660 Subduing Nicholas Part 1 (1/2)
Momentarily, Saleen did not what to ask Nicholas. There were too many things he wanted to know. Everything he knew about the Holy See was picked up from books.
Nicholas was calm now. Seeing Saleen's hesitance, he decided to begin from the foundations of the Holy See and gradually moved onto the Holy City. It was the core of the Holy See on the Glorious Plains.
Nicholas was born into a poor family and his parents were normal citizens who did not have much and would work for the people in the city for a living. When he was three years old, a priest brought him to a church and from six years old onwards, he began to sing hymns. When he was twelve years old, he was sent to the villages to become a young pastor.
For the past over seventy years, he gradually climbed his way up the Holy See and became the red Grand Bishop.
Nicholas shared his journey thus far and the many significant events that took place at almost every stage of his priesthood. Saleen did not interrupt him and let him continue.
Finally, Nicholas described how the expedition came about and explained why he decided to betray the Holy See to follow Saleen.
”Isn't it cruel of Theisio to do this?” Although Saleen already knew how the expedition eventually ended up, it was different coming from Nicholas. The majority of the soldiers that made up the expedition were commoners and disciples. They received limited training and were willing to take up arms only because of their own religion.
”Lord Saleen, indeed it is cruel, but we… no, within the Holy See, anything can be justified for the sake of our God.”
”Hmm, now that you are a fallen holy priest, how do your current abilities compare to your past abilities?”
Nicholas laughed bitterly and said, ”I should be even stronger now. God will no longer look out for me now however. After I die, I will fall into purgatory.”
”And you are not afraid?”
”What is there to be afraid of? That will only take place in over one-thousand years. I am a grade-9 holy priest and should outlive most mages. Within a thousand years, if I can advance to grade ten, not only will I be able to survive in the purgatory, I might even live quite well there.”
”How can you be sure?”
”Lord Saleen, when a Professional reaches grade-9, he will start to come into contact with things on the soul level and will have a vague knowledge of grade-10. When he reaches grade-10, as long as his soul was not taken away and he had died a natural death, his soul will never vanish. Most likely, there will be other strong opponents in other worlds that will be able to preserve their memories.”
There were similar descriptions in the magic notes. After listening to what Nicholas said, he was more certain than ever that grade-10 was only the starting point of Professionals.
No wonder humans were so weak. It would be extremely difficult to try and find ten Professionals on Myers Mainland.
He only knew two, which were Joey and Fycro. By simple estimation, Alchemy City should have one at least and Holy Rock City should be concealing another one other than Joey.
Cloudflow, Tanggulasi, and Sikeqinya should all have at least one grade-10 Professional each. The mainland would not have maintained balance for the past thousand years otherwise. Now that the Holy See was starting a holy war, none of the grade-10 Professionals had been activated. That must be due to a fear of revenge from the other Professionals. Alternatively, all the Professionals might have agreed not to participate in such matters.
”Nicholas, I have always wanted to clarify something. The holy priests' healing spell comes at the price of the lives of those being healed. When you heal yourself, do you also have to pay the same price?”
”Most of the time, no. We absorb the energies of other living things instead, which is a little complicated,” Nicholas answered honestly. The bond that he had signed with Saleen was only second to a soul bond so there was no need to hide anything. In any case, before Fycro said anything, he would just focus on serving Saleen to the best of his abilities.
”For this injury of mine, how should I treat it?” Saleen said and removed his glove, revealing his left hand.
When Nicholas saw Saleen's green bones, he immediately understood why Theisio was so determined to exterminate Saleen.
”The Lord is revered, no wonder Theisio is so worried about you. My Lord, your injury is serious. I have a soul bead that can treat you immediately. If you are not willing to sacrifice a bit of life strength, it will still heal completely within three days.”
Saleen nodded and said, ”Then do it.”
Saleen knew that there was no turning back for Nicholas after the latter had killed the twelve red Bishops under him. Fycro had asked him to help Saleen for the purpose of their agreement. Fycro was worried that if Saleen died too soon, the latter would not be able to help the former control the entire north.
Nicholas approached Saleen and observed Saleen's bones in detail. He then put the black soul bead on Saleen's hand. He pressed on it with his finger and said, ”In the name of Nicholas, heal!”
Beams of gray light immediately shot out from the soul bead and covered Saleen's hand entirely. A layer of fascia grew out rapidly on Saleen's hand. Saleen could sense that some of the life strength in his hand was slightly depleted. The energy that shot out from the soul bead was the main power that was regenerating the muscles.
Black holy prose appeared and wrapped around Saleen's left hand. Blood vessels and tendons began to regenerate followed by muscles. Finally, skin, nails, and hair all grew out as well.