Leonidas shouldn’t have been shocked.
No matter how talented he was as a Mage, there was only so much Goddess Yves could do for him since her affinity with the Class was quite low.
However, for a talent like Eve who was born to be a Healer, four free Blessings per Promotion was as easy as a flip of a hand for Goddess Yves.
In addition to this, to prepare for the Hallowed Monk Promotion, Eve would need this many slots. If she wanted to be a great Healer and hold her own in battle, she would need more Blessings, something that could become very expensive, very quickly without this level of support.
“Have you chosen your 12 Blessings?” Leonidas asked.
After a bit, Eve’s excitement calmed. She realized that she had acted like a little girl just now instead of the 40-year-old woman she was, so she couldn’t help but be a bit embarrassed.
“I haven’t picked yet, no. I thought that you might want to give some input.”
Leonidas’ brows raised again.
This was an unexpected turn. It was likely that Eve wanted him to trust her more, a huge change from their previous dynamic.
“Mm, alright. Come here, then,” Leonidas beckoned.
This time, Eve didn’t resist, finding her place on his lap once again.
Leonidas didn’t know if it was his imagination or not, but he could swear Eve’s ass felt even plumper than before.
He shook his head, focusing his thoughts.
With 12 Blessings to decide, there were a lot of variables to contend with. Should he go with redundancy? Or maybe diversity? Or maybe a combination of the two?
At the lowest levels of a Blessing, one was subject to both casting time and cooldown time. Right now, for example, Leonidas took about two seconds to trigger Mana Hand and once it dispersed, he would need about 30 seconds to cast it again.
And these numbers were already down from when he initially was given the Blessing.
Once one reached the Mastery Level, cooldown times were negligible and casting time was decided only by how fast you could circulate your Mana, Spirit or Breath.
Right now, Eve would obviously be at the Entry Level for all 12 of these Blessings. Leonidas needed to decide whether he would choose a redundancy route to mitigate this initial weakness, or if he should plan ahead for her future instead.
At any other time, Leonidas would definitely choose the latter route. But, the situation was currently strained and his mind wouldn’t let him forget about the rusted bronze ax.
Leonidas’ mind shifted through the Knowledge Well, reading what he could find on Healers who could also fight and how to optimally balance them.
After reading what he needed to, his eyes opened up again.
“Let’s enter together.”
Eve nodded. As husband and wife, the two of them had several privileges. One of them was being able to enter the Exchange as a couple.
Leonidas had refrained from using this before because he didn’t want to push Eve too far, too quickly. But since she was alright with it now, he didn’t see the harm.
The two entered the world of white together and found themselves standing before the well.
“The first Blessing that is a must-have is definitely Cleanse,” Leonidas began.
Cleanse was a Level 1 Blessing but its use cases were as excellent as the Level 1 Mana Blade. If Eve had had Cleanse, she could have cured the poisoned Anabel with a single whisper. It was also useful for cleaning drinking water and meat.
The Blessing could purify most poisons and diseases beneath the Deacon Level. And, for those it couldn’t, it could act as a detection-type spell, alerting her of their existence.
There were more powerful forms of Cleanse within the Missionary Level, but Leonidas didn’t believe that they needed redundancy here.
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“The second is Lumen.”
The Level 1 Lumen seemed like a simple light spell that granted greater vision, but it also doubled as a detection-type spell as well. It was excellent at finding traps and tracking lingering lines of Breath and Mana, though not so much Spirit.
In addition, when its Spirit Circuit was overloaded with Spirit, it could very easily become a flash bomb.
“The third and fourth of your Level 1 Blessings will be set for redundancy. We’ll go with physical fatigue reducers and normal healing as well.
“For the former, we’ll use the Level 1 Second Wind, the Level 2 Second Breath, and the Level 3 Refreshing Breath.
“For the latter, we’ll use the Level 1 Heal, the Level 2 Heal and the Level 3 Heal.”
Leonidas had decided to land in the middle. He would lean toward both redundancy and not. In the future, these slots will matter less. And, if they ever become an issue, they could just pay a Blessing Unit fee to Forget and allow Eve to pick again.
These choices took up all of Lady Eve’s Level 1 Blessings, at least the ones she could have without paying personally. That left four more, two for Level 2 and two for Level 3.
“As for your remaining Level 2 Blessings, we’ll pick out Spirit Severance first.”
The Level 2 Spirit Severance was definitely a must-have.
A Healer couldn’t charge into battle and would often be at a distance. However, this left them susceptible to being picked off by archers and Mages.
The obvious way to deal with this was to always station guards around them. This was the approach Averit and Oudin always took.
The trouble with this, though, was that this removed manpower that could otherwise be used more effectively elsewhere.
Although Leonidas had Anabel, he felt that there would eventually come a time when he would need her to fight side by side with him.
Spirit Severance was a barrier, but not any normal barrier. It didn’t stop physical attacks, but rather cleansed attacks of any Breath or Mana that fueled them.
In doing so, any attack supplemented by Breath or Mana would lose its strength, falling long before meeting its target.
Still, this left a Healer susceptible to pure physical attacks, but Leonidas had already considered this.
“Your next Level 2 Blessing will be Spirit Substitution Clone.”
Spirit Substitution Clone was a special Blessing that required preparation in advance.
With the sacrifice of a Substitution Doll into the Spirit Circuit of this Blessing, upon death or suffering a fatal or near-fatal wound, a Healer could revive themselves and teleport up to a kilometer away.
The downside of this Blessing was that it took the three extra lives given by a Substitution Doll and whittled it down to one, meaning a Healer had to pay 100 Blessing Units per life-saving grace. However, it was worth it.
So long as the attack they received wasn’t of the Priest Level or higher, a Healer would always have a method to survive.
Despite the fact this was only a Level 2 Blessing, it was extraordinarily expensive. So expensive, in fact, that it likely dwarfed many Level 5 and even 6 Blessings.
In addition, this was the price for Eve, someone who Goddess Yves had personally Blessed. With this, Leonidas could be certain that neither Averit nor Oudin could afford it.
Eve was definitely benefiting here.
In Leonidas’ estimation, the use of the Substitution Doll as a medium is likely how this Blessing managed to remain Level 2. If not for this, one would likely have to be a high-Level Deacon or even a Priest to use such a Blessing.
Leonidas could tell that Eve was flushed with excitement when she saw this Blessing. So long as she had this with her, she never needed to worry about her life. Even if she was trapped, she only needed to fatally wound herself and she would be able to escape.
“Finally, for your last two Level 3 Blessings, one will be Mana Overflow.”
The Level 3 Mana Overflow was a Blessing that acted as a buff. For a short spurt, it could allow Leonidas to output more power than he had.
Leonidas thought about having Eve learn Mana Replenish instead, but he decided against it.
For one, his reserves were already ridiculously deep. Secondly, if it came to it, he would just weather the poison and chug Mana Potions. And, lastly… He had a feeling that this choice could save his life.
“Then, as your last Blessing, it’s a sneak preview of the kind of strength you’ll be able to wield as a Hallowed Monk: the Level 3 Manifest Halo.”
Manifest Halo manifested golden halos with the robustness of Level 1 weapons. They were meant to be used to restrain enemies, but with enough skill, they could be used to attack, defend, and even kill.
How far she went would be entirely dependent on how much work she put in and her level of innovation.
“After you finish setting up Substitution Spirit Clone, I would suggest that you try to get Manifest Halo up to at least the Proficient Level first. Though your two Substitution Dolls both had one use on each, if you sacrifice them both you should get one use of Substitution Spirit Clone.
“Once we get more Blessing Units in the future, we’ll get you more uses.”
Eve nodded, but she was already more than satisfied with this. One redo at life was already more than most anyone else would experience. And, the fact she would have methods to defend herself was enough to fill her with happiness.
Within her, a childish sort of bubbly excitement was spilling over. She wanted to dance, scream, cry, fuck Leonidas’ brains out, drink until she couldn’t walk straight anymore—the list was so long that she couldn’t even find where it started, let alone where it would end.
However, Leonidas’ next words snapped her back to reality.
“You focus on your training. When Anabel wakes up, I hope that you can also give her tips on improving as well. She might have defeated you, but it’s purely because she relied on her talent.
“All things being equal, you would beat her ten out of ten times, she still has huge potential for growth.”
“You’re leaving?” Eve asked, her expression becoming more serious.
“I’m not leaving the town, but there’s something I have to check. I can’t say too much now, but I’ll be back before the sun rises.”
“Okay, I’ll be waiting, then.”
Eve was a bit surprised by her own words.
No matter how you looked at it, it was like she didn’t want him to leave at all.
Luckily, Leonidas didn’t seem to notice as he rose up, allowing her to take his seat from her position on his lap.