The Archbishop first placed the box on the table in front of Freya, then took out a bottle from it and handed it to her, saying, “This is the Rank One Earth Pathway potion. Drink this, and you will become an extraordinary.”
Freya took the potion and examined it closely. The liquid was mostly transparent and colorless, with tiny green specks floating inside that emitted a faint shimmer. It looked just like the “starry sky bottles” from her previous life.
Freya pulled out the cork and took small sips. In stark contrast to when she drank the War Pathway potion, this Earth Pathway potion tasted like a cup of tea—smooth, mild, and carrying a faint, subtle sweetness.
Immediately after, waves of drowsiness washed over her. Still holding the empty bottle in her hand, Freya tilted her head and slumped directly onto the sofa behind her, falling into a deep, baby-like sleep.
As for the Archbishop, he sat opposite her without moving, waiting in silence. After about half an hour, Freya slowly woke up. Her very first sensation was that the entire world had become much clearer.
It was as if she had previously been severely nearsighted, viewing the world without glasses, and drinking this Earth Pathway potion had suddenly cured her “nearsightedness.”
The Archbishop, who had been waiting by her side, said, “Feel with your heart, experience it, and you will understand why.”
If the War Pathway comprehensively enhanced strength, speed, endurance, and physical fitness, then the Earth Pathway comprehensively enhanced Freya's sensory capabilities—namely, her sight, hearing, and smell.
For instance, Freya could now clearly see every single pore on the Archbishop's face opposite her, hear the strong, powerful heartbeat coming from his chest, and smell the scent of plants and trees wafting through the air.
As for touch and taste, she couldn't test them for the time being, so Freya wasn't sure if they had been enhanced as well.
Aside from these sensory enhancements, the first extraordinary ability brought by the Earth Pathway was “Heart Perception.” True to its name, it meant perceiving with the heart. When Freya closed her eyes, it felt like an out-of-body experience. Her “sight” detached from her body, and she began to observe herself from a third-person perspective.
She had a bizarre sense of déjà vu, as if she were playing a game and opening a character status panel. In this state, she could clearly distinguish all the status buffs on herself, such as blessings or curses.
Moreover, when she “looked” at herself, her first impression was one of absolute purity. There was not a single speck of impurity; she was pure to the absolute limit.
Next, Freya applied her “Heart Perception” to the Archbishop. When she “looked” at him, she could feel that his body contained a large amount of “impurities.” More accurately, these were residues left in the human body when a potion had not yet been fully adapted to and digested.
This Heart Perception ability could actually see the digestion progress of the potion inside a person's body? Because of this, with just a single “glance,” someone on the Earth Pathway could directly tell whether a person was an extraordinary or not.
When Freya looked back at herself, she realized there were none of these so-called “impurities” in her body. Had that potion just now dissolved instantly upon entering her mouth? Had it been fully digested right away?
Right on cue, the Archbishop explained, “The Earth Pathway's method to accelerate potion digestion is to help others. As long as someone is sincerely grateful to you, that gratitude can turn into a blessing to help digest the potion.”
“And I can clearly feel that you carry an indescribable, massive amount of the most sincere gratitude and blessings. A thousand? Ten thousand? No, even more. It is hard to imagine just how many people you have helped. Or rather, have you saved an entire nation!?”
“Therefore, even if you were not a Saintess sent by the gods, this feat of helping tens of thousands of people alone, along with these countless heartfelt wishes, makes you absolutely worthy of the title of Saintess!”
“Everyone in the Church of the Earth should look up to you as a role model!”
“Ah... what?” These words left Freya completely dumbfounded. Wait, since when did she do so many good deeds? The gratitude of tens of thousands of people? Was this for real? She was only seventeen years old right now. Even if she had helped one person every day since birth, she probably couldn't have helped that many, right?
Without a doubt, this definitely wasn't the doing of the original owner of this body, and it certainly wasn't her own doing either. She had only transmigrated here a few days ago. Besides, let alone helping others, she had actually killed someone, okay?
Freya couldn't help but wonder: Could it be because of my previous life? But she had absolutely no memory of what she did in her past life. Looking at it now, maybe she had been a philanthropist or a doctor who saved and helped many people, and this gratitude and blessings had followed her across worlds?
Otherwise, there was simply no other way to explain it.
As they spoke, the Archbishop took out a second potion from the box and held it out to Freya. “This is the Rank Two Earth Pathway potion.”
Freya didn't need to digest the potion at all. So naturally, after drinking Rank One, she could immediately drink Rank Two and Rank Three, going on a consecutive level-up spree.
Freya blankly accepted the second bottle of potion. She had been worrying about how to increase her strength before, but she never expected that leveling up could be such an effortless affair.
She didn't have to do anything except take the ready-made potions and chug them down one after another. Anyone would be dumbfounded by this.
Compared to the first bottle, the Rank Two potion looked much thicker and more viscous. It was light green, giving off the vibe of “juiced leaves.” Freya pulled out the cork, swallowed hard, and then tilted her head back to drink it down.
The taste was slightly bitter. With one gulp, Freya felt as if she had literally grabbed a handful of grass and stuffed it into her mouth to chew, but she still swallowed it all down.
This time, Freya did not fall asleep. Instead, she felt her entire body begin to itch, as if countless ants were crawling over her. She resisted the urge to scratch herself—though even if she wanted to, she wouldn't be able to reach everywhere anyway.
“Ugh...” She couldn't help but let out a cute whimper, curling herself into a ball on the sofa, her body squirming slightly.
Fortunately, this itchy sensation came and went quickly, lasting only a minute or two. Freya felt her senses being enhanced once again, and now she could be certain that her sense of touch had highly likely been enhanced as well.
She now felt that the clothes she was wearing were rather scratchy. With any slight movement, she could feel the coarse linen threads scraping against her skin, a strange sensation that made her highly uncomfortable.
Especially the socks on her feet, which were covered in pills; it felt as if someone were continuously tickling the soles of her feet with a feather, making it unbearably itchy.
She now seemed to understand why the people of the Church of the Earth wore such loose clothing—because it was genuinely scratchy!
Freya really couldn't bear it any longer and said, “Um... so, is it alright if I take off my shoes?”
After all, in her subconscious, taking off shoes in public was a highly impolite thing to do.
Hearing this, the Archbishop nodded. “As you should.”
Freya quickly took off her faded sneakers and her “fuzzy” white socks, revealing a pair of petite and adorable feet. The moment her round, delicate toes came into contact with the air, they instinctively curled.
But what followed was an indescribable sense of relief and freedom. While breathing a sigh of relief, Freya experienced this strange sensation, her face turning slightly red. Oh no, why did she suddenly feel like a bit of a pervert?
No, this wasn't her fault. It was all the Earth potion's fault!
As her legs gradually relaxed and her feet dangled down, the moment her toes touched the floor, Freya froze slightly. This was another ability of the Rank One Earth Pathway: “Trace Origin.”
When her skin was in contact with the ground, it could continuously heal Freya's injuries, restore her stamina, and strengthen all her other Earth Pathway abilities.
Well, she now seemed to understand why the members of the Church of the Earth went barefoot. It was the simplest way to maintain contact with the ground.
Wearing socks and shoes was scratchy and awkward, whereas going barefoot gave her a buff. Was there even a choice?
“Phew...” Freya exhaled, then began to feel her new power. After reaching Rank Two, not only were her Rank One abilities, Heart Perception and Trace Origin, enhanced, but she also gained two brand-new abilities: “Heal” and “Bless.”
The former was a classic healing spell that could heal injuries and cure diseases. As for the latter, Freya could now apply a buff to someone else, briefly enhancing their strength and speed. As for the extent of the enhancement, she didn't know for the time being.
Subsequently, Freya inspected her inner self again and found that her body was still incredibly pure, without any impurities. This Rank Two potion had also dissolved instantly. Just then, the Archbishop handed her the third bottle.
The third potion looked even greener than the previous two. It was extremely thick, making it impossible to see what was inside. Freya pulled out the stopper and drank it.
“Gag...” The very second after drinking it, she couldn't help but dry-heave. If she had to describe it, this stuff tasted like fish mint juice mixed with the broth of canned surströmming—both fishy and salty. Since Freya suspected her sense of taste had been enhanced as well, the impact was even deeper.
She couldn't help but stick out her pink little tongue. “It tastes so bad...”
Immediately after came the same itching sensation as before, but this time, it was accompanied by a sharp pain. Freya gasped, gritting her teeth to endure it.
But truth be told, she felt that physical pain was easier to bear than the pure itching from before. The Rank Two itching was far more tormenting.
“Crack, crack...”
After a few light cracking sounds from her bones, the sharp pain dissipated, and Freya let out a sigh of relief. She wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, then carefully sensed her condition.
Upon reaching Rank Three, her Rank One and Rank Two abilities were further enhanced. For instance, the Trace Origin ability could now continuously restore her spirituality.
The range of “Heart Perception” expanded, the healing power of “Heal” improved, and “Bless” could now apply various buffs, such as mental protection and physical protection.
As for her new Rank Three abilities, first of all, Freya grew about five centimeters taller, going from 1.6 meters to about 1.65 meters. Um... though she still wasn't particularly tall, at least it was progress, right?
Additionally, she obtained the abilities of “Earth Manipulation” and “Plant Acceleration.”
With the former, she could raise a three-meter-high earth wall out of thin air, or cause an adult-sized stone spike to erupt from the ground within a fifty-meter radius of herself.
With the latter, she could make wheat that normally took a hundred days to mature ripen within two to three days. Of course, she would need to use her ability continuously during this period, day and night. For other Pathways, their spirituality would have run dry after a short while, but the Earth Pathway could constantly regenerate mana, so it wasn't an issue at all.
And if she didn't want to work around the clock—just working during the day and resting at night, which would slightly reduce the speed—the wheat could still mature in four to six days. With the Church of the Earth around, there would certainly be no shortage of food.
However, as she sensed all of her current extraordinary abilities, Freya's only feeling was that her combat power wasn't very high.
They were all healing and utility-type abilities. The only thing that could be considered an offensive method was her Rank Three “Earth Manipulation.” If she were to fight her War Pathway clone right now, she could definitely win, but comparing Rank Three to Rank One was just bullying, wasn't it?
While Freya was lost in thought, the Archbishop lined up the remaining three potions in front of her. These represented the three class advancements after Rank Three of the Earth Pathway. The Archbishop introduced them in turn: “From left to right, we have the 【Path of the Giant】 representing the Heavenly Father, the 【Path of the Earth】 representing the Earth God, and the 【Path of Life】 representing the Mother Goddess. Which one would you like to choose?”
Freya's gaze swept over the three potion bottles, and she asked, “Um... could you briefly introduce the differences between these three? Or rather, what kind of abilities can I expect to gain after choosing one?”
The Archbishop said, “With the Path of the Giant, your physical fitness will multiply and your body size will grow. You will also gain a gigantification ability; when actively used, your size will become even larger. I myself took the Path of the Giant.”
However, Freya imagined herself being over two meters tall and covered in muscles, and she decisively shook her head. “I think I'll pass on this one.”
Although she was currently a bit self-conscious about being short, two meters was just too tall. She couldn't accept it. She would rather remain a petite, cute, and beautiful girl.
The Archbishop pointed to the second bottle and said, “The Path of the Earth enhances the abilities of Trace Origin and Earth Manipulation. It allows you to merge your body into the earth and move freely underground.”
Pointing to the final, third bottle, he said, “The Path of Life enhances Heart Perception, Heal, Bless, and Plant Acceleration. It allows you to obtain the ability to manipulate life energy.”
......
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