Chapter 160: Power of the Follower

After climbing for about ten more minutes, just as Xiao Lan and the others had said, the surrounding mist had thickened even further, the visibility continuously decreasing at a noticeable rate, now down to about three or four meters.

If the information that beings completely enveloped by the mist would be sent back to the foot of the mountain is true, then it shouldn’t be long before Miss Vilyric and the others trigger this transformative node.

“Lady Vilyric…”

“Yes, Xiao Lan, go ahead and use that ability you just updated…”

“Understood!”

Although it felt somewhat inappropriate, this power resembling a faith-based magic seemed more like a database storing content in Miss Vilyric’s eyes, with the Priestess acting as the terminal host, placing each modified skill inside, while the beings connecting to the database merely take them out for use.

Of course, maintaining this “database” required continuous power consumption, not MP, but the more precious SP. While it wasn’t too much for Miss Vilyric, it was indeed a kind of expenditure.

However, this was a rather modern way of explaining things and there were, of course, some discrepancies.

Additionally, if Miss Vilyric desired, she could impose restrictions on each skill—for instance, it wouldn’t show up if a certain attribute wasn’t met, or dividing usable skill zones based on the contribution level in the realm of “faith”, or perhaps certain skills could only be used on special designated targets… and so on.

With such conditions in place, it might lead to a scenario where a new recruit to faith could only obtain a couple of basic skills, and as she continuously strengthened her belief and power, deepening her faith in the deity, she gradually “comprehends” new abilities… this seemed to align well with the familiar themes that the Priestess might recognize.

Ahem, of course, Boss Vilyric wasn’t that unscrupulous, so she probably wouldn’t do something like that.

While climbing, the Priestess had already attempted to add over a dozen new skills into the “database”. As Xiao Lan was her only current “follower”, Miss Vilyric generously granted her full access—she could use any ability within as long as she met the conditions.

So, Miss Slime raised her hands, closed her eyes slightly, and a burst of resplendent golden light suddenly erupted from her body!

“Blessing of Light!”

The golden shield quickly spread out with Xiao Lan’s soft utterance, soon enveloping an area of about ten square meters around the three girls. Although the luster and the complexity of the patterns on the barrier were significantly inferior to when Miss Vilyric cast it personally, there was no doubt this was indeed the Priestess’s favorite spell, “Radiant Protection”.

As a sixth-tier magic, according to the game’s rules, this skill should only be available to one who had reached level 50 or above, also known as the transcendent level. While Xiao Lan had completed her evolution, her attributes were still clearly short of that pinnacle.

The reason she was able to cast this spell beyond her tier was certainly due to Miss Vilyric adjusting and refining some of the parameters of “Radiant Protection”. Although the defensive power was reduced, the restrictions on usage were also significantly lowered, making it more suitable for lower levels.

The Priestess surveyed the golden curtain that successfully dissipated the mist and nodded slightly.

“Well… not too shabby. How long do you think you can maintain this barrier?”

Contrasted with Miss Vilyric’s ease in casting “Radiant Protection,” Xiao Lan appeared somewhat clumsy and strained. While maintaining her outstretched hands, she quickly explained in a trembling voice due to the strain.

“Um, this ability you granted… its consumption is quite terrifying, and I can’t give you a precise answer right now, but at most, it should only last for about ten minutes…”

Ten minutes, huh…

It seemed that, in the end, it was still a sixth-tier magic. Even if the power and cost of “Radiant Protection” had been reduced as much as possible, it was still rather taxing for beings not at that level.

Since even Xiao Lan could only maintain it to this extent, it was unnecessary to expend energy on refining higher-tier skills to provide for the “follower.” Sticking to sixth-tier magic should be sufficient.

Um… the way it sounds, as if I really had many followers, is a bit embarrassing.

Ahem, but as it stands, “Radiant Protection” does seem capable of dissipating the increasingly thick mist around Spirit Butterfly Peak as we climb, meaning this is merely a form of energy expression.

“Radiant Protection” is a handy skill that combines purification and defense, showing excellent resistance against most abnormal effects and environments below sixth tier. Even if Xiao Lan was using a downgraded version, dissipating a small portion of the mist shouldn’t be a tough task.

That said…

“Let’s keep going and give it a try.”

When refining “Radiant Protection,” Miss Vilyric had already considered the original’s flaw in defense, which made it unable to simply move while strengthened by field effects, intentionally adjusting it into a lighter form that could be easily transferred with the caster. While the cost was that Xiao Lan had to continuously output magic energy and maintain the outstretched pose, it was a trade-off, I suppose.

After climbing along the snow-covered path for a while, though temporarily blocked by Xiao Lan’s “Radiant Protection,” the surrounding mist was noticeably thickening at a rapid pace, encroaching on the golden curtain from all directions, as if the moment Miss Slime lowered her hands, the three of them would be instantly engulfed by the incoming mist.

“Xiao Lan, can you hold on?”

Miss Vilyric paused, turning back with concern.

The reason she wasn’t personally intervening was, on one hand, to consider the situation, and on the other, to test Xiao Lan, the Holy Light Slime’s limits, to see if she could shoulder heavier responsibilities in the future.

Maintaining “Radiant Protection,” Miss Slime couldn’t perform any extra actions, only nodding wearily.

“I can manage for now. It seems I underestimated my magic power estimate, and as time spent using it increases, the consumption of this ability you’ve granted seems to decrease a bit… If it continues at this rate, I think it should last at least double the original time.”

“Oh, really? So, we’re looking at over twenty minutes then?”

As for the reduced consumption… Could it be due to her skill proficiency rising? So even the modified version of skills could have such a trait?

That’s quite interesting.

“Lulu, look around. Can you discern where we might be?”

Although she appeared somewhat out of it upon seeing the scene with Xiao Lan and Miss Vilyric, after a brief moment, Lulu seemed to have regained her composure. After carefully observing the area illuminated temporarily by “Radiant Protection”, she pondered.

“Judging by some details and the time we’ve spent climbing, we should be near the halfway point up the mountain. Ideally, we should start seeing signs of our kin’s activities a bit higher up, but with things like this… it seems difficult to say.”

“No.”

Compared to her uncertain demeanor, the Priestess seemed to have discovered something, shaking her head with a smile.

“There have indeed been Spirit Butterflies here… Did you notice? As we ascend, the snow on the ground starts to lessen, and the snowfall in the sky is gradually easing. This should be due to the strengthened defense array of the Spirit Butterfly Clan.”

“And therefore, some traces are left behind.”

With that, Miss Vilyric walked to the side of the path, approaching a small, thin shrub, and scraped away the thin snow to reveal a faint pink mark that was difficult to spot. She turned back with a smile.

“You should be quite familiar with this, Lulu, right?”

   

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