Chapter 324

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

As Stanik said, the Holy See's ceremonial standards are absolutely world-class; after wasting the precious time of countless genius artists over hundreds of years, the Holy See possesses a set of solemn uniforms that can be called a world paradigm. One can imagine that wearing such a uniform to Tokyo's Ginza would certainly be cooler than a pilot's or police uniform, and make it easier to secure business... Of course, one earns even more in the Vatican.

Besides the handsome equipment, the Vatican Holy See's organizational capability is also quite excellent; it can be said to be in no way inferior to the Red Armed Forces. Presumably all religious armed forces are like this — a superior appearance and tight organization are precisely the prisons in which the lower-class people howl.

In just five days, the Vatican gathered 700,000 believers from all corners of the earth, preparing to participate in a blessing Mass ceremony presided over by the Pope himself. Everyone must arrange their own food and lodging, and there may also be very expensive travel expenses. For those in Oceania, America, or Northern European countries who want to reach the Vatican within five days, they absolutely must fly for a whole day.

Looking at the Cardinals laughing until their white hair trembled after collecting money, looking at the devout believers who spent months of salary to fly first class to the Vatican to worship, looking at the beaming small merchants doing tourist business between Rome and the Vatican heights, Chen Yi's group distinctly felt the Catholic Church's harmonious and fraternal atmosphere. This is clearly a communist society where everyone gets what they need, perfect to the point of making one want to cry.

Just as the 23 million dollars demanded, Paul II — "Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles, Supreme Pontiff, Patriarch of the West, Primate of Italy, Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Roman Province, Head of State of Vatican City and Servant of the Servants of God" — conducted a Mass ceremony with enormous changes.

The Mass is the Catholic Church's most supreme rite, using Christ's Holy Body and Holy Blood to sacrifice to God on the altar. The Holy Body is usually represented by bread, the Holy Blood by wine; the Holy Body and Holy Blood are ultimately distributed to all participants of the rite for consumption. This is a great invention of the Church, thereby attracting countless believers.

700,000 people prostrated on a square that could only hold 500,000, packed airtight. The Pope, wearing the only white vestments and white zucchetto in the entire venue, stood on the balcony of St. Peter's, his face maintaining a solemn, kindly smile mixed with affability. For a man to cultivate such a smile, he practically has to be a priest until old age. Stanik still falls short of the mark.

Besides the Pope, the College of Cardinals' Cardinals were all present. 23 million dollars rented over a hundred of them for three days to perform in their true colors — more expensive than any A-list celebrity. The Bishops wore their signature Red Robes, maintaining kindly smiles as if imitating the Pope; perhaps each was fantasizing about the wonderful life after their own promotion.

As Bishop Dean promised, the Pope conducted the Mass using a purely reconstructed medieval religious rite. He himself stood on the balcony of St. Peter's, but the center of the Mass was set in the Sistine Chapel; formerly this was the Pope's Private Chapel, so such an arrangement posed no problem at all.

At this moment, Chen Yi stood with weak legs inside the small chapel, on one hand recalling the enjoyment Liu Xinyu had given him over the past five days, on the other hand, accompanied by the choir boys' singing, silently reciting the Collect: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will. Lord, God, Heavenly King, Almighty God the Father, we praise You, bless You, adore You, glorify You, give You thanks for Your supreme glory...

He also wasn't preparing to believe in "Chastity," so although his legs were soft like noodles, he still had not the slightest worry, merely slowly releasing his Pocket Qi, trying as much as possible to let himself sink deep into the Magic Net, immersing himself in Source Energy... This is very difficult for many Knights, requiring many years of practice, but for Chen Yi, who was familiar with practicing in the Subway, it was merely a kind of mechanical repetition.

When the bell rang, Chen Yi vowed in a low voice: I shall uphold "Consistency of Word and Deed," "Humility," "Honesty," "Oath-Keeping"...

He waited anxiously... Among the Six Major Faiths of the Saint Qiao Kingdom's Holy Knights, he abandoned "Loyalty to the Temple" and "Justice." Many Knights abandon the latter, but abandoning the former is extremely unusual — if not for the Vatican's Pope and Bishops being unaware, in the subsequent Eucharistic Liturgy they would certainly have negated Chen Yi's prayer and vow, making the achievement of Faith almost impossible.

Unknown how long passed, the bell rang again. Chen Yi only felt a surge of energy rush to his chest; in an instant, a Four-pointed Star appeared on his left chest, merely palm-sized, emitting golden light, instantly tearing through his clothing as if burning. Simultaneously, his whole body seemed to light up as well.

The choir boys widened their eyes, unconsciously singing the hymn of praise with their mouths.

Chen Yi was wild with joy. The Four-pointed Star represented that all four of his Faiths had received God's acknowledgment. As for what God exactly, it didn't matter, since he hadn't chosen Loyalty to the Temple anyway.

Earth can also be used for sacrifice!

Chen Yi couldn't be bothered to think too much; he quickly fished out a Divine Art codex from his bosom and silently recited the four Divine Arts he had long prepared to choose: "Exemption, Bestowal, Comprehend Languages, Freedom of Movement."

Different Faiths possess different Divine Arts; the power of Faith determines the strength of the Divine Art. A Level 1 Holy Knight can learn one Divine Art from each Faith, and continuously strengthen them to Level 3 Divine Arts, then gain the opportunity for further learning... If the Faith's power is not firm enough, the opportunity to learn new Divine Arts will be extremely small.

"Exemption" belongs to the Faith Divine Art of "Consistency of Word and Deed": passive immunity to attacks below Level 4, active immunity to magic below Level 8. Body Technique attacks count as below Level 4.

"Bestowal" belongs to the Faith Divine Art of "Humility": increases the recipient's HP by one point (10%).

"Comprehend Languages" belongs to the Faith Divine Art of "Honesty": understands all speakable and writable languages.

"Freedom of Movement" belongs to the Faith Divine Art of "Oath-Keeping": the recipient can ignore obstacles and walk as normal.

Chen Yi finally understood why Knights would rather wrong themselves to believe in as many "Gods" as possible. The power of Divine Arts is truly fascinating — it isn't necessarily pure power, but it makes pure power become even stronger, even more irresistible. Like giving a tiger wings, or giving a Bimon instant teleportation...

Different types of Holy Knights choose different types of Divine Arts. Purely offensive Divine Arts are formidable, but in Chen Yi's view, attack methods are diverse, ways to kill are countless... Chen Yi could now choose the powerful "Divine Art Summoning," obtaining otherworldly creatures similar to True Word Summoning, or he could choose destructive magic similar to "Flame Storm," or power-multiplying Divine Arts like "Righteous Spirit Soaring"...

But what use are those? If needed, Chen Yi can completely pay a smaller price to summon powerful attack helicopters, Special Forces, and armored vehicles, purchase high-energy explosives and guided missiles by the ton...

He tried his best to restrain his smile, maintain a humble posture, and came behind the choir boys, looking at the score sheets in front of them.

Latin hymns of praise, dragon-flying snake-dancing, all handwritten.

The Latin Chen Yi had ever seen was extremely few, but right now he just happened to recognize the words on it.

He softly spoke a line of Latin from the hymn: Have mercy on us.

The pronunciation was so pure it surprised even himself.

The legendary Level 9 Magic Taro can let a person permanently understand a language; its value is so high, its existence so rare, its cultivation so strict it would make a Kingdom feel it's a waste. But a single Divine Art "Comprehend Languages" grants the ability of all readable and writable languages — presumably the vast majority of the world's people would be willing to pay the price of "Honesty" for it.

The firmer the Faith of "Honesty," the stronger the "Comprehend Languages" ability. Perhaps one day, a Holy Knight could simultaneously write beautiful novels in Chinese, English, French, Russian, Italian, German, and Malacheng language...

Since he had already obtained the Divine Arts, the remaining two and a half days had essentially lost their meaning. It also represented that the second half of the traditional Mass ritual was purely a ritual consumption that wasted time and energy. Perhaps in the world of the Chinese era, people came from thousands of miles to attend the ritual and wouldn't want it to end that early.

If the Olympics could last two to three years, China would surely be very happy too.

Amidst a chorus of Latin blessings, Chen Yi slowly walked out of the Sistine Chapel, strolling toward St. Peter's Square to the far east.

The sky was clear to an unbelievable degree; the blue sky seemed pressed low, making one feel as if on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The boiling sound of human breathing resonated within the tiny Papal State, like wind traveling through a canyon.

Stanik spotted Chen Yi from somewhere, walked over laughing heartily, and said: "How was it? Satisfied?"

"Very good."

"The next two days are what's really worth watching. The medieval Mass — truly something to look forward to. This time, for you, at least 300 clergy participated in the collation and revision of the codexes... A masterpiece for the ages, also counts as your contribution to the Church." Stanik's words were filled with emotion for the Church. Although he dislikes most of the Church's practices, he truly has Faith.

"You're too polite." Chen Yi had to say this; otherwise it wouldn't conform to the Faith of Humility. Once Faith is violated, the Divine Art's power drops, and raising it again isn't that easy.

Stanik laughed loudly, then asked: "Do you like this kind of ritual?"

Chen Yi weighed his words and said: "It's okay."

If he had chosen the "Justice" Faith, he couldn't evaluate like this, but would have some kind of single-sentence just evaluation. Lone heroes often choose this Faith, but in the Kingdom's Holy Knights, almost without exception they abandoned "Justice." Politics is hard to be particular about justice; colleagues might understand your Faith, but political enemies don't mind framing you.

Chen Yi comforted himself in his heart: I'll get used to it later. Simultaneously he activated the Divine Art "Freedom of Movement," moving like a fish in water through the crowd-surging outer perimeter of the square.

... (To be continued. If you want to know what happens next, please log in to www. qidian. com for more chapters. Support the author, support the official version!)