Yarra’s Adventure Notes
Chapter 942 - 59: The Price of Power

Chapter 942: Chapter 59: The Price of Power

"Indeed, it’s quite lively," Catheria said with a gentle smile, as if facing a child deeply doted on by her, "Lina is actually very afraid of loneliness and quite timid. The moment we don’t stay by her side, she gets scared and hides in the library, trembling. Therefore, we can only arrange to have one or two people stay with her, even when temporarily returning to our own world, to prevent coming back to find a little thing huddled in the dark, crying secretly. Alas, she had already risen from a Bronze Rank priest all the way to Gold Rank, and had also grown into an adult, yet she still does the same thing, which is really beyond what we can handle."

"You all seem to get a sense of fulfillment from this, I see. You don’t seem to dislike it," Pannis said with a sneer, pointing out the heart of the matter, "Looking at your expression now, you probably really do see Lina as your own child."

"Heh, we watched her grow up," Catheria admitted, "Every day, watching her pray to the Deity, listening to her confessions about the past, witnessing a child who made mistakes find the right path again. After all this, how could we not dote on her as if she were our own child?"

"So you’ve been training her in her spiritual world, right?" Pannis asked, "It must have been that fire that put you on edge, right? Especially after the fire, she left the safety of the Holy Sanctuary and wandered out in the world on her own. You were worried about her, so you passed on all of your combat knowledge to her, didn’t you?"

"You guessed?" Catheria feigned surprise, exaggerating her response, "You’re so clever, clever beyond my expectations, and it has changed a lot of what I think about you."

"Hey, even though it’s a stupid question, you don’t have to describe your impression of me as if I were an idiot," Pannis said, rolling her eyes, "In fact, I’ve been wondering for a long time. Given her experiences, it would have been difficult for her to gain her current strength. After all, although deeply favored by Denia, that was in terms of theology. Purely considering combat ability, her talent is not only far from being a super-genius like Vivian but also can’t compare to even Catherine. At most, she is about the same as Nicole and Rachel, merely very ordinary. Theoretically speaking, the possibility of her reaching the point she is at now was too low, unless you’ve been training her in her spiritual world with an extremely intensive regimen, to have even a slim chance."

"Who are Nicole and Rachel?" Catheria cut Pannis off, "Other friends of yours?"

"Uh..." Pannis paused, her gaze growing complicated, and a soft smile appeared on her face. She shook her head gently and said softly, "Never mind, forget it."

"I understand, hehe, it seems you also realize the place you few hold in this child’s heart." As a leader of a church during the Bronze Age, Catheria’s mind was undoubtedly sharp. The subtle reactions from Pannis allowed her to instantly understand what he was thinking and also made her aware of the faint warmth surging through Pannis’s heart. However, she considerately did not continue to comment on Pannis’s special reaction but shifted the topic, "Indeed, we Demigods have been training her all this time. Apart from physical conditioning, which she must practice on her own, from combat experience to the understanding of power, even the application of Divine Spells, we are training her comprehensively to make up for her lack of talent."

"Your training has borne fruit," Pannis nodded, "You actually turned the impossible into possible in just a few short years."

"Ha, that’s not our accomplishment, it’s Lina’s," Catheria sighed, shaking her head, "You have no idea how grueling her training has been. For almost five years, almost every night after her body fell asleep, her consciousness would return to the spiritual world for training, and the intensity of that training... You’ve said you’ve died many times, haven’t you? How many times exactly? A hundred? Two hundred? Hehe, during her training, she would fight with us with all her might every day, and although we would control our power within the range she could understand, we did not hold back in battle. So, she died every day. Of course, there is no real death in one’s spiritual world, but the fear of facing death is inevitable, and the psychological pressure from attacks leading to death is not diminished in any way. She has died many times more than you have, so her strength now is truly gained through countless deaths, bit by bit."

"Yes, to obtain something, one must pay an equivalent price," Pannis nodded, showing no surprise on his face. He and Catherine and the others hadn’t asked in detail about the training methods of the priestess, but they had their guesses, and now it was just a confirmation. He sighed with deep emotion and said, "The path to power, indeed, has no shortcuts, not even for priests favored by the deities."

"There are no exceptions," Catheria, also a demigod standing at the pinnacle of humanity, sighed in resonance, "Every step taken is stained with blood, maybe of foes, maybe one’s own."

Both seemed to lose interest in the conversation at the same time and fell into silence, immersing themselves in the memories of the past. After a long while, Pannis finally said listlessly, "What is she doing now?"

"Hehe, last night she walked circles around the library in her spiritual world the entire evening," Catheria said with a smirk full of schadenfreude, teasing, "She was very excitable until just before we switched. But as soon as we took over, she collapsed on the grass and fell asleep."

"Grass?" Pannis blinked, then realized and said, "Oh, she mentioned that the library and the manor are gradually merging."

"Exactly," Catheria said, clearly dissatisfied, grumpily adding, "Do you have any idea how much your shoddy manor is interfering with our residence now? We were used to living in the library, and now we don’t know when something new might pop up. You can’t understand the feeling of waking up to find your room has turned into an unfamiliar place—the discomfort of it makes us all want to beat you up collectively."

"Why me?" Pannis opened his mouth wide, saying innocently, "It has nothing to do with me. I’m not the one who changed the memory, and the manor isn’t mine, so why would I be the one to get beaten up?"

"Are you suggesting we go beat up Catherine then?" asked Catheria with a sinister tone, "Or are you suggesting we bully Lina?"

"Uh, hahaha, what wonderful weather we’re having today," Pannis looked up at the sky and forced a laugh, "It’s really perfect for an outing, hahaha."

"Hmph, a cowardly man," Catheria sneered, "I can’t be bothered with you. Ah, she’s awake, I’ll see you later."