Inside the carriage, Hilda sat opposite Luo Li, looking incredibly restless.
After all, if anything happened to the Saintess after she left the Temple without permission, Hilda would be the one held responsible.
More importantly, Hilda would never be able to face Brilliant City again, nor could she face her own faith.
But there was no other way.
Under the current circumstances, the demon army's sudden retreat after a siege made no sense from a cost-benefit perspective, and the enemy commander would certainly face punishment for it. Therefore, Luo Li was certain they wouldn't just give up.
The Temple was far too sensitive a location as the Saintess's residence, and while it was guarded by many knights, it lacked sturdy defensive walls.
Once the city gates were breached, the Temple would be the first to fall.
There was simply no terrain to defend.
Thus, this tactical retreat to strike from the shadows was a desperate necessity.
'This demon army actually forced me to flee the Temple in such a miserable state. I'll remember this grudge!'
Luo Li clenched her small fists.
She checked her attributes again, and that '1' next to her level was still hard to stomach.
Even so, her level 1 stats far exceeded those of an average person.
While her strength was slightly lower, her agility and endurance were on par with a grown man, and her recovery rate was more than triple that of a normal male.
Such powerful recovery... it would certainly make the demons very happy.
Most human women simply couldn't endure their playthings, as the difference in both stamina and physical size was on an entirely different level.
What surprised her most was her mana, which had reached 20!
That was already more than four times that of an adult male!
Based on the information she had gathered so far, even if it was just a rough understanding.
The level cap for humans in this world was seventy, while a commoner started at level 1.
A normal person should have a value of 5 in all five attributes.
However, her stats were clearly off the charts.
Strength: 3
Agility: 5
Endurance: 5
Recovery: 15
Mana: 20
These attributes alone placed her far beyond normal humans.
Furthermore, she had her innate skills.
The four skills she currently possessed were all things she had realized before the divine statue when she ascended to the position of Saintess.
Though the original owner of the body had learned them in a bit of a daze, they were hers now.
Currently, she only had one class-specific skill, which relied on the Moon Banner to function.
The Moon Banner was one of her two Sacred Treasures and was an artifact inherited by every Saintess of Brilliance.
In other words, she likely had other class-specific skills that remained sealed because certain conditions hadn't been met yet.
Then there were the class-specific Authorities.
Every Saintess inherited these, whether they were the Saintess of the Moon or any other.
While inherited, each Saintess had slight variations based on their personal style.
Not a single one of her three class-specific Authorities could be used on herself.
Hero Creation—must be used on others.
Moon's Protection—bestowed upon others.
Eyes of Judgment—obviously couldn't be used on herself either.
Combined with the four ordinary skills she had awakened—excluding Light Sword and Swordsmanship—the other two were not self-buffs but support skills: Healing and Invigoration.
Looking at it this way, she was essentially a super-healer!
In a battlefield or a team setting, the presence of such a super-healer would shift the strategic focus entirely toward the healer rather than the tank!
Her own combat power was practically negligible.
The Saintess really wasn't the type of character meant to swing a greatsword on the front lines.
Thinking of this, Luo Li even felt a bit envious of Hilda. At least Hilda could take the field. Even if she wasn't a mid-lane mage, she was at least a top-lane bruiser, right?
No matter how she looked at it, that was much cooler than being a healer.
Luo Li shook her head. For now, she needed to study the mechanics of her skills and put everything else aside.
After all, a great battle was imminent!
First was her first skill.
Invigoration (Increases ally's courage and attack power). This was likely a team-wide skill, but since its level was currently too low, she couldn't release it over a large area and could only buff one person at a time.
The strength of this skill lay in its ten percent attack power boost.
Percentage-based skills were almost always more powerful than those with fixed values.
It meant that the stronger the person receiving the buff, the more attributes they would gain.
Luo Li looked down at her Saintess's robe.
In the entire Temple, the only things she could wear were three identical sets of the Saintess's robe, each paired with a crown. The defensive power of this robe didn't just grant immunity to attacks from those with a strength attribute below fifty, it also provided percentage-based immunity against attacks from those with a strength above fifty.
However, once that attribute exceeded one hundred, the immunity dropped significantly, making it little more than a piece of defensive gear.
"Hilda, what is your level?"
Hilda's eyebrows shot up.
"Level?"
So she didn't know her own level?
"Then why were you appointed as a knight?"
"I passed the screening of the Statue of the Angel, of course. Did Your Highness not witness it yourself?"
Hilda's answer instantly triggered the memories of the body's original owner.
In this world, only a few people could see levels, and most would never speak of it.
In the Holy Church, it seemed only the Saintess and the Pope could see levels, while others could see nothing, not even their own attributes!
"Then how did you learn your skills?"
"Well... partly by asking seniors for guidance, and partly by seeking skills from the Statue of the Angel..."
Hilda looked at Luo Li with curiosity and asked cautiously,
"Your Highness... is it possible you weren't aware of these things before?"
Facing Hilda's question, Luo Li could only nod helplessly.
"The nun Martha was already a demonized human before she even arrived in Brilliant City. Ever since I came here, everything was under her control, and I... I never had the chance to learn many things."
"I see... It seems Your Highness was right. The demons' target was you from the very beginning. Otherwise, they wouldn't have sent a demonized human to monitor you the moment you became the Saintess. I do not know when Martha was corrupted, but given how quickly she transformed without any loss of intelligence, it must have been a long time ago."
"Yes, that is what I think as well."
As expected of a holy knight, even with limited information, she could still deduce the correct answer.
"Your Highness, doesn't leaving the Temple tonight make you even more vulnerable?"
"No. Staying in the Temple is the true danger because I am certain there is another demon spy. I cannot take that risk."
"Your Highness is wise."
At this, Hilda hesitated for a moment before finally asking the question she had been hiding in her heart.
"Your Highness, how... how did you know that Nun Martha had turned into a demonized human?"
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