Testing

"Divine Art — Brilliance!"

Skills over level twenty were essentially considered class skills.

Shouting the skill name allowed one to exert one hundred percent of its power.

Although she didn't know exactly why this was the case.

But as Luo Li sensed the joyful emotions emanating from the nine light elementals beside her.

A surge of heat erupted near her ears in an instant.

Before she could even react.

Nine rays of light suddenly burst forth from behind her.

Wherever that lightning-like heat passed, the air itself filled with a scorching, burnt smell.

The nine rays of light had a single target, merging halfway to form a spiral pillar of light as thick as a thigh.

Sizzle!!

Accompanied by a piercing sound like cold water hitting a hot frying pan.

A massive hole instantly appeared in the chest of the wooden dummy placed on the training ground.

However, the light did not stop there.

The pillar formed by the nine condensed rays instantly passed through the wooden dummy and slammed into the ground.

A dense, scorched smell immediately spread through the air.

The ground was shaved away at a visible rate until the nine rays were completely exhausted.

Red-hot lava flowed from the point of impact.

A pit of unknown depth now sat in its place.

As the light faded, Luo Li's brow furrowed slightly.

She sensed the fatigue being transmitted from the nine light elementals around her.

Without wasting any words, she immediately replenished their energy.

These light elementals were created by her own hands, so their receptivity to her holy energy was absolute.

However, this single recharge drained forty-five points of her mana.

It was almost no different from the cost of creating them.

One creation and one recharge had consumed ninety points of mana.

Considering she only had one hundred and fifty-four mana points in total, it was quite a significant amount.

Still, the power was satisfying.

She walked forward, ignoring Nara, who stood behind her with a look of utter shock.

She looked down into the pit.

With the help of the ambient light, she could see it was about one and a half meters deep.

The surrounding area was covered in scorch marks and cracks.

Traces of molten rock still lingered in some of the crevices.

Just being near it, she could feel the intensity of the residual heat.

Finally!

She finally had an active offensive skill!

In her Saintess state, her only weakness was the lack of offensive skills.

Skills that could be released by herself without external help.

There were only three such skills in the Divine Arts branch, and the lowest required level forty.

But now, the power brought by these nine light elementals was enough for her to protect herself.

However, she still needed to study how to use them.

Having all nine release a skill at once was a bit too much of a drain, both for her and for the light elementals.

It seemed that coordinating with these nine little beings would require some practice.

Luo Li's brow furrowed as she pointed toward a distant wall.

"Divine Art — Flash!"

This time, Luo Li explicitly sent the command 'execute order' to a specific light elemental in her mind.

At the same time, at the corner of the wall within her line of sight, there was a sudden flicker.

In the next second, a light elemental abruptly appeared at the corner of the wall amidst a flash of light.

One light elemental was now missing from behind her.

This was... the light elemental's teleportation skill.

However, just this one use had consumed about half of that light elemental's energy.

As expected, the energy capacity of these light elementals was still too low.

"Divine Art — Burn."

She gave the order to that same light elemental again.

Instantly, a blindingly intense light erupted around the light elemental.

The air around it distorted abruptly.

Even the wall was left with a large scorched mark in an instant.

And this time, the light elemental consumed almost all of its remaining power in one breath.

It became incredibly weak.

The last one was self-destruct.

Luo Li hesitated over this skill.

Because self-destruct was clearly a suicidal technique.

Could such a skill really be used?

These light elementals were living beings now.

If she used them like this, would they turn against her?

She hesitated again and again.

Luo Li eventually grit her teeth.

Rather than going onto the battlefield and using skills with unknown effects.

She might as well harden her heart here and use two of them as test subjects!

"Divine Art — Self-Destruct."

This time, Luo Li called over a different light elemental.

She stood far away.

The moment the command to self-destruct was given, the light elemental immediately transmitted a powerful will.

There was no sadness in it, only a 'do or die' mindset.

The next instant, the light elemental she had ordered to stay in the center of the training ground erupted with an incredibly blinding light.

It felt similar to the burn skill.

But it was different.

Because this time, the power was clearly ten times greater!!

Vrrr—

The ball of light began to tremble violently, and the surrounding light elements were rapidly sucked into it.

Luo Li realized instantly that self-destruct was not simply releasing its own power.

It was absorbing the surrounding light element energy to push itself far beyond its saturation point, then detonating that over-saturated power all at once.

Seeing this, a chill ran down her spine.

This power was absolutely not something a simple burn could compare to.

"Get down!!"

Without hesitation, Luo Li turned and pulled Nara, pinning her to the ground.

At the same time, she released her skill.

"Holy Guard!"

She was at least fifty meters away from the sphere of light.

The skill instantly enveloped everyone near the training ground.

The light before her eyes reached a level where it was almost impossible to keep them open.

It was as if the entire world had gone dark.

The light elemental had absorbed almost all the light sources within a hundred-meter radius.

And then... it exploded.

Vrrr—Boom!!!

Accompanied by the violent trembling of light elements, a deafening explosion followed the roar.

The ground beneath her feet shook, and the temperature rose instantly.

A powerful wave of hot wind rushed toward her.

Luo Li's brow furrowed, and she was about to release another defensive skill.

But the remaining eight light elementals instantly rushed in front of her.

Their light elements vibrated in synchronization, forming a protective layer of light in front of her.

At the same time, a voice sounded in her ear.

【Congratulations, player, light elemental has learned the skill — Light Barrier.】

However, Luo Li had no time to worry about that voice.

A mushroom cloud from the explosion rose into the sky.

The wild, hot wind swept past her ears.

In the distance, a young nun even fell to the ground because of the gale.

Fortunately, Luo Li had just used Holy Guard on everyone.

Otherwise, that nun wouldn't have escaped being burned.

The flames shot straight into the sky, reaching a height of over thirty meters before dispersing with the hot wind.

This explosion immediately caught everyone's attention.

Hilda's angry shout echoed from afar.

"Protect the Saintess!!!"

At the same time, Lola's voice rang out.

"Your Highness!! Get back quickly!"

Then came Shalin's voice.

"Where is the Saintess?!"

Immediately after, Astrid, the young holy white dragon, burst through a window and flew out from the balcony.

Luo Li was instantly stunned.

Great, I've really done it now.

Watching over a hundred knights and nuns gather around her in less than thirty seconds.

The knights were all in combat stances, swords drawn and facing outward.

The young nuns had completely surrounded her, fearing she might have met with an accident.

Lola, Hilda, Shalin, Astrid, Momoka, and Izumi.

A group of people crowded around her so tightly there wasn't even room to step.

"Your Highness! Are you injured?!"

Hilda was the first to step forward, her face full of anxiety.

Momoka had already raised her Wind and Thunder God Bow, her dark eyes open as she scanned the scorched area in the distance.

Lola's brow furrowed slightly as she stepped forward, looking at the eight little balls of light behind Luo Li, then at the embarrassed expression on her princess's face.

She calmly pushed up her gold-rimmed glasses.

"Everyone, you may disperse. Her Highness was merely testing a new skill."

'Can't you just turn off that mind-reading for once?'

But... this was great.

At least someone spoke up to ease the awkwardness.

"Luo Li?"

Momoka's brow furrowed as she looked directly at her, seemingly seeking confirmation.

In response, Luo Li could only give an embarrassed smile and nod.

"Um... Lola is right. I was indeed testing a new skill. I'm sorry... for making such a huge commotion."

Hearing this, the alert expression on Momoka's face gradually softened.

She closed her dark eyes again and actually smiled as she looked at the slightly embarrassed Luo Li.

"Luo Li has improved once again? Good, very good."

Momoka's words completely broke the tension for Luo Li.

She then apologized to everyone one by one until they all understood there was no assassin, and everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

They looked at the training ground once more before returning to their duties.

However, after the others had left, Luo Li was still lectured by Lola.

"Your Highness, you are currently the center of everyone's attention. The Kingdom of the Moon can do without anyone else, but it cannot do without you. In the future, I hope you will consider things more carefully. For situations like this, you need to report in advance. Do you understand?"

"Yes..."

Luo Li lowered her head and pouted.

There was no way to argue with Lola's words.

"Your Highness, why do I feel like you're not actually convinced?"

Lola stared intently at the silver-haired girl before her.

Her princess was perfect in every way, except for these occasional bits of self-indulgence.

While not a major flaw, it wasn't good to let it continue.

Should she retrain her later?

At the very least, she should make sure her princess understood proper etiquette.

"...No, how could I be?"

'Oh, I definitely dare! The Kingdom of the Moon is mine, Brilliant City is mine, even you are... never mind.'

Luo Li didn't know where she would eventually end up marrying.

In short, after receiving a lecture from her subordinate, Luo Li finally managed to send Lola away.

She let out a long breath.

Throughout it all, Nara hadn't said a word.

She knew her princess was testing skills.

Nothing else mattered; the fact that Her Highness's strength had increased was the most critical point.

As long as Her Highness grew stronger, the future rise of the Kingdom of the Moon would be unstoppable!

"Phew~ she's finally gone."

She raised a hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead.

On such a hot day, she had to listen to a subordinate's lecture.

What kind of situation was this?

Wasn't she the boss here?

"Your Highness, Lady Lola only has your best interests at heart. And she's right—next time there's a major issue like this, you should inform the others first."

"Alright, alright, I know~"

She rolled her eyes at Nara.

Whose side are you on, anyway?

She took a deep breath.

Luo Li, of course, recognized the problem.

She was the Saintess; her every move affected everyone.

As a king, possessing absolute power naturally meant bearing the corresponding responsibility.

As expected, she needed to build up the Kingdom of the Moon as quickly as possible and then retire to a life of leisure!

That was the true path~

She turned her head to look at the light elementals beside her.

Clearing her mind, she prepared for one more test.

This test was even simpler.

"Divine Art — Substitution."

The moment the words left her mouth, the scenery before Luo Li's eyes blurred.

In the next second, she actually appeared dozens of meters away.

At the same time, a light elemental back there was sacrificed because of it.

It dissipated instantly on the spot.

This skill had almost no wind-up or recovery time.

However, there was one problem—she... was still not quite used to the feeling of a sudden spatial shift.

It made her feel a bit nauseous.

She also felt a little dizzy.

But it was all within an acceptable range.

It was like being on a fast-moving train that suddenly slammed on its brakes.

This nausea was a natural physical reaction.

With all the skills tested, Luo Li let out a long sigh of relief.

She had basically mastered the usage of these skills.

She understood their power and their consumption roughly.

She then headed back to the main hall and dismissed everyone again.

She summoned the light elementals once more.

When the two consumed light elementals were summoned again, it was clear that they were not new beings.

Instead, the two light elementals that had just 'died' had been resurrected!

Watching the two spheres of light hovering around her, transmitting emotions of 'asking for hugs, pets, and rewards,' she felt relieved.

At least this sacrifice wasn't a permanent one.

Otherwise, she really wouldn't have been able to bring herself to do it.

These light elementals were individual living beings.

Even though she had created them, they were like her own children.

Who would want to sacrifice them every time a skill was used?

Truth be told, these nine little light spheres would likely walk a long path with her in the future.

If they were easily sacrificed, she wouldn't dare use the self-destruct and substitution skills lightly.

Fortunately, the skill wasn't designed that way.

"Good little ones~"

She gently stroked the light elementals, and the two little spheres rubbed against her hand as if seeking praise.

They were just like two puppies.

If they had tails, they would probably be wagging them so hard they'd float away with joy.

After soothing the two little light spheres, Luo Li turned her attention to the skill they had just learned.

Light Barrier.

It seemed the term 'non-material lifeform' really wasn't just for show.

These light elementals were true living individuals, not just things derived from a simple skill.

They had self-awareness and could even comprehend skills on their own.