"This…is unreasonable."
The nun muttered, anyone in this world who wants to borrow the power of the gods not only needs to have their own magic power but also a firm belief in the gods, and finally, there must be contemplation and understanding of the gods' Dao.
Take the Goddess of Life as an example, as a believer she needed to deeply ponder what life is, what isn't life, the conditions that make up life, what conditions, when lost, mean something isn't considered life—all aspects required deep thought. Only by aligning one's thoughts and actions with the Goddess of Life could one borrow her power.
Yet this silver-armored knight, merely standing beneath the statue of the goddess, instantaneously used a prayer related to the Goddess of Life.
Reasonable… no, this was extremely unreasonable. To bring up a qualified believer, one must be educated from a young age, have a sufficient understanding of the Goddess of Life one believes in, and learn knowledge in all aspects. Only then could one deeply ponder about this world and draw closer to the path of the gods.
As for the ordinary people who want to survive… it takes a lot of energy, and naturally, there isn't enough time for study and reflection.
This is also why the number of clergy is scarce.
"I have a strong faith in the Goddess of Life as well," Xi Mu said softly, looking up at the statue's ample bust and slender waist, explaining.
"I understand the Goddess of Life better than you might imagine."
It was no lie, for in a previous loop, he had even used the power of the Witch of Death to kill the Goddess of Life, which could be described as a deeply intimate understanding.
Moreover, the game's judgment did not require the player to have a strong faith in the Goddess of Life; as long as one had strong emotions towards her, it would be regarded as faith, regardless of whether these emotions were malicious, benevolent, or lustful.
Anyway, as long as there were emotions, that was considered faith in the gods.
This might be because the game's developers also knew that their players couldn't possibly have any real faith in the virtual world's gods.
Therefore, the appearances and personalities of the gods were designed to be very attractive, suiting all types of preferences, ensuring that everyone could find a favorite.
And this fondness, according to the game developer's settings, was faith.
"It seems you can heal Miss Letixia on your own," The nun calmed her emotions and lowered her eyelids to mask her internal feelings.
Xi Mu didn't care about the nun's thoughts. His primary reason for coming to the church was to acquire this healing skill.
As a professional speedrunner, he had to ensure his combat endurance and margin for error. Extreme micromanagement might look very cool, but it also came with the possibility of failure.
For instance, his popular broadcast of the battle with the Flame Giant Surter looked like a dazzling display of micromanagement skills, but in reality, he had died many times before succeeding.
Now the game was optimized, and who could say if the NPCs and bosses' combat patterns remained unchanged. If there were significant changes making it impossible for him to complete the game in one life, it would be a huge loss.
...
…
Back to the room.
"Your knight has learned the Healing Prayer," the nun said as she sat on the bed, bandaging Letixia's hand, "He can help you heal from now on."
"Learned the Healing Prayer?" Letixia's eyes showed surprise, only to see Xi Mu nodding, raising his hand to display the light green glow.
This knight is not quite right.
However, she did not ask directly. She did not know much about Xi Mu's past and had no opportunity to delve deeper.
"It's okay as long as you avoid intense exercise," the nun withdrew her hand, brushed her hair back from her ear, and looked towards the silver-armored knight.
"You don't expect me to stay overnight here, do you?"
"What do you think?" Xi Mu calmly countered, only to see the nun glaring at him, though she tacitly agreed.
This man, she always felt he dared to crush her to death.
"What do you plan to do next?" Xi Mu turned to ask Letixia. Now there were two options, the first was naturally to immediately return to the Iris Flower Kingdom to seize back her power, and the second was to meet the God of Plague, obtaining the most orthodox legitimacy.
Different storylines would lead to different developments.
Directly returning to the Iris Flower Kingdom meant confronting the second princess and the siege of enemy nations, while choosing to meet the God of Plague would join the main storyline.
That is, the Black Blade Night to assassinate a god.
After pondering, Letixia looked at the knight beside her in silver armor and asked, "Sir Ahtal, do you have any thoughts?"
"I request an audience with the divine," Xi Mu replied. "Now that you are returning, you might as well gain the most legitimate and orthodox support first."
"Mm-hmm," Letixia nodded lightly, her heart leaning even more towards seeking an audience with the divine, which also made it more convenient to get the church's support.
In this world, divine authority ultimately reigned supreme.
"Rest for now. Tomorrow we head to Lionheart Castle," Xi Mu said as he took a seat on a chair beside him, casting a glance at the nun sitting at the edge of the bed before closing his eyes.
At that very moment.
[Host, can you hear me!]
Noise suddenly rang in his ear, somewhat jarring to someone trying to rest, causing Xi Mu to furrow his brow.
[Finally, we can communicate normally!] The system's voice became clearer, exuding excitement.
"Is it fixed?" Realizing what happened, Xi Mu understood that the game officials finally adjusted the system and he subconsciously focused his attention on the field of view before him.
Attributes panel.
Race: "Human."
Level: "13"
Skills: "Ten Shadow Magics, Healing Prayer, Protection of Death."
Talent: "None"
Achievements: "Impossible Miracle, Guardian of the Princess, Ten Men Slash, Rolling in Wealth."
A familiar interface, but it was much more rudimentary than before optimized, previously you could see at a glance, concerning powers like Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Faith, and other attributes.
Xi Mu withdrew his observation of the system panel.
In fact, with the abilities of a seasoned player, even without looking at the system panel, he could sense the changes in his own strength.
[Sorry, Host.]
The system's voice sounded.
[Host, I will first install a convenient template for you, and once I adjust the template later, I'll switch you back to the Witch Conquest panel.]
"Isn't this an action game, why load a romance template?" Xi Mu frowned slightly, feeling that there was something off with the system. When had this game started to load romance templates?
The officials of Mysterious Gate were already quite inscrutable, and now with the addition of a romance template, it seemed truly unnecessary.
System: [...]
Could it be that their host believed this world was just a game and not that he had traversed to another world?
To tell him now, wouldn't that be a bit too cruel?
[Right, this is an action game, but I suggest that you also try to conquer the Witch on the side, there are very generous rewards.]
"What rewards?" Xi Mu responded, and while the system was contemplating, he added another question.
"Can the reward help me beat the game in two and a half years?"
The system cautiously asked: [What do you mean by beating the game?]
"Obviously, to slay the God of Omniscience," replied Xi Mu as a matter of course. There were many ways to beat the game.
And the hardest way to beat it was of course to slay the God of Omniscience, to ascend to the divine throne oneself and decide the future shape of the world.
Essentially, if you stripped away the side play in this game, as long as you continuously improved your combat skills and levels, killing all the way, you could beat the game.
Of course, one could try a different method, but at its core, Mysterious Gate was still a game that sold itself on combat.
If he wanted to play a romance game, he definitely wouldn't choose an action game.