Candles were lit, portraits hung high, vivid carpets were laid, and religious ornaments were scattered all around—this was a spacious office. Seated behind a desk piled high with official documents was Amanda, clad in cardinal-red robes, leaning back in her chair with her brows tightly furrowed. Across from her, on the other side of the desk, stood a ghostly figure of a nun. "Your Excellency, something seems off. Inside and outside the Church, rumors are spreading that the Church will be dispatching Sister Vania as a special envoy to Addus to resolve the heretical crisis there. Not just secular newspapers, but even internal publications like The Gospel and The Redemption News are reporting the same. The news about Sister Vania going to Addus is spreading rapidly overnight—it reeks of a carefully orchestrated move from behind the scenes.” The ghostly nun spoke with a somewhat grave and serious tone. Hearing her words, Amanda exhaled lightly before continuing. “Of course it’s orchestrated. Hilbert. I didn’t expect he’d go as far as stirring up this kind of momentum just to box me in. This time, I let my guard down.” Amanda said slowly, clearly caught somewhat off-guard by the present developments. “I didn’t expect the nobles of Addus to send their plea for help at such a perfectly timed moment. Their letter came neither too early nor too late—just in time to let Hilbert pull a maneuver on me at the last Cardinal Council. Things are getting a little complicated now…” Rubbing her temples, Amanda muttered with a heavy tone. The ghostly nun once again spoke up. “Then what should we do now, Your Excellency? Are we really going to let Sister Vania go to Addus? That situation isn’t something she’s equipped to handle.” “She has to go,” Amanda said sternly. “Hilbert seized the opportunity, aligning his media campaign with our own promotional messaging and thrusting that little nun into the center of the storm. In this situation, she must make the trip to Addus.” From a strategic point of view, the little nun would have to go, no matter what outcome awaited her. It was better than forcibly holding her back. “From this moment forward, begin assembling the envoy delegation to Addus. Allocate as much security detail as possible. While we can’t expect her to accomplish much, we can at least ensure her safe return.” Amanda continued, aware of the chaos and danger in Addus. Without strong protection, a trip there could prove deadly. Even if she returned empty-handed, the worst that could happen would be a dent in her influence. But if something happened to her… “Yes, I’ll take care of that. However, in terms of security… it seems Hilbert’s influence is already deeply involved in that aspect. Do you have any other plans, Your Excellency?” With a serious tone, the ghostly nun posed her question. Amanda narrowed her eyes slightly, a hint of contemplation flashing within. … Northern Shore of the Conquest Sea, Ivengard. At night, in the large coastal city of Adria, the lights of the city began to illuminate the skyline as darkness descended. The reflection of those lights across the river water split the nighttime view into twin realms—above and below the surface—bestowing a unique splendor upon the city, famed for its focus on tourism. Inside a private dining room of a high-end restaurant, Dorothy, wearing a delicate evening dress, sat and admired the beautiful scenery outside the window. Before her lay a thick book—The Literary Sea Logbook. The open page held her most recent exchange with Vania. As she enjoyed the view, Dorothy pondered their conversation. “Rachel Valley, the holy site where the Holy Mother first descended to the mortal world, has a giant tree similar to the one on Summer Tree Island… And the cathedral is built beneath it, which is strikingly similar to the offering grounds under the sacred tree of Summer Tree… On top of that, considering Adele’s teacher’s old homeland—once a place of Abundance worship—was converted into a Holy Mother cathedral, the connection between Holy Mother worship and the concept of Abundance seems extremely tight. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎 “Rachel Valley’s Holy Mother Sanctuary might once have been a temple of the Goddess of Abundance, likely on a scale far more significant and central than Summer Tree—perhaps even the main temple. “According to the Radiance Scripture, Rachel Valley is where the Holy Mother descended. After the Radiant Savior split into the Three Saints, the Holy Mother was the first to appear here, defeating the Southern Beast that came from the sea… “And that Southern Beast… it’s difficult not to pay attention to it—conception, water, disease, devouring, temptation, flesh and blood… In the scripture’s description, the Southern Beast possesses nearly all the authorities associated with Chalice. Its image overlaps heavily with the Mother of Chalice. *If the Southern Beast really is the Mother of Chalice, then how did the Holy Mother, merely a dual-aspect deity of Lantern and Chalice, manage to defeat her? The Goddess of Abundance, the Mother of Chalice, the Holy Mother… Three deities related to Chalice—all entangled in a web of unclear, mysterious relations… What exactly is the connection between them? It’s so hard to figure out…” Resting her chin in one hand, Dorothy mused silently. Among the three goddesses—two were pure Chalice deities: the former and current Pure-Color Deities of Chalice. The other, the Holy Mother, was a dual-path deity of Lantern and Chalice. Logically speaking, the connection between the Goddess of Abundance and the Mother of Chalice made sense. But why did the Holy Mother, a Lantern-aligned goddess, get so closely involved? Gazing out at the night beyond the window, Dorothy turned her thoughts back toward the contents of The Literary Sea Logbook—particularly the most crucial part: Vania had finally advanced. Under the Church’s direct guidance, Vania had successfully advanced to the White Ash-rank of the Holy Mother Path at the Redemption Cathedral in the Holy Land. She had risen from a Healing Prayer Priest to a Grace Presbyter. The Grace Presbyter—that is the official title of a White Ash-rank Beyonder on the Path of the Holy Mother. Compared to a Healing Prayer Priest, a Grace Presbyter not only gains an overall enhancement in their Lantern and Chalice capabilities but also receives further boosts to their healing power and gains several new abilities. Compared to their lower-ranked counterpart, the Grace Presbyter heals wounds more efficiently and can, through a simplified “grace-bestowing” rite, touch any non-resisting recipient to apply a blessing mark. With this mark, the Presbyter can remotely monitor the recipient’s vital signs—whether they are injured or dead. The mark also acts as a beacon, allowing the Presbyter to track their location in real time. If the marked recipient is within a one-kilometer radius, the Grace Presbyter can perform remote healing. Should the recipient be within their line of sight, the effect of the healing will be even stronger. Beyond healing, the Grace Presbyter can also apply buffs—empowering the recipient with passive abilities equivalent to a first-stage Lantern and first-stage Chalice enhancement. This lets ordinary people or Beyonders lacking such affinities experience these powers. Additionally, the blessing grants some resistance against disease and poison, and can outright dispel lighter afflictions. Lastly, one of the more curious capabilities is the ability to bestow grace upon non-corporeal entities like ghosts—partially materializing them and making them vulnerable to physical attacks. Such entities usually react strongly against this transformation, fleeing immediately due to the extreme discomfort it causes. Thus, it serves as an effective method of spirit-banishing. Notably, this transformation does not grant the ghost a full corporeal body or resurrect it. Instead, it generates a mass of rotting flesh bound tightly to the ghost’s spiritual body, essentially imprisoning it. The ghost cannot control this flesh cage, and any damage to it harms the ghost as well—making this so-called “grace” a deadly curse to incorporeal entities, and a potent weapon in the Church’s arsenal against them. “Grace Presbyter… it does seem like a solid path at the White Ash rank. Not only does it provide remote location tracking and vital sign detection, but also remote healing. “The detection range for tracking and diagnostics is several hundred kilometers, and the healing range is up to one kilometer… pretty respectable. The drawback, though, is that to use these abilities, a grace rite must be performed beforehand. You can’t just heal someone at will without first marking them. “This grace mark is somewhat like my Marionette Mark—typically usable only on allies. That makes it hard to use against enemies. As a result, it’s not very useful in combat situations. “That might not be a big issue for most Grace Presbyters, since their role in the Church is basically to support. But for someone like Vania—who can weaponize healing—that’s definitely a limitation. It means she can’t heal enemies from afar to harm them. She’d need to get close and touch a wound to worsen it. “And then there’s that fascinating ability to materialize incorporeal entities with a grotesque grace—basically turning phantoms into bloody targets. You “bless” a wraith and then boom—gun it down. Turn ghost horror into gore horror. Now that’s a fun power.” Dorothy mused as she examined Vania’s handwriting in the Literary Sea Logbook. Among all the newly acquired abilities, the one that intrigued her the most was the “grace” which seemed more like a curse—weaponizing healing to punish the intangible. Up until now, mundane weapons like guns and explosives still made up a big part of Dorothy’s arsenal, but they were useless against spirits. With this ability, ghost-busting via gunfire suddenly became viable. “Vania’s new abilities after her advancement aren’t bad at all… not a waste of all the preparation we put in. That ritual went off without a hitch.” Dorothy murmured softly. To prevent mishaps, she and Vania had prepared extensively in advance. For instance, to pass the spirituality screenings conducted in the Holy Land, Vania had purged all spiritual affinities from her body except Chalice and Lantern, just in case the random spiritualities gained from Reading Methods drew suspicion. To do so, they employed various meaningless rituals to drain spirituality—for example, divination rituals that consume Lantern and Revelation. Even failed divinations, if they activated only one spiritual path, would still consume that spirituality. Dorothy had Vania perform failed divinations repeatedly to exhaust the Revelation spirituality accumulated through reading. Of course, not all the divinations failed. Many were proper “Lantern + Revelation” rituals, which they used to scry into topics Dorothy was interested in—such as the Eight-Spired Nest, Wolf Blood Society, Abyssal Church, Dark Gold Society, Nether Coffin Order, and other heretical groups. Unsurprisingly, all attempts were blocked—but the effort still rattled those cults and stirred up the Revelation market, sending prices soaring again. Had it not been necessary to ensure Vania was in full Lantern state for her promotion, Dorothy would’ve gladly burned all her Revelation on these scryings. Vania had accumulated over twenty points—more than enough to give those cults a headache. Now that Vania was free of all spiritualities except Lantern and Chalice, regaining others later would be easy with the Reading Method. So Dorothy wasn’t too worried about limiting her future flexibility. Seated in her booth, Dorothy took another sip of coffee. After finishing Vania’s entries, she turned the page in the Logbook and came upon another—this one penned by Nephthys. And it wasn’t just Vania who had made progress lately. As expected, Nephthys had made headway too. After over a week of urgent courier deliveries, the rest of Davis’ notes had finally arrived from Tivian to Adria. From her grandfather’s updated writings, Nephthys had finally uncovered the advancement ritual for the White Ash rank of the Body Possession Path. According to the later entries in Davis’ notebook, the White Ash advancement of the Body Possession Path required a specific location—a graveyard rich in lingering spirits and saturated with Silence spirituality. The ritual also required three bone fragments sealed with Black Earth-rank souls, and the practitioner had to suppress a White Ash-rank soul within themselves before the ritual could succeed. Davis made it clear in his notes: most White Ash or higher Body Possession advancements demanded a spiritual field dense with death energy—typically found in genocide sites, ancient battlefields, and disaster ruins. But most of these were controlled either by official mystical organizations or the Nether Coffin Order. Only two free locations were known to exist beyond their reach. One was the wild and spirit-rich New Continent’s Forest of Wildshade. The other, the North Ufigan Ancient Tombs, filled with human souls sacrificed for burial rites.