Chapter 359

‘However, the Holy Light matches the prayer class very well.’

For instance, consider the benediction that Sion had manifested while offering prayers in the past.

The Holy Light was a sacred phenomenon several stages higher than that.

Unlike a benediction, which could be manifested as long as one had sincere faith regardless of the target or method of prayer,

the Holy Light was proof of having directly received a god’s response.

Sincere faith, desperate yearning, willing sacrifice, outstanding talent, and so forth…

The manifestation of Holy Light was possible only when all those factors fell into place.

Furthermore, no assistance like spirit stones or prayer scripts was provided for this pop quiz.

Meaning they had to overcome it entirely with their own abilities.

Of course, the evaluation itself was generous to that extent.

The attendant priest next to Vicius spoke.

─ As long as you manifest even a tiny spark of Holy Light, you will receive a perfect score unconditionally. Even if you fail, you will pass if you do not neglect prayers and make effort until the end of the class.

The academy knew full well that manifesting Holy Light was not something achieved through effort alone in the first place.

There was also the purpose of showing that offering focused prayers to a god for a long time was itself a good spiritual training.

─ They say if we just hold out until the end, we pass?

─ If it’s only that much, then…

The students also seemed to think it was a reasonable compromise.

─ Now, you may begin your prayers. To offer a small piece of advice, consider first what you can offer to the god rather than what the god can do for you.

While it was a fairly direct piece of advice to Roan, who was familiar with Holy Light, it was bound to be entirely baffling to the other students.

─ What can I offer?

─ Aren’t they gods because they are perfect?

Since opinions on this question were actually quite divided even within the academia of ‘God & Devil,’ it was hard to blame the students.

Yet, no one could raise questions to the priest.

‘To become an attendant priest here, they must all be people who have triggered Holy Light at least once.’

Although they were currently handling Vicius’s assistance and miscellaneous chores at the Nerchiora Grand Temple in Acherandir,

outside, they were priests with enough influence to easily secure a position as the presiding priest of an entire region.

Who could say otherwise when those with experience said so?

The students closed their eyes with half-doubting expressions, clasped their hands, and began their prayers.

Demona and Hector conversed briefly.

“Hey, fanatic. Does your family do stuff like this too? Can you pray for that long?”

“We do not do this sort of thing.”

‘…You don’t?’

Roan doubted whether that was something one could say so proudly to a friend.

Although judging heretics was far removed from peaceful prayer, shouldn’t a family of clergymen still pray diligently?

‘Then again, the fact that a member of the Wicronon family asked such a question in the first place meant they were already hopeless.’

In the end, neither could blame the other.

“Really, the professor is something else. How are we supposed to do it when he didn’t teach us anything?”

“Did you have any intention of learning if he did teach you?”

“That’s a separate matter~”

“Shut up and just pray. Before you get fined.”

“U-Uh, okay. Roan.”

At Roan’s glare, the two quickly began to pray.

Demona’s complaint was only about half right.

Although they hadn’t learned anything during class, that was the nature of this class from the beginning.

‘The class itself is a prayer meta, so what do you expect.’

Praying while wishing that Holy Light would manifest was the charm of this class!

He vividly recalled regularly clicking the low-probability prayer button throughout class in the game, hoping, ‘Please work this time.’

‘Mmh, while named characters usually manifest it, this thing is pure luck.’

Thinking thus, Roan peeked at his surroundings.

If they targeted lower gods rather than very high ones, Sion would have no trouble, and Trian, Jennifer, El, and perhaps Bendy would manage.

Rafia and Riel, coming from paladin backgrounds, would have about a fifty-fifty chance.

Also, though he hadn’t spoken to them much, the pass rate for those from monasteries was quite high in this particular exam.

Lastly, Demona and Hector…

‘Although it seems absolutely impossible, judging by what they have shown so far, it’s hard to speak so definitively.’

Even to Roan, the two of them were people whose lives were a prayer meta itself, relying entirely on the heavens’ will.

Woong─

[Then what about you?]

Roan let out a soft chuckle at the False Divinity’s question.

‘Manifesting Holy Light as a black mage? Do I want to die.’

In theory, Holy Light was a god’s response, so status or profession did not matter.

However, he had never heard of a black mage triggering Holy Light, not even in history books, play records, or rumors.

Since he would pass just by sitting still anyway, he intended to do nothing and hold out this time.

With everyone except Roan engrossed in prayer, time slipped by.

And at one point,

Wiooooh───!!!

The resonance of the sacred relics rang out exceptionally strongly.

Vicius and the priests, who were already accustomed to such things, reacted.

“Mmh…?”

─ Oh, it is early this year.

Because an abnormal reaction of the relics meant the response of a god—namely, the manifestation of Holy Light—was imminent.

Just as they were wondering who the glorious first successful student would be,

Flash────!!!!!!

─ Oh! The Saintess candidate!

Indeed, just as Roan had predicted, an explosive and brilliant light burst forth from above Sion’s head.

It was a flawless, perfect Holy Light.

‘Hmm, well, this is reasonably bearable.’

Normally, it would have had a highly adverse effect on Roan as a black mage, but since he had prepared from the moment the relics’ resonance intensified, it was literally just bearable.

Drip─

A single tear trickled down from Sion’s eyes.

She did not know which god had responded, but no matter how little-known the god was, a god was still a god.

Connection with such a being was sufficient to overwhelm a mere human’s emotions.

“Ah…”

A sigh escaped Sion’s slightly parted lips.

And her pink eyes were revealed beneath her gently lifting eyelids.

Vicius asked in a trembling voice,

“Truly marvelous… Yes, which god… accepted your desire…?”

“Ah… did I succeed?”

Sion looked around blankly, as if she hadn’t even fully grasped that she had succeeded.

Roan nodded.

“Yes. You succeeded.”

He then moved only his pupils to point in Vicius’s direction.

It meant she should answer quickly since the professor had asked.

Only then did Sion startle back to her senses.

“Ah, yes, I offered my prayer to Lu, the God of Light.”

“Oho…!”

─ To think it is the God of Light!

─ That is truly amazing!

Not only the other priests but even Vicius’s eyes shone with a brilliant light.

Usually, even if it were the light of the god of wild grass, the god of puddles, or even the god of pebbles,

belonging to gods one wouldn’t normally think of, it would be a sufficient achievement for a student.

But Lu, the God of Light, was indeed an incredibly high-ranking god!

─ Lord Lu’s Holy Light. We will definitely need to submit a report on this. You are truly marvelous.

The priest’s words were by no means a fuss.

If she had drawn his response on her very first attempt and without spending much time, she had completely fulfilled the expectations people held for the Saintess candidate.

Roan was also surprised.

‘The God of Light? He’s a light-attributed god, but he isn’t one to trigger Holy Light so easily…’

Even for Sion, it was definitely unexpected.

‘Indeed, it seems Sion is growing well in this playthrough.’

After all, since she had gained instinctive awakenings and realizations several times, she was bound to possess much greater skill than in average cases.

‘And that’s all thanks to me!’

Roan felt satisfied for no reason at the fact that his insurance reserves (?) were growing rapidly.

“Congratulations. You got a perfect score splendidly this time too.”

“Hehe, thank you. It’s thanks to you.”

Sion giggled, saying such an endearing thing.

“By the way, Roan, are you not praying?”

“…”

Roan stiffened his expression again at Sion’s question that caught him off guard.

Sion completely misunderstood his reaction.

“Ah, I’m sorry. Of course you must have triggered Holy Light before me…”

Since Roan was always a few steps—no, dozens of steps—ahead of her, he must have triggered Holy Light already and was waiting!

…Of course, he had not.

Seeing Roan’s expression grow increasingly sour, Sion also didn’t know what to do.

‘H-He must really be in a bad mood! I suppose so, since I went and compared him to someone like me…’

But contrary to Sion’s worry, Roan took her advice to heart.

‘Indeed, it will look strange if I just sit idly, so I should at least pretend to pray quickly.’

Roan closed his eyes and began to pretend to pray.

‘O-Oh no! What if he thinks I was teasing him because he hasn’t done it yet?!?!?!!!!’

The misunderstanding between the two deepened further.

Thus, Sion received a perfect score.

And although it took quite a bit more time than that,

Pop─! Pop─!

─ Oh, Student Lesterol has also manifested Holy Light.

“Of course!”

Among the students praying diligently, those who triggered Holy Light began to emerge one by one.

Indeed, as Roan had expected, the outstanding named characters among the freshmen and those from monasteries were the majority.

‘Hmm, that would be a mediocre god.’

As Roan thought, most were lower-ranking gods, and even then, they did not display very bright lights.

Since Sion was the very first, their lights were eclipsed, but it was by no means an easy task.

While Roan pretended to be fully absorbed in prayer, guessing who the next Holy Light would belong to,

Step─ step─

someone began to approach Roan.

Roan knew whose footsteps they were, but he was even more surprised because he knew.

‘…Why is Vicius coming?’

It was Vicius, the professor of this class, who was so elderly that he rarely moved from the podium.

Roan pretended even more diligently, wondering if Vicius was indeed coming to him.

In all likelihood, Vicius was coming to commend Sion, who had triggered Lu’s Holy Light.

“Darc…”

“…”

As if.

As soon as Vicius approached Roan’s side, he called out to him in a voice that sounded as if he were about to gasp his last breath.

Roan grit his teeth and pretended not to hear.

As one could see from Sion’s case, when a person was engrossed in prayer, surrounding sounds were not heard at all.

“Darc… I came knowing everything… Open your eyes…”

“?”

But at Vicius’s subsequent words, his composure had to break.

‘He came knowing everything?’

That shouldn’t be the case.

However, just like the numerous crises so far, it was highly likely to be nothing this time as well.

“…”

Roan decided to drag it out for just a tiny bit longer.

“You have… not started praying yet… have you…”

‘Ah, so that’s what it was.’

It was just as expected.

It was perfectly fine for Vicius to know that much.

Only then did Roan open his eyes with a feigned apologetic expression.

He then examined Vicius’s face, and indeed, far from being angry, Vicius only wore a benevolent smile.

“Really, I am sorry, Professor.”

“No… if it were another student… I might have suspected… whether they harbored some impure intentions… but…”

“…”

Roan examined Vicius’s face slightly more closely.

Does he really know everything?