Chapter 592 – The Hermits

According to the information in 《Heavenly Realm’s Most Wanted》 and 《Book of Gossip》, high-order Angels essentially never descended from Heaven’s Peak.

Garona had lived in the Holy City for over a hundred years and had never once seen a high-order Angel. She only occasionally spotted low-order Angels emerging from the Gate of Heaven, and even then, their range of activity was limited to the Sacred Mountains.

And that “occasionally” was measured in years.

High-order and low-order were ranking systems unique to the Angel race.

High-order Angels were beings capable of reaching the Well of the Sky, equivalent to Beyond Peak level powerhouses, while low-order Angels were at minimum at the Advanced level.

Like the Dragons, they surpassed Peak level upon reaching adulthood.

As for Heaven’s Peak, it appeared to hang inverted above the summit of Mount Celestial Pillar, seemingly only a few hundred meters from the Gate of Heaven — just a short flight upward.

But in reality, that was merely Heaven’s Peak’s projection in this sky, an anchor point for Heaven’s Peak in the world of Valen.

The true Heaven’s Peak was hidden in another spatial dimension. Only by passing through the Gate of Heaven could one truly enter the space where Heaven’s Peak existed.

And the Gate of Heaven could only be traversed normally by Angels. Anyone else who recklessly attempted to pass through would be scorched by holy light, and even if they endured the holy light damage, they still wouldn’t be able to find where Heaven’s Peak was located.

The defenses of Heaven’s Peak and the Gate of Heaven were virtually without weakness.

The more Mo Lan learned, the more she admired the Sorceresses who came before her.

Back then, Lady Anita’s Firework Blast had ostensibly shattered a corner of Heaven’s Peak, but in reality, it had broken through space itself, damaging the very dimension in which Heaven’s Peak existed.

With high-order Angels never descending from Heaven’s Peak, and the Gate of Heaven barring entry to non-Angels, the only Angels she could directly make contact with in the Holy City were probably low-order ones.

Still, though they were called low-order, the Magic they commanded was already at Valen’s pinnacle. Mo Lan wasn’t too disappointed.

As for the Angels’ preferences, what Garona’s materials described didn’t differ much from what Mo Lan had already learned on her own.

They favored the pure color of white and the brilliance of gold, were extremely protective of their wings, and had a fixation on cleanliness — they couldn’t stand the slightest speck of dirt.

But one detail caught Mo Lan’s attention.

The materials stated that after the Angels’ deception was exposed, the God of Light’s followers in other regions had been consumed with rage. Not only did they abandon their faith, they stormed into local Temples and ransacked them.

Only the Temple in the Holy City remained unscathed. The believers here, even upon learning that the God of Light was nothing but a fabrication, didn’t become particularly angry. Instead, they calmly accepted the fact that the God of Light had been invented by the Angels, and simply became true worshippers of the Angels themselves.

This was partly because those who had been able to enter the Holy City back then were already the most devout believers from each diocese. But even so, the muted reaction of the Holy City’s faithful after learning they’d been deceived drew attention from all sides.

It was later discovered that these people had become so thoroughly emotionally detached that nothing could stir their feelings anymore.

Even death — they could face it with equanimity, feeling neither joy nor sorrow.

The only thing they remained devoted to was light, or more precisely, the light element.

The moment they left the Holy City, these people would feel as though they were being corrupted by darkness, uncomfortable everywhere. If they left the Sacred Mountains entirely, they would immediately fall into a state of debilitating weakness.

Only by staying in the Holy City, bathing in the dense concentration of light element, could they appear radiant and feel at peace.

Furthermore, if they prayed devoutly to the light each day, elemental force would flow into one of their personal belongings. Under the influence of elemental force, this item would transform into a special prayer vessel. Even without any talent for Magic, they could use the prayer vessel to cast certain specific light-element magic spells.

Moreover, these spells bore certain characteristics of the Angels’ holy light magic to varying degrees — such as bonus damage against undead and dark creatures, the ability to dispel negative status effects, and so on.

It was precisely the peculiar condition of these people that drew attention to the omnipresent light element permeating the Holy City.

This elemental force, which seeped out from the Gate of Heaven, was different from the naturally occurring light elemental force found in nature.

Prolonged exposure to this kind of elemental force would slowly increase one’s affinity with the light element. Light-element spellcasters could advance their Mana tier more quickly. Even ordinary people with no magical talent whatsoever would be free from illness, enjoying good health and long life.

But at the same time, this elemental force would subtly influence a person’s mind, stabilizing their emotions, making them content with whatever circumstances they found themselves in. Eventually, they would develop an animal-like phototaxis — an instinctive attraction to light — and ultimately begin to worship it.

Because this elemental force originated from the Gate of Heaven and bore certain similarities to the Angels’ holy light magic, it came to be known as the power of holy light.

And those who had been assimilated by the power of holy light, becoming worshippers of holy light, were collectively called Hermits.

The Witches suspected that the Angels had completely relinquished control over the Holy City and welcomed anyone to settle there precisely to exploit the assimilation properties of holy light’s power and cultivate more Hermits.

However, if one could keep their emotions active and resist the assimilation effect of holy light’s power, this place was indeed a paradise for light-element spellcasters. Many White Witches and light-element mages came here to settle.

The closer one got to the Gate of Heaven, the stronger the assimilation power of holy light became. Those who didn’t want to become Hermits wouldn’t dare reside in the Holy City for extended periods.

Most of them chose to live in the mountain forests near the Holy City, only occasionally visiting to bathe in the holy light.

The fact that the power of holy light could assimilate people into Hermits was essentially an open secret in the Holy City by now, yet there were still those who willingly chose to become Hermits.

Because becoming a Hermit did, in fact, grant peace of mind.

Even though becoming a Hermit likely meant forfeiting any chance of ever reaching Beyond Peak level, there were still people who came to this Holy City specifically for its ability to soothe wounded souls.

After all, not everyone had the courage to walk out of their pain and achieve true renewal.

The power of holy light in the Holy City was like a shortcut, offering these people another choice.

In Mo Lan’s view, even a life full of suffering was better than becoming someone who had lost their sense of self, placing everything on the altar of faith.

Suffering could be endured and overcome. But losing oneself was no different from being dead.

The Witches thought the same way. They were all full of fighting spirit and a sense of adventure. They wanted the amplification benefits of the power of holy light but refused to be assimilated. So they put tremendous effort into finding ways to resist the assimilation effect.

It was originally a group of White Witches who together developed effective methods for resisting the power of holy light.

This group of White Witches were the founders of the Eight-Times-Speed Gossip Alliance.

Garona was one of that original batch of White Witches in the Gossip Alliance.

There was a very high probability that this power of holy light was something the Angels had engineered to harvest the power of faith. No wonder they had left the city they’d once expended so much manpower and resources to build unattended, even tearing down the Holy City’s walls and letting anyone come freely!

Stay here long enough, and one careless moment was all it took to become a Hermit.

And Hermits were essentially fanatical believers — devout machines for generating and supplying the power of faith.