Hearing this, Bishop Daryl’s expression relaxed considerably.
He leaned back, resting against the back of his seat.
The ageless, bald bishop savored the warm red tea while extending his chubby fingers towards the ring on Annan’s hand.
"The Sacred Marks are not something complicated or bizarre; you can simply understand them as the ’vessels’ used by priests," he explained.
"Let’s start from the beginning. We, the ’clergy,’ or using the ancient term, ’holy officers,’ do not need metal vessels to carry curses because we are different from you Transcendents; we do not take curses into our bodies."
At this point, Bishop Daryl’s expression grew slightly more serious.
"This is because, from the level of ’bishop’ upward, almost all clergy do not meet good ends—we always die in one nightmare or another.
"After all, purifying nightmares doesn’t require one’s own body to be robust; rather, the less curses stored in the body and the weaker the body, the better. Should one transform into a monster, they wouldn’t harm the innocent.
"Just as you Transcendents can transfer invisible and intangible curses through carrying and bestowing Curse Binding... curses can certainly be transferred. Even if you are not clerics, after purifying nightmares, you will quickly strengthen yourselves. This is because the curses that make up nightmares are purified, refined, and drawn out by you.
"The obsessions that make up nightmares serve as the framework, while the curses that can be drawn out are like flesh and blood. Without one or the other, the nightmare would collapse thunderously.
"As for the residual, most turbid curses that cannot be purified by human efforts, they are left to the local True God of the diocese for deep purification. If there’s no church nearby, it will be passed on to the True God of that month."
"But as you may know... in this world, ’curse is power.’ The same is true for the Silver Barons. The curses we can’t purify are a tonic for both True Gods and False Gods."
Bishop Daryl glanced at Annan’s expression.
He slowly continued after confirming that Annan understood, "The secret to our ability to use Transcendent powers without storing curses within ourselves... is not because holy officers have a power system that transcends curses, but because the portion of curses belonging to us is always stored with our respective deities— like money in a bank.
"Marks are the proof of temporarily borrowing Transcendent power from different gods—it’s essentially still our own curse. It’s also a banking service... a service from the bank of the Transcendent world."
...I roughly understand now.
Annan nodded lightly, comprehending.
This mechanism is less like a bank and more akin to cloud storage.
If it’s inconvenient to store curses in one’s body for various reasons, store them in the cloud instead. When needed, call upon this data with credentials, and just keep it stored when not in use...
How convenient, gods.
However, on the flip side... are curses the same as "experience" that players gain?
Annan thoughtfully considered.
From this, he roughly understood.
The biggest difference between Annan and the other players, and the natives of this world... might be that the natives can’t transfer curses through mutual slaughter.
That he gained so little experience from killing a silver-ranked Wizard made sense now—it was because the majority of the experience was used to shape nightmares. And the job levels gained after purifying nightmares were only the part that was easiest to digest and absorb.
"So is it... that the Sacred Marks are the proof obtained after completely purifying a nightmare?" Annan asked.
Bishop Daryl nodded, "Yes. We clergy—or holy officers— don’t have distinct ranks. The difference in strength comes solely from the number of Marks one holds.
"The deeper the nightmare’s twisting, the more Marks we obtain after fully purifying it. For example..."
As he spoke, he stretched out his right hand, palm down.
Suddenly, a large number of intricate and profound silver runes appeared on the back of Daryl’s hand. Starting from the back of his hand, the dense runes spread towards his sleeve, crawling to his neck, chin, and the right side of his face.
These complicated silver runes exuded a strange, holy charm. Daryl’s right eye also seemed to blend with some runes, shining with an eerie silver light.
And just by gazing at those runes, Annan felt a strong wave of dizziness.
Annan forced his gaze away and pressed a hand to his forehead.
"This is the Holy Light Imprint, the medium through which we perform Divine Arts. Not everyone has the talent to communicate with deities... but clearly, you do."
Daryl said, waving his hand as he spoke.
Annan vaguely sensed that something seemed to be spreading throughout the room...
Or rather, it was as if something that had always been present in the air was now being cleansed away.
"Right after you completely purified the nightmare just before, I felt that I gained an additional mark."
Daryl pointed to a spot on his cheek and said, "At first, I predicted that, with the intensity of that nightmare, I should have gained ten marks."
The face that originally seemed simple and kind now appeared quite majestic under the reflection of the silver runes.
"This must be because I only purified a nightmare once. But you pinpointed the key and destroyed the cornerstone of the nightmare’s existence. So, you should have received much more than I did."
"Yes, I got nine marks,"
Annan nodded and admitted.
——So that’s how it is.
He understood in his heart.
Only after a nightmare was completely purified would the real reward be granted. The more purifications one executed during a nightmare, the greater the number of marks received...
"What if the nightmares are purified by Transcendents other than Priests?"
Annan thought of the existence of the players and asked.
Daryl shrugged, "Of course, you only get the part of the nightmare you have purified yourself, as long as you haven’t left the parish where you purified the nightmare.
"After all, when we purify nightmares, we don’t gain power from them like Transcendents do. They get paid daily wages, while we settle monthly, so naturally it’s different. However, some nightmares are difficult to purify or the tasks are strenuous, so we might temporarily hire Transcendents... Using the nightmare’s ’key’ as payment, allowing them to enter the nightmare to assist in the purification. Otherwise, we would be essentially trapped—simply put, everyone takes what they earn. We let official or at least innocent Transcendents help us quickly end the purification of nightmares, and in return, we temporarily open up the nightmare for them to strengthen their abilities."
No, that’s not right.
Annan suddenly realized something.
If Transcendents only received their professional level rewards upon clearing an instance...
And Priests only received Holy Light Imprints after completely purifying an instance...
Yet Annan, who was about to take up the Priest profession as a side job, seemed to have received both?
Did this mean he was...
Getting paid twice for one job from two different bosses?
Was this a bug or a feature?
In an instant, Annan felt like he had just exploited the True God...
It was exhilarating...
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