A Dragon’s Curiosity

 

 

“It’s the understanding that’s different, right?

By using a God’s comprehension and experience, the effect of the spell changes.”

Too excited to pour herself another cup of tea, Nisha excitedly waited for the old priestess to confirm her guess.

From her own experience, the process of spell casting indeed relied heavily on willpower and determination, yet the elf had been unsure of the exact influences.

But after Miss Thana organized them into clear threads for her to comprehend, it was easy to see how a spell took form.

Even her own [Flickering Mantle] that was cast on the coin on a string around her neck followed this arrangement, where her unclear image of the outcome affected the result.

It was only thanks to a strong willpower and the innate knowledge of fire as a dragon that allowed her to succeed anyway, creating a unique spell.

“Yes, there's a clear difference between abilities bestowed through faith and those without.

Consider the following scenario, a patient comes to the church and asks for a cleansing.

You are allowed to go first and cast [Purify] on them. At the third rank, it‘s enough to dispose of all maladies the patient at the second rank might have.

The spell goes off properly and you don‘t notice any major issues, with minimal loss of mana as a result.

After you conclude your treatment, a priest does the same, but his [Purify] is done in the name of the God from the Hall he follows.

Instead of a repeat from before, the spell picks up the clues of an illness and draws on the energy of the priest, exercising the [Blackroot Plague] that was ready to fester and grow undetected.“

The older priestess easily drew a picture with her words and allowed the young girl to simulate the scenario in her mind.

Furthermore, the information was congruent with the knowledge she obtained so far about the illness, it needed the intervention of a higher ranked treatment to eradicate it.

She was only unsure how the difference in treatments came to be, yet Miss Thana did not disappoint her and thoroughly expounded on the topic.

 

“In theory, the spells are the same, they cost the same amount of mana, have the same restrictions in distance and potency, and act the same.

The discrepancy is the willpower and knowledge between the casters that affect the outcome.

Without a vast amount of experience of treating patients and learning about the internal structure of a body, their healthy states, the interactions of different parts with each other and circumstantial clues that point to a hidden illness, it‘s nearly impossible to spot the [Blackroot Plague], which makes the disease so notorious and feared.

Before the outbreak and demise of the carrier, there‘s little to no indication of illness.

Notwithstanding priests of the faith that call down the divine grace of their deities, countless people would die once the plague takes hold.“

Miss Thana was relatively fair in her portrayal of a hypothetical future, not pushing her faith or trying to convert the elf to enroll in her Hall either.

Nisha felt her sincerity and trusted her explanation because it clearly outlined the pros and cons of both sides, while the essence was easily verified if she ventured to the Grand Library of the [Adventurers Guild] anyway.

Over time, one young and one old lady built up a fair bit of trust between them, so the dragon was ready to accept these lessons without second guessing them for good reason.

“Isn‘t regular healing magic then doomed forever to lose out to the clergy without a chance for competition?

And what if there‘s no priest available, for example on an expedition into the Wilderness?

Teams can‘t exactly rush back every time they encounter a disease or heavy injury in the field.“

Voicing some of the questions that accumulated while she was listening, Nisha was eager to expand her knowledge on the topic.

Her cultivation level was already difficult to conceal in the [Royal Academy], so it was out of the question for the dragon to invite others into a team and go Dungeon Diving or into the Wilderness together.

Rumors would spread and tear down the facade of her cultivation quickly, raising alarm as to why she was so much more powerful than her peers.

So it was not suitable for the elf to bring a priest into the mix, she had to rely on herself.

 

“Hmm, it‘s not that the divine always prevails over honest effort.

It‘s the difference in experience that affects the outcome, so with time you can bridge the gap.

Currently, the city guards are preparing to face the coming [Blackroot Plague] and the church is doing its best to weaken the impact, sending out a lot of priests to work hard at stifling the disease before it can take hold.

One advantage is that we have dealt with it before and still have records of our predecessors how to contain its spread, while our spells based on faith can spot the infection in our patients and effectively destroy the roots before they erupt.

But that‘s only for one plague.

To earn the label of disaster and plague, an illness has to be more horrifying than any other, so thankfully there are not many of them, but they still exist.

I have only read about [Brain Parasites], [Bone Rotting Fever] and similar terrifying maladies in the records of our church, yet they hardly describe them and even their rank is not known.“

The old priestess and the elf no longer took turns to drink, the cups in their hands holding the remainder of the cold water and leaves well worth several gold coins while they were immersed into the conversation.

Nisha had no idea what the other diseases did or how bad they affected the citizens, albeit it was already very telling that if they were listed together with the [Blackroot Plague], they should reach at least the same level.

In some manner the [Seven Stars Church] was very benevolent and tried hard to prevent such disasters, in the Wilderness even those of the same race would abandon an individual once it was sick beyond saving.

Perhaps they saved themselves plenty of times by cutting off the sick tail to save the main body, but it was also cruel to the infected individuals and left them with no path to survival.

“But this does not mean that the church is helpless when it comes to treating them!

Thanks to the grace of God, we can still rely on healing spells to save the life of our patients.

While the diseases are largely unknown and scary to us, they are nothing much to the patrons of our Halls.

Because the spells rely on the understanding and intent of God, they are effective against these plagues even though we have never encountered them before.

That way, the knowledge is not lost even if a generation never had to deal with a disaster and left no records for the next one.

As long as we keep our faith in our heart and devote honest effort into service, God will always reward us fairly.“

 

Listening to Miss Thana‘s heartfelt opinion, the elf herself had a faint longing to join a Hall in the [Seven Stars Church] and enjoy the protection of a patron.

It was not a problem either for members of noble houses to follow the faith, the kingdom and the church hardly interfered with each other and had long since established protocols to prevent the identities of their members from clashing.

Still, Nisha wanted to speak with Gabriel and Bael first before she made a commitment and joined a faith.

As Goddesses themselves, they were bound to know more than herself, giving her a second opinion and a bigger outlook.

Even so, as long as the majority of the clergy was of the same kind as the old priestess, the dragon admired the church for their integrity and compassion.

“And finally, the divine will is still carried by the priests themselves.

To make sure that a healing spell is effective in treating an injury, you have to identify the root cause, avoid messing up the internal structure of the body and make sure that the treatment does not lead to another issue in the process of healing.

By acting as the conduit to God‘s grace, priests experience first hand how the spells affect the patients and can learn the mysteries of human anatomy through their faith.

Experienced healers from the Halls do not always invoke the name of their patrons when it comes to dealing with illnesses that they know very well and have treated often previously.

As far as I know, the schools in the eastern Terus Empire also have mortal healers, who study the body and do similar work to priests through accumulated knowledge in the absence of faith.“

Tapping her cane against the wooden planks of the pavilion, the older priestess remained at ease and did not disparage the efforts of those that did not follow her own faith, recounting everything truthfully.

Since their conversation was a lecture and discourse, it did not matter what Miss Thana personally thought about them, her tone and mood remained calm.

Nisha was very interested in the concept of healing through faith, but it was good to have another perspective and pursue the same goal with knowledge instead of faith.

In her heart, the dragon was not quite sure if a patron of human faith would accept her as a follower either.

 

“To come back to your earlier question, among the healing spells there‘s a special spell at the seventh rank called [Resurrection].

Given that the prerequisites are fulfilled, it‘s possible to bring back the dead.“

Hearing this introduction, Nisha‘s Dragon Heart suddenly started beating hard and a faint hope made the emotion wound that usually just dully ache resurface.

She instantly thought about her Grandpa and focused all of her attention on the old priestess.

Unfortunately, the next few words dashed her faint hope before it even had the chance to take fully root.

“While it is not impossible to find a priest to cast the spell, the requirements usually make it a very impractical spell and it is not very favored.

For one, there‘s a very narrow timeframe, it has to be cast within a day or there is an almost guaranteed chance that the spell will fail to activate.“

Nisha‘s eyes dimmed as her hope scattered and memories emerged in her head.

They had lived in a cabin on the [Royal Hunting Grounds] and even if the elf and the twin maids had been aware of the [Resurrection] spell, no matter how far they travelled, the next church was at more than a day‘s distance, and that was just one way.

It was impossible to find a seventh rank or higher priest in that timeframe and bring them back to save Grandpa Eldrin.

Now, so much time had passed, so it was even more impractical to hope that the old elf was an exception.

Miss Thana noticed the girl‘s emotional turmoil and gave her a breather to work through her emotions.

It was normal for acolytes in the hall to get worked up once they learned about this spell, pretty much everyone lost someone dear to them before.

Some never got over their obsession and researched other applications and avenues to bring their loved ones back, yet the older clergy rarely interfered, any motivations to become more powerful was good and only those that made it beyond the second great divide in cultivation could cast [Resurrection], so the young monks and priests worked hard to get there.

Seeing that the girl did not ask her further questions and reined in her disturbed emotions, the old priestess knew that Nisha managed to overcome the trial in her mind and secretly praised her for her mental fortitude.

Plenty of older acolytes still chased an impossible hope and refused to acknowledge reality, so it was great that the elf did not fall into the trap.