Once Priest Joe finished laughing, he talked Seth through the other daily responsibilities of a Priest. Seth actually had less to do on a day to day basis, at least when it came to chores and the like. In matters of greater importance, he would be expected to play a role. In the event of the town alarm being raised, for example, he would report to the wall with his dad and Priest Joe.

Seth wouldn’t be allowed to take a set of rooms in the temple since his time in Lith was now limited, so he would remain either in his dorm or in one of the two guest rooms in the temple. The guest rooms were larger and nicer than a dorm, and Joe encouraged Seth to take guest room number two where Judge Caleb had stayed. The Judge had partially aligned the room with Sin essence, and it made everyone else slightly uncomfortable. Seth hesitantly agreed to this arrangement.

That decided, the Head Priest agreed to allow Seth to continue purifying the jungle for a few days before he began learning to purify bodies. Joe wouldn’t teach him any improved sensing techniques until he was done in the jungle, however. Seth was somewhat disappointed, but glad he could continue working with the ghost for a while.

“I believe that’s all for now.” Priest Joe said. “You can begin moving your belongings to the guest room. Your old dorm needs to be cleared within the next few weeks at most, a new acolyte is being sent.”

“Alright, thank you again.” Seth said, starting to get up before having a thought. “Head Priest, if I don’t have to water the plants anymore, who’s going to while Mom is in bed?”

Priest Joe replied over his shoulder while hanging the robe Seth hadn’t chosen. “It will be Acolyte Amber’s responsibility.”

“Amber?” Seth asked. “But she hates working outside.”

“Nevertheless, she is meticulous about the job.” Joe replied.

Seth shrugged and nodded before leaving the office.

After a few trips between the dorm and the temple’s guest wing, Seth’s new robes were sticking to him like sweaty grits. Fortunately, most of his personal effects were papers and small items that he could carry in a bag or his pockets. When he emptied his drawers, Seth had to carry his spare acolyte robes to the laundry room so they could be passed on to somebody else, maybe that new acolyte Joe had mentioned. When he made it back to his new room, someone, likely Priest Joe, had left three more identical new robes for him.

Once everything was moved, he let Amber know that his old dorm was ready for what she referred to as her ‘cleaning tidal wave inferno’ for reasons unknown. As Seth was heading to his parents’ rooms, he reflected on how everyone was looking at him differently in his new robes. He didn’t usually like being the center of attention, but perhaps the feeling was growing on him.

His mom was looking better when Seth went in to see her. She seemed to have been energized by her time out of bed a couple days earlier to help him get ready for the ritual instead of taking a turn for the worse like his dad had worried. Oddly, she sounded different to his auditory ability. No one else did, so he didn’t think it was related to his heightened Virtue essence. Her abilities weren’t louder, if anything it sounded like there was a new tone mixed in with her old ones. Seth mentioned it to her as they chatted for a bit about the changes he was going through.

“I’ll keep that in mind, and let you know if I notice a new ability.” Lola said. “Now, how are you feeling about your new title? It sounds like your dad has been fretting for no reason.”

“I’m glad Joint Priest was an option, I guess.” Seth hedged. “But it still isn’t right that I would’ve otherwise had to choose between helping you and being able to leave.”

“Life is full of hard choices.” Lola replied with a weary sigh. “It might not seem fair to you or me, but the church has reasons for setting up the temple in Lith this way. We wanted you to make your own decisions, so we never told you about it as a kid.”

“I get that,” Seth said with an aggrieved scowl, “But telling me two minutes before I talked to Priest Joe and had to actually make the decision really didn’t help. I ended up biting his head off.”

“Meranda told me about that.” His mom chuckled. “She heard you all the way from the sanctuary, and said that you’ve been holding out on us. She told me ‘With pipes like those, he should join us for choral exercises!’”

Seth tried to stay annoyed, but his lips twitched.

“Levi’s timing was poor though.” She admitted. “We should have talked to you in the days before the heightening ritual, but I was out of it. I asked your dad to wait until we could talk as a family, but we didn’t have a chance, so he had to explain the situation last minute…”

By the time they finished chatting it was early evening, so when Seth left Lola’s bedchamber he headed to the kitchens for dinner. Acolyte Sammy grinned at him when he saw Seth’s new robes, and gave Seth large amounts of caudle, peas, and extra hedgehog pastries. Seth thanked him and went to sit with his dad at the large Priest’s table. Usually, everyone ate at the lower tables, but there were two different seating areas off the kitchen. The Priest’s dining room had been cleaned by Amber recently for Judge Caleb, so they were using it for now.

“A new ability? Now?” His dad asked, choking slightly in surprise. “ I suppose the procedure Judge Caleb and I carried out could have been traumatic enough for her body to interpret it as life threatening.”

That put Seth off his hedgehog a bit. “Was it really that bad?”

“Let’s not talk about it while we’re eating.” Levi said, effectively answering the question.

After dinner, Seth made it halfway to the acolyte’s dorm before realizing his mistake and returning to the guest wing of the main temple. After washing in the large private guest baths and leaving his sweat-laden robe for Acolyte Philip to take in the morning, he made his way to his new bed and lay down contentedly. Seth then immediately got up again and loosened the cot from the bedframe. Just how tight did Judge Caleb make this thing? It was like lying on top of a drum. Once the bed had the right amount of give, he climbed back in and went to sleep.

The next morning, Joe found Seth at breakfast. The Head Priest was carrying a small wooden tablet about the size of his palm inlaid with a bar of reddish metal. These were used to carry Value, but the bar of metal was much larger than the tiny ones that Seth had been paid with before.

“Here is your Value for the next month.” Priest Joe said.

“That’s really big!” Seth said with raised eyebrows. “Do Priests really get paid that much?”

“Your base pay is lower than your father’s since you’re a Journeyman.” Joe explained, “But this includes your bonuses for being in Lith, and for being a Joint Priest.”

“Wow, I didn’t realize how much all that was worth.” Seth said. “What do you do with the Value you get every month? There isn’t anywhere to spend that much around here!”

“That is my business.” Priest Joe said firmly. “Now, take the Value and go meet Sheldon in front of the temple.”

“Oh, sorry.” Seth said, putting a finger on the bar of metal and transferring what felt like a huge amount of Value into himself.

The Head Priest put the tablet back in his robe, waved him off, and headed into the kitchen as Seth left the temple. Sheldon was indeed patiently waiting for him, and the pair headed through the outpost and into the jungle.

____________________________________________

Time was a strange thing to a ghost. Light came and went, creatures familiar and horrific passed through the clearing, but Landon just waited. He didn’t need anything anymore, not food, water, air, nor sleep, so if he didn’t have anything to focus on, time simply slipped by.

His thoughts seemed to tumble past, hard to grasp for more than a minute or two. He was curious about the ritual Seth had mentioned, concerned about his student’s state of mind, and annoyed about the nonsensical way money worked here, but none of those things troubled him for long.

After what might have been a long time, Landon finally heard someone approach. As Seth entered the clearing, a prickly sensation washed over the ghost. His perception blurred slightly before he refocused on his student.

“So, what do you think?” Seth was asking.

“About what?” Landon asked blankly.

Seth spread his arms wide. The ghost looked around expectantly but didn’t see anything.

“No, right here!” Seth said with frustration, gesturing at himself. “My new robes!”

“They’re very nice.” Landon said politely, not seeing the point.

“They’re Priest’s robes!” Seth exclaimed. “I’m a Joint Journeyman Priest of the Temples of Sin and Virtue!”

Landon knew he had taught Seth all of those words separately, but he wasn’t sure the kid was using them correctly or in the right order.

“I’m not sure Sin is the right word.” He said. “Sin is the opposite of a religion.”

Now that Seth mentioned it, the ghost vaguely remembered the list of different churches including one called Sin.

“No.” Seth said. “Sin is actually one of the two largest churches by number of clergy.”

“So you worship the god of Sin now?” Landon asked, squinting at the boy.

Seth groaned and rolled his eyes. “Not this again. Look, your world had ‘money’ in economics and ‘god’ in religion, but here we have Value and the Five Sacred Essences.”

Then Seth perked up, seeming to think of something. Suddenly, Landon felt woozy just looking at Seth. It was the first time he’d felt anything since he became…a ghost. His thoughts slipped over the memory and he just tried to figure out what he was looking at. It was like Seth was glowing, but there wasn’t any light coming from him. Upon further inspection it seemed more like a heat mirage, but it wasn’t the right kind of dry heat for that here in the jungle.

Keeping his eyes just to the side of Seth, he asked. “What is that? What are you doing?”

“Priests get paid a lot more!” Seth said, beaming. “I filled my robes with Value!”

Before the ghost could ask for clarification, the boy’s guardian said something that Landon couldn’t understand. Seth deflated a bit and the effect went away, as well as a ringing in Landon’s ears that he hadn’t quite noticed before.

“What was that?” He asked again.

“I just put the robe’s full Value into it.” Seth said.

“That’s like how you, uh, pay? For things?” Landon asked.

“Yeah, but if you leave something full of its Value for a minute or so, it has a sensory effect.” Seth explained. “Rich people wear Valuable clothes and ornaments filled with their Value as a way to show off.”

“It seems rather disorienting.” Landon said, blinking rapidly.

“I guess you get used to it?” Seth said with a shrug.

“Anyway, you’re a Priest now?” Landon brought them back on topic.

“I am!” Seth replied. “I can use Virtue essence way better, and I can even use Sin. Let me show you.”

The ghost watched Seth confidently stride over to a tree with a cancerous knot that he had examined before. The new Priest put a hand on the trunk just below the knot and scrunched up his face like he was concentrating. After a few minutes, Landon heard him grumble something under his breath in his native language.

A moment later, a powerful aura swept through the clearing, emanating from Seth. The ghost was alarmed as the prickling sensation from before got much stronger, and time seemed to blur no matter how hard he tried to focus. Landon held a hand up and saw that it had become almost totally transparent. Just as he began to feel like he might slip away, the feeling subsided.

The ghost looked back at Seth, who was taking calming breaths while glaring at the tree. Once he had collected himself, he put his hand back on the tree and visibly relaxed a bit. Landon just stared at Seth before he noticed a leaf flutter down from above. Then another one, and another.

By the time Seth withdrew his hand from the tree, Landon had watched it go from mostly healthy to thoroughly dead. All of the leaves had fallen, and the bark looked like it had dried out completely.

“What happened?” He asked, mildly disturbed by the sight.

Seth scowled. “I had some difficulty with Sin essence. I can’t get it to go into the tree as easily as I could with Judge Caleb. I got a bit angry and had to rein it in, then tried again. I used as much Sin as I could get in there, and got rid of the cancer I think, but the Sin ruptured the tree’s own Plant, Vital, and Water essence cycles.”

The ghost got the gist of what Seth had said, if not the details.

“Plants are usually more resilient than animals.” Landon remarked. “If this is what happened to a tree, you shouldn’t try fixing anyone’s cancer any time soon.”

“Oh, really?” Seth said sarcastically. “You think?”

“If you’re a Priest that’s allowed to treat people now, then yes.” Landon said soberly. “I think it bears saying. So, did you just come to show off your new clothes and magic, or do you want to continue working on my old homework assignments?”

“Why don’t you ‘pull them up’ while I try again on another tree?” Seth suggested. “I want to try again while the failure is fresh in my mind.”

Landon opened his old genetics homework file, and got the relevant worksheet from the binder in his bag. When he was ready, Seth was still engrossed in staring at another tree, so the ghost pulled up the character sheet he’d been making based on Seth for a TTRPG that he liked. He gave Seth another level, and added ‘Inflicting Wounds’ to the spell list. He would have added ‘Death Finger,’ but that wasn’t on the cleric spell list. Plus Landon didn’t think Seth was quite that high level.

Seth finally stopped when the ghost was in the middle of trying to make a character sheet for the Priest’s guard, Sheldon. The second tree hadn’t died outright, but Seth had caused the knot and area around it to explode into wood chips that he was still picking out of his face. When he plucked each one out, Landon saw the wounds close in seconds. As they began to go over the sheet of Punnett squares, the ghost wondered how unbalanced this world’s healing Priests would be in his game.