My health recovery is incredibly fast.

They must always adhere to the well-known "Eight Virtues" in order to maintain their connection with the Holy Light and gain a continuous source of faith and courage.

The Eight Virtues are a product of a certain historical period and a specific era.

The Starry Night Kingdom of the Western Continent exudes a medieval atmosphere. When the alchemy school created this kingdom, it also set up secular constraints that were consistent with its cultural background.

In the Starry Night Kingdom, there are eight codes of conduct, similar to the Eight Virtues. Generally speaking, these codes only apply to the kingdom's guards; ordinary civilians are not required to follow them.

Upon first arriving at the outer sanctuary's teleportation hall, the colossal light elemental used as a teleportation crystal radiated boundless light, leading Xia Zuo to believe he had witnessed the materialized form of holy light... He then began to connect the characteristics of the light elemental with the eight virtues, and began to make connections.

Now, the veteran pureblood mage Krestor says that balance is a characteristic of the element of light, which shatters Shazo's illusions.

After a brief moment of surprise, he asked in a questioning tone:

"Your Excellency, could you tell me about the element of light? What price must I pay to learn the elemental language related to it?"

"Hmm... let me think about it." Christo gently stroked her chin, gazing at Shazo. The way he looked so eager to know made it hard for her to refuse.

but..

"Everything related to the element of light is a secret within the temple, Shazo," Krestor said, noticing a hint of disappointment in his eyes.

"After becoming a high-level mage, you can learn common traits of the light element. If you can advance to a master-level elemental representationist, you will also learn a light element trait."

"These are two common methods for learning the properties of the light element."

Krestor rubbed her temples, suddenly realizing that the person sitting in front of her was not only the first pure-blooded mage to appear in a thousand years, but also someone with in-depth knowledge of alchemy. Following her current learning path, she would inevitably learn the [Eye of Kolas] meditation technique, at which point she would naturally be able to see the elemental patterns on the bodies of existing light elementals…

Whether it was out of support for a younger generation or an affirmation of Xia Zuo's alchemical skills, there seemed to be no need to deliberately conceal certain information.

Christo looked up, a smile playing on her lips, and said:

"However, now that you have obtained the Light Element with balanced properties, I can tell you some things about it."

Xia Zuo shifted his hips forward, straightened his back, and leaned slightly forward to listen to the other person's Mandarin.

"When you lived in the Starry Night Kingdom, you must have heard of the code of fairness and impartiality, right?" Christo asked.

Xia Zuo nodded. "Yes. This rule requires the guards to strictly abide by the law and act in accordance with regulations, and not to bring personal feelings and private relationships into their daily work."

The code of fairness and impartiality is almost identical to the paladin's virtue of justice.

Christor held up her index finger in front of her. "The Starry Night Kingdom is an extension of the Alchemy School's creation, drawing inspiration from a real kingdom that existed in the Fourth Age. Tracing its origins, the principle of fairness and impartiality has a long history; in the Fourth Age, it was known as the virtue of justice."

Xia Zuo has not yet read any historical records about the Fourth Age.

Hearing the words "justice and virtue" from Christo at this moment, he was somewhat surprised and couldn't help but ask:

"Your Excellency, there are eight codes of conduct widely circulated in the Starry Night Kingdom. Do they correspond to eight virtues?"

“Yes, that’s right.” Christo drew a circle in front of her with her index finger, and a bright red halo appeared between the two of them, suspended vertically in the air.

The perfectly circular halo was divided into eight equal parts, and on each part appeared a set of words written in the common language:

[The text appears to be a jumbled collection of characters and phrases, possibly from different sources, and lacks coherent sentences. A direct translation isn't meaningful without further context or clarification.]

Humility, honor, sacrifice, courage, compassion, honesty, justice, spirituality.

"These are the eight virtues of the Fourth Age, which many ancient families have followed and passed down. Their family members, as long as they always observe these virtues, can use their family's armor and swords and practice their family's breathing techniques normally."

Christo pointed to the word "justice" and said:

"Long ago, the quality of the light element you possessed was called the quality of justice."

"However, the word 'justice' is not precise enough, carrying a strong moral connotation, and is not suitable for use in the demanding process of weaving and alchemy. After much discussion among the scholars of the Tower and the alchemists, we changed the trait of justice to the current trait of equilibrium."

So... after going around in circles... Xia Zuo's initial thought when he first saw the colossal light element wasn't wrong... it was just a matter of some misnomer.

"Your Excellency..." Xia Zuo paused, wiped his face, and composed himself. "You mean that the element of light has eight qualities, each corresponding to one of the eight virtues, right? You and the other gentlemen are using more alchemical terms to refer to them, instead of their original names?"

“Hmm, that’s right,” Krestor said. “As for the language of the balance traits, you’ll know once you learn the Eye of Kolas meditation. As for the names of the other light element traits, that depends on your own destiny. If you are fortunate enough to be able to accommodate them, mastering their elemental patterns will be a piece of cake for you.”

"Your Excellency, what would happen if someone collected all eight elements of light?" Xia Zuo asked curiously.

“No one can gather them all.” Christo shook her head, her long hair swaying as she looked at the virtue of sacrifice, without saying anything more.

Xia Zuo glanced at the word "sacrifice," nodded as if he understood, and then asked:

"Have any of those families that passed down their virtues continued to this day?"

Christo shook her head again, waved her hand, and the circular halo and universal phrase in the air dissipated. "Sacrifice" was the last word to disappear…

Xia Zuo instantly imagined the horrific scene of a family that upheld virtues sacrificing themselves.

“Alright, we should wrap up our conversation for today.” Christo snapped her fingers, and a thin book floated down from a bookshelf ten meters away from the two of them.

"You don't need to undergo the physical test, the mental ocean test, or the willpower test. I'll just compile a data set. The tower mage who wanted to record your information did so on my orders, which is why he asked your mentor to inquire about your process of entering meditation."

Christo manipulated the pen to write many words on the booklet, then let the paper and pen float to Shazo's face. "Sign your name."

Xia Zuo signed the document, stood up from the sofa, and the surrounding space returned to normal. The crimson light dissipated, and the wall clock showed that the conversation, which felt like it had lasted for more than 20 minutes, had actually only lasted about 2 minutes.

Christor's long dress transformed back into her original mage robes, and she said:

"By the way, Xia Zuo. If you have enough spiritual ocean in advance and want to advance to a high-level mage, you can contact me directly using the secret communication ring, and I will help you arrange the matters before and after the advancement."

“Yes, Your Excellency.” Xia Zuo thought of the bald man who had taken such good care of him. “Do I need to explain this to Master Rexol?”

“No need.” Christo removed the scarlet emblem from her chest. “After helping you complete the necessary physical training, he will head to the territory of the Crystal Remnants to wipe out the monsters there. His companions have already gone ahead of you while you are training.”

"Take this and give it to your mentor, although it will eventually be passed to the inner sanctum and back into my hands." Christo placed the booklet in front of Shazo.

"Very well, Your Excellency, then I shall take my leave." Xia Zuo bowed and walked out with the booklet in his hand.

Chapter 46 A New Job

Outside Christo's office.

Adanavados was standing with his hands behind his back, gazing at the forest beyond the corridor fence. He heard the door move and turned around to see the booklet in the student's hand.

"Mentor, here are the materials you requested." Xia Zuo approached the other party and handed over the booklet with both hands. Despite having met the veteran pureblood mage of the inner sanctum, he did not harbor any negative feelings towards his mentor.

Adanavados didn't look through the book; instead, he put it directly into his sleeve, took out a small wooden box, placed it in the student's hand, and said:

"This is a gift to celebrate your successful completion of your first advanced course. Every student receives one. I've upgraded the quality of your gift."

"Thank you, mentor."

"Go back on your own first. You can go to the alchemy lab to do experiments, or go to your dormitory to meditate. You can also use the alchemy cards I gave you to wander around."

“Okay, mentor.” Xia Zuo thought for a moment. He needed to hold back his level rather than gain more experience, and he also had a few questions he hadn’t asked the mentor yet, so he said:

"I'd like to ask you a few more questions. May I wait in your office?"

"Okay, go ahead, I'll be there shortly." Adanavados smiled kindly.

...

Beneath the circular dome.

Xia Zuo took out the small wooden box his mentor had given him from his pocket, opened it, glanced at it, and then put it back.

The small wooden box contains an expert-grade, perfect-quality True Knowledge Potion, which is extremely precious and can be exchanged for as much as 500 points at the Elite Academy.

This is a rather valuable gift... Of course, only relative to Xia Zuo's current income. In the eyes of a temple professor like Adanavados, 500 points might just be a negligible expense.

Xia Zuo carefully put away the wooden box, deciding to use the potion again when the opportunity arose.

He wandered through the bright beams of light, stopping and starting, looking around at the culture tanks in his mentor's office, while recalling what Christo had said.

Krestor once mentioned that light elements with balanced qualities are extremely rare.

This indicates that the eight different light elements do not appear in the loyalty ritual with equal probability.

Since the probability of a balanced trait appearing is low, there must be one or two light element traits that have a high probability of appearing. These are the light elements that a high-ranking mage who accepts a loyalty ritual should possess under normal circumstances.

What traits would they be?

Xia Zuo carefully considered the eight virtues one by one.

First, exclude the option of "sacrifice".

Even Krestor chose to remain silent about this virtue, indicating that its influence on the possessor might be negative, or the cost might be extremely high. The Temple probably wouldn't include light elements with this quality in the loyalty ritual, allowing high-ranking mages to draw them randomly.

Of the remaining six virtues, [Honor], [Humility], and [Honesty] are all related to the loyalty required by the temple, which aligns with the original intention of the loyalty ceremony. They should be the most common light element traits. If nothing unexpected happens, these three light element traits will be the ones that high-level mages can obtain.

The stone bricks near the corridor slid gently, and the office door opened from the outside.

Adanavaldos, dressed in a simple robe, walked in with light steps, seemingly in good spirits... after all, he had helped his old friend...

Knowing the inside story, Xia Zuo suppressed his laughter, lowered his head, touched his face, and suppressed the corners of his mouth as he followed the other person to the desk.

"Sit down, Xia Zuo. What do you want to know?"

"Mentor, could you tell me more about the spirit lines?" Xia Zuo asked after sitting down.

“This…” Adanavados hesitated for a few seconds, stroking his beard as he pondered, “I’m afraid that won’t work, Shazo. When we were compiling the spiritual school’s textbooks, we had an agreement with the Shamanic Society not to reveal knowledge that was not allowed to appear in the textbooks.”

"Please forgive my abruptness, mentor." Xia Zuo bowed in apology, then said:

"Mentor, I would like to learn more about extreme storms."

“Sylvia once told me about the wonders of the Extreme Storm. She said that this relentless and violent storm blocked all ships attempting to reach the Western Continent. Master Rexor said that it could even sever communication between half-blood mages. Is that true?”

Adanavados nodded and said:

They are both right.

“Extreme storms have always been a research topic in elemental representation. I have attended discussions on extreme storms by masters of elemental representation.”

"The tower mages were also extremely interested in this natural phenomenon that seemed to possess endless energy, yet showed no trace of elements."

"After a long period of joint research, our alchemy school and the tower mages have come up with a widely accepted hypothesis."

Adanavados looked at Shazo, who was listening intently, and said:

"When practicing meditation, we are all instilled with a truth:"

"The wider the ocean of the mind, the clearer the elemental light becomes, and the easier it is to detect the existence of elements."

Xia Zuo's heart skipped a beat; he knew what the other person was going to say.

"The reason we think there are no elements within the Extreme Storm is simply because our spiritual ocean is not vast enough to detect them. Perhaps, deep within the storm or on the seabed where the storm is located, there are countless powerful and untamed elements, and it is because of them that the Extreme Storm was created."

Adanavardos's gaze shifted upwards, seemingly taking in the boundless, towering form of the storm, and he remarked with considerable emotion: