reason is mentioned, it is something that cannot be made public, and even if asked, there will be no result. But none of the six priests of the temple came out against it, showing that things were not as simple as he had imagined.
For a full four days, the test room was not opened. On the second day, Sith, the chief priest, came to visit and was very satisfied with the current situation. It was not until the fifth day that the guardian knight, Gasiah, could no longer hold back...