Chapter 15

“She wasn’t lying? Is this real?”

She was going to… drink the potion?

Yulis was surprised by the girl’s words but did not express any opposition.

Yulis was very confident that the girl was indeed the Holy Maiden, lacking only the official recognition from the church.

The current Holy Maiden had also drunk the potion before becoming one, without understanding the process—it was the shortest shortcut on the path of replication, blessed by the goddess.

“These things should all be yours. If the ritual fails, I can help you extract the potion from your body,” Yulis paused for two seconds, then continued, “But I need to remind you in advance.”

“If you are not the Holy Maiden and the ritual truly fails, even if I remove the potion components from your body, some will still remain inside you.”

“These residual potion components could cost you half your life, leaving you disabled, insane… or even causing mutations in your body.”

“Moreover, you will hear endless delirious whispers tormenting you, driving you to seek out the potion. Even if you’re not crazy now, after ten, twenty, or thirty years, you will go mad.”

Yulis tried to make the situation sound as terrifying as possible, hoping to change the young girl’s mind.

Just now, she had touched Xia’er’s soft cheek. From both skin and bone structure, the girl couldn’t be older than 15. A little scare should be enough to deter her.

“Thank you for the reminder,” Xia’er said calmly after hearing Yulis’s description, then continued, “Do you know the correct ritual?”

Seeing that Xia’er was still determined, Yulis stopped trying to dissuade her. This was Xia’er’s own choice, and from both personal and church principles, Yulis had no right to interfere.

“For the ritual, I have the correct and complete procedure,” Yulis said solemnly, facing Xia’er directly. “But first, you need to join the Salvation Goddess Church. Otherwise, I cannot teach you the full ritual.”

“Uh?” Xia’er felt slightly uneasy upon hearing Yulis’s words.

Become a believer? Honestly, after learning about extraordinary abilities, Xia’er didn’t doubt the existence of the goddess, but precisely because of this, she was even more hesitant to believe blindly.

She had no faith in the Salvation Goddess Church, let alone worship a deity. Just five minutes ago, she had taken two coins from the goddess.

If her heart wasn’t sincere, would the goddess not send some kind of divine punishment?

“Do you have any doubts?” Seeing Xia’er’s silence, Yulis asked.

“But I know nothing about the Salvation Goddess Church… I only glanced at the doctrine and scriptures two years ago,” Xia’er said in a rather gentle tone.

Yulis found Xia’er’s thoughts hard to understand. She said directly:

“Most people know nothing before joining the church.”

“You can learn everything later. All you need to ensure is that your behavior aligns with the doctrines of the Salvation Goddess Church. ‘Faith without works is dead.’ Start with small acts of kindness; you’ll gradually feel the grace of the Salvation Goddess.”

“As long as your actions do not violate the doctrines, the goddess’s salvation will follow you.”

In other words…

It doesn’t matter whether you believe or not, as long as you don’t break the rules?

Xia’er had always thought that churches here were justified by faith, but she hadn’t realized that each church’s situation could differ. The Salvation Goddess Church in front of her clearly operated on justification by works.

Kind of like judging someone by their actions rather than their intentions.

The meaning of the heart.

If it’s like this, then it’s fine. As long as I don’t violate the doctrines, I don’t need to worry about divine retribution or anything like that.

“Alright, I believe.” Xia’er nodded and asked, “Do I need some kind of baptism?”

Yulis felt a slight excitement inside her heart.

The girl in front of her could very well be the future Holy Maiden, and she had become the guide leading her to this role. For any believer, this was both sacred and thrilling.

The baptism ceremony in the Salvation Goddess Religion was not complicated, and was even somewhat overly simple.

Most of the followers of the Salvation Goddess Religion were poor people who couldn’t read, so the scriptures recited during the baptism were usually read by the church members throughout. The person being baptized only needed to place their right hand on their chest and silently wait for the reading to finish.

After listening to nearly five minutes of scripture, Xia’er almost fell asleep with her eyes closed when Yulis touched her forehead, signifying the completion of the baptism.

From now on, Xia’er would also be considered a member of the Salvation Goddess Religion, of course, only within this simulation.

Since it doesn’t cost anything, she might as well believe a little bit.

“Hold this emblem; it temporarily represents your identity.” After the baptism, Yulis reached into her robe and carefully pinned a semicircular emblem onto Xia’er’s cloak.

“Hmm…” Xia’er wanted to say something, but after pondering for a while, she could only ask, “What’s the process of the ritual?”

“The branch with the fewest people in the church is the Tribunal, because the conditions for the ‘Avenger’ ritual are extremely stringent,” Yulis said slowly while recalling the items needed for the ritual, “Summarized so far, the process with the highest success rate requires three things.”

“Your ‘Life Friend’s’ enemy, the desperate counterattack at the brink of death, and burning everything with the flame of purifying the old body, reborn in the fire.”

In simpler terms, to gather all these things, the ideal scenario is to complete revenge against the enemy in a life-or-death battle and then take the potion in the fierce flames.

This is a dynamic scenario that not everyone can encounter, which is why there are so few people in the Tribunal and why it’s rare to find ordinary people suitable for taking the potion.

“If you don’t mind, I can take you back to the church in An Su, where they will help you build the replication ritual step-by-step…”

Wait a moment?

“Wait, what is a ‘Life Friend’?”

Xia’er interrupted Yulis, who was trying to lead her back to the church.

The more she listened, the more she felt something was off.

Killing one’s enemy at the brink of death…

Isn’t this what she did in the previous simulation?

Now, she just needs to confirm what a ‘Life Friend’ is.

“It’s a term used to refer to the most important person or thing in your life, the one with the strongest emotional attachment. It could be a relative or friend, or even an item you hold dear,” Yulis explained.

She was puzzled as to why Xia’er interrupted her.

“If, I mean if.” Xia’er looked seriously at Yulis and asked, “If the things in these rituals have already happened?”

Yulis: “Huh?”

Yulis didn’t know that among Xia’er’s nine true statements and one false statement, she included a lie that Yulis would never suspect.

That is, it wasn’t Yulis who killed Thomas and Solari when they arrived late.

It was Xia’er herself.

In a situation where there was no chance of survival, she had killed the enemies and the masterminds.