It was nighttime when Pope Verkar IV was suddenly called from his rest in his private chamber.

Normally he would just scold and punish anyone who disturbs his rest, but his attitude went 180 degree when he heard it was a call request of a great donator. Especially if it was someone who donated a whooping 1 million.

So, he immediately went to meet this great donator, namely the little girl in front of him. She was a girl of about 12 or 13 years old wearing a set of Cantarian dresses. However, one should not judge a person by their appearance, especially if that person is a Player.

The fact that she was able to take out 1 million means that she wasn't just a normal little girl.

This kind of rich person is always welcome to the church!

Not to mention, her adorable appearance pleased his eyes and she was very well mannered.

Until now, Verkar had gotten used to the quirky and shameless behavior of the Players who liked to flatter the Natives, especially to an important person in the church like him. But, unlike those pesky Players, this little girl was calm and quiet.

She reminded Verkar of his grandson's daughter who was currently studied at Solstreus Magic Academy.

After having a light chat with her, he guided the girl to the Ritual Room without any difficulty.

"Miss Hecate, do you bring the items needed for the recalibration ceremony?"

"Of course, here is it."

The little girl, Hecate, swept her hands through the air and materialized 10 dark purple glowing stones from the void.

Verkar couldn't help but be surprised by the number of stones floating around the girl. Those stones were something widely recognized as the Amnesia Stones, and they were used primarily to recalibrate one's status, though in Player terms it was known as reset.

This wasn't the first time he had helped someone recalibrate their stats, with the number of stones needed being directly proportional to their strength rating. Most people only needed 1 to 4, and occasionally 5 Amnesia Stones to recalibrate.

However, although rare, there are people who need 10 stones, and this only means the person has reached at least Lv100.

Level 100 in this world is not just a mere level, but also a watershed from Mortals to Legends!

"...Then, let's start the ceremony."

"Okay."

Pope Verkar said while hiding his surprised expression. Luckily, his professionalism allowed him to maintain his poker face.

Verkar himself had reached Lv145, but even then, he spent 50 years before he could become a Bishop (Lv1), and another 60 years to reach Lv100. As he raised his levels, his lifespan naturally increased.

Hence, it was normal for Legends to be old bacons.

In short, he became a Legend after 110 years. But who would have thought...

The girl whose age does not seem to be taller than his great-granddaughter actually managed to achieve his 110-year struggle!

'O, the great Goddess Norn! Please forgive this unworthy child for his unbecoming thought...'

He could only secretly sigh.

No matter the fact, Players is the soldiers of the Goddess Norn. There was no reason to compare himself to this legion of immortals. Verkar suppressed his jealousy and began to focus on the ritual.

♦♦♦

 

In the ritual room, Pope Verkar IV chanted unknown language that Hecate couldn't understand.

『ᛋᛁᛗᛖᛋᛁᛏᛟᚲᛟᚱᛟᚾᛁᚺᚢᚲᛁ...』

This language wasn't transliterated by the game system, but Hecate was no stranger to this chant.

After all, she had experienced this ritual twice in the Rosenweil Kingdom. The difference was only who was the pope who performs the ritual.

Not only that, as one of Leon's direct subordinates, she got many privileges, such as priority treatments when asking for buffs, and access to some restricted areas in that church. Then, after Leon becomes a Templar, her privileges also increased. She could get free buffs without paying anything, no waiting in line, and permission to access all restricted areas of the church.

Truthfully, Hecate could have reset her skills in the Rosenweil Kingdom first before she left. In that case, she would have finished everything less than 10 minutes, without needing to wait for anything.

The reason why she didn't do so and delayed the reset until she arrived at Solstreus City was simply because she want to keep her skill reset a secret to everyone, especially her guild mates.

Although nothing would happens if everyone knows, but why not?

『...ᚲᛖᛏᛁᚱᚨᛋᛁᚨᛏᚢᚲᚨᛁ... — RECALIBRATE!!』

Meanwhile, Pope Verkar has finished the chant.

Soon after, 10 Amnesia Stones slowly floated above Hecate, bathing her with the mysterious light emitted by the stones. At the same time, several notification windows popped up in turn.

The process took a few minutes and soon after, the light died down and the stones shattered into dust.

♣♣♣

 

Hecate took a glance to her Skill Tree and found out that except Extremity of Primary Elements, all of her skills has been greyed out, and there are 276 unused skill points that could be distributed.

Meanwhile, Mysticallurgy Lv7 had been completely removed from the Skill Tree, but was still in the Extra Skill column.

'As expected, my assumption is not wrong!'

Looking at this result, Hecate let out a smile.

She still clearly remembered the words on the Skill Assimilation Orb item description that said 'fused skills will not return'. At that time, she had a hunch that if she were to reset her skills, the result would be something like today.

Assimilated skills will not return to their respective original skills even with a skill reset. However, it is a rule that the skill level in the Skill Tree must be directly proportional to the skill points used.

Therefore, when Hecate resets her skills, the system will recover all her Skill Points, but not cancel the fused skills.

As for Mysticallurgy directly transferred to the Extra Skill column, Hecate could only speculate because one of the fused materials came from a skill outside the Skill Tree, which was her Blacksmith Subclass. Or maybe because the skill used 'proficiency' instead of skill points to upgrade to the next level. Or maybe both.

The skill Extremity of Primary Elements was originally 18 damage boosting skills and was worth 180 skill points. But now after being combined into one, the skill only takes 1 skill point and the remaining 179 skill points have been retrieved.

Not only that, the 10 skill points that was inside the skill Mysticallurgy were also successfully retrieved.

That means, now Hecate has 189 more skill points than other Players of the same level.

This advantage is huge!

'Hmm, I might have to make a better build with this.'

With 189 skill points, perhaps Hecate could learn Witch, or even better, Archwitch's ultimate skill.

This was kinda like the skill Assassinate for Assassins. If she remembered correctly, Kazu had said that the Assassinate skill required 150 skill points to learn. That means, her 189 skill points should be more than enough to learn Witch's ultimate skill.

Of course, if possible, it would be better if she learned Archwitch's ultimate skill instead. Hecate had a feeling that the skill Mana Explosion on her Eldritch Bone Wand might be Archwitch's ultimate skill.

But, that was if she could find the necessary skill requirements from the numerous skill choices in the Skill Tree.

This require a deep research and a lot of resets, which also means, burning money. Of course, Hecate doesn't have any intention to do something thankless as that.

It would be best to take a look at community skills research before deciding on the next steps.

♣♣♣

 

Hecate's thought was interrupted by the pope's voice.

"Miss Hecate, the ceremony is over."

"Yes, thank you very much...! Here, please drink this."

Pope Verkar seemed to be extremely exhausted after performing the ritual. That was understandable, because the higher the level of Hecate, the more energy the pope had to expend to reset her status.

As a thanks for his service, Hecate gave a bottle of Elixir to the pope.

Originally, Hecate had intended to give him a bottle of Stamina Potion and Ether Potion. But unfortunately, she had forgotten that she had cleared most of her inventory except the bookmarked items to the storage not too long ago. And from the items Hecate bookmarked, only her equipment, Elixirs, and many other things that she stocked from the cash shop were left.

It was too much of a hassle to return to the Save-Crystal and back again, but she couldn't just leave without giving any gifts.

And so, Hecate decided to just give the pope a bottle of Elixir.

"This, this is...! The miracle potion!? Is this really for me?"

"Hmm...? Oh, yes! This is my thanks to you."

"Aah! Glory to the Goddess! May you be blessed by the light, miss Hecate!"

For some reason, Pope Verkar held the Elixir as if it was a priceless treasure.

At the same time, a window appeared in front of her.

This response was completely unexpected by Hecate. But, when she thought about it again, it made sense.

In her eyes, Elixir was just an extremely bitter drink that could remove fatigue and fully restores HP and MP. But for the Natives, this bottle was a panacea that could cure all diseases, restore lost limbs, and save a person's life from the brink of death!

Hecate watched the situation calmly.

She gave the bottle to the pope to drink, but looking at him, it was clear he had no intention of drinking the Elixir. Right now, he was so excited and he seemed to have forgotten his exhaustion, as if he had been injected with chicken blood.

'Well, if he is happy, then that's no problem.'

This trip brought Hecate many unexpected surprises.

Not only did she become acquainted with the 'cultured' brothers and sisters, she also gained a connection to one of the important Native in the Empire.

'Now all that's left is to find Frederick the teacher wants me to give the letter to.'

Hecate left the church in a great mood.