Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 251 - 250: Soldrin the Blond

This is a very straightforward question, but for the vast majority of believers in this world, it is not really a question. Wright nodded almost without thinking, "Of course, firm faith is fundamental for clergy."

"I can see that you practice the path of the holy light even better than most high-ranking priests," Pittman smiled, "It’s rare in this age to see clergymen so meticulous about following the classics like you."

"The ’Holy Decree Reformation’ of Anzu in the year 503 led many clergymen to be less strict with themselves. That reform made many divine arts and holy rituals easier to perform and provided advancement opportunities for many low-level clerics who otherwise couldn’t advance—objectively, this significantly bolstered the ranks of priests and inspired other churches, leading to a great development of various religions," Wright spoke eloquently. Normally, you wouldn’t see from this muscular, close-combat priest that he has such a solid knowledge of theology, but whenever someone sits down to talk to him about the Faith of Holy Light, he reveals this scholarly and eloquent side, "The increase of clergy is a good thing, but it’s also true that more and more people are neglecting the admonitions about character in the path of the holy light... however, no matter what, I believe that the devout still comprise the majority, and the Holy Light ultimately guides people towards goodness."

"Holy Decree Reformation..." Pittman said leisurely, "Pope Ditas summarized rules from a large number of divine arts and rituals, discovering the ’key points’ in various divine arts and holy rituals, and found that as long as these points are reasonably followed, it is enough to trigger miraculous acts of gods, thereby greatly simplifying the threshold for releasing divine arts. In the process of summarizing these rules, the bishops of the same period also discovered shortcuts to strengthen the effect of faith through self-verification, introspection, and self-questioning. The discovery of this series of rules greatly lowered the threshold for becoming a mid-to-high-level priest, and the first Holy Light Church to carry out the Holy Decree Reformation took this opportunity to become the most powerful religion in the world—a power that continues to this day."

Wright looked at Pittman somewhat unexpectedly, "I didn’t expect you to be quite knowledgeable about this. I thought Druids would not be interested in the knowledge of the Holy Light."

"It’s just religious history, which doesn’t really count as knowledge of the Holy Light," Pittman shook his head and said, "I can see that you are a Priest on a classical path of silent cultivation, always demanding yourself according to the most traditional doctrines of the Holy Light... I’m curious, how do you view those clergymen who take shortcuts?"

Wright paused for a moment, then couldn’t help but laugh, "They have their path, I have mine; the Holy Light will care for them as well as it does for me. Since the Holy Light shines fairly on each of us, it means the paths are neither right nor wrong—naturally, I have no right to judge their path."

"Is that so," Pittman shook his head, "I’m just very curious about what the God of Holy Light would think if He knew some depend on shortcuts to gain power—those clergymen who are not strict with themselves can obtain the power of the Holy Light just by following the doctrines after the ’Holy Decree Reformation’ to perform rituals and release divine arts, and even if they usually indulge in drinking, fighting, gambling, extorting high Indulgence Money from the common people, and trading poor quality Holy Water made from a hangover for the last bundle of straw from a poor family, the Holy Light’s care for them doesn’t diminish in the slightest. Don’t you think this is quite a strange matter?"

If it were a mainstream Holy Light Priest here, they might have been fuming with rage after hearing Pittman’s words, but Wright clearly wasn’t a mainstream clergyman. His thoughts about the Holy Light always preceded anything else, so after hearing Pittman’s words, he couldn’t help but start to ponder and only after half a minute did he raise his head, "I can’t answer your question."

Pittman was stunned, he widened his eyes at the priest in front of him, "I thought you’d try to think of some theory to convince me—do you mean to admit that my doubts about the Holy Light are correct?"

"I don’t admit to your doubts about the Holy Light, but indeed I can’t answer your question," Wright replied candidly, "The path of the holy light advises me to face my heart honestly. Not knowing means not knowing. But I believe that those disgraceful actions you mentioned are definitely not the intention of the Holy Light—those clerical individuals with poor character indeed exist, and I have had conflicts with many of them when I was in the central region, but their misdeeds stem from their inner unsteadiness. They are using deceit and trickery to seek gain for themselves, not because the Holy Light or God of Holy Light seeks to gain interests through these vile priests—what interest could gods possibly want to extract from mortals?"

Pittman picked up a water cup filled with clear water, lifting his eyelids to look at Wright, "For example... faith?"

"If it were truly to win the faith of mortals, the God of Holy Light would not allow those vile deeds to exist," Wright seemed to finally capture the contradiction in Pittman’s words, he smiled, "Righteousness and compassion will make people depend on it, just as people will naturally yearn for light."

Pittman looked steadily at this confident priest, unable to help but mutter in a low voice, "... but sometimes fear and violence can have the same power."

...

Dark Mountain Range, the eastern stretch.

An elite troop was moving along a winding mountain path, wearing well-made lightweight armor and carrying various light weapons suitable for mountain warfare. They moved in orderly fashion, disciplined and well-regulated, able to traverse even the harsh conditions of the Dark Mountain Range as if walking on flat ground. All indications proved that this was a well-trained and proficient unit.

It’s just that no markings indicative of their identity can be seen on them, and even their weapons are carefully disguised in style. Whether it’s swords or crossbows, they are regular armaments that seasoned mercenaries would use. If judged solely by appearance, it would be easy to mistake them for mercenaries taking risks.

This squad, along with several other units, has been active in the Dark Mountain Range for two days. Since leaving the border between Anzu and Typhon, these infiltrators from the Typhon Empire have been steadily advancing deep into Anzu.

Their mission is to bypass the iron defenses set by Duke Loland of the Eastern Province by using the winding paths in the Dark Mountain Range, and ascertain the defense arrangements of Anzu in the southeast region. After transmitting the intelligence, they must find a way to stay hidden, merge with other infiltrating units, and form a "dark nail" penetrating the enemy’s flesh. Engaging in various sabotage activities while awaiting the opportune moment, the damage they will cause once war breaks out will be substantial enough to deliver a heavy blow to Anzu.

There aren’t just one team entering the Dark Mountain Range, but this team is the most powerful among the multiple units. The high-ranked Elven Ranger, Soldrin, is the commander. He leapt onto a protruding rock, effortlessly balancing atop it, gazing at the vast plains and forests at the northern foothills of the Dark Mountain Range.

At this distance, humans can’t see anything. However, he can distinguish almost all the smoke columns and startled birds from the hazy forest and the fog hovering above it. From this, he can roughly judge the number of human settlements within his field of vision and their approximate scale.

After observing for a while, the high-ranked Elven Ranger jumped down from the rock, succinctly giving orders: "It’s safe here, rest for thirty minutes."

The Typhon Soldiers immediately found concealment on the spot, relaxing their bodies, drinking water, and eating — although they are elite, no elite unit can entirely comprise Beyonders like Soldrin. Even Typhon Empire’s most powerful main force is still composed of ninety percent ordinary people, and in this team of only a dozen people, there’s one high-ranked Elven Ranger, three novice knights, and one Mage, which is an astonishing ratio of Beyonders, yet even novice Beyonders still need rest in this situation.

The soldiers began to recover their energy, while quietly discussing what they saw and heard since entering the Dark Mountain Range — this area known as a desolate death zone to the outside world doesn’t seem as terrifying as rumored in their eyes. Although they encountered some mutated monsters influenced by Magic Power after entering the mountains, there haven’t been any despair-inducing strong enemies appearing. Instead, the steep terrain and some poisonous plants seem more dangerous.

Everyone knows they are walking by the edge of the Gondor wasteland, but as long as they don’t face the Black Forest at the southern foot of the mountains directly, the pressure from the Gondor wasteland won’t make them too tense.

A knight-level warrior took out map-making tools, marking key junctions and directions of the mountain paths on the rough hand-drawn map. Meanwhile, his companion took out a metal cylinder with small holes, opened it, and released a completely black "insect." With a faint buzz, the black insect shot into the sky like lightning, quickly disappearing from the soldiers’ sight.

This thing that looks like an insect is actually a creation from Mages’ crazy experiments. A trace of thin monster bloodline grants it extremely fast flying speed and artificial trainability. In such dispersed squad operations, the trained communication insect can conveniently confirm each squad’s situation and location, making it quite a handy object.

Soldrin looked in the direction where the insect vanished and then withdrew his gaze, leaning against the mountain rock, closing his eyes for meditation. His overly neutral face was covered by golden hair, which might cause those unaware of the truth to initially mistake him for a heroic female warrior — yet none of the resting Typhon Soldiers nearby would underestimate this seemingly slender Elven Ranger, for this Ranger’s fame is known far and wide.

"Golden-haired Soldrin," this is his widely circulated name in Typhon’s mercenary circles, and this name is evidently related to his golden hair — but only those familiar with silver elves understand the true meaning of the name and the powerful force it represents.

Silver elves are an ancient race dwelling in the southern continent. These forest kin with blood closely resembling the ancient primordial elves have many differences from humans. Apart from their unique brain structure paired with Elven Spells, another characteristic of silver elves is their hair color changing with the enhancement of power — silver elves in their non-combat state all have golden hair, but as they awaken the latent power within, the potent Magic Power causes their hair to be infused with elemental power. When a silver elf exerts seventy percent of their strength, their hair color changes completely to silver-white, and their combat strength skyrockets until the power outburst ends.

The term "silver elves" derives from this.

Yet no one has ever seen the appearance of "Golden-haired Soldrin" after raising his power to seventy percent — he always faces his enemies in the most calm and composed manner, even in the greatest challenges, his golden hair has never changed.

Thus, he earns this remarkably special title.