When Storm City's Lord Valerie finally gave his answer, John wasn't surprised in the slightest.
He had always been confident that Valerie would agree to his request.
The reason was straightforward: for both Valerie and the Storm Church, the Twelve Trials of the Hero paled in comparison to the importance of the Son of the Storm.
In some ways, the Twelve Trials were merely the Storm Church's method for selecting the next Pope's successor.
The trials themselves were fraught with uncertainty, riddled with exceptionally difficult stages.
The Church had no qualms about outsiders partaking in the trials. In their view, even if foreigners did participate, the chances of anyone completing all the trials and claiming the ultimate reward were negligible.
No one understood the difficulty of the Twelve Trials better than the upper echelons of the Storm Church.
