Path of light

Chapter 15 15. Blessing Ceremony

Under the dazzling sunshine,

Roy ran on the stone-paved street.

Pedestrians on the road all set their eyes on Roy, leaving behind only his figure exuding infinite vitality.

Pass through several side streets before entering the lower city.

Roy rushed into the narrow streets of the lower city and didn't notice a thin elf hiding in the alley next to him. His hair was greasy and his eyes were full of red bloodshot eyes. He looked at the passers-by on the street warily. Looks like a homeless bum.

There was a dagger stuck between his belt and belly, staring at Roy's back.

After a while, he retreated into the narrow alley.

…

Compared with the bustling uptown area, the buildings here are older and the streets are narrower.

Even the drainage ditches on both sides of the street have become one. In some places, even the stone slabs covering the ditch have disappeared, and dirt can be clearly seen inside from the outside.

Especially on rainy days, the rainwater collected in the upper city washes down the slopes, and the smelly sludge in the culverts will wash all over the streets.

The buildings here are very crowded, and clothes of various colors are drying on the roof of each house.

This is the living area of ​​civilian elves, and the environment here is worse than Brown Street next to the port.

Brown Street is considered the edge of Castleton City, close to the port pier. At least the buildings there are not as crowded as this one.

There are poor people among the elves too, and there are not a few of them.

Many young elves will leave their hometown after graduating from the academy.

It took almost an hour to run from the Elf Academy to the Temple of Liberty.

Roy's legs were so tired that he felt like the air in his lungs was salty.

When he arrived at the entrance of the temple, Roy saw that the large iron gate at the entrance was open, and some believers were walking towards the courtyard from the outside.

Roy followed the flow of people into the courtyard of the temple.

Trainee priest Abt was standing at the gate of the main hall. When he saw Roy, he said quickly:

"Roy, Priest Reed said that if you come, you should go to the back study to find him."

"knew!"

Roy shouted back.

Walking around a row of cypress trees on the side, Roy walked into his lounge.

Opening the closet, he took off his sweaty clothes and hung them on the hangers. He wiped the sweat off his body for a while, then put on the trainee priest's robe.

Roy then went to the study room to see High Priest Reed.

‘Tuk Tuk Tuk’

Roy stood at the door and knocked, and a voice came from inside: "Please come in!"

Pushing the door open and walking into the study room, High Priest Reed was flipping through a thick book in front of a round table. There was also a pile of letters on the round table.

Seeing Roy walking in, he nodded to him:

"Roy, you go to the main hall to help Priest Osido first. He may be too busy by himself. Come to me when the things there are finished!"

There was also a very strange map placed in front of High Priest Reed. Roy looked at the map and saw that more than 90% of the unruly parchment was blank. Only the parchment was blank. There are some simple symbols of mountains and rivers drawn on the small area in the lower left corner of the paper. A red dotted line becomes extremely eye-catching in the middle of these lines.

The book that High Priest Reed was looking through was also an atlas, so I couldn't understand what he was doing.

Roy saluted High Priest Reed, said 'I got it' and left.

…

Crossing the threshold of the main hall door, Roy found that the entire temple was packed with Statue of Liberty believers who came to pray. Everyone was sitting on the benches, clasping their hands and reciting prayers devoutly.

The chanting voices in the hall were surprisingly consistent.

This gave Roy the illusion of walking into the campus and hearing the sound of books being read.

Priest Andyson stood on the high platform with his hands clasped together, his expression serious, and his eyes closed as he recited prayers devoutly.

The believers in the audience were also praying with him.

Some believers came in one after another from outside, looking for empty seats to sit down and join in the prayers.

The sound of prayer has a calming effect on the soul, but it is a pity that Roy has not memorized even the simplest sentence.

It's almost enough to read from the book, but then you won't be able to read with your eyes closed.

Roy felt that he should practice more if he found time, at least to make himself look more professional.

The temple also formed a choir, but this time I did not see the members of the choir, nor did I hear them singing.

Roy did not take the middle path, but walked gently along the edge of the hall toward the room with the holy pool on the side.

Trainee priest Abt stood under the high platform, closest to priest Andyson, and recited prayers along with everyone.

Roy didn't see Jasper.

It is said that every time you pray, a large amount of holy light will condense in the temple, but Roy found that except for priest Andyson's body, which was filled with a dazzling ball of holy light, trainee priest Abbot only had a very weak one in his body. Group, other believers were not bathed in the holy light at all.

These believers are praying, but nothing seems to be working...

…

Priest Osido is responsible for managing the holy pool in the room on the west side of the temple. There are also some believers queuing up to wait in the room here.

When Roy walked in, he saw Priest Osido standing alone in front of the stone platform. On the stone platform was a deep-bottomed silver plate containing some water.

In front of Priest Osido, there was an elf believer kneeling with a pale face. Priest Osido reached into the silver plate with one hand and poured water on the forehead of the believer.

Seeing Roy walking in from outside, he quickly motioned for him to come over and help.

Priest Theodore asked Roy to scoop out the holy water from the holy pool with a silver spoon and distribute it to the believers who had completed the baptism.

There are indeed some holy light particles floating in the water in the holy pool.

If you look closely, you can see little golden light clusters that look like fish scales floating on the water.

The water in this holy pool was obviously the water that he and Jasper brought up from the well yesterday morning. The holy light contained in it was also constantly dissipating. Priest Theodore on the side needed to use his divine magic to continuously bless it.

Roy stood aside, holding a silver spoon, and gave the holy water to the believers one by one.

After completing these rituals, Priest Theodore's face was as white as a blank sheet of paper. He waited for all the believers to leave the temple before walking back to his room to rest.

Seeing the happy faces of the believers as they left holding holy water, Roy felt that these believers were more pious than him.

After the faithful left, the temple hall and baptistery were left in shambles.

Roy took it out and started cleaning it, and soon the trainee priest Abbot joined in.

"It didn't have to be so troublesome before. The Holy Grail can fill the water with the power of blessing." Abt said with some regret.

Roy stopped, not expecting that the stolen Holy Grail could have such an effect.

Abt sighed, moved the stool away, and said: "It can't be done now. All the blessed holy water needs to be blessed by Priest Theodore himself. I don't know if the Holy Grail can be recovered."

"Why did Priest Theodore add divine power to the water?"

Roy couldn't understand.

"Why do you think these elves became believers in the Temple of Liberty?" Abt asked Roy. Without waiting for Roy to answer, he justified himself: "Of course the priests in the temple can help them cure their diseases. , to drive away the gloomy mood and give everyone a good hope."

"Holy water is the benefit every time we gather to pray!"

"Wouldn't it be better to drink the sap of the Tree of Life?" Roy asked.

Abt shouted indignantly:

"Of course it is better to drink the tree of life sap, but don't you know that all the trees of life are in the hands of the Moon Temple, and only the Silver Moon elves here can receive the tree of life sap. Other elves do not have this benefit. A glass of it is available on the black market. The diluted sap of the tree of life costs five hundred kolas.”

Roy was stunned on the spot. He had never thought about the value of the life sap.

In the past, Ms. Belinda brought it back and placed it casually on the dining table. Sometimes Roy would forget to drink it in time...

Roy thought that if it weren't for raising him and letting him live in an environment without discrimination from other elves, maybe Belinda would have a quite comfortable life in the uptown area.

Abt here has changed the topic. Probably because he thought Roy was also a trainee priest, he complained bitterly to Roy:

"I don't know what's going on. The time I spend praying every day now is several times longer than before. The power of the Holy Light I have obtained is only half of what it was before. The goddess seems to be getting further and further away from us. Roy, how have you been feeling lately? Sample?"

"Me?" Roy was slightly startled, then said to Abt:

"I have just been able to feel the power of the Holy Light, and I haven't even memorized those sacred prayers yet..."

"Oh, then you have to work hard."

After saying that, Abt raised his chin slightly, and that sense of superiority was immediately written on his face.

Holding the handle, he turned around and walked to the other side of the hall. When walking, he would even stand on tiptoes and scamper upwards. It seemed that he had found the source of happiness in Roy...

…

After Roy finished cleaning up the main hall, he returned to the study room to see Priest Reed.

Priest Reed had already put away the mostly blank parchment, leaving only a geographical atlas on the round table. When he saw Roy returning, he pointed to the chair opposite the round table and motioned for him to sit down, and said: Cliché:

"Magicians gather magic power through meditation, and we gather holy light through prayer."

Priest Reed paused, looked at Roy and said:

"So when you have time, you should pray. If you work harder, you will always gain something. If you gather less, you will make more!"

Hearing that High Priest Reed always emphasized prayer, Roy turned to High Priest Reed and asked:

"Teacher, are we praying just to condense the Holy Light?"

High Priest Reed covered Roy's mouth and said in a quick and stern tone:

"As clergy of the Temple of Liberty, we must not have such thoughts. Prayer is to validate our faith, and God's feedback is what gives us powerful divine power."