The Holy Capital.
The supreme city of the Holy Sanctuary.
The entire Holy Capital was incomparably prosperous. Even the capitals of some ancient and powerful empires could not compare to it.
From a distance, one could see pure white towers rising from the earth, disappearing into the clouds.
Ancient golden textures flowed over them, making the towers appear even more sacred and magnificent at this moment.
Sacred power cascaded down from between those towers.
The entire Holy Capital seemed to be bathed in the grace of the Gods.
In the very center of the city, surrounded by those high towers, stood an ancient statue of a god.
The statue could be traced all the way back to the Age of the Gods.
Its existence was far more ancient than the city or the towers themselves.
The statue was hazy within the sacred power.
With its eyes closed, it looked down toward the earth below, as if in pity.
“The Holy Capital…” Lu Mo murmured.
After many years, she had finally returned to this place.
Actually, Lu Mo’s impression of the Holy Capital had never been very good.
She had come here when she was seven years old to participate in the Divine Blessing ceremony.
However, she had failed to awaken any talent for sacred power.
Before that, everyone had held her in high regard, but after the ceremony, they looked at her with nothing but disdain and ridicule.
She still remembered the first insult she received after the ceremony ended.
The member of the Holy Sanctuary responsible for recording talents had made no effort to hide his internal mockery, speaking right in front of her. “Sacred power talent: 0. It looks like the Kalis Family was mistaken.”
“Ah…”
“She’s a piece of trash. She is now, and she always will be. It will be this way for her entire life.”
Back then, she wasn’t as rebellious as she was now.
Back then, she didn’t have enough strength.
Perhaps she was too young then and didn’t understand many things.
But she already vaguely understood that the Holy Sanctuary might not be as holy as it appeared on the surface.
‘Beneath the holy, there is no pity or mercy.’
This was a world that only recognized talent, only acknowledging those favored by the heavens.
Lu Mo did not like the Holy Capital.
The reason she had returned was that she and Cecilia had reached the appropriate age.
They had to face the real enemies and the world according to the arrangements of the Holy Sanctuary.
In fact, after entering the Holy Capital, Lu Mo could already clearly feel the city’s hostility toward her.
For example, when they entered the city, the guards immediately stepped aside respectfully upon seeing Cecilia.
On her end, although she revealed her identity as a member of the Kalis Family, the guards’ attitudes turned noticeably cold once they learned she had no talent for sacred power. Lu Mo even heard a faint, contemptuous laugh.
Furthermore, when they entered the main hall of the Holy Sanctuary, Cecilia passed through without any obstacles.
Lu Mo, on the other hand, had to undergo inspections and questioning.
Halfway through the questioning, Cecilia could no longer hold back. she walked straight forward, blocking the space between Lu Mo and the Temple Knight.
“Lady Lu Mo is with me. Is there a problem?”
“Are you… questioning the authority of the Saintess?”
Cecilia put on a stern little face, looking coldly at the knight.
“Lady… Lady Cecilia… it’s not like that… We…” A hint of panic appeared in the knight’s eyes.
“I do not wish to see something like this happen again.” Leaving behind those final words, Cecilia grabbed Lu Mo’s hand and continued walking toward the inner hall.
She left the knight behind, bowing and apologizing repeatedly.
As the two figures walked away, Lu Mo realized that Cecilia’s hand was shaking slightly, and her heart was pounding.
Although Cecilia had grown up, deep down, she was still that gentle and somewhat silly girl.
Pretending to be cold and arrogant to scold a knight had truly exhausted a great deal of her courage. In fact, Lu Mo noticed that ever since they arrived at the Holy Capital, Cecilia always seemed to step in front of her.
It seemed the girl was trying to protect her in her own way.
“Thank you… Cecilia,” Lu Mo said from behind, a smile on her face.
“!”
At that, Cecilia’s stern little face instantly turned slightly red, and her golden cowlick swayed happily.
“Ahem… Of course! Cecilia is very strong now!”
She answered Lu Mo, turning back with a beaming smile. “So this time, Cecilia will definitely protect Lady Lu Mo—”
They eventually arrived at an ancient hall.
Lu Mo recognized this place. This hall was where she had once undergone the Divine Blessing ceremony.
Quite a few people had already gathered in the hall.
The higher-ups of the Holy Sanctuary, as well as the talented youths from the eight great families, were all present.
Today, they would undergo the Holy Sanctuary’s final talent assessment.
This assessment would determine the rest of their lives.
Based on the final judgment, the Holy Sanctuary would officially bestow classes upon the youths.
From the lowest-tier Knight to the highest-tier Hero.
The assessment results were never easily changed.
This was because the testing crystals contained the residual power of ancient deities.
To some extent, it was considered… the will of the Gods.
Lu Mo and Cecilia were temporarily separated.
They were in different batches for the testing.
Cecilia’s Saintess class was quite special; in the Holy Sanctuary’s rankings, it was equivalent to a Hero.
Therefore, Cecilia was placed in the first batch. Without exception, the youths in that group were all geniuses with sacred power attributes from the eight great families.
They were, in a literal sense, people of the heavens.
“See you later,” Lu Mo said, bidding farewell to Cecilia.
“Mm… See you later.” Cecilia gave a forced smile.
She didn’t want to be separated from Lu Mo at all.
Six years of time had not diluted her friendship with Lu Mo; instead, it had made her increasingly reliant on her.
“Who is that girl with Lady Cecilia?”
“She looks so beautiful. She’s even prettier than Lady Cecilia…”
“Shut up! Lady Cecilia will always be number one in my heart!”
The youths whispered among themselves.
Some even nearly came to blows while comparing the two girls’ looks.
Although they didn’t know who Lu Mo was, they all speculated that her sacred power talent couldn’t be bad.
After all, she was so beautiful!
But when Lu Mo walked silently to the very last batch, the youths were stunned.
‘The girl’s talent is ranked in the lowest Knight tier?’
‘Is that for real?’
In the crowd, a girl immediately smirked contemptuously, tossing her long hair as her pride returned.
There were also boys planning to approach Lu Mo later. The Knight tier should be quite easy to talk to.
“Cecilia’s friend… Knight-tier aptitude…”
“Could it be—”
A very small number of people in the crowd realized Lu Mo’s identity after thinking it over.
This included Kemode.
Perhaps because he had been beaten twice and was now afraid, he immediately lowered his head, terrified that Lu Mo would see him and beat him a third time.
Only he knew that Lu Mo’s growth rate was not inferior to theirs. In fact… it was even more terrifying!
Some doubted whether Lu Mo could still defeat their current selves.
Some believed that Lu Mo’s era had long since ceased to exist.
But Kemode felt his scalp go numb at this moment, his heart trembling with extreme fear!
***
At this moment, atop the high platform.
The higher-ups of the Holy Sanctuary were also scanning the youths below.
“The final judgment should be largely consistent with the previous results.”
“Their sacred power talent, personalities, and abilities have basically taken shape.”
“The variables will likely only involve shifts in the rankings of the top few.”
“There won’t be any so-called class leaps, and there won’t be any cases of a lower-tier class being stronger than a higher-tier one.”
They conversed with each other.
“That blonde girl is Lady Cecilia, isn’t she?” Someone immediately spotted Cecilia in the first batch.
“Ah, Cecilia…” At the mention of the girl’s name, one of the Holy Sanctuary officials immediately showed a look of admiration.
“Her appearance is like a gift bestowed upon the Holy Sanctuary by the Gods—”
“Her talent is incomparably powerful, and her soul is extremely pure. Even the Pope was stunned at the time and was not at all stingy with his praise.”
“With just a little cultivation, she will definitely become the greatest Saintess of this era.”
“However, I heard she was quite mischievous at the academy before,” a middle-aged man spoke, his tone serious and restrained.
“Those are minor issues. We just need to pay attention to the method of cultivation,” an old woman said with a smile. “There’s no need to be so strict with the younger generation.”
“The Hero and the Saintess with the strongest talents have already been decided without dispute.”
At this point, an old man standing to the side spoke. “Now, what we need to consider is finding the strongest Knight for Cecilia, right?”
Only the strongest Knight was qualified to stand by Cecilia’s side.
Some among them even wanted to break the rules of the Holy Sanctuary and have someone at the level of a Temple Knight or even a Holy Dragon Knight protect Cecilia.
“A Knight? I recall… Lady Cecilia already has a candidate for her Knight,” someone replied.
“Hmm?” The old man was startled.
In the next second, he took out a Holy Sanctuary crystal and activated it.
His authority was very high, and he quickly saw the information Cecilia had submitted at the time.
A light screen unfolded before the various higher-ups of the Holy Sanctuary.
They saw the name written in the “Knight” column—
Lu Mo Kalis.
“…Lu Mo?”
“Who is that?”
Several officials were dumbfounded.
They had no memory of Lu Mo at all, having long since forgotten her existence.
After all, remembering the name of a mortal would only drain their energy.
“Lu Mo Kalis—Wait! I remember!!!”
Someone else thought of something and spoke up immediately.
He remembered that many years ago, he had been invited by the Kalis Family and the Helovit Family to watch a duel.
The duel had been divided into multiple age groups.
The one that had left the deepest impression on him was not the older group, but the younger one.
Because in the younger group, a miracle had occurred.
A girl with absolutely no talent for sacred power had, by her own strength, defeated Kemode, who was destined for the Hero sequence!
And that girl’s name… was Lu Mo!