After fully absorbing the power of the Curse Binding, Annan felt his spiritual body suddenly light up with rainbow-colored illusory glows.
Or rather, his spiritual body had already become clear and transparent.
It was not until the shining Curse Binding branded onto his soul that his spiritual body emanated this type of radiance.
It was like using a flashlight to illuminate a piece of fluorite.
Transcendents, upon advancing to silver, all condense their souls and eliminate excess impurities. Afterward, their bodies become very healthy and long-lived.
...But why is the light rainbow-colored?
This thought flashed through Annan’s mind.
Then everything went dark before his eyes again—he returned to the real world.
At that moment, the settlement of the nightmare finally arrived:
[Cleansed the nightmare in a designated identity, evaluation improved]
[Witnessed and completed all cycles, significant evaluation increase]
[Gained Elle’s recognition, significant evaluation increase]
[Completed a potent purification, significant evaluation increase]
[Comprehensive evaluation—S]
[Received 10,000 communal experience points, Perception +1]
[Received instance clearance reward: Profession (choose your own) leveled up by 2 levels]
[Current purification rate: 350/350—Nightmare concluded]
[Based on the nightmare’s location, you have received the Saintly Light Imprint of a Silver Baron]
[Total Imprints: 308 (Silver Baron)]
Annan was immediately shocked.
Setting aside the massive amount of experience that could even raise a Silver Knight to level 20...
What’s the deal with these over three hundred Saintly Light Imprints??
Is this like finding money on the road?
No no no, this is like getting hit by a gold brick in the back of the head!
"...How does this work?"
Annan sat on the bed, his face full of existential doubt, and muttered quietly.
Could it be because... the players were judged as my summoned creatures?
So the Saintly Light Imprints accumulated by the players during their clearance were all counted on my behalf?
——This is such an enormous windfall!
So many expensive Divine Arts can be chosen directly now!
And if this mechanism persists...
Later, when the players go abroad and tackle nightmares in the territories of different gods...
...Wouldn’t Annan end up with a kaleidoscope of imprints, etched with the marks of various True Gods and False Gods?
Seeing so many Saintly Light Imprints, Annan immediately thought of Old Bread.
He remembered that when Bread was explaining the concept of "Saintly Light Imprints" to him, Bread showed him his own, which spread from the back of his right hand all the way to the right side of his cheek, just like Kotomine Kirei.
That was at least a couple hundred marks.
And that was the "savings" yet to be used—if you use the Saintly Light Imprints to purchase Divine Arts, the corresponding imprints will disappear.
For this reason, Annan had only three imprints left before clearing this nightmare.
He had thought about slowly saving up to ten imprints to buy a slightly stronger defensive Divine Art...
...Now it seems that he might be able to leap to the finish in one step?
If he were measured by his merits now... Could he basically consider himself half a bishop?
An image formed in Annan’s mind:
Himself wearing a silver robe bestowed by the Silver Baron, then summoning the Saintly Light Imprints—they would crawl from the back of his right hand all the way to his face. The gesture had to be exactly the same as Old Bread’s showy move, that authoritative look with a slightly raised palm facing downwards.
Would passersby think he was an authentic bishop with only a young face?
No, no, no, better start by buying some Divine Arts...
I must consult Grandpa Daryl to ask how I should acquire Divine Arts. Having a lot of money doesn’t mean spending it recklessly, especially since three hundred isn’t really that much... After all, not all Divine Arts come at a low cost.
Somewhat powerful Divine Arts still cost a pretty penny.
If it’s a normal, sensible cleric, when purifying a Nightmare that’s not too difficult... With their Divine Arts, they could basically maintain a pace of purifying one level every three days.
That is to say, Annan has essentially gained three years’ worth of hard work in an instant...
Moreover, as players conquer Nightmares across various locations, Annan could possibly just sit back and collect money.
...No, I have to adjust the players’ experience multiplier.
Increase their experience gain slightly, then release more event quests and weekly quests for them; otherwise, my conscience won’t be at ease...
You guys really like weekly quests, don’t you.jpg
Then it’s decided, face a Nightmare at least once a week!
Before that, Annan used the experience he had gained to raise his "Silver Knight" to level 20——Although Silver Knights can directly promote to silver class, Annan has already advanced and isn’t in a hurry to train as a Silver Knight.
If he discovers that another direction is good for advancement in a certain Nightmare, Annan can switch to another type of melee silver-tier profession.
This seven-level "Silver Knight" has given Annan 14 points of Constitution, three points of Strength, and four points of Dexterity.
Therefore, Annan’s Strength and Dexterity attributes have both reached fourteen points, while his Constitution has increased to twenty-five. His Perception increased by one point to forty-five after coming out of the Nightmare, and his Willpower remains at fifteen.
Following that, Annan allocated the two any-level-upgrades he gained from the Nightmares to his newly obtained "Frostspeaker" profession, looking to see how it would increase his attributes.
So Annan’s stat panel finally looks :
Rare Elite (gold), challenge level 34
Attributes: Strength 14, Dexterity 14, Constitution 25, Perception 49, Willpower 19
Shared Experience: 540
Personal Traits: Winter’s Heart (Evolving) [Reversed Inscription]
Silver Knight LV20: [Winter Sword Technique LV10 (Max)], [Frost Sword Technique LV10 (Max)], [Cross-Weapon Mastery LV1], [Hand of Silver LV1], Free Attribute Point 1
Frostspeaker LV22: [Instant Spell Level 4 (Cold Touch, Lazy Eye, Frost Speech, N/A)], [Guided Spells Level 4 (Wall of Stagnation, Frost Covering Force Field, Thoughts as Rain, Repel Life)], [Chanting Spell Level 4 (Wheel of Frost, Frost’s Tower, N/A, N/A)], [Ritual Spell LV1 (N/A)]
Cleric (Silver Baron 308): Resonating Object, Sharp Object, Eternal Youth.
As expected... it matched Annan’s previous predictions.
When leveling up above the silver tier, it increases the "Willpower" attribute.
Each level of "Frostspeaker" provides roughly two points of Perception and two points of Willpower.
Although these are attributes that are relatively easy to obtain... Annan is still very satisfied.
Willpower has always been his weak spot.
The humiliation he suffered when enchanted by the rotten husband remains etched in Annan’s heart.
——Once he stacks his Willpower to over forty, even over fifty points, he will try to settle the score.
After transitioning to a Frostspeaker, Annan gained a new Instant Spell, "Frost Speech," which is the eponymous spell of the Frostspeaker.
[Frost Speech (Instant): You have gained a new language ability. When you speak in this language, it causes continuous, unavoidable cold damage to everything around you. The damage from this spell can be avoided by mastering the language or having Dragon Race lineage. Since this spell has no casting difficulty, it is not considered a Guided Spell, but it can still be affected by effects such as silence or choke.]
After advancing to level 22 as a Frostspeaker, Annan was finally granted a Chanting Spell, which somewhat compensated for his weaknesses...
[Frost’s Tower (Chanting Spell): Requires the ability "Frost Speech." The Frostspeaker chants ancient prayers, using their blood as a medium to command a cold curse to form a tower-shaped prison. The more Order Mana invested, the more solid and taller the tower. A minimum of fifty points of Order Mana is required.]
[The summoned tower is exceptionally sturdy, so it can resist damage from inside or outside, requires no mana to maintain, and inflicts a continuous freezing effect on creatures inside.]
[Only one "Tower" can exist at a time; using it again will immediately dispel the previous tower.]
[When the tower is actively dispelled, it consumes an amount of Order Mana equal to the one used during its summoning. If the tower is destroyed by external forces, a related Ritual Spell must be performed to regain this spell.]
[Chanting Verse: "Blood of Frostborn, tower reaching the heavens——"]