Metello was again in his most loved library. The blond girl was there too. The headmistress gave in to her so she could stay with him if she behaved and only in the mornings from now on.

“So much for not wanting me to talk about it...”

“Stop complaining and start training. I'll be totally quiet from...now!”

And indeed she was.

Metello spent the morning working on stabilizing the ball and shaping it better. He had not many problems in growing it for now but the next steps were difficult.

In the meantime, he evaluated several times how much divine energy it needed. He determined that a quick light sphere uses 1 divine energy and that the more he maintain it the more divine energy it uses at an approximate rate of 0,1 per minute.

The last ball of dim light he generated before lunch was not much stable but he managed to keep it for almost an hour using nearly 10 divine energy. He had a growing headache when he stopped. His remaining divine energy was at 2,4 on 40. He had been pleased to see he already got a bit of Mind Resilience for his work. Perhaps he could train again before dinner but he had to stop for now.

Metello relaxed a bit, looking around. Seeing the change in the boy's behavior, Maria asked if he had finished. Being answered with a nod, she opened the book she had taken at the beginning and that she had left closed until then. True to her words, Maria had been keeping her mouth silent even if her eyes had been much chatty while he trained.

There was still time before lunch as the 11th bell had just been stricken. Metello went out to borrow the book about classes to Mrs Richardson once more. She was glad when he informed her of his progress. He came back into the library and opened it.

The boy wanted to know what was the achievement needed to be granted the Prayer to Lux. He knew well how achievement worked. All the blessings needed some hardship to be bestowed. It was a way to show your dedication to the gods. That's what he had been told when he had asked about it several years ago. To get the Reading blessing, for example, he had to recognize 1000 words first. After that, other achievements can upgrade the blessing. That's by reading 10 hours straight and 100 different books that he attained level 3 for his Reading. However, he didn't know what he have done to get it to level 4.

Tier 0 blessings had been well studied and a lot of achievements were known. However, it wasn't the same for higher-tier ones. The tier 1 and higher blessings were not as limited in number as the tier 1 ones and the [System Scholars] needed to study a lot of holders of these blessings to learn some of the related achievements. This was not always an easy feat.

For now, Metello found the page he was looking for.

“Prayer to Lux, achievement for bestowal: produce 100 stable balls of light for 10 minutes in less than 10 cycles.”

It was a lot of work, but it would not be so hard when he could produce a stable sphere. While he had the book, he searched for the Prayer to Calor too. The achievement was pretty much the same. Then, he looked for what he needed to do to get Prayer of thanks to level 2. He found quickly why Mrs Richardson asked him to say the Prayer for the meals.

“Prayer of thanks – upgrading :

Say the Prayer of thanks 100 times before 10 people within 100 cycles

Take part in a Prayer of thanks with more than 100 people

Say the Prayer of thanks 100 times before 100 people

Take part in a Prayer of thanks with more than 1000 people

Say the Prayer of thanks 100 times before 1000 people

Take part in a Prayer of thanks with more than 10000 people”

Only the two first achievements were attainable for Metello. Even then, it would be hard to find a 100 people prayer to take part in, but for the 100 times 10 people Prayer, it was easier for him. As they were sixteen people at each meal, every Prayer of Thanks said before lunch or dinner was counted for this achievement. The headmistress knew that.

Metello looked up from his book. His headache was slowly fading. He saw that Maria was now quietly reading. He wondered what choice she would make for her class. He tried to imagine it.

She was certainly not fit for the mundane [Worker] class. Perhaps she would choose to become a [Craftswoman], but her mouth was more attuned to the [Merchant] or [Rogue] class. He chuckled a bit at the thought. As she liked to read or draw like him, perhaps an [Artist] or [Scholar] class could fit her too?

Not having anything more to do for now and not willing to open another book, his curiosity grew until he had to ask her. For once, he was the one who would bother her. He knew the headmistress had told him not to talk about it too much, but he didn't know what was too much now, and asking a simple question was surely not too much, wasn't it?

He whispered. “Maria, do you know what you want to get as a job and as a class when you'll come of age ?”

The young girl looked up and answered. “I'm busy reading now. Don't interrupt me skeleton-brained.” And she resumed reading before the dumbfounded Metello.

He didn't expect this reaction at all. He felt a bit ashamed. He hadn't regained his mind when she lift her eyes again and added with a smile. “I think [Priests] are cool. These balls of light and fire are so beautiful !” She whispered even lower. “I remembered the chant and I already tried it in the broom closet yesterday. But I just managed to make a speck. You will have to teach me.”

He had been dumbfounded three times in no more than five seconds for three different reasons. The girl's tongue harshness, the unexpected choice of class, and... “What? I'm not a prayer teacher and Mrs Richardson doesn't want me to talk about classes and blessings, all the more teaching a prayer! I hope you didn't try the Prayer to Calor at least.”

“You helped me with reading and counting and they are blessings too. It's the same here. You even helped me to draw.”

“But...”

“And Mrs Richardson won't know for sure. And even if she becomes aware that I can do the Prayer to Lux, I'll tell her I learned it all by myself.”

“Yes, but...”

“Come on, we go to the broom closet. Follow me, sissy.”

“Wait! You didn't even tell me if it was the Prayer to Lux or the Prayer to Calor that you tried.”

“Don't worry, it was just the Prayer to Lux. I heard when Mrs Richardson told you you had to train it in a room in the monster hunter house. You see, you're already acting as a teacher would. Let's go.”

“Now ?”

“Yes.”

They got out and went toward the prayer classroom or the broom closet for those not in the secret. They were careful not to be seen. Metello didn't really know why he followed. There, cramped in the tiny space, Metello had his first lesson as a prayer teacher.

Four cycles later, Metello was able to shape the stable light ball as he needed to. He had needed more time than he thought. It had not been an easy feat. He had started to aim for the achievement by using as much divine energy as he could every cycle.

When he showed it to her headmistress the previous cycle, she was surprised by how fast the boy succeeded. She told him that most people needed between six and ten cycles to do what he did in five. When he compared it with Maria's improvement, he felt indeed he had been faster.

But when the [Priestess] asked him about his weapon choice, Metello was a bit uncomfortable. He had not really thought about it, too much absorbed in his and Maria's training. Not much bothered, she told him his friend had agreed to help him with weapon training in addition to allowing him to use the prayer training room later.

And there he was, gray leather hat tucked tight on his head to protect himself from the sun and from the eyes of passers-by. It was just after lunch and Metello was walking on the alleys and streets of Ironholes, under the shadows of the poorly built houses and toward the House, alone. Maria had wanted to go with him, but Mrs Richardson made her understand that she was too young for that yet. She was no less frustrated for not being allowed to follow.

The orphanage was located in a poor Sirius-cycle residential district, which means people were working and living when Sirius, the cycle star, was visible and sleeping when Sirius was not visible. The Sirius-cycle was running from the 6th bell to the 18th bell while the anti-Sirius-cycle took place from the 18th to the 6th bell. Metello had no idea why it was not from first to 12th instead.

It was also a poor area where most of the [Workers] and shady people lived. The streets were littered with rubbish and buildings were badly maintained. You could easily find some buildings whose walls missed up to half a dozen earth bricks. There was not even a proper street, only a labyrinthine mess of more or less dirty alleys where three people could barely walk together side by side.

As the anti-Sirius-cycle residential district was pretty close to the orphanage, he chose to travel through it. There were fewer people coming and going there as most of them were sleeping and fewer people meant fewer potential problems. While going through, he just saw two thugs far from him in some dead-end doing an unknown business with a poorly dressed and bloodied man. When his gaze reached them, he suddenly found that the ground was singularly dirty under his feet. It was a really interesting thing to look at.

Finally, he left the residential district and reached the working district where the House was located. He only had to cross almost half of it.

Metello sank in his hat a bit more and walked into West Work Street. This was the most frequented path in the area. The buildings were well built if just a bit bland. No sculpture, no painting, but no holes were seen there. Blandness was not always a flaw. More than once he had to make way for [Workers] pulling a cart going to or returning from one of the many workshops of the district.

There were a lot of blacksmith workshops and foundries on his way. There was indeed a large iron ore production in a city named Ironholes, but there were gold, silver, and copper mines too. So, a lot of workshops and [Craftsmen] were needed to process ore in metal bars, and then metal bars in weapons, armors, jewelry, and whatever. That was one of the two most valuable products of the city.

The second one was in the hands of [Alchemists] in their laboratories, on the other side of the river. The holes left by ore mining were like a gold mine for them as these were premium areas for mushrooms, moss, and animals to mutate thanks to the nox energy. These mutated products were essential in the alchemical recipes.

While walking, he couldn't ignore the surprised or hateful looks directed at him despite his hat hiding most of his head. But he was prepared for it and went quicker. Leaving West Work Street, Metello turned right on Main Street. The boy followed it eastward and crossed Main Bridge. From the top of the bridge, he could see Main Square, and in its corner, The House. It was a huge building.

He went down the bridge and came to a halt on the other side of the street by an inn named “The sleepy hunter”. They hadn't tried a lot to find that name. The strongly stoned built construction Metello faced counted four doors. He wondered which one to enter. He hide as well as he could and inspected the House a bit from afar.

One of the doors looked like the entrance to a tavern with loud music and chatting, even at this hour of the cycle. It probably wasn't his door. Another one was closed and guarded. He doubted this was his destination too.

There were not too many people coming and going from the two other opened doors, but seeing that the two groups of bloodied people and dead monsters were going to the same door and that the clean or almost clean people chose the other one, he checked his hat and went toward the clean people door.