There was a mistake in chapter numbers, I titled two of them as 203 but one of them was 203 and one 204. So now there's a new chapter between 202 and previous 203 (now 204).

The chapters with wrong chapter numbers have been taken down and reuploaded with the correct numbering, so take a look at the missed chapter to get all details ~

Hope you enjoy the new chapter too ~~

Nisha visited the [Seven Star Church] and decisively entered the Hall of Life and Death.

After the elf had told the butler and Duke Dharnas about the coming disease, they both headed out quite quickly in order to make sure that the information was correct and that the response from Leandar came quickly enough.

Henry had similarly been missing from his room and the stables, and as such Nisha sought out an experienced person to inquire more about the issue at hand.

From their intermittent exchanges and tea meetings, the dragon quickly found the elderly lady sitting on a bank close to the altar, talking in a low voice to a believer fond of the life and death attribute.

Compared to the six other halls, very few citizens visited the hall to pray or make inquiries.

For example, the Dark Hall had quite a few thieves and crooked merchants that regularly offered donations and prayers to protect them while they engaged in their trade.

Only those born with only the life and death attribute and no other felt at ease to pray here.

The elf had some talent in all seven elements, although her talents laid more with fire, darkness and life and death. It was not uncomfortable for her to enter any of the seven halls.

Sitting at the side until the low conversation was finished, Lady Thana offered a quick prayer before giving her young friend a big smile.

“Sorry for the wait and thank you for not interrupting. What can I do for you so early in the day?”

As an experienced priestess, the old dame only needed a single look to tell that the young girl in front of her longed to ask her a question.

“No problem, and sorry for heading over in a rush.

There’s indeed a matter I want to consult you about, maybe you have heard of it.

Have you come across the [Blackroot Plague] before?”

Her question was driven mostly by curiosity, she had not really understood the graveness of falling ill yet.

Oral accounts alone hardly made the illness that terrifying and scary.

Miss Thana’s gaze faltered and had an icy tint to it while she swept across the hall in search of something.

Noticing nothing out of the normal, the priestess returned her attention to the elf and sharply scrutinized her.

“Where did you hear about the [Blackroot Plague]? Did someone mention to you that you should ask me about it?”

The affection in her voice drained as the icy steel in her eyes grew harder, yet the dragon had encountered different responses before when she mentioned the disease, so it did not particularly occur to her that it was out of the ordinary.

 

“Oh, I learned through some associates that there has been a case in Thurgau.

I mentioned it to my family and apparently that’s really big news.

So I wanted to learn more about it and thought that you might have a better idea about the disease, the temple archives are rumored to rival the [Great Library] of the guild and exceed them for some historical matters.”

Nisha frequented the [Great Library] occasionally, the collection of general information on the base level made the books very valuable even if the skills and techniques stored there were set aside.

Unfortunately, the amount was too vast to allow the elf to find the desired content in a short amount of time and it was unsure whether a collection of personal thoughts from a historical figure would mention the [Blackroot Plague] at all or whether a book contained info about it or not.

Asking the old priestess instead saved a lot of time and offered the added bonus of personal counselling.

Thanks to Nisha’s explanation, the distance and wariness in Miss Thana’s body language decreased sharply.

There was still some alertness and somberness left, but those emotions stemmed more from the sudden news about the plague instead.

“This place is not suitable to discuss a serious disease, let’s move to the back of the temple.

Follow me.”

Compared to the areas available to the public, the area allocated to the priests, servants made up a greater space.

Together with the records, storage areas and utility areas, very few citizens knew the real size of the buildings belonging to the temple alone.

Because the elf visited Miss Thana’s quarters before, she did not need anyone to guide the way and offered the old lady a hand to support her.

The two arrived in a small open courtyard, where some of the higher ranking priests had had their rooms before.

Beneath a great tree bearing black and white leaves, a small table weathered the wind and rain throughout the seasons.

Nisha helped the priestess on one of the chairs next to the table and retrieved the tea set from Miss Thana’s room.

Picking up a bag of tea leaves valued in the gold range, a small plume of mist rose from the kettle.

The elderly priestess spoke after all the preparations were finished.

Her ungainly expression had vanished by now.

“Hehe, I guess I’m getting old. When you asked me about the plague, I misjudged your intentions and thought someone else wanted to use you to poke at a sore point of mine.

To tell you the truth, I do know about the [Blackroot Plague], and very well at that.”

Miss Thana picked up her cup and stared into the boiling water.

She did not drink right away, while the dragon took small sips while listening.

Due to her extended exposure to the beverage, Nisha had acquired a taste for tea, to the degree that she was able to judge the quality of it without knowing the price.

 

“If you don’t mind, let me tell you a story of the past.

In the process, your answers will most likely get answered at the same time.”

Smiling sadly, the priestess drained the cup in one go and looked into the distance.

“Please go ahead, Lady Thana. I was not aware that you had a personal experience with the plague.

If you don’t mind, I do have the time to listen to your story, as long as it does not cause you too much pain.”

Thanks to her court education, the elf picked up that the older woman had gone through a painful experience.

“It’s been so long already, I’ve gotten used to it, don’t worry.

The start of that old tale starts in this very temple, a very long time ago.

According to my memories, it’s more or less 855 turns ago.

While a group of young acolytes prepared to advance to senior priests and priestesses, a particular old candidate for the head priest position reached the limit of his lifespan and left the temple in a quiet manner.

Not many people would have remembered him, if it was not for the great calamity caused by him.”

Speaking slowly and deliberating over each word, the priestess unveiled a scene from the past in front of Nisha’s eyes.

While Miss Thana did not directly state that she was part of the acolytes, the dragon assumed that her guess was correct.

Keeping silent throughout, she waited for the rest of the story.

“Fifty turns passed before anyone heard of that man again.

Do you know why not everyone is doing their best to cultivate aura and extend their lifespan?

Even commoners can rely on their daily lives to achieve the second rank, with a small amount even attaining the extreme of the third rank.

Every breakthrough grants more time to live, so why do only a few actively pursue aura cultivation?”

Passing a question to the elf, Miss Thana stopped her tale midway.

Nisha pondered the problem, it had not occurred to her why exactly normal citizens did not strive to increase their cultivation for such benefits.

Giving her young student some time to ponder the problem, it was still the old priestess who answered her own question.

 

“Most schools and academies put emphasis on talent when they select their students, and one of the reasons comes from the problem of the limit that everyone has.

At some point, regular practice and exertion is no longer enough to advance their cultivation anymore.

The big divide between the third and fourth level and the sixth and seventh level are especially pronounced.

That’s why they are also called the big divides, aside from the strength that sets them apart.

As later investigations showed, that man who left the temple and vanished for fifty turns relied on a secret method from the church to surmount the second big divide and achieved the seventh level of aura cultivation.

Originally, he was quite proud of himself and pictured a bright future for himself, but he ran into the limit of his talent and body.

His progression came to a halt in the seventh level, and no matter what he did, he could not advance by a single bit anymore.”

The priestess’ explanation opened a whole new perspective for Nisha, she had not known about the limit in cultivation before.

Now it made sense that common citizens waited for their natural progress to give them a longer life span first instead of investing time and money into practicing and running into a dead end anyway.

But there has not been a connection to the [Blackroot Plague] yet. Miss Thana usually does not like to waste words.

Nodding to show her understanding, Nisha waited for the rest of the story.

“Most practitioners try their best and come to terms with their eventual death when their lifespans run out, as they had ample time to prepare themselves for their end.

Unfortunately, that man from the church had wished to prolong his life and advance to the next realm eventually when all his hopes scattered and crashed down.

Driven by his fear of death and the ensuing madness, it took him fifty years to return to the [Seven Stars Church].

He did not come back with good news, and his desperation drove him to make unwise choices.

From his remains, a certain sentence was found later on: ‘If I cannot live on, everyone shall die together with me.’

Perhaps his peers should have noticed his madness earlier and paid more attention to his mental state, but the results developed according to the man’s intention at first.”

 

Nisha did not mind the delay in the answer to her question, the story from several centuries ago captured her attention and made her eager to know more.

Imagining the slow corruption of a pious priest, the desperation and madness from his impending doom and the menacing aggression towards all living things painted a vivid picture.

“When he made his return, that man no longer counted as a human, but the first signs were subdued enough to escape the attention of the church and the adventurers around.

Small villages lost communication with the bigger villages, who in turn vanished from the eyes of the cities soon after.

When the problem became apparent, the whole country came under attack from a horde of undead rushing from the Wilderness, and only the biggest cities with the sturdiest walls survived.

As it turned out, that man from the church abandoned his human body and identity and attempted to achieve immortality through turning into an undead.

With his need for death energy rising, he turned his attention to the living citizens of his birth place.

Starting with a tiny village on the outskirts, he grew his undead army with every settlement that fell to his army.

Thanks to his knowledge from the church, he escaped detection long enough to create a big disaster.

And that man, the priest from the church, was one of the seniors from the Hall of Life and Death.”