Do ratmen dream of the sacred tree of spirits?

Chapter 51 Methods to Advance to the Path of Enlightenment

"Many people in our church only believe in ideas."

As for the god of death, who knows where it is? To be honest... even its existence is questionable; it's an open secret.

I work for the Church of the God of Death, which allows me to help those in need and document the lives of the forgotten.

Lisa's family has been 'forgotten' by others; no one knows whether they are doing well or not, but I remember, I've written it all down.

"You too, you little mouse," Sister Fanning said.

"Aldrich may forget your performance today in a couple of days, but it will be remembered, either by you, or by Victor or someone else."

Sister Fanning, do you think Lisa still remembers you?

Sister Fanning was silent for a moment.

"Yes," Sister Fanning said. "When she left, she told me, 'Little fairy, don't forget me. We'll always be friends.' I'll never forget that."

Every autumn, when the oak trees shed their leaves, I wonder where she is now, and if she's doing well.

Sister Fanning turned to look out the window:

"She's in her sixties, she should be a grandmother by now."

The carriage wheels rolled forward, and Fafnir was still savoring the conversation he had just had.

……

"Sister Fanning, thank you for what you said to me today. Goodbye!"

Fafnir jumped out of the car, said goodbye to Sister Fanning, and watched her walk towards the library.

"Don't thank me so much... See you later, little one. Come to the library to read more books when you have time."

Fafnir returned to his dormitory, took off his priest's robes, and collapsed onto his bed.

I'm a little tired...

Aldrich's blurry projection resurfaced in Fafnir's mind, and he remembered that phrase:

"If one day the Nans Empire and the Holy Kingdom go to war again, whose side will you be on?"

Fafnir couldn't answer that, but he was absolutely standing with his parents and with the Church of the God of Death in Lorraine...

but,

Will the Narns Empire and the Elven Holy Kingdom really go to war in the future?

Probably not... There was a war about ten years ago.

If a war were to break out, regardless of the outcome, life would certainly become even more difficult for the Nahns in the Holy Land, and the lives of ordinary people in both countries would become even worse.

Ugh……

Forget it, I don't want to think about it anymore...

hateful!

How could Aldridge be so wicked!

Fafnir then thought of the Church of the God of Death, which had been attacked by the crowd at the meeting, and of himself.

Although I was actually quite calm when I said, "I am applying to resign from my position as a teaching assistant at the grammar school,"

After all, losing his teaching assistant position wouldn't cause him any real loss.

But I really can't stand those people who stir up trouble and want to create chaos!

And there's that Stein, the priest of the Church of the God of War.

That Knight Armand looks like he's in cahoots with the Church of the God of War;

However, Fafnir was indeed very grateful to Mr. Hans and Mr. Gregory. He hadn't worked with them for long, and even though they weren't speaking for him personally, but simply for the Church of the God of Death, Fafnir was still deeply grateful to them.

And the cafeteria manager, I was only casually acquainted with him...

Sigh, I'm still too weak...

For a rat-person not even ten years old, already in the preparatory stage, to be honest, he's already very lucky.

It still doesn't work...

He can no longer passively wait for others to arrange his fate.

Aldrich could make him resign with just one sentence. What if some special event happened next time? Could he turn him back into an employee with just one sentence, or even into a slave?

What if it involves my parents...?

Fafner felt somewhat down.

Come on, Fafnir, keep going!

Let's speed up our spell training...

"Thump, thump"

There was a soft knock on the door.

Fafnir immediately got out of bed and opened the door.

"Good afternoon, little Fafnir," Mr. Victor greeted him with a smile.

"Hello, Mr. Victor! Please come in."

"I was discussing things with Aldridge at the meeting, so I'm a little late getting back."

Mr. Victor sat down by the bed and pulled out a chair for Fafnir.

"My little Fafnir, you did very well today," Mr. Victor said earnestly.

"Honestly, in that kind of situation, it's not easy to stay calm, speak clearly, and even take the initiative to back down."

If I were your age and encountered something like this, I'd probably be so anxious I'd just slam a fireball into their face, haha.

"Ahem, just kidding." Mr. Victor cleared his throat.

"Don't worry, not being a teaching assistant is no big deal. After this semester ends, I'll transfer you to another job. In the meantime, focus on your studies at school and practice your magic."

"You might not believe it, but my little Fafnir, that Aldrich is really prejudiced against races other than elves," Mr. Victor said with a hint of helplessness.

After a brief silence, Fafner asked:

"Mr. Victor, I would like to ask you, what is the fastest way for an Enlightened One to advance in rank?"

"Haha, why are you suddenly asking about this?"

"Today's meeting made me a little sad," Fafner said. "I'm thinking now, if I were stronger, would I have had to say 'I'm resigning'?"

"Fafner, you resigned today not because you're not good enough, but because Aldrich used you as a target, and you didn't want to make things difficult for me. These are two different things."

“I know,” Fafnir replied, “but if I were the Enlightened One, standing on that platform saying ‘I resign,’ it would carry the same weight as if I were saying it now.”

Victor looked at him, his eyes now holding a mixture of scrutiny and satisfaction.

You are nine years old this year.

"She's almost ten years old."

"The fastest record for someone to advance from the preparatory stage to an enlightened being is that of a student at the Holy Kingdom's First University, at the age of fourteen," Victor said.

"That person was already promoted to the messenger rank at the age of thirty."

"By the way, at what age did you become an Enlightened One?" Fafnir asked with some interest.

Mr. Victor paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "Fourteen years old."

Haha, let's not talk about that.

Little Fafnir, do you know the essential difference between the Preparatory Order and the Enlightened One?

"The book says that the preparatory stage is to use the spiritual energy dissipated in the air to perform first-level spells, while the enlightened one builds a spiritual cycle in the body, which can call up more and more stable spiritual energy to perform second-level or even third-level spells."

“That’s right,” Victor said, standing up.

"The spirituality of the preparatory stage is 'borrowed' from the spirit world."

When you meditate or cast spells, spiritual energy flows in from the gap between the real world and the spirit world; once it's used up, it dissipates and cannot be retained.

The enlightened are different. They have created a spiritual cycle within their bodies, where spiritual energy flows from the spirit world, circulates within their bodies, and then flows back.

In principle, with each cycle, the body can hold more spiritual energy, and the total amount of spiritual energy will gradually increase.

Of course, in reality, no one's spiritual affinity is that strong. Enlightened beings often absorb a large amount of spiritual energy, circulating it within their bodies many times, before they can even slightly increase their spiritual potential.

"By the way, why is a strong physique necessary?" Fafnir asked. "The book says that enlighteners need a sufficiently strong body to support the spiritual cycle."

"Because the spiritual cycle doesn't exist out of thin air," Mr. Victor said, "it has to flow through your body, through your muscles, blood vessels, and bones."

If your body isn't strong enough, a spiritual cycle can't be established; forcibly establishing it will cause it to collapse immediately.

He raised one hand, and silvery-white spiritual threads appeared at his fingertips, very fine and very steady.

"You see, when I cast the spell, the spirit is drawn from the spirit world, passes through my hands first, and then is released."

The smoother the spiritual path through the body, the faster the spell can be cast and the less energy is consumed. If there are blockages in the body, the spiritual cannot pass through, resulting in either a failed spell or forcibly breaking through the spiritual barrier, which will harm oneself.

Fafnir thought back to the days when he walked barefoot in the open space every morning, and he remembered the feeling of spirituality rising from the soles of his feet.

"You had me walk barefoot every morning to clear those 'blockages'?"

"Yes, spiritual training is fundamental. A solid foundation makes it less likely for things to go wrong when building a spiritual cycle," Victor said, retracting the spiritual threads.

What is your current total spiritual energy?

"Approximately twenty-eight standard units."

"Where have we reached in 'The Spiritual Training Manual'?"

"I've finished practicing the tearing technique. I can reliably tear spiritual threads and then reform them. I've also mastered the aggregation and dispersion techniques."

Mr. Victor nodded: "That's good, the progress is faster than I expected."

"Little Fafnir, I'm so glad you want a promotion, I'm really happy for you, and I'll help you... but I have a few things to tell you."

"Okay, please go ahead." Fafnir nodded.

"First, advancing to the Enlightened One is not like practicing spells, where you construct several spell structures."

Advancing to the level of an Enlightened Being involves transforming the body; this is a gradual process, not something that can be achieved overnight.

Once the spiritual cycle is established, it will operate within your body forever and will never stop.

Your heartbeat, breathing, and blood flow are all connected to the spiritual cycle.

"If your body can handle it, you've successfully advanced; if you can't—" Victor paused, "the mildest level is spiritual disorder, where the spirit backfires on the body, causing great pain, and you can barely survive."

Second, there is more than one way to advance; different races, and even different individuals, have different methods for building spiritual cycles.

"Different promotion methods?" Fafnir asked.

"Yes, they are different," Victor said. "Some textbooks only introduce the Enlightened Ones and don't tell you the specific differences and detailed methods."

The traditional way for elves to ascend to higher realms is through faith in the Sacred Tree. The roots of the Sacred Tree are spread throughout the entire Holy Kingdom. Elves connect their spirituality with the Sacred Tree, and the Sacred Tree helps them establish a cycle.

This method is the safest and has the lowest risk, but the prerequisite is—you must be a pure-blooded elf and have faith in the Holy Tree.

"That's really strange. By the way, how do half-elf advance to higher ranks?" Fafnir asked curiously.

"There are two types of hybrid elves. Those with high bloodline concentration can also take this path, but the effect is less. Those with low bloodline concentration, of course, cannot take this path, as the Sacred Tree does not approve of it."

Fafnir thought for a moment: "What about humans? Or dwarves?"

"Humans and dwarves have no sacred tree to rely on; they can only rely on themselves."

They cultivate their spirituality little by little through meditation and spiritual training. Once they have accumulated enough spiritual energy, they use magical techniques to forcibly open a circulation within their bodies. This path is slower and riskier than that of the elves, but once successful, the stability of their spiritual circulation is actually stronger than that of the elves.

Victor glanced at him.

"The situation of rat people is quite special. Rats are born with a 'void' in their spirituality. You should have seen it when you first used your spiritual vision to look at yourself."

Fafnir nodded, referring to those black holes hidden beneath the gray glow, places where spirituality could not reach.

"Those holes are a characteristic of the rat-people's bloodline. Traditional views consider them to be defects, preventing the retention of spirituality, which is why rat-people rarely become extraordinary. However, some people later discovered that those holes are not 'defects,' but 'empty spaces.'"

"Empty seats?"

"Yes, while the spirituality of rat people is easily absorbed, conversely..."

If those cavities were filled with sufficiently pure spiritual energy, the ratmen's spiritual capacity would be much greater than that of other races of the same level.

Mr. Victor paused for a moment: "Haha, my little Fafnir, I'm a PhD graduate in Spirituality Studies from the First University of the Holy Kingdom."

Coincidentally, I have some in-depth research on this topic; I have studied the spiritual structure of rat people.

To be honest, I think the Skaven's promotion system is more efficient than that of other races.

"More efficient?"

"Because other races are limited by their bodies, the amount of spiritual energy they can absorb is capped. Ratmen are different; their 'voids' can be filled indefinitely, and how big they can be depends on how much their bodies can handle. Theoretically, the spiritual limit of ratmen is higher than that of other races."

"By the way, Fafnir, would you like to know how I got promoted?"

Victor smiled and said, "My situation is more complicated. I am a pure-blooded elf, but I did not ascend through the Sacred Tree."

Why?

"Because I don't believe in the sacred tree, haha," Victor said calmly, as if he were talking about something very ordinary.

"I grew up in the church of the god of death, and I believe in the Commandments."

To me, the sacred tree is just a tree. A huge, very old tree.

Fafnir opened his mouth as if to say something, but then closed it again.

"I rely on meditation, plus a few other things," Mr. Victor said.

"When I was very young, during my preparatory stage, I studied the spiritual structure of the rat people and the way humans ascend to higher levels. In the end, I found a path that suited me."

"Combining the spiritual foundation of the elves with the filling methods of the ratmen," Mr. Victor added:

"The elves have a stable spiritual foundation, but their potential may not be that high. The ratmen's method of filling the gaps is risky, but their potential is high."

I combined the two approaches to create my own spiritual cycle when I was fourteen.