Soon, a diamond-shaped polyhedron roughly one meter in diameter was carried to the front of the main hall of the Temple.
However, the knights outside did not dare to enter abruptly.
The young nuns at the door made hushing gestures.
Helen, the black-robed nun standing before the main hall, looked at the massive crystal with some confusion.
"Her Highness is still sound asleep in the main hall. What are you doing? What is this thing?"
It happened that Helen, who had been on the night shift a few days ago, was on the day shift today.
"Lady Helen, this is the crystal from the magic beast last night. It was just dug out, and we hurried to bring it over as soon as it was washed."
As one of the three deputy nuns under Nara, she was a familiar face to the other knights.
Many of them knew her and could naturally call her by name.
"A crystal? This large?"
Helen couldn't help but be surprised.
One had to know that even within the Temple's vault, there were only two crystals of such immense size.
The living environments of magic beasts and humans were completely different.
It was difficult for an average person to enter the regions where they lived.
Even if they did, humans of the same rank could rarely compete with them on the magic beasts' home turf.
Therefore, except for a few cases where magic beasts left their territory due to special circumstances, it was generally difficult to hunt large magic beasts.
There were many forests on the continent, and aside from those occupied by elves, the rest were inhabited by magic beasts.
Within the borders of the Kingdom of the Moon, there were four or five such regions.
One of them was the Eastern Mountains.
This magic beast, as expected, must have come down from the Eastern Mountains.
"Yeah, this is the first time in my life I've seen such a massive magic crystal."
Helen nodded. Although there was still a hint of surprise in her eyes, her expression had calmed down.
She was, after all, one of the three deputy nuns; she couldn't lose her composure in such a situation.
Otherwise, she would be an embarrassment to Her Highness.
"Leave it here for now. I'll have the nuns bring this crystal inside in a moment."
"Alright then, we'll be going."
After the exchange, the knights turned and left, leaving the massive crystal behind.
Helen gave an order for someone to watch over it, and then she quietly slipped into the hall.
The hall was exceptionally quiet this morning.
Aside from the occasional sound of the candlelight flickering in the breeze, the hall was almost silent.
Even the other young nuns waiting in the hall kept their voices as low as possible.
The reason for all of this was the silver-haired girl currently sleeping soundly on the sacred bed.
The crown on her head had been removed at some point.
Her long silver hair was scattered across the snow-white sheets.
She was curled up in the bedding, hugging a pillow.
Her Saintess's robe was already a mess, showing that the girl's sleeping posture was not very steady tonight.
Beside the bed, Nara was also dozing off. Although she could endure it, anyone would struggle against this level of drowsiness while standing.
Seeing this, Helen walked up cautiously and gently tugged on Nara's sleeve.
"Lady Nara."
Nara opened her eyes groggily and glanced back at Helen.
"Helen, what's wrong?"
For a moment, she hadn't realized where she was, and her voice was a bit too loud.
This immediately caused the girl on the bed to furrow her brow slightly.
"Mmm... let me sleep a bit longer..."
She mumbled incoherently and pulled the quilt over her head.
Nara suddenly realized where she was and quickly covered her mouth.
She looked at the human-shaped lump under the covers. Seeing that Her Highness hadn't woken up, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Turning around, she looked at Helen beside her.
"What is it?"
Helen had also been startled, but she quickly recovered.
"The knightly order just delivered the magic crystal from that magic beast. It's sitting outside right now. I wasn't sure what to do with it."
Nara frowned slightly, thought for a few seconds, and then waved her hand.
"Take it to the vault. It's just an eyesore sitting here."
Helen nodded in agreement and was about to leave.
However, as if suddenly remembering something, Nara grabbed Helen.
"Wait, keep it here."
Her Highness was always working so hard. This magic crystal might serve as a sense of accomplishment for her.
Besides, such a massive magic beast had been subjugated; Her Highness should at least see this thing.
"Yes."
Although Helen didn't understand why Nara had suddenly changed her mind, she didn't think much of it and turned to leave.
Time passed minute by minute.
About half an hour later, a soft hum came from under the covers.
"Mm... what time is it..."
She opened her eyes groggily, a stuffy feeling lingering around her nose.
The quilt covering her was thick and opaque.
Compared to light bedding, Luo Li preferred this heavier, weighted feel.
It gave her a sense of security.
However, something felt strange today.
She felt like the bed beneath her was harder than usual.
It didn't feel like her Simmons mattress.
And why had she woken up naturally today?
Shouldn't Nara and the others be waking her up?
Confused, she threw back the quilt. The first thing she saw was the brilliant sunlight outside the window.
She didn't know what time it was. The sunlight was piercing, but it didn't hit her face directly; instead, it spilled across the floor.
Her mind was still a bit foggy, but she could still distinguish her surroundings.
Her first words were, "Nara, what time is it?"
"To answer Your Highness, it is already ten-thirty in the morning."
Ten-thirty?
Hearing the time, the girl felt a jolt of alarm.
She sat up abruptly.
"Why didn't you wake me up earlier?!"
The girl looked around.
This wasn't her bedroom; this was clearly the main hall.
Only at this moment did she truly wake up.
Damn it, last night she had collapsed from exhaustion and slept directly on the sacred bed.
She turned to look at Nara.
"Nara, did you stay by my side all night?"
Nara didn't respond directly. Instead, she forced herself to perk up and offered her usual smile.
"Your Highness, I will have someone prepare silver ear soup right away. Would you like anything else?"
Luo Li frowned. Looking at the fatigue on Nara's face, she shook her head helplessly.
She reached out and pointed a finger at Nara's forehead.
"Thank you for your hard work. healing art."
As soon as she spoke, silver-white holy energy gushed from her fingertip, pouring into Nara's body in the blink of an eye.
Watching the exhaustion in Nara's eyes vanish instantly, Luo Li couldn't help but feel a bit guilty.
I guess I really am becoming an exploitative boss now.
Is it a bit heartless to squeeze my subordinates like this?
But if I don't, the country won't rise, and no one will live well.
She shook her head, pushing the thought aside, and looked up at Nara.
"Do you feel better?"
"Thank you, Your Highness. I feel much better."
She had to admit, this healing art was truly incredible.
It didn't just fix physical issues; it even had a certain curative effect on mental fatigue.
"Good. In the future, leave this kind of thing to the young nuns. Don't take everything on yourself, or you'll wear yourself out."
Nara pursed her lips.
"Perhaps you should take those words to heart yourself."
??
Take them to heart myself?
Luo Li thought about it for a moment and couldn't help but laugh in spite of herself.
Nara seemed to be right.
Before saying such things to others, she should probably say them to herself first.
"Alright, I get it."
She gave Nara a playful look. Those words had left her speechless.
What else could she do but give her a look?
Scold her?
Leaving aside whether she had the standing to do so, how could she say anything after seeing Nara stand by her bed for half the night?
"Did Lola come by this morning?"
Luo Li sat up. The Saintess's robe had a self-repairing and self-cleaning ability.
Even though her sleeping posture hadn't been great, there wasn't a single wrinkle on the Saintess's robe.
This was the power of its self-repair capability.
"To answer Your Highness, she has already been here. She left this report and then departed."
"A report? Let me see."
Luo Li reached out for it, and Nara obediently handed it over.
She looked it over. It wasn't much, mainly a statement of recent capital flow.
She understood the gist of it after a glance.
There was no need to ask about specific details.
Currently, while her subordinates might not be die-hard loyalists, they at least hadn't reached the point of corruption.
Besides, the issue of corruption was handled by Dean and the others.
Those were the five people selected from the vanguard camp.
"Did she say anything else?"
She set the report down and took a glass of water from a nearby young nun, taking a sip.
She moistened her throat before looking up at Nara.
"No, Your Highness. There was nothing else."
Well, it seemed there were no major issues today.
However, she still needed to focus on preparations, just in case.
"Nara, go to the vault and get something shiny—a gemstone or something—and give it to Shalin as a thank-you gift for last night."
If Shalin hadn't sensed the danger and struck first last night, the losses in Brilliant City would likely have been significant.
It would be unacceptable not to reward such a major contribution.
But dragons didn't care about money.
They only liked shiny things.
In that case, giving her a few gems from the vault would be a perfect fit.
"Yes."
Nara nodded, then suddenly remembered the crystal outside the door and gave an order.
"Bring it in quickly."
Then she turned to the bewildered Luo Li and explained the matter of the magic crystal.
"Your Highness, this is the magic crystal from that magic beast."
"A magic crystal... is it?"
Luo Li stood up and walked down from the divine platform.
She had plenty of experience with magic stones, but she rarely touched magic crystals.
After all, the primary use of these things was to be ground into powder.
Many mages liked to use magic crystal powder to draw magic arrays.
The magic crystal itself was also a very transparent magic conductor with excellent stability.
It was considered a very high-quality magic material.
She stepped forward and looked at the almost semi-transparent entity that seemed to be made of condensed magic elements.
Although it looked that way, the magic crystal was actually a solid piece, not hollow.
In other words, the entity inside the magic crystal might look like an object, but it was actually the phenomenon of magic elements condensing into a solid state.
Magic beast crystals generally didn't have specific attributes and were mostly semi-transparent, resembling something like quartz.
However, their hardness was much higher than quartz.
Such a massive magic crystal was truly a rare sight.
This crystal was one meter in diameter and nearly one and a half meters tall.
The massive diamond-shaped polyhedron reflected the light.
It looked multicolored and dazzling.
This thing was truly beautiful; no wonder so many women loved diamonds.
She reached out to lightly stroke the magic crystal, but the moment her hand touched it, a voice suddenly appeared in her ear.
【Experience detected. Absorb?】
【Yes】 or 【No】.
She had tried this with other things before, such as magic stones and other substances rich in magic elements.
Unfortunately, those things couldn't provide her with experience points.
But this thing could.
"Everyone else, out."
The young nuns quickly turned and left.
In the hall, only Nara, herself, and this massive magic crystal remained.
"Your Highness, what are you doing?"
It was just a magic crystal first thing in the morning; was this necessary?
If Her Highness liked it, wouldn't it be better to just take one from the vault?
While crystals this large were rare, there were plenty of other sizes.
"Don't speak."
Luo Li waved her hand and touched the magic crystal again.
The moment she touched it, a voice indeed appeared in her ear.
【Experience detected. Absorb?】
At the same time, the options for 【Yes】 or 【No】 appeared before her eyes again.
This time, Luo Li did not hesitate.
She answered 【Yes】 in her mind.
The next moment, a surge of holy energy poured out from Luo Li's palm.
In the blink of an eye, it enveloped the massive crystal.
What was Her Highness doing?
Nara didn't understand, but the crystal was shrinking at a rate visible to the naked eye.
In just a few short breaths, the massive crystal suddenly turned into a pile of powder.
It scattered onto the floor.
A burst of white light from holy energy suddenly swirled around the girl.
It was so bright that Nara didn't dare look directly at it.
"Your Highness! Your Highness?!"
"I'm fine."
She felt the energy surging from the magic crystal.
This energy instantly filled her entire body.
The energy, like a warm current, swept through her limbs and bones before finally gathering three inches below her navel, at her core.
In an instant, it climbed upward, following her spine all the way to the back of her neck.
Then, with a flash, it entered her mind.
【Experience points absorption complete.】
The warm current flowing through the girl's body gradually settled.
And she could now clearly feel that her strength was several points higher than before.
The attribute interface could only be opened in front of the Statue of the Angel.
However, adding attribute points did not require it.
She glanced at her attribute points and knew what had happened.
This single magic crystal had allowed her to level up three times!
She had gone directly from level seventeen to level twenty!
【Congratulations, player level has reached twenty. Please proceed to the Statue of the Angel for a class change.】
Finally level twenty!
Alright! ヾ(Ő∀Ő๑)ﾉ
Rate on N.U.
