"I want you to cast [Lightning Arrow] on my hand," Vivian said as she presented her her palm to Felize.
A worried expression appeared on Felize's face.
"A-Are you sure...?"
"Don't you remember what happened?"
Felize recalled how her [Lightning Arrow] affected Vivian.
"I'm sorry..." she said as she aimed her hand on Vivian's palm. And despite knowing what's going to happen, she still prayed to the Elemental Gods.
[Lightning Arrow].
Pscht!
A 15-inch arrow made out of a bright and white electricity shot out of her hand. When it struck Vivian's palm, it dissipated as if it bumped into an impenetrable wall. Nevertheless, Vivian still felt a small jolt cause her body, making twitch a bit. The feeling was similar to when a person accidentally touches an empty socket and gets electrocuted but with less intensity and no pain.
Vivian's brows knitted together.
"Does [Lightning Arrow] not have any damage and just electrocutes a target?"
Felize quickly lowered her head.
"I'm very sorry, Honored Priestess…!"
"Just answer me."
Felize slowly raised her head.
"I-I-I'm very sorry, but [Lightning Arrow] can cause damage to a target... I-It's just that I think your Magic Force is just too high compared to mine. I just recently opened my [Lightning Mastery]..."
So Magic Force is both magic offense and magic defense in this world…?
My VIT has nothing to do with Magic Defense…?
"You're a Wizard, right?"
Felize nodded.
"Yes, Honored Priestess…"
"Do you know what Strength, Vitality, Agility and Intelligence are?"
A confused expression appeared on Felize's face and she thought about it for a moment before shaking her head.
"S-Sorry, Honored Priestess, but I don't know what you're talking about…"
"Do you know what's a Status Panel?"
She shook her head once again.
"I'm sorry, no..."
Vivian turned to the others.
"What about you two, do you know what's a Status Panel?"
Gaze and Torr looked at each other for a moment before returning their gaze to her.
"We're very sorry, Honored Priestess, but we also don't know..."
"Hmm…" Vivian massaged her chin for a moment and then turned to Felize. "Let's say you learned a new skill. How do you know that you learned a new skill?"
Felize's eyes blinked.
"H-How do you know…? You just know... It just comes to you..."
Vivian raised an eyebrow.
"Just like that?"
Felize nodded.
"Y-Yes..."
Vivian threw a glance at Gaze and Torr.
They nodded as well.
Vivian stared at the ground.
"I see, I see…" she muttered under her breath and then returned her attention to Felize once more. "How many times can you shoot [Lightning Arrow] in a row?"
"Once every 30-40 minutes..."
What…?
So she only has enough mana to shoot one [Lightning Arrow]...?
Based on Vivian's own experimentation, it takes around 2 minutes to recover 1 mana point.
She raised her head and looked at the sky.
If I were to make a guess…
I think it's around 3:30 p.m…
I've already taken 2 shots and will need 18 more to open [Lightning Mastery]…
Looks like I won't be able to open this before the sun sets…
And I don't want to be here in the forest at night…
I'll just have them accompany me to another pla-- Wait…!
Shit…!
I can't let them know I attract monsters…
But do I really have to care about that, though…?
She stared at the three teens for a moment before finally shaking her head.
Like they say, it's better to be safe than sorry...
I'll just pretend that I have some errands to do and have them meet me later at…
Um…
I guess at Shirley's Tavern…?
Yeah, yeah…
It's a place for Copper and Silver Ranks after all…
Vivian returned her attention to Felize one more time.
"I see. Okay, so where do you want me to hit you with a [Wind Arrow]?"
Felize eyes turned wide.
Truth be told, she wasn't expecting Vivian to be serious when she told them that she was going to help them open their Magic Art Mastery. But seeing that Vivian really meant it, memories of the Awakening Ceremony of her [Lightning Mastery] flashed inside her head.
An Awakening Ceremony costs 50 gold coins or 5,000 copper coins and that includes healing.
To people like her who came from a normal and average Commoner background, such a price was outrageous. It was so expensive that even after her family saved and borrowed money, Gaze and Torr's family still had to help.
"Honored Priestess, are you really sure you're going to help me open my [Wind Mastery]…?" Felize asked hesitantly.
Vivian's brows knitted together.
"Yes."
"You won't ask for anything…?"
Vivian raised an eyebrow.
"Just the things I asked earlier."
"T-That we're not going to touch the Bukaroo Quest until you become Silver I Rank and I'm going to hit you with [Lightning Arrow]…?"
"Stop asking useless questions and just tell me where I should hit you. I'm a very busy person. I still have other matters to attend to tonight."
The three teens stared at Vivian in awe.
Although they were still young and didn't know much about the Temple of Priests, they still knew a few things:
• The Temple of Priests was the most influential Temple out of all of the Temples that they even had their own kingdom -- the Holy Kingdom
• Its members preferred to only stick with each other. And if they do interact with outsiders, it's business or with high-profile people
• A Brown Cloak meant they don't yet have any Class Magic
Needless to say, this was also their first time seeing a Priest or Priestess fight, not to mention it was also against them. Ignoring Vivian's age, it made them realize the gap between them and a Priest.
And despite this being a painful experience, they viewed it as a wake-up call regarding the reality of being an Adventurer. Although they've heard stories about Adventurers fighting amongst each other during out for a Quest and former Adventurers who became criminals, they didn't expect to meet one right away because it hasn't even been a week since they became Adventurers.
Felize removed her fingerless glove on her left hand and presented her palm to Vivian.
"H-Here, Honored Priestess..."
Vivian activated a spell.
[Wind Arrow].
Woooh!
An arrow made out of green aura burst out of her hand and shot through Felize's palm, leaving hole.
"AHHH…!!!" Felize cried out and then gritted her teeth as she held her wrist and leaned forward.
Vivian looked at Gaze and Torr.
"The both of you come here and hold her properly. I'm going to shoot 3 [Wind Arrow] spells before casting [Heal] on her so that she can open [Wind Mastery] as soon as possible."
The two boys quickly got up and held Felize's shoulders.
***
Some time later…
The sky was almost getting dark.
[Heal].
A faint yellow light enveloped Felize's body and her wounds were healed.
Her face was pale and her whole body was covered in sweat. And had it not for Gaze and Torr supporting her, she would've already long collapsed to the ground.
Vivan grabbed up her poleaxe and then got up.
"It's almost getting dark and I have some important errands to attend to."
Felize's gaze slowly traveled toward Vivian. Unfortunately for her, she hasn't opened her [Wind Mastery] just yet.
"Don't worry, I don't plan to break our agreement. We will continue this tonight."
"Please forgive me, Honored Priestess... But where should we meet you...?" Torr asked.
Just like Felize, he too wanted to open his [Fire Mastery] as quickly as possible and for free.
"Are you familiar with Shirley's Tavern?"
Torr and Gaze nodded.
"Yes, we are."
"Meet me there before nightfall."
Vivian was about to turn away and leave but stopped.
"Also, don't mention about this little agreement of ours to anyone. I'm already dealing with a lot of annoying people who want to be associated with me. I don't want any rumors to spread around that I'm giving you kids preferential treatment which will then lead to you attracting a lot of greedy people. Trust me, the last thing you kids want is to deal with them. And if you think I'm the worst, I'm nothing compared to them. At least with me, I try to be fair."
As far as Vivian knows, the Temple of Priests has placed some rules on how Priests heal people because it's one of its streams of income. Although she doesn't know what the exact rules are, she'd rather keep this arrangement of theirs a secret just to be safe.
"Do you understand me?"
Torr and Gaze nodded immediately while Felize nodded slowly.
"Yes, Honored Priestess."
"Yes… Honored… Priestess…"
Vivian nodded.
"Good."
Vooom!
And then burst out into a run.