Book 3, Chapter 61 (1/2)
Destiny Crystals
Once the ceremony came to an end, Richard reaped his own reward: the three crystal plates. Flowsand told him these three crystals had great power; every one he broke could solve any difficult problem he was facing.
Any problem you’re facing can be solved easily… Flowsand’s explanation had made it seem like these plates were equivalent to additional lives. “You silly girl!” he had exclaimed in disbelief as he took them, “When did you learn to talk so big?”
He naturally sensed the prophetic powers within the plates when he took them from her hands. The issue was with prophecy magic itself.
Prophecies were a branch of magic that left people both curious and helpless. The curious bit was the fact that enough mana would give a mage basically limitless prophetic abilities, but of course what exactly was “enough” was something that could drive anyone crazy.
In theory, a legendary mage could use prophecy magic to interfere in another’s life. For example, they could cause an ordinary human to trip and hurt themselves badly. However, that was it. There was a series of harsh conditions if one wanted to kill with this magic, and the problem was only amplified as the other party grew stronger. If the deviation from one’s prophecy was large enough, they could even tip the compass of fate in the other direction. It didn’t compare in any way to just throwing a fireball to kill a group of people.
These plates were supposed to be able to solve any problem? They were additional lives? Even the legendary destiny crystal used in the protective sphere did not have such great power. These crude plates were definitely unlikely to be able to accomplish such a thing.
Flowsand grew fierce upon seeing his expression, “You don’t believe me?”
“Of course I do,” Richard grinned. His smile was now filled with limitless vitality.
“If you don’t believe me, I don’t mind if you test it out,” she said between clenched teeth. In actual fact, she was in the same camp as him. However, she couldn’t tell Richard that outright, at best throwing a few hints his way.
Richard placed the crystal plates in his pocket and squeezed Flowsand’s little face so hard she started to grimace, saying with a smile, “Use the grace wisely, it came in exchange for the thing Master gave me. Be careful, Master is very petty, she’ll come looking for interest.”
Flowsand merely let out a snort.
Richard looked at the time, “Get ready, we’ll be heading out in two days. For now, I have to go back.”
Once Richard was sent off, the offering hall grew empty and desolate. Flowsand sighed and sat down on a rock beside the altar, placing her right hand before her eye. 31 small hourglasses formed in the palm of her hand, each hourglass representing an additional year of life. This was the divine grace Flowsand currently possessed. The ability to stockpile it was a special privilege granted only to title holders.
Looking at them all, Flowsand sighed and thought to herself, ‘Richard is so foolish. Could it be that he really couldn’t tell what this grace could be exchanged for? Hmph, that cannot be the case! But…’
Behind the gruffness lay a soft, delicate mind.
“I guess it’s time to return some debts.” Flowsand raised her hand lazily, the hourglasses in her palm slowly disappeared one after the other until only half were left. The rest of the grace would be used to upgrade her powers.
The more sacrifices one offered, the stronger one grew. The stronger one grew, the more sacrifices they could offer. Such were the rules of the Eternal Dragon. There was only one constant in the path to success— sacrifice.
Flowsand thought over it for a long time before finally waving her hand, sending all the remaining divine grace out. A handsome youth suddenly appeared out of thin air, bending down on one knee and saying with a melodious voice, “Esteemed Priestess, thank you for granting me the chance to awake. I shall repay your grace for the rest of my life! Please, decide my path.”
Flowsand thought over it long and hard. This was a very difficult question to answer, a question of choosing between battle and divinity. She could choose to push the heavenly guardian towards attack or defence, although a balance would be optimal. He could be granted magical powers, something that only served to complicate the matter. When all the choices were put before her, they led to numerous branches that were all different. Every guardian in the Church’s history had been a different existence.
In the end, she decided that she would push him towards one end. Be it battle power or priesthood, a gifted commander like Richard could make use of an extreme much better than a jack of all trades.
Flowsand felt something softly tugging at her heartstrings, “You will take the path of a battle priest.”