Chapter 14: Almost Forgot the Identity of the Queen Ghost

After visiting the orphanage, Winnie arrived at the church, as though completing a daily task in a mobile game, and stood before the statue of the goddess to pray.

His arrival, as always, caught the attention of some people in the church, but Winnie didn't care at all. He couldn't care less about how they looked at him, what they thought, or what they said.

"Don’t disturb me while I’m stacking Virtue."

Two hours of hard work later, Winnie successfully harvested two points of Virtue, bringing his total to 9 points.

"Very good, very good! Just 21 more points and I’ll evolve!"

After praying for two hours, Winnie, feeling sore from standing in the same position for so long, stretched his stiff shoulders and glanced at the sun on the mountainside—it was almost evening.

He had thoroughly enjoyed stacking Virtue, but at this point, he suddenly remembered that he had a duel in two days. He had been so focused on accumulating Virtue that it seemed like he might have disrespected others a little.

So, Winnie decided to visit the Soul Art shop in the capital to select some common spells.

Well, in the capital, Winnie’s reputation was good, so even the shopkeeper, who was sitting in a rocking chair reading a newspaper, couldn’t help but sit up when he saw him. The shopkeeper clicked his tongue and frequently cast “respectful” glances in Winnie’s direction, as if the very presence of Winnie made the shop seem more prestigious, and he was unable to stop worrying about his distinguished guest.

“What the hell is this guy doing here again??”

The shopkeeper didn’t even know what kind of sin he had committed, to have this guy come into his shop two days in a row.

A perfectly fine day ended the moment he saw Winnie.

By the way, what’s up with this scoundrel? Why is he suddenly interested in Soul Arts? Wasn’t he always dismissive of this stuff before??

No, more accurately, he used to avoid it completely.

Winnie had once thought that he hid his insecurities well, but in reality, anyone could see the self-doubt lurking within him.

Could it be because of Princess Mirecia?

Aside from Mirecia, the shopkeeper couldn’t come up with any other reason why Winnie was doing all of this; it was truly baffling.

Never mind, never mind. Just pretend I didn’t see anything. Back to the newspaper.

“Boss, where can I find general Soul Art spells for armor-type? Can you point me in the right direction?”

“Over there,” the boss instinctively pointed in the direction, then quickly realized who was asking him. He gave Winnie an oddly scrutinizing look.

“Thanks.” Winnie turned and waved his hand as he walked in the direction the boss had pointed.

“If you're just looking to have fun for three minutes, I’d recommend checking out the mage-type Soul Arts spells. There are many varieties. Armor-type Soul Arts have already declined, and there aren’t many people using them, so there aren’t many spells available,” the boss glanced at Winnie, clearly thinking that he was just there for a quick thrill.

A person who couldn’t even absorb Soul Arts was coming to the Soul Art shop—wasn’t that like a deaf person going to a concert? What else could he do there besides indulge himself?

Winnie didn’t respond, heading straight to the armor Soul Art display cabinet. As the boss had said, compared to other types of Soul Arts, the armor-type spells were pitifully scarce. Even the display case for these spells was the cheapest wooden one, highlighting how little importance these Soul Arts were given.

Armor-type Soul Arts were indeed highly unpopular, especially among talented individuals, as only those with particularly poor magical aptitude would choose armor-type Soul Arts as a last resort.

Soul Arts, Soul Arts, how could they not be related to magic? If they weren’t related to magic, could they even be called Soul Arts?

What’s more, Kareliman was the domain of the mages. Mages weren’t just some upper class, they were beyond that—one could even say they were the top of the top.

In Kareliman, even the most powerful enchanted equipment and alchemical potions couldn’t provide overall magical resistance; they could only resist single types of magic at most. Magic, ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) after all, was an umbrella term for the elements, which were complex and varied. The difference between magic elements could be greater than the difference between physical and magical attacks, making it impossible to classify them all together.

Stopping a sword or dagger strike was easy; a good suit of armor would suffice. But absorbing magic attacks without taking any damage was practically impossible. Even the best alchemical potions and enchanted tools could only absorb some types of elemental magic.

Even if you poured all your resources into maximizing resistance to one element, it wouldn’t make you completely impervious to damage. And with so many magic elements, if you max out fire resistance, you’d still be vulnerable to wind or earth magic attacks.

It was a laborious and unrewarding effort, offering insufficient protection, which allowed mages to dominate Kareliman, becoming the very top of the hierarchy.

After all, knives, swords, and spears might create a hole, but magic could reduce a person to nothing—especially with magic’s AOE (Area of Effect) nature, which could affect a large area, unlike physical attacks, which could only harm one or a few targets. It was clear which had more destructive power.

However, there was one exception: Winnie remembered that according to the setting, only one race had overall magic resistance—Blessed Angels. But the Aeciphysis family had already fallen to the Dead Bloodline, so magic immunity wasn’t a factor in the game.

Although armor Soul Arts hadn’t been completely phased out, their decline was undeniable, especially compared to other types of Soul Arts. Only the most mediocre, with no other choice, opted for them, and no one had innovated any new techniques, causing armor Soul Arts to fade from people's view.

This Soul Art shop already had an incomplete selection of spells, and due to the unpopularity of armor Soul Arts, the number of available armor-type spells was even fewer, with barely any usable ones.

But fortunately, each spell had a description of its general effects, so it wasn’t like he was blindly picking based on the names of the spells.

After scanning around, Winnie noticed that most of the armor-type spells looked useless, or in fact, were utterly useless, like trying to mine gold in a trash heap.

After considering it, Winnie settled on a spell called Light Armor.

But when he saw the price, he immediately felt troubled.

He was out of money.

Damn.

Winnie facepalmed—he had been so busy doing good deeds and stacking Virtue that he forgot he was also broke.

What should he do? Is there a way to make money?

After thinking it over, the only solution he could come up with was to take on a mission from the Adventurers’ Guild to earn some reward money.

But this wasn’t a joke. With his reputation, he knew it was impossible to find a team to party up with. Everyone would avoid him as soon as they saw him.

How could someone who had just acquired a Soul Art handle an Adventurers’ Guild mission alone? Even the simplest one would probably be impossible, right?

For a moment, even Winnie, the king of ideas, was stumped.

No, there’s always a way. What if some missions are tasks that only my Soul Art can do?

...Got it!