Su Cheng almost suspected she had heard wrong.
How could a cleric dare to ask such a blasphemous question? Besides, he didn't look like someone who would overstep his bounds like this.
The favorable impression that had just dropped in her heart suddenly surged, and she suddenly felt he had become interesting again.
However—
Su Cheng suddenly took a few steps back. "You're not that guy in disguise, are you? Are you? I'm begging you, bro, stop trying to sell me on this!"
Ian tilted his head. "What?"
He looked genuinely puzzled.
Su Cheng was so nervous she was about to break into a cold sweat. Her heart pounded wildly for a moment, and she completely failed to hear the amusement in his voice.
She narrowed her eyes and seriously sized up the blond man in front of her, making sure he had no intention of stripping off clothes—whether it was his own or hers.
If this was really the God of Lust, that would be too terrifying; it would mean that guy had somehow figured out her fetish.
Wait.
Was her fetish really like this?
Ian suddenly laughed.
He had always been quite polite, with elegant posture and speech, but he always maintained a calm and composed demeanor, with no obvious changes in expression on his face.
Yet at this very moment—
Like the morning light of early spring shattering the ice on a lake, the smile spread from the corners of his eyes. His pale golden eyelashes trembled slightly, and his entire face suddenly came alive.
The young man's cold, pale skin seemed to be tinged with a very faint flush, like the rosy glow of dawn spreading across a snowy landscape.
When his sharp eyes curved into a smile, they even revealed a bit of boyish slyness.
The way he smiled was too stunning; Su Cheng forgot what she originally wanted to say.
"This is truly interesting," Ian said as if talking to himself. "I haven't seen someone like you in a long time."
Su Cheng was no longer sure if this was mockery. "Someone like me? Like what? Especially stupid? Especially rude? Especially full of myself?"
"Not at all. I've actually seen plenty of people like that," Ian said casually. "Relax, Your Excellency. No matter who you thought I was, it isn't true."
Su Cheng blinked. "Yeah, maybe. Otherwise, you probably would have pinned me down on that table by now, or used some method to force me to pin you down there."
Before he could speak, she quickly continued, "I'm just joking, don't mind it. Let's talk about business. Can you make a training plan for me or something... you probably need to ask about my situation first?"
Ian silently looked at the table nearby. "Pin you down there? And then?"
"...And then wipe the juice off it," Su Cheng reached out to block his gaze. "Actually, I just remembered I already wiped it, so never mind!"
The corners of his mouth lifted slightly. "Alright. As for your training, it doesn't need to be so formulaic."
"Huh?"
Ian looked at her quietly for a moment. "Zane said you performed exceptionally well in the Court of Mysteries entrance exam. This means your talent in the field of elemental magic is quite good."
Su Cheng hesitated to speak.
His gaze was incredibly penetrating. Even though they only made eye contact for a few seconds, she felt a weird sensation of being seen through from the outside in.
However, his words shifted her attention again.
The Church was indeed well-informed, even knowing about her exam performance.
Were there people from the Church in Cross Star Academy too? Or maybe the Magic Guild—after all, the venue was provided by the Guild. They probably had some means to know what happened in the small rooms of each academy.
Otherwise, if something went wrong, the Guild might have to take responsibility.
Several thoughts flashed through Su Cheng's mind. "Thanks for the compliment. So?"
"Have you mastered Wind Perception?"
"...No, but I can learn it?"
That was a second-tier magic, built upon the foundation of the first-tier magic, Call of the Wind.
After summoning the wind currents, one used the wind to perceive various information within a specific range. Mages could use this method to hear sounds from further away and sense how many moving objects there were.
If it were a stronger mage, the amount of information they could detect would be much greater.
Her predecessor didn't know this magic; she had tried it before but never succeeded.
But now that her resonance level had increased, the difficulty of learning new magic would also be greatly reduced.
"When you use magic to perceive, it will be uncomfortable at first because you are not proficient. You cannot accurately control and filter the various pieces of information, and the mental load capacity of humans is very limited. An excessive input in a short period will cause discomfort at best, and injury at worst."
Ian said calmly, "But after experiencing this 'discomfort' many times, your mental capacity limit will increase. You just need to grasp the right degree."
Su Cheng understood. "What if I quickly master it, filter out the information I don't want, and get rid of the 'discomfort'?"
"Then your mental capacity will still increase. This is the point of us choosing this magic."
The blond young man held out his hand. "I can also resonate with the wind element. If you want to try, we can start now."
"Here?" Su Cheng was surprised. "Shouldn't we go to the garden? What if we break something?"
"We won't."
Ian said.
For a moment, those pale golden eyes revealed a kind of certainty and confidence bordering on arrogance, as if everything was under his control.
He spoke softly, "If you manage to break anything... well, whatever it is, it's on me."
"Do you swear?" Su Cheng said in a joking tone. "If you renege on your word later, you'll be punished—"
She didn't want to use this to scam him, but this was the Church's territory. Who knew if there were priceless ancient books and decorations around.
Ian lowered his eyes and looked at her. "If you want to hear it, I swear to you."
Su Cheng tilted her head.
This should also meet the conditions for activating the divine power.
Strangely, however, the mark of the God's Favored did not grow hot. It remained completely calm and unresponsive.
...Did the God of Contracts look down on this sacrifice?
Or did he think the content of this oath was too ridiculous?
Or was it because they were on the Church's territory? And clerics were all believers of the God of Light? He couldn't or didn't want to harvest these people?
Never mind.
She was still in the stage of exploring the power of the God's Favored, and she understood that there were still many unsolved mysteries in this field. She could slowly figure it out anyway.
Su Cheng shrugged. "Alright."
After saying that, she held his hand.
The man's slender fingers immediately covered hers.
The skin of his fingers was smooth and delicate, without calluses or scars, like warm, steamed jade. The web of his hand easily encircled her entire hand.
"Wait," Su Cheng was a bit at a loss. "I've never cast magic together with someone else. What should I do?"
Ian did not speak.
He used his fingertips to lightly trace her beating radial artery, brushing over those pale blue veins.
The young girl's wrist bone turned uneasily. The scale mark on her palm faintly appeared, only to be covered by his hand again.
He intentionally or unintentionally stroked that patch of skin, as if trying to erase the trace left by another deity.
"Feel it."
Between their clasped palms, a surging and abundant magical power began to well up.
It was a magic with an unfamiliar aura, containing a certain rhythm and a specific sense of tempo.
Su Cheng felt it for a moment, then mobilized her own magic and joined the ensemble.
"In my name, I call upon the spirits of the wind element—"
With the young woman's whisper, a low-howling current of air swirled up around the two of them.
Amidst the laughter of the wind spirits, cyan phantoms condensed into a long river, dancing and coiling between them before spiraling upward like a soaring dragon riding the clouds.
"Please listen to my voice, and bring me the echoes of the path ahead—"
The cyan phantom suddenly dispersed, turning into thousands of invisible wind currents that the naked eye could not catch.
They shuttled and leaped between the bookcases, passing over fluttering pages, brushing past the temples and fingers of the clerics, and bumping against the wall lamps.
Then, they fed all the information back to her.
It was a very, very subtle feeling.
Her senses extended outward because of it.
Some invisible link tied them together, allowing her to hear many sounds that ordinary people could not detect.
The friction of parchment fibers, the sizzling sound of ink seeping into paper, and the humming of runes on ancient pages that sounded like vibrating harp strings.
Sparks cracked and popped in the fireplace, and the ashes made a soft rustling sound as they fell to the ground.
And when those people turned the pages, the crisp sound of their bending knuckles, the vibration of their stretching spines, as well as the echoes of their breathing and rushing blood—
These subtle movements converged into a roar, rushing into her mind all at once.
And it didn't end there.
The wind was incredibly fast. In the blink of an eye, it left the library, passed through the sparsely populated corridors, and swept into the courtyard, bringing with it petals, leaves, and grass clippings.
She heard the dewdrops rolling on the tips of leaves, the vibration of the breeze brushing past petals, the birds preening their feathers on the branches, and the crickets leaping and chirping in the grass.
Those sounds were full of depth, becoming clearer as her magic output increased.
Her mind could gradually outline the corresponding shapes.
The earthworms wriggling in the soil, the fungi growing in the shadows, the gardener working below the adjacent courtyard wall—
Their conversations, breathing, and even heartbeats continuously flooded into her perceptual world.
Su Cheng only felt her head beginning to grow heavy. The chaotic sounds increased, and she gradually became unable to distinguish the source of each sound.
No.
It couldn't end like this.
Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to stay alert and analyze those sounds.
Crossing another courtyard, several young clerics sat together talking, and an apprentice paladin took the initiative to stand up and serve tea and pastries to the seniors.
They were discussing matters in the city. Someone mentioned hearing that a God-favored one had arrived today, seemingly a lucky soul pitied by His Highness the God of Purity.
Along with their movements, their clothes also made friction sounds—the softness of cotton, the delicacy of silk, the clear clinking of metal ornaments.
There was even more—
The gurgling sound of flowing water was the hidden rivers beneath flesh and skin.
The crisp, short clicks and hums were joints moving, the rubbing of cartilage, synovium, and ligaments, the opening and closing of Eustachian tubes, and the relaxation and contraction of muscle fibers.
Su Cheng felt a splitting headache.
The back of her head felt as if it had been split open by an axe, and all her blood vessels were throbbing.
Her vision went black, and she suddenly lost all her strength, collapsing limply as if her bones had been removed.
Ian reached out and supported her waist.
The girl's steps were weak, and she fell headfirst into his arms, her forehead resting against his chest.
Her heavy black braids swept across the crook of his arm, and a few loose strands tangled in his buttons.
"Thank you... forgive my intrusion... Mr. Priest..."
She obviously knew what had happened, still muttering to herself with her eyes closed.
"It's alright."
The blond young man said casually. He raised his hand to untangle the dark hair caught on his buttons, twirling the fine, soft strands before gently letting them fall.
"You are indeed very talented."
Their clasped hands also separated.
He held the girl's slender waist with one arm, while raising his other hand to rub her forehead, gently massaging her temples.
Su Cheng once again felt a warm current flowing into her mind along with the pressure of his touch, instantly dispelling the pain and grogginess.
She suddenly opened her eyes.
"This is Revitalization," the blond young man looked down at her. "How do you feel?"
Su Cheng blinked, "I'm fully healed!"
"Mhm," he retained his calm and composed demeanor. "Its effects will last for a while, enough for your spiritual power to return to normal. You won't feel too uncomfortable during this time."
Su Cheng understood.
She hadn't truly recovered her spiritual power; it just reduced the pain and lethargy brought about by the depletion.
She almost blurted out asking how to learn this spell.
On second thought, this was clearly holy magic, something one could only learn by becoming a believer of the God of Light.
Su Cheng hurriedly thanked him. "So, after I recover, the upper limit of my mental endurance will be higher than before...?"
"Indeed," he nodded. "But if it's only once, it won't be very noticeable."
Su Cheng nodded vigorously. "Got it, got it. I'll practice a few more times on my own. And if I do it myself, I should control it so I don't go overboard and stop earlier, right? After all, no one will be there to help ease the pain."
Ian gave her a half-smile. "Perhaps you could join the Church. This isn't a highly difficult holy spell. As long as you become a believer of the God of Light, I believe you could master it yourself very quickly."
Su Cheng: "I—"
"You don't need to come up with any excuses to brush me off."
He interrupted her, speaking in a slightly mocking tone: "I already know. You think the God of Light is great, but you prefer to study magic."
"Ah?" Su Cheng figured the Archbishop might have said it. "...That's a very concise summary."
She was currently in a state where her thinking ability was weakened, so she completely failed to realize that he hadn't used honorifics when mentioning His Holiness the Supreme God.
Furthermore, Su Cheng was pondering another matter.
She had cast a brand new spell, and its completion level far exceeded the standards in the book—it was even at a level that could be used for the guild exams.
This kind of situation was extremely rare!
Being a top-tier resonator and having some natural aptitude in this area were reasons, but definitely not the whole story.
Ian had guided her magic to some extent, like paving a path for her in a maze; all she had to do was pour her magic into it.
At the very least, it prevented the consequences of taking the wrong path and failing to cast the spell, or resulting in sub-standard effects.
Considering she wasn't familiar with this spell, the above situations could easily occur.
In short—
This Mr. Priest was bound to be an excellent magic teacher.
Leaving his own rank aside for now—perhaps it wasn't necessarily very high, as it was just a second-tier spell after all.
But what was rare was his ability to guide.
One must know that many powerful magicians were not good at teaching others.
The Church truly was full of talent.
"Most people cannot further mobilize their spiritual power while in a depleted state. The fact that you can do this is enough to show that you have talent in this field."
Ian said this, "And I only helped you complete the spell; everything after that was entirely under your own control."
Su Cheng felt a surge of encouragement. Anyway, I still want to thank you. Um, how about I treat you to dinner?
The moment the words left her mouth, she wanted to smack herself in the head.
...They had literally just been discussing tonight's dinner a moment ago.
I mean, Su Cheng hastily backtracked to save the situation, tomorrow? The admissions season just started, so it is incredibly hard to get a reservation anywhere right now. But my uncle happens to know a few people, so I can book a table at any high-end restaurant in Jinpo City!
