Chapter 13: I’ll remember this enmity

Inside the carriage, Hilda sat across from Luo Li, looking extremely anxious.

After all, the Saintess had left the temple without permission. If anything happened, Hilda would be implicated too.

More importantly, Hilda would never be able to face Radiance City again… or face her own faith.

But there was no other way.

Given the current situation—with the demon army suddenly retreating after surrounding the city—it didn’t make sense.

The cost and the gain didn’t match. Hilda was certain the demon army wouldn’t give up so easily, and their commander

would surely be punished if they did.

The temple, being the residence of the Saintess, was far too sensitive a target. Even though it had many knight guards, it

didn’t have any solid defensive walls.

If the city gates were breached, the temple would be the first to fall.

It simply couldn’t be defended.

So, this move—slipping away secretly—was a desperate but necessary tactic.

“These demons really forced me to flee in such a sorry state… I’ll remember this grudge!” Luo Li clenched her little fist tightly.

She checked her attributes again. That level “1” number was almost unbearable to look at.

Even so, her stats at level 1 were still far beyond those of a normal person.

She was slightly weaker in strength, but her agility and endurance were on par with an adult male, and her recovery ability was more than three times that of a regular man.

With such a strong recovery rate… the demons would definitely be pleased!

After all, most human women couldn’t endure their abuse. Even setting aside stamina, just in terms of size—it wasn’t even comparable.

What surprised her the most was her Mana stat—it was a whopping 20!

That was more than four times the amount of an average adult male.

From what she had learned so far, even though her knowledge was limited:

The human level cap in this world was Level 70, and ordinary people were Level 1.

For normal people, all five basic attributes should be around 5.

But her stats had clearly gone beyond the normal range:

• Strength: 3

• Agility: 5

• Endurance: 5

• Recovery: 15

• Mana: 20

Just these numbers alone already made her far stronger than an average person.

And that’s not even counting her innate skills.

She now had four skills, all obtained during her ascension as the Saintess—when she stood before the divine statue.

The original body’s previous owner also somehow learned these skills, even if it was muddled and unclear.

As for her Class-specific Unique Skill, she only had one for now. It required using the Banner of the Moon, which was one of her two sacred artifacts—passed down from Saintess to Saintess through the ages.

In other words, she probably had other unique class skills too—just that some conditions hadn’t been met yet, so they remained locked.

Class-specific Divine Powers.

Every Saintess had them—whether the Moon Saintess like her, or another type—they were inherited, though the style of abilities varied by person.

Her three class-specific divine powers couldn’t be used on herself:

• Hero Creation – must be used on someone else.

• Moon’s Protection – also to be given to others.

• Eye of Judgment – definitely not usable on herself.

And the four ordinary skills she awakened? Besides Light Blade and Swordsmanship, the other two were support skills—Healing and Inspiration.

This made it clear: she was a super healer!

In battlefield terms, if a team had a super healer like her, the strategy would shift entirely—protecting the healer would become more important than the tank!

Her own combat power? Basically negligible.

So being the Saintess wasn’t about charging into battle with a massive sword.

Thinking of this, Luo Li even felt a bit jealous of Hilda. At least Hilda could go onto the battlefield. Even if she couldn’t be a powerful mage, she was probably at least a frontline bruiser.

No matter how you looked at it, Hilda was way cooler than a healer like her.

Luo Li shook her head. Right now, she needed to study her skill mechanics—everything else could wait.

Because a major battle was coming.

Her first skill:

• Inspiration – (Boosts ally morale, increases ally attack power.)
  This seemed like a team-focused skill, but at her current level, it could only be used on one person.

Its strength? It increased attack power by 10%.

Percentage-based skills were usually much stronger than flat-number increases.

That meant—the stronger the person this was used on, the more powerful the bonus.

Luo Li looked down at her Saintess robes.

In the entire temple, there were only three of these robes, and they were all identical. Each came with a crown.

These robes could block any attack with Strength below 50, and had partial immunity to attacks over 50.

But once an attack went above 100 Strength, the robe’s protection dropped significantly—it would act more like standard armor at that point.

“Hilda, what’s your level?” Luo Li asked.

Hilda raised an eyebrow.

“Level?”

So… she didn’t know her own level?

“Then how did you become a knight?” Luo Li followed up.

“Of course, I passed the Angel Statue’s selection. Your Highness saw it yourself, didn’t you?”

Hilda’s answer made Luo Li suddenly remember something from the original Saintess’s memories.

In this world, very few people can see levels, and most people don’t talk about them.

Only the Saintess and the Pope could see people’s levels.
Other people—not only couldn’t see others’ levels, they couldn’t even see their own attributes!

“Then how did you learn your skills?” Luo Li continued.

“Well… partly from guidance by senior knights, and partly by praying to the Angel Statue to receive new skills…”

Hilda looked curiously at Luo Li and cautiously asked:

“Saintess… could it be… you didn’t know these things?”

Faced with Hilda’s question, Luo Li could only nod helplessly.

“Before I came to Radiance City, Sister Martha had already become a demon. Since I arrived, everything around me was controlled by her. I… didn’t have a chance to learn much.”

“I see… Then Your Highness was right. The demons’ goal was you from the very start. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have sent someone to watch you the moment you became the Saintess.

We don’t know when exactly Martha turned, but judging by how quickly she transformed and how she maintained her intelligence, she’s probably been a demon for quite a while.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too.”

As expected of a temple knight—despite having limited information, Hilda had still managed to figure out the truth.

“Your Highness, wouldn’t it be more dangerous for you to leave the temple tonight?”

“No. Staying in the temple would be even more dangerous. I’m certain there’s another demon spy. I can’t take that risk.”

“Wise decision, Your Highness.”

Hilda hesitated a moment, then finally voiced the question that had been bothering her all along.

“Saintess… how did you know Sister Martha had turned into a demon?”